My Dating Sim Just Got an Update - Chapter 1

“Huh?”

Ren Chenxi was in the middle of a game when she heard a faint, startled cry from her older brother in the next room. Since she wasn’t particularly focused on her own screen, she didn’t catch it clearly at first and wondered if she’d misheard. Then, an agonized wail erupted from next door:

“No way! Argh! Since when did I win over Goddess Mu?! I didn’t even touch the game yesterday! And wait, she’s been successfully pursued, but why is there a ‘Blackening Value’ appearing under her affection meter? One hundred percent?! Is this dating sim turning into a horror game? A bloodthirsty yandere goddess… I didn’t sign up for this!!”

Listening to her brother’s increasingly pathetic wails, Ren Chenxi’s shoulders hunched with a guilty twitch.

It was true—she had sneakily played his game yesterday while he was busy. But the thing was, when she left the game to return to reality, she hadn’t actually finished winning over the “Goddess Mu” her brother constantly obsessed over. Ren Chenxi remembered it clearly; she’d spent ages failing to max out the girl’s affection meter. Eventually, she’d gotten frustrated and decided to stop being a “simp” for that wooden statue of a goddess. To clear her head and relax, she had simply ditched the school setting and went on a trip across the game world.

It had to be said that with the rapid advancement of technology, modern VR games were becoming terrifyingly realistic. They were so lifelike that, during her time inside, Ren Chenxi genuinely felt like she had stepped into a parallel universe. Every day spent in the game felt authentic. If she tripped, it hurt; if she caught a cold, she got sick; if she was cut, she bled. She had to drink when thirsty, eat when hungry, and sleep when exhausted. Aside from being able to summon the system menu at will, she would have honestly believed her VR headset had malfunctioned and electrocuted her into another dimension.

However, while she hadn’t actually transmigrated, something even scarier had happened: the damn game glitched. Back when she was getting tired of fruitlessly courting the “Wooden Goddess” and tried to force-quit, she discovered with growing despair that she couldn’t log out. Left with no choice, she’d had to pull herself together and figure out a way to win the girl over, hoping that completing the objective would let her leave. Because of that, she had lived her life in the game as if it were her actual reality.

Unfortunately, human patience has its limits. After days of tirelessly trying to please the Goddess, only to be met with a cold, stingy lack of affection points, Ren Chenxi gave up. She figured that since Mu Ning was a “cool beauty” type, hovering too closely would only make her annoying. She decided to use the summer break before senior year to travel, planning to try again once she returned to school.

But once the trip started, she got carried away. The game world was so vivid, with its diverse local cuisines and stunning landscapes, that she nearly forgot her mission entirely. It wasn’t until she woke up in a hotel room one morning that she realized with a shock that two months of summer had passed. Not only had she failed to return to campus, but she hadn’t even called in to ask for a leave of absence!

As she frantically searched her room for her phone, it dawned on her that she had lost it a few days into her trip.

In the setting of this game world, smartphones weren’t yet a universal necessity like they were in real life. Consequently, when she first realized it was gone, she hadn’t cared. In fact, she’d felt a strange sense of liberation.

Great! With the phone gone, she didn’t have to send “Good morning” texts to the Wooden Goddess every day. She could finally immerse herself in her travels.

At the time, she planned to enjoy herself and just buy a new phone and SIM card toward the end of the break. But she lost all track of time. She even joined a cycling group and headed north all the way to the Great Grasslands of N-City. After witnessing the vastness of the plains, she decided to head south to see the ocean. She hadn’t even reached the coast before her “mission” finally weighed on her mind again.

Staring blankly at the clock on her virtual game panel, Ren Chenxi felt the joy and freedom of her journey being stripped away second by second. The escapist mindset she had maintained for months slowly dissolved into clarity.

Wasn’t it the endless, stifling mission that had made her so depressed in the first place? Wasn’t that why she used travel as an outlet? She had been so greedy for that unrestrained feeling on the road that she had ignored the passage of time. But no matter how free she felt while traveling, she still couldn’t escape this cursed game task in the end. She was still trapped.

Recalling that feeling of absolute hopelessness, the Ren Chenxi now sitting safely in front of her computer lost all interest in playing. Her eyes reddened as she looked around her slightly unfamiliar bedroom and let out a soft sigh.

Thankfully, she had somehow managed to leave the game and return to reality.

As for how she got out, it was still a mystery. At the time, she had moped in her hotel room for a long while before finally dragging herself out of bed. Even though school had been back in session for over two months, she wanted to try and save her situation. Step one: buy a phone and a SIM card, then call her counselor and beg for mercy.

After all, winning over Mu Ning was her ultimate goal the key to beating the game and going home.

But just as she finished installing the SIM card and powered on the phone, a call came through instantly.

“Hello…?” She hadn’t even looked at the caller ID before answering. Surely it was her responsible counselor calling to scold her for being missing, right?

Before she could hear a voice on the other end, her vision went black. When she opened her eyes again, she was sitting at the desk in her brother’s room, wearing the VR headset.

Just like that, she was back. She instinctively glanced at the time on the computer screen. Only six hours had passed since she first put the headset on.

Ha. Less than six hours in reality, but she had been trapped in that game world for over two years! From sophomore to junior year, the damn game had forced her to relive the college experience all over again and as a forced “simp” to a goddess, no less!

That brainless dating sim was truly the longest, most broken game she had ever played.

She had been prepared to be stuck there forever, so why did she suddenly return? Was the bug fixed? Or was it?  related to what her brother was screaming about? Had the affection meter actually hit 100%?

Her brother was still howling in the next room. Ren Chenxi, feeling restless, controlled her own character for a few steps before putting down the controller. She stood up, deciding to go next door to investigate.

Since her experience of being trapped, she didn’t dare touch a VR headset anymore.

“Bro, what happened?”

Ren Chenxi feigned casual concern for her dear brother while sneaking a peek at his monitor. He wasn’t wearing a headset; he was just looking at the game interface on the screen. Sure enough, under the “Goddess Mu” character profile, the affection value had reached 100%.

“Oh? You finally won over your goddess?” So that was why she was able to leave? Because she had technically completed the objective?

“I won her over…” Ren Muhui’s voice was low, devoid of any joy. “For some reason, her affection just maxed out, but it was at zero when I logged out yesterday! Unless…” He paused, looking at Ren Chenxi suspiciously. “Did you sneak onto my account?”

“Huh? Me? Play your stupid dating sim? I’d rather spend my time farming gear in my own MMO,” Ren Chenxi lied with a perfectly straight face.

Seeing her look so serious and disdainful, Ren Muhui frowned. “But… the money I spent forever saving up is half gone! It was there when I logged out yesterday… Wait, Ren Chenxi! You’ve always had a habit of messing with my save files and spending all my gold! Admit it, you touched it!”

As expected of her brother, he knew her too well.

The reason she had snuck into that “dog-crap” dating sim while he was out was twofold. First, hearing him moan daily about how hard it was to win over Mu Ning had made her curious. Second, her brother was a hoarder who obsessively saved money in every game he played. Ren Chenxi simply couldn’t resist the urge to spend lavishly in a VR world. Thanks to his hoarding, she had lived a comfortable life for those two years—eating well, paying her tuition easily, and staying in luxury hotels while other students were stressing over internships.

As for how her brother had amassed so much wealth in a simple dating sim, Ren Chenxi hadn’t cared until he started grumbling the details. Simply put, he used the “Save/Load” (SL) method to cheat the lottery. He’d save the day before the draw, check the winning numbers, and then reload his save to buy the winning ticket.

If it’s that easy to make money, why are you being such a stingy brat about it?

Ren Chenxi gave him a silent, exasperated look. What was the big deal about spending half? Couldn’t he just cheat the lottery again? At worst, she could help him… Wait! When she was inside the game world, there was no such thing as saving or loading. She didn’t even have a “Quit Game” option!

Were they even playing the same game?!

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