TuxedoTranslations

Chapter 62

A strong start usually meant smooth sailing ahead.

With the experience from the first match under his belt, Xia Tong was convinced that he had been reborn, no longer the same rookie as before. His confidence surged, and in the following matches, he played with even greater ease. That so-called “special connection” with Lin Mingfei also worked wonders.

The Gourd Squad had a few robust foreign players, and every match, they focused their efforts on taking Xia Tong down. Once, they even succeeded—but at the cost of a full-team wipeout.

They didn’t even need all five games. The match ended cleanly in three rounds.

By the last game, the so-called “backseat commentator” had given up on proper analysis altogether and instead started singing Polaris’s praises, slipping in random trivia about their history. His commentary was so bloated with unnecessary information that the livestream chat, which had been itching for a target to roast, immediately pounced on him, shifting their focus to flaming his unprofessionalism.

Outside the match, He Youjin had been keeping a close watch on the stream and chat sentiment, his expression serious. At first, the personal attacks on Xia Tong and Lin Mingfei in the chat were brutal—so much so that He Youjin had even considered asking the organizers to moderate the discussion.

But the moment Gourd Squad’s Aleksei lost first blood, the entire tone of the chat shifted—abruptly and almost comically.

It seemed like a group of long-silent omega and beta viewers finally couldn’t hold back any longer. Xia Tong’s outstanding performance gave them an emotional breakthrough, and they began calling out the veiled insults and condescending remarks from earlier. However, since the majority of the viewers were still alpha players, these protests quickly got drowned out by complaints about the commentator’s incompetence.

To He Youjin, though, the more they deflected, the more obvious their embarrassment became.

This was a good sign.

He stroked his chin thoughtfully. It was only a matter of time before Xia Tong was fully recognized by the competitive scene.

At that moment, his phone vibrated. When he checked, he saw a message from Fang Haoyang.

Fang Haoyang: Congratulations, Youjin. Polaris has defeated Gourd Squad and secured the league’s only registration slot this year.

He Youjin let out a cold laugh. “I knew it, that bastard.”

That day, when he had been invited onto Gourd Squad’s shuttle, he had sensed something off right away. Their overly courteous behavior made it clear—they had an ulterior motive. There must have been some conflict of interest between the two teams, which was why they had thanked him so earnestly, as if Polaris playing this match was some kind of massive favor to them.

But He Youjin had never been one to blindly trust others, nor did he believe in free lunches. He especially disliked being taken advantage of. So when he had said, “Sorry about that,” he had meant it with complete sincerity.

Now, Gourd Squad’s manager was probably coughing up blood just thinking about it.

“This world really is survival of the fittest…” He Youjin murmured to himself, a satisfied smirk playing on his lips. “I was made for full-dive esports.”

With that, he replied to Fang Haoyang.

He Youjin: No need for congratulations. We earned this. 😊 When can I come in to finalize the registration paperwork?

Fang Haoyang: The day after tomorrow should work.

He Youjin: Then make sure to personally come greet me. I don’t want to deal with your clueless employees who don’t know how to talk to people.

Fang Haoyang: Alright, whatever you say.

–

Perhaps it was the adrenaline rush from the match, but Xia Tong had been completely amped up in-game—running, dodging, chasing, casting spells non-stop. The training Lin Mingfei had put him through had washed away his previous weaknesses, improving his control over his body. He didn’t feel tired at all.

But the moment the match ended and he disconnected from the game, exiting the “cocoon,” he felt as if he had been yanked down from the clouds and smashed back to the ground. He was utterly drained, unable to so much as lift a finger.

The rest of Polaris also gradually emerged from their cocoons.

Zhou Yanjun stretched with a satisfied sigh. “Damn, it’s been so long since I’ve had such a satisfying brawl! Feels like my whole body loosened up!”

“Ending the match in three straight wins—truly an unprecedentedly beautiful experience.” Shi Ya leaned against his chair with a smile. “I can’t help but recall that grueling forty-five-minute stalemate against Saber-Tooth Tigers—”

Before he could finish, Bo Yu clapped his hands over his ears and bolted out of his cocoon. “Nope, nope! The moment you mention that bladder-bursting match, I need to go to the bathroom!”

Lin Mingfei drawled lazily, “Xiao Bo, don’t go ruining your kidneys at your young age.”

“Won’t happen, Captain! I just drank too much water!” Bo Yu shot back before dashing off.

The group burst into laughter.

For a professional team, nothing was more exhilarating than winning a match together.

At that moment, He Youjin pushed open the door, grinning from ear to ear. “Where’s Xia Tong? I lined up a post-match interview for him! It’s about the role of omegas in full-dive esports—just a written piece, but it’s still great exposure! Where is he?”

Everyone finally noticed that their match’s biggest MVP—Xia Xiaotong—hadn’t made a sound this whole time.

Lin Mingfei frowned slightly and turned toward the adjacent cocoon. Xia Tong was still inside, only a portion of his knee visible.

Lin Mingfei swiftly stepped out of his own cocoon and strode over in alarm. “Xia Tong! Xia Xiaotong! Xia—”

He stopped speaking halfway, holding onto the hatch of Xia Tong’s “cocoon,” then let out a sigh, half-exasperated, half-amused.

Inside, the little omega was sprawled out in all directions, lying flat on his back, already fast asleep. His small mouth was wide open, completely unguarded, with a bit of clear drool hanging off the corner of his lips.

He Youjin leaned in as well and clicked his tongue at the sight. “Damn, how did he manage to fall asleep looking this dumb?”

Lin Mingfei leaned in slightly, gazing at Xia Tong’s flushed face before breaking into a smile. Unable to help himself, he spoke up in the young omega’s defense.

“He wasn’t always like this.”

As he spoke, his mind involuntarily drifted back to the first time he met Xia Tong a month ago.

Back then, the little omega had been reserved, dignified, and extremely cautious. Even when he fell in the hospital, he was too embarrassed to call for help—like a delicate little ornament.

And yet, in just a short time at Polaris, he had already become this carefree and uninhibited…

“Whew, seems like playing full-dive esports is a pretty high-pressure job for an omega,” Shi Ya chimed in, joining in on the fun as he shook his head in amusement. “Old He, maybe you should hold off on that post-match interview. Talking about omega advantages in full-dive esports—honestly, this isn’t a very convincing case.”

He Youjin deadpanned. “Yeah, I see your point.”

“It was just a practice match, and against a rich kid’s amateur team at that.” Lin Mingfei said, “Let’s keep a low profile and not get ahead of ourselves.”

“Fair enough. I’ll turn it down then,” He Youjin replied. “I’ll be heading to the league in a couple of days to handle registration paperwork. You guys take care of Xia Tong.”

That went without saying. Lin Mingfei bent down without hesitation, effortlessly scooping Xia Tong up in his arms and carrying him out of the “cocoon” toward the bedroom.

—

News of Team P’s clean 3-0 sweep against Gourd Squad spread like wildfire, sparking heated debates online. The comments quickly polarized into two camps.

On one side were die-hard P Team fans. Ever since the team’s return, they had been holding their breath, afraid their beloved squad’s glory days were over. But after this practice match, they could finally relax, reminiscing about their youth with teary eyes.

On the other side were die-hard P Team haters. Before the match, they had been confidently predicting this would be Polaris’s final game—that they’d fall from grace and fade out of the pro scene. When the results came in, they immediately turned to sarcasm, firing back at the fans:

“Why are you so excited about beating a team that couldn’t even make it past last season’s qualifiers?”

 “Is this really worth celebrating? Did they win the championship or something?”

 “Yeah, wasn’t this supposed to be expected?”

 “If they couldn’t even beat a no-name team, what business would they have in the pro scene? XSWL.” (Internet slang for “laughing my ass off.”)

 “Honestly, this feels just like what happened to Nine-Headed Bird Squad. Is P Team about to become the second Nine-Headed Bird? Oh, wait—do you guys even know who they are? Sorry, you probably don’t.”

 “Like team, like fans. P Team fans really have the lowest standards.”

The debate turned into an all-out flame war, and everyone knew that a good portion of P Team’s haters were just fans of other pro teams. The sheer intensity of the online feud eventually caught the attention of the pros themselves.

Goblin from Saber-Tooth Squad was sitting cross-legged on the couch, face pale as he scrolled through his phone. Mo Lan walked by, noticing he was skipping training just to browse the internet, and couldn’t resist a jab.

“Didn’t you say before that Xia Xiaotong wasn’t cut out to play a mage?”

Goblins looked up, annoyed. “And he’s not! Look at his dumbass face—”

“I don’t care what he looks like. All I know is that if P Team had to name an MVP for this match, it would undoubtedly be him,” Mo Lan said.

Goblins choked on his words, then sulkily slumped back onto the couch.

“Damn, I really didn’t expect P Team to win,” Yoyo whispered. “There were so many ‘jinxes’ on them online.”

Goblins swallowed twice before muttering, a bit deflated, “They should have won. They’re still Polaris, a three-time championship-winning team. Gourd Squad is garbage—they just bought three European imports and threw them onto the roster. No teamwork, no strategy. Of course they lost.”

“That’s not what you said before…” Yoyo mumbled. “Also, didn’t you trash-talk Xia Xiaotong the other day…”

Goblins suddenly turned to glare at him, eyes wide. “How do you know that?”

“I, uh, accidentally saw your chat logs…” Yoyo replied sheepishly. “I just think it wasn’t really necessary…”

Goblins shot up from the couch, fuming. “You guys are so weird! Polaris is supposed to be our enemy, right? Just because they won one practice match, now you’re all losing your minds? What’s there to be scared of?!”

“We’re not scared. We’re being objective,” Mo Lan said. “Polaris isn’t as trash as we thought. At their core, they’re still a formidable team. If you keep slacking off and messing around, we’re the ones who’ll be finished.”

“Oh, come on! You think Shadow Squad isn’t strong? No Mark Squad isn’t strong? KUQ and Rainbow Squad aren’t strong? The top eight, top four—everyone’s strong! And yet, we’ve stomped them all!” Goblins retorted. “Quit scaring yourself.”

He barely finished speaking when their team manager, Cai Lun, pushed open the door.

“The practice match is set,” Cai Lun wiped his face, looking utterly drained.

“Oh?” Goblins flipped over on the couch, suddenly interested. “Who’s got the honor of facing us, Saber-Tooth?”

Cai Lun’s lips curved into a humorless smile as he deadpanned, “Thanks to you, it’s Polaris.”

Goblins: “???”

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