Chapter 29 ◎ Childhood Friends ◎
Lounge.
Under the witness of all his teammates, Lin Sumo kept slapping Pei Yun’s back. “Ahhhhh, it’s all your fault, all your fault! Why are you first and I’m second! Why!”
The other teammates were grinning from ear to ear. Jiang He spoke up, “Hey, hey, hey, Little Mo-mo, stop hitting him. The judges have the final say. Since the judges said so, you…”
“I don’t care! Those judges must be blind!”
Jiang He: “……”
Others: “……”
Pei Yun sat on the sofa and expressionlessly reached out to cover Lin Sumo’s mouth.
Jiang He was dying of anxiety. “Brother, my dear brother, there are cameras and audio recording in the lounge!”
Lin Sumo was just saying it; he didn’t really want to court death. Besides, he also felt Pei Yun’s mechanics were truly god-tier, so he didn’t continue to fuss.
“You guys have been playing for half a day, are your things packed?” The team leader said helplessly. “Hurry up, Manager Song said he’s treating you to hotpot.”
“Yay!” A cheer erupted in the lounge.
After playing matches all day, this group was starving. Thus, their packing speed instantly doubled. Half an hour later, they were already sitting in the hotpot restaurant.
“Hurry, hurry, hurry, I’m starving to death,” Yu Pei put beef into the pot with chopsticks. “How many seconds do we scald the beef for again?”
“30 seconds is enough,” Pei Yun stood up. “You guys eat first, I’ll go make the dipping sauce.”
“Hey, make one for me too. Just whatever, add more chili.”
“Okay.”
As soon as Pei Yun left, Yu Pei asked Lin Sumo, “Hey Little Mo-mo, did you and Pei Yun know each other before?”
Lin Sumo swallowed the beef ball in his mouth. “Huh? How did you know?”
“Aiya, don’t worry about that,” Yu Pei said anxiously. “Hurry, tell me.”
“We did know each other…” Lin Sumo still looked confused. “Then let me ask a different question. Why are you asking this?”
Yu Pei: “Don’t worry about that either! Just curious. Could it be more than just knowing each other?”
“The two of us… how should I put it,” Lin Sumo weighed his words repeatedly, and finally broke the jar. “If I say childhood friends… would that be a bit weird?”
Translator’s Note: The term used is “Zhuma Zhuma” (Bamboo Horse), referring to the idiom “Green plums and a bamboo horse,” meaning a boy and girl (or in this context, two boys) who grew up together innocently.
Lin Sumo saw Xiao Lanyu’s hand holding the beef ball tremble, dropping the ball back into the pot.
Jiang He was drinking a beverage; hearing this, he almost sprayed it out.
Although Yu Pei was the most normal, he almost choked on his own saliva.
Not to mention Shen Chen and Song Hong, whose jaws almost dropped into the pot.
Lin Sumo: “……” Hey, hey, is that necessary?
Yu Pei finally recovered. Taking advantage of Pei Yun not being back yet, he grabbed Lin Sumo again. “Really? Green plums… ah no, bamboo horse bamboo horse?”
Lin Sumo: “……” What kind of thing is ‘bamboo horse bamboo horse’? Can’t you say something nicer?
Lin Sumo said, “Um, yes. But our relationship is bad.”
“Tsk tsk tsk, no wonder,” Jiang He said. “Usually you two look like you’ve eaten gunpowder.”
Lin Sumo decisively rolled his eyes at him.
Yu Pei asked again, “Then do you really have no feelings for him at all?”
Lin Sumo was shocked by Yu Pei’s bluntness. “This… is hard to say.”
Jiang He spoke up, “What’s hard to say about that? Looking at how you usually wish for mutual destruction, there probably really are no feelings.”
Lin Sumo revealed a deadly smile. “Player Drift, if you don’t want your head pressed into the spicy butter hotpot, shut your loud mouth.”
Jiang He shut his mouth instantly.
“How did he provoke you again?” Pei Yun entered the private room carrying two plates of dipping sauce and said to Jiang He, “He’s just annoying like that, ignore him.”
Lin Sumo acted like he was going to stand up. “Hey Pei Yun, who do you think you are? Come, come, come, believe it or not, I’ll throw you into the pot.”
“Mental case.” Pei Yun skipped past Lin Sumo and sat back in his own seat.
Lin Sumo: “…You’re the mental case! Your whole family is mental!”
Yu Pei interrupted, “Hey, alright, alright, eat.” After Pei Yun returned, he and the others tacitly didn’t continue asking about Lin Sumo and Pei Yun’s messy affairs, choosing to focus on eating instead.
The table in their private room was rectangular, and Pei Yun happened to be squeezed opposite Lin Sumo.
In the intervals of picking up food, Lin Sumo stole a few glances at Pei Yun, debating repeatedly in his heart.
Why did I say ‘hard to say’ when Yu Pei asked if I had feelings for Pei Yun? Logically, I should have said ‘no’ unhesitatingly and decisively.
And why did I threaten Jiang He when he said I had no feelings for Pei Yun? If it were before, I should have agreed with him immediately.
And then…
Lin Sumo dared not think further. He attributed it to mental confusion after a day of competition and buried his head in eating.
It was already night when they returned to the base. Shen Chen said a few words about the Entertainment Match, then asked what they wanted to do.
Jiang He revealed an incredulous expression. “What do we want to do? You’re actually not forcing us to review today?”
Shen Chen: “There’s nothing to review about an entertainment match. Aiya, hurry up, what do you want to do?”
Lin Sumo lifted his head from behind the screen and raised his hand. “Um… I want to play solo.”
“No way,” Jiang He looked like he had eaten a dead fly. “We played for so long today, and you haven’t had enough, Little Mo-mo?”
Lin Sumo’s face was a bit red. “No… I want to play against Print. Didn’t get to draw him today.”
“Sure,” Shen Chen responded, then looked at Pei Yun. “How about it, Print? Play?”
Pei Yun: “Sure.”
“Okay, okay, okay,” Shen Chen turned to turn on the computer. “Wait, I’ll put you in the map.”
Five minutes later, Pei Yun and Lin Sumo entered the solo map. Pei Yun took Xayah, and Lin Sumo used Taliyah again.
At the start of the game, Lin Sumo didn’t clear minions. Instead, he hid directly in the bush. When Pei Yun came out, he threw a Q skill at him. Pei Yun didn’t panic and retreated to the side. After Lin Sumo came out of the bush, Pei Yun cast a Q skill followed by a few auto-attacks and didn’t continue fighting. Lin Sumo didn’t rush up to court death either, just clearing minions nearby.
The two farmed peacefully for a while. Pei Yun reached level 2 first. After leveling his W skill, he quickly moved forward, using Q skill plus auto-attacks to drain nearly half of Lin Sumo’s health. Lin Sumo happened to reach level 2 as well. He quickly placed his W under his feet and retreated. As soon as Pei Yun came over, he was shoved back. Lin Sumo dragged the mouse backward, dragging Pei Yun into the tower range, and quickly added a few basic attacks. By the time Pei Yun ran out of the tower, he also had only half health left.
Lin Sumo hesitated for a moment but followed up, placing his W skill on Pei Yun’s retreat path to block him, then used Q skill to deduct his health again. Finally, he dove the tower and took Pei Yun’s head.
“Good play by Solve here. Fight when you can, and don’t let him go even if he runs.”
By the time Pei Yun respawned and rushed back, Lin Sumo had already whittled the first tower down to a sliver of health.
Pei Yun didn’t panic. Taking advantage of Lin Sumo’s low health, he used a Q-A-E combo to harvest Lin Sumo, then destroyed his first tower while Lin Sumo was respawning.
The score was now one-to-one, with Lin Sumo at a slight disadvantage.
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