Chapter 38 Watching All Night

The two spent a while on the game with Li Tian mostly teaching Rai how to play and helping him level up.

Due to being stuck in the beginner's village, only Rai was in-game at the moment with the other just guiding beside him. The biggest issue was getting used to playing with such a detailed controller. With the gaming industry boom, controllers had gone through many updates with some having double the amount of buttons than before.

It allowed for more in-depth moves and a variety of different controls. Obviously, Li Tian had his custom made to suit his play style.

However, the controller seemed a little too much for little Rai who had smaller hands and needed fewer functions.

𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, he thought to himself.

But even then, the boy was doing way better than anticipated. Armed with only a wooden bow, he managed to kill dozens of beginner level monsters in no time. The catch was that he had to climb up a tall tree to be out of arms reach.

Whenever he ran out of arrows, he quickly jumped to another tree, again and again, to get to the back of the mob before pulling out the used arrows in the near vicinity. To do this properly, he had to be quick on his feet and read the movements of the enemy well.

For that, he had chosen the elf race, which were more nimble, had higher nature affinity, and were further in tune with their surroundings. His character also had blue hair and shining bluish-gray eyes. Rai had chosen the hair color, while Li Tian insisted on keeping the eye color similar to his own.

In the few hours, he managed to die only once, an achievement for a complete newbie. Time flew by so fast, they didn't even realize it until Rai's stomach began to growl again.

Grrrrooooooowwlll...

The youngster immediately blushed. This was the second time today. "Ah! I'm sorry! My stomach's not usually this noisy."

"It's fine," Li Tian assured him but then remembered a dilemma. He had no money to pay for food for two people every time. It was an off day today so he couldn't count on Meilin allowing him to use the work credit card.

𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘜𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘦 𝘟𝘪𝘯𝘺𝘢 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺? He thought for a while but finally decided against it. His pride wouldn't allow for it any further. 𝘕𝘰. 𝘐 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺.

There was only one option left. The one person whom he had no pride to speak of with no matter how many favors he owed.

"Silas, call Levi."

"Affirmative. Calling Master Levi."

Who else but the devil himself.

A few seconds of ringing later, a click was heard followed by an amused, "Evening, Little Sky."

"Evening, Levi," Li Tian answered, learning his lesson last time to just finish the greetings quickly. "I've got Leixue here with me."

The last sentence was a warning so the devious hacker would refrain from saying anything he wasn't supposed to.

"Hoooooh..." the obvious smile in the voice made one feel apprehensive. Out of nowhere, the big tv screen which was originally showing the game menu turned black and returned with the appearance of a strawberry blonde man in a half-buttoned shirt.

Rai couldn't help but yelp in surprise by the sudden intrusion. He tried to keep quiet, not wanting to intrude but there was no denying his curiosity.

His biggest question being, who was this person that could talk with Li Tian so casually?

Upon the newcomer's appearance, Rai observed the person's features and noticed something particular about them. Not only was this person incredibly handsome, no surprise there, of course, he also appeared very unique looking.

Although the person appeared to be a foreigner, the sharp features common to a Huaxian were still very noticeable, especially the round but intense eyes.

𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨? Rai thought to himself. Certainly, there were too many mixed people surrounding the Li Clan.

Soon he realized the man was quietly observing him as well, only with a mysterious smile.

His heart skipped a beat as he quickly lowered his gaze. He should have known better than to stare at people, but his bangs that usually helped were no longer hiding his eyes this time, something that was happening too often lately.

"Leixue... Little Thunder is it?"

"Huh?" Rai lifted his head back up in confusion. Again with the peculiar name-calling. The person also called Big Brother Tian as Little Sky...

Ignoring his reaction, Levi turned to the homeowner. "Has everything been settled?"

"Mostly," Li Tian answered. "There are no immediate issues for now... except..."

"Hmmm?"

"Anyway, I got us a new member for the team like you asked. Leixue is our new long distanced fighter," the Li heir patted the boy's shoulder. "He's pretty good. There should be enough time to get him ready before the war."

"Ohoooooh," the blonde hacker whistled amusedly. "That's some high praise coming from you... but in the end, I'm not surprised."

This was the boy someone like Li Tian acknowledged after all. That was already rare in and of itself.

"Leixue, this is Levi, our other teammate," the Li heir introduced.

"N-Nice to meet you, Mr. Levi," Rai quickly bowed his head in greeting. The other party must be of significant status to be teamed up with Li Tian, someone publicly known to be fussy.

"Just Levi is fine," the strawberry blonde youth smiled. In his mind, this boy was now like family. Li Tian had gone to great lengths to protect him, thus there was no doubt in his mind of the boy's status. Although the boy himself was completely unaware of it. "Although Little Sky doesn't mention it, we are best friends since childhood. So you don't have to be so formal with me."

He wanted to say that Rai could also think of him as a big brother but that was currently impossible with the current situation.

Li Tian rolled his eyes at Levi's statement. "A best friend that constantly takes advantage of me."

"How rude. I've done nothing but improve your way of life," the hacker playfully bantered back to him.

"Sure sure. Anyway, as a way to improve my way of life, as well as celebrate our new member, you should buy us dinner," the Li heir finally got to the point with a smirk.

For the first time in a long time, Levi became speechless. When he wanted to reply again, he saw the suggestive look mixed with a little pleading on the heir's face. This is too much. Everything was just too amusing. "Hahahahahaha! You've got me this time. Alright, dinner is on me. What would you like to eat, Little Thunder?"

Rai jumped at the sudden attention. Why was he being asked? Did it matter what he wanted?

"Ask for anything you want, Leixue. Don't worry. He's paying for it," Li Tian assured him with a triumphant laugh.

"Oh... Well, I like spicy food," the boy started. "There's this place close by that's really good. It's called Huaxian Delights. They even have delivery."

The Li heir was about to agree when he suddenly remembered. 𝘖𝘩 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘢 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦. 𝘠𝘶𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘐 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘟𝘪𝘢𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘨!

While the boy was speaking, he quickly gestured to Levi with his hand in front of his neck motioning a no, implying that ordering from there posed an issue. Although the hacker didn't know why, he quickly got the memo.

"I'll try and see what I can do," Levi answered Rai with a smile. "Spicy food it is then."

"Are you going to be joining us, L-Levi...?" the boy still felt awkward calling someone older by their first name.

"Unfortunately I'm still stuck in the South for now. A certain someone has asked too many favors of me and I've yet to receive much in return. Although I'm afraid if I do go North the favors will just increase," the words sounded innocent but they were purposely stabbing someone.

"Tch," Li Tian looked away without guilt.

Even a ten-year-old like Rai immediately understood.

"Hehehe. You two must have a really good relationship," he giggled softly.

Such pure adorableness was irresistible. Li Tian immediately rubbed his head affectionately and Levi seeing the scene also gave a nice smile.

"If I do come to the North sooner, it would probably be to see you, Little Thunder," the usually refined young man admitted.

"Huh?"

"I have a treatment to do with three miscreants so this is where I bid farewell. It was an honor to meet you, Little Thunder."

"Miscreants? A-Ah okay. It was nice to meet you too, L-Levi," Rai bowed his head again before the screen went back to the game menu.

"Sigh... That idiot," Li Tian muttered under his breath and shook his head. He collapsed onto the empty space on the big sofa and just laid there.

"B-big Brother Tian...?" the boy next to him asked worriedly.

"Mmm..." all the Li heir let out was a groan, but soon enough, his breathing turned light, as if he had fallen asleep.

Rai sat there in confusion at how the prominent Li heir just managed to fall asleep so soundly. Usually wouldn't people like them have their guard constantly up, especially with strangers around? His father was definitely such a person.

𝘏𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥... Rai thought, but he had no idea that he was the reason why.

Awkward about what he should be doing, he stood up to look around. He had no intention of trespassing anywhere, but eventually, as a child, he couldn't hide his curiosity.

However, after thinking about it for a while, he decided the best decision was to ask the A.I. first.

"S-Silas?"

"At your service, Little Thunder," the gentlemanly semi-robot voice answered him.

"Is there any room I can't go in?"

"Negative. You are allowed primary access to every facility available."

"I am?" then Rai remembered what Li Tian had said the moment they stepped into the penthouse.

"𝘐 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳. 𝘏𝘦'𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦."

Biting his lower lip, he looked at the sleeping figure before going to check out the rest of the house. Such a big place would usually have multiple bedrooms but due to living alone, most of the other rooms were used for other facilities.

He walked into one and was faced with a state of the art gym with a magnificent view. Each piece of equipment was made for training a different area of the body so everything was well balanced.

𝘈𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘔𝘳. 𝘓𝘪 𝘛𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘣𝘶𝘭𝘬𝘺, 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥, Rai thought to himself. Due to the person in question being someone famous, as well as a high standing heir, he was still unused to calling him 'Big Brother Tian' when talking to himself. The person was too larger than life for someone like him to get used to calling so casually. It would eventually get better with more time.

He remembered how his other teacher, Big Brother Lang, started to teach him body training and wondered to himself, 𝘐𝘧 𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢 𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮... 𝘞𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘦𝘳?

But there was no way his kind teacher would have such high tech facilities at hand with his meager wealth, not even Rai himself had access to such things. It must be nice to be spoilt by a big clan.

Rai walked to the big glass windows exposing the outside and stared down and the beautiful view of Bellrose.

It was a quaint and peaceful town but in it, all he felt was trapped.

He touched the cold glass and stared out into the distance. He lived most of his life away from this place and had little to no attachment. If anything, all he wanted to do was get away. At least in the South he didn't have to keep his guard up so often.

No... Actually, he felt a little thankful he was North this time. In a stroke of fate, he got to run into the kindest person he had ever met and was accepted as a student.

"Where are you Big Brother Lang..." he muttered in a small voice.

Rai let out a sigh and looked back over his shoulder to the sleeping figure slightly visible outside the room. Without meaning to, he let out a small smile.

He was accepted as a student by two kind people actually.

"Although their temperaments are like night and day, Big Brother Lang and Li Tia- no, Big Brother Tian are both really kindhearted..."

He thought to himself how great it would be to let them meet, but shook his head at the thought. Just because the Li heir was nice to him, didn't mean he would be like that with everyone. He was very scary when they first met at the Zhou Manor.

"But maybe if I put in a good word..." the boy began thinking of all the possibilities to make his two teachers meet. While it was a long shot, both being from completely different worlds, he was still a child; hopeful that the two people he liked would like each other as well.

His mind wandered as he explored the house further, checking out the outdoor terrace and pool, the kitchen that was somehow stocked with frozen steamed buns, and the library office.

He arrived upstairs, in awe at the size of the place, and reached one of the bedrooms.

𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘨𝘰 𝘪𝘯? he pondered to himself but in the end, thought it was okay since he was given permission.

He pushed the door open to a dark room with a giant messy king-sized bed in the middle. It wasn't surprising for a young man to have an unkempt room so he didn't give it much thought and looked around the room further. The only thing that made him a little bit confused was the laptop on the bed.

𝘞𝘢𝘴 𝘉𝘪𝘨 𝘉𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘛𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵? 𝘏𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, he innocently thought.

Indeed Li Tian was watching something the night before. He was watching to make sure nothing else happened to his little brother all night.

Rai's eyes wandered until it reached two doors; the closet and the bathroom. As an heir himself, albeit an unaccepted one, he knew the 'closet' was actually another room in of itself. What famous heir, or celebrity, wouldn't have a big closet?

He felt a little excited to check it out.

"Hmm... I should check out the bathroom first," he looked at the other door that was obviously the bathroom. It was good to end on a high note so felt it best to go through the closet last.

He entered the bathroom and was unsurprised at how luxurious it was. Built in entirely high-quality marble, it was a sight for sore eyes. What did surprise him, however, were the things on the sink's counter.

He went up closer and exclaimed, "That's a lot of hair gel!"

There was a giant one-liter tub of hair gel almost a quarter used right by the mirror.

"Does he use hair gel?" Rai muttered and thought back to how Big Brother Tian's hair looked to him. The Li heir was known for his untamable chocolate locks so eye-catching, you could see it from a long-distance away. As far as he could see, there was no gel product used on it.

"Maybe it's at a place I can't see?" since Rai was a lot shorter, it was entirely possible. Before he could think too much, another thing caught his eye.

"Glasses?"

It was a spectacles case half covered by the tub of gel. He tried to remember a time the Li heir was caught wearing glasses in his career as a singer but nothing came to mind.

He was just about to reach out and grab it when a familiar yet unfamiliar noise greeted him.

Diiiiiiiing. Dooooong.

It was the doorbell.

Remembering that Big Brother Tian was sound asleep, he immediately stopped what he was doing and quickly rushed out of the bathroom.

"C-Coming!" he shouted and hurried to the door. Thankfully his clumsiness wasn't affecting him on the way.

He reached the door and quickly opened it. "Yes?"

Empty.

There was no one in sight and even the elevator had left their floor.

"Huh?" Rai then looked down and noticed a few bags left on the ground. From the smell of them, they were definitely food. Although confused, he picked them up and brought them to the kitchen island counter.

Taking them out one by one, he began humming a tune to himself without realizing it. It had been a while since he had felt unrestrained.

The food looked delicious and his tummy couldn't wait to dig in so he quickly went to the living room to wake up the sleeping figure. Before calling out to wake the person up, he knelt down closely, taking some time to analyze the handsome face that had accepted him as a student.

Li Tian's sleeping face looked so peaceful, and coupled with his amazing looks, it made it almost impossible not to make anyone's heart beat faster. The boy quietly admired the sleeping appearance and the strands of hair sticking out in the already messy chaos and giggled to himself.

It had been long enough already so he finally decided to wake him up.

"Big Brother Tian..." he whispered and gently nudged the sleeping fellow's shoulder. "It's time to wake up. The food is here."

The sleepy Li Tian still felt muddled from being woken up from his deep slumber and couldn't help but moan in annoyance, "Mmm... five more minutes..."

"The food is going to get cold..." the immature but gentle voice entered his ears again.

"Mmm..." Li Tian's mind was unclear but he still unconsciously opened his eyes, squinting in the bright light to see who it was calling out to him. Slowly, the hazy figure of his little brother came into view, looking at him with a distressed look.

Although he couldn't think properly yet, he was still happy to see the little boy beside him. As if by habit, he sluggishly lifted his hand and placed it on the boy's head before rubbing it affectionately. "You're here, Rai..."

"What?"

At the confused voice, Li Tian's fuzzy mind instantly cleared and his eyes snapped open. He got up so fast, that the kneeling boy jumped in surprise, accidentally tumbling and falling back on his butt.

"Leixue!"

.....