As the night deepened, the Internet café grew more lively.
The school was still without power, reportedly until late at night, so Lin Nan's group didn't want to return to their air-conditioner-less dormitory and decided to pull an all-nighter together.
Lin Nan was already tired. When playing games these days, he relied mostly on his residual gaming instincts, but his hands couldn't keep up with the operations. After losing five matches with Chen Yao throughout the day, although Chen Yao hadn't said much, his darkening expression clearly showed his dissatisfaction.
"I'm done playing," Lin Nan immediately tactfully declined the duo queue invitation, stretching as he made excuses for himself. I'm not in good form lately, so I'll stop playing."
"Mm." Chen Yao's competitive spirit towards gaming had decreased considerably—back in middle school, he would verbally destroy Lin Nan until he cried.
But even without being competitive, losing several games in a row would still dampen anyone's mood.
"Want to order takeout? What do you want?" Feeling guilty about letting Chen Yao down, Lin Nan offered his phone, "My treat."
"No need, not hungry yet. I'll just have instant noodles when I am."
After ordering takeout, Lin Nan had nothing to do. Without a computer, he'd always thought about playing games, but now, at the internet café, after playing a few matches, he didn't know what to do sitting in front of the computer.
If it were earlier, he could have gone out for a walk, but after finishing the games, it was already past ten at night. More and more people were coming to the café for all-nighters, and if he left his spot now, there probably wouldn't be one available when he returned.
Xiong Da was absorbed in anime, Tu Junhui was engrossed in TV dramas, and Chen Yao started another game. Lin Nan looked left and right, finally realizing he really had no interest in anime or TV dramas.
Sitting there bored, randomly clicking through web pages to browse news or short videos, Lin Nan eventually started feeling drowsy.
The internet café was still noisy, and if he lay down to sleep now, he'd definitely be woken up at some point, so he could only stand up and go to the bathroom to freshen up.
This internet café had a strange problem: the bathroom lighting was very dim, making him feel like he was on a horror movie set every time he went there.
After washing his face at the sink, he turned to enter the men's room, but just as he pushed open the door and stepped in, someone was coming out.
Lin Nan quickly stepped aside, and the person glanced up at him, casually reminding him:
"This is the men's room."
"....."
He froze on the spot, unable to react for a long while.
The person noticed Lin Nan standing there stunned, looked him up and down carefully, and then asked somewhat awkwardly, "You're a guy?"
"Can't you tell?" Lin Nan's mouth twitched.
"The lights are too dim," he explained with an embarrassed smile. I glanced quickly and didn't notice your hair."
Meaning... his face looked like a woman's?
Lin Nan unconsciously touched his face. In the past, he might have let it go, but now he couldn't stand people saying he looked like a woman or calling him feminine. He couldn't help but challenge angrily: "Are you blind?"
"You..." the stranger, caught between laughter and exasperation, said helplessly, "The lights are too dim. I didn't notice your hair and made a mistake by accident. What's the problem?"
"How do I look like a woman?!" Lin Nan aggressively stepped forward, but looking up, he found he had only reached the person's chin. His imposing manner and anger immediately deflated, and he quickly lowered his head to escape. "No time for this..."
The stranger raised an eyebrow, watching with interest as Lin Nan turned and ran into the bathroom.
This guy, how did he seem more and more like a woman the more they talked? Especially that submissive expression, looking pitiful like a young wife.
What was even more incomprehensible was that even knowing he was male, there was nothing jarring about any of his feminine movements.
He simply leaned his shoulder against the wall, standing outside the door, teasing Lin Nan inside: "Brother, what's your name? Which school are you from?"
"..."
"Oh, how should I call you? Brother? Big brother? Bra-ther?" (TN: The words sound similar in Chinese.)
"Would you stop!" Lin Nan finished his business and pulled open the door, glaring angrily at him, "What's wrong with you!"
"Nothing."
This puffed-up anger was just like a teased cat.
"Ocean University, Lin Nan."
"Hey, we're schoolmates!"
"Tch..." Lin Nan couldn't help but roll his eyes at him, turning to walk back to his seat.
The person watched Lin Nan sit down in the center of the hall, stood on tiptoes to look again, and suddenly became overjoyed and hurriedly ran over. Lin Nan, who had just sat down, heard footsteps and looked up to see this guy standing beside him. He took a deep breath, preparing to unleash his toxic gaming persona.
"Oh! Chen Yao, you're at the internet café too?"
Lin Nan, who was about to stand up to deal with the trouble, immediately froze, pretended nothing had happened and looked at his computer.
"Dong An? Your building lost power, too?" Chen Yao glanced up at his computer's grey screen and immediately recognized the newcomer.
"The whole school lost power. They say they're repairing circuits." Dong An casually sat in the empty seat next to Chen Yao, smiling. "Want to team up?"
Chen Yao nodded, turning to introduce him to Lin Nan: "This is the guy who used to play with us, that mid-laner with the toxic mouth."
Lin Nan remembered this senior who often played with them without much effort, his expression growing stiffer: "The junior year student you mentioned, the one who plays basketball with you, ID 'Left Hand Slightly Tired?"
"Yeah, that's him. Who else would choose such a perverted name."
Perverted?
Dong An finally understood, looking at Lin Nan's face in surprise: "That female support? Hey, I wondered how a girl could be that good. It turns out you're a guy."
"Who's a girl!" Lin Nan bared his teeth at him, "I've explained this to you many times!"
"Who told you to type like a girl in chat and ask me for a Sona skin."
"You're just as annoying in real life as you are in the game!" Lin Nan's head was about to steam with anger. "It's because you kept calling me a girl. What's wrong with scamming you out of some money?"
He patted his chest, completely righteous: "You hurt my self-esteem by calling me a girl, is there something wrong with compensating me with a Sona skin?!"
Dong An thought about it, and it seemed to make some sense...
"I could call 110 and report you for fraud!"
Originally, this was just a stranger, but now, having transformed into a regular gaming buddy, Lin Nan was no longer intimidated by the height difference, engaging in a five-minute verbal sparring match.
Chen Yao, caught in the middle, couldn't stand the disturbance. After thinking about the situation, he looked at Lin Nan on his left, who had worked himself up into a pressure cooker, and then at the composed Dong An on his right. He felt like helping either side would be wrong.
So he could only put on his headphones, trying hard to block out their voices and focus on the game.
Finally, due to Lin Nan's limited vocabulary from being culturally disadvantaged for a year, he was the first to admit defeat. Still, he shot a fierce glare at Dong An before taking a deep breath, snorting and turning away, refusing to look at him.
"No wonder your ID has 'cat' in it. Your personality really is like a cat's."
"Get lost!"