Startup Capital Insufficient

The moment the results screen popped up, Su Zhe, who had finally succeeded after repeatedly failing his trials, felt no excitement. Instead, it felt like returning to his dorm—he only needed to gently push open the door.

It had happened too naturally!

Still, he was growing fonder and fonder of CSGO. The feeling of constantly getting stronger was truly addictive.

Afterward, Su Zhe struck while the iron was hot and continued his Ladder journey. He also wanted to see where his current limits lay.

The morning passed quickly, and Su Zhe stood up to stretch his body.

His Ladder run had gone exceptionally smoothly. He played around five matches and only lost one, earning MVP in two of them.

If the afternoon went just as smoothly, he could Rank Up to B+ in one go.

Su Zhe rubbed his somewhat empty stomach and was about to order some Braised Chicken from outside the school when the dorm door suddenly creaked open.

He turned his head and saw Fat Brother, who had vanished for an entire day and night.

Fat Brother was his nickname. He was not the sort of fat person with a huge belly; he simply looked sturdy because he loved working out. Still, he did not dislike the nickname. In his words, calling him fat was recognition of his fitness results...

Su Zhe could not quite understand that.

Fat Brother approached with a glowing complexion, humming a little tune. Seeing what was on Su Zhe's computer, he teased, "Yo~ isn't this Go Senior? Playing Ladder?"

Su Zhe rolled his eyes. Ever since Valorant launched in China and became popular, players of the two games had somehow become opposing camps.

CSGO players were called Go Senior by Valorant players, while Valorant players naturally became Valorant Junior.

One side said the other's game looked like a cartoon, while the other said Go Senior only knew how to stare at his Factory New skins and say, [Do you know how much a Souvenir Dragon Sniper costs?]

Su Zhe was speechless about it. Play whatever you liked—where did all these ridiculous chains of contempt come from?

Su Zhe suddenly thought of something and asked, "By the way, Fat Brother, if I want to improve my Game Sense, movement, and Reaction in-game, what should I do?"

Since he was preparing to go pro, he naturally needed all-around development in every aspect.

After finishing his Ladder matches earlier, he discovered that his Attribute Points had not increased at all. During aim training, only [Positioning] and [Recoil Control] had gained Attribute Points.

He did some rough calculations. Even if he could exchange for one Attribute Point every three days, after a year he would only gain around 120 points.

His panel lacked so much. How could he possibly reach the level of a Professional Player through point allocation alone? He still needed to find ways to improve on his own.

Hearing the question, Fat Brother pulled over a chair and sat beside Su Zhe with great interest.

He had always enjoyed lecturing people. After seeing Su Zhe and Xiao Guang's eye-searing plays before, he had told them to practice their fundamentals and learn utility and the like whenever they had time.

Yet neither of them took it seriously. They even claimed that good aim could crush everything, and as long as they ate well, slept well, and were in good form, they would naturally Rank Up.

That had pissed him off badly at the time. Who would have thought Su Zhe would actually come ask him for advice today?

Fat Brother cleared his throat, then joked with a grin, "Can't Rank Up? Then today, Valorant Junior will give Go Senior a proper lesson!"

Then he began answering Su Zhe's questions one by one. "For movement, you need to train on maps specifically made for movement practice. But honestly, that will not improve your current real-match performance much."

"I suggest you first practice the Pre-aim Challenge. Just make sure your positioning does not expose you to multiple enemies at once. It can also improve your Pre-aim. This is a technique you absolutely have to learn in high-rank games."

"As for Game Sense... that is harder to explain. I suggest watching more Demos from high-rank players or Professional Players. Analyze why they did what they did in each round, then draw inferences from it and apply it to yourself."

"As for Reaction, it is difficult to improve. That mostly depends on Talent, though keeping up with fitness should improve it a little..."

At that point, Fat Brother suddenly revealed a meaningful smile. "Improving it is hard, but maintaining it is easy. Just do not jerk off."

Su Zhe had been listening seriously up until then, but he Could Not Hold Back at that last sentence. Who was he taking a shot at?

Fat Brother continued, "Also, if you really want to seriously Rank Up, I suggest upgrading your computer. I used that laptop of yours once before. Sometimes in actual matches, it drops to thirty or forty FPS when you run into enemies. How are you supposed to play like that?"

Su Zhe nodded when he heard that. This gaming laptop had been left behind by his older brother when he went to college a few years ago. It was practically becoming a relic of its time.

It had still run CSGO smoothly before, but ever since CS2 improved its graphics, the laptop had clearly begun bearing pressure it was never meant to bear.

Fat Brother drifted off topic as he spoke. "Why not come play Valorant with me? That game does not require much in terms of specs."

Su Zhe stopped paying attention to Fat Brother because several ethereal system notifications rang in his ears.

[Daily Training Task Panel has added new tasks]

[Complete the Pre-aim Challenge on the Seven Active Maps (0/1). Current task progress: 0/7]

[Watch one game Demo every day (0/1)]

[Work out for 30 minutes (0/1)]

[...]

[New task obtained: If you want to improve your strength and pull off brilliant plays, good equipment is essential. Please replace and upgrade your computer Configuration List. Reward: D-class reward]

What perfect timing—someone had brought him a pillow just when he was getting sleepy!

He had been worrying that the Rise Points he earned each day were not enough, and now new Daily Tasks had appeared.

Compared to that, the added workload was nothing.

As for the task to replace his computer, Su Zhe found the task description somewhat familiar, but he could not remember where he had heard it before.

Looking at the D-class reward, Su Zhe's eyes turned a little red with envy. Last time, he had drawn [Chosen One] from a random reward. What good thing could he draw this time?

As Su Zhe walked out of the school to get lunch, he stared at the 3,123.75 yuan in his balance and fell into deep thought...

"Hello, bro... could you help me out a little...? I got a girlfriend at school... Don't worry! I am not going to be a simp!"

"Hello~ Mom~ how have you been lately? I got a girlfriend~ Mm~ if I have time during break, I'll bring her home to visit~ Don't worry! I won't spend money recklessly! Oh~ thanks, Mom!"

"Hello~ Dad~ how have you been... What? You want to borrow 500 from me? I have class, so I'm hanging up..."

"Hello~ Cousin~ it's Xiao Zhe~"

During his lunch break, Su Zhe made more than ten calls. Through social maneuvering and shameless pleading, his WeChat wallet balance finally rose to over 8,000 yuan.

He had never been in the habit of borrowing money before, but for the sake of his future, he could only swallow his pride.

"Sigh~ I will not even be able to afford Braised Chicken anymore. Next month, I'll have to live on instant noodles and squeeze my living expenses to pay everyone back."

Carrying this enormous sum of money, Su Zhe first entered Card Bar and browsed around. When he learned that his balance was only enough to buy 0.3 of a Graphics Card, he left dejectedly, turned left, and headed to Tu Ba.

When the old hands in the forum heard that someone had a budget of 5,000 yuan, they became unusually enthusiastic. Some even started giving him advice on what to watch out for when opening an internet café.

After choosing a relatively reliable Configuration List, Su Zhe went to JD.com and began placing his order.

As his trembling fingers entered the payment password one digit at a time, he completed the biggest purchase of his life.

Startup Capital Insufficient—his heart hurt!