SITS CH1

Chapter 01: Even Cured, Still Drooling

After finishing the first game of the summer season, the ACE team members returned to the base as quiet as a bunch of ghosts fresh out of the graveyard.

The coach’s expression was the ugliest among them. Just as he was about to drag the culprit out to teach him a good lesson, he heard a player’s voice, as excited as if they had just won the five-million-dollar lottery: “Mom, Xu Zhouye is on the trending search!!”

Everyone whipped out their phones in unison, movements so synchronized they looked professionally trained. The coach angrily scolded, “You dogs, can you be this coordinated during a match?!” Despite saying that, he couldn’t resist pulling out his own phone to take a look.

He really was on the trending search. Sitting glaringly in the number five spot was “ACE Xu Zhouye.” It wasn’t even his in-game ID, but his real name.

Clicking into the trending topic, the first post was a picture. The glaring words in the image made the coach’s temples throb: “Storm Siren killed ACE.fest.”

“Xu Zhouye!!!” the coach roared in a rage, “Come here right now!”

“Okay.” Xu Zhouye kept his head down while being scolded, looking like a well-behaved student who had made a mistake. When the coach called him, he didn’t argue, just listened quietly. It made people somehow see a pitiful aura coming from his towering 1.8-meter frame.

“What a sin,” Support player Zhao Rui clicked his tongue and sighed. “Captain, do you think this will be the last game he ever gets to play?”

“Who knows,” Shen Man said somewhat indifferently. “If he can’t cut it, we’ll replace him.”

Zhao Rui secretly glanced at his captain: “Captain, you aren’t mad?”

Shen Man shot him an expressionless glance.

Zhao Rui fell silent.

Not angry? How could he not be angry? This was the highly anticipated summer debut of ACE’s new roster. Yet, in their very first game, their newly bought Jungler gave up First Blood to the Storm Siren (a mini-boss on the top left of the map). When the kill broadcast popped up on the screen, their voice comms went dead silent for at least ten seconds.

In the end, it was the chatty Zhao Rui who couldn’t hold back, saying everyone should say something because the atmosphere was too awkward.

Then came their captain’s lukewarm voice: “If your positioning was half as brilliant as your mouth, we’d have won the championship a long time ago.”

Zhao Rui: “…” Captain, you’re so fierce.

Xu Zhouye was their newly acquired Carry Jungler.

Heart of the Wasteland was a highly popular MOBA game that had been running for eight years, sweeping the globe with its balanced characters and hyper-immersive combat. Like regular MOBAs, it featured 5v5 battles, but unlike its predecessors, the five classes—Tank, Mage, Marksman, Support, and Jungler—didn’t have fixed lanes except for the Jungler. The game had three random maps: Lava, Glacier, and Jungle.

Xu Zhouye had just turned eighteen earlier this year. After a one-month trial at the base, he successfully landed a contract with ACE.

Actually, he was quite famous even before going pro. Zhao Rui had heard stories about him, and combined with his brilliant trial performance, everyone had high expectations.

But who could have known the first match would be such a disaster.

Solo killed by the Storm Siren at seven minutes, dead last in team economy, and the base exploded right on time at twenty-five minutes.

The coach was so furious he subbed him out on the spot—

But they ended up losing the second game with the substitute anyway.

“What time is it?” Shen Man asked.

“Eight o’clock,” Zhao Rui said. “Captain, are you worried about Xu Zhouye?”

Shen Man said, “Order some takeout first, I’m hungry.”

They got back late from the match today, so the base’s auntie hadn’t cooked.

Zhao Rui: “…” Captain, you really are still the same captain.

The takeout arrived—Malatang.

Though Shen Man said he was hungry, he was just picking at his food, clearly not in a good mood. Seeing this, the surrounding teammates understood perfectly and collectively decided to stay far away from their captain.

Shen Man had debuted three years ago. He was a genius Marksman who won the world championship at eighteen in Heart of the Wasteland. His only flaw was his bad temper.

A truly bad temper.

During last year’s summer season, the TKR (The King of Ravens) team intentionally fountain-camped them in the first game. Shen Man’s face instantly went cold.

In the next game, he cranked up the laning intensity to the max, beating the enemy so badly they scrambled like rats. At the end, instead of hitting the base, he tanked the high-damage base turret just to toy with them for a few more waves. The opposing player was so mad he smashed his headset after the match.

You could tell a thing or two about Shen Man’s temper from this: he never held grudges—he settled them on the spot.

He was arrogant, but he had the capital to be.

After taking a couple of bites, Shen Man put down his chopsticks.

Over there, Xu Zhouye, who had been dragged away by the coach for a lecture, came out. Shen Man was twenty-one this year, three years older than Xu Zhouye. Looking at him, Shen Man felt Xu Zhouye looked more like a college student. Although he was taller, the ill-fitting, oversized black-and-gold team uniform hung loosely on him, and his somewhat long hair covered his eyes. Even so, it was clear the kid was good-looking. If he could really make it in the pro scene, his popularity definitely wouldn’t be low.

Too bad this game wasn’t played with faces.

Xu Zhouye walked over to him. Shen Man lowered his gaze, guessing what Xu Zhouye was about to say. Probably some apology about underperforming this time and promising to work harder next time. Just thinking about it made him feel tired.

“Captain,” Xu Zhouye started. His tone was low and pleasant, but he sounded a bit depressed.

“Mhm.” Shen Man lacked interest.

“Captain, are you still eating your Malatang?” Xu Zhouye asked.

“It’s fine, just work hard next time, don’t worry too much about it,” Shen Man replied without looking up.

Xu Zhouye: “Ah?”

Shen Man processed this, his expression freezing for two seconds. “What did you say?”

Xu Zhouye said, “I asked if you were still eating your Malatang.”

Shen Man: “…No.”

Xu Zhouye broke into a wide smile, revealing neat white teeth. “Then I’ll eat it, let’s not waste it!”

Shen Man stayed silent for two seconds, struggling to switch his brain from the esports channel to the lifestyle channel. He didn’t know what to say, and ultimately said nothing, just handing Xu Zhouye a fresh pair of chopsticks.

“Alright!” Xu Zhouye sat down happily and started eating, like a kid just let out of school.

The food that had tasted bland to Shen Man suddenly seemed to radiate new life in Xu Zhouye’s mouth. Watching his stuffed, bulging cheeks and expression of pure bliss, it took Shen Man a moment to recover… Why did he actually hand Xu Zhouye chopsticks?

Xu Zhouye ate fast, but not messily, and he chewed quietly. His expressions made the utterly ordinary food look exceptionally delicious.

Shen Man inexplicably felt a little hungry.

Xu Zhouye seemed to notice his gaze, made an effort to swallow the food in his mouth, and looked at Shen Man obediently. “Captain, do you want to eat a little more?”

The refusal that should have blurted out instantly was delayed by a moment of hesitation.

“No need,” Shen Man ultimately declined. “You eat it.”

Xu Zhouye’s eyes curved into crescents as he hummed in agreement.

Shen Man got up and left.

Just as he stepped out, he bumped into the team manager on the phone by the door. Seeing Shen Man, the manager gestured for him to wait.

Shen Man asked, “What?”

The manager hung up, “What do you think of this kid, Xu Zhouye?”

Shen Man replied, “Are you asking how he did in today’s match?”

Manager: “…”

“You can just check Weibo to see how he did,” Shen Man said blankly.

The people on Weibo had venomous mouths. They summarized Xu Zhouye’s contribution to the match in a few short words: “If he hadn’t made it a full team of five, the game literally couldn’t have started.”

The manager looked helpless. “Then do you think we should let him play next match?”

Shen Man didn’t answer, just glanced in the coach’s direction. “Why did you decide to buy him?”

The manager said, “Hey, don’t say that, this kid was highly sought after. MIN and KL were fighting over him.” Who knew he’d play like this on stage.

Shen Man said, “Heh, is that really the reason?”

The manager looked a bit embarrassed and coughed awkwardly. “Well, isn’t it because… his cost-performance ratio is high?”

Shen Man: “…” He turned and walked away.

“Hey, hey, Man, don’t go yet, let’s talk!” The manager failed to stop him.

Shen Man left, leaving behind a room of silent teammates and a Xu Zhouye engrossed in Malatang.

Xu Zhouye seemed completely oblivious to the weird atmosphere around him. He was still finishing off the remaining food. Even when Zhao Rui sighed and patted his shoulder, he didn’t lift his head.

Zhao Rui was a busybody and had intended to comfort the kid, but seeing him so immersively savoring the Malatang, ignoring him completely, Zhao Rui actually got a bit hungry. “Xu Zhouye, is it that good? Let me have a bite.”

Xu Zhouye shook his head.

Zhao Rui was caught off guard by the rejection and froze.

“The captain gave this to me,” Xu Zhouye said earnestly. “Only I can eat it.”

Zhao Rui: “…” He’s even getting protective of his food.

The ACE base had great perks; every player had their own private suite, though they all used the same training room for easier communication.

Today, just looking at the game annoyed Shen Man, so he didn’t play ranked.

The early summer night still carried a chill. Since he hadn’t eaten much for dinner, Shen Man was a little hungry. He checked the time—it was already 3 AM, and everyone in the base should be asleep.

He strolled out, intending to scavenge the kitchen fridge. Passing by the training room, he noticed a faint light inside.

Curious, Shen Man pushed the door open and saw Xu Zhouye sitting in the corner.

All the lights in the room were off except for the monitor illuminating Xu Zhouye. He wore headphones, staring intently at the screen. The dim light fell on his expressionless face, making him look much colder than he did during the day.

Shen Man paused, then hesitated before walking up behind Xu Zhouye.

Wearing headphones, Xu Zhouye was completely absorbed in his operation and didn’t notice anyone behind him.

Xu Zhouye was still playing a Carry Jungler. His character was glowing gold, clearly wearing the most expensive gear just by the color. The KDA on the screen was a beautiful 15-1-5, but the most beautiful thing was his hands flying across the keyboard.

Long, well-defined knuckles, neatly trimmed nails, slowly typing out two numbers: [All]: 12.

After typing that, the player in the fountain respawned again. Xu Zhouye’s assassin Jungler lunged forward, and the opponent’s health bar vanished instantly.

The opponent went crazy, a barrage of curses flooding the voice channel. But this clearly did zero damage to Xu Zhouye, who had just killed him yet again. Xu Zhouye slowly typed out another number: [All]: 13.

The opponent suffered a complete mental breakdown.

Xu Zhouye’s face remained emotionless, even finding time to reach up and scratch an itchy nose.

Shen Man: “…” He actually found it a bit funny.

By the time the game ended, the opponent had been killed 18 times by Xu Zhouye. Their screen was black and white the entire time, like watching a tragic old-time documentary.

“Not asleep yet?” Shen Man spoke.

Startled by the sudden voice behind him, Xu Zhouye whipped around. “Captain?”

Shen Man looked at him.

“Couldn’t sleep,” Xu Zhouye looked a bit embarrassed under Shen Man’s gaze. “I had nothing to do anyway, so I thought I’d play some ranked.”

Shen Man glanced at the screen again: “Server 1?”

“Mhm,” Xu Zhouye replied obediently.

“When you’re playing on your main, don’t flame people or fountain-camp,” Shen Man said. “You’ll get fined if caught.” These rules were clearly stated in pro player contracts. He wasn’t usually one to meddle, but for some reason, he talked more than usual today.

“Okay, I don’t usually fountain-camp anyway, but this guy insulted my family, he was too annoying,” Xu Zhouye explained.

“Mhm. Get some rest soon,” Shen Man said.

“Goodnight, Captain,” Xu Zhouye said.

Shen Man waved and turned away. He grabbed some random food from the kitchen, went back to his room, and pulled out his phone to search for the ID he had just seen on Xu Zhouye’s screen.

Server 1’s highest rank, 1836 points, ranked 158th on the entire server.

Shen Man remembered that wasn’t Xu Zhouye’s main account. Xu Zhouye’s main account was quite famous in their circle. It was named SpongeBob, a renowned random pub-stomper who hit rank one on the Asian server earlier in the year, bringing him to the attention of the pro scene.

Knowing Xu Zhouye had signed with a pro team, everyone was curious to see his brilliant stage debut… Shen Man’s mind instead conjured the tragic image of Xu Zhouye’s corpse lying beneath the Storm Siren’s skirt.

He had been laning in the bot lane at the time. Hearing the broadcast, he froze for a second, immediately switched his screen over, and saw Xu Zhouye’s dead body and the flapping wings of the Siren.

Shen Man turned his head and looked at Xu Zhouye, who was sitting right next to him.

The kid’s face was illuminated pale white by the monitor light, his forehead and nose covered in sweat. He seemed to have been overwhelmingly nervous.

Shen Man retracted his gaze, thinking with some regret: What a shame to waste such a good seedling.

Some people play games extremely well but just aren’t suited for the stage.

Because they lost the very first match of the summer season, the atmosphere in the base was far from good.

That night, Zhao Rui asked Shen Man to queue up together.

Arriving at the training room, they saw Xu Zhouye already sitting there, who knows for how long.

The kid actually had an outgoing personality and had familiarized himself with everyone in the base over the past month—except for Shen Man.

Shen Man had a cold personality and wasn’t easy to approach. The few times Xu Zhouye tried to chat, he got half-hearted replies.

Strangers might think he was acting like a diva, but teammates who had played with him for years knew that was just how he was.

“Captain,” Zhao Rui whispered to Shen Man. “Do you think the coach will let Xu Zhouye play in next week’s match?”

Shen Man glanced at him but didn’t answer.

Zhao Rui added, “We’re playing against TKR, after all.”

The whole league knew TKR and ACE didn’t get along.

Back when ACE had just won the World Championship, TKR immediately started poaching their players. They offered an astronomical salary to buy out ACE’s Carry Jungler—though their original target had also included Shen Man, who surprisingly turned down the massive contract.

The Jungler took the Mage with him, the Support retired due to age, and the Tank left for another team. Only Shen Man remained, essentially forcing a complete rebuild.

If Shen Man hadn’t insisted on staying, ACE could have disbanded right then and there.

After that, ACE cycled through multiple rosters and tried various strategies, but unfortunately failed to stabilize.

Over the past two years, they barely scraped into the Mid-Season Invitational, only to be eliminated in the first round.

Shen Man said, “What, you think subbing him out will make us win?”

Zhao Rui was left speechless.

Their substitute Jungler was very average. While he wouldn’t make ridiculous mistakes like Xu Zhouye, nobody expected him to carry them to victory.

Plus, the current TKR was in their final, complete form; ACE had almost zero chance of winning.

Did they really have to lose again? Thinking about how the opponents would flash emotes in-game to mock them, Zhao Rui felt a stomach full of rage—especially towards TKR’s current Mage, Yang Shanhe, who loved gloating the most.

Shen Man said, “That’s not something you should be worrying about.”

Zhao Rui sighed. That was true.

The two sat down at their computers. Over there, Xu Zhouye had just finished a match. Just as Zhao Rui was about to tell Shen Man to start the lobby, he heard Shen Man say to Xu Zhouye, “Wanna join?”

Zhao Rui: “?” Did Shen Man take the wrong meds? Since when was he this friendly?

Xu Zhouye nodded, “Sure.”

Their ranked scores were too high to queue together normally, so all three logged onto alt accounts to play in a lower rank bracket.

“What are you playing?” Shen Man, who was the lobby leader, asked.

“Swarm Queen,” Xu Zhouye said.

“Is that hero viable in this patch?” Zhao Rui asked. The hero had a complex skill set that heavily tested mechanics and game sense.

Few people played her in the current patch because she wasn’t tanky enough and her crowd control was inconsistent. The hero had barely seen any stage play this year.

“Other people’s aren’t,” Xu Zhouye said. “Mine is.”

Zhao Rui: “…” This kid is really arrogant. If he hadn’t just trended on Weibo for playing like garbage, Zhao Rui might have actually believed him.

Hearing this, Shen Man said blankly, “Okay.”

He instantly locked the hero in for Xu Zhouye.

Zhao Rui pursed his lips. He had been in the league for three years and had seen countless “geniuses,” but those who actually got results on stage were few and far between.

To quote an internet slang: You think you’re a celestial being descending to the mortal realm, exhausting yourself to join the ranks of the gods, only to realize you’re just one of the hundred thousand heavenly soldiers sent to surround Sun Wukong.

“Minions have spawned!” Along with the impassioned female announcer’s voice, the game began.

At one minute and thirty seconds, First Blood was drawn. Xu Zhouye secured the first kill in the enemy jungle.

Neither Zhao Rui nor Shen Man thought much of it.

At three minutes, a second kill.

At four minutes and thirty seconds, a third kill.

Shen Man suddenly realized something. He opened the scoreboard and noticed the enemy Jungler was completely ruined. Nearly five minutes into the game, they were only level two… which meant aside from the very first jungle camp they cleared, Xu Zhouye had devoured every single remaining monster.

Not only did he devour the jungle, he devoured players.

Xu Zhouye’s scoreboard glaringly displayed four kills, and it was only five minutes in.

Zhao Rui muttered, “This fierce? But it is a low-rank game, so it’s whatever…”

Shen Man said expressionlessly, “Even if it’s a low-rank game, could you land a hook at least once?” Zhao Rui picked a hook-based hero and hadn’t landed a single one since the game started.

Zhao Rui laughed awkwardly, “It’s because the opponents are too weak! Every time I try to predict their dodging, they just stand completely still!”

Shen Man: “I hope your health bar is as thick as your skin.”

Zhao Rui: “…”

While the two were talking, Xu Zhouye killed the enemy again. This time the opponent completely collapsed, initiating a surrender vote right on the fifteen-minute mark.

“Again?” Xu Zhouye turned his head and asked.

“Mhm,” Shen Man clicked ‘Play Again.’ “Still Swarm Queen?”

“Yeah,” Xu Zhouye said. “I’ve been practicing her lately.”

Shen Man said, “A pocket pick? How come I didn’t see you play her during trials?”

He was, of course, present during Xu Zhouye’s trials. To adapt to ACE’s Marksman Carry system, Xu Zhouye played almost exclusively utility Junglers that entire month—buying a gold-sharing knife right out of the gate, playing heroes with thick health bars and heavy crowd control, but lacking in damage.

During the trials, Xu Zhouye performed quite well, so Shen Man assumed that was his strong suit.

Hearing Shen Man’s question, Xu Zhouye smiled again. This kid seemed to particularly love smiling, his curving eyes revealing a sense of innocence and cuteness: “The coach said our team has to play around the Captain!”

Shen Man froze. Before he could reply, Xu Zhouye blurted out his next sentence: “I’m going to be the Captain’s fiercest dog!”

Shen Man: “…”

Zhao Rui, sitting next to them, turned bright red holding back his laughter.

Shen Man: “…Who taught you to say that?”

“The stream chat taught me!” The kid clearly didn’t realize anything was wrong with that statement, acting incredibly candid. “They all told me to say it!”

Shen Man: “…”