While Lu Sicheng was sitting beside them making a phone call, Tong Yao and the others quickly ordered their food. By the time the grilled meat arrived, his call still wasn't over. Lu Yue had truly stirred up a hornet's nest this time—you could never imagine the worries of a middle-aged woman with a handsome son of marriageable age but no girlfriend. If she ever got her hopes up only to have them dashed immediately...
That would be a real disaster.
"—Blind date? What blind date? Don't you think that sounds a bit crazy when you say it out loud?... I have matches next week, Scrims every day, when would I have time for blind dates?"
Tong Yao released the meat from her tongs onto the grill with a clatter, then turned to stare at Lu Sicheng in shock. The surrounding chatter quieted slightly as everyone simultaneously turned to look at their captain...
Lu Sicheng remained expressionless.
"—Guaranteeing she's good-looking is useless... A lady from a good family? What does that even mean? Someone who won't disturb my Scrims or matches, won't cause drama online, won't demand to meet every holiday, and stays as quiet as if she never existed?" Lu Sicheng said all in one breath, "That's the kind I'll accept."
Everyone: "..."
Tong Yao: "........................That's not good, even electronic pets vibrate when they're hungry."
She said it very quietly, but the person on the phone heard anyway. Lu Sicheng shot her a glance, and she immediately shut her mouth, dutifully turning back to her grilling... Meanwhile, whatever was said on the other end made Lu Sicheng respond airily: "I am a male chauvinist pig, isn't that great? At least you don't have to worry about my sexual orientation."
He then moved the phone slightly away from his ear—just as Tong Yao was wondering why, she heard a woman's roar from the phone: "A male chauvinist pig who's gay is even scarier!!!!"
Tong Yao: "..."
Lu Sicheng scoffed helplessly.
"Just admit you're involved with this shorty, what's the big deal," Lu Yue glanced at the utterly cowed Tong Yao beside him, sighed and stood up, "It's not like she'd know anyway."
As he spoke, Lu Yue walked behind Lu Sicheng and took the phone from him: "Hello? Mom? It's me, stop messing around. Someone as high-end as my brother who could have any woman he wants with just a wave of his hand—why would he need blind dates? We're super busy this year, whether we can win Worlds depends on this season, don't let trivial romantic matters distract—"
Lu Yue suddenly stopped mid-sentence.
Three seconds later, he shoved the phone back into Lu Sicheng's hand.
Lu Sicheng: "?"
Lu Yue: "...Mom says if I say one more word, this week's blind date will go from just you to a brother duo package."
Lu Sicheng: "..."
"I'm only nineteen, not noble enough to sacrifice my youth for brotherly bonds," Lu Yue said while patting Lu Sicheng's shoulder, "Happy blind dating, heard she's a beautiful woman from a good family."
Everyone: "..."
Lu Sicheng muttered "what's the use" and stood up to continue his call outside... Only after he left did the remaining people dare to speak louder. Tong Yao poured herself some soju, took a small sip and raised her eyebrows: "Is Cheng Ge really going on a blind date?""Just going through the motions. Once my mom decides something, not even a god can change her mind," Lu Yue shrugged. "Besides, if the other person really turns out to be some well-mannered, good-looking lady from a respectable family, that wouldn't be bad. Dating someone might be better than him acting like a robot all day."
Tong Yao responded with an "Oh": "Easy for you to say. When it's your turn to go on a blind date, you hang up the phone faster than anyone."
"I'm different," Lu Yue said with a grin. "I have League of Legends. Diana, Scorn of the Moon, is my girlfriend."
Tong Yao: "..."
...
Later, Lu Sicheng never mentioned the blind date again. Humans are forgetful creatures, so over time, everyone completely forgot about it.
The following week, ZGDX Team's Group Stage schedule had them facing HUAWEI Team at 5 PM on Thursday and Storm Team at 5 PM on Sunday. In their current group, these two teams were considered relatively tough opponents...
Storm Team was a traditional powerhouse, though their performance in recent years hadn't been outstanding. They hadn't fallen to the level of a relegation team, hovering around the upper-middle tier of the league. The team was cohesive and resilient, often forcing a 50-50 split in matches against any opponent. They had beaten ZGDX before but also lost to relegation teams—sometimes within the same week. Being a fan of this team was like riding a rollercoaster between heaven and hell, an experience as miserable as it could get.
HUAWEI Team, on the other hand, was even more challenging. Theoretically, they were the only team in the group capable of giving ZGDX a run for their money... This team had a Korean import player bought from last year's World Championship-winning team, TAT. He joined after Lu Sicheng left the Meme team, making him only Pope's former teammate. This guy, named "Kun," had slightly better jungle dominance than Old K and was adept at identifying the opponent's weak lanes to create advantages for his teammates.
During their last scrim, Old Cat had suffered terribly from his ganks. It was only thanks to Tong Yao stabilizing the mid lane and the bot lane duo's strong performance in the mid-to-late game, with Lu Sicheng taking over, that they managed to win the scrim...
So.
Out of respect for Kun's status as a former championship jungler, ZGDX Team began reviewing their match footage early. Tong Yao's notebook started filling up rapidly from Monday, adding three pages a day...
Apart from her mandatory Ranked Games and scrims, her most common activity was sitting on the sofa with Mao, watching match replays with Ming Shen and occasionally discussing their opponents.
"If we're on the Blue Buff side, Kun will almost always go for the river crab in the bot lane," Tong Yao pointed at the screen. "If the river crab's vision spots the enemy jungler's movements, he'll start invading the jungle or look for counter-gank opportunities. His success rate is high—here, here, and here, he got the ganks..."
Tong Yao tapped the spacebar repeatedly to pause the footage.
"On the other hand, if we deny him the river crab early and remove his vision in the area, his tempo becomes noticeably worse," Ming Shen added, leaning over to click the mouse. "Like in this match against CK Team. Because he lost his early-game tempo, his jungle got completely wrecked by Yang Shen later on."Tong Yao hummed in acknowledgment and lowered her head to scribble furiously in her notebook.
The two of them were deep in discussion.
On the other side of the team headquarters, Little Fatty craned his neck and clicked his tongue. "Out of nowhere, we suddenly have a data analyst in the team."
Xiao Rui grinned. "It's great—we don’t even have to pay an extra salary. If all of you were as diligent as Tong Yao, I’d be burning incense in gratitude."
Little Fatty: "Laziness is something that needs to be cultivated slowly. No rush."
Xiao Rui shot him a glare. Little Fatty continued, "Look, Lu Yue was super hardworking at first too. Now he’s just a Melon Skin using someone else’s account to tank their rank."
Lu Yue: "Shut up, fatass."
At that moment, Lu Yue was squatting in front of Tong Yao’s computer, playing on her account using his so-called "girlfriend," Diana, Scorn of the Moon. His performance was abysmal. Xiao Rui walked over, took a look, and smacked the back of Lu Yue’s head. "You’re this bad and still dare to call Diana your girlfriend? If I were her, I’d have dumped you eight hundred times already."
"Ow, stop nagging," Lu Yue frowned. "Shorty, how do you do Diana’s R-Q combo? Show me again..."
Tong Yao put down her notebook, jumped off the sofa, and rushed over, shoving Lu Yue aside. "How are you this dumb?"
Lu Yue leaned slightly to the side as the two of them huddled together, muttering about Diana’s mechanics and item builds. Just then, Lu Sicheng came downstairs from his room, walked over to the computer, and began rummaging through a pile of documents about other teams. Finally, he fished out his car keys from behind a Maneki-neko piggy bank.
"Going out?" Tong Yao asked without looking up.
Lu Sicheng gave a noncommittal hum. "My mom set up a meeting with that woman. Only told me after she was already on her way."
"R-Q, see? Twist your body a little. Don’t just telegraph ‘RUN, I’M ABOUT TO COMBO’ on your face. Where’s your acting skill?" Tong Yao released the mouse and keyboard, glancing up at the captain, who had changed into somewhat clean clothes. "Which woman? A blind date?"
"Blind date my ass... You’re running around barefoot again. Next time you’re on your period, don’t expect sympathy even if you have to crawl."
Lu Sicheng frowned, tossed out a "Later," then patted Tong Yao’s head before heading out the door.
Tong Yao watched as her captain put on his shoes, opened the door, and walked toward the garage.
Just then, Da Bing meowed and rubbed against her ankles. Tong Yao bent down to pick him up—
"Tong Yao, come check if this ward placement is Kun’s habitual spot?"
"...Oh, coming."
Hugging the cat tightly, Tong Yao hopped back onto the sofa in a few quick steps.
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