Chapter Fifteen: What's Wrong with Staying Up Late to Earn Some Money?
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Smiling Xiao Hu greeted the newcomer Shi Senming warmly. But before he could respond to Uzi’s smile, what greeted him was a fully-formed scowl. Xiao Hu realized he was a step too slow. Uzi, upon seeing Xiao Hu, inexplicably brimmed with anger—no surprise, he looked too much like a pushover. Besides, why were you smiling? Didn’t you know I just lost a game because of a brain-dead teammate? No, you didn’t know? Well, it doesn’t matter if you don’t.
“I’ve reported to the club ages ago, why are you only getting back now?” Uzi immediately grumbled with a dark expression. “Xiao Ming and I have been at the club for days working on synergy. Xiang Guo and Letem came back yesterday. You’re the slowest—if the new season’s results are bad, it’s your fault.” Wait, so he’s already found someone to blame? Xiao Hu rubbed his head helplessly. Facing Uzi, the team tyrant since debut and a paragon of professionalism, the weak and helpless Xiao Hu dared not utter a word of complaint. He could only smile wryly, lowering his gaze and meekly say, “I played a few extra days; it’s my fault. I’ll be careful next time.”
Hearing this, Uzi finally calmed down and switched to a big-brother tone: “I’m not blaming you. I just want you to focus. The Spring Split is about to start. Other clubs are busy scrimming, but we’re still missing people.” “Look at EDG’s new AD next door—they’re serious even in ranked queues.” … “Aqiu.”
In EDG’s cafeteria, Lin Ruo, head down eating, suddenly sneezed and looked up, confused. “Who’s been talking behind my back?” Nearby, the little cutie was quick to respond: “Not me, I didn’t say a bad word about you.” “Pick between GSL and Zhu Zai,” A Guang joked.
Lin Ruo rubbed his nose, frustrated, and put down his chopsticks. The food in EDG’s cafeteria was so awful it reminded him of middle school—one more bite and it was unbearable. Even the trays were all the same size. No wonder Deft was the first to complain after returning to China. So-called military-style management seemed fully applied to the cafeteria’s operation. When he made good results someday, he definitely had to talk to Abu about this. But for now, forget it. After playing Overwatch all afternoon, Lin Ruo noticed Abu was giving him strange looks.
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It was as if Abu was silently warning him late at night: “You don’t want to be kicked out with your stuff tomorrow, do you?” What? The master’s task demands hard work at night. Thinking this, Lin Ruo grabbed his tray and dashed toward the training room, spilling soup along the way. Tian Ye shook his head seeing this: “Skipping meals to play Overwatch? No hope for you.”
…
At 10 p.m., the Zhuzai fan group, always monitoring EDG players’ statuses, compiled real-time ranked match counts and posted them on Weibo super-topic. First was the team darling Tian Ye, with an 8-3 record over 11 games in one day. The comment section was filled with affectionate remarks:
“Awesome, Baby Tian Ye, great job.”
“Our little Tian Ye is so strong; still in top form for the new season.”
“Cute Meiko player, keep it up.”
“Without Deft, Tian Ye is working even harder. Looking forward to facing KT in the World Championship next year.”
Next was Scout, with an even more impressive 10-2 record. Though only half a season with EDG, his decent looks had already won him many fans. XMM was overjoyed.
“Baby, good job.”
“Good luck! Hope the Spring Split goes smoothly this year.”
“Amazing! Lead EDG to the championship this season.”
Looking at A Guang’s ranked match stats, comments were noticeably fewer, with only sparse encouragement and “keep it up.” When it came to the little cutie, the comment count rose again. As a rookie, he had fewer fans, but he was terrible. He played 15 games total with a 9-6 record and very few MVPs. Most comments expressed disappointment:
“Not even as good as Ming Kai.”
“Don’t drag the team down this season. When Ming Kai returns in summer, you should leave.”
“Can’t even figure out ranked play; no potential at all.”
“Lost even to the coach in ranked? How bad are you? Losing to Zhao Zhiming is normal, though.”
After the complaints, they moved to Lin Ruo’s ranked stats, which were easy to summarize—he played only three games total: three in the league and twenty in Overwatch ranked. The data caused the comment section to explode:
“This kind of person still appearing in LPL, still on a top club like EDG? That’s defying the heavens.”
“How did he even get into the club? Does he have naked photos of management?”
“Watching him play Overwatch today was fun, but honestly, having such a player in the club is a disaster.”
“Please, management, send him away overnight. Don’t waste other teammates’ careers.”
“Unless he plays ranked all night, nothing can stop me from roasting him. How can such a player exist?”
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“Aqiu.”
The January chill bit sharply. Sitting in the training room climbing ranks, Lin Ruo shivered and quickly adjusted the temperature. No effort in the day, staying up all night. He hadn’t seen 4 a.m. in Los Angeles, but he witnessed the current EDG training room. A biting cold wind swept in just then. The little cutie, who had just gotten up to use the bathroom, felt unwell and exhaled, preparing to return to bed.
Suddenly, he saw the training room brightly lit.
“Could it be a thief sneaking in to steal computers? Don’t steal mine, there are files I haven’t deleted yet.”
Realizing something was wrong, the little cutie decisively grabbed a mop from the bathroom and quietly approached, ready to catch the culprit red-handed.
Outside the training room, seeing the equipment intact and teammates still playing ranked, he breathed a sigh of relief.
“Is it Tian Ye or Scout? They’re working too hard.”
He looked around, then froze, realizing a more terrifying fact. Clutching his head in disbelief, he exclaimed:
“How could it be him? He’s crazy.”
“Damn, this guy is disgusting—playing Overwatch in the day to distract me, then sneaking in to climb ranks all night alone.”
Clenching his fists tightly, his body trembled to the extreme.
It was one thing to be more talented, but to be more hardworking too? What was this? It made him want to disappear into the ground.
Not wanting to see his brother suffer, nor to imagine his brother’s future driving a Range Rover, he gritted his teeth, ran back to the dorm, put on a warm coat, and stormed angrily into the training room.
Lin Ruo, seeing him, was stunned. “Didn’t you already play ranked today?”
The little cutie snorted coldly: “You get to work hard, but I’m not allowed? Dream on. I’m the hardest-working person in EDG.”
Lin Ruo twitched his nose. He hadn’t planned to work hard either. He only heard at lunch that the club offered a 50,000 yuan bonus to the first player to reach King rank this season. Money’s money; staying up late was no big deal.