# Chapter 110
What kind of experience is it when you're resting on the first floor of the base, while your own livestream is running normally upstairs, and the viewership is freaking massive?
Among all the players, only Shi Luo had ever experienced this.
After all, streaming to make up someone else's hours was still something no one had done before.
And he did it quite seriously. Whoever's stream he was subbing for had extremely high quality—playing in a super high-level match, the top 50 of the Chinese server, with insane mechanics. The stream voice chat was on, and Shi Luo's keyboard sounds were much louder than Yu Sui's own. Through several solo kills, the crisp and rapid keyboard clicks paired with the opponents falling on screen created an incredibly rhythmic viewing experience that was pure enjoyment for viewers.
The streamer subbing for someone didn't brag about himself like some other streamers did after a highlight play. He played very quietly. During tense moments in the match, you could only hear his keyboard. He didn't hype up his own plays, and when his teammates made mistakes or fed, he didn't say a word—not even a disappointed sigh. If he could help clean up, he'd do it. If he couldn't, he'd back off and wait for the next opportunity.
The livestream labeled "Free-Evil" shot up in popularity so fast that by the end of the first game, the platform's super moderator thought there was a data anomaly, entered the room, and asked if anything was wrong.
In the middle of trying to break through the enemy's Phoenix Feather, Yu Sui couldn't help but laugh a little at the super moderator's unexpected visit.
Downstairs, Shi Luo was watching the livestream on his phone. The moment he heard the subbing guy laugh, his face flushed red.
"You……"
Shi Luo really couldn't stand himself. Instinctively, he glanced back, and only松了一口气 after confirming the auntie on the first floor hadn't noticed him.
Shi Luo was really afraid of being seen.心虚地 pulling his hoodie up over his head while muttering quietly to himself: "Is it your first day dating him or what…… why are you blushing?"
Shi Luo wasn't sure if Yu Sui was just too good at flirting or if he was naturally weak at this. The moment Yu Sui laughed, his heart rate would spike.
The super moderator was confused, still asking blankly: "Evil? What's going on?"
The subbing guy broke through the enemy's Phoenix Feather and opened his mic: "Our team's Evil has something come up, so I'm streaming for him for a while… that should be fine, right?"
"Whisper?" The super moderator choked in shock, quickly saying, "Of course it's fine, f-f-feel free… stream, stream as you like."
The super moderator probably never expected Yu Sui to be so shameless about it, so they left the room in a fright. Yu Sui continued queuing.
Downstairs, Shi Luo pressed his head against the glass wall and looked down at his phone, watching his livestream's popularity continue to surge, watching Yu Sui tidy up his monitor desktop while waiting in queue, watching Yu Sui open Minesweeper to play while waiting in queue. He heard Yu Sui's light voice from the phone: "This computer only has one game installed… Minesweeper…"
Shi Luo questioned himself again. Was he insane?
He couldn't even see a face. Just watching Yu Sui play Minesweeper on the livestream interface, and he was already blushing and his heart was racing. What the hell was wrong with him?
Whisper had serious issues. This person was genuinely toxic.
In the phone screen, the mouse clicked rapidly as Yu Sui played Minesweeper. Soon, the game prompted that teammates had been found. The Minesweeper window shrunk, and the game character entered the map.
From the phone came Yu Sui's voice: "How long should I stream? Until this game ends…"
"When will I come back… that depends on God Shi, I suppose."
"Do I usually call him God Shi too? Of course not."
Shi Luo suddenly got called out, and his heart rate spiked again.
"You wouldn't call him that in daily life… unlike other teammates who aren't calling everyone 'god' this and 'god' that all day. That'd be weird."
"What do I call him in private…"
On the livestream, the Medic secured first blood. Yu Sui spoke absentmindedly: "…that'd be a bit inconvenient to say."
The livestream was flooded with comments again.
Shi Luo's ears burned red. Actually, Yu Sui had quite a variety of nicknames for him.
For official occasions like interviews, it was usually "Evil." For less formal settings like livestreams, it was "God Shi." When mentioning him to friends in the scene, it was either "Shi Luo" or "Evil." And when they were alone together… there were even more.
He'd called him "babe."
He'd called him "baby."
The most extreme one——
A few days ago, during the short holiday when only the two of them were at the base, during those days and nights of chaotic debauchery, Yu Sui had once whispered in Shi Luo's ear and called him "little puppy."
On the livestream, Yu Sui took another kill, his tone completely natural: "Nothing weird about it. Just normal nicknames. He accepts all of them."
Shi Luo's ears were completely red. He muttered through gritted teeth: "…I didn't accept that."
Yu Sui continued playing while interacting occasionally. In less than half an hour, the second game ended. Yu Sui exited the map.
In the livestream interface, Yu Sui's voice came through the phone: "Do you want to come up and stream yourself, or should I continue?"
Shi Luo: "!"
Though he really wanted to pretend he hadn't been watching, Shi Luo老老实实地 minimized the livestream interface and messaged Yu Sui: [I'll go up and stream myself.]
A notification sound rang out in the livestream, followed by the sound of a phone being set on a desk. Yu Sui said: "God Shi is coming up to stream himself. I'm out."
【Is Shi Zi also watching the livestream???】
【Help, there's someone flaunting their relationship here.】
【Is Shi Zi watching streams with me?? hhhhhh Hi Shi Zi.】
【Don't go don't go don't go don't go don't go… This livestream is yours forever now! Really!!】
【Or you two could stream together?】
【Don't go, thank you God Shi T_T… Whisper fans are very satisfied. The dead playboy finally streamed. Haven't seen him in so long.】
【There's something I've said until I'm sick of it—Why is Yu Playboy so good at this aaaaaaaa…】
【Are you really leaving? QQ Thanks to Yu God for saving us from suffering since yesterday… Please come often.】
Yu Sui logged out of the game account and opened the streaming assistant to turn off Shi Luo's livestream voice chat.
Shi Luo was in the downstairs kitchen, splashing cold water on his face for a while. Only after the auntie shooed him away did he turn off the faucet. Shi Luo checked himself in the mirror, and only after his complexion returned to normal did he go upstairs.
On the second floor, Puppy whined: "Yu God, stream for me for a while too? I'm tired too."
Yu Sui sat back at his station: "If you're tired, go offline."
"You beast…" Puppy sighed and said to his livestream fans, "Stop asking. Useless. I don't have the pull. Can't do it."
Puppy saw a comment that said "Yu God streaming for Shi God is because Shi God owed too many streaming hours. You didn't ask for help because you didn't owe any hours~" and said tactfully: "No need to give me an out. Even if I didn't stream a single minute this month, he still wouldn't help me…"
In the livestream camera, Shi Luo came upstairs. Puppy promptly stopped talking and gave the camera a knowing look, cunningly turning the camera toward Shi Luo.
In Puppy's livestream, Shi Luo sat down, wiped the water droplets off his chin, adjusted his seat slightly, opened the game client and restored his original settings with one click, then put on his headphones and looked down at his phone.
Puppy turned the camera back, whispering conspiratorially: "He's texting Yu Sui. These two always have things to say directly to each other in the same training room but they play WeChat instead. How internet-addicted do you have to be to text someone in the same room? Never seen it… I've never seen it, tsk, don't know what they're saying that they can't let people know…"
Shi Luo was indeed texting Yu Sui.
And indeed, it wasn't convenient for people to know.
【Whisper】：[Forgot to revert your keybinds for you. Adjust them yourself. Don't panic when you queue in.]
【Evil】：[Got it, no worries.]
【Evil】：[Yu Sui…]
【Whisper】：[Hmm?]
【Evil】：[Nothing. We'll talk tonight.]
【Whisper】：[Say it. I'll wait before queuing.]
Yu Sui canceled queuing as expected.
【Evil】：[……]
【Evil】：[……You're driving me crazy.]
Yu Sui glanced down at the message and smiled a little.
【Whisper】：[Look at you.]
Shi Luo read Yu Sui's message several times before calming down and continuing to queue.
Everyone practiced on their own. In the middle, they went downstairs for dinner, then came back up to continue their own practice, until 8:50 PM.
In the training room, Old Qiao connected his computer to the big screen in the training room, opened the group draw livestream interface, rubbed his hands together, and urged: "Stop playing. Anyone not in queue, cancel it. Time to watch the draw."
Zhou Huo also brought the camera upstairs, set it up carefully, and said nervously: "Groom yourselves. Chen Huo, your hair's all flattened from the headphones—fix it yourself. Shi Luo, button up your shirt. Why are your sleeves rolled up so high? You look like a thug… Okay okay, everyone sit properly."
Everyone quit their games and swiveled their chairs to face the big screen in the center of the training room.
Shi Luo murmured quietly: "Holy Sword, Holy Sword, Holy Sword, Holy Sword…"
Zhou Huo shot Shi Luo a look and countered the spell: "No Holy Sword, No Holy Sword, No Holy Sword, No Holy Sword…"
Old Qiao was speechless: "Can you guys stop being so childish?! Trust science! I'm telling you, based on past experience, newly-formed teams like ours usually become experience points for others. We go to Worlds and feed points to every team, and we always end up in the Group of Death. Relax."
Zhou Huo quickly changed his chant: "No Group of Death, No Group of Death, No Group of Death…"
"I also think we'll probably get it." Puppy leaned back in his chair. This usually lazy guy rare showed a hint of ferocity in his eyes. "If we get it, we get it."
Chen Huo coldly laughed: "It's been almost a year now. Since the 1v1 at the start of the season, no more training matches scheduled. It's been that long—time to see who's the mule and who's the horse…"
Yu Sui said nothing, calmly watching the big screen.
In the group draw livestream, the host began explaining the group stage draw rules.
Two teams from each region plus the wild card regions, sixteen teams total. No first or second seed distinction—all pooled together, drawn into four groups based on the rule that teams from the same region can't be in the same group. Four teams per group, two advance after round-robin play.
Which meant that during the group stage, Free couldn't possibly face NSN from their own region, but every other team was possible.
"During group stage, teams from the same region might throw matches to help each other, so we can't put them together. If it weren't for this rule, we'd be drawn with NSN." Old Qiao explained to Zhou Huo. "It's like those promotion/relegation matches before. If one team is on the brink, another team from the same region might,出于感情因素, intentionally lose to the struggling team after securing advancement, just to give them points. That'd be unfair."
Zhou Huo nodded: "Got it. Here we go, here we go."
Groups A, B, C, and D. The draw started with Group A.
The draw officially began. Everyone in the training room except Yu Sui stopped slouching in their chairs and sat up straighter.
Group A, first team: Vietnamese second seed.
Shi Luo's eyes held no one else. His heart was full of Holy Sword. Nothing else mattered.
The draw continued.
Group A, second team: Japanese second seed.
The official drawing the lots dutifully displayed the team's ID and logo from all angles, double-checking everything. The dragging process made Shi Luo anxious: "Can we get someone more efficient to draw? There are over a dozen teams left. Is this draw going to take half an hour?"
"Don't rush, don't rush…" Chen Huo was anxious too, already standing up. "Hurry the hell up!"
The official put down the drawn slip and continued drawing.
Group A, third team: Thai first seed.
Still not from their region or a strong team. The official still displayed all the Thai team's information from every angle. Shi Luo gave up being impatient and just kept silently chanting: Holy Sword, Holy Sword, Holy Sword…
No wonder Shi Luo was so obsessed. This Holy Sword team could be called Shi Luo's nemesis.
Back when FS fell apart and everyone scattered, with Yu Sui going to Germany—it was indeed Ji Yanhan那个狗 doing the dirty work. But Holy Sword Club definitely took advantage of the chaos and weren't exactly clean either. Not to mention they first sold Puppy, then sold Chen Huo. Later, they threatened and humiliated other teams in the region… Shi Luo was eager for Worlds and wanted results, but more than that, he wanted a chance to clash head-on with this team in international competition.
Didn't they say Yu Sui wouldn't win a championship even if he came back to China? Well, let's see.
This season, Shi Luo had trained himself half to death, and Holy Sword was a big part of that motivation.
"Holy Sword…" Shi Luo was already chanting out loud. "What the holy sword… Hurry up. How is Group A not finished yet!"
In the livestream, the official drew the final slip for Group A—
The camera zoomed in for a close-up. The final team was taken from the pool and revealed.
The official flattened the slip and, smiling while displaying it, said: "Free!"
Shi Luo: "……"
Chen Huo: "……"
Old Qiao: "……"
Puppy: "……"
Zhou Huo: "!"
After a few seconds of stunned silence, Yu Sui said expressionlessly: "Congratulations, everyone. We've been seeded directly through."
Shi Luo's mentality completely shattered.
Shi Luo didn't even want to watch NSN's draw anymore: "What kind of crap is this?! Can this guy even draw?! Where's Holy Sword!! WHERE'S MY HOLY SWORD!!"
"The chosen one, the chosen one…" Zhou Huo was moved to tears, choking up. "I'm the chosen one!! Vietnam, Japan, Thailand… These teams I've never even heard of, I love them!"
Shi Luo's mentality exploded: "I've never heard of them either! I don't want to be grouped with them!"
Zhou Huo yelled back joyfully: "You think those three teams wanted to face you?!!!"
Zhou Huo didn't want to laugh, but couldn't help it: "Pffft哈哈哈……"