Tong Yao's hands were still trembling as she pushed open the door to the player tunnel.
As for her heartbeat—well, if not for her rib cage holding it in, it might have already leapt out of her chest by now.
In short, she wasn’t as calm as she appeared.
Staring at the suddenly quiet, pitch-black tunnel ahead, she let out a long exhale and was about to break into a jog back to the player lounge when someone grabbed the back of her collar—
Tong Yao let out a startled "Ah!" and nearly jumped three feet in the air, startling her captor as well. The next second, a familiar large hand covered her mouth, turning her around. The person in front of her sighed helplessly, then leaned down to press a kiss to her forehead.
"It's me."
Only then did Tong Yao cautiously open her eyes. Recognizing the face before her, she reached up with her ice-cold hands to pull his away, then glanced behind her and whispered, "What are you doing here? You scared me to death..."
"You think I don’t know why I’m here?" Lu Sicheng squeezed her palm in his grip. "Sweating bullets. If you didn’t have the guts, you shouldn’t have said those things. Now you’re scared—I could see you walking offstage stiff as a board..."
"Ahhh!" Tong Yao’s eyes widened as she jumped up to cover his mouth. "Shut up, shut up..."
Lu Sicheng dodged with a laugh, but when he heard the person clinging to him mutter, "Who did I do all this for anyway?" his smile softened slightly. He bent down to kiss her cheek, then ruffled her hair... Just then, the rest of the ZGDX team and staff, having finished packing up, began filing out. Little Fatty was the first to emerge from the lounge, glancing around before spotting the two of them lingering by the entrance. He called out to them, and the group headed to the parking lot together, boarding the van.
Tong Yao and Lu Sicheng still huddled in the very back row.
Up front, Lu Yue pulled out his phone and started streaming a fan-recorded clip of Tong Yao’s MVP interview—the moment her own voice played, Tong Yao kicked Lu Yue’s seat, then nervously clung to Lu Sicheng’s arm.
When the recording reached the part where she said, "Before this, whether I was draped in thorns or treading scorching sands..." , she shifted, burying her face in Lu Sicheng’s chest... Lu Yue had the volume cranked up, so Little Fatty started clapping, followed by Xiao Rui, then Old Cat joined in, while Old K snickered like an idiot—Tong Yao pinched Lu Sicheng’s arm, forcing him to interject, "Keep this up, and she’s going to suffocate herself in my arms."
Finally, when the video reached Tong Yao saying, "I’m gonna get scolded again later," she abruptly lifted her face from Lu Sicheng’s chest, staring up at him with wide, pleading eyes—if she’d had a tail, it would’ve been wagging hard enough to fall off. But this time, even Lu Sicheng didn’t take her side. Under the pitiful gaze of those flickering dark eyes, he pinched her cheek. "So you do know you’re in trouble."
"I was scared you’d scold me."
"Why?"
"After the last showgirl incident, I promised you I’d behave and not stir up drama. Now I’ve gone and misbehaved again."
"Hm." Lu Sicheng gave her a look torn between amusement and exasperation. "Your self-awareness is impressive."
"Right?"
"This time, I’ll let it slide."Tong Yao widened her eyes, hardly believing her ears—overwhelmed with excitement, she grabbed Lu Sicheng’s arm, straightened up, and planted a loud kiss on the man’s lips… Lu Sicheng wrapped an arm around her waist, while the others in the car made sounds of indigestion, mixed with Xiao Rui’s mutter of “I want to call the police”…
Lu Yue sighed expressionlessly. “So perverted.”
Lu Sicheng replied just as blankly, “She’s an adult.”
Lu Yue paused, then insisted, “But you still seem like a pervert, liking flat-chested little girls.”
Lu Sicheng said calmly, “Who told you she’s flat? She—”
Lu Yue fell silent. As Tong Yao jumped up to cover Lu Sicheng’s mouth, Lu Yue turned away with a look of utter disgust, as if burned from the inside out. From then until they got out of the car, he didn’t turn around or exchange even a single word with the two sitting in the back row…
……
When Tong Yao and the others returned to the team headquarters, they learned that her interview had once again sent shockwaves through the esports circle—
The flood of doubts and insults was inevitable, mostly the same old criticisms: Tong Yao was getting arrogant, acting entitled because she was a woman, meddling in others’ business, disrespecting fans, and so on… Every pro player who was live-streaming had their chatrooms buzzing about the incident… But this time, players from other teams—who had remained silent before—unexpectedly spoke up. Almost every player who knew Tong Yao responded positively.
*A Guang: [Smiling is a good person. You people who criticize her will probably never understand how great she is. Don’t measure others’ corn by your own bushel.]
*Great Qing Team’s AD: [If some people truly care about the scene, the things they say might not sound pleasant—‘faithful words offend the ear,’ as the saying goes. Don’t bring Smiling’s drama into my stream or any of our team members’ streams. It’s pointless, and you’ll get banned. Smiling is an excellent pro player, and gender has nothing to do with it.]
*Ai Jia: [‘One day, standing at the peak of that stage, draped in the Five-star Red Flag, lifting that long-coveted trophy—before that, whether walking through thorns or treading scorching sands, as the captain of China Telecom, the one entrusted with everyone’s hopes and trust, he should endure, he is willing to endure, and he must endure.’… Ah, what a moving passage. Truly inspiring. Don’t worry, even if China Telecom wasn’t the one on the S6 podium, at least I’ll raise the Five-star Red Flag for Cheng Ge.]
*Jin Yang’s voice in Ai Jia’s stream: [Jealousy won’t make you improve. Instead of wasting time talking nonsense, why not work on yourselves?]
Ai Jia: [Hear that? My wife’s words might be blunt, but they’re not wrong.]
Li Junhe: [(In Korean) The interview? Saw it. A very charming woman. That’s why I say—Lu Sicheng must’ve had some incredible luck in his ancestors’ graves. Definitely incredible luck.] Liang Sheng: "Hahahahaha!!! Did you guys hear that? Our AD said the other AD is lucky as hell to have their Mid Laner hahahahaha—Can I understand? Of course I can! My Korean is pretty good. Li Junhe learns Chinese, I learn Korean... He insisted on it. Even though we still communicate in Chinese during matches, he just likes to be unreasonable."
*Li Huanshuo: "Interview? He didn’t say anything wrong. Who dares to talk bad about Smiling-jiejie?! Are there any toxic live comments?! Ah, moderators, do your job! In my stream, no bad words about Smiling-jiejie! Not allowed! Banned!"
*Jian Yang: "What can I say? What should I say? If you don’t understand the game, then don’t embarrass yourself by talking... China Telecom will indeed become stronger than they are now. I just hope to face their evolved version a bit later—not out of fear, just stating facts."
*Little Fatty: "No shit, our Mid Laner is absolutely fucking amazing!!!!!"
*Old Cat: "Team dynamics are harmonious, no need for concern. Tong Yao’s words represent the official stance, down to every punctuation mark."
*Old K: "It’s fine if you insist on believing we’re not united. It won’t change anything. The Summer Split finals—no, S6 will give you the answer. Whether you’re a fan or a hater eager to be proven wrong, we’ll give you a satisfying answer."
*ZGDX Team Manager Xiao Rui: "Everything that needed to be said has been said. The hardships endured will become the light that guides our path forward. Go ZGDX!"
……
The feeling of overwhelming support.
Everyone Tong Yao had ever helped, shown kindness to, or influenced had shown up—not a single one missing.
"………………………………Ah, what should I say?"
The man sitting in front of the computer scratched his chin, a thoughtful expression on his face. After a long pause, he finally drawled, "Those words were a bit arrogant, but the 'no regrets' part kinda sounds like wedding vows, doesn’t it? So yeah, it was so well-said that I can’t even bring myself to scold her... Oh, you thought she meant she might get flamed by haters? No, she meant me. Me."
His lazy expression remained unchanged, but the audience couldn’t clearly see through the camera the faint disdain in his deep brown eyes—disdain for the troublemakers and disgust for the whole situation...
[6666666 You’re really arguing with haters over this?]
[What about you... That proud tone is killing me, Ling, come look at your man, he’s really lost it]
[2333333333 So you didn’t scold her either huh]
[The whole world is speaking up for her 6666666]
Lu Sicheng’s lips curled slightly.
But there was no real amusement in his eyes.
His gaze swept indifferently over the live comments mixed among the sea of "666"—comments like "disappointed," "covering for each other," "China Telecom is doomed," "women should stay out of this scene, everyone’s gone crazy now." He paused briefly, the clicking of his mouse stopping for a few seconds before resuming. On the screen, the enemy AD was tower-dived and killed, the number "300" popping up above the head of the champion Lu Sicheng controlled. At the same time, his calm voice rang out—"If you can't stand it, you can turn off the match, refund your ticket, tear up the autographs, burn my photos, and unfollow me on Weibo—I sincerely thank you for your past support; I also won’t regret your departure. No need to DM me specifically. I won’t cry or feel remorse over it. Goodbye, don’t let the door hit you on the way out."
Lu Sicheng was saying this when Tong Yao happened to walk past him. Hearing his words, she raised her hand and smacked him on the back. Lu Sicheng acted as if nothing had happened, merely scratching his back where she’d hit him.
"What? This kind of talk is too rude and unbecoming of my status? Well, I’m just an old man addicted to the internet," Lu Sicheng continued. "Don’t think too highly of me. I can’t handle it."
He was still relentlessly clapping back at the live comments.
Tong Yao: "..."
Xiao Rui walked over and glanced at Tong Yao, whispering, "Just let him be. Keyboard warriors only talk big online—it’s not like they’ll actually splash sulfuric acid on you in real life. It’ll blow over in a few days."
Tong Yao nodded but raised a hand to touch her face, thinking: That’s one massive jinx.
...
And as it turned out, Tong Yao’s worries were justified.
A day later—roughly twenty-four hours after Xiao Rui had said, "They can’t really do anything to you"—Tong Yao received a package. Fans often sent gifts to team members, and Tong Yao usually opened them live on stream to thank the sender and confirm receipt. So she didn’t think much of it as she started unwrapping the package...
Until a tightly concealed blade at the edge of the box sliced her hand. Startled, she dropped the package, and dozens of dead cockroaches spilled out.
The team headquarters instantly erupted into chaos.
Lu Sicheng’s face darkened as he scooped her up and carried her upstairs to find the medicine box. Xiao Rui shouted for the cleaning auntie to deal with the cockroach corpses. Amid the commotion, Little Fatty picked up a piece of paper from the floor with messy handwriting scrawled across it:
["Consider this a small warning. If you keep acting so arrogant, don’t even think about playing in future matches. The audience seats aren’t far from the players’ stage."]
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