Shimeifen

Soon, Mo Aini and Hu Chuntian followed around the game's MC and the chosen love interest wherever they go, and made up excuses to bring along She Haoran with them. The novel is lacking its third act after all.

Buying clothes in the mall? Oh, what coincidence, they're just stopping by to the arcade too.

Theme park? A good source for inspiration in the novel, what's more summery and youthful than that?

Aquarium? ..... Well, okay. Everyone just loves watching fish.

The date would turn into a group hang-out, and they make sure to distract Mo Jiagei. It was the joined efforts of Mo Aini and Hu Chuntian, but they're still not making much progress. Mo Jiagei's in-game avatar is head-over-heels for the prince-wannabe, and the prince is deeply infatuated with her...

"This is going nowhere, Da Ge." Hu Chuntian sucked on his popsicle irritatedly while watching birds by the lake.

"We just have to try harder. But damn, I just want them to fall in love already!!!" Mo Aini sulked along with him.

They heard Mo Jiagei's shrilly voice. "My prince~ Let's ride on the Ferris Wheel over there!'

"Of course! Onwards we go!"

She Haoran waved at them, still carrying his laptop with him. "Don't go too far, let's meet up on the internet cafe so you could check my drafts for the next chapter!"

Hu Chuntian watched this, feeling aggrieved for She Haoran. "I think the problem is She Haoran isn't trying to gain Ma Jianyu's attention that much. Isn't he supposed to be possessive?"

"Well, over the things he owns. Maybe he thinks Ma Jianyu doesn't belong to him." Mo Aini noticed Hu Chuntian's popsicle slipping off the stick. "Hey, it's dripping!"

But it's too late, and it fell into the ground with a splat!

"Ah, what a waste." Mo Aini said. "Here, have mine."

Hu Chuntian happily sucked on it, feeling a little embarrassed. "Sorry. Anyway, how do we have She Haoran make moves if he's too scared to be the third wheel?"

"I don't know either.... Maybe we should show that Mo Jiagei doesn't really love Ma Jianyu?"

Mo Aini shook his head. "But that doesn't feel possible. She seems to like him a lot....."

"Hm..... Da Ge, have you noticed something?" Hu Chuntian said.

"Noticed what?"

"She's always taking pictures. It's only through the pictures she takes that she's acting sweet with Ma Jianyu, then afterward, she'll be busy with her phone." Hu Chuntian said.

"She's an avatar, so what logic would that be unless it has something to do with the plot Shuaige gave?" He asked.

"Well, haven't you considered that..... Mo Jiagei had been moved to this world with you?"

Mo Aini blinked. "But the system said that she's looking after me in the hospital, playing games as a coping mechanism!"

"That could have been a lie." Hu Chuntian said. "If I were you, I would never trust the system on anything it says."

Mo Aini pondered over it, and it does make sense. So Mo Jiagei is also here, but she probably doesn't know that these people she's interacting with are real...? Maybe---

"Maybe she thinks this is a VR world." Mo Aini said. "She still thinks this is a game, just a realistic and interactable one."

"Yes, that could be it." Hu Chuntian nodded. "So her actions that are not prompted by the hologram choice bars are her own, with the mindset that it is not reality and she could do whatever she wants."

He remembered his first kiss with Hu Chuntian back on the first route, the one Mo Jiagei saw. A mindless avatar couldn't have reacted to that and been affected by it, and the 'game' wouldn't have shown such a scene or found a way to hide it if everything really was just drawings and dialogue boxes on a screen!

"So getting back on track and thinking this is the actual Mo Jiagei, what are the pictures for?" Mo Aini said. "If it's the 'girl uses guy for popularity' thing, why would she want to be famous in a world she treats as a game?"

"If she gains something else from it." Hu Chuntian said. "I think we can only figure it out... once we see her phone."

"So we steal it? That'll be difficult since Ma Jianyu's always around her too." Mo Aini said.

"Not if we could do something about it." Hu Chuntian said, and they approached the Ferris wheel.

"Hey, you." He approached the ticket seller. "This Ferris Wheel is too dangerous, you should make it one rider per car."

"Huh? What do you mean, sir....."

"Just for this round." He slipped a thousand yuan note on him. "Your boss doesn't have to know."

The ticket seller is a simple man after all. He sees money, he takes it.

"Everyone must use individual carts only! No doubles!" He said.

"What?"

"How can couples enjoy it then!?"

"Ride on a carousel with the kids or somethin'" The ticket seller happily pocketed the money.

Ma Jianyu frowned. "I'm afraid we must part here, princess. Or would you like to go somewhere else?"

"But my quest says...." Mo Jiagei frowned.

(Quest?)

Mo Aini and Hu Chuntian looked at each other at the same time.

"Fine. It's okay, it's the experience that matters, right?" She said, riding one of the cars. "If you don't want to, just wait for me. It only takes 5 minutes anyway, this is a small Ferris Wheel after all."

"Alright... I'll buy you cotton candy until you have returned!" Ma Jianyu proclaimed.

"That will be great! See you later, my prince~" She said and waved at him.

But just as the car was about to close, an individual rushed up beside her and entered!

"Hey! It said one rider per car only!" She said, and saw the blurred, censored face. "What the.... You're the weird Ochinchin* NPC guy....."

"Ochinchin!?" Mo Aini exclaimed.

"Why are you here?" She frowned. "And why is your face blurred? I've always noticed it from the start."

"Er..... Hi, how do you do?"

Mo Jiagei blinked. "Huh?"

"Hi, how do you do?" Mo Aini repeated.

She sighed and calmed down. "Huh, so you really are an NPC after all. Then why are you here? Is this a bug?"

She waved a hand at him---

When he suddenly grabbed her wrist and reached out to the pockets of her skirt!

"Hey! What---- P-Pervert!" Mo Jiagei exclaimed. "Is this part of the plot for that wannabe prince to save me!? This is too hands-on! But kinda exciting, everything we did so far is boring... I didn't expect such a development!"

She went on to use her acting skills, which is just on the same level as a 3rd grader. "Help! NPC-kun, yamete kudasai*! Someone help me!"

Mo Aini wanted to perish inside. What the fuck is she shouting for, it's so disgusting to even think about!!!

What matters is the phone. He gotta take the phone no matter what---

"Help! I'm a weak girl and I'm being harassed by a pervert!" She yelled as she smacked Mo Aini in the face!

"Urkkkk!"

Blood dripped from his nose just from that punch!

"You call yourself a weak girl at that state!?" He yelled. "You broke my fucking nose!"

"Ahhhh!!! He's threatening me! Someone help!" She kept shouting like some girl in a hentai.

Even though he got his nose busted, at least Mo Aini finally had hold of the phone now. Once the whole trip of the Ferris Wheel is over, and the door open, he immediately rushed outside, hiding his face.

Ma Jianyu was holding two large cotton candies and was surprised to see Mo Jiagei yelling. He rushed over. "What's wrong, princess!?"

"That guy with Hu Chuntian! He.... He tried to take advantage of me!"

But Mo Aini is long gone, pulling Hu Chuntian along with him to hide in an alleyway.

Hu Chuntian chuckled at what just happened. "What is up with all that Da Ge? What did you do?"

"I stole her phone, and then she started screaming hentai noises! I'm the one who's traumatized here, okay?" Mo Aini rubbed his bleeding nose. "I'm already accused of being a predator twice in this route..... Fuck...."

Hu Chuntian's expression changed when he saw his bleeding nose, and immediately offered his handkerchief. "Oh, damn. I didn't expect her too..... Is she really the one who caused that?"

"Of course! She fucking punched me! You don't know how heavy meimei's fists are, they're like two giant anvils, I swear!" He spat out on the ground. "This phone better have something good for us....."

He opened it, and there was a password. Mo Aini didn't think twice before typing.

'OtomeGirllovesOtomeCucumbers'.

The phone was unlocked.

There was a wallpaper of Ma Jianyu. That's not good in supporting their theory that she doesn't like him, so they focused on the apps instead. Weibo..... Messages.... Anything with clues....

Then, they saw her chat with something that doesn't look like a person, but a company.

The boys' eyes widened in shock.

"Shimeifen?" They said at the same time.

They clicked on the conversation, and the latest chat from Shimeifen says:

[New Quest: Ride on a Ferris Wheel.

Rewards: 32 Dreamboy points.]

Mo Aini blinked. "Dreamboy?"

All the other chats were the same manner. There's a quest, and the reward would always be Dreamboy points. The most notable ones were 'Take a picture with a boy in a restaurant', 'Take a picture with a boy in an aquarium'.... All of it matches all the choice bar Good Ending options.

Mo Aini quickly scrolled to the very top, Shimeifen's first message to her.

[Are you tired of falling in love with fictional boys? Want to find your perfect soulmate? You're in luck, because Shimeifen will be releasing the beta testing for its AI companion, Project Dreamboy! And you and 100,000 girls around the globe may compete to obtain it now, as we have collaborated with Shuaige to make your dreams into reality! By using their VR otome games, you may complete quests to gain Dreamboy points!]

[The one who earns the most points will be the winner, so complete as much quests as you can during the time period!]

[You may see the ranking here.] It sent a link, and it did show Mo Jiagei in the ranking, currently at rank 96.

Mo Aini was confused with all this. Because in the real world, he had never heard of a company called 'Shimeifen' before. When the Novel Writing Contest was made, he assumed that it must have been a company only existing in Hu Chuntian's 2D universe.

But it turns out to be from the 3D after all, and they are partners with Shuaige? What are they planning?

"Da Ge, let me take a picture of this." Hu Chuntian said, pulling out his phone. "We need to make sure She Haoran sees this."

"There's something strange going on with Shimeifen, A-Tian." He said.

"I know. But we can't get fat with just one bite*. There's always a time to worry about shady corporations, we should put our efforts first in matchmaking." His wise Tiger said. "I'm gonna show this to She Haoran and persuade him. You should go look for an ice pack first."

Mo Aini was really weirded out, so despite his pride, his curiosity overtook him and he asked. "Liu Sha? Are you there?"

It took a while, but the robot voice replied. [Here.]

He sounded lazier and tired than usual. But Mo Aini didn't care about that.

[I know that my sister is also here. What are you and Shimeifen planning with her? What's all this Dreamboy crap?]

There was no answer on the other side of the hologram screen for a long while.

Then, Liu Sha cautiously and seriously asked him. [What is Shimeifen?]

------------------------------------------

~BRIBE ME, PLEASE~

Ok, I'm getting desperate and pathetic so now I'm willing to accept bribes. I get jealous easily of other books that have a huge following and get sad everytime, thinking what's the point of writing if I feel like no one's reading/appreciate it.

1 NEW 5 star review with genuine feedback (emojis and just saying compliments doesn't count) - 1 extra chapter

100 comments in a week (only those with TEXT count) - 1 extra chapter

5 NEW people voting for my other books- (so invite your friends haha) -1 extra chapter dedicated to them

100+ votes in a week in any of my books - 1 extra chapter for all of them

Magic Castle and up - Burst update

If you love my stories and would want to read more of them, please show your support through one of these bribes. Thank you!