# Chapter 77
Yu Sui's practice partner services were overly thorough—he'd gone ahead and countered all the haters for Shi Luo. Shi Luo was already over it, so he sent Yu Sui a duo queue invitation and waited for him to accept.
In-game, Yu Sui hadn't responded yet, but he sent Shi Luo a WeChat message first.
The two of them lived and ate together all day—anything could be communicated in seconds. Exchanging messages was only to avoid the livestream or to dodge their teammates. With training being so busy lately, Yu Sui was worried Shi Luo might feel a sense of loss from the honeymoon phase, so he always made time to send Shi Luo WeChat messages to tease him. Shi Luo thought Yu Sui had sent him some private sweet talk between the two of them, picked up his phone to take a look...
**[Whisper]**: [Regret not going public?]
**[Whisper]**: [If we'd gone public, no one would be spouting off.]
**[Whisper]**: [Duo queuing with your own boyfriend—there's nothing to complain about.]
The corner of Shi Luo's mouth instinctively tried to rise. Thinking about the camera still being on, Shi Luo restrained himself and managed to maintain a cool expression, typing out a reply.
**[Evil]**: [I wasn't doing much just now—I just didn't want to follow the haters' flow, so I deliberately invited you to duo queue.]
**[Evil]**: [They just think I'm always dragging you down...]
**[Evil]**: [Some of your fans don't like me, some of my fans don't like you—that's normal.]
**[Evil]**: [I don't mind.]
Just as Shi Luo finished typing, his phone buzzed again.
**[Whisper]**: [I mind.]
Shi Luo stared at the message Yu Sui sent him—his heart warmed while simultaneously going haywire. Why was there a camera? Why had he been possessed to actually turn on the camera? He couldn't even smile! The comments thought he was still playing solo games because he was looking at his phone—when had there been any solo games?! He'd tell them that Whisper was flirting with his majesty, would they believe it? They wouldn't!!
Shi Luo rubbed his face. Before he could reply, Yu Sui sent another message.
**[Whisper]**: [Also, why don't your fans like me? What did I do?]
**[Whisper]**: [Didn't I clear my name ages ago?]
Shi Luo stared at his phone screen and couldn't hold it in anymore—he burst out laughing.
Shi Luo was typing a reply to Yu Sui, and before he could finish sending it, Yu Sui's message popped up again.
**[Whisper]**: [...Not sure if you'll be angry, but I want to stir things up a bit.]
**[Whisper]**: [If you're really angry, you can take it out on me however you want after training ends. I've been holding back for days—I really need to let loose.]
Shi Luo didn't quite understand, so he looked up toward Yu Sui's station, not knowing what Yu Sui was about to "let loose" with.
What did he mean by "stir things up"?
But within half a minute, Shi Luo understood.
Yu Sui had started streaming too.
Shi Luo's livestream viewership instantly dropped by a third.
Yu Sui's stream didn't have camera on, only voice. After adjusting his microphone, he said, "Queue up."
Shi Luo clicked queue in a daze. On the other end of his headset, he heard Yu Sui's usual unhurried tone: "Let's chat for a bit..."
There were plenty of people playing high-ranked Chinese servers in the evening. They'd been in queue for less than half a minute before getting into the map. Shi Luo clicked confirm, but his attention was still on Yu Sui's side.
From the game client, Shi Luo could see that Yu Sui had clicked confirm immediately too. The two of them were transferred into the map together—and what bad luck, all their acquaintances were on the opposing team this round.
Angel Sword, Chen Huo, Xiao Jun, and Illusion—they'd actually formed a full pro team.
Everyone else was fine, but seeing Angel Sword again, Shi Luo instantly tensed up to the max. He checked his own teammates—besides Yu Sui, their sniper was also a pro player. They only had one rusher who was a random player, making them one pro player short compared to the other side. But it was still playable.
Shi Luo was fully prepared on his end, but Yu Sui, despite clearly seeing the other team's lineup, was still multitasking, his tone relaxed: "...Let's chat about some gossip regarding the God of Luo."
Shi Luo gritted his teeth. If it weren't for the livestream, he really wanted to roar. That was Angel Sword! To talk about his own gossip at a time like this?
Before Shi Luo could remind Yu Sui to focus, the game countdown ended. Shi Luo was dead serious and charged out directly.
In-game, Yu Sui reacted quickly. While following Shi Luo and positioning to give him a shield, he didn't let that interfere with his livestream chat: "How many of you know that the God of Luo used to be a streamer?"
On Shi Luo's end, he'd already crossed paths with Chen Huo. They'd been on the same team for months, plus they played the same class, so they were very familiar with each other's playstyles. Shi Luo preemptively predicted Chen Huo's movement, hitting him for over half his health. His team's rusher hadn't kept up, but Shi Luo was out of ammo and needed to reload. He spun around quickly to get out of the way, and the dagger in Yu Sui's hands behind him finished off Chen Huo.
Shi Luo gritted his teeth: "Hit them first!"
"Didn't miss a beat. Relax, I'll give you the next kill."
Yu Sui got the kill and immediately upgraded his equipment, layering three photon shields onto Shi Luo. His movements were fluid as he continued recounting old stories without missing a beat: "He wasn't trying to go pro, didn't sign with any platform—he was just a rich kid playing around for fun. So why would I go find him?"
The team's rusher had arrived. Yu Sui shielded the rusher too. The opposing team had lost a rusher, so they played safe for a moment. Shi Luo's ears caught that Angel Sword had retreated, so he quickly left cover and started placing Purification Dishes.
Along with the soft hissing sound of the Purification Dish activating came Yu Sui's voice: "A good friend of mine told me that his cousin was slacking off... He asked me to talk some sense into the kid, to see if he should go back to school or actually go pro."
Chen Huo had respawned. Shi Luo sensed three sets of footsteps closing in on him and quickly retreated. Just as he reached cover, he saw Yu Sui ping a map marker. Shi Luo and the other rusher moved over—and it turned out to be the opposing sniper, Illusion!
Angel Sword and Illusion were trying to pull another 4v3 maneuver, but the team had two randoms in it. Without practice, it wasn't that easy to coordinate. Especially Chen Huo—he could duo queue with Angel Sword fine, but actual teamwork? Basically nonexistent. Yu Sui took advantage of the sniper's slow reload time, used some flashy movement, and poked Illusion down to sliver health, then faithfully handed the kill over to Shi Luo.
Shi Luo's gun fired and he secured Illusion's kill.
"I really didn't think much of it at the time—just wanted to敷衍一下就得了 [give a perfunctory response and get it over with]."
"But the moment I saw him in the God of Luo's stream..."
"I was spellbound."
Shi Luo froze. He suddenly looked toward his own camera.
He was still livestreaming. Couldn't lose composure. Shi Luo pressed his lips together, loaded his bullets to max, and pinged the map to signal the other rusher on his team to follow up.
In his headset, Yu Sui was still speaking slowly—
"I thought I'd recruit Luo to go pro too, but the God of Luo wouldn't give me the time of day... So I created a smurf account, pretended to be a total noob, and pestered him constantly, asking him to carry me."
"How did I pester him? You've seen those thick-faced guys chasing after girls, right... That was basically what I was doing."
"I kept pretending to be a noob, pretending to be an edgelord, pretending to be broke."
"Why pretend? To catch his attention, to make him feel sorry for me."
Their rusher had caught up. Shi Luo and the other rusher rapidly placed Purification Dishes. Their sniper had been spotted—the photon shield shattered. Yu Sui didn't want the other team to get the kill, so he snuck over to reinforce the sniper's shield. While operating, he spoke in measured tones: "I did feel guilty about it sometimes."
"One day..."
"I'd just finished a match, we'd won pretty impressively. My boss at the time took our group out to dinner—one of those places where each person spends a few thousand. Right in the middle of eating... the God of Luo messaged me."
"He asked if I was going to play that night, if I needed him to carry me."
"Then he asked if I had money for dinner, whether I'd eaten dinner or not, if I was hungry."
"At that moment..."
"I felt like I deserved to be shot."
"Thinking about how, if the God of Luo ever found out, killing me wouldn't be uncalled for."
"I was younger back then, hadn't built up this thick skin yet... Looking at the messages the God of Luo sent me, I couldn't finish the second half of the meal."
"Why couldn't I eat? Because I felt like I'd gotten myself into serious trouble..."
"Having grown up in the pro circuit, you're used to having no truth come out of your mouth. I'd spewed so much BS at the God of Luo back then—I ran every calculation I could, never expecting... to accidentally mess with a good kid."
"All that nonsense I spewed? He believed every word."
Shi Luo, while keeping a close eye on Chen Huo and Xiao Jun, seized every opportunity to place Purification Dishes. Upon hearing Yu Sui's words, Shi Luo's hand trembled involuntarily—he nearly broke the channeling for placing the Purification Dish.
"You learning this for the first time? Oh right... The God of Luo himself probably doesn't know."
Yu Sui finished shielding the sniper and crept back to find Shi Luo. Unfortunately, he crossed paths with Angel Sword in the middle—Angel Sword was alone too. Yu Sui didn't hesitate, immediately took Angel Sword's kill, and continued: "The more guilty I felt, the more I couldn't let him go. I'd always find ways to get him to carry me... There were several times I almost got caught."
"I'd lie to him, saying I was cutting class to play at an internet café. Sometimes I had to use voice chat, and I was afraid these idiots on my team would ruin things for me, so when I was on voice they'd spew nonsense beside me... I'd play偷偷地 [sneakily] in the conference room upstairs at our base."
"Our team's manager actually suspected I was having an online romance."
"Damn."
Shi Luo and Chen Huo were hiding behind their respective cover, trading shots. Upon hearing this, Shi Luo couldn't help but laugh a little.
"That period was actually pretty fun. It really did feel like carrying on a secret online romance behind everyone's backs."
"No one else knew the truth—only I did."
Shi Luo finished off Chen Huo. Hearing this, he paused, remembering how Yu Sui had confessed that he'd fallen in love at first sight.
Shi Luo's heart ached a little.
"Carrying on a secret online romance behind everyone's backs"—that "everyone" included himself too.
Chen Huo was already eliminated. Shi Luo wasn't afraid of Xiao Jun, so he pushed forward directly with the other rusher. Xiao Jun on the other side was retreating. Shi Luo kept purifying.
"Why keep it from others... There were too many reasons."
"I didn't want to hold him back at the time, so I really didn't want people from my team back then to know about him."
"I was afraid they'd force-sign the God of Luo."
"Of course, I was also afraid of getting caught. The God of Luo's temper is actually pretty bad. If he really got angry... He might just disappear. Where would I find him?"
Shi Luo and the other rusher on the team pressed forward. Yu Sui followed along.
"To keep it hidden, I lost a lot of face."
"I'm playing a regular season match, and the God of Luo suddenly messages me, asking me to log in and duo queue, saying he'll carry me. I say I can't. He asks me for a reason. I haven't even come up with a good excuse when the referee confiscates my phone. You all can go look back at the 2017 regular season matches—maybe you'll find that round. I forgot which team we were playing, but my phone was confiscated right before I went on stage. There should be footage of it."
"Training at the base, and he suddenly calls me. I acted like my house was on fire, ended that game as fast as I could, and told my teammates I was taking an important call. They asked who's calling that I had to answer so urgently—how was I supposed to answer that?"
"I told Chen Huo, 'Your爷爷我爸爸 [Your gramps is my dad], someone urgently needs me.'"
"Then I took my phone and went to my own dorm."
Shi Luo couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing.
He really hadn't known about any of this.
The Yu Sui back then had an extremely heavy idol包袱 [burden/image to maintain]. Even when hospitalized from injuries, he'd stubbornly refused to make a sound in front of Shi Luo—let alone share these embarrassing details with him.
In-game, their front three regrouped. They already had an early advantage, and Yu Sui couldn't be bothered to drag things out. He topped everyone off, pinged the backline sniper, and charged in face-first. Yu Sui and Shi Luo's coordination was perfect. Following the sound of footsteps, they surrounded Chen Huo and took him out. Then Yu Sui skirmished with Xiao Jun while the other rusher on the team rapidly placed Purification Dishes, clearing a large section of map once more, directly toward the enemy's Respawn Crystal.
"What's wrong? Oh..."
"Calling him dad is nothing, what's the big deal? I've even called him祖宗 [ancestor/forefather] before."
Shi Luo stole Xiao Jun's kill, then didn't give Chen Huo any breathing room—he forced an early teamfight and charged forward aggressively. Relying on their thick shields, he opened fire with his suppressive fire. His shields had just shattered when Yu Sui, in the same instant he finished off Angel Sword again, topped him off with a fresh photon shield.
"I did too many embarrassing things back then. The God of Luo himself doesn't even know most of it, and I originally didn't want to say any of it."
Yu Sui and Shi Luo's side had zero casualties. Everyone stopped playing defensive and just pushed forward head-on. The other team's early disadvantage was too great—they couldn't hold at all, fighting as they retreated, and were eventually pushed back to their Respawn Crystal by Shi Luo's team.
"Forget Angel Sword. Focus Chen Huo and Xiao Jun." Yu Sui's pace quickened. "Push straight through, don't bother topping off."
Shi Luo followed suit, pressing forward recklessly. The team's rusher was taken out by Chen Huo, but Shi Luo ignored it. Using Yu Sui as half a shield, he placed his last Purification Dish. In the same second the Purification Dish activated, he blew up the enemy's Respawn Crystal.
Game over.
"So now, do you all know how much effort I put in, how much face I lost, just to duo queue with the God of Luo?"
Yu Sui sent an嘲讽表情 [mocking/trolling emote] to Chen Huo in the map, exited the map, and continued in his usual calm tone: "I don't know why some people think it's the God of Luo clinging to me. So now I'm telling everyone how we met back then."
"God of Luo—when he was Luo, I went to these lengths to recruit him to my team back then."
"When we first met, I was already willing to go this far for him."
"There's no need to mention how things are now, right?"
"I enjoy duo queuing with him. I enjoy waiting for him after matches. I enjoy seeing his sulky face and going to cheer him up."
"This isn't something I started doing today."
Shi Luo's throat tightened. He took a deep breath, still having trouble keeping it under control. He could only lift his hand to cover his camera.
In the game client, Shi Luo could see that Yu Sui had clicked to queue again. In his headset, he heard Yu Sui speaking calmly to the haters in his livestream: "So from now on, don't stand on my behalf to go after him anymore. The argument doesn't hold up."
"I've been wanting to say all this since the day the match ended."
"We're not the Medic Twin Stars anymore, and no one remembers that old title anymore, but our relationship hasn't changed. We're extremely close... It's been that way since two years ago."
"I've always been like this toward him."