After the match, the fans celebrating the victory still couldn’t calm their excitement for a long time. Chen Chen found an opportunity to lead the PNG players away, avoiding the broadcast cameras.
Navic’s win in this match not only secured them a top-two finish in the Summer Split and a Worlds seed, but also kicked HTG down into the battle for the third seed. With their Spring runner-up finish plus a whopping 70 championship points from Summer, they could now sit back and wait for the next unlucky opponent.
[Tang Xiaoyu]: Don’t get cocky. If you lose, you’ll still have to come down here and fight us, right? [cat acting cute.jpg]
[Emperor Chen]: Scram.
[Tang Xiaoyu]: Hehe, bye-bye.
Chen Chen had never seen anyone this shameless. A whole string of insults had already reached the tip of his tongue, but after he sent the first one, Tang Yu stopped replying—probably busy giving psychological counseling to his players, whose mentality had clearly exploded during Game Four.
Fortunately, Chen Chen thought, his own little brats were thriving under the care of a great coach like him. In the past, he’d always kept an eye on Lin Zhaoxu whenever he had time, but now he mainly watched Wei Ye, worried that those two troublemakers might have a mental breakdown.
Meanwhile, the assistant coach beside him kept urging him to give the players a few days off.
“There are still several days before we leave for the capital—”
“No,” Chen Chen hesitated briefly but still refused. “We can’t let them relax that tension yet. Let’s push through and finish the finals in one go. If we make it to Worlds, there’ll be plenty of time to rest.”
Assistant coach: …As if they wouldn’t be scrimming foreign teams nonstop by then.
But he was only a humble assistant and couldn’t argue with the head coach, so he could only relay the bad news to the players: the vacation was canceled.
As a result, Ji Yunyu’s plan to take Sui Ning home also fell through.
“Ah—!!! Are you kidding me?!”
Ji Yunyu flopped onto the dorm bed in a starfish position and rolled around dramatically, venting his frustration. “There’s only one day off left now. There’s no way we can make it back to Jinling in time! Feng-bao, Chen Chen is bullying me—!!”
“Calling me won’t help. What do you want me to do, go fight the coach? …Wait, you’ve messed up the whole bed.” The pillow had been squeezed onto the floor. Sui Ning bent down to pick it up, trying to verbally stop the puppy currently throwing a tantrum in its nest. “Do you really want to go home that badly?”
“I do—”
The attempt at stopping him failed. Sui Ning blinked, then simply climbed onto the bed and sat on Ji Yunyu’s back, curiosity in his voice. “Why? You weren’t this homesick before.”
With that weight pressing on him, Ji Yunyu suddenly became quiet. His muscles tensed, short hair falling loosely beside his temples, with a striking streak of dark purple in his bangs sticking up arrogantly. He turned his head to look back at Sui Ning, his handsome cheeks flushed red—whether from being smothered or something else, it was hard to tell. “…This time it’s different,” he said, sounding unusually aggrieved.
“How is it different?” Sui Ning asked instinctively.
“….” Ji Yunyu stared at him for a long time, feeling like one day he was going to be infuriated to death by this blockhead.
Without another word, he grabbed Sui Ning and pulled him down. Ignoring the short cry of surprise, he made him fall steadily into his arms, locking him tightly in an embrace. “This time, you’re here.”
“I wanted to take you to meet my parents,” Ji Yunyu whispered softly by his ear. “Would you be willing?”
Sui Ning looked up blankly, meeting the hopeful light in Ji Yunyu’s eyes.
The word “parents” felt incredibly distant to him. The last time he’d cried because of it dated all the way back to his previous life—the day he left home and resolutely set out on the path of becoming a professional player. It took him a moment to even process what Ji Yunyu meant by that sentence. ‘Meeting the parents.’
Sui Ning heard himself reply quietly, “…Mm.”
Ji Yunyu immediately tightened his arms, breaking into a boyish grin. He buried his face against Sui Ning’s neck, repeatedly murmuring “That’s great” and “Ningning, I like you so much.” His messy hair brushed repeatedly against Sui Ning’s sensitive skin, making him laugh as well.
After fooling around for a while, Ji Yunyu asked, “What about you?”
“Hm?”
“Will you take me home?”
Sui Ning fell silent.
He wanted to answer “yes.” After joining PNG, his financial situation was decent enough—he could easily rent a place in Jinling and bring Ji Yunyu there. But he also knew that the “going home” Ji Yunyu meant wasn’t the same concept at all.
Sui Ning couldn’t help thinking of his useless friend and barely helpful manager Xu Hexuan, who had once given him the contact number for the parents of this world’s version of himself. But he had never tried calling it.
The young man sank into a moment of confused silence. Ji Yunyu suddenly seemed to realize something. He pulled Sui Ning closer and pressed a gentle kiss to his right eye. “…I’m sorry.”
“Why are you apologizing all of a sudden?”
“I shouldn’t have asked. I already know your answer, so don’t think about it anymore.”
Ji Yunyu kissed him again, cleared his throat awkwardly, and added a little shyly, “…You can just come home with your husband instead.”
Sui Ning: ?
Sui Ning: “Why do you suddenly say cheesy pickup lines every time?”
“You have zero sense of romance! What’s cheesy about that?!” Ji Yunyu glared at him, face red. “That’s what the books say to do! So annoying—you’re so picky even when I’m trying to comfort you…” In a moment he was going to use that book, The Complete Guide to Winning Your Wife Back, as a table leg wedge.
Sui Ning couldn’t help bursting into laughter. After a while, he wrapped his arms around Ji Yunyu in return and placed a kiss as light as butterfly wings on his lips.
“Thanks, my good husband.”
Ji Yunyu: .
He deliberately put on a pure and harmless expression and pushed the other man down into the bedding.
Sui Ning stayed perfectly calm. “Don’t rub against me.”
“I’m not,” Ji Yunyu blinked innocently. “You’re seeing things.”
Sui Ning looked at him, then silently reached down and grabbed.
“OW—!!!”
——
After several more days of monk-like discipline, Ji Yunyu set off with the team, wearing a sulky expression while holding Sui Ning’s hand.
PNG’s War of Glory division hadn’t been established for very long, and they had never made it to the grand finals before. This was their first time traveling to the capital as actual finalists. Several of the teammates were as excited as elementary school kids going on a spring field trip—unable to sleep at night and chattering noisily the whole way after getting up in the morning.
On the way to the airport, Lin Zhaoxu enthusiastically kept explaining how amazing the Capital Sports Arena was—how impressive the venue was, how cool the facilities were. Even Chen Chen got annoyed listening to him and said he looked like a tour guide who not only worked for free but even insisted on paying his own expenses.
But once they reached the airport, he was the first to get sleepy. He nearly slammed straight into the glass doors of the departure hall, and the sunglasses on his nose fell to the ground with a crisp clack.
Lin Zhaoxu: “…The lenses didn’t break, right?”
Chen Chen: “Congratulations.”
Lin Zhaoxu immediately looked like he was about to cry. Cheng Su, standing nearby, couldn’t stand it and pulled a towel from his backpack, wrapping it around Lin Zhaoxu’s head.
Lin Zhaoxu: “? What are you doing?”
Cheng Su said calmly, “Didn’t you say you wanted to be the most eye-catching guy in the crowd and attract everyone’s attention? Isn’t this enough?”
His tone was so flat that one could almost mistake it for sincerity rather than sarcasm. Lin Zhaoxu blankly looked around—passersby were all staring at him with the stunned expressions people have when they see a real-life idiot in the wild. Whenever he made eye contact with them, they quickly turned away as if pretending they hadn’t seen anything.
The silly kid hurriedly yanked the towel off his head and smacked it onto Cheng Su’s arm. Chen Chen sighed from the side. “Good thing you guys aren’t wearing the team uniforms. Otherwise, I’d be too embarrassed to board this plane.”
Sui Ning couldn’t help nodding in agreement. In his heart, he quietly removed himself from the category of “comedic performer.”
Lin Zhaoxu was baffled: Isn’t this bullying? Huh? Can anyone actually stay on a team like this??
——
Fortunately, PNG had arrived early and had booked business-class tickets, and most of the other passengers waiting were middle-aged business travelers, so the team’s reputation was barely preserved.
However, once they landed they definitely wouldn’t be able to act this freely. The details of PNG’s trip to the capital had been dug up by fans not long after, and a large number of fans had already lined up early at the capital airport to wait for their arrival.
“Are they here yet? Are they here yet? Didn’t the internet say their flight was at twelve?”
Fans standing near the VIP exit of the arrivals hall were extremely anxious. There were both men and women among them, most holding large bouquets of flowers and all kinds of colorful support items.
“Not yet. Didn’t the flight board say it? That flight starting with SC from Shanghai—”
Behind it were two big words: DELAYED.
One male fan couldn’t help sneering. “The weather in Shanghai is perfect—no rain, no wind—and it’s still delayed? One day I’m going to assassinate this trash airline!”
“Just get used to it. Flights between Shanghai and the capital are always delayed… that’s aviation control for you.”
“Hey, will they come out through this exit? If they leave from the other side I’ll literally cry.”
The fans chatted among themselves, and more and more people waiting for arrivals gathered. After more than an hour, they noticed that their line seemed to have gained some extra people—holding unfamiliar pink glowing name signs. Clearly, they were also here to pick up some celebrity, except—
“Why are you standing with us??” And even squeezing into the crowd??
The PNG fans, many of them picking up the team at the airport for the first time, looked confused and asked, “Who are you here to pick up? What group are they from? We don’t recognize them! We’re not here for that person! Could you maybe move somewhere else?”
The other fans didn’t respond. They just kept taking photos nonstop, occasionally whispering things like “He’ll be here soon” or “Make sure to take good candid photos of our brother.” Some of them even posted promotional content on Weibo:
[Charging My Brain]: Who says #Idol Gas Station# only made Xu Meng popular? It’s time to recognize the real value of the Season 2 popularity king #Qian Sheng#! On September 9, Qian Sheng arrived in the capital for a premiere event—countless Qian fans here to greet him!! [Photo: VIP exit packed with people]
Comment: Wow!! Qianqian is amazing!!
Comment: What do those Lemon fans next door have to say now? You said our numbers beating yours were fake—so tell me, does your flop Xu Meng ever get a turnout like this for an event?
Comment: There are so many people, and the spot is great! I wish I could be there! I didn’t expect Qianqian to have so many male fans too!
Comment: Haha, that’s true, his charm is really huge (laugh-cry). But are the things the people in front holding new support merch? The photo’s a bit blurry, but it looks really cute. I want the same one!
The obsessive superfan deleted that last comment without even blinking.
PNG fans had never seen a scene like this before. The other group’s integration into the pickup crowd had been so natural and seamless that PNG fans almost felt embarrassed asking questions, wondering if they had actually forgotten someone from the group traveling to the capital this time.
Seeing the sign “Qian Sheng Forever” in the other fans’ hands, they racked their brains trying to remember. Who is Qian Sheng? Which player’s real name is that?? Does PNG have someone like that? From the second team? The youth academy? It didn’t seem like it… besides, those players weren’t even coming to the capital. Could it be someone from the coaching staff??
The starting five and the head coach were impossible to forget. The substitute didn’t have that name either. The assistant coach was Sun Wei, and the main analyst traveling with them was Zhang Quan…
“Uh… what are the other analysts’ names again?”
“I think there really is someone inside called Li Qian or something like that—”
As soon as those words were spoken, the fans were completely shocked: Holy shit—so people actually come to the airport to pick up analysts???
#PNG Super Topic#
[I’m the First One to Pick Them Up]: Holy shit, you guys have no idea what I ran into at the airport today… I’m searching the whole internet right now for PNG’s analyst team roster…
Comment: ??? Tell us more
Comment: What’s going on? My little cabbages haven’t arrived yet?
Comment: Hurry up and post pictures. No pictures, and you’re talking bullshit! At times like this, can you learn something from the entertainment fandom next door?!
[I’m the First One to Pick Them Up]: [Image] So can someone tell me… who Qian Sheng is??
Comment: ???
——
#QianSheng#
The moment he got off the plane and saw his name trending, the talent show champion Qian Sheng curled his lips in satisfaction, preparing to walk out of the VIP passage in his best state.
He lowered his head to straighten his jacket, not noticing the assistant beside him looking utterly terrified. “How many people came to pick me up?” he asked.
“Very…” The assistant wiped sweat from his forehead. “Very many… you can’t even see the end of the crowd. There are also a lot of security guards!”
“What’s Xu Meng’s team saying?”
Probably laughing themselves to death.
The assistant had bitterness he couldn’t voice. Out loud, he urged the arrogant young star to hurry out, while silently praying that when this ancestor saw the trending topics later, he wouldn’t faint from anger.
Qian Sheng had no idea what his assistant was thinking. Brimming with pride, he strode confidently out of the passage—
“Ahhh—ah?”
The crowd’s cheer only got out its first syllable before sliding into an extremely strange note of confusion. Large numbers of fans looked puzzled and stunned, staring blankly at the posing Qian Sheng in front of them.
Several seconds passed before a few scattered screams appeared:
“Qianqian!!”
“Qianqian you’re so handsome—take good care of yourself!!”
PNG fans: …?
PNG fans: Who the hell is this.
Qian Sheng’s smile nearly collapsed on the spot. He dug his nails into his palm, not daring to imagine how embarrassing his situation in the entertainment circle would look after today.
He started mentally reviewing the list of online “water army” contacts he could hire, comforting himself: As long as the comment control goes well, maybe we can even hype this up for publicity. If it goes badly, we’ll just suppress it entirely! He just didn’t know who the remaining fans were actually waiting for—maybe he could still ride their popularity?
In a daze, he vaguely heard strange conversation coming from behind him, apparently from quite a few people—
“Who the hell wrapped a scarf around my head again while I was sleeping?! The flight attendant was looking at me like I’m an idiot!!”
“First eliminate you, dear top-laner baby~ Not a big problem. At least she didn’t take pictures.”
“Heh. If she did take pictures I’d definitely drag you all down with me…”
“Stop arguing!” A more mature male voice rang out impatiently. “Put on your team uniforms properly! Myerii, what kind of mess is that jacket you’re wearing?!”
“Stop yelling, stop yelling—I’m putting it on…”
“Cloud, stand in front of Wind!”
“? Since when do we have to line up top–jungle–mid–ADC–support even when walking out of the airport???”
“Stop talking back to the coach. You can hold hands later.”
“Alright, hurry up. The driver’s about to fall asleep waiting—”
“Hey, is someone in front of us? Who’s that?”
Chaotic footsteps grew closer.
Qian Sheng kept his stiff smile and didn’t dare turn around. Clearly visible before him, beyond the security barrier, the once-disappointed eyes of the surrounding fans lit up one by one—like stars gradually igniting in the night sky.
The people they had been waiting for so long had finally walked out from the other end of the passage.
“AAAAAHHH—!! PNG—!!”
“PNG!!”
“Winnnnd!! Feng-bao!! Look over here—”
“Holy crap, this distance is even closer than VIP seats! From here, Feng-bao’s face looks so soft! If I’d known I’d come to airport pickups every day!!”
“Brother in front, uh… our tiny team doesn’t usually fly anyway.”
Walking in the middle, Sui Ning hadn’t even had time to ask who the person in front of him was before the deafening screams left him momentarily stunned. Security guards struggled to hold back fans trying to rush forward with flowers, forcing them to pull thorn-trimmed roses from their beautifully wrapped bouquets and toss them into the path instead.
Several flowers landed on his team uniform before rolling to the ground, bright red petals damp with morning dew scattering across the floor.
Before he could react, the fan who threw them panicked even more than he did.
“Holy shit!” The fan’s face turned pale, looking on the verge of fainting. “I didn’t mean it!! Feng-bao, I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to throw them at you—”
Sui Ning didn’t pick up the flowers. Instead, he smiled lightly and waved at the fan. “See you at the finals.”
This time the fan really looked like they were about to faint.
“PNG! PNG—!”
Several fans at the front shouted at the top of their lungs:
“Welcome to the capital—!!!”
“AAAAAAAHHH—!!!”
——
The massive airport pickup event automatically ended once the players left.
The club’s car had already been waiting for a long time and took Sui Ning and the others to an esports hotel in the city center.
“The internet speed there is fast,” the person in charge explained. “We tested it before—hotels near the arena don’t have very good connections, so we had to book somewhere a bit farther away. This one was recommended by Navic.”
No one objected. “When will Navic arrive?” Sui Ning asked after hearing that. “Are they staying at the same hotel as us?”
“No,” Chen Chen answered this time. “To avoid suspicion, Panpan took them to stay somewhere else. They’ve come here plenty of times and know the area well, so they can pick any hotel they want. They’ll arrive in a couple of days.”
After all, they casually made the finals every now and then and treated coming to the capital like a regular outing.
Once they reached the hotel, Chen Chen assigned rooms the same way he did back at the base. He also booked an extra-large suite to serve as a training room, planning to arrange a scrim with HTG that very evening.
[Tang Xiaoyu]: No time. Scram.
[Emperor Chen]: Heh. Not scrimming with us, huh? Fine then, bye.
[Tang Xiaoyu]: .
Tang Yu wanted to say something else, but realized Chen Chen had already blocked him.
Tang Yu: What a psycho. Blocking people over nothing—what is he, an elementary school kid?
Still angry, he ran to the HPL coaches’ group chat and blasted Chen Chen there.
Meanwhile, Chen Chen immediately went to message Tayloo’s coach.
[Emperor Chen]: Scrim? 7 PM?
[BarbecueHasNoFlavor]: Let’s do it.
The two hit it off instantly.
The players: …So there’s really zero time to slack off, huh??
They had thought they might at least wander around the capital a bit!!
But once the scrim started, they had no time to complain. They switched into competitive mode and focused completely on the limited burst of training they had left. As for that strange guy they’d seen during the airport pickup earlier… Huh? Strange guy? Red side or blue side? What position? Which champion?
——
Online, however, the airport pickup caused quite a stir. All kinds of articles—true, false, black, white—flooded the internet, and the trending topics were practically refreshed from top to bottom.
#PNG – Capital Airport! (EXPLOSIVE)#
#WhoIsQianSheng#
#WelcomePNG_QiangToTheTeam (soybean smirk)#
#WhatDoesItMeanToStealFans#
As Qian Sheng’s rival fandom, the Lemon fans of Xu Meng were initially delighted by his public embarrassment. But when they realized that the most famous person involved in humiliating him was Sui Ning, they suddenly couldn’t feel happy anymore…
To be honest, even though so much time had passed—and PNG had long since thrown small fry like them completely out of their minds—the Lemon fans had still spent the past five months consistently treating PNG, especially Sui Ning, as their sworn rival.
Yet today they suddenly realized something:
Maybe… they weren’t even qualified to be considered rivals.
The realization made them feel deeply dejected. In the past, some Lemon fans had asked: Why is it that after everything we’ve done, Sui Ning has never responded at all? Aren’t he and his team even a little afraid of us?
Now they finally had the answer.
Sui Ning would say he had to give his all to defeat Amor and Boring. He would say that laning against Midc was stressful and required extra caution. He would say Cpyhc was a respectable opponent…
But he had never once mentioned the Lemons.
Because from beginning to end, in Sui Ning’s eyes, there had never been a place for this group of small fry.
----------
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