Chapter 61
The next day, on the team van heading to NSN, one of the entry fraggers had an extremely dark expression. He sat alone at the very back of the van, leaning against one side, ignoring everyone. His baseball cap pulled down covered half his face, leaving only his chin visible.
"What's wrong with Evil?" Zhou Huo climbed into the van. After checking all the players' peripheral bags, he asked with concern, looking at Shi Luo in that state. "Didn't sleep well last night? What time did you go to bed? Didn't I tell you all to get to bed early since we're playing NSN today?"
From behind his cap, Shi Luo muttered, "Three-thirty... that's not late."
"Oh, well that's not too bad." Zhou Huo relaxed and sat down, still confused. He turned and asked, "So what's going on with you? Not feeling well?"
Before Yu Sui could speak up to bail Shi Luo out, Chen Huo finished putting away his peripheral bag and冷笑 (coldly laughed/scoffed). "Want to know? Should I tell you?"
Puppy glanced at Chen Huo in surprise. "You know about his stuff?"
"I'm too lazy to even bring it up." Chen Huo glanced at Shi Luo, harrumphing. "Last night some creep had some nonsense idea and tried to get on my lady—the little one here—and I chased him off. Probably went back and got more and more pissed, couldn't sleep. Tch... serves him right."
Shi Luo: "..."
Shi Luo didn't want to explain anything. He kept his eyes closed and pretended to sleep.
"It was already past two. He wouldn't leave, and Yu Sui wouldn't leave either. The two of them were acting like idiots, sitting there watching me play the last round. Can you believe how insane that was?" Chen Huo couldn't understand. "We're both entry fraggers, so I get Evil wanting to steal some techniques from my secret spot. But what was Yu Sui watching for? He wasn't just watching either—he wanted to try it out! So was I supposed to just let that slide? My account is pure as jade, spotless—there's no way I'd let some little punk with permed hair, dyed tips, and pierced ears touch it!"
Once Chen Huo started talking, Zhou Huo figured out what happened. He wanted to laugh but didn't dare, holding it in with all his might. "And then?"
"So I kicked them both out, obviously." Chen Huo撇嘴 (pouted/made a face). "When Yu Sui left he even pretended to accidentally bump the keyboard... 擦 (dammit), not a single one of them is any good!"
Puppy looked at Chen Huo with pity, sighing. "Yu Sui didn't even pull your power cord... Fire, seriously, you really know how to make your own life harder with your incredible skills."
Chen Huo didn't get Puppy's meaning and was about to ask more when Zhou Huo changed the subject.
Zhou Huo turned to look at Shi Luo, whose face was full of teenage-type resentment, and tried hard not to laugh.
As the team manager, Zhou Huo originally needed Yu Sui and Shi Luo to thaw their relationship to put the fans at ease. Later, he needed these two star players to be a bit closer so he could create some content. But if things went any further—directly going public, for instance—that would be a slight step beyond the current perfect situation.
Zhou Huo was extremely satisfied with Shi Luo's decision not to go public.
After all, there was a clear cautionary tale sitting right at the NSN base.
Arriving at the NSN competition venue—NSN's home arena—normally the area inside and outside would be packed with NSN team light sticks and individual player light sticks. But not today.
The NSN fans hadn't waited outside the venue for the team van. Almost all of them had already gone through security into the arena. No shouting, no noise, all worried, heads down looking at their phones.
Chen Huo was always a beat behind everyone else. When entering the backstage area, he looked around and said, "Why is it so quiet today?"
"The answer is on the forums, but I don't recommend looking—especially before the match." Zhou Huo urged everyone toward the lounge. "I'll check you all in. Go to the lounge first."
What Zhou Huo said never carried much authority. The guys wandered into the lounge, Old Qiao included, sat down, and all pulled out their phones to browse the forums.
The incident from yesterday had indeed blown up.
Shi Luo opened the most active esports forum he usually visited. Headlines stared him right in the face—
《NSN Got Demolished by European Saint Sword 0-2 This Afternoon, Sniper ROD Went to Celebrate His Girlfriend's Birthday at Night, Really Good Job》
《Hope Every Year You'll Win the Championship, Never Deliver—Talk About Your Mother, Fall in Love》
《Does NSN Have Any Hope This Year?》
《Flame Them, Flame Them to Death, Not Flaming Won't Make Them Wake Up》
《Still Have People Defending ROD? Wait and See How Today's Regular Match Between NSN and Free Goes—Let's See If ROD Was the Drag》
Old Qiao put down his phone, sighing. "ROD's girlfriend's Weibo has been bombed clean. I know the inside story, and I'll say this fairly—ROD and his girlfriend have been together since middle school. They're true childhood sweethearts. She's not some internet celebrity蹭热度 (chasing clout). They've been together for years. ROD didn't suddenly lose his mind because he started dating. This..."
"It doesn't matter what you know." Puppy scrolled the forums, drawling. "The NSN manager himself came out and said they've been together for many years. Their official account posted a clear announcement. You see anyone paying attention?"
Chen Huo shook his head. "What's the point of arguing with flamers? They're all just upset about getting wrecked by Saint Sword. They needed someone to take it out on... ROD just happened to be the one who stepped on the landmine."
Chen Huo scrolled Weibo and失笑 (couldn't help laughing). "ROD's fans are all DMing me, asking us to go easy..."
Old Qiao gave Chen Huo a warning look. "Don't get any funny ideas."
"I know. Do these cuties think people would actually check before sending DMs? We even slayed FS—why would we spare NSN?" Chen Huo sighed. "I just feel bad for NSN. Twelve teams, Saint Sword wiped out all of them, and now only they have to take the blame. Man... some people just have terrible luck."
Yu Sui put down his phone. "Play normal. Don't think about anything else."
"Yes sir." Puppy tossed his phone aside, unhurriedly. "It's just too bad for ROD, man. Of all the bad timing—who else has a girlfriend? And she just happened to have a birthday right now. What are the odds..."
Phones weren't allowed during the match. Chen Huo handed his to Old Qiao. "Rest in peace, ROD. You carried this for the brothers."
Everyone put their phones aside—everyone except Shi Luo, who was still frowning, scrolling the forums.
"Stop looking." Yu Sui glanced at Shi Luo. "Go get your peripherals."
Shi Luo acted as if he hadn't heard. His fingers flew across the screen, his expression getting grimmer by the moment.
Shi Luo had no plans to publicly announce his relationship. But reading the posts trashing ROD, he couldn't help feeling every word was aimed at Yu Sui.
Two years ago, the memory of Yu Sui being attacked by the entire internet was too vivid. That feeling of having nowhere to defend yourself despite being full of grievances—it was deeply rooted in Shi Luo's memory. It could be triggered at any moment, leaving him gasping for air.
All they did was fall in love. Who did they hurt?
If his and Yu Sui's relationship was discovered, if Free also lost a match some day, would Yu Sui get flamed like this too?
On what grounds?
No team can go an entire season without losing. Once you lose, there's always someone who has to take the fall.
On what grounds does it always have to be the one who's dating?
Shi Luo's expression was terrible. Every ROD in every post became Yu Sui in his mind. The more he looked, the heavier his heart sank.
Less than two months ago, to clear Yu Sui's name, the entire Free team had spared no effort, to say the least.
Yu Sui had just shaken off all that mud on his reputation. If because of Shi Luo he had to—
"Evil."
Shi Luo startled, suddenly looked up. He realized it was Yu Sui calling his in-game ID.
Yu Sui's face was expressionless as he looked at Shi Luo, reminding him again, "Go get your peripherals."
Shi Luo took a deep breath, tossed his phone carelessly onto the table, and stood up to open his peripheral bag.
Old Qiao instinctively smoothed things over, smiling. "Shi Luo was just catching up on some gossip. It's fine, it's fine. Peripheral check is good, we're just waiting for the referee to confirm information."
Soon the league's official referee came to verify both teams' information. Yu Sui signed the form. Old Qiao asked, "Who's playing sniper for NSN?"
The referee also knew about the controversy and understood Old Qiao's meaning. He lowered his voice. "ROD. NSN didn't bring a substitute."
Puppy said quietly, "Stubborn kid. Hope he can pull it together."
Puppy usually loved to be sarcastic, but this time he genuinely hoped ROD could perform well and shut up the haters.
But wishes don't always come true.
After being flamed for an entire night and day, anyone would be affected. When ROD walked onto stage, his face wasn't right. His dark circles were so bad they couldn't be hidden. His lips had no color. His entire expression was ashen, his brow furrowed with barely contained anger.
The entire arena was more oppressive than usual. The NSN fans had maybe shot themselves in the foot. Before the players put on their noise-canceling headsets, the NSN fans together shouted "ROD, fighting!" But sure enough, hearing the cheers made ROD's expression even worse.
The match began. NSN didn't try to have WaWa play assassin-medic this time. In front of Whisper, no one's assassin-medic was good enough anyway. WaWa continued as support. Whether NSN was trying to accommodate ROD or not, they played extremely conservatively, avoiding direct confrontation with Free. Every encounter was extremely cautious.
All of Free's players were experts at pressing their advantage. When NSN gave up the early lead, Yu Sui, Chen Huo, and Shi Luo—these three powerful frontliners—certainly wouldn't stand for it. They cleanly cleared out a section of NSN's territory.
NSN was clearly trying for a war of attrition. Like the day Saint Sword played that scrimmage against Free, they planned to appear weak early to conserve resources and try to win through an economic battle later. What Free really feared was indeed this kind of strategy. It's just—the前提 (prerequisite) was that Free would run out of overall economic resources.
Originally NSN could barely hold on, fighting while retreating. But at the fifteen-minute mark, ROD made a mistake that revealed his position. Puppy predicted where he was, landed a single shot that took out ROD. NSN instantly lost their eyes controlling the battlefield from the back line. The two front-line entry fraggers and the medic couldn't dodge in time and were wiped out by Free. The game situation instantly became hopeless. NSN's four players were all dead. While waiting for respawn, the poison fog had already been almost completely cleared by Free's players. Puppy even stopped defending the back line and came over for face-to-face damage. In short order, without giving NSN any chance to breathe, they secured the victory.
Free smoothly took the first game. If NSN needed to distribute blame, it would squarely fall on ROD.
Though everyone makes mistakes sometimes. Not everyone's Whisper. Every match has a few small errors, and they can usually be explained away.
But the second game was different.
ROD's mentality seemed completely broken. If the first game he just had an unlucky slip, in the second game he might as well have been donating. From start to finish, mistake after mistake, his play fell apart. He misjudged Free's front-line positions multiple times. Every time he tried to snipe, he might as well have been broadcasting his location. He was completely dominated by his counterpart Puppy. Yet he refused to give up, desperately wanting to turn the tide. He kept trying to snipe people, and every single time Free found his position.
The second game ended in twenty minutes. Free won without any suspense.
A BO3 match ended quickly. Shi Luo removed his noise-canceling headset, his face showing no joy whatsoever.
Shi Luo had played against ROD before. ROD's play today being this terrible was entirely because of the online haters affecting him.
Chen Huo removed his headset, muttering quietly, "Expected he'd crack, but didn't expect it would be this ugly. This was supposed to be a redemption match, and instead he's completely confirming that he lost his mind because of love."
Easily啃 (gobbled up/handily defeated) NSN in the regular match, Puppy wasn't very happy either. He rubbed his ears. "This kind of match is too boring."
Yu Sui was as usual, as calm as ever. He signed the confirmation card the referee handed to the captain, then started disconnecting his keyboard and mouse. "Time for interviews."
Shi Luo was lost in thought, still staring at the computer screen.
After each game, a stats panel automatically popped up showing every player's kill count for that round. ROD's stats: 0 kills, 8 deaths.
A back-line sniper putting up those numbers basically meant he was team poison.
Shi Luo's heart sank. He couldn't shake the feeling that this stat panel was about him.
"Shi Luo, Shi Luo? SHI LUO?!!!"
The arena was too noisy. Shi Luo, buried in his own thoughts, didn't hear a single word. He was still staring at the computer screen until Yu Sui touched his shoulder.
Shi Luo snapped back to reality, only to realize all his teammates were looking at him. The interview stage was already prepared, and the host was also looking in his direction, puzzled.
Shi Luo grit his teeth. He'd been zoning out too much today.
Shi Luo quickly grabbed his peripherals, frowned, and followed his teammates to the interview stage.
It was NSN's home arena, and NSN had played this badly. The host felt awkward too. He didn't ask any sensitive questions, quickly wrapped up after a few standard inquiries. Shi Luo, full of worries, followed his teammates to the lounge.
A match they'd prepared for many days ended in a rushed, half-hearted finish. Zhou Huo was a bit dejected too. He smiled, offered some congratulations, and was just about to ask where they wanted to eat when Yu Sui put down his peripherals and said, "Anywhere's fine. You all go ahead. I need to say a few words to Shi Luo."