Glory [e-sports]

However, his fellow brother did!

His fellow brother was the One Lamp Grandmaster who had managed to hammer everyone in the Glory e-sports circle!

Brother Cai had a beautiful thought. He wondered if Comrade Old Wei would be in a good mood and split half of it with him.

“If you don’t play even with this, Brother Xiao, you’ll be…” Bai Cai tried to egg him on. He felt that his win was basically 90% guaranteed!

Who could’ve known… that the Wei Xiao in front of him wasn’t acting the same way he’d imagined.

He wasn’t excited, wasn’t inspired, didn’t explode into action. Not only that, his attitude seemed to be a little chilly?

Bai Cai stopped speaking and looked at Wei Xiao cautiously.

The winter sun was very strong at noon. The wall of the base’s front hall was covered in a stretch of French windows and doors. The sunlight shone in through the glass, warming it up like a greenhouse.

It was a pity that the most gorgeous flower in this greenhouse at this time was cold and chilly, akin to deep layers of ice and snow.

Wei Xiao’s appearance was the clean and handsome type. He was 1.8 meters tall, but his body was thin. He wore his team uniform jacket casually draped over his shoulders, and his waist was narrow, his legs long.

When he smiled, he seemed particularly attractive – a little flirty and affectionate, and a little naughty; when he didn’t smile, his eyes curved down, and his side profile was filled with indifference. It was a little similar to Close.

Bai Cai’s heart thudded, and he strove to liven up the atmosphere, “Why aren’t you happy that the captain is indulging you?”

It was still okay before he said these words, but once he spoke, it was like he’d ignited a firecracker.

Wei Xiao didn’t say a word as he turned and went back upstairs.

Bai Cai’s head was covered in question marks, and he was completely clueless about what had just happened.

Ning Zhehan, who’d just come downstairs, met Wei Xiao as he was going up, “Brother Xiao…” He was given a shock before he could finish his greeting.

Wei Xiao answered very lightly, then continued upstairs.

Ning Zhehan turned his body sideways, his eyes aiming at Bai Cai––

Brother Cai, what’s wrong with Brother Xiao?

Bai Cai’s expression was blank––

He didn’t know either.

They’d been back at the base for so many days, but Wei Xiao had never been to Lu Feng’s office.

There was no special reason for it; Wei Xiao hadn’t wanted to disturb Lu Feng when he was working.

Other than when they met in the canyon, every time he saw Lu Feng, he always wanted to stick close to him.

It was enough to stick to him when they ate and slept. He would be too much if he also harassed the captain when he was working.

Wei Xiao’s words might be arrogant and careless, but in fact, he had a good sense of propriety.

Perhaps it was the uneasiness in his bones––a fear that even he didn’t realize.

Fear of being disliked.

Fear of losing.

Fear that this hard won love would become like a bubble in the sea, popping and disappearing without a trace.

Wei Xiao stopped outside the door to the office, pursed his lips, then pressed the doorbell.

A familiar low voice came out from inside the room, “Come in.”

Wei Xiao frowned tightly and pushed open the heavy wooden door.

Unlike what he’d expected, Lu Feng’s office was quite ordinary.

FTW’s base was well-known for its lavishness. From the outside all the way to the inside, the overall design of the villa was very stylish and comfortable.

Even the contestants’ dormitories were elaborately built. According to this logic, Lu Feng’s office should be the place with the most attention to detail.

However, that wasn’t actually the case.

Other than the same French windows that were present on each floor, the office was filled with the light scent of books.

A bookshelf that covered an entire wall was covered in sunlight. On the desk at the front of the room, there was an all-in-one printer, and all the documents were piled in a rack. A silver Montblanc pen was the only bright spot of color.

There was a sofa set in front of the desk. It wasn’t from any famous brand, but rather, an ordinary black sofa set. Even the coffee table was basic with just a touch of style in the design.

The overall decorations wouldn’t make people feel that the office was shabby, but it wasn’t the same ‘gorgeous’ style that the rest of the FTW base displayed.

Lu Feng looked up and saw Wei Xiao in a daze by the door.

“What’s the matter?” Lu Feng stood up and came to him.

Wei Xiao closed the door behind him. He didn’t step forward and just leaned against the door, holding the handle with the hand that was behind his back.

His mood was obviously not right. Lu Feng was quite clear about the reasons, and his voice was low when he spoke, “Angry?”

Half of the high wall that Wei Xiao had erected collapsed with this single word.

Wei Xiao looked up at him, “I said I wasn’t going to solo!”

When Bai Cai saw that Lu Feng had added 300,000 to the challenge, he just thought that the captain was indulging him and wanted him to have a good time.

But Wei Xiao only felt a wave of coldness surging up.

They’d clearly spoken about it.

It had already been settled.

The captain had even said “Mm.” Why…

Lu Feng reached behind him and loosened the hand he had wrapped around the door handle.

Wei Xiao held on to his hand tightly, lifting his head to look at him, “You still want me to participate in the singles competition!”

Lu Feng: “…….”

Did this question still require an answer?

This silence already said everything.

Wei Xiao frowned, his eyes cold and icy. This was a side that he’d never shown in front of Lu Feng before––

It was the tough layer of camouflage that Wei Xiao erected when faced with disaster.

Lu Feng calmed down his mood, “Having you sign up for the singles competition wasn’t something I decided on alone. It was the result after a joint discussion with the coaching team.”

Wei Xiao stared at him, “As long as you decided on it, would the coaching team refuse?!”

Lu Feng looked at his slightly reddened eyes and felt like his heart had been stabbed, “Little Xiao.”

Wei Xiao: “……”

He couldn’t bear to hear Lu Feng call him that.

Lu Feng was the only one in the entire world who would call him like that, with such a gentle voice.

He knew that the captain was good to him, and he knew that the captain valued him.

But…

He also wanted to be good to him, and he valued him, too!

Wei Xiao bowed his head and said stubbornly, “I won’t sign up.”

He didn’t want the captain to have to sacrifice himself in order to satisfy him.

Lu Feng held his hand, “Come here.”

Wei Xiao didn’t say a word, letting Lu Feng lead him over to sit on the black sofa that couldn’t actually be considered soft.

Wei Xiao didn’t look at him, his attitude like that of a child who’d been cheated by his family.

Lu Feng held the back of his neck, pulled him close, then kissed him.

Wei Xiao resisted, “Kissing me isn’t going to work.”

He was angry! The kind that kissing wouldn’t coax better!

Lu Feng’s lips curved briefly in a smile, “There’s something that I can’t tell others, but I want to tell you.”

Wei Xiao looked hard and unforgiving on the outside, but his heart had long turned as soft as a pool of water.

Especially the kiss just now, it had collapsed all his defenses.

In front of someone he loved, his hard facade was nothing but a paper tiger.

However, Wei Xiao didn’t want to back down.

When it came to things related to Close, he would fight until the end.

Lu Feng had never thought that there would come a day when he would take the initiative to speak of his troubles out loud. However, in fact, all the words that couldn’t be said were simply because he hadn’t met the right person.

His shoulder injury was linked to a humiliating past.

For Lu Feng to say it out loud meant that not only was he tearing down the broken armor on his body, he was also uncovering the scar that covered the blood and pus within.

“I’m sorry.” Lu Feng held his hand gently, lowering his gaze, “It’s that I have no way to compete in the singles competition.”

Wei Xiao was stunned. He didn’t understand.

Lu Feng lifted up his hand and pressed it forcefully against his own shoulder.

Wei Xiao’s eyes opened wide.

Lu Feng frowned tightly and a thin layer of sweat oozed out from his forehead, “Here, it hurts a lot.”

The last words were spoken very lightly, as light as snowflakes falling from the sky.

––Casual, inconspicuous, light, and floating softly in the air.

However, the next moment felt like a heavy blizzard, bringing a bottomless coldness that couldn’t be melted away.

Wei Xiao was buried in this sudden blizzard.

Lu Feng talked in detail about his own situation. His shoulder injury, the three rounds of competition that he couldn’t balance, and how he had had to make a choice.

Regret and relief.

Loss and hope.

“I’m very glad you came to FTW.” Lu Feng expressed all of his thoughts openly to Wei Xiao, “It was your arrival that gave me hope.”

A new FTW, a new season.

In this year’s team competition, FTW would definitely be able to obtain the real championship!

After three years and several changes, the new FTW would finally usher in their summer!

Wei Xiao was in a daze. A long time later, his pale lips trembled as he asked Lu Feng, “You’ve been competing while injured all along?”

Lu Feng: “…….”

Wei Xiao’s brain was buzzing. In the next second, tears began to fall silently.

His eyes were red, his face was dazed, and other than the continuous sound of tears as they dripped down and fell, there was no other sound.

Lu Feng was distressed. He hugged him, “Don’t cry.”

He hadn’t been able to speak out for so long, precisely because he was afraid of seeing him cry.

Wei Xiao put his chin on his shoulder, not moving at all as he repeated, “You’ve been competing while injured all along.”

Scenes flashed in his mind like a fast-forward movie, starting from the day he’d met Lu Feng. All the details were magnified infinitely in Wei Xiao’s brain.

The self-disciplined captain.

The captain that stuck to his exercise routine.

The captain who rested on time every day…

Countless things that Wei Xiao had thought were just Lu Feng’s personal preferences became magnified as he recalled them.

If one didn’t experience pain, they wouldn’t be obsessed with exercise.

If there was no real threat, there would be no need for that level of self-discipline.

Anyone who loved the competition, anyone who’d reached the peak; how would any of them not do their best in the canyon?

Two years ago, Close had soloed with him for 48 hours straight.

He loved Glory more than anyone else, indulged in it, and couldn’t extricate himself from it.

But now, he’d reduced his training, never stayed up late, went running for exercise every morning, his life orderly and disciplined like that of an old man.

The body was the capital for everything.

Lu Feng had said this to him many times.

At the time, Wei Xiao hadn’t taken him seriously, but now, it was a sharp pain stabbing through his heart and lungs.

During the winter training camp, Wei Xiao had been frightened by Li Heran’s injury.

Now, the same fear swept in, completely enveloping him.

The captain had a shoulder injury. He’d been competing while injured, he’d been persevering through it.

Occupational diseases were too fatal for e-sports players.

How much willpower did it require to endure pain and withstand the numbness, ensuring stable play?

If something went wrong, it would all collapse like an avalanche.

It wouldn’t be just the team that collapsed, the individual player would be impacted the most.

After experiencing such setbacks, they would leave the scene alone.

Li Heran, who was once the number one ADC in Glory, had been reduced to the point where nobody talked about him.

Close, he also…

Bursts of cold rippled down his back. Wei Xiao felt as though he was falling into an abyss.

Kim Sung-hyun’s words poured into his heart.

Intermittent, fragmented, and finally, the half-burnt out cigarette by the sea.

The dim light that didn’t shine through the dark night.

The warmth it gave off at the fingertips wasn’t enough to warm up the cold sea.

Kim Sung-hyun’s unwillingness and regret, all of it poured into Wei Xiao’s heart.

Wei Xiao looked straight ahead and asked Lu Feng in a voice that didn’t sound like his own, “You can only participate in the 5v5, right?”

Lu Feng: “Yes.”

Wei Xiao’s lips trembled, “You want me to sign up for the singles competition, right?”

Lu Feng suppressed the reluctance in his heart, closed his eyes and said, “You can also sign up for the doubles competition.”

Wei Xiao’s voice was light and fluttering, “With who?”

Lu Feng: “Bai Cai.”

As soon as his voice fell, he felt a tear land on his neck.

They were very cold tears, but it also scalded so much it made his back tighten.

Wei Xiao didn’t say anything else and just held him gently.

His movements were very light, as though afraid of touching his injury.

He didn’t know how much time passed, and he didn’t know how long they remained cuddled together like this.

Wei Xiao finally released Lu Feng.

Lu Feng looked at him anxiously, “Wei Xiao.”

Wei Xiao avoided his gaze, “Give me some time.”

The words that were waiting at the edge of Lu Feng’s lips were swallowed back, “Okay.”

Wei Xiao got up and walked out of the office.

He went downstairs expressionlessly, then locked himself in his bedroom.

Soybean had originally wanted to pounce on him, but when it saw him like this, it immediately hit the brakes.

It gave a gentle call, then lay down obediently at the edge of the bed.

Wei Xiao hadn’t taken off his clothes. He simply pulled back the quilt and got into bed.

He curled up in the quilt, unable to stop his trembling.

Last time he felt like this, it had been two years ago––

When he learned of his grandma’s death, Wei Xiao just felt like the heavens and earth were churning.

The person who’d encouraged him to be strong and live on had passed away.

The person who’d supported his constant efforts had left.

The love that Wei Xiao hadn’t been able to express, the love that he hadn’t been able to return, the love that he failed to give, all of it turned into grief that pressed down on him.

It was too heavy, pressing down on his 17 year old self until he couldn’t breathe.

Now… this sense of suffocation came again.

Close was injured. Close was ill.

The king of the singles competition had no alternative but to take off his crown, because of something so helpless.

Belief. Faith.

The light he chased.

Wei Xiao was close to him, and he could see him.

But, he also witnessed the bloodshed behind it.

The bright light in front of others was broken and fragmented behind the scenes.

A strange picture appeared in front of Wei Xiao––

On the dazzling championship stage, there was the incomparably powerful Close, but behind him was a darkness that was constantly swallowing him up.

The brilliance of the light was equal to the depths of the darkness.

The next day.

It wasn’t just Bai Cai; everyone in FTW could tell that something was wrong with Wei Xiao.

The person who had the most to say normally was no longer talking, the person who liked to laugh the most was no longer laughing.

Wei Xiao went to the training room in the morning and never left it until 10PM.

Chen Feng finished that day’s game review, “Everyone can do their own thing.”

He glanced at Wei Xiao, paused, then added, “By the way, RR’s arena platform. You guys can give it a try if you’re interested.”

When the Wei Xiao who’d been as silent as a man made of wood heard this, his eyelashes trembled.

Even Bai Cai hadn’t dared to speak to him all day long.

Finally, when he saw that Wei Xiao seemed to have loosened up slightly, he asked tentatively, “Go and give it a try?”

Ning Zhehan also tried to ease up the atmosphere, “I’ll give a try, too. After all, our captain is funding 300,000 of the prize money.”

When he heard the word ‘captain’, Wei Xiao spoke his first sentence of the day, “I’ll go.”

Bai Cai snuck a glance at him, and the joke that was hovering at the edge of his mouth simply got stuck before it came out.

Wei Xiao’s current appearance was too scary.

There wasn’t even a single word of nonsense as Wei Xiao logged into the game and applied to enter the game room that Moonlit had set up.

On that side, Moonlit had just finished a game. He accepted the application.

“Solo?”

“Mm.”

Moonlit was livestreaming. When the fans saw the ID ‘Quiet’, the atmosphere instantly heated up, “Holy shit, the grandmaster is here!”

“Grandmaster, can you do it? My Moon God just finished hammering people, and his hands are warmed up.”

“How exciting, this segment should be recorded. After the game is over, I want to go back and savor it properly!”

“I bet three cannons that Moon God will win.”

“I bet six on Quiet!”

The match started. The audience became even more excited when they saw the heroes both sides had selected.

“Moon God’s immortal warlock ahhhhh, I’ll love him for a lifetime!”

“The shadow thief ahhhhhh, FTW’s inherited shadow thief ahhhhh!”

“Although I can’t see Quiet on the screen, I always have a feeling that he’s filled with killing intent today.”

When they entered the narrow canyon for the singles competition, the scrolling comments were confused for a moment.

“This…”

“About this…”

“This isn’t killing intent, this is simply a demon!”

Less than one minute into the game.

FTW.Quiet killed RR.Moonlit.

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The author has something to say:

Don’t be afraid, the second arc’s name is Blazing Sun

It’s the blazing sun that lights up Close.

Too much drama affects the reading experience. Believe me, I won’t let you down.

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xiin: even the author said it will be okay! WX and LF will work through this~ but i won’t judge you if you need tissues… i went through a few while translating these chapters (shhh)…