Tu Xiaoning was feeling irritable today because whenever she was playing PUBG, WeChat messages kept popping up.

“What’s your approximate annual salary?”

It was her blind date partner, and she frowned, replying quickly.

“I haven’t become a full-time employee yet.”

“When will you become one?”

“I have to wait for the opportunity; I signed a labor dispatch contract.”

“Ning-ge, hurry and save me! What are you doing?!”

Her teammate, Ling Weiyi, was calling out, so Tu Xiaoning quickly switched back to the game screen, only to see that Ling Weiyi had already been eliminated. Before she could react, she got shot by a 98k too.

“Come on, Tu Xiaoning!” Ling Weiyi’s voice exploded in her earphones, almost blowing out her eardrum.

“Aren’t Qi Yu and his cousin still alive? Qi-ge, it’s all on you now!” Tu Xiaoning took off one earbud, drank some water, and switched back to WeChat, where she saw no new replies, so she went to browse her Moments feed.

Then she saw a post: a sneering emoji with the caption, “Economic base determines the superstructure. These days, anyone dares to show up for a blind date.”

Tu Xiaoning immediately clicked on the profile picture and hit delete, then returned to the game screen. This time, Qi Yu and his little cousin had been eliminated too.

“Let’s go again!” Qi Yu said, not ready to give up.

“Ning-ge, please play seriously this time; the brothers want to make it to the final round.” Ling Weiyi sounded sincere.

“Got it,” Tu Xiaoning put her headphones back on.

This round, armed with a shotgun, Tu Xiaoning took out two players right off the bat.

“Dude, she’s on fire this game,” even Qi Yu’s young cousin was surprised.

Tu Xiaoning picked up a UMP9 submachine gun and took down three more players, almost as if she owned the game from the start.

As the safe zone shrank, Qi Yu drove over to pick her up.

“Get in, get in; your brother’s taking you for a ride.”

In the car, she swapped to an AKM rifle and took down two passersby.

“Such intensity! Is Ning-ge going to carry us to victory?” Qi Yu was amazed.

“Ning-ge, you’re too fierce—almost unnaturally so,” Ling Weiyi, her best friend, remarked. They had shared a dorm room for four years, inseparable since freshman year. Qi Yu was Ling Weiyi’s boyfriend, and the three of them had been close friends ever since. Because of Tu Xiaoning’s bold personality, Qi Yu started calling her “Ning-ge” in college, and sometimes Ling Weiyi joined in. Her unusual game performance had clearly caught Ling Weiyi’s attention.

Tu Xiaoning, observing the surroundings, didn’t plan to hide anything from them.

“I deleted that guy.”

“Who?” Ling Weiyi asked.

Too lazy to explain, Tu Xiaoning kept scanning the area on her phone.

“The cop?” Ling Weiyi recalled.

She had even accompanied Tu Xiaoning to her first meeting with him.

Tu Xiaoning didn’t deny it. Ling Weiyi asked again, “What happened?”

“He probably dislikes the fact that I’m not a permanent employee.” Tu Xiaoning found using the submachine gun handier and switched back to it.

“Really, he looked down on you? I haven’t even looked down on him yet. Just a little prison guard, barely an inch taller than you, and he dares to name himself ‘Handsome and Dashing’ on WeChat?” Ling Weiyi’s tone was sharp.

“Pfft,” Qi Yu’s cousin couldn’t help but laugh.

Qi Yu laughed too, “Handsome and Dashing? Then I should change my name to ‘Charming and Dashing’.” The two of them laughed together in voice chat.

Ignoring the two immature guys, Tu Xiaoning told Ling Weiyi, “Don’t attack his profession; prison guards work hard, and not all of them are like him.”

“It’s a personality issue. I was already baffled; at our first meeting, he subtly pried into your job, your parents’ jobs, how many properties you have, when you’ll buy a car. What does he want? We, as the woman’s side, haven’t even asked those questions, but he came in like he was doing a background check. Seems more like he’s out fishing for a sugar mama rather than looking for a match. Does he even look at himself in the mirror?”

With Ling Weiyi getting so worked up, Tu Xiaoning decided not to mention the Moments post.

This round, they did manage to make it to the final round, but with Ling Weiyi chatting to her the whole time, they got wiped out by another team.

“You guys are too bad!” Qi Yu’s little cousin said disdainfully before grumbling and exiting the chat, not wanting to play anymore.

Qi Yu also had something to do, and it seemed Ling Weiyi had lost her mood for gaming. The four of them disbanded from the game, and Ling Weiyi switched to voice chat on WeChat with Tu Xiaoning.

“No worries. Qi Yu’s about to take the civil service exam. If he passes, he can introduce you to some excellent young prospects.”