Out of Place

The system's distinctive electronic-mechanical voice sounded in his mind.

9527: [Sorry, but contestant participation information is confidential. Contestants in the Newbie Trial Zone map are not authorized to access it.]

...Confidential?

When Wen Nan had just arrived at the four-person boys' dormitory—the spawn point for their map—he had clearly chosen攻略对象 alongside the Fatty, the guy with glasses, and the Sports Student.

If the information really had to be kept confidential, shouldn't the players have been made to choose separately from the moment they entered the spawn point?

Why bring up confidentiality only now...? There had to be something fishy going on.

So the system was protecting certain special players?

Was Yu Shujun... really a game character being impersonated by a player?

If that were true, then her strange behavior and bizarre getup suddenly made sense—

In such hot weather, she still wore a long-sleeved, long-pants uniform, hid most of her face behind her bangs, put on thick glasses, and used terrible makeup skills to make herself look completely different. It was all for one purpose: to hide her true appearance.

But why had she blended in with the game characters?

If she was a player, didn't she need to complete the main quest like Wen Nan? And if she became someone Wen Nan had to win over, wouldn't that make completing her own quest much harder?

Wait...

Wen Nan seemed to have overlooked an important question—

Was she... really a "she"?

As far as Wen Nan knew, this was a dating sim aimed at men. In theory, the players should all be men—or at least, psychologically male.

Put that way, the player pretending to be Yu Shujun...

Wen Nan's thoughts ran wild—

Though the players who had entered the Newbie Trial Zone with him came from all walks of life, Wen Nan himself definitely wasn't into that sort of thing.

If the players in this game merely uploaded their consciousness into their characters' bodies, then he could just about turn a blind eye to men playing female characters and grit his teeth through the strategy. After all, he'd also had thoughts like, If I turned into a woman, I'd let the guys have some fun first.

But in this game, it was obvious that their original bodies had been transported directly into the game map. Their bodies might change to some degree with their levels and attributes, but not so much that their sex would change too.

Which meant...

There was a very good chance Yu Shujun was a cross-dresser!

Yikes.

Wen Nan's heart clenched, and so did his butt.

He shuddered and vigorously shook his head.

If he ran into Yu Shujun again during the next main quest, he'd have to make things clear with her.

Ideally, they could reach some kind of peaceful agreement: she could pretend to be a game character for whatever reason she wanted, and Wen Nan wouldn't interfere. But she shouldn't mess with his攻略 quest, either. When the trial ended, she'd voluntarily max out her affection and give him a fake "five-star review," and then they could call it even.

After that, they could each go their own way and leave the other alone.

He had just made up his mind when the system spoke in his mind again.

9527: [Main Quest 1 has ended. Please return to the spawn point within 15 minutes to begin your quest settlement. If you exceed the allotted time window, you will forfeit eligibility for this settlement. Please take note.]

As the reminder faded, Wen Nan stood up and headed for the boys' dormitory.

When he returned to the dorm, a row of huge countdown numbers flashed on the floating screen overhead, showing how long until the quest settlement began.

At that moment, the room was empty except for Wen Nan.

He had actually been the first one back.

The floor was still littered with empty drink bottles, and that familiar, complex mix of foot odor and instant noodle smell still lingered in the air.

Wen Nan leaned back in the chair beneath his bunk and opened the [Community] interface in his system, hoping to check out the players' livestreams. But he found that the livestreams were automatically shut off during settlement.

He was about to browse the [Shop] instead when the dorm door swung open.

The Sports Student came in with heavy steps.

It had only been one short night, yet the Sports Student looked as though he'd lived through an entire lifetime. He'd left as a lively young man, but now he looked like an old man on the verge of the grave, hunched over, bracing himself against the wall as he staggered toward his spot.

The moment he saw Wen Nan, he froze. "Y-you... you quit halfway through?!"

Wen Nan shook his head. "The quest ended, so I came back."

The Sports Student looked as if he'd misheard, or his memory had failed him. "Y-you didn't... didn't choose five fe... female characters at once?"

"I did." Wen Nan nodded and answered honestly. "I handled all five."

The Sports Student stared at Wen Nan, dumbfounded. "Five? All of them? You handled them?!"

How was that possible? He'd picked just one neutral NPC and had nearly been driven to quit halfway through. Wen Nan had picked five genuine female ghosts! How could he possibly have handled them all?

And even if he had, why...

The Sports Student looked Wen Nan up and down, finally letting his gaze settle on Wen Nan's lower half. "Why... are you so clean?!"

For a moment, Wen Nan thought the other man was questioning his masculinity. But Wen Nan considered himself a man of restraint and propriety. They'd only just finished the first quest in the Trial Zone; surely things hadn't already gotten to the point where he'd become "unclean"?

Wen Nan paused, then asked, "You're not clean?"

As soon as Wen Nan finished speaking, another figure slowly entered through the dorm door.

Wen Nan and the Sports Student turned toward the entrance together, only to see the Fatty hunched over, bracing himself against the wall as he staggered toward his spot.

He held one hand against his lower back. Every step tugged at a certain spot, making him grimace and suck in sharp breaths from the pain.

The moment his heavy body touched the chair, he sprang right back up. In the end, he perched on the very edge of the seat, sitting in an extremely effeminate pose.

When his gaze fell on Wen Nan, the Fatty looked shocked. "Y-you... you quit halfway through?!"

Wen Nan: "...The quest ended, so I came back."

The Fatty: "Why... are you so clean?"

Wen Nan: ...

Here we go again.

Wen Nan asked again, "You're not clean either?"

As soon as he finished, the guy with glasses walked in from outside the dorm. He was hunched over too, bracing himself against the wall too, staggering toward his spot too, and sitting down in an equally effeminate pose too.

And just like the others, the moment he saw Wen Nan, his eyes widened in shock. "You—"

"—didn't quit, and stayed clean."

Wen Nan had learned to answer before they could finish asking.

The other three in the dorm all looked at Wen Nan like he was some kind of freak.

Wen Nan: ...

He'd never imagined that one day, he'd seem out of place for being "not dirty enough"...