FOG
Chapter 44

Shi Luo looked at the familiar non-mainstream text and the corner of his lips ticked up. However, his throat felt like it was blocked up.

At that time, the two of them had just met. Somehow, Yu Sui firmly believed that he belonged to the Bury Love Family and in order to replace a common topic of conversation, every day, he would chat with him using this alien language.

Back then, Shi Luo thought this was some kind of underage alternative lifestyle nutball and intended to keep a respectful distance away but somehow, he just couldnt rest assured. Then this non-mainstream youth was suddenly unmasked and changed shape in a single shake.

He was suddenly the leagues number one medic. And inexplicably, he was abducted from that shady internet cafe and brought into this group.

Hes only ever heard of A look at Yang Guo, the mistake of a lifetime. So, for him, what is this? A look at Bury Love, the mistake of a lifetime?

Shi Luo looked at his phone screen and was about to reply when the WeChat group a whole family on friendly terms buzzed alive.

[Puppy]: [I am here to make a small report. In the middle of training, a certain striker went out for a smoke and has been gone for almost half an hour.]

[Puppy]: [At the same time, a certain medic has been multitasking, playing the game while also fiddling with his phone and replying on his WeChat. It is simply most improper.]

[Whisper]: [R u sic in da head? Why do you just love being such a tattletale?]

[CoachOld Qiao]: [? ? ? ]

[ManagerZhou]: [? ? ? ]

[Whisper]: [... I forgot to switch back. ]

[Handsome Chen Huo]: [*Shocked* Whats with this situation?]

[Handsome Chen Huo]: [Yu Sui! Could it be that youve been hiding it from us? Are you secretly into Bury Love?]

[Whisper]: [Shut up. ]

[Evil]: [Ill go back immediately. ]

[ManagerZhou]: [Its nothing, its nothing. No need to hurry. No rush. Were not that strict here.]

[ManagerZhou]: [*Satisfied* Yu Suis live broadcast today got particularly good results. Keep up the good work!]

[Handsome Chen Huo]: [Oh, really?]

[Handsome Chen Huo]: [Isnt there anyone who cares about me? Laozi, this championship striker, for the sake of his f*cking brother, spent the entire night training with Wawa!]

[Puppy]: [#We Feel Sorry for Chen Huo#]

[Evil]: [...]

[ManagerZhou]: [Oh, dont be so petty. Everyone, go play for a bit longer. Later, lets go out for a midnight snack. My treat.

I trust no one has a problem with that?]

[CoachOld Qiao]: [No problem. ]

[Puppy]: [No problem. ]

[Handsome Chen Huo]: [No problem. ]

[Evil]: [No problem. ]

[Whisper]: [No problem. ]

Shi Luo washed his face with cold water and returned to the training room to continue queuing up for games. At past 12 oclock midnight, Zhou Huo happily came up to invite everyone to shut down their computers and go out to eat.

For some metaphysical reason, they no longer went out for hotpot but chose a place serving pretty good Shanghainese home dishes.

There is good news, and there is bad news.

After waiting for everyone to order, Zhou Huo said, Let me first tell you the good news. The regular season schedule is already out. I will post it later in the group. You will be able to see it on the official website in a couple of days.

Ive looked through it and for us, this schedule is very favorable. It basically progresses from easy to difficult. The first half is basically filled with weak teams. Well only meet teams like Saint and NSN during the second half.

Although you were already teammates early on, its been a few years since you last played together. Moreover, this time Evil has transferred to being a striker. Well need time to get used to it.

This schedule lets us get into gear bit by bit. Old Qiao said, For us, getting into the playoffs is pretty much a done deal but whether we can get into the finals depends on everyone.

Old Qiao is being too conservative. If its for the domestic finals, I think you can already be preparing for that. This isnt what Im worried about. Im now going to tell you the bad news. Zhou Huo took a drink of his tea.

He looked at everyone and said, Ive just received word that sacred Sword has bought both the American Team Secret and the South Korean Team Devils Curse.

What the f*ck? Chen Huo was incredulous. They... bought two teams?!!!

Zhou Huo nodded. Americas No. 1 seeded team last year, Team Secret and South Koreas No. 2 seeded team last year, Team Devils Curve were bought together.

Puppy sighed, Our former boss is really rich... I thought it was already pretty much their limit when they bought the three of us from FS back then. This time theyre even more ruthless. They bought two teams at once.

Are they trying to build another Galactico warship again?

How is this a warship? Theyre obviously trying to raise a Gu! Old Qiao gasped, The three teams merged into one. They can continue to rotate their players throughout the regular season. Theyll come up one by one.

Among these skilled starters, not performing well enough would mean being a substitute and if they perform even worse then theyll be sold off. After a few months in the regular season, the ones who are left would form most powerful lineup.

Puppy was made to recall some very unpleasant memories. He covered his face and bitterly said, Back then, I was the one who was sold off. F*ck, Laozi played as a starter in China for so many years. Ive never ever been a substitute.

When I went overseas, I was sold off...what a disgrace.

Chen Huo said coolly, Back then, Laozi was made a sub and then sold off. Im not that much better than you.

Zhou Huo was speechless. Theyre rich, alright and his kind of method is indeed very useful. The only ones who can survive this hellish kind of method are those fierce characters whore mentally strong. For instance, last seasons voodoo king.

Everyone looked at Yu Sui. Yu Sui silently drank his tea. Thanks, but I really dont think thats a compliment.

Yeah, just look at my Yu Shen. Look at what happened to his hair! Chen Huo said, vexed, The Sacred Sword Team is seriously toxic. Theyre ruthless.

Old Qiaolooked at Yu Sui. You dont seem the least bit surprised.

Im not. Yu Sui said while drinking his hot tea. A month before I returned to China, Sacred Sword top management let loose some pretty harsh words.

Shi Luo looked up. What harsh words?

Yu Sui put down the tea cup and slowly said, A rough translation would probably be...Whisper, why do you insist on leaving? If you go back, we wont let you get the World Championship. Stay and you can remain as the World Champion. Why do you want to make things hard for yourself?

The room grew quiet.

This was also the first time Chen Huo was hearing about this. He asked carefully, The manager talked to you? What did you say back?

Yu Sui said with a blank expression, Whatda hafta do with ya?

Shi Luo visualized that scene and couldnt help letting out a snort of laughter.

Yu Sui smiled. I didnt get the accent right. I only know a little bit of Shanghai-ese.

Why were you taunting him! Chen Huo laughed. He beat his chest and stamped his feet. Look! You got them angry and they directly bought two teams to strike back at you.

They would have bought them regardless what Yu Sui said. This is just the way that club operates. Old Qiao said coldly, Back then, when they were looking to buy FS, I asked around. Since this club was established four years ago, theyve never developed their own players.

They dont care about nationalities; theyll buy whoevers good. But after theyve bought the players, they wont cherish them.

It doesnt matter to them how long the player has played for them or how many championship that player has won for them, if their performance suffers a setback, they wont even give the player the courtesy of being a substitute. Theyre going to sell him right off.

Old Qiao shook his head. They dont have a shred of humanity. But it does produce results.

Yeah, just look at their attitude... Zhou Huo sighed, They feel like theyve got this years World Championship in the bag already. This time, theyve absorbed players from three teams to field a single four-player team. How can they not be powerful?

Everyone was speechless. Yu Sui still had on that indifferent expression.

Zhou Huo thought optimistically. However, were still at the early stages of building our team. We dont need to think that far ahead just yet. Im basically just sharing gossip.

Its doesnt necessarily have anything to do with us.

Zhou Huo laughed. Its not easy to say whether we can enter the World Championships this year. If we cant then we wont even see them at all. Weve just established the team, we should first think about the domestic league.

This year NSN has last seasons most powerful sniper, ROD. Although theyre still missing a good medic, overall theyre a pretty strong team. The food was served. While getting some food, Old Qiao said, Theres no need to mention Saint. They were the domestic league champion last year.

Theres also Bison. We cant look down on that team. Their boss temperament is nearly the same as Sacred Swords. Hell also buy whoevers good.

Theyve done some integration for this season and theyve increased their strength considerably. Sigh...The more I look at it, the more I feel like...

Dont say it. Chen Huo had on a pained expression. Next, youre going to say, we should just disband. Stop praising other teams!

Old Qiao didnt know whether to laugh or cry and hurried said, I wont say it. I wont.

Everyone concentrated on eating and once they had all eaten their fill, Zhou Huo settled the bill. They all piled into the car and headed back to the base.

On the way back to the base, Zhou Huo said, Three days later, on Monday, we will have our first regular season game, um... guess who? One of your old acquaintances.

Everyone was a little sleepy from eating so much. There came a lot of perfunctory um, ums but no one guessed. It was Old Qiao who opened his eyes and asked, Who?

Zhou Huo let out a hehe. Team Bison.

Shi Luo opened his eyes and then closed them again.

Violent Shus been getting along pretty well these past few years. I heard that hes already the captain. Chen Huo said slowly. Its been a long time since I last saw him. Im gonna need to teach him how to behave himself once I see him on Monday.

Okay, lets agree right now. If youre going to fight, do it in the game! Zhou Huo warned them. Violent Shus gotten a lot steadier nowadays. Dont any of you go stirring up trouble.

Puppy, if any of them get up to any little tricks, be sure to tell me.

Puppy, who has developed a tattletale addiction, found this very interesting. No problem!

Shi Luo pouted. He was a lot steadier than Violent Shu.

Thats pretty much it. Zhou Huo arranged his work and started happily looking through Weibo. Todays live broadcast was good. We made a highlights video on our official blog. You can go check it out.

Chen Huo and Puppy werent very interested and did not go to watch. Sitting alone at the backrow, Shi Luos eyebrows twitched. He took out his mobile phone.

Frees official blog was something that was made in a hurry. The videos title was also very direct. <>

Shi Luo turned on the mobile phones video sound to mute and then clicked on the video. The video started with high energy and then it was that conversation between Yu Sui and Wawa.

Although hed seen it briefly during Yu Suis live broadcast, he hadnt been able to look through it carefully back then. Once Shi Luo had reconfirmed that no one was paying any attention to himself, he pulled back the video bar and re-watched that portion several times over.

Shi Luo guiltily let out a cough and closed Weibo.

There was nothing worth seeing.

When Shi Luos mobile phone vibrated. Gu Gan sent several messages to him on WeChat, all of which were pictures.

Gu Gan didnt like to chat. It wasnt at all usual for him to contact Shi Luo. Shi Luo opened it to take a look. They were several screenshots of a chat record.

After clearly seeing whose chat record it was, Shi Luo gulped.

[GU]: [Wawa has always been like this. Hes familiar with several skilled strikers and would often look for them to level up together. He doesnt plan it in advance either.]

[GU]: [Hes a bit scared of me and basically wont ask me to play with him. He also wont ask to play with our team striker, Xinran. Because Xinran has a loose tongue and loves to bb him. ]

[GU]: [Its only a trifling matter. If Evil cant accompany him, hell go look for someone else. No one really takes it very seriously.]

[Whisper]: [Its fine.]

[GU]: [I actually have something to ask you. ]

[Whisper]: [? ]

[GU]: [Your milktank play is pretty 6. Its not as good as Angel Swords. Looks like you dont play it much but its still pretty awesome.]

[GU]: [Was this skill a big move you were hiding?]

[Whisper]: [...You could say that.]

[GU]: [Really? ]

[GU]: [Isnt it something youre preparing for the regular season to catch us by surprise?]

[Whisper]: [...]

[Whisper]: [Youre thinking too much. My milktank play isnt good enough to be used in an official game.]

[GU]: [Can I believe you? ]

[Whisper]: [You usually shouldnt believe me when I talk to you about tactics but this time, what I told you is definitely true.]

[GU]: [Why am I still suspicious? Since you wont be using it in an official match, then what were you practicing it for?]

[Whisper]: [I didnt practice it. ]

[GU]: [Video link]

[GU]: [If it isnt for the matches, what are you playing milktank for?]

[Whisper]: [In order to coax a child.]

[GU]: [...]

[GU]: [Arent you afraid Id take a screenshot of this and send it to Evil?]

[Whisper]: [Im afraid, so very afraid. Make sure to not not take a screenshot of it.]

[Whisper]: [Shi Luo, its time to get out of the car.]

Chck out ltst vl on n/o/v/l/bin(.)c//m

Shi Luo saw the last sentence and flushed. Yu Sui was obviously talking to him through Gu Gan but it was like he was caught peeping and he suddenly looked guiltily ahead.

They were at the base. The car had already stopped.

Yu Sui, who was sitting at the very front row, put on his team uniform jacket. Expression completely normal, he said, Stop looking at WeChat and get down.