Chapter 5: A Sneaky Trick
"Ten guys, come with me and help carry the books!"
At eight o'clock, almost everyone had arrived in the classroom. A slightly chubby young man wearing glasses walked in.
His name was Wang Shoucheng, the counselor for Software Engineering Class 2. He looked honest and easygoing, but he handled things quickly and efficiently.
After handing out the textbooks, he gave the usual reminders about military training, then looked back on everyone's high school life and talked about the university life waiting for them.
He also said something that was the complete opposite of what high school teachers always say.
"Don't think university is going to be easy."
He reminded everyone that university would probably be the time before entering society when they would most clearly see how different people's lives really are. When facing difficulties, they should keep a good attitude.
He also hoped they would bring at least half of the hard work and self-discipline they had in high school into university. If they did that, their grades would definitely not be bad.
The short speech took less than ten minutes, and then the meeting ended.
The three troublemakers from Room 205 highly praised what Lin Wan had done that afternoon and hoped he would keep it up.
The three of them also unanimously decided that they would go out for barbecue that night, with Sun Mao paying.
As for why Sun Mao was treating everyone...
He had discovered that after several days of intense military training, he had actually lost weight!
That was worth celebrating!
After carrying the books back to the dorm, the four of them hurried to a barbecue restaurant on the snack street outside the campus.
As soon as they walked in, Sun Mao pointed at the menu like a rich man and said,
"Grill one whole menu!"
The owner immediately smiled brightly.
"Handsome, how many people are there?"
Sun Mao held up four fingers.
"Four."
"Then that's impossible."
"Huh?"
"That's way too much. You won't finish it, and it'll just be wasted."
The other three looked through the menu.
Zhang Dingding pointed at it.
"Brother Mao, don't order that much. There are already three kinds of grilled fish alone. We really can't eat all of that."
Sun Mao thought for a moment.
"Alright. One grilled fish, plus one hundred skewers. Meat only. If it's not enough, we'll order more."
After placing the order, the four sat down.
People always overestimate how much they can eat. When you're hungry, you feel like you could eat an entire cow. But after eating for a while, it always turns into...
Whoever ordered this can finish it.
In the end, they still had a large pile of skewers left.
Sun Mao packed up the leftovers and said they could continue eating them back in the dorm later that night.
After returning to the dorm, Sun Mao couldn't wait to queue up with Lin Wan.
Malphite plus Yasuo.
The moment they entered the game, it was as if the world itself would tremble.
In the end, the two of them proudly achieved a combined score of 8 kills and 30 deaths, and, thanks to a smurf teammate carrying the match, they still won.
After the game ended, Sun Mao awkwardly coughed when he noticed Lin Wan's doubtful expression.
"Everyone has bad games! Even the best players make mistakes! I just ate too much tonight, so I wasn't in good form. Next time I'll definitely carry you!"
Lin Wan nodded, but the doubt in his eyes did not fade at all.
"Ahem!"
Sun Mao suddenly became very serious.
"Student Lin Wan!"
Lin Wan scratched his head.
"Huh?"
"Next, I'm going to teach you the secret technique that took me twenty years to develop. Are you ready?"
Hearing this, Qiu Cheng made a funny face.
"A virgin’s hand pump?"
Sun Mao almost choked. His imposing manner immediately weakened as he waved him away.
"Go away! Go away!"
He sat down grandly in his chair.
"And now... it's time to witness a miracle. Don't be too surprised."
He opened his browser, went to the League of Legends forum, and quickly started typing.
Soon, he posted a thread.
"I'm a girl who's just started playing this game, so I'm not very good. I want to improve through 1v1 matches. Anyone interested? If you beat me, I'll add your QQ and call you 'big brother, you're amazing!'"
"ID: Huhu Meow. I play on Server One."
Then he attached several photos of a pretty girl wearing white thigh-high stockings with cat paw designs. None of the pictures showed her face.
The other three roommates stared at him with their mouths wide open.
Sun Mao turned around.
"The fastest way to improve is by playing solo 1v1s. Just pick any champion and fight whoever shows up. Watch carefully how they play in lane. If you lose, then in the next match, pick the same champion they beat you with. Think about why they played that way, then copy what they did."
"Repeat that over and over, and your skills will improve incredibly fast."
Zhang Dingding gave him a thumbs-up.
"Brother Mao... you're something else."
Lin Wan stared at him.
"So... this is your secret technique..."
Isn't this a little... questionable?
Can I refuse?
Qiu Cheng shrugged.
"But what if you lose? Are you really going to call them 'big brother'? There aren't any girls here. If you don't do it, people will expose you for lying. Then no one will want to 1v1 you anymore."
Sun Mao smiled confidently. He took out his phone and played an audio recording.
A sweet girl's voice came from the speaker. [Wow, I lost! Big brother, you're so amazing!]
"No problem," Sun Mao said. "Just lose all you want. Recordings like this cost only fifty cents each on Taobao. If I run out, I'll just buy more."
Lin Wan: "......"
Zhang Dingding: "......"
Qiu Cheng: "......"
"But that's still far from enough. Watch me show you another trick!"
As he spoke, Sun Mao had Lin Wan log into the Huhu Meow game account, while he logged into his own account.
"Come on, Brother Wan. I've made a room and invited you. Once we get into the game and reach level three, don't move. Just let me kill you."
After killing Huhu Meow, Sun Mao took a screenshot. Then he switched to another forum account and replied to the thread he had just posted.
"Already added her as a friend. I won. So, what now? (Screenshot)"
Then he logged into another QQ account marked as female and sent the sweet voice recording to his own main QQ account.
After converting the voice message into text, he took another screenshot. Finally, he switched back to Huhu Meow's forum account and replied again.
"I already called you that. I keep my promises!"
After finishing everything, Sun Mao crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, waiting for people to add Huhu Meow for 1v1 matches.
The whole performance, where he acted out every role by himself, left the other three completely stunned.
Wasn't everyone supposed to be honest and clueless college students? How had this guy secretly taken extra classes?
Qiu Cheng sighed in admiration. "Amazing! No one can outdo you!"
Only then did Zhang Dingding finally close his mouth. "This is like sending a little cow into a herd of bulls. You're unbelievably awesome!"
Lin Wan asked blankly, "Sun Mao, why are you so familiar with all of this? And why do you have so many female accounts?"
Sun Mao picked up a skewer of grilled meat. His eyes looked deep and mysterious.
"Let the past stay in the past. Don't ask about it."
Ding! "Tyrannosaurus Warrior wants to add you as a friend."
Ding! "My Steel Gate Can Reach the Movies wants to add you as a friend."
Sun Mao's clever trick made many people on the forum believe there really was a female player looking for 1v1 matches, and that she would call the winner 'big brother.'
People would even stop to check a dirty ditch out of curiosity, let alone a chance to get a girl's contact information. As someone on the internet said, 'Anyone who doesn't take advantage of a free opportunity is a fool!'
As a result, the Huhu Meow account quickly received a huge number of friend requests.
Sun Mao created a new friend group in the game. He told Lin Wan to put everyone who beat him into that group, and Sun Mao would send them the voice recording.
Then he looked at Lin Wan with the kind smile of a master looking at his student.
"Go on. Challenge them. Fly high and grow stronger!"
Lin Wan wanted to refuse.
But when he thought about how he wanted to make money through his gaming skills, and how Sun Mao was doing all this just to help him, he felt he should be thanking him instead.
He sat down, got ready, and invited the first player to a 1v1 match. The other three stood behind him with barbecue skewers in hand, watching.
Five minutes later, Lin Wan turned around and looked at Sun Mao with an apologetic expression.
He had lost.
"Next!" Sun Mao added the opponent's QQ number that had been sent through the game and then sent the voice message.
Lin Wan immediately started another 1v1 match, this time choosing the same champion that had just beaten him.
Four minutes later...
Lin Wan quietly looked at Sun Mao again.
Sun Mao shouted, "Keep going!"
Before they knew it, two hours had passed.
Watching Lin Wan's gameplay, the other three could only say, "We're full. We can't take any more."
In one night, Sun Mao sent the phrase 'Big brother, you're so amazing' dozens of times.
Overall, Lin Wan lost far, far more games than he won.
…………………
That night, Lin Wan lay on his bed, completely exhausted in both body and mind.
It was the first time he had ever felt that playing games could be so tiring.
Still, it was worth it.
He really was getting better.
Half asleep, he seemed to see money waving at him.
Then a single sentence shattered the beautiful dream he was about to enter.
"I'm back alive~"
"Spirit, are you done resting?" Lin Wan asked after hearing the voice in his head.
"Yep~"
"Spirit, do you have any tasks that can help me learn faster?" Lin Wan still felt he was improving too slowly and wanted to use the cheat ability to speed things up.
"I do~ You're not even attending classes yet, and you already want to study? You're really hardworking~"
"Ahem." Lin Wan awkwardly rubbed his nose. Actually, he wanted to improve his gaming skills. "Something like that. Can I take this kind of task?"
"Hmm~ Task: Go to the library to study. Preview this semester's courses and pass my test, while staying completely focused for a total of 100 hours. Reward: 0.3% disease recovery and +10% concentration."
"Do I really have to go to the library? Can't I study in the dorm instead?"
"The task rules can't be changed~ Every task has its own purpose~"
"Alright... Spirit, what does 'completely focused' mean?"
"No distractions at all. Put your full attention on studying~"
"Got it. I'll accept it!"
"But this task has a side effect~"
"Huh?"
"After your concentration increases, your appetite will also increase a tiny bit~"
Just a little more appetite? That's only another bowl or two of rice! Lin Wan didn't think it was a big deal at all.
"No problem!"