My Unconventional Online Dating - Chapter 35

Lian Qiushui understood that Xiao Nianyuan had her own life to live. She couldn’t always be in the game keeping her company—that wouldn’t be normal.

No matter how much she wished or hoped for it, she couldn’t be that selfish.

Hearing her say this, Xiao Nianyuan suddenly didn’t feel like logging off anymore. But Lian Qiushui urged her, “Hurry and log off. Remember to come find me tonight.”

Just the fact that Xiao Nianyuan would keep her promise already made her happy.

This was the first time Xiao Nianyuan had been forced to log off by Lian Qiushui. As she did, she felt a little lost.

–

To protect Xiao Nianyuan, her three roommates had been accompanying her most of the time these days, ensuring she wouldn’t be bullied again.

Even meals were taken together as a group of four. The cafeteria was crowded, so to avoid trouble, they deliberately chose a shop in the residential area and went when it was less busy.

They didn’t take food back to the dorm—after all, they couldn’t just lock Xiao Nianyuan up. She wasn’t a prisoner.

Halfway through the meal, Ji Rongxue’s phone rang. She glanced at it, hung up, then abruptly stood and said, “Something came up,” before rushing off.

Xiao Nianyuan looked at the other two roommates. Tan Xialan shook her head in confusion. “I don’t know what she’s doing.”

Both turned to Du Xiaotong, who calmly said, “She knows what she’s doing.”

None of them thought much of it, but Xiao Nianyuan found it strange. She had never seen Ji Rongxue in such a hurry before.

On the way back after dinner, Xiao Nianyuan received a message from Zhongli Rong: “Are you free? Is it convenient? It’s a bit complicated—I need to talk to you face-to-face.”

Xiao Nianyuan wanted to meet in person too, but her two roommates were watching her closely. She could only reply, “I’ll call you when we get back to the dorm.”

Once back in the dorm, Xiao Nianyuan stepped onto the balcony and, under her roommates’ gaze, smiled as she closed the balcony door behind her.

She dialed Zhongli Rong’s number, and the call was answered immediately—clearly, she had been waiting.

As soon as the call connected, Zhongli Rong said, “I think I’ve figured out who’s been using your photos.”

Xiao Nianyuan tightened her grip on the phone. “Who is it?”

“I don’t know exactly who, but I know it’s a man.”

Xiao Nianyuan was puzzled. “How do you know it’s a man?”

She hadn’t expected the person using her photos for online romance scams to be male. It wasn’t that she thought only women would do such things, but from the chat logs she had seen, the scammer’s way of speaking had seemed very much like a girl’s.

If she hadn’t known it was a scam, she might have genuinely believed the other person was just an innocent girl.

“Listen first,” Zhongli Rong said urgently. “These past few days, I deliberately created a new account and idled in the area right after the main questline. Before long, someone added me and asked if I was new to the game.”

Zhongli Rong hadn’t been confident she could bait the scammer into adding her, especially since the scammer had already been exposed on the forums and wouldn’t be using the original account. But unexpectedly, a new account suddenly messaged her, asking if she was a new player.

Zhongli Rong was sharp. To lure the scammer in, she pretended to be a clueless college student who had just started playing—specifically, a student from their own university. She had researched the victims and found that most were college students, half from nearby schools, with several even from their own university.

Zhong Lirong had a hunch that the target was college students, especially those from their own university. Acting on a whim, she never expected her guess to be spot on.

At first, the scammer didn’t pay much attention to Zhong Lirong, but upon learning she was a student from the same school, he immediately became much more enthusiastic. He even claimed he had just started playing the game and hoped to team up with her.

It took Zhong Lirong quite some time to confirm he was a fraud. Before long, he subtly mentioned being single, lamenting that no girl was interested in him.

The scammer comforted her profusely, then hesitantly added that he liked someone like Zhong Lirong—steady and capable of giving him a sense of security.

He even pretended to accidentally send a photo before quickly retracting it.

Zhong Lirong, who had been screen-recording the entire time, naturally captured it. The photo turned out to be of Xiao Nianyuan.

No doubt about it—he was definitely a scammer!

Knowing his true nature, Zhong Lirong wanted to inform Xiao Nianyuan immediately. But what could she do even if she knew he was a fraud? Xiao Nianyuan hadn’t asked much of her, yet Zhong Lirong still felt guilty for misunderstanding her before and wanted to help more.

So she decided to gather more evidence, preferably enough to expose the scammer’s identity. Not wanting to alert him, she played the role of an honest, unsuspecting target and avoided spending money on him.

Perhaps frustrated by the lack of financial gain, the scammer grew impatient.

He even probed, “Do you not like me? Why won’t you send me a photo?”

Of course, he wasn’t actually interested in her photo—he wanted her to voluntarily transfer money to him.

A skilled scammer wouldn’t outright ask for money. This push-and-pull tactic was far more effective in ensnaring victims.

Zhong Lirong pretended not to catch on. “I’ll find a chance to show you.”

After sending that message, the scammer went silent for a long time. Even without seeing his face, Zhong Lirong could imagine his exasperation—after all those hints, why wasn’t she taking the bait?

She worried her response might make him give up on her. Surprisingly, he didn’t back off. Instead, he tested her again to confirm she was from their school.

To gain his trust, Xiao Nianyuan promptly asked a male classmate to take a photo of the university’s academic building. Zhong Lirong could have taken it herself, but to avoid the risk of the scammer accidentally spotting the photographer, she opted for caution.

Seeing the freshly taken photo of the building, the scammer grew even more eager and showered Zhong Lirong with attention.

He was clearly desperate to swindle someone from the same school.

Later, he deliberately mentioned his family hadn’t sent him living expenses, subtly hinting for Zhong Lirong to give him money.

She didn’t play dumb but firmly replied, “I don’t spend money on strangers.”

The scammer, likely encountering such stinginess for the first time, couldn’t outright demand money. Instead, he kept insinuating their closeness, hoping she’d transfer funds willingly.

To reinforce this illusion, he frequently sent photos—mostly stock images, with only a few taken recently. Zhong Lirong meticulously analyzed the details in these photos and finally deduced the scammer was male.

“So you’re saying when he sent you a photo of a skirt, a condom was accidentally in the shot?” Xiao Nianyuan still found it hard to believe after hearing the story. “But that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a man.”

Listening to Zhongli Rong excitedly share her discoveries over the past few days, Xiao Nianyuan followed her train of thought but still couldn’t pinpoint any clues revealing the scammer’s gender.

The condom photo didn’t necessarily prove the person was male—some street-smart schemers would deliberately take such photos, especially those in certain professions.

“Listen,” Zhongli Rong teased before continuing, “he accidentally photographed the candy our school distributed during the anniversary celebration.”

During the school anniversary, the cafeteria had given extra chicken drumsticks and provided custom-wrapped candies bearing the school emblem—though poorly printed on many wrappers. The scammer, unaware of this detail, had included one such candy in his photos.

Zhongli Rong had stared at the photo for ages before comparing it with leftover candies her roommate saved. The match confirmed the scammer was from their campus. While the condom initially suggested a male perpetrator, like Xiao Nianyuan, she remained uncertain and kept investigating.

“Here’s the clincher,” Zhongli Rong said triumphantly. “He hinted his birthday was coming up soon.”

Xiao Nianyuan looked puzzled until Zhongli Rong sighed: “Using birthdays is such an outdated scam tactic. If he really wanted sympathy, claiming menstrual discomfort would’ve been far more effective—after all, most women experience it monthly.”

But the scammer overlooked this because he wasn’t female at all.