Chapter 86
Over the next few days, Yu Sui privately chatted with Zhou Huo, Lao Qiao, and Puppy separately, giving them a heads-up that he would be showing up at Shi Luo's dorm from time to time. If anyone ran into them, they should pretend not to see anything—no gasping or making a scene. Just act like nothing was happening.
Zhou Huo had been mentally prepared for this and expressed his delight at the news. Puppy didn't mind at all, and was quite satisfied after confirming Yu Sui wouldn't be talking to Chen Huo.
Lao Qiao also couldn't care less. He'd watched Yu Sui grow up and was very pleased about Yu Sui bagging Shi Luo, such a top fragger. He only reminded Yu Sui to watch his sleep schedule and not affect the upcoming training.
"The regular season's down to its final match. Don't drop the ball—have you checked the standings? Today's match against DDF actually matters a lot."
The final regular season match was at their home arena. After a full round of the regular season, even the most passionate players would have their energy flagging. And playing against a weak team like DDF, Lao Qiao was worried the team wouldn't be energized enough and might not perform well. He reminded them, "Saint finished their last regular season match yesterday. Their regular season points are locked in now."
Shi Luo had watched Saint's final regular season match on stream. "Their overall match points are the same as ours. They only lost once—that loss to NSN. If nothing unexpected happens... it'll come down to individual game points."
According to league rules, playoff seeding was based on overall match wins. NSN had lost several matches before, so they were no longer in contention for first place. The regular season's top team would be either Saint or Free.
If Free managed to win against DDF today as expected, their overall match wins would tie with Saint's. At that point, to determine seeding, the league would compare the two teams' individual game records—adding up all their BO3 match results and seeing which team had fewer game losses. The team with the fewest game losses would clinch the regular season championship.
"First place in the regular season isn't an honor, but it's very advantageous for the playoffs. Playoff分组, the first, fourth, fifth, and eighth seeds are in one bracket, while the second, third, sixth, and seventh are in the other. If we end up second, there's a good chance we'll face NSN in the semifinal elimination round." Lao Qiao gave everyone a knowing look. "NSN—Shi Luo's former team. A few months back, before we even built this team, they took in our players. Everyone's pretty close with Lao Gu. Nobody wants to face them in the semifinals, right? If we win, it means their dreams of making Worlds this year are shattered again—and shattered by you guys' own hands. If we lose...呸!"
Lao Qiao slapped his own mouth. "Playoffs are split into left and right brackets. If we're first place, we absolutely won't be in the same half as Saint or NSN. Before the finals, whichever one eliminates the other is their own problem. We won't have that psychological pressure."
Puppy nodded. "I know the schedule very clearly, so I want to ask—do we have a shot at first place in terms of game points?"
"We do." Shi Luo glanced at both teams' records and calculated the answer in his head. "If we sweep today's final regular season match 2-0, first place is locked. Saint has more 2-1 wins."
"Meaning we can't afford to drop a single game today?" Chen Huo stood up, jumping in place and warming up his wrists. "If we lose, we have to go up against NSN in the elimination round. I absolutely don't want to play against Lao Gu and Wa Wa... Damn, now I'm suddenly super nervous! If we lose one match, we and NSN can only send one team to Worlds, right? Fuck, Lao Gu probably doesn't have many years left playing, right? We can't miss out again this year!"
Zhou Huo had worked at NSN and knew Gu Qian's situation well. He explained, "Gu Qian came up through NSN's youth team. He was talented—made it to the main roster in less than a quarter of a season with the juniors. He's been pro for five years now, maintaining peak individual skill the entire time, but he's only been to Worlds once..."
Zhou Huo sighed helplessly. "It's not his fault... It's strange, really. NSN always has one massive weak spot. First it was the sniper, then it was the support. They could never quite put together four evenly-matched players. Over the years, plenty of teams that were only missing one strong fragger have approached him, but Gu Qian..."
"Lao Gu's not going anywhere." Lao Qiao shook his head. "Gu Qian had bad luck. The batch of juniors he came from was overloaded with fraggers. That year, all the rookies were fraggers—tons of them. Some even had streaming careers, fame, and fan bases. Everyone was talented, but inexperienced. Management obviously preferred the newer players with more popularity. Back then, he整理 his domestic server stats and sent them to several clubs. Nobody replied. Eventually one team agreed, let him play for two months. Didn't pay him a cent, fine, but they kept swapping his accounts around. He was young, you know—didn't realize at first what that meant. It took him a while to figure out they'd been using him as a free power-leveling service."
"Less than half a month after leaving that black-market operation, only one idiot club even got back to him. Gu Qian grabbed his suitcase and headed over. The train hadn't even arrived at the station when they called to ask if he'd already left—if not, just turn around and go home." Lao Qiao sneered. "Didn't even reimburse him for the train ticket. Trash club."
"Actually it was a good thing. Less than half a month later, an old NSN manager proactively reached out, inviting him to NSN's junior team. Knowing he was a minor, the manager flew personally to Gu Qian's hometown and signed the contract with his parents in person. Then brought him to Shanghai." Zhou Huo spread his hands with a smile. "You guys know NSN—from the owner to management to the players, everyone's kind and easygoing. They're especially considerate to the younger players. Players under eighteen get an extra hour of sleep time each day, plus special team meals. Every day they get two extra cans of milk and half a kilogram of fruit."
Yu Sui nodded. "I've heard about that."
It was knowing that NSN had such a good atmosphere and that management was warm and easy to work with that had made him choose NSN in the first place when it came time to send Shi Luo somewhere.
Chen Huo hadn't heard this story before and was stunned. "Players under eighteen get special meals? What's this, some kind of heartwarming fairy tale... Is this real? Did they do this for you when you first joined?"
Chen Huo's second question was directed at Shi Luo. Shi Luo nodded. "Every day before I turned eighteen, they prepared nutritional meals for me. Morning and evening they'd add an extra can of hot milk. It wasn't half a kilogram of fruit—it was unlimited fruit supply. If you could eat it, you could keep asking Auntie for more."
Puppy's eyes filled with envy. "What kind of industry's moral compass is this? What kind of industry's conscience?"
Puppy couldn't help but look at Yu Sui and Chen Huo. "What about us? What did our Boss Ji teach us when we were underage? Big meals, big drinking, buying financial products... The values are all wrong! Drugging us from childhood! Think about it—comparing their nurturing education, what else has our club taught us besides eating, drinking, and partying?"
"We've got something too." Yu Sui stood up, packing his peripherals, and said unhurriedly. "During our first year as adults, didn't we get a crash course in adversity training? They shipped us off to help with Europe's scene, tempered us for a while. Ever heard of 'wolf-style education'? That's what we went through."
Shi Luo couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing.
This particular history was a sensitive topic among them. Shi Luo rarely brought it up himself, and when others mentioned it, Shi Luo usually didn't engage. But hearing Yu Sui say it like that, he just couldn't suppress the urge to laugh.
Zhou Huo and Lao Qiao couldn't keep straight faces either and lowered their heads, laughing.
"What's the deal?" Chen Huo wasn't convinced. "Everyone else's players get pampered like lambs growing up, but we get wolf-style education? What's the deal? Were we born with inferior lives? I want nutritional meals! I want hot milk!"
"Don't be gross—didn't you earn a fortune when you were underage? Can't you afford hot milk?" Lao Qiao fought back a smile and cleared his throat. "Back then, whether it was Ji Yanhan, the manager, or any other executive—if someone had handed you a cup of hot milk before bed, what would you have thought?"
Chen Huo imagined the scene and instantly lost some of his bravado. "I'd think the club was about to discuss terminating my contract with me."
Lao Qiao looked at Puppy. Puppy cringed, scratching his arm. "Same. I'd think the club finally came to its senses and was about to kick this deadweight out."
Lao Qiao skipped over Yu Sui and looked at Shi Luo. Shi Luo said flatly, "I'd think Ji Yanhan had poisoned my food and was about to challenge me to a duel."
Another round of barely suppressed laughter filled the room.
"See? We're just born with inferior lives." Lao Qiao smiled. "We don't have that fate."
"That's why NSN could produce a player like Gu Qian who's so upright and principled. Why they could nurture a Wa Wa who's so pure and optimistic. We... we..." Zhou Huo surveyed the自家 team's players, each one more troublesome than the last, and forced a smile. "We... our... our will to survive is stronger than theirs!"
Yu Sui helpfully offered, "If you really can't find anything nice to say, you don't have to force it."
"Getting off track." Lao Qiao took a sip of water and continued. "After Gu Qian experienced so many shit clubs, being raised by a warm team like NSN treating him like a beloved son—the bond was definitely different. Even though his teammates never quite gelled as a full roster and the team's results stayed mediocre, he's turned down every strong team that came courting him..."
"Five years now. The once-cherished junior has become the captain, the pillar of NSN." Lao Qiao lowered his voice. "Wa Wa's been playing really well in the second half of this regular season. They really have a shot at Worlds this year. Gu Qian's been waiting this long—while his skills haven't declined yet due to age, he really deserves to go once..."
"So we're back to where we started." Time was running short. Puppy stood up and packed his peripherals too. "Our final regular season match now determines whether NSN faces us in the semifinals or Saint."
Zhou Huo nodded. "A 2-0 sweep would be best. As for Saint and NSN... if you guys guessed right earlier, Worlds is incredibly important to them this year... We all want them to make it. Facing either of them in an elimination round would be miserable. Easier to leave it up to them. Hey, it's just DDF—shutting them out 2-0 is a piece of cake, right? Simple. I believe in you guys."
"It was supposed to be simple!" Chen Huo wailed. "Without all this tearjerker talk, I definitely would've been relaxed! Now my pressure is through the roof! Drop one game and I have to play against Lao Gu and Wa Wa, I don't want to!!!"
"Um..." Lao Qiao awkward. "I was actually worried you guys might be numb after grinding for months, and it would be hard to get pumped up for a weak team. Being too relaxed can easily lead to a loss. I didn't expect... was I a little too effective at getting you guys fired up?"
Yu Sui shook his head. "Doesn't affect me."
Puppy managed, "I'm... fine, I guess."
Everyone looked at Shi Luo in turn. Shi Luo looked at the group. He was about to say it didn't matter, but then realized these were all his people—why pretend? Shi Luo lowered his head and rubbed his brow, saying helplessly, "My pressure is also through the roof... NSN was my old team. When I first joined, their aunt made me nutritional meals too. Hot milk in the mornings and evenings. When I left, Captain Gu personally made calls to help me find my next team. This..."
"Blame me, blame me, it's all my fault." Lao Qiao was agonized. "I saw you guys looking a bit sluggish, it's fine, it's fine, losing is fine too. It's all fate—fate made us the final villains."
"It's fine." Shi Luo shook his head. "We've still got half an hour before we go on stage. I can adjust."
Shi Luo didn't even look, but he could tell what Yu Sui was thinking. Without lifting his head, he said, "Don't need your help... I can handle it myself."
Yu Sui smiled at Shi Luo doing breathing exercises and nodded. "Okay."
"What's okay?!" Chen Huo raged. "Help me out here! My pressure is just as big!"
Yu Sui didn't lift his head either. "Scram."
Shi Luo pulled Chen Huo aside to discuss tactics and coordination. The two fraggers talked by the window for half an hour, and their emotions gradually settled.
Two hours later, Free finished strong with a 2-0 record, clinching first place in the regular season and simultaneously locking Saint and NSN into second and third spots respectively.
Playing against DDF, a mid-to-lower-tier team in the rankings, Shi Luo played above his usual level throughout—and still broke out in a cold sweat. After the match ended, Shi Luo let out a long breath, stood up, and gathered his peripherals.
Shi Luo lingered a bit behind again. Yu Sui was waiting nearby with his own peripherals, as always. Shi Luo wiped the sweat from his brow with his arm and murmured, "Waiting for me again... the haters are going to roast you."
"Whatever." Yu Sui looked at Shi Luo, then said softly, "I'm going to ask for two tickets to the Saint vs. NSN semifinals—floor seats. We can go watch the match in person."
Shi Luo froze. While winding his mouse cable, he said, "Go watch in person? The two of us sitting together? What if the fans see us..."
Yu Sui smiled. "Let them look if they want."
Several cameras in the distance were pointed at the two of them, though they couldn't pick up what the two were saying.
Shi Luo paused, then nodded. "Okay."
The playoffs had officially begun. In the semifinals, everyone would fight with their full strength.