<h4>Chapter 151: Smart Friend I</h4>
I’m Chalk, a veteran otaku.
My job? Reselling all sorts of gaming equipment.
I must say that I’m gifted at games.
That wasn’t just a brag; there’s a reason why I’ve been cklisted by all mainstream games.
Before this, I was a world-ss athlete.
Event? eSports.
Be it first-person shooting games or multiyer online battle arena video games... heck, even card games, I’m always at the top.
As such, I’ve been banned frompeting for 30 years.
I only have myself to me, of course.
To tell the story, I’ll have to go back to the year 2046 when electronic games officially became the world’s ninth art.
The Olympics added a video game segment that year as well. There would be one additionalpetition day before the closing ceremony, where athletes would engage in the top three hottest games that year.
The games were split into two categories, one suitable for Olympics and the other not.
Ever since games became an art, the panel of audits became stricter.
Games where yers have to spend real money on earned more but were bing less popr.
All games had to be vetted and rated by the Olympics. A game’s rating would determine its future, and to get a good rating, the game would have to focus on skills and teamwork. The game would also have to emphasize friendship, unity, and fairpetition.
Because these virtues represented the spirit of the Olympics, paid games did not make the list no matter how fun they were.
Only the top three games selected by the judges could be used forpetition.
Thepetitors would then represent and im glory for their countries.
The traditional system hadpromised a little for electronic games to take a big step onto the world stage.
This was also the period where games were no longer separated into PC, mobile, or tablet versions.
It was a basic requirement for all games to be made suitable across all devices, and because of that, theplementary businesses started to peak, too.
In 2046, I was 16 and a pro-gamer of six mainstream games.
My talent made it easy for me to master a game and its shortcuts.
Ever since mized games stopped appearing, many math geniuses started joining and attacking based on careful calctions and analyses.
I was gifted in another way, however, since I made noputations whatsoever.
I could easily judge and identify the key within stages.
There were only three cings for each game in the Olympics, and all top three games, as chosen by the judges, involved teamwork.
The games had solo mode as well, but the mode was excluded in order to amodate more participants.
This made it awkward for me since my standard was as good as any pro-gamer, but not when it came to cooperation based games.
I joined team battles but failed even after three torturous months of training.
Even the pro-gamers couldn’t understand my battle techniques and couldn’t keep up with my strategies.
Whenever they felt that my strategy wasn’t viable, I would mention going solo.
That’s right. I’ve yet to lose even once.
Because of that, the barrier between us grew bigger and amodating them became unbearable for me.
I yed ording to my own tactics, which should work, but we lost more than we won.
We won mostly when I had to face an enemy alone and we lost mostly when I was outnumbered.
I got isted by the other yers a few times.
I understood that mediocrity isted excellence. It was something that appeared constantly within games.
After half a year of bing a pro-gamer, I had clinched gold for my club in all solo-modepetitions.
However, in the actualpetitions, games were all team-work based.
Three yearster, when I turned 19, I retiredpletely.
I had found a new path – selling game ounts.
I would push an ount up to the top five in only three days’ time before selling it to interested buyers.
I started my own live streaming channel, which earned me many fans and a lot of money.
Despite that sess, I still had no friends and was isted by almost everyone because selling game ounts was against the rules and it threatened sportsmanship.
I was banned frompeting for 30 years, no overruling.
Many people saw this as an end to my career, but they don’t know that I’m still gaming.
I’m very happy as well because I get to earn much more than the athletes.
While I have a bad reputation, I’m still coined the number one gamer.
Whatever new games that we put our hands on, I’ll always get into it quicker than most.
A few days was all I need to enter the charts. If I choose to y a little more seriously, getting to the first position was not an issue at all.
But because I was banned, the number of people mocking me increased.
Having earned enough money, I decided to buy a small condo in the city center.
That day, I switched on the television and saw Lei Jun, the founder of Xiaomi.
Famous for his ‘are you okay’ song, the 70-year-old Lei Jun stood smiling on stage at Xiaomi’s news conference.
I did not change the channel. Instead, I thought about how Xiaomi was no longer just a mobilepany.
I seemed to have yed quite a few Xiaomi games.
“This year, ourpany has invented the 63rd generation smart housekeeper,” Lei Jun announced with a smile and a wave.
“Our 3D holographic projection can interact with any smart house electronic appliances. Voice detection, instantaneous heart rate monitor, emergency police service, automated grocery shopping... Aspared to other smart housekeepers, don’t ours produce a lot of value for money? We have our very own designer to revolutionize your home! Buy now and get a Xiaomi 6 silver edition for free. It’s double the price of the normal edition. Want a friend? Xiaomi smart housekeeper! It will be your best friend and it will always stay by your side,” Lei Jun finished his speech before walking down the stage with his walking stick.
I stayed tuned for the whole conference.
To be honest, I did not really understand it, but hisst line left a deep impression.
“Want a friend? Xiaomi smart housekeeper!”
I went to the Xiaomei website. The smart housekeeper was up for advanced sale.
Could money buy a friend? I had nock of the former.
One model cost a few hundred thousand dors and all home instations could be reced.
I made a reservation and waited patiently.