Chapter 102 (1)
Before Tong Yao ran out, she grabbed the writing tablet from Lu Sicheng.
On the way out of the base, she began to doubt herself– –In reality, she didn’t know Dubhe that well; they had only exchanged a few words occasionally……Usually, all the kids from the B team would stay in the training area on the second floor. The training area was in the open area across Tong Yao and her teammates’ rooms. Aside from the regular biweekly training matches against A team, B team wouldn’t normally have much of a chance to interact with the players from the A team.
Occasionally when the power went out or the internet went down, Little Fatty would shout out: “Kids upstairs, is your internet down? !”
Other than that, once in a while when a player from A team walked out of his own room, he would meet the eyes of the B team player who happened to sit facing his room……
Tong Yao and Dubhe met under this situation.
They would greet each other with a smile across the space once in a while and get to know each other a little better that way. Dubhe’s rank was between Diamond one and Master on the Korean server. Sometimes when Tong Yao was playing ranked, she would see him in her match……Tong Yao knew he actually played a decent Kalista, but seldom chose it.
Tong Yao didn’t go far out of the base to see Dubhe squatting outside the yard of the base. It was a hot day and it had just rained. Outside the base, it was muggy, hot, and swarming with mosquitos. Dubhe was squatting with a cigarette in hand.
Tong Yao had a younger brother herself. Though her brother was only a few years younger than her, she knew very well how a rebellious adolescent looked like when he was acting up– —
She walked up and pulled the cigarette out of Dubhe’s hand and threw it into the trash: “Youngsters shouldn’t learn this nonsense.”
Dubhe was stunned and turned to take a look at her. Tong Yao couldn’t clearly see the expression in his eyes in the darkness. She could only hear his voice which had just started hitting puberty: “Oh, it’s you.”
The voice sounded quite listless. It was quite a difference from earlier when he blushed and spilled water– —
He was in a bad mood.
Tong Yao put the writing tablet under her arm and squatted down next to him. She thought for a bit before speaking: “It’s normal to win or lose in a training match. Obsidian, in any case, beat the second place junior league team in the Spring season relegation game and kept its standing in the major league……It’s normal to lose to them, don’t feel bad.”
Dubhe: “Oh. Before today’s match……At that time you and Cheng Ge hadn’t come back yet. Ming god said that since Ah Lu’s our mid, our team should be at par with an average major league team.”
Tong Yao: “……”
Dubhe: “It’s my fault that we lost the game– –I know that. You don’t need to comfort me. I know very well that if I took Kalista, we would’ve won the match.”
Tong Yao took the writing tablet from under her arm.
Dubhe frowned and his voice became somewhat defiant: “But I just don’t want to take it.”
Tong Yao stuffed the writing tablet, which she was about to hand over to Dubhe, between her chest and her lap.
She circled her knees: “……I know you’re not happy being called Little Chessman.”
Dubhe didn’t say anything.
Tong Yao said after giving it some thought: “It was like back when Cheng Ge just started to play professionally and was a trainee in Korea. He was a substitute and was called Pope’s shadow– –He wasn’t happy about it then, besides he was surrounded by Koreans. It’s very possible that in the beginning when people referred to him as ‘Pope’s shadow’, the intention wasn’t the same as here when people call you ‘Little Chessman.’ At least, the latter nickname in most people’s perception is meant to be a compliment.”
Dubhe gave out a light mirthless laugh.
“Later it was through Cheng Ge’s own efforts that changed the nickname from ‘Pope’s shadow’ into ‘look, that’s the man who’s on equal footing with Pope,’ or ‘that’s the shadow that can block the light.’– –Kalista is the signature champion for both of them, yet Cheng Ge never avoids using Kalista because of it.”
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