Here.
Outside the venue.
After hanging up the phone, Tong Yao turned to walk back inside the stadium, just in time to hear the two commentators seated high above discussing today’s match—
Commentator A: [The current score is 2-1, with ZGDX Team leading by one point. If CK Team doesn’t regain their form soon, they might lose their chance to claim the Spring Split championship and represent at this year’s Mid-Season Invitational!]
Commentator B: [This match is equally crucial for ZGDX. It’s not just about the Mid-Season Tournament slot—this is Ming Shen’s farewell match in his professional career. I believe, no matter what, he’d want to deliver a satisfying performance…]
“……”
Tong Yao lowered her head to check the time and realized three hours had already passed since the first game. Regardless of the other players’ mental states, dragging things out like this was particularly unfavorable for ZGDX’s Mid Laner, Ming Shen—
Because, as Tong Yao later learned from the club manager Rui Ge, Ming Shen’s abrupt retirement was due to a sudden worsening of his wrist injury midway through the Spring Split. It was almost an unforeseen incident—one morning, he woke up and could no longer endure high-intensity training. If he pushed himself too hard, he might not even be able to hold a water cup steadily afterward…
Fortunately, the regular season followed a best-of-three format, so the impact wasn’t too obvious. ZGDX Team smoothly advanced to the quarterfinals as the top seed in their group. Although the Playoffs were best-of-five, their overwhelming strength allowed them to swiftly defeat their quarterfinal opponents 3-0, wrapping up the entire match in under two hours—
But CK Team was a tough opponent.
Now, three hours had passed, and it was unclear whether Ming Shen’s wrist could hold up any longer.
Tong Yao anxiously returned to her seat just as the fourth game was about to begin. All the players had emerged from the break room and settled back into their positions—Tong Yao’s first concern was Ming Shen, and she immediately noticed that he indeed looked exhausted, with a wrist brace now strapped on.
He was even holding his water cup with his left hand.
Tong Yao’s heart sank, and a bad premonition washed over her…
Turning her gaze toward CK Team’s side, she saw Jian Yang sitting in his seat, head lowered and silent, his eyes fixed blankly on the computer screen in front of him—this was an expression Tong Yao had seen two years ago. Back then, Jian Yang had just started his professional career. Though he secured a starting position, his performance was still inconsistent. After one particularly devastating loss, online criticism flooded in, and when he video-called Tong Yao from the team headquarters, he had looked exactly like this…
At the time, Tong Yao had talked with him for a while before going to sleep.
When she woke up the next morning, she found him still in the same position as before she’d slept—except now he was playing games. She checked his match history and saw an entire night of victories, not a single loss, with him hard-carrying every game. His Korean server account had climbed from low Diamond I to Grandmaster, gaining over a hundred LP in the process.
Tong Yao: “……”
So… was he about to enter god mode now?Tong Yao thought for a moment, then wore an utterly devastated expression, biting down on her own fist—
Could it be that because she’d blurted out on the phone earlier that his plays were ugly, practically an insult to Ming Shen, she had somehow triggered his battle mode?
……………………This can’t be good.
Ahhhhhhh why did I have to run my mouth?! Wouldn’t it have been better to just obediently say, “Thank you for gifting us the Spring Split championship, we’ll be counting on you then”?!
Under Tong Yao’s disheveled gaze, the fourth game began.
Just as she had anticipated, with Jian Yang regaining his form, the match between CK Team and ZGDX Team became fiercely contested. For the first thirty-five minutes, it was a back-and-forth struggle with no significant economic gap… Until the thirty-eighth minute, when, thanks to the mid-lane pressure from top laner Haoyun Lai and ADC Hu Die, Jian Yang swiftly took down the Elder Dragon with his support and mid laner. After securing the buff, they aggressively pushed forward, finally putting ZGDX Team at a slight disadvantage.
By this point, ZGDX’s mid laner Ming Shen was visibly struggling, and even his in-game mechanics had become noticeably less precise—
Sitting close to the stage, Tong Yao and the others could clearly see Ming Shen occasionally glancing down at his wrist after certain plays. It was an unconscious gesture, but it was enough to show that he might truly be reaching his limit…
Tong Yao’s heart ached as she watched from below. The girl next to her, A Lu, was already clutching her cheering banner, tears streaming down her face. She didn’t say a word, silently crying… Tong Yao had no choice but to pull out the second pack of tissues from her bag and hand it to her, then take out her phone to text the team manager:
[Ming Shen’s hand can’t hold up anymore. Did you bring a substitute?]
After a while, her phone buzzed—
[We did. Saw this coming. We’re switching next game (T＿T). Even if it costs us the championship, we can’t let Ming Shen’s hand suffer serious damage.]
Tong Yao let out a sigh of relief—because domestic leagues had rules requiring teams to submit their starting and substitute rosters before the season began. Even though Tong Yao had already signed a contract with ZGDX Team, she couldn’t suddenly jump onto the stage to represent them in the match… So for now, the current official substitute for ZGDX Team would have to step in—
Though right now, she wished she could just leap up there and shove Ming Shen aside with her butt to finish the match for him.
In the end, CK Team secured the fourth game at the fifty-minute mark.
This match was undoubtedly torture for both the players and the audience. Tong Yao clearly saw that the moment Ming Shen took off his headphones, his hair was completely drenched in sweat, and his team jersey clung to his back. When he stood up, he held his right wrist with his left hand, and the team doctor immediately rushed onto the stage to his side.
By now, even the dimmest spectators could tell what was happening—
As Ming Shen turned to leave, thousands of fans in the audience spontaneously rose to their feet, chanting his name in unison, bidding farewell to the player amidst the electrifying atmosphere…
Tong Yao watched as Ming Shen took a few steps, then suddenly turned back just before leaving the stage. With his left hand, he waved to the crowd below, then bowed deeply in farewell.
……In the fifth match, ZGDX Team fielded a substitute player who had been pulled up from their youth training squad. Normally, this player had little competitive experience, and being thrust into the decisive game of the Spring Split finals left him utterly bewildered—
This gave the opposing jungler an opening.
By the ten-minute mark of the fifth game, that bastard Jian Yang seemed to have taken up permanent residence in the mid-lane, ganking four times in ten minutes—three of which were successful. Soon, the substitute mid-laner for ZGDX Team’s stats plummeted to 0 kills, 3 deaths, and 0 assists—
While ZGDX maintained small advantages in the top and bottom lanes, their mid-lane collapsed spectacularly, practically handed over to the enemy.
At the thirteen-minute mark, near the first Elemental Drake pit, engaging in a team fight was far from ideal for ZGDX, given the opposing mid-laner and jungler’s strong farm. Yet, the substitute mid-laner recklessly flashed in to initiate—
Leaving his teammates no choice but to follow.
Despite Lu Sicheng’s Big Mouth unleashing a barrage of attacks, spraying five times per second to desperately take down three enemies, ZGDX ultimately suffered an Ace…
CK Team secured the first Infernal Drake, whose attack power Buff was a divine boon for the already dominant side. At this point, not even Lu Sicheng—let alone a god—could save ZGDX…
In the end,
With a key starter missing, ZGDX crumbled in the final match, losing the game in just thirty-three minutes and forfeiting the 2016 Spring Split Championship trophy!
As the post-match music played, Tong Yao slumped back in her seat, exhausted from spectating—more so than if she’d played herself. Watching CK Team’s players leap up in celebration, she rubbed her eyes and glanced toward ZGDX’s side, her gaze involuntarily settling on the man at the far end—
Lu Sicheng remained eerily composed.
He didn’t look like someone who had just lost a critical match. Calmly, he clicked his mouse to review the final stats, then stood to shake hands with CK Team’s players, nodding politely.
Soon, the defeated packed up their gear and left;
The victors stepped onto the stage’s center, bowing to the audience before lifting the trophy…
Jian Yang, with his relentless ganks and tempo control, claimed MVP for both the fourth and fifth games. As teammates swarmed to ruffle his hair, hug him, and praise his performance, he grinned—until suddenly, as if remembering something, he scanned the audience below—
But the familiar figure he sought was long gone from the front rows of ZGDX’s fan section…
……
On her way back to the hotel, Tong Yao remained trapped in a haze of guilt. Her accidental role in motivating the enemy jungler’s rampage left her feeling like a traitor, too ashamed to face her own people.
As she reached the hotel entrance, a text from team manager Rui Ge arrived, instructing her to stay there for two more days and report to the team headquarters next Monday. With the Spring Split just over, the team finally had time to prepare a single room with a private bathroom for her—Tong Yao had no objections to this and casually replied with an "OK" before heading into the supermarket to buy daily necessities for her stay at the hotel.
An hour later, she was already on her way back to the hotel, swaying slightly under the weight of her purchases.
Hugging a pile of items so large it nearly buried her, Tong Yao approached the elevator and desperately stretched out a finger to press the close button—
Just then, a tall figure hurried in from outside the elevator. The person wore a black jacket with the zipper half-done, revealing a red and black inter-spaced T-shirt underneath. Through a gap in her shopping bags, Tong Yao caught a glimpse of the China Telecom logo...
Huh?
Who?
Struggling to turn slightly while holding the bags, she tilted her head up and saw a perfectly defined jawline and, from her angle, eyelashes so thick they seemed almost supernatural—high nose bridge, single eyelids, wearing earphones, undeniably handsome but with thin lips that gave him a somewhat stern appearance—
It was Lu Sicheng.
...Lu Sicheng?!
Tong Yao tightened her grip on the shopping bags, her mind instantly exploding with a riot of colorful live comments: Lu Sicheng Lu Sicheng holy shit Lu Sicheng ahhhh a living Lu Sicheng ahhhh Lu Sicheng is in the same elevator as me breathing the same air!!!
Meanwhile, in the quiet elevator, completely oblivious to the storm of expressions hidden behind the shopping bags, the man stood behind Tong Yao with a cold expression. He reached past her and pressed the close button she had failed to press earlier. The elevator doors slowly shut, and he casually pressed the button for the 21st floor—
The button was positioned right at neck level for Tong Yao.
After pressing it, he stepped back, leaning against the elevator wall as he lowered his head to check his phone.
Tong Yao: "..."
She lived on the 46th floor.
After the person behind her pressed his own floor, she realized this wasn’t the time to lose her mind—she should probably press her own floor too. But when she tried, the real problem emerged: the button for "46" was at eyebrow level for her. As she strained to extend her index finger toward it, the shopping bags in her arms became a serious obstacle.
Tong Yao shifted positions a few times, her fingertip turning pale from the effort, but her finger kept hovering around the "36" button—
Tong Yao: "..."
Staring at the lonely, illuminated "21," she could only feel an inexplicable awkwardness filling the elevator.
The man behind her was still engrossed in his phone. Just as Tong Yao was about to give up and set down the bags to press the button properly, he suddenly spoke without looking up: "Which floor?"
His voice carried more authority than a high school military instructor’s, so Tong Yao instinctively straightened up and stretched her neck to answer, "...Forty-six."
Hearing this, the man put down his phone and straightened, extending a long arm. His slender, well-groomed fingers effortlessly pressed the "46" button. As his hand moved away from her line of sight, she caught a faint scent of hand soap mixed with tobacco.
Tong Yao: "...Thanks."
The person behind her didn’t respond.
The elevator was once again steeped in inexplicable awkwardness.
Slowly, the elevator ascended.At the same time, Tong Yao couldn't shake the feeling that the person standing behind her had misunderstood something. The more she thought about it, the more uneasy she became. Finally, as the elevator reached the 19th floor, she suddenly blurted out, "I can reach it."
Lu Sicheng's fingers, which had been typing on his phone, abruptly paused.
Tong Yao: "This button only comes up to my eyebrows. See, I really can reach it."
She stretched her index finger as far as she could, barely grazing the "36" button—
Lu Sicheng: "..."
Lu Sicheng: "Oh."
Tong Yao: "........................"
The elevator dinged as it arrived, and the doors opened. The man standing behind Tong Yao stepped out.
The elevator doors closed.
Left behind was Tong Yao, her index finger still stubbornly extended, her face a picture of utter bewilderment.
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