During the demo trial, he met Lili because his character was sick, then went to the hospital for treatment, and coincidentally encountered a character that could be pursued.
Is it necessary to use the same method?
But this isnât reality!
In reality, you can pretend to be sick and wander around the hospital without being sick, but whether your character is sick in the game isnât up to the player.
The system says youâre sick, so even if youâre not, youâve got to be sick; if the system says youâre not sick, youâll get kicked out of the hospital...
An extremely headache-ridden Zhang Pengfei decided to stick to the old ways, first finding a low-threshold job to bide his time, and then slowly wait for the character to get sick.
But he forgot something!
This is a roguelike game with a high degree of randomness.
When he, based on experience, finally waited until his character got sick and went to the hospital full of joy, he discovered that the doctor had changed!
Whereâs Lili?
Whereâs my Lili? How did it turn into an old geezer giving me treatment?
Help, help!
Zhang Pengfei initiated a request for help, and soon two players responded to him, entering his game world.
"Why are there only two people?"
"The server just opened, everyone is exploring, who would specifically help others at this time?"
"Makes sense!"
Zhang Pengfei nodded, feeling that this guy named "Donât Eat Tomatoes" made a good point.
Apart from "Donât Eat Tomatoes," another player named "Lin" spoke up.
"Whatâs the situation on your end?"
"A...girl?!"
Hearing the gentle female voice in the voice channel, Zhang Pengfei and Donât Eat Tomatoes were both shocked.
"Is it that strange?"
Lin didnât seem to expect such a big reaction from the two, and said speechlessly, "This game isnât just for you guys, canât girls play too?"
Thatâs true.
After the surprise, Zhang Pengfei and Donât Eat Tomatoes realized that, indeed, the game also had an otome mode, and players could choose male or female characters before creating their avatars.
They just subconsciously thought the players of this game were all men, so they were surprised upon encountering Lin.
"Itâs like this..."
Although the female strategist seemed unreliable, Zhang Pengfei decided to trust first, question later.
So he explained the situation.
Knowing that Zhang Pengfei was a beta tester, trying to use his beta experience to pursue the "Lili" character, but finding that the beta experience was useless, the two offered him suggestions.
The first suggestion was to apply to be a doctor!
This was the most reliable plan since wanting to pursue Lili meant creating opportunities for contact, becoming colleagues, and having proximity.
The second suggestion was to keep waiting!
If the first time being sick, it wasnât Lili treating him, then just wait for the character to get sick again, it should be someone else next time.
"What if I never meet her?"
"Then keep waiting! The character gets sick pretty often, so waiting it out should eventually work."
Zhang Pengfei thought about it, but realized he couldnât score 90 on the doctor application, so continuing to wait was more reliable.
So he nodded and said, "Alright then, Iâll keep waiting for the character to get sick and then go to the hospital for a look, thanks for your help!"
"No problem, let us know if you make any progress."
Donât Eat Tomatoes left.
Lin didnât rush to exit, instead wandering around in Zhang Pengfeiâs game world.
This made Zhang Pengfei very curious, asking her what she was sightseeing for, isnât it all the same?
"Itâs different!"
"Iâm playing as a female character, youâre playing as a male character. While the map and scenery are the same, I havenât seen these NPCs."
"I see."
Zhang Pengfei realized that because different players encountered different random NPCs, she stayed to wander around.
He had nothing else to do anyway.
With a mind full of thoughts about Lili, hoping his character would quickly get sick to meet Lili at the hospital, Zhang Pengfei was also very bored, so he just accompanied Lin to stroll around.
"The Love Advisor Department" map is quite large.
On this map, thousands of NPCs live. Among these NPCs, only a very few can be pursued by players, most are just for issuing tasks, serving as the gameâs background characters.
"What is the otome version like?"
Zhang Pengfei was curious about what "The Love Advisor Department" Lin played was like compared to his.
"Very different!"
"Iâm a kindergarten teacher there, and all the characters around me that can be pursued are guys..."
Lin explained the difference between the female and male protagonist perspectives, one being an otome dating game, the other a male-focused dating game, with quite a noticeable difference.
"Sounds alright!"
Zhang Pengfei, never having played an otome game before, was eager to know what kind of handsome men Lin encountered.
"There are many, domineering CEOs, warm men, cold guys, and childhood friend brothers..."
As they chatted, the conversation opened up, and they started asking about each otherâs ideal types and their reasons for playing the game.
"Not much really!"
"I just feel that the current climate isnât great, so I donât really want to date through blind dates, just playing the game to pass time." Zhang Pengfei said casually.
Heâs always been straightforward.
Even with Lin being a girl, he wasnât shy at all, telling her straight that the current climate is not so good, with women wanting a car and a house for dating.
"Yes, indeed the climate is very bad."
He thought Lin might stand on the womenâs side and rebut his complaints, but unexpectedly, she agreed with him.
"Huh? You donât refute?"
"What you said is true, why should I refute it?" Lin said frankly. "When my parents got married, my dad was still wearing clothes with patches."
"They had nothing back then, but still lived happily. My mom always said she married a good husband..."
"Times have changed."
Zhang Pengfei couldnât help but smirk, "The marriage standards of that era wouldnât work now."
Back then, people often married first and fell in love later; a suitable match meant a lifetime together, following the saying: marry a chicken, follow the chicken; marry a dog, follow the dog...
Nowadays, thatâs not in vogue.
Forget about getting married in patched and torn clothes, even dressing like that for a blind date would see the girl turn and leave, without the need for further conversation.
"The game is quite detailed, you can even interact with street food vendors!"
"Really?"
Zhang Pengfei hadnât noticed this at all, having always thought these NPCs with pushcarts selling things couldnât be interacted with.
When he got closer, he discovered there really were interaction options.
This was an NPC uncle selling jianbing guozi, with a pushcart looking exactly like those in real life. Interacting with him, you could spend 5 yuan to buy a jianbing guozi.
"This is the first time Iâm buying this kind of street food in a game, and itâs a jianbing guozi..."
After Zhang Pengfei bought the jianbing guozi and was considering what it would be used for, he suddenly saw an additional interaction option appear on the screen.
"I bought this for you; give it a try!"
What did that mean?
He was very familiar with such interaction options, having previously seen something similar when inviting Lili out to eat.
But the problem was...
He hadnât tried to pursue any NPC! Besides the uncle selling jianbing guozi, only he and Lin were present.
Where did this interaction option come from?
It couldnât possibly be an interaction option to return the newly bought jianbing guozi to the NPC uncle with a smile and say: "I bought this for you; try it!"
He couldnât stand it, couldnât hold in his laughter.
Zhang Pengfei figured even if Ba was brainless, he probably wouldnât have created such an outrageous design, this wasnât "Divine Grace Continent," how could everyone be pursued?
Since it wasnât the jianbing uncle, then it must be...
Holding onto a try-and-see mentality, Zhang Pengfei clicked on the interaction button.
"I bought this for you; give it a try!"
"General Fei Peng" gently handed the jianbing guozi in his hand to "Lin" beside him.
The voice channel fell silent.
Who knows how long later, when Lin came back to her senses and clicked accept, looking at the jianbing guozi in her hand, she suddenly said: "I have something to attend to, Iâll log off now! Bye-bye!"
"Iâll log off too..."
The atmosphere was too awkward, and Zhang Pengfei felt like he was about to claw into the ground with his toes.
How could this interaction happen?
Ba, where are you? Ba, come out and explain, what on earth is this bizarre interaction all about?