Chapter 8

Chapter 8 – Going to Tournament in a Tricycle

The first person to see W properly shaved, washed, and dressed is Big P. Big P is startled by W as the latter enters the room. He squinted his eyes hard and then remarked with a sigh: “Ayo, isn’t it W? How did we end up getting a super hottie after our captain gave the order for a team makeover?”

Hearing the word “Super Hottie”, Liu Zuo replies with slight embarrassment from in front of his computers: “Big P, you don’t have to describe me like that all the time, it's better if we keep it modest.”

Big P sneers: “Pft, come take a look, W is like an old hen turning into a duck. Almost looks like he had plastic surgery.”

Liu Zuo replies without raising his head: “Isn’t that a good thing? Shows that we aren’t just all talks when we said we will be doing cleaning ups and makeovers to welcome Ms. Yan Ning.”

Piggy, hearing the commotion, dropped his mouse and came running out. He took a good look at W: “Heh, you shave your beard, and you go from a peasant worker to a movie star! Old P, doesn’t he look like Tony Leung when he was younger?”

Big P: “Now that you mention it, sure looks alike. Look at his eyes, so melancholy, so deep! It seems like it can kill!”

Liu Zuo yells from his room: “Can’t you two drop that smug bullshit? Hurry and change into something clean. Especially Big P, your stinky sweater is gonna make the girl faint. Piggy, you still haven’t cleaned the shells of melon seeds in the gaps on your table, hurry up!

Piggy grumbles: “Tch, now he acts smug because he's the captain. Losing himself over a girl like this, I say our captain has ulterior motives. We are here to make a team, not to make the beauty contest.”

W ignored them and walked directly towards his own computer. There are now four computers packed tightly in Liu Zuo’s now crowded little room. Despite this, they still made romm for Yan Ning’s computer. Big P boisterously went about his business, continuing his bickering with Piggy even as he prepared lunch. W remained silent, he turned on his computer and found a server to fight in.

During this chaos, the doorbell rang. Piggy, Big P, and Liu Zuo darted towards the door like electrocuted mice, all wanting to be the first to open the door. Three face blooming with smile, preparing to receive Ms.Yan Ning.

Yet it is the old landlord who stands angrily at the door, he spoke up harshly in Nanjing dialect: “Oi, Ya guys payin’ da rent or not? Drag on and drag on, ya wanna drag on till I’m dead?”

Big P is the quickest to react, he quickly backhanded the door, which slams shut. The three of them all held their chest as they let out a sigh of relief. Piggy says: “Shit, that’s too big of a contrast from expectation. Almost fainted there.”

Big P: “We gotta make sure we hear who it is before we open the door next time.”

The old landlord sweared and yelled a while at the door, seeing the gang would not open up no matter what, he finally relented. Liu Zuo finally felt relieved as he heard the old man’s footsteps stomp away into the distance.

A while later, crisp sounds of high heels walking on the floor sounded in the corridor. The sound came closer and closer, before stoppinga t the door.

Big P: “That’s sister Yan Ning for sure, you can tell from the sound of high heels.”

Liu Zuo: “I’ll go open the door, it's too crowded with many people.“ With that, he rushed to open the door first.

The door opens with a creek. Liu Zuo already prepared the smile on his face. He even changed into a business suit, making him look like an accomplished working man – In fact, Liu Zuo was a working man until not long ago, though not what you would call accomplished.

There is indeed a lass stand outside the door, though this lass is not that lass. Liu Zuo first saw a chubby face seemingly drawn with a protractor, then a waist made out of a barrel, and below that a pair of German sausage. Two white high heels are forcefully shoved up the end of the German sausage, which seems to be at constant risk of bursting.

Liu Zuo couldn’t control himself and yelled: “Weightlifter? How could it be you?!”

A honey sweet voice gently sounded: “Surprised you, didn’t I? Hehe, we haven’t been in touch since we last met. Thankfully I know you live here, so I came to visit you as a surprise for you!”

“You almost gave me cyclic vomiting syndrome, you better not be coming here to make me relapse.” Liu Zuo thought to himself.

Miss Weightlifter winks at Liu Zuo and says sweetly: “What, not inviting me in?”

Liu Zuo’s brain went into overdrive in this crisis, he copied Big P’s backhand door close technique, quickly locking the weightlifter out of the door. The girl yelled outside: “Why did you close the door? Hey, open the door!”

Liu Zuo leans against the door, breathing heavily, terror clearly visible on his face. Big P and Piggy snickers: “Did this kid get himself into some romantic debts out there?”

Seeing Liu Zuo insists on keeping the door closed, the Miss outside is getting upset, she yells: “You little retard, do you have shits in your brain?”

Liu Zuo is almost crying: “Please just spare me, get going!”

Weightlifter yells: “You have to take responsibility, you have to give me an explanation!”

Liu Zuo says through the door: “Big sis, what do I have to explain to you? What do I owe you?”

Miss weightlifter says lightly: “One word, ‘Emotion’.”

Liu Zuo covers his head with his hands, and yells in pain: “What emotion between us? Association emotion compassion nation population we have none of that!”

Weightlifter says sadly: “I’m pregnant…”

This startles Liu Zuo：“What does that have to do with me?”

Weightlifter: “You drank too much that day, and I had it…”

Liu Zuo: “Oh my god! I did barf that day, but I didn’t drink alcohol at all! Besides, we haven’t even held hands, how do you even get pregnant? You think just because I haven’t eaten pork means I haven’t seen a pig run about? I at least know common sense like how a woman gets pregnant! Even if we know each other, I can still sue you for defamation if you don’t be careful!”

Weightlfiter: “That day you barfed, so you ran. You ran, so I followed you home, and found out you lived here. Yet that still does not relieve the melancholy in my heart, so I went to a bar to drink away my sorrow. That’s where I met a handsome guy like you, and we had a child. Now that handsome guy is gone. You are the root cause of the child, so you have to take responsibility.

Liu Zuo looks to the sky and sighs: “Where is heaven's justice in that!”

Big P and Piggy discussed amongst themselves on the side: “If that is the case, why don’t we convince him to keep the child, and give the kid to us. We can raise him like a little fish, to become a CS pro, a great hero!”

Liu Zuo: “You two fuck off! Even in another hundred years there won’t be a time where I have anything to do with this woman.”

Weightlifter cries: “Have you forgotten the sweet times between us too?”

Liu Zuo felt something move in his heart, then he ran towards the bathroom holding his stomach before starting to vomit. Big P shakes his head: “He lost it after all……”

When Liu Zuo returned from the bathroom, the weightlifter had left. Piggy is smugly cleaning his teeth with a toothpick.

Liu Zuo asks: “Who dealt with it? I owe him one.”

Piggy: “I dealt with it…. No need to owe anything, cash in now, treat us to a duck blood vermicelli pot.”

Liu Zuo: “How did you deal with it?”

Big P laughs on the side: “Heh, turns out they are from the same school.”

Liu Zuo: “Your classmate?”

Piggy: “No, she sells lunch at the cafeteria. Her husband is the cafeteria caretaker.”

Liu Zuo: “So that’s what she meant when she said she’s from a high-end school.”

 

 

Even year’s later, Liu Zuo still has a clear memory of how Yan Ning looked as she entered the room that day. She wore a white jean with a cute light purple shirt. Her white and skinny wrist showing through the cuffs. Though her face appears a bit too pale, her lively and bright eyes make up for everything. Her gaze swept across the room, and every man present could not help but feel warmth in their heart – except W, he is still focused on CS.

Yan Ning had a faint smell of perfume with her. Liu Zuo and Big P had discussed countless times down the line as to what perfume Yan Ning had been using, Liu Zuo even went out of his way to ask at a beauty boutique. In the end, they still can’t figure out what perfume Yan Ning was using, and they couldn’t figure it out even after Piggy joined the discussion. The mystery of Yan Ning’s perfume is just like herself, giving out a deadly allure in silence.

Liu Zuo stood up from his chair as though he was in a dream, and he watched Yan Ning gracefully walk towards him. In that moment, he is grateful that he switched on a new shirt, and the rare fragrance of soap emanating from him. This helped him feel not quite so distant from Yaning, even though she is standing right in front of him. Her bright and enchanting appearance, her heart moving fragrance, all set her apart from this bloody and genderless battlefield – Yet she still came here, with her computer, to formally join the team. Her ID is：BR│Smoke

Liu Zuo’s eyes are fixed on Yan Ning, he couldn’t bring them off her for even a moment. She is too beautiful, the most beautiful woman he had seen. Granted, he hasn’t really seen many women beside those girls in his company back then. Those women are all so vulgar and impatient, with “desire” written all over their face. Yet what is written on the face of the girl before him? He can’t tell. He can only feel a faint feeling that she cares for nothing, not unlike W.

At the distance, Liu Zuo heard Big P excitedly chatting with Yan Ning: “Heh, before you came, our landlord came to ask for the rent, and it scared us half to death. Then came a weightlifter that made us barf half to death. Now that you came, heheh, we are happy to death. How can we even stay alive like this?”

Liu Zuo could not even comprehend what Big P is saying. All he knows is that Yan Ning turned her gaze towards him for a moment while listening to Big P. That gaze sent a thump through his heart like someone hitting it with a hammer.

This girl is too beautiful. She is beautiful enough to join “Bonus Hunters” without any skill.

Big P still continued yapping on to Yan Ning: “Liu Zuo here is our captain, he is good guy, just a bit dumb. Piggy, oh, this kid here—” He grabs the smiling Pig Head 3 on the side: “Kid’s still studying, got pretty good grades, he’s even getting scholarships. The one over there is the peasant worker W. Heheh, he may look handsome now, he is actually a peasant worker. As for yours truly, it is your charming, elegant and lovable big brother Pi……”

While listening to Big P’s banter, Yan Ning’s gaze slowly swept across the room, before fixing on W. She raises her head to Big P: “Can I put my computer here?” She points towards the table beside W.

Big P: “Sure, you can put your computer anywhere you like, the brothers here are whole heartedly at your service. From now on you will be our team flower, oh, as in PR representative. Haha, how great our team would look in a tournament!”

Yan Ning sat quietly beside W and opened her computer. W did not look at her, he is still focused on CS.

Yan Ning’s eyes are on the starting screen of his computer, she says quietly: “You are the sniper of the team, right?”

W: “Yeah.”

Big P asks quizzingly: “How did you know what he does, Yan Ning? You two knew each other?”

Yan Ning replies lightly: “Don’t know him. But there is killing intent from him.”

Piggy: “Yan…Big Sis Yan, are you reading too much Wuxia? This guy? Killing Intent? Hahahaha, he’s just good at eating. He can down four bags of instant noodles at most……”

Yan Ning says no more, nor did she cast her gaze their way anymore. Instead, she begins to focus on tuning her computer.

Piggy and Big P look at each other, both of them thinking of the same word: “Cool.”

This woman is kinda cool.

 

 

Three days later – June 26^th, 2002, the Jiang Su regional of the first national wide CS tournament formally began. 32 strong teams hailing from Nanjing, Suzhou, Wuxi, Yangzhou, Changzhou, Yancheng, Suqian, and many other cities participated in the tournament. The preliminary will be in knock out format with four groups. The highest scoring team of each group will then begin a round robin match, where any team with two losses are eliminated.  The two highest scoring teams will advance to the national tournament in Beijing as representatives of the Jiang Su region.

One of the locations for the preliminary is Qing Qing Net Café at Shui Xi Men, of Nanjing. Big P woke everyone up early in the burning. The gang have purchased two double bunk beds, with Liu Zuo and W, Piggy and Big P sharing a bunk respectively. When Big P shakes his bed, his weight advantage means that it is almost like an earthquake, and the whole building shakes with him. The guys got up, dressed, brushed and washed their faces with silence, yawn, bickering, and messing around, respectively.

When it is time to head out, Piggy recommends everyone take the 65, and then transfer to 2.

Big P immediately shuts down this proposal: “Kids nowadays only know how to be wastful! It Costs 1 dollar for one guy to ride, 4 dollar for four guys, with a transfer, it costs us 16 bucks for the round trip…… 16 buck is enough for a Xin-Ma-Tai trip! (TL Note: Singapore, Malaysia, Thiland)”

Piggy protests: “16 bucks for Xin-Ma-Tai, you think I’m stupid?”

Big P: “How much do you think that’s gonna cost? Xin Jie Kou – Ma Qun – Taishan New Village, you can’t even use up the 16 bucks for the trip.

Liu Zuo: “You two have been bickering since the morning, can you take a break? I have a bicycle, W has his tricycle, we can each take one person. This way, we save the money.”

Piggy: “What if we run into traffic cops?”

Big P: “We prioritize running away.”

With that decided, the four of them headed out. Liu Zuo taking Piggy, W taking Big P.

When Big P climbed onto the back of the tricycle, the tricycle made a terrible noise. Big P giggles and says: “Don’t worry, W. When we win the tournament and get big money, I will buy you a new tricycle.”

W started riding as though he hadn't heard Big P. Though the group expected an encounter with the traffic police, they did not even see the shadow of one along the way. As Big P puts it: “When you are with a lucky star like myself, it is only normal that everything goes as planned.”

When they arrived at the net café entrance, Liu Zuo’s eyes lit up – Yan Ning was sitting beside the breakfast stand outside of the café, eating her breakfast with an expressionless face. Yan Ning is having Golden Thread Sesame Balls, Carrot Cakes, and thin rice congee, together with a cup of warm soy milk.

Big P chuckles: “Young Lady, you are eating this much? I guess that makes sense, you are so skinny that you probably couldn’t get married if you don’t put on a bit of weight!”

Yan Ning raises her head and glances at Big P, before continuing on. After quite a while, she said calmly: “I’ll throw away what I can’t finish.”

Piggy: “Sis Yan, did you buy some for me?”

Yan Ning: “No. If you guys want it, go buy it yourself.”

Big P: “Ahh……what a shutdown.”

Liu Zuo pulls Big P over and quietly says to his hears: “Quit embarrassing yourself, we didn’t plan to eat breakfast here anyways, might as well go check out the venue first.”

Big P nods and waves Piggy and W over, the four of them entered the net café.

No one could’ve guessed it from the outside, but the gang is startled to discover that Qing Qing net café is filled to the brim with people. All over the place are men munching on their breakfast. There are also quite a few girls, though most of them are likely just attracted to the lively occasion. There are a few that are particular eye candy, and the men around them are likewise particularly smug about this, almost as though the girl’s appearance already translates to an advantage in game.

Big P spat and said quietly: “Hmph, what fart are these guys smoking to be this smug?! When our Miss Yan Ning shows, they will all shrivel up and die.”

Piggy: “Old P, what is with you and farts all the time?”

Big P: “Can’t be helped, a Man out in the world can’t choose for himself.”

Liu Zuo doesn't know whether to laugh or cry: “What are you two even on about?”

W, who hadn’t said a word this whole time suddenly nudged Liu Zuo, and pointed towards a dozen guys huddled around the corner of the net café. Some of them have white towels tied around their forehead, with characters like “Fight” and “Victory” written on it. There is also a hastily made sign, with “Brave Heart” written on it.

Liu Zuo: “Shit, these guys have the same team name abbreviation as us, so unoriginal.”

W: “That’s not what I mean. They are our opponents today.”

Big P, hearing this, immediately casted his gaze towards that direction and gave those guys a few hard stares.

Liu Zuo: “What are you doing?”

Big P: “Give them a few hard stares, shows our power.”

Piggy: “The thing they have on their hand seems pretty flashy, we should get one to.”

Liu Zuo: “Drop that crap, those are for pregnant women.”

Big P: “Nah, it’s for farmers.

Piggy: “Still, it looks pretty cool.” He gulps and then continues: “They are eating fried veggie pancakes.”

The so-called fried veggie pancake is made by putting a layer of veggies on a pancake fried until it is shining gold in color. The topping includes cabbage, vermicelli, leeks, parsley, coriander, etc… – the high-end ones can have an egg or ham – then roll it all up, heat it all together and it is ready to eat. Of course, the veggies are not normal veggies. They are cut up ahead of time and mixed with condiments. Spicy is of course an option, so is sweet paste sauce. Munching on a fried veggie pancake in a chilly morning, coupled with a cup of soy milk is a life that even the gods would envy. Thinking about this, Piggy’s stomach rumbles, and drools are coming out of his month.

Liu Zuo: “Big P, let’s buy Piggy a fried veggie pancake.”

Big P immediately went out and bought a fried veggie pancake for Piggy.

Piggy: “You guys aren’t eating?”

Big P: “You are still young, and you gotta grow. You eat ahead, we aren’t hungry.”

Just as he finished, Liu Zuo and W’s stomach rumbled together, like a perfect duet. Big P smiles: “We haven’t even started the battle and you guys are already in such a rush.”

Liu Zuo: “Cut it, you. Let’s go check out the machines!”

The three of them went straight for the tournament area. Yet a mountain of people of both players and onlookers made it impossible to get through. A female announcer has been constantly telling the crowd: “Those who are not playing in the tournament, please wait outside the door. Please wait outside the door. Yet no one was paying attention to her, the crowd is laughing and pushing like in a lively food market.

The three of them had no choice but to turn back. Piggy is munching on the fried veggie cake in a corner, he mumbles as he eats: “If only there is a cup of water.”

A cup of soy milk was presented before his face. Piggy lifts his head, it is Yan Ning. He takes the soy milk and smiles: “Big sis, not only do you look beautiful, your heart is even more beautiful.”

Yan Ning: “I don’t like to drink it anyway.”

Piggy, seeing Liu Zuo and the guys coming back, quietly whispers to Big P’s ear: “Why is this woman so cool?”

Big P replies quietly to Piggy’s ear: “We have a lot of weird characters in our team, look at that W, isn’t he just like Yan Ning?”

Liu Zuo: “Why do you two whisper like when you are squabbling? You are so loud that the entire net café can hear you!”

The two of them immediately shut up, but W and Yan Ning remain expressionless, as though they haven’t heard anything.

Suddenly a big and brutish looking man began to push his way out from inside the net café, all the while yelling: “Captains with odd team numbers, go draw your slot! Captains with odd team numbers, go draw your slot, fuck, what’s with this shitload of people?!”

Liu Zuo checks his registration form, it is indeed an order, so he begins to force his way towards the inside. Big P yelled behind his back: “Draw a lucky number! It’s all up to you!”

Liu Zuo struggled to turn his head around, and despite that, he did not forget to make a V with his hand, and begin to push onward.

The result of the draw is that Liu Zuo drew number 3, meaning they will be the third match of the day. Liu Zuo and the gang chased after the organizer staff and asked when the 3rd match would take place.

The brutish looking guy replied: “Can ya chill for a bit or not? We obviously will call you when it is your turn!”

Easy for him to say, it is Liu Zuo’s gang that suffered. After clearing the venue and introducing the players, it was already 11 AM when the first match finally started. Following that, it was lunch break at 12 noon, everyone flooded towards the small diner beside the net café. For a time, the area is swamped by the crowd, and CSERs in team uniforms or CT/T cosplay are all around the place. There are even hardcore fans that carried model M4 or AKs as they wondered about, leaving the diner owner in clicking his tongue in awe.

 

Today is a festival for CSERs, and a day where everyone gets to show off their real skills in real battle. Though the CSERs are elated, there are still a few cold glances from some MU and Legend of Mir players. In particular, a MU player is walking amongst the CS crowd in a set of bright red cloth. Written on the red cloth were “+9 Advance 12 Full Dragon King Set”, and he sure stands out in the crowd. Another MU player came by, and the two seems to know each other.

The two begin to chat in jargons unknown to CS: “Big bro, which alliance are you from?” The skinny MU player asks with adoration.

“Tian Hang 81, heheh.” Replies the dragon king suit, “If you can train to level 60 or above, come join us! Our alliance leader is my bro.”

Skinny Guy: “What level are you, big bro?”

Dragon King: “Not much, level 165!”

Skinny Guy: “Big bro, you are really something! Do you have any extra bronze sets that you can spare to this little bro?”

Dragon King: “What player at my level would keep that kind of trash item? Which server are you?”

Skinny Guy: “Server 6.”

Dragon King mumbles in thought: “I am also from server 6. Though the even the worst I have on hand are platinum sets, I could as my little sidekick for you, if he has it, I’ll have him PM you！”

The skinny guy is overwhelmed in gratitude: “Big Bro, I’ll follow you! I’ll be your sidekick!”

Dragon King: “Heheh, good! It's hard to find ambitious young men like yourself nowadays! Look at these tasteless retards around you! If you sell my account in Shang Hai, at least 3700, no haggle! What do they get from playing cs? Can they sell their account for RMB?”

The moment he finishes speaking, a group of CSER dressed up as terrorists already gathered around. A guy with thick eyebrow asks in a deep voice: “Oi, the red guy in + something advance something, what did you just say?”

Another glasses wearing T joins in: “You, yea, you, you want, want to fight? You, you want to fight with guns, or, or with knives?”

Countless CSERs follow suit, yelling one after another： “Answer us! Are you here for a fight? Play what you like, don’t point your fingers at others!”

The Dragon King suit contemplated the situation, and immediately changed the subject by asking the skinny guy: “You got any stones? If you got stones it will be easy! If you have stones you can trade for anything.”

The skinny guy: “I am trying everything I can to get some stones too, but a low-level account like mine can never get their hands on the stones!”

Dragon King: “Oh, that’s true! Now I have five soulstone and one bless stone, and that took a lot of effort for me as well. If you have any stones to contribute, maybe our leader can take you in despite the level requirement…...”

The two talked on like close friends, and gradually left the big crowd of CSERs. The two let out a sigh of relief when the angry CSERs finally left their field of view.

Skinny guy: “Boss……”

Dragon King: “That was close……”

Skinny guy: “It's all because you have both courage and intellect, boss! Worthy of the owner of +9 Advance 12 Full Dragon King Set!”

Hearing that, the Dragon King suit finally can’t hold back his pride any longer, and so begin to laugh madly at the sky.

 

 

Piggy looks at the mountain of people at the diner, and asks worryingly: “What about our lunch? If we head back to base, we might miss their match when we get back. We might even be late for our own match.”

Big P replies smugly: “You think a charming, elegant, calm, genius like myself can be defeated by something so trivial? Please take a look at what is in yours truly’s bag!”

Liu Zuo opens the bag, and inside is 5 cups of instant noodle, neatly packed inside.

Liu Zuo raises his head, almost in tears: “Big P……”

Piggy is also deeply moved: “Big P, you are so considerate……”

W said nothing, he grabbed a bag of noodles and went to the service desk to ask for some hot water to boil the noodles. The rest of the crew also begin to boil the noodles on their own. Liu Zuo passed a bag of noodles to Yan Ning, and hesitantly asks: “Do you want me…to cook it for you? There are too many people at the diner, it will probably be impossible to get more suitable foods."

Yan Ning: “No need, I will eat the noodles.” She picked up the instant noodle with her snow-white hands, and went to get water at the service station.

The five of them sat neatly around a table in the net café’s resting area, waiting for the noodles to cook. Just then, a thick fragrance of roast ribs floats over from a table across from them. The five of them look over, and find players of Brave Hearts, with the white towels on their heads, digging into their boxed lunch.

Liu Zuo gulped loudly, the “kudong” sound quite pleasant to the ears. Piggy peeks over for a while, before returning to report: “Captain! They are eating short rib lunch boxes, brought over by their logistic guy. Everyone has a set of short ribs, a set of veggies, a set of bean curds and a large box of tasty white rice.”

Big P knocks Piggy on the head: “We all have a nose, it's not like we can’t smell it. Don’t need you showing off.”

Liu Zuo says quietly: “Shuush, don’t fight. What they are doing is psychological warfare, they want to break our will first. We have to resist to the end.

Piggy covers his head sadly: “But their food looks so much better than ours.”

Big P: “Then why don’t you go join them, they’ve got ribs to eat.”

Piggy: “But they only brought that much, even if I go join them, there is no more for me.”

Big P: “You little shit! I was just making a comparison, and you actually think about hopping over? Have you got no backbone?.”

Piggy: “That’s not called a comparison, it’s called a dare. You are this old and don’t even understand that?”

The duo seems to be on the verge of another long squabble when Yan Ning lightly scolds: “Stop wasting breaths, eat the noodles!”

And so everything became quiet once more. The five people opened their noodle cups in unison, and began to sip down their noodles.

Piggy, enjoying his food, quietly says: “Old P, this noodle tastes really good. You really know what to pick!”

Big P smiles: “Kid appreciates the good stuff! To be expected of the brat I brought up!”

 

 

Bonus Hunter’s first match in the Jiang Su Regional of the National CS tournament finally began at 4 P.M, their opponent is to be team Brave Heart from Yang Zhou. Brave Heart shouted : “The Brave Always Wins!” before stepping on stage. Their strong voice and uniform marching met with applause from the audience. Their captain, Guo Guo was particularly excited, and he waved towards the audience on behalf of his team.

Yet things will not go Brave Heart’s way for long. While Bonus Hunter players are looking tired, even a bit shriveled up from the long wait, they are as vicious as jackal once they get in the game.

According to the strategy planning before the game, W will be the sniper, Piggy and Big P will both be fraggers, and Liu Zuo will be the commander. As for Miss Yan Ning, everyone agreed to have her be the “Meat Bullet”. The so-called meat bullet means that the player will not be doing the killing in battle, rather, they will attract fire with their body. In doing so, they can serve as cover for their teammate, or be used to test enemy positioning. Yan Ning accepted this arrangement without any expression.

Liu Zuo said apologetically: “Your skill might be slightly sub-par……” – What he really thinks is: “Your skill is probably really bad.”

“Your skill might be slightly sub-par, so it might be best if you can be the first one to go in ahead. We will do our best to protect you from the back, and if you do sacrifice yourself, it will be worth it. We will be able to know the enemy positioning, and this can help the team.”

Yan Ning said nothing. Though everyone was a bit worried that Yan Ning might not even know how to play as a meat bullet, her performance in the match demonstrated that Yan Ning dutifully fulfilled her role. Usually, she would not buy a gun, and instead ran ahead with a pistol (Most of her money goes to buying the AWP for W，which is simply way too expensive).

Each time the enemy spots such a great target and jumps out for the kill, the gunners behind Yan Ning will take them out by surprise. The unlucky Brave Heart did not figure this tactic out until the latter half of the game. Their captain gave the hard order that no one is to kill Yan Ning when she shows, instead, they are to kill the gunners hiding behind her. Yet that is too late, team Brave Heart cannot recover from their early slump, and suffered a landslide loss at 2:22.

After the match, team Bonus Hunter returned to their lazy appearance. The gangs lazily signed their names and headed towards the door. The captain of Brave Heart stopped Liu Zuo, he asks with a shaky voice: “Hey, I want to ask something.”

Lliu Zuo: “Speak.”

“Why can’t we beat you, despite eating boxed lunch when you guys only had instant noodles?”

Liu Zuo: “If CS is just about who has the better food, what is the use of skills?”

“But both of our teams are abbreviated B.H, why did we lose that hard?”

Liu Zuo scratches his head: “Now that’s a hard one. Big P, do you know what's going on?”

Big P: “Did you pray to Guan Yu before you leave?”

“No.”

“That’s why! Who doesn’t pray to Guan Yu before heading out to a battle? That’s like asking to die!”

The opposing captain seems to get it: “Hearing your word beats ten years of study! Thank you, comrade!”

Piggy butts in from the side: “Hey, that boxed lunch, where did you guys buy it? It looks really tasty.”

The moment boxed lunch was mentioned, tears started to streak down the face of the opposing captain: “My mom woke up at 3 am and spent the whole morning making it for us, one for each person, and she said we would win for sure after eating her food. We took the long distance bus at 5am to get here, and we all thought we would win. Now that we lost, I have no face to see mom back home……”

Liu Zuo pats him on the shoulder: “No worries, come again next year, you will be a new man!”

The opposing captain is crying even harder now: “I am about to go study in the UK, I probably won’t be able to come next year. This is my last hurrah, sniff…..and it ends in failure…..”

Piggy and Big P stare at each other, not knowing what to say.

W suddenly speaks up: “There are CS tournaments in the UK as well. Wipe away your tears and keep going in the UK!”

The captain held W’s hand tightly: “Thank you. By the way, your sniping skill is amazing! I respect that. When I get to Britain, I will find the sniping god Johnny-R, and tell him there is also a sniping god in China called W.”

Liu Zuo: “Bruh~ Johnny R is German.”

Yan Ning had already left while the group was chatting.

Big P asks Piggy: “When did Yan Ning leave?”

Piggy: “She’s like a ghost, whoosh and she’s gone.”

Big P: “She’s really cool.”

Piggy: “Really cool.”

Liu Zuo: “Cool.”