Xie Lian wasn't DJing that night, so they went to The Gamblers' Den just to have a quick drink, but he ended up meeting his classmates and being dragged away. Only around midnight Hua Cheng managed to find him, slightly drunk, smiling dazedly while walking with wobbly steps. He dragged Xie Lian back to his place, and as soon as they entered the lift he teased him again.
"Gege, I know you're popular, but you don't need to drink everything people give you you know".
"What you're talking about? You drunk a lot too", Xie Lian pointed out.
"Only beer, not honeyberry martinis. That's strong shit!", he replied, smiling and pulling Xie Lian close to him. Xie Lian closed his eyes and nested himself in his arms, seeming to be asleep.
"San Lang", he then said in a slurry voice, "You're looking after me aren't you?"
"Hmm", Hua Cheng replied, dragging him out of the lift and into his flat, "Only, don't complain if I take advantage of you. Who told you to get drunk like that".
"I'm not drunk", Xie Lian replied, smiling with half-closed eyes at Hua Cheng, then getting closer, kissing him slowly, wrapping his arms around his neck and pressing his body against his. "Just a little bit tipsy, that's all", he said by Hua Cheng's ear.
Hua Cheng sighed, "Gege, you're asking for it".
•
It was almost 2am, and they were lying in bed together; suddenly, Xie Lian called, "San Lang? Are you sleeping?"
"Hmm? What is it Gege, are you alright?", he replied; he thought Xie Lian was sound asleep!
Xie Lian turned to look at him and asked drowsily, "I was wondering. Remember that thing you did, The Cave of Thousand Gods or something?"
"Ten Thousand. Why you're asking about it now?" he replied, turning to look at Xie Lian.
He shrugged, "Is it still on or did you take it down?"
"It's still on. I only changed its settings to private, so we don't have people nosing around it".
The Cave of Ten Thousand Gods was a photolog – something similar to Instagram, but older – with every single picture of Xie Lian ever posted while he was a hip hop artist and YouTuber. Feng Xin and Mu Qing found it while doing a reverse image search with a Xie Lian picture, and tracked it back to Hua Cheng – exposing him to Xie Lian as a proper stalker!
"Hmm", Xie Lian replied sleepily, "I'd like to see it sometime. Can I?"
Hua Cheng pffted a laugh, "Gege you're still drunk!" and, cuddling up with him, said, "Of course you can. I'll show you tomorrow".
"Alright. It's gonna be a blast from the past", Xie Lian said, falling asleep almost immediately.
•
He woke up some time after, alone in bed. Where was San Lang? Toilet, he thought vaguely, I'm gonna wait, when he gets back in bed I'll grab him and... he smiled in his drowsiness. But San Lang didn't come back, and he pricked up his ears: no noise from the toilet, flush, tap, nothing. He heard some light typing next door, Hua Cheng's working space.
He frowned, what was San Lang doing, don't tell me he's working, or in a meeting with that guy... That guy being Lang Ying, Creative Director from Yong'An Productions, who Hua Cheng did some work to – his company was in LA so because of the time zone they could be having a meeting in the middle of the night...
No, Xie Lian thought, San Lang wouldn't go to The Gamblers' Den and have a few beers if he had a meeting scheduled with Lang Ying.
He got up and stood at the door frame, "San Lang, what you're doing?", he asked sleepily.
"Gege, I – " he started to say, but he looked worried. What was going on?
Xie Lian stepped inside the room, and saw Hua Cheng was browsing at The Cave of Ten Thousand Gods. Why though, didn't he say he was going to show it to Xie Lian on the day after, what was he doing? And in the middle of the night like that, wearing just boxers...
"Gege, I, hum, please don't be pissed off at me", he said. That just made Xie Lian more puzzled, and he woke up completely; Hua Cheng went on, "Remember I said I changed the settings to private?"
Xie Lian nodded, standing beside Hua Cheng with an arm on his shoulders, trying to focus his eyes on the bright screen in that dark room. Hua Cheng said, "So, I uploaded some private stuff on it the other day".
"What stuff?", Xie Lian asked.
"Hum, the nudes you send me sometimes. Gege, don't get pissed off".
Xie Lian shrugged, "Why should I? I sent them to you, this photolog is for your eyes only isn't it?"
"Yeah...", Hua Cheng replied, "Still, I didn't want you to think I'm weird. So I came to delete the nudes before showing you the website..."
"San Lang, how many times do I have to tell you I don't think you're weird?", Xie Lian replied, smiling and brushing Hua Cheng's hair off his face. Hua Cheng kept the same worried expression though.
"Gege. This website was accessed today, and it wasn't me. It was hacked! And your nudes are missing..."
"What? Shit San Lang, if they're leaked at The Heavens... I can even lose my scholarship!"
"I know", Hua Cheng pursed his lips, "I've been trying to track the hacking down but... I can't do it, it's not my thing", he paused, "I have to call X-Yue. And he'll probably have to ask that guy to help".
He was referring to He Xuan, or the police hacker Black Water, who Hua Cheng really didn't trust, because of what he did to Shi Qingxuan at that weekend in Amsterdam. Xie Lian got worried sick, so Hua Cheng got worried sick too. He didn't want to ask his help on something like that! But his only option at the moment was to call his mate PC Xiaxian Yue and...
"Wait San Lang, wait. I have a better idea", Xie Lian said, walking back to the bedroom to fetch his phone, and going through his contacts. He called someone, "Hey it's me. Sorry to bother you in the middle of the night but it's quite an emergency..."
•
Around one hour later, Xie Lian and Hua Cheng met Feng Xin and Mu Qing at The Heavens, more precisely at The Palace of Nan Yang, where Feng Xin – a cyber security specialist – hoped to get their problem sorted. It was him Xie Lian called for help, and Mu Qing had been dragged in to boost morale – dressed all smartly, he didn't look dragged in the middle of the night at all.
"Remind me why we're here again?", he asked, with a – understandable – bad mood.
"To track a hacking back to its origin we need proper cyber forensics tools, I can't do it from my laptop at home", Feng Xin replied, logging in his computer – he looked like he was still in bed.
"I mean, in the middle of the night?", Mu Qing replied, picking a long blond hair from Feng Xin's shoulder, raising a brow; even in the semi-darkness they all saw Feng Xin's face going deeply red.
"The sooner we take action the better", Feng Xin replied with a forced serious face, nodding at Hua Cheng to login on The Cave of Ten Thousand Gods photolog.
Mu Qing went on annoyingly, "I mean, how can that have happened in the first place?", giving Hua Cheng dirty looks – he didn't even pretend he wasn't blaming him for everything. And Hua Cheng was clearly blaming himself too, because he just looked depressed, not saying anything.
Xie Lian stepped in, "Mu Qing, it's like you think it was San Lang's fault? He's the victim here". Hua Cheng was feeling pretty dejected since finding out the hacking – and specially for having to resort to their help. He didn't reply, just went closer to Xie Lian and held his hand.
"Is he?", Mu Qing replied, "Why would he keep your nudes online? And why would you send him nudes, for fuck's sake? What are you guys up to, aren't you always together anyway?"
"Hum, well not always", Xie Lian mumbled, thinking they exchanged nudes just for teasing, sometimes when they were even meeting on the same day... Not really out of desperation, of not being able to see each other for months. He thought of Hua Cheng, always afraid Xie Lian would think he was weird. Were they weird then?
Facing Mu Qing, he added, trying to sound casual, "It's not like I'm sending nudes to strangers on some platform. It's San Lang, what's the big deal?"
Feng Xin intervened, "Mu Qing. Drop it". His tone was full of 'you wouldn't understand'.
"Fine", Mu Qing said, clearly feeling he was on his own there, "It's just, well I'm the interim principal! I can't get involved in this kind of stuff you know? What if any of this transpires and – "
"Hum, you're right", Xie Lian replied, "I, hum, I'm sorry Mu Qing, yes it'd be better if you don't have anything to do with all this. So, you can go and – "
"Actually", Mu Qing quickly replied, looking thoughtful, "It's better if I stay", he said, crossing his arms stubbornly. He added, "Just so I see you guys aren't doing anything dodgy here".
Xie Lian realised that in spite of all the lecturing Mu Qing was truly risking his reputation as interim principal to stay and be there for them, so he walked to him and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Thank you Mu Qing, you're a good friend", he said. Mu Qing had the decency to blush.
"Alright alright, no need to get all soppy", he replied dismissively, brushing Xie Lian's hand away.
•
As if suddenly remembering what they were doing there and trying to take control of things, Mu Qing walked to Feng Xin's side, asking, "So, what's the situation, Feng Xin?"
"Found it. The hacker I mean", he replied, still typing furiously, frowning and staring at the screen intently. Xie Lian, Hua Cheng and Mu Qing all gasped, and clustered around him anxiously, although they naturally didn't understand what they were looking at.
Still typing mysterious commands, Feng Xin explained, "They stole your files and stored them somewhere. And you know what? I've got the IP, the geolocation data... They're from The Heavens!"
"What? Is that Ling Wen boy, Bai Jing, or – "Mu Qing blurted out.
"He never did any hacking, he just played games 24/7", Xie Lian said, "Also, wasn't he referred to a specialist college?"
"Who knows. They're not too bad, hacking into an account with private settings... Not that this photolog's too hard to hack into though", Feng Xin said, glancing at Hua Cheng; Hua Cheng pursed his lips. Feng Xin went on, "But they're not too good as to hide their tracks, at least not from me!"
"I knew you were the right one to track this guy down", Xie Lian said, patting Feng Xin's shoulders.
Feng Xin smiled, and announced, "Xie Lian, your nudes are on The Palace of Xuan Zhen's server".
"WHAT THE FUCK?", Mu Qing exclaimed, going pale. "Delete them! Delete them. Right. Now".
"Fuck Feng Xin, delete them. Please", Xie Lian said in a desperate tone.
"I can't. They're protected, locked", he replied, typing furiously some more.
"Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck, see that Xie Lian?", Mu Qing said, looking like he was about to have a stroke.
"Can you... move them to a different partition or", Xie Lian trailed off – was he really telling Feng Xin, a cyber security specialist, what he should do?
Mu Qing was walking up and down in despair, and while Xie Lian was trying to calm him down, Hua Cheng tapped Feng Xin on the shoulder. "I, hum, have an idea".
He fished something from his pocket, giving it to Feng Xin: a transparent-red USB stick. Feng Xin connected it and run whatever that was, his frowning expression never changing. Mu Qing and Xie Lian saw Hua Cheng pointing at the screen and gesturing something to Feng Xin, who kept typing on.
They run to his side, but all they could see was numbers flashing on the screen, the cyber forensics system apparently running files from Hua Cheng's USB. After a minute or two, Feng Xin smiled again.
"Sorted", he said, getting up and locking his computer, and not volunteering any explanation whatsoever. He added, "Alright! Let's go home".
"What? What happened? How – "
"Let's talk later, I need to go", Feng Xin said, as if suddenly remembering he had to get back home ASAP – that blond hair Mu Qing picked from him was probably the reason. Xie Lian didn't insist: that they had come was asking too much really, so, thanking both Feng Xin and Mu Qing a thousand times and promising to pay them drinks, he grabbed Hua Cheng's hand and they left.
•
It was already past 5am so they got the first train back home – which, to Xie Lian's surprise, was somewhat full. He was exhausted from not having slept at all and from the adrenaline rush; he kept dozing off, feeling warm with Hua Cheng's arm over his shoulders. Well it was Sunday, and now that the whole hacking issue was sorted they could relax.
Then he suddenly remembered something, and sitting up straight, nudged Hua Cheng, "Oh right! San Lang, what happened, what was that USB stick you gave to Feng Xin?"
"Oh. Random pictures he renamed as, hum, the nudes", Hua Cheng replied lowering his voice, "Since they couldn't be deleted, they were simply replaced".
"What other pictures?", he asked.
Xie Lian was – understandable so – a bit shaken so Hua Cheng replied, "I'll show you", and fished his phone out of his breast pocket; he flashed a smile and said, "Since they're on his own server, I bet Mu Qing will go have a look too. He'll be disgusted!"
He unlocked the phone, swiping at random pictures. Xie Lian looked on.
Him and Hua Cheng behind his DJ booth, at Gamblers' Den. Hua Cheng chopping veggies with Xie Lian's mum pinching his cheek, when they visited Xie Lian's parents for Christmas. That selfie they took together in Amsterdam. Xie Lian in a café, wearing a woollen jumper and a beanie, smiling over a cup of hot chocolate. A selfie of them with Ruoye licking Hua Cheng's ear.
So the nudes were all replaced by cute, sweet and innocent pictures!
Hua Cheng added, "Feng Xin would think of replacing the pictures eventually, I just happened to have these on that USB..."
Xie Lian kept smiling softly while looking at his phone, so Hua Cheng asked in a careful tone, "Gege. Are you pissed off at everything that happened? I'm sorry, it was all my fault".
Xie Lian replied, "San Lang it wasn't your fault, and I'm not pissed off. Even if I wanted to I couldn't". He looked at Hua Cheng and smiled brightly, tapping on his phone, "See how all these pictures just show we're happy together? How could I ever get mad at you", he concluded, nudging himself against Hua Cheng.
Hua Cheng smiled back, putting his phone away. He looked hesitant, like he wanted to ask something else but didn't, and kept his arm over Xie Lian's shoulders, playing with his hair lightly. Being together for all this time, Xie Lian knew exactly what it was.
He leaned closer and said in Hua Cheng's ear, "I'll still send you nudes, if that's what you're worried about. Business as usual", he said tapping on Hua Cheng's chest.
Hua Cheng pffted a laugh, "Gege, you're so..."
Xie Lian replied, "Or maybe you'd like to take some yourself, when we get home?", he then suddenly remembered something, and pffted a laugh too, "Oh yeah Mu Qing. For sure he'll have a look at the pictures in his server. He'll be more than disgusted!"
Thanks for reading, this was the last of the TGCF Extras, AU version.
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