GRMFBS CH318

—I once had a nightmare.

Have you ever seen a shooting star?

I have.

They fell from the canopy of the sky, one by one, dimming, burning like flames, and quickly extinguishing. The magnificent universe soon lost its color, leaving behind only the pitch-black sky in the end.

That was truly a remarkably dark, remarkably empty scene.

…

In the week before the confession, Gu Jiancheng hesitated for a long time.

At that time, his aftereffects had already been alleviated a lot because of Zhan Yan’s presence, so his brain finally had some spare capacity. And then, his brain readily used all of that spare capacity to think about Zhan Yan.

Logically speaking, he should have tried every possible means to tie Zhan Yan to his side.

In his current situation, if it were any other player suffering from the aftereffects, they would have kept Zhan Yan without hesitation, regardless of the methods used.

But this thought made Gu Jiancheng very resistant. So resistant that he started avoiding Zhan Yan.

As soon as the large afternoon lecture ended, Gu Jiancheng left.

Bao Qingshan packed his things and asked Zhan Yan beside him, “Hey, let’s go eat together… What are you looking at?”

Zhan Yan withdrew his gaze. “Ah… nothing.”

Bao Qingshan’s intuition popped up at an inopportune moment. “Looking at Gu Jiancheng? He definitely won’t eat with us.”

Zhan Yan gave a vague sound of agreement. The direction Gu Jiancheng went was neither the cafeteria nor the commercial street. Was he not planning to eat dinner?

Gu Jiancheng came to the back hillside of the small athletic field.

It was very quiet here with few people coming by, and there were no tall buildings around. Looking up, the sky filled one’s eyes.

His head started hurting again, and he smelled the scent of blood in the gradually cooling night breeze.

Gu Jiancheng subconsciously expanded his shadows, only to realize a moment later that it was just a hallucination.

Tsk.

Having spent so much time with Zhan Yan, he had almost forgotten how to distinguish hallucinations.

Irritating.

Maybe I should kill a few anomalies.

Gu Jiancheng thought this, but he lacked the drive to actually do it.

Instead, Wan Shitong sent him a message first.

Wan Shitong: “Boss, I found the information you asked for.”

Gu Jiancheng flipped through the information while listening to him speak.

Wan Shitong: “…No tracks at all. It’s basically confirmed, he’s just an ordinary person.”

Gu Jiancheng remained silent. He couldn’t say whether he was happy or unhappy in his heart.

Wan Shitong couldn’t hold back and asked, “Boss, why are you investigating him? Is there a problem with him?”

Gu Jiancheng paused for a moment and said vaguely, “You could say that. I need to get close to him.”

Wan Shitong: “Huh? Is it that troublesome?”

Gu Jiancheng froze. “Troublesome?”

Wan Shitong: “Yeah, couldn’t you just use your supernatural powers to handle this kind of thing before? If that doesn’t work on him, then how do you plan to get close, Boss? He’s just an ordinary college student right now; it’s pretty convenient if you guys want to be friends. Need me to help you find an opening?”

Be friends.

Gu Jiancheng hazily felt as if something had split open and illuminated the cluster of confusion in his heart.

Right. There are many kinds of solutions, and many ways to get close.

Why did he only think of confessing, of… becoming lovers?

Gu Jiancheng pressed his chest, feeling his heart beat faster and faster.

So he had actually fallen for Zhan Yan.

Gu Jiancheng didn’t know when he hung up the phone. The irritation and resistance in his heart vanished, leaving behind even more unease and apprehension.

He lay on the ground looking up at the sky. The sky gradually turned dark blue, orange-purple, and then black.

The scent of blood in the wind disappeared. As it blew across his forehead, the pain faded away, leaving a patch of refreshing coolness.

Zhan Yan walked to Gu Jiancheng’s side. “Are you looking at the stars?”

Gu Jiancheng stiffened.

Zhan Yan was already within three meters of him, but he had only just noticed.

“Just looking around.” As soon as he said it, he couldn’t help but want to bite his tongue.

Zhan Yan didn’t mind his coldness. Chunibyo teenagers always liked to act cool.

He sat down beside Gu Jiancheng.

“Sometimes I like coming here too. This is the best place in the school to look at the starry sky.”

Gu Jiancheng: “Do you come often?”

Zhan Yan: “No. I’ve only been here a few times.”

Gu Jiancheng: “You like the starry sky?”

Zhan Yan looked up at the night sky. “Hmm… how should I put it? Sometimes I’m afraid of the starry sky, but sometimes I can’t help wanting to look.”

He pulled a Choco Pie out of his pocket.

“Want to eat?”

Gu Jiancheng turned his head to look at him.

Zhan Yan sat on the grass, one arm hugging his knees, the other hand offering him the Choco Pie. As he looked up at the night sky, his eyes reflecting the stars, there was an indescribable… tranquility and loneliness.

“I like you,” Gu Jiancheng blurted out.

Zhan Yan turned to look at him, his gaze brimming with surprise.

…

Zhan Yan nestled in the giant seashell sofa of the underwater hotel, tore open a Choco Pie, and remembered the day Gu Jiancheng confessed. “Ah, right. I saw you didn’t eat that day, so I just bought it at the supermarket.”

He took a bite of the Choco Pie and couldn’t help laughing as he lowered his head. “At that time, I thought you were so weird. Hot and cold.”

Gu Jiancheng’s ears turned red. “I was terrible.”

Zhan Yan nonchalantly swallowed the Choco Pie, still without looking up. “I just… when I looked into your eyes, I couldn’t refuse.”

Gu Jiancheng also kept his head down, blushing.

“At that time… I always felt my intentions weren’t pure enough.”

Gu Jiancheng’s love for Zhan Yan began out of need.

This made him always feel he wasn’t good enough in the beginning. He had never been in a relationship and didn’t know what to do, so he could only be clingy. Wherever Zhan Yan wanted to go, he had to accompany him; whatever Zhan Yan wanted to do, he had to help. He wanted to give him everything, wanted to do everything for him, trying his best to treat him well in this way.

Zhan Yan remembered the feel of that giant waterbed from last night and snorted. “Your intentions aren’t pure now either.”

Gu Jiancheng stumbled over his words. “…I didn’t mean that.”

Zhan Yan: “Then what did you mean?”

Gu Jiancheng confessed as if pleading guilty.

Zhan Yan was very curious. “Then how did you figure it out later?”

Gu Jiancheng: “I had a dream.”

The dream was in a place like a tribunal, yet also like the Sea of Shadows.

All the shadows he had accumulated in the past towered high, looking down at him mockingly.

Even if they didn’t say anything, Gu Jiancheng still heard it.

They were asking:Are you doing this to resolve your aftereffects, or do you truly like him?

But the emotion that surged in the dream wasn’t guilt or evasion.

He looked at the shadows and felt his anger slowly subside.

Gu Jiancheng said, “I told them: ‘He makes me feel that being ordinary is a kind of happiness.'”

Now Zhan Yan’s entire face turned red.

Gu Jiancheng asked, “What about you?”

Zhan Yan: “What?”

Gu Jiancheng leaned over persistently. “I have no more secrets from you. Do you still like me?”

He knew Yan Yan was very curious about him; during their first year together, Yan Yan loved digging up his secrets.

Zhan Yan’s love for Gu Jiancheng began out of curiosity.

Zhan Yan couldn’t do anything about him. Cupping his face, he said, “Love makes me forever look forward to a future together with you.”

Gu Jiancheng: “How much are you looking forward to it?”

Zhan Yan pursed his lips and smiled. “Love is knowing that you’re going to kiss me in the next second, and yet I still really look forward to that kiss.”

Fish swished their tails leisurely behind the glass curtain wall, and two shadows slowly drew closer.

—Shooting stars cannot grant wishes.
I look at them and cannot help but pray.
Don’t fall anymore.
Among the falling stars, the only star that refuses to die.
Rush toward me, and grant my prayer.
It has been a long time since I looked at the starry sky.
The starry sky no longer makes me afraid.

—

For advanced chapters, visit our Patreon page.