"Everything I said earlier was just a joke. I need to go reflect on my actions now. At next Monday's club meeting, I'll deliver a ten-thousand-word self-criticism speech under the national flag... Well, I'm off to write my reflection now. Ending the stream, goodbye."
Tong Yao put down her phone, cleared her throat, and forced herself to finish speaking calmly, watching helplessly as the live comments transformed into:
[Is Cheng Ge here again?]
[Got it, we understand. Just tell us where Lu Sicheng is?]
[Wait, five minutes ago I saw a high-level account named 'superchessman' enter the room... could it be...?]
[Five minutes ago? Hahahaha then the streamer is doomed.]
[Safe travels on your journey to Frozen Hell.]
Tong Yao: "..."
Her heart shattered inside as she abruptly ended the stream. Raising her head with a vacant expression, she stared at the tightly closed door upstairs... After a few seconds, as if steeling her resolve, she puffed out her cheeks, pushed away her keyboard, grabbed her phone, stuffed it into her pocket, and marched up the stairs with determination. She stopped before the door that seemed about to combust under her intense gaze, raising her hand to knock but pausing just as her knuckles were about to make contact.
She could hear her own heartbeat.
After a pause—
All the courage she'd mustered earlier suddenly vanished in an instant.
Tong Yao withdrew her hand and stood frozen before the door for about five minutes, until she faintly heard movement and the sound of running water from inside—probably Lu Sicheng showering before bed... The disappointment she'd barely suppressed earlier resurfaced. Like a defeated rooster, the girl hung her head, turned around, and staggered back downstairs in a daze...
As she passed her own seat, she caught sight of the takeout box on the table out of the corner of her eye. Pausing mid-step, she rubbed her empty stomach: she'd actually been hungry for a while now. Earlier, when she'd refused to join Little Fatty and the others for late-night snacks, it had been completely impulsive—she didn't even understand what was wrong with herself—
When she saw Lu Yue win the scrims in her place.
When she realized she didn't know what to say to Lu Sicheng.
Tong Yao: "..."
[ZGDX、smiling: You're right, I'm fucking annoyed.]
[ZGDX、smiling: What if this becomes Lu Yue's opportunity to usurp my position, leaving me trembling by the water dispenser forever? Then I'd become invisible to the team, only remembered when they order takeout: "Oh right, there's someone idle by the water dispenser who can place the order."]
[A Mao's Mom: ??? Your teammates talk so much they'd probably chat with thin air. They wouldn't ignore someone watching the water dispenser.]
[ZGDX、smiling: Hey.]
[A Mao's Mom: You're probably just hungry. Didn't your captain bring you food? Eat up and get some sleep. One match suspension will pass, your starting position is still yours, and your captain won't stop talking to you forever.]
[ZGDX、smiling: Really?]
[A Mao's Mom: ??? Didn't your club announce it's just a one-match suspension for tomorrow? How could that be fake?]
[ZGDX、smiling: ...That's not what I was asking about.]
[A Mao's Mom: ..........................Oh.]
[A Mao's Mom: Really really, it's true.]【A Mao’s Mom: Tsk tsk, if you've decided to give someone the silent treatment for life, why would you worry about them going hungry and bring them congee? You'd just want to shove their head into the toilet and make them eat shit until they drop dead, thank you very much.】
【A Mao’s Mom: Clearly, all you care about is whether your captain pays attention to you, yet you drag the whole team into it. Really... Are all lovestruck girls as neurotic and insecure as you?】
Tong Yao: "..."
Oh.
With a "click," Tong Yao locked her phone screen and clutched it to her chest, silent for a moment. She then looked up at the tightly shut door on the second floor, stood on her tiptoes, and mouthed silently at the door, "Stop being such a tsundere." After that, she pressed her lips together.
She really did feel a bit neurotic.
Sitting back at the table, she poked the takeout box that had nearly been forgotten on the desk—
Forty minutes later.
When the rest of the ZGDX Team returned, they opened the door to find their chuunibyou Mid Laner sitting cross-legged on a chair, quietly eating congee. By then, she had already polished off three-quarters of the large bowl.
Little Fatty let out a "tsk": "That's enough for three people! Weren't you not hungry?"
"...I got hungry later," Tong Yao glanced at them from behind her bowl. "Where did you guys go after supper? Why are you back so late?"
"Nowhere. We came straight back after eating."
"..." Tong Yao paused mid-sip, then pointed her spoon upstairs. "Then how did Cheng Ge—"
"He brought the congee back as soon as it was ready, said it'd get fishy if it cooled down." Little Fatty eyed the pile of crab shells, shrimp shells, and clam shells in the trash. "Though now it looks like he might've been worried you'd starve to death?"
Tong Yao froze with her spoon in the air, blinking, her face full of question marks: What did you just say? Say that again?
Little Fatty: "You still haven't talked?"
Tong Yao: "No."
Little Fatty: "Ah, one's too proud, the other's too tsundere. Guess you're stuck like this for life. Rooting for you."
Tong Yao: "..."
...
The next day was their match against Red Arrow.
Tong Yao lazily dragged herself out of bed to pack her peripheral bag and listlessly dawdled until she was among the last to board the team bus. Just as she was about to climb on, someone yanked her bag strap from behind. Tong Yao raised an eyebrow and turned to see Lu Yue grinning mischievously at her: "Coming to watch me perform?"
"Just worried some unforeseen circumstance might prevent you from playing," Tong Yao deadpanned, tugging at her bag strap. "Stay optimistic—what if your hand suddenly breaks?"
"If it breaks, it'll be after the match," Lu Yue tightened his grip. "Even with one foot in the grave, I’d make sure you stay firmly on the bench before I close my eyes."
Tong Yao bit her lower lip: "Keep dreaming."
Lu Yue’s grin widened, until a cold, deep male voice cut in from behind them: "Are you two done?"The two standing by the car door, stiff as fighting cocks, immediately froze. Lu Yue snatched Tong Yao's peripheral bag and strode onto the bus with it... Tong Yao muttered "give it back" and hurried after him. Once on board, everyone sat as obediently as elementary school students. Tong Yao huddled in a corner until they arrived at the venue and entered the dressing room. Sitting on the sofa, she suddenly realized her hands were empty—only then did she notice her peripheral bag was still in Lu Yue's grasp.
Lu Yue walked in and tossed the bag to her before sitting at the makeup table to get ready.
Soon, the team gathered in the lounge to await the match. As they chatted idly, the LCD screen in front of them began displaying footage of the audience seating. The day's commentators started their usual banter—Tong Yao had expected them to dwell on her suspension, but instead, they merely mentioned, "Today, ZGDX Team will field Lv, this player blah blah..."
Tong Yao figured the club must have given them a heads-up to downplay the issue.
With one ear listening to Ming Shen and Lu Yue discuss Red Arrow's Mid Laner and strategize their Ban & Pick for the day, and the other half-heartedly catching the commentators' chatter, Tong Yao occasionally interjected her thoughts on the Mid Lane matchup—
"Their Mid Laner is a jack-of-all-trades. Even though Red Arrow's performance has been mediocre, he's easily top five in the Professional League. He can play anything—facing a hero spoon like Lu Yue is tricky. You guys should focus on banning his comfort picks: Leblanc, Twisted Fate... I doubt he'll pick Annie though..."
Then, on the screen, the camera panned across the ZGDX fan section—several girls in the front row were holding up light signs spelling out her ID.
Tong Yao's voice abruptly cut off.
She froze, then suddenly stood up, startling both Ming Shen and Lu Yue. "What's wrong?" Lu Yue asked. "Bathroom," Tong Yao muttered before hurrying out. After splashing water on her face in the restroom, she blended in with the staff and sneaked closer to the stage, peeking at the audience. Sure enough, a few were holding up support signs for her.
—And they couldn't possibly be unaware of her suspension.
Tong Yao felt stomach acid rise, the same churning sensation from yesterday returning.
She trudged back to the lounge, forcing composure as if nothing had happened... By then, the team was lining up to take the stage. Tong Yao lingered with the staff briefly before slipping into the adjacent room to watch the match—empty except for her. Alone on a wide, plush swivel chair, she tilted her head back to watch the screen as the Ban & Pick Phase unfolded, predictably centering around the Mid Lane—
Red Arrow immediately banned Ekko and Azir.
Commentator A: ["Ekko and Azir! These are Lv's strongest champions. It seems Red Arrow adjusted their strategy after hearing about Smiling's one-game suspension!"]Commentator B: [The Operator Team has banned Viktor and Leblanc. Haha, the mid lane is full of gunpowder today, and they’re banning some really unusual champions that rarely appeared in previous weeks’ matches—honestly, I’m quite looking forward to it. Operator Team’s Lu Xuan Shou has always been known for his mechanics and steadiness, but his champion pool has also been criticized… I’m very curious to see which champion he’ll pick to lead his team to victory now that Azir and Ekko are off the table!]
Commentator A: [Yes, this is a crucial match for ZGDX. If they win this, they’ll temporarily take the top spot in the group with an undefeated record… Honestly, I thought this undefeated streak was a sure thing, but then yesterday’s incident happened…]
Commentator B: [Exactly, in the past few weeks, ZGDX’s performance has been soaring. Even their usually reserved captain, Lu Sicheng, has praised their mid laner, saying he’s more confident about this season’s matches.]
Commentator A: [Hahahaha, looking back now, that almost sounds like a jinx…]
Tong Yao frowned and turned off the TV with the remote.
By then, the Ban & Pick Phase had ended. When Lu Sicheng locked in Ashe, Tong Yao choked on her own saliva as if seeing her own demise… As for the mid lane, likely to continue targeting Red Arrow’s mid laner, Lu Yue picked Twisted Fate—through the aisle, Tong Yao could hear the crowd’s commotion and the commentators’ excited voices: they had almost never seen Lu Xuan Shou play Twisted Fate before.
Not just them, even Tong Yao had rarely seen it. At first, she worried if this guy had lost his mind—until the match started. Lu Yue’s lane control, harassing, and skill-dodging were all executed with fluid precision. Combined with his accurate damage calculations for Twisted Fate at every level…
It didn’t look like a desperate pick to counter the enemy mid laner at all. With plays like this, calling him a Twisted Fate veteran wouldn’t be an exaggeration!
At level 4, he burned Flash for a solo kill on Red Arrow’s mid laner, securing First Blood.
At level 6, he used his ultimate to gank bot lane, helping Lu Sicheng secure a double kill and snowball the game.
By the 20-minute mark, he had executed four successful ganks, six assists, and his CS was on par with Red Arrow’s mid laner, who had been farming relentlessly in lane…
Tong Yao opened the game forum. As expected, the front page was flooded with astonishment—
[WTF, when did this Lu guy get so strong?! Wasn’t he supposed to be useless once Azir got banned?]
[He even had a Twisted Fate up his sleeve?!]
[He’s absolutely stomping Canghai—a mid laner like this on the bench? Isn’t Operator Team being a bit too extravagant?]
[…………………… I think Smiling might be in trouble now. Lu’s performance is just as impressive as hers.]
[I’ll watch a couple more games seriously.]
[Lu Sicheng was hyping up how strong their new mid laner was, but now their substitute is looking just as good. This game’s tempo is insane—hard carrying like crazy—]
Tong Yao scrolled through the posts, then glanced up at the LCD screen in front of her. The first match was nearing its end. She watched expressionlessly as Red Arrow’s base was destroyed. Lu Yue’s final stats: 7 kills, 1 death, 13 assists.The actual match had a slight delay of about ten seconds compared to the live broadcast. Just as Tong Yao saw ZGDX about to destroy Red Arrow's team headquarters on screen, the door to the restroom behind her was pushed open. Without turning around, assuming it was just staff, she only heard earth-shaking cheers of "Go ZGDX!" from outside...
Tong Yao lowered her head, considering for three seconds whether to award Lu Yue a little red flower.
By the fourth second, when she had resolved to obediently go praise that undeniably impressive Twisted Fate play, she looked up—only to find the now-closed restroom door leaning against the tall figure of a man. Arms crossed, back against the door, he was silently watching her.
Tong Yao: "…………………………"
Lu Sicheng.
When had he come in?
Under that icy gaze colder than a wicked stepmother's, Tong Yao felt her heart drop. Her hair practically stood on end. After one second of eye contact, she immediately looked down, twisting her swivel chair to face away from the door. Head bowed, her fingers absently scrolled through her phone...
Until Lu Sicheng suddenly spoke: "Watching your substitute receive cheers on stage while you sit here observing from the restroom—how does that feel?"
Tong Yao: "..."
She didn't dare turn around.
Her vacant eyes stared at the Forum homepage filled with praises for Lu Yue and questions about whether Lu Sicheng's judgment had failed—why had ZGDX never valued Lu Yue before?
"In a post-match interview, I once said I was happy to have a teammate like Smiling. That with her addition, this summer's ZGDX would become stronger than ever before."
The low, calm voice came from behind her.
Tong Yao's scrolling fingers froze.
She heard approaching footsteps. Simultaneously, the ghostly unease she'd felt moments ago suddenly stilled. Her heart seemed to sink endlessly, from the faintly warm shallows down into the icy ocean depths—
Only then did she realize she might have thalassophobia.
"Now they question my judgment, whether I made a mistake in evaluating you and Lu Yue's roles, whether I've been biased..." Lu Sicheng paused, then said coolly, "Why?"
Tong Yao: "..."
She kept her head down, her back turned to him.
Until she saw a large hand rest on her armrest, effortlessly spinning her chair around—the man leaned down slightly, hands braced on the armrests, his tall frame casting shadows that completely enveloped the seated figure.
"Look up."
"..."
Tong Yao raised her head.
Suddenly, she found herself staring into deep brown eyes that seemed fathomless now. No matter how hard she searched, she couldn't discern any emotion within them.
She leaned back slightly, swallowing hard. Her heart and stomach might as well have fallen to the floor. Lips parting to apologize, she was interrupted when the man's voice sounded startlingly close:
"But I don't care what others think of my judgment or my decisions."
Tong Yao froze.
"The key is you. What I care about is you."
"..."Lu Sicheng straightened up slightly and glanced at his watch. "There are seven minutes left. Before the next match starts, give me a reason why I shouldn't give up on you, no matter what anyone else says."
OpenNovel