FOG [e-sports]

Chapter 63

On the way to the restaurant, the sky turned dark. The lights in the car couldn’t be turned on and no one could see clearly. Yu Sui didn’t take back his hand. He kept writing stroke after stroke on Shi Luo’s palm. At first, he still wrote in Chinese characters. After a while, he switched to writing letters.

Shi Luo was afraid of being spotted by his teammates in the car and never dared to look at Yu Sui. He put his left hand on his left leg and let Yu Sui write on it. He rested his head on his right hand and stayed looking out the window. His expression was all calm and cool but his heart and palm both felt ticklish.

When Shi Luo noticed that Yu Sui had switched to writing in English, he quietly complained in his heart. ‘Nowadays, I can’t pass CET-4 and I can’t even indulge in a little secret love relationship?’

Shi Luo was still on a leave of absence from the university that he’d applied to. After entering this career, he really hasn’t had the chance to go to university and take the CET-4. However, he was still a scholar-tyrant and he can still understand daily English. He paid careful attention and visualized each letter Yu Sui wrote, but...

Shi Luo Yu turned his head and glanced at Yu Sui, his face filled with confusion.

What did Yu Sui write? This set of letters didn’t make up a word...

Through the dim light coming in from the car window, Shi Luo saw Yu Sui looking down at the palm of his hand, writing seriously.

Yu Sui stayed completely focused, writing on his palm. He now slid his fingertip across Shi Luo’s palm faster. Shi Luo couldn’t believe this strangeness. He concentrated on feeling the letters. After a while, he lowered his voice and said, “German?”

Yu Sui smiled without saying a word, quietly acquiescing.

Shi Luo frowned and said in a low voice, “But I don’t understand German!”

Yu Sui quickly finished the last two words and held Shi Luo’s hand. He said softly, “I wrote it because you couldn’t understand.”

Shi Luo raised his eyebrows. Before he could ask further, Yu Sui wrote in the palm of his hand, [What I wanted to say was a bit too dirty. It wasn’t convenient to write it in Chinese.]

Shi Luo turned his head and looked out the window again. He stirred. In his mind’s barrage, countless messages were flying through like crazy.

Yu Sui had gone to play for the European league for two years. He’d never seen him try to learn anything from them. Just when Shi Luo thought he’d wasted his two years in Germany, turns out he was off learning German to titillate people?!

In this car, Yu Sui, Chen Huo and Puppy could all speak German. Why was Yu Sui the only one who was so outstanding!?

Why was it that the only German Shi Luo ever picked up from Chen Huo was how to curse at people? Why couldn’t he have learned anything else!?

You never know how hard something is until you try it yourself. When it comes to applying book learning, you wish you had read more.

Just what was it that Yu Sui had said, aaaahhhhhh......

Shi Luo was already an adult. Though he’d never eaten pork, he’d already seen a pig. What wind and waves has he not faced? Just how obscene was it that he couldn’t write it in Chinese?

Shi Luo rubbed his burning hot cheek against the cold glass. In his heart, he remembered for the 1,001th time just how extremely insightful Yu Sui’s fans were. When Yu Sui was just fifteen years old, they already knew that Yu Sui would become a skilled slag man.

No one but him could stir up someone’s emotions when he has no sweet words to offer or even when he hasn’t even said a single word.

Luckily, this person entered into monkhood at the great temple of e-sports. Had he been allowed into any other industry, who knows how much harm he would have dealt to the good men and women of Buddhism around him.

Shi Luo gritted his teeth so intensely, they creaked. He shifted uneasily and pressed his hot forehead to the window glass.

After half an hour, the car finally arrived at the restaurant where Zhou Huo had made the reservation.

Chen Huo was the first to get out of the car. He raised his head and saw, “Isn’t this a clubhouse?”

“It is. Their dishes here are delicious and its not easy to make a reservation. I had to reserve it for you guys half a month ago.” Zhou Huo smiled bitterly. “I originally thought that our match against NSN today was going to be a tough battle. No matter if you’d won or lost, I would have invited you out to have a good meal. We’d sit down and talk about what’s been happening with the club recently. But I didn’t expect that we’d win so illogically. Now, it doesn’t seem like it’s worth coming out here to have a meal...but I’ve already made the reservation and I’ve paid the deposit so let’s eat.”

Speaking of NSN, everyone didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. On the way to their reserved room in the clubhouse, they also bumped into Team Saint and Team Yi Zhan.

There were two regular season games scheduled for today. Aside from Free vs NSN, there was also Saint vs Yi Zhan. That game had absolutely no suspense and Saint took away the match with a 2-0 win, But the relationship between the players of the two teams has always been the very good. After the game, they were all close brothers and they went out to eat together.

Saint’s Angel Sword has always had a good temperament and personality. He maintains a good relationship with everyone and he’s old friends with Shi Luo and Yu Sui. Seeing them come in, he greeted them and asked, concerned, “How was ROD?”

Yu Sui said lightly, “Not good. He mentally collapsed. He played like sh*t for both games today.”

Shi Luo looked down at his shoes and said in a low voice, “...and almost dragged me down with him.”

Angel Sword laughed, “What does he have to do with you?”

Shi Luo couldn’t tell the truth and gave an off-hand answer. “I’m a soft-hearted person and can’t bear to see others being sprayed.”

Before Shi Luo even finished speaking, a few of his teammates already sneered. Shi Luo frowned, “It’s up to you whether you believe it.”

“Our manager should have told Zhou Huo already.” Angel Sword reminded, “We should keep a low profile for now. Don’t cause troubles and don’t give anyone reason to create some sort of issue. Sacred Sword’s got a foul mouth. Obviously, they’re mentally tormenting the teams in our region. They play too dirty. Don’t let it get to you.”

Yu Sui nodded, “Same goes for you.”

Angel Sword nodded and turned back to look at Shi Luo. He smiled softly, “I’ll take what you said as true. If you were affected by ROD, make sure to adjust you mentality early on. We’ll be playing against you guys at the end of the month. Don’t let us take first kill.”

Only Saint and Free have managed to maintain a winning streak in the regular season so far. When they meet at the end of the regular season, there will inevitably be a team that won’t be able to maintain it’s golden record. Shi Luo nodded, “I know. If you’re free, let’s play double row some time.”

“Can you still play double row with me when you already have Whisper?” Angel Sword smiled. “We booked the room upstairs with Yi Zhan. We’ll go ahead.”

“You can also look for me.” Chen Huo interrupted and yelled to Angel Sword, “Don’t forget!”

Angel Sword smiled and nodded. He took the two teams and left.

“Oh...” Chen Huo looked at the back of Angel Sword and clicked his tongue. “Yu Sui, look at that. You should learn from him. Now, that is a proper medic. He is a true milktank little brother. So, what does that make you?”

“That makes me your little grandfather.” Yu Sui pushed Chen Huo, “Get going.”

They were in an expensive part of the city, the service was warm and attentive, the cost of the food was 5000+ per head. They should be having a good time in this club, but the tense atmosphere in the local division affected them and no one was in the mood to enjoy it. They all ate quickly and in the middle of the meal, Old Qiao even urged, “Can they serve the food faster? No need to let that Frenchie explain each dish. I don’t understand it anyway. Have them serve the rice. We’re in a hurry. We’re gonna leave as soon as we’re full.”

Chen Huo sighed, “Yeah. Seeing foreigners right now just upsets me. Let the chef take a rest.”

The waiter smiled awkwardly and he served them rice. Several people bent their heads and ate the rice. They finished off everything like they were eating at a cafeteria. After the meal, they didn’t wait for the French chefs to come out so they could take a group photo. They directly paid the bill and left.

The waiter was dealt a heavy mental blow. He’d been planning on having these bratty kids stay so he could introduce their chefs to them and impress upon them how impressive the resumes of these chefs were and how difficult it was to get a photo with them. Shi Luo had something on his mind and wanted to get back to the base quickly. He avoided the waiter, saying, “It costs a fee to take a photo with us, so let’s not.”

Zhou Huo was struck with a bout of occupational disease. He reminded in passing, “Yes, if you want to take a group photo, remember to buy a ticket to watch the game and go line up backstage. Thank you for your support. Old Qiao, stop taking the complimentary tissues! Let’s go.

The waiter’s entire face was a mess. This was the first time he’d seen customers who seems to have a fire under their asses and came here to simply eat and dash. The waiter barely maintained his politeness and sent them out.

Free ate quickly. Saint and Yi Zhan were also much the same. On their way out, they once again bumped into them at the luxurious lobby of the clubhouse. Everyone exchanged greeting, got in their own nanny cars and left.

After eating, they didn’t even have any desert. One by one, they all went back their bases for more training. They couldn’t be more dedicated. But they simply couldn’t catch a break and something still happened.

Less than ten minutes after Free’s car arrived at the base, while the others were taking showers in their respective rooms, Zhou Huo’s phone buzzed as though it was pestering him.

Zhou Huo thought something had gone wrong for NSN. He picked up his mobile phone and sighed. He said to himself, “He’s just dating, that’s all. Just how big of a sin is that, really? I think these people are just... ...F*ck me!!!”

The young man in charge of Free’s daily publicity sent a WeChat to Zhou Huo. It was a link. Zhou Huo’s eyes darkened when he saw the title.

[Awesome, why can’t any of the local teams beat Sacred Sword? Let’s take a look at the lakes of wines and forests of meat our players engage in everyday.]

Zhou Huo’s expectation was that someone had taken a photo of them going to the clubhouse today. But this could easily be dealt with. He’d offer himself out as a scapegoat, saying that he’d insisted on rewarding the players. Zhou Huo suppressed his anxiety. He clicked on the link to the post and his blood pressure instantly skyrocketed–

Opening the post, what greeted him was the face of an internet celebrity, fashionably attired. In the background was the clubhouse where they had their dinner today.

There were more than 20 pictures. Zhou Huo quickly scrolled down. The pictures below became more and more explicit. In the middle, there was a screenshot of a Weibo post from some small time internet celebrity. The content was roughly thanking so and so for always inviting them girls to the party; she was very happy to have gotten the chance to see her gege’s.

Old Qiao was picking up the coat the players had thrown carelessly on the sofa. Seeing that Zhou Huo’s expression looked wrong, he went over and asked, “What’s the matter?”

Old Qiao looked intently and was struck dumbly, “F*ck...”

Zhou Huo was looking at the next few pictures. In the pictures, several girls were taking a group photo with a few people standing behind them. It was Yu Sui, Shi Luo and Angel Sword as well. Chen Huo who was calling out a loud greeting to Angel Sword was also captured in the photo, as well as a number of other players.

Old Qiao swallowed, “Can this...still...be clarified?”

Zhou Huo slapped his forehead painfully, “It’s gonna be a bit difficult...”

Zhou Huo closed the post. He looked at his WeChat that was about to explode. He roughly read through the contents and his blood pressure soared once again. He was so angry, he was running out of breath. “I don’t know which peasant boss is having a party but he invited over several carloads of girls. They happened to cross paths with us and to make matters worse, they photographed us!”

“These people are sick!!!” Zhou Huo had been the one to make the reservations at the clubhouse. Right now, embarrassment and regret were twisting within him. “What were they doing there anyway?! Now all the forums are saying that our players also went to their party. They’re saying our players do nothing but party at this kind of places everyday. F*ck me! I must have been kicked by a donkey! What was I thinking making a reservation for them at a place like this....”

“What does this have to do with you?” Old Qiao interrupted Zhou Huo, “Don’t worry! It’s not just our team that was photographed! What did Angel Sword say?”

“Their base is far away, I’m guessing they haven’t gotten back to their base yet and haven’t discovered it yet.” Zhou Huo felt irascible and jittery. His mind was a complete mess and his insides were hurting. “I said time and time again that we should lay low and not stir up any trouble. And then off I went capsizing in a drain. Unexpectedly, I was the one who caused this issue...”

“First off, stop worrying. No one blames you!” These past few years, Old Qiao, with Yu Sui, has suffered his share of being sprayed. He was a lot calmer than Zhou Huo. “I’ll tell them to go.”

Zhou Huo usually managed the team very carefully. He has never caused a mishap before. This was the first time he had ever had an accident. His phone buzzed again. Someone had sent him another picture. Zhou Huo looked at it and his eyes instantly turned bloodshot, “F*cking Sacred Sword! Are they really looking for a fight with us? They just posted a tweet with pictures of their players training, saying they don’t know even know what a clubhouse is...”

“What’s the matter?” Shi Luo was the first to finish showering. He went downstairs and looked at the two of them. “Who tweeted?”

Zhou Huo was dizzy with anger. He took two deep breaths and handed the phone to Shi Luo. He sat down on the sofa to support himself.

Shi Luo looked at Zhou Huo’s phone while toweling off his hair. He’d just had that small meeting with Yu Sui today. Shi Luo was very calm at the moment. He slowly looked at the WeChat messages, his expression unchanged.

Yu Sui’s words were still ringing in his ears.

Shi Shen, when you were at IAC, you didn’t even have a use for a psychological counselor. It can’t be that you can’t bear this much, right?

Shi Luo schooled his expression. He wouldn’t let himself be affected like ROD.

Sacred Sword’s recent petty moves were disgusting enough but taking advantage of the situation and joining the haters in spraying was too much.

Shi Luo returned the phone to Zhou Huo, “Create a group chat. Bring in Saint and Yi Zhan. Come, we’re gonna beat these sprayers at their own game.”