Only master and pupil remained in the training room.
Their ranked match was found, and the loading screen appeared. Their duo had been matched with three random teammates.
Qingxiao rested his fingers on the keyboard and glanced at Itadori beside him, who was raring to go, his mouse hand already sweating. An ominous feeling inexplicably arose in him:
"Stay close, don't wander off, and follow my instructions."
"Roger!"
Itadori sat bolt upright, looking ready to get down to business.
Three minutes later.
Footstep cues came through their headsets. In his panic, Itadori hit the wrong key and tossed a flashbang. It bounced off the wall and came straight back, turning Qingxiao's entire screen white.
The two stood rooted to the spot as the enemy rushed over and scored a double kill.
Qingxiao stared at the gray screen for half a second before slowly turning toward Itadori:
"Nice. How much did they pay you? I'll double it. Why don't you just give them my coordinates in real time?"
"Sorry, sorry! My hand slipped!"
Itadori hurriedly stood up and bowed in apology, his face flushed bright red.
A random teammate chimed in over their headsets, "Is this guy a newbie? What a liability." Itadori lowered his head a little further.
In the second round, they had barely reached a corner when Itadori heard footsteps and panicked. A Molotov flew from his hand and landed squarely at Qingxiao's feet.
Flames whooshed up. Qingxiao lost a third of his health, his movement was disrupted, and an enemy sniper picked him off from a distance.
Looking at his empty health bar, Qingxiao pulled a face of sheer agony:
"If you want my AK, just say so. No need to burn me alive and loot my corpse, is there?"
"I didn't mean to! I got too