“I guess I did,” Cheng Fei replied.
“You met the requirements?
Then Cheng Fei must be quite impressive.”
The girl’s smile was teasing.
“Our president said I’m ‘acceptable.'”
“If she called you acceptable, then you’re definitely more than merely impressive.”
“You two are friends?”
Cheng Fei thought he finally understood why she had approached him.
Nagasaki Asuna touched her chin with one finger.
After thinking for a moment, she gave an ambiguous answer.
“We know each other.”
“I see.”
She didn’t elaborate.
Cheng Fei didn’t ask.
“How long have you been in the club?”
“Counting today?
Three days.”
“How does it feel?”
“Fine.”
“I see.”
The girl imitated his tone.
Their eyes met, and she tilted her head with a mischievous smile.
By then, they had already passed through the school gate.
“Well then, see you tomorrow.”
The girl stopped with both feet together and waved.
Cheng Fei said goodbye as well and watched her jog toward an expensive white car that had been waiting by the road.
He smacked his lips.
“Time to go home.”
…
The next day, their final afternoon period was PE.
On the track, a group of three boys lazily jogged through the two-kilometer run.
Basketball-club member Chen Hao.
Gaming-club member Du Xinhua.
Corridor Research Club member Cheng Fei.
For Chen Hao, this pace was laughably easy, so he chose to run backward in front of the other two.
Tall and skinny Du Xinhua had miserable stamina.
Even at such a slow pace, he was already suffering.
Cheng Fei wasn’t much better.
“Tell me…” Du Xinhua panted.
“Why must human beings…
exercise?”
Chen Hao was glowing with health.
“Because life lies in movement, my friend.”
Cheng Fei didn’t answer.
He concentrated on regulating his breathing, trying to make the burning sensation in his lungs more tolerable.
“Look over there.
Pretty girl.”
Chen Hao’s wandering gaze abruptly stopped.
Du Xinhua turned and squinted.
“Where?”
“Coffee-colored hair.
The one holding someone’s ankles for sit-ups.”
Chen Hao, as a sports enthusiast, had excellent eyesight.
“Damn, sweet smile and a great figure.
She’ll make a wonderful wife someday.”
“That sounds suspiciously like Nagasaki Asuna.”
Du Xinhua shaded his eyes with one hand.
“You know her?!” Chen Hao demanded.
“She’s a new Japanese exchange student in the gaming club.
Very popular.”
“What?
Another beautiful girl who likes video games?
What is happening to society?”
“Well, she definitely wouldn’t like basketball.
Otherwise she’d become a muscular beauty.”
“You brat!
Beautiful girls can be cheerleaders!”
“I have a question about Nagasaki Asuna,” Cheng Fei interrupted.
Du Xinhua slowed slightly.
“Ask.”
“Is she connected to the Corridor Research Club?”
“Connected?”
Du Xinhua’s mouth curved upward.
“You could say she was literally one of its founders.”
“Not Shen Xi?”
“Originally it was the two of them together.
Two beautiful first-year girls founding a gaming-related club.
That’s why half our club nearly defected.”
“Are they lesbians?” Chen Hao asked in horror, shoving a finger between his teeth.
“There was a rumor like that.
I joined later.
I only heard it last time while playing Smash with some girls from the club.”
“The gaming club really has girls who play with you?” Chen Hao looked even more horrified.
Cheng Fei asked:
“Then why did she end up joining the gaming club?”
“Well…” Du Xinhua lowered his voice conspiratorially.
“The two of them founded the Corridor Research Club together, then apparently had some disagreement.
Supposedly they fought.
Anyway, Nagasaki Asuna quit.
Our president seized the opportunity and sent someone to invite her over.
Her joining was what finally stabilized morale in the gaming club.”
“I see.”
Cheng Fei nodded.
“Poor Nagasaki.
She definitely got bullied.”
Chen Hao sounded utterly certain.
“Shen Xi might be beautiful, but her personality is vicious.
Yesterday I saw her twisting Cheng Fei’s ear as she dragged him away.”
“That happened?” Cheng Fei asked in surprise.
Chen Hao nodded.
“At least from where I was standing.”
“You boys really need to stop judging people purely by appearances.”
A ponytailed girl jogging nearby approached them.
“Oh?
Two-Eight, got some intel?” Du Xinhua clearly knew her well.
Perhaps she was one of those girls he played Smash with.
“Call me that again and see whether I punch you.”
She glared at him.
“Got anything about Nagasaki Asuna?” Cheng Fei asked casually.
“She…”
The girl glanced at Cheng Fei, and her voice instinctively softened.
“I’m saying this first: it’s only something I heard.
Don’t spread it around.”
The three boys nodded quickly.
“Someone apparently overheard Nagasaki arranging times with people over the phone.
Then every day after school, a different private car picks her up…”
The girl gave them a meaningful look.
“I heard she does that thing.
You know, the kind a lot of Japanese schoolgirls supposedly do?
You boys should understand.”
The three exchanged looks.
At that moment, their PE teacher’s whistle shrilled from behind.
“You three boys up front!
Aren’t you ashamed to run that slowly?!
Anyone who falls behind does another twenty squats after finishing!”
All three instantly felt their scalps go numb.
They hurriedly said goodbye to the girl and accelerated toward the main group.
…
After school, Cheng Fei went to work as usual.
It wasn’t until late at night that he returned to his apartment.
After washing up, he lay on the bed.
He put on the full-dive helmet.
Logged into Corridor.
…
The first thing he saw was a cramped wooden attic.
It wasn’t much larger than his real-world one-room apartment, and since miscellaneous junk filled the place, it felt even smaller.
Cheng Fei habitually opened his friends list to check for client messages.
Gaming companionship.
Power-leveling.
Material farming.
Those were his primary means of earning money here.
He lived somewhat like a mercenary or bounty hunter from a fantasy novel.
There was indeed one message.
[Hello~ System-kun, are you free?]
Attached was an emoji of someone smiling with their chin propped on one hand.
The sender ID:
[Nana s Nana]
Nagasaki Asuna’s game ID.
Cheng Fei froze.
He had absolutely no memory of having her on his friends list.
It wasn’t that Cheng Fei had poor memory.
His friends list simply contained too many people.
Most were people he had traded with once and never contacted again.
Nagasaki Asuna was probably one of them.
Was her messaging him now a coincidence?
Or did she know who he was?
Cheng Fei suddenly experienced the bizarre feeling of having been doxxed.
For the first time, he understood Shen Xi’s reaction two days earlier.
He replied.
[What is it?]
Her answer came instantly.
[Can you carry me through a dungeon?]
[Sure.
Which one?]
[Meet first?]
[Main Teleport Gate.]
[Okay~]
Cheng Fei closed the interface.
Lines of text abruptly refreshed before his eyes.
[Limited-Time Mission Triggered]
[Speedrun Offline Meeting]
[Requirement: Meet Nana s Nana offline within the specified time.]
[Difficulty: Hard]
[Meet offline within 1 day → 5,000 points + one 70%-off standard Charm coupon.]
[Meet offline within 1 week → 3,000 points.]
[A passionate offline invitation may make a girl’s heart race.
However, if handled clumsily, it may instead provoke disgust.]
[Standard Coupon: Raises the corresponding attribute by 1.
Limited to attributes below 9.]
Cheng Fei fell into thought.
[ END 401 Chapter ]
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