Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Another ten seconds of silence followed, Ji Zhiyaoâs expression was warped as he exclaimed, âWhat the f*ck, itâs hanging right at this time! Bastard!â
âCut! No cursing, otherwise it cannot be aired, letâs try again!â
Several takes later, Ji Zhiyao felt that he was gradually losing control over his expression and finally succeeded in saying his line with the suitable emotions. âWhat a crappy item, itâs actually stuck at this point in time!â
âThat will do, that will do, the others continue.â
Nuo: âAh! Goddamn mine is stuck too!â
K: âAh dear me oh my god mine too!â
Heng: âOh dear, why is mine stuck too?â
Xiaofei: âOhmygod Iâm stuck too!â
The corner of Mo Huaifengâs lips twitched, and he grudgingly read out his line. âSo annoying, mine too, letâs try swapping to another brand of keyboards!â
âYes, thatâs the feeling! Very good!
âThat take was not bad, but we have not rolled the cameras, letâs do one more take!â
When the filming ended, it was already five hours later. Yuan Wei also happened to walk out from where he had been with the advertisers, when he saw their dreadfully pale makeup after enduring the studio, he took a step back in both surprise and bewilderedness, âWhat the hell! He did not tell me that they had to act as ghosts...â
Yet Yuan Weiâs voice had already died off before he even finished talking, because he realized that his beloved members, including Xiaofei who had the best temper, were all glaring at him with a look that showed their itch to chop him into pieces.
âExcuse me? What have I done wrong?â
Ji Zhiyao bit out viciously, âYuan Wei you bastard!â
The others followed unanimously, âYes!â
Yuan Wei still did not understand why he had went from the kind and adorable manager to the bastard that everyone in the team wanted to beat up, when he saw the assistant from the advertiser walk over. âMr Yuan, we are done with filming, we will send the final payment to your end as soon as possible. When the actual advertisement is completed, we will also send it over at the first moment.â
Yuan Wei nodded. âAlright, then we will be leaving now.â
âYes, good bye and take care.â
Before Yuan Wei turned back, his thoughts were still about how the bunch of rascals had yet to remove their makeup, he did not know what to do. He intended to ask for their opinions, yet once he turned back... âAll of you..â
There wasnât a single person behind him.
Yuan Wei quickly walked outside, taking three steps in two, and found that their van stopped outside the studio had already gone so far that he could only see it as a tiny little dot.
He was dumbfounded.
They all ran?
Then what about him?
...
In the van, Ji Zhiyao glanced back through the windows and indeed did not see Yuan Wei. He touched his jaw with his fingers and looked towards Mo Huaifeng, commenting with heartfelt worry, âUs leaving Yuan Wei behind like this, itâs not right.â
His Captain amiably gave him a smile. âHow do you intend on removing your makeup?â
Ji Zhiyaoâs anger meter was instantly maxed. âDamn it, letâs not bother with him! Itâs quite a good thing that we left him behind!â
Then he gloomily rubbed an inch of the makeup on his face, seeing his fingertips become a pale white, he immediately groaned in despair. âWhat should we do, can this be removed using cleansing foam?â
Heng joined in, equally depressed. âItâs terrible, yet whatâs even more despairing is that I donât even f*cking have cleansing foam.â
Ji Zhiyao chimed in happily, âI do!â
âAlright!â
Mo Huaifeng frowned slightly, evidently uncomfortable because of the makeup on his face. He said, âWhen we drive pass a makeup store later, weâll go get a bottle of makeup remover.â
Nuo agreed. âThatâs a good idea. Then here comes the question, my brilliant and resourceful Captain, which one of your teammates are you planning to select to go buy the makeup remover?â
Mo Huaifeng went blank for a moment, then drew out his phone, calmly saying, âIâll send Yuan Wei a text.â
Ji Zhiyao chuckled. âYuan Wei is really pitiful!â
Even after being abandoned by the battleteam, he still had to take the Captainâs order and obediently go get the makeup remover, being a battleteam manager was truly a tough job.
A minute later, Mo Huaifeng received a voice message from Yuan Wei, he tapped it and the entire vehicle was instantly filled with Yuan Weiâs gloating voice. âSure Captain, wait for me to bring it back. But thereâs another advertisement to be filmed tomorrow, remember to prepare yourselves beforehand! Xoxo!â
Ji Zhiyao gritted his teeth.
Thatâs right, Yuan Wei was a mutt undeserving of sympathy!
Half an hour later, all of Mixâs members arrived at the base, everyone collapsed on the sofa in the living room. Ji Zhiyao sprawled out for a while after ordering some takeaway, then struggled to get up and go to the bathroom to look at his own face, then a thought came into his mind and he suddenly got the chills.
He rushed out of the bathroom and swiftly returned to the living room, announcing, âI suddenly have an ill premonition.â
Mo Huaifeng very kindly gave him a glance, Ji Zhiyao felt encouraged and continued to speak. âWould the bluetooth speakers for tomorrow be the same, âoh dear my speakers are spoiled they canât be used anymoreâ, âahhh what a coincidence mine tooâ?â
The others stared at him.
Mo Huaifeng lifted the corner of his lips, his expression very sarcastic. âYou have great ideas.â
âNot really. Captain could you get Brother Xiao to come back today? Iâll pay for his air ticket. After all heâs the starter, the idiot who keeps buying the wrong equipment should not always be me.â
Mo Huaifeng was speechless. âIâll ask him for you?â
Ji Zhiyao nodded with hope. âSure sure sure!â
Hence Mo Huaifeng brought out his phone and lazily texted Xiao.
Xiao was at home being a phyzait this whole time and replied very quickly, also with a voice message.
Mo Huaifeng curled his finger, Ji Zhiyao obediently ran over, placing his ear by the speaker-
âNo thanks! Iâve heard about it all from Yuan Wei, do you guys think you would be able to bribe me with an air ticket? Wishful thinking!â
âGoodness gracious, my ear hurts.â
His face was twisted in discomfort as he patted his left ear, only feeling that his ears were ringing from Xiaoâs roaring laughter.
Mo Huaifeng saw that he was uncomfortable and was hitting his own ear rather forcefully, hence he sat up and held down Ji Zhiyaoâs restless hand, while helping to pat his ear very lightly. He then asked, âFeeling better?â
âMuch better, Captain youâre really a clever little child.â
The remaining four people looked up towards the ceiling, pretending that they did not hear anything at all.
They hung around for almost another hour before the front door of the base was pushed open from the outside. Yuan Wei carried a plastic bag, panting as he walked into the living room and stood with arms akimbo. âSeriously, if you guys do this to me again, Iâm really going to resign.â
Nuo was the closest to him, while he wasnât paying attention, he deftly snatched the bag in his hands, opening it for a look, he found that it was indeed two bottles of makeup remover.
Nuo first grinned, then his expression suddenly became a little complicated, he turned towards Yuan Wei. âIâve seen something that the makeup artists have, itâs called a cleansing cotton pad.â
âWhat?â
âSimply speaking, it means that this makeup remover cannot be used to wash faces, instead we should wipe our faces with it.â
Yuan Wei was confused, evidently for the straight-thinking man that he was, there was no difference between washing and wiping.
Ji Zhiyao also remembered the cleansing pad thing, but to him, between âcasually removing his makeupâ and âkeeping a large pale faceâ, he still preferred the former. He stood up and grabbed a bottle of remover. âItâs fine, donât we have tissues, we can just make do with it. I canât stand it anymore, everyone, I will go ahead first.â
When everyone was done cleaning themselves, their takeaway had also arrived. They surrounded the table and shared fried chicken and burgers.
Yuan Wei said between mouthfuls of food. âTreasure the times you guys have here, eating, chatting and bantering together, when we arrive in Korea next Monday, we wonât have such leisure days anymore.â
Ji Zhiyao took a bite and asked inarticulately, âKorea? Is the first stop of our training Korea?â
âYes. Koreaâs eSports industry is the most developed, we will be spending a long time training there too, about three months. Followed by Japan and North America, a month each. This also means, we can only return home five months later.â
K still shuddered at the thought of it. âThatâs really terrible. We wonât be able to eat authentic Chinese food for five months, what the use of living?â
âThatâs still secondary.â Ji Zhiyao roughly calculated the months, then asked, âThen can we make a trip back midway through? Probably at the beginning of June.â
âYou do get breaks during training, if you save all your breaks and use it to come back, itâs possible. But the duration is too short, it would especially inconvenient to make a trip back. Why do you want to come back?â
âMy sister is taking her high school national exams, I need to watch over her.â
Everyone was suddenly enlightened, Nuo made the âtskâ sound twice. âNoHomo, youâre hopeless, the extent of your sis-con is so serious.â
Ji Zhiyao gave him an eye roll. âWhat has that got to do with sis-con, if Iâm not around, thereâs no one to take care of my sister.â
Nuo was confused. âBut your fam...â
âStop talking, eat up.â Mo Huaifeng spoke up and interrupted. âTraining after eating, look at how lazy each one of you have become.â
Nuo quickly shut his mouth, at once, there was only the sound of eating left in the room.
When they finished, they entered the training room one after another. Ji Zhiyao only had eyes for colored blocks and ended up practicing alone for half an hour, when he saw the results of 41 seconds on the screen at the end of it, the corners of his lips lifted in satisfaction.
Through the practice of the past few days, not only has his hand speed returned, it had become slightly faster. If he continued to practice like this, he might be able to surpass Mo Huaifeng one day.
Ji Zhiyao recalled that it had been some time since he last heard Mo Huaifeng mention his results and hence shifted to poke his arm. Mo Huaifeng was in a match, after being bumped several times, he directly pulled of his earphones and asked, âWhatâs wrong?â
âCaptain, let me take a look at your computer.â
Mo Huaifeng instinctively glanced at the ongoing match, then glanced at Ji Zhiyao and decisively let go of his idiotic teammates who were relying on him for a carry, shifting aside to give him space. âGo ahead.â
Hence Ji Zhiyao minimized the Heroes interface, then launched the program on Mo Huaifengâs laptop and found the column stating âhigh scoresâ.
52 seconds.
Mo Huaifeng understood what he was trying to do and gave him a close lipped smile. âYou didnât even train much for the entire break and still want to compare to me?â
Ji Zhiyao realized that he made sense too. The building up of hand speed and judgment had to be taken slowly, not to be rushed. Hence he nodded, while making a promise to himself. âWait for it Captain, when the day comes that my results are better than yours, I will be able to take off and carry you to a win.â
Mo Huaifeng smiled. âSure.â
Ji Zhiyao met his Captainâs eyes for a while then heard a howl that sounded like a pig being slaughtered from his side. K: âWhat the f*ck, f*ck Captain, I thought you disconnected! Turns out you were talking to NoHomo? Ahhhhh, my ranked match Captain you bastard!â
All at once, the others in the training room all stared at K with an extremely surprised look.
Ji Zhiyao: âThe elderly top-laner who can only perform in favorable matches, cannot live without the jungler is actually dissing my Captain?â
K:â I was wrong! Slip of the tongue, slip of the tongue!â
Ji Zhiyao: âI think you wouldnât dare to too. Isnât it good to keep quiet and sponge off him?â
K was utterly speechless and hugged his chubby self with a pained heart.
Nuo: âDo you see that? Iâm asking if everyone saw that? This is the classic bums before chums, such a person would end up being mocked by the public in the future!â
Heng: âIâm on NoHomoâs side this time, after all our Captain is the universally acknowledged most handsome in the eSports scene, which gay man wouldnât want him?â
Ji Zhiyao rolled his sleeves and stood up. âYou are asking for a beating!â
The training room instantly turned into chaos.
...
A week later, Monday morning.
A group of ten people in Mixâs team uniform entered the VIP lounge of the airport.
As their dressing were very unified and there were many of them, all the attention was on them once they stepped in, not to mention that there were already people who recognized them and were secretly taking photos on their phone... They found seats and settled down, Ji Zhiyao suddenly sighed with emotion. âWhy do I feel that this scene is so familiar? Brother, Yuan, Wei?â
âShut the hell up, donât think I wonât dare to beat you up just because weâre in public!â
Ji Zhiyao pouted. âThis service attitude sucks, you bought coffee for me back even when I was just a tag-along, why are you ignoring me now?â
âWould the treatment for one whoâs been deceived to join the team and one whoâs yet to be the same? Are you a fool?â
â... You win.â
He turned back towards Mo Huaifeng, preparing to secretly be a little tattletale, yet once he turned he saw that Mo Huaifengâs lids were drooping as if he had fallen asleep, he quickly shut his mouth... Between venting his anger and his life, of course his life was more important.
After all Captainâs morning temper was not something that the average joe could handle.
Yuan Wei went to retrieve their boarding passes, Ji Zhiyao sat in his seat, watching his other teammates who were out cold, he was bored to death. Hence he looked outside at the drinks store and stealthily walked out.
The queue at the store was quite long, Ji Zhiyao walked over and joined it, pulling his phone out to entertain himself at the same time. He read several news articles and was scrolling, when he heard someone call him. âThis physique... Are you Yao-god?â
Successfully ganked by fans once again, Ji Zhiyao was already used to it.
He pulled his mask down as he looked back and found that it was a teenager slightly younger than himself, his eyes were bright. âHello Yao-god, I am your fan! I became a fan after the match between Mix and Miao Pai battleteam, you were really cool, making use of the big dragon to attack your opponents.â
Ji Zhiyao exclaimed to himself at heart, he did not expect that this fan even remembered a training tournament so clearly. Hence he smiled even more kindly. âThank you for your love.â