My Online Friend Can't Be This Cute Chapter 35

Chapter 44: Famished

"Open up! Open the door!" Mo Xiangwen slammed the dorm door twice more. "What did I do wrong for you to disrespect me like this? You won't even call me Old Mo."

"Leave. There's no one named Mo in Room 503," Xi Shaojie's voice came from inside the dorm.

"Weren't you getting along great with Yan?" Zhong Taihong remarked sarcastically. "Why come back? You might as well have dinner with Yan too."

"Man, Old Zhong even told you not to be a Cao thief. Turns out Old Zhong was the real clown." Xi Shaojie sighed as well.

"Fuck, attack him if you want, but why drag me into this?"

"You really are a clown, though."

The two of them played off each other so well that he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Still, Yan Nuoya had invited him to eat with her several times. He just hadn't known about it at the time and never replied, so they hadn't ended up eating together.

But now that he knew, it was perfectly normal for him to take the initiative and ask Yan Nuoya out for a meal.

"Fine, then I'll go eat first and come back later."

Inside the dorm, Xi Shaojie and Zhong Taihong abruptly turned to look at each other, then hurried over to open the door.

They looked left and right, only to find the hallway completely empty.

"Fuck, Old Mo really went to eat with Yan!" Zhong Taihong cursed. "Hurry up and call him back."

Xi Shaojie quickly pulled out his phone and sent a message in the dorm group.

Young Master Xi: Old Mo, come back quickly.

Old Mo: Old Xi, I'm already out having dinner with Yan. Don't worry about me.

Young Master Xi: Don't! Old Zhong said Braised Chicken just doesn't taste good without you.

Old Mo: Really? Make Old Zhong beg me.

Alarm Clock: Bro, I'm begging you, come back.

Old Mo: What? Old Zhong, you're actually begging?

Alarm Clock: I really can't eat Braised Chicken without you. Come back.

Old Mo: Uh, but it's too late. I already made plans.

Alarm Clock: Don't, bro. Order six dishes with the Braised Chicken tonight. We'll get extra food.

Alarm Clock: Old Xi even ordered you fruit juice already. Come back.

Young Master Xi: Yeah, yeah.

"Well, since you're being so sincere."

Mo Xiangwen emerged from the dorm next door, an obvious smile on his face.

"I'll reluctantly stay in the dorm and eat with you."

Bang.

The dorm door slammed shut, and the two people who had been standing there vanished as well.

"Fuck."

In the end, only after he threatened them again with, "If you don't open up, I'm really going out to eat with girls," did the dorm door finally open for him.

"I told you, Yan and I are purely friends." Mo Xiangwen finally made it back into the dorm and sighed. "Can't you have just a little more faith in me?"

"Heh, I can't be bothered listening to your bullshit." Zhong Taihong spotted the black plastic bag in his hand. "What did you buy?"

"Some supplies. They might come in handy during military training." Mo Xiangwen set the bag beside his locker, sat down, and turned on his computer.

Xi Shaojie asked curiously, "What supplies?"

"Don't worry about it. I might not even need them." Mo Xiangwen shook his head and reminded him, "Make my fruit juice passion fruit and mango later, thanks."

"Mo Xiangwen, don't push it!" Xi Shaojie snorted. "It's good enough that we're not torturing you for information, and you still dare make demands?"

"Torture won't help." Mo Xiangwen looked utterly helpless. "No matter how you torture me, she and I are still purely friends."

Zhong Taihong said sarcastically, "Right, right. You're purely friends with everyone."

"That's exactly how it is. Hurry up and order takeout. You're the one talking too much."

Although the two of them had plenty of complaints about him, they hadn't skimped on the extra food or drinks they promised.

"Old Mo, after dinner, let's keep playing Truth or Dare." Zhong Taihong proposed with a grin.

"Yeah, we haven't played in ages." Xi Shaojie nodded as well.

"You played yesterday. What do you mean, ages?" Qin Yongfeng complained speechlessly.

"Not playing. The three of you can play if you want." Mo Xiangwen shook his head. "I've got plans."

What a joke. Even if he didn't have plans, he couldn't play that with those two again.

If he didn't cheat, the two of them would team up and dig every last secret out of him.

If he did cheat, they would notice something was wrong if he won too often.

"What do you mean?" Xi Shaojie frowned. "You just finished dinner and you're already going on a date instead of gaming with your brothers?"

"Old Mo, that's where you're wrong." Zhong Taihong spoke righteously. "Fine, you didn't sit with your brothers this morning. But now you won't even play games with us because you're running off to chase girls? I look down on you."

"You're so bad at games that it's perfectly normal not to want to play with you," Qin Yongfeng mocked.

"Fuck, Old Qin, that really hurt."

Mo Xiangwen said helplessly, "I don't have a girlfriend. Who would I even date? I'm just playing a co-op survival game with my online friends. You guys don't like this kind of game anyway."

"Oh, then it's fine. Go on." Zhong Taihong waved him off disdainfully. "You're holding the three of us back from ranking up."

"No, playing with you makes us lose points. I don't want to," Qin Yongfeng shook his head.

"No, you do!"

"No, I don't!"

Mo Xiangwen couldn't be bothered with them. He cleaned up the takeout containers on the temporary table, returned to his seat, and opened the group chat, only to find that they were already waiting for him.

A Seductress: @Human-Dragon Unity Where are you? We need one more.

Don't Play Holy Slash: At this time, he's probably eating.

Human-Dragon Unity: I'm here, I'm here. Have you figured out the mods for Famished yet?

Baibai: We figured it all out. Mainly a backpack mod and a Chinese localization mod.

A Seductress: There isn't much else we need to add. Unless there's a character you want to play.

Human-Dragon Unity: Then let's leave it at that for now. We'll try the original characters first.

Don't Play Holy Slash: I think we should try the original characters first too. If we don't like them, we can add character mods later.

Don't Play Holy Slash: Most character mods really mess with the game balance and ruin the early-game experience. We can try them after we get more familiar with the game.

Human-Dragon Unity: Sure, I'm logging in.

Human-Dragon Unity: Oh right, where's Pigeon? Isn't she playing?

A Seductress: She said she didn't bring her computer to school, so she can't play.

Flaked Out: Yeah, I didn't bring my computer to school. I'm considering buying another one.

Human-Dragon Unity: I bought a new one after getting to school too.

Flaked Out: Then I'll think about buying a new one. You guys play first. I'll join next time.

Don't Play Holy Slash: Then we'll just have a simple trial run this time. We'll wait until Pigeon gets her computer set up before we really start.

Human-Dragon Unity: Sure.

He opened the familiar Steam and clicked the bright green launch button.

After a brief loading screen, strange yet pleasant music began to play.

PS: I revised the previous chapter. Those who have already read it can refresh.

Chapter 45: Multiplayer Game

Famished released its multiplayer version in 2015. It was a survival game with a weird yet adorable art style.

As a foreign game, it was entirely in English at first, which discouraged many players.

However, its fun gameplay and solid quality quickly inspired enthusiasts to create a Chinese localization mod for it.

From then on, it rapidly became popular in QQ groups and college dorms everywhere.

There were even plenty of streamers playing it on Bilibili.

Even better, it was incredibly affordable. It cost less than a college student's daily meals, and for a game of this quality, there was little more anyone could ask for.

Among the games he had played, only Left 4 Dead was cheaper.

It was fun, cheap, and multiplayer.

More importantly, it barely required mechanical skill or game sense, which attracted many girls who weren't good at gaming.

Aside from taking advantage of its graphics and art style, it had practically every condition a game needed to become popular.

Thus, it became the hottest game among survival game enthusiasts at the time.

Many people didn't even have the concept of buying games legitimately back then. They started using Steam simply to play Famished and conveniently play online with friends, gradually becoming followers of Gaben.

Even before he traveled back in time, Famished was still the paid game owned by the most people on his friends list.

Accompanied by the clattering BGM, a tumbleweed rolled gently past as tangible black hands created the world.

His computer was quite powerful, yet it still took a while to load in.

A flash of white light passed before his character, Wilson, appeared beneath a strange door with eyes. Living rose vines coiled around both sides of the door.

Several other characters joined in afterward.

They were Willow, controlled by Baibai, a girl who started with a lighter.

Wendy, controlled by Xiaohuo, who could summon her twin sister Abigail.

And the guild leader's Valkyrie, Wigfrid, who could craft helmets and had high combat stats, making her very reliable.

As expected of the guild leader, the characters she chose were always the dependable sort.

Though this was only a test, they still opened voice chat in the group.

Ever since learning that Xiaohuo and the guild leader were both beautiful girls, he always found the male voices in his headphones strangely unsettling.

Don't Play Holy Slash: Since this is just a test, let's split up and do whatever we want.

Baibai: Okay, then I'll go with Xiao Yi.

Xiaohuo: I don't think you understand what splitting up freely means. If you follow Xiao Yi, can that still be called splitting up?

Baibai: I freely choose to follow Xiao Yi. I don't see a problem.

Xiaohuo: I see a huge problem.

Baibai: None of your business.

Xiao Yi: Alright, Baibai can come with me.

He quickly spoke up to interrupt their argument.

Xiao Yi: Baibai and I will head right. You two can go wherever you want.

Xiaohuo: Then I'll head up.

Guild Leader: Fine, then I'll head down.

Baibai: Xiao Yi, what do we do next?

Xiao Yi: Let's walk around first and pick up things from the ground as we go.