Compared to Mu Yichen, FFS were like pebbles sinking into the sea.
Xiao Yi could be arrogant about just one thing in his life no matter how much he wanted to stay away from his previous childhood friends and his past… His previous teammates were like carefully carved gems. He had been carefully building their play style and techniques brick by brick long before the five of them had ever stepped foot into the Team X building.
When Xiao Yi brought his friends to the team, it was as if it was a candy shop specially made for him. He had all the time and resources to further refine his own gameplay as well as build strategies for his teammates.
Xiao Yi would spend a few hours on his own techniques and then he would re-watch the training matches of the other four with a notebook in hand. The next morning, he would sit the four of them down and show moments of each of their games before handing out the notes he'd taken and shoo them back to the hall.
He wouldn't join them until later. He would use this time to watch other teams in the league. Their live streams, their arena matches, their professional games. He carefully wrote notes on the enemy's strengths, weaknesses, usual strategies, and tactics. Then, he created strategies to target those specific teams.
All of this was done not because Xiao Yi wanted to become an esports god, but because it was originally Chen Qiang's dream that became their dream.
It was never Xiao Yi's dream to stand in the limelight, hence he was the one who did most of the behind-the-scenes work and stayed out of the way so his teammates could shine. He deliberately suppressed his own play style to be on the same level as the other four, letting himself be reigned in until that last game.
He later left the stage so that they could continue to shine on the stage.
Xiao Yi was surely a scumbag in their eyes, and he was okay with taking that title.
Everything was for them, so if he didn't believe in the remnants of Team X… all his efforts would have been futile.
"Here they are! Oh, Xue has a new haircut. Ah, it really makes his jawline shine! Calm down ladies, he's taken," Hei Lu played with the audience with a smirk on his face, the screens behind him showing the backstage where the players were setting up.
'He was a handsome guy, it's a pity he got stuck with those teammates,' Xiao Yi's thoughts chimed in.
He had a vague memory of Xue, who was also the captain and assassin on FFS. He, like Xiao Yi, was talented solo but had to pace himself for his teammates. Valley of Light was a team game, not a solo carry game. Sadly, he was nearing the edge of his reign and this would likely be his last year.
Xiao Qiu chimed in, "You can see both teams now, they're both setting up their equipment that has already been checked before the camera's switched on. Why aren't they on the stage? Let me tell you - a few years ago, some crazy fans started throwing water at the enemy team to distract them so their team would win!"
[What?]
[????????????]
[That's too insane!]
[Did the audience members get in trouble?]
[Who won?]
[Fangirls?]
Hei Lu continued his crowd work and added, "I'm excited to see which weapons they choose and what map they'll land on this time around. We haven't seen much of Solar's gameplay, but we know that they're a two-person tank team which should be interesting against the ranged carry strategy FFS uses!"
With those words, Xiao Yi knew that FFS was done for. He previously drilled three strategies to combat the three ranged carry formations into Team X's minds. Even though it'd been four years since then, their memory wasn't too bad. Even if it was, they would still have the notes that they took when leaving the base if they hadn't shredded them out of anger.
Xiao Qiu waited until Hei Lu was done announcing to answer his chat questions: "The two audience members were guys who had been long-time fans of one of the teams, they'd flown in from another country. They got in trouble, I think the team decided not to press charges though."
"Don't you think of doing something like that at one of our games, I know you guys are mischievous but water bottles are dangerous!"
Xiao Yi's eyes slowly blinked open against the bright light bouncing into the living room from the seventh-floor apartment balcony. Xiao Qiu felt movement on his shoulder and glanced down just in time to see Xiao Yi's eye pop open, "Good morning!"
[Good morning!]
[Awww, SG is awake! What do we call him when he's awake?]
+1 [He's still Sleeping God]
[I just want to hear his voice, I'm innocent!]
Xiao Yi's groggy icy blue eyes glanced between the chat and Xiao Qiu for a moment, there was a pause and then he nodded lazily towards both. His hand reached up to brush his bangs out of his eyes and his oversized sleeve fell down his wrist softly.
The fans in the live chat went crazy over the doting eyes of the elder brother looking down on the younger, they were too cute!
Although it was obvious that the two were brothers, it could be assumed that one brother was mixed whilst the other was pure Chinese, but that wasn't the case.
Xiao Qiu followed their father's appearance, he had beautiful almond honey eyes that sparkled like gold in the sunlight, black hair that was buzzed short, and a strong jawline. If he were standing, he'd be 185 cm with a lean body.
Xiao Yi followed in his mother's appearance and had peach blossom blue eyes that he likely inherited from his great, great, great grandmother. His black hair was textured and wavy, the back falling just above his shoulders whereas the front was still somewhat styled with his bangs parted in the middle, just long enough to fall into his eyes. He had a sharper jawline than his brother and was 180 cm with a lean body.
Needless to say, the fans wanted to keep both of them.