Fifteen minutes later, four people—two guys and two girls—arrived at the Silver Moon Internet Cafe counter. Xia Ziying would join them later after changing clothes in her dorm.

"Jie-jie Xiu, I’d like a membership card," Jiang Xuehan chirped sweetly to the front desk.

Li Xiuxiu, the cafe’s veteran full-time staff and daily shift leader, had trained Jiang Xuehan that morning. Employees could get membership cards too, with a 20% discount on hourly rates.

Jiang Xuehan and the two boys found empty seats. The boys sat side by side; Jiang Xuehan chose the opposite side to prevent screen peeking during gameplay. Wen Jiaqi stood behind Jiang Xuehan, leaning in with a worried whisper: "Xiao Han, they’re guys—and two against one. Are you sure you can win?"

"Eh, I’ll try my best," Jiang Xuehan replied modestly.

The boys quickly logged into the game. Jiang Xuehan, rusty after a long break, fumbled her password three times before getting it right.

The boy on the right immediately opened his inventory, grinning smugly. "Check this out: Golden AK, Inferno Skin, Fire Kirin, Barrett—all top-tier guns in the game. I’ve got ’em all."

Jiang Xuehan opened her own inventory. Years of inactivity left her with only free starter weapons. The boy glanced over and burst out laughing. "A noob! Babe, be my girlfriend and I’ll gift you a Golden AK!"

"Heh. Win first," she shot back. "Fair warning—I’m out of practice. Gotta warm up."

"Fine! Bro, let’s slaughter noobs in the arena!"

The boys whooped and hollered as they started their match. Jiang Xuehan quietly queued a bot map, reacquainting herself with controls and mechanics.

About fifteen minutes later, Xia Ziying arrived in a breezy white A-line dress. Spotting her roommates, she hurried over. "Xiao Han, how’s it going?"

"Eh, almost started."

Wen Jiaqi, bored from waiting, grumbled: "What’s fun about this game? All this shaking makes me dizzy."

The right-side boy sneered, "Ugh, typical. Can’t even handle a shooter without getting dizzy."

"Hey! How rude!"

"Shut it, fat chick. Not worth my time."

"*Who*’s a fat chick?!"

Jiang Xuehan tuned out the noise. Her muscle memory had returned—mouse movements sharp, reflexes precise. A faint smirk lifted her lips. "Ready. Let’s go."

Transport Ship was a classic 1v1 map: no special rules, just kill the enemy first.

But mastering it required strategy. Crates and walls offered cover, making enemies hard to pin down. Once located, you could lie in wait for the perfect headshot.

Jiang Xuehan wielded a free M4 rifle. Her opponents brandished Golden AKs—limited-edition guns worth thousands in-game coins, vastly outclassing her gear.

The boys, seasoned and warmed up, charged out of spawn whooping: "Don’t steal my kill—I’m taking the girl’s first blood!"

"*My* first blood!"

"Haha, why don’t we—"

A full minute passed. The boys froze. *Where was she?*

They knew every inch of the map. They’d swept it together, methodically. No trace of her. Only the player list confirmed she was still alive—no disconnect, no retreat.

Jiang Xuehan crouched inside a crate behind them, moving slowly, silently, avoiding detection.

In shooters, never rush a 1v2. Eliminate one, and the other finishes you. Especially when they’re geared head-to-toe in armor—helmets, ballistic goggles, vests. She’d calculated it: three headshots or six body shots to drop them. They’d drop *her* in two body shots.

Patience. Wait for their mistake.

But how did she track them without sight?

Her hearing was conductor-sharp.

Orchestra conductors spot a single wrong note amid hundreds of instruments. Gamers called it "wolf ears."

Footsteps in shooters revealed positions through stereo audio cues. Jiang Xuehan took it further: she mapped enemies’ exact locations and movements in her mind by sound alone, accuracy within one meter.

On her screen, a crate blocked most of her view. To her, it was transparent. Two enemies paced westward directly ahead. She planned her next move.

The game had a "silent walk" mode—no footsteps, but painfully slow. For most, silence meant visual detection. Only someone with her hearing could move unseen *and* unheard.

Not yet. Jiang Xuehan guided her character toward new cover, silent as shadow.