FOG [e-sports]

Among the many players, only Shi Luo has had this experience.

After all, this was the first time anyone has done something like helping someone else fill their live broadcast hours.

And he was doing it so seriously too. The live broadcast quality of the substitute broadcaster was very high. The operation of a player in the top 50 of the national server in an ultra top level match was a sight to behold. The mic in the broadcast was on. When Shi Luo played there was a lot more keyboard tapping sounds than when Yu Sui played. During the few waves of single kills, the crisp and fast keyboard rapping sounds matched with the opponent falling in the game interface. The sense of rhythm was extremely strong. This viewing experience was simply enjoyable for those watching the live broadcast.

This certain substitute broadcaster was also unlike most anchors who had to boast whenever they pulled off a difficult move. He played very quietly. When the situation was tense, you could only hear his keyboard sounds. He doesn’t brag and he never says anything even when his teammates make mistakes that puts his character in danger. He never even utters any words of regret. If he can help to finish it, he would help. If he couldn’t help, he would withdraw, waiting for the next opportunity.

The popularity of the live broadcast room marked “Free-Evil” rose as quick as a whirlwind. At the end of the first game, because the popularity grew too fast, the super administrator of the live broadcast platform found the data abnormal. So, he joined the live broadcast and asked if there were any problems.

Having the super administrator check in when he was at crucial point as he was trying to break the opponent’s resurrection stone, Yu Sui couldn’t help but laugh.

Shi Luo, who was watching the live broadcast downstairs on his mobile phone, blushed after just hearing a certain substitute broadcaster laugh.

“You......”

Shi Luo couldn’t stand himself. He instinctively glanced back and he breathed out a sigh of relief upon seeing that the Auntie on the first floor hadn’t noticed him.

Shi Luo was really afraid of people seeing him like this, so he guiltily put on his sweatshirt hood while cursing himself in a very small voice. “Is this your f*cking first time dating him... F*cking blushing like this.”

Shi Luo also didn’t know if Yu Sui was just too good at teasing him or his he was just a weak-ass chicken in this regard. When Yu Sui smiles, his heartbeat speeds up.

The super administrator was still completely clueless. So he asked, puzzled, “Evil? What’s wrong?”

A certain substitute broadcaster broke the opponent’s resurrection stone, and said, “Our team’s Evil Xuanshou needed to take care of something. I’m broadcasting for him for a while...it should be alright, right?”

“Whisper?” The super manager choked with fright, and said hurriedly, “Of course, you can. Ho-however you want to broadcast... just broadcast it.”

The super administrator probably also didn’t expect Yu Sui to be this inconspicuous. He left the room in fright and Yu Sui continued to queue up for a game.

Downstairs, Shi Luo pressed his head against the glass window and looked down at his phone. He watched as the popularity of his live broadcast room continued to soar. He watched as Yu Sui organize his desktop while waiting for the matched. He watched as Yu Sui clicked open Minesweeper while waiting in line. He listened as Yu Sui’s soft voice from his phone. “This computer actually only has Minesweeper...”

Shi Luo had another moment of self-doubt. Was he crazy?

He couldn’t even see his face. He was just watching Yu Sui play Minesweeper in the live broadcast and yet he was already blushing and his heartbeat was running so fast. Was he f*cking poisoned?

Whisper Xuanshou was too problematic. This person was poisonous.

On the screen of his mobile phone, the cursor playing Minesweeper clicked very quickly. After a while, the game prompted that he had been matched with teammates. The window for Minesweeper was reduced and his game character entered the map.

Yu Sui’s voice came from the phone, “How long is the broadcast? Let’s finish this game...”

“When will Shi Shen return...You should ask Shi Shen that.”

“Do I usually call him Shi Shen...Of course not.”

When Shi Luo was suddenly mentioned and his heart beat faster.

“How could I normally call him that?...I don’t normally call any or my teammates so-and-so god and so-and-so god. That’d be strange.”

“What do I call him privately...?”

In the live broadcast, the medic drew first blood and said absent-mindedly: “...It’s not convenient to say.”

The live chat was once again bombarded with comments.

The base of Shi Luo’s ears turned red. Yu Sui actually called him by a lot of names.

During official business such as public interviews, he was usually called “Evil Xuanshou”. For less formal situations like this live broadcast, it was “Shi Shen”. When mentioning him to friends within the circle, it was “Shi Luo” or “Evil”. When the two were together in private then...there were a lot more.

He called him baobei.

He called him baobao.

The most excessive one was-

A few days ago, during their little holiday, those muddled few days with only the two of them in the base when they would do it regardless of the time of day or night, Yu Sui once whispered into his ear and called him a little puppy dog.

In the live broadcast room, Yu Sui took down another opponent. Tone completely natural, he said, “Nothing strange. I just address him normally and he accepts it.”

Shi Luo’s ears were already completely red and he murmured hard from between his teeth, “...I didn’t accept it.”

Yu Sui would interacted with the audience from time to time while playing. Less than half an hour later, the second game was over and Yu Sui quit the map.

In the live broadcast, Yu Sui’s voice came from Shi Luo’s mobile phone, “Are you going to come up and broadcast for yourself or should I continue?”

Shi Luo: “!”

Although wanted to pretend not to have been watching, Shi Luo honestly minimized the live broadcast interface and sent a message to Yu Sui: [I’ll go up and broadcast myself. ]

There was a buzzing sound in the live broadcast followed by the sound of the mobile phone being placed down on the table. Yu Sui said, “Shi Shen’s coming up and broadcasting himself. I’ll be withdrawing now.”

[Is Shi Zai also watching the live broadcast? ? ? 】

[Help! this is dog abuse. 】

[Is Shi Zai watching the live broadcast with us? Hihihi. Hello, Shi Zai. 】

[Don’t go, don’t go, don’t go, don’t go, don’t go... From now on, our live broadcast room will be yours! Really! ! ! 】

[Or maybe you two could broadcast together? 】

[Don’t go! I’m so thankful to Shi Shen T0T...Whisper fans are very satisfied. This dead Slag man finally did a live broadcast. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen him. 】

[I’m so tired of saying this already — why is Slag man Yu so good aaaaahhhhh...]

[Are you really leaving? ＱＡＱ The people who’ve been watching Shi Shen since yesterday would like to express their gratitude to Yu Shen for saving us from our suffering...Please come more often! 】

Yu Sui logged out of his game account. He turned on the live broadcast assistant and turned off the mic for Shi Luo’s live broadcast.

Downstairs, Shi Luo spent a long time washing his face with cold water in the kitchen. After being yelled at by Auntie, Shi Luo finally turned off the faucet. Shi Luo looked in the mirror and waited for his face to return to normal before heading upstairs.

On the second floor, Puppy said sourly, “Yu Shen, can’t you broadcast for me for awhile too? I’m also tired.”

Yu Sui sat back on his seat and said, “If you’re tired, then stop broadcasting.”

“You bastard...” Puppy sighed and said to the fans in his live broadcast room, “You can stop shouting. It’s no use. I don’t have enough enough of a show for you guys so please don’t come.”

Puppy saw a message attempting to comfort him that said “Yu Shen helped Shi Shen to do his live broadcast because Shi Shen missed too many broadcast hours. You’re not lacking that many hours so he didn’t help you”. Clicking his tongue, he said, “It’s no use trying to help me out of this embarrassing situation. He wouldn’t help me even if I hadn’t broadcasted even a single minute this month...”

In the webcam of the live broadcast, Puppy saw Shi Luo came upstairs and he promptly stopped talking. He directed a wink at his webcam and craftily turned the webcam towards Shi Luo.

In the Puppy’s live broadcast, Shi Luo sat down and wiped the drops of water from his chin. He adjusted the seat slightly. He then opened the game client and with one click, restored his original settings. He put on his headphones, bowed his head and began to tap away on his phone.

Puppy turned back his webcam and prattled on in a low voice, “He’s sending Yu Sui a message. Usually, whenever these two have something to say to each other inside the training room, they’d send WeChat messages instead of just saying it directly. Tell me. How big must your internet addiction be to send messages when you’re both in the same room? I’ve never seen something like that. Tsk tsk...I don’t even know what they’re talking about that they’re so afraid of letting other people know.”

Shi Luo was indeed sending a message to Yu Sui.

And it really was not convenient to let other people know.

[Whisper]: [I forgot to adjust back your key settings. Adjust it first. Don’t enter a game and then adjust it so that you won’t have to worry about it. ]

[Evil]: [I know, it’s fine. ]

[Evil]: [Yu Sui...]

[Whisper]: [Huh? ]

[Evil]: [It’s okay. I’ll just talk to you about it tonight. ]

[Whisper]: [You can tell me now. I’m not queueing up for a game. ]

Sure enough, Yu Sui cancelled his queue.

[Evil]: [......]

[Evil]: [...You’re going to drive me crazy. ]

Yu Sui looked down at the message and smile.

[Whisper]: [I’m making good progress. ]

Shi Luo read Yu Sui’s message several times before he managed to calm down and continue to queue up.

All of the players focused on their training. They took a break to eat dinner and when they came up, they continued to practice on their own until 8:50 in the evening.

In the training room, Old Qiao connected his computer to the big screen. He opened the live broadcast of the official draw and rubbing his fists and palms, urged, “Stop playing. All those who aren’t in queue, cancel it. Let’s watch the draw.”

Zhou Huo also came up with a camera. After setting up the camera, he said tensely, “Fix up your appearance. Chen Huo, your earphones have pressed your hair completely flat. Comb through it. Shi Luo wear your clothes properly. What are you doing pushing up your sleeves that high? You look like a hooligan...Alright, alright. Sit down already.”

They quit the game and turned their swivel chairs towards the big screen in the center of the training room.

Shi Luo murmured under his breath, “Sacred Sword, Sacred Sword, Sacred Sword, Sacred Sword...”

Zhou Huo glared at Shi Luo and chanted a reverse spell. “Not Sacred Sword, not Sacred Sword, not Sacred Sword, not Sacred Sword...”

Old Qiao was dumbstruck. “Don’t be so naïve, would you?! Believe in science! I’m telling you, based on past experiences, newly established teams like ours generally become Experience Baobaos. When Experience Baobaos go to the World Championships it’s to contribute points and deliver warmth to each team. Moreover, they always run into the death group. So don’t worry.”

Zhou Huo hurriedly changed his words: “Not the Death Group. Not the Death Group. Not the Death Group...”

“I’m also almost certain we’re going to meet them.” Puppy leaned back on his swivel chair. There was a rare look of viciousness in the normally lazy player’s eyes. “If we’re going to meet them, then let’s meet them.”

Chen Huo sneered: “It’s been almost a year. Since we tied with them after playing during the beginning of the season, they haven’t asked for another training match. It’s been so long. It’s time to see if they’re a mule or a horse.”

Yu Sui said nothing, looking at the big screen indifferently.

In the live broadcast of the draw, the host began to introduce the rules for the group stage draw.

There were two teams from each division. Plus the wild card division, there were a total of 16 teams. Regardless of whether the teams were first or second seed, all were gathered in one pool. The teams were divided into four groups following the rule that teams from the same division must not end up in the same group. Among the group of four teams, two team will qualify from each group after fighting against each team within it.

That is to say, in the group stage, except for NSN who was from their division, there was a possibility for Free to meet any of the other teams.

“They’re afraid that teams from the same division would give each other points, so they aren’t allowed to be grouped together during the group stage. If there were no such rule, we could run into NSN in one group.” Old Qiao explained to Zhou Huo. “Just like when we played during with relegation tournament, if in case one of the teams reaches the edge of the cliff, the other team from the same region, due to emotional factors, might deliberately throw the game to save the team from falling off the edge of the cliff. That would be unfair.”

Zhou Huo nodded. “Got it. It’s starting, it’s starting.”

Among the four groups, ABC and D, the teams for group A will be drawn first.

The draw officially started. Except for Yu Sui, the rest of the people in the training room no longer slumped in their chairs. They all sat up a little straighter.

The first team in Group A: Vietnam’s second-seeded team.

Shi Luo had no one else in his eyes. His heart was full of thoughts of Sacred Sword. No other team was important.

The draw continued.

The second team in Group A: Japan’s second-seeded team.

The official personnel in charge of the draw responsibly displayed all around the team ID and team emblem in his hands. They then repeatedly confirmed the draw. His dawdling made Shi Luo angry. “Can’t they find someone faster to draw? There are more than a dozen teams. Are they going to take half an hour for this drawing?”

“Be patient, be patient...” Chen Huo was feeling impatient himself and he was already standing up, “Hurry the f*ck up!”

The official personnel put down the tag he had already drawn and continued on.

The third team in Group A: Thailand’s first seeded team.

As before it was neither a team from their region nor a strong team. The official staff still displayed the Thai team’s information all around. Shi Luo also gave up worrying and just kept chanting in his heart: Sacred Sword, Sacred Sword, Sacred Sword...

You couldn’t blame Shi Luo for being so hellbent on this team. The sh*t team could be considered as Shi Luo’s lifelong enemy.

It was true that it was that f*cker Ji Yanhan’s doing that caused the old FS team to collapse and fall to pieces and for Yu Sui to go to far off Germany back then. However, what the Sacred Sword Club did, which was to loot a burning house, definitely wasn’t an honest and upright deed either. Not to mention that they sold Puppy first and then sold Chen Huo. Later, they threatened and humiliated the other teams in their local division... Shi Luo was looking forward to the World Championships and he wanted to get good results but more than that he really wanted to match skills against this team in an international competition.

Didn’t they say that there was no way Yu Sui would win the championship again after returning to China? Then, it’s time everyone put that claim to the test.

Sacred Sword was one of the reasons why Shi Luo was able to give it his all during his training this season.

“Sacred Sword...” Shi Luo’s chanting had already turned audible. “Sacred F*cking Sword...Hurry up, why hasn’t Group A finished yet!”

In the live broadcast interface, the official personnel drew the last team for Group A——

The camera did a close up and the last team in Group A was taken out of the lottery pool by official personnel.

The official personnel flattened out the paper and smiling, showed the name while saying, “Free!”

Shi Luo: “...”

Chen Huo: “...”

Old Joe: “...”

Puppy: “...”

Zhou Huo: “!”

Yu Sui was stunned for a few seconds and then he said, expressionless, “Congratulations, everyone. This year, we are guaranteed to make it past the group stage.”

Shi Luo’s mentality completely collapsed.

Shi Luo didn’t even want to watch NSN’s draw: “What is this?! Does this person know how to even draw lots? What about Sacred Sword!!! What about Laozi’s Sacred Sword!!!”

“The chosen son of Heaven! The chosen son of Heaven!...” Zhou Huo burst into tears and choked up. “I am the chosen son of Heaven!!! Vietnam, Japan, Thailand... I have never heard of these teams, I love them !”

Shi Luo’s state of mind exploded and he roared. “I’ve never heard of them either! I don’t want to be grouped with them!”

Zhou Huo yelled back happily: “Do you think those three teams want to be grouped with you?!!!”

Zhou Huo didn’t want to laugh, but couldn’t help it. “Pft! Hahaha...”

Translator’s note: An early Merry Christmas to everyone!!!