# Chapter 124
NSN advanced smoothly. WaWa predictably secured the MVP in the final BO1, simultaneously breaking two records for this Worlds: the lowest death count in a single game, and the highest healer damage output in a single game.
Though they advanced as Group B's second seed, NSN's performance against the Korean team in that final BO1 was so outstanding, their stats truly alarming. WaWa had been a noticeable weak point on the team—now that weak point had evolved into an MVP. The teams already confirmed for quarterfinals could no longer afford to underestimate NSN. Group A's first seed team even posted on Twitter, saying they really hoped the bracket draw wouldn't pair them with NSN.
With NSN's successful advancement, the Chinese region finally had two teams reach the Worlds quarterfinals after a two-year gap. After NSN's final match, captain Gu Qian went for his interview. When asked which team he most wanted to face in the upcoming quarterfinal elimination matches, Gu Qian answered without hesitation: Holy Sword.
For days, various teams had been going at each other on international social media. Just the day before Group C's advancement matches, Holy Sword had still been telling NSN "see you in group stages" on foreign platforms—the animosity had long since boiled over. Since the probability of facing Holy Sword in quarterfinals was too high, Gu Qian couldn't be bothered to play nice. He directly said he wanted to clash with Holy Sword in the quarterfinal elimination round. If his team lost, he'd wish Holy Sword well on advancing to semifinals. But if his team won, Holy Sword could get lost immediately.
"Look at that, Luoluo's corrupted so many people. Old Gu's started throwing shade too." Puppy ate while watching the interview, sighing. "How old is he now? Not even pretending to be mature."
"What's the point of being mature? All it got us was getting stepped on and mocked. Sure, this is the wildest Worlds ever, but it's also the most fun I've had. Win or lose, everyone just jumps straight into this life-or-death atmosphere." Chen Huo was quite satisfied. "Not only are we coming for you, we're telling you to your face."
Zhou Huo watched Gu Qian's interview, then turned to Lao Qiao. "If they really end up facing Holy Sword, what are the odds?"
"There are so many factors in actual match performance, there's no way to calculate exact odds." Lao Qiao had been feeling pretty good watching NSN advance, but discussing this dimmed his smile a bit. Helplessly, he said, "If I had to give odds... Holy Sword's would definitely be higher."
"You said yourself there are factors in match performance." Shi Luo ate heartily beside them, words muffled. "WaWa's definitely going to perform better from here."
"True... WaWa's basically a little angel sword now. Eh, why worry about it? We might not even face them—could be an internal matchup." Zhou Huo turned to Yu Sui. "Don't schedule practice matches for tomorrow. After Group D's advancement matches, there's the bracket draw. You need to be there for the draw."
After playing for so many years, Yu Sui knew the Worlds procedure well. He hummed an affirmative. Shi Luo looked up at Zhou Huo, then at Yu Sui, and said, "I'm going with him."
Zhou Huo looked at Shi Luo, shrugging. "The draw just means the first-seed teams from each group go up one by one and draw a second-seed team. Takes five minutes max. But you have to get there at least two hours early, half-hour drive to the venue, then wait around like an idiot, draw takes a few minutes, then another half hour back... hours of hassle. Why are you tagging along? Isn't that too much of a pain?"
Yu Sui also looked at Shi Luo. Shi Luo said, "It's not a pain. I'm going."
Zhou Huo was confused. "Why?"
Shi Luo swallowed his food, hesitated, but didn't explain.
The corner of Yu Sui's mouth curved slightly. He said nothing.
Zhou Huo looked at Yu Sui, completely lost. "I mean, sure, you'll run into Holy Sword people at the draw. But are they going to kidnap you? You're a guy over 180cm tall. What exactly are you worried about? Just go by yourself."
"You're overthinking it. Shi Luo's not afraid I'll get kidnapped." Yu Sui took a sip of warm water. "He doesn't really get foreign social media apps, but he wants to see what everyone's arguing about. This whole time I've been searching on my phone and showing him..."
"My foreign social media has people sending me confessions or worse in DMs. He accidentally clicked on one." Yu Sui continued eating slowly. "Get it now?"
"Got it." Zhou Huo clicked his tongue. "The jealous罐子's tipped over again? You two are practically joined at the hip. Is this about making sure the Europeans know you have a boyfriend?"
Shi Luo shot Zhou Huo a look. Zhou Huo knew better than to push further, nodding. "Fine. If you two don't mind the exhaustion, go ahead. We'll wait at the hotel for the draw results."
After dinner, they played four more practice matches. After reviewing them all, it was already 5 AM local time. When the review wrapped up, everyone headed back to their rooms to rest. The next afternoon at 2 PM, Yu Sui and Shi Luo left on time for the venue.
On the way to the venue, Shi Luo could barely keep his eyes open from exhaustion. Leaning against Yu Sui in the car, he kept dozing off. Yu Sui glanced at the driver, then—relying on the fact that the driver didn't understand Chinese—very seriously proposed to Shi Luo, "...If you're really that worried, why don't you kiss me a couple of hickeys to mark your territory? Then once you drop me off, you can go back to the hotel with the driver? Whose fault is it if we both die of exhaustion?"
Shi Luo cracked one eye open, looking thoroughly annoyed. "I won't die of exhaustion."
Yu Sui smiled. "Really jealous?"
"Why are the influencers over here so wild?" Shi Luo really didn't understand. "Sending pictures like that—what are they thinking?"
Shi Luo looked不满 at Yu Sui. "There were a lot like this in previous years too, right?"
Yu Sui couldn't help but laugh. Others sent him that stuff—what was he supposed to do about it? He never looked at it anyway.
Shi Luo's expression still wasn't great. Yu Sui quietly studied him, then said, "Take off your team jacket."
Shi Luo froze for a moment, then dumbly removed his jacket.
Yu Sui took it, handed Shi Luo his own instead, and put the Evil team jacket on himself.
Fortunately Shi Luo's jersey was loose. It fit Yu Sui perfectly.
Yu Sui zipped up, leaned back against the seat, and caught some sleep.
Shi Luo stared, then his lips curved upward against his will.
There was some traffic on the road. It took nearly an hour for them to arrive at the venue. Group D's first two BO1s had already finished. Staff escorted them straight to the waiting room. The room was small, but at least there was a live match screen. They sat down to watch the matches, waiting for Group D to finish before the draw.
"Before I left, WaWa sent me a voice message. He told me to remind you to definitely wash your hands before the draw." Shi Luo was still exhausted, watching Group D's matches without much energy, muttering softly. "We're Group A's first seed. You should draw first. WaWa begged you not to draw NSN."
Shi Luo remembered WaWa's over-the-top tone and felt his scalp go numb. "He's not afraid of anyone now. He told me, they're not doing an internal matchup, they definitely want to face Holy Sword in quarterfinals. If they win, our region will have two teams in semifinals this year. If they lose, after playing one BO5 against Holy Sword, they'll have experience dealing with Holy Sword. Their whole team has already discussed it—even if they're eliminated, they won't go back to China. They'll stay and be our practice squad. They'll die getting us to the finals."
Yu Sui looked down at his phone, frowning slightly.
After NSN advanced from groups, their owner suddenly had底气. He went at Holy Sword again with another scathing rant, practically challenging them to a date in quarterfinals. But strangely, Holy Sword didn't fight back or respond, as if they hadn't seen any of it. Half an hour ago, they finally posted a vague tweet—meaning their desired date might actually be with someone else, definitely not NSN.
The attached image was even more interesting: half of a severed angel wing.
Yu Sui frowned, murmuring, "...After a year apart, playing dirtier than ever."
Shi Luo looked at Yu Sui. "What did you say?"
"Nothing." Yu Sui watched the live screen. "Just the match."
In the previous round of Group D matches, Holy Sword had gone undefeated. The Swedish team had taken two points, the Japanese team zero, the North American team one. In today's second round, Holy Sword and the Swedish team each picked up a point. Holy Sword led the group; Sweden was second.
Unless something unexpected happened, that should be Group D's advancement order.
Provided, nothing unexpected happened.
The third BO1: the Swedish team picked up another point. The other two teams in the group were practically eliminated.
The fourth BO1: the North American team took a point from the Japanese team. Irrelevant.
The fifth BO1: Holy Sword versus Japan. Not long after the match started, Shi Luo's half-closed eyes slowly widened.
Shi Luo's expression grew cold. He laughed flatly. "What is Holy Sword doing? Did their players eat too much shit today? What the hell was that play?"
Yu Sui squinted. After a moment, he unlocked his phone and pulled up Holy Sword's earlier tweet, passing it to Shi Luo. "Look."
Holy Sword's tweet was in English. No translation needed—Shi Luo could read it himself.
Holy Sword seemed to be responding to NSN, but their wording was much more diplomatic than usual. No cold mockery, no backhanded remarks, no sarcasm. They even sounded somewhat regretful, saying they might not be able to respond to NSN's enthusiasm and meet them for their expected date.
The venue's signal was unstable. It took a moment for the image under the tweet to fully load.
Shi Luo looked at the image of the severed, blood-stained single wing—and his face turned to ice.
Free's team emblem was a single wing.
Yu Sui's eyes grew dark. He said quietly, "So it was us they were coming for."
"Then bring it on!" Shi Luo stared at Holy Sword's vague tweet, at the blood on the wing, and instantly flew into a rage. "Who the hell are they cutting? Are they referring to you? What's the meaning of this? Are they cursing my team?"
"I fucking swear to their ancestors! If I wasn't worried about dirtying my professional record, I'd have thrown the match two days ago just to hunt them down! Am I afraid of them?! Do they think I wanted to be first seed?! I'd love to sniper them instead!"
Shi Luo was furious. "Who are they wishing bleeding on? Does it mean something else?"
Before Yu Sui could calm Shi Luo, his phone rang—Chen Huo was calling. Shi Luo answered on speaker without thinking. Chen Huo's booming voice came through: "Bring it on!! Damn it, do they really think they can bury us in quarterfinals?!"
Lao Qiao's cold laugh cut in. "What do you think? Things we find disgusting, things we'd never do? They do them so easily. Japan's just an经验宝宝. In the last round, Holy Sword was kicking them around like nothing. Few days later, they meet again and Japan's riding their face for a loss. Who's getting played here? Their act a little too obvious?"
Puppy嗤笑'd. "Gained new perspective. After a year apart, their bottom line keeps getting lower and lower."
On the other end of the phone, Zhou Huo was still trying to calm everyone down. "They might not be throwing on purpose. The match isn't even over yet. Holy Sword always toys with weaker teams. You can't be sure. Can you guys not act like you've been provoked..."
Shi Luo冷笑ed. "Sure, they're toying. But they're treating us like mice."
The match continued.
Holy Sword wasn't obviously throwing. An average viewer might just think Holy Sword was being a bit reckless early on, getting too cocky, letting Japan seize the advantage, and now struggling to claw back. It might fool average viewers or even the broadcast analysts, but it couldn't fool professional players.
WaWa sent Shi Luo a WeChat message: [Shi-ge, are these bastards trying to be second seed? To hunt down us first seeds?]
Shi Luo didn't reply.
The fifth BO5 ended quickly. Holy Sword lost to the Japanese team, dropping a point.
The sixth BO1: Holy Sword versus the Swedish team in-group.
Current points: Holy Sword and Sweden both had four.
The other two Group D teams had no chance of advancing. In this sixth match, whoever won would be first seed; the loser, second seed.
Zhou Huo didn't believe Holy Sword would actually throw on purpose just to恶心 other first-seed teams. He kept trying to calm everyone down, telling them not to get angry, especially叮嘱ing Yu Sui and Shi Luo at the venue, constantly reassuring them, terrified the two might get into a confrontation with Holy Sword during the draw.
Zhou Huo was regretting everything. He wished he could fly to the venue right now. Constantly he said, "Stay calm, stay calm. I really think Holy Sword just fumbled that last match. Definitely wasn't intentional. Shi Luo, especially you—we're not doing anything physical, got it? Not even verbal. No cursing at them on camera. I even suspect this is a trap. If you two start something now, you'll definitely get suspended. Do you know that? We don't even have a substitute. If you get suspended, that's when we're really screwed. Shi Luo? Shi Luo? Are you listening?!"
Shi Luo's mind was filled with that blood-stained wing image. When Zhou Huo finally finished, he coldly said, "I know."
Zhou Huo tried to sound reasonable. "Seriously, I really think we're overthinking this. Everyone here's a pro. We all have professional ethics. They really wouldn't stoop to this. Absolutely not throwing..."
Zhou Huo's sentence wasn't even finished before it was proven wrong. The sixth match started, and Holy Sword's flanker walked straight into the enemy face as if blind, immediately giving Sweden first blood.
Yu Sui's expression was as calm as always, but his eyes grew darker. He淡淡道, "Yeah. Definitely not throwing."
Zhou Huo went speechless.
Holy Sword didn't want the trouble of being accused of sandbagging. Besides that opening face-check, everything they "threw" after was cleverly done. They'd counterattack now and then, putting up enough of a fight that the match seemed genuinely close. They seemed to be desperately trying to win—but to Yu Sui and the others, it was as obvious as running naked.
Before the match even ended, Yu Sui had already stood up, rolling his wrists.
Zhou Huo had long since hung up with Yu Sui, switching to a video call with Shi Luo instead. Watching Yu Sui and Shi Luo in the venue, he spoke nervously. "D-do you two need me to recite the match regulations and league suspension rules for you?"
Shi Luo coldly said, "I can recite them backwards. No thanks."
Zhou Huo swallowed hard, trembling. "Please, no violations. I'm begging you."
Group D's final match ended. Holy Sword pulled a major upset, "narrowly losing" to the Swedish team and advancing as group second seed.
Yu Sui picked up his phone and scrolled.
Holy Sword had posted another tweet, tagging all three group first-seed teams, with a smiling face emoji.
Chen Huo was also scrolling Twitter at the hotel. Seeing it, he flew into a rage. "What the hell is this supposed to mean?! Tell me this isn't provocation?!"
Shi Luo's phone buzzed nonstop. WaWa was flooding him with question marks.
NSN's entire team had already prepared for the worst. At the critical moment, this year's Worlds championship favorite, Holy Sword, had—exactly like NSN—become a second-seed advancing team. There would be no possibility of them meeting in quarterfinals.
A knock came at the waiting room door. Staff came to notify Yu Sui that it was time for the draw.
Yu Sui stood up, looking at Shi Luo.
Yu Sui suddenly smiled.
"I've never had good luck..." Yu Sui murmured to himself, raising his hand. "I probably used up all my lifetime luck when I dragged you here. Babe, give me a kiss. Share some of your luck."
Shi Luo watched Yu Sui quietly, then asked, "What kind of luck do you want? There are several second seeds. Which team do you want?"
Yu Sui淡淡道, "Holy Sword."
Shi Luo bowed his head and gently kissed Yu Sui's hand.
"Don't get me an NSN."
Yu Sui left the waiting room.
In the corridor, he ran into Gu Qian. Gu Qian was stunned, clearly shaken. "Holy Sword they..."
"Don't say it. There's no evidence." Yu Sui coldly提醒ed. "They haven't been exposed yet. Don't go getting yourself into trouble first."
Defaming other teams was also a violation. Gu Qian understood. He nodded and stopped talking.
When they entered the arena, Holy Sword's captain—Yu Sui's former teammate from last year—smiled at Yu Sui and asked in German, laughing: Are you scared?
Yu Sui said nothing. He didn't even glance at the man. The draw began. The four first-seed teams were randomly placed into two brackets. The host conducting the draw ceremony prompted the Group A first seed—that is, Yu Sui—to begin.
Yu Sui lightly touched the spot on his hand where Shi Luo had kissed him, then reached directly into the four draw balls, grabbed one, and handed it to the host.
The host opened the draw ball—
Holy Sword.
Yu Sui turned and looked at Holy Sword's captain. His lips moved slightly.
No sound—just the shape of words—but Holy Sword's captain understood. The smile on Holy Sword's captain's face froze.
Yu Sui had also spoken in German, also asked him: A-R-E Y-O-U S-C-A-R-E-D?