FOG [e-sports]

Chapter 29

Ji Yanhan noticed that there was something not quite right happening in the bathroom. Agitated, he stood up and headed towards it. Yu Sui endured the pain in his stomach and raised his hand to close the bathroom door and lock it.

He still has a lot of things to settle with Ji Yanhan.

Ji Yanhan anxiously pounded on the door, “What’s wrong? You vomited again? Open the door! Let me see! Is it serious?!”

Yu Sui put one hand on the sink counter, and slowly rubbed his stomach with the other, trying to keep himself from being too perturbed. He needed to sort out his thoughts as soon as possible.

Min Min’s family’s situation was probably reaching its most crucial moment. The gap in funding that Ji Yanhan wanted to make up was too big. The incident happened too quickly and he couldn’t afford to have Yu Sui waste time.

The situation right now was moving too fast. Yu Sui didn’t dare imagine what would happen if he were to be hospitalized now. He’d probably wake up to everything already settled, by then it would really be too late to do anything.

He relaxed after a moment. With a doorway between them, he said, “I…”

Yu Sui bent over slightly. Cold sweat was dripping down his face. It hurt so much.

It hurt so much things around him were starting to appear blurry.

“Put…put my name up for transfer, the other domestic teams might be able to offer a high price.” Things have already reached this point, arguing now was meaningless and Yu Sui didn’t have the time. He endured the nausea and pain and tried to calm down, “Bison’s owner… has always wanted me. He’s mentioned it several times in recent years. Go ask him for his price. How much is the European team offering you? Discuss the price with him. He should give you an opening price…”

Yu Sui took a momentary breather. “NSN may not be able to offer too high a price, but you can also ask them. Their boss really wants a championship and they’re only lacking a medic. They should be willing to spend money. Or you can try ICE… they’ve contacted me before and gave an opening price of 50 million. That’s pretty high. Go to their boss…”

Ji Yanhan’s voice outside the door was hoarse, “So many teams…they all went to look for you?”

More than just them.

Playing the sentiment card was useless and Yu Sui had absolutely no desire to bring up their past friendship. Not only was it useless, it only added to the pain.

Ji Yanhan didn’t speak for a long while. Yu Sui gritted his teeth and hammered against the bathroom door. “Have you gone deaf?! Didn’t you hear me?! Go find them. Put up my two years. Set whatever price you want. I’ll go anywhere!”

NSN was fine. ICE was fine. He’ll go to any team even to Bison with whom he’d just tied a huge knot of enmity with.

As long as you can stay within his own region.

After a while, Ji Yanhan’s depressed voice came from outside the door. “You think I didn’t ask? If I could sell you to a team within the country, how could I be willing to let you move out of the region…”

“There are a lot of teams that want you, but they only want you… but your two-year contract fee alone won’t be enough to make up the amount I need.” Ji Yanhan said shakily, “Only the European Sacred Sword team agreed to buy all the contracts. They’ll take all five…”

“A game…” Yu Sui said, holding back his emotions, “only needs four players but they’re going to take all five in one go? Are they stupid? And they can’t just only be buying FS. They’ll definitely be buying the other jobs’ top players. Why? Are… are even their water dispensers made of gold? They need that many people to keep watch over it?”

Ji Yanhan was silent for a moment, and then he hardened his heart and said, “Of course, the only one they really want is you, the others…It’s not that bad. They’ll also buy the others. They want to play the South Korean model. They’ll rotate players back and forth. There’ll be no fix starters that way they can best motivate the players to improve…and train harder for the starting position.”

Yu Sui nodded. Now, he got it.

Aside from himself, Chen Huo, Puppy, Old Qiao and even Shi Luo were done for. They wouldn’t even be assured of a position as a starter.

Yu Sui grabbed the edge of the sink, his fingers turned white.

“They’re the only one willing to buy so many players all at once. And they’re willing to cover everyone’s remaining contract periods…” Ji Yanhan was choked with emotion. “If any domestic team could pay this high price, why would I sell you to Europe? You think I don’t know how disgusting this is?! I was once a pro-player too!”

Yu Sui smiled bitterly.

You actually still remember.

Yu Sui spit out blood into the sink. He closed his eyes to calm himself, and tried to remember the other four’s contracts.

Shi Luo’s contract was the longest, but his was actually the easiest one to deal with. Ji Yanhan’s stipulated signing fee for him was too low. He could easily pay off his penalty fee himself. This wasn’t a problem. Before, he wasn’t willing to let Shi Luo’s contract be terminated, because one, he didn’t want Shi Luo to go to another team and two, he didn’t think things were so bad that they had reached the point where they had to shed all pretenses of cordiality. But seeing how things were now&#k2026;it was actually best to terminate it.

Chen Huo still had two and a half years left in his contract. His signing fee was also really high; it wasn’t much lower than his Yu Sui’s own. Moreover, there were a lot of restrictions and it was also tied up with a messy economic contract. His wasn’t easy to handle, but fortunately, Chen Huo had a considerable amount of money on him.

Puppy still has three years to go. His signing fee isn’t too high, but the contract period was too long. He also joined the latest and his contract stipulations may be harsher.

The most difficult to handle was Old Qiao’s. If Yu Sui remembered correctly, Old Qiao had just renewed his contract earlier this year. He still has at least four years left. What’s more, he started his career to pay back his family’s debts. He had used his first two years to clear out his family’s debts. He probably doesn’t have a lot of money left on him. Having him pay out his own penalty fee was simply out of the question.

Yu Sui looked up at the mirror. After taking a few deep breaths, Yu Sui had completely calmed down and his mind was clear.

“I’ll pay the penalty fee for Shi Luo and Old Qiao’s contract cancellation. There’s no need to fool me…” Yu Sui said coldly, “The Sacred Sword Club definitely has no interest in a striker with a hand injury and an unstable substitute medic. You forced them to take these two in… There’s no need for you to do that. How much is their penalty fees, I’ll pay for it.”

Behind the door, Ji Yanhan was dazed. “You’re going to redeem Old Qiao? You… Don’t you get along best with Chen Huo? If you… If you do this, you won’t even be able to redeem yourself.”

Yu Sui instinctively looked at the door of the bathroom. He opened his mouth to say something but gave up a moment later, saying no more.

Not redeem Old Qiao? Was he going to watch on helplessly as Old Qiao was sent to Europe to watch a water dispenser? Could he let Old Qiao live out the rest of his career as a substitute player before having a lonely retirement in an alien land?

For a professional player, was there anything more terrible than this?

There was no point in people who follow different ways to take counsel together.

Yu Sui also needed to save his strength to discuss other matters.

“I’ll also buy half a year off Chen Huo’s contract. Chen Huo will pay for that himself… After I pay off Shi Luo and Old Qiao’s contract, I should still have some left… I’ll use what I have left to buy one year off Puppy’s contract. Go and change their contracts. Change their contract terms to end with mine in two years.” Yu Sui endured the pain, “Ji Yanhan… If you still have a conscience, you will sell these to me.”

Ji Yanhan was silent.

Ji Yanhan knew it clearly. Yu Sui was planning for the future. He wanted Chen Huo and Puppy to come back with him two years later.

“I’m well aware of how much money I still have. Since I said I said I’m going to buy it, I can definitely afford it…” Yu Sui clutched his stomach and did his best to say coldly, “I have made all the concessions I can make. If you decide not to agree, then fine…they’ll just have to consider themselves unlucky. I won’t care about anyone else…I’ll just buy out my own contract. How about it? Though I don’t know if Sacred Sword will still take them without me in the deal.”

“No!” Ji Yanhan said hurriedly, “You can’t go… OK, I’ll do what you say.”

That’s good then.

Yu Sui was in so much pain that he couldn’t speak. He put his head against the mirror and after much effort, managed to take out his phone.

Yu Sui couldn’t see things clearly anymore. He rummaged through the address book and said weakly, “One other thing, you…must promise me one thing…”

Outside the door, Ji Yanhan said hoarsely, “What is it?”

Yu Sui’s lips moved and he spoke quietly.

Yu Sui’s voice had been very quiet, but Ji Yanhan, outside the door, still managed to hear it.

Ji Yanhan looked at the bathroom door in surprise, and after a while, he nodded. “I will never say a word of it.”

Yu Sui breathed out a sigh of relief. He picked up his phone once again. Outside the door, Ji Yanhan hardened his heart and said, “I’ve already done this wicked thing…I might as well thoroughly blacken myself.”

Ji Yanhan’s voice trembled, “I’ll hide this for you, and in exchange…you must also hide something for me.”

Yu Yong struggled to open his eyes, his voice hoarse, he said, “Say it.”

“I promised Min Min already. When we get married, we’ll have a big wedding. I’ll invite all the famous players in the circle to come. It will be broadcast live on the internet. It will be better than the parties given for retiring players…” Ji Yanhan’s face was turning red and purple from holding back. The more he said the less lung power he had left. In the end he was practically begging, “I don’t want her to be insulted along with me; to the point that she might not even be able to leave her house. Yu Sui, she has been with me for six years… ”

Yu Sui finally found Shi Luo’s name in the address book.

“Six years.” Yu Sui looked at Shi Luo’s name and murmured quietly, “You’ve known me for just three months…”

Outside the door, Ji Yanhan was choked with sobs, “I’ve treated her so shabbily all these years. I was never able to make good on any of the promises I made her. Now if the matter about selling your contracts gets out, let alone everyone in the circle coming to celebrate, I’m afraid even the wedding might be called off. Yu Sui… I’m being so unfair to you. I can only be unfair to you. About the transfer…”

“It’s all my idea.”

Outside the bathroom, Ji Yanhan’s eyes grew wide in disbelief.

In the bathroom, Yu Sui’s voice came.

“It’s me who wants to go to Europe.”

“It’s me who doesn’t want Old Qiao dragging me down anymore.”

“It’s me who doesn’t want Shi Luo, this substitute, blocking and hindering my way…”

“It’s me who wants to go to Germany. It’s me who wants to go to the best team possible.”

Behind the door, Yu Sui said softly, “Captain, congratulations on your wedding.”

From now on, I don’t owe you anything.

Yu Sui finally dialed Shi Luo’s number.

Afterwards, Yu Sui didn’t have much of an impression of what happened.

It seemed that within a few seconds after he had just hung up, Shi Luo broke open the door. Yu Sui had wanted to unlock the bathroom door, but he didn’t have enough strength to even raise his hand.

He seemed to have dimly heard Shi Luo asking him to move further away. Yu Sui tried his best to lean on the inner side of the bathroom. The next second, Shi Luo had kicked open the door to the bathroom. Yu Sui sighed. Simply wow.

There was blood on the sink, blood on the ground, and blood on both his own hands.

He didn’t know if he thought he was so depressed that he’d cut his wrists.

Shi Luo looked at the horrible picture in the bathroom, and was obviously shocked.

Yu Sui’s first thought was that Shi Luo might bolt from fright. Yu Sui wanted to tell him it was nothing but before he could say anything, Shi Luo had turned around and planted a kick to Ji Yanhan’s stomach so strong it almost caused internal bleeding.

Ji Yanhan, who had been crying outside the bathroom, was now curled up on the ground because of Shi Luo’s kick. Shi Luo didn’t dare to delay any longer. After speedily beating up Ji Yanhan until he coughed up blood, he charged into the bathroom and supported Yu Sui. Voice trembling, he said, “It’s fine. It’s nothing…I will take you to the hospital and you’ll be fine right away. You’re so young, you won’t die from coughing up a bit of blood. It will be fine…”

Shi Luo quickly helped Yu Sui downstairs. The crowd who’d been waiting to celebrate Yu Sui’s birthday were shocked but immediately rushed over.

Yu Sui had absolutely no impression of what happened after that.

When Yu Sui woke up again, he was already in the hospital room.

In the room, Chen Huo, Puppy and Old Qiao were all sleeping squeezed in together on the caretaker’s bed. Shi Luo fell asleep beside his bed. Even in sleep, he held Yu Sui’s hand that was attached to the IV drip.

In the faint rays of dawn, Yu Sui tried to move as lightly as possible. He took hold of his phone that he been set on top of the drawer.

Yu Sui looked at his phone. There were already 24 messages.

Yu Sui unlocked the phone, skipping a bunch of greetings until he found Ji Yanhan’s messages.

[Ji Yanhan]: The contract is already revised according to what you said, don’t forget what you promised me.

[Ji Yanhan]: Yu Sui, Ge has been inhuman. You should hate me.

Yu Sui was relieved. He put the phone aside and looked around at the few people in the small room. He exhaled gently.

Every year, on his birthday, the FS Operations Department will create a birthday celebration video for Yu Sui. Most of the time, Yu Sui doesn’t even watch it. Basically, it was a video summarizing his outstanding achievements over the years. It was meaningless.

Moreover, FS’s operations media always boasted too much about his achievements. Yu Sui felt numb watching it.

What ‘debuted at fifteen to carve a new way for medics’? What ‘took on a leadership role at a time of crisis at sixteen to follow their captain’s footsteps to smash through the league’s record’? What ‘completely resisted the club’s banner at seventeen…’?

It’s all fake.

After laboring for so many years, the only thing Yu Sui recognized was his owns strength. Other things that were a mix or half-lies and half-truth, Yu Sui simply regarded as all fake.

How could he have done so many things by himself? What did Ji Yanhan do? What did the club’s numerous staff members do?

Thinking back on these years since his debut, Yu Sui suddenly felt that he really was unworthy of any praise.

Setting aside matters at Team Knife Blade before, when they had just set up Team FS, Old Qiao was obviously more qualified that he was to be the captain. But because he had many fans, because he was young, because the new FS team needed gimmicks, needed fans and needed something to draw their attention, he forcibly fashioned himself as a fighter and he forcibly gave himself the position of captain.

Did Old Qiao say anything? No, he congratulated him wholeheartedly, and then continued to do what a captain should be doing, taking on responsibilities, he as captain should be taking.

It was baffling how he’d managed to earn this reputation for himself when it seems that he hasn’t done anything much for the team in recent years. Many of the things he never even thought of doing were quietly done by Ji Yanhan and Old Qiao, and later on, by Chen Huo and Puppy too.

In the game, given his auxiliary position, he should have been a milk tank, to help the dying and heal the injured.

But because of his twisted method, as an assassin-type medic, the assistance he could give to his teammates was very limited. Sometimes it was his teammates who were assisting him instead.

On the hospital bed, Yu Sui used his own arm as a pillow. He thought back to his professional career these past few years. In the game, on the game field, he only wanted to win. It seems he was never able to protect his teammates properly.

Five years ago, the FOG game was officially opened for public testing. Yu Sui downloaded the client at home and looked back and forth at the job selection. While hesitating between a striker and a sniper, Yu Sui’s cursor accidentally clicked on medic.

In the game interface, the job introduction was displayed below a character with a photon shield in his left hand and a long dagger in his right.

Yu Sui had long forgotten what had been written in that trivial description. After so many years, only the last sentence of the introduction still remained fresh in his mind.

[So long as the medic lives, his comrades will never be wounded.]

At the time, Yu Sui, this youngster, was hooked by this sentence. He, who had committed himself wholeheartedly to selecting a killing post, unexpectedly took a step into this deceptive job. He was out of place and became the league’s first assassin-type medic. After so many years of fighting, he hasn’t been able to properly protect his strikers and his sniper.

But when all was said and done, he was a medic.

The strongest medic in the league; he used all his assets and his reputation and turned them into five three-sided six-edged photon shields. He set them firmly in front of his five former and present teammates. For the first time, he thoroughly fulfilled his role as a medic.

So long as the medic lives, his comrades will never be wounded.

Whether they live or die, he took on this burden.