Soft classical music drifted out of the car’s sound system as it glided down the streets of the city.
Driver mainly focused on the road, glancing at the mirror on occasion to look in the backseat with a little bit of nerve, as if praying that he wouldn’t catch the eyes of the person sitting there.
The person in question, a tall woman no older than 40 years of age hummed along to the music.
She tapped her feet subconsciously, her ruby red heels reflecting the light from the car window.
“It’s L’autre Valse D’amélie, right?” She asked, breaking the silence that had settled in the air after the two of them left her company building, “The song.”
“Oh yes, you have a keen ear,” the driver laughed.
“Mm, I believe it’s more that you have a good taste in music.” The woman replied humbly.
The car slowed to a stop in front of a small building in the middle of the Tianhe district.
“We’re here, miss.” The driver proclaimed, “Are you sure you don’t need me to…?”
“It’ll be fine,” the woman said, “I don’t want him to shoo me away, after all.”
She got out of the car, walking away, as the driver slumped in the front seat with a deep sigh.
When he looked back up, he saw her smiling warmly at him and waving goodbye.
He smiled back, hands still resting against the leather wheel, and blinked.
Just one blink and she was gone.
—
“Oh shit!” Men Wu exclaimed, slumping in his chair.
“What virus do you have now?” Wu Biaoqing asked.
“I don’t have a virus!” He huffed.
“Really?”
“Well, I don’t think I do… this time…”
“Both of you shut up, I’m trying to focus.” Chang Hui cut in as the two idiots continued to squabble.
“Focus on what, losing?” Isolation asked.
“I’m not losing!” His friend shot back.
“Your health meter seems to refute that-“ Wu Biaoqing pointed out.
“Fuck off!” Chang Hui replied.
At that moment, the team captain walked in.
“What did I say about swearing?” He asked with a frown.
“Don’t be fucking idiots.” The team all echoed.
“So remember that.” Xi Zhe chastised.
Wu Biaoqing sighed, queuing up his next match at the same time the game over notification showed up on Chang Hui’s screen.
“Oh right!” The team leader exclaimed, “Someone’s waiting at the front. We couldn’t let her in because no one mentioned any visitors today, but she kept demanding to see the team.”
“Huh? That’s weird, we shouldn’t have any crazy fans yet, right?” Men Wu thought out loud, “Unless she’s here for Wu-ge?”
“With an imagination like yours, you should go be an author, not a gamer.” Wu Biaoqing replied, smacking the back of his friends head.
“I’m not really sure who she’s here for,” he sighed as Isolation fought ruthlessly against his opponent in a solo match, “but she kept claiming that she’s some sort of CEO named Wu Chengxiao.”
Wu Biaoqing’s hand slipped, and his opponent killed him with ease.
“…Wu Chengxiao?” He echoed, “Did she say-“
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
—
“My father will hear about this!” The woman huffed, her red heels clicking against the white tile floor as she paced around.
The security officer sighed.
“Ma’am, I’m sorry, but we weren’t informed about any visitors. Unless someone in the building decides to bring you in, we can’t let you inside.” He explained.
“This is outrageous,” She exclaimed, “do you know who am?!”
“Jie?” A voice from inside said with a sound that echoed through the entrance of the building.
When she heard it, the woman brightened up.
“Qingqing,” She called out with a bright smile, a complete 180 from her previous attitude, “He won’t let me in!”
The security guard turned around in confusion, coming face to face with someone he recognized as a player on the team that lived there.
“I’m sorry, my sister’s used to dropping by places unannounced. Next time, just let her in.” Wu Biaoqing explained with an apologetic smile.
The guard stared at him with a face that clearly read ‘well why even hire me then?’ before he stepped out of the way, letting the woman into the building.
Wu Chengxiao rushed forward, trapping her brother in a giant bear hug.
“Oh Qingqing, I missed you so much!” She cried, effectively squeezing the life out of him.
Despite being nearly double his age, if you asked Wu Biaoqing who his closest sibling was he would most certainly say Wu Chengxiao.
He was the only son of Wu Fu, a talented and versatile CEO of a popular restaurant chain.
Wu Fu and his first wife, Liu Cangjia, married when the two of them were 19 & 18, and had a daughter named Wu Yanxiu.
They were happy, but Liu Cangjia ended up passing away much too early due to an illness at the age of 20.
Later on, when he was 24, he married the 22 year old Chen Zhimei, and they had a daughter named Wu Duxin.
Again, they were happy, but Chen Zhimei died at the age of 28 due to a car accident in which she used her own body to shield Wu Duxin and Wu Yanxiu.
Later on, when Wu Fu’s business was starting to grow and grow, he married a woman named Gao Heyao.
Together they had another daughter, Wu Chengxiao, and everyone thought that would be the end of it.
However, over 20 years later, Gao Heyao had a son.
Yes, that was indeed Wu Biaoqing, and he was regarded as a miracle child.
By the time he was born, his sisters had all gone off into the adult world.
Wu Yanxiu ran an upscale flower shop specializing in social elite and celebrity wedding decor, whereas Wu Duxin became a well renowned baker who was often on TV.
Wu Chengxiao dropped out of college to start her own fashion line, and was considered a failure in the eyes of the public during that time due to not having made a name for herself despite it.
However, it was because she helped her mother and father raise Wu Biaoqing, and all while starting up a successful high end fashion brand that was only revealed to be created by her years later!
Because of this, despite the age gap the two of them were very close, and it could be said that Wu Biaoqing held his sister in a high regard.
“You must be tired, why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” Wu Biaoqing asked, tone much softer as if his icy exterior was being thawed off.
“I only realized I was close to here when my conference ended.” His sister explained, “Since I don’t have much planned for tomorrow I figured I’d visit and see if me and dad needed to do any changing around here.”
Her words made Wu Biaoqing laugh before he could help himself.
“There’s no need to worry,” he assured, “everyone here is wonderful. I’m adjusting to the team well.”
“I don’t know if everyone here is wonderful.” The high-end brand CEO scoffed, glaring at the security guard.
“You don’t own this place, Jiejie, you can’t just barge in whenever you feel like it.” Wu Biaoqing sighed.
“Hmm…” his sister thought for a moment, “I’ll just buy the company out then!”
“Wu Chengxiao!”
—
In the jungle, two people came face to face.
They were not just any people, but they were, in fact, enemies.
Two of the opposite side, destined to run into each other at some point.
One was a warrior-theif, with a long black cloak that flowed in the wind and a mask that covered most of his face.
The other was a mage-healer, with a long ponytail and a rather personalized jacket probably there to carry her potions.
“Fancy seeing you here, pal.” Said the woman as she moved closer to her opponent.
The wildlife crumpled beneath her boots.
“Oh, the pleasure is all mine.” The warrior-thief replied, raising his gun with ease.
The air was quiet, cold, and only the occasional sound of the wind ruffling the leaves of the trees and bushes could be heard as the two rivals started each other down.
As this was going on, a large group of troops continued on toward a red tower with a glittering crystal on the top of it.
“You really think you can kill me with a simple long-range attack?” The mage-healed asked as if he were stupid.
Her opponent made no movement at first, simply standing there like a predator analyzing its prey.
His cloak continued to sway, unfiltered, in the breeze.
“I might not kill you,” he said, firing the shot and knocking her health down 2/3rds, “but she can.”
At that moment, a knight-witch jumped out of her hiding spot, stabbing and killing the other female player.
“Motherfu-“ their enemy cried, but it was in vain.
At that moment, a message popped up on all the player’s screens.
{AL.one & GoodKnight toppled PlainPaladin & Nevaforget’s crystal}
“Happy now?“ Wu Biaoqing sighed, taking off his headset and leaning back in his chair.
After their 12th consecutive win, she should have been!
“Oh come on, one more game? You do need to train after all…” his sister pleaded.
“Yeah, because playing in the bronze league with all of the noobs is training for a professional.” The player by the name of isolation scoffed, “It’s more like a slaughterhouse.”
“Come on,” Wu Chengxiao huffed, “just one more game? I brought you a present didn’t I? One more game for your Jie?”
She made puppy dog eyes at her brother, and he faked puking.
“Hurry up and get out of here,” Wu Biaoqing said, “I have to do my live. I’m already late because someone needed a tour of the building.”
His sister laughed a little, slightly embarrassed.
“I just wanted to make sure it was suitable for you!” She argued, to which her brother glared at her.
“Alright, alright. Don’t take forever, I want to go out for dinner with your team tonight.” She sighed.
“Yeah, I figured, now go.” Wu Biaoqing shooed her out of the practice room before sitting back down at his desk and logging back into his main LOW account.
His sister had been over for hours, pestering him about anything and everything, before eventually begging him to help carry her through the bronze ranks since he was a part of a team.
In LOW, games could be played for fun or as ranked matches.
Games for fun didn’t count for anything, but ranked matches allowed for accounts to gain points to climb up the ranking charts of the server they played on.
It was common practice for professional players to have outrageously high ranks in both their domain’s server, like the China server for LIFE, as well as the international server, which was a server for everyone regardless of nationality.
So, for someone like Wu Biaoqing, who was in the platinum list in the international sever, playing games in the China server’s bronze category was child’s play.
Isolation sighed, rubbing his shoulder a bit, before staring up the livestream broadcast.
As always, the first thing that greeted him was a very familiar message, only with slightly different wording.
Supermod RedCamellia joined the stream, say hi!
During that live, thanks to FW’s guidance, he’d made RedCamellia a supermod.
Sure, RedCamellia said he hadn’t donated for perks, but with so much money would anyone be a fool to take that supermod title away?
Actually, Wu Biaoqing was one such fool, and had even tried to take the special permission away.
However, it had been too difficult and too confusing for him to figure out how to revoke it, so RedCamellia still kept the title in the end.
[RedCamellia (supermod): You’re live later than normal.]
As he said this, more fans flooded the chat.
[BaobaoBaobei: My darling isolation! Mommy was starved of content when you didn’t start on time 55555]
[retreat2defend: we missed youuuuu~]
[dirtylaundry: Quit acting cute :Isolationdisgust:]
[sevensenses: like you’ve never done it! :Isolationdissaproval:]
Yes, you read the emoticon names right.
In the end, someone really did make an emoji pack, and it contained tons of different emojis with Wu Biaoqing making almost exaclty the same expression, down to the tee.
The funniest part?
They were all different screenshots!
“…Hello.” The player Isolation greeted, which only stirred the chat more as he turned his camera on.
“I see you noticed my absence. Something came up, and I took longer to start than usual. My apologies.” He explained in a very monotone voice.
[Topofthe.world: fuck! Is he really a robot??]
[Heaven_Sent: ‘you’ instead of ‘you all’… is there only one person that exists?]
[Z.fx2207: in our dear Expressionless’s eyes, I guess only supermods exist…]
[L@dylu3k: With LIFE’s rumored base salary, what would he need that money for?? :Isolationsad:]
[misguided_apples: Maybe he’s a money hoarder??]
Well…
Maybe he should have played one more extra game with Wu Chengxiao.
“…enough, what mode should I play?” He asked.
[BaobaoBaobei: the mode of my heart!]
[lovelypeaches: +1]
[WuDu990: +2]
[retreat2defend: +3]
Well, maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to ask those idiots.
At that moment, a notification popped up on the screen.
{RedCamellia donated 1 globe with the following message:
‘Take this as compensation for all of the teasing. Why not play your favorite mode?’}
In a rare change of pace, Wu Biaoqing actually laughed, and surprisingly loudly.
So loud, in fact, that it even scared his poor sister listening through the door.
“Thank you,” said the professional LOW gamer, “solo queue it is.”
OHOHOHHO terkezut kannnnn
WBQ I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE
No because that’s me when I write him and ZS interacting 😂