Chapter 9 - How Boring

Fei Sihao was a great guy.

He was a great basic example for how to be a ‘perfect boyfriend’.

He was handsome, confident, gentle, romantic and had a sense of humor to boot.

He knew what to do and when to do it. He knew the right things to say to please someone or pull on the heartstrings of others.

He's the kind of character that ordinary people would quickly fall in love with.

But he was also just the kind of character that Qiu Yanzhi felt was way too vanilla.

Fei Sihao bored Qiu Yanzhi.

He didn’t know when exactly, but at some point Qiu Yanzhi’s life had become synonymous with boredom.

It wasn't until a while ago that that game he played revived his otherwise monotonous world.

But after quitting the game, he felt more and more that life was dull once again.

When Fei Sihao wanted to take him out to dinner,  he went. When Fei Sihao wanted to look at the scenery at night with him, he did. When Fei Sihao wants to hold his hand, he would allow him to do so.

When Fei Sihao proposed to go out with him…

Qiu Yanzhi just smiled and agreed.

He had nothing better to do anyway.

Moreover, he was curious about what Qiu Xicheng was plotting when he went through the trouble of introducing the two of them.

At the very least, since he entered this ‘relationship’, Qiu Yanzhi hasn't logged into the game for half a month.

After replying to Fei Sihao's text message, Qiu Yanzhi turned around and saw the full dive pod next to him that had accumulated a layer of dust.

He suddenly remembered his partner in the game, He Zhou.

Did what he was doing count as cheating?

Qiu Yanzhi's mouth curled up as he thought about it.

He was happy.

But the corners of his mouth gradually fell down again.

He buried his head in the pillow and hugged the blanket again as he rolled around on the bed.

Truth be told, he was still bored.

He'd downloaded another VR game a while ago, but he uninstalled it before it even finished downloading.

He had absolutely no desire to play it.

Qiu Yanzhi was thinking of going back into the original game again to reset and start from scratch with another capture target, but he kept hesitating.

Because he knew that once he deleted his save file, his parents, friends and classmates would all... Everyone he knew in the game, every relationship he had, would all disappear as the data was overwritten.

He couldn't let it all go. Qiu Yanzhi knew that.

What he wanted wasn’t any old VR game, but the one he had played for two months.

He missed the mother in the game who always thought of him, cared for him, and loved him.

He missed Big Yellow who was always there to give him bad ideas when he talked to himself.

He missed the silly and kind Zhang Yuxuan who always wore an ill-fitting dress.

He also missed He Zhou...but mostly his terribly handsome face.

Everything would be fine if Fei Sihao was completely different from He Zhou, but he and He Zhou look three tenths alike. The remaining 70% wasn’t as handsome as He Zhou.

"I really am a shallow commoner." Qiu Yanzhi secretly cursed himself out.

In the end, after spitting and cursing, he walked up to the full dive pod.

His hand was still foolishly rubbing next to the switch.

Two voices fought constantly in his heart.

Should he just...go in and play some more?

"Have you forgotten what you said when you quit the game back then Qiu Yanzhi?!"

I only said that in the heat of the moment....

"That motherfucker He Zhou’s already cheated on you! He’s wholly devoted to Meng Qikang, so who are you to interfere with their happily ever after?”

How can you be so narrow-minded? Is love the only game in town? Zhong Yabai, Zhang Yuxuan, Big Yellow...aren’t they reason enough for me to go in again?

"Can you really continue to go through the main plot with He Zhou as if nothing had happened?!"

Who the hell is He Zhou? He’s just a character in a game. So what if he cheated? It’s none of my business if he likes someone else! You don’t really like him either, so why ask him to remain pure for you? Besides, it’s enough to admire his beauty from a distance.

"......"

Don’t you find it strange to give up on an entire game because of one He Zhou? Is He Zhou really that important? I don't know what I was thinking when I quit the game. It's just a game, right? So what if we experience a minor setback? Look at how lame you’re acting right now.”

"......"

PA!

Qiu Yanzhi slapped the power button.

He heard the game pod start up.

Qiu Yanzhi actually jumped a little at the sound.

"Ring ring…” His phone suddenly rang.

Qiu Yanzhi took a glance and saw a name written across the screen.

Fei Sihao.

Qiu Yanzhi's heart thudded. He had no idea what got into him as he quickly unplugged the gaming pod.

Only after it was unplugged did he panic and answer the phone.

"...Hello?"

Fei Sihao: "Zhizhi, are you home now?"

Qiu Yanzhi said vaguely, "...I’ve been busy at school. What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just thought that we could go to dinner together if you were home."

Qiu Yanzhi was still thinking about playing games. He didn't really want to go out with Fei Sihao, so he lied and said, "Next time then. I'm staying in the dorms tonight and I’m probably not coming back.

"Mmhmm. Okay then, bye."

"Bye bye."

Only after hanging up the phone did Qiu Yanzhi breathe a sigh of relief.

He looked at the VR gaming pod and the plug that was just pulled out in a panic.

He was a little speechless.

...Why did he feel so nervous? It wasn’t like he was having an affair. This was just a game, after all.

Qiu Yanzhi reopened the game pod and took advantage of the time it took to start up to walk over to the dining room and grab a yogurt from the fridge.

As a result, when he came out of the bathroom, he faintly heard some sounds from outside the door.

Was Fei Sihao back?

He just lied to Fei Sihao about not coming back tonight.

He wouldn’t find out, would he?

Qiu Yanzhi took the yogurt and tiptoed to the door. He peered out of the peephole.

He saw Fei Sihao hugging a...a beautiful girl with long hair.

Qiu Yanzhi's eyes widened. He watched what was happening in front of him with great interest as he absentmindedly tore open the yogurt lid.

"Doesn't he live across from you? Is this really okay?"

"It’s fine." Fei Sihao tilted his head to plant a kiss on the girl’s face as he opened the door, "He's not coming back tonight."

Then the door opened.

The two of them entered the apartment in a state that should never be seen by anyone under the age of 18.

How to put this...

Before the door closed, a third of the clothes on that girl were already off.

Sheesh.

Are all young people nowadays so passionate?

“It seems like I’m the one lagging behind.” Qiu Yanzhi silently exclaimed as he licked the yogurt lid clean.

Qiu Yanzhi wasn't entirely unsurprised.

For example, he was somewhat shocked by the fact that Fei Sihao wasn’t gay but straight.

It must’ve been hard for a straight guy like him to come hook up with me.

I can respect his efforts at least.

In fact, Qiu Yanzhi was already wary of Fei Sihao from the first time they met.

It was a rather unbelievable coincidence for his blind date to also end up being his apartment neighbor.

Moreover, Fei Sihao called him ‘Zhizhi’.

The only other person to call him that was Qiu Xicheng, which was why Qiu Yanzhi was completely disgusted by that nickname.

Qiu Xicheng was such a dirty person, so how much better could the blind date he forced on Qiu Yanzhi be?

Now the question was-- why did Qiu Xicheng shove Fei Sihao to him? Why was Fei Sihao, a heterosexual, pretending to like him? What kinds of shady things were those two up to?

As he thought about the shadowy scheme he was about to reveal, Qiu Yanzhi got a little excited.

After finishing his yogurt, Qiu Yanzhi went to his bedroom.

The game pod had already started up. Looking at its smooth and shiny surface as well as the light blue indicator lights blinking softly, Qiu Yanzhi immediately left the crap that had just happened behind and excitedly settled inside.

As soon as he entered the game, Qiu Yanzhi didn't have time to observe his surroundings before Big Yellow flew over with his small wings and shouted, "You're finally back! I thought I’d never see you again!! You scared me to death!!!”

"Huh?"

"Yeah, you've been gone for 15 days..."

Qiu Yanzhi slapped his head when he remembered that he was so angry when he left that he forgot to pause the game.

So.

Since he didn't log in for 15 days.

The Qiu Yanzhi ingame also disappeared for 15 days.

Qiu Yanzhi took out his phone and found that it had automatically shut down at some point. He was bombarded with a screen filled with missed calls and unread text messages as soon as it was turned on.

It seemed like his little disappearing act had worried a lot of people.

That made sense.

It was natural for this world to become a mess when the main character was gone.

When he thought about how important he was to this world, Qiu Yanzhi sighed sadly.

What would it do without me?

Qiu Yanzhi waved down a taxi and gave the address of the main residence before picking up his phone to call Zhong Yabai.

He had suddenly vanished from the face of the Earth for so many days.

His mom must be beside herself with worry.

The phone rang for two minutes, but there was no answer.

I guess she's too busy looking for me to check her phone.

"Mister, please drive faster. My mother has been looking for me for many days so I have to hurry home. I can't make her worry a second more."

Qiu Yanzhi almost ran to the entrance of the villa after getting off the taxi.

He quickly rang the doorbell, then he followed the line of paved stones to the door with his head down and his hands behind his back.

He was delighted and eagerly anticipating what would happen next.

One minute later, the door would open.

Two minutes later, a servant would announce that the young master was back.

Three minutes later, mom would greet him excitedly.

Four minutes later, he would give his mom a hug.

Five minutes later, he would dry her tears.

This was about to become a warm and heartwarming memory for Qiu Yanzhi to revisit later.

Five minutes later....

Huh? Why wasn't anyone answering the door? Did no one hear him?

Qiu Yanzhi was ready to skip a few steps and go straight in to surprise his mother.

Reaching out his index finger, he pressed in his birthday on the keypad, one digit at a time.

980720.

"Incorrect password. Please try again."

Qiu Yanzhi: "Huh? Did my hand slip?"

He tried again.

980720.

"Incorrect password. Please try again. One attempt remaining before lockdown."

Qiu Yanzhi had a suspicion that something was wrong, but he still didn't give up and entered those six numbers again, one by one, carefully and cautiously.

"Password entered incorrectly three times. Lockdown initiated. Please try again in 24 hours."

Qiu Yanzhi: "......"

What the hell happened? Mom, why did you change the password from your son's birthday behind his back? Do you have another son outside?!!

I didn’t agree to that!!!

Qiu Yanzhi took out his cell phone and continued dialing Zhong Yabai's number.

Mom didn't pick up so he moved on to Dad. Dad didn't pick up so he moved on to the housekeeper.

The housekeeper answered.

Oh yeah, now we’re talking!

"Uncle Yu, I'm in front of my house. Why is there no one home…? Hello? Hello?”

“......"

Qiu Yanzhi blankly looked at the phone that automatically shut down due to running low on battery.

He wordlessly looked up at the sky.

One raindrop fell on his face, then another.

...It started pouring.

God, why are you doing this to me?

Is this all because I didn't spend real money on the game?!!!

"Um...do you want to go back to that home first? You know, He Zhou’s?" Big Yellow reminded him.

Qiu Yanzhi hugged his knees and took shelter under the roof tiles.

His expression was aloof and arrogant, with grim determination.

"Hmph! Laozi won't go back, even if He Zhou kneels down and begs me to!"

An hour later.

He Zhou put down his tablet and watched as his legal partner, who had been missing for half a month, push open the door and walk in drenched like a chicken that fell into a pot of soup.

The fallen soup chicken glared at him angrily and headed straight for his room.

He slammed the door with a resounding bang.

At the same time, an unfamiliar head poked in from the front door.

To He Zhou, he said.

"Um, you're the family of that guy just now, right? He hasn't paid the fare for the taxi yet… What kind of person living in such a big house doesn’t even carry a twenty on him?!”