Yan: You don’t need to do tutoring anymore.
Song Fu looked at these simple words. Her fingertips tapped on the phone screen. She first typed out, “What if I’m lying to you?” Then she deleted it all and re-edited the text: Brother, you’re such a good person TT.
Ever since entering this task Small World, she had been trying to understand the female supporting character’s thought process to achieve the immersion required by the System. But now, seeing the message on the screen and thinking about what she had to do next, she felt somewhat speechless. How could…
[Is it possible that the male lead isn’t a good person in general, but only good to you?]
Song Fu soothed her faintly aching conscience. ‘What’s the difference?’ If he could be this good to a netizen he’d never even met in person, could he possibly be bad to the people around him? The System’s words were truly meaningless.
‘Don’t worry, I’ll do the task properly.’ She had long been prepared to play the villain.
“Fu Fu, who’s that? Why did they send you so much money?” A roommate carrying a water kettle passed behind Song Fu and accidentally glimpsed the 5,000 yuan transfer. She asked in surprise.
They were all sophomores now and had lived together for over a year, so they knew each other’s backgrounds well. Everyone knew Song Fu’s family situation, so this money definitely wasn’t from home. The roommate felt something was off and quickly apologized. “I didn’t mean to see it. You haven’t been scammed, have you? Good things don’t just fall from the sky.”
“It’s fine, you saw it.” Song Fu didn’t cover her phone or hide it. Instead, she generously showed it off. “Have you ever seen a scammer who sends money to people? This is my boyfriend—from the game.”
Her roommate’s real life was quite fulfilling, leaving no time to learn about games. She furrowed her brows, still uneasy. “Is he reliable?”
Another roommate overheard and chimed in. “If he asks you to meet up, you absolutely can’t agree.” A quick search would reveal plenty of legal news stories. “He must want something from you, that’s why he’s giving money. I say, don’t accept it. You need to stay vigilant.”
Song Fu perfunctorily hummed in acknowledgment. “I’ve got it handled.”
Given the current situation, the one who truly needed to be vigilant was the male lead. He shouldn’t send money so casually anymore.
Things were proceeding according to the plot here. The female supporting character had initially wanted to show off to her roommates, but they all acted like she was bound to suffer a big loss eventually. This left her vanity completely unsatisfied, so those thoughts naturally shifted to the game.
After completing the Romance Quest and finishing the final cutscene, the two obtained the Romance title. Song Fu immediately equipped it above her head—”Fu Guang Luo, Romance Partner of Player ‘Yan'”.
Fu Guang Luo: Brother, I’m going to do the main storyline first.
Yan: Mm.
Song Fu closed the chat window and clicked on the latest task in the lower right of the computer screen, leaving Heartlink Island where the Romance Quest was located.
The male lead could stay at the top of various leaderboards because he was one of the few. Most players progressed at about the same pace as Song Fu, so near the main storyline, it was crowded with people. The screen was filled with flashy titles and nicknames.
Song Fu had just accepted a mining task from the white-bearded old man when the good friend icon representing her friends lit up with a red dot. Without thinking much, she clicked it open.
【Friend Request】Tiantian Rules the World: Hello hello, is your Romance partner that ‘Yan’ at the top of the leaderboard?
Song Fu accepted and countered: Yeah, what’s up?
Tiantian Rules the World: No special symbols or anything?
Fu Guang Luo: Nope.
Tiantian Rules the World: So you two must be really close, right?
Tiantian Rules the World: Could you help me ask how he beat the final boss of that Ride the Wind Secret Realm quest?
Tiantian Rules the World: Pretty please, he has friend requests blocked.
Oh, Song Fu understood. This was someone coming for the strategy guide.
But there was a small issue: Nah, it was normal when I added him as a friend.
The other side explained that blocking friend requests was a new feature from this week’s update. Then she said she wouldn’t ask for free—she could help Song Fu level up, and they could play together, etc.
[Host, agree to her. This nickname is an important ‘friend’ of the female supporting character in the plotline—the one you usually vent to her about.] The System reminded her.
Song Fu hadn’t planned to refuse anyway. She clicked on the male lead’s avatar to enter the chat and relayed the future friend’s question.
The reply came instantly. Yan: First do the Thousand-Mile Journey side quest in Wu City to get the Water-Avoiding Pearl. Then jump off Heartbreak Cliff to enter the hidden quest, beat the boss inside, and you’ll know how to beat Ride the Wind.
Fu Guang Luo: Got it, understood.
Song Fu copied the male lead’s words and sent them to her newest friend. She asked: Can you understand?
Tiantian Rules the World: Yes yes.
Tiantian Rules the World: Was that an instant reply? You two are really close!
Song Fu sent a game-built flower-sprinkling emote.
In the plot, the female supporting character developed a wrong perception of her relationship with the male lead because of others’ praise over trivial details. Like this instant reply thing—it was simply because the male lead had red dot OCD. As soon as he saw one, he’d click it to clear it.
Tiantian Rules the World: Just call me Tiantian from now on~
She asked again: How did you two become Romance partners? Do you know each other in real life, or?
Song Fu’s fingers tapped the keyboard as she replied: We just played games together, and it happened naturally.
The female supporting character had a fatally bad habit: to satisfy her vanity, she’d boast without drafting, spinning half-true half-false lies off the cuff: We often voice chat, for two or three hours at a time. His voice is pretty nice, so I thought tying the knot in-game wouldn’t be bad.
She conveniently omitted that the two-to-three hours were for task convenience via party voice. Adding the latter half implied the other side was more proactive, while she was half-reluctant.
Tiantian: Wow, so envious!
Having achieved the desired effect, Song Fu added more bricks to the lie: Nah.
Fu Guang Luo: Actually, most of the time I prefer playing with friends at my level. Playing with him, the game has no challenge, zero fun.
Fu Guang Luo: [crying.jpg]
Finally, a dose of Versailles literature to paint the male lead as clingy, while paving the way for him not playing with her later—achieving the effect that it wasn’t him unwilling, but her side not wanting to.
Perfect.
Song Fu patted her hands, giving herself a little applause.
Tiantian lived up to being the female supporting character’s best friend-to-be. She provided full emotional value, full of envy, so great, you’re so lucky.
Song Fu was thoroughly satisfied.
Tiantian: Oh right, why didn’t you two hold a wedding in-game?
Who would hold a wedding for a nominal Romance partner? Of course, Song Fu couldn’t say that outright. She decided to ignore the message and bother the male lead instead.
Fu Guang Luo: Brother, did you know this game added a marriage ceremony?
After waiting two seconds with no message, her phone screen lit up with a ringing call.
The male lead’s habit of voice calling whenever he had something to say really left no room for argument.
“Hello, Brother.” As the ringtone hit the second line, Song Fu went to the balcony to answer the voice call. She watched groups of schoolmates from the same university pass below and repeated her in-game question. “Did you know this game added a marriage ceremony?”
“I know.” The other side was concise.
Song Fu twirled her hair around her finger. “Don’t you want to try it?” She tried to make her tone sound sincere. “It’d be so fun, and it gives special outfits. They look pretty nice.”
“And Brother, you’re number one on the Combat Power Leaderboard. Finishing the Romance so quietly—everyone will think it’s weird. A while ago, someone in the top ten held a Romance wedding, made a huge splash. Brother, you can’t let the guy behind you outdo you, right? What if he mocks you for it?”
The point of this speech was to make the male lead realize her hypocrisy and constant lies, so Song Fu didn’t need to worry about being called out. She spoke without restraint. “Brother, are you listening?”
The male lead was silent for a few seconds. “The wedding feature just went live.”
Song Fu: “Mm.”
“The queue that day is booked until next week.” The male lead paused subtly. “Which leaderboard did you see? I’m pretty sure I’m the first in the top ten to have a Romance partner.” So no one could hold a wedding this week.
Though she had prepared psychologically, having her lie exposed so plainly still made Song Fu’s face heat up. She pressed the back of her hand to her cheek and feigned speechlessness. “That… that person might’ve only been on the leaderboard briefly, so…”
The male lead spoke gloomily: “Leaderboards update weekly.” It hadn’t changed this week since the wedding feature launched.
Song Fu: “…”
First, a golden silence, then some sophistry. “So Brother, are you saying I’m lying?”
“Maybe the name looked similar. You saw wrong, right?”
The male lead kindly provided an excuse.
Song Fu vaguely agreed. “Maybe.” Was the male lead soft-hearted, or did he really believe she wouldn’t lie? “Brother, so about the wedding—do you want to do it?”
The male lead: “The queue is until next week.”
That meant he would.
Song Fu dryly said “Oh,” unsure how to continue.
“Aren’t you going to say Brother you’re so nice?” the male lead prompted.
Song Fu played along. “Brother, you’re so—”
She realized something was off and quickly changed tack. “No, no, it’s not for me—Brother, you can’t let the guy behind you outdo you!” What exactly was off? “Brother, I’m not talking to you anymore, I have things to do.” Song Fu really couldn’t figure it out.
Was she a natural-born persuader?
On the other end, after the call was unilaterally ended, the male lead glanced at his phone screen one last time and quirked the corner of his mouth.
As expected, her reaction after the lie was exposed was quite interesting.
She never thought before lying, panicked when questioned—her mental resilience needed work. Wanting a wedding, what was so hard about saying it straight?
“Beep beep.” New messages arrived: Brother Lu, when are you planning to come back to school?
Lu Yan Zhi: Next semester.