Chapter 204: Girls Only Need 3 Seconds to Build a Friendship

“Yu Xian, Xiaoxiao and I were discussing the plan last night. I was thinking, if you are going to test the dream connection, it’s best to include me. With the three of us, two can enter the dream for testing while the third monitors physiological signs. This is the safest approach and allows us to collect more data feedback.”

Yu Xian frowned. Having Senior Sister Yang Yiyi join them was indeed the best plan, but…

“But Senior Sister, the situation on your end is still unclear,” Yu Xian typed in reply. “That login log hasn’t been erased yet. Even though there are only five days left, the bomb hasn’t been defused. You’d better not go out or come to the school. We can’t let a small leak sink this ship…”

She was online, and her reply came quickly.

“Then… why don’t you come to the apartment?”

Yu Xian froze for a moment. Go to the apartment?

“I’m the only one here anyway, so no one will disturb us. It’s much safer than finding a place at school. You need to enter deep sleep, and you can’t exactly run this experiment in a classroom,” Yang Yiyi replied, quickly sending another message. “Besides, if you end up staying in the dream for a long time, it’ll be convenient to rest here. It also saves me a trip outside.”

It was indeed a perfect proposal. It was private, safe, and the three of them could take turns testing and monitoring. Furthermore, they wouldn’t need to leak the news of the multiplayer connection. They could wait until the login log cache was cleared before telling Shao Yiyi and Old Shi. The only issue was…

Before Yu Xian could reply, Yang Yiyi added, “Would you find it inconvenient? After all, it’s the apartment you rented…”

“I don’t find it inconvenient at all,” Yu Xian quickly replied. “I was mainly worried about you, Senior Sister. I didn’t want to disturb you by bringing Wen Xiao over.”

“I don’t mind,” Yang Yiyi texted back. “It’s been quite boring staying here by myself these past couple of days. It’ll be nice to have you guys over for a chat.”

Yu Xian didn’t hesitate further. He agreed to her suggestion, saved and encrypted the document named “Reality Programming Association,” and closed his laptop.

As the light from the screen vanished, he felt as if he had just surfaced from a long, heavy, and deep dive.

Pushing open the glass doors of the library, a blast of biting, cold wind hit his face. Curtains of rain smashed against the concrete tiles, splashing up clusters of mist. The outlines of distant buildings had grown blurry, and the black clouds churning slowly overhead seemed to be brewing something even heavier.

Yu Xian opened his umbrella and stepped into the rain, heading straight toward the North Campus.

As he neared Apartment Building 3, he dialed Wen Xiao’s number.

“Hello… Yu Xian?” Wen Xiao sounded a bit surprised.

“Wen Xiao, grab your laptop and come down. Let’s meet in front of your dorm building.”

“Ah? Okay… right away!”

Not long after hanging up, Wen Xiao ran out, panting heavily. She was wearing a cartoon-patterned down jacket that made her look like the Michelin Man, tightly clutching her laptop bag to her chest as if it were a block of C4. She slammed on the brakes right in front of Yu Xian.

Looking at the heavy rain outside the lobby, she asked in confusion, “Phew… Yu Xian, aren’t we… testing this afternoon? Are we not going to the lounge?”

“No.” Yu Xian shook his head. He glanced at the few students taking shelter by the lobby entrance, leaned closer to her, and lowered his voice. “The lounge is a public area after all. Even though there are few people, there are still cleaning ladies and students passing by. We need to enter deep sleep this time, and we’ll be in a multiplayer connection. Being in such an unguarded state exposes us to too much risk.”

“Then…” Wen Xiao blinked, her grip on the laptop tightening as she asked softly, “Then where… where else can we go to sleep…?”

As she spoke, her cheeks instantly turned red. God only knew what strange, inappropriate scenarios were playing out inside that cute little bun-haired head of hers.

Realizing his words had been a bit ambiguous, Yu Xian quickly clarified, “We’re going to an apartment I rented off-campus.”

“Ah? An… an apartment?” Wen Xiao’s ears turned red as well, glowing like two pieces of pale pink jade. “O-Okay…”

She agreed hesitantly, burying her lowered head into her down jacket. The two of them opened their umbrellas and stepped into the rain.

After walking for a while, a gust of cold wind blew past. As if suddenly realizing a crucial issue, Wen Xiao’s footsteps faltered. She lifted the rim of her umbrella and looked at Yu Xian.

“Um… Yu Xian.”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t we… don’t we need to find a third person to join us?” she gestured somewhat frantically. “I mean… for the safety role. Didn’t you say before that we need someone to stand guard…? Do you want me to tell Yiyi? Or… you could call Brother Zhou?”

“There’s no need,” Yu Xian shook his head, holding his umbrella as he continued walking. “Senior Sister Yang Yiyi is there too.”

“Ah, Senior Sister Yiyi… is there too?”

Wen Xiao suddenly stopped in her tracks. Feeling a bit puzzled, Yu Xian turned back to look at her. The umbrella hid her body, preventing him from seeing her expression.

“Yes.” Afraid that this kindhearted girl would think he was deliberately alienating Shao Yiyi and the others, Yu Xian quickly explained, “Because of the login log incident, she’s been hiding out at my place for a while. We can tell Yiyi and Old Shi about the multiplayer connection after the logs are overwritten.”

“I see… Then yeah, it’s definitely better if Senior Sister Yiyi can be there…” Wen Xiao muttered softly. She picked up her pace to catch up with Yu Xian, walking back into the stormy weather.

Downstairs at the apartment building, the two of them closed their umbrellas and entered the elevator. Wen Xiao followed behind Yu Xian, her large eyes looking around inquisitively, seemingly full of curiosity about this “apartment” she had never seen before.

When they reached the door, Yu Xian knocked. Almost instantly, the sound of light, brisk footsteps echoed from inside.

With a CLICK, the door opened.

Senior Sister Yang Yiyi stood in the doorway. She wore a dark sweater, her long hair casually tied up behind her head.

“You’re here?”

Before Yu Xian could speak, Yang Yiyi’s gaze drifted past him and landed on Wen Xiao. Her eyes lit up, and she immediately reached out to take the dripping umbrella from Wen Xiao’s hands, saying in a gentle voice, “Come on in, Xiaoxiao. You didn’t get wet, did you?”

“N-No, thank you, Senior Sister…” Wen Xiao looked a bit overwhelmed by the sudden favor. Before she could fully process it, Yang Yiyi had already pulled her inside.

“I just ordered some delivery and bought a new pair of slippers. Try them on and see if they fit.” As Yang Yiyi spoke, she tore open a delivery bag sitting on the entryway table. The water droplets on the bag hadn’t even dried yet. She took out a pair of pink cotton slippers and placed them next to Wen Xiao. “There seem to be far fewer delivery riders today; the food arrived just a little bit before you guys did.”

Yu Xian glanced at the pink plush slippers Wen Xiao had just changed into, then looked at the identical pair on Senior Sister Yiyi’s feet. He casually remarked, “It’s probably because the rain is getting heavier. When we were coming over, there were hardly any cars on the road.”

The two girls acted as if they hadn’t heard him. Yang Yiyi led Wen Xiao into the living room, while Wen Xiao kept her head down, staring at her new slippers. Yu Xian shrugged and took his own slippers from the shoe cabinet to put on.

By the time he finished changing his shoes and walked into the living room, Yang Yiyi had already poured Wen Xiao a cup of hot water and was pulling her down to sit on the sofa.

“We were just talking on the phone yesterday, and I didn’t expect to meet you in person today,” Yang Yiyi said, looking at Wen Xiao with a bright smile. “You’re so cute! Even cuter than I imagined.”

“N-No, I’m not…” Wen Xiao held the steaming cup of water, her face flushed red. She didn’t dare to meet the senior sister’s eyes and just whispered, “You’re the pretty one, Senior Sister. And… and you’re so amazing, even getting direct admission into a Ph.D. program…”

“I never expected Xiaoxiao to be a beautiful computer genius!” Yang Yiyi helped Wen Xiao take off her jacket. “I really wonder which window God closed for you.”

“Senior Sister Yiyi, I was looking at your Friends Circle yesterday… You’ve actually published in Nature! That is so, so incredible!” As Wen Xiao spoke, her eyes practically turned into starry shapes.

“Not at all. I was just following my advisor and contributed some noise to Nature…” Yang Yiyi smiled, then looked surprised. “But you, Xiaoxiao! You were actually on the national training team for the IOI in high school?”

“Oh gosh… I still got eliminated in the end anyway…” Wen Xiao’s face grew red again.

Standing to the side, Yu Xian watched the two girls, who had just met for the first time, launch into a meaningless session of mutual flattery. He shook his head helplessly.

He had always heard that it only took three seconds for a friendship to form between girls. Seeing it today… it truly lived up to its reputation.

“Um…” He placed his laptop bag on the dining table and cleared his throat, trying to regain a sliver of presence. “It’s getting late. Shouldn’t we prepare the audio for the test now?”