Chapter 9

On the other side.

Outside the arena.

Tong Yao ended the call and walked back towards the arena. She heard the two commentators talking about today's matches-- --

Commentator A: [It's 2 to 1 now. ZGDX leading by one -- --If CK still underperforms on the next one, they will probably lose the Spring season championship and the chance to go to the MSI mid-season tournament!]

Commentator B: [This match is equally important to ZGDX as well. It's not just the ticket to the mid-season tournament, it's also the finale of Ming god's professional career. I think, no matter what, he would like to have perfect ending...]

"..."

Tong Yao checked the time and found that three hours had passed since the first round. The prolonged games were a test on each player's ability to handle mental stress, it was especially disadvantageous to ZGDX's mid, Ming god, considering his current condition-- --

Tong Yao had learned from the manager, Rui Ge, that the reason why Ming god abruptly decided to retire was because of an injury he suffered on his wrist which had a sudden turn for the worse half way through the Spring season-- --It happened suddenly, without any warning signs. He woke up one morning to find that he could no longer last through high intensity training. He couldn't even hold a cup of water without shaking after a long and intense game...

Fortunately, most regular competitions were a best of three rounds. So his injury didn't affect the team performance too much. ZGDX was able to go into the semifinals directly after they came in first in their division. Every match from the semifinals onwards was a best of three, but they were strong enough to quickly beat their opponent 3 to 0 in the semifinals. The whole game finished in less than an hour-- --

However, CK was a tough enemy.

Three hours had passed, she wondered whether Ming god could keep going with his injury.

Tong Yao returned to her seat somewhat worried. The fourth round was about to begin. All the players came out of the rest area to sit back at their seats-- --Tong Yao checked on Ming god first and found him looking somewhat tired with a brace on his wrist.

He held a cup of water with his left hand.

Tong Yao's heart skipped a bit, she had a bad premonition...

Then she turned to check on CK. Jian Yang quietly sat on his seat with his head lowered, staring at his computer screen-- --She had seen him like this two years ago when Jian Yang just started his professional career. Though he had gotten the first jungler position on the team, he wasn't stable yet. There was one time when he lost a match and there was a flood of criticism on the internet about his performance. He looked exactly like this when he video chatted with Tong Yao after he had gone back to their base....

At the time, Tong Yao went to sleep after talking with him for a while.

The next morning, she woke up to find that he had maintained the same posture before she went to sleep, only he was now playing games. Tong Yao checked his record. He hadn't lost a single round the whole night and he had carried his teammates every round. He had promoted from Diamond 1 all the way to the Challenger on the Korean servers, with a hundred extra points to spare.

Tong Yao, "..."

It seemed like he was about to explode?

Tong Yao thought about it and frowned. She bit her fist-- --

Could it be that because what she said to him about making Ming god look bad with his lousy play had fired him up?

.........…..it couldn't be?

Ahhhhhh, why was she so talkative just now! "Thanks for giving us the Spring championship, we're counting on you!" Why didn't she just say that?!

The fourth round began as Tong Yao began to regret her words.

It was just as she had suspected, Jian Yang had returned to his normal self this round. It was a close game between the two teams. The first 35 minutes consisted of the two teams chasing after each other, unable to gain an economic lead…...Until the 38th minute, with the help of their top, Come Good Luck, and ADC, Butterfly, to tie down the enemy, Jian Yang together with their support and mid quickly took Elder Dragon. After they got the buff from dragon, they quickly pushed their opponent, rapidly leaving ZGDX behind in the dust.

Meanwhile, one could tell from Ming god's face that he was feeling the strain of the game and his movements were slowing down-- --

Tong Yao and all the fangirls sitting near the stage could clearly see Ming god lowering his head to check his wrist after moments of intense action. It was an unconscious move, but it was obvious that he couldn't hang in there for much longer...

Tong Yao was anxious, the fangirl next to her, Ah Lu, had tears streaming down her face as she held the fan placard. She cried quietly…...Tong Yao took out a second pack of tissues from her bag and handed it over. Then she texted the manager: [Ming god's hand won't last. Do you have a substitute?]

After a while, a notification beep sounded on her phone-- --

[We do. It was expected. The next round we'll have the substitute on. We can't let Ming god's hand get worse even if we lose the championship.]

Tong Yao breathed a sigh of relief-- --Because each team had to hand over a list of players and substitutes before the season started, though Tong Yao had officially signed on with ZGDX, she couldn't just jump on the stage to play for ZGDX…...The next round would have to be played by the official substitute-- --

Though, right now, she very much liked to jump on stage and shove Ming god aside so she could finish the round for him.

Finally, the fourth round ended at the fiftieth minute in victory for CK.

This round was torture for both the players and the audience. Tong Yao could see that when he took off his earphones, Ming god's hair was soaking wet, his uniform was sticking to his back-- --When he stood up, he used his left hand to hold his right wrist and the team doctor instantly came to his side on the stage.

At that moment, the audience realized what had happened-- --

When Ming god was about to turn away, the audience stood up on their own and began chanting his name. They were saying goodbye to this player...

Ming god suddenly turned around before he was about to leave the stage. He used his left hand to wave at the audience, then he bowed deeply, saying goodbye.

The ZGDX substitute for the fifth round was one of the youth trainees from the club. He didn't have much experience playing in major competitions. It was understandable that he was somewhat overwhelmed when his first game was the final round of the Spring season finals-- --

The enemy jungler took advantage of the situation.

Ten minutes into the fifth round, that damn Jian Yang practically lived at mid. He attacked mid four times in ten minutes, succeeding three times. ZGDX's substitute mid had 0 kills, 3 deaths, and 0 assists-- --

Though ZGDX's top and bot had the upper hand, mid was a lost cause, the enemy had turned it into no man's land.

Thirteen minutes into the game, near dragon, facing against a strong mid and jungler, the substitute mid initiated a teamfight, though it wasn't a good time for ZGDX to do so-- --

ZGDX teammates had no choice but to follow.

In the end, though ZGDX obtained three kills thanks to quick thinking on Lu Sicheng, playing Kog'Maw, ZGDX couldn't avoid losing the teamfight...

CK killed their first Infernal Dragon, increasing the team's attacking power. It was especially helpful for the winning side. The match at this point was unsalvageable for ZGDX, not even Lu Sicheng or a miracle worker could save them ...

Finally.

ZGDX, missing one of their regular players, lost by a landslide. The match ended at the 33rd minute. They had lost the championship for the 2016 Spring season finals!

When the ending music began to play, Tong Yao collapsed in her seat; she felt that watching the game was even more tiring than playing it herself…...CK's players left from their seats, cheering and hugging each other. She rubbed her eyes and looked at the ZGDX side, checking on the man who was sitting closest to the audience-- --

Lu Sicheng was very calm.

He didn't look like he had just lost an important competition. He remained in his seat, clicking on the mouse to check the final statistics, before he stood up to shake hands with the players from CK who had walked over.

Then the losers packed up their mice and keyboards to leave the stage,

as the winners came to the center of the stage to bow to the audience and lift the trophy up...

Jian Yang was the MVP of both the fourth and fifth rounds based on his performance. When his teammates swarmed around to rub his hair, hug him, and praise him for a job well done, he giggled in glee as he accepted the compliments before he looked down at the audience like he had suddenly remembered something-- --

Yet, in the front rows of the ZGDX fans, he couldn't find the familiar figure whom he really liked to see...

...

On the way back to the hotel, Tong Yao was still struggling with her guilty conscience-- --Since it was her words that impelled the enemy's jungler to play so fiercely, she felt like a traitor to her future teammates.

By the time she reached the hotel, she received a text message from the manager, Rui Ge. He told her to stay in the hotel for two more days and report to the base next Monday. The team didn't have time to ready a personal suite for her until now since they had been busy preparing for the Spring tournament earlier-- --

Tong Yao had no objection to that. She replied in the affirmative and then turned around to go into the supermarket to purchase items she would need for the next two days at the hotel.

It was an hour later when she went back to the hotel, carrying everything that she would need.

She walked into the elevator hugging bags of her purchases which was so high it could almost bury her and tried to push the close button with one finger-- --

Someone hurriedly rushed into the elevator right right then. The man wore a black jacket with the zipper halfway down. There was a black and red t-shirt inside the jacket. Tong Yao saw the ZGDX logo from in between all the shopping bags...

Hum?

Who was this?

Tong Yao turned sideways with great difficulty while keep the bags balanced. She raised her head to see a perfect chin line and thick lashes…...This man had a tall nose bridge, single eyelids, with earphones on. He was quite handsome but, with thin lips, looked a bit harsh-- --

It was Lu Sicheng.

…...Lu Sicheng? !

Tong Yao tightened her grip on the bags. Bullet comments in various colors flew across her brain: Ahhhhh, Lu Sicheng is in the same elevator with me. Ahhhhh, a live Lu Sicheng in the elevator with me, breathing the same air as me!

The man didn't pay any attention to the expressive face hiding behind all the bags. He stood stone faced behind Tong Yao, reaching to push the close button. The elevator door slowly closed, then he pushed the button labeled "21"-- --

That button was located right next to Tong Yao's neck.

He backed away after pushing the button and leaned against the wall to look at his cell phone.

Tong Yao, "..."

She lived on the 46th floor.

When the man behind her pushed his floor number, she realized that it wasn't time to go crazy now. She needed to push the number for her floor-- --But when she tried to do so, she encountered a problem: the button "46" was right at the height of her eyebrows. The bags in her arms made it impossible to press the button.

Tong Yao tried several different positions, but her index finger lingered around the number "36"-- --

Tong Yao, "..."

She embarrassingly looked at the only lit button.

The man behind her was still concentrated on his phone. Just when Tong Yao gave up trying and was going to put down all the bags, the man asked without lifting his head, "Which floor?"

His voice was even more commanding than the military education officer during high school. Tong Yao reacted instinctively and answered, "...46."

The man put down his phone and straightened up, reaching out with his long arm, using his slender and clean finger, he easily pressed the button labeled "46"…...Tong Yao caught a whiff of a mixture of hand soap and tobacco when his hand moved before her eyes.

Tong Yao, "...Thanks."

The one behind her didn't reply.

The inside of the elevator returned to a state of awkward silence.

The elevator ever slowly moved upwards.

Tong Yao somehow felt that the man behind her had misunderstood her. The more she thought about it, the more she felt uncomfortable. When the elevator reached the 19th floor, she abruptly spoke, "I can reach it."

Lu Sicheng's finger paused on his phone.

Tong Yao, "That button is only up to my eyebrows. You see, I really can reach it."

She made an extra effort to stretch her index finger which was still circled around "36".

Lu Sicheng, "..."

Lu Sicheng, "Oh."

Tong Yao, "................."

The elevator had reached the 21st floor, the door opened, and the man walked out of it.

The door closed behind him.

Only Tong Yao with her stubborn index finger remained inside the elevator.