Extra Chapter - CP Warning!! Lee Hwan-bin x Shen Xiao (5)
5.
Normally, during the Spring Festival, Shen Xiao would either hang out with some streamer friends to play games for fun or kill time by playing solo queue. But this year, he spent almost the entire holiday with Li Huanbin – playing duo queue.
With Secret's stern guarantee of ranking up, Shen Xiao's score indeed soared. Looking at his ranking in the top ten on the leaderboard, he felt incredibly satisfied.
After playing with Li Huanbin for the past few days, his opinion on Li Huanbin's playing style has changed significantly.
He used to think that Li Huanbin's playing style was too slippery, like an old fox, smiling at you, always ready to stab you in the back.
However, once the team was actually formed, Shen Xiao discovered that Li Huanbin was actually willing to adapt and adjust to his teammates. This wasn't just true for him, but also for the other teammates he played with in solo queue. If his teammates were playing conservatively, he would play a little more aggressively in line with him; if his teammates were playing aggressively, he would become more conservative. In this way, even if the team made a mistake, he could make up for it quickly.
When he wants to advance, he is the sharpest spear; when he wants to retreat, he is the strongest shield.
Although they were in different positions, Li Huanbin gave him a similar feeling to Xie Wei.
Is there some kind of magic to the position of captain?
"Seamy, Seamy!"
The shouts coming through the earphones brought Shen Xiao back to his senses. He came to his senses and exclaimed, "Ah!"
"What are you spacing out for? It's your turn."
"Oh." Shen Xiao clicked the mouse and rolled the dice.
He returned to the team today, but training hasn't officially started yet. With nothing else to do, Shen Xiao invited a few of his streamer friends to play a round of Monopoly. This game requires no skill; it's purely a game of luck, just for fun.
These streamers are all top streamers on the platform, with a good audience. They often play together, and the viewers are familiar with each other and enjoy watching them collaborate on games.
The dice on the screen stopped rolling, and the little figure representing Shen Xiao moved five squares, just stepping into the bomb square. The bomb exploded, causing him to lose money and be taken to the hospital by ambulance, where he was suspended from action for three days.
The comments section was filled with unanimous "hahahahaha".
Shen Xiao chuckled, "Damn, so unlucky."
A streamer who specializes in sniping joked, "Xiao Shen was just playing normally."
"Nonsense," Shen Xiao said. "When I perform normally, I can earn over 300,000 in no time, crushing you all. Don't underestimate a young man's potential. Wait until I go back to my oil refinery to collect some taxes, and you'll see."
The sniper said, "I think it's going to be difficult."
“I don’t think it’s going to work out,” another medical news anchor said. “Seamy only has three thousand dollars right now, and she’s still thinking about making a comeback? Forget it.”
The livestreamer, who has gone bankrupt and become a beggar, said: "Yeah, you might as well just beg on the street with me."
"Take it easy, guys. Don't keep teasing Seamy, or she might not want to play with us anymore," the sniper streamer said. "These days, it's harder than climbing to heaven to play a game with Seamy."
“Speaking of which,” the medical streamer said, “I don’t know if there’s something wrong with my eyes or if it’s a system bug, but when I look at Seamy’s match history, it seems like he’s playing with Secret every day?”
The livestreamer said, "It must be a system display bug, because it looks the same to me."
Shen Xiao was taken aback, then chuckled and said, "It's not a bug, nor is there something wrong with your eyes. I have indeed been playing with him recently."
"Oh?" The sniper streamer's voice rose sharply at the end. "What's going on? Tell me the truth. You two were like oil and water before, how come after the New Year you're inseparable?"
"What sticky stuff? How disgusting!" Shen Xiao said, "It was just a coincidence that we met. Anyway, we cooperated quite well, and it's not shameful for ranking up."
“Oh—” the surprise anchor said meaningfully, “I understand, I understand.”
The tone of your voice suggests you don't understand anything.
Shen Xiao always does things his own way and makes friends without caring what others say, but for some reason, he just doesn't want to show others that he and Li Huanbin have a good relationship.
I'd rather be seen as a troublemaker than...
Just then, after three rounds, his character came out of prison. He rolled a die, got a six, and landed squared on the reward square. His savings doubled, turning three thousand into fifteen thousand.
Shen Xiao said smugly, "See? I told you, don't underestimate a young man's potential. Just wait until I turn the tables and become the master of my own destiny!"
The other three anchors were perceptive enough to notice that he didn't want to continue discussing Li Huanbin's topic, so they cooperated by laughing and changing the subject.
The four of them played together until 10 p.m. before parting ways. After turning off the live stream, Shen Xiao picked up his phone. Li Huanbin hadn't sent him a message yet today.
Normally, at this time, I would have at least seven or eight unread messages on my phone.
What exactly happened...?
Shen Xiao scratched his head, hesitated for a moment, and then opened the chat box.
On the other side, at the WOF base.
Li Huanbin sat in the conference room, expressionlessly flipping through the contract in his hand. Gone was his usual gentle smile; his eyebrows and eyelashes seemed to be covered in frost, chillingly cold.
After a long silence, he put down the contract and said with a half-smile, "Ten million a season, renewing Jin's contract? Am I seeing things, or are you guys crazy?"
“Captain Li,” the manager said with a troubled expression, “we’re not willing either, but… the team really doesn’t have any usable assault players right now, especially with the playoffs in full swing. Jin’s skill is indeed mediocre, but he’s played in WOF for so many years. What I mean is… let’s just consider it a retirement bonus and agree to it.”
"His current contract is only five million a season, and he gets a retirement bonus of five million. I didn't know WOF was so rich." Li Huanbin smiled slightly.
Seeing him smile, the manager assumed he was softening his stance and quickly put on a fawning smile: "Then about this matter..."
"Rejected." Li Huanbin stood up and gently patted the manager's shoulder. "Manager Chen, you're only forty, how could you do such a foolish thing?"
As the pressure from the top-tier Alpha subsided, a bead of cold sweat suddenly appeared on Manager Chen's forehead: "I was only thinking of the team..."
"You're thinking about the team?" Li Huanbin scoffed. "But have you considered what the other players will think if you give a player who doesn't live up to his price tag a ten million salary? They'll think that as long as they cause trouble and break the ice, they can earn a five million retirement bonus. With this example, wouldn't everyone be able to come and cause a scene when they retire and get five million?"
Manager Chen was speechless: "This..."
“I also think we can’t do it this way.” The head coach, who had been frowning and silent the whole time, spoke up. “WOF doesn’t need such a scoundrel.”
Li Huanbin nodded: "Mm."
"Then, what about the playoffs?" Manager Chen saw that the two had reached a consensus and knew that he couldn't persuade them otherwise, so he plopped down on the sofa.
Li Huanbin said calmly, "We'll do what we have to do. WOF won't disband because of this one loss. They'll just come back next season."
Manager Chen said, "Next season? Who should we field next season? We've been waiting for several seasons, but we just haven't found any good prospects. I've contacted all the players who can make a run on the field, but none of them are willing to come."
Li Huanbin didn't speak, but a name surfaced in his mind.
A name he had long desired.
“I’ll handle this.” Li Huanbin stood up. “Throw this contract into the shredder. If Jin asks about it again later, don’t refuse immediately. Just bring him to this room for a detailed discussion and try to get information out of him. Understand?”
Manager Chen nodded: "...Okay."
Li Huanbin took out his phone as he walked out, his phone vibrating in his pocket.
Upon seeing the message, his expression instantly softened.
【Seamy: What are you doing?】
--
After sending the message, Shen Xiao became restless and kept checking his phone.
Fortunately, Li Huanbin didn't keep him waiting too long and replied quickly.
[Li Huanbin: Sorry, there was a little trouble with the team today. We just finished dealing with it.]
【Seamy: Oh.】
Since it was someone else's team's business anyway, Shen Xiao didn't want to pry too much and just gave a curt reply with a single word.
Li Huanbin ignored his coldness and continued typing.
[Li Huanbin: Have you eaten? Are you getting ready to rest now?]
[Seamy: Yeah, I just finished catching up on my livestream time, and I'm a little tired now.]
[Li Huanbin: Then you should get some rest. I'm tired too; there's been so much going on lately.]
Shen Xiao was taken aback.
Perhaps because they are both Alphas, Lee Hwanbin rarely shows weaknesses or negative emotions such as fatigue or irritability in front of him.
Today is a little different.
After hesitating several times, he still tentatively asked a question.
[Seamy: What happened?]
Li Huanbin looked at the screen, a smile playing on his lips.
[Li Huanbin: Actually...]
He told Shen Xiao about Jin without reservation, and in just a few words, he portrayed himself as a pitiful figure caught between the club and Jin, suffering from both sides, showing no trace of the domineering and authoritative figure he had just been in the meeting room.
In Shen Xiao's mind, he had already categorized Li Huanbin as one of his own, and upon hearing this, he immediately flew into a rage.
He typed a message, but felt that words were not enough to express his anger, so he dialed Li Huanbin's number directly.
"Seamy?" Lee Hwan-bin's voice was slightly hoarse on the other end of the phone, but his tone was still gentle. "What's wrong?"
A vague, indescribable emotion flickered through Shen Xiao's mind. He suppressed his anger and asked, "What's going on with your club? That guy made such a bizarre request, and you just let him do whatever he wants?"
Li Huanbin sighed softly: "There's nothing we can do. WOF hasn't had any good prospects for assault players in the past few seasons. There's a talent gap right now. If we don't agree to his offer, not to mention the playoffs, what will we do next season?"
This was the question Manager Chen had just asked him. Li Huanbin turned around and threw the question back to Shen Xiao.
Shen Xiao was speechless for a moment, unsure how to respond.
“However,” Li Huanbin said, “it’s only ten million, which WOF can afford.”
"Ten million?! Sign that bastard? Are you crazy?!"
Shen Xiao immediately raised his voice: "Is WOF out of their mind or do they have too much money to burn? Eight figures to sign an old, weak, sick, or disabled person? Putting aside their character, that operation alone would cost at least a million, let alone ten million! That's bullshit!"
Li Huanbin smiled, his earlier frustration greatly relieved by the young man's incredulous and angry rebuke: "I think so too."
Shen Xiao was still furious: "How can there be such a person in the world? I can't believe I've ever played against someone like this... Ten million, and he doesn't even know your level, or what his own level is. All he does is get jealous all day long. WOF would rather buy me than this kind of trash!"
Li Huanbin's heart skipped a beat.
He remained calm, smiling, and said as if it were a casual joke: "I'd like to buy you, would you sell?"
Shen Xiao paused for a moment, then muttered, "Why do you say that...?"
Li Huanbin stopped there: "Let's not talk about this anymore. It's getting late, you should get some rest."
Shen Xiao's mind was a little confused, and he hummed in response.
Before hanging up the phone, he heard Li Huanbin say, "Good night."
Shen Xiao felt a little awkward, but still replied, "Good night."
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