Han Yixing woke up early that morning and glanced toward Su Qi's bed. It couldn't be helped—being unexpectedly hugged by that tiny body last night had left him unable to sleep until three in the morning.
But Su Qi was nowhere to be seen.
He had assumed Su Qi had gone out to buy breakfast, but even by eight o'clock, she still had not returned. Han Yixing frowned. Why had this kid run off instead of staying in the dorm?
Another half hour passed, and Wu Wei and Wang Dongxu's alarms both went off, yet Su Qi was still nowhere in sight.
Wu Wei had sharp eyes and immediately noticed that Su Qi's Apple laptop, which had been on the desk, was gone.
"My God, Brother Qi didn't run away, did she?! She even took her laptop!"
Wang Dongxu was also stunned for a while when he saw the laptop was gone, but seeing that Su Qi's clothes and other things were still there, he did not say anything.
It was the twenty-first century. Why not just make a phone call?
Su Qi, still asleep, jolted at the sound of her Nuclear Explosion Divine Song ringtone. When she saw that it was Wang Dongxu, she realized he was calling because she had not returned that morning.
Then she checked the time. Damn, it was already eight-thirty. At this hour, even if they had class, it would already be too late.
While lamenting how unreliable her roommates were, she pinched her throat and answered the call.
"Brother Qi, where are you? Your laptop was gone, so I thought you'd been arrested!" Wang Dongxu's voice came through the phone.
The so-called "arrested" was an old joke, referring to a veteran anime shut-in from Zhe City who had been arrested by the police for translating Japanese doujinshi.
When that DouDou Short Video had made the rounds, countless players had posted crying emojis and replied with messages of support.
Thus, Wang Dongxu and Wu Wei had also teased Su Qi, the original creator, about getting arrested.
But Su Qi's game was sold through a foreign intermediary company. As for the doujinshi, it was delivered directly to Japan, so it was rather convenient and there was no need to worry about being arrested.
"Arrested for what? I found a place to stay. I've been figuring out how to post photos lately."
"Photos? What photos?" Wang Dongxu asked.
"You fake fan! Didn't we say it in the group? At 3,000 copies, we get photos. At 5,000 copies, Brother Qi promised to do an otaku dance. At 10,000 copies, she'll do a face-reveal livestream!" Wu Wei's booming voice came through the phone.
"Brother Qi, once you finish taking them, make sure to show us first. We'll help you evaluate them." Wang Dongxu wore a lecherous grin. Seeing his roommate dressed as a girl was simply too exciting.
Su Qi thought, So you figured that out?
She chatted with Wang Dongxu for a few more sentences. With Wu Liang at school, there probably would not be much trouble. Before Su Qi could even ask Wang Dongxu to agree, that guy had already offered several suggestions.
Black, White, and Blue-White Stockings; Rabbit, Cat, and Brown Bear Ears. He even reminded her to casually reveal her Absolute Territory. To that, Su Qi could only say—heh heh.
Between you, a manga reader, and me, a doujinshi artist, who had more experience?
After hanging up, Su Qi stretched. Wang Yun had apparently gone to work at some point.
Su Qi wanted to say, was Wang Yun really that carefree, leaving her alone in her home?
Little did Su Qi know that Wang Yun had felt exactly the same way that morning when she saw Su Qi sleeping soundly on the sofa. Was Su Qi not afraid that Wang Yun might bring a few men into the apartment? By then, even crying would not help her.
Su Qi yawned. After being awakened by Wang Dongxu, she no longer felt like going back to sleep. She sat up and started looking through her phone.
Compared with the boys' dorm, which carried a faint scent of stinky feet, the subtle fragrance in a girl's home genuinely improved Su Qi's mood by several degrees.
She first opened the app to check the recent sales figures. Sure enough, just as Su Qi had expected, the momentum had stopped.
It had risen from a little over 3,100 copies yesterday to just over 3,300 today. Su Qi was quite satisfied with that result. After all, she had pirated games herself when she first started playing, so she understood very well.
Besides, the game cost sixty-nine yuan per copy, and today it would be uploaded one by one onto various websites. On several sites Su Qi knew of, a membership download cost less than thirty yuan a month. The difference was obvious.
That was why Su Qi was certain that reaching 5,000 was unlikely!
She then opened the QQ Group and began her daily group-chat lurking.
As it turned out, one group had been banned first thing in the morning. Fortunately, the group moderators were well accustomed to this sort of thing and quickly created another one. The group announcement, when opened, displayed a huge warning.
Please do not send screenshots of the game's character art in the QQ Group. Please do not send inappropriate images. Please respect core values. Thank you. Otherwise, you will learn the meaning of authority.
The group members all responded with warnings about being muted.
Power had gradually caused the dog moderators to lose their way.
As Su Qi watched the players chatting, she saw that, as an ADV game, the later maze section had left some newcomers rather confused. At times like this, veteran players would step in to guide them, often slipping in images of Shoes: Daddy Loves You.
The group was a picture of harmonious descendants peacefully sharing their retirement years.
But the hottest topic was still Su Qi's cross-dressing photos. The group members all said they wanted to see the Group Master's Female Protagonist look. Since she had promised them ten pictures, Su Qi wanted to hear their opinions.
The result was that a thousand people reading Harry Potter produced a thousand Harry Potters. Their opinions were a complete mess.
Some even maliciously wanted her to cosplay Sister Feng, making Su Qi shudder.
After much consideration, Su Qi designed a webpage where each group member could choose three characters. The top ten would be the characters Su Qi would cosplay!
The webpage was fairly simple. To make it run faster, Su Qi had even lavishly bought a 150-yuan-per-month acceleration service.
Otherwise, visiting the webpage would be terribly laggy, like browsing certain sites that required a paid VPN.
At twelve o'clock, she finally finished it. After testing it and confirming there were no issues, she posted it in several major QQ Groups. As she watched the constant messages in the groups saying that the Group Master's Group Master was going to dress as a girl—
Su Qi suddenly felt a little embarrassed!
Just then, a familiar voice rang out!
Ding! The system has detected that the host is about to dress as a girl. As a qualified Female Protagonist, how could you disappoint your fans? A side mission is now issued—Female Protagonist Debut. As a famous Female Protagonist, the first requirement is fame. Take this opportunity to fire your first shot and appear on the screen! Mission Description: Satisfy all members of the host's group with the host's cross-dressing photos. Completion rate must reach 110%. Mission Reward: Luck +1 Failure Penalty: Frivolity Points +20
Seeing the mission issued by the system, Su Qi felt both speechless and helpless. Why did every mission this system issued seem so absurd?
First of all, this Heroine System was full of suspicious points. It had gotten her gender wrong from the start and inexplicably turned her into a woman.
And from the look of this mission, it was clearly trying to make her into a celebrity! What did that have to do with being a Female Protagonist?
"This system is the Heroine System, not a celebrity cultivation system. The host is advised to understand this." The system's voice rang out.
"So I want to ask, what exactly is this system's purpose?" Su Qi complained.
"Everyone has an ideal person they wish to become in their heart. This system exists to help the host become the ideal 'Female Protagonist' in your heart!" The system's voice remained as calm and unruffled as ever.
Su Qi was rather satisfied after hearing the Heroine System's answer. Setting aside the fact that it defied science, this Heroine System could be considered part of the service industry, though she was the only person in its entire industrial chain.
But before that thought could last two seconds, Su Qi suddenly realized something.
The system had just said she would become the Female Protagonist of her ideals. Su Qi recalled the female characters in her works and the miserable scenes on the final pages involving those characters. No way, no way—
"Wait, are you saying that your definition of a Female Protagonist is based on my own definition of one?" Su Qi could not help shivering in the blazing summer heat. Why did she suddenly feel so terrified?
"Yes." The system answered Su Qi in its cold voice.
Along with that response, Su Qi turned to stone.
Her mind was filled with the miserable appearances of the Female Protagonists she had written?
What was this? Draw a cow, become a cow?
Before you continue