Little Lee stared at the gray screen, dumbfounded.
How had he died?
He'd actually been shot in the head?!
What was going on?!
Hadn't he just hit the person in that window? Why was he the one who died instead of the enemy?
Little Lee frowned, seriously suspecting that his opponent was cheating, and opened the replay.
In the replay, Little Lee saw that he really had knocked down the player wearing a Level 3 Helmet. But almost at the same time, another gunman appeared in the window beside them and fired in the blink of an eye, landing a shot on him!
It looked like the player he'd hit was just bait. The real source of the firepower was someone else.
Little Lee sighed, left his desk, and flopped onto his bed, closing his eyes to sleep. He lamented that he'd really let his guard down and stumbled over an ant, getting killed right at the start of a random match. Thankfully, he'd been using a smurf account, so nobody knew it was him. Otherwise, he'd never hear the end of it.
He lay on the bed with his eyes closed for a few seconds, then suddenly opened them again.
Something was off!
How had the other guy fired so fast?
He hadn't even had time to react before he was shot dead. That was an insanely quick draw!
Little Lee scrambled up and rushed back to his computer. It was still on, even left on the game screen from before. He watched the death replay over and over. The more he watched, the more disbelief showed in his eyes!
His opponent was a Chinese expert! Not just some random player!
He was absolutely on the level of a professional, and not just any pro—he was an all-around player with incredible mechanics and awareness! The kind of top-tier player who could hold his own and carry an entire team by himself!
Little Lee perked right up. Another season of the Global Chicken Dinner League was coming up soon, and he would be leading last year's champion team into battle again. They were practically certain to face Chinese esports teams. Since he'd run into such a strong opponent now, why not have a good match with him in advance and sharpen his skills?
So Little Lee sent a friend request to the player with the ID "Chen Zhao."
The result came back quickly: the other player had rejected it!
Little Lee felt a pang in his chest. He was the captain of last year's championship team! The king of Winner Winner Chicken Dinner! And this guy wouldn't even add him as a friend?
Unwilling to give up, Little Lee sent another friend request.
It was rejected again!
Little Lee nearly spat blood. He sent a message to "Chen Zhao":
"Hello, Mr. Chen Zhao. I was the global champion of this game last year. I hope to add your friends and learn skills."
He waited a moment.
Chen Zhao replied, "What are you saying? Can you stop using foreign words? I can't understand!"
Actually, if Chen Zhao had taken the time to read Little Lee's message carefully, he could have understood it. After all, he'd already memorized more than half of the Great English-Chinese Dictionary. But Chen Zhao didn't want to study English while gaming, so English messages like this annoyed him. A jumble of letters—who knew what the guy was saying? So he immediately snapped back.
Little Lee couldn't understand the Chinese message Chen Zhao had sent, so he had no choice but to copy and paste it with his mouse, open translation software, and translate it.
Little Lee's throat tightened when he saw the result. He nearly spat up a mouthful of blood.
He couldn't understand even such simple English?
There was nothing he could do. He was the one asking for a favor, not the other way around. Little Lee had no choice but to translate what he wanted to say into Chinese, then copy and paste it over.
He sent another friend request.
This time, there was no response. The other player neither accepted nor rejected it. Little Lee stared at the screen, waiting and waiting, but no reply came.
Chen Zhao had already started a second match with Little Bamboo Shoot. He was busy looting and sniping people, so he naturally had no time to pay attention to a message from some inexplicable player.
Little Lee waited so long that he grew drowsy. He waited for half an hour before a message finally came.
The other player had accepted!
Little Lee was thrilled. His sleepiness vanished at once. He looked at "Chen Zhao," the Chinese name in his friends list, and clicked to invite him to a team.
But the other player still didn't respond.
Looking closer, Little Lee realized he'd gone offline!
Little Lee was completely stunned. He was the captain of the world champion team in Winner Winner Chicken Dinner, and everyone in the gaming industry fawned over him. Some people would even wait more than ten hours just to get a chance to team up with him and learn from him. At a charity dinner once, a team-up with Little Lee for a match of Winner Winner Chicken Dinner had even sold for $200,000. Three wealthy men had paid that much just to team up with him and play for half an hour.
And now someone had just logged off?
Giving Little Lee's warm enthusiasm the cold shoulder?
Little Lee didn't know what to say. Sleepiness washed over him, and he couldn't be bothered anymore. That damn Chen Zhao—he could do whatever the hell he wanted! Full of resentment, Little Lee threw himself into bed and went to sleep.
I'll definitely team up with this Chen Zhao next time and see how good he is. That was Little Lee's hazy thought before he drifted off.
Chen Zhao had been incredibly lucky during his livestream that day. His follower count had soared, and he'd become a streamer with 200,000 followers. He'd also received a ton of gifts and tips. After cashing them out, he had more than ten thousand yuan!
What a haul!
But even though his viewers were so enthusiastic, Chen Zhao still had to end the stream and get some rest. If he didn't go to bed early, he wouldn't have the energy to study the next day. He still had to take part in the academic competition!
As for the messages Little Lee had sent, Chen Zhao hadn't even looked at them. He'd accepted Little Lee's friend request only because the repeated requests had annoyed him. He'd simply agreed to stop the notifications from constantly popping up.
So Chen Zhao had no idea that tonight he'd gone up against the world's top team captain in Winner Winner Chicken Dinner. And his opponent had even taken the initiative to add him as a friend.
Lying in bed, Chen Zhao quickly went over what he'd studied that day to reinforce it in his memory, then drifted off to sleep.
The next week of Chen Zhao's life could only be described as monotonous and dull: he worked through past competition questions from morning till night, ate, slept, and went to the bathroom, then streamed in the evenings to make money. Every day was the same. Yesterday was just like today, and today would be just like tomorrow.
At last, before the competition began, Chen Zhao had worked through every past competition question he could find.
He'd done everything he could. Now all that was left was to see how he did on the exam.
The exam was being held at Experimental Middle School. The school had arranged a special car to take Chen Zhao and Zhao Xiaobai there.
On the way, Chen Zhao looked out at the scenery, as if he were on a sightseeing tour, while Zhao Xiaobai held her past exam papers and continued reviewing.
"Aren't you going to review?" Zhao Xiaobai nudged Chen Zhao with her elbow.
Before you continue