Did The Captain Catch Up With The Coach Today [Esports] Chapter 20

Wei Xiao finally fell asleep.

Seriously, you can skip a meal, but you can’t skip sleep!

Oh, wait, you can’t skip meals either.

He slept until 10:30 AM. After waking up, he checked the training room, but the door was locked. Wen Shi Yu was still asleep.

He messaged Wen Shi Yu as he headed downstairs.

Unfinished: I’m up. Going out to find food. Let me know when you wake up, and I’ll come back. What do you want for brunch? I can bring it to you.

He ate a bowl of small wontons near the internet cafe, then went into a coffee shop, ordered a coffee, and sat down to scroll through his phone to pass the time.

Around 11:00 AM, Wen Shi Yu replied.

Time Waits For No One: Still outside?

Wei Xiao quickly replied: Yep.

Time Waits For No One: One preserved vegetable and pork bun, one siu mai, one tea egg.

Unfinished: Got it. Want coffee?

Time Waits For No One: Yes.

[System Notification] Time Waits For No One has sent you a red envelope worth 500 yuan.

Wei Xiao was stunned.

The reason he offered to bring Wen Shi Yu breakfast was because he was trying to pursue him… What was this red envelope for?

Wei Xiao didn’t accept it and sent a question mark instead.

He quickly received Wen Shi Yu’s reply.

Time Waits For No One: Delivery fee.

Unfinished: Are my legs that expensive?

Time Waits For No One: I want pan-fried buns tomorrow.

Unfinished: Huh? Am I on a monthly retainer?

Time Waits For No One: I noticed you always wake up quite early.

Unfinished: What if I wake up later than you one day?

Time Waits For No One: Then I’ll bring it to you.

Then, I’ll, bring, it, to, you!

A firework exploded in Wei Xiao’s mind. The feeling of being overwhelmed with unexpected favor from last night swept over him again, making him want to immediately find a bed, jump on it, and wrestle with the blanket…

Calm down! Calm down! It’s just mutually helping each other bring breakfast. It’s not like he hasn’t done this for roommates before.

Wei Xiao finally accepted the red envelope.

Firstly, he genuinely didn’t mind bringing Wen Shi Yu breakfast every day, but if he didn’t accept the money, his motive would be too obvious.

Secondly, if his teammates asked about it, accepting the red envelope made it easier for him to explain.

Wei Xiao bought breakfast for Wen Shi Yu and took it upstairs.

Pushing open the training room door, he saw Wen Shi Yu sitting on the sofa, scrolling through his phone.

Wei Xiao placed the breakfast on the small coffee table next to the sofa and greeted him, “Morning, Brother Wen!”

“Morning, thank you,” Wen Shi Yu politely thanked him and shifted his position closer to the coffee table for easier eating.

The other side of the sofa was empty. Wei Xiao sat down without hesitation and asked him, “What are you looking at?”

“I was added to a group,” Wen Shi Yu instinctively replied. After replying, he probably felt he didn’t need to explain anything to Wei Xiao, so he added, “It’s nothing important. If you have nothing else to do, you can start training early.”

Wei Xiao thought, chatting with you is not “nothing else to do,” but seeing Wen Shi Yu busy studying the group he was added to, Wei Xiao stopped bothering him and left the sofa to go to his station.

The sofa sank and then sprang back up. Wen Shi Yu’s heart rate was erratic for a few seconds, but he quickly adjusted and focused his attention on his phone screen.

The full name of the group he was added to was “E-sports Alliance Hero League Professional League Division.”

When he was an E-sports Player, he vaguely knew such a group existed, but this was his first time entering it as a team’s representative, and he had no idea what to say.

He wanted to observe for a while, but as soon as he joined, the group owner, whose Professional ID was “E-sports Alliance Staff,” immediately @-ed everyone.

E-sports Alliance Staff: @All Members, Congratulations to FHM for advancing to the Top 16!

This @-mention brought almost everyone in the group out, and all the Top 8 teams showed up.

WI: Congrats!

KPI: Welcome, welcome!

DIE: You finally made it. If you want to schedule scrims in the future, just arrange them in this group!

CHIP: Congrats, want to scrim?

MID: If you want to scrim, you should schedule with us first. Don’t think you can get away after bullying our player!

FOU: Huh? What did FHM do to you guys?

KCD: It must be the match where Unfinished and Yue Xia were Solo Queueing. Unfinished completely crushed their MID player’s mentality. Yue Xia deleted the stream recording, but you can still find it online.

EN: Congrats. Available Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. DM me if you want to schedule.

Wen Shi Yu hadn’t expected such a warm welcome and felt a little flustered. Then he suddenly saw EN, and his eyes narrowed instantly.

As much as he had once hoped for EN to reach the peak, he now hoped for it to fall off a cliff.

However, he also knew very well that EN was just a stepping stone on FHM’s path to the championship. Winning the championship was the common goal for him and all FHM members; getting revenge on EN was just a bonus.

So his reply was—

FHM: @WI, Scrim?

WI: Wow, aiming for the championship, huh? But our training schedule is already full, sorry.

FHM: @CHIP, Time.

CHIP: Private message.

CHIP proactively messaged Wen Shi Yu privately to confirm the time for the scrim.

CHIP, like KPI, was a team that excelled at early-game play rather than late-game. Unlike KPI, their tempo was primarily driven by their MID player.

In terms of mid-Jungler synergy, with KPI, the MID player Hu Die followed wherever the Jungler Fei Yu went.

With CHIP, the Jungler Black Wolf followed wherever the MID player Red Fox went.

Since FHM was a Jungler-core team, they also leaned towards early-game play. Facing CHIP, a fellow early-game team, would help improve their early-game strategy and enhance their control over the early stages of the match, making it a good choice.

However, late-game training couldn’t be ignored, especially since last year’s champion team, WI, was a traditional team centered around the Marksman, stable in the early game and godly in the late game.

So after scheduling with CHIP, Wen Shi Yu messaged KCD, a team that, like WI, provided excellent protection for their Marksman.

FHM: Scrim?

KCD: Eh, is that okay?

FHM: Why wouldn’t it be?

Wen Shi Yu looked baffled.

KCD: Because you guys are very popular. It feels like many teams will proactively schedule with you. CHIP and MID have already expressed interest in the group. KPI, having been defeated by you, definitely won’t let it go easily. We thought you wouldn’t have any slots left for us.

FHM: You’re also Top 8, cheer up.

KCD: We only made it to the Top 8 by sheer luck.

FHM: DIE slowly types out a question mark.

KCD: DIE is still strong. Their overall strength is above ours; they just had bad luck.

Wen Shi Yu: “…”

He had seen humble teams, but never one this humble.

As fellow Marksman-core teams, KCD and DIE felt like two extremes.

In short, Wen Shi Yu scheduled scrims for FHM with both CHIP and KCD.

KPI remained silent, perhaps having filled their schedule like WI.

That evening, Wen Shi Yu informed the FHM members about the scheduled scrims.

“Didn’t schedule with WI?” was Wei Xiao’s first reaction after hearing the news.

“Scheduling with WI… are you trying to get killed?” Zhou Miao Miao was startled by him.

But Wen Shi Yu’s response was: “I tried, but it didn’t work out.”

“Ah.” Wei Xiao was a little disappointed, but then he thought, crushing WI directly on the battlefield wouldn’t be bad either.

However, his confidence vanished after clashing with CHIP and KCD.

—Both BO5 matches resulted in more losses than wins, dealing him a significant blow.

Here’s what happened: During the scrims, Wen Shi Yu only allowed Zhou Miao Miao to use Blade Shadow Dancer. Consequently, in the scrim against CHIP, the mid-lane completely collapsed for five consecutive games.

He was solo-killed in the lane, the enemy MID roamed, and he didn’t dare to follow or intervene. He could only spam signals, and he couldn’t push the lane. If he tried to push, he’d be ganked by the enemy Jungler.

Wei Xiao’s speed in providing support couldn’t keep up with Zhou Miao Miao’s rate of dying.

In the first game, Wei Xiao tried to save MID, but ended up being dragged down in the middle, allowing CHIP to gain an advantage in the bottom lane first.

In the second game, Wei Xiao tried to ignore MID and help the bottom lane gain an advantage first. However, CHIP’s MID roamed to the bottom lane, and a double kill nullified all of Wei Xiao’s efforts.

In the third game, Wei Xiao tried to liberate the top lane first, linking up with Qin Jin Yao for top-Jungler synergy, and then successfully ganking the bottom lane, reversing the situation and winning.

In the fourth game, the same strategy was met with a prepared CHIP, who retreated under the turret and counter-killed them. Not only did they fail to reverse the situation, but they also worsened their already struggling economy.

In the fifth game, a thoroughly enraged Wei Xiao focused on killing CHIP’s MID and Jungler, successfully suppressing them. However, the Marksman got fed. The two sides stalemated until the 20-minute mark. After CHIP won a team fight, they decisively surrendered, ending the match early, and happily bid FHM goodnight.

Zhou Miao Miao was utterly crushed, but…

“I think I’m starting to get the hang of it,” he said.

“Mm, but it’s not enough,” Wen Shi Yu said.

In the last game, although Zhou Miao Miao’s Blade Shadow Dancer was still at a disadvantage in the early lane phase, his late-game mechanics were flawless, and he even had a few brilliant plays. He only failed to deal damage due to the economic gap.

Magic Assassins, like Assassins, are very reliant on gold. Without gold, they are just for show. No matter how beautifully the skills are executed, they are merely beautiful.

Wei Xiao rested, leaning on the computer desk.

Wen Shi Yu looked at him, his usually expressionless face suddenly showing a hint of unease: “Wei Xiao…”

The MID player is the Jungler’s right-hand man. If they struggle in a ranked game, the Jungler can still carry themselves, as the enemy team isn’t always perfectly coordinated.

But playing against CHIP, with the MID struggling, Wei Xiao clearly felt what it meant to be overwhelmed by superior numbers.

CHIP’s MID and Jungler were like a couple in the honeymoon phase, constantly sticking together. It was only thanks to Wei Xiao’s strength that he could suppress both of them alone, but the cost was that he had no energy left to manage the top and bottom lanes.

Having been a Jungler himself, Wen Shi Yu knew how hard Wei Xiao had fought in those five games. Although the result was worthwhile—exposing many problems and yielding many gains—still…

He realized he had the confidence to convince the other FHM members to accept his arrangements, but he lacked the confidence to convince Wei Xiao.

Why?

Wei Xiao seemed to have a good temper, much better than Qin Jin Yao’s…

Zhou Miao Miao sensed the tense atmosphere and quickly apologized, “I’m sorry, it’s all my fault for being too slow!”

“It’s getting late, you guys should go to sleep,” Wen Shi Yu said. “I need to talk to Wei Xiao alone.”

“Alright.” Zhou Miao Miao left the training room uneasily.

The others also silently departed. Even the usually volatile Qin Jin Yao was incredibly quiet, afraid that one extra word would cause the training room to explode.

Soon, only Wei Xiao and Wen Shi Yu remained in the training room.

After a moment of subtle silence, Wen Shi Yu tentatively asked, “Are you angry?”

Wei Xiao climbed up from the desk, leaned his head back against the gaming chair, took a deep breath, exhaled, and then spoke: “Yes, I’m angry at myself. If only I were stronger.”

Wen Shi Yu froze, momentarily unable to tell if he was serious or being sarcastic.

But Wei Xiao’s next words confirmed it—he was serious.

“I promised to help you win the championship, but I can’t even beat a french fry,” Wei Xiao chuckled self-deprecatingly. “I once thought I truly had the ability to 1v9. Now it seems the opponents I met before just weren’t strong enough.”

“No one can 1v9, not even me,” Wen Shi Yu said. “Losing today wasn’t because of you. There’s no need to belittle yourself.”

“Yeah, I know, I’m just saying… Ugh, I really want to win.”

Wei Xiao was incredibly frustrated.

Even though he clearly understood how they lost those four games today, he still felt they shouldn’t have lost.

If he had supported the lanes more promptly, if he had recalled when he should have to upgrade his gear and increase his damage, perhaps the outcome would have been different.

“That’s normal. Who doesn’t want to win? But these are scrims. Every failure in a scrim is preparation for winning better in the league,” Wen Shi Yu said.

Wei Xiao hummed in acknowledgment.

Wen Shi Yu secretly breathed a sigh of relief: “I thought you were angry at me.”

“Ah? Why?” Wei Xiao looked bewildered.

He turned to meet Wen Shi Yu’s gaze, then suddenly curved his lips, displaying a bright, sunny smile: “How could I possibly be angry at you? Everything God Yu decides is right!”

Wen Shi Yu looked at the smile on his face, his pupils slightly dilated, and his heart rate uncontrollably quickened.

Before he could recover, Wei Xiao stood up, faced him, placed his right hand on his left shoulder, bowed elegantly, and smiled as he saluted him: “Willing to serve you. Good night.”