Chapter 54: Mastermo's forced confession

"If I wanted A-Zhi to marry me, would you?"

When Zhihao looked at Li Ling, wide-eyed, he couldn't know if the man was joking around or was he actually serious?

"..."

Li Ling looked at Zhihao's shocked face that resembled a pufferfish and he couldn't help but break out laughing, this man was very fun to tease, although, Li Ling wasn't exactly teasing.

Zhihao frowned as he saw the man laughing at him and his instincts made him want to wipe that laugh off of Li Ling's face.

"I wouldn't mind."

"..."

It was Li Ling's turn to choke on empty air. He looked at Zhihao who nonchalantly took a sip of water.

Li Ling suddenly found that this man was very dangerous for his heart. The worst part of it was that Li Ling wasn't looking forward to getting rid of this heart-hazardous person.

When Zhihao saw Li Ling's expression, he wanted to laugh and felt proud of himself, he had successfully changed the position of the bully and the victim, or at least he thought he had.

"A-Zhi is ready to marry me?" Li Ling questioned.

Zhihao nodded with a half-suppressed smile, "If it's Li Ling, I wouldn't mind getting married to you."

Li Ling knew that Zhihao was joking, not even one sentence of what he said was the truth but Zhihao saying it still made Li Ling's heart float up to cloud 9.

Li Ling decided to showcase his great acting skills as he frowned, "But I don't think Mastermo wants to make Bu Hui jealous."

The roles had been switched once again and like a ball that was being passed between them, it was Zhihao's turn to be shocked and embarrassed. His ears turned bright red and he choked on the water he was drinking.

"W-What?!"

Li Ling smirked, "I think I know Mastermo better than he knows himself."

Zhihao looked at the man with pure shock apparent on his face and his ears bright red like red wine.

Li Ling leaned in closer, resting his chin on his cupped hands, "A-Zhi likes Bu Hui, don't you?"

"..."

Zhihao looked at the man with an undecipherable expression as if he had been found out yet he hadn't known it himself that he was guilty of such a thing.

"D-Definitely not!" Zhihao stuttered and that stutter was all it took to make Li Ling chuckle at the man.

"Why are you trying to hide it?" Li Ling questioned, not bothering to hide his amusement.

Zhihao's blood that had collected near his ears started to slightly spread towards his cheeks as he replayed the words Li Ling had said.

He was innocent! He had never thought of such things!

"You got me wrong. I admire him but that's it. I like him as an idol. I don't like him like that." Zhihao tried his utmost best to defend himself but to no avail. The more he tried to defend himself the more it looked like he was guilty.

Li Ling was enjoying it thoroughly as he tried to hold his laugh and continue teasing the man.

"So A-Zhi likes him like an idol?"

"Yes! He's my idol!"

Li Ling, "But I thought, A-Zhi didn't want to compare yourself to him? Aren't idol's supposed to be something you compare yourself and try to be like?"

"..."

Li Ling, "What are you afraid of? It's just us here, you can tell me, I won't tell anyone."

At least not someone who wasn't the subject of the conversation.

Zhihao was speechless as he looked down at his fiddling fingers. Why the hell were his fingers fiddling?! He wasn't guilty of the accused action! He really wasn't!

Zhihao felt like if he denied it, the lie would become the truth but the truth didn't work like that. The more you lie, the more apparent the truth becomes.

"I'm being honest, I don't have such feeling towards him. I hardly know him."

"..."

Li Ling wanted to refute but he couldn't do it openly so he leaned in closer and looked at the man with unhidden interest, "Does A-Zhi know what love is?"

"Of course I do!"

"What is it?"

"..." Zhihao didn't know why but when he thought of the answer, he felt like saying it out loud would just be like asking people to make fun of him and call him a gaming nerd.

Li Ling, "I'd love to hear what love is for Mastermo."

Zhihao, "It's that feeling you get when you get excited over even the mention of that someone, you start feeling your heart race and you can't stop thinking about them. You are a bit possessive over them but if others appreciate them, you are naturally happy for them. You can't wait to meet them and if you can't see them, you keep remembering them and talk to everyone about them."

Zhihao was intelligent. He had actually explained his feelings for games and instead of saying games he had replaced the words with a person. Zhihao felt like he was a genius.

When Li Ling heard Zhihao's wholehearted reply—he knew the man was talking about games but Li Ling had no intentions of calling the man out.

"I see" Li Ling laughed.

"Why are you laughing?"

"I'm just laughing at how oblivious A-Zhi is."

"What do you mean?" Zhihao sounded a bit offended. He had loved games so naturally, his answer should have been a perfect explanation of a feeling called love. In fact, it was.

"You just explain your feelings for Bu Hui."

"..."

Zhihao thought back to his answer.

Damn... It really was so.

Feeling excited over a mere mention of the person?

The enthusiastic look in Zhihao's eyes whenever the Gamemaster was mentioned could be noticed by a mere five-year-old kid.

Your heart races and you can't stop thinking about them?

If a day went by without Zhihao complimenting Bu Hui, his day would go incomplete.

Possessive over them?

Was it not Zhihao who declared that he wanted to kill the gamemaster so that other players cannot?

Feel happy when others appreciate the person?

Wasn't that the reason why Zhihao liked the player they recently met, Kaoru?

Can't wait to meet them? Telling everyone about them?

Damn...

It had summed up everything Zhihao felt for the gamemaster and the realization shocked Zhihao. What Zhihao didn't notice was that these were also the feelings he felt towards Li Ling; if he had noticed them this early, things wouldn't have been as interesting as they had ended up becoming.

Li Ling saw Zhihao's face changing colors and expression, from the realization, to the panic, to the embarrassment, to the everything, and he was enjoying himself as he took in all the changes that went through Zhihao's face.

"I love... Bu Hui?!" Zhihao was shocked at himself.

"It seems you do." Li Ling smiled, he didn't know why but he felt a little jealous, although him being jealous was quite pathetic. But he was sitting in front of the man and the man had fallen in love with someone whom he had hardly met, the jealousy was a bit justified.

Zhihao was in a crisis as he suddenly came to the heart-shaking realization. This was too fast. It was hard for him to believe. He thought he liked Bu Hui only because of the game but now that he thought about it deeper, he found that he just liked the gamemaster for some incomprehensible reason that he was yet to figure out.

A moment ago, Zhihao's stomach was filled to the point that he felt like he'll puke if he ate something more but magically, he had forgotten all about his filled stomach and felt very thirsty as he took the glass of water and chugged it down like alcohol.

"Do you want me to order you some alcohol? A few shots to Mastermo realizing that he's in love." Li Ling was teasing Zhihao but when he saw Zhihao's face, he felt a bit of pity for the man.

For Li Ling, he had always known what love was and whom he loved. It was so clear that there was no process where he needed time to accept his feelings but Zhihao was different. He had only ever been interested in gaming so it was normal for him to have this feeling of shock and finding it hard to accept his own feelings. Li Ling wondered what Zhihao was feeling, what was the process of coming to terms with the fact that you have a crush?

Zhihao was really not looking good. How could he? He felt like his soul was shocked out from his body and was ready to cross the yellow river¹.

How could he not know?! Just how stupid was he?!

It was easy for Zhihao to accept the fact that he had a crush on the gamemaster but it was difficult for him to understand why it was so difficult for him to understand. How could he not know? Why did he need someone else pointing it out for him?

Zhihao had a lot of questions but one question stood out from the rest.

The most important question.

What was he supposed to do now???

Zhihao suddenly felt his consciousness split into two or maybe even more. One part was still recovering from the shock, one part was embarrassed and wanted the ground to swallow him up, one was cursing himself for being so stupid, the other was panicking over the situation and the last part of him was feeling pity for himself.

Even if he had a crush on the gamemaster—even if he realized he had a crush on the gamemaster, what was he supposed to do with it?!

Bu Hui was already on top of a pedestal and even getting to catch a glimpse of him was like the heavens being generous.

Mastermo's first love was hopeless! He was going to become a joke forever with people laughing at him and feeling pity for him. He had to hide it! He had to hide these feelings deep within! It was not too late!

"Is A-Zhi planning on how to propose to Bu Hui?" Li Ling teased a bit more, he felt pity for the man but he was having way too much fun.

Zhihao looked up sharply, "Don't tell anyone!"

"Huh?"

"I can't have anyone finding this out! Especially Bu Hui! He must never find out."

"..."

Zhihao was a bit late wanting to hide it from Bu Hui.

Li Ling smiled, "I won't tell anyone. It's a secret between us."

Of course, this didn't mean that no one will find out because just as Li Ling had noticed it, others would soon follow and see through Zhihao. It was only a matter of time before everyone knew but if Zhihao felt reassured right now, Li Ling would not want to break that.

"But" Li Ling straightened out his back, "What are you going to do now?"

"Nothing" It didn't take long for Zhihao to answer the question.

"What do you mean nothing? Aren't you going to chase after him?"

"Nope." Zhihao shook his head and didn't notice the disbelief in Li Ling's face.

"But why?"

Zhihao sighed, feeling a bit sad as he answered, "I can't so I won't."

"Why can't you?"

"Putting the fact that I'm not qualified enough aside, even if I wanted to chase after him, how can I do that when I've only met the man once?"

Li Ling frowned, ignoring the latter and focusing on the former, "What do you mean you're not qualified? I feel offended."

"It is what it is. I can't compare to that man. It would be a miracle if he even knows my name."

Zhihao was too humble and under-confident. Who in the world didn't know his name?

Li Ling wanted to scream at Zhihao. Bu Hui was also human! He wasn't an untouchable God!

"I don't like you talking about yourself like that. I have looked up to Mastermo for all my life, just like you can't let dirt touch your idol, I can't let you depreciate yourself like this."

Zhihao would sometimes get so comfortable around Li Ling that he would forget that this man was his long time fan. To have your idol trash talk about himself—if Bu Hui did something like that, Zhihao would go crazy mad.

"Then what do you want me to do?"

Li Ling was confident when he answered, "Chase after him!"