Life Going Wild With Plug-ins

Chapter 58

[Extra] 58 - Ye Lan x Ye Xiao - «Daytime Sleep» 05

Gui Mao had never felt so vile before.

Every day he speculated was the day Bing Xu would die, but every day when he came out of the training grounds he would see Bing Xu waiting for him. He had always thought Bing Xu was slow and wooden, but now he would sometimes even trouble Bing Xu to help him treat his wounds.

Bing Xu lay next to him peacefully, he gazed at the side of his face for a long time and asked: “Gui Mao, what are you thinking about?”

Gui Mao lifted his left hand, placing his forearm in front of his eyes to block the light: “I’m thinking about when you will die.”

Bing Xu paused, looking like he was trying really hard to understand the meaning of those words, and once he understood, asked again: “What will happen when I die?”

Gui Mao: “Nothing happens when you die.”

According to his expectations, Bing Xu wouldn’t be able to survive a month in the Nightrunner. But he not only endured the tests and survived, he also became more stable day after day. These past few days, when he pushed open the door and was able to see Bing Xu as he came out, he actually felt somewhat that it was naturally as it should be. Not good, this was actually a huge terrible omen.

“How annoying…..” Gui Mao turned his back and muttered, “What am I going to do if I get used to it?”

The scorching hot and bitter cold weather were the most intense training periods at the Nightrunner for strengthening endurance. Training during the Spring and Autumn seasons, though still intensive, could still be considered regular, but going into the hottest summer days and the coldest winter days1 , there would be no rest to speak of.

The Gobi desert during the Summer Solstice, and the snow-capped mountains during the Winter Solstice, every year the Nighrunner would make a round trip during those times and migrate twice.

Every day at midnight, everyone is ordered to take the daily dose of poison, then rush to the next meeting point on foot where the antidote is distributed at midnight the next day, as well as a new dose of poison. If they can’t arrive on time, the poison will kill them. They are not allowed to ride horses, and are not allowed to use tools to assist them, and those who disobey are beheaded without mercy.

They would travel three hundred li in one day, and were not allowed a single moment to breathe.

Everyone finished getting ready, the daily itinerary and relevant arrangements were explained to them, the inventory was checked and the poison distributed, so they exited the tall walls in a methodically arranged line. A whistle rang out, and their silent colleagues departed like arrows being let loose, melting into the moonlight.

Bing Xu saw that the people by his side had disappeared and, finding it very strange, he stealthily tugged at him and asked: “Gui Mao? Are we….. free?”

Gui Mao’s heart stirred, and he said in amazement: “Free? You also know this word?”

“I don’t like those small black rooms, I don’t like that they grab you and shut you in, I don’t like that they leave wounds on your body…..” Bing Xu carefully and prudently looked at him, and seeing that Gui Mao kept silent, he asked again: “Did I say something wrong?”

Even the fool was not resigned to it, and he could also think about resisting….. Gui Mao laughed at himself, he was actually completely resigned to his fate, and he never considered there would be a day when he would leave the Nightrunner and not listen to orders.

“That day won’t come. This word, ‘freedom’, it would be better for you to forget it.” Gui Mao sighed and rubbed his head. Bing Xu meekly enjoyed it and nodded: “Okay.”

“We don’t have time to chat, follow me.” Gui Mao blew away the hair from his face, and waved at him, “I can’t wait for you, if you can’t catch up to me I will abandon you.”

He acknowledged that he’d already wasted enough time, so he didn’t look back after he finished speaking and sped away first. He hadn’t run a few steps when, suddenly, he felt Bing Xu bumping against him from behind, hugging him and causing Gui Mao to miss his step as they tumbled to the ground together.

Bing Xu hugged him tightly and said: “I caught you. Don’t….. don’t abandon me.”

Gui Mao angrily poked his forehead: “…..fuck. Idiot, I didn’t tell you to catch up to me like this.”

Bing Xu blankly loosened his grasp, his expression still panicked.

Gui Mao struggled out of his embrace and stood back up, feeling a slight stab of pain on his left foot. He loosely moved the joit around, discovering it was slightly sprained, but fortunately there was only a little pain, and since he was used to hurrying along the way before he didn’t consider this a major problem.

“Sigh, I won’t leave you I won’t leave you, it’s important that we hurry up, let’s go.” Gui Mao pulled him up and, after taking a lot of trouble to console him, held his face and pulled at the corners of his mouth, “This your the first time coming out to play, cheer up.”

Hearing this, Bing Xu smiled stupidly.

Once they stepped foot onto the road, he didn’t have the strength to tease him anymore. They avoided towns and rushed madly through forests for a number of days, the previous few days could be considered regular, and they could still easily and skilfully rush to the meeting point. But a few days afterwards, Gui Mao became visibly more weary and his strength was increasingly bad, this was related to that small pain from his left ankle, which had expanded and gradually began to hinder his journey.

Although the injury was not serious at first, these few days of of forcefully exerting his strength had actually worsened it.

On the night of the sixth day, as they followed along the Luoshui river, Gui Mao was forced to stop walking and lean on a tree trunk to take a breather. He calculated the time, and knew he wouldn’t be able to arrive on time today.

Bing Xu was unable to control the inertia of his starting and stopping, so he accidentally went too far away, but he returned to his senses and turned back.

“Do you know the way?” Before Bing Xu approached, Gui Mao opened his mouth to ask.

Bing Xu seriously thought about it and said: “It seems to be following the river.”

“You remember….. that’s good.” Gui Mao nodded and simply leaned against the tree trunk and sat down, then turning to him and waving, “Then, you go first.”

Bing Xu: “Go where?”

Gui Mao: “Go to the meeting point.”

Bing Xu asked again: “And then?”

Gui Mao could only say: “Grab a new map, and hurry to the next meeting point, until you reach the destination.”

Bing Xu went on with the questions: “What’s in there?”

Gui Mao was already utterly exhausted, so he closed his eyes as he leaned against the tree and said: “There will be a barren desert. This next time there won’t be any of those small black rooms you hate, you only have to soak up the sun, look at the eagles….. maybe you’ll like it.”

Bing Xu quietly asked: “Will you be there?”

Gui Mao choked up.

Bing Xu crouched by his side, hugging his knees and stating: “If you won’t be there, I won’t go.”

Gui Mao watched as time passed little by little, and his heart felt very anxious, so he urged: “I won’t be able to always watch over you for a lifetime, sooner or later we’ll have to separate. Go quickly.”

Bing Xu drily refused: “I won’t go.”

“You…..” Gui Mao felt sick at heart, he was only thirteen or fourteen years old and still had a long life ahead of him, there was no need for Bing Xu to accompany him to his death like this. So he put on a soft voice and cajoled him: “As long as you keep thinking about me, I’ll come look for you in your dreams.”

“Huh?” Bing Xu opened his eyes wide as he asked, “So the one I see every night….. is really you?”

Gui Mao’s face got a little red as he thought, wow you’re really always dreaming about me, but on the outside he hurriedly agreed: “It’s me it’s me. That’s why you don’t need to worry if you don’t see me during the day, I’ll come look for you at night.”

Gui Mao calculated there wasn’t much time left, so he urged him again a few more times.

Bing Xu nodded, and got up to leave.

“Wait.” Gui Mao suddenly said.

Bing Xu turned his head to look at him, confused, and Gui Mao raised his hand to wave at him: “Come here, stand closer. Lower your head…. a little closer.” Bing Xu listened to him and leaned over, Gui Mao gently stroked the nape of his neck and pushed him down, pressing his dry lips against Bing Xu’s warm lips. These past few days they had been weary from travelling, and the weather was extremely hot, so both their lips were already cracked and the feeling was not delicate at all. Gui Mao couldn’t help but stick out the tip of his tongue to wet Bing Xu’s lips a little bit, until they were moist again.

Gui Mao released him, and Bing Xu still had on a confused expression.

“…..You don’t understand.” Gui Mao gave a tired smile, and pushed him away as though relieved from a heavy burden, “Then that’s even better….. alright, you should go now.”

“Okay.” Bing Xu obediently agreed, turned around, and left.

Gui Mao saw that person off as the sound of his walking got farther and farther apart, until at last it faded away. Then, he turned his sight to the other bank of the river. There was a small village there, with candle lights burning sporadically. Across the water, there was the world of ordinary people, with a few river lanterns floating along the river, drifting along the waves.

Not long after, fireworks were set off, and he could hear the infrequent sound of firecrackers.

Is today a holiday? Or, is there some sort of celebration?

Gui Mao thought deeply for a time, but he didn’t have a single impression about it from his poor general knowledge. He wanted to go to the opposite bank to ask about it, but he already didn’t have the strength to stand up. He had less than two sichen left to live, so he should cherish it properly and take one last look at the human world. But he only felt tired, he was not reluctant to leave. Gui Mao lay down in the underbrush, facing the direction Bing Xu left towards, and followed a firefly around as he gradually fell asleep.