Zheng Xiaoguang decided to divorce Bluegreen-Clad and quit Shiny Sky Online. To her surprise, she felt sadder than she had imagined. As she had gotten used to his company, she felt empty and alone and had no inner resources against loneliness now.

She felt agitated and restless. The harder she pushed herself to forget about the people and things in Shiny Sky Online, the harder it would be for her to control her emotions. Especially when she was alone, she would feel exceptionally sad. Her parents kept urging her to go out and find a boyfriend. As today she had a day off, she decided to hang out with her friends.

She turned on her cellphone and sent messages to her ladybros, but most of their replies disappointed her.

Ladybro 1: Sigh, why didn’t you ask me out earlier? I’m going on a trip with my boyfriend now. I’m not in R City.

Ladybro 2: I worked overtime until 3 am this morning. Now I just want to get some sleep.

Ladybro 3: Holy crap. You finally show up. How long has it been since the last time we hung out together? Don’t you know that now I have to work on Sundays?

…

In the end, only Yang Sisi accepted her invitation. “Well, as you finally decide to go out instead of staying at home, I’ll hang out with you. But we’ll go out with another friend. Let the four of us have some fun together. ”

Zheng Xiaoguang felt somewhat embarrassed and asked, “Isn’t that a little inconvenient for you?”

“No. Don’t worry. That friend I mentioned just now is Tong Xiangyang. I’ve arranged a blind date for you and him. You can’t become a couple, but that does not mean that you can’t become friends. Just go out more often to meet new friends. Do you want to stay at home and hang out with your old friends all the time?” said Yang Sisi.

Zheng Xiaoguang had to admit that Yang Sisi had a point and promised to go on a picnic together with them.

This picnic was scheduled by Yang Sisi a long ago. Not long after talking with Zheng Xiaoguang on the phone, Yang Sisi, her husband and Tong Xiangyang came to fetch Zheng Xiaoguang.

As Tong Xiangyang drove the car, Zheng Xiaoguang hurriedly went to sit in the back of the car together with Yang Sisi. She still felt somewhat embarrassed upon seeing Tong Xiangyang again, although she agreed with Yang Sisi that she and Tong Xiangyang could become friends after a failed blind date.

As soon as she took a seat, Yang Sisi poked her forehead with a finger and said, “If you didn’t call me out today, I would think that you’re determined to retire from the world.”

Zheng Xiaoguang felt a little pain and raised a hand to stop her while saying, “Look, I’ve come out. Just show me some mercy.”

“I wonder where you found the nerve to ask me to hang out with you!” Yang Sisi said with disdain, “Look at your ladybros. Most of them hang out with their boyfriends or husbands on weekends, only you’re still single and you often refuse to date or even come out to have some fun. I guess that only I agreed to hang out with you today. Am I right?”

Zheng Xiaoguang lowered her head embarrassedly. She had to admit that she was indeed addicted to online games. She enjoyed playing together with Bluegreen-Clad so much that she seldom hung out with her ladybros in recent days.

This was the biggest disadvantage of getting addicted to an online game. The virtual world was very different from the real world. A person would neglect many people and things in real life when he or she was busy exploring the gaming world. Once this person returned to the real world from the virtual world, he or she would find himself or herself in unfamiliar waters.

His or her friends got emotionally detached from him or her. The shops that he or she had frequently visited before were no longer at their original locations. The rules of mahjong, poker and other popular games among their friends somehow always eluded him or her.

Except for online games and Bluegreen-Clad, Zheng Xiaoguang was not interested in anything, since she had not come out to have fun for a long time. When she heard Tong Xiangyang and Yang Sisi’s husband chatting in the car, she found out that she had no idea what they were talking about as if she was a bumpkin who had come to the city for the first time.

She did not know the most popular food trend or the newly-opened clubs in the city.

When they asked her what she thought of the newly-opened pizza shop on the ground floor of her apartment building, she asked, “Is there such a shop?” When Yang Sisi excitedly discussed the recent special offers of the high street shops with her, she still looked confused.

She exclaimed inwardly, “Oh, no. This sucks.”

“What’re you thinking about, Xiaoguang? Why do you keep silent all the time?” Yang Sisi stared at Zheng Xiaoguang who was in a daze now.

Zheng Xiaoguang blinked her eyes innocently and explained. “I’m not thinking about anything. I just don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Yang Sisi’s eyes widened further as she asked, “Do you get stupid after playing too many games?”

Upon hearing that, Tong Xiangyang who was driving the car asked, “Does Miss Zheng play games?”

Zheng Xiaoguang felt awkward and wanted to cover Yang Sisi mouth to stop her from talking, since she had once told Tong Xiangyang that it was a waste of time for young people to play online games. Beyond her expectations, Yang Sisi just blurted out. ‘Yes. She’s even addicted to it! She has stayed at home all the time and refused to hang out with us in recent days. She must’ve been playing some game again.”

“Is it true?” Tong Xiangyang seemed to be intrigued and continued to ask, “What game do you play now? An online board game or an adventure game? “Most girls like to play Dancer or something.”

Zheng Xiaoguang’s face turned as red as pork liver and hurriedly denied. “No, no, I don’t play any game now.”

To her surprise, Tong Xiangyang continued to ask, “So you must’ve played games before. What did you play?”

Zheng Xiaoguang had no choice but stutter, “Shiny Sky.”

“Are you saying that you used to play Shiny Sky?” Tong Xiangyang and Yang Sisi asked simultaneously. Zheng Xiaoguang was surprised and hurriedly waved her hands while saying, “I’ve quit it. I don’t play it anymore.”

Yang Sisi grabbed her hand and asked, “Why didn’t you tell me about it? I’m playing this game too. Which server do you play on? What’s your ID?”

“Didn’t you despise me for playing online games before? How could I discuss this with you?” Zheng Xiaoguang asked in surprise. “Which server do you play on?”

Yang Sisi laughed and replied, “I play on Watery South, and my ID is Half a Cup of Lovesickness.”

Zheng Xiaoguang was astonished. “What? Yang Sisi is the female doctor Half a Cup of Lovesickness, my bestie in the game!” In the past, Zheng Xiaoguang would have been excited upon hearing that, but now…

She frowned helplessly and said, “I’ve quit it now. When I start to play another game, I’ll invite you to play together with me.”

Yang Sisi seemed to be somewhat disappointed and said, “It’ll be alright to play an online game for fun, as long as it does not affect your normal life. And this game is very popular now.”

After that, she turned to look at Tong Xiangyang and asked, “Which server do you play on?”

Tong Xiangyang smiled and said, “I played it before, but I don’t play it anymore.”

“Huh? Why did you quit the game? We could’ve played together.” Yang Sisi rolled her eyes dejectedly and then added. “Whenever you want to come back to the game, come to Watery South to find me. I’m in a gang now, and the gang members are great. Our gang boss is fierce.”

“Uh-huh, okay,” Zheng Xiaoguang mumbled.

Tong Xiangyang echoed, “Okay.”