RPGCh2 - There are Always Cannon Fodder Characters that like to Bother the Protagonist

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Lots of gaming terms and names in this chap, please check the corresponding translator’s note for information if you need it~

Editor: Izrate vRs1Kb


The maglev car parked nimbly at the side of the road, next to a set of apartment flats.

Shan Ziwei only just pushed open the car door when he was almost suffocated to death by a bouquet of roses. The person who had shoved them directly at Shan Ziwei didn’t even look at who it was he was shoving roses at, seemingly afraid that he’d be immediately rejected.

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“Ye’er, I missed you so – wh-who’re you?!”

After realizing that the person who was getting out of the car wasn’t Ye Ye as he had thought, and was instead some pretty boy, Li Feng raised his voice subconsciously. bnDeIo

Shan Ziwei clambered out, holding the bouquet. Opposite him was a young man wearing designer brands, who seemed, if what had happened just now was any indication, to have a rather interesting relationship with Ye Ye. Shan Ziwei scratched his head, greeting the other awkwardly, “Hi, Ye Ye is…”

“Yeye?”

For some reason, the rich young man’s rage grew.

“You think you can call Ye’er’s name like that? What kind of relationship do you have with her?!”

1DTpCh

Shan Ziwei suddenly remembered that Ye Ye had been adopted by the Li Family and her current name was Li Ye. His habit of calling Ye Ye by her old name made it sound like they had something between them due to Ye Ye’s first name and old surname having the same pronunciation.

Ye Ye had already gotten off from the side side of the maglev car. Seeing Li Feng, she couldn’t help but frown. She went up to Shan Ziwei and wrapped her arms around one of his.

What the fuuuuuckkkkkk!?!

Suddenly, a blaze was lit in the hearts of both of the men present – one a raging flame of jealousy, and the other a roar of burning arousal. It was like he had been hit with a bat; Shan Ziwei’s entire body went stiff. His heart thumped loudly, sending the sound of desire vibrating through his entire body. Amidst the sound of his heartbeat, Ye Ye’s voice drifted into his ears like they were a century away. 2ClILA

“He’s my boyfriend. Shanzi, let me introduce you, this is my ‘cousin’, Li Feng.”

Ye Ye could feel Shan Ziwei trembling, and was a little worried that Shan Ziwei would shake her off, so she grasped his arm tighter.

Thus, both Li Feng and Shan Ziwei received a critical hit, one to the heart and the other to the body. Shan Ziwei let his other arm droop, using the bouquet to hide a certain excited place. He met the raging jealousy in Li Feng’s eyes with his own reddened gaze – the hell are you jealous for?! Have you ever considered a hypersexual’s feelings!?

Seeing that Ye Ye, with her severe mysophobia, would actually initiate a hug with a man, and that man was breathing hard like he wanted to beat Li Feng up (very, very big misunderstanding), Li Feng’s short temper snapped. WTeoCl

“Him? Li Ye, don’t always try and feed me this bullshit! You’re a member of the Li Family; no matter what, you’ll become my woman!” Li Feng raised his chin, his gaze filled with confidence. “Stop playing these games, Li Ye. Come back and get married to me. That’s what grandfather wants as well.”

Ye Ye’s expression went cold and Shan Ziwei acutely felt her displeasure – she was hugging him even tighter now.

–– Could you please show mercy on this hypersexual!? I’m about to become a mindless beast!! A beast! You know!?

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.

“Hmph… What grandfather wants? How come I’ve never heard of this.” Ye Ye sneered, “All I’ve heard is that once you lose to me in the Update Tournament, you’ll be out of my sight for good.” NpyOli

“Ljtjtj, bt Tf’fg, sbe’gf rb meaf.” Ol Mfcu ijeutfv, qblcalcu ja atf jqjgawfca yelivlcu jcv mbcalcelcu vlrvjlcoeiis, “Tbe atlcx atbrf cbbyr sbe qlmxfv eq mjc klc jujlcra wf lc atf Fqvjaf Kbegcjwfca? Ktf gfjrbc ugjcvojatfg kbeiv jugff ab rbwfatlcu ilxf atja lr rb sbe’ii ulnf eq jcv byfvlfcais rajs klat wf.”

“Heh… we’ll see.”

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Ye Ye gave a cold huff of laughter, dragging the stiff Shan Ziwei into the apartment building and clearly planning to ignore Li Feng from then on. Shan Ziwei could still hear Li Feng’s yelling after entering the apartment building.

“Li Ye! After the Update Tournament, I’ll prepare a grand wedding for you and make sure the entire world knows you’re my woman!” TU8o9l

The automatic doors cut off Li Feng’s voice and view and Ye Ye let go of Shan Ziwei, taking out a pair of handkerchiefs and handing one to Shan Ziwei. She smiled apologetically, “Sorry, I used you as a shield. That mustn’t have been very comfortable for you.”

Shan Ziwei looked deeply at the handkerchief Ye Ye held out to him, all the words going through his head condensing into a single sentence: “… where’s the bathroom?”

(Indescribable things below neck level)

After hiding away into the bathroom to deal with his desire, Shan Ziwei washed his hands, his heart bleeding like the water that gushed out of the tap. IQoTVG

Anyone could guess the gist of what had led to the previous situation. Ye Ye was a very outstanding young lady. She was beautiful, talented, and the only thing people might consider a flaw was her severe mysophobia. Yet, even that only managed to give Ye Ye a stunningly cold and beautifully untouchable aura. A goddess like her would naturally have plenty of suitors, just like that “cousin” of hers.

Shan Ziwei covered his head with his hood, imaginary storm clouds gathering over his head.

Under a situation like that where a girl needed help, as a man, he should’ve puffed himself up resolutely and gave a dominating roar, scaring off that good-for-nothing rich kid: fuck you, she’s mine, don’t even think about it!

But in reality, Shan Ziwei “puffed” himself up with desire, not even daring to open his mouth in front of that cannon fodder looking for trouble, terrified that the moment he opened his mouth, he’d make some strange sound. B3prJq

Lame. Utterly lame.

After leaving the bathroom, Shan Ziwei went back to Ye Ye and she took him to tour the apartment building. From what Ye Ye said, these apartments were service apartments, and she had rented it out to establish the Dawn Night Studios, with a work area decked with high tech utilities, individual rooms and a fully equipped kitchen and dining area.

“I’ll leave a room for Shanzi. You can come and live here any time.”

“Thank you.” DThoUF

Shan Ziwei was very grateful for what Ye Ye had done for him. Not only had she given him a job, she even allowed him freedom; he didn’t need to stay, working and living with the other members of the studio. He only needed to come for important meetings.

“I understand!” she smiled, “Because I can’t stand sharing a bathroom with others and whatnot either.”

Shan Ziwei was incredibly touched by Ye Ye’s kind acts and he wanted to do something for her as well. Immediately, Li Feng came to mind; it seemed he was a source of trouble for Ye Ye.

“Just now… what was up with that Li Feng guy?” 4B0bkV

“Oh, that? Just an annoying fly.” Hearing Shan Ziwei’s words, Ye Ye furrowed her slender brows. “Ever since I arrived at the Li Family, he kept bugging me. I couldn’t take it anymore, so I asked grandfather for help. There’s a prestigious Update Tournament happening in two weeks’ time; if I manage to beat him then, he’ll be forbidden from appearing in front of me again, otherwise, I’ll have to marry him.”

Shan Ziwei was shocked. Seeing Shan Ziwei’s unconcealed surprise, Ye Ye stuck her tongue out in embarrassment. Without any outsiders around, she was a rather playful young lady.

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“So, to get him to fuck off, I established this studio.” Ye Ye clenched a fist, waving it in the air childishly, “I won’t lose to him!”

But on the off chance… nEsYtX

Shan Ziwei didn’t even manage to open his mouth before Ye Ye opened the door to the studio. Immediately, everyone’s gaze focused on them and Shan Ziwei tensed subconsciously. There were a total of four people in the room, three guys and one girl. Apart from the girl who was sleeping, headphones on, the guys all got up and greeted Ye Ye.

Ye Ye nodded in response and scanned the room, finding the person she was looking for next to the window.

“Zhao Qing, could you come here for a moment?”

The man next to the window, around thirty-five and stubbled, straightened before walking over to Ye Ye and Shan Ziwei. ex6TC4

“Boss.”

“Shanzi, this is the current supervisor of my studio, Zhao Qing,” Ye Ye introduced him to Shan Ziwei briefly, “He has a lot of experience, so I hired him to manage my studio.” She turned to Zhao Qing. “Zhao Qing, this is Shan Ziwei, our new employee. He’s really good at gaming!”

Zhao Qing looked Shan Ziwei over. He had been next to the window the entire time, so he had seen everything that had happened below. At his age, there was more for him to consider. Li Ye wasn’t the best person to work for; the Li Family that was behind her was his true target. So when Li Feng came to him, Zhao Qing agreed easily: he would help Li Feng keep an eye on Li Ye and make sure Li Ye lost totally and utterly at the Update Tournament.

This young man in a hoodie seemed to have something with Li Ye. Zhao Qing gave a strange smile, reached out a hand and prepared to teach this brat who was in charge here – well, you shouldn’t have offended someone you weren’t supposed to, hm? vzubf2

“Hello…”

Zhao Qing’s words died in his throat. Faced with his handshake, the hoodie-wearing young man acted like a sexually harassed young lady, scrambling back. It almost seemed like he was going to hug himself and yell pervert.

“No, no, no.” Shan Ziwei hurriedly avoided the outstretched hand. “I’m mysophobic, I don’t shake hands!”

–– You kidding? He didn’t want to have to run to the bathroom again! t fYPR

Zhao Qing’s expression darkened. Let’s not talk about the feeling of having to stifle the powerful technique you were just about to unleash for now, but what was with that damsel in distress look? Zhao Qing had never before, in his entire life, been given a better understanding of what a “damsel in distress” was like – what the fuck are you? A chaste young lady running from a pervert?!

“That’s right, Shanzi has mysophobia just like me.” Ye Ye’s confirmation cut off Zhao Qing curses. The unknowing girl smiled innocently, “So he won’t be living here. You guys can communicate online… ah, sorry.”

Ye Ye raised her arm. The black ring around her left wrist had lit up with patterns, flashing to notify her that someone was trying to contact her.

“I’m going to take a call. You guys chat and get to know each other~” UxkZOp

Once Ye Ye floated off, there was no more social lubricant between them, leaving the Rage-buffed Zhao Qing and Shan Ziwei (distance > 3) silently standing together. The corner of Zhao Qing’s mouth twitched. Without Ye Ye here, he no longer had to keep up that fake smile of his.

“What kind of online games have you played before?”

Chrysanthemum Garden.

Zhao Qing’s tone wasn’t very amiable and made Shan Ziwei think of a gangster. Shan Ziwei’s intuition told him that this Zhao Qing didn’t really like him, possibly because he hadn’t given the other face just now. To save this already teetering colleague relationship, Shan Ziwei pulled down his hood, revealing a somewhat fawning smile.

WOW, LOL, SC, CS… I’ve played all of those.” 6IVHxn

For every game Shan Ziwei listed, Zhao Qing’s frown deepened. In the end, his face was as dark as a frying pan.

“Are you fucking kidding me? I’m not testing you on classic gaming history!” Zhao Qing smiled a smile that wasn’t even close to reaching his eyes. “Please tell me every game you’ve played, that was released in the past decade – not those antique games from hundreds of years ago!”

“…” Sorry, but he was an antique from hundreds of years ago. _(:з」∠)_

An inexplicable silence enveloped the two. Zhao Qing took a deep breath, constantly reminding himself this was the best time for him to get to know who he was up against and finally managing to suppress the ember of annoyance inside him. Mg zR7

“Never mind, just tell me what kind of game you’re good at.”

Shan Ziwei immediately answered like a star student in class, “I’m good at MMORPGs.”

Zhao Qing made a ‘tsk’ noise of perhaps approval or displeasure.

“What kind of character? Tank? DPS ? Healer? CC?” udsKil

“Main tank.”

Zhao Qing’s first reaction: fuck, no wonder you’re so good at pulling aggro!

“Main tank!”

A loud yell echoed in the studio. A rather chubby young man waved his arms – when had he started eavesdropping on them? – hollering excitedly, “This is great, cap’n. We just happen to be missing a main tank!” 5WZhmc

“Fuck.” Zhao Qing wanted nothing more than to kick the chubby man out. Thanks to him, everyone else in the studio had started paying attention to what was going on over here. “You think just anyone can waltz in and become a main tank?!”

The chubby man’s arms froze in midair. He scratched his head. “You’re right.”

Main tanks were the primary damage-takers in MMORPGs, and a very special existence in the party. In one party, there could be multiple tanks, but only one main tank. Thus, the main tank was the skeleton of a party. Their skill, awareness, equipment, etc. would crucially influence the operation of the entire party. Shan Ziwei saying he was good at being a main tank was no bluff; if the player rankings from the 21st century still existed, you could see his pseudonym in the top ten for sure.

The chubby man’s spirits only fell for a moment before he excitedly asked Shan Ziwei, “What’s your online pseudonym?” yVehf0

As the core of their parties, it generally didn’t take long for a main tank to get some fame online. It was fine if Shan Ziwei wasn’t very famous, or rather, their team needed a main tank that wasn’t too famous. Famous main tanks had all already been taken in by large studios and settled into their own style. Their team was too new, so they needed time to adjust and understand each other.

“Ghost. I usually go by Ghost online.”

Chrysanthemum Garden.

“Ghost? Never heard of it…”

The chubby man seemed rather disappointed and Shan Ziwei was also filled with melancholia: your great grandparents weren’t even born back when I roamed Jianghu. EeOlRN


Next up, Scenario Three: The Times are Advancing, the Games are Evolving

Translator's Note

World of Warcraft

Translator's Note

League of Legends

Translator's Note

Starcraft

Translator's Note

Counter Strike

Translator's Note

Stands for Mass Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. Most Chinese online game novels are based around MMORPGs. They involve players playing a character through a storyline, against enemies or other players, in an environment with multiple player-controlled characters. Typical examples include Final Fantasy Online, Black Desert Online, Blade and Soul, etc.

Translator's Note

Damage-takers and defenders in games. They have high defense and health and are responsible for shielding their teammates from harm.

Translator's Note

Stands for Damage per Second and used to refer to offensive units/damage-dealers in games.

Translator's Note

They’re responsible for healing and often buffing (powering up) their teammates.

Translator's Note

Stands for Crowd Control. CC characters impede, pin and debuff (weaken) enemies, often using status effects (stun, dizzy, sleep, poison, etc.) and AoEs (area of effect, referring to attacks that effect an area rather than a single or several individual targets).

Translator's Note

Tanks are responsible for defending their teammates, and they often do this by drawing enemies’ attention to themselves (taunting or just through attacking), causing enemies to aim their attacks at the tanks. This attention often called “aggro”, and the process of drawing this attention is known as “pulling aggro”.

Translator's Note

You probably see this phrase or similar phrases with the word Jianghu quite a lot, but in case you don’t, the phrase just means “while I was active (in a profession/area)”.

Leave a Comment

16 comments

  1. I keep forgetting he’s in the future… I was like ‘wat do u mean classic gaming history?! LOL?!’

    Thanks for the chapter~ ( ^ ♡ ^ )/

  2. Future games = VR

    Main Tank = Taking Damage

    If Dan Ziwei get attacked (touched) in the game, would his condition flare up?

  3. I think it’d be hilarious if every time he took damage as a tank he got hornier and his strategies improved to get the battle over faster :’D

    Why does he speedrun so well you ask??? Because he’s trying not to “explosively express” his desires!#!

    I think it’s great how Ye Ye took in an antique jewel of a MMORPG player. MC is exactly what her team needs to beat up the annoying cousin’s top-ranked professional team (and I just *know* they’ll all be top-ranked professionals with scary good track records and years’ worth of battle experience together).

    I hope they get the chance to brag about themselves to MC just so he can be like “??? WHO ? ? ?” Hahahha

    I wonder if the dean is secretly a genius gamer in his spare time….

  4. I wish to him that he can turn off the vr part that will let him feel the sensations as if he was in the game.

  5. Wow, this adoptive family sounds like trash if they set up this tournament instead of saying, “no, you can’t rape our daughter/granddaughter.”

  6. He’s so unfortunate. He’d be mistaken as a pervert later if someone knows of his condition (the dean excluded).

  7. Is this a typo or not? : Ye Ye had already gotten off from the side side of the maglev car.