Chapter 742: The Second Time Going Out
The next day, Lin Xue woke up early in the morning. Without starting her livestream, she snuck into the game pod to check if Nuan Nuan was awake yet.
It was only a little past eight, and Nuan Nuan was already on the sofa reading a book.
Seeing Lin Xue come out of the bedroom, Nuan Nuan even specifically greeted her with a good morning.
"Oh my gosh, Nuan Nuan is so adorable."
Lin Xue sat on the sofa, studying Nuan Nuan, who was absorbed in her book. At this moment, Nuan Nuan was in her default outfit, but she was still incredibly cute, and she was genuinely reading seriously, turning a page every so often.
Lin Xue tentatively asked, "Nuan Nuan, are you going out today?"
Nuan Nuan nodded. "Mm-hmm, today I'm going to exercise with my bestie. I need to wear clothes suitable for sports. Can't let her outshine me!"
"Oh, clothes suitable for sports, huh..."
Lin Xue immediately went to the dressing room to start picking out outfits.
Clothes suitable for sports were easy to choose—just pair various sportswear and sneakers together. However, among the default clothes, the only suitable sportswear was a plain top; there were no appropriate tank tops or shorts.
"Tsk, sportswear in the mall is all so expensive."
Lin Xue first browsed the mall and found that none of the sportswear was cheap. If she bought both a tank top and shorts, the small savings she'd earned yesterday wouldn't be enough. If she wanted to buy particularly suitable sports gear, she might have to top up with real money.
"Well, this is where I show off my thrifty nature. This pair of shorts should be passable as sportswear, right? Hmm, a skirt isn't bad either, but I don't know if it can be worn with leggings. This T-shirt is simple enough; it should work as sportswear too, right? I'll make do with the clothes and just get better shoes."
Lin Xue didn't buy a full set of sportswear from the mall; she only bought a pair of sneakers and a sports watch. She also debated whether to buy a dedicated sports T-shirt, but after seeing how expensive it was, she decided against it.
"Nuan Nuan, come try on this outfit," Lin Xue called out.
"Okay, coming!" Nuan Nuan stood up from the sofa and walked to the dressing room.
Obviously, according to the system's settings, Nuan Nuan wouldn't go out until the afternoon. During this period, the player could arrange her outfit, and it could be changed freely before she left.
Following the same process as before, Nuan Nuan entered the dressing room and changed into today's clothes: a T-shirt, a sports jacket, shorts, sneakers, and a sports watch. There was no hairstyle specifically designed for sports, so Lin Xue stuck with the default pink hair.
"Hmm, is this outfit okay? I feel like exercising in regular clothes might be a bit inconvenient," Nuan Nuan asked hesitantly in front of the fitting mirror after changing.
Lin Xue wasn't sure either and said, "Let's try this outfit for now. I'll look for something more suitable when I have time."
Nuan Nuan nodded. "Mm-hmm, okay!"
After changing, Nuan Nuan went back to the living room to move around. Sometimes she read, sometimes she listened to music, and sometimes she sat in the rocking chair watching the sea.
Clearly, before going out, Nuan Nuan would move freely around the house, and during this time, her outfit could be changed at any moment.
"It's still early. Nuan Nuan usually goes out in the afternoon. Let me go to the mall and pick out a few more clothes for her. Ah, I'm hungry."
Lin Xue then realized she hadn't eaten breakfast yet. She'd woken up a little past eight, just washed up, and jumped straight into the game pod. Now she suddenly found herself starving.
Getting out of the game pod, Lin Xue made herself breakfast while pondering whether she should buy Nuan Nuan new sportswear. She'd already spent most of her gold coins, and if she wanted to put together a particularly suitable sports outfit, she might have to spend a little real money.
While eating her breakfast, Lin Xue received a phone call from her bestie, inviting her to go shopping.
"Oh, shopping? Sure, I can do that. But I have to livestream in the afternoon, so I need to be back before two o'clock. Alright, let's go shopping now and come back after lunch."
Lin Xue hung up, dressed up a bit, and headed out.
Yesterday, Nuan Nuan hadn't gone out until nearly three in the afternoon. Lin Xue figured that as long as she was back by two to change Nuan Nuan's clothes, there was no rush.
...
After a morning of shopping, Lin Xue was a bit distracted.
Every time she saw a piece of clothing, she couldn't help but wonder what it would look like on Nuan Nuan. It would definitely look great!
Lin Xue suddenly felt like she'd lost interest in picking out clothes in real life. How could that compare to dressing up Nuan Nuan in the game pod? Besides, real-life clothes were so expensive—a simple little jacket cost four or five hundred yuan.
After shopping and having lunch, Lin Xue got home right at two o'clock.
She couldn't wait to get into the game pod, ready to put Nuan Nuan in a full set of sportswear.
On the way back, Lin Xue had checked some online player experience-sharing forums and found that the game didn't really allow cutting corners—or rather, the scoring rules were very clear. Each piece of clothing had unique attributes, and you had to meet the attribute requirements to get a good score. Using ordinary shorts as sportswear might barely work in real life, but in the game, the system probably wouldn't recognize it...
But as soon as she entered the game pod, Lin Xue was dumbfounded—Nuan Nuan was gone.
She had clearly already gone out!
"What's going on? Where's Nuan Nuan? She left already? It's only two o'clock!"
Lin Xue was speechless. Had Nuan Nuan gone out wearing the outfit she'd put together earlier?
That outfit was just thrown together randomly!
Lin Xue was filled with regret, but it was useless. Nuan Nuan had already left, and she didn't even know what time. There was no way to call her back now.
Lin Xue could only wait anxiously for Nuan Nuan's return, hoping that her earlier outfit would earn a decent score.
Hopefully, the sneakers and sports watch would pull their weight and boost the rating a bit!
...
Lin Xue's entire afternoon livestream was a bit distracted. However, to her surprise, Nuan Nuan came back quite early this time. When Lin Xue checked the game pod at five in the afternoon, Nuan Nuan was already home.
"Huh? Nuan Nuan, you're back already?" Lin Xue asked in surprise. "How was it today?"
Nuan Nuan smiled and said, "I had a lot of fun today. I sweated a lot, and the clothes were a bit inconvenient, but it wasn't a big deal. Come look at my new photos from today!"
The photos showed Nuan Nuan exercising. First, she played badminton with her bestie for a while, then jogged slowly on a treadmill. There were also plenty of selfies and group shots taken during the workout.
In the photos, Nuan Nuan was still full of energy, radiating joy and happiness. But when Lin Xue saw what Nuan Nuan's bestie was wearing, her heart sank with a "thud."