The System had taken a long time to plan this time. It had sent five Destroyers at once and used the safety of the common people of the Xuyang District to force Yu Hua to unseal his abilities. It had also used others’ lives to force Yu Hua into the little world. You Zhengping had thought that as the System’s trump card, Guan Shaoguang should have been Yu Hua’s enemy, or at the very least his former opponent. 

But when he had seen the slightly childish Yu Hua, and Guan Shaoguang, who had yet to become deadly still, You Zhengping had realized that he had guessed wrong. 

Guan Shaoguang had met Yu Hua during their eleventh level. They had been friends and struggled together, with the common goal of defeating the System. But now it seemed that they had fallen out. Why would it be like this? 

When he had seen the twenty-year-old Yu Hua, You Zhengping had suddenly found that he didn’t understand Yu Hua all that well. 

The Yu Hua he had met at the very beginning was an ordinary person who longed for a family. He had hinted countless times that he wanted to get married. He was a good, domestic partner. After they were married, You Zhengping had felt that Yu Hua had some OCD tendencies, that he liked to look after people, but after an adjustment period, they had gotten along very well. 

Following the black-cloaked man’s appearance, You Zhengping had gradually become aware that his husband had many stories—a complicated, painful, unspeakable past. For the sake of his identity as a Protector, You Zhengping had chosen not to ask about Yu Hua’s past. 

He had thought that as long as Yu Hua wasn’t the enemy of the Protectors, as long as their hearts were together, then the past wasn’t important. There was no need to interrogate it. They only had to live well in the future ahead of them. 

But when he had seen the young Yu Hua, You Zhengping had realized that he could no longer overlook Yu Hua’s past. 

How had he become the way he was now? Why would his former like-minded friend have fallen out with him and become his enemy? How had the once weak Yu Hua become powerful enough to seal half of the System’s power? Why had the Yu Hua who possessed all that power been willing and happy to come to an ordinary world and become an ordinary person who would roll up his sleeves and cook soup for his husband? 

Normally You Zhengping didn’t dare to ask, couldn’t ask. But the You Zhengping in the time law little world seemed to have been unfettered by something. Here he didn’t need to hide his identity, and neither did Yu Hua. Through coming in contact with the Yu Hua of this time, he could understand another side of his husband. 

The passage of time around him suddenly slowed. You Zhengping knew that this was the next time node chosen by Guan Shaoguang. He quickly made preparations to join in battle. 

When the dizzying passage of time ended, You Zhengping found himself among ruins. 

There was a blood red sun in the sky. Like the moon, the sun was only half a sun. The temperature of the surroundings was around -40°C. You Zhengping was dressed in the cut up clothes and flip-flops he had worn to his blind date with Yu Hua. He was instantly chilled into a shivering fledgling. He quickly gathered his power to resist the cold. 

Fortunately, when he had worn this outfit full of holes, he had already learned how to use his power to withstand extreme temperatures. Otherwise, the temperature alone would have killed him. 

You Zhengping smacked his face to clear his head from being frozen just now and walked forward in his flip-flops. When he had gone only a step, one flip-flop got caught in a crack in the cement. You Zhengping yanked twice and found that he couldn’t yank it out. He simply abandoned the shoes and went barefoot. 

During the contest game before, You Zhengping had for some reason taken over Guan Shaoguang’s identity. He had been wearing the green team uniform and sneakers issued by the System for the contest game. Yu Hua had been in a red team uniform. So You Zhengping hadn’t realized then that under his team uniform had been his ragged jeans and ragged t-shirt. Now that Guan Shaoguang had changed the time node, You Zhengping’s new clothes revealed their original form. 

He wanted to see what kind of place this was. He climbed up a building that had been broken into two halves. This was the tallest building in the area. It was the only one that was relatively intact. 

You Zhengping stepped barefoot on reinforcing steel bars. The soles of his feet ached from the cold. The chilly wind quickly chapped his exposed skin. 

Before, in the fight with the head of the league, a layer of skin had been torn off his hand. It had ached faintly while he had been hanging off the cable wires, but it had still been bearable. Now it was being worn away by the low temperature. The frostbite recurred. His palm itched unendurably. 

During training, You Zhengping had suffered worse than this. He took no notice of his present station, though he missed being able to use his third space as steps. He tried to deploy his third space, but maybe he didn’t have enough power. He failed. 

You Zhengping relied on his strength to quickly climb up to the highest point of the half-building. He found a stable windowsill with room to stand with both feet and stood up on it. 

Looking into the distance from a high place, he discovered what a hopeless place this world was. All the large buildings had collapsed. Only half of the sun that had given people warmth remained. The sky was overcast, smoke or fog blocking the sun so only half of a dim red bloody sun was visible. 

There was no life in the city. He didn’t see humans or any other living creature. It was deadly still among the ruins. 

Suddenly, You Zhengping seemed to see a human figure flicker behind a big stone at the base of the building. He quickly climbed down and strode towards the figure. 

He went around the stone without finding anything. He was suspecting himself of having been infected by Yuan Luori’s nearsightedness when suddenly he couldn’t move. 

No, it wasn’t that he couldn’t move, it was that the flow of time had been slowed down to infinitely slow! 

Guan Shaoguang, wearing the black clothes from the estate, walked out from behind the stone and said, “I guessed you would appear near me. Standing and waiting for a windfall was the right thing to do.” 

He had passed many more levels now. He already had the ability to slow time down nearly to the point of stopping. 

It was as if You Zhengping’s time was static. If he wanted to move, it might take him a whole year, but Guan Shaoguang could move normally. 

“I’m curious. Why would there be changes to the fixed track of history because of you? How did you take my place in the contest room? I think it must have to do with your spatial ability. I’m not sure how you managed to become a part of history, and I don’t plan to understand the principle here. I just need to kill you.” Guan Shaoguang didn’t approach You Zhengping. He took a machine gun from the System’s space and aimed at You Zhengping’s forehead. 

Guan Shaoguang was very cautious. He didn’t know what means of counterattack You Zhengping would have during this period. Slowing time wasn’t a move that couldn’t be counteracted. In the interest of safety, it was better to attack You Zhengping from a distance. 

If he shot a whole cartridge of bullets, You Zhengping would turn into a sieve. 

“With the present flow of time for you, you probably haven’t heard what I said?” Guan Shaoguang put his finger on the trigger. 

You Zhengping’s reaction was timely. The moment he saw Guan Shaoguang, he called up his second space so it would protect him. Though he would receive one tenth the power of any attack that hit the space, at least there wouldn’t be danger to his life. 

But he didn’t know whether he would be in time. His time was flowing too, too slowly. Unless something approached the speed of light, he wouldn’t be able to protect himself before Guan Shaoguang pulled the trigger. 

Just as You Zhengping thought he was going to die without attaining anything, a low voice spoke from the air: “Guan Shaoguang, what are you doing?” 

After the voice, a man wrapped up in a black cloak appeared floating in midair and stood between Guan Shaoguang and You Zhengping. 

A hand reached out from the black cloak. There was a brush pen in that hand with blood on the tip. 

The man gently waved the brush in the air. A bloody mark cut open the stagnant air. You Zhengping found that he could move again. 

You Zhengping displayed no intent to attack Guan Shaoguang. He looked at the black-cloaked man’s somewhat unfamiliar face and his cool eyes. He said decisively, “Yu Hua.” 

The man’s expression didn’t change. He coolly said, “Have you seen me? Are you a leveler?” 

This amounted to acknowledging his identity. You Zhengping excitedly ran towards Yu Hua, but Yu Hua didn’t give him another look. He turned to Guan Shaoguang. “What are you doing?” 

Guan Shaoguang had put away his weapon the moment Yu Hua had appeared. Looking innocent, he said, “I’m clearing the battlefield, getting rid of all suspicious enemies.” 

You Zhengping wanted to plead his innocence and say he wasn’t an enemy, that it was Guan Shaoguang who was harboring ill intentions and wanted to kill Yu Hua. But he didn’t speak. He was only a passerby now, and Guan Shaoguang was Yu Hua’s teammate. 

He only approached Yu Hua in small steps and reached out his hand, which had been frozen into the form of a chicken’s foot, and carefully took hold of Yu Hua’s arm through the black cloak. 

Yu Hua didn’t even look at him. He shook his arm to throw him off. You Zhengping held on desperately and wouldn’t let himself be thrown off. The frostbite wounds on his hand opened, and fresh blood stained Yu Hua’s black cloak. 

Yu Hua stopped trying to throwing him off, letting You Zhengping hold onto him. He kept his eyes on Guan Shaoguang and said, “I remember that my orders were to assemble in the city center, and to control any suspicious person you encountered and bring them to the assembly. Did I tell you to kill anyone? Who allowed you to disobey my instructions?” 

Guan Shaoguang made a gesture of surrender. “I was too panicked. Can you let me off this time?” 

Seeing him acknowledge his mistake, Yu Hua finally looked at the down-and-out and frozen You Zhengping. He lowered his gaze and saw this thin and pitiful person with his bare feet. There was ice where he stood. This person was so frozen that he could only stand on one foot, the other foot stepping on the first foot to warm it, switching feet from time to time. 

“What did you use all your points on? You can’t even afford to equip a piece of clothing?” Yu Hua said impatiently. 

“I, I don’t have points.” You Zhengping licked the wound on his hand. It hurt. 

Suddenly he was wrapped in warmth. Yu Hua had taken off his black cloak and dropped it onto You Zhengping’s head. He used this gesture to throw off You Zhengping’s tightly clutching hand. “Put it on.” 

There was no way to resist wearing the black cloak that held Yu Hua’s body heat. You Zhengping wrapped the black cloak tightly around himself, giving off a “this is mine, no one had better steal it” look. 

When he and Yu Hua had gone on dates in the winter, Yu Hua had always considerately taken off his coat and put it on You Zhengping. After each date ended, You Zhengping would carry the coat back to his dorm room and go to a dry cleaners to get it cleaned and pressed, then hang it in the wardrobe and not let anyone touch it. 

After about a dozen dates, Yu Hua had had no more coats to wear. So You Zhengping had gone out wearing Yu Hua’s coats. When Yu Hua was only wearing a thin jacket, he would drape the coat that had originally belonged to Yu Hua over him. 

In fact, when it was cold, You Zhengping also really wanted to put his own coat over Yu Hua, acting the considerate boyfriend. But he didn’t have any coats that looked so very high quality, so he’d had to borrow Yu Hua’s. 

After he had received the black cloak, his feet were still bare. You Zhengping hesitated over whether he should tear off a piece of the black cloak to wrap around his feet, but he felt it would be a shame. 

Just as he was engaged in a fierce ideological struggle, Yu Hua waved his hand and dropped a pair of cotton slippers. You Zhengping quickly shoved his feet into them. 

“They’re so warm.” You Zhengping narrowed his eyes in contentment and very naturally approached Yu Hua, hugged his arm, and leaned his head on his shoulder. 

Under the black cloak, Yu Hua was dressed all over in form-fitting gray camouflage. There was a leather belt around his waist with two guns and a dagger hanging from it. He was wearing a pair of black combat boots, close-fitted and fairly tall. He seemed taller than when he was wearing a suit. 

He was covered an austere energy that made people shudder. But You Zhengping was entranced. He had never seen Yu Hua look so grim and robust. He thought that after they went back, he would secretly get Yu Hua a custom-fit camouflage outfit. That seemed—that seemed pretty interesting. 

“Let go,” Yu Hua said coldly. 

You Zhengping entirely didn’t notice that Yu Hua had said this to him. He was still struggling to get close to his husband. He would soon be hanging off of Yu Hua. 

Yu Hua took hold of You Zhengping’s chin. There was no emotion in his eyes. He coldly said, “Trying to throw yourself into my arms to save your life? You could at least clean yourself up a little, no?” 

“What’s not clean about me?” You Zhengping felt his face. It was a little frozen, but it was still all right. He looked the way he had when Yu Hua had fallen in love with him at first sight. 

Yu Hua released his chin and grabbed his hair. “Do you think this is attractive?” 

His hair? You Zhengping released Yu Hua’s arm and grabbed his hair with both hands. Showing himself no mercy, he pulled a tuft of hair out from the back of his head. While his scalp smarted, he saw the rainbow-colored hairs. 

Pants full of holes, torn up t-shirt, flip-flops, rainbow hair—when he and Yu Hua had met, how regrettable had he looked? 

“I didn’t want it like this, it was…” It was Cen Xiao and that crowd of bastards!! You Zhengping couldn’t explain. 

Yu Hua said, “The hair doesn’t matter. So you acknowledge that you’re attaching yourself to me? Do you think I’ll like you?” 

“Yep.” You Zhengping covered his head and nodded naturally. 

Anger flashed through Yu Hua’s eyes. He ignored You Zhengping and said to Guan Shaoguang, “There won’t be a next time.” 

“Yes.” Guan Shaoguang looked hatefully at You Zhengping. 

Seeing that they were going to leave here and go to some assembly point, You Zhengping no longer cared about covering up his hair. He hugged Yu Hua’s arm. He had to follow Yu Hua, and he had to find an opportunity to get rid of Guan Shaoguang to end this little world. 

This time, Yu Hua didn’t shake You Zhengping off. He flew up into the sky, patrolling the whole city. 

He seemed to have seen something. He landed on the ground with You Zhengping and kicked aside a dilapidated board. Under the board, a little boy was shivering and hugging a husky. The husky was also cold, but it was struggling to cover the little boy with its belly; its belly was the warmest place. 

Seeing the board removed, the husky, whose head was so frozen it was dizzy, didn’t care who had come. It opened its mouth wide and called out: “Awoooooooo.” 

You Zhengping: “…” 

This dog was angry enough that it would soon be speaking human. 

---

Author's Note

You Zhengping: You definitely fell in love with my hair at first sight, but now you’re disdaining it. You liar! 

Yu Hua: This pitiful frozen person I’ve picked up is kind of cute. I’m enjoying how he’s throwing himself at me. But I’m a gentleman. I have to be patient. 

Guan Shaoguang: I’ve had enough.