When Cheng Su arrived, this was the scene he walked into: the glass door of the training room half open, their team’s jungler standing there with a ferocious look, holding a bowl of late-night noodles that looked like it might be hurled at someone’s head any second.
Cheng Su: …
The usually cool and detached support wondered for once if he was still dreaming. He patted Ji Yunyu’s shoulder, hesitating a little. “What are you doing… guarding the door?”
Ji Yunyu calmly replied, “No.”
After a brief silence, Ji Yunyu glanced sideways at Cheng Su, then shoved the bowl of spicy wontons—chopsticks and all—into his hands, saying solemnly, “I made this especially for you. Eat it while it’s hot.”
…I just woke up because I couldn’t sleep, it hasn’t even been five minutes, and you especially made this for me? Could you at least try to lie convincingly? Cheng Su was speechless but didn’t dare refuse, so he forced a polite smile.
He peered into the training room. From afar, he could see Sui Ning and Lin Zhaoxu in the corner. Sui Ning’s back was to them, but from this angle, Cheng Su could clearly see Lin Zhaoxu’s shy expression—completely different from his usual arrogant self.
His eyes shifted among the three of them. Realization dawned. When he looked back at Ji Yunyu, there was already sympathy in his gaze. “It’s okay. Stay strong…”
Ji Yunyu was speechless. “No, wait, you’ve got it wrong.”
“Got it wrong? You mean you don’t feel that way?” Cheng Su raised an eyebrow.
Lowering his voice, he actually made a gossiping gesture with his thumbs pressed together suggestively. “You’re not… into Wind? Come on, anyone with eyes can see it. It’s legal now anyway, and I’ve heard rumors about other teams too—you don’t need to feel pressured—”
“No.” Ji Yunyu lifted his chin slightly, cutting him off. “What I mean is—you’ve got it wrong. Feng-bao and that brat have absolutely nothing going on.”
The young man’s eyes showed faint disdain, his voice soft but decisive. “They’re perfectly clean! That brat definitely isn’t Feng-bao’s type.”
“So,” Ji Yunyu crossed his arms in front of his chest in a big X, “stop looking at me like I’m grazing on green grasslands.”
In other words, this ship was nonsense. They weren’t even qualified to share the same stage. If anything, it was more like a father and his annoying son.
Cheng Su: …
Now he wanted to dump the wontons over his jungler’s head.
Still, feeling the warmth of the bowl in his hand—and thinking about how the team would suffer in the next matches without a jungler—Cheng Su decided to spare Ji Yunyu’s miserable life.
A bunch of troublemakers, he thought expressionlessly, giving his teammates a collective label. He lifted the bowl and began to eat as he walked into the room.
In the corner, Lin Zhaoxu was still embarrassed after his earlier outburst.
He cleared his throat, glancing at Sui Ning from the corner of his eye. “Ahem, uh… about what I said earlier, don’t take it too seriously, okay?”
“Though, I guess don’t completely ignore it either,” he mumbled, his face burning as his words tangled. “You know what I mean, right?”
He looked up, eyes wide and glistening like a puppy’s, gazing at Sui Ning expectantly.
Sui Ning smiled and extended his right hand for a fist bump. “I know.”
Lin Zhaoxu obediently bumped fists, satisfied. “Heh, I just—what the hell!”
Cheng Su had walked over, backlit by the training room lights, chewing as he stood behind Sui Ning like a stern head teacher.
“Damn, why aren’t you asleep either?” Lin Zhaoxu was shocked.
Then he noticed the familiar bowl of wontons in Cheng Su’s hands and froze. “W-wait a second… that’s—”
Cheng Su raised an eyebrow, pretending not to understand. “What?”
“That’s not the midnight snack my Brother Yun made for me, is it…”
Hearing Ji Yunyu’s name, Sui Ning instinctively turned his head—just in time to meet the man’s gaze at the door.
It was too late to shout, so from a distance, Ji Yunyu just gestured that he was heading back to the kitchen.
Sui Ning nodded. Then, noticing Cheng Su’s bowl, he immediately understood—and couldn’t help the smile tugging at his lips.
…He probably asked Cheng Su to bring it in, but didn’t expect the “Daddy support” to hijack the “son Marksman” midnight snack. Sui Ning almost laughed aloud.
Cheng Su seemed to sense his amusement and shot him a look.
He said nothing, though—instead, he deliberately picked up another wonton and ate it right in front of Lin Zhaoxu. “Who knows? Cloud gave it to me, anyway.”
Lin Zhaoxu: “…The hell he did. I can smell the spice from here—it’s loaded with chili! Your stomach’s crap as it is, and you’re eating that this late? You tryna die?”
He reached over to grab the bowl back. “Don’t eat that—damn it, at least pour some water in to dilute it!”
Cheng Su dodged calmly. “This is overtime pay. Hands off.”
Lin Zhaoxu froze, hand still in midair. “Huh?”
Overtime pay? He blinked, confused, looking at Cheng Su.
Cheng Su’s PC was right next to his. He set the bowl on the desk, booted it up, and said,
“Next time, tell your Brother Yun to go easy on the spice,” he added, frowning slightly as he finished the soup.
Lin Zhaoxu was still baffled. “What do you mean?”
Cheng Su sighed, full of pity for his teammate’s IQ. “The marksman wants extra practice on lane matchups. As a weak, pitiful, helpless support, of course, I have to risk my life to accompany him. It’s already past training hours—what else would you call it besides overtime?”
“Aren’t you going to pay me overtime for this?” he sneered down at Lin Zhaoxu from the corner of his eye. “Don’t you have any common sense? Can you at least respect labor law?”
Lin Zhaoxu: …
He stared at Cheng Su for a long beat before finally finding his voice.
He couldn’t help but grin a little foolishly, but his mouth stayed merciless. “Fine, I give up. Seriously—asking you to train with me is going to get you killed? Stop with all this nonsense!”
Cheng Su nodded. “Mm.”
Lin Zhaoxu grinned cheekily. “Yeah right, my ass! You guys are so annoying—get in the queue!”
Then he turned to Sui Ning: “Feng-bao, you in? Let’s queue up for ranked!”
“Sure.” Sui Ning agreed happily.
He sat back down and glanced at the duo who were still bickering.
Cheng Su showing up surprised him, but it also felt somehow inevitable. Those two were always merciless with words, but when it mattered, they never threw each other under the bus—instead they helped each other and moved forward together…
Kind of cute, actually. Sui Ning smiled silently.
In his previous life, when Sui Ning first turned pro, he only trusted his own skill. He needed headcount, jungle control, resources, and economy all in his own hands. But two years into his career, he’d become a firm believer in “bonds”—convinced that the emotional strength between people could lift competitive play to new heights.
“When did that change…?”
Sui Ning asked himself quietly. If he had to pick an exact time, he wasn’t sure—everything had shifted so naturally…
And in this parallel timeline at PNG, the feeling came back again—not only between him and Ji Yunyu, but with the other teammates, the coaching staff…
“Feng-bao, get in the party! I invited you!”
“Okay, I’m in.”
Sui Ning snapped back to the present and confirmed the party invite.
——
Lin Zhaoxu: “These idiots on the other team—what kind of positioning is that? Who do they think they are?”
Cheng Su sneered: “I’d advise you not to be so cocky. Getting a win against randoms and getting proud about it?”
“Why can’t I be cocky? I’ve got Feng-bao—who am I afraid of… aagh, help!”
Sui Ning: “…I’ll be there soon.”
“Are you done yet?” Wei Ye paced behind them, “Invite me, invite me, invite me—!!”
Lin Zhaoxu got a double kill, shot Wei Ye a disdainful look with his peripheral vision: “No thanks. How are four people supposed to queue?”
“Cloud’s up too, he said. We can five-man—five-man five-man!” Wei Ye pressed.
“We’re not doing a five-stack. At this hour it’s all randoms, boring.”
When Wei Ye heard that, he immediately pretended to strangle Lin Zhaoxu from behind with both hands, mock-threatening: “I won’t take no for an answer. No matter what it takes, you have to add me to the party!”
Ji Yunyu, who’d just come back: …
He silently looked at the brightly lit training room and his four energetic teammates inside, then glanced at the wall clock: 4:08 a.m.
Good. He hadn’t time-traveled.
He looked down again at the two bowls of wontons in his hands.
The plump, pure-white wontons looked innocent: hey, this isn’t our fault, okay?
True enough. Ji Yunyu unmercifully looked up and began to seriously consider—the teammates were lively and hardworking, which should be something to be happy about. Yet why did he feel otherwise, since he’d been the one to get up first…
…I’ll never make those damned wontons again—don’t eat them!!
“Yo, my Yun!! You finally made it!”
Wei Ye shouted the moment he saw him and almost choked Lin Zhaoxu, “Hurry up and queue, we were waiting just for you!”
“Wait—I didn’t agree to this!” Lin Zhaoxu struggled, “Then I’ll solo queue—”
After a look from Cheng Su he immediately changed tone, “I’ll duo with support, super busy, gotta go!”
Wei Ye rolled his eyes. “Don’t push me.”
He messed up Lin Zhaoxu’s hair, then turned to Ji Yunyu to complain, “Honestly, you and Feng-bao are way too hardcore. Staying up like this every day… and you never bring me along? In a while, I’m gonna be the worst one! You two are unforgivable!”
Fine—those two-player days are gone. Ji Yunyu was too tired to bother and suppressed his rising irritation as he walked back to his seat.
He put the two bowls of wontons down by Sui Ning.
Sensing the looming crisis, Sui Ning straightened and tentatively asked, “...How about we double queue?”
Ji Yunyu crossed his arms and sneered, “Who? Who are ‘we’?”
Sui Ning blinked, leaned close, and lowered his voice into Ji Yunyu’s ear: “Me and Xiao Yunduo.”
He knew Ji Yunyu didn’t like being called that by the others, so he usually avoided saying it where they could hear and make a fuss.
Ji Yunyu’s ears turned instantly red.
He tried to cover it up, lowering his head and coughing into his fist twice.
Wei Ye complained: “Come on, what are you two whispering about behind my back? If you keep this up I’ll use my wife’s Word-Spirit to judge and slaughter you.”
Ji Yunyu looked away calmly and answered as if nothing was wrong: “Nothing. I’m duoing with Feng-bao—go play on your own.”
Wei Ye: ?
“So if the marksman and support duo queue, the jungle and mid have to duo queue too.”
“So I’m the only one left, huh?” Wei Ye exclaimed in indignation. “Is this fair? Is this reasonable?”
——
A group of hyped-up teens watched the sunrise over Shanghai together.
…Well, not really, because they were too focused on ranked games. By the time they realized it, the sky was already bright, and they hadn’t seen the sun slowly rise and paint the morning clouds in brilliant colors.
At that time, they were all busy in team fights.
Chen Chen came by in the morning to pick something up. When he pushed open the door and saw the five of them, he thought he’d run into a ghost.
“Wha—there’s a ghost!!” He was so startled that he took two steps back and slammed the door shut.
The five: ??
Chen Chen stood at the glass door, pondering life.
What time is it now, and the ghost hasn’t been scorched by the sun yet? Even ghosts are working hard now, coming in early to grind KPIs? …Wait, no, those look like my troublesome sons…
Chen Chen hesitated, then placed his hand on the doorknob again and slowly pushed the door open.
Everything was normal.
The five of them hadn’t ascended to heaven from the sunlight either.
Chen Chen: …
“What are you guys doing?” The head coach looked at their screens, slightly speechless.
The five players answered matter-of-factly: “Training!”
Chen Chen choked on their tone, glanced at the clock.
8:47 a.m.—is there something wrong with me, or with them? He softened his voice: “What’s going on? Any problems?”
“Nothing, just extra training!” Wei Ye waved his hand, as if shooing a noisy insect. “Coach, if you’re fine, just stay aside.”
He’d been solo queuing all morning, was the most annoyed of the group, and now he was holding back frustration to crush the ID “Top Lane I Reign” on the other side.
Chen Chen: “…Alright.”
——
The training atmosphere in PNG visibly became more enthusiastic, which made Chen Chen happy, but he couldn’t let them run wild—everything had to be moderate. Staying up all night could end up in the news someday with a terrifying headline like: “18-Year-Old Teen Dies From Overwork During Overtime”…
He held several more meetings with the players, had the coaching staff adjust the training schedule, slightly increasing the original plan.
Before, he worried that too much training would be physically and mentally overwhelming. But now the players voluntarily pushed themselves to overtime, and Chen Chen couldn’t refuse politely.
The results were obvious: the five starters of PNG improved in all aspects during training matches, especially the bot lane.
When facing Furia again in a training match, Lin Zhaoxu’s performance against Yu Gao was impressive—although he still had a long way to go to completely suppress or crush Yu Gao, he could at least handle lane mechanics more carefully, making it harder to be punished.
Even FR’s coach, Da Ju, was surprised: What miracle pill is this kid taking??
Chen Chen smiled faintly: Nothing—just 17 hours of training every day.
Soon, after defeating FR with an eight-game win streak and 16 match victories, PNG consecutively faced mid-tier teams Astralis (AS), Mad Dragons (MDD), and Eternal Gaming (ETN), achieving an 11-game win streak with 22 match victories.
However, the skill gap between top and bottom teams in the 48-team league was significant, so such achievements had been reached before. Even this season, HTG and Star.L, who had earlier rounds than PNG, had achieved 12 wins with 24 match victories, and GEN, who had lost a match early in the season, also reached 12 wins and 1 loss.
“Still a long way to go if you want to show off.” Chen Chen sighed.
He sat in his office chair, head down, holding a schedule he’d already examined hundreds of times.
June 23, Longhu Esports Arena, Shanghai.
PNG vs Tayloo (1:00 p.m.)
TL, co-located with PNG in the same campus, was the spring split third place, Tayloo had won two HPL championships in history, and regularly represented China at international competitions… these opponents were on a completely different level.
Chen Chen couldn’t help but sigh again. But he couldn’t stop his imagination, repeatedly looking at the opposing team’s names.
—What if?
Knock, knock-knock.
Hearing the knock, Chen Chen was momentarily stunned: “Come in.”
Sui Ning pushed the door open, Ji Yunyu following beside him, with three tagalongs behind.
Chen Chen raised a question mark on his face, puzzled, eyes shifting to Sui Ning.
Sui Ning hesitated: “Uh, wasn’t this supposed to be for something you called us about?”
“Oh, right!” Chen Chen suddenly remembered. “It’s about the little shark event. They’re holding an activity in June called Idol Uncovered. They selected participants from each division. Our players all signed in the gaming zone, so they were chosen as a group. They need to come to our base to livestream and shoot vlog material.”
Chen Chen looked at Sui Ning. “You can skip that livestream interview with Cloud—you don’t need to do it anymore. It’s been replaced by this one.”
Sui Ning nodded. He had been wondering why that previous interview never had any follow-up.
The other teammates didn’t object either. Lin Zhaoxu, however, looked a little confused. “Why another livestream? Aren’t we already streaming whenever we’re free?”
Chen Chen rolled his eyes. “That’s you streaming gameplay. This program is a livestream exploring our base, so it’s called ‘Idol Uncovered’! Management also agreed because it’s good for our public image. The filming crew from Little Shark will come over in the next couple of days. It won’t take long—probably just one day at most.”
Lin Zhaoxu mumbled quietly, “But we’re not idols…”
The moment he said that, every gaze in the room instantly focused on Sui Ning.
Sui Ning: …
He stayed calm. “No matter what you want to say, if you don’t want me to retire on the spot, don’t say it.”
“Pfft.”
A few muffled laughs broke out. Sui Ning’s expression deepened in silent exasperation.
Chen Chen stifled a laugh. “Ahem. Actually, it’s because in other livestream divisions… some participating streamers have complicated statuses, so they’re all just called ‘idols.’ Not important—just letting you know in advance. I’ll inform you when there’s news.”
“Right now, the most important thing is this.” He waved the schedule in his hand.
The five PNG players immediately straightened up. “Understood.”
Chen Chen nodded. “Back to training. I’m tired. Training matches are on schedule this afternoon.”
The five: …
The Emperor has spoken. What else could they say? Naturally, they obediently returned to their ranked games.
——
After leaving the office, Sui Ning belatedly frowned—
These past few days had been too busy, training from dawn till dusk…
Why did he feel like he had forgotten something?
He instinctively glanced at Ji Yunyu, who immediately averted his gaze to the ceiling.
…Even more suspicious. So what exactly was it?
Sui Ning couldn’t figure it out.
Ji Yunyu sneaked a glance at Sui Ning. Seeing that he hadn’t noticed, he calmly continued messaging Xu Zhiyi.
[Yi Shiyi]: Ahhhh why isn’t Brother Feng responding? Did he get mad at the photo I sent QuQ? I knew it… they said it has to be reshot!!
[Cloud]: No, we’ve been busy training, he hasn’t checked Weibo.
[Cloud]: He’s satisfied ^^
[Yi Shiyi]: …Really? Then why didn’t he like it TuT
[Cloud]: He saw my like and reposted. Same thing.
[Yi Shiyi]: [angry cat.jpg]
Ji Yunyu thought for a moment and replied.
[Cloud]: It’s fine. He’ll like it when he has time.
…Isn’t that livestream interview actually a perfect opportunity then?
----------
No comments:
Post a Comment