Chapter 39 "Either they're just very shy..."

In the promotional video for the Juxing Cup, each person has a separate shot, which will eventually be edited together.

After finishing her makeup and changing into the team uniforms provided by the organizers—which came in black and white, and they were assigned black uniforms with the team's initials "ANY" and a simple, officially designed team logo printed on the back—Nam Zhiyi entered the photo studio.

The filming content was very simple: strike a few poses and recite a few lines.

After the shoot, You Xin waited for him outside. At the same time, a staff member from the organizer was standing next to him, explaining something to him with gestures.

Upon seeing him arrive, the staff immediately gestured to You Xin.

You Xin turned around and waved to him.

"She said the organizers wanted us to attend the first offline match." As he approached, You Xin asked, "Do you want to go?"

Nan Zhiyi was taken aback: "I'm fine with anything."

You Xin: "If you go, I'll go."

Staff member: "Won't this interfere with your team's training?"

"It's just one night, it won't cause any major delays," Nan Zhiyi said.

The staff immediately smiled and said, "It's so great that you're all so cooperative!"

"Is it just watching the game? Are there any other tasks?"

After thinking carefully, the staff member slowly made a "V" sign with his hand, raised it above his head, and made a few cuts.

Nan Zhiyi: "?"

-

4 PM on the 4th.

Nan Zhiyi and You Xin each received a hair clip backstage... with ear-shaped ornaments and white fluff on them.

"What is this? Did you take it off your headphones?" He picked up the hair clip curiously and examined it closely.

"It looks like a support item for our team," You Xin said.

Nan Zhiyi suddenly realized, "Oh, I thought they wanted us to promote headphones."

You Xin: "..."

"But wouldn't this be a bit inappropriate?" Nan Zhiyi tried putting the hair clip on her head, and curiously pinched the ear on it in front of the mirror, finding that it was soft and fluffy. "Others are competing on stage, and you're wearing support items from other teams below."

“Anyway, I’m not wearing those two teams’ badges.” You Xin walked over and pinched his ear.

Nan Zhiyi thought about it again and realized that with Tangyuan and Beijing on the two teams competing today, it was indeed a tough situation for both sides.

"Then let's not... Why did you pinch my ear!"

You Xin was about to pull her hand back, but upon hearing this, she reached out again and squeezed it: "I'm just testing how it feels."

Nan Zhiyi took two steps back and looked at him warily: "You try your own, don't pinch mine."

You Xin seemed to suddenly have a rebellious streak: "I'll pay you back if I break it."

His tone made it sound like he really wanted to crush Nan Zhiyi's ears. Nan Zhiyi was terrified and covered his head, trying to dodge around the room. You Xin wickedly cornered him and grabbed his ear, pinching it more than a dozen times in one go.

Finally, the staff member who had been ignored for so long couldn't help but say, "Um, you two... how about we go to the audience seats now?"

The venue for the offline competition wasn't large, with only a simple division between the inner and outer courts, and no dedicated VIP seating. Therefore, they sat in the last row of the audience seats.

The audience gradually entered the venue, and there were quite a few people, most of whom were fans of Xiaolingdang. Without him, selling a hundred tickets would be considered a good sales performance, since people usually only watch this type of game online for entertainment.

A young man sat down to Nan Zhiyi's left and glanced at him after sitting down. The venue was slightly dim, and he clearly didn't recognize him at first glance.

But then his gaze fell on You Xin on the far right.

The boy's eyes widened immediately.

He paused for two or three seconds, then took out his phone and started typing rapidly.

Nan Zhiyi didn't mean to peek at his screen, but the font size was just too large, and he noticed it with a quick glance.

Holy crap, guess who's sitting right next to me?

After a while, my friend replied: 【Who is it?】

The boy typed rapidly, his hands seemingly trembling slightly: 【It's yux! It's me!】

The other side replied quickly: [Holy crap, he's here? Aren't you going to acknowledge him in person?]

Boy: [Wait, your dad's coming soon.]

Nan Zhiyi suddenly noticed that the boy's chat background was CG's team logo.

"..."

He appears to be a purebred CG team fan, also known as a Yux hater.

Nan Zhiyi caught a glimpse of the boy closing WeChat, then opening it again, then closing it again, repeating this several times while muttering something to himself. Finally, he opened the Notes app and switched to handwriting mode.

The boy suddenly stood up.

"Um," he stammered, looking at Yu Xin, "Yu Xin, God of You, I'm a fan—could you give me your autograph?"

"?"

Nan Zhiyi almost collapsed laughing at You Xin.

How come they keep saying "real" online, but now they're asking for autographs for Sichuan opera face-changing performances offline?

His movements were a bit too exaggerated, and the earrings he was wearing on his head bumped into You Xin's face. The two people on either side of him cast strange glances at him. Nan Zhiyi had to pretend to cough twice to cover up his uncontrollable laughter. He poked You Xin and said, "There's one of your 'fans' here. Can you sign an autograph for him?"

As soon as Nan Zhiyi spoke, the boy suddenly felt that her voice sounded familiar. He couldn't help but take a closer look at the person in front of him: light-colored hair, big eyes, and a delicate appearance that was rare among men—a face that was both incredibly cute and handsome at first glance.

He didn't really remember the face, but certain adjectives naturally reminded him of a name: "You, are you that, Angel Yi?"

Nan Zhiyi nodded with a smile.

"Oh, oh." The boy looked a little confused. "Are you here to watch the game?"

Nan Zhiyi pointed to the person next to her, You Xin, who was intently looking at something in the front row: "I'm with him."

The boy paused for a few seconds, as if he understood why Nan Zhiyi was laughing, and suddenly his face turned red.

Nan Zhiyi smiled and extended her hand to him. The boy took a moment to realize she wanted his phone. He stared in disbelief as Nan Zhiyi handed the phone to You Xin. You Xin said nothing, but signed his notepad with a beautiful cursive "yux". Then the phone was returned to him.

The boy absentmindedly took the phone and heard the person in front of him say, "If you're a Yux fan, our match starts the day after tomorrow. Remember to support our team then!"

The boy's mind went blank, and he just kept saying "Okay, okay" over and over again.

He sat down stiffly like a wooden statue. After a while, Nan Zhiyi discovered that he was secretly searching for tickets to the game the day after tomorrow.

"..." Is this considered using love to influence a hater?

As the competition was about to begin, a promotional video was played first, followed by the host introducing the two contestants to the stage.

The pre-match activities were a bit boring. Nan Zhiyi wasn't really interested in playing on his phone, so he leaned over and asked You Xin, "Who do you think will win between these two teams today?"

You Xin glanced at the two groups of people standing crookedly on the stage, his gaze lingering on Tang Yuan and Bei Jing for a few seconds.

After a moment, he replied expressionlessly, "Can't we just declare them all losers?"

"Hey." Nan Zhiyi was amused by him. At this moment, the players sat back in their seats, and the commentators started talking one after another. "You should at least pick one! I think Xiaolingdang's team has a good chance of winning."

You Xin said something, but it was a bit noisy in the venue, and Nan Zhiyi didn't hear it clearly.

"What did you say?"

You Xin waved his hand, signaling him to come a little closer.

So Nan Zhiyi approached him, and at that moment he caught a glimpse of a girl sitting in the two rows in front of him who turned around and secretly glanced at the two of them. Then she immediately covered her mouth with her hand, looking like she was about to cry.

"—The person in front is a fan of our pairing."

Nan Zhiyi: "...???"

After all that... is this all we're going to talk about?

He asked skeptically, "How did you know?"

Yu Xin stated logically and convincingly: "I saw the support board she drew."

"..." Nan Zhiyi asked incredulously, "So you've been looking at this the whole time?"

Before he could raise any more questions, the competition on stage suddenly stopped.

The director switched the screen from the contestants to the audience, and the audience immediately raised up various support items and hand-drawn support boards distributed by the organizers, hoping to be noticed by the director.

However, the next moment, Nan Zhiyi saw his own face appear on the big screen again, along with the person sitting next to him—he was looking at the other person suspiciously, while You Xin looked at him with a slight smile. Both of them were wearing identical fluffy ear headbands.

There was a half-second silence in the audience, followed by a burst of "a—"

"Hey, we have a very special guest here today!" the commentator exclaimed. "No, two—I knew our little travel god wouldn't be here alone!"

"What do you mean by that?" the second commentator chimed in. "Does it mean that Yux will only come when the angel's will arrives?"

Commentator 1: "That's right, think about it carefully. Xiao Youshen wasn't there at the previous annual party, but he came to the All-Star game. Why? What's the difference between these two games?"

Commentator 2: "Angel Yi came to the All-Star game, but not to the players' annual meeting?"

Narrator 1: "Bingo!"

Nan Zhiyi: "..."

A low chuckle erupted from the audience. Neither of these commentators were official roeCN commentators, so their style was naturally much more unrestrained than usual during league matches.

The girl sitting in the third-to-last row was practically jumping out of her seat, holding her support sign high in the air.

The director noticed her and gave her half of the shot.

Nan Zhiyi finally understood what You Xin had seen earlier: a girl had drawn a couple picture of herself and You Xin's game character, with very obvious features. The line drawings of the figures were currently close together, attracting a lot of attention, and Yux in the picture was turned to the side, seemingly about to kiss the cheek of the person next to him.

You Xin stared at the big screen for a second.

Nan Zhiyi suddenly felt a sense of foreboding.

He turned his head, about to warn the other person "Don't do anything reckless," when he saw those dark eyes already close at him—

Nan Zhiyi covered her face almost instantly, then realized that You Xin had only moved a little closer and didn't actually intend to get close. She heard the girl in the front row scream, along with the commentator's laughter: "It seems that our Yux wants to replicate the image on this support board, but Angel Yi seems a little shy."

The audience burst into laughter. The director's camera remained focused on the two people in the back row, as if they had identified this pair as a surefire way to generate buzz.

Nan Zhiyi couldn't take it anymore. He turned his face to the side, freeing one hand, and waved to the director, signaling him to stop filming.

The director remained unmoved.

At this point, the second commentator, as if things weren't serious enough, excitedly added fuel to the fire. "This reminds me of a popular meme lately, that when two people are photographed, they instinctively avoid the camera, either they're just shy, or," he cleared his throat seriously, "they're having an affair—I wonder which one our angel Yi and Yux belong to?"

Through her fingers, Nan Zhiyi saw You Xin raise her right hand and, in perfect cooperation with the narration, calmly make a "2" gesture towards the camera.

The whole audience burst into laughter.

Nan Zhiyi: "………………"

-

The Northern team dragged their feet in the game, but finished it unusually quickly. A best-of-five series, including the halftime break, was over in just an hour and a half. The second game, the fastest, didn't even last fifteen minutes against their opponents.

You Xin didn't even last half the time; he leaned back in his chair and started playing on his phone early on.

Seeing that the third match was about to end, he put down his phone, gently touched Nan Zhiyi's hand, and leaned over to say, "Let's go first. Someone will be blocking our way later."

You Xin had obviously had experience with being mobbed by fans while watching games live many times. The two of them sneaked around to the backstage in the dark and exited the venue through the staff entrance.

"3-0." While waiting for a car by the roadside, You Xin glanced at his phone. "Really bad."

The Northern team had probably only been off the field for a few seconds when their captain posted on Weibo and the livestream platform: "Brothers, that's it! Use me as a stepping stone for Tangyuan! @ROE汤圆"

You Xin disdainfully clicked "downvote" on this post.

Nan Zhiyi didn't reply. He stared thoughtfully at a clump of bushes in the green belt.

You Xin put down his phone. He stared at Nan Zhiyi for a while, then suddenly crossed his arms, came around from behind, and tilted his head to block his view: "What are you looking at?"

As he spoke, he reached out and pulled off the hair clip, a support item still on his head: "You're this dedicated to studying your opponents, Coach?"

Nan Zhiyi then came to his senses. He touched his hair: "No... I was just thinking."

"think?"

“I’m thinking,” Nan Zhiyi paused for a moment, “The Northerner who played in today’s match doesn’t seem to be the same person as the Northerner who played in the online matches and practice matches with us before.”

Yu Xin, who was playing with the ears on the support item, stopped when she heard this.

“I didn’t look at it carefully,” he said honestly.

Nan Zhiyi knew, of course, that he hadn't been watching carefully. After all, throughout the entire match, he was either propping his head up with his phone or glancing in his direction. "It's not a matter of style, nor is it a matter of form. His personal habits when playing Hunter are completely different from before. It's the same when he plays other classes." He frowned slightly. "His double jump animation... is so different from before."

After listening, You Xin thoughtfully put away his nonchalant expression.

"You mean, he might have used a substitute player in his previous online matches?" he asked, "which is why he disconnected and paused so many times."

"It's just a guess," Nan Zhiyi said.

You Xin didn't say anything, only saying, "I'll give feedback to the organizers later."

-

On April 6th, shortly after 3 PM, the four members of the Angels team boarded You Xin's business SUV and arrived at the venue for the Juxing Cup offline competition.

The lounge had a long table and a sofa. Xiaoyu sat upright at the table, constantly scratching the back of her hands with her fingernails. Song Meng leaned back on the sofa, playing on his phone, looking a little sleepy. Nan Zhiyi sat at the other end of the long table, writing furiously in a small notebook, while You Xin stood silently behind him, watching him.

After a while, Song Meng put down his phone: "It's so quiet... I'm not used to it."

"Is the lounge usually noisy?" Xiaoyu asked curiously.

Song Meng waved his hand: "Noisy, so noisy. Back in MD, the coach would discuss pre-match preparations and then keep encouraging us, repeating the same things over and over again..."

Before he could finish speaking, as if his words had come true, the door to the lounge was suddenly pushed open.

Everyone looked towards the door and saw their opponent for the day—Song Shi—standing casually at the entrance of the lounge, one hand on the doorframe.

"Oh, hello everyone." Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Song Shi chuckled twice and said in a hoarse voice, "Did I disturb you? I came here to find someone."

As he spoke, he looked at Xiaoyu and beckoned to him: "Hey Xiaoyu, come here for a second, I have something to tell you."

Xiaoyu stood up from her seat, but remained rooted to the spot, her face full of vigilance.

Seeing this, Song Shi changed his posture at the door and said in a teasing tone, "I heard from Brother Tao that you're leaving the guild? I was wondering about it at first, but then it was suddenly announced that you're coming to play in the Juxing Cup, and you'll be playing with your favorite Yux. That's great, so many of us don't even have the chance to play on the same team as a big star."

Xiaoyu's face flushed red: "...I only came because Brother Yi invited me."

"So, is it stressful being on the same team as a star player?" Song Shi continued, "I've seen a lot of people online criticizing you. Well, you're the only one on your team with few fans, so if you lose a game, the blame will definitely fall on you."

“I had dinner with Brother Tao last time, and today I mainly came to convey his message—he said that if you feel a lot of pressure, the doors of Qiannian are always open for you.”

The little fish opened its mouth, probably wanting to say something to refute the other party, but couldn't utter a single word for a long time.

Tao Ge is the owner of the Millennium Guild, and Song Shi is the guild's top streamer. Almost everyone in the guild fawns over him.

He used to be someone I couldn't even exchange a single word with. On the day of the company's annual party, he impulsively confronted Tangyuan, another top streamer in the guild, at the dinner table. As a result, overnight, everyone in the guild stopped contacting him. When he spoke in the group chat, everyone pretended not to see it, as if he were invisible.

Actually, he shouldn't have been there that day. He was just a small streamer with tens of thousands of followers and didn't have the right to participate. He won an invitation to the annual meeting in a raffle during a guild event.

Clutching the invitation, he arrived at the venue excitedly, expecting to say a few words and make some friends.

Nan Zhiyi: "..."

This guy must have nothing better to do than come here before the game to undermine his team's morale.

He put down his pen and paper, stood up, and protectively pulled Xiaoyu behind him, saying to Song Shi, "Just say what you want to say. Is it fun to scare a child?"

Song Shi immediately burst into laughter: "Hey Yi-ge, don't be so impulsive, I just came over for a visit."

Nan Zhiyi: "Are you done talking now? If you're done, you can leave."

Song Shi was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter: "Oh no, it seems Brother Yi is still angry. Hey Brother Yi, I understand you're angry with us brothers, but don't be angry with Sister Xingxing, okay? She said you've been busy with the competition and haven't talked to her for a long time—look how bad you are to girls, even girls are complaining to me about it."

Nan Zhiyi was utterly baffled: Tao Xing had just congratulated him on advancing to the next round as the top team in his group two days ago, and he had replied to him. How could this person just casually say something like that?

Tao Xing is the most beautiful female streamer in the industry. Streaming games is her hobby; her main job is as a host in another industry. She entered the industry much earlier than Nan Zhiyi. Because she has her own career, she, like Nan Zhiyi, has not joined any guild.

When Nan Zhiyi first started making videos, she helped him a lot. Later, she often hung out with him and the people from the Millennium Guild, watched games offline, and so on.

As far as he knew, Song Shi seemed to have always been interested in Tao Xing, but Tao Xing had politely rejected him, saying that they could just be friends. After that, Song Shi changed his tune, enjoying making unfunny jokes about her and other anchors.

"Did Xingxing tell you this, or did you just imagine it yourself?" Song Shi smiled, and Nan Zhiyi smiled back at him, then watched with satisfaction as his smile froze. "If you have nothing to do, you can go back and work on your business plan for later."

"It might be a bit difficult to do this just by imagining it," he sincerely suggested, holding up the notebook in his hand.

Song Shi's face darkened completely.

"Fine then, since you're so unwelcoming to me, I don't see the point in me trying to curry favor with you."

He turned to leave, but then suddenly seemed to remember something and turned back sharply.

"Hey, by the way, did you guys know? It seems the organizers are investigating something lately, like cases of substitute players being used in matches?" Song Shi gave Nan Zhiyi a meaningful look. "They said that once discovered, they will be severely punished."

After speaking, he stared at the other person's face, eagerly anticipating their reaction.

However, after a few seconds, the people in the room remained calm. The panic he had expected did not appear in any of them.

"Thank you so much for telling me this good news," Nan Zhiyi said.

Song Shi heard Song Meng on the sofa ask in a low voice, "Who is this person? Why is he talking incoherently?" You Xin replied coldly, "I don't know him. Is he having a fit of madness?"

Matsushita: "..."

He gritted his teeth, turned around angrily, and left.

With the uninvited guest finally gone, Xiaoyu breathed a sigh of relief.

Looking up and seeing Nan Zhiyi who had just blocked his way, he felt a surge of indescribable emotions.

Before meeting this person, he had thought countless times that the luck he had in drawing that ticket might actually be the beginning of all the misfortunes in his broadcasting career.

The little fish opened its mouth: "I..."

He was about to speak when he heard You Xin suddenly ask from behind, "Who is 'Sister Xingxing'?"

“Tao Xing, a streamer friend.” Nan Zhiyi immediately raised her hands, as if to distance herself from any relationship. “We’ve streamed together before. She’s not from the Millennium Guild.”

You Xin seemed to be carefully recalling something: "The girl with the star hair clip in her hair?"

It's her. Do you know her?

"I don't know you," You Xin said casually. "I've seen you two do a live stream together before."

Nan Zhiyi: "..."

Good heavens, what does he do all day long besides training?

He looked to Song Meng for help, but Song Meng shrugged, indicating that he couldn't help him.

Nan Zhiyi closed her eyes and cursed Song Shi, who was spouting nonsense, a thousand times in her mind: "We really are just ordinary friends."

“I know you have many good friends,” You Xin said calmly, deliberately emphasizing a few syllables.

Little Fish suddenly couldn't understand the situation. He looked left, then right. What was wrong?

"Oh my god." Nan Zhiyi was both amused and exasperated. Has this guy's business now expanded to include girls?

He was so focused on explaining that he blurted out, "But you know what I mean! I don't like girls at all."

He regretted it as soon as the words left his mouth: "…………"

You Xin blinked. He seemed satisfied with the answer, so he stopped asking questions and put his hands back in his pockets. Song Meng, sitting on the sofa, couldn't help but cough, then quickly lowered his head, pretending to be very interested in his smartphone.

Little Fish, who was listening nearby with a completely bewildered expression, gaped wider and wider: "...???!?"