Honey Stewed Squid

And so, about a dozen or so metres away from where the two were, in the VIP section beside the seating area of the event host, all the team members of K&K had already picked up their own luggage and were preparing to leave when they saw this scene. Through a side door, they saw from afar that, in the rather empty last few rows of the audience seating, a cutie of a girl wearing a pussy bow blouse was pulling on the hem of their own leader’s shirt.
Aside from the young man with the tallest build who, wearing a baseball cap, still continued striding straight ahead, everyone else had all nosily halted his footsteps.
The Demon Overlord and… a girl?
He actually knew a girl?
Could it be…?
Within the team, Gun was known to be an insulator against all females of the unmarried classification. Fine, he did not recruit any female gamers onto the team, but even that rare female team captain he had hired was already married. He was absolutely an odd specimen in the profession. As a result, there was a secret rumour that had long since been circulating in the organization: Leader must already have an eldest sister-in-law[1] for them who very, very easily got jealous.
“So,” 97 logically deduced, “could this be Leader’s woman?”
Eh? How come she let go so soon?
What’d he say? Look, he scared Sister-in-Law until her face was all pale…
On the stands.
“…I remember you. Last week, in the cybercafé, you won a prize.” Tong Nian instinctively covered up for herself.
But the result was, the instant she finished saying those words, she wanted to slam her own head into a wall and die and just let things be at that. Why was she talking about the cybercafé again? Tong Nian, you’re so lame…
“Oh, right. Won a prize.” Gun obviously did not remember.
All around, it unexpectedly grew dark.
Up on the stage, the host turned on his microphone and began to warm-up the crowd with a string of appreciation and thanks expressed to the various sponsors… In the dark, he saw someone waving anxiously at him from the players’ lounge area, and from the looks of it, it was quite urgent.
“Enjoy watching.” Gun hastily tossed out this sentence and swung his legs over the empty seats of the last few rows, leaving directly through the stairwell at the outer edge.
Tong Nian stared after his receding backside, kicking at her suitcase with a slight feeling of dismay.
What should she do next?
She took a glance all around. Since she had come in midway through the competition, she could only sit in the last two rows. There was nobody beside her, and the closest audience members were two rows in front of her. After a short consideration, she climbed over a row and patted the shoulder of a boy in front. That person turned around, initially somewhat impatient, but when he saw that it was a ridiculously adorable girl, the expression in his eyes instantaneously grew warmer.
“Pardon me. I wanted to ask, what team is the one wearing a red and white team uniform?”
The boy was somewhat speechless. Someone would actually come here to watch a competition but not even know what the teams were. But considering that this girl was simply too cute, he still patiently answered, “K&K. One of the top two eSports organizations in the country.”
… That awesome?
“Then… is grunt really formidable in that team?”
“grunt?!”
Three boys simultaneously whipped their heads around and stared at her.
Previously one of the high-level pro gamers for StarCraft II. Annual earnings of 800,000 RMB. Currently K&K’s famous solo top champion[2] in its Tempest of the Sealed Chamber roster. Overall, a super idol-status gamer. That name was basically inlaid with a gold border, you know?
“g Shuai is super formidable, you know! Absolutely a trump card type of player! To be like him is my lifetime goal!” One of the boys was grunt’s super-fan. “I came to watch the tournament just because of him and specially came all the way from Suzhou!”
… That awesome?!
Incredulity was written all over her face.
And then, those people began jabbering away, broadcasting to her everything about grunt’s career journey while Tong Nian listened in stunned amazement. Unfortunately, K&K had just won a round in the double-elimination tourney and had already left.
Left?
She was even more downcast.
Since his team was gone already, there was no point for her to stay here. Pulling her suitcase, she glumly left the audience stands and went outside. As she passed the ticket-check gate, the security guards there even looked her over a couple extra glances. It was apparent these two really did not understand why, ten minutes earlier, this girl had frantically run inside, dragging her suitcase with her, and now, she was once more towing that suitcase behind but with her head hanging and walking back out… What was that for? …
She did not pay heed to other people’s gazes and, lowering her head into the whistling north wind, she strode in the direction of the stairs.
“I heard grunt had internal bleeding in the stomach, but he still held out for the entire match and even won the game.”
“It’s not easy being a pro gamer. They basically throw their entire selves into it.”
!!!!
She abruptly halted.
Beside her, two staff members walked inside with quick strides.
Her mind immediately went blank, and with her suitcase in tow, she chased after their direction, running back to the main entrance. She tried to go in, but the two security guards stopped her. “Once you’ve left, your ticket becomes void. You can’t go in and out.”
“I honestly, urgently need to go inside. I just stepped out for one minute…” Tong Nian was so desperate she repeatedly bowed to them. “Let me in, please? I honestly have something urgent!”
The two security guards would not budge at all to let her pass.
Tong Nian continued bowing. “Honest, honest! I swear! I’ll go in for just a few minutes and then come right back out. I’ll leave my luggage here with you as collateral!”
“It’s okay.” Out of the blue, a hand tapped her on the shoulder. “I’ll bring you in.”
Tong Nian turned her head back, then paused in surprise. Who was this? Didn’t know him.
97 smiled at her. “I have a staff badge and can bring you in.”
He wouldn’t be a bad guy, right? She said somewhat hesitantly, “I shouldn’t trouble you like that…”
97 continued smiling at her. “Don’t worry. I’m from K&K, too.”
Huh? How did he know she wanted to go see grunt?
“I saw you through the side door earlier on. You were with Leader,” 97 patiently explained while also, in passing, giving a suggestive grin. “Even though you guys were sitting far off to a remote side… I still saw.”
Huh? Leader?
Oh, right. At the airport, they had all called him “Leader.”
She nodded. “Well, then, thank you.”
97 flashed his staff badge and brought Tong Nian into the stadium once again. All along the way, while he walked, he silently sighed over his own cleverness. Sure enough, this was the Sister-In-Law who had been kept hidden all this time, ah… Who would have thought she’d be such a… cutie little girl? How did Leader manage to kidnap her to be his? “How come Leader didn’t get you a badge?”
Huh?
“I… didn’t feel right asking. Just now, I didn’t get the chance to say more than a couple sentences and then he left.” She was thinking and talking at the same time. “I didn’t know you needed a badge before you could get in. I bought a ticket. It was from a scalper at the door.”
And I don’t know him all that well, ah…
How could I have the boldness to ask him for one? …
“Leader’s like that,” 97 grinningly comforted her. “Once there’s a competition, he’ll be like that. But that’s going too far. He actually had you buy your own ticket?”
“I should, I should.” She hurriedly shook her head. “I need to show my support for you guys.”
Look how considerate his wife is! 97 wordlessly clicked “like” in his mind for this Sister-In-Law.
When they arrived at the staff lounge area, 97 scanned his eyes around, and discovering that Gun was nowhere to be found, he pulled someone over to ask, “Where’s Leader? I brought Sister-In-Law over.”
Sister-In-Law?!
What Sister-In-Law? Is he talking about me? I can’t be hearing things, right?
“The doctor just arrived. They’re in the small conference room.” That person stared excitedly at Tong Nian.
“The doctor just arrived?” 97 gave him a meaningful look: Show some restraint. Be careful or Leader might give you a beating.
“grunt has GI bleeding.” That person also signaled back with his eyes: Sister-in-Law is beautiful, ah.
“No way?” 97 was startled by this and did not have the time to make eyes with him anymore. “He was fine just earlier.”
“It was also just discovered.”
97 gave an “oh” and then asked Tong Nian, “They’re in the conference room. Let’s go over?”
Tong Nian could not be bothered to concern herself with any “Sister-In-Law” or whatever anymore and hurriedly nodded.
Therefore, 97 thoughtfully had her set her suitcase in K&K’s lounge area, and then, leading her through a corridor, he pushed open the door and entered the conference room. Inside the room, there was one doctor and two nurses doing a medical check on a person. That person, his face hidden from view, was lying on a makeshift “simplistic bed” formed by pushing three chairs together. Tong Nian’s footsteps paused, for she felt that she had just met him and simply walking in this way was rather intrusive. But… popping in for a quick visit and inquiring how he was doing because she heard that he had internal stomach bleeding shouldn’t be a problem, right?
She mused in this way as she walked over.
Standing beside the doctor, she tentatively said, “I was originally planning on leaving, but I happened to hear one of the staff workers say that you were bleeding in the stomach… So your teammate brought me in to see you…” The doctor smilingly stepped aside and made some space to allow Tong Nian to get close to the patient.
As he lay there on the chairs, grunt’s face was now in view. His hand that was holding a pair of glasses blocked half his face. Amid sharp stabs of pain, he somewhat irritably, as well as bafflingly, looked toward this girl who was a stranger to him.
……
……
……
……
Huh? Who was that?
Tong Nian was stupefied.
“Hey, Leader, look. I happened to see Sister-In-Law, so I brought her in for you. She must have thought we had left already and was waiting for you outside. She didn’t see you and didn’t have a staff badge either, and the security guards were blocking her from going in,” 97 grinningly said at the back of her.
Tong Nian slowly turned around.
In a spot ten steps behind her, sitting by the window, was a man wearing a black, short-sleeved shirt, his jacket draped over his shoulders as he talked on his phone…
Wasn’t that… him?
Just who exactly… was the one who had internal stomach bleeding, aaaah? T.T …