The sound of a mouse and keyboard clicking came continuously from the other end of the line. "You're still not awake?"

Recognizing the voice, Yan Zhun said with his eyes closed, "If you have something to say, say it."

"Hah, true. After all, you played until four in the morning before sleeping." The guy tsked. "Even later than me, a professional player."

Yan Zhun said, "Lin Xuhuan, you got too much time on your hands? What's with you being all sarcastic this early in the morning?"

"Early in the morning? It's damn well two in the afternoon."

Yan Zhun opened his eyes and turned his head to look at the time.

Just as Lin Xuhuan finished speaking, he was headshot by a single bullet. He cursed, conveniently reported the enemy four times in a row, then picked up his phone and continued, "I heard you became a game buddy. Hey, what were you thinking! You gave up being a glorious professional player to damn well debase yourself by becoming a game buddy!"

Yan Zhun minimized the call screen to reply to his boss's message: Awake so early?

"How did you know?"

"You ran into a streamer signed with our team's affiliated platform," Lin Xuhuan said. "He's pretty popular. The match you queued for with him last night, he screen-recorded it and posted it on a short-video app. It's got about two to three hundred thousand likes now... Aiyo, why didn't you let me in on such a good thing?"

Yan Zhun said, "How was I supposed to know I'd run into him?"

"But you've really got it in you, good at whatever you do. You've got a whole routine for sweet-talking your boss. Now everyone in the Tiktok comments is looking for your game-buddy ID." Lin Xuhuan leaned back in his chair. "Alright, let's talk business. Did your family go bankrupt?"

Yan Zhun brushed his messy bangs aside. "Sorry to disappoint you, not yet."

"Then why are you a game buddy?" Lin Xuhuan was speechless. "I thought I could finally trick you into joining TZG."

Yan Zhun scoffed. Just as he was about to say something, his phone suddenly vibrated a few times.

[Pei Ran: Yeah, are you up?]

[Pei Ran: I want to play a game]

[Pei Ran: It's okay if you're not up, I'll just play by myself for a bit.]

Lin Xuhuan: "By the way, you're on break, right? Come to our Base. Someone from our Second Team is on leave, so we can't form a full squad. Those Youth Trainees aren't good enough. Come join us for a custom training match."

"Not going."

"Damn it, we'll pay!" Lin Xuhuan gritted his teeth. "Three times your game-buddy fee... wait, your hourly fee isn't over two hundred, is it?"

Yan Zhun stood up. "Not going. You guys play by yourselves. I'm hanging up."

"Hey, let's talk a bit more, what's the hurry?"

"I am in a hurry, I have something to do."

"What is it?"

Yan Zhun pulled on a shirt and said in a lazy voice, "Serving my boss."

"..."

Yan Zhun went online with a piece of bread in his mouth. Seeing that Pei Ran was in a game, he casually checked his match history.

0 damage.

0 damage.

0 damage...

Pretty brutal.

Yan Zhun sent a WeChat message, telling him to wait for him after this round. Only then did he slowly start reading his unread messages.

Yan Zhun didn't have many close friends, but because he had almost stepped into the world of professional esports, he had many friends in the esports circle. Right now, they were all forwarding that short video and teasing him about it.

Scrolling further down, he came across a group chat he hadn't opened in a long time.

Seeing a certain word, Yan Zhun frowned, opened the group chat, and scrolled up two pages of chat history.

[Lin Kang: @Su Nian, what on earth happened between you and Pei Ran? Why is he so angry?]

[Su Nian: I don't know]

[Su Nian: Maybe he just looks down on me]

[Su Nian: Isn't Pei Ran always like this? Which of you can actually get along with him?]

[Su Nian: All young masters have this kind of temper, he's too high and mighty for us]

...

[Su Nian: @All Members  Trip to Dali, leaving the day after tomorrow! Anyone who wants to go, sign up with me ASAP!!]

[Su Nian: @Zhun Le  Brother Zhun, are you going?]

Usually, Yan Zhun would have just ignored messages like this.

He swallowed the bread, his eyes lowered as he typed with a blank expression.

[Zhun Le: I don't know you well, don't just call anyone brother]

[Zhun Le: Who pulled me in? I've deleted you as a friend. Don't just drag people into these fucking stupid discussion groups in the future.]

Yan Zhun's fingers moved quickly. While the group members were still dumbfounded, he had already completed the steps of cursing someone out, deleting Su Nian, and leaving the group.