SITS CH28

Chapter 28: Unexpected Incident

The coach gave them the weekend off. Zhao Rui, Liu Shishi, and the rest all headed out to play.

Shen Man didn’t go out, resting in his room instead.

The happiest thing in summer was eating ice pops while blasting the air conditioning. Curled up in his chair with a plum-flavored ice pop clamped in his mouth, he held a Switch in his hands, playing a newly released game.

The wind outside suddenly picked up. The previously clear sky was instantly shrouded in dark clouds, looking as though rain was imminent.

Summer storms always arrived with such abruptness.

With a crash of thunder, the first raindrops smashed against the ground, evaporating instantly. Yet more raindrops followed swiftly, moistening the sweltering, parched earth.

The rain was heavy, pouring from afternoon straight into the evening.

This kind of weather was simply too perfect for sleeping. Yawning, Shen Man got into bed early. The rain outside gradually ceased, leaving the air exceptionally fresh. Turning off the air conditioning, he opened the window, lay in bed feeling the evening breeze, and drifted into a drowsy slumber.

Shen Man had a nightmare.

In the nightmare, dark shadows flickered, weaving and darting through his vision like phantoms. An intense sense of unease jolted Shen Man awake from his deep sleep.

In the darkness, Shen Man opened his eyes. Half-asleep and half-awake, he seemed to see a dark, human silhouette standing right by his bed, staring quietly at him.

It looked exactly like a scene from his dream. For a moment, Shen Man couldn’t distinguish whether he was asleep or awake.

No… he wasn’t dreaming.

Shen Man’s eyes widened. Confirming he was indeed awake, intense terror banished whatever sleepiness remained. Shen Man was now clearly aware that someone was standing by his bed—

“Who is it?” With a hoarse voice, Shen Man rapidly sat up, reaching to turn on the light.

Yet his outstretched hand was pressed down by something icy cold—feeling like the blunt back of a knife.

The person standing in the dark spoke, saying, “Man-shen, I’m your fan.”

As if a bucket of ice water had been dumped over his head, Shen Man’s body froze.

The person’s voice carried an abnormal excitement, saying, “I’ve been a fan of yours for years.”

Shen Man: “…”

“When your results were poor before, I was always so worried,” he said. “This time ACE finally won the Summer Championship. I was so happy.”

This guy was a psycho.

Shen Man couldn’t see his face clearly, only barely making out his silhouette. His height was roughly around 1.7 meters, and his build wasn’t particularly muscular; if it actually came to a brawl, Shen Man likely wouldn’t be at a disadvantage. The problem was that the guy was gripping a sharp weapon in his hand…

Shen Man’s gaze swept across the room, but unfortunately, his room was far too bare—there was nothing he could use for self-defense.

“Man-shen, you guys must keep pushing forward,” the guy continued muttering endlessly. “You have to win the World Championship. I know you’re the best player out there, nobody can beat you…”

Thoroughly spine-chilling words that made one’s hair stand on end.

Shen Man didn’t make a sound, letting him continue talking.

The guy, however, began minding his silence, his voice turning shrill in an instant: “Man-shen, why aren’t you speaking?”

Fearing he might provoke him, Shen Man said softly, “You’re my fan, don’t you know I don’t like to talk?”

Hearing this, the fan was very satisfied: “Yes, yes, yes, I know you don’t like talking. Then you don’t have to talk, just listen to me.”

He kept talking, seemingly with no intention of stopping.

Shen Man only felt a bitter taste in his mouth.

Just as he was wondering how on earth this was going to end, a human silhouette suddenly appeared outside the pitch-black window. The figure carefully approached the wide-open window, seemingly intending to climb inside.

Shen Man’s eyes widened. He recognized the figure’s identity—it was Xu Zhouye.

Xu Zhouye didn’t know why he had suddenly woken up in the middle of the night either. His sleep quality was usually excellent, typically sleeping straight through until the next day.

Yet today, after unexpectedly waking up, he couldn’t fall back asleep no matter what. Checking his phone, it was three in the morning.

Unable to sleep and feeling his mouth a bit dry, Xu Zhouye climbed out of bed, planning to grab a bottle of cold water from the kitchen.

However, as he passed by Shen Man’s bedroom, Xu Zhouye heard strange noises coming from inside, sounding like someone talking loudly—and the voice didn’t belong to Shen Man.

Could Shen Man be watching a show this late?

Xu Zhouye found it odd. He had never seen Shen Man binge-watch any shows before, and Shen Man’s daily routine was notoriously disciplined. Why wouldn’t he be asleep in the middle of the night today? Could something have happened?

The scene of Shen Man curled up in bed having a nightmare last time was still vivid in his mind. A bad premonition suddenly struck Xu Zhouye. Hesitating for a moment, he crept close to the door, trying to hear what the person inside was saying.

Listening closely, he broke out in a cold sweat.

There was clearly more than one person inside. Although the words spoken by the voice were muffled, he could tell from the disjointed snippets that the person’s mental state was highly abnormal. That agitated tone and spine-chilling manner of speech told Xu Zhouye clearly: someone had snuck into Shen Man’s room.

How did he get in? Xu Zhouye’s brain spun rapidly. Shen Man usually locked his door, so it probably wasn’t through the door. If not the door, the only option left was the window. Everyone at the base knew each other, so leaving windows open during good weather was common practice; it was highly likely the guy had climbed in through the window.

Xu Zhouye turned back to his own room and grabbed the laundry pole from the balcony.

Shen Man watched Xu Zhouye sneak over. Vaulting silently through the wide-open window, he stood right behind the fan.

Completely oblivious, the fan was still professing his endless adoration to Shen Man.

Raising the laundry pole, Xu Zhouye smashed it viciously onto the man’s back. He didn’t hold back; the sheer force sent the man stumbling forward. Letting out a shrill shriek, the man crashed to the floor.

Seeing this, Shen Man hurriedly jumped up and bolted toward the door, yelling: “SOMEONE HELP—”

Lights flickered on one after another in the other rooms of the base, everyone jolted awake by his shout.

“Ge, are you okay?!” Seeing the man hit the floor, Xu Zhouye breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly rushed to Shen Man’s side.

Shen Man’s face was terrifyingly pale. Standing barefoot on the floor in his pajamas with his hair in disarray, he exuded a sense of helpless panic utterly unseen on regular days, looking both pitiful and endearing.

“I’m fine,” Shen Man shook his head.

“How the fuck did this guy get in?” Xu Zhouye was also drenched in cold sweat. If he hadn’t inexplicably woken up in the middle of the night wanting water, god knew how things would have unfolded. At the thought, a wave of delayed terror washed over him, even conjuring the mental image of opening the door the next day only to find Shen Man lying in a pool of blood.

Shen Man said, “Probably climbed the wall…”

Although their base had security guards, it was ultimately just an ordinary villa district. If someone was truly hellbent on scaling the walls, there really wasn’t much that could be done. Fortunately, such extreme fans were rare; otherwise, it would truly be a test of cardiovascular fortitude.

“Let’s call the police,” Xu Zhouye suggested.

“Okay,” Shen Man nodded in agreement. “Thank you, Xu Zhouye.”

The moment those words left his mouth, the fan who had been knocked to the ground by Xu Zhouye suddenly erupted, roaring violently: “XU ZHOUYE!!! STAY AWAY FROM SHEN MAN!!!”

Scrambling up from the floor, he charged at them wielding the knife.

The potential unleashed by a human in extreme fury was terrifying—and this guy was a literal psychopath on top of it.

Both Shen Man and Xu Zhouye were startled, but both reacted swiftly. Raising his arms, Xu Zhouye used the laundry pole to block the man’s shoulders, preventing him from getting closer, while Shen Man grabbed a nearby stool and hurled it at him. Yet the man seemed immune to pain. Swinging his arm, he slashed the wooden laundry pole in half, then lunged viciously at the two of them with a contorted, savage face.

Xu Zhouye roared, “Shen Man, run—!” preparing to charge forward and intercept the guy.

How could Shen Man possibly run? This guy was gunning for him specifically and held a knife. If he ran, wouldn’t that leave Xu Zhouye to suffer?

Fury dyed Shen Man’s eyes blood-red. Grinding his teeth, he roared with venomous hatred: “Where the fuck did this psycho crawl out from!!!” Without waiting for Xu Zhouye to speak, he charged straight forward, completely ignoring the knife in the man’s hand. Raising his foot, he kicked out, viciously tackling the man to the ground.

The ensuing scene was utter chaos. Seizing the moment Shen Man pinned the man down, Xu Zhouye rushed up, stomped heavily on the man’s hand, and kicked the knife away.

Gripping the man’s collar, Shen Man swung his fists, raining brutal blows down on the man’s face. He pummeled the guy until he lost consciousness, yet still refused to stop.

“Ge, ge, don’t beat him to death—”

The shouting sounded as though muffled behind a thick membrane, completely indiscernible. It wasn’t until someone hugged him tightly from behind, stroking his back while repeatedly consoling him: “It’s okay, it’s okay, he’s already passed out… Ge, I’ve called an ambulance… we’re going to the hospital right now…”

It took Shen Man quite a while before he finally snapped out of it. Hearing the word ‘hospital,’ he lifted his eyes: “What hospital? We’re not going to the hospital, let him die right here.”

Xu Zhouye actually caught a trace of aggrieved petulance in Shen Man’s tone and hurriedly explained: “Ge, he’s not the one going to the hospital, we are.”

“Why are we going?” Shen Man asked. Jolting slightly, he scanned Xu Zhouye up and down. “You’re hurt? Are your hands okay?”

His first reaction was that Xu Zhouye’s hands absolutely could not be injured.

Xu Zhouye’s eyes stung, practically choking on a sob: “Ge, you’re the one who’s hurt.”

Looking down, Shen Man finally noticed his clothes were stained with blood. As the adrenaline faded, the sensation of pain finally kicked in. Shen Man realized there was a bloody, mangled gash on his forearm that he hadn’t felt at all earlier.

Beside him, Xu Zhouye was panicking even more than he was, his entire body shaking as he held his phone dialing emergency services. Shen Man knew what he was terrified of: a professional esports player’s greatest fear was injuring their hands.

Even though Heart of the Wasteland wasn’t extremely heavily reliant on APM, a hand injury was still lethal for a pro player.

Perhaps due to losing too much blood, Shen Man abruptly felt somewhat exhausted.

The rest of the base finally hurried over one after another.

Arriving at the doorway, Zhao Rui was struck dumb by the scene before him.

Wearing pajamas and standing barefoot in a pool of blood, fresh blood still dripped from Shen Man’s right arm. He lowered his eyes, looking drowsy and on the verge of fainting at any second. His gorgeous face was as pale as paper, dotted with specks of blood on his cheeks and chin. Amidst the sheer horror, the entire scene inexplicably carried a morbid, tragic beauty.

But when Zhao Rui noticed that Shen Man’s right arm seemed to be injured, that trace of tragic beauty instantly mutated into sheer terror.

“What happened, what happened!!” He rushed into the room, spotting the stranger lying unconscious on the floor.

Beside them, Xu Zhouye had just connected with emergency services and was reciting the base’s address. He was panicking as well, his voice trembling violently.

The person involved, Shen Man, was rather calm. Walking over to a nearby chair, he sat down, crossed his legs, fished out a pack of cigarettes, pulled one out, and lit it, completely ignoring Zhao Rui’s frantic questioning.

Not knowing what had happened, Zhao Rui hopped around in panic.

Of course, hopping in panic alongside him were the others who arrived shortly after.

Seeing the scene, the manager nearly fainted from horror. Had Xu Zhouye not held him back, he would have charged forward to deliver a few extra kicks to the unconscious man.

“So a fucking psycho broke into Shen Man’s room in the middle of the night and almost killed him?” The manager summarized perfectly.

Xu Zhouye said, “Yes…”

The manager spat out a string of incredibly foul curses.

Shen Man looked entirely out of place amidst the chaotic surroundings. The blood on his arm was still flowing, pressed tightly by Xu Zhouye using a towel. It stung, but was bearable. The others chattered endlessly, some expressing concern, some asking questions. Knowing he was in a bad state, they didn’t come bother him.

The ambulance and the police arrived very quickly. Shen Man was loaded into the vehicle and rushed to the hospital.

Between the emergency room and getting stitched up, the sky was already bright by the time everything concluded.

The unfortunate news was that an injury to that area would inevitably affect his mechanics somewhat; the fortunate news was that it hadn’t damaged the tendons or bones. With proper recovery, it wouldn’t impact his subsequent pro career.

According to the doctor, the injury would take at least a month to heal.

Xu Zhouye stayed by his side the entire time during the consultation. While the wound was being treated, Shen Man hadn’t even made a peep, whereas Xu Zhouye’s entire body was shaking like a leaf, his face as pale as paper, looking as though he were the one enduring immense agony rather than Shen Man.

It even prompted the nurse to ask in confusion, “Are you hurt somewhere too? Do you need to get checked?”

Xu Zhouye said, “I’m fine.” He had seen the gash on Shen Man’s forearm—it was alarmingly close to the wrist. If it had been just an inch lower, everything would have been completely over.

Xu Zhouye couldn’t even fathom what a cruel, devastating blow it would be if Shen Man was forced to retire because of this injury. Thank god, thank god, it wasn’t the worst-case scenario…

Between exhaustion and pain, Shen Man grew a bit impatient: “Alright, stop shaking. Aren’t I perfectly fine?”

Xu Zhouye said aggrievedly, “I was just worried about you.”

Seeing his expression, Shen Man instantly felt guilty for his bad temper. Xu Zhouye had risked his life to help, and he had the nerve to yell at him? He really was a piece of work. Forcing himself to be patient, his tone softened considerably as he spoke in his local dialect: “Guaiguai, stop shaking. If you keep shaking, you’re going to make me terrified too.”

When Shen Man spoke in dialect, it carried a unique, endearing flavor. Hearing the word guaiguai, Xu Zhouye’s ears flushed red, and he let out an “Mm”: “Okay.”

After treating the wound, they still had to head to the police station to give statements.

The sky was completely bright. Having been tossed about since three in the morning and suffering an injury on top of it, Shen Man’s face bore an unhideable pallor and exhaustion.

On the taxi ride to the police station, he fell asleep leaning against Xu Zhouye’s shoulder.

Looking at his weary, exhausted face, Xu Zhouye’s heart ached terribly. He sat bolt upright, terrified of making Shen Man’s resting position uncomfortable.

Giving statements didn’t take long. By the time Shen Man returned to the base to rest, it was barely noon.

Everyone else had learned the news of his injury, and condolence messages on WeChat poured in one after another.

There were far too many; Shen Man couldn’t possibly reply to them one by one, so he simply made a Moments post stating he had only suffered minor injuries and telling everyone not to worry.

[Scared me to death! I saw the Weibo trending searches and thought your hand had been chopped off!] Zhang Chaoyun replied upon seeing the post: [Those people really know how to add fuel to the fire.]

Shen Man hadn’t expected the incident to make it onto the trending searches. With his right hand injured and inconvenient to use, he asked Xu Zhouye to check Weibo and see what the situation was.

Logging onto Weibo, Xu Zhouye discovered that the #1 trending topic was indeed Shen Man’s injury. Scrolling down, he saw all sorts of wild narratives: some claimed a TKR fan had shown up at the door and hacked Shen Man to death, that resuscitation efforts had failed and he was pronounced dead on the scene; others spun tales of vendettas or crimes of passion. The masses’ imagination was on full, glorious display, reading like spine-chilling fiction.

Xu Zhouye said helplessly: “Well… the situation is a bit complicated…”

Seeing Xu Zhouye’s reaction, Shen Man knew exactly what was going on, saying, “Alright, no need to tell me.”

Xu Zhouye: “…Haha.”

The mess in the bedroom from earlier had already been cleaned up, leaving no trace of what had just occurred.

Changing into clean pajamas, Shen Man collapsed into bed and fell asleep instantly, sleeping straight through until past eight in the evening.

It was almost dark outside, but the sun hadn’t fully set yet, dyeing the clouds on the horizon a beautiful shade of orange.

The wound on his right arm throbbed painfully. Shen Man stared at the ceiling through half-open eyes, feeling a profound loneliness as if he had been abandoned by the world. He didn’t know how long he lay there before the gnawing hunger in his stomach pulled him out of his daze and back to the mortal realm.

Having not eaten all day, Shen Man felt somewhat dizzy as he climbed out of bed.

Holding onto a cabinet, he steadied himself for a moment before walking slowly outside.

The base was usually quite lively; after all, with several guys in their early twenties playing video games together, how quiet could it get? Yet today, the base was unnervingly silent. If Shen Man hadn’t walked into the training room and seen them sitting before their computers, he would’ve assumed something terrible had happened at the base.

“What are you guys doing?” Shen Man asked.

Some were grinding ranked, others watching VODs, but without exception, the atmosphere was dead silent. Hearing Shen Man’s voice, they all turned their heads simultaneously.

“You’re awake,” Xu Zhouye was the first to stand up. “Ge, you must be hungry. What do you want to eat?”

Shen Man asked, “Is there porridge?”

Xu Zhouye said, “Yes, yes, yes, have a seat, I’ll bring it over for you.”

Shen Man walked over to his own seat and sat down.

Everyone immediately swarmed around him.

Liu Shishi asked cautiously, “Shen-ge, how’s your hand?”

Shen Man said, “Nothing serious, just hurts a bit.”

Zhao Rui said, “Then you’d better rest well these next few days. Don’t touch the mouse.”

Shen Man didn’t care much: “We’ll see.” The injury was on his forearm; it didn’t actually affect his mouse grip, though intense positioning movements might tug at the wound.

“The manager said he’s installing security bars on your room’s windows tomorrow,” Xu Xiaochong said worriedly. “It truly scared us half to death…”

It was indeed terrifying. Though they had witnessed crazy fans before, one this unhinged was a first.

Shen Man said, “It was quite terrifying, yes.”

Over there, Xu Zhouye walked over carrying porridge, bringing along a few side dishes and warmed-up steamed buns, setting them down in front of Shen Man.

Shen Man took a bite; the temperature was perfect. Just as he was about to continue eating, he noticed everyone’s eyes were fixed squarely upon him, their gazes so paternal and doting it was actually somewhat creepy.

“Why are you all staring at me?” Shen Man was baffled.

“Isn’t it because everyone was terrified of losing you,” Zhao Rui acted sickly sweet. “Our dear Man-man.”

Shen Man: “…” His already poor appetite just got even worse.

“Indeed. If you guys lost me, it would be just like the HCC losing Yu Aiguo,” Shen Man said.

“Who’s Yu Aiguo?” Zhao Rui asked.

Shen Man said, “The security guard at our base’s front gate.”

Zhao Rui: “…”

Everyone roared with laughter.