After Shen Zhifan went back home, his restless heartbeat slammed around in his chest violently.
He tried to think back on his actions and recall if he did anything particularly impolite. After thinking about it for a while, aside from having been a little startled, everything else seemed fine.
Yan Shuo had always worn formal attire when appearing in front of people, so this was the first time Shen Zhifan saw him in pyjamas, with a somewhat languid appearance. With his black nightgown casually draped over him, as well as his drowsy eyes, unexpectedly, there was a particular kind of sensuality…
Shen Zhifan didn’t know why his face was red again.
However, he soon didn’t have the time to daydream about the male god, since a more pressing matter appeared.
“Brother,” Shen Zhirou ran over with small steps, a phone in her hands. She seemed very worried, “The manager of Battlesquad V just called, he said the new season is starting next month and wants you to go back for training next week.”
Shen Zhifan wrung his hands while remaining silent, but his eyebrows were pinched.
“How about…” Shen Zhirou watched her brother’s expression, “How about we just go see a doctor as soon as possible? If nothing can be done, so what if we tell Battlesquad V? This is you getting sick, it isn’t our fault!”
He didn’t know why, but Shen Zhifan seemed to have a subconscious resistance to seeing a doctor. However, they had no choice and couldn’t tarry over this amnesia that seemed to have no cause. After thinking about it, he still booked an appointment with a family doctor.
With that completed, he began to hesitate about whether he should tell the truth to the manager.
“No, let’s not say anything yet,” He shook his head, pulling out the contract that had been signed previously. “If we tell them, this season’s competitions might be cancelled, and instead of expiring in September next year, the contract will continue for another year…I’ll try to recover my memories first.”
However…Shen Zhifan wrinkled his brows. There was always a feeling in his heart of not wanting to show weakness to this manager. He didn’t know if it was because their original relationship was only so-so.
Thinking of this, he went upstairs. Going online, he entered the virtual match-up.
The mech league was extremely popular, and it could be said that it was currently the hottest topic around. Otherwise, Shen Zhifan’s own popularity wouldn’t be this high even though he didn’t do advertisements.
Constructing a mech was very expensive, and it was impossible to attain one out of interest alone. However, the mech league had the two choices of both real and virtual battles. Virtual battles were similar to holographic games as they were easier and quicker to get started and could be done at home. Anyone who had an interest could freely use it.
Of course, the higher-level real mech battles were even more brilliant. Usually, they were occupied by extremely popular battlesquads, with hundreds and thousands of celebrity contestants emerging endlessly.
Each season dredged up a huge sum of money and the most outstanding contestant would be recruited by the empire, with boundless prospects.
Shen Zhifan was temporarily the most impressive contestant.
The reason why his status was ‘temporary’ was that this spotlight was always quick to change. Besides, the way Shen Zhifan was currently, he didn’t know how things would go in the future.
He sighed deeply and decided to start from the beginner stage of the virtual battles.
Even though they were virtual battles, there were still so many modes that Shen Zhifan’s eyes got a little blurry looking at them. They were mainly divided into light mech mode and heavy mech mode. Light mechs were light and thin, but not too light either, although it was known as a mode that was easy to start with. Shen Zhifan quickly clicked into the novice district of light mech mode and in order to stay inconspicuous, he chose the team competition.
The system in Shen Zhifan’s home was naturally the newest of its generation and so the holographic mode quickly activated. His vision darkened and in the next moment, he appeared in a pure white room.
Though this wasn’t the first time Shen Zhifan had tried out holographic games, N-192 had been very backward, and even though it wasn’t hard to get holographic game cabins, that type of design had been very widespread at the time. It was simple and crude, with a lack of realism.
Shen Zhifan was now standing inside the light mech. It seemed to be just a metal skeleton that covered his body. He stretched out his palm; this degree of realism really made him come to terms with the level of his own prosperity.
If it weren’t for this battlesquad V’s pressure, he probably would have been even wealthier.
Soon, two more people entered the room in succession. Since they were teammates, he could see their appearances through the mechs on screen.
Shen Zhifan had chosen novice mode 3v3, there were ten minutes for him to prepare.
“Ai, why are you anonymous?”
Those two players seemed familiar with the game and were probably already veteran players. Since they were shoulder-to-shoulder as well, they were obviously familiar friends. Seeing that Shen Zhifan was anonymous, they felt very curious.
Anonymous cards were extremely expensive, but most people didn’t need to use them anyway. There weren’t many people who would casually go anonymous, but when they did, their ID would be hidden and their appearance would also be based on a randomised template.
Shen Zhifan was still adjusting to the realistic feel: “I’m a newbie, and I’m a bit shy.”
“Newbie?” One of the bearded men was evidently interested. “How new?”
Shen Zhifan was very honest: “I’ve never touched this stuff before.”
He was new, but his account wasn’t very new.
“Since you’re so new, we’ll carry you. Me and Old Beard are veterans,” The other person with the ID “Huang Family’s Great General Manager” was a little blond youth, and seemed quite enthusiastic, “We came to the novice district today to crush some scrubs, hehe.”
His laugh was a little sleazy, but fortunately, these two didn’t have any bad intentions. Shen Zhifan had a pretty good impression of them.
“Our opponent’s match up information has been sent over, tsk,” Huang Family’s Great General Manager shook his head, “Two players with a hundred points, each and every one of them with only so little points, they really are complete noobs.”
The big man called Old Beard also laughed, smiling openly at Shen Zhifan: “We both have more than 1800 points. You can only get such low-level matchups in light mech mode.”
Huang Family’s Great General Manager touched his own blond hair for a bit, and turned to Shen Zhifan as well with a very enthusiastic grin: “Brother, I’m not trying to brag. You should hang around this big brother.”
People who used anonymous cards were all wealthy. Finding a rich person to be their little brother was great.
Shen Zhifan was a little curious: “Where can you see the points?”
“On the panel,” Huang Family’s Great General Manager said casually. There were five minutes left until they started, and the 3v3 was set in a random arena, “How many points do you have, it should be pretty low right? No worries, just follow big brother.“
Shen Zhifan brought up the panel. Seeing the long string of numbers, he silently began to count.
10, 100, 1000, 10000, 100000, 1000000.
“Zero points,” Shen Zhifan said, expression unchanged, “This is my first time.”
“Oh ho, you know the basic rules right?” Huang Family’s Great General Manager shrugged his shoulders, “Let’s send them packing. The battlefield this time is the Metal Storm Zone, one of the simplest maps. We’ll directly go to war with them.”
Shen Zhifan nodded, waiting for the moment the game would start with bated breath.
The Metal Storm Zone made him dispirited, this map was really too realistic. It was hard to escape the memories of the metal storms of all sizes that he’d experienced once upon a time.
Metal storms and sandstorms were completely different from natural disasters. When the metal grains rained down on the mech, it produced dinging sounds, making his scalp go numb.
He took a deep breath, wanting to relax his nerves. After all, his opponents were also rookies. It was just that since his field of vision was too vast and indistinct, not long after he went out, he couldn’t see the figures of his two teammates.
Until he pulled out the panel, wanting to contact them, he heard a series of beeps from the system.
Player “Huang Family’s Great General Manager” has died, player “Huang Family’s Great General Manager” has died.
Shen Zhifan: “…”
Hold on, this seemed a bit different from the agreed-upon ‘crushing scrubs’ at the beginning.
“Fuck!” As soon as the blond youth died he was sent back to the white preparation room, so angry that he let out a stream of insults. Not one was the same.
“Just now, that person with the single digit points is definitely not a newbie! He’s probably used an appearance-changing card, even worse than a name-changing card!”
The beginning had gone smoothly. They had hardly expended any effort to get rid of the two hundred-pointers. Instead, they had been wiped out by the single digit point player.
Old beard was bewildered. Their opponent’s movements were too quick and barely gave them a chance to react.
“With this speed and skill, I reckon it’s a professional contestant, yeah?”
“Why the hell would a professional contestant be in the novice district??” Blondie’s face showed his temper, “We’ve underestimated the enemy! Shit, we’ve only got a completely fresh newbie left on our team, ai, there’s definitely no hope!”
Shen Zhifan was standing in his original spot and hadn’t moved, but when the huge blade edge sliced out from behind him, he moved.
Shen Zhifan hadn’t been wrong. Although he’d lost his memories, his body still remembered; it was something that had been drilled into him through the hundreds and thousands of times he’d experienced it. At this crucial moment, he was basically relying on his body’s involuntary reactions.
After dodging the silent sneak attack, his opponent was evidently surprised, so much so that Shen Zhifan even heard the other yelp.
Shen Zhifan had no time to pay attention to whether or not his opponent was startled, since his body unconsciously made a defensive movement. As if he had predicted what his opponent’s next move would be, he deftly turned and maneuvered behind the other.
His opponent sent out two more attacks but Shen Zhifan emerged unscathed, piquing the other’s interest.
It was at this moment that Shen Zhifan unleashed an attack.
His opponent’s movements froze slightly. The same mechanical blades were unexpectedly more agile in Shen Zhifan’s hands, and what was more terrifying was that his opponent found that Shen Zhifan’s speed was actually faster than his.
Light mechs were lighter and more convenient than heavy mechs, however, the weapons were not inferior. Even though it was a mechanical melee blade, it still had a sharp edge that mechs couldn’t resist. As if he was born knowing his opponent’s fatal point, in a flash of cold light, he appeared in front of the other.
The blade descended, and the result was decided.
The opponent who’d held a ‘toying-with’ attitude had been astonished from the beginning but it was too late for him to take caution. Since he had underestimated the enemy too much, he was cut into two chunks by that mechanical blade.
There was no bloody scene after that whatsoever. He quickly transformed into a flash of white light that faded away.
Shen Zhifan’s vision went black. In the next moment, he’d returned to the white room.
Just as Huang Family’s Great General Manager was comforting the little newbies, he heard the system message.
“Congratulations to the red team’s victory!”
“Ai, it’s nothing, if we lost then we lost, our opponents are just being shameless…wait a second,” Blondie was struck dumb, “Ai, this isn’t right, we’re the red team.”
Big Beard looked at Shen Zhifan as if he were looking at some kind of rare animal: “Bro-brother, you won?”
Shen Zhifan nodded.
“How’d you win?” Blondie asked impatiently, “Did the opponent get disconnected???”
Shen Zhifan raised a hand. In the preparation room, he had no sword, so he could only use his hands as a comparison to his sword and made a chopping motion.
The preparation room fell silent, and Blondie continued asking: “And then??”
Shen Zhifan was a little confused: “And then nothing, it was just a cut.”
Blondie breathed in, his face motionless.
Big Beard let out a sigh.
Shen Zhifan turned his head, pointing at Blondie: “What’s up with him?”
Big Beard was a little depressed: “Probably doubting life.”
…
“Welcome…aiya.”
The owner of the flower shop had just looked up and couldn’t help but gasp in surprise.
Yan Shuo nodded. He was wearing a slim-fit black coat with a double row of buttons, very casual and low-profile. Yet he was still handsome and cold, and people who saw him couldn’t forget him.
“Are you buying flowers?” The owner was still a young lady, and so her heart couldn’t help but jump, “For your girlfriend?”
Yan Shuo paused, as if he’d thought of something. He laughed softly, and it could be counted as an agreement.
The young lady’s heart had already stirred, then was broken into small pieces. She couldn’t help but admire the girl that could melt the handsome iceberg in front of her.
“Then which flowers are you looking for, roses? Roses have always been essential in a bouquet for lovers.”
This time, Yan Shuo didn’t hesitate and immediately pointed at the white bouquet in the corner.
“I want that one.”
The young woman stared blankly, not expecting it.
“Moonlight forget-me-nots?”
She couldn’t help but glance at the handsome man in front of her once more, the meaning of moonlight forget-me-nots in the language of flowers was…unattainable love.
—
Translation note: The beard dude’s name goes between big beard and old beard…just know that he has a beard ok…
Also, for ‘moonlight forget-me-not’, I’m assuming that the author made it up specifically for the occasion lol. The meaning is not quite as simple as my tl, but the chinese (求之不得) literally means ‘seek but fail to get’, but the ‘seek’ can also be tled as ‘beg’ so angsty points +22345 please and thank you.