The atmosphere around Zhou Lei and the others was now lighter than before. They could speak more comfortably with each other because of such a subtle change.
"Ying. I don't like this flavor." With much of the earlier tension gone, Zhou Lei could speak of this matter way more easily than before.
"Don't worry, me too." Lin Guiying laughed it off, seeing the needlessly serious face that Zhou Lei wore.
"Eh, what? But you ordered this..."
"Lei. I have something to confess..." Lin Guiying interrupted Zhou Lei. She took a deep breath and opened her mouth. "I actually have no idea how to order and customize coffee."
With that, Fan Xinyue spit all of the coffee in her mouth back into the cup as she realized how shameless Lin Hanying was.
'Earlier in the classroom, you had the balls to brag about your expertise in coffee...' Fan Xinyue discreetly glanced at the thickfaced Lin Hanying on her side.
Of course, she drank all the coffee in her cup again...
"So you mean, you lied to me in the classroom?"
Zhou Lei had a smug face, making it hard for Lin Guiying to agree to his question. In the end, she rolled her eyes. "Yes."
Ma Xiaoli looked at the two's interaction and laughed again!
Hearing her lackeys' reports, Ye Muqi felt inclined to personally go there and join the group. She felt a tad bit jealous of the cheer in that group.
That was how the café visit ended...
Fan Xinyue and Ma Xiaoli basically had the same plan, but they got swept away by Zhou Lei, making them forget their original objective.
Lu Xi planned to disrupt the "romantic atmosphere" by creating a ruckus, but she couldn't even get inside the café...
Wait!
Ye Muqi still had something up her sleeve... Actually, her plan was already useless, so might as well do something for entertainment.
The group of four walked out of the café with only one satisfied, the one being Fan Xinyue.
As for the rest?
Only Ma Xiaoli could be considered satisfied as she came not for coffee but for Zhou Lei.
Meanwhile, Lin Guiying and Zhou Lei could only laugh off the wasted time that they spent inside that café.
"You should've just said so, Ying." Zhou Lei still had that smug look on his face.
Lin Guiying contemplated whether or not to give Zhou Lei a hard slap on the back of his head.
Fan Xinyue waved goodbye to the three before disappearing amidst the crowd.
Ma Xiaoli wanted to follow the pair more. Not to interrupt them, but to purely spend time with her crush.
As the three walked along, they realized something – what was their next plan?
"Ying, Xiaoli, let's go to the arcade. I want to practice DDR." Now that he had companions with him, it shouldn't be boring anymore to practice.
Ma Xiaoli responded first. "What's DDR?"
"You don't know?" Lin Guiying widened her eyes.
Dance Dance Revolution was a popular game that almost everybody knew. Lin Guiying thought, 'Maybe this is one of the people that live under rocks...'
"I never really took an interest in these things."
A corner of Ma Xiaoli's lips curled up.
Zhou Lei realized the implied meaning behind her words. 'She never took an interest before, but now that I'm involved...!'
Lin Guiying found this out as well, and she got angry for a few seconds. 'You think you're so sly, huh?'
Behind them, a girl with a sinister smile stared at the group with her evil eyes in the shadows.
Lu Xi patiently waited for when they came out of the café, and this was her opportunity!
She followed the three from a considerable distance. Actually, she was pretty far away from the group... she got lost after they turned on a corner.
"Where are they...?"
.....
Zhou Lei panted as sweat dripped down his body, soaking his uniform with it.
Lin Guiying looked at him like a mother looking at her son. She almost had tears dripping down her eyes...
As Zhou Lei inhaled and exhaled, he heard a light clap come from the side. It was an impressed Ma Xiaoli.
Prior to seeing Zhou Lei in action, she believed that he won't be able to get a good score. After all, Lin Hanying explained to her that it was easy to pick up, but hard to master.
However, the swift movement of his feet colliding with the glowing arrows on the platform made a sound that satisfied Ma Xiaoli's ears. Not to mention the big screen that continuously displayed the rating of "Marvelous!".
The occasional "Good!" did nothing to hinder the good feeling that hearing "Marvelous!" multiple times brought.
While the two were happy with the result that Zhou Lei got, he himself thought otherwise.
"I only have until tomorrow to finish this quest... System, is there a punishment if I don't finish the quest?" He spoke in his mind.
"Host, there is no punishment for this specific quest." As expected of System, a straightforward response was all it took to alleviate Zhou Lei's worries.
For now, he was powered not by fear of getting punished, but by the allure of the rewards offered if he were to complete the quest.
As he was about to start the song again, he heard a voice coming from someone unexpected.
"Lei, let me play." Ma Xiaoli looked at the machine eagerly. 'Apathy isn't good for me... I should be more active in these types of things.'
Zhou Lei had a pleasantly surprised face as he led her to the platform before watching beside Lin Hanying.
Ma Xiaoli started the machine...
Zhou Lei was excited at what her result was going to be, while Lin Hanying had an unexpectant face. She didn't really think that Ma Xiaoli could get any score other than zero.
Contrary to her expectations... Well, actually not.
The scene played out the same way in Lin Guiying's mind. Ma Xiaoli would trip on some arrows, trip on her own legs, struggle to balance herself, struggle to keep up, etc...
However, Zhou Lei didn't notice these little problems. He observed Ma Xiaoli's usually unexpressive face change constantly during the time she played.
From anger to annoyance, and pleasure to satisfaction, all of these emotions displayed on Ma Xiaoli.
She, too, felt bizarre feeling all of those emotions in one period.
As she stepped off the platform with a score of ten, she didn't feel frustrated as one would assume. Rather, she had a blast playing the game!