Today, when Zheng Xiaoguang got online and teamed up with Bluegreen-Clad and his friends as usual, Li Lei suddenly asked for a leave. She was surprised, as Li Lei logged onto the game on time every day and could be considered the most hard-working deputy gang boss of the year.

Li Lei: Bluegreen-Clad, I can only be online once in a while at night this week. Please allow me to take a leave and manage the gang by yourself this week.

Bluegreen-Clad: You can’t take a leave without giving me a reasonable explanation.

Li Lei: [Vomiting Blood] I have to take this leave to handle an important thing which will affect me for the rest of my life. Is this a reasonable explanation?

Flowing Light: Huh?

Han Meimei: Uhm, Li Lei is going to come to my home to meet my parents~

Zheng Xiaoguang was surprised upon seeing that message. She had heard about the romantic relationship between Han Meimei and Li Lei in real life a long time ago but had never expected that they would have intended to get married so soon.

Flowing Light: Congratulations~

Han Meimei: Sigh, I kept begging my parents for a long time before they agreed to meet Li Lei. People their age just don’t trust our online friends.

Li Lei: Given this, I have to behave well to impress them. Boss, you understand it, don’t you?

Bluegreen-Clad: As a single dog, I don’t understand. (“Single dog” is a Chinese Internet slang used by single people to mock themselves.)

Li Lei: What? Don’t you have Flowing Light now? You’ll meet this problem sooner or later. Just be considerate, please.

Zheng Xiaoguang felt awkward upon seeing that and thought, “Hey, why do you drag me into this thing?”

Flowing Light: You know what, Li Lei. The relationship between Bluegreen-Clad and me is very different from the one between Meimei and you…

Bluegreen-Clad: Now you see. I’m a single dog.

Li Lei: Huh? Are you serious, boss? Even I’ve succeeded in getting Meimei. Why haven’t you gotten Flowing Light? You two have been together for a quite long time.

Zheng Xiaoguang sighed secretly, “Alas, we’re just good friends, and he never chases after me.” When she was about to explain this thing to Li Lei, she saw a message from Bluegreen-Clad.

Bluegreen-Clad: Well, if you manage to make Flowing Light promise to be my girlfriend in real life, I’ll grant you a leave. I’ll even allow you to take a marriage leave and a paternity leave in the future.

…

Later on, Han Meimei had a private talk with Zheng Xiaoguang. Zheng Xiaoguang felt really awkward.

“Don’t you like our gang boss, Flowing Light? Just tell me the truth. This is between us. I won’t tell them,” asked Han Meimei.

“Uhm…” Zheng Xiaoguang felt somewhat embarrassed and said, “I really want to help Li Lei to get his leave request granted, Meimei, but…”

“Hey, who kind of person do you think I am? I won’t force you to become our gang boss’ girlfriend in real life just to get his leave request granted. I’m just curious. Don’t you think that Bluegreen-Clad and you are well-matched just like Li Lei and me?” said Han Meimei.

“Bluegreen-Clad…” Zheng Xiaoguang sighed secretly and thought of that kiss again.

She asked Han Meimei, “Is this the first time you’ve fallen in love with someone you met on the Internet, Meimei?”

“Yes. Is there anything wrong?” said Han Meimei.

Zheng Xiaoguang was lost in thought. “When I first fell in love with someone I met online, I was full of expectation just like Meimei. I used to think that I found the love of my life…”

She gently closed her eyes, and that person’s final words still rang in her ears.

He dumped her mercilessly and said, “We should never have been together.”

She took a deep breath and said, “To be frank, Meimei, I’ve once fallen in love with someone I met in an online game, but I was not as lucky as you, so…”

Upon hearing that, Han Meimei sighed secretly, “So, she has been betrayed before.”

She had never expected Flowing Light to suddenly tell her such a secret. She felt somewhat awkward and said, “I’m sorry, Flowing Light. I never mean to remind you of your ex.”

“That’s fine,” Flowing Light chuckled and said. “I’m alright now.”

“Then, what about you and Bluegreen-Clad?” Han Meimei hesitantly asked.

Zheng Xiaoguang plucked up her courage and said, “Bluegreen-Clad treats me well. I’ll accompany him until he quits this game.”

She thought, “This is what I can do now. I’m really not sure whether I should love him.”

“I think that you’d better carefully reconsider your relationship with Bluegreen-Clad, Flowing Light. Although I don’t know what happened to you before, I think Bluegreen-Clad is a well principled guy. If… I just want to say if you really like him, you’d better seize the opportunity when it arises,” said Han Meimei.

Zheng Xiaoguang remained silent.

Han Meimei continued, “Yes, you can play the game together with him, but you should understand that people come and go quickly in an online game. Once you stop playing this game, you probably won’t be able to meat each other again.”

After a moment of silence, Zheng Xiaoguang said, “Thank you, Meimei. Just give me some time to think about it.”

After talking with Han Meimei, she made her character Flowing Light mount her white phoenix and fly to the Dreamland, which was the most beautiful place on the map of Shiny Sky. As flying mounts were really expensive in this game, now she could see only Flowing Light flying in the sky above the Dreamland.

When Flowing Light flew above the blue lake in the Dreamland, she clicked her mouse to let Flowing Light fall into the lake. When the screen turned blue, she felt an inexplicable stabbing pain in her chest.

She wondered, “What if it had been Bluegreen-Clad that I had fallen in love with before? If I had never met that guy, I would’ve probably been more brave now.

“But no one is able to change what happened before in real life. Although I always pretend to be alright, every time I think of him, I know that I have been lying to myself all this time.”

About five minutes later, Bluegreen-Clad dived in the lake to find Flowing Light.

At the bottom of the blue lake, he picked her up and then walked step by step to the shore of the lake while carrying her. (A couple would automatically respond to each other’s emotes in the game.)

Bluegreen-Clad: Why did you come here alone?

Flowing Light: Um… I just came to enjoy the scenery.

Bluegreen-Clad: Let’s enjoy the scenery together.

Bluegreen-Clad summoned his white phoenix and invited Flowing Light to fly together with her. The next moment, they flew together above the Dreamland.

Suddenly, the white phoenix chirped, made a 360-degree turn and flew toward the pink sun of the Dreamland. Clouds began fleeting away, and then the screen was filled with wonderfully dazzling pink light.

Flowing Light: What’s that?

Bluegreen-Clad: This is a skill of the flying mount. When you’re riding the white crane, you can click the button in the lower right corner of the screen to activate this special effect.

Zheng Xiaoguang was surprised. “Is there such a special effect?” Since receiving this white phoenix from Bluegreen-Clad, she had never carefully studied its skills.

Flowing Light: That’s amazingly beautiful.

Bluegreen-Clad: So, let’s try it again.

The white phoenix sped up again. Zheng Xiaoguang could hear its wings flapping when it was making a 360-degree turn again. She made Flowing Light tightly hold Bluegreen-Clad and watched the clothes of the two characters fluttering in the wind.

When the special effect was over and the white phoenix was flying steadily above the lake again, she finally asked Bluegreen-Clad by sending a message: I’m wondering if you were joking just now. You deliberately said that to tease Li lei, didn’t you?

Bluegreen-Clad: What do you think?

Zheng Xiaoguang firmly believed that a guy like him would not lack a girlfriend in real life.

She laughed scornfully at herself and asked him another question: Are you really planning to stop him from meeting Han Meimei’s parents? It’s not easy to find someone you love in an online game and develop a relationship with that person in real life.

Bluegreen-Clad: Do you think that a virtual relationship can become real?

Flowing Light: Of course! Even if we quit this game someday, we’ll still be friends, right?

Zheng Xiaoguang believed that all online and offline encounters were predestinated, but she was just not brave enough to expect too much from Bluegreen-Clad now. She thought that if she did not have high expectations of him, she would not feel hurt.