Chapter 32
A day later, at the first playoff match.
The massive arena was packed, the air thick with excitement. In the stands, glow sticks and signboards glittered like a galaxy, while fans chanted their slogans, each wave of cheers louder than the last.
At the commentary booth, three casters were already in position. This year’s special guest was retired AVG player Horse, joined by regular commentators Mika and Yamy.
After adjusting his mic, Mika was the first to speak: “Welcome, everyone, to the PCL Summer Playoffs!”
The audience erupted, and the live broadcast viewership quickly broke past one million.
[“We’re here, family—come watch AVG’s collapse live”]
[“+1 viewer”]
Yamy continued: “A total of 16 teams have advanced to this stage of the playoffs. They’ll compete across three rounds, with six matches in each. All games will be streamed live on Aurora TV. Now—”
“Let’s welcome our 16 teams to the stage!”
With a burst of stirring music, the players entered.
Following the camera feed, Mika commented: “It’s worth noting that one team has made a roster change this playoffs.”
The camera cut to Ji Wei stepping onto the stage. His smaller frame made him stand out among his teammates, his pale skin seeming to glow.
[“He’s so short, hahahahaha”]
[“Didn’t Da Shu say AVG’s average height was 1.80m? I thought he was bluffing, but now, next to Unique, Ji Wei actually looks tall…”]
[“Since when does height matter? Am I watching the NBA or PUBG?”]
[“Baby looks so pretty!”]
Yamy: “That’s right. I’ll hand it over to Horse to introduce this player.”
Lao Ma, with his slicked-back hair, looked more like 38 than 28. Flashing a spirited smile to the camera, he said: “This is AVG’s newest addition, Unique. I’m sure most of you have heard of him already. Personally, I’m really looking forward to seeing what he can do on stage!”
Mika: “Not just heard of him! He’s been all over the news these past few days.”
Yamy nodded: “I’ve watched Unique’s streams before, and honestly, when I found out he was joining AVG, I was pretty shocked.”
Mika: “I’m sure you weren’t the only one. You could say the entire internet was shaken! What do you think, Horse?”
Lao Ma only smiled, dodging the question: “I’ll keep it a mystery for now—let’s see how he performs in the match.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, let’s head into the very first game of this year’s PCL Spring Playoffs!”
…
The match begins.
The first game was played on the Erangel map, with the flight path running from below K Town to the left side of the airport.
This route was some distance from AVG’s usual drop point, Port G. Yin Sijue selected a vehicle spawn for their landing, and Da Shu drove the team toward their destination.
In official matches, each team typically has a fixed drop point, and the first phase rarely sees any fighting. Fans could watch without much tension, each focusing on their own favorite team.
Of course, the most closely watched team of this match was AVG, who had just swapped their roster and had been trending on social media for two days straight. The commentators were focused on them, and the broadcast director frequently cut to their POV.
Mika: “We can see that this flight path isn’t very favorable for AVG. The safe zone spawned southeast of S City, which puts them at a low-priority circle. To rotate in, they’ll have to pass through KKC’s ruins and NS’s position in P City, which means there’s a high chance of getting surrounded and intercepted.”
Yamy: “That’s right—let’s see how AVG handles it.”
Meanwhile, the four AVG players looting Port G didn’t feel any pressure from their unfavorable position.
Da Shu: “Mini-14! A Mini-14 just spawned in container one!”
Mi Li: “Give it to Unique.”
Da Shu: “Then Unique, give me a spicy bullfrog.”
Mi Li: “How about I give you a slap instead?”
Da Shu: “I’ll drop all the bullets and gas in my bag right now.”
Ji Wei climbed onto the container, picked up the rifle, and said, “I’ll treat you after the match.”
Yin Sijue saw the safe zone refresh and marked a rotation path on the map:
“Almost done looting? Let’s head out early.”
Ji Wei: “I’m nearly done. Mi Li, Da Shu, are you pushing out?”
Mi Li: “I’m set.”
Da Shu ran over to the car, asking as he drove: “I’m set too. But why didn’t you ask the captain if he needed it?”
Ji Wei paused, then asked: “Doesn’t he only use quickdraw mags?”
The team comms went silent for a moment.
Da Shu: “Who said the captain only uses quickdraws?”
Ji Wei froze. His character stopped inside the warehouse, facing Yin Sijue, who was clearing out his backpack.
Neither of them spoke. Strangely, Yin Sijue stopped moving as well.
“Give it to me,” Yin Sijue said.
“Alright.” Ji Wei dropped the quickdraw mag from his bag, then added to Da Shu, “My mistake.”
…
The team drove into the safe zone. Along the way, Yin Sijue marked points on the map to ensure their rotation avoided enemy sightlines.
No one mentioned the quickdraw again. It seemed like just a minor slip earlier on, and everyone quickly refocused on the match.
On the big screen, NS, who had landed in P City, had rotated to the hillside and taken the high ground. The four of them were aiming down at opponents trying to enter the circle from below.
From the bird’s-eye view, the commentators provided an impassioned play-by-play.
Mika: “Solve’s chosen path into the circle is incredibly safe. It perfectly avoids all areas within KKC’s reach.”
Yamy: “Yes, but G Port’s entry priority is too low. NS has probably set up to block them.”
Yin Sijue also anticipated that NS would most likely choose the mountain as their hold.
He gave a decisive command: “Full southeast, 240—NS ahead. Speed up and flank, engage them directly.”
Da Shu: “Got it.”
The first fight of the match was about to break out, and the chat exploded with excitement.
[“Here it comes, Solve is definitely going for it!”]
[“I thought Unique joined, so they’d play more conservatively.”]
[“You’re overthinking it—AVG has always been reckless.”]
[“Guys, NS is about to get the first kill. Congrats to AVG in advance on their first playoff loss!】
As the vehicle reached the foot of the mountain, NS spotted the incoming squad and immediately opened fire. Bullets clanged against the car’s body with a sharp metallic ring.
Yin Sijue: “Push forward.”
Da Shu drove straight up the slope, braking hard just before the summit. He swerved sharply, parking the car sideways at the ridge’s edge.
“Fire.”
Ji Wei jumped out and quickly set up his line of fire. Yin Sijue led the charge, while Da Shu circled around to scout enemy positions from the rear.
[AVG_Solve] used his AKM assault rifle to knock down [NS_Moon]
Mi Li was tagged by enemy fire and fell back with low health. Seeing this, Ji Wei immediately stepped in, flanking right around the vehicle and unleashing a precise burst of shots!
[AVG_Unique] used his M416 assault rifle to knock down [NS_Bella]
[AVG_Unique] used his M416 assault rifle to knock down [NS_Sun]
At the same time, Da Shu lobbed a grenade over the jeep’s roof. It landed perfectly behind the diagonal cover where the last NS member was hiding.
[AVG_Tree] used a grenade to kill [NS_Piggy]
[Team Wiped]
The crowd erupted in an uproar.
…
Aurora TV, well aware of how anticipated today’s match was, had worked overtime to upgrade their broadcast system. They even bragged on Weibo beforehand, promising the smoothest livestream ever.
But in the stream room, with the Aurora logo stamped in the upper right corner, the broadcast lagged horribly. A flood of white question marks filled the chat, flickering like static on a broken TV.
[“? ? ? ? ?”]
[“Hello?? Who are you??”]
[“Who told me Unique was Lao Liu? I’m filing fraud charges!”]
[“This positioning? This reaction time? Your Lao Liu and my Lao Liu aren’t the same person.”]
[“Wait—Unique fans are confused too.”]
[“Everyone thought he’d just get finished off after being knocked, but when they saw this on stream—wow!”]
[“Wei, you can lie to others, but why lie to your own fans?”]
[“Teacher, our Ji Wei was a cunning old man before he went pro. How did he turn into such a tough guy on the field? How exactly does AVG take care of their kids?”]
At the match, the director replayed the scene of Unique knocking out two opponents in slow motion.
Lao Ma had been waiting for this moment. He gave the camera a look that said, “I told you so, but you didn’t believe me,” and spoke with a hint of pride: “Please allow me to reintroduce him. This is AVG’s newest player, Unique—our number four gunner and sniper. He’s strong, reliable, and a true sparring partner.”
Mika finally recovered from her shock: “…A sparring partner, really.”
Yamy, who had already finished her round, gave Lao Ma a speechless look: “If I hadn’t just seen Unique’s direct assault myself… Even if you broadcast it, people still might not believe it!”
After catching her breath, she added, “What surprised me even more was how well AVG’s four players coordinated in that fight. They were even sharper than in the regular season. It’s hard to believe this was just a last-minute substitution.”
Mika: “Yeah, the other teams better not let their guard down.”
…
“Oh, I remember now.”
Having just won the fight, the four players were in high spirits. Da Shu drove the car behind the turret on the mountaintop, where they planned to block KKC, who still hadn’t entered the circle.
On the way, Ji Wei was busily sniping out every tire in sight. He turned his head when he heard Da Shu say:
“When the captain first joined the team, he only ever used a quick mag. He thought it was just more comfortable to reload fast and keep firing. He only changed after Brother Qiu nagged him about it over and over.”
Da Shu got out of the car and headed into the gun tower with them. As they walked, he asked Ji Wei: “But back then he hadn’t even played a match yet. How did you know?”
“…”
The team voice chat went silent, everyone waiting for Ji Wei’s answer.
He abruptly changed the subject: “Why aren’t we allowed to use quick mag?”
Mi Li explained, “With Solve in command, we couldn’t focus too much on attacking, otherwise we’d fall behind in the game. And since I was our main attacker, he wasn’t under that much pressure in fights, so he didn’t need to rely on constant reloads with quick mag. Brother Qiu felt extended mags were more stable.”
Ji Wei: “I see.”
Da Shu pressed on: “So how did you know—”
“Stop talking, KKC are coming,” Yin Sijue cut in.
The three of them immediately snapped back into combat mode. Ji Wei took position and scoped down the mountain.
A minute later, the four KKC players drove into the circle. Ji Wei used his Mini-14 to knock out the driver and co-driver, and with the others dealing follow-up damage, they wiped the team.
The four then pushed forward, catching MKBK as he was escaping the blue zone. Afterward, they stopped in P City, right in the middle of the circle, ready to face the Spring Split champions, UGC.
By this point, the game had entered the third stage, with only 15 players remaining. Unique’s scoreboard showed 6 kills.
…
In the arena, the director—perhaps also intrigued—cut to his perspective every time Unique fired a shot.
The stands were filled with fans from all kinds of teams, their banners and support materials scattered everywhere. But the only words connected to Ji Wei were “Go AVG” and “AVG will win!”
It wasn’t that Ji Wei’s fans didn’t want to come—the playoff tickets had sold out right after the regular season ended. When AVG officially announced him the day before the tournament, his fans simply couldn’t get one.
Replaying the highlights, the commentators were stunned.
Mika: “How is Unique’s sniper rifle this accurate?”
Yamy: “Seriously. It’s like he’s locked onto their heads.”
Mika, curious: “Ma , how old is Unique?”
Lao Ma: “Seventeen, almost eighteen.”
Mika: “So young?! There aren’t any active players younger than him, right?”
Yamy: “Yeah. Kelly from UGC just turned 18 earlier this year. Looks like the strongest kid already has a successor.”
Lao Ma: “They’re almost at P City. We’re about to run into those two little guys!”
In the game, Da Shu drove cautiously. Everyone knew without saying that a fierce battle was inevitable in P City.
As they entered, the city was eerily silent, without a single gunshot. But from the viewers’ perspective, the four UGC members were already spread out across the area, establishing a dominant line of fire.
[“This is basically catching a turtle in a jar”]
[“Why come here? Isn’t that jungle ahead good enough?”]
[“Are you questioning Solve’s command? The jungle isn’t a good place to hold till the end.”]
[“UGC is steady as ever. If it were me, I’d already be shooting.”]
Yin Sijue: “Unique, find us a good hiding spot in P City.”
“Okay.”
Ji Wei scanned the surroundings carefully, when a figure suddenly darted past the three-story blue building.
To maximize firepower, most professional teams create crossfire from multiple angles, spreading out to achieve wider coverage. Ji Wei knew P City well—three years ago, he and Yin Sijue had often fought here.
If someone from UGC was in Blue Three, then the diagonal red-brick building to the right was almost certainly occupied. High probability: two attackers stationed in the red brick to draw fire, while the others pushed from both flanks.
Ji Wei quickly marked the map: “I spotted someone in Blue Three. Watch these three spots.”
Yin Sijue immediately understood: “Mi Li and I will take the red brick. UGC’s assaulters, Kelly and Am, are most likely inside. Da Shu and Unique will hunt down the other two.”
Mi Li: “Got it.”
With that, Solve fired two bullets straight into the red brick house, blocking their path. Footsteps echoed—then gunfire erupted. He and Mi Li flanked front and back, cutting off the escape route and leaving the enemies almost no room to move.
Inside, the UGC player was already low on health, while the two teammates who could support were pinned down by Ji Wei and Da Shu, unable to peek out.
Forced, Kelly and Am had no choice but to come out for a desperate fight.
Outside the arena, Mika’s voice rose: “Can Kelly hold? No! Solve killed Kelly—so what about Am, can he escape?!”
Yamy: “Unique sniped everyone who could cover him! Am has nowhere left to run!”
[AVG_Solve] used his S12K shotgun to kill [UGC_Am]
[Team Wiped]
Lao Ma: “Congratulations to AVG for taking P City!”
The barrage of comments scrolled by like the wind.
[“Who’s the turtle?”]
[“Who’s the turtle?”]
[“Who’s the turtle?”]
[“UGC even had an airdrop this round, and they just handed it over!”]
[“The director cut to the team voice replay!!”]
On the big screen, AVG’s team comms during the siege were replayed. The three points Ji Wei had marked on the map overlapped absurdly well with UGC’s positions.
Mika’s eyes widened. “That’s terrifying! Tell me, who knows hiding spots better than a laoliu?”
Yamy: “It’s like they had clairvoyance this round… Solve was right to send Unique to scout.”
Mika turned to Lao Ma: “Wasn’t Unique just a temporary sub? How is his teamwork with the others this good?”
Lao Ma joked: “I don’t know either! Maybe Lao Liu really is a jack of all trades.”
[“Horse, hahahahahahaha”]
[“Today really changed my mind. I’ll never say Lao Liu isn’t fit for competition again.”]
[“Why isn’t the Lao Liu I run into in-game like Unique??”]
In the match, riding the momentum of victory, AVG went on a roll. Yin Sijue looted Kelly’s DogZa, Ji Wei picked up an MK14, and they wiped the last team in P City, securing their first win without suspense.
…
With that opening victory, AVG’s results only climbed higher.
Game 2: Erangel — 3rd place.
Game 3: Rongdu — 2nd place.
…
Game 6: Miramar — 1st place.
By the end of Day 1 of playoffs, AVG’s ranking soared from 6th to 3rd, rocketing upward.
On the ride back in the nanny van, Da Shu kept scrolling through Tieba and Weibo, sharing fan comments with everyone.
“‘Tree’s grenades are insanely accurate! PUBG has its own Thor!’ Ah, thanks, thanks. Just average accuracy.”
“‘That fearless rush by Mishi made me pregnant!!’ Hmm, that one’s a bit too much, don’t say that.”
Mi Li shot him a glare.
“‘I love watching Jushi’s gunfights so much! I could watch him forever.’ Oh no, sis, he’ll retire eventually.”
Yin Sijue: “Stop talking nonsense.”
“This user named Kesiwole said, ‘Seriously, no one thinks there’s something fishy about Solve and Unique?’ Hm? What does that even mean? Are they accusing you of cheating?”
Xu Shaoqiu, who was driving, frowned in confusion. “That shouldn’t be the case, right?”
Da Shu: “Then what could possibly be fishy about them?”
Ji Wei: …
From the corner of his eye, Yin Sijue caught Ji Wei’s flushed cheeks and raised an eyebrow. “Any comments about Unique?”
“Oh, there is. This one—”
Da Shu started reading aloud: “I summoned six gods during the summoning event. You should give it a try too!”
Ji Wei struggled to respond. “…Was that supposed to be praise?”
Da Shu sighed. “Not really? Let me check again.”
“This! This person is really talented. Let me sing it for you—
‘It’s a rumor that Lao Liu is afraid of guns.
What’s so scary about men with guns?
Muster up your courage and snipe them through,
This age-old prejudice must be overturned!’”
Up front, Xu Shaoqiu nearly drove the car into the greenbelt.
Yin Sijue turned to look out the window, his shoulders shaking slightly as he tried hard to hold back laughter.
Mi Li was silent for a long moment. “…Netizens are quite creative.”
Ji Wei: “Thank you.”
That comment was perfect. Just… don’t comment again next time.
Da Shu kept scrolling through Weibo, grinning foolishly, until a link suddenly redirected him from Sina to Maoyu Live.
On the stream, a man with a perm and a pockmarked face was playing PUBG—it was none other than Wolf, who had moved out of the base just a few days ago.
Da Shu: “Holy crap… Wolf? Why’s he streaming on Maoyu TV now? And he’s still so popular!”
Xu Shaoqiu glanced in the rearview mirror. “Is he using his main account or a smurf?”
“Of course it’s a smurf! Didn’t he sign with Aurora TV? Isn’t this a breach of contract?”
Xu Shaoqiu explained as he drove: “After we terminated his contract, Aurora cut him loose too. He’s got a mountain of penalties to pay, and Aurora’s suing him. He must be strapped for cash.”
On stream, Wolf kept playing PUBG, occasionally glancing sideways to read chat.
‘AVG’s results today? Didn’t pay attention. Don’t mention irrelevant stuff in here.’
‘Someone’s prone in the grass ahead—it’s Lao Liu. Dead. Honestly, running into Lao Liu in-game is such bad luck. How can a player like that even stay in PUBG?’
Yin Sijue’s eyes narrowed as he shot a cold glance at the voice’s source. “Turn it off.”
Da Shu: “Yeah, turn it off. Unique, don’t take it to heart. He’s just jealous.”
Ji Wei, unfazed: “It’s fine.”
As long as no one dragged Yin Sijue into it, he didn’t care what Wolf said.
After a quick dinner, the evening was once again filled with training.
The first two games on the second day of the playoffs were played on Miramar. The team had queued all night in the desert and only finished in the early hours of the morning.
Ji Wei practiced until he was dizzy, then passed out as soon as he got back to his room. Lying in bed, he half-consciously scrolled through his phone.
His Weibo feed showed real-time trending topics, and while browsing, a livestream recording suddenly popped up on his homepage. It looked like Wolf’s stream, captioned with a rather puzzling tag:
#WOLF WEI#
What was that supposed to mean?
Ji Wei didn’t understand. His eyelids slowly closed, and he drifted off to sleep.
…
The next day, Ji Wei woke to a call from his brother.
Still half-asleep, he pressed the phone to his ear, cheek buried in the pillow. “Hello…”
On the other end, Ji Lin asked, “Do you have a match today?”
“Yes, at three in the afternoon.”
There was a brief silence. “Then get some more sleep. Remember to set your alarm, stay off your phone, and do your best for the game.”
He hung up immediately.
Ji Wei, now fully awake, was left dumbfounded. “?!”
Wasn’t Ji Lin the one who called? What did he mean by stay off your phone? That was absurd!
Still, drowsiness always dulled irritation. After another hour’s nap, Ji Wei turned off his alarm and headed downstairs to gather at the first team base.
When he pushed open the door, Xu Shaoqiu was in the training room on the phone. His tone was subdued and restrained, and phrases like find the trolls and remove trending searches drifted faintly through the air.
Ji Wei stepped inside. On the sofa sat a man with a scruffy beard, clearly up all night. He held an unlit cigarette between his fingers.
“What’s wrong, Brother Qiu?”
Xu Shaoqiu turned, his red eyes landing on Ji Wei. “Unique, you’re here. Sit down and wait—I’ve called everyone down in the group chat.”
Since the other man didn’t elaborate, Ji Wei wisely stopped asking questions. He sat quietly on the sofa, hands resting on his knees, and waited for his teammates.
Da Shu was the first to come down.
He was glued to his phone, not watching his step, and nearly missed the stairs. Momentum carried him tumbling down five steps in a row.
“Holy crap!”
Xu Shaoqiu snapped, “Watch where you’re going!”
Holding onto the wall, D Sshu finally steadied himself. Still clutching his phone, he exclaimed in shock, “Is Wei Chengguang crazy?”
Ji Wei, sitting on the sofa, looked bewildered. “What’s wrong?”
“Look at this!” Ignoring Xu Shaoqiu’s frantic winks, Da Shu rushed over and shoved the phone into Ji Wei’s hands.
The screen was playing a livestream recording—the same one Ji Wei vaguely remembered seeing before bed.
In the video, Wolf was logging into his Steam account. After typing in his credentials, he turned to the camera and said, “I’m switching accounts today. I haven’t used these in a while.”
Ji Wei’s right eyelid twitched. A bad feeling crept over him.
Before the fans could react, Wolf had already pulled up his account. With deliberate emphasis, he clicked on his profile and zoomed in on the livestream. A golden row of Asia’s top-ranked logos gleamed in the details.
In the upper-right corner, the account ID was clearly displayed: [WEI].
…
Three years ago, after his parents canceled all his social media accounts, Ji Wei had once thought about using his gaming account to contact Yin Sijue.
But whenever he logged in, the account was offline. Ji Wei could only wait—day after day, from morning to night—until the moment SJUE’s ID lit up.
Then, one day, he tried to log in and found that he couldn’t anymore.
He tried repeatedly, entering the password again and again. After searching online, he realized his account had likely been hacked.
Ji Wei had registered the game with his ** email and used Ji Lin’s help for real-name verification on the payment account. But after his parents canceled his ** account, the email address tied to it was gone too. He couldn’t even send a recovery email. Helplessly, he watched as his last way of reaching Yin Sijue slipped away.
When Ji Lin came home late that evening after working overtime, he found his younger brother sitting in front of the computer, tears streaming down his face as he typed the same password over and over. Each time, the error message popped up again. His eyes were filled with despair, and as he turned to look at Ji Lin, two large tears fell straight down his cheeks.
Ji Lin couldn’t understand why his little brother—who hadn’t cried when he left home alone, hadn’t cried when he jumped out a window and got badly hurt—was now sobbing like this, all because his game account had been stolen.
“Don’t worry, don’t worry. I’ll help you. Let me take a look.”
“It seems the only option is sending a reset email. I’ll log in to the official website and ask customer service… Oh my god, why is everything in English? I just passed CET-4 and thought I’d never have to use this language again.”
“Wait, let me search what these words mean.”
Ten minutes later, Ji Lin still hadn’t figured out how to send a password recovery request.
Ji Wei finally muttered, “…Forget it.”
“It doesn’t count. How could it? Your account might not have many skins, but it has several number-one titles. It’s awful that it was stolen! How can someone be so shameless as to steal even from someone who isn’t well-off? I’m sure a platform this big has more ways to recover a password than just email verification. Hold on, let me research it.”
“No need to recover it.” Ji Wei lowered his eyes, a tear sliding down his cheek. “It’s pointless.”
Ji Lin looked back, confused. “What do you mean, pointless?”
The boy stared at his phone, tears dripping onto the screen in his palm. He looked fragile and heartbroken.
The water stain magnified the content on the display: AVG’s Weibo post announcing their newly signed attacker. A new account. The ID: Solve. The name: Yin Sijue.
The ID he had waited for would never light up again.
…
After replaying the video twice, Ji Wei finally snapped out of his memories.
Wolf’s smug voice resurfaced in his mind: “It’s been so long since I logged into this account… I don’t even know where my rank dropped to. It’s fine, I’ll grind it back this time.”
Realizing that the man in front of him had stolen his account, Ji Wei could no longer hide the disgust in his eyes.
Xu Shaoqiu said wearily, “I didn’t want to show you this. That Weibo post has been blowing up since early this morning and is already trending. Originally, it had nothing to do with us, but now the narrative is that AVG is dropping its top player just to prop up a big-name streamer. Someone’s clearly stirring public opinion.”
He hesitated, then added, “The comments… there are so many of them. They’re all cursing Unique, spreading conspiracy theories. It’s absurd. Don’t read them.”
Ji Wei scrolled past rows of boring, venomous comments—until one suddenly caught his eye.
It was from a longtime Solve fan. The title read: [Does anyone still remember Juewei Duck Neck from back in the day?]
He tapped it open. The comment count was already over 999.
[1L: First, let me show my credentials—8,000+ hours of game time and a Top 20 ranking in Asia three years ago. I’ve been a Solve fan since before he even went pro. Back then, he wasn’t called Solve but SJUE. He only changed his ID after going professional. Luckily, AVG included “SJUE” in their official announcement, or else I’d never have realized the player I’d been following all along had gone pro.
Back then, I was lucky enough to be matched with Jue Shen in-game. He always had a regular teammate, a player ranked second, with the ID WEI. The two of them queued almost every day. If one wasn’t available, the other wouldn’t team up with anyone else and would just play solo.
At the time, Tieba was full of fangirls swooning over the two of them. Because WEI’s avatar was a Psyduck, people gave the pair a nickname: “Juewei Duck Neck.” Looking back, it was actually kind of cringy.
When the official announcement came, we were all saying in the group that Wei Shen was definitely going pro, but AVG never announced him. Later, no other team ever saw him again. We didn’t know what happened, but the duo that was once inseparable just vanished. Neither of them logged in after that.
These two are considered legends from PUBG’s early days. I’m not defending Wolf for what he did, but I didn’t expect to see their reunion in this way today. It’s truly sad.]
Many people in the forum even posted old screenshots of games and leaderboards where the two of them had been matched together.
Ji Wei couldn’t help but feel a little bitter. He hadn’t expected people to still remember them.
[2L: A longtime Jue Shen fan showed up uninvited… I didn’t think anyone still remembered this duo. Now that Bluehole has removed the top-tier titles, there’s only the unified Top 500 rank left. They and OP must be the last generation to have had those old tags.]
[3L: The two of them were really close. Back then, Wei refused to use his mic no matter what, so SJUE always acted as his spokesperson. Whenever a voice reply was needed, he was the one who spoke up.]
[4L: Wait, so Wolf really is Wei? Then why did AVG cancel his contract? That makes no sense.]
[11L: ? Seriously though, doesn’t anyone find it strange? They were so close back then, so why would Wolf privately badmouth Solve?]
Because he’s not Wei at all.
Ji Wei rolled his eyes. That guy was just an account thief!
Footsteps sounded behind him. Yin Sijue, still groggy from sleep, came downstairs holding a cup of coffee he’d just made in the pantry.
“What’s going on?”
Xu Shaoqiu shoved his phone at him, grinding his teeth.
“I told you that guy was WEI… and you still insisted on making me buy health supplements from you!”
“?” Yin Sijue took the phone, frowned as he skimmed the video, then gave Xu Shaoqiu a cold look.
“He never was in the first place.”
“You’re buying into it again? Then I wasn’t wrong at the time.”
Xu Shaoqiu bristled. “His account and his logo were exposed—how could it be fake?”
Ji Wei noticed Yin Sijue’s casual glance at him, which he interpreted as worry that the comments might affect him. But that was unnecessary. Those posts mocking Unique while praising WEI had completely balanced out in his mind.
And the thought that people online still remembered his past with Yin Sijue… it even made him a little happy. Those years were no longer just a cage that trapped him, but had become a beautiful story in the eyes of others.
“PUBG isn’t about accounts,” Yin Sijue said, handing the phone back to Xu Shaoqiu. “If he could hit number one on the leaderboard with that level of skill, then that would really be a miracle.”
Xu Shaoqiu: “So you’re saying that account wasn’t his? Then where did he get it?”
Yin Sijue picked up his peripheral bag, checking the equipment he was bringing. He said casually, “A few years ago, Steam’s system was imperfect. You could register with just an email address—no real-name verification, no security questions. Hacking an account was easy.”
“How could it be that easy? Then why wasn’t your account hacked?”
The corners of his lips curved slightly. “Maybe because I set a strong password.”
Ji Wei, the weak-password guy: …
…
It was the second day of the playoffs, and no one had time to dwell on the matter. After dinner, they drove to the stadium.
Xu Shaoqiu assumed the incident wouldn’t affect the game.
In the car, he told the players, “PR is already handling it. Don’t worry, just focus on the match.”
But the moment they got out, people swarmed the entrance like bees.
[Manager Xu, why did you terminate my Wolf’s contract?]
[Was Unique’s joining the team even legal?]
[Solve, don’t you feel guilty? He’s known you for so long!]
[Stop bullying!” A boy waving a Wolf banner shouted, “Solve, get out of AVG!”]
From the back seat, Lao Ma quickly held Yin Sijue back. “Don’t get out yet.”
Sensing trouble, Xu Shaoqiu closed the door again, stayed outside to handle the situation, then signaled the driver to head for the back entrance.
Ji Wei watched the hostile crowd, questions bubbling inside him. “Who are these people? Why are they targeting Solve? Logically, they should be angry at me—I’m the one who took Wolf’s place.”
Mi Li’s expression hardened. “These aren’t our fans.”
Da Shu nodded. “Right. Our scene isn’t that big. We’ve never had this many people at the playoffs, especially this early. Someone’s stirring this up.”
Lao Ma handed them his phone. “There’s another video.”
This time it wasn’t a livestream, but a self-recorded clip Wolf had posted on Maoyu TV’s homepage.
Disheveled and haggard, he spoke into the camera:
“I, Wei Chengguang, am reporting AVG captain Yin Sijue for bullying. He threatened to kick me off the team and relegate me to fetching water if I didn’t obey. Everyone else turned a blind eye and let him manipulate the team.”
“During the summer season, I argued with Solve about gaming philosophy. After the match, he verbally abused me and threatened to bench me. No one defended me, and both the manager and the players silently condoned it.”
“I’ve been with the team for over four years, dedicating my entire life to AVG, yet my annual salary is less than one-tenth of Solve’s. And now I’m burdened with a massive severance fee. Does having strength mean I should also have to endure private oppression? It shouldn’t be this way. I hope everyone will speak up for me and help restore a clean professional environment for PUBG.”
Ji Wei was dumbfounded.
With acting skills like that, he’d really chosen the wrong profession. He should’ve gone into entertainment and become a star.
Da Shu, sitting in the back row, was stunned for a long time before finally blurting out, “What do you even want to ask?”
Mi Li frowned. “A lot of people are sympathizing with him in the comments…”
Lao Ma added worriedly, “He already had plenty of fans. After that account blew up, a group of early WEI fans joined in. Now they’ve all gathered together. Marketing accounts are reposting his claims on the trending list, and commentators are steering the discussion. This time he’s directly targeting Solve.”
Ji Wei: ?
No, he refused to recognize these people as his fans.
Mi Li analyzed calmly, “Maoyu TV even reposted it. This is likely coordinated manipulation by the platform. Explaining won’t change anything—people will always put the blame on the captain.”
Yin Sijue leaned against the window, looking unconcerned, and instructed his teammates:
“The first two maps today are Miramar. Since the coach isn’t here, I’ll say this: slow the pace in the first two matches. Don’t rush. Once we get to the island maps we’re good at, then we can go aggressive.”
Having never seen snow in June, Da Shu thought the captain had gone crazy. “Brother, are you okay?”
The man sneered. “Perfectly fine. It’s the playoffs. You’re really going to fold just because you’re up against a psycho?”
“We’re at the door. Get out of the car.”
…
At the venue, the rioters outside couldn’t get in. Inside, the only ones holding signs were regular fans.
Despite their captain’s order to slow the pace, the players entered the arena fired up and played with reckless aggression from the very start.
On the desert map, they clashed with another team right away. Ji Wei landed with a shotgun and blasted two players to death.
In the second circle, they ran into MKBK, where Mi Li picked up two more kills.
“Stop killing, stop killing,” Da Shu said anxiously, seeing he had zero kills. “The captain said to slow the pace.”
Mi Li hyped herself up: “Solve’s already got four. Let’s relax — it’s hard for us to play slow.”
Yin Sijue slammed in the fifth kill. “Yeah.”
Da Shu: “…”
Across the six matches, AVG stayed in the top three overall, except in Game 4 where Taige slipped after Ji Wei mispositioned and missed a shot, dropping them to eighth place.
After the final round, the official PCL Weibo account posted the overall standings:
- 1st: UGC — 143 points
- 2nd: NS — 140 points
- 3rd: AVG — 138 points
AVG had started well behind the top two, but after two days of hard work they’d narrowed the gap. If they outscore the top two on Day Three, AVG could win this year’s Summer Split.
“I’m exhausted! Why are the playoffs three days straight? Can’t we have a day off?” Da Shu wailed on the ride back.
Xu Shaoqiu leaned against the passenger window, eyes blank. “They used to be five days straight. This year it’s only three — are you still tired?”
Da Shu sat up. “Yeah, but why do you look so worn out this year?”
Mi Li asked, “Because it’s been rough since the regular season. Brother Qiu, what’s happening with the Wolf thing?”
“I asked someone to check. A lot of the trending marketing accounts are being manipulated by Maoyu. Wolf and Maoyu are probably colluding to hyp e this. It’s my fault for not intervening sooner — I’ve been busy with the games. Now public opinion’s getting out of control.”
Xu Shaoqiu pinched his brow and sighed, looking dejected. He’d been juggling the match backstage while dealing with the fallout; advertisers were already complaining. Today’s results saved them from worse consequences.
He turned to the team: “Most fans in the scene are still on our side. Outsiders don’t understand and are easily swayed by the ‘bullying’ label. The team is thinking of fighting fire with fire — hiring trolls and marketing accounts to retaliate. Is that inappropriate?”
This was a new, uncomfortable idea coming from Xu Shaoqiu, who’d usually been above such tactics. The five in the car looked at each other, puzzled.
Da Shu: “Why would that be inappropriate?”
Xu Shaoqiu: “Hiring trolls to smear people isn’t exactly honorable.”
Ji Wei: “They hired the trolls first, didn’t they?”
Lao Ma: “Is he deserving of that?”
Mi Li (half-joking): “Why don’t we just hire someone to bag Wolf’s head and teach him a lesson?”
Xu Shaoqiu: “…”
Yin Sijue folded his arms, raised his eyelids, and looked at him. His voice was calm and firm: “Do what you want. We’re teammates. We’ll shoulder everything together.”
Xu Shaoqiu’s shoulders, tense all day, finally relaxed a little. “This is just a delaying tactic. I’ll draft a statement and sue them for defamation. The most important thing now is to play well. Once we win the championship, he’ll have nothing to say.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Yes, as long as they won the Summer Split championship, whether it was Solve bullying and suppressing teammates, or Unique using backdoors and being inferior, those rumors would collapse on their own. Until the opening day of Worlds, the champion would be immune to criticism.
Ji Wei looked at him firmly. “Don’t worry, coach. We will win.”
…
Back at the base, Ji Wei found a corner and called his brother.
Less than two seconds passed before the line picked up. “Is the match over?”
“Yeah,” Ji Wei said. “You called me this morning. Did you see that Weibo post?”
Ji Lin sighed. “Yes. I didn’t want to affect your match, so I didn’t tell you. I didn’t realize the account had been stolen by this person, but it’s also possible he bought it. Who knows how many people it’s passed through over the years.”
Ji Wei bit his lower lip and finally asked the question he had been holding back: “So… is there any chance of recovering this account?”
There was a long silence on the other end. At last, Ji Lin’s voice came through, a little hoarse:
“I tried several times today and even emailed the official site. They said it was too long ago, so recovery is unlikely… and the deactivated email can’t be restored either.”
“…”
“It’s okay.” Ji Wei steadied himself and tried to comfort his brother. “Forget it then.”
Silence lingered for a moment. When Ji Lin spoke again, his voice was thick with guilt: “I’m sorry. If I’d tried harder to help you back then, you might have had a chance to get it back. It’s been three years now… You finally made the starting lineup and proved yourself, and now you have to endure this kind of injustice.”
Ji Wei hadn’t wanted to cry at first, but hearing this, his nose stung and his eyes almost welled up.
“Oh, come on.” He pressed the corners of his slightly damp eyes with his hand. “It’s fine. So what if he took that account? He’ll never reach number one again.”
“Besides, I’m the one playing on stage now. It doesn’t matter whose account he has.”
“Okay.” Ji Lin caught his brother’s mood and coaxed him gently.
“Our Unicorn is the best. Don’t let the internet affect you. Just focus on competing and bring me the summer championship. The product manager from the other department who argues with me every day is a UGC fan. Whether I can shut him up depends on you.”
“Okay!” Ji Wei laughed. “I’ll try!”
After hanging up, his smile slowly faded. He lowered his eyes to the trending search term that had lingered all day: #Wolf WEI#.
His fingertips pressed against the phone, his drooping eyelashes concealing every trace of emotion.
In truth, he hadn’t even finished a single sentence on the call just now.
Now, it wasn’t just him standing on the court; it was him standing there with Yin Sijue.
Wei’s account meant nothing—it was only a fragment of his past.
…
Late at night, in an apartment building on the outskirts of Hai City.
Wolf, expression cold, deleted and blocked the AVG fans in the comments before opening his chat window to send a voice message.
“Is this even possible?! I posted on Weibo exactly as you told me, and now I’m the one getting attacked. This is on you! Weren’t you the one who said it would get them to waive the penalty? No one’s contacted me yet!”
“If you don’t take action, they’ll be in the finals tomorrow! Do you realize that if AVG wins, we’re finished? I’ll post all our chat history on Weibo, and we’ll both be done for.”
A reply came almost instantly: “Calm down! The situation is still under control. Why are you panicking?”
Wolf stared at today’s stats, as restless as a trapped cricket. If tomorrow’s momentum continued, if AVG kept scoring like this…
The streaming platform only wanted hype and traffic, blind to the backlash they’d face if public opinion turned.
His face darkened, his features twisted with rage as he ground out through clenched teeth:
“If you report this video to the league, will Yin Sijue get banned?”
The other party froze. “No way! Aren’t you just trying to dodge the penalty? We’ll hype you up, push your streams to the top, and once you gain enough sympathy, AVG will naturally come negotiate—maybe even pay you—to delete your post. Why are you so desperate to get Yin Sijue banned?”
“I don’t want to be cursed at! I don’t want to be laughed at!” Wolf’s chest rose and fell violently, his harsh breathing cutting through the air. He slammed the table with a sharp bang.
Everyone in this circle had a venomous tongue. He’d thought AVG’s spineless manager, for the sake of old friendship, would swallow his pride and come to make peace. But after an entire day, no one had reached out. Instead, his Weibo was flooded with insults, and several of his most loyal fans had even turned against him.
Now that both sides had unleashed trolls, the battle of words was spiraling out of control. If he couldn’t wriggle out of this, he’d be dragged through endless ridicule and humiliation.
And then, there was the account he’d stolen…
When he’d bought it, the seller swore it was secure. The original owner had supposedly quit long ago, abandoned the game, and never logged in—making discovery impossible.
But if things escalated further, if Wei himself saw it somewhere…
No. He absolutely could not allow himself to be humiliated like that.