Ch12 - Playing with such high stakes?

Edited by Noks

“Trick someone into joining?”

Ling Shuyi blinked his eyes doubtfully—what unlucky team were they digging this person from?

Mo Chen didn’t explain, and just got up and patted Ling Shuyi’s back after saying that sentence. “Let’s go have dinner.”

On the other side, after Wen Xi ended his stream, he collapsed into his chair and rested for a while before going out the door.

Before today, he would always have dinner around six o’clock.

He didn’t know why, but today, he felt especially hungry after ending the stream, and he was not just hungry, but also tired. He just wanted to have a good meal early and then hurry to take a nap in his bed before he had to start his livestream again at 8.

He didn’t expect to receive a call from Magic Xi, the general director of the JJ Livestreams game channel, just after dinner.

“Have you had dinner?” This was the first thing Magic Xi asked after the call connected.

“Yes,” Wen Xi obediently replied.

Upon hearing this answer, Magic Xi seemed to feel a little put out. Only after a while did she start speaking again, “You’ve already finished eating so early ah… I wanted to place a take-out order for you.” She paused before saying, “Forget about it, it’s fine as long as you ate. I’m calling you to ask, what’s the relationship between you and that Momo ah?”

Wen Xi froze; he hadn’t expected her to mention Momo. He wasn’t sure what she meant, so he hesitated for a while and then replied, “Er, it should be… there isn’t really a relationship?”

Magic Xi asked, “Should be?”

Wen Xi explained, “Just met him these past two days and just added him as a friend today… What’s the matter?”

Hearing the uneasiness in Wen Xi’s voice, Magic Xi thought of something and laughed. “Pfft, don’t be nervous ah, I’m just casually asking. No, I shouldn’t say that. In fact, I thought the effect of you and him livestreaming together was pretty good. You go and see if you can make an appointment with him and play together for a fixed period of time every day. If you can… ” Magic Xi paused before sounding him out. “Can you help me ask him if he has any aspirations to livestream?”

Hearing this, Wen Xi finally understood Magic Xi’s meaning.

So she wanted Momo to livestream with him?

That question had nearly scared him to death, he had thought that Magic Xi was against him playing with Momo…

“Okay~” Wen Xi readily agreed, “When I go online later, I’ll ask.”

Magic Xi let out an “en”, then said, “If you can make an appointment with Momo, you two can then form a squad with Ai Zhe. I forgot to tell you this morning that Ai Zhe is different from Blue Wolf, in that he has his own fixed partner. Today, in order to carry you, he specially livestreamed separately from his partner. Tomorrow, depending on the situation, he will let his partner also livestream with you.”

Wen Xi: “…”

Such an important thing actually hadn’t been mentioned earlier!

Magic Xi made nothing of it and continued, “As for Blue Wolf, he has always played solo, mainly because he has always been playing the high-ranked matches on the international servers. Few people on the platform have skills that can match him, including Ai Zhe.”

Wen Xi said, “Then I……”

Magic Xi said, “You’ll be fine ah. I asked him to come onto the domestic servers to carry you.”

“……” Wen Xi didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry.

This director, could she dare to be even more “biased”?

*

After hanging up the phone, Wen Xi got the nap he had wished for, and by the time he woke up, it was 7 at night.

He yawned and sat up on the bed, looked at the time, thought it was still early, and then fell back.

But in the end, in order to avoid being late, he forced himself to get out of bed before 7:30. After a simple wash-up, he turned on his computer directly while still in his pajamas.

He hadn’t expected that someone would be online earlier than him.

Blue Wolf: There?

Wen Xi disbelievingly looked at the timestamp on this message in his chatbox—it had been sent half an hour ago.

Coming to poke at him so early, was something the matter?

Wen Xi hesitated and then replied: Here now. Was sleeping just now.

He had thought that Blue Wolf would not be in front of the computer at this time, but he didn’t expect to receive a reply from the other side as soon as he sent over this message.

Blue Wolf: Come into the voice channel ba, let’s chat.

Wen Xi: Er, now?

Blue Wolf: Yes.

Wen Xi was a little nervous. He didn’t know what the other side wanted to chat with him about, but he obediently entered the voice channel, cleared his voice, and uttered, “Hello?”

“Huo, you have a pretty nice voice.” This was the first line that Blue Wolf spoke to Wen Xi.

Blue Wolf’s voice was rather hoarse, which was totally different from a male god’s voice, but it had its own unique characteristics that made people never forget it after hearing it.

Wen Xi logged into the game and asked, “Er, what do you want to chat about?”

He wasn’t very good at covering up his emotions, so his tone at the moment displayed a feeling of weakness to its listeners, with the word “uneasy” almost directly engraved on his vocal cords.

Blue Wolf couldn’t help laughing. “Are you nervous? Don’t be nervous ah, just casually chatting.”

After he finished saying that, the sound of noodles being slurped suddenly appeared.

Wen Xi: ???

Wen Xi asked, “Are you eating noodles?”

“Yeah.” Blue Wolf replied indistinctly, apparently chewing on noodles. “Eating dinner, have you eaten?”

Wen Xi replied, “Yes.”

Although he had eaten, he had eaten at a little past 4 o’clock. Now, when he heard the sound of noodles being slurped, he felt a bit…

But Blue Wolf’s dinner at this point reminded Wen Xi that this person’s livestream time seemed to be from 3:00 to 7:00 in the afternoon, then from 8:00 into the early morning hours. With only one hour’s rest in the middle, these 8 hours of livestreaming were almost continuous.

Wen Xi hesitated for a moment, but couldn’t help asking, “Are you tired after streaming 8 hours in a day ah?”

“Don’t office workers also work eight hours a day? My job here is also serious ba?” Blue Wolf replied.

Wen Xi asked, “Then why don’t you stream a bit in the morning and then a bit in the afternoon?”

“Practice guns in the morning ah.” Blue Wolf replied naturally, “As for the afternoon, my 3 o’clock is mainly for the sake of staggering with Love Pig. We have a lot of fans in common.” He slurped up some more noodles, then continued, “But his fans are all like those girlfriend fans ah, and wife fans ah. Mine are all anti-fans.”

“Pfft……” Wen Xi couldn’t help laughing. He had a pretty good first impression of Blue Wolf.

Although his hoarse voice always gave people a ‘this person is not to be trifled with’ sensation, Wen Xi could understand from his words that this person was very open and had no flashy, superficial idol-like qualities.

Such people usually showed their feelings and were very suitable to make friends with.

However, without waiting for Wen Xi to respond, Blue Wolf suddenly said, “You guys aren’t antis? If not, smash some gifts bei, don’t just say it with your mouth, okay? I’m just that kind of practical person; I only recognize money, not people… Thank you for the 10 deepwater torpedos from Humanoid ATM, and the rocket from The Walking Wallet Presents a Gift. That’s more like it ma… What? You want me to make noodles for you to eat? If I dare to make it, will you dare to eat it?”

Only then did Wen Xi realize a terrible thing. “…you’ve started livestreaming?”

“Sound on, nothing on the screen,” Blue Wolf said, sucking in another mouthful of noodles. He chewed and chewed and chewed while making a “jijiji” sound, and accompanying it was the sound of his mouse clicking. “Enter the game first, and I’ll add you as a friend ba. What are you called?”

“Wency.” Wen Xi replied, already logged into the game by now.

After he entered the game, the first thing he did was click open his friends list, and glance at Momo’s ID. He was actually online!

At that moment, Wen Xi’s heart rate inexplicably became unstable. Almost immediately he poked Momo and sent him a message.

Wency: Playing?

This time, he didn’t receive a reply from the other side in seconds. It took about two or three minutes for Momo to reply.

In those two or three minutes, Blue Wolf had logged into a side account and added him.

Blue Wolf’s side account’s ID was JJ-SBW.

SB…… Wen Xi was very curious about what he was thinking when he had chosen this ID.

Just then, he received a reply from Momo.

Momo: No, just came on to have a look.

Wency: A look at what?

Momo: A look at you.

Wen Xi: ???

Wen Xi had no doubt that if he had been livestreaming right now, the barrage would just be full of screams.

A look at you—doesn’t this reply straightforwardly invite people to imagine too much ba?

It took a long time for Wen Xi to persuade himself that the other party didn’t mean anything else by it, before he continued typing in response.

Wency: What are you taking a look at me for ma?

Momo: To see if you’re online.

Wency: Uh, I’m online now, so now what?

Momo: Consider playing professionally?

This question was posed so suddenly, that Wen Xi froze for a long time before managing to react.

Professionally? Him?

Him, the dabbler who only knew how to use a bow?

Forget it ba….

Wency: No.

Momo: Then I’ll ask you again tomorrow.

Wen Xi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Really, why did Momo suddenly ask him this? It couldn’t be that… Momo himself was a professional player ba?

If so, his strength made sense.

However, before Wen Xi could type and ask Momo about this, Blue Wolf’s voice suddenly sounded in his earphones. “Wency? That’s how you say it ba? Then what do I call you? Wen Xi? Xixi? Wen Zi? Er, let’s not do Wen Zi, calling you that makes me feel a bit itchy.”

Wen Xi responded, “… calling me Wen Xi is fine.”

Blue Wolf replied, “Okay, I’ll call you Wen Xi. You can call me either Wolf Ge, Father Wolf, or Grandfather Wolf, any of those are all fine.”

Wolf Ge, Father Wolf, or Grandfather Wolf… yeah right.

Wen Xi pretended not to hear the latter two names. “Wolf Ge, have you finished your noodles?”

“En, I’ll go downstairs and take out the garbage; you can do whatever you like until then. Let’s start livestreaming when I get back ba,” Blue Wolf said.

Wen Xi replied “yes” almost instinctively.

He only realized after replying—start livestreaming after he got back? There were still 20 minutes before it struck 8, hello!

Did Blue Wolf live dozens of floors up in a high-rise building where he would have to take the stairs to take out the garbage?

Or was he really planning to start livestreaming more than 20 minutes in advance?

Wen Xi was speechless for a while, and then his eyes fell on the chatbox with Momo that was open. He remembered that he hadn’t asked about the most important matter yet, so he quickly typed and sent it over.

Wency: When are you free to play duo with me?

Momo: Now.

Wency: …… didn’t you say you came on just to have a look?

Momo: I came on to see if you were online. If you’re online, then I’ll play.

Does that mean that when he’s not online, Momo doesn’t play?

Right now, he really couldn’t blame the stream followers for trying to force a marriage, since even Wen Xi thought Momo was interested in him…

In that case, he could ask for some conditions ba?

Wency: Can’t do it right now. Are you free at 1:00 tomorrow afternoon?

Wency: And then 1 p.m. every day after that?

Wency: I login on time at 1 p.m. every day.

Momo: So punctual ah.

Wen Xi was a little worried. He didn’t know why he didn’t just clearly tell the other party that he was an anchor and that he started his livestream on time at 1 o’clock every afternoon.

Was he worried that the other party won’t play duo with him once he knew?

At the end of the day, Wen Xi still didn’t have any confidence in himself or in his identity as an anchor. He was afraid that Momo would look down on him when he learned of it.

After all, Momo’s skills were so good that they were pretty much superior to almost all the so-called skills-based livestreaming anchors…

Wen Xi got lost in blind and disorderly conjectures while waiting for Momo’s reply.

About a minute later, Momo replied.

Momo: If it’s at 1 p.m, that’s possible.

Momo: I’ll accompany you to play two matches at 1:00 every afternoon.

He agreed!

Seeing these two replies, Wen Xi was so excited that he almost forgot how to type. After a long time spent deleting and editing the text he typed, he finally sent a complete sentence.

Wency: Okay, it’s settled. I’ll see you at 1:00 tomorrow afternoon!

Momo: Then what about now? Are you playing?

Wen Xi froze.

Now… he was playing ah, but he needed to go queue with Blue Wolf.

Blue Wolf had no set partner. If Momo wanted to play with them, they could only form a three person team and play squad matches. He didn’t know if Blue Wolf would agree to that though…

Wen Xi got tangled up in his thoughts for a while and didn’t know how to respond.

He wasn’t good at lying, and at that moment, he didn’t even know what kind of lie to make up.

In the end, Wen Xi resigned himself to his fate and replied: I already arranged something with someone tonight…

After he sent this, Momo didn’t reply for a long time, which made Wen Xi uneasy. He kept feeling as though he had done something wrong.

He attempted to “remedy” the situation by saying something more but didn’t know what exactly to say.

Until… Momo replied with this sentence: I searched Wency on JJ Livestreams, and found a Wency Wen Xi. Is that you?

Wency：！！！

Wency: Yes… how did you know?

Wen Xi couldn’t believe his own eyes—the matter he had wanted to conceal had been dug out by the other party just like that?!

Momo: Fixed times to play the game, teammates who aren’t entirely decided by themselves, is it difficult to guess?

Wency：……

Wen Xi knelt down.

Should he say that a big boss is worthy of being called a big boss? His brain spun fast enough.

Even if normal people received these pieces of information, would they immediately think of livestreaming?

Momo not only thought of it, but directly went to search as well…

Momo: So what’s your livestreaming time?

Wency: 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. to early morning.

Wen Xi lay down his arms and completely surrendered, pretty much answering any question the other party asked.

Momo: Who are you streaming with this evening? Is the other party also an anchor?

Wency: Yes… Blue Wolf.

Momo: Oh, I have an impression of him. He’s the one with more than 40 points in the solo matches of the international servers, isn’t he ba?

This… Wen Xi didn’t know ah.

He right then and there made a hasty last minute effort and searched for information on Blue Wolf online. He only knew that this person’s main account’s ID was JJ-Blue Wolf, who was one of the most popular skills-based game livestreaming anchors on the JJ Livestreams platform.

As for his ranking on the national and internal servers, it was actually really hard to find. It was probably because the rankings were always changing.

However, Blue Wolf did often play on international servers, and he even played in the high-ranked matches on the international servers.

Wency: Should be ba.

Momo: Are you playing duo with him? Also playing on the international servers?

Wency: No… his side account is coming to the national servers to carry me.

Momo: What’s his side account’s ID?

Wency: JJ-SBW

Momo was silent for a few seconds before he replied: This ID, it’s excellent.

Wen Xi didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry upon reading this response, and then he became a little curious about Momo’s ranking on the international servers.

Since he had thought of it, he just asked.

Wency: So, do you often play on the international servers? What’s your ranking on the international servers?

Momo: I don’t play solo much.

After a few seconds, another sentence was added: If I did play, probably number 1.

Wency: ….

He had never met such a brazen person before!

Wen Xi admitted that Momo was very powerful, but saying that he was the number 1 on the international servers was still too…

Momo: Don’t believe it?

Wen Xi looked at these words and didn’t know how to respond.

He thought that he could also count as having defeated Momo and thus taking the first place rank from his hands. Did he then also have the ability of the first ranked in the international servers?

However, thinking back to that match, he had only gathered nine kills, while Momo had 29…

If they were going by number of kills, then Momo was indeed better.

Not waiting for Wen Xi to respond, Momo sent another message.

Momo: That’s right, I don’t even believe it myself.

Wency：……

Momo: But as far as I’m concerned, I can’t just casually fight against Blue Wolf and the like.

Momo: Duo at 8 ba? Wait.

Wency：…… What are you going to do ma?

These words made Wen Xi uneasy. He kept feeling like Momo was preparing to do something.

In fact, Momo was really preparing to do something.

Momo: After I fight him into a state of depression, you just follow me ba.

Wency：???

Momo: Listen to me, go play professionally, you can do it.

Wency: No, I can’t.

It turns out that that’s what he meant by “follow”… Wen Xi had nothing to say.

Wency: Then what if I win the next match? You’ll follow me?

Momo: En? What do you want me to do?

Wency: Come to JJ Livestreams.

After this sentence was sent out, the other side was silent for a long time, as if pondering on it.

After a period of time had passed, he responded.

Momo: In that case, let’s make a bet ba. In the next match, whoever wins will be the one who calls the shots. If I win, you’ll go play professionally, and I have the final say on which team you’ll join. If you win, I’ll sign with JJ Livestreams.

Wen Xi looked at this passage in disbelief.

He could see that Momo was serious, which was why he was so surprised.

Wency: Seriously? Playing with such high stakes?

This was like betting with your future life…

Momo: It’s only exciting to bet with high stakes. Doing it or not?

Wency: No.

Momo：……

Wen Xi’s response could be called crisp and resolute.

Even if Momo dared to gamble, he didn’t.

He had just managed, through a lot of effort, to make some money this month. He had just managed to start to get stabilized, and it was absolutely impossible to get him to give up livestreaming in favour of playing professionally.

Also, Wen Xi was self-aware.

Although his solo performance so far was really good, he was only playing low-ranked matches on the national server, so it wasn’t that he was too strong, but that his enemies were too weak.

Not to mention that he had just gotten acquainted with this SGH game only two days ago. He still wasn’t even clear about all the kinds of weapons there were in SGH.

Let the present him go play professionally?

You had to be joking.

Wency: Betting is okay, but I refuse to bet with such high stakes. Let’s come to a compromise ba.

Momo: Okay, you state the conditions.

Wency: If I win, you smash me some gifts. If you win, I’ll treat you to a meal.

Momo: These stakes aren’t equal.

Wency: Er, then how would you change them?

Momo: If you win, I’ll smash you some gifts and treat you to a meal. If I win, you take me to a meal, and I’ll pay for it.

Wency: Deal.

Wency：…… Wait, something’s wrong?

—

Juurensha: Momo…this isn’t exactly tricking him into joining is it? It’s basically just JOIN ME.

Noks: Momo has a complete handle on Wen Xi. Poor Wen Xi is going to get tricked into joining his team, and he won’t even realise it until it’s all over…