Pei Qian handed the computer to the waiter to put away, then sipped his coffee while checking the forums to see players’ general feedback on these two new heroes.

Traveler Bao Xu is really interesting. His rage bar fills up when he moves, so if you want to deal damage, you have to keep moving. It’s perfect for many hyperactive players who frantically click their mouse. And when taking hits, just hold S to be tankier. This kind of hero that perfectly integrates gameplay, story background, and game mechanics is truly innovative!”

“Indeed, other games also have dual-form heroes, but those require players to manually switch. Traveler Bao Xu is also a dual-form hero, but it’s achieved through moving or standing still.”

“Bao Xu who only walks without stopping or only stops without walking are both noobs! Only stopping without walking, taking hits endlessly; only walking without stopping, zero IQ; stop-and-go, steady as an old dog; walk-and-stop, clearly a pro!”

“I think this hero is designed quite comprehensively. Skilled players can build damage items and play as an assassin with stealth backstabs, driving the rhythm of the entire game; noobs can also build defensive items, stand in place taking hits, and still contribute to the team.”

“Isn’t this Ruan hero a product of the designer completely letting loose? I played games this morning, and he was in almost every match, every single match! And without exception, they all fed, E in and never came back out!”

“E with no return?”

“I strongly suspect that the player who designed this hero has a psychological desire for revenge against society!”

“I encountered a Ruan who didn’t manage to use his ultimate once throughout the entire game. And this was even with a Modiste on our team…”

“That’s impossible, isn’t Modiste equipped with a knockup? How could you not use the ultimate even with that? Isn’t that deliberately throwing?”

“Try it yourself and you’ll know. The float time from the knockup is very short. If you’re not paying attention, the time passes, and you can’t press it in time…”

“Damn, if you have poor reflexes, why play Ruan?”

“You don’t know how joyful it is to E with this hero! It’s delightful. Adding circular ink marks to every enemy minion is the truth I’ve been desperately seeking in my life!”

Release That Monkey: “Every time I see this hero, I get angry, especially those who stand motionless in the mid lane, neither properly farming the lane nor roaming to help, just E-ing minions or standing there doing nothing. Are they thinking about how to write their own horse’s epitaph?”

“Nice roast!”

“Learned something new, already set as a quick chat phrase in the game. I suggest the official team add a binding map marker function, allowing me to automatically display this sentence in public chat when I ping question marks!”

…

Looking at players’ evaluations of these two new heroes, Pei Qian couldn’t help but beam with joy.

Who would have thought there’d be such an unexpected gain?

Pei Qian’s original goal was quite simple—he just wanted to create a hero to earn some extra money. He never expected Min Jingchao to misunderstand his intentions, packaging this hero with Ruan Guangjian as the prototype, and even arranging a “best friend” background story for Modiste.

But from the current situation, well done indeed!

Ruan Guangjian probably would never be able to use this hero in ranked matches for the rest of his life—it would be banned 100% of the time.

And in regular casual matches, every time he picked it, he’d be targeted by the opponents and flamed by his teammates. Play it enough times, and he’d go into seclusion!

Pei Qian could hardly wait to play a game with Ruan Guangjian.

Just as he was pondering this, someone pushed open the door.

Pei Qian’s eyes lit up—speak of the devil, Ruan Guangjian had come to buy coffee again!

He promptly seized the opportunity!

Ruan Guangjian spotted Pei Qian immediately: “Oh, Mr. Pei, what a rare guest.”

Pei Qian was speechless. Why always this line always?

I’ve been coming to Slackin’ Internet Café quite frequently lately, okay?

“Your hero is already online. You already know, right? Want to play a game together?” Pei Qian suggested with ulterior motives.

“Ah, really?” Ruan Guangjian was somewhat surprised. “So fast? I’ve been busy painting recently and haven’t been paying attention to this.”

Pei Qian’s heart leaped with joy.

Been painting and not paying attention? That means he hasn’t played a single game, right?

Excellent!

I just love playing games with people who haven’t played a single match!

“Come on, let’s play a game.” Pei Qian and Ruan Guangjian found two empty seats, and the coffee Ruan Guangjian had ordered was delivered by the waiter to the Halo Studio across the street.

While logging into the game, Pei Qian sneaked a peek and found that Ruan Guangjian’s GOG account had very few games played. He was also seriously looking at Wind Ink Master Ruan’s background story and skill descriptions in the hero interface. He was playing for the first time.

As for Pei Qian himself, he planned to play Modiste.

On one hand, it was because they had agreed to play their heroes, but more importantly, Modiste was strong!

When Ruan Guangjian was killed by the opponents to a score of 0-21, happily E-ing minions, while Pei Qian achieved a perfect 8-0-20 score and carried the game, wouldn’t that be the perfect revenge?

Yes, everything is according to plan!

“Come on, come on.” Pei Qian had already sent the team an invitation.

Ruan Guangjian accepted the invitation: “Wait a bit more, I haven’t finished reading the skill data yet.”

Although he had participated in designing the hero’s original artwork and had an early understanding of the hero’s mechanics, he hadn’t delved deeply into the specific mechanics, gameplay, and values of the hero’s skills.

Pei Qian immediately clicked the [Start Matching] button: “It’s fine, you can look while playing in the game, you’ll adapt quickly.”

They were queuing for a casual match. The reason they didn’t choose ranked was mainly because Pei Qian was afraid that the Ruan hero would be banned right away, which would mean they couldn’t play at all.

Entering the champion selection screen, Ruan Guangjian was quick, immediately locking in his hero, while Pei Qian naturally locked in Modiste.

The game hadn’t even started, but their teammates had already sent six dots.

“Another happy Ruan player?”

“Please, can you not play this hero anymore? I just encountered a 0-21 one in the last match, they smashed our heads in!”

“If you want to play a new hero, I suggest switching to Traveler Bao Xu. It’s also the same, running around is very happy, and if you build tank items, you can at least be somewhat useful while taking hits.”

“Switch, please.”

Ruan Guangjian was a bit confused: “Hmm? Why does everyone have such strong opinions about my hero?”

Pei Qian chuckled: “Don’t mind them, just prove yourself with your skills later.”

Ruan Guangjian nodded: “Mm, alright.”

Ruan Guangjian thought Mr. Pei meant he should slap them in the face with his skills later.

But Pei Qian’s true meaning was that he should prove with his skills that everything they said was correct.

The three teammates, seeing that the Ruan hero was locked in with no intention of switching, could only sigh and enter the game.

Just as they entered the game, someone from the opposing team typed in public chat.

“You’re dead meat. Today, the game can be lost, but you must die ten times!”

Pei Qian had long ago hidden the names above heroes’ heads; it was his habit. Seeing player names would reduce immersion and affect his performance.

So, he opened the data panel to find out who exactly had said this.

It was the opponent’s mid laner, the one who would be facing Ruan Guangjian.

Pei Qian secretly rejoiced. Well done!

Today, if you kill Ruan Guangjian ten times, I’ll give you a little red flower!

But then again, that’s quite a lot of resentment.

Two strangers meeting for the first time in a game, and just because the other person used a hero they disliked, they threatened to kill them ten times. What kind of deep grudge was this!

Ruan Guangjian would be targeted for death in this match!

Pei Qian confidently went to the top lane.

The hero Modiste was actually quite versatile, capable of going to any lane, but the top lane was more suitable.

Pei Qian thought that, with Ruan Guangjian in the mid lane attracting hatred, with mid and jungle constantly targeting him, he could happily farm in the top lane, and then come out to save the world during team fights. This script was perfect!

Pei Qian was facing Traveler Bao Xu, which was expected since it was a new hero with a high appearance rate in casual matches.

This guy didn’t seem to like last-hitting minions much either, just hiding in the brush, recovering health, then suddenly running out to slash once, annoying people.

It was somewhat like a reenactment of Tenda Games’ daily scenes.

But Pei Qian wasn’t worried at all because Traveler Bao Xu was countered by Modiste!

You slash me once, I hammer you once, who hurts more when you hit my back is debatable.

And this Traveler Bao Xu seemed to have a great obsession with harassment, not even last-hitting low-health minions, insisting on coming up to slash Modiste once.

Although in GOG, not last-hitting would still yield some gold, last-hitting would provide more.

Pei Qian greatly despised such unprofessional gameplay.

“Watch, soon our minion score will widen the gap. A true expert should pay attention to these details. I last-hit, you didn’t; back and forth, our economic difference will widen…”

“What the hell?!”

Pei Qian was still engaged in a battle of wits with the opposing Bao Xu, seizing the opportunity to last-hit some minions, when unexpectedly, the enemy jungler came to gank the top lane at level 2!

Bao Xu directly flashed behind Modiste with full rage bar and pushed him back, combined with the jungler’s output, even though Modiste was tanky, he couldn’t possibly withstand it. First Blood was born.

Of course, in GOG, “jungler” and “support” were called “roamer” and “commander,” respectively. The names were different, but the roles remained the same.

However, due to personal habit, Pei Qian still preferred to use the term jungler.

Pei Qian: “…”

Brother, the script is wrong, isn’t it?

Ganking top at level 2, what kind of grudge is this?

Shouldn’t you go to the mid lane to target that happy Ruan player?

Didn’t you just say you wanted to kill him ten times?

But thinking about it, the one who had made the threat earlier seemed to be the opposing mid laner, not the jungler.

That’s fine then.

It seems it was just him not being careful enough, having been away from the game for too long, and being a bit rusty.

He decided to quietly build defensive items, then push the minion wave closer to his tower, staying closer to the tower, farming safely, and waiting to carry during mid-game team fights.

Seeing Modiste hiding under the tower, Bao Xu seemed very anxious, starting to run around wildly, with his rage bar constantly full.

But there was nothing he could do. Even with the jungler, they couldn’t possibly dive the tower to kill a Modiste.

Pei Qian couldn’t help but feel smug. Hmph, I’m under the tower, what can you do to me?