# Chapter 59
When Shi Luo first joined FS as Yu Sui's substitute, he had plenty of free time. FS didn't have any other demands of him—just make sure the water cooler didn't get carried off by the guy fixing the air conditioning.
After the college entrance exam, before FS disbanded, Shi Luo had a period where he was so bored he frequently searched for topics related to Yu Sui.
Among the hidden corners of the forum, there was a particularly eye-catching topic related to Yu Sui, titled: "What Would It Be Like to Date Celebrity Player Whisper?"
Most players of FOG expressed that just thinking about it sounded amazing—if you were dating Whisper, you'd never have to worry about money for the rest of your life, your ancestral tomb would burst with green energy, you'd get a money tree for free, Whisper had everything, so dating him would naturally be pure happiness all the way through. Apparently Yu Shen's parents were in academia, so any future children would inevitably have high IQs too—it was a perfect match from every angle, a surefire win no matter how you looked at it.
Yu Sui's own fans were much more level-headed. After some wonderful speculation, they made a rational judgment: setting aside the inherent negatives of being in the public eye and the center of media attention, actually dating Yu Sui wouldn't be that easy either.
Just think about the terrifying training schedule of a pro player, and then think about the record Yu Sui set—cutting off internet for a full half year—that alone was enough to scare off most people.
Looking at how relentlessly Whisper trained, how he was utterly focused and undisturbed by any outside interference, one could tell this person could completely sever emotions and cut off love.
Even if you actually dated him, as soon as the regular season started each split, this person basically vanished. By the time he finished the regular season, the playoffs, qualified for Worlds, and finished Worlds, the person he was dating would have tombstone grass reaching亭亭如盖—tall and luxuriant.
Most critically, what was Yu Shen's nickname? Yu the Player-Basher.
After vanishing for an entire split, he'd come back with an "If I don't work hard, you'll have a hard time," instantly softening your heart again. It wasn't being played by a player-basher that was the problem—it was being played and still can't resist being coaxed back. That was the most damaging thing.
Even if there were still some diehards who thought Whisper wouldn't treat a dating partner the way he treated fans, what about considering this person's experiences?
Following Whisper for so many years, they'd seen him occasionally rage in-game, heard him trash teammates during streams, watched him throw pre-match banter that could kill the other team—but they had never, not once, heard this person exchange even a few sweet or intimate words with anyone.
Fifteen years old when he entered the industry, pampered by fans all the way from his debut until now at nineteen, not a shred of romantic experience—so could this young master possibly know how to date? Know how to consider a partner's feelings? Know how to take care of someone?
The fans' analysis was incisive and penetrating. Passersby gave it thumbs up. Lu Xun's words seemed so right: in esports, there's no romance. Dating Whisper was just asking for trouble.
The Shi Luo of that time was also intimidated.
So much time has passed. Who knows if that Q&A that once got pushed to the front page still exists. If it still exists, Shi Luo, who had just confirmed a relationship with Yu Sui a day ago, really wanted to reply—
Whisper knows how to date.
Extremely well.
Usually Shi Luo would leave his dorm at exactly noon to go eat breakfast downstairs. Due to yesterday's special circumstances, Shi Luo hadn't actually fallen asleep until dawn, then woke up past one in the afternoon. At this hour, the aunt who cooked for their base had already gotten off work. Shi Luo figured there wouldn't be any food left. Before he could go make himself instant noodles, Old Qiao reading the newspaper on the first floor reminded him: "Did you get Yu Sui to order you takeout? He put it in the warmer for you. Remember to eat."
Shi Luo's facial expression management was pretty okay—cool, composed, silently accepting that it was indeed himself who ordered the takeout.
After finishing his breakfast, or rather lunch, Shi Luo went upstairs to the training room. Yu Sui, Chen Huo, and Puppy were already there.
The afternoon was practice match time, with a Korean team booked as opponents. During training, Yu Sui was as usual in every way—how he played in-game was how he played, not giving Shi Luo any special treatment just because they were together now. When he needed to sell Shi Luo out, he'd sell him out. When he needed to steal kills from Shi Luo, he'd steal them.
At one point during the middle, Yu Sui stole a kill in such a dirty way that Puppy, who already knew about their relationship, couldn't help but make a pointed comment: "Yu God, with this last hit, you might win the match but lose him."
Chen Huo, who had no idea what was going on, raised his arms in solidarity and indignantly echoed: "Lose who? Lose me? Yes! Yu Sui, if you don't shield me again you're about to lose me! Damn it, I'm really about to die!!"
Yu Sui silently said nothing, his APM flying as he threw a shield on Chen Huo to shut him up.
Shi Luo, whose kill had been stolen by Yu Sui, didn't say anything himself. If Yu Sui were to actually give special treatment during practice matches, that wouldn't be Yu Sui.
Shi Luo liked the Whisper who was ruthless to everyone in-game.
Puppy failed in his attempt to stir up trouble with阴阳怪气 remarks and couldn't help but snort: "Are you some kind of masochist... still not giving you special treatment with that relationship, and you don't even get angry..."
Of course, this was only during practice matches.
After ten o'clock at night, the four of them began free training.
A new month meant new streaming hours to accumulate. Chen Huo and Puppy both opened streams to rack up hours. Yu Sui and Shi Luo did not.
It wasn't that Yu Sui didn't want to—it was that Shi Luo absolutely stopped him.
The reason was simple: Shi Luo really couldn't let people see some of Yu Sui's absolutely insane plays.
Playing duo queue in the Chinese server, though it was high-ranked matches, it was still incomparable to practice matches or official competitions. Between randoms without voice chat, not long-term teammates, the gameplay was much looser. They could try strats they wouldn't dare use during regular training.
When Shi Luo was low on HP, using his body as a shield for Shi Luo was already child's play. Yu Sui, relying on his god-tier mechanics, would time the enemy's movement, always managing to leave the enemy with just a sliver of health—enough that they couldn't kill him back but not enough to escape—so Shi Luo could get the kill.
Playing duo queue with Yu Sui, as long as they won, MVP was always Shi Luo's.
In one match, the most extreme case: Yu Sui and Shi Luo's team got a total of 24 kills on the enemy. All 24 kills were Shi Luo's.
If they had opened the stream, not just the viewers watching the stream but ordinary people who had never even heard of this game would be able to tell that this healer called Whisper and this diver called Evil had developed something beyond teammate friendship.
By the end of the night, Shi Luo was ready to cover his face in embarrassment.
The previous season's top diver in the Chinese server, carried by the previous season's top healer in the EU server.
When other guys carry, they usually show off a bit—"Check out this play of mine" "I'll hard carry, you go shopping" "Just stay back and wait for the free win."
Yu Sui didn't. They didn't use voice chat during duo queue. Yu Sui was even less likely to type in-game. All throughout, like usual, he said nothing, quiet as if he were in a library.
Yu Sui's meaning was clear: I know you're good and don't need me to carry. The reason I'm playing like this is to make the kid happy.
The top healer being gentle was too maddening. Shi Luo had been a healer main himself, so he knew how demanding this kind of极限 play was on reaction speed and prediction. It wasn't just Shi Luo's bias—Yu Sui's play was basically computer-level precision.
The more he understood, the more he realized how incredible Yu Sui was. The more he realized how incredible Yu Sui was, the weaker his knees got.
In the end, Shi Luo himself couldn't take it anymore. He proactively sent Yu Sui a private message:
【Evil】: [...Captain, enough with the divine powers.]
In the game's client friend chat interface, Yu Sui typed.
【Whisper】: [?]
【Evil】: [Training all day, then duo queue at night—you can... just play casually.]
【Whisper】: [I am playing casually.]
【Evil】: [...]
【Evil】: [This kind of play is casual?!]
【Whisper】: [Yep.]
【Evil】: [...I should've definitely switched roles back then.]
【Whisper】: []
【Evil】: [The skill ceiling of this profession is too high.]
【Whisper】: [Your evaluation of me is that high?]
【Evil】: [It's just the truth...]
Shi Luo really wasn't praising Yu Sui because he liked him too much. There hadn't been many opportunities to duo queue with Yu Sui before. Only after Yu Sui returned to China did such opportunities increase. Watching Yu Sui be incredible on the competitive stage was only on the level of watching the game itself—the finer details could only be understood by actually being in the same match with him. Shi Luo was still pretty proud of himself, but he was increasingly recognizing that Yu Sui's healer was indeed the skill ceiling of the profession—the kind where you can't even see the top.
This kind of Yu Sui made it impossible for Shi Luo not to have feelings for him.
Even more, he wanted to take advantage of him.
It was training time—not the time for these thoughts. Shi Luo took a deep breath, pulled his scattered dirty thoughts together, and typed.
【Evil】: [Let's open the stream.]
【Evil】: [When streaming, don't... don't do that anymore.]
【Whisper】: [Do what?]
【Evil】: [...]
【Evil】: [...I can't say it, don't ask. You definitely know.]
【Whisper】: [Sorry, I don't know.]
Shi Luo's left hand left the keyboard, rubbing his already bright-red ears.
Shi Luo slightly tilted his head and looked past his monitor at Yu Sui, who had his usual expression, grinding his teeth. This person...
Shi Luo took a deep breath and typed.
【Evil】: [...Don't treat me like your boyfriend.]
【Whisper】: [Then what should I treat you as?]
【Evil】: [Just an ordinary teammate. Like Chen Huo.]
【Whisper】: [Ok, I'll give you a Chen Huo experience card.]
The two of them opened their streams together and continued duo queue.
Entering the new match, Shi Luo instantly regretted it.
The days of being treated like an ordinary teammate Chen Huo were truly水深火热.
Yu Sui did as promised. He played his own game, completely ignoring Shi Luo as if he weren't there. He played it like solo queue—just trying to win, treating teammates as nothing but tools.
Shi Luo had brought this on himself. When he took damage, he had to walk back to the fountain to heal. When he died, he had to run back on his own.
The fans watching the stream didn't know the situation. They didn't understand why this duo that had been相敬如宾 ("polite and respectful"—actually a pun on their names) just days ago when duo queuing had apparently broken up. They flooded the comments with concern.
【WAW, what happened what happened? Haven't been on for a few days, did something happen between these two?】
【...I'm a little scared.】
【Damn, Shi Shen just got attacked right next to Yu Shen, and Yu Shen acted like he didn't see!】
【Are they not communicating? They didn't open cameras, but I can hear from the background noise that both of them are clearly in the base training room. Why aren't they talking or communicating?】
【Stop guessing. They never communicate during randoms anyway.】
【This isn't blind guessing, something's really going on.】
【+1, stop putting lipstick on a pig—this is definitely a conflict.】
【...I'm starting to freak out. Can one of them say something?】
【Freaking out+1, did they seriously just start fighting?】
【We're done... weren't they already on good terms? What happened now?】
【QAQ, someone please give me a straight answer. Tell me they aren't in a cold war. I can't take this again啊啊啊...】
Yu Sui and Shi Luo were playing their own games, neither looking at the comments. The stream viewers could only hear keyboard sounds. The more they listened, the colder their hearts grew. Countless terrible guesses had already formed—until—
Until that match ended.
Shi Luo's fans who were守候 ("guarding") his stream clearly heard another person's voice faintly tinged with laughter coming through Shi Luo's microphone.
"Chen Huo experience card. Happy?"
"Now you know how nice I am to you when we duo queue normally, right?"