How Did I Become an F1 Driver?

Regarding Leclerc's question, Qin Miao and Zhou Guanyu both explained the game's loot items and box-opening mechanism.

Leclerc showed great interest and said he wanted to try opening a box after this match to see what the experience was like.

Qin Miao suddenly recalled a comment he'd seen in CSGO's discussion area: "I always thought CSGO was a free game until one day I saw my teammate's knife spinning in their hand..."

Now Leclerc had pretty much reached that same state.

The match quickly ended.

With Qin Miao and Zhou Guanyu, two gaming heavyweights, present, losing the game was naturally impossible.

After exiting the game and arriving at the inventory interface, Leclerc began opening boxes under their guidance.

After several entertaining modes and a ranked match, Leclerc was lucky enough to acquire a box.

He explored on his own and loaded some money, while Qin Miao and Zhou Guanyu casually remarked that one box probably wouldn't contain anything good.

Leclerc, full of enthusiasm, opened his box, and then his slightly puzzled voice came through the voice chat: "What's a butterfly knife? Is it valuable?"

Qin Miao: ?

Zhou Guanyu: ?

Without saying much, they directly opened Leclerc's Steam inventory. Since they hadn't taught Leclerc how to buy things on the Steam market, if Leclerc indeed found something, the knife would definitely be in his inventory, and it would be locked for trade.

When they actually saw Leclerc's inventory, they were stunned.

A brand-new Fade Butterfly Knife, with a market value of roughly fourteen thousand.

Converted to Euros, that's over seventeen hundred.

Though this amount was something they could afford without blinking or feeling pained,

it was a windfall, and on top of that, Leclerc had spent just two US dollars and earned over a thousand.

This made the two less fortunate players extremely envious, with their emotions boiling over, eyes red with jealousy, wishing they could take Leclerc's place.

Seeing their intense reactions, Leclerc guessed from their behavior that what he opened was likely very valuable.

Though for the three, this amount of money was no big deal, seeing their friends contort their faces in jealousy still made Leclerc feel inexplicably pleased.

"You're despicable!" Zhou Guanyu said through gritted teeth.

After venting his anger for a while, Qin Miao surprisingly calmed down and sincerely asked, "Shire, do you have any plans tonight? If not, come to my dorm; I'll treat you to my mom's homemade spicy hotpot from home."

Their game chat fell silent for a moment, then Zhou Guanyu asked gloomily, "Why don't you invite me if there's hotpot?"

"What's hotpot?" That was Leclerc's question.

Ignoring Zhou Guanyu's betrayal, Qin Miao patiently answered Leclerc's question: "Hotpot is a traditional delicacy from our country, delicious, layered, and with a rich selection. Every Chinese person eats hotpot at least once a year."

Leclerc wasn't fooled; a moment ago, Qin Miao was yelling for his head, and now he was inviting him for traditional Chinese hotpot? Even from ten feet away, you could sense something was up.

So Leclerc remained cautious: "No thanks!"

Qin Miao: "Oh, come on, don't be like that!"

Zhou Guanyu: "Qin Miao, that's not fair of you."

"Don't change the subject!"

…

After some joking around, Leclerc finally understood just how precious the item he had received was and why Qin Miao and Zhou Guanyu were so jealous.

It wasn't about the item's price, but because the knife was incredibly rare.

Since Leclerc had gotten such a rare item, Qin Miao and Zhou Guanyu lost interest in playing and generously pulled out their wallets.

They went all out!

Qin Miao opened two hundred boxes, and Zhou Guanyu opened two hundred boxes.

After some hectic box-opening, they finally managed to get some gold items.

Unfortunately, one was a slaughter knife, and the other an unmodified M9 bayonet, together not worth even a fraction of Leclerc's knife.

After spending a chunk of change, they calmed down, and Leclerc, having been coaxed into it by Qin Miao and Zhou Guanyu, fell entirely into the CSGO rabbit hole, agreeing to play together if they had time the next day.

Qin Miao also promised Zhou Guanyu to bring hotpot condiments to Hungary when he attended the Hungarian Grand Prix on Thursday.

Like Qin Miao, Zhou Guanyu couldn't find the flavors he craved while abroad.

Until Qin Miao mentioned it, Zhou Guanyu, busy with training and work, hadn't really considered it.

But as soon as Qin Miao mentioned it on the call, and Zhou Guanyu learned his family had hotpot condiments, the craving for hotpot surged and was unstoppable; just imagining the flavor made Zhou Guanyu's mouth water.

After the jokes, Leclerc confidently expressed he'd be free for dinner on Thursday and could join Qin Miao and Zhou Guanyu to try this said hotpot.

Qin Miao and Zhou Guanyu had no objections.