I really don't want to date a girl addicted to the internet!

"Of course you are, there's no doubt about it." The boy's confident expression was practically patting his chest.

"Then promise you didn't lie to me." The girl stared at him. "Say my name."

The boy fell silent.

Shen Xi narrowed her eyes.

"You can hug me and kiss me, and then tell me." The girl took a deep breath, as if making a desperate move. "I won't move, and I won't get angry."

As Shen Xi spoke, she wrapped her arms around the boy's neck, met his gaze with a firm look, then tilted her head back and closed her eyes slightly.

"Cheng Fei, don't disappoint me..." The girl's voice was as soft as a mosquito's buzz, and her delicate body trembled slightly.

Looking at the aloof girl who was completely unguarded and allowed him to do as he pleased, Cheng Fei gritted his teeth.

The boy slowly moved closer to her, his arms passing under her armpits and reaching behind her.

Shen Xi parted her lips slightly, her stubborn little mouth seemingly hesitantly awaiting the boy's arrival.

With a snap, the room plunged into darkness.

Cheng Fei reached behind her and turned off the light, then casually left her and crawled under the covers.

"Teacher Shen, I'm so sleepy, goodnight."

After saying that, he turned over so his back was to the girl and stopped moving.

……

204. Nagasaki Asuna's Question

Shen Xi sat in the darkness, staring expressionlessly at the boy's back.

"Cheng Fei!" After a long while, the girl kicked him hard in a fit of anger and embarrassment.

"Shen Xi, thank you." The boy's sleepy voice sounded. "I really want to kiss you, to hold you tightly in my arms. I really want to, but I can't. I'm sorry."

After he finished speaking, the cabin fell into dead silence.

The girl bit her lip and remained silent for a moment before quietly lying down under the covers and closing her eyes.

……

The next day.

Cheng Fei continued underwater operations with Sebastian, working hard to refloat the Miriam.

The boy returned to the campsite on the shore in the afternoon.

Asuna Nagasaki sat alone under the sky, slowly making dumplings; she had already filled a large plate.

"Where are they?" Cheng Fei put down his heavy diving gear.

“Shen Xi said she wanted to wander around the island and asked Ye Shuang to accompany her, and then Miriam went along too,” Nagasaki Asuna explained.

"Okay." Cheng Fei nodded, boiled a pot of water for himself, and put dumplings in it.

"Cheng Fei."

"what?"

"She slept with you again?" the girl sitting on the moon chair making dumplings said casually.

"Nana, we really didn't do anything. Please don't use such strange words."

"Nana doesn't believe me." The girl puffed out her cheeks.

"Your mind-reading technique isn't working anymore?"

"I can't read minds." The girl gave a deliberately coquettish snort and turned her face away.

The boy had nothing to say, so he stirred the dumplings to prevent them from sticking to the bottom.

After they started eating dumplings, Cheng Fei said, "By the way, Nana."

"Ok?"

"Try not to be too intimate in front of her in the future."

"Why?" Nagasaki Asuna blinked.

"She said she didn't care, but it would make her feel nauseous."

"Just being stubborn," the girl said, pouting.

"Just go along with her."

"Why can't you just do what I want..." the girl muttered.

“Nana, isn’t her ignoring you already going along with you?” Cheng Fei said seriously.

"Okay~" the girl replied in a slightly submissive tone.

After a moment, she said again, "Cheng Fei, can things really continue like this?"

What does this look like?

“The three of us maintaining this kind of relationship…” Nagasaki Asuna rested her chin on her hands, a hint of melancholy in her bright and lively eyes.

“Strictly speaking, there are four people, including Lin Xuanqi,” Cheng Fei pointed out.

"Then let's say there are five people, plus classmate Ye Shuang."

"I'm already walking on thin ice, so you don't need to include her, thank you."

"Cheng Fei, tell me what she said to you, okay?" Nagasaki Asuna moved her moon chair closer to the boy and stuck to him.

"Nana, I promised her I would keep your private matters a secret." Cheng Fei ate his dumplings expressionlessly.

"But I'm scared." The girl closed her eyes slightly, breathing in the scent of the antidote.

"afraid of what?"

“I’m afraid of losing Cheng Fei. I always feel like she’s taking Cheng Fei away from me little by little…” Nagasaki Asuna murmured softly.

"That's an exaggeration."

"It's not an exaggeration at all."

"Don't worry, I won't abandon you, as a good friend." Cheng Fei patted her head.

"I don't want to be just friends forever, and who knows, maybe one day she won't even let me be her friend anymore..." A deep worry flickered in the girl's eyes.

"You see her as so aggressive?" Cheng Fei asked in surprise. "Nana, show some courage when you're a mistress."

"How could you say that, Cheng Fei? That's so mean!" the girl said coquettishly, then shook her head earnestly. "If the wife is too domineering, there's nothing I, the mistress, can do..."

"I don't see where she's assertive; she doesn't even care what you do."

“That’s why she’s so assertive,” Nagasaki Asuna complained. “Even though she didn’t do anything, Cheng Fei was still getting closer to her, as if she had the victory in her grasp from the very beginning, so she didn’t take me seriously at all.”

Cheng Fei stroked his chin and pondered for a moment, "Nana, have you sensed the recent bond between her and me?"

"Bonds?" The girl tilted her head.

"That's a term from your island nation, right? Anyway, it's something about a deep bond of mutual trust that can't be severed."

"Why do you two have this connection, Cheng Fei? You've never even kissed." The girl stared at the corner of his lips.

“Nana, I have to teach you a lesson. Bonds aren’t built on physical contact.” Cheng Fei said seriously, “Physical contact might lead to love, but there are other kinds of feelings in this world, like friendship and family.”

"What exactly is the bond between Cheng Fei and her?"

"In short, I trust her and she trusts me. As you said, we are on the same page to some extent."

“So Cheng Fei and I are not on the same wavelength…” Nagasaki Asuna lowered her head.

"How could that be? We helped each other and cooperated very well before, didn't we?" Cheng Fei asked in confusion.

"At that time, I thought Cheng Fei and I were on the same page, but..." The girl raised her head, hesitating to speak.

"Nana, just say what you want to say. Actually, we have a bond between us, and I trust you a lot." Cheng Fei looked into her eyes.

“Cheng Fei…” Nagasaki Asuna hesitated for a moment, biting her lip, and took a deep breath before speaking, “Actually, I already knew that Cheng Fei was hiding a very important secret from me.”

"Huh?" The boy was taken aback.

"At first, I thought Cheng Fei really wanted to have his cake and eat it too. Later, I realized that Cheng Fei had no interest in me at all. On the surface, he seemed to be toying with my feelings, seducing me and then dumping me. But I couldn't sense any malice from Cheng Fei, so he must be hiding something from me." The girl stared at him intently, her brows furrowed, as if she was trying to see through him but was powerless to do so.

"Is that so?" Cheng Fei thought to himself as he ate his dumplings.

“I thought that once our relationship improved, Cheng Fei would tell me what was going on.” There was a hint of resentment in Nagasaki Asuna’s eyes. “But Cheng Fei’s relationship with her has only gotten better.”

Cheng Fei opened his mouth.

"Cheng Fei, can you tell me what's in there every time you're staring blankly into space?"

After speaking softly, Nagasaki Asuna, under Cheng Fei's expressionless gaze, tentatively reached out and lightly tapped the spot where the system interface appeared each time.

After a brief but long silence, Cheng Fei scratched his head. "Well, in that situation I was just thinking about life and the universe. Maybe that's why Shen Xi and I have a lot in common. We often discuss whether the corridor is an alien creation or something. We have a lot of spiritual resonance."

Asuna Nagasaki stared into the boy's eyes and opened her mouth.

Just as she was about to speak, she suddenly seemed to sense something, lifted the moon chair, and distanced herself from the boy.

……

205. Return

A moment later, Shen Xi's trio walked over from the beach.

Cheng Fei watched this scene and clicked his tongue in amazement, "Nana, have you ever considered the possibility that you might actually be an alien?"

"So, is Cheng Fei studying me?" Nagasaki Asuna asked in a muffled voice.

Cheng Fei nodded seriously, "Congratulations on getting it right. Of course, don't worry, I have a strong sense of humanitarianism. I won't harm the research subjects, nor will I abandon them after the research is finished."

At this point, the three people had already walked up to them, and the conversation between the two ended there.

"Professor Shen, what major discoveries were made during this field expedition?" Cheng Fei asked, looking at the aloof girl with long, dark hair.

Shen Xi, who had ignored him since morning, walked past him with a cold expression, as if she couldn't hear or see him.

"Master Ye, have you seen anything strange? Like mechanical debris or strange sculptures?" Cheng Fei didn't care and looked at the girl with twin ponytails in a school swimsuit behind him.

Ye Shuang's indifferent face clearly said, "You're talking nonsense again," and she ignored him as well.

“Senior sister…” Cheng Fei looked at the last person.

"Junior, this is for you." Miriam placed a new flower wreath on the boy's head. "Heh heh, you can thank me as you like."

"Thank you, senior. You're so kind to me." Cheng Fei read the sentence in a monotone tone.

Miriam seemed to enjoy it.

According to the setting, this day is the Spring Festival, so the group of people stranded on the deserted island had dumplings together for dinner to celebrate.

As night fell, the boy lay in bed, and words appeared before his eyes.

[Nana's check-in duration → 90 days]

[Quarterly Sign-in Reward → 30,000 Points]

There were no new giveaways in a season, but did my points increase threefold?

Cheng Fei checks his balance.

Points: 107,701

The boy turned off the system and reached out to lightly tap the air in front of him.

Although Nagasaki Asuna's daily check-in rewards were relatively low, she never missed a day, and she earned quite a bit through her limited-time missions...

"Is this what they mean by the hardest thing to bear—the favor of a beautiful woman?"

Before closing his eyes, the boy talked to himself.