FOG [e-sports]

Although they qualified as the second team in their group, NSN played extremely well in the last BO1 game against the South Korean team. The statistics were shocking. Before, Wawa appeared as the obvious weak link in the team. Now this weak link suddenly evolved into the MVP. The teams that were already sure to advance to the quarterfinals didn’t dare to underestimate NSN. The No. 1 team in Group B even sent a tweet saying that they didn’t want to be matched up against NSN during the draw.

With NSN managing to qualify, after two years, the Chinese division once again had two teams to reach the top eight within the same World Championships. After the NSN’s last game, Gu Gan went as their captain to the interview. When asked about which team he wanted to face, Gu Gan didn’t even hesitate to say that Sacred Sword was the team he wanted to face most in the quarterfinals.

Numerous teams have been fighting it out online for many days. Just the day before the qualifying match of Group C, the Sacred Sword had already been bidding NSN good-bye. The strong smell of gunpowder had already risen to the surface. The probability of being matched against Sacred Sword was too high and Gu Gan didn’t bother to pretend. He directly said that he wanted to compare skills against Sacred Sword in the quarterfinals. If his team loses, he will bless Sacred Sword as they enter the semifinals. If he wins, then he’ll be asking them to kindly take a hike.

“Look at how many people Luo Luo has turned rotten. Even Old Gu has started to dish out some fighting words.” Puppy sighed as he ate while watching the interview, “He’s already this old but he’s still not stoic enough.”

“What’s the f*cking use of being stoic? You just wind up ridiculed and they walk all over your face. It’s true; although this year’s World Championship is the most chaotic but it’s also the liveliest. This is quality entertainment. Everyone’s already created this ‘you die, I live’ kind of atmosphere.” Chen Huo was quite satisfied, “Not only are we going to f*ck you over, we’re also going to say it right to your face.”

Zhou Huo looked at Gu Gan’s interview and turned to ask Old Qiao, “If they really get matched up against Sacred Sword, how are their chances for winning?”

“There are so many factors that affect how one performs when they’re on the spot. How can anyone possibly give a precise win probability?” Old Qiao looked at the NSN’s happiness at qualifying. When they began to talk about this, the smile on his face faded a little. He said helplessly, “If I really have to say a win probability. ...then Sacred Sword definitely has a slightly higher probability of winning.”

“You also said that there’s factors when you’re actually playing on the spot.” Shi Luo ate a bit and said vaguely, “Wawa will definitely perform better and better.”

“That’s also true...Right now, Wawa is a mini-Angel Sword. Sigh, what’s the use of worrying about this? They might not even be matched up against them. We might wind up having a civil war.” Zhou Huo said to Yu Sui, “Don’t set any practice matches for tomorrow. They’ll be doing the draw directly after Group D’s qualifying matches. You’ll need to be there to do the draw for our team.”

After playing for so many years, Yu Sui was very clear on the process of the World Championships. Yu Sui gave an ‘en’ of assent. Shi Luo looked up at Zhou Huo and then at Yu Sui and said, “I’ll go with you.”

Zhou Huo looked at Shi Luo and shrugged. “It’s just a draw. According to the order of their group, the first team from each group will draw one by one a second seed team. It will be done in five minutes at most but you’ll be waiting up to two hours before then. After a half-hour’s drive, you’ll get to the stadium and you won’t do anything but wait. After a few minutes of actually doing the draw, you’ll come back here and that’ll be another half an hour... It’s a waste of a few hours, why would you want to go? Don’t you think it’s troublesome?”

Yu Sui also looked at Shi Luo, Shi Luo said, “It’s not troublesome. I’ll go with.”

Zhou Huo was at a loss, “Why?”

Shi Luo swallowed his mouthful of food. He looked hesitant for a moment but did not explain.

Yu Sui lips also ticked up a bit but he too said nothing.

Zhou Huo looked at Yu Sui and couldn’t figure it out. “Although you’ll probably run into Sacred Sword when you go to the draw, it’s not like they’ll be able to kidnap you. You’re over 1.8 meters tall. What’s got him worried? Why can’t you go by yourself?”

“You’re thinking too much. Shi Luo isn’t afraid that I’ll get kidnapped.” Yu Sui took two sips of warm water, “He’s not used to these foreign social apps and wanted to see what the others were arguing about. I searched it on my phone and showed him...”

“Someone sent a private message of a confession or...something more than a confession to my account...he accidentally clicked and saw it.” Yu Sui continued to eat leisurely, “Do you get it now?”

“I get it.” Zhou Huo tut, “Someone tipped over the vinegar jar again? Now, he’s going to go wherever you go to let the people here in Europe know that you have a boyfriend?”

Shi Luo looked at him askance and Zhou Huo decided to shut up. He nodded, “Okay, if you don’t think it’s troublesome then you can go. Tomorrow, you two go. We’ll wait for the result of your draw at the hotel.”

After dinner, they played four more practice games. By the time they finished the game review, it was 5 in the morning. Everyone went back to their room to rest. At 2 in the afternoon, as scheduled, Yu Sui and Shi Luo went out to the stadium.

On the way to the stadium, Shi Luo was so sleepy, he could hardly keep his eyes open. In the car, he sat leaning against Yu Sui and couldn’t help but doze off. Yu Sui glanced at the driver and taking advantage of the fact that the driver couldn’t understand Chinese, he told Shi Luo earnestly, “...If really can’t help but worry, how about you give me a hickey to mark your territory? You can have the driver drive you back to the hotel after you drop me off. Who would I belong to if you die from exhaustion?”

Shi Luo opened his eyes a slit and said, face the picture of irritation, “I won’t die from exhaustion.”

Yu Sui smiled, “You’ve really gotten jealous?”

“How can the internet celebrities here be so wild?” Shi Luo really couldn’t understand, “What were they thinking sending pictures like that?”

Shi Luo looked at Yu Sui, an expression of dissatisfaction on his face, “In the past two years... there have been a lot of these, right?”

Yu Sui laughed. What can he do if someone sends those to him? Besides, he’s never even looked at them at all.

The expression on Shi Luo’s face still wasn’t good. Yu Sui looked at Shi Luo quietly and suddenly said, “Take off your uniform jacket.”

Shi Luo couldn’t react immediately. He took off his coat, a bit dazed.

Yu Sui took it. He then took off his own jacket and handed it to Shi Luo. He put on the jacket with ‘Evil’ printed on it.

Fortunately, Shi Luo’s team uniform was quite loose and it also fit Yu Sui very well.

Yu Sui zipped it up. He lay back against his seat and tried to catch up on sleep.

Shi Luo was taken startled and then he couldn’t help the corners of his lips from ticking up.

There was a bit of a traffic jam on the road and arrived at the stadium after nearly an hour. The first two best of one games for Group D has already been played. The league staff member took the two of them to the lounge. Although he lounge wasn’t big, fortunately, it did have a live broadcast feed of the matches. The two sat down to watch the game, waiting for the D group to finish before they do the draw.

“Before we came here, Wawa sent me a voice message. He says you have to make sure to wash your hands before the draw.” Shi Luo is still sleepy. He wasn’t very energetic as he watched Group D’s matches. He said quietly, “We’re the first seed for Group A, you’ll definitely be the first one to draw. Wawa begs you not to draw NSN.”

Recalling Wawa’s exceedingly silly tone of voice, Shi Luo felt his scalp going numb, “He’s really not afraid of anyone anymore. He told me that all be wanted was to not run into us. If they get matched up against Sacred Sword in the quarterfinals and NSN wins, then this year, two teams from our division will be in the semifinals. If they lose, then they’ll have experience in dealing with the Sacred Sword after playing a BO5 with them. Their team has already discussed it and they won’t be returning to China immediately if they are eliminated. They’ll stay and serve as a sparring team. Even if they die, they’ll send us to the finals.”

Yu Sui looked down at the phone and frowned slightly.

After NSN qualified for the quarterfinals, NSN’s boss was instantly full of confidence. He sent a provocation right at Sacred Sword’s face, asking if they wanted to make a date in the quarter-finals. Strangely, however, Sacred Sword did not send a response to counterattack this time. In response, as if they hadn’t even seen it, half an hour ago, they made an ambiguous tweet, the meaning of which was that the one they wanted to set a date with was someone else, not NSN.

The accompanying picture was even more interesting, it was severed angel’s wing.

Yu Sui frowned and murmured, “...I haven’t seen you in a year and your playing just keeps getting dirtier and dirtier.”

Shi Luo looked at Yu Sui, “What did you say?”

“It’s nothing.” Yu Sui looked at the live screen, “Let’s watch the game.”

Sacred Sword scored an overwhelming victory in the first round of games for Group D. Within their group, the Swedish team has scored two points, Japan had zero points, and the North American team had one point. So far today, Sacred Sword and the Swedish team has scored one point each. Sacred Sword was in the lead and the Swedish team was second.

Barring any unforeseen incidents, this should be the qualifying sequence for Group D.

The premise of which was that there would be no unforeseen incidents.

In the third BO1, the Swedish team scored another point. The other two teams in the group basically had no hope of qualifying.

In the fourth BO1, the North American team scored a point from the Japanese team. This had no effect on the overall situation.

In the fifth BO1, Sacred Sword played against the Japanese team. Not long after the game started, Shi Luo’s half-closed eyes slowly widened.

Shi Luo’s expression gradually began to turn cold and he smiled, “What is Sacred Sword playing at? Did their players eat sh*t today? What kind of trick is this?”

Yu Sui narrowed his eyes and after a while he picked up the phone to unlock it. He pulled up the tweet sent by Sacred Sword and handed it to Shi Luo, “Look.”

Sacred Sword’s tweet was in English, there was no need for Yu Sui to translate. Shi Luo understood it.

Sacred Sword seemed to be responding to NSN, but their words were much more roundabout than before. There was no biting sarcasm, no deliberate ambiguity. It even sounded a bit regretful, saying that they may not be able to respond NSN’s enthusiasm and be able to make an appointment with NSN as NSN was looking forward to.

The signal in the stadium wasn’t very good and it took a while for the accompanying picture to load.

Shi Luo looked at the severed blood-stained wing and his face instantly became frosty.

Free’s team logo was a single wing.

Yu Sui’s eyes dimmed and he whispered softly, “They were gunning for us all along.”

“Come at us then!” Shi Luo looked at Sacred Sword’s unclear tweet and was instantly infuriated by the blood on the wing. “Who did they chop off? Are they alluding to you? What do they mean? Are they cursing my team?”

“Well f*ck his ancestors! If Laozi weren’t loathe to dirty his professional record, I would have controlled points to run into them the day before yesterday! Am I afraid of him?! Do they think we were happy to have qualified as the first seed? I f*cking want to target them!” Shi Luo furiously said, “Who are they cursing to bleed? Is there any other meaning behind this?”

Before Yu Sui could placate Shi Luo, Yu Sui’s cell phone suddenly rang. It was Chen Huo calling. Shi Luo immediately pressed the speakerphone. Chen Huo’s loud voice rang out. “Come on! F*ck them for thinking they can stop us at the quarterfinals!”

Old Qiao’s sneer came out, “What’s this? Looks like what we feel so utterly disgusting that we couldn’t possible do, they can do easily. This Japanese team is just an Experience Baobao. In the previous round, Sacred Sword pushed them to the ground and trampled all over them. Just after a few days of not seeing each other, now the Japanese team is beating the sh*t out of them? Who do they think they’re kidding? Isn’t this brother’s acting a bit too fake?”

Puppy sneered, “I’ve gained new insight on them. I only haven’t seen them for a year and now, no one knows how low they’ll go.”

On the other end of the phone, Zhou Huo was still trying to calm everyone down. “They may not necessarily be controlling points. It’s not over yet. Sacred Sword has always been like a cat toying with a mouse when playing against weak teams. It’s hard to tell. Can’t you stop acting like you’re being provoked...”

Shi Luo sneered, “They are like a cat toying with a mouse, but we’re the mouse.”

The game was still going on.

Sacred Sword didn’t make their acting too obvious. The average player would only think that Sacred Sword had been a bit too reckless in the early stage of the game. They had been too complacent and the Japanese team seized the advantage. Now they were finding it hard to regain their ground.

While they could fool ordinary players and even the game commentators, they couldn’t fool professional players.

Wawa sent Shi Luo a WeChat message: [Shi Ge, are these bast*rds planning to qualify as a second seed team? So they can target the first seed teams? 】

Shi Luo did not reply.

The fifth round of BO1 ended very quickly. Sacred Sword lost to the Japanese team and lost one point.

The sixth BO1 game was Sacred Sword against the Swedish team.

As the points currently stood, Sacred Sword and the Swedish team both had four points.

The other two teams in Group D have no chance of qualifying. In this sixth game, whoever wins, either Sacred Sword or the Swedish team, would qualify as the first seed team. And whoever lost would be the second seed team.

Zhou Huo didn’t believe that Sacred Sword would really control points in order to disgust the other first seed teams. He was still placating everyone; there’s no need to be angry. He especially warned Yu Sui and Shi Luo who were at the stadium. He repeatedly tried to calm them down for fearing that they would get into a fight when they run into Sacred Sword later for the draw.

Zhou Huo regretted it so much. He wished he could fly to the stadium right now. He said again and again, “Just calm down, I really think Sacred Sword was just toying with everyone last round. They don’t actually intend to lose their first seed spot. Shi Luo, especially you. You’re not there to get into a fist fight. And it’s not just punching. You can’t curse at them in front of the camera. This might even be their entire strategy. If you get into a fight with them now, you do know you’re going to get suspended, right? We don’t even have a substitute, if you get suspended, we’re really gonna be in trouble. Shi Luo? Shi Luo? Did you hear that?!”

Shi Luo only had that picture of the blood-stained wing in his heart. His face seemed frozen. He said coldly, “I know.”

Zhou Huo said gently, “But really, I think we’re just overthinking this. They’re professional players too and they should have professional ethics. They’re not going to go that far. They wouldn’t fake...”

Zhou Huo got his face slapped before he got to finish. At the beginning of the sixth game, Sacred Sword’s striker seemed to go blind. He made a careless move and the Swedish team got first blood.

Yu Sui’s expression was the same as before, but his eyes darkened. He said lightly, “En, they’re definitely not faking it.”

Zhou Huo was dumbstruck.

Sacred Sword didn’t want to be bothered about being penalized for playing passively. Apart from that careless move at the start, the players made sure to be very skillful in giving away their heads. From time to time, they would even launch a wave of counterattack. The situation on the field seemed very tense. They seemed like they very much wanted to win but these kind of moves to Yu Sui and the others’ eyes was no different from them streaking through the map.

Before the end of the game, Yu Sui had already got up and moved his wrist about.

Zhou Huo had already hung up his call with Yu Sui. He changed to doing a video call with Shi Luo. Trembling with fear, he watched Yu Sui and Shi Luo. “Do-do I need to recite to you guys the competition rules and regulations?”

Shi Luo said coldly, “I can recite it forwards and backwards. I don’t need you to do it. Thanks.”

Zhou Huo swallowed, shivering, “Don’t break the rules, please.”

The last game for Group D ended. Sacred Sword suffered an upset and “lost” to the Swedish team. They qualified as the second seed team for their group.

Yu Sui picked up his mobile phone and refreshed the page.

Sacred Sword had sent another tweet. They @ the first seed teams of Groups A, B and C and posted a greeting along with a smiley.

Chen Huo was also looking through twitter in the hotel. Upon seeing this, he blew his top. He said furiously, “What the hell does this mean?! You’re telling me this isn’t a provocation?!”

Shi Luo’s phone kept vibrating, Wawa madly sending him question marks.

All of NSN’s members have already steeled themselves to meet death and they were going to breakthrough and go for the goal. This year’s favorite to win the World Championships, Sacred Sword, was now a second seed team like NSN. There was now no chance of them meeting in the quarterfinals.

There was a knock on the door of the lounge and the staff member came to remind Yu Sui that it was time for the draw.

Yu Sui got up and looked at Shi Luo.

Yu Sui suddenly smiled.

“I’ve always had bad luck...” Yu Sui muttered to himself, raising his hand, “I must have used up all my luck in this lifetime to have been able to make off with you. Baobei-er, give me a kiss and share a bit of your luck.”

Shi Luo looked quietly at Yu Sui and asked, “What kind of luck do you want? Among the second seed teams, who do you want to be matched with?”

Yu Sui said lightly, “Sacred Sword.”

Shi Luo lowered his head and gently kissed Yu Sui’s hand, “Don’t come back with NSN.”

Yu Sui left the lounge.

He ran into Gu Gan in the corridor. Gu Gan was a bit dazed. He was struck dumb with astonishment, “Sacred Sword, they...”

“Without any evidence, don’t say it.” Yu Sui reminded him, his voice cold, “We haven’t run into trouble yet so go looking for trouble for us in advance.”

It was also against the rules to slander other teams. Gu Gan understood. He nodded and stopped talking.

When he entered the field, the Captain of Sacred Sword, Yu Sui’s teammate last year, smiled at Yu Sui and asked in German: Are you scared?

Yu Sui didn’t say anything. He didn’t even give the other a glance. The draw began and the four first seeded teams were randomly divided into the two halves. The host of the draw ceremony reminded the first seeded qualifying team in Group A, Yu Sui that he can start.

Yu Sui stroked the back of his hand that Shi Luo had kissed. He quickly took one of the four balls and handed it to the host.

The host opened the ball for they used for the draw——

Sacred Sword.

Yu Sui looked back at the Captain of Sacred Sword, his lips moved slightly.

He only mouthed the words. There was no sound but Sacred Sword’s captain saw it and the smile on his face went stiff.

Yu Sui had also spoken in German. He asked him as well: Are, you, scared?