Chapter 9 – Why Are You So Mean to Unique?
Even though they had only just met, their moods were completely different.
Ji Wei felt as if he were being supervised by a teacher. His whole state was off. He wanted to perform well, but he was also worried about underperforming—and possibly making mistakes.
In the following games, he played conservatively and cautiously, speaking much less.
“Unique, where are you jumping this time?” Xuan Feng asked.
After several games, the others had gradually come to regard Ji Wei as the team’s core and wholeheartedly approved of his play.
But now, Ji Wei’s mind was a mess: “Airport? Uh, forget it, let’s go to P City!”
As the plane approached P City, Ji Wei said again, “No, no, this route won’t work. Let’s go to school.”
The others: “…”
After that, Ji Wei became even more conflicted—hesitating over which gun to use, which route to take into the circle, where to set up his position. He second-guessed every decision.
Before Ji Wei could get too worked up, Xu Shaoqiu pulled Yin Sijue out of the training room.
“Oh! I told you to keep quiet. Look, they all get nervous when you’re here.”
“What about the game? Won’t they be even more nervous with everyone watching?”
“He’s still young. I haven’t even said anything to you yet! Why were you so harsh to Unique just now?”
Yin Sijue looked puzzled. “How was I harsh? I was just telling the truth.”
Xu Shaoqiu crossed his arms and said earnestly, “Of course I know it was the truth. But could you at least be a little gentler? When you two played live earlier, you seemed to be getting along just fine. If I hadn’t seen the look in Unique’s eyes just now, I’d have thought he was on the verge of tears.”
Yin Sijue ignored him. “How could he be that fragile?”
“Maybe he really is that fragile?”
Xu Shaoqiu, worried for his own life, grew increasingly troubled on the way home. Not wanting his new talent to suffer a setback, he quickly told Sol to leave and headed back to the second team’s base.
…
After Ji Wei finished the game, he found Xu Shaoqiu waiting for him outside. With a kind expression, the man patted his shoulder and said, “Don’t be sad. Solve is usually very approachable, but he can be a bit strict when it comes to gaming.”
Ji Wei stared blankly at Xu Shaoqiu, not even realizing he was supposed to be sad.
“It’s okay. He’s right.”
If it had been Yin Sijue in that situation, Ji Wei definitely wouldn’t have made it out of the bridge alive.
“I’m glad you understand. He’s the same way when he plays with Team One. He confronts me directly whenever he has a problem. Da Shu even got so angry he unilaterally broke off their friendship several times.”
Ji Wei smiled. “It’s great to have Solve’s guidance. I’ll keep working hard and try to perform better next time.”
Xu Shaoqiu felt there was something strange about that response, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. He replied hesitantly: “Well, it’s not that serious… You still have plenty of opportunities here.”
…
“Brother, what are you looking at?”
The captain, upon returning to the training room, spent a long time watching footage on his phone. Da Shu stood nearby, curious.
“Spring Split group stage.”
“What?” Da Shu was furious but couldn’t say a word. “Isn’t that a streamer’s profile picture in the lower right corner? How could that possibly be a game?”
“You’re already peeking, and you’re still asking?” Yin Sijue glared at him.
“Hey, my eyesight’s just too good, nothing I can do about it.” Exposed, Da Shu dropped his pretense and leaned in for a closer look.
“Eh? Isn’t this the recording of when you and that streamer ran into each other? Where did you get it?”
“There’s a live replay on his homepage.” Without even turning his head, Yin Sijue scrolled back to the scene where Ji Wei sniped the enemy, watching it several times.
Although he’d already had his suspicions, after seeing the boy’s expert driving and sweeping skills, his impression of this swashbuckling streamer changed.
Those moves weren’t a coincidence—he was a true master.
Da Shu, standing nearby, finally voiced the question he’d been holding back: “I’ve noticed this streamer isn’t as bad as I thought. But why does he like six-man squads? Is it just a livestreaming gimmick?”
Before Yin Sijue could respond, Wolf, who had been silent, suddenly cut in: “He just happened to play well in one game. What kind of skill can six people have?”
The room went quiet. Da Shu was a little surprised. “Uh, Wolf, you don’t like unique players that much?”
“I just hate those noobs who try to farm points.” Wolf shifted his posture and slumped in his chair. “There are a ton of female fans in that livestream… who knows if they’re there for the game or just for the looks? They’re superficial.”
The atmosphere froze again. Lao Ma, sitting on the sofa, put down his phone and glanced uneasily in their direction.
Wolf’s words carried a subtle edge. Everyone knew that Yin Sijue had the most female fans in the entire industry, and his supporters were everywhere.
“You can’t say that…” Lao Ma started to defend him, but Wolf spoke again:
“I’m not talking about you, Solve. Don’t take it personally.”
Lao Ma: .
Yin Sijue stayed glued to his phone, ignoring Wolf’s provocations.
The suffocating silence wasn’t broken until Xu Shaoqiu opened the door and came back in.
Sensing the unusual tension in the room, Lao Ma gave him a look and pulled him into the tea room to explain the situation.
After hearing everything, Xu Shaoqiu waited until training ended. Then, just as Yin Sijue was about to go upstairs, he stopped him and pulled him aside.
“What are you doing?” Yin Sijue frowned, puzzled.
“I forgot to tell you… When Wolf first debuted, his style was a bit like yours. Some fans online even called him ‘Little Solve’ and kept comparing you two. A lot of your female fans weren’t happy and criticized him nonstop. He must’ve been holding it in all this time, which is why he lashed out tonight. Don’t be angry.”
“Oh, I see,” Yin Sijue replied calmly. “I’m going up. Go to bed early.”
…
For the next few days, the tryouts threw themselves into intensive training matches.
Meanwhile, AVG’s new starting lineup began practicing together in preparation for the upcoming summer season.
“Wolf, there’s a car heading northeast, 124, to pick up an airdrop. Can you snipe it from there?”
“No, there’s a tree blocking it.”
“What? Can’t you just switch rooms?”
“Then why don’t you? I’m keeping an eye on the others.”
Da Shu’s forehead bulged with anger. “I’d have to move rooms to fight at this point, but you only need to. Besides, the captain just trapped me in the circle, and you—”
[AVG_SOLVE] used the SCAR assault rifle to take down [believer11]
[AVG_SOLVE] used the SCAR assault rifle to take down [lurenjia]
Yin Sijue flicked his finger and turned down the team mic volume. “Stop talking. Pop the smoke, you guys go first. Mi Li and I will flank left.”
…
After a full day of matches, none of the four starters managed to win a single game. The worst round ended with a player getting killed right after landing at the airport.
At dinner, the table was deathly silent, everyone’s faces gloomy. Even Yin Sijue, who usually kept his composure, had a faint trace of anger between his brows.
Xu Shaoqiu had been working tirelessly on tactics with the coaching staff for the past two days. Worried sick, he couldn’t even eat. He glanced around and said: “Hey, don’t let the game get to you. It’s always like this in the beginning. Don’t check Weibo or Tieba for the next couple of days.”
“?”
Da Shu, who had been reviewing his afternoon plays, heard this and immediately opened his phone right in front of Xu Shaoqiu.
He hadn’t even thought about checking before, but the mere mention of it stirred up rebellious curiosity.
Aside from Yin Sijue, who ate in silence, everyone else set down their chopsticks and started scrolling through Weibo.
Xu Shaoqiu: .
The most popular post on Tieba right now was a livestream replay of AVG’s starting lineup in ranked matches over the past few weeks—already with over 4,000 views.
[OP: Maybe no one noticed, but AVG’s starting lineup seems to be changing. They’ve been scrimming a lot lately. Let’s check out their results. [picture][picture]]
[3L: It’s not that no one noticed. It’s that fans have noticed for a long time. Looking at these results, though, they didn’t dare say anything.]
[8L: Who is this Wolf? Wasn’t there a rumor that Kelly was joining AVG? Help…]
[29L: Don’t be too harsh. New rosters always need a break-in period.]
[101L: After all this break-in time and still like this?? What’s the point of “break-in”? Just disband already.]
[144L: This Wolf is such a wimp! Who ever called him a ‘Little Solve’ before?]
[333L: Do you really think Solve is that strong anymore? With results this bad, it definitely has to do with his coaching.]
[519L: One person wrote in blood, begging Horse not to retire.]
[695L: Congrats to AVG for missing Summer Split completely! Wait, you guys aren’t going to fail even in the group stage, are you?]
Bang!
Wolf slammed his chopsticks against his bowl, his expression grim. “I’m full.”
“Wait!” Xu Shaoqiu quickly grabbed him. “Don’t listen to the trolls on the forums. They’re always like this.”
Wolf stayed silent, clutching his still-lit phone tightly. A flash of fury crossed his eyes.
Seeing him like this, Xu Shaoqiu wiped his mouth with a napkin, put away his bowl and chopsticks, and said, “Your form will probably drop if this keeps up. It’s pretty cool tonight—let’s go for a walk, and we’ll start training two hours earlier tomorrow.”
The others had no interest in continuing the game and all agreed to Xu Shaoqiu’s proposal.
Wolf: “I’m not going. I’ve got something else to do.”
Xu Shaoqiu froze. “Huh?”
Before anyone could react, Wolf got up and went upstairs to grab his bag.
The group at the dinner table stared at each other in bewilderment. Da Shu was silent for a long while before finally asking:
“Brother Qiu, tell me the truth—this guy’s the one with the real connections, isn’t he?”
…
Finally, Xu Shaoqiu drove the three starters—along with Lao Ma, who had been watching them play all day—to the banks of the Ling River in Haishi.
Da Shu, shivering a little in the wind, crossed his arms. “What’s the point of driving all the way here for a walk? Why not just walk nearby?”
“I’m going to wash the car soon. Since we’re already out, I figured we might as well do it together.”
“So we all have to go wash the car later?”
“Why not? You still want to go back to training? Even if I kept you in front of the computer tonight, you’d be no better than a chicken pecking at rice.”
Da Shu: “…”
Lao Ma: “Why didn’t Wolf come? Did he tell you anything?”
Mi Li: “I think he just doesn’t want to play with us. He must be angry.”
Xu Shaoqiu: “That’s why you guys should be more careful with your words when playing. Don’t be so blunt. What will the new teammates think?”
Da Shu: “That’s just how the game is. It’s normal to argue and bicker a bit. It’s not like I said he was bad.”
But after hesitating for a moment, Da Shu added, “Still, I think he’s a little… disobedient.”
Xu Shaoqiu subconsciously glanced at his silent commander.
Yin Sijue noticed the look but didn’t answer directly. Instead, he asked, “Why did you choose him?”
Xu Shaoqiu: “Don’t you all know… Kelly stood us up before, and we couldn’t find anyone else.”
Yin Sijue: “That’s not what I mean. There are other players on Team Two. Why him?”
Xu Shaoqiu: “He’s their captain. Overall, his strength is the best among them, and his ranking is—”
He trailed off as everyone turned to stare at him.
This reason didn’t really hold water. Wolf’s performance had always been inconsistent, fluctuating up and down. An unstable factor like that was a ticking time bomb on the field. Besides, Team Two’s overall skill level wasn’t much lower. Their sniper, Jerry, just needed more polishing—while he might not have Wolf’s raw individual talent, he could very well perform more steadily.
What’s more, there was the incident during the last scrim. When Xu Shaoqiu later reviewed the footage, he found that Wolf had indeed spotted an AWM in the airdrop, but he never called it out to Jerry, who was in dire need of a sniper rifle.
Da Shu tried to come up with different reasons why Wolf might have been recruited into the team: “Is he your relative or something? But you don’t even share the same surname.”
Xu Shaoqiu quickly denied it. “Of course not.”
He hesitated for a moment, scratched his head, and explained:
“Actually, it’s because I heard a rumor. Didn’t Wolf switch to a new account after joining the team? Someone told me that his old ID… seemed to be [WEI].”