Chapter 22: Co-conspirators. The Corners of the Mouth Must Not Curl Up
[ZAP Coach: Sorry, Coach Zuo. Because Every suddenly feels unwell and needs to go to the hospital, we probably can’t continue today’s scrim.]
[ZAP Coach: Let’s schedule another one when there’s a chance. Handshake.jpg]
The dragon had just refreshed when the ZAP side suddenly requested a pause. Following that, the ZAP players exited the match room one by one.
While the few cubs were wearing bewildered expressions, Zuo Chi picked up his phone and saw the message from the opposing coach.
“One of their players feels unwell and went to the hospital. Today’s scrim ends here.”
After explaining to the cubs, he replied on WeChat.
[Zuo Chi: Okay. Every’s condition isn’t serious, right?]
[ZAP Coach: He said his stomach hurts, might have eaten something bad. Shouldn’t be a big problem.]
After replying, Zuo Chi looked up and watched as the five players took off their headsets: “Although we couldn’t finish today’s scrim, the problems revealed in these twenty-odd minutes of play… I shouldn’t need to say more, right?”
His voice and tone were no different from usual—warm and steady—but Fugui and Beyond dodged his gaze, not daring to look at him.
“At the start, Fugui, you saw the enemy mid-laner wasn’t showing in mid. They could have been crouching in the brush to gank, so why did you still go over to contest the wave?”
“Beyond, you knew four of them were coming to dive you, yet you stayed for those few minions instead of retreating to the second tower. Give me a reason?”
“And Wall, Beyond obviously couldn’t survive that wave. Instead of staying to die with him, you would have been better off just using your displacement to leave.”
“Wu Yang, as soon as the situation turned bad, you forgot everything we practiced. You’re playing it like a Solo Queue boosting job? You think you can save the world playing alone?”
Every sentence he spoke made the atmosphere in the training room a bit heavier. Fugui kept picking at his hands, Beyond’s eyes were a bit red, Wall was whispering some comfort, and Wu Yang silently lowered his head.
“And Land. In that wave where Beyond was dived by four people, you chose to call Wu Yang to counter-jungle with you. Why didn’t you think about rushing over to counter-engage? Because it was too late? Beyond could see the enemy’s movement; as the primary shot-caller for the early game, you didn’t see that the enemy wanted to dive the marksman? You didn’t head over in advance? Wu Yang yielded gold to you, the side-lane wave was also shared with you, you took the highest gold on the team. What was the result?”
Ning Luzhao’s eyes flickered with a trace of emotion, and he said in a low voice, “My bad. These past two days… I’ve been a bit slack in training.”
“Actually, I’m quite disappointed the opposing player felt unwell and we couldn’t finish this scrim.” Zuo Chi pointed at the post-match summary interface, where the 1:4 kill stat was extremely eye-catching. “If we had finished, I don’t know how ugly that kill ratio would have been.”
He paused: “It’s not early today. We’ll do the specific review tomorrow morning—now, whoever wants to rest can go back to the dorm. Whoever wants to play ranked can stay.”
After Zuo Chi finished speaking, for nearly half a minute, the five players sat in their chairs without moving.
He increased the firepower, his tongue laced with venom: “During training today, wasn’t someone talking about eating BBQ, and someone else wanting the roller coaster, all giggling and laughing? Why aren’t you giggling now?”
“You like going out to play? That’s fine. VEX’s previous starters are still on vacation in Bin Province. How about I contact them and you guys take a flight to Bin Province tomorrow morning to join them?”
“Who was it that wanted BBQ? I’ll order delivery for him. Roller coasters can be booked on the phone very quickly. For the one who wanted to camp, there are tents in the base warehouse. They can be used as soon as they’re washed. I can even help you find a guide to see which camping spot near Nan City is the most fun.”
Beyond couldn’t help it; he raised his hand to start wiping away tears: “Sorry… Coach Zuo, in today’s scrim, the places I, I didn’t do well, they were, they were all things you’ve told me before…”
“Beyond, don’t cry! It’s my fault. If I hadn’t kept talking to you guys about going out to play, our state in today’s scrim wouldn’t have been so bad, getting crushed by the other side…” Fugui hung his head low. “Coach Zuo, before the game started, you used to remind me that the enemy lineup might gank my lane. Today I was too reckless—it’ll never happen again.”
Zuo Chi felt it was about enough. If he continued with the sarcasm, the players would probably need several days to recover.
Being able to use this scrim to make the cubs realize they were still far from strong teams and wouldn’t get cocky just because they won a few scrims was enough.
He softened his tone: “What’s the first rule of our team?”
Ning Luzhao: “Don’t shift blame after losing. Don’t criticize teammates. Losing is a problem for the entire team.”
“Then don’t take all the blame on yourselves now. Beyond, go wash your face. I don’t want to see a bunny with swollen eyes coming to the computer to train tomorrow morning.”
Beyond laughed through his tears, and by accident, a snot bubble popped out.
Fugui really wanted to laugh, but as soon as he saw Coach Zuo, he immediately remembered his terrible performance in the scrim, and the smile was instantly retracted.
“Alright, don’t just stand there—do what you need to do. Sitting here is a waste of time. Land, come out with me for a moment.”
The few cubs all peeked at Ning Luzhao, their gazes carrying a bit of sympathy: If the few of them sitting here listening to Coach Zuo’s lecture already felt like their “defense was broken,” how would Land be lectured after being singled out?
Zuo Chi led Ning Luzhao out of the training room. The other players had each returned to their computers and started ranked matches.
In front of Ning Luzhao, this “insider,” he relaxed his tense expression and asked in a low voice, “Was I a bit too harsh with my words today?”
Beyond was practicing heroes while sobbing; he really looked quite pitiful.
“No, the problems the coach pointed out were very pertinent. Our team has many rookies; Coach can… be a bit more strict in the future.”
A player asking a coach to be more strict was quite a fresh occurrence in the esports circle.
Zuo Chi couldn’t help but be amused: “If I were any more strict, I expect the sound of crying in the training room would reach the heavens—calling you out was mainly to tell you that actually, your decision to counter-jungle the enemy’s blue side in the scrim just now wasn’t a big problem. It’s just that there could have been a better solution with team coordination…”
“I understand. I’ll watch the recording of the scrim several more times with everyone in a bit—Coach should go rest first.”
Zuo Chi blinked his tired eyes, his gaze glancing at the water dispenser and tea tin nearby, speaking with deep meaning: “This shows you’re still too young.”
Ning Luzhao gave him a questioning look and walked over to pour a cup of hot water: “Drinking tea at night can easily cause insomnia.”
“It’s fine. Today I happen to need to pull an all-nighter with you guys. If I don’t drink tea, these old bones of mine might not hold up.” Zuo Chi drank two sips of hot water and explained in a low voice, “Look, right now, Fugui and the others are feeling bad and guilty because they didn’t play well in the scrim, and they have that ‘grinding hard’ look, don’t they?”
“Mm.”
Right now, the backs of the cubs in the training room playing ranked matches all gave off an aura of striving hard.
The looseness of the daytime was completely gone.
“At this time, if they find that the coach, who usually returns to the dorm to rest at this hour, has been in the training room pulling an all-nighter with them until the early hours, what do you think they’ll think?”
Ning Luzhao curled his lips: “Coach is even telling me this trick?”
“After all, you’re my ‘co-conspirator.’ It’s too late to try and wash your hands of it now.” Zuo Chi craftily curved his almond eyes, his vivid features coming alive. “When you go back in a bit, remember to have a heavy expression. Pretend you were scolded by me when I called you out alone.”
Ning Luzhao raised his hand to rub his own face, his tone serious: “What counts as heavy?”
“Hmm… first, the corners of your mouth can’t curl up. Don’t laugh.” Zuo Chi scrutinized Ning Luzhao’s expression and guided him, “Then, lower the corners of your eyes a bit, be colder. Yes, just like that.”
He reached out and tugged Ning Luzhao’s neat jacket collar crooked, then tilted his chin up: “Go back!”
Translator’s Note:
- Macro Operations (運營): In professional MOBA games like LoL or Honor of Kings, this refers to the strategic map movements, objective control, and gold efficiency that teams use to win outside of just raw fighting.
- Red Flower Oil (紅花油): A very famous traditional Chinese medicated oil used for muscle aches and bruises. It has a very distinct, strong medicinal smell.
- Economic Distribution: This is Zuo Chi’s specialty. He’s teaching them “Funneling” strategies—how to maximize gold on the carry players to reach their power spikes faster.
- “Not Giggling Anymore” (不嘻嘻): A popular Chinese internet slang. Usually, it’s used in a “smiling/not smiling” (嘻嘻/不嘻嘻) meme format to show a sudden change in mood from happy to serious/sad.
- “Defense Broken” (破防): Another internet slang. It means someone’s emotional defenses have been breached, usually by a harsh truth or a sad event.
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