August 26, 2016.
With ZGDX's miraculous comeback in the final match—defeating YQCB by defending their naked base with just 100 HP to claim the LPL Summer Split championship—two teams representing the LPL region for the S6 World Championship were instantly determined.
One was ZGDX Team, who directly secured qualification as Summer Split champions and would enter the first seed pool.
The other was CK Team, who inherited the second S6 qualification as the top-ranked team in year-round total points since ZGDX had claimed the automatic berth. CK Team would enter the second seed pool.
Thus, although the LPL Summer Split had concluded, the remaining six teams ranked 3rd to 8th in year-round points would compete in a consecutive tournament colloquially known as the "Gauntlet." This would determine the final team to represent the LPL at S6 Worlds. The six teams would battle in a bracket-style elimination based on their rankings, with the 7th and 8th placed teams starting at the bottom. Matches would follow a best-of-five format until a champion emerged to claim the precious qualification spot.
August 31, 2016.
Early in the morning, Tong Yao was awakened by the clamor of voices and car engines outside her window. Reluctantly opening her eyes, she lifted her head from the man's solid chest and tried to sit up to see what the commotion was—only to be pinned down by the heavy arm draped over her waist.
After pushing the muscular arm away with little gentleness, she mercifully refrained from kicking its owner off the bed after three seconds of deliberation. Huffing, Tong Yao crawled out of bed and leaned on the windowsill to look outside. She saw the neighboring team already dressed in their uniforms, carrying peripheral bags, fully prepared to depart somewhere.
Squinting, Tong Yao yawned.
...Then she remembered—today was YQCB Team's Gauntlet match.
Just as she reached for her phone to wish Ai Jia a victorious start, a warm hand landed on her calf. The touch sent a shiver up her spine as it trailed upward. Turning around, she found the man behind her half-awake, his drowsy eyes barely open.
Yet his so-called "Lushan claws" were alarmingly energetic, sliding up the curve of her leg, past her thigh, and finally slipping under her nightgown to rest on her backside.
"......"
A vein throbbed at Tong Yao's temple.
"What's all the fuss so early?" The man's voice was rough with sleep. "Sleeping late and waking early like an old woman—are you nineteen or ninety?"
"I'm ninety," Tong Yao snapped, slapping away the groping hand. "Even a granny's backside isn't safe from you, you beast. Hands off!"Lu Sicheng had been playing Ranked Games until 3 a.m. last night and was genuinely sleep-deprived with no energy to entertain her antics. After being patted, he mumbled "Mhm" obediently removed his hand, hugged the pillow, tugged at the blanket, and tried to turn over to continue sleeping—but then he felt the person who had been leaning by the window turn around, pounce on him, climb up, press down, and reach out to touch his face while whispering, "I was alone when I fell asleep last night."
Lu Sicheng kept his eyes closed and swatted away her hand that was messing with his face: "Mhm."
Tong Yao stubbornly reached for the stubble on his chin that hadn't been shaved (out of laziness): "When I woke up, there was an extra person in bed, and I was almost pushed all the way to the first floor... What's going on with you? Don't sleep, get up. Climbing into a virtuous maiden's bed in the middle of the night—let me ask again, are you a beast or not?"
Unable to resist her pestering, Lu Sicheng simply grabbed both of her mischievous hands. His eyes, which had just begun to close again, reopened: "What virtuous maiden? I don't even have the surname 'Virtuous.' Whose maiden are you? Speak properly... Your door wasn't locked, so I came in. Is it not okay to just hold you and sleep without doing anything else?"
Tong Yao went, "Oh," "So now it's my fault for not locking the door—you thief crying 'stop thief'... You really didn't do anything?"
Lu Sicheng glanced down at Tong Yao's legs, which were straddling him and exposed outside her nightgown, and said calmly, "If I had done anything, and you could still be bouncing around this energetically, then that would truly be my fault."
Tong Yao: "..."
Lu Sicheng: "Get off."
Tong Yao scrambled off him in a panic, stood by the bed, and shook the man vigorously. Then, amid his impatient and warning "Tsk," she turned and rushed into the bathroom. After washing up, she even spitefully used a high-powered hairdryer—but when she came out, she found the man completely unaffected, lying on her bed under her blanket, fast asleep.
—Clearly, he had stayed up late again last night training in Ranked Games.
...After winning the Summer Split, most clubs had wrapped up their annual competition schedule. Xiao Rui had given ZGDX a week-long break. Naturally, after this week, they would begin intense closed-door training to prepare for this year's main event, S6. But during these seven days—and only these seven days—as long as they didn't leave Shanghai or cause trouble, the team members were theoretically free to do whatever they wanted. At first, everyone was thrilled, swearing they wouldn't touch League of Legends for the entire week and would instead play other games or go out to watch movies and relax. Little Fatty had even planned a perfect itinerary for everyone to watch a movie and then eat at a fancy hotpot restaurant...
On the first day, everyone was indeed very happy, each as carefree as a little fish in the waves.
By the second day, having overindulged the day before, everyone was exhausted like dead salted fish, staying at the team headquarters without going anywhere. They lay limply on the sofa, staring blankly with nothing to do, until dinnertime finally gave them something to do—ordering takeout on their phones. After eating, they returned to their lifeless states on the sofa. Little Fatty counted on his fingers and muttered, "I feel kinda bored."
Hearing this, Lu Sicheng got up from the sofa, turned on his computer, and queued up for a Ranked match.
Everyone: "..."
Tong Yao: "What happened to 'not touching League of Legends for seven days'?"Lu Sicheng: "I'm bored."
Lu Sicheng: "Whatever, since it's the holidays, I'll reward myself with a fun game of Draven."
Tong Yao: "……………………You're having holiday fun, but what did those four random teammates who get matched with you do to deserve seeing your Draven?"
Lu Sicheng: "Then you come play. Permission granted for you to support me."
Tong Yao immediately shook her head: "Did I owe the Lu brothers points in my past life? All you ever think about is dragging me into reverse point boosting. I won't play with you—I'm aiming for Korean server king rank one!"
Lu Sicheng: "That's not what you'd say if you truly loved me."
Tong Yao: "Shut up."
And so, on the second day of their break, a group of Internet addicts returned to the world of League of Legends under their captain's lead—when Xiao Rui returned from his outing that night to see all the team members uniformly seated at their computers, some solo queueing and others duo queueing in "voluntary training," he was moved beyond words.
End scene.
Putting away these helpless memories, Tong Yao dried her damp hair and changed into clean clothes before tiptoeing to the bedside—she crouched there, hugging a towel, staring obsessively at the sleeping man for a long time with eager eyes. Finally, with amusement in her gaze, she reached out to gently pinch the tip of his upturned nose... When the sleeping man frowned slightly at her mischief, she chuckled and let go.
Drawing the curtains to let sunlight spill over the man, she hung up the towel and left the room, heading downstairs to the empty team headquarters where she sat at her computer. She logged into a random streaming platform, ready to wait for today's Gauntlet match between YQCB and Red Arrow.
It was currently 9:30 AM.
The match would start at 1:30 PM.
With plenty of time to kill, Tong Yao casually opened some media platforms to browse esports news—the LPL Summer Split had just ended, so of course everything was about the Summer Split. Clicking on any article would show photos from their championship victory that day... and in every photo set, there would inevitably be one of Tong Yao kissing Lu Sicheng's face.
Tong Yao's face reddened slightly as she quickly scrolled past the images—
[LPL confirms two slots for S6; ZGDX makes up for last year's regrets and prepares to set out again]
[Lu Sicheng: There's only one goal—the championship]
[International netizens comment on this year's LPL: Far behind Korea, about even with Europe]
[CK Team: The ticket they got by lying down]
[That night, CK Team fans and ZGDX Team fans gathered in unprecedented harmony, while YQCB fans complained of unfair treatment and swore off Weibo for three days]
[Prediction: Who will claim the final S6 ticket?]
[LCK: Meme team claims another Summer Season Championship; after Gauntlet concludes, Meme team joins Korean Operator Team RP Team as three kings heading to S6—LPL fans collectively declare this the most hopeless year for their region]
[A look into the champion Mid Laner: The journey of LPL's Mulan, Smiling]
Tong Yao: "..."Tong Yao glanced at those cringe-worthy news headlines and quickly closed the tab without even daring to click—afraid she might accidentally inflate her own ego. This was just the beginning, and now was absolutely not the time for them to get carried away—she knew that. The real challenge would start the day the Summer Split ended: Never mind how wildly the netizens were hyping up ZGDX right now. If they performed poorly at S6, these same people could instantly suggest they swim back from the U.S. themselves.
……………………If possible, she’d much rather return to the motherland via traditional transportation and not have to worry about getting sulfuric acid thrown at her the moment she stepped off the plane.
At that moment.
Having closed the webpage to avoid the news, just as Tong Yao was wondering how to kill time, her phone screen suddenly lit up on the table... After being immersed in the esports circle for half a year, she had almost forgotten that there were still normal humans with regular schedules in this world. Raising an eyebrow, she couldn’t fathom who would be awake and texting her this early in the morning. Grabbing her phone, she saw it was actually Jin Yang, who had already bombarded her with a flurry of WeChat messages—
[A Mao’s Mom: Girl, that bastard Ai Jia is at it again—he actually dared to argue with me last night! The little shit has the audacity to fight with me! All because I said, “Wow, you actually got second place in the Summer Split. Hard work pays off—guess the heavens finally moved their eyes from their ass to their face!”]
[A Mao’s Mom: Guess what? That asshole got mad over this! Seriously! They were almost relegated in the Spring Split, and now they’re second in the Summer—what’s wrong with me saying “congrats”? Huh?]
[A Mao’s Mom: He threw a tantrum, saying I always take your side, then spiraled into delusions about me cheering when you solo-killed him in matches!]
[A Mao’s Mom: I told him he was just embarrassed and lashing out, and he denied it—then actually got embarrassed and lashed out.]
[A Mao’s Mom: Then he ignored me and said he was going to bed because he had to play in the Gauntlet this morning—carrying the keyboard I gave him, pissed at me, off to play the Gauntlet—play my ass. Did it affect my Gold promo matches?]
[A Mao’s Mom: …………………………Oh, right. He refused to play my Gold promo matches for me. After two whole seasons as a Silver player, I was finally about to become a Gold god, and he refused to carry me. Tell me, what’s the point of having a boyfriend like this?]
[A Mao’s Mom: Ugh, I’m so mad my chest hurts.]
[A Mao’s Mom: Hello?]
[A Mao’s Mom: Busy farming fields and making babies with Cheng Ge this early in the morning?]
Tong Yao: “...”
Scrolling through the long string of rants, Tong Yao noticed Jin Yang’s train of thought was veering into dangerous territory and quickly replied with a “1” to confirm she was alive—
[ZGDX、Smiling: 1]
The response came swiftly.
[A Mao’s Mom: 1 my ass, you wanna get hit too?]
The rage was palpable.
Tong Yao chuckled and shook her head, suddenly recalling the day she had first been invited to go pro. Back then, Jin Yang had also bombarded her with complaints about fighting with Ai Jia, ending with—
Yao Yao, if it were you, how would you date a pro player properly? ……[A Mao’s Mom: Yao Yao, how come you and Lu Sicheng never fight? How the hell can you date a pro player so peacefully? Is it because all crows are equally black?]
Uh.
History truly repeats itself—almost the same question. But back then, her answer had been: I would never date a pro player.
At this moment, it was as if the sound of a slap echoed in the air. Tong Yao awkwardly shook her phone, yet an unmistakable smile crept onto her face—
[ZGDX、Smiling: …Probably because I don’t need him to carry me through my Gold promo matches? Damn, how can you guys even fight over something so trivial? Your man’s probably losing sleep over that U.S. flight ticket—just forgive him already! You’ve still got me! Send me your account, the champion Mid Laner will carry you!]
[A Mao’s Mom: Really?]
[A Mao’s Mom: I thought you’d tell me to piss off.]
[A Mao’s Mom: Shouldn’t you be curled up in bed clutching your stomach right now? What, does Cheng Ge magically cure your period cramps?]
Tong Yao froze.
[ZGDX、Smiling: What period cramps?]
[A Mao’s Mom: ??? Isn’t today the second day of your period?]
[A Mao’s Mom: What’s going on? Did Aunt Flo not show up??]
[A Mao’s Mom: Just checking—don’t overthink it. You know that when a guy and a girl sleep under the same blanket, they can make a baby, right?]
[A Mao’s Mom: Ahahahahaha I can’t believe I made it sound so cute—I impress myself.]
[A Mao’s Mom: ……………………Hello???]
[A Mao’s Mom: ………………Don’t scare me. Did your period really not come? Where are you?! If Aunt Flo won’t visit, I will!]
Clutching her phone, Tong Yao stared blankly at the rapid flood of messages. Her gaze lingered on Jin Yang’s last line, dazed. After a long pause, she mechanically lifted her head to check the calendar, then counted the days—proof that Jin Yang was indeed the kind of best friend who remembered even the exact date of her period.
However. Trouble.
But.
Recalling the pristine underwear she’d changed out of after her shower this morning—spotless, as if never worn.
Tong Yao: “……………………………………”
Her hand trembled. The phone clattered to the floor, perfectly mirroring the shock in her heart—
Trouble.
Trouble.
…Trouble.
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