The Whole World Thinks I’m a Woman Disguised as a Man - Ch 1
First Meeting
When Xue Lan regained consciousness, he was blinded by the dazzling light in front of him. For a moment, he didn’t know where he was.
He remembered he was having an operation, and the operation wasn’t over yet…
Wait.
His eyes gradually adjusted to the intense light. Lying upright in front of him was a curved computer screen displaying a familiar game. That beaming lighting was not from the operating table—it was from the ring light propped up behind the computer screen.
Xue Lan was befuddled about the present situation. His gaze swept across the equipment in front of him in astonishment. Though he never did it, looking at these things, it looked like he was…live streaming? And he was streaming his favorite game that he rarely played again due to health problems—Dawn of the End.
But…
He should be on the operation table. It was his last operation; if the operation succeeded, like normal children, he wouldn’t have to stay in the hospital, wouldn’t have to be incapable of playing the PC game as his condition deteriorated. And wouldn’t covertly hold his phone reading the Dawn of the End fanfiction he liked at least ten times; he could realize his dream of playing professionally…So why was he, in the blink of an eye, sitting in front of the computer, live streaming?
Maybe he was dazzled by the blinding light in front of him, but for a while, Xue Lan sat there dazed.
His gaze unconsciously lingered on the flooding bullet screen1 at the corner of the monitor. This bullet screen was indeed one-of-a-kind compared to the livestreams of well-known gaming streamers he had seen. Under a closer look, those words rolling endlessly on the bullet screen were actually—
@Asdw: What rubbish? Got the nerve to fight against Yan Shen??
@Winduniversefirst: actually assigned to face Yan Shen, just wait to be killed in a seccc
@MrsWenherself: really now? all kinds of trash streamers want to piggyback off my hubby’s popularity hehe
@universefirstwind: wtf, what’s he doing now??? the game’s started did he afk?!
@givemeatasteofyanshen: afk dog get lost!!!
……
Xue Lan quickly returned his focus to the game interface where the loading process had finished.
He was still bewildered. Where was this place? He clearly should be undergoing surgery, so why was he suddenly in front of a game? Why was he live streaming? Who was he going against? Should he lay the game aside and see where exactly he was… or finish the game?
Dawn of the End was currently a popular online PC game. It seamlessly integrated the traditional RPG shooting survival with Esports. Beginner players gained and upgraded their level and equipment through PVE or PVP ranked matches and other methods, whilst professional players participated in 5V5/2V2 and single-player survival PVP matches after obtaining top-tier equipment.
The map at present was a city ruin, and a 5V5 ranked match was currently in progress.
Xue Lan swiftly opened the game’s key binding setup. He hadn’t touched the game in months, but even if he was out of practice, surely he wouldn’t drag his teammates down…
When he saw the skills outlined above, he was stupefied once more.
This account…
How could it be a medic?!!
Xue Lan thought, ‘fuck.’ After setting up a simple keybind and refueling his energy, he quickly rushed to the camp ahead.
He was still looking at the bullet screen at one side from the corner of his eye. Amidst the raving, he was able to gather some information.
He appeared to be live streaming the game against a professional player. The live streaming room was originally empty but because of dumb luck, he got faced off against a well-known professional player and the popularity boomed. However…
Yan Shen?
Why does this name sound so familiar… He quickly opened the battle interface to check the enemy’s ID—
LGW-Wind.
Xue Lan’s heart raced. He finally understood the strange situation.
He lowered his eyes to look at the hand that was gripping the mouse tightly. It was a thin, slender hand. Though the skin was fair, it lacked a trace of that deathly pallor he should have possessed.
This was not his hand.
What made him choke even more was, further up this hand and on the smooth arm was a light pink…fluffy dress?!! His line of sight followed the fluffy dress and settled on the shoulder’s silky…long hair.
Before Xue Lan was suffocated to death, he recalled that initial concern.
LGW-Wind, Yan Shen.
Xue Lan’s heart pounded frantically.
It was the ID of that Dawn of the End fanfiction’s lead gong Wen Yan.
Wen Yan, live streaming, women’s clothing, facing off…
Xue Lan hastily opened the battle interface again. His gaze swept through a row of names on his team. Sure enough…the game user ID was: BabyCandy.
His eyes flew over his own game name, settling on that short and inconspicuous ID in the teammate column.
‘Reset.’
Duan Wenzheng…
He couldn’t be wrong.
It was because he liked this book’s lead shou Duan Wenzheng too much that he read the fanfiction at least ten times.
And this very moment was the scene when the novel’s lead gong and shou met for the first time—the gong was being pestered by a cross-dresser who had the same name as himself, and in this particular live stream, the gong fought the shou for the first time in-game. He won the match but saw the shou’s potential. Soon after, he threw out the professional team’s olive branch2 and launched the lead shou Duan Wenzheng’s esports career.
In this section of the story, Duan Wenzheng and Wen Yan encountered each other many times on the map. But because the medic Xue Lan himself couldn’t heal Duan Wenzheng in time, Duan Wenzheng would be defeated at the hands of Wen Yan.
The screen continued to fill with raging comments. Xue Lan came to himself. He opened the map and found Duan Wenzheng’s location.
He was familiar with the map of the city ruins. This map was not big, it was the map popular for 5V5. He swiftly detoured a few radiation areas of zombie spawns. And soon, he arrived at the location of the fight.
The Xue Lan in the original text did not give Duan Wenzheng any support to curry favor with Wen Yan. But he wasn’t the original owner. What he had to do was—find Duan Wenzheng, heal him and buff his shield!!
When Xue Lan arrived, the front had already begun exchanging gunfire. Wen Yan was stuck behind the bunker of the opposite building. He had just fired a few shots and was ready to assault onto the second story of the enemy sniper’s location when he noticed that another enemy was attempting to meet with the sniper.
He immediately turned the muzzle of his gun and aimed it at the medic that was trying to join his teammate.
……
@YanGeUniverseOne: came running to die? 666663
@windqualitygirlfriend: Female streamers today throw themselves like that?
@YanShensDaughter: this BabyCandy mustn’t be trying to catch attention again, right? it’s been how many times, no way no way?
@windtime: just steal attention, don’t make fancy confessions all day, how would Wen Yan notice such a small internet celebrity.
……
In quick steps, Xue Lan shuttled around in the bunker. He ignored the bullet screen filled with malice and focused on evading the bullets flying at him.
Wen Yan wasn’t Dawn of the End’s number one assaulter for nothing. His marksmanship was ruthlessly fast and accurate. There were very few bunkers near Duan Wenzheng’s building location. Even if it was a professional player, it would still be difficult for someone to remain unscathed in this kind of terrain. So at this moment, the flooding bullet screen was waiting for Xue Lan’s doom.
Xue Lan was highly talented. Before, he couldn’t play the computer much and rarely played ranked matches due to health reasons; this was also his first time confronting such a professional assaulter. Unconsciously, his fingers slightly trembled from excitement as he crossed the bunker’s sparse open ground. On such an empty map, between his leaps, he narrowly avoided the flying bullets each time.
LGW-Wind’s fingers that were unleashing the bullets slightly hesitated.
And in that split second of hesitation, the enemy sniper hiding on the second floor suddenly sent out a shot, directly piercing through his armor. That one shot dropped more than 70% of his HP.
Wen Yan was forced to hide back in the bunker and use a temporary injection to restore his health bar.
The bullet screen in the live stream exploded again—
@warmyouasummer: what’s going on, the sniper is so accurate?
@windheart: must be blind luck.
@bridgeawaitingwind: just a casual game, Yan-ge4 isn’t playing seriously.
@youdontwalkontherighteouspath: is it only me who thinks…the girl’s movements just now were a little unique??
……
Seeing an opportunity, Xue Lan quickened his pace, threading his way into his team’s building.
Was this the number one assaulter Wen Yan that was like a god as described in the novel? Xue Lan’s heart trembled. If he was holding a gun, he really wanted to face Wen Yan.
Looking at his hands which could only increase HP and shield, he stopped thinking about guns and quickly ran up the second floor.
Standing by the window of the second floor’s ruins was a sniper. His game avatar stood motionless by the window, the sniper rifle in his hand saturated with a luminous silhouette under the fervent light of the setting sun.
On the summit of his head displayed a name in an ally’s white color: Reset.
Xue Lan’s footsteps unconsciously slowed.
Reset, Duan Wenzheng.
This future number one genius sniper of this game was currently standing before him, and they were playing on the same team…
As the powerful lead shou of a BL novel, he was different from the cold and serious Wen Yan. Duan Wenzheng was filled with unrestrained wildness. Although numerous readers gave him titles like “frivolous”, Xue Lan deeply admired the unruliness and unrestraint that was etched in Duan Wenzheng’s bones, as described in the original work.
“Ey, hasn’t the medic found you? How come your health is still so low?”
Xue Lan was brought back to reality by the energetic voice coming from the headset. With a hasty step, he crouched in front of Duan Wenzheng. Playing as a medic for the first time, he was a little rusty as he hid behind the cover of a wall to treat Duan Wenzheng.
“The other team seems to want to heal Wen Yan. I and Lao Qi will surround him.” That excited voice snickered and then said, “Zheng-ge, Wen Yan is a professional player. We got him today. Maybe it will be all over the internet, or on the hot search or something.”
Xue Lan stared at the screen. He lost himself in his thoughts again after seeing himself tending to the game character in proximity to him.
So his surgery failed in the end… He died on the operating table, and then magically appeared in the novel he read ten times and couldn’t let go of? In front of him… was really his admired The End‘s sniper god who in the end became the shou, Duan Wenzheng?
“Zheng-ge, Lao Qi has dealt with the opposing team’s medic. Wen Yan is most likely in that building. I’ve arrived, let’s surround him…”
As he spoke, a burst of footsteps was heard from downstairs.
Knowing that the person coming was his teammate, Xue Lan stopped paying attention, and focused on healing Duan Wenzheng. But what followed was a deep voice from the headset that carried shock:
“What the fuck, it’s broad daylight and you guys are doing this sort of thing in a small room?!”
Footnote:
1 bullet screen, barrage or danmu, is a feature in streaming sites for the viewers’ real-time comments that scroll across the screen
2 Throwing out an olive branch means to recruit someone.
3 666 – chinese internet slang that means awesome, impressive, cool
4 Ge – used to address elder brother, or friendly term of address for elder males