New Century Warriors

Chapter 30. Humanity, Love, and the Yellow River

The celebration banquet was scheduled to continue until tomorrow, but only a few hours had passed, and Lei Ye had been forced to drink quite a bit of alcohol by Ye Lei. Feeling drunk, he tried to stop thinking about it, just as Ye Lei had suggested, and sure enough, his twisted and uneasy heart gradually calmed down.

It was actually Miss Octopus who restored his SAN value; this feeling was quite subtle.

The guild tavern was decorated like a party, with lanterns hanging from the ceiling. Waiters pushed carts full of beer around, frequently stopping at the corner where Lei Ye was, asking if he wanted more drinks. Ye Lei would occasionally grab two wooden glasses, one for Lei Ye and one for herself. The two clinked glasses and drank heartily amidst the laughter of others, like a real couple who had just finished a commission and came to the tavern to release their stress.

The others kept making noise, with someone always trying to toast Lei Ye. At this point, Ye Lei had Lei Ye sit against the wall, and she moved to his side, using her body to isolate him from these people. Then, with the air of a female drinking champion, she accepted everyone's drinks, downing them all in one gulp.

Some people could only stand aside and give Ye Lei a thumbs up, saying, "To be honest, I always thought that Boss Lei was a bit too good for him. I didn't expect Boss Lei to be so capable. Miss Ye Lei, you've kept it well hidden."

Ye Lei was like a reserved young woman whose husband had been praised by her best friend; she just smiled and didn't say anything.

Someone else asked Lei Ye directly, "Boss Lei, you're such a good fighter, are you interested in joining our Explorers team? With you on the team, we can beat even the most wicked."

At this point, Ye Lei would slam her fist on the table and hiss like a stray dog ​​guarding its food, "What's going on? Now you know why I've been hiding this, right? My man and I are doing a good job running a small business. You think you can trick him into going out and fighting? I won't do that!"

Lei Ye, drunk and slumped on the table, turned his head to look over and saw the explorers looking embarrassed as they choked. He was a little curious about how fierce Ye Lei would be when she said such things, but when Ye Lei turned around and stroked his hair with one hand, all Lei Ye saw was a gentle, motherly face.

"Mom..." he mumbled, emboldened by the alcohol, "This place isn't fun, I want to go home."

Strangely enough, Ye Lei in my memory clearly said something like she wanted to be a lover, not a mother, but this time she acquiesced, lovingly helping Lei Ye up and stroking his face so he could lean against her chest.

"Today is your big day! You're going to become a true hero, and you won't be laughed at as some weirdo like before. But I didn't expect you to genuinely dislike these kinds of occasions. Shall we go home now?"

Lei Ye nodded.

It would be somewhat impolite for the main character of the celebration banquet to run away before the climax of the banquet, but the biggest contributor should of course have the freedom to leave whenever he wants.

Ye Lei helped Lei Ye home. The house was bright and warm. The little spinning top had just finished its housework for the day and was sitting on the sofa resting. As soon as it saw Lei Ye come back, it started running again and ran to the bathroom to add water to the bathtub.

Ye Lei said that there was no need to boil water today. She would splurge a little, clear out an empty room, put in a huge bathtub, and fill it with hot water at the set temperature.

The Lei family has various storage bags specifically for storing supplies, but they don't usually use the contents; they only use them for emergencies.

The advantage is that if you suddenly want to take a hot bath one day, you can prepare it quickly, even faster than a modern water heater, and then take off your clothes and jump into the bathtub at the perfect temperature.

He slumped down, his neck submerged in the hot water, and Lei Ye felt completely refreshed. His drunkenness subsided considerably, and he understood why Ye Lei wanted to use a huge bathtub. She then took off her clothes and strode in with her long legs.

Damn it! So he was about to attack after seeing the longsword return to his body, right? But Lei Ye isn't in the mood for it today...

--not at all.

After Ye Lei entered the water, she immediately slapped Lei Ye on the shoulder, making him twist his buttocks and turn his body to the other side.

Then she took out... a bath towel, the kind of stiff-bristled bath towel that's a must-have in bathhouses in Northeast China, and started scrubbing Lei Ye's back vigorously.

Now he was truly sober. Ye Lei's grip was so strong that Lei Ye grimaced in pain. He knew without a doubt that his back was covered in red marks. However, this pain was different from the pain of being carved by Bo Rose with a knife; it had a slightly pleasurable quality to it.

Oh dear, thinking of Cepolis brings back memories of what happened during the day. The thought of his body being tainted with something indescribable makes him panic. He doesn't know if he can still be considered human. Perhaps that hard-handed chest-piercing attack is also related to the mutation in his body.

Just as he was lost in thought, Ye Lei slapped a bath towel in front of him.

"It's my turn."

"oh oh..."

Lei Ye grabbed a bath towel, wiggled his buttocks, and turned back around.

Wow, what a beautiful back.

Despite being a writer, Lei Ye couldn't immediately recall descriptions like "skin as smooth as cream" or "bone as prominent as a butterfly." He simply felt that this back was perfect for cupping.

He couldn't resist touching it with his fingers, poking around in the soft flesh of Ye Lei's back.

"First of all, it tickles when you poke me like that. Also, I want to ask you a rather strange question now, which is probably inappropriate for this time of year: how do you... come to consider yourself human?"

Lei Ye stopped poking Ye Lei a little embarrassed and started rubbing her back. At the same time, he was slightly startled, thinking to himself, "How did you know what I was thinking?"

On Earth, Lei Ye only questioned whether he was human when he was going through the Steam verification process. So most of the time, this was just a philosophical question, involving the idea that "I think, therefore I am".

But here, humans are a unique race, and it seems that they are particularly vulnerable to being taken over by other species. For example, if someone is killed once in the dungeon, they may become a skeleton soldier with residual human consciousness. If a demon feeds them some of its blood, they will be transformed into a demon. That's considered good. If a vampire bites them, they may even become a white-haired loli vampire.

Lei Ye had been thinking about this just now. He felt that he had probably been completely transformed by Ye Lei, which also explained why Lei Ye on Line 2 had become as soft and cuddly as a blue-haired girl raising her hand, and had also turned into a giant octopus.

"You seem to have misunderstood me. To you, Venus should also be considered a human, right? The human I was referring to in my question is that kind of human," Ye Lei said, pointing to the bath towel in Lei Ye's hand. "By the way, the bath towel you're holding is the one your family uses to scrub their backs. I don't mind, but you'd better not give Venus the towel you used to scrub her butt..."

"Oh, oh..." Raino realized that his indecent action was being watched, and he withdrew his arm in embarrassment.

Although Venus is a different species, Lei Ye still considers her human because no matter how you look at her, she is just an ordinary human child full of energy. He suddenly understood what Ye Lei was asking about, which was the basis for Lei Ye's recognition of this "ordinary".

But there's not much to say about it. Raino tried to describe the feeling in his heart, but he just couldn't quite grasp it.

He scratched his head, unable to come up with a few adjectives, when Ye Lei suddenly continued.

"When you discussed this with me before, you used three words. You told me that a person is composed of three parts: wisdom, empathy, and repression."

"...What the hell?"

"First of all, wisdom. A person must have wisdom. If someone is taught how to decompress files but still can't understand it, then they lack wisdom and cannot be considered human."

"Oh, right, right."

"Secondly, empathy. People must have empathy. If someone throws a pile of poop into a conversation when everyone is having a good chat, that's called lacking empathy, and you can't be considered human."

"Oh yes, yes."

"Finally, it's about repression."

"I know this," Lei Ye said, raising his hand from the water with a slap, like a primary school student seeing the only homework problem he could solve. "Sexual repression, my nickname is the Invincible King of Sexual Repression, I know this inside and out."

"No, you're wrong. You're missing a word. Back then, you said that the final and most crucial element that makes up humanity is the suppression of love."

Lei Ye's expression froze, and he slowly lowered his hand back underwater, falling silent.

After a moment of silence, Raino quietly refuted Raino's theory from Line 2, "It doesn't mean that just because someone desires to be loved they are human..."

"You're wrong again. Repressing love isn't about wanting to be loved; quite the opposite, it's about wanting to love someone," Ye Lei leaned over, picked up the bath towel floating on the water, and placed it on Lei Ye's shoulder, rubbing it with a motherly strength. "And the essence of love is protection. Humans grow up being protected by more powerful humans. So, after growing up to be able to protect others, we develop the desire to protect someone. We might even fantasize about someone who belongs only to us and needs to be protected, and then in our fantasies, we give them the best of everything. So, the reason why humans crave a partner might not be the repression of sex or the desire to be loved, but rather because we want to love someone so much."

Is this something I can say to others?

Lei Ye was a little incredulous. On Line 1, he rarely opened up to others. Most of the time, he was in charge of keeping the team lively with his jokes. Occasionally, he would confide in his first partner, Luo Ya, but Luo Ya never listened attentively.

Giving your heart away is always a gamble, and Lei Ye hates gambling, so he also hates having deep conversations with others.

"For the first five years of my life, I was still very ignorant and didn't understand this complicated truth. But in the last five years of my life, someone who loved me taught me. So, Aye, do you think I am wicked or human? How did you come to that conclusion?"

"Do you consider yourself human?" Raino asked rhetorically.

Ye Lei answered without hesitation.

I think I am.

Lei Ye couldn't think of anything else to say. Ye Lei's words had almost revealed her identity, but Lei Ye quickly thought of another possibility. Perhaps Ye Lei had never hidden anything from Lei Ye of Line 2 from the very beginning, and Lei Ye of Line 2 had quickly accepted it and even helped her hide her identity, teaching Ye Lei how to pretend to be a human and live in this city.

Can he do that?

...Rayno thought about it and realized it really was possible.

So the writing in the notebook stopped, since anything written in a notebook carries the risk of being seen by someone.

Ye Lei silently hugged him from behind, her softness pressing against Lei Ye's back. In Lei Ye's entire life, no girl had ever been so close to him. Lei Ye couldn't help but feel a little lustful, but more than anything, he felt a sense of security, as if he were in the arms of the closest and most familiar person—this person might not be his mother, but perhaps his stern father or brother, or perhaps his gentle lover—and he had become a child again. He no longer had to worry about those troublesome things and could simply let his mind wander and daydream.

"ah..."

Everything this person has done and said so far has been an attempt to soothe his feelings.

In her own way, Lei Ye thought.

So he gave his answer in a low voice.

"...Then I think you are too."

...

Unexpectedly, he slept well and woke up feeling refreshed.

Actually, he could have slept longer, but there was noise outside. Lei Ye sat up and listened for a while. The argument was roughly as follows:

"How can you do business like this? Today is the first day the filth has been cleansed, and areas that were previously off-limits have finally reopened. The guild also distributed a lot of rewards yesterday, which we needed to use to buy new equipment, Boss Ye. Why are you temporarily closing again?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, the two owners of this shop are going out on a date in a little while, so we won't be serving customers today."

"Please, Boss Ye, we finally managed to snag a lucrative commission, so please give us some mysterious and wonderful little gadgets."

"Didn't I say I was going on a date later? Are you a dragon with ears?"

The thought of the local explorers arguing with a creature far more vile than yesterday made Raino want to laugh, but he found himself not so worried.

Wait a minute, a date?

This was a date that had to be arranged without prior notice. Before long, Ye Lei found that he had already woken up, urged him to change his clothes, wash up, and eat breakfast, and then pulled him out the door.

Along the way, Lei Ye saw explorers chatting happily with their companions, adding a lot of joy to the entire Hillius, reminding him of when he first transmigrated to this world.

Ye Lei nodded to everyone who greeted her, then led Lei Ye through the city gates, leaving Hillius. They took the airship and flew at high speed, arriving at—

—The hermitage of Escashire.

"Come on, what are we doing here?" Raino asked, feeling a little guilty.

"Anyway, you'll definitely come looking for her later, right? She's very shy and won't recognize you. I'll help you introduce her. Also, once the whole area is open, explorers might come here, so you should take her home in advance," Ye Lei said.

She's just feeling guilty; how could she know she'd definitely come looking for her later?

When the airship landed, Ais was already waiting there, looking alert.

Upon seeing Ye Lei, her tense body immediately relaxed; upon seeing Lei Ye behind Ye Lei, her relaxed body immediately tensed up again.

This scene made Lei Ye involuntarily cover his chest.

Miss Ais, who almost only trusts Raino, actually made such an expression.

The feeling of having someone important to him stolen away was like a knife to Lei Ye's heart.

"Don't panic, don't panic, this is my lover Lei Ye, he's with me."

As Ye Lei introduced them, Lei Ye suppressed his painful and complicated feelings, stepped forward, and extended his hand to the familiar yet unfamiliar girl.

"Hello!"

Cute Silk took a step back, dodging Raino's hand, as if she were avoiding something dirty.

Lei Ye couldn't help but clutch his chest again.

Mom, how could you do this... I'm so heartbroken.

"I know he's Miss Ye Lei's lover, as mentioned before, but..."

Ais whispered this.

She hesitated for a moment, then pointed unhappily at the sky.

"Over the years, strange-smelling water has been falling from the sky and landing in the stream next to my house, upstream. I've never been able to figure out where the water comes from, until yesterday, when something very strange flew down," she said, shifting her finger to point at Lei Ye, "This person has a smell that's similar to the smell of that thing from yesterday."

Ye Lei turned her head without saying a word and looked over with a judgmental gaze, just like Ai Si.

Lei Ye quickly removed his arm from his chest and desperately tried to keep a straight face.

He couldn't hold back.

"Ha ha."