Chapter 48: Is the Game More Important or Me?

Pei Jinyang’s attitude caused the lively group who were preparing to organize a game to suddenly fall silent, exchanging bewildered glances.

Chen Zhanbei scratched his head, a shy smile on his face. “Well, let’s eat something first.”

Pei Jinyang casually scanned the room and his gaze landed on Jiang Mingzhi.

She was leisurely enjoying some durian, completely uninterested in this small interruption.

The durians were from their own orchard. Pei Zhaohua and Qiu Tang had bought a durian plantation in Malaysia two years ago, and every year, they had an abundance of durians to enjoy in the middle and at the end of the year.

Jiang Mingzhi loved durian, and she quickly devoured two large pieces.

For some reason, Pei Jinyang walked towards her. The others, seeing this, exchanged meaningful glances.

They all knew that Jiang Mingzhi was Pei Jinyang’s “convenient” little sister, their relationship wasn’t serious, and she had even caused him to lose his pocket money.

Moreover, Pei Jinyang didn’t particularly like durian; he was the type who could tolerate the smell but would never eat it.

It seemed like he was looking for an opportunity to pick on Jiang Mingzhi.

Sure enough, he stopped in front of her, frowning. “Don’t you know how strong the smell of durian is?”

Jiang Mingzhi couldn’t be bothered to respond.

What was he acting all high and mighty for? In her previous life, he hadn’t liked durian either, but later on, he developed a taste for it. Unfortunately, by then, he had already fallen out with his family and had to buy it himself.

Her cold attitude made Pei Jinyang feel embarrassed. He waved at the waiter, “Take the durian away.”

Since it was Pei Jinyang’s party, the waiter naturally complied and took the plate of durian away.

Jiang Mingzhi didn’t want to argue with him. If she couldn’t eat it now, there would still be some at home.

She put down her plate and turned toward the small garden on the balcony.

Everyone was gathered inside, and the balcony was empty. Jiang Mingzhi felt a sense of solitude as she pulled up a chair to sit down and texted Lin Wan.

[Logged In]

During the summer vacation, Lin Wan had dragged her into playing a MOBA mobile game. After playing twice, Lin Wan had become obsessed and kept asking, “Sister, play with me.”

Opening the game, she created a room and waited for Lin Wan. A request popped up in the top corner.

[Hai Lan is requesting to join your room.]

Who was Hai Lan?

Jiang Mingzhi scrolled through her friend list and saw the note: Guan Jingxu.

So it was him. She hadn’t seen him online during the last two gaming sessions, but it seemed like they had crossed paths today.

Without hesitation, she allowed him into the room and, with the team mic on, directly asked, “You play this game too?”

Guan Jingxu replied, “Yeah, are you playing alone?”

Jiang Mingzhi: “No, Lin Wan is here too.”

She invited Lin Wan’s account into the room, and as soon as she joined, Lin Wan started chatting non-stop, “Hey, are we doing a triple queue today?”

“Is Hai Lan good? Will he drag us down?”

“There’s only me, a noob, in the team, so it’s fine.”

Jiang Mingzhi: “……”

She hadn’t played with Guan Jingxu before, so she didn’t know if he was any good.

Guan Jingxu’s cool voice came from the phone speaker: “I can guarantee I won’t feed.”

Lin Wan screamed, “This voice sounds familiar! Is it Guan Jingxu?”

“I thought Hai Lan was a girl! Hai Lan’s name is such a mystery.”

Jiang Mingzhi: “…… The meaning behind the name should be ‘seeing a whale when the sea is blue.’”

“Seeing the deer deep in the forest, seeing the whale in the blue sea, and seeing you when I wake up from my dream.”

She hadn’t expected Guan Jingxu to be so poetic.

“Yeah,” Guan Jingxu said, “Zhuang Heyang also said he’ll come. Let’s find someone else to fill the team.”

Jiang Mingzhi: “Okay.”

Two hours later, Lin Wan invited a male student from school, and they had a full five-person team ready to play.

Zhuang Heyang: “Make sure you pick your roles first.”

Jiang Mingzhi picked an ADC, while Lin Wan chose support.

“I’m with Zhi Zhi,” Lin Wan said.

Zhuang Heyang picked a mage, while Guan Jingxu chose the jungle role.

As the game loaded, Jiang Mingzhi playfully squeezed her voice and said, “Brother Xu, please help me out, their mid-lane hero counters me.”

Guan Jingxu replied, “I’m not going to go once.”

“…” Zhuang Heyang switched the topic, “Jiang, you’re using real-name registration for the game? That’s impressive.”

Jiang Mingzhi’s game ID was: Mingzhi Guwen.

“Other players won’t know it’s my real name.”

“True.”

As the game started, Guan Jingxu thoughtfully reminded the two girls, “If you’re having trouble in the bot lane, wait for me to come gank.”

Lin Wan snorted, controlling her character to follow Jiang Mingzhi. “Our Zhi Zhi is strong, how could we lose?”

Jiang Mingzhi sweatdropped. Saying such big words so quickly, if they actually lost to the other team, it would be embarrassing.

But with her smooth moves and Guan Jingxu’s help, she scored first blood and went on to a 5-0 scoreline, making it look like Lin Wan wouldn’t get a chance to boast.

Zhuang Heyang’s exclamations were nonstop: “Wow, Jiang, you’re so ruthless? Am I just lying down to win?”

“Jiang, have you considered going pro?”

“Wow, Guan Jingxu actually didn’t get the kill—guess he couldn’t beat Jiang! Hahaha.”

With Guan Jingxu’s help and Lin Wan’s protection, Jiang Mingzhi secured 18 kills without dying once.

She earned the MVP of this match.

As the next game began, everyone naturally followed the same lane strategy as last time.

It seemed like Guan Jingxu was spending even more time in the bot lane than before.

Three minutes in, he had ganked the enemy bot lane three times, and the enemy’s marksman was getting a bit desperate.

Zhuang Heyang, watching the ongoing fight in the bot lane, casually farmed minions. “Wow, your bot lane is so lively.”

With both teams’ junglers, marksmen, and supports all in the bot lane, how could it not be chaotic?

As the fight raged on, the enemy mid-laner also rushed over. Zhuang Heyang screamed as he ran toward the bot lane, “What, when did this guy come down? Wait for me, wait for me!”

By the time he got to the bot lane, there were only dead bodies scattered around, and Jiang Mingzhi, low on health, was hiding in the grass to recall.

“Ah, I didn’t even get an assist, all for nothing.”

“Jiang, are you really not thinking of going pro? I can tell you haven’t played many matches, you must have natural talent.”

Jiang Mingzhi humbly responded, “Maybe it’s because my teammates are strong, and I was lucky.”

She couldn’t exactly say that she had played thousands of matches in her past life.

Lin Wan: “Zhi Zhi, it’s so comfortable playing games with you. I’ve never felt this game was this easy.”

Amid the laughs, they started the third match. The glass door behind Jiang Mingzhi opened, and the noise from inside immediately spilled out.

Pei Jinyang’s group was singing and playing games, and even the teammates on their phones could hear the noise.

Lin Wan: “Zhi Zhi, it’s so noisy where you are. Are you outside?”

Jiang Mingzhi turned around and saw that it was Pei Jinyang. She quickly refocused on the game and answered Lin Wan’s question, “Yeah, it’s Pei Jinyang’s birthday, I’m eating out.”

Lin Wan: “You still have time to play games?”

Even Guan Jingxu, who rarely spoke during games, chimed in, “Have you eaten?”

“I’ve eaten. Have you, Guan?”

Zhuang Heyang: “Why do you only care about whether he’s eaten and not about me?”

“…” Jiang Mingzhi could feel Pei Jinyang’s mood darkening behind her.

Here she was, avoiding his birthday party to play games with others, and he was being treated like air—this really was something else.

Seeing her made him even more frustrated, and when she wasn’t in his sight, he found himself wanting to see her again.

Pei Jinyang felt an uncomfortable pressure building inside him and slammed the door loudly.

He hated Jiang Mingzhi’s attitude toward him, but he also hated his own attitude toward her.

Everything felt out of control, leaving him increasingly uneasy.

Jiang Mingzhi was startled by the noise behind her, muttering a curse under her breath, “Crazy.”