1. Chapter 1
——Buzz.
Just as I was about to put the phone back on the table, it vibrated suddenly.
The young man holding the phone was obviously stunned for a moment. He unlocked the phone and saw a sentence that showed the strong dissatisfaction of the typist through the screen.
Che: Holy crap! Are you a real person?! You even know you have this account!!!
Chi Mo's mouth curled up slightly, and he couldn't help laughing as he looked at the white bubble on the phone screen that replied in seconds. After three years, he reopened this long-forgotten WeChat account, casually swiped among the small red dots on the screen, clicked into the chat box of the lucky person touched by his finger, and casually typed "Are you there?"
He didn't expect the other party to reply to him, and even replied to him the next second after he sent the message.
Chi Mo touched his nose with a guilty conscience and typed a reply:
mo: Calm down.
The other side also responded quickly.
The hand speed of e-sports players is very fast. As soon as Chi Mo sent out the word "calm", he received an even stronger accusation from the other party.
Che: Calm down you big head ghost!!! Do you know how excited I was when I saw the little red dot on your profile picture!!!
Every word was filled with complaints about him, as if she was a concubine banished to the cold palace, going crazy at the only chance she had to see the emperor.
Chi Mo looked at the emotional text sent by the person and was just thinking about saying sorry, but before he could start typing, the other party sent another message.
Where is your car? Where are you? In China?
mo: No, I’m still abroad and will fly back home tomorrow.
Chi Mo replied truthfully. After he sent this line of words, the other party paused for a while. Chi Mo looked at the words "The other party is typing..." displayed on the dialog box and waited patiently.
A few minutes later, the person on the other end of the phone seemed to have finally organized his words—
Where's the car: Are you ready to come back?!
Chi Mo looked at the punctuation marks following this line of words and knew that the other party must have misunderstood.
mo: I just came back to see you guys.
Where is the car: Just... just going back to China?
mo: Well, I’m just going back to my country and won’t be participating in the competition.
Che: Why? You can still fight at your age!
mo: I’m almost 26, if I still play, isn’t that a bit of exploitation of an old man?
Che: Old man? I'm still fighting at 28, so what am I? Even if I were an old man, I wouldn't be able to outlast you. There are many people older than you who are still serving.
Where’s the car: Forget it, let’s not talk about this anymore. What time is your flight? I’ll pick you up at the airport.
Mo: Will you come pick me up? Would that be too much trouble?
Che: What's the trouble? We have nothing to do with each other. To put it another way, you are also a member of the team's family.
Team family members?
Chi Mo was stunned for a moment. He didn't expect that he would be awarded such a title.
mo: OK, see you tomorrow night at 7pm. [Ticket screenshot]
Where's the car?: Got it! Just wait, tomorrow your brother Zhang will definitely spot you in the crowd!
Chi Mo quickly scanned the line of words, fiddled with his slender fingers and slid away to quickly exit the chat interface.
He exhaled and sighed, "I'm finally going back home."
He put the turned-off phone back on the table, leaned back easily, and let the blinds facing him shine the sunset outside the window onto his face in segments.
Chi Mo turned his head to look at the packed suitcase on the ground, and a slight smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.
——Well, I’m going back to my country.
＊＊＊
Because there was no direct flight, Chi Mo flew and transferred for a full fifteen hours.
There is a full seven-hour time difference between Norway and China.
When he just got off the plane, Chi Mo felt a little dazed.
He hasn't been back for three years and hasn't set foot on Chinese soil for three whole years.
It is now the summer season of "Wanjie" and the weather in the Magic City is a bit hot. After Chi Mo walked out of the artificial passage, he took off his coat and put it in his backpack.
After getting the luggage, Chi Mo pushed the suitcase and walked slowly. He hadn't been back for three years, and everything around him seemed unfamiliar to him. As he walked, Chi Mo sighed that the changes in the country were really great.
After walking for a long time and still not reaching the pick-up point Zhang Yuxuan had sent him, Chi Mo realized something was wrong. He looked at the wide indoor intersection in front of him that seemed to have no end, and had a moment of doubt - did he take the wrong way?
The airport in Shanghai is really huge, and it's like a maze for someone who hasn't been back to China for three years.
Chi Mo sighed, but he had a good attitude. If he took the wrong path, it was fine. He could just take it as an opportunity to enjoy the scenery.
Thinking of this, Chi Mo naturally took out his mobile phone and started a game for himself.
On the other side, Zhang Yuxuan, who was so excited about the airport pick-up that he didn't sleep well all night, was standing at the airport entrance and was very excited.
However, he didn't know that the person who was waiting to pick him up had lost his way at the airport, and the place where he was standing was also the wrong pick-up point.
Zhang Yuxuan's eyes never left the waves of people coming and going in front of him. If his eyes were not dry, he would not even be willing to blink.
Just like that, he had no idea that there was anything wrong with the airport where he was standing.
As a native of Shanghai, Zhang Yuxuan has a natural confidence in this airport.
Before Chi Mo got off the plane, he took many pictures of where he was standing and sent them to Chi Mo.
The original intention was to ensure that Chi Mo would not go to the wrong place and could see him at a glance, but he never expected that these photos became the only clue for Chi Mo to come all the way to find him.
"Why hasn't he arrived yet? The flight wasn't delayed. It's been 30 minutes, why hasn't he come out yet?" Zhang Yuxuan was so anxious that he was turning around in circles. When he looked up, he saw a familiar figure diagonally behind where he was originally standing.
Although he didn't even see the face clearly, Zhang Yuxuan immediately identified that person as Chi Mo. He instinctively shouted, "Hey! Here!"
Zhang Yuxuan walked quickly to Chi Mo's side. The young man who had lowered his head and held the mobile phone raised his head when he called out, and their eyes met instantly.
There was no time for him to wonder why the man didn't come out of the airport. Zhang Yuxuan naturally took the two large suitcases pushed by the man. He looked at the phone in Chi Mo's left hand, which was showing the victory screen of the game, and said with some surprise, "Captain Chi, I haven't seen you for three years. Why are you playing mobile games now?"
The suitcase was taken away by someone. The familiar name sounded after these strange three years. Chi Mo felt a little emotional. He raised his hand and pulled the mask on his face down to his chin. Looking at the person in front of him, he didn't know what to call him for a moment. In the end, he only replied with a somewhat unfamiliar "Hello, Brother Zhang."
The smile on Zhang Yuxuan's face froze for a moment. He didn't seem to expect the other party to respond like this. He was already nervous when he came to pick someone up at the airport, and now his nervousness was even worse.
He smiled awkwardly: "Hello, Brother Zhang? We haven't seen each other for three years. Are we already so unfamiliar with each other?"
Chi Mo shook his head slightly when he heard that. He opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but found that he had nothing to say.
"We're really unfamiliar now. You and I never said just three words when we met before."
Zhang Yuxuan sighed pretending to be sad. He looked at the man's exposed face. He hadn't seen him for three years. Even though they were teammates who spent every day together, Zhang Yuxuan couldn't help but be stunned for a moment.
The team leader has taken good care of himself abroad.
His face has grown up completely, completely shedding the childishness of his childhood.
I had never realized before that the big devil would be this type when he grew up!
It can't even be said that he is handsome, but rather has the kind of androgynous good looks that is hard to tell, a visual good look.
Hmm...how should I put it, unexpectedly beautiful?
Zhang Yuxuan was not very good at controlling his expression. Maybe it was because he missed her too much, but his eyes were fixed on this face.
Three years seems to be able to change a lot of things. Back then, Chi Mo retired from the Internet without saying a word and went abroad. The accumulation of these three years has given him an indescribable aura.
More mature than before, but also more aloof than before.
Zhang Yuxuan was in a trance for a moment. He had never thought that the plot in the novel, such as Bai Yueguang returning to China, would appear in his life.
But he did feel at this moment the kind of exaggerated emotional fluctuations that only exist in novels.
So this is the heartbeat you feel when the person you've been thinking about appears in front of you?
I feel like I didn’t jump this fast even when I won the championship.
Zhang Yuxuan had many questions to ask him.
—Have you been doing well these past three years? What exactly happened back then? Why did you leave so abruptly? Why did you leave without even saying goodbye?
But when he saw the captain's calm eyes, he was speechless.
It really seems like...
Chi Mo now really seems to have become the great devil with divinity as rumored.
He just stood there, doing nothing. His extraordinary temperament blended with the calmness after three years gave people a sense of sacredness that kept people at a distance.
It must be an illusion, Zhang Yuxuan raised his hand and rubbed his eyes.
In his memory, Chi Mo should be more lively and more arrogant.
Just like the little overlord, arrogant, unruly and confident.
But now he has nothing to do with arrogance and unruliness.
Instead, she is like the spring breeze and flowing water. Not only her temperament, but also the way she interacts with others is extremely gentle.
However, these minor changes are not enough to change an established fact.
That is - he's back... He's finally back!
This unbelievable feeling of a dream coming true made Zhang Yuxuan's eyes inexplicably red. He didn't want to welcome the person's return with sadness, so after realizing his own loss of composure, he immediately laughed and used a teasing tone to cover up these minor changes.
He smiled and asked, "Why, are you planning a comeback? 25 is the ideal age to strive for success. Trying to win a championship in a different sport?"
Chi Mo had a faint smile on his face. Upon hearing this, he shook his head slightly: "How can it be so easy to become a champion?"
Zhang Yuxuan couldn't help laughing. It was only then that he realized how outrageous what he had just said was.
Yeah...it's not that easy to become a champion.
But for some reason, it seemed that as long as it was the person in front of him, even if it was a cross-project, Zhang Yuxuan was very confident in him.
It seems as if this person was born to win the championship. The word "champion" will always be his prefix no matter where he is.
When Zhang Yuxuan mentioned the championship, he recalled the fear of being dominated by Chi Mo all those years. He complained sincerely, "Thinking back to the competition, whenever I played against your team, I couldn't sleep the night before the game. You are so outrageous, Captain Chi. The alliance has sanctioned you so many times, just to weaken you, but no matter how they change you, you are still terrifyingly strong. From then on, I knew that the reason why the Great Demon King is the Great Demon King is really because of his boasting."
"Big Devil?" Hearing the strange name, Chi Mo tilted his head in surprise.
"Yes, you, Momo, the Big Devil, your fans all call you that, and now the young professional players also call you that. Oh, no, it should be said that everyone in the league calls you that. You must know that, right?" Zhang Yuxuan explained to him.
It's normal for someone who's been disconnected from domestic competitions for three years not to know about these rumors, but he's actually a little confused. Momo doesn't even know he has a nickname, the Big Devil? It seems someone called him that before he retired.
Chi Mo was obviously stunned when he heard the explanation.
What kind of chuunibyou (second-grade syndrome) is this? Also, is his public opinion environment really that good?
Chi Mo, whose memory is still stuck in the time when he was criticized to the point of retiring every time he lost a small game, feels a bit disconnected.
This is really different from what he thought.
As the top star in the league with absolute traffic, his games are naturally very popular.
When he was still playing professionally, because his influence on the Internet was too low, a few years ago, Chi Mo, who was still a minor, developed the good habit of basically not reading any post-match public opinion except playing games and playing "Wanjie".
This habit makes him fearless of online trolls, because he will not read the textual carnivals of those who criticize and criticize each other for fun. He only focuses on himself, and public opinion has no effect on him at all.
Because of this, Chi Mo had no idea what kind of presence he had on the Internet. Coupled with the three-year blank period abroad, he had a direct generation gap.
He really didn't expect that he would have such a high influence on the Internet now. This was something he never dared to dream of back then.
However, Chi Mo was not too surprised. He thought that it was probably because he had retired. There was no reason for the trolls to troll a retired person.
The Internet is changing very quickly. No matter how popular a player is, if he hasn't competed or appeared in the arena for three years, the haters will have nowhere to go to criticize him.
Without popularity and the blessing of a top-tier star halo, he is no longer the player at the center of public opinion.
The reason why it has become like this now is not because he has more breathing power, but because there is less attention, so naturally there is no discussion.
Chi Mo thought to himself.
——As expected, time changes many things.
This novel identity experience made Chi Mo feel very interesting. When he thought that he was now just an outdated "retired old man", he felt particularly relaxed.
Now it's time to download those apps.
Chi Mo smiled.
I found something I was interested in as soon as I returned to China, which is a good start!
But these are all later stories. What he is more concerned about now is the battle for the top spot in Group S at 8 o'clock tonight!
Finally, he got the chance to watch the Wanjie League offline!
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