Tong Yao was nervous for quite a while, only calming down slightly after the plane took off... It wasn’t that she had never sat this close to Lu Sicheng before, but this time felt different. Before her heart-to-heart with Jin Yang, she had never really considered Lu Sicheng as a potential crush.
—It was as if he had suddenly acquired a gender.
She had used this analogy with Jin Yang before, only to be mercilessly ridiculed for it.
Once the plane stabilized, the announcement came on allowing passengers to use their entertainment devices. To distract herself from obsessively thinking about the person sitting beside her like some lunatic, Tong Yao opened her iPad to watch Red Arrow’s match recordings—Red Arrow’s predecessor was the "Assassin Corps" team. After failing to secure the world championship in S3, the team disbanded and reformed, leaving only one top laner who became part of today’s "Red Arrow." The team has consistently remained in the LPL, but since their S3 runner-up finish, they’ve never made it back to the S-series tournaments: always falling just short of securing a spot.
Last year, that original top laner from "Assassin Corps" announced his retirement—
He left just after failing to secure the S5 ticket, so his departure was filled with regret and humiliation. To put it bluntly, he was practically driven out by Red Arrow’s fans, with insults like "old man," "washed-up top laner," and "dead weight" thrown at him...
The ironic part was that after he left, Red Arrow’s performance didn’t improve at all. In this year’s Spring Split, they barely made it into the Playoffs only to be eliminated in the first round—and none of the keyboard warriors who had spewed hate back then stepped up to take responsibility for it.
"......"
Tong Yao shifted her posture, propping her chin on her hand as she glanced up at Ming Shen, who was sitting in the row ahead of them, forcing Old K and Old Cat—the "couple"—to review Red Arrow’s team data—
Not everyone gets to leave as cleanly as Ming Shen, with applause and cheers seeing them off... Most players, even those who were once glorious, fade into the substitute bench when they can no longer keep up. Then, on some day when people have nearly forgotten them and only mention them with sarcasm, they suddenly jump out to post a Weibo announcing their retirement. It gets a few hundred or thousand reposts, and by the next day, no one brings them up again.
That’s the reality of the professional scene.
Tong Yao rubbed her face and turned to Lu Sicheng: "Captain, what will you do after you retire?"
"Coach. If the game shuts down, I’ll go work at my family’s company—my dad’s annual prayer ritual mainly consists of devoutly wishing for Riot Games to go bankrupt the next day," Lu Sicheng answered without hesitation. "Why do you ask?"
"...I was watching Ghost Host’s old match recordings."
"Ghost Host was forced into retirement last year. During the do-or-die Gauntlet match for the S5 ticket, he misused his Teleport and single-handedly doomed his team," Lu Sicheng said. "His mechanics weren’t actually the problem—it was his mentality that collapsed."
"Because of the haters?"
"Being a pro isn’t just about having good mechanics or knowing how to play the game. Sometimes, you have to be aware of your responsibilities as a professional player—what you should and shouldn’t listen to, what you should and shouldn’t do."
"Wow, but why the sudden life lecture out of nowhere?"
"......"
"Hm?" Tong Yao raised an eyebrow.Lu Sicheng met those curious eyes for a moment before giving a faint smile. He flicked the forehead that had leaned in close to him with his finger: "Nothing much. Just worried those haters might ruin you before you even get the chance to shine, little girl."
Tong Yao: "..."
It didn’t actually hurt when he flicked her—
But Tong Yao still let out an "ow" and clutched her forehead as she pulled back, her face slightly flushed. Her mind was now flooded with massive live comments endlessly scrolling: Little girl little girl little girl little girl little girl little girl little girl...
This was criminal-level flirting.
At that moment, Little Fatty behind Tong Yao caught her as she leaned back, grinning as he patted her shoulder: "Don’t worry, as long as you listen to the captain—don’t do what he tells you not to, focus on playing well—you’ll never spiral explode. And even if you’re about to, the captain will step in and shield you."
Lu Sicheng stared at Little Fatty for a while before deadpanning, "Who told you I’d be that noble and merciful?"
Tong Yao froze: "You wouldn’t?"
Lu Sicheng: "What you’re describing is the Buddha."
Tong Yao: "..."
Little Fatty: "..."
Lu Sicheng: "But Little Fatty did get one thing right."
Tong Yao: "What?"
Lu Sicheng: "Listen to me."
Tong Yao: "..."
The Mid Laner and support exchanged a glance, rolling their eyes before huddling together to watch match replays, muttering under their breaths...
Lu Sicheng scoffed, turning over to face the window as he continued resting with his eyes closed. Occasionally, he’d hear slanderous whispers like, "Their Jungler really likes ganking mid, give me a ward early," "Don’t give it to Cheng Ge, he won’t die," "Even if he dies, it’s not your fault—just let him die," and so on. When he heard, "Pick Alistar, max E (*heal skill), hide behind him and spam heal to annoy him to death lolol," the man finally couldn’t take it anymore and opened his eyes. He paused—then closed them again.
About twenty minutes later, the noise behind him quieted down.
Faintly, he heard the sound of the flight attendant’s cart approaching. The man, who had seemed to be asleep, opened his eyes—there wasn’t much drowsiness in them. He glanced up and saw that almost everyone on the plane, including his teammates, had dozed off in small groups. His Mid Laner and support were especially cozy, sleeping in a tangled heap...
Especially his Mid Laner.
Thanks to her natural height advantage, she had curled up perfectly in the cramped airplane seat, hugging her legs like a roly-poly doll. Her entire body leaned crookedly against Little Fatty, using his soft, cushion-like frame as a pillow—
Lu Sicheng: "..."
When the flight attendant approached and asked if he wanted anything to drink, the man ordered a coffee. As he accepted the cup, he casually used three fingers to nudge the roly-poly doll leaning toward Little Fatty—
Her body tilted and landed steadily against his shoulder.
Her even breathing was now right beside him.
The man paused, set down his coffee, and casually pulled off his hoodie to drape it over her shoulders.
As for Tong Yao, all she knew was that she had dozed off in a daze.
She was jolted awake when the plane landed, lifting her head in standard meerkat-like confusion to look around. Realizing it was just the plane touching down, she exhaled in relief and wiped her mouth. "Terrible landing technique, I’m filing a complaint... Uh, Little Fatty, do I have drool on my face?""No," Little Fatty mumbled, his face pressed against the small tray table, leaving red marks, looking utterly bewildered. "But you're wearing Cheng Ge's clothes."
Tong Yao glanced down and saw a long-sleeved jacket draped over her knees—last year’s winter team uniform of ZGDX, with "Chessman" embroidered on the back. She stared at it for a moment until a large hand suddenly snatched it away...
"Bringing a jacket on a summer flight is common sense."
"..."
"Someone like you wouldn’t last three days alone outside."
"..."
Since she had indeed been looked after, it was only fair to humbly accept the criticism that followed.
...
By the time they arrived at the hotel arranged by the C City Comic Con organizers, it was already 2 a.m. Considering they had to wake up at 8 a.m. the next day for makeup and event preparations, Tong Yao quickly washed her face and went straight to bed... She swore she had only closed her eyes for what felt like a second before the alarm went off.
Grumbling with a mix of resentment and morning grogginess, Tong Yao dragged herself up to shower and blow-dry her hair. After putting on a clean team uniform and heading downstairs, she had just taken a sip of juice at the breakfast table when the organizers started urging them to go for makeup... The rest of the team looked half-asleep and dazed, while Tong Yao—an early riser by habit and someone who couldn’t function without breakfast—felt genuine anger rising.
"Wasn’t the meeting time for makeup at 9:30? It’s only 8:30 now."
"The organizers said since everyone’s here, we might as well leave early to avoid traffic."
"...What’s even on the schedule today if we’re going this early?"
"We’re just the transport staff. You’ll have to ask the booth organizers when you get there!"
"..."
At this point, Tong Yao thought to herself, Could you be any more unreliable? Telling us the event details only after we arrive—who exactly is this surprise for?
—This was the first wave of anger, currently at 25%, one-quarter charged.
After boarding the car and arriving at the comic con venue, Tong Yao sat in the makeup room while Xiao Rui handed her a yogurt. Sipping on it, she observed her surroundings—as soon as makeup started, staff members with badges kept coming in to take photos. After Xiao Rui stopped them, they switched to asking for autographs. Some only approached popular players like Lu Sicheng, Old K, or Ming Shen, while others clearly had a "since we’re here, might as well get everyone" attitude, passing around a notebook for signatures...
Lu Sicheng, though aloof, was surprisingly patient, signing whenever asked. But Tong Yao, still simmering with morning grumpiness and low blood sugar, found everyone irritating. She silently counted until the thirteenth person shoved a notebook her way. Thinking what a fitting number , she unleashed her first outburst of the day—
She pushed the notebook back. "No more signing. How many times do I have to stop mid-makeup? Rui Ge, can you handle this?"
She deliberately raised her voice so the entire lounge could hear.
Xiao Rui, looking like he’d been waiting for her to speak up, played along. "Huh? Oh, right, got it. I’ll go talk to them."At that moment, the staff member in front of Tong Yao was a girl about her age, dressed in a cheongsam costume typically worn by showgirls—probably a part-time college student. She had already come in several times asking for autographs, likely collecting them for others... Now that she was rejected, she looked a bit awkward but didn’t say anything, just tucked her board away and left.
“Good job,” the makeup artist working on Tong Yao rolled her eyes. “How many times have I been interrupted this morning? Drawing eyeliner in four separate strokes—what kind of nonsense is this? These people just want to brag to their friends, ‘Oh, I can go backstage to see so-and-so, want me to get you an autograph?’ and then come running in for signatures! Let me tell you, I’ve seen this kind of thing a million times. Half of them probably don’t even know what you guys actually do—they just know you’re famous for playing games.”
Tong Yao let out an “Oh” but didn’t respond, tilting her face up for the makeup artist to continue.
—This was the second wave of anger. Current rage level: 50%, loading bar halfway.
After finishing her makeup, Tong Yao sat on the sofa eating biscuits, watching as the girl in the cheongsam sneaked back in several more times after being rejected—this time bypassing her entirely to go straight to Lu Sicheng and the others... Tong Yao rolled her eyes so hard she nearly saw her own brain, thinking, Go ahead, play the gentlemen , then grabbed her phone and started scrolling through Weibo—
Scrolling, scrolling, she came across a mention. Clicking into it, she saw a post from what seemed to be a fan who had @‘ed her. The content of the post read:
[Little Cat Meow: Today I was working at the XX Tech peripherals booth and heard that a pretty famous esports team sponsored by an operator was here. Asked around and found out a lot of my friends are fans, so I thought I’d get them some perks? Luckily, most of them were pretty nice and willing to sign stuff—except for one girl who’s probably also a team member. She was super arrogant, acting all high and mighty, refusing to sign anything while getting her makeup done… Fine, whatever, it’s not like she’s even that famous. Haha, with that attitude, no wonder she’s not popular, right?]
The comments below were flooded with her friends chiming in:
“A girl playing professionally?”
“Probably just staff, tsk tsk, acting all high and mighty over nothing!”
“LOL I think I know who you’re talking about—honestly, I’ve never liked her, no idea what she’s so proud about!”
...
Tong Yao: “...”
Alright.
Very pissed.
Muttering a “What the hell,” she slammed her phone onto the sofa—
—This was the third wave of anger. Current rage level: 75%, loading bar at three-quarters.
As Tong Yao threw her phone down, she suddenly sensed someone approaching from behind. She whipped her head around just as Lu Sicheng bent down to pick up her phone… Her nose brushed past his cheek at lightning speed. Tong Yao froze, her mind blanking out for a second, too stunned to snatch her phone back.
Lu Sicheng stared at the phone in his hand for a moment, then let out a soft scoff. “Got talked about behind your back, huh?”
“…………………Damn it, I just can’t stand people who abuse their position to freeload like this!” Tong Yao rolled her eyes. “Back when I worked at a comic con in high school, I met plenty of big names and never pulled this crap! Once, I was literally an arm’s length away from a famous cosplayer—he was even my God!”
“And then?”
“Found out he wasn’t much taller than me. Instant un-fan.”“………………How short would that be?” Lu Sicheng reached out from behind, covering Tong Yao’s head with his hand and pressing her onto the sofa. “You’re a bit irritable today. Didn’t eat enough this morning?”
Tong Yao leaned back on the sofa, using both hands to pry away the large hand covering her eyes. She tilted her head to look at him through the gaps between his fingers. “Seeing pretty girls in cheongsams asking for autographs made you overjoyed?”
Lu Sicheng released her. “I’m just used to it.”
Tong Yao raised an eyebrow. “That’s because you guys spoil them.”
“Otherwise, they’d go out and gossip. Look,” Lu Sicheng shook Tong Yao’s phone, “Isn’t this coming? By afternoon, there’ll probably be a post on the Forum like, ‘Famous female esports player shows arrogant and irritable attitude, contrary to her usual demeanor’…”
Tong Yao froze for a moment, took a deep breath, as if only now realizing the situation, and began to feel a bit of regret.
“Those with nothing to lose fear nothing.” Lu Sicheng shoved the phone back into her hand. “Just turn a blind eye and don’t let these people stir up trouble.”
“But—”
“What did we agree on during the flight yesterday?”
“……What?”
“Listen to me.”
“……”
“Hmm? Be good.”
“……………………You’re just taking advantage of being the captain.”
Tong Yao stuffed her phone into her pocket angrily, glared at Lu Sicheng, then got up from the sofa and grabbed a comb to fix her hair, which he had messed up… From the mirror, she saw Little Fatty grinning mischievously and making faces at Old K and the others. “Cheng Ge could quit esports and become a police dog trainer. Who knows, he might shine in another industry.”
Lu Sicheng lounged half-sitting on the sofa, lifting his eyelids to glance at these troublemaking teammates. “Stop provoking her. If she explodes again, you guys deal with it.”
As if to prove his point, Tong Yao threw the comb aside.
Little Fatty and the others immediately shut their mouths.
—This was the first wave of cooling down. Current rage level: 65%. The charging bar receded because the captain said: Think twice before acting, don’t stir up trouble for yourself.
Fine, fine. Tong Yao ruffled her hair and told herself to stay calm and be civilized.
……
After dragging their feet until around 11:30, a staff member came to escort Tong Yao and the others from the dressing room to a makeshift “VIP lounge” near the stage, constructed with simple boards. Inside, there was a table and a few plastic stools. It was stuffy and noisy all around. Tong Yao nibbled on a bread roll Xiao Rui had somehow procured from who-knows-where.
“This convention doesn’t provide food?” Tong Yao asked while chewing the bread.
“At least there’s water,” Little Fatty said, taking a sip. “Having water is already good.”
Tong Yao thought for a moment, then shared more than half of her bread with the chubby guy, who also seemed starving.
While waiting in the lounge, perhaps because Xiao Rui finally moved around, no one came in for autographs during that time. Only staff members occasionally hurried in and out… Finally, presumably because the stage event had concluded, the lounge door swung open, and a group of high-heeled girls walked in, chatting and laughing—
Little Fatty and the other guys naturally stood up from their chairs to offer their seats. Some of the girls politely thanked them before sitting down. Tong Yao hesitated but also stood up, only for the seat to be taken by the girl who had badmouthed her earlier. After sitting down, the girl shot her a sideways glance…Tong Yao thought to herself, damn, where’s the promised good karma for good people?
Standing behind her, Tong Yao bared her teeth slightly. A few showgirls across from her noticed and, probably also finding the seated one rather impolite, giggled together in hushed amusement. Lu Sicheng glanced at her but pretended not to see anything, turning a blind eye—
Then, the final wave of excitement arrived.
The host finally came in and handed out the activity schedule to everyone, detailing the interactive segments and games—
Tong Yao took one look at the game and was dumbfounded. Instead of sticking to safe, harmless games like dropping the handkerchief, someone had come up with the brilliant idea of having team members carry showgirls in a princess hold and race across the stage, with the girls striking a gong with a hammer to signal victory.
Tong Yao: “…”
Honestly, her first reaction upon seeing this game was to call the police and report someone for vulgar, attention-seeking behavior.
Looking up, she noticed the other team members’ expressions weren’t optimistic either, and a few of the younger girls also seemed hesitant—some were wearing qipaos; how would it look to be carried around like that?
…And beyond that, there was something even more important.
Tong Yao put down the schedule and said flatly, “Whose idea was this? And no one thought to tell us in advance? Every single one of these gamers has hand injuries. The physiotherapist just said after acupuncture, they shouldn’t do heavy lifting for half a month. I haven’t even let them twist open water bottles this week…”
Xiao Rui shot her an appreciative glance and quickly chimed in, “Yeah, yeah, seriously. Where’s the person in charge? Let’s change the game. This really isn’t appropriate, and the optics are bad too—”
A few showgirls murmured in agreement.
“But all the game props are already prepared, and the timing is tight. Changing it now would be inconvenient, no? It’s just a quick thing—they won’t have to hold them for long. Just tough it out…” The host hesitated, clearly unable to make the call.
Tong Yao frowned, walked over to Old Cat, and yanked up his sleeve to reveal the wrist brace underneath. “My teammate can’t tough it out, not even for a second. There’s a match tomorrow—if he strains something, who’s gonna replace him?”
After speaking, she let go of Old Cat’s arm but kept a firm grip, standing protectively in front of her battered teammates like a mother hen.
The host chuckled awkwardly, a bit flustered by the small girl’s fierceness. He stammered a few more words, clearly still trying to mediate and persuade. But just then, a sweet, mocking voice cut in from the corner of the lounge—
“Honestly, girl, you’ve been scowling and itching for a fight since the start, haven’t you? Didn’t they already tell you the organizers have everything prepped and the schedule’s set? It can’t be changed.”
The woman who’d been at odds with Tong Yao since morning turned around, holding a water bottle—
“We’re all here to get paid. Who do you think you are, acting all high and mighty? If you’re so unhappy, why even come? Taking the money and then making things difficult for the organizers—you gamers sure have a lot of demands… A bunch of grown men carrying a few dozen pounds of girl across the stage for a quick race—since when is that a life-or-death—”
Her words were abruptly cut off.Because by the time she said "life or death," Tong Yao's rage meter had already maxed out after a full day of buildup. Before anyone could react, she shook off Old Cat's hand and lunged forward, kicking the plastic chair—which tilted violently, sending the person sitting on it crashing to the ground with a scream!
As Tong Yao stepped forward, ready to flip the chair up with her foot and follow up with a QW combo to finish her off, someone suddenly lifted her from behind. The back of her head bumped against a solid chest, and before she could react, she was spun around in their arms—
"Let go!"
Tong Yao let out a furious roar.
At the same time, the woman who had been spewing nonsense scrambled up from the floor and shrieked as she flung the open water bottle in her hand. The entire bottle missed even a single strand of Tong Yao's hair—instead, it splashed all over Lu Sicheng's back as he shielded her against his chest.
By now, the lounge had completely descended into chaos!
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