Chapter 17

[August 14, 20XX]

Once I stopped obsessing over the reasons and timing, “developing romantic feelings for Dan Ning” became remarkably easy to accept.

After months of intimate contact, I’d already gained considerable understanding of his personality and worldview.

I enjoyed his care, observed his interactions with others, even analyzed every message he’d left online—this individual had experienced and was still experiencing some unpleasant things, yet his attitude remained consistently positive.

Whether judged by Earth’s civilization standards or those of my own, he was a principled, resilient, and kind person.

Falling for such a being was actually fortunate.

Now my task was making him develop similar feelings—for me as “Qikeliyah” who interacted with him online, not as the pet cat “Chocolate.”

[August 15, 20XX]

Dan Ning’s forum activity was relatively low—he seemed more inclined to observe than participate.

After researching Earth’s human courtship advice, I determined my current objective was capturing his attention.

This proved simple. I could sit beside his screen while he browsed, noting topics that interested him before presenting my views through replies.

Though tedious—many discussions seemed utterly worthless—the method worked exceptionally well.

An hour and a half later, I received Dan Ning’s private message:

“Scholar King, did your account get hacked?”

Dan Ning frowned slightly at his screen.

“I saw your account posting inflammatory comments across multiple subforums. Be careful about getting reported.”

I quickly reviewed my earlier replies—phrases like “meaningless existence”—now copied, bolded, and mocked or cursed across threads.

—How difficult these creatures are when rejecting objective criticism.

“Thanks for the warning,” I replied.

[System: Message failed to send.]

Dan Ning returned to The Cosmic Zone, clicking a trending thread—”What happened? Scholar King got called out in the complaints section!”

The discussion thrived:

-“What’d Scholar King do?”

-“Did the mods finally expose Scholar King as an alien infiltrator?”

-“Saw a swarm of [censored] fans reporting him!”

-“Scholar King single-handedly took on [censored] fans?! Worship incoming!”

-“What are [censored] fans?”

-“A celebrity’s brain-dead stans.”

-“Ahh! Can’t DM Scholar King!”

-“Banned?”

-“Banned. [candle]”

-“[candle]”

-“[candle]”

…

My account was indeed suspended.

Since Dan Ning had noticed this account, I didn’t want to abandon it. Adjusting the forum backend, I lifted the ban.

“Thanks for the warning.” The reply to Dan Ning sent successfully.

[August 16, 20XX]

My online nickname evolved from “Scholar King” to “Hacked Scholar King.”

[August 17, 20XX]

The banning incident caused some stir, though I paid little attention.

What I noted was the beautiful aftermath.

After Dan Ning’s warning via private message, exchanging daily greetings upon login became perfectly natural.

Now with a properly behaving username, further misunderstandings were unlikely.

Everything progressed exactly as desired.