Chapter 01: Husband, Say Something!
On a relaxed afternoon at the NAVA Esports Club’s LFK division base in Shanghai, the renowned “aggravating” player Shen Guanchao made his way downstairs. He held a thermos cup in his hand and wore flip-flops on his feet, moving at a leisurely, unhurried pace. As he walked, he leisurely unscrewed the lid of his cup to take a few small sips of his freshly brewed chrysanthemum tea.
Who could have imagined that the world champion, who had been flexing so hard on the international podium just a short while ago, would adopt the lifestyle of a middle-aged retiree in private?
Pushing open the doors to the conference room, he found several familiar high-level executives and three of his amiable champion teammates seated inside. Shen Guanchao looked at them and hesitated before asking, “You guys are… here early?”
“It is quite early. It is currently 4:28 PM Beijing time. You haven’t broken your previous record of sleeping until 8:30 PM yet,” the head coach said indifferently, lighting up his phone screen to check the time.
Shen Guanchao chuckled. “I’ll strive not to disappoint you next time.”
It was common for esports players to have their days and nights reversed. The team’s medic, Zoe, had also just woken up not long ago.
This brother had stayed up all night scrolling through Weibo, fighting three hundred rounds against anti-fans in the comment sections. When he woke up the next day, he was sporting two “battle-hardened” dark circles under his eyes.
Yawning continuously, he leaned back against the conference room sofa. Seeing Shen Guanchao enter, he generously handed him a bag of cream-filled bread he had just swiped from the sub-attacker, Fox.
Once everyone was present, the head coach opened the notebook he never let leave his side. He pulled out a list and passed it around. “This is the recommendation list for NAVA’s next starting sniper. The team has compiled their information and various ratings. Take a look. If you have better candidates, feel free to contact me after the meeting.”
Last week, NAVA’s former starting sniper, Lu, announced his retirement, leaving a vacancy in NAVA’s starting lineup. In the past few days, the club management and coaching staff had preliminarily screened three substitute candidates.
Shen Guanchao’s gaze swept over the list. While listening to the head coach ramble on, he opened his phone to pull up recent match videos of the three candidates.
Analyzing them frame by frame, he found that while these three were indeed stronger than the players in the second team, their overall performance was standard. They had no major flaws, but no highlights either. They didn’t match a powerhouse veteran team like NAVA.
“Players like this, once put on the field…”
NAVA’s head coach must have majored in hypnosis in college. After closing the video, Shen Guanchao listened to his analysis earnestly for over half an hour, his eyelids fighting a losing battle.
By the time the meeting adjourned, he had dozed off without realizing it.
Hearing the sound of the projector shutting down, he slowly opened his eyes, waking from his dream. He sat up, flipped the list over, wrote a string of English ID characters on the blank back page, and handed it to the head coach.
It was his personal recommendation for a sniper—Siren.
Real name: Xie Jingchu. A game streamer who had exploded in popularity over the last two years. His individual skill was outstanding, and his reaction time was fast—a significant cut above the youth trainees NAVA had scouted this year. His talent was high, though he lacked somewhat in team coordination and game sense, requiring some breaking in.
The head coach looked at the ID and paused. “Siren? I’ve asked around about this guy. He’s pretty impressive, and he was originally in our scope of consideration. But he doesn’t seem to have any intention of playing professionally. Several teams contacted him before, and he rejected them all.”
Shen Guanchao smiled. “You don’t need to worry about that. If the team is interested in Siren, I can contact him personally. There is a high probability he won’t refuse me. I’ll organize his gameplay videos and email them to you later.”
“Alright. Remember to send a copy to Manager Cheng as well.” Hearing his familiar tone, Coach Pei asked casually, “…You know Siren?”
“Mn…” Shen Guanchao was silent for two seconds before answering, “He scammed me out of my feelings for nearly half a year. I guess that counts as knowing him.”
Pei Zhi: ??
Scammed.
Nearly half a year of…
Feelings??
They were all Chinese characters he knew, so why couldn’t he understand them when they were put together?!
The next day, at 8:30 PM.
Xie Jingchu sat in front of his computer eating takeout. On his screen, the LFK World Championship Finals from two weeks ago was playing—NAVA versus Germany’s LSG.
He had rewatched it several times. This was the fourth time.
In the video, the arena music was deafening. Amidst the tsunami-like cheers of the fans off-stage, the players from both teams took the stage one by one.
NAVA’s main attacker, Flesh, was the first to take his seat. He was adjusting the competition equipment in front of him. He hadn’t seemed to cut his hair short in two years, but he liked to bleach and dye it; his soft, shoulder-length hair was dyed a dusty purple.
The director gave each player a close-up shot in turn. When it cut to Flesh, the bullet screen comments were instantly flooded with a single phrase— “Damn, this little purple-hair is as arrogant as ever.”
The moment Flesh looked up at the camera, Xie Jingchu’s noodle-slurping slowed down. He was too handsome.
Flesh, Shen Guanchao. A top-tier domestic esports celebrity and the ace main attacker of the NAVA Club. He became famous at a young age, rushing to the top of the region in his debut year, cementing his status in the scene as honors bowed down to him.
This match was a BO5 (Best of 5). The opponent was strong, and the time span was long; the players’ patience and mentality would undergo a massive test.
LFK, translated as “Plague Games,” was a 4v4 confrontation game. It had been online for more than seven years. Over the years, its popularity had only risen, firmly holding a place in the world’s top three. In each game, eight randomly matched players were divided into red and blue teams, four people each, consisting of four classes: Main Attacker, Sub Attacker, Medic, and Sniper.
Players of different classes had different skills and tasks, but the ultimate goal of the game was to breach the opposing team’s “Plague Defense Lines” step by step, leaving the opponent nowhere to hide. Then, they had to eliminate all enemy players and destroy the “Guardian Statue” at their spawn point to seize the “Plague Blessing” buried within.
In the first game, Flesh, in peak form, claimed the head of the opposing sub-attacker right at the opening. He successfully counter-ambushed the enemy main attacker twice, instantly switched to the UTS-15 in an alleyway to blast three opponents to death, and coordinated with the sniper, Lu, to pick off the last one. They took the victory cleanly and crisply, sending the fans into a frenzy.
During the halftime break, Flesh took off his headphones and stretched his fingers. He casually tied up his long hair, revealing sharp, deep brows and eyes. He looked exactly like a strategist holding the winning cards in a high-stakes arena—completely different from the goofy image of him nursing a thermos cup at the club base.
Before Xie Jingchu had time to appreciate this pleasing scene, his phone suddenly rang. The caller ID was a strange number. Having been annoyed by pyramid schemes too often, he instinctively assumed it was another harassment call and hung up.
“…”
On the other end of the line, NAVA’s head coach, Pei Zhi, fell silent for a long time. Next to him, Shen Guanchao, who was playing on his phone, couldn’t hold back a laugh.
“Pfft…”
Instant hang-up.
This big streamer is truly damn impressive.
Do you know whose call you just rejected?
It was the manager of the top domestic team, young man!
After hanging up, Xie Jingchu glanced at the time and realized he hadn’t started his stream yet. It was already past 9:20. He was half an hour late; those fans in the chat were definitely going to give him hell.
He hurriedly messed up his hair and adjusted his equipment to start broadcasting.
The bullet comments instantly flooded the screen densely—
[You finally bear to start the stream? Big streamer?] [What do you mean, you dare to stand up His Majesty?] [Why are you half an hour late? Deduct money, deduct money!] [You’d better give me a logical explanation.] … [Husband, say something!]
“…Playing on the computer too happily, forgot to stream,” Xie Jingchu said concisely. “What do you want to see today? Ranked or matching… wait, don’t call me husband.”
He opened the LFK game client and logged into his alt account.
Just as he was about to click “Start Match,” a golden name in his friends list suddenly lit up. Xie Jingchu’s specific “special care” friend had come online.
“—Your friend ‘Dream of Nine Hundred Million Medics’ is online. Invite him to play?”
The system prompt popped up, and Xie Jingchu clicked invite without thinking.
A moment later, “Dream of Nine Hundred Million Medics” entered the team room.
He suddenly became nervous, his breathing slowing down.
Since that argument, this account had never been online.
After three months, the other party finally came online again and responded to his invitation.
A red dot popped up in the team chat.
[Team – Dream of Nine Hundred Million Medics]: Pick up the phone.
Pick up the phone?
Was that call just now him?
How could…
Xie Jingchu’s heart tightened. he hurriedly walked to the balcony, found the call log, and dialed back, forgetting to even turn off the stream. He left the audience in the livestream staring at each other, their confusion growing wilder by the second.
Someone recognized that “Dream of Nine Hundred Million Medics” seemed to be the alt account of NAVA’s main attacker, Flesh.
[Damn, I smell gossip.] [Pick up the phone???] [Just the word ‘Flesh’ can make Siren panic like this?] [Something’s wrong with them, ahhhhh!] [Sisters, my gaydar is ringing.] [One is a world champion, one is a game streamer. These two are poles apart, right? Don’t leech off our little purple-hair’s popularity, okay? Scripted?] [Exactly, popularity shouldn’t be leeched like this. So, is there any writer willing to write a World Champion Bottom x Game Streamer Top fanfic right now to support our Siren!! Can’t lose to Flesh, our baby Siren must be the Top (1)!] […They’re probably just normal friends. You guys are getting so excited over a phone call, it’s not that deep.]
“…”
Opinions in the bullet comments varied widely.
On Xie Jingchu’s side, the call connected, and a stranger’s voice came through: “Hello, I am NAVA’s head coach, Pei Zhi.”
“Where is Shen Guanchao?” Hearing it was Pei Zhi, Xie Jingchu answered with a question.
Pei Zhi rolled his eyes and handed the phone to Shen Guanchao, who was idling beside him.
Shen Guanchao said indifferently into the phone, “I’m next to Pei Zhi. If you want to explain the mess from the past, don’t bother. I’m looking for you for official business.”
“What business?” Xie Jingchu’s eyes reddened slightly. Countless words that had been stuck in his heart for over a year rushed to his throat, but he forcibly suppressed them, asking hoarsely.
However, the voice answering this time switched back to Pei Zhi. “Hello, ah, it’s like this. Our team is currently missing a starting sniper. Do you have any intention of playing professionally?”
Xie Jingchu was stunned for a moment before answering, “…I do.”
“Is it to be on the same team as Flesh?”
“Yes.” Pei Zhi said, “We analyzed your past game performance and found that you are quite good in all aspects. However, we need to conduct a two-week trial training before deciding on signing the contract. can you accept that? When would it be convenient for you to come over?”
Xie Jingchu: “I can accept it. Any time is convenient.”
“Then let’s make it this Thursday.”
“Okay.”
Pei Zhi set a time with him and discussed related matters for a while. It was only when he was about to hang up that he remembered they hadn’t exchanged WeChat contacts.
“Is it convenient to add you on WeChat?” he asked.
“I have his WeChat, I’ll push it to you later,” Xie Jingchu hadn’t had time to give his ID before Shen Guanchao suddenly spoke up. “That’s it, hanging up.”
Leaving Pei Zhi with a face full of question marks.
He keenly sniffed that there was something wrong between these two.
Shen Guanchao’s attitude, Xie Jingchu’s inexplicable nervousness… there were problems everywhere!
What exactly is going on between you two that I don’t know about??
Is it something that would paralyze NAVA’s PR department if it got out…
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