Chapter 23: Who gave you the courage to accept a father-son duel!

"Who is that guy? Why is he getting out of the principal's car?"

"You don't know him? That's our school's own 'fragile freshman,' Brother Wu."

"The guy who was scared into the emergency room by the counselor? He deserves the title of 'Brother'?"

"You clearly haven't been beaten down by society yet; you have no idea how formidable Brother Wu truly is."

Listening to the surrounding gossip, Wu Bin felt nothing. Having lived two lifetimes, he possessed at least that much composure. Pushing open the dormitory door, Wu Bin spread his arms wide and shouted with a grin, "My sons, Daddy is home!"

Wu Bin had expected a warm welcome, but his three roommates were glued to their computer screens, locked in an intense gaming session. The cameraman following him, caught off guard by this greeting, felt a moment of awkwardness. The netizens, however, adored Wu Bin's genuine personality and began to chuckle.

"You can tell Wu Bin and his roommates have a great relationship."

"Exactly. The best atmosphere in a boys' dorm is when everyone wants to be each other's father."

"If they weren't close, would they have risked disciplinary action to eat hot pot together? And it was Wu Bin who started it—that takes real guts."

Seeing his three roommates ignore him, Wu Bin felt a bit disgruntled. He walked over and hooked his arm around one of their necks. "Old Song, what are you playing so intently?"

Song Bing was impatient. "Don't bother me, we're in a civil war against the neighboring dorm."

Wu Bin looked closer and realized it was true. They were playing a custom League match, five against five. Wu Bin immediately grew interested. He used to love this game and had even reached the Challenger rank.

"You guys aren't playing this right; you're going to lose."

A quick glance was all Wu Bin needed to see that their situation was dire. Song Bing and his crew were handling the jungle and the bottom lane; they were playing as a team, but their individual skill wasn't up to par. The opposing jungler was clearly a "booster," and the rhythm of the game was firmly under his control.

"Retreat! The enemy jungler is coming."

Wu Bin directed from the sidelines, but Song Bing, already deep in the heat of the moment, greedily tried to farm two more minions before backing off. That split second of greed cost them dearly. The opponent’s Hecarim charged in and kicked Song Bing to death in one blow.

Song Bing looked at Wu Bin in astonishment. "Not bad, Old Wu! I didn't even have vision there, how did you know the jungler was coming?"

Wu Bin curled his lip. "He just cleared the dragon; who else would he gank but you?"

Song Bing’s eyes lit up. He scrambled up and offered his seat to Wu Bin. "Brother Wu, Daddy Wu, Godfather! Please, help us turn this around! We've already lost two games in a row!"

Wu Bin crossed his arms and smiled. "Not playing. I’m a mature man; I don't play video games."

Song Bing panicked. "Stop bullshitting me. With the game sense you just showed, you've definitely played plenty! Brother Wu, this isn't just about winning or losing a game; this is about our dorm's reputation."

"Oh? What do you mean? Explain."

Song Bing hurried to clarify. "Ever since you were yelled into the hospital by the counselor, you've been famous across campus. The posts about it went viral, and people are calling you the shame of the freshman class, calling you 'delicate,' a 'Lin Daiyu of our generation,' a 'sissy,' a 'wimp'..."

"Stop, stop, stop." Seeing Song Bing getting carried away, Wu Bin cut him off. "Why do I get the feeling these are your true thoughts? Have you been wanting to insult me like this for a long time?"

Song Bing straightened his expression, insisting, "Not at all! You’ve misunderstood me, Brother Wu. My loyalty to you is as clear as the sun and the moon!"

"Cut the crap, get to the point!"

Song Bing pulled the topic back. "Look, originally, this would have blown over. It's normal for people to look down on you, since you are a bit... fragile. But then you went and got yourself poisoned by eating Phytolacca, and that was the end of it. Our dorm became the public enemy of the entire school."

Wu Bin was puzzled. "What do you mean? I poisoned myself; what does that have to do with them?"

Xue Gui interjected from the side. "Of course it does. Don't you know that after you were hospitalized, the school started a massive crackdown on illegal planting? I heard that many seniors' experimental crops were plowed over; no amount of pleading worked. Principal Xu is a ruthless man. Many of those crops were senior thesis projects, and now they're all gone. I heard some seniors were so upset they fainted, but the Principal didn't show any mercy."

Wu Bin twitched his mouth. He suddenly remembered that when Xu Wenyao visited him in the hospital, he had indeed mentioned something to that effect. Wu Bin had felt something was off then, and now it finally clicked.

Damn it, Xu Wenyao was using this as an excuse! He was using Wu Bin as the spearhead to force through school reforms, taking all the credit while letting Wu Bin take all the heat!

"So, our dorm became the public enemy of the school?"

Song Bing nodded solemnly. "You'd better wear a mask when you go out lately, or I'm afraid you won't make it back."

Wu Bin was left speechless. He had no idea that one trip to the hospital for poisoning would generate this much hatred. But then again, this wasn't necessarily a bad thing. The more people who hated him, the more "Prestige Points" he would earn, which in turn made him harder to kill. Thinking about it this way, was this a blessing in disguise?

"Wait, what does this have to do with the game?"

Song Bing continued, "Like I said, you're the public enemy now. The sophomores, juniors, and seniors are fine—they’re in different buildings and can't really get to us. But the freshmen all live in this same building. There's this rich kid in the next dorm named Zhao Hao, arrogant as all hell. He hates your guts the most. While you were gone, he kept provoking us, challenging us to a match: whoever loses has to call the other side 'Daddy' from now on. So we..."

Wu Bin didn't need him to finish. Young people are hot-blooded. Without thinking it through, Song Bing and the others had accepted the challenge. As it turned out, the neighboring dorm was far more skilled, and they had been beaten black and blue, losing two games straight in a best-of-five series. If they lost one more, they would never be able to hold their heads high again.

Wu Bin patted Song Bing on the shoulder, hesitating. Song Bing thought Wu Bin was sympathizing with them and said, "It's okay, Brother Wu. Go ahead. We're brothers; there's nothing you can't say."

Wu Bin opened the scoreboard and asked with extreme seriousness, "I understand being hot-blooded. But I have one question: you're a Bronze-tier player—who the hell gave you the courage to accept a 'Father-Son' bet like this?!"