DTTM – Chapter 9 : The Summer Camp. What’s it like?

Chapter 8 | 📱 Contents 📱 | Chapter 10

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Translator: Silvery
PR: Decadence

Yu Sheng falls silent.

He really wants to say he didn’t.

Back then, he didn’t think much of it when he said it. It’s all because Black Blouse was way too much of a bother. That’s why he couldn’t refrain from throwing out that one line.

It was just that one line.

“It can’t be – Sheng Gē, you really said it?”

Due to the prolonged silence dragging on over at his end, Duan Lei couldn’t stop the surge of panic for him:

“How did you jinx yourself? Quick! Throw in a word or two to fix things. Maybe it’ll help…”

Yu Sheng doesn’t say a word.

Right now, returning to school for the third-years’ early tuition classes no longer seem like that big a deal. If the first part of what he said turns out to be true, the obstacle he’s about to face may very well be a graver and more plausible problem.

Yu Sheng: “Duan Lei.”

Duan Lei is startled by his sombre tone. His phone-wielding hand instantly shoots up to the air, back going pencil-straight:

“Present.”

Yu Sheng: “I’m leaving my laptop in the dorms. The password’s 147258. Feel free to drop by if you want to play games. Stay away from the Internet Café, and avoid getting a thrashing from your Dad.”

Duan Lei: “……”

He’s scared witless by the way Yu Sheng seems to be entrusting his precious baby to his care. Duan Lei’s grip over his phone is already trembling hopelessly. He stammers through a warbling wail:

“Gē, h-h-how badly did you jinx yourself…?”

Yu Sheng doesn’t reply. His right hand stop over his mouse, and he exhales, long and slow, the hand at the base of his neck massaging two circles.

…For all he knows, he could be wrong.

He only went and wished that bastard well on a whim. Most of the nice things he says do not come true. So long as the first part of his well-wishes does not come true, the later part wouldn’t necessarily come true and become a jinx.

Technically, that could be the case.

Every last ounce of his hope is pinned on Black Blouse in an instant. It all boils down whether he is indeed a loving and adorable fellow front-liner in the slackers’ war on education.

Yu Sheng considers how long the other took to finish his exam and is certain he must be a fellow slacker. His heart which was on the edge instantly loosens up. Just when he’s about to click down to check his score, Duan Lei’s flabbergasted voice comes over the phone.

“Fuck – Sheng Gē, I just saw it.”

He must be calling while scouring through the forums because the clicking of his mouse can be heard over the phone. Beside himself with shock, Duan Lei says:

“It’s someone who shared the same exam hall as God Kun. They said he answered all the questions within one morning – Is this for real? That Big Bro who squeezed God Kun out of his throne, is he really human? Just who have I been undertaking tertiary education with…?”

The mouse in Yu Sheng’s grip halts.

Within one morning.

God Kun.

Presenting-a-beautiful-jade-ring-and-whatnot–Kun.

The gears in his mind which have grinded to a halt after that afternoon nap gradually begin to turn again. The feeling of wrongness which first came when he introduced himself fleshes out like never before.

His teeth part and they close with a click. 

Yu Sheng jerks his right hand. The little white cursor controlled by the mouse quivers, clicking down on the button to check the score.

……

His silence over on this end drags out for a bit. Duan Lei only notices the lack of sound over on this side after he reaches the end of a page on the forum. He taps the speaker tentatively:

“Sheng Gē – Sheng Gē? Are you still there?”

Three seconds later, Yu Sheng’s voice comes:

“Yes.”

It’s a single curt word. But for some reason, Duan Lei is able to pick up on how tranquil he is, like the waters, utterly and completely indifferent to the world.

He can’t help but shiver. He parts his mouth, and he inquires tentatively:

“Sheng Gē, what rank—”

BANG!

– goes something on the other end of the line. He doesn’t know what it is, but something slammed against the door.

Duan Lei promptly falls mute as a dead chicken. Dropping the topic tactfully with his breath bated, he single-mindedly and carefully pulls the phone away to hang up.

Yu Sheng peers at the screen with a face void of emotion. A bright red can of Wangzai milk rolls back towards him, lolling back and forth before stopping at the stool’s leg.

Yu Sheng slams the laptop close, grabbing his clothes and heading out of the dorms.

Those who toe along the rivers can’t avoid getting wet.

He would never have thought, he would dig himself such a deep hole the first time he jinxes himself.

It’s no different from commiting suicide.

On the way to the fence, Yu Sheng actually considers tearing out his SIM card and hurling it into the rivers.

There’s no one searching for him anyways. Should those guys from the tonnes-of-prefixes-Summer Camp really want to get them to participate, they would most likely do it via phone.

So long as he moves fast enough, those guys won’t be able to get in touch with him.

Yu Sheng hops down from where he has one hand hooked over the top of the fence. Turning the corner into the pedestrian street, he locates an old second-hand mobile shop.

The Owner just so happens to be leaning on the counter and playing his games. Following a casual greeting, he meets his request and hands him a SIM ejector pin without even lifting his head. A list with a scattered bunch of numbers crossed out is turned around and slid over to him without a due.

Yu Sheng picks out a new number and pulls out his ID card and money, handing both items over. Picking up the ejector pin, he extracts his original SIM card.

The new card has some age on it. Under the dim illumination of the lamp, there’s a visible coppery hue to it.

“Did your old card get damaged? Need me to cut it for ya?”

The Owner is quite enthused about the job. He informs him as he preps his new card for him:

“There’re now people who collect this stuff and track down your call history to make scam calls to your family… Seems like they leak out your personal details too. It’s quite dangerous. Best to be wary.”

Pinching the old card between his fingers, Yu Sheng had slid off unknowingly. Hearing the Owner repeat his question, he looks up.

“I’m good.”

With this reply, his fingers curl up and squeeze the extracted SIM card slightly:

“…There’s no need for that.”

Even if there’s a scam call, no one would answer anyways.

The Owner is quite speedy with his work. He’s done not long after and hands the new card to him, pointing at the old card in his hands:

“Need to cancel it? My shop ‘ere can do that for you too.”

Yu Sheng shakes his head, murmuring a word of thanks before putting in the new card into his phone.

There’s a bit of pause when slotting it into the card slot. With another push, that bit of resistance from the card vanishes, and it fits in perfectly with a light click.

Yu Sheng gazes at the card slot with the new card. Unknowingly, he drifts off again.

The owner can’t refrain from gossiping. Ditching his game, he leans forward with his hands still planted on the counter:

“Something your ex left behind in there?”

Yu Sheng lifts his head, scrunching his brows:

“What?”

“So unable to part with it. You must be waiting for someone to call you, aren’t you?”

The Owner has already been operating here in this street for a great many years. He’s seen plenty of young lads and missies whose memories of their youthful loves are stored in these SIM cards. With a demeanour of one who’s gone through it himself, he expresses in a heartfelt manner:

“Try to let it go. What’s over is over. Isn’t it just a call? Does it really kill you to not receive a call from her?”

Yu Sheng stops.

The things the Owner is saying are, of course, poles apart from what he’s thinking. Still, he’s not wrong with what he’s saying either.

He has been waiting for a call for a long time now.

He’s been waiting so long, in fact, he’s already lost track of the number of chances and reasons he’d come up with to get rid of this card.

……

Yet this time, this is undoubtedly the most enticing one to date.

Yu Sheng doesn’t allow himself to linger too long on the Arabic Numeral “II” in his memories. Inhaling sharply, he casually shoves that old card into his short’s pocket and smiles with a rub of his shoulder:

“Yes. It’s just a call.”

Realizing he’s enlightened yet another lost teen, the Owner is immensely satisfied. In high spirits, he is about to give a philosophical lecture on the meaning of life when he realizes the teen has all but disappeared from his counter.

With his phone and clothes in hand, Yu Sheng is already a long way from there.

Having changed his SIM card, Yu Sheng sends Duan Lei a simple message to update him on that.

Duan Lei replies, still treading on eggshells:

Sheng Gē, are you going to cast your identity aside from now on and wander the world beneath these skies?

Yu Sheng: ……

Yu Sheng regrets updating him a little. He turns his screen off and looks up to glance at the corner of the street.

Of course he does not intend to go on a distant journey just for this damned Summer Camp. But what is he going to do exactly? Even he isn’t too sure about that.

Then again, he could drop by the Internet Café to play his game; see if he bumps into his sworn enemy, the White Silver Substitute.

The pedestrian street is filled with life at dusk. There are students who finally completed their exams everywhere. Gathering in groups of threes and fives, there’s laughter and there’s cheer. A bunch of guys tumble into one another at some point during their conversation. Amicably tripping one another and slinging an arm around each other’s waist, they’re hopelessly entangled.

Yu Sheng watches from the corner of the street for a while.

He had slept better than usual that afternoon, so he’s still quite awake. He doesn’t feel like heading home for the time being either.

Home’s a no-go, but school vacation has begun, so there won’t be anyone in the dorms as well.

The bit of nagging frustration which had dissipated into nothingness at some point of time suddenly bubbles up bit by bit without his notice.

Thinking over it carefully, only the thought of that abuse-seeking White Silver Substitute still gives him a sliver of warmth.

Yu Sheng turns around and ducks into a random Internet Café. After giving his string of ID number, he switches on a computer and logs in to the game.

The White Silver Substitute is still grinding in the kiddie pool* at this time, his win rate crawling up at snail’s pace.

(*where low-level players to grind.)

The simmering frustration in his chest is stopped for now. Yu Sheng works his mouse and thinks no more of those mundane things, focusing on solo-ing* that White Silver Substitute and savagely bringing down the win rate he painstakingly trained up.

(*1 vs 1 in an online battle)

Today’s White Silver Substitute is even more distracted than his yesterday’s self. His character freezes up every so often. All Yu Sheng needs is one snipe to pull him down to a skin of blood.

Yu Sheng wins one round and can’t help drawing his brows together. He opens Steam and pokes him:

?

The foe has already lost three rounds in succession. Upon receiving this short “?” out of nowhere, he pauses before he answers after a pause:

No more. Filling in a pile of darned forms for a Summer Camp now. Let’s duel another day.

Yu Sheng quietly murmurs in his heart, ‘You’re not even at Diamond level yet. Like hell we were dueling.’ Yet his fingers stop briefly on the keyboard. In the end, he doesn’t beat him up and swiftly flings a first-aid kit at his feet.

White Silver Substitute remains still for a long time.

Yu Sheng scowls. Just when he’s about to send him a PM to ask if he’s lost connection, another message pops up from the other end:

Friend, I have to ask. Do dynamites come in different forms these days?

Yu Sheng: “……”

He seems to be encountering lots of aggravating people lately.

This is exactly the sort who’d be picked up and smashed into the ground if you put him before him. Mouse in his right hand, Yu Sheng can’t contain the urge and he jerks it up. The gun on the screen follows the movement and lifts up.

White Silver Substitute dodges on the spot, flying away lightning-fast.

Yu Sheng doesn’t attack.

White Silver Substitute seems quite disappointed. He even specially types up a PM:

Just shoot me once, please? I’ve trained at least a hundred times for this.

Yu Sheng turns a blind eye to it. While the Ring of Poison* has yet to shrink, he plops down beside White Silver Substitute.

(*Ring of Poison 毒圈 : Imagine Ring of Fire. Shrinks down upon players over time like a timer and kills them off)

He sits still before the computer for a while before he releases the mouse. Hands hover over the keyboard for some time. He slowly begins to type out a message.

The Summer Camp. What’s it like?

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Next Time on DTTM!
Chapter 10: <I’ve gone through plenty of Summer Camps. I’m not lying to you.>

Silvery: I’ll admit, I don’t know much about games. From what I can see, even though I previously took it in the Glory context (due to the relevance of a CL phrasing used), most Chinese authors usually use a mix of game traits to strategically avoid the issue of copyright. So these game TL may not be 100% accurate.

Also spoiler [highlight only if you want to see it] :

Yes, he’s him.

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Chapter 8 | 📱 Contents 📱 | Chapter 10

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