Captain, I Beg You to Give Me an Official Status [E-sports] - Chapter 8

The management of Team Wing had learned about their entry fragger’s intent to transfer at the same time as everyone else. They were already waiting for Sheng Huanian in the meeting room.

The moment the door was pushed open, Li Yan, the manager, stepped forward with a cold expression, blocking him at the entrance. He looked Sheng Huanian straight in the eye and asked frostily, “What is the meaning of this? You are transferring? Who did you consult about this?”

Sheng Huanian raised his eyes slightly and asked back calmly, “Do I really need to consult anyone to transfer?”

“You,” Li Yan began, but he was cut off.

Another person stepped up to mediate, grabbing Li Yan’s arm and pulling him back.

Sheng Huanian looked indifferently at the five people in the room. He closed the door behind him and spoke right from where he stood. “The original contract was only for one season. If I played well, we would consider a formal signing; if not, I would return to my original club. It is all there in black and white. Therefore, once this season ends, I am no longer part of Team Wing. Where I go has nothing to do with you.”

Though he spoke calmly, his tone brooked no argument. “My player contract is with ING. I will discuss the transfer details with them myself.”

Li Yan’s face grew darker as he listened. He lunged out from behind the other person, his expression vicious as if he wanted to grab Sheng Huanian by the collar. He hissed through gritted teeth, “Wing trained you, you won FMVP, and now that you are famous, you cannot wait to leave, can you? I wondered why you would not sign a new contract. So you were waiting for this! Transferring? Tell me, how has Wing wronged you? Has the effort spent on you this season not been enough!”

Sheng Huanian pursed his lips, his gaze dropping to Li Yan’s face. His voice lowered. “Was your original plan not to get a season of free labor and a practice partner? Now that you see I played well, you want to keep me. If I had not performed, would I not have been kicked out the door by now?”

“You!” Exposed, Li Yan lost his footing. The words died in his throat; he had no way to refute the truth.

Sheng Huanian did not want to waste any more words on them. Standing in that heavy silence, he wondered if that person had once stood where he was now, facing the same difficulties and sabotage from these people.

“Do not bother yourselves with my transfer period. I will be moving out the day after tomorrow and heading back to ING.”

As Sheng Huanian turned to leave, Li Yan grabbed his arm.

The grip was heavy. Sheng Huanian’s brows furrowed instantly, and he violently shook the hand off as he turned back.

His voice turned even colder. He squinted at Li Yan, suppressing his emotions with an intensity that caused an involuntary shiver. “Do not touch me.”

After a few seconds of silence, Li Yan barked at the others, “The rest of you, get out!”

Once the room cleared, Li Yan stepped forward, releasing his bitten lip as the fury in his eyes finally boiled over. “You want to transfer that badly? You think it is that easy? ING is not a pushover either. Guess how high a price they will set for you? If no one buys you, you can just rot there!”

Sheng Huanian’s eyes remained detached. He looked down, his voice laced with unconcealed mockery. “Do you think everyone is like you? Disregarding a player’s wishes for the sake of money?” His voice shifted slightly. “Talking about who wronged whom. Aside from money, who has this management ever been fair to?”

Seething and red-eyed, Li Yan understood the implication. He immediately shouted, “It is because of that incident, is it not? You just cannot get over it!”

“I cannot,” Sheng Huanian answered instantly. Now holding the door handle, his gaze was full of contempt, his words cutting like a blade. “You used that incident to trick me into coming here as a sub and a practice partner. I will remember that for the rest of my life. I will never forget it.”

As he walked away, Sheng Huanian felt a sense of relief wash over him. However, as certain hypothetical scenarios flashed through his mind, his footsteps grew heavy.

Two nights later, the background of Sheng Huanian’s livestream had changed.

As soon as he started the broadcast, the sharp-eyed viewers began flooding the chat.

“AAAAHHH! Where is this?” “Where is he? Does not look like the Wing base.” “What is happening? Am I confused? Transfer window has not even opened yet, they cannot move this fast!” “Where are you planning to go? Trying out during the transfer period?”

Looking at the scrolling comments, Sheng Huanian lowered his head and said succinctly, “I am back at ING now. I will be doing tryouts during the transfer period. As for where I am going, you will find out during the scrims.”

“Huh? ING? So the rumors on the forums were true? You were really just on loan to Wing? Only one season?” “What is Wing doing? They did not sign him? Letting an entry fragger this strong go?” “This transfer window is going to be a show.” “Would you consider Wing? You played so well in the Winter Season, it is a pity.” “Can our quartet stay together?”

Seeing that last comment, Sheng Huanian said without hesitation, “I will not be going to Wing.”

Meanwhile, at the TK base, Xu Ziqi’s computer was tuned into Sheng Huanian’s stream. There were three chairs pulled up to the desk; Lot and Qiqi were squeezed in next to Xu Ziqi.

The three heads were huddled together, listening intently to the man on screen.

Lot leaned over. “Him and Wing?”

Qiqi said, “Feels like something happened. He answered way too fast. Wing did not even try to keep him?”

Xu Ziqi propped his chin on his hand, looking thoughtful. “With the results he pulled, it is impossible for Wing not to want him. But if his contract is with ING, their hands are tied.”

Qiqi could not help but chuckle mockingly. “Anyway, as long as he does not go to Wing, I am happy. If they are miserable, I am satisfied.”

Lot nudged Qiqi with his elbow. “Hey, then go make the arrangements. The transfer window opens next week. Hurry up and book him. First come, first served.”

Xu Ziqi asked, “ING should be fairly easy to talk to, right? See if we can book a three-day trial first.”

Qiqi looked at the two of them, feeling his competence was being questioned. He slapped his chest. “I have my own arrangements! What is the rush? You think I do not know how to book someone? Honestly, you guys worry too much.”

Then, Qiqi remembered something and looked at the screen, suddenly tense. “Which account are you using to watch him? Do not tell me it is your main.”

If Xu Ziqi said it was his main, Qiqi might have dropped dead right there. Pro players’ accounts are verified; even if they do not send gifts, they show up in the “Online Viewers” list.

Xu Ziqi looked at him, speechless. “Am I that stupid?”

Qiqi relaxed.

As the three of them chatted heatedly, a voice of pure despair came from behind them.

“We are dead.”

The three of them turned in unison.

Paipai, who had just finished a game, had taken off his headphones. Looking at his own stream’s chat, he felt like the sky was falling. He looked like he wanted to crawl into a hole. He spoke tremulously, “I… I am streaming…”

Qiqi bolted upright, shouting, “What!”

His chat was already going wild.

“Hahaha! This transfer period is so transparent!” “Book him! Book him! Seven-ge, stop sitting there watching his stream and go book the tryout! I have to see this entry fragger in our scrims!” “ZD is not stupid, but every base needs one dummy! Even though you are going to get scolded, Paipai baby, we love you!” “What a cute scene. Three little heads huddled together watching a lethal stream. We did not hear any of that whispering, do not worry!” “These three are so close. And those two really do not get along with Wing, talking about them like that in private. So funny.”

Qiqi rushed to Paipai’s computer. When he saw the chat, his world officially collapsed.

Paipai looked at him sideways with an awkward “Hehe,” trying to explain himself. “My headphones are too noise-canceling. I did not even know when you guys sat down. This… this is not my fault, right?”

Qiqi turned his head, glaring at Paipai like a ravenous wolf.

Paipai puckered his lips and immediately shifted the blame to Xu Ziqi. “My brother gave me these headphones, they are super noise-canceling! I really did not hear anything! If you want to blame someone, blame him. I am totally innocent.”

Xu Ziqi laughed out of sheer exasperation. He had already closed Sheng Huanian’s stream. Standing up, he looked at Paipai and said quietly, “Fine. My fault. Do not expect to get a single thing from me ever again.”

Paipai looked like he was about to cry. “Do not be like that.”

Qiqi let out a heavy sigh, his heart already dead. “You are never this diligent with streaming usually, but now that there are no matches, you are suddenly a pro streamer? You must be bored out of your mind.”

Paipai muttered to himself, “I just thought I would not have time during the transfer window and wanted to hit my hours early. Is that so wrong?”

But he did not say it. His right hand moved the mouse, and he hurriedly said goodbye to the 100,000+ viewers watching the drama before clicking the end stream button without a second’s hesitation.

With the stream off, Qiqi looked at the other two, despair oozing from his eyes. “What do we do?”

Xu Ziqi sat back down, not seeing it as a huge deal. His tone remained relaxed. “Nothing to be done. They heard what they heard. It is for the best. Go book the tryout now. Everyone knows we want him anyway.”

Lot’s face was a bit dark, but he nodded. “Let us just do that. Go book it.”

Before dragging his feet out of the practice room, Qiqi looked at Paipai and gave him a light but meaningful smack on the head. “Every single day, you never let me rest!”

Paipai rubbed his head, suffering in silence. He turned to Xu Ziqi and asked, “It will really be okay?”

Xu Ziqi turned back to his monitor. “It is fine. We had to do the tryout sooner or later anyway.”

Paipai walked over to Xu Ziqi’s side, leaning on his gaming chair. “Brother, do you think he wants to come here? I bet a lot of teams want to trial him. I wonder where he wants to go.”

Xu Ziqi said plainly, “We will not know until we try. I am just worried he will be hard to book.”

“Hard to book?”

The image of the rookie’s arrogant, defiant face flashed in Xu Ziqi’s mind, along with his bluntness in handling the Wing situation. He spoke quickly, “The guy has a temper. If it is a club he does not want to go to, he probably will not even show up for a trial.”

Paipai grew worried. “I hope we can get him. We really need an entry fragger.”

Xu Ziqi felt the same.

What the rookie’s personality was like or whether he was easy to get along with did not matter. As long as they could practice together, play hard, and share a pure heart that wanted to win, that was enough.

Inside ING’s cramped practice room, Sheng Huanian was still live. Having just finished a ranked match, he learned about everything that had happened through his own chat.

He had not started a game for ten minutes. He kept his chat assistant open, quietly watching and asking his viewers questions.

The spectators provided the answers.

Thus, Sheng Huanian now knew that Xu Ziqi had been watching his stream using an alt account. And that Team TK wanted to trial him.

“What about TK? They have basically played their hand and want to book you for a tryout!” “Do not… do not go to TK, okay? The drama is too much, and they did not even make the Finals this time.” “If you go to TK and play poorly, you will be roasted by ZD’s fans. Think twice.” “There are many good clubs that need an entry fragger. You can try out for more. Honestly, TK is not a great destination. Aside from the team having money and the owner not being a jerk, there are no pros.” “You dare be teammates with ZD? Teams with him never get results. Do not waste your peak years.”

In those ten minutes, Sheng Huanian lost track of how many users he had banned.

Sitting alone in the practice room, watching the drama flood the screen, he once again did something unexpected.

His features were deep, his lips parted as he spoke his true thoughts without a shred of doubt. “I also want to trial at TK. I will wait for them to book me.”

“Do not.” “Why TK? You just won FMVP. Even if you do not stay at Wing, why go to a clout team that did not even make the Finals?” “TK is really not it.” “Go if you want. It is just a tryout. Some of you in the chat are overstepping.” “It is just a trial, what are you worried about?” “What is wrong with TK? They are definitely restructuring this window. ZD’s shot-calling is fine, okay? Can the haters stop barking?” “Go wherever you want. We support you. Waiting for your news.”

The chat was polarized and fighting bitterly. Many were attacking Zhidao (ZD), calling him washed as one of the milder insults.

Sheng Huanian watched the stinging words, his spine straight. He spoke coldly, “Is failing to make the Finals the fault of just one person? Those of you stirring up drama, crawl back to your kennels and stop barking in my room.”

“Well said!” “Can the haters just get out!”

Sheng Huanian stared at the screen, his expression unchanged. He dropped one final line. “When he was winning championships, you idiots were still in kindergarten.”