After Tong Yao retreated into her room, Lu Sicheng calmly returned to the first floor of the team headquarters. At this time, the neighboring team returned from their Gauntlet match. Judging by the boss standing cheerfully at the entrance handing out red envelopes, it seemed they had successfully secured the last ticket to S6.
Congratulations to YQCB.
Lu Sicheng sat down on the sofa, his gaze occasionally drifting toward a certain tightly closed door upstairs. Xiao Rui noticed his absent-mindedness and asked what was wrong. After a pause, Lu Sicheng lazily replied, "She had a slight fever when she woke up this morning. There wasn’t a thermometer at the headquarters, so I bought one for her to check if she’s really running a temperature."
His tone was steady, without a single flaw.
Xiao Rui: "Oh!"
As he spoke, Lu Sicheng couldn’t help but glance up at that door again. After sitting there blankly for a moment, he realized that if he kept waiting like this, he’d end up looking like a complete fool by the time Tong Yao came out. Deciding he couldn’t just sit there any longer, he stood up, walked over to his computer, pulled out his chair, and started a game.
When selecting his Champion, he picked Kalista—a signature pick he was famous for. It wasn’t about winning or fitting the team composition; he just felt that in special moments, using a special Champion made things more satisfying. As he locked in, he felt a sense of grandeur, as if a legendary hero had unsheathed a divine sword sealed away for ages, ready for an epic battle of honor.
However, the match didn’t unfold with the thrilling intensity he imagined.
—Because Lu Sicheng wasn’t as composed as he appeared.
For the first time in his life, he found Summoner’s Rift’s map so confusing that he actually got lost in it. The first time he went for a buff, he mechanically cleared the camp while staring at the screen, only to look up and see his own Mid Laner spamming a series of panicked "???" in chat. Lu Sicheng blinked, realizing the buff he had just taken was the Blue Buff instead of the Red Buff.
...As the AD carry, he was supposed to take the Red Buff, not the poor Mid Laner’s Blue.
His lips twitched as he typed "sry." To make up for it, he ganked mid, helping his Mid Laner kill the enemy and stealing their Blue Buff in the process—which turned out to be the only "Chessman-like" highlight of his entire game. After securing the Blue for his Mid, he immediately returned to his lost-in-Summoner’s-Rift state—roaming aimlessly, missing countless last-hits, inexplicably wandering into enemy Turret range and taking unnecessary hits, face-checking enemy carries during teamfights, and refusing to use his ultimate. His poor Alistar support was at his wit’s end—first frantically pinging, then resorting to typing in three languages when no one responded—
Alistar: [What’s going on? (CN)]
Alistar: [Is this AD really Chessman?! (KR)]
Alistar: [Faker Chessman?]
Alistar: [Fat guy, stop playing on Chessman’s account, don’t ruin your AD’s reputation. (CN)]
Alistar: [Not this fight, don’t engage. (KR)]
Alistar: [Noooooooooooob! Why so noooob!]
Alistar: [Me crazy.]Alistar: 【fakerchessman！！！f*ck！！gg！】
By the end of the match, even as their base was being destroyed, Lu Sicheng still had no idea who this Alistar was—the one he had traumatized so thoroughly. Probably some professional support player from the LPL Professional League, fluent in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean... Lu Sicheng tabbed out to check his damage output, which wasn’t much higher than the Jungler’s, and chuckled as he called out to the support passing behind him, “I just drove a support player insane.”
Little Fatty peeked over at the ID of the Alistar Lu Sicheng had mentally broken: “Huh, this ID looks like the captain from next door.”
Lu Sicheng: “…”
No sooner had Little Fatty spoken than they heard the furious roar of Liang Sheng, the neighboring team’s captain, from the courtyard outside: “Damn it, you fat bastard! Did you log into Cheng Ge’s account to tank my rank?! And you picked Kalista—just because you pick Kalista doesn’t mean you’re Lu Sicheng, who the hell are you trying to fool?! Face-checking in team fights! Stealing the Mid Laner’s Blue Buff! Disgusting!”
Little Fatty glanced at Lu Sicheng, then waddled to the window, stuck his butt out, and yelled back, “Bullshit! It was Cheng Ge himself! He’s sabotaging your mental state so you can’t compete in S6! How’s that for evil?!”
As the two supports from rival teams hurled insults back and forth, Lu Sicheng stood up, kicked his chair aside, and stomped upstairs.
……
Without knocking, Lu Sicheng pushed open the door to Tong Yao’s room and walked straight in—only to find it empty, the bathroom door tightly shut. His thin lips pressed together, finally revealing the tension he’d been masking. He walked over and knocked on the bathroom door. “Still alive?”
From inside came a chaotic rustling, as if someone was scrambling to tidy up, followed by the sound of a toilet seat slamming shut... Lu Sicheng paused, then couldn’t help but remind her, “Take your time. Open the door.”
The door opened.
Tong Yao peeked out from behind the crack, her face tense. Lu Sicheng pinched her cheek and asked with forced casualness, “Well?”
Tong Yao shook her head and stepped aside. Lu Sicheng slipped into the bathroom and looked—he had bought four pregnancy tests, and all four were neatly lined up on the sink, still in their unopened packaging.
Lu Sicheng: “…………………………”
Tong Yao grabbed the hem of his shirt. “I’m nervous.”
Lu Sicheng: “I’ve already dropped from Challenger back to Grandmaster while waiting downstairs, and your progress is still at ‘zero.’ What was the point of my lost LP? Can you get this done or not?”
Tong Yao: “No.”
She shoved him. “Get out. You being here makes me even more nervous. I can’t even pee.”
Lu Sicheng gave her a helpless look, knowing there was nothing he could do, and turned to leave—but instead of walking away, he pressed his ear against the door. The moment he did, he heard a loud smack from inside, startling him: “No eavesdropping!!! You pervert!!!”
Lu Sicheng: “…”
Tong Yao locked the door.Lu Sicheng turned around to look for the bathroom key. After finding it and returning to the bathroom door, he heard the sound of a package being torn open inside. He waited for a moment, then directly unlocked the door—startling the person inside who was bent over handling the pregnancy test. She turned to glance at him, her face immediately flushing red. Lu Sicheng pressed a hand to her head and craned his neck to ask, "Did you pee yet?"
Tong Yao: "………………………………………"
Tong Yao: "Fucking idiot! You barged in just to see a used toilet?! Holy shit! Someone help! There's a pervert here—get out, get out, GET OUT AHHHHHH—"
Lu Sicheng reached out and effortlessly scooped her up. Tong Yao covered his face with her hands and shoved him away. The two wrestled in the bathroom, brandishing the pregnancy test stick, until Tong Yao hooked her foot and viciously stomped on the flush handle. The sound of rushing water filled Lu Sicheng's ears like a death knell.
Lu Sicheng: "……………………"
Panting heavily, Tong Yao poked his frozen, coffin-like expression with the unused pregnancy test stick. "Try me."
Lu Sicheng pinched her smug face expressionlessly. "If it's just one line... I swear, you won't be leaving the bed until the holiday is over."
After their scuffle, Tong Yao giggled and wrapped her arms around his waist, pushing him out of the bathroom. She confiscated the key and locked the door again—Lu Sicheng leaned against the doorframe like a male penguin waiting for his chick to hatch.
Another thirty minutes passed before he heard an "Ah!" from inside, making his heart skip a beat as he jerked his head up. The bathroom door swung open, and the person inside proudly held up four pregnancy test sticks, beaming. "All single lines! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I told you it wasn't that ridiculous!"
Staring at her radiant grin, the breath Lu Sicheng had been holding finally escaped. He sighed deeply, unsure whether to feel relieved or disappointed, and slid down the doorframe to sit on the floor. He raked a hand through his hair before resting his head in his palm... Tong Yao crouched beside him, shoulder to shoulder.
Lu Sicheng pointed at her, speechless for a long moment.
Tong Yao clutched the four single-lined test sticks and quickly pecked his ear. "Hehehe."
After a pause, Lu Sicheng glanced at the deep dimples framing her smile and sighed. "...I really want to strangle you."
"HAHAHAHAHAHA."
"You're only like this because I love you."
OpenNovel