The next day, Lin Chen went as agreed to perform a spirit channeling for Fang Ji.

The location for the channeling was set at the small apartment he had temporarily rented in the city.

He had purchased a new set of props, including a blackout eye mask, ropes, handcuffs, a crystal ball, and small speakers and surveillance cameras that were miniature enough yet offered realistic audio fidelity. He also spent two days hiring people to simply renovate the small apartment. Just like that, the “Seance Room” was open for business.

Before he arrived for the session, the System asked him worriedly, “Host, aren’t you afraid that Fang Ji asked you for a channeling just to set a trap and expose your identity? Aren’t you afraid of what might happen if he actually discovers who you are?”

Lin Chen smiled faintly and replied, “Little Ji wouldn’t do that.”

And he was right.

When the channeling officially began, and Lin Chen was recalling his lines through the System, preparing to reiterate the taboos and requirements of the ritual, Fang Ji beat him to it. He recited the taboos and requirements set three years ago, word for word, without missing a single character!

The System was shocked. Lin Chen was surprised, but not that surprised. In a good mood, he decided to add an extra three to five minutes to Little Ji’s session today.

In the end, this channeling session lasted for 6 minutes and 48 seconds.

Compared to the duration three years ago, this was a massive improvement!

The reason was easy to explain.

Over the past three years, no matter how many Taoist priests or monks Fang Ji sought out, and no matter how much he suspected or felt uneasy, he had never stopped “nourishing” his brother’s soul. Therefore, it was only logical that this session would last longer than the last one.

When the session ended, Lin Chen put away all the props that couldn’t be seen. He then went to Fang Ji’s side, untied the ropes, unlocked the handcuffs, and removed the blackout eye mask.

The moment his fingertips touched the eye mask, he felt nothing but dampness—the mask was completely soaked with tears.

Lin Chen took off the sodden mask, revealing Fang Ji’s red, tear-filled eyes.

Sighing, Lin Chen pulled out a tissue, bent down, and gently wiped away Fang Ji’s tears.

He asked, “Why are you crying even harder than three years ago?”

Fang Ji sobbed uncontrollably, “This… this is different. Brother Lin, I haven’t… haven’t heard my brother’s voice for three whole years!”

As he spoke, Fang Ji couldn’t help but wail aloud again.

Fang Ji: “Three years… three years! Boohoo, boohoo… For three whole years, I missed my brother every day. Every day, I wondered if my brother could actually hear the things I confided in him or shared with him. I was afraid it was all just my imagination, afraid it was just self-comfort I hallucinated…”

Fang Ji: “But just now… just now, Brother told me that for the past three years, he listened seriously to every word I said and every piece of music I played for him! It turns out… it turns out Brother really has been watching over me. Brother really didn’t leave me. It turns out… turns out… sob, sob, Brother Lin, can you understand this feeling…”

Fang Ji was covered in jewelry today. Lin Chen recognized that this set was the very one “Fang Chengyu” had put on him for the last time all those years ago.

Crying while covered in jewelry meant that Fang Ji’s entire body was jingling and clanking non-stop.

Seeing him cry so sorrowfully, Lin Chen pulled more tissues from the side, stuffed some into Fang Ji’s hand, kept two for himself, and continued to wipe away his tears.

Lin Chen: “Now you can’t say my channeling and the crystal ball are fake, can you?”

Fang Ji looked at him through teary eyes: “Sob… no, you’re not lying to me. Brother Lin, you are the most… most amazing medium in the world!”

The “most amazing medium” nodded reservedly. Looking down, he saw that Fang Ji was just tightly clutching the tissues he had been given, doing absolutely nothing with them.

Lin Chen: “Did your brother never teach you to wipe your own tears when you cry?”

Fang Ji’s sobbing hitched. He stared blankly at Lin Chen through his blurry vision for two seconds, then cried even more aggrievedly: “When Brother was here, Little Ji never had to cry!”

Lin Chen: “But is he not here now?”

Lin Chen said calmly, “You said it yourself just now—your brother has always been watching you. You spoke with him for less than ten minutes, yet you’ve been crying for nearly a quarter of an hour! Aren’t you afraid that after seeing this scene, your brother won’t dare to accept the summons to speak with you next time?”

All of Fang Ji’s crying got stuck in his throat instantly.

He stared blankly at Lin Chen, silent tears dripping patter-patter down his face, his nose sniffing hard.

Fang Ji: “Brother… Would Brother re… refuse Little Ji’s summons…?”

Lin Chen said, “I’m just saying it’s a possibility. He’s not my brother, how would I know what he’ll do?”

As he spoke, Lin Chen closed the window and shut off the main power switch.

He led Fang Ji out of the room, locked the door, and left the apartment with him.

The cool breeze brushed against their faces, and Fang Ji’s tears finally dried up a little.

He stared blankly at Lin Chen, suddenly remembering that until last night, he had been tossing and turning in bed, unable to sleep, thinking over and over: What if the channeling is actually fake? What if there are other possibilities for everything…

At the time, he had even considered whether he should quietly investigate the truth behind the channeling during today’s session.

But when the moment of channeling actually arrived.

When those taboos and requirements, which had been sealed in his memory, surfaced in his mind once again.

What investigation? What truth? Everything was instantly obliterated from his mind!

What was he thinking! How could he… how could he risk the consequence of his brother’s soul dissipating to do such a thing?!

And so, from the start of the channeling, from the moment he heard his brother’s voice again after three years, his reason, his calm, and everything he had obsessively thought about last night completely vanished from his brain!

Lin Chen was walking ahead. After a few steps, he suddenly realized the person beside him was gone.

He turned back in confusion, only to see Fang Ji still standing blankly at the stairwell, looking in his direction, not even lifting a foot.

Lin Chen walked back to Fang Ji, raised his hand, waved it, and asked with concern, “Fang Ji, Fang Ji? Are you okay?”

Fang Ji stared at Lin Chen in a trance, not making a sound for a moment.

Perhaps because Lin Chen had channeled his brother twice, whenever he saw Lin Chen now, he would think of his brother.

He would even subconsciously notice the similarities between Lin Chen and his brother. For example, his patience, or his gentleness at certain times…

The cool breeze brushed his face, and Fang Ji suddenly snapped out of it.

He suddenly realized that behind Lin Chen lay the vast, boundless blue sky and white clouds.

The weather today was excellent. Fang Ji didn’t even need to look up specifically; just out of the corner of his eye, he could catch glimpses of countless light, leisurely white clouds floating slowly above his head.

If his brother was watching him from the sky…

Then, his brother must be hiding among these white clouds, embraced and held up by the soft, fluffy masses, watching him quietly and gently.

Fang Ji rubbed his eyes and revealed a big smile: “I’m fine, Brother Lin. I just remembered some things… Let’s not talk about that. Let’s go, Brother Lin, get in my car. I said that after the channeling today, I’d take you to see my jewelry exhibition hall!”

“Did Brother Lin like wearing those two sets of jewelry last time? If you liked them, Little Ji will pick out a few more sets for you today so you can rotate them!”

Lin Chen didn’t want to go originally, but when Fang Ji started clinging to someone, he was harder to shake off than anyone else in the world.

So that evening, when Cheng Huanzhen arrived right on time to pick Lin Chen up, the trunk of the car was instantly stuffed full with over a dozen jewelry sets.

Of course, as the price for bringing back so many jewelry sets gifted by another man of similar age right in front of Cheng Huanzhen, he had to give Cheng Huanzhen a free spirit channeling session that night.

Besides Qi Xiuyi and Fang Ji, Lin Chen had also met with Li Yunhui several times these days.

Li Yunhui was truly very socially active. Not only did he schedule times every day to play ball, run, or go to the gym with him, but he also found time to invite him to play War Code 003 a few times, under the pretense that the game producer would personally “carry” him.

Lin Chen had always thought that if Li Yunhui hadn’t quit extreme sports, they might have gotten along very well.

When they started playing games together, Lin Chen found that this was indeed the case.

Although this “getting along” manifested in a different way in the game—

In War Code 003, players could choose different troop classes in each battle. Depending on the chosen class, players would possess different skills and combat responsibilities.

The class Lin Chen liked to choose the most was “Commander.”

The class Li Yunhui liked to choose the most was also “Commander.”

Therefore, whenever the two of them were in the same squad, they would always spend a good chunk of time debating in the team voice chat about who would take command today.

The result of the debate was usually that neither would give in.

So, every time, it would evolve into a contest of hand speed at the start of the match to snatch the class.

Li Yunhui’s hand speed was slightly faster than Lin Chen’s.

In about seventy percent of the battles, the “Commander” role would fall to Li Yunhui.

Just like now.

(Team) (Commander) Angel’s Designated Guardian: [^ ^]

(Team) (Unselected) World’s No.1 Big Strawberry: [：）]

Lin Chen aggrievedly settled for second best, choosing to become an attack helicopter pilot.

As soon as the battle started, he boarded the helicopter, started the engine, and took off.

The rumble-rumble noise of the helicopter surrounded his ears in 360 degrees, and with the game’s noise reduction effect, it quickly faded to a level that didn’t affect communication at all.

When he enthusiastically finished adjusting the new helicopter’s stats and followed the aircraft into the sky, he turned his head and saw a sniper sitting next to him.

Lin Chen smiled at the sniper: “You’re on my chopper again.”

The sniper tilted his head, still counting the sniper rounds in his bag: “I get on your plane every time, Little Uncle.”

Unlike the class struggle that happened every single match between Lin Chen and Li Yunhui.

The class Cheng Huanzhen picked every time was very fixed; Lin Chen had never seen him choose anything other than a sniper.

When a battle ended perfectly, the three of them looked at the time and exited the match, returning to the initial team lobby.

Li Yunhui would always exit the game a bit slower than Lin Chen and Cheng Huanzhen.

Before logging off, Lin Chen glanced at Li Yunhui: “Going to play with your Angel Guide again?”

Li Yunhui got annoyed: “What do you mean ‘play with my Angel Guide’? You make it sound like I’m doing something with data! …I just thought of a really good idle animation and plan to add it to him!”

Lin Chen laughed: “So those hundred-something idle animations piled up one a day like this. If you ask me, instead of adding idle animations to him, you might as well just give him a whole dress-up system.”