Zhou Yijue has just entered the Altar, and like many testers, he felt curious. After all, unlike players, they didn’t have to pay any price; they just needed to find bugs during the game and report them. It was very simple.
However, sometimes, in order to figure out a problem, he would start over many times, constantly cycling through the same game until the testing was complete. Therefore, when facing the same level, Zhou Yijue was different from other players. Because he had played it so many times, he was familiar with the solutions and could solve it very quickly.
It wasn’t until his 32nd testing task in a certain dungeon that he met someone. Before Zhou Yijue, who had the answers, could step forward to solve the puzzle, that man had already acted, handling it very quickly.
Instinct told Zhou Yijue that he was like himself.
This man had silver hair, was very tall, and looked Russian. Just standing there quietly, he gave off a feeling of an icy world, but unexpectedly, he was very sunny, even overly enthusiastic. When Zhou Yijue tried to ask him if he was also a tester, the other party suddenly grabbed his hands and gave him a high five.
“Are you one too? This is my first time meeting a colleague, so nice! Nice to meet you, I’m Viktor Bondarev. Just call me Viktor! What’s your name?”
He extended his hand to Zhou Yijue, with an expression of “Let’s shake hands and be friends,” making it impossible for Zhou Yijue to refuse.
“Zhou Yijue, just call me Zhou…”
Viktor’s palm was large, dry, and warm, with calluses on his fingertips and palm. He shook hands with considerable strength, making Zhou Yijue’s palm feel squeezed.
“I like your name!” He pronounced it somewhat clumsily, his smiling eyes very cute, “Zhou, Yi, Jue.”
“Mm.” Zhou Yijue withdrew his hand, “That’s right.”
He had never seen such a person in the Altar, not even in reality. Like the sun, warm and radiant, as if there were no shadows at all.
Unlike himself, even though they were both testers, Viktor would unreservedly share the ways to clear levels with other players, helping as many people as possible to pass.
Even when Zhou Yijue warned him that doing so might result in penalties for breaking the rules, he still smiled.
“I’ve done this before. If it really violated the rules, I might have been punished long ago.”
Unable to dissuade him, Zhou Yijue didn’t bother to stop him.
After other players cleared the level, their journey in that dungeon would end. But they were different. They would exit at some point in time and restart, repeating the game over and over.
Viktor had a somewhat childlike personality, treating finding bugs as his real game goal, and was very persistent. Zhou Yijue, on the other hand, saw it as just work. Although their motivations were different, they still had to act together, repeating the game.
They repeated one dungeon so many times that it felt like they had spent months in that game. From getting to know each other to gradually becoming familiar, they accompanied each other, as if other players were NPCs and they were the real adventurers, each other’s secret.
“I really like borscht. Have you had it before?” Viktor asked about his preferences as they walked the familiar path, “I like to add a lot of tomatoes.”
“I haven’t eaten it.” Zhou Yijue raised an eyebrow, “Is it good?”
“Very delicious!”
Viktor’s reactions were always more exaggerated than others, making Zhou Yijue doubtful. Perhaps seeing the skepticism in Zhou Yijue’s expression, Viktor persistently assured him, “It’s really good. When we get back to reality, I’ll make it for you!”
He kept his word. When they completed their work and returned to reality from a dungeon, Viktor took Zhou Yijue to his home. It was a small, cramped apartment. Viktor used their pay to buy a lot of food with Zhou Yijue, and they carried the items home.
Zhou Yijue’s parents had left him early, and he had always been fostered in his uncle’s home. His childhood life was miserable. For the first time, he could sit on the sofa with peace of mind, not worrying about whether he should get up and do something, not staying idle.
Viktor, wearing an apron with cartoon characters, bustled about in the kitchen, occasionally loudly asking if he liked certain vegetables.
“Anything is fine.” Zhou Yijue watched his back for a while and asked, “Do you need help? But let me tell you first, I don’t know how to do anything.”
“No need.” Viktor smiled back, “You just need to enjoy the food!”
Zhou Yijue was lying. He was very good at cooking and had done it a lot.
Living alone, not knowing how to cook was not an option. He just didn’t enjoy it, just wanted to fill his stomach, so he often ate cold leftovers.
“All done!”
A table full of dishes, including a bowl of red borscht. Viktor enthusiastically served him a bowl and added many delicious dishes.
Zhou Yijue was not used to it. In the past, at the dinner table, he was always someone who had to look at others’ expressions before he could start eating.
“Thank you.”
That night, Viktor invited him to stay over. Zhou Yijue thought he had ulterior motives, but it turned out that he was the only one with impure thoughts. Viktor just wanted to play games with him and share his favorite movies and music.
That night, they lay side by side on the carpet, staring at the starry ceiling light. Zhou Yijue listened to Viktor hum Russian nursery rhymes and talk about his childhood.
Halfway through, Zhou Yijue turned his head to look at Viktor’s handsome profile. It seemed like a mutual understanding, as Viktor also turned his face at the same time, meeting his gaze.
Their eyes met, and Viktor was the first to laugh.
“Your eyes are beautiful, Yi Jue.”
“You look like a clever little fox.”
Zhou Yijue smiled but said nothing.
They became friends. Viktor was also Zhou Yijue’s first friend.
Later, they did many testing tasks together, growing closer through repetition and cycles. What was just a game for others felt like a small lifetime for them.
Zhou Yijue thought that, no matter how he felt, Viktor probably hoped their friendship would last forever.
Until one day, in a game dungeon they had become so used to repeating, sitting by a beautiful, data-created beach, Viktor asked him, “Do you want to make a wish to the sea?”
He said that when they returned to reality, they wouldn’t see such a blue coast anymore, right?
“Mm.” Zhou Yijue didn’t have any wishes to make, but he pretended to think about it, closed his eyes, and pretended to make a wish.
When he closed his eyes, his mind was blank, without a single word, but all he saw was Viktor’s face, his ocean-blue eyes under the starry light.
When Zhou Yijue opened his eyes, Viktor smiled, “Finished wishing?”
“Mm.”
“My turn!” Viktor closed his eyes, but instead of clasping his hands together, he placed them by his mouth in a shouting gesture.
“Zhou Yijue! Will you be my boyfriend?”
He said it in Chinese very accurately, which left Zhou Yijue stunned.
To this day, he can still recall the thrill of that moment and Viktor smilingly asking if he would agree, asking if he could hug him or if he could kiss him.
Viktor took off the dog tag from his neck, saying it was his badge of honor as a man, to be given to the person he loved the most.
He also said that when they returned, he wanted to live together with Zhou Yijue and watch the musicals he loved so much. He had saved money for a long time.
Zhou Yijue agreed to all of Viktor’s requests. He accepted all the love and warmth Viktor gave him, outwardly calm but carefully treasuring it all in his heart.
He was afraid that Viktor would know he loved him more, afraid of losing him.
Every day with Viktor was like a precious and beautiful gem.
But beautiful things are always short-lived.
Even though they were conducting a test mission as usual, even though mistakes could be retried, that time, Viktor was seriously injured.
They were running through a dark stone tunnel under the attack of monsters, with one automatic stone door closing after another. Viktor, clutching his injured arm, ran while shielding Zhou Yijue, urging him to be faster, even faster.
Zhou Yijue couldn’t believe the game would have such a big problem. They were real, living people, not test subjects. They couldn’t just be abandoned like this.
He wasn’t abandoned by Viktor. At the moment the monster was about to attack him, Viktor used his only remaining hand to push Zhou Yijue forcefully into a just-opened stone door.
In an instant, the door closed with a bang.
Zhou Yijue had no time to react. He heard Viktor’s final words in Russian, “I love you,” but no matter how he pounded on the stone door in front of him, it remained tightly shut.
Until he looked down and saw blood seeping through the gap, spreading in large patches, staining the ground red.
He stood in the pool of blood, calling Viktor’s name.
There was no response.
Zhou Yijue didn’t believe it. He ran forward, doing his best to leave that place and return to reality. He knew Viktor must be waiting for him in the company’s game pod.
But when he finally made it out with all his strength, he couldn’t find any trace of Viktor.
He had disappeared. Even though his small apartment was filled with traces of his existence, Zhou Yijue just couldn’t find him.
He searched everywhere Viktor might be but got no results. When he went to the development department, he found the self-generating server that had almost “devoured” people, reproducing and replicating like a monster.
While he had been doing so-called testing tasks, the place had long been abandoned.
Zhou Yijue’s life seemed to have been put on pause. He had finally received a bit of warmth, only to have it immediately taken away.
He put on Viktor’s necklace, and day by day he became more despondent, wasting away to the point of being unrecognizable. Drinking in bars until he almost forgot everything, he would walk out, vomiting as if he wanted to throw up his heart as well.
Zhou Yijue originally thought he would live like this for the rest of his life.
Who knew, he met a former colleague from the development department in a bar. Amidst perfunctory chatting and laughing, he heard the colleague mention an “Easter egg.”
[Do you know about the Easter egg card? It seems there’s also a resurrection card, a really powerful skill card that can resurrect someone who died in the game.]
Learning about the existence of the resurrection card was like being reborn for Zhou Yijue. He entered the game once more, this time as a player.
He had completely changed. Ruthless and unscrupulous, he didn’t care about anyone’s life. He would do anything to win, to get the resurrection card.
As long as Viktor came back, he only needed Viktor.
He encountered many people, many opponents, and caused many deaths. Without a heart, he was invincible until his opponent became 安無咎.
At first, Zhou Yijue observed 安無咎 with a mocking attitude. He was so bright and pure, without a trace of darkness, like his name, a flawless specimen.
Later, he discovered that this person wasn’t happy either.
His greatest flaw was himself.
When entering the final dungeon, he realized that Viktor still had a chance to return. Even if it wasn’t his Viktor, as long as he could come back, Zhou Yijue was willing to pay any price.
In the most chaotic, helpless, painful, and desperate moments, he could no longer stand by and do nothing.
He was indeed selfish, not a good person.
But when the end of the world was truly in front of him, when 安無咎 sacrificed himself time and time again, and everyone faced death.
His heart wasn’t made of iron.
Before being killed, Zhou Yijue remembered something Viktor had said.
He said, “I really like this world. Even though it’s a bit chaotic and not everyone is happy, I still like it because there are electronic pets, the beets I love, and you. Even if this world gets a bit worse, I can accept it.”
Zhou Yijue was willing to sacrifice for the world Viktor needed and loved.
“What are you thinking about?”
Hearing Viktor’s voice, Zhou Yijue snapped out of his memories and tilted his head slightly, looking at him. “What?”
Viktor smiled, sitting across the dining table. The strands of hair that usually fell over his forehead were brushed up, making him look more formal and his features more handsome and defined.
“You were just daydreaming. I asked what you were thinking about.”
Zhou Yijue curled his lips, picked up the glass, and took a sip. “Nothing, just thinking about some people and things I encountered in the Sanctum.”
“Is it that man who helped me regain my memory?” Viktor blinked.
Zhou Yijue’s expression darkened. “Why would I think about him? I’d rather think about his boyfriend.”
If it weren’t for them, he might never have seen Viktor again. Even if he did, Viktor probably wouldn’t have liked him or stayed with him as he did in the past.
Zhou Yijue exhaled, tapping his fingers on the table. “…Why hasn’t our main course been served yet?”
Suddenly, Viktor spoke up, “Yijue, I want to give you something.”
Zhou Yijue, resting his chin on his hand, looked up lazily. “You really like giving people things.”
“A surprise, close your eyes first,” Viktor urged him eagerly.
Zhou Yijue grumbled, but obediently closed his eyes, still muttering, “I really hate surprises. There are very few things that can satisfy me. You might as well just…”
Before he could finish, Viktor’s voice, tinged with laughter, interrupted him.
“Open your eyes, Yijue.”
Zhou Yijue opened his eyes, and Viktor was no longer sitting across the table.
He frowned, looking around, and finally saw what the surprise was.
Viktor was kneeling on one knee beside him, holding a ring box, which was open, revealing a ring that glinted with a metallic sheen.
“Zhou Yijue, live with me!”
Viktor’s eyes were bright, as blue as the sea back then, and full of life and love.
Zhou Yijue felt a slight sting in his eyes and turned away, trying to hide it.
Many people in the restaurant applauded and cheered for them, shouting, “Say yes, marry him.”
In the end, Zhou Yijue extended his hand and smiled at him, saying, “Don’t kneel anymore.”
Viktor’s joy was unmistakable. His first reaction was to kiss Zhou Yijue’s hand before putting the ring on him.
“I love you, Yijue!”
With the ring on, Zhou Yijue withdrew his hand, examining it under the light for a few seconds.
“It’s okay, not ugly.”
“I knew you would say yes!”
Viktor hugged Zhou Yijue tightly and lifted him up, spinning him around.
In the whirl of the moment, Zhou Yijue was enveloped in sweetness and warmth.
He thought of the movie he watched with Viktor, during which he fell asleep and was always curious about the ending.
Zhou Yijue lowered his head and kissed Viktor’s lips.
It seems like it should be a happy ending.
