Chapter 129

Li Daoran felt somewhat unaccustomed to the others' excessive attentiveness, but fortunately, David adjusted the screen shortly after.

Written comments were much more relaxed compared to face-to-face video calls. Most of the remarks Li Daoran saw were playful teasing and a few questions, though the vast majority were words of encouragement and praise.

There were also some specially prepared segments designed for comedic effect, causing Li Daoran to smile from time to time. The meal was consumed at a leisurely, relaxed pace.

Once he had eaten his fill, Li Daoran patted his stomach and said, "I'm stuffed. Why didn't you guys eat more? You just let me eat everything by myself, I'm about to burst."

Natasha picked up a napkin to wipe his mouth, handed him a glass of cool boiled water, and said, "As long as you're full, let's go move around a bit. The proposal over there probably hasn't been finalized yet anyway."

"All right, what kind of activity?" Li Daoran asked.

"Shooting pistols, wanna go?" David said with a lewd smile. It was hardly Li Daoran's fault that his mind instantly wandered into PG-13 territory.

"Uhm, is that really appropriate?" Li Daoran looked around and said.

"Or perhaps, you'd prefer firing heavy artillery?" Natasha flashed a seductive wink and continued.

"???" Li Daoran wore a face full of question marks. They were currently live-streaming; was it really polite for these two to be so blunt?

"Alright, that's enough. You actually are going to shoot pistols and artillery, but don't let these two lead your mind astray. It's a simulated 3D battlefield game specially designed for you, to help you get somewhat accustomed to it in advance. Let's go. We keep making you do physical training, so I suppose the pressure on us has been a bit too high—today, we're just playing games," Hou Liang said after waiting a moment.

Li Daoran let out a sigh of relief, uncertain whether he felt relieved or disappointed. He had genuinely thought they were prepared to take things by force. After all, today's hot pot had included some rather ambiguous ingredients, and remembering Natasha's mention of two alternative plans earlier, he couldn't help but wonder if they had already decided to implement one.

The gaming setup was a stereoscopic holographic simulator from an arcade, complete with 3D glasses. Holding a simulated firearm, Li Daoran picked off enemies in the game one by one. Having not played games in a long time, he felt somewhat clumsy at first, but he quickly picked it up because the shooting sensation was nearly identical to an energy rifle—zero recoil, hit wherever you pointed.

From time to time, they switched to co-op mode, and the five of them took turns playing with Li Daoran. The most formidable among them turned out to be Tahm. While Li Daoran trailed behind mostly uselessly, Tahm soloed the entire level. Often, before Li Daoran even spotted an enemy, Tahm would have already sniped them, and Tahm hardly ever took a hit.

When Li Daoran played by himself, he barely managed to reach the third stage before being riddled with bullets from a barrage of enemy fire.

"Your physical fitness is up to standard, but your reaction time is still not fast enough. Just practice a bit more and you'll be fine," David said, immediately picking off an enemy that had just leaped out from the bushes.

"Fine, I get it, you guys are pros," Li Daoran said, taking off the simulator harness and removing his glasses to set them aside. "How much longer? I'm getting a bit tired."

"No rush, we still need to make some preparations," David said, glancing at his phone.

"Alright, you guys play, I'll sit and rest for a bit." Li Daoran leaned back against the sofa. Sleep was out of the question, but being able to zone out and rest for a moment—truthfully, he hadn't had such a leisurely break in a very long time.

After sitting for a while and seeing that they still hadn't made a move, Li Daoran asked, "Do you have a computer? I want to play a couple of rounds."

David handed him a laptop. Li Daoran took a look and said, "A laptop won't do; it affects my gameplay, and I'm not used to it."

"Tahm," David called out.

Tahm nodded and said, "Give me a moment."

With that, he turned and left, returning shortly after carrying a desk and a desktop computer.

Li Daoran sat down, booted up the computer, and found that there were no games installed at all. So, he went online to download one. A ten-gigabyte game downloaded in half a minute, thanks to a dedicated fiber-optic connection. Li Daoran clicked his tongue in silent amazement. He launched the game, selected a region, and noticed that the game hadn't been updated in a long time and seemed to have very few active players. However, the moment he logged in, the server was instantly crammed to maximum capacity. It was worth noting that he was still live-streaming at that very moment; while people might not normally play this game anymore, since he wanted to play, countless individuals were more than willing to try their luck.

In competitive games, letting someone win defeats the entire purpose. The moment Li Daoran started playing, he realized his identity had been exposed far too obviously. Nine actors accompanied him in a match that quickly devolved into a fan meet-and-greet.

With no other choice, he switched to a different game. Since he wanted to train his reaction speed, he decided to play a battle royale shooter. As it turned out—good grief—this time there were ninety-nine actors, all ninety-nine of them following Li Daoran down during the parachute drop. Li Daoran initially thought they were there to hunt him down, only to discover they were actually ninety-nine bodyguards. Amidst a hail of gunfire, not a single bullet was fired in his direction. Instead, anyone who dared approach him was instantly targeted and neutralized by concentrated fire.

Li Daoran clicked his tongue. Fine, you win.

"Are you done yet, David?" Li Daoran asked once more, finding that being treated like a VIP in matches was starting to feel tedious.

"Almost. Play a few more rounds," David replied.

"What on earth are you guys preparing? Why is it taking so long?" Li Daoran leaned over to peer at David's phone, only to find he couldn't make sense of what they were discussing at all.

"Curious? Want to know?" Natasha asked.

Li Daoran nodded.

"I won't tell you. You'll find out in a bit," David said.

"Hmph." Li Daoran waved his hand dismissively and went back to the computer to bully some virtual opponents.

Another two hours passed, and Li Daoran was starting to feel drowsy when David stood up and said, "Alright, let's go."

Jolted awake, Li Daoran instantly closed the game where his character was standing idle waiting for a chicken dinner by pressing Alt+F4, and stood up.

"Let's go. I'm practically asleep. It's been ages since I relaxed this much. Let's see what kind of mystery you guys have been cooking up."

This time, yet another completely unexpected event occurred. They led Li Daoran to an armored vehicle and departed the base directly. Sitting in the vehicle, Li Daoran asked, "Where are we going?"

Ever since arriving at this base, let alone leaving it, Li Daoran had rarely even stepped outside the villa. He hadn't expected to be heading out today.

They hadn't traveled far before helicopters hovered overhead, accompanied by a formation of more than a dozen armored vehicles leading the way ahead and behind.

A little while later, fighter jets began to patrol the skies above.

Once they hit the highway, not a single civilian car was in sight. Aside from their own convoy, the highway was utterly deserted.

"Your execution efficiency is still top-notch," David gave Hou Liang a thumbs-up. Achieving a scene like this in their own country would be far too difficult.

"It wasn't all that easy either," Hou Liang said, looking out the window and shaking his head.

"Where exactly are we headed?" Li Daoran watched the highway outside the window, feeling a mixture of excitement and puzzlement.