Desire to Lure [Esports] - Chapter 12

Chapter 12

With the match imminent, Yu Wenzhi didn’t have time to say much. He brought Sheng Xu back to the preparation room, left a brief “we’ll talk later,” and hurried off to the stage.

Zou Kai wasn’t particularly pleased with his impulsive act of going after Sheng Xu. However, given they were in public, he merely frowned behind his back and lightly patted Yu Wenzhi’s shoulder, motioning for him to take his seat.

Ever’s mind was still in a whirlwind. Yu Wenzhi’s concern for Sheng Xu inevitably made him feel uneasy. People don’t worry about scarcity as much as they worry about inequality; he wasn’t sure if the Captain would personally come to comfort him if he were the one who had stormed out in a fit of pique.

He swallowed hard and stole a glance at Yu Wenzhi, but Yu Wenzhi was focused on checking his equipment and didn’t look at him.

Without receiving a reassuring response, Ever became even more anxious.

However, he soon lost the luxury of worrying about Yu Wenzhi’s attitude.

In this final game, Zou Kai tried to play a strategic trap, attempting to bait V6 into picking LeBlanc for mid and Lee Sin for jungle. To his surprise, after a moment of deliberation, V6 abandoned their familiar Mid-Jungle synergy and straight-up locked in Lucian for their AD Carry.

Lucian was a powerhouse in the current meta, though his appearance rate over the last two months had been pitifully low. Most teams sent Lucian straight to the ban list from the start to avoid the headache of dealing with a “meta-breaker.”

Zou Kai’s expression shifted slightly. If this baiting tactic had worked, it would have been a classic victory through BP (Ban/Pick). Now that it had failed, the subsequent hero picks were bound to look a bit… abstract.

Zou Kai instinctively looked toward the backbone of Team TEA: “Wenzhi?”

Yu Wenzhi watched the dwindling progress bar and spoke up: “Draven and Karma can take them.”

Ever’s face went pale. His throat felt like it was stuffed with a bag of sand as he spoke up dryly to protest: “Captain, I’m not familiar with Draven.”

Because Lucian’s pick rate had been so low, Ever hadn’t put much effort into practicing his counters. He was still living in the Spring Split meta, rotating between Kai’Sa, Tristana, Xayah, and Sivir which was usually enough to handle most battles.

Draven could indeed fight Lucian, but rather than picking a champion he wasn’t confident in, he’d rather use one he excelled at.

Yu Wenzhi gave him a sharp, piercing look.

He could tolerate other things, but he could not tolerate a player being unable to perform when it mattered most.

Seeing the Ban/Pick timer about to run out, Zou Kai had no choice but to bite the bullet: “Pick Vayne!”

Ever locked in the champion as if escaping a death sentence.

As soon as the Ban/Pick ended, the audience below erupted.

The only thing more abstract than my exam scores is today’s BP.

Hard not to suspect ‘Go Away’ took money from the Europeans; you’d need ten years of cerebral thrombosis to draft this lineup. (Zou Kai = Zoukai = Go Away)

Yu Wenzhi is ‘blessed.’ When they lose, everyone will just flame him; Go Away isn’t famous enough yet.

I see it now, TEA just wants to go on vacation and slack off. Not picking Draven here… all I can say is, I could do better.

The team manager gave professional ratings for both lineups: V6 scored an excellent 92, while TEA received a mediocre 78.

Zou Kai nodded to the V6 coach and walked off the stage with a wooden expression.

Zechuan: “Captain, how do we play this?”

Yu Wenzhi was the power switch for this massive war machine known as Team TEA. Only when he was in control did the machine have the momentum to slaughter gods and buddhas alike.

Yu Wenzhi stared intently at the game interface, his eyelashes not even flickering, his eyes reflecting the ghostly blue light of the screen.

After a few seconds, he finally spoke: “Group up and help Ware get First Blood. We’ll use their Mid-Jungle as the breakthrough point this game.”

Perhaps it was luck, but when the five of them rushed the jungle together, they actually managed to corner the V6 jungler. In a flash, they helped Ware secure First Blood, seizing the early momentum.

The match, which originally looked grim, suddenly showed a glimmer of hope.

In the backstage area, Zou Kai sprang up from his seat, exclaiming happily: “Great collapse!”

Sheng Xu glanced at him coldly, feeling that the man was somewhat of a jinx.

Every time Zou Kai jumped up, the situation would take a turn for the worse.

Sure enough, although V6 had been caught off guard, their draft held a significant advantage. They weren’t a weak team that made frequent mistakes; as long as they farmed steadily, the gold lead was quickly recovered.

In the end, the Elder Dragon was stolen by V6, and they pushed through the crystal in a single wave.

They lost.

Although in a clash between top-tier teams, victory or defeat can happen in an instant, the taste of losing was still bitter.

Ever cried.

Under the bright lights, his tears looked like a tribute offered to the victors.

Yu Wenzhi stood up, shook hands with ZZY, and they exchanged smiles.

ZZY’s smile was one of open joy mixed with a hint of bashfulness after all, they were rivals on the stage, but friends off it.

As soon as they returned to the club, Yu Wenzhi was called away by management.

He took off his team jacket, leaving only a thin short-sleeved shirt underneath, and headed upstairs with Xu Rui.

The others stood in the lobby, feeling a bit guilty and unsettled by the situation.

Sheng Xu’s gaze followed the stairs all the way up, landing on a point he could no longer see, watching the spiral folds layer upon one another like unfathomable and complex thoughts.

Yu Wenzhi said “talk later” talk about what?

Zechuan asked Zou Kai worriedly: “Coach, why did the higher-ups call our Captain?”

Zou Kai snapped back irritably: “What else could it be? Do you think they’re praising him?”

Zechuan choked for a moment but couldn’t help defending him: “But losing the match had nothing to do with the Captain.”

Yu Wenzhi had even earned an MVP in one of the games. If it wasn’t for his brilliant initiation, they would have lost the first game too.

“What do you want me to do?” Zou Kai threw up his hands, glancing at Sheng Xu. “He set his own ‘military order,’ saying that if he added a person, he could handle the internal conflicts. If it affected the match results, he’d take the responsibility.”

Sheng Xu frowned: “What conflict?”

Zou Kai’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. It turned out that all his meaningful side-glancing had been completely lost on the guy.

“What conflict do you think? A player slamming the door and leaving during a match, and the Captain running out to find him—you think that doesn’t affect the game? This whole thing is a joke to outsiders!”

Zechuan quickly tried to comfort him: “Sheng Xu, don’t think too much…”

“Me, think too much? What does losing the match have to do with me?” Sheng Xu let out a light sneer, saying bluntly: “BP gap, AD gap.”

Zechuan: “…” He really shouldn’t have bothered worrying about Sheng Xu taking it to heart.

Just like ‘running away,’ the word ‘reflection’ didn’t exist in Sheng Xu’s dictionary.

Ever wasn’t happy. Clinging to Ware’s arm, he glared at Sheng Xu: “Who are you calling a ‘gap’? If you’re so damn good, why didn’t you stay at DTG?”

Seeing that a fight was about to break out in the lobby, Zou Kai quickly stepped in: “Enough! Captain Yu won’t have the energy to send anyone to the hospital today. All of you, go to bed!”

Yu Wenzhi came out of the meeting room half an hour later.

The management had given him the usual lecture. Their tone wasn’t too harsh, and it wasn’t as scary as he had initially imagined.

A “star student” receiving criticism for the first time it had a certain unique flavor to it.

Yu Wenzhi couldn’t help but smile.

Xu Rui said crossly: “You can still smile?”

Yu Wenzhi turned his gaze toward him and asked back: “Should I cry instead?”

Xu Rui gave him a ‘I give up on you’ look before saying: “But you really should reflect. Ever was about to play, and instead of siding with him, you ran out to chase Sheng Xu. How do you think Ever felt? How could his mental state not collapse?”

“Speaking of which, I have a somewhat presumptuous question for you.” Yu Wenzhi didn’t mention Ever, but his expression became more serious.

“Hmm?” Xu Rui stopped in his tracks.

“How much was Sheng Xu’s signing fee?”

Xu Rui was shocked: “That is way too presumptuous!”

Player salaries were a secret highly sensitive and involving many “tricks” of the transfer season. Any team would keep them strictly confidential.

“If you don’t tell me, I’ll just go ask him myself.” Yu Wenzhi didn’t push too hard, making a move to leave.

Xu Rui didn’t doubt for a second that Yu Wenzhi could charm the salary info out of Sheng Xu in just two or three sentences.

“Hey!” Xu Rui grabbed Yu Wenzhi’s arm, his brow furrowing. “There was no money.”

Even though Yu Wenzhi had his suspicions, he was still shocked. Sheng Xu’s strength was easily that of a top-tier player, yet his salary was worse than a trainee’s.

“Rui-ge, you.”

“…That’s how it is when you jump from a weak team to a strong one. You started as a starter the moment you debuted, so you wouldn’t know. Strong teams don’t have many spots; if you want in, you have to be ‘cost-effective.’ Besides, he’s only nineteen. Training a rookie is risky, and the key is that he left DTG and jumped here so suddenly. This year’s player budget was already spent on Ever.”

Team TEA was paying zero salary, yet on DTG’s side, there was a 30-million-yuan penalty for breach of contract.

Since Xu Rui said the budget was gone, they obviously wouldn’t have paid the penalty for Sheng Xu either.

Yu-Shen was right. Sheng Xu had come to TEA solely for the “top-tier support.”

Yu Wenzhi closed his eyes, understanding for the first time what it meant to be “too clever for one’s own good.”

He had thought Sheng Xu loved making money more than competing, when in fact, Sheng Xu’s goal had always been the championship—at any cost, with absolute resolve.

Yu Wenzhi started walking, and Xu Rui quickly followed.

“Where are you going?”

“To find Sheng Xu.”

“To talk about the issue in the preparation room today?”

“No, to apologize.”

Xu Rui was left speechless, standing frozen as the other walked away.

Sheng Xu was still in the lobby.

Everyone else had left except for him. He stood there, thinking about Zou Kai’s words.

Adding a person… that referred to him, didn’t it?

Would Yu Wenzhi be punished by management because of him? To what extent?

Hadn’t he promised not to push him anymore? Why was he taking responsibility again?

Sheng Xu felt agitated.

He felt that certain illusions in his heart had already shattered, but now a kind of “delusional hope” was trying to glue them back together. He was simultaneously convincing himself that he didn’t care for these ambiguous acts of kindness while anxiously anticipating something.

He heard approaching footsteps. The sound of shoes hitting the stairs was very light one needed good hearing to catch it.

Yu Wenzhi had put his jacket on, but he just draped it over his shoulders; his arms were still bare.

The night was a bit chilly, and the base’s air conditioning was running relentlessly, making one’s pores tighten.

Sheng Xu didn’t want to owe anyone anything, and he certainly didn’t want anyone taking responsibility for him. He knit his brows, his face cold, his hair standing up like the quills of an alert hedgehog: “If it’s about me slamming the door, whatever they’re punishing you with, I can…”

“Let’s not talk about that,” Yu Wenzhi interrupted softly. He reached out and handed him a cup of the rose cold tea he usually drank.

“I’m not drinking that.” The scent of roses drifted into Sheng Xu’s breath. He stole a glance at the bottom of the cup, which was as crimson as a sunset, then forced himself to turn his face away.

Yu Wenzhi walked to the very bottom of the stairs, having to look up slightly at Sheng Xu. Now, he was directly facing that stubborn face again.

As he spoke, there was a hint of a playful smirk in Yu Wenzhi’s voice: “Being so fierce… am I no longer your ‘top-tier support’ that you spent a fortune for?”

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