Want to be human, but cube-like

Compared to the flowers and plants she had seen before, the vibrant display of blossoms before her was truly more captivating for Alex.

She suddenly began to understand why her mother used to like to put a few small potted plants in the house as decorations.

…………

So horny.jpg

P.S. Wow, they actually rejected chapter 96! Damn it, I didn't write a single word below the neck, and they still wouldn't approve it? I made some minor revisions. It's Chinese New Year these days, so I don't know when it will be reviewed again, and even if it is, I don't know if it will be uploaded. So frustrating!

Volume 1: Chapter 100 A game where you control characters to go on adventures...?

After selecting several potted plants that were relatively easy to care for and even beginners could easily grow, and also adding a few small indoor saplings for decoration to the burger shop, Alex left the florist's address so that the florist could arrange for delivery at another time.

"Hmm, how about we go browse some furniture stores next?"

Walking onto the street, Ai Yin raised a slender index finger, tapped her chin lightly, thought for a moment, and then made a suggestion with a slight smile.

"After all, we still need to buy some tables, chairs, and cabinets to display the decorations."

As she was speaking, Aine suddenly remembered something.

"By the way, does Ellie know the size of your own bedroom?"

While searching on her phone for nearby home decor shops, she looked up and asked.

Since it was a sudden and impulsive decision, it was decided hastily, and when it was carried out, it was naturally discovered that many details had not been taken into account.

If you don't know the size of Alex's bedroom, it will be difficult to help her choose the right size furniture.

"It's five squares long and four squares wide."

Upon hearing this, Alex instinctively blurted out the size of her room.

As a blocky person, she doesn't even need to use tools to measure. She can identify the range of each block around her just by looking at it. For those less than five blocks, she can calculate them immediately without even thinking.

However, even though Xiangzi had told him many times, he still hadn't changed his habit of using certain words.

"Is it five meters by four meters...?"

Nodding slightly, Ai Yin instinctively and tacitly switched the thought process in her mind.

Then, she began to try to recall the layout of Alex's bedroom that she had seen in the video call.

I was just starting to think about how to decorate when I suddenly froze.

"Um, just now, Ellie, what were the length and width...?"

Blinking, Aine hesitated for a moment, then asked tentatively in a somewhat uncertain tone.

"...!"

Alex caught her breath for a moment.

Just now, she seemed to have let something slip out of the blue, as is her habit.

"I...I said it's five meters long and four meters wide...!"

Still remembering Xiangzi's teachings not to reveal her special nature, Alex quickly tried to cover up her previous slip of the tongue.

"Yeah?"

With a slight frown, Aine tried to recall the conversation, but after Alex's comment, she felt as if she had simply misheard.

"But, I think I heard someone say... grid?"

After thinking for a moment, she still asked again, somewhat unsure.

Because she was very familiar with this way of calculating distance in a certain game, Aine was so suspicious that what Alex had just said might be the same as what she thought, but upon closer inspection, she felt that it was unlikely.

After all, in Aine's memory, Alex didn't seem like the type to play games, let alone the pixel block game that Aine played, which was a very niche game in her memory.

It was precisely because she was so familiar with this way of representing distance using grids that she doubted whether she had misheard and mistakenly associated it with the terminology in the game.

"No? I meant rice~"

Alex was indeed not very good at lying. She turned her head away, avoiding Aine's gaze, and repeated her words, trying to confuse her.

"Hmm...I see."

Fortunately, Aine hadn't expected Alex to lie to her over such a trivial matter. Not noticing Alex's strange reaction, she could only nod and move on from the topic, which she considered insignificant.

"Um, Ellie, have you played any games before?"

After much hesitation, still somewhat unwilling, Aine casually asked again.

She really wanted to find a fellow gamer, because sometimes playing alone could get boring.

Besides, the game's official website seems to have been lost. If we can find someone who has also played the game, we might be able to find the official website before we save up enough pocket money to buy a new computer.

"game?"

On the other side, Alex tilted her head and thought for a moment about how to answer.

After all, the concept of a game is very broad. Her past adventures, which were full of ups and downs but not really dangerous because she could be resurrected, could also be considered games. Sometimes, the process of challenging a certain goal can also be called a game. Without specifying a particular form, it would be difficult for Alex to understand what Aine was asking.

"It's like computer games, using a device like Xiaoxiang's laptop to play game programs, such as controlling a character to go on an adventure... or something like that?"

Aine mistakenly thought that Alex didn't know the specific concept of the game, so she simply explained it to her.

"……manipulate?"

But Alex only noticed one word.

She paused slightly, then realized her mistake and continued walking back to Ai-yin's side.

"Ah, it's not just this kind..."

Waving her hand, Ai Yin started talking about other forms of video games.

"There are also some simple click games, card battle games, and management games, and there are quite a lot of different types of games."

At this point in the conversation, Aine realized that Alex probably really didn't know anything about games. She was slightly disappointed, but she quickly put that little emotion behind her, since it wasn't really an important matter, and Aine herself didn't care.

"game……"

But Alex was still somewhat unsettled by Aine's first two sentences.

She seemed to have made a connection to something, but she couldn't quite grasp the fleeting thought that crossed her mind.

"We can talk about that later~ Ellie, we've arrived!"

In the short time it took to say a few words, Aine had already led Alex to the home decor store she had found on her phone. Noticing that Alex seemed to still be distracted by what she had just said, Aine felt a little apologetic and quickly interrupted her thoughts with a lively tone.

Ultimately, the topic arose from my own selfish motives, and it would be terrible if it prevented Alex from having a good shopping experience.

She came here with Alex to choose furniture and decorations so that Alex could live comfortably in such a faraway place.

Without realizing it, Aine seemed to have forgotten their original plan for the day.

And what the two of them were still waiting for was a reply to a message from a certain little white fluffy ball that had been delayed for a long time.

…………

P.S. Celebrating reaching 100 chapters!

There's really nothing to celebrate. By the way, does this chapter count as "stopping at the end" (after about two or three more event points? It should be the twisty plot... right?)

That's how the outline was written, but when I was actually writing the main text, I would naturally add more plot elements, which caused the length to stretch uncontrollably. For example, the outline for chapters one through twenty was only about 300 words long, half of which was detailed information about the Sky Island arc.

Incidentally, I've unknowingly expanded the entire novel outline to over 20,000 words.

Volume 1: Chapter 101 You're Even Cuter!

In the afternoon, there were many passersby, so Aine had to keep an eye on Alex to make sure she was with her, otherwise it would be troublesome if they got separated.

But actually, Aine doesn't need to care about this at all, since Alex can find her by looking at the minimap.

Standing in front of the store and looking up, you see a building with several floors, all belonging to the brand. Although it's called a store, this NITORI home furnishing brand store is actually more like a large home furnishing mall.

With so many choices, even if Alex has a discerning eye, she shouldn't be disappointed.

He still thought of Alex as Aine, a young lady from a wealthy and noble family.

"Speaking of which, it's been a long time since I've been here~ Ellie? Let's go in!"

With a slight sigh, she turned around and called out to Alex, who was still somewhat absent-minded, before walking ahead and leading her into the mall.

"First of all, we really should check out the cabinet, right?"

Although she was only accompanying Alex to buy home decor, Aine herself was the one who was more interested.

"Um,

all right."

Coming to her senses from her own jumbled thoughts, Alex, with a look of curiosity on her face, followed Aine inside, going deeper and deeper.

Even though she had used some decorative mods before, she still found the furniture and decorations in front of her both novel and interesting.

After all, no matter how rich the content of a module is, it can never compare to the number of products in a large home furnishing store.

Moreover, in terms of refinement, those crudely designed modular decorations cannot compare with the exquisitely crafted mass-produced industrial products we see before us.

"Wow! There's a kitten's head on this towel!"

While saying she was going to look at the cabinets, Aine's attention was drawn to a few towels hanging on metal hooks when they passed a small space set up as a bathroom.

They were towels hanging on the wall like teru teru bozu dolls, each with a round cat head in the middle. There were several different varieties and colors, and a ring of round towels hanging down naturally from the bottom of the cat's head, swaying on the hook.

"Look, isn't it cute~?"

She casually picked up a Ragdoll cat-shaped hand puppet, covered it with her little hand, and turned around, holding it up to her face as if she were holding a small hand puppet, to show it to Alex.

Alex glanced at the towel with a fluffy ball shaped like a kitten on it, then looked at Aine's big, light gray eyes blinking, her little tiger teeth showing in a grin.

"Yes, they're all very cute."

Not knowing for a moment which question the other person was asking, she could only purse her lips and smile faintly.

"Right, right~"

Hearing Alex's agreement, Aine was pleased. She was about to put the towel back when she suddenly realized that something seemed wrong.

"Eh?"

Her movements froze slightly, but Aine put the towel back and tidied it up before glancing sideways at Alex with a slight hesitation.

"I was asking about towels."

She hesitated for a long time before whispering a remark.

"Is that so?"

Blinking, Alex assumed that Aine hadn't fully understood her answer.

"What I just said was that both the towel and Aine are very cute."

So she explained.

"Um……"

This sudden remark left Ai Yin momentarily at a loss for how to react. She could only respond with a soft nasal sound, as if to skip the topic.

"But I think Aine is actually much cuter than this towel."

But looking at Aine who had walked a few steps ahead of her, as if she was in a hurry to move on to the next small scene, Alex added one more sentence at the end.

"Well……!"

Visibly, Ai Yin paused for a moment, then quickened her pace again.

“…Really.”

She only muttered something under her breath after the two of them had silently walked past two or three shelves.

"Ellie's recent statements have become increasingly bold..."

With her cheeks slightly puffed out, Ai Yin, whose face was flushed, didn't seem angry.

She was simply caught off guard by Alex's overly direct and sudden remarks. Although Aine considered herself a social butterfly, in Japan's generally reserved social atmosphere, very few people speak as bluntly and without any pretense as Alex.

After all, the impact of a compliment made out of social obligation is completely different from that of a compliment delivered with a serious expression in the tone just mentioned.