Chapter 43
Shi Luo stared blankly at the screen, hands resting on the keyboard. Before he could say anything to Wawa, the other had already quit the team and fled at lightning speed.
Inside the training room, having just finished a round, Chen Huo glanced at the message Wawa had sent him, then looked past the monitor toward Yu Sui. Since Yu Sui was livestreaming, Chen Huo couldn't speak his mind, so he lowered his voice and ground out each word through his teeth: "I... Want... To... Queue... With... Baby?"
Yu Sui gave Chen Huo an innocent look, then countered with a question: "Don't you?"
Yu Sui was livestreaming—if Chen Huo dared say he didn't want to queue with Wawa, the NSN fans would come for him in seconds. Chen Huo exited the solo queue screen, invited Wawa to his team, and said through gritted teeth: "I do! How could I not? I'd very much like to!"
Shi Luo watched in a daze as Chen Huo went to queue with Wawa. At that moment, his game client chimed—Yu Sui had sent him a duo queue invitation.
Shi Luo hesitated, then clicked Accept. The next second, the system prompted that Yu Sui had started searching for a match.
This sudden reversal was too much—Shi Luo hadn't fully processed it yet. While waiting in queue, he hesitatingly opened Yu Sui's livestream and enabled the comments.
【6666666......】
【Tech fans are so satisfied. Public matches with random assaulters are too unreliable. If you want to see assault play, you have to watch Evil.】
【啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊......】
【Whisper the playboy killed me again, how is he so good啊啊啊啊啊 who can handle this?】
【The playboy killed me again+1, ladies please don't fall for this type啊啊啊啊啊 he'll be the death of you啊啊啊啊......】
【Can't handle it, can't handle it, I'm not even the one involved and I can't handle it......】
【啊啊啊啊啊 I'm dead, I'm fulfilled, I told everyone no one would believe me, I just knew he'd queue with Evil today......】
【What's going on between these two? What's going on?!!】
【Does Yu God not realize we can see his friend chat?】
【It's not his first time livestreaming, he definitely knows......】
【I really respect my Yu God for this— whether it was revealing a teammate's ID to haters before or now dismissing Wawa, our Yu God acts so openly, with a clear conscience.】
【I also like this about my Yu God. If he's going to play you, he'll do it right in front of you.】
【But didn't they say the two of them weren't on good terms? What's the situation now?】
【Not on good terms my ass, if they weren't on good terms could Evil even be at Free?】
【If you're just tuning in, smash that follow button.】
【It's starting, it's starting!!】
Shi Luo quickly closed the livestream page. Looking back at the game, he saw they had indeed been matched. After entering the map, Shi Luo glanced at the medic beside his character and his Adam's apple bobbed slightly.
Both of them had the Free team tag as their prefix. When the random teammates saw this, they spam-flushed the team chat. Yu Sui never typed a single word the whole time. Even if Shi Luo typed, the random teammates would drown him out, so he stayed silent too.
Actually, Shi Luo wanted to ask Yu Sui something—how did he want to play this?
Assassin build or what?
If it was assassin build, Shi Luo would need to cooperate with Yu Sui in the early game and let him get kills. Later, he'd also need to avoid consuming too much shared economy. If Yu Sui could farm up, he'd be able to buy three photon shields, which would consume a lot of economy, but the收益 would be equally huge—it was essentially giving the whole team an extra health bar.
But this really wasn't something he could bring up easily.
Because ever since he'd known Yu Sui, Yu Sui had always played assassin-type medic, only trying healer support once during their accidental queue match when they'd streamed together last time.
If he asked now, it would seem like he wanted Yu Sui to play healer.
Shi Luo quietly watched his teammates spam in the chat. When the countdown to game start hit zero, he rushed out first.
Yu Sui followed closely behind him.
Yu Sui's mechanics were incredibly precise—while moving, he constantly timed his casts to apply the initial photon shield to all three teammates, not wasting a single moment. By the time Shi Luo and the random assault player reached the map's boundary, all four teammates had full initial status. Shi Luo heard footsteps but didn't rush to use his cleansing dish. He took two steps back and positioned himself behind the bushes. Before he could even aim, Yu Sui beside him struck—his dagger landed and claimed the kill.
Yu Sui was indeed playing assassin build. Shi Luo gave up one kill, waiting until Yu Sui retreated to cover before firing.
The two of them had never coordinated like this before, but in this public match, with two pro players on the same team, they crushed everyone. The game lasted less than twenty minutes, and both of them exited the map together.
After exiting the map, Shi Luo took a deep breath. He wondered if Yu Sui wanted to continue queuing.
Earlier, he'd heard Zhou Huo mention to Yu Sui that on the first day of streaming, two hours was enough. It had already been an hour—the next hour, shouldn't Yu Sui be chatting with his fans?
Before Shi Luo could speculate much longer, Yu Sui clicked to queue again. Less than a minute later, they matched successfully and were in another game.
In the second round, the two still didn't communicate, but their coordination was smoother than the first round.
Another stomp—this time they finished in sixteen minutes and exited the map together.
The moment Shi Luo exited the map, the game's matchmaking notification popped up again.
The two of them played five straight games like this without exchanging a single word.
Their rank gains were so fast that queue times kept getting longer. By the sixth game, they waited a full three minutes without getting matched. Shi Luo checked the time—it was already ten o'clock.
Yu Sui should be ending his stream.
Shi Luo didn't know Yu Sui's schedule. He was hesitating whether to ask when his friend list lit up. Shi Luo clicked it open.
【Free-Whisper】: [Next round, I'll pocket you.]
Shi Luo froze. He wanted to type and ask—what did that mean? The first five games went well, so was this a reward "healer experience card" for him?
Thinking about Yu Sui's livestream, Shi Luo still didn't ask.
The game finally matched them in. As promised, this round Yu Sui played healer.
Yu Sui became a different person—no killing intent, following Shi Luo the entire time. The moment Shi Luo's shield broke, he'd patch it immediately. When Shi Luo was in a firefight, he'd position himself perfectly to inject healing shots. As attentive as could be, as gentle as could be.
Mid-game, two of their teammates got separated and couldn't provide support. Shi Luo got surrounded by four enemies. Yu Sui only had one shield left—he毫不犹豫 threw it on Shi Luo without hesitation, then positioned himself in front of Shi Luo, blocking four shots in a row, only retreating to cover after his health was skin-thin. After Shi Luo, on borrowed health, wiped out all four enemies, Yu Sui came out of cover. Without healing himself, with barely a sliver of health, he第一时间 gave Shi Luo healing injections and wrapped bandages.
In the game interface, Shi Luo's character sat on the ground leaning against a fragmented stone wall. Yu Sui's character knelt half-beside Shi Luo, sporting a health bar that would shatter at a touch, focused entirely on wrapping bandages for Shi Luo.
Looking at this scene on screen, Shi Luo's face suddenly grew warm.
They were too close.
Shi Luo couldn't resist typing.
【Free-Evil】: [You don't need to take such good care of me.】
But two seconds later.
【Free-Whisper】: [Told you, I'll pocket you.]
Yu Sui meant what he said. This round, the enemy assault player was also a pro player, so they didn't have as smooth a time—but Shi Luo didn't die a single time the entire round.
Yu Sui stayed within five meters of Shi Luo the whole time, constantly ensuring Shi Luo operated at full status.
Shi Luo didn't know what was wrong with him. It was just a game character, after all. But watching Yu Sui stay so close to him, his face grew redder and redder.
This round, they still won, but it took a full thirty-five minutes. After exiting the map, Shi Luo took a deep breath.
For the first time in history, he'd actually gotten flustered from being pocketed by a medic.
After exiting the game, Shi Luo sent Yu Sui a friend message.
【Free-Evil】: [You... aren't you only supposed to stream for two hours? It's almost eleven.】
Yu Sui replied quickly.
【Free-Whisper】: [Tired?】
Shi Luo wasn't tired at all, but he couldn't bring himself to tell Yu Sui that he didn't know what was wrong with him—he felt itchy all over from being pocketed by him.
Shi Luo wiggled his fingers, typing quickly.
【Free-Evil】: [It's just... Zhou Huo mentioned earlier that on the first day, you shouldn't stream too long.】
【Free-Whisper】: [I don't mind. If you're tired, we stop.】
【Free-Evil】: [...Let's stop. I'm going outside for a smoke.】
【Free-Whisper】: [Ok.】
Yu Sui quit the team. Shi Luo was afraid his face really was flushed and someone might see it. He grabbed his phone and rushed out of the training room at top speed.
Shi Luo rounded the corner to his room in a few strides. Once inside his small private bathroom, he splashed water on his face.
Shi Luo looked at himself in the mirror—his face was no different from usual, but both ear shells had turned completely red.
Shi Luo couldn't stand himself: "You blush your ass..."
Shi Luo rubbed his ears, walked out of the bathroom, and flopped onto the bed. He shifted around, then picked up his phone and opened the livestream platform app to enter Yu Sui's room.
Yu Sui hadn't ended the stream yet. The comments in his livestream were still flying fast.
【Whisper is secretly amazing, assassin or healer, and he's so good at both!】
【Yu God's mechanics are unquestionable, 666666】
【Is there anyone still saying Yu God and Evil aren't on good terms?】
【But it's not about whether they're on good terms anymore, the atmosphere between these two is getting a bit romantic now, isn't it?】
【I saw Whisper's healer-type medic once from Luo Zai's perspective before, but it's different watching from the first-person—how should I put this......】
【My legs are getting weak.】
【Legs weak+1】
【For some reason, I also feel a bit weak. Whisper can be this gentle.】
【I'm barely holding up—don't know how the person actually involved feels.】
【The person involved went to smoke, hhhhhh......】
Shi Luo lay on the bed with his two red ears propped up, gritting his teeth: "The person involved also feels a bit weak, satisfied now......"
Shi Luo rolled over and lay face-down on the bed. His mind was a tangled mess.
What was Yu Sui even doing啊啊啊啊啊.
In the livestream, Yu Sui still hadn't ended the stream. He was now solo queuing. The comments were all urging him to duo queue with someone else, but Yu Sui acted like he didn't see it, entering the game on his own.
Of course, he was still playing his assassin medic, claiming lives left and right, harvesting kills like flying. The comments were all calling out Yu Sui's double standards. Shi Luo watched the endless "yoooooo" flood past and his ears turned even redder.
This person......
Shi Luo aggressively raked his fingers through his hair, closed the livestream. Just as he was about to go splash some cool water on his ears, his phone vibrated—a WeChat message.
【Whisper】: [Not finished smoking yet? It's not quite time to log off. You've been gone a while.】
Shi Luo checked the time and quickly typed, 【Evil】: [Coming back right now.】
Yu Sui replied again shortly after.
【Whisper】: [Just a reminder. No rush.】
Shi Luo clutched his phone. After a moment, he sent Yu Sui a message.
【Evil】: [You... aren't you going to end your stream?】
Yu Sui didn't reply for a while. Shi Luo remembered he'd entered a game—was probably in the middle of playing and couldn't spare attention. Shi Luo grabbed the tablet beside his pillow and opened Yu Sui's livestream. Sure enough, Yu Sui was in a melee duel at point-blank range.
Half a minute later, Yu Sui claimed the enemy kill. As he turned around to use medicine on himself, Shi Luo's phone vibrated again.
【Whisper】: [Gonna pad some stream hours. After mid-month, I won't be streaming anymore.】
Shi Luo looked at the livestream, then at his phone. He had to admit—Yu Sui was truly something else.
He could even find time to reply to messages like this.
Shi Luo hadn't wanted to bother Yu Sui, but seeing he really could multitask, after some thought he couldn't help but ask directly—
【Evil】: [You just, like... why did you play healer?】
In the livestream, Yu Sui was at point-blank range with the enemy again. After wiping this team, they'd be able to directly clear the enemy's fog zone and destroy their rebirth stone to end the game. This was absolutely no time to be replying to messages. Shi Luo watched the livestream, then looked at what he'd just asked. He regretted it.
That question was...... sticky.
Like he was being coquettish. Disgusting.
In the livestream, Yu Sui's movements never paused for a moment—he probably hadn't had time to check his phone yet. Shi Luo frantically clicked撤回, recalled the last message.
Shi Luo sat up, rubbed his brow, and sighed.
He'd been so calm and composed before. It was all Yu Sui's fault...... queuing together all night, in a daze, getting carried along and losing his clarity.
Less than a month ago, he'd actually threatened Yu Sui, telling him they were all adults here—some things were better left unasked.
Sometimes, when words are too clearly stated, there's no room left for hope.
If Yu Sui replied with something like "No reason, just felt like trying healer, wanted to see if it'd work better," how awkward would that be?
Like he was reading too much into things.
Shi Luo scrubbed his face, watching Yu Sui's mechanics sharp and unstoppable, cutting through the enemy's territory with his team, destroying the rebirth stone with one dagger as the game ended.
At the same moment, Shi Luo's phone vibrated again.
【Whisper】: [No reason. Pocketing you is something I want to do.]