Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Zhou Yan, Da Luo, Lin Dong, and Wu Sen were sitting backstage, downcast and all sporting black circles under their eyes.
“Why are there only four of you?” asked Xi Xi as he raised his head to look at them.
The four of them said nothing in response. Their eyes were fixed on the translucent lounge ahead of them, or more specifically, on the members of Team Sky who were in there.
They unconsciously tightly clenched their fists, fingernails digging deep into their tender flesh…
Never had they felt like killing anyone more!
Xu Pingyang was laughing with a man dressed in a suit, completely oblivious to the fact that his shamelessness had taken an innocent life. Why hadn’t he been caught and thrown in the slammer? Why was he not being held accountable for his sins?
The fact that he was still here, laughing away, pissed off Team Skycrown even more!
“If it’s just the four of you, it’s better to give up…” said Xi Xi hesitantly.
Lin Dong shot back, “Is there a rule that says we can’t play if there’s only four of us?”
Xi Xi was startled. The rule was that a team must be made up of five people, but it didn’t explicitly state that the players could not play if all team members were not present.
Four people…
Team Skycrown only had four people left.
They never imagined that Xiao Bei, who had been hiding in the toilet, would do such a crazy thing.
They never imagined that they would suddenly see such a joyful child looking so pale, with fresh blood running down the tiles as he lay there, both eyes empty…
Everything…
Everything was caused by Xu Pingyang, he had to pay for his sins with his life!
They knew that this was their last game, and they only had four members left. But when they thought of poor Xiao Bei, they couldn’t suppress the rage that threatened to overwhelm them.
This was their chance to have their revenge on Team Sky, and they weren’t going to let it just slip by!
“Will he come?” asked Wu Sen in a low voice.
“It doesn’t matter. Whether he does or not, we’ll still fight,” said Lin Dong, his voice laced with determination.
Lin Dong hated himself for being so foolish. He had been standing right in front of the toilet door. What he heard as he stood there was not the sound of Xiao Bei crying, but in fact the sound of blood flowing out and splattering onto the floor.
If… if only he had realized sooner, maybe Xiao Bei would still be…
The four of them stood there in silence, holding back the seething torrent of tears that threatened to fall from their eyes.
Team Sky… you long for a huge amount of sponsorships, and want to reach the world stage? Dream on!
Not while our group is alive!
***
Back at the hospital, Yu Yu was talking softly to Li Yun. Yu Jing was a lot more aware now, and was able to laugh and talk with them.
“Don’t worry so much, Yu Yu is a national athlete now. Our relatives have helped us a lot with covering the medical insurance costs. And although the hospital bills are high, Yu Yu will work hard and earn it all back in no time,” said Li Yun.
“Yeah,” agreed Yu Yu, nodding her head.
Li Yun continued, “Later on, when Cheng graduates, I think it’s better if you quickly get your affairs in order. He’ll continue to act like a child if he doesn’t get married early.”
Yu Yu flushed in surprise. She’d known about this idea of her and Yu Luocheng getting married, but had always thought that it wasn’t possible.
“Hmph, that guy isn’t worthy at all! Guys who don’t have proper jobs don’t deserve Yu Yu!” said Yu Jing, clearly unhappy.
Still shocked, Yu Yu just listened as her parents talked.
Turns out that when she once jokingly called herself ‘just a child bearer’, she wasn’t too far from the truth.
Yu Yu was confused, feeling all kinds of emotions at once. She already knew that she had no blood relation to Yu Luocheng, but still always treated him like an elder brother… and yet, why did it hurt when she saw him with other girls?
Not knowing how to continue the conversation, Yu Yu pretended not to hear anything that her parents were saying. And speak of the devil, Yu Luocheng chose that exact moment to walk into the room, further flustering her.
Yu Yu herself didn’t know how to define the relationship between them. She liked to cling onto Yu Luocheng and rely on him, but she also liked to poke fun at him. Seeing his impatient face made her extremely happy. Did that mean she liked him? Or was it just a familial bond?
She never really cared about it before, but with her parents suddenly bringing up this topic, she felt panicked.
“Cheng, come sit down. I have something to tell you,” said Li Yun.
“I have something to tell you too,” replied Yu Luocheng, but he didn’t take a seat and instead remained standing at the entrance.
“What’s wrong, why are your eyes so red?” asked Li Yun.
Yu Luocheng’s eyes were indeed very red, and the tear tracks on his face were still clear as day.
“Sit, sit. We can slowly talk about whatever it is,” said Li Yun gently. She tried to quiet the voice inside her that whispered that something wasn’t right.
Yu Yu slowly raised her head, confusion evident on her face, “Brother, what’s wrong?”
“I want to play e-sports professionally,” said Yu Luocheng, getting straight to the point.
“What? What did you just say?” said Li Yun, shocked and praying desperately that she had heard wrong.
Yu Luocheng repeated himself, punctuating each word to emphasize the seriousness, “I said: I. Want. To. Play. E-sports. Professionally.”
“You! Say it… say it again!” Yu Jing was shaking in anger as he forced his words out through gritted teeth.
“Brother, what are you doing? Do you want our father to stay in this hospital bed forever?” exclaimed Yu Yu, hurrying to Yu Jing’s side the moment she saw him start to shake.
“Cheng, sit down. We can talk about this, alright?” said Li Yun, still in shock. Her heart had been beating furiously against her ribcage from the moment Yu Luocheng walked into the room.
“Go! Go and play! If you go this time, don’t even think about coming back to our household!” yelled Yu Jing, beyond furious.
The previous harmonious atmosphere had completely collapsed in an instant, and the tension was now so thick that you could cut it with a knife.
Yu Yu looked at Yu Luocheng with anger-filled eyes. She didn’t understand what had come over him. Was he possessed by the devil? Why would he come out and say something like that at this time?!
She started shouting at him, her voice full of bitterness, “Can’t you stop playing for the sake of Dad’s health? Don’t you know how much he’s invested in you? Can’t you just listen for once and finish your studies? Do you have to anger him to the point of making his illness worse? What is wrong with you, just what is wrong with you?!”
Yu Luocheng didn’t respond. Instead, he calmly shifted his gaze from one family member to the next, starting with Yu Yu, then Li Yun, and finally, Yu Jing.
He hadn’t suddenly gone off the deep end, and Xiao Bei’s letter definitely wasn’t the reason that he was confronting his parents right now.
He had spent the past few days thinking about what he wanted to do. When he let his mind go quiet and was truly honest with himself, he found that he couldn’t give up e-sports after all.
Yes, he had listened to his parents for these past two years and studied properly.
But throughout that time, he felt like a part of him was missing. He did everything on autopilot, finding neither joy nor anger in anything, as though he was a dead man walking…
To fulfil his parents’ wishes, Yu Luocheng had become a soulless puppet. Had he been born solely to make up for the regrets of the previous generation?
Your regrets will remain as yours, while my dream is mine, and mine alone, don’t confuse them!
Stop bringing up the fact that you spent a lot of money for me to enter university, it’s nothing but shackles weighing me down. If you were really thinking about me, then I would like you to stand in my shoes. Learn about what I like and understand how much effort I’ve put in…
Then, you will understand that e-sports is not a drug. It’s a sport that requires countless efforts in order to obtain glory. Stop pointing out my failures and using them to hurt me even more. Stop using the words ‘See, I told you so’ to make me follow the path you wanted to walk yourself!
Yu Luocheng had longed to say these words for so long…
After playing against Team Revelation, Yu Luocheng was planning on looking for a good time to properly talk things out with Yu Jing. However, what happened after that made it almost impossible for him to speak.
Until Xiao Bei…
“Go! Go and play! If you do, don’t ever come back, and don’t even try to kneel at the door and beg for forgiveness with a pitiful look on your face!” Yu Jing growled out, his chest heaving in exertion.
Yu Luocheng looked at Yu Jing, watching as his entire frame trembled with rage as he spat those words out.
And suddenly, Yu Luocheng thought that it was such a funny scene.
Again with the same words. Why do you always use the same threats on me?
You don’t need to gamble everything and put all your eggs in one basket. Will you be happy when the basket breaks?
This time, Yu Luocheng wouldn’t bother to compromise.
There was nothing to compromise on anymore. Sometimes, a smelly and dirty road could be the one that leads to success. You wouldn’t know unless you walked it.
Yu Luocheng needed to walk this road to the end. Even if his body was riddled with wounds, and all his bones were broken, he would crawl his way through. Even if it isn’t a logical path, and it’s filled with irony and contempt, it is still mine to walk. I will not be your substitute to overcome your regrets.
I will walk the road that I choose for myself.
“If you really are my family, why don’t you ever support me in what I want to do? Is doing that harder than chasing me out of the house?! Is it so hard to let me pursue e-sports?!”
The words that Yu Luocheng spat one were the ones that he had kept bottled up inside him for a long time. They echoed through the room, and for a while, no one dared to utter a single word in response.
Yu Luocheng could see it in their eyes—they still couldn’t or wouldn’t comprehend what he meant. He had said all that he wanted to.
Leave? Of course, he would leave.
“Yes I made my father angry, to the point that it damaged his liver. I’ve tried to be filial, but you are keeping me from the only thing that makes me happy and that I’ve poured so much effort into. What you’re doing is no different than robbing me of my own heart…”
This heart was born for the sake of e-sports.
No one understood that Yu Luocheng’s heart held an undying passion for e-sports!
The more you try to suppress it, the more you try to shackle him with family obligations… the more his rage grew.
If you took away e-sports, then he wasn’t Yu Luocheng anymore. He would just be a filial, obedient child who listens to his elders. He would not be successful, because he no longer did what he loved. He would only be able to go with the flow in life and become like everyone else.
He didn’t want to live that kind of life!
Since I don’t have the heart to face you, I would rather let you see my back as I walk away.
There will come a day when you see me on a big screen, standing on the highest stage in the world, in all my glory. Then you will understand that you were wrong to stop me, that you were just being pedantic and paranoid!
***
Li Yun could only watch blankly as Yu Luocheng quietly turned and left. Her mind was still replaying the words he had uttered only a few moments ago.
Robbing him of his heart…
For a while now, she felt like her son had changed. He was not as happy as before, and his smile always felt forced, never reaching his eyes…
Only now did she realize why.
Yu Yu watched as Yu Luocheng walked away. She wanted to make him stay, but she didn’t have the courage to open her mouth. Hurriedly chasing after him, she could see that he had no intention of turning back.
This time, he was walking away far too calmly.
It wasn’t like the previous time where he made a ruckus. There was no shouting and no slamming of doors, just a soft click as the door closed behind him.
His calmness showed that he was dead serious in his decision. Yu Yu could only stare at Yu Luocheng’s back as he walked out of the room and down the hospital corridor.
His back was too lonely, too proud, and strangely cold, to the point that nobody dared to reach out, and no one could stop him.
***
Yu Luocheng didn’t turn back once, and he soon arrived at the competition venue. He raised his head, staring up at the magnificent exhibition as he listened to the cheers coming from inside the hall.
He took out his phone, dialing Lin Dong’s number. When the call connected, he heard both Lin Dong’s voice and the sounds from the stage.
“It’s me,” said Yu Luocheng quietly, a hint of steel in his voice. He took a deep breath, burying all his bitter feelings of regret deep within his heart.
“You came…”
“Yeah.”
Yu Luocheng nodded even though Lin Dong couldn’t see him. His hands came up to scrub away the remaining tears on his eyelashes.
In a firm and calm tone, he said, “I, Fighting Hawk, have returned to the team!”
***
Xiao Bei, before pouring the wine for you on the World Championship stage, I will offer up the heads of Team Sky to honor you!
(Translator note: It is a Chinese custom to pour rice wine or tea in front of an altar or tombstone, horizontally from left to right with both hands. This is done as an offering to the gods and in honor of the deceased.)
