Chapter 11 In the days that followed, Zhao Zhinian...
In the days that followed, Zhao Zhinian continued her arduous grind for levels in the tenth district. She finally completed her class change, successfully becoming a sharpshooter player. Jiang Botao smiled knowingly upon seeing her chosen class, assuming she was following in Zhou Zekai's footsteps.
This statement is both right and wrong. The main reason why Zhao Zhinian chose the sharpshooter was that she was most familiar with the skills and operations of this profession. Of course, her initial choice to memorize the skills of the sharpshooter first, rather than other professions, was also influenced by Zhou Zekai.
She had the privilege of participating in several wild boss battles alongside two of Samsara's top players. The intense and chaotic scenes thrilled her; the fierce battles for wild bosses were the perfect setting to practice her commentary skills and learn the abilities of each class.
So, before each battle for a wild map boss, Zhou Zekai would find her a safe corner with a great view so she could lie low. She would record videos and watch Zhou Zekai and Jiang Botao's amazing plays while practicing her commentary, just like a war correspondent.
During this period, the Samsara Guild's performance in the tenth server has been unparalleled. Their record for killing wild bosses is far ahead, and their record for dungeons that can be rerun has also been repeatedly broken under the leadership of the two top players.
Zhao Zhinian felt awkward about being a newcomer to the guild and only getting in through "connections," so she always wanted to help out. Therefore, she used her writing skills to first revise and simplify all the guild's rules and regulations, and then, based on her own experience in raiding and the current situation in the tenth server, under Jiang Botao's guidance, compiled a series of guides for newcomers of different classes and dungeon guides for ordinary players.
Upon receiving the manuscript, Gu Yin was naturally very grateful. After all, Zhao Zhinian's work was professional and much better than their previous texts. It included various newcomer guides with guidance from Vice Team Leader Jiang Botao, and was written entirely based on the current situation of the Reincarnation Guild in the Tenth District, making it more targeted.
Guild leader Gu Yin, concerned for the guild's development, offered to help write promotional materials for Samsara. So, after each boss battle, Zhao Zhinian would proactively prepare two articles: a detailed technical analysis, meticulously breaking down the strategies of the two top players for the guild's core players to learn from; and a concise promotional newsletter, incorporating some Glory-related references and using humorous language to facilitate Samsara's promotional efforts. Although Zhou Zekai and Jiang Botao felt this was too much work and wanted to politely decline on her behalf, Zhao Zhinian enjoyed it, seeing it as an excellent opportunity to hone her information extraction skills.
Gu Yin was overjoyed. After spending time together, he naturally knew that the two top players had been frequently appearing in the tenth server because of this newcomer. So, he returned the favor by giving Zhao Zhinian's account, 【一知一念】, a special guild title: "Reincarnation Battlefield Reporter." He then proudly displayed the newsletters and articles, spreading the word far and wide. The Reincarnation Guild suddenly became the most prominent guild in the tenth server, wiping away the humiliation of being suppressed by Lord Grim in the past.
Zhao Zhinian was not a player who joined the game when it first opened in the tenth server. She missed the earliest legendary character in the tenth server: the solo character [Jun Moxiao], who was said to be controlled by the great player Ye Qiu.
Lord Grim is now stirring up a storm in the God Realm, but his first kills and dungeon records are still prominently displayed for all to admire. His heroic deeds are passed down by word of mouth among players in the tenth server, and are fondly remembered by veteran players. Veteran players in the tenth server reminisce about the days when most of their gameplay started at zero frames per second: "Back in the day, when I was playing XX with the legendary Lord Grim..."
Admiring the strong is human nature, especially for such a legendary and mysterious master: a three-time champion, never showing his face, suddenly retiring, a force to be reckoned with in online games, a casual player, and rumored to be returning to professional competition—any one of these labels is enough to attract attention and generate enough buzz. If it weren't for already being a member of the Samsara Guild and having Zhou Zekai's connection, Zhao Zhinian would definitely have tried to join the Happy Guild.
Recently, the game "God's Realm" has been in turmoil. Ye Qiu has formed alliances with several smaller guilds, repeatedly snatching wild bosses from the jaws of larger guilds with his exceptional tactical command skills. Influenced by this, other teams have also sent professional players to participate in the battle for wild bosses in the online game. For example, Zhang Xinjie and Lin Jingyan from the Tyranny team, Lu Hanwen, the newly announced prodigy from Blue Rain, and Wang Jiexi, captain of Tiny Herb, and player Liu Xiaobie have frequently appeared in the competition.
With professional-level players frequently appearing in online games, the Samsara team, relying solely on players from ordinary online game guilds, naturally lacks competitiveness against their superior skills. The guild leader of Samsara is naturally aware of the situation in the tenth server; Lone Drinker has boasted about it to him many times. However, given their status, they are hesitant to directly ask for top players to help in the God's Domain. They have only hinted multiple times about which top players from other teams have appeared, which they simply cannot handle. While the tenth server is developing well due to certain "special reasons," the God's Domain is the truly fiercely contested territory.
Under the repeated complaints and hints from the Guild Master of Samsara, the team naturally understood his meaning. The Samsara manager also heard that his captain and vice-captain were acting as "free Glory Teachers" in the tenth server, and had even helped the Samsara Guild in the tenth server steal several wild map BOSSes.
In the interest of maximizing the team's benefits, he tactfully explained the situation to his two top players: "Although I'm not insisting, you're both playing online games, so it's not right to show favoritism. How about you also take care of God's Domain?"
The God's Realm is clearly the focus of contention among guilds. Moreover, its wild boss battlegrounds are more complex and exciting, making it more suitable for teaching. We could definitely arrange a max-level character card for Miss Zhao; perhaps we should ask her opinion first. Besides, having Zhou Zekai deliver the account card to her would provide another opportunity for them to meet.
Zhou Zekai decided to ask Zhao Zhinian for her thoughts first, so he told her that they might go to the God's Domain to help Samsara snatch wild map BOSSes. Zhao Zhinian made no attempt to hide her longing for the God's Domain and the great god Ye Qiu.
What surprised her even more was that she originally thought the two were just informing her, but the Samsara team manager had prepared an account card for her and invited her to watch the more exciting God's Domain wild map BOSS battle. She also wanted to broaden her horizons, so she readily agreed and was eager to try it out.
Regarding the issue of the God's Domain account card, Zhou Zekai was clearly not satisfied with simply giving away the card.
So he first hinted that the Realm of Gods was fraught with danger, then reminded Zhao Zhinian that as a newcomer, she needed guidance, and finally concluded that if they were to go to the Realm of Gods, it would be best for the two of them to play together offline on the weekend, so that he could use some "off-field tricks" to take care of her at any time.
Zhao Zhinian didn't think much of it. She completely trusted Zhou Zekai in terms of Glory. She didn't understand God's Domain and was a low-level newbie who had only recently changed classes. It wouldn't be good if she went to watch the game and dragged Zhou Zekai and his team down. So, without any doubts, Zhao Zhinian readily agreed.
However, where the two would play games offline was a real headache. Given Zhou Zekai's popularity, internet cafes were basically out of the question. Apart from that, the only place Zhao Zhinian could think of was an e-sports hotel. Putting aside their somewhat complicated relationship, even if they were just ordinary friends, it would be a bit strange for a man and a woman to go to an e-sports hotel. If fans saw them, they would never be able to explain themselves.
Zhou Zekai made a surprising remark, providing another location: "My home." His room has two computers.
"No! No!" Zhao Zhinian quickly refused. In her mind, going to Zhou Zekai's house was no different from going to an e-sports hotel.
In the end, Jiang Botao provided the two with a suitable location—the Samsara Team Club.
First, the team has plenty of computers, all with top-of-the-line configurations and a stable network; second, it's currently the summer break, so the club is quiet with fewer people; and since both of them live in Shanghai, it's convenient for them to visit the club, and their privacy is also good.
Zhao Zhinian hesitated, wondering if it was appropriate for an outsider like herself to go to the club so rashly.
Jiang Botao knew, of course, that the manager wouldn't refuse. Leaving aside the manager's consistent support for Zhou Zekai's relationship issues, the current situation was clear: if Zhou didn't go to the club's training base, he might have to go to an internet cafe. With that comparison, the manager would have no choice but to agree.
However, Jiang Botao still took the initiative to communicate with the manager and arrange everything. He also thoughtfully found a legitimate reason for Zhao Zhinian: "Ms. Zhao, don't worry. We have already reported to the manager. The manager said that he would like to ask you to help write a few articles for the team's publicity."
So, one weekend morning, Zhao Zhinian followed Zhou Zekai to the Samsara Club.
The training base was indeed deserted during the summer break. Zhou Zekai, unusually proactive, gave a brief introduction, though still concise: "training room," "canteen," "dormitory"... like reciting a menu. But Zhao Zhinian looked closely; this was her first time visiting a professional esports team's training base, the place where Zhou Zekai trained and lived daily, and everything filled her with curiosity.
As the two walked, they bumped into an employee from the technical department. The employee had clearly just finished a long night's work and looked rather listless and lethargic. When he saw Zhou Zekai, his eyes widened instantly: "Captain Zhou, you... what are you doing here?"
Zhou Zekai, always concise, replied with two words: "Something came up."
Knowing Zhou Zekai's personality, the person on the other end didn't ask any more questions, but seeing Zhao Zhinian next to him, they became puzzled again: "Who is this?" During the summer break, Captain Zhou brought a beautiful girl to the team, and the girl was holding an account card. He couldn't help but think a lot. Could she be a new player for the next season? Will our Samsara team also have a beautiful player like Su Mucheng?
Knowing that Zhou Zekai wasn't good at handling these kinds of situations, Zhao Zhinian quickly took the initiative to speak: "Hello, I'm a reporter from XX Network Media. I have an interview assignment today, so I apologize for disturbing you."
The person on the other end immediately understood. This was an interview arranged by the manager for Captain Zhou. Captain Zhou really had it tough; he wasn't much of a talker, yet after winning the championship, he had to do interviews even during the summer break. However, it wasn't really fair to say whether Captain Zhou or the young reporter was more pitiful. He gave the two of them a sympathetic look, nodded politely, and took his leave without further bothering them.
The two arrived at the training room. Zhou Zekai took out the account card prepared by the manager. The manager had specially arranged a female sharpshooter account for Zhao Zhinian, and the account name was a couple name with the one given to Zhou Zekai—[Guan Ri] and [Liu Yue].
It can be said that Sima Zhao's intentions are obvious to everyone.
A note from the author:
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Thank you Oriana Qingliu for all the nutrient solution!
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