Volume 3, Chapter 75 – The Extra Ten Days

In one generous go, Anran increased Li Zhuying’s favorability by 10 points.

That “explosive” jump in favorability let Li Zhuying see hope, so she was in an extremely good mood now, practically floating as she walked.

As soon as she got back to her residence, she logged off without hesitation.

There was no way she could write anything right now anyway. Once she logged off, all she had to do was wait one day before coming back to continue grinding Anran’s favorability!

Anran was in a fairly good mood as well.

She had temporarily put a stop to a pervert’s perverted behavior, and, more or less, gained herself another little ATM princess. She could also observe whether Li Zhuying was trustworthy and whether she could be cultivated into a spokesperson.

As for the matter of unwashed panties, Anran was not some shy, innocent girl.

She was a girl Mechanic with a looming crisis on her heels, so naturally she did not attach that much importance to things like this.

It was not as if it were her chastity, and besides, Li Zhuying was a very pretty girl no matter how you looked at it.

For the time being, Anran set the matter aside.

After Li Zhuying’s interruption, there was still one hour left before the game update maintenance.

With a sense of anticipation, Anran quickly arrived at her doorstep.

It was evening. Under normal circumstances, Aila would already be home by this time.

She opened the door and gave the handle a light push.

The moment she stepped inside, Anran saw Aila sitting in front of the computer.

What was Aila doing online today?

With that thought in mind, Anran quietly walked over.

Ever since she had learned how to use a computer, Aila had occupied the family’s computer.

But despite her overflowing curiosity, Aila had not gone browsing any strange websites.

Instead, she had been diligently using the internet for self-study.

For example, today—

As soon as Anran walked over, she saw that Aila was studying fighting techniques!

“Hey-ha!”

“Thump!”

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“Bang!”

An uppercut.

A flying kick.

A crossed-arm guard.

A sweeping leg.

A body lock.

Time passed slowly. Just as the match was about to reach its end, the busty girl on the right suddenly grabbed the burly man’s shoulder in front of her and executed a throw.

Whoosh—

As the body rose into the air, the screen slowed down too.

The big man’s health bar hit bottom all the same.

K.O.

Victory. Aila’s ranking had gone up by another thirteen places.

“…”

Had she already become this strong? Anran still remembered that just two days ago, Aila had been beaten so badly by other people that she could not fight back at all, and now she was already climbing the ladder on the rankings.

Aila casually started another round on her own.

She had actually already noticed that Anran was standing behind her. But since it was Anran, there was no need to be so formal.

Anran shook her head helplessly, put her things down, and decided to prepare dinner first.

Fortunately, Aila, who was immersed in learning, had not completely turned into an “internet-addicted girl.” She really was studying seriously and putting in genuine effort. It was just that there seemed to be something of a deviation in the way she was learning.

Though both counted as playing a “game,” if it were the device Nine Songs used for assessments, that really would have a tremendous effect.

Tonight’s dinner was stir-fried titanium alloy…

No, it was stir-fried salted fish and steamed titanium alloy.

After dinner, Anran checked the time.

There were fifteen minutes left.

She tidied up the dishes in an orderly manner.

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Next came the usual time to wash up.

Anran did not sit around stupidly in some corner waiting for the maintenance update to arrive.

Not wasting time.

That was Anran’s rule for doing things.

She took a change of clothes, walked into the bathroom, took off her clothes, and started showering.

Five-minute countdown.

Three minutes.

Warm water washed over Anran’s body. Her eyes remained open, and even while bathing she did not forget to keep an eye on the time.

One minute.

Minus one minute.

Even allowing for some deviation, if the announcement time was taken as the starting point, then it should be now.

But it seemed that nothing had happened.

Anran turned off the hot water.

She leaned against the wall, paying no attention at all to the fact that she was currently wearing nothing. Droplets of water ran down along her fair skin.

Just like that, Anran opened the game forum.

She entered the Night of the Stars General Chat Section.

This subforum had always been the liveliest place.

[Holy crap, I was just getting to the fun part with an NPC missy, and I got forcibly logged out. Give me back my missy!]

[I even wanted to see whether a bug would let me stay in the game permanently and turn into an NPC. Guess not.]

[Logged out, logged out. We’ll fight again tomorrow.]

[True warriors don’t need a logout function. Let me back in already!]

[Doctor, doctor, the guy upstairs has relapsed. Hurry up and drag him out for electrotherapy.]

…

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It looked like all the players had been forcibly logged out.

The game had entered maintenance-update status.

And even so, she herself could still move around normally.

In other words, the wheels of history would not stop turning just because the game was updating. During the time when the players were absent, she would still be participating in every story.

Didn’t that mean she could use this empty stretch of time to grow stronger?

Strong enough that when the players returned, they could only look up at her.

In a minor version update, the gap might only be a matter of a dozen days or so.

But if it were a major version update tied to a major event—

For example, the transition from Version 1.0 to Version 2.0—how large would that span of time be?

To let players experience more plot, the amount of time crossed by that sort of update absolutely would not be small.

She would grow stronger, but her lifespan…

Actually, that was not something she needed to think about right now.

Leaving aside the fact that she was apparently slated to become the final BOSS of Version 2.0.

Lifespan could not restrain the truly powerful in the starsea.

Even if she could not find a way to extend her life, then in the end, turning herself into a robot like Aila was not impossible either. That would count as another way of continuing to exist.

It was just that if only the memories were the same, was that person really still the same person?

Why think so much?

Anran closed the game forum.

Then she continued showering.

She absolutely had to make good use of this extra time she had compared to the players.

And the fastest way to level up was, of course, to go hammer Morningstar.

That base…

…

Anran packed up her things and took what she needed with her as she headed for the base.

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For the time being, there was nothing else she particularly wanted to make.

She would first report the information she had learned from Zhou Jieyu, then see how the situation developed.

Aila only set out after Anran had already left.

That was because Anran had forgotten to tell her that players would not be showing up for the time being.

Aila still remembered that she had to go mind the shop.

She was wearing the new clothes Anran had bought for her.

It was a delicate white-and-pink dress with a short jacket over it.

On her legs were long white over-the-knee socks, without exposing any absolute territory.

Anran’s thinking had been that Aila’s skin and such were artificial, so it would be troublesome if they were damaged.

Of course, in reality it also had an automatic self-healing function, so it was not too different from a normal person’s.

The energy released by the Ancient Essence was somewhat extraordinary.

Anran had tied her hair into twin tails, and Aila was also slowly learning how to take care of her own appearance.

How could she better match Anran’s aesthetic sense?

Aila walked to the vicinity of Shop 777.

The rolling shutter was down.

She took out the key and crouched down, just about to open the door.

Suddenly, she sensed that someone seemed to be watching her.

Aila turned around in confusion, but the street was completely empty. It was early in the morning, and there was no one there.

Puzzled, Aila opened the door and went into the shop.

So this was what humans called an illusion?

It seemed that she had learned something new again.

Aila was just about to shift 777’s position a little when she suddenly sensed that gaze again.

This time, Aila lifted her head and immediately discovered a gloomy-faced figure standing at the corner of the street.