Chapter 75

Chapter 75

Role-playing is, of course, a breeze for a player. Bai Fuling’s first reaction to Olbert’s words was: "Great, finally a new quest lead!"

In real life, if he had to pretend to be someone’s boyfriend, Bai Fuling might’ve joked, "Whoa, a gay couple," but since this was in the game, he accepted without hesitation.

The game world is a place of absolute freedom, where the quest always comes first.

If the quest called for it, the player could play an emperor, pretend to be a slave, cross-dress… or even star in *A Dog’s Purpose*! Playing a couple was no big deal.

Besides, this kind of quest was a common way to build affinity with romanceable NPCs, and Bai Fuling had done that before in games.

“I understand.” Bai Fuling perked up and said seriously, “So the next task is to fake being a couple, right?”

It was like a flipped version of *Mr. & Mrs. Smith*—two people with issues, but acting like lovers.

Olbert seemed a little surprised by how calm Bai Fuling was, but he kept that smile curling at the corners of his mouth, a smiley face emoji popping up above his head as he said:

“That’s right, Kitten King. This time, I’ll need a bit more cooperation. You good with that?”

Olbert’s tone was light and relaxed, his posture casual. The dagger in his hand was long gone, stashed somewhere unknown. He acted as if he’d never shown any murderous intent toward Bai Fuling.

In the CG that popped up, the mixed-race youth looked down at Bai Fuling, looking like a tame fox—gentle but with a sly edge—if you only saw this CG, you’d never guess he had a murderous side behind that mask.

Bai Fuling wasn’t focused on the CG.

No matter how friendly or unfriendly the other guy seemed, the key was above his head—as long as the name wasn’t red, that was the easiest and most reliable way for a player to judge.

Who knew the sequel to the farmer and the snake story would be pretending to be a couple. Bai Fuling grumbled to himself, then opened the character file and glanced at the other’s illustration book again—

It still showed the simple template: "Olbert (Mr. Finch) --? --", full of mystery.

Since the character wasn’t unlocked, there were no quest records tied to him. Bai Fuling knew that, so he wasn’t surprised the illustration was blank.

But that didn’t mean the player’s actions were pointless. In fact, the player just couldn’t see the quest icons now; the interactions with the NPC still mattered, with stats being tracked in the background.

“Let’s go, Kitten King… Oh, maybe I should call you something else?” Olbert leaned in a little, his voice full of laughter. “You can still call me Olbert, or just Ol.”

Bai Fuling suddenly said, “That sounds kind of like a wolf.”

Olbert was visibly thrown off: "What?" What did that have to do with a wolf?

“Ol-ow-ol-ow,” Bai Fuling said. “That’s obviously a lone wolf’s howl.”

Olbert: “…”

Seeing the wind-blowing effect on the screen, Bai Fuling knew the NPC was floored by the player’s lame joke!

Even though the player liked cracking jokes, it was time to get serious when needed. So Bai Fuling quickly added:

“Alright, that was just a joke—Ol.” Bai Fuling said. “I get it, the details of faking being a couple need to be on point, including pet names.”

Then he thought for a couple seconds about what Olbert should call him.

"Baby" felt too cliché, not unique enough. Calling him "Fresh Cabbage" outright was a no-go…

So what about "Cabbage"? No, that sounded like a grocery store price tag of three cents a pound.

So Bai Fuling went with the second part: "Just call me Fresh." But after a half-second pause, he shook his head. "Wait, no, that sounds too much like some fairy."

Bai Fuling instinctively wanted to add, "Fresh, transform, super-evolve!"

Olbert thought for a moment and suggested, "How about Ling?"

Bai Fuling: "Why not just call me One?"

Olbert: ?

The air got awkwardly silent for a few seconds.

Bai Fuling rested his chin on his hand, thought for a moment off-screen, and finally typed in the dialogue box: "Alright, just call me Bulingbuling!"

“…Bulingbuling???”

"Fresh Cabbage, shortened and slurred together, becomes Bulingbuling." Bai Fuling said seriously. "Plus, this nickname sounds cute, like a sparkling, high-quality item glowing sound effect, perfect for a couple’s pet name."

Even though Bulingbuling also sounded a bit like a Pokémon… but whatever! The player didn’t want to waste any more time on this nickname stuff.

At least Bulingbuling sounded cuter than Fresh. Bai Fuling figured.

Olbert was quiet for a moment, but his seasoned rationality took over. He curled his fox-like lips in a smile and said, "Alright. If that’s what you want, then… Bulingbuling."

He let the nickname roll off his tongue, savoring it for a moment before finally letting it out lightly.

After saying the nickname, Olbert took a few steps ahead.

He turned slightly, signaling Bai Fuling to follow him out of the campus and head to the hospital.

“Hey, wait!” Bai Fuling suddenly reached out to grab him—Olbert almost instinctively dodged, but then forced himself to stop, letting Bai Fuling grasp his arm.

“What’s wrong?” Olbert tensed up a bit, raising an eyebrow. “Do you want to link arms with me?”

“Oh, no, not yet, but that’s a good reminder—intimate poses are essential for pretending to be a couple, we can try that later.” Bai Fuling continued, “We haven’t finished discussing yet, why are you leaving?”

“Huh?” Olbert tilted his head. “What else do you want to discuss?”

“Of course, there’s a lot to talk about.” Bai Fuling typed in the dialogue box. “To play a couple, first we need to know basic info about each other—age, occupation, preferences, etc.”

“Preferences should be more specific—like what animals, foods, or colors you like? I’ll start: I like slippery, soft, cool little animals like sea hares, octopuses, and snakes. I love sweet and sour food, and I like white and black because they’re practical in drawing.”

After typing out the whole string, Bai Fuling threw out his question: “What about you?”

Olbert: “…”

Olbert: “You don’t need to say so much; no one will ask for details.”

“Come on, what kind of attitude is that? How can you be so half-hearted about pretending to be a couple!” Bai Fuling was deeply disappointed and patted the mixed-race youth’s arm with a sense of frustration. “If you’re going to do a task, do it to the best of your ability!”

The player was aiming for a perfect rating—and how could an NPC be more lazy than the player? Even AI was slacking off these days!

Olbert: “…”

To be honest, his first thought was that the person in front of him was testing him.

These questions seemed daily and useless, but they could actually dig out many details and extend further. Olbert could certainly answer with lies, but lies could also be analyzed through psychology.

He looked up at the person before him.

The small, cute black-haired youth with a pretty face stood with one hand on his hip, staring at him without blinking, focused, the angel halo above his head glowing brightly.

Alright. Olbert gave a soft sigh and replied, "Pineapple beer." He only offered that one answer, his brows arching. "I'm more of a pineapple beer guy."

OK. Bai Fuling filed that away.

He wasn't sure if that was true or not, but since the NPC had said it, he'd roll with it—for as long as they were faking it.

Seeing that the NPC in front of him didn't seem like he wanted to say more, Bai Fuling dropped it. He let go of Olbert's arm and finally stepped forward to follow: "Okay, let's go—how do we get to the hospital?"

"We'll drive." Olbert adjusted the camera around his neck, then pulled out a set of car keys from his pocket. "The hospital's a fair distance from here."

Bai Fuling zeroed in on that: "You drove here?"

Olbert immediately pocketed the keys he'd been spinning.

Bai Fuling: "Hey, what's that about?"

Olbert added warily, "Let me be clear—this is a company car registered with the paper."

"Oh, right, got it." Bai Fuling let out a disappointed sigh at that.

Olbert didn't even want to know why.

He decided to drop it and didn't bring up the red car he'd already picked up from the station. Instead, he said:

"Okay, so we'll go to Mr. Luo's room pretending to be from the paper and his friend. That hospital's ER is top-notch. If all went well, Mr. Luo should be out of the woods by now, maybe even awake."

"What do you want with him?" Now it was Bai Fuling's turn to be wary. "You're not gonna pull the plug, are you?"

"...No, I wouldn't do it that obviously."

"So you'd do it on the down low?" Bai Fuling shot back.

"Ah, Bulingbuling, since when do you see me like that?" Olbert curled his lips into a fox-like smirk, shaking his head, his purple earring glinting. "Don't worry. I haven't done anything to you, and I won't do anything to him."

"If someone wants you or him dead, then I'll make sure you both live."

Bai Fuling: "Live life on the edge, huh?"

Olbert: "..."

Bai Fuling: "Just kidding. Is it because the enemy of my enemy is my friend?"

"Ah." Olbert chuckled. "You could see it that way."

The two had already walked out of the school and reached the black car parked by the roadside. It really did look like a newspaper office car, complete with the Rainbow Daily logo printed on it.

In front of the car, Bai Fuling suddenly pressed further: "Are we heading straight to the hospital next?"

"Of course." Olbert rested one hand on the open car door, tilting his head. "Where else did you want to go?"

"It's still too early to go now. We've overlooked something very important." Bai Fuling's expression turned serious and solemn as he said slowly, "Very important."

This demeanor made Olbert focus as well. He straightened up: "What is it?"

"We need to go to the mall first." Bai Fuling raised his right hand. "As a couple, how can we not have matching outfits and couple accessories?! That's way too sloppy!"

—Buying some accessories would both help complete the mission with high quality and allow him to sell them off afterward for cash. It was a win-win. An excellent player never misses a chance to make some money.

So Bai Fuling planned outright: "Let's go. Just in case, you should buy a diamond ring first. If anyone questions our relationship, you can just get down on one knee and propose to me."

Olbert: ...?

Wait, when did it skip straight to a proposal?!