DOOR

The next day, several posts appeared on the 《Fire》 section.

[New Practice Squad Member Brutally Beats SSQ Ming Xu, Duo Queues with God Wen, Sniper Gameplay Like a Hacker. Does anyone know the background of that new solo king streamer on a certain platform?]

“Passersby know who you’re talking about, but claim not to know. A rookie from youth training?”

“Ah ah, I know who you’re talking about too! I’ve been watching his stream for the past few days; this streamer’s sniping is really satisfying. I’d call him the most entertaining sniper of all time.”

“This streamer doesn’t show his face, his account is new, and he has a very close relationship with the national team. Doesn’t look like a newcomer; could it be someone familiar?”

“Stop speaking in riddles, everyone upstairs. Can someone speak plainly, or I’ll label you as bots.”

“EGT.Now, went from zero to fifteen hundred points in three days, and his win rate is currently 99%.”

“Never heard of them, huh.”

“Dying laughing, Ming Xu didn’t make it into Youth Training Team One, probably abandoned by the investors. See? The investors are creating a new god. 99% win rate, who else but Pretty could achieve that?”

“The last streamer with a 90%+ win rate climbing the ladder was already caught hacking.”

“I’m back after watching the replay. The episode where they brutally beat foreign casual players was satisfying, but honestly, this playstyle is too exaggerated. If he still plays like this in 2000-point matches, then I’m going to report him for hacking, sending an email to the game company. It must be a new type of hack that the anti-cheat system hasn’t detected.”

“Whether it’s hacking or not, that’s another matter; God Wen duo queued with him, huh?”

“God Wen is the national team captain; the practice squad is theoretically under his jurisdiction. He saw a new person in the practice squad and played a few rounds to see. Also, Wen Man gave up the sniper role and used unpopular weapons like the Negev and M1216, clearly not playing seriously, just messing around. I think you guys are really overthinking it.”

These past few days, Xue Wei’s stream’s follower count skyrocketed.

Someone edited his kill highlights and posted them online, which immediately went viral.

The video was titled “The Most Outrageous 《Fire》 Sniper of All Time,” leaning towards a silly/funny style, with a BGM that perfectly hit every half-second, making it incredibly addictive.

“Insane aiming”

“Insane mechanics”

“Tactical wall-collision”

“No skins”

“Gimme that”

At ten in the morning, Xue Wei held a cup of soy milk and opened his computer to stream.

The netizens had long been waiting: “Here he comes, here he comes, the streamer is so slow.”

Xue Wei bit his straw, entered ranked queue, then immediately clicked cancel—as if remembering something, he pulled up his friends list.

It was empty, with only two contacts.

One was CHN.Pretty, the other was Micro.

He had actively added Micro.

That day, the other party said they couldn’t duo queue for now, telling him to wait for them to resolve it.

After that, they hadn’t appeared again, though they did come and drop a few gifts when he was duo queuing with Wen Man.

Micro’s rank score was still the base 500.

Wen Man was offline.

His own rank was the same as Wen Man’s when he was online, both 1600+.

He could gain twenty or thirty points per match now.

He would reach 2000 points tonight.

Once the score difference exceeded 400, they wouldn’t be able to duo queue.

“No ranked matches today,” Xue Wei said.

“How can you not play ranked! What’s so good about normal matches, they’re not competitive enough.”

“Streamer can’t smurf anymore?”

Xue Wei moved the cursor, and [CHN.Pretty]’s offline duration displayed: “The other party has been offline for twenty hours~”

Xue Wei slowly moved his mouse back, clicked on match, and said: “First… I’ll get familiar with the maps.”

《Fire》 had over forty maps in total, more than twenty more than when he used to play, and also added many new architectural terrains and environmental structures.

He had ‘fed’ a few kills yesterday because he was unfamiliar with the maps he matched into.

“So the streamer is a returning veteran player, huh.” Someone in the bullet comments chatted enthusiastically, “Haven’t played the new maps, have you?”

“Mm.” Everyone noticed that Xue Wei seemed to be speaking a bit more today than yesterday, as if bored.

The young man’s clear, cool voice came through, “There used to be only twenty-something maps. I often played Snowfield and Abandoned Mansion.”

“You need to get familiar with maps! First, I recommend the ‘Door’ map! It’s very convenient and also very popular. Streamer, quick, give it a try.”

The viewers in the bullet comments were still enthusiastic, recommending a new map to him.

Xue Wei scrolled down the map list, found Map – Door, clicked queue, and quickly entered the preparation page.

The bullet comments suddenly burst into a wave of “hahahahaha.”

“He’s so obedient, he actually went into this map.”

“Sounds like he has quite a temper, but he’s quite obedient.”

Xue Wei turned his perspective.

On the screen was a very ordinary small town map, with houses neatly arranged, painted brightly with colorful paint, a kaleidoscope of colors.

The match began.

Normal matches, unlike ranked matches, were not best of sixteen out of thirty rounds; normal matches were BO1, one round to decide the winner.

His teammates were clearly all familiar with this map.

They called out positions and discussed tactics, a group of them deciding to push point A.

Bullet comments: “They’re going to A! Lone wolf, quickly go defend B!”

Xue Wei followed his teammates this time.

He didn’t switch to a firearm, but instead held a small curved knife, walking and looking around.

Bullet comments: “The lone wolf followed! The lone wolf is preparing to knife his teammates!”

Point A was quiet.

His teammates searched several possible hiding spots but found no trace of the enemy, so they said: “Let’s go, let’s go, they’re planting the bomb at point B, hurry to point B.”

Xue Wei’s teammates retreated.

Xue Wei walked slowly.

After his teammates had all retreated, he leisurely entered the building at point A.

After wandering around, Xue Wei wanted to catch up with his teammates, but suddenly found he couldn’t get out.

He had gone too deep into point A, entering a confined area where rooms connected to rooms, and corridors connected to corridors.

He finally found a door, but when Xue Wei pressed F to open it, it wouldn’t budge.

The bullet comments exploded with laughter: “Streamer, that’s a fake door! You’re not getting out today.”

“The streamer is too noob, can’t even get out of the DOOR map.”

“Tac-ti-cal-door-opening”

“Tac-ti-cal-getting-lost”

Xue Wei started wandering aimlessly, trying to find an exit, but still hadn’t found one.

Time passed by minute by minute.

Teammates on the other side also noticed something unusual: “Wait a minute, one of our teammates didn’t come over. What’s wrong with him, why is he keeps going in circles?”

“No, that’s not the point. Why is B-site empty too? Where did the enemy Terrorists go?”

Just then, footsteps suddenly came from Xue Wei’s direction—along with the enemy’s open mic.

The enemies who should not have been at point A suddenly appeared.

Their voices grew closer: “Hurry, everyone’s at B-site. Quickly plant the bomb.”

“Drawing the tiger out of the mountain, this win is too smooth.”

“After this match, let’s play ranked. Normal matches are boring, not challenging enough. Tactics can only be played in ranked matches.”

“Damn, your knife looks cool. Let me see it.”

The enemies were Chinese, and they were a party queue.

From their voices, they sounded like high school students playing together during the holidays.

In the game 《Fire》, movement speed is slowest when holding heavy firearms, followed by assault weapons, then light throwables.

The fastest movement speed is when holding a knife.

So many players, including professional players, habitually switch to their knives when moving.

Including the three Terrorist enemies who were just one corner away from Xue Wei at this moment.

The next second, the first Terrorist enemy appeared at the doorway.

When he saw Xue Wei, he was clearly stunned for a moment.

Xue Wei was also stunned for a moment.

He let out a very slight “Hm?”

Xue Wei was holding a MAC-10 submachine gun.

While this enemy only had a small knife in his hand.

Xue Wei raised his gun.

In the live stream footage, his actions also showed some hesitation, as if the surprise was a bit unexpected.

Rat-tat-tat.

[EGT.Now] used MAC-10 to kill [Guokao Bisheng@]

The other two teammates also appeared successively.

Rat-tat-tat. Rat-tat-tat.

[EGT.Now] used MAC-10 to kill [Wo Shi Ni De Xiao Tiantian]

[EGT.Now] used MAC-10 to kill [Yinwei Tai Shuai Bei Fakuan]

Enemy player: “?”

“How the f*ck is there a CT police here??? How can a CT be here???” The opponent yelled in despair, his voice trembling, “Didn’t you say you’d draw the tiger out of the mountain! How is there still one left?!!”

Perhaps feeling a little guilty, Xue Wei also opened his mic and kindly explained: “Sorry, I don’t know how to get out; I’m lost.”

Enemy player: “????????”

“In a nearly 2000-point match, you’re telling me you don’t know how to walk??”

Only one enemy Terrorist remained.

Judging by the open mic, his position wasn’t far: “Come out, brother, stop baiting me. Let’s have a decisive battle and end this fight with a gunfight!”

Xue Wei was silent for a moment, then typed: [How do I get out?]

Enemy: “……………………”

The live stream bullet comments were already going wild with laughter; everyone typed: “Idiot, beats, expert.”

“Drawing, tiger, out, of, mountain, strategy.”

“Tiger, got, lost.”

“Can’t open doors.”

“How to get out.”

“You thought he was on a stratospheric level, but he’s actually on -1.”

Xue Wei’s teammates finally arrived, eliminated the enemies outside, and, laughing heartily on the mic, pointed out the location of the real door to Xue Wei.

In this building, there were fifty-six fake doors, and only one could actually open.

Xue Wei finally saw the light of day again.

The bullet comments were already flooded with “hahahahaha.”

“Dumbass streamer, you’re so cute. Followed.”

“Finally saw the lone wolf being punished!”

“Someone, upload the streamer’s empty-shots compilation.”

“Someone, upload the streamer’s death compilation.”

“Quick, look, the lone wolf isn’t talking again, he’s about to get angry, about to get angry.”

“Yo? Streamer, you there? I have a one-yuan business deal to discuss with you.”

User [NOW nianzuo Nao] gifted the streamer a landmine.

[NOW nianzuo Nao]: “Charge!!!”

Xue Wei said: “Thanks.” His voice was a bit cold.

For some reason, he seemed a bit absent-minded all evening.

A shimmering bullet comment floated across the live stream.

[Shenyang Pretty] gifted the streamer three deep-sea torpedoes.

[Shenyang Pretty]: “Hahahahahahahahaha, you’re so bad, Naonao. This series can be updated again. Video link: [Latest 《Fire》 Solo King Now’s hilariously bad plays compilation!]”

The next second, the atmosphere in the live stream froze.

System: [Shenyang Pretty] has been banned by the streamer for thirty days. Speaking is prohibited during this period.

[Shenyang Pretty] had already become his loyal little fan, actively editing many silly/funny short videos these past few days.

Live stream audience: “Why… why bother?”

“Paying to go to jail.”

Xue Wei looked up again; this account sent him another torpedo.

The ID changed to: [I’m sorry, Brother Nao]

[I’m sorry, Brother Nao]: “Brother Nao!! Please unban me, I’ll go edit your highlight plays right now. Everything that happened on DOOR today, I will forever pretend I didn’t see it, sealing it away in my memory.”

[I’m sorry, Brother Nao]: “Begging for release!”

The sound of a cup being picked up came from the mic.

Xue Wei took a sip of water and clicked his mouse to unban the person.

This person quickly changed their ID back to [Shenyang Pretty].

Xue Wei’s cursor tapped the other party’s personal page, his tone utterly cold and ruthless: “Change your ID.”

[Shenyang Pretty]: “How can I do that? I’m your big sugar daddy, streamer. The last person who spoke to me like that has already been permanently buried outside the DOOR map’s entrance…………”

System: [Shenyang Pretty] has been banned by the streamer for one year.

Xue Wei said lazily: “This ID isn’t pleasant. Sounds like a noob.”

“Streamer, you’re even colder today, huh.”

“The streamer is so arrogant.”

“It’s alright.” Xue Wei took another sip of water, and then suddenly saw a golden-badge user enter the live stream.

Immediately after, bullet comments started flying.

“Waaahhh—!”

“The real deal is here! Again!! You can really find a divine dragon in the streamer’s live stream!”

Several lines of text popped up.

[CHN.Pretty]: “What about mine?”

[CHN.Pretty]: “Is my ID pleasant to hear?”

The sound of a water cup being put down came from the live stream.

The once arrogant Xue Wei was now silent.