Chapter 22

It was as if the world froze in that instant.

Ying Nian stared blankly at her phone—one second, two seconds, three seconds… The phone slipped from her grasp with a “whoosh,” and just before it fell onto the thin blanket, she snapped back to reality, scrambling to catch it.

Yi Shen isn’t Yi Shen? No, that’s not right! It should be that this WeChat account, which she had always thought belonged to Yi Shen, isn’t actually Yi Shen’s?!

Clinging to the last shred of hope, she hesitantly typed out a message: [Who are you?] No one knew how much effort it took her to type those three words.

Two seconds later, the reply came:

—[Yu Linran.]

It was both within her expectations and beyond what she could handle.

Ying Nian stared blankly at the screen for a long while, with one hand holding her phone, and the other clenched into a fist. “Aaaahhhhh—”

She screamed with her eyes shut and then, with a “thud”, she fell face down onto the bed.

She had no desire to get up.

She wanted to die.

All the silly things she’d done in front of Yi Shen, the questions she’d asked about the Captain, and that one time she had poured her heart out without any reservation… it all had been exposed to the very person himself.

Ying Nian no longer had the courage to scroll through their chat history. How embarrassing had she been in front of Yu Linran?

Not only had she said all kinds of foolish things, but thinking back to the times she’d met Yu Linran in person, she still believed she’d kept her composure and been reserved. In reality, Yu Linran had seen right through her thoughts all along. And to make matters worse, she had actively gone up to him, like a fool, spilling all her secrets!

It took her several minutes to calm down. Her face was burning as she mustered the courage to send Yu Linran a message:

[I’m sorry.]

He responded with a question: [Sorry for what?]

Ying Nian couldn’t quite explain it; she just felt that she might have caused him some trouble. After thinking for a moment, she cautiously asked, [Captain, will you block me?]

After sending the message, the wait for a reply was longer than the previous one.

Fortunately, Yu Linran still responded, again with a question: [Why would I block you?]

Because she was foolish and clueless, embarrassing herself and making things awkward…

Ying Nian only thought of these words in her mind. Since Yu Linran didn’t have the intention of blocking her, she certainly wouldn’t give him reasons to do so. Half of her anxiety eased, but the burning sensation on her face didn’t fade.

Usually, she longed to have more interactions with him, and after adding “Y Shen” as a friend, she was secretly a little happy—there was now another connection between her and him.

However, when the user behind the account shifted from his teammate to Yu Linran himself, she suddenly didn’t know what to do.

The phrase “fear of approaching home” perhaps described a similar feeling.

Ying Nian thought for a long time and decided to message Yu Linran, telling him she had something to do and then quickly retreat, temporarily “playing dead.” She would deal with everything else later.

Just as she typed [I suddenly…] in the chat box, Yu Linran sent her a message: [Get on the game.]

She was stunned, deleted her text, and sent back a question mark.

Yu Linran, without wasting words, repeated: [Do you have a computer nearby? Get on the game.]

There was indeed a computer in her room, though she wasn’t sure about the internet speed. She quickly got up and followed his instructions.

Luckily, this game was popular and already installed on the computer; otherwise, downloading it on the spot would have taken several hours, long enough for everything to cool off. While waiting for the game to load, Ying Nian changed the WeChat remark from “Y Shen” to “Captain.”

Not long after, Yu Linran asked, [Are you logged in?]

She quickly replied, [Yes! I’m in!]

Yu Linran sent her a game ID and said, [Search for this and add as a friend.]

She was a bit stunned. What was Yu Linran planning?

Her ID was quite conspicuous. Feeling both nervous and apprehensive, Ying Nian added the account Yu Linran had sent her. The account name was a jumble of random English letters. She tentatively sent a friend request message: [Is this you?]

“Yu Linran.”

Those straightforward three words dashed any lingering hopes she had.

Great, the phrase “Yu Linran Marry Me” in her ID was something Yu Linran would surely never forget.

Embracing a “might as well go for broke” attitude, Ying Nian messaged him.

[Is this your alternate account?]

[Sort of.]

[Why ‘sort of’?]

[Because I don’t use it often.]

[So why are we adding each other as friends…?]

[Solo.]

A nightmare of a word—solo—Ying Nian felt her head ache just reading it.

[Why solo? I’m really bad at this game, Captain, you should know that…]

Yu Linran replied, [If you weren’t bad, I wouldn’t be asking you to solo.]

Ying Nian felt a bit disgruntled. She really didn’t want to embarrass herself in front of Yu Linran. However, before she could protest, Yu Linran had already sent a match request.

With a spirit of facing doom, and the determination of “if I don’t go to hell, who will,” she bravely clicked accept.

As they entered the game interface, it was the same familiar scene as when they had soloed at the base last time. This time, both of them chose damage-dealing heroes. Ying Nian asked curiously, [Captain, you can play AD too?]

Yu Linran’s concise reply popped up in the chat at the bottom left: [Obviously.]

Ying Nian: …

Hmph, professional players are really fierce!

Ying Nian originally thought she would be completely crushed by Yu Linran, but unexpectedly, she managed to hold on for quite a while. To be precise, it wasn’t because she was putting up a great defense; rather, Yu Linran simply wasn’t attacking her at all.

In the chat at the bottom left, Yu Linran kept sending messages.

[In situations like this, you need to be mindful of dodging; positioning is crucial.]

[Prediction is extremely important. A wrong judgment could easily lead to a loss.]

[Now that you’re at this level, you can try some skill combos, like this…]

[…]

Ying Nian listened as if attending a lesson, learning a lot of new things. Yu Linran was surprisingly patient, even teaching her how to position better. Instead of fighting, their two heroes seemed to be dancing in circles facing each other.

So, he was teaching her game techniques?

Ying Nian felt a warmth in her heart and was just about to ask, “Captain, why are you teaching me?” when, without giving her a chance to type a single word, Yu Linran maneuvered his hero and swiftly killed her in a few moves.

[…???]

What kind of play was this!!

Ying Nian frantically asked, [Why did you kill me?!]

Yu Linran replied, [It’s a solo match, what do you think?]

She was at a loss for words, struggling to respond, [I can’t win against you like this…]

Yu Linran remained unmoved, and replied with a strict tone, [If you can’t win, that’s why you need to practice. Let’s go again.]

Ying Nian had no choice but to continue enduring the trial.

As they practiced, she began to notice a pattern. Yu Linran would first patiently teach her positioning, skill release, or other techniques, demonstrating them himself on the opposite side. After she followed along a few times, he would then mercilessly finish her off in one swift move!

With the ID “Yu Linran Marry Me,” and facing Yu Linran himself, the match felt like a live session of “defeating an admirer.”

Ying Nian was beaten into submission and, trying to change the subject, asked indirectly, [Captain, it’s so late. Aren’t you tired?]

Yu Linran replied, [Not tired, just relaxing before bed.]

…So his way of relaxing was soloing and thrashing her?

Feeling aggrieved, she asked, [Captain, why are you teaching me how to play the game?]

She thought she might hear something like “Because you’re my fan,” or some other response that could give her a tiny bit of warm feeling. But instead, his reply almost made her die from frustration!

On the big screen, Yu Linran sent a message:

[With that ID, your gameplay is so bad it’s unbearable—it’s a complete eyesore.]