"That's impossible!" The first to break this silence was E. He didn't just shout… He jumped, grabbed Hil from her arm and glared at her with red eyes. For a moment Hao thought he was going to cry or something.
"Just accept it," Hil pushed his hand firmly before adding, "he is way better than me in everything. Be it mechanics, micro, macro… Even his calculations and meticulous way of thinking are way above mine! I lost fair and square here, so just let it go and accept my loss."
"I can't!" E looked at Hao before adding in a loud tone, "I challenge you over the seat of the leader. You have to accept it!"
Hao looked at him and then at Hil before looking at the theatre. Things were escalating way faster than these kids' ability to grasp what actually happened in that game.
"So you want to challenge me?" Hao crossed his arms as he stood against E with a wide smile.
"That's how things here are done," E shrugged, but Hil was the one to speak next.
"It's not done in that way! He is the crowned leader of the dorm. He has a safe period of one month before anyone can challenge him."
"If he is half as good as you say, then he shall accept without any worries!" E was stubborn and acted exactly like any rash kid Hao ever met before.
"Alright, I can accept that challenge," Hao smirked before motioning towards Hil with his head, "but whoever wants to challenge me has to first win my vice here."
"Who is your vice?" Hil and E asked in the same breath while Hao simply shrugged.
"You are, congrats on the new post," he said before starting to walk away, "We'll meet together tomorrow once I'm awake. Wait for my call."
Even if he shocked Hil and won, his headache was simply too annoying. Staying here and listening to all this mess would just add more fire to his burning head.
He walked in the middle of the theatre while all the gazes were fixed upon him. Hao was familiar with playing in a much grander audience, so he didn't care about these eyes at all.
In fact he was analysing the game he just played with Hil.
'She has nice mechanics but no experience at all in 1Vs1 fights… She is still fierce, but lost most of her skills at strategy… Not half bad actually," he muttered to himself when he returned to his place. As he threw his body over his bed, he recalled again the short clash between him and her.
"Sigh… Even with talents, gamers can't be compared with pros who are living the game as their lives…" he found lots of areas she could improve at.
Such a lack in all these areas was expected. After all she didn't get the support from any pro team even after her viral video years ago.
"She still has good mechanics, but lacks a lot in decision making…" as he turned to the side and closed his eyes, he decided to leave things at this point for now.
He came all the way here expecting things to be messy. So he wasn't surprised or dejected by such a result.
In his eyes, this was just the start. Even if it was so low, it was a start and he would work later on to ascend with everyone to reach his goals; to turn from the prince into a king, reach his girl and have it back!
The next day came and Hao woke up just in the middle of the morning. Once he got up, he felt as if he got a beating as every inch of his body ached.
"F*ck that jet lag!" he cursed while realising he couldn't do his normal work out now.
So instead he decided to do a few stretches. Just as he was done, he looked around.
"I need to take things out… Or I can use them for that," he decided to use the help of his dorm members out of his pure laziness. After all he was their leader now and it didn't feel wrong to use his authority over them in such matters.
After he got a shower, he opened the trolley he held with him before and got out a new outfit.
"I suppose there must be a canteen or something to eat around here," he felt hungry the moment he exited his room. "I'll eat first then go and see her."
"Here you are!"
Just as he exited his room, he met with the face of E and Hil standing on his side.
From just a mere glance, Hao was sure that kid didn't sleep at all last night.
"You were waiting for me here all this time?" Hao asked while stopping in front of the two.
The atmosphere here seemed a bit weird. Hao noticed many eyes spying over his direction.
"I wanted to challenge you!" E was still at that point even after all this time, "I won't accept Hil's defeat, not like that!"
"The girl herself admitted her defeat," Hao smirked, "what? Don't tell me surrender isn't considered one way of being defeated in this game."
"I…"
"Hush… I have a headache and don't want to hear anymore of your whining," Hao raised his fist in front of E's face before turning to Hil as he totally ignored E, "it's nice to meet you here, sparring me the trouble of finding you. Have you eaten your breakfast yet?"
Hil looked at E before turning to Hao. The girl looked hesitant for a moment out of this awkward situation. Compared to the little tigress back at the game last night, she looked more like a docile kitty now. "I already ate," she said while praying for E to not cause anymore trouble.
E didn't really sleep last night as Hao guessed. Just at nine in the morning, he grabbed Hil and dragged her all the way to here to ask Hao for an official challenge.
She tried to dissuade this stubborn kid but she failed. Nothing she said passed through E's thick skull and deafened ears out of rage.
But for Hao, he didn't care about any of that. He knew that E was just a typical example of a bitter loser, a very common type of gamers in the gaming world.
"Then come and show me where I can eat in this place," Hao turned and started walking. Just looking at him walking in such a leisurely and carefree way gave anyone the impression he was like a real king of the dorm.
Even if he hid his fame and previous achievements, he couldn't hide his unique aura. The students all around retreated fast like they were scared of him.
As for E, that kid was still boiling with rage especially after the way Hao treated him just now.
Even before Hil would follow Hao, E walked as he was dead fixed on doing what he had in mind.
As for Hil, she could only inwardly sigh and follow without saying anything. Even the one who lost her position wasn't feeling such bitterness as E.
In fact her fight against Hao last night had a great impact on her. She felt that Hao wasn't as simple as he looked from the surface.
The way he played, the mechanics he showed… even the meticulous calculation he used proved that he wasn't a noob in the game.
Especially that calculation part. As a veteran gamer in this game, she knew how hard it was to keep track of the skills used and mana consumption all during an ongoing and sharply intense game.
Gamers usually tended to use apps to help them in such troubling issues. Yet Hao didn't use anything at all but his mind.
After she went back to her room last night, she couldn't sleep before reviewing the game. She opened her game account and replayed that short game more than dozens of times.
And each time she watched it, she spotted something she missed. After doing all that, she knew her defeat wasn't without a reason. And her decision to give up the fight was indeed a good one.
Yet she felt regretful about this. She wanted to have more fights with him so she could further analyse his game style, and learn from him.
She didn't realise it yet, but that simple game reignited something that died a long time ago; her passion to become a pro player and play on such a high level.
"Where is the canteen here?" As the three got out of the dorm, Hao turned and asked.
"Well… we don't have anything like that for our dorm," Hil's answer came as a surprise for Hao.
"So you always order take away food?"
And the two nodded. That made him a little speechless. If that was the case, then why did none of them stop and tell him about that earlier!
"Alright, let's go back to my room," he decided to forget about this matter, "tell me that at least you have contacts with nearby restaurants."
"I won't give you anything," E said in an aggressive tone, but Hao didn't even spare him a glance and only looked at Hil.
"I'll call a nearby chicken restaurant… You like chicken, right?"
"Do you have their menu?"
She took out her phone, scrolled at it for a few moments before handing it over to him. He selected a combo meal, deciding to have lunch instead of a simple breakfast.
"Do you want anything?" he looked at her before adding, "it's on me."
"No thanks, I can handle myself," E jumped in again and like before, Hao totally ignored him.
He was experienced at dealing with such annoying trolls like any decent gamer. The best thing was to totally ignore them. At some point, these dudes would grow tired and would stop their useless sh*t.
"I'll have one big Ceasar combo meal," in response to E's childish acts, Hil decided to give him a proper lesson.
"Hil… You can't…"
"Who the hell are you to tell me what I can and can't do?" Just before E could continue his words, Hil turned and exploded at him with everything she kept inside her from last night.
"I'm your friend… and he…" E stuttered as he was shocked to see the response of Hil. he thought he was helping her, he thought she understood what he was doing. It was all for her sake, he kept telling himself that until he bought it!
"Edward… For our past time together please stop acting like this and leave!" Hil didn't give him any room to speak.
"He is an outsider!" E was still immersed inside his own illusions. Hao only stood on the side, watching this without even speaking a single word.
"He is our boss now, our leader, not an outsider!"
"You… You even defend him… Against me?!!" E's eyes went all wide open and turned instant red. He was feeling like someone got betrayed, and from one of his closest friends, if not the closest.
"I hate you!" he shouted, turned around and ran while not even looking back.
"What's his problem?" as that troll went back to his own world, Hao spoke. And Hil sighed in a tired way.
"He is… Just this big and have this brain," she motioned with her index and thumb, indicating how small his brain was.
"Ok, go on and order our meal," he shrugged, "I'll take that combo."
"Hmm," she nodded as Hao went inside his room, and left the door open. As for Hil, she just hesitated while looking at the number of E at her recent call list. She hesitated for a long moment before searching for the number of that restaurant.
She took a few minutes to make the order before coming inside the room. In fact this wasn't the first time for her to enter this secluded section in the dorm.
But when she entered, she was shocked to see the big boxes lying in the side rooms.
As she reached the main room, she held an urging question in her eyes.
"What are these things?" she asked. Yet Hao pointed to the big desk in the room before sitting on the main brown leathered seat behind it.
"It's things needed for the upcoming game," he said while watching her sitting in front of him.
Hil wasn't that bad as a girl, but he wasn't in the mind of thinking about her beauty. He was already at the start line of his plan, ready to take the first real step.
"Do you mean Dawn?" her eyes flashed as if she heard something exciting, "Are you going to play it?"
"Who won't?" he smiled, "all the game producing companies cooperated together to make this game. The entire world is going to play this game sooner or later."
"Sounds like a good salesman for the game," she chuckled and he could only shake his head in silence.
Of course what he said was a fact. All the big names in the gaming world worked together to bring forth this mind blowing game.
As far as Hao knew, the current developers of the game industry agreed that making a VR game at this point of time was impossible thanks to many big and glaring technological issues.
Yet the gap between the current games and the desired VR games was very big already. And that wasn't only in the form of technological differences, but also in the general mindset of most if not all the current gamers.
So they decided to work towards one goal, to decrease such a gap as much as possible. They collaborated together, and even asked for the help of a massive social media company for a couple of years and developed this new game called Dawn of Heroes, or shortly known as Dawn.
"So these boxes have the legendary rumoured stations of this game?" Hil motioned her head towards one of the big boxes in the room.
"You read about it then, good girl," Hao didn't hide this from her as he nodded.
"And the new keyboard?"
"Everything is there," Hao said, "enough to arm fifteen players."
"Fifteen… So low…" she mumbled in a low and dejected tone. But he could hear her from such a close distance.
"Low? These things cost me a fortune," he snorted, "haven't you checked the cost of these things?"
"Not yet," she shook her head, "we used to get all of our supply from our benevolent lady."
"Yes, I can see that," he tried to keep his tone neutral, but he failed to contain his disdain for the old equipment here.
"I know it's not that fancy," her face turned slightly red when she noticed his attitude, "not everyone is as wealthy as you."
"You bet it," he felt a little bitter when she said that. He was considered a multi millionaire six months ago. But after his lawsuits and the compensation fee he paid for his team, he ended up with no more than a few millions, not even exceeding one tenth of what he originally had.