Chapter 127
Free voluntarily gave up the quarterfinal players' family free European tour benefit provided by the league. It wasn't entirely without upside—they also got exempted from the process of recording videos with family members, giving them a full extra day of training compared to other teams.
As the quarterfinals drew nearer day by day, the Free players had nothing but endless training sessions and trash-talking with Holy Sword across the internet.
Originally, Zhou Huo had wanted to cut off internet access for these four before the quarterfinals. After all, practice matches used the official league servers and could be isolated from the main network. They could just configure the players' computers so that only the game client could be accessed. Confiscate the players' phones temporarily for a while, and everything would be clean and quiet. Whatever grudges they had could wait until after the tournament. As a team manager, Zhou Huo had that authority.
But before Zhou Huo could even mention this plan to the players, Old Qiao stopped him.
"More harm than good." Old Qiao shook his head. "They need to get used to this rhythm of being trash-talked and having their mental game disrupted. If you protect them too much, their pressure tolerance weakens. Really, people are like that—the more you spoil them, the more delicate they become. If they suddenly can't handle something said on match day, and their mental state can't be adjusted in time, it'll affect the competition and we're done for."
Zhou Huo was puzzled. "How could they disrupt our mental state on match day? The venue security is so strict—what could they possibly do? Could it be worse than now?"
Holy Sword was constantly stirring things up on Twitter. The day before yesterday they asked if Shi Luo was nervous, yesterday they posted photos of Yu Sui's old peripherals from his time at Holy Sword and asked if he missed them, today they asked if Free had booked return flights after the quarterfinals. They posted several tweets a day, a comprehensive three-dimensional问候. Zhou Huo had been swamped with work these days, and every time he saw their tweets on top of everything else, it made his blood boil. "If I weren't so busy these past few days, I'd really want to compile some documents and report them to the league organizers. Damn it, these are just esports thugs!"
"You can report to the league all you want, but it won't help. They'll just say it's normal, friendly pre-match banter. And clearly they came prepared." Old Qiao冷笑. "The official tweets are all relatively mild. The truly cutting remarks come from their owner's and manager's personal accounts. That's personal speech, and the league can't do anything about it. And also…"
Old Qiao said seriously, "Trust me, this really isn't the worst it can get."
Zhou Huo had no choice but to back down reluctantly, still not believing things could get more extreme.
Until the day of the quarterfinal rehearsal.
The quarterfinal venue was already different from the group stage. Unlike group stage, the quarterfinals would be moved to the largest venue in the local viewing area. There were more procedures compared to group stage—things like an opening ceremony, introductions of each player's stats, and so on. Since everything was being livestreamed, to avoid any oversights or accidents, the players had to come early and walk through the procedures.
On rehearsal day, Zhou Huo looked at the massive completed venue and was fairly satisfied. This was his first year leading a team to Worlds, and he thought the production was impressive enough. Zhou Huo had been smiling pleasantly since he caught his first glimpse of the venue from far away in the car. But that smile faded the moment everyone got off the bus and entered the arena, passing through the spectator seating area.
Today was just a rehearsal, but quite a few local fans had shown up.
Local fans, naturally, were there to support Holy Sword.
All quarterfinal teams would come for rehearsals today. The organizers, worried about incidents, had set up guardrails early to prevent overly enthusiastic fans from rushing at the players and causing problems.
But you can keep fans behind barriers, but you can't stop their light-up signs.
Zhou Huo stared at the various light-up signs raised by Holy Sword fans, listened to their mocking laughter, and watched his face turn green by degrees.
Zhou Huo walked at the front. Worried that the players would notice the problematic signs, he quickly suppressed his anger and turned to urge everyone along. "Quickly, quickly, let's go. We finish the rehearsal walkthrough and head back to the hotel. I've already made arrangements—we came the earliest, so we can rehearse first and leave early. Quickly, don't look around…"
Old Qiao and Chen Huo genuinely hadn't noticed anything. Puppy had earphones in and wasn't looking around either, head down as he walked forward. Only Shi Luo happened to glance toward the noisy Holy Sword fans.
Shi Luo stopped when he saw the light-up signs the Holy Sword fans were holding.
In addition to their own team signs, Holy Sword fans were also holding signs for Yu Sui.
The signs they held for Yu Sui read: EU-Whisper.
Due to nationality-related reasons, even during his time playing for Holy Sword Club, the EU-Whisper chant was inherently offensive.
The league was about region-versus-region competition, not nationality-versus-nationality.
From the very beginning, there had never been a convention of adding nationality prefixes to player names.
Holy Sword fans' move was an obvious, blatant mockery of Yu Sui's past service in another region's league.
Translated, this was no better—and arguably worse—than the domestic trolls' insults calling Yu Sui a "turncoat" or "opportunist."
When the Holy Sword fans noticed Shi Luo watching them, they started heckling and chanting, calling out Whisper's ID over and over.
With the prefix, they'd shout "EU" first, then "Whisper," with quite a rhythmic cadence.
Old Qiao and Chen Huo ahead turned around, and every face changed.
Shi Luo's expression turned to ice. He suddenly reached up and removed his sunglasses.
"Why did you stop?"
Yu Sui had been the last to get off the bus. He walked over to behind Shi Luo as if he hadn't heard anything, placed his hand on Shi Luo's right hand that was holding the sunglasses, and said, "Let's go."
Shi Luo's gaze swept across the Holy Sword fans one by one, then he put his sunglasses back on and walked into the backstage area without a word, saying nothing.
Once backstage, Zhou Huo handed the players over to his assistant team leader and went directly to find the official staff.
Zhou Huo didn't come back. For the first half of the rehearsal, except for Yu Sui, the entire Free team had cold expressions.
The staff member assigned to coordinate Free's rehearsal kept wiping sweat, not daring to say anything, only continuously apologizing, repeating over and over that everyone had worked hard.
No one in Free's exclusive lounge was talking. Chen Huo suddenly got annoyed and looked up at the staff. "What do we have to be sorry about?"
The staff member faltered. Yu Sui was playing Tetris, and said quietly, "Why take it out on the staff?"
Chen Huo swallowed his anger, stood up, and said, "NSN probably showed up too. I'm going to find Old Gu and the others to chat for a bit."
Puppy was also tired of waiting in the room, stood up, and followed along.
Shi Luo wasn't playing with his phone or looking at the procedure schedule. He was sitting on a couch to the side, his long legs propped up directly on the small coffee table in front of the sofa.
Yu Sui glanced up at Shi Luo and smiled slightly.
He was genuinely angry.
Shi Luo always looked unapproachable, but he had excellent manners. Even at his own team's base, even when he was most exhausted, he would never do something like this.
Shi Luo was angry at the tournament organizers.
Angry at the staff.
Angry that they let those Holy Sword fans in, letting them wave offensive signs.
Yu Sui put away his phone, walked over to Shi Luo, and sat down beside him.
Just as Yu Sui was about to speak, Shi Luo suddenly said in a压抑 voice, "Don't try to comfort me."
Yu Sui froze.
Shi Luo's face was ashen. He moved his lips and said, "Right now it should be me comforting you… I haven't adjusted my own mindset yet, I can't console you. That's my problem."
"If at this moment I still make you comfort me…" Shi Luo烦躁地 turned his head away, not looking at Yu Sui. After a moment, he said quietly, "That's pathetic."
Yu Sui looked at Shi Luo and smiled slightly.
His little boyfriend was so adorable.
Shi Luo was trying hard to control his temper. "Don't talk. Give me some time. I'll comfort you properly."
Yu Sui nodded as told and continued playing his Tetris.
Not quite five minutes later, Shi Luo took off his cap, stood up, and looked at the staff member still in the lounge with a terrible expression.
Shi Luo coldly dismissed them. "My teammate and I need some time alone. Thank you."
The staff member hurriedly nodded apologetically and left.
Yu Sui put down his phone, eyes smiling as he looked at Shi Luo, waiting to see how Shi Luo would comfort him.
Shi Luo ran a hand through his hair and sat down on the small coffee table directly in front of Yu Sui, leaning slightly forward to look at him.
Yu Sui held back his laughter as he looked at Shi Luo.
Shi Luo lowered his head and kissed Yu Sui lightly on the lips.
Yu Sui said softly, "That's it?"
"There's more… but it has to wait until after Worlds." Shi Luo said quietly. "After Worlds… I'll go wherever you want me to go. You…"
Shi Luo's voice was even softer. "You can do whatever you want."
Shi Luo murmured, "This time I absolutely won't say no… whatever you want."
Yu Sui's eyelashes fluttered slightly. "...You should know, this kind of private thing can't shake my mental state."
"I know." Shi Luo kissed Yu Sui on the lips again, his voice slightly hoarse. "But it doesn't stop me from心疼 you."
Yu Sui's eyes stirred.
There was a knock on the door of the lounge. The staff member reminded Free outside that their rehearsal was about to begin.
Yu Sui gently pushed Shi Luo away. "I'm already used to all this. I really didn't care about it before. But having my boyfriend suffer indignity on my behalf… this matter still needs some kind of resolution."
Shi Luo frowned. "What do you mean?"
The staff member came through the door. Yu Sui didn't say more, picked up his jacket from beside him, put it on, and left the lounge.
The rehearsal procedures began. Both teams stood on opposite sides of the two backstage corridors, team captains at the front. Outside, the host began the pre-match introductions.
Yu Sui rubbed his neck and suddenly looked over at the Holy Sword team captain beside him.
Shi Luo, standing at the very back of the line, looked up at the front, frowning. "What are they talking about?"
Yu Sui was speaking German. Shi Luo couldn't understand a word.
But he could see the Holy Sword team captain's expression change, face uncertain.
Puppy and Chen Huo behind Yu Sui suddenly burst out laughing. Shi Luo was even more confused.
Yu Sui's eyes held a hint of mockery as he waited calmly.
A full minute passed. The Holy Sword team captain nodded, then cursed once more—and that last line was a swear word. Shi Luo understood that part.
Shi Luo's eyes widened instantly. Before he could question, Chen Huo, standing in front of Shi Luo, turned around and laughed. "Do you know what Yu Sui just did? Hahahaha… my Yu-god suddenly got angry."
The gloom that had been on Chen Huo's face just moments before was completely gone. "Yu Sui just told the Holy Sword captain that he originally thought they weren't worth it, but today his mood was particularly bad, so suddenly he wanted to play a bit."
"For the quarterfinals, Yu Sui's going to challenge them to an account destruction match, and Holy Sword agreed."
"You don't need me to tell you how valuable Yu Sui's account is—it's the most honored account in the entire league, the only living fossil officially recognized by the league. If we lose, after Yu Sui finishes the final BO5 against Holy Sword, he'll directly destroy the account, never to be recovered."
"But if we win, Holy Sword will destroy every account—from their owner to their manager to all their players—never to be recovered."