'Single Man of High Quality in Shishi/185/18cm' was naturally Zhang Beixing. He saw the message from 'Hates Coriander.'
His lips began to curl, about to break into a forty-five-degree evil dragon king's smirk. But thinking that such a smile might cause his face to cramp, and he might get hit, he ultimately refrained from doing so.
He just casually replied, "Rattled?"
"AH!!!!"
In the Taekwondo club, Chen Rourou saw these two words and let out a groundhog's wail!
It was just two words, but the psychological trauma they inflicted on her was greater than all the previous words combined!
She lifted her hand, subconsciously wanting to smash her phone. But seeing the pained yet hesitant look from her best friend beside her, she ultimately controlled herself.
She sniffled, forcefully holding back tears, and typed, "That's right, I am rattled! Just say whether you dare to come or not!"
'Single Man of High Quality in Shishi/185/18cm': "Heh, what's there for me not to dare? Time and place!"
'Hates Coriander': "At the Yuhua Expressway intersection, seven o'clock tonight!"
'Single Man of High Quality in Shishi/185/18cm': "..."
'Single Man of High Quality in Shishi/185/18cm': "Are you dumb?"
'Hates Coriander': "Why are you swearing at me?"
'Single Man of High Quality in Shishi/185/18cm': "Duh. Arranging a fight at the Yuhua Expressway intersection at seven in the evening? You want to get arrested, I don't. How about this: I'll pick a place. Tomorrow afternoon at five, meet in the small woods at Shi University. Any problems?"
This location wasn't chosen at random but after much deliberation by Zhang Beixing. Shi University was his home turf, and the small woods at Shi University were his ultimate stronghold! The other party was highly likely someone from off-campus, an outsider. If they entered the small woods at Shi University, Zhang Beixing could use his familiarity with the terrain to play them like a fiddle. Besides, to put it bluntly, if he really couldn't win, Zhang Beixing could call for backup; after all, they were all his classmates! Timing, terrain, and support—all advantages were on his side! Unless his surname was Jiang, the advantage was his!
'Hates Coriander': "Okay, then see you in the small woods at Shi University!"
After sending this message, her avatar turned dark; evidently, she had gone offline.
Zhang Beixing, seeing that she had actually agreed, couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.
So reckless, so dense, and that bafflingly muddled statement from before... For a moment, an image formed in his mind: an eighteen-year-old, mentally challenged youth with lumps on his shoulders, tattoos, a Rick 5 in his left hand, a basketball in his right, who liked to RAP. What an idiot!
Shaking his head, Zhang Beixing banished the cringeworthy image from his thoughts and continued scrolling through comments.
However, after scrolling for a long time, the suggestions he found were either absurdly outlandish and impossible to complete, too weak in intensity to be recorded by the System, or too easy with minimal rewards.
Zhang Beixing stared at the suggestion panel for a long time.
Eventually, he realized that the only things he could do with a decent reward seemed to be those weighted training exercises.
Damn it, what rotten luck! What else can I do? Just buy it!
Realizing this, Zhang Beixing sighed, then opened JD.com and began to shop.
This weighted gear set was quite expensive. A full set cost him four hundred big ones.
Looking at his bank balance, which was down to just a few hundred, Zhang Beixing sighed, thinking he needed to make money. Otherwise, forget working out; his very survival would be at stake.
Life's tough for a man, tough to be human.
"By day a strong man; by night, a man's struggles…"
Humming an old song from 2013, Zhang Beixing pocketed his phone and returned to his dorm, only to find just two people there.
"Where's Lao Dong?" Zhang Beixing asked subconsciously, pulling over a chair to sit down.
Zheng Jituo didn't even lift his head as he responded, "Girls' Dormitory Building One, below Room 1207. You looking for him?"
"Nah, just asking. Speaking of which, he's been simping for his goddess for three years now. Hasn't he made any progress yet?" Zhang Beixing asked while starting up his computer.
"Nope. But over these three years, he's made sure the whole school knows there's a dog leashed up below Room 1207," Jin Linyu chimed in.
Just then—
BAM!
The dorm door, which Zhang Beixing had just closed, was pushed open. Dong Guoning walked in, his face alight with excitement. "Bros, bros, major news, major news!"
"What's up? Your goddess agreed to date you?" Zhang Beixing lit a mosquito coil. Today he had made a big breakthrough and felt he could indulge himself a little.
Upon hearing this, Dong Guoning's face stiffened. "No, not that."
"Then what's the major news?" Zhang Beixing pressed.
Excitement returned to Dong Guoning's face. "The campus belle, you know, the really violent one? Chen Rourou! She cried today! I saw her when I was coming back; her eyes were all red and swollen!"
After saying this, he looked at the three of them with an expectant expression, clearly expecting them to ask for more details.
But he found them all expressionless, eerily calm, as they said in unison, "OH!"
Dong Guoning: "???"
He stood there dumbfounded, feeling that this wasn't how the script was supposed to go.
"Aren't you guys the least bit curious?" he asked, completely baffled.
Zhang Beixing looked up at him. "Why should we be curious?"
Lao Dong's logic was really strange. So she cried, so what? What did it have to do with them? They barely had any interaction on a regular day. Surely, he didn't need to comfort some girl he barely knew just because she cried, right? If she got pregnant, was he supposed to step up and be the father to her child? Even if this campus belle got her butt spanked, he wouldn't hear a thing, so why should he give a damn about her?
...
"But… but that's one of Shi University's most beautiful girls! And she's so fiery, a real hot pepper, and now she's crying, actually crying!"
"So what?"
"So…"
Dong Guoning suddenly froze, his brain kicking into overdrive. So what, indeed?
Seeing that he had apparently connected to the Malphite global shared network, Zhang Beixing exhaled a puff of smoke.
He didn't press further on this matter, instead asking Dong Guoning if he wanted to play games.
That snapped Dong Guoning out of it, and he eagerly nodded in agreement.
And so, the four occupants of Room 203 started a long-awaited four-player queue.
It continued until eleven o'clock at night.
"DEFEAT!"
As the solemn female voice echoed from the headphones, Zhang Beixing's frantically moving hands stopped. He froze in his chair as if he were a sculpture.
A moment later, he moved.
He lit a cigarette, silently opened KuGou, and cranked up the headphone volume.
At the same time, Zheng Jituo and the other two simultaneously took off their headphones and looked at Zhang Beixing.
Then...
"I **** your ****! What the **** are you playing?"
"What the hell! ****! ****!"
"Lao Zhang, who the hell taught you to play like that? Playing a B Kun Kun, not jungling, but running down to the bottom lane as support, sticking right next to me, head poking out, I'll *****!"
Almost instantaneously, the room filled with Cybertronian language, Morse code beeps, and rapid-fire patter.
Fortunately, their neighbors were all long-time residents. Already familiar with their antics, no one came knocking to complain about the noise.
Zhang Beixing was very puzzled.
Something was wrong, very, very wrong! He had been training, and his Yue Family Fist was even showing initial success. According to novels, if he played games now, it should be a complete curb stomp; even if Da Fei showed up, he'd get slapped around. But in reality... He was still the same noob, without a hint of change.
Could it be that all my gaming talent has been converted into training aptitude?
Smoking his cigarette and listening to the deafening music, Zhang Beixing thought it wasn't impossible.
And thinking about training reminded him of the fight he had scheduled that afternoon.
So he took off his headphones and made a "timeout" gesture.
Looking at Zheng Jituo and the others, he said, "Guys, let me ask you something. If, and I mean *if*, I have to fight some guys from off-campus tomorrow, will you back me up?"