Chapter 59 Are You Bribing Me?

(1/3)

After returning from the restroom, Lin Ruo arrived outside the entrance of the EDG team's backstage lounge.

From a distance, he spotted Zhu Kai standing with his arms crossed, lurking right outside the door.

Was this guy trying to gank him?

Pig-Brain Zhu really was a bit petty.

Lin Ruo took a deep breath to calm his nerves, pulled off his team jacket to cover his face, and pretended to be a staff member walking past.

Yet, Zhu Kai recognized him at a single glance: "Lin Ruo, you're here."

"Lin Ruo is behind me."

Taking advantage of the moment Zhu Kai craned his neck to look, Lin Ruo dashed into the lounge and slammed the door shut.

"Damn it, why didn't anyone warn me someone was camping the door?"

"I'm one of our own, big brother! Don't lock the door!"

Zhu Kai's knocking echoed from outside. "I'm just here to thank you."

Hearing this, Lin Ruo was filled with confusion.

ClearLove, having packed his bags, explained with a grin: "Thanks to your Weibo post starting that wave, Zhu Kai's sincere apology showed their boss his determination, so the management decided to give him a few more chances."

"So he actually came to thank me? That's a relief. For a second, I thought he came to thank my entire family tree."

Lin Ruo let out a sigh of relief, turned around to open the door, and shook hands cordially with Zhu Kai.

"No need for thanks at all. After all, we're all neighbors on Lingshi Road, and I naturally hope the Snake Club will do better and better."

"What a coincidence, I came here for the club's future as well," Zhu Kai said with a solemn and resolute expression.

"I heard from Boss Bu that half of EDG's draft strategy is handled by you, Lin Ruo. You truly are a youth prodigy, unlike the guys on our team who have no idea how to help me with the drafting."

Having players help the coach with drafting—Pig-Brain Zhu, you really are operating on an abstract level.

Seeming to sense the real motive behind the visit, Lin Ruo asked with a trace of annoyance, "So what exactly do you mean by this?"

Zhu Kai whipped out his WeChat QR code: "Let's add each other on WeChat. From now on, the two of us can discuss drafting strategies together and get rich together. Our Snake Club has always wanted to learn from your esteemed club."

Although he had narrowly escaped disaster, Zhu Kai knew very well that if he kept going with his current coaching level, a tragic end awaited him sooner or later.

He was just far too desperate to improve right now.

Feigning enthusiasm, Lin Ruo grunted and pulled up his own QR code.

"Alright, alright, scanning yours is fine too."

Zhu Kai scanned it, and his face instantly darkened. "Why is this a payment collection code?"

"My apologies, wrong one."

After a bit of fumbling and dragging his feet, the friend request finally went through.

(1/3)

(2/3)

Zhu Kai stepped out of the room, looking back every three steps as sudden enlightenment dawned upon him.

...

Back at the club, at 10:00 PM, Lin Ruo started his stream right on schedule.

The stream's viewership was quite decent, and the trolls in the chat were as hilarious as ever.

In a pleasant mood, Lin Ruo casually queued up for a ranked match and entered pure slaughter mode.

Fifteen minutes later...

Glancing at the "GG" popped by the opponents in the chat box, Lin Ruo lost all interest and closed the game.

Leaning back in his chair, he rested his head on his hands for a moment and opened *Overwatch*, which he hadn't played in days. His rank had already dropped out of the top fifty on the Chinese server.

Lin Ruo immediately prepared to grind back up, when a gift notification suddenly chimed on his screen.

Lin Ruo casually read it aloud: "Thanks to 'Zhu Kai Impersonator' for sending two Excalibur swords."

[Seeing the streamer receive gifts is honestly harder to bear than killing me.]

[Why the hell are you fixating on Zhu Kai? The man is just a coach, what did he ever do to you?]

[I bought a fan badge, why didn't the streamer shout me out? Such differential treatment, I'm reporting you!]

"What's wrong with me receiving some gifts when I play well, you bunch of little haters?"

Lin Ruo rubbed his nose and said speechlessly, "Besides, who's targeting Zhu Kai? The gifter's ID literally says 'Zhu Kai Impersonator'."

"Chances are it might actually be Zhu Kai himself."

The chat naturally refused to believe it. You literally started a public campaign against him online, and you expect him to shamelessly send you gifts?

The guy's last name is Zhu, but he's not actually a pig.

Too lazy to argue, Lin Ruo dismissed it as a joke and continued grinding his ranked match.

...

Meanwhile, over at the Snake base across the building...

Crystal哥's roar during his tooth-brushing rounds instantly shattered the quiet atmosphere of the training room.

"What the hell, Zhu Kai, what are you doing? Why are you sending gifts to people?"

Zz1tai immediately craned his neck over, full of eager curiosity: "Let me see which female streamer it is."

A single look was all it took to shock him.

Zz1tai looked at their head coach with a skeptical expression: "Isn't this EDG's AD? What's the meaning of this, Zhu Kai? Planning to defect to the enemy camp, are you?"

Crystal哥 chimed in right after: "Holy crap, no wonder Zhu Kai drafted that dogshit Thresh for me in the bottom lane today, and even sneaked off to the EDG lounge after the match. Turns out you're an inside traitor, you planned this all along!"

"What nonsense are you talking about? I'm studying! Studying, understand? Saving the club from the brink of danger!" Zhu Kai retorted fiercely, caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

Zz1tai and Crystal哥 were left blinking in unison.

(2/3)

(3/3)

What does saving the club have to do with sending gifts?

The next moment, they watched as Zhu Kai whipped out his phone and started frantically tapping away on WeChat.

"A small token of appreciation, please don't take offense. We're playing against IG in a couple of days, just wanted to ask if player Lin Ruo has any brilliant insights."

"Wait, you're asking a seventeen-year-old AD player for drafting advice?" Crystal哥 felt his head buzzing and instinctively reached out to touch the head coach's forehead, trying to figure out if his brain had been fried.

Confirming there was no fever and diagnosing his condition as a desperate dog jumping over a wall, Crystal哥 spoke up: "Zhu Kai, listen to me. Instead of asking for drafting advice, you'd better send Ohq over for a two-day intensive boot camp with EDG's AD. There might still be some hope for him."

"Agreed."

Zz1tai nodded and added, "The gift money shouldn't go to waste. How about this, I'll chip in some cash and send Gangzi over to Meiko for a special training session too."

"Shut up, both of you. EDG's drafting is entirely handled by him, why shouldn't I ask?"

For the first time, Zhu Kai felt like the two chatterboxes were acting like complete lunatics. He shoved his phone into his pocket and stood up. "I'm going to get some rest, you guys focus on your practice."

Over in the EDG training room, seeing Zhu Kai's message pop up, Lin Ruo abandoned his plan to queue for another match.

"Turns out it really was little Zhu who sent those gifts."

Oh no, this bastard Zhu Kai is actually playing for real. He's really this eager to learn?

Confirming the source of the gifts, Lin Ruo instantly shut down his computer.

This wasn't the kind of matter that could be shown off in public; otherwise, internet trolls would start spreading rumors that he was taking bribes.

[A CS streamer, you scared the hell out of me.]

[Streaming for half an hour and then logging off, the streamer really is a talent.]

[Unfollowing. I'm about to get a heart attack from these scares.]

Amidst a flurry of complaints in the chat, Lin Ruo replied to the message with a nonchalant expression.

"Comrade Zhu Kai, mastering drafting isn't something you can achieve overnight. However, seeing as you're so sincere, alright then, I'll throw you a few pointers on how to deal with little IG."

Back in his room, Zhu Kai felt a surge of excitement wash over him the moment he saw the reply.

He wasn't just acting out of desperation; the kid on the other side genuinely had the chops.

Upon returning to the club, he had specifically spent time deeply analyzing EDG's first three matches' drafts and discovered they could always pull out refreshing strategies and hero picks, practically never suffering in the draft phase.

It was obvious the kid had real talent. How could that not spark a desire to learn?

After pondering for a moment, Zhu Kai replied: "What kind of pointers?"

Then, he received Lin Ruo's response: "I don't know what kind of pointers yet. I'll let you know in a couple of days when I think of something."

Zhu Kai: ……

(3/3)