Editor: Decembery
After the victory banquet and exclusive interview, two members of Century’s Finale’s game developer team arrived at the league headquarters in the Western Sixth Star District. Upon arrival, they started discussions with the Eagle Rider members regarding this year’s limited edition Star Alliance Cup champion skin.
Other than having a regular season competition in every Star District, the only large-scale competitions officially hosted by the Century’s Finale league were the Early-Spring invitationals and the Star Alliance Cup. After these two Star-Alliance-scale events, the official developer team would collaborate with the champion team to customise new skins named after that team. Members could each take part in a skin’s design, and the uniform design would bear their team logo.
Hearing that the developer team arrived, Zhou Shu furrowed his brows playfully, “Ayo, they want us to design again? Captain, after winning two Star Alliance Cups and four All-Star Invitationals, they’ve already sucked all my ideas dry…”
Although his words appeared to be a complaint, his tone made others want to give him a good beating.
Mu Feibai glanced at him, “Then why don’t you hand over all creative licence to the designers—in fact, I’ll call them for you right now.”
Zhou Shu was instantly stumped, “Er, no wait Captain, don’t! I was just joking!”
This was Lu Cun and Lin Jinxi’s first year in the professional league, so they were still quite immersed in the novelty of it all. Excitedly, they dragged Du Chen over to the side and started discussing.
After looking at them, Mu Feibai leaned in close to Qiu Yu with a smile, “Have you thought of what skin you want to design?”
“Yeah.” The moment Qiu Yu heard of this, a uniform design had already appeared in his mind.
“What does it look like? Should we make ours match?” Mu Feibai didn’t conceal his intention to have a couple’s avatar with Qiu Yu at all. How romantic would that be!
After some thought, Qiu Yu turned on his bracelet and used his fingertip to sketch out an outline in his notes.
A full-body dystopian battlesuit appeared in the sketch. This was the uniform that accompanied him for many years, such that he could remember every detail like the back of his hand, and translate them into a drawing.
Seeing him sketch, Mu Feibai asked, surprised, “You’ve studied art before?”
Qiu Yu’s finger paused. He laughed in his heart, yet didn’t mention how “his” ex-job was that of a webcomic artist—although he still had the original body’s muscle memory in drawing, he lacked the ability to inject life into his art. It wasn’t so noticeable in these simple sketches, however, that was a whole other matter when it came to using colour and capturing human movement.
If he had been able to inherit the original body’s artistic skills, he wouldn’t have had to try his hand at gaming live broadcasts and end up being signed on by the Eagle Riders.
“Would this be too simple?” Mu Feibai looked on as Qiu Yu created a rough sketch, “It looks like a regular camo jacket, cargo pants, and ankle leather boots? There are a couple of similar skins available in the game store that could be bought with coins…”
Usually, the customised champions’ skins would have very unique clothing, ranging from cyberpunk and futurism to classical costumes and armour, each to their own. Although the majority of designs wore impractically flamboyant clothing and weren’t in the least suited for concealment, the players were the ones paying for it after all!
Qiu Yu looked at the uniform in his sketch and chuckled, “It is indeed quite simple, but it’s what I want.”
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.
Mu Feibai made a 180 turn at lightning speed, “Actually, these camo jackets will be very suitable for the battlefield, especially in the great catastrophe. The one you designed is also quite different from what the game already offers, it’s got much more of a ‘wilderness battle’ feel to it… what’s this? A hole?”
“Pa’r j rfkc-bc qjamt.” Hle Te gfqilfv, “Ktlr beaola kjr wjvf obg yjaailcu lc atf klivfgcfrr.”
“Battling in the wil…” Mu Feibai’s expression suddenly turned strange, he coughed quietly in an unsuccessful attempt to not laugh, he mumbled under his breath, “Wilderness huh, you really know how to play.”
Hle Te: ……
Hle Te kjr rqffmtifrr, “Jjc sbe cba aegc sbeg wlcv lc atja vlgfmalbc?”
Ze Mflyjl gjlrfv jc fsfygbk, “Dea vlvc’a sbe ecvfgrajcv la lwwfvljafis abb?”
Hle Te oiecu tlr qjiw jujlcra atf yjmx bo Ze Mflyjl’r tfjv.
After laughing some more, Mu Feibai noticed Qiu Yu looking at him, eyes slightly squinted, and quickly changed the subject, “I need to think of a way to make my outfit match yours. Hmm? Is this a necklace?”
“It’s a dog tag.” Qiu Yu looked down at the sketch, lashes lowered, “The soldier’s name and ID will be carved onto that metal plate, which should never leave the body. It may be difficult to identify the body after the soldier dies, perhaps due to being killed by mutant beasts, so we can only rely on this tag to confirm their identity.”
He still didn’t know whether there were any survivors after that last, desperate battle—someone to collect their bodies.
Hearing the thoughtful details Qiu Yu placed in the design, Mu Feibai was surprised, “You’ve even managed to think of all these details?”
Today’s armies no longer rely on soldiers to fight with their physical bodies on the front lines. Even if there were, they would be equipped with exoskeleton armour, which meant the death rate was extremely low. For the unfortunate, one could rely on the exoskeleton armour to identify the soldier. Other than that, a few strands of remaining hair or blood would be sufficient to determine the deceased’s identity after a quick scan in the huge information database.
“How could people in the apo— the great catastrophe have access to such convenient genetic testing technology?” Qiu Yu said quietly.
“That’s true…” Mu Feibai suddenly understood and smiled, “You’re so detail-oriented.”
That’s because he’s personally lived through it.
Qiu Yu answered silently in his heart as his fingertips gently stroked the light screen projected from his bracelet.
After a long time, he said, “For the other outfit, you could make it so that the jacket and pants could be worn both inside and out. It’ll be camo patterned on one side, but pure black on the other, meaning it could adapt according to the situation.”
“You even thought of that!” Mu Feibai smiled admiringly.
He looked at Qiu Yu’s sketch again and pointed, “So if I leave the jacket open, what should I wear on the inside? A white t-shirt?”
“A black tank top.” Qiu Yu added another sketch on the side and continued, “Moreover, the uniform could reflect different ranks, which would have different epaulettes and badges. We could also make a battle-stained version, having two different appearances should be fine.”
“Let’s go with that then.” Mu Feibai leaned back lazily in his chair, “Once the design team comes over, you can hand them both of ours.”
Thinking of being able to see Mu Feibai wearing this uniform, Qiu Yu’s heart was suddenly stirred. He turned and met Mu Feibai’s eyes.
Mu Feibai blinked, “What’s up?”
A smile appeared at the corners of Qiu Yu’s lips, “It would be a pleasure to fight alongside you.”
“Ahem!” Mu Feibai cleared his throat and rubbed his ear, attempting to conceal the slight redness. However, he didn’t back down an inch verbally, “Why are you sweet-talking me all of a sudden?”
“…” Qiu Yu was speechless, “Who’s sweet-talking you?”
Mu Feibai leaned into Qiu Yu’s ear and asked in a low voice, “What exactly would be good about fighting alongside me?”
“Hey, hey, you two! We’re still in the meeting room right now!” Zhou Shu suddenly knocked on the table, “Be careful yeah?”
Lin Jinxi and Lu Cun had also been looking at Mu Feibai and Qiu Yu, giggling sneakily. Du Chen looked down quietly at his fingers, thoughts unknown.
Mu Feibai reached out and placed an arm around Qiu Yu’s shoulder and looked towards Zhou Shu with a smirk.
Qiu Yu chuckled on the inside: He really was playful as a kid sometimes.
Soon, the developer team arrived and discussed suggestions with the players. After confirming the design details, they exchanged contact information and set off on their way.
As they were about to leave, Zhou Shu attempted to get some information out of them, “After the anniversary update in September, will there be new maps or new areas? Can you give us some hints?”
Every anniversary, Century’s Finale would release new things, either new maps, new city areas, or a completely new playstyle.
The new maps would be used in the Autumn Season competitions in October through November. Whichever team familiarised themselves with the new maps would basically obtain an edge over their opponents in the game… However, it didn’t actually matter if they got some hints first, as they wouldn’t be able to see it in-game either until it was formally released.
Hence, the developing team smiled, “There’ll be new maps this year for defence-offence, point-capture, and survival modes.”
Nice, that means there will at least be three maps.
Zhou Shu gestured a thumbs-up towards the developers and sent them off with a big grin.
“Sigh, it’ll once again be time for Coach He to display his skills,“ Mu Feibai said, “You can only truly see how good he is when new maps get released. Tsk, with Coach He, the Eagle Riders club basically saved on employing a map exploring team…”
Hearing this, Qiu Yu raised an eyebrow, “He’s very good at visualising?”
Mu Feibai nodded, “Our coach used to be a professional player as well. After retiring, he went to the army for a couple of years, apparently one of those who were responsible for exploring new planets. Exploring a game map would be considered super easy for him.”
Qiu Yu nodded, his anticipation for the new maps growing.
That night, He Jingxing and Yuan Lu brought along Zhou Shu, Du Chen, Lin Jinxi, and Lu Cun and boarded the first spaceship back to the Eastern First Star District. Mu Feibai and Qiu Yu were left behind to await the commencement of the All-Star Invitationals.
Of course, doctor Qi Zhefeng was third wheeling after them.
After the Star Alliance Cup ended, the league’s hotel no longer offered free accommodation to the competitors. Furthermore, in the gaps between competitions, the hotel would once more be opened to the public.
“If it’s like this, it might no longer be safe to continue staying here,” Mu Feibai said, “This place can only be considered three-stars and the security isn’t that comprehensive. I’m more inclined for us to find a members-only hotel to stay in, or we could…”
After a slight pause, he smiled, “We still have a week anyway, why don’t I take you out to travel somewhere nearby? There are quite a few fun travel destinations on the planets in the Sixth Star District. Besides, we aren’t that famous outside of the leave headquarters so it’ll be safer compared to staying here.”
Most importantly… relying solely on playing games together to cultivate feelings is by far insufficient! He must arrange some travel!
Mu Feibai looked at Qiu Yu with shining eyes.
Seeing Mu Feibai’s eyes, Qiu Yu already understood his little ulterior motives.
Even though he himself hadn’t experienced travelling, he was aware due to the original body’s memories that were drawn from books, mangas, and TV shows that in travelling, couples would have exponentially more opportunities to be intimate and cultivate feelings.
“I have a licence, and we could rent a car,” Mu Feibai continued, “We could pick a planet and drive to scenic locations at our leisure. I remember that the Nacitie Star is quite close, which is famous for having both volcanoes and glaciers. It’s also got an ocean that would glow blue at night… want to go and take a look?”
Travelling had originally been one of Qiu Yu’s plans for the future. Now, hearing Mu Feibai’s words, his interest was further piqued.
It was just that he still hadn’t undergone the surgery. With the amount of sudden issues this body could have, it was clearly unrealistic for him and Mu Feibai to go on their own.
“We’ll have to ask Doctor Qi first. If he’s interested, let’s go.” Qiu Yu didn’t feel anything wrong with what he said.
Mu Feibai: ……
……
That day, on the other side of the galaxy in the First Star District, Mu Zhuoqing suddenly received messages from his stinky little brother. Following a ‘crying, sobbing, rolling on the floor’ emoji, was a text that read:
[Ge, be brave! Quickly kidnap that nemesis of yours!]
Hmm I feel chemistry between the doctor and our ML’s bro though
Hahaha! 🤣 Mu Feibai wants some alone time with his sweetie!
Who’s Mu Zhuoqing again? 😅 I don’t remember Feibai having a little brother…
It’s actually his older brother and is a corporate guy, I believe?
Anyways, he is rich, like everyone else in the Mu family is 😂 he has appeared in the story before, never physically tho, mostly by mentions/textes <3
Ah you’re right. MZQ was the one being called ‘ge’. I was sort of out of it last night 🙈 still doesn’t remember him though… My memory is quite short 😂
no because same 😂 the shared last name is the only thing that saved me XD
Come to think of it… Much earlier on, around the time when Feibai first met Qiu Yu, didn’t he ask someone (most likely that brother) a favour? I remember he said “don’t tell the old man” or something the like, and it ended up still leaking to the old man 😅 was it him? I wonder which chapter it was….
Found it. Ch 48. The elder brother’s name was Mu Xianqing. Perhaps the author made a mistake and forgot the name? 😅
I honestly am impressed by you finding the correct chapter LOL, how long did it take? You did well Kuro!
Anyways, that indeed is confusing. I perhaps was wrong? He could be his second brother/ his cousin?
Well, the answer will be revealed soon enough, so let’s be patient together to uncover the truth, my friend. B)
Just several minutes of skimming and jumping chapters 😂😂
Yeah let’s just wait for the next chapter.. that last part is too unclear anyway. And why on earth the chapter changes at that point…. 😅
No idea! Lets see lol!
Have an awesome rest of ur day/night darling <3
Is it Mu Qiqing or Zhuoqing?
Also, what if Mu Zhuoqing/Qiqing and the doctor and the doctor’s ex omega bf/MZQ’s current husband enter a polycule instead lol
Thanks for the chapter. Do your best, MFB!
Be brave Feibai’s 🤣
Date attempt two…third wheel obstruction. Thanks for the update 🤣❤️