Chapter 232: The Game Pool
The light in Tang Erda's eyes slowly disappears as the torture continues.
Originally there was a posture correction therapy, but the doctor that does it said Tan Erda's posture is already very healthy so there's no need to do that, doing a posture correction therapy would only be overdoing it. Mu Ke has no choice but to give it up with regret -- he heard that it's very painful.
In order to save time, Mu Ke requested the procedures to be done simultaneously, such as while his hair is being styled now, his eyebrows are plucked and his face is being massaged.
The person plucking his eyebrows is a young, skinny makeup artist with delicate features. In order to style Tang Erda's hair as he is laying down, he is practically straddling Tang Erda to be able to style his hair. His face continues to grow redder as he's styling his hair, his grip slowly becoming unsteady as he's plucking Tang Erda's eyebrow as his gaze keeps shifting to his chest, causing the speed of plucking his eyebrows to become slower.
Tang Erda who is laying down with his eyes shut has no idea what is going on around him while his hair is being washed.
Tang Erda dedicated his whole life to the game and the Anomaly Authority, he never took the time to think that some people around him might be gay. His thought still remains that only the minority is gay, not realizing that a homo is right next to him.
Bai Liu who is sitting on the sofa flipping through random magazines glances at him, his lips tugging up as he witnesses the sight.
Liu Jiayi notices the slight change in Bai Liu's expression as she has her goggles on si she follows his gaze, and the corner of her lips twitches.
Bai Liu sets the magazines aside, sitting next to Tang Erda elegantly then lifting his head to let his gaze graze over the young man lightly.
As if receiving a warning sign from Bai Liu's gaze, the makeup artist nervously hurries up the speed of plucking Tang Erda's eyebrows, scurrying away as soon as he finishes.
Liu Jiayi follows him, she can't help but leans toward Bai Liu and complains softly, "why are you asserting your dominance to protect him? Can't you just let this big dummy get bullied?"
Bai Liu looks at Tang Erda sitting up as his hair is finished being washed, shifting around and lowering his voice, "I don't like seeing people fiddle with my property."
"Especially when this can't give me any benefits."
Bai Liu lifts his hand to pat Liu Jiayi's head reassuringly, "if you get bullied, I'd be mad too."
Liu Jiayi swallows all the words that she wants to say, turning her face away from Bai Liu -- she's actually a bit annoyed with Bai Liu's attitude toward Tang Erda.
This guy shot her once, and she still remembers that.
"What if I'm the one bullying him?" Liu Jiayi asks harshly.
Bai Liu smiles, "it's up to you, I don't mind fightings between my properties as long as none of you damages each other and lowers your values."
Liu Jiayi is immediately satisfied, rubbing her fist as she lifts her head to find a spot where she can punch, but she pauses when she sees the front of his face.
Bai Liu raises a brow, leaning closer to Liu Jiayi and whispering in her ear, "in the process of bullying him, try not to damage his face, it looks like it's worth a lot of money."
Tang Erda has been completely polished, now standing up uneasily. He touches the back of his neck, then his chin, then he looks at Bai Liu and Liu Jiayi who are silent, and then he starts growing more agitated.
He covers his lips for a moment, attempting to restore his dignity as an officer, "I told you that these are useless on me, it won't increase the audiences' attraction toward me..."
"No." Bai Liu's gaze swirls around Tan Erda, the faint smile on his face deepens, "at least aesthetically, you look more attractive to me now."
The makeup artist from earlier made Tang Erda's eyebrows were plucked much lower, and his sideburns were trimmed. This greatly emphasized the outline of his face and his sharp navy blue eyes.
The shape of his face has sharp edges and a cold and serious expression hangs on his face. His towering form has a wide shoulder and a tight waist, his posture showing that he is ready to face anything thrown at him, giving off a sense of danger.
Liu Jiayi circles around Tang Erda, coming to a conclusion in defeat -- from appearance, this guy is the type that audiences would like.
Tang Erda was able to obtain the 【Death-Exemption Medal】 in the first place among all the other star players, excluding his impressive strength, some of his external factors also gave him a lot of advantages.
Of course, he never realised that.
Or rather, Tang Erda has been with various monsters for too long, he doesn't have a clear concept of human appearances.
He thinks that he's just average. Only the kind of gentleness and friendliness of Su Yang is attractive.
Having no understanding of the beauty standards of modern society, Tang Erda immediately thinks that Bai Liu is being mean and teasing him when Bai Liu compliments him with a smiley face.
So captain Tang becomes even more uncomfortable. His eyebrows furrow together and even his expression has a sense of coldness. He reaches a hand up and is about to ruffle his newly styled hair, "I told you it's useless! Don't do these kinds of stuff on me!"
Seeing that Tang Erda is about to destroy his style, the makeup artist let out a cry and grabs his arm, crying out, "I won't let you insult yourself! You're super handsome okay?! If you choose one or two fitting outfits, counts will come lining up at the front of this store!"
"If you ever make your debut..." He strokes Tang Erda's muscular arm while restraining himself, his face turning red, "I'd definitely be your wife stan⁽¹⁾.
What the hell??
Tang Erda who had never heard of wife cake⁽²⁾ into wife stan removes his arm from the makeup artist with question marks filling his head.
Bai Liu retracts his gaze, "go pick two outfits that suit him."
"Is a tailoring shop okay?" Mu Ke asks, "there are two tailoring shops that I'm familiar with, or it would be hard for him to be able to buy fitting clothes in normal shops."
"Sure," Bai Liu pulls up his phone, "I'll notify Mu Sicheng that we are moving locations."
Inside a tailoring shop
The nameplate of this shop is a series of French words that Bai Liu doesn't understand. There are a lot of foreigners that work there, but Mu Ke can communicate with them in fluent French, so Bai Liu decides to shrug and sit aside to watch the show.
He has to say Mu Ke is really prudent. Tang Erda is measured to be 192cm, except for the sports shops, it'd be really hard to find suitable clothes for this guy.
Even in this clothing shop, it's hard to choose the right clothes for Tang Erda. The man with a big beard turns Mu Ke down apologetically, but Mu Ke seems to be insisting that they finish measuring him before they make a conclusion.
So Tang Erda is called into a room covered by a white sheet, taking his shirt off to have his C/W/H. Bai Liu and Mu Ke followed in to help him choose his outfits.
Liu Jiayi is left outside against her will.
Mu Sicheng has arrived at this time. After learning what has been going on through Liu Jiayi, he pulls his sleeves up without another word, smiling with ill intentions as he enters.
Is there a more fitting fucking time to have his revenge on this stupid ass captain?!
When he sees a naked Tang Erda, he has to body shame him! And tell him that he looks bad no matter what he wears.
With that messy look like he has been sleeping on the streets for half a year, how could Tang Erda become some kinda cool dude?
Mu Sicheng won't believe that Tang Erda could look better than him when he's young and charismatic, so he fixes his hair casually before he opens the curtains haughtily and steps in.
Tang Erda who is half naked opens his eyes, giving him a look that shows hostility.
His old uniform had been taken off and is hanging on his waist. From his chest to his back, there are various old scars and bullet wound scars. His muscles are taut because it had lost their protective layer, and the smooth curves from his back to his lower back hold incredible strength.
A tided short hair, a clean front face with navy blue eyes with unavoidable hostility lingering in them. After making sure that this person is a harmless teammate, he averts his gaze coldly, holding his arm up for the tailor to measure.
These obviously unusual scars are scaring the tailor that is measuring Tang Erda, he has to measure him with extra caution, restraining himself from even breathing too loudly.
Mu Sicheng lets go of the curtain with a deadpan, then lifts his head and lets out a silent cry.
Just one look and he lost!! Fuck!! He looks so cool!! His body type looks so good!!
Mu Sicheng hesitates for a few seconds and grits his teeth, taking off his jacket as he does not want to admit defeat, preparing to enter the changing room with only a t-shirt on.
fuck it, he's an athletic guy, his body shape isn't bad!
Liu Jiayi who had seen through everything looks at him with pity, "you can't beat Tang Erda, his chest is way bigger than yours, I assume that it's at least a hundred from what I can see."
At the same time, Mu Ke's soft voice passes out from within the curtains, "his chest size is 115? Are you sure this is normal, does he not have issues related to overgrowing?"
The tailor uses his ineloquent Chinese to respond, "very, standard, perfect!"
Mu Ke whose chest size is barely ninety, "..."
Mu Sicheng whose chest size is not even one hundred one, "..."
H-he lost!
Mu Sicheng quietly puts the jacket back on again and zips it up, lessening the possibility of his upper body being exposed. Only after adjusting the expression on his face, he decides to open the curtains and enter.
Tang Erda is currently putting on some clothes, he's very not used to letting people approach him without any sort of defence. So when Bai Liu has to hold his head to make him stay in place as he's being measured, his expression is darkened, and even his voice deepens, "do I still need to be measured?"
"No!" The tailor waved his hands with excitement, using his hands to gesture the shape of Tang Erda's chest, waist and butt. He gives a thumbs up and compliments in English that has an accent, "--Beautiful!"
Tang Erda backs away from the tailor tensely.
Though Mu Sicheng and Mu Ke that are by the side can't hide the envy on their faces. They stare at Tang Erda's chest, then look down at their own chest in desolate.
Mu Sicheng even lifts his hand up to measure his chest, then makes a 5 centimetres gap to compare again, finding himself growing more frustrated--show it earlier if he's so cool and handsome and has a big chest! Are you hiding it the whole time just to shame me!
After the tailor measures Tang Erda, he accounts to Mu Ke in a few sentences and then looks over to Tang Erda while rubbing his chin. The look he has gives Tang Erda goosebumps.
Mu Ke translates for Bai Liu, "he just asked me about Tang Erda's occupation. Normally, except for models, not a lot of people would be this tall and have such a standard C/W/H. I explained to him that Tang Erda had been through professional military training, but he's now retired."
"So he recommended clothes that resemble uniforms," Mu Ke explains, "there are strict rules about real military uniforms so they can't be worn casually, but there are some similar clothes that can be tried out."
As he's speaking, the tailor takes a dark grey uniform off of the coat hanger and hands it to Tang Erda, motioning for him to try it on.
After one or two minutes, Tang Erda comes out fully dressed.
His shoulders are very wide, fitting nicely into the shirt he is given.
This shirt is more fitting compared to the traditional wage slave style shirt that Bai Liu has. He has a double-breasted vest and there are straps on his shoulder that reach from his back to his lower waist.
The waistband is relatively wide, but it hugs tightly around him, a holster is attached to the back of his hips.
The tailor nods his head in satisfaction, turning around to talk to Mu Ke briefly.
Mu Ke translates, "he said this used the uniform that the FBI has as a reference, and it's really suitable for people like Tang Erda who has been through training and has a fit body."
"How is it?" Bai Liu asks, "will wearing this outfit affect your movements?"
Tang Erda hesitates for two seconds, moving his arms around and then giving Bai Liu an honest answer, "no."
"This will do," Bai Liu makes the final decision, "pack it up, let's continue buying other things."
After forty-seven minutes.
Tang Erda is holding various bags containing tie clips, socks, leather boots, etc. and standing outside Bai Liu's rental apartment with a cold expression, unbuttoning two buttons on his shirt with furrowed brows -- it's too tight, he's not too used to this outfit.
Bai Liu who's in the house calls the director, "mhm, Mu Ke is here, come pick him up."
After hanging up, he calls the Chun Hua couple, "Jia Yi is here, come pick her up."
After shutting his phone, Bai Liu turns toward Mu Sicheng, "you can go back on your own right?"
Mu Sicheng nods.
After settling his teammates down, Bai Liu turns to face them, "since we're lucky enough to have the strong support of captain Tang, applying for The League is not an issue, we will have much more time to plan properly as well."
Bai Liu eyes Tang Erda who is standing at the very back, "tell me, captain Tang, except for training, it's important for teammates to care for themselves too. It is almost eleven now, go back and rest for the entire afternoon and fix your looks, come to the hot pot restaurant near my apartment at five in the afternoon, and I'll treat you to dinner with hot pot. We'll enter the game at half past six and officially start our league training, any questions?"
Everyone shakes their heads.
"Ok," Bai Liu nods. As he is about to speak again, his doorbell rings.
Tang Erda who is at the very back turns to open the door. The moment he opens the door, it causes the director who frantically made his way here after receiving Bai Liu's phone call to jump in fright.
Tang Erda is too tall, but that's not the point. His uniform is made messy by him, and his styled hair is tousled since he is not used to it, he even washed it.
A few scars are shown through his unbuttoned shirt, there is a present scent like he just took a bath (he actually just washed his hair), and water is dripping down from his strands of hair.
-- it looks very wild, it's almost like he had just rolled around in bed.
Since Bai Liu is still briefing the others, Tang Erda blocks the director outside of his apartment and looks down at him, "what do you want?"
The director huddles his body in fear and looks up at him. The pressure that Tang Erda gives causes him to stutter, "I-I'm looking for Mu Ke."
"Wait for a moment," Tang Erda says, "Bai Liu is in there...doing stuff with him."
The director cuts him off in disbelief and blurts out, "is Bai Liu don't with his stuff yet?! Aren't you already done doing stuff with Bai Liu?!"
--such a huge fucking person like you can't even finish Bai Liu's stuff?!
Even though it sounds off, Tang Erda can't tell what's wrong with it and explains with a frown, "Bai Liu only finished dealing with me, he's not done with the other two yet."
Liu Jiayi can deal with her own things, there is no need for Bai Liu to worry about her.
The director leans on the wall from dizziness, asking with a shaky voice, "inside, Bai Liu even did stuff with the two other people in front of you?!"
The fuck would a human do this?!
Letting one of his lovers welcome visitors while he continues to do stuff to the other ones?!
Tang Erda frowns and asks, "what's wrong with that?"
The director struggles to regain his composure after being asked by Tang Erda. His gaze brushes over the scars that are showing through his collar, blurting out, "the wounds on you, it's not caused by Bai Liu is it?"
The expression on Tang Erda's face changes. Swiftly tightening his collar, he grabs the director's hands, pinning them behind his back and pins him against a wall, asking strictly, "how did you know?! Have you played the game?!"
"I don't fucking play dirty evils game with Bai Liu!!" The director roars in resentment, "Let go of me!"
Why are Bai Liu's men's envy so terrifying?! Simply the suspicion that he had played games with Bai Liu causes him to feel like he's going to die in his hands!
As the director is dying from being pinned by Tang Erda, Bai Liu pushes the door open, lifting his chin to signal Tang Erda to let go, "he's not a player, let him go."
Tang Erda unhands him after hearing, backing away with doubt.
The director immediately pulls away in fear, but his pupils shiver when he sees Bai Liu who is by the door.
Within a short day, Bai Liu looks a lot more exhausted. His face is pale and there are dark circles around his eyes, it's almost like he had been doing drugs nonstop for days and nights.
The director walks forward to get Mu Ke. Before he leaves, he turns around to glance at Bai Liu who had loosened his collar, there are similar rounded wounds in the spot that's around the same place as Tang Erda--it's like burnt marks from cigarette butts.
But he didn't see these wounds on Bai Liu when he picked up Mu Ke yesterday.
How fucking wild had this one night been?!
The director immediately grans Mu Ke's hand and escapes the scene.
After he is outside with Mu Ke, the director can't hold his curiosity back and asks, "when Bai Liu is playing his games, did he get burnt in the neck by that one by the door with a cigarette?"
Mu Ke asks in shock, "how do you know that?!"
The director takes out a cigar longingly and lights it up, staring off into the distance as he breathes out a puff of smoke depressingly, "my eyes have already witnessed too much of the unholiness of this world..."
Pot Fish Chili's (author) notes: some readers asked if you can change your appearance to whatever, I'll answer them all at once here, you can, but you need to spend money on it, the more extravagant the changes are the more expressive it is, but there are also items that allow people to see through these disguises. So you can't fake your appearances if you wanna be a star member, or the audiences won't buy it
1) Wife stan: meaning that the fan thinks of themselves as a character/celebrity's wife. (I can't really find a word to properly translate it)
2) Wife cake: also known as sweetheart cake,
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