Unfortunately his good facial features were ruined by a bad lifestyle.
He already had forehead wrinkles, half his eyebrows were gone, he had dull eyes, and looked like he had premature aging.
Even though he was crouched in the brushes, his belly was visible from underneath his shirt. His two arms were as fat as a pig’s hock and he had long fingers like a pianist’s which caused a sense of incongruity.
The most incomprehensible part was why he was talking to me while squatting in the brushes. Since he asked if the LOL team was recruiting, he could be a LOL addict.
I heard that among the LOL champions, there’s one called the ‘Brush Prince’ Garen. He would always hide in a brush then do a sneak attack and yell ‘Demacia’ once his opponents come close. It’s already at the point where there’s a joke that says there’s a Garen in every brush.
Not long ago, there was a news report from Shitizen News about a 16 year old who pulled two all-nighters to play LOL in a net cafe. When he left the net cafe in the morning, he unconsciously squatted in a brush holding a stick. Every time someone passed by, he would yell ‘Demacia’ and whack their heads. A quote from a passer-by: Luckily, he wasn’t level 6 or it would have been a disaster if he learned his ultimate.
Don’t tell me this college student is the same type as the 16 year old? He might not be holding a stick, but he can still jump our and punch my head! It would be too embarrassing if I was Demacia’ed by this moron.
So I took a step back and kept a safe distance. Then I cautiously reminded him:
“My friend, you don’t turn invisible by hiding in brushes in the real world.”
Obama also retreated when he saw me step back, but he retreated even further than me, to the point where he was using me as a shield.
The college student nodded: “I know I can’t turn invisible, but I feel safer in a brush. As long as I squat in a brush, no one dares to come closer when they see me.”
Of course, that’s because they think you’re taking a shit in the brush! Who would come closer to watch you take a shit.
“I saw a brush when I came over today, so I was squatting inside while thinking about life. But I accidentally squatted for a bit too long and now my legs are numb, can you please help pull me up.”
I noticed more peculiar traits on his body after I pulled him up.
The white shirt and casual pants he was wearing were both branded and each one was over ¥400, but he has the ability to make branded clothes seem like secondhand clothes. I think he could come from a wealthy family even if he does look like a loser.
“Do you want to join our LOL team?” I asked cautiously.
“That’s right. A girl called Xiong YaoYue went to a net cafe I frequent. I wasn’t there at the time, but I heard about it later and it seems you guys are headquartered here.”
The college student replied as he tapped his feet to lessen the numbness.
“Um, the pay for an official member is ¥5000 a month…”
I don’t know anything about how professional teams operate, so I could only tell him the pay.
I never expected him to wave his hand and vehemently say: “I don’t need money. I only want to prove myself.”
Now I can confirm he comes from a wealthy family. Since many people say cheap indicates bad quality, don’t tell me his skills are garbage.
As I was about to ask for his name, two female high school students from Qing Zi academy passed by. When they saw the college student, they greeted him with familiarity:
“Hey, Prince is here.”
The college student only nodded and didn’t respond to them.
“Prince?” It’s already strange enough that girls from Qing Zi Academy recognizes you, but why would they call you Prince? You need to go to a fat loss boot camp for at least half a year before you’re qualified to be called Prince Charming.
When he saw my confusion, the college student explained:
“My game ID is Brush Prince, so those girls were mocking me. They don’t even care that my father is the principal of Qing Zi Academy, sigh…”
Wait, your dad is the principal? Isn’t the principal Xiao Qin’s uncle? No wonder you looked familiar, so you’re Xiao Qin’s cousin.
Gramps Ren told me once he had a grandson who likes jumping out of brushes to scare people, so that was you.
The college student introduced himself. His name was Ren Peng and he was a second year university student. He didn’t like any of the amateur LOL teams in his university, so he was looking to join a professional team. When he heard we were creating a professional team, and our headquarters was at his dad’s school, he came running to offer his services.
It doesn’t seem like he was pretending as he constantly exuded the atmosphere of being an LOL god.
Ren Peng should only be 19 if he was a second year university student, which means he was only 5 years older than Xiao Qin. Since Auntie Ren’s brother was older than her by 20 years, that means the principal of Qing Zi Academy was late in marrying and having kids.
“I recognize this dog.” Ren Peng pointed to Obama and said, “He belongs to that small American celebrity. I bet the she’s also the boss of the LOL team, right?”
Ren Peng’s eyes might be lifeless from playing too much games, but he has a good brain. Don’t tell me Xiong YaoYue walked everywhere to search, but I was able to randomly pick up an expert when walking the dog?
Since the team room was still under renovation in the VIP building, even if I wanted Xiong YaoYue test Ren Peng’s skills but we didn’t have an usable computer. (Peng TouSi installed Linux on most of the computers in the VIP building and running security monitoring software on them)
So Ren Peng and I arranged to meet tonight at 7pm at the net cafe diagonally across from Qing Zi Academy’s campus. Xiong YaoYue, who is the captain-cum-manager, would test his skills.
Ren Peng said with disdain: “Xiong YaoYue, isn’t she the brat from the Wasteland Wolves? I know her, she might be one of the best female LOL players in Dong Shan city, but she’s not my opponent. If I face her, I’ll definitely make her cry tonight.”
I didn’t know if his ravings was true or not, but we exchanged phone numbers and agreed to meet at night.
“I think I heard the name Ye Lin somewhere before…” He scrunched his brows when he noted down my contact information.
“It’s just a misconception.” I patted Ren Peng’s shoulder. Xiao Qin never mentioned her cousin before, so they might not be on good terms. In the worst case, Ren Peng might even trigger her androphobia.
The reason why I set the time so late was because I wanted to mooch dinner at Ai Mi’s place.
After I secretly told Xiong YaoYue about Ren Peng, she stuck up her thumb and praised me for catching a big fish. She also liked that we were meeting after dinner since she also wanted to eat the French chef’s cooking.
At dinner, I was discussing tonight’s events with Xiong YaoYue. When Ai Mi saw us whispering to each other, she asked with discontent:
“What are you guys hiding from me? Are you working together to betray me?”
Xiong YaoYue answered quickly: “No way, there’s no one who has more money than Miss Ai Mi!”
Ai Mi squinted her eyes and looked at her with content. Xiong YaoYue then quickly corrected her wording:
“Even if someone has more money than Miss Ai Mi, I will still be loyal to Miss Ai Mi! I’m not someone who only thinks of money!”
I told Ai Mi we had our first candidate for the LOL team, and we were heading to the net cafe at 7 to test him.
Ai Mi wanted to follow along, but I recommended her to wait for the result due to the noisy environment at internet cafes.
When it was close to 7, Ai Mi gave an order to me and Xiong YaoYue:
“Manservant and housekeeper, you guys can head out now. You have to complete my mission perfectly, understand?”
“If you find out the other guy is a noob, just kick him away, I don’t need weaklings.”
“If he’s an expert, then do whatever it takes to make him join, even if you have to kidnap him. Manservant, I’ll leave the kidnapping part to you.”
Don’t give me illegal orders. Besides, if Auntie Ren found out I kidnapped her nephews, my life would be over.
To my surprise, Xiong YaoYue, who went to the net cafe full of fighting spirit to test Ren Peng, was completely obliterated.
Each side found two people they were familiar with to play 3v3, and Xiong YaoYue was defeated. The kill difference was 15:7. Although Xiong YaoYue was able to kill Ren Peng’s Garen once with Nautilius, it was a fact Ren Peng was much more skilled than Xiong YaoYue.
After the match, Ren Peng said to the dazed Xiong YaoYue:
“You might be first in fighting games in Dong Shan city, but you don’t have enough love LOL. You’re too impatient and still need more practice.”
“Does he have enough skill?” I whispered to Xiong YaoYue.
“Enough… definitely enough. It’s not the first time I lost in LOL, but it’s the first time I met someone as strong as him…”
Ren Peng wasn’t really surprised when he heard he passed. He suggested to let him pick the remaining members and Xiong YaoYue agreed.
After leaving the internet cafe, I realized Xiong YaoYue had a sad expression and she was wobbling. I don’t think she would even be this sad if she broke up with her boyfriend.