My Unconventional Online Dating - Chapter 16

“I told you I wasn’t lying!” Wu Jinghe’s voice trembled with frustration, her eyes red and teary. Her childlike appearance inevitably softened Xiao Nianyuan’s heart—but only for a moment. She quickly rephrased her question: “Is someone inside the game deliberately doing this?”

Wu Jinghe froze. Xiao Nianyuan waited for her answer, but instead, the screen abruptly went black. A cold, mechanical system voice announced: “The game will undergo an update. We apologize for any inconvenience caused to our players…”

The message continued with compensation details, but Xiao Nianyuan didn’t register a single word. All she knew was that she had been forcibly logged out—under the pretense of an update.

Why now? Why right after she asked that question?

She hadn’t been sure before, but now she couldn’t help suspecting that her guess might be correct.

Xiao Nianyuan sat up in bed, staring blankly at the device in her hand. Before she could gather her thoughts, her roommate’s voice came from outside the bed curtain: “Are you awake? Are you feeling okay?”

It was Ji Rongxue, her tone as gentle as ever.

As soon as Ji Rongxue spoke, Tan Xialan chimed in: “If you’re not feeling well, we can go to the hospital right now.”

Xiao Nianyuan’s gloomy mood lifted slightly. “I’m fine,” she replied softly. “I feel much better. No need for the hospital.”

Even if she were sick, unless she was completely immobilized, Xiao Nianyuan wouldn’t go to the hospital. The crowds, especially in outpatient clinics for common illnesses like colds, made her reluctant to queue up and squeeze in with so many people.

“Can we open the curtain a little?” Ji Rongxue pressed, still concerned. “How do you look?”

With no choice, Xiao Nianyuan lifted a corner of the curtain. Her three roommates immediately peeked in, scrutinizing her from below. Seeing that her complexion wasn’t too bad, they finally believed her.

True to their word, once they confirmed she wasn’t seriously ill, they left her alone.

Xiao Nianyuan retrieved the device she had tucked away, carefully storing it before picking up her phone. Before she could search for anything, a trending topic popped up—players being abruptly kicked out mid-game.

Staring at the game’s name, Xiao Nianyuan wasn’t sure whether to call it sophisticated or lazy. It was simply the Arabic numeral “Zero.”

The forum posts were flooded with complaints about the sudden forced logout for an update. While no one objected to updates in general, the issue was the lack of prior notice, which had caused significant inconvenience.

It did seem like this wasn’t targeted at her alone. But Xiao Nianyuan couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. Was she really overthinking it?

With a headache, she closed the page. No matter how angry she might get, she wouldn’t abandon the game so easily—not until she found what she was looking for. For now, it would remain on her mind.

Since she couldn’t log in, she had no choice but to set it aside temporarily. But when the game would be accessible again, she had no idea.

After waking from a nap, she tried logging in again—still no luck. Checking other players’ posts, she realized they were in the same boat. The game remained inaccessible.

At least she wasn’t the only one unable to log in, Xiao Nianyuan could only console herself this way. Perhaps due to playing games for too long these past two days, she had slept unusually late. When she woke up, her roommates were also just getting up. Seeing her awake, they greeted her warmly. Tan Xialan stood by her side with a bright smile, tilting her head to ask, “Want to go have breakfast together?”

Xiao Nianyuan was about to refuse when Ji Rongxue added, “We’re going for breakfast. If you’re free, come with us. Our dorm hasn’t had a meal together yet.”

Xiao Nianyuan paused—it was true the four of them had never eaten together properly. Even Du Xiaotong, who usually spoke very little, chimed in, “Really not coming with us?”

With all three roommates inviting her and recalling their concern for her yesterday, Xiao Nianyuan couldn’t hold back and finally agreed, “Alright, I’ll go with you.”

Hearing her acceptance, the other three immediately cheered as if Xiao Nianyuan joining them for a group activity was something worth celebrating.

Xiao Nianyuan watched their reaction helplessly, thinking to herself, It’s just breakfast—you’d think I sold myself off or something.

Having agreed, she naturally wouldn’t back out. The four of them got ready and left the dorm. As they stepped outside, Xiao Nianyuan instinctively raised a hand to shield her eyes from the sunlight, which seemed unusually bright and dazzling today.

On the way, Ji Rongxue, worried Xiao Nianyuan might feel awkward, struck up a conversation she could join: “We’ve been wanting to read some books lately. Do you think you could help us?”

Ji Rongxue was close with Tan Xialan and Du Xiaotong, so she had told them about yesterday’s library visit. Hearing that Xiao Nianyuan was familiar with the library’s layout, the other two roommates immediately recalled their past struggles of searching endlessly for books without success.

They could have asked the librarians, but with only a few on duty and no part-timers available at the time, they hesitated and eventually left empty-handed. Now that they knew Xiao Nianyuan was well-versed in the library, they saw it as a chance to bond with her.

Xiao Nianyuan asked what books they wanted, and each named one. Without hesitation, she nodded, “Sure, just let me know when you need them, and I’ll help you find them.” Having spent so much time in the library, she remembered the general locations of most books unless they were extremely obscure.

To Xiao Nianyuan, her roommates’ request was no trouble at all. Even if they hadn’t mentioned it, she would have helped them find the books once they got to the library—it was just part of her routine.

Tan Xialan was surprised by how accommodating Xiao Nianyuan was. Before this, when Xiao Nianyuan kept to herself, Tan Xialan had always thought she seemed somewhat aloof. Though Ji Rongxue had told her Xiao Nianyuan was just not very talkative, Tan Xialan had still found her harder to approach than others.

Despite Tan Xialan’s outgoing and easygoing demeanor, she only befriended people she was confident she could get along with. Someone like Xiao Nianyuan had always seemed like an uncertain prospect.

Although they didn’t usually exclude Xiao Nianyuan, they weren’t particularly warm toward her either—at most, they treated her like any ordinary classmate.

But Ji Rongxue was different from them. For some reason, Ji Rongxue seemed to like Xiao Nianyuan a lot. Sometimes, when she heard others speak ill of Xiao Nianyuan, she would even get angry.

At the beginning of the semester, Xiao Nianyuan’s photos had circulated in the freshman group chat because of her looks. She was undeniably beautiful, but her cold, unapproachable demeanor made many people talk about getting her contact information—some even made bets on how long it would take to “pick her up.”

Because of the word “pick up,” Ji Rongxue had a falling out with the guy who said he wanted to “pick up” Xiao Nianyuan.

Originally, Ji Rongxue had stood up for Xiao Nianyuan, but someone twisted the story, claiming that Ji Rongxue had spoken up because she liked the guy and was jealous of Xiao Nianyuan. Anyone who knew Ji Rongxue well would know she wasn’t that kind of person.

Ji Rongxue was also a beauty—how could she possibly be interested in that utterly plain, even somewhat unattractive guy?

The rumor quickly died down because Ji Rongxue had plenty of suitors, while no one paid any attention to that guy.

Those who weren’t close to Ji Rongxue might assume she was just a kind-hearted person who disliked hearing others speak ill of anyone. But those who knew her well understood that she had a particular soft spot for Xiao Nianyuan—though no one knew why.

Even when Tan Xialan had asked, Ji Rongxue had only smiled and said she disliked petty scheming. Xiao Nianyuan was clearly a good person, and she didn’t like seeing her misunderstood or bullied.

Listening to such a righteous explanation, Tan Xialan and Du Xiaotong saw right through it.

She just couldn’t stand anyone badmouthing Xiao Nianyuan.

If it were someone else being criticized, Ji Rongxue might not necessarily intervene—she might find it unpleasant, but she would never confront the gossiper for anyone else.

Tan Xialan and Du Xiaotong didn’t expose her, either. The three of them silently accepted Ji Rongxue’s special care for Xiao Nianyuan. Ironically, Xiao Nianyuan herself remained oblivious, only thinking that her three roommates had a good relationship and treated her well. As for whether Ji Rongxue treated her better than the others, she truly had no idea.

The dim sum restaurant was quite far from campus—about twenty minutes by bus. At a little past nine, the bus wasn’t crowded. After boarding, Xiao Nianyuan found a seat, and her three roommates sat in front, behind, and beside her, forming an invisible protective barrier.

Xiao Nianyuan found it a little odd but didn’t ask. They must have had their reasons.

At this hour, most students were either heading to morning classes or had already left, so there weren’t many people boarding at the school gate. Xiao Nianyuan rarely went out at this time, and seeing the bus so empty, she felt relaxed—until the next stop, when her tension spiked.

A large crowd stood outside the bus stop. Xiao Nianyuan silently prayed they were waiting for a different bus.

As soon as the bus stopped, they surged forward in a rush. Xiao Nianyuan frowned almost imperceptibly and turned her gaze to the sky outside the window, pretending not to see the incoming crowd.

The crowd did board, but no one sat near Xiao Nianyuan—not in front, behind, or beside her.

The bus was somewhat crowded, but fortunately not enough to fill all the seats. Seeing how they were sitting, people avoided them and chose other seats.

It wasn’t until everyone had settled that Xiao Nianyuan finally realized why her roommates had done this.