From Sidekick to Bigshot

On Monday, Jian Yiling returned to school.

‘Zerg Invasion’, which was created by Huan You Technology Corporation, became a massive hit recently. Everyone across the country played the game. Shenghua High School was not an exception from this.

During the break, the students in the class could be heard discussing the game.

Most of the students that discussed the game were boys. However, there were also quite a few girls who played the game as well.

Even Hu Jiaojiao played the game. Typically, she was considered to be relatively timid.

The psychology behind playing this game was similar to watching a horror movie.

Even though you knew that there were going to be jump scares and frightening scenes, you still wanted to watch.

Of course, Hu Jiaojiao wasn’t very skilled at the game. She didn’t have good aim or mechanics. In a general sense, a phrase that could describe her gameplay was a bloody mess.

Often, she reacted slowly and positioned badly. On an occasion, she managed to stumble into a massive Zerg nest. Of course, she had gotten her character torn into pieces.

From time to time, she would let out a blood-curdling screech.

If someone didn’t know better, they would have assumed that she had gotten into trouble in real life.

However, Hu Jiaojiao was resilient. She got repeatedly defeated. Yet she was persistent and would not give up.

“Hu Jiaojiao, are you playing ‘Zerg Invasion’ as well?” The female classmate next to her asked.

“Mhmm, but I’m super bad at it.”

“Oh, I heard that the game recently started an official competition! The person who wins will get a very big prize!”

“Wow, you’re thinking way too highly of me. You don’t need to tell me about such competitions.” Hu Jiaojiao knew that such competitions had nothing to do with her. Her skill level hadn’t reached that level.

“Oh, but there are many students in our class that have signed up already. They’ve signed up in teams.”

Many of the boys in their class were eager to participate.

“Ahhh I’m so jealous. I can’t touch the computers on weekdays… Not to mention, I don’t have the skills to join. And even if I did have the skills, I don’t have the time… Life is lonely and sad.”

Then, Hu Jiaojiao turned her head around to ask Jian Yiling, “Yiling, have you played this game?”

“Yeah, I’ve played it before.”

“Have you been scared by the scary graphics and sound effects?”

“No.”

“What? Actually? Don’t you find this game incredibly sadistic? Like you end up dying and you don’t even know how you died!”

“It’s okay.”

“Waaa. Oh my goodness. Yiling, you’re actually the representation of a strong heart.”

A male classmate overheard the conversation between Hu Jiaojiao and Jian Yiling. He started to tease them: “Hu Jiaojiao, your friend’s strong heart is no use in a game like this. It’s not like you can play the game well just because you don’t get scared easily.”

“Well, that’s still better than me.” Hu Jiaojiao replied.

“Probably only a little better than you,” the male classmate laughed.

A few other boys in the class laughed after hearing this, “Why don’t you call us Brother? We can carry the two of you when we’re free on the weekends!”

“Yeah! We don’t need anything else. Just call us Brother!”

Several of them looked at Hu Jiaojiao and Jian Yiling with smiles.

The two of them were the smallest girls in their class.

Especially Jian Yiling. Not only was she cute, but her voice was also sweet and soft.

It must be nice to be called ‘Brother’ by such a voice.

In the past, they didn’t dare to make jokes with Jian Yiling. Back then, Jian Yiling was rather fierce and overbearing.

However, recently, they started to change their mind about Jian Yiling. And thus, they had the courage to joke around with her.

“No, it’s fine. We can gain elo by ourselves. We’ll just get used to dying.” Hu Jiaojiao replied. She was seemingly chill about everything.

“Gain elo? The two of you? You’d be lucky if you don’t lose elo. Just call us Brother! Don’t be so stingy! We’re all amazing at the game! A couple of us are Grandmasters in the game! It’ll be easy to carry Bronze players. We can carry you to Gold or even Platinum in around half a day!”

Hu Jiaojiao was a little moved by their words. She turned around to look at Jian Yiling.