After Falling in Love with a 2D Character as a Socially Anxious Person - Chapter 15

Baili was very loyal. After learning that An Jing was a fan of Wu Yu Zi, he found an opportunity to get him an autograph.

 

The personalized kind.

 

An Jing tapped on the photo Baili sent, his large eyes curving into crescents. When Yan Qili asked if he saw something he liked, he didn’t deny it.

 

He really liked it.

 

Baili was a good person!

 

In a great mood, An Jing looked at Yan Qili. “You can walk around; you don’t have to stay here and wait with me.”

 

He didn’t want to wander anymore and planned to wait right there until the signing started. The line for the signing would be long; Yan Qili should walk around and learn about new things.

 

Yan Qili glanced at the smiling An Jing. “You certainly think a lot of yourself.”

 

An Jing: “…?”

 

Watching Yan Qili’s departing back, there was a small confusion in An Jing’s big eyes. Did he eat gunpowder or something?

 

As Yan Qili disappeared into the crowd, An Jing suddenly realized they hadn’t discussed how to meet up later!

 

But Yan Qili had a phone and money, and he knew where home was. He wasn’t stupid; if he couldn’t find him, Yan Qili would know to take a taxi home… right?

 

Even a fool knows to run home when it rains. Yan Qili is a grown man; he couldn’t possibly get lost, could he?

 

He wouldn’t… right?

 

An Jing felt uneasy and sent a message to Yan Qili, saying they should meet at the exit at noon.

 

“I know the cosplayer you like. He’s a relative of a friend of mine; we’ve even eaten together twice.”

 

“For real?”

 

“Why would I lie? I even have his WeChat.”

 

An Jing, who was messaging Yan Qili, looked up at the sound. A few young men and women were standing nearby. One man was constantly scrolling through his phone.

 

After searching for a while, the man frowned. “I have too many WeChat friends and didn’t add notes. I can’t find him for the moment.”

 

The young girls beside him were full of disappointment. “Oh…”

 

“How about this,” the man thought for a moment. “Let’s add each other. I’ll look for him when I get back and mention it; maybe I can even push his WeChat to you.”

 

“Okay, okay!”

 

Upon hearing this, the girls immediately took out their phones and opened their QR codes.

 

An Jing withdrew his gaze and silently moved further into the corner, away from the social scene of adding friends.

 

 

“Ahhh-!”

 

A burst of cheers erupted nearby, and excited voices exploded in An Jing’s ears.

 

“Ahhh! I see Teacher Baili!”

 

“Did the signing start early?”

 

An Jing covered his ears and looked up following everyone’s gaze. A man in a khaki trench coat leaned over the second-floor railing, waving to everyone on the first floor.

 

Unlike the socially anxious An Jing, Baili was often active in the public eye; his Weibo profile picture was a silhouette of himself. An Jing recognized at a glance that the person on the second floor was Baili.

 

Baili, who had caused a small commotion, looked down from upstairs, searching left and right as if looking for something.

 

“Teacher Baili!”

 

“I love you!”

 

Baili greeted everyone and then looked down at his phone. A few seconds later, An Jing’s phone received a new message notification.

 

Baili: [Where are you now? Do you see me?]

 

An Jing didn’t type; instead, he took a photo of the moment and sent it to Baili. The subject of the photo was precisely Baili standing on the second floor.

 

The second the photo sent successfully, An Jing saw Baili turn his head and look toward his direction. There were people everywhere, so An Jing wasn’t afraid of Baili actually finding him.

 

Sure enough, he soon received a message from Baili:

 

[There are too many people; I can’t find you. Should I send an assistant down to get you?]

 

[The friend I mentioned before lives in Nancheng. I’ll introduce you after the signing.]

 

[I’ll be staying here for a few days. Let’s hang out together!]

 

Before the event ended, An Jing had no intention of revealing his identity to Baili, so he declined the offer.

 

Yannian: [No need, I won’t come up.]

 

Baili’s typing speed was very fast, messages coming one after another:

 

[I’ve invited you several times and you didn’t come, yet here you are sneaking around. If the organizers found out, they’d probably have a heart attack.]

 

Yannian: [It’s more comfortable being a tourist (:з」∠)]

 

Baili: [Not afraid of people now? Does Wu Yu Zi attract you that much? Enough to let you overcome social anxiety for an occasion like this.]

 

Yannian: [blushing-cat.jpg]

 

An Jing was unwilling to go upstairs, and Baili, unable to pluck him out of the crowd, gave up in disappointment. Baili went back to the lounge, and the cheering gradually faded.

 

An Jing felt his eardrums were much better.

 

“Baili just posted on Weibo!”

 

“What does Teacher Baili’s post mean? Who else is at the event?”

 

“Baili only has a few close friends in the circle. This post is clearly talking about Yannian!”

 

“If I remember correctly, Teacher Yannian is from Nancheng, right?”

 

Suddenly hearing his own name, An Jing was stunned for a moment. Weibo? What Weibo?

 

With a bad premonition, An Jing opened Weibo. There were too many people, so the internet was very slow; the loading icon kept spinning. After spinning for nearly half a minute, Baili’s Weibo page finally appeared. He had posted a new update a minute ago:

 

Baili V: Isn’t this annoying? [Image]

 

The attached image was a screenshot of his chat with An Jing. He thoughtfully blurred An Jing’s avatar, name, and a few sentences. He didn’t reveal that An Jing was a fan of Wu Yu Zi or that he was socially anxious.

 

An Jing: “…?”

 

Wait, why was he reporting on him via Weibo?

 

Baili’s post had only been up for a minute, but the comments were already over a hundred:

 

• Is it Teacher Yannian? Did Teacher Yannian also go to the event?
• What! My god also went to the signing?
• This tone makes the other person seem very young, and they use such cute emojis. It probably isn’t Teacher Yannian, right?
• I also think it’s impossible for it to be Teacher Yannian. Isn’t he the type to post [Cheers, dear friend] with a smiling face?
• What are you all misunderstanding? Just because Teacher Yannian is older doesn’t mean he can’t keep up with trends!!!
• Yannian: Reputation ruined!

Looking at the top comments, An Jing: “…”

 

Smiling face: :).

 

Baili only posted that one thing, but the netizens were all Sherlock Holmes; they quickly locked onto Yannian. Everyone, already in high spirits, became even more excited:

 

“Is Teacher Yannian really here?”

 

“Where, where? I want an autograph and a photo!”

 

“I must ask him when the new novel starts!”

 

“What does Teacher Yannian look like? Quick, look for him!”

 

A wave of “Finding Yannian” swept through the venue. Everyone looked around, checking for any suspicious candidates nearby. It looked like they were ready to dig three feet into the ground to find him.

 

An Jing, seeing this from the corner, got goosebumps. He was trembling.

 

While An Jing’s heart was shaking, his gaze met a boy who was looking for Yannian. The other’s gaze stopped on him. An Jing froze. Was he recognized?

 

He wanted to take back the thought that “Baili is a good person”!

 

Just as An Jing was getting nervous, the boy shook his head decisively in the next second. “This can’t be him.”

 

The boy’s companion also pulled him along, saying that even if An Jing hadn’t shown his full face, his style of dress showed he wasn’t old.

 

Companion: “This one looks like a clear-eyed and stupid college student.”

 

“It could never be Teacher Yannian!”

 

When saying this, the companion’s gaze was as firm as if he were taking a solemn oath.

 

“…”

 

The clear-eyed and stupid An Jing’s eyes flickered, and he looked down at his phone guiltily. The message he had sent to Yan Qili still hadn’t received a reply. Calling him didn’t work either.

 

An Jing didn’t doubt Yan Qili’s intelligence, but he still couldn’t help but worry. Even if Yan Qili was powerful, skilled, and could crawl out of a mountain of corpses, too many things could happen in this world.

 

Yan Qili is alone; surely nothing would happen, right?

 

Everyone was looking for Yannian. Yannian himself was under a lot of psychological pressure and felt this place was no longer safe. It was still early; he wanted to go find Yan Qili first. Once everyone gave up and calmed down, he could come back to wait in line.

 

An Jing left the signing area, trying his best to overcome the psychological discomfort of being in a crowd, and walked toward the direction Yan Qili had gone earlier. He searched for that tall figure among the masses.

 

 

The cheers from the signing area also reached other parts of the venue.

 

Yan Qili vaguely heard the name “Yannian.” With thousands of people in the venue, besides Yannian himself, only Yan Qili knew what the famous Teacher Yannian, with millions of fans, actually looked like.

 

An Jing’s pen name was “Yannian”; Yan Qili had known that since his first day in this world. The familiar name caught Yan Qili’s attention, and he turned his head to look.

 

A boy was talking boastfully to two girls: “Yannian? I know him. He’s a distant relative of mine. We’ve even met twice; he’s quite a cold and distant person.”

 

The girls’ eyes lit up. “For real?”

 

Boy: “Why would I lie? I even have his WeChat. I have a collector’s edition of The Great Thief Never Stops at home with his personal autograph.”

 

Hearing this, Yan Qili glanced at the boy claiming to be Yannian’s distant relative. The man’s features and aura didn’t have even half a resemblance to that timid rabbit. How distant is this relationship exactly?

 

“A collector’s edition!” The two girls said enviously. “We couldn’t get one at the time.”

 

Yan Qili listened to them discuss An Jing. Their words were full of admiration and love for him:

 

“Teacher Yannian is so amazing; every book he writes is a hit.”

 

“His imagination and writing style are unmatched.”

 

“Yeah, he’s my favorite author.”

 

“It’s just that he’s too low-profile. I wonder if I’ll ever meet him in my lifetime.”

 

The An Jing in their words was very impressive—completely different from the timid, cowardly, fair-skinned, and mild-tempered An Jing he knew.

 

Cold and distant? He didn’t see it. He was clearly socially anxious; when a stranger came to his house, he curled into a ball in fear…

 

The An Jing in other people’s mouths was a stranger. Yan Qili stayed in place, openly listening to the three of them chat.

 

The boy sighed. “My uncle is indeed very low-profile. His health hasn’t been great these years, so he’s been resting at home and rarely goes out…”

 

The boy spoke with great conviction, and the two naive girls easily believed him, starting to worry about Teacher Yannian’s health:

 

“Ah, what kind of illness? Is he okay?”

 

“No wonder the new novel hasn’t started; is Teacher Yannian alright?”

 

Meanwhile, Yan Qili’s expression had turned sour ever since the boy said the word “uncle.”

 

Uncle? This person looked much older than Jing An, yet he called that coward… uncle? What kind of family ranking is this?

 

Then, Yan Qili heard the boy say An Jing was in poor health and resting at home. Yan Qili, who had been listening with interest: “…”

 

Realizing he had been lied to, the “Living Yama” pressed his thin lips together and looked expressionlessly at the man who was wildly spreading rumors right in front of him.

 

You’re dead.