Chapter 5 Part 1

Chapter 5 – His Name is W – Part 1

 

Big P hurried down the road, he sold three mini vacuum cleaners today, and made 60 dollars. He excitedly thought to himself: “Maybe I’ll improve the dinner tonight, buy some ribs to feed those two wolves. Especially Piggy, so thin, yet he eats damned the most.”

After a lengthy haggle at the grocery market with the butcher, Big P finally bought a bit over two pounds of ribs and a cabbage. Big P returned to the base triumphant (Forgot to mention it earlier, but since their team formed, Liu Zuo’s dog shed became known as the base), and found only Piggy is there.

“Piggy, where is Liu Zuo?“

Piggy, focused on watching a replay, carelessly replies: “He went out for business.”

“Oh”, says Big P as he enters the kitchen. Then he suddenly peaks back out and asks: “What kind of business needs him to head out?”

Piggy: “It's Liu Zuo’s former boss from his old company. That old man is too stupid to figure out how to check for IP, so Liu Zuo had to go to him and play on his computer.”

Big P: “This kid has been doing that well with his business? Even got people from corporations looking for him…” Then he asks: “Piggy, I thought you are tutoring today? Why did you skip work?”

Piggy: “I didn’t skip, I got fired.”

Big P: “What happened?”

It is probably better he didn’t ask, as now Piggy is on the verge of tears: “The parents thought I’m too handsome, and would distract their little girl. So, they fired me.”

Big P quickly comforts him: “It’s alright, you can find others to tutor. Besides, it is not your fault that you look good.”

Piggy: “Don’t consult me. I hate it, why do my parents give me such a handsome face…”

Big P: “Alright there, you look like a high schooler at most. The parents probably just don’t trust your skill. Speaking of handsome, I’m even unluckier than you are – I’m so handsome that my wife decides to fire me…… oh never mind, you go play, I’ll go cook, we're eating ribs tonight!”

At the same time, Liu Zuo is sitting in Baldie Song’s office, dueling a person online using Song’s computer. Baldie Song alertly stands watch for Liu Zuo outside of the office. Liu Zuo took care of the opponent with ease – The opponent seems rather honest, didn’t hire any mercs.

Baldie Song wipes his sweat off his chubby face with his handkerchief and lets out a long sigh: “Liu Zuo, you helped me a great deal there. This guy has been bullying me lately, he even called me a noob. I, Song Zhihan, may not be the best at everything, but I definitely aren’t bad. How can he insult me like this? I will not stand for it.”

Liu Zuo: “Did you get something wrong, manager, isn’t CS banned by the company? Besides, I thought you surfed the net to browse porn sites back then, not CS, why…”

Baldie Song: “So here is what happened. Though you had left, the CS program on your computer wasn't deleted. From there, CS blew our company away like an ember leading to a wildfire. Everyone is addicted. The new year party is probably getting cancelled in favor of a CS friendly match.

Liu Zuo smiles bitterly: “So one man’s sacrifice for the good of many, I guess.”

Baldie Song: “Liu Zuo, when you left…… We really did miss you. Now my position in the company is more established, those up there usually listen to what I say. Go ahead, how can I thank you for settling this for me? I’ll help till the end, you have my words.”

Liu Zuo blinks: “Cash in.”

Baldie Song thought he heard it wrong: “Hah?”

Liu Zuo: “Means paying up.”

Baldie Song seems startled, then returns to normal and smiles: “How much? 100, or 200? Give me a number!”

Liu Zuo: “This level is the cheapest price, 50 bucks will do.

Baldie Song generously took out a 100 dollar bill and left it on the table: “Take it, keep the change.”

Liu Zuo took the money and turned to leave. When he left the manager’s office, Miss Wu suddenly called out to him, her eyes red: “Brother Wu (because of Liu Zuo’s resemblance to Jin Cheng Wu, aka Takeshi Kaneshiro), I've been thinking about you…….”

Liu Zuo was suddenly moved, he said sheepishly: “Actually I… have been thinking about you…guys.”

Miss Wu: “You were at such a rush when you left, I forgot to tell you……. You still owe me 100 dollars. I didn’t know where to find you after you left.”

Liu Zuo then realized that Miss Wu’s red eyes are not from tears but make ups, kinda like the monkey king. Liu Zuo smiles bitterly: “Heaven always finds a way, hey, I came here to pay you back.”

 

Walking upon the familiar Zhujiang Road after leaving the company, Liu Zuo could not help but think of that windy day a few months earlier. Who would’ve thought life can change this much in a few short months. Comrade Liu Zuo no longer thinks whether the changes are for the better or force worse. He whistles as he walks past shop after shop.

 Nanjingers like to say “Up north is Zhongguan Village, down south is Zhujiang Road.” In reality, Zhujiang Road cannot match Zhongguan Village in size.(TL Note 1) Yet the good thing about Zhujiang road is that all the lunch box sellers, pirated CD sellers, and tricycle riders give Liu Zuo a sense of familiarity and kindness. When he walked by the Lion Computer Emporium, Liu Zuo took a look at the front door. The pretty girl selling Samsung monitors is no longer there. He lets out a sigh and is about to leave, then he suddenly stops.

“Killing intent!” He says to himself.

Liu Zuo took a careful look at the front gate of Lion Computer Emporium, besides a few sneaky and ratty middle-aged women selling pirated CDs, all there is a bunch of ragged and idle computer deliverymen with their tricycles. Liu Zuo can’t help but feel puzzled: “Did I play too much CS and got ill? Yet this killing intent permeates the front door of Lion Computer Emporium, it gives me a shiver……”

While Liu Zuo was thinking, a middle-aged woman selling pirated CDs came up to him: “Ya want discs? These uns goes cheap!” Liu Zuo, overwhelmed by the bad breath, forgot about the source of that killing intent that had puzzled him, and ran for his life.

To save money, Liu Zuo did not take the bus. This is but his excuse, of course. The real reason is that Liu Zuo saw a café right after leaving Zhujiang Road. He had seen it while on his ways to work before, but never went in. Today, Liu Zuo suddenly wants to go in for a look. The café seems pretty famous, CSER would often comment on Nanjing forums saying there is a real pro here. Liu Zuo had been longing to come, might as well fulfil that wish today.

 

He enters the Net Café, sure enough, many people are playing CS. Liu Zuo got a tag from the owner and found a seat for himself. While the net café is roomy, the seats are tightly packed. The guy sitting beside Liu Zuo is also playing CS. Perhaps due to being new to the game, he is extremely excitable. He’d scream every time he was killed in CS. Liu Zuo was startled at first, then got used to it. As the guy’s painful scream went on, Liu Zuo even started to feel bad for him.

Liu Zuo entered the battle being hosted on the LAN of the net café, the map is Militta. All CSER in the map are players in the net café. Liu Zuo picked T, putting him in the same team as his neighbor.

After another scream, the neighbor notices that Liu Zuo had joined the map, he turns to Liu Zuo with a smile: “You are also playing terrorists? Just like me. I am a stubborn person, always wanting to stand out from the rest. Even in CS I had to play as terrorist to have fun.”

Liu Zuo: “There are only cops and terrorists in CS, how does that make you stand out?”

Neighbor: “Heh, I don’t like playing hostages, just waiting to get rescued, how boring!”

Liu Zuo is speechless: “Can you play hostage even if you want to?”

After over ten rounds, Liu Zuo quickly establishes himself as the boss of the terrorists. Even the neighbor begins to pay tribute to Liu Zuo: “Big bro, you play pretty well. I’ll go with you next round.”

Liu Zuo: “Not that I’m good, people here just sucks.”

Neighbor immediately covered Liu Zuo’s mouth, Liu Zuo realized just then that there had been quite a few observers watching him. Neighbor smiles to the onlookers: “That’s my brother, he says people here got the smarts.”

Liu Zuo turns to the neighbor and quietly says: “Thanks, brother!”

The guy replies quietly: “We are all terrorists, no need for thanks!”

 

Finally, it is time to switch the map. The new map is Aztec, and Liu Zuo switched to the CT side. Seeing Liu Zuo choose to be CT, the neighbor almost starts to cry: “Big bro, you don’t want me anymore?”

Liu Zuo: “It’s not that I don’t want you anymore, I just want to get the feel with CT. It's boring to play T all the time.

Neighbor: “Fair enough. How about I pass some information on to you…….Hey! Two T are going through the wooden door, I am going too!”

Liu Zuo: “Stop the reporting, just save yourself.”

With that, the neighbor screams once more.

Liu Zuo: “Things never end well for traitors, don’t do that anymore.”

Neighbor: “Big bro, you are so nice.”

“I am just scared of your voice, the whole net café can hear you.” Liu Zuo thought to himself.

After a while, Liu Zuo’s score is top of the scoreboard, way ahead of the second place. More and more CSER gathered around him to observe. After three headshots in a row, Liu Zuo puts down his mouse and earphone.

The neighbor asks: “You going to the washroom?”

Liu Zuo: “No, I’m stopping here. There is no pro here, it isn’t fun.

Liu Zuo was just about to stand up when a fat, white hand held him by the shoulder. Liu Zuo turned around and shuddered. A middle-aged obese woman wearing two gold chains and two kilos of powder stands behind him. The only point of conciliation is that her voice is beautiful, almost like that of a young girl: “Don’t leave yet.”

Liu Zuo: “Why? I don’t know you.”

Fat Woman: “I am the owner of this net café. Your tabs are on me today, on the condition that you can’t leave. If you think our café got no pros, you are so wrong.”

The fat woman speaks slow but steadily: “You have to wait for a person. Red Spider Net Café of Zhujiang Road can’t have its reputation ruined by you today.

Others join in: “Yeah, yeah, the boss-lady is right. Our pros aren’t here yet, don’t look down on us!”

The fat woman continues: “Wait half an hour at most, when they get off work on Zhujiang road, he will come for sure.”

Liu Zuo’s interest is piqued, he nods and begins the long wait.

In the roughly hour long wait to follow, Liu Zuo became his neighbor’s coach. Whenever that little newbie lets out a scream, Liu Zuo would patiently instruct him: “Brother, your problem this time is the way you moved. Knowing to run in a Z means you are improving, but that guy was looking down while reloading, he didn’t even see you coming. Why bother running left and right? Just pop two shot behind his back.”

The newbie is overwhelmed by gratitude: “Bro, you are so nice……”

Turns out the newbie is coming to Nanjing on a tour with his parents, he is currently a college student. He fell in love with CS recently, and couldn’t hold back his longing for CS even while on a trip – So he snuck out to half a couple rounds in the net café while his parents toured the Tomb of Sun Zhong Shan.

The newbie proudly declared: “Us CSERs have to love the game with our life. So, no matter where I go, I will get to know the local CSERs there.”

“The talk sure is pretty, but the shooting is pretty ugly.” Liu Zuo thought to himself.

Liu Zuo smiles to the newbie: “I believe if you really like it, you can certainly play it well.”

The newbie replies excitedly: “Bro, you are the most outstanding pro I’ve met. You encourage me instead of making fun of me like the others. I really…am grateful. I will become a pro, a pro like you!

Liu Zuo: “Then keep working hard.”

While Liu Zuo is instructing the newbie, the boss lady wobbles by. She places her chubby hand on Liu Zuo’s shoulder once more: “He is here. His name is W.”

Liu Zuo felt a shiver in his heart, not because of the appearance of a pro, but because that chubby hand gave his shoulder a light squeeze. The boss lady gave him an alluring smile, and waddled away. Have you seen a barrel wobbling about? Think like that, and you can appreciate what Liu Zuo is feeling at this moment.

Liu Zuo calmed his mind, and examined the player list. Sure enough, there is a new person named W. Strangely, the CSER in the net café turned silent the moment W appeared. What is even weirder is that all the CT and Ts in the map begin to kill themselves, and then switch to observer mode.

Liu Zuo suddenly realized, this is the way CSER in this net café pays their respect to W, to give a chance for W and Liu Zuo to have an uninterrupted match. They know that their skills are nowhere near, so might as well switch to observer mode to watch this battle for the honor of Red Spider Net Café of Zhujiang Road.

TL Note 1: Both famous electronic districts in their respective city.