AWM Chapter 25

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Chapter 25

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Edited by Tin

 

With the Asian Invitational Cup coming up, all the eSports teams were enthusiastically preparing for war, their practice matches increasing from four hours to six hours a day, then changing to eight hours.

 

Qi Zui’s maximum training time was four hours, and to prevent other teams from getting suspicious, for the remaining four hours of training competitions, Yu Yang would use Qi Zui’s account to play, and Team Two Xin Ba would take Qi Zui’s¹ place.

 

That was why the other teams that they often played with during training competitions were all very curious. Why did HOG’s Youth only appear from time to time, why was he so mysterious? Where exactly did he go?

 

One of the teams had been careless and had switched on their livestream while the training competition was on, and even happened to say those words. Instantly, all the fans knew about it and were guessing. Where did Youth go?

 

Some people guessed that Yu Yang was young and needed to catch up on sleep at night. Some people guessed that Yu Yang’s temper was bad and he did not get along with the team. Some people guessed that HOG did not think of Yu Yang as an important player and wanted to use Xin Ba to replace him. The most absurd one came from those that guessed that Yu Yang was the son of the boss of the HOG eSports club, a gold and diamond encrusted² rich second-generation³ young master, and he came to play in eSports competitions just for fun.

 

In the spur of the moment, Qi Zui started a livestream at night. Looking at the various godly inferences on the forum, even he was about to believe them.

 

[God-Qi! Where is our God-Yang? I saw that there were people in the forum saying that he was just playing around and won’t play properly, is that true?]

 

[Begging Youth to livestream, am terribly frightened after looking at the forum.]

 

[Youth won’t have jumped ship to another eSports team right? There were even people who said that Youth was going to join the Knights, is that true?]

 

[It’s possible, right? After all, God-Hua likes God-Yang, God-Yang also seems to respect God-Yang a lot, didn’t he say in the past that he was excited to meet God-Hua again or something?]

 

[Ah! Cute, cute.]

 

Qi Zui sneered, “Who told you guys that he liked Hua Luo?”

 

Qi Zui rarely talked to the comments in the barrage and the fans were instantly excited about hearing his words and instantly, the barrage started getting spammed even more.

 

[Does he not like Hua Luo? It doesn’t seem so, Youth admitted it himself that God-Hua is very strong.]

 

[Why does it fucking seem like I’m smelling the familiar scent of jealousy⁴.]

 

[Don’t choose to be unconvinced okay? There’s a screen recording of God-Yang praising our Captain Hua for being very strong, is it hard to admit that?]

 

[I admire you guys, can Hua Luo’s Mary Sue⁵ fans leave already? Why are you guys everywhere?]

 

[If he’s not going to jump ship to another team, then why isn’t Youth present for the training competitions? Can you give us a reason?]

 

[Why does he need to give you guys a reason? Why are there always fans from other teams that are making remarks about the internal matters of our HOG?]

 

As Qi Zui looked at the barrage, he could not hold back his laughter. This was one bad thing about having too many fans, as long as there was a disagreement about something, there would be people scolding them.

 

Qi Zui was the least scared of that sort of thing, but it was one thing for him to be scolded, and another thing entirely for Yu Yang to be associated with other wild men⁶.

 

Recently, Qi Zui played in very few training competitions, and did not go to mess around in Yu Yang’s livestream room. The official CP was not very stable and hence, the evil cults⁷ were appearing again.

 

Qi Zui could even tolerate people YY-ing⁸ him and Bu Nana, but he could not tolerate them YY-ing Yu Yang and other people.

 

Qi Zui lightly flicked on his mic, there was a buzz in the livestream room, and instantly, the barrage was a lot quieter.

 

“Where did Youth disappear to, where did he go to… Let me tell you guys.” Qi Zui turned his body to look at Yu Yang. Yu Yang was wearing his headphones and was very concentrated on his solo match, Qi Zui felt that Yu Yang probably could not hear, so he turned his body back to face the front, the corners of his lips slightly curving upwards, “He was under my table for those four hours, what’s the matter?”

 

After the barrage hung for a few seconds, it exploded like everyone had gone crazy.

 

Qi Zui turned off his livestream barrage assistant, muttering, it felt fucking good to not act like a human.

 

Qi Zui stood up and took a bottle of mineral water, twisting it open and drinking a mouthful.

 

Yu Yang took off his headphones and looked at Qi Zui in confusion, “Captain, what’s going on under your table?”

 

Qi Zui choked.

 

“The comments in the barrage were going by very quickly, and they’re asking me to see what’s going on under your table,” Yu Yang really stood up and walked over. “What broke? How about I change seats with you? I’ll use the broken one…”

 

“No no no…”

 

He did not know if it was because he choked, but in a very rare occurrence that would only happen once in a million years, the old hooligan Qi Zui’s ears turned red.

 

“Why do you…” Qi Zui gritted his teeth, “Believe everything…”

 

Yu Yang was in a daze.

 

Qi Zui held himself back as he took a deep breath, “Stay far away from my table, don’t let me overthink things…”

 

Yu Yang was stunned. Suddenly, he remembered that He Xiaoxu had once said that no one could touch Qi Zui’s keyboard and he hurriedly and conscientiously moved away.

 

“It’s not that, you can touch those if you want to…” Qi Zui did not know whether he should laugh or cry. He pinched at the area between his brows and said in a low voice, “It’s fine, go and play your game, don’t keep looking at the barrage, it’ll affect your playing skills…”

 

Yu Yang did not understand what was going on, but he had to listen to Qi Zui’s words, so he nodded and returned to his seat to continue to play his game.

 

Qi Zui opened his livestream assistant and looked at the barrage comments that were laughing crazily, cursed in a low voice, and closed his livestream.

 

Qi Zui recited a few heart-cleansing mantras, then opened his game client and started to join a solo queue as well.

 

A quarter of an hour later, Yu Yang’s game had finished and he clicked on “ready” again.

 

When he was in the waiting room⁹, waiting for the match to start, Yu Yang opened his barrage and took a look…

 

Yu Yang’s face slowly turned red as well.

 

And compared to Qi Zui, what was worse was that Yu Yang’s camera was switched on…

 

The next day, Yu Yang started to hide from Qi Zui again.

 

Familiar routine, familiar rhythm.

 

Qi Zui was helpless, Yu Yang was good in everything, it was just this part of him that was lacking, he was too easily embarrassed…

 

He was a professional eSports player, if he was so thin-skinned, how could he go on to do great things in the future?

 

The rest of the people in the team heard about the situation that had happened during Qi Zui’s livestream that night, and everyone tried so hard to hold back their laughter that their stomachs ached. They were scared of Yu Yang’s temper and did not dare to tease him directly, but in their hearts, they all laughed like crazy.

 

“Alright, alright.” The next day, it was exactly eleven at night after the training competition was over. It was considered very late as Bu Nana patted the table, “It’s my birthday tomorrow, I’ll treat everyone, let’s go out to have a meal, okay? Let’s not have extra practice today.”

 

Naturally, no one disagreed. Everyone had planned on celebrating Bu Nana’s birthday during the day tomorrow, but time was too valuable during the preparation period. Although squeezing in the celebration during supper time was a little hasty, since it was a special period of time, it was the thought that mattered.

 

Lai Hua patted Bu Nana’s shoulder and called everyone downstairs.

 

Qi Zui was leaning against the door as he tapped Bu Nana’s shoulder, passing him a small box. “This matches your new suit. You can use it at the banquet after the Busan Competition.”

 

Bu Nana opened it and took a look, then wished he could kneel and call Qi Zui his dad. “How did you know that I wanted this for so long? VCA’s cufflinks cost more than forty-thousand RMB! I could not bring myself to buy it all this while… Oh, I know! The reason you went out to Hengshun Plaza that day was to buy something for me?! Wow, Captain, I’ll be completely devoted to you for the rest of my life.”

 

Qi Zui frowned and pushed Bu Nana away, smiling and scolding him, “Brilliant¹⁰.”

 

Bu Nana wished he could kiss Qi Zui ¹¹, and went downstairs happily.

 

Yu Yang wore his jacket and picked up the birthday present he had prepared for Bu Nana, then followed everyone and walked out.

 

Qi Zui saw that Yu Yang was walking over and rested his hand on the door frame.

 

Yu Yang: “…”

 

“What are you doing squeezing here?” Lai Hua frowned. “Are you blocking the way and collecting road toll?”

 

Qi Zui sneered, “Who the fuck is blocking your way?”

 

Qi Zui turned his body sideways a little, Yu Yang wanted to walk outwards, but Qi Zui immediately blocked him again.

 

“Yooooooooo…”

 

Lao Kai whistled and He Xiaoxu smiled, having a tacit understanding of what was going on.

 

Lao Kai started to stir up trouble, “The hell? Captain?”

 

Lao Lai held back his smile and he purposely said in a strict tone, “Can you let us leave first?”

 

Qi Zui shook his head, “I’m scared that someone will take the chance and escape.”

 

Lai Hua, He Xiaoxu, and Lao Kai turned their heads to look at Yu Yang.

 

Yu Yang: “…”

 

Yu Yang’s way was often blocked by people¹² when he went to school and also after he dropped out of school. He had seen all kinds of hooligans and had never been afraid before. When you were outside on your own, if you didn’t want to be bullied, you had to be more ruthless than others. When Yu Yang was blocked by people before, he had never admitted defeat, however, now…

 

Yu Yang’s cheeks turned red and he took a few steps back.

 

Lao Kai, He Xiaoxu laughed and walked away, arms thrown around each others’ shoulders, turning back from time to time, talking in low voices by each other’s ears. They did not know what the two of them were saying, but suddenly, a burst of laughter came from the corridor.

 

Yu Yang’s face turned even redder.

 

“I was in the wrong.”

 

Qi Zui walked two steps forwards, laughing softly, “I’ve become so used to saying dirty things that I didn’t think before I spoke¹³ and offended you…”

 

Yu Yang coughed uneasily, shaking his head, “It’s…It’s fine.”

 

“If it’s fine, then why are you hiding from me?” Qi Zui said in a low voice, “What sort of problem do you have? You hide when you’re angry, you hide when you are embarrassed, how can I tell the difference?”

 

Yu Yang instinctively said, “I’m sorry…”

 

“I’m teasing you. There’s no need to apologize to me,” Qi Zui took out something from his pocket and passed it to Yu Yang. “When I bought those cufflinks for Bu Nana… they gave a watch as a free gift. I felt that it would suit you quite well.”

 

Yu Yang was stunned, “You’re giving this to me?”

 

“Mmhm,” Qi Zui nodded, “Check to see if it fits you.”

 

Yu Yang twisted his hands together, not believing Qi Zui.

 

He carefully took it, then asked again, stammering, “You’re giving this, giving this to me?”

 

Qi Zui held back his laughter, “Mm.”

 

Yu Yang gently rubbed the dial of the watch and looked at the patterns of the sun, moon, and stars in it. His voice had an overjoyed tone that could not really be hidden, “They even gave free gifts?”

 

Sure, it could be reasonable to give free gifts along with cufflinks that cost 40,000 RMB.

 

When Qi Zui looked at Yu Yang, his heart softened.

 

Yu Yang fiddled with it for a while and put it on. He could not help but say in a small voice, “It looks nice….So shiny…”

 

Qi Zui smiled, “I thought that you’d like it.”

 

Yu Yang cherished it a lot as he wore it.

 

While playing¹⁴ the whole night, Yu Yang had carefully hidden the watch in his sleeves the entire time, scared that beer would get on it, scared that he’d dirty it.

 

Although it was just a free gift from buying something else, it was something Qi Zui gave to him.

 

It was even something that he could bring with him everywhere openly.

 

There was nothing much that could be better than this.

 

The cufflinks Qi Zui gave Bu Nana had another layer of meaning to it, everyone understood in their hearts: Qi Zui was hoping that the team would win, hoping that Bu Nana could wear his newly ordered suit and the cufflinks he had longed for, to happily participate in the party after the competition as the champion.

 

Yu Yang had originally wanted to properly keep the watch that was a free gift and take it out to wear during that party.

 

However, Yu Yang had this one problem. Perhaps because he had suffered too much since his youth, he could not hide the things he liked and would keep thinking about them. The next day, Yu Yang felt a little embarrassed as he wore it.

 

During the livestream at night, Yu Yang was in good condition and felt a little hot while he was playing the game. When he rolled up his sleeves, the fans in the livestream room accidentally saw the watch.

 

[Wow!!! Good reviews for the watch! It’s so pretty!!!]

 

[Tears of joy, our Youth has indeed succeeded in life, he’s even able to buy a vca watch.]

 

[Is it newly bought? Look great!]

 

Yu Yang did not expect that his fans’ eyes would be so sharp. He nodded, “Yes, it’s new.”

 

Yu Yang’s bad habit of not being able to hide good things appeared again and he could not help but add a sentence, “Captain…gave this to me.”

 

[Gave this to you? Wow, Captain’s so thoughtful!!!]

 

[I’m not exaggerating, but the atmosphere in the HOG team is the best.]

 

[That’s right, God-Qi really likes Youth.]

 

[Did he specially buy it? Wow, I’m going to explode ah ah ah…]

 

After Yu Yang finished talking, he took a look at the livestream barrage and felt a little embarrassed, feeling a little big-headed and explained in a low voice, “No, it was Bu Nana’s birthday yesterday and Captain bought him a present and there was a watch that was given as a free gift, and Captain just gave it to me.”

 

[Hahahahaha those cufflinks? They’re super pretty! Bu Nana posted on Weibo yesterday to show everyone¹⁵, looks good!]

 

[Both look good both look good!]

 

[Hahahaha I’m laughing to death, Youth, who are you lying to?]

 

[Hahahahahahahaha what a godly free gift hahahahahahahaha…]

 

Yu Yang frowned, “What do you mean by lying? It’s Captain who gave this to me.”

 

[What happened?]

 

[Hahahahahahahaha I’m laughing to death.]

 

[Which VCA branch in Shanghai was it, please tell me the address, I’ll immediately go there.]

 

[Let’s go together, let’s go together, we’re going to get rich, we’re going to get rich.]

 

[I suddenly feel that Bu Nana, that fatty¹⁶ is really too pitiful, he had even crazily posted three Weibo posts praising Captain Qi, I’m laughing so hard.]

 

[Hahahahahaha I was really so moved yesterday, I thought in my heart that as expected, God-Qi favored fatty the most, hahahahaha today…]

 

Yu Yang did not understand anything at all.

 

The good-hearted fans in the barrage that could no longer watch this told him to search on the official webpage of the brand. Yu Yang minimized the game page and opened the search engine to search for the official page for the shop…

 

Yu Yang used the classification of the product types to find the watch on his hand…

 

The livestream room instantly exploded and Yu Yang was in a daze.

 

VCA’s full diamond version of the Sun, Moon, and Stars, official website quotation: 1.475 million RMB.

 

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