CH 8

Without his computer, Lin Xiao returned home completely bored. He held his cigarette in hand while smoking on the balcony. His entire presence seemed to be enveloped within the night. In a soft tone he muttered, “This year’s Black Rose seems rather lacking again.”

He couldn’t help thinking of You Jing’s state on his way back home. The man’s left hand was definitely injured.

Professional players regularly had to undergo high-intensity training which often led to hand injuries, so strict training regimens were usually made to avoid this. 

But even then, there were still numerous professional players who retired due to hand injuries. Zhang Xuannian, who was the league’s first martial arts player, had been forced to retire due to injuries and later returned as his original team’s new coach.

Apparently, the reason why the team didn’t send You Jing to play in the 3v3 matches earlier wasn’t because of some hidden tactics, but to avoid adding more pressure to his hands and to ensure that he could be in his best state for the finals.

Without a doubt, You Jing played well throughout the entire event, whether it was his commands or fighting style, everything was superb. 

He had excellent operation skills and his mind could still stay sharp under pressure. He met all the right conditions to be a captain. After actually seeing how he performed with his own eyes, even Lin Xiao was impressed by the simple stratagems that carried next to no flaws.

Because of the importance of a Cleric to a team, throughout the entire league, no captain or even vice captain of any team would choose it as a game profession. The reason was simple. Its uniqueness. There was a reason behind the saying ‘kill the milk first’1. Whether it was team matches or individual playoffs, the healer was always the core part of any teams’ strategy. Its mere presence could alter the final outcome of the entire game.

In such a chaotic environment where one had to survive in the cracks, as the core player of his team, You Jing had to split his attention on focusing on the overall situation as well as creating perfect strategies for the team. This was unbelievable.

He was meticulous, whether it was the operations or having a clear view of the overall situation.

Just by watching You Jing’s performance, it was easy to become intrigued by his unpredictable methods and the delicate operations that often rescued teammates when their lives were on the line. Lin Xiao was thoroughly entranced by his magnificent techniques today. If he were not paying keen attention to those negligent mistakes, he would not have seen that the man was wounded. 

Hand injuries could have major impacts on professional players. If it was only a minor injury, it would be fine, but if it went as far as the joints and muscles, any form of neglect was enough to end a career. 

There were not a lot of players who understood self love, including Lin Xiao, who had done stupid things without thinking of the consequences. Although You Jing didn’t seem like an impulsive person, it was still difficult to say. After all, in the esports circle, the most lacking were the lunatics.

Fortunately, Black Rose won this time.

Lin Xiao silently let out a puff of smoke before extinguishing the cigarette butt and going into the house. He raised his right palm into the darkness, gazing at its outline, a little fascinated. Being exposed to the professional league once more and seeing scenes that he was once familiar with, this was the first time since his rebirth that he felt an uncontrollable desire in his heart that could not be suppressed.

***

After staying home for two days, Lin Xiao had already rested enough and went by the computer shop and brought home the computer that was finally repaired. He assembled it in no time before logging straight into the game. As soon as he entered the game channel and was about to join an instance, he received a message from a friend. 

[Red Alert: Brother, do you want to play a 3v3 group game and climb the ladder? Jianghu emergency!]2

It wasn’t as if Red Alert hadn’t seen his terrible equipment. And Lin Xiao didn’t believe his gameplay last time had revealed him to be a PvP master, so without thinking, he responded,

[Adorable Ghost: So suspicious, this isn’t a conspiracy right?]

Red Alert didn’t expect the other party to be so blunt and suddenly choked. He then responded with a string of crying emojis.

[Red Alert: Brother, it’s really an emergency! Look at it, it’s a 3v3 match. Winning will allow you to jump all the way to the third rank on the ladder. As long as you aren’t busy, you only need to fill the gap in the team and I promise to take you lying down! Plus, the rewards here are much better than the average instances!]

Lin Xiao laughed.

[Adorable Ghost: That powerful?  ^ _ ^ ~]

Red Alert paused, his face looked a bit distorted due to his forced smiling expression before finally explaining the situation.

It turned out that while playing games, he would occasionally accept a few requests for leveling up players to make some extra cash with friends who had similar hobbies. Because Black Dawn was the largest guild of the official team, he needed to ensure that everything was done cleanly and all private requests were completed secretly.

Two days ago, Red Alert received another order that had a good price which required taking a 3v3 team to the third rank.

Originally, the team had made it to the fifth rank with three people. Unexpectedly, one of the players had to stay with his wife in the hospital during delivery so the team lost one person. He had tried recruiting random players, but because of their daily activities, they had to log in and out of the team which made playing a bit unstable. It so happened that he saw that Lin Xiao came online and had no choice but to turn to him in his moment of crisis.

As for the person in question who currently had nothing else to do, Lin Xiao took a couple of minutes to compare the rewards gained from completing a dungeon versus what he’d receive joining the 3v3 team. There was a look of satisfaction in his eyes, and he immediately agreed. 

[Adorable Ghost: Deal.]

T/n :

A liddle burdiiee said the colours were a nice touch. I think so too(^‿^｡). Let me know your other suggestions.

Regarding slow updates… Aiyyah! I thought I could juggle my new online course, regular school and still keep up with my updates buhh life had other plans. So I quit school because my priorities were all backwords.

jk jk jk Hur hur hur… I like challenges, its only a matter of time management (psshhh what is that?).

Enough rambling but we should be having more frequent updates from now on. *cups fist* thank you for your patience.

‘Kill the Milk’ – As explained earlier, the term ‘milk’ means to heal. So by killing the milk, it only makes sense to get rid of the person who can restore other players HP first.

Jianghu Help – This is a distress call in games. Used when needing help from others urgently.

To bubbz- because of the issue with differentiating between game chats vs regular chats vs speaking, sleepy and I have been playing around with different formatting features such as adding brackets or using the light blue font colour. Let me know your thoughts as to which you think is more appropriate or if you have any suggestions.

[Red Alert warned in an uneasy tone: Brother, there are still two more days to complete the request, so until then be prepared to work overnight!]

[Lin Xiao simply glanced at the time on the computer screen: It doesn’t matter, isn’t it just a one night job?]

Red Alert wasn’t in the mood to explain whether it was one night or two nights, fearing Lin Xiao may regret it. He quickly pulled him into the 3v3 team and sent a voice chat invitation. 

Lin Xiao accepted the invite and entered the room. Then he slowly rummaged through some junk, looking for a head set. After putting it on, he sat down and heard an impatient voice, “Hello hello hello, Cutie, are you there? Are you there, Cutie?”

“… Yes.” Lin Xiao went speechless and corrected, “My name is Adorable Ghost.”

“Okay okay, what category do you play, curse or auxiliary ghosts? Let me have a look at your equipment! Hey, these days must have been a good harvest! Wow, your equipment stats have already reached 4800! I say you should… aiyo, damn!”

Red Alert suddenly screamed, startling the other player,Empty Spring, in the group who asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Baby Ghost, why do you have these equipment, you can ask me if you need help! But why would you train all your equipment pieces in cooldown reduction? Such a waste of skills and attributes ah!” Red Alert was shocked but had to accept reality. “Forget it, you can play curse ghost since its cd (cool down) skill is shorter. When the time comes to use it, just remember to face the opponent.”

It was no longer called cutie, but all of a sudden it became baby ghost. But why did that sound so uh… awkward? However, Baby Ghost and Adorable Ghost were still much better than cutie. Besides, Lin Xiao was too lazy to continue correcting him and said, “I originally played curse ghost, but…”

Seeing that there was no objection, Red Alert sighed with relief and asked, “But what?”

Lin Xiao said, “But, I want to play output.”

“Output, your sister!” There was a loud bang in the background like a hard knock on a table. Red Alert only responded through what sounded like gritted teeth, “You play curse ghost, your equipment is strengthened with only cooling reduction attributes and you say you want to play output?”

Lin Xiao said, “Yes, that’s right.”

That’s right! That’s right your mother! Red Alert didn’t immediately respond or he’d definitely greet the other party’s ancestors 1in the voice chat.

Before he could explode, Empty Spring tried smoothing things over with both sides. “Okay, we just needed somebody to fill the position. When the time comes, Adorable Ghost can play whatever position he wants, Adorable Ghost will play as much as he wants, and we’ll just go all out.”

After all, he was the one who said he’d endure no matter how unreliable the other person was. Who made him so arrogant talking about carrying the other party lying down? Recalling what happened in the dungeon the other day between the baby ghost and the boss, he finally decided not to say anything.　　

No matter how rubbish his equipment was, or how unreliable he was, at least during battle when they were being chased, he believed the little red riding hood would be able to live on!　　

And it so happened that Lin Xiao did not let them down.

As soon as he entered the map, he’d disappear like a jungle cat. Even if the map was turned inside out, Red Alert still could not find him. 

There was a bloody battle taking place on the outside but occasionally you could see the teams’ adorable little red riding hood playing hide and seek with the opponents in the bushes. Although his teammate, Red Alert, couldn’t help hoping somebody on the opposite side could catch him and strangle it to death. His hatred for this teammate was greater than the enemy. 

However, Lin Xiao was too familiar with the map. Though his hiding place seemed very simple, he was never found once.

Like this, just lying down, Lin Xiao won his way from sixth-tier to the fourth-tier. Lin Xiao watched the battle video while eating melon seeds.2

Not in the least bit uncomfortable, he’d occasionally send a cheer or two on the screen, smiling all the way. And although his teammates would always pretend to be dead and not respond, they were also satisfied with winning this way.

No wonder there were people who liked to lie down and win. This was too fucking awesome!

Greeting his ancestors- This is a way of disrespecting one’s family line, mainly older ones.

Eating melon seeds – watching a show/being a spectator.