They Are Very Hospitable (14)
He lowered his head and leaned in toward Chen Li again, just like in a slaughterhouse. Only this time, there were no walls and no corners to trap him—so he simply reached out and pulled Chen Li into his arms.
His breath brushed intimately against the side of Chen Li’s neck. “Don’t forget—you still owe me one request.”
Chen Li nervously tilted his head up, not realizing that doing so only exposed his weakness even more. “Help me again, please.”
A sudden sense of disappointment welled up in his heart, but he also understood—this man had no obligation to take responsibility for his useless compassion. Helping others like that would only draw hatred from the villagers.
With Fu Moyang’s strength, he could easily survive to the end on his own.
Chen Li had his own set of principles. While he couldn’t bring himself to sacrifice everything for the sake of righteousness, he still wanted to do whatever little he could—these were real, living people, after all.
If he could truly remain indifferent, he’d feel he’d betrayed all the socialist values he’d been taught since childhood.
Fu Moyang lowered his silver-grey eyes, and in them was the reflection of the young man before him.
Kindness was the least needed thing in Horror Game.
It was also what the ghost sneered at the most.
But this lamb belonged to the ghost. He was the one the ghost had found and decided to claim.
With overwhelming strength, all rules became meaningless.
A lamb raised by a ghost could keep all his beautiful qualities. He could stay naive and pure, as long as he remained by the ghost’s side.
But the ghost was a greedy creature. He always wanted to collect interest in advance.
Fu Moyang suddenly raised his hand and covered Chen Li’s clear, childlike eyes.
As darkness fell over him, bringing confusion and fear of the unknown, Chen Li blinked nervously—but didn’t resist. He obediently let the man cover his eyes.
His lashes brushed softly against Fu Moyang’s palm, tickling slightly—but not even a fraction as much as the feeling in his heart.
Fu Moyang had to use all his willpower to stop himself from biting the back of the little lamb’s neck and carrying him off to his den, where no one else could see him.
He lowered his head gently.
Something soft landed on Chen Li’s graceful neck, making him tremble involuntarily.
W-what was that?
The kiss was fast and light, yet it carried endless longing and tenderness. A tingling numbness spread through his whole body.
Chen Li’s face flushed red, and his legs nearly gave out.
Before he could even process what had just happened, the man had already released him, once again returning to his mysterious and unreadable self under the moonlight.
Chen Li’s animal instincts stopped him from questioning it. He just timidly asked, “Can you help me now?”
“Of course.” How could he bear to refuse any request from his little lamb? “But now you owe me twice. The next time I ask for something, you’re not allowed to refuse.”
What exactly did he want?
Chen Li felt a little nervous. “As long as it doesn’t break the law…”
He probably just wanted NPC points. Other than that, Chen Li had nothing worth coveting.
Fu Moyang nodded, his meaning unreadable. “Naturally.”
The ghost was slowly eroding the boy’s will, expanding and blending their interactions, until one day, he would consume him entirely.
A breeze passed, and the moon finally emerged from behind the clouds, illuminating the small riverside where they stood.
Chen Li sneaked a glance at the man.
He stood tall, his gaze open and upright.
Was that soft sensation from earlier just his imagination?
He didn’t look like someone who had done anything.
The redness on Chen Li’s face slowly faded away.
But on the side he couldn’t see, Fu Moyang’s right hand was tightly clenched into a fist. Black veins extended from his upper arm down to his fingertips as he struggled to suppress the overwhelming desire churning inside him.
The kiss wasn’t even enough to be considered an appetizer, yet it almost drove him insane. The taste of the little lamb was simply too wonderful.
Fu Moyang lightly tapped his canine tooth with the tip of his tongue, showing a hint of rebelliousness. “Let’s go. I’ll take you somewhere to hide for the night.”
They couldn’t go back to the small courtyard.
He walked ahead at a pace just fast enough for Chen Li to follow.
Chen Li asked, “Where are we hiding?”
The question caught Fu Moyang off guard, and he stopped in his tracks.
Before getting bored and entering this game, he was a powerful ghost, and even after entering the game, he became the top-ranked human player with little effort.
Regardless of his identity, he stood at the peak of power, and he had never considered how to “hide” before.
Seeing him stop, Chen Li, ever perceptive, said, “I have an idea.”
His tone brightened, tinged with a little self-satisfaction.
“What idea?” Fu Moyang asked, following his lead, a subtle tenderness in his eyes.
“The ghost bus,” Chen Li whispered.
He wasn’t sure if this loophole would work, but thinking of that bus, he had an instinct that it wouldn’t harm him. Maybe it would even protect him.
Fu Moyang’s expression became difficult to read. That pink thing?
He didn’t really want to go up.
Chen Li, unaware of the slight disdain, felt more and more that this idea might work. His eyes lit up. “Let’s go see.”
Fu Moyang looked down at him for a few seconds, and the bit of resistance in him disappeared as he gazed into those round, glistening eyes.
He took a long stride and changed direction. “Alright.”
The ghost bus didn’t expect its human little master to come so late. It happily honked its horn, letting out a cat-like meow.
“Meow—”
“Shh!” Chen Li quickly hushed it, startled.
The ghost bus obediently stopped, though the windshield wipers swayed uncontrollably, making it look less like a cat-themed bus and more like a silly dog.
The bus’s joy lasted only for a few seconds. When it saw who was walking behind its little master, the joy abruptly stopped.
It drooped like an eggplant hit by frost, and the wipers stopped swaying.
Why did the little master bring that terrifying man with him?
Chen Li didn’t notice the ghost bus’s mood swings. He waved at the bus at the village entrance, signaling it to come in.
Fortunately, the ghost bus could drive into the village, but beyond a certain point, it seemed to hit some sort of limitation and couldn’t move any further.
That was enough, though. With the bus inside the village and them inside the bus, it meant they hadn’t broken any rules.
Chen Li got on first and quietly asked, “Can we stay here for the night? If you agree, flash the interior lights.”
Instantly, the lights inside the bus flashed like a rave party.
If any other self-aware NPCs saw this scene, they would be startled.
When did the ghost bus get so eager to please?
Chen Li didn’t think too much about it. He smiled happily. “Thank you.”
Ghost Bus: Wuwuwu, the little master smiled at me.
Fu Moyang also got on the bus, sitting in the same spot he had earlier and stretching his long legs without a care.
Chen Li had been worried the ghost bus might kick him out since he was a player, not an NPC, but seeing this, he relaxed and patted the bus’s steering wheel. “You’re really kind.”
The ghost bus held back its fear and started to feel delighted.
The little master smells so nice, and his hands are so soft…
Suddenly, it felt a chill run through its body—an unmistakable surge of killing intent radiating from a certain jealous someone.
The ghost bus fell silent, not daring to respond. It knew that if it showed even a hint of happiness, its steering wheel might be ripped off and thrown out. It wouldn’t be much different from getting its head chopped off.
Fu Moyang withdrew his sharp, displeased gaze. In the end, he didn’t take it out on a bus.
The ghost bus had just breathed a sigh of relief when Chen Li’s next words made it tense up again in fear.
Chen Li: “So can’t we let other players come in and hide too?”
Fu Moyang’s expression didn’t change, but the hand gripping the armrest gradually tightened: “No. That would be exploiting a loophole in the game, and it could get everyone killed.”
As if anticipating what he was going to say, he continued directly: “It’s fine if it’s just me. The game might tolerate one person bending the rules—but it will never allow multiple players to do it. It’s best not to test the limits of Horror Game.”
He had no intention of letting their time alone be ruined.
Chen Li sat in the driver’s seat, a little disappointed. “Oh.”
Fu Moyang relaxed again, releasing the poor armrest.
The now-deformed ghost bus: …Fine.
Chen Li sat down in the driver’s seat and couldn’t help but poke the system:
[System 001, are you sure we really can’t let anyone else in to hide?]
System 001 responded immediately, almost panicked: [No!]
Then it vanished again.
Very odd. Normally the system would have gone on a long rant by now.
With that lingering sense of confusion, Chen Li’s eyelids began to grow heavy. He’d been terrified earlier, but now that he was in a safe, relaxing environment, drowsiness quickly crept in.
The ghost bus, ever thoughtful, reclined his seat to the most comfortable angle for human rest. The softness of the seat adjusted perfectly to his body, and the cabin temperature gradually rose to an ideal level for sleep.
The lights dimmed.
Fu Moyang sat motionless, silently watching the boy as his breathing grew slow and steady.
In the low light, his silver-gray eyes shifted from round pupils to beast-like slits, slowly tracing every inch of the sleeping boy’s face.
System 001: …There it is again—that damned predatory stare.
It wanted nothing more than to shake its host awake and scream at him to run.
System 001 looked distressed.
It was starting to doubt whether choosing this host had been the right decision.
Even though it had told Chen Li it picked him at random, the truth was that System 001 had secretly calculated and chosen him on purpose.
Because Chen Li had a strange trait—something that inexplicably attracted ghosts and monsters. Maybe, just maybe, that trait would help him, a human, survive in Horror Game, which was full of ghost NPC coworkers.
Looking at it now, this trait might not be such a good thing after all.
System 001 recalled the wave of ghosts and monsters that had surged into the system space after the host left. It had taken a tremendous amount of effort to drive them all out.
But danger lurked both ahead and behind—tigers and leopards in front, wolves and jackals behind. It had the guts to expel the ordinary ghosts coveting the host, but it didn’t dare do anything about this Fu Moyang!
Trying to find some comfort in the misery, System 001 thought, ‘Well, at least tonight it doesn’t look like Fu Moyang plans to leave any kind of… suggestive marks on the host.’
Maybe he’s afraid of being found out.
After all, no matter how slow the host is, and even without a mirror, if things go too far, he’d still notice something.
Just as it began to feel a bit relieved, it saw Fu Moyang stand up and scoop the sound-asleep host into his arms, unmistakable desire burning in his eyes.
Faced with this all-too-familiar plot development, the system quietly muted itself.
Author’s note:
System 001: Uh-oh, I’m numb.
Never thought a bus would be my favorite character but here we are