Why is the system taking my request to photograph a cosplayer seriously?

Chapter 30: Stealing a Man? It's Up to You!

One hour later.

"Thank you, Master."

"You're welcome, I'll take your money, one hundred."

After seeing off the plumber who had come to make an emergency repair, Ding Heng turned around, walked to his bedroom, and knocked on the door.

"They're gone. Are you dressed?"

The bedroom door clicked open.

Zhao Yanxi stepped out of the room, scratching her head sheepishly, "Um... I just gently twisted it to close it tighter, I didn't expect it to..."

All the clothes she brought were soaked, so Zhao Yanxi had to change into a loose-fitting oversized overshirt that originally belonged to Ding Heng.

Ding Heng is 186cm tall, and the sweatshirt he wore covered Zhao Yanxi's mid-thighs.

But the problem is, she's naked down there...

Two straight, long, and fair legs were exposed to the air without any cover, stretching from the hem of the sweatshirt all the way to the bare feet.

Because she had just been splashed with cold water and dried, her skin still had a faint pinkish tinge.

Ding Heng's gaze swept over her bare legs: "Where are your pants? Didn't I give you my sweatpants?"

Zhao Yanxi pouted, tugged at the hem of her hoodie, and complained coquettishly, "Look how thin my waist is, your pants can't even stay on, they'll fall down after a few steps, how am I supposed to wear them..."

Ding Heng quickly shifted his gaze, sensing that the flames he had just suppressed were showing signs of reigniting.

"Fine, fine, whatever you say."

He didn't want to dwell on this dangerous topic any longer, so he turned and went back to his study: "Your clothes are in the washing machine, remember to hang them out to dry later."

"Okay!"

After that thrilling ordeal, Zhao Yanxi finally calmed down and sat down properly next to Ding Heng, even finding a blanket to cover her legs.

Are you alright?

"What's so good about it?"

"Didn't you just say you couldn't hold it in...?"

"Don't cause trouble, you can probably hold out a little longer."

"oh."

Zhao Yanxi responded with a sound that betrayed neither disappointment nor relief.

Ding Heng was afraid that Zhao Yanxi would cause some more trouble, so he didn't dare to ask Xie Baoyang to play games with him anymore.

He opened Steam, browsed his game library for a while, and finally clicked on the Old Man Ring, ready to play through the game again.

Upon entering the game, Ding Heng quickly arrived at the "Nimgford" area and charged towards the tree guard riding a tall horse and wearing heavy armor.

Ding Heng remembered that when the game first came out, he played this "new teacher" and died no less than dozens of times, getting utterly crushed.

But now, whether it's the +3 Agility from the system or not, Ding Heng feels that his reaction speed and hand-eye coordination have improved by more than one level.

Control your character to roll and dodge the golden halberd's slashes and charges, timing it perfectly.

Dodge, attack, dodge again, drink medicine... the movements are fluid and graceful.

Finally, the tree guardian collapsed to the ground with a thud, and Ding Heng hadn't even finished using up his health potion.

Wow! That's amazing!

Zhao Yanxi immediately clapped, offering plenty of emotional support: "She passed it on the first try! I've seen streamers die so many times when they try this!"

Ding Heng smiled calmly and rode his horse to the Church of Arey.

Zhao Yanxi asked curiously, "This game! Isn't it that super popular one from a few years ago... what was it called again? The one made by Miyazaki... Hayao Miyazaki? I heard it's really difficult?"

"Hmm, you know?"

"I saw compilations of those streamers' 'breakdowns'."

Zhao Yanxi's knowledge of games comes almost entirely from short videos. When the Old Man Ring was first released, it was quite popular, and she would often see several streamers playing it.

Ding Heng's character sits down to rest at the blessing point, and a CG animation is automatically triggered.

Beside the campfire, the figure of a woman wearing a travel cloak and a wide hood quietly appeared.

"I am Melina..."

A gentle, ethereal voice rang out, and the woman in the CG slowly removed her hood, her exquisite face revealing a hint of inhuman detachment and compassion.

"Huh?!"

Zhao Yanxi leaned closer to the screen and, after careful examination, seemed to have discovered some earth-shattering secret.

"Brother Ding Heng, isn't this girl your computer desktop and phone screensaver?!"

"Um."

"You like this girl?"

Ding Heng remained silent for two seconds before looking at Melina on the screen.

I guess so.

"Eh!"

Zhao Yanxi blinked.

This was the first time she had heard Ding Heng say "like" so clearly, even if the object was just a virtual game character.

Over time, Zhao Yanxi discovered that although Ding Heng was tactful and humorous, he was actually a bit "reserved" and never easily revealed his obsessions and preferences.

The fact that he can admit it so frankly shows that he genuinely likes the character from the bottom of his heart.

Zhao Yanxi started asking all sorts of questions: "Who is she? Is she an NPC? Why is she closing one eye? What's the scar on her face? What did she trade with you?"

While controlling his character to run around the grassy area of ​​"Nimgofu", clearing out the clueless monsters, Ding Heng patiently answered Zhao Yanxi's questions.

"She is the player's guide."

"Blinds closed? It could be part of the setting, or it could be part of a story."

"Scar? I don't know, the game didn't mention it in detail."

"A trade? She helps me level up, I help her go to the Golden Tree..."

Then, Zhao Yanxi suddenly asked a question.

"So, after you beat the game, in the ending, did Melina and you... well, the Faded One, live happily ever after without a care in the world?"

Ding Heng was rolling around to avoid attacks from the monsters when he heard the question and his movements suddenly froze. He was instantly slashed, losing half of his health.

"no."

He controlled his character to walk to a safe area and stop: "In a normal ending, Melina... is dead."

"Huh? Dead?"

Zhao Yanxi was stunned: "Why? Isn't she important?"

Ding Heng couldn't explain it clearly in a short time, so he simply gave a vague reply: "In order to meet the conditions for clearing the game, she had to die. It's just part of the plot."

His tone was very calm, but Zhao Yanxi still keenly caught the extremely subtle sense of sadness in his words.

This made Zhao Yanxi even more certain that Ding Heng liked the character and would even experience subtle emotional fluctuations because of the virtual character's "death".

She didn't press for more details, but instead quietly took out her phone, opened a video website, and typed "Melina" into the search box. A bunch of game clips, character analyses, and fan-made videos popped up.

She clicked on a few videos with high view counts and watched them quietly.

In the video, the girl with short brown-pink hair either whispers gently or burns with determination, her figure beautiful yet fragile amidst the magnificent and tragic symphony.

A dozen minutes later, she exited the video app and instead opened an orange shopping app, typing in the following:

[Elden Tour de France Melina COS Costume Customization]

After placing the order, Zhao Yanxi put away her phone and continued watching Ding Heng play games.

Today she finally understood that the old approach of directly provoking and seeking excitement to deal with Ding Heng was no longer working.

Although Ding Heng is usually sharp-tongued and "mischievous," he has taken advantage of her and Wenjing quite a bit.

Aside from that one kiss where she forced him to be her "tool," he never actually crossed any lines.

Even today, they were able to bring the car to a stop.

Perhaps... we should pay a little more attention?

It was already six o'clock in the afternoon, and Ding Heng, feeling fully recharged, suggested picking Wen Jing up from get off work.

Zhao Yanxi didn't object, and was even too lazy to change her clothes, so she went out wearing Ding Heng's hoodie without any hesitation.

The two drove to McDonald's. While Ding Heng got out of the car to buy water, Wen Jing just finished get off work.

"How was your day? Tired?"

"Fortunately, there weren't many customers on Tuesday."

Sitting in the back seat, Wenjing chatted with Zhao Yanxi as usual, when she suddenly noticed her best friend's oversized hooded sweatshirt and her expression froze.

"Yan hope...you didn't wear this outfit when you went out this morning, did you? And I remember you were wearing pants."

Zhao Yanxi grabbed the fabric at her chest and shook it, saying frankly, "This dress belongs to Ding Heng."

Wenjing's pupils widened slightly, and her tone suddenly became urgent: "You... how come you're wearing Ding Heng's clothes?"

Zhao Yanxi blinked and asked, "What's wrong, Xiao Jingjing? Are you in a hurry?"

"I...I...you..."

Wenjing was so anxious she was incoherent: "Wearing boys' clothes, don't you... don't you find it strange?"

"What's strange?"

Zhao Yanxi sniffed her cuffs affectedly: "They're quite comfortable, and they even have a bit of his scent on them."

Wenjing was completely dumbfounded and had no idea how to respond.

Seeing her best friend like this, Zhao Yanxi found it both funny and strangely unpleasant.

She bluntly stated, "Xiaojing, we agreed beforehand that I would pursue Ding Heng. You're not thinking of backing out now, are you?"

Wenjing was taken aback by Zhao Yanxi's question and tentatively asked, "So, what are you two doing now?"

"Don't worry! If I make any real progress with him, I promise to report to you immediately."

Zhao Yanxi's tone suddenly turned serious: "So, if anything happens between you and him... you're not allowed to hide it from me!"

Wenjing was a little confused: "What do you mean?"

"It means—"

Zhao Yanxi leaned close to Wen Jing's ear and whispered something in secret.

"I can see you can't bear to part with him either, so let's compete fairly and rely on our own abilities. Otherwise, the two of you sisters might become suspicious of each other, fall out, and end up both losing out, with that jerk getting all the benefits, right?"

Wenjing's cheeks flushed and her mind went blank after hearing Zhao Yanxi's blunt and twisted logic.

But the body nodded gently, before the mind could react.

"Okay... alright."