Chapter 153: Unt.i.tledTranslator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Ji Zhiyao also turned on his mic, “Thank you Ye-G.o.d.”
Xiaoye replied, “What Ye-G.o.d, you’re too courteous, you can just call me Xiaoye. Drop by the middle lane when you’re done jungling, turn the middle lane into a paired lane and we can push directly through there.”
“Okay.”
Mo Huaifeng was upset for some reason and interrupted, “What okay, you’re here to practice the jungler ADC team up.”
Xiaoye: “Hey Fi-G.o.d. If I hadn’t met you today, I really wouldn’t have forgotten that you owed me a ranked match.”
Mo Huaifeng: “How unlucky.”
Xiaoye did not even know how he had upset Mo Huaifeng.
He did not know, but Ji Zhiyao seemed to have guessed a little. He desperately shrank his presence, jungling jungling and more jungling, after clearing up his own side, he ran to the opposite, killing the opponent’s jungler while he was at it.
The match pushed past 30 minutes, two of the opponent’s defense turrets in the middle lane had been pushed down, the bottom lane was the same. Xiaoye sent a signal, saying at the same time, “Come to the middle lane, we’ll push directly.”
Mo Huaifeng seemed to be setting himself against Xiaoye, and said after he had spoken, “Come to the bottom lane, there are fewer people here, quick.”
Ji Zhiyao: “… You guys fight first, I’ll go take down the big dragon.”
Cannot afford to offend either of them, slip away slip away.
The outcome was that after Ji Zhiyao had just taken down the big dragon, Xiaoye and Mo Huaifeng pushed down both lanes at the same time, the crystal was destroyed by their joint effort.
Ji Zhiyao exhaled deeply, pulled off his ear-mic and dashed out as if his b.u.t.t was on fire. “I’m a little hungry, going to the kitchen to find something to eat.”
Mo Huaifeng watch Ji Zhiyao leave, “hmph-ed” coldly and continued to type: [I’m not in a bad mood.]
[Gtx.Ye: Bullsh*t! You’re behaving like you’ve eaten bullets, made me think that your period was here.]
[Mix.Fi: It seems like you’re asking for death.]
[Gtx.Ye: Dare not dare not.]
[Gtx.Ye: Thanks for today yeah. But I’m still one star away from ranking up, I’ll get you to play together again next time?]
[Mix.Fi: Sure.]
[Gtx.Ye: Get your battleteam’s little jungler along too. He played well, with the both of you around, I can be carried to a win.]
[Mix.Fi: No, he’s too lousy.]
[Gtx.Ye: Bro, stop trying to be funny, he was obviously rather good alright. If you are complaining that he is lousy, send him directly to our battleteam.]
[Mix.Fi: You want to raise my son for him?]
[Gtx.Ye: …]
[Gtx.Ye: You’ve changed. You’re no longer the open-hearted, compa.s.sionate, dedicated and reflective Fi-G.o.d!]
[Mix.Fi: … Going to have lunch. Call me along the next time you want to play a ranked match.]
[Gtx.Ye: Okay!]
…
Ji Zhiyao was dragged to play with Mo Huaifeng for the entire afternoon, only letting off after five to six consecutive hours.
Ji Zhiyao felt that even his own wrist hurt and went to the kitchen to grab a bottle of iced water, placing it on his wrist to ice it. After doing so for a few minutes, he brought the bottle of water out and pa.s.sed it to Mo Huaifeng.
Mo Huaifeng also iced his hand for a while and the both of them sat in their chairs, resting with their eyes closed. Just as Ji Zhiyao was feeling drowsy, he heard the sound of a door opening in the training room. Opening his eyes, he saw Yuan Wei walk in, saying, “Happy birthday, Noh.o.m.o.”
Ji Zhiyao smiled. “Thanks Brother Yuan Wei.”
“No need to thank me.” Yuan Wei waved his hand and continued, “The few of them got me to help order a cake, I just brought it back, let’s go taste it?”
Ji Zhiyao had a look of surprise as he turned to look towards his teammates and realized that they were all grinning. Nuo stretched himself, saying, “Kept it in for the entire afternoon, we can finally say it now. Captain said you don’t like cream cakes, so we bought an ice cream, it should taste quite good.”
Ji Zhiyao then looked towards Mo Huaifeng and found that there was a trace of a smile in his eyes.
“I am a professional battleteam manager hired by the club with a high salary, yet I’m living like your nanny.” Yuan Wei rolled his eyes and said, “It’s Nestle ice cream, how could it not taste good. It’s in the dining room right now, I think it will start melting within ten minutes, do you guys want to quickly go eat it?”
Everyone froze, then ran towards the dining room like a swarm of bees.
On the ice cream cake was the design of the earliest version of Heroes’ a.s.sa.s.sin in white, specially ordered by Yuan Wei. Before cutting the cake, Ji Zhiyao even took some photos with his phone, then cut the cake open with a knife that had been dipped in water.
While they were eating the cake, Yuan Wei ran to the side and clicked several team photos, then sent them to the staff running the official Weibo account.
A few minutes later, Mix battleteam’s official Weibo account published a new post.
[Mix Battleteam OfficialV: Run with your dreams, you are in your youth. [email protected], Happy Birthday. [image] ]
In the photo, everyone was smiling very happily.
…
A month later, the end of August.
Isolated training ended, Ji Zhiyao officially returned to school to attend cla.s.ses.
During the vacation, in the four training tournament matches that he played in Xiao’s place, Mix battleteam had no losses. As training tournaments of such nature could be revealed to fans and some of the professional players who had played against him gave some indirect comments in their livestream admitting his capability, the negative news gradually faded away, people began to antic.i.p.ate Ji Zhiyao’s performance.
Ji Zhiyao knew about all of these, but he did not appear to be as happy.
He knew that, all the praises and compliments right now were bubbles on the surface. If his performance turned out to be unsatisfactory at the national qualifiers, since the fans could lift him up high, they could also let him fall.
Ji Zhiyao was earnestly listening to cla.s.s when Yang Bing used a pen to poke his elbow, he turned and saw Yang Bing working hard at mouthing, “Old Ji, carry me!”
Ji Zhiyao shook his head decisively. He was lucky to have not retained in any of his modules the last term, he swore an oath before this term to pay good attention to every single cla.s.s. He was already spending little time in school, he had to give his full attention in lessons or he would suffer greatly when it came to exams.
Yang Bing couldn’t move him no matter what and could only give up, then went to the dorm group chat to get the other two to play with him.
[CEOBing: Old Ji has changed, he no longer loves us. He rejected me when I asked him to game with me.]
[CEOBing: So are the two of you coming? @Yang Bing’sDad @Lichao]
[Yang Bing’sDad: No, listening to cla.s.s.]
[CEOBing: What’s there to listen in English? Isn’t it just the same old stuff?]
[Yang Bing’sDad: That’s why you failed by four grades last term.]
[CEOBing: …]
Yang Bing was stumped by Wen Heng, feeling that what he said seemed to make sense and thus stopped gaming and opened his textbook to listen to cla.s.s.
The bell signaling the end of lesson rang, Ji Zhiyao began packing the items on his table. Yang Bing zipped up his bag and asked as something suddenly came to his mind, “Noh.o.m.o, are you able to get tickets to the national qualifiers? I heard it’s especially difficult to buy the tickets, but I want to go watch.”
“Not sure, I’ve never asked.” Ji Zhiyao finished packing his bag and said, “I’ll ask Captain later on then I’ll let you know.”
“Sure sure sure! Never thought there would come a day where I could pull strings, I’m virtually over the moon.”
When he arrived back at the dorm, Ji Zhiyao recalled Yang Bing’s words and sent Mo Huaifeng a text directly: [Captain, today my dorm mate wanted me to ask about tickets for the national qualifiers. Heard it’s not easy to get, do you have a way to buy them?]
Mo Huaifeng replied very quickly: [Can be bought, how many do you want?]
[MelonRind: One each for my three dorm mates, my sister might not be able to make, just reserve one for her. Others… yes, there’s also my little disciple, keep one for him, he will definitely like it.]
[DB.MHF: …]
[DB.MHF: Why did you think of him?]
[MelonRind: Just remembered. I’m such a incompetent master, actually forgot about my disciple for so long… but there’s still time now, isn’t there still a month to the start of the compet.i.tion?]
[DB.MHF: No need to keep a ticket for him, he won’t go.]
[MelonRind: ? ? ? Why?]
[DB.MHF: He’s still a student, he needs to attend school.]
[MelonRind: Stop kidding me. Our battleteam will play at most five matches, even if he skips cla.s.s he wouldn’t miss much. Once in three years, not letting your nephew come watch, will your conscience really not hurt?]
[DB.MHF: …]
[DB.MHF: I’ll go ask him and let him reply to you himself.]
[MelonRind: Sure, I don’t believe my little disciple won’t be moved.]
Ji Zhiyao scrolled his phone for a while then sat at his table, put on his earphones and turned on his livestream.
The moment he entered he was greeted by an overwhelming amount of comments, with an unprecedented pa.s.sion. Ji Zhiyao even thought that he had entered the wrong room and laughed out after being surprised. “Why is there 50 thousand+ today, I didn’t notify beforehand on Weibo that I was turning on my livestream.”
[Climbed over the wall here from Xiao’s side, could you urge your teammates a little, it’s the end of the month! Why are they still not making up the hours for their livestream! ! ! Without my soul food I have already become a salted fish.]
[Why are you not turning on the camera today? ! Disappointed boohoo.]
[MelonRind darling mommy misses you so muuuuuuch!]
[The national qualifiers are coming right up, are you nervous?]
“They’re already used to leaving their livestream hours till the end of the month, relaxing all the way in usual times then feel the burn at the end of the month.” Ji Zhiyao replied to questions selectively, “Not that nervous. We’ve already played training tournaments previously with most of the battleteam, I’m much more relieved, what’s more I’m playing together with Brother Xiao.”
At the mention of the national qualifiers, the comments came in even more merrily.
[Darling you don’t even know exactly how hard it is to buy tickets to the national qualifiers _(:_」∠)_ Now all the double priced tickets from the scalpers have been sold out.]
[Really want a ticket! If I miss this again it’ll be another three years, the thought of it makes me want to cry out loud.]
[Shall not tell the few before that I’ve already gotten a ticket! The row closest to the stage! Everything looks very pleasing to the eye after I got the ticket, even s.h.i.+tting has been much smoother.]
[Fake smile.jpg]
Ji Zhiyao did not know that the difficulty of getting tickets for the national qualifiers were to such an extent, he thought for a moment and said “hold on” into the ear-mic, then texted Mo Huaifeng once again.
[MelonRind: Captain, other than those few people I mentioned earlier, do you still have tickets left?]
[DB.MHF: I don’t, but the club has a few left. Why, you want to use them?]
[MelonRind: Planning on doing a lucky draw to reward my fans, the tickets are so hard to get that they feel like crying.]
[DB.MHF: How many more do you want?]
[MelonRind: Three, three would be enough. I’ll send the money for all, including those I asked for earlier to you, you’ll help me to hand it directly to the club?]
[DB.MHF: It’s alright if you don’t play too. Spend a night with me, there’s everything for you.]
[MelonRind: [rolls eyes] ]
Ji Zhiyao quit WeChat, went to the official website of the national qualifiers to check the price of the tickets then sent a sum of money to Mo Huaifeng’s account.
After everything was done, Ji Zhiyao turned on his ear-mic once again, saying, “I’m back.”
In a sea of questions of “What did my melon go do just now,” he said, “I will publish a Weibo post later, picking three people to give away tickets to the national qualifiers, but I can’t confirm where the seats will be. If you guys are interested, remember to go take a look.”
[! ! !]
[OMG my melon is simply a pro at spoiling fans, hugs and a big kiss!]
[Omg! Although I am every inch an African, I want to tell the heavens that I won’t admit defeat!]
[Chances are slim but still very happy!]
Ji Zhiyao couldn’t hold back his smile, “Great that you all are happy, thank you for paying attention to me all this time.”
After chatting for some time in the livestream room, Ji Zhiyao logged off and in accordance with what he had agreed on, posted about the lucky draw on Weibo.
After posting, Ji Zhiyao switched off his laptop. He thought for a moment and decidedly to contact his little disciple in advance, in case Mo Huaifeng did not approve of him going to watch the compet.i.tion in order to push his nephew to study.
Academics were no doubt important, but a proper balance between work and play was also very important.
[MelonRind: LittleDisciple, you there?]
[LittleDisciple: !]
[LittleDisciple: Master, missed you!]
[LittleDisciple: Are you doing fine at the base, has my uncle bullied you?]
Seeing how his LittleDisciple was inquiring after his well-being on the screen, Ji Zhiyao instantly felt a little guilty and typed: [Everyone has been very good to me. How about you, have you been well?]
[LittleDisciple: Good health, good appet.i.te. My results have improved quite a lot too.]
[MelonRind: Well done.]
[MelonRind: I wanted to ask you, do you want to go watch the national qualifiers that’s taking place a month from now?]
[LittleDisciple: There are lessons at the beginning of October, I’m planning to watch the broadcast from home. The work for this term is very tough, I don’t want to skip.]
[MelonRind: … Alright then. Study hard! There are still many chances in the future.]
[LittleDisciple: OK, master all the best, I will be cheering and rooting for you at home.]
Ji Zhiyao put down his phone, his jaw resting on his fingers, somehow feeling that something was amiss.
Little disciple had just started middle school this year, logically speaking there shouldn’t be school work that was too difficult, he was also intelligent. The curriculum was difficult so he cannot go the actual venue, why did this reason sound so off?
Could it be that Mo Huaifeng had already arranged the statement beforehand with little disciple while he was livestreaming?
Ji Zhiyao kept this doubt in his heart and prepared to find a time to secretly research it.
The next day he returned to the base after cla.s.s, he found a chance.
Ji Zhiyao and Heng just ended a match together, Mo Huaifeng lifted his b.u.t.t preparing to get up. Ji Zhiyao quickly reached out and held him down. “Captain, what are you going to do?”
Mo Huaifeng looked confused but still answered, “Going upstairs to get my phone. Left it upstairs earlier.”
“Just in time I’m going upstairs to get something, I’ll bring it down for you while I’m at it.”
He did not give Mo Huaifeng any time to reject and dashed upstairs, hiding his little thought.
Because everyone was in the training room, the second level of the base was very quiet. Ji Zhiyao moved lightly, looking left and right as if he had a guilty conscience. After ensuring that there was no one around, he then opened the door to Mo Huaifeng’s room.
Nuo’s bed was a mess, Mo Huaifeng’s was slightly messy but in comparison it was already extremely tidied.
A phone lay on the gray quilt.
Ji Zhiyao picked it up and used his own index finger to unlock it.
This fingerprint was saved several months ago when Mo Huaifeng told him to do it, he did not expect that it would be of use now.
Ji Zhiyao’s heartbeat sped up. He prepared himself mentally for quite some time, before opening Mo Huaifeng’s WeChat.