WCG Chapter 78

The training room was left with only Jiang Shi and Xie Xu, and it fell quiet for a moment, the only sound being the hum of the air conditioner.  

There had been times before when only the two of them were in the training room, but recently, the atmosphere between them had grown somewhat strange. Now, even just sitting side by side made Jiang Shi feel his face heating up slightly.  

He picked up the remote control and lowered the temperature of the air conditioner.  

But after a moment of hesitation and glancing down at the thick team uniform he was wrapped in, he turned the temperature back up again.  

There had been so many matches recently, catching a cold would be a problem.  

While Jiang Shi was debating whether to raise the temperature a few more degrees, Xie Xu suddenly called his name.  

“Jiang Shi.”  

“Here!” Jiang Shi immediately threw the remote aside, rolling his chair quickly over to Xie Xu’s side.  

In his haste, their shoulders bumped, nearly sending Jiang Shi rolling back. But Xie Xu caught his chair, pulling it closer to his own.  

Jiang Shi glanced down at Xie Xu’s hand resting on the armrest of his chair. The long fingers, with defined joints and the veins running across the back of the hand, conveyed both strength and aesthetic appeal.  

That hand seemed to be tailored to his tastes.  

Just as Jiang Shi was gathering the courage to reach out and touch it, Xie Xu withdrew his hand, placing it on the mouse instead.  

Xie Xu’s tone was calm, “Let’s review your gameplay from tonight.”  

Jiang Shi: “?”  

Ten minutes later, the ripples in Jiang Shi’s heart had settled into a stagnant pool.  

Xie Xu paused the replay and commented, “You were too far forward here. If the opponents were more decisive, you wouldn’t have been able to retreat.”  

“I was trying to bait them out,” Jiang Shi mumbled absentmindedly, “Besides, weren’t you right behind me?”  

“Even if I’m there, you shouldn’t expose yourself like that.” Xie Xu lightly tapped the desk with his fingers. “In an official match, this kind of move is even more dangerous. On the field, even a flaw you expose intentionally can be exploited by the opposing team and turned into a genuine vulnerability.”  

Jiang Shi forced himself to focus. “I’ll be more careful.”  

In formal matches, the risks of this tactic far outweighed the benefits.  

The replay continued, and the next sequence showcased Xie Xu’s brilliant flash to start a team fight.  

Even on the second viewing, Jiang Shi couldn’t help but feel amazed.  

He covered his mouth and coughed, “Gege is really amazing!”  

As expected, Xie Xu turned to glance at him upon hearing the compliment. The replay kept playing, but he didn’t bring up any more issues.  

Jiang Shi’s heart stirred, and he decided to press his luck. “Gege, did I have a lot of problems tonight?”  

Xie Xu closed the replay. “Not many, just that one.”  

This response caught Jiang Shi off guard. Just one small mistake, and he had been called back for an extra review session?  

Jiang Shi only hesitated for a moment before brushing aside his doubts. He looked at Xie Xu with a hint of probing curiosity. “So what are we going to do next?”

“It seems like it’s still early.”  

Xie Xu removed his hand from the mouse, leaning back slightly as he looked at Jiang Shi leisurely. “What do you want to do?”  

Though it was a normal question, Jiang Shi found himself avoiding Xie Xu’s gaze.  

He shouldn’t have read those jokes last night. Now his mind was full of yellow waste. 

Clearing his throat, he tried to make his voice sound serious. “Didn’t you ask me before if I am a hand-con?”  

“Well,” Jiang Shi said, his voice softening, “I do. I really like your hands, even the little mole on them.”  

After that buildup, Jiang Shi finally voiced his request: “So Captain, can you touch me more with your hands?”  

“Gege, please.” 

After acting like a spoiled child, Jiang Shi felt embarrassed.  

Every time he called Xie Xu “gege” in person, he felt an overwhelming sense of shame, especially when they were face-to-face. But he was afraid that if he missed this opportunity, he wouldn’t have another chance to get closer to Xie Xu.  

Besides, every time he called him “gege,” Xie Xu would always indulge him.  

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Three minutes later, Jiang Shi felt a hand resting on the back of his neck, and his expression turned dazed.  

But soon, as realization set in, his face visibly reddened, and his neck flushed with a light pink hue that stood out against his pale skin.  

Jiang Shi thought he should ask Xie Xu what he was doing, but the erratic beating of his heart left him unable to speak.  

Sitting in his chair, Jiang Shi was forced to tilt his head back under Xie Xu’s hold. His gaze collided with Xie Xu’s intense and oppressively deep eyes.  

Xie Xu’s gaze was so overwhelming that Jiang Shi’s palms grew sweaty.  

He raised his hand to grip Xie Xu’s arm, tentatively pushing against it. “Gege…”  

What he had intended was to let Xie Xu pat his head and hold his hands. But as soon as Xie Xu do this—

Jiang Shi couldn’t resist at all. 

Jiang Shi subconsciously licked his lips, a nervous habit of his. Now, whether from fear or something else, his lips appeared moist and flushed a glossy red.  

Xie Xu was aware of Jiang Shi’s condition, especially whenever he murmured that “gege” appellation. His long index finger brushed against Jiang Shi’s lips as he chuckled softly. “Jiang Shi, who are you calling gege?”  

Jiang Shi tried to speak, but Xie Xu’s finger against his lips stopped him. When he opened his mouth, he felt the cool touch of Xie Xu’s fingertip.  

His face burned even more. “Calling you.” 

Feeling the rapid pulse beneath his palm, Xie Xu’s eyes darkened. “Other than me, have you called anyone else gege?”  

Jiang Shi had just opened his mouth to answer when Xie Xu interrupted, “Don’t lie to me.”  

Jiang Shi instantly fell silent. Even in his flustered state, he realized what Xie Xu was implying.  

Xie Xu must have seen his old livestream clips from a year ago.  

Switching tactics, Jiang Shi placed his hand over Xie Xu’s, softly admitting, “I did call my ex-boyfriend gege before. Captain, I wasn’t trying to lie to you.”  

“Other than him, there’s been no one else. I only lied because I was afraid you’d care and wouldn’t like me anymore.”  

He stared directly at Xie Xu, his voice sincere. “Captain-gege, don’t be jealous. I’ve completely forgotten about my ex.”  

“If you’re upset, you can pinch me as much as you want—I don’t mind if there are marks.”  

The grip around his neck loosened immediately.  

Because of their positioning, Xie Xu could clearly see the mischievous glint in Jiang Shi’s eyes.  

Xie Xu: “…”  

He knew this little liar was pretending to be pitiful again.  

Still, the first half of what he said was probably true.  

Jiang Shi continued to act coquettishly. “Captain, If there are marks, I’ll just cover them with your scarf. No one will see.”  

Xie Xu’s gaze darkened as his fingers pressed lightly against Jiang Shi’s Adam’s apple.  

Jiang Shi swallowed involuntarily, his breath catching as he looked up at Xie Xu with wide, slightly teary eyes.  

If not for the guilt of being caught in a lie, Jiang Shi would’ve fought back!

That’s what he imagined, but in reality, he held the chair with one hand and Xie Xu’s hand with the other. He didn’t dare to use any ounce of strength, and on top of that, his knees were pressed ever-so-slightly by Xie Xu. He couldn’t move.

Instead, a layer of sweat dropped on his forehead, soaking a stray piece of hair.

No matter how serious the topic could go, it could never diminish the impact of this particular position at all—

Xie Xu trapping him on the chair.

Jiang Shi’s hand moved from clasping the chair to quietly pressing onto his own chest, trying to slow down his erratic heartbeat.

His eyes glanced at Xie Xu. The taller man was smiling, making the outer corner of his eyes slanted up. Somehow, it only made the beauty mark on his hand come alive.

Jiang Shi: “…”

His erratic heartbeat only sped up.

He closed his eyes in despair, unable to resist Xie Xu’s beauty attack.

Looking at Jiang Shi’s reddened ears, Xie Xu slowly spoke, “Actually, I am–” 

Just when the tension between them seemed unbearable, the door to the training room slammed open.  

“Bang!”  

Yuan Yang burst in and saw the two young men in their current position. He immediately separated them. “What’s going on? Can’t you talk it out without resorting to violence?”  

Jiang Shi hadn’t even processed what was happening before his chair was yanked away.  

Jiang Lele dragged him out, looking alarmed. “I heard Captain’s tone just now. What did you do to upset the captain?”  

Lele looked at the faint red marks on Jiang Shi’s neck and gasped, “Don’t be afraid, T Bao,  Dad brought reinforcements to save you!”  

“Look, your face is so red.”

Jiang Shi glanced at him, deadpan. “Thanks, I guess.”  

Of course Jiang Lele would ruin the atmosphere.

Yuan Yang was giving Xu a lecture on morality: “What’s wrong with you? Even if Jiang Shi wasn’t in his best form tonight, extra training is one thing, but was it necessary to get physical?”  

He pointed at Jiang Shi, visibly frustrated. “When I came in, Xiao Shi looked so scared he couldn’t say a word. Are you just messing with him because you know he admires you and likes you?”  

Xie Xu: “…”  

Jiang Lele’s mouth fell open in shock. “Captain actually hit you?”  

Jiang Shi couldn’t take it anymore. He stood up and said, “You’ve got it all wrong. Captain didn’t hit me. We were just messing around earlier!”  

Yuan Yang’s face screamed disbelief. “Don’t defend him. I’ve been in this team for years, and I’ve never seen Xu give someone solo extra training. He’s definitely hiding something!”  

Hearing this, Jiang Shi’s heart skipped a beat, and he couldn’t help but glance at Xie Xu.  

Xie Xu met his gaze, his expression calm and unbothered, without a hint of denial.  

A crazy thought crossed Jiang Shi’s mind—  

Could it be that Xie Xu had the same ulterior motives as him?  

This…  

He had completely missed a great opportunity! 

Yuan Yang, seeing Jiang Shi silent, assumed he was scared and raised his voice. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure this gets resolved properly.”  

TLG wasn’t the kind of place to let things slide, not even for Xu.  

Hearing this, Jiang Shi hurriedly insisted again, “Captain really didn’t hit me.”  

“I’m pretty strong,” he said, rolling up his sleeves to show off his muscles. “There’s no way Captain could beat me.”  

His statement was met with complete silence in the room.  

Finally, with Jiang Shi’s earnest insistence, Yuan Yang believed him, though he still didn’t let them stay alone together.  

“It’s late, what’s the point of extra training now? There’s a match tomorrow. Everyone, get to bed!”  

Jiang Shi was sent back to his own room. Before entering, he couldn’t help but ask Xie Xu one last question.  

“Captain, why did you grab me by the neck earlier?”  

If it was what he suspected, shouldn’t he have been more proactive?  

Xie Xu’s expression didn’t change. “I thought you’d like it.”  

He opened the door and stepped inside, but before the door fully closed, he paused.  

“Sleep early. And stop browsing Weibo.”  

Jiang Shi: “?”  

He hadn’t been doing anything on Weibo except promoting the keyboard.  

After the door closed with a soft click, something suddenly dawned on Jiang Shi.  

He had been using his alt account last night.  

Rushing to his room, Jiang Shi immediately logged into his alt account to review his past posts. One particular post caught his attention—  

[His hands are so big, he should be able to hold my entire neck, right? Will he like to grab me?]

Earlier in the training room, he had been so focused on getting closer to Xie Xu that he hadn’t thought too deeply about it. But now, Xie Xu’s words filled him with dread.  

Could Xie Xu possibly know about his alt account?  

But how could his alt account have been exposed?  

Frantically combing through his settings, Jiang Shi found a privacy feature he hadn’t noticed before: [Allow others to find you through your linked QQ account.]  

Even worse, there was a cheery little note below it:  

[So far, one friend has found you through this feature~]  

Jiang Shi: “?”  

What kind of stupid feature was this?  

And the real kicker was—he had cleared out his QQ contacts ages ago. If anyone had found him, it had to be…  

His long-lost online boyfriend.  

Jiang Shi’s heart dropped, his brain freezing for a few seconds as buried memories resurfaced.  

“He unilaterally deleted me.”

That was Jiang Shi, deleting his online boyfriend.  

“He said, distance creates beauty.” 

That was Jiang Shi, spouting nonsense because he was afraid his boyfriend’s voice or face would ruin the vibe.  

“Who are you calling gege?” 

Oh, that one must’ve been Xie Xu asking whether he was referring to his online boyfriend or him—because Jiang Shi had previously claimed he’d only ever called Xie Xu “gege.”  

All the clues added up. The case was solved.  

Xie Xu was very likely his online boyfriend, whom he had never met in person.  

What kind of cosmic joke was this?  

But every detail lined up. Jiang Shi even pulled out that blurry hand photo from the past and compared it to Xie Xu’s hand.  

Besides both having five fingers, what was similar about them?  

Desperately clinging to denial, Jiang Shi felt even more overwhelmed.  

Fine, he couldn’t tell from the hands. But how had he managed to forget the things he had said?  

And why were the words he’d just spoken to Xie Xu now echoing in his mind—  

“I’ve completely forgotten about my ex.”

🙂  

Still, Jiang Shi wasn’t ready to give up without a fight. He sent Xie Xu a WeChat message.  

[Obedient Jiangjiang]: Captain, did you see the Weibo post I made last night?  

His main account hadn’t posted anything yesterday.  

The “typing” indicator appeared at the top of the screen, and soon, Xie Xu replied.  

[Xu]: Mm.  

Jiang Shi went quiet for a moment, then opened his alt account and stared at the post he had posted last night for three full minutes.  

[Gege is amazing. Kiss kiss, hug hug, cuddle cuddle, sleep sleep~]  

How had he never realized he was this shameless?  

Utterly defeated, Jiang Shi closed his eyes and lightly bumped his head against the door.  

Sob sob sob, he was such an idiot.  

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