My Romance Game Updated – Chapter 1

Love Game

“Eh?”

Ren Chenxi¹ was in the middle of a game. From next door, a faint gasp drifted over from her older brother. Since she wasn’t paying much attention to her own game, she didn’t hear it clearly and wondered if she was hearing things. Immediately after, a terrified howl erupted from the next room:

“Ahhhhh! When did I conquer Goddess Mu²? Didn’t I not play the game yesterday?! Also! Even though the Goddess has been conquered, why is there an extra Blackening Value³ bar under the Favorability Value⁴?! Blackening Value 100%??? Does that mean this love game is turning into a horror game?! A frenzied Yandere⁵ Goddess or something… I don’t want that!!!”

Listening to her brother’s increasingly tragic wails, Ren Chenxi shrugged guiltily.

That’s right. She was the one who secretly played the game for her brother yesterday while he was busy. But… when she returned to reality from the game, she hadn’t conquered the “Goddess Mu” that her brother talked about every day, had she? Ren Chenxi clearly remembered that she hadn’t been able to max out Goddess Mu’s Favorability Value for the longest time. Eventually, she simply planned to wander around the game world, stop being a Licking Dog⁶ guarding that wooden block of a Goddess all day, and relax herself as she was getting increasingly anxious. She took a break and went traveling!

It had to be said, with the rapid development of technology, these holographic games were becoming more and more realistic. So realistic that… during her time in the game, Ren Chenxi actually thought she had entered a real parallel world. Every day of life in the game felt completely authentic. Falling hurt, catching a cold meant getting sick, injuries bled, she needed water when thirsty, food when hungry, and sleep when tired… In short, whatever a normal human was like in the real world, Ren Chenxi was exactly the same in the game. If not for the ability to call up the game system panel at any time, Ren Chenxi would have truly believed that her gaming helmet malfunctioned while she was playing, shocking her into transmigrating to another world.

However, although she hadn’t transmigrated to another world, the terrifying part was that during that time, this damn game bugged out! When Ren Chenxi got sick of diligently grinding the Wooden Goddess’s favorability every day and wanted to force quit, she discovered in despair that she actually couldn’t log out!!! Helpless, Ren Chenxi could only shake off her fear as quickly as possible, pull herself together, and figure that she should hurry up and conquer the Wooden Goddess—maybe then she could exit the game. Thus, Ren Chenxi truly lived her game life as if it were reality.

Pity that human patience really had its limits. Especially when Ren Chenxi tirelessly ground for the Wooden Goddess’s favorability every day, only for the Goddess to be so high-and-mighty that she was stingy about giving even a single point of favorability. Ren Chenxi finally compromised. At the time, she thought, Forget it. She’s an aloof goddess after all. If I cling too tight, I’ll just annoy her. I might as well take advantage of the summer break before senior year to go traveling, then come back and restart the conquest.

As a result, once the trip started, Ren Chenxi got carried away. After all, this game world was just too realistic. The food and scenery everywhere fascinated her so much she almost forgot the mission to conquer the Wooden Goddess. When Ren Chenxi suddenly woke up in a hotel bed one day and remembered the mission, she was shocked to discover that two months of summer vacation had already passed. And she not only hadn’t returned to school, she hadn’t even asked for leave!

While frantically searching the room for her phone, she realized with hindsight that she had lost it a few days into her trip.

In this game world’s setting, smartphones weren’t popular yet, so naturally, people weren’t glued to their phones like in the real world. Therefore, when she realized her phone was missing back then, Ren Chenxi didn’t take it seriously. Instead, she felt an inexplicable sense of relief and lightness.

Great, the phone is lost. Finally, I don’t have to send text messages to “pay respects” to the Wooden Goddess every day. I can finally devote myself to traveling with peace of mind~

At that time, Ren Chenxi planned to enjoy herself for a while longer, then buy a new phone and replace the SIM card when summer vacation was nearly over. But she played so hard she forgot the time. She even joined a cycling group, heading all the way north to the great grasslands of N City. After witnessing the vastness of the grasslands, Ren Chenxi started heading south again, wanting to cycle to the seaside for a look. But before she could reach the coast, she remembered her mission.

Staring blankly at the digits on the virtual game panel, watching the seconds tick by, the joy and pleasure Ren Chenxi felt throughout the journey were peeled away layer by layer. The escapist mindset she held for these past few months also sobered up bit by bit.

Wasn’t it precisely that seemingly endless mission that made Ren Chenxi feel repressed and sad, driving her to use travel as a release? It was because she coveted the freedom of the journey that she forgot the time! But so what if the journey was free? In the end, couldn’t she still not escape this damn game mission? She could only continue to be bound within this damn game!!!

Recalling the despair she felt at that moment, Ren Chenxi, sitting in front of the computer, didn’t have the heart to play games anymore. Her eyes red, she looked around her almost unfamiliar room again and sighed softly.

Fortunately, she had finally broken free from the game and returned to reality.

As for how she escaped, Ren Chenxi was still baffled. Back then, she had wallowed in the hotel room for a long time before finally dragging herself out of bed in resignation. Although school had already been in session for over two months, Ren Chenxi still wanted to try and salvage the situation. First, buy a phone, then a SIM card, then call the counselor hoping for some leniency…

Whatever the case, conquering Goddess Mu was Ren Chenxi’s ultimate goal and the key to clearing the game and returning to the real world.

However, just as Ren Chenxi put the SIM card into her newly bought phone and turned it on, a call came in impatiently.

“Hello…” Ren Chenxi answered immediately without even looking at the caller ID. Having not returned to school for so long, it was probably her responsible counselor calling, right?

Then, before she could even hear a voice on the other end, her vision went black. When she opened her eyes again, Ren Chenxi found herself sitting at the computer desk in her brother’s room, wearing the holographic gaming helmet on her head.

Just like that, inexplicably, she was back. She subconsciously glanced at the time on the computer screen. Less than six hours had passed since she put on the helmet.

Heh, less than six hours in the real world. But I was trapped in the game world for over two years! From sophomore to junior year, it damn well forced me to properly experience college life again! The kind where I was forced to pursue a goddess!

This brain-dead love game was truly the longest, broken game she had ever played!

Ren Chenxi had actually prepared herself to be trapped in the game for even longer, but she just came back like this? Why the sudden return? Was the game bug suddenly patched? Or was it… related to that howl from her brother just now about the Wooden Goddess’s Favorability Value being maxed out?

Her brother next door was still howling non-stop. Ren Chenxi, unsettled, controlled her own game character to take two steps before finally putting down the controller. She stood up, deciding to investigate the situation next door.

Yeah, because of this experience of being trapped, Ren Chenxi didn’t dare use the holographic helmet for any holographic games right now.

“Ge⁷, what’s wrong?”

Ren Chenxi feigned innocence, showing concern for her dear brother while secretly peeking at the computer screen. Her brother wasn’t wearing a helmet; he simply had the game interface open to check the progress. And under that Wooden Goddess’s character info, the Favorability Value had indeed reached one hundred percent.

“Oho, Ge, did you finally succeed in conquering your goddess in the game?” So, is this the reason I could leave the game world and return to reality? Because the goddess was successfully conquered, I cleared the game?

“Conquest successful…” Ren Muhui⁸‘s voice was low, showing none of the joy of success. “It’s inexplicable. Goddess Mu’s favorability just filled up, but when I quit the game yesterday, it was clearly still zero! Could it be…” Ren Muhui spoke while casting a suspicious glance at Ren Chenxi. “Did you secretly play my game?”

“Ha? Me, play your broken love game? With that time, I’d rather go grind for equipment in my MMO!” Ren Chenxi lied to her brother with a straight face.

Seeing Ren Chenxi look so serious and dismissive, Ren Muhui frowned again. “But… the money I worked so hard to save in the game is more than half gone. When I quit yesterday, it was clearly… Right! Ren Chenxi, you’ve always liked secretly playing my save files and spending every cent of my hard-earned savings!!! Speak! You definitely touched my game, didn’t you!”

“…” As expected of her own brother. He really understood her!

The reason Ren Chenxi sneaked in to play this bullshit love game while Ren Muhui was away yesterday was, firstly, because she heard her brother wailing every day about how hard Goddess Mu was to conquer, which piqued her curiosity. She wanted to see for herself. The other reason was that her brother loved to hoard money like crazy in every game he played! Ren Chenxi found the prospect of spending money lavishly in a holographic game world very tempting! Thanks to her brother’s crazy hoarding, during the two-plus years she was trapped, not only did she not worry about food, drink, or tuition, but while other students had headaches finding internships, she could spend lavishly—riding top-tier bikes during her travels and staying in the most luxurious hotels.

As for how her brother hoarded so much money in this broken love game, although Ren Chenxi didn’t care, the rambling Ren Muhui in front of her had already spilled everything. Simply put, he used the SL Grand Method⁹—save, load, buy lottery tickets. To be more specific, save the day before the lottery draw, wait for the results, then load the save to buy the winning numbers.

So, isn’t getting rich by cheating in this game pretty easy? Why is he so heartbroken over it?

Ren Chenxi rolled her eyes speechlessly at her stingy brother. So what if I spent half the money? Can’t you just use the SL Grand Method to cheat and buy lottery tickets again? Worst case, I’ll help you next time… Wait!

When she was in the game world, where were the Save and Load functions? She didn’t even have an option to exit the game! Were she and her brother really playing the same game?!!!

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The author has something to say:

Hello, little cuties¹⁰, Happy New Year~ Long time no see~

New year, new atmosphere, and the author is out to dig a new pit~ Welcome, little cuties, come jump in the pit~

Finally, I wish all you little cuties everything goes your way in the new year, happy every day, safe and joyful for the whole year~

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