SITS Ch19

Chapter 19: The Double Standard Oddball

Amid the swirling smoke, Xu Zhouye happened to walk in from outside, carrying half a heavy watermelon. The strain caused the veins on the back of his hands to bulge, showcasing his solid and well-defined muscles. Seeing this, Shen Man quietly pinched his own arm. He didn’t exercise much and was a picky eater. Though he wasn’t frail, he did seem to be missing something…

Shen Man recalled that Xu Zhouye seemed to go for a morning run every day and, after finishing training around six in the evening, would still hit the gym. Normally, Shen Man didn’t pay much attention to these routines, but today, they suddenly crossed his mind.

Maybe… he should start working out with Xu Zhouye? Shen Man frowned as he pondered the idea.

Xu Zhouye had no clue what was going on with Shen Man. He had merely brought in a watermelon, yet his captain was staring at him with a peculiar, ever-changing expression that was impossible to decipher.

Deciding to take the initiative, Xu Zhouye approached Shen Man with the watermelon in his arms and said, “Shen-ge, want some?”

Shen Man: “…Sure.”

Xu Zhouye: “Alright!”

He then fetched two spoons, and the two of them huddled together, digging into the watermelon.

When Zhao Rui walked in, he was greeted by this incredibly harmonious scene. Seeing Shen Man and Xu Zhouye sharing a giant watermelon, he couldn’t help but feel puzzled. “Shen Man, you’re eating watermelon? Aren’t you allergic to it too?”

Xu Zhouye froze mid-scoop. “Huh?”

Shen Man calmly replied, “It’s fine. The reaction isn’t severe.”

In truth, Shen Man was allergic to a lot of things—mangoes, pineapples, kiwis… and even watermelon, though the reaction wasn’t severe. At worst, eating it would just give him an upset stomach.

Xu Zhouye immediately stopped eating, picked up the watermelon and left. He left Shen Man standing there with a spoon in his hand, dumbfounded: “…”

Zhao Rui clicked his tongue, saying, “You’re allergic but still eat it? This kind of treatment?”

Shen Man smiled slightly, “The kind of treatment that can take over your job.”

Zhao Rui: “?” Captain, I advise you not to lash out in anger.

*

Because of the sticky rice cake incident a few days ago, Shen Man hadn’t streamed for a while.

Tonight, the atmosphere seemed fine. After finishing training in the evening, he opened his streaming channel at around 8 PM. Having been away for a few days, his audience missed him, but their way of expressing it wasn’t exactly pleasant.

[Slow, you’re finally here. You haven’t streamed for so long, we thought you got detained after Fest’s match.]

[I miss SW, I miss SW’s beautiful face, I miss his iron fists.]

[You people are disgusting. Have you ever thought about how sad the beaten fest must feel? I’m not sad, though—go ahead, hit me.]

[Can we stop letting our morals follow our aesthetics? If I were Fest, I’d definitely expose Slow’s misdeeds.]

[He doesn’t dare expose it. If he does, SW might stop hitting him.]

Such shameless comments were infuriating, but Shen Man was used to it. He ordered a coffee, sipped it through a straw, and started his game.

His luck was pretty good today—no weird support teammates, and his matches were going smoothly. Shen Man was even considering streaming a bit longer to make up for the time he missed. He glanced at the chat and noticed something odd.

[SW, Rubber has publicly accused you of bullying him.]

[He says you’re the team tyrant of ACE.]

[He claims that when he was in ACE, you beat him three times a day plus a midnight snack, making it four.]

Rubber? This username immediately jogged Shen Man’s memory. This person was Yang Shanhe, ACE’s former mid-laner. When Qin Yixing left, he took Yang Shanhe with him. Back then, Yang Shanhe’s username wasn’t Rubber; he changed it to Rubber after joining TKR.

The rumors about Shen Man being a bully seemed to have originated from him.

Shen Man didn’t care about the chaotic gossip online, but he couldn’t tolerate someone spreading lies to his face. He typed Rubber’s name into the search bar and entered his stream.

On the other side, Yang Shanhe was indeed streaming.

He was playing a trio match with Qin Yixing and their team’s top-laner. Recently, the rumors about Shen Man bullying his teammates were causing quite a stir. As Shen Man’s former teammate, Yang Shanhe was inevitably asked about it.

After leaving ACE, Yang Shanhe had always held a grudge against Shen Man’s cold attitude. He couldn’t understand why, despite his enthusiasm to befriend Shen Man, Shen Man never even offered him a smile.

This unresolved issue had become a knot in his heart. So when the chat started stirring things up, he couldn’t help but make a few comments: “Shen Man, that guy, has a really bad temper.”

Controlling his mage, he landed a Q skill, taking off half the opponent mage’s health. He continued, “But if you’re saying he beats people, I definitely don’t believe that. It’s absolutely a rumor.”

Yang Shanhe added, “Besides, that Fest guy is taller than Shen Man. If they really fought, who knows who’d  win?” He followed up with another Q and secured a kill. Finally glancing at the chat, he froze in shock.

[Yang Shanhe confirms Shen Man beats his teammates!]

[Yang Shanhe says Fest was beaten out of jealousy because he’s taller than Shen Man.]

[Quick, quick, Shen Man is streaming too! Everyone, go tell him!]

Yang Shanhe witnessed the birth of a rumor firsthand. His eyes nearly popped out of his head. “Wait, when did I ever say that? Don’t twist my words!”

“I never said Shen Man beats people!” Yang Shanhe exclaimed in panic.

The chat, however, was reveling in the chaos, laughing uncontrollably. [Hurry up and apologize to him on WeChat.]

Yang Shanhe: “He hasn’t even added me on WeChat. How am I supposed to apologize?”

[Look at this! He didn’t even add his teammate on WeChat. If that’s not bullying, what is?]

[Oh no, poor thing. We’ll seek justice for you.]

In a room cooled to 23 degrees by air conditioning, Yang Shanhe broke out in a cold sweat. But the worst was yet to come. The next moment, a chilling notification appeared in his chat: “Streamer ACE.Slow has entered your stream.”

The chat exploded. [He’s here, he’s here! The main character is here!]

[Rubber, tell us how he bullied you to his face.]

Sweating profusely, Yang Shanhe trembled as he entered Shen Man’s stream. On camera, he saw Shen Man’s beautiful face, his expression as nonchalant as ever, with an ice pop in his mouth. The familiarity almost triggered his PTSD.

The two connected. Shen Man got straight to the point: “Yang Heshan, when did I ever bully you?”

Yang Shanhe: “…Actually, my name is Yang Shanhe.”

Shen Man: “…”

Yang Shanhe: “…”

[Hahahahaha, I’m dying of laughter.]

[I’m laughing so hard my stomach hurts. These two are hilarious.]

Calling him by the wrong name instantly weakened Shen Man’s imposing demeanor. He bit off a chunk of his ice pop with a crunch and asked, “Did I hit you?”

Faced with the direct question, Yang Shanhe hunched his shoulders and whispered, “No.”

“Did I curse at you?” Shen Man continued.

Yang Shanhe shook his head. “No.”

Shen Man was baffled. He didn’t think his personality was great, but surely it wasn’t bad enough to make people hate him. “Then how did I bully you?”

Yang Shanhe’s lips moved, but Shen Man didn’t catch it.

The man repeated, his voice choking: “You don’t remember my name.”

Shen Man: “…”

[Wait, bro, this plot twist isn’t what I expected.]

[I’m crying. Holy crap, he’s actually crying.]

[Help, I didn’t expect this to be so funny.]

Crunch. Shen Man bit off the rest of his ice pop without a word. Before he could respond, Yang Shanhe ended his stream at lightning speed, leaving Shen Man sitting silently in his gaming chair.

The chat went wild. Shen Man decided to ignore it all, returning to his own stream and continuing as if nothing had happened. Casually, he said, “Mods, ban anyone mentioning Yang Shanhe for a year.”

This guy is seriously crazy, and what’s even crazier is him, for trying to seek some kind of justice—let people spread rumors, it won’t cost him anything.

Now look, I’ve made someone cry. I don’t even want to check Weibo tonight.

What a neurotic guy Yang Shanhe is—what a neurotic turn of events. Is being mistaken for your name by a colleague really that heartbreaking? He guarantee that if someone called him Shen Kuai instead of Shen Man, he wouldn’t feel a thing.

It was destined to be a tragic night.

Shen Man’s heart was as hard as iron, so he kept streaming.

But while his heart was tough, his manager nearly had a heart attack, frantically sending messages on WeChat like a ghost who died unjustly.

[You’re trending again.]

[How did you make Yang Shanhe cry?]

[Man, removing the trending topic is really expensive.]

[Why aren’t you replying? Are you trying to make me cry with your cold treatment too?]

Shen Man furrowed his brows and ignored the messages, then quickly sent a message to Xu Zhouye.

[Where are you?]

Xu Zhouye replied quickly.

[Outside, got something to do. What’s up, ge?]

[I’m hungry. Bring me some late-night snacks.]

[Sure, what do you want?]

Shen Man thought for a moment, not really craving anything in particular.

[Something good.]

[Spicy.]

[Got it, I’ll be back around eleven.]

[Mm.]

Xu Zhouye was overjoyed looking at the message on his phone. This was the first time Shen Man had actively asked him to bring him late-night snacks. Since arriving at the base, Shen Man had always maintained a sense of distance, or politely put, it was a bit estranged. He never asked Xu Zhouye to do anything for him, but today was an exception.

Xu Zhouye quickly scrolled through the guides to pick a place Shen Man liked.

After years of competing, Shen Man’s ability to handle pressure was top-notch in the entire HCC. This was clearly demonstrated tonight. No matter what was trending on Weibo or the barrage of comments, he continued to play ranked without a single change in expression.

When the person involved wasn’t reacting, the audience found it boring. After some time, the excitement died down, and Shen Man grabbed a second popsicle. This one was strawberry-flavored, too sweet for his taste, making him frown.

The audience thought he was affected by the comments.

[Why aren’t you happy? Do you feel guilty?]

Shen Man saw the message and took out the popsicle, replying seriously: “Don’t buy the strawberry flavor of this brand, it’s too sweet. The chocolate one is just right.”

The barrage went quiet for a moment before flooding with:

[SW, you have no heart.]

Shen Man: “…” I don’t know if I have a heart, but you guys are crazy.

At around eleven, Xu Zhouye returned with the late-night snacks.

It was scorching outside, and he was drenched in sweat, but he still remembered to bring Shen Man a cup of iced milk tea. When he appeared behind Shen Man with the snacks, the number of viewers in the stream reached a new high.

Shen Man didn’t pay attention to the comments and quickly blocked the chat, telling them, “Stop posting, I can’t see it.”

The barrage:

[Here it comes, everyone’s favorite ‘mouth-covering’ play.]

[He’s really getting worse.]

[And you guys are the ones encouraging him. If you stop watching his stream, his popularity will drop, and he won’t dare to act like this anymore.]

[Forget it, I’m afraid he’ll happily retire and collect his pension.]

Not seeing the barrage, Shen Man focused on the food Xu Zhouye had brought.

It had to be said that the happiest moment of the night was when the food went into his mouth. When he tasted the late-night snacks, his eyes lit up. “Delicious.”

Xu Zhouye sat next to him, smiling. “Glad you like it.”

Shen Man glanced at him, handed him a tissue. “Wipe your sweat.”

Xu Zhouye nodded.

Shen Man handed him chopsticks. “Eat with me.”

Xu Zhouye smiled. “Sure.”

The camera wasn’t turned off, and the interaction between the two was clearly visible to the viewers, leaving them stunned.

[Why does this guy’s expression change so much in just a few minutes?]

[It feels like a weird illusion, like they just had a fight with their parents and are now secretly meeting their boyfriend.]

[Wasn’t Fest beaten by Slow? Why does Slow look so gentle towards him now?]

[The atmosphere is so creepy, it’s like watching someone’s romantic stream.]

Shen Man was so absorbed in the delicious food that he didn’t bother with the comments.

Xu Zhouye had brought back Jiangxi cuisine, and the flavors hit the spot for Shen Man, especially the crispy little yellow fish. The moment he took a bite, he felt like a new person.

The dish used small yellow fish, deep-fried in hot oil until the bones were crispy, then stir-fried with onions, green peppers, and other ingredients in a sweet and spicy sauce. The flavor was perfectly balanced.

It was spicy but incredibly delicious. Shen Man was amazed.

Besides that, the other dishes were also great. All in all, it was a high-quality late-night snack, and it almost made him forget about the unpleasant things that happened earlier in the evening.

Although Xu Zhouye was holding chopsticks, he didn’t touch any of the dishes. Shen Man asked him why he wasn’t eating, and he smiled and said he was full.

The barrage was heartbroken:

[The way Fest looks at Slow is like a fatherly glow, it’s giving me chills.]

[No, that’s not a fatherly glow, that’s the look he gives when he sees food.]

[When he sees food, he actually picks up his chopsticks.]

[Could it be that the food he’s referring to isn’t the late-night snack?]

Shen Man was oblivious to all of this, eating most of the late-night snacks and feeling full. He happily announced, “I’m in a good mood today, let’s keep working.”

“I’ll join you,” Xu Zhouye said.

“Sure, up for a duo queue with a smurf account?” Shen Man asked.

“Let’s go,” Xu Zhouye replied.

The manager, who had been waiting for a response, couldn’t take it anymore and went to the training room to find Shen Man. However, before he could enter, he saw Xu Zhouye and Shen Man happily duo queuing together.

The manager walked over to Shen Man’s side, cleared his throat, and pointed at the camera.

Shen Man heard the sound, glanced at him, and turned off both the camera and the microphone.

“What’s up?” Shen Man asked.

The manager said, “What’s going on between you and Yang Shanhe?”

Shen Man: “…You’re asking me, who should I ask?” He didn’t even understand how he got involved with him.

The manager said, “Alright, forget about him.” He pointed to the screen, looking at Xu Zhouye, who was assisting Shen Man, “What’s going on between you two?”

Shen Man: “?”

The manager: “What’s with that confused look? Is he really volunteering to bring you late-night snacks every day?”

Shen Man: “What else?”

Xu Zhouye raised his hand beside him: “Manager, I’m volunteering.”

Manager: “…” These two better not be secretly dating behind his back.