Welcome to the Misogyny Game

"You saw that, didn't you?" Liu Chaoque turned to look at Wang Qige.

Wang Qige nodded. "The plot has changed again." As she spoke, she opened her phone, tapped on the game app, and muttered to herself, "Let me see how this plot has turned out on my phone. If it's like yours, maybe I've been infected with a virus too."

After skipping through a series of actions, she quickly advanced the progress bar, only to find that the plot remained unchanged, and the final image froze on the pure white window curtains.

“It seems your phone’s storyline is still normal,” Liu Chaoque said. “However, is it possible that our storylines are both wrong? After all, we are the only two people around us playing this game, and there is no specific storyline online, so we don’t know if it’s correct or not.”

“There’s another way.” Wang Qige looked at the ticket-buying app on her phone: “Let’s take the train to the company that developed this app. The one who tied the knot must untie it. This game has a virus, so the company has to take responsibility.”

She quickly bought two tickets to Ocean University of China for the morning using her phone.

Liu Chaoque turned on the light and started packing his luggage: "Let's go then. I've never been to Ocean University before. You're on vacation right now, so why don't we stay there for a few days? I think there's a comic convention there these days. I wonder if we'll be able to see the content creator."

Neither of them were indecisive or hesitant. Although the trip was decided at the last minute, since the tickets were already bought, they might as well take the opportunity to explore more.

"I don't know how far DSN is, do you want to go?" Wang Qige asked her. "If you go, I'll buy you a ticket too."

"DSN? I'm not that interested. I might prefer something with an ancient-style street." Liu Chaoque shook her head. She climbed into the closet and rummaged through it before finding a cosplay outfit in a nook and cranny.

"Hehe, I heard that you need to wear your favorite character's clothes to the anime convention." Liu Chaoque chuckled mischievously. She took out an eye mask, put it on, and then suddenly opened it, looking at her with a solemn expression: "I can feel it. This is the power bestowed by the God of the Void."

"Human, do you know the God of the Void?"

"Be torn apart by the turbulent flow of time!"

"Stop, stop, stop." Wang Qige covered her face: "How about you create a Xiao Lu and I create a female lead? This is just too chuunibyou."

"Don't even think about lying to me into calling you 'sister.'" Liu Chaoque's face clearly showed her refusal: "At most, I'll offer you a fiancé."

"That works too." Wang Qige's expression couldn't help but show some regret.

Hey, she's still having a bad day. Liu Chaoque shook her head. There's no way to deal with Brother Zijiang. She rummaged through the closet again and found a suit and a women's business suit.

They took out two more wigs from the hair display case upstairs and stuffed them, along with a bunch of bottles and jars, into their luggage. The two then discussed some other things to bring, but it was too late, so they decided to wait until they were on the train, since the train ride would take another three hours anyway.

The next day, because they hadn't slept well the night before and were feeling a bit tired, Wang Qige forced herself to cheer up and pulled Liu Chaoque to wash up and eat. Once they were on the train, the two of them didn't plan any travel itinerary at all; all they could remember was sleeping.

Liu Chaoque set an alarm for an hour and a half later, and the two of them hastily decided on a travel route during that hour and a half of wakefulness.

The hotel was expensive, which made Liu Chaoque feel bad. What annoyed her even more was that she couldn't see any buses. After waiting for an hour, she finally decided to take a taxi.

Looking at the meter, the two of them split the bill at 180 yuan.

"This city is truly bustling, but it's also truly unaffordable." Sitting in the waiting room downstairs at the company, drinking the water kindly provided by the receptionist, Liu Chaoque sighed, "Luckily, I made some money a few years ago, and now I'm making some money writing novels, otherwise I wouldn't even be able to afford a taxi fare."

Wang Qige was also a little frustrated: "I guess each city has its own rules of survival. There are many buses in Ning City, many subways and buses in Hangzhou City, and taxis are more convenient in Huzhou City. This place is probably similar to Huzhou City."

They arrived an hour later, and the person who greeted them wasn't a high-ranking executive, after all, they didn't have that kind of influence. He was wearing a plaid shirt and had sparse hair; he was probably an IT staff member.

Regardless of who it was, Liu Chaoque handed him the phone directly and said bluntly, "Your software is developed and I can't uninstall it? Isn't that just malware?" He was very straightforward and made no attempt to hide anything.

The man was quite good-natured. Knowing that the complainant had come to the company, he took a closer look. Upon looking at it, he frowned and said, "That's not right. When I designed the software, there was no bug that prevented uninstallation."

"And the plot you designed." Liu Chaoque patted Wang Qige, gesturing for her to show him the screen recording video, which contained the cat-eyed boy he had seen last night.

The man's eyes widened in surprise: "Impossible! This is a character from a storyline that hasn't even appeared yet. I designed it to be in the last paragraph of Chapter Two. How come it's already out now?" He quickly turned on his computer and started editing. "See if this is the right paragraph."

Liu Chaoque and Wang Qige came over and found that this scene was exactly the same. She scratched her head, wondering if her phone was playing future plots.

"Wait a minute," she asked, "Did you add any horror elements, like an old lady in the dark?"

"This...would you like to describe it again?" the man asked.

Liu Chaoque then told him about the plot he had seen the day before yesterday. The man slapped his forehead and exclaimed, "Oh no! This is the plot of another software our team is developing! How did you know about it?"

He said with a serious expression, "You're really not some company that's here to cause trouble, are you?"

"How could that be? If we're looking for trouble, we wouldn't pick on something you haven't even revealed yet, right? Oh! You're not actually trying to say we're your rivals trying to steal your secrets, are you? That doesn't make sense either. If I had that ability, wouldn't it be better for us to keep it hidden? We could just come here and attack you head-on. Do you think that's possible?" Liu Chaoque retorted.

"That's true, but this plot isn't from the first chapter. We can't just give you a bug, can we? And no one has complained about this."

"I can't uninstall this software yet," Liu Chaoque said, getting to the point.

“That’s true.” The man nodded. “I can let you try this.”

Since it's software they developed themselves, if they really can't uninstall it, there's a self-destructive method: "But then you won't be able to play the game anymore, which is equivalent to the game blacklisting you."

"Is there no other way?" Wang Qige asked.

"That's all." The man nodded.

"Why didn't you make him force me to uninstall that software?" Liu Chaoque asked, puzzled, as they walked along the road to the nearby budget bakery.

"I initially thought the company forced you to download this game, or that it had some kind of tricky bug, but now even the people at the company don't seem to know anything about it. Do you think it's possible that you're transmigrating into a game, like in a novel?"

"The female protagonist in this game gets murdered every few days, just like the kid next door. Don't curse me." Liu Chaoque waved his hand while looking at the map.

"It's better to be safe than sorry. Now, study the plot carefully. If you really wear it, you won't give yourself away. Go to the right." Wang Qige said, "If you take it off, you'll really be in the dark."

The two bought bread and returned to the hotel. The next day, they attended a comic convention. Liu Chaoque walked next to Wang Qige carrying a huge rose.

Today's comic convention was very lively, with characters, both familiar and unfamiliar, appearing before their eyes.

Liu Chaoque's knowledge of anime was shallow, still stuck in 2016, while Wang Qige excitedly introduced the characters of the people who had just walked by.

Liu Chaoque felt like he was suffering from face blindness.

However, both of them are rather socially awkward. Even though she has an extremely socially adept fiancé, she only indulges in her social adventurous tendencies at home and would never say such embarrassing things in public.

Unless someone is a stamp collector.

"Hello, may I collect stamps?" At this moment, a cute young lady walked up. Liu Chaoque took a look and recognized her as the familiar little blue-haired girl. If she remembered correctly, her outfit should be... a maid!

At this moment, she felt as embarrassed as someone who, during Chinese New Year, encountered a very familiar relative but had forgotten when to address them.

Fortunately, she didn't test herself on what she was cosplaying, and she maintained a polite and generous smile.

"Your fiancé is such a perfect replica!" the young woman laughed. "Then the young woman next to you must be your fiancée."

"Yes, she's my fiancée," Liu Chaoque said with a smile. "But she's rather shy."

Wang Qige was already digging her toes into the ground. After everyone left, she patted Liu Chaoque on the shoulder and said, "I knew it. It would have been better to go for Little President Lu. At least you would only have to call him 'sister'."

"Calling someone 'fiancée' now might be fine if no one's collecting them, but if someone is, how awkward is that?" Wang Qige sighed heavily.

Liu Chaoque seemed to be deep in thought: "I think I have a solution."

Standing outside the restroom, Wang Qige waited idly for Liu Chaoque to come out. Watching the men and women coming and going, she couldn't quite tell whether they were men or women because of their makeup.

She was looking at others, and others were looking at her. In such an awkward place as next to the toilet, everyone just glanced at her curiously before hurrying inside or out.

About five or six minutes later, when Wang Qige had started counting the ants on the ground, someone called out from behind, "Fiancée."

Wang Qige turned her head and saw a very unfamiliar look: a white suit, a red shirt, and her hair was now black, simply styled with hair gel.

Judging by his face, it was indeed Liu Chaoque. With sunglasses hanging on his shirt, Liu Chaoque revealed a gentle smile: "Now I am Xiaohua."

Wang Qige, who hadn't read much of the Daomu Biji series, looked completely bewildered: "We're not in the same system anymore?"

Liu Chaoque waved his hand: "I only remember one person wearing a suit, and I don't have any other wigs, so this is the only one I can wear."

"Then what should I cosplay?" Wang Qige asked. "We have to be the same."

"Um, maybe you could try Wu Xiaogou?" Liu Chaoque blinked.

"Huh?" Wang Qige looked bewildered.

Looking at her outfit, which resembled Yanzi's, she couldn't help but exclaim, "The female lead completely alters the male lead's appearance; as expected of you, Liu Chaoque!"

"Alright, alright, let's go." Liu Chaoque's lips curled slightly: "You're the infamous Little Third Master in the underworld. Now I'm Xiao Hua, and you're Wu Xie."

"Oh~"

Although she was a little confused about the situation, she was quite satisfied that no one was approaching her after she changed her cosplay.

It was only when a few bold individuals cautiously approached and asked, "Friend, are you Yanzi, Xia Mingxing, or Wuxie?" that Wang Qige realized the crux of the matter. It turned out she wasn't the only one who thought the three cosplayers looked alike.

Standing next to her, Liu Chaoque spread his hands, his smile not like that of Xiao Hua, but like that of a man in sunglasses. He put his arm around Wang Qige's shoulder and smiled brightly: "Of course, this is our Third Master Wu."

“Then you must be Second Master Hua.” The girl said with certainty, “But Second Master Hua, your smile is nothing like Second Master Hua’s.”

"Ahem." Liu Chaoque composed himself, revealing his signature cool and understanding expression: "And now?"

"Wow! This is just right!" The girl stomped her foot excitedly and took out her phone: "Second Master Hua, Third Master Xiao, can we collect stamps?"

"Okay." Liu Chaoque gave a slight smile.

After being surrounded by enthusiastic girls taking photos for a while, they followed the crowd into the inner area. Once inside, Liu Chaoque pulled Wang Qige straight to the concert hall.

Listening to the energetic anime theme song, Liu Chaoque felt like he had become ten years younger.

Wang Qige, who was standing next to her, would occasionally sing along, and she could hum a few lines as well.

until……

"Who lit the candle to illuminate the darkness, the mystery set up by time?"

"Light replaces the position of light and darkness"

"Flowing freely"

...With a burning, unyielding heart, I walked towards the most lenient execution ground; though broken and shattered, the echoes reverberated hollowly.

In the end, I was actually grateful that the sunset still lingered on me.

There wasn't enough time to tell the full story.

"With the most rugged peaks, we fulfilled our arrogance."

A gentle sea breeze and a full moon, their light reflected in a cup.

Wang Qige stared blankly at the woman beside her, who was switching between opera styles and singing with great enthusiasm and beauty. It seemed that only now did she realize that her tone-deafness really did vary.

Liu Chaoque was invited upstairs and finally met a few like-minded people who started switching songs. She began singing various ancient-style songs, and at a glance, they were all songs by the same person. This is the epitome of idol worship.

After a thoroughly enjoyable performance, Liu Chaoque waved goodbye to his temporary friends and followed Wang Qige out of the venue.

Then Wang Qige could see her face turn bright red, like Cinderella leaving at midnight, emerging from her ideal world and leaving only the reality of social anxiety.

"This was an accident, do you believe it?"

Wang Qige thought of Liu Chaoque, who was eager to go on stage like a wild horse, and calmly nodded: "I believe you."

"Oh my, I'm so excited! I actually sang Spicy Sauce's song!" She chuckled. "I've been a fan of Spicy Sauce for ten years. I've liked him since the Manchu Han Imperial Feast. I wonder if I'll ever be able to go to his concert someday."

Wang Qige nodded: "Yes, we will. Next time he holds a concert, we will go see him together."

Liu Chaoque smiled.