Tang Erda wore a grave expression. He tapped his temple with his index finger, then gestured at Bai Liu, telling him to hurry up and think of a solution.

Alex, who was staring at Tang Erda, sneered. “Is he making that gesture to say there’s something wrong with his brain?”

Bai Liu: “...”

Such strong hostility.

Bai Liu walked over to Tang Erda, while Alex went up to greet Guy, who had jumped down from the high platform.

He looked around. “Where’s Jiayi?”

Tang Erda rubbed his brow with a headache. “This is a battlefield. Jiayi isn’t allowed on the front line. After she was discovered, she was taken away by the Red Cross people here. They simply won’t let her come over.”

“But she should be safe,” Tang Erda guaranteed steadily. “I followed her from behind and scouted the Red Cross map. There are no high-lethality NPCs or monsters there. It’s just that we’ll have to find another way for her to regroup with us.”

Bai Liu nodded. “You can leave that to her.”

“I also think Liu Jiayi is very resourceful. The rules here won’t be able to stop her.” Only then did Tang Erda finally look at Spades, who was standing beside Bai Liu.

Out of complete trust in the tactician, Tang Erda had not questioned Bai Liu’s decision to bring Spades along from the start, and he had not even avoided Spades when reporting information to Bai Liu.

The moment Bai Liu brought Spades over, Tang Erda understood that in this game, at least, Spades was on their side. Otherwise, Bai Liu would not have brought him in front of him so openly.

As for how Bai Liu had managed that, it was not something for him, a main attacker, to question.

Tang Erda’s scrutinizing gaze flashed over Spades before immediately returning to Bai Liu’s face. “What’s going on with the main mission? Why was I rejected without doing anything?”

After Bai Liu explained the situation to Tang Erda, Tang Erda could not help glancing several more times at Spades, who stood off to the side without the slightest emotion on his face. His tone turned subtle. “You’re saying... you pretended to be a couple with Spades in order to make that NPC named Alex accept you?”

“Yes,” Bai Liu said very calmly. “Guy is friendly toward most male players, and that causes Alex to react with jealousy.”

Bai Liu looked Tang Erda over from head to toe, his gaze landing on Tang Erda’s chest—wrapped tightly beneath his military uniform—and his sturdy forearms exposed by his rolled-up sleeves. He smiled and said, “Especially someone like you.”

Tang Erda felt uncomfortable all over. He stiffened, covered his exposed arms, and even fastened the first button of his military uniform. “...Does this look better?”

“Hmm...” Bai Liu’s gaze fell on Tang Erda’s Adam’s apple, bobbing up and down from nerves, and then on his shoulders and chest, which looked even more conspicuous once all the buttons were done up. He answered honestly, “It looks even more suspicious.”

Tang Erda was speechless. Silently, he unbuttoned it again.

“But inside the game pool, we have no way to modify our appearance data, and I don’t have any appearance-changing props here.” Tang Erda frowned. “How can I lower Alex’s hostility toward me?”

“The fastest way would be to find yourself a...” Bai Liu’s eyes pointedly shifted toward Spades beside him.

Tang Erda slowly moved his gaze to Spades. The two of them stared at each other in silence for a while.

Spades: “?”

It took Spades a moment to react. Thinking he had understood Bai Liu’s meaning, he rejected Tang Erda righteously. “No. You can’t look for me. I have Bai Liu.”

“We are in a very special male-male relationship. It’s one-on-one. There can’t be a third person.”

When providing physiological health education, The Judge had taught Spades very seriously that two people in this special relationship were one-on-one; they had to be devoted to each other and absolutely could not have a change of heart.

Bai Liu took a deep breath and turned his face away.

Tang Erda: “...”

Bai Liu, even if you turn your head, I can still see you holding back your laughter.

“You can’t expect me to just find a random NPC to pretend with, can you?” Tang Erda was both helpless and amused. “I also have no way to make the other person cooperate. Should I just tell Alex I have a partner back home?”

Bai Liu shook his head and laughed. “He won’t believe it. Even if he does, your persona is too ordinary; his favorability toward you won’t rise again.”

Tang Erda knitted his brows. “Then what should I do? If Alex’s favorability stays this low, even if I join the First Assault Team, I won’t be able to enter his main mission.”

Bai Liu stroked his chin. He examined Tang Erda thoughtfully, then smiled. “Actually, I have a way to max out Alex’s favorability toward you.”

“However, his favorability toward me might drop a little. Let’s gamble on it.”

Tang Erda asked, “What way?”

When Alex brought Guy to find Bai Liu in the crowd, Bai Liu was huddled together with Tang Erda, their arms around each other’s shoulders, seemingly discussing something.

Although Tang Erda looked calm, his ears and face were completely red. It was obvious that he felt some resistance and shame toward Bai Liu’s actions, but for some reason, this person—who looked as if he could push Bai Liu away with one hand—did not push him away.

On the contrary, Bai Liu looked as if he were very familiar with such things. Seeing Alex and the others approach, he naturally let go of Tang Erda’s shoulder and waved hello with a beaming smile.

Alex wanted to frown the moment he saw Tang Erda, but the subtle atmosphere between Tang Erda and Bai Liu made him feel... that something was off.

It was as though his hostility had been directed at the wrong person—a very strange sense of dissonance.

On the way back to the small town to rest, that sense of dissonance became even stronger.

Bai Liu, Spades, and Tang Erda were all new recruits who had enlisted today. They needed to be assigned tents and residences, and they were also issued two large bundles each. As a veteran, Guy volunteered to settle the three of them in and was currently leading them toward the small town.

These three new recruits would most likely participate in assault missions and be sent directly to the battlefield after one day of rest. As a form of comfort for recruits who were likely to be sacrificed, all three of them were allowed to stay in the small town today, where the conditions were relatively good. The supplies in the bundles they were assigned were also quite plentiful, weighing heavily in their hands.

Alex quietly pulled back the enthusiastic Guy, letting the three of them walk in a row up ahead. Then he whispered to Guy, “Don’t you think those three are a little unusual?”

“What’s unusual about them?” Guy did not sense anything at all. He smiled and said, “Bai Liu and Spades are a couple, and Tang Erda and Bai Liu are old friends who have known each other for a long time. They’re all good fellows.”

Alex’s brow twitched. He pointed at Bai Liu, who was walking in the middle empty-handed, and said irritably, “Didn’t you notice that Bai Liu’s bundles are being carried by Tang Erda? Would a normal couple let an outside friend carry their lover’s things?”

Spades was walking on one side of Bai Liu, carrying his own two bundles in one hand. He seemed not to have noticed that Bai Liu’s bundles had been actively taken over by Tang Erda, and he showed no awareness that he should help Bai Liu carry them himself.

Tang Erda, on the other hand, was carrying four bundles—his own and Bai Liu’s—while walking on the other side. His eyes would occasionally move toward Bai Liu, as if waiting for instructions, as though Bai Liu’s status was above his.

This was a habit Tang Erda had developed as a main attacker protecting the tactician—carrying unknown packages and paying attention to the tactician’s position.

But in Alex’s eyes, it seemed to carry another meaning.

“Is Tang Erda... secretly in love with Bai Liu?” Alex muttered to himself.

Guy beside him gasped and raised his voice. “Are you saying Tang Erda wants to interfere in Spades and Bai Liu’s love?!”

Alex covered Guy’s mouth out of shame and anger. “It hasn’t reached that point yet! Keep your voice down! What if Spades hears you?”

Beside them, Tang Erda endured his shame and leaned a little closer to Bai Liu in the middle. “Alex’s favorability has increased. Do I really have to tell him...”

“Yes.” Bai Liu lazily scanned his system panel. “Alex’s favorability toward me has dropped, but it’s still within an acceptable range.”

Next to him, Spades looked at the two bundles belonging to Bai Liu in Tang Erda’s hands. He pursed his lips, said nothing, and moved his fingers restlessly.

According to his identity, he should have been the one carrying those bundles...

But Bai Liu had taken the initiative to give them to Tang Erda.

They reached the dormitory building and the requisitioned hotels where the new recruits were being settled in the small town. The three of them were assigned different residences. When it was time to part ways, Tang Erda prepared to hand the bundles back to Bai Liu, but Spades suddenly reached out and took them.

“I’ll help him deliver them,” Spades said indifferently.

Tang Erda was startled. He looked at Bai Liu inquiringly. Seeing Bai Liu smiling and nodding behind Spades, he let go and said politely, “Sorry to trouble you.”

Spades paused. “Oh.”

Then he turned to Bai Liu and, as if lodging a complaint, pointed at Tang Erda and said coldly, “He said you are trouble. Bai Liu, don’t let him carry them next time.”

Tang Erda: “...”

Bai Liu: “...”

After lodging his complaint, Spades took the bundles without expression. He weighed them in his hands and said softly, “Not trouble.” Then he turned and pulled Bai Liu away by the hand.

Left behind, Tang Erda inexplicably felt as if Spades had just asserted dominance over him.

Under Alex’s arrangement, Guy went to lead the couple, Spades and Bai Liu, to their residence. Alex himself would lead Tang Erda, whose physique clearly made him look less than “well-behaved.”

But when it actually came time for Alex to lead the way, he felt as if he were sitting on pins and needles.

Because Tang Erda, following behind him, kept staring at him with a very tense, very strange, and very hesitant gaze.

The closer they got to the entrance of the residence, the deeper and more burning Tang Erda’s gaze became. Alex was stared at so intensely that he nearly wanted to run away.

At the entrance, Alex set the things down and turned to leave. Tang Erda reacted quickly and grabbed his wrist, then began gazing at Alex again with that hesitant look.

“I...” Tang Erda was practically forcing himself to say those few words, but the harder he forced himself, the more he could not say them. He felt as if he were about to spontaneously combust on the spot. “I...”

Alex frantically tried to pull his hand back. “If you have something to say, go say it to Bai Liu! I’m not the person you like!”

Tang Erda took a deep breath. “But it won’t work between him and me.”

Alex could not pull himself free and began trying to shake off Tang Erda’s hand. “It’s impossible between you and him, and it’s also impossible between you and me! I already have a partner!”

He said alertly, “You can’t have designs on Bai Liu, and you can’t have designs on Guy either! They’re both taken!”

“No, I couldn’t possibly have designs on them...” Tang Erda closed his eyes. He was blushing fiercely, and the words were practically squeezed out from between his teeth. “...I, I am the same as them.”

Alex was confused. “??? What do you mean you’re the same as them? How could you be the same as...”

Halfway through, Alex recalled Tang Erda’s inexplicably shy and obedient behavior in front of Bai Liu. His words came to an eerie halt.

Then, after an unknown amount of time, a blank-faced Alex looked up at the 192-centimeter-tall Tang Erda and spoke in a trembling voice.

“...You’re also the one on the bottom?!”

Tang Erda’s eyelids trembled. He was red all over. With extreme difficulty, he nodded.

“Could it be...” Alex’s pupils continued to quake. “You were originally in love with Bai Liu, but because both you and Bai Liu are bottoms, you could only be friends with him?”

Tang Erda pressed his lips together and turned his face away without speaking.

In Alex’s eyes, this was confirmation of his theory. As a “1,” he could not help feeling a trace of pity and compassion for this 192-centimeter “0,” whose secret love had ended in failure and who had devotedly followed his crush onto the battlefield.

He patted Tang Erda’s arm. The physique that had previously provoked his hostility now only made him sigh with pity. Alex comforted him, “Hey, cheer up, xiongdi. There’s always someone here who can top you.”

Tang Erda: “...”

(T/N: In Chinese slang, “1” means top and “0” means bottom.)

—

Author’s Note:

This section is relatively lighthearted and humorous, serving as a transitional chapter before the major battle. Readers who enjoy more exciting plotlines can wait a little; the main storyline will begin progressing later. You can set it aside for now.