Ch36 - Welcome back

Edited by kat

The first map of the competition was Miramar. 

When Shen Qi was the captain of M1G, the point they jumped to most often was Pecado.

Before, Rong Jing had often opposed his playing style, and  in the last Asia Championships, he had forcefully changed their regular jumping point. 

It was a big challenge for the team to change the way they played in a short time.

Shen Qi’s eyebrows twisted when the camera switched to M1G’s perspective and he saw they had jumped to the Sosnovka Military Base.

This flight path, going from top right to bottom left, might not refresh in a friendly way towards the military base.

The camera immediately cut to the team BIG who had won second place before. 

They also jumped to Sosnovka Military Base.

Now this was fun, fighting as soon as the game started. 

Bo Li was watching the game attentively. As he took notes, he heard Shen Qi sighing beside him and reflexively moved to the right.

Unsurprisingly, the next second, a familiar voice that was begging for a beating sounded. 

Shen Qi was wearing a mask, and his voice was a little more muffled than usual, and he had also lowered his voice. He tilted his head to Bo Li’s side. “Little Bo Li.”

Bo Li’s eyelids twitched. 

“I’m a few days older than you.”

Shen Qi clicked his tongue and said, “That’s not the point. Say, in how many minutes will Rong Jing die this match?” 

Without waiting for Bo Li to reply, he continued to say to himself, “Why don’t we bet on ten minutes ba?

“How’s this, if you lose, you treat me to a meal. It’s not a high requirement, right?” 

With that, he raised his eyebrows, as if full of confidence.

Bo Li continued to move to the side. Another HUOJ player sitting next to him was squeezed to the edge by him and looked puzzled. 

Bo Li coughed and had to sit back in his original spot. He leaned over to communicate with Shen Qi, “Alright, then I’ll bet on him dying after ten minutes.”

Shen Qi let out a “heh heh.” 

It was already four minutes into the match.

As Shen Qi expected, BIG chose to face off against M1G. 

BIG’s captain had a VSS and started a gun fight against RJJ (Rong Jing) who had an AKM.

“Close combat with a VSS, tch, tch.” Shen Qi shook his head. 

When the camera refocused on RJJ, the female caster was obviously a little excited. “Let’s see, RJJ only has Level 1 armor! He can’t hold on! The VSS beat the AK!”

RJJ fell to the ground, and GI (Qiu Ji), a new member of M1G, threw out a smoke grenade. However, two members of the other team directly strafed them, and Qiu Ji was unable to go in and pull him up. 

It only took five minutes.

Shen Qi sneered. 

The director switched the camera, and a kill prompt jumped up in the upper right corner.

The caster announced that BIG had won the points for taking the first kill. 

Strangely enough, as soon as Rong Jing was eliminated, BIG changed its playing style. Instead of pursuing M1G to eliminate them, they left directly after looting some things.

Shen Qi let out an “ah” and poked Bo Li in the side with his arm. “How about we have a Manchurian and Han banquet tonight? Are dependents allowed? Bringing along your family is fine?” 

Bo Li: ….

“You went home and inherited billions in family property? Heh heh.” 

Although he said that, he still looked up restaurants nearby.

Shen Qi looked down at his cellphone and sent a message to Fu Mingyuan, telling him that he wouldn’t be back for dinner today and he may be a little late in the evening getting back. 

After sending that, he pursed his lips and laughed, his eyes overflowing with a smile.

In this way, how could they become husband and wife in advance? 

When he thought about it, he regretted that he fell asleep so early last night.

At the end of the first match, M1G got the second lowest score. 

The lowest score was the Younglings Zooming to Surrender team.

In fact, Shen Qi already could imagine that after Rong Jing was eliminated, he would become extremely irritable. In the past, Shen Qi was the commander and could continue to keep the team stable. 

But with Rong Jing in charge now…

Shen Qi lowered his eyes as if laughing mockingly. 

Sadly, Rong Jing might have been a mess after he was eliminated. No matter what happened, he would curse out his teammates.

Having been his captain for so long, Shen Qi had a very clear understanding of what his temperament was like. 

It was just that Rong Jing couldn’t understand his temperament, and he always thought that he was deliberately targeting him.

During the half-time break, it was inevitable that the audience would be restless. 

Especially for the old fans of M1G, as many people had already started tearing into them and heavily cursing them.

However much the fans had stuck up for them when they had gone onstage was how much they were cursing them out now after that match. 

M1G used to be a team that won glory for the country, but now it had suddenly fallen down from its pedestal.

No one in e-sports was interested in your past accomplishments, they only looked at the present. If you lost, they would try their best to step on you. 

This was the cruelty of e-sports.

Bo Li looked at Shen Qi, who was playing with his cellphone with his chin propped in his hand. He frowned and handed him his cellphone. 

Shen Qi let out an “en.”

“They’re kicking up an uproar on Weibo. Look at your own suptertopic’s main page, they’re all asking you to appear. 

“You’re already here, but you’re not going to make an appearance on Weibo to placate everyone a bit?”

Shen Qi smoothed his hair and looked down at his suptertopic’s main page. 

Just like before, the atmosphere would grow foul and turbid during every competition.

They held him up high before stepping on him. 

In the end, how many were sincere and how many really meant what they said weren’t clear.

He said with a low laugh, “It’s not that I don’t want to log in, but didn’t I forget my Weibo password?” 

He lowered his eyes and pushed Bo Li’s hand back.

“How about I borrow your Weibo? 

“Look at my sockpuppet Weibo account, no one will believe anything I post ah.”

He shook his cellphone in front of Bo Li’s eyes. 

He did it too fast, so all Bo Li could see were weird words like “husband is so handsome.”

His ears turned red. 

It seemed as though Shen Qi had found a little girlfriend somewhere.

These pro players were all eternal bachelors, so where had they ever seen such straightforward words. 

After thinking for a while, Bo Li actually really wanted to lend his Weibo account to Shen Qi to use.

Then he heard Shen Qi say slowly, “Just post—Your Daddy A is back, how about it?” 

Bo Li: …..

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Db Ol lwwfvljafis ibmxfv tlr mfiiqtbcf rmgffc. 

How could he believe him again ya!

Vtfc Hl ijeutfv jujlc obg j ktlif. Coafg ijeutlcu, tf mbcalcefv ab rmgbii atgbeut Xfuf’r reqfgabqlm. 

Kbvjs, lo tf vlvc’a rqjw jcv qgfrr vbkc bc tlr ibnf glnjir ktb kfgf rafjilcu tlr ojwber rjslcur, tf wluta tjnf agbeyif riffqlcu jcv fjalcu.

The second match started, and Bo Li couldn’t resist anymore. 

He took the initiative to draw close and ask, “Are you dating someone now?”

Shen Qi clicked to send a message, then turned his head to glance at him, seeming to be in some kind of distress. 

Bo Li thought that he was embarrassed and wanted to say something.

Shen Qi then rubbed his hair and grinned so widely that his eyes and eyebrows curved. He waved with his right hand, motioning for him to come closer, and then said with a smile and a hint of showing off, “Yes ah, I’m dating someone. 

“Speaking of which, you haven’t dated anyone before, right? Little Bo Li?

“Young people should date as soon as possible. My partner ba, they’re good-looking, in shape, good at cooking, obedient, and have a nice voice and good skills…” 

Seeing his topic getting more and more crooked, Bo Li immediately sat up straight.

He shouldn’t have asked! 

Shouldn’t have asked!

Fuck. 

Was he human.

Shen Qi, seeing that he had suffered a grave attack, earnestly patted him on the shoulder. “Little Bo Li, what type do you like? Do you want Gege to introduce you to someone? 

“E-sports needs the nourishment of love. Look at you, the acne on your face is breaking out. You’re suffering from inflammation, right?”

Bo Li: …. 

This came from staying up late.

Shen Qi sighed and shook his head. 

He started to focus on watching the competition.

After watching for a while, he couldn’t bear it anymore and nudged Sun Fan at his other side. 

Su Fan, who pushed his glasses up: ?

“That caster didn’t say that right, did he, Little Fanfan? 

“He Bin (BIG’s captain) made an obvious mistake in his judgment this match. He should have taken the initiative to throw a smoke grenade and strafe people, but he chose to withdraw, resulting in the loss of his teammates. What’s with this caster, does the BIG team have no brains? They said that this was a tactical strategy. Tch, tch, for this session, the caster is no good ah.

“Are these two casters new, I haven’t seen them before.” 

Sun Fan: ….

Sun Fan looked at the camera on BIG for a while and discovered that, as Shen Qi had said, the other BIG members had plainly already come over to provide support, but He Bin had still chosen to retreat. 

In the second match, M1G took second place in points, and their total points directly entered the top ten from second to last place.

The fans at the scene created another uproar, all cheering. 

On Weibo, sure enough, the atmosphere completely shifted.

First of all, they praised Rong Jing for his good command, and said that M1G without Angry was still M1G, and without him, they would still win. 

At the same time, a big verified account released a clip of audio.

At this moment, most people’s attention was focused on the playoffs. For the time being, no one paid attention to the audio with the title of “The Truth about Angry’s Retirement.” 

In the third match, M1G again lost two players in the first ten minutes, becoming the first team to be eliminated.

At the competition venue, Rong Jing took off his earphones. Because there was a referee at the competition, he had already restrained his temper and didn’t throw his earphones away. 

Sitting beside him, Ye Lai’s neck cooled instinctively.

Rong Jing turned around and sneered at Ye Lai, “Why didn’t you save me? Did you have any smoke grenades or guns?” 

Qiu Ji, who was sitting next to him, couldn’t keep watching the captain target Ye Lai and opened his mouth to help him refute.

“Captain, it really wasn’t okay just now. We had teams on both sides of us, and they were pincering us.” 

Rong Jing slapped the table and startled the referee in the back. The M1G coach immediately came out with a “haha,” then drew close to his ear to talk.

“You need to restrain yourself a bit. Don’t forget that this is a formal competition, and they’re filming.” 

Ye Lai bit his lower lip and subconsciously looked into the audience.

He knew that Shifu was at the scene today. 

He didn’t know if Shifu would be very disappointed with him when he saw his maneuvers in these matches.

Rong Jing stared mercilessly at Ye Lai. 

The coach continued to whisper into his ear, “I’ve already got people to upload the audio clip you wanted, are you satisfied?

“Even if Angry wanted to come back, he can’t come back to his previous position.” 

It was only then that Rong Jing’s anger was appeased.

In his opinion, there were no problems with his maneuvers. 

They were eliminated all because his team members didn’t cooperate with him.

At the end of the third match, there was an hour’s break for the players and the audience to have a meal. 

Lu Tun and Xu Leng stretched and squeezed through the crowd to find Shen Qi. Seeing Bo Li sitting next to Shen Qi, Lu Tun was a bit embarrassed, and he scratched his head and laughed.

Bo Li had been Lu Tun’s captain before, so Lu Tun was a little afraid of him. 

Shen Qi rubbed his eyebrows. Looking back and forth between the big screen and his cellphone was making his eyes a little sore.

While sending a message to Fu Mingyuan, he said, “Your Bo Li Gege said he would treat us to a meal, so pick a place?” 

Your Qi Ge: Gege~ I’ve finished watching the competition~ Someone is treating us to dinner~

Sitting in the van, Fu Mingyuan looked at the sky outside. 

fmy: En, come back early

Your Qi Ge: Happy.JPG, will Gege come keep me company at night to sleep~ 

Your Qi Ge: QWQ I don’t dare to sleep alone at night

Your Qi Ge: I need the crook of Gege’s arm in order to fall asleep~ 

It was only after Fu Mingyuan licked his lower lip subconsciously, drank some still steaming chrysanthemum tea, and tightened the lid of the cup that he replied.

fmy: En, understood 

Du Jing looked at him in the rearview mirror and shook his head. “Going back?”

Fu Mingyuan nodded, frowned, and rubbed his thumb against his knee. 

After a moment’s silence, he said slowly, “What about that book you said last time about essential dating tricks?”

No urgency could be heard in his tone. 

However, Du Jing inexplicably felt his neck go cold.

He had forgotten. 

He flicked on the turn signal and drove into the parking lot of the hotel, letting out a “hehe.”

“I’ll give it to you when we get back to our rooms. What, do you want it in video or text?” 

Fu Mingyuan knocked on his knee. “Don’t spread illegal things.

“I’ll go to your room with you to get the book. I’ll sleep over at Shen Qi’s tonight.” 

Du Jing slammed on the brakes and almost threw himself out of the car.

After looking back, he saw that the culprit was still sitting firmly. 

“Say that again?”

Du Jing knocked on the steering wheel and seemed to be in a completely anxious, pent-up state. “Ge? Do you remember what you said back then? 

“If you could stay at home, then you’d try not to stay in a hotel. Alright, for Shen Qi’s sake, I put up with you staying in a hotel that time.

“Now it’s great, you’re about to move in with that person. Should I return your room in order to save some room expenses?” 

Fu Mingyuan lowered his head. The dim light in the car hit half of his face and softened the sharp lines of his face.

He seemed to be thinking about the feasibility of this idea. 

“We’re going back the day after tomorrow?” he asked.

Du Jing let out a breath. “Yes, we’re going back the day after tomorrow. Next week, you’ll be joining the cast of a TV drama.” 

He grew happy as soon as he said that. Once the two of them were in a long distance relationship, he could relax ah!

“En, I see.” Fu Mingyuan lowered his head, slid his fingers across the screen, and said after a while, “Then help me to return the room ba.” 

Du Jing: ???

Du Jing: …. 

fmy: Which pajamas are you going to wear tonight? I’ll help you prepare them

Shen Qi looked at this message, and the corners of his mouth hidden under his mask quirked up, overflowing with happiness. 

Your Qi Ge: Whichever pair Gege likes. Shy.jpg

Lu Tun and Xu Leng standing beside him: …. 

Lu Tun: It must be whichever Gege

Xu Leng: What’s the matter with Captain? 

Bo Li, who was about to be exploited, glanced at his teammate at his side. “I have to go out and do something, so help me tell the manager that I’ll be back late.”

The person answered affirmatively, looking strangely at the person sitting there with a mask on. He seemed familiar. 

Then he looked at the one that was standing and wearing a mask, and felt he looked even more familiar.

Sun Fan, who had been sitting next to him without moving this entire time, quietly followed them. 

Bo Li was really generous when inviting others out for a meal, and he directly chose the most expensive restaurant outside the competition venue.

However, there used to be just four people, but Sun Fan also shamelessly squeezed in. 

Professional players were forbidden to drink, and besides Shen Qi and Xu Leng, no one at the table was allowed to drink.

Xu Leng had just turned 18 years old, so Shen Qi didn’t let him drink. Everyone else ordered a bottle of yogurt, and it was even the type in a big bottle. 

Bo Li gulped it down with a dark expression on his face.

Lu Tun and Xu Leng actually didn’t mind, and Sun Fan’s expression was cold, so nothing could be seen about him anyway. 

Shen Qi poured himself a glass of beer, and only then introduced everyone to Bo Li and Sun Fan.

“Xu Leng, a new member of my future team, please instruct him some more.” 

Suddenly being called upon, Xu Leng’s mouth was stained with a circle of yogurt. He stood up, and using the yogurt like alcohol, proposed a toast.

There was even less of a need to introduce Lu Tun at the side. 

It was only after clinking cups that Shen Qi continued, “In future competitions, everyone should be a bit more lenient ah. Right, Little Boli and Little Fanfan? You see, my team is full of little babies who just became adults, do you have the heart to bully them?”

He drank two mouthfuls of alcohol, and his face was already red. He wasn’t drunk, and just looked at them with a smile. 

Bo Li and Sun Fan looked at each other and saw doubt in each other’s eyes.

They didn’t know whether what he said was true or not. 

Previously, he hadn’t said a word before he directly retired from the team and left.

He didn’t even leave a word for them, his old friends. If they said they hadn’t been angry, they would be lying. 

Telephone, WeChat, Weibo, they couldn’t communicate with him with any of these

They were all players from the same period, so there was more or less some affection there. 

But Shen Qi, this person, had to act as if he was alone.

If there was any difficulty, they were all willing to reach out and help. 

Bo Li couldn’t tolerate it any longer.

“Are you coming back?” 

The message from him was probably—Angry wanted to build his own team.

“You’ve retired for a year, are you planning on taking part in the Summer Trials next year?” 

Shen Qi carelessly let out an affirmative noise. He didn’t seem to take it seriously at all and nodded.

Lu Tun and Xu Leng had their heads down and were eating. 

“You’re building your own team?” Sun Fan suddenly asked.

Shen Qi answered affirmatively again and gave the two of them a soothing smile. “Why are you looking at me like that? Are you afraid I’ll come back and seize your championship from you?” 

He sighed. “Ai, it’s a must to seize it. After all, my strength is there, right?”

Bo Li felt the veins on his forehead pulse. 

“So what about your retirement?

“You retired without a word?” 

If it weren’t for the fact that professional players couldn’t get into fights, he would really want to beat up Shen Qi.

Shen Qi chuckled. 

The sound was too light, and Lu Tun and Xu Leng, who were sitting far away from him, didn’t even hear it clearly.

He turned his head and glanced over at Lu Tun and Xu Leng. 

Lu Tun knew the truth.

Shen Qi stuck out a finger and motioned for Sun Fan and Bo Li to get closer. 

The two of them drew close.

“Well ma, a little thing happened. I beat up Chen Ling.” Chen Ling was M1G’s boss. 

After saying that, he lowered his eyes.

Actually, it wasn’t a trivial matter. 

But for some things, if others didn’t mention them, he didn’t want to take the initiative to mention them.

He had to save some people some face. After all, they had once fought side by side. 

Seeing that he didn’t want to mention some details, Bo Li and Sun Fan didn’t ask any further.

Of course, Shen Qi then said vaguely, “Last time I asked the manager of the turkey team if they’d sell Bo Li, and for how much.” 

Bo Li: ….

“He told me a number, but it was too expensive.” He seemed to shake his head regretfully. “Little Bo Li, how can you be so expensive? If you were a bit cheaper, we could even be teammates.” 

Bo Li: ….

Sun Fan had held back for so long, but after staring at him for a while he asked, “God A, did you ask how much I am?” 

Shen Qi drank a mouthful of alcohol, propped his chin in his hand, and thought for a while. “I didn’t ask, but I feel like it’s probably the same as Little Bo Li, expensive.”

Sun Fan seemed to let out a breath. 

By the time this meal was done, Shen Qi had drunk a lot of alcohol.

When he got up, he drifted a bit while walking. 

Lu Tun wanted to help him, but he refused.

“I’m going to the bathroom, are you thinking of going with me?” 

Lu Tun immediately stayed where he was.

No, he didn’t want to. 

When he got out of the private room, the drunkenness in his eyes faded. Shen Qi leaned back against the cold wall. The light in the corridor was a bit bright, and he covered his eyes and laughed for a while.

En, he’s going to come back now ah. 

When he went back, the several people were all ready to leave.

It was already past 8 p.m. 

The competition was nearly over.

Lu Tun pressed on the drunken Shen Qi’s shoulder and made him sit there. 

Then, when Bo Li went to pay the bill, he drew close to him and whispered, “I sent a message to Du Jing Ge and asked that….Male God to come pick you up.”

Shen Qi glanced at him and frowned slightly. 

He patted the back of Lu Tun’s head. “Can you mind your own business?

“Do you think I, Gege, look drunk?” 

His alcohol capacity wasn’t bad.

That had been an excuse just now to get out. 

Lu Tun scratched the back of his head, looking at his sober idol for a second, and had some regret.

Yes ah, Male God was a public figure. If he was photographed, wouldn’t he be on the Hot Search list in a few minutes? 

He was a little anxious. “Sorry Idol, how about you send Male God a message to tell him not to come?”

Xu Leng and Sun Fan, who were watching the competition video together, looked up at them. 

“Ah…” Shen Qi leaned back on the back of his chair with his head tilted up. The corners of his mouth quirked up, and the corners of his eyes were red because of the alcohol he drank.

“Just right ah…” He thought of something, then licked the corner of his lips, turned his head, and said to Lu Tun with a smile, “Thank you ah, Little Tuntun.” 

Lu Tun: ???

Bo Li, who had gone to pay the bill, soon came back. 

His eyes were still slightly red.

As soon as he saw Shen Qi sitting there limply, he really wanted to beat him up. 

Shen Qi had just gone out to pay the bill.

Bo Li stood at the door and vigorously moved his mouth around. 

After a while, he said, “Ge, welcome back.”

After saying that, he turned his head. 

Shen Qi turned his head, both feet landing on the ground. His toes brushed against the group, and he scratched his head and answered slowly, “Call me Daddy.”

Bo Li: …. 

“That’s what you call those upon whom you depend, you know?” Shen Qi shook his head. “Tch, I lost out on that ‘Ge.’”

Bo Li: …. 

Calling you Ge, my ass.

Fuck. 

He didn’t pay any more attention to Shen Qi and turned around and asked Sun Fan, who was explaining things to Xu Leng, “Let’s go back to the hotel together?”

He then seemed to think of something and asked Xu Leng, “Where are you guys staying? Lu Tun didn’t even come back.” 

Xu Leng thought about it and gave the name of the hotel. “Captain booked it.”

Bo Li and Sun Fan: …. 

A hotel that costs a few tens of thousands of yuan a night.

Now they believed that Shen Qi had really gone back to inherit the family property. 

Bo Li didn’t want to stay here for even another moment now. He didn’t even want to ask Shen Qi how they were getting back, and he dragged Sun Fan, who hadn’t finished explaining, out.

Before they reached the door, there was a knock on the door. 

The waiter who led the way nodded to them with a smile, made a gesture of ‘please enjoy,’ and left.

A man in a black coat stood perfectly straight, with no extra expressions on his face. He wore a mask, and his eyes appeared to be a bit sharp, which gave people the illusion of being seen through. 

—

The author has something to say:

Shen Qi: Very soon I won’t act like a person anymore 

Thank you mines and nutrient solution!

The following is the current team table roster, if you want to remember who is who, you can scroll a bit: 

Team roster:

M1G: Captain: Rong Jing/RJJ (commander, sniper) used to be scout 

Ye Lai/LAND (assault)

Qiu Ji/GI (scout) 

Bao Yao/Drug (assault)

HUOJ: Captain: Bo Li/BOLi (assault, command) 

Shu Wenguang/SSwen (sniper)

Zhufen/ZZfen (assault) 

Ding Rui/Sharp (scout)

BIG: Captain: He Bin/Weapon (scout, command) 

Wen Shuang/WSS (assault)

Nie Chen/ChenY (assault) 

Jiang Qing/Ginger (sniper)

EVE: Captain: Sun Fan/Buxiu (scout, command) 

Xu Yuansi/Circle (assault)

Yue Chuan/River (assault) 

Sheng Meng/Meng (sniper)

—

Juurensha: Hmmm….RJ seems to be up to no good. Hopefully SQ can clear his name!