Ch15 - Five Million, Think It Over, Baby.

After the rookies’ competition, training life resumed as normal.

Recently, the winds had been stirring. Old Wang, along with the intelligence department, kept their ears on the rumors circulating around in the market for a few days. After returning from their arduous journey, he staggered towards the two training rooms, only to be surprised that he did not see the tyrannosaurus rex Li Zhongchen— 

It seemed that it could only be that place.

Old Wang pushed open the door to team 1’s special training cabins, and was immediately choked by the smell of dense smoke that hit him in the face.

The room was the size of a private room in an internet cafe that accommodated up to six gaming stations. In it sat Li Zhongchen, Yao Tong, as well as the substitute player who played healer on the second team. This place was tailor-made for heavy smokers like them.

“Fuck, Healer, don’t……Damn, how are we supposed to continue playing if we can’t get Kraber.” 

“Who has two shield batteries?”

“Brother Zhong, come to me to get it. Hurry, the ring is refreshing.”

Old Wang calmly took a look and saw that there were several cigarette butts in the ashtray beside Li Zhongchen, with one still dangling from his lips.

This was more than just a relapse, it was him returning to his roots, liberating himself. A sentence immediately appeared in Old Wang’s mind: It’s easy to change the mountains and rivers but hard to change one’s nature, a dog cannot change it’s natural habit of eating shit.

It was until they ended this match.

Yao Tong and the second team’s substitute’s take out arrived, and they brushed past Old Wang, purposefully leaving the door open to air out the room. And Li Zhongchen put out his cigarette, earnestly inviting Old Wang in to take a seat. “How did it go, Brother Wang?”

What about it.

Naturally, it was about how the talk with Qiao Yi about signing a contract. 

“Not a chance. The first place that God Qiao did not even consider was the famous savage club SVG.” Old Wang sat down. “This was what everyone said with certainty in the outside world. Would my unending coaxing and pestering even work?”

Li Zhongchen frowned. “Did you also tell him about the signing fee?”

“I said it!” Old Wang was also troubled. “Five million a year. You can even buy two houses in Jiang Qiao New City! God Qiao’s eyes didn’t even blink, how can I continue to pester him?”

Within that amount, Li Zhongchen had added three million. 

He was well aware that Qiao Yi was not lacking money. But after leaving MW, there were only a few teams that were worthy for him to join. He had thought that when Qiao Yi heard about the high signing fee, he would at least consider for a little.

Li Zhongchen asked persistently. “He didn’t tell you what the reason was? Playstyle and tactics can be adapted, with his abilities, no one will have an opinion even if he were to be the jumpmaster. Don’t tell me he’s really thinking of going to OPW to play substitute for Xu Hang? If Xu Hang knew about this, can he even still sleep at night instead of jumping up to continue practicing?”

“Zhongchen ah, why don’t you go and tell him that yourself? Wasn’t it rumored that the two of you were good buddies before? Although there were some contradictions and misunderstandings later, but no matter how bad it was, it’s still better than an outsider like me, right?”

“……” Li Zhongchen thought to himself, it’s not that I don’t want to take the initiative to say it, but it’s Qiao Yi who ignored it from the get go, so what else can I do. 

At this point, Li Zhongchen lit another cigarette. The hand that held the cigarette trembled slightly, and he seemed anxious.

Seeing the movement in his eyes, Old Wang brushed his sparse hair and spoke cautiously. “So whatever the gossip said was true?”

—About the reason why MW and Qiao Yi, these pair of rare mandarin ducks that had boundless fortune and happiness were flying their own separate ways.

Sparks gathered, and Li Zhongchen exhaled a dense breath of smoke. He was unable to get rid of the image of Qiao Yi, who looked him in directly with those red-rimmed eyes that day, from his mind. 

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Lf kjr j ilaaif rjv jcv ibkfgfv tlr fsfr. “Pa rtbeiv yf agef. ZQ rlucfv j rclqlcu ubv jcv tfjifg ogbw atf Segbqfjc rfgnfg, la’r pera atja atfs tjnf cba boolmljiis jccbecmfv la. Vbwfbcf rjk atf akb bo atfw gfaegclcu ab Jtlcj.”

Yiv Qjcu’r fsfr ila eq. “Qlcu jcv Oje? Ktfc la wera yf agef. Ktja Qflyb atja Xbv Hljb qbrafv kjr gfjiis wfjca ab ylv ZQ ojgfkfii. Ktfs gfjiis jgf ublcu atflg rfqjgjaf kjsr.”

@Joe_: I hope you will remain well. Let’s meet again in the future.

As soon as this Weibo was published, various interpretations continued to emerge. 

Many passersby and fans of the team complained explosively about Qiao Yi’s separation from his old club, saying that he did not take into account old feelings. After all, MW had once put in so much effort regarding the American lawsuit.

Of course, it was inevitable that the gloating echo fans would take the opportunity to mock and ridicule.

[E-fans are here to bitch again? Are you sick??? ]

[I think expired detergent powder has become a spirit. Great master, hurry and come catch this demon @Sexy Exorcist Is Taking Orders Online] 

Detergent Powder was the insulting nickname given to Echo fans. The prefix specifically referred to after Li Zhongchen became obsolete, so did his fans.

As for the solo stans of EJ who had raised a colossal uproar, even in the past, they were able to go to war over irrelevant incidents that they held onto from back in the day. In addition to that, the other party specially came to shade him when Qiao Yi had been in that predicament. Was it not clear that they were purposefully hitting the muzzle?

“…” Li Zhongchen was so angry that he could not even sigh.

His expression turned ugly and he took a deep breath. “Wing, who is known to hit all his shots in the European server. The other, Lau, is the Lifeline healer that fans have tied up with Qiao Yi for many years. MW must have spent a lot of money to sign both of them together. Their ambition of attaining the Global series is really not small.” 

“Right?” Old Wang sighed. “Poor God Qiao still has to be misunderstood by passersby. It’s obvious that he was the one being abandoned. It was not like he was willing to go back to America in the first place, he couldn’t help it because of issues with nationality and visa.”

In short, Qiao Yi’s contract at that time was particularly troublesome. In order to enter a domestic club, Qiao Yi needed proof to be able to play professionally in order to successfully attain a visa. In the beginning, it was suggested for him to enter the American youth training camp, then transfer his contract to a domestic team. It was Boss Qin’s suggestion.

A sixteen year old boy who had not seen much of the world. At the end of the day, he was fooled.

 He did not know if it was a psychological effect, but Li Zhongchen’s eyes began to sting as he looked at those comments that expressed their dissatisfaction towards Qiao Yi. He could not restrain the anger in his heart, and with the addition of the word ‘abandoned’ spoken from Old Wang’s mouth— 

Without thinking about it, he quickly typed a line of words and quoted Qiao Yi’s Weibo directly.

@SVG-Echo: Five million a year, maybe God Qiao can consider our SVG.

His actions were too quick.

It was so fast that Old Wang had only seen him type it and hit the send button with his own two eyes. Not only did he fail to respond, he even crashed for a moment. 

“…” Old Wang instantly became a mess, and then jumped to his feet as he pointed at Li Zhongchen’s phone with wide eyes. “You- You, you, you–!”

“?” Li Zhongchen’s expression remained the usual.

Old Wang roared. “…My, my God, what did you just send, Brother E?! Maybe I was struck on my vital point by the sunflower acupointer that I did not stop you! I’m telling you, your account is going to be a goner!”

Li Zhongchen was expressionless. “You want to ban my account?” 

“Think about the consequences for yourself! Do you even need me to tell you what kind of situation it’s like with the fans?” Old Wang spat before correcting himself. “Your account will still be there, but I’m gone! Listen to me, quickly delete it. Later, I’ll have someone post on Weibo to say that you were hacked……”

Li Zhongchen did not respond.

He turned to the side and avoided Old Wang, and left a message under the forwarded Weibo post: SVG welcomes you. I, too, will always welcome you and be your safe haven, player worthy of being the strongest healer Lifeline @Joe_.

Old Wang finally experienced what it was like to call for the heavens and earth but receive no response. He was honestly about to cry. 

The two of them had not even sorted things out yet, and not long after, the sound of rushed footsteps came from outside. It was Yao Tong, who rushed over hastily. “You with the surname Li, are you crazy?!”

Li Zhongchen ignored Old Wang and replied. “No one will take it seriously. Or are you saying you don’t want Qiao Yi to sign on with us?”

“I fucking…Of course I want to! I’d smile myself awake from my dreams even if I were to sign someone with standards even similar to an idiot like Xu Hang. If Xiao Qiao were to come here, could I not want that?!” Yao Tong conceded to him. “What do you mean no one will take it seriously? Are you coming, coming out……”

Out, what out? In front of Old Wang, Yao Tong could not say the phrase “coming out of the closet”. 

But in any case, it was impossible to gather up spilled water. Li Zhongchen’s Weibo had already been sent, and he did not seem to have any regret or intent to delete it.

Li Zhongchen stood up and said to them, “Don’t worry about it. If we can sign Qiao Yi, the higher ups might even be happy about it. And besides, the signing fee is taken from me, there is only profit and no loss.”

After speaking, he went out on his own, presumably wanting to solve the matter privately.

Yao Tong and Old Wang stared at each other at a loss. After a long time, Old Wang finally said, “I think I…” 

Yao Tong: “?”

“I think I smell Hai Di Lao.”

“……”

Yao Tong looked down at the Hai Di Lao takeout in his hand, and the corners of his mouth twitched. “Let’s eat together?” 

Old Wang: “Ai, forget it. I’ll eat something to lower the heatiness tonight.”Yao Tong: “……”

In a high-end residential area in Fengxian District.

Qiao Yi sat in front of the computer at home, rubbing at the spot between his brows. When he saw the Weibo that Li Zhongchen reposted, he wanted to pretend that nothing had happened and delete his Weibo, but at the same time, he felt that it was too late.

Five million a year, just to buy me? Actually, I don’t deserve it. 

Qiao Yi had been mulling over it for a long time. The results he had achieved in the American server were only good in the eyes of outsiders. In his eyes, that was the glorious achievement of top-tier teammates with complementary play.

Therefore, if one were to solely look at his playstyle, just like his and Li Zhongchen’s characters, it was a huge factor that was difficult to resolve.

In the past, Qiao Yi had been reluctant to enter SVG because he and Li Zhongchen could not be teammates no matter what.

More importantly, even after dating for so many years, he knew deep down that he was always alone in the beginning. Even later when he would encounter anything related to Li Zhongchen, he would become sick with longing, and could only keep it to himself. 

Maintaining distance between them was good for both of them. Playing in competition was not the same as dating. And besides, the two of them had broken up long ago. Li Zhongchen was only taking pity on him now.

Qiao Yi sent a message: We aren’t very close to one another now, was it meaningful to send those things that would make others misunderstand?

Li Zhongchen responded in seconds: Let’s meet and talk? We were both in a bad state the last time. As for the contract, I sincerely hope that you can consider joining SVG. Baby, you can seriously think it over.

“……” Qiao Yi’s eyes reddened at the way he called him ‘baby’. He could not help but ask the other: Am I so pitiful that even my ex-boyfriend can’t bear to continue watching? 

At the same time, SVG base.

Seeing those words, Li Zhongchen thought to himself, could you not be pitiful? A pitiful thing, yet still insisting on acting tough.

On the surface, Qiao Yi looked cold and distant from others, but his ears and heart were soft. Even if he was sad, he would not show it. This was something he understood more than anyone else.

In spite of his frosty expression, deep in his bones, he hoped to be coaxed. 

The angry words that he uttered that were accompanied by that good-looking face were never aggressive, yet at the same time, were thorny. It never failed to make Li Zhongchen’s emotions explode in turmoil, and had once countlessly pushed the intimate relationship between them farther from one another.

Fortunately at present, they were separated by a screen. The atmosphere had not dropped to the freezing point.

In fact, no matter what his status was at present, Li Zhongchen hoped that Qiao Yi could consider joining SVG. It was not out of stubborn arrogance. After multiple considerations, signing in Qiao Yi could be considered a win-win situation for both parties. It was the maximization of benefits.

And besides, he did not want Qiao Yi to once again have to go to a strange environment and establish relationships with new people. Without anyone to take care of him, he could only take care of everything by himself. 

Qiao Yi: There is no need to meet again. I believe I have already made it clear to your Manager Wang. I hope that you won’t trouble him to contact me again.

“…” Where did this stubborn temper come from?

If they were to meet, Qiao Yi’s words were firm but his heart would soften. No matter how much he refused, his eyes were always watery.  

Even in bed, Qiao Yi was also the same way. He’s fucking failed in this lifetime, how could it be that this was his type.

Li Zhongchen was speechless. He sighed and sent a voice message.

“Think it over again. I’ll wait for you.”

Li Zhongchen’s voice was deep and magnetic. 

In the past when they were in bed, there was not too much or too little dirty talk. It was as it is now. His words were sweet and gentle, yet his actions were the opposite, violent like rainstorm.

Qiao Yi was on the verge of collapsing. He clicked it open again, just to hear his voice.

“Think it over again. I’ll wait for you.”

Don’t wait for me. We are both too far broken at this point anyway. 

Qiao Yi sprawled on the table, drained of strength. With his forearm propped to his forehead, his heart felt as though it was about to explode, and he could not catch his breath. At this time, the phone he had set aside vibrated once again. There was a new message—

He thought that it was Li Zhongchen who had sent him something once again, but he did not expect that the sender was Ni Naru. It was the sister of a precious old friend, and was also his fiancée in name.

Xiao Ni: Qiao, I’ll bring back the materials of the lawsuit for you on Friday. Shall we meet at the amusement park then? It happened that my cousin said he wants to go there to play.

Noa’s notes:
Why is it always in E-sports novels, the characters are always eating some good stuff :’) A new character has been introduced! The mysterious fiancée of Qiao Yi. What could be her involvement in all this?