“Little Li, I’m sleepy. I’m logging off first. See you tomorrow, remember to rest early too.”
By midnight, Aiya was yawning so hard she nearly brought her axe down on Li Xunsi’s head.
Finally, she couldn’t hold on and logged off.
After that, Aiya and her little manor vanished.
The multiplayer system in this game was pretty interesting.
Each player’s territory was like a square, and when you played together, the plots would connect.
“See you.”
Li Xunsi continued carrying her hoe, holding an axe, scavenging alone in the woods.
A game with zero technical content, but she was having a blast, wishing she could scavenge the entire forest clean.
The setup for Summer Manor was that, except for what’s inside your manor fence, the outside environment and resources would refresh randomly every day.
So if you didn’t want your stuff to disappear, you had to store everything inside your manor.
And the fence could be upgraded and expanded; eventually, you could upgrade your Little Wooden House into a real big manor.
But the server had just opened, so turning the Little Wooden House into a manor was a long way off.
You could only take it one step at a time.
But maybe that’s the charm of this silly little game?
It’s human nature to be a hoarder.
Sure enough, Li Xunsi got addicted, playing through the whole night again, piling up a mountain of materials in front of her Little Wooden House.
But dawn was breaking, and she had to go to school.
There was no time to sort out the materials, so she’d deal with them after coming home that night.
***
Li Xunsi reluctantly took off her Dreamscape Mechanical Eyemask, groggily made her way to school, and flopped down on her desk to sleep.
Anyway, no one dared say anything to her.
To be honest, she didn’t look like a delinquent girl at all.
The rebellious look was just an act—inside, she was a hardcore internet addict.
As usual, she slept straight through to noon.
Li Xunsi woke up hungry just as the lunch bell rang, more accurate than any alarm clock.
She got up and went to eat.
She went to the cafeteria and ordered a bowl of tonkotsu ramen, slurping noodles while playing on her Mobile Phone.
Now, Li Xunsi had to carry two Mobile Phones everywhere—one for gaming, one for work.
It was such a hassle that she was forced to wear a sports waist pouch.
The waist pouch really didn’t match her rebellious bad-girl vibe, but who cared—comfort came first.
That was its own kind of rebellion.
But after a few bites, someone came up to her.
“Li, can we eat lunch together?” The class beauty, An Classmate, held her tray and asked with a polite smile.
“?” Li Xunsi’s face soured at once, remembering how these people had set her up before.
She quickly put away her phone, but didn’t refuse An Classmate a seat.
“Li, I want to apologize for what happened with Bai Ni and Huang Juncai last time.” An Classmate sat across from Li Xunsi, set her tray down, and sat gracefully.
“I’m not a murderer or anything. As long as you don’t mess with me, I won’t mess with you. Let’s just mind our own business,” Li Xunsi said.
“Li, you’re really funny.” An Classmate was amused.
Li Xunsi didn’t reply further.
She had no interest in chatting with the shining class beauty.
She focused on her tonkotsu ramen, took out her phone stand, and propped up her Mobile Phone to watch strategy videos.
She was watching Summer Manor guides.
As the hottest new Dream Game, nobody cared about it before launch, but now the internet was flooded with tips and tricks.
“Are you playing Dream Realm?” An Classmate asked.
“Why else do you think I nap at school every day? I’m a Dream Realm pro,” Li Xunsi replied.
“Mm~” An Classmate’s tone was meaningful.
“I’m full. You eat slowly. Bye.” Li Xunsi finished eating and left, not thinking too much about it, nor planning to get close to this woman.
That afternoon, she went to the swimming club. Yesterday was finger strength training; today was stamina training.
The girls’ swim team happened to be practicing today too, so she could have some fun beating them.
Free sparring partners—good deal for them.
Her evening routine was the same as yesterday: dinner with Aiya, then gaming at home.
The only difference was that she didn’t go shoot people in the Dream Realm anymore, but chose to start virtual farming.
***
Time passed like this for a while, with Miss Feng still selling dreams to Aiya and Li Xunsi.
The Dating App was still under maintenance, with no sign of service resuming.
What on earth were they upgrading for so long?
Li Xunsi actually started to miss those days in the Private Server Dream Realm, clawing at people—losers losing dignity, winners savoring the thrill of conquest.
That was real combat.
Now, every night she was farming, expanding her little manor.
The fence had grown several rings, and her territory had greatly increased.
But Li Xunsi didn’t seem to have much talent for decorating.
Her little manor looked like a construction site, with materials piled everywhere in a mess—not pretty at all.
But that was the judgment of a true gaming pro: in farming games, the first priority was always to expand your storage, enlarge your warehouse, then slowly build your home and polish the details.
Right now, upgrading the fence required a ton of wood.
Unless you paid up, there was no way to upgrade any further.
But Li Xunsi was a loyal Freeloader, in other words, a non-paying player.
Her manor was big enough for now, so she could start building other items.
“Wow! You upgraded again? How many livers do you have?” Guinea pig Aiya logged on and exclaimed.
Their two little manors were already connected, but Li Xunsi’s had expanded several times more than Aiya’s.
“Your house next to mine looks like a toilet,” Li Xunsi taunted.
But despite the teasing, they enabled Family Multiplayer Mode, combining the two manors.
Even if the neighbor wasn’t online, both could wander into each other’s manors and borrow materials, so only really close friends would open up that permission.
“Boss, please carry me! Give me some wood!” Aiya wasn’t mad—she even shamelessly begged for materials, clinging to Li Xunsi’s leg.
“Yesterday you said this was a game for casual players like you.” Li Xunsi gave her a disdainful look, but still handed over the materials.
She was basically carrying the load for two, running both manors by herself.
But that wasn’t quite right—a single manor wasn’t enough to play with; it was built in no time.
And in this kind of game, materials weren’t worth much.
The point was the emotional value, the fun, and playing together with friends.
“I’m off to mine. You organize the stuff, okay?” Li Xunsi said, hefting a Pickaxe and heading out.
“OK, I’ll have it all sorted before you’re back!” Guinea pig Aiya patted her chest in promise.
But Aiya wasn’t just mooching.
After all, she was a stylish girl with a touch of OCD, and her favorite thing was to decorate the manor neatly, paying attention to every detail—since she’d be taking pictures later.
That wasn’t something rough girls like Li Xunsi were good at; she was better at grinding for resources.