Extra 1

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Extra 1: [Original Setting] Becoming Your Light

[1]

Recently, it was peak transfer season. Ji Xiangkong frequently went to their youth training camp to look over the training situation of the rookies.

Every time he went out, Lin Yixuan always acted like an old nursing mother in the deep palace, pulling out a tissue and throwing it on Xia Ling’s face as if it were a handkerchief, warning him that he needed to feel some danger.

Xia Ling snorted in contempt at this. “Who from that youth training camp can beat me? If we have to switch out someone, it’ll be you.”

Lin Yixuan rolled up his sleeves and slapped his hand flat on his table. “Stinky brat, let’s do single combat!”

They fought five hundred rounds in mid lane and were so noisy that Pei Xi nearly left the house. In the very end, Xia Ling snuck over to the youth training camp.

From afar, he saw a group of boys shaking with laughter, surrounding Ji Xiangkong. His captain curved his peach-blossom eyes that had brought ruin to countless people and warmly advised, “Keep on working hard, I’m waiting for you guys to grow up.”

Xia Ling, who was hiding over by the door, felt goosebumps suddenly rise up. Obviously it was “after you grow up to sign a contract”, but when it passed through his mouth it carried a somewhat different flavor.

But at this time Ji Xiangkong turned his head. “Xia Ling, you too.”

Now he froze from being caught. In order to relieve his embarrassment, Xia Ling stuck both hands in his pockets, pretended as if he’d been taking a walk, and glanced to the side as if he were calm. “Don’t talk like you’re so old.”

“I’m a few years older than you.” Ji Xiangkong went over to his side, crooked his finger, and flicked him on the forehead. “The golden years of esports players aren’t very long at all. If you think about it proportionally, I’m actually much older than you.”

The corners of his mouth were raised with his usual lazy smile, but there was a dimly veiled light in his eyes. Xia Ling couldn’t see what it was that he was thinking.

“Are you that noob one in the professional circle?”

These were the first words he’d said to Ji Xiangkong, when he first met him. After that day, Lin Yixuan and Pei Xi had pushed his head around to condemn him quite a number of times.

Ji Xiangkong was different from Lin Yixuan, who jumped up and down all day, bringing up small old debts and noisily lifting up the table. He didn’t care about how bad others’ attitudes were toward him.

For an instant, no more, Xia Ling looked at Lin Yixuan and suddenly shook his head. “A’xuan, why has Ji ge endured you for so many years?

“Whaddya mean, endure?” Lin Yixuan slapped the table. “You need this gege to teach you how to write the three words ‘deep brotherly feelings’? Also, call me Xuan ge!”

Pei Xi said that after Ji Xiangkong left Legend, there was a time when Legend fought against VPG in a competition and the two teams crossed swords. After both sides shook hands on the large competition stage, Lin Yixuan nearly followed Ji Xiangkong off in a confusion. Fortunately, his teammates grabbed his collar and pulled him back just in time.

When Xia Ling was smirking at Lin Yixuan for this, for the first time, the other person didn’t argue. He lowered his head to softly say, “Sorry, I’m used to following him.

“He said he wanted to take me to get the championship title. What I cared about wasn’t the championship. I justed wanted to be able to play in a competition with him.”

Xia Ling drew close and asked in a quiet voice, “Did Captain Ji put a curse1 on you?”

Lin Yixuan lifted his eyes. Seriously, he said, “Have you ever see Xiangkong cry?”

Xia Ling shook his head.

Lin Yixuan let out a breath and patted his shoulder. “I have.”

Xia Ling was unable to imagine it.

“It’s only because I’ve seen such a strong person in tears that I know he’s truthfully an ordinary person, too. So I want to become even stronger, strong enough to stand by his side, to take up some of the weight on his back so that he doesn’t need to feel so much pain as he walks.

“And in the end, his dream has become my dream.”

Very rarely did Xia Ling ever see Lin Yixuan speak completely seriously like this. Actually, he was a bit unused to it. He wanted to taunt him as he always did, but he couldn’t find the smallest breaking point to do so.

As if he was aware of his strange appearance, Lin Yixuan coughed lightly, once. “Wait until you meet someone like that, brat. Then you’ll understand what I’m talking about.”

Xia Ling swiftly cast his eyes downward without a response.

“What’re you in a daze for?” Lin Yixuan elbowed his arm with a wink. “Thinking about girls? You’re in puberty, that’s very normal.”

Xia Ling rolled his eyes at him. “You’re the one in puberty.”

It was just that he suddenly thought of Zhou Yu.

The entirety of his surroundings suddenly fell silent. It was as if the atmosphere was revertebrating with the sound of a basketball striking the floor and then bouncing up once more, time and again.

[2]

Xia Ling still remembered the first time he met Zhou Yu.

It was a summer day in elementary school when the cicadas were crying endlessly in the basketball court. The boy was not tall, he was thin, and he always loved to tag along behind Xia Ling.

He hid in the corner watching them practice basketball, quietly giving Xia Ling water, both hands trembling from nervousness.

He secretly practiced once everyone had left the court to go home, missing nine out of ten throws.

Xia Ling saw through his thoughts and gestured at him with his chin. “Do you want to join the basketball team?”

The boy hurriedly shook his head, blinked at him, and then timidly nodded.

Xia Ling laughed as he picked up the ball on the ground and tossed it to him. “No problem, I’ll teach you.”

Xia Ling started with dribbling, teaching Zhou Yu bit by bit, gradually bringing him up from a new player who couldn’t even make an accurate basket into a substitute on the school team.

When they reached middle school, Zhou Yu shot up like crazy in height and his physique became stronger as well. Xia Ling persisted in choosing him as the main force of their basketball team despite opposition from a large amount of people.

In the end, the coach was unable to keep resisting Xia Ling’s request and included Zhou Yu in the starting lineup. Angered, the unchosen members even rounded up a group of people to surround Xia Ling and Zhou Yu after school.

The competition was nearing. Xia Ling was the captain of the basketball team and could not get involved with a fight with other people.

Fists and feet fell upon his shoulders, his back, yet he protected Zhou Yu beneath his body. Not a single sound of pain escaped his mouth.

When the situation calmed down, the school infirmary gave Xia Ling a scolding: “If you get hit and fracture something, what will we do about our next game?!”

Zhou Yu timidly guarded his side. “Captain Xia, I’m afraid that you’re doing so much for me, but I won’t be able to live up to it.”

The rims of his eyes were red. He was obviously a boy and yet cried even easier than girls did.

Xia Ling was a bit embarrassed. “I’m not doing it for you, I’m doing it for myself as well, so we can win the next competition.”

And even after that, there was a time when their basketball team went mountain climbing as a group. Zhou Yu had accidentally slipped and hurt his leg, so Xia Ling carried him from the top of the mountain back to their meeting point at its bottom.

Along the road, Zhou Yu had cried in a fairly ugly manner, his facial features screwed up, tears and snot mixing together as he sobbed out a sentence.

What had he said? Xia Ling didn’t quite remember.

[3]

That car accident was like a nightmare. In an instant, it completely shattered the thing that Xia Ling loved most.

When he was told that he could no longer play basketball, he didn’t dare to face his teammates, didn’t dare to face his classmates, didn’t dare to face anyone. The cheers and celebrations of the court became the harshest noises.

Yet in the end, he couldn’t be isolated from the world after all. He still learned that Zhou Yu succeeded him to become the new captain, and that the basketball team quickly recovered after a brief downturn in their performance.

Grief, gratification, unwillingness. Xia Ling looked at this news and couldn’t even say what the feelings he had were.

So his team was fine, even without him.

Xia Ling secretly went to the court to watch his basketball team’s competition. On the basketball court, when he encountered his former teammates, he hid in a corner in embarrassment.

“Captain Zhou, you’re so amazing. After Captain Xia’s accident, I thought that we really wouldn’t be able to keep going.”

Xia Ling didn’t dare to listen. Dull pain caused the surrounding sounds to slough off him.

He felt like he should curl himself up smaller, even smaller.

He couldn’t run, and he quickly fell as soon as he took a step.

Again and again, he went to the court see the team’s competitions. After they won a city-level championship, the entire arena was in an uproar. They threw the winners up high and shouted out Zhou Yu’s name,

and Xia Ling hid in a corner, hugging his injured leg and weeping, and after he wept he began to retch.

He was only a teenager and the life ahead of him was so long, but his dream was already dead.

Until he met Ji Xiangkong.

“Xia Ling, do you want to be a hero? A hero won’t rashly bow their head to fate.”

Ji Xiangkong’s voice was low and slow, with a certainty that made him feel calm. “When we’re teenagers, it seems like we have nothing at all. But what we don’t know is that that plentitude of time we hold in our palms is the greatest wealth of all. It bears our hopes, dreams, as well as opportunities for unlimited returns.”

Under his invitation, Xia Ling entered Phoenix and became the youngest professional player in the entire League.

But how could the road of esports be smooth sailing?

“This newcomer isn’t even as great as second- or third-string players.”

When they lost a game, there were those on the internet who insulted him as a lame dog and told him to go back to the disabled people’s nursing home.

Flamers would never know how heart-shattering their harmful words were to the people separated by a screen. They just wanted to vent away their own maliciousness.

Xia Ling bragged with his mouth, but his heart was still afraid. All teams looked at him as Phoenix’s weak spot, a breach through which they could attack. As he thought of these things during training, he couldn’t keep his hands from shaking. The scene in front of him flickered, light and dark.

An ice-cold palm covered the hand he was using on his mouse.

Pei Xi looked at him. “Don’t worry. In competitions to come, I’ll protect you.”

“You’ll guard me?”

Pei Xi nodded in agreement and seriously said, “When they come to ambush you, I’ll kill all of them.”

Xia Ling was overwhelmed by chills. He nodded, panicked.

“It was Ji Xiangkong who had you and me switch positions. I believe in him.”

“Then do you believe in me?”

Pei Xi thought about it. “He believes in you.”

Xia Ling understood what he meant: He believes in you, so I believe in you too.

Before Pei Xi left, he suddenly lifted his hand to pat Xia Ling on the back. His palm was as cold as a chilly block of ice.

But his action was warm.

“Xia Ling, in the future, we’ll be each other’s shadows.”

Ji Xiangkong often gave Xia Ling special training, just like how Xia Ling used to often give Zhou Yu extra training after their training ended.

At times like these, Sun Zeyi would always send them a late-night meal.

Xia Ling tried a bite and obediently thanked him: “Thank you, Sun ge, it tastes a lot like my dad’s.”

Ji Xiangkong followed in obedience: “Thank you, Sun ge, it tastes a lot like my mom’s.”

Sun Zeyi rubbed Xia Ling’s head, then smacked Ji Xiangkong on the back of his head.

Though the daily lives of their teams were all arranged by Qiu Ying, Sun Zeyi had figured out everyone’s preferences in a short while and would personally cook as long as he had the time.

As he watched Ji Xiangkong point at the screen and explain the replay, Xia Ling was seriously taking notes, on occasion stopping to ask about some doubts that only new players would have. Sun Zeyi couldn’t keep himself from expressing, “It’s amazing, you’re still so young.”

Sun Zeyi always said that his current professional career was like a candle that was burning to its tip; each game he fought was one game less.

Xia Ling shook his head. “Sun ge, you won’t grow old. We can still play together for many, many more years.”

Sun Zeyi gazed at him with a smile, rims of his eyes red.

“There used to be so many players in this field who created countless legends. Year after year, familiar IDs retired one after another, but they never left.”

Ji Xiangkong raised his hand to meaningfully pat Xia Ling’s back.

“Xia Ling, there will come a day where there’ll be no more Sun ge, no more Pei Xi, no more A’xuan, and no more me on this field. You’ll have to become the pillar of the team and continue to carry our dream.”

[4]

One month after Xia Ling joined Phoenix, he was suddenly informed that Zhou Yu overexerted himself during training and was sent to the hospital from physical exhaustion.

“Captain Xia, after your accident, Zhou Yu turned himself into a machine.”

“He went too crazy, like he straight-up didn’t want to live. When he fell on the ground and blood was flowing down his whole leg, he still got up and kept on practicing.”

“We told him to stop, but he wouldn’t.”

“The day of the competition, we fell into a disadvantage. He was shaking while laughing at us and saying it was okay, but I knew, that actually he was also very scared.”

Xia Ling heard his own trembling voice, and tears fell from his eyes, catching him off guard. “Why did he do that much?”

“Captain Xia, Zhou Yu said that your leg would definitely recover, so before you returned to the team, he had to play in the match while carrying your share, so he can’t lose.”

“He’s afraid that he’s not good enough, he can’t lose.”

“He’s afraid that you’ll be hurt, he can’t lose.”

That night, Xia Ling had a dream.

In his dream was the hillside of his memories. Zhou Yu’s leg was hurt, and he carried him on his back the entire path down the mountain.

At the time, Zhou Yu had cried and said one sentence.

What on earth was it that he’d said?

[5]

After that, there were people who told Xia Ling about how the team was doing. Under Zhou Yu’s leadership, the basketball team became one of the four strongest in the nation.

Time flew. From a certain time, Zhou Yu was already no longer that thin and short boy he was back them. He had become someone who could face things on his own, a steady and reliable, outstanding player.

They went to Xia Ling’s competition to cheer for him. In front of his face, Zhou Yu, a boy nearing 1.9 meters, cried like a little child.

He ran alongside the players’ red carpet, with the entire basketball team following him, stopped by security guards the whole way.

“Captain Xia! Back when I was a newcomer who couldn’t even dribble properly, it was you who brought me into the basketball court. Back then, as long as you were on court, we were fearless!

“On the basketball court, I’ve always remembered your teachings. For me, Captain, you’ve never left! I believe that no matter whether it’s basketball or esports, you’ll become the MVP of any battle!

“Captain Xia, you’ve got to win!”

He cried out so loudly, so much that his voice broke, like he was pouring all of his strength into it. It was like only if he did that could he pour the entirety of his strength into the other person’s body.

Xia Ling turned back to see his teammates’ red eyes as they shouted in unison.

“Captain Xia! You’ve got to win!”

The cool, damp wind blew their voices to his ears to form words, engraving it stroke by stroke into the deepest place of his heart.

Xia Ling curled his fingers to form a fist, raised his arm, and beat it on his chest.

“You guys have to take my place, too. Keep on winning on the basketball court.”

[6]

After Phoenix formed, the new mid’s replacement of Pei Xi undoubtedly stirred up a bloody storm online.

Just like before, Ji Xiangkong bore all of the pressure of public opinion by himself. Xia Ling was quietly outside the door, watching him massage his temples in exhaustion in front of the computer.

Qiu Ying hugged him from behind as they discussed the training plan for the future.

The battlefield fraudster wasn’t a machine; he too was human.

Fortunately, he met a girl who understood him the most in the world. Even if the entire world didn’t understand him, she still believed in him.

It was just like how Gu Fang had stood alone by his decision that year, trying to protect Ji Xiangkong so he could become the next captain of Legend, and then emptied out his savings to establish Phoenix. In making Xia Ling switch positions with Pei Xi, who was widely accepted as the strongest mid, to adopt “shadow tactics” that were extremely demanding on the players, Ji Xiangkong began to be similar to Gu Fang. They stubbornly promoted a newcomer, resisting doubts and abuse to prove the talent of future generations.

In a trance, Xia Ling thought of a very long time ago, when he’d persuaded his coach and teammates to accept Zhou Yu.

“Why did you choose me?”

This question — Ji Xiangkong had asked it to Gu Fang, Lin Yixuan had asked it to Ji Xiangkong, Zhou Yu had asked it to Xia Ling.

Xia Ling thought, he’d just been touched by the boy’s dazzling radiance at the beginning, so he was willing to believe in him, willing to pass on his experience and skills, willing to give him his back.

Yet he didn’t expect that the tiny light would grow under his protection, step by step to stand next to him, illuminating the road ahead with incomparable light.

On a break in the League, Phoenix went outdoor camping. As they were returning, Xia Ling’s leg began to hurt slightly, so Ji Xiangkong picked him up on his back to bring him back.

The mountain path was rugged. Xia Ling wrapped both arms around his neck and smelled the clean scent of his clothes.

“Xia Ling, you don’t need to worry about the next game. I’m here, so just focus on playing your freest.”

The sunlight above his head was brilliant and shining. Suddenly, a sunshower rained down.

Xia Ling was about to open his mouth when the words he spoke suddenly overlapped with the sound of his memory.

He finally remembered, way back when he carried Zhou Yu home, what he’d said while laying on his shoulders.

His eyesight became blurry. A teardrop soundlessly fell from Xia Ling’s eyes onto Ji Xiangkong’s shoulders. It swirled together with the rainwater, slowly.

—“Captain, wait until I get stronger. Then it’ll be my turn to carry you on my back.”

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1 He asks if he’s given him a gu; those who read a lot of xianxia/xuanhuan novels will know that it’s a poison that’s often used to manipulate/bewitch people

Hope you enjoyed Xia Ling’s story! Since all of the extras are of different lengths, I won’t be releasing the extras on a weekly schedule but rather whenever I get them finished.

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