FOG [e-sports]

Chapter 5

In the end, Shi Luo didn’t go out to dinner with the team. He went back to the base alone and ordered takeaway. Then after a shower, he went to the training room.

Those who’d gone out for dinner hadn’t come back yet and so the training room was empty. Shi Luo sat by himself in front of his computer.

Shi Luo usually didn’t involve himself with the team’s group activities. He had no friends in IAC. It wasn’t the team who was isolating him but Shi Luo himself who preferred to keep a strictly professional relationship with the team.

Compared with the other people in the team, who took pains to socialize, Shi Luo preferred to train by himself. Occasionally, when he felt troubled and wished to talk to others, it wouldn’t be with the other members of the team.

Like now.

Shi Luo sat in front of the computer and opened Wawa’s live broadcast.

In the live broadcast room, Wawa had his webcam open and he was tearfully complaining about Shi Luo.

“Thirteen Kills !!!”

“In the first match of the preseason inaugural game, I was killed thirteen times!!!”

“Do you know what that means? It means I did only one thing throughout the entire game! Just one thing!!! I ran from the resurrection stone to the front line!!! And when I reached the front line, Evil shot me dead!!! Then I’d just repeat the entire process all over again!”

“I was like a poorly written training script!!! I’d revive and hand over my head! Revive, hand over head; revive, hand over head!!!”

“Really, I have already mentally collapsed. Oww, my stomach hurts…”

Shi Luo took his mouse and made a few clicks.

In the broadcast, Wawa covered his face and cried. When he heard the distinctive notification sound, he looked up and sniffed. “Someone gave a reward? Thank you to Papa Shi for the three meteor showers. Woah! Three!!! Thank you to Papa Shi for the reward…Hey, no! ”

Wawa cried angrily, “Shi Luo!!!”

Shi Luo laughed.

Wawa was fuming and said between gritted teeth, “Some people already think I took money from your club to throw the match today!!! And now you’re even giving me a reward!!!”

Shi Luo smiled. He then rewarded Wawa with five more meteor showers worth three thousand yuan each.

“Fine, fine. Seriously, stop sending rewards. Just invite me out to eat somewhere good some time.” Wawa was an honest young man. He didn’t want Shi Luo to waste any more money on the live broadcast platform’s processing fees and had him stop sending rewards. “If you don’t have anything on right now, should we pair up for a match? I’ll hold your thigh and leech off some points. That can be your apology to me. ”

Shi Luo didn’t respond, but he gave every single one of his complementary popularity gifts given by the platform to Wawa. He the closed the live platform and opened the game client.

Shi Luo teamed up with Wawa, and the two waited for a match on the national server.

Wawa sent a voice chat request and Shi Luo accepted.

Wawa was still sobbing. “You guys were absolutely vicious today! Too vicious! You guys ripped me apart and I had absolutely no way to fight back …”

The two entered the map, and Shi Luo said, “That was the point.”

Wawa cried, “What did I ever do to provoke you? ”

Shi Luo said. “It had nothing to do with you.”

It had barely been a year since Wawa entered the business. He really had no idea about the old scores, Shi Luo and Yu Sui needed to settle. He said ignorantly, “If not with me then with who? Even an idiot could see that you were targeting me today.”

Shi Luo bought the basic equipment. “Didn’t I already apologize?”

“Okay.” Wawa sighed. “I’m not blaming you. If it were me, I would have also gone for the medic. I absolutely sucked in the early part of the match. I just can’t do it the way Yu Shen does it. My skills just can’t keep up. His skills just blows me away.”

Shi Luo paused.

Shi Luo stopped talking and he took Wawa to clear the fog.

Wawa was still feeling regretful. “Sigh, it was the same type of play but the way Yu Shen plays is so natural and spontaneous. When he demonstrated it to me, I could just swoon. Really, he’s a medic but he can suppress the opponent’s strikers. He got my blood boiling! I was so fearless and raring to go try it out against your team and then you guys just ripped me to shreds. ”

Shi Luo killed one of their opponents but he still did not speak.

“Yu Shen is really amazing. Sigh, I give up. I’m not gonna play as an assassin-type medic, I can’t do it. I’ll stick with being an honest milk tank.”

Shi Luo seemed to be absent-minded. “You’re already pretty good. There’s no need for you to copy someone else’s style.”

Wawa sighed, “Our captain told me to learn, how can I not listen? Our captain said that while I still haven’t finalized my style, I should try out other styles. And that’s what I’m doing. ”

“I was actually afraid of Yu Shen but I totally didn’t expect that he’d be so nice. I kept asking so many things but he never grew impatient. It’s probably just to give our captain face, though.” Wawa said helplessly, “Yu Shen’s a good teacher, but I’m a lousy student. I’m doing my best but if you can’t learn, you can’t learn. ”

Shi Luo said, “Just let it be then.”

“The Captain also thinks I should just forget about it, but our manager hasn’t given up. He insists that I continue practicing. Whatever, it’ll be to my benefit anyway. If they want me to practice, then I’ll practice,” Wawa said somewhat miserably. “Say…Shi Ge, can I practice with you? Let me play in the front row and you take care of me. ”

Shi Luo had been lost in thought when he was listening to Wawa. Once he had recovered his senses, he said, “Alright.”

They had absolutely thrashed Wawa on the field that morning, so Shi Luo felt a bit guilty. So when Wawa said that he wanted to use him to practice, he didn’t think twice and immediately agreed. However, not even ten minutes later, he was already regretting his decision.

The reason wasn’t him but because Wawa’s play as an assassin-type medic just f-ing sucked!

Except for when he played his side account for live broadcasts, Shi Luo hasn’t come across such a sh*t medic in a very long time!

From the very first day, Shi Luo started playing this game he has never cursed at medic. But today might just be the day he breaks that vow!

“You f- …” Shi Luo gritted his teeth and swallowed back the words into his stomach, “Far! You’re too far ahead … Can’t you judge first how many people the other team has?”

“You sh- …should slow down, okay?

“You w- … West! Go to the west side? Did you hear me? Go !!!! Didn’t you hear me? !!!

The two of them teamed up to play matches for two hours and Shi Luo’s main account’s rank on the national server bungee jumped from the top and dove to no. 17.

After playing a match, Shi Luo took a look at the list of the Top 100 on the national server. When he saw that he’d dropped to 19, he was rendered completely speechless.

Shi Luo didn’t want to curse him out in public so he lit a cigarette.

Wawa tread very carefully. “Shi Ge? Should we…still continue to play?”

Shi Luo blew out some smoke. After a long beat of silence, he said, “Do you know how many high-score matches I have to play every week to keep my no. 1 position on the national server?”

“I had kept my no. 1 ranking for four months now. If I hadn’t lost my position today, I would have broken the record in just half a month more…”

Shi Luo began to doubt if Wawa was as honest a person as he thought. “Are you playing me?”

Wawa wanted to cry. “I’d love it if I were just playing you. But I’m just really sh*t at this. You go smoke. I think you probably need to cool off.”

Shi Luo held his cigarette in his mouth. He shook his head, “No, no, no. Look for Captain Gu and ask him to practice with you. I’m not going with you anymore.”

Wawa was so worried, his stomach began to hurt. “He quit practicing with me a long time ago. My assassin-type medic actually managed to repulse a striker.”

Shi Luo said, “I consider you as one of my few friends so I sincerely advise that you give up.”

“I think so too. Obviously, assassin-type medics can only be discovered and not sought. I don’t want to keep doing this … hey!” Wawa suddenly remembered something, “Shi Ge, weren’t you an assassin-type medic before you changed to a striker?”

Shi Luo took a drag off his cigarette and murmured vaguely.

“What a rare talent! Why did you change jobs? What a waste!!!” Wawa thought for a moment, and then said, “But then, you’ve also reached the top as a striker so that can’t be considered a waste. But there’s so few good medics and assassin-type medics are even rarer. It’s a pity. ”

Shi Luo withdrew from the map. “There’s nothing regrettable about it.”

Wawa still felt sore. “It’s nice when you know you’ve got strong backing … But why did you change occupations? Aaaaaaaahhhhhh, it really is too bad.”

Shi Luo ignored Wawa. After smoking a cigarette, he was ready to shut down his computer. Wawa, though, was still asking his question and raising a ruckus. Shi Luo couldn’t help laughing. “Even I myself don’t think it’s a waste. So why are you feeling distress in my place?”

“It just feels like such a waste …” Wawa beat his breast and stamped his feet, feeling vexed. “If you hadn’t changed occupations, you wouldn’t have transferred clubs. You’d still be NSN’s medic. It would’ve great to be your sub! I would have happily served as Shi Ge’s footman, ah … ”

Shi Luo scoffed.

Wawa’s curiosity was piqued. “So tell me, why did you change jobs?”

Shi Luo lit another cigarette.

“Because …”

Shi Luo was annoyed. “There was an official statement back then. Check it out for yourself.”

Wawa said anxiously, “Come on, just tell me. I entered the scene late so I have no idea about these stuff that happened a long time ago.”

Shi Luo said, “The official statement goes like…”

Shi Luo thought back on it and slowly said, “Evil’s desired path of development in the game no longer coincides with that of a medic’s. To force him to continue on as such would simply cause suffering, and so …”

Wawa probed out, “Wait a minute, allow me to translate it to plain English. … Evil has gotten sick of playing medic, so he has decided to quit being a medic, right?”

Shi Luo said, “You can actually translate that even more plainly.”

Wawa reinterpreted, “I’m not playing a f*cking medic. Laozi won’t be adding blood anymore.”

Luo Shi nodded his approval.

“Awesome. Real awesome.” Wawa gasped in admiration, giving a slow, dazed applause. “Actually, every once in a while, I get the same idea. But I don’t dare to actually go through with it.”

Shi Luo smiled and continued: “… After thorough discussion between Evil and the management of the NSN Club’s FOG branch, it was agreed upon by both parties that Evil Xuanshou will transfer to striker from today.”

“Because NSN’s roster for strikers is currently full, the Club will make further arrangements in accordance with Evil’s personal wishes.”

Shi Luo smoked his cigarette. “End of statement.”

While chatting with Shi Luo, Wawa had opened the official website of the FOG China Division League. He entered Shi Luo’s player ID to search for the official statement from two years ago, and finally found it.

Although Shi Luo was still a rookie at that time, he was already a half-celebrity. At that time, the League Management treated the announcement of Shi Luo’s change in jobs very seriously. A poster had even been drawn up for it.

In the poster, two game characters stood behind Shi Luo. Standing in the shadow and holding a three-faced six-cornered photon shield was Shi Luo’s previous medic game character. Standing under the spotlight, carrying a sub-machine gun was Shi Luo’s newly built striker.

Wawa said hesitantly, “Although I can understand being sick of playing a medic, but at the time you didn’t know if you’d be able to become a top player after changing to a striker. Changing so hastily … That was too s- … …uh.”

Shi Luo said it for him. “Too stupid.”

Shi Luo took another puff of his cigarette. “Back then, I was an idiot, all right. But that’s not actually the reason why I changed jobs.”

In an instant, Wawa became even more curious. “They why?!”

Shi Luo stubbed out his cigarette. “I’m not going to tell you. I’m off.” Shi Luo then shut down the computer and went to sleep.

Once Shi Luo said he was off, he left immediately. The fans who were listening in on the two people chatting in Wawa’s live broadcast room suddenly exploded. Wawa was afraid he might have said something wrong accidentally while he was swept by Shi Luo’s rhythm. He turned off the live broadcast in a flurry.

In NSN team’s training room, Captain Gu Gan got up to pour himself a glass water. Wawa took off his headphones and asked offhandedly, “Captain, when Shi Shen was in our team, why did he suddenly change to a striker?”

Gu Gan paused in his steps and looked at the person who had been playing with his phone by the window. “Because that guy caused trouble for him.”

Wawa was stunned. “Yu Shen?”

Wawa thought about it and said, “No, that’s not possible. At that time, didn’t Yu Shen already transfer to the European region? How could he …”

“I was precisely because they were no longer on the same team.” Gu Gan said calmly. “At the time, we had a scheduled practice match with a European team. It just so happened that we played against Yu Sui’s new team. Shi Luo was our team’s medic. We played three matches and lost three matches. Shi Luo was targeted throughout all three of the matches. By the last game … Shi Luo hadn’t been able to step foot outside the resurrection stone except during the beginning of the game. ”

Wawa was stricken. “Isn’t that way worse than what happened to me today?”

“What happened to you today was nothing.” Gu Gan said, “The European team stepped all over our resurrection stone. They’d kill as soon as a player resurrected. Resurrect and kill, resurrect and kill. And the one who had their medic kill our players was him, Yu Sui.”

“At the time, by the last match we had already retreated from the map. We had absolutely no means to fight back so it didn’t make sense to waste time. Only Shi Luo hadn’t retreated. He alone remained on the map. He’d stand up and die, stand up and die…

In FOG, the player’s character will incur some scars and blood stains after being injured. Even if the character was resurrected during the same match, the scars and blood on the character will not disappear. If a player was continuously killed and resurrected …

Wawa imagined that scene and asked, “How many times did…he die?”

“Thirty-four times.’ Gu Gan looked at Yu Sui who was still playing with his mobile phone, “Right?”

Wawa was incredulous. “Thirty-four times? !!!”

Yu Sui was still looking at his phone, and he hummed his assent.

In that game that year, Shi Luo’s in game character was horrifically wounded. Half of its face was soaked in blood, scarred beyond recognition.

Wawa struggled to say, “…At the time, he’d just had his contract sold by you. Yu Shen, if this were a shonen manga, you’d be a villain.”

Yu Sui had been a bit lost in thought, and then he smiled to himself and said, “Even when not in a shonen manga, I had already long been the villain.”

“Ah, that’s right.” Gu Gan said, “If I remember correctly, there was only two times when the haters in the domestic e-sports circle united together against a common enemy. The first time was when Yu Sui led away his team to Europe, and the second time was because Shi Luo had been sold twice within three months. ”

“All the haters in the e-sports forums worked together to come out with sensational videos and they Photoshop-ed funeral pictures and posted it everywhere… Everything just shy of hiring hitmen and having them waste Yu Sui’s hands.”

Gu Gan quietly summed it up. “The first person to unify the e-sports haters — Whisper, Yu Sui.”

Yu Sui smiled. “That should be my calling card.”

Wawa gave Yu Sui an awkward look. He didn’t dare joke around with Yu Sui, so he simply continued playing.