Chapter 136   - Extra 4 – End –

A few days before the finals, Free was once more doing more than ten hours of high-intensity practice games every day. After NSN’s unfortunate defeat in the semi-finals, although they missed the finals, their results have already exceeded their initial expectations and they did not feel downhearted. Instead, they joined ranks of Free’s sparring teams to help Free carry out their daily high-intensity practices.

“I think what Shi Ge lacks isn’t intensive training. What you lack is a bit of relaxation.”

Between training sessions, Wawa was having a one on one video call with Shi Luo. Seeing Shi Luo’s face filled with worry, he said, “Brother Shi, you have something on your mind.”

Shi Luo looked at Wawa with a wooden expression and then after a while, sighed, “It’s nothing...should we team up using our side accounts for a bit?”

They’ve already done eight hours of practice matches. There was no one in Free’s lounge except for Shi Luo. Wawa originally wanted to persuade Shi Luo to take a rest but he was helpless against Shi Luo’s insistence. So, he accompanied Shi Luo to play the game.

The double row with Wawa was no longer for practice. It was just to maintain the feel in his hands. Wawa also knows that so the two of them slaughtered their way through using muscle memory. There was no need to communicate. After a silent round, Shi Luo simply shut down the voice chat with Wawa and the two of them played blindly with zero communication.

While assisting Shi Luo, the warm-hearted Wawa opened the in-game chat and chatted with Shi Luo at the same time.

[Awa]: [What’s wrong, ge? You’ve taken your revenge and the championship is as good as yours. So, what’s still weighing on your mind? ]

Shi Luo glanced at the team chat and typed:

[jyhbdhs]: [He asked me to use my side account to make it public. ]

Who “he” was, was self-evident.

Wawa, who liked to follow gossip in the circle, knew all about his side account.

[Awa]: [...That takes a bit of courage. ]

[Awa]: [You guys are really daring to officially make it public. That’s really exciting. ]

[Awa]: [... What’s wrong with me secretly rubbing my hands in anticipation for it? ! ]

Their passerby teammate was also pretty good. When he saw Shi Luo and Wawa’s convo in the team chat, he was extremely confused. This match was totally going their way and they had time to just type and chat. While waiting for the fog to clear, he curiously typed a question.

[Passerby A]: [What do you mean? What does this garbled-named brother or sister want to make public? ]

If he could go back in time, back to that spring time when they first started dating, Shi Luo would never have allowed himself to take leave of his senses and apply for that stupid side account that foreshadowed his months-long attack by clueless fans online until he was left with no way out now.

How can it be helped? Back then he had just started dating Yu Sui and Shi Luo had nowhere to recount his youthful feelings. He had become accustomed to playing it cool and there were a lot of things that he found difficult to say face to face. However, besieged by chuuni youthful aching, he wanted to leave a record of his romantic affair with Yu Sui.

Although it was already no secret that this side account belonged to him, still, it takes a bit of courage to admit it personally.

Those cringe-y things he had posted on his side account, anyone would be embarrassed to read them.

Everyone except Yu Sui.

Not only did Yu Sui not feel embarrassed, he also frequently rereads through them. When he has nothing to do, he flips through it. He would often read those entries and feel that they were new. Every time, he would discover some new detail about them, gaining new knowledge by reviewing the old.

After sending away Sacred Sword 3-0 during the quarterfinals, in a sense, Free’s journey in this year’s World Championships had come to an end. The people in the team who were waiting to watch the excitement gradually turned to their greatest anticipation from the finals to seeing Yu Sui and Shi Luo’s public announcement on Shi Luo’s side account.

There was not a single good person in this entire team!

It was rare for Shi Luo to meet a stranger and he suddenly felt a rare desire to pour everything out. He thought about it and typed:

[jyhbdhs]: [Make public... about our relationship. ]

Big Brother Passerby A was quiet for a long time before he weakly typed: [You still need to publicly announce your relationship? Why don’t you want to make it public? What’s going on? Who’s your boyfriend? Is he a celebrity? ]

[jyhbdhs]: [A celebrity? More or less. ]

Big brother Passerby A kept quiet.

They had been oppressing their opponents so terribly that two of their opponents were already afk-ing. Shi Luo continued to type:

[jyhbdhs]: [He has tens of millions of fans, that makes him a celebrity, right? You can understand it this way. ]

[jyhbdhs]: [...I have been with him for a year. I’m worried that us going public would affect him so we haven’t said anything and just continued to date in secret.]

[jyhbdhs]: [But he likes me so much and he keeps asking for us to go public. He’s always wanted to make it public. ]

[jyhbdhs]: [Recently, he gave me an ultimatum. ...In just a few days, I have to make it public. ]

[jyhbdhs]: [It’s not that I’m unwilling, just a bit embarrassed. ]

Big Brother Passerby A continued to tactically keep quiet.

Wawa sighed. This was indeed his Shi Ge. He shook his head and turned quiet.

Shi Luo didn’t notice anything unusual. He frowned and continued typing:

[jyhbdhs]: [To go public or not to go public...He’s been so good to me, I shouldn’t always hide it.]

It took a long time before big Brother Passerby A typed out his question: [En...How good is he to you? Since he’s a star, he should make a lot of money, right? What’s his annual salary? Do you know? ]

[jyhbdhs]: [I’m not sure on his annual salary but he should be earning a lot? He can give me more than 20 million per year, is that considered a lot? ]

【Passerby A】:[......]

At this moment, Big Brother Passerby A completely stopped speaking.

Shi Luo’s team smoothly put down their opponents. As usual, Shi Luo immediately withdrew from the team but Wawa didn’t. He watched with relish as the two passersby chatted.

[Passerby B]: [What would a doctor usually say about a situation like the one just now?]

[Passerby A]: [He’s in late stage mythomania. It’s hopeless. I hope the family can maintain their reasoning... Brother Awa, are you his friend? ]

Wawa hurriedly and happily typed: [En! I’m his friend! ]

[Passerby]: [Try to curb his delusions. He plays so well, why does his brain have to go bad? Did he go nuts from chasing celebrities? ]

Wawa suddenly understood the sadness experienced by his brother when his PDA side account was blasted by the netizens back then. It truly was difficult to be in a love relationship that no one believed! Wawa shook his head. He didn’t stubbornly try to argue and simply withdrew from the team while lamenting his brother’s hardships.

Three days later, FREE once again won the last BO5 of the season with a score of 3:0. They won the championship finals with crushing force.

This was their first championship after re-establishing the club. Team Free was very excited but not quite as much as when they sent Sacred Sword packing 3:0. So they didn’t get as black out drunk.

After all, they had to keep their heads so they could laugh at Shi Zai’s expense.

After attending the awards ceremony, doing a series of post-game interviews and as a mere formality, participating in the celebration party arranged by the league, Free finally returned to the hotel to start their own celebration party.

Zhou Huo went to Twitter to mock and ridicule. Chen Huo drank while also teasing Shi Luo, telling him to hurry up with his public announcement.

Shi Luo was feeling excited and a little embarrassed. He glanced at Chen Huo. “What does it have to do with you?”

“It has everything to do with me.” Chen Huo was serious and calm, “Seeing you embarrassed makes us very happy.”

Shi Luo wanted to fight Chen Huo but he really was happy. Though he wanted to get angry, his voice unconsciously already had a smile in it, “Get out of here!”

Yu Sui couldn’t drink alcohol. So, he could only lower his head and drink fruit juice.

Shi Luo knew what Yu Sui was waiting for. He picked up his phone, ground his teeth, thought about it and put it away again. He said perfunctorily and ambiguously, “Wait...Wait a minute!”

Puppy couldn’t stop his muffled laughter.

Shi Luo didn’t need anyone to urge him to drink. In less than half an hour, he had drank two cocktails to boost his courage. When the glass was empty, Yu Sui, who hadn’t said anything all this time, covered Shi Luo’s glass with his hand and said softly. “That’s about enough. You’ll hurt your stomach if you drink any more.”

Chen Huo and Old Qiao had already gone off together to talk nonsense. There was no one around them. Shi Luo cleared his throat, “I’ll post on Weibo once I’ve had enough to drink. I’m not thick-skinned enough yet. I can’t post it.”

Yu Sui smiled when he heard that. He still took away Shi Luo’s glass and upended it on the table.

“Follow me.”

Without disturbing his teammates and the staff who were already starting to display their silly drunken antics, Yu Sui took Shi Luo back to his room.

With a beep, Yu Sui pushed open the door to his room, “During Fight the Landlord, I really wanted to give you a chance. I always intended to throw the game. Unfortunately, little Shi Shen, you failed to live up to expectations...I’ll throw the game one last time. ”

On the small table in Yu Sui’s room, there were ten identical black gift boxes.

Yu Sui sat on a chair to the side and knocked on the tabletop, “Draw lots.”

“One of the ten boxes contains a note with a PR draft of your official public announcement that Zhou Huo had written for you. Choose one and if you win, you won’t need to use your side account for the announcement. I’ll do it. I’ll post it on Weibo.” Yu Sui looked at Shi Luo. As though he had remembered something, his eyes flashed. He slowly said, “Shi Shen, it’s a one in ten chance. Are you playing?”

Shi Luo was startled.

A year ago, when Yu Sui had just returned to China, in that club, the two of them were facing each other measure for measure. Shi Luo said to Yu Sui over ten tall glasses overflowing with the strong smell of alcohol, “Yu Shen, it’s a one in ten chance. Are you playing?”

Shi Luo smiled, his eyes red.

He wasn’t the only one who was always giving the other room to maneuver, always giving in.

After a while, Shi Luo wiped the corner of his eye with his thumb. “Ten boxes, don’t tell me there’s actually a slip of paper in every one of them?”

Yu Sui smiled and shook his head.

Shi Luo was taken aback and before he could speak, Yu Sui said again. “I’m not lying to you. There really is only one box that has the slip but...”

“You get ten chances to pick.”

Shi Luo laughed in spite of himself. “Wouldn’t that be completely shameless of me, refusing to accept a loss...”

Yu Sui looked at Shi Luo, “When you’re with me, you can act as shameless as you want.”

Evil, who didn’t cry even when he won the World Championships, almost teared up with because of Whisper’s words.

Yu Sui couldn’t help adding, “But you should try your best. Don’t end up choosing the box with the note last.”

Shi Luo almost laughed out loud once again. He sniffed and walked to the table.

The ten boxes looked exactly the same. There really was no way to judge. Shi Luo picked one up at random and opened it—

There was no note in the box, but it wasn’t empty.

There was a contract in the box.

Shi Luo opened it and took a look. It was Shi Luo’s contract renewal with Free for next season.

It was no different from the contract he had signed at the beginning of the season, except that the signing fee was 10 million more.

Shi Luo raised his eyes, “How...how can I possibly be worth that much?”

“It’s fine so long as I think you’re worth it. I have the money and I’m willing to give it.” Yu Sui urged, “Continue your pick.”

A slag man really had too many tricks. After such a happy day, Shi Luo really didn’t want to lose control of himself. He calmed down and opened the second box——

It was a couple’s necklace.

The third box——

A men’s ring.

The fourth box——

A set of limited edition keycaps.

The fifth box——

A limited edition scarf embroidered with Shi Luo’s player id.

......

“Where did you have time to go shopping?” Shi Luo really couldn’t figure it out, “When did you buy these?”

“I chose the style and asked Zhou Huo to help buy it for me.” Yu Sui took out his mobile phone and calmly watched Shi Luo unpack the presents. “I didn’t expect these...these stuff to be cheap. I thought of it that day when the other players gave it to their girlfriends.”

Shi Luo pursed his lower lip, remembering what Yu Sui had told him before the domestic finals; that what other lovers have, he has as well.

The little tricks that other players play, Yu Sui can play as well.

Shi Luo’s lips trembled slightly. He took a deep breath and opened the sixth box——

Yu Sui’s first medal of his career.

“This is a true worldwide limited item.” Yu Sui said, “Absolutely no other player has it.”

Shi Luo’s heart rose. Treating it like the treasure it was, Shi Luo put away Yu Sui’s medal.

Shi Luo really had terrible luck at gambling. He really had to open the last box before he found what was supposed to be a PR draft written by Zhou Huo.

There was a folded note in the last box. Shi Luo opened it carefully. The note was written with Yu Sui’s handwriting.

I love you.

Shi Luo, Yu Sui loves you very much.

Yu Sui took out his phone. He waited quietly for Shi Luo to finish all ten gifts and then clicked the “send” button on his phone.

Yu Sui turned the phone screen to Shi Luo, “Look.”

Yu Sui made a post on Weibo. The contents of his post and the note were exactly the same.

Ten minutes later, after fans have had enough of shrieking on Yu Sui’s official blog, they suddenly discovered that Shi Luo’s side account, which the fans have encircled and intercepted to the point of almost getting banned, had a new post after such a long time.

I love you.

Yu Sui, Shi Luo loves you very much.

-End-

Translator’s note:

Awwww and that really is the end of this novel. I’m both happy and sad to see this novel finish. I’ll miss them. *sniff* Thank you to everyone who joined me until the end. I hope this has been as good a read for you as it has been for me. I really love this story.

Hope to see you all in my next pit! =)