CHAPTER 54

[ZGDX, smiling: Our captain went for a blind date today. I heard she has a Master's in finance from abroad, 172 cm tall, and wears high heels. Her family is a business partner with the captain's family.]

[Ah Mao's mom: You can get a Master's degree from abroad if you go finish studying there.]

[ZGDX, smiling: But I can only grow to be 172 cm if I get a bone extension or heaven bestows on me a Harry Potter who knows a spell that will make me grow taller.]

[Ah Mao's mom: You have a better chance by praying that Cheng Ge has a peculiar preference for shorties.]

[ZGDX, smiling: ......…..Why do I want to pray that he likes shorties?]

[Ah Mao's mom: Then why do you care about the height of his blind date?]

[ZGDX, smiling: Do I? I'm just sharing some gossip with you. You're the one who started comparing her with me-- --But, why are there so many girls like you who are tall, good looking, and with good family backgrounds and brains! ! ! ! !]

[Ah Mao's mom: You can play games, specifically the heroin of esports. You're great yourself!]

[ZGDX, smiling: Get lost.]

[Ah Mao's mom: Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!]

Tong Yao sat in her own room, rolling her eyes. She put down her cell phone and

absentmindedly flipped through her notebook, now filled with data on each Huawei

player. After flipping a few pages, she discovered that none of the words had registered

in her head and she was growing more and more irritated. She simply shut the notebook

with a clap, turned the lights off, and got in bed..

Dabing who was already inside the cover half asleep, unhappily meowed, and kicked

Tong Yao with its leg.

"You kicked me. This is my bed. If you aren't happy, go sleep in your own bed."

Tong Yao harshly lectured the cat while lifting the cover over her own head…...She

couldn't tell what or who exactly she was angry at. When she closed her eyes, the

sneer from Lu Sicheng, "all you know about is stuffing your face," popped into her head.

She puffed up her cheeks under the cover: What do you mean all I know is about eating!

While Lu Sicheng had gone on a blind date, she had been diligently watching all the

competition videos back at base. Why hadn't she heard a single compliment from him? Hmph!

Tong Yao's irritation grew further.

She almost picked up the cell phone to yell at him. But somehow felt that she didn't seem to

have a valid reason to yell at him. In the end, her inherent fear of her captain won over her anger...

She finally…...fell asleep.

...

The next day was the day of the competition.

Tong Yao and her teammates arrived at the site at 3:30 in the afternoon. They waited in the

rest area for the match to begin.

At 4:30 PM, they could hear noise from the audience, the hosts had also arrived.

At 4:40 PM, the LCD TV screen at the rest area began playing. This screen was broadcasting

the same video as the larger screen outside in the arena. Usually, when players were backstage,

they could still watch the match on the stage from this screen. At the moment, the screen was

showing the top 10 best plays from last week's games. Tong Yao sat on the chair cross legged,

eating fruit and counting. Lu Sicheng had two scenes and she had one. One of Lu Sicheng's

clips was a one on one at bot and the other was a one versus two. Tong Yao's was when she

cleaned up a messy situation during one team fight...

At 4:45 PM, Tong Yao put down the fruit container and was thinking it was about time to

go out. Suddenly, she heard from the TV behind her a loud announcement with the host

dragging his words------

"Best-----Quotes-----Montage!"

Tong Yao almost tripped as she stopped to turn to take a look at the screen, flustered.

She happened to see her large face appear on the screen-----

Then the sighing Old Cat.

Then the expressionless and hoarse sounded Lu Sicheng.

Then the serious looking Tong Yao.

"Ahhhhhhh!" Tong Yao covered her eyes with both her hands. But she couldn't stop from

peeking out through the gaps between her fingers at the TV screen: "Didn't the backstage

guy agree not to show this on the montage? ? ? ? ? ?"

Lu Sicheng mocked: "You idiot, did anyone actually agree with you?"

On the TV screen, Old Cat, with headphones on his head, bent slightly to look past

Old K in Tong Yao's direction.

Seeing the video on screen, Tong Yao immediately plugged each ear with a finger.

The clip continued showing Tong Yao suddenly twitch her face then calmly speak------

What she said was then replayed two more times. The last time around, the editor had

used the special effect and dragged the last word, like a monster roaring. There was even

an animated image of a heap of crying poop right on top of her head with colored captions...

Her teammates silent expressions appeared on screen one after another, then

Little Fatty sighed....

The Tong Yao on screen then had a dramatic change in expression------She finally realized

how enlarged her nostrils could be when she was stunned and that double chins of hers…...

The editor had given her a waterfall tears special effect...

Tong Yao clapped her hands over her face, unable to look at the screen anymore.

With a long hallway and a door away from the audience, she could still hear the audience's

laughter, "hahahahahahahahahaha." What followed was the part when she called out to

Lu Sicheng, "Let me have a kill, let me have a kill. It took me a lot effort to come here, if

you don't let me have a kill, I'll never come to bot anymore!" And then Lu Sicheng told her

not to get too excited or she might poop in her pants. Judging from the laughter outside,

the audience were laughing their heads off...

Tong Yao: "No way, I can't get on stage today. Lu Yue, you go up for me for this match.

I need to calm down a bit."

Lu Yue: "I'm not going. I just want to see everyone laugh at you."

Little Fatty: "Don't worry."

Tong Yao: "How can they treat a teenage girl this way! ! ! !"

Little Fatty: "There's no gender discrimination in the Esports business."

Tong Yao helplessly waved her hand. Xiao Rui opened the door to hurry them on stage.

Little Fatty dragged Tong Yao out the door. When she passed by Xiao Rui, she could

clearly hear her manager say: "I really like the type of girl you are, so carefree, so down

to earth, a total contrast to those flirtatious girls out there."

In the dim hallway, Tong Yao innocently widened her eyes, looked at her team manager,

and felt that the whole world was talking about her------

When she came out of the long hallway, Tong Yao could hear, guffaws mixed in the

applause from the audience. She rubbed her own face and walked over to her seat to

sit down. She could feel a multitude of eyes sweep over her. This time, even the

computer that blocked her face couldn't save her...

Tong Yao grabbed the headphones and before she put them on, muttered: "I'm in no

condition to play. Today, mid is no good. You guys at top and bot just see what you can do."

Lu Sicheng: "If you get killed a single time, I'll buy a mega sized screen to put in the living

room and continuously replay the montage for 24 hours. Die twice, it will play for two days;

three times, three days..."

Tong Yao: "..."

Tong Yao: "Are you a human being?"

Tong Yao put on her headphones, still muttering. The noise and laughter quieted down.

Tong Yao hadn't gotten over the humiliation from earlier. However, the color on her

burning red face had faded into light pink…...A little while later, the match began.

When they entered the banning phase, her teammates stopped chatting and grew

serious, discussing game strategy------

Old Cat: "Get Ekko. Let me get Ekko. Ekko is quite strong lately."

Old K: "Don't. I don't feel comfortable using a champion which you've only played a

few times during ranked games."

Lu Sicheng: "Ban Rek'Sai, ban Evelynn. Don't let Kun take them."

Little Fatty: "Let's ban one for mid too. Ban Viktor."

Tong Yao: "..."

Old Cat: "Then I'll pick Ekko."

Old K: "What do I get, Ming god?"

Ming god: "Graves is still out there, do you want it? I think Graves will do."

Old K: "Alright."

Lu Sicheng: "With Graves, then I can get a champion that's good for the late game."

Little Fatty: "Get Jhin, get Jhin. It's good for a team fight."

Tong Yao: "..."

Lu Sicheng: "Where's our Mid? Offline?"

Little Fatty: "As quiet as a mouse right now."

Ming god: "Yeah, right, what do you want to get, Mid? They took Ezreal, I think

Syndra should be good…...Tong Yao, can you handle her?"

Tong Yao: "Can. Take."

Little Fatty: "Little sister, you know what, even without saying a word or just being brief,

if you're destined to be on the montage, you'll still be on it. Do you believe me?"

Tong Yao: "..........."

Tong Yao didn't believe him.

Thus, during the first match, 45 minutes from beginning to the end, Tong Yao said no

more than ten sentences. Each time, she uttered less than ten words. Little Fatty and

Old K all expressed their concern that Tong Yao had turned into another Lu Sicheng.

Lu Sicheng, however, disagreed: "I'm not a mute."

Since she wasn't talking much during the match, as well as the threat from her captain

before the game, Tong Yao was intensely focused on playing and in the end carried the

game for her team. In the very beginning, she and Old K ambushed the enemy jungler

and got first blood. And in the following 15 minutes, it was almost like a show starring

Syndra; killing Huawei's Mid three times single-handedly------

Then the match entered the team fight stage.

During the team fights, Tong Yao's Syndra successfully prevented the enemy from

retreating. The poorly developed Huawei team were easily defeated in these team fights.

The reason why Huawei could still keep up and drag the match till the late game was

all because of their jungler. He had given up on mid after noticing Syndra's power and

instead ambushed Old K at top or bot. He was able to get Old K a few times, keeping

Huawei in the game for about 40 minutes…...In the end, because Huawei's mid had so

poor growth that they couldn't outlast ZGDX at two waves of team fights, thus ended the match.

After the first match, Tong Yao pulled her headphones off, stood up, and drank some water.

Then she ran to the rest area without saying a word. As she was going to the bathroom,

Tong Yao ran into Huawei's jungler, Kun, in the hallway------

Tong Yao paused and nodded to him as a greeting. Unexpectedly, Kun broke into brilliant

smile and said in Chinese with a heavy foreign accent: "I saw your video, very cute."

Kun had a lot of fangirls ever since he began playing in Korea. He was tall, had pale skin,

had dimples when he smiled, and was an overall neat looking young man. He seldom spoke

while streaming and when playing with his teammates, would only smile while listening to

their trash talk------

When his teammates played badly, he wouldn't say a word; when a teammate carried the

game, he would praise them in the public chat.

Most importantly, he was very diligent in learning Chinese. He would communicate with his

fans using Chinese pinyin.

Being complimented on that shameful video clip by such an angle young man, Tong Yao

was so excited that she almost peeped on her pants…...She couldn't understand young

men nowadays. She simply smiled and thanked him, then hurriedly went to the bathroom.

------It was just a forgettable episode during the break between matches.

Tong Yao didn't even know what had happened. Was it because she was in such a hurry

to go into the bathroom that it irritated Kun…...In any case, when the second match began,

Kun, who had just complimented her a few moments ago, suddenly appeared at mid and

stayed put there-----

During the early game, Kun would either gank mid or be on his way to gank mid.

When he first killed her, the first blood of the match, she blamed herself for not being

careful enough.

When Kun's Evelynn appeared again and again at mid-----

A calm Tong Yao: "Jungler at mid, I'm dead. The minions are coming, Old K, come and farm.

Don't let them go waste."

A calm Tong Yao: "Jungler at mid again. I'm going back."

A not so calm Tong Yao: "I'm dead."

A confused Tong Yao: "What's wrong with Evelynn? Does she only have mid on her minimap?"

An expressionless Tong Yao: "I'm dead again."

A freaking out Tong Yao: "Damn it, I'm dead again!"

Watching the screen turn gray, Tong Yao slapped down on the keyboard, totally losing it:

"Damn, damn, damn. What's wrong with him? This jungler just wants me dead no matter

what! ! ! !"

A disheartened Tong Yao: "...Why didn't we ban Evelynn. If Kun shows up at mid one more

time, I'll throw up in front of all of you."

Little Fatty: "Hang in there, brother."

Tong Yao: "Brother, I can't hang in there. Hurry, rush the turret so we can start a team fight.

I don't want to lane anymore; he's treating mid as if it were for two people."

The match continued for 25 minutes, Huawei was in control of top and bot lanes, not giving

Tong Yao's team a chance. And Huawei's jungler was focusing all his energy on mid. ZGDX

wasn't able to pull itself out of the vicious cycle-----

Seeing that she had contributed all the kills to the enemy team this match, Tong Yao cursed

in her mind, using every word she could think of. She was so enraged that she didn't even

feel upset about losing the match, all she could feel was fury.

Tong Yao sat in a corner of the resting area after the second match. She faced the wall in

silence with her head pushed against the wall. Lu Sicheng and the others were discussing

the problems they encountered in this match…...Suddenly, someone pushed the door open.

In full view of everyone in the room, Huawei's jungler stretched his head inside to greet

everyone. Then he simply walked directly towards Tong Yao and bent over right next to her

chair: "Can I have your WeChat? Let me have your WeChat and I won't bother you at mid

in the next match."

Tong Yao: "..........."

Tong Yao moved her head away from the wall.

Tong Yao: "? ? ? ? ?"

Kun squinted his eyes and smiled rather cutely, enough to expose his canine teeth.

It was quite common for players to exchange their WeChat accounts, usually while

chatting backstage waiting for the matches to begin. Tong Yao didn't think too much

about it and agreed. She watched Kun carefully add her WeChat account and very

happily thank her. Kun left right afterwards, leaving Tong Yao unsure what just happened.

Tong Yao: "What was that?"

Lu Sicheng: "Collecting stamps."

Tong Yao: "..."

Little Fatty: "He has all of our WeChat accounts. Don't listen to Cheng Ge."

Tong Yao: "Oh."

In the third match, Kun kept his promise not showing up at mid at all-----

In fact, it would've been little use for him to come anyway. Tong Yao chose Lulu, the

Fae Sorceress, as her champion particularly for this match. Lulu was fast, had range

and a shield, and could slow down enemies. After reaching level six, her ultimate

enlarges an ally, knocks enemies away, and grants her ally a large amount of bonus health…...

Besides, the team had also decided on their strategy if a similar situation from the last match

happened again.

The third match preceded without incident. Everyone played normally. By the 38th minute,

ZGDX pushed up to the enemy's base. After the final team fight, at the 41st minute, ZGDX

won the match.

After the match, both sides stood up to shake hands with the other side. Tong Yao felt that

she had aged 3 years today.

When she shook Kun's hand, Kun shook her hand and smiled: "See you on WeChat."

It was already 9:30 at night when they were back at base. They were all very tired from playing three matches today, especially from the scare

in the second match. Tong Yao suggested they order delivery to everyone's agreement.

She pulled out her cell phone to place the order and discovered that the Huawei jungler

had already sent her several messages on WeChat-- --

[Kun: Back at base?] [Kun: I'm back too.] [Kun: Have dinner yet?] [Kun: You played good today. You're good.] [Kun: Rarely see a girl play such a good game :)] [Kun: Are you eating dinner now? [Kun: Are you tired? Want to go out and have some fun?] [Kun: Ignoring me QWQ] Tong Yao: "..." …...What was going on? Tong Yao put down her phone. Lu Sicheng, sat not too far away, looked up at her: "Aren't you ordering?" "I'm going to. But before that, I have something I don't know whether I should mention

or not." "Don't mention it." "I feel like that Huawei jungler is trying to hit on me." "..." Lu Sicheng stopped typing on his cell phone and looked up at Tong Yao with an expression

as if to say "did you take your medicine today." Seeing there was no reaction from Tong Yao

after a while, he took her phone off her hand and gave it a quick glance. Then he stayed quiet

for a moment. Lu Sicheng: "What do you think about it?" Tong Yao: "I just want to put him and his Evelynn into a coffin, nail it shut, and bury it

underground, deep." Lu Sicheng responded with an "hum", then downloaded an input software first before

typing a string of words on Tong Yao's phone. Afterwards, he returned the phone to

Tong Yao and continued to play with his own cell phone... Tong Yao looked down on the screen of her own phone----- [ZGDX, smiling: Chessman.] [ZGDX, smiling: ?? ? ????, ???? ?? ? ???.] Three seconds later, there was a response from the other end----- [Kun: ......….?????! QAQ] Tong Yao: "What is this? What does it say?" Lu Sicheng looked up at it: "He said he's sorry." Tong Yao: "What did you say to him? You didn't scold him, did you?" Lu Sicheng paused for a moment then spoke indifferently: "None of your business.

In any case, he won't bother you in the future." Tong Yao: " Oh." Then she ordered delivery. After eating, she went to wash up and got in

bed when it was already a little past midnight. Her teammates were still downstairs

playing ranked games. Tong Yao got into bed, playing with her cell phone.

As she was playing, Tong Yao suddenly realized that Kun hadn't really sent any more

messages. She logged onto WeChat and copied the words Lu Sicheng had typed.

Then she copied and pasted the words to [Ah Mao's mom]-- -- [ZGDX, smiling: What does this sentence mean?] [Ah Mao's mom: Which Korean drama did you copy this from?] [ZGDX, smiling: Endless Love.] [Ah Mao's mom: ...] [ZGDX, smiling: Don't give me all those dots, what does it mean exactly? !] [Ah Mao's mom: She's my woman, don't touch her. You brat.] "............" Tong Yao's hand jerked, her cell phone dropped right onto her face.