translator: Ciel
After the sixteen-to-eight match was over, the quarterfinals match schedule for the next day was released. According to the rules of upper and lower brackets, Qin Mo’s opponent would be Li Junru, while Xiao Han would face off against Yuan Xi tomorrow morning.
Qin Mo wasn’t worried about the match between Xiao Han and Yuan Xi. Indeed, Yuan Xi had made great progress in this period of time, and his performance could be considered superb for him to reach the quarterfinals in this individual competition, where esports masters were as abundant as clouds. However, Yuan Xi’s explosive pet attacks would not be too big of a threat against Xiao Han’s assassin, which possessed a similar explosive power. Xiao Han’s chances of winning tomorrow should be at least 70%.
Li Junru was the only female player who qualified for the quarterfinals, seemingly calm and indifferent, but actually cold and wise. When compared to Liu Hong’s direct and handsome plays, Li Junru’s tactics were more skillful and her play was more delicate, making full use of her advantages as a female player. Instead of violently fighting with others head-on, she would keep a wide distance, accumulating an advantage bit by bit with the superimposed damage caused by her poison attack skills. Once a steady advantage was accumulated, the situation would be extremely difficult to reverse in the later stages. However, Qin Mo was also confident in his abilities.
Turning on their computers, Qin Mo and Xiao Han watched the video footage, exchanging ideas and tactical arrangements for tomorrow’s games.
After the discussion was concluded, Qin Mo glanced at his watch. Discovering that it was only 8:30pm, he thought about it for a few moments, before speaking. “I would like to visit the next room, but I’m not sure if captain Lin will be there.”
Xiao Han frowned. “The amount of concern you’re showing him seems to be too much?”
The sentence carried the strong stench of vinegar. Because Qin Mo and Lin Shuangcheng had a fairly good relationship, Xiao Han didn’t really like Lin Shuangcheng.
“He is a friend we met in the online game,” Qin Mo reasoned. “This time, the situation is too abnormal, and it would be wrong for us to ignore it. With Lin Shuangcheng’s ability, it is obvious that he would at least reach the quarterfinals of this individual competition, yet this time, he didn’t even make it past the group stage. Don’t you find it strange?”
Truth be told, Xiao Han had indeed been suspicious about this. When the names of the sixteen people who qualified from the group stage were released yesterday, he constantly felt as if there was a name missing. Only after thinking about it carefully did he realise; the captain of Sword Song, Lin Shuangcheng, was not on the list.
As captains of non-governmental teams, Interlude’s Su Cheng and Sword Song’s Lin Shuangcheng ought to have similar strengths. Xiao Han and Su Cheng had fought in the arena; knowing his level of play, it is unthinkable for Su Cheng to have entered the quarterfinals, but not Lin Shuangcheng.
Lin Shuangcheng happened to be in group E. This group did have many masters, with Dynasty’s captain Chu Jianxin, and Without Fire’s vice captain Jing Yang.
In group E, Jing Yang was the strongest in terms of a head-on confrontation, combining the violent double swords flow with an assassin’s style of play. He trained in the Bronze Sparrow club for a year, and under the guidance of an expert, he could be considered first-class among the players in the Peerless Jianghu professional league. Lin Shuangcheng lost to Jing Yang with a score of 1:2, and was only one move away from victory in the final match. From this, it was clear that Lin Shuangcheng’s strength was not any worse than Jing Yang’s, and that luck wasn’t in his favour during that game.
It stands to reason that Lin Shuangcheng ought to have won against Chu Jianxin in the next game, and qualified in second place. As a captain, Chu Jianxin’s commands and tactical abilities were unquestionable, but in the end, his profession was a tank from Kuangdao Gate, which was weaker in one-on-one fights. Lin Shuangcheng’s odds of winning with his melee swordsman were naturally very promising.
What puzzled many viewers was the fact that Lin Shuangcheng actually lost to Chu Jianxin with a score of 0:2 in the group stage, and to make things worse, it had been an embarrassing loss.
Lin Shuangcheng had returned to the hotel immediately after the game, giving Qin Mo no chance to meet with him. Now that the knockout matches had concluded, Qin Mo managed to find some spare time, intending to pay him a visit. He worried that the reason for Lin Shuangcheng’s sudden loss might be because he had fallen ill.
Qin Mo told Xiao Han his thoughts. Xiao Han was aware that Qin Mo’s planned visit to Lin Shuangcheng was simply out of concern as a friend, and thus nodded in agreement. “Then, I’m coming with you.”
The two people walked over to the next room and knocked on the door. However, even after waiting for a little while, no one answered.
Seeing this, Qin Mo’s suspicions grew. Pulling out his mobile phone, he dialed Lin Shuangcheng’s number. After two rings, the call connected, and a hoarse voice spoke. “Captain- Captain Qin…”
“Xiao Song?” Qin Mo wondered. “Why are you the one picking up the call?”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“I’m- I’m at the hospital, captain Lin was taken to the intensive care unit.” Song Changdong sounded like he was about to cry. “The doctor said that it was septic shock, and Xiao Yun has already gone home… I don’t know what to do…”
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Qin Mo comforted him patiently. “Don’t worry, which hospital are you at? I’ll come over right now.”
Song Changdong told Qin Mo the hospital’s address. Without another word, Qin Mo turned to leave, and Xiao Han could only chase after him. “It’s already so late, are you really going to the hospital? What’s going on?”
“I don’t know either,” Qin Mo replied. “Xiao Song said that captain Lin was in the intensive care unit, and it sounds serious.”
Xiao Han was stunned. He had assumed that Lin Shuangcheng was just suffering from a cold or some other illness. To think that Lin Shuangcheng had actually been sent to the intensive care unit—— wasn’t this a little too exaggerated?
They encountered Su Cheng and Xie Changming at the front door of the hotel. Su Cheng offered them both a smile, “It’s already so late. Are you both still going out?”
“Captain Lin was sent to the hospital for emergency rescue,” Qin Mo replied. “Were you both aware?”
Xie Changming stared, his eyes wide. “I just said that it was odd for him not to make it into the top 16! He was sent to the hospital? What’s going on?”
“The both of us just found out about it also,” Xiao Han sighed.
“I wasn’t aware of it before this.” Su Cheng’s expression was serious. “We should go check it out too.”
Qin Mo stopped a taxi, and the four people quickly made their way to the hospital.
Arriving at the hospital, they saw Song Changdong seated in the corridor alone, Lin Shuangcheng’s mobile phone clutched tightly in his hands, looking somewhat helpless.
Qin Mo hurriedly walked over. “Xiao Song, what happened?”
To Song Changdong, seeing Qin Mo was like seeing a family member arrive. His eyes immediately turned red as he choked out an explanation. “It’s my fault. After yesterday’s group match, captain Lin said he wanted to eat meatballs, but the hotel doesn’t have a kitchen, so I went out to buy some for his lunch. Captain Lin felt uncomfortable after eating them, but insisted on playing in the afternoon match. After returning to the hotel, he couldn’t stop vomiting, and suddenly had a fever last night. I was terrified, and called an ambulance to take him to the hospital, but he fell into a coma on the way here… the emergency rescue went on the whole night, and just ended this morning, but the doctor said that his situation was unstable and that more observation was needed…”
The more he spoke, the more upset Song Changdong was. A simple lunch not only buried Lin Shuangcheng’s hopes of reaching the top 16, top 8, or even the top 4, and almost harmed Lin Shuangcheng himself.
Listening to this, Xiao Han realised what had happened. When he passed by the corridor that day, he did indeed hear Lin Shuangcheng say that he wanted to eat the meatballs made by Song Changdong. Xiao Han himself had interjected, saying that he also wanted to have some. In fact, Lin Shuangcheng had obviously been making a joke, but Xiao Song was an honest person, and took it for real, running out on a cold day to pack meatballs for lunch. This sort of sincerity was able to touch the hearts of others.
It was simply a pity that the heavens made a fool out of them, and the meatballs that Song Changdong packed may not have been clean. Nowadays, many unscrupulous merchants who used expired ingredients to make food. Lin Shuangcheng’s poor performance was obviously because of food poisoning.
Qin Mo sat beside Song Changdong, patting him on the shoulder gently. “Don’t be too hard on yourself,” he coaxed, “this isn’t entirely your fault.”
“Then, how is captain Lin now?” Su Cheng asked quietly.
“The doctor said many things, but I don’t understand them,” Song Changdong explained. “It seems like his blood potassium and sodium are very low, which affects the heart. His myocardial enzymes are also very low…”
The low results on the pile of laboratory tests had given Song Changdong a scare. At that moment, his brain was blank; it was comparable to a person walking outdoors on a sunny day, only to get drenched in a sudden downpour—— if something really happened to Lin Shuangcheng, he wouldn’t have known how to explain things to the team or captain Lin’s family. He regretted it, blaming himself, but was constantly at a loss, and couldn’t find anyone for help. In the end, he sat here in the hospital for an entire day, eating and drinking nothing.
“Are the test results with you? Let me have a look.” Qin Mo requested.
Song Changdong immediately held out the mobile phone to him. “I took photos.”
Qin Mo gave the results a glance, before explaining. “According to the doctor, he is suffering from a lack of water and electrolytes, caused by severe diarrhea after food poisoning. Low levels of potassium will cause damage to the myocardial cells. Still, he’s usually in good health, and he’s young. He will definitely recover, so don’t worry too much.”
Everyone was surprised, especially Xie Changming, who immediately asked, “God Mo, do you also know medicine?”
In fact, it was the so-called ‘being ill for a long time makes a doctor’. Qin Mo had been in and out of various hospitals in the past few years after his retirement, and has seen all sorts of patients. He also remembered the data on their test results.
“I understand a little,” Qin Mo replied calmly. “How about we ask the presiding doctor to explain?”
At this moment, a young female doctor in a white coat walked out of the intensive care unit. “Is Lin Shuangcheng’s family member here?”
Song Changdong immediately stood up. “I’m here.”
“Your brother’s condition has stabilised, and he can be moved to the general ward,” the doctor explained. “Come in and help, push his bed next door.”
A signature had been required when he was sent to the hospital last night. Lin Shuangcheng’s family couldn’t be contacted, so Song Changdong wrote his own name instead, under the relationship of ‘brothers’.
As the doctor used the phrase ‘your brother’, Qin Mo immediately realised that Xiao Song had signed the consent form. No wonder he had been frowning all day. Having signed his name meant taking on the responsibility; if anything had happened to Lin Shuangcheng, he would certainly not have been able to escape the guilt.
The bed was wheeled out by a nurse. Song Changdong hurriedly walked past the doctor, and took a step forward.
Lin Shuangcheng had already woken up. His face was pale, and he still seemed to be a little weak, but when faced with Song Changdong’s bloodshot eyes, Lin Shuangcheng still smiled, and reached out to pat him on the hand gently. “Don’t blame yourself. It’s not your fault.” Although his voice was hoarse and rough on the ears, his gaze was gentle. He knew that Song Changdong had definitely been scared silly, and remembered that when he lost consciousness, the teenager had been going crazy, repeatedly calling out his name. At that moment, Xiao Song’s eyes were red, seemingly unaware of the tears that fell. Those tears landed on Lin Shuangcheng’s hand, and for a moment, he felt as though they would burn him.
This honest child must have been feeling very guilty, right? His red-rimmed eyes made others feel pity for him.
Song Changdong lowered his head. “Are you feeling better, captain Lin?”
Lin Shuangcheng: “En.”
He turned around, only to see Qin Mo, Xiao Han, Su Cheng, and Xie Changming. Surprised, Lin Shuangcheng asked, “How are you all also at the hospital?”
“We heard from Xiao Song that you were brought to the intensive care unit,” Qin Mo explained, walking forward. “So, we came over to check on you.”
Lin Shuangcheng laughed. “A thick-skinned person like me definitely won’t die, otherwise, won’t you all be losing a strong opponent?”
Although his face was pale and his lips bloodless, Lin Shuangcheng’s smile was still charming and filled with incomparable confidence.
Xie Changming had a long-suffering expression on his face. “That’s enough from you. You already look like you’re an inch away from death, yet you still have the mood to crack jokes.”
Su Cheng smiled. “You should concern yourself less with competition matters for now, and properly recuperate in the hospital. Get well before the partner competition starts.”
“That’s right, don’t be stubborn,” Xiao Han chimed in. “Your lips are so dry, they look like they’re about to crack. Do you want a photo as proof?”
Lin Shuangcheng hurriedly waved his hand. “No need, I prefer looking at myself when I’m handsome. As for this ill appearance, I’ll just let you all look, don’t show it to me.”
His antics caused everyone to laugh—— even when ill, this fellow still needed to preserve his image. Really, he was quite narcissistic indeed.
Lin Shuangcheng turned to look at Song Changdong. “Xiao Song, have you eaten?”
Song Changdong was stunned for a moment, before remembering that he had been at the hospital the whole time, constantly fretting and worrying.
Looking at his expression, Lin Shuangcheng immediately knew that Song Changdong hadn’t eaten. “You should go eat, now that I’m fine.”
“A-Ming, go buy Xiao Song something to eat,” Su Cheng suggested. “The rest of us can take captain Lin to the general ward.”
“There’s no need to trouble yourselves,” Song Changdong hastily protested. “I can just go downstairs and buy something later…”
Xie Changming patted him on the shoulder, laughing. “Why are you so polite? Whatever you want to eat, I’ll go buy for you!”
Su Cheng was very capable, getting his junior to buy food, while he himself accompanied Song Changdong, Qin Mo, and Xiao Han to send Lin Shuangcheng to the general ward. He also took the initiative to find a doctor to better understand the situation, procuring a recommended diet list for the patient, which was then handed to Song Changdong.
Everyone was busy, and it soon became 10:00pm. Looking at the wall clock, Lin Shuangcheng shook his head. “You all still have matches tomorrow. You should go back first, so your rest isn’t affected.
Qin Mo wanted to stay a little longer, but was teased by Lin Shuangcheng. “Since you came to visit me in the hospital late at night, I’ll remember this favour.”
“Then, can you let us win the competition next time?” Su Cheng asked.
Lin Shuangcheng shook his head. “That won’t do, I have to double my efforts so I can properly repay you for the favour!”
“If I had known earlier, I wouldn’t have come to see you,” Su Cheng laughed.
“Then, we shall be leaving first. You should rest early as well.” Qin Mo stood from his chair. “Xiao Song, if you require help, don’t hesitate to give us a call.”
Song Changdong was very grateful. “Thank you, everyone.”
QwQ Song Changdong is such a babey and needs to know that it! Really! Isn’t! His! Fault!!! This chapter was a whole round of worrying for poor Ling Shuangcheng and feeling bad for Song Changdong but thank you for it anyways~
+1, Song Changdong is such a pure boy and feeling guilty for Lin Shuangcheng food poisoning >_<, I hit him if Lin Shuangcheng doesn’t treat Xiao Song well 😡 but it also a pity that he didn’t get to top 16..
Oh gosh this is what Qin Mo would have experienced if he’d asked for help instead of shouldering his injury alone…… what have we learned here people???? ALWAYS ask for help bc your friends, students, teachers, and even rivals are willing to help. Stare at Qin Mo GOT IT?
Thanks for the chapter!!!
+999 you just need to seek help, the people who cares about you will surely help. I know that feeling 😣
It’s useless to shoulder the burden alone >_<
You’re welcome~
Taking care of each other like family… Awww warms my heart
their circle is so heartwarming 😍
Last chapter i was surprised that Lin Shuangcheng didn’t reach into the top 16~ So it was because of food poisoning…
Lin Shuangcheng is really tough~ Even though he’s in this condition he comforts Song Changdong~
I’m looking forward to the next matches~
Thank you for the chapter! ( ˊᵕˋ )♡.°⑅
Yes, he compete while suffering from food poisoning 😩 and he really don’t want Song Changdong to blame himself
Next match will begin soon~
You’re welcome~
Oh no capt Song 😭 luckily he’s fine now, too bad he couldn’t classify
Thanks for the chapter 💕
He’s fine already, just needs some rest ❤
You’re welcome~
Poor kids 😭
Thanks for the chapter!!!
You’re welcome~
Thanks for the chapter ♥
You’re welcome~
i forget the age difference but song chadong is a sweet bean and i kinda ship him with his new captain..
Sounds like hypovolemic shock rather than septic shock. Anyway, get well soon our handsome captain lin!