Global Gamification: God-level Closed Beta Player

Chapter 7: School flower Shen’s friend request

Sun Yuan sized up Zhen Yu.

She had a charming face, the type who says  ‘brother, I love you’ on live-stream, and fans will immediately spam donations.

She had a petite figure, about 160 centimeters tall. As she aimed for the cute style, her short stature was to her advantage. Too tall a height would prevent her from cosplaying as a high school student. 

Zhen Yu noticed Sun Yuan’s gaze on her, but she felt no shyness. Instead, she lifted the corner of her skirt with one hand and posed.

“Senior, I’m pretty famous. I have two million fans online.”

 Zhen Yu puffed out her chest as she proudly showed off, “You won’t lose out if we team up.”

“The things I plan on doing are very dangerous!” 

Sun Yuan shook his head.

According to the plot development he experienced, the game would only get more challenging.

Therefore, one hour later, he must climb the tower and achieve the first kill. He wanted to be the first to defeat the boss and conquer the tower.

It was all so he could obtain numerous points and exquisite equipment.

“I’m not afraid, and I won’t cause you any trouble.”

Zhen Yu pouted, “I have nowhere to go anyway, so I might as well follow you. With the kindness of senior’s heart, you will surely take care of me, right?”

“…”

Sun Yuan was troubled.

Every gamer knew that bringing along a newbie would only serve to hinder their progress.

“I can be your support as I cheer you on from the back. I’m pretty good at dancing and singing if I do say so myself.”

Zhen Yu straightened her fingers as she began listing her merit, “With my cute and charming appearance, serving as a mascot is okay too, right? You’ll be the envy of everyone.”

“Follow me at your own risk.”

Sun Yuan looked around as he proceeded towards the parking lot. He wanted to find a motorbike to help increase mobility and conserve his strength.

“Thanks, senior, finger heart!”

Zhen Yu gave a sweet smile as she jogged over to Sun Yuan and rested her head on his shoulders. 

“Senior, smile!”

Zhen Yu raised her camera, “Our first meeting might go down in history. We have to preserve it.”

Sun Yuan felt embarrassed. He pressed down her head to push her away. 

Ka-sha!

The camera captured that exact scene.

“Haha!”

Zhen Yu checked the picture and noticed that he was quite photogenic, “Senior, I belong to you from today onwards. Ah, only as a teammate.”

“Do you not have a sense of crisis?”

Sun Yuan was speechless.

He concluded that Zhen Yu was an optimist; she would probably be smiling in happiness if she managed to pick up a coin. 

“Uh-huh, you’re absolutely right!”

Zhen Yu nodded hastily and fished out her pepper spray from her bag. She felt the pepper spray might be useless against the spore monsters, so she took out a fruit knife.

“With the spray and knife in hand, I’ve become the dual-wielding god of war!”

Zhen Yu grinned as she waved the weapons around, “Senior, am I sassy enough?”

“I feel so tired looking at you.”

Sun Yuan frowned, “Can’t you get rid of the camera on your chest?”

“What are you talking about? It’s my baby!”

Zhen Yu rolled her eyes at Sun Yuan.

“The most important thing right now is to conserve your energy!”

The camera looked heavy; it must have weighed at least 3 pounds. Sun Yuan persuaded with good intentions, “What’s in the Pikachu bag? Get rid of all the useless items such as textbooks and makeup.”

“Should I throw my sanitary pad away too?”

Zhen Yu pouted, “Senior, you must be single. You’re so inconsiderate!”

“…”

Sun Yuan was speechless.

He was only giving suggestions. It was Zhen Yu’s choice if she wanted to listen. She would be the one getting tired, not him.

As Zhen Yu understood his intention, she unzipped her Pikachu backpack and threw away her diary and pens. 

“Senior, what’s with your baseball bat? There were even explosions.”

Zhen Yu curiously poked the bat with her fingers. 

“It’s a rare weapon. You can buy one from the vending machine!”

Sun Yuan did not hide anything.

“Buy? Using money?”

Zhen Yu tilted her head as she gave a doubtful but adorable look.

If she was live on stream, she would be flooded with donations and comments. Unfortunately, Sun Yuan didn’t even spare her a glance.

Irritating.

“Using points.”

Sun Yuan said concisely.

“Points? Why don’t I have any?”

Zhen Yu wrinkled her brow, “This game is too unfair!”

“Trust me, you were lucky to avoid the deadly tripartite.”

Sun Yuan held the bat as he stared at the spore monsters wandering about 50 meters away.

To guys, summer was the best season on campus. The young and beautiful female undergraduates made the perfect scenery. 

Occasionally, there would be girls in hot pants and spaghetti straps, giving them an eyeful. They would be restless and unable to sleep unless they cooled off with a cold shower.

But now, Sun Yuan had to stay alert as he traveled through the campus. He would be doomed if he got sneak attacked by a spore monster.

~Make more time~

Sun Yuan’s phone suddenly rang in his pocket.

“You also like using this song as your ringtone?” 

Zhen Yu teased.

Sun Yuan ignored her and took out his phone. He frowned when he saw the unknown number and answered the call, “Hello.”

“Sun Yuan, do you even use your WeChat? 

Shen Jingran’s distorted voice came through the speakers, confusing Sun Yuan as he did not know who was on the line.

Or rather, he had never entertained the thought of Shen Jingran giving him a call.

After all, she was the reserved and proud goddess of the foreign language faculty.

“Shen Jingran?”

Sun Yuan hesitated, “What’s wrong?”

“Accept my friend request!”

Shen Jingran went silent.

In all these years, it had always been people vying for her attention. Now that she had taken the initiative to send Sun Yuan a friend request, she was instead ignored.

He really made her angry.

“Ah?”

Sun Yuan was startled.

In his WeChat class chat, he had only ever added his male classmates as friends.

“What ah?”

Shen Jingran urged, “It is inconvenient to talk about some things on the phone, quickly accept my friend request.”

Toot, toot…

She ended the call.

Sun Yuan opened WeChat and noticed the friend request. The introduction page only consists of three words, Shen Jingran. To be fair, everyone knew of this name in the foreign language faculty. 

Sun Yuan accepted the friend request.

[You have added Sunflower; you can now initiate a conversation.]

Dingdong!

A message immediately arrived; it mentioned how long Shen Jingran had waited for the request approval.

[Great Saint Sun, adding you as a friend was harder than passing the 81 hardships.]1

Shen Jingran complained.

Great Saint Sun was a nickname given by his dormmates. It was rarely used by his classmates.

[Sorry!]

Sun Yuan sent a grinning emoji.

Dingdong! Dingdong! Dingdong!

Seven messages arrived consecutively; the long messages covered the whole screen.

[These were all the questions we asked, I have sent them to you!]

Shen Jingran sent a crying emoji.

[Typing so many words made me exhausted, you owe me dinner now!]

Sun Yuan looked at the screen and did not know how to reply.

All the questions asked were basic information he already knew as a closed beta player. However, he was touched by her gesture.

[Thank you!]

Sun Yuan replied, [Why don’t we cancel dinner? It’s too stressful being around you, I’ll get you some snacks instead.]

Zhen Yu pushed her head forward without any sense of shame as she read the conversation.

[In that case, I want Häagen-Dazs!]

Shen Jingran sent an ice-cream picture and asked, [What are you doing now?]

[Killing monsters for points.] 

He had nothing to hide.

[So reckless? You must be careful; you only have one life. It’s all over if you die.]

Shen Jingran sent a sacred sticker.

[I went to the rooftop to survey the situation around the campus but discovered a vending machine instead. I tested it and learned that you can access the shop with it. You can buy some equipment there.]

Sun Yuan replied.

Every vending machine had a first use bonus of one free lottery draw. Since he had already claimed the prize, he had no qualm against sharing its location.

His small tip was a boon to everyone else. As the tower of god was set to appear in one hour, players could raise their survivability if they spent their points on items and equipment. 

[…]

Shen Jingran expressed her speechlessness with the ellipses and lamented.

[What dog shit luck do you have?]

[What did you get?]

[Since you’re fighting monsters, did you get a piece of strong equipment?]

Shen Jingran asked continuously.

It had to be said that her intelligence of 9 wasn’t for show.

[Yes.]

Sun Yuan was honest.

[How lucky!]

Shen Jingran sent a drooling emoji followed by a sighing sticker.

[I wanted to form a team with you, but I can’t now. Now that you are equipped and powerful, I would only hold you back.]

Zhen Yu couldn’t control herself as she read.

“Senior, you absolutely must not believe what she said. She’s making progress by retreating; she’s waiting for your invitation!”

Zhen Yu felt a sense of danger.

Although she only read a few messages, her woman’s intuition had warned her that Shen Jingran was a manipulating playgirl.

Without keeping seven or eight guys as backup, she would not be that experienced.

If such a person was to join the team, she wouldn’t be able to fight back!

Zhen Yu was flustered.

Even though she had only known Sun Yuan for 10 minutes, she understood from his behavior that he was a brave and reliable man.

As a game host, she had long unraveled the meaning of life.

It doesn’t matter if she was weak. What mattered was whether she had a strong backer.

She would be carried through the game.

“Eh?”

Sun Yuan was dumbfounded; he did not give it much thought.

“This Sunflower’s profile picture must be her, right?

Zhen Yu observed Shen Jingran’s profile picture and pouted, “Such a beautiful woman must have a lot of man chasing after her. Now that she took the initiative to add you as a friend and even sent you so many messages, do you understand the hidden implications?”

“…”

Sun Yuan was tongue-tied.

“Is her profile picture photoshopped?”

Zhen Yu asked.

“No!”

Sun Yuan did not know why Shen Jingran called herself Sunflower.

“Sheesh, do you know? Girls with her appearance would never reply beyond five words unless they were interested in the guy. That is because they have too many admirers; it’s too bothersome.”

Zhen Yu stretched out her small hand, “Just count how many words she typed; her admirers would go crazy.”

Sun Yuan looked at Zhen Yu as he thought she must have treated her admirers the same way.

“Ah, senior, why are you looking at me like that?”

Zhen Yu clarified, “Let me tell you that I always reject them directly. If I start dating, my two-million strong fanbase will turn on me.” 

As Sun Yuan and Zhen Yu chatted, Shen Jingran held her phone as she frowned.

What was going on?

A minute had almost passed, and there was still no reply.

It was abnormal.

It was an unpleasant feeling for Shen Jingran, who had never waited for a reply.

More importantly, what in the world was Sun Yuan thinking?

He had a beauty wanting to be his teammate but did not immediately agree.

Hmph!

Once he missed the opportunity, where would he find another willing goddess like her?

~~~

1 Great Saint Sun was a pun on Sun Yuan’s name and the nickname of Sun Wukong, the monkey king in journey to the west. 81 hardships were demanded of him by Buddha. 

~~~

*Support me on Ko-fi here and make sure you’re reading this on Moonlightnovels