Chapter 26 – Don’t Be Afraid, I’m Here
On the morning of the online tournament day, the temperature soared to nearly 30 degrees. The sudden heat wave made the group of energetic teenagers uncomfortable, so they turned on the air conditioning for the first time since the beginning of summer.
By late afternoon, heavy rain began to fall. Even with the AC on, the humid smell of wet earth seeped into the room.
Another flash of lightning streaked across the sky.
Xiao Pai, holding his takeout by the window, remarked, “Looks like the thunder gods are all set. Tonight’s match feels like a trial by lightning.”
In the corner of the first team’s practice room, Tan Chunshan lay with his head resting on his large paws, looking melancholic—his entire dog life filled with sorrow.
The supervisor sent by the tournament organizers had already arrived at the base and was in the second team’s practice room, so the little dog couldn’t go find his dad even though it was thundering.
In the meeting room, a projector was set up, and the coach and team manager were waiting for the match to start.
With no one else around, the coach asked, “What did the team doctor say?”
“Everything’s fine,” Yu Haotian responded, sounding fairly relaxed. “As long as he’s not in that specific environment at the venue, the sound won’t trigger him.”
The coach sighed deeply, wanting to say more, but the door to the meeting room swung open.
The two turned to see An Liu, who had taken ten days off right after the May Day holiday.
Rain spots clung to An Liu’s sleeves as he closed the door behind him. “I just went upstairs, but they won’t let me into the practice room.”
“The tournament organizers are in there,” Yu Haotian said. “Come sit here and watch with us.”
The coach glanced at An Liu, seizing the moment to say, “It’s a good chance to get to know Song. He may be young, but he’s pretty impressive. He should be able to secure a good result.”
“Being on a team with Talk…” An Liu sat down, still looking at the floor as he set his umbrella aside. “Even a pig could fly, right?”
The coach immediately frowned.
Yu Haotian scoffed, “That comment—”
“It’s starting,” the coach interrupted. “Let’s deal with this later.”
As the tournament began, all the players were displayed on the screen, like a massive grade-wide assembly on DingTalk.
There were 16 teams, 64 players, each square filled with a face. Despite the varying camera qualities, all of the faces appeared equally blurry. Even when the participants were split into three batches for display, the viewers complained, “What’s this? I’m going blind! If the amateur director can’t do it right, they shouldn’t do it at all!”
However, when the final group of players appeared, two faces immediately stood out. Their images were so sharp and clear that they looked like they didn’t belong to the same broadcast as the others.
The director seemed to catch on to the secret of their popularity, quickly pulling their feeds and putting them side by side in a close-up on the screen.
On the left, the man had a calm, indifferent expression, with sharp and handsome features. He was known by many titles, such as “Aloof Prince” and “King of Esports”—he was Talk. On the right, the boy had a cold, beautiful face that immediately stunned the audience with his appearance. This was Song, the rising star fiercely competed over by the major teams in the past two months.
Neither of them realized they had been singled out by the broadcast. They turned to face each other, exchanging a few words, unknowingly showing their similarly striking profiles to the camera.
The live chat exploded instantly:
[“Ahhhhhhh! Talk and Song for the win!!!”]
[“Just a single glance between them makes my heart burst! Why does their eye contact feel so intense? Have they practiced this?!”]
[“This moment could totally be used as a couple’s profile pic! Screenshot taken! Sisters, grab it from the supertopic if you need it!”]
The commentators quickly jumped on the hype.
Commentator A: “Oh wow, isn’t that Talk and his biggest fan? Song’s practically a superstar stalker at this point. From his bold confession at the Spring Tournament to now competing alongside his idol on the same stage.”
Commentator B: “Seems like you know a lot about these two! Don’t tell me you have a level in their supertopic?”
Commentator A: “Haha, no, no. By the way, isn’t this Song’s trial match? He’s up against some heavyweights from the PCL region. It’s a lot of pressure for a rookie, so let’s hope he performs well.”
Commentator B: “With Talk personally guiding him, I’m sure he’ll be fine.”
In the WLG second team’s practice room, the game was still waiting to start. Everyone had their headsets on, so the sound of thunder outside seemed faint.
Ji Feng and Jin Cao, clearly the more nervous players, kept sighing every few seconds, filled with anxiety.
The repetitive sounds through the team’s voice channel were getting on Sang Ye’s nerves. “Can you two calm down already?”
Ji Feng and Jin Cao instantly fell silent.
Whimper… scared.
“I’ve noticed,” Tan Mo leaned back casually in his chair, tapping lightly on the mouse. “You’re really not nervous at all.”
Sang Ye froze for a moment. His gaze flickered to the side before he quickly caught himself, feeling slightly awkward.
He hadn’t been nervous at all—completely unfazed—but the moment Tan Mo spoke to him, things felt… different.
“It’s… not too bad, I guess.”
Sang Ye reached for the water bottle next to him, wanting to take a sip to calm his racing heart. But then, realizing he couldn’t use the restroom mid-game, he twisted the cap back on.
All the players were ready, and the match was about to begin.
Tan Mo sat up straight and placed his hand on the keyboard. “Song.”
“Hm?”
“Good luck.”
Ji Feng and Jin Cao: “???”
Are we not part of the team?
Do we not need good luck?
Captain’s favoritism is showing all the way from miles away!!!
Sang Ye also seemed to sense this difference in treatment. His adrenaline finally returned to normal, and he quietly responded, “Yes, sir.”
But as soon as he said it, he shrunk his neck, blushing furiously, wishing he could bite his tongue off.
He had managed to make English sound so clunky. Who knows how a returnee like Talk would tease him for it.
Sure enough, Tan Mo chuckled beside him.
So, when the broadcast camera gave the players one last close-up, Sang Ye was caught with his head down, his face flushed a vivid red that dominated the screen.
At that moment, a pure white hand entered the frame, giving the boy’s soft, rosy cheek a playful pinch.
…
The first round featured a flight path from P City to S City.
WLG chose the southern housing area of R City as their drop point, with another team landing right next door. The two teams were so close they could see each other across the rooftops.
Sang Ye hit the ground, swiftly grabbing an Uzi. He aimed at the opposing rooftop and knocked down a player who hadn’t managed to get downstairs in time.
The player crawled behind cover.
Since the Uzi has limited range, Sang Ye couldn’t finish him off. He didn’t stay to fight, instead turning and jumping down from the building.
WLG secured the surrounding three buildings to loot while pinning down the four enemies in the central building, not allowing them to leave and gather resources, slowly wearing down their health.
Commentator A: “Fortunately, Song managed to severely wound someone right after landing, buying time for his teammates to take over the buildings. Plus, throwing off the other team’s mindset right away—pretty solid. The rookie’s pacing is stable this round… Let’s see, the first phase safe zone has refreshed, and it’s a southern circle. Oh boy, there are quite a few teams down south, WLG’s going to face a lot of skirmishes on the way.”
Three minutes in, WLG finished off the enemy team and drove two cars out of the garage.
Gunfire echoed from various distances as they drove.
Ji Feng kept an eye on the kill feed, notifying his team of enemy locations: “Captain, NSN is at the school.”
“Keep driving,” Tan Mo replied nonchalantly. “They’re pinned by TES, they won’t start a fight unless they want to be caught in a crossfire…”
Before he could finish speaking, gunfire erupted from the hillside to their left, spraying the tires.
Tan Mo changed his command, “Jump out.”
The two cars were positioned as cover, and the four players each found a spot to take shelter.
Tan Mo crouched behind one of the cars, switching to his sniper rifle: “What’s going on?”
NSN was willing to let TES benefit just to block their position—this level of targeting was obvious.
“D*mn it, normally these guys don’t even dare to make a peep when they see Talk,” Ji Feng fumbled with a grenade. “But today they’re acting all bold?”
Jin Cao peeked out and immediately drew heavy fire, causing him to duck back down in fear: “What do we do? They’re too strong.”
“What do you mean, ‘what do we do’?” Sang Ye said, already aiming down the scope. “We give them a beating, and they’ll settle down.”
Before Ji Feng and Jin Cao could react, Sang Ye fired several shots, downing one enemy. Then, he rushed out from behind a tree, shooting from the hip, and left Lu Lu critically wounded.
At almost the same moment, Tan Mo fired his Kar98k, landing a headshot on Lu Qikai.
Sang Ye stepped forward to finish him off with another shot.
Tan Mo quickly switched to his submachine gun and aimed at the last enemy.
Two gunshots rang out.
[WLG-Talk eliminated NSN-Shine with a Beryl M762.]
Tan Mo stared at the kill notification for two seconds, then casually reloaded as if nothing had happened.
Jin Cao was down, and Ji Feng was knocked out. Sang Ye went to help them up.
Commentator A: “That seamless coordination! So smooth! Song and Talk are unstoppable!”
Commentator B: “You really can’t judge a book by its cover with Song. He looks soft, but when he picks up a gun, he’s a fierce little fighter. Adorable but deadly!”
Commentator A: “You must not have heard the saying going around online: ‘Mess with anyone, but don’t mess with a die-hard fan!’ NSN just targeted Talk’s car with a barrage, and who was leading the charge in that team fight?”
Commentator B responded with a knowing “Oooooh~~~.”
In the WLG meeting room:
Yu Haotian clapped and exclaimed, “That was brilliant! We’re not even halfway through the match and Song’s already racked up four kills, one more than Talk.”
The coach smiled, “Seems like it’s clear now. The bigger the stage, the more excited this kid gets. During practice games, it felt like he was holding back.”
“One more kill, huh? That’s because Talk set him up for those, isn’t it obvious?”
A voice suddenly spoke from the back row.
“With that kind of stable output environment, anyone could go all out.”
The coach turned around, his expression serious. “In team battles, creating good output opportunities for each other is part of the job, isn’t it? If Talk is willing to support him, it shows he’s earned that trust. If you have any more complaints, why don’t you say them all now?”
An Liu glanced at the coach with a sullen expression, clenched his fists, and stayed silent.
In the practice room, Sang Ye had gotten a bit carried away during the earlier team fight against NSN. He rubbed his flushed face and tapped the mouse rapidly, looting while biting his lip. “Sorry, I rushed in without giving a heads-up.”
Now that Sang Ye had calmed down, he realized that disobeying orders like that might’ve caused trouble for Talk. Plus, Ji Feng and Jin Cao had warned him before the match not to be a lone wolf—Talk hated people acting on their own.
Tan Mo’s voice was emotionless as he spoke calmly, “You don’t need to give me a heads-up in the future.”
Sang Ye’s fingers twitched, missing an attachment while looting, leaving him feeling a bit lost.
Tan Mo said, “You have the highest authority with me; you don’t need permission for anything.”
Sang Ye swallowed, blinked quickly, and with trembling hands, picked up the attachment again. “Oh… okay, I… yeah.”
Jin Cao was dead and could already smash his keyboard.
Ji Feng sat numbly in front of his computer.
Both of them, physically and emotionally drained, had already grown used to this treatment.
Double standards.
Just part of life.
…
In the first match, WLG secured 12 kills and a chicken dinner. Combined with placement points, they scored 22 points and took first place.
The official match gave Sang Ye an unprecedented rush of excitement. Even with the air conditioning on, his face was flushed red from the heat of the game.
There was only a brief few minutes to rest.
Sang Ye took off his headset, and the sound of the rain outside suddenly became clear, with thunder rumbling intermittently. He picked up his water bottle.
Tan Mo, sitting beside him, asked, “How are you feeling?”
As Sang Ye tilted his head back to drink, he glanced at him and nodded.
“Good,” Tan Mo said in a low voice, “I was a bit worried you wouldn’t enjoy the competition, and then you’d just stop being a fan altogether.”
“Phfffft—!!”
Sang Ye quickly turned his head to spray the water into the corner, avoiding the keyboard and monitor.
The second match began shortly after.
This time, the plane’s flight path cut right through the center of the map from north to south.
At least four teams had their eyes on the military base, including WLG.
As soon as they landed, the fights began.
Gunfire exploded in their ears, a constant barrage.
Sang Ye trapped three players from one team in the basement, tossing three grenades through the window. One player was blown up on the spot, and the remaining two had no choice but to rush out.
Just as Sang Ye was about to finish them off, suddenly—
“Boom!!!”
With a thunderclap so loud that it pierced through the noise-canceling headphones, the screen went black, plunging the room into darkness.
Sang Ye froze and looked up.
All the lights had gone out, and the air conditioner emitted a shutdown sound as the cool air stopped flowing.
“D*mn it!” Ji Feng’s voice came from the side. “Power outage!”
“…..”
Sang Ye was speechless.
What kind of luck was this?
The supervisor pulled out his phone, sounding a bit anxious. “Hold on, I’ll contact the manager.”
It seemed that only this area had lost power, while the other zones were still running. Even if WLG’s power came back quickly, the disconnected players wouldn’t be able to rejoin the same match, which meant their second-game results were as good as lost.
Ji Feng and Jin Cao fumbled for their phones to use as flashlights and cursed their way out to find the coach.
Sang Ye leaned back into his gaming chair, exhaling still-hot breath. All he could do now was wait.
Suddenly, Sang Ye realized something and glanced to the side.
Ever since the power outage, the person beside him hadn’t said a word.
It was too dark to see much, but Sang Ye could make out the tall, unmoving silhouette sitting next to him.
He squinted, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness, and tentatively whispered, “Talk?”
The man didn’t respond, still sitting upright and rigid.
Frowning, Sang Ye pulled out his phone and turned on the flashlight, shining it towards him. “Are you—?”
The moment the light hit him, Sang Ye saw that the man’s skin was ghostly pale, his hair damp with sweat. Every muscle on his face was stiff, and his wide, terrified eyes were filled with gathering tears.
Sang Ye’s heart suddenly felt like it had been hollowed out, leaving him unable to make a sound.
—“Before the qualifiers, you were sitting alone in the practice room… and suddenly, you couldn’t move…”
—“I didn’t know what was happening to you, and the day before the spring tournament, you were urgently replaced…”
—“…I should have stayed. You might have needed me…”
…
Tan Mo was still fighting in the game a second ago, and suddenly, he fell forward to the ground. In his dazed vision, a pair of dirty children’s hands were propped up in the soft mud.
Surrounded by towering trees that seemed to stretch endlessly, the sky was devoid of the moon, yet the darkness was filled with her eerie glow.
A bullet grazed the boy’s shoulder, tearing through the skin, igniting a searing pain. Yet, he didn’t let out a cry, just kept running forward. Behind him, heavy footsteps followed relentlessly.
His legs moved mechanically, his eyes seeing nothing but darkness. He didn’t know where the finish line was or when he might be caught. Fear consumed his small heart, leaving him numb to everything else.
In the midst of this near-death agony, a gentle warmth suddenly crept onto the back of his hand.
A hoarse, distant voice of a boy reached him:
“Don’t be afraid…”
“I’m here…”
Sang Ye had already turned off the flashlight, worried the light might startle Tan Mo.
He placed a hand over Tan Mo’s, which felt cold and stiff, almost like ice. Without thinking, he began gently rubbing it with his palm, unsure of what else to do.
Suddenly.
Tan Mo’s hand twitched.
Sang Ye looked up.
Tan Mo blinked, and a tear rolled down his cheek. His trembling lips parted, releasing a soft, broken whisper:
“S… Song…”