Here’s how it happened. Yesterday at midnight, which was around 2 PM North American time, Lu Sheng’s team suddenly announced the termination of his contract, officially declaring that Lu Sheng had left the team.
The team had just won a championship and was already incredibly popular, and now it was still during the competition period, so the termination news instantly exploded on foreign platforms. Everyone was asking what happened.
The team manager had no choice but to come forward and explain, stating that it was Lu Sheng who unilaterally terminated the contract, and that the team originally wanted to keep him.
Moreover, according to him, Lu Sheng had brought up termination two months ago. The team didn’t agree at the time and gave him two months off, hoping he’d change his mind after the break. But after returning to China, Lu Sheng didn’t even finish his leave and suddenly flew back to North America to terminate the contract, his attitude even more determined than before.
North America didn’t want to let him go and demanded a sky-high termination fee. Unexpectedly, Lu Sheng paid the fee on the spot, didn’t even wait for an official announcement, and bought the earliest flight back to China.
It’s said that the termination fee was as high as 90 million RMB.
The team manager was very troubled because he didn’t know what had happened. Losing a top player all of a sudden, he posted this information hoping for help.
[This is such a pity! Akoi is my favorite player!]
[Why? Was the treatment not good enough? That’s something the team should reflect on!]
[Am I the only one who thinks the termination fee is outrageous? That number isn’t normal.]
[The manager looks troubled too.]
[I didn’t expect this to happen.]
[Why so sudden? Did something happen in the LPL?]
[I asked friends over there, and they said absolutely nothing happened.]
[But something strange did happen, two very strong players left the LPL to join teams in the lower league.]
[Oh right, and Chron is also making a comeback for that team—the guy who made our region tremble even after two years of retirement.]
[Anyone know what’s going on? Are these things connected? Did the LPL introduce some new policy? Why are they suddenly like this?]
[I don’t know, I only know that in the East, there’s a mysterious thing called gu, and their condition is exactly like that.]
[Are you saying they’re being controlled by some mysterious force?]
[Yes, otherwise there’s no way to explain it.]
After a few hours of fermenting overseas, the news returned to China and exploded again.
[Huh? God Lu terminated his contract and came back?]
[No way, that’s impossible... Didn’t he just sign a three-year contract with North America?]
[They say he paid 90 million RMB to come back.]
[How could this be! (pupil quake)]
[My god, is he coming back to the LPL!]
[Ahhh ahhh welcome!]
[Damn, Lu Sheng is a real man! Says he’s coming back and actually comes back!]
[I knew he’d come back!]
[Lu Sheng was originally a player in our league, isn’t it normal for him to come back now?]
[Replying to above: he left because he was demoted in China back then. He even publicly said in interviews he’d never return to the LPL.]
[He probably didn’t plan to come back, otherwise he wouldn’t have renewed for three years.]
[My god, who changed his mind?]
[Doesn’t matter, I welcome Lu Sheng back!]
[Wuwuwu I was just crushed yesterday by Fang Zhixu and Qi Yi, and now I see God Lu’s return—I feel alive again…]
[Mom! LPL is saved!]
[Wait! Something feels off!]
[No team has contacted him. Does that mean... he’s not returning to play, but planning to retire?]
[No way!]
While the internet was in chaos, someone live-streamed Lu Sheng returning at the airport.
He dragged two particularly large suitcases, his long legs striding with a don’t-give-a-damn gait. It looked like he had moved everything he owned. His face still lacked expression, and though he wore a mask and sunglasses, his aura was too distinct—he could be recognized from the back. And he was clearly in a good mood, since he even stopped to sign autographs for fans.
Fans on-site kept asking, “God Lu! God Lu! Are you staying this time? Are you planning to develop your career here?”
Lu Sheng, still with his cold and unapproachable attitude, suddenly looked at the camera, chin slightly raised:
“Yeah, if there’s a chance.”
The crowd instantly screamed!
Not just on-site, even viewers behind the screen wanted to scream along!
What did this answer mean?
It meant Lu Sheng terminated with North America just to return to develop his career!
He’s staying in the LPL!!
[Holy crap! This is the biggest news of the year!]
[Yesterday’s drama now feels like nothing.]
[I was wondering why the esports scene was so turbulent—turns out something big was coming.]
[There must be a team that contacted him. Otherwise he wouldn’t have changed his mind on the spot. And 90 million... there must be a team helping cover that.]
[I’m losing my mind I actually think signing Lu Sheng for 90 million isn’t expensive…]
[Ahhh! The LPL is about to change completely!]
[So which team moved him?]
[Anyone know?]
[IKG? They’ve been silent too.]
[Maybe TIN? They sold Fang Zhixu. Maybe it was to make room for Lu Sheng. Otherwise they can’t afford so many top players.]
[TIN is likely.]
[If it’s TIN, I sincerely apologize for all the trash talk yesterday!]
[But TIN hasn’t said a word.]
[I just checked all the LPL teams’ official Weibo, completely silent.]
[Stop. My cousin works in LPL. He’s also frantically asking which team it is. If he can’t find out, his boss will go crazy too…]
[I want to know too. Which team is it exactly?]
Amid all the internet rumors, someone noticed something wrong.
[emmm... don’t you think the clothes he’s wearing look familiar?]
Indeed. Normally dressed head-to-toe in fixed brands, Lu Sheng was wearing an unusually plain jacket today.
From the appearance, it looked a lot like some kind of team uniform. But no team, domestic or international, had this style. If we had to say, it looked a bit like RAG’s team uniform.
[Damnnnn]
[Black and white color scheme... I have a bad feeling...]
[Impossible! That’s God Lu! The guy who paid 90 million! The LPL teams are fighting over him, how could he go to a team that doesn’t even have a proper door!]
[Even if Lu Sheng wants to go, can RAG afford him?]
[But Xu Bo, Fang Zhixu, Qi Yi—all of them have high value. Didn’t RAG sign them all anyway?]
[Impossible. Absolutely impossible!]
[But it really looks like it…]
[Check their official profile pics—you can compare. RAG’s uniform looks like an upgraded version...]
[Holy crap, the sleeve patterns match exactly!]
[Both have black and white yin-yang and eight trigrams…]
[You’re saying, this team without even a proper door signed Xu Bo, Fang Zhixu, Qi Yi, even brought Chen Shi’an back from rehab and now also has Lu Sheng?]
[...]
[Who said esports doesn’t have horror stories.]
[Ahhhh I’m not watching I’m not watching I’m not watching!]
[This isn’t real! This can’t be real!]
[I must be dreaming. Let me sleep more.]
[I’m about to split like the East African Rift!]
[Friends, just go to bed. The sky’s collapsing!]
The LPL’s sky might really be falling.
—
Inside RAG, things weren’t peaceful either. Bai Yu could hear the employees outside frantically discussing through the glass.
Next to him, Zhou Xunwen was about to explode. He couldn’t hold it in anymore, looked at Bai Yu, just about to say something.
Immediately stopped: “Alright, no need to say anything.”
Some things are better kept in the heart. Saying them out loud is a death sentence.
The problem was Zhou Xunwen’s phone wouldn’t stop vibrating, and the internal group chat was tagging him nonstop. At this moment, he had to say something. He moved his lips quickly:
“I think you should give Lu Sheng a call. Just ask him if he’s still....”
Bai Yu, terrified of what he might say next, immediately stuffed a tissue in his mouth. “Alright, I’ll call. I’ll go outside to call.”
Zhou Xunwen immediately stood up and opened the door for him: “Please!”
At this moment, this phone call was no longer just about Bai Yu personally. The entire world was waiting for an answer including himself.
Since the call had to be made, then he’d make it.
Bai Yu stood up at once, grabbed his phone, and stepped out the door.
The moment the call connected, his heartbeat sped up uncontrollably. The ringing felt endlessly long. Bai Yu had no idea how many times it rang. His thoughts gradually drifted back to three years ago.
Actually, there had always been signs. The difference in how he was treated, the figure who always waited for him after training, those phoenix eyes that never avoided his gaze, and that time on the steps when he was being questioned, if it hadn’t been against the light, Bai Yu almost thought Lu Sheng was about to cry...
And it wasn’t just Yang Dajun. Other people had also asked Bai Yu: “Does Lu Sheng like you?”
Back then, Bai Yu stood too high. He didn’t have the mind to consider such things, nor the time to look down and reflect. So he always ignored the details. In the end, even when Lu Sheng was right in front of him, Bai Yu racked his brain and couldn’t find any proof the other liked him.
So his answer had always been: “You guys are overthinking it.”
If this question had been asked yesterday, Bai Yu would still have answered the same way.
He would’ve chalked up Lu Sheng’s return to “just here to watch the drama.” Once the show was over, he’d go back to North America. It all seemed perfectly reasonable.
But then Lu Sheng suddenly terminated his contract and returned to China, shattering the logic Bai Yu had built for himself.
When all the broken pieces rearranged, they presented a completely different picture and suddenly, every clue pointed to one answer.
“Hello?”
A deep voice came through the phone, snapping Bai Yu back to reality. His heartbeat quickened again. He forgot what he meant to say and stumbled over his words: “You… you came back?”
The other person gave a low “mm,” the tone emotionless, as if all the speculation was just his own wishful thinking.
He gripped the phone tightly, unsure how to begin.
The call was made but how should he ask the question? Was it possible that Lu Sheng’s return had nothing to do with him? What if he had already been in talks with another team? That uniform on him could’ve just been something he grabbed in a hurry, it might not mean anything at all.
His mind was a mess. Then he heard a soft voice on the other end: “What’s wrong? You called but didn’t say anything?”
The voice sounded unexpectedly patient and gentle. It gave Bai Yu the courage to continue. He asked softly, “Did you come back to develop your career here?”
There was another pause. He could hear the sound of luggage wheels rolling. It took Lu Sheng a while to reply: “Mm.”
Bai Yu felt like he was being hooked, fidgety and restless. His ear pressed against the phone, burning hot. “I see. Ah Wen and I saw the news today—we were shocked. Didn’t expect you to suddenly terminate and come back. Did you… was it…”
The line suddenly quieted. The voice from the other end was calm and serious: “Bai Yu, if you have something to ask, just ask. Why so hesitant?”
Why? Because he was afraid of being wrong, of assuming too much.
Back then, Bai Yu was someone Lu Sheng could only look up to. Now the tables had turned. The whole situation was already awkward enough—if he dared to think Lu Sheng came back for him, only to be wrong… seeing him again wouldn’t just mean avoiding him—it’d mean digging a grave to bury himself.
Bai Yu bit the inside of his lower lip. “I just wanted to ask—which team did you come back for? I’m… a little curious.”
Silence again. It was obvious he knew what Bai Yu really wanted to ask, but he refused to answer it directly. “Only asking now? Doesn’t seem like you’re that curious.”
Bai Yu suddenly felt that Lu Sheng was quite an awful person.
Back then, he made everyone think he liked him. And now, he made the whole world think he was joining Bai Yu’s team. Yet, he had never clearly said anything.
It was like everything depended on Bai Yu taking the initiative—if he admitted it, it existed; if he didn’t, it didn’t.
Bai Yu felt both embarrassed and annoyed. “If you’re not telling me, I’m hanging up.”
“Don’t hang up.” Lu Sheng’s voice suddenly softened, almost like it was right next to his ear. “Bai Yu, before I answer you, promise me you won’t get mad no matter what I say.”
Bai Yu agreed immediately: “Okay.”
The sound of the suitcase stopped. The background noise grew quiet. Lu Sheng’s voice sounded like it was trapped in a corner—his breathing could be heard clearly: “Bai Yu, I came back for you. I did before, and I still do now.”
Bai Yu’s heart skipped a beat. He nearly forgot to breathe.
He gripped his phone tightly and heard Lu Sheng’s voice from the other side: “That day, when I asked if you wanted me or not, your eyes told me you really did. So I decided on the spot to go back to North America, handle the termination, and then come back for you…”
His voice was low, not emotional but it was like he was speaking right against Bai Yu’s ear, drawing out every single sense.
Bai Yu seemed to realize something, but forced himself not to think about it. “Then why did you renew your contract over there?”
There was a pause. Lu Sheng replied slowly: “I thought I’d never get a chance to come back. So when the team asked me to renew after the season, I signed it. Later, when I found out you were in China, I just wanted to come see you. I didn’t expect you to be building a team. If I had known, I never would’ve signed that stupid contract…”
So that’s why he renewed for three years.
So that’s why he sat outside their base at night for half an hour.
So that’s why he took a leave to return, always hanging around him.
Bai Yu suddenly felt a bad premonition. He couldn’t let him keep talking like this. He quickly cut him off: “You—you wanted to join my team. Why didn’t you say so earlier?”
There was silence. Then a faint voice: “Bai Yu, did you forget? You never invited me. I never had enough confidence to think I could catch your eye…”
The words carried no special tone, but they pierced Bai Yu’s heart.
He suddenly remembered three years ago, when management recommended Lu Sheng to him, he hadn’t looked at him even once. He insisted on giving Lin Kun the position.
How disappointed must Lu Sheng have been back then?
So much so that even after winning two consecutive championships, he still didn’t have the confidence to admit a single word to himself.
Bai Yu’s knuckles turned white from gripping too hard. He would’ve rather heard Lu Sheng scold him a few times, but Lu Sheng’s voice still sounded so calm, as if he had long stopped caring about what happened back then: “I’ve been following your team since I came back to the country. You’ve had new mid laners, then you brought in Xu Bo, Chen Shi’an, and now you’ve signed Fang Zhixu. You’ve asked so many people, but you never asked me...”
Bai Yu’s heart burned sharply. He clenched his phone, never having felt such urgency before: “Then what about you, Lu Sheng? Would you be willing to join my team, just like them?”
The other side suddenly let out a light laugh. After being interrupted so many times, he finally caught a chance, and his voice turned flamboyant: “Sure. One championship for one night. Sign me for as long as you want.”
Bai Yu’s brain exploded on the spot. All his precautions still failed in the end. In a panic, he hung up the call. The next second, Lu Sheng called back. He hung up again. Called again. Hung up again.
Then Lu Sheng stopped calling and switched to texting: You promised you wouldn’t get mad...
Bai Yu wasn’t angry. He was... he was...
Ah, forget it.
He didn’t even know what he was.
If Lu Sheng had simply wanted to join his team, Bai Yu could’ve laughed about it all night. But if there was something else mixed in, Bai Yu didn’t dare say yes. He was afraid things would spiral out of control.
But if he didn’t sign him, Lu Sheng had just paid ninety million in breach fees for him, and he’d hurt him so badly back then. If he rejected him again, he really didn’t know how to face him in the future.
And at a time like this, when he was so desperate for a mid laner, letting Lu Sheng go to another team was enough to make his heart stop just thinking about it.
Lu Sheng had created a dilemma for him.
From hiding the reason for coming back, to never clearly saying he wanted to join the team, even now quietly terminating his contract and returning to the country—all of it was to corner Bai Yu into a situation with no way out.
Bai Yu’s thoughts were a tangled mess. At that moment, Lu Sheng’s livestream was trending. He clicked in on impulse and saw Lu Sheng standing at the corner of the airport from afar. Next to him were two large suitcases. He leaned against the wall, long legs slightly bent, staring a bit dazed at the flight board, looking indifferent.
He was giving Bai Yu a moment to breathe.
And giving himself one too.
Just as Bai Yu finally managed to calm down, Lu Sheng suddenly pulled out his phone and typed: What do I do? You’re all I can think about.
Bai Yu’s expression cracked on the spot! Why would he sent something so shameful?!
Afraid that man would say something outrageous at the airport, he immediately called him: “Don’t move from where you are. Wait for me to pick you up. I have something to talk to you about!”
Bai Yu put away his phone and moved at once.
Zhou Xunwen saw his sudden action and quickly caught up: “How is it? Did you ask clearly? Does Lu Sheng want to join our team?”
Bai Yu nodded, then suddenly shook his head frantically.
Zhou Xunwen was completely dumbfounded. So is he coming or not?
—
At the airport, Lu Sheng was on the phone, replying coldly,
“Mm, no need to pick me up. Someone’s already coming.”
On the other end, Chu Tianyou swore loudly,
“You fking terminated your contract and came back without saying a word, and now I just crawled outta bed to pick you up, only for you to tell me not to come? Hell no, I’m your only damn friend in this country, I have to take you home today unless you’re fking dating someone!”
Lu Sheng replied with a simple “Yeah,”
“I am. Go home.”
Chu Tianyou froze, then started cursing even more,
“You fking started dating within half an hour of landing? What, you think I’m a pig or something? You expect me to believe that crap? Who’s picking you up? Are you hiding some other friend from me in this country? No way I’m coming no matter what, I gotta see who it is…”
The supercar shot off like a rocket, arriving at the airport in no time.
Chu Tianyou jumped out and rushed straight inside. At the entrance, he spotted Lu Sheng waiting. He stormed over and launched into another tirade:
“Didn’t you say someone’s picking you up? Where? Where are they? Tell them to come out!”
Lu Sheng didn’t respond. “Annoying.”
Chu Tianyou kept rambling, but not long after, someone really did come to pick Lu Sheng up.
The newcomer was dressed in a black-and-white team uniform, lean figure, stride sharp. A passing breeze tousled his hair, but he didn’t brush it aside. His expression was calm and reserved. He showed no overt emotion, but a single look from him made people want to get on their knees and call him boss.
Chu Tianyou, who’d been barking like a dog just moments ago, instantly fell silent.
His voice even softened:
“Oh, it’s Captain Yu… why didn’t you say so earlier?”
Lu Sheng ignored him. His eyes never left Bai Yu.
Watching Bai Yu walk quickly over and grab his suitcase without saying a word,
“Sorry, President Chu. I have something to discuss with him. Let’s talk another time.”
Chu Tianyou fumbled awkwardly to greet him,
“H-hey, Captain Yu, long time no see. You got something with Lu Sheng? Haha… okay, well, I’ll just let you two… go?”
He hadn’t even finished speaking when the two of them and the suitcase were already shoved into the car and gone in a cloud of dust.
Bai Yu didn’t spare a single extra glance.
There was a cold detachment on him, as if untouched by the world.
At first, Chu Tianyou just thought he looked good.
Now even the way he turned the steering wheel looked inexplicably badass.
Bai Yu gave him a single nod before driving off.
Chu Tianyou was still waving when it finally hit him, seeing Lu Sheng in the passenger seat:
“Wait don’t tell me you’re planning to join Bai Yu’s team?! Why the hell didn’t you tell me earlier!!”
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