After recognizing the student as Su Ge, there wasn't any need for other students to ridicule him. He Yu himself was embarra.s.sed and speechless. Sheepishly, he excused himself and sat back down on the chair.

However, Su Ge had no intention of leaving. Amused, he made eye contact with He Yu and said, “You're the newbie that just joined Gao Ge and Zhou Mo.”

“Yeah, that's me,” He Yu nodded.

“Heard that you can play pretty well,” Su Ge complimented.

“Says who?” He Yu was curious. Ever since he'd started playing, he mainly received negative evaluations or comments that indirectly criticized him. Deep down, he was well aware of where he stood. Out of the blue, someone had complimented him, so he was undeniably a little excited.

He Yu's excitement made Su Ge feel slightly tense. Zhang Cheng Hao and the gang hadn't mentioned He Yu to be a solid player, just claiming him to be better than average. Su Ge's compliment was just formalities, and yet it could excite He Yu.

To avoid misunderstandings, Su Ge decided to clarify himself. “What rank are you as of now?” It was always better to clarify any misunderstandings.

“Err.. haha, it's slightly complicated.” He Yu instantly felt awkward. To reveal that he was in the Bronze rank was impossible and unacceptable to him. He felt the ranking was inaccurate, given his years of knowledge and experience regarding the game, but he was still Bronze ranked and had only played a single game as of now.

“Complicated?” Su Ge asked.

“I'm pretty knowledgeable on game theory, but since I hardly play, my mechanics are a bit lousy,” He Yu explained.

After listening, Su Ge smiled and nodded. “I understand.”

“You understand? No doubt, you are the leader of the club!” He Yu was surprised.

“Of course, players like you are quite common,” Su Ge replied.

“Are they?” He Yu was suspicious. Players like him were common? He'd thought his experience was unique.

“Yeah, we often call players like you 'zui qiang w.a.n.g zhe',” Su Ge said.

“I don't think it's that bad. If I want to get to the highest rank, I just need some practice,” He Yu explained.

“Hahaha, you heard it wrong. He meant 'zui qiang' – empty talkers, not 'zui qiang' – best player,” a student beside Su Ge teased.

“I knew you guys wouldn't understand…” He Yu begrudgingly replied.

“Enough talk, let's play a game.” Su Ge fished out his phone.

“Alright, should we add each other?”

“No need, I'll find you with 'find people nearby'. What's your ID?” Su Ge asked.

“He Liang Yu.”

Su Ge thought the in-game name was amusing but brushed the thought aside. He opened the game and added He Yu. Looking at what rank He Yu was, Su Ge disappointedly shook his head. By this time, people had crowded around Su Ge. They all saw He Yu's rank and snickered amongst themselves.

“Indeed, it's quite a complicated rank,” one of them joked.

“As I said, that's because I didn't play a lot,” He Yu justified. He'd already seen this coming.

“Bronze 3, how much have you played? 2-3 games?” the rest of the students carried on laughing.

“You're not wrong,” He Yu answered.

Su Ge didn't say much and just sent a game invite to He Yu. The students around him all dished out their phones, wanting to join in on the fun.

A few of them entered the game room, and He Yu could see that they were all part of the same guild. Every single one of them had the team name 'Suger' in front. The game started, and they all entered the selection room to pick their heroes. The other four of his teammates didn't start picking and simply looked at He Yu, waiting for him to make a selection.

“If that's the case, I'll select first” He Yu instantly locked in the hero, Genghis Khan.

With a rank level of Bronze, He Yu dared to play a hero of high difficulty. Su Ge and his gang looked at each other, and a few of them giggled.

“I'll support,” Su Ge didn't laugh and locked in the support hero, Su Lie.

“I'll solo top.”

“Jungle.”

“I'll take mid.”

The rest of them picked their roles. With top being the hero Mulan, mid lane being the hero Zhu GeLiang, and jungle being the hero Bei Qing Hu.

“How should we start the game?” the jungler asked.

“Counter their jungle,” the mid laner instructed.

The four of them communicated efficiently with minimal text. They'd been playing together for a long time and had fantastic chemistry. He Yu listened quietly, feeling a bit left out. He didn't talk much or clarify any doubts; he believed his own judgement. By observing their movements, he thought he'd be able to understand what they wanted and follow up.

Halfway into the game, Mulan went top, and the jungler, mid laner, and support rotated to the mid lane.

“If opponents decide to counter the jungle, they'll ambush us,” Su Ge predicted.

“Okay,” the three of them replied. He Yu didn't reply but followed them to mid lane.

“They're taking our blue monster,” the top laner reported as he retreated.

“Come,” Su Ge commanded, and he led them to infiltrate the opponent's jungle.

There was no one guarding the blue monster, so they quickly slew it, stealing the buff it gave.

“I've stolen one!” the top laner exclaimed. With four opponents invading their jungle, the top laner somehow managed to last hit the small monster. It was a slight advantage, and they now had more experience and gold than their opponent.

He Yu checked their own red monster and realised something was amiss. When he was about to warn the team, Su Ge interrupted, “Enemies might be stealing our red; let's go cut them off.”

He Yu was impressed. He only thought of it after observing for some time, yet Su Ge was able to notice it a step ahead of him. Su Ge was at the front, leading the rest back to their jungle red. They came up from two possible escape routes, and true enough, the enemies were attempting to steal their red buff. There were only two of them, and Su Ge's team quickly killed them, getting a two kill head start.

“Invade their red, hero Mulan, come together,” Su Ge instructed again.

“I was ready long ago,” hero Mulan replied and headed towards the opponent's jungle. There, they got another kill and followed by attacking the bottom turret, where they got yet another kill. Their next stop was the river to get the dragon's buff. After which, the opponent's blue monster resp.a.w.ned and they invaded again…

The team's game tempo was perfect, and their gold was way ahead of the opponents', so team fights were increasingly easy. How about He Yu? He just followed them around and was happy that he made no mistakes. As for contribution, He Yu believed he didn't deal that much damage. He felt as if the team didn't need him, and it didn't matter whether he was playing or not. It was the same exact feeling when they communicated amongst themselves. He Yu felt like an outcast.

And here we have a new character that I fell in love with Gongsun Li! Those rabbit ears and that umbrella really makes it a perfect combo!

–credits to northernmei

Link to pic here: