My Unconventional Online Dating - Chapter 61
Lian Qiushui was even more confused than her: “Why would I be upset about being an NPC?”
If someone had said this earlier, Lian Qiushui might have doubted it. But Xiao Nianyuan had explained—it was precisely because she was an NPC that Xiao Nianyuan had approached her. If she weren’t an NPC, they wouldn’t have become friends.
Lian Qiushui took pride in her identity as an NPC.
Hearing this, Yin Peilan realized she had asked the wrong question and quickly clarified, “It’s not about being upset. I just meant, how can you two get along so well?”
Lian Qiushui shrugged. “Whether we get along or not has nothing to do with me being an NPC. Do you think she’d automatically be closer to someone just because they’re a player?”
Right now, the person Xiao Nianyuan was closest to was her—not other NPCs, nor Xiao Nianyuan’s roommates.
“Of course not.” Yin Peilan could also see that Xiao Nianyuan was much closer to Lian Qiushui and barely interacted with other players.
Aside from her roommates, Xiao Nianyuan hardly socialized with other players. Compared to players, she clearly preferred spending time with NPCs.
Yin Peilan blinked, pondering. “Are NPCs just easier to get along with?”
If that were the case, she could try making friends with NPCs too.
“You’re not thinking of befriending NPCs, are you?” Lian Qiushui saw right through her. Before Yin Peilan could deny it, she continued, “NPCs aren’t as easygoing as you think. We have tempers too, and we choose our friends.”
Just like her—even if Yin Peilan wanted to be friends, she couldn’t immediately agree, nor would she make promises.
Even if they did become friends eventually, she still had the right to end that friendship.
Yin Peilan muttered, “I just thought being friends with NPCs would be less complicated.”
Seeing how close Xiao Nianyuan and Lian Qiushui were, Yin Peilan had wondered more than once if it was because Lian Qiushui was an NPC that they could talk so openly. In real life, she had seen too many friendships fall apart over trivial matters.
“You’re overthinking it. NPCs are no different from you,” Lian Qiushui said seriously.
Yin Peilan countered, “How is that possible? Haven’t you seen close friends argue?”
“I don’t know how you define ‘close friends,’ but real friends don’t fight over small things. Even if they argue, they make up. That’s what friendship is.” Lian Qiushui chuckled. “If someone holds a grudge over an argument, they’re not suited to be friends.”
Seeing Yin Peilan still looking lost, Lian Qiushui sighed. “Figure out what you really want. Sincerity might not always be reciprocated, but without sincerity, you’ll never find friends.”
After saying this, Yin Peilan remained silent and didn’t ask to be taken anywhere. Lian Qiushui bid her farewell and left.
She was busy, after all. While Xiao Nianyuan was offline, she had plenty to do—like finding work to earn money so she wouldn’t be left with nothing later.
Of course, what she loved most was waiting for Xiao Nianyuan to log back in.
Just as she was thinking this, Lian Qiushui sensed something and hurried toward the bamboo grove.
As soon as she arrived, she spotted a familiar figure in the distance, and her steps instantly grew lighter.
Xiao Nianyuan turned around. Seeing Lian Qiushui, the indifference on her face melted into a faint smile, and all her earlier gloom vanished in that moment.
“Waiting for me?”
Lian Qiushui nodded, pleasantly surprised. “Finished with your work?”
Xiao Nianyuan casually asked, “How have you been getting along with Yin Peilan these days?”
“Her…” Lian Qiushui felt a twinge of guilt. She had promised Xiao Nianyuan to take Yin Peilan out while Xiao Nianyuan was away, but in reality, she hadn’t made much effort.
Only when Yin Peilan sought her out did she reluctantly respond. Far from being proactive, she was even somewhat unwilling when Yin Peilan came to her.
She couldn’t be called diligent—just barely conscientious.
“It was okay,” Lian Qiushui mumbled. “Same as usual. I took her wherever she wanted to go, but there was one place I didn’t agree to.”
Xiao Nianyuan was surprised. “Where?”
Lian Qiushui pursed her lips. “She said she wanted to come here.”
Xiao Nianyuan paused.
Lian Qiushui grumbled, “This is our secret hideout. I didn’t want her coming here.”
Xiao Nianyuan chuckled. “This place is open to anyone. It’s just that few people come here—how can it be our secret hideout?”
Lian Qiushui stayed silent for a long moment before muttering, “Then we should find a way to keep others from coming.”
Xiao Nianyuan laughed, teasing her. “And how exactly do you plan to stop people from coming?”
Lian Qiushui thought seriously. “If this place were dangerous, wouldn’t that keep people away?”
For beginners, danger might deter them, but…
Xiao Nianyuan countered, “If there were a lot of monsters here, wouldn’t people who love fighting come instead?”
That stumped Lian Qiushui. If battle-hungry players heard about dangerous monsters here, they’d probably rush over faster than anyone, eager to see what the fuss was about.
Her plan foiled, Lian Qiushui hesitated. “Then what should we do?”
Xiao Nianyuan said, “If someone comes here, we’ll just go somewhere else. There are other fun places, right?”
“Then I’ll find a few more good spots. If anyone tries to take over our bamboo grove, we’ll move.”
“Deal.” Xiao Nianyuan agreed without hesitation. Lian Qiushui was delighted—she’d go anywhere. More than the bamboo grove itself, she cherished being with Xiao Nianyuan. Wherever Lian Qiushui was, that was the real “secret hideout.”
“Let’s leave for now.” Lian Qiushui suddenly grabbed Xiao Nianyuan’s hand.
Confused but willing, Xiao Nianyuan followed.
Not long after leaving the grove, they spotted Yin Peilan approaching.
Seeing them together, Yin Peilan wore an “I knew it” expression. “I just knew you two would be together.”
She had noticed Xiao Nianyuan logging in and guessed Lian Qiushui would be with her—sure enough, here they were.
Yin Peilan’s first question to Xiao Nianyuan was, “Did you go to the game company?”
“Not yet,” Xiao Nianyuan replied. “I’m still waiting to see.”
“What’s there to wait for? Visiting the game company isn’t that exciting. You’re not employees—they’ll just show you around the office, nothing more.”
Xiao Nianyuan, who had hoped to investigate Sky City, fell silent at this.
She had already been there once and knew it wouldn’t be easy to get information, but hearing Yin Peilan say this still dampened her spirits somewhat. If she couldn’t accomplish anything by going to the game company, then what was the point of going at all?
Noticing the prolonged silence from Xiao Nianyuan and even Qiushui, Yin Peilan couldn’t help but ask, “You can tell me about it. Maybe I can help you.”
They were sort of friends now, right? Asking these questions shouldn’t be too intrusive, should she?
She still remembered the incident not long ago when her petty tantrum nearly caused a rift between them, so she felt slightly apprehensive when posing this question.
“You can help me?” Xiao Nianyuan let out a laugh, her tone filled with resignation.
Yin Peilan immediately bristled, “Are you mocking me? Do you think I’m lying?”
All thoughts of whether this might lead to an argument were tossed aside.
“No…” Xiao Nianyuan hadn’t expected such a strong reaction.
But Yin Peilan felt underestimated, “How do you know I can’t help if you don’t tell me? Maybe I actually can.”
Seeing Yin Peilan’s earnestness, Xiao Nianyuan had no choice, “I want to know about Sky City.”
Yin Peilan was only momentarily surprised before replying, “But Sky City doesn’t exist anymore, does it?”
Xiao Nianyuan looked at her strangely, “You’ve been keeping up with Sky City?”
Yin Peilan snorted lightly, “There’s nothing about this game that I don’t know.”
It was obvious she was exaggerating, but the fact that Yin Peilan knew about Sky City and was aware that it couldn’t be found now genuinely surprised Xiao Nianyuan.
“Do you have a way to find Sky City?” After a moment’s thought, Xiao Nianyuan added, “The Sky City we found now isn’t the same as before.”
Yin Peilan said with certainty, “If you’ve searched and found a different one, that means the developers are planning to replace the original design.”
“The original design was scrapped?” Xiao Nianyuan asked.
Support "MY UNCONVENTIONAL ONLINE DATING"
I have mixed feeling about this story. In one hand, I absolutely adore the relationship between Xiao Nianyuan and Lin Qiushi, despite the rocky start, their relationship quickly evolve into a very soft and clingly relationship where Xiao Nianyuan get to indulge her need for physical contact through Lin Qiushi due to the fact that she’s less self conscious about it with her initially since she’s an NPC, and Lin Qiushi get to indulge in her need for companionship through Xiao Nianyuan, who is pretty introverted and as such don’t interact with other players or NPC in the game, so Lin Qiushi get to have all of her attention. As time goes on, they become pretty clingly with each other, both physically and emotionally.
My main gripe is that I don’t think enough time in the story is dedicated to their relationship
A good third of the story is dedicated to a rather boring mystery about a classmate of Xiao Nianyuan who’s using her photo to scam people online in order to ruin her reputation and take revenge on her over a perceived slight about his scolarship, but it feels pretty disconnected from the main point of the story, Xiao Nianyuan never actually exchange a single sentence with the perpetrator, outside of once, when he’s about to get caught.
The mystery of the sky city take another large chunk of the story, but in my opinion, it really wasn’t all that interesting. Xiao Nianyuan caught a glimpse of a silhouette that she recognized in the sky city early on, and then obsessed over the sky city to try to find that person and find out what’s the sky city is. While the story doesn’t explicitly said it, the person is most likely Ji Rongxue, who Xiao Nianyuan thought was dead. But the mystery is revealed in a rather boring fashion and so is the true nature of the sky city.
I also have a slight gripe with the ending, I do think that Xiao Nianyuan and Liu Qiushu relationship benefited a lot from the dynamic of one of them being a real person and the other being an NPC who was stuck in a virtual world, and while I always expected this barrier to eventually fade for an happy ending, I do have a slight problem with how it happened. Firstly, it’s a personnal preference but I would have prefered if they had started their relationship in the game, while Liu Qiushu was still an NPC, and secondly, the story kind of brush off all too quickly how Liu Qiushu was actually a real person with her memory sealed inside of the game, so it almost feels like Xiao Nianyuan end up with a different Liu Qiushu than the Liu Qiushu we got to see for the entire story (since their meeting happen in the last chapter).
Also, there is some hints of a relationship between Ji Rongxue and Jing Siyan (another NPC), but it’s never explicited, Jing Siyan get deleted due to a virus and there’s no resolution on that front, which is pretty sad.
Thank you for reading and sharing your thoughts! <3