Editor: Decembery
As the Star District’s Summer Regular Season of “Century’s Finale” approached, promotional videos of popular teams started to be released and displayed on various platforms. As such, public opinion surrounding Qiu Yu became increasingly chaotic.
Some people were still influenced by the marketing accounts from earlier and believed Qiu Yu was trouble—that he would bring calamity to the team, while some more were brought over by his abilities after his broadcast and turned from passersby to fans. And some others… already started shipping his CPs.
Qiu Yu, who was at the centre of the vortex, was utterly unaware of the chaos on the internet.
He was currently struggling to adapt to the dizziness and nausea caused by the spaceship jump—the Eagle Riders’ first game was an away game and their opponents were located in a city at the border of the First Star District, which was three standard short-distance space jumps from the capital. As Qiu Yu’s body was not strong enough, this greatly affected his body.
Doctor Qi handed him a drink. “Finish it and sleep. The next jump is in an hour.”
Qiu Yu received the glass and finished it obediently before letting out a sigh of relief and leaning back in his seat.
His face was still a little too pale, but his reaction was already better compared to his first trip to the capital—at least he didn’t puke this time.
It seemed that physical exercise was quite useful.
It was already past three o’clock in the afternoon upon their arrival.
The Eagle Rider club had booked a hotel close to the competition venue for the players to rest. Their match was the second scheduled on the day they arrived, which was planned to start at eight pm.
“After the game tonight, we have to return to the capital city early tomorrow for a home game at ten pm.” Mu Feibai snuck a glance at Yuan Lu’s tablet and looked towards Qiu Yu, frowning, “We’re gonna be travelling consecutively and competing these days, are you still okay to play?”
“Yeah.” Qiu Yu nodded, his face still a little pale.
At this point, he must play even if he doesn’t feel well. This was the path he had chosen.
Zhou Shu said with a smile, “This is all because Captain is unlucky. If we had a home game today we would travel tomorrow, then at least you won’t have to play after traveling for two days in a row.”
The competition days for the First Star District’s Summer Regular season were every Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. The 16 teams who had passed the pre-selections were then divided into four groups, where a round-robin then ensued. Each team had to play both home and away games, then the round-robin would take place over eight days. Today happened to be the first Wednesday of the group matches. If it was a home game, Qiu Yu would have been able to rest at the Eagle RIders’ base instead.
However, it was a pity that the team’s luck wasn’t great and they drew an away game so Qiu Yu had to fly over for one game, then fly back for another. He would have to endure space leaps before both games.
“It is impossible to always draw the lots we wish for.” Du Chen’s tone was cold, “If you can’t stand it, it would be better to give up earlier.”
Zhou Shu hooked an arm around Du Chen’s neck. “Ai, I feel like you’ve got a problem with Qiu Yu these days huh? You can’t be like this ok? He’s already our teammate.”
Du Chen shook him off and coldly snorted.
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.
After a moment, he reached into his bag and took out a peppermint ointment, and passed it over to Qiu Yu. Still, with a chilly tone, he said, “…if you sniff it, it can relieve the dizziness by a little.”
Hle Te gfmflnfv la. “Ktjcx sbe.”
Ge Jtfc qegrfv tlr ilqr jcv fwqtjrlrfv, “P’w pera kbgglfv sbeg qbbg mbcvlalbc kbeiv joofma atf ujwf!”
Hle Te ijeutfv jwerfvis bc atf lcrlvf jcv kfca jibcu klat Ge Jtfc, “Sc, P xcbk.”
Ze Mflyjl jirb pblcfv lc bc atf oec. “Tfq, tf’r cba yflcu mjglcu abkjgvr sbe, tf’r bcis kbgglfv jybea atf ujwf.”
Du Chen didn’t refute and strode towards his room with a cold face, swiped his card to enter, and locked it after he entered. Yep, very cold and ruthless.
The manager Yuan Lu received a notification and grabbed Mu Feibai and Lin Jinxi. “You two, come with me and prepare for the pre-game interview.”
She then turned around and spoke to Qiu Yu, “Go back to your room quickly, don’t go wandering around everywhere without being accompanied by an Alpha in our team. Take a break and have a good rest to adjust.”
After all, this hotel was open to the public and who knew if there happened to be Alphas staying in other rooms so Qiu Yu should go out as little as possible. If he had to leave, he must be accompanied by either Mu Feibai or Du Chen, just in case anything happens.
Although Qiu Yu didn’t think of himself as delicate and weak, he also knew that it was better to avoid trouble at this time so he nodded.
Before Qiu Yu entered his room, Lu Cun hesitantly whispered, “Master, Du Chen actually does care. He wanted to take out the peppermint ointment several times on the spaceship but didn’t because he saw Doctor Qi taking care of you… don’t misunderstand him.”
Qiu Yu looked at the mint ointment in his hand and chuckled, “…little kid.”
Hearing this, Lu Cun’s cheeks turned red again and after a while, he continued, “He’s usually fine, but because there’s a game today…”
He’s acting differently than usual. Even Lu Cun, a substitute player, knew that today was an important day so there couldn’t be any awkwardness between teammates.
Qiu Yu reached out and rubbed Lu Cun’s head, “Don’t worry, I didn’t misunderstand him.”
Lu Cun blushed and covered his head. He seemed as though he had more to say, but in the end, he only replied, “Then… rest well, master!”
And then he turned and ran away.
Qiu Yu walked into his room and fell upon the bed tiredly. After a while, he reached for the peppermint ointment Du Chen gave him, opened it, and gently sniffed it.
The cold mint scent immediately filled his nasal cavity. It seemed to flow along his trachea and into his lungs, slightly alleviating nausea he had been suppressing since he disembarked from the spaceship.
Qiu Yu took a few deep breaths filled with the scent of peppermint and its effect was almost immediately apparent.
Thinking that Lu Cun was worried he would misunderstand Du Chen just then, he couldn’t help but smile a little. Du Chen was a physically fit and strong Alpha and he didn’t show any sign of being affected by the space jumps from travelling, yet he brought this unopened peppermint balm in his bag. However you look at it… it definitely wasn’t prepared for Du Chen himself.
The child couldn’t speak his mind and was currently in an awkward phase. Qiu Yu definitely wouldn’t hold a grudge just because of a few sentences.
After all, if Qiu Yu himself were to meet a physically weak person who couldn’t withstand a single blow, yet wants to carry a gun and fight in a war, he would also fiercely scold them until they gave up—what if they got injured or sick on the battlefield? Not to mention causing trouble for others, they would also be another source of constant worry.
Now that he has become the physically weakest one who stubbornly refuses to retreat, he could understand Du Chen’s worry and anger.
After he lay down and had some rest, Qiu Yu gradually felt much less uncomfortable with the help of peppermint balm.
He climbed under the blankets and took a nap, waking just in time to hear Yuan Lu call him to change clothes and prepare to go downstairs and head towards the competition venue as a team.
The Eagle Riders’ competition was to officially begin at eight o’clock, so the two teams must gather and get prepared at seven.
There was no starting ceremony or anything like that in the regular season. Qiu Yu followed the team and underwent biometric and iris scans to confirm their identities, then they were brought to the waiting room after registering.
In order to prevent the team from feeling sleepy after feeling full, they had dinner in the waiting room and were only given a small bag of nutrients per person.
Mu Feibai was lazily seated on the sofa with the bag of nutrients in his mouth. With unclear speech, he complained, “So boring…”
Zhou Shu smiled and said, “Mostly because the opponents are too weak to rouse your fighting spirit.”
Although they stopped at the semi-finals in the Spring season, the Eagle Riders were still a veteran team after all and were the seeded team of this regular season. Almost all the teams that could put up a fight were scattered in other groups. In their Group A, perhaps only team Jue Ran could compete, however, their match was scheduled for next Wednesday.
The Star District Regular competition was a Bo1. If they lost to a team that newly climbed up from the preliminaries even when Qiu Yu could participate in the entire match, the Eagle Riders probably shouldn’t covet this year’s Star Alliance Cup.
“Don’t talk nonsense, I’m going to play seriously no matter whether the opponent is strong or not.” Mu Feibai said in a leisurely and confident tone, “I met their captain just then in the pre-game interviews. His eyes were shining like he really wants to defeat me, but I won’t give him a chance.”
After speaking, he paused and turned to Qiu Yu, “Liu Feng’s captain also asked about you.”
Liu Feng was the little battle team they were to compete against today.
Although their battle team was small, their captain was an Alpha with the ID of Divin. It was said that the Liu Feng team spent a lot of money to poach such a naturalised player from the Third Star District.
“That kid seemed to be very disdainful towards you, so don’t hold back when you get on-field later and give him a good beating.” Mu Feibai rubbed the tip of his nose, “He also happens to be a jungler, if you can make him unable to catch a single special mutant beat, I’ll treat you to a big meal when we get back!”
Qiu Yu was noncommittal. “I never hold back on the battlefield.”
Zhou Shu glanced at Mu Feibai, “That’s kind of boring. Before, you used to make fun bets, like live broadcasting washing your hair in a handstand, doing a sexy dance in women’s clothing, or washing our socks for a week. But now when it comes to Qiu Yu, all you do is stuff like inviting him to dinner, isn’t that boring?
Mu Feibai leaned back in his chair and exaggeratedly shook his head, chiding, “That’s only because I can win all the bets with you guys, but Qiu ge is likely to actually pull out my flag. I’m not stupid, so why would I get addicted to digging a pit for myself?”
Recalling Mu Feibai’s previous acts of washing his hair in a handstand, kneeling to propose on the spot, and doing a sexy dance in women’s clothing, even Coach He Jingxing couldn’t help laughing out loud, not to mention Lin Jinxi and Lu Cun.
Zhou Shu was surprised, “You also call him Qiu ge?”
Mu Fiebai was very calm, “Last time he pulled my flag, so he’s my ‘ge’ from now on. What, you’ve got a problem with that?”
Zhou Shu laughed, “No, no I wouldn’t dare.”
Du Chen suddenly spoke, “The Third Star District is very oppressive and discriminatory towards Omegas. Divin definitely didn’t have anything good to say.”
His tone was cold but there seemed to be burning flames in his eyes. His fighting spirit could almost be seen by the naked eye.
Mu Feibai laughed.
The Eagle Riders had researched the Liu Feng battle team right after the lottery results were released. Hence, everyone was much more relaxed in the waiting time before their game and chatted leisurely about possible strategies to adopt later.
At 7:45, staff notified both teams to enter the arena.
There were no team member introductions in the group stages. The players left their respective lounges and, in a single file, walked across the centre stage to shake each of their opponents’ hands under the audience’s applause. Then they walked towards the gaming cabins on the opposite side of the venue.
The moment Qiu Yu took off his team jacket that was worn over his gaming suit before stepping into the game cabin, an uproar punctuated by shark catcalls and whistles sounded—the provocative intent was obvious, and it was clearly not well-intentioned.
Amidst the din, a sentence hollered from unknown lips was clearly heard from where they stood on the stage. “His ass is so perky!”
The Eagle Riders’ expressions immediately changed, looking towards Qiu Yu with worried and complicated expressions.
nagisa: Whoohoo the actual esports are finally starting! The author didn’t have anything story/headcanon-wise to say these chapters so I didn’t translate them ＞︿＜
Exams are totally over now so updates will be back on Sundays, thank you guys for the good luck wishes (^///^)
Also I just binged If We Were Villains on Saturday and Sunday [instead of translating qaq sryyy (also part of the reason I’m sleep deprived)] and ITS SO GOODDD
Here’s my (no spoilers) review if you’re interested (It’s not a webnovel btw in case you’re not into that)
OH MY GOSH it’s been so long since I read a book that’s so emotionally raw and intense – give me 3-5 business days to recover. It sliced my heart into shreds and trampled it under its feet yet I would give anything to lose my memories of the two days just so I could experience it all over again.
Go ahead, break my heart, because “[y]ou can justify anything, if you do it poetically enough”.
Just like in Shakespeare’s plays, the characters feel nothing in moderation – not love, hate, guilt, anger or lust, which I found completely and utterly mesmerising. The Shakespeare quotes weren’t irritating for me, as I saw some people write in their goodreads reviews. On the other hand, I felt that M. L. Rio was able to use Shakespeare’s words in all the right places, at the right times to express what the characters could not in their own. I, for one, will never be able to look at “My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself because it is an enemy to thee” the same again.
This book literally made me want to read King Lear just to understand the characters’ emotions better – that’s how good it is.
Thanks for the chapter ❤️❤️
Thanks for the recommendations and the translation 🤣❤️🤣❤️🤣
Thank you for the chapter! 🤍💚🤍💚🤍💚🤍💚
I’d like to throw hands at that random alpha! Come on, square up! Rolls sleeves
The editor note was very funny tho 🤣
Thank you for the chapter Loved that last note
That is so sexist and totally not cool, sexualizing people against their own will is so disgusting 🤢
Qiu Yu’s been in the army since forever, I really can’t imagine such weak catcalling making a dent haha
Thank you so much for translating! <3
Some Rando with the intention of messing up QY: You’ve got a nice ass
Qiu Yu, a hot and powerful former veteran in a fucking apocalypse who has experienced women coming to him and straight up asking to become the father to their children: I know.
Thanks for the chapter!! I wish you luck your exam results!!
Thank you for the update ❤️💯
Qhat sorta‐ 🙄😒
Du Chen’s a saint compared to them 💀 I hope he continues to grow
Qiu Yu doesn’t give a shit about the catcalling but it’s still not ok