Chapter 50

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“Baby, does it hurt?”

“……a little.”

“Then, should I be a bit gentler?” Yao Sen was massaging Shao Han’s wrist . “Pay a little more attention to this treasure of a left hand of yours, okay? What are you going to do if you get injured?

At lunch, Shao Han had accidently banged his left wrist against the corner of the table. It had hurt quite a bit, and his wrist was now bright red.

Yao Sen helped Shao Han massage his wrist, but it only served to make his face go red, so he struggled free and bit out, “That’s enough… It doesn’t hurt anymore.“

Yao Sen planted a gentle kiss on Shao Han’s wrist and smiled as if to say “I’ll kiss the pain away”. Shao Han glared at him in both shame and exasperation, completely aware of what he was really going for.

Yao Sen: “Baby, when is your team flying out?”

Shao Han: “On the 5th.”

“We’ll be going on the 4th,” Yao Sen bemoaned. “I won’t get to see you for two days.”

It was already the end of June, and the Titans’ main team members would be leaving in less than a week for the WCAD, which would be hosted in North America.

The WCAD qualifiers officially began on the 7th, and in the days leading up till then, the players had all entered a pre-competition unwinding mode. Coach Gou intentionally allowed the team to sleep in during this period to compensate for the significant amount energy they’d recently expended.

Wang Yuxi resumed his daily milk-tea binge. The way he saw it, in comparison to their exhausting training days, being able to get up at ten everyday and drink milk tea every evening already reflected the life of the upper class. compared to their exhausting training days before, being able to wake up at ten everyday and drink milk tea every evening was already the life of the upper class.

Unlike his teammates who unwinded by eating and drinking to their heart’s content, Yao Sen’s main recreational activity in the evening was visiting Shao Han.

Likewise, Noah’s Ark had also entered the same pre-competition unwinding mode. Their evenings were freed up and they no longer had to wake up early in the mornings, so of course Yao Sen would entertain himself by hanging out with Shao Han, and it was only natural that they had a lot of “activities”.

Today, Shao Han had driven Yao Sen out early, citing that he wanted to get up early the next morning and hit the gym. Yao Sen’s “Our nighttime exercises are basically the same thing” had been met with a cold glare, and Shao Han resolutely kicked him out.

Yao Sen lay on his bed, scrolling through weibo in boredom. Recently, the majority of his messages had consisted of fans cheering him on or wishing him luck for the upcoming competition, and numerous esports forums and websites had also organised fans to produce support videos. Despite the fact that Yao Sen didn’t interact much with his fans in general, their sincere feelings warmed his heart.

After thanking several large fan groups, he cheerfully put his phone away and decided to get up early the next morning to go to the gym and work out with Shao Han.

The next morning, when Shao Han saw his dear boyfriend at the gym, he frankly wasn’t the least bit surprised. Yao Sen walked up to him, gave him a kiss on the cheek, and said smilingly, “Morning, baby.”

Fortunately, this early in the day, the gym was deserted. Shao Han gave him a helpless look as he said, “Morning.”

Yao Sen hopped on the treadmill next to Shao Han’s and conscientiously stopped talking once he started running, but he didn’t run for very long before switching to jogging, which ultimately changed to brisk walking, and finally just regular walking. Yao Sen braced his upper body on the treadmill, his legs keeping up with the slow-paced running belt, while his smiling eyes fell on Shao Han.

When he first sensed Yao Sen staring, Shao Han paid him no mind, but the longer he was stared at, the hotter his cheeks grew, until he couldn’t help himself from saying, “What are you staring at me for?”

When Shao Han first sensed him staring, he

“Is it illegal to stare at one’s boyfriend?” Yao Sen laughed. “I’ll do my staring, you do your running.”

Who on earth would be able to keep running while they were being stared at like this? Afraid that he’d accidentally trip and fall later on, Shao Han decisively hit the off switch and sat down to drink and rest. Yao Sen sat down next to him and said, “Should we go out for lunch later?”

Shao Han shook his head. “I’m meeting up with Captain and the others.”

When he saw the regret on Yao Sen’s face, he was entirely sure that it was all a calculated act aimed at Shao Han’s soft spot, but even so, Shao Han couldn’t help relenting. After all, it was impossible to stay aloof in front of such a handsome and charming face.

Seeing that there was no one around, Shao Han shifted closer and lightly pressed his lips to Yao Sen’s cheek. He then coughed mildly and said, “I’ll bring back some food for you.”

Obtaining a kiss that Shao Han himself had initiated was no easy feat—although it was just a tad shorter than Yao Sen had imagined, he was content, and he raised a hand to caress Shao Han’s hair with a smile on his face.

–

Wang Yuxi was laying in bed when Yao Sen returned to their dorm at noon, one hand scrolling through his phone and the other stuffing potato chips into his mouth. Seeing that Yao Sen was back, Wang Yuxi lifted his phone and said, “Quick, look at Esports Info’s weibo. Odin have arrived in the US.”

Yao Sen opened Weibo to take a look, and found the news of Team Odin’s arrival at the airport on his homepage. They were undeniably worthy of being one of the world’s top teams, and their worldwide popularity was unparalleled, with fans swarming the airport everywhere they went to play. The fans in the video were even identically dressed in shirts with Odin’s logo as they shouted Odin’s name.

Team Odin’s captain waved happily at his fans as he greeted them, his smile so bright that it looked a little boyish.

Only one week remained till the competition. Teams from all over the world began to arrive at the site one by one, largely to familiarise themselves with the venue ahead of time.

Wang Yuxi sighed dejectedly. “Do you think there’ll be any foreign fans welcoming us at the airport too?”

“You gotta have confidence in yourself.”

After Yao Sen finished up a few solo queues in his room, Shao Han came by with delicious roast goose and braised pork trotters. Wang Yuxi, who was sitting nearby, swallowed his saliva in envy.

“I ordered plenty,” Shao Han said to Wang Yuxi. ”Let’s eat together.”

Wang Yuxi bounded over to him at breakneck speed. “Thank you, Shao ge! Don’t mind if I do!”

Yao Sen: “I’ll go get Bai Yue and the others.”

When Yao Sen knocked on the neighbouring door, the one who opened it was Song Mingzhe.

Yao Sen: “Shao Han bought roasted goose and pork trotters, wanna come to our room and eat together?”

Song Mingzhe told him that he was duo queueing with a friend and couldn’t come over, and that it was fine to just leave a little for him. Yao Sen nodded and called out to Bai Yue, who was lying in bed, under the covers. He responded weakly, sounding unwell.

“Bai Yue, what’s wrong?” Yao Sen said with concern.

“My stomach kinda hurts,” Bai Yue said listlessly. “It might be diarrhea from this cold. You guys go ahead.

Yao Sen nodded, leaving Bai Yue to rest and returning to his own dorm.

The next morning, Coach Gou took the Titans to S City for a last meet and greet with their fans before leaving the country, then announced that all training would be suspended for the next two days, completely setting these wolf cubs free prior to their departure.

Once he returned, Yao Sen went to Building B to look for Shao Han, but Noah’s Ark seemed to have not halted training yet, so Yao Sen simply waited for him at the lobby and casually chatted with the Noah’s Ark trainees in passing.

So Yao Sen went and waited for him in the lobby, chatting with the kids in Noah’s Ark’s trainee team in passing.

As a result, when Shao Han came out, what he saw was a flock of trainees encircling the sofa with Yao Sen in the centre, wearing worshipful expressions on their faces as they laughed and chatted with him.

Spotting Shao Han, Yao Sen stood up and smiled. “Best of luck on your training, let’s talk again next time. Your vice captain and I will be on our way.”

After they exited the building, Shao Han could no longer tamp down the urge to ask, “What were you guys talking about?”

“About the WCAD. They’re trainees, after all, of course they’d be curious,” Yao Sen answered. “What do you wanna eat tonight?”

“They don’t usually talk to me like that…” Shao Han slightly frowned. “Why do they like you so much?”

“That’s because your aura is normally too strong, they don’t dare to.” Yao Sen chuckled and said, “What’s wrong, baby? Jealous?

Shao Han glowered at him gloomily.

Later on, in order to cater to Shao Han’s taste buds, they ate mala rattan pepper fish. The restaurant was filled with couples, and while other people’s boyfriends carefully picked at the hot peppers in fear of their sweethearts finding the dish too spicy, Yao Sen placed the spiciest slices of fish and hot peppers in Shao Han’s bowl.

When Yao Sen scrolled through Weibo during the meal, he suddenly saw a new video interview of Team Odin on his homepage.

The reporter asked Odin’s captain, Ethan, what he looked forward to in the upcoming competition. Ethan candidly answered that he specially awaited facing off against Team Lincoln, particularly Kevin—same as usual. But with so many strong competitors in this year’s WCAD, he’d never been more excited.

However, Yao Sen never expected that he’d actually hear his own name in the video.

“I heard that Asia’s winning team this year was really strong, especially their captain, ‘Yao’. My South Korean friend also told me that he’s stronger than Caesar.” Struggling to pronounce the Chinese syllable, Ethan rubbed his head and smiled. “I can’t wait to play against him!”

The ‘Caesar’ Ethan spoke of was Lu Kaizhi’s game ID back in the day. The Cobras of that generation had the most achievements of any Chinese team, and in the eyes of North American and European fans, Lu Kaizhi was undeniably Asia’s best player.

However, many people were eagerly anticipating who would come out as Asia’s current best player, and whether or not anyone would be able to surpass Lu Kaizhi in his prime.

The interview video comments section had already been swarmed by remarks from Titans fans.

[Odin’s captain is sooo cute lololol I can’t wait for his and Sen ge’s match!!!]

[Europe has Yi Sen, Asia has Yao Sen (doge)]

[Yao Sen: Hello, I’m God Sen | Ethan: Hello, I’m also God Sen]*

*Ethan’s name in Chinese is spelled 伊森 (Yi-Sen)

[So toxic HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA]

After eating, they immediately headed back to the Yiyou Building. Despite the fact that training was effectively suspended, a player still needed to maintain his feel of the game everyday. Yao Sen planned to play a few rounds with the others before bed, and since Shao Han didn’t have anything on tonight, he tagged along to watch them play in the Titans’ training room.

Wang Yuxi had just returned from buying milk tea—he even had the foresight to purchase an additional cup for Shao Han.

Wang Yuxi handed a cup of milk tea to Bai Yue, who waved his hand to show that he didn’t want any. Finding it odd, Wang Yuxi asked, “That’s weird, you don’t want any? You really don’t? Isn’t this your favourite?”

Bai Yue shook his head. Since he really didn’t want to drink it, Wang Yuxi stopped pestering him. Once everyone was seated for the match, Bai Yue sat in front of his computer with one hand covering his stomach. He was slightly frowning, a trace of discomfort visible on his face.

Next to him, Song Mingzhe watched him with faint concern. He leaned over and asked, “Lao-Bai, you okay?”

Bai Yue let out a lengthy exhale, dismissed the question with a wave of his hand, and raised his head to focus on the computer screen.

Ten minutes after the match began, Yao Sen directed his team to take a detour and launch a sneak attack, but he unexpectedly discovered that Bai Yue was frozen in place, unmoving. Puzzled, he cocked his head and cast a glance towards Bai Yue, only to discover that Bai Yue was hunched over his desk, hands over his stomach, his forehead covered by a sheen of cold sweat from the pain.

Yao Sen immediately took off his headphones and got to his feet. “Bai Yue, what’s wrong?”

The rest followed suit and stopped. When Wang Yuxi saw Bai Yue hissing from the pain and the way his legs were shaking, he asked worriedly, “Does your stomach hurt? Did you eat something spoiled?”

Song Mingzhe: “That shouldn’t be it. We ate the same things, and—I think his stomach started hurting yesterday.”

Yao Sen crouched down, and at the sight of Bai Yue hugging the lower-right side of his stomach, he asked, “Does your right side hurt?”

Bai Yue was in so much pain that he couldn’t say anything—it was as if there was a knife twisting into his stomach. He was ghastly pale, and there was nothing he could do but nod and try to bear the pain.

“Lao-Wang, call a taxi to take him to the hospital. Lao-Song, help him on his right,” Yao Sen shouted straight away. He carefully helped Bai Yue up and said, “I think Bai Yue has appendicitis.”

☆ ☆ ☆

Thank you to anon for the kofi!

t/n – sorry this chapter took so long ;; work was kicking my ass

Chapter 49 | TOC | Chapter 51

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