Chapter 81
The match against FTK was at FTK’s home venue in Luo City. The flight was at 6:30 AM.
Several internet-addicted youths yawned, sporting dark circles under their eyes, complaining incessantly.
Mi Yonghui was also helpless. “There are only flights at 6:30 AM and 4:30 PM today. No choice. The team paid for First Class upgrades; catch up on sleep on the plane.”
Only then did the grievances settle.
This time there was no delay. They boarded the plane on time. Shen Yanjin fastened his seatbelt, nestled into the spacious, soft seat, and began to doze off.
Duan Mingyue asked the flight attendant for two blankets and slept next to Shen Yanjin.
The level of intimacy between the two made Kai’s teeth ache.
This was what Tans couldn’t understand most: since his teeth ached, why force himself to look? What kind of psychology was that?
The First Class service was excellent, and the in-flight meal tasted quite good. After landing, they had to take a car to the booked hotel. After tossing about between transport for several hours, Shen Yanjin finally sank exhaustedly into a soft bed.
Duan Mingyue checked the time, rubbed Shen Yanjin’s messy hair, and said, “It’s still early. Sleep a bit more.”
Who knew Shen Yanjin shook his head and actually climbed up again, taking his laptop out of his bag and placing it on the table. “Today’s training tasks aren’t done yet.”
Duan Mingyue admired him a little.
But it worked out well; he had brought his laptop too. He might as well train with Shen Yanjin.
When Mi Yonghui came to knock on their door and saw two computers on the table, he was stunned for a moment. He clearly hadn’t expected these two to treat a preseason match so seriously.
Duan Mingyue knew he was there for him. He stood up and walked out. Before leaving, he didn’t forget to turn back and greet Shen Yanjin, “I’ll be back soon.”
Only then did Shen Yanjin retract his gaze and look back at the game on his computer.
Mi Yonghui knew that men and women in the honeymoon phase would be clingy, but he didn’t expect two grown men in love to be this clingy too.
However, since their romance brought positive influences, he simply closed both eyes to it.
He watched Duan Mingyue leave the room and close the door before speaking. “I’ve confirmed it. Shen Yanjin’s parents have passed security and are ready to board.”
Duan Mingyue nodded. “Thanks for your hard work.”
Mi Yonghui looked at him resentfully, as if saying: You know I work hard, yet you keep finding me so many things to do?
Thinking this, he heard Duan Mingyue continue, “Year-end bonus doubled this year.”
Mi Yonghui immediately said righteously, “Money doesn’t matter; mainly I just love working hard for the team.”
Duan Mingyue scoffed and patted his shoulder. Ever since the youth training incident, he no longer treated intervening in team management as a taboo like before. Instead, he increasingly had the demeanor of a big boss.
Mi Yonghui felt that even if Duan Mingyue suddenly said he didn’t want to play matches anymore and wanted to go home to inherit his billions, he wouldn’t find it strange.
He asked hesitantly, “But does Sliver know about this?”
Duan Mingyue said calmly, “He’ll know later.”
Meaning he didn’t know.
Looking at Duan Mingyue’s expression, Mi Yonghui knew he should retreat. He turned around and sighed sorrowfully, thinking sons grow up and don’t listen to their mothers. In the past, he could still manage Duan Mingyue and various team affairs. Now? He could only run errands for PR and sponsorships like a pitiful creature. If this continued, what difference was there from his previous job at the Duan Corporation? Where was the fun!
But thinking of the doubled year-end bonus Duan Mingyue mentioned, he smiled again.
Doubled—that was over a hundred thousand. With this hope, a corporate slave had the motivation to continue working.
Thinking like this, even the “meeting the parents” and the extremely likely upcoming “going public” that had kept Mi Yonghui tossing and turning all night didn’t seem so terrible…
No, still terrible.
Mi Yonghui served the team’s young masters well, then hurriedly ran back to his room for a video conference.
The match was scheduled for 7 PM, but the team had to arrive early.
The entrance to the venue was a sea of people as usual, very spectacular. Most importantly, these people were almost all here to watch his match, completely different from the unattended matches with sparse audiences Shen Yanjin had played before.
Kai, who had slept and eaten his fill at the hotel, was now full of energy. Looking through the one-way glass film at the window, he suddenly shouted “Ah” and pointed outside. “Sliver, look quickly! It’s your light sign!”
Shen Yanjin paused, leaning forward to look in the direction he pointed.
In the previous matches, although there were many spectators, the support was basically for the other four.
This wasn’t strange. After all, Shen Yanjin’s results in those years were so dismal that his retirement only made people happy, not sad. His fans had pretty much all run away long ago.
But now, in this sea of people, there were actually people holding light signs with “Sliver” written on them.
And not just one or two.
Song Yuan also took a look. “There’s more. Look, over there, someone is holding a CP banner for you and the Captain.”
Shen Yanjin froze. Looking over, sure enough, a girl was holding a banner with Q-version images of him and Duan Mingyue sticking together, with a big heart beside them.
Although Shen Yanjin and Duan Mingyue’s relationship was an open secret within the team, generally speaking, no one would mention it.
He coughed lightly, feeling a bit embarrassed.
Previously, when he was close with Shi Feng and they duo-queued every day, people also held CP banners for him and Shi Feng at the arena. Seeing them, they would banter with each other, very open and candid. But now that it was actually real, he couldn’t bring out that candor.
Duan Mingyue didn’t have such sensitive thoughts. Hearing this, he came over to look and praised, “Good taste.”
Kai grinned, “Well, not everyone has such good taste. People have held CP banners for me and Tans, and me and Song Yuan too.”
Tans said, “That’s not bad taste; that’s blindness.”
Laughter filled the car.
Previously, when Shen Yanjin was alone, he had thought about what would happen if his sexuality and his love for Duan Mingyue were exposed. He had even imagined a bunch of messy, terrible outcomes.
But looking at his friendly teammates laughing together in the car, and his smiling lover beside him, he thought: The world doesn’t seem as bad as I thought.
Shen Yanjin thought, if possible, he also wanted to hold Duan Mingyue’s hand openly, stand in the sunlight, and tell everyone about their relationship.
This thought was like a seed buried in his heart.
—
The match before theirs was between two teams at the bottom of the standings. Both had zero wins. At this point, they had basically missed the playoffs and might not even keep their seats in the top league, facing relegation matches.
The “chicken pecking” (noob fight) lasted for over two hours. The match originally scheduled for 7 PM was delayed to 7:40 PM. This was a common occurrence.
Before going on stage, Shen Yanjin went to the restroom and happened to run into members of FTK there.
Shen Yanjin remembered this person. It was FTK’s bot laner, Peace. A genius boy. This was only his second season joining FTK, and he had already leaped to become a top-tier AD in the league.
However, the reason Shen Yanjin remembered him wasn’t because of these things, but because of his red hair.
Esports players were generally young and rebellious. Many dyed their hair yellow, blue, or pink, but this was the first time Shen Yanjin had seen red.
And it didn’t look trashy; instead, it made his skin look fair and his features handsome, which was even rarer.
Peace was obviously surprised to see him too. His mouth opened, but no words came out.
Shen Yanjin nodded at him and turned to leave.
As his hand touched the door handle, he heard Peace’s somewhat awkward voice from behind.
“Sorry about that,” seeing Shen Yanjin’s slightly confused look, Peace added, “I mean, what I said when you retired before.”
Shen Yanjin paused, realizing he was referring to the mockery about him being an “ATM.” From a certain angle, it was the truth. He smiled. “It’s nothing. Good luck with the match.”
Peace scratched his head. “Oh, good luck.”
Was it his illusion? He felt this support and the gloomy, scary guy in the restroom a few months ago were simply not the same person.
Back in the lounge, the staff just came to remind them they could go on stage. Shen Yanjin picked up his peripherals and walked out.
FTK’s condition, after breaking in, was becoming unstoppable.
Although their Jungler was weaker compared to Duan Mingyue, Alan could stabilize him with his personal strength. Peace and Lend, the two side laners, were becoming more and more unstoppable. Shen Yanjin had watched their match videos. No matter which lane was targeted, the person in the other lane would quickly stand up and take over the game.
They were a tough bone to chew.
But even a tough bone had to be bitten to test it. Therefore, in the first game, KW chose a lineup that could go head-to-head.
The result was the same as other teams—they couldn’t out-hard FTK.
A team that only knew offense and no defense was like a mad dog, biting frantically. Trying to bite back was impossible.
In fact, so far, the only team that had handed FTK a loss was WOF. Yue Fengling’s Top lane was tougher than Lend, and SeeD was crazier than FTK’s Mid. They won 2-1, but it was a pyrrhic victory.
In the first game, KW lost to Lend’s split push. Thirty minutes, forty-two kills. The bloodiness ratio was terrifying.
Inside the lounge, Mao Qiude asked Duan Mingyue, “What do you think?”
Duan Mingyue smiled and threw the question to Shen Yanjin.
Shen Yanjin thought for a moment and said, “Conquer rigidity with softness. We’ll play a support war.”
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