The Stranger on the Road

On the second day of Lee's journey, still eating peanuts to save himself from eating the rice that he had. He didn't even need to eat lunch the day before, because of the free breakfast. Lee didn't even need to cook the rice that he had for a while, considering that he had a free package of food. His rice would last a while and he could save those grains to be eaten a little later.

Lee lamented that he still wasn't sweating or needing to relieve himself. It made him feel unnatural and even further away from the people around him.

There was another man that had been following Lee on the road for a while now. He was carrying a cart of merchandise covered over by a tarp. He was sweating as he dragged along his wares along the road, and Lee could hear his panting and huffing as he continued along.

Lee wasn't so eager to actually help him.

He had appeared out of nowhere on the road and for all his laboured breathing, he seemed to be moving almost at the same pace as Lee. The only way that could even that could even be possible was if the man had left after Lee, and had travelled through the night, and had kept going.

His pace wasn't changing at all, despite how long Lee had been tracking him for.

Lee almost scowled as he realised that he was being tailed by another God.

He almost had to pause and wonder how many of them had a vested interest in Lee, and how many of them had the time to come down and accost him, whilst still acting as if they had extremely important duties to be getting to, despite their actions.

Lee let himself slow down and watched the God, out of the corner of his eye, keep walking at that one, single pace, until they met.

"Hey, do you need help?" Lee asked him, keeping his face as blank as possible, and making sure to keep his vision on the path he was taking, in case he needed to run.

"Nope!" the God replied to Lee.

Closer now, Lee could see the great, bulging muscles of the God's arms, as he continued to drag the cart. He was wearing clothes of similar quality to Lee, without any obvious weapons or armour.

Lee turned his eyes back to the road to avoid looking at the God's distractingly strong arms, and hoped that whatever redness in his face could be passed off as a result of walking in the sun all day.

The God of Strength, next to Lee, had a happy grin on his face and kept dragging the cart forward with him, his posture relaxing now that he was no longer panting like an asthmatic donkey.

Lee felt a small, momentary want for a donkey in that moment. He could ride on it when he became too tired. He could talk to it, considering there never had been any actual human being that liked and valued his company. He could also eat it when it was on the verge of dying or became too unsustainable to keep.

But feeding it, and actually buying it in the first place seemed as if it would cost too much. The God of Secrets had given Lee food, not money. Food was nice, but money was even better.

Lee knew that the God of Strength was only acting as if he was exhausted to draw Lee in closer and act as a test of character for Lee. There was no other particular reason to do so, and Lee was not about to look a gift horse in the mouth by antagonising him.

"So, what's your name?" the God of Strength asked cheerily, his face breaking out into a beaming smile.

Lee looked even further away, even if it was slightly, to gaze into the rice fields on his other side. He couldn't be annoyed at that breath taking smile. He really couldn't be.

Lee lamented over the fact that he had a type.

He had liked Shen so much because he was so open, unabashed, and confident in what he wanted. He was cheery, always expressing what he felt, and was so, gosh darn happy that Lee had simply sat there captivated whenever he spoke, forgetting that there was a world around him sometimes, almost making them late to class more than once.

This God here was almost the same.

Lee could detect no lie from him. Even his acting and attempts at deception were obvious and easily identified. Lee wasn't sure whether there was even a violent bone in his body, despite that very obviously large body's inherent strength.

"Shen Lan," Lee replied to the God of Strength, and almost immediately heard his tinkling laughter and Lee felt himself sink a little deeper, his head hanging as he turned his entire face away.

An arm came around Lee's shoulders, bringing him closer to the God's firm body, and Lee desperately tried to keep his red face hidden.

"Are you sure about that, Wei Lee?" the God of Strength laughed out, bringing his other hand around to ruffle Lee's hair as if he was a young child.

Lee yelled out about his treatment, and kicking and struggling to get out of the God of Strength's hold, shouting at him about how he needed to," continue dragging his cart to whatever far flung temple that he had decided to visit!"

Lee had to give up after screaming, completely mortified about his behaviour.

He had just performed a spot on impression of his sister from when she was seven.

Lee was fully prepared to be left to fall onto the ground and beg for his life, when he heard a booming laugh erupt from behind him.

"Aww, little monkey boy has some spunk! Come on now, I'm only here to protect you from my idiot martial brother. No real harm done here. And besides, even if you wanted to attack me, you wouldn't be able to. I'm the God of Strength after all!"