FOG [e-sports]

Chapter 38

On the way back to Free’s base, except for Yu Sui and Zhou Huo, who were still in the dark, the other four’s expressions didn’t look quite right.

Puppy, intentionally or unintentionally, pushed Yu Sui and Zhou Huo to sit in the front row. The other four were in the last two rows of the nanny car.

Yu Sui, who was sitting in the front row, looked back at Shi Luo but said nothing.

Zhou Huo also turned to look at Shi Luo. He wanted to ask what Shi Luo was doing, silently following them back to the Free’s base. Wasn’t he going to return to IAC to pack up? IAC and Free’s bases were in the opposite direction. Was he going to move in today or not? How much time was he going to waste?

Like Chen Huo and the others, Zhou Huo was also a bit fearful of Shi Luo. After thinking about it, Zhou Huo thought that if Yu Sui wasn’t going to ask, he wasn’t going to ask either.

In the backrow, Shi Luo, with a cold expression on his face, was lost in thought. Ji Yanhan had thrown his emotions into chaos. He had forgotten that he had to take a taxi back to IAC alone. It wasn’t until the driver parked the car in front of Free’s base that Shi Luo returned to his senses. Without any rhyme or reason, he had gone into the car with them back to Free’s base.

Shi Luo got out of the car and checked the time. It was already eleven in the evening.

Zhou Huo proposed, “Should I have the driver take you back?”

“Don’t! No, no!” Puppy hurriedly stopped them, saying, “You’ve already come all the way here. Come on up and hang out.”

“Yes, yes, yes.” Chen Huo followed up, eyes bright, “Come on up to my room for a cup of tea. Come on, come.”

Old Qiao reacted as well. He nodded. “Oh, right. You’re here already so come on in. It’s been a long time since us four brothers have had a nice chat. Come on.”

Shi Luo understood what the other three were trying to do. He said stiffly, “Alright...”

All four headed for Chen Huo’s room.

Yu Sui, who was left standing where he was, turned to Zhou Huo.

Zhou Huo was even more at a loss than Yu Sui. He asked carefully, “In your team before...did the four of them get along particularly well?”

Yu Sui: “...”

Yu Sui, who had been inexplicably isolated, entered the base to collect the materials to be used tomorrow. On the second floor, in the room marked as Chen Huo’s, the four people entered and locked the door.

“I regret it so much.” Old Qiao clutched at his hair in vexation. “What was I doing trying to scold that kind of person? I wasted all that effort just to give him a good laugh.”

“In any case, he won’t help. We should have just dragged him to somewhere without anyone else and beat him up to vent.” Chen Huo was endlessly annoyed. “We shouldn’t have left. We were hasty, too hasty.”

“There’s no medicine for remorse. Besides, it would have been useless.” Puppy was helpless. “What I regret is not recording it.”

Chen Huo slapped his forehead. “Yes!!! Why didn’t anyone record it?”

“Who would have thought we would run into him?” Puppy was helpless. “I shouldn’t have said so much either and had him clarify by himself. He probably wouldn’t have talked and what if he’d said something ambiguous? If he’d said something unclear, it would have just added trouble for Yu Sui...My god, my head hurts.”

Old Qiao nodded. “This was what I was afraid of. The original idea was that after the new team entered the league, a few of us would find an opportunity, whether it’s by imploring to his emotions, by trickery or by threatening, to have that bastard come forward and say something. We were too carried away today and we weren’t able to do it well.”

“I don’t blame you,” Chen Huo consoled. “Who could f*cking stay calm when faced with Ji Yanhan?”

Old Qiao said warily, “He wouldn’t try to slander us and say that we beat him, right? We didn’t even lay a hand on him.”

Shi Luo whispered, “We have to take precautions against him making any false accusations. We have to get our hands on that surveillance. It might not be very clear but it will prove that we didn’t lay a hand on him.”

Chen Huo looked at Shi Luo and tried to probe out. “Have you...already reconciled with Yu Sui?”

As soon as Shi Luo heard this, his face darkened. Puppy hurriedly said, “When the external contradiction is greater than the internal contradiction, we have to settle the external contradiction first! Once this matter is settled, whatever he and Yu Sui want to do is up to them. It has nothing to do with us.”

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Shi Luo felt troubled and he turned to look out the window.

“What I’m afraid of now is that I may have overreached.” Old Qiao continued to clutch his hair. “You think I infuriated that bastard just now?”

Chen Huo said, unsure, “Probably&#k2026;not.”

Old Qiao clutched madly at his hair. “If instead of helping I just gave more fuel for the haters&#k2026;I’m going to jump out that window in apology!”

When a knock sounded on the door, everyone grew quiet, feeling guilty. Behind the door, Zhou Huo said, “Because of the team’s promotion, there are documents that each player needs to sign. Come down and sign them.”

They all looked at each other and shook their heads. They went out the door and headed downstairs. Upon seeing Yu Sui, Old Qiao, Puppy and Chen Huo avoided him out of guilt.

Yu Sui had the most things that needed signing. While he signed the documents, he surveyed everyone and said, “Actually...”

These people’s heart immediately flew to their throats.

Yu Sui kindly reminded them “If have something bad to say about me, you can actually just say it to my face.”

“What the hell are you talking about? Who’s saying bad things about you!” The more Old Qiao wanted to conceal it, the more conspicuous he seemed. “We were just talking about today’s game, it has nothing to do with you.”

“Oh.” Yu Sui nodded and organized the documents. “That’s right. Because it was you four who played today’s games.”

Old Qiao pretended not to hear and signed his own documents.

Yu Sui looked at each of them and his eyes finally landed on Shi Luo.

The two stared at each other for a second, and looked away at the same time.

This atmosphere was too awkward. This kind of thing was the most unbearable for Shi Luo. He said, “Just now, we saw Ji Yanhan and we...”

Shi Luo might as well come out with everything.

In the first floor conference room, the atmosphere was solemn.

Yu Sui listened to the whole thing quietly and smiled.

“What were you all thinking?” Yu Sui continued to sign. He said lightly, “It doesn’t matter. Let him do what he wants.”

Old Qiao looked embarrassedly at Yu Sui. “You...”

Chen Huo hesitated. “Aren’t you worried?”

“I already knew this might happen when I decided not to let them off on that last game.” Yu Sui said indifferently, “Let him do as he wants.”

Old Qiao and Chen Huo still looked worriedly at Yu Sui. Yu Sui laughed in spite of himself. “What I’m actually more curious about is why you all think I’m afraid of being sprayed.”

Yu Sui reached out his hand and pulled over Zhou Huo’s notebook laptop. “Is the projection connected? Do you need me to make a live broadcast of me looking through the forums to reassure you?”

“Don’t! Please don’t!” Old Qiao said hurriedly, “I’m afraid I’m going to die from anger before you do!”

Old Qiao’s words were a step too slow. Yu Sui’s hand was too fast and he had already clicked open a certain forum’s e-sports section.

The first highlighted title was very eye-catching:

[That disloyal servant, Whisper’s own team was promoted thru the qualifiers today and in their last game, they sent their old home, Team FS packing. How do you look at this? 】

Old Qiao slammed his hand against the table angrily. “The f*ck! Disloyal?! You don’t know sh*t!”

Yu Sui continued to scroll down. They were all basically related to him. There were those who were cursing him, those that felt sorry for FS and there were also those who were taking advantage of the confusion to spray and blacken people. As they continued to scroll, Yu Sui saw a new post that made him pause.

[FS’ boss Ji Yanhan just posted and then deleted a series of posts on Weibo. What’s with this situation? 】

Yu Sui narrowed his eyes and clicked on this post.

A screenshot was posted on the first page of the post, first were screenshots of the posts Ji Yanhan made before.

[Sorry for disappointing everyone. Team FS has lost in the qualifiers. I’ve just finished having a farewell drink with the players. I’ve discussed with the players and senior management. FS will be relinquishing our qualification to participate in the secondary league. Senior management will complete the termination after three months. During this period, the transfer of the remaining FS players will be arranged. ]

[Sorry, everyone. ]

Then there are several screenshots of the posts Ji Yanhan deleted.

[Some things have been misunderstood. Today, I would like to clarify that no player of FS has the right to buy or sell other players. ]

[Two years ago, there was a problem with the funding of the FS Club. There was no other choice but to arrange for the transfer of the players to gather the necessary funding. It was a top management problem and had nothing to do with the players.]

[It was top management from back then who had been unfair to the players.]

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The following pictures were the transfer contracts from two years ago. They were written in black and white. The years remaining on Yu Sui’s and the other’s contracts were clearly written. Everyone still had more than two years in their contracts. It was completely different from what was previously uploaded online — that Yu Sui had taken advantage of his expiring contract to leave with the team.

Within a few minutes, all the major e-sports forums were slaughtered by Ji Yanhan’s Weibo, and everyone went into a frenzy.

Old Qiao stared blankly at the projection. “He... actually clarified?”

“What does he mean by posting it and then immediately deleting it? Fortunately someone took a screenshot.” Puppy hurriedly took out his phone to look at it. “My god... My WeChat’s going crazy.”

Zhou Huo’s expression was stiff. He stood up and said, “No one post anything on Weibo or respond to anyone on WeChat. For now, I... I have to hold a meeting with the operations and the media. None of you make any moves. Maybe we really can successfully clarify this! Don’t move.”

As soon as he said that, Zhou Huo left the conference room to make the necessary calls. Yu Sui continued to look at the post, his expression remained unchanged.

Shi Luo picked up his mobile phone and read the post quickly. His WeChat kept buzzing with incoming messages. Shi Luo went out to block all messages and then continued reading the post.

Ji Yanhan’s single stone incited thousands upon thousands of waves. Late into the night, the forums exploded.

Shi Luo scrolled through the post, his fingers slightly trembling.

Two years later, can they finally clarify what happened back then?

The Internet was divided into two factions, torn apart completely. Yu Sui’s haters were long accustomed to hating on him and so they naturally found their own angle. Even if they were beaten to death, they wouldn’t admit that Ji Yanhan was clarifying things for Yu Sui. They kept insisting that there was more to this matter, that there were still secrets that were hidden.

Yu Sui’s fans were completely mad. They had endured abuse for two years. The fans themselves had already recognized it. Unexpectedly, back then, not only did Yu Sui not get a single penny, he was even made to carry the entire pot. Fans now can’t wait to stab to death Ji Yanhan’s “FS top management”. They weren’t satisfied with just tearing into the forums. They directly flooded Ji Yanhan’s Weibo, compelling him to explain the details. Just who had it been who sold the players? For how much? Using what methods?”

Ji Yanhan’s last Weibo post passed 30,000 comments in a flash. Fans even started bombarding all FS executive’s Weibo accounts, demanding justice. All of FS’ executives, including Ji Yanhan, did not respond.

Shi Luo gritted his teeth. Right now, he wanted nothing more than to put a knife against Ji Yanhan’s neck and force him to open a live broadcast to explain everything.

Most everyone felt that same. Old Qiao and Chen Huo were about to explode from holding back. The already couldn’t help but open side accounts to exchange insults with the sprayers.

Only Yu Sui, showed no difference from how he usually was. He looked through the post like he was reading through a document.

Shi Luo looked at uncomprehendingly at Yu Sui. He couldn’t help but say, “You...”

Yu Sui looked at Shi Luo. “It’s already getting late. Should I send you back to IAC? Should we get your luggage today?”

“How can you think about my luggage at a time like this?!” Shi Luo looked at the other people in the meeting room. He was angry but had no place to vent it on. He got up and said, “You... come out.”

Yu Sui nodded, put away his cell phone and followed Shi Luo out of the meeting room.

In the hallway, Shi Luo gritted his teeth. “You... You’re not angry at all?”

Yu Sui shook his head. “No.”

Shi Luo really didn’t understand. “Do you really not care about what happened that year?”

“Of course I care.” Yu Sui leaned against the wall. “That year even made me vomit blood. Did you forget?”

Shi Luo cried out. “Then after that? Did you think you’d squared all accounts and forgetten all about it?”

Yu Sui looked at Shi Luo and after a moment, said, “No.”

“When I first arrived in Germany...” Yu Sui looked at the hanging lamp in the corridor and slowly said, “I wasn’t in a good place for a very long time.”

He was a human person with a human body. Nobody was indestructible.

Yu Sui had just transferred to the European division and he watched helplessly as Puppy and Chen Huo were put up for sale one after the other. He kept thinking of Old Qiao and Shi Luo across the sea. For Yu Sui, each miserable day felt like a year. For a time, he felt like giving up on himself.

“For a period of time...except for training sessions, I didn’t talk. Except to contact my parents, I didn’t look at any social apps. I didn’t socialize, I didn’t go out...” Yu Sui combed through his hair, “I let my hair grow long at that time, because I didn’t feel like getting it cut. I didn’t want to see people, I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I didn’t want to make small talk.”

“Back then, I blocked out everything, including myself.” Yu Sui whispered, “I couldn’t explain to myself, so I just gave up and stopped bothering. I made myself into a machine. I considered myself as just a tool for the team. I would just muddle along... muddle along until I retire. Just finish everything.”

Yu Sui focused back his attention at Shi Luo. “Later I found that...I couldn’t just muddle along. I could be met with retribution.”

Shi Luo was dazed. “What retribution? What happened to you?!”

“Nothing happened to me.” Yu Sui stared fixedly at Shi Luo and said quietly, “Something happened to you.”

Shi Luo was at a loss. He tried to recall the time when Yu Sui had just gone to Europe. Yu Sui’s departure had hit him hard. Was there anything else that involved him later on?

Shi Luo tried his best to recall when something suddenly came to mind. He was struck speechless. “That time...”

Yu Sui whispered, “Yes, that practice match.”

“At that time, that was Sacred Sword’s style. They would unreasonably roll over everyone. They did whatever made them happy. Things like keeping guard on the resurrection stone was pretty standard for them. I had never practiced such a disgusting tactic before. But since I regarded myself as their tool, I didn’t care anymore.”

“At the time, my teammates were trying to curry favor with me. I’m a medic. No matter what kind of play I did, the number of heads I’d get would always be the least. That’s why they always let me have the kill.”

“Of course, there was no excuse for it. It was me who camped at the reincarnation stone. No one pressed my keyboard for me. And back then I didn’t feel guilty at all. I was numb all the way until...” Yu Sui paused and couldn’t say anything else.

Yu Sui, who’d kept his emotions completely steady for two whole years finally felt a bit like he couldn’t control them anymore.

“Until...” Yu Sui felt like there was a lump in his throat, “One hour after the game ended and I found out from Gu Gan that that new medic named Evil, who I’d just run over, was originally named Luo.”

It was Shi Luo who Yu Sui had killed 34 times at their resurrection stone.

“Sure enough, I couldn’t just muddle along.” Yu Sui closed his eyes. “I just decided to muddle along for a day and...”

Retribution rained down on the person he least wanted to harm.

“I didn’t mean to speak for myself and you don’t have to forgive me.” Yu Sui said quietly, “I owe you, I haven’t forgotten, but I just want to tell you that the real torment for me was those few months after arriving in Europe. How Ji Yanhan got me so angry that I had to be rushed to the emergency room is no longer worth mentioning. It doesn’t torment me anymore. That’s why I really don’t feel anything about this little commotion he’d created online now. It can’t harm me anymore.”

“There is nothing to owe.” Shi Luo frowned and whispered, “I was the one who impulsively signed that five-year contract. I was the one who caused you trouble. It was you who worked hard to protect me. I knew everything. What I couldn’t accept wasn’t that. I had long forgotten that matter about being repeatedly killed at the resurrection stone. It was because of...”

“Problem solved!”

From the other end of the corridor, Zhou Huo hurriedly rushed over, “I contacted the hotpot restaurant we just ate at and asked them to cooperate. They looked through the surveillance and there was a record. But the video they themselves have of you guys talking with Ji Yanhan was shot from pretty far away and it was obstructed by the car. However, their next door neighbor had a personal surveillance camera there and they’re going to send the video record to us. Although, the car still partially blocked the scene, this one has audio recording and it captured everything loud and clear!”

“I’m afraid Ji Yanhan might also think about getting this surveillance and distort the contents so we’ve bought the surveillance content and are prepared to upload it. I’d like to see him try to wash it clean this time!” Zhou Huo looked at Shi Luo, his face absolutely beaming. “I don’t have enough time to listen through it. You guys didn’t say anything that could be detrimental to us, right? It’s fine to release the video now, right?”

Shi Luo was relieved, and after thinking about it, he couldn’t remember anything that couldn’t be made public, and said, “It’s okay, upload it.”