Zuo Tao was stunned. He looked up only to find that Song Shiihan had already left the training room.
Everything quieted down.
Zuo Tao saw Jiang Ming gesturing at the others, who followed and closed their own livestreams after greeting their viewers.
Jiang Ming was still a little nervous. He’d been quietly watching Song Shihan’s livestream. It was still tolerable at the beginning, but he got a bad feeling as soon as he saw WIND enter the stream. He also witnessed the chaos of the comments and got the urge to storm GGF’s base with a knife. Their training match was going good and well, yet they started livestreaming.
GGF’s coach also called and praised the traffic, wanting to schedule a few more training matches. Jiang Ming rejected the offer with no hesitation before standing up and saying, “I’ll check on him. You continue with your training.”
“I’ll say, that was terrifying,” Wang Qiu said, staring at the closed door of the training room. “But then again, I always thought that captain and WIND didn’t have as good a relationship as rumors online said.”
“Seems like it,” Si Zheng agreed. Although Song Shihan didn’t have a good temper, he wasn’t impolite. At the very least, he wouldn’t be this cold, but he was even clearly a little angry earlier.
They both entered the industry after Song Shihan and weren’t as knowledgeable about what had happened back then. Wang Qiu couldn’t help his gossipy heart: “Maybe things aren’t really what the rumors online say they are. When FTU suddenly disbanded, maybe there really was another reason?”
“CAT, know anything?” Si Zheng asked, glancing at CAT. After all, she’d been in the industry longer than any of them. He remembered that CAT even spent some time as a trainee in FTU’s youth camp.
“I’m not really sure,” CAT said, “but it obviously wasn’t just a peaceful disbandment.” It was probably the longest sentence she’d ever uttered, speaking all while looking at the statistics of their recent training match. “But personally, I believe that WIND is nothing good.”
Zuo Tao listened silently, taking out his phone to text Su Yueyao. She was probably busy, since she didn’t reply immediately.
From the first time they talked about WIND’s return up to now, Zuo Tao had always felt that there were some things that didn’t make sense.
His intuition told him that Song Shihan was quite averse to WIND, Xiao Cheng.
He came to this conclusion simply and crudely.
After all, when he sent five Rose Gardens to Song Shihan’s stream, he was thanked immediately. But when Wind sent ten Galaxy Trains, Song Shihan acted like he didn’t see it.
It was clear at a glance who was more valued.
This comforted Zuo Tao to no end.
Song Shihan must have only stepped out for a smoke, because he returned quickly. He placed a can of Wangzai Milk on Zuo Tao’s table, and he was accompanied by the faint scent of nicotine.
“Thank you,” Zuo Tao whispered, about to reach out to take the can. However, Song Shihan seemed to have recalled something, and his hand, which he had already taken back, suddenly reached out for the can once more. His finger hooked into the pull tab and, with a little force, pulled the ring off with a small sound. Finally, he pushed the can closer to Zuo Tao.
The movements caused the contents to shake and a few drops of milk splashed on Song Shihan’s fingers.
Zuo Tao: …
Staring at that drop of milk on Song Shihan’s forefinger, Zuo Tao’s ear started to heat up. He couldn’t quite explain why he was suddenly so shy; he blamed his intuition, which was telling him that Song Shihan was giving him a hint about the marshmallow candy from last time, which he’d been so reluctant to eat.
Training lasted until 10 in the evening.
Zuo Tao rubbed his sore shoulders and noticed the rain outside. Occasionally, lightning struck and lit the night sky, giving them vision of the fine rain before it continued to fall. The leaves outside were rustling.
Almost everyone left after training, leaving only Zuo Tao and CAT in the training room.
Zuo Tao yawned as he began to clean up his table. He picked up the pull tab lying next to his keyboard and was just about to toss it into the trash bin when his hand suddenly closed around it, quietly putting it into his jacket pocket.
“Zuo Tao.”
CAT’s voice came from somewhere close by. Startled and thinking he’d gotten caught, Zuo Tao looked up and asked, “What’s up, CAT-jie? I’m going to throw the trash out. Do you want to come with me?”
As he spoke, he began to pick up all the other trash and walked towards the bin.
“No,” CAT answered, saying nothing about his weird behavior. “There’s something I need your help with.”
Zuo Tao: “Yeah?”
CAT took out a photo from the drawer on her table, and Zuo Tao leaned over to take a look. It was a solo photo of his aunt Su Yueyao, playing onstage. “Next time you meet with Lord Su, can you ask her to sign an autograph to my name?” Perhaps because she was feeling embarrassed, CAT talked hesitantly. “Lord Su hasn’t been active for a long time, and I won’t get a chance to meet her by accident, either.”
Zuo Tao took the photo without hesitation. “Don’t worry about it. I’m going home this week and I’ll ask her to sign it for you. Don’t fret, okay?”
CAT breathed a sigh of relief. “There’s no rush. Thank you.”
“No biggie,” Zuo Tao reassured, waving his hand as they left the training room.
He took a shower after getting back to his dorm, and then he sat on his desk with his laptop. First, he skillfully edited the clip from Song Shihan’s live, and then he went to check Weibo.
Team Wildfire had officially released their starting roster for the preliminaries earlier that afternoon, which cause quite a stir online —
【Wildfire Esports Club: See you next Tuesday for the 《Rising Wind》summer split preliminaries @Widfire-FIRE @Wildfire-CAT @Wildfire-QIU @Wildfire-SZ, as well as our newest member @Wildfire-PINK, who is coming onstage as our substitute. Let us look forward to it together /smile.jpg】
Zuo Tao clicked into the comment section.
【Aaaaaaaaah, brothers and sisters, tell the world: God Han is back!】
【I just finished crying and now I’m crying again. Can someone please tell me why the tickets are already sold out at this time!!】
【Replying: should OP need a ticket, send a DM.】
【Can’t believe all these brainless fans are acting like this. It’s just FIRE, but he’s almost become their god.】
【You didn’t watch the training match between GGF and Wildfire livestream, did you? God Han’s playstyle is still just as fierce as ever.】
【Another brainless fan. There was zero cooperation between him and his trash support, this grandfather can only laugh.】
The replies to this comment were mostly just cursing.
【This grandfather laughed (2). Song Shihan’s a noob, I don’t even know why he has so many fans.】
【They’re all CP fans, they’re nothing.】
【I must say, is FIRE an S? This man has no heart at all no matter how much WIND loves him. As soon as their team disbanded, he turned his back and now refuses to recognize anyone. Frustrating! I’m bringing WIND home.】
【Today is truly the CP fans’ funeral.】
Zuo Tao leaned back, crossing his legs as he replied with his companion account —
【ZZ: If you want to die, go ahead and die. No one’s stopping you. Even better if you take WIND with you.】
Most of the contents of his account were related to Song Shihan, so his followers knew he was a big fan of Song Shihan. A few seconds after he sent his comment, the OP had already replied.
【WIND is the world’s number 1: What’s wrong, still fighting that your noob is the best? Hehe, I’m just saying, FIRE is the most delicious1The slang for noob is vegetable, so this is making fun of FIRE being such a noob he’s the best at it., he’s the best, and even if you sprinkle a handful of rice on a keyboard, a chicken can play better than he can.】
【WIND is the world’s number 1: If my family’s WIND hadn’t let him, he wouldn’t have won a damned individual championship.】
【WIND is the world’s number 1: Song Shihan is nothing but a green-clad red flag.】
【ZZ: Are you crazy or delusional? As for WIND playing in the midlane, if ghosts see it they’re going to end up laughing to death all over again. Shipping people too much is like taking fake medicine. Isn’t this just destroying what little brain you have? From beginning to end, I didn’t hear FIRE say anything. He has nothing to do with that evil thing from your family, okay?】
【ZZ: He didn’t say anything, but he’s the one rushing to get into the trends. Is that not being cheap?】
After holding his real self back for so long, Zuo Tao’s spirit was finally able to relax after he cursed others out. His fingers tapped on the screen quickly and he was just about to continue editing his video when a phone call interrupted his passionate art process.
“Yeah?” he answered, clamping his phone between his ear and shoulder as he switched to Weibo on his laptop. “Dad is very busy.”
Ding Lei: “Wow, that’s not something a well-behaved boy would say.”
Zuo Tao: “Get straight to the point if you want to die. I can ask for leave and help you get there.”
Ding Lei chuckled. “Nevermind. What are you busy with so late, anyway? Can you help me rank up a few games? You told me you’d help me after the exams, but it’s been a few days. You’re not going back on your word, are you?”
Zuo Tao was speechless. He glanced at the time and said, “Alright, come online.”
“I’m already on!”
“Open mic,” Zuo Tao said. He decided to let this ‘Wind is the world’s number 1’ be for now, opening the game client and logging into his companion account.
Ding Lei chose to play midlane mage. He asked: “What are you playing?”
Zuo Tao chose Fairy Song. “Support.”
To be honest, he hasn’t played Fairy Song much before, and after the match with GGF, he realized that he still had so much to improve on in terms of gameplay.
Ding Lei: “How about don’t? What if you play jungler or something. We’ll take care of the jungle together.”
Aside from support, Zuo Tao also played the other roles fairly well. His main purpose was always to bring his bosses up in rank, so if he wasn’t playing as training partner for some teams, he would usually choose roles that needed high damage output.
Zuo Tao snorted. “Even my little fairy can solo kill an opponent any time.”
“That’s true. I watched the broadcast this afternoon.” Ding Lei sighed. “Boss Zuo, you’re really fierce. Do you want me to… huh?”
His voice rose in surprise. “Oh my god, did I see that right? The other midlaner… REBORN’s WIND?”
Hearing him say this, Zuo Tao glanced at their enemy’s information. His eyebrows rose and his hand, which was about to click on support equipment, paused. He finally bought his first item and told Ding Lei: “Go to the bottom lane.”
Ding Lei: ?
Zuo Tao was short: “Buy support items.”
Ding Lei broke. “…I don’t mind changing roles, but… dage, have you forgotten that you’re using Fairy Song right now?”
Zuo Tao rolled his sleeves up. “Talk less. My fairy is made of iron. I’m taking you to victory and that’s it.”
Ding Lei finally went down the botlane. “Okay, dad.”
Zuo Tao stared at the annoying ID on his screen and finally found the best place to vent his resentment.
He grinned rather wickedly.
Truly, enemies cross paths on narrow roads.
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