Chapter 69: Old Place

Jiang Ran left Gu Ge’s room.

Her footsteps were light, making almost no sound.

Back in her own bedroom, Jiang Ran’s mind was in turmoil.

‘What exactly is my relationship with Gu Ge now? It’s so confusing.’

She always felt Gu Ge seemed unwilling to tell her something.

Otherwise, why would a young woman pester another girl to call her “Mom”?

This wasn’t Valorant.

It was too strange.

If it weren’t for this being part of the original plot, she’d suspect she and Gu Ge had met playing Valorant.

After adjusting her state for a while, Jiang Ran seemed to understand.

‘Maybe this is Gu Ge’s special kink.’

After all, she’d seen such people on the internet before.

They looked normal on the surface, but their hidden kinks were weirder than the XP system.

Jiang Ran opened the APP and found that after improving her relationship with Gu Ge, the system had rewarded her with a Performance-Type skill.

[New Skill Acquired: Micro-Expression Control]

Allows for finer control over one’s micro-expressions.

But Jiang Ran wasn’t satisfied with this result.

‘Doesn’t this just mean I have to keep lying?’

She was a bit surprised Gu Ge hadn’t used Hypnosis on her just now.

Could it be that getting a character to share secrets without using their Ability would earn some system rewards?

Jiang Ran didn’t understand.

And now, the most troublesome issue was Tao Kuxue.

She seemed like she wanted to strip Jiang Ran bare.

Jiang Ran now felt Tao Kuxue was very strange, like a weird older sister, always talking about odd things.

Moreover, Jiang Ran still couldn’t imagine how Tao Kuxue and Su Wanqing had been close friends before.

Their personalities were completely different.

How could you tell?

As Jiang Ran was thinking this, a new message appeared on her phone.

This time, it was from Bai Ranran.

Bai Ranran had sent her many photos of cats.

Accompanying them was a text: “Jiang Ran, if you feel cold, looking at these cats might warm you up.”

Opening the photos, Jiang Ran saw they included silver shaded cats and some Ragdoll cats.

The Ragdolls Bai Ranran bought even had superior pedigrees, not on the same level as the other cats.

She just found it amazing, as if she’d entered a wealthy family.

“So many cats! Are all these yours?”

“Not entirely. Some are rescues. Want to video call?”

Bai Ranran called.

Jiang Ran initially wanted to hang up, but after thinking about it, considering Bai Ranran’s mood had been quite stable lately, she decided to answer.

On the other end of the screen, Bai Ranran was holding a cat, smiling at the camera.

Jiang Ran also smiled and waved at the screen.

“These cats have been especially clingy to me lately. Every time I feed them, they follow me around like I can’t shake them off,” Bai Ranran chattered about trivial matters, as if discussing daily life.

“Maybe they just like you. You have almost seven cats now, right?”

“A few more than that. When I had more before, there were several extra. Recently, I felt having too many meant I couldn’t take care of them all properly, so I don’t keep as many anymore.”

“I see. It feels weird seeing you on video; you look flat.”

“If you’re not satisfied, how about I take a taxi to see you right now?”

“Let’s not do that.”

Jiang Ran suddenly realized she was talking nonsense again.

‘I should be avoiding her, not inviting her over.’

“It’s nothing. I’m just not very used to talking on the phone, especially video calls.”

Bai Ranran nodded, her pink, plump lips parting.

“I’m not very used to it either. I saw online that’s how long-distance relationships work.”

“What kind of stuff are you watching? You’d be better off watching something positive. I’m just here to see the cats, not you.”

Jiang Ran’s gaze fell on Bai Ranran’s displeased expression.

“Jiang Ran, you’re so mean. Am I not as good-looking as the cats? You only like looking at cats.”

“Cats are so cute. How could anyone not like cats?”

Jiang Ran continued to ignore Bai Ranran.

The latter was getting a bit anxious this time, wanting to say something but afraid of annoying Jiang Ran further, so she could only let out a pained whimper.

“Alright, I’m joking. You’re the cutest, okay?”

Jiang Ran and Bai Ranran chatted for a long time until Bai Ranran got sleepy and was willing to hang up.

Bai Ranran had even suggested Jiang Ran coax her to sleep, but Jiang Ran firmly refused.

‘If I keep coaxing Bai Ranran to sleep, where would I put my dignity?’

“Alright, goodnight.”

Jiang Ran put down her phone.

On the other end, Bai Ranran looked at the darkened screen, feeling vexed but unable to pinpoint why.

Jiang Ran was already treating her much better than before.

That was significant progress.

If she got any greedier…

‘…it probably wouldn’t be long before I could have Jiang Ran’s company whenever I wanted.’

But still, not being able to sleep while hugging Jiang Ran was so frustrating.

If she tried a little harder, maybe Jiang Ran would be willing to accompany her.

Two figures seemed to appear in Bai Ranran’s mind, fighting each other.

She was still agonizingly conflicted.

Sighing, Bai Ranran forced herself to calm down.

She walked past the cats in her white stockings, patted the loose fur off her legs, and then collapsed onto the sofa.

The feeling of physical exhaustion became overwhelming at that moment, as if her neck was about to break.

Bai Ranran scrolled through her phone, looking at the photos she had taken of Jiang Ran—specifically, the ones from during the Blessing Ritual.

She felt incredibly satisfied.

‘I should have taken more.’

Bai Ranran hadn’t taken many pictures of Jiang Ran.

She didn’t know when she’d be able to invite Jiang Ran out next.

Meanwhile, Jiang Ran was trying to figure out how to remove the buff the APP had given her.

[Fertility Aura: Your fertility will be exceptionally high in the near future.]

“What kind of ridiculous buff is this? Are you sure the game didn’t glitch?”

Looking at this description, Jiang Ran felt her vision go dark.

If it were a different talent, she wouldn’t say anything, but what the hell was this “Fertility Aura”?

Was this definitely not a mistaken buff?

Jiang Ran thought this APP was stupid, always giving out these weird, bizarre things.

After a brief pause, Jiang Ran continued.

“And why did it increase my Charm again? Though it did add some Focus.”

“My pain tolerance threshold has also increased!”

Pondering over this set of explanations, thoughts churned violently in Jiang Ran’s mind.

‘Damn, this is definitely a fake game. I want a refund now.’

In this APP, how could completing tasks come with punishments?

What kind of reward was this?

This was purely a penalty.

Jiang Ran really wanted to uninstall the APP.

Just as she was about to do so, a new message appeared in her inbox.

Tao Kuxue: Jiang Ran, it’s been raining lately.

Don’t come.

Wait until the rain stops.

Old place!