Chapter 53: Surrounded by Love; Entry Changes
On the second day after Wu Yang got his new phone card, the security personnel at the base gate came running up in a hurry.
“Coach Zuo, an elderly couple has arrived outside the base. They look to be in their fifties. They say they are—”
“Wu Yang’s parents?”
“Yes! They look fierce and mean, like they’re here to cause trouble. I didn’t open the gate for them. Coach, what do you think…”
“I’ll go down and take a look with you.” Zuo Chi first sent a message to Manager Li, telling him to bring the “Top Lawyer Squad” from Shengxing Media over immediately. Then he followed the security guard downstairs toward the gate.
The VEX base gate was the kind of electric retractable gate common in middle schools. From far away, he saw an elderly couple with graying hair, wearing bloated down jackets, standing at the gate and tiptoeing to peer inside.
Wu Yang was a quite decent-looking kid; he didn’t resemble this couple at all.
“Hey! Hey—Security! I’m talking to you! I already said I’m Wu Yang’s mother. It’s one thing that you won’t open the gate, but you’re telling me to leave? How can you be like this?!”
As they drew closer, the woman with thin cheeks grabbed the retractable gate and shouted at them in an indistinguishable dialect.
Beside the woman, a man with scruffy stubble kicked the gate. “Why waste so many words with two guards? Wu Yang! Your old man is here! You little brat, get your ass down here right now. This is absolutely outrageous!”
A string of curses followed, louder and noisier than New Year’s firecrackers.
The security guard’s face turned red with anger. “Coach Zuo, they are simply—”
“I’ll handle things here. Manager Li will be here with the lawyers in a bit; go receive them.”
“Alright, alright, Coach Zuo. Be careful… they look like they’re ready to start hitting people.”
Hitting people? With the electric gate between them, they’d have to use their heads.
Zuo Chi stood still, waiting until the two were tired of screaming. He spoke calmly: “You say you are Wu Yang’s parents.”
Their murky eyes fixed on him. “Who are you? I’m looking for Wu Yang, not—”
“I am the person in charge of this team.”
“…You’re the one in charge of this what-do-you-call-it esports team?” The man sized him up. “I’m Wu Yang’s old man. This brat dropped out of school behind our backs to come here and play games. Did we, his parents, agree? I’m telling you, this is child abduction!”
“Wasn’t the last call asking for one million—asking for one million each? Why has the tone changed now that you’re here? You don’t want the money, you want to charge me with child abduction?”
Hearing “one million,” a greedy green light flared in their eyes, like hungry wolves smelling meat. Their tone suddenly became much more polite.
“Think about how hard we worked to pull Wu Yang up. Raising a child costs so much these days, you know that, right? Looking at you, you’re a few years older than our Wu Yang. Are you married? Have kids? The formula Wu Yang drank as a baby could eat up a month’s worth of my wages—now that Wu Yang is making money, shouldn’t he send us some living expenses to help the family? I need to build a new house back home; one million isn’t that much.”
“Yes! Exactly! Wu Yang’s younger brother is still in elementary school. School, tutoring, and marrying a wife later will all cost a huge sum! As the older brother, Wu Yang has to at least show some sincerity by giving us one million. I saw online that playing esports is very profitable; one match’s prize money is hundreds of thousands. Wu Yang has been playing for months; two million is nothing to him…”
“Finished?”
“Finished. Please, hurry up and call Wu Yang over. This little white-eyed wolf—he wouldn’t answer our calls and even changed his number. Supporting one’s parents is a matter of course. If we hadn’t been pushed to a dead end by him, why would we take a train for over a dozen hours to find him?”
“When Wu Yang was fifteen, you divorced. Neither of you wanted him and you made him live at school, often failing to give him living expenses. Is that correct?”
“…When did we not give it? I gave him two thousand a year! If he saved a bit, wasn’t that enough to spend?”
“Ha! You old fogey, you only gave him two thousand? I gave my son three thousand a year—”
“Before, you gave two thousand a year, and now you open your mouths to ask for a million. You two are quite the business experts; even robbing a bank wouldn’t bring in money that fast.”
A trace of unnatural shame flashed across the woman’s face. The man’s face hardened. “That’s our family business! Don’t think I’m afraid of you just because you’re some team manager!”
“One million. If I don’t see that money hit my account today, I’ll hang banners outside your base saying that brat Wu Yang is a heartless wolf who abandoned his father! I’ll post it online!”
“I’ll even go to your match venue and talk. Heh, what can’t be found online nowadays? Aren’t you going to Haishi for a match? You just wait—”
Two cars roared down the straight road outside the base.
The doors opened, and Manager Li, dressed in a sharp suit, stepped out followed by three equally sharp-suited lawyers.
Manager Li walked with the aura of a boy band member on a runway. “Who? Who is committing extortion at our base?!”
Zuo Chi tilted his chin. “There, them. I’ll send you the recording of the two-million-yuan extortion in a bit.”
“Let’s go, you two. Take a trip to the station. Then, these three lawyers will be responsible for the subsequent legal procedures, lawsuits, and court dates… it’ll probably take a few months.”
The elderly couple was stunned.
Manager Li finished his grand declaration and gave Zuo Chi a meaningful look.
Zuo Chi knew he didn’t need to interfere anymore. After sending the recording, he turned and went back into the base building.
The soundproofing of the training room was good, but the glass had just been polished yesterday by the technicians who installed the AC. It was sparkling.
Through the window, one could see the scene at the base gate directly.
The couple had loud voices and had been causing a scene for so long; no matter how deeply the cubs were immersed in training, it was impossible for them not to notice.
As he walked up the stairs, he was still thinking about how to bring it up to the players.
Unknowingly, he reached the training room and saw the cubs sitting upright in front of their PCs, wearing headsets, with the game screen showing a team fight in full swing.
Could it be… he had underestimated the level of focus the cubs had during training?
He pushed the door open and entered.
[System: Detected a change in the attribute entries of a player in the host’s team, VEX.]
[Name: Wu Yang. Game ID: sea. Position: Mid Laner.]
[Blue Entry: Learning Sponge (Rare growth-type entry. He learns things very quickly… Note: The player is currently ‘Surrounded by Love,’ leading to rapid attribute growth.)]
Before Wu Yang came to VEX, the entry showed he was in a “Negative Environment,” with attributes decaying.
After a few days of training at VEX, it changed to “Positive Environment,” with attributes growing slightly.
Since then, the entry hadn’t changed.
Now…
The crystals exploded, and the “Victory” effect appeared on all the cubs’ screens.
Wu Yang took off his headset and smiled at him. “Coach Zuo, come look! My stats for that game were particularly good… I was playing that support-flow style.”
Zuo Chi walked over and took a look. Next to the boy’s ID was the “MVP” mark. Opening the post-match stats panel, from CC duration to gold-to-damage conversion, and finally KDA—the progress was immense. It even showed two “Key Engagements.”
“Impressive.”
At less than twenty years old, encountering such a thing and not having his competitive state affected—instead, even breaking through—wasn’t something everyone could do.
“Coach Zuo, did you want to talk to me about my parents?”
He was taken aback.
“I’ve already told the brothers. It’s fine, just tell everyone.” Wu Yang spoke in a free and easy tone. “Anyway, this isn’t my fault; there’s nothing that needs to be hidden—Coach Zuo, you weren’t angered by them, were you?”
“No. Shengxing Media’s lawyers have arrived. They should be at the station now taking their statements… for the rest, we’ll just wait for news. Rest assured, we are in the right here. I’ll let you know as soon as there’s news.”
“Coach Zuo… thank you.”
Zuo Chi smiled. “No wonder you all have the destiny to be teammates at VEX. One by one, you all love saying thank you—let’s turn the page on this. Leave the legal matters to the lawyers; we’ll focus on our training. Play another support-flow game for me. In the afternoon, I’ll tell you about some good things to learn from ZAP’s match yesterday.”
While the cubs continued training, Manager Li’s messages arrived one after another.
[Manager Li: Wu Yang’s parents’ case will likely have to go to court. Those two shameless old fogies insist they were just asking their son for support, yapping about ‘filial piety’ until my blood boiled.]
[Manager Li: But we’ll definitely win the case. Shengxing Media’s lawyer said he hasn’t handled such an easy case in a long time. Have Wu Yang send over the records of his parents’ past transfers to him; I want to see exactly how much child support they’ve defaulted on.]
[Zuo Chi: Are you still at the station?]
[Manager Li: No, we’ve left. We can’t detain those two, but we’ll move through the litigation process as quickly as possible. The trial will definitely be before the Quarterfinals; it won’t affect the players’ match.]
[Zuo Chi: OK.]
[Manager Li: Is Wu Yang’s state alright? Such a good kid, having parents like that. Give him some good comfort; tell him the team has his back…]
[Zuo Chi: He’s fine. He carried the scrim today like crazy, like a martial arts master suddenly attaining enlightenment and breaking through a bottleneck.]
[Manager Li: Huh? Are you sure he didn’t feed like crazy?]
[Zuo Chi: Do I look like someone who would report false intelligence? I’m a professional coach.]
[Manager Li: Coach Zuo, if you put it that way, I’m going to start dreaming about us winning the Quarterfinals and heading straight for the Semifinals hehehehe…]
[Zuo Chi: Speechless-cat-face.jpg]
[Zuo Chi: I’m off. The cubs are pestering me for a review. I’m going back to work.]
[Manager Li: You get busy. I’ll work with the lawyers on the lawsuit materials.]
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