Shi Luo choked and pulled his hand back like he’d suffered an electric shock. He was so ashamed and resentful that he blurted out, “You were pretending and you actually admitted it?!”


  Yu Sui adjusted the hem of his T-shirt and said softly, “You were rubbing so earnestly that my conscience couldn’t bear it.”


  Shi Luo wanted to say ‘you still have a conscience?’. But thinking about it carefully, this person was indeed very conscientious. Saying this would be too hurtful. Shi Luo tried to hold back his blush. Gritting his teeth, he said, “That’s so magnanimous of you……”


  Shi Luo took a couple steps back and sat down on a cushion on the floor. He took out a cigarette and held it between his lips. He lighted it up and with ears completely red, he said nothing and began to smoke.

  Yu Sui looked silently at Shi Luo. “You were acting strange since we came back from the game. I don’t know what’s the matter with you. So I thought of tricking you into coming out so I can ask you.”


  Shi Luo blew out some smoke and frowned, “You couldn’t have just……called me?”


  Yu Sui looked at Shi Luo and asked in return, “If I had called you, would you have come? Could you have let your guard down……and be honest?”


  Shi Luo took a puff and did not answer.

  “Let’s chat.” It seemed like the last time this happened between the two of them was two years ago.

  Since their reunion, there have always been other people or other matters between the two of them. But even when they’re alone, they were unable to be completely calm.

  Yu Sui actually didn’t feel all that sad about how things have changed between them. If he wanted them to go back to those times when there weren’t any unpleasantness between them then that would take time. They’ve been apart for so long. How was it possible to say, ‘let bygones be bygones’ and let things just pass?

  Misunderstanding can be clarified, gross injustices can be wiped clean, but wounds needed to slowly recover.

  Yu Sui carefully observed Shi Luo’s expression. “What did I accidentally do to make you unhappy?”


  “Nothing.” Shi Luo sullenly said, “I was just shocked when I saw that feelings mediation talk show on your computer when we got back. I thought, I thought……”


  Yu Sui was at a loss. “Thought what?”


  Shi Luo indignantly mumbled, “I thought you really wanted to send me and Violent Shu to that kind of show.”


  Yu Sui: “.……”


  Yu Sui tried his hardest to make himself appear like a normal person. “I just haven’t seen this kind of thing before. I was curious. I wanted to take a look. It would be impossible to send you to participate in this kind of thing……”


  “Yeah. I figured that after some thought.” Shi Luo smoked another cigarette. He said reluctantly, “My brain just short-circuited during dinner. Afterwards, I didn’t think about it anymore.”


  Shi Luo looked distrustfully at Yu Sui. “Is your stomach really ok?”


  “It’s really fine.” Yu Sui made his slag-ness clear. “It’s not uncomfortable at all. I was pretending all that time just to trick you into looking for me.”


  Shi Luo was so furious that he snatched back the cup of water he had just gotten for Yu Sui.

  Yu Sui reminded him. “But I already drank it.”


  Shi Luo’s eyes were black and bright. He’s already drank it so there’s no way to retaliate?

  Shi Luo took a puff of cigarette. He raised his hand and flicked soot into Yu Sui’s cup.

  This action simply couldn’t be any ruder.

  But when Yu Sui looked at him, Shi Luo obviously had on a flippant and impudent expression touched with a bit of regret that he might have been too rude. The corner of Yu Sui’s lips slightly ticked up.

  He’s still a little brat.

  Yu Sui’s cell phone suddenly rang. Shi Luo frowned. “Zhou Huo? He was the one who asked me to look after you just now. You talk to him. I’m gonna head out.”


  Before Shi Luo could get up, Yu Sui shook his head. “Gu Gan.”


  Yu Sui pressed the hands-free option.

  “Yu Sui?”


  Over the phone, Gu Gan said, “Congratulations to Yu Shen on your first victory.”


  “Thanks.” Yu Sui raised his eyes and looked at Shi Luo. “Shi Luo’s here with me. Is something the matter?”


  Gu Gan’s voice came over the loudspeaker, “Evil, I watched your game today. You played well.”


  Shi Luo said in a muffled voice, “I didn’t really play well. I wasn’t able to cooperate well.”


  “You’ve just formed a team. That’s normal. Just try to learn to get along slowly. I’ve got something to tell you guys.” Over at the other end of the line Gu Gan’s voice dropped a bit deeper. “European Division’s Sacred Sword Team asked us for a practice match.”


  Yu Sui’s eyes met with Shi Luo’s.

  Gu Gan added, “By the way, Sacred Sword scheduled a practice match with Saint yesterday.”


  Saint, Angel Sword’s team, the Chinese Division champions last year.

  “Are all the teams in the European division dead? They couldn’t find anyone to practice with so they absolutely had to insist on practicing with the team in our division?” Shi Luo narrowed his eyes. “Who won?”


  Gu Gan said, “Sacred Sword.”


  “They played three games?” Shi Luo frowned and questioned closely, “How many to how many?”


  Gu Gan sighed, “Two to zero.”


  Shi Luo extinguished the cigarette butt. “F*ck.”


  “The details of the practice match can’t be made public. This is the most basic professionalism. It was inconvenient for Saint to tell us more but they contacted our manager today and told him that if Sacred Sword asks for a practice match, we should find a way to politely refuse.” Gu Gan paused for a few seconds. “It’s probably because…… Although their entire team has been replaced, their overall style is still the same. They love to crush their opponents to the point of breaking their spirit. They play a bit dirty……you understand.”


  Worried that the two didn’t understand, Gu Gan said it more bluntly, “Even if they crush you in the game, they won’t end the match. They won’t destroy the resurrection stone either. They also love making their medic guard the resurrection stone and having him kill anyone that resurrects.”


  Yu Sui said, exasperated, “No need to jog my memory. I remember my sins full well.”


  Gu Gan, his straight-man-ness going off the charts, nodded, saying, “Right, that’s what you did to Shi Luo back then.”


  Shi Luo felt entirely ill at ease and quietly lit a cigarette.

  Gu Gan said to himself, “I thought that when you guys left Sacred Sword, they would at least need one season to recover. I never thought they’d be able to crush our no. 1 team right after they’d just reorganized.”


  “They have nothing they need to recover from.” Yu Sui put down the phone between himself and Shi Luo. He said slowly, “Our departure wasn’t sudden. As early as half a year ago, the management of the Sacred Sword Team was already asking me to renew the contract. I never expressed any desire to. Sacred Sword must have been forming a new team half a year ago or even earlier than that.”


  “So that’s it……” On the other end of the line, Gu Gan sounded lost in thought. “That makes sense. They had ample time. Not to mention, this time they absorbed two teams in one go. They have more than enough players to choose from.”


  Gu Gan added. “Now I understand. Two years ago, I didn’t understand how a European club like theirs could be so clear on the situation of the clubs over here and were even able to immediately contact Ji Yanhan……turns out they’re the kind of club that specializes in buying teams and stripping it down, ah.”


  Shi Luo didn’t care about what kind of foul operations Sacred Sword was involved in. He interrupted Gu Gan and questioned closely, “Captain Gu, so after Saint’s manager warned you, what happened? Did you decline their invitation for a practice match?”


  Gu Gan said over the phone, “No.”


  Shi Luo: “.……”


  Gu Gan said, “We agreed.”


  Yu Sui smiled.

  “Captain Gu, you……” Shi Luo gritted his teeth, “.…… Should I be thanking Sacred Sword in advance for their Mental Collapse Gift Package to Wawa?”


  “What could we have done otherwise? Reject them?” Gu Gan said, “Although NSN doesn’t have any achievements to show in recent years, we’re also an old club that has survived for ten long years. No matter how great the disparity we must face it with our all. They have already come right at our doorsteps. How could we possibly reject their invitation because we’re afraid?”


  Shi Luo was speechless for a while.

  Yu Sui whispered, “The pride of an old veteran. They can’t refuse.”


  “Evil, although you were only with NSN for two months, I still think of you as one of my former teammates.” Gu Gan said, voice deep, “Don’t throw away the arrogance of a pro-player just because you squandered away two years at IAC. We may lose but we may not be afraid. Always remember this.”


  “.……” Shi Luo wanted to defend himself, explain that he was only worried for Wawa, who had weak psychological endurance. If it were himself, of course, he wouldn’t be afraid. But Shi Luo has always been very respectful towards Gu Gan and he didn’t want to talk back. He couldn’t only behave himself and listen to his admonishment. “I’m sorry, Captain Gu. I understand.”


  Gu Gan was also worthy of playing as a striker. When he attacked, he made sure to gun everything down. He added, “What’s more, you shouldn’t give up on yourself just because you’ve gone to Free, this new team of less than a month, with absolutely no heritage to speak of. You can always treat NSN as your mother team. Remember our NSN’s team training, take our motto as yours. Never say never, remember?”


  “.……” Yu Sui asked hesitantly, “Gu Gan, are you trying to use a crowd taunt? Shi Luo’s mother team should be FS, shouldn’t it?”


  “But this ID, Evil, was registered with our team.” Gu Gan didn’t even have to think about it. “No matter how you think about it, Evil is a player who emerged from our team. Back then, when he was at NSN, he dared to stand firm against Sacred Sword, now, he’s actually thinking of running away.”


  Shi Luo was intimidated by Gu Gan’s overwhelming sense of moral courage and righteousness. He gave up on trying to explain and reluctantly said, “I-I understand. I won’t……give up on myself.”


  Gu Gan was relieved. “Tomorrow, after the match, I will tell you the result. I’ll hang up.”


  Gu Gan’s vehement presentation of his views thoroughly diffused the charm that had suffused Yu Sui’s room just now. The two of them looked at each other and then helplessly got up and headed towards the training room to continue practice.

  With a strong enemy eyeing them menacingly, where would they have the time to fix that matter about that stomachache?

  The next day, Zhou Huo returned to the base, taking advantage of everyone having lunch in the dining room, he said, looking mysterious, “Have you all heard that Saint had a practice match with Sacred Sword the day before yesterday?”


  “We know.” Puppy’s face was calm. “Yu Sui told us, two to zero. Our former boss is rich, our former boss is terrifying, our former boss is scary good.”


  “Hey, stop praising them!” Zhou Huo said, “Then do you know how miserably they bullied around Saint during the second game?”


  Old Qiao frowned. “How would you know this kind of detail? Let me remind you guys now, we don’t play dirty here. Stealing the details of another team’s training matches must never ever be done. Never, no matter when or in which competitive region.”


  “Relax, would I invite this kind of trouble upon myself?” Zhou Huo whispered, “It was Saint’s sniper, Illusion. He was so angry that he let it slip during his live broadcast. Illusion’s not very popular and not a lot of people watch his broadcasts so not a lot of people know. It only spread to a small group.”


  Old Qiao breathed out a sigh of relief. “Then elaborate.”


  “There’s not much to tell either. Illusion only said a few things.”


  “They played two games. The first was fine, they lost, that’s all. You know, Sacred Sword’s style has always been that the more they win, the more confident they are, and the more confident they are, the better they play. Their performance was even better during the second game. From the very start, they pushed around Saint. Saint never could have imagined that a newly formed team could abuse their championship team that much. Their mentality was a bit unstable. The more they played, the more they went to pieces. In the end……”


  “It seems that Sacred Sword heard that Angel Sword’s the best medic in our region. Oh, the former being……” Zhou Huo looked at Yu Sui and waved his hand, “So they deliberately targeted Angel Sword. But Angel Sword’s a pure milktank-type medic. He can’t even use his dagger. He was abused but had no way to fight back. He could only endure. They attacked him the entire game. He couldn’t even leave the resurrection stone. Sigh……”


  Chen Huo and Angel Sword teamed up just yesterday. He frowned. “F*ck, he’s a good guy! What are they bullying him for?”


  “They’re deliberately making people sick with disgust.” Zhou Huo spreads his hands. “Thankfully, Angel Sword has a good mentality. He didn’t say anything despite being targeted and abused for an entire game. After the game, he did what had to be done and even took the team to review the game. It was Illusion who couldn’t take it. He refused to do the game review and went off on his own to play single row. Finally, it was Angel Sword by himself, who dragged Illusion to do the game review. He couldn’t help telling this during his live broadcast, that’s how I found out.”


  “A small incident of going AWOL.” Puppy’s thoughts were starting to drift. The more he heard, the more wistful he became. “Why is their medic so warm and so gentle? Illusion refused to go to the game review and not only was he not beaten for it, Angel Sword even brought him to do a personal game review? What kind of angel is that?”


  Yu Sui swallowed his mouthful of food and looked at Puppy. “What were you saying?”


  “Nothing, nothing.” Puppy gave a forced laugh. “I was so moved I just couldn’t help it. Sigh, Sacred Sword is sick. Everyone knows they bought the players from two whole teams. What do they think they’re doing crossing over the ocean just to show off?!”


  “Throwing down the gauntlet in advance.” Zhou Huo shook his head. “They asked NSN for a practice match today. I hope NSN can teach them to have some decency.”


  Old Qiao nodded. “Let’s keep our hopes up. NSN’s not some vegetarian. They’ve also added a genius sniper this year. They’re very fierce.”


  Shi Luo put down his chopsticks. “I hope so.”


  That evening, just after their practice game, Shi Luo received a message.

  [AWA]: [Shi Ge, is it too late for me to change to a striker now?]

  ——->>>>>>

  Translator’s Notes: Alsooooo, it’s summer, baby! BBQ’s, surf, sand, the works! Though, not really, ‘coz a lot of us are at home because of covid. But! That doesn’t mean there’s no fun to be had! Because CG is hosting a contest to celebrate reaching 5000 members on discord. So time to show your stuff and win some great prizes too! So check it out!

  PS: There’s a fanfic and drawing contest there too and even if you don’t enter any of the contest, I suggest you check out the submissions! =)