ATLAS TRANSLATES

At 10 PM, Killer posted a video story on Weibo: @TG.Killer: Live streaming the botlane breakup.

The video was a bit shaky, showing Ultraman and Chen Yuzheng – one standing, one sitting. People were gathered around watching the drama. After a pause, Ultraman’s mouth moved, saying something unclear to the person in front of him. Chen Yuzheng instantly froze, his face turning dark.

Killer’s hand shook, and after Ultraman finished speaking, he ran. Everyone in the video burst out laughing, drowning out their voices.

Fans tried to read their lips but couldn’t figure out what Ultraman said. They left various comments: [What did he say? Did Conquer instantly break down??] [Ultraman: Chen Yuzheng your mother, you’re just an orphan.] [Ultraman: You know what? I stole your wife last night, she’s gone.] [Ultraman: Fish is the real LPL #1 ADC, you’re just trash, like a clown clown clown clown clown ^ ^] [Hahahahaha, above comment, savage!]

Yu Nuo returned to school that night and saw this Weibo post on her main account. She clicked in to watch when she noticed Chen Yuzheng was in it. She focused but couldn’t hear what they were saying after a few seconds, so she closed it.

Yu Nuo rested her chin on the desk, looking at the beach photos she had printed a few days ago.

The memories came flooding back, and after several minutes, she slowly reached out to touch the photos.

Though not much time had passed, thinking back to that drunk night, being with Chen Yuzheng, everything that happened – it all felt unreal now.

The elevated bridge at dawn, the star-filled night sky, the wind running through her fingers, the pale golden sunrise… everything had become so blurry.

So blurry that Yu Nuo felt like all these fragments might have been just her imagination.

That day Chen Yuzheng sent her back to school.

Yu Nuo took a shower, climbed into bed, wrapped herself in blankets, and just stared at her phone screen, looking at the beach photos.

She really didn’t want to sleep, really didn’t want to close her eyes but couldn’t fight the drowsiness.

She remembered feeling at the time that she was afraid if she fell asleep and woke up, she’d find it was all just a dream.

—

Van returned to the base, lay in bed video chatting with his girlfriend for half an hour, finished reporting in, then went to take a shower.

After a quick shower, he felt thirsty and went downstairs to find a drink. Passing by the training room, he paused.

The lights were on. Van pushed open the door and found Ultraman and Chen Yuzheng inside.

Walking over, he watched for a while. They had started a custom game and were practicing 1v1 laning. Killer was off to the side playing ranked alone.

Van clicked his tongue, “Do you have to be this hardcore? Still training after drinking so much today?”

Ultraman glanced at him briefly, “Done being lovey-dovey with your girlfriend?”

In that moment of distraction, Ultraman looked back to see his black screen and wailed, “Damn it, got solo killed again.”

Van observed Chen Yuzheng’s detailed operations for a while, “Tsk, how much longer are you guys going to play?”

Chen Yuzheng didn’t look up, clicking his mouse, “Don’t know.”

Van knew the whole team was under a lot of pressure lately, especially Ultraman.

TG’s botlane was their default advantage, but Ultraman’s mechanics as support weren’t particularly outstanding among pro players.

During matches, because Chen Yuzheng’s individual style was too intense, with extreme mechanics and aggressive style, Ultraman often couldn’t keep up, leading to mistakes.

After matches, Ultraman could only wait until everyone else rested before practicing more, trying to make up for his shortcomings through hard work.

Though Chen Yuzheng had a bad temper usually, he would always make time to practice one-on-one with Ultraman.

Outside observers – fans, passersby, people in the industry – all thought Chen Yuzheng had extreme talent, being arrogant from debut, looking down on all LPL ADCs, not taking anyone seriously.

Even when the whole internet flamed him, when OG and Yu Ge’s fans sent harassing private messages, it never affected his performance.

But everyone in TG knew that Chen Yuzheng didn’t just have talent – more importantly, he worked harder than most pro players. He didn’t care about being flamed, didn’t care about having fans, only cared about winning matches.

As a new team that just debuted this year, they had no international competition experience. This Rift Rivals involved LPL’s collective honor. If they performed poorly, domestic public opinion would be another storm.

Van felt inspired, put down his drink and sat at his computer, “Alright, I’ll play some ranked too, try to climb the Korean server rankings.”

The group sat in the training room all night until dawn began to break outside.

Killer couldn’t take it anymore, rubbing his sore neck as he called to them, “Okay, that’s enough, are you guys going to sleep or what?”

Standing up and pushing his chair back, he glanced at Chen Yuzheng’s computer and saw he and Ultraman had queued for another duo game.

Killer looked at the time and advised: “It’s already 6 AM, you’re still going?”

Ultraman: “You go sleep first, this is my last game.”

“Fine, I’ll keep you company a bit longer.” Killer ordered KFC breakfast on his phone, “You guys want anything?”

“Get me some soy milk.”

Killer agreed, ordered breakfast, and browsed Weibo for a while.

Scrolling to the comments under last night’s video, Killer couldn’t help laughing. He opened the story and checked the visitor records. Scrolling down, he suddenly saw a familiar ID.

Killer called out to Chen Yuzheng: “Hey hey, Brother Zheng.”

Chen Yuzheng was selecting champions, “What?”

“That Weibo I posted yesterday.” Killer said mysteriously, “Yu Nuo saw it, I saw Fish-Loves-Food in the visitor records.”

Chen Yuzheng: “……”

“Delete that stupid Weibo.”

Ultraman turned to urge: “Hurry up and pick a champion, what are you spacing out and chatting for?”

As he spoke, he saw Chen Yuzheng’s locked-in champion, “Damn, why did you pick Yasuo botlane, that’s too wild?? Deliberately torturing your teammate’s mental?”

In the ranked lobby, question marks were already appearing from 3rd pick: ??? ?gemen?wozhebajinjisai ?biegao?plz? (Bros, this is my promo game, please don’t troll)

Ultraman stared in disbelief, carefully asking: “Brother Zheng, with our team comp, is Yasuo really appropriate?”

Chen Yuzheng looked completely unfazed: “What’s inappropriate about it, perfect for diving the backline.” He casually typed in chat, replying to the earlier person: ?dengwoC?(Wait for me to carry)

Ultraman was silent for a few seconds, mind full of question marks: “Are you serious?”

Killer: “He can’t carry shit, he just heard about Yu Nuo and his heart went crazy, hand shaking picking random champions.”

—

After that day, Yu Nuo remained in low spirits for several days.

Knowing she would be going abroad with the team in a few days, Fu Yidong came to school specifically to find her, accompanying her to Watsons to buy some travel necessities.

After shopping at the mall, they randomly found a dessert shop and sat down to rest.

Yu Nuo’s period was almost over, but she still couldn’t eat anything too cold, so she ordered a hot chocolate.

Seeing her gloomy expression, Fu Yidong asked curiously: “Nuo Nuo, what’s going on with you lately, got depression?”

“What?”

“Just today being with me, you sigh every two minutes. Are you okay? Did something happen recently, want to talk about it?”

Yu Nuo tried to brighten up, smiled a bit, wanted to explain but hesitated: “…I don’t know how to tell you.”

“Just say it directly.” Fu Yidong sat closer, “Then let me guess, is it because of your player boy recently?”

“He’s not a player.”

After a moment, Yu Nuo lowered her eyes, “You misunderstood him.”

Fu Yidong was surprised, suddenly saying: “So you like him?”

Yu Nuo was startled by the question, answering: “I don’t know.”

“Liking someone is just like this, you worry about gains and losses, get depressed, unconsciously defend them. So, how far have you two gone?”

Yu Nuo hesitated: “A few days ago, I said something to him, he seemed unhappy…”

“What did you say?”

Yu Nuo didn’t want to get into details, only said: “Just told him not to joke around with me and stuff.”

Fu Yidong sighed, “So you’re secretly in love now?”

Yu Nuo bit her straw, letting the hot chocolate flow through her mouth, feeling its sweetness.

Just like Chen Yuzheng…

She hadn’t dared to think about these feelings before, but after getting a taste of sweetness, she seemed to have fallen for this feeling.

Wanting more and more…

Yu Nuo chose her words carefully, speaking somewhat disjointedly: “I don’t know, but being with him feels very interesting. But I won’t take initiative, and it’s boring. We might not be very suitable.”

Hearing this, Fu Yidong felt a bit annoyed: “What suitable or unsuitable? It’s not easy to like someone. Why care about what happens later, can’t you think less about everything? Before meeting the person you can marry, are you going to stay this rational and not date anyone?”

Her voice was a bit loud, drawing attention from nearby tables. Yu Nuo pulled at her clothes, “Lower your voice.”

After scolding her, Fu Yidong sighed again: “Initially, I wanted to advise you to stay away from guys who string you along, but then I thought, you’re still young, you can afford to get hurt a few times. So what if he’s a jerk? Who hasn’t loved a few jerks before?”

Yu Nuo smiled bitterly, feeling at a loss for words.

“Yu Nuo.”

Fu Yidong called her name.

“Mm?”

Fu Yidong felt emotional, encouraging her: “Don’t just pine in secret. Life doesn’t give you that much time for internal drama – if you love him, go for it. Really, don’t be afraid. It’s not a big deal to mess up in front of someone, don’t carry such heavy baggage. In relationships, it’s better to have less concern about gains and losses, be bold in love and hate, be more free-spirited. If you like someone, then you like them. There’s nothing shameful about not being liked back. As long as you have no regrets, it’s better than regretting missing the chance.”

“If you’re worried about losing face, when I was chasing my first love, singing love songs under his building – didn’t I lose all dignity, all self-respect? But I don’t think it was embarrassing at all. I feel lucky, I think I had good taste, not liking anyone else but liking him. I still don’t regret it now.”

Yu Nuo: “……”

Fu Yidong continued on: “Don’t be so reserved, hesitant, with so many rules, ending up trapping yourself in a box. If you like someone, like them; if you want to contact them, contact them; if you miss them, send them a message, share even tiny things. If it doesn’t work out in the end, then part ways – how many people can truly make your heart flutter in a lifetime?”

Finally, Fu Yidong put an arm around her shoulders: “If you’re sad, come find me to cry. I won’t say anything, just listen to you cry, I can drink with you too.”

Yu Nuo was silent.

“Of course, I can also watch you find happiness.”

The hot chocolate was almost gone, but Yu Nuo still said nothing. Fu Yidong felt like she’d talked herself dry and tentatively asked: “Did you take in anything I said?”

Yu Nuo nodded slightly, answering: “Mm, I took it in.”

“So?”

Yu Nuo bit her lip as scenes from before flashed through her mind, so many images making her feelings overflow.

She had always thought herself an easily satisfied person, happy for a long time when anyone was nice to her.

Until she met Chen Yuzheng…

She couldn’t bear it, had no confidence, felt inferior… there were many many reasons to distance herself from him, but Yu Nuo still couldn’t let go.

After a long while, she made her decision.

Fu Yidong was still patiently waiting beside her.

Yu Nuo gripped her cup tightly and slowly said: “If there’s a chance…”

She paused, looking directly at Fu Yidong to finish her sentence: “I hope… I can try once with him.”