Chapter 1: Purple

Her eyes gave the timer a glance, her thumb tapping on the spacebar, following the beat of the timer. Little peeks on her top left corner where the minimap is, making sure her teammates are positioned well on the site. She held her breath as soon as the timer reached the 3 second mark.

3…2…1…0

The barriers lift up, she aims down the alley with the loaded sniper in her hand. In a split second, a pixel popped up at the corner of her eyes. Her crosshair immediately flicks to it and she fires her shot.The enemy could not even react to the split second shot across the map. Her finger instantly tapped on her 'V' key, "Enemy down at B long, careful at B short and windows." making sure to inform her teammates the information she acquired.

"Okay." her teammates listen and rotate their positions. She watches as her teammates switch across the map, she crouches and reloads her weapon. Leaning against the boxes, she does a quick peek over her shoulder, making sure there are no enemies pushing her to catch her off guard.

Her eyes glances at the timer again, realizing that the enemy are taking their time to attack. She turned on her mic again " No sign of enemies. They might rotate off to A site, someone stays close at B site just in case they are stalling time. Rest of us position ourselves at A site"

Without hesitation, they follow her instructions. Even though her teammates are strangers, they trust her decisions. Her in-game leader skills shown in the previous rounds have impressed them, helping them win crucial rounds for the match.

She positions herself on the second floor while teammates take the ground. As soon as the timer hit the 30 seconds mark, footsteps could be heard outside of A site. "They are gonna do a quick rush, sentinels use your abilities to slow them down. Controllers smoke off the entrance, be alert if they do a reckless push. Play against time, they need to plant the bomb."

"Understood."

"Okay"

Just as predicted, the traps were triggered because they recklessly tried to push onto the site without checking. She takes aim, making sure to take out the supports first.

Bang

One down

Bang

Another one down

" Two enemies down. Surround them. The bomb dropped middle of the entrance, they would need to retrieve it." she pays close attention the bomb.

10 seconds remaining

She smiles as she pull the trigger "So predictable"

The last two enemies ran out in the open like little rats scrambling, knowing they were running out of any options but to kill. Her teammates were already prepared for it, so they sprayed their guns at them.

VICTORY

She let out a sigh of relief, the match was intense.The enemy team was good but there were a lot of mistakes made. She toggles her mic one last time " Good job guys. Good game."

Taking off her headphones, she leans back on her chair to give her back a rest. A feeling of relief in her back muscles as she relaxes her shoulders. The feeling of comfort did not last long when she heard her doorbell, she groaned as she turned to the clock on her desk. She knows who would visit her at this hour. The doorbell rings once more, she drags herself out of her chair towards her door.

"Ahn Zixin, you clearly know the passcode to my door. Stop ringing the bell." she glares at her friend as soon as she opens the door. Ahn Zixin unfazed, seeing her friend greeted her in a messy appearance.

Ahn Zixin smiles and raise up the cup of juice in her hand " I brought you some juice and food for dinner", without waiting for a response, she welcomed herself in. "Wang Chaihong, you probably been sitting on that chair for 10 hours now, you need some exercise."

Wang Chaihong plops herself down on the beanbag, she stuck her tongue out " Stop nagging at me like a mother."

"If I don't, who will? You have no regards about your health at all" shaking her head at the sight of Wang Chaihong's room. Empty pizza boxes on the floor, soda cans stacked on her desk and other unhealthy food cluttered around.

Wang Chaihong sighs and let her body sink further into the beanbag, she hates being nagged at but Ahn Zixin was not wrong. She has not been taking care of her healthy, she could feel it herself. If Wang Chaihong is told to run 100 metres right now, she would be out of breath.

"I will clean them up in the morning." she groans.

Ahn Zixin hands her, her favorite watermelon juice that she bought on the way here and sits down next to her " So how many games have you won today?"

Wang Chaihong turns her head towards her monitor on the desk " 13 games win streak today. I am in top 20 on the leaderboard right now"

" Wait, weren't you only top 50 yesterday? You said you were rank 45."

"The game is too easy."

"You shouldn't be arrogant"

" You are not wrong. It's a team game. The teammates I have been getting are high rank players, they know what to do as long they are coordinated."

"Well that's good then." Ahn Zixin sips on her juice, she does not pry much into her best friend's gaming stuff. Ahn Zixin is not a gamer like her best friend, she is not familiar with gaming terms whenever Wang Chaihong explains things to her but she wants to support her in whatever she does.

Just then, Ahn Zixin remembers something.