The Esports Little Demon King Is a Sweet and Fierce Omega - Chapter 24.2

“Deal.”

The two of them shared the nutrient solutions harmoniously and then truly went their separate ways, one heading south and the other north.

“So peaceful? I thought someone would surely go back on their word on the spot,” Shadow remarked, clicking his tongue in wonder.

Since when did holographic competitive gaming become so gentlemanly?

Tian Jiu heard him and immediately turned around to say, “Shadow, don’t think everyone is like the people from your AS team.”

“Huh?” Shadow hurriedly cleared his name. “Little Red Panda, you can’t paint us all with the same brush. At least our youth team isn’t in cahoots with Ji Kaile and Luo Yuan.”

Moreover, although their youth team lived, ate, and trained in the same yard as the starting lineup, the coaches and managers were separate. They disdained those kinds of publicity stunts. His title as the “Number One Youth Player” was earned by winning two consecutive youth tournaments, unlike Ji Kaile’s “Most Talented Omega” title, which was manufactured through hype.

Tian Jiu stared at him for two seconds, then flashed his tiger teeth and smiled. “You don’t look like you’re lying. I believe you.”

Shadow felt a bit dazed by his smile, feeling light-headed, but suddenly met Feng Wu’s unreadable gaze and immediately dropped back to reality, sitting up straight.

Feng Wu reached out and poked Tian Jiu’s face.

The soft, white cheek dipped in for a moment before springing back. His “baby fat” seemed to tremble slightly, looking exactly like a sweet custard bun.

Tian Jiu looked at him. “Captain, why are you poking me?”

Feng Wu was silent for a moment, then reached out and poked him again.

Tsk, why are Omegas so cute?

No, actually, only Tian Jiu is this cute.

Tian Jiu understood. The Captain liked poking his face just like he liked ruffling his hair. In his past life, his brother also loved poking his face, saying he was like a soft white bun, so this must be a gesture of closeness.

The Captain definitely viewed him as one of his own, which was why they were so close.

Tian Jiu was very happy and gave Feng Wu a sweet smile. “Captain, do you like poking my face? Then I’ll only let you poke it.”

Feng Wu’s heart skipped a beat. He withdrew his hand and said in a low voice, “Watch the match.”

“Mhm!”

Zhou Funian, focused entirely on business, reached out to nudge the two of them. “This Mage is named Lin Luohai. He’s an Alpha from the Lower District, currently unemployed.”

“It seems he hasn’t had his rank tested since he differentiated, but he played in the trials once and took the championship. Then, for some reason, he disappeared from the scene.”

Seeing them discussing this, Old Zhao leaned over and said, “I know this Lin Luohai. He’s a good kid, but his family is quite poor and has a lot of debt. The reason he couldn’t continue competing seems to be because of family issues.”

“Brother Lin is very loyal and powerful,” Zhao Qingqing added. “When my brother and I first moved to the main street and were being harassed by local thugs for protection money, Brother Lin was the one who helped us drive them away.”

“Wow, he sounds like those chivalrous heroes from legends,” Tian Jiu’s mind wandered.

Old Zhao laughed. “I’ve noticed Tian Jiu gets a bit ‘retro’ from time to time.”

When he sent messages, he liked using those ancient default yellow emoji faces, and occasionally retro phrases would pop out. A connection like “chivalrous hero” was something probably only an inhabitant of Ancient Earth would think of.

Tian Jiu looked at Feng Wu a bit sheepishly. Would the Captain think he was provincial?

Feng Wu curled his lip and said quite seriously, “After all, he is a Red Panda that has existed since the Ancient Earth era. It’s normal to think of these things.”

“Makes sense,” Shadow chimed in mischievously.

Everyone: “…” You’re everywhere.

Shadow felt his scalp prickle under everyone’s gaze and quickly said, “I know that Defender. His name is Shi Xincheng. He’s a Beta currently drifting in a third-rate team. He’s a rich second-generation kid who has to go home and inherit the family fortune if he can’t make it in the pro scene.”

“Is that so?” Zhou Funian hurriedly had his AI brain flip through the records; he didn’t recall this person.

The records showed that, exactly as Shadow said, Shi Xincheng was a Beta Defender. Because his team was one of those tiny squads that get knocked down with a single blow, they hadn’t noticed him in the early stages. But his maneuvers just now were precise and resolute; he had great potential.

“But how do you know him?” Zhou Funian asked Shadow.

Shadow paused for a moment before stammering, “I just… do. Anyway, I think he’s a good guy and his strength is decent.”

Tian Jiu looked at him suspiciously. Shadow felt unexplainably guilty under the gaze and quickly pretended to be focused on the match.

Feng Wu reached out and poked Tian Jiu’s cheek. “Watch the match.”

“Oh.” Tian Jiu immediately sat up straight.

*****

Throughout the match, they didn’t pick people solely based on their ranking, but rather evaluated them based on their skill usage during every fight.

By the end of the match, Zhou Funian had noted thirteen players in his memo for offline contact. The final top three winners were within expectations: Ling An from WIN’s fourth youth team was third, Mo Li was second, and Mang Chi from the second youth team of the mid-tier team Fire was first.

Aside from them, many other players had brilliant performances. Even if these people didn’t join FOX, they would receive more attention within their own teams in the future, and some might even be promoted directly to the starting reserve seats.

In the subsequent contacts, Zhou Funian confirmed this guess. Players like Mang Chi and Ling An, who were already in top-tier teams, had their strength recognized by senior management through this competition and were both promoted to starting reserves. Naturally, they no longer wanted to come to FOX.

So, out of the top three, Zhou Funian only successfully negotiated with Mo Li—and Mo Li agreed even more easily than Zhou Funian had imagined.

It should be noted that during this period, other top teams had contacted Mo Li, saying they didn’t care about his “dark past.” AS even promised him a starting position. But Mo Li rejected them without a second thought, intent only on joining FOX. This left Zhou Funian flattered, though thinking back to when Tian Jiu and Feng Wu saved him, he figured the boy was likely coming for his “saviors.”

The remaining ten players on the list had also been invited by various major teams. After going in a circle, Zhou Funian finally consulted with Feng Wu and Tian Jiu and settled on the final three members.

Healer: Mo Li. Defender: Shi Xincheng. Mage: Lin Luohai.

With only twenty days left until the league started, FOX finally signed all members and submitted the roster.

Before the teammates moved into the base, Zhou Funian took the robot butler and several service robots to clean the entire facility from top to bottom. The bedrooms were outfitted with new mattresses and fresh flowers. The pheromone training room was decorated with warm wallpaper, and the training mechas were repainted in bright colors. He was as busy and happy as a social butterfly, even handling the food deliveries so Tian Jiu and Feng Wu didn’t have to, making Tian Jiu feel quite bashful.

“Don’t mind him. He gets like this for a few days every month,” Feng Wu said calmly.

Tian Jiu nodded silently. So Betas have ‘those few days’ too.

******

Finally, on the night they agreed to move in, the three new teammates arrived at the base with their luggage.

Lin Luohai, with his neat buzz cut, familiarly shook hands with Tian Jiu and Feng Wu, flashing his bright white teeth. “God Wu, Little Red Panda, finally meeting you. I’m the new Mage, Lin Luohai.”

“Hello!” Tian Jiu smiled until his eyes curved.

Feng Wu also smiled at him. “Your Wind Mage play is indeed very strong.”

“To be praised by God Wu… I’ve really made it,” Lin Luohai laughed heartily.

Shi Xincheng also came up to shake hands. He had a powerful presence but his brow was tightly furrowed. “Hello, I’m the Defender, Shi Xincheng.”

Tian Jiu whispered to him, “Are you feeling unwell?”

“No.”

“Then why do you look so unhappy?”

Shi Xincheng paused before explaining, “Because I’m about to graduate.”

Feng Wu raised an eyebrow. “This is the first time I’ve met someone reluctant to graduate.”

“It’s not that,” Shi Xincheng sighed. “This is my last year. If I can’t achieve results this time, I have to go back and inherit the family business. But if I don’t play professionally, I’ll be miserable.”

Tian Jiu let out a “Wow.” “I wish I had troubles like that too.”

Feng Wu burst out laughing.

Lin Luohai said speechlessly, “Bro, that’s just asking for hate. Typical Upper District tycoon attitude.”

“What? Did Upper District tycoons offend you?” Shi Xincheng frowned.

Lin Luohai snorted. “They didn’t offend me. I’m just jealous of your good reincarnation.”

“It’s just that you Lower District people aren’t ambitious. If your ancestors had worked hard, you could be tycoons too,” Shi Xincheng argued quite seriously.

Lin Luohai rolled his eyes. “Not ambitious? When you guys exploit us and make us go to the satellite planets to work for you without paying our wages, why don’t you talk about how you’re not acting like human beings?”

“Stop, stop, stop,” Zhou Funian said in a panic. “Don’t argue, please don’t argue. It’s all my fault.”

He never expected that on the very first day the teammates met in reality, they would start fighting over Upper and Lower District issues. This conflict was as old as time; how could it ever be finished?

Tian Jiu also didn’t expect them to suddenly start bickering, but with the current wealth gap, the friction between the two factions was indeed significant. He glanced at Mo Li, who had remained silent, and walked over to greet him proactively. “Mo Li, do you remember me?”

Mo Li finally looked up at him and nodded.

“Let’s get reacquainted then. I’m Tian Jiu.” Tian Jiu shook his hand, then turned back to pull Feng Wu over by his sleeve. “This is our Captain, Feng Wu.”

“Hello,” Feng Wu nodded.

Mo Li nodded back, saying softly, “Hello.”

Feng Wu had previously remembered where he had seen Mo Li. It was during an exhibition match. FOX had drawn Night as an opponent, and Mo Li was their Healer back then. He was very strong. But the Mo Li of that time was a newcomer, young and spirited, radiating the arrogance of youth. He was worlds apart from this taciturn, almost gloomy person today.

One wonders what exactly happened back then. Tian Jiu had heard about this from Feng Wu; although he was curious about Mo Li’s past, he didn’t want to dig into someone’s pain.

He easily lifted Mo Li’s suitcase, and then casually picked up Lin Luohai’s and Shi Xincheng’s as well, smiling. “I’ll help you carry your luggage. The bedrooms are on the second floor.”

With that, he walked toward the stairs with light steps.

Everyone was shocked, especially Lin Luohai and Shi Xincheng. As 1.8-meter tall men, letting a slender little Omega carry their luggage was incredibly embarrassing. They rushed forward to take their suitcases back, but Tian Jiu said, “It’s fine, they’re very light.”

He lifted the three large suitcases a few times as if they were nothing, leaving the two of them dumbfounded. Tian Jiu hummed a song and ran upstairs, leaving the two staring at each other, having completely forgotten their previous bickering about the districts.

Feng Wu massaged his forehead. He remembered the first time Tian Jiu had lifted a three-seater sofa with one hand in front of him. That time, his cufflink had fallen under the sofa, but he was too lazy to get it. Tian Jiu had simply hoisted the sofa and said cutely, “Captain, did you find your cufflink?”

Feng Wu had almost turned to stone; his expression back then was probably not much better than Lin Luohai’s.

“I’ve left them in the small lounge for you!” Tian Jiu soon ran back down. “Go up and unpack later. Let’s go eat first!”

Zhou Funian hurriedly said, “Right, right, right! I’ve ordered hotpot. Let’s eat first.”

******

The six of them sat down in the dining room. The three new teammates kept glancing at Tian Jiu’s hands and arms, fearing he might have strained a muscle.

Tian Jiu was busy swallowing his saliva at the sight of the hotpot and didn’t notice their stares. Feng Wu, however, did. He took hold of Tian Jiu’s wrist and said warmly, “Show me your hands.”

Tian Jiu opened his palms for him. “What’s wrong, Captain?”

Feng Wu curled his lip and said to the three new members, “See? He’s perfectly fine.”

The three nodded repeatedly.

Tian Jiu was still a bit dazed. “What’s wrong with me?”

“Nothing. Eat,” Feng Wu said.

“Oh.” Tian Jiu ate obediently. If the Captain said nothing was wrong, then surely nothing was wrong.

“Oh right, almost forgot.” Lin Luohai took a USB-like device from his pocket and handed it to Feng Wu. “Old Zhao asked me to give this to you. He said it’s the stuff you ordered.”

Tian Jiu was curious. “What is it, Captain?”

“Custom virtual team uniforms for everyone.”

“Wow!”

“And your animal series skins.”

“Hooray!”

Zhou Funian immediately said, “I’ve also ordered physical team uniforms for everyone. They arrive tomorrow morning. Everyone should put them on then, and I’ll take a photo to post on the official account for the formal announcement.”

“Okay!”

Zhou Funian stood up holding his juice and smiled. “Come on. Today is the day our FOX is reborn. Let’s toast to a new life!”

“To a new life.” Feng Wu clinked glasses with him.

Tian Jiu and the other four also raised their glasses. “To a new life!”

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