Book 4: The Return of the King

Chapter 34

“Good.” ?Ai Qing lightly exhaled and slowly stood up. ?“The first

Chinese Regional finals of <Secret Room Storm> is finished.

Congratulates to our champion SP and runner-up K&K!”

As she applauded, she saw that the man wearing the black baseball

hat stood up. ?He walked in front of Slide, hidden under the SP jacket,

and bent down to pat Slide’s shoulder.

Dt silently lifted the jacket off Slide. ?His hand slid under Slide’s arm

and pulled him up. ?He solemnly reached out to shake Slide’s hand,

“You deserve it.”

The fans of both SP and K&K burst into cheers simultaneously for the

first time in esports history.

The whole arena was filled with applause.

SP, SP, SP....

K&K, K&K, K&K....

That was the ending scene of the Chinese Regional finals for

<Secret Room Storm>.

Two hours later, in the dark hallway of the highest floor of the stadium,

Dt held Ai Qing’s hand and pushed open the door to a room.

It was just as dark in the room as in the hallway. ?There was a metal

ladder inside.

“Are we allowed to be here?” ?Ai Qing whispered.

Dt didn’t reply, tightly held her hand and led her towards the ladder.

That stairs were very small and narrow, only wide enough for one person

to move up. ?Ai Qing touched the cold handrail and slowly walked up the

stairs under the light of Dt’s cell phone.

She saw the moonlight as she reach the top.

She walked to the edge of the rooftop in the night breeze.

The man following her appeared shortly.

Here.....this was the top of the stadium.

She didn’t know how Dt found it. ?Regardless, he brought her here. It

wasn’t eight o’clock yet. ?The square in front of the stadium was filled

with people. Nobody would pay attention to the two shadows at the very

top looking down at them. ?There were fluorescent SP light boxes,

fluorescent K&K plates, and a very long banner with the giant characters

“Pioneering Solo” written with glow sticks.

She couldn’t hear any sound, but she could imagine the noisy, cheerful

laughter in the square.

“Do you remember that in 2010, I said ‘I will come to Korea again in 2011,

ten years after WCG?’” ?Ai Qing turned around and walked back in front of him.

Dt lowered his head to look at her. ?“I remember. You said you really

wanted to go.”

“And you said you would go with me.” ?Ai Qing pointed out flatly.

Dt didn’t expect her to remember. ?He was silent for a couple of seconds.

“Because you didn’t go.”

Though he wasn’t in China, he knew everything about her.

“Oh, that’s right. ?You have Grunt to tip you off.” ?Ai Qing thought. “Is Grunt

always telling you things about me?”

Dt was a little embarrassed. ?He cleared his throat: “Uhm.”

“What was I doing in 2011?” She couldn’t even recall. She did remember

that shortly after she joined SP. “At the time, I had almost forgotten how it

felt to play.”

She lowered her head. ?He didn’t know what she was thinking.

Dt touched her face, it was a little bit cold in the night breeze. ?“Are you cold?”

She shook her head lightly, then raised her eyes silently. ?The man in front of

her looked down. The contour of his face was still very clear. ?She remembered

that she had been somewhat fascinated by his eyes when she was in a match

face to face with him for the first time.

Lost in thought, she mumbled, “Xiao Bai.....you look very handsome. ?Do

you know that?”

“I know.” ?He wasn’t shy about it.

“......Why are you not modest about it at all.”

“......”

After a little while, Ai Qing stretched out her right hand and held his left hand-- --

“God’s Left Hand”. ?He would be her opponent shortly.

Dt turned his hand over to hold her hand tightly.

In the following exhibition game, he would make an all-out effort. ?The lineup

from the drawing was magnificent, he, Taotao, Grunt, Inin, and Buff. ?Slide who

was second in the list had voluntarily given up his position to Taotao, who was

sixth. ?His temporary team had the strongest lineup of <Secret Room Storm> players.

This was the only moment when the two eras would overlap.