In the 15 minute half-time break.

The atmosphere in the 3U lounge was much heavier than FTW’s.

They were the ones who’d won just now, and it was them who had managed to pull back a point, but 3U was so serious that it seemed almost as if they’d lost the game.

3U’s coach’s expression was particularly dignified. “I don’t recommend using the storm thief.”

Asleep didn’t speak.

Cong Yi said, “It’s the decisive game. FTW won’t take it lightly. It won’t be easy for us to win if we don’t take it.”

Coach: “It’s just a small game in the regular season. Losing a point here has little effect on our total results, and it’s within a controllable range.”

3U’s manager also said, “This new line-up is our trump card. It’s too early to take it out now.”

The coach nodded. “We have to face TPT next. You’re all clear about Fu Li. If you let him see Asleep’s storm thief, he’ll certainly come up with a way to deal with it. When the time comes, things will be difficult for us.”

In the groupings for this regular season, FTW and RR were in Group A, and 3U and TPT were in Group B.

They only cycled through the teams in the other group once, but they would cycle through their own group twice. Compared with FTW, 3U was more on guard against TPT this time.

Because being within the same group meant that they were both fighting for first place.

In order to fight their way out of the regular season, 3U had made many preparations.

New line-ups, new systems, new ways of playing, all of them had been researched and analyzed in depth.

Asleep’s best talents were from the thief profession, and this was practically 3U’s signboard. However, once a certain profession became a signboard, it was easy to target.

If the opponent allocated a ban position for it, then it would be useless no matter how excellent you were at it.

So, they had to develop new ways of playing, and using the storm thief was one of them.

This was a new system that they’d been working hard on for a long time. They had explored a variety of cooperation methods, and come up with a new line-up that they’d honed against foreign competition zones over a long time.

If they took it out in the second week of the regular season, what would they do later on?

Even if they won against FTW, how could they snatch up number one in the group if they lost to TPT twice?

Manager Zhou and the coach’s worries weren’t unreasonable, but…

Asleep: “Storm thief.”

He seldom opened his mouth to speak, and when he did, his distinctive cold, metallic voice was particularly sharp to the ears.

Manager Zhou twisted his eyebrows, and his eyes showed some of his impatience.

Asleep: “Win.”

Manager Zhou: “Will you lose if you don’t use the storm thief? Close isn’t even in FTW right now, you guys…”

The coach interrupted this fool’s words in time and asked, “What if you lose?”

He stared at Asleep.

Asleep: “……”

Cong Yi, who was to the side, spoke up languidly, “If we lose, we’ll listen to you about everything. In this regular season, we’ll play however you tell us to play.”

Coach: “Okay.”

Manager Zhou raised his eyebrows. “You guys…”

The coach looked at him, “The game’s not over yet. The player’s emotions are more important than anything else.”

He shot Manager Zhou a look, and Zhou Qing received the hint, but his heart was filled with huge dissatisfaction: Forget it, if Asleep chose to bail, then there would be huge problems with 3U.

3U’s lounge was quiet for the last five minutes of the break.

Asleep closed his eyes and leaned back in his e-sports chair. Cong Yi sat beside him, slowly drinking his lemonade.

Li Chun looked here and there, then decided to shut up and act like a quail.

Asleep and Wei Xiao’s grudges and grievances were something that the people present more or less knew about.

Li Chun knew that Asleep had lost to Wei Xiao many times, so many times that it made people’s scalp feel numb.

Cong Yi knew the exact number––462.

The grandmaster had an unwritten rule. He would only accompany each player for at most 500 games.

If it exceeded this figure, let alone 200 yuan per game, he wouldn’t play for even 20,000 per game.

Asleep and the grandmaster had soloed for 500 games, and he’d lost 462 of them. This ratio was so shocking it would make people’s mouths drop open.

Was Asleep weak?

Being someone who was considered the league’s super dark horse as soon as he entered the professional circle, how could he be related to the word ‘weak’?

Was the grandmaster strong?

He really was strong. It was hard to imagine that a non professional player could have such a deep understanding of soloing.

This wasn’t just talent. It was hard work, passion, and amazing willpower.

After losing so many games, Asleep’s obsession with Wei Xiao couldn’t be expressed by simple numbers.

The grandmaster had once said that he wouldn’t play professionally.

And he’d also said that he would only be an accompanying trainer for 500 games.

At the time, Asleep had thought that he would never have a chance to defeat him again.

Now…

Quiet had shown up in FTW.

The grandmaster had come to the professional arena and become his opponent.

He’d thought he would never be able to win against him again, thought that he would never have an opportunity to play, and he’d thought that he would always have to bear this regret.

––Wei Xiao was now standing across from him.

How could Asleep miss this opportunity?

In every solo game, every match, he just wanted to go all out!

He wanted to defeat Wei Xiao, win against Quiet, and win against himself!

Cong Yi understood better than anyone else the significance that Wei Xiao held for Asleep.

It was Cong Yi who’d led Asleep to the professional arena, but Wei Xiao was the one who’d thoroughly aroused the passion in Asleep’s blood and made him stay.

Asleep wanted to win.

Cong Yi also wanted to win!

The commentators were surprised when they saw the line-ups of both sides.

“Tang Chen took the space-time knight knight. Is FTW going to play double support?”

“The space-time knight hasn’t been on the court for a long time. There aren’t many top-laners who can use it well anymore.”

“FTW’s double support configuration is very strong. Will 3U ban the shadow thief?”

“They didn’t! FTW took the shadow thief!”

The scrolling comments had more content, “I’m done for, I’m done for, I want to cry.”

“This old fan is already crying my heart out.”

“God Tang’s space-time knight ahhhhh, my Close’s strongest back-up!”

“Let me ask quietly, are the morning dew sisters still alive…”

“Alive, alive! But my Lulu isn’t here!”

“My time is only frozen for you.”

“I’ll break through time and wait for the return of the king.”

“That’s right, that’s right…”

Some new people didn’t know what was going on, “What’s morning dew?

“Who is Lulu?”

Then, they realized, “Lu, LU, Lulu… holy shit, you guys are really gutsy!”

“The great demon king even has such a cute… cute… nickname?!”

“This five year hardcore FTW fan wants to express that the 16 year old Lulu was invincible when he spiraled up to the sky in an explosion of cuteness.”

“……………………”

The new fans thought about it, “Sorry… I can’t imagine it!”

When Wei Xiao took the shadow thief, Lu Feng’s eyes were filled with his smile.

The little nurse didn’t know Chinese and couldn’t understand the scrolling comments that were flying across the screen. She could only ask curiously, “Is this the hero Quiet is best at?”

Lu Feng explained, “One of them.”

The nurse didn’t know anything about the game, but it didn’t prevent her from looking at the handsome boy. “He’s so powerful! Can your team win?”

Lu Feng: “……”

The little nurse realized that she’d asked a bit too much and apologized, “I don’t quite get it, please don’t take it seriously.”

Lu Feng stared at the screen, “It’s okay.”

The little nurse glanced at him, her heart pounding.

Sure enough, a handsome man was handsome regardless of race, region, or national boundaries. This aura around him really made people unable to move their legs.

However, such a handsome man already had someone in his heart.

Ah…

The little nurse was lovelorn again.

This was already the second time today; it really wasn’t worth it.

Lu Feng was looking at the screen, but his thoughts weren’t on the match between FTW and 3U.

He remembered what Wei Xiao had said to him when he was still in China.

“Do you know when the first time I saw you was?”

When they were alone together, Wei Xiao always liked to stick close to him, hooking their fingers together, touching his arms, and when he couldn’t hold back, he’d kiss him.

Lu Feng pressed down his restless hands and was a little absent-minded, “Hm?”

Wei Xiao insisted on touching him. “Guess.”

Lu Feng: “Two years ago?”

The first time they’d met was two years ago, when FTW outbid the other clubs with 2,000,000 and extended an olive branch to Wei Xiao.

Wei Xiao had left the youth training camp and gone straight to FTW. At the time, he was wearing only a black jacket, his long legs encased in jeans, and his nose was red with cold, but his eyes were black and bright, and his voice was equally clear and bright, “Close, can I solo with you?”

Lu Feng had been stunned for a moment.

He’d stood on the steps and looked at the youth standing below him. He was clearly looking downwards, but it was as though he could see the rising sun, breaking through the winter fog and summoning the long lost spring.

Wei Xiao: “To be exact, it was nearly three years ago.”

Lu Feng: “Where?”

Had he seen Wei Xiao three years ago?

Impossible. As long as he’d met him once, he wouldn’t have forgotten him.

Wei Xiao: “In an internet cafe.”

Lu Feng frowned, “I…”

Wei Xiao jumped out of his arms and ran to turn on the computer, easily pulling up a game video.

Lu Feng understood with a glance.

Wei Xiao pointed to the shadow thief bathed in the current of space-time and said, “Back then, I cut class and ran to the internet bar, and what I saw was exactly this scene.”

There were always one or two extremely fragile moments in one’s life.

Helpless, confused, lonely, and in pain.

Feeling as though one was separated from everything, abandoned by everyone around them, as though their long and distant life would just be bitter and miserable.

However…

As long as there was just a moment, a scene, or even just a casual smile, it could become a dazzling light.

A light that shot through the dark and lit up the whole stage!

There was no doubt that during that spring, the shadow thief named Close had lit up Wei Xiao’s world.

He’d carried his teammates’ expectations in a desperate situation, stood up from death in a reversal of space and time, and forged a bloody path in a guaranteed loss situation.

Perseverance, faith, and firmness of will.

At that moment, through that scene, endless power had surged through Wei Xiao.

A power called Close!

Ever since Wei Xiao expressed his feelings, he spoke endless sweet words like they didn’t cost money.

Whenever Lu Feng felt that his words couldn’t be any sweeter, Wei Xiao was always able to come up with another sentence that was so sweet it made his heart melt––

“Captain, I got to know you earlier than you think.”

“Captain, I started liking you earlier than you think.”

“Heya, I fell in love with you at first sight, even though you didn’t know who I was at the time.”

Lu Feng kissed him, fearing that he would turn reality into a dream if he continued talking.

Sweet Wei went offline, and the little vinegar bag came out again.

In the past, there hadn’t been so many scrolling comments, but now, the screen was full of them.

Especially the ‘morning dew’, ‘Lulu’, ‘… Time only solidifies for you.’

A whole pile of golden CP sentences scrolled across the screen, and Wei Xiao was jealous enough to die. “Morning dew sounds really good.”

Better than ‘seclusion’, better than ‘twin junglers’, and better than the great and little demon king.

Lu Feng: “……”

Wei Xiao was even more jealous, “Lulu?”

Ahhhh, how could things be like this?!

Lu Feng poked his eyebrows. “Show respect for your elders.”

Wei Xiao lifted up his arm and looked at him. “Lulu!”

Lu Feng looked at him.

Wei Xiao leaned in and bit at his Adam’s apple. “It sounds terrible!”

Lu Feng: “Mm.”

Wei Xiao lifted his head up to look at him again. “Big brother.”

Lu Feng’s heart stuttered.

“Boyfriend.”

“……”

“Hus...wu…”

Lu Feng blocked his lawless mouth.

The Wei Xiao who became increasingly energetic with more kissing pasted himself against him again. “How come the CP names of you with other people sound so good?”

Morning dew, double wind… even the pickled vegetables CP sounded interesting.

How come it was so difficult when it came to him? Just thinking up a CP name was enough to make him want to go into seclusion.

Lu Feng: “Because we’re not a CP.”

Wei Xiao was stunned, looking at him with wide eyes.

Lu Feng kissed him gently, then added in a low voice, “… We’re boyfriends.”

Wei Xiao: “!!!”

The author has something to say:

Lulu, tsk. [back feels cold, lifting up the pot lid and crawling away]

xiin: i feel like we need a glossary for all these CP names (and nicknames… Lulu~)