Ding
The phone vibrated. Lu Sheng didn’t respond at all.
Bai Yu thought this meeting would be awkward, but it wasn’t. Lu Sheng, after saying those things, acted like nothing happened, so why should he feel awkward?
On the way here, Bai Yu had already sorted out his thoughts. Now he reviewed them again and said, “There are still 40 minutes before we get back. I’ll keep it short. I want to sign you. The team happens to have a mid lane spot. You know our situation. In a few days we’ll sign Chen Shi’an too. If you come, I can promise we’ll at least make it to Worlds. Other than that, I can’t guarantee anything.”
The promise meant nothing to Lu Sheng. Getting to Worlds was easy for him.
Lu Sheng felt a bit disappointed. He thought Bai Yu wanted to talk about something else. It turned out to be this.
Bai Yu saw him silent, looked over, and met his eyes. That pair of cool phoenix eyes hit his line of sight, and the calm he’d just regained scattered again.
He quickly steadied himself and said, “I sincerely hope you’ll join. I know the team is too small and doesn’t qualify to invite you yet. I want to know your thoughts. If you’re willing, I hope our cooperation stays professional. Zhou Xunwen will discuss the terms. I only handle training. If you agree, we’ll go sign now.”
He was so nervous saying this he even bit his tongue. He was scared Lu Sheng would agree, and scared he wouldn’t.
If he missed this chance, he really might end up crawling at the edge of his bed at night.
Lu Sheng leaned back silently. Just as Bai Yu was about to suffocate from nerves, Lu Sheng said, “You mean, only business, not personal matters?”
That was what Bai Yu meant.
He gripped the wheel. He knew the team’s conditions weren’t enough to move him. He thought, if he refuses, then forget it.
“OK.”
Lu Sheng’s voice was still calm, like agreeing to a meal. He leaned back, closed his eyes. He was a little tired, with dark circles under his eyes. “I haven’t slept all day. Can I nap in your car?”
Bai Yu’s heart reacted strangely. He gave a quiet “Mm,” slowed the car, and even his breathing softened, afraid to disturb the person beside him.
—
The car stopped outside the base. Zhou Xunwen looked at Lu Sheng in the passenger seat and didn’t raise his voice: “You two talked it through?”
Bai Yu shook his head. He didn’t know why, but right now he felt especially dazed, like he had won the lottery for no reason but hadn’t claimed the prize yet and was panicking. He glanced at Lu Sheng, still asleep in the passenger seat, took a deep breath, and said softly to Zhou Xunwen, “Later when it comes to the signing, you talk to him. I won’t get involved.”
Zhou Xunwen pointed at himself, “You want me to talk to him?”
Bai Yu nodded, “Weren’t you full of courage yesterday? Said you’d punch him when you saw him. Now’s your chance.”
Zhou Xunwen: “Ah? Me?”
Before he could react, Bai Yu had already patted his shoulder and left. In the passenger seat, Lu Sheng had woken up and knocked on the window, “Can you help me move the luggage?”
Zhou Xunwen almost reflexively bent down and opened the door for the big shot, “Coming, coming!”
Bai Yu returned to the training room. Even though he said he handed everything about Lu Sheng to Zhou Xunwen, he still couldn’t help caring. He kept glancing toward the direction of the office.
He didn’t know what they were talking about in there, didn’t know if Lu Sheng had changed his mind. Because he wasn’t sure, he couldn’t calm down.
Just then, Yang Kaiming had something to ask him, and he used the opportunity to shift his attention. But his hearing was too sharp. he clearly heard the office door open. Footsteps came from behind and stopped behind him. The atmosphere around seemed to freeze with that person’s arrival.
Bai Yu didn’t dare turn around and forced himself to explain to Yang Kaiming: “This move is called Rotating the Universe. It originated from Lu Sheng. Within 0.2 seconds of raising the hand, use Flash to adjust the hero’s position. The max tilt angle can reach 7%. But the difficulty is too high. Many pros can’t pull it off with 100% success, so they use the modified version you’re seeing now, with a 5% tilt angle…”
Yang Kaiming nodded, feeling it was even harder, “God Lu is really amazing. A 7% speed, how fast does that have to be…”
Bai Yu didn’t want to admit it in front of Lu Sheng, but still had to: “He’s the fastest midlaner among all current active players.”
A soft laugh came from behind him.
Bai Yu’s scalp tingled. Only after the footsteps gradually left did he finally feel the air return to normal.
He knew signing Lu Sheng would be trouble! Just having this guy stand behind him, he couldn’t stay calm!
Bai Yu quickly went to the office and asked Zhou Xunwen, “How did it go?”
Zhou Xunwen looked dazed, “He just told me he didn’t want signing bonus or salary. I’m even starting to wonder if you put some kind of spell on him…”
“No salary?” Bai Yu immediately leaned across the table to grab Zhou Xunwen’s form. Seeing the salary column marked zero, he couldn’t help but curse: “Damn are you dumb? He says he doesn’t want it and you just leave it blank? At least give him the proper salary…”
Zhou Xunwen didn’t even look at the form and surrendered, “I really didn’t. I’m not that malicious.”
Then Bai Yu picked up a pen and without a word modified the salary column, giving Lu Sheng the highest salary in the entire team. But even the highest they could offer was far less than what he got in his previous team.
The more Bai Yu looked, the more guilty he felt. He even added 5% of the team shares in the signing bonus column, “Transfer it from my shares to him.”
Zhou Xunwen looked at the form, full of resentment, “Even I don’t have 5%…”
Bai Yu reminded him, “He paid 90 million in breach fees to come back. Now the entire LPL is watching him.”
Zhou Xunwen immediately shut up and quickly rolled up the form and stood up, “I’ll go find someone to draft the contract right now, before anything changes.”
Lu Sheng was still staying in his old room. Just like before, they only needed to have Yang Kaiming make space for him in training.
Main team players had to be together, that was the only way to ensure maximum practice efficiency. For example, when Fang Zhixu joined, Zhang Peng made space for him and moved to the room next door.
Yang Kaiming understood. He knew this day would come, but still couldn’t help asking, “Captain Yu, can I know who the new midlaner is?”
Once he asked, everyone looked over curiously.
Xu Bo couldn’t keep it in, “Who is it? Is he good or not?”
Bai Yu suddenly didn’t know how to respond and just said, “Anyway, his hand speed is insane. He can adapt to basically any style.”
Fang Zhixu supported his head and filtered the qualified players in his mind, then quickly guessed, “Is it Chu Fei?”
Chu Fei was TUP’s midlaner. When TUP came to poach him, Chu Fei even contacted him personally to say he really wanted to be teammates.
But unfortunately, that chance never came.
Bai Yu shook his head, “It’s not him. He did want to come, but his contract got stuck. I was thinking if there’s a chance in the second half of the year, I’d try to get him. But now it looks like I don’t need to anymore.”
After he said that, everyone’s expression instantly changed.
Chu Fei was currently ranked second among LPL midlaners. Who had Bai Yu signed that he didn’t even want Chu Fei anymore? It couldn’t be the number one, Qu Xiangtian, right?
While everyone was exchanging looks, Bai Yu saw that Lu Sheng still hadn’t come down, “You guys start training first. I’ll go up to check on him and introduce him to you all later.”
Just as he left, Zhang Peng from next door came over mysteriously, “There was someone who came back with Captain just now. Is that our new mid?”
“Just now? I didn’t see.”
“There was someone. Captain personally picked him up. He wore a mask and sunglasses. Looked kind of familiar. Could it really be Chu Fei?”
“You mean the guy who came back with the captain?” Fang Zhixu suddenly joined the conversation, thoughtfully said, “That looked like Lu Sheng. Haven’t you seen the trending topics?”
“What?”
“Lu Sheng?”
“You mean the new mid we signed is Lu Sheng?!”
“Damn, no wonder he didn’t want Chu Fei. He signed God Lu…”
The training room instantly got noisy.
Qi Yi hadn’t felt anything at first, he didn’t really know Lu Sheng. But hearing how fired up everyone was, he couldn’t help pricking up his ears.
Talking about how Lu Sheng left TG for North America, Xu Bo finally couldn’t hold back and stood up, “I’m going up to check.”
Lu Sheng’s room was next to Bai Yu’s. The door wasn’t closed. At a glance, he saw Lu Sheng had finished unpacking and was sitting in a chair, seemingly messaging someone.
Bai Yu coughed to get his attention, “Not coming down yet? I want to introduce you to the others.”
Lu Sheng looked up at him and put away his phone, “Okay.”
Bai Yu noticed he was still wearing a mask and couldn’t help pointing, “Can you take that off? I’m worried they’ll think you’re unapproachable.”
Although Lu Sheng didn’t have a very friendly-looking face to begin with, it was still better to leave a decent first impression on teammates.
Lu Sheng paused, but still took off the mask.
His features were sharp, with a particularly high nose bridge. Especially from the side, he gave off an unapproachable cold vibe. But he had phoenix eyes that softened the hardness of his features. Even if he didn’t show emotion, looking at people gave off a gentle illusion.
Bai Yu didn’t dare stare, quickly looked away. Then he noticed something, “What happened to the corner of your mouth?”
He reached out to turn Lu Sheng’s chin. Lu Sheng cooperated, and a bloody cut at the corner of his mouth was revealed.
Lu Sheng lowered his gaze and looked at him, letting him move as he pleased without any resistance, “Things got a little unpleasant during the contract termination. There was a bit of a fight.”
Paid 90 million in breach fees and still got into a fight?
Bai Yu suddenly got mad, “That’s too much!”
He carefully examined Lu Sheng’s wound. It was already somewhat inflamed, not a minor injury at all. “I’m taking you to the hospital to get it treated.”
Lu Sheng looked at him, “No need.”
Bai Yu insisted, “We have to go. It’s on your face. What if it festers later? Stay here. I’m going back to change clothes.”
Lu Sheng’s eyes followed Bai Yu as he left. Just then, someone appeared at the door. He saw Xu Bo standing there, arms crossed, looking at him coldly, “Didn’t you go to North America? Why are you back?”
Xu Bo had known Lu Sheng since TG.
Back then, Lu Sheng was still a youth trainee. Every time Xu Bo and Bai Yu finished training and went downstairs, they would see him at the corner of the hallway.
The other person always stood in the corner under the metal shelves, body slightly hunched, staring intently at Bai Yu with those long narrow eyes like a damp ghost lurking in the dark.
Xu Bo didn’t like him back then, and liked him even less now.
He crossed his arms and looked coldly at the other, just about to use his senior stance to warn Lu Sheng not to have any other thoughts about Bai Yu.
Suddenly, the door next to them opened. Bai Yu had changed clothes and reached out to grab his collar. “Be polite to the new teammate. Training over? If not, how dare you come up here? Get back down.”
Xu Bo, who was still trying to pose coolly, suddenly couldn’t keep up his act. He complained, “Bai Yu, can you stop grabbing my neck like that? It really feels like you’re picking up a dog…”
“What’s the difference between you and a dog with your habit of biting people? Get back down, don’t talk nonsense.”
Bai Yu tossed Xu Bo downstairs, then turned and apologized to Lu Sheng: “Sorry about that, he’s just like that. I’ll deal with him, don’t take it personally.”
Some boundaries of closeness and distance suddenly became very clear.
Lu Sheng nodded. Following Bai Yu down the stairs, he seemed distracted. His pace quickened, and he accidentally bumped into Bai Yu’s leg.
Bai Yu stopped. “What’s wrong?”
This angle really looked just like before. Back then, Bai Yu looked at him like this too, but his eyes didn’t really see him. Lu Sheng thought that if he just stood high enough, Bai Yu would notice him. But in reality, Bai Yu was still the same Bai Yu. He only saw what he wanted to see and wouldn’t lower his gaze just because of someone’s status.
Lu Sheng’s hand dropped from above, landing on Bai Yu’s head, blocking some of the light. He suddenly leaned down and looked carefully at his own reflection in Bai Yu’s pupils. “Bai Yu, don’t be so polite to me from now on. I want to be like Xu Bo and the others too, someone you can grab by the back of the neck.”
Why so suddenly
Bai Yu’s heartbeat suddenly sped up. He quickly stepped back half a pace. “I—I got it.”
He hurried downstairs and drove Lu Sheng to the nearest hospital. Since the wound was treated promptly, it wasn’t too serious. After a simple bandage, they were told to go back.
Bai Yu brought Lu Sheng, whose face was still wrapped in gauze, to the training room and officially introduced him: “This is the new mid-laner we’ve signed, Lu Sheng. Everyone, give him a warm welcome.”
Actually, before Bai Yu even introduced him, the operations department had already been intensely discussing it. Everyone basically knew the new mid-laner was Lu Sheng and had been holding it in, waiting for the official announcement.
Applause exploded around them instantly. People openly welcomed Lu Sheng while secretly giving Bai Yu a thumbs-up.
Sure enough, they hadn’t made the wrong choice following Bai Yu’s team back then. Captain Yu came with his own white moonlight system. No matter how hellish the difficulty, he could bring them all in.
Bai Yu especially told them not to reveal anything about the players, so the outside world was still in the dark.
All they knew was that Lu Sheng had been picked up at the airport by Bai Yu and some guy no one recognized. Later, someone dug up that the guy was Lu Sheng’s childhood friend from home and also an investor in RAG. Lu Sheng’s accommodation after returning to China was all arranged by him.
Then everything made sense.
[Lu Sheng got involved with Bai Yu because of Chu Tianyou. That jersey he wore was probably a gift for the investor or something. He just passed it on to Lu Sheng, wasn’t even an official team uniform.]
[Oh, so that’s what it was. Scared me for a sec.]
[What are you guys even thinking? Lu Shen paid 90 million in breach penalties to come back to China. No way it’s for a secondary league. Forget breach fees, just his signing bonus alone isn’t something RAG could afford.]
[They just signed Fang Zhixu, they’re already out of funds.]
[For a secondary league, managing to get 30 million is impressive. I still believe in them.]
[With this lineup, how can you not?]
[LMAO, still calling it a secondary league? Just wait, this promotion tournament will definitely include them.]
RAG’s popularity was still skyrocketing. The team had just signed Qi Yi and Fang Zhixu, plus Xu Bo. Their base, once located in a desolate corner, had suddenly become a zoo. Everyone wanted a peek.
Every time they went out to handle something, they’d see young fans showing up just to check out the base. Their beat-up gate was practically a tourist attraction now.
Bai Yu sighed and rubbed his forehead. He didn’t have the energy to care about the gate anymore because the operations department was about to enter training camp.
Right now, Lu Sheng’s contract still hadn’t been signed. He hadn’t officially announced his departure from North America, so technically Bai Yu couldn’t even sign him because the contract wouldn’t be valid.
So Bai Yu took the chance to send a message to Chen Shi’an: “God Shi, are you free to come sign tomorrow?”
Chen Shi’an: (lurking) “Why wait until tomorrow? Not safe to go out today or something?”
Bai Yu saw that and wasn’t about to let him go.
He replied immediately: “Then come now. I’ll have Zhou Xunwen prepare the contract.”
Chen Shi’an’s work ethic matched his in-game style, crazy efficient. That same afternoon, he strolled into the team, signed the contract, and took his official photo.
Once the contract was submitted for league approval and got cleared, the team’s official account posted the news: “@Chron-Chen Shi’an, welcome God Shi to our team~”
The news of Lu Sheng terminating his contract and returning yesterday had already caused a stir. Now, out of nowhere, Chen Shi’an was coming out of retirement after two years.
The public exploded instantly. With Fang Zhixu, Qi Yi, and Xu Bo all recently signed, the past few days of announcements were being dug back up and reheated repeatedly. This period originally had no games, and the entire esports circle had been dead silent. Until now. Suddenly it turned into a volcano, boiling all day and night.
Not just the fans. Most LPL teams weren’t sleeping either. Everyone was wide awake, afraid of missing any unexpected updates.
Bai Yu’s team, despite being in the secondary league, was gaining heat faster than some of the bottom-tier LPL teams.
A lot of people were panicking. In the internal group where Zhou Xunwen usually lurked, things had been non-stop. Everyone kept tagging him: “You able to sleep? I can’t.”
[@Zhou Xunwen, how’s your training going?]
[Ask Bai Yu for me, when can we schedule a scrim? I’ve been waiting forever. @Zhou Xunwen]
[Why are you in such a rush? Get in line behind me.]
[You’re fighting me for scrims with a secondary league team?]
[Secondary league or not, once RAG finishes the promotion tournament, they’ll probably be on par with all your teams.]
[They want to be on par with us with that lineup? We’ll just wait to crush them.]
[@Zhou Xunwen, come out and say something, I can’t sleep.]
[@Zhou Xunwen, you lurking again?]
[What’re you scheming now?]
[Not saying anything—busy signing Lu Sheng?]
[Bro, don’t joke like that. My heart can’t take it.]
[If they actually sign Lu Sheng too, I’ll go jump in a lake tomorrow.]
[By the way, has anyone contacted Lu Sheng? Share the info, let’s have a fair shot.]
[Nobody talking… all busy signing Lu Sheng?]
[Hahaha…]
Zhou Xunwen opened the group chat one second, closed it the next.
He didn’t dare reply. Couldn’t even think of replying.
He had joined this group originally to play the humble junior, but who would've thought Bai Yu would rise so high he’s basically their grandmaster now.
At that moment, Bai Yu wasn’t paying attention to any outside noise. He was busy introducing Chen Shi’an to the rest of the team.
Chen Shi’an was calm, knew his boundaries, and most importantly, had a high EQ. Even with his serious germophobia, he still smiled as he shook hands with everyone. “Nice to meet you, we’re teammates now.”
Xu Bo, who was an old teammate of his, knew him well. “You old fox, quit pretending. I bet you’re itching to douse your hands in sanitizer right now.”
Chen Shi’an watched with a smile as Bai Yu scolded Xu Bo, then pulled out a tissue and gently wiped his hands. It felt just like the old TG days.
But…
He suddenly turned to look at Lu Sheng, who hadn’t said a word the whole time. The other was leaning against the corner, just like back in their youth training camp days, eyes locked on Bai Yu.
Sensing the gaze, Lu Sheng turned to look.
Chen Shi’an smiled politely and extended a hand. “Long time no see.”
Lu Sheng made no move to shake it. Chen Shi’an didn’t mind, withdrew his hand with a smile. The two were about the same height, but one stood in shadow, the other in light.
Following Lu Sheng’s line of sight, Chen Shi’an looked at Bai Yu and suddenly said, “Feels nostalgic, doesn’t it? I haven’t felt this at ease in a long time either.”
Lu Sheng suddenly looked back at him. Chen Shi’an just smiled again, then shifted his focus to cleaning thoroughly, not even letting a speck of dust go untouched.
Then came the sound of disinfectant being sprayed. Seeing everyone watching him, Chen Shi’an smiled and apologized, “Sorry, I have mild germophobia. Please excuse me if I’ve offended anyone.”
They say you don’t hit someone with a smiling face especially someone this polite.
Seeing they were getting along well enough, Bai Yu called over the youth team players from the next room. “Everyone here has signed official contracts. We currently have two teams. I’m in charge of the main roster, and Zhang Peng leads Team B.”
Zhang Peng quickly stepped forward and raised a hand to identify himself.
Bai Yu continued, “My original plan was: Chen Shi’an as starting top, Fang Zhixu as starting jungle, Lu Sheng starting mid, I’ll be bot with Qi Yi, and Xu Bo will be a sub. But Lu Sheng’s contract hasn’t been publicly announced yet. It’s still during the North American season. He can’t compete in our league until the transfer window opens there, so for now, Yang Kaiming will play mid for the regular season.”
Yang Kaiming was caught off guard. “Huh? Me?”
Bai Yu nodded. “I’ll convert you to a free agent temporarily. Once the main team qualifies, you’ll return to Team B. Zhang Peng, at that point you’ll lead Team B in the qualifiers. Your goal is to get into LDL. I’ll assign you a coach and a manager. The youth camp will keep sending you new talent. Ask if you’re unsure of anything.”
Zhang Peng nodded earnestly and started jotting everything down. “So will God Lu scrim with you guys or will I?”
Bai Yu answered without hesitation. “Yang Kaiming, of course. Lu Sheng can’t compete here while under contract there.”
Everyone instinctively glanced at Lu Sheng. The big shot was just sitting in the corner plucking leaves off a potted plant, showing no opinion whatsoever about Bai Yu’s arrangements.
Zhang Peng couldn’t help but admire Bai Yu.
No wonder he’s Captain Yu. Even the biggest stars follow his lead.
After covering everything, Bai Yu announced dismissal. Then he looked over and saw that the plant by Lu Sheng’s hand had been stripped bare.
He was about to say, “Stop messing with that. It’s kind of expensive.”
But when Lu Sheng looked up at him, it turned into, “Comfy? There are two more potted plant by the door.”
The two stared at each other for about 30 seconds.
Bai Yu somewhat withdrew his gaze, “I’ll go check if the new coach is here. You all train on your own.”
Watching him leave, Lu Sheng smiled.