Chapter 67 "Why didn't you put your hand down?"...

Old Xu took ten seconds to think carefully: Today is June 14th, not April 1st.

"It's not April Fool's Day, is it?" His gaze darted back and forth between the two of them, futilely trying to find any sign that they were teaming up to play a trick on him. "What... what do you mean, 'talk about... talk about dating'? Are you two kidding me?!"

Nan Zhiyi was a little embarrassed by his reaction. Actually, he had considered telling the other party about this before signing the contract, as a "risk clause," but You Xin said that Lao Xu had just stayed up several nights in the past two days and his heart wasn't feeling well. After being distracted by him, he had forgotten about it.

You Xin, however, was remarkably frank: "I'm not lying to you."

"No, stop talking. I don't believe it. You two are definitely kidding me." Old Xu seemed convinced that as long as he didn't believe it, this matter wouldn't become a complete fact. "Did the operations team say something to you? I heard those people talking about telling you to start operating a few days ago..."

You Xin paused for a moment.

A moment later, she asked casually, "Would you only believe me if we kissed right there on the spot?"

Upon receiving the message and heading downstairs to pick up the person, HYG team leader Awen, who had just reached the parking lot, was nearly scared out of his wits by a strange scream.

Five minutes later, Awen and Nan Zhiyi, still shaken, Lao Xu, ashen-faced, and You Xin, the instigator, stood together in the lobby of the HYG base.

"...If you have any problems in your life in the future, feel free to come and talk to me anytime." Awen said to Nan Zhiyi with a kind smile, while glancing at Lao Xu who was still lost in thought. He thought to himself, "Is this guy possessed by a ghost today? How come someone who is usually so composed is suddenly so easily startled?"

Old Xu was clearly still recovering from the shock, and was unconsciously patting his chest, trying to calm himself down.

Once he finally came to his senses, he was suddenly overcome with grief—

There's no such thing as a free lunch! This guy agreed to pay me 5 million for six months so easily, he must have something to hide!

He was actually quite pleased with himself for easily persuading the other party, even thinking it was due to his personal charisma...

Old Xu slapped himself in the face, and said with a pained expression, "Wen, take them upstairs later. I have a few words to say to these two."

Although Awen didn't understand why, he still stepped back a little.

Old Xu turned around, facing the two of them, and first held up one finger.

"It won't cause you any trouble." Before he could even speak, You Xin had already answered, "It won't affect my own competitive state, it won't affect my teammates, it won't bring negative publicity to the team, it won't lead to any cliques or small groups, I can distinguish between work and private occasions, and I will obey all reasonable arrangements made by the team."

Old Xu looked like he wanted to curse.

He hesitated for a moment, then finally managed to say, "You've said everything, what else am I supposed to say?!"

Old Xu didn't blame the two in the end—HYG is a team with a relatively open-minded culture, and the big bosses basically don't interfere in the team's affairs.

“This isn’t some feudal society anymore, and there’s no rule against internal relationships in our team. You guys… just don’t cross the line. You both know what that line is, right? Look, the one that just got fired, Soso.” He said earnestly to the two as he walked, while the team leader, Awen, was completely confused.

When they arrived at the cafeteria entrance on the third floor, Old Xu sighed and glanced at Nan Zhiyi: "I'm still very confident in Xiaoyi. She's been very obedient since she was little."

Then he turned to You Xin, looking as if he were facing a formidable enemy: "Forget about you, you've been a troublemaker since you were a child."

Nan Zhiyi couldn't help but laugh from the side: "Don't worry, brother, I'll keep him in check."

"Hey. The other team members are all inside eating right now. You can go in and get to know them." Old Xu waved his hand at him worriedly. "For other activities later, just stick with Brother Wen. He'll take care of you. I'm going to get busy now."

HYG's dining hall is a spacious and bright hall, somewhat like a hotel's buffet restaurant. Dozens of different dishes are neatly categorized and placed on the insulated food counter, and there is also an open kitchen where dishes are made to order. All the club's staff eat together here.

To avoid disturbing the new coach and the other team members' meeting, You Xin went to get the plates first. Awen led Nan Zhiyi to a long table at the edge of the hall, where four people were already seated and looked up when they saw them coming.

Awen introduced them to him one by one: "This is our current C... uh, sub-C player, Milk. I don't think I need to introduce him to you in detail."

Milk had met Nan Zhiyi a few times before. He was currently biting into a braised chicken leg, mumbled something, raised his hand to wave at him, and patted the seat next to him, indicating that he could sit down later.

"This is Lemon, our team's support player. He's only 19 this year, so he's quite young. He's someone we just promoted from the second team this year; he's also a player from our youth training program," Awen said, pointing to a blond-haired boy sitting in the corner.

Nan Zhiyi took the initiative to greet the other person: "Hello."

However, the boy only glanced up at him, seemingly at a loss, and finally just nodded hastily without saying anything, before burying his head in his food again.

“…” Nan Zhiyi blinked.

Just then, the tall, burly teammate sitting next to Lemon patted him on the back from behind: "Brother Yi is greeting you, why aren't you saying anything?"

Lemon then mumbled out, "Hello, Brother Yi."

"Oh, that's just how he is, a bit shy. You'll get to know him better." The man grinned at Nan Zhiyi. "I'm Rock, I ride tanks. You should know me, right, Yi-ge? This is our coach, Brother Mai—"

He then patted the blond, blue-eyed man next to him, who was a head taller than everyone else even when sitting down: "Brother Mai, come on, show off your fluent Chinese!"

HYG's head coach, Mike, immediately spoke up clearly: "Hello, Xiaoyi, I'm Mike."

However, he couldn't control himself and sang the last word half a tone higher. Everyone at the table immediately burst into laughter, and the atmosphere instantly became harmonious.

Nan Zhiyi finally sat down between Milk and Rock—these two were key members of HYG's championship team back then, and also the two most talkative and noisy people in the team. As soon as he sat down, Rock started talking non-stop like a stand-up comedian. He said that although he looked tall and strong with a fierce face, he actually had an artistic youth inside. He also said that he was thick-skinned, mentally strong, and very resilient. He said that if you think there is anything wrong with him, you can just scold him.

When You Xin returned with the plate, his gaze lingered on Nan Zhiyi's side for a second. He seemed to want to say something, but ultimately held back and sat down in the empty seat next to Mike.

During this time, Lemon, the team's support player, kept his head down the whole time, remained silent, and did not participate in the conversation.

After finishing a meal, even without supervising them through a single match or listening to the team's voice chat, Nan Zhiyi had already discerned the team's current problems: as the commander, Lemon's personality was too introverted and he wasn't good at expressing himself, which inevitably led to the problem of him being overtaken during matches.

Once the game starts, if the command becomes chaotic, it can be fatal for a league team – everyone has their own ideas, and no matter how good the players are, if they can't coordinate, it's all for naught.

After having lunch and resting for a while, Awen led everyone back to the training room of the ROE branch.

The operations staff are already here, and they've explained the process of tonight's icebreaker activity, mainly the rules of several mini-games, and what everyone should pay attention to in front of the camera.

When choosing seats, Nan Zhiyi and You Xin exchanged a glance, but ultimately did not sit next to each other. Instead, they sat in two seats that were almost facing each other.

From an outsider's perspective, they even seemed slightly "unfamiliar".

After several rounds of "Guess the Top 10 Winning Positions in Each Person's Career", "Pictionary", and "ID Chain", the game finally came to the last stage: "I Have What You Don't".

The staff explained the rules in detail: five people each raise one of their ten fingers, and then take turns saying something they feel they have done that no one else has done. If no one else has done it, they must lower one finger. The first person to lower all ten fingers loses the game and must accept the corresponding punishment.

"What kind of punishment is it?" Rock asked. "How about Yi-ge decides it for us?"

Nan Zhiyi thought for a moment and said, "The loser... will have to practice for two more hours."

The game began, and by turn, he happened to be the first to speak.

Nan Zhiyi thought for a moment: "I... uh, went to university?"

The room fell silent upon hearing this.

A moment later, Rock yelled "Damn!" and put down one finger.

Everyone else followed suit and put their hands down. Milk laughed and said, "You've practically killed the game."

Next up was Rock. He seemed quite upset about losing a point so early in the game, and blurted out, "When I was a kid, I used to scratch my own..."

A nearby staff member immediately intervened, saying, "This won't do! Change it! This is terrible—Duan Hao!! We're filming a vlog!!! Can't you have some decorum?!"

Rock had no choice but to reluctantly switch to another song.

Next up was You Xin.

He thought for a moment: "...Did I scold him in front of the boss?"

After a pause, another restriction was added: "Half an hour."

Instantly, everyone present, including the operations staff, looked at him with awe and respect.

After the first round of the game, Nan Zhiyi, You Xin, and Lemon all put down three fingers, Rock put down two, and Milk was in the worst situation, having already put down four fingers.

Perhaps sensing a profound sense of crisis, when it was Milk's turn to speak in the second round, he was determined to pull off something big.

Otherwise, if things continue like this, he will definitely be the first one to be eliminated.

He pondered for half a minute, then, as if he had grasped something, he raised his head.

milk: "I've kissed a man's lips."

"puff--"

Just as he deliberately took out a beverage from the sponsor, opened the Rock bottle he had just taken a sip of, he spat out all the water in his mouth.

Rock coughed twice, choked by the choking sound, then raised his voice: "Holy crap, bro, really? What are you doing? Why are you being so secretive?"

Nan Zhiyi suddenly felt incredibly guilty. He first secretly glanced at the other people in the room and found that Lao Xu was not in the room at the moment—thankfully he wasn't in the room, otherwise he was really worried that the other party would have a heart attack—then he looked away and secretly glanced at You Xin sitting opposite him, and found that the other party was not looking at him at this moment.

You Xin raised his hand: "Wait a minute, I have a question."

He turned to milk: "WD's Pigeon said that someone from HYG was having an online romance during a race, but it turned out to be a guy on the other end—could that person be you?"

"What? It wasn't me, it was Soso. He was going to meet his online girlfriend in person, but the night before, he found out the person on the other end was a burly man with unkempt feet," Milk said innocently. At this moment, a staff member shouted from the side, "This part has to be cut!!!" "I kissed Nova. Duan Hao, didn't you know that?"

He nudged Rock with his elbow.

Rock suddenly remembered: "Oh! Right! There was that party, right? You guys were drinking, and after a few drinks, you played Truth or Dare, and you kissed someone—and it was on the lips!"

Milk shrugged: "I was going to kiss his cheek, but he tried to dodge, and I ended up kissing him on the lips. How can you blame me? But he wasn't angry, was he? He's not a little girl. It's just two guys kissing, nothing serious."

"Wait, wait a minute." This time it was Nan Zhiyi who interrupted them, asking with some difficulty, "Are you talking about... that Nova?"

Milk paused for a second: "Oh, yes. It's Nova, the one you all know."

Nan Zhiyi: "………………"

Everyone knows Nova... Nova, the former champion main DPS in CG.

He almost shivered, unable to connect the two of them: as the only two main carry players in the region to have won the championship, their fans were practically irreconcilable enemies, fighting from the beginning of the year to the end. It was only in the last two years, after Nova retired, that things calmed down a bit... Could these two really be friends who can drink together in private...?

"Alright, alright, stop changing the subject. It's game time now." Milk steered the conversation back on track. "Put your hands down now..."

His gaze swept over everyone, and Rock and Lemon immediately and quickly put their fingers down;

Under the gaze of the camera and everyone around her, Nan Zhiyi hesitated for a moment, but had no choice but to bite the bullet and lower one finger.

And the last person...

"Why didn't you put your hand down?" Milk looked at You Xin sitting next to her suspiciously. "You kissed him?"

You Xin remained unmoved: "Is that not allowed?"

Two staff members nearby were stunned, while another covered his face.

Milk clearly didn't believe it: "A kiss on the lips?"

"Um."

"Those who kissed your dad don't count! Your brother doesn't count either... Anyone related by blood can't count!"

“Who wants to kiss them?” You Xin immediately showed a look of disgust. “It’s disgusting.”

"..." Milk's expression looked a little desperate. "You really kissed me? You're not doing this on purpose, are you? Damn it, I'm already like this and it's still not enough? No, you have to tell me what happened back then and prove that you're not lying."

Nan Zhiyi silently curled her fingers, desperately pleading in her heart for this great deity to stop asking questions.

He could feel a gaze coming from directly in front of him, lingering on him for a moment, before You Xin casually said, "I lost a game back then."

The game session ended. Milk, as the loser of this game, ended up getting two hours of extra practice.

After the staff finished recording their vlog footage (although a lot of it had to be cut), they all left the training room.

It's 10 p.m. now, and everyone is back in their seats, trying to play a few more ranked matches before going to bed.

"Hey, by the way, the team hasn't officially announced it yet, right?" Rock said, scratching his curly hair. "I'm planning to stream for two hours tonight. I have a camera here, Yi-ge, what do you think...?"

"I'll take him for a walk," You Xin said at the opportune moment.

He turned to Nan Zhiyi: "The contestants' rooms are upstairs. Would you like to come and take a look with me?"

Just as Nan Zhiyi was about to say that it was alright and that she would just wander around by herself, her hand was gently touched by someone.

He looked up and saw You Xin wink at him mysteriously, out of sight of everyone else.

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Author's Note: Red envelopes will be given away in the comments section of this chapter! Taking a day off tomorrow [procrastinating] I've been very busy lately.