"What?! The exam is on June 13th, are you trying to ruin me, kid?"
Zhang Chenxi rolled right off his bed when he looked at the exam notification sent by the academic administration system.
The exam was only a week away. As a seasoned sophomore, Zhang Chenxi knew from past final exam experiences that a week was more than enough time to prepare.
This time, however, was different. Zhang Chenxi hadn't listened to a single lecture. Although the professor had highlighted key points in the textbook, Zhang Chenxi seemed to... lack a book?
Longcheng University did not require every student to purchase textbooks directly from the academic office, so most of his previous books had been bought secondhand from upperclassmen.
Zhang Chenxi was used to attending classes for a week to see if they were a waste of time before deciding whether or not to buy the textbook.
After finishing the first week of lectures for *Signals and Systems*, Zhang Chenxi completely abandoned the idea of buying the textbook.
The reason was that the professor had spent two whole classes talking about practical application cases, ranging from flushing toilets to nuclear weapons.
Zhang Chenxi tugged at his hair in despair, wondering if he would still be able to find a secondhand book now that it was the end of the season—oops, the end of the semester. Just then, the shouting of his roommate, Sun Dong, pierced the air.
"Han Xin, what on earth are you doing? Are you out of your mind eating three minion lanes? How are we supposed to beat the enemy?"
Zhang Chenxi peeked over and saw his good roommate—playing Sikong Zhen with a zero-and-three record—being cornered under the first tower by three menacing enemies. With a grand wave of his hand, he snatched the phone away with a hearty laugh and declared:
"It's simple. I'll just carry us."
With that, Zhang Chenxi swept away the depression of not being able to find a textbook, his aura finally uncontained as he slammed his ultimate and his rage skills simultaneously.
The moment he landed, ready to teach the enemy a harsh lesson, the enemy Donghuang abruptly flashed out of the brush and clamped down hard on the airborne red superman.
Three seconds later, the score was zero to four, and the system issued a warning to mind his gaming behavior.
After a full three seconds of silence, Zhang Chenxi tossed the phone back to Sun Dong at the speed of light and bolted out the door, leaving Sun Dong's furious roar echoing behind him:
"Don't even think about coming back through this door tonight!"
Zhang Chenxi didn't take it to heart as he walked toward the library to see if they had a copy of the *Signals and Systems* textbook.
After browsing around, every version he found was different from the one the professor used in class.
With no other options left, he had no choice but to post his request on the almighty secondhand chat group.
If he still couldn't find one, Zhang Chenxi decided he would just borrow his dear roommate's book and pull an all-nighter to study.
Of course, there was no way he would actually buy a new one. A textbook as thick as two bricks cost a whole seventy yuan—wasn't that practically killing him?
Although he wrote novels on the side and ran a small Douyin account that barely brought in a bit of pocket money, the thought of throwing seventy yuan down the drain right after the exam still made his heart ache.
***
In the library.
A tall girl in a white dress sat gracefully at a study desk.
Sunlight filtered through the floor-to-ceiling glass, casting a glow on her face and igniting a brilliance in eyes that could make a sky full of stars dim by comparison.
Her lips pressed together slightly as she lowered her pen, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. The long cyan tassels swayed, gleaming brightly in the sunlight.
The girl possessed a traditional, majestic Chinese beauty, radiating a classical elegance.
The girl opened her phone to check if anyone wanted a skirt she had bought in the wrong size and was trying to sell in the secondhand group. As she scrolled up through the chat history, a familiar avatar caught her eye.
It was a profile picture of a boy and a cat sitting by the sea enjoying the sunrise, the light blue theme giving off a fresh and clean vibe.
The girl let out a soft "oh?", a look of puzzlement crossing her face.
She exited the app and opened Honor of Kings.
Soon, the girl fell into deep thought as she stared at the intimate relationships in Honor of Kings. One side of a level-one couple connection was her, and the other side was...
A light blue profile picture of a boy and a cat sitting by the sea enjoying the sunrise.
The girl stared blankly at the screen.
A coincidence?
She tapped into her supposed boyfriend's game profile, where his few hard-earned titles proudly flashed.
Rank 49 Sikong Zhen in Longcheng City.
Rank 32 Mulan in Longcheng City.
A fellow native of Longcheng?
This casual boyfriend of hers had been randomly matched in the lobby during a game event called "Duet Dance." Since they weren't actual couples, they could only play a very limited number of matches together.
From the beginning of the event to the end, the two of them had only communicated within the game, barely exchanging any extra words.
She tried hard to recall her casual Honor of Kings boyfriend, vaguely remembering that his voice had sounded a bit wise.
At the time, he had first politely asked if she had any heroes she wanted to play. After receiving her negative reply, he had enthusiastically shouted:
"Then let's play Sikong Zhen!"
The girl fell silent, carefully pondering what kind of mechanics Sikong Zhen required. Hearing no response from her, the boy cautiously probed:
"Or should we play Qiao Qiao?"
The girl's thoughts snapped back to the present.
"No, let's just play Sikong Zhen."
Hearing her reply, he had quickly started the match and insta-picked Sikong Zhen.
As two strangers playing together for the first time, they had felt too shy to talk much, so there had been virtually no communication throughout the entire match. But that didn't stop them from running amok and slaughtering the Canyon.
An enemy Arthur, who seemed to have a split personality, had complained:
"Babe, you shouldn't have gone in just now."
"I saw you cast your first skill, so I went in."
"I was trying to run away."
"If you don't say anything, how am I supposed to know you're leaving?"
"Even if I don't say it, you should know! Look at how well the enemy Sikong Zhen couple coordinates."
"Why don't you go join them? I'll play by myself."
Seeing that exchange, the girl couldn't help but curve the corners of her lips into a smile.
Back then, Zhang Chenxi had been rolling around on his bed laughing.
During the event, the two of them had played many matches, mostly communicating with their mics muted, and after the event ended, they had lost touch.
Was it him? Was it the same person?
Feeling somewhat doubtful, the girl tapped on the homepage of that profile picture in the secondhand group, hoping to find some clues in the personal info and birthday.
When she saw that the boy was already a ninety-nine-year-old Puyue Cat living in Edinburgh, the girl was left utterly speechless. So she simply sent a friend request to the boy.
The girl happened to have the book and hadn't sold it yet, mostly because she wasn't particularly strapped for the cash from selling textbooks.
After doing all this, she switched back to the friend list in Honor of Kings and tapped into her casual boyfriend's chat window.
Hesitating for a long time, typing and deleting, she finally managed to squeeze out:
"Are you there?"
(The internet-addicted girl had been traumatized by the anti-addiction health system back in junior and senior high school, so she always used a secondary account to play Honor of Kings, while her primary account was in the secondhand group.)
***
Returning empty-handed, Zhang Chenxi sneaked back into the dorm. After scouting the situation, he discovered that his roommates had all gone out to eat.
After "sincerely" apologizing to Brother Dong and promising to carry him in ranked matches after the exam, Brother Dong finally agreed to bring him back some food.
Bored out of his mind, Zhang Chenxi opened his phone.
[Sending Sorrow to the Bright Moon] sent a QQ friend request.
Game message... [Genie Girl]: "Are you there?"
(Honor of Kings allowed game messages to be synchronized to QQ.)
Zhang Chenxi stared at the two unfamiliar profile pictures, falling into deep thought.