Around 1 PM, Lin Xinyuan told his roommates he was heading out, then left the dormitory.
As soon as he was gone, the dorm became lively.
After all, with one less person resting, they could play games without holding back.
“Hey, Third! Come play League with us!” Xu Wentao turned around and called out to Qin Nanfeng.
Qin Nanfeng shook his head and gestured at the game interface he’d already entered. “Nah, I’m going to shoot some guns.”
“Alright then!” Xu Wentao sounded disappointed and couldn’t help but sigh.
“What’s with the sigh! Don’t you trust your Brother Chen’s skills? Even without Boss Qin, I can still carry you!” Chen Ze, hearing this, protested unhappily.
“You? Don’t make me laugh…” Xu Wentao looked a bit disdainful.
“Not convinced? Then let’s 1v1!”
“No way! You think you’re worthy?”
“You’re chickening out! Figures, your skills are unwatchable! I could play better with one hand and a toothpick tapping the keyboard!”
“Heh!”
“Hehehe!”
“Hehehehe!”
“Hehehehehe!”
Xiong Wei opened the launcher and silently watched the two bicker, feeling a bit helpless. “Sigh…”
He glanced at Old Four, still lost in some 2D game world and not saying a word, then at Old Three, who’d already put on his headphones.
Well… Looks like they won’t have a full team again today…
On the other side, Lin Xinyuan found an internet café near campus, got himself a computer, and jumped straight to the point.
As a globally famous FPS e-sports game, Counter-Terror Fire’s national server was hugely popular in the country, second only to League as the hottest PC competitive game.
So, buying and selling accounts for this game online was also very common—you could find tons of listings on any trading platform.
To save time, he had already spent a “fortune” to buy a game account on a platform before coming.
Other people would care about the value of skins when buying accounts, but he was different—he did the opposite.
He didn’t look at those accounts with all kinds of gun skins, not even the ones with limited edition skins—he couldn’t afford them anyway… Instead, he specifically searched for the cheap ones.
These accounts usually only had one or two ordinary skins, with low levels.
The sellers probably just put them up for show, not really expecting to sell them.
But today, there was a Lucky Seller who unexpectedly sold one, for twelve yuan.
Thank you, Mother Nature!
Lin Xinyuan launched the game and logged into the account.
Whoa, the interface has changed a lot!
He thought to himself.
But it had been a long time since he last played, so it wasn’t surprising to see such changes.
Because the national server was run by a certain company, you could see your friends’ game activity on Green Bubble, so naturally, she could see Qin Nanfeng’s game circle updates.
But that annoying blond had just come online not long ago.
After studying the social system for a bit, he thought about it—directly adding friends in-game probably wouldn’t work; the other party would likely ignore him.
So he tried to find Qin Nanfeng using the “Nearby People” function.
He searched for several minutes.
Just as Lin Xinyuan was about to give up, he finally found him.
But it showed the other party was currently in a game…
Staring intently at the screen, Lin Xinyuan rested his chin on one hand and waited several more minutes before finally seeing his status change to “Idle.”
Seeing this, he quickly moved his mouse and sent an invite, waiting nervously for a response.
Please, please!
You have to accept…
But seriously, what a ridiculous username!
And you can’t even change it…
“‘Wind Blows, Underpants Chill the Balls’ found you in Nearby People and invited you to join the team.”
Back in the dorm, Qin Nanfeng had just finished a round.
When he returned to the game lobby, he saw a pop-up in the bottom right corner.
He was a bit surprised—judging by the other’s level, he was obviously a newbie.
He was about to click reject.
But for some reason, a strange feeling welled up inside him.
He couldn’t shake the sense that if he didn’t accept, he might miss out on something…
Acting on impulse, he actually clicked accept.
He realized what he’d done almost immediately, but by then he was already in the other’s team.
Oh well… In these low ranks, whether you play solo or with others, it’s all the same.
One more person doesn’t make a difference…
And with such a quirky ID, this guy might actually be interesting…
“Yo, he accepted.”
On the other side, Lin Xinyuan hadn’t expected the other to agree so easily, and couldn’t help but feel excited.
He’d passed the hardest step!
Excited, his fingers flew across the keyboard as he quickly typed:
“I was a peak expert in my previous life, but perhaps out of jealousy, the petty men conspired against me! In this life, reborn, I vow to sweep away all enemies and suppress all heroes across the realms! Of all the people I’ve seen, only you are different. I hope you’ll help me rise to the top again! If you come, there will be a great reward!”
On the other end, after Qin Nanfeng entered the team, a huge chunk of text popped up almost immediately.
He raised an eyebrow at the message.
It was interesting, but not by much.
Thinking so, Qin Nanfeng tapped the keyboard:
“Enough nonsense, are we playing or not?”
“Eh, okay~”
Seeing the reply, Qin Nanfeng was a bit surprised.
He’d thought the other guy was a total nutcase and would keep up that tone, but unexpectedly, he folded right away…
A faint curve appeared at the corner of his mouth.
Interesting…
This attitude reminded him of someone who wasn’t in the dorm right now…
When Lin Xinyuan saw Qin Nanfeng’s message, he hurriedly replied, then immediately clicked to start matchmaking, afraid that the annoying blond would leave the team and he’d lose this golden opportunity.
Because it was a low-rank match, the queue was fast—just a few seconds.
After waiting for the loading bar, they entered the match.
The first thing he saw was a familiar interface and a hand holding a little pistol.
Lin Xinyuan clumsily moved the mouse to rotate his view.
Although he wasn’t very familiar with the controls anymore, he’d reviewed the keybinds not long ago, so it wasn’t too bad.
“Big bro, teach me how to play this map! First time here.” Lin Xinyuan typed in the team channel.
In Counter-Terror Fire, besides the team and all channels, there was also a squad channel, so he didn’t have to worry about others seeing the chat.
“Then follow me to A site.”
“Okay!”
They were on the attacking side this round.
The game’s Demolition Mode was a best-of-five—whoever won five rounds first would win, and sides would only switch after four rounds.
The two waited for the warm-up to end, respawned at base, and after the countdown, the first round began.
Lin Xinyuan controlled his character, following Qin Nanfeng’s footsteps straight through the A gate onto the main road.
“After going through the A gate, you’ll meet the enemy head-on. The terrain is about equal here, so whoever’s faster gets to hold the angle first. Just watch out for the defenders tossing grenades behind the low box…”
Maybe finding it troublesome to type, Qin Nanfeng had already turned on team voice chat.
His low voice came through, mixed with a bit of static.
Suddenly, a noisy monkey screech blared through Qin Nanfeng’s mic.
Lin Xinyuan didn’t even have to guess—it was definitely Chen Ze acting up again.
Qin Nanfeng ignored it and continued explaining.
As he spoke, he pointed his pistol—when the enemy peeked, he instantly scored a headshot, then repeated the move and got another headshot.
“Q used usp to eliminate Autumn Wind is Bleak”
“Q used usp to eliminate Since Ancient Times No One Answers the Array”
Bang bang bang bang!
Bang bang bang bang!
“You dealt 78 damage to your teammate”
“System message: Please do not intentionally harm teammates. Maintain a healthy gaming environment.”
Lin Xinyuan had seen the enemy at the same time as the person in front and hurriedly fired, but after emptying a whole clip, he hadn’t hit the enemy even once—he’d only managed to nearly kill Qin Nanfeng in front of him.
Seeing the black-red liquid on the ground, Lin Xinyuan felt a bit embarrassed and didn’t dare use voice chat, so he quickly typed:
“Sorry, sorry, my aim’s a bit wonky!”
Qin Nanfeng was speechless.
After a moment of silence—he’d already positioned himself far enough apart, with no direct line of fire.
“Next time, don’t shoot. Or stand in front of me.”
“Alright! I’ll be careful next time.”
Lin Xinyuan wiped his sweat, knowing just how bad his aim was just now.
He hadn’t been this bad before, right?
How could this happen!
It must be because he hadn’t played in so long!
He tried to comfort himself.
But… damn!
Now that annoying blond is looking down on me!
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Bad at FPS after not playing it for a long time? I feel your pain Q_Q