Lanlan held the mouse, looking completely lost.

“Why is it not civilized?” She looked around for an answer. “I don’t get it. Someone teach me.”

Xiaoyi looked just as confused. She was a good little loli. She didn’t understand this stuff.

Ajin paused slightly. “I’m not too sure either. Maybe I just didn’t think in that... uncivilized direction.”

Only Qin Xin’s pretty face turned red. She lowered her head and said nothing.

She couldn’t say it. If she did, she’d give herself away.

“Let’s start,” Bai Ningning said calmly. “Split up however you want. Go wherever you feel like.”

It was just bots. No matter how hard it got, they were still bots. There was no way she couldn’t carry four girls, right?

...

Qin Yue sat on her sofa at home, staring at the huge wall-mounted TV, and started to feel that something was off.

For half a month straight, Bai Ningning had been coming back around the same time every afternoon. But today, it was almost dark, and she still wasn’t home.

At three in the afternoon, Qin Yue had thought, This is nice. No need to worry about some infuriating girl sitting next to me and sending my blood pressure through the roof with one sentence.

Without that concern, a leisurely afternoon tea really was wonderful.

At five in the afternoon, she thought, Did something happen? Why isn’t she back yet? Sure, it was quieter without her, but... but people still had to come home.

I’ll give her one more hour. If she gets back within that hour, I’ll let her off today.

At seven in the evening, Qin Yue couldn’t sit still anymore.

Out this late and still not home? She must be off keeping some junior girl company. You little green tea bitch. I knew you couldn’t suppress your true nature. It’s only been a few days without getting fed, and you already ran outside to find someone else!

Qin Yue was furious. Qin Yue was blazing with rage. Qin Yue was about to go bloodthirsty berserk—

“What the hell is she doing?!”

Not long after, Aunt Zou came back with the maids’ investigation report and said, “Miss Ningning’s Steam and WeGame were online all afternoon. One and a half hours of LoL, two hours of CSGO, and she also logged onto Battle.net. Not sure if it was Hearthstone or StarCraft. Right now, she’s launched Dota 2 again.”

There was barely any need to investigate. One look at the gaming platforms would tell you everything.

Even if they weren’t friends, you could search Miss Ningning’s ID on WeGame or Max or wherever, and her match history would pop right up.

Good lord. She’d spent the whole afternoon grinding desperate matches. Everywhere you looked, it was SVP after SVP.

Qin Yue froze slightly. “Playing games?”

“Yep.”

“She’s been gaming all afternoon, and she’s still playing now?”

“Yep. A new match just started.”

Qin Yue relaxed a little and sat back down.

Oh, gaming. Then it’s fine.

...

Bai Ningning knew she’d messed up.

Looking at the exploding World Tree on the screen, she fell into deep thought.

“The enemy burst is way too high.”

“They’re cracked. Their mechanics are insane. I got blown up.”

“But the other side was bots...”

“Oh, AI. No wonder their mechanics were so good. They must’ve had built-in scripts.”

The junior girls started a meeting right on the spot, discussing why they had lost. In the end, they reached a unanimous conclusion: the enemy bots were too strong.

Bai Ningning said nothing. Whenever she lost a match, it always felt like her teammates weren’t pulling their weight.

“One more,” she said through gritted teeth. “We can win.”

She refused to believe it. No matter how bad they were, there was no way they couldn’t even beat bots, right?

A new round of battle began. Honestly, this really wasn’t Bai Ningning’s fault. Not being able to win was perfectly normal.

Three of the junior girls had never played this game before, and their gaming sense was only so-so. They were basically a negative contribution. As for the only one with any talent, Qin Xin, her mind wasn’t on the game at all.

Military training was over. Maybe that was a good thing. But for them, it also meant that Senior Ningning’s volunteer work was about to end too.

Of course, they were all in the same school. They’d still have chances to meet later, and they could hang out together when they had time. But no matter what, it definitely wouldn’t compare to seeing each other every day during military training.

And Qin Xin had been hiding one thing in her heart this whole time—

The first time they went out together, Bai Ningning had said, “I can understand.”

What exactly had she understood?

Did she really know what Qin Xin had done the night before?

And if she did know, then what did those four words mean?

Today was their last gathering before classes started. If she missed this chance, it would be much harder to find another one later.

But how was she supposed to ask?

Senior Ningning, when you said you could understand last time, did you mean you knew I used your photo... for that?

When you said you could understand, how far did that understanding go?

Did you mean... you’d personally help me?

Qin Xin really wanted to ask all of that. But she also knew that once words like that left her mouth, it would basically be social death.

So she had to be more tactful.

Which brought her to the problem—

How exactly was she supposed to be tactful?

Two hours later, Bai Ningning gave up.

The junior girls also gave up on the idea of getting their first win.

“As expected, this was still too much.”

“Yeah. No wonder it’s a game with an insanely hard learning curve.”

“The bots are too hard.”

Still, Bai Ningning hadn’t come away empty-handed. At the very least, everyone had fun. And one of the junior girls seemed to have actually gotten the hang of it.

Qin Xin said calmly, “I think it’s fine. I’ve pretty much learned it.”

“Good,” Bai Ningning said at once. “Let’s play together again if we get the chance.”

A junior girl with beautiful legs in black thigh-highs sitting beside her and queueing together—what a wonderful feeling. Setting everything else aside, if anything happened, Bai Ningning could just slap a thigh directly. Way more useful than pinging in-game.

Yeah. Slap the junior girl’s thigh.

Play games together... right!

In that instant, inspiration struck Qin Xin. She suddenly knew how to express her feelings tactfully.

“Senior Ningning.”

“Mm?”

“Next time,” the girl said softly, brushing her hair behind her ear, “I want to use Jakiro to support you.”

After saying that, Qin Xin’s heart started pounding.

How would she respond to me?

“Jakiro? Don’t. Why would you use Jakiro in duo queue? He can’t really save people, he’s squishy, and his HP-costing skills mess up the lane,” Bai Ningning said with a straight little face, completely serious. “If we duo, I suggest Io support. That one’s strong.”

Qin Xin lowered her eyes in disappointment.

Alright. She didn’t get it. Or maybe she just hadn’t thought in that direction... or maybe she did get it, but chose to avoid the topic.

Either way, the test had failed miserably.

“Oh, right.” Bai Ningning suddenly remembered this junior girl’s situation and offered a token bit of concern. “Did you finish the paperwork for commuting?”

“Almost,” Qin Xin said. “I’ll get it the day after tomorrow.”

The day after tomorrow. That was Friday.

Bai Ningning instantly brightened up.

Classes started tomorrow, and the day after that was Friday. That meant only two days of class before the break. Nice.

And their department only had classes Friday morning, so they could head back at noon.

“Mhm, then I wish everything goes smoothly for you,” Bai Ningning said. She closed the game and looked out the window. “It’s getting late. Let’s head back.”

Big Sis had rules. She had to be home before 9:10, or who knew what kind of punishment she’d get.