Chapter 22
Xing Nuo’s bottom had been poked with a needle, and not only did his brother not help, but he also teased him about being a fake crybaby!
“Not true!”
Xing Nuo shook his head vigorously, his curls flying, and, puffing out his cheeks, he crawled out of his brother’s arms.
He huddled on the bed, his back to his brother, his small hand covering his slightly sore bottom, his lips trembling with hurt.
Shen Yan, seeing the little one’s sulking, a smile playing on his lips, turned to the doctor and asked deliberately:
“Doctor, Xing Nuo is awake now, does he need another injection?”
Xing Nuo, bundled under the covers, couldn’t help but peek out, his little ears perked up, his palms sweating as he eavesdropped.
The doctor, pushing up his glasses, glanced at the eavesdropping Xing Nuo and shook his head obligingly:
“Not at the moment, but if his fever returns, it might be necessary.”
Shen Yan’s deep, magnetic voice continued: “Does he need to take medicine?”
Doctor: “Yes, he’ll need to take medicine once the fever subsides a bit.”
Xing Nuo let out a small humph under the covers. He wasn’t going to take any medicine!
He would just keep his mouth shut and make his brother eat all the bitter medicine!
Thinking this, as the effects of the injection kicked in, his eyelids grew heavy.
As Xing Nuo drifted off to sleep, faint blue veins appeared on his closed eyelids, his long, dark eyelashes resting against his pale, delicate skin, shielded from the sun.
His small hand still covered his bottom, as if even in his dreams, he was worried about the doctor waking him up with another needle.
Shen Yan looked at the sleeping cub, suppressing a smile, moved his hand from his bottom to his tummy, and gestured for the doctor to leave.
Standing at the doorway, Shen Yan lowered his voice and asked the doctor a few questions about caring for sick children.
Mid-sentence, a figure suddenly dashed towards them from the elevator.
“Shen Yan! Where’s Xing Nuo?!”
Shen Baizhou had rushed over, his uniform askew, his backpack dangling from one hand, seemingly forgotten.
Upon receiving news of Xing Nuo’s hospitalization, he had run all the way from school without pausing for breath, his haste bordering on unnatural.
Shen Yan, his expression unchanged, looked down at Shen Baizhou’s hand gripping his collar and sneered.
“Let go. Xing Nuo just fell asleep. You better not wake him.”
Shen Baizhou released Shen Yan’s shirt, wiping his hand on his uniform as if he had touched something dirty.
“Has Xing Nuo’s fever gone down? You know, every time you’re around, something happens to Xing Nuo.”
Shen Baizhou recalled what his classmate had said earlier, a puzzled look appearing on his handsome face.
“Don’t tell me…you and Xing Nuo are incompatible?!”
Then, he clapped his hands together and nodded emphatically. “Definitely! Your eight characters are bad, you’re not fit to be Xing Nuo’s brother.” [Note: “Eight characters” refers to the four pillars of destiny in Chinese astrology, used for fortune-telling and compatibility analysis.]
Shen Yan: “…”
“Shen Baizhou, can’t you learn something useful at school?”
Spouting nonsense, did monsters even have eight characters?
Shen Yan didn’t even know when he was “born,” and he doubted even his creator, Shen Wen, remembered.
Shen Yan smoothed out the wrinkles on his suit, suppressing his irritation, and took a deep breath, gesturing for Shen Baizhou to follow him.
Shen Baizhou seemed to want to continue discussing the eight characters issue, but then remembered they weren’t human…
He pursed his lips and followed Shen Yan.
They stood in a quiet corner by the stairwell, a suitable place for a private conversation.
Shen Yan crossed his arms and spoke first:
“When I went downstairs to buy dinner for Xing Nuo this evening, he encountered another instance.”
The players in their world referred to the different horror scenarios as instances, each assigned a difficulty level.
The monsters in each instance were usually different, but some S+ level monsters could appear in multiple instances.
Shen Yan, for example, controlled the most instances, from D-level to SSS+, encompassing various types and difficulty levels.
Shen Baizhou, on the other hand, preferred to stay in his underwater lair and rarely appeared in instances.
Hearing this, Shen Baizhou’s usually half-lidded eyes snapped open, his languid expression replaced by surprise.
“What?! Which monster is so blind?”
Instance worlds had their own operating mechanisms. Under normal circumstances, the world rules dictated that only adult human players would be pulled in.
Xing Nuo was only a few years old, how could he encounter instances twice in a row?
Shen Baizhou racked his brain, trying to remember which monsters he had offended that would resort to breaking the rules to get revenge on his brother!
Shen Yan, his thoughts rarely visible on his face, rubbed his palm, a cold expression appearing.
“Two instances. The monster in today’s instance is dead, and as for the other one, the zombie instance, we haven’t been able to find anything.”
Finding nothing was the biggest problem!
Shen Baizhou clicked his tongue and glanced at Shen Yan, his expression disdainful.
“What’s the point of controlling so many instances if you can’t even find any information?”
Shen Yan ignored Shen Baizhou, whose intelligence was clearly lacking, judging by his 7 on the chemistry test, and who was, technically, his younger brother.
“I’m going to check on Xing Nuo. Be careful. There are people with special abilities in the human world. Don’t be discovered.”
Shen Baizhou snorted, a smirk playing on his lips, his usual nonchalant demeanor.
He slung his backpack over his shoulder and lifted his chin.
“You don’t understand, all students are like this.”
Shen Baizhou considered himself an obedient student. He accepted detentions and rewrote his homework without complaint.
Good students like him were rare these days!
Shen Baizhou went to check on Xing Nuo.
He pushed open the ward door and saw Xing Nuo curled up on the bed, his face flushed, and paused.
He quietly approached, dropped his backpack on the floor, crouched down by the bed, and looked at Xing Nuo.
He extended a finger, about to poke Xing Nuo’s warm, soft cheek, when his hand was swatted away.
“Are you looking for trouble? Xing Nuo just fell asleep.” Shen Yan’s voice was laced with warning.
Despite the seemingly light sound, the slap was quite forceful, leaving a red mark on Shen Baizhou’s usually unblemished skin.
Shen Baizhou looked up at Shen Yan, his face expressionless.
His black hair fell away from his forehead, revealing his handsome features. He opened his mouth and muttered:
“Are you crazy?”
Taking revenge, was he?
Shen Yan simply glanced at him, adjusted Xing Nuo’s blanket, and didn’t bother responding.
Shen Baizhou, who had a history of accidentally waking Xing Nuo, frowned but remained silent.
The two brothers sat quietly, watching over Xing Nuo.
The night passed uneventfully.
The sky gradually lightened, and the morning light filtered through the curtains, casting pale shadows on the floor.
Shen Baizhou rested his chin on his hand, his face looking slightly dry from a night without soaking in water, his lower lip chapped.
He glanced at the sky; it was time for school.
He picked up his backpack from the floor and, before leaving, lowered his voice and said to Shen Yan:
“Take care of Xing Nuo, I’m going to school.”
Despite his delinquent appearance, Shen Baizhou didn’t dare disobey Shen Wen, attending school every day with a grumpy expression.
Shen Yan’s fingers paused on his tablet. He looked up and hummed in agreement.
“Don’t worry.”
That was his younger brother; he would definitely take good care of him.
Bright sunlight streamed into the ward, illuminating dust motes dancing in the air.
The golden light fell on Xing Nuo’s curls, his hair seemingly absorbing the sunlight, his face bathed in warmth.
Xing Nuo, having slept soundly, sat up groggily.
He held his slightly aching head, his eyes dazed, seemingly lost in thought.
Shen Yan walked over, pulled the little cub into his arms, and gently massaged his forehead.
“Headache? The doctor said you might feel uncomfortable for a while after the fever subsides. Do you want something to eat?”
Xing Nuo continued to hold his head, his vision still slightly blurry. Then, his eyes widened as he remembered something.
“Someone…hurt Zaizai!”
The doctor had only given him one injection, but he still remembered it.
How resentful was this little one?
Shen Yan chuckled and knocked lightly on Xing Nuo’s forehead. He placed him back on the bed and picked up the bowl of warm porridge.
“The doctor gave you an injection to help you get better quickly. Have something to eat. You must be hungry after sleeping for so long.”
Just as he finished speaking, Xing Nuo’s stomach rumbled loudly.
Xing Nuo looked down at his rumbling stomach, leaned against the pillow, and was about to speak when Shen Yan fed him a spoonful of sweet porridge.
He swallowed with a small sound.
“Why…tummy…make noise?”
Shen Yan lowered his eyes, blowing on the porridge to cool it, his sharp features softening.
“Your tummy hurts when you’re hungry. The noise is telling you it’s time to eat.”
Xing Nuo, after eating half a bowl of porridge, smiled and hummed in agreement.
“Now…no more pain.”
Yesterday, Xing Nuo had been incredibly uncomfortable with the fever. Now that the fever had subsided, the flush on his cheeks had faded.
He felt much better, holding his head and repeatedly saying he wasn’t in pain anymore.
Shen Yan’s hand, holding the spoon, paused. He chuckled and pinched Xing Nuo’s cheek, which had thinned slightly due to his illness.
“No more pain? Or are you just afraid of taking medicine?”
Xing Nuo, his little scheme exposed, blinked and lowered his head, not daring to speak.
