The Simp Savior and the Lace Nightgown

She was just an ordinary child from an average family. Her looks were so unremarkable, one could lose her in a crowd within three seconds. Her family background was even less noteworthy, making it impossible to even find a single highlight for a self-introduction.

Half a year ago, when Xu Yao suddenly appeared with a gentle smile, she simply couldn’t believe that someone who always seemed to shine would actually notice her, hidden away in a corner.

She cherished this hard-won attention immensely. Thus, she could only clumsily, yet with all her might, be good to Xu Yao, returning that warmth twofold.

She even humbly thought, ‘Perhaps Xu Yao simply preferred ordinary, unassuming boys like me?’

It wasn’t until she saw Xu Yao intimately kissing a silver-haired man downstairs from the female dorm that she realized her perceived mutual affection had been nothing but wishful thinking from beginning to end.

What she least expected was that at her lowest point, having fallen the hardest and most miserably, she would, by a strange twist of fate, stumble upon this ‘Save the Simp System’.

How ironic.

She couldn’t even sort out her own emotional life; why was she being asked to save others?

The only thing she had going for her was her brain, which, while not top-tier, was certainly adequate. She had painstakingly managed to get into Donghai University.

But that was the extent of it.

Were it not for this absurd system, she, an ordinary male university student, should currently be in a male dorm room, discussing game strategies or basketball matches with her roommates, or even joking around with her bros, arms slung over their shoulders.

Instead, she was here, impersonating a senior sister. She not only had to learn to speak in a gentle tone, walk with unaccustomed steps, but also contend with ‘green tea bitches’ who seemed to have cultivated for a thousand years.

All this, just to save those ‘simps’ who would fawn until the end of time?

The moment she thought of this, her initial excitement, tinged with a hint of self-admiration, was instantly doused with a bucket of cold water.

‘Forget it. I’ll worry tomorrow about how to reduce Li Yanze’s simp index, that turtle.’

At least for now, the delicate face in the mirror, still dewy from the shower, was indeed far more pleasing to the eye than her former, disheveled self.

After a leisurely shower, she turned off the faucet and reached for the pajamas she had grabbed in a hurry earlier.

The moment her fingers brushed the fabric, an ominous premonition surged through her.

‘This, isn’t this the scantily clad pink lace nightgown she’d first seen when she entered the female dorm?!’

Its semi-transparent material, adorned with intricate lace along the edges, barely reached mid-thigh…

The situation had been urgent moments ago; she hadn’t even seen what she’d grabbed!

‘No way, no way, no way… Did I actually, in a moment of utter blindness, grab this thing and bring it in?!’

‘I’m done for…’ She covered her face in despair. Her ears could already pick up the whispers and rustling sounds of her roommates outside the bathroom. They had clearly set up their ambush, waiting for her to emerge.

She glanced at the small window above the shower… ‘The difficulty coefficient was too high, and it would look utterly stupid.’

‘It seemed she would be sleeping on the bathroom floor tonight! The toilet lid even looked quite spacious!’

‘Or… should she just knock herself out?’

‘A tap with the showerhead?’

‘Or perhaps just pretend to slip, hit her head, and get amnesia in the bathroom?’

‘Forget it, that would hurt too much.’

“Xiao Qi! Xiao Qi! Help! Could you please get me a change of clothes? This one is just too…”

[Ding! The system has detected the player’s request.]

[In light of the player’s ill intent to exploit a loophole and escape reality, this is a small punishment for the player within the game~]

Zhou Yi was stunned. ‘This system was actually waiting for her here!’

[Player, please correct your attitude and actively complete the tasks. As long as your mission progress is good, the system can, of course, turn a blind eye to your actions.]

“Are you threatening me?” Zhou Yi demanded.

[No, this is encouraging the player to be proactive~]

[We wish you a pleasant game.]

The notification sound vanished as swiftly as it appeared.

‘Just you wait… Once I figure out that Li Guigui, you’ll be the first thing I uninstall!’

She flipped off the mirror, hastily wrapped her wet hair in a towel, and, trembling, tugged the indecent lace hem further down.

Steeling herself, she opened the bathroom door. The rush of air instantly made her feel a chill creep over her skin.

Sure enough, they were all lined up outside, waiting for her. Xiao Ju, a sly smile playing on her lips, waved a gilded envelope in her hand. Her other two roommates stood on either side, arms crossed, ready for interrogation.

‘Is this a three-way interrogation?’ Zhou Yi inwardly groaned, eyeing the letter. ‘She hadn’t even cleared up the matter with Jiang Chen, and now new trouble had arrived.’

‘This female dorm was truly harder to navigate than any dungeon!’

“Oh, look~” Xiao Ju lightly tapped the lace strap on Zhou Yi’s shoulder with the envelope. “Our mysterious young lady has finally finished her bath and changed?”

“Listen to me, things aren’t what you think…”

“Then what is it? Are you going to keep spinning that story about you and Jiang Chen being long-lost relatives?”

“Or… do you want us to believe this isn’t a love letter from Jiang Chen?”

“It really isn’t… truly.”

“I-I’ll show you!” In a panic, Zhou Yi snatched the envelope, pulled out the invitation, and spread it open. “See for yourselves! It really is an invitation, for the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition! It’s not that kind of thing at all!”

Xiao Ju and the other two exchanged glances. They passed the invitation around, still half-skeptical.

The air fell silent for three seconds.

“…It’s really an invitation?”

“It… it seems so.”

“Right, right! I told you it was something serious!”

“Even so… you still haven’t explained what your relationship with Jiang Chen actually is?”

‘Holy cow, Sister Xiao Ju, your memory is a bit too good; you went in a circle and still came back to it.’

A cold sweat instantly broke out on Zhou Yi’s back.

She could only half-truthfully recount how she had met Jiang Chen, from their chance encounter at the library to another at the basketball court. She deliberately omitted any mention of the system tasks and her awkward performances.

Having finally escaped her roommates’ relentless interrogation, Zhou Yi was utterly exhausted. By the time she collapsed onto her bed, she couldn’t even recall what new fabrications she had conjured to appease them.

‘Had she admitted to an unspeakable transaction with Jiang Chen? Or had she concocted an inspiring story of a joint venture? Or perhaps she had just given up entirely and confessed to being Jiang Chen’s long-lost father?’

‘Forget it, let it all be destroyed, quickly.’

At that moment, she felt an overwhelming weariness. Her head buzzed incessantly, rendering her utterly incapable of thought.

She buried her face into the soft, faintly scented pillow. Her nostrils filled with the clean scent of laundry detergent mingled with a maiden’s natural fragrance. The unique, cozy aroma of the female dorm enveloped her like a warm tide.

Her taut nerves gradually relaxed amidst the fragrance. As drowsiness blurred her senses, she realized, ‘the scent of the female dorm… it really… truly… was quite conducive to sleep…’

****

The next morning

“Comrade Xiao Zhou! Time to wake up and fight!” Zhou Yi was violently shaken awake by Xiao Ju, blankets and all. “It’s Professor Chen’s 8 AM class today, and there are only twenty minutes left!”

“Eight AM… already?” She mumbled, hugging her pillow. “‘Brother Chen… help me save a seat first…'”

The room’s previously busy sounds instantly vanished.