Chapter 11

Pei Ran still hadn't lasted five minutes this round. Watching the enemy crouch down and slurp up the loot from his crate, he couldn't help frowning.

Had this game always been so hard?

He unlocked his phone and glanced through his messages. Most were from Lin Kang-screenshots of Su Nian gossiping in the group chat.

[Lin Kang: [Chat history] Fuck, I used to think he was just a little fussy and high-maintenance. Turns out he's a fucking gossip too.]

[Lin Kang: What exactly did you do to piss him off? Want me to add you to the group? Don't worry, I'll definitely back you up.]

[Lin Kang: If you don't feel comfortable, I'll tell him off for you. We're all friends. Saying that stuff is out of line.]

[Pei Ran: Don't, thanks.]

[Pei Ran: No need to send me screenshots. I'll buy you a meal sometime.]

Pei Ran opened the chat history and read it again, his face expressionless.

Actually, Su Nian wasn't entirely wrong. He really didn't think much of him.

Yan Zhun's team invitation came through. Pei Ran tossed his phone aside and accepted.

"Boss." Yan Zhun's voice was a little hoarse, as though he had just woken up.

Pei Ran answered instinctively. "Hm?"

Then he added, "You don't have to call me that..."

Yan Zhun stripped the clothes off his character, leaving it in the same default outfit as Pei Ran's.

After a moment's thought, he changed his character to a woman too.

"Want to try something different today?" Yan Zhun asked.

Pei Ran asked, "Like what?"

"Duos on Sanhok," Yan Zhun said. "I'll take you out killing."

Pei Ran's lips quirked. Although they had won several chicken dinners yesterday, he had often finished a match without a single kill.

Getting carried to victory was still fun, though. "Okay," he said.

He soon understood what Yan Zhun meant by taking him out killing.

As soon as they entered the game, Yan Zhun placed a marker on Bootcamp.

Bootcamp, commonly known as Tilt Town, was a place with fewer supplies than death crates. Once you landed, it was kill or be killed.

"Jump," Yan Zhun reminded him.

Pei Ran hurriedly pressed F and descended using the parachuting techniques Yan Zhun had taught him yesterday.

As they neared Bootcamp, Pei Ran glanced behind him at the dense swarm of people. "..."

"Land at the three warehouses. Stay close."

The moment he landed, Pei Ran's headphones filled with gunfire from every direction, reminding him of the symphony concert he had attended a while ago.

He scrambled to pick up a gun. By the time he had loaded it, Yan Zhun had already killed two people.

Pei Ran was about to follow him when he heard a door open behind him. A moment later, someone knocked him down, mercilessly finished him off, and promptly ran away.

The player had come running from farther away, so Yan Zhun hadn't seen them while parachuting. After wiping out two teams, he asked, "What was the person who killed you wearing?"

Pei Ran paused. "I think... the default clothes. Forget it."

"Spectate and wait a minute." Yan Zhun finished looting. "This won't take long."

Ten minutes later, Yan Zhun had single-handedly cleared out everyone in Bootcamp wearing default clothes, gun in hand.

When only one team remained, Yan Zhun knocked one of them down, then turned on his mic and asked, "What's your teammate wearing?"

Utterly bewildered, the player answered obediently, "A black coat. The really expensive one. Do you want it? I'll have him take it off for you."

Then, under the player's eager gaze, Yan Zhun blew himself up with a grenade.

Pei Ran was stunned. "You didn't have to grenade yourself. I don't mind watching you play."

"I'm not playing without you," Yan Zhun said. "Hit ready. Next match."

After three consecutive drops, Pei Ran finally got a kill.

"Yan Zhun, I killed someone!" His palms felt burning hot, and he blurted out, "And... I killed two!"

Only afterward did he feel embarrassed-two kills in three matches. Any random teammate Yan Zhun got would be better than him.

"I saw," Yan Zhun picked up naturally. "Nice work."

Pei Ran's heart was racing. He felt even more nervous than he did during exams.

Now that he was getting the hang of it, Pei Ran killed another player. A few minutes later, Tilt Town fell silent.

"Yan Zhun," Pei Ran asked quietly, "is everyone gone?"

Yan Zhun laughed at him. "Yeah, you killed them all... You don't have to lower your voice. Only I can hear you."

Pei Ran felt a little silly too. He was crouched inside a building, looting a crate, when Yan Zhun suddenly vaulted through the window. After last night, Pei Ran had developed a conditioned reflex to this move. Without thinking, he unequipped his gun and dropped it on the floor.

Yan Zhun's character visibly paused. A moment later, he said, amusement in his voice, "I just wanted to see if this crate had a spare scope."

Pei Ran: "..."

Pei Ran immediately picked his gun back up. He didn't think he had ever grabbed a gun that quickly even upon landing.

Yan Zhun said, "But I still want to use your gun."

Yan Zhun crouched beside him and dropped his own gun. "I'll stop teasing... Give me another chance to get a buff."

Pei Ran turned and left. "Forget it. No trade."

Yan Zhun got up and chased him all over Bootcamp. Then, when Pei Ran stopped to pick something up, he used a character emote to kneel before him and make a deep bow.

Pei Ran bowed back.

Yan Zhun bowed again.

They spent ages bowing to each other like idiots before Pei Ran finally gave him the gun.

Yan Zhun asked, "Done bowing? We only needed one more."

Pei Ran didn't understand. "One more what?"

"Nothing."

Yan Zhun turned on autorun, muted his mic, and lit a cigarette, thinking that one more bow would have sent them straight to the bridal chamber.

They played two more matches. Just as Pei Ran was getting hooked, Yan Zhun said, "Let's drop somewhere else this round. It's raining hard here. I can't hear footsteps."

Only then did Pei Ran notice the sound of raindrops hitting the window.

"It's raining here too."

Yan Zhun hummed. "We're in the same area. I live near Manzhong."

Pei Ran blurted out, "I went to Manzhong for high school."

"I know," Yan Zhun said. "We went to the same school."

Pei Ran paused. He didn't remember ever seeing Yan Zhun in high school.

When he said nothing, Yan Zhun added, "Don't bother thinking about it. We were a floor apart. We wouldn't have run into each other."

Pei Ran gave an absent reply. Something about that sentence struck him as odd, but before he could think it through, Yan Zhun interrupted.

"Jump. I'll play seriously this round and get you a chicken dinner."

They played duos all evening. As he closed the game, Pei Ran suddenly remembered the vacation schedule he had drawn up before the break.

"Come find me again tomorrow," Yan Zhun drawled. "Boss."

Plans were made to be broken, Pei Ran thought.

Before bed, Pei Ran opened WeChat to check his messages as usual. Only when he saw twenty-three unread messages from Luo Qingshan did he remember that something truly disgusting had happened to him today.

His evening in Tilt Town had been so thrilling that he had almost forgotten all about it.

Luo Qingshan's messages were nothing but explanations: he hadn't been checking the group chat and didn't know what had happened between Pei Ran and Su Nian. He also said he really had cut ties with Su Nian and asked Pei Ran not to misunderstand.

After reading them, Pei Ran cleared the screen as usual, closed his eyes, and went to sleep.

The break flew by. Only when his mother called did Pei Ran suddenly realize that this was his last day off.

His mother fussed over him on the phone, blaming herself for not being able to return to China to keep him company, and asked what he had done over the break.

Pei Ran blinked rapidly a few times and lied rather clumsily. "Just did a little drawing."

In reality, he had been engrossed in gaming and had even gradually started getting the hang of recoil control.

After hanging up, Pei Ran hesitated for a while before deciding to cancel today's gaming session.

He had just opened WeChat when a voice message arrived from the other end.

"Boss Pei, there's a new vehicle. A helicopter. You can even shoot from the passenger seat." Yan Zhun asked, "When are you getting on? I'll take you flying."

Pei Ran bit his lip and lowered his head to type.

"I'm not playing today."

Deleted.

"A little later, maybe."

Deleted.

Savoring the milky sweetness of a White Rabbit candy, Yan Zhun watched the "typing" indicator above his boss's chat window with interest.

Who knew how much time passed.

[Pei Ran: Okay.]

The corners of Yan Zhun's mouth lifted involuntarily, and he crunched the milk candy between his teeth.

Feeling guilty, Pei Ran turned on his computer. As soon as he logged into PUBG, a team invitation popped up on the right, and he accepted it without thinking.

Once in the team, he saw that the person beside him was dressed flamboyantly, decked out from head to toe in discontinued cosmetics.

Before Pei Ran could react, the host started the game. It was a duo match, with just the two of them on the team.

"Pei Ran..." Luo Qingshan's voice came through his headphones, low and aggrieved. He murmured softly, "You're finally willing to talk to me."

Yan Zhun logged in to invite him, only to see that "ranbaobei" was already in a match.

He looked farther down. "airanbaobei" was in a match too.

Yan Zhun lowered his eyes. After a long while, he picked up his phone and sent a message.

[Yan Zhun: ?]

[Pei Ran: I started a match by accident...]

[Pei Ran: Play on your own for a little while.]

So Yan Zhun leaned back in his chair, smoking as he stared at Pei Ran's ID.

His phone chimed. Someone had added him to another new group chat, though this time it wasn't Su Nian.

[Lin Kang: Let's talk in this group from now on.]

[Lin Kang: Should I add Pei Ran? @Luo Qingshan]

[Lin Kang: @Luo Qingshan Where are you?]

[Luo Qingshan: Don't add him yet.]

[Luo Qingshan: Leave me alone. I'm playing duos with my wife.]

[Lin Kang: ?? You made up?]

[Luo Qingshan: He's finally talking to me... Anyway, I'm off.]

Yan Zhun closed the group chat and reached up to stub out his cigarette, accidentally brushing his fingertips against the ash and leaving a dirty smudge.

Ignoring the smudge, he placed a WeChat voice call to Lin Xuhuan.

The call connected quickly. "What? I'm streaming."

"Got room in your squad? Invite me."

Lin Xuhuan paused. "What, forcing me to buy your services?"

"No charge," Yan Zhun said quietly. "Your squad's rating is high. The kills will feel good."

Lin Xuhuan laughed. "Why so aggressive? Sure, I'll invite you now... Not keeping that boss of yours company today?"

Yan Zhun laughed too, but there was little feeling in it. "Yeah. My boss doesn't need me today."