Chapter 143 - 103: King of Esports

Jiang Zhe had clearly been spending a lot of time on construction sites lately. Between the masseuse’s work and the fact that Chen Jue was treating, he felt blissful and quickly spilled all the details about the equestrian club.

When Chen Jue heard the place actually had an outdoor Archery range, his interest was piqued.

The owner of Rainbow Light Studio had just happened to send him a high-draw-weight, antique-style Han Bow, and he’d been wondering where he could get some practical Archery in to raise his [Archery] Skill Level.

Unlike Darts, bows and arrows were considered restricted items and were inherently dangerous. Practicing in his apartment or on the Jiang University campus was completely out of the question.

Now that a suitable place was available for free, Chen Jue was naturally eager to give it a try.

...

After their spa session, Chen Jue generously picked up the tab.

Seeing him act so extravagantly, Jiang Zhe asked with curious concern, "Old Si, didn’t you quit your job? Is it really okay to be splurging like this?"

"It’s fine. I’ve been doing some freelance work and earned a little. It’s better than my old job," Chen Jue said with a wave of his hand, brushing him off with a vague excuse.

He still hadn’t mentioned his identity as the "Brother of Special Skills" to his closest college roommates, nor had he revealed it to any of his blood relatives.

The main reason was that he didn’t want his "internet celebrity" status to complicate their once-simple friendships. He also didn’t want to be the show-off in his real-life Friends Circle, becoming the butt of his friends’ jokes.

As for having previously revealed it to outsiders like Guo Shao and Yang Fan, Chen Jue wasn’t particularly worried.

He and those two were merely acquaintances and didn’t move in the same social circles.

In a city as vast as Hang City, they rarely even ran into each other. Even if they knew, they wouldn’t go around making a fuss about his identity.

"Freelance work?"

"Still in auto finance? The loan business?" Jiang Zhe muttered to himself but didn’t press the issue.

After all, everyone has their own way of getting by. Every adult has their own skills for surviving in society.

Jiang Zhe knew Chen Jue had been in the auto finance industry for years. He must have built up a network of contacts and resources. Using those to make a living and cover his expenses certainly wouldn’t be a problem.

So after they left the Jingtang Club, Jiang Zhe offered Chen Jue a cigarette and started jokingly showering him with praise like, "President Jue is so generous! President Jue is so magnanimous!" and other "666"-style compliments. Then, he dragged Chen Jue to their usual haunt, the Moyu Internet Cafe, to party up for the second half of their night.

Chen Jue didn’t refuse. After more than a month of high-intensity training, his life was starting to feel a bit one-dimensional. He was used to the life of a quiet observer, so he needed to get out, relax, and change things up a bit.

So, leveraging the dexterity from his Max Level [Hidden Weapon Throwing], he proceeded to carry Jiang Zhe through several godlike games of League of Legends, forcing their opponents to surrender at the 15-minute mark every time.

Seeing Chen Jue’s skill in the competitive game skyrocket, far surpassing the level expected of someone in Bronze Rank, Jiang Zhe grew puzzled. "Old Si, you haven’t been grinding ranked games with Old Five every day, have you?"

"When we used to duo queue, we basically fed every single game! For you to be getting consecutive pentakills... it’s just surreal!"

Seeing Chen Jue score another pentakill and carry the entire game, Jiang Zhe leaned over to watch his mechanics.

He saw Chen Jue’s hands dancing across the keyboard and mouse like a pianist’s. It was obvious at a glance—this was definitely a hand speed of over 300 APM, something only pro players had!

Of the six guys in their dorm room, Jiang Zhe had only ever seen similar mechanics from Wang Wei, who was a Challenger-rank player on the Ionia server.

"I haven’t played in a while. The feel for it just came back to me."

"Check my match history if you don’t believe me."

Chen Jue smiled faintly. He hadn’t expected that his newfound finger dexterity and enhanced vision would also affect his gaming performance.

Esports are extremely demanding when it comes to hand speed, eyesight, and reaction time. From years of sitting in an office, Chen Jue’s limbs had grown stiff and his eyesight had deteriorated to the point where the screen always looked blurry. On top of that, the mechanical nature of approving client applications had even dulled his reaction time.

Fortunately, he had the panel. Not only had his training made his hands more flexible and resilient, but the increase in his [Spirit] Attribute had also boosted his reaction speed.

While he still couldn’t compare to a true professional esports player, going godlike in a few low-elo games was no longer a difficult feat for him.

...

After being carried by Chen Jue all night, Jiang Zhe was absolutely thrilled.

Not only did he have a blast gaming, but the luxurious spa treatment at the Jingtang Club was on Chen Jue’s tab, too. He had basically coasted for the entire evening.

If it weren’t for the barrage of urgent calls from his wife, Jiang Zhe would have wanted to keep playing with Chen Jue a while longer.

After all, the life of a 30-year-old man was immensely stressful. He spent his days hustling to make a living and his nights taking care of his wife and child, leaving him with very little personal free time.

He gave his last Diamond Hehua cigarette to Chen Jue and they agreed to meet up at the equestrian club next week. Then, feeling like the night ended too soon, Jiang Zhe reluctantly left the Moyu Internet Cafe.

As for Chen Jue, that guy didn’t leave right away. He was probably in the zone from gaming and decided to enjoy a couple more rounds at the internet cafe before heading back.

’I used to be a total noob who just got stomped on. It’s not every day I get this many kills and a winning streak. If I don’t strike while the iron is hot and play to my heart’s content, I’ll probably have nightmares tonight.’

So, after seeing Jiang Zhe off, Chen Jue immediately opened WeChat and called Wang Wei to ask if he wanted to queue up.

Wang Wei had just finished a game with a client and was about to start a new one. Seeing that Chen Jue wanted to join the party, he immediately agreed.