"Want a match?"
Lu Mingfei looked at the message popping up on the screen and couldn't recall when he had added this person.
However, he had never refused an invitation for a challenge, so he immediately accepted.
"Alright."
Lu Mingfei replied nonchalantly.
He had taken the computer from Lu Mingze, and the mouse was still plugged in. Thinking about the interview the day after tomorrow, he subconsciously picked up the mouse and started the game.
By the time he reacted, he had already deployed the "Three-Carriage" combination: the Devourer, the Guardian, and the Mammoth.
Holding the mouse and thinking about other things, Lu Mingfei relied entirely on muscle memory to speed up the game. His tier-three base was already upgrading while both sides were fiercely battling in the central open area.
By the time the opponent reacted, his strategic transition was complete.
However, Lu Mingfei hadn't yet pushed his "Three-Carriage" combination to the opponent's base to welcome the dawn of victory.
A line of text popped up at the bottom of the screen.
"I surrender, well played."
Lu Mingfei was stunned.
"I only have three teams of Hydralisks and three teams of Zerglings; I definitely can't beat your Three-Carriage," the opponent typed next.
His left hand left the keyboard as he looked at the "GG" the opponent typed.
Lu Mingfei felt a little flustered, worried that if he beat the opponent so badly, they wouldn't want to play with him again.
This had happened to Lu Mingfei a few times, so he later started using the red dot on his keyboard for control.
On one hand, it increased the game's difficulty for himself, and on the other, it was to avoid beating opponents too badly, which would leave him with few gaming friends.
Through this method, he gained a regular gaming partner named "Old Tang."
Logically, Lu Mingfei could have used the same trick tonight to rope in "Nono" as his regular gaming partner, but with his mind divided and using the mouse, he completely forgot about it.
Lu Mingfei exited the game, returned to the QQ interface, and nervously opened the chat window with "Nono."
"Good game, I'll go learn a few more tricks, and we'll play again next time."
This was Nono's message, followed by a grinning emoji, and then she went offline.
For the first time in his life, Lu Mingfei encountered a player who was such a good sport about losing, or perhaps it wasn't just being a good sport; the tone sounded more like she was unwilling to admit defeat.
He sat there in a daze for a while, clicked on Nono's profile, and scrolled the mouse wheel back and forth, but it was blank.
He searched his memory and confirmed that this was his first time playing StarCraft against this person, and she was a girl.
After confirming that the other party wouldn't refuse to play with him because of this, Lu Mingfei's previously gloomy mood improved significantly. He grinned and posted a challenge on the forum.
Perhaps there was more than one way to find a regular gaming partner than just showing weakness?
Lu Mingfei speculated, quickly completing seven or eight matches that night.
Most people cursed Lu Mingfei, accusing him of being a professional player pretending to be a noob to abuse weaker players, but some were willing to add Lu Mingfei as a friend, saying they wanted to play a few more guidance matches once their own gaming skills improved.
Lu Mingfei felt as if a new world had opened up to him, and he couldn't help but whistle.
Lu Mingze, lying on the bed, rolled his eyes at his cousin, turned over, and said impatiently,
"If you're feeling better, hurry up and go to sleep."
The next morning.
Lu Mingfei typed "GG" and exited the game.
The last scene on the screen was twelve human battlecruisers focusing their Yamato Cannons, turning his Hive into a pool of blood.
He had played six matches this morning, and this was the second one he had lost.
The first four matches, he had won barely using the laptop's touchpad, almost getting overrun by the opponent several times.
In the last match, he lasted 22 minutes and 23 seconds using the red dot, an improvement of two minutes from the previous game.
The opponent's micro-management was excellent; he truly couldn't win using the red dot.
In the chat channel, the opponent was triumphant, sharing his victory declaration.
"Humans don't necessarily need to build tanks against Zerg; high-level players don't build tanks. They just mass produce units from the start, a huge wave of Marines mixed with Medics just charges in, attacking and retreating..."
Lu Mingfei could imagine the opponent's beaming face after losing four consecutive matches and then winning two.
Playing StarCraft with Old Tang today, he had slightly adjusted his strategy against the enemy, and unexpectedly, it seemed to have given the opponent a better gaming experience.
Is it like 'suppress first, then elevate'?
Lu Mingfei thought of the idiom he had learned in Chinese class.
He didn't say anything, switching to QQ and nudging Old Tang.
Old Tang had just sent him a message too.
"Brother, your micro-management was pretty good in the first few games. Did your micro-management drop off later because you ran out of stamina?"
"You need to exercise more usually, sometimes playing games also requires a lot of stamina."
With that, the opponent triumphantly sent a blurry photo of a bicep, making it hard to tell if it was from the internet or a selfie.
"Alright."
Lu Mingfei didn't refute the opponent, then asked,
"Old Tang, do you know what questions are usually asked in foreign university interviews?"
"Huh? You got an interview opportunity?" Old Tang's panda avatar kept jumping.
Old Tang lived in New York, America, and was of Chinese descent. Perhaps his surname was Tang, which is why everyone called him Old Tang, but in reality, he wasn't old.
It was just said that Old Tang grew up in New York, so his Chinese wasn't very fluent; typing was fine, but speaking was a bit difficult.
Old Tang was the only person Lu Mingfei could think of who could help, which was why he specifically pulled Old Tang into a game and took the opportunity to ask about foreign interview knowledge.
"Yeah, the interview is tomorrow morning. I've searched online for a long time but haven't found any specific content," Lu Mingfei answered honestly.
"This... interview questions vary by school, so I can't say for sure."
"Just tell me what you're familiar with."
"Didn't I tell you I started working after graduating high school?" Old Tang posted a panda emoji with a twitching mouth on the screen.
"Let's do a video call, I'll coach you on pronunciation."
Lu Mingfei was overjoyed. This was what true loyalty was.
There truly was genuine affection among online friends!
"No problem!"
The video call rang twice with a "doo-doo" before connecting. In the window, a cheerful-looking guy with droopy eyebrows waved, his voice as loud as thunder.
"Hey! Brother!"
Lu Mingfei quickly lowered the volume to avoid being heard by Aunt, saving himself a lecture.
"Brother, you're still so particular even at home?" Old Tang asked curiously, "My place is close to the light rail, so it's quite noisy."
"Ah, I live with my uncle and Aunt," Lu Mingfei whispered.
Time passed minute by minute until Lu Mingze, who was watching TV outside, came in to call Lu Mingfei for dinner and saw Lu Mingfei diligently practicing English, he couldn't help but roll his eyes.
"You've already been rejected, and now you know to practice English."
"Lu Mingfei, come out for dinner!"
"Oh, oh, coming!" Lu Mingfei quickly bid farewell to Old Tang, ended the video call, and sheepishly went out for lunch.
At the dining table.
Aunt, as always, asked Lu Mingze about his grades and whether he needed money at school, completely ignoring Lu Mingfei.
Only his uncle, who also had little family status, quietly nudged Lu Mingfei's arm and pulled out a 50-yuan bill from his pocket.
"Buy a pack of cigarettes on your way back this afternoon. You can spend the rest of the money however you want, go out and have some fun, clear your mind."