Chapter 58.2 – Tastes Like Mint

translator: xiin
editors: butter & XavierForest

Most of the teenagers in the Internet cafe on a Saturday night had paid to play for the whole night. It was only around ten o’clock now, so they quietly sat down to wait and played with their cell phones.

Ma Xiaoding turned on the flashlight on his cell phone. “I was just about to snark at that Green Grass.”

Spiky Hair turned his chair around, “Green Grass? They were called Young Green Vines, right?”

Ma Xiaoding: “It’s pretty much the same, pretty much the same.”

Ma Xiaoding suddenly flipped the flashlight on his cell phone around and placed it under his chin. His entire face was dark, and he stretched out his words as he made himself look like a ghost, “Scared~ or~ not~?”

Spiky Hair was speechless, “Who can you scare with that?”

Ma Xiaoding: “Aiya, this blackout is so boring. Everyone, turn this way. Let’s tell ghost stories together. Back then, I was the story king of our class. If I can’t scare you guys, then my surname isn’t Ma.”

Song Yu wasn’t afraid of anything except dogs and heights. He scoffed when he heard Ma Xiaoding’s suggestion.

His disdainful tone was particularly clear in the dark.

Ma Xiaoding felt offended. He huffed and wanted to go for it, “Brother Yu! Come on! I have a ghost story just for you!”

Song Yu laughed carelessly, “Okay.”

They turned their chairs around.

They were located in a corner. Xie Sui was against the wall, and there was a window above them. Several cell phone flashlights gathered together, casting long, dark shadows on the wall.

Ma Xiaoding spoke in a creepy tone, “Did you guys know? In fact, people have died in this Internet cafe on Linqing Street before, and many of them died suddenly. There’s one very strange case where a young girl who ran to the Internet cafe committed suicide because she felt too much pressure. I heard that she was a very gloomy and dark girl.”

“The Internet cafe’s owner only discovered her death the next day when he came in. He found her lying on the table with her hair spread out, and once he touched her, he found that she was no longer breathing. But her eyes were still open and were a blue-gray color, and her pupils had contracted into small dots.”

“The owner of the Internet cafe felt that this was inauspicious, so he called people over to exorcise evil spirits. As a result, an old Taoist came in, but he was scared away. He said that the girl’s resentment hadn’t dissipated with her death and had transformed her into a demon who lives here. Her eyes are evil things, so if you see her in the Internet cafe in the middle of the night, don’t disturb her or make a sound. If she looks at you, you’re done for. Her eyes are cursed, and she’ll follow you for a lifetime—follow you out of the Internet cafe to your home, and no matter what you do, she’ll watch you until she kills you off.”

“Brother Yu,” Ma Xiaoding abruptly approached and mysteriously said, “It seems like the computer she committed suicide at—it’s the one you’re at!” He raised his voice suddenly towards the end!

“……” Song Yu stared at him.

Ma Xiaoding was embarrassed for a moment but recovered and continued, “Do you feel like your shoulders are a lot heavier when you sit at this spot?”

Song Yu’s gaze was indifferent. He sneered, “Not really.”

Ma Xiaoding: “……”

Spiky Hair rubbed his arms, “Forget it, don’t talk about this anymore. It’s making goosebumps appear  all over my body.”

Ma Xiaoding had originally been very interested, but Song Yu’s sneer had shattered his self-esteem to pieces.

Was it really not even the slightest bit scary? He was almost about to scare himself to death! Brother Yu was inhuman!

Ma Xiaoding’s mind went elsewhere, “… Let’s change the topic.”

Spiky Hair nodded in agreement and excitedly looked at Xie Sui, “In fact, I wanted to say just now, in that game, Fairy Path, God Xie, there’s a lot of questions I want to ask you.” He sat up straight, “How come you can get number one in the grade and also be so good at playing games?”

Xie Sui’s lips curved, “Talent?”

Song Yu remembered how he’d asked him how he’d jumped out the window so smoothly and freely and Xie Sui had answered him the same way. He complained, “Why is it that everything is because of talent? Can you change it to something else? How about instinct?”

Xie Sui looked at him and was very easygoing, “Okay, instinct, then.”

Spiky Hair’s eyes continued to sparkle, “God Xie’s operations are so strong. One glance is enough to tell that he’s a big guy. Your main account should be in the rankings, right? What’s it called?”

Xie Sui: “I’ve forgotten.”

Spiky Hair: “How can you forget this?”

Ma Xiaoding grumbled discontentedly from beside him, “When it comes to games, shouldn’t we talk about those idiots we were grouped with? They actually dared to snipe at our Brother Yu; they’re simply tired of living.”

Another boy said, “Hahaha, Brother Yu’s really capable. He has trick after trick when acting like a girl.”

“His cooperation with God Xie was so seamless. They really looked like a loving and caring couple, angering that group of single dogs to death.”

Spiky Hair heard them talking about this topic and laughed, “This kind of love is so obvious. Their game IDs were even couple names. Hey, what were they called?”

Song Yu couldn’t stop laughing. Now that he brought it up again, he’d forgotten their names. He tilted his head and asked, “What were they called?”

Xie Sui laughed despite himself, “Why would I remember this? You think about it.”

“I’ll try.” Song Yu began to frown as he tried to recall them.

Ma Xiaoding said, “That Dragon Under Heaven or something, he’s playing a DPS position and yet his positioning is so bad—what the hell is he playing at? I’m going to curse him to have nightmares tonight, dreaming of that ghost I mentioned living in the cracks in his wall and standing beside him every night to watch him sleep.”

Everyone around him laughed loudly, “Little Brother Ma, I couldn’t tell that you’re actually quite petty.”

But Song Yu wasn’t really paying much attention to their dialogue.

Song Yu recalled that it was actually a very shameful name with kissing involved? Later on, he’d also been influenced by Ma Xiaoding’s ‘hug me’, and the lightbulb finally turned on and he vaguely remembered what it was.

He looked up in the darkness, his eyes as bright as stars.

He suddenly seemed to see the light and whispered, “Can I Kiss You?”

In the dark, the two of them were closest to each other. The teenager’s tone was clear, and his voice was deliberately lowered when he spoke these words.

Like he was whispering a secret, scratching at the heart.

Xie Sui’s brain, which always remained cool and precise, stopped working for a moment.

After understanding what he meant, he couldn’t help but laugh in a low voice. It was deep and magnetic, every sound tempting and stirring.

He curved his lips and chuckled, then leaned over. His voice was just as low as he jokingly replied, “No, you’d better go and clear monsters instead.”

His peach blossom eyes were curved up in a beautiful arc, his smile careless and light.

Song Yu: “……”

Ma Xiaoding was still talking endlessly nearby.

“Dream of a female ghost standing by his bed and using her blue-gray eyes to stare at him, her pupils contracting as she greedily looks at him with evil in her eyes.”

Halfway through, he suddenly glanced around and was shocked for a moment.

On the wooden partition over one meter high was a pair of inhuman eyes.

Blue-gray, with very small pupils.

They were looking at him, appearing particularly eerie and cold in the blacked-out Internet cafe.

“F*ck me! Ahhhh—”

Ma Xiaoding’s brain exploded, his cry roaring through the eardrums.

The atmosphere, which was originally already a bit gloomy, seemed to ignite in a flash. Ma Xiaoding’s cry triggered everyone’s fear, “What is that!” “Ahhhhhh! It won’t be that woman, would it?”

Everyone grouped together in panic and subconsciously looked back. When they lifted their heads and saw that pair of eyes, a wave of ‘ahhhhhh’ cries rang out like the tide.

More shrill screams came out after the dark creature with the reflecting eyes pounced closer. It was unknown which chair was tripped over, but the group collapsed in a heap. Ma Xiaoding retreated one step after another, leaning back and making Song Yu’s chair unstable.

A force pushed Song Yu from behind, causing Song Yu, who was still sulking, to fall forward.

With this push, he tilted his head and his lips were pasted to something a little warm.

“!”

His heart stopped beating for a moment.

The two of them had initially already been particularly close together. Xie Sui had just been chuckling and whispering in his ear.

There was no way to guard against such a kiss in this dark and noisy environment.

Xie Sui froze.

He felt a touch against his lips, the breath that reached his nose carried a light mint flavor.

Song Yu: “!” F*ck! What the hell! Xie Sui told him to go clear monsters, and now it was like he’d gotten embarrassed with anger and forced his way over.

Song Yu hurriedly pushed against Xie Sui’s shoulder, wanting to pull away.

It was just that there was a poignant cat’s crying coming from behind him.

It seemed to be coming their way.

The smile at the corners of Xie Sui’s lips hadn’t yet dispersed. His eyes darkened as he reached out to grasp Song Yu’s waist and avoid the cat, holding him firmly in his arms. Meanwhile, his tongue ‘accidentally’ slid between the lips and teeth that the teenager had parted slightly in surprise, deepening the kiss. The tip of his tongue slid lightly across Song Yu’s sensitive upper lip, causing a strong sense of pressure to spread to his limbs and make him dizzy.

Song Yu was dazed.

Xie Sui held the back of his head. It seemed to be an action meant to avoid the cat, and Xie Sui held him very tightly, the arm around his waist filled with powerful, suffocating strength.

“Meow.” The cat landed on the ground and called out again.

Everyone finally emerged from their panic.

Ma Xiaoding wiped at his sweat, “It turns out that it was just a cat. Goddammit, Laozi was almost scared to death.”

As for Song Yu, he also suddenly came to his senses. He pushed Xie Sui away, his ears burning hot.

Xie Sui licked his lower lip, his expression dangerous.

But Song Yu, who was still in the dark, couldn’t see his expression.

He kept his tone helpless and surprised, laughing, “I didn’t let you kiss, so you sulked and really came over to kiss me?”

Song Yu: “……”

He was going to kill Ma Xiaoding tonight.

That wasn’t right. Song Yu spoke, “… Just now, you…?”

Xie Sui seemed to be amused. He laughed out loud, his tone improper, “In fact, I was lying to you. You can kiss anywhere you want to.”

Sure enough, it tasted like mint.

Maybe this was the real ‘luck in love’.

—

Butter’s Thoughts:
They. Kissed. They. Kissed! They K I S S E D AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
[Butter.exe has crashed from over enthusiasm]

XavierForest’s Thoughts:
Sometimes I wonder if Ma Xiaoding is really Song Yu’s pig teammate or if he’s actually just Xie Sui’s unwitting helper there to help Xie Sui catch his Yuyu
I mean, Xie Sui can just sit there and Yuyu will fall into his arms, whereas Song Yu tends to end up pitted and with Confusion 100
But I guess Xie Sui really does have the luck of a BL novel protagonist~

xiin: ahhhhhhhhhhhh~ *takes a breath* ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!