This Was Supposed to Be a City-Building Game, So How Did I Get a Romance Ending?

[Blurb for the upcoming Stone World fanfic The Top Student Simulator is at the very end. If you're interested, add it to your reading list!]

[Complete. The whole story costs just one cup of Mixue Ice Cream & Tea.]

You bought a full-dive construction game called Magic Architect. Your starting location is a desolate North America.

Humanity has been petrified for 3,700 years. Civilization has collapsed and vanished. As an architect who can imagine and create anything, you decide to rebuild the most prosperous village in the world.

You meet two very cute and generous chibi NPCs.

One is a scientist named Xeno, who gives you gunpowder blueprints and helps you calculate improvements.

The other is Stanley, a soldier with maxed-out combat skills and exceptional execution, who helps you gather materials.

[You've successfully built a bedroom. Your NPCs can rest now.]

Xeno, who only wants to focus on military construction, comes back every night on time to lie down on a straw mat.

[You've successfully built a farm. Your NPCs can help you till the land.]

Stanley, once an ace sniper, is forced to put down his weapons and start plowing fields.

[You got a blueprint for laser light strips from Xeno. You decide to use them to light up the dazzling sign on your eye-catching farm.]

[You built a private bedroom for Stanley, then decided to go into his room, shove the NPC out of bed, and sleep there yourself.]

[You use a watering can to fill nitric acid. You tame magical beasts by force-feeding them. You use a summoning cane to make NPCs hurry along for 38,000 miles...]

Through your combined efforts, the village's prosperity rating finally reaches Lv. 2. To advance the quest, you must choose one of three future construction projects.

[For the villagers' new equipment, what would you like to make?]

A. Assault rifle

B. Super plasma light magic shield

C. Plastering trowel

You choose C.

So Xeno, who should have ruled a military empire as a dictator, reluctantly picks up a trowel.

[For the villagers' entertainment, what would you like to build?]

A. Advanced shooting range

B. Potion clock tower on a beanstalk

C. Swing set

You choose C again.

So the soldier who should have been flying planes and firing guns ends up swinging on a swing in front of everyone.

[Your village has successfully built a landmark. New villagers are coming to join you! Remember, old villagers must get along with the newcomers.]

Joel and Sai, who the player rescued long ago: ?

Senku and the others, summoned to America: !!!

Xeno: “Hmph. This time, there's no way I'll let her choose C again.”

[You and the villagers can now use vehicles to explore a wider world. What would you like to make?]

A. Manned spacecraft

B. Magic battleship powered by a two-headed dragon

C. Roller skates

You're about to choose C.

The villagers' NPCs, glaring at you: “Please, stop choosing C!!!”

*

The game has a reward system for NPC personal bond badges, with extremely generous prizes. The badges represent how well you get along with them.

[You've collected 10 badges. Reward: 3 ultra-rare blueprints]

[You've collected 20 badges. Blueprint material costs permanently reduced by 50%]

To earn more rewards, you keep completing quests, finally grinding your bond badges up to 30.

[A system upgrade is required before you can claim this tier's reward. Continue?]

You choose Yes.

[Upgrade complete. The game's filter has been removed. You can now see and touch him as he truly is.]

The cute, three-heads-tall NPC in front of you turns into a meticulously modeled, impossibly handsome man who stands six feet tall.

You're a little confused, but the generous rewards from the badges keep you from thinking too much about it.

You keep grinding badges, and at last, one day, you earn his 40th bond badge.

The NPC's profile updates as usual, but this time, something different is unlocked.

[Affection: 100]

[Relationship status: Unrequited love]

Curious, you scroll down and see [Person he likes].

Your name is written clearly beside it.

[This NPC has the trait “Overwhelming Love.” Please don't leave his sight for too long, or something unpleasant may happen.]

[This NPC has the trait “Love and Desire Entwined.” He seems to love leaving marks on you because he has an oral fixation. Will you refuse him?]

You've broken through every boundary and unlocked a special ending just for you.

[He's given you a heartfelt confession. Who will you choose?]

A. Xeno

B. Stanley

C. Maybe choose both? It's only two

Shelley: ...?

Do you think she dares choose C?

I swear, I'm not playing some 18+ dating sim! Aaaaaah!

* This is a Dr. Stone fanfic. The original is amazing!!

* The game in this story is original, but you'll spot lots of references to real games (

* Pure straight romance. Obsessive male leads warning! Love triangle warning!! Childhood-friend rivalry warning!!!

* Mainly featuring the two American characters. The extra chapters have separate 1v1 endings.

* Not purely about construction, and the romance takes up a large portion of the story!!!

* The protagonist is a self-centered player, and she'll put the NPCs through lots of fourth-wall-breaking disasters they can't understand!

* The tone is light and cheerful. I hope it makes you smile!

* Short story, under 250,000 characters. Main story is in third person!

* There will definitely be out-of-character moments in this fanfic!

* There are countless great stories on Jinjiang. If you drop this one, please don't tell me!

* There's also a completed 730,000-character Dr. Stone dating sim fanfic in my author page. Please check it out.

Blurb written on October 12, 2025, and saved with a screenshot.

Upcoming story: The Top Student Simulator

Your name is Xue Xizhi. You're an office worker who has just transmigrated and received a System.

System: You only need to get first place five times to go home!

The first time.

You become an elementary school student.

You: Am I going to be a kid with an adult's mind and a child's body?

Wait, why is an eight-year-old building a rocket from scratch? This isn't how the script is supposed to go!

Senku: You like science and space too, right?

The second time.

You end up in America, at a military academy.

Your rival is a handsome blond boy who gets perfect scores in fitness, hand-to-hand combat, and marksmanship.

You: You just finished torturing me with academics, and now you're going to torture me with gym class?

Stanley: Hmm? Shooting contest?

The third time.

You're an elementary school student again, this time being taught by a private tutor hired by a wealthy family.

You: Why is the nine-year-old sitting next to me studying advanced mathematics? Why is that four-year-old learning finance?

Sai: ...Programming is fun, right?

Ryusui: I want it!!

The fourth time.

You return to America to attend university, majoring in aerospace science.

This time, one of your classmates is a ten-year-old prodigy who skipped several grades.

You: Another scientist! A full-circle moment, huh? Fine, fine!

Xeno: The appeal of science is truly elegant

*

At last, you reach the fifth and final time.

You arrive in a strange city where everyone is apparently going to build a rocket.

Then you see several adult men, each with a distinctive personality and striking looks. They're your classmates from your first four rounds, and now you have to “beat” them all at once.

But they're all just second place!

Five second-place finishers, that's all!!!

The second-place finishers: “Found you!!!”

You, already holding a book and ready to hit the textbooks: ?

*

Question: How can an ordinary person become a top student?

Xue Xizhi: Have you heard of a study room where time moves more slowly, a pen that won't let go until its ink runs dry, a workbook that makes you unlucky for a hundred days if you get even one answer wrong, and a shooting range that turns you into the target unless you hit the bull's-eye?

Haha, I've been through all of them :)

* Dating sim. The story features the characters mentioned above.

* Main story is in third person.

Theme: The spirit of construction, the heart of a builder