"Troublesome..." Ren Suo looked at the pile of gift boxes on the floor and clicked his tongue.

Last night when he got home, those four still hadn't come out of the guest room. Ren Suo almost thought the room was a gateway to another dimension where they had teleported to start their protagonist journeys—for example, becoming a prisoner escorted on a carriage to be beheaded, a foreigner seeking blood therapy, a penniless man awakening in a graveyard, or a villager who found a rusted sword hilt.

Another fifteen minutes passed before they came out together, bid farewell to Ren Suo, and said they would officially celebrate during the day; for now, everyone would disperse.

Qiao Muyi claimed she had no place to sleep and wanted to stay in Ren Suo's guest room, but Dong Chengling immediately said Qiao Muyi could sleep with her—they had just shared a large bed together a little over ten days ago.

In the end, it was Ren Xingmei who successfully occupied the guest room.

Watching Dong Chengling so determinedly teleport home with Qiao Muyi, Ren Suo couldn't help nodding. Sure enough, of all my bonding partners, Qiao Muyi and Dong Chengling are probably the closest pair.

Ren Suo had always believed that being able to share a bed was an important yardstick for friendship because one's sleeping position and whether they snored could greatly affect the other person's sleep. For instance, he had a dorm mate in college who snored so terribly that the whole wooden bed would tremble slightly.

Luckily, that dorm mate was a mobile gamer who always went to sleep the latest, so everyone managed to coexist peacefully. The only problem was that if they woke up in the middle of the night, they would basically be unable to fall asleep again.

Dong Chengling and Qiao Muyi had been able to sleep together and even sent a selfie to provoke Ren Suo just over ten days ago. If they could still share a bed over ten days later, it showed how compatible they were.

They agreed to go out early the next day, so Ren Suo skipped playing games and dove into his bed to sleep soundly. The next day, he was woken up by Little Jiu, who had crawled into his bed, hugged him, and whispered, "Happy birthday, Big Brother." Then she softly asked Ren Suo when her own birthday was.

Ren Suo had indeed forgotten that detail. He thought for a moment before softly replying that it was September 21st—the day they met at the comic convention.

He had considered simply having Little Jiu share his birthday, but he quickly dismissed the idea. Birthdays, names, and other such cultural symbols, if analyzed with absolute rationality, are actually unimportant. But humans assign special significance to these symbols, which is the biggest difference between us and ashes. Little Jiu isn't an accessory to me; she's a unique living being too. I don't want to casually bind her to myself but hope she will also have her own birthday symbol.

Of course, the biggest reason is that I simply didn't have time to buy a birthday present for Little Jiu, so I'll have to put it off until next year...

Little Jiu was very satisfied with the date and urged Ren Suo to get up quickly. Dong Chengling, Qiao Muyi, and Ren Xingmei were already awake. Soon, Gu Yueyan and Lin Xianyu also arrived. The large group went to the city center to spend the day, visiting the arcade, watching movies, going ice-skating, and more.

Bai Ji and Zhao Huo, who heard the news, did want to come, but... they had classes.

After gobbling up four cakes during the evening meal, everyone left their gifts and departed. Not one stayed behind.

That's why Ren Suo was now staring absently at the pile of gifts in front of him.

Celebrating a birthday is already troublesome, and from now on, I'll have to give birthday gifts to others... With a higher Bond Level come more troubles.

Ren Suo started to unwrap the gifts. I'll just return whatever they gave me, he thought.

First was Dong Chengling's gift: a very small box. Ren Suo absolutely couldn't guess what it was. Could it be a mobile phone?

When he opened it, it was... a large bunch of keys.

Ren Suo blinked and, after a long time, used the "data stream" to probe the information about these keys:

"The Dong Chengling Family's anti-theft door key, the Dong Chengling Family's front door key, the Dong Chengling Family's balcony key, the Dong Chengling Family's guest room key, the Dong Chengling Family's bedroom key."

"...So, you want me to go to your place on Saturdays and Sundays to keep Little Jiu company?" Ren Suo scratched his face. As for this gift... it's actually quite nice, considering I also gave my keys to Dong Chengling. But what should I give Dong Chengling for her birthday? I've already given away my keys... Gifts really are hard to reciprocate.

Next was Qiao Muyi's gift, a flat, square box.

Ren Suo actually wanted to refuse Qiao Muyi's gift, as she had given him noise-canceling headphones just a few days prior. He would feel very embarrassed if he accepted more gifts, for he wasn't someone who could readily accept favors. Even when his parents gave him a phone or computer, he would make the rare effort to do some household chores to show his stance.

However, Qiao Muyi insisted that it was an inexpensive gift. It was indeed light, and she said she would have to throw it away if Ren Suo didn't take it, so he ended up accepting it.

When he unwrapped it, it was... a white face mask.

Ren Suo picked up the mask and used the data stream to check it. It was no magical item. Although it seemed to be made from high-grade material, it couldn't be very expensive; it was indeed cheap, as claimed. However, there were six words written on the mask:

Young Master Mu is the best.

Young Master Mu... Qiao Muyi... Ren Suo suddenly remembered something. He pulled out his phone and found that Qiao Muyi had, at some point, changed her WeChat nickname from 'Xiao Qiao' to 'Young Master Mu'. He had always had her real name saved as a contact, so he had never noticed the change.

But these six words on the mask... Never mind whether I'd ever need a mask, even if I did, I wouldn't wear this one—it's too embarrassing. And how could I reciprocate this gift? Qiao Muyi has always called me Xiao Suo. Am I supposed to send her a black face mask with 'Xiao Suo is the best' written on it? Even if Qiao Muyi liked it—which is a big if—and actually wore it, I'd be mercilessly mocked by Yu Kuangtu for my gift-selection skills. Another tough gift to reciprocate.

Then came Bai Ji's gift: a white scarf, which he claimed to have knitted himself.

But... it's cold in this area, yes, but not cold enough to need a scarf. At Heavenly Lotus Academy, besides Bai Ji, only a few female teachers and students who want to wear couple outfits with him wear scarves. With my physical condition, I don't need one at all. Moreover, this is a scarf he knitted himself. If I'm going to return the favor, the gift should also be made with sincerity. However, all my handiwork skills went into gaming; I have absolutely no crafting skills. What, should I fold eight hundred and eighty-eight Little Stars for him? Such a hassle, and it's so girly. Bai Ji definitely wouldn't like that kind of gift. Why are they all gifts that are hard to reciprocate?

Next was his sister's gift. My sister is the best, Ren Suo thought. After all, they had shared over a decade of birthdays together. She understood him well, knew that he didn't like receiving expensive gifts, so most of her gifts were things like 'running errands coupons' or 'play games together coupons'—playful reward coupons.

And Ren Suo would also give her similar birthday gifts. They didn't cost money and showed sincerity.

This year, his sister also gave reward coupons. Ren Suo opened them to see—

'Find Sister for Knee Pillow Coupon'

'Chat with Sister Coupon'

'Travel with Sister Coupon'

Ren Suo flipped through them, speechless.

"I... Although I've always been at Bronze Rank, you didn't have to leave out the 'play games together coupon'..." Ren Suo mumbled.

Moreover, this year my sister's coupons suddenly changed domains. I don't know how to return the favor—'Find Brother for Knee Pillow Coupon'? That feels pretty weird. She's given me another difficult problem.

Last was Zhao Huo's birthday gift. I'm also curious about this. Zhao Huo obviously only found out today was my birthday, so how did he manage to come up with a gift? It couldn't be those 'wives' he keeps in the glass cabinet, right? If Zhao Huo really gave those, I wouldn't dare display them. If Little Jiu saw them, it wouldn't be about corrupting her, but I'm afraid she might imitate the figures and go without... clothing...

Zhao Huo's gift was quite heavy.

Ren Suo opened Zhao Huo's gift with anticipation and saw inside—a hammer.

It wasn't an ordinary hammer, but one from a popular superhero movie, a special weapon of a deity, known as the Hammer of the Thunder God. The head of the hammer was large, not meant for hammering nails, but for smashing people.

Ren Suo gave it a shake, and the hammer actually lit up.

In the box was also a note from Zhao Huo that read: "This is the Hammer of the Thunder God, which can generate electricity by hand-cranking. Just vigorously move it up and down and it will light up; pretty cool, right? No need to thank me. We're friends, so giving you a hammer is the right thing to do."

Ren Suo quietly opened Taobao on his phone and quickly found his target: a kindling axe that could play beautiful melodies.

We're friends, so it's only right for me to give you a music player that can chop people.

Looking back, Zhao Huo's gift is surprisingly the easiest to deal with. Since his was so shameless, I can naturally return it with something equally straightforward and unrefined. Oh, Gu Yueyan and Lin Xianyu were even easier—they didn't give anything. But for me, not giving anything is the best gift. If I really need something, I'll buy it myself; I don't want others to give me things.

After sorting things out, Ren Suo turned on the Mini-World Game Console while summoning his clone to work hard.

He looked at the clone wearing an apron and suddenly sighed, "Don't you have a birthday gift for me?"

The clone looked at him and didn't speak.

"Forget it, just juice that whole box of oranges. And remember to keep the pulp—I like drinking orange juice with pulp... Hm? Why did your action mode automatically switch to Escape Mode again? Change it back to servant mode."

The clone went off to work, and Ren Suo continued strategizing for 'Night of the Hunt'.

Luna was still in her super-tiny form, waiting inside the amusement park to recover. Ren Suo guessed that this super-tiny form debuff wouldn't clear until the next moon phase arrived.

He fast-forwarded time, and sure enough, the moment the moon phase changed from Waning Moon to New Moon (with the moon completely out of sight), Luna suddenly returned to her original size. Fortunately, the natives of the Mask of the Moon were quite unfazed; they were not surprised at all to see Luna transform back to her full self.

"Alright, let's look for a quest... Hm?"

The moonlight that was absent when the Waning Moon became the New Moon seemed to fall upon Luna, updating the miracle she possessed:

"Your miracle is to complete the Moon Ceremony with a companion of the opposite sex and earn a huge amount of experience points for role-playing character tags."

"Your cost is having to maintain physical contact with a companion of the opposite sex for a period of time."

Ren Suo blinked. ...Isn't the malice this game has for single dogs a bit too much!? So, custom characters are already at a disadvantage from the start?

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