Chapter 23

In the break room of the D.K Training Base, Chu Fengyi’s gaze was scattered, focused on empty space. He didn’t notice the coffee about to overflow the cup’s rim until Sprite, who was pouring water nearby, couldn’t bear to watch and reached out to turn the machine off for him.

“Bro, what’s up with you today? You’ve been out of it since you woke up. During training this afternoon, I stole an extra minion from you and you didn’t even yell at me.”

Snapping back to reality, Chu Fengyi gave him a flat look. “And you’re proud of that?”

Sprite didn’t dare tell him he had intentionally denied him that minion’s experience. So he probed, “Is that little streamer ignoring you?”

Not missing the flicker of unease across Chu Fengyi’s face, Sprite was horrified. “I actually guessed right?!”

He quickly fished a pack of snacks from the snack cabinet, poured himself another coffee, and, fully prepared for gossip, shamelessly sidled up to him. “Spill the details.”

Leaning against the wall, Chu Fengyi said nothing, just slowly sipped his black coffee one mouthful at a time. After a long moment, he finally spoke leisurely, “No.”

Sprite watched him, feeling the bitterness on his behalf. He winced and swallowed a mouthful of saliva. He nodded. “Oh, so it is about that little streamer, then?”

Having his thoughts guessed, Chu Fengyi remained unperturbed. The initial wave of frustration from the morning had passed, and he was much calmer now, though he still very much wanted a cigarette.

It had always been Chu Fengyi who gave others the cold shoulder. This was the first time someone could get the better of him. Sprite wished he could run outside the base, laugh crazily at the sky three times, and shout, “Heaven has eyes!”

But while he had the desire, he lacked the guts. He could only desperately suppress the corners of his mouth twitching upwards and put on a sincere expression. “Show me, let me help you analyze it.”

Chu Fengyi glanced at him and refused cleanly. “No need. I know what I’m doing.”

Denied the gossip, Sprite was immensely disappointed. He pounded his chest dramatically. “Fine, fine, fine. You don’t trust me. Well then, think carefully. Did he deliberately play hot and cold with you? Take forever to reply to messages? Say it’s just a ‘normal friend’ when asked who he’s playing with? Get angry and say you’re interfering with his normal friendships when caught? Criticize you for being too possessive? Play dumb whenever you raise an issue?”

“Often hint for you to transfer money, order takeout, buy gifts? Frequently use the ‘crying poor’ tactic—claiming hunger at mealtimes, showing you his friends’ Moments posts of expensive gifts their partners got them during holidays?”

“These are all classic tricks of trashy online dating scumbags!”

Chu Fengyi didn’t believe a single punctuation mark of what Sprite said. He frowned. “What nonsense are you spouting?”

Chu Fengyi mercilessly shoved out the person still clinging to the doorframe offering earnest advice. When the break room quieted down, leaving him alone, he couldn’t help but open their chat window and scroll up again.

His question to Lin Linya hadn’t received a reply. An hour later, though, he got a long paragraph.

【Got cold-shouldered for a year. Haven’t cried much lately. Slowly getting better. As happy as it used to be, that’s how sad it is now. From the daily warmth of life, to saying goodbye with red-rimmed eyes, disappearing from each other’s world. It hurts so much. So hard. WeChat me 50 RMB, treat me to a Family Bucket, soothe my shattered heart.】

At first, he didn’t get it. Reading the beginning word by word, he couldn’t help but frown, his heart clenching along with it. Only at the last line did his tense shoulders suddenly relax. As someone frequently online, he realized it was just a joke.

He himself didn’t know where this emotion came from. He only knew that Lin Linya wasn’t pining over another man, and that he’d be happy just having a Family Bucket.

He snorted coldly, replying in a sarcastic tone: 【Who would dare cold-shoulder you? You’re the only one dishing it out. Not replying to messages because the guy next to you was pressing on your hands?】

【WeChat transfer: 200 Yuan.】

【Go eat four Family Buckets.】

The other party quickly accepted the Red Envelope. At mealtime, a screenshot of the delivery order and a photo of the Family Bucket came through, along with an exuberance palpable even through text: 【Thanks, Big Bro. The Family Bucket was delicious. To repay you, I’ll play Support for you tonight.】

Chu Fengyi then cross-referenced the list Sprite had mentioned, one by one, and reached his conclusion.

Lin Linya hadn’t ignored him, so he wasn’t deliberately stringing him along. And he was very grateful; Chu Fengyi just bought him one Family Bucket and he was already willing to play Support for him.

Besides, they weren’t even dating online, just regular internet friends.

Lin Linya was so sincere to an ordinary netizen like him. It showed he was a pure-hearted person. No matter how Chu Fengyi looked at it, he didn’t see any problem.

…

Lin Linya, seeing that Chu Fengyi hadn’t pressed further, couldn’t help but silently give his own cleverness a thumbs-up.

Not only did he get a Family Bucket, but he also smoothly diverted the topic. Was there anyone smarter than him in the world?

When he started his stream that evening, the fans in his livestream room were already used to seeing the large cup of Milk Tea on Lin Linya’s desk. But today, it seemed even more conspicuous, because Lin Linya kept holding it up, occasionally waving it in front of the camera.

An observant ‘sister’ asked: 【Baby, what are you drinking today? Is it that good? I want to order the same.】

Seeing someone finally notice his milk tea, Lin Linya grinned, revealing two cute little tiger teeth. “It’s a large, fully sugared Watermelon Coconut. Super delicious, and most importantly, someone else treated me to it.”

【Full sugar… I’m jealous. This dieting, sugar-quitting person usually only orders half-sweet or 30% sugar.】

【Then Yaya’s mouth must be very sweet now, right? Let Mommy have a taste.】

【Who treated our baby to this? Made the baby so happy.】

“You’ll find out later,” Lin Linya said, satisfied that he had piqued their curiosity. He deliberately kept them in suspense. “Since I’m waiting for someone tonight, I won’t play the main game yet. Let’s play some Fight the Landlord first.”

【Fight the Landlord (x), donating Happy Beans to others (√). The guaranteed-welfare philanthropist is online.】

【I really love this segment. My brain feels so much lighter afterward. Probably from atrophy.】

After losing repeatedly at Fight the Landlord, Lin Linya would summarize and conclude. The conclusion he reached was that his strategy was flawed.

After watching an ad to collect 3000 welfare Happy Beans, at the start of the round, he cautiously observed his hand and didn’t jump to become the landlord first. “This hand is actually very good, but we choose to play it low-key as a farmer.”

His mouse cursor hovered over his farmer character wearing a headscarf. “Everyone see this? This handsome guy right here is me. Can you see confidence and a winning chance on this simple face?”

【’The hand is very good’】

【Solo three, pair of fours, and no five. Bros, I think this silly streamer is gonna lose again.】

【Sometimes what we need to learn isn’t card skills, but the streamer’s optimistic attitude.】

【I can’t bear to watch anymore.】

Lin Linya also knew his single three and pair of fours were hard to play. While the landlord was thinking about what card to play, he had already selected one of his eights. “No worries fam, getting this eight out of the way is also fine. We can keep the other small cards to help my partner go out later.”

“Six-seven-eight-nine-ten, just right to form a straight.”

Landlord: Plays a nine.

Lin Linya was both shocked and furious. “Curse it! He actually predicted what I would play! We’ve met a Pro.”

The plan hadn’t kept up with the changes. He hesitated for a few seconds, still unwilling to break up his big cards, and chose to pass. His partner, the other farmer, seeing him not even playing over a nine, angrily threw a string of tomatoes at him. Lin Linya, knowing he was in the wrong, could only swallow his pride.

【Analysis is spot on, pity it’s useless.】

【My little treasure really has some bad luck attached to him. How could the exact card he wanted to play be blocked?】

【I’m seriously dying of laughter.】

After a round of single cards, the right to play fell back to the landlord. Seeing no hope for this round, Lin Linya’s partner frantically threw tomatoes at him. Lin Linya, of course, refused to back down and threw some right back.

Chu Fengyi logged in just in time to see Lin Linya engaged in a mutual tomato-throwing battle.

He was silent for a short while, then asked, “What are you doing?”

The moment Lin Linya heard that familiar voice, he was like a little kid finally finding an adult to tattle to. He declared with righteous indignation, “He started throwing them at me first.”

He was a very petty person.

“The moment he threw a tomato at me, alright, forget the cards. I’ll pelt him at a speed of ten tomatoes a second until he’s reduced to tomato bisque, completely unable to fight back!”

Chu Fengyi, “…Well then, you’re quite impressive.”

Lin Linya lost all his Happy Beans again and huffily closed the Fight the Landlord interface.

He greeted Chu Fengyi energetically. “Bro, good evening. How do you have time to play tonight? Not busy anymore?”

The moment Chu Fengyi opened the livestream room, he saw the Danmaku scrolling.

【Ex-Husband Bro is online!】

【Wuwuwu, my son! You finally remembered the password to your stream account? The new wife you were courting got stolen away by the neighbor Er Niu. Your wife insisted on going with him, I couldn’t stop her.】

【Resurrect! My CP!】

Lin Linya saw he had started his stream but hadn’t turned on his camera. Curious, he asked, “Bro Chu, why aren’t you turning on your camera?”

Chu Fengyi’s return to D.K before the Autumn Tournament had to be kept secret. He had promised the team not to appear in public until then, so he glossed over the topic.

“Just happened to be free tonight, figured I’d queue a couple of games with you. That okay?”

Someone offering to help him rank up was naturally something Lin Linya was very happy about. He had Chu Fengyi invite him. After entering the game, he picked Master Roshi in the first slot. He really liked playing this hero lately.

Seeing him pick this hero, Chu Fengyi let out a light chuckle.

It immediately reminded Lin Linya of the embarrassing mess he’d made playing this hero in front of him before. His face flushed slightly. Afraid Chu Fengyi would say something to taunt him again, he rushed to speak before Chu Fengyi could. “I know I’m ugly, but my heart is true, kind, and beautiful.”

Chu Fengyi shut his mouth and praised, “Not bad, very self-aware.”

Chu Fengyi was in the fifth slot. When his turn to pick a hero came, only the Marksman position was left. He picked Rapidfire and was adjusting his account’s Item Build when suddenly, a weight settled on his leg.

He looked down. A calico long-haired cat had jumped onto his lap, stretching lazily, tiny paws spreading open like blooming flowers.

“Bro, why did you Mute your Mic again?”

Lin Linya’s hand was itching for trouble. Knowing Chu Fengyi wouldn’t agree, during the countdown while the game was loading, he kept frantically clicking the ‘Swap Hero’ button next to Chu Fengyi’s avatar.

“Meow!” Stuck in the very last second of the countdown, the cat he’d tossed aside suddenly jumped across the keyboard on his desk, hitting some key. Chu Fengyi looked at the cat now perched smugly atop the cabinet with a headache.

He threatened coldly and ruthlessly, “Cause trouble again and you’re off to get neutered.”

After the cat scurried away with its tail between its legs, he put his headphones back on, only to discover his in-game character had somehow become the Support, while a certain Marksman was silent, too guilty to say a word.

He turned on his microphone and coughed twice. “What happened? You swapped heroes with me?”

Lin Linya, seeing he seemed clueless about what had happened, quickly used the most aggrieved tone to push all the blame onto him. “I was just clicking around for fun! Why did you agree to it? I don’t even know how to play this hero! What do we do?”

Chu Fengyi, “…Must have clicked it by accident.”

Luckily, Lin Linya was fairly optimistic. He quickly rallied and said with feigned calm, “It’s fine, I can play Marksman too. Today, I’ll provide a Marksman tutorial for everyone. Watch and learn well.”

Seeing the Danmaku questioning his skill, Lin Linya quickly added, “You guys might not know this, but before the streamer played Support, he actually practiced Marksman for a while. I just never showed it to you all.”

【? I’ve been watching your stream since Pangu created the world. When have you ever played Marksman?】

【Fanta, run! This is a hearse!】

【I’ll watch you be stubborn. What are you gonna do when you get beat to tears later?】

Chu Fengyi also found it novel. “You practiced Marksman? I really couldn’t tell.”

Lin Linya remained silent. Playing Marksman once during the Tutorial… how did that not count as practicing?

He braced himself. “Never mind that. This game, Bro will carry.”