Chapter 5 Next time, just the two of us
Ever since the "Canyon Charity Reform Action", I, Chen Rui, a goblin who doesn't believe in evil (mainly because I only care about food and not about beatings), have been completely against Lin Yan's gaming experience.
I just don’t believe it! Is there no game in this world that can pry open the mouth of Lin Yan, the “living Buddha”, and make him curse “fuck” or “idiot”?
His emotions are as stable as a thermostat. This is too unscientific! It's too unreal! I must let him experience the joys and sorrows of a mortal!
So, I started my "Game Human Salvation (Lin Yan) Plan".
Valorant: I chose a vanguard who could shoot all the arrows, hoping that Lin Yan would choose a nurse to be busy in the back.
He finally chose a smoke position, and his smoke bombs were so tricky and precise. He reported the location clearly and calmly: "There's a low-health enemy behind the long box at point A. There's a sniper on the second floor at point C. Watch out for the flash."
I rushed out and was just about to be blinded by the flash when I heard his gentle voice in the headset: "Don't worry, wait until the flash is over, I'll hold you up."
I was like a blindfolded bull, being led by him with words, and I even got a triple kill by accident!
When his teammates turned on the microphone and shouted "Nice smoke!", Lin Yan simply replied, "It's my duty."
Me: “…” This isn’t a game, it’s a tactical command simulator!
CSGO: Dust2, I was holding an AK and wanted to be a breakthrough player, but I was sniped into a sieve as soon as I walked out of the A gate.
I slammed the table in anger: "Holy crap! This sniper is cheating!"
Lin Yan, who was standing next to him, was holding a sniper rifle and was stationed outside the B hole. He could kill every kid with one shot, and his headshot rate was amazing.
He even took the time to comfort me: "The sniper position on the opposite side is very common. Next time you move, remember to pre-aim your rifle."
Then, he single-handedly, with a sniper rifle, defeated the opponent and even dismantled the team's bag.
My teammates were typing "666" on the public screen, and Lin Yan calmly typed "GG" on the settlement interface. I looked at the golden MVP logo on his screen, then looked at my KD ratio, which was at the bottom, and silently swallowed the Zaun quote that was on the tip of my tongue.
I drove a tank hoping to dominate the land, but ended up crashing into an anti-tank ditch. I drove an attack helicopter hoping to be the god of death in the air, but ended up getting slain by a Stinger.
Me: “This is a crappy vehicle!”
What about Lin Yan? He chose to be a medic or engineer, quietly following behind the main force, rescuing people, repairing vehicles, and resupplying ammunition.
He stopped giving calls through the microphone, but he always showed up where he was needed. After a chaotic fight, he didn't get many kills, but his assists and support scores were ridiculously high.
When settling the accounts, he looked at my dusty score and actually gave me a very faint, slightly... mischievous smile?
It was fleeting, but I caught it! That's definitely not the expression a "living Buddha" should have!
Peace Elite: Duo. I was determined to be a gun king, jumped to G port. As a result, I was killed three times when I landed.
Lin Yan silently chose a wild spot, searched, drove, and wandered around the edge of the poison circle like a ghost.
If he didn't shoot, it was fine. But if he did, it was to stop a fight or save someone. In the final round, we were lying in the grass while the opposing team rushed towards us in a disco.
I was so nervous that my palms were sweating: "It's over, it's going to get cold!" Lin Yan suddenly said: "Crawl behind the rock on the left and draw fire."
Me: "Ah? I'm drawing fire? Isn't that giving myself away?" He said in an unquestionable tone: "Trust me."
I closed my eyes, made up my mind, and crawled out like a target.
Sure enough, a hail of bullets descended upon us instantly! Just when I thought I was about to turn into a box spirit, Lin Yan made his move! He swooped in from the side like a ghost, his M4 steady as a rock, instantly knocking down three of them!
He accurately killed the last one with a grenade. "Good luck, chicken dinner tonight!"
I looked at the words popping up on the screen, then looked at Lin Yan next to me, who put down his phone, stretched his wrist, and had a look of... an unsatisfied, even a little wild satisfaction on his face?
He looked at me, his eyes brightening surprisingly, and the corners of his mouth curled up into a smile that was more obvious and vivid than any time before:
"Come back next time."
That smile was no longer gentle, distant, or bodhisattva-like.
It carries with it the heat, the excitement of having just experienced a fight, and the pure joy of “having a great time”.
It was like a crack appeared on the surface of a frozen lake, and boiling magma was surging underneath.
I looked at his smile and was completely confused.
This afternoon, from the Rift to the Island, from Counter-Terrorism to PUBG... I, Chen Rui, a Goblin determined to bring "Living Buddha" to experience the real world (Zuan culture), unexpectedly! One of my teammates! Didn't! Scold! It!
Not only did I fail to criticize him, but I was also manipulated around by him like a puppet, and in the end I won several games inexplicably?
It's like taking a stoic monk to a nightclub, and the monk not only dances harder than you, but also helps liberate all the vengeful spirits in the club. Finally, he says to you, "I'll come back here for salvation next time."
This script is wrong! Where's my "emotional release therapy"?! Where's my "real Lin Yan discovery plan"?! It's all ruined!
Just when I was doubting my life at Lin Yan's "lived" smile, the dormitory door was pushed open with a "bang" and the other two roommates who had gone out to play came back.
"Holy shit! What's going on?" The fourth brother yelled exaggeratedly as he walked in, pointing at my and Lin Yan's still-lit screens. "The sun is rising from the west? You two are actually playing games?!"
Another brother came over, looking surprised: "That's right! Brother Yan is playing games too? Brother Rui, you're leading him? Awesome! What are you playing? Chicken Dinner? Take us, take us!"
I hadn't recovered from Lin Yan's smile yet, so I subconsciously looked at him. The excitement on Lin Yan's face had mostly subsided, and he had returned to his usual calm, but the lingering light in his eyes was still there.
He pushed his glasses up, and instead of answering his roommate directly, he looked at me and asked in a very natural tone, "Still playing?"
This tone... why does it feel like he's asking for my opinion? Hasn't he always made the decisions directly or arranged things "on the spur of the moment" before?
Before I could say anything, Lin Yan added another sentence. His voice was not loud, but it contained a certain unquestionable...willfulness?
"Next time, it'll be just the two of us."
Roommates: “???” They looked at Lin Yan, then at me, their eyes switching wildly between “something’s wrong with you” and “Brother Yan has been possessed by another spirit?”
Me: “!!!” My heart felt like it was hit by something, neither light nor heavy.
Later, I thought about it carefully and felt that there seemed to be some subtle changes in the way the two people got along.
In the past, Lin Yan took care of me unilaterally and meticulously, like taking care of a giant baby who could not take care of himself.
Now, he seems to have developed a strange dependence on me? Not a dependence on life, but... a demand for emotional value?
He enjoyed playing games with me, the feeling of fighting side by side (even though I was the one holding him back), and the occasional, less-than-"Buddha-like" display of genuine emotion in front of me. The phrase "Next time, just the two of us" was the beginning of this dependence and possessiveness.
Becoming willful? What surprised me even more was the willfulness that Lin Yan occasionally showed.
For example, when I was slumped over playing games, he would suddenly put a cup of warm water next to my hand with a "dong", a little harder than usual, with a hint of urging to "drink quickly".
For example, when I tried to stuff my dirty socks under the bed, he would just reach out and pull them out, looking at me expressionlessly but stubbornly until I reluctantly took them to the laundry bin.
For example, the sentence just now, "Next time, it's just the two of us", is simply the most "personal" and "temperamental" sentence I have ever heard since I met him!
How could this be a living Bodhisattva? This was clearly... a domesticated deity that was starting to get mad?
It's a wonderful feeling.
Seeing the dependence and willfulness that he occasionally revealed, I didn't feel annoyed at all. Instead, my heart felt like it was soaked in hot spring water, bubbling with bubbles of satisfaction and joy.
In the past, being taken care of by him was a pleasure, but I always felt a little uneasy as if I was being given charity.
Now, I see him breaking his perfect mask because of me, revealing a bit of his "mortal" temper because of me, and looking forward to "coming again next time" because of me...
This feeling of being needed and treated specially was like a ray of light, illuminating a corner deep in my dog brain that had never been touched.
Perhaps, this is the bond often mentioned in anime?
It is not a one-sided giving and receiving, but a mutual involvement and influence.
He picked me out of the garbage dump and cleaned me, and I... seemed to have gently and clumsily pulled him down a little bit from that high and mighty, joyless altar.
Looking at him sitting there, his profile looking soft and vivid under the light of the screen, I touched my ears which were a little hot, and secretly thought to myself:
This... seems pretty good? Even better than winning a hundred games... a little bit?
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