# Chapter 54
For the next two-plus hours, Shi Luo propped up his left ear—that was still red from the earlier slap—and slept properly, not moving a muscle.
During that time, Zhou Huo came by to film about thirty seconds of footage with the camera crew. He sighed softly to Yu Sui, who wasn't sleeping: "Evil's sleeping so乖乖 today. No phone, no snacks, no tossing and turning. He's老老实实地 catching up on sleep."
Yu Sui was playing Tetris on his phone. Upon hearing this, he snorted a laugh but didn't correct him.
Two hours later, the plane landed smoothly. After collecting their luggage, the team rushed straight to the competition venue.
"Don't be nervous about playing Wan Chong Shan. Just perform normally."
After arriving at the rest room of the competition venue, Old Qiao opened his tablet and pulled up Wan Chong Shan's information. "Their playstyle is a bit reckless, but not the kind of recklessness you guys cause when you're being troublemakers. Their individual skill is a step below yours, so they're prone to acting on impulse and making mistakes. Their overall tempo is on the aggressive side. You just need to capitalize on their mistakes and keep amplifying them."
Except for Shi Luo, the others didn't know much about the current domestic players. When Yu Sui and the others went abroad, Wan Chong Shan didn't even exist as a club yet. Puppy lifted his eyelids lazily. "Aggressive? Those two words give me PTSD. Are the players aggressive?"
"No." Shi Luo opened his own peripherals bag and took out his keyboard and mouse. "Their personalities are pretty good, especially their captain."
Old Qiao nodded. "Right, Wan Chong Shan's captain has a famously good temperament. If I remember correctly, Wan Chong Shan's captain Xiao Jun and Shi Luo have some history, right?"
Shi Luo separated the tangled power cables and shook his head. "Can't really call it history... just a bit of overlap."
Yu Sui was also getting his peripherals. He glanced at Old Qiao. "Xiao Jun... who?"
"A player who just came up from the minor league less than a year ago. You were abroad at the time, so you wouldn't know." The match was about to start, so Old Qiao didn't have time to explain further. "Anyway, he's a good person, and he's very hardworking. None of this matters though. Just play well. I only said their tactics are aggressive, don't get misled thinking their personalities are aggressive off-stage."
Zhou Huo, who had just gone to sign in, returned to the rest room and caught the tail end of their conversation. "Who's aggressive? Wan Chong Shan isn't aggressive at all. Before we came, their manager sent me a message saying Wan Chong Shan welcomes Free, the people of Chongqing are warm and hospitable, you dare come and we dare lose."
Chen Huo couldn't help but laugh. "Can't they have some pride?!"
"They know their level, so they might as well stay optimistic." Zhou Huo smiled. "Their club is genuinely great. Every time they play against another team, their coach comes over afterward to chat, asking for the other team's perspective, asking if they can share some advice."
Chen Huo felt completely relieved. "Fuck, the whole thing with the wild bull really gave me PTSD. And we're playing on their home turf now. If anything happens, they could bury us and we'd have nowhere to complain."
The team bantered for a few more minutes. When it was time to prepare, they grabbed their gear and headed to the stage.
Wan Chong Shan finished last season in the middle of the domestic league standings. Their roster hadn't changed this season, and their skill level had improved only slightly compared to last year. Free's players had an easy time against them. They didn't even need to play a full BO3—just two quick matches and the game was over.
As Zhou Huo had mentioned, Wan Chong Shan was indeed very humble and friendly after the match. They were already waiting outside Free's rest room backstage. When the Free players returned from interviews, Wan Chong Shan politely asked if they could chat for a bit and get some feedback.
On the international stage, of course, no one would bother with such requests. But since they were all teams from the same region, there was no need to be overly guarded. Free's players didn't mind. Zhou Huo, who was always trying to build good relations for their new team and polish away their "all villains" image, hurried Chen Huo and Shi Luo—their two entry fraggers—to give Wan Chong Shan some pointers.
Chen Huo loved being in the spotlight. Hands in pockets, he happily went off to share his wisdom.
The others went back to the rest room to pack up. Yu Sui still remembered what Old Qiao had said before the match. The moment they entered, he asked, "What history does Shi Luo have with Wan Chong Shan's Xiao Jun?"
"Boss Yu." Puppy, who was slouched on the sofa, couldn't resist teasing. "Relax a little... shouldn't you players who play the field be the ones who couldn't care less about these little details?"
Old Qiao, the oblivious straight man who still hadn't noticed anything going on between Yu Sui and Shi Luo, asked blankly, "Relax? What field? What players who play the field?"
"Nothing, I just can't stand it." Puppy swung his legs off the sofa and shook his head with a sigh. "The double standards are a bit much. When anyone else has something going on, he doesn't care at all. But when it comes to Shi Luo, any little thing gets scrutinized. This really doesn't fit our team's heartless, ruthless villain style."
Yu Sui ignored Puppy. "Tell me."
"Oh, okay. This isn't private or anything, nothing wrong with sharing." Old Qiao hadn't caught Puppy's innuendo. His attention was pulled back to Yu Sui. "It's not exactly a glorious story. Though, the one who isn't glorious is definitely not Shi Luo."
Old Qiao narrowed his eyes, trying to recall. "That was... right after you guys left... must've been less than two months later. It was definitely around then, because it involved the minor league."
"Right, it was around that time." Old Qiao thought and nodded. "Definitely. It was when Shi Luo had just switched to entry fragger, and he hadn't left NSN yet. It has to be then, because NSN wasn't short on entry fraggers. Shi Luo spent a period watching from the bench during that time. The timeline matches."
Yu Sui unscrewed his water bottle and took a sip. "What happened?"
"Shi Luo had just switched to entry fragger, so of course he lost his starting spot at NSN. From the time he switched to when he went to IAC—about a month—he wasn't even a substitute for the first team. Occasionally he'd have to follow NSN's second team to play some minor league-level matches." Old Qiao gave a bitter smile. "You probably don't know what the minor leagues or inter-city tournaments are like. I'm not looking down on minor league players or smaller tournaments, but it's true—those players have it so much harder. Their income can't even reach a tenth of yours. The environment, everything... can't compare. It's worlds apart."
"You all debuted in the major league, on top-tier teams. You can't imagine how bad things can get."
"Wan Chong Shan's current captain Xiao Jun was grinding it out in the minor leagues back then. He could play well—otherwise he wouldn't be in a major league team now—but his teammates at the time were pure garbage."
"I'm not saying they were bad players so they were garbage. It's got nothing to do with skill level. They were pure garbage. Purebred garbage."
Puppy, sitting nearby, frowned. "Pure garbage... how garbage? Were they not training properly? Seducing female fans?"
Old Qiao shook his head, his voice cold. "Throwing matches."
Puppy's expression changed. He put his feet down on the floor. "This... garbage doesn't even cover it."
"The competition in the minor leagues is actually pretty fierce. They're not just fighting desperately for the limited spots that get promoted to the major league every year. Of course, promotion is great, but there's only one chance a year to make that leap. The competition was as brutal as you saw this time—countless minor league teams scrambling for it, but only two can actually get promoted. Take this year, for example."
"One of us made it successfully. One was the original major league team Wind Chaser that made it. Teams like FS—those powerhouse squads—got knocked down to minor league status. Honestly... for them, it's truly impossible."
"Apart from an entire team getting lucky and making it to the major league, minor league players have another way to ascend: transfers."
"If they absolutely shine in regular matches, catch the eye of all twelve major league teams, get selected by their management directly."
"Some want to shine bright. Which means some have to be stepping stones for others."
Old Qiao said coldly, "Xiao Jun's former teammates in that minor league team were exactly that—people who took money to throw matches, who served as stepping stones for others."
"I... what the fuck..." Puppy was stunned. "Are they even human?! Making dirty money like that, calling themselves players?!"
"The worst part is, Xiao Jun played on that team for a full two years, never knowing his teammates were throwing matches."
"Goddamn..." Old Qiao shook his head, unable to bear it. "Xiao Jun was training his ass off every single day! Encouraging his teammates, dreaming of the day he could lead the whole team into the major league. He had no idea—by then, there was already no hope. A team of four people, three of them were taking money to throw matches. Even if he fought with his life, tell me how he was supposed to get results?"
Puppy laughed bitterly. "This is fucking... wasting two whole years of his youth. Making money like that—don't they fear getting cancer for the rest of their lives?"
"That's why I'm saying, you rich kids really don't know. I grinded it out in the minor leagues for half a year, so I know a bit. You debuted on the fairest, most rigorous, most prestigious first-tier teams. You're playing in international tournaments with层层严格检验. Some dirty stuff—you geniuses can't even imagine."
Yu Sui had been listening quietly. He looked at Old Qiao. "How did those three garbage players eventually get caught?"
Old Qiao took two sips of water to compose himself. "Because they faced NSN's second team. They faced Shi Luo."
Half an hour later, Chen Huo, who had been treated like a star by the Wan Chong Shan club, returned to his team's rest room with Shi Luo in high spirits. He put on an exaggerated show of false modesty. "Oh my, so sorry, so sorry! Couldn't resist their热情! Wan Chong Shan's people are just so humble and eager to learn. They all had little notebooks taking notes. I really couldn't bring myself to say a couple words and leave. But don't worry—I definitely didn't mention any of our core tactics. I just gave their entry fragger some pointers. Can't be helped, Shi Luo talks too little. I had to represent our team and show some friendliness, hehehe..."
Chen Huo patted his chest contentedly. "Being surrounded by a bunch of young players feels amazing!"
Shi Luo sensed something off about the atmosphere in the rest room. He frowned slightly. "What's going on?"
"Nothing nothing." Puppy stood up with a smile. "We got hungry waiting for you guys. Come on, let's go eat hotpot. Everyone's been waiting for this meal."
Old Qiao sighed twice and got up as well. "Right, let's go, eat hotpot."
Old Qiao urged everyone out. Zhou Huo, smooth operator that he was, had done his rounds outside and returned satisfied. Seeing everyone was okay, he quickly called the driver, summoning everyone to the hotpot restaurant where they already had a reservation.
In the private room at the hotpot restaurant, everyone ordered freely. Shi Luo loved the tallow-based broth here the most. He focused on the menu, carefully ordering. Yu Sui had a sensitive stomach; even when eating hotpot, he stuck to the clear broth and lightly cooked vegetables. There wasn't much he could eat, so he didn't care what was ordered.
Yu Sui stared at Shi Luo, thinking about what Old Qiao had said in the rest room. He felt something complicated stirring in his chest.
Puppy was thinking he was being too sensitive. Yu Sui wasn't someone with a narrow mind—otherwise he wouldn't have let WaWa cling to Shi Luo so much without a word of complaint. He didn't care if Shi Luo had his own friends or other connections. What Yu Sui cared about was what had happened to Shi Luo during those two years when he wasn't here.
He wanted to know every little detail.
Two years ago, he'd left in a rush. What Yu Sui had worried about most was Shi Luo. In the two months before he left, Shi Luo was still fighting with other players. He hadn't even integrated into this circle yet, hadn't been immersed in a normal, healthy club to learn the most basic rules and awareness. Yu Sui had been worried sick—had even doubted—whether Shi Luo even belonged in this industry, whether he could survive in this circle all alone.
The facts proved he could.
Shi Luo was 17 back then. He'd been in the industry for only a few months. Young, reckless, fresh off the "betrayal" from his former captain. After switching roles, he'd ended up on the minor league circuit—far too easy to fall into ruin.
But Shi Luo didn't.
Shi Luo was young, yes, but he was Whisper's designated substitute. He'd debuted from FS, the holy land of esports. He had natural talent. When he watched Xiao Jun's team play during a match, he saw in one glance that Xiao Jun's teammates were throwing matches.
It was a rotation tournament. When NSN's second team faced Xiao Jun's team, Shi Luo refused to open his peripherals bag. He refused to play. He refused to compete against people throwing matches.
If Shi Luo had still been at FS, still in the major league, this situation would have been handled by official staff. But that was a chaotic minor tournament with few spectators.
Shi Luo could absolutely have gone with the flow. He was just a rookie. He could have pretended not to see anything, played the two matches and left immediately. Gu Qian had already arranged IAC for him. Shi Luo knew very well he wouldn't be stuck in the mud long—he'd be back on a first-tier team soon. How disgusting the current situation was had nothing to do with him.
But Shi Luo, leading a group of confused NSN rookies, resolutely chose to refuse the match.
The young master said we're not playing. So we don't play.
Old Qiao had stayed in the country back then, transferred to another first-tier team. He only found out about this mess afterward. Much later, he saw Shi Luo again and asked him about it casually.
By the time Shi Luo transferred to IAC, he had become much quieter than before. He wasn't as close with Old Qiao as before. When asked, he slowly said only one sentence:
"That person said it was a red line."