Chen Mo got on a computer after swiping his ID.
Zhuo Yao wasn’t there today, and in her place was a woman who didn’t know Chen Mo.
Chen Mo walked around the internet cafe to discover that almost half of the players were playing Warcraft.
Ever since Warcraft got popular, many internet cafes started having them preinstalled on their computers. The players could log into their accounts using Thunderbolt Game Pass to play against other players.
As there were quite a few players in the internet cafe, Chen Mo settled at a random spot he found.
Chen Mo logged into his Thunderbolt Game Pass after launching Warcraft.
As he was quite busy before, he never truly got to play Warcraft other than a few testing rounds. This was the first time he was playing as a player.
Enter nickname: Silent.
Notice: nickname in use.
Chen Mo scowled and called Su Jinyu.
“Hey Goldfish, could you enter the management portal and check who’s using the ID silent in Warcraft? Yep, change his name. To what? It doesn’t matter. Yes, and give him two hundred RMB as compensation and let them know that that nickname is not allowed. Yeah, right now.”
Chen Mo tried again in five minutes and managed to get his nickname.
Chen Mo first played a custom game, picking random race for himself, and his opponent was an Insane level Undead.
Chen Mo got bored after twenty seven minutes and steamrolled the computer.
Although Insane would be the nightmare of average players, as the designer of the game, Chen Mo knew the plans of the AI in and out. Moreover, his reaction time and hand speed were on par with professional players, combined with high game knowledge, he basically toyed with the Insane bot.
As he hadn’t played for a long time, he decided to play against an Insane bot to get used to the game again.
Chen Mo felt warmed up after the game, and started searching for a real player to play against.
His was considered unranked with a ranking of 0. He would get his ranking after ten matches, then would be matched against players of his caliber.
One, two, three matches.
He crushed all of them. Especially the third one where Chen Mo was paying the Orcs. He destroyed his opponent just using Blademaster and two other units, and his opponent quit the game before hitting the ten minute mark.
“…I feel like a bully.”
It can’t be helped as it was where the newbies hung out. Chen Mo had the skills of a professional player, and had strategies that would best anyone in this world. He even felt ashamed of himself playing against noobs, doing whatever he wanted.
At this time, someone behind Chen Mo said, “Yo, you seem good, wanna play?”
Chen Mo turned around to discover a chubby guy standing behind him. He looked around nineteen and looked quite dopey with his round glasses, looking like a pandaren.
Another nearby guy said, “Fatty, are you challenging others again. Are you going to bully every single one that plays Warcraft here?”
Another guy said, “Yeah, can you believe that a 3000 elo player is bullying noobs?”
Fatty said, “Stop talking, did I ask you? I just watched his guy play two matches, this guy is proper good.”
He introduced himself to Chen Mo, “Greetings, I’m Zou Zhuo
Chen Mo was shocked, “Cho?”[1]
Was this guy a Pandaren in his previous life?
Fatty waved his hand dismissively, “Not Cho, Zou.”
“Ohh, Zou Zhuo.” Chen Mo asked in return, “Do you know me?”
Zou Zhuo was confused, “Do I… know you?”
Chen Mo shook his head, “Don’t worry, I’ll play a round with you.”
Zou Zhuo was shocked by Chen Mo antics, but he hurriedly sat across Chen Mo after managing to find someone worthy to play against.
“I’ll sit across you, no screen peeking,” assured Zou Zhuo.
Chen Mo was sad as a self proclaimed Warcraft god didn’t know who he was. Didn’t you know that the developer of this game was sitting directly across from you?
But now that he thought about it, Chen Mo didn’t have photos of him on his Weibo, and players wouldn’t usually look up what the designers looked like, so it was quite normal for him to not know who Chen Mo was.
“Alright, I’ll create the lobby,” said Zou Zhuo.
Although there was a ranking ladder, it was more common to create private lobbies in internet cafes. Afterall, it wasn’t as fun playing with matchmaking as they couldn’t see one another, it was more exciting to be able to see your opponent.
It didn’t take long before Chen Mo joined the lobby.
Zou Zhuo asked, “Brother, what race do you play? I play undead.”
Chen Mo replied, “Me? I’ll go random.”
“Huh?” Zou Zhuo was shocked, “Random? Don’t you have a main?”
��I usually play blind, don’t worry, let’s go ahead,” replied Chen Mo.
Zou Zhuo was a bit hesitant, “What if I’ll set myself at 80% health?”
Chen Mo laughed, “Don’t worry, we’ll play one round first.”
Zou Zhuo nodded, “Alright, let’s start then.”
The match started.
A few Warcraft players huddled around and started watching.
“Wow, random huh. This guy isn’t giving fatty any respect!”
“Hurry up, it’s starting!”
Their mouses and keyboards were being smashed in as the screen kept flickering.
Buildings were being built quickly, and the peasants were collecting resources, with some sent to scout.
Zou Zhuo was a 3000 elo player afterall. As the game was fairly new and there weren’t many high skilled players, combined with the fact that it was difficult to gain elo, three thousand was fairly high. It wasn’t over the top to be called a god at an internet cafe.
It didn’t take long before one of the Acolytes discovered Chen Mo’s base.
“Orcs, huh.” Zou Zhuo didn’t plan to go easy as it wasn’t easy to play undead against orcs.
After watching for two minutes, the audience discovered that the game was moving at a high pace, and from the micromanagement they could tell they weren’t noobs.
“Blademaster plus two huh, it seems like high ranked players always go for Blademaster first. Playing orcs isn’t easy.”
“But fatty must have prepared his defences, he even has Dust of Appearance ready. He’s quite careful when killing neutrals too.”
“What the, how did he do that? The orc player’s speed is inhuman!”
“It’s alright, fatty is still holding on.”
There were a few small skirmishes at the start, Zou Zhuo was leveling his skills whereas Chen Mo had his Blademaster +2. Chen Mo’s Blademaster would follow Zou Zhuo everywhere, stealing kills and loot whenever he got the chance.
Zou Zhuo had already prepared for this, but he was still put in a difficult situation. He wasn’t like the noobs that would quit the game after being bullied by Chen Mo’s Blademaster, but he was still losing small exchanges here and there.
There were a few players standing behind Chen Mo whispering amongst one another, not wanting Chen Mo and Zou Zhuo to listen in.
“My goodness, I can’t follow his movements at all, what did he do?”
“Blademaster is constantly following fatty. He also has a Shadow Hunter farming on his own. He’s even training units at base. This man’s a pro!”
“Why do I feel that fatty is at a disadvantage?”