Gaming really is addictive.
Lin Nan hadn't been very interested in single-player games before, preferring competitive games like League of Legends. However, after spending an afternoon at his uncle's place, he suddenly realized that single-player games could be quite interesting too. He particularly liked Sekiro - as long as his reactions were quick enough, the sword fights felt like playing a rhythm game. When he could maintain focus, he only needed to die a few times to learn the boss patterns before he could achieve a no-damage run.
Wu Guodong beside him was stunned. He had never imagined his nephew's gaming talent could be so high.
As the sky darkened outside, Lin Nan grew mentally exhausted and sighed deeply as he put down the controller.
"I never knew you were this good at games," Wu Guodong said, surprised.
"I'm Diamond 1 in League, almost at Master tier."
"That's impressive." Though he said this, he didn't play League himself and only knew that Diamond 1 was quite a high rank.
Lin Nan's ranking progress was slow. After all, maintaining heightened concentration to improve reaction speed was exhausting. Combined with regular five-stack practice matches with Chen Yao and the others for tournaments, even with his reaction-enhancing magic, he remained stuck in Diamond 1.
He leaned back on the sofa, sitting cross-legged with bare feet and yawning. After gaming all afternoon, he was completely drained and just wanted to lie down and rest.
The living room was filled with cigarette smoke. Wu Guodong smoked frequently, and while Lin Nan couldn't handle it at first, he'd been forced to get used to it over time. Even with the windows opened as wide as possible, the room still looked like a misty wonderland with smoke.
Over the course of the afternoon, their relationship, which had grown distant from lack of contact, gradually warmed up. Both Wu Guodong and Lin Nan, who had been quite formal at first, were now lounging casually - one sprawled on the sofa, the other sitting directly on the floor.
However, Wu Guodong still had some concerns. He was very curious about why Lin Nan had become so feminine, like a young girl, in just half a year since they'd last met.
He had observed all afternoon and noticed that Lin Nan's femininity seemed completely natural, not at all forceed. His voice was androgynous, and his figure was as slim and small as a girl's. If you didn't look at his face and hairstyle, nobody would think he was male.
With a bit of makeup or longer hair to hide the less feminine aspects of his face, given Lin Nan's already delicate features, he might even pass for a pretty girl.
How had his nephew ended up like this?
He felt that the changes in Lin Nan's appearance weren't actually that dramatic - mainly his skin had gained a sort of "beauty filter" effect. But the problem was that the changes everywhere else were truly significant.
And that bottom - it seemed much rounder and perkier than he remembered, making his gaze unconsciously drift there.
Though he was ten years older than Lin Nan, he was still a hot-blooded young man at his age.
"What skincare products do you use? You had quite a few acne scars when I saw you at the start of the year, right?" he asked subtly, trying to get answers.
"I don't use any, it just cleared up mysteriously." Lin Nan immediately became alert, quickly sitting up straight from his lounging position and crossing his legs, trying his best to present a more masculine appearance.
However, to Wu Guodong, this seemed more like he was deliberately hiding something.
Wu Guodong grew suspicious. Though he was Lin Nan's uncle, he was only twenty-eight, just a few years out of college. He was familiar with internet culture and had an open mind, and despite his somewhat old-fashioned name, he was basically from the same generation as Lin Nan.
Originally he hadn't thought in that direction, but seeing Lin Nan trying to hide something made him start to wonder.
He looked at the formally seated Lin Nan with suspicious eyes, feeling more and more that something was off about his nephew.
"Isn't it dinner time?" Lin Nan felt uncomfortable under the scrutiny and unconsciously shifted his bottom away, awkwardly trying to change the subject. "What should we have for dinner?"
"What would you like?"
"Anything is fine..."
"BBQ? Want to drink?" Wu Guodong pressed.
"No alcohol."
Lin Nan knew himself well - he wouldn't act crazy when drunk, but the problem was that whatever came to mind would immediately come out of his mouth, usually leading to instant regret.
Wu Guodong had definitely noticed something. Though he hadn't asked much directly, he kept glancing at Lin Nan, who absolutely couldn't risk drinking alcohol now. If he revealed anything, it would make the rest of the year unbearable.
"Should I go tidy up the bedroom? Uncle, are you really going to sleep on the sofa tonight?" Lin Nan quickly stood up and asked.
"I'd rather not." Wu Guodong glared at him. "When you were little, you were always clinging to me. Now that you're grown up, you won't even share a bed, insisting on sleeping on the sofa in the living room. If people heard about this, they'd think I was mistreating you."
"How would anyone hear about it?" Lin Nan backed away sheepishly before hurrying into the bedroom.
Wu Guodong's bedroom wasn't large - a double bed, a computer desk, and a small wardrobe basically filled the entire space.
The bed and blanket were quite big, enough to comfortably fit three adults. However, half the bed was currently occupied by a large white body pillow with an illustration of a naked anime character in a compromising pose.
"....."
Lin Nan, who had just walked into the room, was shocked, his face quickly turning red. At this moment, Wu Guodong rushed in frantically, hurriedly grabbing the pillow and trying to stuff it into the wardrobe. However, the wardrobe was already full, and when he opened the door, several more body pillows fell out.
So this was what being an otaku meant?
Lin Nan lowered his head and wordlessly left the room, carefully closing the door behind him, afraid of accidentally seeing more of his uncle's private items.
Standing outside, the redness quickly faded from Lin Nan's face. After thinking about it carefully, he realized it was normal for his uncle to have certain needs, given that he'd been single all his life.
It was just incredibly awkward to accidentally stumble upon such private things.
Inside the room, Wu Guodong felt mortified. After finally managing to stuff all his private items into the wardrobe and tidying up the room, he opened the door, trying to act casual.
"Come in, look, the bed is quite big. There's plenty of room for both of us." As soon as he spoke, he saw Lin Nan take two cautious steps back, looking at him as if he were some kind of pervert.
"I think I'll stick to the sofa." Lin Nan smiled awkwardly. He really couldn't help but look at Wu Guodong that way.
After all, this was just too perverted.
And although he could now be sure his uncle was interested in women... he couldn't be certain that the body pillow wasn't of an anime character that only looked female but was claimed to be male.
Who knew what might happen if they slept together? Even though Lin Nan didn't think he was particularly attractive to men, he had discovered with Chen Yao that being close enough to smell a man's scent could trigger certain... arousing responses.
Wu Guodong was speechless, not knowing how to explain, and could only nod helplessly.
After all, being criticized by relatives for not taking good care of his nephew was better than them finding out he had bought a bunch of strange body pillows.