Genius Chapter 201: Meeting in Real Life

Chapter 201: Meeting in Real Life

Translated by Karai of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Addis

 

Zhou Ke was laughing to himself and, feeling a bit unsure, asked, “B-Brother?”

Su Mo didn’t tease him any longer and extended his hand. “Momo, Su Mo.”

Zhou Ke was speechless. He turned to the side and asked, “So this is… Brother Wanderer!?”

Yu Zhen nodded in greeting and introduced himself, saying, “Hello, Yu Zhen.”

“ScarletFruit… Zhou Ke,” Zhou Ke said. He had been unsure at first, but when he heard their introductions, he felt embarrassed and wanted to dig a hole to hide in.

If you considered them students, that was true enough. There were about seven or eight universities in the Vicinity of the Capital Planet’s main city, and coincidentally, one of them was the very one he saw every day when he woke up. Capital University was one thing, but this was also the junior brother his sibling often praised to high heavens every time they met.

Did it really have to be this coincidental? Did it really have to be this ridiculous?!

There were so many players in Celestial Horizon; how could the distance be so close to his doorstep??

Zhou Ke ran his fingers through his hair, turned to look at the two people behind him, and his face twitched. “Wait, you guys knew all along!?”

“I just recognized the voice,” Su Mo pointed at the location interface on the terminal. “Now I know, Zhou Ge, hello.”

Zhou Ke was speechless.

“Brother, please spare me!!”

“Help, why is this happening?”

“Can we just call you by your ID!?”

Su Mo asked, “Does this count as dying in the spotlight?”

Zhou Ke replied, “No… it’s me who’s dead.”

After saying that, he asked, “Do you really not have a twin brother or something?”

Su Mo responded, “… No.”

Zhou Ke was utterly heartbroken. “This is just too ridiculous! Is the gaming circle this small?!”

Yu Zhen said, “I guess so.”

“I can’t believe you guys have recognized me this quickly!?”

“Is it really them?”

“I’ll be right there; I’ve found the hovercar path.”

“The crowd makes it so hard to find directions.”

In the terminal, ClearWind was obliviously shouting, his words popping up one after another. After just experiencing his social death, Zhou Ke wished he could leap through the terminal and give him a good beating.

They didn’t linger in place for too long. Just as they were about to look for ClearWind, they spotted a girl in black standing not far behind them. The girl checked her location and actively asked, “Hello, is this the gathering spot for the Get Rich Early group?”

The girl’s voice was slightly different from her voice in the game, but it was still recognizable.

Upon hearing this, Su Mo shifted his gaze to the girl. “ZenSlasher?”

ScarletFruit leaned in closer, confirming the small figure of the girl in black with her hands in her pockets, and exclaimed, “Is that you, ZenSlasher? You look so kawaii!”

ClearWind exclaimed, “What?! You guys even met ZenSlasher?!”

The girl was slightly smaller than her in-game character, with well-defined features and clean, short hair.

“Thank you…” she said, looking at the others. After a brief confirmation, she added, “Hello, I’m ZenSlasher.”

ZenSlasher, whose real name was Lin Ge, was a university student from K District and was around the same age as Su Mo. In reality, her personality was not much different from her in-game persona. Even while walking with them, she maintained a bit of caution. ScarletFruit chatted with her for a bit until she seemed to relax slightly.

ScarletFruit felt awkward but was relieved when he saw ZenSlasher approaching; he walked alongside her, chatting to ease the tension. He suddenly felt grateful that he had been the first to meet momo. If he had been with the others, that would have truly been social death in public.

Fortunately, this awkwardness completely dissipated when they encountered ClearWind. ClearWind, who could hardly believe he was actually lost in this place, finally found the right direction. When he saw them, he walked over without hesitation and greeted them warmly.

“Hi! Is that you, Fruit?”

ScarletFruit replied, “Dude, you call that wearing black clothes?!”

ClearWind laughed and said, “Well, the base layer is black.”

ClearWind had a small face and was very handsome, definitely someone who looked good on camera. His real name was also ‘ClearWind,’ but his full name was Xu Qingfeng.

Among the group, ClearWind’s appearance was the least surprising, especially since he occasionally used his own photo as his avatar. Although he wore black clothes like ScarletFruit, his outfit was flashy with bizarre prints and various small accessories, jingling as he greeted them.

He confidently walked over and patted ScarletFruit on the shoulder.

ScarletFruit exclaimed, “Aren’t you afraid of mistaking someone?!”

ClearWind shrugged and said, “It’s all good. If I get it wrong, I’ll just consider it making a new friend. We’ve traveled a long way to meet; every encounter is fate.”

He continued, “I heard your voice from far away. Your voice is super loud; it’s easy to recognize. If I couldn’t figure it out, I would have wasted my chance to be your brother.”

ScarletFruit was speechless.

“Dude… Brother Wanderer! And ZenSlasher is here too!”

ClearWind glanced around and immediately recognized everyone.

ScarletFruit was speechless.
Only he in the entire Global community could hear momo’s voice and still act foolishly.

Everyone was familiar with ClearWind, a professional livestreamer who traveled all over the place whenever he had time. When the game’s small team met in real life, they could chat endlessly. Thanks to ClearWind’s diversion, ScarletFruit’s recent embarrassment quickly faded away, and he happily started talking to ClearWind about it.

The square was crowded and lively, with excitement everywhere.
They didn’t walk side by side but instead spaced themselves out a bit. Throughout the journey, ClearWind and ScarletFruit had the loudest voices, and even after walking quite a distance, they still turned back to greet the others. The Celestial Horizon offline meetup was taking place in the main area, with most of the events happening in the square in the morning. The official meetup was scheduled for the afternoon, but that didn’t stop them from shopping in the square. The merchandise available was all special limited edition items, and many people were busy browsing and buying. ClearWind mentioned wanting to buy a few items to take back as giveaway gifts for his livestream.

“Being a fan of your livestream must be so lucky,” ScarletFruit said as he looked around. “The quality is decent, but selling this at such a high price is ridiculous; it’s clear that game merchandise is just a money grab.”

ClearWind waved his hand and bought several items. “Really? I think it’s quite cheap. Look, it’s a small robot! The intelligence level is average, but the price is reasonable.”

ScarletFruit couldn’t help but comment, “You bargain for everything in the game, yet you’re so generous in real life?”

ClearWind replied, “Isn’t that what you said? Brothers settle accounts fairly, right, ZenSlasher?”

ZenSlasher added, “Yeah, he did say that.”

ScarletFruit didn’t want to argue with them. He tilted his head and noticed that the people around were all looking at them. “Why does it feel like everyone around us is watching?”

“Of course! Look at our group of handsome guys and beautiful girls!” ClearWind gestured for him to look over to the side. “See that? There’s a hovering camera over there. The forum started a pre-event thread for the meetup, and they’re street shooting in the square.”

ZenSlasher replied, “Is there a handsome guy who would actually say he’s handsome?”

ClearWind said, “Isn’t that me? You’ve got to be confident in yourself.”

ScarletFruit remarked, “Honestly, I think I’m pretty handsome. A lot of students from Capital University have asked me for my contact number. Is my brother and Brother Wanderer also handsome? Why aren’t they looking at us but at other people?”

Yu Zhen paused for a moment. “They’re not bad, I guess.”

Su Mo was speechless.
He had heard his senior brother complain before about how handsome Zhou Ke was, but unfortunately, he had a mouth that wouldn’t stop shouting. It was said that he was more than willing to give his contact number to anyone who asked, and after adding them, he would create a group chat and sell stuff every day.

The group bought some merchandise at the stall. ClearWind bought an entire set, ZenSlasher picked only his own profession, and even ScarletFruit, who was usually frugal, spent money on one.

Su Mo also bought a smart model, and just as he got it in his hands, he suddenly noticed the gaze from beside him. “What’s up?”

“Nothing…” ScarletFruit glanced over after making his purchase and saw Su Mo had chosen four models. He could understand the summoner, array master, and marksman, but the last one…

“Dude, why did you pick a male assassin model?”

ClearWind also leaned in to look.

ZenSlasher looked on with mild curiosity.

Su Mo replied casually, “Isn’t it okay to buy it?”
He wanted to get it for Su Zhi Xing, as his dad really liked assassins.

ScarletFruit said, “Got it. So your main profession really is assassin.”

ClearWind added, “Love runs deep and hatred runs deep; dog blood literature never lies.”

ZenSlasher responded, “Oh.”

Su Mo clarified, “It’s for my family.”

ClearWind and ScarletFruit turned their attention to Yu Zhen.

ScarletFruit asked, “Are they already family?”

ClearWind remarked, “We understand, we understand.”

The group wandered around the stall for a while, and before they knew it, it was already noon. Yu Zhen had made reservations at a restaurant for lunch, located near the exhibition hall. The round trip wouldn’t take long, so they wouldn’t be late for the 1 PM game meetup. The restaurant owner was familiar with Yu Zhen, and during the break while they were being led to their private room, Yu Zhen went out to chat with the owner.

Su Mo was looking at the menu on the electronic board when he noticed two people who seemed hesitant to speak.
ClearWind said, “I thought he looked familiar, but I wasn’t sure, so I searched for him.”
ScarletFruit added, “My little brother was running around with a signed poster a while ago, and I think I heard him mention a name a few times…”
ClearWind laughed a couple of times, “Brother Wanderer looks a bit like the heir of the Firmament Group, haha. I just looked him up, and his name is Yu Zhen. What a coincidence!”
Su Mo responded with an “oh,” saying, “His family indeed deals with load balancers.”
ClearWind exclaimed, “…!”
ScarletFruit said, “No way!”
Seeing the respectful looks from the two, Su Mo couldn’t help but say, “I’m just a student.”
ScarletFruit nodded, “I know. What does it feel like to have a rich heir as a boyfriend?”
ClearWind asked, “Is there any sweet burden when dating a rich heir?”
Su Mo replied, “?”
ScarletFruit continued, “But Brother Wanderer doesn’t seem that way usually…”
ClearWind added, “Is he the type to take everything by force? I read that in novels.”
ZenSlasher commented, “You all are even more gossipy than my best friend.”

Yu Zhen chatted a bit more with his friends. After all, Celestial Horizon was a key project, and after he finished the research and development, he basically handed over the project team’s responsibilities to another manager. The invitation from a collaborator was still in the drawer of his office.

The owner of the restaurant was also someone Yu Zhen had previously had a close relationship with, as he was Yu Zhen’s university classmate. Upon seeing him bring a group of young people for a meal, he gossiped a bit, saying, “I heard you’re in a relationship. Which one is your partner?”
Yu Zhen pointed to Su Mo, “The one in the hat.”
The owner secretly glanced at Su Mo, “He seems quite well-behaved. So you like this type?”
Yu Zhen smiled, but his gaze remained on Su Mo.
Well-behaved? He hadn’t seen him in action while gaming.

Yu Zhen didn’t stay outside for long. When he entered the private room, he happened to overhear the conversation among ScarletFruit and the others. They were discussing the guild gathering in the evening. It was rare for players from all over to come together for a game meeting, so various guilds naturally took the opportunity to host offline gatherings, all scheduled for the night after the meeting ended.

“Isn’t Boss Bitter Melon booking a hotel?” ClearWind said. “I saw discussions in the group about it, and BrokenOracle and CloudTraveller also booked hotels.”
He added, “The big guilds really do things differently. Almost all the nearby hotels have been booked. If it weren’t for Brother Wanderer’s help, I and Sister ZenSlasher probably wouldn’t have been able to get a reservation.”
ZenSlasher nodded, “The hotel at Flying Dome is also full, but they didn’t book the whole venue.”
“Boss Bitter Melon’s guild is having a gathering, and I think the Exploration Group is meeting at Flying Dome, right?” ScarletFruit asked. “Aren’t we going there at 9 o’clock tonight?”

Booking hotels for offline gatherings was one thing, and as the group leader, CloudTraveller also planned to have a small gathering for the players of the Exploration Group. Their meeting location was also in that vicinity, choosing a private restaurant next to the Flying Dome where ClearWind and the others were staying. Earlier, CloudTraveller had registered a list of names in the group for easier arrangements. Su Mo had already received a private message from CloudTraveller about the gathering time and location when he left home that morning.

The five of them chatted very happily during lunch, completely free from any awkwardness of meeting offline, and they continued talking until after 12 o’clock before leaving.

After seeing Su Mo, Yu Zhen noticed that he seemed a bit low on energy. “Are you tired?”

“I’m fine,” Su Mo replied. He had been feeling sleepy lately and had specifically ordered a cup of coffee before leaving.

“I haven’t had coffee in a long time.” Su Mo loved coffee; in the past, Lele even set a rule for him about how many cups he had to drink each week.
However, he hadn’t had any coffee for over a month due to being sick. “This café’s coffee is quite good.”

Yu Zhen asked, “Is it?”

Su Mo brought the coffee in front of him. “Want to try?”

Yu Zhen lowered his head and took a sip directly from the cup. “It’s indeed good, a bit sweet.”

Su Mo paused for a moment. Sweet? He hadn’t added any sugar.

After finishing their meal, they headed to the meeting venue, where the game meeting was already underway.

There were many people, and the entry process wasn’t particularly fast. As they passed through the entrance, the intelligent system quickly recognized the players’ biometric information and assigned them to different areas in the venue through the exhibition hall’s rapid transport passage. The smart exhibition hall could accommodate nearly 100,000 people and was divided into multiple areas through special intelligent planning. Although there were many players attending the meeting, once inside, they didn’t feel crowded at all.

The live broadcast of the meeting also began, allowing players who couldn’t attend in person to enter the StarNet virtual venue using their game ID numbers. They could experience being in a virtual live room as if they were there in person, with avatars moving about, allowing them to keep up with the meeting’s proceedings.

[This venue is great!]
[Celestial Horizon really went all out!]
[There are so many people here! How am I supposed to know who’s who?!]
[It seems like there are a lot of handsome guys and beautiful girls in Celestial Horizon. I saw the street photos from this morning, and the candid shots were stunning!!]
[[Image x10] No need to be polite, let’s check out the handsome guys and beautiful girls.]
[Laughing to death! How come there are mosaics in the candid shots?!]
[They probably used a blurring system; once registered, it gets blocked by the cameras.]

The exploration group was lively all day. Even before the event started, a group of people was urging others in the chat to post their pictures.

• Old Banana: We’re about to meet; posting a picture shouldn’t be that hard, right?

• HealsFor25000: Can you lead by example?

• HealsFor25000: @ReturnToSimplicity, which area are you in? Long time no see.

• Excellent Livestreamer ClearWind: @ChatMasterWu [Image] Is that you among all those mosaics?!

• ChatMasterWu: …fuck, where did you get that photo?!

• Excellent Livestreamer ClearWind: From the forum street photo post!

• FireworksAndLanterns: ChatMasterWu, did you really apply for a blur?

• WhatAHugeWatermelon: No way! Wearing a hat and glasses is better than a mosaic.

• ChatMasterWu: …I didn’t apply for a blur!

• WhatAHugeWatermelon: @All-Server Purchasing Agent ScarletFruit, where are you guys? If you’re close, come over here.

ScarletFruit looked at the group chat and said, “Watermelon is asking where we are.”
Su Mo glanced at the ID indicator and replied, “Area 1235.”
“That’s too far; they’re all in Area 546,” ScarletFruit responded. “They still want to meet up with us, but this place is too inconvenient. It’ll be even harder to meet up.”
Yu Zhen said, “We’ll be able to see each other tonight.”

[Wow, I think I just saw several handsome guys!]
[Is that for real?]
[I heard there are a lot of handsome guys and beautiful girls on the leaderboard!]
[I only care about whether momo is here or not. I’ve been going crazy looking at his posts these past few days!]

Players on StarNet could choose to enter the virtual meet-and-greet like offline players or opt to watch the event from a live-stream perspective. The former had a lot of people, and the latter wasn’t lacking either. The list of attendees for this meet-and-greet included many gaming legends, and numerous players were curious about the true identities of these experts. However, the offline event was divided into too many areas, and there were no displayed IDs.

Players could only know that the legends had arrived on-site, but they had no idea who among the crowd was the one they wanted to see.

The most highly followed figures were undoubtedly the well-known ones, such as CloudTraveller, BrokenOracle, and ReturnToSimplicity. Even before the event started, people were already speculating about their identities. The most outrageous and highly anticipated was the recently trending archdemon, momo.

The forum discussions were incredibly lively. Momo hadn’t logged in for a month, but even with a 15-point gap behind BrokenOracle, he still maintained a 10-point lead, firmly holding onto the top spot.

The attention on the top player was the highest across all of Celestial Horizon. Even if players had no other intentions, mentioning the top spot stirred up a bit of curiosity.

Especially since this time momo was also on the official meet-and-greet list, a player who excelled in all aspects was admired by many on the forum. Some players began to follow his strategies to develop dual-class summoners, while others, enamored by him, started practicing as summoners. There were people analyzing his dungeon strategies and thought processes, and some were studying how to coordinate multiple profession skills based on his commands. In short, even though he didn’t have a forum account, he lived constantly in the public eye.

Many liked him, but there were also those who couldn’t stand him.

With the upcoming game meet-and-greet, speculations about his real appearance increased on the forum. After all, in the game, players had virtual avatars, but in reality, they might look quite different. Long-time fans in ClearWind’s livestream chat learned that momo was a university student through occasional conversations among their small team. However, a small portion of people latched onto this opportunity to claim that momo was lying, insisting that he was actually a middle-aged man who was overweight and calculating, not a student at all.

[I remember there was a time he was online during the day, right? What major has that much free time?]
[It doesn’t matter how he is in reality. Why does that concern you?]
[Well, it doesn’t really concern me, but it’s not right to deceive people, is it? So many people like him.]
[Laughing my ass off, he’s a student, and the people in the livestream figured that out. What he does or who he is in reality doesn’t need to be public knowledge for everyone, right? It’s just a game, not the entertainment industry.]
[FireworksAndLanterns: There are even people claiming he’s underage.]

[Heard that Haitang is a female CEO…]
[I can’t believe it, is that true?]
[It’s okay to be curious, but there’s no need to escalate it to personal attacks and moral coercion.]

The attendees at the offline meet-and-greet were unaware of the various discussions happening on StarNet, and after Su Mo and his group entered the meet-and-greet area, it quickly began. Celestial Horizon’s game meet-and-greet followed a standard procedure, starting on time after players entered, with the main AI leading the information-sharing session. The AI connected to the smart exhibition hall system and began revealing upcoming content updates for the game.

“Celestial Horizon will gradually open quest challenges rated 7 stars and above, and will also introduce new maps in unexplored areas,” the AI announced, providing information about the updates. “In the next quarter, we will implement Capital B-class assessment standards, optimizing the quest challenges within the game and introducing multiplayer formats with limited participants of 50, 100, and more.”

“At the same time, we will offer more attribute materials, pet eggs, and class equipment,” the AI continued. “The same updates will also apply to the chests stored by players, and potential version updates will be synchronized after the meet-and-greet.”

…
“I can’t believe it! Celestial Horizon is raising the difficulty!”
“It’s already hard; aren’t quests rated 7 stars and above going to be even harder??”
“Honestly, it was difficult at first, but after getting used to it, it’s not too bad… It’s terrifying that we’ve actually gotten accustomed to being tormented by it.”
“Right? Our school mentor even suggested we play Celestial Horizon, saying that some of its combat systems are more interesting than real-life assessments.”
“I remember that at the beginning, 5-star quests were really hard; now even simpler 5-star quests can be cleared quickly.”
“It’s no surprise that it’s a game backed by research institutes and substantial capital; they really know how to play this.”
“The AI really digs pits for us every day.”
“If it can make things harder, does it really think we players can’t clear them?”

ClearWind listened to the complaints from nearby and couldn’t help but say quietly, “Actually, I think having more updates to the gameplay would be good. The fun of Celestial Horizon lies in the constant freshness it brings.”

Su Mo was very interested in these updates. He thought that once his body fully recovered, he would be able to experience more features along with other players, and most importantly, his online time wouldn’t be restricted by his physical condition. “Having more updates could be quite interesting,” he said.

“Exactly! With more gameplay options, it’s possible to become a top player based on skill alone,” ScarletFruit replied. “Of course, you need to align yourself with the right people. I remember the tough days when my brother and I were saving up money.”

Yu Zhen asked, “How long ago was that?”
ScarletFruit replied, “A long time ago. We’ve improved our lives now; we’ve achieved pet freedom.”

ZenSlasher chimed in, “Speaking of pets, has momo’s spirit pet egg hatched yet?”
Yu Zhen answered, “Not yet.”

Su Mo suddenly remembered that the pet egg had come from a high-level treasure chest during the World Philosophy Conference. After he got it, he handed it over to Soul Rabbit for incubation. It had been over six months, and there were still no signs of hatching. They had even discussed back then whether it was a dead egg.

However, ScarletFruit insisted that the longer they incubated the egg, the higher the quality of the pet would be. So, when Su Mo planned to throw the pet egg into storage, they encouraged him to hold on to it a little longer. But right now, the egg wasn’t the issue; it had been some time since he had fed his other three spirit pets. He asked, “…Have we been offline for a while? Will they starve?”

ScarletFruit replied, “…How long has it been since you last logged on?”
Yu Zhen answered, “I think it was about a week ago when I logged in to feed them.”
Su Mo said, “Then they should be fine for a week.”
ScarletFruit added, “That’s so sad.”
ClearWind said, “…I’ll send them some food later. If you don’t have time to log on, you can call us to help feed them!”

As they chatted, Yu Zhen suddenly received a call from HealsFor25000. “Yes, 1235 over here. Okay, we’re not far from the entrance.”

Su Mo looked at him curiously and asked, “Little Er?”
“Yeah, they saw Guozi chatting in the group and happened to be nearby, so they said they would come over,” Yu Zhen replied. “CloudTraveller and kawaii are also here; they are coming together.”

As soon as Yu Zhen finished speaking, ScarletFruit and ClearWind were both very excited.
ClearWind exclaimed, “Kawaii has such a beautiful voice! She seems like a really gentle girl!”
ScarletFruit added, “I heard that Little Er is actually a pretty girl in real life!”
Yu Zhen responded, “…Where did you hear that?”
ZenSlasher chimed in, “He speaks with a male voice, though.”
ClearWind remarked, “Gender is a minor issue; there are plenty of guys playing female characters.”
ScarletFruit said, “I asked ChatMasterWu the other day; everyone in Celestial Horizon is curious about what she looks like!”

Su Mo was surprised to hear that HealsFor25000 was a girl. He knew that Yu Zhen and HealsFor25000 used to be friends. “Is she really a girl?” he asked.
Yu Zhen sighed and replied, “Would you believe me if I said CloudTraveller is a girl?”
ClearWind caught onto the phrasing and exclaimed, “What?! CloudTraveller is a girl too?”
Su Mo was stunned.
Yu Zhen was speechless.

Fortunately, the misunderstanding didn’t last long, as three people soon approached the entrance of Zone 1235.
With fewer people in the designated area, one of the newcomers spotted Yu Zhen right away and waved, calling out, “Zhen Ge!”

Hearing the voice, Su Mo saw two men and a woman walking over. The man who lagged behind was refined in appearance, with a gentle demeanor, while the girl beside him wore a long dress and had long hair, looking very gentle as well. In front of them stood a tall man, about six foot three, with a wheat-colored complexion and a muscular build; his arm was as thick as both of Su Mo’s arms combined.

The wheat-colored man walked over and casually draped his arm around Yu Zhen’s shoulders. “I planned to find you yesterday, but CloudTraveller called me to dinner instead.” He greeted the others, saying, “Hello, I’m HealsFor25000.”

ClearWind looked at ScarletFruit and asked, “Is this the pretty girl you were talking about?”
ScarletFruit glanced up at Little Er, then at his robust arms and massive chest. Thinking of how ChatMasterWu had boasted about his big chest in private, she swallowed hard. “…I didn’t expect it to be that kind of big chest.”

HealsFor25000 puffed out his chest proudly. “Jealous? You could have one too if you trained a bit.”
ScarletFruit was speechless.
What the hell was this pretty girl? He was clearly a muscle man!
Standing at six foot three, working out, running a boosting studio, and this mighty guy was actually playing a healer?!

ZenSlasher’s gaze lingered for a moment. “…Maybe it’s a tough guy with a gentle heart?”
ClearWind commented, “The dream girl has split open.”

CloudTraveller and Global’s number one kawaii came over to greet them, and their appearances were as expected. In real life, CloudTraveller worked in medical device development, while kawaii was his childhood friend and currently a researcher at the Capital Planet’s top archaeological research institute.

Su Mo’s curious gaze lingered on kawaii for a moment.
The top archaeological research institute was in the same organization as his parents.

After CloudTraveller introduced everyone, his gaze finally landed on Su Mo. The boy in front of him appeared somewhat frail and looked even younger than he had imagined. It was hard to believe that this kid, whom he could refer to as a junior, was thriving as a summoner in the game.

Thinking back to how he had been outsmarted by this boy several times in the game, CloudTraveller couldn’t help but feel inclined to befriend him. During their conversation, he learned that Su Mo was studying mechanical forging, which was somewhat related to their medical device development.

As they chatted, they listened to the continuous revelations about the game meet-up.
The revelations lasted for about an hour, and before they knew it, they entered the offline interaction segment; the much-anticipated offline entertainment competition was about to begin. The offline entertainment competition followed a temporary tournament system, reportedly involving various forms of PK drawn randomly from the audience, including 1v1 and 2v2 matches, with each round decided by a single victory. The official provided the loading devices and accounts.

“Wait, aren’t we using our own accounts?” ScarletFruit asked, a bit surprised by the rules.
“No, they use standard accounts. The attributes are created based on official data from various classes,” CloudTraveller explained. “The rule is to randomly draw players from different areas. Initially, they planned to let ranked players compete against ordinary players, but later, for the sake of fun, they decided to go completely random, so all matches will be PK based on random draws.”

When they filled out the registration for the meet-up, the form mentioned the entertainment competition. Players who didn’t want to participate could uncheck the box, ensuring they wouldn’t be randomly selected by the system, thereby respecting the wishes of those who didn’t want to be in the spotlight. However, most players didn’t uncheck it, primarily because this entertainment competition didn’t involve too much exposure; they could easily wear hats, glasses, or other accessories to hide their faces, or simply apply to have their images blurred.

So when the first entertainment match began, two people went up, one of whom was heavily pixelated.

“Wow, someone really applied to have their image blurred?” ClearWind exclaimed, shocked. “This is too ugly.”

“After all, players in Celestial Horizon come from all walks of life, and quite a few really don’t want to show their faces,” HealsFor25000 said, glancing over at Yu Zhen, who appeared indifferent and seemed to have no other thoughts on the matter.

Su Mo looked at the two sides in the center, where they could watch the match from a god’s-eye view.

Just as he was watching intently, he suddenly heard a familiar voice coming from nearby.

“Hey, hey, hey! Is that Su Mo?!” A boy, who seemed to have just entered from the entrance, approached to check if it was really him.

Su Mo turned around and realized it was his classmate, Lance. “Lance, you’re in this area too.”

“Yeah! What a coincidence!” Lance pointed to another spot and said, “I just went out to meet a friend. From a distance, you looked a bit familiar, and it really is you! Are you feeling better? When are you coming back to school?”

Su Mo replied, “Much better. I should be back in about two weeks. Thanks.”

Lance then noticed that there were others beside Su Mo and, assuming he was there with friends, greeted them before saying, “I’m over there with the class monitor. If you have time, come find us to hang out. You all have fun; I won’t disturb you.”

After Lance left, ClearWind asked, “Dude, were you unwell?”

Su Mo replied, “I’m all better now; it’s fine.”

ScarletFruit’s gaze lingered on Su Mo for a moment, and he suddenly remembered something. For a while, his younger brother had often brought it up, but after meeting Su Mo, his behavior had been so natural that he hadn’t recalled it immediately.

Su Mo had an F-class physique and had been in poor health, having been hospitalized several times.

There were too many details related to their meet-up, and he had overlooked a lot.

ScarletFruit remembered that the first time he heard Su Mo’s voice, it also sounded familiar to him. However, his subconscious told him it couldn’t be, largely due to his junior’s health condition. Just two weeks ago, his younger brother had been to the hospital, saying that Su Mo had been sick and hospitalized, causing their lab project to be paused for two weeks.

Now that Su Mo’s classmate had brought it up, he finally connected the dots.

Su Mo looked at ScarletFruit and asked, “What’s wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?”

ScarletFruit hesitated for a moment before quietly saying, “Are you really okay?”

Su Mo was taken aback for a moment, then smiled and replied, “I’m fine; I’ve recovered.”

“Hey, what are you and the big brother whispering about?” ClearWind asked.

ScarletFruit responded, “It’s a man’s topic; you wouldn’t understand.”

The other guys present all turned their attention to ScarletFruit.

Yu Zhen asked, “What topic?”
Su Mo replied, “You can ask him.”
ScarletFruit exclaimed, “…!”

In a short moment, the first match had already ended, and the draw for the second entertainment match was quickly announced. The main scene in the center was flashing various IDs, and when the 2v2 match format appeared, the IDs that followed made the crowd erupt with excitement.

[No way!!]
[The main brain is so thoughtful!!!]
[momo!]
[!!! Is momo actually at the event?!]
[Help! I really want to see!]
[Fuck, is this for real? Did they really draw momo?! I want to see archdemon!!!]

“It really is momo!”
“There’s Apple on the other side!”
“This is interesting; it’s the first match for the leaderboard battle!!”
“Bro! It looks like you’re in the second match!! Check the terminal!” ClearWind glanced over and quickly informed Su Mo, who was still talking to Yu Zhen.

Su Mo only realized that he had been drawn for the second round of the entertainment match when reminded by those around him. He looked at the screen in the center, noticing that his partner had an ID he had never seen before, while one of his opponents was Apple.