Unexpected (GL) - Chapter 15

Qin Ning stayed with Xie Jing the whole morning. They only returned to the dorm after Xie Jing finished her IV drip. After this allergy scare, Xie Jing didn’t dare eat random things anymore. She ordered a simple meal set, ate quickly, and climbed into bed to take a nap.

Two minutes later, Xie Jing threw off the blanket with a blank expression.

“I can’t. I’m too itchy—I can’t fall asleep at all.”

She jumped off the bed and flopped down into a chair, looking utterly hopeless.

“Wanna play a game?” Qin Ning suddenly asked.

Xie Jing raised her right hand helplessly. “My hand’s like this. I’ll mess up if I play dungeons.”

“It’s okay, not Jian Wang 3,” Qin Ning said. “Let’s play Honor of Kings.”

Xie Jing thought it was a great idea. She quickly pulled out her phone and opened Honor of Kings.

As soon as the game started with a “TIMI” sound, Xie Jing was in.

“What’s your username? I’ll add you.”

She moved her chair over next to Qin Ning and leaned over to see her ID.

After adding her as a friend, Xie Jing created a room, pulled Qin Ning in, and immediately hit the queue button—afraid that if she waited even one more second, someone might invite her to play in a
group. She was practically half-disabled right now and couldn’t carry anyone—she’d only drag them down.

Neither of them played Honor of Kings often, so their ranks were low. In the Platinum tier, they didn’t even have hero banning rights. The teammates were all over the place: two marksmen, two mages,
and one jungler.

Xie Jing picked Diao Chan and went top lane. Qin Ning chose Luna and jungled.

The match had barely started when the bottom lane was already arguing. Two players were fighting over one minion wave. If a marksman doesn’t develop well early on, it’s hard to carry late game.

After exchanging a few insults about each other’s families, one marksman rage quit and went AFK.

“Looks like I made the right call playing this game. There are people who are worse than me,” Xie Jing said as she controlled Diao Chan to dodge back and forth, chatting with Qin Ning.

“Platinum tier. We can win even without him,” Qin Ning said calmly.

Xie Jing glanced at her in surprise. She didn’t expect Qin Ning to be this confident.

Her competitive side kicked in, and she typed in team chat,
“Yeah, four players it is. Once I get strong, I’ll carry you all.”

Just as she was about to check the battle stats, the kill announcement sounded:

[First Bl00d]

Xie Jing looked at Qin Ning and instinctively praised her,

“Wow, that was fast. First kill already?”

[Double Kill]

“Huh?” Xie Jing stared at Luna—who had just killed both bottom-laners and was still full health—in shock.

Seriously? How was Qin Ning so good at every game? Was that even fair?

“Just lucky,” Qin Ning replied calmly.

Xie Jing muttered to herself, “Lucky, my foot…” How come she never had that kind of luck?

“The enemy jungler’s coming top to gank you. Hide under your tower. I’ll flank from behind,” Qin Ning said as she controlled Luna in the Zixia Fairy skin, heading top.

“Oh… okay.”

As soon as Xie Jing finished speaking, the enemy jungler jumped onto her. She used her second skill to create distance, then used her ult right under her feet to quickly cast her first skill.

Her first skill hit both enemies. Thanks to her ult boost, her second skill’s cooldown refreshed, and she instantly cast it again with incredible speed. The after-delay from the first skill was
almost completely canceled.

Her health was almost gone, but she still had plenty of mana. She half-retreated under the tower. The two enemies tried to dive for the kill, unwilling to back off.

Xie Jing danced around with fancy footwork, landing her skills again. Just then, Qin Ning’s Luna arrived. Xie Jing smiled when she saw the glowing moon icon above the two enemy champions.

Now!

Her ult exploded, and petals bloomed over both enemy heads.

True damage—boom.

[You have slain the enemy]

[Double Kill]

Qin Ning didn’t hesitate to praise her,

“Nice one.”

“Hehe, just lucky,” Xie Jing giggled as she sneakily beat up a river crab and opened the shop to buy a Holy Grail.

The enemy team didn’t have any tanks—just squishy mages, assassins, and marksmen. Both Xie Jing and Qin Ning developed steadily in the early game and had taken a couple kills each. Their
coordination was smooth, and they kept gaining momentum. With their gold lead, they were basically unstoppable by late game.

Qin Ning’s Luna could dash into the enemy’s five-man team and come out completely unscathed. Xie Jing’s scalp tingled just watching her.

To fulfill her promise to “carry the team,” Xie Jing focused with everything she had and followed her personal 12-word tactic: If the enemy advances, I retreat; if they flee, I chase; if they tire,
I harass.

The game dragged on for about 20 minutes. Suddenly, the enemy base crystal exploded.

Xie Jing was still in the middle of a team fight and hadn’t noticed Qin Ning had already taken Luna up the high ground.

[Victory]

They won. The results screen popped up, and of course, Qin Ning got MVP with a score of 13.8.

“Let’s play another!” Xie Jing excitedly tapped the match button.

Qin Ning glanced at Xie Jing, then looked at her arm for a few seconds. Seeing no issues, she looked away.

Xie Jing had completely forgotten how itchy she’d been. She was totally absorbed in the game, her attention locked onto the screen. The whole afternoon, she didn’t feel itchy at all.

“Ugh… I hit the anti-addiction limit.”

Xie Jing stared bitterly at the “Ranked Mode Locked” notice.

She couldn’t believe it—she was already in college, and she still couldn’t play freely. Wasn’t today the weekend? What was the point of weekends if she couldn’t game?

“Want to use my account?” Qin Ning asked.

“No need. I’ll be an adult next Friday.” Xie Jing said with a heavy sigh, “I’ve decided—I’m going to play games all day on my birthday to celebrate being free from the anti-addiction system.”

Qin Ning’s fingers tightened slightly around her phone.

“Mm, I’ll play with you,” she said.

“Qin Ning, you’re the best.” Xie Jing leaned close, rubbing against her. “Being your roommate is the luck of eight lifetimes.”

Qin Ning was all smiles at the flattery. She calmed herself and said slowly,

“So you better treasure me.”

“Of course I’ll treasure you.” Xie Jing hooked her arm around Qin Ning’s shoulder with a serious face.

“You’re my bestie!”

Qin Ning opened her mouth to speak, stopped, then tried again. In the end, she stayed silent.

Eighteen—it was an important age.

Xie Jing decided that once she became an adult, she’d confess to Shen Xinghe. Whether he liked her or not, she didn’t want to have any regrets at eighteen.

She picked up her phone and searched on Baidu for what to prepare for a confession.

[What should I prepare to confess to a classmate?]

• Netizen 1: Write a love letter.

• Netizen 2: Give flowers.

• Netizen 3: Shout “I love you” in a crowd.

• Netizen 4: Don’t do what #3 said, that’s super awkward. Find a quiet place and whisper it.

• Netizen 5: Take them out for good food.

• Netizen 6: Pin them against the wall, kiss them, and whisper “I love you.”

• Netizen 7: Help them win ranked games.

• …

Xie Jing scrolled through the answers. Most suggestions seemed pretty good—but the problem was, she didn’t know how to write a love letter!

How do you even write one?

She’d received plenty of love letters over the years, but never wrote one herself. She didn’t even read the ones she got—just returned them untouched.

Maybe she could give flowers?

But flowers came with a card… and that was basically the same as writing a letter.

Confess face to face?

The thought made her ears burn. She was a total coward—she couldn’t even speak clearly in front of Shen Xinghe, let alone confess in person.

Better to write a letter. That way, even if she got rejected, it wouldn’t be too embarrassing.

Xie Jing acted immediately. She left Qin Ning’s side, moved her chair back under the bed, and dug out some colorful paper leftover from her doodling class. She planned to write the letter on it.

Qin Ning noticed and asked,

“Doing homework?”

“No, I’m writing a love letter to Shen Xinghe.” Xie Jing replied as she cut the paper and laid it flat on the desk.

“Oh,” Qin Ning said, glancing over. “Didn’t think you could write a love letter.”

“I can’t, but I can learn,” Xie Jing said as she opened Baidu.

But after a second, she closed it again and muttered,

“No, I can’t just copy someone else. I have to write it myself.”

Qin Ning stayed silent.

Xie Jing focused and started writing:

________________________________________

Shen Xinghe, hello. I’m Xie Jing.

I like you.

You might think this is sudden, but please don’t mind. I don’t mean to disturb you.

I really miss the three years of middle school. Every day we spent together in the game is carved into my memory. I will never forget how you always had my back.

With you there, I never lacked damage reduction. With you there, I never had to worry about whether I could win or needed to run. You’re amazing—more amazing than anyone I’ve ever met. Over time, I
liked you more and more, even through the screen.

You’re careful, serious, and always calm. I don’t know if you remember those days like I do, or remember me like I remember you.

If this letter bothers you, I’m sorry. I’m not asking for a reply. I just wanted to tell you—someone once really liked you. You have the right to know, and the right to handle these feelings however
you want.

Whether you accept my confession or not, I’ll be okay. If you don’t like me, we can still be friends like before and play games together.

But if you do like me too, then… how about meeting me at the school track at 8 p.m. on December 9? I want to say it to you in person.

________________________________________

After finishing, Xie Jing spent five minutes checking for typos. Once she fixed them, she carefully put the card into a matching envelope and wrote her name on it.

“Hey, Qin Ning, how about you write a love letter to your crush too?” she said, waving her pink envelope at her.

“No need,” Qin Ning said, staring at the envelope in Xie Jing’s hand, unable to look away.