Chapter 9 Stubborn Fool He has someone to take care of him.
After finishing her persuasion, the front desk girl went out and closed the door. Drifting lightly on her feet back to sit at the front desk, she touched her burning cheeks.
Was she the kind of person who judged a book by its cover? Superficial!
Yes.
Inside the private room, after Shi Wen sent Si Yan a message saying Mu Jiu was found, he looked up only to see Mu Jiu’s hand tentatively creeping bit by bit toward the computer’s power button. He fiercely licked his molars.
He warned: “Mu Jiu, dare to turn on that computer and see what happens.”
Mu Jiu’s eager hand immediately shrank back. He wrung his hands together in his lap, unwilling to give up but not daring to talk back, keeping his head down and staying silent.
At this moment, the computer’s startup sound effect rang out extremely abruptly, adding a few degrees of embarrassment for Mu Jiu.
Actually, he had already pressed it before Shi Wen saw him.
Shi Wen’s gaze fell on Mu Jiu’s downcast eyes. He let out a soft, disbelieving laugh, “Fine, I can’t control you.” Then he turned, slammed the door, and left.
Mu Jiu subconsciously got up wanting to stop him, but he didn’t know what to say. Staring at his back, a deep sense of powerlessness surged in his heart. Finally, he sat back in the chair, staring blankly at the computer screen.
He actually didn’t want to disappoint anyone around him, but in the end, he hadn’t done a single thing right.
In this state, even if he continued playing, he might not necessarily gain points. Indeed, pushing into the top 100 in three days was still too forced.
But even if there was only a sliver of hope, he wanted to work hard until the very end. Enduring the soreness in his wrist, he clicked open the game again.
Obviously, Shi Wen wasn’t controlling him anymore, and no one was stopping him anymore, but he wasn’t happy at all. The sense of relief he imagined wasn’t there either.
The blue light of the game loading interface reflected in Mu Jiu’s lifeless eyes. His mind was a chaotic mess, and he subconsciously bit his lip.
“Click.”
The crisp sound of the door opening rang out again. Mu Jiu raised his head at the sound. Looking over, he saw Shi Wen with a dark face sit down in the seat next to him. Entering an account and password to log in, clicking open the game—all done in one smooth motion.
“You insist on playing, right? Add me.”
Shi Wen didn’t even look at Mu Jiu once. He was afraid looking at him one more time would anger him to death.
Mu Jiu’s originally dim eyes gradually recovered some light. He looked at Shi Wen and blinked twice, unable to react for a moment, until Shi Wen rapped his knuckles on the desk.
Mu Jiu pursed his lips, hesitating, reflecting. He seemed to really have a lot of issues.
He said weakly: “Ge, I don’t want to queue with your account.”
Li Qingming watched the league, and there wasn’t a single person who watched the league that didn’t know Shi Wen. Moreover, he temporarily didn’t want to expose that the ‘juice’ account had ties to Shi Wen. Logging into the ‘Nine’ account last time had drawn the entire internet’s observation, putting him under immense pressure when playing.
Shi Wen turned his head, looking at him with a fake smile. “Don’t call me ge, I’m not your ge, let me be your ancestor, okay?”
Then he picked up the phone resting on the edge of the desk, swiftly dialed a number, and said to the other end: “Manager, assign another training account to me.”
“Nothing much, urgent use, mm, okay.”
After a few brief words, he hung up the phone, switched accounts, and gave it to Mu Jiu to add.
When Mu Jiu added him, his wrist was trembling. Shi Wen’s gaze fell on his wrist, his eyes darkening.
He originally loved to play ob, which was the position that required the most mechanics and was the most strenuous on the wrists out of all positions. How could he withstand using it at this intensity?
He had dug up ‘juice’s’ match history. To gain points quickly, Mu Jiu maintained a terrifying scoring rate while sustaining a high win rate. This meant that in basically every match, he was operating from the start to the finish. Gongchengshi, Wunv—the ones he excelled at—each was more strenuous on the hands than the last.
They quickly queued into a match. After two days of playing, Mu Jiu had basically formed muscle memory. In less than a second, he locked in Gongchengshi; if it wasn’t banned, it was a must-pick. Shi Wen swept a glance at him. Mu Jiu just happened to see it, and his spine instantly stiffened.
Shi Wen said: “Switch to Huayishi.”
He wasn’t discussing it with him. If Mu Jiu still wanted to continue playing, this was his only choice.
Huayishi tended to flowers year-round and was well-versed in their habits. The skill Tusizi could parasitize a teammate, relying on the teammate’s movements. Yilan could release a unique fragrance, continuously slowing the boss within a certain radius of themselves, while continuously providing minor healing to teammates. Fulang could mark the boss‘s location, providing teammates with a period of boss X-ray vision.
Basically, the moment Shi Wen said it, Mu Jiu understood his meaning. As a “carry-the-girl artifact,” Huayishi basically freed up both hands for the entire match. Shi Wen was planning to carry him the entire way.
It wasn’t that Shi Wen hadn’t thought about just playing for him. The beginning of the season wasn’t too fiercely competitive yet. Based on Mu Jiu’s current bracket, if he wanted to enter the top 100, Shi Wen helping him play for an hour would be more than enough. It was just that without even having to think, Mu Jiu would definitely refuse. What he promised to do himself, he absolutely had to achieve with his own hands.
Mu Jiu knew this was already the biggest concession Shi Wen could make. As the shotcaller on the team, Shi Wen always had to maintain a clear head to analyze the situation and make the most efficient choices. He had always been someone whose word was law. Tolerating his bargaining a couple of times was already very rare. He decisively obeyed and switched to Huayishi.
At the same time the game started, the people spectating through the in-game leaderboards swarmed in, and the forum exploded once again.
[??? Who are you, get off my Guozhi ge quickly!]
[Don’t worry, Gongchengshi and Wunv were both banned last match, and didn’t Guozhi ge still play a match of Battle Lingdu? You can’t stop a heart that loves to operate. Next, let us admire the Battle Huayishi.]
Everyone had different lines of thought for kiting the boss. Some used their own traits or consumed items to stall for time. Some planned out the positions of the boss and themselves, rotating early to avoid direct confrontation. And then there were those like Mu Jiu, who loved to get right in their face and play mind games with the boss. The payoff was about the same, but it was truly thrilling, and it awarded more points.
Lingdu, a character with a frail body and an inherent kiting debuff, was forcefully played into a battle style by Mu Jiu. Since the onlookers couldn’t see the ban slots, they unanimously agreed that Gongchengshi and Wunv must have both been put on the ban list.
Banning Gongchengshi was normal; after all, he was the child of the meta. But as a tear of the era, Wunv was forcefully played onto the ban list by Guozhi ge. Everyone knew Guozhi ge was frantically playing ranked right now, and no one knew if they’d queue into him next match. So ban it, ban it, ban them all.
[Battle Huayishi? Rare.]
[Could it be rarer than Battle Lingdu?]
When the boss passed through a pallet, a human throwing down the pallet at that instant could cause a stun. The stun duration varied depending on the different human traits. Lingdu belonged to the short category, but that couldn’t stop him from continuously smashing them.
Who would have known that once the game started, after Huayishi met with the rescue position Xuezhe operated by Shi Wen, he stayed quietly and peacefully on Xuezhe‘s head the entire time. Occasionally, he would use the wind-up animation of releasing a skill and then cancel it, blooming a few small flowers for Xuezhe to look at.
The account nickname Shi Wen used was a string of gibberish, so the onlookers affectionately called him Luanma ge.
[Why does looking at this… seem kinda cute.]
[When you meet them in ranked and they beat you up, it won’t be cute anymore 🙂 smile]
[Just who is this Luanma ge exactly? To actually be able to tame our Guozhi ge! Making him willingly wash his hands and make soup for him?]
Mu Jiu fiercely experienced the joy of being a freeloader. Because Shi Wen would specifically put him down to let him farm points, his scoring rate was also very respectable.
In the end, it wasn’t the physical and mental exhaustion Mu Jiu had imagined. Instead, amidst an atmosphere of tranquil peace and quiet, he steadily entered the top 100.
The instant he broke into the top 100, not only were the netizens running around to spread the news and celebrate, but a stone in Mu Jiu’s heart finally fell to the ground. Shi Wen quickly took a screenshot of ‘juice’s’ ranking on the leaderboards and tossed it to Si Yan.
Receiving it, Si Yan originally wanted to reply with a period, hesitating whether he should explain that he truly didn’t mean to force Mu Jiu to risk his life for points. Their team’s registration form had been submitted an hour ago. Then he saw a large red exclamation mark on the screen.
…
- md. A stubborn fool, a cold and detached stubborn fool.
He was very innocent too, okay?
Si Yan clicked open the leaderboard screenshot Shi Wen sent, frowned, and clicked his tongue, “Tsk.” So impressive it was simply inhuman.
He blinked twice, and his brows relaxed again.
Playing a tournament with him was actually something to look forward to.
He had been in Mu Jiu’s dorm since the morning. At this moment, Li Qingming poked his head over and accidentally saw Si Yan’s screen. He was very pleasantly surprised, “Mu Jiu finished playing? When is he coming back?”
Si Yan picked up his jacket draped over the chair and stood up. In a fairly good mood, he said: “Don’t worry, he has someone taking care of him.” Then he returned to his own dorm.
With one matter resolved, next came resolving the next matter.
Mu Jiu rolled his eyes rapidly while staring at the computer screen. Before he could figure anything out, Shi Wen let out a light laugh. He grabbed the clothes on his shoulder, hoisted his entire person up, and led him outside. Not knowing what he wanted to do, Mu Jiu hastily grabbed his phone, stumbling all the way as he was dragged along, one hand desperately clutching the collar of his T-shirt.
“Ge, ge, ge, slow down, this shirt of mine is quite expensive.” Pull any harder and it would lose its shape.
Since graduating high school, he hadn’t taken a single cent from his family. Now he was a destitute college student, carrying tens of thousands in student loans on his back, unlike the wealthy and imposing Shi Wen.
Entering the elevator, Shi Wen shot him an annoyed glance. “If it breaks, I’ll compensate you. Have some ambition.”
Mu Jiu pouted. Of course, he couldn’t actually make Shi Wen compensate him.
And so, he was dragged all the way into the hotel next door just like that. Shi Wen pulled his own ID card from his pocket, then reached his hand out toward Mu Jiu.
“Ah?” Mu Jiu looked at his extended hand and froze. Turning his head, he saw the waiting hotel receptionist and hurriedly waved his hands in refusal. “No need, no need, I’ll just go back to the dorm to rest.”
Why was he bringing him to a hotel!
Shi Wen retracted his hand and didn’t speak, just quietly staring at him until Mu Jiu couldn’t withstand the pressure. He lowered his head, tightly pursed his lips, and obediently handed over his ID card.
Watching their interaction, the hotel receptionist couldn’t suppress the corners of her mouth no matter how she tried. She quickly finished registering their IDs and handed over the room card. “Sir, your room card.”
Shi Wen nodded his thanks and continued dragging Mu Jiu toward the room. After entering, he pulled up a chair and sat down. Mu Jiu sat on the edge of the bed, watching Shi Wen lower his head to tap away on his phone, ignoring him, and felt somewhat at a loss.
A long while later, Shi Wen looked up and found Mu Jiu still sitting on the edge of the bed. He massaged the space between his eyebrows and explained: “You rest. I don’t feel at ease if I’m not keeping an eye on you.”
Mu Jiu silently crawled into bed, lying down stiff and straight like a corpse. He originally thought he wouldn’t be able to sleep with someone watching him, but unexpectedly, he lost consciousness just a few minutes after touching the bed.
He didn’t know if it was because he was truly too exhausted these past few days, or because Shi Wen wasn’t an existence that made him feel invaded.
Hearing the long, drawn-out sounds of breathing from the person on the bed, Shi Wen finally breathed a sigh of relief. He turned off his phone screen and put it in his pocket.
Raising his eyes, he could see Mu Jiu lying quietly on his side on the bed, facing him, his expression peaceful.
Shi Wen tried his best to lighten his movements, walking over to properly tuck in the blanket over him. His gaze slowly settled on Mu Jiu’s face, finding it difficult to move away again.
He originally only wanted to use the back of his hand to gently touch him, but he didn’t expect that Mu Jiu, not knowing what he was dreaming about, would rub his cheek twice against the back of his hand. The corners of his lips curled up slightly, and then he fell back into a deep slumber.
Translator’s Notes:
- Huayishi (花艺师): Florist.
- Tusizi (菟丝子): Dodder (a type of parasitic vine).
- Yilan (依兰): Ylang-ylang.
- Fulang (弗朗): Gerbera.
- Luanma ge (乱码哥): Brother Gibberish / Brother Code. Nickname given due to Shi Wen using a string of random characters for his IGN.
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