Chapter 97: I Want That Costume
It was Friday, and Lin Wenbin still didn’t go to school. No one knew where he was, except for Ye Ziming.
Somehow, Ye Ziming had found out that Lin Wenbin was currently under house arrest. He couldn’t go online and was forced to study all day. When she heard this, Lin Muqing gave him a silent three-second moment of sympathy. That sounded like being forced into study mode.
But after those three seconds, she quickly forgot about it and changed the topic to keep chatting with her good buddy.
“Online games? Why?”
It was lunchtime after school, and the two of them were walking home when Ye Ziming suddenly asked Lin Muqing if she played online games. She froze a bit, unsure why he suddenly brought this up.
“Sometimes I play.”
While thinking about it, she remembered the game she often played, where she controlled a cat-eared loli character just wandering around doing random things every day. But then she thought it didn’t really match her image of being a cheerful boy, so she decided not to mention that part.
“That popular online game recently, XX World, have you played it?”
“Uh… a little bit.”
She looked a bit awkward and avoided eye contact, because the game he mentioned was exactly the one she played all the time. What a coincidence… Could her good buddy be playing it too? she wondered.
“Not playing anymore?”
“Yeah, I quit.”
She forced herself to say she didn’t play anymore, even though the truth was, she logged in almost every night whenever she had free time. On one hand, she liked the character. After all, lolis are cute, who wouldn’t like them?
On the other hand, she really liked the game’s art style. It was totally her thing.
While they talked, Ye Ziming kept looking straight ahead, pretending not to notice anything, but secretly watching all of Lin Muqing’s little reactions.
“What a shame.”
“Huh?”
When she saw her good buddy sigh and look a little regretful, Lin Muqing blinked in confusion and looked at him.
“There’s a rare limited-time costume that just came out. I was thinking of gifting it to you, but too bad, you don’t play anymore.”
He sighed lightly as if he really was disappointed.
But only he knew the truth, when he said that, the corners of his mouth lifted a bit and his eyes sparkled strangely. He had hidden it well though, so Lin Muqing didn’t notice anything odd.
“Wait a sec! You’re talking about that one, the new ultra-cute one with a bit of a sexy vibe, the catgirl costume?!”
What surprised Ye Ziming was that as soon as she heard that, Lin Muqing suddenly got excited, a little too excited.
The new costume was designed with a touch of traditional Hanfu style. It showed off the shoulders and thighs and came with white stockings, exactly Lin Muqing’s weak spot.
Ever since it was released, she had been thinking about it every day, really wanting it. But it was a rare, limited-time costume, and buying it would cost a lot of money. She just couldn’t bring herself to spend that much.
And to make things worse, the deadline was this weekend. After that, it would be gone forever. Unless she somehow bought the game company.
“But didn’t you say you don’t play anymore?”
Seeing her reaction, Ye Ziming was first surprised, then squinted his eyes and smiled. At this moment, he looked a little sneaky.
“Uh…”
She froze. That’s when Lin Muqing finally realized her good buddy had set a trap, and she had stupidly taken the bait.
“Huh?”
Raising an eyebrow, Ye Ziming turned to look at the stunned Lin Muqing, his gaze filled with subtle meaning.
He had always known that a certain online user named "CuteLoliAddict" had wanted that outfit for a long time but couldn’t bring herself to buy it. And now, yet another "coincidence" had popped up. Yeah, he wasn’t buying it.
“I-I mean, just because I don’t play anymore doesn’t mean I don’t keep up with the news!”
After spacing out for a moment, Lin Muqing racked her brain for a while and finally came up with a cute way to get out of the situation.
She tilted her head up slightly and smiled goofily at her good buddy, as if saying, I’m just an innocent sunshine boy, I don’t know anything~
“Alright then, if you don’t play anymore, I’ll just drop it.”
Ye Ziming smiled as he looked at Lin Muqing, who was pretending to be clueless, and didn’t ask any further. He just looked away and started walking toward his house, acting like nothing had happened.
He wasn’t in any hurry, because he knew the limited outfit would be gone for good after this weekend. If you missed it, you'd have to buy the entire game company to get it.
Yep, this little test went perfectly. Ye Ziming silently gave himself a thumbs-up.
“Emmm…”
Trailing behind him, Lin Muqing looked troubled, as if something was weighing on her mind.
She kept thinking about that outfit, on the way home, while eating, resting on the couch, even lying in bed for a nap. It was like sticky candy in her head, something she just couldn’t get rid of.
On one side was her image, her "sunshine boy" persona, and on the other was that super cute outfit. It was a tough choice.
Wait a second… how did he know I wanted the catgirl outfit?
While lying in bed deep in thought, Lin Muqing suddenly realized something odd.
Thinking back, her good buddy had only mentioned "the new limited outfit." He never said which one, or which character it was for. But she had immediately blurted out the catgirl outfit herself.
“…Wait, WHAT?!”
The more she thought about it, the more terrifying it felt. Are city folks really this sneaky?! That’s way too scary~
With that realization, Lin Muqing sat straight up in bed, her face full of shock.
[Mumu-chan: Oh no! I think my friend figured out that I’ve been playing that game…]
Not long after, she opened QQ and started complaining to her online friends about what had just happened. But she only told a censored version, no important details.
She didn’t say anything about her and Ye Ziming’s real-life friendship or the fact they were both students.
[Old Iron: It’s just a game. Why are you so afraid of people finding out?]
[Mumu-chan: Yeah, but it’s the character I’m playing that’s the problem! If people find out I love playing a loli character, what will they think of me?!]
While chatting, she also didn’t mention the fact that her good buddy had wanted to buy her that outfit.
She just casually talked with her online friends, or more accurately, used the topic to steer the conversation toward how she was feeling kinda down and needed… spicy images to cheer herself up.
And of course, the result? Lin Muqing got flooded with a bunch of saucy pics and was more than satisfied.
Not that she knew where her online friend even got those images from. They were from chat logs, so maybe he had joined some spicy meme groups or something.
[Mumu-chan: I feel better now~ Good afternoon, doggo ❤️]