Wei Xiao’s brain was buzzing, and his good mood from that morning was gone.

He walked woodenly back into the house, his slender fingers clenching his cell phone tightly.

The captain was looking for a substitute.

A substitute for the top lane.

Who was it for?

Wei Xiao had always been more sensitive to these things. His seemingly casual appearance hid a heart sharper than anyone else’s.

Many details from before came together, crowding into his confused mind and filling it up––

The pause in the captain’s voice when he inquired about the results of the check-up and today’s inexplicable offer to solo….

Bits and pieces of discordant information gathered together, piling up into an answer that Wei Xiao didn’t want to face.

He closed his eyes briefly, then dialed Lu Feng’s cell phone.

Lu Feng’s voice was slightly surprised when he connected the call, “What’s up?”

They kept in touch for a long time every day, but they usually used WeChat voice messages or video calls and rarely made phone calls.

Making long-distance international calls was very troublesome. There was no need to call if it wasn’t urgent.

When Wei Xiao heard his voice, he couldn’t help feeling a burst of sourness at the tip of his nose. “… Substitute. Who is it for.”

He didn’t try to ease his tone at all, nor did he leave Lu Feng any room to maneuver. He asked the question very frankly.

Lu Feng was stunned.

Wei Xiao suppressed the tiny quiver in his voice, asking Lu Feng in a tone that was so calm that it was cold, “Who is the new substitute that you’re looking for going to replace.”

Was it for Tang Chen?

Was that necessary?

It was just one regular season. Was there any need to be in such a hurry to find a substitute for that?

Although Tang Chen’s state had its ups and downs, no matter how much it wavered, he would still be much better than a newcomer who’d joined without any running in.

It couldn’t be for Tang Chen…

Which left only one answer. This substitute was for Lu Feng.

Lu Feng.

Close.

The strongest singles player.

Needed a substitute…

The rims of Wei Xiao’s eyes were red, but he didn’t shed tears. He didn’t even sob or choke.

Clearly, as long as he suffered even a tiny bit of grievance, he could go and cry to the captain…

But this time, he didn’t.

He’d crushed all his surging emotions back down.

After a long time, Lu Feng spoke in a low voice, “Little Xiao.”

Wei Xiao didn’t speak. He listened to him speak in silence.

It was difficult for Lu Feng to open his mouth.

It was half past ten in China, and half past ten in North America.

But it was a pity that the sun was rising in one location, heralding a bright and beautiful day, while in the other location, night was falling, a dark and silent night.

Just like him and Wei Xiao.

It had been a month since he’d arrived.

The weekly check up reports were on the desk in his suite.

One report, two, three…

They were even more shocking to look at when they were stacked together.

There had been no improvement. There hadn’t been any obvious improvement after a whole month of physiotherapy.

Dr Chen had been right. This place was indeed very good for treating this kind of external trauma. Even if Lu Feng had come here a year earlier, he would’ve been able to recover until he was just as good as before.

But he’d let the injury drag on for a full three years.

From when he was 18 to 21.

He’d picked up the broken FTW and lifted it up with his injured shoulder.

Everyone only saw the hero who’d won three consecutive championships, only saw the young head of the club. Who knew what kind of price he’d paid behind the scenes?

The price he’d paid… the effort… the persistence…

Even before he could return, the regret had already arrived first.

At the end of the day, Lu Feng was only 21 years old.

For an ordinary person, this was still the age of carefree study. For an e-sports player, it was still at the age of reckless pursuit of their dreams. However, for Lu Feng, he had already overdrawn the balance of his health and could see the incoming night.

Lu Feng got up and walked towards the bedside. The electric curtains slowly pulled open, revealing the dazzling lights outside.

He watched these sparks flicker in the dark and said slowly, “The substitute is for me.”

Wei Xiao’s heart already held the answer, but he still felt a bust of buzzing in his ears when he actually heard the words.

He stopped on the steps and sat down powerlessly. His long legs couldn’t fit themselves on the steps below him, and his short hair covered his eyes, “Send me the check-up reports.” His voice was as cold as winter snow.

Lu Feng: “……”

Wei Xiao’s thin lips pursed. “Send it to me!”

Lu Feng’s voice was hoarse, “Okay.”

He hung up the phone and took photos of all four reports, sending them to Wei Xiao.

Wei Xiao listened as the phone beeped with received messages. The hand that held his cell phone was clenched so hard that the white of the bones could be seen.

In the past month, the sound of receiving WeChat messages was the sound Wei Xiao wanted to hear the most.

In the past, as a person who never liked to hold onto his cell phone, he now wished he could stare at his WeChat every day––

During breaks in training matches, he would secretly send him WeChat messages.

Call him right after a game.

Before sleeping… When he woke up…

As long as he had time and it didn’t disturb Lu Feng’s physiotherapy, he would wish to remain in contact with him all the time.

When the phone rang, it was like a sound from heaven to him.

But now, when he heard this familiar sound, he didn’t have the courage to look at it.

What if the captain’s shoulder couldn’t be cured?

What if Close had no way to continue playing?

His faith.

His hero.

His lover…

Wei Xiao took a light breath and opened up the Wechat messages with trembling fingers.

The pictures popped out one after another. He opened his eyes wide and tried to look at them.

It was all in English, and he was a little taken by surprise when it entered his gaze.

Wei Xiao concentrated, making use of his excellent reading ability to understand them clearly.

The first week, the second week, the third week, the fourth week…

For a whole month, the advice given by the attending doctor was––there would be no problem for normal life and exercise levels, but there was no guarantee when it came to the fine operations required of professional players.

Four reports. Wei Xiao spent half an hour reading them.

He just sat there on the marble steps in front of the base gate for half an hour.

The cold spring wind swept over, and the heat from the earlier run dispersed completely. The cold air drilled into the back of his neck, chilling him all the way to his heart.

Lu Feng sent him a message, “The course of treatment is still ongoing. The specific results won’t be clear until the course of treatment is complete.”

Wei Xiao looked at these words that were obviously meant to comfort him, and his heart felt terribly pained.

The most miserable person must be Lu Feng, yet Lu Feng was still comforting him.

Wei Xiao clicked on the video call button and almost pressed down, but at the last second, he changed it to a voice call.

He couldn’t see him.

His emotions would fall apart.

Lu Feng’s voice was very calm, “Don’t worry…”

He hadn’t yet finished speaking when Wei Xiao first interjected, “Why did you hide it from me.”

All of Lu Feng’s words were gone, dispersing completely with his breath.

Wei Xiao lowered his gaze and stared pointlessly at the dark lines on the marble steps, “It’s my fault.”

Lu Feng’s heart clenched, “Little Xiao.”

Wei Xiao spoke from his heart, “It’s that I’m too weak and can’t bear anything, so I can’t get your trust.”

Lu Feng: “……”

Wei Xiao’s eyelashes trembled slightly, big drops of tears remaining hidden in his eyes, never dropping down, “I’m sorry.”

Lu Feng’s heart felt like it was being ground to pieces with a blunt knife. It hurt all the way to his Adam’s apple. “That’s not it…”

Wei Xiao’s voice was very calm, and he’d thought about the words he was saying, “Captain, don’t think too much about it. Focus on your recovery. At worst, it’s just that you can only participate in 5v5.”

He was still unable to finish everything in one breath, so he had to breathe again lightly and continue, “The singles and the doubles… you can give them to me. I won’t let you down.”

Lu Feng couldn’t say a single word.

At first, when the problem with his shoulder had been exposed, Lu Feng’s thoughts had been the same as what Wei Xiao said now.

He’d hand the singles competition to Wei Xiao, and if he still didn’t have enough energy, he’d also give up on the doubles game. What FTW needed more than either of those was the team championship.

But Wei Xiao had told him––don’t you want to win them, too? Don’t you want to have a real singles championship? Don’t you want to play the doubles with me? Are you willing to watch me play doubles with others?!

Lu Feng was unwilling. So he’d chosen to let the public know, and chosen to cut off all means of retreat and come to receive treatment.

But reality wasn’t like a fairy tale.

Cruelty wouldn’t go away just because he was unwilling.

One check up report after another woke him up.

He couldn’t play the singles, couldn’t play the doubles, and may not even be able to hold on until the end for the 5v5.

If he retired, the team would be one position short. Choosing a substitute ahead of time and training them up early was the most rational decision.

He wasn’t just a player, but also the person in charge of FTW. He was responsible for them––for the people who’d followed him and trusted him until now.

Even without ‘Close’, he was still Lu Feng.

Wei Xiao said earnestly, “There’s still a month’s time. It’ll be fine no matter what the results are.”

He no longer gave Lu Feng any pressure, and no longer forced him to make any decisions.

Close had already been holding on for too long. He wanted to be the shoulder he could lean on.

Wei Xiao’s tears ultimately did fall. He wiped them away, his voice remaining unchanged, “Captain, try to believe in me, okay? I’m not only Quiet, I…” He paused, trying to speak in a slightly brighter voice, “I’m also your boyfriend.”

––I’m not just a player in FTW. I’m also your lover.

––I not only want to chase after you, but also want to stand side by side with you and hold up the new FTW for you.

Lu Feng froze. He looked at the countless lights outside, words crowding together in his brain until only two of them were left. “Little Xiao.”

Wei Xiao: “Yeah.”

Lu Feng: “……” I’m sorry.

“Well then,” Wei Xiao energized himself, “I’m going to go have something to eat. We’ll be going to the arena later. You should go to bed early.”

Bai Cai was the first to discover that Wei Xiao wasn’t in the right state that day!

At lunch, he went downstairs and was startled to see a Wei Xiao who was eating seriously.

“Holy shit, you haven’t slept all night?”

Wei Xiao set down his bowl and chopsticks, “I’m finished eating.”

Bai Cai: “???”

When they went to the venue in the team van, Bai Cai sat beside Wei Xiao and felt the piercing cold air conditioning that was being let out even without words.

What happened to spring? How come the weather had suddenly cooled down again?!

He summoned up the courage to speak with Wei Xiao, “You’ve already slapped HU’s faces until they’re swollen. Today…”

Even before he finished, he found that he couldn’t go on. Damn it, where’d this refrigerator come from? His words were turning to ice as they left his mouth!

Chen Feng noticed it too. He glanced at Wei Xiao several times.

However, they were about to arrive at the sports arena, and talking too much would shake the morale of the team. He held back and didn’t ask anything in the car.

When they arrived backstage, the make-up artists didn’t linger, either. They quickly finished their tasks and bailed.

Ning Zhehan and Yue Wenle also noticed that something was strange and looked over one after another.

Chen Feng couldn’t bear it anymore and wanted to call Wei Xiao out to talk to him alone.

Wei Xiao finally spoke, “Coach, I’ll take the shadow thief later.”

Chen Feng was stunned.

Ning Zhehan’s heart thumped. “Brother Xiao, don’t be influenced by them.”

It was over. Could it be that those dogs had also successfully messed with Brother Xiao’s mentality?

It didn’t seem like there was anything wrong from their Weibo interactions. Had something else happened in private?

Chen Feng frowned. “Winning is the most important thing in the competition.”

Don’t go and get triggered by fools.

Wei Xiao spoke calmly, “Give me the shadow thief. We’ll win.”

Chen Feng: “……”

Because they were the first game of the day, the matches started on time at three.

When it came to BP, HU released the shadow thief as expected.

Because of the fuss on Weibo before, many melon seed eaters had come in to watch the excitement.

“I don’t think that Quiet will take the shadow thief.”

“Based on Quiet’s temper, he’s obviously a real man who will go up regardless of difficulties. How could he not take it?”

“God Q, don’t take it! Garbage HU only knows how to use dirty tricks.”

“I’m not a fan, and not a hater, but I’m really curious about whether or not Quiet can brush out nine light arcs.”

The fans who’d all been unwavering in shouting that FTW’s shadow thief was inherited all felt a little guilty.

Maybe, it seemed like, perhaps… Quiet’s shadow thief wasn’t like Close’s where he could brush them out whenever he wanted to.

The BP ended. Wei Xiao successfully obtained the shadow thief.

There was heated discussions on the scrolling comments––

There were fans: “Amitabha, god bless, Baby Q, please don’t collapse!”

There were haters: “HU’s tricks aren’t very proper, but your God Q really is shit.”

There were also the melon seed eating masses, “Coming in out of admiration. I heard that there are nine light arcs to be found here?”

The director cut the camera lens to show Wei Xiao, and the female fans exploded in the scrolling comments.

“Oh my god, how handsome!”

“Did you really not turn on a filter? Can a boy’s skin be this good?”

“I’m impressed, I’m impressed, my eyelashes aren’t that curly even when I curl them.”

“How come it feels like God Q is in a bad mood?”

“Although it might not be very good to say this, but a Quiet who isn’t smiling is very alpha-like!”

“I’m willing, really willing. I’m 18 years old and short of a 19 year old husband!”

On the HU side, nobody said anything. Their expressions were dignified.

In particular, there was their jungler Han Gu who stared fixedly at the screen. He really wished he could kill this shadow thief thousands of times!

The match began.

The noisy and lively scrolling comments were all stunned silly after the shadow thief reached level six.

“Holy shit, who said that he can’t brush out nine light arcs?!”

The author has something to say:

Cough, cough. Let me say it again, don’t be scared, it’ll be fine, kiss.

xiin: WX – *eyes HU* perfect, i’ve found some sandbags to vent my emotions on.