Chapter 2: A Cheat!
Just ten minutes made Lin Mo feel a sense of unreality.
He had clearly watched many similar tutorial videos before.
The learning effect could not be said to be nonexistent, but it had always been rather average.
Yet when he looked again at the work on his computer, he found that many difficult and confusing problems from before suddenly became as simple as breathing.
“Could it be that I’ve finally reaped the rewards of long preparation?”
The work before him had become incomparably easy in his eyes.
With two hours left before the end of the workday, he had already completed all of his tasks for the day.
‘Ding\~’, a message came in on WeChat.
He checked, and it was from Yuan Meng.
【Don’t leave after work, call Zhang Wei, old place, big sis is treating!】
Seeing the message, Lin Mo replied with an “ok” emoji, then continued slacking off.
Soon it was time to get off work.
Lin Mo did not dare delay even a minute, grabbed his phone, and walked straight out the door.
He was only an intern, with little pay, so things like overtime had nothing to do with him.
Very quickly, the three of them met up in a food street behind the company.
At Sister Jiang’s Barbecue, Zhang Wei and Lin Mo ate heartily, while Yuan Meng animatedly recounted her glorious battle that afternoon in the general manager’s office.
“You didn’t see it, this afternoon I gave that Fatty Dong a good scolding in the general manager’s office. That dead fatso is just a manager who climbed up through bootlicking, what right does he have to strut around? Didn’t he want money? I told him, no money, if it’s your life you want, well, I’ll...”
Before she finished speaking, Lin Mo and Zhang Wei both raised their phones and turned on the recording function.
Yuan Meng: o\_O
“What are you two doing?”
Hearing this, the two hurriedly put down their phones.
“Ahem, Sister Yuan, according to the process of Jinling’s Vice General Ma Guocheng, the next step is for you to take off your clothes,” Lin Mo said with a grin.
Zhang Wei nodded repeatedly from the side: “Exactly, exactly, hurry up Sister Yuan, the mood is all set already!”
Yuan Meng: (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻
“Get lost! This lady has the figure and has the looks, you think I’d let you two get a bargain?”
Hearing this, the two looked at Yuan Meng.
It had to be said, if one ignored her barely-over-1.5-meter height and a figure that had no discernible front or back, just looking at her face, she was indeed a beauty.
It was just that her temper truly did not match her sweet-girl appearance.
“What are you looking at? Eat or not!”
Feeling their gazes, Yuan Meng grew a bit guilty, then became angry out of embarrassment.
“Eat eat eat” \*2
“Sister Yuan, you embarrassed Fatty Dong so badly, won’t he make things difficult for you? Why don’t you take a couple of days off and avoid the trouble?”
After eating most of the food, Zhang Wei spoke up worriedly.
Hearing this, Yuan Meng let out a cold laugh: “Avoid his edge? Do I look like a coward to you?”
“Exactly, Fatty Dong already lost his cool, does he dare provoke Sister Yuan?” Lin Mo chimed in.
“You... you two, fine, I admit I look like a coward, alright? You—one is a rich lady who often tops the sales chart, the other is a student who’ll leave once your internship ends. But me, I can’t!”
Zhang Wei wanted to argue more, but when he thought about the other two’s situations, he deflated.
“Hey? Xiao Lin, your internship is almost over, right?” Yuan Meng asked.
Lin Mo: “Mm, at the end of this month.”
“Will you come back after that?”
“Don’t know, I’ll decide when the time comes.”
Lin Mo himself had not thought about what to do afterwards.
Besides, he still had a year before graduation.
After they were mostly done eating, Yuan Meng spoke: “Tonight, three-man ranked queue, it’s my promotion match, don’t you two drag me down!”
Hearing this, the two nodded repeatedly.
Indeed, the reason their relationship was good was mainly because they were gaming partners.
Of course, Yuan Meng and Zhang Wei were the main force, while Lin Mo was more of an accessory.
He was only a Silver-rank player, who just rushed in recklessly.
Occasionally, through sheer force, he could land a lucky blow and beat an experienced veteran, but most of the time, in every fight, his teammates had to take an average of three executions on his behalf.
The only reason the trio hadn’t broken up was because good gaming partners were hard to find, otherwise they would have fought long ago.
After the meal, the three went their separate ways.
Lin Mo returned to his rented apartment, not far from the company.
It was a one-bedroom unit, and luckily, since he had not graduated yet, his mother could still support him a bit, otherwise he would starve relying solely on his intern salary.
He opened the door, took off his shoes, turned on the computer, and logged in, all in one go.
Soon, the sound of the game filled the room.
Zhang Wei: “Armored and sharp, unstoppable on the battlefield.”
Yuan Meng: “Armor intact, midnight has arrived.”
Lin Mo: “Engulfed in rage—damn it, save me save me save me...”
He unleashed his ultimate, but instantly got killed, and even accidentally dispelled the enemy’s weakened state.
Zhang Wei and Yuan Meng were forced into a two-versus-three, and soon after were also killed.
Such blackout operations were everyday occurrences for him.
The game lasted until midnight.
By then, Zhang Wei and Yuan Meng had already become frustrated from losing.
Not only had they dropped an entire tier, but they were also chased three streets by a guy in white armor wielding a golden horse-slaying blade.
He forcibly destroyed Yuan Meng’s golden armor and red longsword, even blasted out her inner core, completely breaking her defenses.
“You’re killing me, Xiao Black Dog, can you do it or not? If not, then you start another account! I was dominating, and you dismantled it for him? Are you a traitor?!”
Yuan Meng was nearly crying as she looked at her rank.
And “Black Dog” happened to be the character “默” broken down, so whenever Yuan Meng was angry, she called him Xiao Black Dog.
Zhang Wei trembled and dared not say a single word.
Lin Mo: ...
“Uh... but weren’t you the one who told me to rush in and out recklessly? I...”
Before he finished, Lin Mo suddenly noticed another online shopping pop-up appear on his phone to the side, the same four items as in the afternoon:
【9999 pure silver ingot 20.79 grams, ￥4.79】
【Old mountain ginseng from Changbai Mountain, ￥3.4】
【Blue pill, nourishes yin and strengthens kidneys, good for you and good for her; ￥9.8】
【Human-shaped plug-in, Yongjie’s practical teaching, learn in three minutes, straight to Shura rank; ￥1.12】
Lin Mo: ...
“Again, I...”
But then he suddenly thought of his sudden programming breakthrough earlier today, and his heart wavered.
‘Anyway, it’s not expensive, what if it works?’
Thinking this, Lin Mo took a deep breath.
“One more game, if I don’t carry, I’ll eat sh\*t!”
He glanced quickly at the four options.
The silver ingot and Changbai Mountain ginseng were obvious fakes.
He was a university student, not a fool.
As for the blue pill—bah!
Who did they look down on?
His little brother was invincible under heaven!
He did it right away.
With one tap, the password-free payment of ¥1.12 was deducted.
Very soon, a gaming tutorial video appeared on his phone.
And then, he once again experienced that same feeling as in the afternoon, as if knowledge flowed directly into his mind.
“Alright, I’ll trust you again. If I don’t carry, you’re finished!” Yuan Meng said angrily as she started matchmaking.
In the blink of an eye, three minutes passed, and the game began.
‘Gulp.’
Lin Mo swallowed nervously.
At this moment, he felt terrifyingly strong, the kind of strength where even if Kled came, he would have to take two slaps.
As soon as they entered the game, at Tianren City, an enemy team engaged them face-to-face.
Yet Yuan Meng and Zhang Wei, the two main forces, had no armor or weapons.
“Run, run, we can’t fight this.”
“Go go go, sacrifice Xiao Black Dog!”
Zhang Wei and Yuan Meng shouted, trying to abandon him to save themselves.
But now, Lin Mo was no longer the same.
All sorts of game techniques seemed ingrained in his muscle memory through long years of training.
He went straight in alone, completely fearless.
Soon, Zhang Wei and Yuan Meng saw the message that he had taken a triple kill.
They hurriedly rushed back, just in time to see Lin Mo chasing two enemies down and hacking away.
“Xiao Black Dog, fierce! You can fight, you can fight!”
“Awesome awesome!”
“Good play!”
When they saw him chain techniques together—greatsword rising dragon, hook-chain combo, air juggle three hits, dual-stance switch into Four Blossoms—executing all of it effortlessly—
Zhang Wei: “You really turned it on?”
Yuan Meng: “Damn it, that’s a cheat!”
Lin Mo: ...
.....