Chapter 6: The Venture Had Yet to Begin, Yet Funds Were Already Running Short
At the very moment the settlement screen popped up, Su Zhe, who had finally succeeded after multiple failed tribulations, felt no excitement. Instead, it was as if he were simply returning to his dormitory, needing only to gently push the door open.
It all felt so natural!
Yet, he was growing increasingly fond of CSGO; the sensation of continuous improvement was truly addictive.
Without hesitation, Su Zhe pressed on with his ranked ladder journey, eager to see where his current limits lay.
The morning passed swiftly. Su Zhe stood up, stretching his body.
His ladder matches had gone exceptionally well—he had played five games, losing only one, and had been MVP in two of them.
If the afternoon went just as smoothly, he might well reach B+ in one go.
As Su Zhe rubbed his somewhat hollow stomach, preparing to order some braised chicken outside the school, the dorm door suddenly creaked open.
He turned to see "Fat Brother"—a friend who had been missing for a day and a night.
The nickname "Fat Brother" wasn’t due to any protruding belly but because he was muscular from his love of fitness. He didn’t mind the nickname; in his words, calling him fat was actually a recognition of his gym achievements…
Su Zhe found this hard to understand.
Fat Brother, cheeks flushed with vitality, hummed a tune as he approached and teased, “Yo~ isn’t this Senior Go? Climbing the ladder, huh?”
Su Zhe rolled his eyes. Ever since Valorant had launched and become popular domestically, players of the two games had inexplicably become rivals.
CSGO players were dubbed “Senior Go” by Valorant players, while CSGO players in turn called them “Junior Valorant.”
One side mocked the other’s game as cartoonish; the other said Senior Go only admired the “Ink Rock” skins in his inventory, saying, “Do you know the price of the souvenir Dragon Sniper?”
Su Zhe was a bit speechless—everyone should just play what they liked. Why so much disdain?
Suddenly, Su Zhe remembered something and asked, “By the way, Fat Brother, if I want to improve my game sense, movement, and reaction time, what should I do?”
Since he was preparing for a professional career, he needed well-rounded development in skill, knowledge, physical fitness, aesthetics, and diligence.
After finishing his ladder matches, he noticed no increase in his attribute points except in “Positioning” and “Gun Control” during the training phase.
He calculated mentally—if he could exchange one attribute point every three days, in a year he’d only gain around 120 points.
With such a shortage on his stats panel, it was impossible to rely solely on attribute points to reach pro level; he needed to find other ways to improve.
Fat Brother, intrigued by the question, pulled over a chair and sat beside Su Zhe.
He was always fond of lecturing. Earlier, after witnessing Su Zhe and Xiao Guang’s clumsy plays, he had advised them to practice basics and learn about utilities.
But they didn’t take it seriously, insisting that gun skills alone could dominate—that eating well, sleeping well, and maintaining good form would naturally raise their rank.
That had infuriated him, so he hadn’t expected Su Zhe to come asking for advice voluntarily today.
Clearing his throat, Fat Brother teased, “Having trouble climbing ranks? Then today, Junior Valorant will give Senior Go a proper lesson!”
He then addressed Su Zhe’s questions one by one:
“For movement, you should train on dedicated map-running courses, but honestly, that won’t improve your real-game performance much right now.”
“I recommend practicing flick shot challenges first. This will ensure you don’t miss enemy targets in your positioning and simultaneously improve your flick-shot skills—a must-learn for high-rank players.”
“As for game sense… it’s hard to define. I suggest watching demos of high-rank players or pros, analyzing why they make certain plays, then applying that reasoning to your own game.”
“Regarding reaction time, it’s tough to improve since it mainly depends on innate talent, but keeping fit can help a bit…”
At this point, Fat Brother’s face broke into a meaningful smile: “Improving is hard, but maintaining it is easy—just don’t tilt.”
Su Zhe had been listening attentively until that last remark, which left him momentarily speechless—who was he referring to?
Fat Brother went on, “Also, if you’re serious about climbing ranks, I suggest upgrading your computer. That laptop of yours—I used it once before. In matches, your frame rate sometimes dips to thirty or forty FPS. How can you play like that?”
Su Zhe nodded. The gaming laptop was from his brother’s university days years ago and was now nearly obsolete.
It had run CSGO smoothly, but with CS2’s enhanced graphics, the laptop was clearly under strain it wasn’t meant to bear.
Fat Brother digressed, “Why not switch to Valorant with me? That game doesn’t require high specs…”
Su Zhe ignored him, distracted by several ethereal system notification sounds in his ear:
[New Daily Training Tasks Added]
[Complete flick shot challenges on seven active maps (0/1), current progress: 0/7]
[Watch one game demo daily (0/1)]
[Exercise for 30 minutes daily (0/1)]
[…]
[New task: To improve skills and perform spectacular plays, a good device is indispensable. Please upgrade your computer hardware to receive a D-rank reward.]
Just as he was about to nap, someone handed him a pillow!
He had been worried about not having enough rise points daily, and now new tasks appeared.
Compared to that, the added workload was nothing.
As for the computer upgrade task, Su Zhe felt the description was familiar but couldn’t recall where he’d heard it.
He eyed the D-rank reward greedily. Last time, he randomly won the “Chosen One”—what treasure might this time’s prize bring?
Walking outside the school to get lunch, Su Zhe pondered over his balance of 3,123.75 yuan…
…
“Hey, bro… could you lend me some? I’m dating someone at school… don’t worry! I’m not gonna be a simp!”
“Hey, Mom~ how’s your health? I have a girlfriend now~ Yeah~ If you’re free during the holidays, bring her over to visit~ Don’t worry! I won’t waste money! Thanks, Mom!”
“Hey, Dad~ how are you… what? You want to borrow 500? I’m about to class, gotta go…”
“Hey, cousin~ it’s Xiao Zhe!”
During lunch break, Su Zhe made about a dozen calls. Through favors and a bit of charm, his WeChat balance finally surpassed 8,000 yuan.
He had never been one to borrow money before, but for his future, he lowered his pride.
“Ah, no more braised chicken for me… next month it’s instant noodles and scraping together living expenses to pay back…”
Carrying a large sum, Su Zhe first wandered through an internet café. When he learned his funds only covered 0.3 of a graphics card, he left disappointed and turned left toward the computer store.
The staff there greeted him enthusiastically upon hearing his 5,000-yuan budget, even offering advice on opening an internet café.
After choosing a reliable build, Su Zhe went to JD.com to place his order.
With trembling hands, he typed in his payment password—making the largest purchase of his life.
Starting a career without sufficient funds—heartbreaking indeed!