Chapter 92
Shi Luo never expected he could sleep the entire way. After the car stopped, he opened his eyes and looked dazedly out the window. After a few seconds, he muttered, “When I woke up, I saw that I was in the car and for a minute there, I thought we had a match today. That gave me a scare...”
The driver smiled. “This is also the first time I’m driving to the stadium when it’s not our match. We’re here early. Why don’t you wait here for a while? Right now, the spectators are all queuing through the security check. You don’t even have a mask on. If you get off the car now, you’ll be surrounded by fans. Or, you could wait for a bit in the car and I’ll go look for a staff member to ask for a permit so we can drive the car in and you can take the staff passage?”
“No need to bother anyone.” Shi Luo frowned and shook his head. “They’re all busy. We’ll wait in the car for a while and wait to enter the stadium last.”
The driver nodded, “That’s okay too. Then I’ll get out of the car and have a smoke.”
Shi Luo had just woken up and his eyes were still feeling heavy. He also took a cigarette and wanted to get out of the car. Yu Sui was leaning back and playing on his mobile phone. Without even raising his head, he said, “If you want to smoke, just smoke in the car. The fans outside have definitely noticed our team’s car already. Would you believe it if I told you you’d be photographed the second you got off the car?”
Most of the people who would be waiting outside the stadium were die-hard fans of the teams playing that day, waiting to for the players to drive by to shout their cheers. Naturally, they would also be able to recognize Shi Luo.
“Then let them take my picture. They know I smoke anyway. Let anyone who wants to take a picture, take a picture.” The space in the car was too small. Shi Luo didn’t want to subject Yu Sui to second-hand smoke. He opened the door and got out of the car, “I’ll get back in after I’ve had my smoke.”
Yu Sui’s guess was spot on. After Shi Luo got down, not far from where they were, there were screams from the fans. They hadn’t announced in advance their intention to watch today’s match. The fans probably never expected to see Free Club’s car here. They expected even less to be able to bump into Shi Luo.
Yu Sui stayed in the car, playing with his mobile phone. He took a look at the pre-match data predictions for Saint and NSN and looked through several e-sports self-media accounts that he followed. As expected, the latest e-sports gossip post was a picture of Shi Luo standing next to their a nanny car, smoking a cigarette with his back facing the camera.
Yu Sui smiled. He told him not to get out of the car
However, this e-sports gossip account was probably Shi Luo’s or Free’s fan. It didn’t try to create any issue and its tone was exceptionally mild. It only said that he accidentally ran into Evil outside the stadium and then praised everything about Shi Luo, from his clothes to his appearance and short silver hair. He then made a joke saying that Shi Luo probably thought that the finals was already in the bag and secretly came to watch the match between Saint and NSN to spy out military secrets.
Yu Sui opened the comments and read them. The comments were quite harmonious. The members of Team Free rarely went out except for matches. Very few of Shi Luo’s fans have seen Shi Luo wearing casual clothes. They are all @-ing each other to come look at the photos. They all banded together to urge this blogger to go over and ask for a group photo and to take more pictures.
The blogger who posted the photo replied very quickly: [No, no, he’s not here to play a match today and he might not necessarily want to take a group photo. I already risked my life to take this photo. I only dared to take it when I saw everyone else was also taking pictures. So, forget it! It must be so freaking early for Shi Zai. He looked so sleepy and impatient. I’m shivering. I’m too scared to approach. 】
The blogger said again: [The Free male model group are so tall. I usually don’t realize it but seeing Evil by himself, he really is super tall and roguishly handsome to boot. 】
Yu Sui took a closer look at the photo taken by the blogger. It was indeed a good shot. The slightly lower shooting angle and the careful lighting showed Shi Luo’s 1.8-meter good figure to the fullest.
Yu Sui saved the picture and looked at the comments again. His brows furrowed slightly when he saw the dozen of new comments.
[Why did Shi Shen suddenly want to watch the match? Hasn’t he recently been dead tired from training? Every day when I camp out in Puppy’s live broadcasts, I feel like Shi Shen’s training just never stops.]
[And it’s strange that no one else in the team came. Shi Zai came by himself. Alright, fine. Technically, the driver also counts as one. ]
[Others still haven’t woken up at this hour. Free’s base is so far away from the stadium. Who knows what time he had to get up to get to the venue at this time. Free’s a bunch of night owls. Who would be willing to get up this early? ]
[Couldn’t they just watch a live broadcasts at the base? There must be a special reason for him to come watch it live. ]
[Suddenly realized a problem. Shi Shen couldn’t be here to cheer Wawa on, right? ]
[It is very likely... the two have such a good relationship. ]
[Probably +1. Shi Shen has always been so good to Wawa. Adorable, simply adorable. ]
[I have to come clean. I’ve always been a Ruffian Shi and Baby Wa cross-team CP fan. These two are really sweet when they team up for matches. Today, I finally been granted some actual material! I am so moved. ]
Yu Sui sighed softly as he watched comments going increasingly off the mark.
They were hopeless; completely hopeless.
How many double rows, how many live broadcasts, and how many hints do his and Shi Luo’s CP fans need in order to be able to feel proud and elated and to go out into the sunlight with their heads held high?
More and more fans were finding out about Shi Luo coming to the venue. Comments came one after the other. The commonly accepted theory was that Shi Luo came for Wawa.
Yu Sui thought the small theater they came out with was quite touching.
At this moment, the completely oblivious Shi Luo noticed that there were people looking at him and taking his picture from a distance. With an indifferent ‘who cares’ look on his face, he leaned against the car and lighting a second cigarette.
Last night, he had teamed up with Puppy for two hours and then teamed up with Chen Huo for more than four hours, until three in the morning.
The players were originally allowed to pair up with anyone they wanted for the last few hours of training. If he teamed up with Yu Sui, it was considered rest. If he teamed up with Chen Huo, it was weight-bearing practice not far from the intensity of their usual practice matches. Tired from ten hours or intense training, he usually fell asleep as soon as he hit the bed. Today, he woke up early to watch the game, Shi Luo’s head was dizzy and he was just wanted to refresh himself.
But before he could take a puff from his second cigarette, he heard the fans give a muffled exclaim from a distance and then the cigarette in Shi Luo’s hand was taken away by Yu Sui, who had gotten out of the car.
“That’s enough. Are you chain smoking?”
Yu Sui snuffed out the cigarette in his hand and threw it into the trash can. He also dragged Shi Luo back into the car.
When he returned to the car, Shi Luo sat blankly in a daze. When he saw Yu Sui playing on his mobile phone and ignoring him, he thought Yu Sui was really upset with him about his smoking. He didn’t want Yu Sui to worry. Shi Luo hit Yu Sui with his knee and took the initiative to say. “Next time, I won’t smoke in succession anymore. The most I’ll smoke in a day is five, no, three cigarettes.”
Yu Sui didn’t say anything and after a moment he handed the phone to Shi Luo, “Look.”
Shi Luo first read the comments that Yu Sui had read before, frowning, “What kind of rhythm is this? What possibly could there be between me and Wawa?”
Yu Sui pointed out. “Look at the latest one.”
Shi Luo quit and refreshed–
[The case has been solved, Whisper is also here. I take back what I said just now. Shi Luo didn’t come alone but followed his captain. 】
[Just a little comment but Shi Zai has a really good temper when faced with Yu Shen. Just now when he got out of the car to smoke, he was cool as f*ck. But he quickly turned obedient when Yu Shen got out of the car. He was super obedient even when his cigarette was taken away. If you tell me not to smoke, I won’t smoke. If you tell me to get in the car, I’ll get in the car. 】
As soon as Yu Sui showed up, the comments had already exploded. At the moment, all the people were stanning Yu Sui and Shi Luo.
Shi Luo instantly forgot about Wawa, delightedly reading the comments.
“All of them are trying to guess why only the two of us went out...” Shi Luo read rapidly and automatically screened out those he didn’t care about, only reading the ones that were related to him and Yu Sui. “They said that we have the best relationship in the team. Since we reconciled, we’re even closer than two years ago, and...”
Yu Sui watched Shi Luo without saying a word. He leaned against Shi Luo, put his arm around Shi Luo’s shoulders and looked at the phone screen, “What else?”
[Shi Shen before Whisper gets out of the car, overbearing like the owns the stadium. Shi Shen after Whisper gets out of the car, carefully explaining that he’s only on his second cigarette.]
[Tsk, it only takes one Whisper to change Shi Shen into Shi Zai. ]
[The only person who would dare take away Shi Zai’s cigarette is Yu Shen, right? By the way, I really am curious about what exactly these two people have experienced. Being able to get back to being in one team and there’s absolutely no bad blood between them. They have an even more intimate relationship that before. Its an unsolved mystery in the e-sports circle. ]
[I don’t know what they’ve experienced but setting aside how Evil was acting, that look in Yu Shen’s eyes just now wasn’t quite right, right? Aside from when looking at his computer screen, has Slag Man Yu ever used that kind of look to look at anyone? Don’t you all think that intensity in his eyes was just over the limit? ]
[I’ve suddenly had a very bold idea...]
[Aren’t these two really together? ]
[It’s hard to say whether they’re not together. This aura is definitely not brotherhood...it’s hard to pass it off by just saying that the relationship of the first generation medic twin stars is different from other people.]
[So many shitty things have happened before. If these two people could still be together after that... damn. ]
Shi Luo looked at it very seriously. When someone said that they were a match made in heaven, he couldn’t help the corners of his lips from ticking up. He said to himself, “Of course, we’re the best match...”
Shi Luo wasn’t the least bit sleepy anymore. His eyes shone as he looked at the comments. The more he saw, the more satisfied he felt. It wasn’t until the security check was almost closing up that he reluctantly returned the phone to Yu Sui. He still wanted to continue. “Remember these IDs. Let’s take a look before going to bed tonight.”
The two went through the security check and waiting up the last minute to enter the audience seats. As expected, they hadn’t even sat down yet when the cameras zoomed in on them. The fans never expected that even players from Team Free would be coming over and one after the other, they all began to make noise. Shi Luo felt a little uncomfortable. He turned his face to block the camera. Yu Sui greeted the camera and gestured towards the stage to signal the director to stop paying attention to them and to focus instead on the players who were about to play.
The director deliberately gave Shi Luo two more close-ups before cutting the scene to the MC for the event. The host also teased Yu Sui and Shi Luo a couple of times and said hello from afar. Then he began to discuss the true protagonists of today’s match — Saint and NSN.
Saint’s and NSN’s players got on stage in succession. Yu Sui whispered to Shi Luo, “Guess who’ll win?”
Shi Luo looked at the two teams on the stage and said quietly for a moment, “Saint.”
Yu Sui didn’t reply.
Saint has exposed too many tactics before and they also have Amaze, who no one knows if he really has a hand injury and will need to retire; i.e. Old A, who they discussed before. There were too many uncertain factors and Yu Sui didn’t think that Saint had a better chance of winning than NSN.
“Objectively speaking, Saint has a lot of problems.” Shi Luo looked at Angel Sword on the stage from a distance and whispered, “But if I were Angel Sword and Old A who’d accompanied me for so many years was going to retire... I would fight with my life and I would f*cking carry Old A to the World Championships if I have to.”
Yu Sui’s eyes moved slightly and he smiled.
Shi Luo was startled and a little embarrassed, “Wha-what? What are you laughing at me for?”
“I’m not laughing at you.” Yu Sui looked at the stage and slowly said, “I think you’re amazing... No matter how difficult a game, as long as you persist, I will always believe that there’s a way, that we can somehow move forward and fight with our all.”
Two years ago, Shi Luo had been killed thirty-four times and he climbed back up thirty-four times, completely waking Yu Sui from his muddleheaded-ness, making him feel that he wasn’t going to rot in a foreign land; that he could still endure.
Yu Sui looked at Team Saint’s four players on the stage and whispered softly, “Now, let’s see if Angel Sword and Old A can endure.”