Editor: Decembery
Team Eagle Riders’ quarterfinal game was the first on the program. There were two more quarterfinal games scheduled on the first Friday and Saturday of September—one of which was Su Se’s game and the other was a game between MIG and EL.
Su Se’s quarterfinal opponent was a team from the Eastern Seventh Star District. That team couldn’t be considered to be a top-ranked team, therefore as long as there were no accidents and Su Se didn’t make any glaring mistakes, there would be little doubt as to Su Se’s advancement into the semifinals. Furthermore, if they did indeed emerge victorious, they would meet Team Eagle Riders in the semifinals.
There was still a week from the semifinals. Team Eagle Riders followed the St Alliance Cup organisers’ arrangements and became the first to accept semifinalist interviews.
The interviews were a tradition of the Star Alliance Cup. Its content would be posted a week before the semifinals began on the Star Alliance Cup official website. With it being posted, the voting channels would also be open for a period of two weeks.
Two weeks later, when the finals had ended and the victor had been determined, an “All-Stars invitational tournament” would be held. There, awards would be presented to the “Most Valuable Player” and “Best Newcomer” as voted in by the public. As this presentation ceremony comes to a close, only then would this year’s Star Alliance Cup formally end.
The semifinalist interviews required filming in VR to provide a more immersive experience for the audience, as though they really were meeting their idols in person. As such, it was inevitable for the players to be dolled up a little to ensure that they would appear under the camera lens in their best conditions.
Qiu Yu was quite impatient with the makeup process but stayed silent in his seat knowing that it was a necessary part of his job, allowing the makeup brush to sweep back and forth across his face.
He even had to endure Yuan Lu’s continuous nagging, “The organisers won’t give us a script for the semifinalist’s interview, so you guys will have to respond to their questions on the spot. Did you guys have a proper look at the document I sent you earlier? If there’s a similar question, just regurgitate an answer from there… Oh right, the interviewer will also draw from a pool of popular questions on the internet, remember that alright?”
“We definitely got it,” Mu Feibai smiled confidently, “I was asked for the last two whole years what my ‘ideal type’ was, and whether I was ‘seeing anyone’. When I pointed out that they asked the same question in the second year, those netizens protested that the situation could change from year to year… so they’ll probably ask the same thing this year.”
Zhou Shu doubled over in laughter while Du Chen stayed expressionless. However, Lin Jinxi and Lu Cun who were new to the Star Alliance Cup suddenly started getting nervous.
All their previous interviews were scripted and the questions all centered around the competition, making them easier to answer. Hearing that the semifinalists’ interviews would feature popular questions from the internet, they simultaneously turned on their bracelets and found the game’s forum in attempts to do some last-minute preparations.
Yuan Lu smiled, “No need to be so nervous, this is a recorded interview. If you feel as though you didn’t answer it properly, they’ll edit and rerecord it for you. Don’t worry.”
Seeing that the two were still a little uneasy, she added, “Anyhow, your captain will be the first to go in. We can still hear what’s going on from the outside so just mimic what he’s doing.”
The recording booth and staff quickly finished getting ready. They first took a VR group photo of the team before arranging for the interviews to start. As the captain of the team and the person with the most plentiful interviewing experience, Mu Feibai naturally went first.
When the interview first began, the questions asked were still quite conventional. These questions discussed things like competition experience, fun anecdotes from trainings, and assessments of his opponents. All these had been asked multiple times in past interviews and online features, thus Mu Feibai breezed through them like the flowing clouds and water.
This was until the interviewer turned over her tablet and suddenly smiled towards Mu Feibai.
“Recently, the internet has been discussing something very much concerning you,” Her interests were piqued, “Can you guess what this is?”
Mu Feibai rubbed his chin and confidently answered, “Could it be something like my ideal type again?”
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.
“Hahaha,” the interviewer smiled but shook her head, “No.”
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Qiu Yu sat outside the booth but was still able to hear the dialogue on the inside. He looked up at the same time as Mu Feibai.
The two’s lines of sight collided through the glass for an instant before quickly moving away again.
Qiu Yu heard Mu Feibai reply, “Yeah, I even stole the tablet from Coach’s hands to enter his ID.”
The interviewer asked, curious, “Why must it be Cupid?”
Mu Feibai answered, “His surname in Huaxia’s language is ‘Qiu’, while Cupid’s Huaxia transliteration is also ‘Qiu’. At the same time, he is also skilled in archery, so inspiration struck, I thought this ID was especially fitting for him.”
Hearing this explanation, the interviewer seemed to come to an understanding, “Ah, so it’s like this. Then do you know of the myth ‘Cupid’ in some Western cultures?”
Mu Feibai chuckled, “Yes.”
The interviewer pressed on, “En, so… netizens are guessing that after being shot through the heart by Cupid’s arrow, you fell in love with him and so gave him this ID… Is that not the truth?”
Mu Feibai didn’t reveal anything through his expressions. The corners of his lips curved and he laughed quietly, “I indeed gave him this ID because of that arrow, but I initially meant it as a joke. To be honest, I don’t wish for everyone to expect something of us just because he’s an Omega while I’m an Alpha. It’ll bring him unnecessary troubles and concerns.”
Speaking up to here, he seemingly unintentionally took a quick glance towards the outside of the recording booth, “Him and I… we are just teammates right now, and there is nothing going on like in the netizens’ speculations.”
Outside the booth, Zhou Shu’s lips opened and closed, as though he wanted to say something but held back.
However Du Chen, as someone with a short temper, couldn’t help saying with a darkened expression, “What does the captain mean by this? He—”
Halfway through, he stopped himself just in time and didn’t reveal anything else in a public situation like this.
However, Qiu Yu understood that Mu Feibai only didn’t dare to say it.
Although he had received two temporary marks from Mu Feibai, he himself had never admitted to anything more than the camaraderie between teammates connecting the two of them. Even with the kiss from last time, Qiu Yu had immediately stopped and signalled Mu Feibai not to think too much of it.
Mu Feibai was smart and understood his meaning. The two’s relationship remained as that of ‘teammates’, so there was nothing wrong with Mu Feibai’s answer.
Mu Feibai quickly finished the interview and exited the recording booth.
He sat down next to Qiu Yu and instinctively felt that Qiu Yu wasn’t in that great of a mood.
“Are you… angry?” Mu Feibai asked cautiously.
“No.” Qiu Yu answered evenly.
However, the calmness didn’t last for very long before he couldn’t resist asking, “Were you really the one who gave me my competition ID?”
Mu Feibai rubbed his nose and nodded, smiling, “Yeah, I thought it was very suited for you.”
Qiu Yu fell silent once more, lashes lowered.
In a moment, Mu Feibai received a text on his bracelet: [Was it really because you fell in love with me from that arrow to the heart?]
Then Qiu Yu recalled a message.
Mu Feibai didn’t reply.
After Zhou Shu and Du Chen finished their interviews, it was finally Qiu Yu’s turn.
Clearly, as the “first Omega player in the history of the League”, Qiu Yu was very much worth digging deep into from the perspective of the media. Therefore, there were questions involving Qiu Yu’s personal life even during the conventional questions in the first half of the interview. It was questions such as “Why did you choose to play professionally”, “Would your family members be against it”, and “On the professional field, what troubles have an Omega’s physique brought you” and the like.
Qiu Yu answered the ones he was willing to and merely stared quietly at the interviewer in response to the ones he wasn’t.
The interviewer’s hair stood on end from Qiu Yu’s apathetic gaze and quickly skipped over those questions with a laugh. It quickly got to the popular questions segment.
Unsurprisingly, the netizens centered most of their attention on Qiu Yu’s relationship with the two Alphas on the team.
Qiu Yu crisply answered these questions as though this was a “teammate assessments” segment—
“MU is a very excellent captain. He is able to take up the burden in competitions, command decisively, and he is also able to give tailored advice to the members during training. In real life, he is very patient and never abuses his position as captain, and would often treat the team to midnight snacks.”
“‘Dust’ is a very hardworking child. He’s serious in training and learns quickly. It’s just that he gets riled up easily but he has much room to improve. I am happy to anticipate his future performance in the League.”
The interviewer: ……
Without being able to get anything explosive, the interviewer could only give up and sent Qiu Yu out of the recording booth with a polite smile.
After the interview, Qiu Yu returned to his room to clean off the make-up and shower. He sat at the edge of his bed, slowly drying his hair. He wasn’t a fan of the wall-mounted hair dryer—its noise made him uncomfortable. As the towel slowly absorbed the water from his hair, this was also a good opportunity for him to relax and think.
The towel lightly brushed over Qiu Yu’s pheromone glands at the back of his neck. He suddenly noticed that during the bracket phase, the scent remaining on him had pretty much already faded. This time Mu Feibai purposefully controlled the length of time the mark would last by controlling the intensity of Alpha pheromones passed through the mark. Thus, the scent would fade at a faster pace than last time.
Thinking of the mark, Qiu Yu couldn’t help but recall the kiss.
Are his semi-conscious actions not a reflection of his subconscious tendencies and desires?
He contemplated with lashes lowered. After a while, Qiu Yu threw his towel down on the back of an armchair and turned towards his door.
He sent another message to Mu Feibai: [Open the door.]
When Mu Feibai received the message, he had just gotten out of the shower and his neck was still slightly flushed red.
Seeing the familiar words, a loud boom seemed to sound among his turbulent thoughts. His first reaction was—could it be that Qiu Yu heard?!
Then he was immediately amused by his unfounded guess.
This hotel had good soundproofing, and he didn’t make any loud sounds anyway so how could Qiu Yu hear him… ahem.
Mu Feibai lifted a hand to rub his face. He then sprinted to the bathroom once more and dampened his freshly dried hair under the tap before he draped a towel around his neck.
Only then did he slowly go to open the door.
Qiu Yu slipped inside the moment the door opened a crack. He closed the door behind him but didn’t lock it this time.
Mu Feibai’s hair was still dripping wet. He lifted a corner of the towel to dab at it, his tone casual, “I was showering just then. What’s up?”
The scent of shampoo wafted out from the bathroom, but there wasn’t any overly intense smell of Mu Feibai’s Alpha pheromones.
Qiu Yu nodded. “I’m here to confirm something.”
Mu Feibai replied, “Confirm? What is it?”
Qiu Yu pointed to the room, “Go sit down.”
Even though he had no idea what Qiu Yu wanted to do, he was still glad of any opportunity that they would interact with each other in private. Furthermore, Qiu Yu was the one who took the initiative to find him. Wiping his hair, Mu Feibai obediently walked into the room, sat at the edge of his bed, and looked up expectantly at Qiu Yu.
Smilingly, he asked, “What are you conf…”
The latter half of his sentence was swallowed.
Qiu Yu pressed down on Mu Feibai’s shoulder with one arm and gripped his chin with the other. Head tilted downwards, he pressed his lips to Mu Feibai’s.
🎊🎊🎊🎊
Finally a real kiss 🤧
Thanks for the chapter!
Wow this clift hanger is incredibly evil 😂
Mu Feibai: Wait what? Are my dreams finally coming true? 🤯
How straightforward.. Qiu Yu directly went in for the kill when Mu was trying to hold back on trying to date him ahahahhaha
Qiu Yu, don’t do this to Mu Feibai! Testing your feelings on him when he obviously likes you… it’s tortuous for our green flag!
AHHHHHHH CLIFFHANGER 😭😭😭😭
Mu ge is probably going to spontaneously explode at this point
At this point xiao Yu keeps kissing god mu so he should take responsibility. It is already the second time. He is playing with our green flagged landowner god mu’s heart. Unacceptable!
i’m about to jump off the cliff, my friends
no bs when they become aware of their feelings—i love characters like qiu yu. also yes this cliffhanger was evil😭
Cupid, drawing his bow!
Damn, I’m so happy I could cry rn!
Bro, get his consent first.