AAUMOBIP C14

Chapter 14

Yun Jingqiu looked at Liu He in surprise, then his eyes curved slightly, the corners of his lips carrying a smile:

“Alright.”

“I’ll come help you move tomorrow.”

“No need, I’ll still be staying in the dormitory. I’ll just bring over some clothes and daily necessities.” Liu He hurried to explain.

Sometimes, when experiments didn’t go well, those old professors’ observation schedules could be in the middle of the night, and he needed to rush to the lab quickly.

So at times, he would just sleep in his office.

“That works too.” Yun Jingqiu didn’t insist.

“Tomorrow, when it’s dinner time, just have Brother Song come pick me up. I’ll pack up some spicy hot pot from the cafeteria for you.”

He only needed to bring a few pieces of clothing.

“Okay.” Yun Jingqiu was completely relaxed.

He had just heard some very good news from Liu He, and felt like today he could forgive anyone, even Brother Wang, who had shoved this trash script into his hands.

Brother Wang had filtered out some scripts for him and told him to choose the ones he liked.

Among them, those with a star mark were the ones Brother Wang especially wanted him to consider and hoped he would pick one as his next project.

And this trash script happened to be one of those “important” ones Brother Wang had marked.

It was a cliché and melodramatic school romance story, where the characters acted like they’d lost their brains, doing completely idiotic things.

If there was an “Annual Cheesy Drama Awards,” Yun Jingqiu thought this script would be nominated for sure.

And Brother Wang wanted him to act in such an infuriatingly awful script?

Yun Jingqiu was the first to disagree.

The script had made him furious, but after hearing the good news of living together from Xiao He, the anger in his heart evaporated.

He tossed that script aside and looked through the others.

“Yun-ge, aren’t you playing games?” Liu He asked.

It had been a long time since he’d played games with Yun-ge. Yun-ge liked to rush forward with SMGs and rifles, while he preferred to hide with a sniper rifle and pick people off from a distance.

Hearing this, Yun Jingqiu put down the script in his hand, tidied up the others on the table, and said:

“I’ll get online right away.”

Liu He: “Me too, logging in now.”

He entered the game, his character with an afro hairstyle appearing on the screen.

Soon, Yun-ge sent him a team invite.

Liu He joined the squad.

“Where are we dropping?”

Liu He: “School.”

Yun Jingqiu chuckled, his voice coming through the headset:

“Planning to blow up the school?”

Liu He nodded, embarrassed.

He did kind of have that thought.

Spending every day doing experiments at school, it was natural he sometimes wanted to “blow it up.”

What student hadn’t had such rebellious thoughts when they were younger? Of course, it could only be realized in a game.

Even in-game, the school couldn’t actually be blown up, at most just a few doors destroyed. The buildings themselves were indestructible.

Since school resources weren’t great, not many players landed there.

Liu He glanced around; besides them, two other squads had jumped into the school.

Both quickly grabbed guns and loaded bullets.

Liu He heard footsteps outside the door. Once his gun was ready, he hid behind the door. As the steps passed, he fired instantly, blasting the door apart, succeeding in an ambush.

Liu He: “Took one out.”

Knockdown, elimination.

His finishing shot was swift and clean.

He went inside to heal up.

The enemy’s desperate counterattack had taken away half his health bar.

After healing and reloading, Liu He looked at the map and went to meet up with Yun-ge.

“I’ve got one here,” Yun-ge said.

Distant gunfire sounded in the headset, followed by the team kill notification.

“Two left.”

“I hear a car. They probably drove away,” Yun Jingqiu said.

Liu He nodded in understanding, then moved his character to meet Yun Jingqiu.

The two swept the whole school, only finding two bots, no sign of the other real players who had dropped there.

Still, the school’s loot was enough to sustain their squad.

Liu He marked a spot on the map at P City.

“Yun-ge, let’s go there and third-party the fight.”

P City had lots of loot and lots of players, so by now there should’ve been a fight.

They skipped the dorm buildings and ran toward P City.

Dorm buildings required floor-by-floor looting, which was troublesome. It was easier to loot enemy boxes after fights.

The car that spawned at the school had already been taken, so they followed the road in search of another.

Luckily, they spotted a jeep.

Yun Jingqiu drove, while Liu He checked his loot and felt satisfied.

Just as they neared P City, Liu He’s screen lagged, dropping frames.

He tensed up immediately, praying his computer would hold up while straining to catch every sound from the headset.

The screen was choppy, but the sound was still smooth.

They parked on the outskirts of P City, planning to go in on foot. Still no gunshots nearby.

Liu He managed to exit the car, but no matter how much he pressed the keyboard, his character wouldn’t move.

The computer stuttered badly, the fan roaring, CPU temperature spiking.

Thankfully, after a while the fan’s high-speed spinning cooled it down, and the game became smooth again.

His afro-headed character suddenly carried out all the piled-up commands, jumping and spinning wildly on the spot.

Gunshots rang in the distance—not near them.

“Yun-ge, I lagged just now, what’s the situation?” Liu He asked.

Yun Jingqiu: “There’s a bot shooting at you. I was hesitating whether to kill it or not.”

Liu He: “???”

Not shoot it, and let him get killed by a bot?

Yun-ge clearly had bad intentions.

Just as he was about to fire, Yun Jingqiu’s voice came through again:

“Xiao He, don’t rush, watch my moves.”

The bot’s bullets hit Liu He, forcing him to strafe frantically. Two shots landed, shaving off his health.

Meanwhile, Yun Jingqiu fired slowly, one bullet at a time, deliberately mimicking the bot’s shooting rhythm.

Even his movement copied a bot’s—stiff and clumsy.

Liu He couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

“Shh, Xiao He, hide quick, I think I hear footsteps,” Yun Jingqiu whispered through the headset.

Liu He found a big rock to crouch behind, lowering his presence.

At the same time, he drew his gun, ready to ambush.

The footsteps drew closer. Gunfire erupted.

Seizing the moment, Liu He popped out, gunned down two enemies, then threw a smoke grenade to cover as he revived the downed Yun Jingqiu.

“Xiao He, you’re amazing,” Yun Jingqiu praised.

Liu He blushed a little. Without Yun-ge pretending to be a bot and lulling the opponents, he wouldn’t have pulled off such a successful ambush.

The credit for the squad wipe really belonged to Yun-ge’s plan.

“It’s Yun-ge who’s clever,” Liu He returned the compliment.

“Just a little trick, not worth much compared to your sharpshooting.”

The two began praising each other back and forth.

Talking like that, they entered P City, delighted at the sight of boxes everywhere, and looted happily.

Their teamwork was seamless. Even though they hadn’t played in a while and were rusty, they quickly found their rhythm.

They smoothly reached the final circle.

Remaining players: 9.

“We’re close to winning! Yun-ge, let’s rush!” Liu He said excitedly.

He felt like his aim was on point today—maybe they could get the chicken dinner.

Playing along, Yun Jingqiu shouted:

“Xiao He, let’s rush!”

Together, they crept behind cover, inching into the shrinking circle.

Suddenly, a gunshot rang from afar—a sniper rifle.

Liu He made his character zigzag, but the bullet still hit his head. Instant knockdown.

“I’ll save you! I’ll avenge Xiao He!” Yun Jingqiu yelled, tossing a smoke grenade before running to revive him.

The shot had come from behind, their vision obscured by the smoke. Luckily, a large rock was also inside the smoke.

Once Liu He was revived, he quickly ran behind the rock and started healing.

Yun Jingqiu joined him.

“I’ll bait him. Yun-ge, try to pinpoint his location,” Liu He said, leaving his health bar partly unfilled.

Just as he peeked out, another bullet nailed him in the head.

Liu He: “???”

Something wasn’t right.

Yun Jingqiu revived him again.

Neither spoke, but both knew something was off.

Liu He gritted his teeth: “One more try!”

As soon as he was up, another headshot came through the rock.

“Wallhack and aimbot,” Liu He sighed. “Yun-ge, don’t bother. He’s just toying with us.”

They’d been playing fair, only to run into a cheater. The fun was gone instantly.

Yun Jingqiu thought the same. His mood soured, just like after reading that awful script.

“Report him,” Liu He said.

Yun Jingqiu nodded: “Alright.”

The cheater, seeing Liu He wasn’t getting up, lost interest and headshotted Yun Jingqiu through the rock too.

Liu He reported the player for wallhacks and aimbot.

The good mood was gone. Liu He didn’t feel like playing anymore.

He sighed and glanced at the clock.

It was still early, just past 10 p.m.—not yet his usual bedtime.

“Don’t want to play anymore,” Liu He said. “I want to talk with Yun-ge.”

He shut down his computer, grabbed his phone, climbed into bed, and turned on the small lamp by the curtain, switching off the dorm’s main light.

Under the warm, dim glow of the lamp, his face was bathed in an ambiguous, hazy yellow.

On the phone screen, Yun Jingqiu sat seriously at his desk. After turning off his computer, he had casually pulled out a script to read, not even looking at the phone.

Liu He asked: “Yun-ge, are you really busy?”

Yun Jingqiu set the script aside: “Not busy.”

“Brother Wang just asked me to choose my next project during this break.”

Yun Jingqiu was always serious about his career.

But the power of capital was inevitable. For instance, in his current project, the investors had forced an actor into the cast, and the script had been heavily altered, completely different from the original one shown to him.

He had already signed the contract and publicity had been launched, so he couldn’t back out.

Thinking of this, Yun Jingqiu felt a bit wronged.

There was no way around it—capital’s power was too overwhelming.

Back before he signed with his agency, some CEOs had even tried to keep him as a sugar baby because of his looks.

If, at that stage, he had chosen to accept their offers, he would surely have climbed higher by now, perhaps already with a few Best Actor awards.

Thankfully, he had refused. He would preserve his purity—for Xiao He!

To use his own body to seduce Xiao He!