“This one, just enter the dungeon first. After you’re in, press this. This is a buff. Max it out, then kill any monster you see. This account has really good gear, so this dungeon usually isn’t hard. When the final boss comes out, just use your ultimate.”

In the couple’s booth, with a faint song echoing in the background, Zhang Haosen patiently explained things to me after turning on Dungeon & Fighter and logging into his account beside me.

“Look, like this. This is how you move up and down. When you see monsters, use this row of skills. It’s really simple. If you really can’t do it, just follow me.”

“Oh…”

Even though I’d never played this game before, my “boyfriend” beside me was explaining it so carefully, so I still placed both hands on the keys he pointed out.

“So I just hit monsters when I see them, right?”

“Yeah. I already finished the raid earlier. There are only a few Abyss runs left. We’ll farm them together. I don’t have much fatigue left anyway, so it’ll be over fast.”

“Oh, okay.”

“I invited you.”

Zhang Haosen looked over at my screen.

“Click this to accept.”

“Okay.”

And just like that, my rather novel journey through the online game Dungeon & Fighter began.

Since I’d never played it before, I couldn’t understand a single skill. When I ran dungeons with Zhang Haosen, I spent the whole time pressing whichever skill came off cooldown first. In my headset, all I heard were move names like “Rubber Ball!” and “Yaya Le!”

And more than that... I didn’t even know how to get to the next room. The class Zhang Haosen gave me looked like some kind of lighting technician. Every random press filled the screen with flashy effects, and after casting for a bit, I’d lose track of where Zhang Haosen had gone.

Because of that, the boy beside me kept roasting me nonstop from the very first run.

“The monsters are already dead. Stop throwing out skills.”

“I’m over here. Go downward... not that entrance, the next one.”

“Here... wow, you’re so cute. How did you get lost again?”

Later on, Zhang Haosen couldn’t even be bothered to roast me anymore.

“Stop using skills. Just stay behind me and follow.”

“This is the exit on this map. Stay close to me. Don’t get lost.”

“We’re at the boss. Just watch. I’ll solo it.”

So after that, our gaming session turned into my red-haired Elementalist trotting after Zhang Haosen’s messy-haired, edgy-looking Berserker like a completely useless mascot.

The Elementalist he gave me had the ID Xiaoning, with a few symbols before and after it. The naming style felt like those old-school usernames from seven or eight years ago, stuff like ┏Bitterの┓Love or ♂Rascal dё Pig♀.

Judging from Zhang Haosen’s Tieba ID, if Xiaoning was his ex-girlfriend’s real name, then that girl’s original surname was probably... Luo Xiaoning? Lu Xiaoning? Liu Xiaoning?

Anyway, I still hope you can move on from that relationship.

“This is the last run. Stay hidden. Don’t enter the boss’s attack range. After this, we’ll switch to another game.”

“Okay, go get ’em, Haosen-gege!”

It was another boss fight. Hiding behind Zhang Haosen, I secretly glanced at the boy beside me. He was fully focused on the boss, fingers clattering across the keyboard. For some reason, a line popped into my head:

A serious man really is the most attractive.

Just like the profile on the Hualimao app said, Zhang Haosen was only a tiny bit taller than me, probably around 166 to 168 cm. If I wore heels, or those heeled Lolita shoes, I’d probably be about the same height as him. And apparently, on some apps where gender wars were especially intense, guys under 170 cm got mocked as “second-rate cripples.” But from what I’d seen so far, a guy this height didn’t actually seem that bad.

Or rather, I personally think height isn’t an absolute standard for judging a guy. If your personalities don’t match, then nothing else matters anyway.

Zhang Haosen wasn’t handsome either. He looked like most guys. In a place like this internet café, if he casually sat out in the main hall and I left for more than three hours before coming back, I might already have forgotten what he looked like.

“Alright, done!”

Amid a burst of colorful light, the boss on the screen fell.

“Sigh... no drop again.”

Shaking his head with a sigh, Zhang Haosen clicked the “Exit Game” button, then casually asked, “Xiaoxue, did you get a drop?”

“Does this robe count?”

Curious, I opened my inventory.

“Great Mage’s... uh...”

“Holy shit, you got one?!”

The boy beside me excitedly leaned over. After one look at my screen, he sucked in a sharp breath.

“Hiss... you lucky monster!”

“Ahaha...”

I felt a little embarrassed.

“You were the one doing all the fighting the whole time. I... I was just tagging along.”

“Your luck is seriously insane.”

He reached out, like he wanted to hug me, but then seemed to remember something. Looking awkward, he pulled his hand back.

“S-sorry. I got too excited.”

“It’s fine.”

I patted him on the head and put on the air of an older sister.

“If you’re happy, then I’ll be happy too.”

“Mm... actually, you reminded me of my ex just now.”

The boy shook his head, and his tone suddenly turned sad.

“We met in MapleStory. I was the one who brought her into DNF. At first, she was just like you. She didn’t know anything. She didn’t know how to level skills, didn’t know how to use them, got lost in dungeons, wore equipment randomly, and didn’t even know when she picked up Epic or Legendary gear...”

“Oh...”

I hesitated for a moment, then opened my arms.

The boy looked confused.

“W-what are you doing?”

“A free hug.”

I kept my arms spread open.

“Come on. I’m comforting you.”

“Ah...”

He froze for a second, then stared at my chest for a few seconds. After wiping the tears from the corners of his eyes, he gave a bitter smile.

“Forget it. It’s written in the user manual. Physical intimacy with you girls is prohibited. There are cameras all over this internet café. If you file for arbitration later and they pull the footage, I’m screwed.”

“Pfft...”

I shot him an annoyed look.

“So that’s the kind of person you think I am. Boo hoo, I’m so heartbroken...”

“I’m kidding. I’m a DNF player. My anti-scam awareness is top-tier.”

“Sure, sure.”

With a bit of a headache, I covered my forehead.

“Since we’re talking about work... let me ask while we’re at it. Are you extending the session later? I have another booking at 7 PM. If you want to extend, I won’t take that one.”

Zhang Haosen asked curiously, “Can I know what kind of booking you have at 7?”

“Not really, in principle. I can only give you the rough idea.”

I organized my words a little.

“Someone’s volleyball team is short a player, so they asked me to fill in.”

“I really do want to extend.”

Zhang Haosen thought for a moment.

“You’re seriously way too pretty, and your personality is exactly my type. But if it’s a volleyball team, then I think you’re better suited over there.”

“Huh?”

This time, I was the confused one.

“Why’s that?”

“I think you should exercise more. Don’t end up like me, addicted to games, sitting in front of a computer every day until your body gets wrecked.”

Zhang Haosen turned back to the computer.

“So if someone invited you to play volleyball, then go. Move around more.”

“Oh...”

Since he’d already said that much, I stopped being stubborn. I took out my phone, opened Hualimao, accepted Wang Zhong’s rental request, and sent him a message while I was at it.

“Hello, boss. I’d like to take a taxi to the sports center by myself. Is that okay?”

A few seconds later, I got Wang Zhong’s reply.

“Sure. Take a taxi over. I’ll reimburse the fare.”

“Thank you, boss.”

After sending that reply, I looked at Zhang Haosen beside me.

“Haosen-gege, what are we playing now?”

“Do you know FPS games?”

The boy beside me opened the game menu, his mouse hovering over the CrossFire icon.

“FPS means shooting games, right? Like Nekopara?”

“Where on earth did you hear that Nekopara is a first-person shooter?”

Zhang Haosen looked both amused and helpless.

“I mean gun games. CF, CSGO, PUBG. Have you played any of those?”

I thought about it.

“I’ve played PUBG.”

“Perfect. Then let’s play PUBG. I’ll give you an account.”

Zhang Haosen opened QQ.

“Want to add me? I’ll send you the account and password.”

“Sure.”

Even though I knew he was obviously trying to get my QQ, I figured adding him wouldn’t really cost me anything, so I went along with it.

“Just so you know, I’m better at CrossFire. I’m not that good at PUBG, so I might not be able to protect you.”

“It’s fine. To me, this game is basically a parachuting simulator. We’re a perfect match.”

After entering the account and password to log into Steam, I turned on the internet café’s free accelerator and entered the world of chicken dinner.

“I invited you. We’re playing squads.”

“Roger that!”

I accepted the invite and clicked Ready.

“Then we’ll do random map and match with teammates, okay?”

“Mm.”

“How about we use voice chat in-game later? Your voice sounds so nice. I want to show off a little to our teammates.”

Seeing the “Matching...” prompt appear on the screen, Zhang Haosen looked at me.

“Can you sing?”

“I can, I can. I sing super well.”

I cleared my throat, then deliberately sang in a spoiled little tone—

“In this strange city, ah, a familiar little loli.”

“We once comforted each other, once held each other and sighed. No matter what kind of ending awaits us...”

“Wait a second—”

I’d only sung half of it before the boy interrupted me.

“What song is that?”

“Crossing the Ocean to See You?”

“What was that first line you sang?”

“In this strange city, ah.”

“The line after that.”

“A familiar little loli... or maybe a familiar cute loli?”

“That line is... ‘in a familiar corner.’”

“Oh, really?”

I felt a little embarrassed.

“It’s a pretty old song, so I didn’t remember the lyrics.”

“And if you sing like that, our teammates will probably shoot us dead on the spot once we get in-game.”

Zhang Haosen shook his head and sighed, putting on a smug little expression.

“This escort isn’t qualified. You can’t even sing properly. Sigh... looks like I was right not to extend.”