Chapter 76

Chapter 76

In the end, Bai Fuling didn’t get his wish to go to the mall for couple outfits and couple jewelry—since Olbert was the one driving.

This story teaches us how important it is to be in control of a vehicle.

Bai Fuling sat in the passenger seat, reaching over to touch the steering wheel, can't keep his hands off it.

He tried to find a button he could mess with, but unfortunately, this newspaper's company car had no such option.

Guess it was an official company car that couldn't be stolen.

Olbert smiled, took Bai Fuling's wrist, and moved his hand away, then leaned over to help fasten his seatbelt smoothly and carefully. “Hold on tight, Bulingbuling,” he said. “We're heading to the downtown hospital now.”

“Are you sure we don't need to get some couple rings?” Bai Fuling tried to argue one last time. Jewelry in the game is really valuable!

“No need. Besides, that'd be way too fake.” Olbert shrugged, turning his head slightly. The naturally upturned corners of his eyes gave him a knowing look, even if he wasn't really smiling. “People around me know I don't make promises lightly.”

“Promises?” Bai Fuling tilted his head, not really getting what promises had to do with it.

“…Because of the ring.” Olbert was driving, his gaze fixed ahead. “A ring is a promise that binds a relationship.”

Oh! Bai Fuling was a bit surprised.

Who would've thought this flashy, ever-changing mysterious fox guy was actually a hopeless romantic in some ways?

—Like, he firmly believed a ring was an unbreakable promise, an eternal binding spell.

“Alright.” Bai Fuling nodded, signaling he respected other people's romantic hang-ups. “Let's just leave it at that for now.”

Since Olbert's character panel hadn't unlocked yet, Bai Fuling set his phone aside, grabbed a little notebook from the desk, and jotted that detail down.

For a player, remembering an NPC's likes and dislikes is crucial—it affects how you build favorability or, on the flip side, disfavor.

The latter is rarer, but the game does have scenarios where lowering an NPC's favorability is necessary. Some special plots and characters only trigger when a certain NPC's disfavor hits a specific value.

Bai Fuling jotted down what he knew about Olbert, organizing the information at hand.

It wasn't until he heard the car stop in the background that he looked up, picked up his phone and started controlling his character again.

Olbert parked the car and glanced at the little figure in the passenger seat, who was finally moving—out of professional habit, he observed people around him when they were close.

While driving earlier, Olbert noticed Bai Fuling in the passenger seat was completely still!

The lively black-haired guy, who'd been enthusiastically making suggestions not long ago, had turned into a stiff log during the drive.

…Why? Olbert wondered. Was he nervous?

Come to think of it, the guy's obsession with being in control of the car was way too intense.

If he was the kind of angelic type who'd risk himself to save a stranger with a mental illness, why would he randomly try to steal someone else's car?

Maybe there was a reason for that behavior. Olbert thought. Maybe he has a phobia of cars? Or specifically, of cars driven by other people?

There might be a lot of backstory hidden here. Olbert's mind raced, his upturned eyes locked on Bai Fuling.

He knew Bai Fuling was a “Cat”—he just didn't know how he'd been chosen. Many of that organization's test subjects were ambitious and joined of their own free will, but some were forced.

Maybe… Olbert guessed. The black-haired guy had been through something bad—like being kidnapped, trapped in a car, and driven somewhere against his will, which made him hate riding in other people's cars.

Thinking about it that way, it made sense why the black-haired guy had snatched his car back then.

He probably just didn't want to be a passenger, so he took the wheel… Hmm, the logic seemed a bit weird, but on second thought, it made sense!

Olbert's thoughts had come full circle, and he found this reasoning pretty plausible.

Stepping out of the car, he looked at Bai Fuling, a natural smile spreading across his face. He walked over a few steps and wrapped an arm around the other's shoulder.

“Sorry, I didn't notice before… Next time, I'll let you drive, okay?” Olbert's fox-like lips curled, his voice softening to a perfect pitch—hovering somewhere between hesitant guilt and concern. He was skilled at seizing every chance to close the distance.

He had secrets, and Bai Fuling had secrets too. Olbert wanted to unravel the mystery behind Bai Fuling, so he used the information he had to boost his own impression score.

Bai Fuling, now pulled close, stopped walking and turned his head, a bit surprised.

Huh, after idling for a while, the NPC had suddenly offered to hand over the car next time?

Was this a perk from the system, detecting that the player hadn't been controlling the character for a while and worrying they'd get bored and quit?

Either way, Bai Fuling wasn't about to miss out on any available perks. He immediately typed in an affirmative response: “Okay.”

The NPC had said it himself! Next time the player drove off with the car, the NPC couldn't come chasing after it. Bai Fuling thought smugly.

He was about to move his character forward, out of the parking lot and toward the hospital, when he heard a shout from the background audio.

“Hey—Olbert?!”

Bai Fuling adjusted the camera angle and saw a group of people standing on the other side of the parking lot.

A few of them looked vaguely familiar—they were the same ones who'd called out to Olbert when they first met him outside the bar.

They were clustered around one person in the middle, and that person—

Bai Fuling's eyes widened, and he swiped his finger across the screen to make sure it wasn't a system glitch.

Wow, that guy was actually glowing with a rainbow-colored special effect!!!

This was the first time Bai Fuling had seen a person emit light. Usually, gold and rainbow glows in the game were reserved for five-star equipment or rare items.

Since when did people start glowing?? And why was this guy glowing? It seemed only the player could see this rainbow effect.

While the player was spacing out, the NPCs' dialogue continued.

“Oh, what a coincidence.” Olbert turned to face the group, tightening his arm around Bai Fuling, pulling the black-haired youth closer to him. He blinked. “What are you all doing here?”

“You don't know? Brother Zhong hurt himself skateboarding a few days ago! We're here for his follow-up checkup.” The speaker's tone was exaggerated as he supported the person in the middle, winking as if hinting for Olbert to say something caring.

“Is that so? Get some rest.” Olbert replied with a smile, his words polite but distant.

The youth in the middle, who appeared to Bai Fuling as glowing with rainbow light, looked up at Olbert, then turned to Bai Fuling and asked, “Who's this?”

The dialogue box showed a normal, non-glowing portrait. The young man with deep ash-brown hair had a handsome face, his expression a bit stiff, but not in a stern way—more like a little prince from a Western oil painting, maintaining a proper demeanor.

“Oh, you should've seen them last time, didn't they tell you?” Olbert hugged Bai Fuling intimately, his tone sweet. “My dear boyfriend.”

“Hi.” Bai Fuling waved at the group in a timely manner.

“…What?! I thought you were joking before! You actually have a boyfriend?! What about Zhong—” Someone blurted out, then quickly shut their mouth, staring at Olbert in shock.

The whole group fell into a dead silence.

It was the young man with light brown hair, surnamed Zhong, who broke the silence, speaking slowly: “…You like him? I’ve never seen him before.”

“It’s kind of a love-at-first-sight thing—fate works in mysterious ways.” Olbert shot a tender glance at Bai Fuling. “I met Bulingbuling through a little accident, and we got together not long after.”

Bai Fuling: *To be precise, it wasn’t exactly a little accident.*

But of course, he didn’t interrupt. He simply adopted a shy expression from the emotion wheel, maintaining his perfect task-completion attitude—and casually wiped his chest. Just a casual move.

The group across from them went silent again.

Olbert wrapped an arm around Bai Fuling’s shoulder, subtly steering him toward another path, and added, “Since you’re injured, you should head back and rest, Young Master Zhong. I still need to go see a friend with my boyfriend.”

He shot them one last smile and waved casually: “See you.”

Bai Fuling turned his viewpoint and glanced back—they were still standing there.

A few NPCs cautiously glanced sideways at the light brown-haired young man in the center. The light brown-haired young man kept his eyes locked on them.

“Let’s go.” Olbert’s low voice drifted softly into Bai Fuling’s ear.

They rounded a few corners and entered the hospital before Olbert relaxed his arm around Bai Fuling. He winked at him: “Not bad. Great teamwork.”

“Who was that?” Bai Fuling asked.

He was genuinely curious what kind of person could glow! As a player, he’d only held back because he prioritized finishing the task.

“Zhong Xiaye.” Olbert replied. “That’s Zhong Xiaye.”

Zhong Xiaye? What a weird name. Bai Fuling’s mind instinctively jumped to *A Midsummer Night’s Dream*, and a bunch of Western classics popped into his head.

He waited two seconds, then asked: “And then?”

Why just a name? Could it be he glowed just because his name was a classic noun? The player was called “Bai Cai” (Chinese cabbage), so why didn’t *he* glow?!

“You don’t know him?” Olbert looked slightly surprised, then added, “Well… maybe you haven’t been paying attention. He’s the only son of Red Maple Group’s chairman.”

The player had no idea what Red Maple Group was, but luckily, a small note in parentheses popped up below the dialogue box: *A famous multinational corporation with a strong presence in many industries.*

There was more info, but Bai Fuling just skimmed it. In short, this guy’s family was incredibly wealthy.

So someone like that was also hanging around this small town. It confirmed the player’s town was the ultimate talent hub in the game.

At the same time, Bai Fuling understood why the guy had a rainbow glow… It was the aura of a whale!

Oh, NPCs don’t call them whales—maybe “rich guy aura” fits better.

It seemed the system knew players needed more cash, so it highlighted him in rainbow colors as a clue.

Bai Fuling’s mind wandered for a second before he remembered the scene and looked at Olbert: “That guy likes you? With a background like that, you didn’t go for it?”

That was someone so rich he literally radiated rainbow light in the game! Bai Fuling couldn’t help staring.

“Exactly because he’s a rich kid, I have to keep my distance.” Olbert shrugged helplessly. “It would draw unwanted attention… You know, I have other things to do.”

“So you flirted and then didn’t take responsibility?” Bai Fuling typed casually into the dialogue box.

As the renowned Farmer Great Detective, Bai Fuling could easily deduce that Olbert had deliberately charmed the other guy first.

He used the light brown-haired young man’s… background to get things done, then cut ties and crushed the other’s hopes—even roping in the player as a fake boyfriend.

Olbert was good at flirting. If he wanted, he could stir anyone’s heart.

That little prince clearly had no experience dealing with a fox man, Bai Fuling thought. Anyone who’s played dating sims knows that when dealing with a sly fox, you never give your heart or show your feelings easily.

A fox man, when he’s not really in love, can be pretty wicked. A fox with a sleek coat would slip away smoothly, dodging any relationship that might tie him down, never offering a lifelong promise.

“Oh, dear.” Olbert showed no particular reaction. Just as Bai Fuling guessed, he remained cheerful. “I didn’t do much. Love isn’t really something I can control, is it?”

“At least I didn’t string him along.” Olbert said lightly. He lowered his gaze, squinting at Bai Fuling, his tone as rich as a juicy peach. “I told him I like you.”

Bai Fuling nodded: “Yeah, okay. I like him.”

Olbert: ?

Bai Fuling: *Come on, who wouldn’t like a flashy, wealthy NPC? Can’t this overwhelming rainbow fortune fall on the player instead!*