My Online Friend Can't Be This Cute

"Okay, thanks."

"Hey, we're roommates. It's no big deal."

It didn't take long for Qin Yongfeng to help him put together a parts list, and he promptly placed the order.

Living in H City had another advantage: deliveries arrived especially fast.

No matter which platform he bought from, things generally arrived the next day. At the fastest, an order placed in the morning could arrive that afternoon.

And when it came to newly delivered electronics, guys were always full of curiosity.

The moment he carried the package over to his spot, the other three gathered around to watch.

Building a computer was actually fairly complicated for beginners, but he wasn't a beginner.

He might have forgotten some details, but when he didn't know something, he could just ask. Several roommates were right there, and they all knew how to build PCs.

"Old Mo, you're way too slow. Let me do it for you." Qin Yongfeng mocked him. "You're taking forever just to install a memory stick. Put some force into it."

"Fuck, no. I'll do it myself."

It had been a long time since he had built a computer, and he was feeling a little nostalgic, so he insisted on finishing it himself.

Whenever he nearly made a small mistake, he quickly corrected it under his roommates' guidance.

Once the computer was finally assembled and the operating system installed, Mo Xiangwen subconsciously narrowed his eyes as the familiar startup screen lit up.

Seeing that things had reached this point and that they couldn't be of much help anymore, the other three returned to their seats.

Next came installing software and drivers. At the very least, he needed to install a new browser and QQ first. He could deal with anything else when he thought of it.

The moment he logged into QQ on his computer, he saw an application to join the reader group.

The profile picture was Illya's, and she had correctly guessed the heroine's name in Junior Girl Development Plan. She didn't look like someone there to spam ads, so he accepted without much thought.

"Old Mo, hurry up and install League of Legends now that you're done building your computer." Zhong Taihong urged him.

"What's the rush? It'll take a while to download anyway." He opened the browser, downloaded the launcher, and started the download.

Since he had nothing else to do, he might as well check the reader group.

Although the old group members enthusiastically welcomed the newcomer, repeating welcome after welcome, the newcomer didn't seem inclined to speak at all.

Well, that was normal too, so he didn't take it to heart.

"Are you done yet? Fuck, the three of us have been waiting for you in the lobby forever."

"I'm coming, I'm coming."

PS: I can't take it anymore. I'll revise it tomorrow.

Sorry, Drawing-chan.

In a room decorated in soft shades of pink, a petite white-haired girl lazily stretched her body and sank into a large adjustable sofa.

Perhaps because she was feeling restless, her pale little feet repeatedly patted against the sofa's orange footrest.

She just couldn't seem to settle down. She drew because she liked it, yet now she couldn't summon even the slightest motivation.

The girl let out a soft sigh and placed the stylus in her hand beside the drawing tablet on the side table.

Before the sofa stood a heavy white corner desk. Two monitors were mounted one above the other on an articulating arm in the center, while her favorite figures and game consoles sat off to the side.

If she wanted, she could even draw and play games while lying down—though that would be a little inconvenient.

Though she had been frail and sickly since birth, her parents had done their utmost to give her everything they could.

Whether it was their care and affection for her, or her little unreasonable requests.

Even though her health had kept her from making friends in real life,

her parents cared deeply about her, and the group friends she had met online were also kind to her, so she didn't feel especially pitiful.

"It's already been a day. Xiao Yi should have uploaded the picture by now, right?" The girl pursed her pale lips. "I wonder what he wrote."

"If I ask him directly... he probably still won't tell me, right?" She could understand why Xiao Yi felt embarrassed, but... she really was just a tiny bit curious.

Anyway, Xiao Yi hadn't said she wasn't allowed to search for it, so it should be fine, right?

At worst, she could read it in secret and not mention it in the group. Xiao Yi could just assume she didn't know, while she could find out what he had written.

A win-win.

"I remember Xiao Yi seemed to have posted a screenshot of his novel bookshelf in the group before."

Her eyes suddenly lit up. She picked up her pink phone from the side, opened the group chat, and began searching through the chat history.

She couldn't remember any nearby keywords, so she could only go through it bit by bit based on her rough memory of the timing.

Luckily, it was only a small group of five people. With that bit of memory and enough persistence, she managed to find the picture in the chat logs.

"Found it. Mm, this looks like Kitty's bookshelf interface."

Kitty, huh? She read on Kitty too, so this made things much easier.

She was a shut-in girl. In every sense of the term, she was even more of a shut-in than anyone else in the group.

Because of her weak health, she had to stay home most of the time.

Whenever she did go out, it was usually for a follow-up examination at the hospital.

As a result, whether it was novels or games, she had plenty of time to explore them.

The character Xiao Yi had asked her to draw was different from any anime or game character she had seen.

So it was very likely an original character from his novel.

"I just need to search slowly using the original tag and the update time. I'll definitely find it."

And more conveniently than anything else, she had the most time of all. She could even spend an entire day on this.

"Mm, mm, mm, found it!" A cute smile immediately appeared on the girl's pale, almost sickly little face.

"Junior Girl Development Plan. Mm, I drew this cover." She eagerly found the chapter titled "Character Design Images" in the table of contents. "It was uploaded yesterday too, so this must be it."

"Shishi, are you asleep?" A gentle knock on the door pulled the girl out of her absorbed reading.

"Not yet." She hadn't noticed the time and answered instinctively.

"It's already ten o'clock. Why aren't you asleep yet? I'm coming in, okay?" Though she said that, there was no sign of the door opening.

"Um... okay, come in." The girl had wanted to refuse, but then remembered that it was her mother worrying about her, and her heart softened.

With the girl's permission, a middle-aged woman with a capable air, dressed in a dark business suit, entered the room.

"What's going on today?" The middle-aged woman came to her side and gently stroked her head. "Shouldn't you be in bed resting at this hour? Your health is poor, so you can't stay up late."

"Um... I just lost track of time a little." The girl answered vaguely. Seeing that the woman was still in work clothes, she asked curiously, "Did you just get back, Mom?"

"Yes. The university just started its term, so there's quite a lot of work to do." The woman sighed.

"Mom, you're a teacher at H University, right?" The girl suddenly remembered her mother's job. "When will you take me to see H University?"

"What's this? Why are you suddenly interested in H University?" the woman asked curiously. "Didn't you used to refuse whenever I offered to take you there?"

"Recently, I saw some things about H University online, so I got a little curious." The girl shifted her gaze and smiled somewhat embarrassedly.

"There's nothing particularly special going on lately. What's there to be curious about?" The woman gently rubbed her daughter's hair. "Mom has been very busy lately, so I can't keep watching over you."

"If you take me to the university, I can look around by myself."

"Your health isn't good. I still wouldn't feel comfortable letting you wander around H University alone."

"Mm, okay."

The girl had always been so obedient and sensible. Since her mother had put it that way, she could understand her mother's difficulties and naturally wouldn't stubbornly insist on going.

Besides, her poor health was simply a fact.

Even if she said she could find friends and have Xiao Yi, the president, or Xiaohuo show her around, her mother wouldn't feel at ease entrusting her to several people she had never met.

...It would be bad if she felt unwell while touring the campus and caused trouble for Xiao Yi and the others.

"So, Shishi, you need to rest properly. When it's time, you should go to bed." The middle-aged woman patiently advised her. "That way, you can get healthy, and Mom will agree to take you wherever you want to go."

"The doctor said that since you like drawing, letting you draw will help regulate your mood. That's why your father and I agreed to let you draw."

"But if you stay up late because of drawing, then you're putting the cart before the horse. Do you understand?"

"I understand." The girl nodded obediently.

"Then should Mom turn off your computer for you?"

"Ah, at least let me save my work first." The girl hurriedly said, "I'll go to bed right away."

"Okay. Mom believes you."

After all, she was her own daughter. She understood her well and knew that she had always been obedient and wouldn't lie to her about something like this.

Reassured, she turned and left the room, gently closing the door behind her.

Once again, the girl was the only one left in the room.

Looking at the computer glowing white, the girl hesitated for a moment before deciding to save the half-finished piece and shut down the computer.

Sorry, Drawing-chan. I need to rest.

And I'm really sorry for making you take the blame.

Keep it up, keep it up.

"Old Zhong, when you order Braised Chicken delivery tonight, order one less serving."

After finishing a game with his roommates, Mo Xiangwen spoke while secretly switching to his writing software and starting to type.

There was a rather magical way guys ate in dorms: first, they would grab two chairs or some cardboard boxes from who knew where and use them as a table.

Then one roommate would take charge of ordering food for all four of them from the same restaurant, choosing different dishes.

Once the delivery arrived, they would put the dishes in the middle and hold their own rice boxes.

All things considered, the experience was pretty much like eating at a restaurant.

Part of it was an economic issue. Eating out every day was ultimately too wasteful.

The other part was that everyone was busy queuing together for games. Going to and from the commercial street would cost them enough time to play several more matches.

And they didn't even have to walk anywhere in the dorm. They just had to wait for the delivery to arrive.

For lazy college students, this was undoubtedly very important.

Even if one unlucky person had to go downstairs to pick up the food, it was only one person. Everyone else was still happy.

"What's up? If you want food from somewhere else, we can order somewhere else." Zhong Taihong answered without turning around. "We've eaten that place's food several times already. It's time to change things up."

They always ordered Braised Chicken from this place not only because it tasted good, but also because if they asked the owner for two extra boxes of rice, he really gave them two extra boxes.

Besides, Braised Chicken didn't only sell braised chicken. They also had dishes like cumin beef and spicy chicken.

"No, I mainly have something to do later, so I need to go out." Mo Xiangwen shook his head. "You three can eat."

Xi Shaojie suddenly came up behind him, patted him, and said, "What could be more important than eating? Go out after dinner."

Startled, Mo Xiangwen immediately switched screens back to the game.

"Old Mo, what software was that?" Xi Shaojie asked curiously. "Why'd you switch away so fast? I didn't even see it clearly."

"It's something good. Stop asking." Mo Xiangwen chuckled and shoved away the head leaning over to look.

"Fuck, if it's something good, that's even more reason to look." Xi Shaojie snorted.

"What something good?" Zhong Taihong seemed to catch the keyword and instantly became alert. "Did you bastard secretly hide some good stuff?"

"Anime stuff. You know galgames?" Mo Xiangwen laughed and cursed. "You guys don't play that kind of game, so get lost."

"Oh, anime stuff? Forget it, then." Xi Shaojie shook his head and turned away.

Zhong Taihong also seemed to lose all interest in an instant and didn't continue asking.

Qin Yongfeng, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly asked, "What are you playing?"