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"Hey, Zheng Xuan. Did a new VR game got released or something?" One day Huang Shaotian asked when they were eating dinner in the cafeteria. Since summer break has started, not many people are still in Blue Rain's base, in fact, he and Yu Wenzhou planned to go to Beijing tomorrow for a vacation and Yu Wenzhou wanted to check on his sister.
The not so dramatic Spitfire (because Zheng Xuan is too lazy to even be dramatic sometimes, and we all know who's the dramatic Spitfire is) took off his slightly huge glasses with black tint, which is actually a VR device that recently got released and is one of Blue Rain's sponsors. That's why Huang Shaotian knew what it is, there's nothing fun in it last time he remembered, but seeing Zheng Xuan playing with it since yesterday made Huang Shao curious.
"Don't you remember when Chairman Feng asked for our cooperation for a new game? That game is like Pokémon Go but for dating. Not only do they have Glory pro players, but they also have some famous actors and models, there's some other youtubers or streamers as well."
Pokémon Go... For dating? What? Actually, now that Huang Shaotian thought about it, the lines they had to say for that game are quite ambiguous and too sweet... Ah, that was for a VR game? At first he thought it was for some promotional video... Well, he wasn't really listening that time when Yu Wenzhou and Blue Rain's boss were explaining it to them. Maybe he shouldn't have been distracted by that new (so bad it's good) manhua Zhang Jiale sent to him.
But Pokémon Go. But you catch a date instead. Huang Shaotian feels like the future is really here, imagine the joy of otakus and pro gamers alike. Zheng Xuan continued though, "You're going to Beijing tomorrow right? Why don't you try it, I heard the summon rate in Beijing is pretty high."
What's this, a wild boss? But Huang Shaotian can't say he's not interested, so... Later after that, he dug up those VR glasses and put them in his backpack so that he can explore with it in Beijing later.
After hours of traveling he and Yu Wenzhou finally arrived at the hotel. Yu Wenzhou needs to check up on his sister first, so he left Huang Shaotian to do whatever he wants. And boy do Huang Shaotian already planned out what to do today... Speed dating.
The name of the game is literally Catch A Date and Huang Shaotian tried not to twitch at all when he sees the carefully and romantically drawn Han Wenqing in the title. Why do they have to put Han Wenqing in the title? Why? At least they put Zhou Zekai's face as the biggest image, followed by Su Mucheng. This is the Glory version though, who knows what the other version is like. He's actually interested in the actors version, but he'll check on them later.
After making an account and typing off his nickname, it's Tiantian by the way because it sounds cute, the game told him that there's a nearby pro player just in the front of the hotel he and Yu Wenzhou currently staying at. Since it's not far and the sun outside is fortunately not that harsh, Huang Shaotian grabbed his mask (just in case fans can identify him even with these huge ass glasses) then walked outside.
What wait him outside is... Apparently, a certain blonde haired person that's slightly taller than... Slightly taller?! What the heck! You're Huang Shaotian! I'm Huang Shaotian! Why would you be taller even though you're just a fake?! In midst of anger by the fact that he can't be taller than he already is, virtual Shaotian coincidentally bumped into him. And apparently according to the narrative, Tiantian fell to the ground.
Don't worry, the real Huang Shaotian is safe and sound since he has excellent coordination and would not fall out of nowhere, unlike a certain someone with long red hair.
The dialogue then started, it's just like those dating simulator game that he found Lu Hanwen out of all people play sometimes. Xiao Lu is just a teenager after all, so maybe Huang Shaotian gets why he's playing those games... Anyway, this is the time where Huang Shaotian is supposed to catch a date, like the title, but in case you didn't know he didn't want to have a date with himself, so he choose the nastiest option.
"Get lost!" Tiantian said, and fake Huang Shaotian huffed. "Rude!" A familiar voice was heard from the game, and Huang Shaotian remembered when he was told to say this line, he thought of Ye Xiu declining to PK with him for the hundredth time so the line has a perfect amount of venom with it. Huh, maybe after he retires he can make money from being a voice actor!
The game showed a "You Fail!" text in front of him, before telling him that the next closest place for a character to spawn is somewhere a kilometer away from here. Since he felt like not stretching his leg, he ordered a taxi to go to that building instead.
It was a mistake, he shouldn't have gone here. In fact he should've realized that the spawn location is somewhere he's familiar with... The green building that he's really familiar with, but prefer not to be in at all...
There's a lot of people wearing the big glasses as well, there's even someone squealing before they ordered a taxi to go... Somewhere. Huang Shaotian is concerned. A girl noticed him with his glasses, and excitedly asked, "Are you here for god Wang as well? That person earlier already caught him, but the spawn time isn't that long. You should wait with us!"
Yes, the building he's talking about is Tiny Herb's base. Obviously, these people around here are waiting for one of the Tiny Herb members to summon, but Huang Shaotian doesn't even want to date Wang Jiexi, even in the game. It'd be awkward as fuck, since he actually often asked Wang Jiexi for love advices so the thought of dating him is... But he didn't want to be rude to the girl, so he agreed and stayed with her group. Who knows, maybe he'd catch other Tiny Herb members instead. But if he catch Liu Xiaobie he might as well fuck off to other places.
The group of girls were talking about Wang Jiexi's performance in the recent World Championship, which of course the Chinese team won since Ye Xiu is just that good being a coach, and they were especially talking about the match against the Korea team which Wang Jiexi was the MVP for. Huang Shaotian join in occasionally, and of course he had to praise Yu Wenzhou too since his captain is the best, and the group teases him as a Yu stan. Can you even be your boyfriend's stan? Maybe. So okay, he might be Yu Wenzhou's stan.
Not long after, he sees a familiar face at the side of his eyes, and he almost let a curse. Damn, he's that (un)lucky to find Wang Jiexi?! He already made up his mind that he doesn't want to date Big eyed Wang, so he waited until the dialogue appears... But it never did.
In fact, the group of girls he was with earlier have this excited look on their face, and that seems wrong. It's not possible for Wang Jiexi to spawn to all of them, right? Except... Huang Shaotian took down his VR glasses just slightly, and found out that Wang Jiexi is still standing there.
Fuck it's the real Witch!!! That's actually Wang Jiexi in flesh! And apparently he's just waiting for his takeaways... Huang Shaotian looked back to those love stricken girls that would probably be insta KOed if they know their idol is right in front of them... So, like a true opportunist he is, he decided to escape from the current scene. Yeah, nope.
(Wang Jiexi sighed as he waited for the driver to arrive, the team suddenly have a craving to congratulate their captain's performance in the first World Championship, and apparently the perfect choice for the food is takeaways. Wang Jiexi volunteered to grab the food, but he didn't expect many people would be around Tiny Herb at this time. He expected to be bombarded right away, but they only sigh longingly at him...
Which is unexpected but okay, Wang Jiexi is glad that they respect his boundaries.
... But it still feels awkward to be stared at like this.
Finally, the driver arrived and Wang Jiexi immediately gave the money, but his eyes catch on to someone with blonde hair that seems to be running away just at the sight of him... For some reason, that back and shade of yellow is familiar to him. It really reminds him of a certain chatterbox, but there's no way Huang Shaotian decided to visit Tiny Herb out of nowhere. Right? Is he even in Beijing right now?)
Sighing, Huang Shaotian decided to just walk around until someone spawned right in front of him, and what a luck for someone to actually spawn in front of him. "Uh..." A particular voice called out to him, the mumble is familiar to his ears and he knows who it is immediately.
Zhou Zekai. Isn't he supposed to be really rare or something? Like in gacha games, he'd be the SSR. What's with Huang Shaotian's luck? (More like the lack of his luck, since who he really wanted to see is none of these people.)
The in game Zhou Zekai looked troubled, and how he wished he has Jiang Botao right beside him to know what this handsome guy is thinking right now. Thankfully the game dialogue appears and explained to him what the hell is going on with this scene.
[Zhou Zekai noticed the penguin strap you have and your phone, and he's very interested in it! What should you do?] The game company really did abuse the fact that Zhou Zekai liked penguins. The three choices then appeared, and knowing his fellow national team player, Huang Shaotian didn't hesitate with his choice. [Tell him where you got it.]
Why that option instead of straight on giving him the strap? Because Samsara is rich, and it'll be too awkward for Zhou Zekai to receive free gifts like that. A chime was heard, and the fake Zhou Zekai in front of him brightened.
"You are... Very knowledgeable."
[Zhou Zekai is interested in you and wanted to know about you more now!] See, he's good at this. It might be because Ye Xiu forced them to get along with each other really well that one time, but still, he's good at this. After this, he got two choices. Whether to ask Zhou Zekai for his contacts, or ask him out immediately. The former is for someone that couldn't have a date right away, and since Huang Shaotian has a lot of time in his hands right now, he chooses the latter.
"Sure, where?"
Damn this is so ooc, Xiao Zhou wouldn't just hang out with a stranger like this, none of the pro players would actually, but the game developers need to give the fans sugar. He understood it very well. The multiple choices then started to appear, it's the dating spot list, and since Huang Shaotian just caught Zhou Zekai, a lot of the places are locked right now.
He ended up choosing the theater since that would also make him feel not so bored on the date. The system then noticed him about special theater for this game, which amazed Huang Shaotian on how high budget they're making this. Since he's in Beijing, and of course there's this theater available here, he decided to go there.
The first thing he noticed, damn there's a lot of people. Second thing is that, why is the ticket so damn expensive?! Thank God he has so much money he doesn't know what to do with it sometimes. So he bought a ticket, just one you don't need to buy another one for your date. And so the third thing Huang Shaotian realized is that the reason for such an expensive ticket is the holographic display. He just needed to scan the QR code with his VR glasses, and boom, Zhou Zekai is actually beside him. This way he can just watch the movie without the annoying black tinted glasses.
When the most handsome person (in the league) appeared, some people around him began to gasp in awe. "Zhou Zekai? You're so lucky!" Like he had said, Zhou Zekai is like the SSR in this game, Su Mucheng is also the same. The two of them are the most popular in the circle of Glory, while the rest of All Stars is considered a SR.
But actually, there's someone even rarer than the two of them. Who? No other than the last boss of Glory, Ye Xiu. Why? I think we all know the answer. (Cause Ye Xiu don't date, ever, and he's the literal textbook example of a gamer that never goes out to, y'know, socialize. Su Mucheng told them once that he never got out of his house for straight three years and they don't even doubt it. It just how Lao Ye is.)
Anyway, it's still a pretty big deal if he somehow summoned Zhou Zekai, so Huang Shaotian coughed in order to prepare to make his voice deeper. "Yeah, I think this is beginner's luck." Is he being arrogant? Maybe, is he enjoying it? Hell yeah.
"Beginner's luck..." The girl trailed off, noticing his hair color before brightened. "More like because you're blonde! Doesn't this actually a sign from above that ZhouHuang is real?"
Fuck he had met one of the shippers. Not little people heard what she had said, and some people responded. "ZhouHuang? No, no, haven't you seen how Huang Shaotian acted around Ye Shen? It's YeHuang for sure."
... He's pretty sure it's not only him that obsessively asked for a PK with Ye Xiu, right?
"Ye Shen belongs to no one! If we're talking about Huang Shao isn't it obvious? HuangLe!"
No, no, he does have a good relationship with Zhang Jiale but their conversation is something a couple shouldn't talk about daily. From mocking Ye Xiu, or some weird manhua they found, that somehow ended up with either discussing Zhang Jiale's weird obsession with those dress up games for girls or about Han Wenqing's face. Yeah, they wouldn't date each other.
"Why even bother shipping Lele with anyone else? Sun Zheping made it impossible for any other people to try and date him. What about WangHuang? You tell me that there's no sexual tension every time they talk to each other."
Huang Shaotian gave up. With Wang Jiexi? Really? Just, no comment anymore. Shippers have a very big brain, Huang Shaotian mused to himself, everything is viewed on a romantic colored tinted glasses.
"Everyone, we're here to have a date with our favorite players, right? We should be quiet." Someone right beside him said, a girl with long brown hair and a cheery smile. He's glad that someone was able to quiet down the situation, however, he can clearly hear when the girl whispered, "Also YuHuang is real, all of you are blind."
... Of course she's also a shipper. But what she said is true anyway. People, YuHuang is cannon deal with it. He was about to praise her for that, but his eyes noticed the holographic display beside her and twitched. Wenzhou... It's Captain!!
"It seems like you're quite lucky to catch Yu Wenzhou," Huang Shaotian tried his hardest to act, and he'll admit it was pretty good for a second. The girl sheepishly smiled, "I didn't want to break YuHuang, but I can't resist it! Yu Wenzhou is my favorite player after all!"
He's not mad or anything, but it does feel quite unsettling. Why wouldn't you, when you saw someone that really looks like your boyfriend to a T dating with some cute looking girl? But his thoughts were gone just like that when the person- oh er, the display? Beside him tapped his shoulder. Well, technically it didn't touch his shoulder but... Ughhh...
Anyway, Zhou Zekai seems like he wanted to ask him something. "What movie?" The so called most handsome in the league tilted his head cutely and Huang Shaotian sighed. Captain, I'm not cheating on you, honest. He's just hanging out with a friend. Yeah, a friend. A fake one that's built for lonely people, sure, but it's just a normal friends hang out.
"It's the new spy movie, you'll like it." The dating gameplay is different from the catch gameplay, here you don't need to choose dialogue, but instead just use your voice like usual and the AI will try its best to form a reply.
Zhou Zekai hummed happily, and the two of them just watched in silence. This is peak realism, Huang Shaotian thought to himself, this is what Zhou Zekai is like when they're going on movies, the game developers really did well.
Like really, that's it. No further conversation, just silence and admiring the movie. He tried very hard not to pay attention to that brown haired girl and fake Yu Wenzhou being lovey dovey... Captain, how long are you going to check up on your sister? We should go on an eight hours date after you're done! This Shaotian needs more love!
Finally, the movie ended with a bang, at least the movie is good and he could post something about it on Weibo later on. Zhou Zekai thanked him for the time they spent before giving him a smile, Huang Shaotian is immediately blinded. Damn they even recreated his blinding smile!! After that, the two of them go on to their day, or in fake Zhou Zekai's case, disappearing to oblivion.
... Well, let's just find another character, shall he? Who knows, maybe he'd be (very) lucky enough to find Ye Xiu and make fun of him. He walked out of the theater and just walk around aimlessly to find if a character would suddenly spawn right next to him.
Luckily, it did. Someone with a familiar tuft of black hair and gentle eyes, actually this someone is the person he had been waiting all these times. But wait, does it counts as cheating if Huang Shaotian had a date with him? He's already in the gray zone with "dating" fake Zhou Zekai earlier, but that was probably fine since Huang Shaotian was treating him like a friend. But fake Yu Wenzhou? Even if it's just a fake, Huang Shaotian wouldn't be able to resist and act lovey dovey.
"Cheating? I don't think that's possible since we're already dating, unless you're actually two timing me, Shaotian." That voice sounded way too... Did the game developers actually made Yu Wenzhou say that and put it in the game? Actually, wait a second. Did the game read his thoughts? Or did he actually said it out loud? Was that even the game??
Slowly, Huang Shaotian take off his VR glasses and lo behold, Yu Wenzhou didn't disappear and he is still smiling at him sweetly. Damn. "I'm back, seems like you had a good day. How was the game? I never had time to try it."
Well, at least there's no misunderstanding whatsoever. God knows how scary Yu Wenzhou is if Huang Shaotian is actually two timing him. The blonde fake coughed, before putting away his glasses and taking off his mask. "It's pretty cool, sure it makes people stare at you in a weird way but that's just how VR is. Captain, do you know that they actually make a theater specifically for this? The holographic display is really polished too and the characters were animated well too- ah, speaking of which, I've watched that spy movie that just came out by myself, but I won't spoil anything if we're going to watch it later!"
Yu Wenzhou didn't drop his smile, instead, he raised his hand before it landed on Huang Shaotian's head, then ruffling it. The blonde is confused. "Well, it seems like I've caught a Huang Shaotian, the next step is dating right? Where do you think is a perfect place for a date?"
... Oh. Yellow eyes brightened in excitement before he breaks his face into a grin. "Wherever we can go to is fine! This Shaotian will make sure we'll have the best date ever!" After he exclaimed that, as a true opportunist, grabbed his Captain's arm and wrapped his own with it.
Well, that VR game does sounds great, but why would he play it if he already has the best boyfriend in the world?
"So Captain, how is your sister?"
"She's doing well. Apparently, the reason why she told me to visit her is so that she can introduce her boyfriend."
"What she got a boyfriend already? Captain, have you tested him? Do you need help?"
"Well, I suppose you can come along tomorrow, if her boyfriend couldn't even handle your chatter then he doesn't deserve being my brother in law."
"Is... Is that so..."
Sun Zheping V:
This game is good. 10/10
[Shows a screenshot of the in game screen's relationship page. There's only one person in the list and the love meter for that certain character with long red hair is maxed out, there's even a glimpse of the paid in-game currency that reached millions. Who knows how much money he had spent on this game.jpg]
Zhang Jiale V: ... Seriously? You prefer dating the virtual me over me?
Sun Zheping V: I need to make do with the long distance relationship.
Su Mucheng V:
This game is bad, he said after summoning his own self for the tenth time. Oh dearest brother, the things people do just to have your luck...
[A picture of Ye Xiu pouting as he wears the huge VR glasses and his arm being folded right in front of him while he slouches on the couch.jpg]