Chapter 23

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“Replace you?” Bai Yue froze. “You sure?”

“It’s a friendly match, just do what you want and have fun,” Yao Sen said indifferently, then turned to face the somewhat nervous Zhou Ziyu. “Don’t stress yourself out, Ziyu. If you lose then you lose, playing against other teams feels very different from ordinary training. Your task here is to familiarize yourself with the rhythm of a real match.”

Zhou Ziyu relaxed quite a bit after hearing what Yao Sen said. He took a deep breath and nodded resolutely.

Yao Sen: “I won’t be there as captain, that’ll be on Lao-Song. Lao-Wang, do as you see fit.”

Song Mingzhe was a veteran member of Titans, he was a half-assault-half-support all-rounder who had always been listed as a vice captain. Only, unlike Cobra’s ‘support as core’ strategy, Titans’s main team still fought with their captain as the core. In the absence of Yao Sen, he was their back-up core.

Currently, as the sole pure output of the entire team, Wang Yuxi had the illusion of being surrounded by a harem of 3,000 imperial concubines and was immediately rejuvenated. He said, “No problem. I, Lord Xi, enjoy this feeling of being embraced from the left, hugged from the right, and leaning on the person behind me. Consort Yu, Consort Yue, Consort Zhe, escort me!”

The three supports with complicated expressions on their faces were mute. Zhou Ziyu gave him face and showed an awkward yet polite smile. The Yao Sen exclusive boaster Song Mingzhe acted like he didn’t hear, while the disdain in Bai Yue’s eyes almost materialised.

Yao Sen left Wang Yuxi to his daydreams alone and left the lounge, heading for the spectator seats. There was actually one more reason for his substitution that he hadn’t mentioned—

Yao Sen was worried that Shen You would go to the spectator seats to look for Shao Han right after the match, and he’d only be at ease if he went there himself to keep an eye on things.

When he reached the third row, he let out a breath at the lack of people around Shao Han. He walked over and directly sat down next to him.

Shao Han: “Yao Sen?”

“Our team made a substitution.”

Shao Han looked puzzled. “They switched you out? Does your team have that many amazing assaults?”

Hearing Shao Han indirectly praising him as ‘amazing’, Yao Sen’s heart faintly fluttered with joy, though his expression didn’t change a fraction as he said, “He’s a support.”

“In that case, you guys only have one assault left?”

“It’s fine, it’s a friendly match, and Cobra switched Shen You out as well.”

Shao Han’s eyes flashed, and he nodded wordlessly.

After the third round of the match began, Cobra with their two strong-hitting outputs did indeed have the upper hand. By the latter half of the game, Zhou Ziyu’s support stabilized, and the maneuver with Song Mingzhe as the core gradually took shape. Though while their offense caught up, Cobra still won in the end.

The friendly match finally ended with a score of two to one.

Yao Sen returned to the stage once more and shook hands with Cobra’s team members. Shen You, who was back on stage, smiled at him, and as they stepped off the stage together, he whispered, “Well played.”

Yao Sen stopped in his tracks and looked at him for a moment before saying, “Thank you.”

“But if you keep targeting me like that, I’ll definitely be in trouble,” Shen You said meaningfully. “The thing you’re worried about–you can rest assured.”

“Was I targeting you?” Yao Sen smiled, his smile not revealing the slightest flaw. “You’re imagining things.”

“……”

Yao Sen waved his hand. “See you at the WCAD.”

Titans followed the subsequent proceedings and held a small meet and greet. When Yao Sen met his fans, Shao Han went to the car in advance to wait for them. After all, there was no reason for him to show up at a Titans meet and greet.

It wasn’t long before Yao Sen came over, knocking on the car window and asking, “Shao Han, there’s a merchandise store over there, do you want to look around?”

Although Shao Han didn’t have an obsession for merch, his little sister had always been interested in collecting them, so he went along with Yao Sen.

There weren’t many customers in the merchandise store, so when Yao Sen and Shao Han walked in, they didn’t attract much attention. Yao Sen found Noah’s Ark merchandise, which even had officially licensed chibi pictures of the team members.

When Shao Han caught sight of a figurine of Shao Han that had a pair of small wings on its back, Yao Sen couldn’t help but laugh. Shao Han moved closer to take a look, and perhaps knowing that the character’s set-up had too big a contrast to himself, he haphazardly pressed down the card in Yao Sen’s hand, explaining, “My picture was drawn by Xiao Meng.”

“Xiao Meng can draw?” Yao Sen couldn’t help smiling. “This is really quite cute, I’ll buy one then.”

The thought of Yao Sen taking these small cards to the checkout made Shao Han feel too ashamed to show his face. He pulled at Yao Sen’s arm to stop him. “Our manager has them. If you want, I’ll go back and give them to you.”

Yao Sen swore that he was a good and honest person, but seeing Shao Han’s pretty eyebrows faintly creasing, all embarrassed and faintly reluctant, he couldn’t restrain himself from wanting to continue teasing him.

Only, as he was about to put this thought into practice, Yao Sen incidentally caught a glimpse of a man in simple casual attire walking out of the stadium doors not far away from them, appearing like he’d just finished a meet and greet.

When Yao Sen saw the man’s face, he was stunned, and without saying a word, he pulled Shao Han out of the merchandise store and walked towards the man.

A confused Shao Han was pulled away by Yao Sen, “What’s wrong?”

Yao Sen’s hand was warm, and his hold on his fingers was neither light nor heavy. Other than with his own family, Shao Han had never held hands with anyone like this before.

Shao Han’s palm was faintly sweating.

Yao Sen sensed the slender and supple fingers in his palm, the rounded joints were especially comfortable to hold. Moreover, the temperature of his palm was gradually rising.

Yao Sen pretended not to care and quickly caught up with the man, patting the other’s shoulder. When the other party turned back in surprise, he was definitely sure that he wasn’t mistaken.

Yao Sen: “Senior Lu Kaizhi?”

Shao Han was shocked, and he also forgot that Yao Sen was still holding his hand as he looked up at the man.

The man looked to be in his early thirties, his hair and outfit were neat and tidy, he was thin and not too tall, but he seemed very young. The man looked surprised, sizing Yao Sen up. His voice carried a bit of incredulity. “You’re Titans’s captain, Yao Sen?”

“That’s me,” Yao Sen politely extended his hand. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Lu.”

Lu Kaizhi, who had been retired for five years, was the highest ranked Chinese esports athlete in the world. The name Caesar still resounded in the esports circle, and it was so loud that no one had been able to replace him as the Asian representative in the international esports community to this day.

Shao Han also wanted to shake his hand but was shocked to realize that Yao Sen was still holding his hand. He moved his fingers in embarrassment.

Yao Sen naturally let go, and only then did Shao Han extend his hand, saying, “Hello, Senior Lu, I’m Shao Han of Noah’s Ark.”

“…Noah’s Ark?” Lu Kaizhi paused before he spoke, smiling as he shook Shao Han’s hand. “Are you that left-handed player?”

Shao Han honestly didn’t expect that Lu Kaizhi was actually aware of the fact that he was left-handed, and he nodded in slight astonishment.

Lu Kaizhi chuckled, “Today’s friendly match was pretty good.”

Yao Sen: “Did you come to watch the friendly match as well?”

“Yeah, I met the juniors while I was at it.” Lu Kaizhi’s helpless laugh was tinged with bitterness. “I’ve been busy with work since I retired, these opportunities are hard to come by. This industry is still a profession for youngsters.”

What Lu Kaizhi said was indeed true; most esports athletes tend to retire before thirty.

“You guys are still young.” He seemed somewhat despondent as he spoke with the two youngsters in front of him. Lu Kaizhi swept his frustration away and said to them with a smile, “There’s still plenty of room for improvement.”

Yao Sen had always regretted that he wasn’t active at the same time as Caesar. Now that he had met Lu Kaizhi himself, even though the other had been retired for five years, it was still hard for Yao Sen to hide the surge in his heart that he felt in the face of the strong.

Lu Kaizhi: “Are you two busy? I happen to be free for the rest of the day. If you’re not in a hurry, would you both like to sit down and talk somewhere?”

Yao Sen agreed without the slightest hesitation, and Shao Han also wanted to stay and talk to Caesar. Yao Sen then called Wang Yuxi to tell them to leave first.

The bewildered Wang Yuxi said, “What are you and Shao ge gonna do? In broad daylight…”

“What do you think?” Yao Sen turned his head to avoid Shao Han’s eyes, “We met Lu Kaizhi, we’re gonna talk to him.”

“The fuck! Lu Kaizhi?!” Wang Yuxi’s voice rose. “Are you sure it’s him?”

“The man himself.”

“Why’s he here?”

“He came to watch the friendly match. It’s probably because Cobra invited him, they’re his old team, after all.”

“Fine. Then you guys have a good chat and bring the Great God’s scriptures back. How are you this lucky, to be able to meet someone like that…”

The three of them went to a nearby cafe, where Lu Kaizhi generously bought them dessert and a few cups of coffee in the spirit of a senior. He asked, “Is your usual training tiring?”

Lu Kaizhi’s question took Yao Sen back to his old high school days when he was called to the office to talk to his class teacher. He discarded those thoughts and replied, “It’s alright, not tiring.”

Lu Kaizhi looked at Shao Han, and Shao Han also said that it wasn’t tiring.

Lu Kaizhi smiled, “That means you’re not training hard enough.”

Both Yao Sen and Shao Han were speechless, feeling as if they had somehow fallen into a pit. As Yao Sen looked at Lu Kaizhi’s faint smile, he suddenly felt that it wasn’t unreasonable for the other to be the No. 1 in China.

Yao Sen: “Lu ge, can I ask you why you retired back then? In fact, age isn’t such a big deal.”

Lu Kaizhi took a sip of his coffee, then answered leisurely, “Because my daughter was born.”

“……”

“My current interests are pampering my wife and raising my daughter,” Lu Kaizhi said. “So if you guys want to ask me for match advice, there’s probably nothing I can give you anymore. If you don’t practice these things, your skills will dwindle. Even if I played decently back then, nowadays, I’m afraid I’m only at the level of second or third teams.”

This one trifling “decently” had managed to finish as the WCAD runner-up, making the then Cobra the only Asian team to defeat America’s Lincoln.

It was hard for Yao Sen to describe what it was like talking to Lu Kaizhi. The person before his eyes obviously appeared and talked both kindly and warmly, yet Yao Sen felt an extraordinarily tense pressure, as if Lu Kaizhi could see right through him.

“Although I don’t play anymore, I still follow matches. It’s my old profession, after all.” Lu Kaizhi looked at Yao Sen and smiled, “I watched last year’s Asia Championship, that counterattack at the end was brilliant. Even I would have a hard time pulling that off in my day.”

“Thank you.” Yao Sen stared into Lu Kaizhi’s eyes, half joking and half serious as he said, “After that match, a lot of people thought that my style of play is similar to yours, Lu ge.”

Lu Kaizhi pondered for a while before rolling his eyes and grinning. “Is this you praising me?”

Yao Sen: “I’m serious, Lu ge, I’d really like to play against you.”

Lu Kaizhi waved a hand. “Don’t, I’m definitely no match for you at present. Save uncle a bit of face.”

☆ ☆ ☆

⟵ Chapter 22 | TOC | Chapter 24 ⟶

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