Meet

Xue Wei paused, seemingly recalling something, but he didn’t move, continuing to drink his soup with his head down.

His face was almost buried in the bowl.

Alan had completely forgotten that he was the one who spread this rumor; he burst out laughing: “Who spread it? Who said it?”

“Don’t know.” Wen Man leaned in, picked up his chopsticks, and began to eat.

He returned late; the four EGT members had almost finished eating.

Everyone else had also mostly finished.

The national team had no immediate tasks, so after unanimous discussion, they decided to find a nearby KTV for singing.

Alan and the head coach also called out: “Come on, everyone, let’s all go.”

A member said: “Aren’t they going back to play training matches? They still have a match against SSQ.”

Wanshi and the others exchanged glances.

They had been playing training matches day and night for the past few days.

Winning against FEC Europe in the exhibition match was already beyond imagination.

They had no more expectations for SSQ.

After all, “Rome wasn’t built in a day”; even if they wanted to achieve quick success, they couldn’t possibly become skilled enough to defeat a top-tier powerhouse team in just a few days.

Winning against the European team was mainly due to Xue Wei.

“Naonao, are you going?” Zhao Xiaoyi consulted Xue Wei for his opinion, “Or do you have any arrangements for tomorrow’s match? Brother Nao, you’re the best, speak.”

A group of people were deferential, fawning, almost with stars in their eyes.

“They’re very bad.” Xue Wei finished, then suddenly glanced at Wen Man beside him, and stiffly corrected himself, “I mean, compared to the European team… We can play relaxed.”

“Yay!! Brother Nao gave permission.” Everyone applauded.

Xue Wei said: “But I’m not going. I can’t… sing.”

“Come on, come on, everyone’s going,” Zhao Xiaoyi said, “The All-Star Game is once a year; it’s rare to have such a relaxed time.”

“I can relax by myself,” Xue Wei said.

Wanshi grew curious: “How do you relax? By sleeping?”

“Sleeping, playing games,” Xue Wei said.

“What game?”

“《FIRE》,” Xue Wei said.

“You’re not tired of it yet! My goodness,” Zhao Xiaoyi said with a wry smile, “We’re all sick of playing, and you can still find it relaxing.”

However, they no longer insisted.

Xue Wei’s cold personality was not new to them.

“And I have someone to meet,” Xue Wei said, looking down at the time and message box.

He and Micro hadn’t set a time and place yet.

But he knew that All-Star Game tickets were sold by the day, and further divided into session tickets and full-day tickets, with full-event tickets being ridiculously expensive.

Micro was a cool, rich woman who had sent him so much money and weapon skins; he at least owed her a meal.

“Oh… then shall we go with them first?” Zhao Xiaoyi asked.

“Mm,” Xue Wei said.

So everyone stopped, waiting for the main group to finish eating and drinking.

The food at this place was good.

Wen Man returned twenty minutes late, and everyone waited for him to eat.

Wen Man suddenly put down his chopsticks and stood up: “Let’s go first.”

“Captain Wen, aren’t you eating? Cultivating immortality?” Alan asked. He looked at Wen Man, “You haven’t eaten a single bite. Is the food not to your liking?”

Everyone in the national team knew that Wen Man had some quirks when it came to eating; he wouldn’t touch anything he disliked, and everything he liked was expensive.

Fine snow began to fall outside the window.

Wen Man neither confirmed nor denied, simply stood up, put on his jacket, and said faintly: “Not hungry. Go ahead first.”

As he stood up, everyone else followed suit, preparing to leave.

The bill had been paid by him earlier, so there was no extra time needed.

Only Xue Wei remained seated, unmoving. He wasn’t going, so he didn’t need to follow.

He quietly looked down at his soup bowl, not making a sound, silent and still.

The other EGT members left first.

The remaining national team members looked over at him, with the same curious yet detached gaze as the people in the youth training room that day.

Xue Wei seemed oblivious, still lowering his head to drink soup.

“Which one? Just search for a random one,” someone started looking at the map, the topic already shifting elsewhere, “Captain Wen, Captain Wen, do you know this area? We’re not familiar with the organizers.”

Wen Man walked a few steps outside, then suddenly stopped. He turned back.

Under everyone’s gaze, he bent down, picked up the three balloons hanging in the booth, along with the lemon candy the shop gave, and walked over to Xue Wei.

He reached out and handed them to him.

Xue Wei looked up at him, his gaze seemingly questioning.

“For you,” Wen Man said.

Xue Wei was stunned and didn’t take them.

He leaned down and tied the balloons to Xue Wei’s wrist, then placed the lemon candy into his jacket pocket.

“There,” Wen Man said, a subtle, almost imperceptible smile in his dark eyes, then whispered, “See you later.”

Before retracting his hand, he casually straightened Xue Wei’s collar, which had been messed up when he took off his jacket—pulling out a corner of fabric that had been tucked under.

The scent of lime and the warmth of his fingers brushed past him.

Xue Wei finished eating and came out.

Heavy snow was already falling outside.

It wasn’t cold, not as cold as when the snow was melting.

He scrolled through his phone and saw that Micro had replied with a specific meeting time.

Micro: [9 PM, Esports Park Building A, okay? Do you need to rest?]

Nine PM was a very normal time.

Tonight’s event was the All-Star variety show, which would probably end around 8:30 PM.

After that, the organizers would host another banquet.

The evening activities had nothing to do with the EGT team, and Xue Wei had no intention of attending.

It was currently 3:30 PM, leaving over five hours.

He could still go back to the hotel and rest for a long time.

Xue Wei typed: [Okay, I’ll treat you to late-night supper then. You can invite your friends too.]

He knew the other party seemed to be a girl, and it would be late after the event, so having company would be safer.

Xue Wei put his phone back in his pocket.

His fingertips touched the candy Wen Man had put there.

It was a soft candy, cool and soft.

He seemed to have no intention of eating it, so he kept his hand in his pocket.

The balloon strings were wrapped around his wrist, floating steadily above his head.

Everyone around noticed him.

Suddenly, someone came over and called out to him: “Hey, Pretty—Pretty boy!”

Xue Wei stopped and saw it was Knife, the German.

He was clearly not interested in the national team’s KTV activities.

He came only to eat and had just finished.

Knife said with a wide smile: “We met before at the European World Championship, right? Do you remember me?”

Xue Wei looked up at him, neither confirming nor denying.

“You definitely remember me, even if you don’t speak,” Knife said, speaking Chinese incoherently, “Now my Chinese is very good! You still don’t speak, so I recognize you, Wen Man’s little boy.”

Xue Wei: “Oh.”

Knife sighed: “—Never thought I’d see you around him again. After all, he abandoned all his former teammates. But I must say, him bringing you back was a wise move. With you next season, we’ll have a tough time.”

“He didn’t find me.”

Xue Wei’s voice was calm and steady, “I came back.”

The young man, when speaking about himself, had an unyielding pride.

Knife, seeing he was serious, merely rubbed his nose: “Alright, actually… I just wanted to ask if you want to go back to the hotel together. I’m a bit… lost.”

The dignified world’s number one free agent, with top-tier battlefield control in the game, was actually directionally challenged.

Xue Wei: “The road we’re walking on is the way back.”

“Alright.” Knife followed him like a big wolf dog, holding back for a long time, then tried to strike up a conversation again, “Your balloons are very pretty.”

“Thanks.”

Xue Wei was as still as a mountain, his expression not moving an inch.

He still walked slowly forward, hands in his pockets.

Knife was completely frozen by the awkward atmosphere.

He pulled out his phone and typed furiously.

–Your little boy is really difficult to deal with! More difficult than four years ago!

–The person on the other end was saved as [Devil].

[Devil]: [Is that so.]

–But, Wen, I think your little boy hasn’t changed much. The one who has changed the most is you.

–You are more terrifying now than before.

[Devil]: [Send him back to the hotel properly.]

Xue Wei and Knife returned to their accommodation.

Knife gave him a peace sign: “Mission accomplished, little one. Want to exchange contact info?”

Xue Wei said: “No.”

Knife:

His fragile glass heart was struck again; he almost whined on the spot: “Now, with your personality, it’ll be hard to adapt to a team. I’m going to tell your coach.”

Xue Wei pressed the elevator button: “Oh.”

The elevator door opened, and Knife, feeling wronged, followed him inside.

Xue Wei looked at Knife through the elevator’s mirrored wall, thought for a moment, then took out one of the lemon candies and handed it to him: “For you.”

Knife: “I’d rather have the balloons.”

Xue Wei’s voice was cold: “No.”

Knife:

He opened his phone again, whining: “I’m the world’s top free agent!”

“He’s a sniper! Shouldn’t I be his destined rival?! Why doesn’t he even glance at me?!”

[Devil] didn’t reply to him again, probably finding him too noisy and ignoring him.

Xue Wei returned to the hotel, took a shower, and slept.

When he woke up, it was almost eight o’clock.

The EGT team members hadn’t returned.

He checked the group chat messages; they had gone straight to the performance venue to watch tonight’s All-Star variety show recording after KTV, and then directly to dinner.

Knife sent him a friend request.

Xue Wei looked at it; the referrer was Alan.

God Knife had, after all, managed to get his contact information.

This time, he accepted.

Knife should be backstage recording now, but he quickly sent messages.

Knife: “Almost didn’t recognize you.”

Two pictures.

One was a group photo, a picture from four years ago.

The pixels were good, but the photographer’s hand was shaky, making it very blurry.

In the photo, a peach-blossom-eyed young man was sitting cross-legged on the ground, a poker card in his mouth, tilting his head to look at the cards in the hand of the person beside him.

And he was that person beside him.

He was fourteen that year, with a bit of baby fat on his face.

Fourteen-year-old Xue Wei was seriously staring at the cards, completely oblivious.

Opposite them were two other young Chinese men, their faces both strange and familiar.

A fireplace slowly burned, and laughter filled the air on the other side.

The second picture only showed one person.

The time difference between these two photos should not have been long, likely taken after winning the World Championship.

In the picture, Wen Man was alone, posing for a photo with Knife and his group, arms around shoulders, a faint smile.

The ground was covered with confetti from the competition, and behind them was the gloomy German sky.

Xue Wei watched for a while, then exited the chat page and scrolled through the forum in bed.

Time quickly reached 9:30 PM.

He got up, dressed, and went downstairs.

The location was in Building A.

He only needed to pass through a few corridors and wait at the south main entrance.

This building had been entirely booked by professional players.

Tonight was the organizer’s banquet, and no one had returned, so the building was empty and quiet.

The lights on the side leading to the main entrance were also off.

Half a security barrier remained on the marble floor.

Xue Wei, clutching a hand warmer, initially thought he was the first to arrive because he saw no one there.

But he quickly slowed his steps.

Because he realized it wasn’t that there was no one there; it was that he hadn’t seen him.

Someone was already waiting there, a long black coat, dark peach blossom eyes, almost blending into the night.