My Unconventional Online Dating - Chapter 53

Xiao Nianyuan froze. “How did you know?”

“Jing Siyan told me,” Ji Rongxue paused. “Others don’t know?”

Xiao Nianyuan fell silent. It was true that no one else knew—she had only told Lian Qiushui. If Jing Siyan knew, it must have been Lian Qiushui who told her. But why would Lian Qiushui tell Jing Siyan?

Lian Qiushui had always been aware that the fewer people who knew about this, the better. There was no reason for her to voluntarily inform Jing Siyan.

“No one else knows. What did you talk about with her last night? Why would she tell you I was looking for Sky City?”

“Nothing much, just casual conversation.” Ji Rongxue seemed slightly uncomfortable. She had been the one to ask about Xiao Nianyuan—in fact, she had practically pestered Jing Siyan into telling her what Xiao Nianyuan was doing in the game.

She just wanted to know what Xiao Nianyuan usually enjoyed playing. Jing Siyan mentioned that Xiao Nianyuan was searching for Sky City, so Ji Rongxue thought she could help look for it. But after scouring everywhere, she couldn’t find any information about Sky City.

The only things she found were a few old forum posts from the game’s beta testing phase. Most of them said that Sky City was inaccessible to players—only NPCs could go there.

Given how mysterious the place was, Xiao Nianyuan’s search for it struck Ji Rongxue as odd, so she came to ask her directly.

“What do you want to do there?”

Xiao Nianyuan glanced at her and sighed. “I can’t tell you yet.”

Right now, she couldn’t tell anyone—not even Lian Qiushui knew the full reason.

“If you need help, I can search with you.”

“It’s not something you can just find if you want to,” Xiao Nianyuan sighed. Just then, Du Xiaotong came out. “We don’t even know if Sky City still exists.”

Du Xiaotong hadn’t caught what they were talking about and didn’t ask after sitting down.

“I might have a way,” Ji Rongxue said.

Xiao Nianyuan looked at her, but Ji Rongxue acted as if nothing had happened and didn’t elaborate.

Tan Xialan was the last to come out. Seeing them, she groaned, “I think I’m going to fail this time.”

Du Xiaotong nodded as if it were expected.

Tan Xialan was furious. “What’s that supposed to mean? Did you already think I wouldn’t pass?”

“If you had ever done your own homework, you wouldn’t be saying this.”

“I—I just didn’t know how!” Tan Xialan was a little guilty. She usually copied Du Xiaotong’s assignments. When Du Xiaotong worked on her homework, Tan Xialan wouldn’t bother, only scrambling to copy it the day it was due—sometimes even in class before handing it in.

That she might fail the exam was something all three of her roommates saw as inevitable.

Seeing the looks they gave her, Tan Xialan regretfully said, “I won’t copy homework anymore.”

If doing the assignments herself could help her pass, then she might as well try. She couldn’t afford to actually fail the final exams.

There was a fifteen-minute break between the two long lectures, and the classrooms were far apart—almost diagonally across campus. Fortunately, Tan Xialan hadn’t waited until the bell rang to leave, so they could walk there at a leisurely pace without needing to take the campus shuttle.

After class, it was lunchtime. Tan Xialan was eager to get back to gaming and asked Du Xiaotong to bring her food. Without hesitation, Du Xiaotong dragged her to the cafeteria instead.

After lunch and a short break, Tan Xialan returned to the dormitory with classes still scheduled for the afternoon. She glared at Du Xiaotong resentfully, her eyes brimming with accusation.

“Did you finish the homework for this afternoon’s class?”

Tan Xialan’s expression stiffened. “Can I copy yours?”

Ji Rongxue sighed. “Didn’t you say this morning you’d do it yourself?”

“But there’s no time now. I’ll do it myself next time.” Seeing their reluctance, Tan Xialan turned to Xiao Nianyuan, hoping she’d speak up for her.

Xiao Nianyuan said mercilessly, “If I let you copy now, you’ll just wait until the last minute again next time and say the same thing.” She knew her roommate’s habits all too well.

Tan Xialan: “…”

With a groan, she reluctantly pulled out her homework.

Their schedule was packed that day, and it wasn’t until evening that all four of them logged in. The moment Xiao Nianyuan went online, she sought out Lian Qiushui. Before Ji Rongxue and the others arrived, she stopped Lian Qiushui from hugging her and asked sternly, “Did you tell anyone else I was looking for Sky City?”

Lian Qiushui, still a little hurt from being pushed away, shook her head in confusion at the question.

“Then how did Jing Siyan know I was searching for Sky City?”

“Oh, her,” Lian Qiushui realized. “I asked her about it when I was looking for Sky City before.”

Jing Siyan was one of the few NPCs she could talk to—she didn’t bother getting close to the others, not wanting to waste time.

“Did Jing Siyan spread it around?” Lian Qiushui frowned. “I specifically told her not to tell anyone.”

“Maybe she didn’t tell others, just my roommate.” Xiao Nianyuan was puzzled. “She seems to really like my roommate.”

Lian Qiushui nodded. “She must. I’ve never seen her treat anyone else so well.” Whether NPC or player, she’d never seen Jing Siyan be so generous—even inviting Ji Rongxue to stay in her room.

When Ji Rongxue arrived, she glanced at Lian Qiushui before whispering to Xiao Nianyuan, “I just asked. Jing Siyan knows how to get to Sky City.”