Chapter 150 (2)
August 23rd, 2016, ZGDX was on their way to Hangzhou.
……
August 26th, 2016, Hangzhou, they were at the arena for the summer competition finals.
At dusk, the audience began to file into the arena. Over ten thousand seats were all occupied– –In the darkness, one could only see the lights of the various fluorescent cheering boards from fans of both teams and the glowing bracelets on their wrists.
They were like a field of fireflies.
Standing afar backstage, Tong Yao couldn’t clearly make out any of the faces in the crowded audience.
Yet she could clearly see those twinkling words on the cheering boards, “Go ZGDX”, “Chessman”, “Smiling”, and even large smiling emoticons…… Right in front of her was the soundproof glass room for the final match of the summer competition. With the glass room between her and the audience, she couldn’t make out what the audience was talking about or what the commentators were saying. She could only vaguely hear shout after shout of a certain player’s id or the name of one of the teams.
It was quite an amazing feeling.
Half a year ago, she was one of the many in the audience, sitting away from the stage and looking up at the empty competition area while eagerly fixing her eyes on the backstage entrance, excitedly awaiting her favorite team and favorite player to appear there– —
But as for now……
Tong Yao took her eyes away from the audience and turned around. There were staff members running behind her who were shouting “It’s going to begin soon, are you all ready”, “Are all the players here?”, “The substitutes have to be there too. I’ve already said it several times, why are you still asking now?”, “Has everyone got their cape yet? All the players need to wear it. The opening ceremony of the finals is about to begin.”……
In the midst of the confusion, Tong Yao keenly caught the key words “cape.” Her lips twitched a little and looked down at the black cape hanging on her arm. In her other hand, there was a face mask in the shape of a fox. The mask seemed to be quite delicately made. It was a small mask with red eye sockets with a mouth that curved upwards, there were even flower twinkles in between the eyes…… As she was looking at these two items, resisting the urge to wear them, the cape was pulled away from her arm. The tall man behind her opened the cape and draped it over her: “The backstage workers are already in such a chaotic state, can’t you just put this on yourself?”
Tong Yao looked up and saw the man behind who was tying the cape for her without any expression– –He had the same style of cape on him and on his forehead, there was a fox mask hanging there which covered about half of his face. The mask was different from Tong Yao’s in terms of style and size.
Tong Yao: “……”
She looked down at the hands pulling on the strings of the cape: “I just don’t understand why they have to make the players go on stage at the opening ceremony looking like a Death Eater going out to slaughter a village at midnight……”
Lu Sicheng glanced up at her, looking rather powerless. Then he pulled the mask out of her hand and took a look at it before putting it on Tong Yao’s face– —
The muffled sound of Tong Yao’s voice came from behind the mask: “It’s totally chuunibyou.”
Lu Sicheng pursed his lips: “Shut up.”
Tong Yao stood on her tippy toes and reached over to touch the mask on Lu Sicheng’s face– –The delicate mask covered half of his face and the tip of his nose seemed to point even more sharply under the edge of the mask: “…… When you were playing professionally in Korea, you really didn’t get any cosmetic surgery? Let me pinch your nose, so pointy, tsk, tsk, I’m jealous…… Your mask is better looking than mine. Why is mine covering my whole face?”
Lu Sicheng grabbed her hand, the corner of his lips slightly curved up, and his other hand moved over to lift Tong Yao’s mask up a little. Tong Yao’s chin showed under the mask as Lu Sicheng looked down about to say something. Behind them, some staff members shouted: “Get ready! Let’s go!”
They heard an explosion in the sky right afterwards. Fireworks exploded with colorful lights, lighting up the night sky!
[Friends and fans, welcome to the 2016 League of Legends Professional League China Region Summer Competition Finals. I’m today’s commentator A! Tonight, we’ll witness the finals of the summer competition and the emergence of the first team that will be representing our Region in the world tournament!]
Accompanied by the commentator’s voice, the two teams, together with substitutes, 16 players in total, walked onto the stage wearing capes and various masks. The two teams stood in a row and in the middle of the stage was the champion cup of this year’s summer competition– —
When they passed the soundproof glass room, the cheers of the audience were suddenly in stereo, like thunder. The fans waved their glow sticks and cheering boards in their hands with expectant eyes……
[ZGDX, Pang!]
[ZGDX, Chessman!]
[ZGDX, K!]
……
Whenever the commentator called a player’s name, the player would take off their mask, walk up, and bow– —
[ZGDX, Smiling!]
When Tong Yao’s name was called, her heart suddenly stopped beating in her chest. She lifted up her hand, slightly moist from nervousness, and shakingly pulled of the mask on her face– –She forced herself to keep cool but couldn’t help herself from breaking into a smile on her face– –When the heart in her chest started to pump again, with force, she pulled the mask off and walked a step forward– —
Under the gaze of all the well wishers’ eyes, she accepted applause and well wishes.
Tong Yao’s brain went blank. She looked at the people who cheered for her, shouted loudly for her and wondered if this was going to be the most beautiful moment in her life?…… The kind of moment that she would treasure forever.
Everyone was smiling. The flashing fireworks exploding above their heads reflected on the championship cup in front of them as if painting brilliant colors to the cup– –Amongst the din of thousands of fans cheering, there was only this cup in the players’ eyes.
This was the night for both ZGDX and YQCB.
The night of the final battle.
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