Glory [e-sports] - Chapter 271

Translated by 🎏 Edited by apricot, @babyybluebear

When the news reached FTW, Wei Xiao was startled.

“Huh, Captain Yan accepted the commentary gig?”

Brother Cai was also astonished. “Wow the esports committee actually has the power to convince God Yan…”

It was general knowledge that Glory had two venerable gods, both of whom turned down all commercial activities.

One was Close, who had remained unapproachable towards most people. The young man had bought out FTW at the tender age of eighteen, overcoming hardships to rise to where he was now. As a pro player and a boss, there was no time for him to involve himself with these kinds of things.

In the beginning, there were some who believed that FTW lacked capital. Close himself had a high net worth, so there was a chance that he would take on some extra engagements on the side.

However, nobody expected Close to be as outstanding at business as he was at esports. He wasn’t someone who could be messed with.

There was no issue getting FTW to engage on the commercial side, though. He did allow some leeway. It was great for brand image without causing a drop in his net worth. He turned down subpar deals and only signed with the most valuable platform.

The other was Yan Jiang.

While he wasn’t in charge of a club, he was still globally ranked amongst the top players.

He was a support player who had been able to amass a wide following on livestream, whereas everyone else, including Brother Cai, were struggling to get by.

Y1 respected his decision not to take on any commercial activities.

Also, he wasn’t in charge so he could afford to adopt a more detached attitude.

His rejection was firm. The contract was written in black and white. There was no point in wasting his time unless they wanted to risk terminating the contract.

His power was absolute, allowing him to assert his wishes.

It was impossible for Close to do commentary this time. He was a seeded player who had his eyes on the trophy. It would be ridiculous to expect him to cover the event as well.

The esports committee had a long list of candidates. For example, their top pick from FTW would naturally be Quiet. If not, any of the other three or even Coach Chen would also work. In any case, one seat would be reserved for them.

The other seat was naturally offered to those from the top eight powerhouses. Gary and VIVI from L&P, Li Heran from Pro, and CC and Dunn from EVE were all decent candidates for the position.

Of course, the ideal case scenario would be someone from the team that steamrolled its way into finals – Y1.

The committee didn’t bother keeping their hopes up for Yan Jiang and didn’t mention him at all. Instead, they sought to engage Quas, Piglet or Dxrus from Y1.

Little did anyone expect that Y1 not only accepted the gig, but they also offered up Yan Jiang.

Let alone the audience, even the committee were stunned.

Huh? Their eyes weren’t deceiving them, were they?!

Did Y1 have another guy surnamed Yan?

Of course not!

Even Y1’s manager had been taken by surprise.

When he had received the official letter from the organisers, he had gone to the training room to ask around.

He asked everyone, “Who wants to cover the solo event?”, but it was directed to Dxrus, Quas and Piglet. He wasn’t actually asking Yan Jiang.

Quas usually got along well with God Hai. It would be fun to go to the commentary booth to drop insults. He asked, “Who is the other commentator?”

Y1’s manager casually dropped, “FTW’s new jungler.”

Quas’ interest was piqued. “Quiet?”

Y1’s manager: “Yes.”

Quas was just about to agree to it when another male voice leisurely piped up, “I’ll do it.”

Quas: “!”

The eyes of everyone in the training room, whether it was Hai who was training for the solo tournament or the top/bottom duo double-queuing, instantly shot over.

Hai: “Fuck!”

Yan Jiang: “……”

He didn’t respond, and God Hai didn’t dare to ask twice.

Y1’s manager hurriedly stepped up, gingerly checking once more.

Yan Jiang nodded.

The manager was overjoyed. He could care less for the reason; he was already racing out of the training room to report the joyous news!

And so Yan Jiang joined the others in the commentary booth, and there was heated debate about it online.

‘High Lady Yan’, who never set foot outside the house, actually deigned to take a seat at the commentary booth for the World Solo Tournament. This news was even more exciting than the four gods clashing in the solo tournament.

Old fans of the Team of Gods were roused. “Holy shit, is God Yan pampering his former teammates?”

“Sure enough, milady would only emerge for the one who holds his heart ahhhh!”

“New fan reporting in. Who is the one who holds God Yan’s heart? And why is my God Yan a High Lady?!”

“Lulu, Proud Flower, Pufferfish… and the Prima Donna… ahem…”

“Hang on, does Scum Man Yuan not deserve a name drop?”

“The scum man is undeserving!”

“Undeserving +1.”

“Undeserving +10086!”

The new fans were even more baffled now. There was clearly some backstory at play here, and sensitive to hot gossip, they were quick to dig deeper.

The old fans had been holding it in for three years. There was nothing stopping them now; whoever could hold back? They spilt the tea with alacrity.

It was related to a past incident. It was from this incident that Teacher Yuan with his flirtatious peach blossom eyes would gain the nickname ‘Scum Man’ and the formidable, tight-lipped and untouchable Captain Yan would earn his nickname ‘High Lady’.

The Team of Gods were still in the regular season for nationals at that time, roughly two months from when they had initially started training together. By then, hints of their undefeated reign were only just emerging.

After thirteen straight victories, the fans were on the edge of their seats with anxiety. They were worried that heavy pressure on the players would cause them to collapse after a single setback.

Many teams would see back-to-back victories in the regular season, then sink when it came to the playoffs. There were even more teams who would give the regular season their all, have their strategies deciphered by the other teams, and then walloped hard in the playoffs.

The fans were on tenterhooks. Yuan Ze, with nothing better to do, started a livestream to dote on the fans.

It was only half past eight in the morning when he did. The fans, instead of feeling doted on, were scared out of their wits.

“Husbando, what’s wrong? Is it insomnia?”

“Don’t be nervous! We’ll get past the playoffs without a hitch, don’t worry if you lose a match.”

“Uh-huh, a win streak sounds flashy but is otherwise pretty much pointless. If you lose once, you’ll feel the pressure drop off. Then you can carry on with a lighter mind.”

How was this Teacher Yuan doting on the fans? It was clearly the other way around.

Let alone the barrage of comments, even the gifts started to stack up.

Whilst there was no one else in the training room, Yuan Ze lit a cigarette, saying carelessly, “What are you worrying about?”

The fans: “???”

Teacher Yuan boasted obnoxiously, “Laozi will win all the way.”

The fans: “………………”

Yuan Ze blew out a smoke ring, then added, “Take note. Nationals and worlds, I will win. Them. All.”

He was talking so big that fans were getting all ready to kneel to him!

Weren’t you afraid that you’d jinx it and then collapse on yourself?!

Just then, he was matched into a game, and he started to play in earnest.

After about three rounds, as he hadn’t kept a small picture-in-picture window open, Yuan Ze completely forgot that he had a livestream going.

He had won too easily. Besides, there was something else nagging at him. So Yuan Ze pushed away from the table and went out for a bit.

He snacked a little and used the washroom, and by the time he returned, the livestream had been tossed even further in the back of his mind.

The fans did not mind since the camera was still on. Being able to see him made them more than happy.

Right as Yuan Ze was about to queue again, the door opened.

His eyes lit up, and he leapt to his feet. “How did it go?”

The fans couldn’t tell who had come in from the livestream, but they could guess that Yuan Ze had forgotten that he had started a livestream.

But they were still in high spirits. Although Yuan Ze wasn’t looking at their comments, they were still filled with excitement.

What followed next was a listless yet intoxicating voice, “I’m done.”

Just two words were enough to verify his identity!

“AHHH it’s Captain Yan!”

“Look here, Captain Yan, look at me!”

“Nooooo, hurry up and let me see Captain Yan; husbando, I miss you so much!”

“Did Captain Yan pull yet another all-nighter? Heartache QAQ!”

Yuan Ze was visibly excited. “Amazing, captain!”

Yan Jiang kept silent, but they could hear a gaming chair slide over. Yuan Ze sat in front of the computer.

Yuan Ze: “I just got into a game; I’ll give it a try.”

Yan Jiang: “Mn.”

He stood behind Yuan Ze, a hand perched on the back of the chair.

Seeing the two of them sharing the same frame, the fans were almost bursting with happiness. If the sound of all the screenshots taken at that moment were to be amassed, it would split one’s eardrums!

Even though they had no clue what the two men were doing, from the brief exchange, they were almost certain that it was a new tactic!

Captain Yan had pulled an all-nighter just to pull a new strat together for Zeze!

So sweet! Nauseatingly sweet!

The door opened just then.

Yan Jiang lifted his head. Lethargic from the all-nighter, the lovely voice was now tinged with a different flavour. “Morning.”

A crisp, powerful voice responded. “Morning.”

The livestream exploded again. “It’s Lulu! Lulu is back from his morning jog!”

“Role model of Glory, fitness maniac, the invincible Close!”

“Before Close, I would never have believed that an esports player would have such a physique…”

“Man, if Close wasn’t underage, I’d definitely marry him!”

“Tossing out a blind guess that Lulu brought breakfast for the captain again.”

“And poor Teacher Yuan won’t have anything to eat.”

Close had just finished his morning jog, and sweat daubed his handsome countenance. A face so handsome that people usually could not tear their eyes away from was now even more so, causing the livestream chat to be flooded with shrill screams.

Yuan Ze raised his head to look at him. “Check out brother’s new strat!”

Close set down breakfast. “Eat.”

At the sight of his captain looking somewhat wan from low blood sugar, Yuan Ze’s heart softened. “Okay. Let’s eat first.”

Yan Jiang picked up the soy milk, but a frown marred his face after trying just one mouthful.

Close had since left to shower upstairs; Yuan Ze and Yan Jiang were the only two remaining in the training room.

Yuan Ze was very familiar with Yan Jiang’s tastes. “Wait here, I’ll fetch the sugar.”

Yan Jiang made a sound of assent and put the soy milk down.

Yuan Ze wasn’t this acquiescent usually, but Yan Jiang had just pulled an all-nighter because of him. There had to be limits to his shamelessness.

He ran to get the sugar jar from the kitchen.

Yan Jiang gestured to him.

Yuan Ze figured that it wasn’t a big deal to wait on his captain since there wasn’t anyone watching anyway. So Yuan Ze opened the jar of sugar, measured out a spoonful and added it to the soy milk.

Yan Jiang didn’t move.

The corners of Yuan Ze’s mouth twitched. He added another spoonful of sugar.

Yan Jiang still didn’t move.

Yuan Ze couldn’t resist a quip. “One more spoonful?”

Yan Jiang nodded.

Yuan Ze: “……” Are you sure you won’t get diabetes from this?

After three spoonfuls, Captain Yan finally deigned to bring the soy milk to his mouth and tried a single sip before setting it down again.

Yuan Ze had shock written all over his face. “Still not enough sugar?”

Yan Jiang shook his head.

Yuan Ze’s mind was blown. He added another three spoonfuls.

Yan Jiang tried it again but remained unsatisfied.

Yuan Ze was going insane. He dropped the jar of sugar and snapped, “Why don’t you just eat the sugar straight, milady?”

It was too hard to serve him! Laozi refuses to do it anymore!

Yan Jiang: “……” Without a word, he stood up and made to leave.

Yuan Ze: “Um. My new strat…”

This no-good captain. He was a true High Lady who didn’t spare him a single glance.

Yuan Ze hastily apologised. “I was wrong, I’m sorry, the issue must lie with the soy milk. I will buy you another cup.”

Despite saying so, he was rather puzzled. Although his captain had a sweet tooth, it should have been sweet enough by now after having added so much sugar.

Yuan Ze picked it up and tried a mouthful himself.

Huh, it really wasn’t sweet…

What was going on? Was there something wrong with the sugar?

Yan Jiang felt heartache seeing his soy milk was now missing a big mouthful, and this moved him to finally speak. “Stir it.”

Yuan Ze: “???”

Yan Jiang: “Iced soy milk needs to be stirred.”

Yuan Ze, “…………………”

Are you seriously expecting me to stir it for you as well?

@babyybluebear: milady, milady, let down your hair. I’d like to be waited on hand and feet in my little lair. And sorry fans, Yan Jiang is 20/10 commentating because of Quiet LOL.(If the author includes Gary finding out this black history and then going back to Yuan Ze, I’ll worship her for life.)