Chapter 6: The Gears of Fate

The next morning, Lin Wan got up early.

Before the freshmen doing military training crowded into the cafeteria for breakfast, he bought three large steamed buns. Then he filled the water bottle he had brought from home with hot water from the teaching building next to the library.

Today, he planned to spend the whole day in the library and work hard to increase his task time!

At 7:30 a.m., the moment the library opened, Lin Wan rushed in first.

Ha! Have you ever seen the first light turn on in a library?

He went straight to the study area, found a seat in the corner, pulled up the hood of his hoodie, put on his earphones to block out all the noise around him, picked up a steamed bun, and opened his book.

He decided to review subjects he already had some knowledge of first, such as Advanced Mathematics and English.

He opened the Advanced Mathematics textbook and looked at the first page.

Hmm?

It had only been a little over two months since he last touched a textbook, so why did all these tightly packed words already make his head spin?

By the time he reached the second page, he had already started yawning.

He shook his head.

No, if he kept reading like this, he would soon fall asleep.

Young people these days really do sleep easily. They can fall asleep almost anytime.

He took out his phone and opened Bilibili. He decided to study while watching lesson videos. That would be much easier and help him understand the material better.

The morning passed quickly, and before he knew it, it was already noon. The library was now full of people.

Lin Wan pulled his clothes tighter. The air conditioner in the library was too cold. Looking around, he saw that there were very few empty seats left.

Most people were there to study, while a smaller group had simply come to enjoy the free air conditioning, completely focused on their phones.

Lin Wan let out a sigh of relief. Luckily, there were not many people near where he was sitting.

"Hello, Spirit."

"I'm here~"

"How much focused study time have I had this morning?"

"1 hour, 9 minutes, and 43 seconds~"

Only that much?

But it made sense.

No one could stay fully focused for hours without stopping. The brain also needed breaks.

Besides, how long had it been since he had seriously studied? He had only just started getting back into the habit, so it was normal for his mind to wander.

Just now, while studying, he had caught himself daydreaming about getting his rewards, becoming much better at games, and making lots of money.

For lunch, Lin Wan finished the other two steamed buns.

Using his brain really used up a lot of energy. He felt hungry much faster than usual.

After that, he closed his eyes and rested for half an hour to recover his energy.

In the afternoon, he planned to study for more than two hours and increase his task time even more!

By afternoon, the temperature outside had risen several more degrees. The library, with its free air conditioning, was packed with people. Some even sat on the floor.

Lin Wan felt much better than he had in the morning.

It's back. That feeling is back.

It felt just like high school again!

He became completely absorbed in studying.

He could not stop.

That lasted until a boy sat across from him. The boy kept glancing at him from time to time, pulling him out of his focused state.

Feeling the other person's gaze, Lin Wan stood his book upright and hid his face behind it.

But the boy would not give up. He tapped on the cover of the book as if knocking on a door.

"Hey, have we met somewhere before?"

Without lowering the book, Lin Wan showed only one eye and looked at the boy.

"No. I think you've got the wrong person."

"Sorry for bothering you."

Li Dongxu scratched his head.

The other person looked familiar, but he really could not remember where they had met. Maybe he had mistaken him for someone else.

Back in high school, he could remember what happened every day and everyone he met.

But now he was already a second-year college student.

The only thing he was good at now was eating five bowls of rice every meal.

He took out his vocabulary list and started memorizing English words.

This semester, he was determined to pass CET-4.

"Abandon!"

"A-B-A-N-D-O-N! Abandon!"

"Hoo... hoo... Zzz..."

Time slowly passed.

Three boys came over to find Li Dongxu.

Han Jinsong patted him on the shoulder.

"Hey, Jingjing, wake up!"

Feeling someone shaking his shoulder, Li Dongxu slowly opened his eyes.

"Huh? Is it time to eat?"

"Let's go," Zhuo Feng said. As he looked at Li Dongxu, he also glanced at the strange person sitting across from him, who seemed to want to curl himself into a tiny ball.

"Oh, you guys are done?"

Their dorm had come to the library together to enjoy the air conditioning, but there were too few seats, so they had split up.

Li Dongxu stood up, but his legs suddenly gave out and he dropped to his knees.

"Damn!"

Zhou Heng quickly helped him up.

"What's wrong, Old Li? Are you proposing, or did your legs stop working?"

"My legs fell asleep..."

"Weren't you memorizing words? Why were you sleeping?"

"I didn't know those words were such good sleeping pills!"

"Come on! I've got something good to show you!"

Zhou Heng pulled Li Dongxu along as the four of them headed toward the exit.

"Listen, that girl who lost the duel last night actually sent a voice message!"

Zhou Heng took out his phone and played the recording right beside Li Dongxu's ear.

After hearing it, Li Dongxu felt numb all over.

"No way?! The cat-girl with the white stockings and paw gloves?"

"Yep!"

"Hurry up! Let's go! I'm going to challenge her too!"

As their footsteps faded away, Lin Wan slowly peeked out from behind his book.

He felt guilty.

Seriously...

Was the world really this small?

He actually ran into the person he had fought in the game?

Luckily, they had no idea he was right here. He did not even want to imagine what would happen if they found out.

Seeing that it was already past five o'clock, Lin Wan packed up his things and left the library.

He was not going to study anymore that night.

After studying all morning and afternoon, his brain already felt like mush. Even if he continued at night, he would not be able to focus.

He would practice gaming tonight, go to bed early, and try to be in better condition tomorrow so he could build up more task time.

He had planned to get dinner at the cafeteria, but when he saw the crowds going in and out, and the other cafeterias were a bit farther away, he gave up.

He decided to wait until later in the evening when there were fewer people.

When he returned to the dorm, his three roommates were already back.

"We'll wait for him in the grass. Once we catch him, this match is over," Qiu Cheng said as he and Zhang Dingding played Honor of Kings together.

Meanwhile, Sun Mao was playing League of Legends by himself.

Lin Wan glanced over and noticed that Sun Mao was using Huhu Meow's account to duel someone.

At that moment, Sun Mao was typing in the game.

"Wow! Your skills are so accurate, big brother! You're amazing. Unlike me, I just can't play well... If you have time, could you help me rank up?"

Looking at all those fake sweet messages, Lin Wan shivered.

People in the city really knew how to play.

That's seriously creepy.

He even became curious about what Sun Mao had gone through before.

"Yo, Brother Wan, you're back? Why didn't we see you at lunch? Where did you—"

Hearing the door open, Sun Mao turned around and saw Lin Wan walking in with books in his arms.

"Huh?!"

Looking at the Advanced Mathematics textbook, Sun Mao was stunned.

"Aren't we still doing military training? Why are you already studying?"

"Uh..."

Lin Wan scratched his face.

"I didn't have anything to do, and I couldn't find a part-time job, so I thought I'd go to the library to read and prepare for class."

The other two immediately stopped playing.

"What? Preparing already?"

"Brother Wan, you're already competing this hard?"

Seriously?

Just a few days ago everyone was happily taking it easy.

Now you suddenly started working this hard?

You even went to the library so you wouldn't pressure us.

You're making me want to cry.

The three of them ignored their games, each picked up a textbook, and opened to the first page.

Military training with one hand, studying with the other!

I want both a strong body and good grades!

Looking at his three strange roommates, Lin Wan returned to his seat and opened his game.

…………………

Meanwhile...

Li Dongxu was flirting with Huhu Meow in the game.

He glanced at Zhou Heng, who was watching the duel behind him, and proudly typed:

"Come on, pretty girl. Turn on voice chat now, and let's start our sweet ranked games together!"

Then he turned to Zhou Heng.

"Hey, Xiao Heng. Did she chat with you when she dueled you?"

Zhou Heng shook his head.

Li Dongxu nodded confidently.

"See? She's clearly impressed by my skills! That's why she only talks to me. She definitely likes me and wants me to help her rank up!"

"Doesn't that sound exactly like a fake sweet girl? Don't get tricked, Old Li!"

"Fake sweet girl? No way! She's obviously a caring little sister. You're just jealous!"

"Jealous of what? Yesterday she called who knows how many people 'big brother'!"

"I'm not listening! I'm not listening!"

"Her dating pool is probably so huge that it would scare you!"

Watching his two silly roommates, Zhuo Feng said helplessly,

"The person on the other side is probably a guy. You two can stop arguing now."

"Huh?"

"What? Why?"

"Zhou Heng, play that voice message again."

Zhuo Feng also took out his phone and opened a video from the forum.

Both recordings played at the same time.

The exact same voice came out, "Wow! I lost! Big brother, you're so strong!"

After listening to it several times, Zhuo Feng looked at Zhou Heng and Li Dongxu.

"What do you think?"

Li Dongxu had a lovestruck look on his face.

"Her voice is so sweet!"

Zhou Heng sighed.

"Old Li is beyond saving!"

Zhuo Feng took a deep breath.

"The two voice messages have the exact same speaking speed, tone, and even the same pauses. What does that tell you?"

Li Dongxu scratched his head.

"What?"

"It means the other person is probably just playing the same recording for you. If you don't believe me, ask them to join a voice call and see if they dare to answer."

Li Dongxu looked at the game. Huhu Meow's character was standing completely still.

He typed, "Pretty girl, come on voice chat. Let's queue together!"

At that moment, Sun Mao was pretending to study and was not even looking at the computer, so he had no time to reply.

"Pretty girl, are you there?"

"Pretty girl? Pretty girl? Are you still there?"

"Hello? Hello?"

He refused to give up and sent several more messages, but the other side completely ignored him.

In the end, they simply left the game.

Now he finally believed it.

"Waaah... Dorm leader, I've been dumped!"

Zhuo Feng simply turned around and ignored him. Zhou Heng rolled his eyes.

"Old Li, be serious. Were you even dating? How can you call this a breakup?"

"Love at first sight still counts as love!"

"Come on. You're obviously just attracted to her looks!"

"Whoa! This girl is amazing!"

At that moment, Han Jinsong, who had been watching videos, suddenly shouted.

"What?"

"Let me see!"

Li Dongxu immediately forgot about his sadness and ran over. On Han Jinsong's computer was a cute-looking girl dancing.

"Wow! She's exactly my type! She smiled! She smiled at me! She must like me!"

"Damn it, Old Li! It's a video! Stop acting crazy in the dorm!"

"Hehe... She likes me... Hehe..."

"Brother Li, don't be like this. You're scaring me!"

…………………

Dorm Room 205

When they saw Lin Wan start playing games again, everyone finally relaxed and went back to their own games.

Sun Mao defended what he had done earlier.

"Brother Wan, we should treat our enemies as coldly as winter, right? That means we should use every trick we have."

Lin Wan nodded.

"Yeah."

"The best strategy is to attack the enemy's mind! If I throw out those little lines, won't they become overconfident?"

"Maybe..."

"Exactly! Once their mind gets messed up, their hands become slower! Then I can do whatever I want in a duel, right?"

"Really?"

I think you're just enjoying it yourself.

"Trust me! This move is a secret weapon!"

Then Sun Mao started teaching Lin Wan different mind-game tricks.

For example, when facing someone in a lane, if they call their jungler to gank you and still fail to kill you, type, ‘That's all you've got?’

If they do kill you, type, ‘Am I your dad or something? Why are you taking such good care of me?’

Basically, keep asking sarcastic questions.

Sometimes a single question mark can deal unexpected mental damage.

Or use another trick, cause trouble between teammates.

Praise the player doing well while mocking the one doing badly, making them argue with each other.

Lin Wan was completely stunned after hearing all these theories.

Only when it was time to gather did Sun Mao finally stop talking. He took a deep breath and said seriously,

"Brother Wan, practice this more tomorrow. There's a lot to learn here!"

Please don't go back to the library.

I'm still young.

I don't want to start competing that hard!

But things did not go as he wished.

The next day, Lin Wan went to the library again. He still needed to increase his task time.

The day before, he had only earned a little over four hours of focused study time.

He was still far from finishing the task. And so the days passed, one after another, in a fairly fulfilling way.

September 21st, the last day of military training.

That evening, the four people from Dorm 205 went out to celebrate again.

Just like before, Sun Mao paid for everything.

During military training, he had lost more than ten pounds.

After calling home to share the good news, his mother was overjoyed.

Since her son had finally lost weight, she immediately sent him 10,000 yuan and told him to keep it up.

The other three could only sigh.

Rich people really lived differently.

Amazing.

During military training, Qiu Cheng and Zhang Dingding had finally been pulled onto the "League of Legends ship" by Sun Mao.

The group had planned to celebrate first, then return to the dorm and play games until sunrise.

Instead, by eleven o'clock, everyone was already fast asleep.

On the first day of the seven-day holiday, Lin Wan did not go home. He finally completed the required task time.

Lying in bed under his blanket, he wrapped himself up tightly.

"Spirit, I'm ready."

"Then here comes your reward~"

A familiar feeling instantly spread through his body.

It hurt a little more than last time, but Lin Wan could still bear it. When it was over, he felt much lighter again.

He walked over to the mirror. The changes were still small.

But the freckles on both sides of his cheeks seemed to have faded quite a bit, and his eyes looked much brighter.

He sat down at his desk.

Now he wanted to test how much his improved focus had helped his gaming skills. He logged into Huhu Meow's account.

After many days of practice, his control had improved a lot.

At least now, he felt he had about a 40% chance of winning a duel.

After entering the game client, Lin Wan created a room and invited the newest person who had added Huhu Meow as a friend.

After so many days, the popularity of Sun Mao's bait post had gradually faded.

No one was adding Huhu Meow's account anymore.

In the end, Sun Mao had to upgrade his strategy.

He posted screenshots of his duel victories in a new forum post and added several extremely mocking comments.

For example,

"Even beginners are stronger than you. Is that all?"

"No way. Is everyone on this forum really this weak? Isn't there anyone who can actually fight?"

As Sun Mao put it,

"Sure, it attracts hate, but if it's for getting stronger, there's nothing embarrassing about it!"

The result was exactly what you would expect.

The forum moderators quickly deleted his posts.

Seriously, such obvious bait posts, why would they leave them up?

After learning his lesson, Sun Mao started posting in the forums of different universities that had decent traffic.

College students were simple.

They were easy to provoke, and they had both the time and energy.

Perfect practice partners.

That was how people finally started adding Huhu Meow's account again.

Although there were nowhere near as many as before.

Looking at the name of the player who had just entered the room.

[Both Hands Create Dreams]

He typed, "First blood, first tower, or 100 minions wins. Ready?"

The other side replied with "1."

After seeing that they were ready, Lin Wan started the match.

The moment the game loaded, he saw the other player's rank.

King.

He swallowed nervously.

He chose Caitlyn, the marksman with the longest attack range.

Her long range gave her a huge advantage in one-on-one fights. She could beat most champions in duels.

He had never fought against a King-ranked player before.

Today, he wanted to see just how strong they really were.

The other player also picked a marksman, Ashe, whose basic attacks slowed enemies.

When the minions arrived, Lin Wan tried to test his opponent.

Using his longer attack range, he stepped forward to hit them.

The opponent immediately backed away.

But the moment Lin Wan turned around to leave, the opponent suddenly stepped forward and hit him once.

Seeing the opponent stay in place, Lin Wan turned back to attack. But the opponent retreated just outside his attack range.

He could not hit them. So he turned back to attack the minions.

As soon as he turned around, the opponent stepped forward again and hit him once more.

After several exchanges like this, Lin Wan had already lost half his health.

He felt terrible. He could never hit the other player.

Their movement was excellent.

It was almost as if they knew exactly when he was about to use his skills, making every skill miss.

By the time both players reached level three, Lin Wan had already been killed in a solo fight.

His opponent had barely lost any health.

Lin Wan was completely crushed.

So this was the strength of a King-ranked player.

He left the match and returned to the game client.

While he was still thinking about everything that had happened, the other player sent him a message.

Both Hands Create Dreams: Stop playing duels. There's not much room for improvement there.

Huhu Meow: Then what should I do?

Both Hands Create Dreams: Play ranked matches. Raise your rank as high as you can. Fight players at your own rank. It's best to master one role first. Once your rank gets higher, you'll realize that game sense and overall awareness matter the most. Mechanical skill comes second.

Huhu Meow: Thank you!

Both Hands Create Dreams: No problem.

Huhu Meow: May I ask how to rank up quickly?

Both Hands Create Dreams: First, hire a booster. Second, find someone to carry you. Third, play support. Compared to the other roles, support usually climbs faster.

Huhu Meow: Got it. Thank you.

Both Hands Create Dreams: Mm. If there's anything you don't understand, just ask me.

Huhu Meow: Thank you. You're a really nice person!

Both Hands Create Dreams: ...

After thanking him, Lin Wan switched back to his own account and immediately started his very first ranked match.

Although Sun Mao's method was good, what a King-ranked player said was probably more reliable.

After all, Sun Mao was only Gold rank.

……………………

Dorm Room 502

Zhuo Feng stared at the profile picture that had just gone offline.

If his guess was right, the other person should also be from Qingnan University.

After all, that person's forum account was most active in Qingnan University's forum.

People usually spend the most time in places they know best.

Hopefully his guess was right.

That person had great talent.

In a short time, they had gone from knowing nothing about League of Legends to becoming fairly skilled.

With proper training, if he could recruit this person into their team, they might have a chance at next year's National College League.

Still, he could not put all his hopes on one person.

He also needed to look for other strong players at school and recruit them as well.

Zhuo Feng came back to his senses and stood up to go to the bathroom.

Only then did he notice Li Dongxu quietly standing behind him, looking at him with a slightly resentful expression.

That look made Zhuo Feng's skin crawl.

He pushed Li Dongxu's face aside.

"Old Li, what are you doing?"

"Dorm leader, you secretly contacted Huhu Meow. Were you planning to keep them all to yourself?"

"Keep what to myself? Didn't I already tell you? The other person is a guy!"

As soon as he heard that, Li Dongxu suddenly wore a very suspicious grin.

"Dorm leader... so that's what you're into?! No wonder you're so handsome, only a little less handsome than me, but still don't have a girlfriend. So that's the reason!"

Seeing Li Dongxu looking as though he had finally figured everything out, black lines seemed to appear on Zhuo Feng's forehead.

"My tastes are completely normal!"

Li Dongxu nodded with an understanding look and patted him on the shoulder.

"Dorm leader, it's okay. No matter who you like, you'll always be my dorm leader!"

"......"

Zhuo Feng held his forehead.

"Zhou Heng, I will help you to get your account to Diamond, and you help me hold Old Li down!"

Zhou Heng had been watching a campus romance drama.

The moment he heard that offer, he jumped up immediately and grabbed Li Dongxu from behind.

"Old Li, it's not that our brotherhood isn't strong enough. It's just that the dorm leader is offering too much!"

Zhuo Feng reached toward Li Dongxu's belt with an exaggerated gesture.

"So this is what I'm into, huh? Then today I'll let you experience my 'warm hospitality'!"