ATIBEC Chapter 3

When the phone booted up again, a nurse came over to Shen Er’s bed to remove his IV needle.

Shen Er’s skin was thin, and his blood vessels were delicate. After following the rhythm of the game for a while, the needle left a small bruise on the back of his hand.

He didn’t pay too much attention to it; just a small bruise. Compared to his hands that were once full of injuries, it was insignificant.

“When you go back, don’t press too much on this area. You can apply a cold compress to speed up the healing of the bruise,” the nurse said. “If there’s nothing else, you can rest a bit and then proceed with the discharge.”

Shen Er nodded in thanks and agreed.

The nurse nodded and handed him a bill. “Your friend has already paid for you in advance. Take this bill to the front desk. If there’s any excess payment, you’ll get a refund. Your hypoglycemia is a bit severe, so make sure to rest more and avoid overexertion. Also, don’t skip meals just to save time. You can carry a few candies in your pocket for emergencies.”

“I’ll remember that. Thank you,” Shen Er said, looking at the nurse with a smile as he took the bill.

The amount on the bill wasn’t high, certainly not the “three months’ wages down the drain” as Wang Chenyu had said.

But regardless of the amount, he had to at least repay this money to Wang Chenyu.

Shen Er opened WeChat, glanced at his balance, then opened Alipay. After seeing the meager amount in it, he silently opened the only banking app on his phone and checked his bank account balance.

The good news, he could scrape together just enough to pay the bill.
The bad news, after paying, he would be left with less than 200 yuan.

Shen Er’s mouth twitched.
What kind of life was he living? How could he be so poor?

With a sigh, Shen Er consolidated the money from various apps into WeChat. Awkwardly, he found [Chenyu] in his contacts, and transferred the amount Wang Chenyu had covered for him.

After settling this, Shen Er lifted the blanket, intending to get out of bed and leave the hospital room.

But—

Where am I supposed to go?
Where exactly is the old city area Wang Chenyu mentioned?
His memories were very limited at the moment. If he left the hospital recklessly, there was a good chance he’d end up wandering around outside, waiting for Wang Chenyu to come pick him up.

Shen Er quietly put down his hand, which had been about to lift the blanket.

*Ding* – Shen Er’s phone chimed with a new message.

It was a voice message from Wang Chenyu.

Shen Er opened the voice message and brought the phone to his ear.

The background noise on the other end was somewhat chaotic, with the buzzing of machines and various voices speaking.

“You don’t have to rush to transfer the money to me. Just keep it for yourself for now,” Wang Chenyu’s voice came through.

After listening, Shen Er typed a response.
[Shen Er: I’d rather pay you back first, I don’t like owing money.]

“It’s as if you borrowed too little money from me. Keep it for yourself first. Haven’t you still not sent money to your mom’s hospital this month? If you give it back to me, will you have enough left? I’m different from you; I earn my own money and spend it on myself, I don’t have to live as tightly as you do,” Wang Chenyu’s voice message ended, and he returned the transfer.

With these words, the key to unlocking some memories was turned, and he sporadically recalled some things.

He had been raised by his mother alone since childhood. After the college entrance examination, his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Shen Er was a top student in the township, but his college entrance exam scores were barely enough for an ordinary university. His mother’s sudden illness drained all the family’s savings and left them with debts to various people in the town. In order to afford his mother’s treatment, Shen Er gave up his studies and went to work in the city with Wang Chenyu, who had grown up in the same town.

No matter which game it was, this beginning could be considered hard mode.

Shen Er sighed helplessly.
[Shen Er: Thanks, I’ll pay you back later.]

“Don’t mention it. I’ve got things to do. You rest up,” Wang Chenyu replied.

However, the professional career he experienced in the book would also serve as a powerful weapon for him in this world.

Being transmigrated as a cannon fodder character, who knows, it might actually be a blessings in disguise?

Shen Er smirked, his phone spinning agilely at his fingertips.

The match he just watched was a regular season game of the Spring Split, which meant that the season had just begun. As long as he could perform well this season and attract the attention of the club, he might not be directly scouted by an LPL club, but at least joining an LDL (League of Legends Secondary League) team would be more than achievable.
This was his confidence and his ability.

But before that—
Let’s earn some money first, poor little Shen Er.

Shen Er’s only skill was League of Legends, and if he wanted to make money through this game, there were avenues to explore.

One option was to boost accounts, another was streaming, and then there was also being a companion player.

Boosting wasn’t an option.
Shen Er frowned lightly, and as soon as this thought came to mind, he dismissed it.

According to the rules in the book, boosting fell into a gray area of the industry chain and would undoubtedly pose significant obstacles to his future path, both in-game and in real life.

That left only companion playing and streaming.

After contemplating for a while, Shen Er made his first decision—
Find an internet café first.

He was never one to procrastinate, so once he made up his mind, he got out of bed, took his phone, the bill, and a bag of medicine from the bedside table, and headed downstairs to the payment counter.

There were quite a few people in line at the payment counter. Shen Er stood at the end of the line and slowly moved forward step by step.

“Damn, BTF actually lost?”
“Splendor can’t even carry this mid laner, huh? From start to finish, LeBlanc only got one kill. Then he started feeding Kassadin in creative ways, turning into a walking 300 gold and experience baby, why haven’t they replaced the mid-laner yet?”
“I heard that splendor bought a bottom-tier club and renamed it during the summer split last year. The original mid laner’s contract hadn’t expired then, but man, Splendor really has money, huh? He just buys a club when he wants to compete. Who wouldn’t envy that?”

The voices of two guys standing behind him in line, watching the game on their phones, reached Shen Er’s ears.

Splendor?
Wasn’t that the arrogant Evelynn he had watched back in the hospital room?

Shen Er tilted his head slightly, thinking.

Recalling the short segment he watched, splendor’s mechanics were excellent, and his game sense was spot on. Despite leading in the early game with a kill for each laner and a dragon, they still lost?

But that LeBlanc…

At least if it were him playing, Shen Er wouldn’t choose to play like that.

In the face of a matchup like LeBlanc, an assassin champion, against a scaling champion like Kassadin in the early game, if there’s no opportunity for kills, it’s better not to rely on the lane but instead choose to support other lanes, accelerating the teammates’ growth while picking up some kills along the way.

Still, it showed a lack of awareness.

·

“His lack of awareness really leaves me speechless and flabbergasted. I know this team was bottom-tier before I acquired it. I thought just not changing the mid laner wouldn’t be a big issue, but from last summer split to this spring split, every match of his I review feels like it’s in Gold or Silver tier. I seriously wonder how he even made it to the LPL.” Yan Sheng said as he sat in the meeting room, skillfully twirling a water-based pen between his fingertips. Although his words were sharp, his expression remained relatively calm.

Only two people were in the meeting room, with the door tightly closed. Moonlight spilled in through the blinds, casting a soft glow.

“When you bought this team, didn’t you anticipate this? His contract expires this year anyway. When the time comes, we should reach out to other teams for a new mid-laner.” Yan Sheng’s friend and BTF club manager, Song Ming, leaned back with both hands behind his head, crossing his feet on the table, looking like a dandy. “Our young master Yan is never short of money, right?”

“Cut it out,” Yan Sheng chuckled softly, giving Song Ming’s chair a light kick. “If it were that easy to buy, fine. But now, all those top mid laners are locked down with first-right renewal contracts with their teams. It’s not easy to find a way to buy them. If we bring back another mid laner who’s not up to par, I might as well quit playing and go home.”

“Quit the pro scene to inherit a billion-dollar estate, tsk tsk, what a dream life Yan Shao is living,” Song Ming joked further, “But hey, Sheng’er, besides the current mid laners in the club, there must be other options, right? Like from LDL or streamers?”

“Yeah, we’ll have to scout slowly. Most promising players in LDL are reserves for LPL teams, groomed for their own use, so they’re out of our reach,” Yan Sheng explained, “As for streamers, that’s a slow process too; many are great at entertaining in streams but just freeze up on stage. If they can’t handle pressure, they’re no use.”

Knowing his friend’s perfectionist nature, Song Ming merely nodded and teased, “No worries, Sheng’er. If we really can’t find anyone, next year we can just ditch this team and buy the one that wins the summer split. You’ll be the jungler with your capital, and I’ll be the manager with mine. Our main selling point will be ‘rich and nowhere to spend.'”

Yan Sheng set down his pen, its tip clicking against the solid wood table as he stood and stretched lazily, only smiling without saying a word, seemingly considering the possibility.

“Are we going back together next month for Chinese New Year? I haven’t seen Auntie in a few years since I’ve been abroad. I’ll spend New Year’s Eve with my family this year, and I’ll pick a day on the second or third day of the lunar new year to visit your family.”

“Sure.” Yan Sheng nodded, walked out of the meeting room, and opened the door to the training room.

Surrounding him were League of Legends interfaces or screens waiting for champion selection, with the Mahjong game on the central screen glaringly out of place.

Yan Sheng narrowed his eyes, smirked, and walked behind Zu Jinming, tapping his headphones with his knuckles.

Two crisp knocks.

Zu Jinming, annoyed, took off his headphones and turned around. Upon seeing Yan Sheng’s smiling face, his annoyance instantly morphed into panic: “Yan… Yan Sheng…”

“Keep playing, it’s okay,” Yan Sheng nodded towards his screen, lifting his chin. “When your contract expires, I’ll personally sponsor you to participate in Mahjong tournaments. It won’t delay your chance to shine elsewhere.”

Zu Jinming couldn’t miss the sarcasm in Yan Sheng’s tone.

His initial guilt upon seeing Yan Sheng dissipated instantly when he heard those words.

Yan Sheng practically put the matter of not renewing his contract on the table, and now that he was getting older, pulling off a brilliant play in one game was already quite remarkable. More often than not, there were mistakes and a failure to keep up with the mainstream awareness. When BTF terminated his contract, he would probably retire.
With that in mind, he might as well just relax.
But such thoughts, of course, couldn’t be spoken aloud.

“No, no, I just finished dinner and wanted to relax a bit. I’ll start training now.” Zu Jinming lowered his head, looking like he was ready to mend his ways.

Yan Sheng didn’t respond, pulled out the chair next to him, and pressed the power button.

·

After paying for three hours of internet time at a rate of three yuan, Shen Er walked to the corner with the worst equipment and pressed the power button.

The internet fee here was cheap, but the common problem with cheap internet cafes was poor hygiene and outdated equipment.

The fact that the keyboard was missing a ctrl key was one thing, but its surface was also covered in a layer of cigarette ash, nearly etching the word “dirty” on it.

Shen Er frowned at the cigarette ash on the keyboard, ultimately going to the front desk to buy a pack of tissues.

After carefully wiping away the cigarette ash from the keyboard, Shen Er took out the last two pieces of tissue, unfolded them, one wrapping around the mouse, the other laid over the keyboard.

This was his last bit of stubbornness.

He opened League of Legends, entered his QQ number, and selected the Ionia server for login.

[Welcome]
[What name will you use in the game?]

Before transmigrating into the book, Shen Er had never touched a video game, so it was natural that he didn’t have a character.

The fate of ‘Owl’ had always been a thorn in his heart, if he were to start anew in this world, he wanted to carry the name ‘Owl’ into this new beginning.

With his fingertips resting on the white tissue covering the keyboard, Shen Er inputted the ID he had used for a very long time into the box.
[Owl]

The page transitioned—

[Welcome to League of Legends]

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Author’s Message:

Welcome to watch the comeback journey of our little unlucky guy, Shen Er!

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Thank you for reading! 

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