Chapter 95
Xia Tong had probably been planning to have a full, carefree snow fight for a while, so he had placed his phone in Lin Mingfei’s coat pocket beforehand. Lin Mingfei was actually quite pleased with this casual, trusting behavior, and he even took the opportunity to secretly add his own fingerprint to Xia Tong’s phone lock.
At that moment, Xia Tong’s phone vibrated in his pocket.
Lin Mingfei paused, reached into his pocket, and took it out. Without thinking, he unlocked the screen.
A new message appeared on WeChat.
Sabertooth_yoyo requests to add you as a friend.
In Lin Mingfei’s opinion, Yoyo was the only relatively normal and not-annoying person on the Sabertooth team. Adding him as a friend shouldn’t matter much, so he didn’t think too much about it and tapped accept on Xia Tong’s behalf.
System notification:
[You are now friends. You can start chatting!]
Sabertooth_yoyo:
“Blink, it’s actually Goblin!”
Lin Mingfei: “……”
Sabertooth_yoyo:
“You blocked me so I couldn’t add you. Add me back again, okay?”
Sabertooth_yoyo:
“Or you can just give me your phone number. We could text!”
Sabertooth_yoyo:
“We’ve already apologized to Zero. Very formal and sincere.”
Sabertooth_yoyo:
“If you don’t believe me, look. [screenshot][screenshot][screenshot]”
Sabertooth_yoyo:
“So we’re friends now, right? Then does what you said before still count?”
Sabertooth_yoyo:
“Didn’t you say you’d sing for us?”
Sabertooth_yoyo:
“Let’s find a time to do some karaoke! I’ll call Lao Wang and Molan too. Think of it as team bonding between brother teams.”
Lin Mingfei’s eyes slowly narrowed into a thin line, a dark gleam flashing in them.
He pressed the voice message button and had just said one word—
“Get—”
—but suddenly stopped.
Instead of releasing the button, he slid his finger upward to cancel the recording before letting go.
Singing.
Xia Tong had actually promised them he’d sing?
…Who exactly was the one lacking self-awareness here?
And this Goblin had some nerve—asking for a phone number right away and talking about “team bonding between brother teams.” Since when could players privately arrange bonding activities without the captain’s approval?
At first Lin Mingfei had felt sour about it, like someone was trespassing on his private territory.
But after seeing the word “singing,” that unpleasant feeling faded quite a bit.
In its place came a subtle sense of shared suffering.
Meanwhile, Xia Tong was getting overwhelmed by Zhou Yanjun’s snowball attacks. His head was covered in bits of ice and snow, making him look as though he had aged several decades overnight.
Crying pitifully, he retreated from the battlefield. His nose was red from the cold like a little carrot. He wrapped his arms around Lin Mingfei’s waist and hid behind him.
“Waaahhh Zero!! I can’t beat Fatty!! Achoo—”
“Hey hey hey! You were the one who said you wanted to play in the snow! If you can’t win, why are you running to complain?!” Zhou Yanjun shouted.
“I only wanted to build a snowman!! You stole my snowman’s head, that’s why I fought back!! Zero~~~~”
Zhou Yanjun ignored him, scooped up another snowball, packed it tightly, and prepared to throw it again.
Lin Mingfei shifted slightly, completely shielding Xia Tong behind him. The snowball struck his chest and scattered.
He lifted his eyes and shot Zhou Yanjun a sharp glare.
The big guy immediately stopped acting wild and sheepishly ran off to mess with Bo Yu and Shi Ya instead.
Lin Mingfei turned back. Xia Tong let out a long breath of relief.
“Honestly,” Lin Mingfei said quietly, “you’re the one who insisted on a snowball fight, and you’re also the one asking for help when you lose. Such a sore loser.”
Xia Tong pouted and grabbed a handful of his damp hair, wet from melting snow.
“So what! Do you regret blocking that snowball for me? Hmph!”
“Not really.” Lin Mingfei chuckled softly. The little thing had even learned to twist the situation back on him.
“Sigh.”
He handed the phone back to Xia Tong—deliberately leaving the screen unlocked—and showed him Goblin’s messages, the ones sent under Yoyo’s account.
“Whoa—Sabertooth apologized so quickly!”
Sure enough, Xia Tong’s focus was completely different from Lin Mingfei’s. He happily opened the screenshots and zoomed in to look at them, grinning.
“So does that mean lots of people are coming to apologize to you and want to be your fans again?”
Lin Mingfei gave a quiet “Mm.”
“That’s great!! As long as they don’t misunderstand you anymore, that’s the best!” Xia Tong raised his face with a bright smile, his cheeks red from the cold.
“Mm. Besides that—” Lin Mingfei prompted, “what do you plan to do about promising to sing for them?”
“Sing?” Xia Tong froze, finally remembering the important part.
“What? When you agreed it slipped out casually, and now you’re planning to back out?” Lin Mingfei asked with a half-smile.
Xia Tong: “Emmmm……”
Lin Mingfei wasn’t wrong. When he agreed, it really had been just a casual remark… At the time, he had been worried that the Sabertooth players might bleed out and log off before apologizing, so he hurried to record evidence and figured he should sweeten the deal with some sort of reward.
But after racking his brain, he couldn’t think of anything else to offer. Singing was the only thing he could barely count as a special skill.
“I’m not planning to go back on my word.”
For some reason he became shy, twisting his fingers as he spoke softly.
“If you go to a KTV, how many songs can you sing?” Lin Mingfei asked, one hand on his waist and eyes narrowed.
“Ah? What’s KTV?” Xia Tong asked blankly.
Lin Mingfei: “……”
Oh right. He’d almost forgotten this was the hopelessly clueless Xia Tong.
“KTV is a place where a bunch of people sing karaoke together, offline,” Lin Mingfei explained.
“Ah?” Xia Tong shrank his neck and shivered. “I thought… I thought I could just sing one song for them online and that would be the end of it. Then I could even learn one right now—”
Lin Mingfei: “.”
The alpha’s eyes shifted slyly.
“That’s actually a pretty good idea,” he said. “Saves time, and it’s convenient.”
“Then…” Xia Tong asked timidly, “is that okay? Won’t they think I’m brushing them off…?”
“Of course it’s okay. Why wouldn’t it be?” Lin Mingfei tilted his head, looking quite satisfied. “Don’t worry. If they disagree, I’ll help you convince them.”
“Ah! Really? Zero, you’re so nice!” Xia Tong grinned again and rushed forward to give him a big bear hug.
But Lin Mingfei pressed a hand against his head and pushed him back.
“But I have one condition,” the alpha said mysteriously, lowering his voice.
“What condition?” Xia Tong shook his head, confused.
“I get to decide which song you learn to sing for them,” Lin Mingfei said.
“Huh? You’re choosing the song?” Xia Tong’s little brows immediately wrinkled with worry. “What if you pick something too hard and I can’t learn it?”
“I won’t. I’ll definitely choose something simple and easy to learn,” Lin Mingfei said, patting his head with a meaningful smile.
“Oh… okay then. You pick, I’ll learn.” Xia Tong nodded obediently.
“Then help me reply to them. Why is this person both Yoyo and Goblin? Is he Yoyo or Goblin…? I really can’t figure it out.” He scratched his head.
“Alright, I’ll reply for you,” Lin Mingfei said leisurely.
He took the phone from Xia Tong and quickly started typing.
Soon he had dealt with the mysterious creature on the other side—who might have been Goblin or Yoyo—and then sent a song to Xia Tong’s WeChat.
“Learn this one when we get back,” he said. “You can listen to it. It’s not hard.”
Xia Tong agreed without hesitation or suspicion.
“Okay! Once I learn it I’ll sing it for you first—”
“No need!”
Before he could finish, Lin Mingfei cut him off firmly. The alpha pressed a fist to his lips and coughed heavily, as if covering up some guilty conscience.
“I already told them,” he said, “that tomorrow is Christmas. In the evening they can come to our Polaris official YY channel. I’ll open a small room for you. When the time comes, you just log in and sing directly for them—consider it a Christmas gift to the brother teams.”
Christmas arrived as scheduled.
The streets were filled with festive atmosphere. Young people were going out to eat, shopping, and celebrating.
Not wanting the team to feel too disconnected from the world, He Youjin even bought a Christmas tree and placed it in the Polaris club’s living room. It was decorated with sparkling snowflake ornaments and little golden bells.
“Today you only need to train for eight hours,” He Youjin said. “Your evening is free.”
“You can even stay out overnight.”
“Why emphasize that all of a sudden?” Shi Ya asked.
“Don’t tell me Manager He is the one planning to stay out overnight?” Zhou Yanjun wiggled his eyebrows, that mischievous look practically leaking out of his nose.
“Get lost, get lost,” He Youjin scolded with a sour expression, though his ears turned slightly red. “Are you all masochists? I’m giving you time off and you still complain!”
“No no, we’re very happy!” Shi Ya waved lazily. “It’s just that even if we want to stay out overnight, we have nowhere to go.”
“You? Nowhere to go?” Lin Mingfei looked up from his phone and shot him a sideways glance. “Who are you trying to fool?”
“Damn. Ever since I followed you back to this base, I’ve become a withered social butterfly,” Shi Ya rolled his eyes. “Every day I’m either training or on my way to the training room. I’m about to get blocked by everyone in my friends list.”
“So tell me—how are you going to compensate me for my lost youth?”
“When I get married, I’ll charge you a smaller wedding gift,” Lin Mingfei said.
Shi Ya immediately threw a pillow at him.
“Get lost! I won’t even go! Even if you carry me there in a sedan chair I won’t show up!”
At that moment, Xia Tong walked out of the kitchen holding a freshly washed apple. He plopped down on the sofa beside Zhou Yanjun, leaning against him like a human cushion while munching on the apple.
“What are you guys talking about?” he asked curiously.
“We were talking about Zero’s marriage,” Zhou Yanjun said with a cheeky grin. “Timer said even if Zero invited him in a sedan chair carried by eight people, he still wouldn’t go to the wedding.”
“Huh? Why?” Xia Tong asked curiously.
“Why would I go? Are we that close?” Shi Ya rolled his eyes dramatically.
“Ohhh, so you only attend weddings if you’re close with the person!” Xia Tong said thoughtfully. “Then Timer, would you come to my wedding?”
Shi Ya almost blurted out, “Of course—”
But in a flash he caught sight of Lin Mingfei, the heartless bastard calmly scrolling on his phone. He instantly changed his answer:
“Of course not!”
Xia Tong immediately looked wronged. “Waaah!”
“What’s wrong with you people? You haven’t even won a championship yet and you’re already talking about getting married?” He Youjin scolded from the side. “Did I work so hard to secure sponsorships so you could use the money as wedding dowries?”
He was already dressed to go out, wearing a brand-new Burberry scarf around his neck.
“Anyway, does anyone need a ride home or something? I can wait a bit and drop you off somewhere.”
Everyone turned their heads at the same time.
Lin Mingfei squinted. “The Mercedes?”
Xia Tong’s eyes lit up. “Is Mr. Fang driving?”
Zhou Yanjun: “You’re sitting in the passenger seat?”
Bo Yu immediately stood up. “Then I need to go home. Please drop me off at the station.”
Shi Ya added, “I didn’t drive today either. Take me along—just leave me in the city center.”
Lin Mingfei suddenly thought of something and looked up. “There’s still one seat left in the back. Might as well bring Fire along too—consider it taking him out to see the world.”
Zhou Yanjun: “…Why does that sound so insulting?”
Shi Ya shrugged. “My mom says similar things to Cupid before taking him out in the car.”
Zhou Yanjun roared furiously:
“Lin Mingfei, screw your uncle!!!”
“So are you riding in the Mercedes or not?” Lin Mingfei crossed his legs lazily and asked. “Old He is already counting down.”
Zhou Yanjun immediately surrendered to the power of money. “I’ll go! I’ll go! Take me with you!!”
He Youjin came back from answering a phone call, his face slightly flushed.
“Fang is already at the intersection,” he said. Then he glanced at Lin Mingfei and Xia Tong sitting on the couch. “So what about you two?”
“I don’t mind staying behind at the base and getting a good night’s sleep,” Lin Mingfei said lazily.
“I’ll stay at the base too!” Xia Tong quickly added, smiling as he scooted closer to Lin Mingfei.
He Youjin’s temple twitched. He pointed at the alpha and omega with a complicated expression.
“You two… behave yourselves,” he warned vaguely. “Especially you, Zero.”
Lin Mingfei lifted his eyelids in exasperation.
“Don’t let me find out you’re doing anything beastly in the empty base! I’ll call to check in randomly,” He Youjin said.
Lin Mingfei sighed. “Wow. Thanks a lot.”
He Youjin then turned to Xia Tong, still worried.
“Lock your door before you sleep tonight. Got it?”
“Mm-hmm! Got it!” Xia Tong nodded obediently.
Only then did He Youjin sigh and lead the rest of the group out.
After a flurry of movement, the base was suddenly quiet. In the blink of an eye, only Lin Mingfei and Xia Tong remained.
Lin Mingfei hummed softly, feeling slightly pleased—until he saw Xia Tong jump off the couch and trot toward the front door.
“What are you doing?” Lin Mingfei asked.
“Locking the door!” Xia Tong replied foolishly. “Manager He said we should lock it before sleeping!”
Lin Mingfei: “……”
What country did this little fool come from?
Xia Tong fiddled with the door for quite a while before returning in defeat. He sat beside Lin Mingfei, poking his fingers together.
“That’s strange… Our base door has automatic access control. I don’t even need to lock it. Did Manager He get confused?”
Lin Mingfei chuckled. “Yeah, yeah. He’s going to meet Fang Haoyang tonight, so he’s too happy and got confused.”
Xia Tong didn’t dwell on it. Instead, he turned to ponder something else.
“Zero, why doesn’t Timer want to attend your wedding?” he asked.
“Because opposites repel,” Lin Mingfei replied casually. “He’s afraid I’d look more handsome than him at the wedding and steal all the attention, hurting his pride.”
Xia Tong pressed on relentlessly.
“Then why wouldn’t he attend my wedding?”
Lin Mingfei’s scrolling suddenly stopped.
He seemed to swallow several times, his throat bobbing. Some words rose up but sank back down again.
“Why aren’t you answering?” Xia Tong asked innocently, shaking his arm while staring at him with wide, lively eyes.
Lin Mingfei slowly opened his mouth.
“Maybe because… our two weddings are essentially the same—”
“Ring ring ring ring—Ring ring ring ring—”
At that moment, the phone in Xia Tong’s pocket suddenly started ringing like crazy, loud and vibrating, chopping Lin Mingfei’s unfinished sentence in half like an axe.
“Oh!” Xia Tong’s attention instantly shifted. He pulled out the phone. “It’s Sabertooth’s Yoyo calling me with a voice chat!”
Lin Mingfei: “……”
“I’m answering!” Xia Tong said, tapping the button and dragging out a cheerful “Hello—!”
The alpha visibly ground his molars and silently cursed before saying hoarsely:
“Put it on speaker.”
“Oh, okay!” Xia Tong obediently turned on speaker mode.
Goblin’s voice came from the other side of the phone.
“Blink!! Merry Christmas!!”
“Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!” Xia Tong replied happily.
“Didn’t we say you’d go online at eight to sing?” Goblin said. “It’s already 7:47 now!”
Lin Mingfei snorted coldly from the side.
“It’s only 7:47. What the hell are you rushing for?”
Goblin laughed. “Oh! Zero’s there too!”
Lin Mingfei was full of pent-up irritation.
“Does your entire team have no sex life or something? It’s Christmas Eve and you’re this bored? Sitting around waiting to hear our team’s wizard sing?”
Goblin fired back with a brutal jab:
“Do you have one?”
Lin Mingfei: “.”
Goblin continued mercilessly.
“You’re acting like you do.”
Lin Mingfei took a deep breath, trying to keep the sarcasm out of his voice.
“Did you finish your team’s match review meeting?”
“Yeah, it’s done,” Goblin replied casually, completely missing the hostility in Lin Mingfei’s tone. “What a false alarm.”
“Did Dylan get scolded?” Xia Tong asked.
The question was so direct that Goblin choked up and fell silent for two seconds.
“You think Dylan should’ve been scolded too?” Goblin asked cautiously.
“He played so badly and even got Yoyo killed. Why wouldn’t he get scolded?” Xia Tong said, puzzled. “Didn’t you say your manager and coach are really strict?”
Goblin didn’t answer.
Lin Mingfei suddenly interjected from the side with no clear lead-in:
“You’re still on the team?”
Goblin hesitated. “Ah… thanks to Molan and the others, yeah.”
“Hmm. Didn’t expect the four of you to be pretty united,” Lin Mingfei said meaningfully.
Xia Tong turned around with a confused expression, but Goblin understood perfectly.
“Honestly… even people from Polaris are this straightforward and honest,” Goblin said with a bitter laugh. “But Dylan… the way he treats me… you’d think I did something unforgivable for him to hate me so much. Hasn’t he considered that if I got replaced, he’d have to play team matches with someone like Ping?”
Lin Mingfei’s eyes flickered slightly.
“Ping?” he asked softly. “Ping Shuai? He’s still on your team?”
“Yeah.” Goblin sneered. “Hard to imagine, right? Two years without playing on stage. His skills have probably regressed to caveman level, yet he’s still collecting a salary.”
“You Sabertooth guys really have money to burn,” Lin Mingfei said. “What, was he about to get promoted to be your team’s wizard?”
“Hah, as if!” Goblin snorted. “This time was just an accident. Everyone knows my skill level. He can keep dreaming, but that’s all it’ll ever be.”
Goblin’s confidence came back as he continued viciously:
“I won’t even give him the chance to daydream in the future. He’ll spend the rest of his career at Sabertooth fetching water bottles!”
“Then I wish you success,” Lin Mingfei said perfunctorily. He didn’t want to continue the topic, especially not talking badly about a former teammate behind their back.
“Man, I used to think you Polaris guys were all scheming snakes,” Goblin said. “But turns out you’re pretty straightforward. Being normal friends outside the game might actually work.”
Xia Tong protested seriously:
“That’s nonsense! We’re not scheming snakes! Everyone on our team is upright and honorable!”
“Heh.” Lin Mingfei gave a mysterious chuckle. “Didn’t you want to hear our Blink sing? Get on the channel.”
“Oh! Right! Almost forgot!” Goblin smacked his forehead happily. “Hold on, I’ll go call Lao Wang and the others!”
A few minutes later, the Sabertooth vs. Polaris “Christmas Friendship Event” began in the YY voice channel.
Public chat:
Sabertooth_goblin:
🌸🌸🌸🌸
Sabertooth_goblin:
👏👏👏👏
Sabertooth_RobinWang:
“Should we record this? Molan isn’t here right now. We can play it for him later.”
Sabertooth_yoyo:
“Record it!! This feels pretty memorable!”
Sabertooth_goblin:
“I think we should do this kind of team bonding more often. Whoever loses has to sing. What do you think?”
Sabertooth_goblin:
“Zero, why aren’t you talking? Can’t handle losing?”
Sabertooth_goblin:
“We don’t ask for much. In the future if you lose, just let Blink sing. One loss = one song 😏”
Lin Mingfei, who had administrator privileges, pulled Xia Tong onto the microphone channel.
Xia Tong was a little nervous. He cleared his throat and seriously announced:
“Next! I will sing a song that I just learned for our new brother team—Sabertooth! As this year’s Christmas gift! And also as a symbol of friendship between our two teams!!”
Sabertooth_goblin:
🌸🌸🌸🌸
Sabertooth_goblin:
❤️❤️❤️❤️
Then Xia Tong cleared his throat again.
And began singing:
“I am your daddy, so great and strong!
Raised you all these years!
But you! Don’t! Listen!
Running around playing all day long!
Get out, get out, crawl away—
I don’t want you, you naughty child!
I only want your mommy! Hey!
I only want your mommy!”
……
[Ding]
System notification: Sabertooth_yoyo has left your channel.
System notification: Sabertooth_RobinWang has left your channel.
Polaris_zero:
“Long live friendship :)”
System notification: Sabertooth_goblin has left your channel.
Feel free to buy me a coffee/show your support on ko-fi! Thank you ❤
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