All right, there was no need to agonize over it. He had better apologize quickly. Su Shangting clearly hadn't forgotten.
Wen Feiran opened his mouth and hurriedly began to say "sorry," only to bite his tongue.
"Sorry?!!!" Su Shangting's voice rose in anger. Arms folded, he sat ramrod straight between Wen Feiran and Zou Yuxing, like a male ghost radiating resentment. "So you're having such a good time. Excuse me, I'm interrupting you two."
Zou Yuxing doggedly struggled to destroy the crystal on his own, then looked at Su Shangting in displeasure. "There's so much room here, and you just had to sit between us. Don't you think it's crowded?"
"What's it to you?" Su Shangting saw Wen Feiran and Zou Yuxing as birds of a feather, and everything they did rubbed him the wrong way.
"Did you eat gunpowder this morning? Why are you so angry?" Zou Yuxing didn't stoop to his level. He sat down on Wen Feiran's other side. "Let's play another round."
Before Wen Feiran could answer, Su Shangting pulled out his phone as if out of spite. "What are you showing off for? You're not the only ones who can play games."
Zou Yuxing immediately invited him. "Then the three of us can play together."
"As if I'd want to play with you two. You're too terrible!" Su Shangting's words were merciless.
Zou Yuxing spoke up for Wen Feiran. "I'm not very good, but Feiran is amazing. He's..."
"How good could he possibly be? He can't hold a candle to my friend." Su Shangting turned his attack on Wen Feiran.
Wen Feiran had made him so angry yesterday that he'd lost his appetite and hadn't come out for dinner, but he'd gotten hungry just after nine.
He'd wanted to find something to eat, but felt that backing down would make him lose face. He'd stubbornly held out until the latter half of the night, when he was so hungry he saw stars, and came out to pilfer a dragon fruit.
There were cameras everywhere in the room. Su Shangting cared a great deal about saving face and was afraid viewers in the livestream would see him, so he'd hidden in the bathroom and wolfed down the dragon fruit while expressing his disdain. In the end, he'd looked at his disheveled reflection in the mirror and shed a few tears.
When had he ever suffered such treatment? He blamed Wen Feiran for all of it, and every word he spoke breathed fire.
Wen Feiran kept his head lowered, not daring to meet Su Shangting's eyes, but he could still sense his mood and lowered his head even further.
Just then, his phone screen suddenly lit up with an invitation from a friend.
He wasn't in the mood to play and was just about to decline when he heard Su Shangting say cheerfully, "This friend of mine is incredible. He carries the team every time, and I give him a skin after every match."
Something stirred in Wen Feiran's mind, awakening a faint memory.
He'd started a game before and played as he normally did. Afterward, a teammate had invited him to play again, and he'd accepted.
They were playing games either way, so it didn't matter who he played with. But after they won another round, the teammate had added him as a friend and insisted on giving him a skin.
He'd accepted the first time and decided to carry that teammate through a few more games. But after every match, the teammate had given him another skin and thrown a fit if he refused.
Wen Feiran had been so overwhelmed by the pestering that he hadn't opened the game for a while. When they met again, his teammate had declared that he was going to buy the game's developer and make them churn out skins, or there wouldn't be enough to give him.
That willful, pampered personality really was a lot like Su Shangting's...
Something stirred in Wen Feiran's mind, and he gave Su Shangting a meaningful look. But Su Shangting misunderstood and boasted even more, "My friend can single-handedly dominate a game. When he starts playing, you two can watch from the sidelines and broaden your horizons. Not just any random nobody can be called a top player."
With that, he glared at Wen Feiran provocatively. Wen Feiran pursed his lips, hesitating to speak, his expression exceedingly complicated. He even scratched the back of his head.
That reaction didn't look like he felt inferior, nor did it look like he was unconvinced.
As Su Shangting wondered about it, Wen Feiran hurriedly lowered his head and tapped his phone screen.
He was truly puzzled and was just about to ask when Zou Yuxing roared in his ear, "He turned you down. Looks like your friend doesn't want to play with you."
Su Shangting: "..."
He rubbed his aching ear and glared furiously at Zou Yuxing's handsome face, sorely tempted to slap him. "He just pressed the wrong button by accident, or he's busy. What nonsense are you spouting?"
Hearing this, Wen Feiran squeezed his eyes shut, his expression detached.
That confirms it. Looks like I'm Su Shangting's top-player friend.
But that made things complicated.
There was a misunderstanding between him and Su Shangting, and Su Shangting was very unhappy with him. But his other identity was Su Shangting's top-player friend, and Su Shangting had just praised that other identity of his to belittle him... The tangled relationship left Wen Feiran all turned around, like a cat playing with yarn only to end up wrapping itself into a mummy.
But Wen Feiran had a brain and knew that revealing the truth now would make things more complicated and the atmosphere worse. He quietly put his phone away, intending to change the subject, but forgot that Zou Yuxing was still sandwiched between them.
Zou Yuxing glanced at Su Shangting's screen and let out an "Ah." "Your top-player friend's ID is exactly the same as Feiran's. Is that a coincidence?"
Wen Feiran: "..." I don't know whether that's a coincidence, but I do know you have a grudge against me.
Su Shangting suddenly looked over. Wen Feiran's hand froze, his phone still halfway out of his pocket.
Wen Feiran lacked experience and let out a stiff laugh. He might as well have had "something's fishy" written on his face.
Su Shangting's eyebrows shot up, and he reached imperiously toward Wen Feiran. "Give me your phone!"
"Maybe we should just forget it..." Wen Feiran trailed off halfway through his sentence when he met Su Shangting's furious eyes. After a few quiet seconds, he obediently handed over his phone.
Two heads leaned together in front of the phone. As soon as Zou Yuxing sent an invitation, Wen Feiran received it.
Su Shangting: ...???!
Zou Yuxing might have been missing a screw, because he had to bring up the very thing he shouldn't have. "So you two met that long ago. Feiran is your top-player friend."
Su Shangting was speechless. His pretty face twisted, and the corners of his mouth twitched involuntarily twice.
Wen Feiran sensed danger and wished he could leap over and clamp a hand firmly over Zou Yuxing's mouth.