Chapter 272 – Post-Match Interview
In accordance with the usual practice of compet.i.tive gaming, the players on both sides had to shake hands to show their friendship. However, the number of people in the national team was too high and 44 people couldn"t be squeezed into one soundproof room. Li Cangyu had to call Ling Xuefeng, Su Guangmo, Tan s.h.i.tian and Lou Wushuang to go to the Australian team and shake hands.
Captain William of the Australian team felt a bit complicated. From the people who came over to shake hands, Li Cangyu and Ling Xuefeng hadn"t played today. The Chinese team really did seem like a crouching tiger, hidden dragon. They had as many masters as clouds!
William couldn"t help looking at Tan s.h.i.tian a bit more while shaking hands. The smiling young man in front of him was very handsome and seemed easy to get along with. Yet on the field, this person was a terrible mobile fort. The kite flow tactics he came up with also opened William"s eyes.
“I"ll remember you,” William spoke in English.
“I will as well." Tan s.h.i.tian replied in fluent English. "Your bard played well. I hope we have a chance to communicate again."
William thought that this person would"ve ridiculed him with a few words. He didn"t expect Tan s.h.i.tian to be so graceful. His heart wasn"t convinced but William"s impression of Tan s.h.i.tian was quite good. He asked in a confused manner, "Why isn"t your name in the world"s bard rankings?"
Tan s.h.i.tian smiled and replied calmly, "I forgot to sign up."
William, "…"
William had worked hard to squeeze into the world rankings so now he wanted to cough up blood. Forgot to sign up? Was this okay? Then did the captain of the Chinese team, the elf summoner, and the excellent healer who played just now also forget to register? Couldn"t the players of their country be more reliable?
William looked at the backs of the commanders who were leaving and felt a sense of frustration.
It seemed that the world rankings had no value to the Chinese team. Today"s bard Tenday and the healer White Fox were players who couldn"t be seen on the leaderboard at all. However, their performance was surprising.
Still, William was very clear about the strength of the Australian team. He hadn"t held too much hope and there was nothing unacceptable about losing three games to the Chinese team.
He thought in a gloating manner, "Of the four teams in group B, the Chinese team will definitely be the most difficult boss to deal with. Spain and Italy, wait to be abused!"
***
After the match, the Chinese team packed up their equipment and headed backstage. There would be an interview and the national team had a huge lineup. It was impossible for 22 people to attend. Li Cangyu only took the vice-captain Ling Xuefeng, Su Guangmo and Tan s.h.i.tian to the interview with media reporters, while the remaining players temporarily waited backstage.
There was a thrilled voice outside the corridor. "Great, three wins!"
It was the little madman of the Canglan team, Gu Siming. Li Xiaojiang and Zhang Jueming were also close behind.
The three of them had sat in the VIP stands and witness the wonderful performance of the Chinese team. Xiao Gu couldn"t help feeling excited. Once the match ended, Old Zhang and Xiaojiang ran backstage to congratulate everyone.
“Congratulations to everyone for winning. 15 points are really handsome!" Xiao Gu ran over and exclaimed excitedly.
Bai Xuan smiled and greeted him. "Did you come to watch?"
"Of course!" Zhang Jueming replied with a smile, "There are two matches in Group B today. I took notes on the match between Italy and Spain." He looked around at the players and found that many of them looked tired. He spoke lightly, "Will you go back first to rest?"
Bai Xuan told him, "The intensity of the game is too great. Many people are tired so we will go back to rest once the interview is over."
Zhang Jueming nodded at the clarification. "That"s right, everyone should take a break and relax."
There were so many great G.o.ds here that Li Xiaojiang didn"t dare to speak. He just stood there quietly. Zhuo Hang smiled and placed an arm around his shoulder, whispering to him, "How does it feel watching the game from below the stage?"
Li Xiaojiang stuttered, "It, it, it is very exciting."
Zhuo Hang asked seriously, "Do you think I was handsome?"
"Very, very, very handsome."
Zhuo Hang heard this familiar stuttering and couldn"t help smiling slightly. He reached out and gently patted Li Xiaojiang"s head. He felt some regret that Li Xiaojiang couldn"t go to the World Compet.i.tion with him but it was still worthwhile to have Xiaojiang watch him win.
"In a foreign country, you should stay with Uncle Zhang. Don"t run around." Zhuo Hang patiently said.
“Yes, I know." They were the same age but Zhuo Hang always took the att.i.tude of a brother, which made Li Xiaojiang felt a bit awkward. He looked up at Zhuo Hang and saw the concerned eyes. Li Xiaojiang"s heart slightly warmed and he pulled Zhuo Hang"s hand. "Zhuo Hang, continue to refuel. I will cheer for you from the audience."
"Naturally." Zhuo Hang smiled with firm eyes. "I won"t disgrace our Canglan team!"
Li Xiaojiang nodded happily. "Yes!"
As a person who grew up in a remote mountain village, he was already very content at becoming an e-sports player, winning the championship, following the team abroad and being able to watch the wonderful performance of his teammates in the World Compet.i.tion.
***
In the interview room next door, the tactical commanders received a bombardment of camera flashes. The reporters gave everyone warm applause. Then someone stood up and asked, "Cat G.o.d, I think many people have a question. Why did you and Captain Ling sit on the side and act as soy sauce?"
Li Cangyu replied honestly, "It is because I didn"t think it was necessary for us to play."
"Does this mean the Australian team wasn"t strong enough for you to act?"
Li Cangyu glanced at Ling Xuefeng and the latter replied lightly, "It is due to the tactical arrangements. The economic war used the kite flow method and Captain Su had command of death racing. It is enough for me to watch with Cat G.o.d."
This was a modest statement. In fact, everyone understood that they were holding back some tactics and mysterious cards for future matches. They couldn"t let the other teams fully understand the Chinese team.
The reporter turned to Tan s.h.i.tian. "Captain Tan, William is ranked fifth among the world"s bards. Today you cooperated with Cheng Wei to kill him. How do you feel?"
Tan s.h.i.tian was puzzled. "I don"t care about the world rankings. William is ranked fifth?"
The reporters, "…"
Don"t you remember to pay cats and dogs all day? Can"t you give us a snack?
As the reporters stared at him, Tan s.h.i.tian touched his nose and smiled. "Sorry, I"m a homebody and rarely go to the Miracle world forums. For me, it doesn"t matter if he is number one in the world or not. As long as they stand on the field and become my opponent, I will go all-out. This is respect to my fellow e-sports players."
The reporters, "…"
That"s why he killed William with all his strength? William was likely to cry even more if he heard this interview.
A reporter changed the topic. "Captain Tan perfectly displayed your kite flow tactics today. It is your first time in the World Compet.i.tion and there are so many great G.o.ds on the team. Were you nervous?"
Tan s.h.i.tian answered honestly, "To tell the truth, I was a bit nervous when Cat G.o.d a.s.signed me to be the commander. I was afraid I might make a mistake in the game. However, Xiao Wei and Lu Xiao are members of the Time team. I am familiar with Liu Xiang, Yang Muzi and Meng Jie. We cooperated well and I didn"t feel nervous when entering the game.
"I heard that the relationship between the Red Fox team and the Time team is quite good?"
"Yes. Liu Xiang and I debuted at the same time and the time when we took over as captain was also similar. We are both captains with relatively junior qualifications and there was no pressure when chatting." Tan s.h.i.tian kept answering the question. "I appreciate female players like Meng Jie and Yang Muzi. Xiao Wei and Yang Muzi are both white magicians and their relationship is good. We usually play some friendly games in private."
There had long been rumours that Red Fox and Time had a good relationship and Tan s.h.i.tian finally admitted it to the public.
There was a gossip reporter. "You have a excellent friendship with Red Fox. Captain Tan, have you ever thought of further private development with Captain Liu?"
Tan s.h.i.tian glanced at the reporter. "Liu Xiang was one said to be Cat G.o.d"s girlfriend. At the time, Cat G.o.d stood up and clarified. Now it is my turn. She will soon become a person unjustly implicated in the Miracle circle. We should let her go."
The reporters burst out laughing. Tan s.h.i.tian"s response was so calm that everyone was embarra.s.sed to speculate on their relationship.
Liu Xiang watched the live broadcast backstage and smiled helplessly. As the person who was always implicated in the Miracle circle, it wasn"t easy for her. Every day, she was fed dog food by this group of people and was also regarded as cannon fodder by the reporters…
After asking Tan s.h.i.tian questions, the microphone was handed to Su Guangmo. "Captain Su was the commander for death racing. What do you think about joining forces with your younger brother and Xie Shurong again?"
"In the past, Xiao Yu played a swordsman and now he is a berserker. Ah Shu"s style has become more mature and the damage from his combo attacks is quite high. The power of our joint efforts is much stronger than it was in the past." Su Guangmo said with a smile, "Fortunately, the tacit understanding between the three of us is still good."
The reporter asked, "We noticed that when Vice-Captain Yan was besieged, you gave up on rescuing him. Are you afraid Vice-Captain Yan will have opinions on this?"
Su Guangmo replied simply, "Vice-Captain Yan is also a first-rate player. I believe that he won"t be so stingy. Besides, since the command has been handed over to me, no matter who it is, they must listen to my command."
Captain Su had always been bold and he disliked worrying about small things like this the most. He had the nickname of "emperor" for a reason. His command style was decisive and domineering.
There was another round of applause.
This was followed by another person asking, "The Chinese team beat Australia in three games. This can be called a perfect victory! The next match is against the Spanish team. Cat G.o.d, do you still think you can get a score of 3:0?"
Li Cangyu and Ling Xuefeng exchanged looks before replying modestly, "The actual strength of the Spanish team isn"t weak. After our match with Australia, they will certainly study us to target the players and make the appropriate deployment. The next match will be harder than this one and I can"t guarantee a 3:0 victory."
The reporters thought he would say that they wouldn"t necessarily win. As a result, Li Cangyu smiled at them. "At the very least, we can win two games."
"…" Winning two games was winning the match! It looked like Cat G.o.d was still confident.
The reporters were relieved while some people were curious, "Will Cat G.o.d and Captain Ling play next time?"
Ling Xuefeng spoke without any expression. "It is temporarily inconvenient to reveal tactics. Everyone will know it at the time."
***
On the way backstage, Ling Xuefeng gently pulled Li Cangyu"s arm and asked quietly, "What is your plan for the next game?"
Li Cangyu glanced over at him. "Do you want to go?"
Ling Xuefeng replied decisively, "You are the captain and have the final say."
Li Cangyu smiled slightly and patted him on the shoulder. "I think your hands must be itching. I will give you the chance. For the next match, you will be in charge of death racing."
"No problem."
After a break, it was time for him to act. Otherwise, the domestic audience would definitely have opinions about him and Li Cangyu going to another country only to act as a soy sauce!
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Chapter 273 – Accident
Everyone went back by car and headed to the restaurant of the Miracle Village for lunch. The restaurant at the Miracle Village offered buffet meals but since most of the chefs were from the United States, there was definitely no Chinese food. The breakfast here were mostly omelettes, milk and bread. The Chinese members mostly ate steak, toast, fruit salad and pastries.
People who liked to eat sweets like Cheng Wei and Tan s.h.i.tian were very happy. As soon as they arrived at the restaurant, they grabbed plates to find things like matcha cake, black forest cake, strawberry cake etc. They ate cake all day and weren"t tired of it. They also didn"t get fat. This made the three sisters of Red Fox feel envious.
In fact, Tan s.h.i.tian didn"t love to eat sweets. He just saw that Cheng Wei loved them and wanted to accompany him to eat.
Zhang Shaohui really liked steak and loved meat since he was a child. In the Ghost Spirits team, he always had meat. The form might"ve changed once he went abroad but he wouldn"t refuse as long as it was meat. He could eat two big steaks in one meal.
Others lacked interest in Western food and some frowned and soon as they walked into the restaurant.
It had been a few days of eating the same food in the Miracle Village and the people not used to it wanted to vomit. However, the World League was relatively strict. During the compet.i.tion, players weren"t allowed to go out at will. They were unfamiliar with this place and if they received food poisoning from eating something unclean, the league couldn"t afford to bear the responsibility.
It was a foreign country so the players" requests couldn"t be too high. They ate enough to fill their stomachs.
***
Today, the steak in the restaurant was 70% cooked. Xie Shurong brought over to plates and handed one to Bai Xuan. He sat down and complained, "I want to eat your sweet and sour ribs, cola chicken wings, braised eggplant, steamed ba.s.s…"
He drooled as he mentioned the names of the dishes.
Bai Xuan saw his greedy appearance and couldn"t help smiling. "Endure it for a few days. Once we return home, I will make them for you."
“Okay, I will be sure to eat your cooking when we go back to the country!" Xie Shurong gave Bai Xuan a plate of fruit salad. "These fruits are quite fresh. You should eat some more." Cheng Wei was eating cake with relish next to them. He glanced at Ah Shu and Bai Xuan and asked, "Should I get a few cakes for you to try?"
Bai Xuan told him, "I"m not hungry. I will eat anything."
He didn"t have an appet.i.te. After finishing his lunch, he headed back to the dormitory with everyone.
Once they reached the stairs, Li Cangyu told them, "Have a good rest to raise your energy for the afternoon. At three in the afternoon, we will meet in the meeting room."
Everyone dispersed and went back to their rooms to have a nap.
Xie Shurong soon fell asleep. In his dream, he was holding a naked Bai Xuan in his arms. Bai Xuan was red-faced and completely didn"t resist. Xie Shurong was quite cheap and couldn"t help smiling slightly.
He didn"t wake up from the dream until his alarm clock rang at 2:30.
Xie Shurong sat up in a contented manner and turned his head. He found that Bai Xuan wasn"t in bed. His quilt was quite messy, as if he had just emerged from it.
The light in the bathroom was on and Xie Shurong walked over doubtfully. He opened and saw Bai Xuan crouching beside the toilet. His face was pale and bloodless as he vomited. This made Xie Shurong"s heart jump up!
“Are you okay?" Xie Shurong rushed to Bai Xuan"s side. One hand was placed around the waist while the other hand patted Bai Xuan"s back in a worried manner. "Did you eat something bad? Is your stomach uncomfortable?"
“Yes…" Bai Xuan nodded and forced out a reluctant smile. "It might be because the steak and fruits were digested after eating. My stomach is a bit uncomfortable…"
After seeing the pale face that was trying to be relaxed, Xie Shurong felt both distressed and angry, "Why didn"t you wake me up?"
"I didn"t call you after seeing that you were sleeping." Bai Xuan softly explained while holding Xie Shurong"s arm and standing up. "Don"t worry. My stomach disease won"t last more than a day or two. Perhaps it is because I have been eating cold things these days and they haven"t digested. After eating lunch, I wasn"t very comfortable…"
Xie Shurong lifted him up and whispered, "Is it still uncomfortable? I brought some stomach medicine. I"ll find something for you to take."
As he spoke, he gently stretched out his arms and carried Bai Xuan.
Bai Xuan was shocked and asked, "What are you doing? Put me down."
"Look at how uncomfortable you are. What do you expect me to do?" Xie Shurong gave him a reproachful look. "I am your boyfriend, not someone else. Do you see me as an outsider?"
“…" These words made Bai Xuan speechless.
Yes, boyfriend, he promised to be Xie Shurong"s boyfriend of his own accord!
Bai Xuan felt a bit awkward when he saw Xie Shurong"s serious expression. He also couldn"t help feeling a bit of warmth.
Yes, there was no need to hide in front of his boyfriend. Bai Xuan thought this and held his shoulder with a frown. "I have a bad stomach. You should take it lightly."
"Yes." Xie Shurong"s movements were very careful, as if he was holding a valuable treasure in his arms.
He gently placed Bai Xuan down on the bed, carefully covered him with a quilt and then quickly turned to find the medicine in his suitcase.
Bai Xuan felt somewhat surprised. He didn"t expect Xie Shurong to have brought more medicine than him…
“Why did you bring so much medicine?" Bai Xuan asked with a complicated expression.
Xie Shurong replied while pouring water. "Yes, I was afraid your stomach wouldn"t be comfortable and that you would get a fever. I brought all types of medicines to prevent problems before they happen."
He tasted the warm water. Once he determined it wasn"t too hot, he came over to give Bai Xuan the medicine.
Bai Xuan was a bit embarra.s.sed about being helped. It was obvious that this person was younger than him and had the "I will take care of you" gesture. His movements were very convenient and he was a strong boyfriend.
It was the first time he was taken care of like this and Bai Xuan accidentally discovered—it felt really good?
Ah Shu had the consciousness of being a boyfriend…
He just thought this when Ah Shu got into bed and hugged Bai Xuan gently in his arms. "If it is difficult then tell me. I will take you to hospital if things become worse. Don"t just endure it, understand?"
"Yes." Bai Xuan responded awkwardly.
Xie Shurong kissed his forehead and said, "I will learn to cook. Every day I will give you light and digestible things to eat. Your stomach disease should be slowly adjusted. This time you went abroad and couldn"t adapt to eating these things."
Bai Xuan was surprised. "You want to learn how to cook?"
Xie Shurong stared seriously at him. "Of course, it is natural to cook for my wife."
Bai Xuan"s face reddened and a fist slammed into Xie Shurong"s stomach, "Who is your wife? Don"t you have any shame?"
“I can"t have any shame. Otherwise, who could I catch you?" Xie Shurong grabbed Bai Xuan"s hand, pulled his clothes and directly placed Bai Xuan"s hand on his muscles. He said proudly, "Come touch my abs. It is an eight pack."
Bai Xuan was forced to touch the abs and his fingertips felt the young man"s strong and powerful muscles. He thought of how Xie Shurong said, "Your boyfriend is very good in all aspects" and evil pictures filled Bai Xuan"s mind. His face couldn"t help turning red and he had to retract his hand.
Xie Shurong saw his blush, let go of his hand and gently hugged him."Bai Xuan, your illness might not be serious but you must pay attention when eating or you will become sick. I will be distressed…"
As he said this, he touched Bai Xuan"s back in a straightforward and gentle manner.
He made such a fuss that Bai Xuan"s mood improved a lot. Warmth from his heart slowly flowed through his blood vessels and his cold stomach gradually warmed up.
Bai Xuan didn"t reach out to hold him, instead saying in an exhausted manner, "Don"t talk. I want to sleep for a while…"
Xie Shurong immediately said, "Sleep, I will watch from next to you."
The simple words made Bai Xuan feel particularly at ease. He smiled as he closed his eyes.
Xie Shurong"s body had the same warmth as the sun. He was young and his method of expressing his feelings was very straightforward. He was a bit cheeky but he was very sincere.
This person wasn"t as mature and stable as Bai Xuan"s ideal type but Ah Shu never dropped the chain at critical moments.
Maybe it was right to choose him as a boyfriend?
Bai Xuan thought this way and fell asleep in Xie Shurong"s arms.
In fact, it was almost 3 in the afternoon, which was the time Li Cangyu said to meet.
Bai Xuan felt uncomfortable since noon and now he was sleeping. Xie Shurong sent a text message to Li Cangyu: [Captain, please let me and Bai Xuan take the afternoon meeting off. His stomach is making him feel uncomfortable. I will take care of him."
Li Cangyu was concerned. [How is Xiao Bai"s situation, is it serious?"
Xie Shurong told him: [It shouldn"t be serious. He is just sleeping after taking medicine.]
Li Cangyu let go of his worries. [If he is uncomfortable, I will arrange for him to not play in the next match. Let him have a good rest. You stay in your room and take care of him. I"ll see you later.]
Xie Shurong quickly replied: [I understand, Captain.]
Xie Shurong looked at the man sleeping quietly in his arms and his heart softened. He couldn"t help kissing Bai Xuan"s forehead.
The gentle Vice-Captain Bai always took care of others. Let Ah Shu take care of you in the future, okay?
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