Chapter 6: Duel

After reading Yingmeng’s thoughts, Ye Jinyi ultimately decided to let her make her own choice.

Maybe she was the one who was actually right.

“Alright, alright, Mengyi-chan, don’t think about all that useless stuff. Let’s just play the game.”

“Okay! Master, let me show you how much I’ve improved over the past year! I even made it into the top 500 five months ago!”

“Sure.”

Ye Jinyi switched back to the game screen.

The two were still in the game room.

Magical Girl Yingmeng-chan: “I’m starting now!”

Jin: “Go ahead.”

As soon as Ye Jinyi sent that message, the game officially began.

The first few rounds were tough for Ye Jinyi.

From time to time, she’d ask: What kind of card is this? And this one?

But after grasping the general mechanics, Ye Jinyi gradually started gaining the upper hand.

She could clearly tell her cards weren’t as strong as the opponent’s, but it wasn’t a total stomp.

Now that she had all the key cards lined up, all she needed was a few more turns.

Once that golden card came out, the match would be over.

But the card she needed never came.

Instead, what came was her little disciple’s finishing blow.

The word “Defeat” flashed on the screen, signaling the end of the match.

Ye Jinyi let out a sigh.

“I really should’ve set up a better strategy in the early game.”

Switching back to the Goose Chat app, Ye Jinyi sent her little disciple a message: “Mengyi-chan has gotten really strong.”

It wasn’t sarcasm—it was a sincere compliment.

Ye Jinyi still vaguely remembered when she first met Huimengyi.

It was in a casual gaming group.

A friendly match was being held, and Ye Jinyi happened to be paired up with Huimengyi.

Ye Jinyi still remembered that game—Huimengyi’s plays were completely chaotic, no strategy at all.

At first, Ye Jinyi thought maybe she just didn’t understand the opponent’s plan, but in the end, she realized Huimengyi was just playing completely at random…

After that match, Ye Jinyi couldn’t bear to watch anymore and started seriously teaching Huimengyi how to play.

That’s how their master-disciple relationship began.

But the reason for the recent loss was mostly because Ye Jinyi had been away from the game too long and couldn’t keep up with the times.

Back in university, Ye Jinyi had reached rank one on the leaderboard and even beat the then world champion from South Korea in an online match.

She had actually thought about entering an esports competition in Guiyun City while working, but when she tried to request leave, her boss said one thing that completely crushed her pro gaming dream.

“Either quit and go play games full time, or work properly for me.”

That afternoon, Ye Jinyi sat at her desk slacking off while mulling over her boss’s words.

After a whole night of serious thought, she ended up ghosting the competition.

After all, trying to go pro at her age was pushing it.

If she lost her job over a single match, that’d be utterly ridiculous.

And so, the nation lost a potential pro player～

Not long after Ye Jinyi sent the message, Huimengyi quickly replied.

“Hehe, Master, your disciple’s made quite a bit of progress, huh?”

For the first time in her life, Huimengyi had defeated her master—something she’d never accomplished before.

Now, she just wanted more praise from her master!

That’s just human nature—greedy and insatiable, always wanting more and more.

Ye Jinyi didn’t hold back her praise and gave Huimengyi a few more compliments to satisfy her vanity.

After that, they moved on to other topics.

“Master, by the way, I didn’t expect you to be in Guiyun City too?”

“Yeah, my company’s based here… so I moved here for work.”

“Really? Where did you work? Maybe I’ve even seen you before.”

“I just quit… why else do you think I came back to gaming?”

Ye Jinyi didn’t really want to think back on that place—only immortals could survive there.

It was pure torment.

“Huh?”

“Why’d you quit?”

Seeing Huimengyi’s question, Ye Jinyi thought for a moment.

She obviously couldn’t say she turned into a little loli, or worse, that she became a calamity.

“Do I really have to think back on that place where only immortals could survive?”

After typing that, she started clacking away on her keyboard.

“Do you know what a 6/8+4/7 work schedule is?”

“Nope.”

Ye Jinyi didn’t expect her to understand.

She knew the maximum age for awakening as a magical girl was 15, so since Huimengyi awakened this past year, her age could only be around 16 at most.

At that age, it’s hard to grasp how cruel the adult world is.

Ye Jinyi typed out her explanation: “Start at 6 AM, end at 8 PM, four hours of unpaid overtime. No overtime, no pay. Work seven days a week, no days off, ever.”

“What?!”

Huimengyi could hardly imagine it. Could a human being really survive a job like that?

“Master… you didn’t work for one of the Heaven Group’s tech subsidiaries, did you?”

“You know them?”

“Yeah, they’ve got a pretty bad rep in Guiyun City. Locals would rather die than work there. But for some reason, they always manage to hire new people. Still, as one of the top firms in Guiyun City, they’re definitely well-known.”

…

Ye Jinyi was already covered in metaphorical black lines, thinking back to how the HR talked it up during her application.

As if all it took was hard work to achieve a bright future.

After joining, Ye Jinyi thought maybe she was just falling short, not working as hard as her colleagues.

Turns out the company itself was rotten to the core!

I… I was such a fool, really. I was so foolish.

Who’d have thought that any sane person would steer clear of that trap, but I still jumped in headfirst like an idiot.

Ye Jinyi didn’t want to dwell on the past anymore.

Better to relieve her pain with a few more rounds of the game.

“Alright, alright, Huimengyi, let’s play a few more matches. All that stuff’s behind us now, right?”

“By the way, Master, where are you planning to work next? Are you leaving the city?”

Huimengyi sounded a little reluctant.

They’d finally gotten the chance to meet.

If work made them part ways again, would there be another chance to meet?

“Probably not leaving the city. Though I honestly don’t know what I’ll do next.”

“Got it. Let’s just keep playing then.”

Ye Jinyi switched back to the game and sent a few silly face emojis in the chat to show she was online.

A few seconds later, Huimengyi responded with a silly face too, showing she was ready as well.

The next moment, the game began.