Chapter 27

Chapter 27

Hearing it was just a delivery, Tai Yi gave a noncommittal “Oh” and fell silent.

The person on the other side of the door, however, was visibly stunned by her words and nearly dropped the basket of fruit in his hand. The atmosphere instantly turned incredibly awkward, the situation teetering on the edge of chaos.

“…It’s me,” the guy finally couldn’t hold back, pointing at his own nose. “Zhang Hao.”

Su Yi raised an eyebrow, replying with slight irritation, “Oh, it’s you. I thought some random fan wearing SNM merch showed up to gank our base.”

Zhang Hao paused. “Have you ever seen a fan come to the base in this kind of downpour?”

Su Yi pursed her lips. “Shows they’re a true fan.”

Zhang Hao: “…You don’t seem surprised to see me at all.”

Su Yi: “…”

*Bro, you’re overthinking it. Right now, I wish I could crawl into a hole and be reborn!*

Perhaps because the two of them had been bickering at the doorway for too long, Tai Yi found it strange and wandered over to check. There he saw the rookie from their neighboring division standing at the entrance, holding… a basket of fruit?

“You’re Ah Hao from the Overwatch division?” Tai Yi asked in surprise.

Spotting Tai Yi, Zhang Hao immediately thrust the fruit basket forward. “Manager Tai Yi, this is for you!”

Watching this unfold, Su Yi’s head filled with question marks—*What’s going on? This fruit is for the manager?* Tai Yi was equally taken aback. Staring at the fruit basket in his hands, his mouth twitched. “…What’s this for?”

Zhang Hao: “Our manager asked me to bring it to you.”

Tai Yi accepted it without hesitation.

Seeing this, Su Yi tilted her head. *Wait, what the hell is happening?*

Zhang Hao then pulled a folder from his backpack and handed it to Tai Yi. “We’re participating in ‘Vanguard Interrogation’ this weekend. Our manager mentioned that the studio overlaps with the League of Legends team’s filming location, so she suggested we carpool together this weekend.”

‘Veanguard Interrogation’ belonged to the same series as ‘League Interrogation,’ also a trivia-based entertainment variety show. The only difference was its focus on Overwatch content; otherwise, the format was essentially identical.

Su Yi leaned over to glance at the schedule beside Tai Yi. Sure enough, same studio, same day.

*Ah…* She felt suffocated. Despair washed over her. She could barely breathe. Suddenly, she missed her blanket dearly!

“Sure thing!” Tai Yi agreed cheerfully. Su Yi nearly lost her footing upon hearing his response.

Su Yi: “Absolutely not!”

Tai Yi gave her a helpless look. “Why not?”

“Uh, well…”

“Our base’s van happens to be borrowed by those troublemakers in PR, and Wind God’s car can’t fit all of us. Isn’t it perfect to ride the neighboring division’s van?” Tai Yi analyzed logically.

Su Yi’s eyes darted around as she struggled to squeeze out an excuse: “It’s inconvenient for me.”

Tai Yi: “What’s inconvenient about it…”

Su Yi covered half her face with her hand. “I’m a girl riding in a car full of guys…”

Tai Yi immediately called her bluff. “Weren’t you having a blast every time you went out for late-night snacks with Wind God and your cousin? What’s there to be embarrassed about now?”

Su Yi: “…”

*Holy crap, Manager, are you a troll teammate?!*

“Besides,” Tai Yi paused here, adopting a shy maidenly expression, “their team’s manager, Mei Mei, is a girl too, okay?”

“…”

*So the moment you heard that fruit basket came from a beautiful female manager next door, did your moral compass completely shatter?*

*Do you still remember your good buddy Analyst He waiting by Daming Lake?!*

Left speechless for a solid half-minute, Su Yi watched as Tai Yi flashed an ‘OK’ gesture toward Zhang Hao. “Alright then, let’s carpool together this weekend.”

Zhang Hao nodded with a smile, while Su Yi felt an overwhelming urge to scratch the walls.

She shot Zhang Hao a sidelong glance. “If there’s nothing else, you can leave now, right?”

Zhang Hao stood rooted in place, staring at her silently for quite a while. Sensing something off about this plot development—although the two were locking eyes, their vibes were clearly hostile—Tai Yi clutched his fruit basket and asked cautiously, “Do you two… know each other?”

After a simultaneous one-second pause:

Su Yi turned her head away. “Don’t know him.”

Zhang Hao nodded. “Classmates.”

Tai Yi: “…”

Another second of silence passed—

“Yeah, not close.”

“High school classmates.”

Tai Yi: “…”

Regardless of whether these two knew each other or not, it was freezing outside in the rain. He’d rather go inside and enjoy his fruit. With that thought, Tai Yi glanced at Su Yi. “I’ll head inside first. You two…”

Su Yi stepped forward to follow him inside when Zhang Hao suddenly called out, “Su Yi, I have something to tell you.”

Instantly, Su Yi cursed internally. She glanced at Zhang Hao, then at Tai Yi. The latter stood clutching his fruit basket with an extremely awkward expression. Exhaling deeply, Su Yi turned to Tai Yi. “Manager, please go in first.”

“Oh, oh!” Tai Yi tactfully scurried inside immediately, conveniently pulling the door shut behind him.

Zhang Hao broke the silence first. “Um, long time no see.”

Leaning against the front door, Su Yi forced a stiff smile uglier than crying. “Indeed, long time no see.” *It’s only been half a year since high school graduation, though?*

Though her expression wasn’t perfectly controlled, her tone remained remarkably composed. Seeing her like this, Xia Qiqi had teased her countless times for being aloof in public but acting like a total goofball in private.

Observing her calm demeanor, Zhang Hao frowned, seemingly wrestling with his thoughts before saying, “I watched your stream.”

*Holy crap?!*

He actually had nothing better to do than watch her stream? Was his brain broken?

“Oh, and then?”

“And then…” Zhang Hao opened his mouth wide, eyeing her skeptically. “How come I never heard you were going pro in the LPL?”

“Huh?” Su Yi looked at him like he was mentally challenged. “Do I need to parade around with banners announcing I’m going pro? Did you expect me to march through Wuhan holding a sign so you’d find out?”

“…” Zhang Hao was rendered speechless by her retort.

“Oh, and back then, someone despised me for being terrible at playing support.” Su Yi heavily emphasized the word ‘terrible.’

Zhang Hao finally recalled certain events, speaking earnestly, “I did think you were bad initially, but everyone climbs out of Silver and Gold ranks. I genuinely never expected you to go pro. And… and to support *him*, of all people.”

*Him?* Meaning Wind God… But why did his tone sound so off? Did these two share some tragic, angsty backstory? Just imagining it made Su Yi nauseated by her own wild theories.

“Do you know Wind God?” Su Yi asked.

Puffing his cheeks, Zhang Hao replied, “Met him before he went pro.”

“…”

“At an internet cafe. There was a League solo tournament near our school back then. Thinking my Yasuo was pretty strong, I…”

*Yasuo?* That toddler-tier Yasuo of his?

Staring at him, Su Yi guessed the outcome. “So you participated and got absolutely flattened by Wind God?”

Zhang Hao: “…”

Zhang Hao: “Basically… yeah. He picked Fiora. Hard counter.”

*Translation: You were just bad! So he really did get wrecked…*

Struggling to suppress her laughter, Su Yi fought to keep her lips from curling upward. “Even without the counter, you couldn’t have beaten him.”

“…” Shaking his head, Zhang Hao decided to drop the subject. “Why did you decide to go pro?”

“Why?” Su Yi countered. “Wanted to, so I did. So many whys. As for you… I never expected you to quit League and switch to competing in Overwatch. Not bad—who’s carry did you hitch a ride with this time?”

Zhang Hao clicked his tongue at her words, his tone carrying a hint of complaint. “Why won’t you believe my skills in FPS games?”

Su Yi: “Flashy brain plays are your style, and piggybacking carries is also your style. What else can I say?”

Zhang Hao: “…Su Yi, I know what I said to you back then while gaming was excessive.”

Su Yi: “Mm-hmm. So to avoid being called trash by you, I transferred to the art class in my sophomore year.”

Zhang Hao: “That’s not what I meant…”

At this point, Su Yi waved her hand dismissively, preparing to knock and enter. “Forget it, let’s not dwell on it. You focus on your Overwatch, I’ll focus on my League of Legends. From now on, we…”

*Stay out of each other’s way.*

But Zhang Hao didn’t give her the chance to finish. Lunging forward abruptly, he grabbed her wrist, staring intensely into her eyes. “Su Yi, I…”

Startled, Su Yi tensed up immediately.

Just as she braced herself for whatever he intended to do, a familiar voice sounded from the side—

“My support. Since when did it become your turn to gank her?”