What she said just now was basically as direct as it could get.

She knew what her old view on love had been like. And maybe this idiot was still immersed in that same mindset, smugly thinking that made him a good man.

But now that she looked back and examined it again, it was stupid beyond belief.

Sure, the usual steps in a relationship are to meet first, get to know each other, and only then make it official. That’s how feelings grow over time. Normal, common, nothing strange about it.

But there have always been people in this world who fall in love at first sight. Of course, some people call that “thinking with your lower body” kind of love. But whether people admit it or not, it’s still a kind of love. If two people end up together in the end, do those earlier steps really matter?

Isn’t dating basically just that?

Out of the billions of people in this vast world, the odds of two people meeting at the same time, in the same place, and instantly liking each other are so tiny they’re practically buried past the decimal point. If that kind of chance really appears and you still don’t make a move, still want to “get to know each other first” before deciding, then who the hell is going to wait for you?

Isn’t that just dumb?

If some Xia Clan heiress really did fall for this guy and throw herself at him, his slow-burn personality would probably scare her off anyway.

And as for whether someone might be left with regrets, why does he always have to think on the other person’s behalf? They’re adults. If you make a choice, you take responsibility for it. Isn’t that normal? Besides, she was the one who came to him first. Even if someone ended up with regrets, it’d be him, not her. She was a rich young lady. If not him, she could find someone else anytime.

Regret?

Did he even deserve that?

—Harsh as those words sounded, that was reality.

So right now, she really did think Ling Mo was an idiot.

Of course, maybe it was also because she had died once and finally figured things out.

Too bad she wasn’t him.

Tch.

Still, Xia Xinyan’s words did manage to shake Ling Mo awake a little. She hadn’t pulled him completely out of his mental dead end, but she had given him a brief moment of clarity, like clouds parting to reveal the sun.

Did he want to do the kinds of things couples do with Xia Xinyan?

Of course he did.

He wanted it so badly he dreamed about it every night.

But he didn’t dare.

In the end, it came down to one thing: he had no confidence.

The gap between them was just too wide. She was a wealthy heiress, while he was only an ordinary college student. He didn’t know what exactly Xia Xinyan saw in him. After experiencing this kind of sweetness over the past two days, he was also afraid she would leave him and shatter this beautiful dream. So before he could figure out what his own worth was, part of him subconsciously wanted to play it safe.

In other words, he wanted to keep things exactly as they were.

Not touching Xia Xinyan was one of his tactics too.

“Then... can you give me a little time?” He closed his eyes and tried hard to free himself from the pull of those eyes, forcing down the restlessness in his heart. In a low voice, he said, “I’ll try... But the game should be starting by now, right? Let’s go do the mission first?”

Xia Xinyan paused, then rolled off him and got down. Where he couldn’t see, she curled her lips in disdain.

“Fine~!”

She didn’t believe half a word he had just said.

She knew perfectly well how spineless this guy was. He could rehearse something a thousand times in his head and still not dare do it once in real life.

Still, his reaction really was pretty interesting.

Tch.

—Worth mentioning was that this time, Xia Xinyan hadn’t thought about the gap in their identities at all. Naturally, she also hadn’t thought about the problems that gap might lead to, like what kind of changes might happen once Ling Mo figured out where his own value lay...

Of course, if she had thought that far, she probably wouldn’t have teased Ling Mo like this. After all, she understood the principle well enough: when a volcano erupts, it releases all the pressure it’s built up.

The greater the pressure, the more terrifying the eruption.

That also had something to do with the fact that she currently was this so-called rich young lady. As the saying went, the person involved is always the one who sees least clearly.

Only Tianji had seen through all of it.

But it didn’t tell Xia Xinyan.

By its processing logic, Xia Xinyan was currently farming Ling Mo’s affection at an absurd speed, and that in itself was a good thing. Even if she got backlash from it later... for Tianji, that would also be a very good thing. So there was no need to say anything at all.

Though it didn’t speak up, it was in a pretty good mood as it issued the first points mission—

[Extra Mission Issued: Achieve an S-rank evaluation in the instance to receive one lottery chance]

Xia Xinyan was currently searching through the wardrobe for suitable clothes. When she saw the mission prompt, she couldn’t help asking in her head, ‘Does every instance have this kind of rating mission?’

[Depends.]

‘Depends on what?’

[This system’s mood.]

‘...Then when you’re in a good mood, can’t you give me a mission where I get ten thousand points for every step I take?’

[Impossible. Mission difficulty requirements are linked to reward value, and there are regulations on the number of missions that can be issued.]

‘Who made those regulations for you?’

Xia Xinyan was actually pretty curious about that. Including the appearance of this system itself—who was the mastermind behind it?

Could it have something to do with Realm of Divine Descent?

[Access denied.]

This time, Tianji’s reply was a completely emotionless mechanical synthesized voice.

So Xia Xinyan stopped asking.

Looks like asking questions involving confidential matters would trigger some kind of setting in Tianji... a secrecy mechanism?

She didn’t know whether asking too much would lead to serious consequences, but for now, it seemed better to stay cautious.

The wardrobe offered quite a lot of clothes, and most of them were sportswear suitable for movement. In that regard, the game wasn’t making things hard for them.

The awkward part was getting dressed.

Neither of them had anything on under their pajamas, and if they wanted to change, they had to take those off first.

Holding the outfit she had picked out, Xia Xinyan stared at Ling Mo for two seconds.

He immediately grabbed two random pieces of men’s clothing and left the bedroom.

“I’ll change outside!”

Once he went out and shut the door, Xia Xinyan stood there thinking for a moment, then walked over and locked it again.

—Which just showed that all her jumping around was really only on the surface. If it came to actually doing something for real, she didn’t have that kind of nerve either.

No, no, no... maybe it wasn’t really a matter of courage...

If their genders were swapped, maybe she actually would dare.

Too bad there was no “if.”

Outside, Ling Mo naturally heard the sound of the lock clicking into place. He paused for a second, then suddenly smiled for no reason.

He was timid, but he wasn’t stupid. The fact that Xia Xinyan still locked the door after he left meant she still cared about the possibility of him seeing her body. The deeper meaning behind that was obvious if he thought about it even a little.

Then what she had been doing earlier...

Was she teasing him?

The moment that possibility crossed his mind, his smile stiffened slightly.

No, no... no matter what, as a man, getting teased by a girl like that was way too embarrassing.

Could that really be it?

...Damn, wait. Is this game really that unrestrained? Players can actually do this kind of intimate stuff in-game?

After thinking about it, he opened the game help menu and did a quick search for the relevant rules.

Then he discovered...

This game really didn’t have any restrictions in that area.

None at all.

That was insane.

Was this secretly an R18 game?