Chi Zhan’s ears felt a little warm, his breathing slightly unsteady. He took a sip of water to steady himself and forced a casual tone.
“There’s still a while before the food comes. Want to play a game?”
“Of course. After last time, I started training a new character. This is the perfect chance to test it out. Will you carry me?”
“I’m not that good…” Chi Zhan said sheepishly. “I can only promise I’ll try not to die.”
He picked up his phone and logged into the game. A new patch had been released—a long list of updates scrolled across the screen, but Chi Zhan didn’t bother reading through it. The download took a bit of time, and once it finished, he opened a room and invited Cen Chi in.
Cen Chi’s account was about the same level as Chi Zhan’s—Chi Zhan had dropped in rank from inactivity, while Cen Chi kept his rank stable by playing maybe three matches a month, at most.
His account was downright spartan. No flashy frames, no visual effects, no cash-purchased perks, no skins or cosmetic upgrades. He used the default characters, which made him look entirely out of place next to their decked-out teammates.
“Why do their characters look so cool?”
“They paid for skins. It gives them a slight damage boost, but not much.”
Cen Chi nodded.
“You have skins too.”
Chi Zhan wasn’t particularly into microtransactions, but when he logged into this account, there were already tons of skins unlocked. Maybe his past self had bought them? Either way, they were already paid for—might as well use them.
After fielding a few basic questions from Cen Chi, Chi Zhan couldn’t help but comment, “You really don’t know this game at all, huh.”
“Yeah. A friend dragged me into a few matches before, but I never figured out how anything worked. I just ran around pressing buttons.”
“Yeah, I can tell.” Chi Zhan chuckled. “So even you have things you’re bad at.”
“I’m not omnipotent.” Cen Chi glanced at him. “Even gods have things they can’t do.”
Chi Zhan assumed it was just a passing remark and didn’t think much of it. He selected his character, then glanced over—Cen Chi was still poking around the interface, seemingly reading up on their teammates.
As the match began, Cen Chi followed close behind Chi Zhan and asked, “Is this game playable on PC too?”
“Yeah. There are official tournaments too. PC controls are way harder than mobile.”
Cen Chi gave a soft “mm.” His gameplay was average at best, but at least he wasn’t reckless. He didn’t charge into fights, didn’t chase enemies at low health with delusions of “I can totally turn this around.” His emotional state was remarkably stable.
By comparison, Chi Zhan was all adrenaline—picking a Warrior and charging headlong into the fray.
Playing a Mage made you feel like an aloof, untouchable flower on a cliff. But with a Warrior, you were a blood-pumping, hot-blooded hero. Not charging forward would be a disgrace.
Of course, the whole “I can turn this around” thing? Pure delusion. Chi Zhan was quickly flattened. But Cen Chi was still alive.
“There’s barely any health left—go get him!” Chi Zhan urged.
Cen Chi moved in—and was instantly obliterated.
“……”
“He hadn’t used his ult yet,” Cen Chi said.
In other words, death was inevitable.
“Then why didn’t you hide?” Chi Zhan grumbled.
“If I hadn’t gone, you’d have been frustrated,” Cen Chi said calmly. “You’d keep thinking, ‘If only he’d gone for it.’ Even if I couldn’t win, I had to try. Otherwise, you’d regret it for a long time.”
Chi Zhan thought about that.
…That’s actually true.
The enemy had just a sliver of health left—if he’d gotten away, Chi Zhan would’ve been gnashing his teeth for the rest of the match.
“Next time, don’t listen to me. I play on instinct—totally unreliable.”
Cen Chi chuckled but said nothing.
Chi Zhan respawned, and the two of them went to take on another opponent. Once again, Chi Zhan was taken out—and once again, the enemy was left with just a sliver of HP. Chi Zhan almost blurted out “Go get him!” but bit his tongue just in time.
Then Cen Chi rushed in—and got flattened again.
“This time, why—”
“I lost my head. Just wanted to hit him.”
Chi Zhan looked at him. Cen Chi remained completely composed, clearly unfazed.
Cen Chi was playing a support character—his damage output was negligible. Without someone else to carry the offense, he wasn’t a threat on his own.
These days, it was rare to find anyone willing to throw themselves into certain death just to back up a teammate.
After their two dramatic “life-and-death together” moments, even their teammates couldn’t help chiming in.
Marksman: Top lane duo, might as well slap on the couple tag and go make some babies already!
Jungler: Wishing you two a long and happy life together!!
Mage: Congrats on your baby in advance!!!
“……”
They were absolutely being sarcastic.
But Cen Chi’s focus was elsewhere.
“What’s a couple tag?” he asked, puzzled. “You can get married in this game?”
“…Yeah,” Chi Zhan replied coolly. “But it’s meaningless. Just gives you a label and some vanity effects—chat bubbles, avatars, that kind of thing.”
Cen Chi nodded thoughtfully. “Hmm,” he said, sounding convinced.
Chi Zhan thought to himself, Good thing I hid all my profile info. Even though he had the couple tag linked to “Song Guang,” no one could see the relationship unless under very specific conditions.
At this point, Chi Zhan had no intention of letting his “boyfriend” Song Guang show up again. He already had someone pretending to be his boyfriend in real life—adding a second would make the lies too hard to juggle.
“So… do you still plan on going on more blind dates?” Chi Zhan asked, steering the topic away.
Sure enough, Cen Chi followed the redirect. After a moment of silence, he smiled bitterly.
“I can’t. I still like him. I don’t want to date anyone else.”
This was a side of Cen Chi that Chi Zhan had never seen before. It wasn’t just strange—it was almost suspicious. Had that player used some kind of item on him? Something like ‘Fall Madly in Love with Me’?
“There’s plenty of fish in the sea…” Chi Zhan began.
“…So why fall for just one flower?” Cen Chi finished for him, then shook his head. “Ah-Zhan, have you ever really liked someone before? Falling in love is… strange. Your eyes and your heart both start to follow them, completely out of your control. Wherever they go, you want to go too. If they smile, you’re happy. If they cry, you hurt.”
