The Gloomy Paper-Man Came to My Door to Pursue His Love - Chapter 6

The terminal asked if this was truly what he wanted. Qin Fei waited for a moment longer, but when he still received no reply from his 2D character, he shifted the blame onto the terminal. He argued that the terminal was the one who suggested that occasional flirtation could help increase intimacy levels. An intimacy level of zero percent was simply too embarrassing to look at. The terminal continued to rub salt into the wound, stating that at zero percent intimacy, Qin Fei’s words were actually quite inappropriate. Qin Fei was puzzled and asked what else the character could possibly tear apart. This was a 2D character he had sculpted with his own hands; it was his possession. He wondered if the character could actually tear him apart in person. The terminal then reminded him that the starship would perform a space jump in five minutes. Qin Fei waited another four minutes, but after receiving no response from the character, he finally closed the game.

Having sat on the sofa for four hours, Qin Fei stood up to stretch. He stood by the porthole, looking out at the universe, which resembled a vast expanse of black velvet tapestry adorned with countless stars. The starship was racing toward the planet Obsidian. Over the twenty-one day journey, it would perform numerous jumps to reach its very distant destination. Before this, Qin Fei’s longest journey had been from the Qin family home to the Imperial Palace. Back then, crowds had packed both sides of the streets, struggling to catch a glimpse of the Little Prince’s fiancé. Qin Fei had smiled and waved at them, privately telling his terminal that they should have charged for tickets. The terminal, which was the only thing he had brought to the Royal Family, asked why. Qin Fei replied that even people going to the zoo to see monkeys had to pay money. The terminal agreed with his logic, calculating that if he had set the price at twenty star coins per ticket, his income for that trip would have been six hundred forty-two thousand and nine hundred star coins. When asked how he would spend the money, Qin Fei thought for a moment and suggested hiring male models in the Star Federation. The terminal went silent. Qin Fei coolly added that he had no desire to contribute to the Empire’s Gross Domestic Product.

The male model industry of the Star Federation was indeed famous throughout the galaxy. When the vehicle reached its destination, Minister Bardis personally welcomed the Little Prince’s fiancé. Qin Fei, who had been discussing male models a second ago, instantly switched to his usual cold and noble expression, greeting the Minister with flawless etiquette. The recent space jump had caused the starship to jolt, nearly causing Qin Fei to spill his red wine. He placed the glass back in its original position before the terminal could reconnect. The terminal vibrated on his wrist, reminding him that it could detect both the alcohol concentration in his blood and the molecules in the air. Qin Fei remained unfazed and claimed he had only taken a single sip. The terminal accepted this, noting that moderate wine consumption could improve sleep quality. It advised him to go to bed without taking sleeping pills and wished him sweet dreams.

Qin Fei did feel tired, primarily because he had not rested well the previous night and had spent the day dealing with Bardis and playing the game. However, he did not go to sleep immediately after washing up. Instead, he checked the post he had made on Star Blog. An hour had passed, and the view count had reached five hundred thousand. This was much higher than his previous posts, likely because the game Exclusive ABO was so popular. Qin Fei realized with a quiet exclamation that he had forgotten to include the game’s tag, otherwise the views would have been even higher. The number of comments had also exceeded ten thousand. Most of the comments were from people screaming in admiration of the character’s incredible face and physique. A few expressed relief that Qin Fei was finally willing to play a romance game, as they feared he would stay devoted to Xi Li forever. Most of his fans were admirers of his looks rather than supporters of his pairing with the Little Prince. Despite their one hundred percent pheromone compatibility, the two were considered a difficult couple to support.

The remaining comments urged Qin Fei to nominate his character for the Top One Hundred Most Handsome 2D Faces competition. The terminal explained that this competition was extremely popular and settled every quarter. However, the timing was not ideal, as the current quarter would end in only twenty days. Qin Fei did not hesitate and decided that Shabei would participate. The terminal confirmed the registration and informed him that Shabei was currently ranked over one hundred million. When the terminal displayed the ranking page, Qin Fei saw his character at the very bottom of the last page. He asked if he could vote for Shabei himself. The terminal confirmed that every player received three votes per day. Qin Fei immediately cast all of them for Shabei. These three votes did not move the ranking, as every player voted for their own carefully crafted characters. Qin Fei stared at the ranking for a while, and when it failed to rise, he asked if he could buy votes. The terminal warned him that the count would be cleared if he were caught, but he was free to share the voting page.

Qin Fei posted the link and instructed the terminal to wake him at nine o’clock the next morning before falling asleep instantly. The terminal lit up, detecting that Qin Fei’s blood alcohol concentration was zero point sixty-five percent, which classified as moderate intoxication. The terminal sighed like a weary old butler, noting that even when drunk, Qin Fei was still very careful with his public words. Qin Fei had captioned the shared voting page with a polite request, asking people to vote for the character if they liked him and offering his sincere thanks. This was consistent with his usual polite manner, leaving no room for anyone to criticize him. The terminal turned off all the lights in the first class cabin and set the status to Do Not Disturb.

Because he was intoxicated, Qin Fei slept for a long time, though he still woke up before the terminal could call him. He first checked his two blog posts from the previous night. After a night of exposure, both posts had exceeded one million views. He remembered the competition and checked the ranking page again. Shabei had jumped from over one hundred million to the eighty million mark. Qin Fei felt this was a sufficient start and had the terminal message Bardis, informing him that they would meet in half an hour so he could introduce his Triple-S Class Alpha. During that time, Qin Fei tidied himself up and ate a small snack.

Exactly thirty minutes later, before Qin Fei could initiate the call, Bardis called him first. In the projection, Bardis appeared nervous and apprehensive. Qin Fei looked up and offered a standard, polite greeting. Bardis cleared his throat and asked if Qin Fei had eaten breakfast. Qin Fei thanked him for the concern and confirmed that he had. He then demonstrated great consideration by suggesting that they could postpone the meeting if Bardis was still feeling nervous. Bardis quickly declined.

Among Alphas, the hierarchy was strictly defined by mental power. Bardis was only an ordinary Alpha, and the prospect of meeting a Triple-S Class Alpha made him nervous regardless of the time. Furthermore, Qin Fei’s blog posts from the previous evening had struck Bardis as strange. Given Qin Fei’s past attitude toward love, he should have been focused on the real Triple-S Class Alpha. Bardis wanted to confirm the situation as soon as possible.

Bardis claimed he was fine and asked to proceed immediately while secretly searching Qin Fei’s face for any hidden clues.

Qin Fei remained perfectly calm and agreed. Bardis nervously gripped the edge of his clothing as if he were about to meet a genuine, living Triple-S Class Alpha. Qin Fei noted the man’s anxiety and deliberately paused his finger over the terminal screen before asking if the Minister was ready. Bardis used a silk handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his brow, took a deep breath, and declared that he was ready.

Qin Fei then used the terminal to open the game Exclusive ABO. He opened the character’s digital business card and adjusted the camera to focus on the 2D character. When he looked up, the face of Bardis in the projection had turned incredibly dark.

If it had been anyone else, Bardis would have exploded with rage, but Qin Fei’s status and beauty earned him a moment of patience.

He asked Qin Fei if he was having a mental health crisis, as that would be the only way he could forgive being trifled with. Bardis had Qin Fei’s latest medical report, which stated that he was healthy aside from a minor sleep disorder.

However, a sleep disorder was not a mental illness. Bardis stared at Qin Fei’s face, thinking that he could use his connections to procure a mental health certificate for him. After all, most mental illnesses involved sleep issues, and being unable to sleep meant there was more time for other activities at night.

Qin Fei introduced the character as his Triple-S Class Alpha lover, Shabei. On the display, the 2D character was repeating an inviting gesture.

Qin Fei listed his attributes: a Triple-S Class Alpha with Scorching Sun pheromones, standing one hundred ninety-two centimeters tall with a chest circumference of one hundred four centimeters and a waist of seventy-two centimeters.

When he reached the character’s likes, Qin Fei realized he did not know much about the character yet. With a steady expression, he stated that the character liked him. He then looked at Bardis, missing the moment the 2D character changed his display animation.

The cabin was silent, and Bardis said nothing as he stared at Qin Fei. Consequently, he also missed the moment the character in the game looked up.

Xi Li had been looking for a way to escape when his consciousness data drifted into the display screen just as Qin Fei said the words “likes me.”

He was surprised to see Qin Fei in a video call with Bardis. He fixed his gaze on Qin Fei with a searching look. Bardis was already on Xi Li’s list of people to eliminate, and he wanted to see what his fiancé was discussing with the man.

Qin Fei remarked softly that the character looked nothing like His Highness. He smiled slightly, and before Xi Li could process the meaning of those words, he heard Qin Fei’s clear voice again. With a light and cheerful tone, Qin Fei told Minister Bardis that he did not intend to remain chaste for His Highness. Xi Li narrowed his eyes dangerously. He had known from the beginning that Qin Fei was insincere, and he had never expected anything else.

The name Qin Fei had always been on his danger list, and now its threat level was rising higher.

Qin Fei expressed his sincere gratitude to the Minister and the Ministry of Marriage for their concern.

To Xi Li, his eyes looked as pure as distilled water, though the Prince knew better. Qin Fei claimed he would live happily with Shabei and that the Ministry no longer needed to worry about him. Bardis laughed, stating that since Qin Fei’s pheromones were a perfect match for a Triple-S Class Alpha, he could not allow him to dismiss the matter with such an absurd reason.

Qin Fei had expected this resistance and smiled back.

He mentioned that he had heard about the protests by players in the Federation against forced matching by their own Ministry of Marriage.

He claimed that because he had been isolated, he did not know the outcome, but he understood the sentiment because players often treated their 2D characters as real lovers.

He noted that the Empire had the largest number of players and wondered if the Ministry’s discrimination against 2D characters might incite public outrage.

Bardis finally understood why Qin Fei had made those blog posts. Qin Fei added that while he respected the laws of the Empire, if the Minister insisted on changing his status back to single, he would have no choice but to post an announcement on his blog about quitting the game.

Bardis finally looked at the game screen behind Qin Fei, and his eyes met those of the Triple-S Class Alpha.

He froze in sudden, inexplicable terror.

He realized the look in the character’s eyes was incredibly familiar. It looked like the Prince who was often called a plague. Bardis felt his legs go weak. Years ago, the Emperor had sent him to discuss a marriage with that Prince, and he had barely escaped with his life. He had been thrown into a pile of captured alien monsters while the Prince fired a gun at the creatures right behind him.

Back then, the Prince had told him with a cold smile not to run around, mocking that if he missed a shot, he wouldn’t know how to explain it to the Minister’s wife and his eight mistresses.