plumnovel Chapter 60 : First Time Going Out
Chapter 60 : First Time Going Out
First Time Going OutAfter simply putting on sunscreen, Cecilia put on a white parasol hat with lace trim, while Gu Yanxi took the parasol—in this way, all the preparations before going out were done.
According to the map searched on the phone, the nearest telecom business hall was about 1.2 kilometers away, and the bank was 2.3 kilometers away. Such a distance didn't require any transportation, so they could walk there, which would not only save a few yuan in fare, but also allow them to get some sun and exercise their weak bodies.
Although Cecilia was definitely a bona fide little rich girl now, perhaps because she was used to living on a tight budget before, the concept of saving money was already deeply ingrained in her and she still thought it was better to be frugal.
They went out and went downstairs. It was the midday of mid-summer, with the outdoor sun blazing fiercely.
As soon as they stepped out of the apartment building, waves of heat surged from all directions.
Xijiang City, an inland city, became both stifling and hot during summer. It was said that the high temperature today reached 41 degrees—almost like a steamer. Even the wind blowing toward them was scalding hot.
Because of this, even though it was summer vacation now, there were still few pedestrians in the apartment complex and on the streets.
It was likely that everyone was staying in their rooms, eating chilled watermelon and enjoying the cool air from the air conditioner.
Cecilia also wanted to stay in her room and enjoy the air conditioner. In fact, after just a few steps out of the front door, she felt like she was an ice cream about to melt under the fierce sun.
Beads of fine sweat kept oozing from her forehead. Her already snow-white complexion appeared even paler from dehydration.
There was no helping it; even with the wide parasol hat above her head and Gu Yanxi's parasol, her current body was just too frail.
She did look beautiful, but she was nowhere near as sturdy as in the game. It was like a carefully cultivated flower in a flower shop—once it left the greenhouse and underwent wind and sun, it would soon wither and fall apart.
This was not a good sign. Feeling unwell, Cecilia couldn't help but suspect: could it be that vampires couldn't be exposed to the sun?
If that was truly the case, then she'd be in trouble—unless it was overcast or after sunset, she wouldn't even be able to take a few steps out of the front door, forced to stay quietly in her room like some useless shut-in.
On the other side, Gu Yanxi easily noticed Cecilia's current state. She took a tissue from her bag with one hand, gently wiped Cecilia's sweat, and asked with concern, "How about we just forget it today? Let's go home first, and wait until it cools down in the evening before going out again."
Cecilia stood motionless where she was, like an oversized doll, letting Gu Yanxi play with her cheeks.
Only after Gu Yanxi's elder-sisterly concerns were satisfied did Cecilia lick her lips and softly refuse, "Never mind. There will definitely be more people out in the evening, and I don't want to cause you any trouble."
"Cause trouble?"
Hearing Cecilia's words, Gu Yanxi was momentarily stunned before realizing, "You mean those people in the game who tried to harm us today—their leader, I think his name was... Dragon Abyss, right? He's looking for you in real life too?"
"I can't rule out the possibility,"
Cecilia said, frowning as a cool and crisp voice escaped her thin lips.
When Legend of Kaloran had just launched, Dragon Abyss had once offered a huge bounty on the forum for real-world information about the player [Cecilia].
Even though, after today's lesson, Dragon Abyss would probably behave more cautiously, Cecilia still couldn't be sure that in the coming days, Dragon Abyss wouldn't shift his revenge from the game to real life.
After all, her appearance was just too recognizable now—whether it was her silver hair or blue eyes, walking on the street would absolutely make her stand out.
If even one bored person took a photo of her and Gu Yanxi and posted it online, with Dragon Abyss's influence, finding out their identities and address would be a trivial matter.
With the safety of Gu Yanxi's family at stake, Cecilia wouldn't and couldn't take that risk.
"Then let's hurry up. The walk isn't very far, and we can call a taxi on the way back—it should be fine,"
Gu Yanxi said, shifting the parasol in her hand above Cecilia's head to shield her from all the sunlight.
After walking a few more minutes, things improved a bit—there was an old apartment complex here, and the roadside had old plane trees. The dense green canopies almost entirely blocked the light, casting stretches of shade over the sidewalk. Walking under the trees, Cecilia finally felt a little better.
A few more minutes later, Cecilia finally found the telecom business hall shown on her phone map.
It was a very small storefront. The blue sign above the door was dusty, and the plastic curtain was tattered. It sat in a corner of the street, quite inconspicuous.
If it was an ordinary passerby, they might not even look at the shop, but Cecilia, on the contrary, wanted exactly that.
She lifted the plastic curtain, hearing the buzzing of an old fan inside the cramped room. Stowing the parasol, Gu Yanxi and Cecilia entered together.
There were no other customers in the shop, just an elderly man with gray hair sitting behind the counter, wearing reading glasses and holding an old-style smartphone, who seemed preoccupied.
Catching the guests with his peripheral vision, the old man immediately looked up with a smile. "What do you need? Internet setup, phone service, or a SIM card?"
"Grandpa, I want to get a new phone card,"
Cecilia replied, respectful toward kindly elderly people.
"What plan do you want? They're all over there on the sign, pick one yourself."
The old man got up with a gentle smile and pointed to a sign beside the counter, even showing a bit of scholarly air.
Cecilia didn't care about free call time, number of texts, or the phone number itself. She just picked a random number and quickly moved to the crucial step: binding her ID card and activation.
"Did you bring your ID card? You can't get a phone number without one," the old man kindly reminded.
Suppressing her anxiety, Cecilia took out the ID card labeled "Gu Anna" from her pocket and handed it to the old man.
Success or failure would be decided in this moment...
When the old man pressed that thin plastic card onto the machine, Cecilia didn't know if it was an illusion or magic, but for a brief moment, the space around her seemed to twist slightly.
Beep——
The device sounded, indicating approval.
Almost at the same time, both Cecilia and Gu Yanxi heaved a sigh of relief.
The old man returned the ID card to Cecilia: "It's activated. You just need to prepay fifty yuan to use it."
Fifty yuan was nothing—what mattered to Cecilia was confirming that this ID card truly worked. That was her biggest gain from this trip.
After paying the fee and borrowing a SIM ejector pin from the old man, she inserted the new phone card into her phone. Only then did she and Gu Yanxi leave the shop and walk toward the nearby bank.
Under the blazing sun again, another seven or eight minutes passed before they arrived at the bank closest to home.
Perhaps it was due to the air conditioning, but the bank's service lobby was crowded. Yet, all the transaction counters were empty, implying most people were there just to cool off.
As soon as they pushed open the glass door, Cecilia and Gu Yanxi inevitably attracted a lot of attention—even before they could enjoy the brief reprieve of cool air.
Gu Yanxi was already used to this, as a beautiful girl who dealt with both amazed and lecherous stares on a daily basis. She had grown indifferent and pretended not to notice.
Cecilia, however, found it hard to bear. She pulled Gu Yanxi closer and lowered her small face, her gaze instantly turning sharp as a knife, coldly glaring at those who dared gawk without restraint.
The process for getting a bank card was much more troublesome than a phone card, but as there was no line, it didn't take much time.
Since she had confirmed the ID card could be used, Cecilia was much bolder. Even when the bank staff hesitated twice about whether she was really over eighteen, she firmly pointed to the birthdate on the ID card and argued logically.
Other than that, there were no other problems. After about ten minutes, Cecilia finally obtained her first bank card since becoming a girl.
Walking out of the bank, they waited a few more minutes under the trees outside the entrance, and Gu Yanxi flagged down an empty taxi.
On such a sweltering day, picking up two extremely pretty girls made the taxi driver in his white vest visibly delighted, his wide mouth never once closing.
After giving the address of their apartment complex to the driver, Cecilia and Gu Yanxi sat together in the back seat. As the driver stepped on the accelerator, the scenery outside the window sped by.
The ride wasn't long—the apartment complex was less than two kilometers from the bank, so it would take only about ten minutes even walking.
Three or four minutes later, the taxi stopped at the entrance of Gu Yanxi's apartment complex.
Having paid the starting fare, Cecilia and Gu Yanxi carried the day's only spoils—the two small cards—as they made their way home.
"Home" really just meant stepping through the main gate and climbing three floors—when the door lock clicked open, the two girls were home again.
After Gu Yanxi locked the front door, the first thing Cecilia did was to quickly memorize her new bank card number, then rush straight to the bedroom for her VR helmet.
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