Chapter 294 - 293: Brother Expert! (Part 2)

Chapter 294: Chapter 293: Brother Expert! (Part 2)

"Bro, you’re a beast at Corona Battlefield. Are you a Lieutenant? Or maybe a School Officer?!"

"No, I’ve never played. Today’s my first time."

"First time? For real?!" Yin He’s expression grew even more enthusiastic. "Why don’t you play a couple of rounds to get used to it first? It’s not that I don’t trust your skills, but even the best experts have to get a feel for the game, right? Come on, come on, play two rounds. As long as you win, I’ll count each one as an order!"

As he spoke, Yin He entered a spherical pod first to log into his account. Then, he poked his head out, looked around furtively, and ushered Shi Tiexin into the pod with a cheeky grin.

Shi Tiexin had no objections.

He didn’t care whether the guy truly trusted him, was just pretending, or actually doubted his boosting skills. He wasn’t a professional booster to begin with.

Sacrificing his work time just to play games was out of the question. He was in a phase of arduous struggle and couldn’t afford to lose himself to such distractions.

But getting orders, playing a game on the side, and earning Gang Contribution in a fun and easy way—an opportunity like this was a once-in-a-lifetime deal. So, Shi Tiexin cracked his knuckles and decided to play a good few rounds.

Soon, the screen transformed with a cool visual effect, as if a space Warrior was being deployed to a planet via a landing pod. Through the "glass window," he could see the fiery glow of atmospheric friction, and the pod’s interior was constantly shaking, creating a very immersive experience.

"Preparing for landing. Countdown: 3, 2, 1."

BANG!

With a loud bang, the pod jerked violently and landed. Looking out the window, he saw a desolate, crimson landscape and, in the distance, the ruins of a high-tech city.

"This is Bordeaux City, Mars. Your mission is to establish a defensive line within the city, drive out the enemy, and ultimately capture it entirely. Be advised, our supplies are not plentiful." The screen in the login pod displayed a final, brief message: "Good luck, Privates."

With a HISS, the landing pod’s main door opened.

"Charge!!" someone roared nearby, as large squads of Privates rushed out of the landing pod. These Privates wore only the most basic environmental protection suits and had no weapons other than small thermal firearms. All other weapons and equipment had to be seized while capturing and clearing positions or by killing enemies.

"This game feels pretty awesome." Shi Tiexin charged out with the others. He had only joined a match midway before, but now, participating from the beginning, he was struck by the game’s magnificent scale. Looking around, he saw three landing pods open their doors simultaneously, with a constant stream of soldiers pouring out.

The total number of soldiers was limited, and it was hard to distinguish players from them by appearance alone. When a player died, they would "respawn" in the body of a nearby soldier and continue the bloody battle. The game would only end when one side was completely wiped out or had captured all key positions.

"This game is seriously intense, almost like a war simulator." Shi Tiexin followed the soldiers of his faction, charging toward Bordeaux City. They quickly captured several key locations and secured some supplies.

Meanwhile, the enemy had also entered the battlefield. Through a complex cluster of buildings, Shi Tiexin could already see the indistinct figures on the other side.

Some manned the turrets, some drove tanks, and others found armor and weapons, then began charging recklessly toward the enemy with loud war cries.

The game map wasn’t small, but perhaps because everyone was so aggressive, the pace of attack and defense was incredibly fast and fluid. The battle immediately escalated into complex urban contact warfare.

Shi Tiexin glanced enviously at the cannons, tanks, and heavy firearms. If he had the choice, he’d love to carry a heavy machine gun and mow down the enemy. However, after weighing his options, he obediently took out his small pistol and used his max-level Fierce Ghost Stealth Technique to hide within the ruined city.

Watching his incredibly reckless teammates and enemies, Shi Tiexin revealed an innocent-looking smile from his hidden corner.

「Ten minutes later.」

HISS. The door to the spherical pod opened, and Shi Tiexin stepped out, shaking off the nano-fluid.

"Bro, how’d it go?" Yin He hurried over. "Did you win?"

"Go in and check for yourself."

Yin He quickly ducked into the pod to check. Four deaths, twenty-five kills, MVP of the match.

"You’re amazing, my man!" Yin He looked like he was about to jump for joy. Seeing the sudden surge in his ladder ranking points, Yin He felt that this Brother Expert he’d stumbled upon was incredibly skilled and worth every penny.

"Bro, if you can get MVP, I’ll count one match as two orders!" Yin He immediately urged him on. "How about another round to get more practice?"

"Alright." Shi Tiexin reflected on the mistakes that led to his four deaths, then nodded enthusiastically. "Let’s keep going."

「Time passed without them noticing.」

"Bro, you’re awesome!"

"Bro, one more round!"

"Bro, I give those moves a perfect score!"

Yin He was lost in the joy of his constantly rising ladder score, completely forgetting everything else. That is, until his communicator rang and an exasperated voice came through: "Yin He! Are you going to fight me or not? I’ve been waiting forever, the whole class is watching! Don’t tell me you’re scared to show up?"

’Wang Yang?’

"What’s the rush? I’m playing ranked. Young people need to be more patient," Yin He said, sounding like a wise old master. "But since you’re so sincerely begging for a lesson, I’ll be merciful and give you some pointers. You create a private room, I’ll join you."

"What the hell? You’re full of shit, and you have the nerve to talk about giving me pointers?"

"What’s wrong with giving you pointers? Your skills are trash. Today, I’m going to diagnose your problems. I’ll hit you where it hurts, and I’m just afraid I’ll make you cry!"

BEEP. The call ended. The recently poised Yin He immediately flashed a fawning smile at Shi Tiexin. "Bro, that was a classmate of mine. He wants to... learn from you. How about this: as long as you can beat him, I’ll count it as three orders per match. What do you say?"

"Hey, we’re already up to about ten orders. You sure you can handle that?" Shi Tiexin looked Yin He up and down, assessing his ability to pay up.

"Hah, don’t you worry about that! There are tons of people here who forget to eat. I’m tight with the owner here. When the time comes, I’ll just have the boss make an announcement, and getting rid of fifty or even a hundred orders will be a piece of cake!" Yin He puffed out his chest, looking like a man with connections. "Brother Expert, as long as you can teach Wang Yang a lesson... er, I mean, as long as you can properly guide him on how to play the game, you can be 120 percent sure about the orders. There won’t be any problems!"

"I’ll trust you this once, then." Shi Tiexin nodded in agreement.

Both nervous and excited, Yin He logged into the room. Wang Yang was already online and had selected solo mode. The number of spectators in the room had reached nineteen. The claim that "the whole class is watching" was obviously an exaggeration, but nineteen wasn’t a small number either. Once the duel had a winner, the news would definitely spread like wildfire through the entire class in no time.

Shi Tiexin rolled his shoulders and stepped up to the controls. ’This really is a great gig I landed today.’

’A one-on-one is great. You only get one life, so the matches are super fast. If I hurry, I might be able to rack up more than ten orders.’