He didn’t know if it was because the game’s lighting effect was too good at that moment.
Looking at such a little person, Li Shuoxing actually felt a little heartache, and his attitude became more cautious. He pondered over the line of words twice before typing out, “What are you doing?”
The dead silent room changed.
Once again, bits of blue light like fireflies emerged in the air and then converged into a light screen.
A light screen appeared, and words appeared.
The blue light lit up Su Mingqian’s black hair and grey eyes.
The person he couldn’t see finally appeared.
Su Mingqian, sitting in the corner, didn’t move, but his lax eyes had become focused and his stagnant thoughts began to turn.
Worse than hurt was loneliness.
Worse than loneliness was waiting for an unknown deadline.
Until the wait came to a screeching halt and a great surprise fell from the sky, when Su Mingqian, unable to control his emotions, blurted out:
“You’re back!”
A +100 abruptly jumped out of the little person’s head.
Li Shuoxing was so dumbstruck by this huge number that he forgot what he was going to type.
What’s going on?
I only typed a sentence just now and didn’t do anything special at all. How come I got such a huge amount of favourability?
Even if I hadn’t been online for a day, the system doesn’t have to be so generous. Wouldn’t it be easy to hack time to gain favourability…
Li Shuoxing thought, and he subconsciously looked at the favourability pool.
Favourability: -2
Li Shuoxing: “…”
He did an elementary school first-grade maths problem.
When he left before, the favourability was 15.
He exited the game midway and didn’t know how the favourability increased or decreased. Now, after +100, the favourability was -2.
That meant…
In the day or so he was gone, the little person was alone, silently angry, -1-2-3, a total of negative 117 favourability points.
After calculating this, Li Shuoxing quickly deleted the idea of hacking time to gain favourability from his mind.
Although there looked to be little difference between the deduction and increase in favourability, it seemed that he could earn some favourability if he cut down his offline time.
But, according to the game’s heart, if he really started playing with hacking time, the game might dare to deduct favourability when he was away and not add favourability when he appeared… In short, everything was the game company’s conspiracy!
However, the increase and decrease of favourability this time wasn’t completely useless. At least it helped him determine a system setting.
“It turns out that functions that open after reaching the favourability threshold won’t be locked again when the favourability decreases.”
Li Shuoxing looked at the chat function he was using and muttered to himself.
“This game finally has a not so retarded design. People say game companies make CG with their hands and games with their feet; this one most probably makes AI with their brain and the rest with their ass…”
He pondered to himself, and didn’t pay attention to the little person in the game until more words came out of his head.
“Are you still there?”
“Can you talk to me?”
“It’s boring here. I want to talk to you.”
Li Shuoxing’s attention was pulled back. Even though he usually didn’t get distracted while playing games, he was stabbed by these words.
The survival environment of domestic games was still very comfortable. It didn’t matter if the rest was made with the ass, as long as the same was done with the brain, players could still be kept around. The example was right here.
Li Shuoxing typed in response, “I’m here, don’t be afraid.”
Su Mingqian: “I’m not afraid.”
A faint +1 came out of his forehead.
Although his mouth doesn’t admit it, his body’s still very honest, eh.
Li Shuoxing considered the little person’s self-esteem and thoughtfully changed the topic. “I see you haven’t eaten well these past few meals. I’ll get you some dishes.”
With that, he tapped the kitchen stove first.
The stove popped up a menu, still two items, but different from last time, presumably refreshed randomly.
[Mushroom Salad]: 5 favourability points
[Beer Duck]: 25 favourability points
One meat and one vegetarian, a nice combination, but…
Li Shuoxing took another look at the favourability pool and lamented his inadequacy.
I really can’t afford it!
I’m sorry, cub. Dad isn’t a good dad. Our family is poor. I’ve dragged you down to eating scraps.
He left the stove and went to open the system store.
Since the opening of the production workshop last time, the system store had been renovated and reopened, selling everything inside.
Li Shuoxing opened the food section and saw the items sold inside.
The way the food was sold here was different from that of the stove. Instead of the fast food style of selling single dishes, it was sold in packages, which did indeed look higher-end. After all, the latter used noble money.
[Daily Bento]: 8 contribution points
[Burger Combo]: 10 contribution points
[Canteen Value Meal]: 30 contribution points
Before Li Shuoxing could civilly express his opinion on these prices, Su Mingqian began to speak again.
After a day of not seeing each other, the little person was a lot more enthusiastic!
Su Mingqian: “How do you know I haven’t eaten well for several meals? Have you been watching me the whole time? Then why didn’t you respond to me?”
Li Shuoxing was pondering which set meal to buy for the little person and replied a little absent-mindedly, “I’ve only just come back. I haven’t been watching you the whole time, so I couldn’t respond to you in time. The reason I know what you’ve been doing is that I have a record of what you’ve done…”
Su Mingqian: “24-hour video surveillance?”
Li Shuoxing: “Something like that… Okay, I’ve chosen your dinner!”
He came to a decision. The little person was so soft. What else could he consider but to give him a little reward? So, he decided to give him the one worth 30 contribution points!
Li Shuoxing bought the set meal and chose to use it directly. In an instant, the table in the little room changed, all kinds of food appearing on top of it.
Stir-fried loofah, kung fu beef, sweet and sour fish, duck soup and chestnut pudding.
Five items of food were placed on the table one by one. Although the portions were small, they looked exquisite. There were three dishes and one soup, with both meat and vegetables, and a dessert was also thoughtfully prepared. It could be said to be very hearty.
At last this game didn’t pit me!
Li Shuoxing let out a long breath and said to the little person, “Here’s your dinner, eat up. Do you like these dishes?”
Su Mingqian: “Thank you.”
+3.
Li Shuoxing: “…”
He really couldn’t understand the game’s favourability system.
However, having already been abused by this system for so many days, Li Shuoxing had become indifferent. He calmly ignored this pitiful value and continued to chat with Su Mingqian. “It’s good that you like it, but our family is poor, so I can’t order these dishes for you every day. Maybe tomorrow, you’ll only have a small plate of vegetables and mushrooms.”
Su Mingqian: “It doesn’t matter.”
After he said that, there was a short silence, and then he spoke again, making a clear plan, “There’s a lot today, and I can’t finish it in one meal. I can leave the rest in the fridge for tomorrow. If I eat less, it should last the whole day.”
So sweet?
He’s probably being fake and will secretly drop favourability again.
Li Shuoxing was already familiar with this routine. He calmly waited for the negative favourability to pop out of the little person’s head.
But he waited and waited, and the little person’s head was clean, no sign of a drop in favourability.
That was what the little person really wanted.
Li Shuoxing was stunned.
Under his surprise, his heart seemed to be stabbed by a small arrow, a little guilty, a little distressed.
At this moment, Su Mingqian spoke again.
“There’s still a wasteland outside. I wonder if you could find some vegetable seeds? I could plant the seeds so that we don’t have to buy vegetables in the future. We could just pull whatever we want from the vegetable garden.”
A system prompt popped up in time, killing the mood.
“Due to your lover’s request, the store has gotten some new items. You can check it at any time.”
Li Shuoxing snapped back from his inexplicable distress.
Wake up, this is a love nurturing game, not an online dating game! The little person in the game, no matter how cute and pitiful, is fake, an AI system, dry and cold 0’s and 1’s!
He sighed.
“It seems that the AI has done a great job, but it may not necessarily be a good thing. If everyone had a perfect electronic lover, robots would easily take over the world…”
Li Shuoxing looked in the store while complaining. He saw that a courtyard category was added in the system store and tapped on it to see a newly added item inside.
[Mixed Vegetable Seed Packet]: 1 contribution point
The mixed vegetable seed packet contained 10 vegetable seeds which took 3 days to mature.
10 seeds for 1 yuan, at least ten meals. Compared with the prices of the set meals before, this conscience was simply heavenly. But… this newly added item was grey, unable to be purchased.
Li Shuoxing tapped again and a system prompt popped up.
[To purchase this item, you need to unlock the courtyard system. Please unlock the courtyard system first.]
“The longest way I’ve travelled is your routine.” Li Shuoxing closed the store, helpless. He turned his gaze to the little person and typed, “I have something I want to tell you.”
At the exact same time, a line of words appeared above the little person’s head: “I have some things I want to talk to you about.”
Two almost identical sentences appeared at the same time.
Li Shuoxing was slightly surprised, then typed another line. “What is it? You say it first.”
Su Mingqian put down his chopsticks.
The food in his mouth had a very nice taste, many times more delicious than plain rice. After his hungry stomach had a taste, it squirmed violently because it wanted more, but Su Mingqian didn’t care too much about that.
He was thinking about some other things, about his situation, and about the “Watcher”.
The Watcher can do anything to me.
I’m unable to do anything to them.
The Watcher is God here.
I’m a lowly ant under their eyes.
Su Mingqian’s mood was calm.
This is a grim reality I must accept, but it’s not a dead end. In this reality lies a great piece of good news.
God doesn’t quite think of themself as God.
They can communicate with me.
Although they have some temper, they’re essentially an easygoing person.
What I must do now, the most critical thing, is to establish a stable and friendly communication environment with God.
Su Mingqian spoke, weighing his words, “I’m the only person here and I’m very lonely. So… can you come and talk to me at a regular time? Can you tell me when you come and when you leave, so that I can say hello and goodbye to you?”
Along with Su Mingqian’s text bubble, the novice guide appeared.
“Congratulations! After a few days of contact, your lover has begun to look forward to your company. Will you satisfy his little request for your company? If so, the game will open the daily check-in function.”