Chapter 26: Why Did You Suddenly Get Bigger?
The couple’s event designed by the developers was long and full of “fun,” though this fun was of the amorous variety.
Shen Guanchao’s game character took off his mecha armor and changed into casual wear. Standing in front of the fountain in the center of the human base, he tirelessly searched for angles to take photos of the Little Fox Fairy in front of him.
The insane developers had updated the couple system last year. Men could marry men, hold weddings, and have NPC children, and the same applied to women. Couple titles and activities were not only allowed for opposite-sex bindings but also for same-sex ones.
“Turn your face slightly to the left, raise your hand, and don’t wag your tail.”
The first task of the event was to take a perfect check-in photo for one’s beloved. Shen Guanchao directed Xie Jingchu while adjusting the camera, patiently looking for the most perfect angle.
“Done.”
Clicking the shutter, they completed the first task, but something felt vaguely off.
Whether inside or outside the game, Xie Jingchu’s build was larger than Shen Guanchao’s, yet in every interaction, Shen was always the one in the passive position.
“What’s the next one? ‘Cover ears and listen to the heartbeat’?” Shen Guanchao casually tied his hair up into a high ponytail, read out the task content, and commented with a smile, “Cover the other player character’s eyes with a cloth strip, then cover his ears, and gently place a kiss on his cheek…? Tsk, the people who designed this are real talents.”
“Shall we?”
It was just characters kissing each other.
No big deal.
“Wait.” Xie Jingchu took off the fox ears. His character’s body grew taller again as he changed into the adult male outfit he usually wore—a black robe with gold trimmings, paired with long black hair. A sharp, aggressive aura instantly replaced the previous cuteness, fitting his violent healer playstyle perfectly.
Shen Guanchao: “Hm? Why did you suddenly get bigger?”
“Nothing.” After his size increased, the system automatically designated Xie Jingchu as the Gong (dominant) role, and a white cloth strip spawned in his hand. “Gege, stand in front of me.”
Shen Guanchao felt the atmosphere around him shift subtly and laughed dryly. “How about we just send paper cranes to farm intimacy… this task is a bit…”
Usually the most “wild and uninhibited” person, he now stood with an awkward expression, mentally looping the words Insane developers, you’re dead meat.
These days, the more he liked someone, the more timid he became.
“No need.” Xie Jingchu sent him an interaction invite, his light-colored eyes staring at him unblinkingly. “A bit what?”
“Nothing, let’s do it.” Shen Guanchao accepted the invitation and tilted his face up. His fragile Adam’s apple bobbed subconsciously as he allowed Xie Jingchu to tie the cloth strip over his eyes.
The next moment, a kiss landed on the side of his cheek.
Xie Jingchu’s hands held his ears, then slowly moved to the back of his head, pressing him into his embrace. His other hand lifted Shen Guanchao’s chin with considerable force, relentlessly biting onto his lips, gradually deepening the kiss, storming his defenses.
[System Notification: Intimacy with player “Jing” increased by 500. Obtained temporary trait “Sweet Critical Hit”: Damage to monsters in PVE increased by 9%.]
Shen Guanchao: “…”
This making-out session was not in the task description; it was clearly a “surprise” deliberately designed by someone.
Suddenly, he felt his game character wasn’t so… clean anymore.
For the first time, he had the urge to uninstall the game.
“Hm?” Xie Jingchu withdrew his gaze from the computer. Seeing Shen Guanchao pursing his lips in silence, looking nervous, he felt secretly smug. “Would you do these things with that Brother Lu from earlier too?”
Shen Guanchao scoffed. “Brother Lu?”
The nervous mood vanished in an instant.
“Why didn’t you call him that just now?”
Little Green Tea.
Xie Jingchu: “I’m not close with him. So, would you do this with him too?”
Shen Guanchao: “No. Happy now?”
Amidst their banter, the phone on the desk suddenly rang.
“Someone’s looking for me, I’ll step out for a bit.” Shen Guanchao glanced down at the caller ID, walked out of the training room, and answered the phone. “Hello?”
“Old Chen, why did you think of calling me at this hour? Shouldn’t you be at home being lovey-dovey with your little boyfriend?”
Chen Zhongwen’s exhausted voice came through the phone. “Stop it. We broke up.”
“Broke up? Didn’t you just save him the day before yesterday? How did you break up?”
Chen Zhongwen: “I played the persona of a pure, sunny florist owner in front of him, upright and kind to a fault. When I went to pick him up from the fire scene, I wasn’t paying attention and took him directly back to the Chen residence. We ran right into my brother disciplining his subordinates. He realized my identity in front of him was fake, and that my family is in the underworld, so he started a row with me.”
“That wasn’t very authentic of you.” Shen Guanchao frowned. “Is it that simple?”
“Of course, there’s more.” Chen Zhongwen took a deep breath. “When I met him, I gave him a fake name. I accidentally exposed it while on the phone, and I also accidentally said I was ‘just playing around’… He ran away in a fit of anger.”
“That friend of yours, the one named Xie something, doesn’t he know my boyfriend? They’re neighbors. Ask him to give me some ideas.”
Shen Guanchao scratched his hair. “Alright, I’ll ask him later.”
“Let me summarize. So, the story is, you lied to him about everything—name, identity, family background, profession…?”
“If I were your boyfriend, I’d block you directly. I wouldn’t even bother making a scene.”
He pondered for a moment, one hand in his pocket, considering whether to intervene.
Chen Zhongwen said anxiously, “Please, just ask.”
“I really like this one.”
Shen Guanchao: “…”
Forget it.
No matter what mistake his “son” made, as long as it didn’t involve principles like murder, arson, or treason, he could suppress his conscience to lend a hand.
Hanging up the phone, he walked into the e-sports room, told Xie Jingchu the whole story, and asked, “Is there any solution?”
Xie Jingchu, acting as a strategist for the first time, was dumbfounded. “Let me think.”
Standing from Mu Xinyue’s perspective, he didn’t really want to help, but the person asking for help was Shen Guanchao.
He asked, his voice trembling slightly, “If… the person being deceived was you. If your boyfriend told you his job, identity, family background, name… were all fake, what would you do?”
“I would leave that person without hesitation,” Shen Guanchao answered categorically. “I don’t like liars.”
Xie Jingchu, who was also a liar in a sense: “…”
Once, Shen Guanchao asked him why he spent the New Year alone.
At that time, he answered: “My family is all gone, no one to keep me company.”
A gambling-addicted father, a biased mother; that home had nothing worth showing to the person he liked.
Shen Guanchao had rubbed his head with pity then, secretly deciding to find time during the annual leave to accompany him.
As for his profession, Xie Jingchu was originally a game streamer, a well-known anchor on a certain platform. To avoid revealing his identity, when Shen Guanchao asked him what he did during a meal, he casually lied: “I do art.”
A surge of guilt suddenly rose in Xie Jingchu’s heart.
He really wanted to ask, If that person were me, what would you do?
But looking into Shen Guanchao’s clear eyes, he knew he couldn’t say it. He couldn’t say it.
Shen Guanchao, however, seemed to share a telepathic connection. He looked back at Xie Jingchu and suddenly said, “But if that liar were you, I might consider giving you a different way to die.”
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