◎She came out of the closet a long time ago.◎
Chen Yi was stunned.
She hadn’t expected a kid she’d just met to unmask her so quickly. Well, to be fair, she hadn’t been hiding it all that tightly on a day-to-day basis. It was mainly that Fade didn’t seem like the type to watch gaming streams, so she’d let her guard down around others too.
Who knew this little brat would come along and call her out right away.
Her fellow streamers had teased her before, saying Vegetable Sister had fans all over the internet. Chen Yi hadn’t bought it, calling it an exaggeration. But now, less than ten minutes after meeting this one, her cover was blown. She fell silent.
As she sat there quietly, A Smile Captures the City kept sending messages.
A Smile Captures the City: So Vegetable Sister, you’re secretly grinding an alt!
A Smile Captures the City: Does my little aunt know? She’s got such trash game skills, and she still dared to take you as her disciple?
A Smile Captures the City: Wait… hold on…
A Smile Captures the City: Vegetable Sister, you said you’ve been doing online dating lately—is your online crush my little aunt?!
That last message finally set Chen Yi off.
She fired off three or four emoji packs in rapid succession.
Sister Don’t Hit Me: Don’t tell her!
Sister Don’t Hit Me: She doesn’t know yet!
A Smile Captures the City: Doesn’t know what? Your alt or that you like her?
Sister Don’t Hit Me: Both! TvT
To think that she, a young woman in her early twenties, would one day get played by a little girl online. So tragic.
Xu Yixiao stared at her phone screen, processing it for a good while.
She turned it over in her mind until it all made sense.
So, Vegetable Sister’s online crush was her little aunt. More precisely, a potential online crush. According to Vegetable Sister, it was still one-sided for now. As for her little aunt… From what Xu Yixiao knew of her, if she didn’t have even a shred of interest, she never would have gone to all this trouble with voice changers and secrets.
Xu Yixiao wasn’t the best student, but she was quick on the uptake. After some thought, she’d already weighed the pros and cons.
She couldn’t sell out her little aunt, but Vegetable Sister… Who wouldn’t want their idol to become family? Xu Yixiao rubbed her hands together, clutching her phone as she typed.
A Smile Captures the City: Vegetable Sister! Don’t worry! With me around, I’ll totally help you out!
Chen Yi nearly teared up at those words.
Sister Don’t Hit Me: Niece, good niece—from today on, you’re my niece too.
A Smile Captures the City: Vegetable Sister! No need to be so formal! Just call me little sis!
Sister Don’t Hit Me: Got it! Little sis!
Chen Yi knew the family hierarchy was a bit messed up now, but it worked well enough.
Sister Don’t Hit Me: I heard you love gaming too. If you ever need help in-game, just hit me up. Oh, and here’s a little meet-and-greet gift.
Xu Yixiao’s in-game mailbox suddenly filled with emails packed full of the skins, weapons, and items she’d always coveted—plus two super-rare adorable pets.
The bribe worked in an instant.
A Smile Captures the City: Waaah! Thank you, Vegetable Sister!!
Chen Yi played it cautious.
Sister Don’t Hit Me: Don’t call me that anymore. I haven’t told your little aunt yet. Just call me big sis!
A Smile Captures the City: Got it, big sis!
A Smile Captures the City: But why haven’t you told my little aunt yet?
Sister Don’t Hit Me: No good timing yet.
Xu Yixiao didn’t quite get it.
If you had something to say, just say it—what was this about timing? But Vegetable Sister was always right, so Xu Yixiao was happy to keep her secret. The only issue was—
A Smile Captures the City: Big sis, how’d you end up falling for my little aunt anyway?
Sister Don’t Hit Me: //////
Sister Don’t Hit Me: I don’t know.
She’d puzzled over that one for ages herself.
Why did she like Fade so much? She’d met plenty of skilled gamers before, and good voices weren’t exactly rare. Maybe it was like seeing someone hot and getting ideas—she’d heard Fade’s voice, gotten hooked, started paying attention, and it snowballed from there.
Or maybe it was because this was the most fun she’d ever had pretending to be a noob in her gaming career, and she’d happened to run into Fade. They played together almost every day without fail, chatting away. A single casual comment from her could make Chen Yi’s heart race. Just hearing her voice turned her face beet red.
Chen Yi had never felt anything like it.
Su Dai had said this wasn’t love—it was a crush.
Chen Yi had asked, “With all your dating experience, can you really tell the difference? What’s it like?”
Su Dai had been stumped, unable to explain, and finally brushed it off with, “Just crush on more people, date around a bit. You’ll see the difference! Chen Xiaoyi, dating’s like gaming—you gotta level up, clear stages, learn the ropes. Right now you’re a total newbie diving into high-rank matches. You’ll get wiped clean and have nowhere to complain.”
Su Dai was worried Chen Yi would jump straight into an online relationship and get scammed.
But Chen Yi refused to think that way.
Her gut told her Fade wasn’t the type. If asked where that gut feeling came from, though, she couldn’t say. In the vast, chaotic world of games, Fade stood out—serious and methodical in her approach, gentle yet sharp-edged, nothing like anyone Chen Yi had met before. She had this endearing clumsiness, like an old-school official fumbling through her first online game… Chen Yi treasured it.
Even if it never turned into romance, she wanted to be great friends with Fade, to learn more about her life outside the game, to share everything with her.
What did you call that?
Su Dai probably had her own label for it.
But for Chen Yi, it was already one of the rare times in her life she’d truly liked someone.
She didn’t know when it started, but it had become habit.
After hesitating a moment, Chen Yi reminded A Smile Captures the City not to rashly share their chat with Fade.
A Smile Captures the City agreed.
A Smile Captures the City: Go for it, big sis! I’m rooting for you!
Sister Don’t Hit Me: Thanks^^
Sister Don’t Hit Me: Thing is, I still don’t know if she likes girls. Being friends like this is pretty great too!
A Smile Captures the City: Don’t worry, my little aunt doesn’t touch men at all.
A Smile Captures the City: And she’s been out forever—my grandparents got so mad they disowned her.
Chen Yi froze.
A Smile Captures the City: Aaaah!
A Smile Captures the City: Big sis, don’t tell anyone! Especially not my little aunt! Waaah, I slipped up!
Chen Yi promised she wouldn’t and sent a head-pat emoji to soothe the kid.
Fade noticed they hadn’t moved and asked in the voice channel, “What are you two up to?”
Chen Yi replied, “Nothing. I’m just adding my new little sis to my friends list and sending her a welcome gift.”
Xu Yan had seen it coming and privately messaged Xu Yixiao: You didn’t say anything dumb, right?
Xu Yixiao shook her head furiously, insisting she hadn’t. Deep down, though, she felt like a double agent. If her little aunt and Vegetable Sister actually got together, she’d demand a huge red envelope. If not, she’d bury all these secrets deep.
“No need to splurge.”
“It’s nothing, Master—just some small stuff.”
“Back to dailies?”
“Yeah! Wanna join us, A Smile?”
A Smile Captures the City: Nah, I’m gonna go play with some friends! You two take your time!
No way was she playing bright third-wheel!
[A Smile Captures the City has left the party.]
“What’d she say to you?” Fade asked while maneuvering her character.
Chen Yi shook her head. “Nothing much.”
She gazed at Fade’s avatar in-game, listening to her soft chuckle. There was a knowing lilt to the laugh, rippling into Chen Yi’s heart with a hint of extra huskiness that lent the voice even more depth.
“Little liar, trying to fool me?”
Chen Yi’s face flushed bright red, her words coming out stuttered. “We really didn’t say anything.”
They’d said plenty, actually.
A Smile Captures the City’s final words were still burned into Chen Yi’s mind.
Fade had come out ages ago, and her grandparents had been so furious they’d cut her off.
The thought made Chen Yi’s chest ache, her heart clenched tight beneath her ribs, breathing shallow, her vision blurring.
What did “cut her off” mean exactly? How early was “ages ago”? Was Fade okay? What had she been through?
Chen Yi could only chew over these questions in her mind, again and again. She couldn’t bring herself to ask outright. After all, this was a secret she’d overheard by accident. Unless Fade shared it herself, Chen Yi had no right to pry.
In the end, all those swirling emotions boiled down to one simple sentence.
“Master.”
“Yeah?”
“Look, fireworks.”
Xu Yan had lost track of how many fireworks Chen Yi had set off in-game that day. She only remembered them standing atop the dilapidated factory roof, overlooking a desolate gray landscape that filled one with sorrow. The trees were withered, monsters lurked in the lakes, bloodstains and cries everywhere. Then, in a flash, the gray sky burst into fireworks like a starry canopy. They shifted colors endlessly, until the whole world glowed.
Bathed in that light, it felt like a whole new realm.
“Master.” Her voice came through the headphones. “Pretty, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s watch fireworks together again sometime.”
Xu Yan chuckled softly. “So how much revenue are you planning to pump into this game?”
“!!”
“Master! You’re such a romance killer!”
Xu Yan laughed. “I like that title.”
“How much did it cost?”
“Not much—”
“So, quite a bit then.”
Chen Yi had no idea how this person had so perfectly grasped her train of thought. She wanted to defend herself, but then she heard the other say, “It looks really good. Thank you.”
The smile at the corners of Chen Yi’s mouth simply wouldn’t fade.
“This world is actually pretty great,” she said, maneuvering her character to form a heart in front of Fade. “And there’s me, too.”
Chen Yi had only said it off the cuff, caught up in the moment. Her tone came off like playful banter between friends, laced with just a subtle hint of deeper affection.
Fade, however, agreed with disarming frankness. “Yeah. There’s you.”
In the apocalypse’s barren wasteland, you were that burst of fireworks.
“If we get the chance, let’s go to a fireworks festival together.”
“Sure!” Chen Yi blurted out her agreement.
Only after the words were out did she realize something was wrong.
—?!
Wait!
Fireworks festival!
Fade meant that someday, if there was a chance, they’d meet in person! And go traveling together!
Aaaah?! Right?!
