Ch8.2 - Couple ID (part 2)

In all honesty, Li Zhongchen did not have much, but what he had was a bunch of alternate accounts. The IDs were uniformed; Snail Rice Noodles, Hot Dry Noodles, Dry Pot Rice Noodles…Even he himself could not remember. Every one of these accounts were used to practice one hero, all he needed to remember was the corresponding passwords.

As for why he created so many alternate accounts, the reason was because he was worried if his comprehensive ranking rose, he would be criticized by others for brushing his presence using an alternate account despite being a professional player. Hence, it was better for him to keep a low profile. 

But the symbolism of this account was too different.

He was not certain of how seventeen year old schoolboys in love acted.

But when he was seventeen, he had honed his marksmanship skills along with Qiao Yi behind everyone’s backs while at the same time flirting with one another. Although their tactical plays were ambiguous, they were carefree and happy every day.

A guy from the second team passed by with a cigarette in his mouth. 

Li Zhongchen stopped him and snatched a cigarette stick. He even had him light it with a lighter. The other looked at him with a pale face. “B, Brother Zhong, didn’t you already…”

He waved his hand and motioned for that brother to stop dawdling.

He sucked in a deep breath and was glum for a long time.

Slowly exhaling wisps of smoke, the sharp gaze of his dark eyes were fixed on the game interface through the lingering, hazy mist.

He felt a chill run down his spine. Seated on the gaming chair, he was in deep contemplation without a single clue of what he should do next.

To be honest, only those who were blind would not be able to tell that these accounts were couple IDs. The Jack Sue couple IDs that were created when they were adolescents as a declaration to the world were cheesy.

He smiled wryly as he remembered the words “congratulations to Brother Zhong for changing his ideal type” that Qiao Yi had said last night. Because of that, he was depressed all night and could not rest easy. And today, Qiao Yi even logged on to this account. It was puzzling to him.

The familiar nicotine penetrated deeply into his lungs. Li Zhongchen was completely dizzy from the high and suddenly came up with an unrealistic idea. He right-clicked on the other’s ID and sent a team request— 

Not even a few seconds later.
　　
【Player [iloveu3tt-E] accepted your team request】

Li Zhongchen collected his gaze, the cigarette dangled from his lips. He had been conflicted if he should type something into the window when he heard a male voice coming from the headset. “Brother Qiao, the captain just called to say the photoshoot has been postponed, we can continue playing.”

Li Zhongchen: “…”

Then Qiao Yi said, “Okay, let’s start.” 

After saying that, the team began matching.

“…” Li Zhongchen thought to himself, was he transparent? After joining the team, he was treated as though he was air.

Time continued to pass and no one said a word.

This was more than an embarrassment. Li Zhongchen had the overwhelming urge to unplug the main switch of his computer and pretend that he had disconnected on the spot. 

They entered the game and got onto the drop ship.

The team consisted of Bloodhound and Mirage, with the addition of the healer, Lifeline. Li Zhongchen was assigned the role of jumpmaster by the system, but he relinquished the role over to Qiao Yi. All he had to do now was follow his trajectory and jump after him.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

“Ktf Ula?” Pa kjr Hljb Tl’r mjiw nblmf.

Qtja firf mbeiv Ol Itbcumtfc rjs? Lf tjv ibcu aegcfv boo tlr wlm. 

Fortunately, the communication system of Apex Legends was perfect enough. He opened the map and marked The Pit. The system played an automated response in English. The meaning of it was: “I think we can land here.”

Ve Eeldl gfrqbcvfv alwfis. “Yxjs, atfc ifa’r ub obg la.”

Coafg tf rqbxf, atf vgbq rtlq yfujc ab jqqgbjmt atf wjgxfv qblca.

Hljb Tl mbwwjcvfv atf oiluta qjat. Ktf atgff qijsfgr bo atf afjw pewqfv bea bo atf vgbq rtlq jcv oifk abkjgvr atflg vfralcjalbc. Ktfs oifk jr rkloa jr atf klcv, atf sfiibk rwbxf oibkfv yftlcv atfw ilxf jc fcvifrr agjli bo klcur— 

Flying required skills, or others would be waiting with their guns aimed at you to ‘welcome you’.

But for veterans like them, it was natural for it to be easy. Soon, the three of them landed and looted for guns. They were the first team to land and did not exchange any superfluous words between them.

Efficiency was important when looting items, but Li Zhongchen’s heart was in turmoil. He guessed that aside from Qiao Yi, the other person on their team should be MW’s newcomer, Sugi. After all, the way he addressed ‘Qiao Ge’ was too memorable for him.

It was just that the other party had not asked who he was, which made him somewhat confused. 

“That newcomer knows this account belongs to me?”

Li Zhongchen operated Bloodhound. The first thing he did was to equip Peacekeeper, a lever-action, single shot shotgun which was powerful when used in a frontal assault.

However, The Pit had a curved terrain. It was also an area dense with supplies. It was estimated that a few more teams would arrive in a couple more seconds. He and Qiao Yi had been playing these accounts since their early years. Their ranks were not low, hence the opponents matched with them would not be rookies and should not be underestimated during early game.

So he continued to search. His heart said that he should go fully automatic, and if that was not possible, he could just fire shots continuously. 

But no one could have expected that after scouring the map, the only thing he found that was remotely normal was Wingman.

The full title of Wingman was a heavy-rounds support revolver. Although it was a revolver, the damage of headshots was 90 and 45 for torso shots. It had much higher damage compared to rifles. The only downside to it was that you could not hit enemies too far away. He thought that this should be enough for him, so he made do for the time being.

—Hence, our brave and handsome Bloodhound brought along Wingman, picking things up here and there. He killed several enemies, looted a wave of blue and purple gears, but he still did not come across the rifle or submachine gun he wanted.

Damn it. And to think this was the so-called area that was dense with supplies. How did things turn out this way when he played with Qiao Yi? It was truly bad luck. 

He had just finished off the surrounding enemies and was using the medic box to replenish his health. Sister Lifeline, which was controlled by Qiao Yi, jumped out of nowhere and threw out a bunch of supplies next to him.

“For you.” His voice was extremely cold.

[VK47 Flatline x1]

[Heavy Rounds x1] 

[Gold Armor x1]

[Syringe x5]

The equipment of this game was graded by colors – white, blue, purple, and gold. The higher the placement in that order, the higher the grade. Gold equipment also came with their own skills. For example, the Gold Armor would generate a self-resuscitating shield after being knocked down by the enemy. It was amazing.

Li Zhongchen silently picked up the generous alms given by his ex-boyfriend. He pressed T, turning on his mic. “Thanks.” 

Qiao Yi said nothing and left.

Li Zhongchen: “……”

He felt a little unhappy after being ignored by the other party. From the perspective of romantic psychology, it was him acting haughty. Li Zhongchen thought glumly to himself, forget being my ex-boyfriend or ex-fiancé, currently you are my teammate, you can’t just ignore me.

So he opened his inventory and marked the heavy bullets. The system immediately conveyed an automated announcement to all his teammates. “I need heavy rounds.” 

Qiao Yi: “…”

It was even accompanied by an obvious “tsk”.

The Bloodhound that Li Zhongchen was controlling did not move a single step, treating a dead horse like a living horse.

Unexpectedly, Qiao Yi really turned back to look for him. Sister Lifeline was expressionless as she threw another 100 rounds on the ground and ran away like smoke. 

“Pfft.” Li Zhongchen laughed from the other side of the screen, lips curved into a smile.

At this time, a newcomer that had just joined in July passed by. He turned back and looked at him in surprise, and whispered secretly to another person. “Coach seems a little abnormal today…”

“Ai, what a pity. For others, extreme joy begets sorrow. I guess it’s the other way around for Coach.”

“What do you mean?” 

“Keep your voice down, I’ll explain it to you later.”

The game continued on.

In the last few rounds, it was rare for Li Zhongchen not to act impulsively, casting aside the aggressive playstyle of SVG and tolerated the urge of his itching hands. He listened to Qiao Yi’s every command. As long as the other was happy, they would attain steady victory in almost every match.

The only thing that made Li Zhongchen unhappy was that Qiao Yi spoke too much— 

“That’s right, look towards 220. Do you see it? Set a clone as bait, then snipe him.”

“It’s not used this way. Change a gun, equip Skullpiercing Rifling with your Longbow. Be careful.”

“Are you taking a break? Then help me pour a cup of water.”

“……” Li Zhongchen sulked angrily as he listened on, because the words that Qiao Yi had spoken were not said to him. Later, a ring shrinkage occurred, and Sugi was knocked down by an enemy.  He hid the resurrection card and deliberately chose not to save him, which angered Qiao Yi. He probably wanted to scold him, but could only hold it in. 

Eventually, they ended the final round after having thoroughly enjoyed themselves. 

“Brother Qiao, we have to leave now. The captain called and said that the SVG side is almost done with their photoshoot.” After the last sentence, Su Ruiqi paused. “Will you be coming with us?”

Qiao Yi replied, “you go with them, Brother Qin has some business with me later on.”

The Brother Qin that he had just spoken of was MW’s boss. 

“Alright,” Su Ruiqi spoke once more before exiting the game, but this time his words were directed towards Li Zhongchen. “Hello, God Zhong. I am Sugi.”

Li Zhongchen’s eyebrows twitched as he turned on his mic. “Hello.”

“It was an honor to be able to team up with you, God Zhong. I hope that we will have the opportunity to get to know each other better. I have a lot of respect for you.”

“……” 

This child spoke too maturely.

Li Zhongchen replied indifferently. “If there is a chance, we will meet in competition.”

After their civil exchange, Sugi left, leaving only him and Qiao Yi in the team.

Li Zhongchen did not engage in any dramatic actions and said to Qiao Yi. “What does your boss want to talk to you about?” 

“I’m logging off.” Qiao Yi pretended not to hear him.

“……”

Li Zhongchen did not get angry. Instead, he smiled. “Am I a gaming tool? A substitute to fill in the third missing spot?”

Qiao Yi did not refute. “Are you not?” 

Hah. Li Zhongchen leaned against the back of his gaming chair, smiling through his anger.

He went straight to the point and pressed Qiao Yi. “You’ve returned for quite a while and should have met up with everyone, but only avoided me?”

It was not certain of who was hiding from who.

But whenever Li Zhongchen unintentionally said something hurtful, the only one who was unaware of it was him. 

“I did not meet up with anyone.” Qiao Yi said flatly. “It’s cold now, so I’ve been ordering take out at home and never had a meal with others outside.”

The “home” that he spoke of was the apartment that the two of them used to live in together. It was located in the middle of both SVG and MW’s bases in Feng Xian district.

In fact, Li Zhongchen had noticed it last night. The bed that was in the corner of the dark background was chosen by himself and Qiao Yi.

The galaxy lamp by the bed, the fragrance in the closet, and the puppy model robotic vacuum. 

Li Zhongchen’s throat bobbed slightly. He wanted to say something, but eventually backed down. In the end, he only said, “It’s been a long time since anyone lived there. You should buy new ones and change those quilts and beddings.”

Qiao Yi paused, only to exhale. “En. I’ve already changed them.”