Chapter 44 Zhao Zhinian rarely woke up naturally...
Zhao Zhinian rarely woke up naturally. She lazily stretched in bed, and like all modern young people, the first thing she did upon waking was reach for her phone. After pressing the power button several times, the screen remained black. Only then did she belatedly realize that she had fallen asleep from exhaustion the night before and forgotten to charge her phone.
She quickly plugged in the charger, and her memories returned instantly as her phone turned on. She eagerly opened the call log, and the screen clearly showed a conversation with Zhou Zekai that lasted over five hours. Zhou Zekai had actually kept the call going the whole time, only ending because her phone battery had run out.
"Oh my god!" she couldn't help but exclaim softly, her first thought being, "This month's phone bill must be way over the limit." Then she muttered to herself, "I'll stick to voice calls from now on; this is such a waste of money."
With a mix of shyness and hesitation, she opened WeChat. Zhou Zekai had only sent a simple question that morning: "Why did you hang up?"
Although the memory of last night was so vivid that it made her ears burn, Zhao Zhinian still tried to remain calm and replied, "My phone died. I don't know how I fell asleep last night. We talked on the phone for a long time, hahaha."
The deliberately added "hahaha" at the end was an attempt to cover up her inner turmoil and embarrassment.
Zhou Zekai didn't respond immediately, presumably he was at training. Zhao Zhinian buried her face in the pillow, pretending to be an ostrich for a while, before getting up to wash up.
Suddenly having free time, Zhao Zhinian felt somewhat lost. She slowly tidied herself up before heading to the Yizhan Cafeteria for brunch.
Looking at the abundant food in the cafeteria, she couldn't help but think that Yizhan was a really good employer. If she really counted, she hadn't worked for Yizhan much this month, but she could still enjoy free meals here.
After lunch, Zhao Zhinian strolled leisurely towards her office. Having been away for a few days, she noticed the training room was now decorated for Christmas: not only had the "Jesus and Buddha" image on the door been replaced with Christmas stickers, but the place where "Guan Yu" was originally enshrined had been transformed into a giant Christmas tree. Needless to say, this must have been Lin Shuang's doing; she probably knew Zhao Zhinian was too busy lately and hadn't invited her to help with the decorations.
Sure enough, as soon as she entered the office, Lin Shuang excitedly showed her Yizhan's Christmas event plan.
"We originally planned to hold the event on Christmas, but considering that there are still competitions in the three days after the holiday, and the Glory Christmas online game event has very rich rewards, the players will definitely take the time to experience it, and I also want to play..." Lin Shuang explained incessantly, "So we changed the event to New Year's Eve, which can be regarded as our Yizhan's small annual party, and we will ring in the new year together."
This event plans to invite players, staff and guild members to participate, and will also open 30 lucky fan spots to let them personally experience the atmosphere of Yi Zhan's canteen and team annual meeting.
The most interesting part was that, to increase the entertainment value, Lin Shuang designed a lottery system: the person who drew their name would decide the outfit for each contestant. For example, if Lou Guanning drew Zou Yunhai's name, then Lou Guanning would have complete control over Zou Yunhai's attire at the annual meeting.
Therefore, what each member of the Gizen group can wear on stage depends entirely on the conscience of their teammates.
"What do you think?" Lin Shuang looked at her expectantly. "Isn't this a good idea?"
Looking at the detailed event schedule in the proposal and then at the final lottery results, Zhao Zhinian couldn't help but laugh: "This isn't an annual meeting, it's clearly a troublemaking event. I didn't expect that Team Leader Lou would agree to this."
Lin Shuang winked smugly: "He probably thinks his teammates won't make things difficult for him. That's what makes it interesting! The most important thing for a contestant is to have a professional spirit. I hope everyone makes good use of their power. Then we'll see how amazing each contestant's look can be."
The host of the annual party was naturally none other than Zhao Zhinian. Lin Shuang knew that Zhao Zhinian should be free for New Year's Eve, and that it would be no problem for her, so she made the arrangements directly without discussing it with her in advance.
After listening, Zhao Zhinian deliberately put on a reserved look and picked up her phone in an "elegant and affected" manner: "Then I need to check if there are any conflicts in my recent schedule."
Lin Shuang was amused by her rare "affected" demeanor and laughed so hard she almost fell over. She mercilessly exposed her: "Don't you only have the Interstellar Journey Finals left? Don't think I don't know the Interstellar Journey Finals are on the 22nd. I even worked as your assistant before, and I still have my work ID!"
Zhao Zhinian remained unmoved and continued her act, counting on her fingers: "I'm very busy! Not only do I have to host our Yizhan competition, but I also have to provide online commentary for the Glory Challenge. Isn't the online competition about to end? I'll be switching to hosting after the offline competition following the New Year. Also, the Glory All-Star event early next year is hosted by Tiny Herb, and they've already notified me to interview for hosting. From what Tiny Herb says, it should just be a formality, no big deal. Interviews, preparation, rehearsals, it'll be very busy..."
She deliberately dragged out her words, listing a series of activities that didn't conflict with Yizhan's New Year's Eve celebration, then looked up at Lin Shuang: "So... if I don't have Lin Shuang's homemade chicken wings to eat, I probably won't have time."
Lin Shuang's chicken wings are indeed highly praised at Yi Zhan. She's made them a few times before, gaining a large following of foodies. When her colleagues heard about it, they all clamored, "I want some too!", "Count me in!", "I don't have time if there are no chicken wings!"...
"Alright, alright, you've been waiting for me here, haven't you! You're all drooling!" Lin Shuang pointed at the jeering crowd, then smiled and agreed, "Want chicken wings? No problem! I'll just make them! You guys buy the chicken wings!"
The office was immediately filled with laughter, and even Wen Kebei in the training room was attracted by the laughter and curiously poked his head in: "What's making you so happy?"
When he heard that Lin Shuang was going to make her signature chicken wings, his eyes lit up: "Count me in! Count me in!"
The people in the office exchanged knowing glances.
Zhao Zhinian spoke first, her tone exceptionally sincere: "Bei, originally Sister Lin Shuang only agreed to make it for our office..."
The colleague next to him immediately chimed in, looking like he was reluctantly giving up his share: "But since you've already asked, given our relationship, we certainly won't refuse. We'll make sure you get to eat, even if we don't want to, but..."
Lin Shuang added the last sentence in perfect unison: "The important task of purchasing chicken wings is now in your hands! Count the heads yourself, and don't forget the ones in the training room!"
Wen Kebei was taken aback by this sudden "entrustment with an important task," scratched his head, and laughed, "You guys are being unfair! I clearly said you'd take me along, how come I'm the one buying it now!"
The office erupted in laughter, and even the winter sunlight outside the window seemed exceptionally bright.
Amidst their laughter and conversation, Zhao Zhinian noticed a new message from Zhou Zekai pop up on her phone screen. Upon opening it, she saw a pitiful emoji followed by the brief words "Weibo reply."
She opened Weibo, confused, and then realized: yesterday she went online to update her work at the World Championship with photos and replies to comments from DG's official Weibo account and other players, but she had overlooked Zhou Zekai's comment about "Sister Chinen".
This oversight was caught by sharp-eyed netizens, and the comments section was naturally filled with teasing of Zhou Zekai.
"Team Leader Zhou's deep affection was misplaced."
"Calling you 'sister' is too ambiguous; it scared the host away so much that she didn't dare to reply to you."
"Zhou Zekai's love life is full of ups and downs: His first love's online confession was mistaken for a hacked account, and now his Weibo comments are being ignored."
"Don't bring up your first love in front of your current partner, okay? You're just making things harder for Captain Zhou!"
"Our little Zhou is so well-behaved, does he not know how to pursue people? He should learn more from Fang Minghua from your reincarnation!"
Zhao Zhinian then remembered that yesterday she didn't know how to respond to this special address at first, then she fell asleep during the phone call, and today she completely forgot about it.
Thinking back to their hours-long phone call late at night, those superficial online interactions unconsciously lost some of their significance in her heart.
The two can say whatever they want in private, and she doesn't care as much about the back-and-forth interactions on Weibo that she has to put on for outsiders, but Zhou Zekai clearly cares a lot.
But now that everyone's teasing her like this, not replying would seem deliberate, so she found Zhou Zekai's comment and responded politely, just like she would to others: "You're back! You're back~"
Then Zhao Zhinian opened Zhou Zekai's chat window: "Replied."
Zhou Zekai was indeed not satisfied with this impartial reply: "The same as them."
Zhao Zhinian couldn't help but sigh: This person didn't mention asking for a reply at all when they talked on the phone last night, but today, after being teased by netizens, he secretly came to ask for a response, and he even wanted special treatment to prove his unique status.
Zhao Zhinian pretended to be naive: "Isn't it the same?"
The dialog box displayed "Typing..." repeatedly at the top, and finally sent a rabbit emoji with droopy ears.
Zhao Zhinian's heart softened, and she was thinking about how to coax him when a new notification suddenly popped up on Weibo.
Zhou Zekai actually personally replied to a popular comment: "Zhou Zekai's love life is full of ups and downs: his first love's online confession was mistaken for a hacked account, and now his Weibo comments are being ignored."
His reply was only two words: "No."
Just two simple words, and the comment section exploded instantly: "!!! The person in question denied it!"
"So your love life wasn't bumpy?"
"Is he denying his relationship with Zhao Zhinian? Netizens are always shipping them randomly."
"It's common knowledge that confessing your love in high school was mistaken for hacking, so does 'not' mean the second half of the sentence, that it wasn't ignored?"
"Zhou Zekai, can you please say a few more words! I suddenly understand how pathetic those reporters who interview Zhou Zekai are!"
"Where is my royal translator? @Jiang Botao, come quickly and translate for me!"
Meanwhile, the Samsara Manager looked at the reply and rubbed his temples in exasperation: "He's learned to speak in riddles now."
Zhou Zekai seems to have mastered the secrets of online traffic without a teacher. He uses the fewest words to make the most of his presence, remaining ambiguous and giving his manager a headache, yet he doesn't want to criticize him. It's as if he's within the boundaries of reasonable interaction, yet he's constantly testing the limits of going beyond them.
A staff member nearby tried to smooth things over: "Manager, Captain Zhou's response this time... was quite restrained. Any explanation is acceptable."
"Restraint?!" The manager pointed to the comment section, which had been flooded with new comments with each refresh, his voice trembling. "If he were truly restrained, he shouldn't have replied at all! Those two words are enough for netizens to imagine an eighty-episode drama!"
Zhao Zhinian couldn't understand what this "nothing" meant. Was it because she was dissatisfied with her reply and wanted to personally prove her uniqueness?
Seeing the increasingly lively comment section, Zhao Zhinian logged out of Weibo and sent Zhou Zekai a WeChat message: "Won't the manager talk to you after your reply?"
This time, Zhou Zekai replied quickly: "Under discussion."
He then sent a photo: the Samsara Manager was sitting opposite him, his face full of anger but unable to vent it.
The photo was taken from a very tricky angle; it was clearly taken secretly.
Zhao Zhinian was almost amused by his words: "You still have time to take pictures secretly?"
“I don’t need to say anything,” Zhou Zekai replied. “Jiang will explain.”
Zhao Zhinian could already picture Jiang Botao smiling and eloquently explaining and maneuvering for his captain, while Zhou Zekai sat quietly to the side, lost in thought.
She suddenly realized that being the deputy captain of the Reincarnation Team was truly the ultimate test of one's character and eloquence.
The reason why Zhou Zekai replied to this comment is actually very simple.
He had always been puzzled: why, in everyone's accounts, his first love and his current Zhao Zhinian were always portrayed as two separate people?
Whether it's the professional players teasing him about his confusing behavior of "mentioning his ex in front of his current girlfriend," or netizens lamenting his "rough love life," it seems that everyone assumes the past was just a fleeting interlude in his youth. Now, the beginning of his story with Zhao Zhinian is defined by that online live interview, as if they had only just met.
The seed that he had carefully treasured for years had, from beginning to end, always been meant to take root and sprout for the same person.
He even harbored a question that no one could answer: Did none of his high school classmates really care about glory? Why hasn't anyone stood up to testify to his "unwavering loyalty"?
The next day, Zhou Zekai's long-awaited "soulmate" finally appeared.
The incident originated from a late-night analysis post on the Honor forum that went viral. Due to Zhou Zekai's recent frequent interactions with Zhao Zhinian, the post meticulously analyzed their past relationship using various clues. Originally intended as a form of entertainment for fans, it gained considerable popularity and was quickly reposted on Weibo by Honor's marketing accounts. However, Li Xuan, the captain of the Void team, accidentally liked a post from one of the marketing accounts while secretly following the gossip.
Although Li Xuan quickly apologized, posting "slip of the hand" three times, the fact that a professional player personally got involved in the drama was tantamount to buying the post widespread exposure online.
The professional players' group was also bustling with activity. While lining up to tease Li Xuan for being "unprofessional at gossiping," they tacitly switched to their alternate accounts and flooded into the post to "read and learn."
Just as everyone was enjoying the gossip, Zhou Zekai, one of the parties involved in the post, quietly appeared in the list of likes.
Although he later followed Li Xuan's example and posted a concise "slip of the hand" comment, the like remained firmly in place, showing no sign of being canceled.
The reincarnation manager looked at Zhou Zekai's "like" and then at the pretentious "slip of the hand" clarification, and sent Zhou Zekai a voice message: "My ancestor! Why don't you just make it official! Stop torturing me with this new trick every day!"
"We're still pursuing it," Zhou Zekai replied confidently.
The Reincarnation Manager gritted his teeth and replied, "Okay!" Then he took a deep breath and clicked on the post.
The post is titled: "iArchaeological Analysis: Zhou Zekai and Zhao Zhinian are not real, I am fake!"
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Author's note: Just a heads up, the next chapter will probably be a forum-style update, digging into the past of the two of them, as well as their recent interactions.
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