Chapter Index

    Xiao Zao

    Hechen’s operation page suddenly turned gray.

    Suda aimed his shot and penetrated Bi Fang’s heart.

    Hechen’s headset clearly transmitted the sound of flesh being torn apart by bullets.

    He seemed to smell the smoke and feel the numbness and pain in his limbs at this moment.

    At the same time——

    Mephisto’s hand grasped the contract in the crevice.

    Golden light flashed past——

    F P’s support finally arrived on the lower glacier. Fade controlled the character to climb down the cliff, stretched out his arms and grabbed the crumbling Coco——

    He Chen stared at his dimmed screen and remained silent for a long time.

    But he was not the only one who was speechless.

    Suda didn’t say anything until a few minutes later, when Lin An took the contract to the summit of glory behind TALE.

    It’s too tough. Is it necessary to play like this in a practice match?

    Qiao Zhi took a long breath.

    Lao Tao smiled and said: “I have never played with this kind of lineup. It is very unexpected to be able to play like this.”

    Venus had a great time slashing people, so Shi Shiran stopped and smiled “hehe”.

    Fade was gearing up, typing loudly on his keyboard, and typing frantically on the public channel.

    Coco turned to look at Hechen, who had been staring at the screen without speaking, “What are you thinking about? You haven’t spoken just now.”

    “I was thinking…”

    Lin An also looked over and saw the familiar confusion in He Chen’s eyes.

    “Why did we both die, but win again?” He Chen had never played any games before. The control of Artemis’s character came from an interview and teaching by Chi Rui. In his understanding, game characters have only one life, just like humans.

    “…”

    There were so many flaws that Coco didn’t know where to explain them, “…”

    What’s even worse is that Fade’s text output just now was not satisfactory, and the public audio frequency was turned on, which just happened to absorb He Chen’s words word for word.

    TALE, who was still a little angry at first, was quiet for a second, and then burst into bursts of laughter.

    He Chen even suspected that he heard the sound of a slap on his thigh.

    “What did you recruit? Boss FP finally discovered that you guys are brave, are you ready to run away?”

    Fade was defeated by the general, and he hated the iron. He scolded He Chen: “Who are you from? Did the opposite party send you to make fun of you?”

    TALE’s laughter was very harsh, but the sound suddenly stopped in FP’s ears.

    “What are you doing? We haven’t communicated yet, why did you quit?” Lao Tao looked confused as he watched Lin An exit the custom server.

    “My general is defeated, there is no need.” Lin An lowered his eyes.

    “First explain, what’s going on with today’s lineup? You couldn’t have predicted in advance that the Hokuriku Icefield would be on the map today, right?” Old Tao looked at Lin An.

    “It’s not that complicated. Needless to say, we have to consider using Oedipus against the Sphinx. TALE’s BP this time is obviously a light lineup, so it is easiest to use heavy attacks to suppress them. But the powerful characters have a common weakness, that is, their agility is not enough. Once they reach the ice field, they will be cold.” Lin An understated, “So He Chen locked Bifang. Although it is rarely used in competitions, Bifang does have the function of carrying people, just in case.”

    “Then you are really just saying this. He Chen has never used this character before, how can you safely put your cards on him? What if he didn’t think of flying over with Coco in the end? Suda’s nickname is ‘Library Pavilion’, and the contract in his hand has never been taken away!” Qiao Zhi wanted to cut open Lin An’s head to see what was going on inside.

    “Then grab it back. I’m here. Why are you worried?” Lin An didn’t quite understand Qiao Zhi’s concerns.

    Lao Tao suddenly became happy and asked Qiao Zhi, “Do you know what Lin An’s nickname was before?”

    Before Qiao, FP had a manager. He didn’t particularly understand what happened when the team was first established, but Lao Tao knew it very well and gave Qiao Zhi a look.

    “Don’t worry, Lin An has restrained himself a lot over the years. In the early years, it was like fighting and grabbing, eating him alive…” Lao Qiao was speechless, “It was all bloody.”

    “Okay, you really don’t need to, but others still have to say something.” Old Tao turned his eyes and his eyes became sharp.

    This is going to be a small meeting.

    Upon hearing this, Venus and Fade immediately put away their smiles and prepared for battle.

    “…Is it necessary to be so nervous?” He Chen still knew nothing about Lao Tao’s methods and didn’t know what he was about to face.

    “Don’t worry about others yet,” Lin An’s eyes dimmed, “You will come with me later.”

    “Huh?” He Chen, a Sanhao student, felt that for the first time in his life, he was left alone for the third round of parent-teacher meetings, which was new and at a loss.

    “Is it funny? Do you have the nerve to laugh?” Lao Tao enlarged the screenshot of the battle and said to Venus: “Look at the stuck position. If you wave a little more, you will be within Amy’s range.”

    “Yes, your character has a set advantage against the Sphinx. The question is, have you used it? Your on-field operations make me feel that this casting was wasted.”

    Venus competed for forty minutes and was scolded for nearly half an hour.

    Lao Tao talked for a long time and his mouth was a little dry. Venus quickly held up the water glass and interrupted Lao Tao’s spell casting.

    “You got here first…” Old Tao smacked his mouth and turned to Coco.

    Coco sat upright.

    Lao Tao’s monitor turned around, “That’s it, pause.”

    The scene on the screen is exactly the scene where Coco is parked on the edge of the glacier, “The health bar is full. What are you waiting for? Wait until I call you to prepare to start?”

    “Uh…” He Chen said, “He should be waiting for me…”

    “Waiting for you.” Lao Tao could tell at a glance, “He is calculating the angle and preparing to find an ice layer as a cover.”

    Coco remained silent without explaining.

    Lao Tao said: “The contract has been printed. In this case, you have already given the other party a chance at night.”

    Coco frowned and said, “But in that case, if I hit the ice with my head on the ice, whether I was knocked down by Suda or fell on my own, if someone fell down the lane, the situation would become more dangerous.”

    Old Tao took a deep breath and cursed: “Idiot.”

    After saying that, he laughed angrily and said, “Forget it, I recruited you because I wanted you to be a stubborn person.”

    Qiao Zhi couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

    Lao Tao asked Fade, “If it were you, how could you break the situation without Bifang?”

    Without thinking, Fade said, “I’ll die together with Suda. He’s faster than me but I’m more destructive, so let’s all fall into the river and swim together. If I don’t come ashore, no one will be able to get ashore until the captain and the goddess brother free their hands.”

    “A typical burnt-out player,” Lao Tao nodded, “Okay, that’s a method.”

    Venus pondered for a moment, “I should try to stop Suda from giving him a chance to go down the glacier.”

    Compared with Fade, who is bold and flamboyant, Venus is steady, scheming, and good at maximizing profits.

    Lao Tao nodded and looked at Lin An again.

    “Look what I’m doing? When have you ever seen me fall from a glacier?” Lin An didn’t intend to cooperate with him.

    “…” I really haven’t seen it before.

    “…I really want to hit you.” Fade looked at him faintly.

    “Rebound.” Lin An stood up and pulled He Chen’s arm.

    “Can you please be more mature? I’m almost a hundred years old in total, and it’s like quarreling with elementary school students every day at the base.” Qiao Zhi brushed aside the arrogant Fade.

    He Chen followed Lin An out in confusion, and the door closed behind him, cutting off the sounds inside.

    Two members of the second team came over while chatting, each with a can of Coke in their hands. They must have just come out of the kitchen.

    When the two people saw Lin An, they immediately stopped to say hello, and their confused eyes drifted towards He Chen.

    Lin An nodded politely and blocked He Chen sideways, preventing the two men from looking at him.

    “Where are we going?” He Chen lowered his eyes and looked at Lin An holding his hand.

    Lin An’s hands were beautiful, slender, with well-defined joints, and the purple tendons protruded when he exerted force.

    He Chen didn’t break away from him.

    “Shh,” Lin An’s voice was filled with laughter. She pulled him to a room at the end of the first floor, took out the key and opened the door, “I’ll secretly turn on the small stove for you, don’t make any noise.”

    Seeing that Hechen didn’t come in, Lin An raised his eyebrows, “Don’t like this? I thought you liked to be sneaky.”

    He Chen: “…”

    He was silently going crazy in his heart, what image do I have in your mind?

    After hesitating for a moment, He Chen stepped in and closed the door.

    The room is very large, with a round table in the middle and a projector and computer built into it.

    Lin An got out of the way in a few moments, logged into his account, and called up the battle video of the practice match just now.

    “The conference room is not commonly used, so it is more convenient to cast the screen here.”

    Lin An said it was Xiaozao, but he really was Xiaozao. He looked at the forty-minute video of a practice match from He Chen’s perspective and couldn’t wait to analyze it frame by frame.

    Hechen was a little uncomfortable at first.

    “Here,” Lin An clicked the mouse twice to move the video back two seconds, “Watch it again.”

    He Chen concentrated his attention and involuntarily moved closer.

    “Listen.” Before Suda fired, there was a soft sound of the safety on the gun body.

    Although this sound is lost in the sound of the glacier flowing, if you listen carefully, you can still distinguish these subtle differences from the slight sound of ice breaking.

    If Hechen could hear the voice clearly at that time, he would have had a chance to predict Suda’s attack.

    During the game, every detail may allow the players to survive. Likewise, every overlooked detail is also a fatal weakness.

    If Hechen could listen to the sound more accurately and predict Suda’s attack, maybe that attack would not have been fatal.

    He Chen was fascinated by what he heard, and couldn’t help but take out his cell phone and open the memo to take notes.

    He was so serious that he didn’t realize that the distance between him and Lin An had exceeded the social safety distance.

    Lin An’s arm was heavy, and He Chen rushed in with a sweet orange smell.

    “…”

    “…You’re right.” He Chen took his hand to operate the mouse and listened to the two seconds of sound over and over again without getting tired of it.

    His eyelashes trembled in front of Lin An’s eyes, and his thick upper and lower eyelashes were gently lapping, and he didn’t even notice that his fingers were clasped between Lin An’s fingers.

    Lin An originally wanted to pull out his hand, but was so distracted that he didn’t make any move.

    He Chen’s body temperature was a little lower than his, but the touch of his fingers was very delicate. Touching his skin was like caressing a piece of warm jade.

    He Chen was still immersed in the excitement of the fierce competition, and it was not until Lin An coughed lightly that he woke up as if from a dream.

    Finding that his fingers were actually on Lin An’s wrist, He Chen’s face instantly turned red.

    Fortunately, the presence of the mask prevented him from being so gloomy.

    “Um…sorry…” He Chen abruptly pulled away his hand.

    Lin An watched him withdraw his hand and rub his knuckles unconsciously, and couldn’t help but smile.

    “Let’s do this for today. When will your dormitory close and I’ll take you back?” Lin An stood up.

    “…Ah.” He Chen didn’t notice that it was already eleven o’clock, so there was really no time to take the subway or bus.

    “…Thank you.” He Chen followed Lin An step by step. Looking at his back, a small piece of his heart collapsed.

    Although they had only known each other for less than half a month, it was strange that He Chen felt quite safe following Lin An like this.

    When he walked out of the door, he could still hear Lao Tao’s roar and Fade’s scream on the second floor of the base. Lin An skillfully led He Chen around to the garage.

    He Chen didn’t realize it until he sat in Lin An’s passenger seat.

    Why did he like to be sneaky? Lin An was afraid that she couldn’t stand Old Tao’s scolding, so she took him out alone.

    This person is really…

    He Chen turned his head and pretended to look at the night scene outside the window, feeling an indescribable feeling in his heart.

    Note