Bonus Chapter: CP Warning!! Lee Hwan-bin x Shen Xiao (3)

3.

The climate in City T is much warmer than in City A. City A is in the depths of winter with heavy snowfall, while in City T it's in the twenties with bright sunshine.

Shen Xiao was used to the climate of City A and was not yet used to the warm spring weather of City T.

I haven't been home for a year, but there haven't been any major changes at home; everything is still the same as before.

Once Shen Xiao got home, he couldn't control his laziness and spent all day lounging on the bed, eating when he woke up and sleeping when he was full, living a very decadent life.

Although such days were easy, they were also boring. After only a couple of days, he couldn't control himself and wanted to play games.

Since he was at home, Shen Xiao only brought a laptop, intending to play a couple of ranked matches to have some fun, since he didn't really care about the score. Who knew that things would get so badly off to the start? In the first match, he encountered a bizarre medic who kept feeding kills to the enemy team, almost driving Shen Xiao crazy.

He took a deep breath after losing a game.

I won't get angry when others are angry; who benefits from getting angry?

We've seen even worse games, let's move on to the next one.

To my surprise, in the next match, as soon as I got matched, it was that same terrible healer again.

Shen Xiao was starting to feel like cursing.

The third game, still the same ID, still the same medical setting.

Bear it, just bear it some more. He's a professional player; every word and action he takes affects the team. If he messes up here, he'll probably get a dressing down from Manager Jiang and the coach again…

Let them discipline us!

Shen Xiao spoke up: "Dude, what are you doing? Are you just feeding the enemy team during the Lunar New Year? You're giving your warmth to the enemy team, have you considered how your solo queue teammates feel?"

However, the medical staff completely ignored him and continued to deliver the package in a carefree manner.

Shen Xiao realized that the medical team was doing this on purpose, not for any other reason than to give away points.

This is really bad luck.

After losing three games in a row, he was seething with anger and afraid of running into that person again. Instead of waiting in line, he habitually opened the leaderboard.

First, Shining.

Excellent, as expected of Captain Xie, the eternal god.

Second, Secret.

etc.

What?

Shen Xiao was stunned for a moment, rubbed his eyes, and took another look to see if this was the overall ranking. He even condescended to open Secret's profile before finally confirming that the second place on the overall ranking was indeed Li Huanbin.

ha?

No, are you serious?

Is this guy on performance-enhancing drugs or something? How did he gain so many points in such a short time?!

Shen Xiao was first incredulous, then shocked, and then his competitive spirit, ingrained in his Alpha nature, surfaced.

If Li Huanbin scored so many points, then I can definitely do it too!

He wasn't just aiming for a quick buck; he, Shen Xiao, was determined to climb the ranks during this holiday. His goal, however, wasn't to be too ambitious—just to get back into the top ten of the leaderboard.

However, when he saw his dismal three consecutive defeats, the fire in his heart was extinguished.

...With such a medical team in the middle, even if Shen Xiao is very skilled, it will be difficult for him to win.

We can only play in groups.

Shen Xiao opened his friends list, and coincidentally, Xie Wei's ID lit up at that moment. His eyes lit up; playing with Xie Wei would surely guarantee ranking up. So he quickly greeted him.

No sooner had the greeting been exchanged than Shining's ID went offline again.

However, Ice's ID lit up very quickly.

Shen Xiao was a little puzzled. How could this couple's online and offline times be so perfectly coordinated? But he didn't think too much about it and happily rushed over to send a team invitation.

Playing with Ice is much more reliable than playing with Shining. After all, with a healer on the team, you don't have to worry about running into that terrible healer again.

Moreover, Ice is much easier to talk to than Xie Wei.

Sure enough, Ice readily agreed as soon as he mentioned it.

The two happily teamed up and entered ranked matches.

Unfortunately, this happiness didn't last long.

Upon entering the map, Shen Xiao's face fell as soon as he saw the ID of another assault player in his team.

...It turned out to be Li Huanbin.

Since that all-night chat, Shen Xiao has erected a wall again, refusing to reply to any of Li Huanbin's messages, no matter how many cats he sends!

He had thought that if he just gave up, Li Huanbin would eventually give up and stop bothering him. Although he didn't know why Li Huanbin was so insistent on befriending him, once bitten, twice shy, Shen Xiao didn't want to pay him any attention.

Unexpectedly, we ran into each other here.

Shen Xiao immediately became extremely vigilant, while Li Huanbin was completely oblivious, chatting with Ice and then rudely approaching him to strike up a conversation.

Shen Xiao glanced at the sniper's ID and knew that he was a streamer with some fame. Because someone was streaming, he didn't embarrass Li Huanbin in public and just cursed a couple of times to get rid of him.

Both were in high-scoring games, but Shen Xiao rarely had the chance to be in the same queue as Li Huanbin. These past few days were probably during the New Year period, and it was early, so there were fewer people in line, which is why this coincidence happened.

One shot took away a sliver of health, and the kills in the upper right corner were already flooded with Shen Xiao's messages.

He gritted his teeth, but ultimately didn't utter a curse.

Intentionally giving yourself kills?

What's the meaning?

Did she really think he was some little girl, trying to coax her?

After finishing the game and securing the MVP, Shen Xiao left the room without hesitation, his face sour.

To everyone's surprise, Li Huanbin was the next one.

Shen Xiao had just made up his mind to become a points slave, so no matter what, he still had to fight.

Unexpectedly, halfway through the game, Xie Wei's voice came through Ice's microphone!

Upon hearing Captain Xie's voice, Shen Xiao was so startled that his hand trembled, and a whole magazine of bullets hit the wall.

He knew Ice was exceptionally capable; he'd won over their team's most difficult top-tier Alpha and captain in no time. But he hadn't expected their relationship to progress so quickly. How long had it been? They'd already taken each other home to meet the parents?!

Shock as it may be, we still need to smooth things over.

Unfortunately, he was frightened, and Ice was clearly flustered as well. The two of them spoke haltingly, and their words were not very convincing.

Just then, Li Huanbin spoke up at just the right moment, saving them both from the predicament.

Unlike them, he was clearly a repeat offender. He could spout nonsense without batting an eye, and more importantly, his words sounded quite convincing at first glance.

After a narrow victory, Shen Xiao left the room and, after calming himself down, found himself developing a rare sense of goodwill towards Li Huanbin.

He told Ice, "This guy does have some redeeming qualities."

What I was really thinking was, "I didn't expect Li Huanbin to be so reliable."

The moment he opened his mouth, his methodical words and confident demeanor immediately calmed Shen Xiao's wavering heart.

It actually makes me feel quite safe.

Ice agreed, then apologized, saying she couldn't play anymore.

After what just happened, Xie Wei must have something to ask him. Shen Xiao was very understanding and generously said, "It's alright, it's alright, go ahead."

Ice left the team, and Shen Xiao stared blankly at his battle record for a while. Then he remembered what had just happened and unconsciously smiled to himself.

After thinking for a moment, he picked up his phone and opened his chat with Li Huanbin.

【Seamy: Thank you for earlier.】

[Li Huanbin: You're welcome.]

Before Shen Xiao sent him the message, he was already prepared for Li Huanbin to shamelessly come over and duo queue with him. He even thought that Li Huanbin had helped him this time, so he would just agree to duo queue with him once.

After waiting for a while, there was still no response from the other end, only those three distant yet polite words in the chat box.

Shen Xiao stared at Li Huanbin for three minutes after hearing the "You're welcome" before realizing that Li Huanbin really had nothing else to say to him.

Looking at Secret's profile again, it was revealed that he had already entered a new game three minutes earlier.

His face flushed red instantly.

Depend on!

Hey Li, you're really something else! Keep hitting me! Keep hitting me! I hope you run into that damn medical team every time you play!

Shen Xiao angrily shut down his computer, but he couldn't quite tell whether he felt ashamed and angry or disappointed.