Zuo Tao managed to make it through the game. Although Lin Taisen did not make his demonic presence known again, Zuo Tao still made the excuse of needing the restroom to give him a call.
“My great nephew, how did you have the time to call me?” Lin Taisen’s voice carried an obvious smile, emphasizing his tone when he called him ‘my great nephew’.
The livestream was still on in the training room, so Zuo Tao was in a hurry. He did not waste his words, saying: “Don’t go into my streams anymore.”
Lin Taisen: “Oh, you switched personalities again?”
Zuo Tao had nothing to say. He could only take a deep breath. “When I go back, I’ll invite you for some skewers, okay?”
Lin Taisen laughed. “No, how come I can hear the impatience in your voice? It’s so different to when you’re talking to Song Shihan. I’m at least your uncle, xiao Taotao, you’re freezing me out like this.”
Disgusted by the nickname, Zuo Tao gritted his teeth: “Don’t call me that.”
“Nah, I don’t think so.”
Zuo Tao was ruthless: “I can just call auntie right now.”
Lin Taisen paused. “What would you even tell her?”
Zuo Tao smiled: “The last time we went out for a drink, you told me that you hid money in the shoebox hidden in the last drawer on the left side of your wardrobe home.”
“…you heartless little jerk,” Lin Taisen said after a second of silence. Finally, he strengthened himself and said: “I was just worried that you’d get bullied, so I entered your stream to show my support. This is how you repay me?”
Zuo Tao snorted. “Who can even bully me?”
“Yes, yes, no one dares to bully, but what was that?” He pinched his throat and said, “Song Shihan gege —”
Zuo Tao’s skin broke out into goosebumps and he yelled, “Stop being disgusting!”
“If you don’t believe that’s how you sounded, go watch the recording yourself.”
Zuo Tao covered his face, peeking out of the bathroom. Not seeing anyone, he continued, “Uncle, listen. Don’t ruin my image, please.”
“Does Song Shihan know you’re unhinged?” Lin Taisen laughed. “I really don’t get how you fans can do almost anything for your idols. My face was cramping from laughter while I was watching your stream. Is this really the great nephew of mine who smoked, drank, and played with me?” As he spoke, he made the implication that he knew just what to hold over Zuo Tao’s head. “You can tell your auntie, but I have a few gigabytes of your dark history that can make its way into FIRE’s inbox anytime.”
Zuo Tao: “Truce!”
“Alright, alright,” Lin Taisen finally said as he calmed down, “I didn’t join your stream to fight. Honestly, I just went there to give people advance notice, since I’ll be commentating on the preliminaries in two days. I just don’t want people saying that I talk about you too much if I do mention you during the competition.” His voice turned serious. “The fact that you got into Wildfire through connections is already known in the league, and you imagine what people have to say about that. Instead of our relationship being used as negative news later, I’d rather let everyone know now. Your aunt plans to do the same, too.”
Lin Taisen paused before finally continuing. “You will leave the professional arena, and you’ll have to readjust to a ‘normal’ life. Most of you in this circle are so young, and college is a wholly different ballpark to high school. If you enter college with negative news to your name, you will be ostracized.” He breathed and finally finished with: “We have to do our part to be responsible for you.”
Zuo Tao also remained quiet after Lin Taisen finished speaking. He knew that although his relationship with Su Yueyao and Lin Taisen looked like that of close friends on the surface, deep down they still acted like his elders. They also had to plan for and around him.
He pursed his lips, still looking for words to say, but before he could, Lin Taisen continued —
“But my worries lessened when I watched your stream. It’s no big deal if you want to keep acting like a good boy. Jiayou, fight well in the preliminaries. Come on, you better get back; the comments are already sending your good gege to get you from the restroom.”
Whatever softness Zuo Tao managed to gather dissipated. His lips twitched and he said: “Goodbye!” He hung up immediately, quickly turning around to make his way back to the training room.
The game with Song Shihan right before made him realize a few issues that he hadn’t really paid attention to before.
As Jiang Ming said, there really wasn’t any coordination between them that could be mentioned. It was just that if he played a damage support, it wasn’t that obvious, since he and Song Shihan could simply double carry on the bottom lane. They could generally kill their enemies with their combined damage, allowing them to dominate the lane.
But once he played a full support without the damage, the problem of their cooperation being absent when it was most needed was immediately exposed.
Like Song Shihan, he was used to carrying the rhythm of the game on his own. Sometimes he’d even take the lead too far and the AD became his support instead. That might work against casual gamers, but as they moved up ranks and they met more professional players, it would be more and more difficult.
Moreover, competitions put emphasis on team coordination.
Their lack of tacit understanding led to some situations where he couldn’t keep up with Song Shihan, leaving him to face their opponents alone and causing him to lose out. Sometimes, he’d plan on holding out on the lane, while Song Shihan instead went to another lane to gank. In other words, their cooperation as a duo was probably similar to two grade schoolers.
Even if they put all their effort in trying to cooperate, they still get laughed at by the viewers on the livestream.
Jiang Ming had no idea how many times he’d sighed that entire afternoon.
Six o’clock that evening.
After their regular training and the broadcast was turned off, Zuo Tao rubbed his sore wrist and picked up his phone to check on Weibo. As expected, topics relating to them had already appeared in the hot search.
【#FIREPINKterriblecombo】
【#Wildfirelive】
【#PINKLinTaisen】
【#《RisingWind》preliminaries】
Zuo Tao opened the first topic and was greeted by countless roasts from the discussion.
【I was there. It really was ugly.】
【How do they expect to play during the preliminaries? Will they just be there to get beaten?】
【Thanks for the advanced notice. I want to refund my ticket now.】
【What? PINK just joined Wildfire, it’s normal that they don’t have coordination. On the contrary, they actually get along quite well. There were a few times where FIRE waited for PINK to catch up. It’s all in the details.】
【Oh whatever, FIRE has always had an issue with looking down from a pedestal1The raw means “eyes above the head”, which means someone who only see people who are at their level and higher and look down on/ignore those they perceive to be below/weaker than them. Wasn’t he like this in FTU, too? Barely interacting with his teammates and selling them off, too. People like him will just be individual champions forever.】
【Antis can stop now, even if they have no understanding in the game, they’re still okay in private. That should be enough to get them through the preliminaries.】
Zuo Tao furrowed his eyebrows as he clicked into the comments of a particular post, but someone had patted his shoulder from behind.
It was Wang Qiu, having already taken his headphones off. “Peach, let’s go out for some barbeque. The stall isn’t that far from the base.”
Si Zheng and CAT had already packed up and were ready to go. Zuo Tao glanced at Song Shihan almost instinctively, asking, “Is captain coming with us?”
“You guys enjoy, I have something else to do,” Song Shihan answered, leaning back against his chair to pinch the bridge of his nose, his voice sounding tired. “My treat.”
Zuo Tao was about to decline as well but Wang Qiu was already cheering, pulling him outside and saying, “Hurry, the line for that stall is pretty long. If we go any later, I don’t know what time we’ll be able to eat.”
“Wait a sec, I’ll just get my jacket.”
Zuo Tao ducked from under Wang Qiu’s arm and went back to the training room, taking his jacket that he’d left on the back of his chair. He didn’t immediately rush out.
“Captain,” he called, “You’re really not gonna eat with us?”
Song Shihan hummed, rubbing his hair casually. He got up and looked at Zuo Tao. “I didn’t sleep well last night. I’m going to take a nap.”
Zuo Tao nodded, gripping his phone. He gathered himself and said, “Captain, I’m sorry.”
Song Shihan stopped and didn’t respond immediately. He watched Zuo Tao deeply before asking, “Why are you apologizing?”
Zuo Tao pursed his lips. “I didn’t do well today. The gameplay is on me.” He hung his head, rubbing his fingers against his phone in anxiety. He waited for Song Shihan to respond, but it was in vain.
Zuo Tao wanted to look at his face when he saw, from his peripheral vision, a shadow coming down, followed by the sensation of a large, warm hand not-too-gently rubbing his head.
Song Shihan’s voice was tinged with laughter as he said, “How many times do I have to tell you not to pay attention to what people are saying on the internet?”
His pulse quickened. Zuo Tao blinked and, sure enough, there was a hint of a smile on Song Shihan’s usually cold face. “How did you know…”
“You don’t have any problems,” Song Shihan interrupted, withdrawing his hand and taking his jacket as he went to the door. “Go eat and come back early.”
——
Even as he and the others were already seated at the table, Zuo Tao seemed to still be able to hear echoes of Song Shihan’s words.
You don’t have any problems.
Zuo Tao giggled as he held his phone. Song Shihan was nothing like the internet said at all. At most he looked cold and distant, but in his heart he was warm.
Wang Qiu brought out a box of beer as they waited for their food to be served. He opened a few bottles and said, “Hey, the captain’s really something, huh. Ever since I joined Wildfire I’ve never seen him eat with us, unless it’s at the base.”
Si Zhen accepted the bottle Wang Qiu handed him. “The captain probably isn’t fond of noisy environments, right?”
Wang Qiu: “That came out wrong. But still, I sometimes get the feeling that the captain doesn’t see us as teammates at all.” After speaking, he was quick to amend: “I don’t mean that he’s a bad captain, I mean, he’s great. I guess it just feels like he’s so out of touch sometimes.”
CAT glanced at him as she took a sip of her own beer. “You know you shouldn’t say something but you still say it?”
Realizing that he spoke too much, he patted his mouth and said, “My mistake, I have an awful mouth. Let’s just drink… wait, Zuo Tao, what are you doing?!”
Zuo Tao had his head bowed, editing something on Weibo, intending to reply to antis with his official account. Just as he was about to take a sip of beer, Wang Qiu grabbed his wrist.
Wang Qiu asked, “Are you legal?”
Zuo Tao: …
He lowered his head and looked at the bottle he was holding, thinking that even just the act of holding the bottle seemed so natural. He had completely forgotten his image of a well-behaved high school student.
“Uh…” Zuo Tao opened his mouth, but he had no idea how he was going to explain this away. “The thing is…”
“Isn’t it okay to drink just a bit?” Si Zheng asked, not really thinking too deep about it. “I was already drinking baijiu2White wine with my dad when I was in junior high.” He patted Zuo Tao’s shoulder and said, “Have you ever drank before?”
Ge, you truly are my brother.
Zuo Tao breathed a sigh of relief, as if he heard music from the heavens, feeling like he was about to cry. He shook his head with a clear conscience and followed after Si Zheng’s words: “I just wanted to see what it tastes like.”
Si Zheng smiled. “Then just give it a taste. Beer is good for low alcohol tolerance.”
Wang Qiu, led astray, stood up and said, “How can you get drunk with beer? Wait, I’ll ask them to open two bottles of white.”
Zuo Tao’s eyes lit up. Although he seldom drank baijiu, he believed that his alcohol tolerance was good. He should be good drinking just a bit?
He hadn’t even touched a drop of alcohol since coming to Wildfire. Now that everyone else was drinking, it would be too cruel to leave him on the side to drink milk.
Drink a little. He was just going to drink a little.
If he got drunk, he’d just obediently keep his mouth shut and there won’t be any problems.
After fortifying his decision, Zuo Tao calmly took the small cup Wang Qiu handed, asking, “This is it?”
Si Zheng: “…it’s better to drink less at first.”
Wang Qiu raised his own glass. “Let’s toast. Wishing us all the best at the preliminaries!”
Seeing everyone drinking their own drinks in a single gulp roused Zuo Tao’s competitiveness, so he followed suit and took drank. However, he wasn’t prepared; his face crumpled and he couldn’t resist sticking his tongue out.
The others laughed at the sight.
CAT said, “Just forget it, Zuo Tao.” She wasn’t as confident as the other two. “Don’t drink.”
Zuo Tao waved her concern away. “Don’t worry, jie. I’m fine, I can drink!”
“If you can’t anymore, just stop,” Si Zheng warned, seeing that Zuo Tao didn’t seem to have any problems with the alcohol. He topped up his cup.
They were a group of youngsters and they had a lot they could talk about. Under the influence of alcohol, and seeing that Zuo Tao seemed to be holding up even after a few glasses, the others calmed down and started having fun.
After a few rounds, everyone was already quite buzzed. Si Zheng had already passed out on the table.
Although Zuo Tao was feeling dizzy, he stuck to his decision not to talk too much, and instead focused on Weibo where people were still discussing their cooperation.
【I also think FIRE has a problem. This just gets better and better.】
【Their coordination really is enough to make me cry. My girlfriend and I have better coordination that they do in duo queue.】
【So many antis today.】
【Don’t make me laugh. First of all, I’m not some spammer anti. FIRE is just a fool with an ice cube mask. PINK must have the bad luck of eight lifetimes to end up being his support. @Wildfire-PINK, hurry up and run. You’re young, go find a different team and follow any of their AD. You’ll be much better off than with FIRE.】
Zuo Tao frowned, clicking on that particular comment to reply to.
Wang Qiu, on the other hand, was discussing popular teams with CAT, the topic gradually shifting to the preliminaries. He rubbed his forehead and said, “Everyone else is fine, but FG is really difficult. I solo’d against their mage once and he’s ridiculously strong. And their AD, too. Some people are saying he’s the top player in the server.”
He was already having a hard time typing, and he just wanted to send his comment. Hearing Wang Qiu’s words, Zuo Tao did not hold back: “That’s nonsense.”
Wang Qiu was surprised, looking at Zuo Tao: “What’s nonsense?”
Zuo Tao’s eyes were hazy. He put his phone down on the table with an audible snap, correcting him seriously: “My gege is the world’s number one AD!”
Wang Qiu had already drunk too much wine, and his mind was a little slow: “Who is your gege?”
Zuo Tao laid on the table, answering, “Song Shihan, ah.” A hint of dislike made its way to his face. “No one else.”
Wang Qiu was about to die laughing from the expression on Zuo Tao’s face. What else was there to do? He took out his phone and patted Zuo Tao. “Come, say it again. Taotao, who do you think is stronger, FG’s AD or FIRE?”
Zuo Tao looked at the camera, his eyes dazed, and answered, “My family’s FIRE, of course!”
Wang Qiu: “Compared to GGF?”
Zuo Tao: “FIRE!”
Wang Qiu mentioned all currently popular players from major teams, comparing them to Song Shihan over and over, and Zuo Tao’s answer remained the same.
Wang Qiu hiccuped, “Finally, compared to REBORN…”
Before he could even finish speaking, Zuo Tao stood up with impatience. He yelled at the camera, saying, “My gege is the best, everyone else are noobs…” Halfway through, whatever consciousness he had left stopped him from saying anything unpleasant, so he pursed his lips and instead said, quite aggrieved: “Big idiot, big idiot, big idiot!”
CAT couldn’t bear to continue watching. She took the bottle in front of Zuo Tao and said, “…stop drinking already.”
“I’m okay!” Zuo Tao said, laughing. “It’s all just wheat juice!”
He finally finished the Weibo comment he hadn’t finished typing, and finally sent it out —
【Wildfire-PINK: Nonsense, my gege is the best in the world, not like you said at all. I’m not running! I’m lucky enough to become his support, so you’re just jealous. You’re an idiot… idiot! //Forwarded: Don’t make me laugh. First of all, I’m not some spamming anti. FIRE is just a fool…】
Seeing this scene, Wang Qiu burst into another fit of laughter, sending the video to Song Shihan, also drunkenly recording a voice message —
“Captain.
“It seems we have one of your solo stans here.”
If you can, please support the author by buying the original work! You can also support the translator through:
![There’s a Beauty [Ancient Wear Modern]](https://www.freenovels.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/image_2023-11-22_095131618.png "There’s a Beauty [Ancient Wear Modern]")
