《Fish Playing While Trapped in a Secret Room》 Volume 1 - CH Prelude Prelude: Personal Grievance Round On the bed, there were several laptops, mice, keyboards and headphones strewn about. A practice game had just finished in this room. Now only Ai Qing remained in the room. She sat at the desk, her eyes reflected the continuous fluctuating lights of the computer screens. She carefully checked the video of the game commentary she had just produced. Very quickly, she reviewed the video and opened the SP club official website to upload the video to her own home page. Then she posted the video to her personal Weibo, shut down the computer, and walked out of the room. This was the first time she had come to Korea as part of the SP club staff. There were over 30 people in her group. Except the Chinese regional manager Baona and Solo who each stayed in a villa, all the others shared rooms, three in one room. Ai Qing, with the map provided by the organizer in hand, walked around three small buildings and finally found the small villa Baona was staying. She reached out and rang the doorbell. It rang once, twice, then a third time¡­... There was no answer? She looked at her watch. It was 8:30PM, the time Baona had scheduled the appointment with her. Did they all go out to eat? Probably not. Though Baona liked to have fun with others, he never missed any meeting. She carefully listened to the sound inside the room and found no sign of any movement in the first floor. She rang the doorbell again, then waited for three more minutes. Finally she could not help but call Baona¡¯s cell. He answered the phone shortly. ¡°Are you here?¡± Baona¡¯s voice sounded a little excited. ¡°Uhm.¡± Ai Qing replied, ¡°I am downstairs.¡± ¡°Sorry. Sorry. Ai Qing, I forgot the appointment with you. Let me send Xiaoduo downstairs to open the door for you.¡± She heard the footsteps not long after she hung up the phone. Xiaoduo stretched out his head after he opened the door. He made a funny face at her, then without saying anything, he turned around hurriedly ran back upstairs. Ai Qing had a strange feeling about all of this. After she followed him to the second floor, the strange feeling became even stronger. She found a very large living room, with a bar on the second floor, but nobody was there. All twenty three people, holding either beer or coke in their hands, gathered around the dining table watching the only three laptop computers in this room. It was too crowded, she could only see their backs and their heated discussions. She could not really see what was displayed on the screens of those three laptops. ¡°Is our top commentator here?¡± Baona looked like he wanted to continue watching and reluctantly moved his eyes to look at Ai Qing. ¡°I surfed around your Weibo today. It was so weird. How come all the people who confess to you are all girls. Someone said she wanted to have a baby with you?¡± Xiaoduo chuckled and said. ¡°She was different from Solo¡¯s arrogant and cold style. Gou Gou absolutely was the public lover. On the gaming platforms, she was the best candidate for a ¡®husband¡¯.¡± Ai Qing laughed and walked over behind Baona. She looked over the screen and saw DotA2. ¡°Practice game?¡± The big boys crowding around quickly gave her some room. Baona mysteriously shook his head. ¡°No, we are watching a grievance round.¡± ¡°Grievance round?¡± Grievance round, as the name suggests, is the gamers¡¯ way to settle personal scores. Be it arguments in game, on the forums or disputes over qualifying games; or small issues in the real world, such as who took whose girlfriend, who spilled whose lunchbox; issues as big as fans of different clubs fighting with each other or disputes of professional players from different countries, they can all be settled by a round of game. It¡¯s like a duel in the old days. On all gaming platforms, there are many disputes happening everyday. Naturally there are tens of thousands of grievance rounds usually. There¡¯s nothing special about it. Only¡­...What kind of grievance round was worthy to the eyes of so many SP club members? To the point that even the Chinese regional manager Baona and Solo showed such great interest? As the strongest club in China, SP recruited many top players and had become a peculiar legend in the esports circle. Being a legendary club, there were much hearsay about the club and it¡¯s hard to get a true picture of it. Every year, those SP top players would receive invitations from various tournaments around the world. The top SP players would use alternate ids to play on the three largest platforms, Battle Net, VS and CGA, therefore, anyone could have the chance to play against real top players who were hiding behind the screen. ¡°Exploring the Mysteries of SP¡±, ¡°SP Secrets¡±, ¡°Talk About SP¡¯s Affairs¡±, any post with ¡®SP¡¯ in its title would become the hottest post on a forum¡­... But now, what attracted such attention of these legendary top players was absolutely not any ordinary grievance round. Volume 1 - CH 1 Book 1: The Storm is Coming Chapter 1 Behind her, a new member explained the situation in a low voice, ¡°Solo¡¯s apprentice used an alternate id to play ranked games. He got into a minor dispute with someone and they agreed to solve it with a grievance round. In the beginning, it seemed like a joke, but we unexpectedly lost the first game. Since everyone happened to be bored here, we¡¯re taking turns playing one by one. We have some wins and losses up to now, 3 to 7.¡± ¡°3 to 7? And we¡¯re the 7?¡± ¡°Yeah, we¡¯re 7. If we lost more than we won, then we better simply stop and commit suicide right now as an apology.¡± Xiaoduo made a face, but seemed quite relaxed. So, it was a grievance round between SP players and someone? ¡°Whose turn is it now?¡± She asked. ¡°The whole ME team already had their turns, and the IG team is almost done. If we continue to play, probably the bosses will give it a try too.¡± ME and IG had already played? Both these teams had won the Asian Tournament championship and were in the top three of various international competitions¡­...In other words, these two were considered the best even in the SP club. Needless to say, right now they must have run into professional players. Ai Qing moved her eyes away from the screens and glanced at the man across the dining table from her. Solo still wore a simple, pure white, long-sleeved polo shirt. With one hand inside his pants¡¯ pocket as usual, he was quietly talking with other members around him. He sensed her gaze and looked back at her. ¡°Do you feel it strange that we¡¯re paying so much attention to this grievance round?¡± ¡°Are the opponents all professional players?¡± ¡°Almost, ¡° Solo chuckled. ¡°You may know some of them.¡± Someone she knew? She knew too many professional players. ¡°It was Grunt.¡± Solo gave her a name. Grunt. He was a dangerous player who rose to fame by playing Starcraft 2. From the beginning of this year until now, he had won more than 800,000 RMB personal award prizes. And this man had some connections with Ai Qing. He almost became Ai Qing¡¯s older twin sister¡¯s boyfriend. Just almost. Of course, the point was not about small gossip. Grunt had not signed with any club after he became famous. SP got in touch with him two months ago, but unfortunately it did not work out. But just five days ago, he suddenly announced that he had joined a very young club------K&K. A new club founded in the spring last year, but they had developed very fast. They had competed with SP players in several tournaments. They won one championship and three runners-up. In the meantime, they poached three SP players to join them this summer, offering them extremely high pay. And now, with K&K recruiting Grunt, they intention to compete against SP was obvious. Volume 1 - CH 2 Chapter 2 ¡°Not just Grunt, the players hiding behind these alternate ids should all be K&K¡¯s professional players.¡± Baona added. ¡°Additionally¡­...maybe not just K&K, there are probably some spectators from other clubs watching.¡± ¡°So this is a joint challenge to our SP by the other big clubs?¡± Someone followed. Both Baona and Solo had not made any comment before Ai Qing arrived. With that explanation, everyone understood why their two bosses were watching so attentively. ¡°K&K is really menacing.¡± Everyone prepared to trounce them. Ai Qing was happy to watch the fun. She pulled out an empty chair and sat down. Just then, a small window popped up on the computer screen: We have already played for one hour. Let¡¯s send our ace players to play the last battle, ok? ¡°No problem.¡± Baona chuckled and had somebody reply back. Soon the screen popped up another window: Let¡¯s not play a duel for the last game. How about 5 against 5? 5 against 5? Baona hesitated for a couple seconds and looked around. ¡°Our DotA2 main team is competing in Europe currently. If we re-assemble a team¡­¡­¡± It seemed that no player was specialized in this game? ¡°Ai Qing,¡± Baona saw her and smiled immediately. He threw the problem to her, ¡°You¡¯ve played DotA before. You pick the players.¡± ¡°Me?¡± ¡°Right, You pick the players.¡± Baona said, all smiles. ¡°Anyway our main team is not here. You just choose several players to play for fun.¡± ¡°Well¡­...Do I just choose casually as I wish?¡± ¡°Go ahead.¡± ¡°Is it ok if the player has never played DotA?¡± ¡°Absolutely ok.¡± ¡°Can I volunteer myself to play?¡± ¡°You¡¯re welcome to!¡± ¡°What happens if we lose?¡± it did have some risk, however. ¡°If we lose,¡± Baona smiled ambiguously. ¡°Let¡¯s just have Solo take the blame.¡± Volume 1 - CH 3 Chapter 3 Ai Qing quietly constructed a list of players. Meanwhile, Baona had someone ask the opponent to show their names and told them that they would pick out five players shortly. The opponent responded with a team very quickly: Pinzhongsha, Budaobuloudao, 00, Huigui, and Momomo. ¡°Budaobuloudao and 00?¡± Someone recognized these two alternate ids, they belonged to SP players who had been poached by K&K¡­... It was inevitable that they would fight their former teammates. ¡°And Grunt and 97.¡± Baona added. ¡°Pinzhongsha is Grunt¡¯s alternate id on China¡¯s Battle.net which is openly known. Huigui is 97¡¯s alternate id. He signed on with K&K together with Grunt this year.¡± As the China regional manager, he was always paying close attention to newcomers who had potential. ¡°97 had been Grunt¡¯s friend since childhood. He was ranked third in Warcraft at the Chinese regional tournament and fourth in Asia.¡± Ai Qing added. ¡°But he got sick later so he did not participate in the final round.¡± She was very familiar with this man. It was already an impressive lineup with just these four players. The other side had kept their promise. But the last player¡­¡­ ¡°Momomo.¡± Someone knew this id. ¡°Didn¡¯t he have a battle with Solo several years ago? Is it right, boss?¡± Solo nodded. ¡°If he has not changed his id¡­...it should be him.¡± ¡°Is he a professional player also?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Solo confirmed again. ¡°An opponent no one could overlook,¡± he said nonchalantly. Ai Qing slowly exhaled. The rest of them only recognized the name ¡°Momomo¡± except for Solo and her. They were the only two who knew the man behind this alternate id. He appeared here unexpectedly. Did he just join to play by chance, or¡­...had he already signed on with K&K? Solo noticed her hesitation, ¡°Any problems?¡± ¡°No problem.¡± Ai Qing looked over the mice on the desk and selected the most comfortable one, ¡°This splendorous lineup is only once in a lifetime. Nobody would miss it.¡± Furthermore, this was not the first time she had battled against this man. They had already battled against each other from CS to DotA. Seven years ago, both of them representing China in the Singapore Asian Tournament. But now, he was her opponent. Volume 1 - CH 4 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 1: The Storm is Coming Chapter 4 Ai Qing was silent for three seconds, then she gave out a list of names: 701, Xiaoxiao, Following¡­...and her own alternate id Appledog. She was choosing the last player. She hesitated for a long time. Finally, instead of choosing Solo, she looked at the person next to her. ¡°Boss, play with us.¡± ¡°Me?¡± Baona was shocked. ¡°Why do I need to play? Has SP already withered to such an extent that I have to play?¡± ¡°It¡¯s alright, boss.¡± Ai Qing casually mentioned. ¡°I am also just a commentator.¡± ¡°Are you joking? Ten years ago, at the height of CS, you were the sniper of the best team¡­¡­¡± Though Baona complained, he sat down in high spirits, rolling up his sleeves. ¡°Come on. Can somebody explain to me how to play DotA2 first?¡± ¡­¡­ The computers were quickly lined up on the dining table. She turned on the computer in front of her, but found DotA2 was not installed. ¡°Any more computers?¡± She took off the earphones and asked Baona. ¡°This computer does not have DotA2.¡± ¡°Mine doesn¡¯t have DotA2 either. I only have DotA.¡± Xiaoxiao also took off his earphones somewhat helplessly. DotA2 wasn¡¯t the main event for all the players here. Naturally, most computers did not have the game installed. But Ai Qing¡¯s computer had it installed. Being a qualified commentator, playing various games was her daily routine. She told the opponent to wait for her for 10 minutes so she could go back to fetch her computer. The opponent replied immediately after she sent the message: ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. We can play DotA instead of DotA2.¡± DotA? Ai Qing did not know whether this was destiny. Ten years ago, she lost this game to him. She had no objections. She clicked on the DotA icon on the screen. DotA, Defense of the Ancients. This was the classic team based battle arena game in the past 10 years. One player¡¯s mistake could cause the whole team to lose regardless of each player¡¯s skill, chosen hero, or tactics. Therefore, teamwork determined everything. But tonight¡­..Ai Qing did not know the opponent¡¯s situation. But she was fully aware that the five players on her side was a temporary assembly. Though they were all very familiar with the game, there was a distinct lack of teamwork. So she needed to choose heros carefully. It was very possible for the enemy to gain control of the map in the early game, they might only have the opportunity to turn the game around in the latter half of the game. But, this was not the problem. The greatest delight in DotA was the pleasure of completely turning a game around after your opponent had already locked the map down. Volume 1 - CH 5 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 1: The Storm is Coming Chapter 5 ¡°Ai Qing, were you on a DotA professional team before?¡± Baona¡¯s voice came over through the earphones. ¡°Yes, but only for a short time. I never made it to the Asian Tournament.¡± The Game Start screen displayed. Ai Qing quickly bought enough items. ¡°Do not believe in professional teams. The team I lost to was not even a professional team at that time.¡± ¡°Do you mean Dt?¡± ¡°Uhm.¡± The man who grabbed away the DotA Chinese Regional championship from her several years ago. ¡°I read the data about your final competition. Frankly speaking, his teammates were not very strong. They were almost crushed by your team. They all relied on him alone to even up the odds little by little and turned the game around. What to say¡­¡­¡± ¡°You don¡¯t need to do any face-saving for me. You would know that it is not a shame to lose to him if you had watched the competition.¡± Ai Qing laughed. Her eyes reflected the light of the computer screen. ¡°Simply speaking, my whole team lost to one person.¡± She looked around the entire map. Among the opponent¡¯s five players, she was only familiar with the two former SP players. As for Grunt and 97, Grunt specialized in Starcraft 2 and 97 in Warcraft, so nobody knew what their actual capability in DotA was. As for the last player¡­¡­ She looked at the position of ¡°Momomo¡±. She played with this man once before and she totally could not handle him. ¡°Right, it was absolutely not a shame. His ability to gank and anti gank was the strongest I ever saw.¡± Baona sighed and continued, ¡°What did people call you on the forum when you played DotA. Right, splendorous piano hand. Of course girls would care about being pretty even when they play a game. I have to say that your movements were absolutely splendorous. But when piano hand met ¡®God¡¯s Left Hand¡¯, then it could be considered fate.¡± Ai Qing curled her lips and did not speak. Suddenly, Momomo showed up in her view and disappeared in a flash without staying in her area. His actions were unbelievable. Her teammates just left her and she was alone by herself now. This was absolutely the best opportunity for Momomo to ambush her if he wanted to,¡­...She did not have time to think about it, a fierce battle had already started on the map. The teammates who just left her were hit by Momomo. The fierce battle happened too fast, too fast for her to support them. ¡°First blood.¡± The game announcer suddenly spoke. The player who killed first in the whole game showed up. The one who held the first blood was indeed Momomo. Volume 1 - CH 6 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book1: The Storm is Coming Chapter 6 Extreme skill, godlike focus. This was the praise he received at the time. Right now, his skill was still the same as before. The following thirty minutes, the performance of the ten players in the arena fully displayed the difference between professional and nonprofessional players. Only Ai Qing and Momomo had been professional players in DotA. She wore earphones. While she was focused to launch an attack to Grunt, Momomo already completed a double kill. Meanwhile the game announcer spoke again: ¡°holy shit!¡± If a player had killed his opponents ten times but he himself had yet to be killed, then the game announcer would use this phrase whenever he killed an opponent again. This was the most famous term in DotA------¡±Holy shit¡±. ¡°Holy shit!¡± ¡°Holy shit!¡± She kept hearing that sound over and over through the headphones. ¡°Shit!¡± Baona couldn¡¯t help himself from cursing when he died again. Except Ai Qing, the remainder of the entire map was just a stage for Momomo¡¯s killing show. She lightly exhaled. Up till now, she could confirm that there was absolutely no opportunity to turn the game around. It was same as the Chinese Regional final round in 2007. She lost to him. It was the same as this time. Up until the game was finally over, the \enemy never killed her even once. Ai Qing took off her earphones reluctantly. ¡°Whose alternate id is ¡®Momomo¡¯?¡± Baona asked Solo. Solo gave a lazy laugh. ¡°Didn¡¯t you just talk about it? There is only one person who could defeat Ai Qing on DotA completely without any doubt.¡± Baona was slightly stunned. ¡°Is Momomo Dt¡¯s alternate id?¡± Solo nodded. ¡°Damn¡­¡­¡± Her teammate Following, Dt¡¯s first blood just now, suddenly covered his face and yelled, ¡°No wonder I was beaten so badly, because it was him.¡± ¡°Dt? Isn¡¯t his main event Warcraft?¡± someone asked. After all he was only a short-lived player in ¡®07 and ¡®10. He disappeared before he was widely known. ¡°¡®He was the DotA player in 2007. He led the team taking the Asian Tournament championship.¡± Ai Qing answered, ¡°My team was the runner-up.¡± Dt was only 15 years old at that time. That year, Dt was the captain of the ¡®07 DotA championship team and represented China to win the championship at the Asian Tournament. In the same year, because of his high scores in DotA which gave the Chinese team a high enough score to win the Asian Tournament championship. It was also that year, he was nicknamed ¡®God¡¯s Left Hand¡¯ by the whole DotA circle just because of his ability to debilitate an entire team. Volume 1 - CH 7 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 1: The Storm is Coming Chapter 7 ¡°What¡¯d you bet for this game?¡± Ai Qing took a long sigh. She admitted their loss and prepared to accept the punishment. ¡°Bet?¡± Everyone spoke as they recovered from the excitement. They were too high from playing just now that they had forgotten why there was a grievance round in the first place. Someone had already uploaded the video of the match onto a DotA2 forum. The video was a shock to the community. All the players were in a frenzy when they saw so many famous alternate ids from SP and K&K. In just a little over 10 minutes, there were already several thousands of posts filling up more than thirty web pages. Ten players, two teams. Not a single one of them were weak. The most popular players, of course, were the big shots Grunt and 97. After all, these two were the king of rookies, who¡¯d won many big money awards recently. More and more people joined the online discussion, then the subject slowly switched to Momomo and Apple Dog. ¡­¡­ ¡°Is the id ¡®Momomo¡¯ still alive? Did the account close and someone re-registered it?¡± ¡°Re-registered? You are joking. Didn¡¯t you watch the video? He cleared the battlefield like a scythe and trapped the enemy like rats ¡­¡­¡± ¡°......it¡¯s so unexpected that Apple Dog would appear here . Where is Solo?¡± ¡°Solo is now one of the SP Chinese Regional managers. He could care less about winning award money the hard way, with keyboards.¡± ¡°What¡¯s happening between him and Gou Gou now?¡± ¡­¡­ The posts had dramatically switched towards personal gossip. Ai Qing closed the web page. There were various types of penalties for a grievance round. It could be as small as a Truth or Dare game, or as large as a money bet, disbandment of the team, or even retiring from the circle of the game¡­...Of course, they were definitely not going to disband the team or retire tonight. So, what was the penalty? ¡°It seems like the loser just agrees to a request from the winner. There was no actual agreement, but it can¡¯t be related to video games.¡± Solo¡¯s apprentice answered. He thought he was pretty smart himself. After all, with the term ¡°not related to video games¡±, the penalty should not affect SP too much. The referee of the game was urging K&K to submit their ¡°request¡± in the meanwhile. There was no response, it seemed that they were still pondering. What request would K&K ask for? Ai Qing could not think of any possible request. Not just her, everyone in the room and the excited players waiting on the forum were also guessing. What request would K&K make to SP? Some thought it might escalate to the club level; many didn¡¯t dare to guess any further. Suddenly, Grunt sent a response: ¡°Please ask SP¡¯s top commentator Apple Dog to make a commentary video for the game we just played.¡± ¡­¡­ Volume 1 - CH 8 Chapter 8 It¡­¡­ It was too easy. It was so easy that it felt like Grunt was deliberately going easy on them. Everyone looked at each other. It was hard to believe that Grunt, who was famous for his meanness, would let them off so easily. Ai Qing did not have any reason to refuse such an easy request from the opponent. She quickly returned to her room and started to produce the commentary video immediately while the memory was still fresh. She downloaded the video, edited, and added the introduction subtitles; she was very experienced with the whole process. Soon the first edition was finished. She put on the earphones and began the verbal narrative, ¡°¡­...as everyone can see, here is a very fierce mid player. He has strong map awareness, deadly ganks, buy items quickly and has an unpredictable playstyle. In the late game, his enemies had died so many times that they had been thrown into disarray¡­¡­¡± Suddenly, the video had a short period without any narration. She looked at the screen. She was thinking about the tactics of this tough opponent. How was she going to explain why Dt did not attack her at all for the whole night? Though he was the player with the highest DPS(Damage Per Second) and melee attack damage, he never killed her even when he was so strong at the end. It was simply inconceivable. ¡­¡­She could only assume that maybe he hesitated to kill her because they knew each other. After the video was uploaded to Weibo, her two roommates happened to come back from shopping. They were not in the resort village for the whole night, so they did not know that this grievance round was already all over the internet. After they put down the shopping bags and saw the video uploaded by Ai Qing, they just realized what a big event they had missed. They two ran over very quickly to watch the video replay. ¡°Grunt! Really. Why is he playing DotA2 suddenly?¡± ¡°Hey, hey, you only pay attention to K&K players. Didn¡¯t you see that their opponents is our team? Didn¡¯t you see that even our team manager played also? You are really something, you only have eyes for handsome guys.¡± ¡°Ah. Really. Xiao Xiao, 701, they all were there.¡± The young girl was aware of it after the hindsight. She bowed to Ai Qing, ¡°Manager, please excuse me. The whole world knew that I joined this circle for the sake of Grunt.¡± Ai Qing took off the wireless earphones and hung it on her neck. She smiled, ¡°The charm of a handsome guy is totally understandable.¡± ¡°But, manager.¡± Another young girl, who was more clear headed, was still watching the video. She pointed to a character who obviously was not very good at it. ¡°Who was this? Looks like he doesn¡¯t know how to play?¡± ¡°Uhm¡­¡­This was one of our rookies.¡± Ai Qing commented very fairly, ¡°This is our boss.¡± ¡°Boss? !¡± Both girls were shocked, ¡°Don¡¯t fool me! The manager! Tell me this is not true! Did solo play so poorly? He is my idol¡­¡­He¡¯s already ranked number 3 in the world when I was still wearing diapers¡­¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡­It was another boss.¡± ¡°Ah? ! Baona! !¡± The two girls were so shocked, they ran out the door screaming. They were shouting around in the hallway to gather all the women teammates together. In no time, more than ten heads were crowded in front of Ai Qing¡¯s computer intently watching the replay. After the game picked up pace, they were all mesmerized by Dt¡¯s alternate id, without an exception. ¡°Damn, he even had the confidence to get a Divine Rapier!¡± ¡®Divine Rapier?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you know ? Haven¡¯t you heard it even if you never played DotA? It was absolutely the dream weapon with only one disadvantage. Once you are killed, then you will drop it. If the opponent takes it, then that weapon will probably turn the game against you.¡± ¡°It was very rare that anybody would use it in official competitions because the risk was too high. It is ok to use for fun¡­¡­This guy¡¯s psyche is too strong. He dared to build a Divine Rapier when play against us, SP.¡± He wasn¡¯t just strong willed, he was simply too confident to act like a normal person. Ai Qing added silently in her mind. He ignored all opponents. He manipulated the entire map like a stage for his personal use, his own killing show. It was just like at the Singapore Tournament that year; his gank tactics controlled the entire map and crushed the other country¡¯s team one after another. She strolled to the balcony from her room. With the enthusiastic discussions behind her, she began to recollect the game she had just played. In July, the income ranking of all esports players for 2014 was just released. In the list this year, 1/3 of top 20 highest-paid players were from China. Although this profession still had a long way to go; and although video game competitions were still treated as an addiction that could destroy a person¡¯s life; and although¡­¡­there were still many people who could not tell the difference between an esports competition and a normal browser game. But apparently, this profession already had been brought onto the public stage. Many of her predecessors had already paved this path. This path would only get wider and wider in the future. Dt reappeared after disappearing for four years. So, were you here just to play for fun, or did you plan to enter this circle completely? She put her hands on the fence of the balcony and exhaled facing the night sky, thin white smoke came out of her mouth. Then she saw the man who stood right downstairs. He was by himself. He was very tall and still wore a baseball cap. The cap casted a shadow on his entire face. His silhouette seemed to be outlined by one stroke, without any extra lines. Volume 1 - CH 9 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 1: The Storm is Coming Chapter 9 This was¡­¡­ Her cell phone suddenly vibrated. She pulled it out and glanced at it. It was a call from Solo. ¡°Somebody wants to see you.¡± ¡°Who is it?¡± She looked at the man downstairs. He stood still. ¡°Dt.¡± There were some noises coming from Solo¡¯s end. ¡°I was busy talking about business with Baona just now and forgot to tell you that K&K club was also staying in this resort village for the invitational tournament. Their accommodations were arranged at the last moment.¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡­¡± Ai Qing had not moved her eyes away from the man downstairs. ¡°They also live here. So you already knew from beginning that it was K&K playing the grievance round against us?¡± Solo laughed, ¡°Yes. I knew that from the beginning. What about it. Don¡¯t you want to come out to meet old friend?¡± ¡°He¡¯s right here, downstairs.¡± ¡°Oh? How did he find us?¡± Who knew. Their rooms were not pre-assigned. Even the SP staff did not quite know about everybody¡¯s room assignment. ¡°Then I will go downstairs first. You come here as soon as you can.¡± It took about ten minutes to walk from Solo¡¯s place to here. Since an old friend was already here, she might as well walk down first. Meanwhile, she could ask him what he was doing the past couple years before Solo got here. She quickly changed clothes and walked down from the second floor by herself. After she turned at the corner of the stairs, she could already see Dt standing not too far away. Ai Qing put her hands inside the pockets of her jacket and walked down step by step. Dt saw someone coming down. After he recognized it was her, he finally moved and walked towards her. At last. She stopped and stood on the second to the last step. She looked at the man walking toward her and she gradually began to smile. When she met him the first time in Singapore, he was only a little bit taller than her. Now she still needed to look up at him even when she stood on top of two steps of the stairs. He really had grown up. ¡°Your commentary was splendid.¡± It was rare for him to speak first. Because of the angle of the moonlight, his whole face was hidden underneath the brim of his cap. She could not tell his expression specifically, but he was probably smiling judging from his voice. He had finished watching the video so quickly? ¡°No, you just played splendidly.¡± Ai Qing was telling the truth. She exhaled lightly. She pointed to the brim of his cap using her finger, then she moved down to point to her own forehead to indicate the difference between their heights. ¡°Now I have to look up to both your height and skill.¡± ¡°Not necessary.¡± He said. ¡°Today¡¯s game was not a professional match up. You can¡¯t tell the difference in actual ability.¡± She knew that what Dt meant was that tonight¡¯s game was not done by professional DotA teams. They were loosely organized teams on the spur of the moment. Though he was right to say that, but it really¡­...was unfair to all of those top notch players who had played tonight. ¡°I watched many of your commentary videos this year. They were all brilliant.¡± Right before she was trying to find the next subject to talk about, he surprisingly asked first, ¡°Why did you sign on with SP?¡± Why? Nobody ever asked her about this question. After all SP China was the dream to every player. There had the best resources, sponsors, environment, coaches, managers, teammates¡­...it was only natural, wasn¡¯t it? She lowered her head and took out some chewing gum from her pocket. She opened one and bit it in between her teeth. Then she answered with a mumbled voice, ¡°I just want to keep staying in this circle and watching you guys play games.¡± She opened her hand to him after she finished. There was another chewing gum in her palm. It was for him. Volume 1 - CH 10 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 1: The Storm is Coming Chapter 10 Ai Qing and Dt didn¡¯t get to talk much before Solo arrived. Dt was still the same, always the king of awkward silence. Ai Qing remembered that the last time they met in an official tournament was in the Warcraft national preliminary in 2010. That year Solo had easily won the championship in the Beijing region and Dt had qualified in the Guangzhou region. They played against each other in the Chinese Regional final that year and Solo defeated Dt. But now, Solo had already retired. Ai Qing walked behind them and couldn¡¯t help but feel sentimental. She looked up and exhaled a breath of white mist to the night air. Really¡­¡­Time was passing so fast. The three of them went to a BBQ restaurant in Myeong-dong. The entire restaurant was quite empty, only the owner was watching TV. When he saw them, he walked over to welcome them enthusiastically and pointed to a long wooden table to them. They took off their shoes and sat cross-legged around the low wooden table. Ai Qing looked at menu while talking about tomorrow¡¯s arrangement with Solo at the same time. They had come in on different flights and one led the men¡¯s team and the other the women''s team. They didn¡¯t have much chance to talk in the last two days, so naturally they had more to talk about when they had some spare time. When she finally remembered the always quiet Dt, she had already finished ordering. ¡°I¡¯m ordering two beef ribs, three pork belly, and tofu soup. Is it enough?¡± Ai Qing pushed the open menu to Dt and indicated that he could order more if he thought it was not enough. ¡°It¡¯s enough.¡± Dt closed the menu. Solo called the owner over and talked to him in Korean. He also ordered some liquor. ¡°How did you guys get in touch with each other?¡± Ai Qing rested her chin on her hand and slanted her eyes to look at Dt sitting across from her. ¡°We always have contact.¡± ¡°You guys always have contact? By phone? By email? Or you watched the competition also?¡± ¡°Uhm.¡± ¡­¡­ The conversation did not really proceed smoothly. Luckily the owner began to serve dishes on the table. A whole array of various vegetables and a grill plate filled with what they ordered on the charcoal furnace. Ai Qing¡¯s attention was distracted by the kimchi on the grill plate. She asked Solo who had come to Korea for competitions many times, ¡°Do we grill this too?¡± Solo nodded slightly and said, ¡°It tastes pretty good. You can try it.¡± She grinned. She fixed her eyes on her share of the grilled kimchi. After all the meat was cooked, Dt spit out the chewing gum, wrapped it with napkin, and threw it onto the plate for bones. Then he used chopsticks to stir the grilled kimchi and move them right in front of her. Though Solo and Dt had been friends for many years, it didn¡¯t change the fact that Dt was not good with words. During the whole time they were eating, Ai Qing at first spoke with Solo but later the three of them were more focused on eating their own food. The situation was a little quiet but fortunately it was not awkward. When it was time to pay the bill, Dt, who kept silent all the time, surprisingly took the initiative to take money out of his pants pocket. He did not carry a wallet, so he just had a stack of money sorted in order by denomination. Ai Qing felt bad about it and dragged his arm. ¡°You are the youngest here. Why are you paying the bill? Let Solo pay for it. Now that he is one of the SP bosses. We should take advantage of him.¡± Dt did not speak. He glanced at her. His look made Ai Qing inexplicably feel that she had said something wrong. Solo didn¡¯t mind it. He took out his wallet and placed a hundred thousand Korean dollars down. Volume 1 - CH 11 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 1: The Storm is Coming Chapter 11 The reason why all these big clubs had gathered in Korea was for the ¡°Exhibition Tournament¡± of two new games: and . The former was a type of DotA game from Blizzard. The latter was a gun shooting game from an unknown developer, but it received universal praise from all the professional players after the Alpha test. One game was from a top game company but the other was a popular game from just word of mouth. Thirty seven clubs worldwide were invited to this exhibition tournament. Five clubs from China were invited including SP and K&K. ¡°I¡¯m watching the news.¡± Her sister chatted with Ai Qing over the phone. ¡°Is your Solo the invited guest referee?¡± Ai Qing was lying on the bed. She was reading Weibo messages and eating an apple at the same time. She was also silently watching the video of the grievance round. ¡°Not my Solo. It is SP¡¯s Solo. He was a professional player for WarCraft and StarCraft in the past. Even Blizzard had him in an official poster. It is not a surprise to invite him as the referee.¡± ¡°Uhm¡­...My ex also said the same thing.¡± ¡­.. ¡°What is going on between you and Grunt? You decided not to be together with him any more. Why are you still tangled up with his life?¡± Ai Qing could not understand. ¡°Then what is going on between you and Solo? You decided not to be together with him any more. Why did you sign on with his club?¡± ¡°I did it for esports.¡± ¡°I am for completing him and Solo.¡± Ai Qing almost bit the tip of her tongue. ¡°Grunt and Solo?¡± ¡°I felt his ¡®true love¡¯ is actually Solo. He has been following Solo¡¯s path ever since he joined this profession. When he was able to compete with Solo side by side, he had more losses to Solo than wins. Finally when he had the opportunity to catch up in the world rankings¡­.Your Solo already retired. He was so depressed that it was even worse than being dumped by his girlfriend.¡± What she said was true. The computer screen was displaying a triple kill by Dt. Ai Qing could not help saying, ¡°He was too stubborn about the aura of Solo¡¯s myth. Actually both Dt and 97 are pretty strong. He could choose these players around him if he wants to compete with somebody.¡± ¡°Uhm¡­...97 explained this problem before¡­...How did he say it? Oh, yeah, Grunt only has Solo in his eyes, and Dt only has Apple Dog in his eyes.¡± ¡°Me?¡± Ai Qing felt funny and turned off the video. ¡°I was defeated by Dt. There is no reason for him to keep me in his mind.¡± Volume 1 - CH 12 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 1: The Storm is Coming Chapter 12 The official promotional activities and exhibition games started the next day. When SP arrived, the stands of the entire outdoor stadium was already filled. All thirty-seven clubs that had been invited sat on the green lawn inside the stadium. Ai Qing walked in from the VIP entrance. She briefly looked around the arena; European and American clubs were at the left front of the stage, Korean clubs were at the center front, and the clubs from China were all situated at the right front. The first three rows of seats of the Chinese area were empty before SP arrived. And the fourth and the fifth rows were for K&K people. ¡°Ai Qing.¡± 97 stood up and waved to her when he saw her. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen you for a long time.¡± Actually it was not that long. She had seen 97 in one competition event last year. In any case, she had to go over and say hello since he already greeted her. She bent over and walked around to the fourth row after all the team members had sat down. She crouched down and asked them, ¡°What brings you all to Korea?¡± ¡°These two came here for this video game.¡± 97 answered with smile. ¡°I just came here to watch the fun. I have not decided whether to pick up this game or not.¡± Came here for this video game? ¡°Did you still choose to play a team game?¡± Ai Qing looked at Dt. Dt was sitting there with his hands inside his pants pockets. He was a little distracted until Ai Qing walked over. He then shifted his attention to her. ¡°Should be.¡± ¡°Which one? Heroes of the Storm or Secret Room Storm?¡± ¡°Secret Room Storm.¡± He told her very earnestly. ¡°Secret Room?¡± Ai Qing was shocked. But after she thought about it carefully, she felt that it was a good pick. ¡°Many people are watching this game. After all it has a good reputation and a good balance. But it is not from Blizzard. The whole platform and professional competitions are not under the spotlight like Blizzard.¡± Grunt, sitting by the side, laughed out and casually interrupted them, ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. A game with lots of expert players will never be short of attention.¡± Grunt then purposely glanced at Solo in the first row afterwards. Ai Qing was amused. She moved her eyes back from Grunt and unexpectedly found that Dt was still looking at her attentatively. It seemed that he was still waiting for her to conclude their conversation. They looked at each other for a few seconds. She suddenly remember the phone call last night with her sister. ¡°Is he keeping you in mind for the competition or just you as a person? I¡¯m really not quite sure.¡± Her sister made fun of her at that time¡­...Dt saw her face started to turn red. Though he did not know the reason, he spoke with very genuine concern, ¡°You¡¯re blushing?¡± ¡°Ah?¡± Ai Qing tried to look away. She patted her face lightly with the back of her hand. ¡°Is it? I probably haven¡¯t gotten used to this place¡­...The exhibition game is going to start. I¡¯ll go back.¡± Volume 1 - CH 13 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 1: The Storm is Coming Chapter 13 She returned to sit next to Baona. An European rock¡¯n roll band just finished the performance on the stage. Right after the noisy metal music, there was a short period of silence inside the stadium. ¡°It can¡¯t be that K&K even wants to recruit my top commentator as well?¡± Baona took a long sigh. ¡°Now it looks like¡­...it seems they don¡¯t need someone like me.¡± Ai Qing joked around, then switched back to business quickly, ¡°I heard some news though.¡± ¡°Dt signed on with K&K?¡± Baona was guessing. ¡°Uhm.¡± Ai Qing pretended to inadvertently glimpse at Solo who was sitting at the referee area in the distance. She didn¡¯t realize that he was such a faithful friend to Dt. He didn¡¯t leak any information about Dt to the club. Or¡­...perhaps even though he was an old friend, Solo was not aware of which club Dt had signed onto? Solo was talking to several other referees quietly without paying attention to the competitors. ¡°Signing a contract wasn¡¯t the most important issue.¡± Ai Qing paused then said, ¡°The point is that he will be playing Secret Room Storm.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Baona was surprised. ¡°I haven¡¯t expected that a newly rising club would be so bold. He picked a brand new game instead of Blizzard¡¯s, which already had a very steady stream of prizes and a competition system.¡± That¡¯s right. And it looked like Grunt and 97 were going to join him. Most importantly, Solo had made the decision only four days ago at the Taipei stop that the club would focus on Secret Room in the future; a decision only she and Baona knew. K&K and SP became competitive opponents once again. There were four stops for the exhibition competition in Asia this time: Singapore, Taipei, Korea, and Shanghai. The actual team members were announced on the day of the competition. Singapore and Taipei already had the tournaments before today, but those three hadn¡¯t shown up. Was Korea the first stop they planned to make their debut? It seemed that everything had been up in the air until now. ¡°I remember that Dt switched to Warcraft after the DotA?¡± Baona asked after staying silent for a while. ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°What¡¯s your opinion about his performance in DotA based on your experience from playing against him before?¡± Baona seemed to have given her a question, but actually she had already answered it in the game video last night, ¡°Don¡¯t give me a generalization such as ¡®God¡¯s Left Hand¡¯.¡± ¡°He¡­...is very talented.¡± ¡°......that simple?¡± ¡°It is very simple. You certainly know how important talent is.¡± Dt¡¯s ability on DotA in the past was absolutely unprecedented. Though he was at the second place of Chinese Regional competition in WarCraft, losing to Solo. But it didn¡¯t mean that he was weaker than Solo. It was just that Solo¡¯s talent, like his name suggested, was more suitable at playing dueling games while Dt was more adept in team games. ¡°Solo¡¯s era has completely gone away.¡± Baona sighed. ¡°Now several of the most eye-catching players have all signed on with K&K. It is really a headache for us.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t trust the younger generation of SP?¡± ¡°No. I am just jealous of K&K, they signed up with those three so quickly.¡± ¡°Do you still remember the number one team in CS?¡± Ai Qing was not as depressed as him. ¡°Other than Gun, the other three players were all trained by Solo, including me.¡± Baona grinned and knocked her head with his curled index finger: ¡°I certainly remember our ¡®ancient heroes¡¯. Don¡¯t forget that I was also a CS player before.¡± While they were chatting, one round of between Korean and European teams had just finished. The Koreans had lost. The entire Chinese area was very calm, but the Korean area next to the Chinese were somewhat noisy because this was the first match in their country. But they made it even very quickly after they defeated the American team. Though it was an exhibition tournament, the atmosphere wasn¡¯t calm at all. After all it was a newly released video game, who wouldn¡¯t want to be the first on the top? Baona had become more serious ever since he learned that K&K and SP had chosen the same game as their main event once again. He talked with the players during the competition intermissions; discussing the results of several finished games, the strengths of different teams, the ability of the mid players, and even about plans for the future¡­¡­ Ai Qing turned on her iPad to watch the video of the most current games of DotA2. She saved these videos for her to study while traveling. She was concentrating on the video when the fighting had reached its climax. It was then that a tall person showed up in front of her. She thought at first that it was Solo and so she didn¡¯t pay much attention to him. But this person just stood there still without saying a word, the bizarre behavior finally drew her attention away from the video. ¡°Aren¡¯t you the referee------¡± She stopped abruptly. Ai Qing looked at the person with wide open eyes. The man dressed in black sportswear stood in front of her smiling. He bent down to greet her in a low voice, ¡°Hi, Guo Guo. Do you still remember me?¡± The words sounded as if it had come from another lifetime. It was as if the sound of the news reports from those years were in her ears now: ¡°......Solo¡¯s team was composed of the ¡®ten inconceivables¡¯ from the Chinese CS circle. The two star players, Solo and Gun, were ranked in the top ten in the world for two consecutive years. Certainly, there¡¯s Gou Gou, master of the quickscope and no scope¡­...The team held several individual top rankings in the world, the 2nd most consistent player, the 4th best player to draw first-blood in a game, the 2nd best at map control, the 4th best player for pistol-only matches, and nominated three times for MVP¡­¡­¡± This man right in front of her had disappeared for many years. But now, right here at this moment, he suddenly appeared out of nowhere in front of her inside this stadium in Korea. He wore a VIP name tag on his chest like every other players inside the stadium, the club name of the tag was: K&K. Volume 1 - CH 14 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 1: The Storm is Coming Chapter 14 The very last time she saw Gun was the night when Solo had announced the disbandment of their team. It was early 2005 when the team won the Chinese Regional championship in Guangzhou again. The team was in the heyday of their popularity, enjoying their golden age. The fans talked about the team enthusiastically. Apple Dog finally had the opportunity to go abroad with the team for competition this time, but all of a sudden there was news of the team¡¯s disbandment. There was no Weibo at that time. All the videos in honor of the team were forwarded everywhere like crazy on the forum. It felt like an era had ended and made everybody feel that a chilly winter for CS was coming soon. Nobody knew what had actually happened outside one hotel in Guangzhou the night the team was disbanded. The team members at the peak of the world were just like many ordinary young people walking on the street there. They sat in the restaurant eating a farewell dinner and drinking beers. There was no professional coach and manager at that time. The team usually rented a run-down house and got together for training. So that farewell was more like a farewell dinner in college. Good friends who had lived together for years were departing. From then on they would pursue their own individual future. You would have your own career, and I would have my own world. There were 9 members in total including the regular players and substitutes. When they walked out of the restaurant after the farewell dinner, everyone was staggering. It was the kind of unsteadiness when one didn¡¯t know what the future will be and how the future should be. They staggered because they went blank and totally at a loss. She carried the backpacks for Gun and Solo. Within each backpack, there were double keyboards, mouses and earphones. They were very heavy. So she walked very slowly. She did not quite remember the details now, only some vague pieces. Xiaomi squatted on the roadside crying loudly. Cocky All was also drunk; he sat on the dirty roadside and kept patting Xiaomi¡¯s shoulder. In the beams of light from the fast passing cars, Gun abruptly jumped over and wrestled with Solo. Precisely speaking, it was him beating Solo. Solo just shielded his important body parts without fighting back. It had just rained that day. Gun was dressed in his favorite black clothes which was covered in brownish muddy water. Solo¡¯s white shirt and blue jeans looked even more miserable¡­¡­ ¡°Good. Such a good team was messed up by you to the point of disbandment.¡± Gun climbed up from the muddy water. He was gasping and his footsteps were faltering. He actually was the one who was doing the beating, but he looked more miserable than the one being beaten by him. ¡°How can you let all these brothers who have followed you down? Just because of a young girl?¡± Solo¡¯s arm was cut by a beer bottle cap and bleeded. He stood about three footsteps away from Gun and did not say anything. He just indicated to the persons next to him to help Gun up. Gun threw off those two big boys and waved down a taxi. He did not even bother with his backpack and just left like that. It was close to ten years since that parting. Volume 1 - CH 15 Book 1: The Storm is Coming Chapter 15 She lowered her head, pretending to watch the video, in order to avoid Gun¡¯s eyes. ¡°I certainly remember. Your backpack is still at my home.¡± There was a fierce team fight going on in the video, with double kill and triple kill notifications going off. But her vision was blurry. She was choking up and couldn¡¯t raise her head to meet him as she was afraid that if she moved, her tears would start to flow down. ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°But they¡¯re of no use now.¡± She controlled her voice and continued to speak light-heartedly. ¡°The keyboard, mouse and headphones are all obsolete. Probably can sell them as antiques.¡± ¡°Then just sell them as antiques.¡± Gun¡¯s voice was still coarse as usual. In those days, they liked to call him the male Zhou Xun (note: a very famous Chinese movie actress with coarse voice) because of his unusual voice. ¡°Just say Gun had used them to win three championships and a bunch of international individual titles. As long as there¡¯s a buyer, we will share it fifty-fifty.¡± ¡°Alright, fifty-fifty.¡± She did not dare to raise her head all this time. Fortunately Gun did not continue the conversation. He walked around the front three rows of SP area toward his own people. When he reached the K&K area, almost all the K&K people stood up. He smiled and playfully patted each and everyone of their shoulders. When he reached Grunt and Dt, he didn¡¯t just greet them rather he asked 97 to move over a seat, and then sat down in between these two main players. Ai Qing wiped her eyes. She pretended to talk to the girl team members behind her and turned around to look at them. She forgot to turn off the video. The video on her iPad turned dark suddenly. An alert window popped up to remind her that there was only 10% battery remaining. Someone stretched out his hand and turned off the alert window. ¡°Did you cry?¡± ¡°Uhm.¡± She turned back. ¡°I can¡¯t help it.¡± Solo lowered his eyes and looked at her. ¡°I just learned it too. He was one of K&K¡¯s investors.¡± ¡°Investor?¡± ¡°Yes, investor.¡± Solo stood in front of her. He did not bother to hide the fact that he was looking at that man who had battled with him side by side and was his best and most understanding brother. However, at this place, at this moment, the two most shining star players in Solo¡¯s team before were no longer players any more. One was a SP Chinese Regional manager and the other was one of K&K¡¯s investors. It seemed that it was from this moment on that he truly realized it: The golden era that had belonged to Solo¡¯s team in the past had already ended. Volume 1 - CH 16 Chapter 16 The exhibition tournament for lasted for a week. The Chinese teams were notified that the competition would start the next day after the drawing. Ai Qing had not played this game yet and she was not interested in the sponsor¡¯s promotional events either. So she left early with her backpack on her back and aimlessly walked around the streets of Seoul by herself. As she stood at the Myeong-dong area, where they had a late night meal last night, now during the day time she felt like she was here for the first time. Since she was just aimlessly walking around, she decided to visit both sides of the street back and forth randomly. She stopped in front of a snack stand. Everything looked so good. She lowered her head and examined every item. As she was struggling about what to choose, there was a slight cough behind her. She turned back and laughed. ¡°Did you sneak out too?¡± Underneath the brim, the big boy nodded very slowly and then looked away slightly. ¡°What do you want to eat?¡± ¡°Ah? Oh¡­...I have not decided yet.¡± Ai Qing continued to look at the nice Korean food. ¡°I heard the rice sausage is very tasty.¡± ¡°Rice sausage?¡± He frowned. ¡°It¡¯s made of pig blood.¡± Obviously he was reminding her about the main ingredient of the sausage to give her a second chance. ¡°Really? Then I¡¯ll just take the rice sausage.¡± She purposely twisted his warning. ¡­... ¡°I want an order too.¡± Dt suddenly spoke after Ai Qing placed an order. Regardless whether he would eat it or not, he certainly had a good excuse to pay the bill now and promptly paid for both orders. ¡°6,000 Korean dollars?¡± Ai Qing silently converted the money in her mind, ¡°18 RMB. Very expensive.¡± But this was only the beginning. They continued to walk up and down the whole street and spent several hundred RMB on food. Ai Qing was not fast enough to pay the bill every time. Finally she just silently calculated in her mind how much was her share. She had decided to secretly put the money into his backpack before they departed. But Dt seemed to have a lot of free time on his hands. He just walked around with her without saying where he wanted to go. Though he was good at paying bills, he was absolutely not a guy to go shopping with. Clothing store? She was embarrassed to drag him into it. Slush shop? She felt that he didn¡¯t look like a slush person. Even for the Lotte duty free store which she had long planned to visit at least once this time, she had to pass by and pretend that she was not interested. ¡°Is it alright that you left like this?¡± Ai Qing thought about something. The competition that was going on in the stadium right now was his main event and all the teams in the stadium would be his future opponents. To understand an opponent¡¯s onsite performance and habit, the best way was to watch them during competitions. ¡°It¡¯s ok. I can watch the competition videos.¡± ¡°That¡¯ll do.¡± She nodded. They ran out of topics again. They kept walking in this foreign country. Finally, they did not even know where they were. ¡°I need to go to a place.¡± Dt paused. ¡°It takes fifteen minutes to get there, then I need to stay there for at least two hours. Can you go with me?¡± ¡°Me?¡± She did not understand. ¡°Do you need me to go with you? Can¡¯t you find the place?¡± ¡°I can find it. I can use Google maps.¡± ¡­¡­ ¡°It¡¯s kind of far from here to the resort village you stay at. I want to take you back after I finish.¡± ¡­¡­ She was at first surprised, then she gradually seemed to understand his awkward suggestion. He feared that it was unsafe for her to go back the resort alone, so he wanted her to go with him together to this place. Then he would take her back after he finished? Ai Qing lowered her head and looked at the ground. When she was thinking, she usually liked to avoid looking into other people¡¯s eyes. Dt took the opportunity to look at her. Though they already met twice since last night up to this morning, but he did not have the time and opportunity to look at her with full attention. Even though the two had talked and ate BBQ face-to-face last night, he did not dare look at her for too long. She had short hair with slightly long bangs that vaguely covered her eyes. She had a pair of large eyes. When she was watching the competition on the large screen onsite, the images of the video was the only thing that reflected in her pupils. Frigg. ¡°Then¡­...Do we walk over there or take a taxi?¡± Ai Qing raised her head and smiled with her mouth curled up. She looked around trying to find a place to call taxi. ¡°Walking will do.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± She followed him towards the new destination. ¡°What are you going to do? Why do you need at least two hours?¡± Were they going to a museum? ¡°It¡¯s the WCS Korean Regional semifinals for StarCraft 2. It¡¯s also the Korean GSL semi final competition.¡± WCS (World Champion Series) was Blizzard Entertainment¡¯s World Tournament for StarCraft 2. StarCraft 2? ¡°Are you going to watch the competition?¡± She guessed. ¡°No. I am an invited VIP.¡± ¡°Why?¡± She couldn¡¯t quite follow him. ¡°There shouldn¡¯t be any connection between you and StarCraft 2?¡± Dt was thinking how to tell her with his head lowered slightly. Finally he decided to choose the simplest way------The most direct way. ¡°It has nothing to do with this year. It was last year. Last year, I won the European Regional competition championshipship for StarCraft 2.¡± Volume 1 - CH 17 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 1: The Storm is Coming Chapter 17 Dt did not just skillfully use Google Maps, he also had Korean friends to guide him whenever they needed extra help. Both of them had never been in Korea before but surprisingly, they managed to take the public mass transportation------subway, to reach the competition arena. The lobby of the auditorium was crowded with fans. A young Korean boy ran out to greet them when they arrived. He looked to be only fifteen or sixteen years old; more like a young fan here to watch the game if not for the name tag hanging around his neck which had the name of a popular team on it. Though nobody knew them, everybody knew this young boy. Some affectionate girls were already pushing each other as they came over. They used the young boy¡¯s back as the background and made a V sign with their fingers to take a selfie. ¡°Hello.¡± He used slightly rusty Chinese to greet the guest Ai Qing first. ¡°I am Inin, Dt¡¯s friend.¡± ¡°Hello.¡± She looked him up and down. ¡°You are¡­¡­¡± He understood her question immediately. ¡°I have one fourth Chinese blood, one fourth Korean blood, and the rest is more complex and diverse.¡± Ai Qing chuckled. The three chatted a while. To be more precise, it was she and Inin introducing themselves to each other. They walked in from the VIP entrance after they finished their introductions. There were several girls standing beside the fenced off VIP area. They pulled Inin¡¯s arm and talked to him in a low voice in Korean. It looked liked they were pleading Inin for something. ¡°They are asking me whether I can help them find out which number is an empty number.¡± Inin explained to Ai Qing. ¡°Empty number?¡± ¡°Usually only a limited number of the audience is allowed for this kind of competition. They need to come here four or five hours earlier in order to get a number.¡± Inin was talking and led them to their seats. ¡°But some of audience who has the number may not be on site when the number is called to enter. Then this number becomes an empty number. Those young girls were very smart. They don¡¯t have a number, but they just wait for empty numbers and then they will come in pretending to be someone else.¡± ¡°Won¡¯t they get caught?¡± ¡®Of course they might get caught.¡± Inin shrugged his shoulders to express his helplessness. ¡°Sometimes, when a number is called, there might be a dozen girls that come out. It really is dumbfounding.¡± Inin left after he had settled them down. StarCraft 2 was not very popular in China. The public did not pay much attention to this game. She knew even less about this competition than the fans onsite. So she picked up a promotional brochure with great interest and read the introductions of the four teams. Then she saw Inin¡¯s picture in the brochure. How could he be so laid back? He even came out to welcome Dt when it was about time to start the semi finals¡­¡­ ¡°Did you know him from the tournament?¡± Dt nodded silently. ¡°Last year¡¯s WCS? In the same regional tournament?¡± Dt shook his head. ¡°He was at the American Region.¡± If she remembered correctly, WCS gave up the Chinese Region last year. They only set up the Korean Region, American Region, and European Region. But all eight qualified players in the American Region were all from Korea. Then this friend of Dt should be one of the eight. Volume 1 - CH 18 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 1: The Storm is Coming Chapter 18 A few years ago, Baona once had high expectations for StarCraft 2. In 2012, there were still 8 professional teams in China, but last year, there were only three teams left. Certainly this game was not very popular in other countries either. Right in front of her, there were fans who were holding signs for the various teams that they supported, fierce battles on the screen, and¡­...commentary that she couldn¡¯t understand. Luckily, sometimes she would play a round with members of her club when she was bored, so she could at least know what was going on. All players still stayed after the competition. Some of them were packing, but most of they were chatting in the smoking area. These youths had just fought fierce battles with each other, but after the fact, they were actually good friends who just hadn¡¯t seen each others for some time. Ai Qing stood outside the smoking area with Dt waiting for Inin to come out. During that time, somebody recognized Dt. Two Korean big boys dressed in a black team uniform walked over with a smile and asked Dt in English, ¡°Why did you come to Korea this time with your girlfriend?¡± Dt promptly clarified that they were only good friends. The taller boy was still joking with him. He repeatedly emphasized ¡°good friend¡± and seemed to have a lot of fun with it, ¡°Good friend, oh, good friend. I see, good ¡®friend¡¯.¡± The shorter boy did not speak English well, but he could still understand these simple words. So he could not help laughing as well. Dt didn¡¯t know how to argue, so he just stopped explaining. Ai Qing was also fairly embarrassed because she was the target of the joke. She could only pretend that she didn¡¯t know a single word at all. She was looking around and saw Inin, with his backpack on his back, rushing over. The young boy was panting from running. Before he came to a stop, the tall boy dragged his backpack and pulled him aside. The tall boy spoke to him, but Inin seemed somewhat hesitant. He looked at Dt, then looked at Ai Qing. He started talking with hand gestures; it seemed that he was unwilling to do something and refused the taller boy¡¯s suggestion. Unfortunately she and Dt didn¡¯t know Korean at all. They could only watch their enthusiastic discussion like watching a Korean drama. Finally Inin couldn¡¯t resist the other two any longer. He scratched his hair and looked back at Dt bashfully. ¡°He said, he heard that Dt hasn¡¯t registered for this year¡¯s WCS. They won¡¯t have the chance to win it back from you, so they want to play a game privately.¡± He finished and looked at Ai Qing to explain, ¡°Their situation is exactly like mine. They missed the Korean Regional Tournament last year, so they went to the European Regional and lost to Dt.¡± Ai Qing finally understood now. There was going to be another grievance round. Dt looked like he didn¡¯t hear it. He looked at his black electronic wrist watch. ¡°We should go back now.¡± ¡°An emergency?¡± Inin asked carefully. ¡°Very urgent. It¡¯s already the time that I need to take her back.¡± Dt answered solemnly. Obviously he still remembered his promise to Ai QIng that it would only take two hours to take care of things here before taking her back to the resort. Inin instantly grabbed the key point and his eyes shone at Ai Qing. ¡°Very urgent? It¡¯s urgent that you have to go back? What urgent business do you need to deal with?¡± ¡®Ah? No. Nothing.¡± Ai Qing was embarrassed from the attention, so she was honest to him. ¡°Absolutely nothing. You guys just go ahead.¡± She didn¡¯t have any problem at all if she went back half or an hour late. Maybe Inin could be the commentator to give her a master level analysis. When they were inside the arena, she specifically paid attention to Dt¡¯s friend. Every movement he made was extremely efficient. He had godlike hand speed. Though he was young, he was definitely one of the top ranked players in the Grandmaster League as she expected. She had very high expectations for his commentary. Inin put his hands together and bowed to thank Ai Qing repeatedly. Obviously he felt that Dt had to stay since Ai Qing already said so. And actually, that was indeed what was happening. They looked around for an empty small room and pulled over several computers, mice, keyboards, and earphones. Inin threw his backpack aside and sat leisurely on the sofa with Ai Qing. The two watched at them setting up while they gossiped in a low voice at the same time. ¡°You know what the fans called Dt in Battle.net on the American and Korean Servers?¡± Ai Qing shook her head with smile. ¡°I only knew that he was called ¡®God¡¯s Left Hand¡¯ when he was playing DotA.¡± ¡°God¡¯s Left Hand?¡± Inin meditated on this name in his head for a while. He used his not so fluent Chinese to decompose these words separately and then reassembled them into one phrase. ¡®Uhm. Uhm. I understand it now.¡± ¡°As you were saying, what was he called in Battle.net?¡± Ai Qing asked with great interest. ¡°Ah, right. He was called Medusa, the Medusa from Norse myth.¡±[1] Inin started laughing while speaking. ¡°She was the one that would turn you into a statue if you took a glance at her, but people still couldn¡¯t help looking at her.¡± This description was quite unusual. ¡°Why? Why did they give him this name?¡± And it was a woman. ¡°Because he was too lethal.¡± Inin stretched his arms. ¡°For example, the strongest guy in our team is really full of himself. Usually he pays no attention to anybody, but he turns into a chatterbox immediately once he meets Dt on Battle.net. On Dt¡¯s birthday last year, several grandmaster level players on the American Server Battle.net all made an appointment to take a picture to wish him happy birthday.¡± ¡°......¡± ¡°Ah, Also. Also.¡± Inin suppressed his voice even lower. ¡°The guy who is challenging Dt, he has a teammate who is ranked number 2 in Korea on StarCraft 2. In order to play with Dt, he specifically registered a matching id on the American Servers as Pt.¡° Inin spoke in high spirits. Ai Qing listened but she felt dumbfounding. ¡°So on the Chinese Servers, he might be called ¡®Daji¡¯?¡±[2] ¡°Almost. Almost. I read that Chinese story, The Legend of Deification. Really. Really, close.¡± Inin kept nodding repeatedly. This young boy had a great capacity to gossip. If he gave up being professional player, he absolutely could be an reporter. He would be a good commentator, too. Nowadays, the commentators good at talking about the latest gossip was very popular. Especially this kind of commentator who was professional, cute, and familiar with the background of players in various tournament regions¡­¡­ The two chatted very happily while the computers were being set up over there. Suddenly that tall Korean big boy looked at them and waved to them. Inin didn¡¯t quite understand and Ai QIng was all confused. ¡°3v3.¡± Dt spoke just in time. ¡°He wants 3v3.¡± ¡°With whom? Me?¡± Inin pointed to himself. Then he looked around at other onlookers. ¡°Coki? Warm? There¡¯s not enough players?¡± 1, 2, 3, 4, 5¡­¡­ Ai Qing was also counting silently. There were actually only five StarCraft 2 players including Dt and Inin. Looked like they needed to find another player.¡± That was how she figured. But nobody moved. ¡°Don¡¯t we actually have exactly six players?¡± Dt asked back. Everybody was instantly silent. These professional players of StarCraft 2 all continuously ranked within top 20 on Battle.net. These players in the grandmaster league all looked at her direction immediately. They looked at this¡­...seemly, probably, perhaps, possibly a girl who was not familiar with StarCraft 2------The girl that had come with Dt. [1]: This is exactly what the author wrote in the raws. If you don¡¯t know, Medusa is a monster from Greek mythology (and not a deity nor Norse). [2]: Daji was the consort of the last king of the Shang dynasty and she caused the downfall of said Chinese dynasty. (One of those beautiful queens/princesses causing the downfall of their kingdom kind of story.) Volume 1 - CH 19 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 1: The Storm is Coming Chapter 19 Dt faced her and slightly tilted his head towards the chair and computer next to him. Ai Qing could hardly refuse in front of so many people. Though she was familiar with StarCraft 2, she certainly could not play at the same level of the other players in the room. The reason that professional players could stand at the peak was because they not only mastered the controls of the game, but they also owned the superb ability to perform amazing maneuvers which were uncomparable by ordinary players. Positioning was not her specialty. She would definitely be the one to hold the whole team back if it was really a 3v3. ¡°Let¡¯s play free-for-all instead.¡± This was the first thing she said after she sat down. She was just sitting in to the make up for the number of players for a game. If it was a 6 players free-for-all battle, with no teams, then she would be responsible for herself only. Nobody would blame her for holding the others back. But her words made the other four players except Dt suddenly see her in a new light. Nice. The young girl even knew about free-for-alls. She did not have an id on the Korean Servers, Inin willingly offered one of his own. Ai Qing touched the keyboard and mouse. Both were SteelSeries products. Though it was not the brand she normally used, they were good enough to use. She lowered her head to find her earphones and plugged one into her left ear. Finally, she glanced at Dt before she plugged in the other earphone into her right ear. It was obvious that Dt had already forgotten how he set her, a rookie, up; he had already switched into battle mode. ¡°None of us are using our own computers.¡± Inin told Ai Qing. ¡°We try as much as possible to be fair to everyone in this unfair environment.¡± He put his hands together again to bow in thanks to Ai Qing afterwards. Everyone joined the game one after another. The game started. In Ai Qing¡¯s eyes, StarCraft was always a ¡°base building¡± single or multi player battle game. In the beginning, there are only six mining workers in the game. The miners hadn¡¯t collect enough and no production buildings had been constructed yet. Sending out troops is out of question at this point. But these six players did not slack off. Their two hands were jumping across the keyboard and their mouses flew across their mouse pads. They were warming up, readying themselves mentally and physically for the coming battles. There was no game commentary and there was no loud speaker on a big screen. It was very quiet. It was so quiet that only the sound of keyboard punching and mouse clicking could be heard. StarCraft 2 was falling out of favor, its popularity was much less than LoL and DotA2. But the name ¡°StarCraft¡± was still legendary. It had led to the birth of a whole era of esports in Korea. Once upon a time, E-Sports was StarCraft. Once upon a time, There were StarCraft players with millions of fans per fan club and hundreds of fansites worldwide. There were StarCraft players that earned more than a million US dollars a year. Once upon a time, There was StarCraft player elected for ¡°Korean Persons of the Year¡± which used to be a list composed only of famous politicians and scholars. Whenever a star StarCraft player appeared, the ratings of live broadcasting increased by 30% immediately. ¡­¡­ Even today, Korea still had more than 300 registered professional players for the game after more than a decade included almost all the winners of major tournaments. So, here, to be able to have a game match with these top notch professional players was absolutely a pipe dream for many. Volume 1 - CH 20 Book 1: The Storm is Coming Chapter 20 There was only the clicking sound of keyboards. Everyone kept an extremely high APM, their screens rapidly switching from scene to scene. They maintained about 300 - 400 actions on the keyboard at high speeds every minute. This was a free-for-all battle of professional players. There were no allies and the enemy was everywhere. It was an intense battle either to live or die, with danger everywhere. One player was out. The second player was out¡­¡­ The Korean player who first challenged Dt was the second player out. He took his hands off the keyboard and mouse, and stood up quickly. He walked over to look at Ai Qing. Originally it was out of curiosity that he wanted to look at this girl¡¯s level of play, who had been brought here by Dt. But he was surprised after he saw her unit composition and tech level. He quickly spoke something to Inin. Inin was shocked and briefly explained to Ai Qing, ¡°He told me to GG.¡± GG, good game. When a player types these two words during a game, it means that he has left the game on his own. That guy told Inin to admit defeat. Ai Qing stuck out her tongue. She launched an all out attack along three routes, though she felt that she would be winning the game due to her unfair advantage. Without knowing why, her fights went smoothly in the early game. She even had enough time to dispatch a scout and detect Inin¡¯s army composition. And her current attack completely ended Inin¡¯s existence. There was no doubt at all. She drove straight in so smoothly and fast, exterminating enemy soldiers all the way, destroyed the barracks, and smashed the command center. One minute later. Inin spread out his hands sadly, he was out. Meanwhile, the last Korean threw his mouse. ¡°Done. You guys win.¡± This time he spoke English in order to show respect to them. We won? Ai Qing was dumbfounded. She did have some partial intense fights with several Koreans, but she had not fought with Dt together. Until¡­... she saw Dt¡¯s troops stationed at the ruins near her base, she then instantly understood what had happened. No wonder, she had not been harassed at all in the early game. No wonder, she had never seen a trace of Dt at all when she had commanded her forces to raid over half the map. No wonder, when she was battling with Inin, no one had sneak attacked her base. All her questions had answers now: The strongest force protecting her rear was Dt. Volume 1 - CH 21 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 1: The Storm is Coming Chapter 21 The theme of the dinner that night for SP was ¡°Pep Rally Before the Battle¡±. Starting tomorrow, for the six-day long exhibition tournament, the names of SP¡¯s lineup would be revealed, the roster for their top two teams. The second team had always been led by Solo, thus it was clear to everyone inside SP who the players were for the second team. But for the roster of players for the the first team, even the SP staff did not know who they were. It was said that there were retired players, new generation players, and international professional players. Anyway it was a mysterious team that Solo had been preparing for a very long time and it was to be their A team. ¡°I went to watch WCS this afternoon.¡± Ai Qing took some food onto her plate. She went back to sit down next to Solo and the others. The second team¡¯s manager and coach sat right across from her. ¡°Oh, yeah?¡± Solo laughed. ¡°How did it feel?¡± ¡°I do not know what to say.¡± Ai Qing sighed and thought about it. ¡°I have mixed feelings about it. Baona and I had pretty high expectations when you picked up StarCraft 2 in the beginning. But unexpectedly, it didn¡¯t get popular in China. It didn¡¯t even have a professional league.¡± This was Solo¡¯s last event before he retired, so he was the most qualified to comment on it. But he didn¡¯t say anything. It was the coach of the second team who laughed and made a comment to Ai Qing, ¡°StarCraft 2 requires very high level play and the threshold to be a pro also high. So it¡¯s not a game that can gain popularity easily. There was a joke that a StarCraft 2 Chinese Regional champion was ignored by reporters after a competition, he got so angry that he switched to LoL. Frankly speaking, only the group battle competition games are more suitable for the general public. Aren¡¯t LoL and DotA all very popular nowadays?¡± But it was different. The charm of StarCraft and WarCraft, which had dominated an era, was exactly because they demanded a high level of individual skill when playing. Extreme plays, explosive APM numbers, and fast hand speeds. Even watching someone play on a keyboard was a kind of performing art during a game competition. But in a group battle competition, nobody would pay attention to each individual¡¯s keyboard. They only cared about their skill in positioning. Ai Qing felt somewhat emotional about it and lowered her head to eat dinner. She didn¡¯t notice that there were newcomers arriving until Solo started to applaud beside her. She looked up and saw several people arrive each carrying backpacks in front of her. They were led by Baona doing self introductions. ¡°My main event was CS in the past. I was a member of Solo¡¯s team and we took the championship of Chinese Regional tournament in ¡®04 and ¡®05.¡± A tall big man smiled like a rogue. ¡°I was the captain in ¡®04. We won the championship of Beat it in the Chinese Regional tournament. You are welcome to just call me All. Although I retired twice before, I¡¯m only one year older than Gou Gou.¡± ¡°I am Xiaomi. My experience was the same as All.¡± Xiao Mi smiled mildly. ¡°I never retired and I¡¯m always on the frontlines fighting. I¡¯m only seven months older than Gou Gou.¡± Ai Qing was left in a bit of a daze. It felt like a dream. ¡°I am Slide.¡± Slide put his hands behind his back and looked at Ai Qing with interest. ¡°I was with Gou Gou at the ¡®07 Asian Tournament. As the captain of the Chinese team, we won the first Asian Tournament group championship.¡± He finished, then he added as an afterthought, ¡°Although I retired also, I¡¯m but one year younger than Gou Gou. I am not old yet.¡± It was a complete and unexpected surprise. She was happily stunned. Ai Qing just could not believe it. She turned to look at Solo several times. Solo was very calm. He smiled in response to her excitement. The four players of Solo¡¯s old team had reunited again, here in this Korean resort on the first evening before the exhibition tournament officially started¡­...They had experienced whole nights training, through shady deals and unfairness, various victories, etc. These scenes all played out in theirs heads. All these memories overlapped before their eyes. She was stunned and couldn¡¯t tell whether it was reality or a vivid memory from the past. Until¡­...the last person spoke. ¡°Oh. My name is Inin. I have Chinese and Korean mixed blood.¡± The last young boy carrying a backpack. He was not quite clear with the situation. He looked around the room, and finally he also focused on the only two people he knew------Solo and Ai Qing. ¡°I¡¯m not from the group battle and I never retired. I started to touch esports last year. My main event is StarCraft 2. I was the champion of WCS American Regional tournament. My rank on the America Server last year was number 3. This year is not over yet, I think¡­...by the end of the year I should be ranked 1.¡± He felt that it was like a rule to compare his age with ¡°Gou Gou¡± after he finished speaking. He asked Ai Qing with very good manner, ¡°That¡­...I don¡¯t know Gou Gou so I don¡¯t know whether I am older than her, or younger¡­¡­¡± Volume 1 - CH 22 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 1: The Storm is Coming Chapter 22 ¡°It¡¯s me.¡± Ai Qing, amused by the entire situation, raised her right hand. ¡°I am Gou Gou. Apple Dog. Hello. Inin.¡± She treated it as a formal self introduction. Everybody laughed. Inin was still not clear about the situation, but he still smiled bashfully. ¡°Ah it¡¯s you. Are you the StarCraft 2 player?¡± Everyone laughed out again. Ai Qing laughed too and shook her head. ¡°No. I¡¯m the game commentator.¡± ¡°Ah. Game commentator.¡± There was admiration in Inin eyes. ¡°I thought you were a professional player this afternoon.¡± ¡°I was in the past.¡± ¡°In the past? What a waste.¡± Inin completely forgot what he was originally there for. He continued to ask out of curiosity, ¡°Are you retired? Why did you retire?¡± Now even Solo began to feel the conversation shouldn¡¯t go on anymore. In order to prevent Inin from asking any more unexpected questions, he stood up and spoke, ¡°Everybody, they are the members of our A team for which we have kept a secret for a long time. Though two of them were once my past teammates, trust me------¡± Solo paused slightly and smiled lightly, then he looked around all the game experts and professional players present. ¡°Their ability has already been tried and tested before. They are all experts among experts, and the last member of A team will be chosen by the four of them.¡± What this meant was that the four newcomers were the evaluation officers? This was really surprising. All old members of SP more or less showed some displeasure on their faces. The newcomers became the main event A team right way and the evaluation officers immediately without any history of winning. Though they all absolutely admired Solo, it didn¡¯t mean that Solo¡¯s old team members were definitely the best. There were always new generation players replacing members of the old generation as time passed by. Even Ai Qing felt it to be somewhat inappropriate. But since Solo had said so, it meant that he had already reached an agreement with Baona. She didn¡¯t have any say over SP male team personnel assignments. Even for the female team, she had also reached an agreement with Baona that she would not be the manager or coach after they went back from Korea. She would only focus on doing commentaries. She didn¡¯t express anything during dinner though she had some doubt. When the female team members began whispering, she stopped them with a glare. Fortunately All could tell the current atmosphere, so he was not as arrogant as usual and obediently followed Solo¡¯s arrangement. He was assigned to the table with old members for dinner. The four newcomers were all dispersed to sit at four different tables. Though the old members were not happy, on the surface everyone acted cordially. Especially for Inin who was arranged to sit at the table with female members. Everybody kept asking him questions, and they felt this newcomer young little brother was really too cute. Besides, though StarCraft 2 was not so popular in China, it didn¡¯t mean that they didn¡¯t like this game. Frankly speaking, because StarCraft 2 required very high level skills, didn¡¯t mean that they didn¡¯t enjoy playing it. No public popularity meant no market and no market naturally meant no one paid any attention to it. But to professional players, they were still very respectful to StarCraft 2 players. APM was not something ordinary players could brag about. ¡°Inin.¡± Someone remembered the conversation between him and Ai Qing and could not help ask, ¡°How could you tell that our boss was a professional player? Why did you even say that she was a StarCraft 2 player?¡± ¡°Wasn¡¯t she a StarCraft 2 player before she retired?¡± Inin was still tangled with that question. ¡°Of course not. She played Fankong Jingying[1] ten years ago.¡± That girl saw Inin didn¡¯t quite understand, so she added, ¡°It was Counter Strike, but nobody plays it now. Then she played DotA. What else did she play?¡± She asked a girl next to her. ¡°And racing.¡± ¡°Oh, yeah. Racing. Anyway she never played StarCraft 2.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡­¡± Inin was thinking and frowned. Then he asked them seriously. ¡°Then how did she know Dt?¡± [1]: Counter Strike in Chinese. She first says it in Chinese and realizes that Inin might not understand Chinese so uses ¡°Counter Strike¡± in English next. Volume 1 - CH 23 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 1: The Storm is Coming Chapter 23 ¡°Ah?¡± No one knew the answer to his question. Inin thought for a while and felt that he shouldn¡¯t be so intrusive, but he just couldn¡¯t suppress his curiosity. He could not help adding another comment, ¡°En¡­...they work so well together and it feels like that they must practice together very often¡­...Oh. Maybe they practice together mostly in private. Maybe they are a couple so they understand each other¡­¡­¡± He started to talk to himself and completely forgot about the many girls around him who were shocked by his hypothesis. What kind of situation is this¡­¡­ The atmosphere for dinner was very awkward. The male team members, who were spread out on three tables, ate very quietly. The three newcomers among them were especially embarrassed. But the female team members were very excitedly chatting. Occasionally they burst out in shouts of shock and disbelief. The management didn¡¯t know what the women¡¯s team was talking about. They could only speculate that maybe this fifteen years old boy, Inin, was especially popular. After all, he was the StarCraft 2 champion from the American Region. Maybe he had brought his own crown? This harmonious and beautiful atmosphere lasted until the end of dinner. SP dinners were always scheduled at 5 to 6 o¡¯clock in the afternoon. After dinner at 6 o¡¯clock, it was always followed by three hours of training. They followed the same schedule even when they were in Korea. Since the newcomers¡¯ introduction took about ten minutes today, Solo let everybody go to the training room at 6:10. It was at the second floor of Baona¡¯s small villa. Solo then led the four newcomers away early. After everyone arrived at the training room and setup the computers individually. They found that Solo was not there, only Slide and Xiaomi were chatting next to the table where the five of them had set up their computers. Following walked over and patted Slide¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Do you remember that my friend had bought a computer from your store?¡± Slide paused and looked at Following carefully. ¡°Oh~I remember. I remember. You and I played Need for Speed and I gave you 5% off because you won.¡± Xiaomi felt that Following was coming off a bit unfriendly, but Slide didn¡¯t seem to notice it. ¡°Yes.¡± Following laughed like a seasoned fox. ¡°How about we play another game again?¡± ¡°No problem.¡± Slide agreed readily. ¡°What do you want to play?¡± These were the first words Ai Qing heard when she walked in the training room. Following was one of the experienced players in team games. Ai Qing had picked him to play the grievance round between SP and K&K several days ago when they got to Korea. There was no doubt about his ability. But he was not a serious person, who was always joking and laughing around and he usually wouldn¡¯t offend anybody. Why was he challenging Slide in public at such a sensitive time? She had a question mark over her head, but she didn¡¯t say anything and just waited to see what come next. ¡°Minesweeper.¡± Following pulled over the chair next to him. He sat directly next to Slide. He opened the small Microsoft bundled Minesweeper game on the computer in front of him. ¡°This one is simple. Let¡¯s play this.¡± Slide raised his eyebrows. ¡°No problem.¡± He took off his black gloves. The back of his left hand had an obvious scar. Ai Qing remembered that when she met Slide again in 2010 summer, his hand was already like that. It looked like it was from a fight, but she just never asked him. ¡°Boss.¡± The young girl standing besides Ai Qing asked in a hushed voice, ¡°Why are they playing Minesweeper?¡± This was SP¡¯s temporary training room. There were various computer equipment provided if anyone wanted to play any game. Why did they choose such a kiddie game? ¡°Minesweeper is a good game.¡± Ai Qing smiled and frankly pointed out the essence of the game. ¡°The design was very nice. Do you know what kind of game Minesweeper belongs to?¡± ¡°It is a computer bundled game.¡± ¡°Be more professional.¡± ¡°......Microsoft bundled game¡­¡­¡± ¡°Minesweeper is a strategic game. It requires very precise judgement and very fast hand speed.¡± Ai Qing finally started to explain. ¡°In Minesweeper¡¯s official platform record three years ago, the average finish time for expert difficulty was around 33 seconds; for intermediate, a Danish guy got 8.5 seconds; and for beginner, the minesweeping record was 1 second.¡± The young girl was stunned. ¡°That fast? Probably they were just lucky?¡± ¡°There is some luck in it. But some people calculated that the probability of beating a game of Minesweeper in 1 second was 0.00058% to 0.00119%.¡± Ai Qing didn¡¯t deny the possibility of luck. ¡°But to professional players, ¡®luck¡¯ is like talent, it''s not something you can rely on.¡± Of course no matter how wonderful it was, this one was still a little game. Once you grasp the logic of Minesweeper and practice it diligently, then you could accurately and quickly sweep the mines. You could do it like a robot. This was a game fit for players who were bored enough to play. And it so happened that there were indeed many professional players that found themselves very bored. Furthermore, both Slide and Following were the best among the bored players. Both of them were obviously mine sweeping experts. The mouse clicking speed on the two screens were already too fast for onlookers to keep up. The gray computer screen background displayed the blue mines and various colored numbers. Nobody would be out when experts swept mines, rather it was a competition to see who could sweep all the mines first. Volume 1 - CH 24 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 1: The Storm is Coming Chapter 24 If a player¡¯s skill when playing this little game could be described as ¡°beautiful¡±, who would dare claim that they weren¡¯t experts? If the game match attracted so many onlookers watching with great interest, forgetting to even start their evening training, who would dare say that this game was not indeed splendid? When Solo walked into the training room, he happened to hear the sound of a series of mine explosions. Following spreaded his hands. ¡°Mistake. Mistake. Again. Again.¡± Everybody laughed. ¡°You guys have 30 seconds to go back to your own seats.¡± Solo crossed his arms and spat out the last warning. ¡°Boss, Don¡¯t.¡± Following was extremely depressed. Though he protested verbally, he still jumped up from the chair and sat back to his own seat. ¡°I haven¡¯t had enough yet.¡± ¡°Not enough?¡± Solo smiled slightly and answered. ¡°Then come join the A team. Then you will have plenty of time to play with them.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been meaning to do just that.¡± Following peeled open a lollipop and stuffed it into his mouth. He said ambiguously, ¡°When is the exam?¡± Solo looked at his watch. ¡°We¡¯ll do the regular training. Let¡¯s talk about it after we finish training at 10 o¡¯clock.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± They didn¡¯t allow smoking here, but they provided unlimited lollipops. Following sucked on his own lollipop and he didn¡¯t forget to throw one blueberry flavored one to Slide. ¡°It is a deal. Save a seat for me.¡± Shortly, the training room was back in training mode. Ai Qing wandered around the two women teams, then she sneaked out of the training room. She saw Solo was smoking on the balcony by himself. There was no light on the balcony. It was winter and a cloudy day, so it made the glow from the cigarette sparkle prominently. She held her hands at her back and walked over. She spoke in a quiet voice to him, ¡°Following and Slide knew each other well before?¡± ¡°Can you tell?¡± She nodded. ¡°I could tell that Following was trying to take the heat off the newcomers.¡± One of the original members of SP tried to get closer to the newcomers by randomly picking up some little game to play around. Obviously it was more effective to pull the two groups closer than any official introduction or eating at the same table. ¡°Are you happy?¡± He asked suddenly. Naturally Ai Qing knew what he was asking. Of course, it was the reunion of the old team and old friends. ¡°Yes,very, very, very happy.¡± She admitted. ¡°But I also have some concerns since the average age of this team is kind of old.¡± ¡°Not too old.¡± Solo didn¡¯t seem to worry about it as much. ¡°When you were with me at that time, you were all young kids. Now you''re all right at a suitable age.¡± When they were together at that time¡­¡­ Indeed, only he and Gun were about the same age. The average age of the other three official members plus substitutes was only fifteen years old. They were about the same age as Inin now. ¡°We need one more official member.¡± She spoke out her concern. ¡°Then how about the subs?¡± No one seemed willing to be the substitute among those who had come to Korea this time. Did he want to recruit a substitute after they went back to China? ¡°Substitute?¡± Solo laughed. ¡°I¡¯m the sub.¡± ¡°You?¡± ¡­¡­Was he joking? Solo seemed to have a faint smile and threw out some more words, ¡°You¡¯ll be their training partner.¡± Volume 1 - CH 25 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 1: The Storm is Coming Chapter 25 ¡°Me?¡± She laughed and shook her head. ¡°You still have the skill.¡± Solo smiled. ¡°The fifth member should be you actually, if not for the fact that esports doesn¡¯t allow coed teams.¡± He threw the cigarette into the ashtray afterwards and patted her back with his palm lightly. ¡°Let¡¯s go. Don¡¯t forget. Tonight you still have the live stream.¡± It was Saturday. It was the day of SP¡¯s live stream after the training session. Solo came up with the idea for a ¡°Live Stream Day¡± to let fans watch live broadcasts of their games in realtime. Especially for the lucky few who got a chance to play a game with their idols. It was a festival for many esports fans. Tonight¡¯s stream would start at 10:30 PM. Game: Secret Room Storm. Streaming Hosts: Apple Dog & Following. Ai Qing and Following randomly cleaned up the desk which was littered with snacks and sat down across from each other. They turned on their computers and entered the game room. There were already people desperately posting ads in the comments: ¡°Game leveling for Secret Room Storm. Superman Workshop battles for you. Covert game master is ready to play. Brand new season. Brand new levels. Plug in wings and let¡¯s fly away together! Mom doesn¡¯t have to worry any more that I¡¯m cheated and abused by low level players¡­¡­¡± ¡°Dammit Superman Workshop. How come wherever I post an ad, you always post here too.¡± ¡°Because I love you~¡± ¡­¡­ Ai Qing broke out into laughter when she saw the conversation. She was surprised when she saw the number of viewers in the room at the right lower corner of her screen ¡°Oh my gosh.¡± Following¡¯s headsets were hanging on his neck. He was shocked by the number of viewers too. ¡°Why¡¯s there so many viewers.¡± She used her right index finger to signal him to be quiet. She put on her headset and began the stream. ¡°Good evening, everyone, I am SP¡¯s Apple Dog. My partner for tonight is Following. Everybody should be very familiar with my partner. He is SP-NaNa team¡¯s famous Mid player, the famous strategist and creep score maniac in the DotA circle. He just passed the assessment to become a member of the SP A team of Secret Room Storm half an hour ago.¡± ¡°You flatter me. You flatter me. I¡¯m not that great.¡± Following chuckled. They randomly chatted for a bit. From the comments in the chat room, they quickly learned the reason why there were so many viewers tonight. It was because Solo had just posted the list of SP¡¯s A team for Secret Room Storm on Weibo just half an hour before the stream. The last member on the list was really Following. And at the end of the list it read: Manager: Apple Dog. Coach: Solo. Volume 1 - CH 26 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 1: The Storm is Coming Chapter 26 The number of online viewers rose rapidly. It was close to the max. Ai Qing, as the host, made a prompt decision to close the game room. Then she saw people commenting in the stream chat. ¡°Why¡¯s the room closed? We were still outside.¡± ¡°Damn¡­..Luckily, I¡¯m already in.¡± ¡°Oh my god, everybody is here tonight.¡±...... More and more fans began to recognize the ids of the players. has four large servers, American, Chinese, Korean, and European. The top ranking 100 players in each server had their id names displayed in red. Obviously, almost 60% of all top players were here tonight. It just so happened that all the best professional players for were all congregated in Seoul preparing for the one week long exhibition tournament. So the news that China¡¯s largest club, SP, would live stream tonight had spread quickly among them. These professional players staying in the several nearby resort villages were all free and bored tonight. They had all logged in to have some fun. If professional players were here, then their fans of course wouldn¡¯t be absent either. So¡­¡­ This was the live stream with the highest number of people since the servers went online. ¡°90% of people I know are here. The people I don¡¯t know¡­...there¡¯s a lot of them, too.¡± Following was speechless. He looked at Ai Qing. ¡°What do we do?¡± She lowered her head and checked her mouse and keyboard one last time. ¡°Just play a good game. I will draw the players randomly. Be careful.¡± ¡°At random?! You¡¯re fearless.¡± Random meant that other than the two of them, all other eight players would be picked by the system randomly from the top online players who had the highest points. This method was normally fine because it was a way to interact with fans, so they could just play casually. But it was totally different tonight. Random meant picking top eight players with the highest points among these famous names¡­...to play a competition game. Ai Qing gave an ok signal to Following to play without holding back. ¡°SP¡¯s die-hard fans are watching us. We can not lose.¡± After all it was SP¡¯s first live stream of tonight and they couldn¡¯t screw it up. She turned on the system selection afterwards. Would Dt be among these hundreds of professional players? Would he join for the fun here? She quickly toss that idea out. That genius¡­..there was little chance for him to join this kind of live streaming event. Starting tomorrow, all the clubs from China would officially play. Would he be in the K&K line-up? Or did he continue to hide from the exhibition tournament until the formal competitions? She was thinking a little bit too far and became somewhat absent minded. Following thought she was planning strategies. Soon the system began to pick players, the black live broadcast bar started rolling names out one by one. The appearance of each name pushed the atmosphere up one more level. Unfortunately, none of the names that came up were from the Chinese Server until the last one. When 97¡¯s name popped up, they finally had a name from the Chinese Server. Ai Qing glanced at the list of names. She set 97 to her own team, then she picked another two from the American Server. Meanwhile, these five players were connected to a voice chat. ¡°Ah? Ah? Is it me?¡± 97¡¯s disbelieving voice passed through the earphones. ¡°Ai Qing, Ai Qing, you really picked me? We are certainly a family.¡± Ai Qing cleared her throat. ¡°Can you speak English?¡± Their team had two players from American Server in addition to the three Chinese players. ¡°Ah? No¡­...Ah, it doesn¡¯t matter. Dt is right next to me. He can translate simultaneously.¡± ¡­¡­ ¡°Dt?¡± Following who was listening in became very interested. ¡°Was he the one who ganked me a bunch of times yesterday?¡± He still remembered the scene from the grievance round yesterday. It was a tragic process in which he revived, died, revived, and died¡­.. ¡°Ah, that¡¯s right. How are you. I am 97. I was lucky to have killed you yesterday too¡­¡­¡± 97 answered with a grin in his voice. ¡°......Likewise. Likewise.¡± Following didn¡¯t take the bait. ¡°You also died by my hand quite a few times too.¡± The two Americans in the same channel were listening to Following and 97¡¯s ¡°flattering¡± and ¡°chatting¡± to each other in Chinese, but they were all joking around. Though they were in separate competitive clubs, they were all professional players and mostly respected each other. The game loaded. The game screen quickly appeared and they began their character selection. Ai Qing¡¯s fingers slid over the keyboard back and forth for several rounds: ¡°Thank you. Dt.¡± ¡°You are welcome.¡± He had a Scandinavian accent when he spoke English. Even if he didn¡¯t have much emotion, his trailing voice was subconsciously upturned. She found that to be a little bit cute. The last time she had heard him speaking English was in Singapore in ¡®07. The game started countdown shortly and Ai Qing stared at the screen. The screen turned black for one second. ¡°Good Luck, Apple Dog.¡± Dt suddenly said. Volume 1 - CH 27 s, but it was inconvenient to ask right now. She could only remind the team that the game had started. ¡°It¡¯s a good opportunity to partner with western players. They are very strong in shooters.¡± She said. ¡°What¡¯s their background?¡± ¡°Lavvy, he was Europe''s first mid in DotA in the past.¡± The character Ai Qing was controlling just jumped into the swamp looking for cover. This map was quite unusual; part of it was a jungle. ¡°I don¡¯t know the other one.¡± ¡°The other guy is Loop, he used to play Starcraft 2.¡± Dt added in a timely manner. Very concise. Following was very surprised. He raised his head and mouthed to Ai Qing: This guy is really helpful. Ai Qing glanced at him, smiled, and mouthed back: He is a K&K player. That means------he was SP¡¯s toughest competitor in China. Following¡¯s smile vanished instantly. Volume 1 - CH 28 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 1: The Storm is Coming Chapter 28 As a new game, there weren¡¯t any existing tactics or classical play styles from popular competitions to follow. The current ranked players were only from the alpha test, so there was no real list of top players yet. Everything was still unknown and everything was a challenge. This was a game full of undiscovered potential. ------Just because of this reason, it was enough to make everyone¡¯s blood boil in excitement. After Ai Qing killed the last opponent with a short knife in the game¡­¡­ The whole game screen was instantly frozen. A storm struck; mountains collapsed, the earth split open, and the whole world was frozen. All the battles were over. IMBA. The opponent¡¯s captain, an id from Korea, punched these 4 characters in the message area. IMBA, imbalance, was a term used by some professional players. Here, it meant ¡°twisted¡±. It was obviously used as praise. Players started to leave the game one by one. Out of these ten players, five won and five lost, but regardless if they had lost or not, their mood did not dampen in the past whole hour. They were saying goodbye to each other. These two players from the European and American Servers who knew Dt even had a short talk about having chat with Dt in the competition site tomorrow. Following had played for an hour; he pushed away the keyboard and ran downstairs saying that he was going to have a smoke. Ai Qing was the only one left on the second floor. Her hand cradled her chin with headsets on, doing the ending for the live stream, ¡°......Thank you everybody for your support tonight. Our SP-LoL team members will be doing the live stream next week¡­¡­¡± She concluded in one minute and closed the chat. She found out that she hadn¡¯t logged off from the game yet. And it wasn¡¯t just hers, 97¡¯s id was also still on. She turned on the voice channel: ¡°97? Are you still there?¡± ¡°He went out.¡± It was Dt¡¯s voice coming through the earphones. ¡°Ah¡­¡­¡± He had contributed his time and energy for free tonight as the translator for her. She felt compelled to chat with him in return as a form of appreciation for his efforts. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you log in with your own id tonight?¡± This had been on her mind for the entire night. When the system was randomly picking players, she had looked over all the names in red and gold, but found no sign of Dt. ¡°I was there. It was a regular id.¡± Dt answered. ¡°I didn¡¯t play in the Alpha test for Secret Room before, so I don¡¯t have a rank.¡± Ai Qing felt a little thirsty, so she walked over to the bar two steps away to look for drinks. ¡°I forgot to thank you this afternoon. I couldn¡¯t have won against Inin without your help.¡± Because she was wearing wireless headset, she could continue their conversation. ¡°It was nothing.¡± ¡­¡­ The king of awkward silence didn¡¯t speak further, as expected. Anyway she was used to it. Ai Qing lowered her head and finally took out bottles of orange juice, mango juice, grapefruit juice and apple juice from the small refrigerator. She also found ice cubes made by Baona in the freezer as well as the Boston shaker and a mixer Baona had brought to Korea specifically. Non-alcoholic cocktails was her specialty. He finally found a new subject to talk amid the sound of pouring drinks. ¡°Are you drinking water?¡± ¡°En. I want to make some simple cocktails.¡± ¡°Alcohol?¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s made with juices without any alcohol.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡­¡­ She then found several champagne glasses and continued to work on her drink. She poured four juices into the Boston shaker and poured ice cubes into the mixer and turned it on. The sound of crushing ice cubes filled the whole room. ¡°What are you making?¡± He heard the sound of the mixer and asked. ¡°Punch.¡± She turned off the mixer and said jokingly, ¡°Actually, I should treat you to one as thanks for your help tonight. Letting a professional player be only a translator for the entire game is truly a waste. Unfortunately I don¡¯t know where you¡¯re staying.¡± Though they were in the same resort, she really didn¡¯t pay attention to where K&K club was staying. He replied after a brief moment of silence, ¡°I¡¯ll come over, in ten minutes.¡± Volume 1 - CH 29 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 1: The Storm is Coming Chapter 29 Thus Baona witnessed a bizarre scene in his own room as he was switching between various Korean variety shows with the remote control on the first floor. With a wireless headset hung around her neck, Ai Qing ran downstairs holding a glass of punch and placed it in front of him. ¡°Boss, this cocktail is my treat.¡± Then the doorbell rang, she immediately turned around and ran to the door to let a man come in. She then took a tall twenty-two years old boy upstairs to the training room on the second floor¡­¡­ K&K¡¯s secret player Dt had showed up in the SP training room on the eve of the big competition? Baona took the glass and sipped the cocktail. This could be¡­...quite scandalous, no? Baona silently sat in his chair for about ten minutes. He was really curious about what the two were doing upstairs, so he held the empty glass and walked upstairs. The two actually weren¡¯t doing anything special. They were at each side of the bar facing a computer, watching a video of a game. He pretended to put the glass down in the bar. Ai Qing readily took up the shaker to fill his glass again and asked. ¡°How¡¯s the taste today?¡± ¡°Nice, not bad, very good.¡± Baona replied without thinking. He saw the character used by Apple Dog and the name Following. He speculated that this was the same game they had just live streamed. Were they just that dedicated? Yet why was she talking about it with a K&K¡¯s player? Baona held his glass, confused, stood there for a little while, then he went downstairs to back to his variety tv shows. Ai Qing exhaled a long breath, then closed the video: ¡°What do you feel about Gun? Is he your new boss?¡± ¡°Not bad.¡± Dt¡¯s answer was always very brief. ¡°Gun¡­¡­¡± She was thinking how to tell him about their past which had been buried deep in the dust of time. Or she should just stop here without continuing the topic. Dt didn¡¯t show any intention of pushing her. It seemed that he wasn¡¯t too interested in his boss¡¯ past. But he also seemed expectant to hear something more. After all, Gun¡¯s past in Ai Qing¡¯s memory was also a part of her own past. Those were the details which he didn¡¯t know about. Volume 1 - CH 30 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 1: The Storm is Coming Chapter 30 ¡°He¡¯s a very nice person.¡± These were the words she said in the end. Regarding Gun¡¯s past winning records, character, and habits, those were recorded in the history of esports forums. His most faithful fans could recall from memory his short retirement post, forwards and backwards. ¡°In the past two years and three months, I have won, lost, laughed, cried, been questioned, been the topic of gossip, been criticized, and set up by shady plots, but I never try to defend myself. I don¡¯t need to. Tonight, the gorgeous feast has finally ended. I have achieved fame and success, though it¡¯s full of absurdity.¡± He had been retired for 10 years. He really hadn¡¯t shown up anywhere. This time, he came back. He was already twenty-nine years old and he could never be an active player again. Though she didn¡¯t talk about it, she still felt a little bit uneasy when she thought about the past. She found an excuse and hurriedly left Baona¡¯s villa with Dt. After they departed at the intersection, she took a walk around the small building she was staying. After three or four laps around the building, what lingering feelings she had slowly disappeared from her mind. The next day, Baona gave her a new name tag before they entered the stadium. She lowered her head to take a look. SP-MS (Secret Room Storm) Manager Appledog / Ai Qing After staring at the tag for a while, finally she pulled the blue string out of the name tag and put it around her neck. Originally, she had decided to solely be a game commentator and never involve herself in any of SP¡¯s esports operations. But she hesitated the moment she saw the name tag. It was like a year ago, what Solo had told her after he called her out to meet. ¡°Some people have a lifetime dream which will make their blood boil. You will never be content with yourself, Ai Qing, if you haven¡¯t won the actual world championship or you haven¡¯t tasted the grand slam, or you haven¡¯t carried the national flag for your most loved game.¡± Not content with myself? True. ¡°I thought you wouldn¡¯t accept it.¡± Baona expressed his surprise in a low voice. After all Ai Qing now was the top commentator; she had a fixed number of fans and a very high hit rate. She earned the highest income inside SP, except for those in upper management. The little pay of a manager with a busy training schedule in addition to a plethora of tedious work, even he, as the boss, wasn¡¯t sure that he could convince her to take the position. ¡°I haven¡¯t won the world championship yet.¡± Ai Qing thought a bit and said, ¡°Based on this reason, it looks like Solo is still the one who understands me¡­¡­¡± Solo had made the announcement directly without even asking her first. ¡°Ha, I can¡¯t compare with you two¡¯s friendship.¡± Baona held his name tag, waved it to the security guard at the VIP entrance and walked in with her together. This entrance was the direct access to the area for Chinese clubs right in front of the stage. They were a bit late because they had been in a phone conference with the SP team manager who was in Europe for competition. People from all the clubs were already sitting in their seats. Ai Qing walked to the third row in the front with her name tag on. Her could see from the corner of her eyes that the entire K&K team was all there. In the first row sat Gun, Grunt, 97, and Dt. Volume 1 - CH 31 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 1: The Storm is Coming Chapter 31 In the SP area, every member of the first team was already there. Slide and All both acted as if they had just learned that she was the manager. They spoke with great embellishment combined with exaggerated expressions. Xiaomi smiled warmly as usual and looked at her with shining eyes. She was a little embarrassed. ¡°Manager, do we need a pep rally before the battle?¡± Slide raised his eyebrows and asked. A pep rally before the battle? Ai Qing stopped looking at the K&K area and pulled her attention back. ¡°You all, except Following, have just joined SP. We don¡¯t normally do pep rallies before a battle here. I just want to say one thing. Our SP-DotA2 team needs two more championships to win the Grand Slam. The average age of their team is 20 years old. The trophies they won in the past two years have filled the entire SP Hall of Fame. Baona and I just talked to their manager over the phone this morning. They took another championship. They¡¯ve gained 17 consecutive wins up till today.¡± Her eyes swept over every teammate including the youngest, Inin. ¡°And our average age is three years older than them, yet SP has allocated the best resources and the highest expectation to us. We have roughly two more years before each of you retire. I hope you do not carry any regret when you depart. Therefore, in these two years. Let every player be proud of you all; Let every esports commentator become obsessed with you all; Let our national flag fly in every tournament arena; Here¡­...are all the dreams we¡¯ve had since we were teens. Please end our professional careers with a Grand Slam. Please!¡± She finished and earnestly bent over into a deep bow. The old members had retracted their smiles. Following and Inin, who didn¡¯t know much about her past, just simply stood there¡­...stunned. Sitting in the seats three rows ahead of them, 97 stared dumbfoundedly at what he just heard. In mild excitement, he knocked Dt with his elbow. ¡°Your goddess is really awesome.¡± Dt didn¡¯t reply. There was a group of people, proud and simple-minded, who lived in their own world. Their professional career started from the age of fourteen or fifteen, then they retired and disappeared in their early twenties. In the niche competition market, the world paid little attention. The only things they owned were a mouse, keyboard, and earphones, but they won gold medals for China, one after another. This was esports. This was the esports which she loved for a full eleven years. Volume 1 - CH 32 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 1: The Storm is Coming Chapter 32 ¡°Hoo, alright.¡± Within a second, Ai Qing turned back into Apple Dog again and concluded with a red face, ¡°That¡¯s all. I¡¯ll just sound weird if I keep talking¡­¡­¡± SP people all laughed. She sat down. Baona, sitting besides her, lightly clapped his right hand against the palm of his left. ¡°No wonder you are the top commentator.¡± ¡°So many people are watching. I have to give a pretty speech for the sake of SP.¡± She pouted her mouth toward the referee area in the distance. ¡°He¡¯s worked so hard to put this team together. The pressure from using retired players must be a lot more on him than us.¡± ¡°Solo?¡± Baona looked at the referee area also. ¡°Yeah, there were quite a few in doubt about his recent decision.¡± Ai Qing believed that she wasn¡¯t the only one who knew about it, all of his old teammates were well aware of the immense pressure to re-assembling this team again. They had to pick up the pieces from when they retired all those years ago, their state of mind and experiences. All of this wasn¡¯t something that could be achieved from just talking. And not just in China, but there were also many large clubs in other countries, even inside SP, their powerful B team, were all geared up ready to surpass this team. The opening performance finished after half an hour. Then began today¡¯s competition drawings. On the big screen, the names of each team which had drawn were passing through the big screen one by one. There were little-known teams as well as very famous teams. The cheers doubled when the Korean team names were displayed. The big screen displayed the battle matrix three minutes later after the drawings had closed. The preliminaries were divided into four groups. Each group had twelve teams distributed in six areas. Six referees supervised the competition simultaneously. SP was in the fourth group. And K&K was in the first group. The competition starts at 10 o¡¯clock in the morning. At 9:45AM, the stadium¡¯s loud speaker began to announce that the first group would start after fifteen minutes and the competition teams may start to enter the arena and prepare. Accompanying the repeating announcements, people began to enter the arena from the rest areas for European and Asian teams and the hosting country, Korea. One European team even carried their own monitors. They carried it into the arena and connected them to the host computer. Soon she heard some people not far behind her who were looking for something, standing up, and talking in low voices. K&K people was preparing to enter the arena. This was China¡¯s first team for a group competition and it naturally attracted much attention. Ai Qing was SP¡¯s manager so she sat right in the first row in Chinese area, right by the only passageway for all Chinese players to enter the area. She looked at them as they passed by her, one by one. The first one was Grunt, then it was 97 and two other boys. The last one was Dt. He held a mouse and keyboard in one hand. Because he was so tall and wore a hat, he was used to lower his head as he walked. His eyes accidentally met with hers. He passed by her in a short half of a second. But he clearly heard that girl speak to him from behind, ¡°Good luck.¡± Volume 1 - CH 33 Spring Sunshine 2.2 Xia Liang and Song Qiyan walked hand in hand for more than half an hour. It was already past 9 o¡¯clock in the evening when they went back to the cabin. There was a TV in the living room and many DVD movies beneath it. Song Qiyan and Wei Jian knelt down and decided to watch . It was the second time that they were watching this classic movie. The sofa in the living room had 3 seats. Sung Qi Yan sat at one side. Xia Liang sat in the middle. Wei Jian moved a chair over and let Lin Qian sit next to Xia Liang on the sofa. In the beginning, Xia Liang attentively watched the movie with her head resting on Song Qiyan¡¯s shoulder. They had all watched the movie before. However, it was such a classic movie that they still enjoyed watching it the second time around. Additionally, this DVD was an original, with no subtitles. It didn¡¯t even have English subtitles. Naturally they had to concentrate to understand everything that was going on. Song Qiyan¡¯s eyes watched the screen, but his two hands were playing around with Xia Liang¡¯s left hand. He pinched and stroked her hand. Xia Liang¡¯s hand was very beautiful and pale. Even the shape of her transparent finger nails was pleasant to see. The bottom of each finger nail had a white crescent. Though she was not tall, her fingers happened to be really long and slender. Besides, she was on the skinny side, so her hands were really delicate. And¡­¡­Song Qiyan pinched her pinky again. His thoughts became distracted. It was really soft. Her hands were soft and smooth as silk. He remembered that Xia Liang had demonstrated the flexibility of her fingers when she was in his arms once. The first knuckle of every finger could bend back 90 degrees. Her pinky was especially limber as if it had no bones in it¡­¡­Song Qiyan didn¡¯t know that some people could be born with very limber finger bones. For a long time after that he thought all girls¡¯ fingers were that soft. Song Qiyan still watched the screen, but his thought was wandering off. As the movie was coming to a close, Lin Qian and Wei Jian were quietly arguing about their views on the main character¡¯s personality. Song Qiyan felt the pressure on his shoulder suddenly. Xia Liang¡¯s head began to slip down his shoulders little by little. He stretched out his arm to hold her, who was already fast asleep. He held her head around his chest then thought about it. He softly picked her up and eyed Lin Qian and Wei Jian, then he took her back to her room. He tenderly put her down on the bed and pulled a blanket over her. Song Qiyan sat on the bedside watching Xia Liang¡¯s quiet sleeping face. A tender expression graced his features, wanting to coddle her even more. He lightly pinched her hand and slid it underneath the blanket. Though Florida was a lot warmer than Seattle, it was already over 20 degrees Celsius during the day, it was still a little cold in the evening. He couldn¡¯t bear to risk even the slightest chance that she¡¯d catch a cold. This girl was his most precious treasure and he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. Xia Liang, Xia Liang. He tucked the blanket in tight and sat there quietly watching her sleeping face for a long while. The corner of his mouth was in a shallow smile. He stretched out his hand and touched her face. And he used his thumb to brush aside her hair from her face. Finally he bent down and kissed her forehead. He saw her little mouth pucker up and couldn¡¯t help widening his smile. Then he sentimentally touched her lips lightly, followed by a light kiss near her ear. He spoke to the sleeping girl in a soft voice, ¡°Good night.¡± Song Qiyan left the room. He carefully pulled the sliding door closed. When he walked out of the door, he happened to see Lin Qian walking out of the bathroom. The movie had ended a while ago. Lin Qian looked at him jokingly, ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t want me to give up my spot on the bed?¡± Song Qiyan laughed lightly and shook his head, ¡°Please take care of her.¡± Lin Qian pull opened the sliding door. She looked at Song Qiyan¡¯s back then looked at Xia Liang who was in deep sleep on bed. Her attractive, alluring eyes had a hint of envy. Such a pure and meaningful romance¡­¡­She shook her head. Hrm, was it because she hadn¡¯t had a boyfriend in a while? Volume 1 - CH 34 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 1: The Storm is Coming Chapter 34 During the short time she was registering, she had missed her sister¡¯s bombardment of WeChat messages. When she opened her phone again, she was shocked to find over 40 voice messages from her pleading sister. She listened to each from beginning to end, it documented the journey of her sister¡¯s mental struggle. From wondering whether she should buy an airline ticket to fly here, what hotel to stay, then directly jumped to having already booked a round trip airline ticket, and asking Ai Qing if she had room for her to stay¡­¡­ After she had listened to all of them, the last message said: I am on the way to the airport. Ai Qing had no choice but to request for an individual room that evening because she had a family member coming over to stay. She explained to Solo and ran out of the resort village by herself at around six o¡¯clock. She was going to call a taxi to the airport to pick up Ai Jing, but she didn¡¯t expect to see Grunt and Dt standing outside the gate. Grunt saw her as she came out, then he grinned and said something to Dt. She was too far away to hear clearly. After she walked closer, she asked Dt, ¡°Are you two heading out too?¡± Dt nodded. ¡°We are waiting for you.¡± Grunt sighed lightly. He had managed to create an opportunity for Dt to meet with Ai Qing and all he does is nod, just that? ¡°We are going to pick up your sister together.¡± Ai Qing was a little confused. She simply replied with an ¡°oh¡± and got in the taxi with them. Originally they thought they were late, but they didn¡¯t expect that Ai Jing¡¯s airplane was delayed during take off. So they were early by about 15 minutes instead. Dt looked around. ¡°Do you want to drink something?¡± She looked around and saw a Starbucks. ¡°I¡¯ll go with you.¡± She didn¡¯t want to stay besides Grunt. This brat was already too sharp and cocky when he first started in this business . Now he was really¡­... Especially since he kept teasing her and Dt on the way here and it made her very embarrassed. When she and Dt walked into the store, it just so happened that a Korean celebrity was there with his agent buying coffee. Excited fans were crowding outside the store. They were waiting for the celebrity to acknowledge them or maybe even smile back. Ai Qing and Dt couldn¡¯t get in, so they could only wait outside. They were pushed to corner by the crowd. At some point, she almost opened her mouth to ask him whether he really was Gun¡¯s cousin. ¡°What do you want to drink?¡± He said suddenly. ¡°Are you go in there to order?¡± Ai Qing thought, ¡°Soy Milk Latte.¡± ¡°Soy Milk Latte?¡± Dt frowned. ¡°Doesn¡¯t it taste good?¡± She asked. ¡°......hard to say.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll just try it. Anyway I¡¯ve never drank it before. I just heard it because my sister mentioned it several days ago.¡± He said, ¡°Oh, ok, just giving it a try.¡± He pushed into the front door through the crowd and he lowered his head amid all the young girls. He kept shielding his body with his arms to avoid people being pushed into his arms¡­...After he stood in front of a cash register on the counter, the girl dressed in uniform seemed to know him. She turned her head back to talk to a boy behind her. The boy turned around quickly. His face blushed the moment he saw Dt. He came up to the cash register and kept talking with the girl in Korean. Because he was not fluent in Chinese, he needed the co-worker to translate for him. The unusual scene attracted the attention of some nearby fans, who started to look at Dt as well. ¡°I guess he¡¯s a fan.¡± Grunt had come over to where Ai Qing was. ¡°Uhm.¡± Ai Qing saw Dt was a little uncomfortable at signing an autograph for that boy. ¡°Is it possible for you and Solo to get back together again?¡± ¡°What?¡± Ai Qing turned her head in shock. Grunt¡¯s eyes, which were more beautiful than most girls, were squinting behind the glasses. ¡°Don¡¯t understand my question?¡± Ai Qing surely understood his question, but she didn¡¯t expect for Grunt to ask so openly. Frankly speaking, she actually didn¡¯t know Grunt that well. This was a very private question¡­¡­¡±I would never believe you were interested in gossip.¡± ¡°I am interested in anything that¡¯s related to Solo.¡± Grunt replied straightforwardly. ¡°Of course it includes his love life. He is an emotional person and that¡¯s why he could never escape away from you.¡± This¡­..how did he come up with such a conclusion? Ai Qing was dumbfounded. ¡°Spare me. You¡¯re not an entertainment reporter. But, I really didn¡¯t know that you cared so much about Solo. He¡¯s already retired, he won¡¯t be your opponent ever again.¡± ¡°I am at the same age as you. Did you know?¡± Grunt didn¡¯t answer, but rather asked a question which didn¡¯t make any sense instead. Then he continued to talk without waiting for Ai Qing to answer, ¡°When you were fifteen years old, you had won the championship in Guangzhou. I, however, didn¡¯t even know what esports was at the time.¡± Ai Qing soon realized what he was talking about. ¡°I got it now. You joined the esports circle because of Solo.¡± Not only Grunt, but also the myth of Solo¡¯s team had ignited the passions of a generation. In the past ten years, she had heard too many people tell her and Solo about how much they loved him and how they would download many of his competition videos to learn and practice. In these ten years, the new generation kept replacing the old generation. So many top players had retired one after another. Hundreds and thousands of famous players were sunk back into the ordinary crowd of people. But Solo was different because his myth never died away. He, by himself alone, had already gone further and more brilliantly than his team in the past. ¡­¡­ Ai Jing¡¯s airplane landed shortly. After they had met up with Ai Jing, Grunt walked with Ai Jing far ahead in the front while Ai Qing and Dt walked behind. This is what they call¡­...hoes before bros¡­¡­no? Ai Qing lifted the coffee cup. Now she finally had a chance to take the first sip. Uh¡­¡­ Her expressions was very colorful. ¡°Tastes bad?¡± ¡°Definitely.¡± She looked at the cup in annoyance without an idea on how to finish drinking it all. They looked at each other and laughed simultaneously. He took off his baseball hat and put it on her head. The baseball hat was still warm. She paused. She had to lift the brim since her view was blocked by the hat. ¡°It¡¯s snowing.¡± He explained. Under the lighting outside the airport gate, his entire face, rarely exposed, shone. Just like how he looked¡­¡­ on that day in Singapore when he was surrounded by many reporters on the podium after he had led his team all the way to the top. Volume 1 - CH 35 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 1: The Storm is Coming Chapter 35 ¡°Yo, is our manager back?¡± Ai Qing walked up to the second floor and saw Slide and All resting nearby. She was naturally teased by them. All affectionately put his arm around her shoulder. ¡°What¡¯s going on? Did our manger sneak out on a date on the first day of training?¡± She wanted to explain but Slide had already closed in on the other side. He patted her head and laughed. ¡°Don¡¯t try and defend yourself, we all saw it. The boss¡¯ balcony is really nice with such a wide view.¡± So many SP people were listening¡­¡­ Ai Qing, ¡°Ah¡­¡­¡± tried to explain, but somebody behind her spoke instead, ¡°The organizer just sent me the drawing results for the quarterfinals to me.¡± Solo opened the door and waved the iPad in his hand to everybody, ¡°Ai Qing, introduce this team RAP to everybody.¡± ¡°RAP?¡± Ai Qing and Solo looked at each other to confirm the news. Solo smiled and nodded to her. It was unexpected¡­¡­ Some senior SP members had already changed their expressions. Ai Qing cleared her throat a bit and walked to the whiteboard on the wall. She picked up a pen and wrote down three letters, RAP. Then, she smiled suddenly. ¡°Let me talk about the grudges between SP and RAP first.¡± Grudges? All¡¯s eyes turned bright instantly. Slide and Xiaomi were similarly excited. Only Inin was slow on the uptake. Uhm. His poor Chinese was some reason for his confusion. ¡°Three years ago, SP¡¯s DotA team participated in an online competition. I will not talk about which competition specifically as I¡¯m ashamed to even mention their name.¡± Ai Qing always spoke frankly. She looked at Following, ¡°Following just joined SP that year and he was also one of the members participating in that competition.¡± Following nodded, he hadn¡¯t forgotten even a bit about it after three years. ¡°Anyway that game had open enrollment. More than one thousand teams participated. SP kept winning each round till we reached the quarterfinals and the semifinal. Our opponent in the semifinals was RAP. You all know that when this kind of ¡®online competition¡¯ reaches the final stage, in order to show fairness, it requires both teams to agree on a computer host with a good internet connection. Even which country the computer host was in also required both team¡¯s consent. RAP was in Europe, but we were in Asia. The host they provided to us, which had a very high ping, gave us at least 2 seconds of lag.¡± Everybody there understood very well what it meant to have 2 seconds of lag in a competition. In a duel between experts, 2 seconds was assured death. ¡°We protested to the organizer but in vain. We provided several hosts but they told us that we couldn¡¯t use any of them. Finally, the organizer suggested that SP forfeit.¡± ¡°On what basis?¡± All stood up instantly. Ai Qing chuckled and stretched out her hand to motion him to keep calm and sit down. ¡°It was three years ago. Don¡¯t get so excited.¡± ¡°Even then, it¡¯s still not ok.¡± All rolled up his sleeves and kept rubbing his bald head very unhappily. ¡°What year is it now that they even force players to forfeit because of hosting issues?¡± Slide laughed understandably. ¡°It was definitely shady.¡± ¡°You are right. It was very shady.¡± Ai Qing answered. ¡°One of the backers of the competition was also a RAP shareholder at the same time.¡± Everybody understood now. ¡°But¡­...it doesn¡¯t matter.¡± Ai Qing smiled slyly. ¡°A gentleman can afford to wait for as long as ten years for some revenge.¡± When esports competitions just started, who created miracles one after another? It was Solo¡¯s team. During the golden age, who stood at the top, respected by players all over? It was SP. ¡°In the next ten minutes, I will explain to you in detail about each member of RAP¡¯s team, their individual ability, map awareness, psych profile, professional accomplishments, and known weaknesses.¡± Ai Qing rolled the marker in her hand several times then tapped the marker tip on the name ¡®RAP¡¯ on the whiteboard. ¡°We have one day and two nights to train. We are going to make RAP clearly remember the day after tomorrow that------that SP¡¯s accomplishments is far from a lie.¡± Volume 1 - CH 36 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 1: The Storm is Coming Chapter 36 Ai Qing¡¯s gave a splendid presentation. She had been a professional commentator for over a year and was one of the most popular commentators. She didn¡¯t earn such fame by accident. She explained RAP¡¯s usual strategy, positioning, group fight style, item builds, ability to resist pressure¡­¡­ She analyzed these five main factors in great detail with little effort. She finished the presentation right at 8:30PM and let the team to continue their training. She walked behind the bar and looked at the faces sitting behind the monitors. Slide¡­...She didn¡¯t watch the competition in ¡®07 where he won the Asian Championship in Starcraft. But she had heard from other people that the final match had been rather dull. He steamrolled the competition. Cocky All was usually talkative but once he entered the game, he became a silent killer. Xiaomi¡¯s neat looks made him seem harmless, even his hand motions were also very clean. He was the one who was willing to sacrifice himself to aid others, a perfect Support¡­¡­ She had already experienced Inin¡¯s capability last time. He had a gentle and innocent looking face, but his tactics and the unit composition was surprisingly ruthless and fierce. Following¡¯s technique was very elegant, perhaps the best at SP, nobody claimed to be better than him. This team was totally different from K&K¡¯s. SP didn¡¯t have a player as sharp and tough as Dt. How to describe it? The composition of SP¡¯s A team was a little special. It was as though they were carefully selected. They were all low key, bloodthirsty players. They were accustomed to overpowering and killing the enemy quietly. The difference between sharp and quiet. It reflected the difference between Gun¡¯s and Solo¡¯s individual styles. ¡°If the K&K team is like a glittering sharp sword, then we¡¯re like¡­...a large black sea seeping everywhere.¡± She finally came to the conclusion and couldn¡¯t help herself from laughing. Was the entire SP team pervasive, insidiously bloodthirsty? If they knew she was describing them like that, they would definitely gag. Solo sat next to her but was particularly quiet. Surprisingly, he didn¡¯t respond. He seemed to be looking at the place where they were training yet it seemed that his mind had wandered off a while ago. ¡°Solo?¡± She noticed his abnormal behavior. ¡°Um?¡± Solo slowly pulled back his eyes and looked at her with a smile. ¡°Go on.¡± He surely hadn¡¯t heard anything. Ai Qing suddenly didn¡¯t like talking now. She shook her head and lightly rotated the water cup on the glass bar counter. This was their team. After ten years, they had all cycled back and seemed to have returned to the starting point again. ¡°I just thought about something.¡± Solo seemed to realize that he had spaced out for too long just now. ¡°At the beginning before the Solo¡¯s team ever existed, I was practicing in internet cafes day and night. I slept in the rental apartment shared by a group. The room was very tiny and messy. You wouldn¡¯t even know how to start cleaning the room¡­...Whenever I wanted to ask you out at that time, I had to go to the public bath to wash myself clean and put on my best clothes. We seemed to fight a bunch about letting you visiting my place.¡± He said in a low voice. It sounded like he was talking to her, or maybe he was just reminiscing by himself Ai Qing didn¡¯t expect that he would start talking about the distant past by himself, it was more than ten years ago. At that time, there was no the myth like Solo¡¯s team. There were few teammates, no trophies, and little else. She didn¡¯t love esports so much yet. Rather, she liked Solo and she wanted to be a sniper because of him. If they let the story go back to the beginning. If Gun didn¡¯t appear, maybe Solo¡¯s team would never have existed. It was so long ago, at that time nobody treated a esports as a legitimate profession. The opportunity to obtain an investment was very rare. If that turning point didn¡¯t happen, then probably no one would be sitting in this nice resort village now. They would probably be like the vast majority of esports players living in the bottom of the society: They would keep their initial lofty dreams and aimlessly participate in many competitions, then win some small prizes; They would be waiting for a good investor to sponsor their ¡°excellent talents¡±; They would imagine a brilliant future, then discover the future was full of uncertainty. Because there were too many young men with dreams just like him, who was mediocre at school but very skilled at playing games, fighting to grab any possible resources in this circle; Then after time passed by, when their hopes and dreams had been crushed. They begin to live a life without any future, living and sleeping in internet cafes on income from jobs powerleveling other players on internet games or competitive games. Ai Qing looked at Solo who was still not quite himself. She was unsure whether he felt as guilty to Gun as she did. She thought he was already so strong, he wouldn¡¯t be affected by these old memories in the past. But it looked like it wasn¡¯t so. Anyway, he was very abnormal today. Solo took off his earphones and shut down his iPad. He finished the meeting with China headquarter about the resource allocation for the next year. He hadn¡¯t expressed any opinions the whole time. He just listened. Actually he had very little interest in these meetings, but he had no choice. He had become one of the Chinese regional managers. He was silent for a while and it seemed like he still wanted to say something. He checked his watch and found that the staff meeting for referees was going to start. ¡°Darkness without light. Whirlpools everywhere. Your comments about the team are similar to mine.¡± Solo smiled. He gave her an affirmative answer. Then he carried the iPad which he used to view documents for the meeting and left the training room. So¡­...he did hear everything? Volume 1 - CH 37 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 1: The Storm is Coming Chapter 37 The quarter final match was much more vicious than she had anticipated. She was on edge when she saw Xiaomi in close combat. On the other hand, Slide and Inin were isolating and double teaming the enemy. How to describe it? Right, insidious was an apt description. They had not only accomplished Ai Qing¡¯s goal to ¡°Let RAP remember SP from this battleground¡±, they even turned the match into an unforgettable performance in this tournament. These five players could easily end the game, but instead they tormented the enemy, hunting them, using the slowest method possible to chip the enemy¡¯s health down. It was simply¡­¡­ A very slow, painful death¡­¡­ Ai Qing couldn¡¯t help but chuckle. These guys sought vengeance for the smallest slight. Seriously speaking, the grudge between SP and RAP had nothing to do with them. Of course, it had nothing to do with her either. She had joined SP only a year ago and shady competition had happened almost three years ago. Regardless, she was a well qualified manager. The way she stirred up the morale of the team, she was really ¡­.. even she admired herself. The four teams stood on the stage after the quarter final. When they lined up to take a group picture, Inin was so excited that he started to cry......Therefore, after taking the group picture, SP¡¯s A team created a strange scene: Inin kept wiping his eyes with his sleeves. All probably thought it was too shameful, so he lifted his foot trying to kick Inin¡¯s butt. Fortunately, Slide was quick enough to pull Inin into his arms. He smiled with Following at each side of Inin teasing him. Xiaomi, the softest hearted of all, stood behind all four and kept sighing and shaking his head¡­¡­ ¡°Come on. Wipe it clean quickly, don¡¯t use your sleeves.¡± Ai Qing pulled out the tissues from her backpack and passed it to Inin when he walked down the stage. ¡°Thank you¡­¡­¡± Inne, nose red, took the tissues. The young boy didn¡¯t feel embarrassed, rather she was the one who felt embarrassed. ¡°Don¡¯t cry. Don¡¯t cry.¡± Ai Qing touched Inin¡¯s hair. But she still couldn¡¯t stop herself from laughing, so she found an excuse and ran away, ¡°Let me get some drinks for you.¡± The drinks here were free but the area was only open to the players. Ai Qing stood in front of an array of ice boxes. She pondered whether to get some coke or some banana milk, a special Korean product. Someone far away was calling her name. She looked over and found it was the K&K players who had just qualified for the semi finals. It was 97 calling for her loudly. She took the basket and filled it with a pile of banana milk, then she walked straight over. She found the atmosphere at the table a bit weird. They didn¡¯t show any excitement from winning at all. Grunt lowered his head, wiping his glasses with a white paper towel lightly. It looked like he was not in good mood. Dt saw Ai Qing come over and stretched out one hand to take the basket of drinks from her. He put the basket down besides his foot for the time being. The remaining two players, affected by the mood of their teammates, were hardly in a joking mood. They just drank water by themselves, silently. Volume 1 - CH 38 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 1: The Storm is Coming Chapter 38 The scene was most puzzling to Ai Qing. She mouthed to 97: What happened? Weren¡¯t the three always on good terms? She had known them for so many years and had never seen them argue. But now, obviously something had happened between them. 97 shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know. They¡¯ve been like this since last night.¡± Last night? They were like this¡­...and still won the quarter-final and semi-final? Ai Qing silently admired them. In the end, nobody could give her a reason. She stood there for a couple of minutes and felt bored. She chatted with 97 randomly about the exchange rate of the Korean Won, weather, that the winter was so cold, etc. Then she carried the basket of drinks and left. The exhibition tournament in Korea came to an end after the semi finals. Everybody had time to relax. They packed their stuff to leave the stadium. SP and K&K stayed in the same resort village this time. The organizer assigned a big bus for them to make it more convenient to travel between the stadium and the resort village. During the first couple of days, they only rode the bus occasionally because most wanted to see other parts of the city after the day¡¯s competition rather than return to their rooms. Now it was time to leave, except for several of the female team members who had gone shopping with their long shopping lists, all the male members were too lazy to tour around. They quietly sat in the bus waiting to go back to the resort. Ai Qing was late to the bus because she needed to talk to the female members about business. The bus was already rolling forwards when she ran up to the bus. She steadied herself at the front of the bus, took down her backpack, and was going to tell the driver that he could go. Yet, she froze when she saw the lady who was sitting next to Gun in the second row. ¡­¡­ ¡°Guo Guo.¡± The lady nodded to her slightly and revealed a very friendly smile. ¡°I haven¡¯t had a chance to greet you yet. I didn¡¯t expect that we would meet when the competition is almost over.¡± If time rolled back to ¡®05 again, she wouldn¡¯t have believed that she¡¯d cry simply after a brief conversation with this woman and shut herself in her room, crying under the blanket, for two whole days without eating or drinking. If time could roll back to ¡®08 again¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ Ai Qing quickly lowered her head to calm herself. Then she raised her head and replied with a smile: ¡°I didn¡¯t expect to see you in Korea.¡± She saw that the woman wore a staff name tag on her chest. K&K-MS (Secret Room Storm) Manager Dodo / Su Cheng Volume 1 - CH 39 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 1: The Storm is Coming Chapter 39 Ai Qing could feel the gaze of several pairs of eyes. Only three people other than her on the bus knew Su Cheng. Gun, All, and Solo. Gun sat next to Su Cheng but he seemed to be in a phone conference. He wore earphones but hardly said anything. His beautiful eyes glanced at Ai Qing without any expression. Only All waved his arm dramatically, signalling Ai Qing to sit next to him. It seemed that she could be safe next to him. For sure, she certainly couldn¡¯t stay where she was standing. The first six rows were all from K&K. She walked past the first six rows and entered the SP section, the bus turned suddenly. Two people reached out to hold her simultaneously. Solo at the front held her arm. While the hand behind her held onto her backpack. ¡°Are you ok?¡± Solo asked in low voice. ¡°I¡¯m alright.¡± Ai Qing shook her head and avoided his eyes. Behind her, Dt remained silent and let go of his hand. She didn¡¯t stop until she walked to the very last row of empty seats. She sat down and conveniently put her backpack on the seat next to her. She didn¡¯t want anyone to sit next to her. The atmosphere inside the bus was quite strange. It was too quiet for two victorious teams riding on the bus. The large bus stopped outside the entrance to the resort village. The K&K team members sitting at the front rows all stood up. They carried their red and white alternating colored uniforms and backpacks and walked out one by one to assemble outside the bus. As for the SP members, Baona already told everybody last night during training that they would have a meeting tonight. So Solo didn¡¯t bother gathering everyone. After they stepped out of the bus, they carried their individual backpacks and walked back to their own living area. Ai Qing was the last one to walk out. When she walked out of the bus, Su Cheng was at front of the bus explaining the schedules to their members. Gun had his head lowered, playing on his cell phone. He was really too lazy to deal with these mundane affairs. Only after Su Cheng told everybody that the airline tickets had been booked and they should arrive at the airport the morning after tomorrow, then he added, ¡°From now on the team is dismissed. You have a one-week vacation. You can do whatever you want to do. So you can change the date of your airplane ticket. I don¡¯t care when you return back home, but you have to report back to the club a week later to start our training for the 2015 season.¡± Then he added again, ¡°Oh, by the way, talk to Su Cheng if you have any questions. Don¡¯t bother me.¡± Volume 1 - CH 40 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 1: The Storm is Coming Chapter 40 Ai Qing walked back to her own room, swiping her card multiples times before the door opened. She walked inside and heard loud splashing from the bathroom. The door of the bathroom was open, filling the entire room with steam. Feeling something amiss, she dropped her backpack onto the floor and walked in barefoot. She saw Ai Jing standing underneath the shower head with her her clothes on; soaked from head to toe. With her back facing Ai Qing, Ai Qing could see her shoulders throbbing. Was she crying? It was a very familiar scene. She stood there. Whether it was the instinct of being a twin or the scene reminding her of something from the past, Ai Qing couldn¡¯t move. She could only watch silently. She feared that she might crush what little remained of her sister¡¯s self-esteem. Until Ai Jing¡¯s hand touched the shower handle, Ai Qing snapped out of her daze and backed up two steps. ¡°Grunt got back together with his first love.¡± Ai Jing didn¡¯t need to turn around to know that she was there. ¡°It¡¯s that girl. The girl he learned to sing in order to make her happy.¡± James Blunt¡¯s . More than four years ago in Chengdu, Ai Jing had been in close contact with Grunt. Actually, it was this song that had deeply moved her when he sang at KTV. At time, Ai Jing had asked him if he liked James Blunt? Grunt¡¯s answer was, ¡°My ex-girlfriend really likes James Blunt. She liked to hear me sing it, so I just learned it.¡± If her sister hadn¡¯t mentioned it, she would have already forgotten that event. Details about the time they met would only be remembered clearly by the people who really cared. To other people, the conversation would be meaningless. Ai Jing seemed to have finished crying. She took off her wet clothes piece by piece and turned on the shower head again. She lathered the white soapy bubbles all over her body. ¡°Yesterday, he called her in front of me and told her that he would marry her when his competition winnings amounted to four million.¡± Ai Qing replied with an ¡°oh,¡± having little else to say. ¡°Ai Qing, you know? I just have too strong a hero complex. Definitely. Whenever I want to pay attention to other men, I just keep thinking of him. I remember his face in competitions, how sharp and direct he answers questions after competitions. I thought of¡­...every time when he called me, the kind of passion I felt whenever he talked about Solo¡­¡­¡± Ai Jing¡¯s voice was slowly getting lower. Ai Qing took out a large blue bath towel from her own luggage and passed it in to her, but she still hadn¡¯t found the words to comfort her sister. The two sisters were different from what people may think. Rather than talking to each other about everything and emphasizing with the other, they hid their real feelings and never talked to each other deeply. Nonetheless, she understood what her elder sister was trying to say. When a girl was stumbling in the video game world, a hero had suddenly appeared before her. He cut all opponents down as if he was mowing the lawn with skill and ease. He did it mercilessly without sympathy. He only put her behind him to protect her¡­...or to put it another way, he always adjusted his play style to fit her. He would pass a sharp sword to her when she wanted to kill and he would stay behind to cover her when she wanted to retreat. This kind of heroism in another world was strangely attractive. Especially when this hero had carried the national flag after winning the world championships so many times. The attraction was irresistible. Ai Jing quickly rinsed clean, then she wrapped herself with the bath towel and walked out quickly. She looked at Ai Qing with red eyes. Suddenly, she ran to Ai Qing and forcefully buried her face on Ai Qing¡¯s shoulder, ¡°Come on, say something. Anything. Just don¡¯t comfort me. I will cry again if you try to comfort me.¡± ¡­¡­ Well¡­¡­ ¡°Do you remember that I told you about the grievance round between Solo and the Korean WarCraft king Nani in 2008?¡± The muffled voice of her sister came from her shoulder, ¡°I remember¡­.. Your Solo really enjoyed the limelight. He beat Nani using a membrane keyboard.¡± ¡°Their bet was that the loser had to sing on a yy voice channel and give the battle.net ID ¡°The Best¡± to the winner. And the winner would answer a question in public.¡± ¡°Why did you never mention this?¡± Her sister raised her head with red eyes taking great interest from this new information, ¡°What was the question? What did they ask Solo?¡± What was the question? That day it seemed that all onlookers had agreed earlier that they would ask the same question: Other than your daugher and mother, which woman do you love the most? There were hundreds of thousands online viewers posting their guesses. The host who was in charge couldn¡¯t hold up any longer. He fell inline with the online viewers teasing him. Was it the name of a type of animal or a girl whose face became red whenever she smiled? ¡­¡­ ¡°Other than your daughter and mother, which woman did he love the most.¡± Ai Qing sighed. ¡°Isn¡¯t it tacky? It was really just about gossip.¡± ¡°......What did he say?¡± Ai Jing behaved as if she was on the scene. Suddenly she felt nervous. She felt especially nervous. ¡°Su Cheng.¡± Yes, Su Cheng. He said this name in front of hundreds of thousands of online viewers on a yy voice channel. All the viewers who had posted Apple Dog immediately came to a stop. The host who had begun teasing him was also stunned into silence. The name Su Cheng was so alien because nobody knew who she was. Volume 1 - CH 41 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 1: The Storm is Coming Chapter 41 ¡°Damn it! I¡¯ll kill him!¡± Ai Jing pushed Ai Qing away despite the fact that she was clad only in a bath towel. ¡°Wait a minute! You just let it go like that. Why on earth did you join SP?¡± ¡°For my dream. I¡¯m not as shallow as you; the only thing you think about is love affairs¡­¡­¡± Ai Qing covered her forehead at a loss. ¡°Have you forgotten that you¡¯re the one who got dumped? I¡¯m just trying to comfort you with my sad past, my dear!¡± ¡­¡­ ¡°Shit. Damn the dream! Don¡¯t give me that shity excuse. Have some backbone.¡± Her elder sister bit her teeth angrily. ¡°Come on. Keep talking. Why did that bastard Solo say the name of that woman!¡± Because he didn¡¯t want to disappoint his daughter. Su Cheng was his daughter¡¯s mother, so it was the only answer. ¡°Oh? I forgot.¡± Ai Qing changed her mind and acted innocent. ¡°Uhm, how come I can¡¯t remember it?¡± ¡°......Ai! Qing!¡± Her elder sister was about to lunge at her. Ai Qing was quicker than her sister; she pulled the bath towel off her sister and ran out of the room immediately afterwards. That incident with Solo had gradually faded from the memory of the fans. Even the name Su Cheng was lost to everybody. After all, Apple Dog was much more famous than her. Ai Qing¡¯s pictures in competition had been used by many people as wallpaper on their computers. She was the only girl who could match Solo in the imagination of many people. In 2010, when she met Solo again in Chengdu, the host and audience found her in the CS competition arena and they still made fun of them as a couple. It was still like that up to today. ¡­¡­ Ai Qing felt that her story would¡¯ve distracted her sister somewhat. She believed that Ai Jing could take care of her own problem. After all¡­...she was her elder sister. Yet¡­¡­ She clenched her gloved hands and harshly punched twice on the trunk of a snow covered tree. Damn Grunt. Why fool around with Ai Jing if you didn¡¯t plan on staying with her! ¡°I really want to smash your face in with a keyboard!¡± She berated the tree trunk. ¡°Wow.¡± 97¡¯s voice appeared suddenly. He walked out from behind the trees quickly. ¡°What happened with our SP manager? Beating a poor tree to vent your anger isn¡¯t what a professional player would do.¡± While he was talking, he put his hands behind his back and glanced at the guy next to him. ¡°As long as you wish, this guy can be used to vent your anger, and he is absolutely free of charge.¡± Dt silently glanced back at 97. Though 97 spoke in jest, Ai Qing took his offer up and went with the two to an internet cafe. After all she was SP¡¯s manager. It would be too much of a blow to the morale of SP if she missed the evening meeting and be seen playing games with key players from K&K. But it would be different at an internet cafe. No one there could understand their conversation. Ai Qing pulled out the keyboard and put on earphones. ¡°I have a live broadcast tonight.¡± 97 understood the hint. ¡°No problem. I¡¯ll use my alternate id and let Dt¡¯s goddess cut me down.¡± Ai Qing wasn¡¯t sure how to respond to that. She took the chance finally and protested to 97 when Dt was away. ¡°My sister just got dumped by your good brother Grunt. Please, don¡¯t joke around at this time.¡± ¡°What?¡± 97 took off his earphones, shocked. ¡°That¡¯s impossible. Grunt really likes your sister.¡± ¡°......he likes her so much that they can¡¯t be together?¡± ¡°It could be possible. How to put it. Anyway, Grunt is a weirdo. Here.¡± 97 pointed to his own head. ¡°His is different from ours. His way of thinking is different.¡± He said, then frowned and casually added. ¡°But, talking about the structure of the brain, it looks like Dt¡¯s is even more strange¡­¡­¡± He was too occupied with his own thoughts that he didn¡¯t notice Dt already came back carrying two bags of food. 97 stopped only after the bags were set down in front of him, then he put his earphones back on and stopped talking. Dt took out the food from the bags one by one. Ai Qing was pleasantly surprised, then she became more and more surprised. They were all the food she had eaten when he accompanied her that day¡­...the most scary thing was that he took out three cups of Starbucks in the end. ¡°Soy milk latte?¡± Ai Qing looked up and asked with lingering fear. Dt looked down at her nose, which had turned red from the cold. He suddenly had the urge to touch it with his finger. As the idea flashed by, his eyes, hidden under the baseball hat, became slightly unfocused. Until a white hand waved before his eyes. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. I¡¯ll drink it even it¡¯s soy milk latte¡­...I absolutely won¡¯t waste the money from K&K¡¯s captain.¡± ¡°Toffee nut latte.¡± He said. It was sweet and it was your favorite. He thought. ¡°This one.¡± Ai Qing laughed. ¡°It¡¯s my favorite. Every year I have to wait until the Christmas month to be able to drink it.¡± ¡°Really? The Starbucks clerk recommended it. I¡¯m not sure whether you¡¯d like it or not.¡± He said. I already knew it. You mentioned it in your interviews. He thought. Ai Qing suddenly felt carefree. From this evening until now, from Su Cheng to Ai Jing, all the events had made her somewhat moody. Bu now, here, in this internet cafe in a foreign country, she could drink her favorite drink. It seemed like everything had been solved. Tomorrow she would be leaving Korea. Then¡­...it was the final competition in Shanghai, China. It would be the last stop for the exhibition tournament for the game . It was also a beginning. Solo¡¯s team, who had created the history of an esports era, all reappeared. The two top clubs had entered the battlefield. It was just like Solo¡¯s post on Weibo when he announced the SP line-ups: ¡°Our dreams already died long time ago. All past experiences and glory will be renewed from now on.¡± A Dream. That Dream was the reason she came back. Ai Qing held the cup with both hands and sipped. She felt that her thoughts were growing loftier¡­¡­ She glanced at Dt sitting next to her, then she saw snow on the brim of his hat. ¡°There¡¯s snow on your hat? It¡¯s all wet.¡± She pulled out napkins from her bag and wiped the snow and ice for him while she spoke. She was short while he was tall and there was a big difference in height even when they were both sitting. Ai Qing wanted to wipe the back of the hat, so she tried to stand but he unexpectedly pressed her shoulders down. Dt turned to her and lowered his head down to his knees to let her wipe the back of his hat. His entire face hid underneath the shadow of the brim of his hat. ¡°Why do you like to wear hats so much?¡± Ai Qing felt funny that he would rather lower his head than taking off the hat. Inexplicably, she recalled how he looked when he fell asleep in the audience seat in Singapore in ¡®07. ¡°Is it for the convenience of falling asleep without anyone knowing?¡± He answered in a quiet voice after being silent for seconds: ¡°I¡¯m used to it.¡± Only by wearing a hat could he keep looking at her without fear of being discovered. Volume 2 - CH 1 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 1 More than ten young men were having fun in the clear water of a swimming pool. Ai Qing sat on the poolside wearing a long skirt. She was giving the youngest team member, Inin, a private lesson. The names Solo and Gun were written on the whiteboard. ¡°Ten years ago, Solo¡¯s team was known for its ¡®ten inconceivables¡¯ in the Chinese CS circle. The two star players, Solo and Gun, were ranked in the top ten in the world for two consecutive years. The team members swept up many personal ranking in the world; the 2nd most consistent player, the 4th best player to draw first-blood in a game, the first and 2nd best at map control, the 4th best player for pistol-only matches, the best shooter, and nominated three times for MVP, etc, etc.¡± She circled Solo¡¯s name with the pen. ¡°Solo¡¯s expert in tactics. There was a saying at the time that god always stood behind Solo. His control of the battlefield was unmatched and it was also the key factor that allowed the team to win every competition. And Gun¡¯s personal skill at the time had reached the highest peak that a professional player could ever reach.¡± Inin sat at the poolside attentively scribbling notes. ¡°In other words, will our boss lose if they battle with each other?¡± What an interesting hypothesis? She really never thought about it. ¡°I don¡¯t know. They have never battled with each other.¡± Inin thought for a while. ¡°They never battled with each other for ten years, so they organize two strong teams ten years later to finally have a duel?¡± Was that possible? Her hand holding the pen stayed in the air. Solo and Gun were really just one entity ten years ago. Their biggest wish was to win the Grand Slam. But now¡­¡­ ¡°Never mind. Let¡¯s not talk about them. They are retired old men.¡± Ai Qing casually skipped the topic. ¡°The reason I¡¯m introducing the background of Solo¡¯s team is to let you know the style of the leaders of both clubs. You will discover that they heavily influence the styles of their respective teams.¡± Very quickly, she wrote down a list of names on the whiteboard. Dt, Grunt, 97, Slide, Following, Xiaomi, All¡­¡­ ¡°Among all the current players, SP and K&K are without a doubt the strongest.¡± She circled Dt¡¯s name with the pen. ¡°The research and analysis team have just finished a report ten days ago, . They have done a systematic analysis of the top ranking one hundred professional players. It can be said that both Dt¡¯s personal ability and tactics are the best among all players in WarCraft, StarCraft, DotA, and the Secret Room Storm.¡± Inin nodded and looked at her with shiny eyes. ¡°Of course, he¡¯s always impeccable.¡± Was he impeccable? It was a little bit of an exaggeration, but obviously that Dt had never exposed any weaknesses up to now. ¡°Manager, I¡¯ll let you in on a secret.¡± Inin smiled embarrassedly. ¡°The reason I come to SP is to have the opportunity to be his opponent.¡± ¡°Ah?¡± She couldn¡¯t stop herself from laughing. ¡°Isn¡¯t your goal too low?¡± ¡°Seriously.¡± Inin raised two finger to swear. ¡°He was the StarCraft champion of the European Regional tournament two years ago and you were the champion of American Region. Didn¡¯t you two already battle in the final competition? Haven¡¯t you lost enough?¡± She teased the young Inin. ¡°I did lose, but I still feel like I haven¡¯t played against him enough.¡± Inin answered depressedly. ¡°......haven¡¯t lost enough times to him?¡± ¡°Sort of.¡± Inin answered seriously. ¡°It¡¯s very enjoyable to be his opponent.¡± Really? Ai Qing recollected the couple of matches when she was his opponent. Indeed¡­...it was very enjoyable. His teammates could never understand this feeling. If you wanted to know how strong a player is, then the most direct way was to be his opponent. She was distracted before realizing that the topic strayed into admiring Dt, so she quickly switched back. ¡°Though the captain of Dt¡¯s team is very strong, a group battle isn¡¯t just about the individual¡¯s ability. Every member of our team has won championships. The ability of our five players are comparable with each other and each of their skill is about the same level as Grunt. ¡®No weak link¡¯ is the biggest advantage of our team, but K&K------¡± She looked at the names on the whiteboard. ¡°Nonetheless, Dt is still too strong. Among the remaining players, Grunt is the only one qualified to battle us. The disparity in the strength of their team members is their Achilles¡¯ heel.¡± In the final competition of the Chinese Regional tournament in 2007, though it was a fight between two teams, it was better described as a contest between her and Dt. Because other than the two captains, the others were all too weak. She lost at that time with no regrets. And now, these two teams were about to clash on the battlefield of Secret Room Storm. What would be more important, a talented man or a strong team? She would have to wait and see. ¡­¡­ ¡°Not finished yet? We already swam a lap.¡± All climbed up from the pool, dripping wet. He picked up a towel from the sun lounger with a smile to wipe his hair. ¡°What is there to talk about? We¡¯ve already seen them at every past competition. We already know them too well.¡± Everybody walked over and sat down around Ai Qing. Slide took a box of playing cards over from the sun lounger. He laid a bath towel down on the floor and started to shuffle. ¡°To appropriately satisfy Gou Gou¡¯s desire to lecture, it¡¯s the responsibility of every member of our team to listen. Show some respect, man.¡± Volume 2 - CH 2 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 2 While Ai Qing was still in the middle of Inin¡¯s lesson, all the other good for nothings swarmed around her to play poker. Ai Qing gave up on the lesson when she noticed that Inin¡¯s attention was no longer focused on the whiteboard and instead on the game of poker. She put on her large straw hat and walked towards the beach. A few minutes after she left, Dt came over to the pool side. This was the first encounter between two teams since K&K defeated SP by a narrow margin in the finals a month ago. Slide saw Dt dressed in short sleeves and shorts with a baseball hat on. He couldn¡¯t help but sigh. ¡°Ah, Dt, only you know how to block the sunlight. We¡¯ve only been here a day before you and are all already tanned from head to toe.¡± Dt didn¡¯t speak and casually took in his surroundings. Then he noticed the whiteboard. ¡°Guo Guo just finished a lesson for the young kid.¡± Slide threw out a pair of Queens and explained with a smile, ¡°She was heaping you with praise.¡± ¡°Right.¡± All took a long sigh and threw out a pair of Aces. Dt looked whiteboard over and figured that Ai Qing had been talking about the history of SP and K&K and their key players. He walked over and picked up the pen and added ¡°Apple Dog¡± after the ¡°Gun.¡± The crowd of SP players did a collective double take before understanding. Following sighed. ¡°Our manager is too humble. She didn¡¯t even write her own name on it? Wasn¡¯t she the number 1 sniper, especially a woman sniper? She¡¯s just as important to esports history as Solo and Gun.¡± All waved his big hand in agreement. ¡°Right, Inin, don¡¯t you underestimate our manager. I will show you proof after we finish playing cards, you¡¯ll be kneeling in awe singing Conquer.¡± Inin spoke in disbelief. ¡°Ah? Our manager¡¯s that strong?¡± Slide smiled lightly. ¡°Gou Gou was a real esports goddess at the time. She was the dream lover of many young men.¡± All laughed loudly. ¡°That¡¯s right. She was the idol that everyone loved on Solo¡¯s team. Solo and Gun definitely couldn¡¯t compete¡­...Slide, tell us the truth. Did you have a crush on Gou Gou at that time?¡± Slide, ¡°......I wouldn¡¯t have dared.¡± They broke into laughter. Dt just put his hands inside his pockets and quietly stood behind Slide. Suddenly, he spoke, ¡°You can GG now.¡± Ah? Slide was embarrassed. He still wanted to fool around with the others for a while longer. What¡¯s wrong with this brat¡­¡­ You just betrayed me. ¡°Onlookers don¡¯t speak, Dt. I thought we were friends.¡± Slide dispiritedly threw out the cards in his hands, ¡°GG.¡± ¡­¡­ Volume 2 - CH 3 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 3 Ai Qing stood at the water¡¯s edge watching the lapping waves reach near her feet. She debated whether to go into water and run against the waves. But there were orange yellow flags flying along the beach warning against it------Do not go into water today. She hesitated and glanced at her surroundings. The life guards were all fairly far away, they shouldn¡¯t notice her. She thought that she would just run in for one or two meters. That should be alright. As she was thinking, she lifted her skirt and quietly ran forward a few steps. Each wave surged ashore, growing higher and higher, the crash of the waves grew louder. Her right foot was in the seawater. The a cool sensation spread upwards from her foot. However, at the next second, someone grabbed her arm and pulled her back. Ai Qing was startled. Dt? The moment she turned her head, she lost her balance and knelt down on the beach. Damn. She looked at her long skirt, now soaking wet, at a loss. ¡°I¡­...was afraid you were in danger.¡± Dt squatted next to her, realizing his mistake. This was the first time that he was shocked by his own behavior and was unsure of how he should react. ¡°I just wanted to step on the waves. I didn¡¯t mean to walk into the ocean.¡± She wanted to cry. He was too nervous to say anything. Ai Qing was going to complain, but was baffled by her feelings of guilt as if he was the victim here. She pushed against the ground and changed her position from kneeling to half squatting on the beach. She whispered, ¡°My skirt is soaked¡­¡­¡± And she didn¡¯t have a swimming suit underneath. Dt was silent. He asked in a low voice, ¡°Is it very uncomfortable?¡± ¡°No.¡± Ai Qing¡¯s face gradually became heated, then turned tomato red, ¡°People can see through it.¡± The only sound they could hear was the din of crashing waves. She tried her best from becoming red from embarrassment. Her best efforts however were to no avail. Dt then understood her concern. He stood up without a thought and took off his black short sleeved T shirt. He placed it on her head and pulled down all the way. Ai Qing had originally planned to have him fetch a beach towel for her. She didn¡¯t expect for him to react so quickly. Then, he pulled her up from the sand. The T shirt covered down to her thighs, avoiding the embarrassment of wearing a wet skirt. But while she had his T shirt on, he was left with only a pair of black beach shorts. Though it was quite appropriate to dress like this on the beach, yet¡­¡­ It was now only thirteen degrees Celsius. It was very cold. There were other tourists laughing and running around them, but nobody paid attention to two who were embarrassedly looking at each other. She looked away from him, with disdain at herself for her burning face. ¡°I heard that you won another StarCraft championship last month.¡± She didn¡¯t expect that he would still compete in individual events in addition to Secret Room Storm. He said, ¡°En, it¡¯s almost over.¡± ¡°Over?¡± He said, ¡°I need three more championships.¡± Three? She was a little bit confused. ¡°If I win three more, then I will exceed Solo¡¯s total championships on StarCraft.¡± He rarely explained. ¡°Though he¡¯s already retired and it¡¯s not fair to compare this way, I still want to surpass him.¡± He wanted to break that unbreakable myth. Volume 2 - CH 4 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 4 When the youngest member of SP ran to the beach looking for Ai Qing, he happened to see the strongest K&K captain was holding a white beach towel wrapped around Ai Qing. He thought his eyes were playing tricks on him¡­¡­ ¡°Aren¡¯t we going to have a buffet together tonight?¡± Ai Qing heard the youngest member calling her. She hurriedly took the bath towel. ¡°I¡¯m going to change clothes first. Your T shirt¡­..¡± ¡°No hurry.¡± His eyes looked down and saw that the shirt was utterly soaked. It was too cold here and you could catch cold. He thought. ¡°It¡¯s too cold here. You¡¯ll catch a cold like this.¡± Ai Qing said softly. ¡°Go back quickly and put on some clothes.¡± She then ran away wrapped with the towel after saying so. Actually she didn¡¯t have to rush back. The buffet would not start until half an hour later. She had plenty of time to change clothes and take a quick hot shower. She didn¡¯t know why, but she felt too embarrassed to stay with Dt. She had to find an excuse to leave first. When she stepped into the elevator, she found several people already inside. Other than two foreigners, there were Su Cheng, dressed in a long skirt, and Gun, who was playing on his cell phone. Su Cheng was somewhat startled by her appearance while Gun just casually leaned on the corner of elevator, not even raising his head to look at her at all. ¡°How did you get all wet?¡± A hand gently pat her shoulder. Solo? She answered, ¡°I fell into the seawater by accident.¡± He also walked in. He pressed the eighth floor and stood next to Ai Qing. Several seconds later, the elevator reached the third floor. The two foreigners exited, leaving the four of them by themselves. The moment the elevator door closed, Gun raised his eyes slightly and glanced at the two girls and the man in front of him. ¡°Shall I excuse myself?¡± ¡­¡­ This scene was a deja vu of ten years ago. At that late night, when Gun brought Su Cheng in front of her for the first time, he had said the same sentence looking at her and Solo. That night was the first time she saw Su Cheng and heard her name. She was immersed in the happiness of victory at that time and secretly calculating the time she had known Solo, so they could quietly celebrate. But from that moment, everything changed. ¡°Hello,¡± The first sentence the stranger Su Cheng said to her was, ¡°I want¡­¡­ to talk to Solo alone.¡± She was fifteen years old and Su Cheng was twenty-two years old. There was a 7 years difference between them. Ai Qing had a smooth life; she had never experienced any setbacks from academics to esports. As for Su Cheng, she was an esports player as well, but she was one of the numerous losers buried in the bottom of the pyramid. Ai Qing admired Solo until she stood shoulder to shoulder with him. And Su Cheng liked Solo too, but she could only be his temporally comfort when he was in the most difficult of times. ¡­¡­ Ai Qing pulled the towel tighter. It was freezing cold. ¡°Excuse yourself for what? Do you want to discuss tactics? Then you and Su Cheng should excuse yourselves together. Is K&K¡¯s boss growing senile?¡± ¡°Tactics? Overwhelming talent will surpass any sort of tactics.¡± Gun curled his mouth and revealed a ridiculing smile. ¡°If I¡¯m not mistaken¡­...aren¡¯t you wearing K&K¡¯s summer uniform?¡± His taunting didn¡¯t make her lose the ability to react. But this little question made her embarrassed. ¡°Uhm¡­...you are not mistaken.¡± Luckily, the elevator reached the sixth floor on time. Gun merely cast a very meaningful look and left with Su Cheng. Solo¡¯s eyes silently fell on Ai Qing. Seeing her pale face from the cold, he had the urge to hug her. Once upon a time, hugging had been the norm between him and her. She was fifteen years old then and still a young girl. She was happy when she was happy. When they won competitions, she would jump up onto him and hold his neck. And he could only hold her legs helplessly like holding a big kid in his arms. He was nineteen then and she, fifteen. Volume 2 - CH 5 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 5 She quickly took a hot shower after she returned to her room and casually put on a SP uniform. As she was blow drying her hair, she was still looking at the wet shirt that had been thrown into the bathtub. She was thinking whether she should wash and dry the shirt before returning it? ¡°Manager!¡± Her roommate rushed in. ¡°I saw boss¡¯ interview on the sports channel!¡± ¡°Last month¡¯s?¡± She tried to remember and turned off the dryer. ¡°Right~¡± The girl held the remote control, swaying left to right, and laughed. Then she saw the black short sleeves in the bathtub. It instantly caught her attention. She picked it up. ¡°Isn¡¯t this K&K¡¯s uniform?¡± ¡°En¡­¡­¡± Ai Qing didn¡¯t continue the topic. ¡°Whose uniform?¡± The girl was even more intrigued. She measured the size and looked at the tag on the collar. ¡°XL? 180cm? Taller than 180cm in K&K------¡± Dt and Grunt! ¡°It¡¯s K&K¡¯s captain Dt.¡± Ai Qing cleared her throat. ¡°My skirt was wet when I was at the beach. He lent it to me.¡± The shirt was from him? Then, wouldn¡¯t the owner of the shirt be half naked? She walked out of the bathroom under the gaze of suspicion. The interview was almost over on the TV. Solo was dressed in white casual clothes sitting in front of the camera. His eyes were soft and calm as usual. ¡°Esports is different from other sports. Careers are very short. Every youth struggling on this path must understand that the road ahead of you is very long. The effort you need to pay is far more than you can imagine.¡± The host laughed and began speaking. In short, he thanked Solo for sharing his professional experience while adding that the esports market has only continued to grow, and gave a prediction on which games would be most popular in the coming years. She looked at the man on TV and recalled the embarrassing scene in the elevator just now. ¡°Manger. Should we go?¡± The girl behind her asked when she noticed the time. ¡°I am not going. I will order room service. I was freezing cold just now. And the buffet is at the poolside, I feel cold just thinking about it.¡± Ai Qing was not a person specifically interested in group parties. She was absent from many dinner parties all the time. The girl was accustomed to it. She took the camera and her jacket and left. Ai Qing turned off the TV and the room was quiet again. She was famished. She picked up a large pillow and sat on the bed looking over the menu. None of the items on the menu looked appetizing at all. She looked over and over again, then finally gave up. Could she sneak out to the restaurant downstairs? Would they think too much if some players saw her? But she was really hungry. She embraced the pillow and rolled around on bed. ¡°Hungry. I want to eat grilled seafood. I really want to eat¡­...why do I have to hide from them. They should be the ones hiding from me. Ai Qing, you stupid------¡± There was a sudden knocking at the door. She sat up abruptly and baffled. She threw away the pillow the next second, then jumped off the bed into her slippers, and ran to the door. Phew, calm down. Then she opened the door. A tall slender man stood in the quiet hallway. Dt? She then realized that she only had her underwear beneath the jacket. From his angle higher up looking down, he could see everything inside in a glance------She rapidly pulled the zipper up to the top end in a flash. But obviously the young man always focused solely on her. He saw it, so he turned his head aside to look at the end of the hallway. He looked at the row of green plants used for decoration. ¡°I, came to get my shirt.¡± ¡°Shirt? Ah, shirt, right shirt, your shirt.¡± Ai Qing responded frantically. ¡°I will wash and dry it then return it to you. I have an international long distance phone call soon. I can¡¯t talk. Bye.¡± She moved back two steps and shut the door with a BAM after she finished. Then she leaned her back against the door with her entire body. There was a flame burning inside her heart and it felt as if the heat would scorch her. It had mercilessly swept over her whole body. It was ok. It was ok. Calm down. Calm down. He certainly didn¡¯t see anything. Ai Qing kept comforting herself, but she still couldn¡¯t help covering her face. Oh heavens. She couldn¡¯t face anybody now. Maybe she should just leave tomorrow or disappear until the Hainan preliminary competition was over¡­¡­ Dt stood outside the door for a long time. As he hadn¡¯t seen her at the poolside grill, he had come over to see whether she had caught a cold or felt unwell. But now------ His brain had short circuited that all he could do was just stand there. He couldn¡¯t figure out what had happened until he heard the sound of the neighboring door opening, accompanied by the joyful talking of several girls. He finally woke up and turned around passing by three girls walking from the opposite side. ¡°Ah? Isn¡¯t that K&K¡¯s captain?¡± ¡°Right. Why is he using the stairs instead of the elevator? It is the eighth floor.¡± ¡°I heard that K&K¡¯s boss likes to punish his team members, so probably he¡¯s used to it?¡± Leaving their discussion behind him, he pushed open the door to the stairwell and walked into the darkness. In that pitch-dark space, he stumbled over two steps¡­¡­ He steadied himself against the wall. His eyes underneath the brim of the hat was still flustered. It was the kind that even himself couldn¡¯t control. Volume 2 - CH 6 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 6 That night she stayed inside her room. The grilled salmon she ordered was so unpalatable that it almost made her cry. When she complained about the room service meal to Baona. He instead gave her a mission out of the blue. ¡°I need you to fly to America.¡± ¡°America?¡± She was surprised. Why did she need to go there all of a sudden? There wasn¡¯t any offline competition for Secret Room Storm over there now. Even if it was just for observation, there had to be a competition for her to go to. ¡°I¡¯ll give you a short vacation and you help me lead a small team.¡± Baona spoke with a grin. He used his pen to poke the cup in front of him, ¡°Inin hasn¡¯t been in the best condition recently. I hope that you can accompany him to the StarCraft 2 offline competition in America.¡± Ai Qing thought about it. Indeed, lately, that young boy had been having difficulty psychologically acclimatizing to the team. He was a nice seedling, being careless might destroy him at such a young stage. ¡°We lost the championship in the exhibition tournament of Secret Room Storm. Then he was ranked outside the top ten for two consecutive StarCraft 2 online competitions. If he doesn¡¯t adjust his condition ASAP¡­¡­¡± Baona explained in detail. Ai Qing understood. She smiled. ¡°It¡¯s too much trouble to adjust his condition. It would save all of us trouble by just winning a championship.¡± Baona raised an eyebrow and laughed, ¡°That¡¯s it! Just win a championship. You must bring the championship back!¡± Thus it was decided. Airline ticket, hotel, and shuttle bus were all settled within half an hour. The flight was tonight. Ai Qing packed her folder. As she stood up from the chair, a thought crossed her mind. She looked at Solo who had been writing the training report the entire time, ¡°What if we lose?¡± Solo moved his eyes away from the computer screen. He was silent for a short while, then smiled slightly. ¡°You won¡¯t lose.¡± He was the absolute king at Starcraft. And since they had come back from Korea, Ai Qing had unexpectedly begun to pay greater interest in StarCraft 2. She used almost all of her personal time to discuss the tactics with him. Perhaps he was leading her at the beginning, but since he had retired, it was Ai Qing herself who kept exploring. The speed of her progress far exceeded his imagination. Though she had already retired, both her skills and mental acuity were still the same as when she was at her prime. Therefore, he trusted her. Volume 2 - CH 7 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 7 She knew very well before she left the hotel that this time her job wasn¡¯t just to help Inin overcome his recent slump but also ensure he would make it to the semifinals and finals. If he wanted to win the championship, then the last enemy he was going to face would be Dt. She and Inin stood at the hotel entrance waiting for the shuttle bus to the airport. Two people dressed in K&K uniforms also walked out pulling their luggage shortly afterwards. It was Dt and Grunt. Obviously, they were waiting for the same shuttle bus. Due to a lack of funds, as was the norm in China, few players participate in international offline competition. Therefore, those who did participate would be organized into one team. Most of them were top players and all knew each other quite well since they usually met in various occasions. In other words, she was entrusted with a difficult mission on short notice to form a team with these two K&K players. It was the first time since ¡®07 that she and Dt were on the same team. When Inin saw Dt, he pursed his mouth and whispered, ¡°Manager, manager. Dt.¡± ¡°......Inin¡± Ai Qing whispered to stop him. ¡°If you dare talk about that nonsense again, I hope you¡¯re prepared to go hungry tonight.¡± Since Inin joined SP, he had stirred up a wave of gossip. He insisted on saying that she and Dt were a couple. Those two months had already been too much for her. Even Baona¡¯s expression seemed to suggest that he believed it. It wasn¡¯t easy to stamp it out. Now if he started it again, then it would really turn into a joke. Inin stuck out the tip of his tongue and pushed down his sun hat. He quietly spoke to himself, ¡°Oh, the championship is going to walk away from me again.¡± Ai Qing knocked the back of his head with a magazine before he finished. ¡°Buck up!¡± The shuttle bus arrived as they were whispering. Dt and Grunt both stepped back. Grunt spoke, ¡°Beautiful lady first, please.¡± Ai Qing thought about her elder sister¡¯s predicament and felt quite unhappy about it. She didn¡¯t want to talk to him so she began to carry her own luggage onto the bus, but Dt had already taken her luggage from behind. ¡°I will put it on the luggage rack for you.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± She pulled back her hands and jumped onto the shuttle bus. Grunt thought it odd. He looked at Dt, ¡°What¡¯s wrong her today?¡± Didn¡¯t she always act calm? Why was she so impatient today? Dt carried his and Ai Qing¡¯s luggage and said, ¡°I don¡¯t know¡±. He followed her onto the bus. Grunt raised his eyebrow, then glanceed at Inin and spoke in a singsong, ¡°Little brother~get on.¡± He said and patted Inin¡¯s straw hat resting on his head. Inin jumped in surprised and hurried after the others. Ai Qing sat by the window. Inin came up to sit next to her, but didn¡¯t expect a tall skinny man to pat his shoulder from behind. Inin turned and his face turned pale immediately. It¡¯s the big demon king¡­... Gun wore a pair of black earphones. He looked down and grinned oppressively to the young boy, ¡°Little teammate. Come on. Give me the seat.¡± His eyes looked aside to indicate the empty seat next to Ai Qing. The pale faced boy gave up the seat without any resistance¡­... She didn¡¯t expect Gun would want to sit next to her. Gun sat down and took off one side of the earphones. His voice was hoarse and he took his time to greet her. ¡°Please take care of us in the next twenty days, SP manager.¡± Volume 2 - CH 8 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 8 Those were the only words Gun spoke during the entire forty minute bus ride. The bus drove along the coast and hillside to the airport. During the entire time, other than the exchanges between Inin and the driver, nobody spoke. Ai Qing and Gun sat next to each other, but she remained as silent as her neighbor. Behind them, Grunt attempted to strike a conversation with Dt to no avail. After they arrived at the airport, they followed Dt to check in. When she gave hers and Inin¡¯s passports to the staff behind the counter, they learned that their seats had been upgraded to first class by K&K. ¡°Money talks.¡± Inin stuck out his tongue. ¡°Though K&K doesn¡¯t have many employees, but everything they have is expensive. They even take first class when they travel.¡± The most important part was that this also benefited their travel companions. Ai Qing poked his forehead and whispered. ¡°Because we have fewer people.¡± After she boarded the plane, she saw that there were 3 men sitting in the aisle seats and each of them sat in a row. There was not a row of two empty seats side by side for herself and Inin. She hesitated for three seconds, then put her boarding pass into her pocket. ¡°Could you let me in?¡± She asked in a low voice. Dt¡¯s body seemed to stiffen. Then he slowly stood up from his seat. Inin, following behind Ai Qing, checked his ticket in confusion and discovered that Ai Qing was sitting on his seat, then¡­...he hesitantly looked at the other two and fell into deep anxiety. One was the demon king and the other was the king of sarcasm. Manager, how could you abandon me like this?! Ai Qing lowered her head and buckled in. She felt guilty, but regardless she avoided Inin¡¯s eyes that were desperately pleading to her. He was still a little kid, so he should get together with more vicious people to build up his ability to resist stress. But after Dt sat down next to her, she realized that she wasn¡¯t feeling at ease either. Without knowing the reason why, she was always afraid that he would say something yet at the same time she also feared that this king of awkwardness would not say anything either. It made both of them even more awkward. She was so internally conflicted that only after three hours into the flight, she finally cleared her throat to break the ice. ¡°Why are you so quiet?¡± She whispered because all the others around her had fallen into sound sleep. Dt turned his head slowly. ¡°I thought you were mad.¡± ¡°Mad?¡± ¡°Weren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°......I¡¯m not so stingy.¡± She whispered. But this surreal conversation brought back the memories of last night. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± He said suddenly. Why did you need to apologize? ¡°You don¡¯t need to apologize.¡± Her face was a little red as she shook her head lightly. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean------¡± ¡°What do you want to drink?¡± Ai Qing abruptly changed the subject. She hurried to push the call button without waiting for Dt¡¯s answer. She just asked for apple juice. The flight attendant saw that Dt was awake, so she asked him what he wanted as well. Dt asked for the same drink without putting any thought into it. After the flight attendant left, Dt moved his eyes back and looked at her hesitantly. Please. Please don¡¯t apologize again. Ai Qing prayed silently. Fortunately, he really didn¡¯t return to that embarrassing subject. The flight attendant delivered two apple juices and thoughtfully brought them some dessert. She was probably really hungry, as she wanted to try each of the four desserts. Yet, she felt that would be too greedy. ¡°Which one do you want?¡± After all she was three years older than him, she had to behave like an elder sister. ¡°I¡¯m not hungry.¡± Dt said. They are all yours, don¡¯t worry about me. He thought. Ai Qing happily picked up her fork and asked for confirmation again, ¡°Are you sure?¡± ¡°En. Yes.¡± ¡°Ai Qing now got what she wanted. Using the fork, she poked chocolate cake, then the strawberry one. She ate in bliss. Dt watched her eat. He hesitated for a long while, then finally spoke. ¡°Shall we make a bet? Bet on who will win the championship of this offline competition.¡± ¡°Bet?¡± Ai Qing raised her head at the man who had just won two international championships recently. She understood immediately. ¡°Ok.¡± Though K&K and SP represented China together in the competition and every award they brought back was for the country¡¯s prestige. But it didn¡¯t prevent the two clubs from having some friendly competition. ¡°What do you want to bet?¡± Ai Qing¡¯s head quickly rolled around various punishment methods. ¡°Bet on the simplest one.¡± ¡°What?¡± One passenger behind them stood up and passed by them quietly. This passenger looked at the ¡°little couple¡± who stayed up late into the night, chatting in a whisper. But she didn¡¯t notice, she was still waiting for his answer. ¡°One question.¡± He thought, he would use his 300th victory to bet with her for a question. That year on the street in Guangzhou, when she told him about that grievance round of ¡®08, he didn¡¯t understand what had happened at the time. Because he never cared about anybody else except the competitions she had ever played. He learned from internet later what Solo had answered. ¡­¡­ Up to today, the glory and the world ranking of his id were all obtained because of her. He wanted to let everybody know about where the name Dt had come from. He wanted to erase the regrets she had about ¡®08. But first of all, he wanted to know whether he had the------ The right to speak those words. Volume 2 - CH 9 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 9 She didn¡¯t like long distance flights. After they changed flights, she began to feel airsick. All of sudden, someone touched her arm. She opened eyes to see Dt handing her an eye mask he somehow acquired. She opened her mouth with smile and whispered, ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°I have an extra one.¡± He said, showing the other one in his hand. Go to sleep quickly. Have a nice dream. He thought. Ai Qing accepted the eye mask and put it on. It was so cool and soft that she fell soundly asleep shortly afterwards. Usually her dreams while traveling were incoherent. But this time, it was a rare exception. This was the first time after Solo disbanded the team that she dreamt about how it used to be. It was unclear which day of which year that was. ¡­¡­ It was raining outside. She carried several lunch boxes and walked into the community along the path with an umbrella. This small community could be categorized as upper class, because Gun had acquired their first round of funding. But they didn¡¯t waste money on the luxury of a single room for each person. They instead rented a two bedroom apartment. One was for the men and the other one was for the women, plus a training room. When she threw the umbrella into the water bucket at the door and was about to walk into her own room, she could see seven or eight of the guys were all in the living room. They sat face to face behind the two rows of computers. No solo? She put down the lunch boxes and looked around. Finally she saw him in the bathroom which was attached to the living room. Solo lowered his head, washing his face with cold water. The water flowed down his face randomly soaking into his collar and shirt. She walked over silently and took out a clean towel from the cabinet. He didn¡¯t open his eyes, but it seemed he had noticed her. He stretched out his hand and touched her hand. He took the towel at the same time. He quickly wiped himself dry. He then returned his usual gentle self and asked softly, ¡°Is the rain heavy?¡± ¡°Very heavy.¡± She showed her hair. ¡°The umbrella turned inside out on the road. My hair¡¯s all wet.¡± She heard his muffled laughter. Then her vision was covered by a towel immediately. He used the towel to dry her hair thoroughly. His palm touched her ears. She dared not to move. Her face was flushed and she leaned against the door frame until he took off the towel and spoke, ¡°Ok. Go comb your hair.¡± ¡°En.¡± She couldn¡¯t stop herself from laughing and turned around. She didn¡¯t expect to bump into Gun as he was walking by. So painful! She covered her nose instantly and tears started to stream down. When Solo, who was behind her, pulled her back and checked her nose, he found her nose was bleeding¡­¡­ But Gun simply shrugged behind them and quizzically smiled at them. ¡°Are you two doing something that we shouldn¡¯t know, eh? Occupying the bathroom?¡± There was shouting from the living room instantly. ¡°What else can they do!¡± ¡°Vice captain, give them a single room! Our captain¡¯s been lovey dovey everyday recently. He never considers our feelings.¡± ¡°Yeah. It really made us singles jealous.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. They don¡¯t know how to care for small animals. Single dogs are still dogs. Dogs are the most loyal animal. Do you understand, captain!¡± ¡­¡­ The embarrassment was enough to wake her from her dream with a jump. She couldn''t tell whether she was still in the dream. Dazed and in darkness, she listened to the thumping of her heart. After a long while, she recovered some of her senses and took off her eye mask. She had bad headache. Next to her, Dt¡¯s seat was empty. She didn¡¯t know where he¡¯d gone. It just so happened that Gun was passing by her. His eyes slightly slanted and paused after he saw her. En? Was anything wrong? She found out after quickly touching her face. She felt embarrassed for being seen like this. She lowered her head and reached out for tissues, pulling out a tissue to wipe her eyes dry. Gun suddenly sat down next to her but didn¡¯t say anything. Startled, she blurted out, ¡°I¡¯m all right¡­¡­¡± Her voice halted abruptly. The Gun today wouldn¡¯t care whether she was alright or not, would he? She seemed to have spoken nonsense¡­¡­ ¡°Moods, that sort of thing,¡± Gun, in a very low voice, asked her suddenly, ¡°Isn¡¯t it a whimsical thing?¡± ¡°Ah?¡± After a moment of confusion, Ai Qing quickly understood what he was talking about. ¡°It¡¯s alright. It¡¯s just¡­¡­¡± What was it? She couldn¡¯t explain it clearly. It doesn¡¯t matter whether it was friendship, love, or something else, the last thing one could remember clearly and keep reminiscing about would always be those unique teenage years. Unfortunately¡­¡­ Them of the past and them in the present would be forever separated by the insurmountable long river called time. They could never go back again. ¡°You have a good memory.¡± Gun adjusted his chair to a comfortable position. He closed his dark eyes without waiting for her answer, ¡°I already forgot almost all of them.¡± This pair of eyes was nicknamed Satan¡¯s Eyes in the CS circle at the time. There had never been a player who used the weapons used in CS as his own name------Gun. Compared to Cocky All, he actually was the person who was truly supercilious on everything. Volume 2 - CH 10 Chapter 10 Dt came back later and found Gun in a deep sleep in his own seat. He pondered silently on how to wake up the demon king and ask him to return to his own seat. Ai Qing seemed to know what he was thinking and shook her head lightly. So he gave up trying and stepped back two rows to sit in Gun¡¯s seat. When they arrived in America, the people waiting for them were all from K&K. She realized one thing only after she came to America. Though K&K invested in China only two years ago, it had already existed in other countries for five years. Despite being retired, Gun had never really left the professional scene. K&K headquarters was in Norway, where Gun grew up. And the year it was founded happened to be in ¡®08. Ai Qing randomly turned the pages of K&K¡¯s brochure while waiting with Inin for Gun so they could go to the hotel together to check in. They waited for about ten minutes, then she saw five men in their thirties walking out with Gun. There were westerners and Asians; looked like they were part of K&K¡¯s upper management. She put down the brochure and looked at them. They were all dressed in suits and in a great mood as they bid Gun farewell in English. But one of them, dressed in a silver gray suit, was looking at her direction. At first, Ai Qing thought that he was looking at Inin. But, Inin didn¡¯t seem to recognize any of them. Then¡­...did this man know her? She searched for his face from her memories, but came up empty. Since he was a in a high position in an esports club, very possibly he had been a player also. But there were so many different esports games and there were tens of thousands of players in each country. Even for current players, she only knew those active in the games she was involved with, not to mention those players already retired earlier. As she was mulling it over, Gun already noticed that this man was staring at Ai Qing. With his two hands inside his pants pocket, he shrugged and smiled. ¡°What is it? Have you seen our Chinese CS goddess from the past? What do you think?¡± The man in suit lowered his eyes with a complex smile. ¡°It¡¯s not good to talk in front of her. Let¡¯s go over there. Introduce us to her.¡± There was no reason for Gun to refuse. He walked over with the man. They stopped in front of Ai Qing who had already stood up. But Gun didn¡¯t speak. ¡°Well, let me introduce myself.¡± The man smiled and stretched out his right hand, ¡°Apple Dog, I have heard a lot about you. I was once a CS player also, but I retired before you joined. I had been in the same team with Su Cheng. Navi.¡± Ai Qing took off her earphones and politely stretched out her hand to shake his. ¡°Hello, I have heard your name.¡± So¡­...he was in the same team with Su Cheng. She had heard that team before she met Su Cheng for the first time in ¡®05. It was not a strong team; because their captain was the only outstanding player, all the others were just mediocre. And that captain¡¯s name was Navi. Navi nodded politely. ¡°My pleasure.¡± Gun looked down. He looked at Ai Qing¡¯s face, which was somewhat absentminded. He lightly added, ¡°Navi and Su Cheng have been married for many years.¡± She was stunned slightly. Inin, stood behind her, opened his mouth and muttered to Gun, ¡°Su Cheng already married? I thought she¡¯s your girlfriend¡­¡­¡± Volume 2 - CH 11 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 11 Gun¡¯s extremely dark eyes swept over Inin¡¯s head. ¡°Are you making a joke?¡± His displeasure was palpable. ¡°Yes, you¡¯re making a joke,¡± Ai Qing recovered quickly from her brief distraction. Her finger poked Inin¡¯s little face. ¡°Have you forgotten? That day at the offline preliminary competition in Hangzhou? K&K boss¡¯s girlfriend already showed up there.¡± ¡°Oh, oh,¡± Inin was confused. He thought for a long time, but still couldn¡¯t figure out who that was. Gun didn¡¯t say anything. Nobody knew whether it meant that he admitted it silently or he was simply too lazy to explain. Ai Qing quietly recomposed herself and spoke a few words with Navi with a smile. She was even in the mood to make fun of him. ¡°Isn¡¯t there a team called Natus Vincere in Ukraine?¡± ¡°Yes, its abbreviation is Navi.¡± Navi smiled bitterly. ¡°Nothing I can do. Though I debutted in ¡®02, but my record wasn¡¯t good enough to make me famous worldwide. So other than the original CS players, only several players nowadays still remember there once was a CS player named Navi. All the rest only know about that team in Ukraine that shares the name.¡± ¡°It¡¯s ok. Look at who¡¯s in charge today.¡± Ai Qing blinked her eyes. Everybody laughed. Navi laughed, too. Though for the sake of Su Cheng, he had few chips on his shoulder towards the whole SP team. But the one in front of him was Apple Dog. In this circle at that time, it depended entirely on luck for an opportunity to fight her. During those two years, Solo¡¯s team always won the championships. They would proceed into the quarterfinals directly without participating in the preliminary round. So even Navi himself never had the chance to fight her face to face. But he had watched numerous videos of her competitions. He even used her competition videos many times to help train the snipers on his team. ¡°Tell you the truth, I never expected that you will come to the US with Gun.¡± Before they said goodbye, Navi told her while Gun was on the phone ahead of them, ¡°I thought SP and K&K in China couldn¡¯t stand each other.¡± She chuckled. ¡°It¡¯s true that we can¡¯t stand each other; there¡¯s only enough room for one champion after all.¡± Navi looked at her eyes. ¡°You should know what I meant.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­...I understood.¡± Ai Qing looked at Gun who was walking ahead of everybody. She answered, ¡°Not at all. How could it be.¡± She never thought that the reason K&K was founded had something to do with a personal grudge. Gun was so proud. How could he organize a club just because of a personal grudge. How could he build up all K&K players¡¯ records based upon such a boring reason? Navi naturally knew that Gun wouldn¡¯t do that. But he didn¡¯t expect that the woman in front of him thought the same way as he did. Alter all, they hadn¡¯t seen each other for ten years. Volume 2 - CH 12 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 12 Gun took them downstairs. Ai Qing thought it odd that only she and Inin were there? She looked around when they got downstairs. The man ahead of her had already opened the door of the van and sat in. He noticed her puzzlement. ¡°Those two have their own personal business to take care. They left earlier.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Personal business? K&K members really have a lot of personal business to attend to¡­...Furtively, she realized how easy it was in comparison to lead her own SP team. They were a bunch of men who didn¡¯t have any personal interests other than training and competing. She got on the van and kept her comments to herself. After about twenty minutes, they arrived at the hotel that had been arranged by the organizer. It was close to the preliminaries. Players from around the world had begun to arrive for the offline competition. When they were checking in, there were two players from Korea next to them. Inin was very familiar with them and pulled them over to introduce them to Ai Qing. ¡°Hello.¡± Ai Qing held a passport in one hand and stretched out the other hand to shake with one of them. A face came into her view unexpectedly. Said face was making faces to her. It came as quite the shock. She didn¡¯t expect to see Ai Jing here. This was America, not Korea. Ai Jing went to Korea last time because she happened to have a valid visa. But now, she appeared in America. It was impossible for her unless she had prepared for the trip ahead of time. At least a month ago, her elder sister had already learned about this trip. It was far earlier than when she heard it. Ai Qing said goodbye to the Korean players quickly and briefly told Inin to go upstairs by himself. They would reconvene after a two-hour break. Before Inin could react, she was already striding towards the sofa in the lobby with her backpack. On said sofa, Ai Jing gave her a nervous smile. The closer she got, the angrier she became and the faster she walked. Finally she stood in front of Ai Jing, but was too angry to speak. Ai Jing raised her hand pitifully: ¡°Let me call you elder sister today, alright. After all, you were born only one or two minutes after me¡­¡­¡± ¡°Where is Grunt?¡± She went straight to the subject. ¡°He is getting the room card key¡­¡­¡± Ai Jing raised her trembling hand and pointed to the very end of the counter. Indeed, Grunt and Dt were there, facing the counter. Dt, surprisingly, was without his hat. And it looked like his hat had been taken away forcefully by others. His hair was pressed down in a messy, uncombed state. As he collected his passport from the receptionist, Grunt seemed to say something to him. He ignored him and turned around without a word. Then, when he saw Ai Qing, his expression turned to one of surprise. Ai Qing tried very hard to keep herself calm, but a multitude of emotions were raging about at the bottom of her heart. They finally converged into anger at the fact that Ai Jing refused to stand up for herself and distress for her situation. She suppressed her feelings, picked up her sister¡¯s luggage, and walked into the elevator ahead of everyone else. Seven or eight people came in behind her. Ai Jing walked over to her side without saying a word. After she pressed the button for her floor, she specifically pressed the close door button. Just as the elevator doors were closing, one hand stretched in, forcing the doors to open again. Two girls inside the elevator, shocked by the sudden motion, began whispering in English. So scary, he wasn¡¯t afraid of getting his hands crushed. Dt lowered his head and walked in. His eyes looked straight at Ai Qing as she stood in the corner of the elevator. Volume 2 - CH 13 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 13 Startled, the two girls raised their heads to look at Dt and stopped complaining. They began to gossip in a whisper instead. They probably thought that since the others were Asians, they could speak freely without any concern. They talked fast and lightly, but both Ai Qing and Dt heard and understood their conversation. Grunt walked in behind Dt. He faced Ai Qing¡¯s angry glare, but without much reaction. Until the elevator stopped at the tenth floor, Grunt, Dt, and Ai Jing all followed behind Ai Qing, who was still dragging her sister¡¯s luggage, out of the elevator. Ai Qing paused and spoke without turning her head. ¡°Do you live on the tenth floor also? If not, don¡¯t follow us.¡± Grunt wasn¡¯t too happy. He gave a self-deprecating laugh and turned around to leave, but Ai Jing pulled his arm. ¡°Ai Qing¡­..¡± Her sister begged in a soft voice. ¡°I don¡¯t want to see you two continuously go back and forth.¡± Ai Qing interrupted her elder sister. She turned around and looked at Grunt¡¯s back, with Ai Jing clinging to his sleeve, ¡°Grunt, is it interesting to be a two-timer?¡± ¡°Sure, it¡¯s interesting.¡± Grunt smiled and turned around. His eyes clearly said it was none of your business. ¡°Ai Qing, even if I¡¯m a two-timer, I¡¯m not doing it to you. What nonsense are you talking about? Your life is a mess already and you still want to mess up other people¡¯s relationships? You and Solo------¡± ¡°That¡¯s enough!¡± Dt abruptly grabbed his collar. Dt moved forward two steps and pushed Grunt¡¯s whole body against the wall. Grunt looked at him. His expression changed from anger to surprise, then he laughed in disbelief. It was an incomprehensible laughter at the irony of it all. ¡°I just want to ask one question. Does this have anything to do with either of you?¡± His grasped Dt¡¯s hand with his own. ¡°That¡¯s enough. Wu Bai. Let go!¡± ¡°Shen Zhe,¡± Dt somewhat forcefully pressed down with the back of his hand onto Grunt¡¯s throat. ¡°You know where I draw the line. I already told you in Korea. Don¡¯t go too far.¡± ¡°What too far? Am I going out with Ai Qing? Are you insane? Even if you¡¯re already insane, don¡¯t get me involved.¡± Dt grasped Grunt¡¯s collar tightly without responding. It was growing more and more difficult for him to calm down. The whole back of his hand became pale because he was pushing too hard. He wasn¡¯t cool headed anymore. It was growing tenser for everybody involved. Two maids at the end of the hallway were growing alarmed at the commotion. They looked at each other, deciding whether they should come forward to and separate the two customers. Or¡­...should they wait until they settle down a bit and separate from each other? ¡°Ai Qing! You leave me alone!¡± Her sister called her suddenly. The origin of the problem was the difference between the two sisters. She had to solve it quickly. Otherwise¡­...Ai Jing looked at Grunt in panic, then she turned to look at Ai Qing, begging her. Ai Qing was shocked by her sister¡¯s outburst and looked at her elder sister. The latter¡¯s eyes were pleading to her, filled with anxiety and anger. Yes, she was angry: ¡°Ai Qing, I beg you. When did I interfere with anything between you and Solo? You were also fighting with our parents when you were with Solo. Who ever supported you? Weren¡¯t we always like this? Do we ever interfere with the other¡¯s relationships? Even though we are twins, we are all adults now. I will be responsible for everything I do.¡± This was the first time that her sister had used Solo¡¯s name to have her back down in front of other people. Ai Qing was speechless. You are going to be responsible for what? After you¡¯ve suffered again, then you¡¯re going to take the fall for it? Why can¡¯t you jump away. You already know that Grunt¡¯s a two-timer and never plans to settle with just one person. Why do you still fly thousand of miles to follow him to competitions. Then what? She was speechless. She stood there and watched Ai Jing walk passing her. She pried open Dt¡¯s hand and pulled Grunt aside. Then Ai Qing watched her sister walk over and pry the handle of her luggage out of her hand. She left with Grunt. During the entire time, Ai Qing wanted to say something several times, but she couldn¡¯t organize her words into sentences. Now there was only one silent, helpless Dt left in the hallway. He walked over and didn¡¯t know what to say. She then finally came to her sense, gripped her room key tightly, and walked one step ahead. ¡°I¡¯m leaving.¡± ¡°Ai Qing.¡± This was the first time he ever called her by her name. ¡°Thank you just now.¡± She avoided his gaze. ¡°See you at the competition.¡± Better let us meet again in a simpler place. Where there were battlefields, commanders, battles of wits, cheers and applause, and the passionate commentating¡­¡­ Make it simpler, it was more important than anything else. Volume 2 - CH 14 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 14 Once she was in her room, she took a shower, unpacked her bag, blow dried her hair, and changed her clothes all in one stretch. In other words, she didn¡¯t let herself take a break. Yet, eventually she would finish everything she needed to do¡­...and so found herself with nothing to do. But it was too early to call Baona and Solo. She felt quite uneasy and ran to the refrigerator to take out four bottles of 300 ml beer. She opened all of them with a bottle opener and poured it into a cup. She drank it, it was icy cold. Feeling a bit more carefree, she soon finished all four bottles. She continued to searched for all the other drinks that contained alcohol and took them out. She drank them one by one. They tasted good. She squinted her eyes and grinned, it felt as if she was comfortably floating. Solo called in half an hour later. She turned on speaker phone and heard his voice, ¡°Is everything ok?¡± ¡°Uhm uhm.¡± She said cheerfully, ¡°Very good.¡± ¡°......Ai Qing?¡± ¡°Uhm? What did you say?¡± She lined the beer bottles on the windowsill and curled up on it. The phone was next to her feet. She sat there for three seconds, then decided that it was an uncomfortable position and jumped down from the windowsill to move onto the bed while holding a pillow. ¡°Nevermind.¡± Solo¡¯s sound was soft enough to melt someone. He comforted her softly, ¡°We don¡¯t need to talk about work tonight. I¡¯m going to hang up.¡± ¡°Ah? We don¡¯t have to talk about work? We have competition tomorrow.¡± She held the pillow and walked over to stare at her own cell phone, confused, ¡°You really don¡¯t want to talk?¡± ¡°En. No. Good night.¡± Soon a long beep signaled that the call had ended. Confused by the whole ordeal, she continued to hold the pillow and couldn¡¯t figure out why Solo suddenly became so undedicated. Since she had no work now, what else could she do? Take a shower? Oh right. Take a shower. Though her hair wasn¡¯t completely dry yet, she started to take off all her clothes while walking to the bathroom to take a shower again. By the time she walked out of the bathroom, she heard somebody knocking on the door. She hazily put on a suspender skirt then walked over while she was wiping her hair. She didn¡¯t even ask who it was before opening the door. Dt? She looked at him doubtfully and slurred, ¡°Where¡¯s your hat?¡± ¡°......¡± Dt confirmed that she was exactly as Solo told him on the phone; she was really drunk. He had experienced her drunken self like this several years ago. It was like she had released all her emotions without being aware of it. Things that she should say, shouldn¡¯t say, should do, and shouldn¡¯t do, all of a sudden she dared to do all of them¡­¡­ At the streetside food stall with many men and women on the side, she had pointed at him, giggling all the while, and told Ai Jing, ¡°Let me tell you. When I went to the players¡¯ village at the Asian Tournament the first time, I saw someone pull off his pants.¡± At that time, it shocked many strangers around them regardless whether they were drunk, sober, casually chatting, or bragging. Later that night, when he took her and Ai Jing back to the hotel, she jumped onto his back and insisted that he carry her up stairs¡­¡­ Now, he figured that she was almost as drunk as she was then. Ai Qing saw him neither speak nor move, so she stretched out her hand and poked his arm with her finger, ¡°Ah. I thought it was an illusion. Hehe, hehe.¡± ¡°......¡± He thought about what would happen if he came too late or if she had refused to opened the door. Luckily, he didn¡¯t have to deal with either of those situations. Now she had opened the door, giving him a goofy smile. Fortunately. Volume 2 - CH 15 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 15 Dt walked into her room. As she ran about the room giggling, he pulled out a SP uniform from her suitcase and put in on her, on top of the suspender skirt. While he was fiddling with the zipper, she uncomfortably pulled his hands¡­... It was particularly warm since she was drunk. When she stroked the back of his hand, his entire body almost stiffened, too afraid to move. ¡°Oh, oh, I thought about one thing. Wu Bai.¡± Blissfully unaware of his situation, she spoke in a serious manner as she stared at the ceiling, ¡°I just checked the name list for the preliminaries. I could roughly figure out who you will meet in the quarter final. Aren¡¯t I awesome? Hehe, hehe¡­¡­¡± ¡°Uhm, you are awesome.¡± He took a deep breath, then began to battle with the zippers again. ¡°That man is despicable. If you encounter him, you can¡¯t use Zerg. Last year, he was particularly fond of a strategy to counter Zerg. It was using Protoss Photon Cannons. He built an array of Photon Cannons right at the center of the map to intercept enemy units¡­...Oh, well, do you understand?¡± She looked straight at him with big sparkling eyes. No wonder she was the famous Apple Dog. Even while inebriated, she was still analyzing tactics------ ¡°I understand.¡± He finally got the pin into the slider and carefully zipped up the uniform. ¡°That¡¯s just playing dirty. He can¡¯t win, but neither can his opponent. It¡¯s just a delaying tactic.¡± ¡°Very~smart~¡± She snapped her fingers. ¡°It¡¯ll be ok. If I meet him, I will use Zerg. I¡¯ll definitely wipe him out.¡± Finally, he pulled the zipper up to her collarbone. It¡¯s safe now. He released his hands. Despite his efforts, Ai Qing pulled the zipper down within a second, took off her uniform, and threw it onto the windowsill¡­¡­ Dt finally couldn¡¯t suppress his laughter at how helpless he was and as a way to release his pent up emotions. Perhaps only at a time like this, he could truly show his intent to care for her. ¡°Why are you so stubborn?¡± Ai Qing was unhappy that even with foreknowledge about his opponent, he would rather charge headlong into a difficult fight. She impatiently paced back and forth. Finally she felt a little dizzy and fell onto the carpet. ¡°You can¡¯t behave like this! I expect that we will win the championship and the runner-up¡­¡­¡± Who cares who is the champion, let the Chinese team take the top three places. She dejectedly tugged at the carpet. Dt laughed. He squatted down in front of her, ¡°I¡¯ll make it happen.¡± The top three would belong to the Chinese team. She raised her head to look at the handsome young man in front of her. She slightly frowned and stretched out her hand to touch his hair, ¡°If you don¡¯t wear the hat, you should wash your hair again before you come out. Here,¡± She pointed to the area where some hair was pressed down, ¡°It¡¯s all flattened here. Too ugly.¡± ¡°......¡± Frankly speaking, he never knew that he could be described by the word ugly. She tutted and shook her head. ¡°Your 100 points face is now reduced to 90 because of your hair.¡± That was true. He thought. ¡°Wu Bai¡­¡­¡± She mumbled his name. ¡°Uhm?¡± He suddenly thought that it was pretty good if she got drunk occasionally. ¡°Do you like me?¡± Silence. Silence. Dead silence. She looked at him with all seriousness. It seemed as if he was hallucinating. Was she still sober and conscious? No. He quickly determined. Per Ai Qing¡¯s character, she would never ask this type of question directly as long as she was just a little bit sober. Though¡­...he really wanted to tell her. Yes, I had liked you for a very very long time. But he still lowered his eyes to keep the silence. He didn¡¯t answer. He didn¡¯t say ¡°No¡±, because he never lied. He didn¡¯t say ¡°Yes¡± either, because he wanted to tell her at a more suitable time. He wanted to tell her when she wasn¡¯t distracted and could hear it most clearly. The two were very close to each other. She sat there and he half squatted. If he wanted, he could move a little bit closer. She was still earnestly looking up at him the entire time. It was easy enough for him to do it. He heard the sound of the heavy and frantic heartbeat in his chest. He very much wanted to throw away his sanity to break the stalemate of silence and awkward positions¡­¡­ She doubted, ¡°Do you or don¡¯t you?¡± ¡°......¡± ¡°Am I wrong?¡± ¡°......¡± ¡°Ai.¡± She sighed lightly. She lowered her head and held her own knees. ¡°No one will like me again.¡± She curled up and sat in front of him, becoming completely quiet. She didn¡¯t see the man before her release his clenched hands, then tightly clench into fists again. If he was not Wu Bai and just any other man, with such a disappointing sigh, nobody could resist the impulse to hug her right then. Volume 2 - CH 16 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 16 Ai Qing had no memory of the night before. She only knew that somebody had tidied her room. All her clothes had been folded and neatly placed next to her pillow. There was a note Ai Jing left to her: Little Gou Gou, I was wrong. Promise me, don¡¯t confront Grunt again while you¡¯re in America. I don¡¯t want anything to affect his ability to compete. I¡¯m leaving. See you at home. She picked up the note in shock while holding the blanket. After a minute passed, she dialed her sister¡¯s phone. It was turned off. She wasn¡¯t sure whether her sister didn¡¯t want to answer the phone or because she was already on the airplane right now. Ai Qing buried her head in her arms and let out a long breath. She was Ai Jing. She was the one who shielded her all the times when her parents were scolding her. She was the most outstanding PhD student in the family. She would be absolutely fine. Ai Qing jumped off the bed quickly, put on a SP uniform, and ran to the next room to wake Inin from his deep slumber. She threw his mouse and keyboard into a backpack and walked out with the young man who was still in a daze. There were already seven or eight Koreans waiting for the elevator. They all laughed when they saw Inin. After all, Inin was one of the best Korean Starcraft players. Everyone here for the competition knew him. They all talked in the language Ai Qing didn¡¯t know to make fun of Inin. Inin rubbed his hair bashfully and explained in a whisper, ¡°They were making fun of me. I won¡¯t translate it for you.¡± Since they had rushed out of his room, Inin hadn¡¯t combed his hair, it was even messier than it usually was. Ai Qing guessed from his expression that they had been ridiculing him. After all, Inin had been hired as a Korean who¡¯d won championships. But in China, where he was acclimatizing in several large competitions, his ranking had plummeted. These were all facts well known in the esports circle. ¡°Old friends reminiscing.¡± Ai Qing played innocent. She stretched out her hand to comb his hair. ¡°Ah, I really want to eavesdrop. Maybe I haven¡¯t watched enough Korean dramas yet.¡± ¡°Manager, do you watch Korean dramas too?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± Ai Qing successfully diverted his attention. She whispered, ¡°I really like the drama of Love from a Star.¡± ¡°Me too!¡± Inin¡¯s eyes brightened. Oh, she shot right at the center of the target. The young man that Solo hired was growing more and more interesting. A good temper, timid, cries easily, and loved to watch Korean dramas¡­.. The two and the other seven or eight Koreans took the same elevator. After the elevator door opened, Inin was dragged out first by a guy with hand on his shoulder. One person slowed down, purposely staying behind. He talked to Ai Qing after everybody had walked out. ¡°I hope that Solo will keep his original promise to take good care of Inin. Inin has great potential.¡± He spoke in Chinese. Though his tone sounded a little strange and choppy. Ai Qing was moved by the seriousness of his eyes. She retracted her smile. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Not just Solo, but all of SP will take good care of him.¡± Though she didn¡¯t know all StarCraft players, she did know that this man had been Inin¡¯s former coach in Korean. Volume 2 - CH 17 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 17 Ai Qing met with the K&K members downstairs. Probably due to the short confrontation last night, nobody seemed to have slept well. Dt put his hands in the pockets of his sports jacket, quietly looking at passersby outside the hotel. He turned around upon hearing their arrival and stared for a full three seconds before nodding to Ai Qing and Inin. Besides the driver, it was just the five of them on the shuttle. Grunt put his hand at the window, looking at the traffic outside. Chicago at this time of the year still required warm clothing. Grunt, however, let the cold wind pour in his open window. After a while, Ai Qing was so cold that she had to wrap the scarf in her hand around her neck to shield herself from the cold wind. After they arrived at the indoor stadium, she kept rubbing her hands trying to warm herself. Inin found the entire situation strange and whispered in her ears, ¡°Why is everybody acting so weird today?¡± ¡°Ah? Really?¡± Ai Qing played dumb. ¡°It doesn¡¯t feel that way to me.¡± ¡°Seriously. Grunt is especially different.¡± Inin replied and emphasized again. ¡°For real.¡± As they were whispering, Grunt took off the K&K jacket. He was dressed in a short sleeves shirt and walked to the arena. As he was walking, his head was lowered, fiddling around with his cell phone. From time to time, he would press the phone to his ear. He seemed to wholly unfocused on the upcoming competition. Ai Qing didn¡¯t know what he was trying to do. She glanced at Gun and Dt who were sitting one seat from her. They didn¡¯t seem to be concerned. They were clearly Grunt¡¯s teammates, but it made her and Inin more nervous. Because Dt and Inin were, respectively, the champions of two major regions last year, they qualified automatically as the top sixteen players. Therefore, among these Chinese players, only Grunt had to participate in today¡¯s elimination round. Fortunately, the competition began smoothly. The winners were determined within an hour for the first elimination round. Grunt won. The second round was finished half an hour later. Grun won. In the final round, Grunt encountered a Korean top player who was ranked third in the world. Koreans were the everlasting kings of StarCraft. Whether online or offline, they would monopolize the top ten in any competition, when they were lucky. When they aren¡¯t as lucky, they leave a spot or two for players from other countries. Therefore, except for the directly qualified players, other players who encountered Korean players in the elimination rounds would basically find themselves on the losing side. There were three players who qualified automatically based on their performance last year. Only Dt¡¯s nationality was Norway, the other two were both Koreans including Inin who won the championship in the American Regional tournament. But Inin had dropped to 6th place because of his losing streak lately. Before Solo retired, Grunt¡¯s best achievement at StarCraft 2 was placing second in the Chinese Regional tournament, ranked 6th in the world at the time. After Solo retired, he became the champion in the Chinese Regional tournament, but his ranking had dropped to 11th. With a score like this... It was difficult to face such a strong opponent¡­¡­ It was intermission now. The competition would start five minutes later. Grunt was still playing around with his cell phone and from time to time bring it up to his ear. Ai Qing suddenly realized. Wasn¡¯t he¡­...was he also calling Ai Jing? She looked at him. Grunt took off his glasses. Finally, he gave up and threw his phone onto the table. Then he used the back of his hand to support his head and just sat there quietly. He didn¡¯t move at all. Volume 2 - CH 18 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 18 It was a totally different world inside the stadium, from the noise to the hyperactive commentators. It was the countdown to the next match. Grunt¡¯s opponent had already put on his earphones. He remained still. The players of the 32 groups were all vigilant except for him. He still quietly maintained his posture. In the end, even the assistant referee thought he might be sick and walked over to him, bending down to ask but he wasn¡¯t moving. The assistant referee patted his shoulder, Grunt then responded with a few words. He sat up straight and put back his glasses. Inin suddenly exhaled a long breath, ¡°That scared me to death. I thought he was going to abstain.¡± ¡°He¡­...he shouldn¡¯t be.¡± StarCraft 2 was his first game when he entered the esports circle. It was also the only game he ever played against Solo. With his obsession with Solo for so many years, he shouldn¡¯t, and wouldn¡¯t possibly abstain. There was no live broadcast for the elimination rounds. Nobody knew the actual details of the matches. Ai Qing could only nervously wait with Inin. Suddenly her cell phone began vibrating in her pocket half an hour later. Surprisingly it was a text message from Ai Jing, ¡°La la la la, I have boarded the airplane. I¡¯ll keep my phone off. Don¡¯t worry about me.¡± Was she¡­...trying to look happy when she was actually sad? Ai Qing didn¡¯t know what actually had happened last night. But judging from Grunt¡¯s behavior, they probably had a falling out¡­...She kept holding her phone for a little while, then sent out a short message. It was to Dt. ¡°My sister suddenly left. Would it have a huge impact on Grunt?¡± Though they had an unhappy confrontation in the hallway last night, today was the competition. They represented the China today. Shortly after, the guy sitting next to Gun noticed there was an incoming message. He pulled out his cell phone and looked at it. It was like he was browsing an ad message. Without even looking back at her, he simply typed with his thumb for a few seconds. She received a response when he had already put his cell phone back. Dt: ¡°No. I trust him.¡± Right. He was a professional player. Ai Qing took a deep breath. From the corner of her eyes, she could see Dt¡¯s eyes, underneath the brim of the hat, was squarely focused on Grunt. Not just him, the four of them who sat there were all watching Grunt. The only Chinese player who was participating today. Time passed. The matches finished one by one. She saw the players who were either the winners or losers leave the arena in excitement or disappointment. But Grunt¡¯s game was still not finished yet. Both players wearing headphones were wholly focused on the game, oblivious to the world around them. Two assistant referees, whose matches had concluded, quickly came over to watch. Soon, the master referee also stood behind Grunt. Everyone seemed to be more interested in Grunt, who was still holding his ground against a Korean player who normally qualified for world championships. One hour and thirty-nine minutes in, the match was still going on. One hour and forty-seven minutes in, more and more referees had gathered. One hour and fifty-nine minutes in, suddenly, the referees burst into applause. This was the last match today. After battling for almost two hours, the last player qualified for the preliminaries was finally confirmed. Laughter of celebration could be heard from the Korean team. The Korean player took off his earphones first. He stood up, smiled, and stretched out his hand to Grunt. He didn¡¯t expect that he would encounter such a precarious game at the very last elimination round. He also didn¡¯t expect such aggression from Grunt, far more than his normal performance on Battle.net. Grunt just sat there, hesitating for a few seconds. Then he stood up and shook the other¡¯s hand symbolically. Then he let go the hand and turned around, walking directly out of the exit. He didn¡¯t even look at the audience or the VIP rest area at all. Volume 2 - CH 19 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 19 Dt stood from his seat, grabbed Grunt¡¯s jacket, and ran after him. Inin pulled on Ai Qing¡¯s arm and whispered a suggestion, ¡°Can we go back ourselves¡­¡­¡± Apparently Inin really feared Gun. Gun seemed to detect Inin¡¯s uneasiness. He stood up slowly from his chair and reached out to rub Inin¡¯s hair into a mess. He half smiled and got close to him, ¡°Are you afraid of me? I¡¯m not your manager, what¡¯s there to be afraid of?¡± ¡°No.¡± Inin was even more despondent. He apprehensively lowered his head and looked down at his own shoes. ¡°I just thought I should¡­...go back earlier to practice.¡± Gun wanted to continue playing around with him. Ai Qing flipped away Gun¡¯s hand and pulled Inin behind her. It was very obvious that she wouldn¡¯t allow anyone to bully her people. Gun¡¯s dark eyes moved from her to Inin, then looked back at her. ¡°A player who¡¯s lacking aggression in his character is truly Solo¡¯s favorite¡­...Hasn¡¯t he changed after so many years? I heard that Solo paid lots of money to hire him at the time. How is it? Has he regretted it yet?¡± Ai Qing raised her eyebrows. Gun raised his hands. ¡°Ok, ok, I¡¯ll stop talking. I¡¯m leaving.¡± Then he picked up his black jacket from the chair and turned around. His face instantly turned gloomy without the cynicism he had earlier when he was teasing Inin. He left in an unpleasant mood. Inin patted his chest, ¡°So scary.¡± They were with people from several Korean clubs on their way back. Inin acted as the translator occasionally. It was quite unexpected that despite Grunt¡¯s loss, he had became the focus of their conversation. When Inin told them that Ai Qing was very familiar with K&K¡¯s major players, they became even more interested. Korean mixed with Chinese, they happily conversed all the way back. Some players even indicated that they would soon switch from StarCraft to Secret Room. From this angle, esports had more advantages than traditional sports. You could see a StarCraft player switched to DotA, but you would never see a diver become a sprinter. After they walked out of the elevator in the hotel, the guy who beaten Grunt, ranked third in the world, made the extra effort to shake Ai Qing¡¯s hand. He spoke in broken Chinese, ¡°Expect to see you and Inin¡¯s performance.¡± ¡°Likewise. Looking forward to yours as well.¡± Ai Qing shook his hand back. They went their separate ways in front of the elevator. Ai Qing led Inin and turned into the right hallway. She was surprised to see Grunt standing at the end of the hall, just outside her room. Volume 2 - CH 20 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 20 She gave one of the two fast food takeouts to Inin, then walked over to open the door and let Grunt in. They didn¡¯t talk to each other the entire time. After the door closed, the man behind her took off his glasses wearily, ¡°Tell me. Where did your sister go?¡± ¡°Are you so confident that I¡¯d tell you the truth?¡± Ai Qing threw the takeout onto the table. ¡°Ai Qing.¡± He looked at her face. ¡°Tell me.¡± This man¡­¡­ She remembered that it was at the Guangzhou airport when she first saw him. She had commented that he was a boy born with a girl¡¯s face. Especially after taking off his glasses, he looked so much like a beautiful girl either from the front or the side. Then at KTV, he inexplicably revealed that she used to be an esports player. A week after that, he and her sister became entangled for years. ¡°She went back home.¡± Now she looked back at all that had happened, perhaps, everything had happened too rapidly at the time. It was too fast, just like when she fell in love with Solo at first sight when she was younger. ¡°If you want to talk to her, you can contact her after you go back home.¡± So her sister was right. Nobody had the right to intervene in another¡¯s relationship. Since only the ones involved and God would know all the ups and downs in that relationship. Grunt carried his glasses and left without saying anything. He truly was a no nonsense person. She sat on the windowsill and watched the entire city in the night. Later, she dialed the conference phone number that Solo had sent her ten minutes ago. Soon, she heard the talking of several men from the other end of the phone. They were the manager of the DotA team for European competitions, the manager of the LOL offline competition in Nanjing, and coaches of several other games. ¡°Here. Ai Qing.¡± She continued to eat French fries. ¡°Sorry, I accidentally became the person who¡¯s at a different time zone.¡± Everybody laughed. Somebody asked: ¡°I heard that you were pulled by Baona on a short notice. Are you in America for StarCraft?¡± ¡°Yes, poor me.¡± Ai Qing complained. ¡°We all applied for visas together two months ago. He said it was just a precaution. Who knew our boss is playing more and more tricks now.¡± They complained and chatted for a while, then the conference formally started. SP was leading far ahead on every game since K&K hadn¡¯t entered into many games yet. They only focused on StarCraft and Secret Room, but Secret Room wasn¡¯t officially listed as an event at the preliminary of Chinese Regional tournaments. Therefore, the person who really had seen K&K¡¯s performance this spring was Ai Qing. The information from her was important, so she became the last person to report. ¡°Over here, the preliminary competitions just finished today. K&K has two players. One was the champion of the European Regional tournament last year. He was already given a spot in the round of sixteen. The other one was last year¡¯s champion from the Chinese Regional tournament. He was kicked out in the preliminary competition.¡± Solo was a little surprised, ¡°Who did Grunt play in the match?¡± ¡°Tatami.¡± ¡°He had bad luck.¡± Solo¡¯s voice had a hint of a regrettable smile, ¡°He¡¯s the most stable player. He has been at the top three for years.¡± ¡°Right¡­...Bad luck.¡± She answered. Even if her sister hadn¡¯t been here, Grunt still would lose based on his ranking. They finished the routine business talk. Everybody started to drop out of the phone conference. She stayed on the line and asked after a while, ¡°Solo?¡± ¡°En.¡± He was still there. He was always the last one to leave in every phone conference. ¡°Yesterday¡­¡­¡± She hesitated, unsure if she should ask or not. ¡°Yesterday, you drank too much.¡± Of course he understood what she wanted to ask. ¡°You were not very coherent when I dialed in. So I didn¡¯t continue with the conference.¡± She said, ¡°Oh, then¡­...did you call room service?¡± There was a short silence at the other end of the phone. Her heart started slowly, thumping slowly, guessing what his answer would be. ¡°I didn¡¯t realize that you were so drunk.¡± Solo didn¡¯t give her a straight answer. ¡°Don¡¯t you remember anything?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± She seemed to understand. ¡°Ok. That¡¯s it. Bye bye. I hope you¡¯re too busy to have dinner today.¡± ¡°All right.¡± He laughed. Volume 2 - CH 21 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 21 She had guessed the answer to the question. It was confirmed when room service delivered a bag of cleaned clothes to her room ten minutes later. It was her clothes. Signed by: Room 1213, Wu Bai. Ai Qing poured all the clothes in the bag onto the bed. She found it was the exact outfit she had wore on the plane. It seemed he picked them out deliberately for room service to wash¡­¡­ She knelt down on the bed flabbergasted. Three seconds later, she threw herself at the clothing. Ah, heaven¡­¡­ Because of the bag of clothes, she was late to Inin¡¯s room by fifteen minutes, holding her computer. The young man, with a toothbrush and foam in his mouth, came to open the door for her. He ran back immediately to gargle his mouth. Then randomly wiped his face with a towel before running out to watch Ai Qing set up a computer on the desk. She pulled over a sofa. ¡°Manager¡­...you are sitting besides me?¡± He felt strange. Shouldn¡¯t we sit face-to-face to play a practice game? ¡°Of course. I¡¯m not your opponent.¡± She smiled and pointed to his computer. ¡°Come here. Pull out competition videos of three players who you consider as your strongest competitors.¡± As a professional player, she believed that Inin must have many videos of his competitors in his computer. Unexpectedly, Inin obviously turned bashful and scratched the back his head. ¡°My computer only has Dt¡¯s¡­¡­¡± ¡­¡­ She coughed slightly. ¡°Since you understand him so much, come on, tell me his biography in Baidu that you¡¯ve memorized.¡± She was joking, but Inin took the request seriously. ¡°I read his biography in Baidu, but it¡¯s too poor. There¡¯s too little information. It¡¯s far less than what I know.¡± ¡°Less than you know? How much do you know?¡± ¡°I swear. There is absolutely nobody who knows more than I do!¡± Inin was simply like a young girl talking about her idol. His face turned red from excitement and eagerly added, ¡°Manager, manager, let me tell you about it. You have to listen to me.¡± ¡­.... She felt that tonight¡¯s training was already going down the drain, all because she had poked his idol complex. ¡°Dt, Wu Bai, champion of the 2007 DotA Chinese Regional and Asian Tournament. He was referred to as ¡®God¡¯s Left Hand¡¯ at the time. But he didn¡¯t sign up with any club. He gave up the event when he had won the Asian championship at the age of fifteen.¡± Inin then added, ¡°Manager, I just learned that you also had a nickname at the time in the DotA circle, the Pianist!¡± ¡°Uhm.¡± Ai Qing was stunned. ¡°It was nothing compared with Dt. My highest achievement in DotA was only second place at the Chinese Regionals.¡± ¡°It was already great!¡± Inin argued. ¡°......Continue.¡± All of a sudden, she found that the time he dropped out of DotA was the same as herself¡­¡­ Was that a coincidence? ¡°2010, Dt switched to WarCraft and won second place in the Chinese Regionals. He lost to Solo, who was ranked number 1 at the time, but he is our boss now.¡± Inin added again. ¡°This was one of the reasons why I was lured over. He¡¯s really something else! My scores have never been ranked number 1¡­¡­¡± ¡°......Continue.¡± It was needless to talk about Solo¡¯s standing in this circle. ¡°But Dt didn¡¯t play the final competition later that year. He quit WarCraft and went back to Norway to continue his studies.¡± So he went back to school? She didn¡¯t know that his departure was for school. He was just eighteen years old in 2010, it was the the most frivolous age. At that age, he already earned such a big name for himself, only having been defeated by Solo, the number one ranked player. It goes to show that whether he signed with a professional club or not, he would be one of the few dazzling players in this circle. He was different from Grunt who started out with StarCraft. Regardless of whether DotA or WarCraft, Dt was the hegemon in China without a doubt. ¡­¡­ Inin didn¡¯t notice that she was preoccupied with her own thoughts. He kept on talking, ¡°He spent four years to get a CS degree. He also took the championship in the European Regional StarCraft Tournament at the same time.¡± ¡°What is CS?¡± She was stunned. ¡°It¡¯s Computer Science.¡± Inin explained. ¡°A field of study.¡± ¡­¡­ What a coincidence? Was it called CS also? It was the same acronym of the game she started playing professionally. Computer Science. Counter-Strike. ¡­..Was it a coincidence? ¡°And he also won the ACM Championship! Championship!¡± Inin clenched his fist and waved it about. ¡°......What is ACM?¡± Ai Qing held her chin, wondering what competition was it? ¡°It is¡­...The competition for college students of Computer Science. To develop software programs¡­..¡± Inin suddenly realized that it actually was very difficult to explain¡­¡­ ¡°Oh.¡± She didn¡¯t understand. ¡°That is¡­...The top winners in the competition will receive offers from Microsoft and famous graduate schools before their graduation. I heard that there was a champion who was invited by Bill Gates to his home for dinner several years ago.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± It was like listening to a story from another planet. It was so awesome it felt like listening to a story¡­¡­ ¡°Ah, I¡¯m jumping around.¡± Inin paused. He reviewed the time periods he had gone over, ¡°Maybe I should start from his time in elementary school¡­¡­¡± So she sat on the sofa with her chin rested on her hand, listening about Dt¡¯s twenty two years of life. Without knowing why, she thought about the feeling she had when she had first met Gun. Compared to most people growing up in a normal family in China with an average education, they had the advantage ever since they were born. They could afford to treat the esports as a hobby, not a profession. Like what Gun had said at the time, ¡°Regarding games, either you just don¡¯t touch it at all, or you play esports to win some awards. It¡¯s as simple as that.¡± It was just¡­¡­ that simple. Gun could proudly make statements like that when she had run away from home numerous times in order to play in competitions. There were times even her parents threatened to disown her. When Solo was under appreciated and failed to win any support, he could only randomly play in competitions one after another, yet still live in poverty without money to pay for food. When All and Xiaomi were kicked out from teams full of their good friends, they could only work as power levelers to earn some money for food¡­... Then later on, he singlehandedly organized the entirety of Solo¡¯s team¡­¡­ He was really a person others were jealous of. Really¡­...It made people wish to be like him. With thoughts like that, she laid down her head on her arm. She closed her eyes, listening. She kept listening, but Inin stopped talking¡­...Being drunk last night still made her feel tired. She was too lazy to open her eyes. She thought that the young man may have gone to answer the phone. Or was he hungrily looking for snacks? Until she felt somebody walk close to her. She finally opened her eyes lazily, ¡°Ok. Stop admiring Dt. We------¡± Her voice stopped suddenly. A big guy stood in front of her and moved his eyes from her embarrassedly to look outside of the window¡­¡­ Wasn¡¯t he the topic of the conversation between Inin and her------ Wasn¡¯t he the person who excelled on everything that one felt like listening stories about? Volume 2 - CH 22 Playing Fish Trapped in the Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 22 She continued to rest her head on her arm. She looked at him, the first time she¡¯d ever sized him up as a man. ¡°Do you know¡­...what we were talking about just now?¡± His eyes were clear and still unusually interested at the nothing out the window. ¡°What is it?¡± The window glass reflected her image very clearly. ¡°We said that we definitely will win.¡± She said. ¡°Oh,¡± He could tell that she was in a good mood and felt better as a result, ¡°Why are you so confident?¡± Perhaps she wasn¡¯t as confident as she sounded, but she thought it was worth trying. It had been a long time since she felt so strongly to challenge someone. There was something flowing out from her heart and spreading through her body. It was a sudden fervent want to eagerly challenge or surpass somebody. He sensed that something was different and finally turned his eyes back. The moment their eyes met, for a moment Dt felt as if she was looking straight through him. Inin opened the night snacks Dt had brought. He exclaimed that he loved this or that was his favorite. He could not help turning his head and looking at them pitifully. ¡°There is only one order of my most favorite¡­¡­¡± Ai Qing waved her hand helplessly. ¡°You eat, you eat it, because you are the youngest.¡± The young guy tore it open instantly and began stuffing his mouth full. That night, Dt left right after he ate the night snacks. There were three days of competition in the week. From the round of sixteen to the finals, it seemed to pass quickly. But at each match, it was top players facing each other. Ai Qing was already mentally preparing herself for the exhaustion to come. Though she was only a manager. The first day of competition started after the day of rest, the competition was moved to a larger indoor arena. The eight pairs of games began. Only the matches between seed players and last year¡¯s regional champions would be broadcasted live. This included Dt and Inin. Because it was the final competition, each match was a best of three. The first game broadcasted live was Dt¡¯s. After the first game finished, Gun, Grunt and Ai Qing, who sat together, found a problem with this arena. They didn¡¯t properly prepare the stadium for an esports game. The cheers from the audience prematurely exposed Dt¡¯s sneak attacks, twice. He lost the initiative. ¡°Do you think you are watching the bullfighting?¡± Grunt complained unhappily. ¡°Several offline competitions in America were all like this. Couldn¡¯t they let players concentrate on their game?¡± Gun wrapped his arms around him without saying anything. Ai Qing looked over and found Gun had fell asleep. He really did trust Dt unconditionally? Volume 2 - CH 23 Playing Fish Trapped in the Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 23 The round of sixteen went through smoothly. Dt and Inin both won their games in the morning. After a short break, the quarterfinals began. The round of sixteen still had some players from other countries, but the quarterfinals was a battleground for the Koreans. Except for Dt and Inin belonging to Chinese clubs, only one player from America was still competing. ¡°I finally know how it feels for foreigners to compete in Ping-Pong and diving with Chinese athletes.¡± Ai Qing unscrewed a bottle of water and passed it to Inin with a smile. ¡°Are you under a lot of pressure?¡± Inin had a worried frown. He drank a few mouthfuls of water: ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°What¡¯s there to be pressured about.¡± Ai Qing laughed. She brought the ice cold mineral water bottle to his forehead. ¡°It is just a competition. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. We aren¡¯t here representing a country. We belong to clubs. No need to put pressure on yourself.¡± Apparently, their talk had little effect. Before Inin walked out to the stage, Ai Qing pulled his arm and dragged him into a big hug. She switched to a different method to motivate him. ¡°Inin, me, your jiejie¡¯s bonus for the next half year all depends on you now.¡± The fifteen years old young boy was as tall as her. His face turned instantly red with the hug. He kept hastily nodding: ¡°I definitely will win! Definitely!¡± The onlookers, Gun and Grunt, couldn¡¯t help raising their eyebrows after they saw this scene. It was so scary. Why was SP¡¯s manager behaving like a nanny now, having to act like an understanding elder sister to counsel others. Dt took his club¡¯s black jacket and wore it over his long sleeves T shirt. The lights on stage began to dim as he put it on. As Dt walked pass Ai Qing, he glanced at Inin. The young boy abruptly came out from Ai Qing¡¯s hug. His expression begged for mercy: I was forced to do it, I absolutely didn¡¯t take your girl. He then waddled with a flushed face onto the stage. The eight pairs of computers were set back to back with empty chairs in front of each computer. Except the one American arriving from the rest area on the opposite side, the others all came from the Chinese and Korean rest areas. The Korean players all looked quite relaxed. Players from several clubs walked together like how they practiced back home. This was¡­...the atmosphere of the strongest country of StarCraft. Perhaps, when players were playing with their own people in the competition, they didn¡¯t feel nervous at all. She sighed and prayed silently. She hoped that could be like WarCraft and DotA and become a strong game in China. Volume 2 - CH 24 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 24 While Inin had his head lowered to plug in his white keyboard, Dt walked to his computer, set down his mouse and keyboard on the desk, and pulled up the zipper of his sports jacket. After he pulled up the zipper, the K&K logo was in full view from the right arm to the chest. It was a dark silver logo on the black jacket, Ai Qing was lost in thought looking at it. K&K¡¯s uniform didn¡¯t use this color and design at the time when they were in Korea. But after they came back from Korea, they had suddenly changed the uniform color. The colors and the letter design were once the design of Solo¡¯s team. The black color was Gun and the dark silver color was Solo. That was her suggestion at that time. ¡­¡­ She looked at the man who sat side by side with her. Couldn¡¯t leave it behind? He who was once the god of guns. The large screen displayed three scenes simultaneously. They were the live broadcasts of the matches of the three champions last year from the Korean, American, and European regions. ¡°Last year all eight qualified players in American region were all Koreans.¡± Gun suddenly spoke. It didn¡¯t look like he wasn¡¯t talking to Grunt because Grunt certainly knew more than he did. ¡°The champion was Inin.¡± ¡°En.¡± She said lightly. ¡°Koreans are really strong.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I really admired about Solo.¡± His voice was a little bit low. She wasn¡¯t sure whether it was because he had mixed feelings about mentioning their former captain. He paused for a long while then said, ¡°He always wanted to tackle impossible missions.¡± For example, he challenged the elite of the classic game Counter Strike, when the Scandinavians were the strongest. When Korea became the strongest, he challenged them in their own game, StarCraft. ¡°Yes.¡± She remembered Solo before his retirement. She said lightly, ¡°He liked to explore new games.¡± This kind of effort without result was what Solo loved to do the most. It was like choosing baseball instead of Ping-Pong in China. The environment for growth was totally different. Though at the time of retirement, his rankings weren¡¯t the highest . To a certain degree, he was establishing the foundation to keep the game alive in China. For that, she also admired Grunt who had chosen the most difficult game from the beginning. The screen suddenly displayed various scenes of large battles. Her eyes were attracted by it instantly. It was Dt¡¯s game. The fighting was scattered across the map. Even the commentator couldn¡¯t explain it accurately. They ended just as suddenly as they began. Gun¡¯s eyes focused on it too. He suddenly said, ¡°Tell me about the game.¡± Me? Ai Qing happened to be analyzing the situation in her mind. She glanced over at Inin, he was doing good. So she didn¡¯t need to worry about him for the moment. She lowered her voice and spoke very fast to analyze the situation for Gun, ¡°Dt¡¯s opponent is ranked number 4 on Korea¡¯s battle.net. He specialized in Zerg. Because he was absent from several large competitions, so the tactics he likes to use recently was unknown. His opponents in the earlier preliminary games were all too weak, so we couldn¡¯t tell his actual ability. They didn¡¯t broadcast his game from the round of 16 in the morning. Therefore¡­¡­¡± ¡°I understand now.¡± Gun followed up. ¡°Therefore it doesn¡¯t help at all even if Dt had studied earlier.¡± ¡°You could almost say that.¡± Ai Qing nodded. ¡°So I don¡¯t know the tactics he likes to use. I can only analyze him briefly based on the current game. Just now, he chose to fast expand at the start of the game. Then look at his base, obviously, facing Dt, his first instinct is defense.¡± Gun couldn¡¯t help raising the corners of his mouth. ¡°Very lively analysis.¡± This was the first time Gun showed such a relaxed smile since they saw each other again. Ai Qing was stunned for several seconds. The fighting erupted again. ¡°Now, Dt just destroyed his third expansion and forcing him to split his forces, while Dt¡¯s concentrating his army at his front¡­¡­¡± She spoke faster and faster. She didn¡¯t notice that Gun had stopped listening. He was looking at her. It seemed that he was caught up in old memories. ¡°Zerg is now on one base.¡± The light was flashing in Ai Qing¡¯s eyes. She was smiling like a kid who had snuck in a snack without being caught by her parents. ¡°He doesn¡¯t have much time! At best he only has six minutes. Dt definitely will win this game! No! Three minutes!¡± She trusted Dt. A huge cheer suddenly burst out. It was faster than she had expected. Within one minute, Dt decisively went all the way and destroyed the opponent¡¯s last base. Game over! This was the first game that had finished among the eight groups. It was a clear cut win. This was the first time she had watched Dt play StarCraft live. His had solid basic skills. There was no flaw in his opening, from scouting to raiding enemy expansions and besieging the enemy to the end. Right, there was no flaw with his basic skill, operating, tactics, to his understanding of the map. So¡­... She looked at the other side where the winning Inin was biting his lower lip while operating the computer in high spirit. So. How can I beat you? Dt? Volume 2 - CH 25 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 25 The quarter finals finished at 4 o¡¯clock in the afternoon. K&K had already arranged a shuttle to take them back to the hotel. Since Gun seemed to be in a very good mood, Ai Qing and Inin felt comfortable to share a ride with them. But strangely, the van didn¡¯t take the scheduled route and stopped at a jewelry store halfway back. Ai Qing stood in front of a showcase looking at the rubies to pass the time. Through the glass showcase, she could see that Grunt was focusing on one showcase. It seemed strange to her that Grunt would have any interest in jewelry. It seemed that there was a very deep personal reason for his concentration. The eyes behind the glasses stared at items in the showcase. Though she didn¡¯t know what he was looking at¡­...it looked to her like a man looking for an engagement ring. She didn¡¯t know¡­...whether that was just her imagination. After singling it out, Grunt finally made the decision and bought it. Ai Qing was next to him when he signed the bill. She was shocked by the number. It was probably worth all the prize money he¡¯d won in the past two years. A professional player was at their peak for only a couple of years. He spent all the money he¡¯d earned so easily¡­¡­ Perhaps even SP¡¯s richest person Solo wouldn¡¯t be so generous. After they returned to the hotel, Dt called after her as he got off the van. He gave her a jewelry box. ¡°Grunt told me to give this to you.¡± ¡°Me?¡± She didn¡¯t accept it, she was having difficulty enough believing what she¡¯d heard. ¡°It¡¯s for your sister. He said it¡¯s a memento for their break up.¡± ¡°My elder sister?¡± She was even more baffled. ¡°Do you think I will accept it?¡± The revolving door behind them turned as people came in and out. Conversations in many different languages filled the lobby of the hotel. He hesitated somewhat, then spoke after silent for a while, ¡°Let¡¯s go to a coffee shop. Let me tell you a story.¡± This was¡­¡­ This was the first time he had ever invited her for something. There was no competition tomorrow. They had nothing to do around this time, so naturally she had no reason to refuse. They went directly to the indoor coffee bar at the first floor of the hotel. It wasn¡¯t late enough into the night as there was only a single pianist playing, no band nor singer. There were fewer customers during dinner time. When the waitress gave them the menu, he quietly went through the whole menu and asked whether they can add hazelnut flavouring to the Latte. The waitress thought about it and smiled. She told him they could do it and asked him jokingly, ¡°Do you like the Toffee Nut Latte at Starbucks?¡± He replied in all seriousness, ¡°It¡¯s the girl across from me who likes it.¡± She was listening the whole time. Until the last sentence, her fingertips tingled inexplicably. She quickly turned to the windows and looked outside. Volume 2 - CH 26 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 26 He put the jewelry box on the table. He stared at her the entire time they waited for their coffee. It seemed that ever since he had to carry her back into bed and sort out her room that night, his emotional self-control was slipping. Even¡­¡­ He would always thought of that night. He wanted to forget the feeling from that night. Forget that she was in his arms and ask him softly, ¡°If you didn¡¯t know about esports and never entered this circle, Dt, what would you have done?¡± With only a suspender long skirt, pure cotton with many pink heart patterns, wrapped around her otherwise naked body¡­¡­ ¡°There¡¯s no if.¡± He tucked her into a blanket back then and making sure to cover her hands and feet. Finally he bent down to hold her tightly together with the thick and soft white blanket. ¡°If you¡¯re in this circle, then I am in it.¡± Held her¡­¡­ This girl had been so far away from him, nearly unreachable. Though he was taking advantage of the situation, but this was a hug he had been longing for a decade. He was twelve years old the year when she stood under the spotlight on the award podium. He didn¡¯t know anything yet. When he was fifteen years old, he led a non-professional team and went through thirty-seven matches to finally stand in front of her. He shook her hands before the competition and she looked at him squarely for the first time after the competition. ¡­¡­ And ten years later in the hotel room in Chicago, he finally could take the chance when she was drunk to hold her in his arms with a thick blanket between them. She was so little and soft to the touch. How could she endure the betrayal and misunderstanding for so many years. If only he was born several years earlier¡­¡­ He could¡¯ve given her a super strong team and the commitment that the team would never disband. The coffee arrived in a timely manner, along with his ice water. He lifted the glass and drank the water. Two ice cubes flowed into his mouth. Suddenly the cold ice woke him up, he was once again calm. Ai Qing turned her head back too and smiled. ¡°Tell me now. Don¡¯t worry. No matter what you say, I absolutely won¡¯t vent my anger on you.¡± She expected that this story must have something to do with Grunt. ¡°Grunt had a childhood first love.¡± He wasn¡¯t used to introductions, so he told the core of story. ¡°Probably when he was thirteen or forteen years old, until they broke up when he was sixteen because that girl had a new boyfriend.¡± She was familiar with the former information, but the latter was a surprise to her. ¡°Later on¡­¡­¡± Dt wasn¡¯t used to gossiping about others. But since this was for a close friend, so he had to keep talking. ¡°That girl broke up later again. She wanted to get back with Grunt again, but at the time Grunt was already with your sister.¡± ¡°Was he in Guangzhou at the time?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Dt was a little bit embarrassed. How could he know this. Ai Qing noticed his embarrassment but couldn¡¯t stop her laughter by holding her chin. He was really an interesting person, who would get so embarrassed talking about someone else¡­¡­ ¡°Later.¡± He grew even more embarrassed. He felt it wasn¡¯t a good thing to talk about a stranger behind her back. ¡°Later-- --¡± ¡°Later-- --¡± She teased him in mock imitation. ¡°It¡¯s difficult for you to tell a story. I¡¯m almost finished with my coffee and ready to order a refill. But I have only heard two sentences so far.¡± Dt drank the ice water again. He couldn¡¯t help but sigh. ¡°I really can¡¯t talk about it.¡± ¡­¡­ Did you know the feeling when you reach the cliffhanger to a story, but never continued? It was exactly like now. And the big guy in front of her didn¡¯t plan to continue with the story. Ai Qing was flabbergasted. ¡°Never mind. I understand it now. Actually, are you using this excuse to have coffee with me?¡± ¡°......No.¡± He shot straight up in his chair. ¡°I¡¯m really not.¡± Ai Qing laughed again. Although she didn¡¯t hear what she really wanted to hear, she still understood that there was something going on. He probably learned about it only after they had the confrontation that night and that was why he was trying very hard to explain for Grunt? She thought about it and picked up the jewelry box. ¡°I¡¯ll just call Grunt. I won¡¯t put you on the spot.¡± Volume 2 - CH 27 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 27 She picked up her cell phone and dialed Grunt¡¯s room phone number. To her surprise, a stranger answered the phone. The girl heard Ai Qing¡¯s voice and quickly became aggressive. ¡°Who are you? What do you want to do with him? Speak? I heard your voice. Speak. Who are you? Ai Jing? Are you Ai Jing?¡± She hung up instantly and looked at Dt dumbfounded. He was out of the loop and looked back at her puzzledly. Ai Qing didn¡¯t say anything. She stared at her phone for a long while, then she lowered her head to dial back home in China. Someone answered the phone, her elder sister¡¯s dispirited voice seeped through the speaker. ¡°Are you sleeping?¡± Ai Qing asked. Suddenly, the other end of the phone fell into a dead silence. There was only the sound of breathing that grew heavier and heavier, finally the sound of someone choking. ¡°Ai Qing¡­¡­¡± She was saddened when she heard her sister and her eyes quickly turned red, but she still managed to keep her voice steady. ¡°Uhm. Grunt bought you a gift. He wanted me to give it to you for him. Do you want it? If not, then I will return it to him.¡± ¡°Ai Qing¡­..¡± Her sister had begun to cry. Her sister kept calling her name. Other than that, she was just crying. She felt her chest tighten in pain as she listened. She listened for about five or six minutes, the sound of crying started to quiet down gradually. Slowly, Ai Jing finally spoke, ¡°Ai Qing¡­...I can¡¯t forget him¡­¡­¡± She clenched her cell phone, then she released it slowly, trying to calm down. ¡°If you can¡¯t forget him, then don¡¯t force yourself.¡± She understood the feeling too well. ¡°Anyway¡­...you will forget about it sooner or later.¡± ¡°Ai Qing¡­¡­¡± Her sister began choking up again and said, ¡°She took things too hard and ate a bunch of pills. Grunt and I took her to the emergency room a bunch of times. We almost fell apart¡­...I feel so bad. I really can¡¯t do without him¡­...Ai Qing, I can¡¯t do without him¡­¡­¡± The other end of the phone was far away in China. Ai Jing melted down, Ai Qing could only hear the sound of crying from the other end. It was as if she was trying to use all her energy to cry away her misery. Ai Qing held the phone, suddenly stood up, and quickly walked out of the coffee bar. Tears had begun to flow out for her too. She tried to comfort her sister in a steady voice. But she was covering her own eyes trying desperately to push back the tears. Dt had quietly watched her dynamic display of emotions, but didn¡¯t expect her to break down suddenly. He threw a large bill onto the table and ran out after her. When he saw her, the phone had already hung up. She was standing in lobby of the hotel very close to the wall, facing away from the crowd. She continued to wipe away her tears until she felt someone come near from behind. She didn¡¯t turn back, but felt her whole body embraced by great warmth. She was held in the stranger¡¯s arms from head to feet¡­...Her back was stiff. She felt the warm breath next to her ears. The young man¡¯s voice was somewhat deep. ¡°Just think of me as one of your friends from the past like Slide, Gun, or even Solo.¡± Let me support you. It didn¡¯t matter who you wanted me to be. Volume 2 - CH 28 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 28 She went to oversee Inin¡¯s training that night. The young boy asked curiously with a lollipop between his lips. ¡°Manager, what happened to your eyes?¡± She ignored the question and patted the young boy¡¯s head. ¡°Come on. Let¡¯s discuss the strategy for the final game.¡± ¡°Final game?¡± Inin was stunned. ¡°Isn¡¯t there still a quarter final?¡± There were still eight players on the list, why discuss the final game now? Ai Qing shrugged. ¡°There are so many good players and I really can¡¯t handle all of them. You have to work hard yourself. I can only focus on your idol, Dt, to devise our strategy.¡± ¡°But¡­¡­everybody is very strong. I may not win against them.¡± Inin lowered his head and kept counting the keys on the keyboard. ¡°Many of them were my teammates when I was in Korea or opponents and they are all very strong. Though the world rankings keep changing, the actual players in competitions are only these few players. They¡¯re all close in ability. It all depends on their performance on stage¡­¡­¡± He kept talking, then realized that Ai Qing had remained quiet. He raised his head and was met by her dark eyes. Ai Qing was smiling. She curled up her red swollen eyes and bowed to stroke his head. ¡°Let me emphasize, again. I¡¯m only responsible on how to beat K&K. You need to take care of the others. Do you understand?¡± Tears began to flow down his face. He continued to quietly play with the keyboard. ¡°I thought it over.¡± She said. ¡°All the following matches are best of three. You must win the first round.¡± ¡°¡­¡­It is hard to say. I lost to him last year.¡± It was at that point that Ai Qing finally understood what Baona had said. The boy had already lost confidence in himself. He lost the courage and competitive spirit to try his hardest, having no regrets even if the result was a loss... ¡°Three rounds. You choose the map that gives you the best advantage. Won¡¯t you win in the first round?¡± ¡°Ah?!¡± This was a unique rule for this particular offline competition. They had never heard of it. Most players wouldn¡¯t even try it. A player had the opportunity to choose the map in each of the three rounds of one match. Once a player chose the map that gave an advantage to their race, then he lost the right to choose maps in the other two rounds¡­¡­ Inin, the America Regional champion, could win the first round on a map that gave him the advantage. But then it meant that Inin would lose the right to choose the map for the next two rounds. The system would randomly pick a map that gave Dt an advantage. Inin was weaker than Dt in the first place, he would certainly lose against Dt when he was on a favorable map!! ¡°Manager¡­¡­are you serious?¡± Tears began to flow down Inin¡¯s face again. ¡°Of course I¡¯m serious.¡± Ai Qing pulled out an instant noodle pack from the drawer. ¡°Wait for me to get the noodles ready, then we will talk about the third round.¡± ¡°Ah? What about the second round?¡± She opened the wrapper and put the noodles on the table. She bent down to look Inin straight in his eyes and mysteriously said, ¡°The second round¡­¡­he will certainly win. The first round is yours and the last round is mine.¡± Volume 2 - CH 29 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 29 Ai Qing had done all she could to prepare for the upcoming games. But unexpectedly, in the drawing for the quarter finals, SP and K&K would be playing against each other. She was dumbfounded when she received the drawing result. In other words, one of the two, Dt or Inin, wouldn¡¯t be able to advance to the semi-finals. The loser might not even have the chance to squeeze into the top three spots. She told the bosses back in China during their evening conference call. It was a regretful outcome. Though these esports competitions were all between clubs. However, they all wanted to see a stronger presence of Chinese players in these kind of large international tournaments, with more than one player in the semi-finals. ¡°Both players are fledgling champions. It¡¯s a pity regardless who loses.¡± Baona sounded helpless with a smile. Suddenly Solo spoke to her before the conference was about to end. ¡°Slide wants to talk to you alone.¡± ¡°Ah?¡± She was surprised. Then, she realized that she was too involved with StarCraft that she had forgotten that she was only guest starring in this. Her real focus in the next several years should be on . ¡°Ok. I¡¯ll wait for him.¡± Everyone dropped out of the conference one by one. Then a new number dialed in. ¡°How about it, is our Apple Dog happy playing in America?¡± Slide¡¯s laughter accompanied his greeting. ¡°You are really like a big shot now. Even when I try to call you, I have to wait until all the bosses finish venting it all out.¡± She laughed. ¡°Be careful. Our phone conference for routine business is all recorded.¡± ¡°Ok. Let¡¯s talk business then. I have a very difficult situation here. Since China¡¯s server for Secret Room Storm has opened, several large clubs are all playing ranked. Xiaomi¡¯s performance hasn¡¯t been very good on the rankings a month ago.¡± Xiaomi? ¡°I know. I saw the ranks for last month.¡± Slide¡¯s tone was very sincere, ¡°I gave him the opportunity for a month, but up to now he hasn¡¯t entered the top 100.¡± ¡°You haven¡¯t told Solo.¡± He answered vaguely, ¡°Solo is the boss of the Asian region in charge of several countries. Each country has more than ten events-- --¡± ¡°Are you afraid that he will be playing favourites with his old teammate?¡± She directly punctured Slide¡¯s excuse, ¡°Are you?¡± It was quiet for a while. ¡°He won¡¯t.¡± Slide finally answered. ¡°Yes¡­...he will.¡± Ai Qing refuted him. She understood Solo too well. Even though they never discussed the names of the A team in depth and even tried to avoid this subject every time they talked, she knew it clearly nevertheless. Solo had personal bias in the selection of the players this time. He even disregarded public opinion and determined the names in an arbitrary manner. Though they were the bosses of the Chinese region for K&K and SP, he was different from Gun. Gun had persistence beyond ordinary people on esports. Therefore he could reach the peak of a professional player on individual ability. But Solo was a person who cared about a person¡¯s feelings. He was specialized in motivating others, allows others to reach their highest potential. This made him a qualified captain. But being¡­...the Chinese regional manager, he couldn¡¯t let feelings get in the way. Because he wasn¡¯t just leading one team, he was leading the whole club. ¡°Slide.¡± She said lightly. ¡°Let me tell you a secret. Perhaps your burden will lessen a bit.¡± That was also one of the reasons she returned back to this circle again. It was the private agreement between Solo and her. Volume 2 - CH 30 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 30 Xiaomi¡¯s issue was hard to handle. Though she could lessen Slide¡¯s psychological burden a bit by caring less about Solo¡¯s and her opinions. Nevertheless, it needed to be solved quickly. Otherwise-- --she was afraid that it would create chaos inside SP due to favoritism. Xiaomi¡­¡­ She kept her head down in the players rest area and kept messing up her hair as a way to relieve her tension. Then she raised her head in a daze trying to clear her head......She didn¡¯t expect to see Gun walking right in front of her. He looked down at her with a strange expression. Dt followed him, she could see her messy hair reflected in his dark eyes. Ai Qing blushed instantly. She stood up and ran out of the arena to find a restroom. The restroom was full of people. There were many outgoing and cheerful American girls who were joking around inside. She managed to push in. While she was looking into the mirror to smooth out her hair, a girl beside her handed her a comb. She spoke to her in English, ¡°Are you the manager from China? I saw you with K&K players.¡± Her instinct, based on years of experience in this circle, told her¡­...that was a bad sign. Just as she had expected, all the girls gathered around her as soon as they heard the name K&K. ¡°Is K&K the club that signed with Dt?¡± ¡°Dt, Dt, I like him. He is so handsome!¡± ¡­¡­ She deeply felt that Dt, during the years he played in foreign countries, had attracted so many fans simply by his handsome look. She had only gone to the restroom to tidy her hair and ended up surrounded by Dt¡¯s fan club, even if it was an unofficial one¡­...Of course, she felt that Dt, with his personality, wouldn¡¯t have any officially organized fan groups. She arrived late after the game had already started. There were four groups competing. Two groups were broadcasted live. One group was the ranked 1 in the world vs ranked 3, which was the player who had beaten Grunt, Tatami. He also had the bad luck to play the ranked 1 player at the quarter finals. The other broadcasted game was Dt and Inin¡¯s as expected. They were the number 1 and number 2 of the American offline competition last year. In order to show the importance of the champion and the runner-up of last year, the commentators also focused on this group. StarCraft had many different competitions every year. WCS, DreamHack, GSL (Korea), SPL¡­...etc etc etc etc. The larger ones were the international tournaments. The smaller ones were the local competitions in each country. Not every competition was competitive. Frankly speaking, the master players at the peak of the pyramid wouldn¡¯t go to the smaller competitions in some countries. Many¡­...were playing for fun for the professional players in each country. Or they would invite a couple somewhat famous players to make the competitions look good. The prizes were small and very little attention was paid to these competitions. The most important thing was that they weren¡¯t very competitive. But it was different with this American offline competition. This was the reason why Solo insisted to have her accompany Inin here. Though the arena wasn¡¯t set up well, but the advantage was that they had invited some of the best professional players. Just like now, no player in the competition arena was outside the top ten ranks. Today¡¯s livestream would probably¡­...paralyze the streaming website. She sighed. She saw Inin already biting his lower lip and begin to play around with his keyboard. The little kid was nervous. Her eyes moved to Dt. He was playing around with the keyboard too. His fingers slowly slid over the keyboard back and forth. He was waiting for the map to open. The assistant referee told them the result of the maps chosen. His expression changed subtly for a second. The dark eyes under the rim of his hat accurately spotted her seat. It was a publicly recognized Terran map. This was the best map for Inin to play on. Ai Qing, you chose this map for the first round. Though you could let Inin, who played Terran, win this round, but what would you do in the next two rounds? Volume 2 - CH 31 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 31 Dt wasn¡¯t looking down at Inin. After all, Inin wasn¡¯t a weak player. But this was the first time Dt and Ai Qing were truly the opponents. He wasn¡¯t going to hold back. ¡°Ah. Our runner-up last year chose the best map for him.¡± The male commentator standing behind them was also very surprised. ¡°Does this mean that he plans to go all out for the first round?¡± The female commentator was puzzled, too. Since they were the champion and runner-up of last year, the difference between their abilities shouldn¡¯t be that much. Inin choose to put all his eggs in one basket¡­¡­ Didn¡¯t seem very reasonable. All four groups started their rounds shortly. ¡°Ok, today the round between last year¡¯s champion and the runner-up has already fired off from the start. The Terran tank king, Inin, our runner-up last year from SP China, chose the first map, one giving Terran the best advantage.¡± The male commentator held the microphone standing behind Inin. ¡°In other words, Inin¡¯s already got a leg up for the first round.¡± ¡°The system has already automatically assigned Foxtrot Labs and Merry Go Round for the next two games.¡± The female commentator smiled and explained while walking behind Dt. ¡°Inin¡¯s opponent is the Protoss master, Dt. He¡¯s famous for his perfect mechanics. He¡¯s the Protoss maestro.¡± Heavy metal music played in the background. The camera displayed close up of the players. Dt¡¯s side view lacked any expression. Inin was sticking out the tip of his tongue. A huge cheer came from Dt¡¯s fans¡­¡­ But he had restored his usual coolness. Everything between his left hand and right hand created a world of his own. The overall passionate atmosphere and support of the fans had nothing to do with him. Ai Qing glanced at Gun. The two cousins were very similar to certain degree. They both had many female fans. But they both were indifferent to their fans, yet they became even more popular because of that indifference¡­¡­ ¡°What did he say the names of the next two maps are?¡± Gun asked suddenly. Grunt didn¡¯t come here today, so they were the only two sitting in the Chinese rest area. They sat side by side but they happened to be from opposing clubs. ¡°Foxtrot Labs and Merry Go Round.¡± ¡°The Chinese translation of the names of these maps are really, really-- --¡± ¡°Cute?¡± Ai Qing laughed. ¡°Merry Go Around, Foxtrot Labs, Illusion Light, Green Warm House, Katrina, Deadwing¡­...all these names are very lovely.¡± Gun didn¡¯t really appreciate it. He laughed cynically. Time passed while they were making fun of the map names for a while. When Inin launched a strong attack at the twentieth minute, Gun was surprised. ¡°Your crying baby turns out to be a fierce player, huh?¡± Ai Qing glanced at him. ¡°It¡¯s really a tough job for you to come to watch the StarCraft competition. Don¡¯t you even know the characteristics of the top ten players?¡± Gun shrugged, ¡°As long as Dt knows. I¡¯m just watching it for fun here.¡± ¡°Our Inin specializes in small maps.¡± She smiled. ¡°Once the crying baby gets on the battlefield, he wipes his tears with his sleeves and jumps into the fight with a sword. Don¡¯t you think he has all this power ready to burst at any moment?¡± Gun scoffed. The result of the first game was determined as soon as the name of the map appeared. When top players compete, the slightest difference can affect the outcome of the game. An map that heavily favors a race enhances the ability of the player and ensures the victory of the round. After the first game finished, both commentators finally got back into the groove. ¡°Alright. Congratulations to Inin for winning the first round. Let us look at the other groups. Three groups have not finished yet. Wait. Did Tatami win the first round?¡± The two commentator looked at each other. There were so many surprises today. The female commentator said, ¡°Frankly speaking, from the live broadcast, the first rounds didn¡¯t have much suspense. I¡¯m really looking forward to the next two rounds.¡± The male commentator laughed and pointed out, ¡°The last champion is going into two maps that heavily favor him. There doesn¡¯t seem to be much suspense here either.¡± The female commentator said, ¡°You¡¯re wrong, Koomi. If Inin hadn¡¯t gone all out in the first round, I believe there would¡¯ve been no suspense at all. But now, there¡¯s a lot to look forward to. I eagerly await to see what sort of strategy our runner-up from last year, who was also the champion of the American region last year, has cooked up.¡± Two commentators spoke alternating between each other. Gun started to yawn. Inin unexpectedly took the chance of the short intermission and ran out of the competition area to Ai Qing directly. Before she had chance to ask what he wanted, the young boy jumped into her arms with great cheer and rubbed against her. ¡°I beat my idol!!¡± Gun raised his eyebrows. Why was he so excited about winning by choosing a map that gave him the advantage? She chuckled and pushed him out from her arms. ¡°Hey, hey. Your elder sister hasn¡¯t got married yet. Don¡¯t rub against my chest.¡± Inid said ah. With his entire face red as a beet, he turned around and began running back. ¡­... She looked at Dt who sat on the chair resting calmly. She suddenly thought about last night: what he had said when he held her from behind in the hotel lobby. Her head was in chaos at the time. She just buried her face into his chest and wailed. Though he was a familiar person, it was an unfamiliar embrace. She flushed away the negative emotions. When she was looking for tissues to wipe her tears, she bashfully checked his clothes to see whether her tears had soaked his shirt. So they were looking at the wet stains left by her tears. One person had a completely red face without knowing where to place her hands and feet. The other person didn¡¯t know what to say to lighten the atmosphere¡­¡­ ¡°I remembered one thing.¡± Gun interrupted her thought. ¡°Were you with Dt yesterday?¡¯¡± She didn¡¯t reply out of her guilty conscience... Gun: ¡°Xiao Bai------¡± Xiao Bai? Did he mean Wu Bai? ¡°He¡¯s very good.¡± Gun commented in a low voice, ¡°I have great expectations of him.¡± Gun rarely spoke in such serious way. The stage had begun the countdown. The second round was going to start soon. ¡°He¡¯s the kind of player who draws the most attention no matter which club he¡¯s in.¡± Whether it was SP, K&K, and TUMA in Asia, or RAP and FI in Europe, or the recently merged Ui in the American region, or efk, etc¡­¡­ ¡°Unfortunately, individual events are already out of date.¡± Ai Qing saw Dt put on the black earphones for the next match. ¡°It¡¯s all about group competitions in the future.¡± Volume 2 - CH 32 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 32 It was the second round. Dt won with little trouble. ¡°Ok. The view count for the live stream has updated.¡± The male commentator announced with a smile, ¡°Because of the limited seating, there are only six thousand people inside this stadium. But the total number of the viewers online has just passed 28 million.¡± It was an exciting number. ¡°The number continues to rise. Looks like the fight between last year¡¯s champion and runner-up is attracting a lot of attention.¡± The female commentator added. ¡°Who will win this game?¡± Gun asked her. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Ai Qing¡¯s answer didn¡¯t have any ambiguity. Gun glanced at her. ¡°Really.¡± She was serious. ¡°But this game is based purely on my own tactics. It has nothing to do with Inin. In other words------¡± This game was a competition between me and you, Dt. ¡°You can play StarCraft too?¡± Gun had to reevaluate her. ¡­¡­ She glaced at Gun and waved her fist. ¡°At least better than you, anyway.¡± The reply suddenly made both of them quiet down. It was the same conversation when they first met ten years ago. They were young and aggressive at the time. She pulled him to play a game without saying an extra word. After she shot his head squarely, the man in front of her, who was just a young adult then, was shocked. He dragged her that night into playing a total of twenty games. Each of them winning some and losing others. At last, when her eyes ached, Solo finally came to rescue her. The same conversation reoccurred by accident today. The memory made both of them a little bit uneasy. Gun seemed to grow fidgety and lowered his head. He pulled out a candy from his pocket to put into his mouth. He didn¡¯t speak any more. Two out of the four groups had already finished their match. Only the two groups being broadcasted continued. ¡°Ok. The map of this round is Merry Go Round.¡± The male commentator looked at the large screen. ¡°Let¡¯s look at the recent stats for both players. Dt has only lost one game, which was the round before, in the most recent eight competitions including the competitions in other tournaments. Up to now, his win rate was 87.5%. But Inin¡¯s recent win rate is 66.9%, not as stable as his opponent.¡± ¡°Speaking of Dt, I heard that he used to play much more wildly. Youth at its finest.¡± The female commentator looked at the time and began to wrap up, ¡°But after he returned two years ago, he has become much more prudent, sticking mainly to Protoss.¡± Dt crossed his fingers and stretched his arms forward. Then he set his right hand on top of his mouse. The countdown to the third round began. The players began to choose their race. Suddenly, the large screen showed Protoss versus Zerg. The audience was in an uproar. Inin always played Terran, but he switched races. What was happening? The large screen showed the close up of the two players. Dt suddenly looked out to the area under the stage. Was this¡­...the race you liked to use? The glance caused commotions among the fans. Nobody knew who he was looking at. After he looked back at his own computer screen again, as his closeup showed on the big screen, Dt lifted his hand to take off his baseball hat and earphones. He always had one simple image. The baseball hat had even became his unique trademark. The sudden move elicited passionate screams from the audience.. His messy short hair made his face looked even more well defined. He put on his black earphones again. This was¡­...the first time he showed his face while playing in this kind of international tournaments. Though they had worked together in Korea, he was only supporting her at that time. He only needed to watch her lead soldiers to kill opponents. And now, they sat face to face on the battlefield and he suddenly found out that he had no knowledge at all about her style, tactics, mechanics, and unit preference. Ai Qing wasn¡¯t a StarCraft player. If he guessed correctly, she was trying to use this unknown factor to face him through Inin¡¯s hands. Ai Qing was a little bit nervous. She took out a can of iced tea, put in the straw, and bit the straw between her teeth. The following would be a match between you and me, Dt. In the past two months, she was assigned by Solo to be Inin¡¯s training partner for quite a long time. The young boy was very well immersed with her tactics. In addition, with the cramming of the past day and night, she believed Inin could represent her. No professional player was born that way, even the genius Dt. They all needed to watch large volumes of competition videos, study their opponents, and get familiar with the coach¡¯s styles of every club. They honed slowly. Both experience and talent were indispensable. Nobody was born as the king. Volume 2 - CH 33 Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com/ Players Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 33 The third round had begun. Ai Qing exhaled a long breath. ¡°The map this round is Merry Go Around. It¡¯s a relatively small map. We¡¯ll most likely see some battles right from the start.¡± The male commentator spoke with great exuberance. This was the first time he ever saw the tank king of Terran use the Zerg. It was quite an interesting situation. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect to see such a map in the final round.¡± ¡°Inin, as a Terran, always likes quick attacks. But nobody knows what he¡¯ll do as Zerg...¡± ¡°Let¡¯s wait and see.¡± ¡°Yes, let¡¯s wait and see.¡± Immediately after the round started, the map was a frenzy of activity. In the early game, Inin¡¯s made a risky play, before the opponent was ready, and decisively eliminated half of the opponents workers, a complete bloodbath. ¡°Amazing. Inin¡¯s very decisive. He¡¯s delay his opponent quite a bit¡­¡­¡± Following the commentator¡¯s explanation. Inin did not lessen the harassment. He was managing the pace of the game very well. ¡°Dt. Dt also got several workers!¡± ¡°It¡¯s very fast paced. Dt has taken the advantage! Dt has taken back the lead!¡± Dt turned began to turn around his early disadvantage, growing more familiar with this ¡°unfamiliar¡± opponent as the battle continued. Ai Qing bit her straw tightly. She was nervous. ¡°All right. Inin is choosing not to amass a larger army and instead is harassing three of Dt¡¯s mining bases.¡± ¡°Two minutes. Dt¡¯s fourth base is delayed for at least two minutes to complete construction.¡± ¡­¡­ So nervous. ¡°Inni¡¯s trying to trap Dt in a pincer. Dt saw it! He¡¯s caught Inin¡¯s flanking units out of position!¡± ¡°The number of online viewer keeps rising.¡± The male commentator reported the number excitedly. ¡°It is already over thirty million!¡± Too nervous. Ai Qing stood up abruptly. She lowered her head to drink the iced tea while walking to the audience area. She was too familiar with what tactics Inin was going to use. But she didn¡¯t know how Dt was going to respond. Facing an ¡°unfamiliar¡± type of player, he would definitely change up his own tactics. Apparently the female commentator behind Dt was a fan. She was too nervous to keep up with the change of tactics. She clenched her fist standing behind Dt and kept breathing deeply. The male commentator did most of the commentating himself. Because he stood behind Inin, he could only see Zerg. Thus Ai Qing, whose back was facing the large screen, couldn¡¯t hear any comment about Dt¡¯s Protoss. ¡­¡­ She clenched her fist tightly and turned around at the last row of audience seats. She stood at the highest point inside the arena to watch the final round. There was fierce fighting everywhere. Both players were constantly trying to improve their own position while attacking the other. Forty minutes and thirty-six seconds, Dt destroyed one of Inin¡¯s bases. Almost at the same time, only ten seconds later, Inin destroyed two of Dt¡¯s bases. Fifty-nine minutes, Dt destroyed three of his opponents bases simultaneously. He also annihilated a large army at his front. Sixty minutes, Inin took back one his own expansions. A relentless cycle. Determination and constant maneuvering were both indispensable. Both surged over 400 APM. This number had surpassed Korea¡¯s top professional players¡¯ 350+. [1] ¡°Dt¡¯s above 400 again.¡± The people in front of her were probably his fans. Though they weren¡¯t sitting among a large fan group, but obviously the man and the woman were both visibly nervous. They held the back of the chairs in front and yelled as if nobody was around. ¡°There it goes again!¡± ¡°Wow!¡± They both looked at each other. Ai Qing¡¯s eyes brightened too. Wonderful. Inin you were great. He exchanged main bases with Dt at the last moment. Almost¡­¡­ Almost¡­...lost. She exhaled a long breath. What she hadn¡¯t expected was that this was just the first exchange. In the following ten minutes, the two exchanged their main base three times. It all happened when one took the other¡¯s base, leading to the other taking back another base shortly afterwards. At last, when they confronted each other face to face, Inin finally showed his weakness. It was exactly as the commentator had said from the start. The reason that Dt was called the Protoss master was because he had absolute perfect positioning. She could provide the tactics. But maneuvering¡­¡­ ¡°Ah!¡± The male commentator was becoming emotional. ¡°Zerg was caught in a bad position! Too bad!¡± The female commentator excitedly held her chest. Finally she was back to normal at the last moment. ¡°Now! There''s a huge gap between their economies. We will win soon! We absolutely will win!¡± The male commentator was dumbfounded. He eye signalled the female commentator to behave. But she obviously didn¡¯t have time to look at him. She watching her own idol Dt¡­¡­ Seven minutes later. The third round was over. The whole game lasted for two hours and nineteen minutes. It was the longest game up till now in this competition. But it wasn¡¯t because a player was stalling. Both had comparable tactics. They exchanged bases several times. The number of online viewer had risen to forty million at one point. It was the record high of the entire competition. Inin, you had lost gloriously. Ai Qing wanted to drink more tea, but found the box had already deflated long ago. She laughed and looked at the large screen. Both players stood up as the audience cheered. Dt took of his earphones and put on his baseball hat again. He stretched out his hand, ¡°Great game, Inin.¡± This was¡­...since Inin met him, this was the most enjoyable competition he had ever played. Like he had said before, the reason he came to SP was to be Dt¡¯s opponent. He wanted to enjoy the feeling of being his opponent. But the idol stretched out his hand¡­...Inin felt more exhilarated than if a girl had confessed to him. He reached out both hands to hold Dt¡¯s hand: ¡°You are really great too. No, you are always the greatest!¡± Dt looked at him. Suddenly he was a little bit jealous of him. He was jealous that he was her teammate and received all her support. But¡­.. He wanted to find where she was. When he found that she wasn¡¯t at her seat, he curiously looked around. Among the congratulations from the sincere commentator, referees, and the fans crowding up to him, he was stubbornly trying to locate her. Ai Qing, if it was you who actually sat here today. Who would have won? Ai Qing stood at the highest point looking at the close up of his face on the large screen. While she was grumbling about his bad habit of wearing a hat making it impossible to see his eyes and expression, she lightly mumbled, ¡°If I wasn¡¯t retired, you may not win, Wu Bai.¡± Volume 2 - CH 34 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 34 She didn¡¯t go to the arena for the following competitions. Inin¡¯s confidence had been successfully restored. The rest had nothing to do with her anymore. K&K successfully qualified for double-elimination and the finals. The names for the last match were Dt vs Tatami. Ai Qing watched the game live streamed from her hotel room. Because the hotel was hosting the lodging for the players for the tournament, it had arranged the live stream to show on the television. Especially in the finals, she could hear the excitement from the arena. Perhaps due to the wonderful performance of Inin and Dt the other day, only 50% of the tickets for the finals had been originally sold but sold out within one hour after the quarter finals. ¡°There¡¯s betting pool in America, it¡¯s already several million US dollars.¡± Baona casually joked around. ¡°Can you guess what the better odds are?¡± Ai Qing glanced at the live broadcast. The match was almost over. ¡°How much?¡± ¡°1.44 to 7.00.¡± Baona said, ¡°The odds for Dt is 1.44. The odds against is 7.¡± ¡­¡­ ¡°Then if we bet on him losing, we can earn lots of money.¡± Baona was perplexed, ¡°Yeah, if he loses and you happen to bet on his loss.¡± Ai Qing silently thought about it. If she bet all her net worth on his loss and if he could cooperate with¡­¡­ ¡°No wonder there¡¯re so many fixed games in various sports.¡± They then casually chatted for a while. Suddenly, Ai Qing jumped up on her bed: ¡°He won!¡± He won! He won! He won in such a competitive tournament! He won the StarCraft competitions which was dominated by the Koreans! He won! She jumped from bed to the floor excitingly, then jumped from the floor up to the platform of the hanging window. There was thick wool carpet paved there. Then she fell down. Baona on the phone was still lamenting about the American gambling pool when he heard a loud thump. Followed by Ai Qing¡¯s painful groan, ¡°Baona, I can¡¯t talk now¡­...I need to go to the hospital. I¡¯m bleeding¡­¡­¡± She was a stranger here. She covered her bleeding forehead and walked out of her room in a daze. Fortunately, she met some players from other countries on the same floor who were going to check out their rooms. She had a few interactions with them during the tournament. They immediately volunteered to take her to the hospital. After the hospital treated her wound and bandaged her head, she thanked her foreign friends over and over again, then she called a taxi to return to the hotel by herself. As she was passing by one coffee shop, she could see Dt, who had just won the championship, through the glass wall talking to several foreigners. It looked like he was doing an interview. She saw him through the glass wall as well as the reflection of the white bandage on her forehead on the glass. He was expressionless sitting on the sofa and saying something to the camera. She could tell that several nearby tables were crowded with fangirls that had followed him back to the hotel. The girls kept their distance, yet nonetheless yearned to make some impression on their idol. They could be worked up into a frenzy from just a simple glance¡­...it was too obvious. The interview seemed to be finishing up. He took the glass and drank some ice water. He aimlessly looked around. Suddenly his eyes stopped at her direction. He abruptly held the table and stood up. He even forgot to put down the ice water glass. Water spilled all over him. Meanwhile, Ai Qing stood outside the glass wall raising her index finger to her lips. Volume 2 - CH 35 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 35 He saw her lower her head and type on her cell phone. Shortly afterwards, he heard his own cell phone ring. He hurried looked for his phone, not even had the time to thank the woman reporter who had passed over some napkins. Ai Qing texted, ¡°Have a good interview. I¡¯ll be waiting for you in the second floor to settle our bet. In addition, please make sure to get rid of your fans. Two tables, one o¡¯clock. Four tables, six o¡¯clock. One table, eleven o¡¯clock.¡± Ten minutes later, Ai Qing was still looking at the price list for massages. That man who just won the championship stood in front of her with a somewhat pale face. He looked like he was a little short on breath. Did he run over here? ¡°Your head¡­¡­¡± ¡°I fell down.¡± Ai Qing touched her head depressedly. ¡°Too cruel. Ah. Do you think I can take the airplane with my wounds?¡± ¡°......You can.¡± He couldn¡¯t laugh at all. She looked at the serious face he was giving her and decided to continue playing the role to ease the atmosphere, ¡°Can I treat you with a massage?¡± Dt had spent ten minutes to find an excuse to finish with the reporter and get rid of thirty fans. It had taken him a lot of effort. He had to walk through almost every floor of the hotel to lose them. When he saw her wholly unconcerned for her injury, even inviting him to a massage, he unconsciously grew more agitated. ¡°You can¡¯t go to a spa right after you hurting yourself.¡± ¡°Not the spa. Just a massage.¡± She waved her hand and asked for the basic massage package. There was no other choice. Only the basic and the cheapest one didn¡¯t require you to take off your clothes¡­...The receptionist led two very gentle Asian girls to them shortly and introduced them. Ai Qing looked at the masseuse for Dt who looked very cute and lovely. She joked, ¡°Your masseuse has dimples when she smiles.¡± Dt was quiet. He didn¡¯t bother looking at the masseuse who was introducing herself. They were led to a massage room. She comfortably lied down on the massage chair and closed her eyes. ¡°Do you understand Chinese?¡± The two masseuses thought she was talking to that handsome guy with a poker face who was visibly in a bad mood. Either way, it was a language they didn¡¯t understand, so they didn¡¯t answer. Instead the masseuse asked her in English, ¡°Is this intensity ok?¡± Ai Qing was very satisfied that they didn¡¯t know Chinese and replied with a few words. ¡°Wu Bai.¡± She said. ¡°En.¡± ¡°Tell me about our bet.¡± Silence. She closed her eyes and waited for his response patiently. She didn¡¯t expect for him to tell the masseuse in English, ¡°This girl just hurt her forehead. Don¡¯t massage her head.¡± Ai Qing¡¯s masseuse agreed . But Ai Qing laughed. ¡°The bandage is so obvious. She can see it.¡± They fell into a new bout of silence. The strange silence got to her and she opened her eyes to see what he was doing. She saw that Dt had moved to a massage chair not far from her. His eyes nervously stared at Ai Qing. He didn¡¯t care that the masseuse girl with two lovely little dimples behind him was very embarrassingly trying to massage his shoulders to accommodate his new sitting position¡­¡­ The masseuse moved down from his shoulder to pinch his arm. Dt¡¯s body stiffened and refused rapidly in English, ¡°I¡¯m not used to be touched by others. Would you please just leave. I will pay the bill.¡± His masseuse was so embarrassed, wondering whether he was unsatisfied with her ability. Ai Qing could only added, ¡°He¡¯s old fashioned. Never mind. Could you both please leave.¡± The two masseuses bowed and left the room. She also changed her supine position and rolled over. Using two hands to support herself up on the massage table, she sat upright with her feet dangling in the air. She sat on the massage chair looking at him. Dt began to feel uncomfortable from the staring match. Because of the massage, he had already taken off his baseball hat and hung on the clothes rack next to the door. Now it was impossible to hide his expressions. They stared in silence for what seemed like a century. Then finally Dt spoke, ¡°Why did you sign with SP?¡± Why? This was the second time he asked this question and he was asking the same way as last time. Ai Qing lightly blew her bangs out of her face. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll give an earnest answer.¡± It was a complex answer. ¡°There are two main reasons. You know the first reason very well. SP has the best platform, resources, coaching system, and sponsors. Its position in esports is like a national team in sports. I¡¯m also an athlete. Serving the ¡®National Team¡¯ in the esports circle is also my dream.¡± There was no doubt about it at all. Dt understood what she meant. As an esports player, being able to enter a team with the most outstanding players was a dream everyone wanted to have. Even K&K couldn¡¯t compare with SP. At least currently in China, K&K was only involved in StarCraft and Secret Room Storm, not having the resources to move into other events. ¡°The second reason¡­...did your cousin ever mentioned to you how Solo¡¯s team got started?¡± Volume 2 - CH 36 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 36 It was the summer of 2003, she was waiting outside the train station for Solo¡¯s return from a competition in Guangzhou. It was crowded. Because she had used up all her minutes on her cell phone for that month, she was reluctant to call. In order to save money, they used text message to communicate with each other until he brought a young man dressed in all black in front of her and stretched out two arms to her. She jumped at him, circling around his waist. She also took a peek at the beautiful and aloof young man meanwhile. Later, they became comrades after playing 20 CS games. Solo told her that Gun was a non-professional player he met during the tournament in Guangzhou. He was great and had a promising future. Because he wanted to play esports but his stepmother wouldn¡¯t support him, so he returned to China by himself. ¡°Return to China¡± was a novel term to her at the time. A young man who grew up in a foreign country, with English as his mother language. He didn¡¯t seem to have come from the same planet as Solo and herself. Solo shared a small apartment with other tenants at the time. Gun slept on the floor in Solo¡¯s room. So she and Solo had little time alone together for a very long time because of Gun. Gun was with them when they ate. Gun was with them when they had fun. Gun was with them even on Valentine¡¯s Day. Sometimes she really had enough and asked Gun, ¡°Do you want me to introduce a girlfriend to you. Please let us be alone¡­¡­¡± Gun rolled his eyes at that time. He had no interest at all. Later, Solo won the championship in a tournament but he didn¡¯t receive the prize he deserved because the organizer was withholding it. He almost couldn¡¯t afford to pay the rent. It was then that an internet reporter interviewed him, curious about the emerging esports industry. Solo prepared for a very long time. He reviewed every question repeatedly, but in the end the reporter only used several of his short answers with only one sentence about his sincere feelings when the two chatted after the interview. ¡°Isn¡¯t there a popular saying on the internet? At the age when one is the least capable, but you fall in love with a girl who you want to take care of for the rest of her life. Now I have the same feeling of powerlessness. I don¡¯t know how to give her a future. I can¡¯t even tell her about tomorrow. She¡¯s so young.¡± This conversation showed up on the web page of the interview. She was very young at that time. She didn¡¯t quite understand his sadness, she was very much touched more than anything else. This was Solo¡¯s first and the only time where he talked about his love for her. Though it was through a strange channel. She, Solo and Gun didn¡¯t know back then where the end of their road was. Solo started to think about organizing a team. But every time the investors merely toyed with him. He travelled for several days full of passion to visit investors only to return disappointed. Then Gun left for quite a long time. When he came back again, he brought back their first investment and his Chinese citizenship with him. He cut all means of retreat and used whatever means he could find to get the money from his family. At this point in the story, she thought Dt should be well informed about what had happened later. The money Gun wrestled from home was how they were able to bootstrap a team. They were able to have their own place to train. It was a turning point for everyone. Then they won various prizes from tournaments. It improved their living conditions. The prize money in the early days of esports wasn¡¯t anywhere near the tens of millions of US dollars that exist now for the top three teams. Yet, since they played in many tournaments, they could keep the team running as long as they kept winning enough championships. ¡°Then the team disbanded. Solo and I were both responsible for it. You know very well how hot the esports market is now. If Solo¡¯s team didn¡¯t disband then, everyone definitely would¡¯ve won a large amount of prize money and have infinitely better living conditions than back then. So, I agreed to join Solo after I considered it for a very long time. Only by returning to this circle and joining SP, I can use my specialized skillset to win the reward that¡¯s higher than other ordinary professions. Then I can do things I always wanted to do.¡± She was a bit emotional. No matter how many years had past, that team and that place had carried nine passionate people for two years. ¡°At the time, I reached a verbal agreement with him. We will use our power to make it up to the others.¡± Though she knew it very well that Solo was just trying to convince her to come back to this circle again when he made the proposal. In the end, he would be the one who took on the responsibility for any consequences. But that wasn¡¯t her plan. Dt was quiet. She was a little bit bashful. ¡°You probably don¡¯t know. The people of our group, except your cousin, are all from ordinary families. Xiaomi and All and several original alternate players all come from very ordinary families. Or you may even say poor families, very poor families. Their academic performance is pretty poor too. It was very difficult for them to find any opportunity to develop themselves in another industry¡­¡­¡± She paused. She didn¡¯t know how to continue. ¡°I understand.¡± Dt stopped her. ¡°I want to add that Han Shangyan[1] doesn¡¯t need any compensation. In these two years, though K&K is still losing money in China, they still have good profits worldwide. His family was always against his involvement in the esports business and they haven¡¯t changed, even now. So all the money belongs to him. You see, things aren¡¯t so bad. He was forced to get into investing in clubs and he lives pretty well.¡± She chuckled. She could tell that Dt was comforting her. But Wu Bai, you were only twelve or thirteen years old at the time. How could you have any idea what the name Gun represented in the esports world back then? [1]: Gun¡¯s actual name. Volume 2 - CH 37 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 37 She jumped down from the massage chair barefoot. There was a very large heated swimming pool on the second floor. The massage rooms surrounded the swimming pool with openings facing the pool. From her view point, she could even see two lovers lying on the chair kissing affectionately in the room at the other side of the pool¡­¡­ She had no choice but to turn her back to the swimming pool, facing him. ¡°I watched your final match today. It reminded me the first time I watched a StarCraft competition. Was it in 2000? Boxer[1] was playing.¡± Boxer was born in 1980 and he was a first generation esports player, WCG Hall of Fame member, and a pioneer of esports. That was¡­...the person who started the collective esports dream. Unfortunately, back then, she just watched with classmates occasionally. She didn¡¯t quite know what it was. She didn¡¯t understand it. And she had no interest. ¡°Boxer ignited the esports dream for so many Koreans.¡± Ai Qing sighed lightly. ¡°Wu Bai, Could you help me record the play-by-play of tonight¡¯s game?¡± He walked towards her. ¡°Ok.¡± When did she start feeling the pressure from his height and the pressure of his absolute skill? He was still dressed in the black K&K uniform. The sports jacket wrapped around his tall body. He walked towards her, barefoot, step by step. He was the one who had just won the championship under the watchful eyes of tens of thousands of fans and tens of millions of internet viewers. But she didn¡¯t feel threatened in any way¡­¡­ No. This was an illusion. Shouldn¡¯t you be the one who knew best? Ai Qing. He represented the absolute skill and exerted absolute pressure on all his opponents. Only when he appeared in front of her, he turned into the one she first met in the national finals that year. He was only that quiet young man whose eyes always followed her. He noticed that she was distracted. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°I¡¯m thinking about a question.¡± She was always honest and she never lied. It was only a question of the degree of honesty. He gave a relaxed chuckle. His hands were inside his sports pants pockets. He watched the far away lovers who had progressed from hot kissing to quiet touching. He started to think. If Ai Qing turned around right now, her face would become red right way, not knowing where to put her hands and feet. She would pretend to be calm as if she hadn¡¯t seen anything. She would pretend to suddenly become talkative, but naturally she could only think of topics related to video games in order to hide her panic. ¡­¡­ He enjoyed the imagination in his brain. He felt this was the best reward after the competition. The reporters, fans, the trophy he had won, and the large prize money to be deposited into his bank account, none of these were comparable to his satisfaction at this moment. Ai Qing grew curious about what was making him so happy. She followed his eyes just in time to see the man open the woman¡¯s top. She was stunned. He couldn¡¯t be happy because he was looking at this? Or did all men like to------as she thought about it, her face began to rapidly grow redder by the moment. She wanted to step back and walk around the man in front of her. All of a sudden, she missed her footing. She heard the great sound of splashing water. She held her breath by instinct the moment she fell into the swimming pool. The all pervasive water wrapped her whole body. After a rapid fall and before she could float back up, she was already held in a hug by two arms from behind and carried her out of water. Through the dizziness, she heard the man holding her speak in English to someone afar, ¡°It¡¯s alright. It¡¯s just my friend playing around.¡± ¡­...She didn¡¯t have time to think why she had such bad luck. He had picked her up. ¡°Your clothes are all wet. Others can see through it. You just sit here and wait for me to get a towel for you?¡± He stood at the bottom of the pool and laid her down on the stone stairs inside the pool which led to their room. She sat up. The water impeded his movement as he was hurrying up, he fell down on the stairs in the rush. His knee bashed the stairs and his eyebrows twisted up from pain. ¡°Are you alright?¡± She nervously moved to look at his leg as he knelt down on the stairs. Dt shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s alright.¡± The skin might have scraped off, but it didn¡¯t hurt his bones. It wasn¡¯t a big deal, just a regular fall, he thought. But as they were talking, they both noticed that their current strange posture was¡­...his hands on the ground supporting him were beside her. One of his knees knelt down on the stone stairs in the water. She was right in front of him, within reach of his arm. The water on his body kept falling down on her arms and chest. She sat in the water and he knelt next to her. His wet, dark short hair, his stunning and delicate Asian features, and the black sports shirt wrapped around his body from the water, all these were like a swirl. The sound of his heart thumped in his eardrum. There was the sound of people diving in the distance. He finally forced himself to move his face away from hers, restraining himself from kissing her. He said in a very low voice next to her ear, ¡°Give me a chance, Ai Qing¡­¡­¡± [1]: Boxer is one of the original Starcraft professional players and perhaps one of the best Starcraft players in history. Volume 2 - CH 38 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 38 Ai Qing sat at the edge of the pool, wrapped in a bath towel. She dipped her feet in the water and let her mind wander. Dt returned with her clothes and squatted down behind her. He put down the clean gauze and iodine on the floor, then he sat down legs crossed, ¡°Let me disinfect your wounds first.¡± ¡°En.¡± She lowered her eyes to see his exposed knees under his shorts. He did scrape his knees when he fell. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to disinfect and wrap your wound?¡± He shook his head silently. If both of them had bandages on at the same time, even if one is on the forehead and the other on a knee, it would look very strange to the others. He didn¡¯t want to cause her any trouble. His clean fingers pulled out a cotton swab to wipe her forehead using disinfectant. He disinfected and bandaged up her wound. She kept her eyes lowered to avoid meeting his eyes. In the quietness, she could feel every minute movement of his fingers. After Ai Qing changed her clothes in the bathroom, they walked out of the room one after another. They met Tatami and his friends in the elevator. By now, most of the players from other countries had left the hotel. Only the champion and runner-up clubs were still staying here. Among these Koreans, there was a girl that kept staring at their direction, her eyes fixed on Dt. After these heavy weight players greeted each other, she nervously spoke to him in English, ¡°Dt? You are really tall¡­¡­¡± An awkward silence. Suddenly, everyone burst into laughter. The Koreans began to tease the girl in Korean. Some players with better Chinese simply changed to Chinese. ¡°Wewe just flew out here from New York. She almost cried because she missed your final match. I can testify that her bedroom is full of posters of you which she made by herself. She is a truly a super fan.¡± ¡°Too bad, you can only meet your idol in this kind of large tournament.¡± Tatami laughed as he stretched out his hand to rub the young girl¡¯s head. ¡°Dt, it was very enjoyable to have lost to you. I hear that this is your last StarCraft competition?¡± ¡°Almost.¡± Dt apparently felt more comfortable talking to a man, ¡°I¡¯ll be playing Secret Room Storm in the next three years.¡± ¡°Me too, coincidentally.¡± Tatami told him. ¡°These people here will all be playing Secret Room Storm, except Wewe.¡± TUMA was the leader of the top three clubs in Asia. Ai Qing quickly looked over the other players. She didn¡¯t recognize any of them. Were all of them newcomers except Tatami and another StarCraft player? ¡°If you¡¯re not leaving tonight, how about having one more game?¡± Tatami was a straight forward person. He directly challenged him for a battle. Dt didn¡¯t reply right way. Tatami quickly spoke a series of simple numbers clearly. It was a list of ranks from the Korean server. Ai Qing instantly matched up the ranks with their ids. Awesome! During the exhibition tournament, the game was still in Alpha. In other words, the invited players were all famous players from the more prestige clubs. Famous players of other games wouldn¡¯t necessarily be the top players in Secret Room Storm. But now, two months after the Beta test, the rankings were already available. It proved the above theory that too many hidden experts showed up. The new game with new rules formed a new world. Being able to play a game with TUMA before the Asian Tournament was an extremely rare opportunity. Ai Qing quietly hid her right hand behind her back, trying to pull Dt¡¯s clothes to give him a hint. The feeling was kind of strange. Oh, jeans? She let go of her hand rapidly. She forgot how tall he was¡­¡­ ¡°Ok.¡± Dt answered suddenly. ¡°What time?¡± ¡°Tonight.¡± Tatami smiled. ¡°Wait for my phone call after dinner.¡± It was eight o¡¯clock in the evening. One heavyweight match of Secret Room Storm began in the twentieth floor of their hotel in Chicago. Gun wasn¡¯t no longer in the hotel. Even if he was, Ai Qing figured that he wouldn¡¯t think much of these people as to play an offline game with them. Thus the line-up was 4 vs 4. The Chinese side had K&K¡¯s Dt and Grunt plus SP¡¯s Ai Qing and Inin. The Korean side was composed of four players from TUMA. Ai Qing was preparing her keyboard and mouse, ¡°What do you think of them?¡± ¡°Hard to say. The data from the four major servers haven¡¯t been standardized. No one knows which server¡¯s ranking carries more weight than the others.¡± Grunt yawned and took off his glasses. ¡°I¡¯m not in my best condition today. Please bear with me.¡± His spoke relaxedly like nothing was bothering him. Ai Qing thought about what her sister had said then looked at Grunt. According to her sister, the thing between Grunt and his ex-girlfriend had been going on for seven or eight months. But other than that day, she hadn¡¯t observed any abnormal behavior from Grunt. He competed when there was a competition, trained when it was time for training, spoke with a sharp tongue when he felt like it, and joked when everyone was fooling around. He always hid his personal issues. Nobody could see through him. Actually¡­...everyone was the same. No matter how many secrets were behind them, they always presented their best in public, doing what they should be doing. That¡¯s what living was. They brought up the game on their screens. She put on her earphones. She saw Dt type message in the team¡¯s channel: ¡°Everyone, the top priority isn¡¯t about winning or losing. Do everything you can to understand their playstyle in preparation for the Asian Tournament.¡± Inin replied: ¡°Ok¡± Grunt replied: ¡°I¡¯m not in good shape today. Please bear with me.¡± AI Qing wanted to write something. She typed a couple of sentences but then quickly deleted them. Finally, Appledog replied: ¡°May god be with us.¡± This sentence------ Dt and Grunt looked at Ai Qing at the same time as she stared at the computer screen. These were the exact words that Appledog used to say to her teammates at the beginning of each match when she was on Solo¡¯s team. Volume 2 - CH 39 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 39 Aside from the original teammates who fought side by side with her in the old days, nobody else had ever received Appledog¡¯s blessings. But now------ Dt moved his fingers around, preparing for the match. No one was allowed into the room except for players from both teams. The so called die-hard Dt fans had to stay outside waiting for the result. So when they put on their earphones, their team communication would not be interrupted. First, there was no outsider to listen in. Second, there was a language barrier between the teams. Third, the competition was so fierce that the opponent wasn¡¯t in the mood to listen to what the other side was saying. Grunt: ¡°I just remembered. I have some impression about one of their kids. He played CS in the past few years.¡± Appledog: ¡°Oh?¡± Grunt: ¡°This kid played against a team from Africa last year. He apparently bad mouthed the other team and got into an argument. Though it was a world competition, he made his teammates sit still and played 1 vs 5. Totally annihilated that team.¡± Inin: ¡°Wow.¡± Dt: ¡°The team from Africa probably even needs the organizer to sponsor their equipment for the competition. It¡¯s nothing to be proud of to be so arrogant when playing against a team from an underdeveloped area.¡± Grunt: ¡°Really, Captain, now you¡¯re more talkative. You surely are different when your goddess is here.¡± Inin: ¡°Wow, goddess!¡± Appledog: ¡°......¡± The system automatically assigned a map and picked the game mode. Ever since Secret Room Storm gained popularity, in order to make games more exciting, there was always a new gallery of maps opened to professional players. The new map would be more challenging for players who never played, never practiced, and never encountered before. Otherwise, it would be quite boring to play on the same map every day. Ai Qing pressed the alt key to take look around her surroundings within a five meter radius. The wind was blowing the torn posters and beating on the broken windows. On the road, trash cans and street lights randomly lined the streets. It looked so real. A bus engulfed in a raging fire several meters away was also so realistic------ ¡°It¡¯s Tokyo. We better not be rescuing the hostage. It¡¯s too hard to find the hostage.¡± She said. Before she finished speaking. A game prompt appeared, ¡°Rescue the Hostage.¡± ¡­¡­ She was embarrassed, ¡°Ok. We can only pray that we are bandits. I don¡¯t want to find the hostage.¡± Just as she finished. The next prompt appeared, ¡°Police.¡± ¡­¡­ Grunt: ¡°SP goddess, are you a professional jinx, like a crow¡¯s beak?¡±[1] Inin: ¡°What is a crow¡¯s beak?¡± Appledog: ¡°-----It¡¯s the beak of a bird.¡± Grunt: ¡°How can you tell it¡¯s Tokyo?¡± Appledog: ¡°Nowadays, every car racing game has actual maps of all the big cities in the world. I know right way when I see it.¡± Inin said. ¡°Wow. Manger, you are awesome.¡± ¡­¡­ Dt: ¡°Buy guns.¡± Everybody quieted down and began to choose weapons. The rule of the game was very simple. Within thirty minutes, the police has to rescue the hostage, while the bandits prevent the police from rescuing the hostage. After thirty minutes, if police hasn¡¯t rescued the hostage, then the bandits win. Or, whichever team is completely eliminated, then that team loses. But playing the actual game wasn¡¯t as simple. First of all, this game has randomly spawning attacks that can kill any player, regardless of team. They will definitely die if they encounter a tank or are hit by a bombing run. Next, the maps in the game were modeled after big cities from all over the world. So they need different types of climbing tools and supplementary items in addition to their main weapons. But everybody only has limited cash, so it¡¯s a question on what to buy. Finally, the whole view of the map isn¡¯t visible. Everything¡¯s dark past a five meter radius around a player¡­...the map doesn¡¯t indicate the position of enemies or friends. It¡¯s a simulation of actual battles. Appledog: ¡°Let¡¯s divide into two groups. Tokyo¡¯s buildings are too high. It¡¯s difficult to search. Let¡¯s all turn on the life detector.¡± Grunt: ¡°Crybaby, follow me. The northeastern area belongs to us.¡± Inin: ¡°Oh .¡± Dt: ¡°You follow me.¡± Appledog: ¡°Roger.¡± [1]: ÎÚÑ»×ì, ¡°wu ya zui,¡± a Chinese way of calling someone a jinx basically. Volume 2 - CH 40 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 40 With gun in hand, she closely followed behind Dt southwest. They could no longer see Grunt and Inin behind them. There was the sound of an explosion from the distance followed by a great plume of fire. She rolled forward to the left and entered a convenient store. Amid growing sound of exploding bombs, she heard Dt through the earphones, ¡°Go upstairs. Left back.¡± She looked around and found stairs, hidden by a pile debris. She jumped up in a few steps. There was a trail of fluorescent powder on the ground. Did Dt make it? He was so smart, even buying fluorescent powder. She followed the trail until she reached the rooftop and discovered that Dt was walking on a steel wire to the rooftop of another building. ¡°You really bought a lot supplementary items¡­¡­¡± Dt replied, ¡°I only bought one gun. I don¡¯t have much ammo either, I need to use it sparingly.¡± Appledog said, ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. I have plenty.¡± Not too long after. Grunt told Inin, ¡°Damn. Inin, I fell into a well.¡± Inin replied, ¡°Ah? I didn¡¯t buy ropes.¡± Grunt said, ¡°Damn. Actually, it¡¯s a trap.¡± ¡­¡­ Ai Qing could feel Grunt, who sat next to her, fiercely hitting his keyboard. Grunt said, ¡°I killed one.¡± Inin said, ¡°Let me go shoot some of the npc paratroopers to make some money. Then I¡¯ll buy ropes to pull you up. Wait.¡± Grunt, ¡°......¡± Dt said, ¡°Where are you?¡± Grunt answered, ¡°146, 27¡± That was at the north of the map. Being attacked was a good thing because it also gave away the enemy¡¯s position successfully. Ai Qing and Dt had already passed through the steel wire and jumped over a dozen or so tall buildings. Dt didn¡¯t speak, climbing to the rooftop of the highest building. The sky was filled with dark clouds. Only several enemy airplanes circling around remotely in the dark sky. There was no moon. The quiet only made it scarier. They must keep the absolute silence. They tried their best to reduce shooting outside. Otherwise, it would attract the npc airplanes to bomb their area. In the darkness, a silver light flashed from Dt¡¯s hand. It was a rope. Their target was to the north. With mutual understanding, they, one following the other, began to rappel down the big building. Based on their experience, this high building had at least forty floors. She stepped on the wall and hopped down ten more times. She estimated she needed another three or four more times to reach the bottom. Gun shots burst out in front of her. The screen turned red. She threw out a hand grenade. But to her surprise, the opponent threw flares at the same time. The screen turned white in an instant. Appledog said, ¡°Someone¡¯s on the tenth floor.¡± A dark shadow rolled up besides her. The sound of a machine gun firing and hand grenades exploding went on for a while. She rolled forward amongst the debris and explosions, sliding to Dt¡¯s side. ¡°You left. Me right.¡± Dt said, ¡°Wait.¡± Her fingers paused on keyboard when he said, ¡°Don¡¯t move.¡± It was too dark to even see their own hands. Suddenly, four flares were thrown in front of them. The white light torn open the darkness. It was as bright as a shining sun. Their screens became a sheet of white light. They could see anything. They couldn¡¯t even judge where the enemy was. ¡­¡­ Something was wrong¡­...they were stalling. Dt looked at the screen calmly and said, ¡°Retreat.¡± ¡°You stay ahead, I behind you. We break through in one direction.¡± Ai Qing moved back to the edge of the fractured wall but she soon found that, ¡°The rope broke.¡± Dt¡¯s voice was unsurprised, ¡°Follow me. We rush out from the front right.¡± When he finished talking, a dark shadow charged into the white light. She could only hear the sound of fighting without being able to see it. Ai Qing rolled over and followed. She didn¡¯t want to risk firing her weapon arbitrarily, only following the directions Dt instructed. She explored, explored, then suddenly, she stepped on empty air. A trap! She began to quickly fall. Eighth floor, seventh floor, sixth floor------ A dark shadow rushed down and threw out a flying tiger claw to hook her. He turned around and jumped to the fourth floor. The length of the rope, the impact of the fall, and her own weight broke her fall. She stopped short exactly one meter from the ground-- -- She immediately hit spacebar to jump. She began climbing the rope. Seconds later, she landed next to his side. She had just calmed down from the panic when she saw blood all over Dt. He probably also stumbled into a trap. Dt asked, ¡°Grunt, have you climbed up?¡± Grunt replied, ¡°I¡¯m still relaxing in the well-- --¡± Inin yelled, ¡°Rope. Rope. I bought the rope. Get up quickly.¡± Dt said, ¡°They are stalling. There¡¯s traps everywhere.¡± Grunt said, ¡°How sneaky.¡± Volume 2 - CH 41 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 41 Their tactic was quite insidious. Such a large number of traps was the same as sacrificing two players by not giving them any weapons. Instead, they used all the money to buy traps and flares. They had turned what normally was a fierce round of shooting into a stalling game by rigging everything. But they had to admit. It was a sound strategy for the defenders on the hostage rescue game mode. It was a tactic quite suitable for bandits. Ai Qing looked at the countdown timer on screen. There was still three minutes left. The game would finish in three minutes. They would lose if they couldn¡¯t find the hostages in those three minutes. Ai Qing and Dt made the decision to take a moment to prepare. Facing each other, they began to exchange the resources they had. All weapons and ammos were given to Dt. The supplementary tools were all thrown to her. Ten seconds later, she sold all the supplementary tools to trade for weapons and ammos. Not a tool was left. All they carried were weapons. The life detector still hadn¡¯t found anything. In other words, the hostage was not in this area. But the enemy was around. In order to win, they needed to swiftly attack and kill the remaining bandits. There was little difference in the time it took for either of them to change guns. Ai Qing felt at this moment the same passion she had as a CS player ten years ago. How long had it been since she had worked with such a well-matched partner? Appledog: ¡°Dt and I will rush up north, group up with us there. We don¡¯t have time to find the hostage. Let¡¯s kill them all.¡± She and Dt, guns in hands, jumped onto motorcycles on the roadside one after the other. They rode over empty, devastated streets. Only several npc pedestrians wandered around without any expression. They were driving two motorcycles at high speeds. Shooting outside and reckless driving would trigger attacks from the game. They had tried to avoid this situation before, but now they didn¡¯t have the time to care. Suddenly, all the stationary tanks on the road started to turn around slowly. In the sky above the tall buildings, ten beams of light swept over their position. Tanks fired after them as they passed by, the sound was deafening. On screen, buildings quickly flowed backwards. Dt skillfully dodged through the fire. ¡°I see them!¡± Ai Qing¡¯s eyes shined. She pressed spacebar to jump off. The moment she landed on the ground, she made a forward somersault again and rolled over to one side of the street. Not bad, she only lost half of her health. She and the enemy lifted their guns simultaneously and fired without stop. Suddenly, she was shot. Her breathing slowed down. The lifelike heartbeat and the blurring of her vision both reminded her that she had been shot in a vital part of her body. Slowly. The screen returned to normal. She had only one tenth of her health left. But at the street corner, the enemy was already lying on the ground with a hole through its head. ¡°I killed one.¡± She said. She looked at Dt¡¯s computer screen from the corner of her eyes. Amid the fireball of the exploding motorcycle, Dt had rolled to one side. The moment he hit the wall, he aimed and shot. Tatami¡¯s head popped. Very good. Three down. Unfortunately, there was only 30 seconds left. 29¡­¡­ 28¡­¡­ 27¡­¡­ The four of them gathered in the middle of the street. They had run out of time. There was still one enemy that hadn¡¯t showed his head. They didn¡¯t know which corner he was hiding. Grunt spoke first, ¡°Damn. This can¡¯t even be counted as a tactic. I have never seen it before. Do they hide a guy just to prevent their entire team from dying?¡± She lightly exhaled. ¡°Winning the game is the purpose of the tactics.¡± Ten seconds in countdown. Ai Qing took off her headphones first. She stood up with smile and stretched out her hand to the guy who had lost his head to her. After that, Grunt, Inin and Dt logged off one after the other and stood. As the captain, Dt naturally stretched out his hand to his counterpart. Tatami laughed and punched Dt¡¯s left shoulder with a fist. ¡°No need to shake hands. You already killed me twice today. How frustrating! I can¡¯t even win in shooter against you.¡± Dit didn¡¯t dodge and took his punch. ¡°You played well. I expect to meet you again in the Asian Tournament.¡± Someone was willing to give up their offensive power and trade it for supplemental items. Someone was willing to hide so they could stall the game. They did all these things towards one goal, winning. It was very effective. Because it was a private competition, there was no rule to play a best of five. Perhaps, if it had been a different map in a different game mode, they might have lost instead. But since both sides agreed that one game was enough, that was it. After all, the Asian Tournament was only several months away. No one wanted to give away all of their secrets just yet. They walked out of the room. The TUMA club people, who had waited for a very long time, all stood up. After they heard that they had won, it was impossible for them not be excited. They were very disappointed in the afternoon after they lost the StarCraft competition. This victory made up for some of it. Suddenly a little figure walked over nervously. ¡°Dt, can I take a picture with you?¡± The expectation in Wewe¡¯s eyes surprised Ai Qing. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but, no.¡± Dt¡¯s eyes underneath the brim of the hat were very calm and he refused straightforwardly. It was a bit too direct. Ai Qing silently shed tears in her mind for Wewe¡­...She saw Grunt mischievously nudged Dt with his shoulders, while keeping his eyes pointed at Ai Qing. Volume 2 - CH 42 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 42 It was early in the morning when they arrived at the airport. Ai Qing, wearing earphones, was on an international long distance call with people from her club, explaining their short encounter with the Korean team TUMA. Inin was running around in front of her pushing a shopping cart. He was shopping for gifts for everyone, for both members of A team and B team. Any SP personnel he could think of or remember their name, they were all on Inin¡¯s shopping list. Ai Qing looked at the over filled shopping cart and sighed, ¡°I beg you to stop shopping. We only have four hands, we can¡¯t possibly carry all of these.¡± ¡°No. There¡¯s Dt.¡± Inin¡¯s eyes brightened and he gave a brilliant smile, ¡°He¡¯ll definitely help us carry it.¡± ¡­¡­ Their conversation was heard through the phone in the office in China across the Pacific ocean. ¡°Ah, Solo, can we take a nap.¡± Baona said wearily, ¡°Do you not know what it feels like to be sleepy? You¡¯ve been working me to death. Can I go to sleep for a while?¡± Solo¡¯s voice was still like the clear water. It was very calm without any emotional ups and downs. ¡°No problem. Anyway our workloads are equal. Nobody can help you with yours.¡± Baona continued to whine. Solo cut him off, ¡°It¡¯s about boarding time for them. The conference with America can end now.¡± Baona yawned, ¡°I¡¯m hanging up, Ai Qing. I need to go to sleep. Damn the phone conference. Let me get my soul back by sleeping first.¡± Amid a noisy background, the phone disconnected. Ai Qing still wore the earphones. She saw Inin was counting the US dollars he carried. Because he decided to buy so much, it seemed that he didn¡¯t have enough money. She pulled out her purse, but someone else already stepped up and paid the rest for Inin. As expected, it happened exactly as Inin had said. That man not only paid the bill, but also carried away most of the shopping bags. He merely passed more than half of the bags to Grunt who was empty handed. Grunt, dumbfounded, cursed and picked them up. They carried all the bags onto the airplane. Inin kept a big bag of snacks with him to eat during the flight. The other passengers in first class, a few middle aged men, watched Gun leading several young people------eating snacks. Ai Qing put the back of her seat down, half lying while eating the cheese crackers in her hand, lost in thought. Many more snacks were stacked on her lap. She finished a bag, then continued onto the next one. Through her earphones, she listened to [1]. The voice was chanting, ¡°moving forward, just like this¡­¡­¡± Dt sat next to her. They had followed the same seating arrangement as when they flew here. Dt would accompany her for the long flight. ¡°The first time I flew on an airplane was with your cousin.¡± She spoke unexpectedly and lightly, ¡°I had a big fight with my parents before that tournament. They didn¡¯t want me to continue competing¡­...so, I didn¡¯t make it in time to fly with all the others. Solo needed to be with the team to register. He left your cousin behind to accompany me.¡± Dt didn¡¯t expect her to speak without prompting about her past. ¡°It was silly. I need others to accompany me onto an airplane.¡± She still felt very silly about it all. ¡°But that was the first time I boarded an airplane. Han Shangyan took me to check in my luggage, help me select a seat, and led me through the security check. You know how nasty he could be. He scolded me all the way from the entrance till we were boarding the plane. He even lectured me about fastening the seat belt¡­¡­¡± All these things, of course, Gun would never have told Dt. So he didn¡¯t want to miss any of her words. He listened attentively. He tried his best to construct a picture of her past all the while. How she confusedly followed the nasty tempered Gun in her youth, being reprimanded. But she still laughed and stuck out her tongue without being bothered by it¡­...Didn¡¯t she just have a fight with her family? Then she must have been laughing with red, swollen eyes. Her smile always appeared on the tournament floor. Whether it was ten years ago when she was a team player, or now, as the manager. She was equally beautiful in both times. He turned off the overhead reading light to prevent the light from shining into her eyes. She noticed and stopped. ¡°Why did you stop?¡± He asked. She glanced at him silently. [1]: ƽ·²Ö®Â·, ¡°ping fan zhi lu¡±, a real song that¡¯s translated to ¡°The Ordinary Road,¡± you can find it on youtube if you¡¯re curious. Volume 2 - CH 43 Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 2: You¡¯re Beautiful Chapter 43 In her twenty-five years of life, Ai Qing had met many people. Some she liked, some she disliked, some good and some bad, some kind and simple and others shrewd¡­...many of the encounters were hard to forget. One afternoon at an internet cafe, she heard Solo¡¯s voice and, against the light, saw his smile as bright as the summer sun. At the train station, she saw Gun with two hands inside his pants pockets. He stared aloofly at her, while scrutinizing her. Inside the competition arena, she saw Slide jump down from the stage. He excitedly stretched out his hand and nervously introduced himself. Midnight at the internet cafe, the bald All walked in and curiously examined the youngest girl sniper he had ever seen before. In the club, in the training rooms, or even in a little restaurant, she had met with Xiaomi and the alternate players¡­¡­ Later, it was the SP people. It seemed that, in her memory, the most vibrant moments were always related to esports. But now. She was recollecting that every time she and him, the man besides her, had brief encounters and separations. ¡°When we first met¡­...were you only fifteen years old?¡± She asked lightly. That was a topic that Dt had always refused to bring up, but he still nodded honestly in admittance. ¡°What a coincidence. I was also fifteen when I won the championship.¡± She said. ¡°......,¡± He didn¡¯t realize that she would compare it that way. The conversation started quite unexpectedly and it ended abruptly as well. She was probably really hungry. She lowered her head and picked up a chocolate pie from her lap. She slowly tore apart the package. He thought that she would choke on it if she ate it lying down. He tried to call a flight attendant to ask for some drinks. It surprised him when he felt a finger poking him on the wrist, ¡°For you.¡± What? He was slow to react and looked at her doubtfully. She held a chocolate pie in front of him. She wasn¡¯t passing it to his hand, rather it was------ Her face turned red. Same actions to different people cause different psychological shock. In SP, occasionally those big boys kept playing video games without sleeping or eating. She would feed them one by one like she was feeding pets. She would stuff crackers into the mouth of each and everyone of them and never flushed from the experience. They were all players in her team. He was very close to her. He took his hat off and put it on his lap so that the brim of his hat wouldn¡¯t poke her arm. Then he reached over very quietly and bit the pie. The air exhaled from his nose was like the little paw stretching out from a little kitty scratching her heart lightly. She was a little afraid of the feeling, it felt as if was going out of control. Suddenly, she wanted to retract her hand. But he abruptly grabbed her wrist and refused to let go. He looked at her. Her face red as a tomato. He didn¡¯t speak and ate the whole chocolate pie after several bites. He released his hand and stood up striding toward flight attendant and gestured. The flight attendant quickly sent over ice water. He turned his back to her and swallowed the water quickly, but he still couldn¡¯t help coughing a little bit. ¡°What is this?¡± Grunt just walked out from the bathroom and looked at Dt confusedly, ¡°Do you have to be in such a rush? What could you possibly be choking on¡­¡­¡± Ai Qing¡¯s heart continued to throb. After she heard Grunt¡¯s ridicule, she couldn¡¯t stop herself from chuckling. She couldn¡¯t muster the courage to look at him again. Instead, she turned to look at the sky outside the window. The rays of sunlight shone brightly. ------ End of Book 2 ------ Volume 3 - CH 1 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 3: Glory on the Other Side Chapter 1 Rain poured outside the store. Everyone who entered created a new puddles that the waitress had to repeatedly wipe dry. Ai Qing supported her chin with one hand and used the other to fiddle the jewelry box in front of her. It contained a very expensive ring. She had only seen the same style and size of ring in the news when some celebrity proposed with it. She had majored in jewelry appraisal in university. Though she had forgotten more than half of what she had learned from university, she still couldn¡¯t help taking it out to stare at it in appreciation last night. Shortly after the plane landed last night, Grunt suddenly announced on Weibo that he was quitting StarCraft and be fully dedicated to Secret Room Storm. The announcement made a splash in the gaming world. This was another professional StarCraft player with a long list of achievement who had bid farewell to it without any warning. Everybody was surprised. Even Solo didn¡¯t expect Grunt would make this kind of decision. Her index finger poked the jewelry box lightly. A pair of big, long legs walked over, getting close before stopping next to her. His sports pants and shoes were all wet. It seemed that it was raining even heavier now. Ai Qing pushed the jewelry box forward. ¡°Return this to Grunt for my sister. She doesn¡¯t want it.¡± The person who had the focus of attention in the esports circle picked up the box. He put the box inside his pants pocket without asking any extra questions. ¡°Ok.¡± ¡°Is that it? No questions?¡± Ai Qing laughed. She supported her face with both hands and watched him sit down. ¡°Aren¡¯t you good friends with Grunt? Shouldn¡¯t you pay some attention to his love affairs? At least pry a little and get some information for him.¡± Dt was quiet for a while. ¡°I didn¡¯t sleep last night. I was with Grunt while he dealt with his girlfriend for the whole night.¡± ¡°Dealt with?¡± He answered with an ¡°uhm.¡± This subject thus concluded¡­¡­ Ai Qing didn¡¯t really mind. She continued to cradle her face while biting the straw in front of her to drink her smoothie. When she almost finished drinking, Dt spoke just in time to ask her, ¡°Do you want more?¡± ¡°No.¡± Ai Qing responded, amused. ¡°I regret getting a smoothie. Even my hands are cold from drinking it.¡± After all, it was still March and it took courage to drink a mango smoothie in this weather. She met with Dt to return the ring on her sister¡¯s behalf. Afterwards, she planned to go to the computer store at the fourth floor to buy a PS4. Dt now stood behind her listening to her chat with the store owner whether she should buy a PS4 or Xbox One. He was actually very familiar with game consoles, but he didn¡¯t want to make the final decision for her and kept silent. After all, it was a joy to listen to her talking. ¡°Anyway the Xbox is better if you want to play the motion control games and you don¡¯t need to buy any CDs. I will copy all the games for you but you need to buy the copyrighted CDs for the PS4.¡± The owner took the CD game out and put it on table. ¡°300 RMB for each. You can sell them back to me for 150 RMB each after you are tired of playing it.¡± Ai Qing picked up several CDs to examine. She liked computer games, but wasn¡¯t knowledgeable about game consoles. The owner continued his explanation, totally oblivious to the fact that he was speaking to a famous esports commentator. He thought she was just an ordinary girl who had come out to buy games with her boyfriend. ¡°You tell me. Which one should I buy?¡± Ai Qing finally asked for help. ¡°They¡¯re both about the same.¡± This was the answer he gave honestly. ¡­¡­ Alright, Ai Qing didn¡¯t really expect him to give her a long explanation-- --or about why they were almost the same. She bought a PS4 in the end and flipped through the CDs on the counter. Finally, she was very happy to find Call of Duty, because this was the only game she played in Slide¡¯s store. It was a first person shooting game similar to Secret Room Storm. Yet it wasn¡¯t a team game, so she could only play against the computer or a duel between two people.[1] ¡°This one, I think it¡¯s good for your boyfriend.¡± The owner looked at the handsome guy behind her and felt that he looked familiar. ¡°Take a look. I¡¯ll open it up for you. Here¡¯s the code for the official copy. Uhm. Right. And also, let me turn on the console and teach you how to play.¡± She nodded modestly in order to not hurt the owner¡¯s feelings. But after he powered up the console and put in the CD, she couldn¡¯t pretend any more as the screen came alive. She played for several minutes while trying out the controller. Jump, move forward, jump down from the ruins of the high building, and rushed into the bus after it was struck by a rocket. It seemed effortless for her to aim then shoot, aim then shoot. The owner who was going to explain how classic this game was¡­...was now standing next to her in respect. He had never seen a girl who played this game so well, she was at the professional level! His level of respect grew even stronger after the girl handed the controller to the young man behind her. The handsome guy with the baseball hat was already eye-catching by himself, now the small crowd of customers gathering to watch drew even more onlookers. Someone began to roll up the sleeves excitedly. ¡°Brother. How about we play a game?¡± Dt raised his eyelids and didn¡¯t say anything. [1]: Call of Duty has online multiplayer (the main appeal of the game) and has team based game modes¡­ I don¡¯t know why the author thinks otherwise... Volume 3 - CH 2 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 3: The Glory on the Other Side Chapter 2 Ai Qing was amused by it all. After witnessing it numerous times, she was already used to seeing people challenge Dt to a game, but she never expected that someone would ask him to play in a computer store. She was nonetheless excited by the prospect. What was it like? It was like something from wuxia novels, where a strong man was challenged by a stranger. She pulled his sleeve and standing on her tiptoes to get close to his ear and whispered, ¡°Hurry. I¡¯ll buy you candy if you win.¡± ¡­¡­ Dt felt her breath subtly brush behind his ear, then he picked up the controller quietly without knowing why. Then, the man who just won the grand championship of an offline StarCraft game stood in a narrow aisle in a computer store playing three matches against a hefty fellow. He held the controller keenly aware of the girl next to him. She smiled with one hand placed on the glass counter and the other hand supporting her cheek watching the TV. As for his opponent: His was headshotted in a swimming pool before seeing anyone¡­¡­ He was already lying dead underneath the parasol before he saw anybody¡­¡­ He became a corpse at the entrance of the gate before he saw anybody¡­¡­ The guy put down the controller and scratched his hair. ¡°You¡¯re pretty good.¡± The man being praised didn¡¯t seem to hear. Dt was partially zoned out when they got into his car and drove out to the address she told him. He reached a very quiet small community after about twenty minutes of driving. There were arrays of high buildings and both sides of the street packed with parked cars. Apparently, the underground garages were not big enough for all the residents living in these tall buildings, being forced to park on the streets. His driving ability was quite underwhelming compared to his ability to play video games, so the famous ¡°God¡¯s Left Hand¡± was embarrassedly stuck in the middle of the road. The car in front of him was trying to drive out, but the car behind him was trying to drive in------ ¡°Damn.¡± Ai QIng was also helpless. ¡°I don¡¯t know how to drive, I can¡¯t help you.¡± He pursed up his mouth, regretting that he had not practiced driving more while he had time back in Norway. So he was sandwiched between two honking cars, finally he drove the car slowly over and parked it. He got out of the car without an umbrella, put his hands into pants pockets, and ran into the gate of the unit of her home. As she was putting away her umbrella, he spoke, ¡°I¡¯ll be leaving then.¡± He didn¡¯t see any more reason to stay after walking her to the entrance of her home. What he hadn¡¯t expected was that the girl in front of him, without looking at him, suddenly asked him in a tiny voice, ¡°You¡¯ve never been to my home, right?¡± It seemed as if electricity surged through his ear. He uncertainly asked, ¡°Your home?¡± Ai Qing had been preparing herself ever since she exited the car and finally mustered enough courage to ask him after they reached the doorway. She was a little bit apprehensive after his response. She used the umbrella tip to poke at the ground and pressed the button for the elevator without answering him. Fortunately, he didn¡¯t ask any more questions otherwise she would¡¯ve rescinded the invitation. They embarrassedly faced each other until reaching the twelfth floor. There were six units along a corridor and the second door from the end was her home. She opened door and threw the key onto the table in the living room. She changed into slippers at the foyer and searched around before pulling out another pair of white, cotton slippers which had been obviously taken from a hotel, ¡°......this should be large enough?¡± It was just large enough to fit. He replied her with his actions. After he entered the room, Dt found to his surprise that this wasn¡¯t the home which Ai Qing shared with her parents-- -- The open living room, with a thick carpet, stacked with various game periodicals, magazines, and movie DVDs. The dark blue leather sofa was sunken in, she probably slept on it frequently. She definitely did, because there was a pillow on it. To the left, there were a bedroom, a bathroom, and a little kitchen. To the right¡­...The door was half open, he could see a computer and other equipment inside so it must be office for live broadcasting. This was¡­...truly her home. Her own home, where she lived by herself. ¡°Are you flying to Guangzhou tomorrow?¡± She came out from the bathroom shortly. She must have washed her face as her hair on both sides of her ears were slightly wet. ¡°I didn¡¯t know until this morning. Solo and Gun reached an agreement that we¡¯ll play in the Shanghai region and you guys in the Guangzhou region.¡± It was a good idea so the two teams would not face each other before the national finals. If these two big clubs were to compete in the same region, then that region would be called a death zone. He nodded, ¡°The ticket was originally for tomorrow morning, now it¡¯s for the afternoon.¡± ¡°I see.¡± She looked at him, ¡°Why do you keep standing there?¡± ¡­¡­ Feeling awkward, he sat down on the sofa. Dt suddenly realized that his lack of social skills was magnified a thousand fold at this moment. He tried to find some subject, but it would be too business like to talk about games and too boring to talk about competitions. What about¡­...computer programming? Probably something that only interested him. But what else could they talk about except these? He combed his brain to find a relaxing and interesting subject, but, in the eyes of Ai Qing, it was just another awkward moment of silence¡­¡­ She tore open a small package of tea, ¡°Is Big Red Robe[1] black tea ok?¡± ¡°No problem.¡± Dt saw the tea bag in her hand and nodded. ¡°Why do you sit up so straight?¡± She put the tea leaves into a small teapot and poured a bottle of mineral water into the water kettle. Then she pressed the boil button. ¡°This is my home, not an interview site.¡± A bitter laugh echoed in his mind. He would feel more relaxed if it was an interview. In order to calm his nervous mood, he took a cup in his hand. He pretended to be interested in it and played around with it in his hand. The water began boiling shortly. The water kettle was bubbling and steaming on the induction cooker. Ai Qing was a little bit distracted until he said, ¡°Water is boiling.¡± She came to herself and hurried took the kettle, but she overlooked the steam spraying out from the kettle. Fortunately he pulled her wrist away in time. Everything seemed to slow down the moment they touched. An image rapidly passed before his eyes. It was Solo who went to the airport personally to pick her and Inin up. He rubbed Inin¡¯s hair and turned his head to smile at her softly and spoke in low voice¡­¡­ Ai Qing tried lightly to pull her wrist back. She pulled out her wrist successfully but her hand slipped into his palm. He suddenly tightened his fingers. His dark eyes were as clear and pure as the sky. There was her, and only her, in his eyes. His heart was thumping fiercely inside his chest. He was afraid that the opportunity would quickly escape from him. ¡°Ai Qing.¡± Originally, Ai Qing stood stupefied, unsure of what to do. But she came to her senses the moment she heard her name and forcefully pulled her hand back and stepped away from him. Her face was red and pale. She poured water into the teapot in a panic and then poured tea from the teapot into the tea cup. The moment she handed the cup over, she immediately retracted the cup. ¡°No, no. I haven¡¯t made tea for a long time. This was the first round of water to wash the tea leaves, not for drinking¡­¡­¡± Dt was quiet. He was frustrated that he began to despise himself. He was so scared that everything would just go back to its original state. Would his eager and impulsive actions make her feel disgusted? Would she think that he was too frivolous? Different emotions depressed his already heavy heart and only made him more anxious. Then the sound of something shattering broke the silence. The small teacup was broken inside his hand¡­¡­ Both of them were shocked. [1]: The literal English translation of an actual type of tea: ´óºìÅÛ , ¡°da hong pao¡± Volume 3 - CH 3 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 3: Glory on the Other Side Chapter 3 ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­¡­¡± Seeing all the fragments in his hand, he quickly stood up to look for a trash can in the kitchen Flabbergasted, Ai Qing pulled his hand back to the wooden table, ¡°Drop them on the table. Let me look at your hand.¡± She hurriedly wiped away the broken ceramic pieces from his hand. She got a little dizzy from seeing the blood. What was going on here. She pushed him back down onto the sofa. Then she searched for some alcohol and gauze, but was only able to find some bandages. The cut needed to be disinfected. She picked up the phone and dialed. ¡°Uhm. Right, it¡¯s me. There¡¯s no rush. But go to the drug store near my home to buy some alcohol and gauze when you come over. It¡¯s Wu Bai, he¡­...I broke a tea cup and he got a cut on his hand when he was picking up the broken pieces.¡± After hanging up the phone, she began circling around the living room helplessly trying to find something useful to do. Finally, Dt spoke, ¡°I¡¯m alright.¡± ¡°But you are going to play in the competition.¡± This was no jesting matter. Dt lowered his head to check his left hand. Such a little cut shouldn¡¯t have any effect on him during the competition. Ai Qing squatted in front of him, checking his hand again. Luckily, it was just a small cut. She had invited Slide and others to come over her home to play. Originally she thought Dt knew them very well¡­...but if she knew beforehand this accident would happen, then she shouldn¡¯t have asked him to come up and should¡¯ve parted ways at the computer store. Luckily the cut wasn¡¯t deep. She could hear her own rapidly beating heart vibrate through her chest and it was deafening. It was like that afternoon when they were at the poolside in the Chicago hotel¡­...after he had spoken, he pressed down on the back of her hand on the stairs under the water. That was¡­...a very intimate gesture. At the time she didn¡¯t know how to respond and pushed him away to run up the stairs. All she did, however, was a mixture between running and climbing before she fell awkwardly back into water again. People far away from them thought they were just a couple fooling around. Only they knew how embarrassed they were. Regretting that he had panicked her, he hugged her waist and legs to pick her up. When he carried her out of the water back onto the massage bed in the massage room, he also said the same words. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± What was he sorry for? Why was there anything to be sorry for if he liked a person? What did she say back then? Right, she told him that she would give him an answer. She would give him an answer after they came back home. Therefore, she was the one delaying. She was still hesitating even now, but now¡­...she was scared. She was afraid of facing the real her. ¡°Nothing really.¡± Dt lowered his head and couldn¡¯t see her eyes since her hair had slid down on her forehead. He panicked, the kind of panic that came from deep inside his mind, ¡°I was careless, you don¡¯t need to¡­¡­¡± ¡°Wu Bai.¡± She gripped the back of his hand, speaking nervously., ¡°......I¡¯m sorry. It doesn¡¯t matter whether it is me, or your cousin, or¡­...Solo, and many other people, we all have¡­...can¡¯t get around that circle.¡± It wasn¡¯t just love and also, friendship¡­...and their youth. They were different from other people. Most spent their youth at school, under the supervision of teachers, studying and taking exams in their classrooms. It was time spent on well planned tracks, but they weren¡¯t good kids in the eyes of teachers and parents. They were a restless bunch and walked on what others would consider a questionable route¡­¡­ For them, once they reached the end of their route, they would have to put it all down. Despite such a short road, it was very hard to say goodbye to it to those young and reckless years. But¡­¡­ She was touched. She had very a simple love experience. It was love at first sight and that spark of passion determined everything, just like when her sister first saw Grunt. She knew it right way that she liked him and she wanted to be with him. But this time, it was different. When did it begin? On the beach? Or in Chicago? Or maybe even earlier in Korea? She didn¡¯t know when she started to pay more attention to this young man. She paid attention to his every match and felt very happy every time after she had met him. ¡­¡­ Many things, many scenes, and many conversations she had with others all came flooding back. She knew that she would be responsible for everything she said once she opened her mouth. ¡­¡­ Dt was a little bit numb. He didn¡¯t know what she was going to say or what she might say. He was somewhat panicked by the prospect. Actually, he was in a total state of panic. He began to pray that all this wasn¡¯t real. If he could turn back time, turn it back to the time before he had asked, at least he could still keep looking at her, listening to her talk, and hearing her laugh. Volume 3 - CH 4 Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 3: Glory on the Other Side Chapter 4 She had prepared a long speech originally. But Ai Qing felt very hypocritical as she was about to speak. She gave a deep sigh and released his hand. She decided to be straight forward but he started to speak unexpectedly, ¡°It¡¯s alright.¡± Uhm? She looked up and saw the uncertainty in his eyes. She recognized that he had thought too much again. The reason why she was debating how to express her feeling properly was exactly because she was afraid that he would think too much and break another tea cup, now¡­¡­ He stopped himself from speaking again and used his actions to speak instead. He stood up from sofa and walked towards the door. ¡°Wu Bai.¡± Such a tall man stopped from just hearing her speak his name. Dt was silent for a long while before he turned around to look at the girl standing in the living room. ¡°I don¡¯t necessarily need to know the answer today. Take your time.¡± Did he misunderstand¡­.again? ¡°I don¡¯t want to¡­...be under the watchful eyes of everyone from the beginning. We are all too familiar with each other, your cousin, Slide, and the others. Let¡¯s take it slow, Okay?¡± She was simply consulting with him, ¡°I don¡¯t mean to hide it from anyone. It is just, don¡¯t announce it to the public all of a sudden and post to Weibo about it and stuff¡­¡­¡± Her speech grew more and more incoherent as she went on. She had to express it clearly that they were in a very awkward position. They had to consider the relationship between the two clubs, and many old friends, and even fans. She had to tell him very clearly that she didn¡¯t mean to hide anything¡­...just to go with the flow. After all it was only the beginning of a relationship. Her heart was beating faster and faster. They were in the living room of her own home, but she felt as if she was in a stranger¡¯s house. She was flustered, helpless, directionless, and she could only make a choice on instinct alone. Abandon the past and look towards the uncertain future. She saw this tall man walk close to her, getting closer and closer till there was he was one step away from her. He was close enough that she was looking directly at his chest. The K&K logo was looming inside the sports jacket. Such a tangled relationship between SP and K&K¡­¡­ Before she could figure out what the future embarrassing situation would be, Dt had already grabbed her arm and pulled her into his arms. The overwhelming emotion made him lose control of his strength. When he felt something hit his chest hard, he pushed her away a little bit nervously. Ai Qing¡¯s nose felt squished, tears were streaming down her eyes. ¡°Us.¡± He finally got a hold on reality and carefully confirmed, ¡°Do we kind of begin now?¡± ¡­¡­ Ai Qing felt that she needed to look in the mirror. Otherwise, Slide would think some world war had happened when he arrived, seeing one with a broken nose and the other with a cut on his hand. With a burning face, she pushed him away with her elbow. She covered her nose and quickly walked into the bathroom. Volume 3 - CH 5 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 3: Glory on the Other Side Chapter 5 Ten minutes later, all the guests arrived. Slide brought with him all kinds of items for treating the wound in a plastic bag. After he came in, he found that Ai Qing was really making a big deal out of nothing. The cut on Dt¡¯s hand wasn¡¯t serious at all? At most, it was a few scrapes. He was so concerned that he was driving like crazy all the way here and thought he would find pools of blood everywhere¡­... ¡°I thought he was hurt badly.¡± He dropped the bag down on the sofa and raised his thumb up, ¡°You¡¯re really something else.¡± Xiaomi, All, and SP¡¯s Secret Room B team captain, Bug, followed him to come in. They were putting their slippers on as if it was their own home. Their manager¡¯s home was their second base, they were very comfortable there. Only Slide knew Dt was here in Ai Qing¡¯s home since he was the one on the phone with her. The others had different responses after they saw Dt. Xiaomi was preoccupied with his own worries and didn¡¯t think much of Dt¡¯s presence here. Bug smiled and greeted Dt. All was a little bit startled to see Dt drinking tea on the sofa and immediately turned to look at Ai Qing. Ai Qing cracked some jokes to distract them and let them play the new toy she bought. She didn¡¯t want to be uptight about the whole situation, but Dt¡¯s silence and gaze following her everywhere made her feel like she was walking on pins and needles the entire time. Fortunately, Dt stood up to leave shortly afterwards. He said he needed to go back to eat dinner with family members. She suddenly remembered that she didn¡¯t have the chance to disinfect his wound yet. She carried the plastic bag and followed him out. Under the watchful eyes of all the others, she took the key and closed the door after her. There was nobody in the empty hallway. ¡°Make sure to disinfect before driving.¡± Ai Qing gave him the bag and whispered, ¡°I forgot just now¡­¡­¡± She bit her lip afterwards. A little bit¡­...not used to it yet. The relationship began so suddenly. How do you talk to each other. How to face it. How to¡­¡­ He found himself not able to move his eyes away from her face. Ai Qing bit her lip again after reminding him to disinfect the wound again. Her fingertip was circling on the door behind her to keep her mind distracted. ¡°You¡­...are going to Guangzhou also?¡± ¡°Uhm. I will go with Xiaomi.¡± He was quiet for a little while. He didn¡¯t want to leave. But he had to leave. He suddenly lowered his head and wanted to move closer to her. She was shocked by the sudden movement, widening her eyes to look at his face. No. Absolutely no. So many people were behind the door¡­...and this was the hallway¡­¡­ He chuckled in response to her anxious face. ¡°Don¡¯t be so nervous. I just want to confirm¡­...are we really starting.¡± ¡­...Her ears were so hot. ¡°I¡¯m going in.¡± She turned around and quickly opened the door with her key. She closed the door quickly. Then she leaned on the door, gasping lightly. Boyfriend¡­¡­ From now on, the man outside the door would be your boyfriend, Ai Qing. What were you panicking about? Why panic. She lowered her head depressedly and rubbed her face. When she raised her head again, she saw Slide, with a teacup in hand, looking at her. Volume 3 - CH 6 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 3: Glory on the Other Side Chapter 6 Slide squinted his eyes and spoke in a low voice, ¡°The DVDs weren¡¯t good, we¡¯ve played them all already. Let me get the games for you next time when you want to play new games.¡± ¡°Ah. I almost forgot.¡± Ai Qing tried to cover up her own emotion, but there was no place to hide her red face. ¡°You were in this business before. I should¡¯ve asked you to buy them for me.¡± ¡°Boss wants you to go to the headquarter this evening.¡± Slide already turned around to pour a cup of tea for himself and drank, ¡°Go there and come back quickly, then we can still eat dinner together.¡± She went right away since Slide said so. She threw her spare key to them and left. Slide followed her out unexpectedly. He said he needed to go back to the club to pick up some stuff. Slide¡¯s car was parked downstairs. It was a seven or eight years old car. The members of SP A team were different from those of K&K. They were all newly hired by SP, except Inin, and didn¡¯t have much competition award money as their income. So they all relied on the monthly base salary of only several thousand RMB and the savings they had from the past. Ai Qing sat in the passenger seat, found an Audi brochure there. She flipped through the brochure, ¡°Are you ready to change the car?¡± ¡°I¡¯m just thinking.¡± Slide smiled. ¡°I¡¯m not like you, the gold medal commentator. You don¡¯t even have to consider anything when buying a house, just like a person from a wealthy family.¡± Ai Qing laughed and threw the brochure back to his lap. ¡°You keep talking about this story for over a year. Can you find a better one?¡± It was Slide who had accompanied her to pay for the house when she bought it. Because this was the first time she had bought something that costed such a large sum of money. She was somewhat flustered, even afraid, that she would transfer the money to the wrong bank account. Anyway, she had made a fool of herself because she lacked the experience to handle it. But it was exactly like what Slide had said. She shocked her parents and sister who didn¡¯t know about it until she had paid for the house. They couldn¡¯t believe that she had decided so quickly on buying it. But Ai Qing knew it very well. She was too familiar with this small community and she didn¡¯t need to do any more research about the area. She made the move to buy it when she saw there was a house for sale in that area when she passed by. She knew every house and road in this small community very well like her own home. This was¡­...the property Gun used to like the most. Before this community was built, Gun had said that he would move the team to this small community when the team had money in the future. Therefore, when they wandered around to take a break after every competition or when they felt bored after dinner, Gun always brought her and Solo here to get familiar with the area. When the three were together, they were always looking around for properties. It was simply entertainment to them back then. Volume 3 - CH 7 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 3: Glory on the Other Side Chapter 7 It was only a 10 minute drive from Ai Qing¡¯s home to SP headquarters. Slide went to his dorm to pick up something and she went upstairs by herself to Solo¡¯s office. There were quite a number of people here today. She was only the manager for Secret Room, several levels lower than Solo¡¯s position. She sat outside his office and Solo¡¯s secretary made a cup of tea for her, ¡°Boss hadn¡¯t slept last night after he picked up Inin from the airport.¡± Secretary whispered, ¡°He¡¯s really an iron man. Was he like this when he was a professional player?¡± ¡°Almost.¡± Ai Qing looked at her watch. ¡°In the past¡­...he was always trying his best.¡± There were some documents on the secretary¡¯s desk that were for Solo. Ai Qing took a look. The first page was related to the preliminary competition of Secret Room. It was the list of the teams registered in Guangzhou city. Since it was a new game, the preliminary wasn¡¯t monopolized by professional players, about 90% were all amateurs. Soon, a name caught the attention of her eyes, it was a familiar team name. ¡­¡­ Twenty minutes later, all the managers, captains from various Asia regions came out one after another from his office still chatting with each other. Some people who knew Ai Qing nodded towards her, the others just passed her by. She walked in and closed the door, ¡°I¡¯m here.¡± ¡°Sit down.¡± Solo gently told her as he was rapidly typing on the keyboard, ¡°Gou Gou, give me three minutes.¡± Her feelings at the moment were quite intricate. But only she knew it clearly. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± The man who was filling out the form already felt the subtle difference without raising his head, ¡°Are you still bothered by the jet lag? Not feeling well?¡± ¡°No.¡± She moved her eyes away and leaned on the large and deep sofa, ¡°I¡¯m thinking about the opponents that K&K will be facing in the Guangzhou region.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve seen the list?¡± He smiled slightly while checking her face. It didn¡¯t look too bad, so she must be feeling alright. ¡°I saw it.¡± ¡°What do you think?¡± ¡°I think¡­¡­¡± She sighed, ¡°I¡¯m surprised that there is even a team with the average age of 30.¡± ¡°That¡¯s an evasive answer.¡± Solo laughed, ¡°Don¡¯t forget. This team was our team¡¯s toughest rival in the past.¡± Our team. He meant Solo¡¯s team. ¡°Right, right. I even had a duel with the sniper of their team.¡± The two teams were mutually exclusive. That was what the captain of the other team said about the two. For the two years when Solo¡¯s team existed, Buff never won a single championship, always coming second to Solo¡¯s team. Finally, after Solo¡¯s team disbanded, Buff won the championship for two years in a row. But then a core member of their team became seriously ill and the team eventually faded away. Similar to CS, Secret Room Storm was a first person shooter as well, perhaps that was the reason why Buff was making a comeback now. After all, this was an area they were very familiar with. And their strong rival from the past¡­...would never reappear again. But, still, a team with the average age of 30-- -- When she saw the name, her heart skipped a beat She even hoped that this old rival could enter the national final competition. But what would be the reality? Nobody knew. Especially with K&K in that region¡­¡­ The strength of K&K¡¯s A team was obvious, even their B team was also pretty strong. Besides, they were all at the best ages for a professional player. ¡°I asked my secretary to rearrange the travel plan. Because K&K is in Guangzhou and Buff reappeared, I want the captains of both Secret Room A and B teams to fly to Guangzhou with you to observe the competition.¡± ¡°Then do we fly to Shanghai for competitions afterwards?¡± She was a little bit hesitant, ¡°Though there¡¯s no time conflict, but don¡¯t you think it might affect their training?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t believe it will.¡± Solo was very confident in his two captains. ¡°Slide and Bug both are experienced players. It won¡¯t have any actual impact if they miss training for one week. Besides-- --¡± Solo didn¡¯t finish his sentence. She knew what he wanted to say. ¡°Are you still hesitant about switching Bug and Xiaomi?¡± The dazzling sunlight came in from behind Solo. Ai Qing squinted her eyes in order to see his face more clearly. After about half a minute, the man with his back facing the sunlight slowly picked up his cigarette box and pulled out one cigarette, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. Ai Qing. I am always a sentimental person.¡± Volume 3 - CH 8 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 3: Glory on the Other Side Chapter 8 ¡°It¡¯s alright.¡± Ai Qing laughed, ¡°Let me take care of it.¡± Their conversation ended. She left his office to wait for Slide downstairs. She couldn¡¯t quite figure out why Solo had asked her to make the trip back to headquarters? Actually they hadn¡¯t talked any serious business. She took out chewing gum from her pocket but a hand gabbed it away before she could unwrap it. The boss of the Chinese and American regions, Baona, tore it open and cheekily threw into his mouth. ¡°I knew that you would come over today.¡± ¡°I was going to enjoy a big dinner, but you guys asked me to come over. Actually there wasn¡¯t much business to talk about, how dare you say that¡­¡­¡± ¡°Business?¡± Baona burst out laughing, ¡°The business is that Solo wanted to look at you.¡± ¡­.. Since she knew Baona from 2010, whenever he saw her, he had to joke about Solo and her regardless of how many times he had already gone through it. Frankly speaking, she was already numb hearing this, but¡­¡­, ¡°Don¡¯t make fun of me about this from now on.¡± ¡°Ah? About what?¡± ¡°......Solo.¡± ¡°Is this a joke?¡± Baona was stunned. He was truly stunned. ¡°Damn. My world is going upside down. Everyone in the whole esports circle knows about it and it¡¯s the only fun I have.¡± The man in front of her kept chewing the gum in disbelief as if to say that this wasn¡¯t the first day since he¡¯d known the two. Ai Qing kept quiet, not wanting to continue with the topic. Her cellphone rang. She thought it was Slide, but after she looked at it¡­...she gestured to Baona quickly to indicate that it was a private call. Baona waved his hand, tidied up his suit and immediately returned to being the big regional boss and walked into the elevator. After she picked up the call, there was nothing but background noise. Was he still at outside? Ai Qing felt a little bit strange and asked lightly, ¡°Wu Bai?¡± ¡°Nothing really.¡± He seemed to realize that his unexpected phone call was a little bit¡­...out of place. ¡°I just wanted to hear your voice.¡± She walked out slowly. ¡°Haven¡¯t you arrived home yet?¡± ¡°Not yet. I¡¯m at the gas station.¡± She didn¡¯t know what to say next. Someone was trying to back the car into the parking space without any success after several tries. The security guard finally couldn¡¯t stand it anymore and ran over to park the car himself. It reminded her of the embarrassing incident at her community this afternoon. She didn¡¯t know anything about Wu Bai in real life at all. Everything she knew was only the Dt in the competition arena, with many championships, and many fans¡­¡­ ¡°Ai Qing.¡± He called her. ¡°Uhm.¡± ¡°This is the first time I have a girlfriend. I don¡¯t¡­...have much experience.¡± He said, ¡°If I don¡¯t do good enough, please tell me.¡± ¡­¡­ Girlfriend. Boyfriend. She bit her lip lightly, it hurt more than she expected, it seemed that she was biting her lip quite a lot today. But she just couldn¡¯t stop herself, it helped her keep a clear head. After so many years, he was the least familiar one among all her friends. Even his good friend Grunt-- --because of her sister, she was quite familiar with Grunt¡¯s past, lifestyle, and temperament. Only Dt¡­¡­ Originally she planned to start as friends and then develop their relationship gradually. After they got to know each other better, then it wouldn¡¯t be too awkward and it would only be a matter of course. Or maybe they would find some aspect of each other they couldn¡¯t tolerate, then they could both step back without affecting their friendship and keep everything peaceful. But he suddenly confessed, so she could only give him a clear answer: Yes or No. And she wasn¡¯t the kind of person who liked to dangle people around¡­...The end result was that their relationship started rapidly without a complete mutual understanding, just each other¡¯s age, name, and profession. ¡°You don¡¯t¡­...don¡¯t be too nervous.¡± She walked down the stairs slowly, ¡°Take it slow. Maybe you will find that I¡¯m the one who¡¯s not good enough after you get to know me more.¡± ¡°You are always very good.¡± ¡­¡­ A moment of silence. ¡°I¡¯ll be flying to Guangzhou tomorrow night.¡± She decided to pick up an easy subject, but in actuality she¡¯d just returned to esports competitions again, ¡°We¡¯re staying in the same hotel. I¡¯ll let you know after I arrive.¡± Volume 3 - CH 9 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 3: Glory on the Other Side Chapter 9 ¡°At night?¡± He found the timing a bit odd. She realized she had misspoke immediately, ¡°No, tomorrow morning. I misspoke¡­.uhm, maybe around noon.¡± She discovered that she had made a stupid mistake, ¡°It¡¯s not confirmed yet.¡± She only confirmed the names with Solo, then she left the office directly without confirming the flight time with the secretary. ¡°Are you guys flying there to watch the K&K A team compete?¡± He asked suddenly. ¡°Umm. Right. Just to watch you guys compete.¡± Somehow she felt a bit strange saying that. ¡°We are scheduled to play on the first day, tomorrow.¡± He told her directly the exact time. ¡°Uhm¡­...I know.¡± ¡°If I¡¯m guessing correctly, there is another team in the Guangzhou region which is your target of observation?¡± ¡°Uhm.¡± She exhaled a breath lightly. ¡°Buff.¡± ¡°Buff is also scheduled for tomorrow. We¡¯ll be going to the finals directly, so we won¡¯t be there till the afternoon. Final competition starts at 3 pm.¡± ¡­¡­ ¡°Wu Bai?¡± She interrupted him with a tiny voice, ¡°We don¡¯t need to keep talking about work.¡± ¡­¡­ He said, ¡°Uhm. I just want to talk to you more.¡± She stepped forward a little bit and jumped down one stair, ¡°Then¡­...explain to me what ACM is. I heard from Inin that you won the world championship?¡± The rain had already stopped on their way here to the club. Just then, several SP people passed Ai Qing. They all nodded to her then continued their conversation. She stood right at the bottom of the stairs to the headquarters of the largest esports club and listened to him talk about the competition of another world------A strange subject which she didn¡¯t understand at all, computer programming. She knew nothing about it at all, but she listened carefully making an interjection from time to time. They kept postponing their departure time to Guangzhou because Slide¡¯s schedule was too tight. When Ai Qing finally sat down at the VIP area of the competition arena, the preliminary competition was already about to finish. SP¡¯s seats were already reserved from the beginning. When the four of them showed up and filled the empty row of seats, it naturally attracted attention from the audience. Everyone who played this game and paid special attention to esports competitions knew Slide. The hottest subject on the forums and Weibo was that SP would be adjusting their player line up at the Shanghai competition, so they paid attention to Bug also. The captain of the B team was very outstanding, recruited specifically by Baona, and seemed very likely to swap out with the low ranking Xiaomi. The audience had all kinds of expressions on their faces when they saw that SP¡¯s observation team included the captains of both A and B teams, a manager, and Xiaomi. Amid the discussions among the audience, Ai Qing touched her stomach and whispered to Xiaomi, ¡°I¡¯m famished.¡± Xiaomi was a little bit absent minded. ¡°You didn¡¯t eat on the airplane, but now you say you are hungry.¡± ¡°I was airsick. I didn¡¯t have any appetite on the airplane.¡± She continued to mutter, ¡°Would boss fire me if he knows that we arrived so late that we could only watch the game of the last group?¡± Xiaomi forced out a smile, ¡°No. How could they fire you. If anything they¡¯d fire me first.¡± Slide, sitting at her right hand side, was concentrating at the list of teams on the large screen and glanced at Ai Qing after he heard their conversation, which silently said: Look, boss really threw a hot potato to you. Ai Qing shook her own name tag at him: This is the manager¡¯s job. You better worry about your own competition. There was a commotion in the audience area suddenly. K&K¡¯s A team had come into the arena. And everyone noticed that the captain of the Secret Room A team didn¡¯t wear his most iconic apparel, the baseball hat. When did this happen? In America? Right, he took off his hat in one of the StarCraft competitions in America. The K&K fans were really boiling. Suce a handsome person was finally willing to show his entire face. As the esports industry became more and more like an idol business, it was especially exciting for the fans. But apparently he didn¡¯t know the side effect he had brought on. Or, to put it in another way, he was very similar to Gun in some aspects. They were unwilling to spend even an extra second to understand anybody or anything they were not interested in. Dt apparently was looking at the VIP area before he sat down. Ai Qing was looking at him, too. His short hair softly covered his forehead. She could only see his dark eyes from the distance, the rest of his expression and features of his face were not very clear, but ¡­...he shouldn¡¯t have any expression on his face, she thought. He always lacked any sort of expression. But apparently it wasn¡¯t just her who was looking at Dt inside the arena. The male commentator responsible for keeping the energy up during intermission also noticed where Dt was looking at. ¡°Haha. If I¡¯m not wrong, our K&K captain found his old opponent!¡± The female commentator happened to be near the K&K rest area. She passed the microphone to Dt quickly after she heard the male commentator, ¡°Do you want to say something to your old opponent?¡± He sat down silently without saying anything. It was¡­...awkwardly silent. Volume 3 - CH 10 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 3: Glory on the Other Side Chapter 10 Fortunately, 97 continued the conversation before it became too awkward. ¡°The big battle is starting soon, so don¡¯t just focus on our opponents. Come here, Xiao Oh, let¡¯s talk about something interesting. Let¡¯s talk about some gossip.¡± The female commentator smiled gratefully. ¡°Interesting¡­...Ah, right. I have heard that SP has rules that the active players are not allowed to fall in love? Does K&K have this type of inhumane rules?¡± ¡°This¡­¡­¡± 97 smiled mysteriously. ¡°There¡¯s similar rule, but it¡¯s not as inhumane as SP¡¯s. Our rule only asks the active players not to mention their private relationships in public.¡± The female commentator joked exaggeratedly, ¡°But 97, we¡¯ve been together for such a long, aren¡¯t you ready to let everyone know?¡± 97 laughed happily, ¡°Don¡¯t rush, my dear. I can assure you that I¡¯ll marry you with a million dollar wedding ceremony after I retire!¡± The audience burst into laughter. The male commentator also felt that this would be a perfect subject for the intermission. He ran to the SP area with microphone. The female commentator quickly took the microphone to Grunt, ¡°Then my god Grunt, I heard that your love life is always exciting? Is it true?¡± Grunt seemed to grin and glanced at Dt, ¡°Exciting? Do you mean the love between me and the captain?¡± The female commentator covered her mouth immediately. ¡°It¡¯s finally coming out! So you finally admit it? !¡± Grunt held up his chin with one hand and smiled innocently, ¡°Have I said anything?¡± ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, the male commentator reached the VIP area and asked the same question to Slide. Slide was good at giving the runaround, ¡°Oh, I can¡¯t talk about it since we have the non disclosure rule. But I can give you a friendly hint that the forum gossips have more than 90% accuracy about everything SP related.¡± ¡­¡­ A short message came in on her cell phone. Dt wrote: Was everything okay on your way here? She lowered her eyes at the cell phone screen, then turned to look at him in the players area. She: Uhm. Does K&K have a rule about personal relationships? Dt: Yes, there¡¯s a written rule. She: ¡­...your cousin even cares about these issues. Dt: He cares a bit too much about a lot of things. She lowered her head and laughed. It wasn¡¯t too much at least when compared to the inhumane clause of SP¡­¡­ Soon, he sent another text message. Dt: You try and get away from them after the competition. I¡¯ll take you somewhere. She: Ok. Why was she feeling like she was having an affair¡­¡­ The slow music ended and the metal music started to play. On the large screen at the back of the stage, the names of more than a hundred competing teams displayed gradually turned gray, only eight teams remained. The upper left corner had K&K and the lower right corner was Buff. The finals was about to begin. According to competition schedule, the eight teams would play in a round robin. Each team played two matches with the other seven teams. The top four team would enter the national group A final competition and the other four teams entered into group B. She calculated the time. Each match took about thirty minutes. It would take seven hours for all fourteen matches plus the ten minutes break between each match¡­...Fortunately they were in Guangzhou, otherwise all these players would starve to death after all the games finished. Dt stood up first, the other four players followed his lead, putting away their entertainment devices, and picked up each of their equipment. She looked at him from the distance. She saw him lower his head and talked to Grunt and 97. She couldn¡¯t hear what he was talking about but apparently this was the first time she noticed¡­¡­ Actually, he was a very qualified captain. This captain who, shortly after finishing speaking to his players, took out his cell phone and sent her a short text message before he entered the competition area. Dt: Remember go dinner at six. She: ¡­¡­ Dt: It¡¯ll be very late when we play with Buff, you have enough time to eat. Ai Qing¡¯s finger swept over cell phone screen. He suddenly sent over a large text. What was that? She looked at it carefully¡­¡­ She found that the message listed all the restaurants around this arena with detailed addresses, chef¡¯s specials, and estimated cost for each person. Volume 3 - CH 11 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 3: Glory on the Other Side Chapter 11 She chose the restaurant that was closest to the competition arena. None of them were picky eaters. Especially she and Xiaomi were already used to being rushed by Gun when they were on Solo¡¯s team. They would eat super fast as Gun berated them, ¡°We¡¯re late¡±, ¡°We¡¯re late¡±¡­¡­In the end, they didn¡¯t even know what they were late for. Xiaomi bit a shrimp dumpling and leaned on the chair. Ai Qing saw that he was checking Secret Room¡¯s ranking for today on the official website. ¡°After the competition in Guangzhou is over, I¡¯ll be on vacation.¡± She looked at the bill and pulled out money to put on the table. ¡°Let me pay first. It¡¯s easier to file the expense report.¡± ¡°Vacation?¡± Slide snatched the bill and shook her money off. ¡°We can all file an ¡°I¡¯m registered in the Tetris Masters Competition¡­¡­¡± She explained quietly. As for the other three people¡­¡­ The degree of this manager¡¯s involvement in different professions was absolutely incomparable to ordinary people. When she didn¡¯t qualify for the DotA Asian Tournament, she went to play Need for Speed, a racing game. Now she was leading the Secret Room team, she still had not forgotten about Tetris. Slide shook his head and sighed, ¡°If there was Minesweeper world tournament someday, let me know and I¡¯ll go too.¡± They quickly paid the bill, carried their bags, and walked out one by one. It just so happened that K&K¡¯s manager, Su Cheng, walked in by herself. She passed by Ai Qing. Both tried to step aside a little bit only to make the hallway even narrower. Several bulky men impolitely took the chance to walk through between them. Ai Qing had to step back again. ¡°Ai Qing.¡± Xiaomi exclaimed. ¡°Ah?¡± ¡°You stepped on my foot.¡± He was trying to secretly retract his foot, but couldn¡¯t because she had stepped on the entire foot. ¡°Ah! Sorry, sorry. I wasn¡¯t paying attention.¡± She jumped aside. Which was very well and good, but now Bug¡¯s foot was being stomped on¡­¡­ the manager¡¯s sense of direction was always terrible. She was just an idiot at directions outside of the video games. Just like now, as she fiercely stepped on his sports shoe. Though she instantly moved her foot away, it really hurt. As the commotion ended, the K&K manager had already disappeared. When they went back to the stadium, the scores on the large screen already had obvious changes. Surprisingly, Buff¡¯s scores exceeded K&K. Before they left around nine o¡¯clock, both teams¡¯ scores were about the same and with both having won all their matches¡­¡­ ¡°Did both teams have the Fifteen Minute duels?¡± Slide drank the coke. ¡°They should have.¡± One point was awarded for winning one match in this Round Robin system. If the match hadn¡¯t finished after thirty minutes, it would be a draw and neither of If a team won the duel within fifteen minutes, they would win a point. Based on the number of games already finished for scoring purposes, K&K had done one duel match and Buff should have done two. Getting a duel all depended on luck, it usually only occurs when there was a good map and a relatively simple mission. Ai Qing looked at the two teams currently in a match. Their match was the second to the last round of matches. Round 11/12. Suddenly loud cheers and applause erupted in the arena. K&K won the duel! ¡°Excellent.¡± Slide whistled. Another wave of cheers burst out before the previous round of cheers calmed down. At the left side of the arena, the captain of Buff pushed his keyboard away violently. He stood up and waved his fist. He also won a duel match! This thirty something years old man was different from Solo and Gun who always stood at the peak of the pyramid regardless whether they were on the competition fields or behind the scenes. Signs of aging were visible on his face. She didn¡¯t know why they returned after the team was disbanded for so many years¡­¡­ The pioneering Solo¡¯s team and the domineering Buff team. Before she came here, she doubted the condition of their old opponent. Now it looked like he still had it, his skill hadn¡¯t diminished at all. ¡­¡­ Ai Qing felt emotional. She looked at Xiaomi. Xiaomi seemed to have tears forming at the edge of his eyes. He leaned forward to put his forehead on the back of the chair in front of him and covered his entire face. In the dark night outside the stadium in Guangzhou, there were already people walking along the streets looking for snack stands. But inside the stadium, the climax of the round robin game matches hadn¡¯t started yet. Volume 3 - CH 12 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 3: Glory on the Other Side Chapter 12 Ai Qing muttered, ¡°Based on the current scores, K&K must win the next two matches in order to be the first to qualify.¡± Bug echoed her comment, ¡°All five Buff players are ranked in the top twenty, they¡¯re just as strong as K&K. It would be very difficult to win two consecutive matches. It would be even harder if they get a difficult mission.¡± Everybody knew that K&K indeed had three aggressive fighters. Dt was even ranked at the top. But other K&K players, formal or alternatives, were all too weak compared to the three, all ranked after top twenty. ¡°What are the ranking of the other two K&K players?¡± Ai Qing was concerned. Xiaomi answered, ¡°Demo is 46. One is 71.¡± Ai Qing nodded. Indeed, they were weak. A bit nervous, she stood up in the VIP area. ¡°Is the match so intense now?¡± The commentator seemed to be very interested in the gossip about the relationship between SP and K&K. He kept staring at the area where Ai Qing¡¯s group was at. ¡°Even our SP manager can¡¯t sit still now?¡± Ai Qing was dumbfounded. She couldn¡¯t sit down right away to confirm the commentator¡¯s guess. So she could only bend down and lean on the back of the chair in front of her to pretend that she didn¡¯t hear anything. There were two live broadcasting monitors on the stage, focusing constantly on the two teams with the highest scores. At the moment, the five thirty plus year old men that composed Buff stood up. They carried their own keyboards and mice towards K&K, guided by the staff. The eight teams on stage were all switching stations for their next matches. The camera quickly swept through the players. Dt¡¯s finger slid lightly on the keyboard to get familiar with the keyboard. Grunt licked the left side of his lip with the tip of his tongue. He laughed when he saw their thirty something opponents use rulers to measure the size of the computer monitors. They were too serious. The countdown began. The large screen displayed some words slowly: Counter Terrorist Night Battle Counter Terrorist Night Battle? Ai Qing breathed a sigh of relief. This mission was very simple: Find enemies on patrol in the city and kill 100 enemies to win Kill all five members of the opposing team to win. At the last second of the countdown, Dt began giving commands to his teammates, ¡°One four, All A.¡± A meaning attack. D meaning defense. All A meant all players would launch attacks. One four meant that he would kill 100 enemies by himself. The other four players would pursue and kill the opposing players. ¡­¡­ One: ¡°Roger!¡± Demo: ¡°Roger! Do I hide if I can¡¯t win?¡± 97: ¡°Perhaps you should hide right now. Little Demo, your rank dropped to 46 already. You should give it 120%. Captain, good luck.¡± Grunt: ¡°May the goddess bless you. My honorable captain.¡± ¡­¡­ The screen went completely dark. One light beam flashed through, then the five players were dropped at the end of a broken road. Was it a new map again? Dt quickly recalled the competition with Tatami last time, Ai Qing reported the city name and the characteristics instantly after the map opened. It was a very useful skill, because one needed to have played many different games before being able to instantly identify the city the map was based on. Unfortunately, there was no Appledog in his team. Five seconds later, all players disappeared from view. Their spawn was at the end of a broken road followed by the ocean. The waves behind them crashed against the broken road in the night. He walked forwards alone. He had only $5000. The system automatically gave him a knife and a pistol. He could only buy one item set from a list of three. A scoped assault rifle + rope + machete. Light machine gun + the whole set armor. Light machine gun + 2 flares. The first choice was all offensive weapons. The second gave increased protection. The third gave tools to easily escape a confrontation. Obviously under the current situation, being by himself without his teammates to cover him, the second and the third choices were the most suitable. But instead Dt picked the first choice without any hesitation. To him, offense was equivalent to protection. He couldn¡¯t even see his own fingers in the darkness. He could only see objects at a range of about 2 meters. There was no indication of life within a range of 5 meters on the life detector. He was moving forward in the darkness. Grunt: ¡°Enemy is at east side.¡± Dt: ¡°Ok.¡± The distribution of military forces in the game was preset: The east and west sides were for one team. The south and north sides were for another team. Since the east side was the enemy¡¯s, so was the west side. He followed the coordinates and walked westward. He needed to rush over there and kill 100 enemies before the enemy started to defend. Only the sound of his footsteps came through his earphones. When he entered the west side, red dots appeared on the life detector. He instantly jumped back ten steps. ¡°Position?¡± 97: ¡°North.¡± So they were on the northern side of the map? Then these were enemies. Dt found a good angle and bent down to hide. Two red dots pinged on his life detector again. He changed the assault gun to his knife. The moment he rolled out, a hand grenade flew over him, exploding in half a second behind him. He jumped forward, somersaulting again, and jumped on top of the opponent. A face was in front of him, he cut his throat in one smooth motion. He changed to the machete as the blood began to spurt. He turned his hand to block the other opponent. The opponent didn¡¯t expect that he could change weapons so rapidly and rolled over to the corner covered in blood. The audience exploded in excitement. The sound of his breath was getting heavier and heavier. Was he injured? His health was dropping. It was a slight injury. He still had 70% of his health. He frowned and changed the machete to a pistol. The opponent was very fast. No wonder they were the toughest opponent Solo¡¯s team ever faced. As his character took heavy breathes, he felt that his agility had decreased dramatically. He followed the trail of blood, bent, and moved forward. ¡°Change to four one. I will attract enemies at the west side. You guys kill 100 enemy soldiers at east side.¡± ¡°OK, give us four minutes.¡± Grunt gave him a quick response. It was very obvious that no matter what weapon the enemy used, be it a hand grenade, or machine gun, or sniper rifle, or mortar, but honorable captain, please hang on¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ Another huge round of cheers burst from inside the arena. Too wonderful! ¡°Nice! Dt killed two opponents.¡± The male commentator watched the screen. ¡°Ah? Where are Dt¡¯s teammates?¡± ¡°They¡¯re not showing on the life detector.¡± The female commentator added. The system would switch screens only when there was fierce battle. Obviously, only Dt had exchanged fire with his opponents. The screen showed Dt alone standing near two fresh corpses. The large screen focused on Dt¡¯s closeup. He still didn¡¯t have any expression. He stared at the life detector without blinking. Even the commentators couldn¡¯t tell what he was thinking about. In the game, he was standing behind an array of containers continuously switching weapons from large to small, from gun to knife¡­¡­ ¡°It¡¯s one four!¡± Ai Qing suddenly understood. ¡°No, no. It¡¯s one four or four one.¡± Buff must know that there was an ambush at the west side because of the fierce battle earlier. With only three people left, they couldn¡¯t spread their remaining forces. Nobody knew the opponent¡¯s positions, they could only guess. If they chose the east side, then it would be a 3v4 in K&K¡¯s favor. If Dt regrouped, then it would be 3 vs 5 and Buff would definitely lose. If they chose the west side, then it would be a 3 vs 1 in Buff¡¯s favor¡­...Dt could only fight by himself and stall long enough for his teammates to finish the mission. ¡°Knife, machete, pistol, assault rifle¡­¡­¡± Ai Qing quickly converted his items to cash. Then she knew that the last item he had was the rope. He didn¡¯t have any explosive weapons. His health was at 70%. The player¡¯s health was directly correlated to their agility and power. So his agility and power was only at 70% of its full value. Once they attacked him, he would face three full-health enemies carrying many explosives. He would die eventually. It was only the matter of time. It all depended on how long he could hang on. Hung on until¡­...Grunt killed 100 enemy soldiers and won the game. On the screen. The man continued to switch the weapon in his hand. He was waiting, waiting quietly¡­¡­ Volume 3 - CH 13 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 3: Glory on the Other Side Chapter 13 ¡°Buff has only 3 people now, they definitely can¡¯t get 100 kills before K&K.¡± Xiaomi whispered, ¡°With such a big disadvantage, at best they can draw¡­...but they won¡¯t be happy if they tie, because they¡¯d be first in the group if they win.¡± Ai Qing agreed, she was thinking the same thing. There was only the sound of heavy breathing in Dt¡¯s headphones. Gradually his heart beat in sync with each breath of his character. He leaned on the container with his left shoulder as he watched the seawater come closer and closer. What kind of freaking map was this. The land could even shrink. His fingers suddenly paused------ Someone was coming. One person? He grabbed the edge of the container and jumped onto it. He rolled over several containers and his character began to pant. With his agility and power reduced by 30%, he couldn¡¯t engage directly. The enemy behind began to pursue, keeping a distance away from him. The enemy didn¡¯t know what weapon Dt was holding, and so were wary of closing the distance. Dt kept moving over the containers until he reached the end of the row, reaching a large warehouse. Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t the front gate but the wall at the back instead. ¡­... He could rush into the warehouse if it was the front gate, but the back wall¡­¡­ The man following him started to lose patience and close in. Suddenly the large screen displayed two scenes instead of one. Grunt was engaged in a small gunfight. ¡°They split up. They split up!¡± The host became excited. ¡°How bold. No wonder they were the champions of CS for two years in a row, these iron blood men. Despite being down two, Buff still split their team!¡± ¡°On Dt¡¯s side!¡±. Dt fired a stream of bullets from his assault rifle, the metal bullet casings clattered onto the ground. But he stopped suddenly and side flipped to escape two hand grenades as they flew towards him. The sound of two loud explosions echoed throughout the stadium, followed by the sound of gunfire. Were they still shooting at each other? How could they see through the heavy smoke? Were they just wasting bullets? Only heavy smoke could be seen on screen. The audience anxiously waited for the smoke to clear. She squinted her eyes trying to see their feet along the edge of wall ¡­¡­ Dt ¡­¡­ disappeared? Ai Qing and Slide looked at each other quickly in shock. When the smoke finally cleared, they saw a hole in the thick wall¡­¡­ The entire audience went into a frenzy. How did that happen? Was the game system buggy? The power of the hand grenade couldn¡¯t possibly blast a hole in that wall¡­¡­ ¡°Oh my god. Where is he?¡± The audience in the VIP row behind Ai Qing exclaimed, ¡°Impossible. He was just there a second ago. How did he disappear?¡± There was no shelter around the warehouse! It was to suicide to run out of the only shelter. ¡°We should be able to see him regardless of whether he is alive or dead!¡± One male fan cried out. Nobody believed that Dt would die during a simple shootout after overcoming so many obstacles. ¡°Ah!¡± Ai Qing¡¯s eyes brightened up. She grabbed Slide¡¯s arm and shook him. ¡°He didn¡¯t shoot the opponent just now. He was shooting at the wall!¡± The wall was weakened by the explosion, Dt must¡¯ve used his rifle to open a hole. Slide rocked side to side. ¡°Yes. Yes. Shake slowly. Shake slowly¡­¡­¡± Another person jumped into the collapsed wall amid the heavy smoke. His name appeared for just a moment. Was he the captain, Buff? ! ¡°It¡¯s Buff. Buff¡¯s in close pursuit of Dt.¡± The male commentator finally grabbed the opportunity to speak. ¡°None of his teammates followed him. It looks like we¡¯re going to have a faceoff between the two captains! Xiao Oh, how¡¯s the visibility in the warehouse!¡± ¡°Absolutely zero.¡± The female commentator chimed in. ¡°This is a brand new map, so none of us know the entire picture. Dt is still Dt, his intuition is exceptional! He could find such a large warehouse so quickly.¡± He didn¡¯t buy body armor, so he couldn¡¯t afford to take many hits. Only in a place like this with cover everywhere and low visibility could he make up for his shortcomings. ¡°In a low visibility environment, he can only rely on the life detector to locate his opponents location. A perfect situation for someone who excels at close quarter combat! And Dt just so happens to be one of the best at CQC.¡± Volume 3 - CH 14 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 3: Glory on the Other Side Chapter 14 It was so intense. She clenched her fist tightly. He had to maintain his health above 50%, otherwise he couldn¡¯t even make a forward flip, forget about putting up a fight? Dt crawled up a shelf in the warehouse. He had only 60% health left. Those two hand grenades were too powerful. Among expert players, to be 40% slower than the opponent was a death sentence. He could hardly jump up onto the shelf just now, fortunately he still had rope. He could only do his best to stall for time. There was one more minute till the time he had set with Grunt. The outcome of the game all depended on Grunt now. Nobody had expected that Buff There was no red dot in the life detector. His character continued to gasp for air, he needed to finish this quickly. He needed not only to deter Buff, he had to stay alive as well, otherwise the opponent would gain an easy kill. The red dot appeared suddenly, he quickly squatted down as a black shadow jumped over him. Ai Qing was holding her breath. The two rolled into a mass on the scene. They both held short knives, but Dt was completely defenseless being 40% weaker than Buff. Buff kicked him away and he disappeared into the darkness¡­...The second Buff stood up, Buff was pushed to the ground again with a knife stuck between his ribs. Buff turned over, pushing Dt underneath him. Dt knelt down. Buff¡¯s short knife came down------ He seemed to force his body to move forward another inch. His knife stabbed right into Dt. Dt¡¯s health quickly dropped. Everyone nervously watched the number on the large screen. 50, 40, 30, 20¡­...10¡­¡­ The number stopped dropping¡­¡­ Almost¡­¡­ It was almost fatal¡­¡­ Ai Qing exhaled a long breath. Dt was still alive. Dt tried to crawl and moved slightly, but he couldn¡¯t get rid of the body on top of him. Alright. He smiled bitterly. 10% health meant 10% power, he already had one foot in the grave. He couldn¡¯t even move. His role in this match ended here. His computer screen displayed a line of small characters suddenly. ¡°Are you Gun¡¯s brother?¡± Did the dead body want to chat? The small characters in the competition channel wouldn¡¯t display on the large screen. Dt really liked this person, because he didn¡¯t use the tactics Dt had expected. So he was interested enough to reply, ¡°Yes.¡± He also take look of his name, Buff. The captain of the opposing team? ¡°IMBA[1].¡± Buff was always direct especially when he admired someone. ¡°Thanks.¡± He gladly accepted the praise. He heard Grunt burst out into a string of curses in his earphones. ¡°97¡¯s out. Damn, I¡¯m still alive, but I¡¯m too weak, just lying on the ground. One opponent escaped.¡± Dt listened calmly. He took off his headphones and took up the bottle of mineral water besides his chair. He twisted it open and started to drink. So much time had been wasted. Only Demo and One were left and they couldn¡¯t possibly kill all 100 enemy soldiers. It was impossible for them to catch opponents who were ranked in top twenty. In other words¡­¡­ ¡°It is a tie.¡± Ai Qing whispered. Grunt and 97 were evenly matched with the opponents, but the remaining two players simply weren¡¯t a match to the enemy. Dt¡¯s strategy was excellent and his performance was flawless, except he lacked two qualified teammates. ¡­¡­ The match finished 30 seconds later. It was exactly as she had anticipated. Neither side destroyed the other team nor killed 100 npc soldiers. It was a tie. [1]: IMBA => Imbalanced. Never heard of it used as praise directly, but basically he means that Dt is better than Buff i.e. the fight is imbalanced. IMBA is normally used to describe imbalance in games, especially competitive games which must be balanced to allow competitive play. Volume 3 - CH 15 Book 3: Glory on the Other Side Chapter 15 What a pity¡­¡­ The entire audience felt the same way. Besides the members of K&K, Xiaomi also looked at the quiet professional players on stage. Needless to say, the importance of a qualified teammate was fully demonstrated in this match. Although the captain, Dt, could fight against three rivals by himself alone, it was very difficult to play against a team of five strong players. ¡°Do you know? Actually¡­¡­¡± The male commentator paused for half a second on purpose, ¡°I have been looking forward to a tie for quite a long time.¡± ¡°Ah?¡± ¡°Secret Room Duel. Finally, they will start the Secret Room Duel! Isn¡¯t it really exciting?¡± ¡­¡­ What was so special to be excited about? Ai Qing thought to herself. The Secret Room Duel was in a narrow enclosed room where the players of both teams were randomly selected for 1v1s. The probability that K&K would lose was very high. Demo and One would definitely lose. Though 97 and Grunt might win, they still might lose if they are matched with Buff. The Secret Room Duel was undoubtedly K&K¡¯s weak point. ¡°Xiaomi.¡± Ai Qing took out recording pen. ¡°Can you partner with me later to record the game commentating for tonight?¡± Xiaomi was stunned. ¡®Me?¡± He looked at the two captains sitting to the right of Ai Qing. ¡°You¡¯re from Solo¡¯s original team. You understand better than Slide and Bug about our old opponent.¡± Ai Qing whispered. Xiaomi hesitated. He didn¡¯t know how to refuse when he saw Ai Qing¡¯s face with ¡®help me out¡¯ written all over it. He finally reluctantly nodded. ¡°I¡¯m just afraid that I¡¯m not good enough and it¡¯ll affect your views.¡± ¡°No worry.¡± She raised eyebrows with the confidence of the top commentator, ¡°I¡¯ll take care of everything. Don¡¯t be afraid even if you say something wrong, I¡¯ll edit it later.¡± Ai Qing pulled Xiaomi¡¯s sleeves to take him out of the audience area before Xiaomi even agreed. She didn¡¯t want to watch another match¡­...he definitely would win individually, but his team They briefly recorded the opening introduction and summary of the strategies based on their recollection in the lobby. Slide sent a text to her shortly after that K&K lost the Secret Room Duel. She clenched her cell phone, lost in thought. ¡°Who is your boyfriend? You look like a woman in love.¡± Xiaomi glanced at the name who sent the text to her. ¡°Slide?¡± ¡°Uhm?¡± Ai Qing looked at Xiaomi in surprise. ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Xiaomi rolled his eyes. Huh. ¡°Not Slide!¡± Ai Qing corrected him immediately. Xiaomi glanced at her again. Huh. ¡°It¡¯s normal for woman of your age to fall in love. But, don¡¯t forget SP¡¯s rule, no love affairs¡­¡­.¡± ¡°Stop talking nonsense¡± Ai Qing suddenly stretched out her hand. Xiaomi instinctively stepped back, but couldn¡¯t avoid the slap to his forehead or the wall behind him¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ Ai Qing made up an excuse to leave early before the official competition was over. She searched for a small road some distance away from the arena. She was a bit surprised when she found the soup shop according to the food guide. Er¡­¡­ Why was it so small like a milk tea stand along the road? There were only three tables inside the store, all the other customers ate on the small tables by the roadside. Everyone seemed to be enjoying their food. She waited for seat for a while, finally the two girls at the table on the roadside left just as Dt arrived following the address she gave him. It was already late into the night, he slowly walked down the road with both hands inside his jacket pockets. ¡°I¡¯m here.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± She answered and felt that he was standing very close to her¡­¡­¡±Did you win?¡± ¡°We won the second match, so we were qualified as the second in the group.¡± Huh¡­.fortunately. The two girls who just stood up saw the man behind Ai Qing. They couldn¡¯t help but stare at him, then glance at Ai Qing, then look at the man again¡­¡­Ai Qing noticed their gaze and she also turned her head around to look at the man. ? Dt, in confusion, looked down at her. Really¡­¡­really handsome. She thought. Oh no, she shouldn¡¯t think too much¡­¡­her face was going to turn red again. She turned her She always saw the name every time she was in Guangzhou. ¡°¡­¡­You can¡¯t drink it.¡± When she was interested in a weird food, she would order it just to give it a try. Based on the previous incidents when she ordered pig blood intestines and the soybean latte out of curiosity, he needed to answer her in a direct manner. ¡°¡­¡­¡± She just asked without any intention to order it. ¡°Is it really¡­¡­is it really cooked with cat?¡± ¡°¡­¡­¡± ¡°If your cousin knows about it, won¡¯t he kill someone?¡± Gun was a crazy cat lover. ¡°¡­¡­¡± Dt ordered two soups and paid, then¡­¡­he hesitated. Should he hold her shoulder or pull up her wrist? Ai Qing¡­¡­she had already walked back to her seat and sat down. He followed her silently. The soups were served shortly. She sipped the soup with a spoon. Very delicious. It was pretty good to drink soup late at night. They seemed to always stay in hotels these past couple of years. A hotel has everything and nobody would come out to eat. But things were different now, she not only had to sneak out, she would have to sneak out further away. She drank a few mouthfuls again. Her eyes were restless, her face turned redder and redder. She drank another few mouthfuls until she couldn¡¯t stand it anymore. She muttered lightly. ¡°Why do you keep staring at me¡­¡­¡± Volume 3 - CH 16 Book 3: Glory on the Other Side Chapter 16 ¡°I wanted to look at you while we were in the arena.¡± He said, ¡°I saw you in the beginning, but then you disappeared.¡± ¡­¡­ She continued to drink the soup. Finally, after a long while, she spilled out a few words, ¡°I left early.¡± At the table next to them, there was a couple who were apparently passionately in love. They tasted each other¡¯s food from time to time, whispered and broke into laughter. Ai Qing, while overhearing the couple¡¯s voices, drank her soup. She felt hot enough to sweat, but the weather itself was quite comfortable¡­¡­ They stayed in the same hotel, designated by the organizer. After finishing their soups, they walked along the road towards the hotel. She didn¡¯t really know which direction to go, but thought it would be fine following him. After walking for some time without seeing the hotel, she finally had to ask, ¡°How long will it take to get there?¡± ¡°To where?¡± He asked, confused. ¡°The hotel.¡± ¡°Do you want to go back?¡± ¡­...It¡­...it was almost 2:30 in the morning. He was quiet for a moment, ¡°We¡¯ll be there after two more intersections.¡± The night breeze was blowing onto her face, messing up her short hair. She reached up to smooth out her hair and felt something cold touch her forehead, it was his hand. Dt¡¯s movement was somewhat¡­...unnatural. He gave a light cough when he put down his hand. ¡°Do you want to go back?¡± Ai Qing pursed her lips and looked sideways, ¡°Let¡¯s keep walking for a bit longer.¡± He didn¡¯t have to compete tomorrow and she had nothing to do either. An air of ambiguity hung about them¡­...This was the very beginning of their relationship before they had any physical contact¡­...She didn¡¯t want to act rashly. Neither did he it seemed. They kept walking and walking until it was four in the morning. When they finally reached the front of the hotel, he was the one who took the initiative to stop and let her go in first. Only his eyes closely followed her. He understood it very well that it was quite difficult for them to be together at this point. It was even more difficult given their profession. Even if she didn¡¯t ask to keep a low profile, he would keep it a secret. He didn¡¯t want anything unexpected. He didn¡¯t want to be influenced by anybody. He wanted to protect it well. Four o¡¯clock in the morning? They shouldn¡¯t be seen by anybody? She thought to herself. Ai Qing apparently didn¡¯t quite understand K&K¡¯s daily routine. As she walked into one of the elevators, there were several K&K boys walking out of the other elevator and yawned. ¡°So hungry.¡± ¡°Yeah. Boss is still in high spirits. Doesn¡¯t he need sleep?¡± ¡°Only the captain has freedom. We haven¡¯t seen him the whole night.¡± ¡°Captain was the only one who performed excellent in the competition yesterday. What are you worrying about?¡± As the elevator was closing its door behind them, the talk turned into ¡°Captain.¡± ¡°Captain, you going out?¡± ¡°Is the captain hungry too?¡±...... Dt didn¡¯t say anything, just nodded as his response. Thus at four o¡¯clock in the morning, Dt was greeted by a small group of K&K players. With his hands inside his pockets, he pretended to act as if he had just gotten out of his room and was also looking for something to eat. He walked across the hotel lobby once again and walked out with the others¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ Ai Qing went in her room, turned on the TV to create some background noise in the room. The moment she turned on the TV, her phone began ringing. So late? She answered the phone. The first thing she heard was Dt¡¯s words, ¡°Just wanted to make sure that you are back in your room.¡± ¡°Uhm.¡± She held the phone and turned around to get on bed. She didn¡¯t know which TV channel it was. It was playing an English song which happened to be a song she had heard it before, . At a time like this with a song like that¡­...she rolled around to lie on her stomach. ¡°Do you like this song?¡± He asked back. ¡°Do you like it?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± She closed her eyes and began to chat. ¡°I like many English songs, but my English isn¡¯t that great. So it sounds strange when I sing them.¡± He pondered for a short while. ¡°It¡¯s alright. I can sing it.¡± ¡°......I know your English is good.¡± She chuckled. ¡°Not just English.¡± He corrected her. ¡°I also sing it very well.¡± ¡°Really? Who did you sing to?¡± Family? Classmates? Or¡­...she couldn¡¯t imagine it at all. ¡°Myself.¡± ¡­...As expected, she laughed. They chatted for about twenty minutes. She was too sleepy to keep her eyes open. Originally she planned to take a shower, but now she had no energy to do it. She just wanted to hang up the phone and pull the blanket over her to sleep. He seemed to realize that she was out of energy and bade her good night in a low voice. She answered and then put the phone down with her eyes closed. She pulled the blanket over and immediately fell into a deep sleep. He hung up the phone in his room. He had just walked into the room and, without bothering to take off his jacket, hurriedly turned on his computer to download the song . He quickly opened the download folder and navigated to her folder. He opened it. The folder held information about all of the competitions she had ever played and many web pictures. Among all the game commentators, she was the one who posted the least amount of pictures. So all the pictures he had collected didn¡¯t really have any cute ones. So he looked back at the videos of her interviews. He opened it. She was only a teenager. She laughed straightforwardly. She spoke straightforwardly. Everything was straightforward. Back then, she¡­¡­ In the video she lively explained what esports was. He put the computer on his lap and sat at the bed. By just watching these videos, he could remember all his own teenager years. He collected any information he could find about her. He watched her competition videos. He practiced those video games in his room over and over. Any game she ever played, he also played it. In the beginning, he was mocked online for having such poor skill. He got better gradually. He even played some games she didn¡¯t play, such as Warcraft. There are geniuses in the world, but there absolutely no one was successful without putting in the effort. It was an accident that he fought against Solo online that year. He still remembered the mental impact when he saw Solo¡¯s name. Other than Gun, that was the first time he and her world touched. Though she didn¡¯t know who he was at the time. Solo¡¯s team was her past. But she was also part of his youth which had long gone by and was impossible to repeat again Volume 3 - CH 19 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 3: Glory on the Other Side Chapter 19 ¡°Buff¡¯s team should be considered as an old friend of mine. Strong, each and everyone one of them¡­¡­¡± Xiaomi¡¯s voice echoed. She had thrown her earphones onto the bed. Ai Qing continued to work on editing the video, trying to have only Xiaomi¡¯s commentary for this section. It was more important to show off his scathing comments------ The video of the first match took her more than ten hours to finish editing. The next day, she flew to Sanya City and met with other SP players at the airport. Her eyes were still bloodshot when they got on the bus to go to the hotel. Baona who sat in the row ahead of her turned to her and smiled, ¡°You¡¯re absolutely the most unselfish commentator I¡¯ve ever seen.¡± Ai Qing understood what he meant, but she was too tired to return a smile. ¡°You¡¯re really not busy, you even have enough free time to pay attention to my Weibo.¡± ¡°I¡¯m the boss, I have to care about the condition of my staff.¡± Baona took out his cell phone from his pocket and brought out the pictures in the album to show her one by one. ¡°How about these. These are the new photos I took for them. Do they look like idols? Aren¡¯t they handsome?¡± Everyone crossed their arms and put on perfect poses. How couldn¡¯t they look handsome? This was the style of the Korean professional circle. But it wasn¡¯t a bad idea. To idolize the players was somewhat superficial, but it would let players have more fans. More fans meant more exposure, then there would be more sponsors. One thing fed the other to create a large supply chain for the industry. That was the thought in AI Qing¡¯s head¡­¡­ Solo sat next to Baona but he didn¡¯t speak much. When they reached the seaside, they found the event site to be quite lively already. This was a purely commercial night event. Several major domestic clubs were all here, but most of them still held onto a ¡°wait and see¡± policy for Secret Room Storm. They were not like SP and K&K which were already mature enough to have A and B teams. So it was described as a commercial event, but rather¡­¡­ It was more of an event for digging information? Ai Qing thought to herself. The beach was as bright as if it were daytime. She took a cocktail and continued to look at the comments on her Weibo. 70% were positive comments. Good. The first step was moving along fine. Commentators as a profession looked quite glamorous, but it was no different from professional players. Only a very few commentators stood at the top of the pyramid, most of them were either retired champions or the best players on the internet. She was uncertain whether her efforts could help Xiaomi attract more popularity¡­¡­ ¡°Do you want Xiaomi to switch to being a commentator?¡± A familiar sound, without any emotion, came from above her head. She was stunned. She raised her head and found Gun. ¡°Does SP want him to retire?¡± Gun¡¯s voice was hoarse it seemed¡­...he was depressing the unhappiness in his mind. Ai Qing pondered for a while and said, ¡°It¡¯s not that SP wants him to retire. He¡¯s the one who wants to do so.¡± She understood it very well from the conversation with Xiaomi last night. The old Solo¡¯s team members were all very proud. How could any of them tolerate staying in the B team after they had stood at the peak once before? Could he tolerate being transferred to the team which had no chance of winning a championship, relegated to moving up and down in the domestic B group? There was a Weibo notification sound inside Gun¡¯s shirt pocket. She glanced at him, ¡°Someone¡¯s looking for you.¡± She was trying to use the excuse to leave right way. The atmosphere was too depressing. The atmosphere was still the same after so many years. She feared that if he asked her something out of the blue and that she wouldn¡¯t be able to handle it. Gun didn¡¯t look at his cell phone, rather he took a look at Solo who was talking to the organizer not far away from them. Solo noticed it after he saw Gun facing Ai Qing. He quickly explained to the organizer and walked over in a hurry. Gun grabbed Ai Qing¡¯s arm and dragged her behind a group of locker rooms. Ai Qing was a little bit confused and the cocktail in her glass had spilled out all over the ground. This was a secluded corner so that they could stay away from the public. Solo followed them. Gun grabbed his collar and pushed him against the wall forcefully. Gun stared at his eyes and said slowly word by word, ¡°What did you promise me before?¡± ¡°Han Shangyan!¡± Ai Qing pulled Gun¡¯s sleeve. ¡°Get lost.¡± Gun scowled at her in low voice. Ai Qing was shocked. ¡°What did you promise me !¡± Solo was silent. He stretched out his hand and patted Gun¡¯s shoulder, ¡°Let go of me. Many people will see it.¡± Volume 3 - CH 20 Book 3: Glory on the Other Side Chapter 20 Gun spoke again, ¡°Have you forgotten what you promised me?¡± Solo glanced at Ai Qing. ¡°Stay farther away.¡± Stay farther away. When these two fought on the street in Guangzhou or it was better described as the time when Gun beat up Solo, he repeatedly said this to anybody who wanted to stop Gun. These three words instantly reminded her of that scene. Ai Qing was in a panic, afraid that Gun would hit Solo again. She stretched out her hand again and grabbed Gun¡¯s wrist. ¡°Han Shangyan.¡± ¡°Get lost! Do you hear me?¡± Gun was irritated, ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear me the first time?¡± ¡°Han Shangyan.¡± Solo¡¯s voice was a little bit lower and slightly colder, he was warning him. ¡°You want to scare me?¡± Gun sneered, ¡°I¡¯m not your team member.¡± It was silent for a couple of seconds. Solo patted his shoulder again. ¡°That¡¯s right. I will never have my own team members in my life. This was the first thing I promised you.¡± What did it mean? Ai Qing was dumbfounded. The man under the moonlight was still very gentle. His every word, every sentence, even his expression and action were not aggressive at all. But what he had said hit with great force. It wasn¡¯t just Ai Qing, even Gun was suddenly startled. ¡°If I left the team, then I couldn¡¯t play any team games.¡± Solo added, ¡°Did you forget? This was your request. So, I played WarCraft and StarCraft. Other than those two, I didn¡¯t touch any team game. This was the first thing I promised you ten years ago.¡± Solo slightly paused, then continued, ¡°The second thing I promised you was that if I insisted on bringing back the original team, then I have to take good care of them. I promised you this in Korea. I did the first thing, but I didn¡¯t do good on the second promise.¡± While he was talking, he gave up resisting Gun. He leaned on wall as if he The night sea breeze from the distance had grown cold by the time it reached them. It was cold enough that her face hurt as the wind blew by. She learned about all of this just tonight about the things Solo just said. That was a promise to decide his whole professional career. It was simply too cruel to a person who was born with the talent to be a captain, that he couldn¡¯t participate in any team game and have his own team. ¡­¡­ ¡°What are you guys doing? Two men and a woman.¡± Xiaomi seemed bored to death looking at them. The short man stood not far from them. ¡°Bad for your images, bosses.¡± Xiaomi said calmly. He asked again after he thought a little bit. ¡°It couldn¡¯t have anything to do with me?¡± Gun stiffened and deterred by Solo¡¯s words. He finally released his hand after hearing Xiaomi. He moved around his shoulder and said, ¡°Do you want to jump ship to K&K?¡± ¡°Me?¡± Xiaomi pointed to his own nose. ¡°Who else.¡± Gun was losing his patience, not wanting to stay any more than he had to. ¡°If you want, then cancel the contract with SP right way. I¡¯ll arrange a manager to sign a contract with you. Or just come to me without going through a manager. Perhaps we don¡¯t even need to go through all that trouble, go with me to meet A team¡¯s main players tonight-- --¡± ¡°Gun god.¡± Xiaomi was amused, ¡°Are you joking? The weakest one in your A team is still ranked at 71. I¡¯m already thrown out of the top 100. What do you want me there for? To wipe monitors and clean keyboards for everybody?¡± Wipe monitor and clean keyboard¡­...it was the words Gun used to yell at him the most in the past. Gun suddenly lost the ability to speak. Xiaomi shrugged his shoulder. ¡°Boss, I¡¯m going to call my home first, then I¡¯ll talk to you half an hour later.¡± Apparently he was speaking to Solo. Then he turned to Gun, ¡°Han Shangyan, come out and have a drink with me before I Then he turned around, waved his hand, and left without waiting for any of their reactions. Ai Qing didn¡¯t have a chance to speak at all. She knew that it was time for Xiaomi to retire after he spoke to Solo tonight. His back was walking away from them step by step on the beach without the slightest bit of nostalgia. It was like¡­...in the morning that year, she stood at the train station begging him to give his home number to her. He kept asking her for mercy, telling her that he really didn¡¯t want to fight with Solo over his girlfriend and it would be best not to leave his phone number. In the end, he didn¡¯t give his phone number to her that day at the train station. He just carried his luggage and jumped on the train, not even looking back at her at the last moment. Volume 3 - CH 22 Book 3: Glory on the Other Side Chapter 22 Because she had cried for a long time facing the sea breeze last night, she found a pair of flat glasses to cover her eyes at the online exhibition match the next morning. Xiaomi had already left. He took the earliest flight, without looking back. Ai Qing crossed her arms waiting for the match to begin. But whenever she thought about the fact that Xiaomi left without saying goodbye to her, she felt a lump form into her throat. Slide sat down on the empty seat at her left side. ¡°Buff doesn¡¯t have it easy.¡± ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°The posts on the internet aren¡¯t very nice to them.¡± Slide had been in and Ai Qing glanced at Slide. Slide noticed and laughed, ¡°Why are you looking at me like that? I¡¯m even younger than you, so I¡¯m not a relic just yet.¡± She laughed too and turned to look at Buff¡¯s teammates who were measuring the screen size with rulers rather seriously. The award prize of this competition was only for the teams which won national titles, yet the amount was quite meagre. The largest pool of prize money could only be found at world tournaments. Buff¡¯s team didn¡¯t have commercial sponsors, they were purely supporting themselves. Players at the age of thirty or over had to constantly play so many matches, they probably had to resign their regular jobs? They had to give up their regular income¡­...The sacrifice was huge when she thought about it. This old opponent of hers really didn¡¯t have it easy. K&K hadn¡¯t come in the arena yet. They arrived very late, only about ten minutes before the live broadcast was about to start. Ai Qing was shocked the moment she looked over at them. ¡°Ah? Why is that guy wearing a hat again?¡± All sat down on another empty seat beside her. ¡°But he looks better this way. He¡¯s just a man, not a celebrity star.¡± K&K¡¯s uniform was black. He had returned to wearing his black hat again which completely covered the details of his facial figures and his eyes were hidden underneath the brim. This was his usual image but it was still very attractive¡­¡­ Why did she feel like laughing so much¡­¡­ She held it for sometime, but in the end, she still couldn¡¯t help herself. Both All and Slide glanced at her, baffled. Why was she laughing? Ai Qing felt a little uneasy, took off the glasses and rubbed her eyes to avoid their eyes. Before she could put it back on, All already patted the back of her head. ¡°Why are your eyes so red? What¡¯s there to cry about?¡± Ai Qing rubbed her head. ¡°You¡¯re a crazy violent man. Nobody¡¯s so heartless like you.¡± All gave a hearty laugh and patted his own chest. ¡°The heart is inside here as long as we always remember him. Let¡¯s win the championship for him!¡± Slide laughed, ¡°Stop trying to explain. You¡¯ll never understand women and they¡¯ll never understand us either.¡± ¡°Come on, you sound like you¡¯re the only one who understands women. You are just like me, a single man.¡± All was chewing gum and glanced at his captain, ¡°But I feel a little bit sorry when we talk about it. Can we still find a wife to marry when we retire? We will be old men and all we¡¯ve ever done is play video games all our life¡­¡­¡± ¡°Therefore,¡± Slide continued to look at the apparently sharper and younger players of K&K, ¡°We must win the championship, otherwise we are worthless.¡± ¡°Right. Otherwise, our lives are a waste.¡± All¡¯s voice lowered, ¡°Xiaomi¡¯s retirement would be waste, too.¡± The world championship was everybody¡¯s dream. Of course¡­...it was Xiaomi¡¯s too. There were more than ten teams here and they were all professional players. But there were many, many other players or amateurs on the internet trying to compete outside this competition arena¡­...There were so many players striving together and they all aimed for one championship. The Chinese Regional champion, the Asian Tournament champion¡­...and at last, the World Tournament. ¡­¡­ ¡°Go for it. You two.¡± Ai Qing said in a low voice, ¡°Win the Chinese Region championship first.¡± For everybody. Volume 3 - CH 23 Book 3: The Glory on the Other Side Chapter 23 Today¡¯s match was an exhibition game between the Asian region and European region. It was part of the promotional event. Up till yesterday, the European finals of had already ended. The top two teams were old names, the clubs RAP and FI. But for the Asian region, only China¡¯s Guangzhou tournament had ended, so only the top two teams of the Guangzhou tournament K&K and Buff were playing. Ai Qing¡¯s team were just spectators. The first match was Buff v RAP. The mission was coincidentally the same mission that Buff had defeated K&K in earlier, Counter Terrorist Night Battle. Everybody knew that RAP was SP¡¯s old opponent. According to the roster published by the European Region, RAP had all new players. Ai Qing had watched several of their competition videos. Unfortunately, the match ended just 14 minutes and 19 seconds after it started. Buff lost thoroughly. Very thoroughly¡­¡­ ¡°Damn.¡± All burst into a tirade of foul language. ¡°Trash. They used the traditional European tactics. It wasn¡¯t some new, special tactics? Didn¡¯t Buff decide on their strategy in advance?¡± Ai Qing kind of understood them. ¡°Buff just reorganized, they¡¯re short of training. They lack actual fighting experience and don¡¯t understand how European teams play.¡± Since the match began, the rhythm was controlled by RAP, Buff was constantly reacting so it was no surprise that Buff would lose. ¡°Buff¡¯s still counts as the currently ranked 1 team. They didn¡¯t even last more than 15 minutes, it doesn¡¯t look good on them.¡± Slide commented. ¡°Top European teams specialize in psychological fighting and they like to rush the objectives.¡± Ai Qing briefly summarized, ¡°We know this very well, but Buff may not know. Even if they know about it, they don¡¯t have the opportunity to train and formulate counters against this strategy like us.¡± After all, a professional team had a manager, coach and all the support staff, unlike these five players who could only struggle on their own. This was the invisible advantages. The entire stadium was a little bit quiet at the sudden loss. The audience and players were all discussing in muted voices. ¡­¡­ ¡°The loss just now comes at a surprise.¡± The female commentator looked at the K&K players who had just entered the arena and were checking their individual equipment. She looked worried, ¡°Let me introduce the two most famous clubs in Europe. Everybody must be very familiar with RAP. It was this team who used the excuse of unqualified servers to frame SP China in the DotA tournament in the past.¡±The male commentator echoed her comments, ¡°Speaking of RAP, they are known to recruit anybody who¡¯s strong. Look at the overall Europe region, only FI¡¯s players have resisted their attempts. What¡¯s the reason? Because FI¡¯s owner is Prince William~Hahahaha, it¡¯s a joke, a joke, please don¡¯t take it seriously.¡± ¡­¡­ This joke¡­...what a lame joke. Even Ai Qing was embarrassed for him. K&K players were now ready inside the arena. The online live broadcast began. The loading icon jumped and turned on the big screen. The system displayed: Counter Terrorist Night Battle. The entire audience were in an uproar. It was too coincidental that it was the same mission again. K&K had lost to Buff on this mission, then Buff lost to RAP on the same mission ten minutes ago. Now K&K faced the European champion FI------on the same mission again. The whole stadium was abuzz, of all kinds of opinions, worries, and fear of losing. There was a total of two matches for Chinese teams, if they lost both of them then it would be a big blow to all the Chinese players¡­¡­ The countdown began. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1-- -- The scene opened instantly. ¡°Desert?! Damn¡­¡­¡± Even the male commentator couldn¡¯t refrain from bursting into a string of cursing, ¡°The degree of difficulty is way too high.¡± Some players encountered this map at the Guangzhou preliminary, but it was set in the day time. There was nowhere to hide. There were only military bases and broken walls and ruins. In other words, they had to go to the bases if they wanted to kill 100 soldiers and it was more difficult than the street attack. Ai Qing hadn¡¯t thought about a proper strategy in her head yet. The sound of an explosion suddenly spread through the whole stadium. The sound effect was too lifelike, shocking everyone. Did they already fire at each other?! So quickly? Did both sides spawn in the same area? Fighting already? Did they have time to buy weapons? Many questions popped into her head as she quickly located Dt on the screen. He was crawling on the ground, holding a sniper rifle in his hand obviously. It was totally out of Ai Qing¡¯s expectation. Did Dt even give up on being the main attacker? A sniper was necessary in a mature team. However, the sniper wasn¡¯t the main attacking force in the team. The sniper could cover teammates and shoot at long range, a member of the team that would ensure the safety of the entire team and a strategic killer. The question was¡­...their team¡¯s sniper was Grunt all the time. She immediately went to look for Grunt. Double snipers?! The two strongest players of the team were not acting as the main attackers. What were they up to? Volume 3 - CH 24 Book 3: Glory on the Other Side Chapter 24 ¡°Double snipers?¡± Slide quietly muttered. Secret Room had five offensive weapons: pistol, scoped assault rifle, light machine gun, sniper rifle, and mortar. Except for pistols, which all players started with, all the other weapons once chosen would decide the position each player would take, rifleman, support, sniper, demolitions. Or the team could choose what the Koreans did before, just buy all the supporting items. So did they use double snipers to counter rushes? On the screen, the two teams, after a brief burst of gunfire just now, had already separated and hiding from each other. Dt and Grunt guarded each side. They switch to night vision goggles while scoped in on their sniper rifles. ¡°Yes. Dt successfully suppressed the other¡¯s offensive momentum. The effect of having two snipers is very obvious.¡± The male commentator looked at the screen and continued without any delay. ¡°It was a brief firefight. Nice. They¡¯ve now completed stopped firing.¡± ¡°It¡¯s too fast. It¡¯s so fast for Dt to switch between the sniper and his gun.¡± The female commentator put her hand over her heart. ¡°We¡¯ve never seen Dt used the sniper rifle before. It¡¯s totally unexpected that he can be so fast at switching guns. It¡¯s comparable to FI¡¯s professional sniper!¡± ¡­¡­ Slide and All couldn¡¯t stand to listen no more. They turned to look at Ai Qing. She was the number 1 sniper once. Ai Qing stared at the large screen and satisfied their request to hear her commentary. ¡°Speed, precision, and aggressiveness are the fundamentals required to be a sniper. There¡¯s nothing special to flatter about.¡± Speed, open the scope the moment you see an enemy. Precision, zoom into the scope and aim simultaneously. Aggressiveness, shoot immediately without any hesitation. ¡°The speed at which they can switch their guns determines a sniper¡¯s survival rate.¡± The two players beside Ai Qing were also long time experts at first person shooters. Ai Qing didn¡¯t have to explain the details, ¡°You all know it well. Your run speed is very slow when holding a sniper rifle. One grenade from the opponent could make the sniper bleed right way or even die. After shooting, the sniper needs to switch to their pistol immediately. The speed directly determines how long the sniper can survive.¡± ¡°Besides,¡± Ai Qing added, ¡°shooting a sniper rifle requires one to keep the body still. It¡¯s different from shooting other guns. How to withdraw, advance, shoot, switch guns, and all these are hard to fully understand while playing normally. Even normal skirmishes aren¡¯t that demanding. Only at major competitions, when you face the best, is when you realize how important one-tenth of a second really is.¡± On the screen, Dt and Grunt almost shot simultaneously. The speed of their movement obviously showed that Grunt was visibly slower about half a footstep than Dt. But Grunt wasn¡¯t a weak player. Ai Qing understood it very well. The action zooming into the scope and switching guns couldn¡¯t be seen completely. They were all hidden, shooting, hidden, shooting¡­¡­ The shooting range of a sniper rifle was the furthest. Under the two players¡¯ coordinated actions, the opponent¡¯s massed attacks were all suppressed. Except for short bursts of fire, they could only watch the distant enemy through their night vision goggles. ¡°He¡¯s really a qualified captain. He can fill in any position and adapt to any tactic.¡± She sighed lightly. Anybody could be a sniper. But not everybody was qualified to be a professional sniper. The sniper was constantly on the defensive. They avoided close combat and tried not to get entangled in an engagement. The most vicious part of the job was not to give the opponent any chance to retreat. At three minutes twenty seconds, Dt and Grunt worked together to repel an enemy attack once again. The opponent withdrew and tried to attack the military base instead. Almost at the same time, Dt and Grunt crisscrossed each other, following their opponent¡¯s trail tightly. At four minutes thirty seconds, they blocked the opponent¡¯s path of retreat The opponent moved forward too slowly and their retreat was also too slow. Dt and Grunt didn¡¯t let go of their grip on the enemy. Pursuit, gun switching, and picking sniping positions, they were perfectly in sync. The two men almost acted simultaneously. This scene was too beautiful. Two snipers were too rare. Not to mention that both were experts. ¡°Wow!¡± All suddenly cheered. ¡°Excellent!¡± Not only All, almost everyone was excited. The audience had broken into applause On the split screen, it was 97 who held the mortar and led his other two teammates who were firing with light machine guns. Ai Qing suddenly realized. This new tactic was completely geared towards this mission. Two experts entangled the opponent, while the remaining lower leveled players launched surprise attacks on the opponent¡¯s military bases. Therefore they didn¡¯t have any extra weapons, it was all offense with as much firepower as they could bring to bear. Flaming, blasting, and shooting. Dt was fighting with skills at the front . His personal skill commanded everything else. The bases with npc soldiers only required simple violent attacks. There was no skill involved. It was just a matter of time! The soldier kill count displayed on top of the screen was rising rapidly. It was simply rising like a vertical line. The count stopped all of a sudden. At fourteen minutes and ten seconds! ¡°It¡¯s over! Damn, it¡¯s over!¡± Ai Qing¡¯s heart was pumping hard as All was screaming. She plugged her ears, but couldn¡¯t stiffle her laughter. She yelled at him., ¡°Hey, hey. Lower your voice.¡± The huge sound of applause was like a mass of drums. K&K¡¯s fans were quite self aware of how to be proper fans. They would clap three times followed by a scream: ¡°K&K¡±. It was started by a group of young girls at the beginning, then it spread to the whole audience very quickly. After all, it was the first victory for the Chinese region against the European region, so inevitably the audience was jubilant. Three claps, K&K. Three claps, K&K. Three claps, K&K¡­... ¡­¡­ Ai Qing looked at the man on the large screen amidst the deafening sound of applause. He took off his earphones, showing a rare expression of relief. Did he feel the pressure? Ai Qing couldn¡¯t help curling up the corners of her mouth. So he could feel pressure too? Finally, he felt the pressure as well? It wasn¡¯t just from the fans, but a whole team¡¯s group efforts and the gamers¡¯ expectation. And there was¡­...the desire to win. Volume 3 - CH 25 Book 3: Glory on the Other Side Chapter 25 Hit and run tactics was also Dt¡¯s bread and butter. It was his favorite tactic to gank all over the map back in DotA. Unfortunately, although Dt¡¯s tactics against Buff was similar, his two teammates were too weak. So this time it wasn¡¯t exactly hit and run tactics¡­...He had modified his usual strategy to this new tactic in such a short time period¡­¡­ He was truly suited to being a team captain. He abandoned his preferences and chose the best tactic to adapt to the situation. Ai Qing put her hands inside her jacket pockets and left with Slide and All. Before she left, she glanced at Dt who was being questioned by a group of commentators. All the cheer and applause at this moment belonged to you and K&K, so enjoy it. She looked around the front rows searching for Gun, but she couldn¡¯t find him. Had he already left? ¡°Two snipers. I bet we¡¯ll be seeing a new meta online soon.¡± Slide commented with a smile. They walked out of the stadium one after another. Ai Qing was thinking about how to find an excuse to sneak out as she swung her name tag around. ¡°It¡¯s very rare to see this kind of high level play with two snipers. But it¡¯ll be obsolete the moment the match ends, it¡¯s impossible to use again at an international competition.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why, sometimes luck is very important for the drawings.¡± Slide pondered. ¡°If a team is unlucky enough to encounter all top teams at the drawing, then all the fundamental tactics will be exposed a few days into the competition and it will be very difficult to win the last match.¡± That was right. Luck. It was needless to say that luck was of great important to a team. Especially when it was during round robin tournaments¡­¡­ As they spoke, they happened to see K&K¡¯s A team walking out from the side door one by one. That was the passage for competition teams, safely away from the reach of the fans. There were several commentators, referees and other teams walking out with them together. Ai Qing glanced at them and found the girl who was at the beach last night. She was happily Uhm¡­...she was pursuing Dt quite vigorously. Yet the person who was being pursued was very prudent. He didn¡¯t even bother looking at her and walked out directly to get on the bus rented by K&K. Was he going back to the hotel? Ai Qing guessed. Perhaps it was more convenient to go back to the hotel, because she didn¡¯t need to find an excuse at all. Half an hour later, she was browsing the comments on the European forum in her own hotel room. The man who had just won the match was right in front of her, leisurely peeling an apple¡­¡­ She leaned on the edge of the table, looking at web pages with her hands supporting her chin. She could see him with the corner of her eyes. She focused her eyes back on the web page the moment he raised his eyes. ¡°Peeled the apple.¡± He told her, ¡°Do you want to cut it into pieces or just eat it whole?¡± ¡°Just eat it whole¡­¡­¡± She answered, ¡°It¡¯s too much trouble to cut it into pieces.¡± ¡°No trouble at all.¡± He thought she meant eating it in pieces but afraid that it was too troublesome for him to cut it. So he didn¡¯t ask her and began cutting it into pieces on plate and went to get a toothpick. He stuck the toothpick into the apple piece and gave to her. Ai Qing took it, but he held onto her hand before she could eat any. She looked in confusion, mentally storing all the questions she was going to ask about his tactics. Both of them remained still for a while. Finally he moved, bent down, and got close to her¡­...his breathing was shallow and he watched her face. He didn¡¯t see any resistance from her¡­¡­ So, could I? When Ai Qing finally realized and was about to dodge, he had already stretched out one hand to the back of her head. Don¡¯t hide, Ai Qing. Suddenly he felt her breath swept through his lips, he gave in to his feelings. He went into a kiss without another word. ¡­¡­ Ai Qing was dazed. She didn¡¯t move and he had covered her eyes with his hand. She Her heart stopped. ¡­¡­ ¡°Don¡¯t stick out your tongue¡­¡­¡± She suddenly spoke. He stopped immediately. Then she pulled down his hand. Ai Qing shied away with a red face and giggled, ¡°I¡¯m joking------¡± Before she could get away, his hands wrapped around her. He kissed again. She murmured, whatever she tried to say was muffled by the kiss. The tip of his tongue swept over deep inside her mouth. He tangled slightly for a little while as his heart thumped madly in his chest. He moved apart and exhaled a deep breath. He felt a little bit tight in his chest. He might not be dizzy yet, but he felt that everything in front of him was swaying. He looked at her lips and he wanted more¡­¡­ So, he continued. ¡­¡­ Volume 3 - CH 26 Book 3: Glory on the Other Side Chapter 26 Dt had to leave early with his team to catch a flight later in the night. She saw him off to the door, ¡°You¡¯ll be late.¡± He walked backwards to the door while still looking at her. Finally he couldn¡¯t help himself and bent his head down again, ¡°It¡¯s raining outside. Wait a minute.¡± What reflected in his eyes was all of her. She lightly repeated, ¡°Many people are waiting for you.¡± His eyes lingered on her eyes, nose, and half opened lips. He breathed the air surrounding her. Something, once turned on, was difficult to control. ¡°The last time¡­¡­¡± He said lightly. His hands moved to her back and pressed her into his arms. The action was very direct, but his voice made it sound like he was begging, ¡°I¡¯ll go after this.¡± It sounded like she was bullying him if she didn¡¯t agree¡­... ¡°Uhm¡­¡­¡± With her approval he bent down to kiss her without delay. She was so overwhelmed by his kiss that she almost fell down. Luckily he held her waist in time and leaned her against the wall. In order to prevent his hands from wandering where they shouldn¡¯t, he put both hands on the wall, trapping her inside the small circle right in front of him. He continued¡­.. ¡­¡­ After Dt left, she changed her clothes in preparation to meet up with the team at Solo¡¯s place. Before she left, she found a note pasted on her cell phone. What was it? She tore it off. It was a series of phone numbers at the top. At the back¡­...It was in Xiaomi¡¯s handwriting: Don¡¯t call me if nothing happens. No girl has ever called me before. My mom would mistake you as my girlfriend. Great. He was a good man. She read the note in his voice. He hadn¡¯t changed after so many years. That year, All put an arm around a short boy with a face prettier than a girl. He announced that Xiaomi had arrived. She was holding a glass bottle of Sprite and bit the straw. She pointed to Xiaomi asking him to say something in a northern accent. Xiaomi looked at her mindlessly, then said, ¡°I saw you playing online fiercer than any man and thought you would look pretty ugly¡­..¡± The words caused an explosion of laughter from over half the men in the internet cafe. He was accepted immediately by the group since then. Later, Xiaomi quarreled with his family almost daily. Sometimes after he hung up the phone, he would indifferently say, ¡°My dad told me that I¡¯m wasting air while living, wasting the land when I die. How would I waste it. I¡¯m only 170cm tall. I take up much less space than bald All.¡±.... ¡­¡­ She felt a lump in her throat. Various emotions began bubbling up to the surface of her mind. This phone number was too important to her. Though she could find a way to contact him from the club, the implication was totally different. Regardless whatever Dt had told him, as long as Xiaomi was willing to leave his phone number to her meant that he was willing to accept her Then it would be easy to handle whatever came later. She kept the note and sent Dt a short text: Thank you. She received a response shortly. Dt: No problem. ¡­...The king of awkward silence. He didn¡¯t how to talk. He didn¡¯t like to talk. He just liked to silently watch his girl. Even his confession to the girl, ¡°give me a chance¡±, didn¡¯t amount to much. She wanted to ask him about the actual details of the conversation between him and Xiaomi, but she gave up after she thought about it. She would just ask him face to face after she went back to Shanghai. Volume 3 - CH 27 Book 3: Glory on the Other Side Chapter 27 When Ai Qing arrived at Solo¡¯s room, both A and B teams were either sitting in the living room or smoking on the balcony. When they saw her walk in, some of them waved to her and some of them cleared their throats. What was going on? They were all acting awkward. ¡°Where¡¯s Solo?¡± Nobody answered. ¡°He¡¯s talking with K&K¡¯s manager.¡± Bug had to explain to her since nobody wanted to speak. ¡°They should be done soon? We¡¯ve also been waiting for quite a while.¡± Su Cheng? It was quite a surprise to her. Obviously the two inside the room also heard the voices from the living room. Shortly Su Cheng walked out carrying her bag and left as everyone watched her go. Solo walked out behind her. He glanced at Ai Qing for several seconds, then clapped his hands. ¡°Sorry to keep everyone waiting. Come on, please come in A team. Let¡¯s discuss the player assignments.¡± The smokers on the balcony pinched their cigarettes and the people in the living room all stood up. They all walked into his room. Solo sorted out his desk. ¡°I¡¯ve been pretty busy recently and haven¡¯t paid much attention to Secret Room. Slide, come, talk to us about the current rankings.¡° Usually this was Ai Qing¡¯s task. Slide was surprised to hear Solo call on him, but he cleared his throat immediately. ¡°It¡¯s still the same. For K&K, aside for Dt who still remains at first place, the other two, though ranked among the top ten, are not ranked that high-- --¡± Solo threw a pen at him and said, ¡°Write the rankings down and let¡¯s look at it. Slide stood up and wrote down a series of names on the whiteboard. He remembered the top forty rankings without missing a single one. He pulled out his cell phone and surfed some web pages after he finished writing. Then he even wrote down all their scores. Solo looked at the list from top to bottom. Then he looked back at the top ten: Dt: 7694 Slide: 7480 Taotao: 7356 Buff: 7098 Inin: 7057 Grunt: 7057 All: 6900 Bug: 6877 97: 6831 Following: 6793 ¡­¡­ Looking at the top ten, SP¡¯s A team were all in there. K&K¡¯s three players were really strong. There were only two exceptions. One was Solo team¡¯s long time opponent Buff. The other one¡­... he was this year¡¯s black horse. Looking at the top twenty, all of SP players were on the list. Buff¡¯s team were all in there as well. Even the team led by the black horse was there. But K&K still had only three players in there. All the others were random internet players. ¡°K&K should be recruiting now.¡± Solo spoke as if he were talking to himself. His eyes finally looked at Ai Qing for the first time today, ¡°What do you think?¡± ¡®Me?¡± Ai QIng pondered. ¡°Other games all have very strict rules. ¡°True.¡± Solo repeated. ¡°It¡¯s very challenging.¡± ¡°The most interesting thing is that only two teams belong to clubs among the top twenty¡± Ai Qing looked at the list of the scores and ranking. ¡°I have never thought about this situation before I took over the team.¡± Solo either didn¡¯t hear her or was deep in thought. He was surprisingly quiet. But apparently Ai Qing¡¯s comment wasn¡¯t that difficult to comprehend. She hadn¡¯t even really analyzed the team players, the characteristics of each player, or assigned players to offensive or defensive roles. Ai Qing waited for him for over ten seconds, then turned to Slide, silently asking him for help with her eyes. Slide understood. ¡°Ah, right. The situation is very unusual. Let me tell you guys something interesting. That Taotao posted an ad on Weibo last night to look for an offline investment.¡± ¡°Looking for investors?¡± Solo was back to his normal self. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because they don¡¯t have money.¡± Bug answered. He also recognized that there was something wrong with their boss today. ¡°They are not a professional team. I heard they are all students. Taotao is only nineteen years old.¡± Inin said, ¡°Oh, ONLY?¡± All depressed Inin¡¯s head using his palm. ¡°Don¡¯t interrupt.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Inin shut up obediently. But he still used his eyes to complain that nineteen years old was already too old compared to him. ¡°It¡¯s been getting reposted all over the forums and other sites. It¡¯s spreading like wildfire.¡± Slide continued. Too many things happened last night. SP also had a major personnel change. She had missed the posting. ¡°The most important thing is what happens right now.¡± Slide paused deliberately. Solo and Ai Qing both looked at him. It meant that you could continue now, we all were already paying full attention to you. He finally smiled slowly and waved his cell phone. ¡°Taotao just posted a message to Ai Qing publicly on WeiBo. He asked her whether she¡¯s interested in investing his team which has a great future.¡± Volume 3 - CH 28 Book 3: Glory on the Other Side Chapter 28 ¡°Me?¡± Ai Qing was surprised. ¡°Everybody knows that I¡¯m with SP. Why is he tagging me for?¡± ¡°Probably just a publicity stunt.¡± Slide laughed. ¡°In the internet world, a newbie, high ranked, young, and with a potential to be an idol, who can hype the news to make himself popular, then he can easily get endorsements or be a famous host or something even if he doesn¡¯t win the championship.¡± Everyone had different reactions to what Slide had said But Solo found the prospect quite interesting. He smiled slightly. ¡°Sometimes, even aggressive people might be very interesting.¡± A player at such a young age and ranked number 3 among the over Images of the past flashed through his mind. This rookie reminded Solo a lot about himself. Back then, he had also exhausted every means to make himself famous. Only then could he have more opportunities and find investors. It wasn¡¯t because he wanted a quick success, but¡­...he wanted to walk farther. ¡­¡­ ¡°If he really wants to make money, then he can just join SP.¡± All completely looked down upon these kind of rookies. ¡° already has a prize pool worth over six million US ¡°I heard that Taotao¡¯s team wanted to meet SP in the preliminaries. They waited till we registered at the Shanghai region then registered in the same region.¡± Slide continued. He turned around to look at his teammates, ¡°How about it? Any comments?¡± Some people laughed. Some people shrugged their shoulders. They were all used to having people challenge them by now. To these new rookies, whatever the challenge might be, their reply was always: ¡°See you at the competition.¡± ¡°How come? Aren¡¯t you going to do anything after being tagged?¡± Slide laughed and looked at her. ¡°Me?¡± Ai Qing was straightforward. ¡°My job is behind the scenes. You guys are the actual players on stage. I have just one response They all laughed. Two hours later, A team was dismissed. Solo called Ai Qing before she left. ¡°Ai Qing.¡± She paused and turned around. She saw Solo sitting behind the desk, slowly twirling a pen between his fingers. That hand had won numerous championships before, but had left the world of video games for a very long time. For some unknown reason, she thought about Solo when she heard that Taotao had asked for an investment from her. Ai Qing stopped for a while, waiting for him to say something, ¡°Anything else? I-- --¡± ¡°I¡¯ll take a short vacation.¡± His eyes restored his usual calmness gradually. ¡°You take care of the Shanghai competition.¡± Vacation? Was he going to be absent in the preliminary of the first tournament?¡± It wasn¡¯t his style at all. Obviously Solo didn¡¯t want to say why he was taking a vacation, he kept telling her other things she needed to be aware of. Finally he told her, ¡°You don¡¯t need to have too much pressure. They are all very mature professional players.¡± Volume 3 - CH 29 Book 3: Glory on the Other Side Chapter 29 The news of Solo¡¯s vacation was distributed by email to SP Asia¡¯s upper management the next afternoon. She had just arrived at Shanghai airport when she received the email. She returned to Shanghai several hours behind the team. At Hongqiao Airport, she pushed her luggage out to the lobby and immediately saw Dt in the midst of the crowd¡­...His hat was too conspicuous. She passed through the crowd and walked up to him. Dt stretched out his hand to take her luggage naturally. ¡°Grunt is using my car. He will be here in a minute.¡± ¡°Grunt?¡± Ai Qing was stunned, ¡°Damn. I already arranged to eat dinner with my sister.¡± The eyes underneath the hat brim didn¡¯t show any surprise at all. ¡°I know.¡± ¡°You know?¡± Ai Qing was more surprised than him, ¡°How did you know?¡± ¡°Grunt told me.¡± ¡­¡­ She could already predict the atmosphere of dinner tonight. It would be very awkward. It turned out to be exactly as she had expected. After the four of them sat down in the private room, Dt acted, as usual, as if it had nothing to do with him at all. But Ai Qing was unhappy and glared at Grunt from time to time. Grunt was turning the menu, but didn¡¯t ask the other three what they were going to order since nobody would answer him seriously. They were eating western-style food, which included several courses. The waitress, with a winsome smile, kept serving various dishes one after another. Finally, Grunt had enough. ¡°We are already eating our main course now, just bring all the remaining dishes here at the same time. Please leave us, we have some private things to talk about.¡± The waitress left and closed the door as asked. The conversation in the room now began¡­...it was immediately confrontational. Ai Jing placed her napkin on the table. ¡°Talk. Then I¡¯ll leave after you finish.¡± Grunt took off his glasses. ¡°There¡¯s nothing to talk about.¡± ¡°If there¡¯s nothing to talk about. Then why are you looking for me?¡± Though ¡°I miss you.¡± Grunt gave her this answer. ¡­¡­ Ai Qing gulped down some milk and checked to see what kind of cutlery was in her sister¡¯s hand. Hrm, it was a spoon, it wouldn¡¯t cause too much damage. Still, she took the initiative to move her chair closer to Dt a little bit. Dt looked like he understood her concern. He changed his position to place his hand on the back of Ai Qing¡¯s chair to protect her. ¡°What¡¯s the point?¡± Ai Jing put down the spoon. ¡°There¡¯s no point.¡± Grunt was not joking. ¡°I really miss you.¡± It was a long and embarrassing silence. Ai Qing was a little bit depressed and placed her fork down. As she was trying to find an excuse to leave, her sister stood up abruptly and Then-- -- Ai Qing then witnessed how the two really interacted with each other. One was wrestling and struggling to escape, the other one was pressing her down regardless. Finally he firmly pushed her into the chair¡­¡­ Ai Qing¡¯s first reaction was to turn her head around. The second reaction was to look at Dt. The man behind her had either turned his head away after he saw it or already expected to see this scene and had turned his head around beforehand. Anyway he was looking at the oil painting on the wall calmly at this moment. Dt and Ai Qing shortly left the room. She learned from the conversation between Grunt and her sister that Grunt had a showdown with his former girlfriend after he came back to Shanghai. It seemed the situation had improved. ¡°What has Grunt done?¡± She stood beside Dt and watched him swipe his credit card. ¡°Looks like he bought a bunch of pills after he came back, then he locked himself with that girl inside the room¡­¡­¡± Dt said in a low voice but he was Dt glanced at her and concluded briefly, ¡°It¡¯s just-- --¡± Ai Qing stared at him. He¡­...he still couldn¡¯t say it. ¡°Did he threaten the girl that he would eat as much pills as her? If she kept pushing him, then they would together¡­...uhm.¡± Ai Qing gave up asking him and began to guess according to Grunt¡¯s character, ¡°It sounds like something Grunt would do.¡± Dt sort of admitting it by lightly answering, ¡°Un.¡± Dt paid the bill and drove her home. When he drove into her community, she found that Dt seemed to know the roads quite well. He found a parking space very quickly. ¡°It can¡¯t be that you¡¯ve sneaked out here to get familiar with the area?¡± She asked lightly. ¡°Uhm.¡± He gave a simple answer. ¡­¡­ She turned her head to look outside of the window and couldn¡¯t help smiling. It¡¯s so cute, he even sneaked out here to check out the location and practice his parking. Volume 3 - CH 30 Book 3: Glory on the Other Side Chapter 30 The car was parked a bit further than she¡¯d like. Dt dragged her luggage and kept his other hand inside his pocket. He looked at her hand, dangling by her side, but he did nothing as he noticed the other pedestrians passing them by¡­¡­ At the front of the stairs, a tall man jumped down from the steps and walked straight towards them. Ai Qing looked at his face and stopped to ask, ¡°Why are you here?¡± They didn¡¯t know how long All had been watching them in the dark. All didn¡¯t show any surprise on his face. He nodded to Dt slightly as a greeting, then turned to look at Ai Qing. ¡°I¡¯m not in a good mood and want to chat with you.¡± Before Ai Qing could response, Dt put her luggage besides her. ¡°I¡¯m Ai Qing looked at him gratefully and whispered, ¡°I¡¯ll call you later.¡± Dt nodded silently. After the short conversation, he turned around and left immediately without saying anything extra. Ai Qing took All back to her home. She dropped the luggage in the living room and went to the kitchen to find juice for All. ¡°What do you want to drink?¡± All stood at the doorway to the kitchen. ¡°Are you with Gun¡¯s cousin now?¡± Ai Qing paused with her hand holding the juice: ¡°Uhm.¡± ¡°When did that happen?¡± ¡°Before we went to Guangzhou.¡± She took out orange juice and filled two glasses. She gave one glass to him, ¡°We just started.¡± Among these old friends, All was more inclined to Solo and had never stopped the idea of having the two reconcile again. She could almost guess what All was going to say, but surprisingly All said nothing. He Ai Qing looked at him, puzzled. All was a very straightforward person, but he behaved very differently tonight. He was always hesitant, finally he touched his bald head habitually and sighed, ¡°Never mind. Let me be straight. Several days ago someone broke the news that Su Cheng is the biological mother of Solo¡¯s daughter, then the grievance match round of ¡®08 was also dug out afterwards.¡± Ai Qing was shocked, then she got ahold of herself. She held the glass and walked out of kitchen. All followed her, ¡°This was the beginning, then I came back to Shanghai and talked to Solo about this. He¡¯s under a lot of pressure¡­...the reason why Su Cheng came back this time was to take his daughter away.¡± Ai Qing stopped and asked, ¡°What did Solo say?¡± She understood more than anybody else the weight of Solo¡¯s daughter in his heart. During those days in ¡®08, the picture of how Solo patiently talked to his little daughter using sign language was so deeply carved in her head. It was a Solo, as a father, she had never seen before, and that was the time she fully understood that she and him could never be together¡­¡­ ¡°She already took the daughter away.¡± All said, ¡°Su Cheng also resigned as the K&K¡¯s Chinese region manager of Secret Room today.¡± All left shortly after he briefly told her what had happened, without drinking the orange juice at all. Ai Qing thought it was a waste, so she drank both glasses. But her stomach was displeased with two glasses of icy juice so late in the night and so she turned on her computer to pass the time. She hadn¡¯t paid much attention to Weibo since Xiaomi¡¯s incident a couple days ago. It was simply just a mess. It still was. In annoyance, she closed Weibo and went to her streaming channel. Because she didn¡¯t give any prior notice in advance, the fans who were always online were surprised to find her online. They kept posting questions asking her whether she was going to stream? Should she stream? As the manager of a Secret Room team, it seemed a little strange to play any other game. However, Secret Room was a group battle game and she was alone here. How could she stream? She could only think of Dt, but she thought it would be inappropriate. After all, they belonged to two different clubs and shouldn¡¯t interact too much. Her own team was like All, just arriving at Shanghai and needed rest. But if she didn¡¯t stream, she would feel sorry that there were so many passionate fans waiting for her. As Ai Qing was at loss about what to do, there was someone online who took the initiative to send an invitation to a match. She moved her mouse to see the name-- -- Taotao? Volume 3 - CH 31 Book 3: Glory on the Other Side Chapter 31 Ai Qing stared at the invitation on screen. ¡­¡­ She turned off the table lamp and took her earphones off the rack. She accepted the invitation without a word. In order not to impact the rankings of the main players on her team, the registered id she used in Secret Room had never played any ranked games. But her routine training partners were players in her team. Occasionally when she was bored, she would use one of their accounts to play for fun. So her familiarity with the game and skill level were comparable to a professional player. Particularly in terms of close combat, even Slide couldn¡¯t out perform her. As for Dt¡­...that match between Dt and Buff flashed in her brain as a game of perfect execution¡­¡­ Maybe she should find an opportunity to play with him to see who was better. As she was thinking, she created a custom game. She set the mode to Secret Room Duel. The opponent accepted. The chat was in a frenzy the moment they saw she had set it to a duel. It was a rare sight to see in competitions. Even during their daily training, most professional top players wouldn¡¯t bother practicing the mode. After all it was a team game, it was rare to see a 1V1. But what did people who liked fps games want? Excitement! What mode got right into the thick of the action? It was a Secret Room Duel. The system began a five-second countdown. The sound of a ticking clock came through the headphones. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1¡­...The screen became dark and the two players were thrown into a secret room. Their view was entirely black. The two red dots on their respective life detectors were very close to each other. Ai Qing tried to back off a few footsteps till she hit the wall, but the opponent was still on the life detector. It was abnormal to spawn in such a narrow space even though it was randomly selected¡­...but she really had too much luck. In such a narrow space, it was better not to use any guns at all. Only the combat knife and machete were the best weapons. Ai Qing pulled out her combat knife. She pressed the tab key to switch to advanced combat controls. The advance combat controls were difficult to use, giving the player the ability to squat down, backstep, kneel down, go prone, somersault forwards and backwards ¡­¡­ and other more movements. Not all players used the controls, but it was a hard requirement for professional players. Whether a player was a skilled player or a substitute, victory would be determined very easily. There were no tactics and no teammates. They would meet in a narrow road and kill each other with their knives. The first match took 18 seconds. Ai Qing won. The second match took 27 seconds. Taotao won. ¡­¡­ In the last match, as Ai Qing wielded a machete in her hand and, a short distance away from Taotao, she heard the lifelike sound of gasping and the thumping of a heartbeat. She even felt like she really had a fatal fight with someone in her study room late into the night. She was at 30% health left while Taotao only had 10% health left, incapacitated. He was lying on the floor, unable to move. When she moved to finished him, a line of small characters rose next to the person in front of her. Taotao: GG Ai Qing put her machete away: no re? Taotao: I accept my defeat. Ai Qing: Two wins in three matches depends on luck. Only best of three is fair.. Taotao: I just wanted you to recognize my ability. This young man was pretty straightforward? Ai Qing: You¡¯re really good, you don¡¯t need me to validate your ability. Taotao: Then won¡¯t you invest in us? The words floated on the screen before they disappeared slowly after ten seconds. There were hundreds of thousands viewers watching the stream. It wasn¡¯t a good platform to ask for an investment. It was very likely that it would be attacked on the internet and become a sour spot for him for the rest of his life. Ai Qing looked at the characters disappearing, then she thought about the past¡­...the time Solo and Gun were looking for investments; Xiaomi and All had to power level others to make a living; and several young teammates turned in all the money from red envelopes they had received during the Chinese New Year¡­¡­ She pulled out a smiley face and typed words in the chat window which may cause a huge uproar and unleash a wave of wild speculation: How about this, I¡¯ll be an independent investor for your team if you win the Shanghai competition. If you lose, then I¡¯ll decide your future professional career path. Taotao: OK. It¡¯s a deal. I¡¯m all yours if we lose. Volume 3 - CH 32 Book 3: Glory on the Other Side Chapter 32 The chat exploded again. Who was Appledog? One of the bosses of the two largest clubs in the nation, SP and K&K, was her past lover and the other an old friend. She herself was the manager of SP¡¯s A team now and a top commentator¡­... Everyone was waiting to see a top player on the national server embarrass himself before Ai Qing left her answer, but were now amazed at what had happened Ai Qing logged off the game and turned off the stream. Her words carried a lot of risk. After all, Taotao only had a high ranking on the server, but had never gone to one of the large national competitions. She had no idea how well he¡¯d place in tournaments, perform in a tournament setting, work with a team, and even his character, personality, and personal life. Many top players on the internet were like meteors, disappearing very Only those who survived numerous tough competitions were golden. Just like everyone on SP, they all had experience in many different games and many international tournaments, as well as having good rankings online, before they signed with the club. She was acting a rather bit impulsively¡­¡­ Ai Qing figured that she would have to explain to SP¡¯s upper management tomorrow that she wasn¡¯t going to start her own club. It was just, it was just that¡­¡­ But what was it? She began to unpack her luggage. Her hands were busy but her brain had gone blank. The suppressed emotions just now gradually began to flood out. Of course she would feel bad. It was impossible for her to ignore what had happened to Solo. But she had to control herself so All wouldn¡¯t notice. Though both Xiaomi and Solo were important friends in her life, she could be very frank and show her emotions She couldn¡¯t even send him a text message to prevent any misunderstandings. ¡­¡­ Solo should¡­...be able to recover. He had left home and worked hard since he was a teenager and moved up in the world from an unknown person to SP Asian¡¯s Regional Manager. He was in his thirties, no longer that teenager in the past, she thought. She started to sort out her room after she finished unpacking her luggage. She mopped all the rooms and washed the glasses, dishes and chopsticks she usually used. Finally she poured some hot water and looked for some medicine for her upset stomach. Unfortunately, she only found an empty box inside the cabinet¡­... She drank several mouthfuls of warm water depressedly. How could Wu Bai drink ice water through all four seasons? The first time she noticed his habit was in Singapore. Many years ago, he was eating ice with earphones on while concentrating on his computer screen¡­...was he only fifteen years old at that time? Now he was only twenty-two years old. Ai Qing thought about his actual age. She bit her lower lip and felt a little bit¡­...perturbed. Would his parents approve of this kind of age gap? Besides, they come from different background that were very different. She wouldn¡¯t leave China because her friends, business, and family were all here. But his family was abroad. She wasn¡¯t even sure how her parents would react. She had many arguments with her parents because of Solo in the past, but now¡­...it was someone much younger than her. She expected that there would be some more arguments in her future. He just entered high school when I was in college. Ah, Ah. She felt guilty when she thought about it. He had dragged her along forwards; it had messed up her original wish to develop the relationship slowly. Ai Qing turned on the TV and turned off all lights. She found her cell phone on the sofa. The moment she picked up her cell phone, there was an incoming text message: Ai Qing. Only two words, which he had sent. Such a coincidence¡­¡­ Ai Qing slowly typed in: Uhm. Are you at the club? Surprisingly, he didn¡¯t reply. She waited for a while and followed up with another message: Did you receive my message? There was still no response. She called him on her phone. After a long time, it finally connected. Ai Qing asked him lightly, ¡°Are you busy?¡± ¡°I¡¯m right outside your home.¡± ¡°My home?¡± Volume 3 - CH 33 Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com. Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 4: The Return of the King Chapter 33 That was all he said. He started to climb. Another death notification appeared. ¡°Captain, I¡¯m finished.¡± Demo scratched his head depressedly. ¡­¡­ Dt landed at about four-fifth up the building. He quickly climbed up floor by floor. He jumped up to the roof as 97 and Grunt covered him. It was a minute later than what Ai Qing had given him. The two youngest teammates were out while the entire opposing team was still alive. The moment Dt landed, he switched to a sniper rifle and shot without looking through the scope. The entire process took 0.2 seconds. A death notification appeared. Following was out. On the roof without any cover, 97 moved in front of Dt. When Dt shot again at Bug¡¯s head, 97 was also fatally wounded. Two death notifications appeared. ¡­¡­ It had only been ten seconds since Dt landed on the roof and three people had died. Slide moved up. Dt switched to a long knife. Two knives slammed each other with a loud clunk. Dt¡¯s physical strength had dropped 30% since he¡¯d lost 30% of his health. He could only barely manage to keep Slide at bay with the weight of the long knife. Then he drew the knife back and turned sideway to avoid the short knife aimed at his chest. As those two fought, Inin and All approached Grunt at the same time. ¡°Damn.¡± Grunt burst into a string of curses. He was at roughly the same rank as Inin. With assistance from All, Grunt was shot twice and stabbed thrice in short order. Another death notification appeared. ¡­¡­ Dt turned his hand calmly, the blade touched Slide¡¯s arm and slid down. Slide¡¯s blood gushed out, his health and physical strength fell. Before Slide could evade, Dt had already kicked him away. ¡°Excellent.¡± Xiao Mai knew that this match was really important to Ai Qing. Her boyfriend was on one side while the other side was the team she led. So he took the role of being the main commentator. ¡°Dt¡¯s performance is even more brilliant than what he displayed in the Guangzhou preliminaries! In two short months! In just two short months, the difference is immense! The best player of this year must be Dt!¡± All held the bloody short knife and rushed to take Slide¡¯s position. Inin made for the helicopter at the same time. Amidst the loud buzzing of the helicopter¡¯s rotors, Dt pressed his knee on top of All. He had already switched the long knife in his hand to a pistol, which was now pointed at All¡¯s head. The helicopter lifted off. Dt pulled the trigger and neatly put a hole through All¡¯s head. One more death notification appeared. ¡­¡­ It was quiet in the whole arena. Though the players couldn¡¯t hear any sound from the arena, the audience were silent, showing their remorse for this match. It was too unfortunate. If it wasn¡¯t for this mission¡­¡­ On the screen, Dt stood up beside All¡¯s body and watched at the helicopter as it flew away. He dropped the pistol as Slide stood up slowly behind him¡­¡­ If it wasn¡¯t for this mission¡­¡­ What would the result be? Could Slide, Inin, and All joined together to defeat Dt? If K&K¡¯s Demo and One were more powerful players¡­¡­ What would the result have been? The screen froze with that image. The first national tournament of had concluded. Slide took his hands off the keyboard and covered his face before the camera for the first time. As the captain of the champion team, he still couldn¡¯t believe the result. It wasn¡¯t because he lacked confidence, but it was¡­...just too much pressure that he had finally revealed his true self.. This championship¡­...all the pressure he had carried, it was tremendous. Since he was a teenager, he had been in and out of this circle. He was reluctant to give it up, yet he couldn¡¯t let it go, he still wanted to do it, he still wanted the honor, and he still wanted the championship. Yes, he wanted what everybody else wanted. He never mentioned to anybody about the unfair treatment he received in Germany. When he was at that computer city manning his shop, he still envied those who played professionally. After he returned to the professional world, he acted as if it was easy for him. But as the captain, he bore great expectation from all his friends, Ai Qing and Solo''s trust, and the expectation and suspicion from SP management-- -- All couldn¡¯t really bear it, he took off his own team jacket to put over Slide¡¯s face and upper body. He blocked the cameras for Slide. Volume 3 - CH 34 Book 3: Glory on the Other Side Chapter 34 There were several times Ai Qing wanted to go out and clear everything up. Despite being so old, she was inexperienced dealing with men like this, especially when it was forced upon her. It wasn¡¯t a simple thing to forget the anger she felt for him. For the whole night, her brain played fragments of their time together. Sometimes she was so angry that she wanted to cry. But it didn¡¯t take long before her feelings softened¡­¡­ Finally, she fell into a half slumber just as day broke. She saw pieces of different dreams before feeling someone press down on her body in her dream-- -- ¡°I¡¯m so sleepy.¡± Her sister complained in her ears. She relaxed, but was too sleepy and too lazy to speak. ¡°I fought with Shen Zhe for the whole night. Then I heard that something big had happened here, so I ran over here to take a look. But you look more carefree than me.¡± She kept listening. ¡°What¡¯s wrong. Did Solo reconcile with you?¡± Her sister kept talking. ¡°How does it have anything to do with Solo¡­¡­¡± She finally spoke. ¡°Oh, so it has nothing to do with Solo¡­..Didn¡¯t his daughter get taken away already? Didn¡¯t he come talk to you? How could he not come talk to you? Isn¡¯t the first love the most difficult one to forget? There is no obstacle now and he still didn¡¯t come back to you. Ah. Men are really fickle.¡± ¡°......¡± ¡°How about this, don¡¯t work for SP any more. You organize a new team. Wu Bai definitely would follow you without a second thought. I could sacrifice my beauty to fool Grunt to join. We then recruit several players.¡± Her sister spoke lightly. She slid off of her and ducked into the blanket, using both her hands and feet to embrace Ai Qing. ¡°The more I talk about it, the more doable it sounds. Don¡¯t you think so?¡± ¡°......Why does everybody think SP is equivalent to Solo?¡± Her sister¡¯s words roused Ai Qing¡¯s ire. The day A team was founded, it wasn¡¯t just Slide¡¯s team, but also hers. They were her brothers, her comrades. How could they cast away each other? If someone asked Han Shangyen to quit K&K and join SP, he would never give up those kids he had led either. ¡°But won¡¯t your boyfriend be jealous?¡± Ai Qing wanted to say something, but swallowed her words. In the past twenty-five years, she got through everything depending on her friends. In the end, how could she throw away all her friends just for Dt? Slide and All returned after they retired, Inin, Following, and Bug joined because of A team. And those substitute young players, the strength of their daily training was as intensive as the main team, but they basically had no chance to compete at all. And Xiaomi, who took the initiative to withdraw to strengthen the team¡­...and Solo, ignoring all objections, forcefully organizing the A team. All this trust from these people were all thrust upon her. How could she say that, ah, I thought I would be happier if I left SP. Anyway, I would have fame if I cared about fame and money if I cared about money. Why shouldn¡¯t I have a more carefree life? Goodbye. All my good friends? ¡­¡­ The deeper Ai Qing thought about it, the angrier she got. She pursed her lips, her chest tightened. She really wanted to call Dt to tell him to forget about it. We didn¡¯t fit each other¡­¡­ Her sister noticed that her mood had changed, she drilled into her embrace and spoke playfully. ¡°Ah, ah, my Gou Gou¡¯s angry again. I¡¯m just kidding. You always take things too seriously. Were you taking it too seriously again last night? That guy Wu Bai is so handsome. It would be a pity to break up with him. We don¡¯t break up. Good girl.¡± While her sister was speaking, she also massaged Ai Qing¡¯s chest to calm her down. ¡°How could you break up right after you just started. Wouldn¡¯t it mean that we¡¯re too whimsical, right? Poor Wu Bai.¡± ¡°......¡± Ai Qing really wanted to ask her whether she was her sister or Wu Bai¡¯s sister¡­... ¡°Let me tell you. Don¡¯t think I¡¯m shallow just because I¡¯m admiring how handsome he is. A handsome man is very useful. It would heavily influence the DNA of our next generation. Our Gou Gou has fame and money already. What will you pursue in the future? Don¡¯t you just want to have a beautiful child? So I have looked over all the young men around you, only Wu Bai is the best.¡± ¡°......¡± ¡°But frankly speaking, I really don¡¯t know what you two were fighting about.¡± Ai Jing kept asking curiously, ¡°Your boyfriend¡¯s personality is very weird. He begged Grunt to ask me to come to comfort you. But he just wouldn¡¯t say why you two fought. This boy¡­...how do you communicate with him usually?¡± ¡°......He doesn¡¯t like to talk.¡± Ai Jing whispered, ¡°Then how do you deepen your relationship usually? Do you two just kiss directly?¡± ¡°......¡± She decided to not say a single word. And went back to sleep. Volume 3 - CH 35 Book 3: Glory on the Other Side Chapter 35 After Ai Qing woke up, she packed up her luggage, pulled her sister up from the bed, and told her that she was leaving. If her sister wanted to continue to sleep, then she could stay. ¡°Make sure to lock the door.¡± ¡°Where are you going?¡± Her sister was so sleepy that she fell back into the bed. ¡°SP headquarters.¡± She really wanted to be with the team during this time, temporarily tabling all the complicated issues. When Ai Qing appeared at the SP headquarter dorm, with her luggage, to swipe open the door to her room, people in the hallway were quite surprised to see her there. This room was always Ai Qing¡¯s. They had a cleaning lady come in regularly like a hotel, so she could always move in at any time. She spent half an hour sorting out her room, then she picked up her room cardkey and SP has four training rooms. Each training room had a sign with the name of each team. Ai Qing pushed open the glass door that read . There were more than twenty men inside, who were all startled to see her. Today was still an off day. These single guys were so bored as none of them had a girlfriend and all their friends were from the same club. Since they had no place to go, they all came to the training room to pass the time. But the manager didn¡¯t living at the headquarters, what was she doing here today? ¡°Why are you guys staring at me¡­¡­¡± Ai Qing was a little embarrassed. ¡°I¡¯ll be living at the club until the National Finals ends.¡± They were even more startled. It was Slide who came to her rescue. He waved to her. ¡°Come over here, Gou Gou. We were just about to play a game. You came just at the right time.¡± Interested, she walked over to hear Slide¡¯s explanation. Briefly speaking, A team was too bored plus the Guangzhou competition had ignited their competitive spirit, they wanted to play with RAP in a private game. Of course, they weren¡¯t the ones looking for trouble. Afterall it was RAP, after beating Buff at the Guangzhou show match, verbally blasted their arch enemy SP during their post-game interview, again. ¡°Another reason is------Dt is so popular right now. His accumulated score is the highest in all four servers.¡± All continued to talk after Ai Qing sat down. ¡°After he won at the Guangzhou competition, he grew even more popular. K&K¡¯s popularity is overshadowing SP. If we don¡¯t play a good game now, even the other SP¡¯s regions will forget we even exist.¡± Inin¡¯s eyes had brightened up. He wasn¡¯t paying attention to what Slide and All were talking about. He just excited to hear the name ¡°Dt¡±, more excited than if he had been praised. ¡°Dt must be the first Secret Room maestro.¡± All pressed down Inin¡¯s head in annoyance. ¡°Ya little brat. If you continue your personal worship, I¡¯ll beat you up.¡± A maestro? A maestro leads a whole era. An honorary title given to the person who Ai Qing became lost in her thoughts. Dt had left before her sister arrived at her home. So what should she do next. Should she find a time to talk with him? But after last night, she couldn¡¯t face him normally at all. He wanted to bed her in less than ten days after getting together. She even began to doubt whether the Wu Bai she had liked was actually the real him. Perhaps the kind of relationship she was looking for was a totally different one from what he was pursuing. ¡°Gou Gou?¡± Slide slanted his head and asked her, ¡°Should we play a game with them?¡± Ai Qing pulled back her distracted heart and looked at her own teammates, ¡°All right. As long as you aren¡¯t afraid of leaking our tactics.¡± Slide laughed. ¡°The really good ones won¡¯t get cracked in such a short time.¡± Once they made the decision, there was nothing more to say about the matter. They sent out the invitation. Once the opponent accepted, then they could start the game and begin. They waited for about three minutes. A chat window popped out on the computer: The opponent had accepted. Please wait for a connection. ¡°Is the ping[1] ok?¡± ¡°Ok, no problem.¡± Following signaled the OK gesture and pulled out a chicken drumstick from the box, taking a bite out of it. ¡°Too cool. Brothers, beat up these insidious people into a pulp.¡± Four big men who cursed occasionally and a young boy who cried easily were all ranked in the top ten on the server. They had all won the championships in Asia or world tournaments in different games before. This was¡­... her team. [1]: ping is the time delay for communication between the player and the game serve Volume 3 - CH 36 Book 3: Glory on the Other Side Chapter 36 Ai Qing also put on earphones to listen to her team¡¯s voice chat channel. People from the other training rooms all came over to watch the match once they had heard that the Secret Room team was playing against their Scandinavian arch enemy. It was an off day anyways so it didn¡¯t hurt to have some fun. ¡°Aiyo, the news spread so fast.¡± All laughed. ¡°Buff and Taoao¡¯s teams are all online watching. K&K is here too.¡± Ai Qing slanted her eyes to see the viewer count at the right side of Slide¡¯s computer screen. The game system automatically displayed the list of viewers¡¯ names in order of their rank. The top three were, from top to bottom, Dt, Slide and Taotao. But since Slide was playing the match, Taotao was the first name listed, meaning that Dt was not among the viewers. As she was distracted, the mission type appeared on screen: Heart of City. The mission rules were as follows. The bandits have planted a bomb somewhere in the city. If the bomb is not diffused within 30 minutes, the bandits win. If the police defuse the bomb within 30 minutes, the police win. In this game type, only the police can buy a mortar, hand grenade, and incendiary bomb. But these 3 weapons can detonate the bomb. If the police detonate the bomb, the bandits win. Whichever team kills all 5 enemy players win. ¡­¡­ Slide blew a whistle. ¡°Nice. It¡¯ll be perfect if we get to be police.¡± Their assigned team appeared: Police. Everyone gave a thumbs up, their captain was great, like their lucky charm. The match countdown began. Ten seconds. The screen turned dark. When the map appeared onscreen, Ai Qing couldn¡¯t help but chuckle. ¡°Damn. It¡¯s Disneyland.¡± Following laughed, ¡°The hell, how can I live with myself shooting a gun here.¡± Though they threw jokes about it, Slide already gave the instruction to purchase weapons: ¡°4A1D. Mortar.¡± The 4A1D formation meant 4 Attack with 1 Defense. They quickly bought their weapons. Inin had the mortar, Bug, Following, and All had AK47 assault rifles plus a hand grenade. Slide had a sniper rifle. The police were on the offensive in this mission type. The only difficulty was that RAP could change the bomb¡¯s location at any time during the 30 minutes, playing a hide and seek game with SP. The theme park had many small buildings, it was too easy to hide a bomb in a hidden corner. The SP onlookers behind the five players were all thinking about tactics. How would Slide play? Nobody knew. Only the five players and Ai Qing, who was listening in, knew the tactics. The sun shone on an eerily quiet Disneyland. Inin walked forward holding the mortar while muttering, ¡°It¡¯s a shame to blow it up¡­¡­¡± All laughed, ¡°Little Inin, you have the heart of a teenage girl. You aren¡¯t going to marry someone from the club, are you?¡± Inin gloomily murmured, ¡°But I¡¯m straight.¡± Everyone laughed; his Chinese had improved a lot. Slide looked down the scope of his sniper rifle, scanning the distance. There were various statues of Disney characters and castles. It was too easy to hide. ¡°Go scout.¡± Slide said. Following and All put away their guns and quickly took the position at the flanks of the squad. One minute later, Following reported a location. ¡°213, 47. Northwest.¡± Ten seconds later, All reported another location:. ¡°213, 213. Northeast.¡± ¡°Mortar.¡± Slide didn¡¯t say anything else. It was an order to Inin. Inin didn¡¯t speak and began to bombard the two locations. There was a constant stream of locations followed by a short series of explosions. The sky was alight with fire, the young boy, covered by Slide and Bug, focusing on blasted each location that was reported back. Buildings collapsed one after another. Inin fired with precision, not a single shell was wasted. Inin was an expert with the mortar. The onlookers understood their strategy now. To deal with the theme park map, the most convenient way was to destroy everything they could in sight to eliminate locations the bandits can hide in. Following and All were sent to scout buildings to confirm that there was no enemy inside. Because RAP¡¯s players carried the bomb, if it detonated, then SP lose. The scouts, Following and All, both returned to their original position. They threw out all of the grenades that they carried to help destroy the buildings faster. Any building which was not destroyed by Inin was turned to rubble by grenades. ¡°Done~¡± Inin chimed in quite happily. The five stood at the shelter outside the haunted house. Their entire view was a firestorm, of burning ruins. Only the haunted house in front of them remained. The haunted house? Their view was obstructed. The passages were narrow and twisted. They needed to disperse to look for the bomb. This was like a 1V1 duel in a secret room. Very well, they don¡¯t even need to use guns. They were not K&K which had two weak players and were afraid of acting alone. ¡°Brothers.¡± Slide¡¯s voice passed through the whole channel, ¡°Let¡¯s start killing.¡± The five monitors in a row showed that they all simultaneously pulled out daggers. They disappeared into the haunted house. Volume 3 - CH 38 Book 3: Glory on the Other Side Chapter 38 ¡°Everybody, time to order dinner.¡± Someone opened the door. ¡°Ai Qing¡¯s here, too? Do you want to order something?¡± She shook her head. ¡°No need. I have dinner plans.¡± Well, what was her dinner plan? Half an hour later, Ai Qing sat in the bakery about ten minutes walking distance from the SP building. She bit on a spoon while looking through the window, lost in thought. Two girls sat next to her talking about their quarrels with their respective boyfriend. They were talking with such excitement that Ai Qing couldn¡¯t avoid overhearing them. One girl said she Ai Qing continued to bite the spoon while looking at the passing pedestrians and vehicles on the street. She felt heavy in her heart. Slowly, she widened her eyes, but very quickly, looked back. How did he know that she was here? Ah, right, a while ago, her sister texted her asking where she was eating dinner. She replied that she was eating cake as dinner. Her sister must have texted him the location of her most favorite bakery. She lowered her head and kept poking the cake in front of her with the spoon. One slice of cake, two slices of cake, three slices of cake, four slices of cake¡­...until the thirteenth slice of chestnut cake was served on the table and there was no more room for it. She finally was forced to raise her head. ¡°What are you doing ordering so many cakes¡­¡­¡± He didn¡¯t speak. All right. He was still the same. The heaviness she felt in her heart, which had gone away while she was distracted by the cakes just now, came back again. Sometimes she felt that his refusal to talk was cute. But now she wondered, could he use silence to solve all the problems in his life? The girls sitting at the next table, who were in a fierce discussion moments before, were now glancing at them. They had completely forgotten the subject they were discussing. She even saw somebody raise a cell phone trying to shoot a picture of the table full of cakes. She was very embarrassed. She didn¡¯t care whether they two were still fighting and waved her hand to call a store clerk to pack all the cakes. The clerk handily packed all the cakes and handed them to Dt. When they left the bakery, she hesitated whether she should walk back by herself or follow him to the parking lot. The eyes hidden underneath the shadow of the hat brim looked at her. He said in a lower voice, ¡°I¡¯ll take you back.¡± The voice was very low, as if the wind would easily blow it away. Obviously, it was him who made the mistake, but somehow she felt like she was the one who was bullying him¡­¡­ Ai Qing looked at his eyes, then her heart inexplicably softened. She didn¡¯t speak as she followed him to the parking lot. The cakes were placed in the back seat and the door was shut. It was very quiet inside the confined space. Dt stretched out his hand to take off his hat, revealing his whole face. He turned aside to take out a laptop computer from the backseat, turning it on. His fingers typed on the keyboard, quickly pulling out a folder not long after. The name of the folder was Appledog. Ai Qing was startled. She felt a strong sense of deja vu, she had seen this folder before. He put the computer on his lap and turned to her. ¡°It was ¡®07 in Singapore, you saw this folder then.¡± His memory apparently was much better than hers. ¡°This folder has everything related to you; you competition videos, interviews, news¡­...and pictures.¡± As Dt was talking, he also looked at her face at the same time. He feared that if he didn¡¯t express it well, he might screw up everything. Ai Qing stared at the computer screen. Finally she remembered, she actually had seen this folder. Volume 4 - CH 1 Book 4: The Return of the King Chapter 1 Two months later. Ai Qing sat in the emergency room of the otolaryngology clinic. She gestured to Dt who stood at the door. ¡°You go out. Go out.¡± Although she had never been in a hospital to extract a fish bone, but she definitely had to open her mouth wide and there was no doubt about it. In front of him like this¡­...it would look too ugly. Unfortunately, the doctor didn¡¯t give her an opportunity to keep her image. ¡°Open your mouth.¡± Ai Qing had no choice except to open her mouth obediently. Doctor stood up silently three seconds later. He opened the cabinet behind him and took out a green bag. He put it on the counter and opened it to pick out the tools he needed. Dt slightly frowned. ¡°Are you certain it was a fish bone? Or was it something else that¡¯s making you uncomfortable?¡± ¡°Really.¡± Ai Qing pointed to her throat. ¡°Right here-- --¡± ¡°I already saw it.¡± Doctor interrupted their conversation very efficiently. The tweezer went in and the fish bone was taken out. It hadn¡¯t even been three minutes since they had walked in the emergency room when their problem was solved. On their way back, Ai Qing still kept recollecting the fish bone extraction. ¡°It was really long. If he hadn¡¯t taken it out, would I die because it got stuck in my throat?¡± The man who was driving did not speak, only glanced at her silently. All right¡­...forget about it. Originally, they planned to go to a movie. But her throat felt uncomfortable when they were buying tickets. She specifically bought a big bucket of popcorn and coke and tried to wash the little fish bone down. But it got worse and worse to the point that the movie theater became the emergency room. ¡°Let¡¯s go see the midnight show then?¡± Ai Qing suggested. So they were in the theater half an hour later. Dt looked at all the movies that they were showing, then lowered his head His dark eyes stared at her face for a little while. It was already the fourth time he had done this. Ai Qing was bewildered by being watched by him like this. She thought that maybe she said something wrong and silently recalled all the words she had said¡­...He didn¡¯t say anything and moved his eyes away. Her lips looked so pretty tonight, so moist and soft. Volume 4 - CH 2 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 4: The Return of the King Chapter 2 The next day was the first of the three-day preliminaries at Shanghai. Shanghai was the last preliminary in the nation. It was the final stop of the eight-city preliminaries. The past three months have been wonderful to watch. The brightest moment among the seven preliminaries that already concluded was at Guangzhou, because there was one of the two largest clubs, K&K, and a veteran team, Buff. And now, this stadium would draw even more attention for the next The moment the SP bus drove into the stadium parking lot, the fans crowding outside the stadium went into a frenzy. Ai Qing looked at the passionate girls surrounding the bus and the more numerous men at the distance and spoke to Slide in a low voice, ¡°I would never have imagined ten or even five years ago that esports would be so hot nowadays.¡± ¡°It¡¯s more than that. The seats are all sold out. The attendance rate is the same as the highest attendance rates of the CBA.¡± Baona took off his sunglasses. He raised his eyebrows to Ai Qing, proud of his foresight in joining SP from the start. ¡°The black market is selling the 40 RMB tickets for the first two days of the preliminaries for 150. The tickets for the final day are 400.¡± Slide stood up and grabbed his backpack from the luggage rack. As everybody began to collect their bags, only Ai Qing and Baona relaxedly But they had underestimated the power of a celebrity team. Before Ai Qing¡¯s foot touched the ground, she was shoved aside by the crowd. After she confusedly and awkwardly squeezed out from the crowd of fans who were swarming towards them, she turned back to find a sea of cell phones in the air taking pictures. Even Bug, the least handsome, most nerdy looking, of the bunch had a younger girl hugging his neck with a V sign. Slide embarrassedly lifted his arms high up. A young girl, who looked as red as a beet, in front of him gave him a book. ¡°This is the book you mentioned on Weibo that you couldn¡¯t find.¡± Before she finished, there were more small gifts being presented to him¡­¡­ Ai Qing pulled aside her boss who was in a daze from all the shoving. She pointed to the stadium. ¡°Let¡¯s wait on the stairs¡­...¡± Baona kept looking back at the lively scene. ¡°Oh, oh. That guy¡¯s really popular with girls.¡± When all the players freed themselves from the crowd and hurriedly walked into the players entrance, even the security guards were excited. ¡°There were a bunch of boys before you. Same thing happened to them. Those young girls said that you guys are star players. It¡¯s hard to imagine that esports has come so far, eh?¡± Slide was in a fluster, opening his backpack to stuff the various gifts in. All hugged his neck. ¡°Captain, you¡¯re really something.¡± ¡°It¡¯s another type of trouble. Trouble.¡± Slide pushed All away with his elbow and tidied his outfit. ¡°Bothers, no joking around. Let¡¯s go.¡± Other than the first match in Korea and the game with RAP two months ago, SP¡¯s A team was like a shadow waiting to come into the light. But now, here, their first official competition was about to begin. Ai Qing walked into the arena and signed in at the staff station. Somebody patted her shoulder just as she had put down the pen, ¡°Boss.¡± Uhm? Ai Qing turned her head back to see a strange face. ¡°Boss, finally I can formally introduce myself.¡± The big boy with hair dyed peach pink stretched out his hand. He made the self introduction in a business-like manner. ¡°I am Taotao. Tao Qitao.¡± The staff at the registration station all stared at them with interest. The nineteen years old Taotao, who was ranked number 3 in China, had drawn the attention of a lot of fans since he walked in the arena. It was a show of his popularity. The organizer¡¯s marketing people even took pictures with him trying to cultivate him as the star player¡­...And now, this big boy, stood calmly in front of Ai Qing making a self introduction. ¡°Hello.¡± Ai Qing candorly shook his hand. ¡°Do your best.¡± It didn¡¯t matter whether he would lose or win. Just do your best... Volume 4 - CH 3 Book 4: The Return of the King Chapter 3 All the teams in the players area had witnessed their meeting. This included K&K which had come to observe. When she returned to Baona¡¯s side, the pre-game warm-up had already begun. On the large screen, they were introducing the star teams and players from the last 7 preliminaries. In order to boost the tournament¡¯s visibility, they had been running a popularity contest on the internet and were about to release the results. ¡°Do you think that rookie king is very promising?¡± Baona asked her in low voice. Ai Qing nodded. The last words that boy told her was, ¡°I may not win now, but I definitely will be the one to replace Slide in the future.¡± He was very confident, very clear minded, and very straightforward. In another year or at most two, Slide and All would retire one after another. After all, the future was for the rookies. On the large screen, pictures of players started to disappear one by one. At last, there were only five pictures which were then enlarged, replacing each other on screen. The first picture displayed was naturally the man wearing a black baseball cap. As his picture gradually magnified, the fans in arena began screaming excitedly. Fans kept yelling ¡°D Devil¡±, ¡°D Devil¡±...... This was Dt¡¯s new nickname on the internet. It seemed that a very famous hostess was the first one to give him the Baona clicked his tongue a couple of times. ¡°His popularity is too high. It¡¯s scary, very scary. I looked at the votes backstage. He has 30% more votes than second place. He¡¯s practically a national icon.¡± Ai Qing kept silent and glanced over there again. The next four players were listed according to the order of internet popularity, Slide, Taotao, Grunt, and Bug. So when Bug¡¯s picture popped out, a not so handsome, bespectacled, and somewhat serious looking man, he was stunned¡­¡­ SP teammates burst into jeers. The whole group booed, further reddening Bug¡¯s face. ¡°It¡¯s, it¡¯s, the system was probably down¡­¡­¡± All pushed him and laughed loudly. ¡°You brat, don¡¯t push your luck. Don¡¯t you know that this means you have the charisma in the future to find a wife? Now your value in SP is only next to the captain.¡± All finished, but couldn¡¯t help adding. ¡°See, when I was in the old team, my popularity was lower than the captain and the vice captain. Now I¡¯m the vice captain, but I¡¯m still pinned under Slide and Bug. I¡¯m the third one forever.¡± They were laughing and joking here. Ai Qing¡¯s cell phone rang. She looked at it, while thinking that she should first turn off her cell phone so it didn¡¯t distract her when the matches began. But after she saw the caller¡¯s phone number, the clock suddenly stopped for a moment. Her cell phone was still ringing. Baona thought it odd and asked her, ¡°Why don¡¯t you answer it? Is it too noisy here? Go to the rest area if it¡¯s too noisy here.¡± Ai Qing shook her head, ¡°It¡¯s not noisy here.¡± It was not noisy here, not noisy enough. It should be noisier. It would be She answered the phone while thinking about it and put the phone to her ear. ¡°Damn. I thought I dialed the wrong number.¡± The familiar northern accent, plus the southern tailing sound he had picked up from living in the south for years, confirmed to Ai Qing that it was indeed him. ¡°Tell Slide and All not to shame us. I¡¯ve been watching every match. Let all these junior players see what ¡®Return of the King¡¯ means.¡± Return of the King¡­¡­ Ai Qing answered in the affirmative. She glanced over at the still arrogant and domineering All, the only player from Solo¡¯s team who still qualified to play the competitions. Though the captain Solo, vice captain Gun, sniper Appledog and the defense Xiaomi was no more¡­...except All, but this was their team. Everybody was still there behind All. Volume 4 - CH 4 Book 4: The Return of the King Chapter 4 For the first day of the competition, only the SP B team played. After Taotao¡¯s team came first in their group, qualifying for the next round, SP left early and concluded their observation of the competition for the day. It was the B group preliminaries the next day which would be their main battlefield. Ai Qing had earbuds in her ears and hands inside her sport jacket pockets as she walked behind her team. Taotao was indeed a excellent budding player. That was the single conclusion she had come to after watching the competition She was so concentrated in her own thoughts that she was unaware that Gun was leading the K&K players right behind her. Until she felt his hand on her shoulder and her earbud was suddenly pulled out of her ear. Gun bent down and spoke to her in low voice. ¡°Did you cry that day?¡± That day? Which day? Ai Qing looked back in confusion when he added, ¡°I heard that you cried in Sanya because I was hard on you?¡± ¡°Ah? Ah¡­¡­¡± So it was that time in Sanya. ¡°Actually, no¡­¡­¡± Before she could finish... Gun patted the back of her shoulder. ¡°I saw it.¡± Then, he took off the name tag from his neck and wrapped the string around the name tag. ¡°I was too depressed and had been frustrated for years, my temper seems to have become much worse.¡± He put the name tag into his pocket, then patted her shoulder. ¡°Gou Gou, don¡¯t mind me.¡± Then he left without waiting for her response. Her earbuds continued to play her music on repeat. Gun walked out through the narrow passageway to the well lit lobby, leaving her only a view of his back. Ai Qing felt the lump in her throat and lowered her head to look for errant earbud. Han Shangyen was an absolute self-centered and especially proud person. His temper was terribly nasty. Frankly, he was quite clumsy at speaking, he wasn¡¯t good at expressing himself. He scolded you when he liked you. When he treated you as a brother, he still scolded you. It really made one wonder how a man like this get along with his girlfriend. While she was thinking about all this, someone had found the dangling earbud and put it back into her ear, then he rubbed the short hair on the back of her head. The passageway was narrow and it wasn¡¯t the time for players to officially exit the site. This time, location, and this angle, nobody would notice whatever happened inside the VIP passageway-- -- Ai Qing turned off the music. ¡°Do you have training tonight?¡± ¡°No.¡± Dt thought a little bit. ¡°K&K is in semi vacation these three days.¡± ¡°Then come by my place for dinner?¡± Dt gave a light oh. Then he thought that she liked for him to talk more. He tried his best to add one more sentence. ¡°Ok. I¡¯ll take you back here tomorrow morning.¡± Tomorrow morning? Why did the conversation jump to tomorrow morning? ¡°I didn¡¯t say that you¡¯ll sleep at my home¡­¡­¡± She couldn¡¯t help complaining. ¡°......I don¡¯t mean that.¡± ¡°Then what did you mean?¡± She teased him. ¡°......¡± Volume 4 - CH 5 Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com. Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 4: The Return of the King Chapter 5 Their unscheduled dinner came with two unexpected visitors. Grunt and Ai Jing locked themselves inside the study after dinner, leaving the owner of said house and the owner¡¯s boyfriend out in the living room. It would¡¯ve been perfectly fine if not for the fact that the walls weren¡¯t soundproof, the conversation inside the study could be heard clearly out in the living room. The topic of their conversation changed from the details of their last quarrel, to all the long-standing issues between them, and finally about their first night together. Ai Qing couldn¡¯t stand listening to it anymore and knocked on the door. The interruption stopped their quarrelling. They opened the door and found an excuse to leave. They came quickly and left just as quickly. Ai Qing saw them off, then went back to the kitchen to see Dt doing some housework. He did everything at a five star level. He washed the dishes three times, then wiped them clean one by one before putting them into the dishware disinfector[1] and turning it on to begin disinfection. Ai Qing thought he was too professional. She passed the towel to him to wipe hands. ¡°Do you do it very often at home?¡± She simply couldn¡¯t believe it. ¡°I never did.¡± He accepted the towel and wiped his hands clean. ¡­...All right. Ai Qing went to the bathroom to get the hand cream and passed it to him. ¡°Here.¡± Dt obviously thought that he wasn¡¯t fit to use this type of girly stuff. He coughed and didn¡¯t accept it. She took it back and put it into her pocket a little bashfully. She then leaned on the kitchen door, watching him continue to clean while chatting with him. During that time, there were several moments that made her feel like relying on him even more whenever she glanced at that pair of valuable hands performing the most ordinary movements. This feeling grew stronger when she turned on the computer to watch videos of other commentators. She typed on the keyboard and soon after the home page displayed. She began to look through the videos she wanted to watch. The man beside her put one hand on the edge of the table and bent over to watch her type on the keyboard. ¡°......There¡¯s only one chair in my study.¡± She was so used to being single, that everything she had was just for one. ¡°Maybe, can you move the small sofa from the living room here to sit on?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t need it. I usually sit too much anyway.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± She opened a video. The picture popped out. It was one of his games. Oh, she didn¡¯t notice the title. But the video had already started playing, it didn¡¯t seem nice to turn it off. So she could only embarrassedly sit on the chair with the man beside her watching a video of him together while the popular hostess kept calling him ¡°My Emperor.¡± Actually, almost every hostess would give him a new name when they commented on his gameplay, from Rookie King, to D God, D Devil, to My Emperor¡­¡­ But obviously it looked like he wasn¡¯t aware of it. He didn¡¯t care at all about the excited voices coming from the speaker. Training and competitions consumed 90% of his life. He didn¡¯t want to spend the remaining little time he had on more video games. His lips were hot when kissing her forehead. Ai Qing slightly bent her fingers. Right in the middle of the hostess¡¯ worshiping narration, he moved down little by little, boldly. Being too tall had its disadvantages. Like right now, he was thinking whether he should kneel down with one leg to accommodate her height, or if he should bend down. His final choice was to stretch his arms over her underarm and pick her up. He sat down on the chair himself. He switched the position and let her sit on his left leg. He took off the hat and threw it onto the desk. His fingers clasped her chin so he could look at her. His hair was a bit long which blocked his eyes. She couldn¡¯t see his eyes clearly but there was one thing that she was certain of, he wanted to kiss her. They didn¡¯t get a lot of chances to see each other in the past two months. Both of them were too busy. The content of their phone conversations included each other¡¯s elementary school, middle school, high school, college, to each other¡¯s family, and the details of their interests and hobbies. They let themselves assimilate into each other¡¯s life. Sometimes she would ask him suddenly during their midnight phone conversation, ¡°Xiao Bai¡­...Why do you like me?¡± Why? He lightly bit her and stretched the tip of his tongue to find hers. In the quietness, they were doing such a simple thing but it wasn¡¯t the first time they did it. It allow them both to lose all sense of the outside world. Nobody noticed when the video finished playing. He shouldn¡¯t start. Once, he began it was like an addiction, especially when facing the girl who had existed in his heart for so many years. But this time, he had learned to be smarter. He knew he had to take it easy. Nibble on her ear. There was no resistance. Very nice¡­¡­ The warm feeling slipped to her clavicle. He lightly bit and bit. Ai Qing grew dizzy from the burning sensation. She lightly twisted her body. ¡°You little pervert¡­¡­¡± He responded with an ¡°En.¡± He even admitted himself. ¡°Did you¡­...Did you have a girlfriend before?¡± She was really curious. He choked on the question, then suddenly laughed. ¡°Of course not.¡± ¡°Ah? Haven¡¯t you like anybody before? Didn¡¯t you have any sort of confused puppy love?¡± ¡°Yes, I did.¡± Ai Qing: ¡°Oh.¡± She lightly blew her bangs. A little bit¡­...jealous. After quite a while, she kept asking, ¡°What kind of girl? Did you like her?¡± ¡°It¡¯s you.¡± ¡­¡­ ¡°I¡¯m asking a serious question. Watching my competition videos doesn¡¯t count. It has to be the one you really like.¡± She was chuckling and wanted to escape away from his leg. But he held her very tightly and didn¡¯t give her a chance. His chin pressed on her shoulder while looking at the computer screen. ¡°It¡¯s true.¡± It was when I was at an age when I didn¡¯t even know what love was yet. I had already fallen in love with a girl named Ai Qing. Volume 4 - CH 6 Book 4: The Return of the King Chapter 6 The original plan was for Dt to leave around 9 o¡¯clock. But when Ai Qing got up from the couch to get some water after talking and watching some DVDs, she realized that it was already eleven o¡¯clock at night. She handed him his sports jacket because they still needed to go to the competition arena the next day. ¡°Go back quickly. It¡¯s not safe to drive back so late.¡± Dt picked up his jacket and stood up. Baona happened to call Ai Qing at this time. ¡°Hush, don¡¯t talk. My boss.¡± She picked up the key from the table and pushed Dt towards the door. Baona spoke a few words, then switched the topic. ¡°Ai Qing, are you falling in love with Dt?¡± Ai Qing¡¯s heart skipped a bit. She kept quiet and leaned against the shoe cabinet, looking at Dt who had just Baona told her briefly that tonight Bug and All were overwhelmed by this issue during the live stream. All even had a shouting match with the online viewers, having a negative impact on the whole team. Baona had already given All a warning that he was banned from going online before the end of the national competitions. No one on the team was allowed to accept any interview about the issue. This was SP¡¯s response to the haters. Dt stared at her. Ai Qing shook her head and temporarily avoided his gaze by turning to face the wall to keep talking with Baona. She was becoming emotional, her head went blank, and she felt her heart tighten. She felt a lump in her throat, a very uncomfortable one. The phone call lasted for 3 minutes and 36 seconds, but it felt like it had lasted for a century. She ended the call. She put her cell phone on the shoe cabinet. Her voice was very light. ¡°Someone broke the news online that we¡¯re together. Your fans are agitated. People from SP were being interrogated online during their stream. SP has instructed everyone to remain quiet about it. Nobody is allowed to respond.¡± This was just what Baona had told her just now. Dt was the most popular player and had the largest fan count. To make matters worse, K&K and SP both had rules disallowing romantic relationships for their members, they didn¡¯t approve of their current members falling in love. Since the news broke out suddenly, diehard fans had a hard time accepting this fact. The fact that she was a manager at SP and had been with Solo before further aggravated the situation. ¡°Ai Qing,¡± Dt called her. Before he finished what he intended to say, Ai Qing clung to his waist. She buried her face in his chest, on purposely avoiding his gaze. ¡°I¡¯m not going to watch the competition tomorrow. I¡¯m afraid that the commentators will bring it up. You absolutely can¡¯t answer any questions. Don¡¯t let anyone catch anything that they could use against you¡­...Xiao Bai, you absolutely can¡¯t be affected by this.¡± This was a cruel world, just one careless moment could make the opportunity vanish forever. And my teammates------ She inhaled deeply. It¡¯s all right. It¡¯s all right. Ai Qing. It¡¯s all right. Don¡¯t worry. How could she not worry? How could they not be affected. Solo and all the bosses had entrusted the team to her. They trusted her so much, but she had caused such trouble at such a critical time. She couldn¡¯t imagine what it looked like when All, during the stream, yelled and screamed at hundreds of thousands of fans. She also couldn¡¯t imagine Bug, that timid and serious man, being humiliated by fans of Dt and K&K while he was seriously streaming a live game. All of this happened because of her. Next week was the national finals in Beijing. To Slide and All, perhaps this was their last opportunity to reach for the world championship. Nobody knew who among the five players of the A team might be forced to retire because their ability was degrading. After all, this wasn¡¯t like an exam where there¡¯s always a next one if you failed this one. Just like Xiaomi¡­...even though SP had provided such a good opportunity for him, he didn¡¯t have the capability to pursue the championship any more. Wasn¡¯t he an outstanding player? He absolutely was. Before he joined A team, Xiaomi was ranked in the top ten of several different games on Battle.net, even up until last year. But his rank took a nosedive this year. And he was only 25 years old. It was such a good event, filled with strong teams, but there was only one team that could win the championship. If you missed the opportunity, then it would probably never come again in this lifetime¡­¡­ Dt¡¯s hand moved around her shoulder. He wanted to touch her face to see if she was crying. Ai Qing turned her head away. She bit her own hand to forcefully hold back the tears. She didn¡¯t want to cry out. She absolutely refused to cry out¡­¡­ Volume 4 - CH 7 Book 4: The Return of the King Chapter 7 He took his hand back. He was used to handling these situations. She was fine, just emotional. ¡°Slide and the others are all men, they aren¡¯t as fragile as you think.¡± He lowered his head and kissed her hair, ¡°SP is a well established club and the two bosses of the Asian region are veterans in the esports circle. It¡¯s a minor issue for them. A very minor issue.¡± Ai Qing bit her lower lip and nodded, responding in a soft nasally voice. ¡°Uhm.¡± But regardless of her personal friendships and worries¡­...as an SP manager, she couldn¡¯t ignore the fact that she was affecting the players¡¯ mood and the club¡¯s reputation. In this circle everything was a business, from various large competitions to clubs. Fans, sponsors, and competitions were all very important. People would say that China won when they win the championship, but it was the private clubs which sustained all the players. Even a headstrong person such as Gun knew that he was doing a business. It was the business which supported the dream. Otherwise, it was absolutely impossible for him, with a temperament like his, to participate in any of those commercial activities hosted by the sponsors. Once she thought about this¡­¡­ ¡°Xiao Bai?¡± She asked with muffled sound, ¡°Han Shangyan definitely would scold you to death, and you are going to be punished.¡± ¡°Uhm.¡± He didn¡¯t doubt this at all. K&K had so many branches worldwide and all the top managers were watching the China region. ¡°He must be jumping and flying into rage right now. He¡¯s considering how to punish me to show accountability without affecting the national competition.¡± He was right to the point. Ai Qing couldn¡¯t help chuckling. ¡°Why are we so pathetic. We¡¯re like truant students hiding in a place to avoid punishment.¡± ¡°Especially when you cried just now, I could feel the desperation.¡± He joked, rather unusually. She laughed again with his jokes. But Dt could tell that the girl in his arms was still very depressed. Without saying anything, he moved his arms underneath her arm and legs and picked her up. His fingertips touched her chest and quickly adjusted the position of his hand to avoid it. Ai Qing was recovering from suddenly being lifted, but soon she quietly shrunk into a ball and slowly leaned against his chest. He walked over the porch and the living room and went into the bedroom. This was the first time he had walked into her bedroom. The room had a faint aroma, there was incense burning on the windowsill. He guessed it was probably to help her sleep. After he put her down on the bed, his hands supported him on both sides of her body. He wanted to say something to her, but he felt no words were good enough for now. So he just stared at her with his dark eyes. He even subconsciously pursed his lips, annoyed about his own personality¡­¡­ Ai Qing also looked at him and touched his frowned eyebrows. ¡°I¡¯m all right. It¡¯s ¡°I know.¡± ¡°What I feared the most is the booing from the audience at the competition.¡± Unless the audience was throwing things or brawling, nobody could stop the audience from booing. ¡°I know.¡± He tightened his fingers and his hands on the bed were curled into fists, ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± Ai Qing felt sorry that he had to apologize. ¡°Don¡¯t say sorry¡­...You haven¡¯t done anything wrong.¡± She pretended to be lighthearted and curved the corner of her lips. She sighed. ¡°If we had gotten together ten years ago, then it would definitely be you and your teammates being scolded¡­...But now it¡¯s me who gets scolded because you¡¯re very popular and your fans think that I¡¯m not worthy of you.¡± And I¡¯m a lot of older than you. Dt kept looking at her and whispered, ¡°No. It will always be me who¡¯s not worthy of you.¡± His expression was very serious. There he goes again. Ai Qing touched his soft hair. A person with soft hair usually has a good temper. Xiao Bai just didn¡¯t like to talk, but his temper was really nice. ¡°Tell you a secret, I have been jealous for a long time. Don¡¯t think that I haven¡¯t seen those words on your Weibo, something like ¡®I¡¯m all yours.¡¯¡± ¡°......¡± He was very embarrassed and at a loss for words. It would be a lie if he said he didn¡¯t see them, but he could do nothing about it since he could never stop others from posting messages on his wall. He had restricted posts to his wall once, but then the fans went to his teammates¡¯ pages to post messages asking about his situation and why he set his wall to private. Finally he had to make his But¡­...he didn¡¯t have time to go through all the messages and delete them, either. ¡°I set my wall to private for a while.¡± He hesitated to say, ¡°But then it created a lot of problems for my teammates and the Club official website, so I have to make it public again.¡± Ai Qing had asked on purpose from the beginning. She pretended that she didn¡¯t hear his explanation and added another accusation. ¡°And there are those female hostesses calling you ¡®Husband¡¯, ¡®My Emperor¡¯. What do you think about that?¡± ¡°......No comment. I haven¡¯t even seen them.¡± It was true that he had never looked at those videos. Ai Qing laughed and calmed down. She tried to stay awake to chat with Dt, but still felt a little bit depressed. ¡°Xiao Bai, I¡¯m sleepy.¡± She said lightly. Tomorrow¡¯s competition¡­...tomorrow¡¯s competition definitely would move on smoothly. Ai Qing, it was alright and trust your teammates. ¡°Go sleep. I¡¯ll sleep on the sofa to keep you company.¡± He pursed his lips and smiled at her. Then he stuffed her into the blanket like a little girl. He looked at her from her bangs down to the clavicle. He liked to look at her this way, because of the height difference, he didn¡¯t have much opportunity to look at her entire front face. So when he was able to see her at this angle, he had to do his best to catch up. He wanted to make up these twenty-two years without her. Ai Qing rolled over and closed her eyes. ¡°Little rascal, in the end you still end up staying at my house overnight. Obviously, you have planned it for very a long time.¡± He somehow She didn¡¯t sleep well this night. It was probably early morning before sunrise when Solo called her when she was half-asleep. She picked up the phone and put it to her ear and heard Solo¡¯s voices came from the other end of the phone: ¡°Ai Qing?¡± ¡°Uhm. Uhm.¡± Ai Qing sat up. ¡°I¡¯m alright.¡± Solo relaxed. ¡°Good to know that you¡¯re alright. Let me and Han Shangyan handle this issue.¡± Ai Qing didn¡¯t say anything. There was a bitter taste in her mouth. She pressed against her nose with her knuckle. These words¡­.she really hadn¡¯t heard them for a long time. Only when he was the captain did he speak like this. ¡°And.¡± Solo¡¯s voice was still very light, but carried some emotion. He seemed to have thousands of words after that word. Finally he did best to laugh relaxingly and simply said several very simple words. ¡°He¡¯s a good guy.¡± The feeling of this moment------ It was just like sitting in a movie theater and the last scene had just disappeared right in front of you. White words appeared on screen displaying many names. Many people who participated in this story quickly disappeared like running water. Finally, the lights turned on¡­...the end. Volume 4 - CH 8 Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room Book 4: The Return of the King Chapter 8 Though Solo occupied the memory of her entire youth, the time they were together wasn¡¯t actually for that long. To call it their story, it was probably more appropriate to call it the story of Solo¡¯s team. The story circulated in every corner of the internet, because the team was a living dream. They had created too many miracles. But if one could really go back to that time. Then you will find that the sites where all the miracles were created were hardly glorious. There was no high end stadium like the ones that would appear ten years later. There was no large high definition screen that showed the live stream. There was no professional game commentators with high pay. There was no TV station or web page to make live broadcasts on. There weren¡¯t many people in the audiences back then either. ¡­¡­ ¡°I believe that everyone should be very familiar with the usernames you¡¯ve seen so far.¡± A teenage Slide holding the microphone talked excitedly. He coughed, ¡°You don¡¯t need me to make any extra introductions about Solo¡¯s team. You knew all these star players very well. They are all idols, including Gou Gou, a player I greatly admire myself.¡± Many players in the audience jeered, laughed, and booed. Only players on Buff¡¯s team despised it. The hot blooded Buff despised the excessive promotion of idol players. But needless to say, the formation of Solo¡¯s team was very dazzling. Especially the two major players, Solo and Gun, the few female players that existed were all their fans. And the only girl player Appledog was especially¡­... oh, no need to say anything more. ¡°Ok. Let¡¯s see how Solo¡¯s team killed their opponents on Train. Alright, Solo¡¯s team opened with a 2-1-2. One at the middle gate, two at the red ladder, and the other two down the green hallway. Gun was at the green hallway, up in the front by himself. Ah! We can see an opponent, let¡¯s see if he can take him out?.....¡± Before he finished, Appledog was right behind him to take the opponent down¡­¡­ ¡°Beautiful!¡± ¡°Solo¡¯s team all begin to assemble at one point. They¡¯re all rushing there.¡± Slide Slide¡¯s commentary kept mentioned Gou Gou, Ai Qing took off her earphones, feeling somewhat embarrassed. An average game had fifteen rounds, each round took one and half minutes. Ai Qing rubbed her shoulder and stuck out the tip of her tongue at Solo who was next to her, ¡°Hey, hey. Praise me.¡± Solo laughed and reached out to stroke her hair. ¡°Praise.¡± After he finished, he stood up and walked to the podium to sign the captain¡¯s name of the winning team. Ai Qing jumped up and stretched her arms as wide as she could. She ended up hitting Gun in the face¡­¡­¡±Damn!¡± Gun covered his nose. He stretched his legs straight and slid his chair backward several inches away. The blood flowed down from his nose along his fingers. ¡­¡­ While Ai Qing was busy looking for napkins, Slide jumped down from the commentator area, walking towards her. He stretched out his hand a little bit excitedly: ¡°Hello, Gou Gou. I¡¯m Slide.¡± ¡°Do you have tissues?¡± That was the first sentence she said to Slide. Slide was stunned. Ai Qing depressingly glanced at Gun. ¡°I¡¯m in trouble. I hit Gun god and his nose is bleeding.¡± Slide responded by ¡°oh, oh,¡± then turned to the players area and yelled something. A pack of tissues flew over. Ai Qing quickly pulled out one sheet and tore a piece out of it. She carefully poked Gun¡¯s For the game that day. They qualified while Gun god had blood all over his hands¡­¡­ Everything went smoothly after that. It was like all their past efforts and sorrows had finally paid off. They won victories one after another, more and more fans, and the love she wanted, it was so perfect. Sometimes there was fangirls who came to the place where the club lived. Her favorite sight was how furious Gun became when the fangirls pursued him one after another¡­¡­ Solo was much nicer. Probably because she was already there when Solo¡¯s team was founded. Occasionally, while Ai Qing was in school, some girls would hand Solo small gifts when he participated in some minor commercial events or was being invited as the referee for some high school competitions. But he always politely declined. It was Xiaomi and All who told her about this. Whenever he returned the gifts, he was direct but still polite. She didn¡¯t know why but she trusted Solo entirely back then. Because when she saw him at first sight, he was such a sunny and pure young man. He was so polite even when he stood at the door of the internet cafe chatting with the owner. He was very polite to everyone, the complete opposite to Gun. But in fact, Gun¡¯s scores and At that time, it was a fad to post popular quotes. She was only a middle school student and she liked to jot down excerpts whenever it involved loved. She felt that each sentence was talking about her and Solo. She still remembered that night. In the dark room, they just finished training. He leaned on the chair with earphones on, she could imagine that the music in his earphones must be Within Temptation¡¯s because that was his favorite band. That day, the two of them just sat there face to face like this. She hesitated for a long time, then typed a line of characters in the conversation box on the computer screen. ¡°Love needs two people.¡± The light on the screen vaguely reflected on Solo¡¯s face. At first he just smoked his cigarette quietly. After a full four or five minutes had passed, he then started to type slowly on the keyboard and pressed Enter key: Therefore, Solo is not suitable for love. Just one line carried two meanings: Ai Qing needs two people. Therefore, Solo is not suitable for Ai Qing. Both she and he didn¡¯t know at that time that this sentence also carried a third meaninG. Volume 4 - CH 9 Players Trapped in Secret Room Book 4: The Return of the King Chapter 9 The year Solo retired, the headline in the CS circle was that the most outstanding commander had retired. Though he was only a captain for two years and played solo games the rest of the time, people were most impressed by his leadership. He never became violent or cursed. He was also very respectful to the media. The subject he liked most to talk about during interviews was his teammates. During competitions, he was the one who always dressed most appropriately.The foreign media had an interview with him. The first sentence in his introduction was the following: When most people were still Time passed, usually what was left were those good memories. But that night, the night that all beautiful things totally fell apart, only four people knew clearly how unbearable it was afterwards. ¡°Hey.¡± Ai Qing¡¯s hands were inside her pockets. She bent down and spoke to Solo¡¯s ear, ¡°I¡¯ll be graduating from middle school soon. What gift are you going to give me?¡± ¡°What do you want?¡± Solo said while pulling out his wallet. He placed all his cards out on the table and even put his id card in front of her, ¡°I¡¯ll give all these to you.¡± ¡°To me?¡± Ai Qing was shocked, ¡°Why do I need an id card?¡± ¡°Put you in charge of me.¡± He laughed with hands crossed behind his head. He swung the chair back and forth, his eyes focused fully on her. She pushed all of them back to him. ¡°If a person only knows love, then this person isn¡¯t worth to love whether it¡¯s a man or a woman.¡± She wrinkled her nose and laughed lightly, ¡°I don¡¯t want you to be some sacred lover and give me your id card. I just want you to take back a pool of champions.¡± The door opened while they were picking out the new episode of anime on the computer. Only Solo and Gun had her room key. So it must be Gun without a doubt. Ai Qing didn¡¯t even raise her head, ¡°You¡¯ve been going too far recently. Han Shangyan, you didn¡¯t even knock on the door. Didn¡¯t we agree that you wouldn¡¯t intrude when there¡¯s a sticky note on the door?¡± There was no response at all. Solo stood up abruptly. She felt strange and raised her head to see Gun and the woman behind him. She didn¡¯t know her. She looked at Solo again. Why was everyone acting so strangely? ¡°What happened?¡± Ai Qing asked Solo in a low voice, ¡°What are you doing. You¡¯re scaring me.¡± ¡°Who is this woman?¡± Gun pointed to the woman behind him using his thumb. ¡°She said she wants to see you.¡± So Han Shangyan didn¡¯t know her either? Then why was he still bringing her in¡­¡­ Ai Qing was even more confused. That was the first time she saw Su Cheng. This woman was like the most destructive weapon which destroyed everything mercilessly. Even till now, to this very second, she still remembered very clearly how Solo knelt down slowly in front of her and hugged her legs¡­...She also remembered Han Shangyan loudly admonishing them with red eyes and brutally broke everything inside the house. Then he lowered his head with a hoarse voice for the first time in his life begging her not to quit the team just because of a little girl. It had all their dreams there. But when she faced the sudden blow, she had been defeated by the problem of love. If she wasn¡¯t only fifteen years old, the age of a 9th grader in the third year of middle school, and had never experienced a single setback, then maybe everything would have been totally different. Volume 4 - CH 10 Book 4: The Return of the King Chapter 10 Ai Qing sat up on the bed for a minute, rubbed her eyes red, then walked out of the bedroom dressed in her pajamas. She quietly walked out to the living room. Dt was lying down sideways with his eyes closed on the sofa in the living room. Because he was tall, he had pushed the low, solid wooden table to the front of TV so that he could safely sleep without knocking over the teapot and cups. Ai Qing was surprised how strong he was, that table was so heavy that she couldn¡¯t even budge it¡­.. She walked over barefoot, opened a corner of his blanket, and duck into it, wiggling into his arms. She closed her eyes as Dt opened his eyes. He wrapped her with the blanket and pulled her into his arms. ¡°Are you awake?¡± She whispered. ¡°Uhm.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s chat.¡± ¡°Ok.¡± Silence. Ai Qing muttered. ¡°Why don¡¯t you talk?¡± ¡°......I¡¯m waiting for you to talk.¡± So, she gloomily shoved him with her knee. ¡°How did you grow so big?¡± ¡°......¡± Dt frowned his eyebrows¡­¡­ ¡°Why don¡¯t you respond?¡± Ai Qing felt strange and raised her head. After she saw his pained expression, she realized that she must have hit something she shouldn¡¯t have¡­...She made the quick decision to run away from the crime scene, jumping down from the sofa and running into the bathroom with her clothes. She stuck her head out nervously again ten seconds later. ¡°Don¡¯t come in here. I¡¯m taking a shower.¡± Dt still frowned, but sat up, and nodded silently. ¡­¡­ The competition began at ten o¡¯clock in the morning and it would last till ten o¡¯clock in the evening. Ai Qing kept pacing around randomly in her house empty minded the whole day. Dt didn¡¯t show up for the competition either. He stayed with her at her house the whole day. He only briefly talked to Gun over the phone once during the day to inform him of his whereabouts. For the rest of the time, he, just like Ai Qing, had no communication with the outside world, didn¡¯t go online, and didn¡¯t even watch the competition stream. They seemed to be waiting for something. ¡°Wu Bai.¡± Ai Qing used her fork to twirl the pasta that he had cooked. She took a bite and mumbled, ¡°Is Norway a fun place to visit?¡± ¡°It¡¯s ok.¡± He took a bite and felt that the sauce was subpar. He warned her, ¡°If it doesn¡¯t taste good, I¡¯ll make something else for you.¡± ¡°Ah?¡± Ai Qing continued to eat, ¡°It¡¯s good. It¡¯s far better than what I can make¡­¡­¡± She wasn¡¯t picky about what she ate usually, she wasn¡¯t even picky about boxed lunches. ¡°I just learned it from Han Shangyan¡¯s aunt once, but I never tried it.¡± He explained. ¡°I¡¯ll probably do it better next time.¡± ¡°Han Shangyan¡¯s aunt?¡± She thought about it, ¡°Do you mean his step mother?¡± Dt nodded, drinking the sparkling water in his glass. ¡°I¡¯ve been curious.¡± Ai Qing supported her chin with her hand and looked at him. ¡°You grew up in a foreign country. Which country would it be if you win the competition?¡± ¡°It belongs to the club if I play in a foreign country.¡± He wasn¡¯t ambiguous on this one. ¡°I don¡¯t participate in any celebration activities. If I play for K&K China, then the award belongs to China. Han Shangyan has already prepared the national flag.¡± Ai Qing bit her fork and looked at him. National flag. Han Shangyan had prepared a brand new national flag ten years ago. ¡°Oh, yeah¡­¡­¡± She was grinning, ¡°Then, can you sing the national anthem?¡± The man in front of her stared at her. ¡°Of course.¡± Ai Qing laughed. She looked at the man who belonged to her. ¡°We can too.¡± Though they belonged to two different clubs and worked for the commercial success of their respective clubs, but at the moment their ultimate goal was the same. Only the people in this environment could understand this feeling¡­...Ai Qing continued to lower her head and The clock on the wall read ten minutes past ten. The competition was over. Her heart still felt like it was in her throat and wouldn¡¯t calm down. She didn¡¯t dare to look at the results or the videos of the competition. There was an entire list of things she was too afraid to do and all of it weighed on her heart. She put down the fork and touched his hand lightly with her finger. ¡°Competition¡¯s over.¡± He drank the last mouthful of water. ¡°Give me five minutes.¡± After he spoke, he pulled out a napkin to wipe his mouth. He threw chewing gum into his mouth and squeezed the wrapper into a ball, gripping it in his hand. He stood up and walked into her study. There was the sound of him rapidly typing on the keyboard. Anxious, she wandered outside the room. If the audience reaction was too strong and her team performed poorly, then she definitely would take the blame and resign. Even if the team had done well, she still owed an explanation to SP and SP fans. Volume 4 - CH 11 Book 4: The Return of the King Chapter 11 As Ai Qing was muttering to herself facing the wall, Dt suddenly dragged her to the monitor. The web page on the computer screen displayed the results of today¡¯s matches. He hugged her. ¡°Take it easy as you read it. I¡¯ll go back to the club first for my punishment.¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡­¡± She nodded. ¡°Send me a text when you get back to the club.¡± Dt answered and picked up his jacket. He also went to the kitchen and carried the two bags of trash with him. The door was locked. She was the only one in the room. Though¡­...she wanted him to accompany her as she read through all the results, she was fully aware that Dt was the captain K&K¡¯s team. Dt didn¡¯t just belong to her alone, he also belonged to K&K and the whole esports circle. She walked to the desk, pulled out the chair, and sat down. She quietly looked over the results on the computer screen, line by line. Gradually, tears started to well up in her eyes. Her team had performed well. Dt had also left windows open that held the script of the live broadcast of today¡¯s competition. The atmosphere in the arena was very chaotic. There were also videos. She could hear quite an uproar when she played the video. He understood that Ai Qing would definitely search for it, so he just set up everything for her. Letting her fully understand about everything that SP went through today. As the topmost club in the nation, SP was always greeted by cheers and applause, seldom under public scrutiny. They were all heroes, adored by fans. They were also respected by players in the esports circle and the media¡­...All of a sudden, they were now being treated completely differently, from heroes to being targets. They had fallen from heaven down to hell. How many of them could easily deal with it? ¡­¡­ But her teammates could. Winning 5 games that went overtime, putting them far ahead second place. There was nothing to doubt because that was SP¡¯s capability. They weren¡¯t affected by anything, no matter what was happening around them. Her captain had been in and out several times of the esports circle. Her teammates had all won various championships. Fights in the arena, shady referee plots, and throwing games from the allure of money, they had all seen and experienced it before. Who cared about gossip and slander. Ai Qing cupped her cheeks with both hands while looking at the computer screen. She could even imagine how they waved fists to the booing audience after they finished the Suddenly she broken into laughter. She lowered her head to look at the cell phone on the desk. There were many unread messages. Since she had turned off her ringtone, she didn¡¯t notice them before. All: Stop this nonsense. Celebrate for us. Inin: Ya ya ya ya, can I eat dinner with my idol? Following: The little bastards were deterred by us and cried. Bug: Manager. See you tomorrow. Slide: Fortunately, we didn¡¯t screw up the first thing Solo had asked us to do. I don¡¯t want what happened ten years ago to happen again. Gou Gou, you¡¯re born for this. No doubt about it. Keep moving on. All your brothers are supporting you. There were many other messages from those she was good friends with in this circle. Among these, there were two short messages from unknown phone numbers. The first message: Madam manager, too scared to show up just because of a little storm? You really look down upon your brothers too much. The second message: Stay calm. There¡¯s always Solo and I. She felt a lump in her throat. Heaven, was this what not knowing whether I should cry or laugh is? Ai Qing put down her cell phone and cover her face with her hands. She rubbed hard and She took up the cell phone again and opened Weibo which had seen a storm of activity for the last twenty four hours since last night. She opened the app and then immediately closed it. She didn¡¯t want to look at them so as not to affect her mood. She disregarded all the @s. There were two @s that came from good friends after she had removed the spam. She didn¡¯t dare look at Dt¡¯s, so she touched open Solo¡¯s @. It was a long Weibo post. Solo: As the head of SP in Asia, I and SP officials will not have any comments to everything that has happened since last night until today. Nobody violated SP¡¯s rules and nobody affected the competition results. This matter is over as of now. Meanwhile, please let me speak for one minute not as a member of SP¡¯s management. I have explained about the disbandment of my team in the past. It was entirely because I wanted to play individual events. That is all. Please do not harm all my friends that I have had by any means. I thank the following teammates I have had in the past: Gun, Appledog, Xiaomi, All, Kaikai, Xiaoyo, 090, and Yiqian. To me, we have never separated. If a person only has love in his/her eyes, then this person does not deserve to love whether it¡¯s a man or a woman. These words have encouraged me to be at this position today and I will keep moving on. Alright, one minute is up. SP is still the same SP. Please continue to await our eventual success. Ai Qing lowered her eyes and silently closed the message. There was also Dt¡¯s message. She was too afraid to open it. She couldn¡¯t imagine how Wu Bai would respond to this issue¡­...She realized suddenly that he had left on purpose. He left her by herself to look at his Weibo post.Ai QIng took the cell phone and walked around the room. She really wanted to send him a message to ask him what he had posted. It was actually very easy for her to find out, but found it too difficult to tap on the message¡­¡­ After ten minutes, she kicked her slippers off in frustration. She sat down on the sofa in the living room and held her knees. She opened the Weibo post. He forwarded a Weibo post and posted a message. Dt: Since I was twelve years old, I have been working very hard in order ¡®to be qualified to stand beside her¡¯. She is the person who changed me from a person who had no idea about esports to become the Dt of today. In a competition, Dt belongs to team without any personal feelings. Out of the competition field, I belong to her and it has nothing to do with anyone else. @Appledog The Weibo post he forwarded was the short announcement published on K&K¡¯s official Weibo: Dt has been removed from the position of K&K Secret Room team captain because he had violated the Club¡¯s rules. Vice captain Grunt now replaces him as the team¡¯s captain, effective immediately. Volume 4 - CH 12 Book 4: The Return of the King Chapter 12 Ai Qing rested her chin on her palm and read Dt¡¯s Weibo post word by word over and over, more than a dozen times. She recalled that she had explained to her sister in the summer of 2010 about what the ¡°modern definition of a hero is to a girl.¡± In the game world, he, with his skills, could easily kill opponents, as if he was mowing the law, without any mercy. But only to you, that¡¯s right, only you, he would show up from time to time to protect you, coordinate with you to kill an enemy, and give all his experience to you in order to let you rush ahead without any worries to enjoy the ultimate enjoyment in gaming. In the esports world, this type of hero¡¯s halo was even brighter. That man was at the top of the game server and the most valuable player. He was the one who frightened all opponents whenever he led a team into a fight. He was the one who earned the cheers of several tens of millions people worldwide whenever he won a competition. He was the one whose name would go down in gaming history. But he told everybody calmly on a public platform... She had been the reason for him to move forward in order to catch up to her since he was twelve years old. Ai Qing held the cell phone in hand, turned sideways, and fell down free fall style into the sofa. She closed her eyes, but her heart had already departed from her chest, madly pumping blood¡­¡­ She wanted to call him, but didn¡¯t after struggling for five or six minutes. Finally, she texted him reluctantly: Call me when you arrive at the club. His response was simple as always: Ok. Now, she could only wait. She felt like a teenager who thought that he liked her but was afraid that he actually didn¡¯t feel the same way. Finally, she decided to get to the bottom of it by writing a note folded inside a book and give it to him, then wait for a reply. Perturbed, filled with expectation, her heart was rising into her throat, higher and higher.. But they had already been together for some time¡­¡­ Ai Qing patted her face gloomily, then her cell phone vibrated. She cleared her throat and put the cell phone to her ear. The call connected. She could hear panting from the other side. ¡°I just arrived.¡± ¡°Why are you running?¡± She muttered in low voice. ¡°The underground parking lot doesn¡¯t have any signal.¡± Dt was a little embarrassed. He had been teased by her many times before, but this time he was really embarrassed, ¡°......I didn¡¯t want you to wait for too long. ¡°Oh.¡± She held her knees sitting up on the sofa. It seemed that he had just been sitting in front of her, lowering his head with the hat on, and nervously clenching the teacup tightly. ¡°Wasn¡¯t there an elevator?¡± ¡°The elevator is too slow.¡± It was silent for a while. ¡°You¡­¡­¡± ¡°I¡­¡­¡± Both were speaking simultaneously and both stopped at the same time. ¡°Let me sing a song to you.¡± Dt quietly exhaled a breath. She was stunned. ¡°Han Shangyan said you¡¯d like to hear it.¡± ¡°Did Han Shangyan say it?¡± ¡°He said so casually back in 2000 and something.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± She remembered. ¡°Was it Beyond¡¯s songs?¡± Actually, she wasn¡¯t the one who liked to hear their songs back then. It was because Han Shangyan played their songs everyday in the training room. Solo liked to put earphones on and listened to songs like Jillian. So she was just forced to be brainwashed. ¡°Uhm.¡± The next two minutes, Dt actually stood outside of the K&K building, accompanied with the sound of cars passing and the sounds of the city in the air, and sang a song in Cantonese in a low voice to her. He sang it pretty well, better than Gun. He was singing and she listened, head in the clouds. She didn¡¯t have any concrete thought in her head and focused all her effort to listen. He cleared her throat a little bit after he finished, but his voice was still a little bit raspy probably because he was too nervous. ¡°I don¡¯t know Cantonese. I just imitated it, so it probably wasn¡¯t too accurate.¡± ¡°That¡¯s ok.¡± Ai Qing answered in a low voice. ¡°I couldn¡¯t tell even if it¡¯s not accurate¡­¡­¡± ¡°Are you happy?¡± He asked seriously. ¡°Uhm.¡± ¡°Then¡­...I¡¯m going up for the meeting.¡± Dt reported honestly. ¡°It wasn¡¯t easy for Han Shangyan to build up this club. I can¡¯t always let him give me free rein.¡± ¡°Uhm.¡± ¡°Ai Qing?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°The words in my post were all true.¡± ¡°Uhm.¡± Her fingers subconsciously rolled around the bottom of her sweat pants and she said lightly, ¡°I know.¡± Wu Bai had very high moral standards and she knew it very well. She watched many of his interviews in the past. Though it was to observe a black horse with great future at the time, she still did a very detailed study on him. He always had overly calm eyes in the camera. He never boasted randomly and never looked down upon his opponents. During competitions, he never resorted to any abusive behavior, be it language or protesting by exiting the arena. There was never any suspicion of him for throwing games on purpose, either. How could this kind of man lie. Volume 4 - CH 13 Book 4: The Return of the King Chapter 13 The next day was the final competition. When Ai Qing and Slide walked side by side out of the VIP entrance, their arrival drew a strong reaction from both the players and the audience. The owners and managers of many clubs in the VIP players¡¯ area were casting encouraging looks at Ai Qing. All of those who were sitting in the VIP area had been in this circle for many years, going from amateur players to professionals. They had witnessed so many different games and so many players, coming and going. Though they might not personally know Ai Qing, they were all expressing their support to one of the first professional players. SP club¡¯s fans all gathered in one area on top of her, shouting slogans louder and louder. Amidst the din of the crowd, Slide turned around, crossed his hands each clenched into a fist, and lifted both high above his head, showing his sincere appreciation. Another wave of cheers fell upon them. ¡°Damn it. Looks like we double the number of fans from yesterday.¡± Following looked at the area high above them with one hand shielding his eyes. ¡°Captain, your future wife will be very jealous about you with all these fans.¡± Slide glanced at him. ¡°Who knows if my future wife has even been born yet.¡± It took only less than two minutes for the dozen or so players to sit down in their seats, but every step they took was the focus of the whole arena. Thousands of people in the audience were watching their every footstep as they moved forward. Ai Qing looked back and saw an overwhelming number of flags and banners. Some of the fans were even dressed in imitation SP uniforms who occupied about one fourth of stadium. She sat down beside Baona. Baona laughed. ¡°You always wear the flat glasses when you were crying earlier. Can¡¯t you try some new trick?¡± Ai Qing pursed her lips and curved up her index finger to push up the glasses a little bit. ¡°I didn¡¯t cry.¡± She twisted the paper cup in her hands. She just didn¡¯t sleep the entire night last night¡­...so sleepy. At the same time, Dt, sitting next to Grunt, sipped some coffee from the Starbucks cup in his hand. K&K wasn¡¯t competing, they just reserved the first three row of seats at the southeast corner of the stadium. He and Grunt sat in the first row, the fans were only four rows behind them. Apparently, because of the series of events from last night, most of the fans had calmed down somewhat. Some fans had their hearts broken, but most of them were shocked. They now ¡­¡­ Grunt squinted and glanced at Dt. ¡°You never drinked coffee before. Ever since you¡¯re with your goddess, everything in your old life has changed.¡± Dt¡¯s eyes were very red¡­¡­ But he didn¡¯t feel sleepy at all. They talked on the phone the whole night. It was the kind where they didn¡¯t have anything important to talk about but continued to converse in low voices despite being too sleepy to maintain a conversation. Dt had never experienced falling in love, so he didn¡¯t know whether it was normal to be this clingy, but he truly enjoyed it. He even felt that he could do it again for three days and three nights without any sleep and it wouldn¡¯t be a problem for him to fly to Beijing right afterwards for the national finals. Of course, Grunt couldn¡¯t understand what was going through Dt¡¯s mind. He was already sluggish though he had just been promoted to captain. ¡°As brothers for so many years, I¡¯m just the nominal captain. Don¡¯t expect me to do anything. If you and Han Shangyan push me too hard, then I would rather jump to another club.¡± Dt casted a glance at him. Grunt shrugged. ¡°Your goddess is in SP, it¡¯s off limits to me. But I can still jump to European or American clubs, it¡¯s no big deal.¡± Dt silently looked at him once again. Grunt took off his glasses. ¡°Alright, I won¡¯t joke around with you. People in love are always somewhat abnormal. I understand.¡± All the K&K players behind them cracked up. Originally they thought they would overhear some serious discussion about today¡¯s competition between the two captains. Even if it might not be so serious, but shouldn¡¯t they at least comment about the outlook of today¡¯s competition? Since the K&K fans were only a row behind them, they all tried to pretend to be focused on the competition and hadn¡¯t overheard anything. From Ai Qing¡¯s point of view, K&K was still the same. Not everybody can fit in the position of captain. Grunt was more like a sharp knife than a commander. But her team was different. Slide, Following, and Bug all had been captains before. Whenever there was any problem, they could take over as the captain immediately. She looked at the pink haired boy in the north end of the VIP area. This boy was also a captain, but just too young. There were still ten minutes to enter the competition area. The surrounding large screens started to play the game trailers of the preliminaries in eight cities. Inside the staff area, referees put on their name tags and got ready. The commentators were in place. The live stream began a countdown. Slide seemed to understand that Ai Qing was paying attention to that young boy. He pulled out a keyboard from his sports bag and put it on his right shoulder. He hit the keyboard lightly. ¡°I know what you want to do with him. That rookie has to let us evaluate his capability first to determine whether he is qualified to join the A team.¡± As a good friend for so many years, Slide fully understood Ai Qing¡¯s thoughts. He and All were both approaching the age of retirement. It was very possible that they would retire after this tournament. And that rookie probably was the new captain that Ai Qing was searching for. After Slide spoke, the other four players understood it also immediately. All¡¯s two eyes instantly had a shine in them. ¡°Beat him up till he cries.¡± Following licked his lips. ¡°Absolutely no mercy. Let¡¯s take turns.¡± Bug and Inin chimed in agreement with less bloodthirst. Since he was to be recruited by the manager, then they would do their best to beat him up till he cried¡­...The excited five players were even more geared up, wearing faces as if they were going to swallow the ranked number 3 player whole. They carried their mouses and keyboards as they walked into the arena each in a hyper state of mind. The light dimmed as the song began playing, the players of eight teams checked their keyboards and mouses for the very last time¡­¡­ The final round of the national preliminary was about to begin. Volume 4 - CH 14 Book 4: The Return of the King Chapter 14 The final round was still a round-robin. The best teams would play the final matches at the end. After all other teams left the arena, the large screen displayed only two teams sitting face to face. Even K&K and Buff didn¡¯t have such line-ups. All 10 players were ranked in the top 20. Unfortunately, even though Taotao¡¯s team couldn¡¯t directly compete against SP as those in the top 10 had essential differences from those in just the top 20. Ai Qing looked at the large screen as it switched to a view of the game. Countdown began. She turned to look at the big boy with pink hair. He had already lost his carefree expression and was focused at the computer screen and the players sitting across from him who were rubbing their fists ready to swallow him whole. She cleared her throat. She had forgotten to remind them not to go too far. The three second countdown began. The game mode: Escape The rules for this game mode: 1. If any one of the bandits gets on the helicopter to evacuate within 2. Whichever team wipes out all five members of the opposing team within 30 minutes, wins. Uhm, it was a mission focused on firepower. Ai Qing pushed up the glasses on her nose. She saw that Taotao¡¯s team had been chosen as the bandits. The game began. When the match started, the entire audience was surprised by what they saw on screen. It was¡­...the Roman Colosseum. All five SP players spawned at the bottom level of the colosseum. There were broken walls and debris everywhere. It was the dead of night and quiet. There were npc soldiers patrolling and small fires caused by incendiary bombs strewn around every corner. Slide blew a whistle lightly in the earphones. ¡°Beautiful map.¡± ¡°Captain, let¡¯s sweep. Don¡¯t wait.¡± Following impatiently swapped between a knife and a gun. ¡°It¡¯s a perfect night for murder under the cover of night in the howling wind.¡± All laughed. ¡°Damn, are you the captain or Slide. Where do you always get this nonsense from?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t sweep. Find the helicopter directly and wait for them there. Look at your minimap and climb up from the cardinal directions.¡± Slide quickly instructed tasks, ¡°I¡¯ll accompany the mortar.¡± Inin immediately muttered Slide was amused. ¡°Who wants to protect you. Pairing up is just life insurance. Even if those three die, the enemy still can¡¯t wipe us both out.¡± After all, Slide and Inin were the highest ranked among them, as was their skill. Inin was delighted. ¡°Oh, oh.¡± The npc soldiers on this map attacked indiscriminately. In other words, whenever npc soldiers encountered either Slide¡¯s or Taotao¡¯s team, they would open fire. So Slide¡¯s team not only had to find their opponents and prevent them from getting on the helicopter, they also had to avoid the npc soldiers. Five people dispersed into darkness within seconds. Large ruins like this was the most challenging to a person¡¯s ability to control the keyboard and maneuver their character. It required everyone to be a master at keyboard control. Within three minutes, all five of them reported back in the team channel that they had all climbed up to the platform. Slide: ¡°Search your quarter of the circle and report back.¡± Following: ¡°Ok.¡± All: ¡°Alright.¡± Bug: ¡°Ok.¡± By encircling the evacuation zone without any gaps, then the location of the helicopter would eventually be found. Slide squatted behind the broken walls and watched the beams of the far away searchlights sweep over. He quietly somersaulted forwards. Together with Inin, they kept going prone, somesaulting forwards, and turning sideways to avoid the three beams of light. Just as he began to grow a little absent minded, he saw the helicopter and His breath suddenly became heavy. Blood reddened the goggles. He had been shot. ¡°156, 74.¡± Slide blurted the coordinates immediately. He stepped back into cover. He¡¯d lost a chunk of his health, down to 70%. ¡°Speed.¡± He spoke simply and sat down to change his knife to a sniper rifle. From his position under the moonlight, he had a clear shot at the helicopter. Perfect. Anybody who exposed themselves trying to get on the helicopter would be within his killing range. Inin set up with a sniper rifle to cover any blind spots. It was silent. Because Slide had been shot, the spectator view only showed their area. Only him and Inin could be seen on screen. Following his eyesight, the audience of the whole stadium could only see the helicopter and it¡¯s continuously spinning rotor. Following and All were there after a dozen seconds. Bug was still on the way there. Inin pulled out a hand grenade and put away his gun. Together with Following and All, they moved towards the helicopter from three directions. The moment a gun opened up, he threw the grenade and followed by a large explosion. All five opponents dispersed, tumbling away from the explosion. Following and All rushed over and killed two with knives very quickly. Before the rest of the enemies could even defend each other, Following and All had already flanked them from the east and west. Another hand grenade soon followed. The sky lit up from the explosion. Taotao took his chance and ran to the nearby helicopter under the cover of heavy smoke. He threw out a grappling hook. Without hesitation, he pressed the key to take off. The rotors began to speed up and the helicopter took off with the Taotao hooked on tight. His two feet were already leaving the ground¡­¡­ The red dot of a sniper rifle swept over his forehead like a ghost drawing a circle around him. Finally, the red light stopped at the rope. Slide curled the edge of his lips and pulled the trigger. A split second later, the rope broke and Taotao crashed back on the ground. He rebounded immediately and reached for the ladder of the helicopter. There was another red dot, after two gunshots, Taotao fell back down onto the ground again. He crawled up in disbelief and looked around. He was shocked by the accuracy of the SP sharpshooters. He was also shocked by how easily they were toying with him. Within a short ten seconds, Taotao¡¯s four teammates had all been fragged. The five SP players put away their guns and walked towards him in the darkness. A line of small characters displayed on the computer screen. Slide: ¡°Come on. Let¡¯s get to know each other formally.¡± Volume 4 - CH 15 Book 4: The Return of the King Chapter 15 Taotao clenched his hands into fists on top of his keyboard and looked at the five people sitting across from him. None of them were particularly expressive. There all shared a stern expression that shouted, ¡°We¡¯re competing seriously.¡± They indeed could afford to play with him a bit. This was the second to last match since the round robin competition started. Though Taotao¡¯s team was still at second place, they had lost 5 points. Five points was already too wide of a gap. Even if he finished the game in 15 minutes to win extra points, he would still be one point lower than the SP. And furthermore¡­¡­ Now that his four teammates were scrapped and the helicopter had already flown away. He had absolutely no hope of winning. The audience could already guess what SP was going to do. These five players had already done something similar when they played against their old enemy at Or perhaps a spectator wouldn¡¯t understand the meaning of ¡°toying¡± with someone until they watched SP A team play a match. These five people, from their captain to their players, enjoyed being unpredictable. Such as in Korea, such as¡­...now. Slide typed a sentence on the screen. ¡°A duel. One on One. We will let you win the game if you beat all of us.¡± Taotao: ¡°I don¡¯t need your charity.¡± Charity? Slide shook his head and laughed. Taotao was surely too young and rather arrogant to say that. He grabbed his water bottle and took a sip. ¡°Following.¡± ¡°Ok.¡± Following rushed at the figure in the darkness without his knife. Taotao didn¡¯t expect Following would come at him without a weapon. Distracted by his boldness, he was struck by a punch. Following then pressed him down on the ground, but he stabbed Following¡¯s chest twice before Following could punch him again. His hands were quick. Following withdrew before he lost all health. Next, All and Bug rushed him barehanded. It was two to one. Obviously Taotao was at a slight disadvantage, but All and Bug withdrew after receiving only a few minor cuts. ¡°It¡¯s my turn now!¡± The fifteen years old young boy¡¯s eyes were shining. ¡°One, two, three.¡± He was even generous enough to give Taotao three seconds to catch his breath. He rolled to Taotao¡¯s feet silently under the moonlight and shoved Taotao into the ground. Among SP¡¯s five players, only Inin played a female character, which gave him a 10% increase in agility, but a 10% reduction in strength. So in other words, Inin was weaker but the boost in agility meant that he was superior to the previous three people in close combat. After Taotao struck back, they fell into a tangle of limbs rolling on the ground. Inin was not so friendly as the others. He pulled out his own knife and stabbed Taotao¡¯s shoulder. Taotao kicked back, causing the knife to slice downwards. But Taotao¡¯s knife also penetrated Inin¡¯s back at the same time. ¡°I don¡¯t like him.¡± Inin whined. It was too bad. He was dead¡­¡­ Toatao had only lost 30% health after fighting with four people. Taotao kicked away Inin¡¯s body. His character was shaking and panting from his injuries. 4 SP players fought him before keeping distancing themselves from him. Slide walked up slowly. He threw his sniper rifle to the ground and switched to a knife. Slide: ¡°How much health do you still have?¡± Taotao: ¡°70%.¡± ¡°Very good, me too.¡± This was their last conversation. They both sensed that this was the finale. It was of no use dragging it out. On screen, they had already rolled into a single mass before anybody could clearly see what they were doing. Blade, knee, arm. Close combat. They separated quickly. Both of their health had rapidly dropped. Ai Qing nervously stared at the large screen. The health indicators on both sides were low. Slide¡¯s indicator fell to 30%. But the right side showed 5%. Taotao¡¯s knees became soft and he fell down on the ground in the darkness. He could not stand up again with only 5% strength. It was like the end of the battle between Dt and Buff. They weren¡¯t completely dead. But they couldn¡¯t move at all. This match was over. This was the difference between rank number 2 and rank number 3. Amid the applause and cheers from the whole stadium, Taotao relaxedly put his hands on the keyboard. He was totally convinced and looked at the man sitting across from him who was leisurely drinking his water bottle. In addition to Appledog, now he had another reason to love SP. Slide. He had been in and out of the esports circle several times. He was famous in the esports circle as the first Chinese player who signed with a German club, the Chinese team¡¯s captain in the Asia Tournament of ¡®07, the StarCraft champion in the Asia Tournament of ¡®07¡­¡­ Now, the captain of the Secret Room A team of the largest esports club in the nation-- -- Volume 4 - CH 16 The second match was also the last one for today. SP continued their winning spree. Ai Qing stood up and took the lead to applaud. She took off the SP name tag from her neck and lifted it up in her hand, waving to her teammates with smile. The five SP teammates walking down the stairs, each took off their name tags and lifted them one after another at the same time. This was SP¡¯s celebration ceremony. SP fans in the audience lifted their right hands to celebrate with their god like team. During the long round of applause, cheers drowned out the entire stadium, ¡°SP, SP¡±. K&K¡¯s boss Gun didn¡¯t sit with his own club. Instead, he was at the very last row looking down. His eyes fixed for a long while on that slender figure and the bald All at the players area. Some people never came back after they left. Some stories indeed ended after they ended. However, that didn¡¯t apply to Solo¡¯s team. ¡­¡­ Ai Qing happily gave a big hug to each one of her own teammates. Then she was pulled away by Baona. ¡°I have some news for you.¡± Baona acted mysteriously. ¡°It¡¯s both good and bad.¡± While Baona was speaking, he indicated her to go to the staff work area behind the stage with him. They walked across the rest area. The staff passing by them each nodded to them from time to time. And the new generation players all looked at these two famous people behind the scene with interest. ¡°Solo will be coming to Shanghai tomorrow. He¡¯ll take over as the manager of A team.¡± Baona said in low voice. ¡°Any objections?¡± ¡°Solo?¡± Ai Qing was surprised. ¡°Why does he want to come back so soon? Does he want to be the manager? Two managers?¡± Baona was amused and walked upstairs with her. ¡°He wants to be the manager so that you have time to do something else during the final competition.¡± Ai Qing was so confused by the cryptic line. But Baona was still refusing to tell it to her straight. When they reached the conference room at the second floor of the stadium, he pushed open the door for her. The conference room was full of people, all smiling and waving to her. The two commentators of today¡¯s competition turned around and bowed to her jokingly. ¡°Senpai.¡± Ai Qing was embarrassed. ¡°You all get together here to play a few rounds......?¡± ¡°No. No. Gou Gou.¡± The marketing manager was a player as well in the past, so he knew Ai Qing naturally, ¡°We begged Baona over and over again, he finally agreed to pass this contract on to you.¡± The man opened the contract on the table and put it in front of Ai Qing. ¡°The contract for a live stream commentator for the final tournament of Secret Room at the Chinese Regional.¡± ¡°Me?¡± Everybody quieted down. Ai Qing: ¡°As the manager of SP¡­¡­¡± ¡°You¡¯re already been temporarily relieved of the position.¡± Baona added. ¡°I still have a contract with SP¡­¡­¡± ¡°SP will take a 10% cut of your earnings.¡± Baona explained very commercially. The live stream commentator of the national final competition. Did she want it? She really wanted it. Because the top four ranked teams so far were SP, K&K, Buff, and Taotao. All four teams had a close relationship with her. ¡°Look at this. This is the scanned document.¡± Baona turned to the last page. ¡°Solo and I have already signed.¡± He passed a pen to her. Ai Qing hesitated for a moment, then she took the pen and signed her name. Volume 4 - CH 17 Book 4: The Return of the King Chapter 17 It was the final competition in Beijing three days after the Shanghai preliminary. In order to adapt to the gaming environment, SP flew to Beijing right after the Shanghai preliminary without any breaks. When they picked up their luggage at the third terminal of the Capital Airport, Ai Qing saw Taotao and four young big boys behind him waiting for her after she walked out of the luggage area. Ai Qing passed her luggage to Slide and walked over alone. They were wearing the same sports outfits without a team logo, probably buying whatever was at a store. There was no manager and coach, and there was no branch office here to welcome them and arrange a hotel. There was nothing at all. Except the fact that they purposely kept their outfits, backpacks, and sports shoes all in black, they looked just like seventeen or eighteen year old college freshmen. Even a person like Taotao, who dyed his hair with such a brilliant color, might be ¡°Did you wait for long?¡± Ai Qing put her hands behind her and asked Taotao. She also passingly nodded to the people behind him as a symbolic greeting. ¡°Four hours.¡± ¡°Four hours? Didn¡¯t I tell you about my flight schedule?¡± Taotao was silent for two or three seconds. ¡°The early flight was cheaper.¡± So that was the reason. ¡°Even the early flight was expensive, right?¡± She was very understandable. ¡°You haven¡¯t reserved the organizer¡¯s hotel, either? Even the discounted price is expensive, right? Have you reserved some youth hostel?¡± They were all embarrassed. She was probably right on the target. Ai Qing stretched out her hand from behind and gave Taotao a file folder. The big boys stared at the folder with an envious expression. Everybody knew what it was. It was the contract that would determine Taotao¡¯s next three years professional life. When he signed the contract, then it meant that he would very Taotao also stared at that file folder. He was dumbfounded. It was as if a girl who you had been pursuing all this time came to you and said to you, ¡°Let¡¯s start.¡±......The faint, unreal feeling at this moment far exceeded the feeling of love. ¡°Can I talk to you in private?¡± She prompted to him. ¡°Oh, ok.¡± Taotao came to his senses and took out a wallet from his pocket, pulling out two one hundred bills. He gave the money to the people behind him. ¡°Go drink some coffee. I¡¯ll look for you shortly.¡± The boys laughed without accepting the money. ¡°No need. We¡¯ll be waiting for you at the airport shuttle bus stop.¡± They left. Ai Qing then told him apologetically. ¡°My plan for your career is to join SP. This Taotao was silent without saying anything. ¡°And.¡± Ai Qing took out a card from her own pocket, ¡°There are twenty thousand dollars here. The password is today¡¯s date.¡± ¡°So much?¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t you asking to borrow some money from me?¡± ¡°I was just thinking around two thousand¡­¡­¡± Ai Qing laughed and stuffed the card into his hand. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to treat your teammates to some fun in the capital? Take it, you¡¯ll have less regrets. This will be just a small fraction of your future award prizes.¡± It was indeed his plan. He wanted his own brothers to have fun in Beijing. He took the card without another word. ¡°Am I going to be in the A team after I join SP?¡± ¡°Of course, but you need to be an alternate first.¡± ¡°No problem. As long as I am in the A team.¡± She was surprised about the answer. After all it was really a waste to have the ranked third player to be an alternate. However, this was also a way to let this rookie king settle down. But he accepted it without any fuss¡­...It was really a far cry from his arrogant attitude during the stream that day. Taotao answered her doubts very shortly. ¡°As long as I can follow Slide.¡± ¡°Ah¡­...Slide¡± Ai Qing gave him the file folder. ¡°No problem. It¡¯s stated very clearly at the end of this contract. The active team members can¡¯t have love affairs and can¡¯t rent apartment outside. You¡¯re always with your teammates whenever you eat, live, train and even includes the outing and scheduled gym exercises. It¡¯s no problem even if you want to live in the same room with him. He lives by himself now and is in need of a roommate.¡± Taotao cleared his throat and scratched his hair shyly. Such a tall and big boy was extremely obedient in front of Ai QIng. ¡°Then, boss, I¡¯m leaving!¡± Ai Qing raised her chin slightly. The young handsome guy with short pink hair left quickly. Volume 4 - CH 18 Book 4: The Return of the King Chapter 18 Later on when she mentioned the rookie king¡¯s wish, Slide was amused. ¡°Were you kidding with him? Isn¡¯t everyone at SP living in a single room?¡± Ai Qing: ¡°Oh, that¡¯s right¡­¡­¡± The end result was that even before Taotao joined SP, there was gossip spreading inside the club that he ¡°specifically applied to live in the same room with captain Slide.¡± Because Ai Qing had been temporarily relieved of being a manager, she could sneak out of the hotel in the evening. She went to the hotel where K&K was staying and found Dt running on the treadmill with his earphones on at the very corner of the gym. She walked around all the workout machines to his side, stood next to the screen and winked at him. Dt took off his earphones, slowed down, and switched to a walking pace ¡°Why aren¡¯t you running?¡± Dt pointed to the number on the display with his finger. Ai Qing moved closer to look at it and was surprised. ¡°19 kilometers, you¡¯re working very hard.¡± ¡°I¡¯m waiting for you and killing time.¡± He honestly said. Ai Qing felt sorry for making him wait for so long. She paced by his side with hands behind her back and kept talking to him as her apology. She began with The sponsors were also bigger corporations. ¡°Xiao Bai, I really envy you.¡± She spoke sincerely. ¡°You appeared at the best time.¡± Wu Bai pressed the Stop button and jumped off the treadmill. He looked at her big eyes without saying anything, using the sports jacket hanging on the rack to wipe clean the sweat in his palm. Then he touched her face. Didn¡¯t you know? My era is your era. Volume 4 - CH 19 Book 4: The Return of the King Chapter 19 K&K was staying in the hotel right on Changan Street. After dinner, they walked westward along Changan Street. Ai Qing stopped when they passed Tiananmen Square. ¡°Wait. I¡¯ve arranged to meet some old friends here. He said he is around here now.¡± There were people everywhere. It was an early summer night, she was dressed in a short skirt and a three-quarter Perhaps because she had been in the game industry all these years, she still looked quite young though she was already twenty-five years old. She stood with him, a twenty-two year old, side by side and spoke to him from time to time, they looked perfect together. Then a man walked to them by himself. A very common face, but Dt recognized him at first sight. This was her old friend and teammate, an alternate player in Solo¡¯s team. Ai Qing rushed to him immediately when she saw him. Seeing Dt, the man fidgeted for a couple seconds mulling over whether he should hug her before Ai Qing jumped to hug his neck. ¡°It¡¯s so great to see you!¡± Ai Qing Yi Qian tittered and looked at the man behind Ai Qing. He said in a low voice, ¡°He, though I¡¯ve seen him in the competition news, but I still don¡¯t know him and he doesn¡¯t know me. Why don¡¯t you introduce us first? Gou Gou.¡± Realizing her mistake, she moved back two steps to grab Dt¡¯s wrist and pulled him forward. ¡°He was in Solo¡¯s team before¡­¡­¡± ¡°Yi Qian.¡± Dt stretched out his hand, ¡°Hello.¡± The man raised his eyebrows. ¡°Oh, I didn¡¯t expect Gou Gou to have already mentioned me.¡± ¡°No, because I was a loyal fan of Solo¡¯s team, so I know you.¡± Dt told Yi Qian calmly. ¡°Ah¡­...Right! You are Gou Gou¡¯s die hard fan!¡± Dt¡¯s Weibo post had already been forwarded to all their old friends by All. Though they more or less felt somewhat regretful because the only and well known couple of the team didn¡¯t get together at the end. But they were still very excited that the only girl in their team finally had found her match after so many years. All the brothers seemed very happy about it. It was three people walking together now. Ai Qing kept asking Yi Qian about various things in his life in great detail. She even After he began dating her, he cherished any moment he had with her. He remembered that when he was young, Grunt and 97 asked him a question. How would he interact with his goddess if he really got together with said goddess? At that time he was already a very proud man, but only this question did he have no expectations. He even felt it was a desecration just to think about it. He just wanted to get closer, to get just a little bit closer to her world. Closer to be able to see her happy and sad, then that would be enough. Volume 4 - CH 20 Book 4: The Return of the King Chapter 20 The three of them arrived at the hotel where SP was staying. Ai Qing took out her cell phone and called Solo. She knew that Solo should have already checked in by now. After a short wait, it was Gun who answered the phone. ¡°Ai Qing?¡± Gun¡¯s voice was a little coarse. ¡°Han Shangyan?¡± She was surprised. ¡°Is Xiao Bai with you?¡± ¡°Yes. Should I give the phone to him?¡± Ai Qing said and passed her cell phone to Dt. Gun and Dt began to talk on her and Solo¡¯s phones. Gun only spoke briefly to Dt. The first thing he said Dt didn¡¯t even make a sound before he hung up the phone directly. He gave the phone back to Ai Qing. ¡°Han Shangyan is in Solo¡¯s room. He wants to talk to you. Go up now, I¡¯ll wait for you here. His words came as a surprise to Ai Qing. Yi Qian patted her shoulder, he would be staying behind too. She turned around, about to go in. ¡°Wait.¡± Dt spoke suddenly. She turned her head back. ¡°Give me your backpack. I¡¯ll hold it for you.¡± Dt pointed to her backpack. Ai Qing blushed and handed him her backpack, then she took the elevator all the way up to the twelfth floor. Gun¡¯s young girlfriend, who had only appeared a few times during competitions, was hugging her own backpack outside Solo¡¯s room. She nervously reported to Ai Qing in a low voice as soon as she saw her. ¡°Seven bottles of beer and two and a half bottles of hard liquor.¡± The girl pointed to the room after she spoke, ¡°Han Shangyan wouldn¡¯t let me go in. He¡¯s inside with Solo.¡± ¡°Uhm, he told me to come up over the phone.¡± Ai Qing patted the young girl¡¯s shoulder and comforted her in low voice, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Both of them have a good tolerance for alcohol.¡± The young girl still looked quite worried. She took out her cell phone. ¡°Can you save my number? If everything¡¯s alright after you go in, could you send me¡­... just send me a period.¡± Amused, Ai Qing saved the girl¡¯s cell phone number before she knocked on the door. The door quickly opened. There was light inside. She walked in and closed the door¡­...hotel rooms had one disadvantage. Once you walked in the room, you saw everything inside the room. It wasn¡¯t like at home, where a person could hide in the bedroom or study. But right now she had a full view of Solo lying on the sofa with his face covered by one arm and Gun leaning on the side of the sofa smoking. It was as if time had pulled back and dragged her back to that day in ¡®05. Han Shangyan seldom smoked unless he was especially irritated. ¡°Gou Gou¡­¡­¡± Han Shangyan raised his head. His eyes were bloodshot, she couldn¡¯t tell if it was because he had drunk too much or was too emotional. ¡°Come over here.¡± He slowly waved his hand. She walked over to him and asked lightly. ¡°Is he ok?¡± ¡°He¡¯s fine.¡± Gun¡¯s dark glazed over eyes stared at the door. ¡°We won our first This was what she really wanted to say to Han Shangyan after suppressing it for so many years. The view of the city was filled with light. When they first came to Beijing, they were just like Taotao¡¯s team today, though perhaps in a worse state, since the living standards now is much higher than before. That was the beginning of the peak of Han Shangyan¡¯s professional career at the time. ¡°Ai Qing.¡± Solo suddenly spoke with his face still under his arm, ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± His voice was soft and weary. Volume 4 - CH 21 Chapter 21 I¡¯m sorry. Solo had said those two words before when he knelt down in front of Ai Qing. It was only three of them in the room then. Now it was still the three of them in the room. The two nineteen year old young men at the time were now close to thirty years old. Ten years. These two men, who had no support back then, were now the heads of the two biggest esports clubs in the nation. They were Ai Qing couldn¡¯t hold it in any longer, tears began streaming down her face. She didn¡¯t know whether the man with his arm covering his face and the man covering his eyes with a cigarette in his hand were also doing the same thing as her. Each of them must have felt as if they were facing the waves of a tsunami as they stood alone on the rocks. The sky was falling and the ground beneath them was splitting open, all as the wave rushed towards them... ¡°Solo.¡± Ai Qing was quiet for a long while, then she smiled and spoke with both eyes filled with tears, ¡°In my mind, you¡¯re always the best captain. Thank you.¡± Thank you, for never letting me feel that I loved the wrong person in my youth. At least you never let me down during the days when we loved each other. In ¡®08, after he had given his answer after the grievance round which was the opposite of everyone¡¯s expectations, so many friends and so many fans were extremely disappointed at him. The overwhelming amount of rumours and threats, all the turmoil disheartened her and led to her decision to retire. He faced the same troubles back then, some even questioned his character and SP was also at the center of the storm. But he kept quiet, spoke not a word, and continued moving forward. He bore the name of Solo¡¯s team and was the only person in the team still fighting in the esports circle. To this day, he single-handedly built SP¡¯s A team, calling both All and Xiaomi back. Without him, the spirit of Solo¡¯s team would have disappeared long ago. None of them spoke a word for twenty minutes. It was like in their youth, when they felt helpless against some new obstacle, they always liked to stay inside the same room past midnight, without any words, just to keep each other company. They accompanied each other in silence. When Gun and Ai Qing finally walked out of the room, the young girl jumped forward very quickly. She carefully held Gun¡¯s arm. ¡°Han Shangyan, are you thirsty? Do you want to drink water? Is your stomach feeling alright? Do you have a headache?......¡± Ai Qing found it difficult to hold back a chuckle as she heard her rapid fire questions. Gun glanced over at the elevator, the young girl was somewhat taken aback but laughed. ¡°I¡¯ll go hold the elevator for you~¡± Then, she took the hint and ran away, leaving some space for the two of them. Gun took out a candy from his pocket, peeled the wrapper off, and ate it. He whispered to Ai Qing. ¡°I was unfair to Xiao Bai. I didn¡¯t give my blessings before. I¡¯m sorry. I won¡¯t do that in the future, either. One is my buddy and the other is my younger cousin. But, Gou Gou¡­¡­¡± Gun stopped for a long while, then he put his hand on her right shoulder, ¡°With that guy¡¯s temperament, he won¡¯t need nor care about my blessing. Do you understand?¡± Ai Qing responded lightly, ¡°En. Yi Qian is at downstairs.¡± ¡°Yi Qian?¡± Gun was stunned slightly, but immediately broke into laughter, ¡°Today I drank enough and also cried enough. You take care of him. I¡¯m leaving.¡± He strode away afterwards, waving his hands with his back facing Ai Qing as goodbye. Volume 4 - CH 22 Book 4: The Return of the King Chapter 22 Ai Qing and Yi Qian talked until midnight. It was already past one o¡¯clock in the morning when Dt walked her back to her room. Dt didn¡¯t seem to have any intention of leaving soon, so Ai Qing made two cups of coffee and brought them over to the window side. She had both of her hands on the window and looked at the sea of lights outside, ¡°Xiao Bai?¡± He also had his hands on the window standing right next to her, with his arm surrounding Ai Qing. ¡°Uhm.¡± ¡°Han Shangyan said¡­¡­¡± She looked at his shadow. ¡°He wouldn¡¯t give me his blessings.¡± ¡°How do you know?¡± ¡°He told me already.¡± Dt spoke casually. ¡°When you were still on Solo¡¯s team, he found out that I liked you. He warned me and wanted to beat me up.¡± Ai Qing laughed. ¡°Did he beat you?¡± ¡°He wouldn¡¯t dare to.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°Our family likes me more than him. If he beat me up, then he wouldn¡¯t be able to cheat a penny out of the family.¡± Though Dt said it flatly without much emotion, Ai Qing could understand what was unspoken, ¡°I like her, even if you beat me up.¡± His temperament was actually really similar to Han Shangyan to a certain degree. She thought about it, but there was something¡­¡­ ¡°You were only twelve years old. Did you even understand what it meant to like someone?¡± ¡°Uhm.¡± Dt didn¡¯t give a definite answer. ¡°I was precocious.¡± She laughed. She didn¡¯t tell him the other half that Han Shangyan had said and had no intention of ever telling him. Her old friend since her teenage days was telling her that Wu Bai¡­...didn¡¯t even care about his own cousin. He had the same nasty temperament as Gun. The only person he really cared for was her from beginning to end. Dt looked at her, but he didn¡¯t know what she was thinking. His hands slid down from the window and crossed in front of her. He pressed her into his arms and lowered his head to look for¡­... to look for a particular spot. His breath was a little uneven and blew into her face. She stretched out her hand softly to touch the hair on his forehead. ¡°Your hair¡¯s¡­...a little long?¡± He mumbled and touched her lips. ¡°I¡¯ll get a haircut after the competition.¡± He was always very direct. If she thought it was long, then he would cut it short. If she said it wasn¡¯t good, then he wouldn¡¯t do it. He turned her around so that her back leaned against the glass, then he bent down to kiss her. He slowly pressed down harder and harder. Finally the fingers of his right hand which was on the glass slowly tightened and clenched to a fist, leaving faint watermarks on the glass. To this day, when he woke up everyday, he would still recall the moment they met at the Asian Tournament in ¡®07. He would never tell her how hard his heart was beating in the shower after he overheard the phone conversation between her and Slide that she was coming. He was panicking so much that he forget to put on clothes and opened That night under the light in the hallway. Her back was facing the ocean wave and she smiled at him. At that time-- -- Dt¡¯s left hand slid down Ai Qing¡¯s waist to search for her right hand hanging on her right side and held it tightly in his palm. That time-- --she stretched out her right hand and said to him: ¡°I¡¯m Gou Gou.¡± But his wet hair was on his face, water was still dripping down his chin. He didn¡¯t look at her, afraid that the intensity of his eyes would scare her. He feared that¡­...she didn¡¯t want to be his friend. Volume 4 - CH 23 The next morning, Ai Qing didn¡¯t wait for the rest of SP but went This stadium¡­...it was the place Solo¡¯s team had won their first championship after they had defeated Buff¡¯s team. When she walked in from the passage behind the stage carrying the badge indicating that she was a commentator, much of the staff greeted her with a smile. The passageway was no longer messy and disorganized like the past. It was wide open and brightly lit with large promotional posters hanging on both sides. The entire staff was dressed in uniform; everyone was as dedicated as volunteers in any indoor sports event. She was stationed at the southeast corner of the arena and had a very spacious white table. Her partner beside her was also an old friend. When he saw her, he took out his earphones immediately and spoke with a smile. ¡°You¡¯re finally here!¡± She put down a pile of notes on the table and sat down. ¡°Please bear with me today.¡± ¡°Are you kidding me. You¡¯re the one who¡¯s going to have to bear with me.¡± He laughed heartily and adjusted the headset, ¡°We¡¯re ready over at the commentator table here. We can start warming up five minutes from now.¡± Ai Qing also put on the white headset. She could hear the jokes and laughter through the earphones. ¡°Xiao Mai, don¡¯t make any mistakes. You are working with our qianbei and make sure that you hold your ground.¡± Ai Qing disliked being referred to as qianbei. ¡°Everybody, everybody, he¡¯s older than me. Could you stop calling me qianbei? You¡¯re making me feel old.¡± While they were fooling around on the channel, the competing teams began arriving at the players rest area one after another. From the angle where Ai Qing was sitting, she could see the areas reserved for SP and K&K. Solo sat there talking to Baona in low voice. Gun, with his indifferent attitude as usual, was sitting crossed legs on the seat right across the aisle from Solo. If she wasn¡¯t mistaken, it was Gun who took the initiative to sit there. Though they were still rivals, this was the first occasion over the past ten years that they sat side by side. Ai Qing suddenly felt a surge of emotions. She lowered her head and flipped the papers in her hand, but she wasn¡¯t able to keep her feelings under control. Using her hand to support her forehead, her vision blurred. Ai Qing, Ai Qing, the stream would start soon, don¡¯t be so emotional. ¡­¡­ The stream began. Xiao Mai cleared his throat, ¡°Everyone, welcome to the site of the Chinese Regional Finals of . The eight-city preliminaries have already concluded three days ago. The players sitting in this stadium now are all from the top teams for this event in the country. Tonight, China¡¯s championship winner will be decided! There will be two teams in Chinese Region to play at the Asian Tournament. Everyone, let¡¯s wait and see tonight whether it¡¯s the old, veteran clubs to keep the throne or the new, fast growing teams to win the championship!¡± Loud bouts of cheers began before he even finished. The stadium was filled with excitement and exuberance that could only be found at these kind of large competitions. ¡°But, tonight, in addition to the wonderful matches among these great teams, the organizer also specifically invited the top game commentator Appledog for us. Let me tell you, I was so excited that my hands were trembling when I heard the news. No one knows more than her about the 4 most popular teams. Believe me, you will definitely hear the most wonderful stream tonight.¡± Ai Qing adjusted her headset and couldn¡¯t stop herself from chuckling. ¡°Xiao Mai, thank you.¡± They began to go through their warmup. The matches in the morning weren¡¯t too exciting. The real competition was in the afternoon after 4 o¡¯clock. The four teams that would play in semi finals qualified one after the other. There was no surprise that the four qualifying teams were: SP, K&K, Buff and Taotao. Ai Qing picked up her cup to sip some water. Someone put the drawing results on the table next to her. The first match was K&K vs Taotao. Was it the new team vs new team? Ai Qing put down the cup of water and glanced at K&K¡¯s area. Dt was acting how he usually did, half of his face hidden in the shadow of his hat brim. The person next to him, Grunt, yawned and muttered something to him. And Taotao¡­...She looked at the rookie king who she had tried hard to secure for SP. These five boys had a sense of relief right before the disbandment of their own team. They were scampering about and clinging to each other¡¯s shoulders to walk onto the stage first. When they started to set up their keyboards and mouses, Dt started to lead his team onto stage. Grunt, the nominal captain, was really¡­...it was difficult to tell what role he was playing. Dt and Taotao sat across from each other with two rows of computers in between. This was the first time Taotao played against the man ranked number 1. He wanted to see his face, but the hat blocked his view. Taotao shrugged his shoulder and adjusted the headset. ¡°Brothers, this could be our last battle. Let¡¯s go.¡± Volume 4 - CH 24 Book 4: The Return of the King Chapter 24 The countdown began. The mission type appeared on screen: Heart of City. The mission rules were as follows. 1) The bandits has planted a bomb somewhere in the city. If the bomb isn¡¯t defused within 30 minutes, the bandits win. 2) If the police defuse the bomb in 30 minutes, the police wins. 3) In this mission type, only the police can purchase mortars, hand grenades, and incendiary grenades. But these three items can detonate the bomb. If the bomb is detonated by the police, the bandits win. 4) Any team that eliminates the opposing team wins. ¡­¡­ SP and the European team had played this mission before. Grunt whistled. Team assignments appeared on screen, K&K would play as bandits. The screen displayed the location of the mission, an airport? It was obviously the ruins of an airport; broken glass was littered everywhere and there were airplanes burning on the runway. It was late at night and the searchlights were scouring the entirety of the map. Dt simply assigned tasks. ¡°Double. 97 take the two young ones.¡± Double meant that they were going to split into two teams, one would be the decoy. Dt would take the bomb and find an appropriate location to plant it and guard it for the 30 minutes, while 97 took two teammates to stall for time and distract the opponent. After assigning tasks, they dispersed into the darkness. The large screen automatically focused on the ranked number 1: Dt. ¡°Ok, the match has begun.¡± Ai Qing stared at the screen. Her eyes softened for a moment when she saw Dt switch to a sniper rifle, ¡°Let¡¯s look at the competition data for K&K¡¯s captain before this match. Having 0 deaths, a close quarters combat win rate of 100%, and short range combat kill rate of 100% this season.¡± Xiao Mai excitedly added, ¡°Briefly speaking, never get too close to Dt. Once you¡¯ve entered his kill zone, you have no chance of survival.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Ai Qing replied very simply. ¡°A formidable opponent.¡± On the screen, Dt and Grunt had stopped at a terminal and installed the bomb inside a restaurant. Then they separated in the dark. Their shadows merged into the darkness. On the large screen, Dt could be seen switching to the sniper rifle, sitting behind a small bar. There were rows of seats outside the restaurant. The other boarding gates were nearby with several restaurants and stores with broken walls lining the hallway. The light from the searchlights entered through the broken walls over the fires and patrolling NPC soldiers in the terminal. The airport wasn¡¯t a good location for Dt¡¯s team. Restaurants, restrooms, smoking rooms, and stores all had heavy walls, which meant that only mortar could blow through it. But one crucial rule in this mission was: only the police were allowed to buy mortars, hand grenades, and incendiary grenades. In other words, Dt¡¯s team couldn¡¯t acquire a mortar. If their opponents just kept hiding behind the heavy wall, then Dt and Grunt would have difficulty reaching them. Bullets couldn¡¯t shoot through heavy walls. The sniper rifle in Dt¡¯s hand was practically useless. Shortly, crossfire burst out on the big screen. At nine minutes thirty seconds, 97 killed one opponent. At thirteen and a half minutes, 97 briefly reported back. ¡°I¡¯m disarmed and at a third of my strength.¡± In less than half a minute, Taotao, leading his remaining three teammates, began sweeping the area. Taotao was obviously aware of the advantage his team held in this area of the map. They carefully approached the terminal. They moved in slowly, a little by little, increasing the tension in the air. The audience was entirely silent, watching Taotao lead three teammates closer and closer to Dt. ¡°Taotao has already entered the short range zone.¡± Xiao Mai nervously analyzed, ¡°Once he gets close enough for close quarters combat, then regardless whether it¡¯s Dt or Grunt, the fighting will be lethal.¡± Short range combat was roughly at a range of thirty meters , players would rely on their gun. At five meters, it was close quarters combat. Briefly speaking, it would become a knife fight. If it turned into a 4v2 hand to hand combat, then 97¡¯s decoy tactics was wasted in vain. So¡­...what were you waiting for? Dt. Just as everyone was holding their breath, a shadow flashed quickly over and Grunt threw out a smoke bomb. The whole audience was shocked. The angle of the smoke grenade being thrown wouldn¡¯t land near Taotao. Only Ai Qing yelled, ¡°Ah. Nice throw!¡± Before she finished, the smoke grenade had already hit a flower bed and bounced towards Taotao. ¡°He used the wall rebounding to throw the smoke grenade to near Taotao¡¯s feet!¡± In the past CS games, the famous teams all possed good throwing techniques. Bouncing a hand grenade against the ground or a wall so it could reach the enemy without exposing themselves. It required a very high level skill. Something only seen commonly in major competitions. At this moment, all four players on Taotao¡¯s team were blinded by the white smoke. It was all smoke, nothing but smoke. ¡°Disperse and conceal!¡± Taotao shouted very quickly, the four withdrew away from the heavy walls one by one. They dispersed behind the seats and the counter of a Starbucks¡­¡­ ¡°Damn it!¡± Before Taotao could see clearly what was in front of him, two of his teammates hiding behind the seats burst into a string of curses. A death notification appeared. Another death notification followed shortly after. The next second, his teammate less than half a meter away from him was shot as well. One shot through the head. A third death notification appeared. In less than ten seconds, a 4v2 had immediately become a 1v2, with Taotao by his lonesome. ¡­¡­ Not just him, but the entire audience and even Ai Qing were all stunned. On the screen, Dt quietly appeared from the corner. He put away the sniper rifle and took his time to pull out the short knife. So he had just¡­¡­ ¡°A wallbang!¡± Xiao Mai pounded the table, ¡°He shot through the wall! And it was only two shots, three kills! The god like sixth sense. Gou Gou! This was your forte!¡± Except for the heavy brick wall that couldn¡¯t be shot through, it didn¡¯t matter where the enemy was hiding. As long as it was something that the heavy sniper rifle could shoot through, such as a thin wall, train, wooden box, and windows, a bullet could pass through and into someone¡¯s head. Anyone who had paid attention to the history of Solo¡¯s team would all know: Wallbang-- -- This was Appledog¡¯s iconic technique in those days. Volume 4 - CH 25 Book 4: The Return of the King Chapter 25 ¡°That¡¯s right. Wallbanging.¡± Ai Qing replied, ¡°To call it a sixth sense, I would rather refer to it as a sense of positioning. In other words, if you have enough awareness about the enemy¡¯s position you can make a reasonable prediction of the enemy¡¯s movement. Certainly, this would only work against top players of equal level. If I have to face a bunch of players who don¡¯t know how to play, I probably wouldn¡¯t be able to do it since they¡¯d just move about randomly.¡± Ai Qing laughed. Amid the billowing smoke, Grunt also walked out. But he just found a safe place to stay. He climbing up the broken wall of a store in a few seconds and sat down to watch the battle. If Dt lost, Grunt¡¯s plan was to jump over and clean up. Of course, the thought only crossed his mind briefly. He gently tapped against the keyboard and gradually became absent minded. It was very obvious that he had never seen anybody stronger than Dt in close quarters combat in this game. When Dt walked closer, Taotao also switched from his gun to a short knife. Dt switched the short knife in hand to a long knife in the next second. Taotao squatted quickly. A shadow jumped onto him. A long knife was more powerful and a short knife was faster. But he didn¡¯t expect Dt to be as fast as this. On the screen, the two rolled around into a ball. Dt very quickly pressed Taotao down with a single knee. His long knife held down the other¡¯s short knife. He began punching mercilessly at his downed opponent, once, twice, thrice. The blood splattered about, Taotao¡¯s health rapidly fell. Taotao could hear the sound of a violently beating heart in his earphones. His character was panting. He couldn¡¯t believe that his own knife was now lodged into his chest. His health was dropping on screen. 90, 80, 70, 60, ¡­¡­ Taotao frowned his eyebrows. He couldn¡¯t imagine what was going to happen to him the next. ¡­¡­ The second before Dt stood up, he agilely switched back to a short knife and pierced Taotao¡¯s chest without any superfluous movement. One last death notification appeared on screen. The first semi-final ended after nineteen minutes and fifty-six seconds. There was no delay. There was no joking around. That was the K&K¡¯s style¡­...Of course, the nominal captain sitting on top of the broken wall didn¡¯t count. Xiao Mai was still very excitedly replaying and explaining the fight. Ai Qing already saw one of Taotao¡¯s teammates bent his head down in front of the computer crying. Taotao¡¯s team was the youngest among these four teams and the one most easily to show their emotions. She supported her chin with a hand and watched Taotao hugging his own brother. It ended here, now Taotao¡¯s team passed into history. These brothers would probably soon become opponents. Just like¡­¡­ Solo and All who sat in the SP rest area and the K&K club founder Gun who sat in the first row. Volume 4 - CH 26 Book 4: The Return of the King Chapter 26 Ai Qing adjusted the small microphone in front of her. ¡°That was a brilliant match. Congratulations to K&K for advancing to the Chinese Regional Finals.¡± Dt took off his headsets, took a look at the girl on the stage who was sincerely applauding him. He lowered his eyes and unplugged the keyboard from the computer. He had heard some interesting news before the match. Perhaps everyone else also knew about it, except Ai Qing who was still in the dark. Everyone was hiding the news from Ai Qing, himself included. Ai Qing, I hope you like this surprise. This is¡­...a gift from all the fans who The man dressed in a black uniform with a black hat stood up from his seat and led his team past Slide¡¯s team, who was entering the stage. Dt glanced at Slide without much expression. Slide smiled and gesture OK to him. It was obvious what he meant: See you in the final match, my old enemy. Just after they passed by each other. The next semi final match would begin shortly. Slide and Buff sat down practically at the same time. He looked at the men who were over thirty sitting behind a row of computers with mixed emotions. Buff¡¯s team was Solo team¡¯s old rival in the past. He knew them when he was working as a commentator. They were different from Taotao¡¯s team. Taotao¡¯s team would cry after they lost in a competition, but they would also wipe their tears the next second because they still had a chance to pursue their dreams. However, these five old men in front of him were in a different situation. This match would be their last performance on the stage in their lifetime before their farewell to esports. Ai Qing glanced at the arena and passed the opening to Xiao Mai. ¡°SP¡¯s A team doesn¡¯t need any extra introductions. Other than recruiting Inin from Korea, the others have all served as captains in SP before. All was the offensive force on Solo¡¯s team in the past, he also was the captain of the team that won national championship in the CS national tournament in 2010. You may say that SP¡¯s A team is a team of champions, also a team of captains. Definitely an A team.¡± ¡°Buff¡¯s team, though considered as this year¡¯s black horse, are far from rookies.¡± Ai Qing glanced at her old opponents, ¡°There used to be a saying in CS world, ¡®Pioneering Solo, Domineering Buff¡¯. It was referring to this team. Buff is best at rushing their opponents. They would arrive so fast that they¡¯d shatter the enemy¡¯s defense.¡± The game had already begun the countdown as they were introducing the teams. Slide put on his headphones and said, ¡°This is Solo team¡¯s old foe. They also beat Dt before. Be careful.¡± Inin corrected him immediately, ¡°No. No. He beat K&K, but never beat Dt.¡± Following: ¡°Inin, you¡¯re going to wash everybody¡¯s socks for one month. You¡¯re still fanboying right before a fight.¡± All: ¡°Agreed.¡± Bug: ¡°Agreed.¡± Inin: ¡°Captain¡­¡­¡± Volume 4 - CH 27 Book 4: The Return of the King Chapter 27 The large screen displayed a row of words: Counter Terrorist Night Battle. The mission rule were as follows: 1. The first team to find and wipe out 100 NPC combatants patrolling in the city will win. 2. The first team to destroy all five opponents will win. Slide whistled. He concluded while chewing a gum. ¡°Good mission. Buff beat K&K on this mission type. European team then screwed Buff on the same mission. Then finally, K&K used double snipers to crush the European team.¡± Bug: ¡°Well, what a story of love and hatred.¡± Inin: ¡°It sounded rather pitiful.¡± Following grinned. ¡°How apropos. Tonight, let¡¯s say farewell to these old soldiers with this mission.¡± All: ¡°Stop talking nonsense. If we don¡¯t win this simple mission within 15 minutes, we won¡¯t be able to look at anyone in the eyes.¡± The image on screen changed. Nice¡­...a tropical forest¡­¡­ It seemed to be fate that their map was the complete opposite of the desert map when K&K played the European team. The desert was flat with very little cover while a forest was full of obstacles. It was very easy to hide. ¡°This mission relies more on strategy.¡± Ai Qing said, ¡°First, they need to contain the enemy. Second, they need to destroy 100 NPCs. Both goals are equally important. K&K¡¯s captain overlooked the first point and lost to Buff the first time they played this mission. He just wanted to finish the battle ASAP, but he ignored the enemy.¡± Xiao Mai recollected, ¡°The second time Dt played against the Europeans. He used double snipers to contain the five opponents. The other three teammates successfully destroyed 100 NPCs.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. That¡¯s what he¡¯s best at, he has a talent for tactics.¡± Ai Qing spoke the last sentence a little bit lightly. Actually, she was thinking. In the players rest area, Grunt forcefully bumped Dt¡¯s shoulder the next second after he heard Ai Qing speak. As the two commentators conversed, Slide only spoke briefly in the headset. ¡°Old rule. Two and three in parallel.¡± He was paired up with Inin, keeping the strongest players in reserve. The other three would operate independently. Five people in darkness formed a straight line. They jumped over river, rock, and gully. They didn¡¯t need to speak and moved southwest in the darkness. ¡°44, 67.¡± Following suddenly yelled. ¡°Damn. I got shot.¡± In the next second, incendiary and smoke grenades were thrown at those coordinates. Their goal was to immediately confuse the enemy, so that Following could have a chance to escape. Shortly after, Following forward somersaulted next to Slide¡¯s side, covered in blood. Fortunately his teammates rescued him in time, but he still lost 40% of his health. ¡°Five there.¡± Slide¡¯s eyes brightened up. ¡°Mortar.¡± He spoke only one word before he jumped into the smoke. Inin didn¡¯t even think about it. He tossed out two more grenades. All and Bug jumped into the smoke the next. The last one was Following. They all switched to pistols before they disappeared in the smoke. Within seconds, there was only smoke, nothing else, visible on the screen. On the big screen, the sky filled with smoke. ¡°Zero Visibility Combat.¡± Ai Qing spoke three words. ¡°What Slide is doing now is reducing everyone¡¯s visibility to zero. Nothing is visible. They plan to fully rely on their life detector and headphones to fight.¡± The sound of opening the scope of a sniper was very crisp. The sound of changing clips lingered. The sound of someone switching between knife and gun was short and low. Walking, jumping, somersaulting, crouching, and going prone. ¡­...etc, etc. Every action had its own particular sound. Many of these sounds could pass farther than five meters away. In other words, before you could even see the enemy on the life detector, the sound they made would already exposed their position. And the weapon the enemy was going to switch to was also exposed. Even how they were moving was telegraphed. Xiao Mai was speechless. ¡°A pure melee. The life detector doesn¡¯t It was too easy to kill an ally by mistake in this layers of smoke. Ai Qing grinned slightly. ¡°It won¡¯t happen.¡± Xiao Mai¡¯s head snapped to Ai Qing. ¡°Does SP have special training for this?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Ai Qing didn¡¯t intend to be coy about it. Any special tactic could only be used once. Therefore, after the competition tonight, this tactic would be obsolete. Under the effects of smoke and incendiary grenades, this was a fight using only sound. She knew it very well. The following would be a game of pure strangulation. The sudden encounter, followed by immediate smoke, and switch to melee was so fast that it made it impossible for Buff to react in time. She could imagine the confusion inside Buff¡¯s team channel. They had to constantly report each one¡¯s coordinates. It would be total chaos. Zero visibility combat was a battle of skills and mental fortitude. This smoke wouldn¡¯t disperse until the match was over. Ai Qing¡¯s ears seemed to hear what Slide liked to say the most: Brothers, let¡¯s start killing. Volume 4 - CH 28 Book 4: The Return of the King Chapter 28 Four red dots appeared on Slide¡¯s life detector. They appeared in the southeast. There was a short and dull sound. Slide and another red dot jumped at it at the same time. Both men knelt down on a knee and each took a shot at the man standing before them. A death notification appear on screen. Immediately afterwards, two more shots rang out nearby. Another death notification appeared on screen. ¡­¡­ ¡°I got it now!¡± Xiao Mai looked at the death messages. He recollected the last act Slide¡¯s team made before they entered into the smoke, ¡°Everybody would subconsciously switch to knives and pistols before entering close combat. They make a sound as they switch. If someone switches their weapon, then it must be someone on Buff¡¯s team!¡± ¡°Correct.¡± As the team manager, Ai Qing was the most knowledgeable of her own team¡¯s training methods. ¡°Before they entered the fray, they¡¯ll switch weapons at the same time and won¡¯t switch again until the smoke dissipates.¡± Thus, to SP, if they heard someone switch weapons, it was an enemy. ¡°If two players from SP jump at a person simultaneously, won¡¯t they kill the wrong person?¡± ¡°It won¡¯t happen. Because¡­...they¡¯ll all crouch when they attack.¡± When they got close enough, they would be able to see the silhouettes of people nearby. This would be the last chance for them to distinguish friend from foe. They¡¯ve trained over a hundred times for zero visibility combat. They could instantly spot friends. A team kill would never happen for SP. Buff shouted, ¡°55, 89, follow me!¡± His two teammates quickly fell in line. Three men, with their backs to each other, stood their ground. In Buff¡¯s earphones, he could hear the sound of footsteps all around him. The smoke soon dissipated earlier than expected. In five different directions, SP¡¯s players began to switch from pistol to their preferred weapons. ¡°Spread out. Fight!¡± Buff shouted. He rushed at Slide who had just switched to a short knife. He didn¡¯t have a chance to take down Slide since his team was in outnumbered 3 to 5 against players all in the top ten. But Buff knew that if he could last for one more second, then it meant that they could stay in the esports world for one more second. Once the match was over-- -- Everything that was connected to the esports world in his life would be completely over. All his dreams, which he had given everything for, would soon be thoroughly over. The three men carried knives. They spread out. Slide and Buff faced each other. The others were one to two. ¡­¡­ ¡°Buff, sorry. I did my best.¡± His teammate¡¯s voice had very thick A death notification appeared. ¡°I can¡¯t hold on anymore, boss.¡± His last teammate fell down and died. One more death notification appeared on screen. ¡­¡­ These men who were in their mid thirties didn¡¯t even cry when they disbanded and retired after they lost to Solo¡¯s team two years in a row in the past But now on screen, they were covering their eyes with their hands. On screen, Buff grew more ruthless and knocked Slide against a tree. The second before Slide hit the tree, he jabbed his knife into Buff¡¯s heart. The large screen showed their health drop. Slide quickly typed three words: This is great. Volume 4 - CH 29 Book 4: The Return of the King Chapter 29 The screen froze the moment Buff died. The last round of the semi finals ended after thirteen minutes and forty seconds. SP would qualify for the finals. There were Buff fans from the past sitting at the northwest corner of the stands. There were very few of them, about thirty. They didn¡¯t have the presence compared to the other fan groups in the stadium. But at that moment, the sound of their crying shook everybody¡¯s heart. Buff¡¯s last moment of glory had come to an end. People began to stand, sending off the veteran team. Ai Qing also stood up in the commentator station, applauding as a form of respect. Inside the live broadcasting room, the producer began to play heavy metal music making the moment even more poignant. Five older men with red eyes unplugged their keyboards and mouses, leaving the stage one by one. SP and K&K, as the two largest clubs, sat right at the very front seats in the players area. When Buff passed by Gun, Gun stretched out his right foot and blocked his way. The man with red eyes glanced at Gun sitting in his chair. ¡°I lost to SP, not you.¡± What are you being arrogant for? Do you really think the whole Gun squinted his eyes and flatly said, ¡°I will sign a contract with you for one year. I¡¯ll take you to the Asian Tournament.¡± Those words¡­¡­ Buff was shocked. His fate had yet to be determined. It didn¡¯t matter who won the championship, both SP and K&K would represent China at the Asian Tournament. According to the competition rules of , a team could change their players at any time during the competition. Gun¡¯s invitation was very simple, joining K&K immediately and continue on with the next round of competitions. In Buff¡¯s eyes, Gun was still so arrogant that he wanted to beat him up. But¡­¡­ One year. Even after Solo¡¯s team disbanded, his team had never qualified ¡°Why?¡± Buff asked in low voice. ¡°Why sign me up?¡± Gun shrugged his shoulder. ¡°Because you¡¯re ranked fourth.¡± Solo sat across the aisle from Gun. He slightly raised the corners of his mouth. Good reason¡­¡­ ¡°Ok. I¡¯ll go to your hotel and sign tonight.¡± Buff responded bluntly. ¡°Let me say goodbye to my brothers.¡± ¡°No problem.¡± Buff carried his keyboard and walked towards the rear rows passing Every footstep was light now. Asian Tournament. Though it would be his last year, he still had strong desire to win the world championship! ¡°You need one more player.¡± Solo spoke in low voice. ¡°Then K&K¡¯s capabilities will get quite an upgrade.¡± ¡°I have Gou Gou to thank for that. She disbanded a young team. They¡¯re all good players from the new generation.¡± Gun spoke lightly. ¡°She can always help me out.¡± Regardless of whether it was during those days in Solo¡¯s team or her inadvertent actions now which allowed K&K to recruit new troops quickly. After tonight, K&K would quickly have new blood and prepare for the Asian Tournament. Volume 4 - CH 30 Book 4: The Return of the King Chapter 30 The row of seats across from Slide were still empty. There was still ten minutes before the final match at the Chinese Regional. It was still a best of one match. It seemed unfair, yet fair nonetheless. Ai Qing looked at the information in her hand. Her palm was sweaty. One side was Dt and the other side was her team. She could already imagine how fierce the battle would be¡­¡­ ¡°Ok.¡± Xiao Mai suddenly spoke. ¡°Before the semi finals, our organizer had started a vote online. Now the online viewers outside the stadium watching the stream had already finished the round of votes. We¡¯ve gotten over a million Vote? It was a total surprise for her. Xiao Mai laughed and glanced at Ai Qing, then he pointed to the large screen. ¡°Let¡¯s look at the large screen.¡± Ai Qing followed his finger to look at the large screen. Her hands flipping the pages suddenly stopped. There was a very simple sentence on the large screen: Who do you wish to see playing at the all star exhibition game of in the Chinese Regional? Followed by a list of names: Solo, Gun, Appledog, All, Xiaomi, Dt, Slide, Grunt, Taotao, Inin, Buff, 97,...... This was¡­¡­ There was an outburst of cheers from the audience. This name list actually included all the major players of Solo¡¯s team! Within the span of two short matches, there were several millions of votes on internet. The numbers following each name were still rising rapidly. There were not only fans of Solo¡¯s team in China, but also many old fans abroad, who were either watching the scream or had heard about it and went online to vote. In addition to the audience, the players were excited too. Who knew how many players here were once fans of Solo¡¯s team? Especially since Secret Room was still a first person shooter game just like CS. As the first CS team in the past, ¡°Pioneering Solo¡± was deeply carved inside everyone¡¯s memory. It was also the memory of their youth. There was no doubt that the five names of Solo¡¯s team far exceeded any other rookie king. They even exceeded Dt who was the most popular active player. Though it was only an exhibition match, everybody still wanted to see these five players stand back on stage again and their alternate teammates excitedly cheered them on from the rest area¡­¡­ Solo, Gun, Appledog, Xiaomi, All, Kai Kai, Xiaoyo, 090, Yi Qian. This was the memory of a whole generation. This was¡­...many people¡¯s youth. ¡°This name list, I think the audience who love first person shooters should be very familiar with.¡± Xiao Mai couldn¡¯t suppress his excitement either. Initially when the organizer proposed this suggestion, he was so afraid that the internet audience had already forgotten about them and Solo¡¯s team. But reality had shown that the entire team was deeply branded in everyone¡¯s heart. ¡°I believe that the top five people on this name list will definitely show us a most brilliant exhibition match.¡± Ai Qing could barely talk. She couldn¡¯t spit out any words. She tried to stay composed, but still couldn¡¯t help covering her face with her two hands, even her fingers were slightly trembling. She could never have dreamed of such a scene. She couldn¡¯t imagine that one day she could sit in front of a computer, logged into a game, with Solo at her left, Gun at the right, All and Xiaomi¡­¡­ She looked helplessly at the players area. She discovered that there were several people sitting behind Solo. Xiaomi, Kai Kai, Xiaoyo, 090, Yi Qian¡­...they were all here. No wonder. No wonder Yi Qian coincidently came to Beijing on a business trip. No wonder Han Shangyan was so calm last night, he didn¡¯t even want to meet an old friend. Obviously everyone hid it from her. Even including------ She looked at Dt who was sitting next to Gun. That man had fixed his eyes on her the entire time. It was also his first time that he hid something from her. Based on his expression, what seemed to be a smile, at this moment, he should have known all along. He knew that this was a dream she wouldn¡¯t achieve herself. So he was unwilling to disclose it. Volume 4 - CH 31 Book 4: The Return of the King Chapter 31 The thundering wave of cheers created a false impression to the people present in the stadium. It seemed that the final match wasn¡¯t that important any more. The most important thing was that the audience could witness another match by all the famous players at the same arena where Solo¡¯s team had won their first national championship. ¡°The exhibition game is at nine o¡¯clock tonight.¡± Xiao Mai raised his wristwatch and announced excitedly. ¡°Right at the same hour when Solo¡¯s team had their national finals all those years ago. The audience here can go eat dinner after the award ceremony at six o¡¯clock. You can re-enter the stadium with your ticket stubs to watch an additional match.¡± Ai Qing lowered her head, trying and failing to control her emotions. Ai Qing¡¯s hands were still trembling slightly, it took her three tries to turn the page. The uproar lasted until the warm up music for the final match began to play. ¡°Your goddess¡¯s popularity has far exceeded yours.¡± Grunt smiled and stood up. He stretched with a yawn and picked up his own keyboard, mouse, and Dt stood up, too. He re-entered the competition stage. Five players dressed in black sports tops with a silver K&K logo on them. Their old foes sitting on the stage waiting for them were dressed in blue sports tops with black SP logos on their chests. Dt led his people to their seats. Ten people sat in front of two rows of computers belonging to the best two teams in the Chinese region. One minute later, the final match of the Chinese Regional would begin. One game determined the winner. Within thirty minutes, the first national champion of in the Chinese Region would appear. Dt was ready. He raised his head and looked at Slide. These two old friends fought together side by side in the Asian Tournament of ¡®07. They won the first group championship in the Asian Tournament for China. They were in the different game events at that time. But today they sat here to compete for the only championship. This was different from the game in Korea. It was an exhibition game then, but now this was the actual final match. Slide smiled with his thumbs up. He meant: Go for it, brother. The large screen started countdown. The two group of people got into the competition mode at the same time. A three second countdown began. The mission: Rapid Retreat The mission rules: 1. As long as one bandit gets on the helicopter and retreats within the 30 minute time limit, the bandits win. 2. The team that eliminates the entire opposing team within the 30 minute time limit wins. ¡°Ok, this is the mission for our last match today. Rapid Retreat.¡± Ai Qing¡¯s voice clearly passed to every corner of the stadium. ¡°This mission had already come up in the final competition of the Shanghai preliminary. SP defeat team Taotao by an overwhelming margin in that game. Comparing with the other three mission types, the characteristics of the Rapid Retreat is to attack with immense fire power. The area near the helicopter is a death zone. It¡¯s also the location for the final confrontation between the two teams.¡± The game assigned teams. SP was bandits and K&K the police. In other words, SP would be retreating. Several people were stunned when they saw the map. It was the map of Tokyo, something they had not seen for quite some time. Dt, Grunt, and Inin had played with Ai Qing against the Koreans on this map.. ¡°Captain, captain, I played this map before.¡± Inin spoke quickly, ¡°Dt and Grunt played it before also.¡± ¡°Switch to only offensive guns.¡± Slide said and turned to Inin immediately, ¡°Inin brief us on the map.¡± On one side, Inin quickly summed up the details of the map. On the other side, Grunt whistled into the team chat. ¡°Not bad. Dt, we have good luck.¡± Dt switched to a short knife. This was the weapon most suitable for climbing. ¡°Grunt, follow me. 97 leads the two young ones.¡± Since the official tournament began, the range of the map of all cities had been The game with the Koreans last time didn¡¯t use the competition map. The range of Tokyo at that time was very wide with more than ten high buildings. This time the size was reduced to only two high buildings. But even though there was only two buildings, it was still very disadvantageous to Dt since the bandits would win so long as one of them escaped. SP could gather five people together to achieve maximum firepower, but K&K couldn¡¯t do so. Dt could only send two groups out in order to assure that they didn¡¯t let a single member of SP escape. It was sunset. There were tanks passing on the streets. Dt and Grunt jumped to the other side of the street one after another. They used their grappling hooks to climb up the exterior of the wall. This required very high skill to climb, but it was the fastest method. It would save more than two minutes compared to walking up the stairs. Twilight fell on the wall of the building. On screen, only Dt was visible on the exterior wall, between the rows of windows. He kept climbing up and up¡­¡­ Even the sound of their ascent on the wall was in sync. Volume 4 - CH 32 Book 4: The Return of the King Chapter 32 There was no extra word. He started climbing. The game system notified, one killed. ¡°Captain, I finished.¡± Demo scratched his head depressively. ¡­¡­ Dt landed at about four-fifth of the height of the building. He quickly climbed up floor by floor. He jumped up to the rooftop under the double covers by 97 and Grunt. It was one minute later than what Ai Qing had given them. Two younger teammates were all out, but the opponents still had five players intact. The moment Dt landed, he switched to sniper rifle. He shot without opening the sniper rifle scope and it only took 0.2 seconds. The game system notified, one killed. Following was out. On the rooftop without any cover, 97 moved to stand in front of Dt. When Dt shot again to shoot the head of Bug, 97 was shot fatally also. The game system notified, one killed. The game system notified, one killed. ¡­¡­ It was only in a short ten seconds span between Dt¡¯s two feet landed on the rooftop until three people were taken out. Slide moved up. Dt switched sniper rifle to long knife. The two knives slammed each other making a loud clunk. Dt¡¯s physical strength naturally dropped 30% after losing 30% of health. He could only barely manage to keep Slide at bay with the weight of the long knife. Then he decisively drew the knife back and turned around to avoid the short knife stabbing his chest. At the moment when they were fighting each other, Inin and All approached Grunt at the same time. ¡°Damn.¡± Grunt burst out cursing. He was ranked at about the same level as Inin. With the additional expert assist from All, Grunt was hit by two shots and three knife cuts within less than 10 exchanges of fires. The game system notified, one killed ¡­¡­ Dt turned his hand calmly, the blade touched Slide¡¯s arm and slid down. Slide¡¯s blood burst out instantly, his health and physical strength dropped rapidly. Before Slide could evade, Dt already kicked him away. ¡°Excellent.¡± Xiao Mai knew that this match was really important to Ai Qing. One side was her boyfriend while the other side was the team she led herself. So he took the role of the major commentator himself. ¡°Dt¡¯s fighting skill is getting even more brilliant compared with his performance in the Guangzhou preliminary! In two short months! In just two short months, the difference is so huge! The best player of this year must be Dt!¡± All held the short knife with blood was still on his blade and rushed to take Slide¡¯s position without any delay. Inin started the helicopter at the same time. In the loud buzzing sound of the propeller, Dt¡¯s one knee pressed on top of All. He had already switched the long knife in his hand to a pistol and the dark pistol was pointing to All¡¯s forehead. The helicopter lifted off. Dt pulled the trigger and shot All¡¯s head neatly. The game system notified, one killed ¡­¡­ It was quiet in the whole arena. Though the players couldn¡¯t hear any sound from outside, the audience still used the silence to express their regret to this match. It was too regretful. If it wasn¡¯t for this mission¡­¡­ On the screen, Dt stood up beside All¡¯s body and watched at the direction that the helicopter flew away. He dropped the pistol and Slide stood up slowly behind him, too¡­¡­ If it wasn¡¯t for this mission¡­¡­ What would the result be? Could Slide, Inin and All joined together to beat Dt who was the last person after Grunt died? If K&K¡¯s Demo and One were changed to more powerful players¡­¡­ What result would it be? The screen froze to that scene. The first national final tournament of was completed. Slide took his hands off the keyboard and covered his face before camera for the first time. As the captain of the champion team, he still couldn¡¯t believe the result. It wasn¡¯t that he was lack of confidence, but it was¡­...too much pressure that had finally led he to reveal his true self. This championship¡­...all the pressures he had carried, it was tremendous. Since he was a teenager, he had been in and out of this circle. He was reluctant to give it up, he couldn¡¯t let go of it, he still wanted to do it, he still wanted the honors, and he still wanted the championship. Yes, he wanted what everybody else wanted. He never mentioned to anybody about the unfair treatment he received in Germany. When he was at that computer city manning his shop, he still envied those who played professionally. After he returned to the professional world, he acted as if it was easy for him. But as the captain, he bore the expectation from all friends, Ai Qing¡¯s trust, Solo¡¯s consignment, and the expectation with suspicion from the management of SP-- -- All couldn¡¯t really bear it, he took off his own team jacket to put over Slide¡¯s face and upper body. He blocked the camera for Slide. Volume 4 - CH 33 Book 4: The Return of the King Chapter 33 That was all he said. He started to climb. Another death notification appeared. ¡°Captain, I¡¯m finished.¡± Demo scratched his head depressedly. ¡­¡­ Dt landed at about four-fifth up the building. He quickly climbed up floor by floor. He jumped up to the roof as 97 and Grunt covered him. It was a minute later than what Ai Qing had given him. The two youngest teammates were out while the entire opposing team was still alive. The moment Dt landed, he switched to a sniper rifle and shot without looking through the scope. The entire process took 0.2 seconds. A death notification appeared. Following was out. On the roof without any cover, 97 moved in front of Dt. When Dt shot again at Bug¡¯s head, 97 was also fatally wounded. Two death notifications appeared. ¡­¡­ It had only been ten seconds since Dt landed on the roof and three people had died. Slide moved up. Dt switched to a long knife. Two knives slammed each other with a loud clunk. Dt¡¯s physical strength had dropped 30% since he¡¯d lost 30% of his health. He could only barely manage to keep Slide at bay with the weight of the long knife. Then he drew the knife back and turned sideway to avoid the short knife aimed at his chest. As those two fought, Inin and All approached Grunt at the same time. ¡°Damn.¡± Grunt burst into a string of curses. He was at roughly the same rank as Inin. With assistance from All, Grunt was shot twice and stabbed thrice in short order. Another death notification appeared. ¡­¡­ Dt turned his hand calmly, the blade touched Slide¡¯s arm and slid down. Slide¡¯s blood gushed out, his health and physical strength fell. Before Slide could evade, Dt had already kicked him away. ¡°Excellent.¡± Xiao Mai knew that this match was really important to Ai Qing. Her boyfriend was on one side while the other side was the team she led. So he took the role of being the main commentator. ¡°Dt¡¯s performance is even more brilliant than what he displayed in the Guangzhou preliminaries! In two short months! In just two short months, the difference is immense! The best player of this year must be Dt!¡± All held the bloody short knife and rushed to take Slide¡¯s position. Inin made for the helicopter at the same time. Amidst the loud buzzing of the helicopter¡¯s rotors, Dt pressed his knee on top of All. He had already switched the long knife in his hand to a pistol, which was now pointed at All¡¯s head. The helicopter lifted off. Dt pulled the trigger and neatly put a hole through All¡¯s head. One more death notification appeared. ¡­¡­ It was quiet in the whole arena. Though the players couldn¡¯t hear any sound from the arena, the audience were silent, showing their remorse for this match. It was too unfortunate. If it wasn¡¯t for this mission¡­¡­ On the screen, Dt stood up beside All¡¯s body and watched at the helicopter as it flew away. He dropped the pistol as Slide stood up slowly behind him¡­¡­ If it wasn¡¯t for this mission¡­¡­ What would the result be? Could Slide, Inin, and All joined together to defeat Dt? If K&K¡¯s Demo and One were more powerful players¡­¡­ What would the result have been? The screen froze with that image. The first national tournament of had concluded. Slide took his hands off the keyboard and covered his face before the camera for the first time. As the captain of the champion team, he still couldn¡¯t believe the result. It wasn¡¯t because he lacked confidence, but it was¡­...just too much pressure that he had finally revealed his true self.. This championship¡­...all the pressure he had carried, it was tremendous. Since he was a teenager, he had been in and out of this circle. He was reluctant to give it up, yet he couldn¡¯t let it go, he still wanted to do it, he still wanted the honor, and he still wanted the championship. Yes, he wanted what everybody else wanted. He never mentioned to anybody about the unfair treatment he received in Germany. When he was at that computer city manning his shop, he still envied those who played professionally. After he returned to the professional world, he acted as if it was easy for him. But as the captain, he bore great expectation from all his friends, Ai Qing and Solo''s trust, and the expectation and suspicion from SP management-- -- All couldn¡¯t really bear it, he took off his own team jacket to put over Slide¡¯s face and upper body. He blocked the cameras for Slide. Volume 4 - CH 34 Book 4: The Return of the King Chapter 34 ¡°Good.¡± Ai Qing lightly exhaled and slowly stood up. ¡°The first Chinese Regional finals of is finished. Congratulates to our champion SP and runner-up K&K!¡± As she applauded, she saw that the man wearing the black baseball hat stood up. He walked in front of Slide, hidden under the SP jacket, and bent down to pat Slide¡¯s shoulder. Dt silently lifted the jacket off Slide. His hand slid under Slide¡¯s arm and pulled him up. He solemnly reached out to shake Slide¡¯s hand, ¡°You deserve it.¡± The fans of both SP and K&K burst into cheers simultaneously for the first time in esports history. The whole arena was filled with applause. SP, SP, SP¡­¡­ K&K, K&K, K&K¡­¡­ That was the ending scene of the Chinese Regional finals for . Two hours later, in the dark hallway of the highest floor of the stadium, Dt held Ai Qing¡¯s hand and pushed open the door to a room. It was just as dark in the room as in the hallway. There was a metal ladder inside. ¡°Are we allowed to be here?¡± Ai Qing whispered. Dt didn¡¯t reply, tightly held her hand and led her towards the ladder. That stairs were very small and narrow, only wide enough for one person to move up. Ai Qing touched the cold handrail and slowly walked up the stairs under the light of Dt¡¯s cell phone. She saw the moonlight as she reach the top. She walked to the edge of the rooftop in the night breeze. The man following her appeared shortly. Here¡­...this was the top of the stadium. She didn¡¯t know how Dt found it. Regardless, he brought her here. It wasn¡¯t eight o¡¯clock yet. The square in front of the stadium was filled with people. Nobody would pay attention to the two shadows at the very top looking down at them. There were fluorescent SP light boxes, fluorescent K&K plates, and a very long banner with the giant characters ¡°Pioneering Solo¡± written with glow sticks. She couldn¡¯t hear any sound, but she could imagine the noisy, cheerful laughter in the square. ¡°Do you remember that in 2010, I said ¡®I will come to Korea again in 2011, ten years after WCG?¡¯¡± Ai Qing turned around and walked back in front of him. Dt lowered his head to look at her. ¡°I remember. You said you really wanted to go.¡± ¡°And you said you would go with me.¡± Ai Qing pointed out flatly. Dt didn¡¯t expect her to remember. He was silent for a couple of seconds. ¡°Because you didn¡¯t go.¡± Though he wasn¡¯t in China, he knew everything about her. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s right. You have Grunt to tip you off.¡± Ai Qing thought. ¡°Is Grunt always telling you things about me?¡± Dt was a little embarrassed. He cleared his throat: ¡°Uhm.¡± ¡°What was I doing in 2011?¡± She couldn¡¯t even recall. She did remember that shortly after she joined SP. ¡°At the time, I had almost forgotten how it felt to play.¡± She lowered her head. He didn¡¯t know what she was thinking. Dt touched her face, it was a little bit cold in the night breeze. ¡°Are you cold?¡± She shook her head lightly, then raised her eyes silently. The man in front of her looked down. The contour of his face was still very clear. She remembered that she had been somewhat fascinated by his eyes when she was in a match face to face with him for the first time. Lost in thought, she mumbled, ¡°Xiao Bai¡­...you look very handsome. Do you know that?¡± ¡°I know.¡± He wasn¡¯t shy about it. ¡°......Why are you not modest about it at all.¡± ¡°......¡± After a little while, Ai Qing stretched out her right hand and held his left hand-- -- ¡°God¡¯s Left Hand¡±. He would be her opponent shortly. Dt turned his hand over to hold her hand tightly. In the following exhibition game, he would make an all-out effort. The lineup from the drawing was magnificent, he, Taotao, Grunt, Inin, and Buff. Slide who was second in the list had voluntarily given up his position to Taotao, who was sixth. His temporary team had the strongest lineup of players. This was the only moment when the two eras would overlap. Volume 4 - CH 35 Book 4: The Return of the King Chapter 35 It was 8:45, the stadium was already packed. The captain of the temporary team, Dt, was also the most popular person to be nominated as MVP of this tournament. At 8:50, he and the other most popular players to be nominated for awards at the Chinese Regional walked into the arena. Amid the round of cheers, Dt took off his hat. Just this simple action elicited even more cheers. Immediately after that, Dt made another move. He pulled down the zipper of his sports jacket and took off the K&K uniform, exposing his ordinary black He was declaring that this match had nothing to do with the club. With loud excitement in the background, Dt put down his jacket on the back of his chair. He looked around his temporary team: Taotao who had his eyebrows raised, Grunt who was smiling cynically, Inin who was watching his every move, and Buff who looked serious¡­¡­ Then he nodded slightly. ¡°Gentlemen, let¡¯s do our very best.¡± It was the old Solo¡¯s team that they would be facing. This was also the first time Dt led his team into the competition area earlier than his opponents. All five of them sat down. Gun stood up first from the K&K seating area. Then it was Al and Xiaomi who stood up from the SP seating area. By the time Ai Qing walked down from the commentator area, Solo also slowly stood up. Five people from different directions walked towards the competition area at the same time. The opposing five people all stood up one after another when they entered the area. It was how people in this profession showed respect to their seniors. Even Buff greeted the champions who had defeated Solo smiled and nodded. He pulled out the captain¡¯s chair and sat down quietly. Then Ai Qing sat down next to him, then Gun, All, and Xiaomi. The players on this side, except All, didn¡¯t have their own computer peripherals. They all used SP¡¯s equipment. When Ai Qing picked up the earphones on her left hand side, she touched Gun¡¯s arm accidently. She subconsciously turned to look at Gun. They looked at each other, both somewhat choked. Finally, it was Gun who reached out to stroke her hair. ¡°Don¡¯t make any mistakes.¡± Ai Qing smiled and put on the earphones. ¡°I¡¯m very glad to play with you guys side by side once more.¡± Solo¡¯s voice passed through the earphones very clearly and entering everyone¡¯s ears. ¡°My teammates.¡± Gun laughed out loud. ¡°After so many years, you still haven¡¯t forgotten how to give a pep talk, eh?¡± All: ¡°Gosh. Why does my heart ache so? Is it a heart attack?¡± Xiaomi: ¡°Get lost.¡± Ai Qing¡¯s fingers trembled ever so slightly over the keyboard. The game began its countdown. The team¡¯s channel suddenly quieted down. They had reunited so suddenly, after their initial banter they were suddenly struck by great nostalgia. Ai Qing exhaled lightly, ¡°May heaven be with us.¡± My teammates. Volume 4 - CH 36 Book 4: The Return of the King Chapter 36 Words began to appear on the large screen: Counter Terrorist Night Mission The mission rules were as follows: 1. The first team to find and kill 100 patrolling enemy units, win. 2. The first team to kill all five opposing players, win. It was¡­...magical. For almost every important match, the game system always chose Counter Terrorist Night Mission. Ai Qing pursed up her mouth and laughed. ¡°I have more than a hundred strategies in my head for this mission, but it¡¯s my first time actually playing it.¡± ¡°Gou Gou is in charge of sniping and field control. Gun and I for offense and defense respectively.¡± Solo said, ¡°All and Xiaomi are in charge of blasting.¡± Three snipers and two grenadiers, an extremely offensive setup. The map showed a ship deck on the ocean. Ai Qing looked around, ¡°A cruise ship?¡± What a strange place for a mission, it would be too difficult to destroy 100 enemy soldiers. She expected that Dt and his people would think the same way when they The ocean waves are rather rough, rocking the cruise ship. There was an outdoor swimming pool about three footsteps away from Ai Qing. She looked down. There were four layers of swimming pools, each one larger than the other Before she could get a good look, seven to eight grenades flew up at her. Grenades? ! Amid the series of loud explosions, five people rolled off the rooftop. Their actions were coordinated, like they had practiced together hundreds and thousands times before. They still had the same mutual understanding, even the position and the order had not changed. After landing on the ground, Ai Qing raised the sniper rifle, looking through the scope. Solo and Gun were on either side of her, slightly up front. All and Xiaomi landed on the third level, they then rolled again. They jumped down simultaneously and rushed at the two shadows on the second level. Seconds before they came into contact, the two switched to knives, Xiaomi had already thrown an incendiary grenade at them. It instantly became blindly white------. Xiaomi and All simultaneously slashed at an opponent''s throat. A death notification appeared. ¡­¡­ It was only less than 30 seconds after the match started! One person was already out! Before the audience could react, two gunshots rang out. Another death notification appeared. ¡­¡­ At 45 seconds, two people were already out! The match became 4 v 4 in a very short time. Xiao Mai stood up from his chair abruptly. ¡°Dt cooked the incendiary grenade just enough that it exploded in Xiaomi¡¯s face. Xiaomi from Solo¡¯s team and Inin from Dt¡¯s team, the teams respective grenadier, have been eliminated!¡± Nobody had taken the advantage. Both grenadiers were impaired. It became quiet again. This rhythm was the same as CS competitions in the past. If the map wasn¡¯t so large, it would be as fast as finishing a match in one minute and 20 seconds like before. Withdrawing immediately right after the attack, it was always alternating between hiding and attacking. Ai Qing leaned her back against the wall. ¡°I shot one person.¡± She locked one shadow also when Dt shot. ¡°It¡¯s on the leg.¡± She said. She estimated how Secret Room registered damage. ¡°They have one person with only 70% health left.¡± She just didn¡¯t know where this person was hiding. Solo¡¯s team had landed in the open. After the exchange of fire, Dt led his team into hiding again. Since Solo¡¯s team had been exposed from the beginning, they had no choice Solo looked through the scope of his gun and took a look around. He shortly found a blood stain. They were at the second level now. The first level was below them and further down was the cabins below the deck. The layout of the cabins was overly complex. It was difficult to defend and difficult to attack as well. Dt would never enter the cabins. So, the fighting must all occur on the third and the fourth levels at the decks with the pools. Solo made a quick assessment. ¡°Ai Qing and All go down the ramp. Gun follow me to sweep the second level.¡± Ai Qing pursed up her mouth. ¡°You¡¯re asking me to go down a ramp again.¡± Ramps are very dangerous in first person shooters. An opponent with a sharp eye and steady aim could shoot the instant they saw your head or foot. So it required skill to go up or down a ramp. There were many rookies that just run down the ramp carelessly and die to a headshot. Ai Qing switched to her pistol and moted towards the ramp. This ramp had a square entrance. It was a little narrow. She had to go down at least 1/3 of it to be able to jump forward to roll onto the first level. ¡°I go first, you follow.¡± Ai Qing aimed her pistol at the horizon. She walked close to the entrance, repeatedly squatted and aimed, slowly moving down. Her vision to the front opened wide gradually¡­¡­.while she was looking for opponents, she moved closer and closer to the 1/3 location. Good. Only a little bit more, only a little bit more------ Now. She made sudden forward somersault. A split second later, the place where she just was now had two bullet holes. Very accurate. If she wasn¡¯t a professional, she would have been out long time ago. The minute Ai Qing touched the ground, she switched to her sniper rifle and crouched to defend herself. All jumped to the ground right after her. She took two steps back. A dark shadow suddenly showed up in her scope. As she was pulling the trigger, the shadow had already reached her. He crashed into her. The two rolled into the swimming pool that was two meters away. Ai Qing didn¡¯t have a chance to react before falling in. She lost her balance. She struggled out of the opponent¡¯s embrace. Her feet touched the bottom of the swimming pool and turned around to see the person who had shoved her into the swimming pool¡­...Dt. There had never been any large swimming pool in any mission before. Even when there was the ocean, it was only in the background. Under several meters of water, what would be the result of their fight as they could not use guns? She didn¡¯t know, even Dt couldn¡¯t possibly know. Under the water, their characters could only hold their breath for 65 seconds. She had to kill Dt within a minute and take the last 5 seconds to get out of the pool, or¡­...she would die by Dt¡¯s hands. Volume 4 - CH 37 Book 4: The Return of the King Chapter 37 In the light blue water, red blood began to spread. Dt had just been shot. The moment he shot Xiaomi, a bullet had gone through his leg. He had lost the ability to move quickly, he had to end the fight quickly by killing Solo team¡¯s field control-- --Appledog to have a chance. Ai Qing pulled out the short knife. Her heart was pounding. She didn¡¯t expect after ten years, when she came The water resistance slowed them down by about 40% movement speed. The only way for her to fight was in close combat. Without hesitation, she approached him She couldn¡¯t hear the cheer of the audience through her soundproof headphones. Another death notification appeared. ¡­¡­ One more death notification appeared. ¡­¡­ She didn¡¯t know who those two were. The crowd was cheering, ¡°Gun god! Gun god!¡± Gun was once the strongest fighter, he had gotten rid of Buff without any effort, but All had been shot by Taotao. The moment Ai Qing and Dt had physical body contact, she switched her short knife to the long one and hammered down on his injured leg with the back of the blade. Dt knelt down and escaped from her strike. He kicked the swimming pool wall and, with the help of the force, held her waist and pushed her down. He shoved her to the bottom of the swimming pool. He raised the short knife in his hand and Ai Qing broke off her own long knife. He twisted to the right and piercing her arm with his knife. In the same ¡­¡­ Red blood gushed forth. The spreading blood reddened their vision. Since she was playing a woman, she had less physical strength than him. He had a gunshot injury, so his strength was weakened. They were equally matched, it was impossible to determine the end result within the short one minute. Time was passing. One pair of legs suppressed another pair legs. A body wrestled with the other body. 53, 54, 55 seconds¡­... Ai Qing was getting desperate. Were they both going to drown? Two people jumped into the water at the same time. Gun took Ai Qing¡¯s right arm and Grunt pulled Dt¡¯s left arm, then the two pairs swam in different directions. 60, 61, 62 seconds¡­... Gun threw Ai Qing out of the water to land on the side of swimming pool. Taotao, at the other side of the pool, fired a shot; the bullet hit the tile behind Ai Qing. At the same time, a red dot appeared right between Taotao¡¯s two eyebrows. Dt who had just climbed out of the pool kicked Taotao aside. The would be fatal bullet flew through the air and hit the cabin glass right behind Taotao¡­... Volume 4 - CH 38 Book 4: The Return of the King Chapter 38 Now, they were all on the same deck. Neither team could get away from the other team to eliminate the npc soldiers. Neither side could directly kill three players of the other side either. This was the most even match ever played since the tournament began. Someone died, followed by another person on the opposing team. It was always one life for another life. There was still some crossfire, but nobody else died from these fights. Dt alone suppressed Gun and Ai Qing¡¯s coordinated attack. Solo¡¯s all-encompassing defense didn¡¯t give Taotao and Grunt any openings. The cruise ship began to sink. Water gradually rose up to the deck and a timer began to count down. ¡°Are we going to open the secret room?¡± Xiao Mai stared at the large screen closely. At the last moment, Gun finally moved closer, slashing Taotao¡¯s neck with his knife, spraying blood onto the big screen. The screen froze. Game over. It was a draw. ¡°Everyone!¡± Xiao Mai stood up out of excitement. ¡°What about are people most excited for? It¡¯s the duel in the secret room. Since the tournament began, it¡¯s been rare to see a team open the secret room. It¡¯s a pleasant surprise to see them enter in our show match! How does it look for top players to take turns fighting one on one duels? You¡¯re all getting your money¡¯s worth watching today¡¯s match! Totally worth it!¡± There were no tactics and no coordination. It was a pure one on one duel between the strongest teams from two different eras. ¡­¡­ Ai Qing took off her earphones. The bangs around her forehead were a little damp. She peeked through the crevice between computers to looked at Dt who just now had mercilessly pushed her into the swimming pool. The soft hair at his forehead was a little messy and covered most of his eyes. But he still noticed her, so he raised his eyes and looked straight at her. Ai Qing rolled her eyes and mouthed: brat. Dt was a little embarrassed. He moved his eyes away slowly, but he couldn¡¯t help raising the corners of his mouth gradually. Five minutes later, the host released the news. The organizer had decided to disregard the competition rule again. This time the secret room duel would be determined by Dt¡¯s team to pick the qianbei they wanted to challenge, rather than by random drawing. The referee walked over and gave five pieces of paper and pens to Dt¡¯s team. Very quickly, Dt¡¯s team made their selection, which were shortly displayed on the big screen. Solo vs Grunt, Gun vs Buff, Taotao vs All, Inin vs Xiaomi¡­¡­ And the last pair was Dt vs Appledog. Volume 4 - CH 39 Book 4: The Return of the King Chapter 39 Everyone could tell that the list of pairs wasn¡¯t part of some strategy. It was simply each of their personal preference. The first group, Gun and Buff appeared in the secret room. Buff typed a line of characters on screen. ¡°Thank you.¡± Gun understood what he was thanking him for. He didn¡¯t respond. The fighting ended in thirteen seconds. Gun won the first round. Next, was Inin and Xiaomi. As the match began. Inin typed some words immediately. ¡°Wait for me for half a minute. I want to type some words.¡± Xiaomi was baffled, with little choice he kept switching his long knife to the short one, then back to the long one. He was waiting for the kid who wasn¡¯t fluent in Chinese to finish typing. He didn¡¯t expect to see what appeared after half a minute. ¡°I typed so much, but deleted all of it. Inin held his tears and reluctantly switched to his short knife. He won the second round in twenty-nine seconds. Then it was the duel between Taotao and All. A rookie and a veteran from SP were fighting against each other. They didn¡¯t exchange any words, Taotao won the third round in forty-three seconds. The messages sent while in the secret room was only visible to the duelists. No one else could see what they were talking about. But obviously, Gun, Xiaomi, and All all had different expressions after their fight. Solo had a good guess to what had happened. He pressed the Enter key. The dark secret room appeared on screen in front of him. ¡°I grew up watching the videos of your competitions.¡± One line of white characters popped out. ¡°Thank you. Solo.¡± That was probably¡­...the most serious and least arrogant words that Grunt had ever used. Solo smiled slightly. He didn¡¯t respond. Solo won the round in twenty-four seconds. It was still a draw at the moment. The last round was Dt against Ai Qing. Ai Qing took a look at Solo and Gun besides her. Then her ring finger hit the Enter key decisively. This wasn¡¯t her first time entering the secret room. Her favorite training mode with SP was the secret room. But this was actually the first time she would be playing in the secret room. She was facing Dt, but she couldn¡¯t see him. Neither of them could see each other. They could only see the opponent through the red dot on their life detector. One little red dot. ¡°I will only win this one time.¡± Dt wrote into the chat. Ai Qing couldn¡¯t stop herself from smiling. Brat, he must have forgotten that he had grabbed away the national champion from her hand in ¡®07. She squatted and moved close to him. This wasn¡¯t under the water so there wasn¡¯t any resistance. They could move freely and with agility. Both used their short knives. Whenever they neared each other, they They would lose 5-10 health for each injury. Their health bars kept decreasing and their physical strength with it. The sound of two people panting grew louder. At last Ai Qing sat down and leaned against the wall, she couldn¡¯t stand up any more. The red dot for Dt on the life detector hadn¡¯t moved. They quietly waited for the remaining three minutes till the game ended. Close combat usually ended quickly. It was very rare to last over a minute, not to mention three minutes. Ai Qing seemed to know what he was thinking about. Her hands moved away from the keyboard slowly and took off the earphones ahead of time. She looked at her teammates besides her and stuck out the tip of her tongue: ¡°I lost.¡± The countdown ended. Appledog had only 15 health left and Dt still had 45. Dt won the last round. The secret room duel ended. Three wins out of five rounds, Dt¡¯s team won the exhibition game. Solo stood up first and stretched out his right hand to Dt across from him. When Dt held his hand, Solo spoke in a low voice. ¡°Do your best to win the world championship.¡± Dt¡¯s team was a mixture with SP and K&K players. Solo wasn¡¯t talking about his expectations as a member of SP management to his team. But rather he was passing down his wish from 10 years ago. Regardless of whether it was SP or K&K¡­¡­ Please bring back one world championship. Fans of Solo¡¯s team in the past scattered all over the stadium, the ones that look somewhat older than the other audience members, stood up with reddish eyes and applauded to pay tribute to their one and only idol team. Ten years ago, Solo team¡¯s sudden disbandment was the biggest regret and injury in the hearts of these fans. Now, here, it wasn¡¯t the focus of their attention whether Solo¡¯s team won this exhibition game or not. They just wanted to see it again with their own eyes, that these five people¡­...the image of them sitting together once more.