Chapter 7 – What, wanna send me off too?

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This is the simulation training section.

In today’s world of highly advanced technology, the line between holograms and the real world grows increasingly blurred as it has long become an inseparable part of people’s lives. Countless people work and live within the holographic realm, and simulation training is one of the industries that arose from this.

Like real-world training institutions, this place doesn’t offer free services. To practice, one needs to become a member, and various private coaching sessions are also available.

Although there is a points leaderboard spanning the entire network, with skins or events released periodically, making it look more like a game for entertainment, its essence still lies in “virtual training” as the main selling point.

This leads to it not having a brief countdown like typical competitive games but instead trying to simulate reality, such as equipment checks before takeoff, discussing individual roles, confirming routes, and so on… It provides ample preparation time.

This greatly benefited Xie Chenyu.

He looked at the trio who were about to start arguing and amiably suggested, “How about I, a passerby, mediate for you?”

The trio was in a foul mood, and directly snapped upon hearing that: “Who the hell do you think you are?!”

Xie Chenyu still smiled, tone unchanged: “We’re already on the same boat now. Even if you don’t care about the points deducted from forcefully quitting, the first to leave not only loses, but will also be slandered by the ones left behind—who will keep telling us how worthless the other party is. I assume none of you will quit, right?”

The one who had been about to press the “quit” button, thinking “out of sight, out of mind”: “……”

Song Yan, who instantly sensed something was off: “……”

Xie Chenyu blocked all their escape routes with a single sentence, advising: “So, why don’t we all calm down and talk slowly?”

He looked at the scumbag, “Brother, where are you from?”

The scumbag, awkwardly caught between new flame and old love, couldn’t wait to change the subject: “From Planet Jinata.”

Xie Chenyu feigned surprise: “What a coincidence, I’m from that area too!”

After smoothing things over and establishing a connection, he continued his persuasion: “Since we’re all from the same place, how about you listen to a couple of words from me?”

The scumbag played along this time: “Sure, go ahead.”

Xie Chenyu spoke earnestly: “A man should take responsibility. Things have gotten this tense. No matter what, you have to shoulder some of the blame, don’t you think?”

Seeing the scumbag nod, he began the brainwashing: “I know you gave your heart in every relationship, and that each one had precious memories. You’ll probably meet again in the future, no need to always be at each other’s throats. Take this opportunity today to talk it out properly, discuss those beautiful past memories, and give the last relationship a perfect ending. And you two can also share some moments that moved you, think about the good in each other.”

Not waiting for them to cut him off, he looked at the glaring ex and genuinely added: “Let’s be clear first, you can’t deliberately bring up memories that are too specific or exclusive to provoke him and make them fight on the spot.”

Then he turned to the new flame, smug and prideful, “And you can’t purposely flaunt affection just to rub it in or disgust people. Let’s keep things peaceful, alright?”

.

.

.

The ex and the new flame froze for a moment, thinking: that actually works.

Since neither side could afford to be the one to back down first, forcing the other to quit might be the way.

Song Yan, who had completely confirmed his ill intent: “……”

The result of entrusting it to you is to fan the flames and fight endlessly?

Xie Chenyu could see that they were incompatible and knew that they would definitely not be able to resist taking the bait.

His hand rested on the input interface for two seconds, then he heard the new flame boastfully laugh: “Alright, then I’ll talk about him celebrating my birthday.”

He immediately encouraged, “Great, take your time, no rush.”

The new flame was in a pleasant mood: “That day…”

“Bang—!”

A thunderous blast suddenly erupted, followed by two more in quick succession. Xie Chenyu looked up and saw the three members of the group each shot in the head, their figures vanishing instantly from view.

He shifted his gaze, meeting his teammate’s gun barrel.

The system’s default voice sounded in his ear, its tone cold and indifferent.

“What now,” Song Yan asked, “Are you gonna chase them out and keep fanning the flames, or turn right and go to the [Emotional Exchange Channel] to vent your unspent passion?”

Xie Chenyu: “……”

He regretfully closed his notepad. “Come on, let’s start. Are we really the only two?”

Song Yan said, “You can also quit.”

Xie Chenyu asked sincerely, “Then why didn’t you quit just now?”

Still bothered about not gathering any usable material, he explained, “Killing a teammate deducts ten times more points than quitting. If someone files a complaint and it affects your rating, your next random teammates will likely be a bunch of people with bad ratings. Why bother?”

Song Yan turned and walked towards the main seat: “I’m in a hurry.”

This isn’t like a game where you can just quit a team and find a new one if you’re unhappy.

In the real world, not that many people can change teammates whenever they want, and similarly, this simulation of a real environment can’t either. You can quit, but there’s a penalty mechanism which is that you’ll have to wait half an hour before re-entering.

According to his current body clock, it was already evening. His health wasn’t good, and he’d been tired all day from getting married. The people on the spaceship would keep an eye on him to make sure he slept on time, so he could only manage one game at most—he couldn’t afford any delays.

As for the negative reviews, he admits that he fired the gun.

If he really encountered a bunch of trash teammates next time, he’d just kill them all. Anyway, he always preferred playing solo and could completely treat it as a single-player game… As he thought of this, he paused, looking at Xie Chenyu, feeling a bit of regret.

He had resolved the love triangle, but had left behind one guy who clearly looked like trouble.

He had already killed them all—he should have taken this guy out too, to avoid any more problems halfway through the flight.

Xie Chenyu met his gaze, raising an eyebrow with a smile: “What, wanna send me off too?”

Song Yan wasn’t embarrassed at being seen through and asked, “Would you agree?”

Xie Chenyu replied, “Not really.”

Getting killed also affected your personal rating. As an honor student, he had never been killed since he started playing this section. He added, “I’m not easy to kill. I’d advise you not to waste your time.”

Song Yan said, “The [Emotional Exchange Channel] is always lively.”

Xie Chenyu remained unmoved.

That place was mostly filled with people looking for help with their relationship issues. He only wanted to collect lovely little snippets of love, not listen to people complain.

He said, “Aren’t you in a hurry? Let’s start.”

Song Yan nodded, walked around to the main seat to sit down, then twisted his wrist and raised it, firing a shot.

Xie Chenyu dodged as his shoulder barely moved, then stepped forward to close the distance, aiming to grab his wrist. Song Yan retreated in time, catching a glimpse of Xie Chenyu raising his leg. 

With one hand pushing off the armrest, he lightly flipped over and landed behind him. Xie Chenyu’s expression was calm, and he swiftly made a sharp turn.

Since high school, he had been thrown into a mercenary company by his uncle every winter and summer break, continuing until after graduating from university. For over a year after graduation, he had practically lived there, gaining extremely rich combat experience.

Song Yan had started training even earlier. Because of his health issues, he couldn’t overexert himself, so he had put everything into speed and precision. Xie Chenyu couldn’t get the upper hand so easily.

The two of them exchanged four or five moves in the blink of an eye, and then stopped simultaneously as the distance widened again.

Song Yan thought: He’s right, it is indeed not easy to kill him.

Xie Chenyu thought: This kid’s skills are actually quite good.

He asked with a smile, “Are we starting or not?”

Song Yan walked over to the captain’s seat and sat down, activating the pre-flight check system. “Start. You’d better listen.”

Xie Chenyu’s emotions were always stable. he wasn’t easily angered, so he good-naturedly sat in the co-pilot’s seat. “Alright, this is my first time playing this map. If you have experience, I’ll listen to you.”

Song Yan’s hand paused slightly.

Xie Chenyu saw it clearly from beside him, and the moment of silence made something click: “It’s your first time too?”

Song Yan acted like he didn’t hear, replied as if nothing had happened: “I’ve started it.”

Xie Chenyu said, “Wait a second.”

With the three teammates gone, all the extra workload would now fall on them.

And it turned out that these two people, burdened with heavy responsibilities, were both playing for the first time?

He felt he was about to hit his personal worst record, and his old “strive to do your best” habit kicked in. “Move over, I’ll be captain.”