ATLAS TRANSLATES

The next day, Chen Yuzheng was dragged to the training room by Qi Ya’nan. “You owe the most streaming hours in the team. Next month we’ll have intensive training, so hurry up and make up your streaming hours with me these two days. The staff from the streaming platform have already contacted me.”

Ultraman slept until late at night before waking up.

He wandered around the cafeteria and ate a few buns to fill his stomach. When he reached the training room on the second floor, he found Chen Yuzheng alone inside playing ranked games.

Ultraman yawned and pushed open the door.

He was drowsy, turned on his computer, and lazily curled up in his chair, scrolling through Weibo on his phone.

The room was filled only with the sounds of Chen Yuzheng playing games and typing on his keyboard. Ultraman’s alternate account followed various esports Weibo accounts.

With no recent matches, they had no new content to post, so they mainly reposted clips from professional players’ streams and the popular interactions between players.

Ultraman scrolled down a few posts, seeing familiar titles like [Conquer VS Fish]. One of the subjects was right beside him playing games.

Due to well-known past events, Chen Yuzheng and Yu Ge were often compared, from their playing styles to their appearances. With their fan bases being the largest in the LPL, marketing accounts naturally put them together to gain traffic.

Ultraman was already used to it, seeing lots of photos that he didn’t even want to click on. He was just casually scanning, but after seeing several consecutive posts about them, his curiosity was piqued. He randomly clicked on a photo, and after reading the content, he was stunned.

It was a secretly taken photo of Chen Yuzheng and Yu Ge drinking at a barbecue restaurant a few days ago.

One was an LPL star player, while the other was the newest rising popularity king in the competitive scene.

Just counting the number of times they’ve trended on Weibo, they could even surpass some third-tier celebrities. Every time they faced each other in matches, it was basically the LPL’s highest-rated competitive entertainment.

In short, the rivalry between Zheng and Yu had become common knowledge.

Plus, during the summer finals, Chen Yuzheng’s taunting behavior towards Yu Ge angered many of Yu Ge’s fans again. New grudges added to old ones, making the previously somewhat improved relationship between the two camps fall back to freezing point.

Despite the distance, you could still tell it was them.

There were seven or eight photos in total, some clear, some blurry. Yu Ge sat with his arms crossed, barely changing his posture, while Chen Yuzheng sitting across from him kept throwing back drinks.

Chen Yuzheng stared at his glass, while Yu Ge watched Chen Yuzheng.

In the comments:

Some random viewers forcing interpretations:

[Look closely, examine it carefully! Can you see it? The way Fish looks at Conquer is so gentle, it’s dripping with tenderness! Such entanglement, how can I not ship them.]

Some poetic writers:

[It’s laughable, the whole world thinks he’s my enemy, but who knows, my love for him is buried in a sunless abyss, never to be spoken.]

And some wild imagination:

[Look at the fifth photo, Chen Yuzheng is grabbing Yu Ge’s arm, his face full of urgency. His face shows so much unspoken meaning. Sisters, let me wipe my nosebleed, I’ve already imagined a hundred words of smut… Let’s get this going!!!]

As a straight man, Ultraman looked through it twice more before finally understanding what these fans were talking about.

Were these people serious?

Ultraman questioned life: “Chen Yuzheng, this world is too surreal, there are actually people shipping you and Fish. I don’t think I’ll ever recover.”

Chen Yuzheng turned his face slightly, “What?”

“Those photos of you and Fish having dinner the other day were leaked online by passersby.” Ultraman was still in shock, “You’ve turned him gay, Fish’s reputation is ruined because of you. He’ll probably want to kill you when he sees these fanfictions.”

Ultraman: “I’m almost convinced by these people about the beautiful love story between you and Fish. Be honest with me, are you secretly in love with Fish?”

Chen Yuzheng casually replied: “Love might be stretching it, but there’s something to be said about brotherhood.”

“Something to be said?” Ultraman laughed mockingly, “You want to be brothers with Fish? What nonsense.” His tone was decisive: “Between you two, love might happen before brotherhood ever would.”

Chen Yuzheng moved his mouse and reminded him: “I’m streaming right now, watch what you say.”

Ultraman immediately went silent.

The streaming chat filled with rows of question marks, making some lurking CP fans jump out:

[Ultraman knows the truth, Conquer secretly loves Fish!!! I’m shipping it!!!]

Things had developed to this point, with casual viewers just enjoying the drama. But Ultraman had publicly stirred up drama in Chen Yuzheng’s stream.

A well-known super fan of Yu Ge posted on Weibo, exuding rejection: “Please stop riding on coattails, you’ve been latching onto and sucking blood since debut, it never ends, can you walk on your own? Acting so arrogant but can’t show any results, only knows how to play fandom marketing games? Your current fame is probably all thanks to your connection with Fish?”

Someone questioned in the comments: [But they’re eating together privately, shouldn’t their relationship be okay? Fans don’t need to keep fighting]

The super fan replied sarcastically: “Someone just plays with whoever’s popular, right? Previously sending rockets in Fish’s stream, wasn’t that just desperately trying to climb up? Isn’t it obvious?”

This Weibo post implying things about Chen Yuzheng was retweeted hundreds of times.

Chen Yuzheng’s fans were also angered, with the super topic moderator leading the charge: “The most ridiculous thing I’ve heard in 2021 is that Conquer is famous because of marketing with Fish.”

The fire spread further, with Yu Ge’s super topic suddenly invaded by IDs like “Chen Yuzheng’s wife XXX” “Conquer baby xxx” “Zheng’s not bad” “ConquerOVO” starting to curse.

Meanwhile, Chen Yuzheng’s super topic was also invaded by fans with IDs related to Yu Ge.

The two fan bases invaded each other’s super topics, fighting intensely.

Ultraman and Killer were at the frontline of drama consumption, watching this spectacle.

After turning off his phone, Ultraman worried: “When they find out that Conquer and Fish have become in-laws, will Weibo explode?”

Killer actually looked forward to that day: “What’s wrong with being one family? If the two fan bases merge, who in LPL could stand against them?”

—

This year’s Global Finals location was set in China, held across four cities: Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Beijing.

Winning a championship on home soil had been a long-held wish of LPL audiences, almost becoming an obsession.

After a half-month break, several teams entered intense preparation periods.

A month later, Hangzhou hosted the World Championship play-ins, lasting six days.

WR, as LPL’s third seed, dominated throughout, crushing teams from wildcard regions. They advanced through play-ins without much suspense and joined the other two teams.

After play-ins, the draw ceremony for the top 16 was held.

The sixteen strongest teams from around the world were divided into four groups, with same-region teams avoiding each other before quarterfinals.

TG was a bit unlucky, being drawn into the officially certified “group of death” with Korea’s first seed PPE. WR was grouped with Korea’s second seed YU, while among the three teams, OG got the best group with relatively weak opponents: North America’s first seed, LCK’s fourth seed, and a wildcard team.

After the draw, a week later, the group stage was held in Guangzhou.

The group stage still used a double round-robin format, with matches spread across two rounds.

The first round’s schedule was relatively relaxed, lasting six days total, with each team playing a BO1 every two days. The second round’s schedule was more intense, with each group having only one day, where all four teams had to play three BO1s, and final standings would determine who advanced to quarters.

OG and WR finished first, advancing as first and second in their groups respectively.

The last match day was Group C.

Besides the Rift Rivals, this was their first true appearance on the World Championship stage.

After the first round, TG’s record was 2-1, with their advancement looking clear.

The LMS team lived up to their reputation of always finishing last in groups, predictably falling apart in the second round and being sent home by TG. In the last game, PPE was in hot form, bringing out an ultimate teamfight composition and directly 2-0’d TG.

TG advanced as second in their group.

Though the process was twisted, the result was still optimistic. TG had survived the group of death and advanced to quarters.

With all group stage matches finished, two retired LPL players came on stage for the quarterfinal draw. This was the most nerve-wracking segment, and after about fifteen minutes, everything was settled.

The final grouping results came out.

OG and WR were in the same half of the bracket, while TG was in the other half. This meant that in the best case, WR and OG could both reach semifinals, but one would have to be eliminated there, while TG wouldn’t face any LPL teams before finals.

Among the three fan bases, some were happy while others worried.

Fear of Korean teams was common among most LPL teams. Although TG had been in good form recently, they were still a new team without big tournament experience, and their first BO5 would be against LCK. OG was facing NA’s first seed, and given their past head-to-head record, reaching semifinals shouldn’t be a problem.

WR was quite unfortunate, meeting championship favorite PPE in quarters already.

—

After the draw, TG’s members returned to the backstage rest area.

The official filming crew wanted to shoot some content, with WR and OG’s people all together.

Ultraman and Killer were called for interviews. After a while, staff specifically came to call Chen Yuzheng.

Chen Yuzheng put his hands in his pockets and looked around: “Just me?”

The staff member led the way: “There’s one more.”

He nodded, not thinking much of it.

When he reached the interview location and saw who was already sitting there, Chen Yuzheng was stunned. Yu Ge happened to look up and saw him too.

— The two were clearly set up by officials.

Chen Yuzheng paused, then sat down in the chair next to Yu Ge, lazily leaning back: “What’s this about?”

“You’re both popular players in the LPL, so we thought we’d interview you together.” The director sister handed them two interview scripts, “Here, take a look at the questions first.”

…

…

Yu Nuo sat on the couch, scrolling through Weibo. After TG won their match, all five members’ Weibo accounts automatically updated with a 2021 Worlds Top 8 certification.

She liked their posts using her alternate account, when her arm was suddenly pulled.

Xiang Jiajia couldn’t wait: “Come on, come with me to watch the show.”

Yu Nuo was pulled to her feet: “Watch what show?”

Xiang Jiajia had an excited expression for drama, lowering her voice to say: “Your brother and your boyfriend are being interviewed together!”

“The two of them, interviewed together?” Yu Nuo was confused, “They’re not even on the same team, why would they be interviewed together?”

Xiang Jiajia explained: “Haven’t Fish and Conquer’s fans been fighting again recently? It’s such a hot topic! Putting them together for an interview is obviously stirring things up.”

The interview location was just in a corner of the public rest area, with cameras set up and a simple backdrop.

In fact, besides Xiang Jiajia, there were many others who wanted to watch the drama between Yu Ge and Chen Yuzheng. When they arrived, there was already a circle of people gathered around.

Xiang Jiajia pulled Yu Nuo to squeeze through.

The interview had just started.

Chen Yuzheng and Yu Ge both saw Yu Nuo.

Both men looked at her.

The interview started quite formally, asking questions about the matches. Though sitting together, no matter how the director tried to guide them, both refused to make eye contact with each other.

“You’ve both reached quarterfinals, what are your expectations for the upcoming matches?”

Yu Ge remained statue-like, maintaining his cold and reserved style, answering diplomatically: “Just play well in every match, no regrets.”

Chen Yuzheng continued his usual bold statements: “Win the championship.”

“So confident?” The interviewer smiled: “Conquer player’s ID matches his personality, hope one day you can truly conquer everyone.”

Later, the topics started to drift.

“Can you evaluate each other?”

Chen Yuzheng cooperated: “Fish doesn’t need my evaluation, he’s handsome and skilled.”

The interviewer then asked Yu Ge.

Yu Ge picked up the microphone, reluctantly said: “Same for him.”

Chen Yuzheng added: “Thanks.”

Everyone knowingly laughed.

“What’s going on today?” Chen Yuzheng joked, “Everyone’s looking at Fish and me strangely, is there something on our faces?”

The interviewer sister was curious: “Um… because everyone thought you two weren’t close, but it seems you’ve had meals together privately?”

Yu Ge kept a stern face and directly skipped this question.

Chen Yuzheng: “Yeah, so sometimes you can’t just judge by appearances.”

The director wanted to ask something else to create some entertainment effect. But Chen Yuzheng and Yu Ge were both famously difficult to deal with. Any slightly ambiguous topics were deflected by the two.

The interview entered its final stage. “Lastly, do you have anything to say to your fans?”

Yu Ge: “Thank them for supporting me.”

“How about Conquer?”

Chen Yuzheng thought for a moment, then looked at the camera with resignation: “I want to say something to those male fans who’ve been frantically sending me private messages on Weibo calling me husband – you have no chance, so stop harassing me.”

“I’m not gay, I’m straight.” He specifically glanced at Yu Nuo, saying confidently: “I already have someone I like, she’s right there watching me.”

After Chen Yuzheng’s words, everyone – including the interviewer, director, cameraman, and the surrounding spectators – instinctively turned their gazes to Yu Ge.

Yu Ge: “……”

Chen Yuzheng: “?”