After sending the WeChat message to Lu Sicheng, Tong Yao took another glance at the Forum—similar comments existed there too, but they were few and far between, mostly getting torn apart the moment they appeared: this was normal, the Forum's environment had never been a place where those "heartbroken for the players" female fans could speak freely.
Whenever a comment like "My heart aches for Cheng Ge, Smiling is making a mountain out of a molehill, just because she's sitting on the queen's throne now, does she expect the whole world to support her as a virtuous queen?" popped up, the replies underneath would number in the dozens. Aside from the spectator masses lining up to mock with comments like "Ache for your mom, you sound like an idiot, why did your mom even give birth to you," there were also Tong Yao's fans and Lu Sicheng's fans jumping in, trying to reason with them properly...
Smiling's fan: [Isn't it all for the good of the team? What did Smiling do wrong? Is it really that hard for a grown man to apologize? And Smiling, a young girl, getting bashed and forced to apologize—doesn’t she deserve sympathy?]
Chessman's fan: [I’ve been following Chessman since his LCK days, please listen to my plea, just hear me out—those of you who inexplicably don’t even know what you’re stanning, please shut up.
Even if you don’t understand, just shut up.
It’s genuinely painful to watch.
The reputation of female fans in esports is ruined by lunatics like you.]
The outside world was in complete chaos.
Setting her phone down like it was a bomb, Tong Yao couldn’t quite describe her own emotions. As she put her phone aside, she wiped the cold sweat from her palms on the blanket—just then, her bedroom door was abruptly pushed open from the outside. Lu Sicheng strode straight in, stopping in front of the bewildered girl sitting on the bed. After a brief silence, he asked, "Should I clarify things and make them shut up?"
"...You didn’t knock again."
"What else are they saying?"
"I told you to knock before entering, what if I was changing—"
"For the next few days, don’t go out alone. If you need anything from the supermarket, tell me—I’ll get it for you, or I’ll go with you."
"..."
Tong Yao shut her mouth, staring at the man standing solemnly by her bed. After a moment, she suddenly let out a soft "pfft" and laughed. Sitting on the bed, she lifted her face and stretched her arms toward him... When he didn’t react, she wiggled her hands slightly—until the man finally sighed, bent down, and pulled her into his arms.
Tong Yao nuzzled against his chest, comfortably resting her head on his shoulder, inhaling the faint scent of soap on his neck... She sniffed intently, like a dog, until she felt the arm around her waist tighten slightly, betraying a trace of unease. Only then did she stop.
"Lu Sicheng."
"?"
"...What about you? Do you feel wronged? Do you regret anything?"
Her voice was low, and though she tried to keep her tone light and teasing, a careful listener could easily detect the seriousness beneath it—
Lu Sicheng listened to her uncertain words and stayed silent for a long time. It wasn’t that he didn’t know how to answer, nor that he didn’t want to—it was simply because he was completely distracted. In over twenty years of life, he had never encountered a situation like this before.Caught off guard.
Even fearful.
For the first time, he felt the situation spiraling beyond his control, like a stone sinking into the icy depths of a lake—unable to escape, unable to break free, yet forced to confront it head-on.
Fear. If mishandled, he would face loss.
"What I regret most is failing to protect you, pushing you into the storm with a single misstep." The man's voice was hoarse, betraying little emotion, only tightening his embrace around the person in his arms. "I knew it would come to this. I've been in this circle for so long, seen everything, handled everything flawlessly—yet in the end, when it comes to you..."
Tong Yao hadn’t expected her nervous question to drag Lu Sicheng into such a state. After a moment of surprise, her gaze softened. Resting her chin on his shoulder, she gave him a helpless, tender look and patted his head. "I'm fine, I was just asking. Why are you so—"
Her words were cut off by a cautious kiss.
Lu Sicheng's kisses had been impatient, nervous and reckless, passionate and domineering, even gentle and steady—but today was different. He held her lips and tongue with care, like a large, guilty pet lowering its ears to lick its owner's palm, pleading, terrified of being cast out the next moment to join the ranks of stray cats and dogs.
Yet the kiss was too lingering. From uneven breaths to blurred vision, Tong Yao could only see his slightly lowered, trembling lashes—like tiny fans, like the fluttering wings of a butterfly...
"Lu Sicheng," Tong Yao tugged his ear and gently pushed him away, "I told you I'm fine. It's not the first time I've been criticized..."
Lu Sicheng pulled back slightly, looking down at her. His lips, flushed from the kiss, pressed into a thin line, betraying his unease and frustration.
Tong Yao reached out to touch his eyelashes. He didn’t dodge, and she withdrew her hand. "Really, it's nothing. Let's sleep. If you're so worried about me getting flamed, just make sure we don’t lose to Huawei this week. In esports, talk is cheap—only winning matters."
"Mn."
"Where’s Da Bing and the scallion?"
"Downstairs in the cat cage."
"Bring them up to sleep with me."
"..."
Seeing him unmoved, she shoved him. "Go on."
Lu Sicheng stood, walked to the door—but instead of leaving, he closed it and turned back. Then, under Tong Yao’s bewildered gaze, he kicked off his slippers and climbed onto the bed. "Hugging a cat to sleep? Might as well hug me instead."
"..."
Tong Yao was unceremoniously shoved inward as Lu Sicheng lay beside her, moved her phone far away, reached out to flick off the light, and then pulled her—wide-eyed—into his arms by the shoulders. Only then did she seem to realize what was happening and squirmed. "Is a cat the same as you?"
"Of course not," Lu Sicheng muttered, still sounding sullen. "I’m better than a cat."
As he spoke, he forcibly pressed the still-chattering girl against his chest. Tong Yao couldn’t win against him, so she settled for revenge by pressing her nose into his chest...The two fell silent for a moment. Tong Yao noticed the man's steady breathing above her head and the warm arm beneath it... It was indeed quite hypnotic.
...Whatever.
Tong Yao yawned: "If you let me sleep like this, your arm will be useless tomorrow. Don’t expect any sympathy from me then..."
"......"
"...Ugh, fine, suit yourself." Tong Yao reached out and wrapped her arm around the man's waist to steady herself. "Holding your phone so far away—it’s not like I’d secretly dwell on those insults after you leave. No need to worry."
"......"
Seeing that Lu Sicheng remained unresponsive and, for once, didn’t tell her to shut up, Tong Yao felt a bit awkward. She pursed her lips and quieted down, eventually nestling into the man’s embrace with a soft "Goodnight."
She felt the vibration of his chest close to her ear as he gave a faint "Mm." Closing her eyes, she drifted off.
The night felt unusually long.
Yet, despite the lingering unease, it was unexpectedly peaceful and secure—as if the man holding her was a shelter overhead, warm and serene, capable of keeping all storms at bay as long as he was there.
......
For two days, Tong Yao survived on a steady diet of private messages like "We feel so bad for Cheng Ge, why don’t you?" The third day was the match against Huawei Team.
In the two days leading up to the match, her nerves had been stretched taut, but now, oddly, she felt calm... They hadn’t been idle either—playing scrims when available and relentlessly practicing with the second-string players otherwise—all to quickly address the team’s issues and adapt before the next match.
The team worked on strengthening their execution of Lu Sicheng’s calls and improving their macro play, while Lu Sicheng himself had to learn how to quickly adapt to alternative strategies proposed by his teammates and make the right picks in the shortest time possible.
Every training session demanded intense focus, leaving everyone exhausted. But with a clear goal in sight and steady progress toward it, they endured it willingly.
On the day of the match against Huawei Team, the online skepticism reached a new peak. This skepticism even seeped into the pre-game commentary, where the casters briefly touched on the issue. Remarks from the Korean team RP about China Telecom after their recent scrim were also dredged up for discussion—
It was a subtle, insinuating undercurrent. By the time the match began, the audience had already learned to watch China Telecom’s games with skepticism. Every misstep—disjointed execution, failed rotations, or chaotic shot-calling—was attributed to the pre-match narratives.
The first game was secured without major scares, but in the mid-to-late game of the second match, a small issue arose—Tong Yao’s team had killed the enemy AD carry and confidently rotated to secure the Elder Dragon. Then, she noticed the enemy team frantically clearing vision around the Baron pit and pinged it, suggesting they might be attempting a sneaky Baron take.
"No AD carry—if they fail this Baron steal, it’s an instant Ace," Little Fatty said. "No way they’d risk it. They’re probably just trying to misdirect us."The group engaged in a chaotic discussion over this issue, and in the end, Lu Sicheng decided not to give up the Elder Dragon and continued the fight—only for Huawei Team to smoothly steal the Baron. During the team fight, Little Fatty was instantly eliminated due to poor positioning, and despite the enemy team missing an AD carry, they forcefully initiated a fight, ending the match.
Such occurrences were common in matches, so no one took it to heart. Everyone simply packed up and prepared for the decisive third game.
However, no one expected the commentators to stir up controversy with their discussion outside—
Commentator C: "Despite one win and one loss in these two games, it reminds me of what I mentioned earlier—China Telecom Team's recent match tempo has been somewhat disorganized. During that Baron fight just now, all five players were talking, and all I heard was a jumbled mess. It’s really strange."
Commentator B: "I just texted Commentator A about this, and he heard that China Telecom Team is currently reorganizing their team and new strategies, still in the adjustment phase—"
Commentator C: "Still adjusting? The league is already two-thirds over. How much more adjustment do they need? Other teams have already settled in, yet a strong team like them suddenly starts adjusting... I think this is really inappropriate. The fans' concerns are justified."
Commentator B shot Commentator C a glance, suppressing the urge to kick him under the table to shut him up: "...No need to worry too much. As the saying goes, 'A phoenix rises from the ashes.' Perhaps after this seemingly turbulent adjustment period, China Telecom Team will emerge even stronger?"
Commentator C remained noncommittal.
The third game was about to begin.
By now, the audience had been led by the commentators into heated debates across various platforms—the core argument essentially revolved around the views of Commentators B and C. The official Weibo of China Telecom Team was also split down the middle, with half cheering them on and the other half hurling insults...
Many questioned what they were even doing in these two games, calling their performance ugly.
Just as many encouraged them to quickly overcome this bottleneck, looking forward to a brand-new China Telecom Team competing on the world stage.
When the third game began, compared to the previous stalemates, the results of their recent training finally began to show—
At the 10-minute and 5-second mark, Tong Yao's first TP to the bottom lane, coordinating with the bot lane duo to counter the enemy's bot and jungler, resulted in her securing a triple kill, marking the start of her dominance this game.
At the 15-minute and 30-second mark, ZGDX narrowly lost a team fight. Lu Sicheng was surrounded and killed by three enemies, but he took down the enemy jungler before falling, leaving the remaining two with dangerously low health... Just as Huawei Team's four members aggressively started the Elemental Dragon, and everyone thought ZGDX should contest it 4v5 and gamble for the steal—the four ZGDX members who had initially moved toward the Dragon Pit suddenly saw Tong Yao, Little Fatty, and Old Cat turn back. The trio decisively rotated to push the enemy's mid lane Tier 1 turret. Amidst the crowd's surprise, as Huawei Team was about to finish the Elemental Dragon, only Old K's Lee Sin ward-hopped into the pit, smited, and stole the Dragon.
At the 30-minute and 20-second mark, ZGDX first killed Huawei's Mid Laner, then their AD carry. Their movements were synchronized, their skills perfectly executed, as if one person was controlling all five accounts.
At the 31-minute mark, all five members of Huawei Team were eliminated—Ace. ZGDX Team pushed straight to the High Ground.GG.
The entire arena erupted in cheers.
Commentator B laughed and clapped: [What did I tell you! Look at this execution—it feels like I'm watching Storm Team play! Only they used to pull off such sudden lane swaps and target changes with this level of coordination!]
……
Standing up and removing their headsets, they shook hands with Huawei Team before bowing at the front. Tong Yao glanced back at the MVP screen displaying her own face and paused, muttering, "They just want to interview me, don’t they?"
Little Fatty gave her a sympathetic look. "You’re the one with all the drama. Who else would they interview?"
Lu Sicheng reached out and patted her head.
As her teammates packed up their peripheral bags and headed toward the player tunnel, Tong Yao was already seated in the interview area—surrounded by a sea of spectators below. She wondered how many of them wanted to throw knives at her head.
Host: [Congratulations to ZGDX Team for securing this hard-fought victory, and congratulations to Smiling for claiming MVP in both matches today!]
Tong Yao smiled politely. "Thank you."
Host: [How does it feel to return to group-stage matches and take this win?]
Tong Yao: "It’s great. After losing to the neighboring team last week, everyone was a bit tense and discouraged. This win helps ease that a little."
Host: [We noticed ZGDX has made some adjustments in their playstyle this week, and it seems the shot-calling isn’t solely handled by Cheng Ge anymore. Has China Telecom Team made some tactical changes…?]
Tong Yao nodded. "Yes, there have been adjustments. We’re still working on synergy, but everyone’s been very proactive about it…"
Host laughed: [Are you changing the shot-caller?]
The crowd below stirred.
Tong Yao smiled again, glancing at the man bending over to pack her peripherals at the player station. "No, our dad is still our dad. To change the shot-caller, you’d have to step over his dead body."
She noticed him pause mid-packing, likely lifting his head to look her way, and her smile deepened.
Just then, the host seemed to catch their silent exchange and straightened up, dropping the playful tone. [Smiling, there’s something the audience has been curious about. Recently, there’s been talk online regarding the China Telecom Team captain’s public apology to his teammates—rumored to have been pushed by you behind the scenes. We know this has also subjected you to a lot of criticism. Do you have anything you’d like to say to the fans or your teammates about this?]
Tong Yao: "…………………………"
Two MVPs, and this is what you really wanted to ask.
After a moment’s thought, she toned down her smile and scanned the audience—only to accidentally lock eyes with a fan holding up a glowing sign that read, "Smiling, we’ve got your back forever."Tong Yao watched silently, feeling inexplicably encouraged as if by some unseen force. She straightened her posture slightly and answered solemnly, "I don't know what identity I should use to answer this question while sitting here today. Although I've only played half a season's worth of matches and been teammates for half a season, I think I should know what the China Telecom Team and Lu Sicheng truly want... Actually, it's not difficult. I believe many of you here already know."
She paused, then raised her head to glance at the sea of faces in the audience. She knew countless eyes were fixed on her at this moment.
"Someday, to stand at the pinnacle of that competition stage draped in the Five-star Red Flag, lifting that long-coveted trophy—and before that, whether walking through thorns or treading scorching sands, as the captain of China Telecom, the one entrusted with everyone's highest hopes and trust, he should bear it, he's willing to bear it, and he must bear it."
The entire venue suddenly fell silent.
Even the host remained quiet, refraining from interrupting.
Tong Yao switched the microphone to her other hand, letting her previously occupied hand rest naturally on her leg, subtly wiping it.
"To some fans, we completely understand your protective feelings toward Lu Sicheng. But in esports, without results, you have nothing—do you admire Lu Sicheng as the dazzling player on stage, or just as a tall, somewhat handsome guy? This distinction needs to be made clear... Um, I know the online environment isn't very friendly toward female esports fans, and many girls are working hard to change this situation. I think some people should reflect—while they're diligently playing Ranked Games, watching matches, analyzing strategies, and DMing the official Weibo with their insights, what are you doing?"
"...That's all I'll say. I'll probably get criticized again later, but let me say this in advance: if my words have offended anyone," Tong Yao took a deep breath, "I don't regret it."
She handed the microphone back to the host, hopped down from the interview chair, lifted her chin slightly, squared her shoulders, and strode confidently toward the nearby player entrance.
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