The day was clear and bright.
In a high-end villa community in Shanghai, the distinctive logo of the ZGDX esports club made the building stand out as the most eye-catching in the entire neighborhood.
The interior of the villa was also vastly different from ordinary residences. In the spacious living room on the first floor, six out of seven computers were occupied by young men of varying ages—the youngest looking like a high school student, the oldest no more than twenty-two or twenty-three. Yet despite their differing ages, they were all doing the same thing—
The crisp click-clack of mice echoed in the air.
On the keyboards, slender fingers danced, the mechanical keycaps rising and falling with an almost hypnotic rhythm.
The glow of the monitors illuminated their youthful faces, but in stark contrast to their expressionless demeanors, the game characters they controlled on-screen were dominating the battlefield—
After a while, the sound of a Nexus exploding came from the speakers of one computer in the corner. One of them had finished his game. The young man, sporting a bold head of red hair and looking about seventeen or eighteen, let out a long sigh and glanced back at his beloved teammates—everyone was still engrossed in their own games, seemingly uninterested in acknowledging him.
"......"
The redhead sighed helplessly and clicked open the League of Legends news homepage. His eyes were immediately drawn to the bold, black headline featuring his own team's name—
[Breaking Tradition: Following North America's First Female Pro Player, China's ZGDX Team Joins the Movement!]
He read the first headline aloud.
No one responded.
[At 17, She Topped the National Server; at 18, She Solo-Queued to Korean Server King—The Genius Mid Laner Standing on the Shoulders of 99% of Male Players!]
He read the second headline loudly.
Still, no reaction.
[ZGDX Invested Significant Time and Effort to Recruit Smiling, Convincing Her to Join as the First Female Pro Player in China's League of Legends Pro League History—With a Guaranteed Starting Position.]
He read the third headline at full volume.
Silence persisted.
[Smiling Stated That Professional Gaming Has Nothing to Do With Gender. She Doesn’t Understand Why Men Have Always Dominated the Game’s Highest Levels and Declared: If Women Really Want to Compete, They Won’t Do Any Worse.]
He read the fourth headline loudly.
This time, someone finally acknowledged him—
The handsome young man sitting next to him lifted his eyelids slightly and shot the redhead a glance. At the moment, the man looked utterly unlike the heartthrob from the team’s promotional photos—his expression was gloomy, dark circles hung under his eyes, and his stubble was unkempt. In a somewhat indifferent tone, he said, "Old Cat, your yelling is giving me a headache."
"...Captain, my Cheng Ge, my Boss C, this girl is our new Mid Laner," the redhead named Old Cat said, pointing at his screen. "Show some interest. She might show up tomorrow."
Lu Sicheng responded with a disinterested "Hmm," then added, "Along with her little beast."
"What?"
"Cat."In the small fish tank beside Lu Sicheng's computer, three goldfish swam back and forth.
Old Cat stared at the seemingly drained god beside him for a while, then, as if guessing something, craned his neck to peek at the man's computer screen—
Sure enough, although the game on the screen wasn’t over yet, the champion that should have been fighting in the match was now idling in the base fountain, completely AFK.
Old Cat: "Cheng Ge, if you keep going AFK, you’ll drop ranks."
"I can always climb back," the man replied with a lazy expression, lifting his hands off the keyboard with effortless coolness, his deep, magnetic voice adding, "But I can’t let idiots ride my coattails for free rank-ups."
As he spoke, he pulled up the stats screen for Old Cat to see—
As the ADC, his stats were 11 kills, 3 deaths, and 5 assists, while his mid-laner teammate’s stats were 0 kills, 11 deaths, and 3 assists.
"This idiot fed mid, then came to bot to feed. I couldn’t kill fast enough to keep up with his feeding speed," Lu Sicheng said flatly. "Gonna report him after this. Reason: too stupid."
Old Cat: "..."
Lu Sicheng: "Diamond I is hell."
Old Cat: "Let me tell you something even more hellish—the data review is the day after tomorrow. You’re still 100 LP short of the requirement, plus three promotion matches."
—The ZGDX Team conducted monthly data reviews, requiring all members to maintain at least a Grandmaster rank on the Korean League of Legends server. Otherwise, for every tier dropped, 20% of their monthly salary would be deducted.
Old Cat looked at him sympathetically: "Ever since this new rule was implemented, Cheng Ge, you’ve never gotten your full salary."
Lu Sicheng: "..."
Old Cat: "Stop going AFK. Every game you abandon costs you a thousand bucks. Think about it—you won’t wanna AFK anymore."
"..."
Lu Sicheng fell silent for a moment, then pointed at Old Cat’s screen—
With a dull ding , the confirmation prompt for a new game popped up on Old Cat’s monitor. Flustered, he hastily clicked accept, entering the champion selection phase for his next ranked match—
At the same time, the team headquarters’ front door was knocked.
Still pondering which champion to pick, Old Cat didn’t even look up: "Probably takeout or a delivery. Captain, could you do us the honor of getting the door?"
"Busy."
"Don’t lie. You’re clearly busy helping the boss save money by cutting your own salary."
Lu Sicheng glanced at his screen—his team’s Nexus had just been destroyed. Frowning slightly, he pushed his keyboard away and stood up, sauntering lazily toward the door—
He opened it.
Outside stood a short-haired girl who barely reached his chest, looking about eighteen or nineteen. When the door opened, her knocking hand froze mid-air—
Then she looked up, locking eyes with the man behind the door.
Five seconds of silence.
The girl’s dark pupils suddenly lit up. She snapped to attention and began waving her hands so fast her fingers blurred: "Ahhh! Is that Cheng Ge?! It is, right?! Oh my god, I didn’t expect you to be the one opening the door! Why would you open the door?! Hi, hi, I’m—"
BANG!
The sound of the door slamming shut cut off her unfinished introduction.
Inside the villa.
Old Cat craned his neck again: "Why’d you close the door again? Who was it?""Brain-dead fans are coming to gank the Team headquarters."
Standing behind the door, the man said expressionlessly. He paused as if carefully recalling something, then slowly furrowed his brows and added—
"And they're not even wearing makeup."
OpenNovel