After Spending Money on In-Game Purchases, I Discovered my Girlfriend was a Real Person - Chapter 3

Sui Zhenxing felt as though she had been trekking across that creative wasteland for far too long until she finally exhausted her last bit of battery and simply shut down. Then, she jolted awake.

She sat up, feeling dazed for a long while. After a period of idle sitting, she drifted into the bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror, noting her pale complexion and hollow eyes; she was radiating a palpable sense of gloom. She ran a hand through her hair, moved through the motions of drying off, and changed into clean loungewear, yet that sense of emptiness remained as a constant companion.

Then, she suddenly remembered something.

Empty Moon.

The game that sounded like an enormous hassle.

Sui Zhenxing walked to the adjacent room where the immersive equipment stood. The device was sleek, resembling a small capsule pod, and it rested quietly in the corner while emitting a ghostly blue standby light. The hatch had already slid open automatically to reveal an interior lined with soft memory foam that seemed to be waiting for the user to sink into its embrace.

“Well… it’s not like I have anything else to do. I’ll just play for a bit.”

Darkness enveloped her, and a few soft points of light flickered at the top of her field of vision to guide her through the neural link process. A faint humming sound resonated within her skull.

Suddenly, her vision brightened. She found herself standing in a space of pure white where the floor beneath her was so smooth that the material was indistinguishable and cast no reflection.

A light screen hovered before her.

Welcome to Empty Moon, Dreamweaver.

Please construct your projected identity.

“Projected identity,” Sui Zhenxing repeated, unable to resist a curl of her lip. “It’s just creating a character and adjusting the face, but they make it sound so profound.”

She began the operation. Having no desire to change her physical image, she simply scanned her own biometric data: a height of 166 centimeters, long straight black hair, and her usual features. She hesitated for a moment before slightly leveling out the corners of her eyes, which usually had a somewhat innocent, downward droop. She wanted to look a bit cooler, perhaps more composed.

Please set your Anchor.

Note: The Anchor will serve as your initial interpersonal orientation in this world. NPCs will generate basic interaction tendencies toward you based on this. Specific relationship development depends entirely on your actions.

Sui Zhenxing grumbled internally. “An Anchor? So basically just picking the type of NPC I want to romance. They really do treat this like a philosophical proposition.”

Despite her cynicism, she began to build the character with genuine focus.

Occupation? A voice actress. She had always been fond of beautiful voices.

Personality? Gentle, rational, with a bit of a “big sister” or onee-san vibe. She felt she needed some mature guidance, or at least the appearance of it.

Appearance? Long curly hair, a height of about 170 centimeters, and beautiful—yes, she had to be very beautiful.

She adjusted the details meticulously. She chose a gentle honey-tea brown for the hair and a deep amber for the eyes. She fine-tuned the curve of the nose and the fullness of the lips.

It felt strange; she was clearly creating a virtual character, yet she was being exceptionally serious about it.

Finally, in the relationship column, she input “Lover.” The system automatically appended the status: “Not Achieved.”

“Anchor generated. Based on your settings, you have been matched to World No. 734. We wish you a pleasant journey.”

The light screen dissolved and the pure white space began to crumble. After a brief sensation of weightlessness, Sui Zhenxing found herself standing beside a quiet, peaceful street.

It was evening, and the sky was a magnificent swirl of purple and pink. The air carried the scent of fresh grass and flowers, a fragrance so crisp it felt almost surreal. Detached houses lined the street, their windows glowing with warm yellow light that made one want to curl up inside.

The stone path beneath her felt solid, and the evening breeze was cool against her skin. The sheer technical prowess of this world was undeniably impressive.

She looked down at herself and saw that she was still wearing her simple T-shirt and trousers, looking very much like a loiterer who had accidentally wandered into a high-end community.

So… where is my Anchor? Didn’t they say it would be generated based on my settings? Where is she? Don’t tell me I have to search the whole world myself… That’s a bit too much freedom.

Just as the thought crossed her mind, the garden gate of a nearby house creaked open.

A figure stepped out.

Sui Zhenxing’s gaze was instantly pinned in place.

Long, honey-tea brown curls swayed gently in the evening breeze, accentuating a face that was exceptionally fair and refined. Those amber eyes looked like pools of warm water, carrying a touch of polite inquiry as they turned toward her. The woman wore a simple cream-colored knit sweater and a coffee-colored long skirt. She stood tall, appearing just a fraction taller than Sui Zhenxing herself.

She was the exact image Sui Zhenxing had just meticulously crafted. In fact, she looked even more vivid than she had in the character creator. There was a sense of vitality and presence to her, a “living” quality that no amount of parameter tuning could ever achieve.

Upon seeing her, the woman seemed to freeze for a fraction of a second, her lips curving into a very faint, graceful arc.

“Hello. Are you the new neighbor?” Her voice was like a clear spring—a gentle, resonant mezzo-soprano. “I don’t think I’ve seen you before.”

Sui Zhenxing took a sharp breath inward.

A neighbor?! The game starts me off as her neighbor?! Is this game really that good at this? Doesn’t this mean I have a massive head start for building affection?!

She fought to maintain her outward composure. Slightly widening her eyes, she put on a shy, hesitant expression that befitted a newcomer.

“Ah… yes. I just moved in today. My name is Sui Zhenxing. ‘Zhen’ as in pillow, and ‘Xing’ as in star.”

“Wen Shuyi,” the woman responded with a smile, her gaze lingering on Sui Zhenxing’s face for a heartbeat. “‘Shu’ as in books, and ‘Yi’ as in poise. Welcome.”

Wen Shuyi.

Even her name was perfectly suited to Sui Zhenxing’s tastes. Had the game’s algorithm crawled inside her brain to read her “ideal type” checklist?

“Thank you,” she managed, struggling to stay calm.

Inside her mind, her inner self was already doing a frantic victory dance. That voice! That voice! Ahhh! It’s worth it! This game was worth every penny!

Wen Shuyi glanced at Sui Zhenxing’s empty hands and then at her relaxed posture, which certainly didn’t look like someone who had just finished moving house. A flash of confusion crossed her eyes, but it manifested only as a kind, playful tease.

“Do you need any help? Your luggage seems quite minimal.”

Sui Zhenxing told a lie without batting an eye. “No, no, I’m fine on my own. Some of my things are still on the way, so I just came out to familiarize myself with the neighborhood first.”

“I see.” Wen Shuyi nodded, her gaze shifting past her toward the house behind her, where the lights were also on. “That house has been vacant for a long time. It’s nice to see someone moving in.”

“Yes, I think the environment here is wonderful,” Sui Zhenxing agreed, though her internal monologue was screaming: Is the environment the point? You’re the point, Sister!

“I won’t keep you from exploring. I live right next door, so if you ever need any help, feel free to drop by.”

“Alright! Thank you, Miss Wen,” Sui Zhenxing nodded immediately, maintaining her “well-behaved neighbor” act.

“You can just call me Shuyi,” Wen Shuyi said with a graceful nod. She turned and walked away toward the other end of the street, her long curls swaying in an elegant arc behind her.

Sui Zhenxing stood rooted to the spot, watching the other woman’s back until she disappeared around a corner. Only then did she finally let out a long, slow breath.

She reached up to touch her cheek; it felt a bit hot.

This wasn’t right. She had just entered a game and was facing an NPC made of data, generated according to her own preferences. Why was her heart racing out of control? Why did it feel like she had just been struck by lightning?

Was it because it was too real? That gentle gaze, the way those eyes seemed to hold only her, and that voice… it was just too beautiful.

Sui Zhenxing yelled at herself internally: Sui Zhenxing, wake up! This is fake! It’s code! It’s an algorithm! You’re a manga artist! You’ve created countless characters! You cannot be seduced by an NPC!

Her top priority now was to figure out the basic rules of this world and how exactly she had ended up with this “neighbor” identity.

She walked into the house the system had assigned to her. The interior was decorated in a minimalist yet comfortable modern style, fully equipped with furniture and appliances, and even the fridge was stocked with food. It felt like a high-end boutique hotel where one only needed a suitcase to move in.

Sui Zhenxing sat down on the soft sofa and opened the game menu. The interface was clean: Personal Info, World Map, Social, and System Settings.

She tapped on Personal Info.

Name: Sui Zhenxing

Identity: Freelancer (Manga Artist)

Residence: World 734, No. 7 Liuli Street

Anchor: Wen Shuyi (Relationship: Neighbor?)

Note: Please be cautious with your words and deeds; your interaction target possesses a high degree of autonomous consciousness.

A freelancer? A manga artist? The system had even arranged that for her? Was it to match her real-life identity and make it easier for her to immerse herself?

Her gaze fell on the question mark next to “Relationship: Neighbor?”. So this was just the starting point. How things developed from here depended entirely on her.

The sensation was quite novel. It didn’t feel like playing a game with a pre-set script; it felt more like starting an unknown relationship in a real world.

She leaned back on the sofa, replaying Wen Shuyi’s every movement in her mind.

It had been too natural, so natural that it didn’t seem like a pre-programmed routine at all. That slight moment of freezing, the kind teasing, the perfectly measured sense of distance…

Could an algorithm really simulate all of that?

The rumor about NPCs having autonomous consciousness and even banning players for being offensive flashed through her mind again.

What if it was true? What if Wen Shuyi wasn’t just a pile of data stacked according to her preferences, but an entity with her own sense of self?

Sui Zhenxing dismissed the thought immediately. How could that be? Virtual was virtual. It just meant the game’s technology was powerful and the scenes were detailed. She shouldn’t entertain such impossible ideas.

She closed the menu, stood up, and walked to the window.

The sky had grown darker, and the streetlights had flickered on, casting circles of warm yellow light. The street was quiet, with only the occasional pedestrian walking by at a leisurely pace.

She remembered Wen Shuyi saying she lived right next door. Next door was separated by only a single wall.

The thought made her heart skip another beat.

Sui Zhenxing, you are absolutely doomed!

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