Chapter 35: Why the Bias?
This awkwardness lasted until the afternoon.
During training, Shen Guanchao’s seat was next to Xie Jingchu’s computer station. When he reached out to grab something, he accidentally brushed against Xie Jingchu’s shoulder. He immediately retracted his hand as if electrocuted, his whole body surrounded by a sense of avoidance and resistance.
After dinner, everyone went to the meeting room to review today’s practice match. The two were inevitably seated together again.
The two games added up to only forty-something minutes, but Pei Zhi reviewed them for nearly three hours, his notes filled to the brim.
The process was dull and long, but everyone listened with full concentration. Near the end of the second game, Zoe made a mistake in placing a visual ward. Although it was only for a few seconds, Pei Zhi still projected it repeatedly dozens of times for Zoe to see. “Go back and standardize this movement, then practice it again at least a thousand times. Form muscle memory, and you won’t make a mistake next time.”
Zoe nodded with a heart like dead ash: “Okay Coach Pei…”
Pei Zhi turned off the projection and handed the review notes recording each player’s problems to them. “These are all the most basic micro-operations. Pay attention to perfecting them during daily training. If you’re still like this on the competition field, you’re handing a knife to your opponent.”
“And Siren, your problem is the biggest among everyone, although you’ve made great progress compared to before.” Pei Zhi looked at Xie Jingchu: “During training, try to find teammates to duo queue and practice coordination. What is needed on the field is teamwork; what is compared is the degree of grinding between players usually.”
“Your individual strength is very strong, I don’t deny that, but cooperating with your teammates in combat is also part of the game.”
“Mn.” Xie Jingchu took the notes he handed over, his expression slightly heavy.
Pei Zhi saw his nervousness and changed the subject to enlighten him: “Don’t worry too much. Think of it from another angle; your current style is actually quite like when Flesh first debuted…”
Xie Jingchu tilted his head, revealing a confused look: “Him… when he first debuted?”
“Pfft—” Shen Guanchao, sitting next to him, couldn’t help but hook the corners of his lips. “It is indeed very like when I first debuted, except I was handsome, and you are silly.”
“When Guanchao first stepped onto the arena, his playstyle was similar to yours; he was also a lone wolf,” Pei Zhi said. “At that time, the medieval period, the e-sports industry wasn’t as developed as it is now. Unlike now with coaching teams, data analysts, and psychological consultants. Once on the field, Guanchao played entirely on individual strength. Either he crushed the whole field, or others grouped up to target him to death.”
“The consequence of playing like this was NAVA’s losing streak in the regular season. During that time, I had to live holding Salvia miltiorrhiza heart-protecting pills every day.”
Pei Zhi: “Fortunately later, after Guanchao suffered enough, he finally realized the importance of integration.”
“Otherwise now, I’d still have to live hugging heart-protecting pills for the rest of my life.”
As he spoke, the look he gave Shen Guanchao carried a sense of “my daughter has finally grown up.”
“Alright, stop.” Shen Guanchao choked on his sudden lyricism. “If you’re scolding him, scold him. Don’t dig up my dark history.”
“Zoe and Fox were there back then too. Why don’t you dig up their dark history?”
Pei Zhi retorted, “Do they have dark history? Even if they do, it’s not as convincing as your dark history.”
Xie Jingchu laughed lightly upon hearing this and met Shen Guanchao’s eyes.
It was just the most ordinary eye contact, but Shen Guanchao quickly and sensitively shifted his gaze away, quietly saying “damn” in his heart…
The review meeting ended, and he left hurriedly. He was about to return to the training room when he was suddenly stopped by Lu Wuxu.
Shen Guanchao: “What’s up?”
“You’re not in a hurry to go over, right? Chat?” Lu Wuxu asked with a smile.
“Sure.”
The two looked at each other and tacitly walked towards the terrace on the second floor together.
“What do you want to talk about? Competition matters or private matters?” Shen Guanchao leaned against the railing and asked in a relaxed tone.
“Private matters.” Lu Wuxu looked at his back, his heart beating heavily: “Can we talk?”
Shen Guanchao said generously, “Talk then. We’ve been good brothers for so many years; why be so cautious in front of me?”
“Okay.”
Hearing this, Lu Wuxu smiled self-mockingly, then asked the question that had been haunting his heart these days: “Ah Ting, why the bias towards Xie Jingchu?”
—Shen Guanchao, why the bias?
The originally relaxed atmosphere was broken by this sentence, becoming heavy. Shen Guanchao’s cavalier smile froze on his face, his mind suddenly blank. After slowly recovering as if entangled by countless threads, he barely managed a dry laugh and asked back, “What are you talking about?”
He tried his best to avoid the topic that everyone was sensitive about. Now that everything in the team was progressing smoothly, bringing this up would only make their relationship stiff. Playing dumb while knowing the truth was his best choice.
Shen Guanchao wanted to change the subject to keep the peace, but Lu Wuxu didn’t indulge him like usual.
Lu Wuxu: “Ah Ting, you know what I’m talking about.”
Watching Shen Guanchao trying hard to find a way out for himself, his heart ached heavily.
This past month, Shen Guanchao fished Xie Jingchu, who was originally just a game streamer, into professional gaming, brought him into the industry, trained him, and created topics specifically for his debut. Lu Wuxu saw all this “bias.”
He never regretted returning here from Berlin, nor did he ever hate anyone out of jealousy. In all fairness, his temper was truly excellent. But even someone like him, under Shen Guanchao’s blatant favoritism, actually developed a trace of jealousy towards Xie Jingchu.
Lu Wuxu’s original plan after retiring was to settle in Germany, take his secret love that would never see the light of day far away, change his profession to a painter or a photographer, and then forget Shen Guanchao during the long journey of life.
Someone once asked him: “Even the place you chose to escape to is where you once met; how can you forget?”
“Forget with your lies?”
He couldn’t forget. So when Shen Guanchao casually said “Miss you a little,” he chose to come back. Come back to look at him, even if he couldn’t forget.
Lu Wuxu was willing to sink deeper alone in the corner, but Xie Jingchu’s appearance made him unable to calm down.
“I didn’t show bias towards him.” Shen Guanchao pursed his lips and answered, avoiding the heavy and dwelling on the light: “I just… had a crush on him before, so I took care of him a bit.”
For some reason, when facing Lu Wuxu, he couldn’t tell a lie.
Lu Wuxu tried his best to restrain himself, but what came out was: “Is that so? Xie Jingchu is that little fan you used to go find often, right?”
“Is your feeling for him… really as simple as just having had a crush?”
He pulled Shen Guanchao’s hand, drawing Shen Guanchao closer to himself.
Breaths interlaced between the two. One look was astonished, one look was sentimental. Lu Wuxu closed his eyes and struggled to say the sentence hidden in his heart for a long time: “Can you… pity me too…”
“I’m confessing to you. Will you look at me too, okay?”
Until now, Lu Wuxu had been excessively gentle to Shen Guanchao. Only now did he finally reveal his fangs.
“You…” The moment Shen Guanchao heard him reveal his heartfelt feelings, he was completely stunned. He even forgot to push him away, his breathing slowing down at the same time: “Like me?”
He had never paid attention to Lu Wuxu in that way. The moment the affection was revealed, what he felt for Lu Wuxu was only guilt—guilt for not discovering it earlier and controlling the situation—not like.
“Yes.”
Lu Wuxu nodded calmly and leaned in, wanting to kiss his cheek.
However, a cold voice suddenly came from behind them. Xie Jingchu pushed open the door to the balcony, his eyes dark as he said, “Manager Lu.”
“Coach Pei is calling you to go down; he has something to see you about.”
Xie Jingchu repeated, “It’s urgent.”
“Alright.” Lu Wuxu stiffly let go of Shen Guanchao’s hand. When leaving, he tugged the corner of his lips in self-mockery, regretting that he finally let loose once, yet still wasn’t brave enough.
Perhaps there would be no chance to touch him in the future.
“…”
After Lu Wuxu left, Shen Guanchao smoked a cigarette on the terrace to relieve his mood. When taking the cigarette out of the box, his hands were shaking.
Because he couldn’t accept for a moment that the internet joke “Bro, you smell so good” suddenly became reality…
“Don’t smoke.” Xie Jingchu slapped away his cigarette, caressed his long hair, cupped his face, and with a body full of agitation, kissed his lips deeply.
“Smoke me.”
Between the intertwining of lips and tongues, Xie Jingchu suggested in a low and husky voice.
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