# Chapter 36
After the final BO1 against FS team, Yu Sui packed up his peripherals a little slower than usual.
Chen Huo and the NSN trainee had already taken their gear and gone backstage. Puppy noticed something different about Yu Sui compared to his usual self, so he slowed down too, and quietly asked, "Before the match, weren't you being all cold and merciless? You didn't go easy on them at all during the game either. What's going on now?"
Yu Sui's expression was no different than usual. He sat at his station, slowly wrapping his keyboard cable, and asked, "What's going on with me now?"
"Other people might not notice, but I can see it a little. It's mainly this look in your eyes—it's kind of familiar..." Puppy glanced at Yu Sui and nodded. "Yeah, exactly this expression. The day you sent Luoluo to NSN, you had this same look."
Puppy commented, "The expression looks completely natural, but your eyes have no focus."
Yu Sui let out a soft laugh, unwound his mouse, and stood up to head backstage.
Puppy rolled up his peripherals with his mousepad and followed, unable to resist saying, "You know, we're not just trying to save FS once—we also want to do Ji Yanhan a favor, so he'd put out a statement clarifying back then..."
"There's no need." Yu Sui walked toward the backstage lounge. "I've gotten used to it a long time ago, and this isn't worth throwing a game over."
Puppy was speechless. "What do you mean it's not worth—what could possibly be worth it?! Are you really so used to getting dragged online that you're completely immune to it?"
"Damn it, you deserve all the people calling you a playboy!" Puppy complained as he followed behind Yu Sui. "When you go cold, you really go cold—ruthless toward others, even more ruthless toward yourself."
"There's something I've wanted to ask ever since your debut." Yu Sui walked as he spoke, curious. "Why do people keep calling me a playboy? I was only fifteen or sixteen back then—how is being ruthless considered being a playboy? Shouldn't it be something like 'heartless and treacherous' instead? That word is too mild."
"Your situation is special." Puppy looked Yu Sui up and down. "Look at this physique, look at this face, look at this net worth in the nine figures at this age..."
Puppy was indignant. "A lot of things we do = being heartless and treacherous. The same things you do = being a playboy. Get it now?"
Yu Sui understood and nodded, adding, "Right, and I've been the league's top medical support specialist since my debut."
"I'm not complimenting you, and I don't need you to keep adding to the list." Puppy wanted to throw his peripherals at Yu Sui. "...I'm so annoyed."
"The thing is..." The two turned into the backstage hallway. Puppy said, "And you're not just ruthless, you know. When you go cold, you really go cold, but when you're gentle, you're genuinely gentle. You make your fans and the people around you love and hate you at the same time, unable to let go or move on—so what else would you call it except a playboy?"
Yu Sui gave a self-deprecating smile.
He was the one who fell first. He was the one who had his first kiss stolen without explanation. He was the one who had liked someone for so long—but as for whether Shi Luo was straight or gay, Yu Sui still hadn't figured it out. And yet here he was, branded a playboy.
Puppy looked at the guy wearing a face mask and sunglasses standing at the entrance of the Free team's lounge, and slowed his steps.
Yu Sui looked at the person in front of him, his feet faltering, and he put away his joking expression. "...You go ahead."
Puppy took Yu Sui's peripherals for him and went into the lounge first.
Shi Luo heard the movement and turned to look. He raised his hand to remove his sunglasses, but Yu Sui said, "Someone will be coming to the backstage area soon for supplementary video footage."
If Shi Luo coming to watch the match was already enough to spark drama online, it was even more unthinkable that he had actually come to Free team's backstage lounge. If they got caught on camera, there would be who knows how much trouble. Both of them understood this.
Shi Luo didn't remove the sunglasses after all. He lowered his hand, at a loss for words.
Shi Luo was dressed in casual clothes, wearing a black face mask, black sunglasses, and a black baseball cap—wrapped up so tightly that no one could see his expression.
The two stood facing each other in silence.
Looking at Shi Luo standing there in full disguise, Yu Sui felt an uncommon pang in his heart.
He really was a playboy, wasn't he?
NSN had a training match scheduled with another team tonight, so as soon as the Free vs FS match ended, Wawa had taken the borrowed trainee and left. Shi Luo was worried about getting spotted if he left with the dispersing fans, so he had ducked backstage—unfortunately walking right to the Free team's lounge door, and unfortunately running right into Yu Sui.
Beneath the face mask, Shi Luo's lips moved slightly, hesitating over what to say.
The fans in the venue should have mostly left by now. He could probably go out.
The current dynamic between him and Yu Sui was far too delicate. Every time they met, they were caught between advancing and retreating. Shi Luo wanted to escape, but before he could speak, Yu Sui cleared his throat: "I..."
Shi Luo looked at Yu Sui.
When Shi Luo was being stared at directly by Yu Sui's hesitating expression, he was grateful he hadn't taken off the sunglasses.
With the sunglasses as protection, Shi Luo could look at Yu Sui as he pleased without worrying about exposing too many of his emotions.
Yu Sui pressed his lips together. "I today..."
"Didn't drive here." Yu Sui unconsciously touched his trouser pocket—it was empty. He looked at Shi Luo. "You head back to IAC first? Tonight or tomorrow I'll come pick you up. You set the time."
Shi Luo froze for a moment, then suddenly remembered—it was something Yu Sui had mentioned before.
If they qualified successfully, he would come to IAC to pick Shi Luo up.
Everything had happened exactly as promised, without a single hitch. Somehow, that made it even harder for Shi Luo to believe.
He said he would come pick me up, and he actually came?
Tonight or tomorrow... that means it's soon, right?
Shi Luo was dazed for a moment, completely still. Yu Sui couldn't see the expression behind his sunglasses and frowned at Shi Luo with some confusion.
Someone passed by behind Yu Sui. Hearing the sound, Yu Sui shifted slightly closer to Shi Luo, blocking him from the sightline behind. Shi Luo took a small step back. "That's fine..."
Yu Sui nodded.
The two fell silent again.
Shi Luo felt the atmosphere growing more and more awkward. Just as he was about to say he was leaving, Yu Sui asked again, "Is your stuff... a lot? If you have too much, I could bring my luggage?"
"No, not much." Shi Luo paused. "Just some clothes and shoes, and one IAC team jersey. I have two large suitcases... that should be enough."
Yu Sui nodded. "Okay."
The hallway fell quiet once more.
Yu Sui looked at Shi Luo. "So, tonight still..."
"Shouldn't we go grab food together?" Chen Huo burst out of the lounge door. He looked Shi Luo up and down while carrying his peripherals bag and said without any subtlety, "I've been wanting to ask since just now—is this a staff member? He's been standing right at our door this whole time!"
Shi Luo removed his mask, staring flatly at Chen Huo.
Chen Huo choked. "Sorry, Ge Luo—I'm blind. My bad, sorry sorry sorry."
Puppy gave Chen Huo the look you'd give an idiot. He glanced between Yu Sui and Shi Luo, sensing the tense atmosphere, and tentatively suggested, "We're going out for a team dinner. Shi Luo, you haven't eaten yet, right? Why don't you join us? You pick the place?"
Shi Luo put his mask back on. Half a minute later, he nodded. "Sure, wherever is fine."
The Free team members waited a moment, then left the venue through the team's vehicle once they confirmed the fans had dispersed.
In the end, they went for hot pot.
Shi Luo only removed his mask after they entered the private room. Yu Sui kept looking at his phone and never sat down. Puppy deliberately squeezed Yu Sui on purpose, pushing him closer to Shi Luo. On the other side, Zhou Huo was equally shrewd. He glanced at the situation and understood it perfectly. His right hand grabbed the oblivious Chen Huo pulling him inside, while his left hand pulled out a chair and sat down himself, blocking off Shi Luo's escape route and forcing him to sit. This way, Yu Sui and Shi Luo ended up sitting together naturally.
Everyone quickly placed their orders. At lunch, everyone had been afraid that eating too much would make them sluggish and affect their afternoon performance, so they had only grabbed a few bites—fighting until nighttime had left them all famished. After the dishes arrived, no one spoke much. Besides Yu Sui and Shi Luo who didn't eat much, everyone else frantically dunked vegetables and ate ravenously. The team ate in silence for nearly half an hour before gradually slowing down, then started sighing in relief.
"Finally over!" Chen Huo lamented. "Seven matches in a row... Haven't played a gauntlet like this in ages. So this is what qualifiers are like!"
It was Puppy's first time playing in qualifiers too. He shook his head. "I even suspect this format is part of the assessment—checking whether your body can handle the grind, automatically eliminating the weak and sick."
Yu Sui was slowly eating blanched vegetables while looking at his phone. Old Qiao frowned. "Why are you on your phone again? What are you looking at? Do you enjoy watching people flame you?"
"Not the forums." Yu Sui put away his phone. "But I can guess—all of it's probably me. My 'Ten Great Crimes' probably just got a new entry... killing my mentors and destroying my ancestors."
Yu Sui wasn't wrong. After the qualifiers ended, the various esports forums were indeed filled with backlash. Yu Sui's list of crimes had gained another entry: showing no mercy in the qualifiers, forgetting old kindness, and personally destroying his former team's chances of advancing.
In truth, if Free had just played normally in that situation, the backlash would have been minimal even if some people complained. If they had actually thrown the game and sent FS to a tiebreaker, Fengche team's fans would have been the ones dragging them too. But Yu Sui's identity was special—the trolls online attacked the person, not the matter. The situation of him leaving FS was still unclear to this day, and the fans, especially the old FS fans, still wouldn't let it go. Now that FS had been demoted to the minor league, FS fans naturally redirected their grievances toward Yu Sui.
All of it was that traitor's fault!
Before the final match, the Free team had hesitated—for FS's sake, and for Yu Sui's.
Old Qiao looked at Yu Sui, his expression hard to read. "Why do you put yourself through this? Can you really bear it?"
"Of course I can't bear it." Yu Sui put down his chopsticks and took a sip of warm water. "When I saw their game ID with the team tag at the start just now, for a moment I almost thought it was my team tag."
Chen Huo slapped the table and laughed. "Same here!"
FS's team tag, jersey, and logo—too familiar to them all.
None of the four players from FS who came to compete tonight were people they recognized. But the moment they put on FS's team tag, the three of them had an illusion—as if they weren't killing opponents, but a younger version of themselves.
"Just now, that wasn't a match at all." Chen Huo took a sip of cold beer. "...I was demolishing my own home."
After saying this, Chen Huo's eyes suddenly reddened.
Puppy was夹着一块牛肚—had a piece of tripe on his chopsticks. Hearing this, he was silent for a moment, then put it back on the plate.
Chen Huo shook his head and smiled, wiping his eye with his thumb. He looked at Yu Sui. "Whisper, our home is gone. We three destroyed it with our own hands."
Yu Sui's expression remained calm. He raised his cup of warm water. "Let's drink to that."
Old Qiao's eyes were slightly red. He raised his glass too. "Count me in."
The four clinked glasses.
In the corner, Shi Luo watched Yu Sui's Adam's apple move as he drank, his heart complicated.
After today, FS would no longer exist in the league.
The former esports holy land had completely vanished today.
"Well, out with the old, in with the new." Zhou Huo looked at everyone's expressions, breaking the heavy atmosphere as he urged, "Eat up, eat up. We've got work tomorrow. Yu Sui, you need to come to headquarters with me to exchange documents. Your player information needs updating, especially Shi Luo's—transfer contracts are more complicated to handle. Finish eating early, sleep early, and don't sleep in and mess up important things tomorrow, got it?"
Chen Huo nodded. He wanted to wash his face and stood up. "I'll be right back."
Puppy muttered quietly, "Hurry back, and don't get into a fight with anyone in the bathroom."
Shi Luo, who had been having a peaceful evening all night, was suddenly stabbed for no reason.
Chen Huo waved it off, walking as he spoke. "Relax, I'm not a medical specialist."
Yu Sui was stabbed right alongside him. He took a sip of warm water and pretended he hadn't heard.
Old Qiao couldn't help but laugh. Only Zhou Huo didn't get the joke, but after confirming everyone was full, he pressed the service button and waited for the server to come with the bill.
Shortly, Chen Huo came back. His expression was unusual. He sat down and said, "Uh, there's something I need to tell you guys..."
Puppy eyed Chen Huo warily. "What's going on? You didn't actually get into a fight with someone, did you?"
"Of course not!!" Chen Huo's expression darkened. He hesitated. "In the other private room, it's FS. Looks like they're having a farewell dinner, and... Ji Yanhan's there too."
Before Chen Huo finished speaking, Shi Luo's eyes instantly sharpened.
Puppy and Old Qiao exchanged a glance. Old Qiao cleared his throat and carefully suggested, "If there's no cameras in the bathroom, getting into a fight in there should be... fine, right?"
Old Qiao hesitated. "Though I wasn't a medical specialist before I retired, I'm not incapable of fighting either..."
Chen Huo swallowed. "Honestly? I did check—just to make sure. There's no cameras in the bathroom. Neither inside nor outside."
Upon hearing this, Shi Luo relaxed. Without a word, he cracked his neck, rubbed his wrists, and stretched his shoulders.
Zhou Huo watched everyone in terror. "What's going on? Are you guys trying to touch a live wire? Don't mess with me! We all just qualified—if you all get suspended and the team disbands, where do I go?! IAC?!"
As he spoke, the server arrived. A young girl looked timidly at the not-very-friendly-looking group. "Is... is that for the bill?"
Yu Sui nodded. "The check, please."
Zhou Huo watched everyone nervously. "You guys—give me an answer! Don't scare me like this!"
"Of course we're not going to actually fight anyone. What are you thinking?" Yu Sui signed the bill and looked up at the server. His tone was gentle, harmless. "Does your restaurant have rat poison?"