USP Rose

The live stream was boiling over.

“He spoke, he spoke! His voice is so nice! Ah! My ears are pregnant!”

“Holy crap, so handsome!!!”

“666666”

“Awesome, bro! In a 2500-point match, he actually knifed the opponent to death. If I were on the other side, I’d be so ashamed I’d commit suicide on the spot.”

“So satisfying, bro! The little streamer has quite a temper.”

The other two teammates in the match also typed their support after quickly searching for Chinese translations: “Nice bro!”

The opponents said nothing.

Wen Man jumped over, confiscated the knife, then tossed it to Xue Wei.

He pulled out a spray gun and drew a rose around the corpse.

Xue Wei glanced at it, then threw the knife back on the ground.

“What’s wrong, don’t you like it?”

Wen Man suddenly opened his mic.

Xue Wei had just spoken in the game, but he didn’t react.

Four years had passed; his voice had broken and was no longer that of a child.

Perhaps Wen Man couldn’t recognize it either.

A passionate netizen enthusiastically explained: “The M9 Bayonet – Cloud Sky looks good from afar, but close up, the inspection animation is actually average. The streamer has good taste.”

“Indeed, ugly and worthless. I’m willing to help everyone clear their inventory. I’ll take it for 300 yuan.”

“+1, I’ll take it for 100, benefiting society.”

“Have some shame! It’s an eleven-thousand-yuan skin!”

Xue Wei did not reply.

The next round continued.

They were four rounds away from match point.

This round, Xue Wei still didn’t take a gun, using only a short stiletto, plus a few smoke and flash grenades.

Wen Man also only took a Negev this round.

The Negev, favored by casual players for its large bullet capacity, had also not appeared in professional matches for a long time.

This gun had the largest magazine capacity but the slowest movement speed while spraying.

Once it started spraying, it was basically a sitting duck.

“Incredible, God Wen is truly playing a fun match. Last round was a shotgun, this round a Negev. Both are unplayable in pro matches, just playing for kicks.”

“#Pretty Slacking#, quick, prepare the trending search.”

“#Pretty Actor#”

Time started.

Wen Man and Xue Wei, each with a short stiletto, entered the competition area one after another.

This time, they split up.

Wen Man was the first to spot an enemy.

He asked: “Brother, are you that talkative guy?”

During the game, IDs are not visible until killed, or unless the character itself has very prominent attire.

The opponent’s voice was filled with fear: “no, no.”

“Alright, brother.” Wen Man raised the Negev.

The first five shots of this gun’s trajectory are random, but in his hands, it was strangely precise and stable.

The opponent was shot dead before even seeing him.

Wen Man looked up at the panel.

Almost simultaneously, Xue Wei, on the other side, killed two with a grenade.

They both, by unspoken agreement, first let go of [Zhinese].

[Zhinese] suddenly realized his teammates had disappeared, leaving only him.

Xue Wei was about to charge and knife him when Wen Man suddenly said softly on the mic: “Wait a moment, Naonao.”

Xue Wei stopped.

The opponent was aimlessly wandering around, like a headless fly.

A figure flashed past the side building.

He subconsciously fired at that spot but hit nothing.

At the same time, a smoke grenade was suddenly thrown from a strange position on the opposite side.

Almost in the opposite direction.

[Zhinese] rushed in that direction and sprayed a burst of bullets, but still hit nothing.

Wen Man was like a ghost, or rather, a dark mist on the battlefield, elusive and untraceable.

Live stream chat: “Here they come, here they come! This big brother is getting top treatment! God Wen’s ghost playstyle is here!”

“For the uninformed, God Wen’s ghost playstyle: firing from various tricky positions, creating throwables, confusing footsteps. It’s truly a feint, attacking east while pretending to attack west. In the autumn season last year, he used this move to single-handedly stall out the European champion team. Besides him, no one else can execute his playstyle.”

“Holy crap, dying laughing, that really is top-tier treatment, but aren’t they afraid of it being leaked?”

“God Wen’s maneuvers are something you can’t learn even if you know them, and the streamer isn’t even on his perspective.”

[Good luck in the Year of the Horse]

[Click to learn more about the event]

“The streamer is really impressive; first time I’ve seen someone able to coordinate with God Wen!”

[Zhinese] tried to follow the sounds and find people several times, but failed.

His position at point A was riddled with bullet holes from his own spraying.

Just then, Wen Man jumped down from the shadow behind the eaves, gracefully landing in front of him.

[Zhinese] suddenly looked up, instinctively pressing keys to fire.

The air solidified.

Wen Man’s voice held a hint of amusement: “Feeling like something’s missing?”

He disassembled the Negev in his hand, and bullets scattered onto the ground with a clatter.

“Buddy, you’re out of bullets.”

Wen Man drew his knife—a dark claw knife—and poked the opponent a few times: “Come on, let me see what other skins you have.”

The opponent, out of bullets, was forced to switch to his knife for close-quarters combat.

His knife had been confiscated last round, this time he used a common sawtooth claw knife skin.

“Come over, Naonao.” Wen Man said carelessly, “Do you like the one in his hand?”

He casually disassembled the opponent’s knife as well and tossed it to Xue Wei.

Xue Wei still didn’t say anything, but after looking at it, he also threw it on the ground.

Wen Man crouched in front of the corpse, his nonchalant voice sending shivers down one’s spine: “That’s all? Do you have any other skins? Guns are fine too, show them to me.”

The bullet comments were already going wild with laughter: “Wen Man! Be a human being!”

“Not talking? None left?” Wen Man said, “You had a USP in the first round, right, with a skin. Remember to bring it next round.”

In a 0:16 match, sixteen rounds, every subsequent round was like this.

Wen Man and Xue Wei no longer carried any firearms, just a knife and a pile of throwables each, chasing [Zhinese] to demand to see his skins.

The opponent was probably already demoralized; he didn’t change skins or speak again until the match ended.

This round ended, and it was already almost 1:30 AM.

Xue Wei exited the page, seeing Wen Man’s message flash rapidly in the upper right corner.

[CHN.Pretty]: “That’s enough for today. We’ll duo queue again later; it’s time to sleep.”

[CHN.Pretty]: “Sorry I couldn’t help you get back the skin you liked. I’ll send you one.”

[CHN.Pretty]: “GLHF.”

GLHF, the standard closing remark on international servers, usually sent to teammates.

It means: good luck and have fun.

In the Chinese server, it was also translated as: peace and joy.

[System message: Your friend [CHN.Pretty] has gone offline.]

Xue Wei clicked open his mail and found that [CHN.Pretty] had sent him a skin box.

Upon opening it, it was a USP, the skin name called: Rose.

This skin had long been sold out and could now only be found on the black market.

But compared to other limited edition skins, the uniqueness of this skin was that it was Wen Man’s designated FMVP weapon skin from the year before last.

Even if other skins fetched exorbitant prices on the player black market, there was at least a place to sell them.

The USP – Rose, however, was truly priceless and unavailable.

And there was a strange thing about it at the time: Wen Man was famous for his primary T (Terrorist) side playstyle.

For that year’s FMVP skin, everyone expected him to choose a T-side iconic weapon skin, such as an AK-47, or his famous large sniper rifle M28A1, but he didn’t.

The USP is an iconic weapon of the CT (Counter-Terrorist) side.

He barely used it in matches that year.

This matter had always been a mystery.

“Holy crap!! Rose! Given by God Wen himself!! The streamer is unbelievably awesome, what’s his background! So amazing!”

“Holy crap, holy crap, go test the gun quickly! I’ve never seen a real USP – Rose skin. I heard God Wen’s voice line for this skin turned a lot of people gay.”

“What? There’s a God Wen voice line too?”

Xue Wei ignored the audience’s request for him to test the gun on the spot and typed in the stream: “Going offline, going to sleep.”

Then he closed the stream.

There was a commotion in the professional players’ group chat: “He’s not offline yet! I saw him in the regional server rankings.”

Everyone was curious about Xue Wei, but no one dared to make a move.

Coach Alan said: “I’ll add him.”

He was very confident: “I hear them say he’s a lone wolf streamer, but he cooperated quite well when playing with Pretty, huh? This kid clearly admires strength. I’m also one of the top free agents in the world; let me contact him. He’s one of our national youth trainees after all.”

Alan clicked to send a friend request.

Five minutes later, he received a reply.

[System: Your friend request has been declined by [EGT.Now].]

Alan: “?”

He cried out in despair: “I used my main account! CHN.Alan, did he not see it?! Help me! My friend slot is also very valuable, you know!!”

Late at night, in the EGT club, all the training room lights were off.

Xue Wei still sat in front of the computer.

The soft blue light reflected on his pale, beautiful face, illuminating a pair of dark eyes.

He had already gone offline, and the live stream viewers hadn’t seen it.

At this moment, he logged into the character page and pulled up the weapon trial feature.

The cursor moved.

He clicked on [USP – Rose].

A description popped up simultaneously on the page:

USP – Rose, factory new.

FMVP player Pretty’s commemorative skin, featuring a dark gun body and a romantic, creative design, also equipped with a counter function.

You have eliminated 0 enemies with this gun.

It is a gift from someone else, opened by you on X year, X month, X day.

This gun was beautiful.

The suppressor part was designed in the shape of a rose branch.

When fired, there was a chance to trigger Wen Man’s special voice line skin, a soft: “Hi.”

Xue Wei fired a shot at the target on the panel.

The man’s deep voice gently said: “hi.”

Xue Wei fired another shot.

Wen Man said: “hi.”

This voice pierced through smoke and mist, like whispers in a nocturnal dream, the pale yellow moonlight suspended in the deep blue sky.