FOG [e-sports]

There was a traffic jam on the way back to the base. Zhou Huo was bored in the car and decided to play with his mobile phone. When he checked Weibo, he saw that Yu Sui had taken a gift from a fan.

After returning to the base and getting off the car, Zhou Huo shook his phone at Yu Sui. “You never want any of the luxury items that the fans prepare as gifts for you. But today, you actually accept a doll; and it’s not even a medic doll.”

Zhou Huo held back from smiling and said in a low voice, “Suddenly taking a striker doll from a fan, tsk tsk...”

Shi Luo pretended not to have heard it. While whistling, he carried the peripherals bag with the doll inside and headed towards the base’s main door.

Zhou Huo looked at Yu Sui, feeling very gratified. He gave a heartfelt sigh. “Really, you are the most worry-free team I’ve ever led. Why are you so considerate? Your fans are all guessing you took it to give to someone. They’re making guesses as to who you’ll give it to.”

“Was that doll a striker doll?” Chen Huo got out of the car and looked at Yu Sui, very surprised, “For me?! I... I don’t really like dolls.”

Yu Sui turned his head and looked at Chen Huo, a deadpan expression on his face. Chen Huo was taken aback and realized that it was for the other striker in the team. He pouted, “Pssh! Whatever!”

“Why’d you have to say that? Were you looking to humiliate yourself?” Puppy glanced pityingly at his silly brother, “...now not only do the fans feel distressed for you, I also feel distressed for you.”

Old Qiao looked at Yu Sui, and then at Shi Luo’s back as he entered the base. He suddenly had a lightbulb moment.

Old Qiao had an epiphany. He turned his head to look at Chen Huo, who was still in the dark and suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of superiority. He patted Chen Huo’s back and entered the base.

Because of the traffic jam, it was already eleven o’clock by the time they returned to the base. Old Qiao didn’t even give them time to wash and clean up. He herded them to the training room to watch today’s match between Saint and NSN.

Both teams’ players gave everything they got. For each of the three rounds, the entire game had been a bitter struggle. Old Qiao replayed the entire game without fast-forwarding through any section.

Saint also formulated new strategies against NSN, but its restrictive qualities was not as strong as the one they formulated for Free. NSN didn’t have a distinctive personal team characteristic. This was not actually a bad thing and this also didn’t mean that they were a mediocre team with average players. Every aspect of their play was very in-place. Originally the team’s weak point, this time, Wawa didn’t drop the ball. They didn’t have any powerful killer moves but they also didn’t have any particularly exposed angle that their opponents could take advantage of. Saint lost because they were always trying to break through. They were always on the offensive but they were unable to launch successful attacks and kept getting killed instead. After several attempts, they were placed at a great disadvantage. After three hard-fought battles, they lost by a bare sliver of difference.

After they finished the review of the three games, Old Qiao closed his notebook and said, “If the playoffs will be this intense...then, our position could be in jeopardy. Each player will need to work harder.”

Yu Sui looked at the monitor and after a moment, he said quietly, “Since our last match against Saint, I’ve wanted to say that Saint doesn’t actually need to...”

Yu Sui stopped what he was going to say.

Shi Luo tilted his head to look at Yu Sui. After a moment, he understood what he meant and shook his head slightly.

Old Qiao nodded, “It really is unnecessary. It’s not worth it.”

Chen Huo understood it a second later. He hesitated but chose not to say anything.

After listening in on the game review for another team’s three-round match, Zhou Huo was dizzy and disoriented. He looked at the other people in the room, dazed and confused. After waiting for a while and seeing that no one had any intention to explain, he humbly asked, “What do you mean? Have you all suddenly learned how to communicated telepathically? Is this something a non-professional player like me doesn’t deserve to hear? At any rate, I’ve been serving you tea and water while I accompanies you guys for these past few hours so could you please give this ordinary player an explanation?”

Old Qiao looked at Zhou Huo curiously, “Speaking of, I also wanna ask. You can’t understand a word of this game review so why are you staying up with us all night?”

“You’re the one who doesn’t want a publicity staff member in the training room because you’re afraid of having any tactics leak. Now, I’m left with no choice but to take the publicity material myself.” Zhou Huo held up a small hand-held camera and said helplessly, “Big brothers, I want to run this team and I really want to get some good material...Whatever, don’t mind me. This isn’t the point. So, I want to know exactly what is it that Saint doesn’t need to do?”

After getting Zhou Huo’s promise that he would take a few of his close-up shots, Puppy slowly explained, “Yu Sui’s being soft-hearted...knowing that he’s got a crow’s mouth, he didn’t want to say it. But actually, this matter’s really obvious.”

Puppy looked at Zhou Huo and shrugged, “Saint’s been a bit too seriously lately. It’s unnecessary.”

Zhou Huo laughed, “You’re saying there’s no need for them to take the game seriously? What kind of attitude is that? You’d be blasted by fans if they heard you say that.”

“That’s why you can’t let them know that.” Puppy lazily said. “Or we’ll have to kill you, our sole witness... We’re not saying that it’s bad that they’re taking it seriously. All of us want to win, but we must also consider what match we’re playing; what would winning cost.”

Zhou Huo still didn’t understand, Chen Huo interjected impatiently, “He’s saying that during our last match, they had such a good strategy that they must have practiced for so long. They kept that completely under wraps before then and when they did unleash it, it had been game over for us, right?”

Zhou Huo nodded blankly, “Yes!”

“That’s why it’s so unnecessary! This kind of killer move shouldn’t be revealed in the regular season. It’s not like they’re in danger of not making it to the playoffs. Was it really that necessary to win that regular season match?” Chen Huo also couldn’t understand. He frowned, “At that time, they should have just played normally. If they lose, they lose. They could have hidden this good strategy and waited for the playoffs semi-finals or finals to take us by surprise!”

Zhou Huo suddenly understood and he was stunned, “Yes. You’re right...”

“Although it would be a best of 5 by then and that would give us more time to react and deal with it, a killer move is still a killer move. At the very least, they would definitely win one round. If they played it in the first round of the finals against us, whether it’s to get points or to mess with our heads, it would have been very effective. But they didn’t...they revealed it during a meaningless regular season game. And today,” Chen Huo raised his chin and frowned at the monitor. “it must have taken a lot of thought to come up with this strategy against NSN and they also used it for the regular season. Let alone Yu Sui... I also want to ask Angel Sword just what is he thinking? Exposing everything now, what are planning to come out with for the playoffs?”

Puppy followed and shook his head, “It’s too wasteful and the strangest thing for me is that if we can think of these things then Saint could definitely think about it too, right? So just what are they up to?”

“Uh...” Zhou Huo understood and stammered, “Ma-maybe they want to get a good place in the regular season?”

“A regular season ranking isn’t worth sh*t... They’re a shoe-in for top three in the regular season. As long as they’re not at the bottom three, they can make it to the playoffs. It’s all the same.” Shi Luo frowned, “What does it matter if they lose a few games? At most, they’ll get sprayed by the haters for a few days and what does that matter?”

“Although it is beneficial to us, I also think that Saint shouldn’t be playing like this.” Old Qiao closed the game video and slowly said, “Of course, it could be that they have prepared a lot of killer moves so they don’t care if they show us one in advance. That’s also a possibility.”

Shi Luo raised his eyes and asked, “We have so many weak points they can take advantage of?”

Chen Huo broke into laughter. “No, definitely not.”

“Aiya, what do we care what they think? Anyway, it’s this good for us? Then that’s fine.” Zhou Huo didn’t want to understand and didn’t want to waste brain cells on this. “Really...this isn’t very like you, is it? Worrying like this for another team?”

They didn’t speak, and Old Qiao said helplessly, “They’re our opponents on the stage, but off the stage... It’s disgustingly sappy to say ‘friends’ but heroes cherish heroes, right? We’re all from the same region, even if they are competitors, who actually wants their opponents to die? I really don’t agree with their approach... They’re playing regular season matches like the f*cking World Championship finals. They’re playing each game like there’s no tomorrow. It’s unnecessary.”

Zhou Huo’s empathy for other pro-players was limited. He was still extremely partial to his own players. He said, indifferently, “If it’s good for us then its fine. Look at the camera, say cheeee—se.”

They were all tired from the day and they even thought about Saint’s matters on top of that. Their expressions were not very energetic and each face was expressionless. Zhou Huo reluctantly took a few photos and then took a few photos of Puppy, who was the only one who cooperated.

It’s almost two o’clock in the morning. Even if they logged in now, they’d only be able to play a scant few games. Old Qiao told everyone to go and rest. Chen Huo and Puppy didn’t even bother to open their peripherals bags after hearing this. They each went back to their own dorm rooms. Only Shi Luo walked over to take his peripherals bag.

Yu Sui looked at Shi Luo, “What’s the matter?”

Shi Luo lowered his head, took out the model figure and put it away carefully, “I hadn’t done my repetition training today. I’m going to do a set and then sleep... So I don’t fall behind on practice.”

Zhou Huo laughed, “There’s no need for that. What’s the matter? Why are you suddenly all fired up like this?.”

Shi Luo scrunched his brows and said after a moment, “What if Saint really is still hiding a few more killer moves?”

Without waiting for others to speak again, Shi Luo took his peripherals out of the bag and plugged them back into his computer. “Didn’t you read what the sprayers said? I’m the only one in the team who has no experience playing in international competitions. I have little experience. If they really have prepared killer moves, there’s a huge chance it’ll be something targeted against me... I’ll play for an hour. Don’t mind me.”

Zhou Huo couldn’t stand it and he was going to try to persuade him again but Yu Sui said, “Set an alarm clock for three o’clock and make sure to get off by then.”

Shi Luo nodded, “OK.”

Zhou Huo looked at Yu Sui in astonishment, thoroughly losing steam. “Fine. If you don’t feel sorry for him, what else can I say?”

Old Qiao, who finally understood what shenanigans the two of them had been up to, waved his hand, “You don’t need to worry. I mean, would forcing him to rest really be a show of care? Not holding him back, not delaying his training; now, that shows you truly care, right?”

Zhou Huo couldn’t understand the romance between the pro-players. He shook his head and went to get some rest.

Yu Sui watched Shi Luo turn on his computer. He went back to his dormitory and set about doing his thing. He took a shower, cleaned up his dirty clothes, blow-dried his hair, sent messages to check in with his parents, did this and that and finally it was three o’clock.

Yu Sui put on his jacket, opened the door and went to the training room.

In the training room, Shi Luo, with his headphones on, was still doing gun training on the custom server.

Usually training in a room, a few people think that others are noisy, wearing sound-proof headphones, Shi Luo did not hear the sound of Yu Sui opening the door, Yu Sui closed the door, and went back to his dormitory to play two more mobile games.

After the two rounds of a game on his phone, it was already half past three. Yu Sui went to the training room to take another look and Shi Luo was still there.

For a moment, Yu Sui felt that this might be Saint’s dirty tactics.

Intimidate the other teams by constantly showing new tactics, and win by exhausting his little boyfriend.

It was almost four o’clock in the morning. Yu Sui walked to stand behind Shi Luo and took off his headphones for him.

Shi Luo was startled, “You... haven’t slept yet?”

“I was afraid you would stay here overnight.” Yu Sui took Shi Luo’s headphones. He was just about to say something when suddenly startled, and looked down at Shi Luo’s headphones.

The sound coming out of the headphones was very light and soft but Yu Sui had very good ears. This much sound was enough for him to hear very clearly.

The tips of Shi Luo’s ears were blushing and he quickly turned off his music player. Yu Sui was quiet for a moment, and then slowly asked, “Shi Shen, what you were listening to just now...was that my voice that the fans cropped out?”

Some of Yu Sui’s little fans have made edits for their personal enjoyment. They have cropped out and edited Yu Sui’s words and put them together to form unclear audio. Yu Sui had known for a long time that the fans made these to entertain themselves and that they meant nothing malicious about it. Yu Sui didn’t care about it, but he never expected Shi Luo to have a copy.

“I don’t quite understand... Why you’d listen to this sort of second-hand audio.” Yu Sui tried his best not to laugh and said sincerely, “Shi Shen, if you want, I could make a recording for you alone.”