Throughout the night, Bai Shinan and Qiluo Yi messed around with all kinds of dirty combo tactics—like Jarvan IV with Pantheon, or Veigar with Vayne—focusing purely on having fun. Winning or losing was secondary.
Qiluo Yi was clearly much more energetic than usual. After all, this wasn’t solo ranked, so she could goof around freely without affecting Bai Shinan’s income.
“It’s eleven already. I should get to bed. Let’s play again tomorrow if we’re free.” Bai Shinan declined Qiluo Yi’s invitation for another match and rubbed his eyes.
“Alright then.” Qiluo Yi still seemed a bit unwilling to stop. Maybe it was just her imagination, but Bai Shinan had talked a lot more than usual tonight, making her reluctant to part from this warm, fleeting moment.
Hearing the slight coquettish tone in Qiluo Yi’s voice, Bai Shinan got goosebumps all over. He couldn’t help but waver a little inside. Could it be that Lao Luo was actually a girl?
Impossible! Absolutely not!
Female players were already rare in this broken game, and there was no way he’d just run into one by chance, especially someone with a one-in-a-million Long-Legged Loli Voice. This wasn’t some fantasy novel.
“Lao Luo, want to add each other on Qiuqiu? That way, if I want to play, I can find you more easily.” Bai Shinan shook his head, forcing himself to focus.
“If you want to play, just log in. I’ll always be here.” That’s what Qiluo Yi said—and that’s exactly what she did.
Hearing that, Bai Shinan couldn’t help but feel suspicious. He opened Qiluo Yi’s match history and checked her recent games—only duo queue matches with him.
That meant before he logged in, Qiluo Yi did nothing, just quietly waited for him. No wonder she always reached out to him the moment he came online.
“Sigh, still, it’s fine to add each other. Or are you afraid that adding me will expose that you’re actually some burly guy scratching his feet?” Bai Shinan used a little reverse psychology.
He had no other option. His only connection to Lao Luo was through the game. Otherwise, in his previous life, when Lao Luo vanished without a trace, he wouldn’t have been left completely in the dark. Follow the newest chapters on novelping dot com.
On Qiluo Yi’s end, she hesitated. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to add Bai Shinan, but she was afraid that once she had his contact, she’d constantly want to message him.
And then… he’d probably find her annoying, right? Qiluo Yi buried her face into her chest, conflicted. She was terrified of losing Bai Shinan, the only person she could really talk to, yet she also longed to become even closer to him.
“I can give you my contact, but let me say this upfront… I’m a chatterbox, so don’t find me annoying later.” Qiluo Yi couldn’t resist the temptation in the end. Then she quickly added, “You don’t need to reply to my messages. Just consider it me talking to myself. Just glance at them when you have time.”
“Got it. Note down my account: xxxxxxxxxxx. For the friend request, remember to say it’s you.” Bai Shinan gave his Qiuqiu account.
On the other end of the headset, Qiluo Yi scrambled to grab a pen and scribble it down. She confirmed the number several times before sending the friend request. Bai Shinan’s avatar was a cartoon-style little prince wearing a crown, and his nickname was Nanqiang.
Soon after, Bai Shinan received Qiluo Yi’s friend request. Her avatar was, as always, a girlish cartoon-style image—an orange-red little fox. Her nickname was Qiluo Yi.
He didn’t think much of the name. These days, who even used their real name for a game ID? As expected of Lao Luo—even her nickname was so feminine.
“Alright, that’s it for tonight. You should get some rest too.” Bai Shinan spoke into the in-game voice chat, and also sent Qiluo Yi a message.
After the voice chat ended, Qiluo Yi stared at the simple chat exchange on her phone screen, dazed for a long time. It wasn’t until the screen went dark automatically that she snapped out of it.
Time to sleep—otherwise, that goodnight would be meaningless.
On Saturday morning, Bai Shinan slept straight until 8 a.m., then got woken up by Bai Yuejing. If he didn’t get up soon, breakfast would go cold.
After washing up, he habitually checked his phone. There were lots of unread messages from two people. He instinctively ignored the ones from Mu Yuwei and went straight to the new friend he’d added last night—Lao Luo. Read the latest chapters at novelping dot com.
Qiluo Yi: Good morning. Hope I didn’t wake you.
Qiluo Yi: You don’t need to reply. I’m just saying hi, nothing urgent.
Qiluo Yi: Looks like you’re still asleep. I won’t bother you.
Even through the screen, Bai Shinan could feel Qiluo Yi’s anxious and hesitant emotions. She was afraid of disturbing his sleep, but also afraid he’d see her messages and just ignore them.
“Could Lao Luo really be a girl?” Bai Shinan stroked his chin, deep in thought. He didn’t actually know Lao Luo’s real gender—he had just assumed she was male.
But think about it: if a grown man was obsessing over you early in the morning, it gave him chills. If it were a girl, it’d feel a lot more acceptable.
“Brother, what are you muttering about?” Bai Yuejing looked at Bai Shinan, who was talking to himself, and asked with concern.
Bai Shinan glanced at his adorable little sister and got an idea. He leaned over to her and suddenly asked, “Yuejing, is there anything that only girls would know?”
Bai Yuejing tilted her little head, confused about why her brother was asking such a random question early in the morning. There were a lot of things only girls knew—but many of them were awkward and hard to talk about. How was she supposed to say them?
Seeing Bai Yuejing’s expression gradually turning strange, Bai Shinan realized she misunderstood and quickly explained, “It’s like this—I have this online friend, but I don’t know if they’re a guy or a girl, so I want to test it.”
“Online friend? Brother, don’t tell me you’re in an online relationship?” Bai Yuejing’s face tensed up. She’d heard of lots of people getting scammed out of their money and hearts through online romances. With someone like her brother, he’d probably lose both.
Her worries weren’t baseless. Bai Shinan had just said last night that he’d gone through a breakup, so he was emotionally vulnerable. It’d be easy for someone to take advantage of that.
“What nonsense are you thinking? It’s a friend I’ve known from a game a long time ago. Do you have any ideas or not?” Bai Shinan rubbed her little head.
Though still a bit doubtful, Bai Yuejing was happy to help her brother out. As long as she could prove the other person was a guy, her brother wouldn’t fall into some online romance trap.
“Brother, there’s something only girls would know. Just ask her/him this…” Bai Yuejing leaned over and whispered into Bai Shinan’s ear.