Chapter 144 Threat
Yao Muling rushed forward and gave Lu Yao a tight hug.
"Master of a Thousand Years! There are still three hours before the match starts. I've booked a table at the nearby Starry Sky Cafe so you can meet the girls from our team."
Lu Yao met the four members of Yao Muling's Valkyrie team.
They were all girls in their early twenties, two of whom were still in university but had taken a break from school to play esports.
They all had kinesiology patches on their hands to relieve tendonitis, and their eyes were covered with faint bluish-black marks from long hours of training late into the night.
But what danced in those eyes was a pure and moving love.
"Master Millennium, we've heard you're incredibly accurate at fortune telling. Could you predict the results of today's competition?" The girls' eyes sparkled.
The private room suddenly fell silent, and all the girls stared longingly at Lu Yao.
Yao Muling gripped her napkin even tighter with nervousness.
Lu Yao took a sip of her tea, a slight smile playing on her lips: "You really want to know?"
The girls looked at each other, then suddenly burst out laughing at the same time.
"No!" they shouted in unison.
Yao Muling opened her mouth wide in surprise: "You bunch of heartless little devils, I'm so curious!"
The oldest contestant smoothed his short hair and said seriously, "Sister Muling, if the master says we will win, we might underestimate our opponent; if he says we will lose, it might affect our mentality."
She turned to look at Lu Yao, her eyes resolute, "We want to create our own ending, regardless of victory or defeat, as long as we have a clear conscience."
You Qing was moved to tears: "This is so touching. I will never give up when things go wrong again. I want to learn from your spirit."
The laughter and chatter inside the private room were suddenly interrupted by a series of hurried footsteps.
Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw the last member, Bai Zhiyu, standing at the door, panting heavily. His bangs were soaked with sweat and stuck to his pale cheeks.
Bai Zhiyu is the team's main killer, possessing a pair of nimble hands that can catch many enemies in each round.
"Sorry... I'm late." She forced a smile.
Yao Muling chuckled and joked, "The big shot has finally arrived. Please have a seat."
She didn't notice Bai Zhiyu's slightly trembling hands hidden in her sleeves, nor did she realize that she subconsciously avoided eye contact with everyone when she sat down.
Lu Yao's gaze instantly locked onto the girl who had arrived late.
To the average person, Bai Zhiyu only looked slightly tired, but to Lu Yao, the girl was surrounded by ominous black energy, with a faint trace of blood between her brows—a very bad omen.
Bai Zhiyu and his ailing mother depend on each other for survival.
After graduating from high school, she started working odd jobs at convenience stores and milk tea shops, barely making ends meet for herself and her mother.
The game was the only bright spot in her gloomy life; in that virtual world, she could temporarily forget the burdens of reality.
She has amazing gaming talent.
His skills are fluid and his awareness is precise, earning him several top-tier S-rank badges on the killer leaderboard.
Gradually, Bai Zhiyu noticed that his matches were being recommended by the system, and the number of spectators skyrocketed from single digits to four digits.
A gaming blogger specifically analyzed her gameplay, with the video titled "The Ultimate Play of the Mysterious Random Player King".
Bai Zhiyu tried opening a live streaming room.
Viewers were amazed by the contrast between her quiet appearance and sharp skills, and her fan base grew like a snowball.
"Zhizhi, you should go pro!"
Such bullet comments are becoming more and more common.
Whenever this happened, she would always smile and change the subject, but her heart was filled with ripples.
Professional player?
She had never heard of any professional female butcher.
Until that day, she saw Yao Muling's all-female team recruitment announcement on the homepage.
Registration, trial training, signing a contract...
Everything went so smoothly, it felt like a dream.
Yao Muling named the team "Valkyrie"—the Valkyrie in Norse mythology who decides the fate of warriors.
As Bai Zhiyu stroked her brand-new team uniform, she felt for the first time that perhaps the goddess of fate had finally smiled upon her.
This all-female team, a newcomer to the competition, actually fought their way through the rounds and made it to the finals.
Bai Zhiyu still remembers the moment of victory in the semi-finals, when the audience erupted in thunderous cheers.
She looked up at the golden rain falling from the sky and felt as if her gloomy life had finally seen a turning point.
But at that moment, Bai Zhiyu mechanically took the teacup handed to him by his teammate, completely unaware that the scalding tea had splashed onto the back of his hand.
...
On the night the team advanced to the semifinals, Bai Zhiyu received a call from the hospital.
My mother's body, which had been weakened by years of overwork, finally gave way, and she suffered a sudden cerebral hemorrhage and was admitted to the ICU.
Surprisingly, the first thing the mother said after regaining consciousness was, "When is the final...?"
Her slender fingers trembled as she made a cheering gesture.
Bai Zhiyu buried his face in his mother's hospital gown, which smelled of disinfectant, and tears soaked his clothes.
She knew that her mother was using her last bit of strength to support her in pursuing her hard-won dream.
However, just 48 hours before the final, Bai Zhiyu's phone vibrated.
A message popped up on the screen from an unknown number: [Five million, transfer now. A statement will be issued tomorrow regarding withdrawal from the competition due to illness.]
This is followed by a string of bank account numbers.
"Neuropathy."
She scoffed and deleted the message.
But an hour later, the phone lit up again.
This content made her blood freeze instantly:
[We have people at the hospital. Every game you play, your mother loses a finger.]
In the photo, the mother's sleeping profile is marked with a scarlet circle.
Even more frightening was that a gleaming scalpel was strapped to the IV stand where medicine bottles should have been hanging.
Bai Zhiyu rushed to the hospital like a madman, and the moment he pushed open the ward door, his mother was sleeping peacefully.
She lifted the corner of the blanket with trembling hands.
My mother's fingers were perfectly intact, but someone had drawn a thin circle on them with a red pen at some point, just like in the photo.
The nurse on duty said that a medical equipment repairman did come today.
Bai Zhiyu slumped on a bench outside the ward, his team uniform soaked with cold sweat.
This is not a prank; it is a carefully planned threat.
The other party was clearly telling her: We can get close to your mother at any time.
"Zhiyu? Zhiyu!" Yao Muling's voice pulled her back to reality. "The Thousand-Year Master is asking you a question."
Bai Zhiyu suddenly looked up and met Lu Yao's gaze, which seemed to see through everything.
Those eyes seemed to have seen through all her struggles and fears.
"I……"
Her throat tightened, and the cup in her hand suddenly tilted, spilling coffee onto the tablecloth.
The private room fell silent instantly.
Everyone noticed something was wrong.
The usually calm and collected carry player was now acting like a frightened bird.
Lu Yao gently pressed down on Bai Zhiyu's trembling wrist, and the warmth from her fingertips made the girl shudder.
Have you encountered any difficulties lately?
Lu Yao's voice was very soft, but it instantly made Bai Zhiyu's eyes redden.
At that moment, she almost blurted out all her fear and helplessness.
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