Liao Li took it surprisingly well. Because the volcano was least active during the Demon Realm's "day" (a time when the diffused red light grew slightly brighter), they set up a small camp on the mountainside and talked through the night.
Liao Li asked many questions about Li Chenyuan, seeming curious about what kind of person he was and what situation he was in. In the end, Qiu Yunru spoke for an hour, telling him all about how they had met, their time training together, and the way Li Chenyuan's curse had been exploited by some unknown people at the Nine Sects' Cultivation Tournament.
"I fell off the cliff, and got here through the Glitch Realm," Qiu Yunru explained tiredly. "I thought I was going to die. I suppose it's better to be alive. But it's a bit miserable down here."
"At least we're together. It's better to be miserable together than alone," Liao Li smiled. He then hummed thoughtfully. "I'm unsure whether it's possible for us to die in-game. I've been careful to avoid it, but I imagine the system would respawn us, or send us back to our previous world. However, as I'm in a coma there, it wouldn't be ideal. Unless it somehow caused me to wake up, which I can't guarantee..."
Qiu Yunru nodded. "And I don't know whether I'm alive there, so I might just die for real. Though, I've almost died once."
"Really?"
"it was a while ago. The game system offered me a way out. It's not a mechanic I've seen in Spring Blossoms before. I exchanged a lot of Demon Realm Reputation Points for HP. As you can see, it's made things difficult for me down here..."
Liao Li's brow furrowed. "That's strange. There shouldn't be a mechanic like that in the code..."
Qiu Yunru nodded enthusiastically in agreement. "Exactly! I can't believe my menu behaves like this! In fact, my menu has been really strange since the beginning. The kinds of quests it offers me are just ridiculous! I know sometimes they can be weird in the base game because of the AI, but sometimes there's no reward at all, or it refuses to tell me what I'll get. And on top of that, it sends me 'Required Levels' all the time! I've even had an 'Extreme Difficulty'! And a "Required Extreme Difficulty" - what does that even mean? I don't understand it! That really shouldn't exist, and I don't remember ever seeing that before!" He found that the words spilled from his mouth like water, leaving a satisfying feeling in his gut. Indeed, he'd been wanting to rant about this for a long time, having only himself to complain to about the stupid game menu. Now that there was someone else who could understand, he couldn't help but let it all out.
As he went on, Liao Li's face grew more and more confused. He rubbed his chin, putting a hand on his knee and staring at the ground curiously.
"And all of these 'surprises'!" Qiu Yunru rubbed his temples, thinking back. "'Surprise reward', 'surprise quest', 'surprise', 'surprise'! How can someone love surprises so much? Isn't that a little cruel? I can't stand it!"
"It shouldn't be doing that," Liao Li muttered. He studied Qiu Yunru seriously. In the dim light of night, his well-carved features looked grimmer than usual. "it really shouldn't. I would know."
"What, yours doesn't...?" Qiu Yunru blinked.
Had his game menu been faulty this whole time?! Was he the only one who had to suffer through this? Aiya! That--that was even worse!
Liao Li sighed, resting his elbows on his knees. "No, mine doesn't. Though it's a little strange sometimes, it's nothing that bad. There's nothing in the code that should be causing that."
Qiu Yunru sat there blankly. If he was in a manhua, a tear would be sliding down his cheek in pure disbelief. He could almost feel it there. Weakly, he said: "I...Is there a way to fix it? You know a lot about coding, Li-ge." Suddenly, a though struck him. "How do you know so much about coding, anyways? Weren't you studying to be a lawyer?"
Liao Li rubbed the back of his neck. "I can try to take a look once we make it out of this realm. I can't access the code here, but I'll try my best later. And I...had a bit of a hobby of game design in college and high school. It wasn't a big deal--I just enjoyed it a lot, and it gave me a break from my other activities."
"Game design?" Qiu Yunru perked up. "So that's how you know so much about game code!"
He couldn't help but feel slightly hurt. He'd told Liao Li a good deal about himself, but it seemed that Liao Li hadn't yet felt a desire to share this hobby that was so important to him. Qiu Yunru quickly smacked his own brain internally, scolding it.
It's not a big deal! Get ahold of yourself. It's not as if we knew each other in the real world, so why should he have to share everything? We're just trying to get out of the Demon Realm.
To make up for not getting to hear about it before, he and Liao Li talked a bit more about coding for a bit. As usual, Liao Li was very dodgy about his life, refusing to give too many details. Another thought suddenly struck Qiu Yunru.
"Hey--ah, I don't know your real name!"
It was the first time this had occurred to him. Though he'd shared his on the first day they met, he'd never once heard about it from Liao Li.
Liao Li stared at the ground for a moment, a small smile on his lips. Then he looked at Qiu Yunru with dark, warm eyes. "I'll tell you eventually, Zhi-didi."
"Wha--hey, I didn't give you permission to call me that!"
"Oh?" Liao Li raised an eyebrow, a handsome smirk twitching on his lips. "Is it embarrassing, didi?"
"That's--we're from the same world! You know that's embarrassing!"
After bickering a bit more, the two of them got into their bedrolls to go to sleep.
That night, Qiu Yunru had a strange dream.
In it, he saw Li Chenyuan.