Time flew like an arrow.
In a blink of an eye, the day the college reopened was here.
In the past two weeks, other than working out in the gym with Lin Yumeng, all Su Chen had done was practice piano and guitar at home. He had successfully boosted his piano and guitar playing skills up to the advanced level. His sister, who called herself a musical genius, was devastated.
The college was welcoming the freshmen, so sophomore year students began the semester two days earlier.
Su Chen lived in the dormitory, but he would sometimes go back and stay at home during weekends.
Before entering his room, he could hear the familiar roars coming from inside.
"Hurry, Lord Xin! Come help me kill this stone man. He has too much flesh!"
"Let me finish the jungling!"
"Argghhh! I just died, you fucking jungle!"
"Told you to wait for a second. Why the fuck did you have to rush?"
"..."
Su Chen opened the door and met a familiar sight.
In the middle of the room, the students had arranged a few tables side by side. Two young men sat together, attentively playing the video game LOL.
A guy with glasses sat on the bed farthest from the door, his back against the wall. He read while he listened to music with his earphones. He immersed himself in his own world, giving out the vibe that reading in the bustle of a city would naturally calm one down.
These three guys were his roommates.
The one with a tall, burly frame was Guo Lei. He came from Jingdu.
The one who played video games with him was Pan Xiaojie, a pretty good-looking guy. He originated from the state of Sanjin. It was said that his family owned a coal mine.
In contrast to Su Chen, who withheld his family's wealth, Pan Xiaojie was quite well known in college, a womanizer. In his freshman year, he had already replaced his girlfriend four to five times.
The last guy, who wore glasses, was Zheng Bin. He almost got into the University of Huatsing. Ever since they started college, his only goal was to get into the graduate program at the University of Huatsing. His life consisted of eating, sleeping, and studying.
Zheng Bin did not spend much time with them, but he was quite a nice guy. He was usually the first one to wake up in the morning and would bring each of them breakfast. The other three would pay Zheng Bin 200 RMB each month for the favor.
None of his roommates noticed Su Chen when he opened the door.
"Hey, guys—well, I return with glory. How can you ignore me like this?" Su Chen yelled grumpily.
The three guys looked up at Su Chen simultaneously, and their jaws dropped.
"Holy shit! Su Chen, you did lose weight," Guo Lei blurted out. His bull's eyes were wide open.
"Jeez, looks like I'm no longer the most handsome guy in the class." Pan Xiaojie shook his head with regret.
Zheng Bin did not say anything but stared at Su Chen with envy.
Who didn't want a money-making face?
"You guys arrived so early!" Su Chen started to unpack his luggage.
"Early? It's about time to take attendance. Only locals like you are this relaxed." Pan Xiaojie gaped at him sullenly.
"Shit! I'm gonna surrender. The stone man is too fast. I can't beat him." Guo Lei hit the button to call a request to surrender. A unanimous vote of his teammates passed his request, and the game ended.
"Su Chen, hurry! Log into the game. Let's fight a few battles together," Guo Lei urged him.
"Nah, I need to unpack," replied Su Chen.
"What's the hurry? Unpack at night. Come on, don't be a party pooper," said Pan Xiaojie.
"Fine, you rookies still need me to rescue you! One second—I'll get my laptop." Su Chen grinned and took his laptop out of his luggage.
"Call us rookies? Aren't you ashamed, you dog?"
"Yeah, for better or for worse, we have reached the platinum level. You are the one who shouldn't hold us back!" The two were indignant.
"I hold you back?" Su Chen laughed. "I'll show you the Blind Monk; he's super awesome."
During the holidays, he had often helped his childish mother to up-level at home. His video gaming skill was already at the advanced level.
Even if he couldn't beat the professional gamers, teasing a few platinum players was also fun.
"No—here comes the Primary School Monk again!"
"Don't give us the Blind Monk. Please don't! We're wrong; just choose a supporting thug!"
They flustered immediately when they heard that Su Chen was gonna show them the Blind Monk.
"Two wieners—just follow me and shout 'Awesome' behind me," said Su Chen calmly.
"Can we…not wait for him?" said Pan Xiaojie while looking at Guo Lei.
Guo Lei pretended to contemplate his request and nodded seriously.
The two were joking; they were not going to play without him. Gaming was just next in importance. The most important thing was to screw someone over altogether.
Plus, with Su Chen's presence, someone would be there to take the blame even if they lost, right?
To ensure a better gaming experience, Pan Xiaojie, the nouveau riche, had bought 100MB internet data for their room. The internet speed was no joke. Su Chen's gaming software finished updating in a heartbeat.
When they waited, Pan Xiaojie saw that two girls from their class were also online, so he invited them into their gang to play. One of the girls was their heroinic class monitor, Xu Lei.
"Wow, Su Chen is here too? Guo Lei, Pan Xiaojie—has he become more handsome?" Xu Lei's voice came out of the voice message in their team's group chat.
"It's true—more handsome than me. You'll see him later when we gather for registration." Pan Xiaojie said, looking at Su Chen bitterly.
Su Chen, speechless, rolled his eyes at him.
"Really…I'm so looking forward to seeing him in person right now," said Xu Lei frantically.
"Which area are you guys gonna play?" the cold voice of the other girl sounded from the group chat.
Mu Ya, who was Xu Lei's roommate, was quite beautiful, but a little cold.
The most unique thing was that although she was a girl, her video gaming skill was much better than that of most guys. Rumor had it that she was going to become a professional gamer, but her family stopped her, so she came to the University of Magic City.
"I'm going to play the Top Lane. Mu Ya, are you gonna do a live broadcast today?" Guo Lei asked blissfully.
Indeed, Mu Ya was a video game streamer. She only started doing live streaming less than a year ago, but her beauty and gaming skills had already gained her a huge number of fans.
Su Chen once accidentally heard some girls say enviously that Mu Ya's monthly income from the live streaming was more than 10,000 RMB.
"Nope," Mu Ya replied dryly.
"Phew! Thank god you're not; your viewers would only zap my skills!" Guo Lei laughed.
"Oh god, we're dead! Su Chen has chosen the Blind Monk. Ya, it's all up to you now!" Pan Xiaojie growled when he saw that Su Chen confirmed his selection of the Blind Monk.
"It's fine! It's fine! We have Mu Ya. She'll lead us."
Right after Xu Lei finished her sentence, Mu Ya abruptly said, "Be steady. This round is gonna be hard. The one who's jungling in our opposing team is a professional gamer; she's playing with her subaccount."
"What?"
They quickly looked at the ID of the player who was jungling.
"Missy Qiaoqiao!"
"It's a girl's ID, isn't it?" Su Chen, confused, asked.
"Uh-huh, MG's female professional gaming team's jungler," Mu Ya responded instantly. She seemed really concerned.
Even though the jungler was from a female team, she was still a professional and way out of the platinum players' league.
"That's all right. So what if we lose? It's just entertainment." Pan Xiaojie laughed.
"I always play seriously. Come on, I don't wanna lose!" Mu Ya's deep voice hinted at her determination. She continued, "Su Chen, if you don't know how to operate the Blind Monk, give him to me, you play AD!"
"No, I'll jungle then!" Su Chen refused. He hated AD the most because he had to keep stabbing, and it was so boring.
Mu Ya frowned slightly. "Then, try your best not to die."