Chapter 4  

“... Evil?”

Upon entering the soundproof glass room, the four IAC players took their seats. While testing out his microphone, the sniper of the team asked, somewhat ill at ease, “Are you alright?”

Within the team’s voice chat, Shi Luo said dispiritedly, “I’m fine.”

The three teammates all turned to look at Shi Luo. He didn’t look the least bit “fine”.

Shi Luo seemed like a completely different man since he saw Yu Sui in the corridor. His complexion was ashen and his expression had completely changed. If you pay close attention, you’ll notice the slight tremble of his hands.

Just now, his teammates noticed that it took Shi Luo a few tries before he was able to install his keyboard because his hands had been shaking. He had jammed it in so forcefully that the medic seated beside him was afraid he’d wreck the USB interface.

The difference between the Shi Luo now and how he usually is was too big.

The sniper tried to ease the tension before the match. Unfortunately, this person wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed and he brought up the pot that didn’t boil. “Just – just now, that was really Whisper! Wow, he’s changed a lot! I’m half a fan of his but I didn’t recognize him at all. Shi Ge has really good eyes. ”

The medic stared at the sniper with a terrified look and tried to salvage the situation. “... Of course, Shi Luo had been teammates with Whisper in the past. He’d definitely be more familiar with him that others.”

The sniper nodded: “Yes, yes, after all, it’s team camaraderie.”

Originally, Shi Luo had on a tense expression. But hearing his teammates trying to sound him out inconspicuously only to make it worse, Shi Luo couldn’t help but give a self-deprecating laugh. Seeing him now, the others must think that he’d gone mad.

They had just been teammates, they just hadn’t seen each other for two years and it was just a reunion. That’s all.

Professional players transferred clubs, divisions and regions all the time. Separating, reuniting; these were routine occurrences. Even today’s opponent, NSN was Shi Luo’s old team. Seeing former teammates on the field was nothing out of the ordinary.

So what was he losing his cool for?

Shi Luo finally managed to adjust his peripherals. He opened the gaming client and opened his account. After logging on to the competition server, there was still about ten minutes before the official match. The players were all warming up and Shi Luo also shot a full cartridge of bullets. His play was complete garbage; an absolute eye-sore.

When there was a lot of fluctuations in one’s mood, the hands might become cold and stiff from insufficient blood supply. It was a psychological problem, there was nothing that could be done. Shi Luo was already trying to control himself.

Shi Luo let go of the keyboard and he gently rubbed his stiff hands. He took a deep breath and exhaled. This won’t do.

Shi Luo looked at the screen. It had been quiet for a while. He whispered into the mic, “He and I, we weren’t just teammates.”

His teammates were shocked when they heard Shi Luo’s voice from their headphones. They didn’t know where Shi Luo was going with this. The medic replied dully: “Uh ... Manager Zhao told us before that Whisper was the one who took you to play pro.”

Shi Luo said, “Not just that.”

His teammates looked at each other in dismay. The referee monitoring the IAC voice chat also tilted his head and glanced at Shi Luo. No one understood what was happening with Shi Luo. Shi Luo had always talked very little, and he was always tight-lipped about Whisper. What has gotten into him today?

“My relationship with Whisper ... Shi Luo tried to keep his voice mild. “Let’s just say that, back then, it was almost like I had given him my life.”

The medic froze and he looked around uneasily. He covered his mic, lowered his voice and reminded him, “Shi Ge, you should remember that there’s an archive of the game’s voice chats? You should&#k2026;think about what you should and shouldn’t say. “

Shi Luo alternately massaged his arms. He simply said, “Of course, I know that.”

“I first knew about this when Whisper told me during my first professional match.” Shi Luo slowly said as he rubbed his gradually warming hands, “At that time, it wasn’t long after I joined the team. There was only one more match left in the regular season. If I wanted to follow the team to play in the playoffs, I needed to play in the match. ”

The FOG League Tournament Association expressly stipulated that professional players must play at least one best of 3 match for their team during the regular season in order to appear in the playoffs as a starter or substitute.

“At that time, our team was first in overall points for the regular season, and we were a shoe-in for the playoffs. So, it didn’t matter if I played in the match. It was just to give me a place in the playoffs.” Shi Luo moved his fingers, practicing his joints. “The team wasn’t under any pressure. But for me it was it was like I was a duck driven onto a perch. I wasn’t ready but I was inexplicably pushed on stage.”

“I haven’t even watched a match and I was going as part of the starting line-up. I was completely ignorant. Whatever Whisper said, I did.” Shi Luo place his hands on the keyboard and mouse once again. “He told me to test the mic before the match, so I tested the mic. He told me the best way to test the mic was to sing, so I sang. Although I thought it was quite stupid, I thought what the captain says must be right, so I followed him. I really sang a couple of lines. The next day, my song was featured in the game as part of the live chat best of the best collection. ”

The three members gasped in surprise. They looked at Shi Luo pitifully, unable to imagine what a terrible scene that was.

“I was very young then, one year younger than Wawa, just seventeen. I didn’t understand anything ... Shi Luo sneered, “I was a stupid little sh*t.”

The medic reluctantly said, “No, no, no, you weren’t stupid. You were a newcomer. Whisper shouldn’t have bullied you.”

“Bullied?” Shi Luo re-loaded the gun and said, neither too tense nor too slow, “It was a regular season game that had no effect on the rankings. They could have made a dog play that match. No one paid any attention to me or to that game.”

“He was a medic and I was also a medic. In fact, I could just gone up there, taken his position and played any which way but...”

Shi Luo took aim and continued, “But he was uneasy, afraid that I had no experience, afraid that I would get stage fright, afraid that no one would take care of me, and afraid that the strikers on the team would look at me as just some newcomer and not cooperate well with me. He was a medic, and for that match, he played as a striker for the first time.”

His teammates looked at Shi Luo in shock. “Whisper played as a striker?!”

The other striker in the team asked weakly. “I seem to recall that Whisper made it clear in an interview that he didn’t like playing the other jobs.”

Since his debut, Yu Sui has only ever played as a medic. Even in normal broadcasts done just for amusement, he still wouldn’t play any other occupation. Before when he had participated in an event, the organizers had personally asked him to show them how he played the other occupations, but he tactfully declined. He himself has also said in numerous interviews that he didn’t like playing the other jobs.

Shi Luo nodded. “He didn’t like it, but if he didn’t play as a striker, how could he go on stage with me as a teammate?”

The expression in their medic’s eyes turned complicated. “So, Whisper used to treat you ...”

“Very well.”

“He accompanied me during my debut match; what I couldn’t do, he taught me how to. He dealt with any matter, regardless of importance. “Shi Luo’s face returned to normal, and his voice was finally as steady as usual. “Just like now, when I’m feeling extremely uncertain, I shouldn’t avoid the problem and I should voice out painful matters. By chatting, I can vent and speedily return to a steady state. He’s the one who taught me that.”

The medic couldn’t help but continue to ask, “If he treated you so well before then, how did matters between you two get like this?”

“That’s just the problem. Because he was so good to me before,” Shi Luo held the mouse and said faintly, “So later, when he so easily pushed me away, it only to made me brood on it even until now. ”

Shi Luo laughed and murmured: “If I had never seen light ...”

Shi Luo didn’t say anything else. He held his breath for a couple of seconds, and along with a burst of gunfire, Shi Luo steadily shot a cartridge of bullet through the same bullet hole.

His teammates were shocked almost to the point of having their mouths agape.

“He had been such a good senior to me and I had just met him once again. Unfortunately, the way he sent off Wawa to play reminded me of when he sent me off to play for the first time. I couldn’t control my emotions and I made myself a laughing stock for everyone.” Shi Luo let go of his mouse and rubbed his shoulders. His expression has returned to normal. “Okay, I’m fine now.”

His teammates marveled at Shi Luo’s natural and spontaneous way of operating his character and sighed. “... this way of readjusting your mood is amazing.”

The match was about to start. The sniper asked, “Their lineup hasn’t changed. Should we still use our usual style of play against NSN? Let’s target their strikers?”

Shi Luo said, “No, we’ll target the medic today.”

The sniper was surprised. “We’re targeting Wawa? Aren’t you guys on good terms?”

“We have a good relationship and I often look after him.” Shi Luo adjusted his microphone. “We’ll focus on their medic. It’s best that we kill him as soon as he shows up. Let’s not leave him any room to do anything.”

The striker smiled: “So this is how you want to play this? But Wawa usually doesn’t show up during the early stages, right? Can we still target him?”

Shi Luo stared at the screen, “I have a feeling he will this time.”

The striker raised an eyebrow. “Alright then! I like this brainless kind of playing too.”

The team’s medic shivered. “You guys are terrible!”

The game began.

Sure enough, just as Shi Luo expected; at the beginning of the match, Wawa followed the striker to feel his way around. Shi Luo couldn’t be more familiar with the route he was taking. Shi Luo didn’t even have the sniper open the scope for confirmation. He directly opened fire and got his first kill off Wawa.

After receiving first blood, Shi Luo could already upgrade.

The IAC medic was too surprised to utter a word. “The poisonous mist hasn’t even been cleared yet. How did you find him there?”

“I didn’t see him. I heard him.” Shi Luo held his breath. “Next, after returning, he’ll go around to the west and replace the striker’s photon shield. Pay attention to your positions.”

It was like Wawa had listed to Shi Luo’s commands. Two minutes later, IAC’s sniper got the kill on the west side of the map.

The sniper laughed in spite himself. “Did you also hear that he was heading west?”

“I didn’t hear it. I guessed.”

“Now that he’s lost his head twice, he wouldn’t dare go by himself to clear the fog. He’ll follow after the striker to gain some auxilliary points.” Shi Luo quickly said, “Medic, you’re with me. They’re going to go for a frontal assault.”

Their team’s medic heard him and first gave their sniper a photon shield before following after Shi Luo. Sure enough, three seconds later, NSN, who’d already lost two heads, were unable to hold back and rushed at Shi Luo.

Shi Luo had anticipated that. Moreover, his accessories were better than Gu Gan’s. He wasn’t afraid of meeting them head on. Shi Luo immediately open fired and ordered the medic to hide behind the bunker. He relied on his offensive position to sweep Gu Gan with two rounds of gunfire. Gu Gan didn’t stiffen. When he found that Shi Luo had predicted his position, he immediately returned into the cover of the poisonous mist without handing over his head. He also fired at Shi Luo before hiding in the bunker. Unfortunately, the other NSN striker, Xinran, didn’t have Gu Gan’s level of awareness. He hadn’t escaped in time and had his head taken by Shi Luo. Wawa wanted to assist Xinran, only to expose his position and have his head taken by Shi Luo’s striker teammate.

Nice!

Within five minutes of the opening, IAC’s strikers and sniper had gotten enough kills and the medic had also gotten enough auxiliary points to upgrade the whole team’s equipment.

The team’s sniper was incredulous. “How on earth did you know what they were doing?”

Shi Luo opened the upgrade interface to buy bullets. “It was nothing. I’m very familiar with this kind of tactic.”

In the early stages, the medic would be used as the bait to give the strikers and sniper enough room to do their work. During the first five minutes, they would be able to take their opponent’s heads undisturbed. As long as the medic didn’t die, they would be able to gain an early advantage.

This was the way Yu Sui plays.

Unfortunately, Wawa’s skills weren’t sufficient enough to support this kind of tactic.

At this point, NSN also realized the same thing. But after all, they were an old established team. Despite their opponents getting an early overwhelming advantage, they didn’t fall apart. They immediately adjusted their tactics and changed back to their most familiar aggressive tactic, preventing their opponents from continuing to strengthen their dominance. In the end, that tumble they had in the early stages, allowed IAC to suppress their play despite their recovery in the middle and late stages. Thirty-two minutes later, IAC killed all the NSN players, destroyed their resurrection stone, and won the game.

When the match summary appeared on screen, Shi Luo took a look. No. of deaths: Wawa – 13 times.

Their team’s medic was putting away his peripherals. He was speechless when he saw the match summary. “I feel kind of bad for Wawa. You guys targeted him for the entire match. If I were him, I would have quit early on.”

Shi Luo collected his peripherals. “Thirteen times. That’s all.”

The corner of the medic’s mouth twitched, “Shi Shen, if this were a shonen manga, your character would be a villain.”

Shi Luo didn’t mind in the least. “Good. I was never a good person anyway.”

As per usual, the winning team had to be interviewed after the game. The IAC team was invited to the stage. Worried that some ambitious reporter would provoke Shi Luo to get a sound bite, Zhao Feng had already found a presenter in advance. Therefore, when the time came for the interview, the presenter steered clear of any sensitive topics. After these very bland questions, the team members bowed and thanked their fans for supporting them in the match. They then turned to head to their lounge backstage.

They had just won the game, so his teammates were quite excited. Pushing and shoving good-naturedly as they discussed what they’d eat that night. Shi Luo’s footsteps were a bit heavy. When he passed the NSN lounge, Shi Luo turned his head and stared.

“Shi Luo, Shi Ge?”

The medic looked suspiciously at Shi Luo. “What’s the matter?”

Shi Luo came back to his senses. “What?”

The medic smiled. “We’re going out to eat crayfish. Are you coming with us?”

“Nah, there’s going to be a line if you go now.” Shi Luo threw the peripherals bag to the medic, “You go ahead, I have something to do.”

The medic took over Shi Luo’s peripherals bag and wondered, “The interview’s over. What else do you need to do?”

Shi Luo turned around and before the shocked expressions of his teammates, pushed open the door to the NSN lounge.

The lounge door was wide open and the room was empty.

There was only one person in the room; a cleaning staff member who turned to Shi Luo with a confused expression. “Do you need anything? The NSN team has already left.”

After much difficulty, Shi Luo managed to take deep and even breaths. He closed his eyes and shook his head. “I’m sorry. It’s nothing.”