Chapter 2 - Meeting Mastermo

"Big Brother! Big Brother! You are at the top of the list!" The young boy, around the age of 16, exclaimed happily as he watched the news playing on the TV screen.

"That's a given. Aren't you underestimating me too much?"

"Hehe.. Not at all. I totally believe in you, Big Brother." He smiled cheekily and kept on staring at the other with sparkling, hopeful eyes.

This look made Zhihao grow self-conscious, "What's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Nothing. I'm just really looking forward to seeing you grab that prize money."

"You!" Huang Zhihao seemed to understand his brother's intentions, "Did you also place a bet on me?!"

"Of course not!"

Zhihao sighed in relief as he thought 'I have taught him well. There's no way he'll do such a thing.' but before he could completely relax, his brother continued, "I hired somebody else to place a bet on my behalf."

With bulging veins of anger, Zhihao tried to maintain his composure and forced out a smile, "How much?"

"Just one-tenth of your prize money."

"One-tenth of my pri-" Zhihao could no longer continue the sentence, his eyes going wide with realization, "That's freaking one hundred thousand dollars!"

"Yeah! But don't worry. If it's you; I'm sure we'll win both the prize money and the bet. It's a win-win situation. Do you know how much the expected return money for the bet is?"

"You're gonna tell me anyway so out with it." Zhihao sipped at his cup of coffee in annoyance.

"Half a million dollars!" The boy exclaimed proudly.

Zhihao choked on his coffee as he heard this, "These crazy gamblers! A-Zhen, listen to your big bro and take back the bet."

"Why?" A-Zhen whined, "Are you not confident enough? If you can't win, then nobody else in the world can."

Zhihao took a napkin and wiped the corner of his lips before standing up and leaving without bothering to respond to his brother. He was glad his brother looked up to him so much, but in the end, he was also afraid of breaking those expectations.

"B-Big Brother! Wait for me!" Huang Zhen yelled as he grabbed his jacket and tried to catch up to his brother, but clumsily ended up tripping on the way and had to constantly apologize to the girl, whose dress was now completely stained with cake frosting, thanks to him.

Zhihao, on the other hand, never looked back and kept on walking towards his apartment.

On the way there, He got a notification from T.I.A.D.

[Please confirm your team members as soon as possible in order to level up!]

[Warning: You cannot enter the next stage without a team!]

[Warning: You only have 46 hours remaining to form a team!]

[Warning: If a player fails to find a teammate, the player would be demoted to the starting level.]

Zhihao clicked his tongue in annoyance. One had to know that Mastermo was famous for being a loner, the one time he had ever tried to form a team was during the early days of his career and the experience did not leave a good taste in his mouth. He preferred playing alone and hated games like this that forced players to team up, but this time he was even more annoyed because he actually enjoyed the game and wanted to win, but if he was forced like this, with a warning that he'll be demoted? He was annoyed enough to kick the roadside trash bin, but maybe today just wasn't his day as the trash bin flipped over and littered the ground. Being a civil citizen who cared about the country and the environment, Zhihao now had to pick it all up.

As he was picking up the trash, his phone rang with an oddly upbeat tune of some game intro. His phone was connected to his Bluetooth earpiece so thankfully he didn't have to touch it with his dirty hands; he was a stickler for neatness and cleanliness a.k.a. A Neatnik.

With a trying-to-be calm tone, he picked up the call, "Hello!"

"Yo! My boy Mastermoooo!" Just from hearing that over-enthusiastic voice, Zhihao could make out who it was, "Reigning currently at the top, how does it feel?"

"Like always. Unlike some people, I usually am on top."

"Come on man! Don't be sour. I'll let you top me anytime both in-game and outsi-"

"Yeah, no thank you." Zhihao cut him off mid-sentence, "Just cut to the chase."

"Look honey, I know you also got the notification right? And you have nobody to team up with? Well, guess what, you're in luck cause I have decided to help you out. So how about it, partner? I've sent you a team invite, could you just gladly accept it quickly."

"You sent me an invite? Let me check."

"....."

"...."

"Sugar, did you just decline my invite?"

"Yeah."

"But why???" the man whined

"Too busy at the moment."

"Doing what?"

"Picking up trash... And.... Talking to trash about trash."

"Have you gone senile, dude? Talking to trash? Kekeke..... Wait! But you're talking to me!"

"Bingo! Now hang up. I don't wanna lose any more brain cells on you."

"Are you sure about that Mo? If you don't team up with me, I'm teaming up with that Yingli or whatever, you know that newbie who holds second place."

"Are you threatening me?"

"Why? Are you scared we'll beat you? Oh! Sorry, without a team, you'll be demoted anyhow, so who am I to care?"

"....."

ding~

The call ended as Zhihao hung up on the guy nicknamed BBtrash, who was another pro-gamer, currently holding the 4th position on T.I.A.D., He wasn't a friend neither a foe, he was just an annoying pesky guy. Zhihao was beyond annoyed at this point and was nowhere near done venting, but he didn't get the chance to.

"Let me help you." A voice came from above

"Ah?" Zhihao looked up at the elegant face of the man who had offered to help and was stunned for a good couple of seconds.

"Handsome brother, what are you looking at?" the stranger smiled, his eyes forming two soft crescents, his cheeks tinted light pink and his whole face brighter than Zhihao's future.

"Ah! T-Thank you." Zhihao stuttered, his eyes glued to the tiny mole under the man's right eye, "It's my fault actually. I didn't mean to knock it over, but I was just really mad and couldn't control myself." He felt like a fool, why was he suddenly explaining all this.

The man chuckled in response, "You seem like a good guy, Mr.?"

"Oh! Zhihao. Huang Zhihao. You can just call me Zhihao or Mo, my friends call me Mo or Zhi, my parents call me A-Zhi" If he could, he'd want to slap himself for talking nonsense. What friends call you Mo? You don't even have friends.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Zhihao. I'm called Li Ling."

"Li Ling. Li... Ling... Plum Spirit*? That's a beautiful name."

*Li means plum and Ling stands for spirit/soul hence Zhihao was interpreting the meaning of his name

Li Ling chuckled as he thought, 'What a really cute gentleman'

After 20 minutes of picking up trash together with Li Ling, Zhihao had finally completed cleaning the mess he made and unexpectedly enjoyed it for the first time in his life. The pair decided to head towards the nearby public restroom in order to wash hands and because Li Ling felt it was such a waste, he invited Zhihao to have a cup of coffee with him. Even though Zhihao had already drunk a cup on his way over, he still couldn't bring himself to decline the offer or more like he didn't want to and so he gladly agreed and they went to a cafe together.

"Um... Please forgive me for not saying much. It's not that I'm uncomfortable or anything, I just hardly ever interact with people." Zhihao felt like he had to apologize for some reason.

Li Ling smiled, "It's okay. I don't usually do this as well, so I don't know what to say at such moments so let's just not worry about it."

"Ah! Thank you. I know you're just saying that to make me feel better. You totally look like the social butterfly type, especially around the face."

"My face? What about it?" Li Ling chuckled, teasing Zhihao.

"It's just really... Likeable."

"Likeable? Is it according to your preference?"

"Of course! I mean, of course, I like it, but not like like, not like that type of like, but you know the I'll-never-get-bored-looking-at-that-face type of like. Sorry I don't usually suck at talking this much."

Li Ling smiled, "I like it too."

Zhihao sipped on his coffee as he tried diverting eye contact, "If I had a face like that, I'm sure I would've liked it too."

Li Ling titled his head, looking quite amused at the man's reactions, "Not mine, I meant you, your face. I like it too. You're really handsome Mr. Zhihao"

And—for the second time that day—Zhihao choked on his coffee and Li Ling chuckled in amusement.

"I'm sorry for teasing you, Mr. Zhihao."

"It's okay. I get this a lot." Zhihao responded awkwardly

"You get teased a lot?"

"Ah not like this, but some colleagues like to call me flirty names." Zhihao didn't seem to notice the faltering smile on Li Ling's face as he was too busy looking at his own fidgeting fingers, too scared to meet the eyes of the gorgeous youth. "They think my reactions are somewhat amusing?"

"By any chance, could this colleague be BBtrash?"

"Not just him in specific but-" Zhihao was suddenly shocked, "Huh? How do you know him?"

"So it was that piece of trash. Who else?" Li Ling leaned in, interested in the topic.

"Who are you? And how do you know me? Am I being stalked right now? Are you my stalker?" As Zhihao spoke, he thought: It wouldn't feel so bad to have such a good looking stalker, but he still shivered at that thought.

Li Ling chuckled, "Please don't be alarmed, I'm not stalking you or anything. I'm just a fan of Mastermo."

"You can't be just a fan? How did you recognize me?"

"Well, truth be told, I'm a long time fan, so I just recognized you by instinct."

"By Instinct? What if I wasn't Mastermo?" Zhihao looked at him with suspicion.

"Well, it doesn't hurt to take a chance, does it? And it seems my instinct led me straight right to you so I guess I'm really lucky." he smiled.

"Ah! That's kinda scary."

"Do I scare you?" Li Ling asked innocently tilting his head.

"No! Not you! I meant the situation. Hehehe" Zhihao chuckled awkwardly, "I don't usually interact or meet up with my fans, the thought kinda scares me."

"Now let's get back to the topic. Who are the colleagues that tease you?" Li Ling narrowed his eyes

"Ah!" Zhihao waved his hands, "It's really nothing."

Li Ling didn't respond.

"If you're my fan, could it be that you are a gamer as well? Or maybe a gaming enthusiast?" Zhihao desperately tried to change the awkward topic.

"I'm just a small gamer, not even worth mentioning in front of you."

"I'm not that great myself, just learning as I go."

"Don't be so humble. Aren't you the top player of that new RPG? You're really awesome."

"Hehe..." Zhihao was embarrassed

"By the way have you found a teammate yet?" Li Ling asked enthusiastically.

"A teammate? Not yet."

"Then..." Li Ling fiddled with his fingers as he nervously asked, "Would you consider taking me as your teammate? I'm not that good at the game and I might even make it more difficult for you and drag you down but please consider it. I really want to be on your team."

"I appreciate you wanting to be my teammate, but unfortunately I'm really not-"

"I can help you find the Gamemaster! That's for sure."

"Huh?"

"The Gamemaster! Although I'm not good at the game, I can still help you with finding the Gamemaster."

"How do you know the Gamemaster? Do you know the Gamemaster?"

"I do. I came to know him by mistake, but yes, I know the Gamemaster."

"Be my teammate."

"Huh?" Li Ling looked kind of taken back by the sudden response from Zhihao whose eyes seemed to be sparkling at the mention of the Gamemaster, "Of course. Let's become a team."

"Thank you!" Zhihao beamed. Gaming brought out a really different side of him. The stuttering embarrassed Zhihao seemed to turn into a completely different confident and enthusiastic adult, "Since we wouldn't have any other members, we'll be a pair. Maybe partners?"

"Yeah, partner sounds great." Li Ling responded after recovering from the initial shock.