"Quick... it's... coming."
"He's... coming soon... come."
...
Faint, disjointed sounds drifted through. The owner of the voice seemed rather anxious, desperately trying to convey some message to Ling Luo, but he couldn't make out the words.
"Whose... voice?"
"What... are you trying to say?"
"Who... is coming? Who... is he?"
Complete darkness surrounded him.
Ling Luo tried hard to catch the meaning, but the noise in his ears was deafening.
A very blurry figure stood before him, and the voice seemed to be coming from there.
It felt somewhat familiar.
Then, a familiar electronic chime rang out: "Host, please wake up quickly, he is coming!"
He woke with a start.
"Hoo... hoo, ugh..." Ling Luo rubbed his temples.
"Host, you're awake," Xiaoyou's voice echoed.
"Oh, it's you, Xiaoyou," Ling Luo collected himself.
He felt like he had just had a dream, but couldn't remember what happened, only hearing Xiaoyou say something about someone coming.
"Xiaoyou, was that you just talking? Who is coming?"
"......Yes, Host, Moroboshi Dan is arriving shortly."
"Oh, it's him... wait, who did you say is coming? Moroboshi Dan?!"
Well, that woke him up completely.
Ling Luo sat up and checked his phone—it was already past eleven in the morning.
There was a message from Moroboshi Dan stating that he would arrive at eleven-thirty.
"Ah, ah, ah! I stayed up a bit too late last night. I didn't expect to oversleep and almost messed things up."
He hurried out of bed to wash up, packed away some suspicious items into the system space, checked his points balance, upgraded his Culinary Mastery to level two, and rushed into the kitchen to get to work.
He hadn't forgotten his promise to treat the other man to something delicious.
Moroboshi Dan walked up to the front of the villa, hesitated for a moment, and stepped forward... The door wasn't locked?
"Come on in, Dan~," Ling Luo's voice drifted from inside.
Xiaoyou had already alerted him the moment the other approached, so he wasn't surprised at all.
"Pardon the intrusion."
Placing the gift he had prepared beforehand on the table, Moroboshi Dan cast his gaze toward the person in the kitchen. Was he cooking?
"Ah, you even brought a gift? Thank you, Dan~ There are some snacks on the table; if you're hungry, feel free to eat a little first."
Ling Luo turned back, looked at the gift on the table, and beamed with delight. This was a present from Dan, after all!
Moroboshi Dan picked up a snack from the table, took a bite, and gave it an approving nod.
He turned to look at the busy figure in the kitchen and asked, "Do you need any help?"
With that, without even waiting for an answer, Moroboshi Dan walked over to the kitchen.
Though he had never cooked himself, he could at least lend a hand.
"No need~ Huh?" Ling Luo watched as the other man picked up a vegetable and started washing it, looking surprisingly proficient.
"Well, thanks a lot then, Dan~" Ling Luo smiled.
"This is..." Moroboshi Dan looked puzzled. Is this how cooking is done? It seemed different from what he usually saw.
"These are dishes from Huaxia."
"I see." That made sense, since the other came from over there.
A moment later.
"How is it?" Ling Luo asked, a bit nervously.
"Not bad. Hmm, it's a very unique flavor," Moroboshi Dan gave an affirmative reply.
"That's good. Oh, try this one too, and this one." Ling Luo watched as Moroboshi Dan tasted every single dish, mentally noting which ones the other liked best, already plotting when to invite him over again to try new recipes.
Only after they had both eaten their fill did Ling Luo turn his attention to the gift set aside.
Unwrapping it gently, he revealed a bracelet.
It had a white base with black stripes, giving it a rather high-tech appearance.
Very pretty—that was his first impression.
"Wear this. It can protect you," Moroboshi Dan paused, then added, "If the internal self-defense system is triggered, I'll be able to find you with this."
As if afraid the other might misunderstand, Moroboshi Dan quickly added, "I won't use it to monitor you."
Seemingly very practical as well—that was his second impression.
Without doubting his words, Ling Luo slipped the bracelet onto his wrist.
What Moroboshi Dan didn't tell him was that the bracelet contained a fraction of his own Light of Origin. He... didn't want to see the other person get hurt.
Even though, prior to this, they had only crossed paths a few times.
Still, he didn't want any regrets.
"My, my~ Dan, are you afraid I'll run into danger?" Ling Luo asked with a smile.
"You live alone. What would you do if you ran into some unsavory characters?" Moroboshi Dan retorted stubbornly.
"Not a chance. I'm very strong, you know."
Moroboshi Dan said nothing, but his look clearly telegraphed: *Do you expect me to believe that?*
Though the other man certainly felt mysterious, he didn't look like the fighting type at all.
Adding to that, out of the three times they had met, two of them were in the middle of dangerous situations—talk about having the worst luck imaginable.
It was really hard for him to set his mind at ease!
Thinking of this, Moroboshi Dan took a deep breath and put on a stern expression. "I'm not joking, Ling Luo."
Eh? Was this the first time he's called me by my name?
No, no, my attention is wandering.
Still, a serious Dan is also quite handsome~
Seeing the other standing there in a daze, Moroboshi Dan thought: *My fists are itching.*
He really wanted to punch him, but he was afraid that if he actually hit him, the guy might just burst into tears, and then he'd have to comfort him.
After pondering for a moment, Moroboshi Dan looked at Ling Luo's soft hair and extended a guilty hand.
"Hey, hey, hey! I was wrong, I was wrong! I'll be careful."
"That's more like it." Moroboshi Dan retracted his hand with a sense of satisfaction.
"I figured since you're here, after all," Ling Luo mumbled, feeling slightly aggrieved.
"What?" Moroboshi Dan blinked in surprise.
"I mean... since Dan is here, you can protect me."
Seeing that the other wasn't joking,
"But I can't be around all the time," Moroboshi Dan replied. He couldn't possibly stay by this person's side forever.
"You can. You can be," Ling Luo muttered. As long as Moroboshi Dan was around, he felt completely secure.
Haha, after all, he was a Warrior of Light.
Yet he spoke so softly that even Moroboshi Dan didn't catch it.
"What? Did you say something just now?"
"Nope. You misheard." Ling Luo naturally wasn't going to admit it.
By the time the two of them finished cleaning up together, it was already afternoon.
"Alright, I should get going." Moroboshi Dan checked the time; it was getting late. He stood up and said, "By the way, call me if anything comes up."
"Mm! Bye-bye, Dan~"
Watching Moroboshi Dan's retreating figure until it vanished from sight, Ling Luo finally lowered his gaze to the bracelet on his wrist.
Ah~ This is wonderful.