Little Bamboo Shoot immediately panicked and started shouting:
"Why are you bringing up all this nonsense again?! It's not what you think! I just wanted a pro to carry me into the Final Circle. I can't get there on my own..."
Some of the viewers in the livestream started mocking Little Bamboo Shoot's terrible gaming skills again. She panicked once more:
"I'm actually really good! I've just had bad luck, that's all!"
While Little Bamboo Shoot was chatting and bickering with her livestream viewers, Chen Zhao took over as team leader. He selected the Snow Map, chose duo mode, and started the match!
Little Bamboo Shoot was a little surprised. "Why are we playing the Snow Map?"
Before this, Chen Zhao had mostly taken Little Bamboo Shoot to play the Island Map, and occasionally the Desert Map. They hadn't tried the Snow Map yet.
"Let's change things up and try something new. Isn't it boring to play the same map all the time?" Chen Zhao said.
"Oh, okay! I'll follow you when we parachute." Little Bamboo Shoot promptly went back to clinging to her carry.
The Quality Plaza was unusually quiet this time. Nobody was shouting, "Everyone drop at xxx! Anyone who doesn't is my grandson!" Nobody was calling out, "Flying hacks, underground hacks, teleport hacks, invincibility hacks!" And there wasn't a single "Hey, handsome! Hey, pretty lady! Want to team up?" The players were all very quiet, making no noise.
Chen Zhao thought it was strange. Something was off. Shouldn't the Quality Plaza be bustling with noise? What was with this eerily quiet atmosphere?
"We might have ended up in a bot match," Little Bamboo Shoot suddenly said.
"A bot match?" Chen Zhao was taken aback. "Aren't those only in the mobile version of Winner Winner Chicken Dinner? How come they're in the PC version too?"
"They added them a couple of months ago. The game developers noticed that the number of active players was dropping, and figured lots of less-skilled players kept dying right after landing, so they didn't want to play anymore. So they added a bunch of bots to improve the player experience," Little Bamboo Shoot explained. "I heard you can occasionally get a match that's all bots. That's when the Quality Plaza gets really quiet."
Chen Zhao carefully watched the other players in the Quality Plaza. A third of them stood perfectly still like statues, another third bounced up and down like they were on springs, and the last third shuffled along with their heads bowed... Clearly, these repetitive movements were programmed bot behavior. Real players' movements were much more chaotic.
"Since it's a bot match, I'll try not to do much. I'll leave all the kills for you," Chen Zhao said.
"Okay, okay! That's great! Just watch my aim!" Little Bamboo Shoot got excited. Chen Zhao had always been the one carrying her, and now she finally had a chance to fend for herself!
Soon, the countdown ended, and they boarded the plane.
Chen Zhao chose to follow Little Bamboo Shoot when they parachuted, planning to let her pick off the bots while he coasted through the match.
Little Bamboo Shoot hesitated, then marked a spot on Castle. When they were within 1,500 meters, she jumped immediately!
In the blink of an eye, the two of them landed on Castle's rooftop and started searching for supplies.
Castle was still a pretty lucrative place to loot. After just two minutes of searching, Chen Zhao had already found a Level 2 Helmet and a Level 2 Vest, five energy drinks, three first aid kits, a fully kitted Vector without a scope, and an SKS marksman rifle with a 4x Scope.
The Vector submachine gun and the SKS marksman rifle were both pretty good weapons. The Vector's drawback was its tiny magazine, but with an extended quickdraw magazine, its capacity went up to 33 rounds, which was just about acceptable. At close range, the Vector's damage was explosive, and it was incredibly stable. The SKS marksman rifle wasn't as powerful as a bolt-action sniper, but it could fire repeatedly. A few consecutive shots could bring even a cheater to their knees!
After searching all of Castle, Chen Zhao had added a 3x Scope to his Vector and fully kitted his SKS. He was loaded up with all sorts of supplies. Not bad at all.
Little Bamboo Shoot finished looting too and ran over, twirling in front of Chen Zhao.
A Level 3 Helmet, Level 3 Vest, Level 3 Backpack, Ghillie Suit, Pan, AWM sniper rifle, and fully kitted M416!
Chen Zhao was stunned. "What is this supposed to be?! Where did you get all that gear?"
"The airdrop landed on that rooftop you can climb up to. I went over and looted it, and ended up with all this." Little Bamboo Shoot looked very pleased with herself. "Pretty stacked, huh? Don't I look cool?"
Chen Zhao nearly spat blood. An airdrop had landed right in front of him, and he hadn't even noticed?
But it didn't matter. Only the weak needed high-level gear. A powerhouse like Chen Zhao could win Winner Winner Chicken Dinner even stark naked, with nothing but a little pistol in his hand... That sounded like a bit too much bragging. You get the idea!
"Let's hold the rooftop. If any real players spot the red smoke from the airdrop, they'll probably come over and try to steal it," Chen Zhao said.
The two of them made their way up to the top of Castle and began scanning in every direction. This was one of the Snow Map's most scenic spots: the sky stretched above an endless wilderness, all silver with snow and strikingly beautiful. As far as the eye could see, snow weighed down the green pines, and the icy river gleamed blue. A few little wooden cabins dotted the distance, rustic and desolate.
Meanwhile, in North America, inside a villa.
A skinny young white man with messy hair and sunken eyes sat in front of his computer. His setup looked incredibly flashy. His keyboard glowed in every color, his monitor was wider than three ordinary screens put together, and even his computer tower was liquid-cooled. The water could be heard rushing inside.
Any esports fan would recognize the young man at a glance.
He was the captain of last year's Global Chicken Dinner League championship team, Bob Lee Swagger!
In last year's Global Chicken Dinner League, he had led his team all the way to the finals, defeating the French team, the Korean team, and the Chinese team one after another to claim the championship. His performance had been dazzling, and his gameplay had been incredibly slick!
He was short and skinny, with a thin, high-pitched voice, so Chinese esports fans had nicknamed him "Little Lee."
This year's Global Chicken Dinner League was about to begin again, and Little Lee had started training day and night at his villa. He played Winner Winner Chicken Dinner for up to sixteen hours a day. Apart from eating, sleeping, and going to the bathroom, he spent nearly all his time sitting in front of his computer. That was the life of a professional esports player. No entertainment, no slacking off, no going out to party—just staying cooped up indoors, fingers flying, day after day.
He had just finished a match against professional players. The others had logged off and gone to sleep, but Little Lee felt he still had energy to spare. So he decided to play a casual match, pick off some easy targets, and relax.
Last year, his team's rivals in the finals had been the Chinese team. After giving it some thought, Little Lee decided to switch over to the Chinese server and play a casual match.
Solo duo mode, random map.
The match began, and before him lay snow-covered pines: the Snow Map.
But the Quality Plaza was quiet, with no sign of any real players. They were all bots. Little Lee was terribly disappointed. Had he really been matched into a bot game?
He was about to quit, but the plane had already taken off. After thinking it over, Little Lee decided to just parachute in and get it over with. He'd win a chicken dinner, then go to sleep.
Before you continue