If Jian Rong were to exert some force, he would actually be able to break free, and he thrashed once before he remembered that Lu Boyuan’s hand was injured. Instantly, he didn’t dare to move anymore, and he had no choice but to rely on his mouth to vent his anger.

Jian Rong only stopped talking once he couldn’t see the person anymore.

He had said too many things all at once, so he was a little out of breath, and he looked down only to realize that his current situation was a little strange.

Jian Rong was being completely carried by Lu Boyuan. Even though Lu Boyuan was holding him very stably, Jian Rong had still subconsciously grabbed onto something to maintain his balance.

His left arm had hooked itself around Lu Boyuan’s neck… or perhaps it could be called an embrace. He had also knocked Lu Boyuan’s hat a bit askew, revealing a disorderly tuft of hair on the left.

Though he had smelled it many times by now, Jian Rong still felt like the laundry detergent scent clinging to Lu Boyuan’s body was especially fragrant.

Jian Rong was briefly stunned, before he instantly released his hold.

Feeling the heat that was pressed against his neck disappear, Lu Boyuan asked, “Done cursing?”

Jian Rong: “…mn.”

Jian Rong was about to tell Lu Boyuan to put him down, only for Lu Boyuan to let go first—they had reached the break room.

Lu Boyuan looked down and questioned, “Any injuries.”

Jian Rong found his balance and shook his head. “He didn’t touch me, you…”

“Captain.” Moon came up and interrupted their conversation. He lowered his head and peered at Lu Boyuan’s hand. “How’s your hand? Aren’t you not allowed to lift heavy objects…”

Moon had resisted the urge to ask that question the entire way over. Just then, the situation was chaotic, and they were surrounded by staff, so it wasn’t suitable for him to bring it up either.

Jian Rong was startled, and he also looked down at Lu Boyuan’s hand.

Not allowed to lift heavy objects? How come he never heard about that before?

“It’s fine.” Lu Boyuan replied coolly. He swept his gaze over Jian Rong once, and after ensuring that there weren’t any injuries and that his clothes weren’t dirty either, he asked, “Do you recognize that person from just now?”

“I don’t.” Jian Rong clenched his teeth. “Your hand…”

Lu Boyuan: “You’re not heavy.”

Right as he said that, Lu Boyuan spotted Ding-ge standing outside the door from his peripheral vision. Ding-ge was in the middle of discussing something with a staff member.

Lu Boyuan took off his hat, and Moon hastily reached out. “I’ll help you hold it, ge.”

“No need.” Lu Boyuan lightly plopped the hat on Jian Rong’s head before he glanced around at everyone. “The match starts in fifteen minutes. Adjust your moods, don’t let other things affect your competition condition.”

After tossing down that statement, Lu Boyuan pushed open the door and left, joining Ding-ge’s discussion with the staff.

The incident had occurred too abruptly. Besides the people directly involved, the others were all given a scare.

Xiao Bai reached up and patted his chest only once Lu Boyuan was gone. “…so scary.”

Hezi, who was sitting in silence for quite some time at the side, nodded in agreement. “He actually had a knife too, how terrifying!”

“I was referring to my ge.” Xiao Bai took a sip of water to suppress his alarm. “That kick earlier, I was afraid that he would send him straight into the afterlife.”

“Kick who?” Jian Rong was originally spacing out, one leg propped over the other, but he instantly sat up straight when he heard that. “That dumbass kicked Road?!”

With Jian Rong’s attitude, Xiao Bai suspected that if he said yes, Jian Rong would immediately charge back out there and call that person back to have another fight.

“No no no, how is that possible!” Xiao Bai quickly said, “My ge was the one who kicked him!”

Lu Boyuan hit him?

Jian Rong was stupefied. He hadn’t seen anything at all, since Lu Boyuan had covered him up too tightly. Even Jian Rong’s memory of that dumbass’ face was very blurry.

The door opened, and Lu Boyuan returned to the break room with Ding-ge following behind him. After entering, Ding-ge directly locked the door.

“How is it?” Pine asked, lifting his head and putting Fight the Landlord on autoplay.

“We reported it to the police and sent the person to the hospital. I had someone go with him, and they’ll call me first thing if anything comes up.” It was the middle of winter, yet Ding-ge’s forehead was actually covered with sweat from fright. He had worked for so many years in the esports circle, but this was his first time encountering something like this.

He opened his mouth to say something, but hesitated again as he glanced at Lu Boyuan. “I saw that your kick landed solidly on his stomach, if anything happens…”

“Don’t worry.” Lu Boyuan sat down next to Jian Rong and picked up the remote control before he turned on the live broadcast. “He won’t die from being kicked there.”

Ding-ge: “?”

“Did that person send the rats too?” Yuan Qian asked, frowning.

Ding-ge shook his head. “Don’t know, he wouldn’t say anything, he just kept crying like a fool. But I feel like he looks similar, the person who pressed the doorbell the other day was also short and skinny. Let’s just wait for the results of the police interrogation… Jian Rong, were you injured?”

Jian Rong: “No.”

“That’s good. Concentrate on the match first, we can talk about the rest later.” Ding-ge handed the equipment bag that was just retrieved from the side of the road to Jian Rong. “You threw the bag pretty viciously, check and see if anything’s broken or not.”

Xiao Bai said, “How could anything be broken? He just smashed it once, and there’s the backpack acting as a buffer too…”

Jian Rong opened the bag, revealing the corner of the keyboard. There was a clear and distinct crack on it.

Xiao Bai stared at the keyboard for a few seconds. “You’re really something… a tiny figure, an enormous strength.”

“That strength can get even bigger.” Jian Rong touched the crack regretfully before he zipped the bag up again with a cold expression. “Do you want to test it out?”

Xiao Bai shut up.

Ding-ge said hastily, “It’s fine, I brought a backup keyboard…”

“Use mine.” Lu Boyuan interrupted him and picked up his own bag from the ground, setting it down on the table. “His keyboard is the same model as mine, it’ll feel a bit more familiar.”

Yesterday, Ding-ge had already let everyone know that their substitute jungler, Moon, would be playing today.

Ding-ge furrowed his brows and was about to say something when the staff member knocked on their door, urging them to get ready to go on stage.

Ding-ge led the five team members on stage, and in a split second, the break room grew empty and desolate.

Lu Boyuan sat there quietly. In his professional career, which was over five years long, situations like this rarely happened, where he sat in the break room watching his teammates play.

Jian Rong carried Lu Boyuan’s equipment bag on stage; he connected the peripherals and checked them. The camera frequently focused on him, but the youth’s face was completely expressionless, and he wasn’t even willing to spare a single look at the camera.

The commentators continuously analyzed the reason why Lu Boyuan wasn’t playing, all the way until the pick/ban phase.

Ten minutes later, the game began, and Ding-ge hurried back to the break room. He sat down next to Lu Boyuan, holding his little record notebook.

“What in the world was going on in your head today?” Ding-ge lowered his voice and asked, “Normally I can’t even bear to let you lift a plastic bag, but then you just go and pick him right up??”

“I used my left hand, and he’s not heavy either.”

“Mn, not heavy, he’s just a human who weighs over 60 kilograms¹.” Ding-ge wore a complicated expression. “Also… I didn’t dare to say anything earlier because I was worried it would affect their competition conditions, but even without me saying anything, you should also be aware of it yourself. Fighting and brawling are top prohibitions, do you know what the consequences of your kick are? To tell the truth, my scalp, back, and bottom are all numb right now, I’m afraid of the LPL sending a notification over, banning you from competing for half a year or a year.”

Lu Boyuan was silent.

Ding-ge sighed. “What’s more, that person hadn’t injured anyone either, and he was already caught by the security guards. Couldn’t you have just held yourself back a bit…”

The player cam in the bottom right corner switched to Jian Rong. The youth was using Lu Boyuan’s keyboard and headphones, and the corners of his lips were drawn tight; clearly, he was still angry.

Jian Rong had never been able to hide his emotions. His playstyle was even more aggressive today than usual, to the point that the other team’s mid laner didn’t even dare to come out from the tower.

Lu Boyuan only looked away when the camera shifted to Yuan Qian. He interrupted the endless chattering of the person next to him. “I couldn’t do it. Can you let me watch this match in peace?”

They were playing against a team called Throne today, who had just undergone major player changes that season, so neither their mid laner or ADC were powerful. That was precisely why Ding-ge would allow the substitute to play.

There was a large disparity in team strength, and all three of TTC’s lanes were at an advantage in both rounds. One hour later, TTC ended the match with a score of 2:0.

Because all three lanes played extremely well, the post-match MVP was given to Pine, who got a quadra kill.

Jian Rong hurried off stage and opened the break room door, but he only saw the assistant coach and Hezi.

“The police called, Ding-ge and Captain went over first after they finished watching the match.” Hezi explained.

Jian Rong nodded and put Lu Boyuan’s equipment properly back into the bag before he asked, “Which station? I can just take a taxi over.”

The assistant coach hastily said, “You don’t need to go.”

Jian Rong’s movements paused. “What do you mean?”

The assistant coach: “Ding-ge said that you shouldn’t be involved in this, they’ll take care of it.”

Jian Rong’s eyebrows knitted together. “Then why does Road also have to go to the police station?”

The assistant coach coughed lightly. “After all… he kicked the person, so he still has to give a statement or something.”

Jian Rong didn’t understand.

He was the one who received the package, and he was also the one who was going to be stabbed. How come in the end, this incident had nothing to do with him anymore?

“Don’t overthink it, we’re not letting you go for your own good.” The assistant coach patted his shoulder. “Let’s go back to the base first.”

Jian Rong didn’t want to. He picked up his phone and was dead set on calling a car over to the station.

Xiao Bai swiftly sent Lu Boyuan a WeChat voice message, saying, “Ge,if you don’t stop him he’s gonna go to the station and get into a fight with the police.”

As a result, the moment Jian Rong called a car, Lu Boyuan’s text came in.

It was a simple “go back,” like a message that was casually typed out when he was busy; it didn’t even have any punctuation.

Jian Rong reluctantly and unwillingly returned to the base.

At 1:30 AM, Lu Boyuan exited the building and let out an extremely long exhale.

After they had finished giving their statement at the police station, they went over to the LPL to discuss the resolution of this incident with the LPL’s staff. They were in discussions about it all the way until now and only just tentatively resolved it.

“Who would’ve thought.” Ding-ge came back holding two hot drinks and handed one to Lu Boyuan. “There would be a day when you’re also penalized by the LPL.”

Lu Boyuan took the drink. “Mn, it can be considered as coming full circle.”

Ding-ge laughed out of anger, and he started the car. “Let’s go, I’ll send you back to the base.”

At a red light, Ding-ge glanced over randomly and saw that Lu Boyuan had just opened a certain livestream room.

The stream was completely dark, and “this streamer isn’t home~” was written on the screen.

Ding-ge’s vision was good, and he asked, “It’s the middle of the night, why are you running over to Jian Rong’s livestream room.”

Lu Boyuan answered with a “no reason” before he opened the mobile LoL helper app and checked Jian Rong’s match history.

Jian Rong played six ranked games after returning to the base. He lost four of them, and he was obviously growing more and more irritated the longer he played, as his scores weren’t very good.

The last game was an hour ago, so he should’ve gone to rest by now.

Lu Boyuan slipped his phone into his pocket. A few seconds later, he turned and met Ding-ge’s inquisitive gaze. “What is it?”

The light turned green. Ding-ge looked away and stepped on the gas. “Nothing, I just feel like something’s a bit off about you.”

Lu Boyuan propped his elbow up against the window, leaning his face against the back of his hand. He gave a lazy laugh and didn’t reply.

Recently, Ding-ge hadn’t gone back to his house to sleep much, and he was worried that if things continued like this, his marriage would fall through sooner or later. After he sent Lu Boyuan back to the base, he went back home to find his wife.

The night after they finished a match, the team members usually wouldn’t practice too late. But at that current moment, the light in the first floor living room was still on.

When he saw Jian Rong lying down, asleep, on the couch, for once Lu Boyuan was startled.

Their first game from their match against Fighting Tiger was playing on the TV. Who knew how many times it had looped; right now, the game was only ten minutes in.

Jian Rong’s mouth was slightly open as he slept, and his phone had already dropped onto the carpet.

Lu Boyuan bent over and picked it up. Since its owner had set it to never lock automatically, the phone was still frozen on what Jian Rong was looking at before he had fallen asleep.

It was a certain famous LoL Tieba. If any professional player wanted to be unhappy, they just needed to scroll through this Tieba.

Jian Rong was looking at a post called [Road hitting a person – entire video], and he was in the middle of fighting with someone in the comments.

It wasn’t clear what Jian Rong had said insultingly beforehand, but this hater had already completely lost their temper—

[That person was restrained by the security guards already, did Road not go up and kick that person for no reason? Damn, whatever I’m not going to argue with you anymore. Sure, you’re good at talking, okay? I declare you the #1 Road fan of this forum, one person trading insults with eighty other comments. I concede, you’re amazing.]

The words that Jian Rong had typed out were still in the chat box and hadn’t been sent yet: [If wielding a knife can even be considered as “for no reason,” then you just wait, I’ll wield a torch and come wish you a Happy New Year right now]

The message was unfinished, and it stopped here.

There were a few other comments that had specifically mentioned Soft and insulted him, but Jian Rong completely ignored those.

Although the heating was on in the base, Jian Rong would definitely feel uncomfortable the next day if he slept on the couch for the entire night.

Lu Boyuan locked the phone and reached out a hand to ruffle Jian Rong’s hair.

Jian Rong was in a light sleep, so he woke up instantly.

He blinked blankly at first when he raised his head and saw Lu Boyuan. Because of the sluggishness that came from waking up, Jian Rong continued to lie there, unmoving, his eyes a bit red from exhaustion. “…I heard the assistant coach say that you guys went over to the LPL.”

When Jian Rong didn’t ask about that attacker, Lu Boyuan felt a bit surprised, but he still responded, “Mn.”

“How was it?” Jian Rong’s voice was a bit hoarse. “…will there be a penalty?”

“Yes.”

Jian Rong asked, unwilling to give up, “You were also punished?”

“Yes.”

Jian Rong went silent.

Just then, he had looked up the LPL’s past punishments when it came to fighting or brawling. Two people were banned from competing for a season, one person was banned from competing forever.

Jian Rong stared dumbly at Lu Boyuan for a few seconds before he stood up. With a head of messy hair, he picked up his jacket and started to put it on.

Lu Boyuan called out to him. “Where are you going?”

Jian Rong said blearily, “To talk some sense into them.”

As far as Lu Boyuan could tell, Jian Rong’s current attitude didn’t seem like that of someone who was going to talk some sense into them; rather, it seemed like he was going to wield a torch and wish them a Happy New Year.

He hooked onto the hood of Jian Rong’s jacket. “Don’t go.”

“Why? Are they off work?” With a swish, Jian Rong pulled the coat zipper all the way up to his neck. “When will the punishment announcement be posted? What time do they start working tomorrow morning?”

“We just finished discussions, they won’t post it that fast.” Lu Boyuan said, “Also, I’ve already accepted this punishment.”

“You accepted it?!” Jian Rong exploded. “I don’t! That dumbass was the one who charged up holding a knife all on his own, so why the hell are they punishing you? What does this have to do with you! They’re being completely unreasonable…”

“It is a little unreasonable.” Lu Boyuan paused slightly. “But I’m still willing to pay the ten thousand yuan. After all, I really did hit him, so I have to put on an appearance… what’s more, Ding-ge said that the club will reimburse this ten thousand.”

“Even if you hit him, that’s still out of legitimate self-defense, so why do you have to be banned from competing—” Jian Rong’s mouth moved faster than his brain, and he screeched to a halt halfway through his sentence. “…ten thousand?”

Lu Boyuan gave an “en.” “I hit someone, you cursed at someone, we’ll each be penalized ten thousand yuan. Do you have any objections? If you do, I’ll tell Ding-ge to negotiate with them again tomorrow.”

This was way better than what Jian Rong had expected, to the point that he stood there stupidly for a moment before he answered, “…I don’t.”

Lu Boyuan nodded and reached out to tug down a bit the jacket zipper that Jian Rong had pulled nearly all the way up to his chin. “Then head upstairs and go to bed.”