Chapter 2: Substitute Player
Luo Jing was losing repeatedly, and losing miserably.
The feeling of being constantly defeated was very unpleasant. He felt so angry he wanted to punch a wall and even started to wonder if he could find a substitute player online right now.
Not long after the second game started, he died mindlessly and was waiting for his character to respawn.
He was letting his mind wander, wondering if he could suddenly grasp the true meaning of the game, then rush out of the base and coolly turn the tables, deeply impressing the two opponents with his gaming skills so much that they would beg him to be their master. Suddenly, a slender, attractive hand appeared in front of him.
Luo Jing froze, following the hand to its owner, then blinked.
After realizing what Huai Dan meant, he subconsciously glanced at his phone screen, hesitating for a second.
A second later, he readily placed the phone in the other boy’s hand.
After handing over the phone, Luo Jing first made a “shush” gesture to Huai Dan, then reached for the tablet on the bedside table, opening the notepad.
His character still had half a minute left to respawn. Huai Dan had just finished looking at the equipment interface when his sleeve was tugged.
He looked over and saw Luo Jing holding up the tablet for him to see. It read: Big Brother, you know how to play, right?
Huai Dan nodded.
Luo Jing was immediately relieved. He then spoke confidently and assertively, “So what if you have an older brother, I can still beat you.”
He was talking to the person on the other end of the screen.
The other person laughed, clearly disbelieving.
So Luo Jing also gave a cryptic laugh, intending to confuse the enemy.
Huai Dan had played this game before. Ye Lin had recommended it to him, and after playing it, he found it quite enjoyable. So, in his spare time, when his studies weren’t too demanding, he was often dragged into playing a few rounds.
The child typed quickly. A few seconds later, his arm was poked again.
Huai Dan looked up at the tablet and found another sentence added:
— Big Brother, you really can, right?
Wasn’t it a little too late to confirm after all the boasting?
The irritation in his eyes was dispelled, replaced by a slight smile. Huai Dan freed one hand and replied below that sentence: “I’ll try my best.”
Luo Jing inexplicably had full confidence in him. Seeing his reply, his confidence soared. He shifted closer to Huai Dan, leaned his head over, and started spectating and providing commentary.
Huai Dan’s fingertips unconsciously swiped across the screen.
In his peripheral vision, the child beside him, leaning in close, was intently staring at the respawn timer on the screen, looking very expectant.
This kid really was quite comfortable around strangers.
But to his surprise, he didn’t seem to mind.
Next, Luo Jing witnessed how good his Brother Huai was at gaming.
At first, Huai Dan controlled the character in an ordinary manner, his movements seemingly no different from Luo Jing’s. He conservatively cleared the minion wave under his own defense tower, as if afraid of the enemy.
He even got hit by the opponent’s skills several times due to positioning errors, resulting in his health never being full.
Seeing this, the boy on the other end of the phone started taunting: “Luo Jing, why are you even more cowardly than before?”
Luo Jing was a little anxious now, but still retorted: “You don’t understand.”
Then he glanced at the screen and then at Huai Dan.
Huai Dan still had the same expressionless face, as if he hadn’t heard their conversation at all, or didn’t care. Luo Jing inexplicably saw a look of composure on his face.
So he also felt reassured.
Although he seemed to be at a disadvantage, Huai Dan didn’t miss any of the resources or minion waves he should have taken. On the contrary, the opponent wasted a lot of skills due to being overly confident.
Seeing that the time was right, Huai Dan consumed the health pack that had just respawned under the defense tower. Without even waiting for his health to fully recover, while his health bar was still ticking upwards, he controlled his character to leave the range of his own defense tower.
The opponent, seeing him come out at this time, thought he finally couldn’t stand it anymore.
But when they engaged, he suddenly realized that his mana was clearly running low.
But the kid on the other side wasn’t very skilled, even with low mana he could still… Huh? Wait?
Deskmate’s older brother: “???”
Luo Jing stared at the screen, completely failing to see Brother Huai’s moves. In short, it was dazzling.
When he came back to his senses, the opponent’s corpse was already lying on the ground, looking as bewildered as he felt.
After a two-second daze, Luo Jing suddenly exclaimed: “So awesome!”
Huai Dan cleared the minion wave in front of him and continued moving without changing his expression, as if the person he had just killed was just another minion.
Luo Jing instantly felt awed by Brother Huai’s coolness.
He was filled with respect.
Children of this age have a natural admiration for people who are good at games, let alone the fact that Huai Dan had helped him defeat someone he felt he could never beat.
And Huai Dan was also very good-looking.
He just liked good-looking people.
From this moment on, Luo Jing’s fondness for Huai Dan skyrocketed. He even thought it would be great to have an older brother like this.
Then he thought again, a brother-in-law wasn’t that different from a real brother.
After being bullied by him for so many years, his sister had finally done something good.
“Hehe.” Thinking this, he couldn’t help but chuckle, a secret joy of having found a strong ally blooming in his heart.
“You just got lucky!” The boy on the other side didn’t know the player had changed and thought Luo Jing was mocking his brother, so he said angrily.
“I can win next time too.” Luo Jing came back to his senses and responded triumphantly, somewhat basking in reflected glory.
Hearing the child’s voice beside him, Huai Dan’s lips curled slightly.
It seemed he had been inexplicably drawn into a childish war.
But he seemed quite willing.
At first, the opponent still held onto a glimmer of hope, thinking that “Luo Jing” had only won by luck before. But after repeated defeats, falling down again and again to become a bewildered corpse, the opponent gradually realized something was wrong.
After being crushed in one game and stubbornly starting another only to lose again, the deskmate finally couldn’t help but ask: “Did you also find someone to play for you?!”
The word “also” was used very cleverly.
“No, I played myself. How about it, pretty awesome, right?” Luo Jing glanced at Huai Dan, feeling a twinge of guilt for a moment. Seeing no other reaction from him, he cleared his throat and continued: “I don’t have an older brother, I wouldn’t find a substitute like you.”
The deskmate wanted to retort, but he had no evidence and was also in the wrong, so he could only sullenly exit the results screen.
The game ended around eleven o’clock at night. The next day was New Year’s Eve, so Luo Jing decided to go to bed early.
After getting Huai Dan’s consent, he turned off the lights in the room.
The long-ignored phone by the bed was picked up by Huai Dan. There were too many messages, and they seemed to be increasing.
Although Huai Dan didn’t want to reply to any of them, some couldn’t be ignored. So he turned the brightness to the lowest setting and started to deal with the messages with an impassive face.
Ye Lin’s last message was five minutes ago, asking if he had been chatting with ghosts since he hadn’t replied for so long.
Huai Dan replied that he was playing games. Ye Lin said could he at least make up a decent excuse, he hadn’t seen him online at all.
Huai Dan sent a period.
Ye Lin: [So where did you run off to? You’re not really homeless, are you? Are you under some overpass right now? Should I come pick you up?]
Ye Lin: [But seriously, if you really can’t, just come to my place for New Year’s.]
Huai Dan lowered his eyes, looking at the phone screen. Before he could reply, the child’s voice suddenly sounded in the darkness: “Brother, looking at your phone with the lights off is bad for your eyes. Let me turn on a lamp for you.”
The voice wasn’t loud and seemed to carry a hint of drowsiness, making one inexplicably feel sleepy.
“No need, I’m going to sleep now.” Huai Dan replied with a “no” to the message, looked at the screen full of headache-inducing red dots, and simply turned off his phone, placing it on the bedside table.
It snowed the next day, and the weather was still very cold. After breakfast, everyone went about their own business.
Worried that there weren’t enough seasonings at home, Lin Xue planned to have someone go to the nearby supermarket to buy some.
Luo Jing volunteered to go with his Brother Huai Dan. After last night’s battle, he felt he had established a revolutionary friendship with his future brother-in-law.
Huai Dan had nothing to do at home anyway, and he felt it wasn’t safe to let a child go out alone. A sense of responsibility he couldn’t quite explain made him agree to let Luo Jing pull him out the door.
As they left, Luo Jing was surprised to find that the car his sister and her boyfriend had taken back yesterday was still parked in their extra parking space.
“Brother, is this your car?” Luo Jing asked.
“Yes,” Huai Dan replied. “Get in.”
“Then where’s the driver?”
“He went home for the New Year.”
“Oh.”
Without asking further, Luo Jing obediently got into the passenger seat.
Yesterday, he had assumed they had taken a taxi, so he hadn’t looked closely. Now he noticed the car’s full appearance.
Huai Dan’s car was a black SUV, and everything from its exterior to its interior appealed to the heart of a boy his age.
After getting in the car, Luo Jing fastened his seatbelt and praised generously: “Your car is so cool, brother!”
“It’s alright.” Huai Dan started the car, glanced at the child who, despite being dressed warmly, still seemed quite cold, and raised the temperature of the car’s air vents by two degrees.
There was a shopping mall not far from their house, bustling with people coming and going.
A long queue had formed in front of a shop outside the mall, long enough to attract Huai Dan’s attention.
“That’s a newly opened milk tea shop,” Luo Jing explained, seeing him look over. “I heard it’s really good.”
As he spoke, he looked up at Huai Dan, his intentions clear.
“I’ll take you to buy some later,” Huai Dan said.
Luo Jing brightened: “I’ll treat you.”
Huai Dan didn’t object. Holding an umbrella in one hand, he pulled the child closer under it.
The supermarket was as crowded as usual on New Year’s Eve. After Luo Jing pulled him around to buy the necessary items, he also grabbed a bunch of his favorite snacks before finally going to the checkout counter, satisfied.
They spent about half an hour in the supermarket. When they came out, it was still snowing. After putting the bags of groceries in the back seat, Luo Jing felt the residual warmth in the car, then looked at the still-long queue in front of the milk tea shop and felt hesitant.
“Maybe we shouldn’t get it after all,” Luo Jing said, sitting in the passenger seat, rubbing his hands, which had been exposed while carrying the plastic bags.
“Don’t they have takeout?” Huai Dan saw the struggle in his eyes and couldn’t help but find it amusing: “Is it really that good?”
“No takeout,” Luo Jing put his hands near the air vent to warm them, complaining, “That’s why I’m so curious.”
“Forget it, let’s just go home.” Luo Jing hesitated for a few more seconds, finally deciding to give up: “It’s too cold outside, I don’t want to queue.”
“Nothing could make me go out now,” he said.
