Chapter 49 (1/2)

Throughout the past few days, Chen Mu and Chen Yifei had breakfast that was much better compared to their usual. This placed them in great mental states.

In class, Chen Mu continued to think about ways to find teammates that were slightly stronger than his previous ones—teammates who could at least avoid getting pushed in during the laning phase.

In the last tournament, his top and bot lane were always losing in CS during the finals. Had his opponents been any stronger, Chen Mu might not have won. To illustrate the situation, imagine you were happily singing away, farming minions in mid lane. However, both your top and bot lane suddenly collapsed with no prior notice. What else could you do then except appear confused like Nick Young[1]?

With hundreds of millions of players worldwide, League of Legends players were all over cybercafes. In Chuzhou itself, there had to be at least around one to eight million players. It was guaranteed that there would be pro players among those people. The question was whether Chen Mu could find them.

“Big Bro Xiaobai, do you know anyone who has more than two thousand ELO points?” Chen Mu asked casually during recess.

“Hmm? Of course, I do. I met two bros back in junior high who are now studying in No.16 High School. The last time I saw them, they were showing off their tiers in Qzone[2]. They both have two thousand and three hundred ELO points as a bot lane duo. I guess they have the highest ELO points among the people I know of. Those two monsters refused to boost me. What nerve they have,” complained Zhuo Xiaobai as he took out his bottled yogurt that cost eight bucks and started drinking it.

“That’s great. Now, the player with the highest ELO points in the Chinese server is someone who has two thousand and nine hundred ELO points. Two thousand and three hundred ELO points isn’t that low. Could you introduce me to them?” said Chen Mu. If he could team up with two pro players who had two thousand and three hundred ELO points, his hopes of becoming the champion would increase much more.

“Uh-huh. Those two are twins. Their mental connection is uncanny. The level of tacit understanding they show as bot laners in ranked games is more than a couple that’s dating. Not to mention, if you check their match history, you’ll see they’re as fierce as rabid dogs. Are you planning to ride on their tailcoat?” said Zhuo Xiaobai. When it came to siding with pro players, it really depended on whether lady luck was on one’s side. With so many players going down the rabbit hole daily, it was really hard to tell if any of them would suddenly become a god in the game.

Chen Mu was the perfect example of that. For someone whom Zhuo Xiaobai had always thought of as a quiet nerd, Chen Mu did not only turn out to be a person who liked to joke about vain or obscene things once befriended, but he was a person capable of snatching the champion spot of a cybercafe tournament.

“Twins? Well, isn’t that unique? Then, hurry up and forward me their contacts. I need some help from pro players,” said Chen Mu.

“Yep, sure. I’ll let them know. You should add them on WeChat. Why are you looking for them? It would be easier if I tell them,” replied Zhuo Xiaobai.

“It’s a tournament that’s bigger than the one we joined. There’ll be more pro players there. So, it would be much better if my team has players with higher ELO points,” explained Chen Mu.

“Oh, you can count on me. I’ll persuade them for you. Both of them have been sneaking out to play games in the cybercafe. If they can earn some prize money, I guess they wouldn’t have to eat instant noodles every night and be stingy over adding in a lone piece of ham sausage.”

Zhuo Xiaobai sent the twins’ WeChat IDs to Chen Mu via push while messaging the twins at the same time. After adding the twins on WeChat, Chen Mu asked Zhuo Xiaobai, “What are their names? I want to save their contacts.”

“One of them is Ao Wen while the other is Ao Xuan,” answered Zhuo Xiaobai.

As Chen Mu saved their contact names and continued asking, “Why isn’t it Ao Wu[3] instead? Names like that usually come together with the idiom, ‘to be adept with the pen and sword’, don’t they?”

Zhuo Xiaobai mashed his eyebrows together and took a sip of his yogurt. Then, he extended his gaze far into the clouds outside the window, sighed, and said, “The younger brother was called Ao Wu in the past. However, once upon a time, the younger brother got lost. Searching for him, his entire family shouted his name for an entire night throughout the village. After that night, they changed his name.”

“…” It took Chen Mu a long while to realize what the story implied. After understanding the uniqueness of the name, Chen Mu agreed without hesitation that it was only right that his name was changed.

“Are the twins really telepathic? Have you seen them in action?” asked Chen Mu.

“Of course, you have no idea how crazy they are. Back in junior high, Ao Wen injured his arm but still persisted in fighting for the honorable comeback of Huaxia’s cybercafe. So, both of them played Dungeon Fighter Online on the same device. One of them controlled the movement buttons-left, right, up, and down. The other one of them controlled the character’s skills. When they executed combos, it was as though a single person was playing the game.” Zhuo Xiaobai recalled the incident and thought that it was ingenious.