Work Text:
Shang Qinghua sighed as he walked along the dirt filled path that led to the river that boarded the lush life filled forest. He wasn’t even sure if you could call it a path, the grass was simply a little bit bare compared to that that surrounded it due to that frequency that he often took this specific path to the picturesque river. What can he say, he was a creature of habit.
Despite his never ending whining and his seemingly endless complaints, Shang Qinghua couldn’t deny that there weren’t times where he didn’t enjoy the fairytale-like scenery. Honestly sometimes he reminded himself of sleeping beauty, Aurora he thinks her name was. He’s not too sure, his mother wasn’t big on letting him watch ‘girly’ movies or shows.
He continued to walk the dirt trodden path, the lush tall green trees swaying gently in the wind like that of a soft lullaby. The birds singing melodically in their welcoming branches, if he looked up he could see squirrels and chipmunks skittering along the branches, jumping from tree to tree.
If he was being completely honest with himself, he was feeling slightly apprehensive at this whole ‘red flower mission’.
…
Ok so he was feeling very worried about this red flower thing. Could you blame him though? There was definitely something the system wasn’t telling him.
“Go pick a flower” Shang Qinghua mumbled under his breath, kicking a small pebble that laid in the middle of his path. “Such bullshit”.
Maybe the system was finally going to kill him? No, that was too anticlimactic for the system. Hopefully it wasn’t too dreadful…hopefully.
His head perked up as he saw the beginnings of the river bank, he picked up his pace until he was standing on the sandy bank only a few steps away from the rushing river that glistened underneath the beating sun.
“Now where is that…” he began, turning his head to look up and down the river before pausing as he spots a single red flower that had blossomed right in between the sandy banks and the rushing river. “Flower.” He finishes off his sentence.
He walks towards the red flower, edging closer to the edge of the white sandy river bank. He kneels down in the white sand leaning over to pick the red flower. He reaches over and wraps his left hand around the flower, wincing at the sharp pricks that go through his hand as he picks the flower, carelessly stuffing it into the stachel that's slung over his chest.
[Congratulations! Congratulations! Congratulations! Good things must be said three times! User 001 is awarded 200 points!]
“Great, fantastic, wonderful” Shang Qinghua mumbled, moving to look at his now bleeding hand whilst still kneeling in the sand. There's now a long cut going across his palm, dripping golden blood.
[User 001 can now proceed onto the new story path, would User 001 like to proceed?]
Shang Qinghua jumps at the sudden appearance of the system.
“Not really” He groaned.
[User 001 should be informed that this is mandatory and failure to co-operate will result in severe punishment]
“Fantastic, I suppose I’m ready to proceed. What do you want me to do?”
[User 001 is not permitted to know the outline of the new story path, User 001 will be informed of any relevant information pertaining the story path should it become necessary]
“That doesn’t sound ominous at all” Shang Qinghua huffs sarcastically.
Without any further comments the system disappears in a blink of an eye. Qinghua sighs, great, everything is going to be totally fine. He redirects his attention to his cut palm once again, the golden blood still leaking from the wound. He guesses he should clean the cut, he didn’t need to get an infection or anything, given the lack of modern medicine and all. Could he even get an infection? Is that something that the system could prevent? Would the system even prevent that? Would technically being a ‘God’ prevent him from his cut getting infected? Maybe he should ask the system. Not now though. No not now. Later.
Shang Qinghua leans a little farther forward, sticking his bleeding hand into the cold rushing stream of the river. He watches a little detachedly as the river's streams cleanse his flower-caused wound, carrying droplets of his golden blood down the stream. He felt like he was sighing a lot lately, he guesses he’s been feeling a little lonely lately. The only company he’s had for the past few years had been the forest animals and the system (he thinks it goes without saying that the system does not make the most… enjoyable of company) and as much as he loves the woodland animals and the disney princess like feeling they bring him, they don’t exactly make him feel any less lonely. He huffed as he pulled his still bleeding hand from the cold waters of the river, no point moping about it now, that's for late at night when he’s supposed to be sleeping.
The foreign sound of a throat clearing caused him to tense up and shoot his head up to look in the direction of the sound. His blood runs cold as he recognises the person standing a few feet away from him. Oh god, he is so fucked, maybe the system really is going to kill him. Oh god. Oh god. Oh god. Oh god. What the fuck was he going to do?! He was so fucked.
He quickly pulls himself up on to his feet, his eyes never once strayed from Luo Binghes forms. He felt conflicted, on one hand he was fucking terrified, he felt like he was going to piss himself. On the other hand he felt a mix of proud and amazed, right there only a few feet in front of him stood Luo Binghe, his Luo Binghe. He looked even better than he pictured him. Oh god he’s been staring at him for too long hasn’t he? Should he say something? Maybe if he stays perfectly still Binghe won’t see him? That should totally work right? Yeah…yeah that…that makes perfect sense.
“I have finally found you”
Oh fuck.
So standing still as a statue wasn’t working. Running? Running could work.
With that revelation he spun on his heel and started sprinting in the opposite direction and back into the forest. Oh god this was a bad idea. He shouldn’t have ran. Maybe he just wanted to talk? No, that’s stupid. Oh god. What the fucking hell was he supposed to do?! As he ran through the forest he could feel the wind brushing against his face. He skillfully (only thanks to his familiarity with the forest, he’s sure) avoided tree roots and large rocks.
He doesn’t know how long he’d been running before he felt a pair of hands on his shoulders, pushing him down. The lush green grass breaks their fall, they tumble over the soft green grass for a moment before coming to a stop. Shang Qinghua is laid on his back with Luo Binghe sat on top of his hips. Binghe grins down at him from above, Qinghua can feel his eyes watering as the reality of his situation finally sinks in. Holy fucking christ, he’s going to die. He’s really going to die. Oh god.
“Hello little God” Luo Binghe picks up his hand that’s still bleeding, stained gold with his blood.
He has to bite back a whimper at that. He’s going to die, he’s really going to die. Luo Binghe is going to kill him, gut him maybe and then he’s going to eat his flesh. He should have just taken the penalty for refusing to pick the red flower.
Luo Binghe places a surprisingly soft kiss onto his golden wound. “I apologise for the rough treatment, Little God”
Shang Qinghua could feel himself beginning to hyperventilate, Luo Binghe’s words barely registering. He felt so unbelievably overwhelmed and he didn’t really understand what was going on. What was happening?! Shang Qinghua could feel as tears began falling from his eyes and staining his soft round cheeks.
Luo Binghe brings his unoccupied arm to his mouth so that he can bite into his own wrist just enough to draw a bit of blood, it's red unlike his own golden blood. Binghe forces his now bloodied wrist into Qinghua’s mouth.
“Sh sh it’s ok, that’s it” Shang Qinghua wanted to gag as the overwhelming iron taste slid down his throat, this only caused his tears to worsen. “There we go, just go to sleep.”
Shang Qinghua struggled to keep his eyes open as Luo Binghe’s blood parasites got to work, making him feel so thoroughly exhausted that he could hardly find it in himself to care about who was above him.
“Don’t worry you’ll be safe when you wake up, you’ll be home”
That was the last thing Shang Qinghua heard as the blurry image of Luo Binghe’s feral smiling face fades to black as he drifts into a restless sleep.