Chapter 3: I’m Back
Returning to Weibo, the comments section had indeed already exploded.
[Dead player chasing clout? Chasing your mom’s clout?]
[Just retired from HG and immediately throwing winks at KW? Can you have a bottom line as a human being?]
[Played like sh*t in the match, yet still wants to hug Moon Godâs thigh? Seriously disgusting.]
He frantically deleted the Weibo post, but the insults didn’t stop there. After deleting this one, the fans moved to another post to continue flaming him.
Being scolded by people was something Shen Yanjin had long become accustomed to; he didn’t care.
But this time was different. This time, it involved Red Moon.
HG and KW had always been on bad terms, and the fans of both sides hated each other. Shen Yanjin only learned this after joining HG. So, although he was a fan of KW and a fanboy of Red Moon, he had never shown a single trace of it.
At the same time, Shen Yanjin wore a disguise on his alt account. On Weibo, he followed, retweeted, and joined fan groups. Sneakily wearing the mask of a “fangirl,” he had cursed himself countless times against his conscience in Red Moon’s fan group, and had even hustled his way into becoming a minor moderator.
For five years, his body was in the Cao camp but his heart was with the Han; he had never made a mistake.
Except for this time.
Why did it have to be this time!
Now he was shouldering a bad reputation, retiring in disgrace, changing from HG-Sliver to just Sliver, with nowhere to go. Inexplicably retweeting this rival support post made it hard for people not to overthink it.
What made Shen Yanjin feel even worse was that what these people were cursing him for were factsâthey were his hidden, secret thoughts. He did want to go to KW; he did want to hug the Moon God’s thigh.
However, he hadn’t wanted to go to KW because he had nowhere else to go or for profit. Rather, he had started his professional career because he wanted to go to KW. The cause and effect were reversed.
Being misunderstood by others was one thing, but if Duan Mingyue misunderstood and thought he did this intentionally for profit, he might as well go bang his head against a wall and die.
Now, Shen Yanjin could only pray that this brain-dead operation by a “deceased” retired player wouldn’t stir up any waves and would just sink into silence.
After calming down for a while, he unlocked his screen and switched accounts.
[@MoonGodsSweetSupport: Welcome home Moon God~~ // @Red Moon Fan Club: Returning to the country. [Image]]
At the airport, countless camera flashes went off chaotically. The five members of the KW team returned in glory, honor adorning them.
Stepping onto the red carpet that had been laid out, looking at the sea of reporters and lenses around them, Duan Mingyue raised his hand and pressed his baseball cap down further. “Why is there such a huge fanfare?”
Team Manager Mi Yonghui wiped the sweat from his forehead while handling the mountain of messages on his phone, hurrying to keep pace beside him. “World Championsâhow did you expect to keep a low profile?”
Duan Mingyue said, “The flashing hurts my eyes.”
“Bear with it a little longer, the car will be here any second.” Having taken an extra half-month vacation abroad, a pile of work documents flooded in the moment they returned to the country. Mi Yonghui wished he could split himself into four people right now, yet he still had to spare time to coax this ancestor. “I know you don’t like taking photos, but we just won the championship. Think of your wife-fans and girlfriend-fans. Suffer a little, just for a moment!”
“…Fine.”
After dodging the umpteenth microphone shoved in his face, just as Duan Mingyue was about to reach his limit, the team car finally arrived.
A brand new black G-Wagon, the protective film on the body not even fully peeled off yet.
They got in and closed the door. Finally rid of the relentless cameras and questions, everyone on the team let out a sigh of relief.
Mid laner Kai giggled as he tore open a snack bag. “As expected of Moon God. This popularity is unmatched.”
Duan Mingyue lazily lifted his eyes. “If you want to thank me for drawing the reporters’ fire for you, just say thank you directly. Don’t be sarcastic.”
Kai stuffed his mouth full, making his round faceâwhich already resembled a large flatbreadâeven rounder. He mumbled indistinctly, “Thank you, Moon God.”
Top laner Song Yuan leaned forward, grabbed a handful from the snack bag, and also said, “Thank you, Moon God, for drawing the fire. I was ignored in the back, walking like an orphan.”
“It’s fine. Top laners are orphans anyway; it suits you.”
“? Do you believe Iâll represent all Top lane players and sanction you?”
“Come at me, come at me~”
Kai shook his head and swayed smugly, his fat jiggling. It wasn’t surprising he was so confident; although Song Yuan’s ID was Circle, he was so skinny he was practically skin and bones. Standing together, the two weren’t even in the same weight class for a fight.
They were wrestling in the back. Duan Mingyue didn’t want to engage. He took off his hat and covered his face, intending to sleep, when someone sat down on the seat next to him.
“I also thank Moon God for taking the heat for me.”
Hearing the voice, Duan Mingyue lifted the hat and raised an eyebrow. “What are you joining in for?”
The person speaking was none other than KW Team’s robust Support, Lucida, Lu Yuan. She was a rare female player in the WL professional league, and more importantly, she was beautiful.
A tall, beautiful female player with decent skills. Since her and Duan Mingyue’s IDs were Moon and Star (Lucida), many people privately felt they were already a couple, just not public yet.
Hearing it so often, even Lu Yuan herself believed it.
Looking at the handsome face of the man in front of her and the muscle lines vaguely visible inside his unzipped jacket, her face flushed unnaturally. Seemingly inadvertently, she brushed the hair on her shoulder, leaning closer to Duan Mingyue.
Outsiders might not know, but everyone in Team KW was clear that Duan Mingyue wasn’t just good at the game and good-looking; his family background was top-tier wealthy. The KW Club alone had absorbed hundreds of millions in investment from the Duan family. Rumors inside the team said that once Moon God retired, he would immediately take over the billion-dollar family fortune and become everyone’s big boss.
With such a golden bachelor right within reach, and with time, place, and people all in favor, how could Lu Yuan let this go?
Sensing the woman’s approach beside him, Duan Mingyue frowned slightly. He shifted his body backward imperceptibly, widening the distance again. “Where’s your ADC?”
Lu Yuan smiled and said, “What do you mean ‘my ADC’? Just say Tans, isn’t that easier? Look, he’s catching up on sleep in the back. I didn’t want to disturb him.”
Duan Mingyue didn’t look. He gave an “Oh” and said, “I’m going to sleep now too. Don’t disturb me either.”
Lu Yuan froze. “I…”
“Holy! Sh*t!!!”
A heart-rending roar erupted from the front passenger seat, startling everyone in the car, including the driver.
Tans woke with a start, looking around groggily. “What? What? What happened?”
Kai stuffed a handful of snacks into his mouth to calm his nerves. “Probably driven crazy by the sponsors again. Get used to it.”
“Moon God,” Manager Mi Yonghui struggled to turn half his body around within the confines of his seatbelt from the front seat. “Are you close with Sliver?”
Sliver?
Hearing this ID out of the blue, Duan Mingyue didn’t react immediately. Then he recalled a reticent figure. “HG’s Support? Not really. We haven’t even added each other on WeChat.”
“So you’re not familiar. Damn it, this guy is unbelievable.” Mi Yonghui cursed, his two thumbs typing furiously on his phone screen.
Duan Mingyue glanced at him. “What did he do?”
“He retweeted your fan club’s photo and added the caption ‘Welcome home Moon God,’ plus two tildes.”
Hearing this, a trace of surprise flashed through Duan Mingyue’s eyes. HG and their team had always been on bad terms. Why…?
Thinking this, his face remained impassive. “So he retweeted a post. What did that do to you?”
“Him retweeting isn’t what did anything to me. The problem is the timing! Do you understand? The timing!” Mi Yonghui rolled his eyes so hard they almost looked at the sky. “A pro player, just announced retirement, turns around and retweets a rival’s post welcoming him home. How do you think that looks? Look! Look! It’s already trending! ‘Sliver welcomes Red Moon home.’ The most ridiculous part is, people are spreading rumors that Sliver is suspected to be transferring to KW? Fck, that’s total bullsht!”
After cursing a long string, Mi Yonghui stopped to catch his breath, then continued, “With that Support gameplay of his, transferring to KW? Dreaming! Do you know what his score was in the match today?”
Duan Mingyue was logging into Weibo and casually asked, “What score?”
“0/14/7!!!” Mi Yonghui said with heartache. “Tell me, what pro player gets a score like that… Look, look, people are already commenting under the official account: ‘Can you please not recruit Sliver into the team?’ I’m seriously!! That’s why I said this guy is unbelievable. Even on his way out, he has to leech some heat for himself. Impressive!”
Beside him, Lu Yuan curled her lip in disdain. “It’s bad enough that he plays terribly, but why does he play so dirty too?”
“Right!” Seeing he had a supporter, Mi Yonghui jumped up in indignation again. “Now great, just as he wished, our official Weibo is flooded with curses.”
“Brother Mi, don’t be angry,” Lu Yuan said. “I saw long ago that his mind wasn’t in the right place. His mechanics aren’t great, and he’s super gloomy. Did you see his face? He looks like a thieâ”
“Stop.”
Duan Mingyue raised a hand, cutting off Lu Yuan’s words. “Manager Mi, have you finished all your work?”
Mi Yonghui trembled under his gaze. Duan Mingyue was usually all smiles and approachable, so much so that Mi Yonghui almost forgot the person in front of him was essentially a tiger. “No… no.”
“Then go do it. Don’t worry about this matter.”
“Alright.” Mi Yonghui completely powered down, silently sitting up straight to deal with the remaining files.
Lu Yuan looked at him timidly. “Brother Moon, don’t be angry…”
“I’m not angry.” Duan Mingyue’s mouth pulled into a smile, but he didn’t look at her. “Go back to your own seat.”
“…Brother Moon.”
Lu Yuan wanted to fight for it. She felt she was special. Matches, trainingâit was a monk’s life. She was the only woman. How could Duan Mingyue not be moved by her?
Duan Mingyue glanced at her, his smile suddenly deepening. Lu Yuan thought he had calmed down and softened. Just as she started to smile back, Duan Mingyue took advantage of a red light stop to stand up and walk straight to the back to sit.
Lu Yuan was dumbfounded.
Tans had covered himself with a jacket and was sleeping in oblivion. The awake Kai and Song Yuan hurriedly lowered their heads, pretending not to see this scene, concentrating on chewing the snacks in the bag.
Duan Mingyue sat down, looking at the screenshot on his phone screen, the corner of his mouth hooking up almost imperceptibly.
Then, his fingers tapped a few times, posting a Weibo status.
Shen Yanjin carried his bag out of the airport, his head dizzy and swollen.
The flight was less than an hour, but because of the small interlude before boarding, it felt long and incredibly tormenting.
He took out his phone and turned off airplane mode. His finger habitually tapped on Weibo, but realizing what he was doing, he quickly tapped exit.
Shen Yanjin was truly cowardly.
When he announced his retirement amidst the audience’s abuse, he thought he had already hit rock bottom and nothing could make it worse. Who knew there was no ‘worst’, only ‘worse’? Losing face in front of the person he liked and being misunderstood by the person he likedâthat blow was no small matter.
It was so bad that now he didn’t even have the courage to open Weibo. He might as well chant Amitabha, ignore worldly affairs, and escape.
His childhood friend Lu Hui called at this moment. Shen Yanjin answered, “Hello?”
Just as he spoke, his shoulder was held from behind and patted twice.
Holding the phone, he turned his head in confusion, only to see Lu Hui smiling, standing right behind him.
“Little Gold,” Lu Hui looked down, “You didn’t bring any luggage back?”
This familiar nickname instantly broke the barrier of five years, pulling Shen Yanjin straight back to the past. He spread his arms, hugged Lu Hui, and said with a muffled voice, “I’m back.”
Lu Hui patted his back. “Welcome back.”
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