Chapter 44: “I’ll Sleep on the Bed.”

Meieruita’s breathing began to grow unstable, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, until it finally became rapid, as if he had just completed an extremely intense bout of exercise.

His body started to tremble faintly. Clearly, Meieruita was doing his utmost to suppress it. Veins bulged on the back of his hand. To avoid hurting An Luo, he released his tight grip on An Luo’s hand and quickly seized the wooden bedpost instead.

Meieruita’s grip was immense, and the already unsteady wooden board emitted a teeth-grinding creak.

Heat began to rise. An Luo was trapped between Meieruita and the bedboard behind him. The incredibly cramped space and the heavy pressure weighing down on him made it hard for him to breathe as well.

With his right hand, he half-supported and half-held Meieruita’s cheek to keep their foreheads pressed together without separating.

An Luo closed his eyes. His mind was a bit chaotic. Unlike the previous time, when he only needed to fully accept, this time he had to actively give something. Meieruita’s soul gradually pressed against his own, and a shiver originating from within made An Luo’s shoulders tremble faintly too.

Fortunately, compared to the previous storm-like sensation, this time, though still highly stimulating, remained within his tolerance.

In his mind, the various stories he had prepared in advance swirled around and merged into Meieruita’s soul. He felt his extended soul—or thoughts—form something like tentacles. The raindrops that had once dripped into his mind now dripped endlessly from the tips of his tentacles into Meieruita’s soul.

The human brain wasn’t a machine, after all, and couldn’t strictly transmit selected files. Along with the stories, some stray thoughts and scattered information fragments dripped in as well.

An Luo wondered why Meieruita had controlled it so precisely back then, while he couldn’t achieve the same effect. But thinking that Meieruita was the protagonist, he stopped comparing himself.

In the darkness, both panted, their breaths sounding extraordinarily loud in the surrounding silence. They were too close—or rather, pressed too tightly together. As time passed, the coolness on Meieruita’s body was gradually replaced by rising body heat. An Luo felt like a heavy log of wood slowly burning was pressing down on him. Meieruita looked quite slim, but his weight was no light matter at all.

The wrist propping up Meieruita’s cheek began to ache. Meieruita seemed to have lost control entirely, his heavy head pressing down forcefully. An Luo felt like he couldn’t hold on much longer. Worried that interrupting midway would cause dire negative effects, he planned to end the soul transmission early but found he couldn’t.

It seemed that once a target was selected, it had to be fully transmitted before it could end.

Regret began to spread. He should have chosen fewer stories. With no choice, An Luo tried his best to sink deeper. The neatly laid bedding became a tangled mess under him, while Meieruita, nearly devoid of reason and self-control, offered no help at all.

It took a great deal of effort to pry open Meieruita’s hand, which was clutching the bedboard fiercely. Slowly, while keeping their foreheads together, he lay down. Without needing to support his body, Meieruita leaned over and pressed down, leaving An Luo even more breathless. He thought he should have suggested lying face-to-face on their sides.

Finally, the soul transmission ended. An Luo let out a huge sigh of relief. After recovering for a moment, he opened his eyes and gently pushed Meieruita. “How are you feeling?”

Meieruita opened his gray-green eyes. The usually calm and composed gaze was now somewhat scattered. A few minutes later, his eyes gradually focused, staring down at An Luo beneath him.

An Luo lay amid the disheveled bedding. The buttons of the white shirt he wore had popped open several, revealing skin flushed pink and steaming with heat. His body was so warm and soft that Meieruita momentarily couldn’t distinguish reality from illusion.

“Can you get up? I’m about to be crushed to death…”

An Luo said weakly.

He had once helped care for a friend’s kitten for a few days. That little cat was extremely affectionate, perhaps too much so. One night, An Luo woke up gasping for air and saw the fluffy little demon sleeping soundly on his chest.

A kitten weighing just over twenty pounds had given An Luo nightmares from the pressure. With Meieruita’s three-digit weight pressing down any longer, An Luo had no doubt he’d ascend to the heavens.

Meieruita’s comprehension seemed not fully restored. He looked at An Luo for a while before slowly propping himself up with his hands. But he didn’t sit up fully, still hovering over An Luo.

An Luo quickly took several deep breaths, his breathing gradually returning to normal.

“Are you okay?” he asked. “Did you collect the experimental data?”

His words seemed to snap Meieruita out of it. Meieruita recovered from that half-dreamwalking state, sat up, quickly adjusted his breathing and expression, and returned to his rational and steady demeanor.

“Thank you very much for your help,” Meieruita said. “I now have a lead on the next step of my research.”

An Luo: “That’s good.”

After saying that, Meieruita didn’t leave. He sat on the edge of the bed, calmly gazing at An Luo. An Luo grew nervous for a moment and guessed a reason. “Uh… sorry, I messed up your bed. I’ll tidy it up.”

Meieruita’s gaze shifted downward and noticed the bedding was a complete mess.

Combined with An Luo lying on the bed, his face and skin flushed red from the heat, it was hard not to let the imagination run wild.

Meieruita grabbed the edge of the blanket and firmly covered An Luo, then wrapped him up in it with both hands and lifted him. He freed one hand and swiftly tidied the bedding.

He placed An Luo back down. “There.”

An Luo was dazed for a moment before asking, “Do you need to go record the experimental data now?”

“Yes.” Meieruita blinked and turned toward the nearby desk. Soon, An Luo heard the sound of a book being flipped open.

This small space returned to silence, temporarily belonging to An Luo alone once more.

He lay in the covers, lazily not wanting to move, but feeling a bit hot. He reached out for the Knight Novel on the bedside, pulled the pillow down to make space for it.

An Luo flipped to the page he had last read. The knight knelt praying in an abandoned, empty chapel, describing in detail the absurd scene he had witnessed: a noblewoman sneaking off at night with a strong slave. The knight didn’t know what to do—expose it or pretend he saw nothing.

In the end, he watched the whole thing and chose to expose it. The beautiful noblewoman suffered a vulgar punishment from her impotent husband and tearfully promised never to do it again.

Holy cow.

They really dared to write anything.

An Luo hurriedly flipped two pages. The knight began expressing his pure love for his beloved Miss So-and-So, but An Luo doubted whether a knight who had seen so many strange plays could still maintain his purity.

He felt it was impossible.

What a person knows subtly influences them.

An Luo felt like he had been a bit tainted himself.

He tried summarizing the plot types, tropes, and the protagonist’s general personality of the Knight Novel. These experiences would be useful after leaving the Wizard Tower.

An Luo was already planning his future career.

He planned to resume his old profession and usher in a second spring of writing in this otherworld. Understanding the readers’ general preferences was crucial.

Though An Luo wouldn’t write those colorful, stimulating segments, he believed Long Aotian-style upgrade power fantasy tropes could carve out a new path.

Satisfying enough to be addictive.

But for his first work, he’d stick to the knight theme. This world had some concepts vastly different from modern ones, like strict hierarchies. An Luo needed to be careful.

On Earth, it was fine to portray nobles and kings as clownish villains while typing away at the keyboard, but doing so here would mean instant doom.

There were all sorts of messy details to watch out for.

Reading the Knight Novel with a research mindset made the originally lengthy plots far less tedious.

An Luo calmly watched the knight defeat strong enemies, befriend allies, and finally unite with his dream girl, Miss So-and-So.

On the last page, inspiration suddenly struck.

Stimulation didn’t have to be those colorful plots—horror stories were stimulating enough!

He’d intersperse plenty of horror short stories in his novels to guarantee thrills!

Chinese-style horror—praised by all who read it!

An Luo fantasized about the future for a while as sleepiness gradually overtook him. He put the book back and prepared to sleep.

Before drifting off, he thought: Where would Meieruita sleep?

There was only one narrow bed here, definitely not enough for two people.

With the Thorn Beast blocking the door outside, Meieruita couldn’t go elsewhere to sleep.

This serious issue needed resolving before he fell asleep.

“Meieruita?” he called tentatively.

“What is it?”

“There’s only one bed, and it’s so narrow. How about this: I’ll sleep first. When you’re ready to sleep, wake me up, and we’ll take turns. Okay?”

The scratching sound of the pen stopped.

Meieruita turned back to look. An Luo had already lain down, only his nose and above peeking out from the covers, his black eyes open and watching him. In the firelight, they looked a bit glistening.

“No need.”

An Luo was puzzled. “…Then you’ll rest sitting in the chair?”

As expected of the protagonist—such endurance!

“No.”

However, Meieruita said, “I’ll sleep on the bed.”

An Luo said tactfully, “But the bed is very narrow.”

He had slept alone since elementary school. Even in boarding school later, he had his own bed and didn’t want to share with others.

Especially not with a dangerous protagonist!

“It’s narrow,” Meieruita said flatly, “so you’ll just have to endure it for a few days.”

An Luo: “…”

He simply laid it out plainly. “If you fall asleep, won’t you be vulnerable and unable to protect yourself?”

And what if you have a stress reaction and strangle me to death?

An Luo wanted to live a few more years.

“Don’t worry about me hurting you. I’ll restrain myself.”

“You only have one shirt. I don’t want you catching a cold and getting sick,” Meieruita said flatly. “Besides, I believe that if there’s conflict in bed, even if I’m asleep, I can quickly wake up and counter it.”

“I trust you won’t try attacking me while I’m deep in sleep. Otherwise…”

He turned to look at An Luo. Beneath the calm surface lurked some undercurrent.

Meieruita didn’t finish the second half, but the threat had achieved its purpose.

An Luo: “…”

Fine, you’re the protagonist. You’re noble. You’re awesome.