CHAPTER 96

As usual, there was a group interview right after the game was over.

During the spring season, the group interview was conducted on the couch in the winning team's break room. It was different in the summer season. The location for the interview had moved to a more formal setting. All players would be interviewed at a long table. Sometimes two teams that had played matches on the day would be interviewed at the same time-- --Usually, it would be the two opposing teams that were interviewed together...

Yet, today was an exception.

The ten players of both YQCB and ZGDX were crowded behind the table. To the left of Lu Sicheng was Pope, to his right was Tong Yao; he was sitting in the middle.

Reporter: [First, congratulations to ZGDX for keeping your undefeated record.]

Lu Sicheng: "Thanks."

Reporter: [We're also quite surprised that YQCB players haven't left after their game and have given us this special chance to do an interview together with ZGDX.]

YQCB's captain scratched his head: "We actually wanted to leave, but our coach wouldn't let us. He forced us to watch in the break room to see how 4 protect 1 should be played…...It's a new strategy we're trying out, we're not too familiar with it yet."

Reporter: [Nowadays 4 protect 1 isn't that suitable when the team's bot is relatively weaker. Why did ZGDX insist on using it even after YQCB had failed in their attempt?]

Lu Sicheng paused a moment and leaned back to cast a sidelong glance at Pope on his left. Pope rolled his eyes. Lu Sicheng gave a short chuckle and playfully said: "Our mid said: I want to play 4 protect 1 too, I want to try it out with Lulu too…...I thought it seemed alright to do that. Besides, we can teach 'the other AD' how to play 4 protect 1. So we played two matches of 4 protect 1."

Everyone burst out laughing.

Pope sensed that Lu Sicheng might have said something aimed at him. He grabbed the translator behind him to demand a translation. The translator had no choice but to translate for him. After hearing the translation, Pope used Korean to complain at a rapid pace.

…...The interview continued. One reporter asked several questions back to back about different situations during the matches. Little Fatty and Lu Sicheng were the two who answered most of the questions. Tong Yao glanced, through the corner of her eye, at Ai Jia who was sitting at the other end of the long table, quiet like Tong Yao, and seemed to have spaced out until a reporter mentioned him in the question-- --

[There was a little incident after YQCB's second match and Ai Jia wasn't on the lineup in the third match. We would like to know what happened? Fans really like to know.]

Ai Jia came out of his daze.

Tong Yao also straightened her body.

Ai Jia slightly frowned and received the microphone from his teammate next to him, ready to speak. However, the microphone was grabbed away from him by his captain, Liangsheng. Ai Jia was stunned. Then he heard his captain saying: "It was the decision made by the coaches and our teammates together to let Aisha play the third match-- --I know some people are making claims online right now that it was because Ai Jia's stuck-up and refused to go on. But that's not true. And please, everyone, enough is enough... We made the switch just because Ai Jia was in a bad mood at the time, therefore we felt it would be more suitable for Aisha to play the third match."

Reporter: [Then why was he in a bad mood?]

Everyone: "..."

Tong Yao uneasily moved a bit on her chair…...Even she, not to mention Ai Jia, had the urge to flip the table in front of her at the reporter-- --

Why was he in a bad mood, you tell me, thought Tong Yao.

He was already not very happy for losing the match, then found out that his girlfriend under the stage was being confronted by a fan and had to take the blame for his bad performance. Could anyone be in a good mood under the situation?!

Tong Yao took a glance at the microphone in the reporter's hand. Just as she had expected, the logo on the microphone showed that this reporter was from an infamous esports media outlet. They liked to take words out of context and stirred up controversies around players. Their reports had regularly been refuted by esports clubs and players and they apologized each time, but their reporters still kept doing the same thing-- --

A famous incident was when a player had said: "I think the Korean players have brought more things to the Chinese region when they first started to come over here." But the media reported it as "A certain player has frankly pointed out that Korean players were only useful early on."

Ai Jia also noticed who was asking the question and mockingly twitched the corner of his lips. It was obvious that he didn't think this question was worthy of answering.

The atmosphere inside the room grew awkward.

That reporter sulkily sat back down when there were no answers forthcoming. But his question steered the interview towards a different direction, away from the matches themselves. Soon there was another report who stood up to ask-- --

Reporter: [Recently, there has been constant talk centered around the private love lives of professional players, as professional players yourselves, what do you think about all this?]

All the players from YQCB simply put down their microphones all together.

Seeing their reaction, Tong Yao felt like laughing but at the same time was somewhat annoyed by the question.

Little Fatty: [Just let it be, I don't have any particular thoughts about it-- --Actually, we play games everyday at base with very limited contact with other people, so we're basically all single."

Old K grabbed the microphone from Little Fatty and added to make a point: "But that doesn't mean we are monks in a temple-- --We can't find girlfriends, not that we don't want to, nor because we're not allowed to do that-- --It's very important to understand this."

Reporter: [However, there are quite a lot of fans who wish that players could focus on playing games and winning championships, rather than thinking about other concerns-- --It's like they wish while you're streaming ranked games, you should go check on stats or something during your breaks instead of going to play other odd games. There are quite a lot of these kinds of discussions on Tieba and other sites…...Fans just like to see you guys focusing on games and performing well.]

Lu Sicheng thought about it and used his left hand to pick up the microphone-- --Tong Yao had a feeling the man next to her was giving a signal that said: "pay attention, I'm going to make trouble." She gave him an uneasy look and tugged Lu Sicheng's right hand under the table.

It didn't dissuade Lu Sicheng.

What followed was a show of Lu Sicheng's amazing photographic memory and his caustic demeanor.

Lu Sicheng: "Allow me to rephrase what you just said and tell me if it makes sense or not: There are quite a lot of parents who wish their children could focus on their studies and earn higher scores in the entrance exam in order to get into Qinghua or Beida and not get caught up with other unrelated things-- --It's like they wish you would go memorize English vocabulary or something during your breaks instead of going to play some other odd game. There are a lot of these kinds of discussions at places where parents enjoy line dancing…...Parents just like to see you guys focus on your studies, earn good grades, and have a better life."

Reporter: "........."

Lu Sicheng: "It sounds quite reasonable."

Little Fatty already burst into laughter as he applauded.

Ai Jia also clapped as well though without much expression on his face.

Lu Sicheng continued: "Generally speaking, the fans who make such suggestions are most likely teenagers-- --or even if they are adults who are already out of school-- --I would like to remind them that professional players are normal human beings. I'm not going to ask them whether they're in class when they get online to sneer at players who won't train more but spend time on affairs or some odd games in their spare times, or whether they get on Tieba on their cell phones during class. I only wish that, sometimes, everyone could put themselves in our shoes and consider this: We are all young and I believe that most of us have done things like skipping classes, sleeping in class, or sneaking a peek at the pretty girls in class-- --tsk."

Lu Sicheng paused a moment.

Lu Sicheng: "Though I've never done that."

The foot that was stepping on his right foot moved away.

Lu Sicheng: "-- --Those similar experiences."

Lu Sicehng: "Therefore, we aren't any different than all of you. Just because we play professional games, we aren't especially noble or perfect like a saint…...It's quite a mundane thing to talk about a player playing Moonlight Blade today and Snake tomorrow, or having an affair the day after. Most of our time is spent on playing League of Legends. It's very possible that the time we spend on playing LOL is much more than what some people spend on their studies-- --Many highschoolers face the possibility that when they graduate, they might have to break up with their girlfriends in the future because they'll be going to different cities for college. But there are even more professional players who get dumped by their girlfriends in the middle of their careers, why?"

Ai Jia picked up the microphone: "Why?"

Little Fatty: "I suggest you go interview the jungler of Team CK, Yang god. He'll tell you why."

Tong Yao: "Hrm."

The reporter sat down, with the look as if he had been persuaded.

Yet another reporter stood up, looking unconvinced: [Cheng Ge seems quite knowledgeable about all this.]

Xiao Rui, who was leaning against the wall and keeping quiet all this time, straightened up and he wore an expression that said to the effect: you're making trouble here, I'm going to call the security guards now.

However, Lu Sicheng waved at him to tell him that it was alright. Then Lu Sicheng naturally picked up the topic: "It's because I'm older than most of the professional players here and I've been playing longer than most. Naturally, I've seen more things than them as well."

The reporter: [Then, it seems that Cheng Ge doesn't have any objection about players in a relationship.]

Lu Sicheng: "There's nothing wrong if they know where the limits are. It's not unheard of for highschool sweethearts to both get into Qinghua or Beida."

The reporter: [So, does Cheng Ge also want to fall in love?]

Lu Sicheng paused with the microphone in hand. Tong Yao lifted her hand to pull her hair behind her ear.

Lu Sicheng flatly said: "I already have someone I like now."

Everyone in the room was shocked.

All the reporters kept writing something in their notebooks. Every single ZGDX player turned to look at their captain with a confused look on their faces.

Tong Yao put down her hand and put the hand under the tablecloth to grip her pants. Her palm was drenched in sweat-- --On her face, she had to pretend to be surprised like everyone else. She also tried to convince herself: He didn't say anything! You haven't heard anything! Don't blush! Can't blush! Try to breathe lightly! Be calm! Must stay calm!

The reporter: [Then to those demanding fans, is there anything you would like to say to them, Cheng Ge?]

Just as the reporter finished his question, Tong Yao felt a big hand suddenly also go under the tablecloth and quietly put it on top of her hand. That big hand even forcefully slipped his fingers between her fingers.

In contrast to Tong Yao's sudden stiffened back, Lu Sicheng relaxedly leaned against the back of his chair.

"I would like to thank all the fans for their support and liking us. We'll do our best to play good games and win competitions. If possible, please come to the arena more often. And in addition to that..."

His calm and low voice sounded right next to Tong Yao's ear-- --

"If you really like a player, please come closer to his competition stage, but stay a bit further away from his personal life."