Linbiangui Village-Infinite Streaming Chapter 31

Opening Up

Steaming mist floated in the bathhouse stall, blurring vision. Someone had turned on the showerhead, and both men were now soaked.

The dull ache, as if a road roller had passed over his entire body, had not yet dissipated. Chen Jin used one hand to brace himself on the floor, wobbling as he stood up. His whole body was stiff, uncomfortable, and unbearably itchy, making it impossible to stand steady.

The next second, Chen Jin’s back slammed heavily against the slick floor tiles. Stiffness and dull pain ground from his tailbone all the way up to his cervical spine, making him feel as if he had been poured into a concrete mold. He tried to curl his upper body but found his torso was beyond his control. Only his sweat glands opened wide, letting all the heat seep out through his pores little by little.

“Don’t move!” Wu Zeng frowned, immediately pulling up Chen Jin’s shirt. The pendant ceiling light suddenly swayed violently, and the two shadows on the floor overlapped and intertwined. Under the faint yellow light, white cocoon netting crawled across Chen Jin’s chest. The crystalline fine threads had already pierced his epidermis, growing through his flesh like roots burrowing into the soil, weaving a dense, tight web.

“What are you doing!” Chen Jin hurriedly pulled his shirt back down, his shoulders stiffly retreating from Wu Zeng’s hands, which hadn’t yet been withdrawn. He deliberately avoided the other man’s concerned gaze.

Chen Jin didn’t know how much he could trust the person in front of him. Every time, Wu Zeng managed to enter his heart with an intimate and caring attitude, yet behind it lay a greater secret. Chen Jin was starting to feel weary.

Wu Zeng looked at Chen Jin’s defensive posture and sighed. He then pulled out the blood-stained dagger—the small knife used against Sister Li—and wiped it back and forth on his own clothes twice to remove the residual blood. The sharp blade reflected the crimson in his eyes as it scraped against his garment: “This is the fifth time, isn’t it?”

Chen Jin did not reply.

Wu Zeng wasn’t annoyed. He raised his hand and used the blade to slice open the blue vein on his wrist. Without a word, he grabbed Chen Jin’s ankle and pulled him back. Chen Jin’s shirt was pulled open again, and the blood from Wu Zeng’s wrist dripped directly onto the tightly woven cocoon net. When the white silk threads touched the blood, they turned red and then black, as if scorched by fire, but eventually faded to a flesh color, blending seamlessly with the surrounding skin and muscle texture.

Wu Zeng’s wound began to heal less than three seconds after it was cut. The speed of recovery was visible to the naked eye. To ensure the blood fully soaked the white cocoon covering Chen Jin, Wu Zeng had to repeatedly cut himself with the dagger, keeping the wound constantly open.

“Why…” Wu Zeng’s blood, like the man himself, was icy cold, only causing numbness when it dripped onto the skin. Chen Jin shivered when the blood drops landed. He instinctively reached out, wanting to stop Wu Zeng’s self-mutilating action.

Wu Zeng’s white shirt, soaked with water, clung to his spine. Sweat seemed to be seeping from his forehead, leaving him dripping wet. His lip had been injured in the explosion just now, but the wound had already healed, leaving bloodstains on his face. He managed a slightly embarrassed chuckle, “It hurts more if I let it close up before cutting it again.”

Chen Jin withdrew his hand.

The effect of Wu Zeng’s blood was immediate. Soon, Chen Jin noticed the stiffness in his body disappearing. The white cocoon still existed, but the dense threads had become a woven mesh of muscle fibers, completely integrated with his skin, which was now smooth as before.

Wu Zeng put away the knife, his eyes lowered, but the depths of his gaze were blood-red. He ran his fingertip along the pattern of the cocoon threads on Chen Jin’s body, his movements gentle, as if touching fragile porcelain. “No matter what happens in the future, we can never go to the boundary again.”

“What exactly are you talking about?!” Chen Jin violently slapped his hand away. “Ugh…”

Wu Zeng’s blood-stained palm suddenly clamped firmly onto the back of Chen Jin’s neck, and his forehead pressed against Chen Jin’s, making it impossible to move. The next second, a familiar sensation covered him. The coolness of mint, mixed with the metallic tang of blood from the corner of Wu Zeng’s mouth, assaulted him. Wu Zeng pried open Chen Jin’s tightly sealed lips, mixing the bloody scent and a whisper into a damp kiss.

One breath given, one breath taken away. Chen Jin felt suffocated and frantically tilted his head back, attempting to gasp for air. Unexpectedly, this played right into Wu Zeng’s hands. He lifted the back of Chen Jin’s neck, and water slowly trickled down the corners of their mouths.

“I’ll tell you everything.” After an unknown amount of time, Wu Zeng slowly pulled away. Chen Jin slumped in Wu Zeng’s arms. The other man leaned down and placed a light kiss on his lips. “I will never harm you.”

Outside the bathhouse, the noon bell rang from the Mengle Village Mountain God Temple.

The rustling sound of water from the showerhead filled the room. Steam fogged Chen Jin’s glasses. He took them off to wipe them, catching a glimpse of Wu Zeng’s wrist in his peripheral vision—the skin was smooth and flawless.

Memories of Wu Zeng’s past suddenly flashed through his mind, fragments of light playing out like a revolving lantern: the mountain floods, famine, wars, and domestic trifles encountered years ago; the hand-in-hand journey, shared hardships, and genuine feelings buried deep in their hearts since they met. Each incident, each event, narrated Wu Zeng’s experiences and emotions, every frame shadowed by gloom.

Chen Jin was momentarily dazed. Then, his throat bobbed, and the moisture gathered on his eyelashes suddenly dropped. “You, like Uncle A Dong, are…”

“A bit more powerful than him.” Wu Zeng’s voice, wrapped in mist, cut through the air. The faint yellow light spread across his face, and his dark pupils surprisingly shone with a strange golden hue. He suddenly reached out to touch Chen Jin’s cheek. Chen Jin instinctively recoiled but found his retreat blocked by Wu Zeng. The back of his head firmly hit Wu Zeng’s cold palm.

Chen Jin had nowhere to go. His muscles involuntarily tensed, and his heartbeat pounded in his ears through his chest cavity. He turned his head away, his voice trembling slightly. “Why did you hide the fact that I wasn’t poisoned from me?”

Wu Zeng didn’t answer. Chen Jin pushed Wu Zeng away. “If you didn’t trust me, why bother explaining so much now?”

“I was afraid,” Wu Zeng suddenly spoke. He grabbed Chen Jin’s wrist and pressed him against the wall. “Afraid that if I played the ‘not human’ card, you wouldn’t stay by my side.”

Chen Jin’s back pressed against the slick wall. The icy sensation instantly swept over his entire body.

Wu Zeng stripped off his shirt with one hand, revealing his muscular body. His abdominal lines were smooth and defined, glistening under the running water. Only the words “Chen Jin” covering his torso seeped a chilling, bloody light, as if they were consuming the body of their owner.

“I’ve been dead for too long, so long that I’ve forgotten what exactly I was holding onto.” Wu Zeng held Chen Jin’s wrist, guiding his hand to trace the words on his body, finally resting it on his left chest—beneath it was utter silence.

No heartbeat…

The icy skin greedily drew warmth from Chen Jin. “But it wasn’t until we met again on the bus that I remembered.”

“This isn’t the first time we’ve met,” Wu Zeng continued, a smile playing on his lips. “When you were little, you were always causing trouble—accidentally breaking the leg off someone’s Ultraman, secretly adding vinegar essence to your dad’s chicken soup, letting the air out of the neighbor’s tires. Such a little tyrant, afraid of nothing when you were a kid…”

Chen Jin’s Adam’s apple bobbed. He stiffened his neck and said coldly, “Who knows if you have ulterior motives?”

“Don’t you know why I approached you?” Wu Zeng interrupted him, leaning closer until their noses touched. “You’re so smart, aren’t you just pretending to be confused when you know the truth?”

Yes, after so much time together, with the foreknowledge of the Infinite World, the ice-cold temperature of his body, and his rapid self-healing after injury—how could Chen Jin not have noticed all the strange things?

He had simply chosen to look away, choosing self-deception.

Chen Jin’s pupils suddenly contracted. He violently pushed Wu Zeng away, intending to bolt for the door. Wu Zeng forcefully grabbed Chen Jin and pulled him back into his embrace.

“Are you crazy!” Chen Jin kicked him in the shin, struggling and resisting with his whole body.

Wu Zeng held Chen Jin tightly. Suddenly, the sound of a strong heartbeat reached his ears. “Chen Jin, I like you.”

There was a heartbeat…

Chen Jin’s face instantly flushed crimson. He stopped all movement as if electrocuted. He felt like a suckling pig shackled over a fire, hot all over and uncomfortable everywhere. “We’re in this hellhole, what good is saying you like me!”

“I will help you get out.”

“Talk about it when we’re out!”

“Then do you like me too?”

“I didn’t say that!”

“You didn’t deny it either.”

“Bullshit!”

“Xiao Jin, breaking the Infinite World will earn a reward.” Wu Zeng chuckled softly, then suddenly cupped Chen Jin’s face and said solemnly, “Whatever you want, I will give it to you.”

“I want to leave right now, can you do that?!” Chen Jin broke free from his restraint.

“Let’s go.” Wu Zeng took Chen Jin’s hand and walked straight to the stall door.

The moment the door opened, that low, hoarse voice came again, “Since you’ve come, you must understand everything before you can leave.”

The next second, Chen Jin felt the world spin, and then he remembered nothing more.

When he opened his eyes again, he was back on the small bed in the Guesthouse. The room looked as if it had been freshly painted, the walls white and smooth—except this room didn’t seem to belong to him.

Chen Jin sat up in bed, taking a while to fully awaken from the confusion. He opened his sore eyes. The pain in his body had slowly faded, and he was wearing clean, refreshing clothes—though these clothes also didn’t seem to belong to him.

Chen Jin reached inside his shirt. He could no longer feel the stiff cocooning material, confirming that the previous experience was not an illusion.

“What’s wrong?” Wu Zeng’s voice suddenly came from behind him. “Not used to wearing your boyfriend’s clothes?”

The word “boyfriend” hit Chen Jin like an electric shock, a bolt from the blue. He violently threw off the blanket and got out of bed. “What nonsense are you talking about? I’m leaving!”

After getting out of bed, he suddenly realized he was wearing nothing underneath.

“I forgot to tell you, my underwear is too big. It kept falling off, so I didn’t put any on you,” Wu Zeng added leisurely.

Chen Jin grabbed the floral bedsheet, quickly wrapping and tying it around his waist. Then, he turned around expressionlessly. “Come here for a second.”

“Hmm?” Wu Zeng smiled and approached.

*Thwack!* Chen Jin punched Wu Zeng squarely in the right eye.