After wrapping up everything they needed to do in Paris, the HPL teams prepared to fly back to China together.
On the return flight, Lin Zhaoxu sighed regretfully. "We're leaving already... We didn't even get to properly explore Paris."
It was his first time leaving the country.
Before the tournament, he'd been too nervous to think about sightseeing. Now that he could finally relax, he couldn't help feeling that this trip to Paris had been far too rushed.
And that was indeed the case. Before the finals, PNG had practically no free time.
After the finals, even if they counted every spare moment outside of the official promotional events, they'd only managed to spend two days sightseeing. There were still plenty of famous landmarks they had never visited.
Hearing his complaint, Chen Chen cheerfully painted him a rosy picture of the future. "It's fine. We'll have another chance next year! Maybe we'll even get to visit another country."
"Yeah," Wei Ye agreed. "Honestly, there wasn't that much to see in Paris anyway."
Having failed to find the anime and ACG shopping district he'd been looking for, he pouted. "Besides, we've already been to the most important place. That's good enough."
"The most important place?" Lin Zhaoxu asked.
"The championship podium." Wei Ye grinned. "If you've stood there, how could you possibly have any regrets about your trip to Paris?"
Lin Zhaoxu: "...Damn."
Members of the other teams who happened to overhear: Tsk.
How annoying. Someone should just beat this guy to death.
Sui Ning: ...
You know… He actually had a point.
Still, the flight back to Shanghai took another dozen-plus hours. Sui Ning's waist was a little sore, and he couldn't help shifting into a sideways sitting position.
Ji Yunyu, seated beside him, noticed immediately. There was concern in his eyes—along with just the tiniest hint of smug satisfaction. Lowering his voice, he asked, "Are you okay? Ahem... Want me to help you—"
Sui Ning clamped a hand over his mouth. His expression remained perfectly blank. "Go to sleep."
Just sleep. All of you, sleep. Don't start talking nonsense.
Ji Yunyu blinked innocently, undisguised amusement shining in his deep eyes.
——
As soon as they returned to Shanghai, Chen Chen was immediately summoned away by the club owner.
"You can't relax during this offseason," the boss declared. "We need to recruit properly during the transfer window."
Chen Chen thought to himself: Just say you want me to work overtime.
Still, the boss wasn't wrong. PNG didn't even have a reliable substitute who could step in during crucial moments. They'd been relying on the same starting five all season, which was hardly sustainable.
Leaving distant concerns aside—even if a player simply got sick and couldn't compete one day, what were they supposed to do? Forfeit the match?
Not to mention… Next year was an Olympic year.
The thought of the Olympics immediately gave Chen Chen a headache. He glanced at the boss sitting behind his desk, only to discover they were thinking exactly the same thing. The identical look of distress on both their faces said it all.
Don't get them wrong. Representing the country at the Olympics was, of course, a tremendous honor. The problem was—
PNG didn't have enough people!!
If the Olympic committee selected even one or two of their players for national team training, they wouldn't even have five players left to field a roster.
So what then? Forget about playing in the league? Hand over the World Championship to someone else?
Or was Chen Chen supposed to take off his suit jacket and start warming up as the head coach?
That was precisely why the owner had urgently called him over.
After PNG's dominant championship victory, the entire world had witnessed their performance firsthand.
No one doubted their strength. Which also meant… PNG's players were practically guaranteed to be Olympic candidates.
The moment the national Olympic committee called them away for training camps, the club headquarters would be left completely deserted.
Surely they couldn't send out the academy team—who struggled even in the HDL—to compete as substitutes?
UG would laugh themselves to death. Choi Hyun-woo would probably wake himself up laughing in the middle of the night, never having imagined that winning a third championship could be this easy.
"We need to recruit some substitutes as soon as possible," the boss said with a miserable expression. "And we have to get our academy program running properly too."
Back when PNG had been nothing more than a mediocre little club, recruiting had always been difficult. The players interested in joining weren't good enough. The players they wanted had no interest in them.
Now, however, with a World Championship title backing them, talented players were coming to them voluntarily. The boss's back was straighter. He breathed easier. Even the way he spoke was full of confidence.
Then he looked down at the thick stacks of transfer inquiries piled across his desk. His face immediately fell again.
There was only one reason. Ever since championship night, practically every notable club in the world had sent him transfer requests.
Every single one of them… Wanted Wind.
The boss was grinding his teeth. Even though PNG had never announced whether Sui Ning would become a free agent during the transfer window, countless clubs had adopted the mentality of "It doesn't hurt to ask." Several of them had even offered astronomical transfer fees that made people's eyes turn red with envy.
The numbers were so outrageous that even someone like the boss, who had seen plenty of money in his lifetime, was certain of one thing. If he simply nodded— Sui Ning would instantly become the biggest transfer in the Spring Split. By an absurd margin.
Because nobody else in the world was worth that kind of money.
These clubs were practically willing to sell everything they owned just to buy Wind.
The boss was both delighted and anxious. Delighted because his "homegrown cabbage" had grown into something truly extraordinary. Anxious because he was terrified that Sui Ning's original contract might somehow leak.
A signing bonus of only one hundred thousand yuan. A monthly salary of twenty thousand. At the time, that had seemed like an extremely sincere offer. Looking back now… PNG had practically picked up a World Championship-winning mid laner for free.
If the outside world ever learned that Sui Ning's signing bonus had only been one hundred thousand yuan, who knew how many club owners would cough up blood and end up in intensive care.
One hundred thousand? For those owners, that wasn't even enough money to bother signing paperwork over. They'd probably agree with a simple nod. And now? Not even multiplying that amount by ten million could buy Wind anymore.
The more the boss thought about it, the happier he became, a domineering CEO grin spreading across his face.
Before Chen Chen could get a good look at it, however, the smile vanished. His expression shifted from elation to alarm so quickly it was like flipping a page. "...Wait. Our contract with Wind... How much is the buyout clause again?"
Something felt wrong. He vaguely remembered it being... very low.
Chen Chen looked at his boss with something close to pity. "One million."
The boss shot upright in his chair.
Fortunately, as a well-known businessman, most people had approached him politely so far. No one had simply shown up and offered to pay the buyout.
That was only because the contract terms had remained strictly confidential.
If anyone found out the buyout was only one million yuan… Who knew how many clubs would line up outside PNG headquarters just to hand over the money?
Especially those league teams that had been desperately searching for a star mid laner. Their owners would probably be so jealous their eyes started bleeding.
Every time those owners met him, they all wore the exact same expression. It practically screamed: Please. Take my money.
Even if Sui Ning himself had shown absolutely no intention of transferring, as the club owner, he couldn't allow such a disastrous misunderstanding to happen.
The boss made his decision on the spot. Renegotiate the contracts. Increase everyone's benefits. There was no way he was letting his prized cabbage sprout legs and run away!
Chen Chen nodded and reassured him sympathetically. "It's fine. Wind isn't going to transfer."
"How do you know? How can you be so sure?"
The boss was on the verge of panic, convinced Chen Chen hadn't grasped the seriousness of the situation. "Verbal promises don't count! I've seen too many cases like this. Everything has to be put in writing! You have no idea how ruthless those people are right now. They casually throw out offers like this—"
He exaggeratedly held up nine fingers. Nine digits.
Even though most of a transfer fee wouldn't end up in the player's pocket, the boss was still worried.
Even a small percentage would make someone rich overnight.
Not to mention the salaries these clubs were offering—each one more outrageous than the last. The lowest offers all started at annual salaries in the millions.
How many people in the world could resist that kind of temptation?
The boss felt like he was going bald. It wasn't that PNG couldn't afford to pay. He was simply afraid that his precious cabbage wouldn't even glance at the new contract before getting lured away by some seductive "fairy" from another club.
Chen Chen couldn't help pursing his lips, suppressing a smile.
How did he know?
Because Wind's boyfriend was right here. Where exactly was the cabbage supposed to run?
Besides, money had never been Sui Ning's motivation. The whole fifty-million compensation fiasco from the variety show had been nothing more than a misunderstanding. It was obvious Sui Ning hadn't become a professional player for the money.
On that point, Chen Chen trusted his own judgment after spending so much time with him.
And he also believed...That the light in someone's eyes couldn't lie.
It was something even the greatest con artist couldn't fake.
Besides… Considering Sui Ning's acting skills...
Chen Chen fell silent.
If his mid laner had even the slightest talent for acting, singing, or dancing, someone with that face wouldn't have failed so completely in the entertainment industry.
He really couldn't praise him against his conscience. Better to stick with esports. Forget all those other ideas.
Some people simply weren't born to eat from that bowl.
——
After assigning Chen Chen his tasks, the very next thing the boss did was rush back to the club headquarters. Then he grabbed onto the hem of Sui Ning's shirt and refused to let go.
Sui Ning: ...
That was really unnecessary.
Only after Sui Ning had signed the new contract in black and white, making everything legally binding, did the boss finally feel the enormous weight lifted from his shoulders.
Turns out Chen Chen had been right after all. Wind really didn't want to transfer.
Beaming happily, the boss gently stroked the signature reading "Sui Ning" before carefully putting the contract away.
The other players also signed new contracts one after another, and the boss's mood immediately became bright as a cloudless sky.
With the biggest burden finally gone, he grandly announced that he'd treat everyone to a lavish dinner by the banks of the Huangpu River.
It was during that very dinner that Sui Ning's private email inbox began filling up nonstop with offers from clubs. Chinese. English. Even bilingual Korean-English offers.
When Sui Ning caught sight of the enormous UG Esports logo at the top of one email, even he couldn't stop the corner of his mouth from twitching.
...Seriously? You're offering ninety million? Did you ask Choi Hyun-woo before making that offer?
He was genuinely speechless.
UG's logic was simple enough. We only played one series against him. It's not like we murdered their— [censored]. Why shouldn't we make an offer?
Besides, while UG wasn't known for stockpiling players, who would ever complain about having another world-class mid laner?
China could import Korean players. Why couldn't Korea import Chinese players? PNG management, please don't discriminate against people seeking assistance based on nationality!
The boss: "..."
Thank goodness I moved first.
Even earlier than UG, unsurprisingly, was another HPL powerhouse famous for the phrase "We've got more money than sense—come join us." Navic.
Headquartered in Beijing, their management's spending habits clearly matched the city's level of economic development.
The nine-digit offer the boss had mentioned earlier? That was theirs. Just enough to edge out UG.
To make the offer look even more intimidating, Navic's representative had deliberately written the price entirely in Arabic numerals. The endless string of zeros nearly made Sui Ning's eyes glaze over.
Seeing that, the boss immediately stuffed several pieces of meat into Sui Ning's bowl. "Hey, hey! Stop looking! There's nothing worth seeing! Hurry up and eat. This is delicious! It'll get cold if you don't!"
At the neighboring seat, Lin Zhaoxu happened to glance at Sui Ning's phone screen. He froze. The piece of meat he'd just put into his mouth dropped right back into his bowl.
"Holy shit..." He rubbed his eyes violently. "Holy shit?!"
He desperately wanted to ask Navic's owner: Have you lost your damn mind?
But reason told him otherwise. The man wasn't crazy. He genuinely wanted to buy Wind.
Faced with such a scene, "holy shit" was the only phrase Lin Zhaoxu could think of.
Scrolling farther down only made things more ridiculous. One HPL powerhouse after another sent offers. Before long...A second nine-digit bid appeared.
Cheng Su glanced over, spotted Tayloo's logo, and let out a mocking laugh.
...Looks like his useless older brother was finally about to be kicked out.
Soon afterward, emails from the European and North American leagues also arrived. Besides old acquaintances SDB, several teams that hadn't even qualified for Worlds threw their hats into the ring. Looking through the offers… Not a single one started below eight figures.
Among them, SDB's reason was by far the most outrageous. Our mid laner Maverick retired because Sui Ning beat him so badly. PNG should take responsibility.
Sui Ning: ???
SDB continued.
Since you're willing to take responsibility, we won't ask for much. Just give us your mid laner in a one-for-one exchange.
We won't take him for free, either. One fixed price: 130 million. Let's make friends. Deal?
One had to admit— Backed by Wall Street capital and the U.S. Air Force, SDB certainly had the confidence to throw around absurd amounts of money.
The boss nearly blacked out. Damn it, SDB has absolutely no shame! Maverick retired because he reached retirement age! How the hell is that PNG's fault?!
Just to buy Sui Ning… These people had completely abandoned their dignity.
"Eat! Everyone, eat!"
The boss wiped the sweat from his forehead while secretly rejoicing that he'd already secured Sui Ning's signature. "Come on, hurry up and eat. Look at all of you—you've gotten so skinny!"
He felt absolutely heartbroken.
The PNG players—who had been eating delicious, nutritionally balanced meals throughout their stay in Paris—watched their boss desperately trying to change the subject. "..."
Not gaining weight already counted as a victory.
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