Zuo Tao scratched his head. He wasn’t really planning on drinking the soda; he was playing around out of boredom, but he didn’t expect it to get confiscated.
After setting the can aside, Song Shihan brought out some paper towels to wipe his fingers with. Jiang Ming turned the TV on, settling on the livestream of the 《Rising Wind》 summer preliminaries. The host was covered by the dense comments on the screen, and the video showed the packed gym with no empty seats, the fans holding LED signs and glowing wands as they cheered.
“Since you can’t have it, I’ll take it,” Wang Qiu said, taking the soda from the table. “I’m thirsty. Do you mind, Taozi?”
Zuo Tao shook his head. “It’s fine, you can have it.”
“Don’t drink too much,” Jiang Ming reminded. He had already warned the team not to drink too much other than water. One reason was that they weren’t sure if the drinks had gotten spiked by banned substances, and another reason was that it might cause stomach problems.
However, the competition was still a few hours away, so it wasn’t too much of an issue to drink now.
Wang Qiu curled his fingers into an ‘OK’ sign as they turned their attention to the TV.
Lin Taisen was one of the hosts for the preliminaries’ opening ceremony. His style was bold and humorous, able to rouse the audience’s excitement with a few simple words.
【Ahhhhhhhh it’s starting! Crying because I wasn’t able to get tickets. I hate it!!!】
【Can’t wait to see FIRE play, it’s been so long since I last saw my husband appear in a competition! T_T】
【FG! FG! Long live FG!】
【What the hell, I was only out of touch for half a month, are the preliminaries really this popular?】
【HAHAHAHAHA is your internet service provider from the boonies, OP? FIRE is participating in this year’s preliminaries, debuting the Wildfire team!】
【I don’t care. FIRE might be awesome, heating up the preliminaries on his own, but there are 20 teams participating and half are all popular teams. How can it not garner attention?】
【Where is WIND? When is he appearing? REBORN, aaaaaaaah!!】
【My STAR, your mother is here! STAR, jiayou1加油, literal meaning is ‘burn the oil’. It’s a cheer for ‘keep going’ or ‘do your best’, kind of like ‘Ganbatte’ in JPN or ‘hwaiting’ in KR.! GGF, jiayou!】
Zuo Tao watched as the viewers rose from a million to just over 60 million before the number finally stabilized.
Si Zheng leaned against the sofa, just as surprised. “Great, great. The hype’s almost catching up to last year’s spring split.”
Wang Qiu said, “Ge, guess how many of those 6,000 plus in the audience are fans of the captain?” He sighed. “That’s a lot of pressure to bear.”
Hearing that, Zuo Tao looked at the young man seated on the other end of the sofa, but he didn’t show any indication of being affected at all. His face remained calm, his long legs splayed casually in front of him. The confidence exuding from his composure was mesmerizing.
Probably sensing his gaze, Song Shihan looked over at him with an eyebrow raised slightly. “Yes?”
“Nothing,” Zuo Tao said evasively, looking away before finding an excuse. “I’m just a bit nervous.”
Jiang Ming was the one to give him reassurance: “It’s okay, don’t worry too much. Your skills aren’t the problem.” He patted Zuo Tao’s shoulder. “Besides, we haven’t drawn our opponent yet, and we might not play first, anyway. Adjust your mental state for now.”
Zuo Tao nodded, saying, “Okay.”
A few minutes later, a staff member knocked on the door of their lounge, peeking in to say, “Please get ready, everyone. You’ll be coming up on stage first.”
Although he didn’t expect it, Jiang Ming still agreed, checking everyone’s uniform and appearance before pointing at Si Zheng. “Zip up.”
Si Zheng zipped his uniform up quickly, standing and saying, “The first to get on stage. Seems our reputation precedes us.”
The team left the lounge.
Song Shihan walked at the forefront while Zuo Tao followed behind him step by step. The bright lights of the stage shone at the end of the dim corridor they were walking down, and the cheers seemed to get louder with each step they took.
Zuo Tao wasn’t nervous, at least at first. He had always been confident; not even the college entrance exams fazed him. But for some inexplicable reason, right now, especially as he watched Song Shihan’s back — adorned with his ID, FIRE, printed in fiery red — his heart started beating faster.
…seems I’m a bit scared after all.
What if he didn’t perform well and ended up dragging Song Shihan down?
It wouldn’t be a big deal if people talked shit about him, but whenever he imagined Song Shihan getting cursed because of him, his heart twisted.
His mind wandered.
Song Shihan suddenly stopped walking, and with Zuo Tao not paying attention, he ended up crashing against his back.
“Uh…” Zuo Tao covered his smarting nose and looked up. Song Shihan had turned around, looking at him silently. Zuo Tao had yet to completely recover from his cold, and the edges of his eyes still showed signs of redness.
However, Song Shihan didn’t say anything. He simply raised his hand to ruffle Zuo Tao’s hair, as if to comfort him, saying, “Let’s go.”
Wang Qiu leaned over Zuo Tao’s shoulder, saying lowly, “Captain, ge, please also wish me good stats.”
Song Shihan turned around and kept walking without sparing him a glance.
At the end of the corridor, on the bright stage, Lin Taisen held a microphone: “Alright, without further ado, let us welcome the first team to be invited on stage today — Wildfire!”
The screams and cheers in the venue reached a new high, almost to a deafening level.
Lin Taisen looked at the approaching team with a smile, teasing, “It looks like our Wildfire is popular.”
Host A cooperated with his cue and said, “Are you kidding? Don’t you see the man leading the team towards us is…” he paused deliberately, and the audience once more cheered, most yelling the name ‘FIRE’.
On the livestream comments —
【God Han is truly so handsome, I’m crying! Although I’m a man, that doesn’t stop me from waving a pregnancy test with two lines2Pregnancy test showing two lines/bars = positive, aka you preggy!】
【Attention, one, attention, all! You can delete, but the internet never forgets. Chicken coop warning3A throwback to chapter 5: “chicken coop warning” is a warning for people not to behave too negatively lest they get kidnapped/arrested and thrown to a ‘coop’ to be taught a lesson for everyone! Here to gently take my CAT away.】
【Aaaaaaaa, husband, husband, husband! /pervert.jpg】
【Husband, hello, here to force you into marriage!】
【Who the hell is the fenmao next to FIRE? I’ve never seen him before.】
【Another village internet connection? That’s Wildfire’s substitute support, PINK. Ah, PINK, mommy loves you!】
【He’s so cute, a little boy standing next to God Han!】
【Hehehehehehe, captain-gege~】
【What kind of meme is captain-gege?】
【I don’t want to explain anymore! Go through FIRE’s recent broadcast recordings, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised. The tides have changed within Wildfire. Let’s go, fam, ahhhhh!!!】
“With so many fans here today, I don’t need to introduce Wildfire anymore,” Lin Taisen said with a smile, raising his hand to signal the audience to calm down. “After all, everyone is already familiar with them. They’re all excellent players within the league.”
Host A immediately picked up where he left off. “Hold on, Taisen, there’s someone I want to talk about. After all, we know everyone else, but there’s someone we are unfamiliar with.”
As he spoke, the camera for the large screen immediately focused on Zuo Tao.
On the giant screen set up behind the stage, the pink-haired boy wearing a red and white uniform looked dazed for a moment, but he quickly found where the camera was with FIRE’s help from beside him.
He frowned imperceptibly before a smile filled his face, and said, “Hello everyone, I’m Wildfire’s support, PINK.”
The audience — mostly girls — screamed.
Zuo Tao: …
I can pretend not to pay attention, but I swear I can hear people calling themselves my mother.
Host A: “Taisen, everyone now knows that PINK is your nephew. First Master Su, and now, PINK. It seems your family has a talent for playing esports.”
【Is this the kid who used his connections to get into Wildfire? He doesn’t seem to have the skills, and from the look of his thin body, he doesn’t look like he can withstand a fight.】
【Can we wait until we see him in competition to speak? Also, do you do hand-to-hand combat during esports competitions? /cutie_in_doubt.jpg】
【I saw him on Machine Gun’s Weibo post last night. Isn’t he good looking?】
【Right??? He wore a mask during the interview so I couldn’t see his face.】
【Ahhhhh announcement! Congratulations to PINK for becoming my 23rd husband in the esports industry!】
【No, no, PINK is not yet of age! I don’t allow anyone to have bad intentions towards my son!】
【Now we have solid evidence4石錘, shí chuí, “stone hammer”, is a homonym of 實錘, shí chuí, “solid evidence”, but is usually used sarcastically or for negative rumors that are proven true/correct: except for Jiang Ming, who is more on the ordinary side, there is no one ugly in Wildfire.】
【Jiang Ming: Now, when I can’t hold a knife5Because they’re in the middle of a competition?】
Of course, the people onstage had no idea what opinions were brewing online. After answering the hosts’ questions, they were asked to take a number card from the box brought by the staff. Time was tight with so many teams waiting to be called up on stage. The audience cheered loudly.
There were twenty cards in the box, with the numbers 1 to 10 written on two of them. The teams that drew the same number would compete against each other, in the order of the number that they got.
On their way back to the lounge —
Wang Qiu held the card that he had drawn, feeling just as confused as the rest of them. “What kind of luck is this? Number 1? Does this mean we’re playing the first game?”
“Let’s set the scene,” Si Zheng said nonchalantly. “We can always end it early.”
“No, I’m just worried it might pressure Taozi.” Wang Qiu looked at Zuo Tao and sighed. “Taozi, my luck… uh, is this okay?”
Jiang Ming was leading the pack. He said, “It’s not okay with me.”
Zuo Tao waved Wang Qiu’s worry away, saying, “Don’t worry, I’m fine. I was nervous earlier but I’m feeling better now. It won’t affect my game.”
“That’s good,” Wang Qiu said, sighing in relief. “But then again, I didn’t expect Taozi to have so many fans already. I saw a lot of them from the stage.”
Zuo Tao sniffed. The air conditioning on the stage was strong, making him shiver uncontrollably. He wrapped his jacket tighter around himself as he sat on the sofa, nursing a cup of hot water.
“Amazing, right?” he asked, voice muffled. “It’s just that they all call me ‘son’.”
Si Zheng smiled, patting his shoulder. “Not just that, I also heard someone call you their ‘obedient grandson6In Chinese society, seniority has a huge role to play in everything you. As such, being someone’s grandson puts you in a much lower rung of seniority as compared to son; calling someone ‘dad’ or ‘grandfather’, in reverse, puts them in a much higher status than yourself if you’re not related’.”
Zuo Tao: …
The people in the lounge couldn’t stop their laughter. Even Song Shihan smiled.
Half an hour later, the opening ceremony ended. The league’s website would soon post the final schedule based on the numbers drawn by each team.
They sat together to eat lunch.
Jiang Ming held his tablet and frowned as he looked at the schedule. “The workings of fate sure are unfathomable. We’ll be fighting REBORN for the first game.”
Just like Wildfire, REBORN was a newly-established team, done so by someone who had just returned to the country. Additionally, Song Shihan and Xiao Cheng used to play together on FTU, something that a lot of fans focused on. Now, these two highly-popular teams were meeting during the first game, heating the stage up even more. All trending topics on Weibo were of fans of both teams celebrating.
Zuo Tao held his phone to surf through Weibo.
【Wowowow, squatting! FIRE and WIND, the fight of the century! They give off a sense of fulfilling destiny!】
【Crying! The dead CP is attacking me.】
【OP, please be careful what you say. God Han has already refuted those rumors in a livestream. They were only teammates.】
【I think REBORN has already won. Although Wildfire has FIRE, their team cooperation isn’t that good. Everyone else is okay, except for that pink kid. To be honest, I don’t really understand what their management was thinking…】
【Dearie, I suggest you speak a little less here. Is anything wrong with PINK? If you want to compare him to your REBORN, then have you forgotten the Fairy Song Incident?】
【I have a copy of ‘REBORN-WIND has been killed by this noble one again!’ just for you. Sent it to your DMs, no need for thanks.】
Zuo Tao gave this comment a like using ZZ.
“Where’s FIRE? Wasn’t he just here?” Jiang Ming suddenly asked, looking up after retrieving data about the members of REBORN. He planned to take some time to analyze them one last time before the game, but he didn’t see Song Shihan. He told Zuo Tao: “PINK, go look for him.”
Zuo Tao put his phone down quickly and stood up. Before he left, CAT said, “I think the captain went to the restroom.”
“Okay,” Zuo Tao responded. If he turned right outside the lounge, the men’s room would be about twenty steps away. Zuo Tao was about to push the door open when the sound of conversation from inside stopped him.
“Han-ge, I’ll admit that what happened back then is all on me. But it’s been so long, so please don’t hold it against me anymore, okay?”
Zuo Tao paused. Through the partially open door, he saw Xiao Cheng standing in front of Song Shihan, back to the door. His voice wasn’t as clear or bold as it was in front of everybody else; it was tinged with hints of humility.
However, it didn’t seem to faze Song Shihan. He was holding a cigarette in his mouth, and he silently bowed his head to light it. “I have nothing to say to you.”
“I know it’s cheap for me to ask for forgiveness now, but Han-ge, can you give me one more chance to make it up to you?”
Song Shihan took a puff of his cigarette, tapping the ashes off gently. “Make it up to me?” he asked mockingly.
Xiao Cheng responded immediately: “Ge, as long as you say the word, I can leave REBORN immediately. Don’t you still need a support in Wildfire? I can transfer and take up the role.”
Zuo Tao, standing outside the door, clenched his fist so hard he felt his knuckles crack.
He had thought he could simply eat some melons7Listen to/Witness gossip, but he had no idea that his position was in danger of getting stolen.
WIND was, truly, despicable.
No wonder so many people said that he didn’t have a good character. Like the fan earlier causing trouble by throwing bottles at other players; they were the same, lacking in quality and despicable.
Hateful, hateful, hateful!
How Zuo Tao wished he could turn into the pink tyrant and rush into that room, grab his hair, and beat him right up.
He took a calming breath and, crouching like a cat, moved towards the door silently, feeling like he was the original wife out to catch the mistress in the act; he wanted to hear what Song Shihan was going to say.
If Song Shihan shows even a hint of straying, he’d rush in and go crazy.
“Xiao Cheng, do you even have any idea what you’re talking about?” Song Shihan asked, his entire demeanor cold.
Xiao Cheng was silent for a moment, before he took a puff of his own cigarette and said, “I’m serious.” He looked up at Song Shihan. “I’ve played support before, and we know each other. If we work together…”
Song Shihan moved past him to leave, but Xiao Cheng grabbed his sleeve to stop him.
“Let go,” Song Shihan said slowly, frowning.
Zuo Tao felt a deep sense of satisfaction at the action.
That’s my man8The term ZT uses here is usually a term for men in relation to women, and more commonly married men. He’s really playing into the whole ‘catching the mistress’ play, huh?, doing such a great job! 100 points!
The more Zuo Tao listened, the harder his fist clenched. He wanted to listen longer, but who would have expected his calf to cramp suddenly? He lost his balance and stumbled forward —
And slammed the door open.
Bang!
Time seemed to stop at that moment, everything around going silent. The air was so frozen it was impossible to think.
“Uh…”
Seeing the two of them turning to look at him in unison, Zuo Tao had no time to adjust his expression. “It’s just,” he started, sniffing as he straightened up, pretending as if nothing happened, but he was already internally crying. “Captain, the coach asked me to call you back to the lounge.”
“Alright,” Song Shihan responded with a raised eyebrow, killing his cigarette before walking away.
Zuo Tao didn’t dare make a peep as they walked back with his head down, feeling that his cold must have fried his brain. It was probably the rain’s fault; if his head hadn’t gotten wet, he wouldn’t have thought to use it to open the door.
He was sad.
He was no longer the pink tyrant; he was now Sad Pepe9Yes, as in the frog walking in the rain.
Song Shihan stopped walking and turned to him in front of the door to their lounge.
Zuo Tao took a step back, leaning against the wall. He felt that his time had come; he was frozen in place, waiting for Song Shihan to swing the hatchet.
Song Shihan remained silent for a few moments before he asked, “How long were you listening in?”
Zuo Tao: …
He turned his gaze and said: “Not too long. I only heard… WIND wanted to come to Wildfire.” He bit his lip and added: “Captain, I’m not that bad at it, actually.”
There were too many people popping up, coveting his position, and he felt it necessary to speak up for himself.
Anyway, everything was out in the open, so he had the peace of mind, saying: “I can’t really say anything else. There are very few supports in the country who are better than me, and I will work hard to improve our coordination. Don’t worry, I’m a quick learner. After the preliminaries, I will train harder. I…”
Before he could finish speaking, Song Shihan reached out to push the hair on his forehead back. Seeing a red mark on the pale skin, his eyebrows furrowed. He asked: “Did you hit your head on the door?”
Zuo Tao wasn’t immediately able to comprehend what Song Shihan was talking about, looking up blankly. “Huh?”
He saw the helplessness in Song Shihan’s eyes. “Zuo Tao, what goes on in your head?”
Zuo Tao was still bewildered. “Nothing10He is no thoughts, head only Song Shihan…”
Song Shihan finally said —
“WIND isn’t coming to Wildfire.
“I won’t let you leave, either.”
Time was already tight when they arrived, leaving no space to overthink. Jiang Ming called for them and they spent time analyzing REBORN. After that, he chose what tactics they were to put in practice. Time passed quickly and, in the blink of an eye, it was time for the competition to begin.
Fifteen minutes before they had to go onstage to play, Wu Shuibo walked into their lounge with a camera crew.
He was dressed in his usual flashy manner, smiling as he waved at the team in greeting, saying: “The competition is about to start. I’m here to record some pre-game trashtalk. Who wants to do it?”
Jiang Ming patted Zuo Tao, wanting to give him this opportunity to learn. “PINK, go do it.”
“Can I?”
Although Zuo Tao asked, he still put his phone away and stood up. He had a bold idea: since it was the trashtalk segment, then whatever he would say wouldn’t ruin his career, right?
Wu Shuibo was stunned. He was surprised at the choice, but he nodded in agreement anyway. “Of course you can.”
On the livestream comments —
【Uh, can such a well-behaved kid really come up with high-quality trashtalk?】
【It might be a high ask…】
Zuo Tao looked at the camera, standing with good posture and a polite smile on his face. He started with: “First of all, for REBORN, jiayou!”
【Is he done? Does he even know what he’s supposed to be doing?】
【Why couldn’t they ask QIU to do it? He’s the one who talks the most nonsense!】
【Son, wake up! This is pre-game trashtalk, you’re supposed to make fun of your opponents!】
Zuo Tao wasn’t done. He continued: “Second, for WIND.” He curled his lips into a smile that made him look naive. “REBORN-WIND has been killed by this noble one again!”
【…】
【…】
【…】
【Uh… is this something he’s allowed to say?】
From the TL:
Everyone: Zuo Tao, please talk trash to your opponents!
Everyone: …but not like that.
This chapter shall be the ‘take a shot every time Zuo tao hits his head’ challenge.
If you can, please support the author by buying the original work! You can also support the translator through this link:
An extra chapter will be posted each time we reach our dono goal of 3 ko-fis~
![You’re Causing Chaos Again [e-sports]](https://www.freenovels.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/1sMqC2JNjIep8Ov.jpg "You’re Causing Chaos Again [e-sports]")
