Chapter 6

Chapter 6 – Bonus Hunter’s First Battle

 

After W joined, Big P had been looking around for a team to set up a match against. The brothers eagerly anticipated a chance to test the waters. The exception is W, who remained aloof and disinterested. Big P and Piggy discussed amongst themselves in private: “That guy does nothing besides eating, CS, and riding his tricycle in front of Lion’s, he sure seems like some kind of fugitive hiding from something.”

Piggy: “He looks pretty mean, with that long, messy hair and a scraggly beard, you really can’t pass him for a good guy.”

Big P: “He’s found by Liu Zuo, it will be fine. The guy already looks like a tough bandit, we can probably even use him to intimidate the other team in matches down the line…”

Though the Bonus Hunter had been craving for their first match after formation, all the contacted team were adamant in refusing a match after learning their opponent only had 4 people. There was once where Big P finally talked his way into Beijing’s Green Miracle’s server. Yet the opponent left right away after seeing Bonus Hunter only had 4 people.

Big P laments: “Though we are a bit short on members, we definitely aren’t on skills.”

The silent W suddenly speaks up: “Proper matches are all 5v5s, a team with self-esteem will not play against a 4 men team.”

Piggy claps his hand: “Okay, how hard is it to just find a person? I’ll get my classmate, he is a bit noob but still a person.”

Liu Zuo: “Give it a rest, you.”

Big P: “Indeed, don’t mess around, piggy. Aren’t we all here for that 100k? If we find a noob, it won’t be us smiling till the end. If your classmate comes, we will just end up watching someone else take that 100k through our own tears.”

Piggy retorts: “I say my classmate is noob compared to Liu Zuo and W; Compared to you, Big P, he is pretty good.”

Big P says angrily: “Don’t kid around with me! Back in the day I tied Liu Zuo in that match we met in, and now a kid like you looks down on me?

Piggy: “Big P you…”

The two of them resumed their daily evening banter. Liu Zuo is now used to this kind of environment, he took a look at W, the latter focused on his screen, seemingly as though he heard none of the bantering between Piggy and Big P.

 

 

“Finally, a team agrees to a match with us!” Big P proclaims excitedly to everyone, “Please gather at 211.21.343.61:27015, everyone!”

Piggy: “Which team has such low self-esteem?”

Big P: “They seem to be nobodies too, they just formed and are hungering for a match.”

Liu Zuo: “Cut the chatter, they seem to be from Nanjing as well……Get in the server fast, before they change their mind about playing with us.”

The four of them entered the server in unison. The opponent is called China Made, the map used is Dust2. Liu Zuo stands on the yellow sand of Dust2, and he feels refreshed and has an endless fighting spirit.

Big P smiles dumbly: “I feel that 100k waving at us……”

Piggy says emotionally: “Bonus Hunter takes their first step towards the 100k.”

Liu Zuo: “Cut the crap, brothers, charge!”

W suddenly asks: “Charge how? We need to coordinate.

Liu Zuo: “Yes, yes, we need to coordinate.”

W: “You never played in formal matches before?”

Big P: “Bullshit, how would be out here if we never played a match? Liu Zuo and I had played in matches, Piggy is even more lit, he was part of a team before.

W: “Then Liu Zuo can assign tasks.”

Liu Zuo: “I think it's best we just each charge ahead the way we want. Okay, it is decided, charge!”

Perhaps because the opponent never played a formal match themselves, they set the starting fund to 16000. Bonus Hunter is T, China Made is CT. Bonus Hunters briskly bought their weapon and charged out roaring. W bought an AWP and defended base.

It is true that China Made never played a match. The match today happened only because their captain knew the net café owner, and got his hand on the server password. China Made’s players are so excited about their first match it almost seems like they are on drugs, wanting to charge into the enemy’s face and mow them down with machine guns. That is why the starting funds are set to max, everyone armed to the toe – Full helmet, armor, grenade, M4 or AWP – They gallantly charged to the A door.

A door seems silent and devoid of people. The CT can no longer resist their urges and rush out of the A door one by one. To their surprise, a group of slavering bandits are waiting for them. The moment CT got out of the door, they saw tough bandits crouched or standing, guns aimed at their head. A sniper slyly hides on the ramp, watching for movements here.

Captain of China Made realized things had gone wrong and roared: “Brothers, we fell into the evil bandit’s traps, get the fuck out!”

Despite his words, it is too late. After several “Bangs” of gunfire, the four T took out a CT each, leaving the lone captain running for his life.

Liu Zuo waves his hands: “Charge!” Without need of his instruction, Piggy and Big P already leapt ahead like mad, straight for the CT captain. Liu Zuo thought: “How can I let you take the juiciest piece of meat, I will get it myself.” Only W stood lazily on the ramp, staying out of the hunt.

The CT captain already heard the footsteps behind him as he ran past A doors, left without a choice, he jumped into the low ramp in A Long, also known as “toilet”. Usually when the fighting gets heavy, you might save your life by camping hard in that place. The CT captain kept praying after jumping into the toilet: “The bandits can’t see me, can’t see me, can’t see me……”

While he is preying, three vicious looking bandits already appeared before him. The shivering captain could not even control his trigger finger, his shots going far to the left. Piggy stood at the ramp entrance, and pointed his gun to intimidate the captain. The captain is now in full panic, his little hand couldn’t even decide which of the vicious men he is going to shoot. Liu Zuo and Big P exchanged a naughty glance, and displayed great rapport as they both stepped up to cut up the captain with their knives.

Members of China Made laments before their screen: “Too cruel……they gangbanged our captain.”

The CT are a lot steadier in second round. 2 Defends A, 2 Defends B, and one defends mid door – They are now playing normally now. Yet the T lead by Liu Zuo are in high spirits and want to do something big. Liu Zuo was just about to lead the charge when Big P and Piggy darted ahead like rabbits, no longer able to contain their excitement.

Liu Zuo grumpily thought: “Those two ran in that quickly, what would be left for me? Those two wolves won’t leave a single piece of vegetable left on the dinner table, and are just as good at kill stealing in CS. If this goes how, how would he, Liu Zuo, make a living? With that, Liu Zuo yells: “Please don’t be in such a rush, I am coming.”

Liu Zuo’s yell did nothing. Big P and Piggy still kept running, only W lazily remained in base.

Liu Zuo had no choice but to sadly follow behind Big P and Piggy, he silently determined to never be left behind again. Despite that, running past Big P and Piggy are quite difficult. Those to leap up and down, covering for each other while completely destroying the CT. At the end of the round, not a single CT is left standing.

Liu Zuo complains to Big P: “You two ran so quickly, nothing is left for W and I.”

Big P casually replies: “That was just an elementary demonstration of my skills. How is it?” Big P smugly looks at the scoreboard, he is right on top, piggy second, Liu Zuo and W at the end.

At the start of the third round, the CT captain spoke up: “Oi! Bandits, are you guys hackers? You arrogant pricks dinks people from that far away, you guys cheating?”

Piggy on the T side is just about to reply, before Big P placed his arm in front him. Big P shook his messy hair above his forehead, and casually said: “Bro, as usual, leave things like this to me.”

Big P begins to type furiously, rows upon rows of small characters begin to quickly appear on the screen. Big P says:

“As a famous team, how could we be cheats? You are one word, “Noob”, I say it only once! We have not cheated, the heaven above, the earth below testifies. We despise all cheaters – Cheater’s whole family dies! You despicable noobs, call me cheat again and I’ll dink all your heads!”

Piggy thought to himself: “Your trash talk may not be quite as tough as mine.”

Yet Big P seems to understand what Piggy was thinking, he speaks without turning his head around: “Piggy, we can’t use foul language. Because we are the famous Team Bonus Hunter.”

Piggy: “We just formed, played one match, how does that make us a famous team?”

Big P: “You will soon realize that I’m the world’s greatest prophet.”

Liu Zuo: “Cut the crap, focus on the game.”

With that, the poor China Made CTs are visiting Karl Marx again. Big P lets out a emotional sigh: “Back then we just play as mercs for other teams, now with our own banner, it all feels different.”

While he is enjoying himself, Piggy suddenly yells: “No good, cops are running.”

Sure enough, the screen displays the message of the CTs leaving one after another, leaving only the captain online. The captain clearly hesitates a moment, then yells: “Crap, why is the power out in the net café? We will fight another day! We call it a draw today!” With that last attempt to regain some face, the captain legged it as well.

Big P says angrily: “What are they doing?”

W: “Clearly, they don’t want to fight anymore.”

Piggy: “I can’t take it, why are we so strong?”

Big P: “Obviously because we have a core player like me.”

Liu Zuo smiles: “Right, how could we be out here if it ain’t for you cooking for us all……We just need one more teammate. Work hard, everyone, let’s try to get one more person before the registration deadline.  

 

Liu Zuo’s words are met with support from all his comrades. The day before the National CS Tournament’s registration deadline, the group found several players to interview.

Big P found another salesman that loves to play CS – This guy sells shampoo, and targets middle-aged women in particular.

Piggy found a foul-mouthed street youth. Piggy says the guys in his dorm can’t beat this guy, so they recommended him.

W found a silent stranger, no one knows what he does.

After testing, all three were rejected. Everyone stared amongst themselves, not knowing what to do. When everyone is left without ideas, Big P grits his teeth: “Guess I will have to scrap the barrel.”

After half an hour of frantic QQ messaging, he wipes his sweat: “Done. I now report to everyone that a girl will be visiting our base. This person I met on a random server, don’t know how good she is. I was too excited playing CS with a girl, so I didn’t pay attention to her skill, but it is probably pretty bad.

Piggy: “She pretty?”

Big P: “Don’t know, haven’t met.”

Liu Zuo: “A girl is coming and you are telling us something this important just now? Hurry and clean this place up, everyone.

Piggy looks around the room, and says in despair: “That’s mission impossible.”

Big P also says: “This way looks more realistic and natural, I say there is no need to clean.”

Liu Zuo: “Heavens, a girl, a living girl……”

 

Half an hour later, someone is knocking. Liu Zuo darted towards the door. Suddenly, he changed his mind and spoke to Big P: “It’s better if you open it. My luck is pretty bad, I have never seen a human looking girl.”

Unexpectedly, the normally boisterous Big P is now being shy: “I am also scared of this kind of terrifying thing, so why don’t Piggy go!”

Piggy replies without even lifting his head: “I’m still a virgin.”

The three of them are done speaking, they look at each other, and none of them moved. Then, they all shift their gaze towards W, who is fixing everyone’s mice. W lifts his head, meets everyone’s gaze, and goes to open the door without saying a word.

Everyone is paying close attention to W’s movements, he is the first person to see the girl. W’s expression determines the girl’s looks.

Liu Zuo mumbles to himself: “What a moment to look forward to….”

Big P continues on: “Even the match against A Jie and them aren’t this tense.”

Yet W simply opened the door and turned to walk back, without even looking at the girl. It is the girl that seems to be lost for a second, and stared at W’s back without saying anything for a moment.

Piggy says under his breath: “No good, W’s appearance must have scared her, or the girl scared W……oh god!” Piggy saw the girl…….

Piggy gasped before he finished his sentence. Though Big P wants to flex his seniority and tell Piggy to quiet it down, he soon has to admit that Piggy’s gasp is well justified. As for Liu Zuo, he already passed out.

The girl walks in, smiles: “Who is Dangerous Fart?” Big P briskly got up: “Thank you for gracing our humble abode, we don’t really have teas and water here, I, Dangerous Fart, there are three more people...”

Piggy is almost crying: “What are you blabbering about, Big P? The peasant worker is already scary enough, now you go full psycho, what will the girl….”

Yet the girl nods and smiles: “Thank you. Does the test start now?”

Liu Zuo, now awake and struggling to get up from the couch: “Deadline for registration is tomorrow, we can waive your test. But….please bring your computer over, we train together…Also, relationships are banned as per team rules, if you have a boyfriend, please separate temporarily.”

The girl replies: “I don’t have a boyfriend.” Liu Zuo almost fainted again at that, though he managed to hang on this time. Still, two lines of blood drips from his nose, truly an eye-catching sight.

The girl continues: “That’s fine, I will bring my computer over tomorrow. I have some business so I will be leaving now.” She leisurely walks towards the door, then turns around: “My name is Xia Yanning(TL Note 1), my English name is Smoke, as for your names, I will find out tomorrow. Then, good bye!”

Watching her shape disappearing as suddenly as it had appeared, Piggy comments: “Got style!”

Liu Zuo just continually repeats the same line: “Saw a ghost, saw a ghost today……”

Big P: “Not a ghost but the jackpot……such dazzling beauty, and she is a CS girl. Why didn’t I date her earlier…..”

Piggy: “She’s too pretty, like a heavenly fairy. I really don’t think our place suits her standing here in our room.”

Liu Zuo slaps his thighs: “Right! I announce as the captain, halt all training this afternoon, everyone dedicates themselves to the cleaning up of this place. Also, everyone must shower, cut their hair and shave! Anyone who disobeys this rule does the clothes for a year!

 

TL Note: Yanning literally means “Condensing Smoke/ Gathering Smoke”)

Chapter 5 Part 2

Chapter 5 – His Name is W – Part 2

 

The Newbie beside Liu Zuo timidly spoke up: “Bro, are the three of us all that’s left alive on this map?”

Liu Zuo: “You should switch to observer mode too, take a good look at my match against him.”

The Newbie nods, Liu Zuo turns to him and smiles: “From now on, every step, every action is my demonstration to you. Look well, improvement always starts from watching other people’s matches.”

The Newbie nods again: “Big bro, go for it. You gotta win.”

Liu Zuo was silent for a moment before he spoke up: “That’s hard to say for sure, the CSERs of the net café gave W the highest level of respect, It is clear that he is no ordinary player.”

(TL Note: Map for Aztec)

For many CS players, the empty and open map of Aztec is akin to a nightmare. Thunder and lightning pierces the sky from time to time, massive shallow water canals, wide platforms for standoffs, long and narrow drawbridge that connects the map – Everything makes this seemingly abandoned ruin filled with danger. Turquoise tiles, wooden doors, moss, such a romantic place filled with memories are one of the most hotly contested and bloody battle fields in CS. Countless CSER had fallen here, and countless more surged in to take their place. Everyone strove for the final victory – but who would survive until the end?

Liu Zuo is playing as CT while W is playing as T. Before the match, W types to Liu Zuo: “Duel at bridge, ok?”

Liu Zuo, seeing his opponent going straight to the point, agrees without hesitation: “Sure, let’s settle this quickly.”

The bridge connects two sets of covers. T and CT can each occupy one side and fire across at their opponents. Usually, this is a place for snipers from both sides to face each other, though there are also CSERs who like to duel here with AK and M4. Liu Zuo bought an AWP without hesitation, he does not need to worry about W being unable to afford a gun, the rest of the Terrorists would’ve left plenty for him when they suicided.

Liu Zuo quickly darted to the bridge and crouched behind several giant rock blocks, showing only a bit of himself as he scoped in with his AWP. With his speed and grasp of his weapon, the enemy will be shot through the heart the moment they showed themselves.

He silently calculated the time it takes for the terrorist to sprint – Coming out of T Spawn, switching to running with dagger (which allows for the greatest speed), crossing the spawn, up the ramp to arch, walking along the path, entering the door to box – Good, now is the time. Liu Zuo held his breath as he observed the opposing cover. Come, my gun has a bullet ready for you.

W appeared before him as expected, but the position had been slightly different from his expectations. W did not sprint out, but leapt up from behind the rocks. Liu Zuo quickly turned his barrel the moment he saw W’s head, but it was already too late. Liu Zuo felt his body went flying like a kite with its string cut. The screen shows that Liu Zuo had been headshotted.

A wave of applause resounded through the net café, almost everyone shouted: “Good shot!” at once. Even the Newbie beside Liu Zuo couldn’t resist but to yell it out loud, he then appears to regret his decision, as though he is betraying Liu Zuo by doing so. He peeked towards Liu Zuo with his peripheral vision, the latter is motionless and focused on buying a gun for the next match. No one would know the shockwave that has travelled through Liu Zuo’s heart.

“That shot looks nothing out of the ordinary, but the precise timing, determination, and the foresight in reading the situation behind it is terrifying.” Liu Zuo thought to himself: “I knew he was a pro, but I didn’t know he is a pro amongst pros. Indeed, that one shot shows his caliber. I will catch up, just wait!”

Liu Zuo approached the gate that led to the drawbridge again with his AWP. This time, he did not show any part of his body, but waited patiently in the CT Box. Second by second, minute by minute the time passed, the onlookers becoming more and more anxious.

Liu Zuo gazed at the time on the screen, five second before the round ended, he suddenly took a leap – This leap took him from the left side of the bridge entrance to the right, while jumping, he scopes in, shoots, lands, fades, reloads. The whole motion completed in a single flow of movements, without a second of hesitation and pause. After completing this set of actions in just a second, Liu Zuo lands and takes in a breath.

On the other side of the bridge, is the sound of a body falling on to the ground. This is a sound that only a veteran CSER can hear, a realm that can only be reached when your heart is wholly immersed within CS.

W’s body fell – He is clearly surprised by Liu Zuo’s skill. Both of them knew it, though they had not met face to face in the last 2 minutes and 55 seconds, they had been battling against each other all the while. Listening, waiting, calculating, everything for that one shot to happen in the last 5 seconds. Both of them waited for so long, yet victory and defeat are determined in an instant.

A real pro will spend his life waiting, and determine life and death in the very last moment.

Even if he couldn’t see W, Liu Zuo can feel a slight but genuine smile on the former’s face – The two of them got to know each other with these two shots.

With almost seemingly tacit understanding, both of them used the unique weapon of CT and T respectively, the famous M4 and AK47. Liu Zuo clearly understands that the two of them have understood each other’s skill as a sniper, now it’s the time to see the opponent’s skill with a rifle.

Liu Zuo crouches behind the rock block with his M4, quietly counted “1,2,3” in his heart and leapt up, shooting towards W’s direction. W did not hide, and instead rose to the challenge, the two of them began shooting at each other as they both leapt into the air.

The Newbie beside Liu Zuo was anxiously biting his nails, and finally could not resist himself when he saw the heroic scene as both players leapt high into the air: “Awesome!”

His yell startled Liu Zuo, who almost fell from the air. When Pro’s fight, the balance rests on a knife’s edge. Liu Zuo’s momentary distraction is the chance W needs – He aimed at Liu Zuo’s head and gently tapped his trigger. With that, Liu Zuo dropped to the floor dead in the newbie’s cheer. The newbie seems to have realized his mistake, he sulks and covers up his mouth. Liu Zuo took a glance at him, but couldn’t bring himself to scold him. “Youth passionate for CS,” He thought, “I was like this back in the day as well…….”

After 12 rounds, the score is tied at 6:6. Liu Zuo has never met a stronger opponent in a 1v1 duel. Even in his match against A Jie, Liu Zuo did not feel this kind of resistance fighting A Jie 1v1. W almost seems like a robot, almost never making any mistakes. Liu Zuo finds himself desperately trying to hold on, any slip up will cost him his life.

Even as Liu Zuo complains about the challenge in his head, W too feels a great deal of pressure. “He really is strong……” W thought to himself: “Never thought there would be a pro like this. He almost drove me to a point without any hope, without any respite. His skill with the gun and his mindsight is definitely top tier, and I can feel that stubborn determination that keeps him fighting to the bitter end. Truly, he's too strong……”

After 30 rounds, the score is 15:15. The net café has reached a boiling point. Every shot, every movement is accompanied by gasps or cheers. Liu Zuo has a bit of trouble getting used to such a lively scene. While Piggy and Big P love to holler while playing CS as well, that is nothing compared to the fanatical scene in the net café right now.

Liu Zuo kept telling himself to stay focused, as he observes W. It seems W is unmoved by this scene, and remained extraordinarily calm, his shots steady. Each shot relentlessly pierces the wall to get at Liu Zuo.

Liu Zuo is carrying two grenades on his belt, a Desert Eagle in his hoist, an AWP in his hand, and covered head to toe with luxurious body armors. He is just crouching in place his gun, thinking his head out for a way to win this round. The opponent has an AK for this round, while it can’t match the AWP for power, it is capable of rapid fire. Considering the opponent’s terrifying skill to land headshots, Liu Zuo dare not to make any moves lightly.

Liu Zuo listened for sounds of his opponents – No good, he is directly coming over on the attacks. He must have seen me buying an AWP, and wants to use AK’s advantage in close range to take me out. Liu Zuo hears the footsteps approaching ever closer, 15 meters, 10 meters, 9 meters, 8 meters……. The opponent comes closer and closer without any hesitation. Did he figure out where I was hiding? No, impossible. I have been paying particular attention. Coming for a rush? Unlikely, he is not someone who would go in without thinking. What does he want to do？

As the danger truly closes in, Liu Zuo roars in his heart: “Now it’s the time!” He jumped up, and scoped in at near point blank to shoot – No good, maybe because he was a bit tense, Liu Zuo did not land a solid hit on his target. The sniper rifle is an interesting weapon like that, it is extremely powerful with long distance shooting, but often misses at close range. Liu Zuo laments in his mind: “I am done for!”

Yet that W seems to be scared by Liu Zuo, and just stands there motionless. Liu Zuo took out his desert eagle and took him out with 2 bangs.

Just as Liu Zuo wiped away his sweat, his heart still pounding, he suddenly realizes this should not be W’s performance. Such clumsy tactics, slow reaction, could it be…… As Liu Zuo is lost in thought, his newbie neighbor waddles back on his seat and tells Liu Zuo: “Bro, W isn’t playing right now --- He went to the washroom and someone is standing in for him.”

Upon hearing that, an urge suddenly appears in Liu Zuo’s heart. He waves at the newbie: “Hey, I am going to the washroom too, sub in for me.”

The newbie’s face is red with excitement, he can barely speak as he stutters: “Bro..you..you..you trust me that much?”

Liu Zuo: “You are doing pretty well, go ahead.”

The newbie wipes away his tears with his sleeves and shouts: “I will defend your score with my life!”

Liu Zuo rushes towards the men’s room. According to another customer, the washroom is on the east end of the second floor. It seems that the net café owner really is a CS fan, you can tell from how she arranged the net café. The fact that the main lobby was arranged like the map Office aside, even this second floor appears like the second floor of Inferno, down to the color of the carpet.

Liu Zuo first habitually switched to silent walking when he went up, then began to advance by running in zig zags. He suddenly stopped when he got in front of the washroom – He mumbles to himself: “Such strong killing intent, indeed, the same one from in front of Lions…….”

There are a total of three men urinating in the washroom. Liu Zuo casually strode by each of them – Seemingly casual, but he has observed each man in zoom and slow motion. If you really had to find an analogy for Liu Zuo’s behavior, you can reference the shot where Takeshi Kaneshiro walked by Brigitte Lin in “Chungking Express” by Wang Kar-Wai.

Liu Zuo walks by the urinating men one after another. Finally, he stopped beside a man dressed in ragged cloth with a messy beard, wearing a very thick necklace on his neck. Liu Zuo recognizes him immediately – One of the tricycle-riding delivery men in front of Lion Computer Emporium.

Liu Zuo did not expose himself, but began to whistle as he relieved himself. When everyone else was done and left, the two of them continued on. The bearded man spoke without even a glance at Liu Zuo: “Your shooting is pretty good, are you professional?”

Liu Zuo: “Your shooting is also pretty good, are you a professional?”

After a few seconds of silence, both men spoke at once: “You are……”

Liu Zuo:“ The aura of a pro is impossible to hide, even if he is taking a piss.”

W: “Your killing intent can be felt even as you are whistling.”

Liu Zuo: “Who would’ve thought the first time we spoke face to face would be in the washroom.”

W: “And less than 0.1 meter apart.”

Liu Zuo: “You are a deliveryman in front of Lion?”

W: “I’ve noticed you as well, checking things out in front of Lion, you must be looking for the salesgirl for Samsung monitors.”

Liu Zuo: “Through and precise! I wish I could’ve met you sooner. While this is neither the most proper of time nor place, I have a request…….Please join our team, our base is at Shi Gu Road 28-3-201 – Of course, you have to bring your own computer. We have broadband; Lan, and dedicated chef and caretaker……”

W begint to wash his hands, and says nothing.

Liu Zuo: “Please consider, we are about to join the national WCG tournament, we need someone like you.”

W is still washing his hands, and says nothing.

 

When Liu Zuo got home, he announced the news of his invitation for W to join them.

Piggy says worryingly: “Would a pro like him want to join a rag-tag team like ours?”

Big P has a bit more foresight: “Another mouth to feed, now we really gotta increase our avenues of income……”

Only Liu Zuo ceaselessly weighed W’s value in his mind. The target of his comparison is none other than X·FILES led by A Jie. The result of his estimation brings a smile to his face – “W’s presence will make us unprecedentedly strong, the day we win back our pride will soon come……”

Unexpectedly, W had disappeared over the next four days. Liu Zuo couldn’t even find him at the net café, and the deliverymen at Lions also said W hasn’t been on duty for a few days.

Liu Zuo sighs: “What a mysterious man.”

Piggy says worryingly: “Could he be a fugitive or homeless wanderer, and got caught?”

Big P also contributes his opinion: “I’d say he probably went back to visit his family, peasant workers like him probably miss their wife and kids once they make some money.”

Liu Zuo: “Even his appearance matches that of a peasant worker, higs gaze…….his gaze is sharp and full of killing intent, that’s something you only see on a veteran of the battlefield……not only that, he is a brilliant person that can figure out what others are thinking in the shortest time. W…W…where have you gone to?”

On the fourth night, Piggy and Big P got into a fight over a slut on QQ. The angry Liu Zuo wrote a program that banned perverted phrases from the QQ of their computers, and established a rule banning net romance. Piggy and Big P sat grumpily in front of their computer, leaving only Liu Zuo happily practicing his shots. He recently wrote a program to practice his aim, and it is quite fresh to use it instead. At that moment, someone is knocking.

It is Liu Zuo who opened the door.

A raggedly dressed W stood outside, his shaggy beard almost completely covering his chin, his face dark. He spoke in a hoarse voice: “Got anything to eat?”

W downed 4 bags of instant noodles in a row. While he is eating, Piggy curiously opened a hamp bag W left on the floor when he came in. There is a computer chassis and a monitor in the bag. The chassis was not sealed, its component exposed. Liu Zuo took a glance and his heart started beating – The 19inch flat screen monitor aside, the hardware in that chassis is the best you can find in China, it is the top tier setup Liu Zuo dreams of.

W, seemingly knowing what Liu Zuo is thinking, explains: “I set it up myself.” He swallows another mouthful of noodles: “Been running for this thing the last few days.”

W drops to sleep right after he finishes eating. Piggy and Big P stares at him for a moment, then raises their thumb in unison: “Dude is a real man!”

Liu Zuo instead thought to himself: “This guy…is professional……super professional.”