25 Kiss n Tell Cafe 1 (1/2)

Mao Lu felt his heart thudding in his chest violently. \”How horny am I?\” he screamed in his head.

\”All he did was smile at me, that's all he freaking did. There was nothing more to it than that\”, yet Mao Lu felt himself melting a bit. He hadn't reacted in such a dramatic way since he was 13 and first realised he had a major crush on Zhao Detong.

But he wasn't some 13 year old teenager, he was a flipping 24 year old man. Sure this Chàng Bo had a lovely smile, but he hardly knew the guy, his heart shouldn't be reacting in such a way. It hadn't acted like this when they first met, but it was now. \”Was it because I looked after him for two weeks. Have I become attached to him.\”

Mao Lu swore he wasn't this easy normally.

\”I must be sexually frustrated... maybe I should go on the internet later and search for some porn...it's been awhile[1].\” Mao Lu thought to himself.

Gates was confused by Mao Lu's reactions. \”Why is his temperature rising, his blood pressure increasing, and his heart rate speeding up? Don't tell me he's attracted to that lowly practitioner.\” Gates grew increasingly horrified as it observed Mao Lu.

After a while of getting to know Mao Lu and listening in on his conversations, Gates now understood Mao Lu's sexual orientation. It realised why Mao Lu had laughed when It told him about the third rule, the only way Mao Lu would ever reproduce with a woman was if he was forced to.

Gates wanted to tell Mao Lu that this practitioner was far beneath him and not worth even a glance from him, but it stopped itself. After Mao Lu had told Gates how controlling and heartless it was earlier, it took the time to contemplate on this. Gates realised Mao Lu was correct. It had in fact been very controlling, it's guidance over time had been dominating and it restricted the free will of its Gatekeepers. It shouldn't have done that, it wasn't its role to do that.

Mao Lu was the one in control and it should only give him advice when necessary and relevant. And telling Mao Lu that he shouldn't bother to stare lustfully at a lowly practitioner, was neither necessary or relevant. That's why Gates hesitated to comment.

Also Gates had been getting a better understanding of Mao Lu over the few weeks. Mao Lu had principles he'd set for himself. He believed that every person should be treated equally regardless of the difference in their status, gender, race, wealth or sexual orientation.

So if Gates told him that this Chàng Bo was far too much of a peasant for him, It knew that Mao Lu would be angered by such a statement.

Mao Lu listened to Gates words, he closed his eyes briefly and calmed himself.

He understood what Gates meant. A Gatekeeper was not just someone with power but someone with many secrets and many people trying to get into his good graces. Over the past two weeks he'd had many visitors coming to see him to build up a relationship. Even those from other planets. Aliens that he would never have imagined existing before, all bowed towards him trying to show their loyalty. Yet their eyes burned with ambition and in their hearts they plotted against him like wolf in sheep's clothing.

He didn't know this Chàng Bo enough, and he was a new Gatekeeper who had yet to properly establish his reputation. Around someone like Chàng Bo he needed to be careful and show that he was not just benevolent, but he was also strong if he needed to be.

\”I understand Gates, thank you for the reminder.\” he internally replied as he opened his eyes and stood up.

\”Your room will be the one you had in the East. Other than the East building and this Main North building you are forbidden from going anywhere else. Do you understand?\” Mao Lu said as he headed towards the door.

\”I understand!\” Chàng Bo also stood up, \”I thank you so much for your kindness Gatekeeper Lu.\”

Mao Lu just nodded towards him as he walked away, entered the west building, and closed the door. He sat on his bed and sighed.

\”You should take the time to practice for today now.\” Gates advised.

\”I know.\” Mao Lu sat up, crossing his legs on his bed and closed his eyes.

He was standing next to the river of information.

It was so big now that rather than a river he would have to call it an Ocean.

As he gazed into it he could see the trillions upon trillions of countless lives that existed in this galaxy. Only one galaxy was this much big and felt so impossibly infinite. There were more than 400 billion galaxies out there. Mao Lu was already amazed that his brain could keep up with the current information of one galaxy, let alone 400 billion times that amount.

Even though Mao Lu couldn't see it he could feel a qualitative change in his body. He'd become much lighter, he felt like parts of his brain that he hadn't accessed before were all active. He felt like his spirit, although not a tangible object, had become much more stronger and durable.

His entire being was adapting to the large amounts of information he was consuming.

He could understand why no one else could be a Gatekeeper. To outsiders it appeared so simple. A gatekeeper could sense the entire realm, it must be some type of technique right? But actually this training was very hammering. And if it weren't for the guidance of Gates, Mao Lu felt that he would have died various times throughout this training.

Sensing a realm was nothing to joke about. It was so very big. Everyday he was stretching his mind muscle to see more of it and he felt like he was overflowing.

Without guidance from a Gates and without being bestowed with the Gatekeeper title, anyone else trying to embrace this path would mostly likely die an excruciating death.

Mao Lu's brownish black eyes filled with flashing stars as he pushed the boundary of the galaxy and attempted to sense the next. He gritted his teeth and he felt his muscles and bones ache. \”I can do this. I am in control.\” He told himself.

A loud POP rang out in his ears as his consciousness expanded to the next galaxy. With some profound momentum he went through the 300 billion stars and solar systems of this next galaxy and his consciousness jumped into another. This happened again and again.

Loud POPs exploded from his body. He cried out in pain as he felt his joints pop, his bones crack, his lungs and throat felt like they were on fire and he was choking on his own blood. His ears leaked with mixture of white coloured pus, blood, and wax down the sides of his face.

The Ocean of information inside of him made a qualitative change. It went from a large ocean to a small seed. It suddenly compacted itself together into this blue seed that fell to the ground in Mao Lu's mind. It was so heavy that the ground cracked.

Mao Lu let out an excruciating blood curdling scream. The pain was beyond painful.

The seed then buried itself into the floor of Mao Lu's mind and sprouted a single leaf. The leaf was the colour silver, and seemed to be made of stardust.

Mao Lu began to froth at the mouth as his eyes were pushed open by Gates. \”Enough! Well done. You far exceeded the progress I thought you'd make today. I apologise that I didn't stop you sooner, but I wanted to see your limit.\”

Mao Lu gasped, he tried to stand up but he fell off his bed. His skin had become semi translucent and he could see his sparkling white bones through them. His entire body ached, he felt like he was burning.

He threw up the heaps of blood that had been choking him onto the dark wooden floor boards.

\”Congratulations Mao Lu, you are now able to sense 10 billion realms. To be able to do this in only two weeks. Your talent truly amazes me.\”

\”10 billion...only 10 fucking billion out of the 400 plus….\” Mao Lu weakly laughed, his bloody teeth showing. With his head caked in blood he made a rather horrific sight.

Mao Lu laughed hysterically a bit longer before his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fainted.

Outside Mao Lu's door Chàng Bo hesitated. The sounds he'd heard from the west building had been horrific. The ground had shook, lightning had also struck. It was raining like a hurricane.

Chàng Bo wondered whether he should take the risk to enter but he knew Gatekeepers could be very tempermental. And extreme weather reflected their mood. It didn't seem like Mao Lu was happy and that scream had chilled Chàng Bo to the bone.