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Chapter 3
Gu Gan was still sending messages nonstop.
[NSN-GU]: [He will be at the warm up match with your team next Monday. It hasn't been decided whether he'll go up or not. ]
[NSN-GU]: [When the time comes, when you see him don't make trouble. ]
[NSN-GU]: [You're not a kid anymore. ]
[NSN-GU]: [I shouldn't need to say this but I was worried that you'd suddenly find out during the match and it might affect your game. ]
[NSN-GU]: [Although winning or losing the match won't affect the team's points for the season, I didn't want to have an unfair advantage. You should mentally prepare yourself in advance. ]
Shi Luo had laughed enough and stared at the screen in a trance.
He had no idea if at this moment, at NSN's base Yu Sui was standing next to Gu Gan's computer, watching as Gu Gan asked him to take some precautionary measures.
Shi Luo rubbed the back of his neck and typed a question in response. [What's there to prepare for?]
[NSN-GU]: [? ]
[IAC-Evil]: [Am I going to trade blows with him at the stadium? ]
[IAC-Evil]: [Don't they say let bygones be bygones? I've forgotten all about those things. ]
[IAC-Evil]: [By the way, just a friendly reminder, Captain Gu. Looks like you've just set off an issue. I'm doing a live broadcast. ]
[NSN-GU]: [...... ]
[NSN-GU]: [... you. ]
Shi Luo typed with a smile: [Captain Gu was too fast. I couldn't stop you. ]
After knowing that Shi Luo was doing a live broadcast, Gu Gan didn't say anything more. Shi Luo also didn't speak anymore. The two silently pushed against the opposing side. After the game, without even a greeting, they exited the map one after the other.
Naturally, at this moment, none of the e-sports forums were very calm. Gu Gan had let out such big news that the forums exploded immediately.
There are too many points for the players to discuss. There were those hopefuls who were already dreaming about NSN winning the World Championships next season. There were those who were regretting that NSN still lacked a great sniper. There were also those who wanted to watch the excitement and felt sorry that Yu Sui couldn't be on the same team as Shi Luo. And there were still those who couldn't set aside their hate and were still scolding Yu Sui for abandoning the domestic league before and thought that he was unworthy of returning. Reasonable discussions and personal attacks were flying all around. Then, there were the countless haters with private agendas taking the opportunity to create rumors. The forum administrators temporarily blocked posts until four or five o'clock in the morning, when the immortals could no longer stay awake and things gradually calmed down.
They've made enough noise and issued enough criticism that the rest calmed down and suddenly realized a problem: today was Saturday.
Saturday!
In other words, after another day it would be Monday!
Every year, there was a three-month rest period after the end of the FOG World Championship matches until the start of the new season. During these three months, teams would officially or secretly reorganize. The professional league team that failed to secure their spot the previous year will go to play the qualifying matches. Newly transferred team members and coaches would familiarize themselves with their new team and teammates... During these messy three months, in order to keep the viewers' attention and interest, the league inserted a one-month long period of preseason matches, which Gu Gan referred to as a "warm-up match".
The winning or losing of the preseason match doesn't affect the team's points. These were purely for the sake of profit and to remain relevant to their viewers. It was also to allow the newly transferred players to train and prepare for next season.
The preseason matches were simple round robin, best of 1 matches. One game would decide victory or defeat. Except for the two teams that were related last season, the ten teams that were still in the league would participate, playing against each team in turn. And to kick off the preseason matches next Monday, there will be a match up between Evil's IAC team and Gu Gan's NSN team.
IAC vs. NSN, it was a game that was already quite hot and now because of Yu Sui's arrival, the interest in this topic quickly soared. In less than two days, fans of the two teams and Yu Sui's local fans increased the ticket price of this warm-up match by more than ten times. On the day of the match, the fans surrounded the outside the stadium until not even a single drop of water could pass through. Shi Luo and Yu Sui's fans had a little bit of contention, and their banners showing their support were all bigger than the next.
Inside the IAC team's nanny car, the team manager, Zhao Feng looked out through the window of the co-pilot seat and clicked his tongue."Scary... Shi Luo, your normally soft and gentle sister fans are uncharacteristically fierce today. Looks like they came with swords drawn and bows bent."
Shi Luo said nothing. He leaned against the back of his seat with his eyes closed, and headphones over his ears, blowing his chewing gum.
Zhao Feng looked back at Shi Luo and said, "Wearing headphones again. Did you hear me? Sigh... to tell you the truth, the boss will be watching the live broadcast of today's match. He's paying very close attention. He even sent me a message on WeChat. Give it to me straight, what do you think about our chances of winning today?"
Shi Luo chewed his gum, took off one of his earphones, and after a pause, said, "Twenty percent."
Zhao Feng's expression turned bitter when he heard these words. The other players in the car, though, suddenly relaxed. Shi Luo said that there was little hope of winning, which meant that it was totally normal to lose! They didn't have to take the blame or receive a scolding!
The other three teammates looked much more relaxed and started joking and bantering. Zhao Feng, though, wasn't reconciled to losing."Don't say that. Can't you raise the teams' morale a little? NSN's sniper is pretty average, and their team hasn't gotten used to each other yet. I think we've got a pretty good chance of winning... and as I've told you, the boss is watching."
"If the boss is watching, it's 20%, and when he isn't watching, it's still 20%." Shi Luo wasn't about to make a military pledge in order to make the club owner happy."Before, our probability of winning against NSN was at 50%, that's all. Now, ..."
After a short pause, Shi Luo continued, "Now they've changed their medic and patched up the team's shortcomings. Our possibility of winning will inevitably shrink, isn't this true?"
Zhao Feng naturally understood that and he laughed."Don't they say that you're supposed to outperform yourself on the field? Well, it's fine. I wouldn't want to put more pressure on you, just do your best out there, alright?"
The fans' cheers receded in the background as the nanny car went into the underground garage. Shi Luo put on his team uniform and prepared to get off."Of course, we will."
The IAC team members and their entourage proceeded to their own lounge under the guidance of the stadium staff. They walked through a long corridor and passed by the lounge with the NSN team logo pasted on the door. Shi Luo paused in his steps and shot a glance at the tightly closed door.
Manager Zhao Feng's heart instantly jumped to his throat.
Although everything had been normal with Shi Luo during the past two days, Zhao Feng has worked with him for two years and could clearly feel that the young master had been suppressing his anger in his heart since he learned of Yu Sui's return to China, and that anger was definitely not small.
He was very worried now that a single inappropriate remark might set off Shi Luo and he would suddenly kick open the door to the NSN lounge and do something that would land him on the front page of the newspapers.
Everything's still fine. Shi Luo's just taking a look.
Shi Luo wore his headphones and blew a big chewing gum bubble, with nary an expression on his face. With his peripherals bag in tow, he entered the IAC team's lounge.
The IAC team's coach hurriedly emphasized the key points for each team member and adjusted everyone's mood before the match. Since there was never anything to tell Shi Luo, the coach generally didn't waste time talking to him. Today, contrary to his usual practice, he asked Shi Luo, "Evil, do you have any ideas?"
Shi Luo had been looking down at his phone this whole time. When he heard these words, he looked up, "What ideas?"
Coach wasn't as cautious and meticulous as Zhao Feng, and he straightforwardly said, "Our team are all newcomers. Only you are familiar with Whisper. Do you have any points to mention? Things we need to pay attention to."
Coach said, "You should know best how Whisper operates, right?"
Shi Luo put away his phone.
No one could possibly be more familiar than him.
Back then, Yu Sui had been the one to teach Shi Luo how to play a medic; little by little, detail by detail, he had shaped him. Shi Luo was called "Little Whisper" at that time, not only because he played a medic very well, but even more because his gameplay was almost a complete copy of Yu Sui's.
No one understood Yu Sui's customary gameplay more than Shi Luo did.
Shi Luo nodded."Naturally."
The coach was reassured."This is a big advantage for us. In a moment, you should listen to Shi Luo's commands in the early stage. We must pay close attention to Whisper. Don't treat him as just a medic. He can kill people. You must never ever let him take your head. It would be best not to let him get even the auxiliary points in the early stages. This person will be terrible once he can use the public economy. If he manages to buy the three-faced photon shield in the later stage, he'll be even more difficult to play against. Be careful, Shi Luo..."
Shi Luo looked up, and the coach emphasized: "For today's match against NSN, don't focus on Gu Gan. Look at their medic and target Whisper. Got it?"
Zhao Feng stared at the coach all jittery. His entire face spelled out: "Whisper, Whisper, Whisper, all the time! Aren't you afraid of death?"fr𝙚ℯ𝓌e𝚋𝙣ovℯl - 🅽🅽novel
Contrary to what Zhao Feng expected, Shi Luo acted like normal."Target Whisper, no problem."
The coach then emphasized a few more points to note. When it was ten minutes before the match, the stadium staff came to verify the information of the players for the last time, and then informed them, "Your opponents, the NSN team's starting line-up will be ROD as sniper, Gu Gan as striker, Xinran as striker and Wawa as medic."
Shi Luo turned to look."What?"
The entire IAC was dumbfounded. Zhao Feng confirmed, "The opponent's medic is Wawa? Whisper won't be getting on stage?"
The staff nodded."Yes."
Zhao Feng didn't quite understand, and asked again, "Is Whisper here?"
The staff member replied, "He's here. I just saw him."
"Oh." Zhao Feng smiled, "Strange, NSN spent who knows how much to buy Yu Sui and they're not going to let him play? Could it be that they didn't want to expose too much of their tactics in the preseason? Not likely. Maybe Yu Sui hasn't gotten used to playing with his teammates yet?"
The staff smiled and said nothing. He left after confirming their information. Zhao Feng happily said to everyone."Do your best! Break a leg! If Whisper isn't going on stage, that's all the better for us, Shi Luo..."
Zhao Feng asked."What's our chance of winning now?"
When Shi Luo frowned slightly, he didn't know what medicine NSN was selling in their gourd, and he answered, "Forty percent."
Zhao Feng was dissatisfied: "In the car, you said that we had a 50% win rate against an NSN without Yu Sui. How can it become 40% after just a short while?"
Shi Luo opened his peripheral bag to get his own keyboard and mouse, and said, "They've got a momentum bonus."
There was no need to mention who this "momentum" referred to.
After pondering for a bit, Zhao Feng had to agree. With Whisper as their trump card, regardless of whether the ace of the entire team was not playing or not, the confidence and vigor he gave to the whole team was enough. Zhao Feng smiled indifferently."Let it be, then. Everyone should just do their best. This is already good news. This is the preseason's inaugural match. Everyone, good luck out there!"
Everyone nodded. Zhao Feng glanced at Shi Luo, confirming that his mood was stable, before he could rest at ease. Zhao Feng self-mockingly smiled. Maybe he was just overthinking it. Looking at Shi Luo, he obviously couldn't look more normal.
A few minutes later, after the staff came once again to inform the team, everyone stood up and followed the staff to the stage.
Shi Luo walked at the very front. He walked to the stage as usual while discussing a few things with the other striker on the team. They hadn't reached halfway through the long corridor, when Shi Luo's footsteps paused and he stood rooted on the spot..
Less than five meters away from them, the NSN lounge door opened.
NSN's coach and team members came out in order.
NSN's coach walked out in front, followed by Gu Gan. Behind him were Rod and Xinran who had their arms around each other's shoulders, the two were followed by Wawa, and then at the very back... patting Wawa's shoulder, was a person in civilian clothing.
Maybe it was because he had joined the team in a rush and the uniform with his ID on it hadn't made it in time.
Evidently, this man hadn't cut his hair in two years. His brown hair now went past his shoulder.
German food probably didn't agree with him, because now he also looked a lot thinner.
There are so many changes, so much so that the other people from IAC asks with a puzzled expression, "Who's the tall handsome guy behind Wawa?"
Only Shi Luo could see through his totally altered back profile with a single glance and recognize his former captain.
Shi Luo looked at Yu Sui's back and it was like he was nailed to where he stood.
Since knowing the news of Yu Sui's return, Shi Luo believed himself to be calm. He never forgot himself; he hasn't made any fuss; hasn't caused any trouble for the team, and hasn't given any of the haters anything to joke about. He wasn't agitated, he wasn't irritable. Totally unlike two years ago when he'd so desperately made a scene and kicked up a fuss.
Shi Luo originally thought that this was because he had grown up, matured. He was now able to calmly face the past and calmly face this person.
What a pity, this was just what "Shi Luo thinks".
Suddenly, the ups and downs of Shi Luo's chest grew faster. The mouse in his right hand gave a "clack - clack" as he began to fidget.
"Shi Luo? Shi Luo?" Zhao Feng frowned, and gently patted Shi Luo, "What's wrong?"
When Shi Luo took a deep breath, he accidentally choked.
Zhao Feng was confused, and he glanced forward."Who is that?"
Su Luo's expression gradually recovered. He said, "Whisper."
F*ck!!!
Everyone in IAC was startled. Zhao Feng was too surprised to say anything."This, this..."
Everyone had made a lot of noise, and the NSN players who were walking ahead, all turned back, including Yu Sui.
Yu Sui was stunned when he caught sight of Shi Luo.
Suddenly, the rise and fall of Shi Luo's chest intensified. He turned his eyes away from Yu Sui's. It was more than he could bear. He stared fixedly ahead and with peripherals in hand, he walked past the entire NSN team.
Luo Shi walked all the way forward, ignoring the staff who was signaling for him and his team to wait. He walked through the waiting area, directly into the dazzling stage bathed in lights. A tsunami of cheers burst from the spectator stands.
| ← Ch. 002 | Ch. 004 → |