CH 29

“Since the girl is looking forward to it so much, I must do my best! ^_^~” Lin Xiao instinctively replied in a serious manner, but the other party ignored him inexplicably. As he imagined the icy beauty’s face on the computer screen, he already had a plan in mind.

Attempting to strike up a conversation, naturally should start by stimulating the other party.

Although he didn’t dare to say much, it was still obvious that in order to pique You Jing’s interest, he needed to use his advantage in communication skills: “Sister, you’re a fan of the Old Ghost, right? Then look at me. See the style of equipment matching, the fighting method, the uncanny grasp of details, isn’t it the behavior of the Old Ghost?”

You Jing finally responded: “You are still far from him.”

Lin Xiao nodded repeatedly and continued with a serious look on his face: “Yes, yes, absolutely, the Old Ghost‘s ghost priest role is so amazing, you can’t find a second one in the whole world! Thinking about how he swept the world back then, who else can do that in this country? No one can compare at all! In my opinion, not even Yan Duzhou! Sister, tell me, am I right?”

You Jing replied: “Captain Yan is indeed a complete expert, but in the end, he is too inflexible. As quick as he is to react on the spot, he still lacks improvisation compared to Old Ghost.”

Lin Xiao had received many praises before, but he had never been so satisfied as he was now.

It must be said, even if someone is being praised sincerely, it still matters who does it. Not realizing that a slight smile was blooming on his face, he finally asked the question he always wanted to ask: “Since you like it so much, why did you choose a priest instead of playing a ghost priest?”

With his talent and skill, if he wanted, he could change into any position, and he would definitely shine even more dazzlingly on the League stage than with the priest he was currently playing.

After a brief pause, You Jing’s words came through the screen: “The strength of a certain person does not mean the strength of the team. A really powerful team must have strong enough support behind it, and Healing is the best support. Choosing to play the priest at least means that with me there, no one will die.”

The e-sports League has now developed into a powerful star-making platform, and many clubs were using their huge fan base to continuously recruit players with the complete package. Lighting, staging, and performances have become almost an indispensable part of league preparation. In such an environment, it was understandable for anyone to seek a better path for their own development.

Lin Xiao made a lot of conjectures, but he never expected such an answer. His fingers paused for a while, and he finally replied: “A truly powerful person, no matter what position he is in or what role he plays, will never be buried.”

On the other side of the screen, You Jing’s gaze lowered as something flickered deep in his eyes, and he did not want to continue this topic. “I’m done.”

Although the abrupt end of the conversation took him a little by surprise, it did not affect Lin Xiao’s nostalgia for the past.

He lit a cigarette and leaned against the window. Caught in the haze of memories, he squinted slightly at the neon lights that flashed near and far, his body half hidden in the thick night.

You Jing’s words just now reminded him of when he first debuted in the e-sports arena.

At that time, under his leadership, the Black Rose team was like a powerful dark horse in the league, crossing all directions, and they even faced the leader of those times, the Apocalypse team.

Yan Duzhou once asked him the same thing, obviously, he could be stronger playing something like the vampire class, so why would he settle for a more support-oriented class with less control, like a cursing ghost?

At the time, his answer was, “The team needs it.” He never cared about personal honor or disgrace because he always knew clearly that his only goal was to win.

Indeed, the strength of one person can never represent the strength of the entire team. To truly lead the team to victory, sometimes there must be inevitable sacrifices, and someone might even have to sacrifice by hiding their edge.

But on that note, don’t all e-sports players who fight for their dreams and beliefs think the same? Even if Yan Duzhou asked him this question at the time, if we were to compare the sacrifices and changes he made in the process of leading the team forward, I’m afraid there are a lot more, right?

With this train of thought, Lin Xiao quietly exhaled a puff from his cigarette and sighed with a nostalgic look: “Tsk tsk tsk, really, I kind of miss those old guys…”

He smoked several cigarettes one after the other on the balcony, and it was almost eleven o’clock in the evening when he finally returned to his computer desk, reeking of the smell of cigarettes.

Although his body has changed, it seems his sleeping habit hasn’t changed at all.

Lin Xiao yawned and was about to turn off the computer when he casually glanced at the public chat room, and instantly his drowsiness vanished.

The public chat room was more animated than ever, but most of the people on the screen were merely onlookers, and the real protagonist seemed to have fun making a hubbub with a loudspeaker.

Coincidentally, one of them happened to be his new comrade-in-arms Laughing Sky, and as for the other one… Lin Xiao checked the individual leaderboard, only to find that it was the Nine Thousand People assassin who was ranked 15th in the top 100 and belonged to the Celestial Guild.

It must be said that although many powerful masters only remained observers and did not accept the request of the big clubs, in terms of guild development, the Celestial team had attracted a group of famous players, which was undeniably better than other guilds. 

It’s just that most of these online master players are arrogant and proud and can’t stand each other. It’s fine if they only see each other once in a while, but once they join the same guild, how can you not smell the gunpowder? Just like Laughing Sky‘s withdrawal from the team today, without even asking questions, most can guess that it had something to do with the Sound of the Tides. As for why he’s fighting Nine Thousand People now, it is enough to know the ins and outs just by watching the public channel constantly brushing the speakers — the big deal is that one of them was being suppressed by the other during the solo queue on the ladder.

Looking at the tumultuous shouts in the field, Lin Xiao felt an indescribable pain in his heart. Is it really appropriate to flaunt his wealth just because he doesn’t agree with someone? The speaker in the Zone game costs ten yuan for a single sentence. Such a method of going through countless lines per minute obviously did not consider the feelings of poor people like him at all.

However, this kind of high-talk playing scene unsurprisingly aroused plenty of enthusiasm from other players. It kept going until now, and the number of bystanders shouting in the chat room started to increase, making it very lively for a while.

[Domain] Nine Thousand People: Laughing Sky, it’s better after you left the gang. How can you attack your friends from your old guild just to get some girl from another guild to look at you?

[Domain] Nine Thousand People: The man who helped those savages destroy his own guild yesterday, is showing his face again, isn’t he? Still coming out today to continue biting people? You really have no shame, keep kneeling down and kissing Black Dawn‘s ass like a good dog. They only leave you be to give you face, you know that, right?

[Domain] Cat Mimi Mimi: Whoops, I want the front row in this picture, don’t block me, people!

[Domain] Nine Thousand People: Why are you so silent? Come out to talk. Anyway, people are used to raising all kinds of animals, so what’s one more vicious wolf like you?

[Domain] Red Alert: My dear friend, solve your Celestial Guild problem between yourselves, don’t talk about our Black Dawn, it doesn’t concern us!

[Domain] Nine Thousand People: Laughing Sky, whose grandson did you say you were? Didn’t you say you’re a big shot? How the hell do you expect to raise a woman when you can’t afford to use the speaker? Call grandpa, you hear me, grandson?

[Domain] Laughing Sky: This grandson brought you halfway up the leaderboard, you stinky dog. Get lost!

…

I must say that although the number of lines swiped by Laughing Sky is a tenth of the others, the moment he chose was indeed inspired, and he scored very accurately. The key is to painfully stab the opponent’s vital points!

Lin Xiao didn’t know how the other party came to this conclusion, that Laughing Sky fell out with the gang and quit because of Hello Kitty. He had no idea why the other party was so considerate and kind and wanted to give him such a good opportunity to recruit people for his gang. Although it was obvious that Nine Thousand People was going to blow up, he still couldn’t help but want to say to him: ‘Dude, thank you!’

Lin Xiao ignored the earth-shattering chat room, clicked on the friend list, and sent a voice chat invitation to Laughing Sky. After contacting him on the private channel, he tried to convey a displeased tone: “Didn’t you say you were going to play to move up the leaderboard? What happened in the Chat? How did you come to get scolded?”

Laughing Sky was not as angry as he imagined, he just snorted disdainfully and said: “That bastard, Nine Thousand People, wants to rank in the top 10. It seemed like one more win could achieve that, so this daddy here wanted to chill him down. Anyway, I don’t care about him, this grandson can still beat him anytime. Although I don’t consider myself a dog, but even a dog will jump the wall if it’s cornered.”

Things were clear now, Laughing Sky indeed oppressed the opponent on the ladder, but the pressure in the chat made the situation even more difficult.

Having entered the first level of the leaderboard, an expert will devote almost all of his energy to the final overall personal ranking. At this point, victory and defeat are separated by only a small margin, and it’s not easy to beat the previous score every time. Laughing Sky simply ruined Nine Thousand People‘s chance to get promoted, no wonder he was raving mad. It’s just that if you lose in the solo matches of the grid, you can only blame yourself for your lack of strength. Right now, this look of a mad dog was too ugly, it really insulted the demeanor of a master.

Lin Xiao couldn’t help laughing out loud: “You’re not going to talk to him all night, are you kidding me?”

Laughing Sky refuted: “I don’t have time to play with him, it’s boring.”

Lin Xiao asked, “Are you up for something interesting?”

Laughing Sky asked: “Like what?”

Lin Xiao smiled and said: “You have other friends now, right? Do you want to play sniper while he continues to solo?”

“This move is ruthless, dude! I like it!” Laughing Sky immediately wiped away the remaining unhappiness when he thought of sniping the other party down from the 15th place, but after a while, he suddenly said, “But you are only at the second level now, so you probably won’t be able to get him?”

Lin Xiao choked at this and was speechless: “The way it looks, seeing that guy, I don’t think he’ll be able to stop for a while, so why don’t I just hurry up and take it to the next level? I have a high hidden score, as long as I get to the first level, I have no worry that I won’t be ranked.” (The hidden points of characters with more consecutive victories will be significantly higher than the actual rank points. The ranking mechanism will be matched according to the hidden points in the corresponding rank.)

Laughing Sky was satisfied: “Good luck, I’ll wait for you!”

The author has something to say: Still listless today, but inexplicably I am writing here trying to stir emotions, so I don’t want to be too long-winded.

The first time this old-timer came into contact with games was when he was in elementary school, and it has been nearly 20 years now. He skipped classes, stole the keys of his parents to play on their office computers, and secretly bought many game discs. During the period, I also poured all the royalties I earned into the game, hoping to lose it. I even had a period of time after graduation to do game planning…

Perhaps for many people, the game is just something to play with. For those who really love it, belief in words like this is really not just casual talk. I still remember that my mother asked countless times, how long are you going to play, my answer is, if you are a gamer, you keep playing.

I don’t remember how many types of games I have played, from the turn-based Stone Age to Magic Baby, and then to the 3D Zhu Xian, Xiaoao Jianghu, and J3 when I was not working. The big dungeon group, and finally in the LOL, from human-machine scum to a diamond goalkeeper, including RPG-type fairy sword series, ancient swords, and legends, Xuanyuan sword, etc… many memories, many passionate years, and finally it all boils down to Xinxing, the e-sports industry, perhaps because the competitive model that has been insisted on for a long time, is finally presented in such a direct and rigorous manner, it is destined to be deeply attracted.

Therefore, it is not an exaggeration for this veteran to say that he is a fanatic. I believe that in the near future, my country’s e-sports industry will be able to develop more fully. Maybe they got foreign aid from South Korea to enhance the appearance, but a real e-sports dynasty belonging to our country it is built so that foreign players can completely bow their heads. ^_^~

But, enough with the memories; in the end, I sincerely hope that more e-sports friends will say this sentence together: e-sports is our belief! Game on!