Did The Captain Catch Up With The Coach Today [Esports] Chapter 39

Chapter 39

Last time they had hot pot, so this time they chose barbecue.

It was an all-you-can-eat buffet.

“I’m going to mix the sauce. I’m not bragging, but my sauce is super delicious! Wen-ge, do you want a serving?” Wei Xiao asked Wen Shi Yu.

Wen Shi Yu turned his head to look at him. The spirited young man’s bright eyes were fixed intently on him, practically screaming the words “Say yes to me.”

Wen Shi Yu was slightly curious about what kind of disappointed, dejected reaction he would see if he refused.

But in the end, he replied with a single word: “Okay.”

“OK!” Wei Xiao happily bounced up from his chair. After running two steps, he remembered something and doubled back. “Drinks? What do you want to drink?”

Wen Shi Yu: “Coffee.”

Wei Xiao: “Why drink coffee with barbecue? I suggest some happy water!”

“Coffee,” Wen Shi Yu insisted.

“Fine, coffee,” Wei Xiao compromised.

Wei Xiao always brightened up at the slightest encouragement, yet quickly groveled when hitting a wall.

Wen Shi Yu watched his retreating back and found it a little amusing, a smile involuntarily curving his lips.

“Why is Wei-dui only mixing sauce for Wen-ge?” Suddenly, Zhou Miao Miao complained aloud.

Wen Shi Yu was startled. Before he could figure out how to respond, he heard Tang Li say, “That’s a silly question… If he’s not mixing it for the person treating us to dinner, is he going to mix it for you?”

“Hahaha, true,” Zhou Miao Miao accepted the reasoning.

Wen Shi Yu secretly breathed a sigh of relief and gave Tang Li a thumbs-up in his mind.

Wait a minute… Wei Xiao wasn’t mixing it because he asked him to, so why was he feeling nervous?

Wen Shi Yu felt inexplicably guilty. He picked up his phone, refreshed the official Hero League Professional League account a few times, and pretended to be interested in KCD’s post-match interview.

Unexpectedly, just as Wei Xiao brought the sauce and drinks over, the official account released KCD’s post-match interview.

Wei Xiao glanced at his phone screen. “Post-match interview? What did KCD say?”

“I don’t know, I haven’t watched it yet,” Wen Shi Yu instinctively replied, taking the coffee cup from him and saying, “Thank you.”

He patiently waited for Wei Xiao to sit down next to him, then tentatively asked, “Want to watch it? Together?”

“Sure!” Wei Xiao couldn’t have been more eager.

But before that: “Try this first and see if the taste is okay? I’ll adjust it if you don’t like it.”

He was referring to the sauce.

Wen Shi Yu picked up his chopsticks, dipped a little, and tasted it.

The sweetness, saltiness, and umami were all just right. Although it was a bit spicy for him… it was acceptable.

“It’s very good,” he evaluated.

Wei Xiao’s heart, which had been hanging in the air, settled. “I’m glad you like it.”

Zhou Miao Miao watched the entire exchange and couldn’t help but flash an auntie smile. “You two are getting a bit flirty, aren’t you?”

Wen Shi Yu pretended not to hear and reached for his coffee.

Unexpectedly, Wei Xiao also reached for the coffee at the exact same time.

Their hands touched, and both retracted as if they had received an electric shock.

It hadn’t been anything before… but now it was genuinely awkward.

“Ahem, I’ll get it myself,” Wen Shi Yu said.

“I’ll do it, I’ll do it,” Wei Xiao insisted.

Wen Shi Yu hesitated to speak further. Seeing that Wei Xiao had already picked up the coffee, he didn’t say anything else and let him pull open the tab.

“Alright, you talk less and eat!” Qin Jin Yao used his chopsticks to put a piece of lettuce into Zhou Miao Miao’s bowl.

“Hey, hey, hey, one piece is enough, what are you doing! You should be grilling the meat!” Zhou Miao Miao’s attention was successfully diverted.

Tang Li was the only one among them seriously grilling the meat. While grilling for himself, he directed, “Qing Yang, bring over that plate of chicken wings. The chicken wings need to be grilled longer.”

“Got it!” Lu Qing Yang handed him the chicken wings. After a while, he realized it might not be fair to let Tang Li grill alone. He tried to take over but was slapped away by Tang Li.

Tang Li: “You rest. I don’t trust your grilling.”

Lu Qing Yang: “Ah, I’m not that unreliable, am I? I even got a double kill while low on health today?”

Tang Li: “That doesn’t negate the fact that you’re helpless in real life, does it?”

Wei Xiao curiously poked his head in. “Hmm? Qing Yang is helpless in real life?”

Lu Qing Yang: “Not really…”

Tang Li: “I just want to ask, besides me, who else here can cook?”

Wei Xiao: “I can.”

Tang Li: “…As expected of Wei-dui.”

Wei Xiao proudly lifted the corners of his mouth. Snapping back to reality, he realized Wen Shi Yu had been holding his phone and waiting for him for a long time.

In an instant, Wei Xiao’s sense of guilt exploded. “Sorry.”

Wen Shi Yu looked at him in confusion. “Apologizing for what?”

Wei Xiao: “For making you wait.”

“I wasn’t waiting for you…” Wen Shi Yu said halfway, then sighed in resignation. “Still watching?”

“Yes, yes, yes!”

So Wen Shi Yu played KCD’s post-match interview on his phone, watching expressionlessly as the KCD captain praised every single member of FHM, praising them in the most exaggerated, unrestrained way possible.

As an aside, the KCD captain also praised him: “As expected of the team coached by God Yu. I originally felt a little sorry for him, as I think he was born for the competitive stage, but now I’m starting to envy him.”

Wen Shi Yu responded internally—You’ll envy me even more when FHM wins the championship.

“Wow… that’s too much praise,” Wei Xiao covered his face with both hands when he heard the part praising himself.

Wen Shi Yu looked at him with amusement. “You can get shy too?”

Wei Xiao: “No, I just think he has good taste!”

This time, Wen Shi Yu genuinely laughed out loud.

When he laughed, Wei Xiao laughed too. “What’s wrong? You also agree that I’m the current World Server Rank 1 Jungler, right?”

“I have always trusted my judgment,” Wen Shi Yu replied.

Wei Xiao paused for a second before realizing that Wen Shi Yu meant—Yes, you are.

Oh dear…

Hearing the KCD captain praise him made Wei Xiao feel good, but now he was truly a little embarrassed.

After watching KCD’s post-match interview, the meat was mostly grilled, and everyone happily devoured it.

They returned to the internet cafe to rest first, planning to review the matches the next day after waking up.

Although they won both matches against KCD, and won them beautifully, their performance was not flawless. In fact, many problems that hadn’t appeared before surfaced.

For example, the wave where KCD’s entire team ganked the bottom lane—the MID suddenly recalled so abruptly, without even finishing the minion wave, which was clearly suspicious. Yet neither Wei Xiao nor Zhou Miao Miao noticed in time.

If they had pushed the tower while alerting their teammates, it would have been a different story. The problem was that the two of them were only focused on pushing the tower.

Although Lu Qing Yang single-handedly foiled KCD’s plan, and FHM used that wave to pull ahead with a huge economic advantage over KCD, what if Lu Qing Yang had been instantly killed? What if KCD had immediately retreated after killing their bottom lane?

“Although every risk on the competitive stage is an opportunity, you must be proactive, not reactive. You must keep the tempo in your own hands,” Wen Shi Yu criticized.

“Yes, I will learn from this lesson,” Wei Xiao humbly admitted his mistake.

“I’ll be careful next time… Oh no, there won’t be a next time!” Zhou Miao Miao followed suit in admitting his mistake.

The whip had been used, so now it was time for the carrot.

Wen Shi Yu’s next sentence was: “But you successfully sent Full Moon Fierce Wolf and Rending Star Mark to the ban list. Overall, you played well. The others did too. Since you all performed admirably, I’ll give you a day off.”

Everyone was about to celebrate when Tang Li looked at the day displayed on his phone. “Tomorrow is Sunday, we were supposed to have the day off anyway.”

The entire team froze awkwardly.

Wen Shi Yu: “…Plus this afternoon and evening.”

“Yay!” Zhou Miao Miao stood up.

The playoffs were in a week. To maintain their feel for the game before the matches, they could only take these two days off at most.

Wei Xiao wanted to ask Wen Shi Yu out, but the weather forecast predicted rain this afternoon. He had to postpone his plans and instead whined to Wen Shi Yu, “Coach, do you have time to guide me on a few more heroes?”

When he said this, only he and Wen Shi Yu were in the training room.

Zhou Miao Miao had gone to catch up on sleep, having apparently not slept well last night.

Qin Jin Yao had to go out to buy something, Tang Li had some matters to attend to outside, and Lu Qing Yang had gone home, saying he would return tomorrow night.

Wen Shi Yu was checking the official Hero League Professional League account for the playoff bracket, which should have been released but hadn’t yet.

Hearing Wei Xiao, he asked distractedly, “What do you want to practice?”

Wei Xiao thought seriously for a moment.

Overlord Blade, which Wen Shi Yu rarely played, was definitely out—the intention would be too obvious. Phantom Assassin had already been covered.

A hero he played little but Wen Shi Yu excelled at… “Radiant Knight?”

“You still need guidance on Radiant Knight?” Wen Shi Yu looked up suspiciously at Wei Xiao, seriously doubting his motives.

Wei Xiao, whose motives were indeed impure, felt a pang of guilt. But since the words were out, he had to justify them. He forced an explanation: “Although I seemed to play okay in the match, I actually play this hero very little… My priority picks are usually on the ban list. There’s a high chance I might pick this in the playoffs, so I want to practice.”

“You won’t get it,” Wen Shi Yu pointed out bluntly. “In one week, all teams will study us, especially you, the carry. They will quickly realize that leaving Radiant Knight open for you is a mistake. The same goes for Overlord Blade, Moon Shadow Demon Spider, and Full Moon Fierce Wolf.”

At this point, he changed the subject: “But it’s not certain. In any case, if you want to practice, I’ll practice with you. Log In and challenge me.”

“Oh… Oh!”

Wei Xiao had thought he was out of luck after the first half of Wen Shi Yu’s speech, but then he suddenly agreed?

Although he didn’t know why, he was happy to play the game with Wen Shi Yu… Wait, challenge?

“Are we doing a 1v1?” Wei Xiao asked uncertainly.

“What? Are you scared?” Wen Shi Yu turned on Zhou Miao Miao’s computer.

“Ah… It’s guidance, so losing is normal. It’s not about being scared, it’s just…”

—It’s just that I don’t want to fight you. I want to crush others with you.

“Have some backbone,” Wen Shi Yu replied. “You’re the Starter, I’m the coach. If we truly 1v1, it’s normal for me to lose.”

He paused, then explained: “The playoff bracket is about to be released, and I’m not in the mood for Solo Queue right now, so let’s have a match.”

“Okay!” Wei Xiao logged into the game. After Wen Shi Yu came online, he pulled him into a Create Room.

Clicking start, both locked in Radiant Knight, adjusted their loadout to Top Lane, and entered the map.

“Shall we bet on something?” Wei Xiao suggested.

“Stop thinking about betting all the time, it’s a bad habit… What are we betting?”

Wei Xiao blinked. He felt that Wen-ge was a little strange today, as if he was deliberately trying to accommodate him… or maybe it was his imagination, and Wen-ge was just being tsundere, preferring to pour cold water on him before agreeing.

But since he agreed, Wei Xiao wouldn’t hold back: “Whoever loses has to be the other person’s servant for a day. How about that? Isn’t that exciting? If you win, you can order me to do anything, you know?”

“…Why are you conceding before we even start?” Wen Shi Yu sighed. “Come on then, you think I’m afraid of you?”