Chapter 95
Saint had wrapped up their season journey. In the final match, Angel Sword had desperately racked up kills for Lao A—a scene so emotionally charged that most players only then learned Lao A and Angel Sword were originally fellow trainees from the same youth academy, only learned that Angel Sword had this longtime teammate who had stayed默默无闻 by his side all these years. Staying on the same team through it all without leaving or giving up—that was truly rare. The FOG game company's official representatives used the company's official accounts across various media platforms that night to express their gratitude to Lao A for his years of service in the league, both domestically and internationally. They also produced a special recap for Angel Sword and Lao A. Lao A's seven-year professional career had truly come to a good end.
"That's pretty good. A great start at least." Old Qiao reviewed the official promotion video for Lao A after training that night, satisfied. "It's not like every time only star players deserve a grand send-off when they retire. Regular players also spent all these years grinding. Not making results? Sure, they deserve to earn less. But the respect they deserve should still be given—they didn't work any less hard than anyone else."
"With this kind of pre- and post-publicity wave, if he's willing to do some streaming later, they can probably negotiate a good price with the streaming platform." Zhou Huo was the most practical. "Saint's really decent, taking care of players in their retirement. Now that there's official promotion too, Lao A can do some coaching or streaming afterward—won't make him rich, but comfortable enough. Pretty good."
Hearing Zhou Huo say that made Old Qiao feel even more at ease. "Right. Being able to stay with the team, having some money—that's enough... Alright, everyone rest up. Training as usual tomorrow, semifinals the day after. Go hard, team."
The group headed back to their dorms one by one. Shi Luo walked last.
The semifinals were the day after tomorrow. According to their agreement, Yu Sui and Shi Luo wouldn't be sleeping together anymore. Shi Luo returned to his own dorm, lay in bed after washing up, and stared at the ceiling in a daze.
Too emotionally stirred up during the day, his brain was still buzzing. He couldn't sleep.
Angel Sword's desperate, repeated charges toward Lao A kept replaying in Shi Luo's mind, but what Shi Luo was actually thinking about wasn't those two—it was Yu Sui.
Two years ago, Yu Sui had done the same thing to protect him.
This healer class seemed to have some kind of curse. No matter what kind of personality someone had, once they played this class, they'd inevitably become a光子盾 for their club.
In peaceful times, they'd shield the team from wind and rain. In times of crisis, they'd walk through fire for their teammates.
Shi Luo really couldn't sleep. Helplessly, he picked up his phone to scroll through news. The esports section was flooded with discussions about Saint. The more Shi Luo read, the more fired up he felt—he almost wanted to head back to the training room and boot up a few more games.
It was just way too late for that. Unable to vent his energy, he logged into his alt account and posted a Weibo status, with genuine emotion:
【@Free-Whisper @Saint-Angel Sword, Shield of the Region.】
One post wasn't enough. He followed up with his own little love essay:
【Can't sleep. Miss Yu Sui. Didn't sleep with him tonight. Regretting it. I actually really like it when he holds me while I sleep. I sleep the deepest when he's there.】
After posting, he closed his eyes and forced himself to sleep.
Three more minutes passed. Shi Luo gave up and opened his wide-awake eyes. He really couldn't sleep.
Picking up his phone, the screen was still on Weibo. Shi Luo scrolled up to look at his earlier posts and suddenly felt disgusted by how cheesy he'd been.
These kinds of love posts were always written in the moment of genuine emotion, but once you got past that intense moment, looking back at them was always unbearably cringey. Shi Luo couldn't handle rereading his own words. He quickly scrolled past, and accidentally noticed that the Weibo post he'd just made already had dozens of new comments.
Shi Luo was confused. It was the middle of the night—where were all these people suddenly coming from to check his alt account?
He remembered Yu Sui telling him not to worry about comments. Hesitating, he was still curious and opened them.
[It's the middle of the night and you're at it again?]
[I really worry Whisper will have nightmares from your posts.]
[@Free Esports Club, daily question—have you辟谣ed? Clarified? Banned the account? No? Then you're dead.]
[This cryptic account is still around? @Free Esports Club, keep pretending not to see?]
[I'm so tired. I just want my four players to stay safe, play well, and not retire. Is that really too much to ask?]
[Yu God holds you while you sleep? Hehehehehe... Why not also say he reads you bedtime stories? Wake up.]
He knew there wouldn't be anything nice, but Shi Luo was used to it. He closed Weibo. Just as he was about to toss the phone aside, a message came through.
【Whisper】: [Asleep?]
【Whisper】: [If you're not, come to my room?]
Shi Luo stared at the two WeChat messages from Yu Sui, his eyes flickering slightly.
They had an agreement—before important matches, they wouldn't sleep together.
They were both young and full of energy. Normally, sharing a bed and things getting a bit heated was a regular occurrence. No big deal during regular times—even if someone overslept the next day, worst case was a fine. But with semifinals just around the corner, messing up their sleep schedule wouldn't be appropriate.
At the same time, in another room in the base—Yu Sui's dorm—Yu Sui had finished washing up, lay in his own bed, and checked his phone.
He was about to go to sleep when a notification suddenly popped up.
Worried he'd miss his little boyfriend's love essays, Yu Sui had set Shi Luo's alt Weibo account to special alerts.
Two alerts had just come through. Yu Sui tapped to check.
The first one was nothing special—just typical edginess that hadn't worn off. But looking at the latest one, Yu Sui sent a message.
He just wasn't sure if Shi Luo would come.
After sending the WeChat, Yu Sui lay in bed and waited a full ten minutes. Shi Luo hadn't come, and there was no reply either.
Yu Sui was getting sleepy. He ran his fingers through his hair, about to get up, when he heard the dorm room door click.
In the darkness, Yu Sui smiled slightly.
His little boyfriend had come so quietly—seemed a bit embarrassed.
Yu Sui didn't speak or move. Pretending to be asleep, eyes closed, he listened as Shi Luo slowly walked to his bed, rustled open the covers, and carefully slipped inside.
Shi Luo probably believed Yu Sui was asleep too—his movements couldn't have been quieter. After slipping under the covers, he inchwormed his way toward Yu Sui.
Yu Sui turned over and suddenly pulled Shi Luo into his arms.
Shi Luo flinched. "You—"
"Hush..." Yu Sui whispered. "Not going to bother you. Just sleep here."
Shi Luo shifted. "Mmm." He instinctively reached for Yu Sui's arm, placing Yu Sui's slightly cool hand against his back, then shifted again to find the most comfortable position.
Yu Sui held Shi Luo and kissed his cheek. "Getting used to sleeping with me? Can't sleep alone anymore?"
Shi Luo was too embarrassed to admit it. He didn't speak—just nudged his head against Yu Sui.
Yu Sui roughly ruffled his hair. "Go to sleep."
A night of sound sleep. The next day, Yu Sui woke up as usual—earlier than Shi Luo.
Shi Luo never got enough sleep. Without an alarm, there was absolutely no waking him up. Yu Sui could shower and get ready in the same room and it wouldn't stir him.
After a quick wash, Yu Sui left the dorm and went downstairs.
It was almost eleven. The base's auntie had already made breakfast and left it in the warmer. Yu Sui walked into the dining area. Puppy was up, eating breakfast while scrolling on his phone.
They exchanged a glance as greeting. Yu Sui went to the kitchen and grabbed a thermal lunch box, opened the warmer, and started packing breakfast.
"Tsk..." Puppy's face showed utter disbelief. "You going to be this attentive? Bringing him food upstairs personally? Can't he come down for breakfast without breaking?"
Yu Sui acted like he didn't hear. He packed the things Shi Luo liked one by one.
Puppy studied Yu Sui up and down, shaking his head. "Who'd believe it if you told them? The infamous Yu playboy is actually this good to his boyfriend."
Yu Sui continued treating Puppy's words as meaningless noise. After packing breakfast, he grabbed two bottles of hot milk from the kitchen. Just as he was about to head upstairs with everything, Puppy lazy said, "Got a question for you."
Yu Sui turned back and looked at Puppy. "Go ahead."
Puppy turned his phone screen toward Yu Sui, not entirely sure. "A fan sent me this. Told me to warn you to be careful, but I feel like..."
Puppy flipped the phone back and stared at the screen, face full of confusion. "It's a bit far-fetched, but I feel like... this might not be a crazy sasaeng fan. The more I look at it, the more I feel like this person is actually..."
Yu Sui stuffed a piece of bread into Puppy's mouth. "Loose lips sink ships. Don't want to get silenced, do you?"
Puppy struggled to swallow the bread. He gave Yu Sui a complicated look, then glanced up toward the floors above. "Dating really does change a person, huh. Fine, I'll keep pretending I see nothing. But I'm just giving you a friendly warning—his account might actually get deleted."
Puppy gloated. "The fans reported it to the official platform in your name. The fan told me the official staff already confirmed they're looking into it. Probably going to delete the account."
Yu Sui wasn't worried in the slightest. He nodded. "Got it."
Puppy was disappointed that he hadn't managed to scare Yu Sui. He shrugged. "Go wake up Shi Luo. We have a scrimmage scheduled with Saint today. It starts at one in the afternoon."
Yu Sui paused. "Saint?"
Yesterday's semifinals had already been lost. For Saint, this season was over too. At this point, even if they weren't worrying about next season's roster transfers, they should be going on vacation. Why schedule a scrimmage?
Puppy's expression grew serious. "Angel Sword reached out to Old Qiao personally. He promised that until we finish Worlds, they'll provide free coaching support... We're getting the better end of this deal. Where else would you find a training partner this strong?"
"Angel Sword also said that besides us, their team will also offer free coaching to NSN until Worlds ends..." Puppy looked at Yu Sui seriously. "This is kind of sappy, but when Old Qiao told me about it, I genuinely couldn't say a word for a while."
"Was it because I was in Europe for two years and got used to purely commercial teams? It didn't click for a second..." Puppy smiled. "I asked Old Qiao why. He said what Angel Sword told him." Puppy paused. "Same region, same blood."
Yu Sui was silent for a moment. "Saint's new player is an entry fragger. After we schedule training sessions each day, let Chen Huo and Shi Luo give that rookie some feedback on his weaknesses. Don't just take advantage of them."
"Got it." Puppy nodded. "Should I make a group chat then? Since we'll be scheduling regularly anyway—might as well make one with Saint and NSN together. Okay?"
Yu Sui nodded. "Sure."
"Just so we're clear—this isn't going to be an internal team chat anymore. You'll all be talking in there regularly, so watch yourselves. Don't treat it like our own group." Puppy started creating the chat while reminding them. "Especially Shi Luo. Tell him to hold back. If I notice something, whatever. But if players from other teams notice something... That's going to be awkward."
Yu Sui picked up the lunch box. His voice was soft. "I know."