Chapter Twenty

After resolving Lin Zimo’s issues, Rainy Xingyue and Xiao Jian headed together to the Heartbreak Café, where Rainy Xingyue worked. Today, though, she was there as a customer, joining up with Huang Feifan, Zhang Yi, and the rest. Raindrop was the first to arrive, led by Zhang Yi, who was familiar with the way since he’d been there before. By the time the others showed up, they’d already downed several cups of coffee. Raindrop, being a child, wasn’t allowed to drink coffee—it wasn’t good for her health. As for Huang Feifan and Zhang Yi, who could tell how much they’d already drunk, both were hiccuping.

“You’re here?” Huang Feifan stood up.

“We’re here. Let’s get started,” Rainy Xingyue replied.

Once Rainy Xingyue and Xiao Jian took their seats, they pulled out their phones and logged into Battle of the Fools. With Raindrop joining, their five-person team was complete. Huang Feifan created a lobby for the five of them—a proper squad.

At the hero selection screen, Rainy Xingyue, as always, picked the mage hero, Ground Oath. Raindrop chose the warrior hero, Sky Mo; Huang Feifan, the marksman hero, Zhang Tianyou; Zhang Yi, the support hero, Ode; and Xiao Jian, the assassin hero, Sword.

Xiao Jian was well aware of how formidable Raindrop’s Sky Mo could be. If played well, she was a nightmare for the whole game; played poorly, she’d be what everyone called a “free kill.” Before the game started, Raindrop sent out a quick message: “Top lane, jungle.”

“Whoa! Rainy, you’re awesome!” Zhang Yi couldn’t help but praise her. Top lane and jungle—what did that mean? One person dominating an entire lane, needing no backup and never recalling to base? Xiao Jian joined in the admiration.

Rainy Xingyue didn’t understand what Raindrop meant and asked Huang Feifan. After he explained, she got it: Raindrop wanted to solo the top lane. She was a top-tier player and had plenty of confidence.

When the game began, Raindrop took charge of the top lane, covering both the monsters and the lane, while Huang Feifan and Xiao Jian went bottom, and Rainy Xingyue and Zhang Yi took mid. On the team-only chat, Raindrop sent another message: “If there’s a team fight, just say ‘help.’”

The other four nodded and focused. This was ranked; nobody wanted to lose points, which were hard to regain. If your teammates were reliable or you played as a team, climbing the ranks was much easier.

Suddenly, an enemy appeared mid. Why was the enemy marksman here instead of bottom? Maybe their team had switched up their strategy. Rainy Xingyue glanced at the enemy’s items and was shocked. “This marksman is building mage items?”

Huang Feifan replied, “No wonder he’s come mid. Everyone knows how disgusting this hero is with mage items. Be careful.”

“Got it.” Rainy Xingyue had barely replied when four big words exploded on the screen: “Battle for Supremacy!”

It turned out Raindrop had just claimed first blood. Farming the jungle, she leveled up quickly to three. Sky Mo was unique: unlike other heroes who unlocked all three skills at level four, Sky Mo unlocked them all at three, though he had no ultimate. Chaining kills with Sky Mo was all about skill.

Raindrop had mastered all of Sky Mo’s combos—taking down a foe was effortless. The enemy mage on top lane had low health, making first blood easy prey.

“Wow! Awesome!” Xiao Jian cheered.

Raindrop’s Sky Mo was not to be trifled with. She’d stacked his passive to full, regenerating energy incredibly fast. The hero had recently been tweaked so that the first and third skills could now extend his passive, allowing all Sky Mo players to rise up without being instantly deleted anymore. Sky Mo’s passive was all about combos, up to a hundred in a row. Each skill restored fifty percent energy, and with such short cooldowns, it felt almost instant.

“Destroyed enemy turret!”

“We can’t lose to Raindrop now,” Rainy Xingyue’s fighting spirit was ablaze.

“Of course not!” Zhang Yi was just as determined.

Rainy Xingyue and Zhang Yi cooperated flawlessly, easily knocking out the enemy marksman. Meanwhile, on bottom, Huang Feifan and Xiao Jian faced an enemy Sky Mo, but Xiao Jian quickly realized this Sky Mo was just a “free kill”—no pressure at all. In the right hands, Sky Mo was powerful, but in the wrong, even a support could beat him.

Soon, the screen filled with announcements:

“One-Shot Kill!”

“Double Strike!”

“Triple Blow!”

“Surrounded!”

“Pentakill!”

The enemy team realized Raindrop was skilled with Sky Mo and began to focus her down. Raindrop had been targeted before, but this only made her enjoy the game more, especially when the enemy team kept feeding her kills. Within three minutes, she’d scored a pentakill, her health bar only half gone.

“Amazing!” Rainy Xingyue was exhilarated. The enemy team had been wiped out by Raindrop. Watching her fast-moving fingers, Rainy Xingyue understood why this hero was considered difficult. If your fingers were quick, you could play Sky Mo well.

The enemy team had no fun at all. With Raindrop so well fed, no one could rival her. By the sixth minute, their base crystal was shattered.

Zhang Yi laughed, “The other team had no fun at all.”

Huang Feifan grinned, “Yeah, but after playing this match, my marksman skills improved. I’ve learned the essence of this hero.”

The five of them laughed heartily. Raindrop, for the first time, felt such joy—squad play was wonderfully fun.

Over the next three hours, the Fortunate Encounter team faced a variety of opponents, including high-level experts like Raindrop herself. No matter how skilled Raindrop was, mistakes happened; wins and losses were only natural. After three hours, Raindrop’s fingers were numb from playing Sky Mo, and the others felt the same. Against top-tier opponents, they were helpless, as if playing against bots. But gradually they improved, no longer total rookies.

Originally, the four were in Bronze; with Raindrop’s help, they reached Diamond in a single session.

After playing, all five were exhausted. Rainy Xingyue ordered several milk teas for everyone, paying out of her own pocket.

“Thanks for your hard work, everyone. Enjoy some milk tea.” The four grabbed their drinks, gulping them down—three hours without water had left their mouths parched. Even Raindrop was the same; after downing her tea, she looked thoroughly satisfied.

“Let’s play again tomorrow,” Zhang Yi suggested. It was getting late.

The group dispersed. Rainy Xingyue walked home alone, with no one to accompany her, braving the biting wind in solitude.

When she got home, it was the same as always. Yang Shuting, due to work, couldn’t return at night, so Rainy Xingyue stayed alone. She had nothing to do; gaming had worn her out. She opened her laptop to watch a series.

Nothing interesting was on. Her favorite show was nearing its finale, but she wanted to wait until it was over to binge it. She opened QQ—still that familiar 99+ notifications.

“Who’s messaging now? Another hacked account?” she grumbled. Last time, Wu Siying’s account had been hacked, flooding her with messages. Now it was happening again. Was the chance of a QQ account being hacked really this high this year?

Her guess was right—strangers sending ads about buying houses and cars. She couldn’t be bothered to check them all and just reported them.

After reporting, she checked the squad chat—dead silent. She understood; their eyes were tired, and no one would be checking QQ. None of her other contacts had messaged her, either.

“Maybe I’m just being paranoid,” she told herself. Nothing had happened lately. She closed QQ and went back to her series—a drama about a man’s grief after losing his girlfriend.

“Will I ever go through something like that?” Watching the protagonist’s pain, Rainy Xingyue felt a twinge. If she ever got a girlfriend and lost her like the protagonist, she didn’t dare imagine it.

“Forget it. Who would like someone like me? Chronic laziness, zero charisma.” She comforted herself: she was too sloppy and emotionally clueless to be liked. Girls liked rich guys—no one would ever like an ugly guy like her.

After finishing the show, she collapsed into bed. There was nothing left to do.

Before dawn, Rainy Xingyue woke and went for a walk. A thick fog had settled, making it hard to see anything, so she wandered the park near her building. She soon spotted an elderly man practicing tai chi. Out of boredom, she tried a few moves herself.

To her surprise, tai chi was quite enjoyable. Her morning gloom lifted. After watching for a while, she returned home—the weather was turning colder, and she hadn’t dressed warmly enough.

Back home, she changed into her casual clothes, which she only wore on Saturdays. Not long after, someone knocked. She knew it was Lin Zimo. In the middle of the night, Lin Zimo had messaged her, asking if she was free the next day. Rainy Xingyue replied that she was and agreed to meet in the morning.

“You’re here.”

“Did you wait long? Let’s go.” Lin Zimo hadn’t changed her outfit from yesterday, and her makeup had a more mature look—no overwhelming perfume this time.

She’d noticed Rainy Xingyue’s reaction yesterday and realized he disliked strong perfume, so she’d avoided it today.

Lin Zimo had asked Rainy Xingyue to come help with shopping. Her parents were busy with work and there was no one else she trusted. In her eyes, Rainy Xingyue was reliable and trustworthy.

“Is there a lot to buy?” Rainy Xingyue asked.

“Not much. Look at the list,” Lin Zimo handed her the shopping list.

“Wow, that’s a lot!” The list was packed; it looked like a mountain of supplies.

“You’re just looking at the writing, right? I wrote it in Japanese—of course it looks like a lot to you. It’s only about ten items.”

“That’s good. Just don’t trick me into carrying too much!”

“Don’t worry, I wouldn’t do that. I wouldn’t dream of making you carry all that.”