[(one paragraph of) very slight nsfw warning]
Editor: Decembery
“This attempt failed.”
Mu Feibai helplessly spread his hands during the post-game meeting. He looked towards He Jingxing, “You see, if I don’t tone my plays down a bit then even Zhou Shu wouldn’t be able to keep up, let alone Xiao Lin and Xiao Lu. They’ve just joined the team from the youth camps, so not only are they unfamiliar with the opponents, but they’re also not used to the pace of competitions. Not to mention Xiao Du’s short temper…”
Du Chen’s face turned slightly red. Pursing his lips, he admitted, “Sorry, I was in over my head during that last group battle.”
Zhou Shu also quickly picked up the pot. “It’s also my fault. I’ve been taking it easy these days with Qiu ge here and I didn’t get back into the zone today. I’ll make sure to pay attention to it next time.”
In this match, He Jingxing had intended to trial what would happen should Mu Feibai play his hardest without Qiu Yu on the team.
Though he wasn’t in the least bit surprised that it didn’t end well.
“Lin Jinxi and Lu Cun have too little experience, so they couldn’t stay concentrated in the latter half of the match when everyone’s getting tired.” Mu Feibai continued, suggesting to Coach He, “They should undergo some training to resist pressure. Substitutes usually have a year to transition but they didn’t, so they’ll just have to adapt as soon as they can.”
He Jingxing glanced at Mu Feibai, “And there’s also you. You have to consider your teammates’ abilities when you command. It’s not going to end well if you issue orders you know they aren’t able to complete.”
Mu Feibai felt wronged, “But you told me not to hold back during this match…”
He Jingxing rolled his eyes, “I told you not to hold back, not to order rabbits to bite a wolf to death!”
Mu Feibai guiltily rubbed the tip of his nose, admitting his mistake.
In truth, it was all too easy for teams to suddenly win or lose at the level of the professional league. After all, they were just a group of kids who were pretty good players of a game. They weren’t soldiers, nor were they actual gods of war. Teams would take turns being the winner or loser even during ranked games and normal practice competitions, so it was not unexpected for the teams ranked towards the top to lose to each other.
Mu Feibai and Zhou Shu had experienced the ups and downs quite a lot, so they didn’t have too much of a mental burden even after losing today’s game.
However, it was different for the other three.
Since they left the arena, Du Chen became very silent. The rims of Lin Jinxi’s eyes were red, and Lu Cun apologised while crying for letting down the expectations of the coach and his teammates.
The post-game review was almost over and the three still hadn’t recovered.
Mu Feibai smiled helplessly and reached out to give each of them a rub on the head.
“Alright, what’s with the long faces?” As he spoke, he punched everyone lightly on the shoulder, “It’s okay to lose a game, we just have to correct our mistakes and take back a win next time! It’s no big deal… If you really can’t deal with it, then just wait until Qiu ge feels better and ask him for some hellish training.”
Hearing this, Du Chen glanced at Mu Feibai. “Who are you to make plans for him?”
Mu Feibai raised his eyebrows, “He won’t refuse. Do you want me to message him right now? If he doesn’t agree, I’ll fund a year’s worth of peach soda for all of you!”
He really did as he said, raising his bracelet and sending a message to Qiu Yu.
After a while, Qiu Yu replied:
[Sure.]
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 watched the game, Lin Jinxi and Lu Cun indeed lack the ability to act under pressure. Leave it to me.]
Ze Mflyjl gfjv la bea jcv qgbevis gjlrfv tlr fsfygbk abkjgvr Ge Jtfc.
He didn’t expect a third message to follow: [But you really were overly aggressive in this game. There was an opportunity for everyone to retreat safely in that last team battle—if not everyone, at least Zhou Shu and Du Chen would have been able to survive. Were you subconsciously treating it as a last-ditch effort or did you not see the opportunity?]
Ze Mflyjl’r rweu rwlif lwwfvljafis ogbhf, ribkis agjcrobgwlcu lcab j rfglber fzqgfrrlbc jr tf ofii lcab atbeuta.
In the end, he had to admit: [I didn’t see the opportunity.]
Lf tjv jikjsr qijsfv lcaelalnfis. Qtfc tlr lcaelalbc abiv tlw ab oluta, tf kbeiv cfnfg yjmx vbkc jcv atf gfreiar kfgf erejiis qgfaas ubbv. Lbkfnfg, tf tjrc’a tjv j iba bo alwf ab ufa erfv ab atlr meggfca afjw rb tlr lcaelalbc kjrc’a jr gfiljyif jr ereji.
He waited and Qiu Yu’s reply didn’t arrive. Mu Feibai suddenly looked at He Jingxing, “Coach, I think Qiu Yu has a talent for commanding.”
He Jingxing looked at him with a smile in his eyes, “Hmm? Are you willing to give him your commanding authority?”
Mu Feibai replied seriously, “Of course I am.”
Unexpectedly, He Jingxing shook his head. “Instead of letting him take over, it would be better to ask him to teach you.”
Qiu Yu’s contract was only signed for one year, moreover, he was already 25 years old.
If the Eagle Riders performed well in competitions this year, the prize money from the summer season, Star Alliance cup, and Autumn season would be enough to pay for his gland surgery. Results from Qi Zhefeng’s monitoring would also be released so it was highly likely for the operation to be approved.
He Jingxing knew that Qiu Yu wouldn’t stay.
Instead of having the team get used to his command style, it was better to ask him to “teach a man how to fish”.
Hence, on the way back to the hotel, Mu Feibai continued to message Qiu Yu:
[Ge! Can you teach me too!]
[I want to recognise you as my master!]
After a moment Qiu Yu replied: [There’s a generation of difference between “brother” and “master”.]
Mu Feibai: [?]
Qiu Yu: [You can only choose one.]
Mu Feibai: [Only children do multiple-choice questions. I want both!]
Mu Feibai: [Gege!]
Mu Feibai: [Isn’t it the duty of an elder brother to look after and teach the younger brother?]
Mu Feibai: [I trust that you are a good, competent elder brother!]
First Star District, the Capital.
Qiu Yu lay on his bed in the team dorms at the Eagle Riders’ club, staring at the messages that popped up from his bracelet. He couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
After watching a tense live competition broadcast, his thoughts still hadn’t completely calmed down.
Mu Feibai’s performance on that battlefield was as dazzling as it always was and his aura seemed even more aggressive than usual. Moreover, Qiu Yu vaguely felt something familiar from Mu Feibai’s several melee confrontations—a fierce and desperate madness for survival, something Qiu Yu brought with him from the apocalypse.
Mu Feibai was learning from him.
Even more, he was continuing to absorb new knowledge to become stronger while he had already climbed onto a peak in this world.
Qiu Yu liked warriors like him.
He could lose sleep just thinking about being able to guide someone like this.
But…
Calling him “gege” is not allowed.
Qiu Yu closed his eyes and recalled the dream he had last night.
As expected, his dreams during his heat period were all sticky and sweet—the pervasive burning scent of ginger wrapped around him and a man with unclear features held him tightly from behind, pounding into him. Low, slightly hoarse mutters slipped out between breaths: “Gege…”
…So, he’s definitely not planning on recognising this younger brother.
Illuminated by his bracelet, Qiu Yu’s expression was serious.
He was determined not to allow the influence of pheromones to bleed into reality and make him more vulnerable to Alphas around him.
This was his final defiance after living as a straight man for more than thirty years in the apocalypse.
…
The Eagle Riders’ next game was scheduled for a week after. Unfortunately, their opponents this time was Bluefin, another seeded team, and it was scheduled to be played on Bluefin’s home court.
Because the Eagle Riders just lost a match “due to” Qiu Yu’s absence, the fans couldn’t help but feel uneasy upon seeing this arrangement.
[It’s even the Bluefin’s home court. Oh no, I’m getting really nervous.]
[I always felt like Bluefin purposefully lost to Infinite in the round robin matches so they could qualify in second place and face the Eagle Riders. Everyone knows that Qiu Yu can only play one game, is Bluefin trying to take advantage of this?!]
[It would be so great if Liu Jinjie wasn’t injured so the Eagle Riders can still put up a fight QAQ.]
[Lmao you guys don’t really believe that the Eagle Riders have to rely on the Omega to win, right?]
[What does this have to do with Omegas, Qiu Yu is undeniably strong! There’s such a clear difference in the Eagle Riders’ pace with him on field verses him not on the field, isn’t it obvious to you?]
[Oh shut up. I, for one, would rather Qiu Yu never go on field! It’s so much better to let new players practice and get used to it than keeping an uncertain factor in that team that could drop the ball at any second! Omegas just shouldn’t play in the professional league, harming both others and themselves!]
[Jeez, stop arguing guys, the Eagle Riders aren’t strong enough yet to be without Qiu Yu acting as a crutch.]
[Yeah, it takes time for new players to grow and acclimate. If they were just tossed into the arena, they’d probably pack up and head home before the quarterfinals even finished.]
[Hahhah, so you guys mean that god Mu can only rely on protection from an Omega?]
The conversations on social platforms became more and more chaotic by the minute, moving from worries about the battle team to whether Omegas were suited to play professionally, and then to whether Mu Feibai is still worthy of bearing the “god of war” title. Then, the conversation unsurprisingly deteriorated into a screaming match about AO equal rights.
That night, Mu Feibai suddenly received a message from Divin, who was from the Liu Feng battle team.
Although the professional teams were in a competitive relationship, the players didn’t have much hostility towards each other out of the arena, as they were all young people who encountered each other often during ranked games and training matches. Moreover, there was no saying who might become teammates after transferring between clubs, so that was even more reason for everyone to get along.
This applied especially to those ranked at the top in terms of skills and abilities, so everyone pretty much had everyone else’s contact numbers.
Divin played with Mu Feibai last year in the entertainment invitational tournament hosted by the broadcasting platform. They would also chat for a bit when meeting each other in ranked matches, but this was the first time the two communicated privately.
After a couple sentences of pleasantries, Divin got straight to the point: [People on the internet are saying you can only rely on the protection of an Omega now. You’re not angry?]
Mu Feibai: [Not angry.]
Divin: [Then you must have a really good temper.]
Mu Feibai: [There’s all kinds of people on the internet. If I get angry at this, that kind of mentality won’t last a minute in competitions.]
Divin: [No, I’m not talking about the netizens.]
Divin: [Qiu Yu, an Omega who has just entered the league is stealing your limelight. People now doubt your worthiness of the “god of war” title, you supposedly have to rely on the protection of an Omega to win a game. Don’t you feel stifled and aggrieved?]
Divin: [I just don’t understand why your Eagle Riders club just had to sign on an Omega? Are Omegas even qualified to play in the professional league?]
Mu Feibai: …
Looking at the cold words on the screen, Mu Feibai disdainfully scoffed.
He was too lazy to quarrel with the keyboard warriors online, but it didn’t mean that he would turn a blind eye to a monkey dancing right in front of him.
[Did you get a brain injury after being killed by Qiu Yu too many times?]
Mu Feibai typed quickly, not given the other time to react.
[He’s “not qualified” to play professionally? So you, who had been killed by him in all sorts of ways, are? You, who couldn’t even take back a special-type from his hands?]
[I think you’d better stop playing professionally too. Not even caring about winning or losing, only about the limelight—you’d make more money as a water army on social platforms than a professional payer. After all, your skills are as weak as the trickle of water in a stream, so being a part of the water army really seems to be a career tailored for you. Oh wait, I made a mistake, your brain wasn’t injured after being killed too many times by Qiu Yu because you didn’t even have one in the first place. All that’s sloshing around in your skull is water.]
[Otherwise, you wouldn’t still believe Alphas are stronger than Omegas after dying for so many times at the hands of one.]
After sending the message, Mu Feibai deleted him from his contacts.
Leaving this kind of person in his contact list was a type of pollution.
nagisa: how did we feel about the misleadingly-serious title? \(@^0^@)/
Thanks for the chapter ❤️❤️
Thank you for the update ❤️💯
Yes Mu Feibai TELL 👏 HIM 👏 OFF👏
All this talk about how gender defines your entire being and capabilities; all bullcrap!
+1 (๑و•̀ω•́)و
Love Mu Feibai getting rid of the pollution! Defend his.. I mean the Team’s… Omega.
Thanks for the chapter ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
TELL HIIIM MU! DEFEND OUR PROTECTED. (not like we’re needed for his security, but Qiu Yu is babe)
+1!!
Thank you for the chapter!!!
❤❤❤
God Mu is swishing the big green flag i can see it all the way from moon. Our yu yu needs to adjust being an omega asap and fall in love and have babies. 😮💨🤧
I ain’t letting y’all forget that Qiu Yu dreamed of Mu Feibai pounding him and his deadass “Gege” kink. Qiu Yu is too spicy for a straight man, aye?
👀
🤭
Mu Feibai burying a man alive with that damn attack 😎
Meanwhile, me screaming in silent satisfaction: kyaaaaaahhh! Author nim that was good, GOOD! HAHAHA & tysm tn nim 😘
Slay bbg
Green flags all the way!!