Chapter 5: The Truthful Lies (Part 1)
The final battles of Conquer’s professional year ended with the closing of the curtains at the Seattle Global Finals. Afterward was a brief resting period, along with the opening of the transfer window. All of the clubs used this period of time to adjust their team members to prepare for the next season, which would surely set off another storm of carnage.
Cris officially retired after he returned from Seattle. On a Saturday morning, the other four Legend members suddenly received a summons for a club meeting. When the players opened the door to the meeting room, they discovered that besides the related personnel on the Conquer team, even the boss was unexpectedly present. The atmosphere was filled with a sense of suffocating oppression.
After everyone had been seated, the club manager said, “Ji Xiangkong, Legend’s Conquer division is a team that is composed with Cris as its absolute core. Last year, we only invited you to join us due to his repeated requests and signed a one-year contract with you. Now that he has already retired…” He paused and coldly said, “You can leave.”
The words had just fallen when Lin Yixuan shouted, “Why do we need to change people? There aren’t any problems with our cooperation, we only need to find a good ADC to replace C ge and it’ll be fine!”
He had only been in the business for two years and had been protected extremely well by Ji Xiangkong. He had not yet seen the cold and cruel side of the professional world— kicking away the hero after they had seized the championship trophy or being voted out by their teammates were plots that occurred every year in various places. There was no kindness in competitive sports, unless you were victorious, and many people unhesitantly paid the price.
Lin Yixuan looked at Ji Xiangkong in a panic, hoping that he could say something to defend himself. But his expression was indifferent, his eyes calm like clear water, as if he didn’t care about his own uncertain immediate future.
Or, he was already accustomed to such a situation.
The manager said, “In the past year, the club has been pushed to the forefront of the struggle many times because of Ji Xiangkong. I’ve also seen many games, Ji Xiangkong’s hand speed is indeed inadequate. From the perspective of operating talent, he’s just an ordinary person.”
Lin Yixuan could only shake his head anxiously. “Xiangkong is the team’s commander, it’s also his habit to always switch perspectives to observe the situation in all sorts of places, when he’s in a 1v1 any mistakes make sense…”
“Yes, the lineup selection and tactics are all planned by him…”
“That’s right!”
Seeing Lu Feng and Huo Yao follow him, Lin Yixuan instantly became more courageous and raised his voice. “And our Legend’s battle situation was extremely brilliant this year!”
“Battle situation?” The Legend club’s boss, who was sitting in the highest seat, coldly laughed. “Did you win the championship in Seattle? How many times have we been second place by now? This is our fourth time!”
“But…”
“I don’t care about these supposed reasons. I only look at results.” The boss glanced at the silent Ji Xiangkong. “You are an uncertain factor and there must be nothing unexpected on the way to achieving the Legend championship. Apologies.”
Lin Yixuan stood straight up from his chair, eyes red. “Please think about it again! Xiangkong’s practice every day is the greatest in the whole team, he truly works so hard, even if we lost in the finals you can’t…”
The boss interrupted him brusquely. “Don’t tell me about how hard he worked. Without achievements, he is nothing!”
The other managers of the project team exchanged glances with each other and smiled with undisguised contempt. After all, Ji Xiangkong was the conclusive weak point of the team. They only needed to throw him away, and all their problems could be solved.
“Cris originally wanted to retire last year. His condition for playing one more year was to sign Ji Xiangkong. Cris is the foundation of Legend as a team, so I was forced to agree to this combined transaction, but the result?” The boss took in a breath and used his finger to point to the team members, his mood becoming more and more agitated as he spoke. His previous politeness had disappeared. “All of you say that he has ability; what ability, why do you still lose? My team is a fighting team, not a movie studio for you to experience brotherly love! No achievements, what ability are you still talking about? Looking at the data tables, Void Ji Xiangkong is just a joke!”
Lin Yixuan stuck his neck out straight to reply, in spite of Ji Xiangkong trying to stop him. “You can reject us, but you can’t reject C god’s vision!”
“Cris isn’t watching anymore!” The boss raised his voice, his expression somber as he looked at Ji Xiangkong. “Players like you who have no talent might be able to cover it up for a bit, but they won’t be able to cover it up forever. If you keep using the side door, your professional career won’t be able to last for long. It’s better to rely on yourself!”
Lin Yixuan slammed the table, eyes popping out in anger. “Don’t listen to the nonsense online! Xiangkong didn’t use the side door!”
The manager shook his head and interrupted callously and decisively. “Lin Yixuan, we all know that your talent was unearthed by Ji Xiangkong. But you should understand, competing professionally and repaying a debt are two different things.”
“I’m not being selfish!” Lin Yixuan shouted angrily, teeth clenched.
Unfortunately, it was too late to say anything; Ji Xiangkong’s replacement had already signed a contract. Everything was in place now, they were only missing a termination.
“The ending is already set. I’m still busy, and I will leave the rest to you guys.”
Legend’s boss didn’t give anyone else the chance to talk and stood up, leaving.
The meeting room fell into silence once again. After a long time, Team Leader Chen finally began to speak leisurely.
“Esports is not what it used to be, the industry continues to develop. Each year, the number of people who watch the competitions online surge. The audience of this year’s Seattle Global Finals broke 30 million, far exceeding that of the NBA finals.”
He took a deep breath and looked straight at Ji Xiangkong.
“During a short team fight in a game, many players will likely be unable to showcase their skills clearly. How many of your novel ideas and tactics will the audience be able to understand? The audience can’t understand your unconventional branding and call you unorthodox and garbage. They call the club blind!
“What the audience wants to see is overwhelming individual ability! Using your own ability to resurrect, killing all the heroes on the field! It’s the intuitive and cool, best operating, rather than your type…”
Team Manager Chen became more impassioned the more he spoke, like he’d been restraining himself for a long time.
“VPG’s Pei Xi has the highest individual strength in the country, but he plays arbitrarily by himself and his cooperation between his teammates is bad. Does the audience care? No! They only know that he beat a 1 vs 5 like a God of War and forget that Conquer is a game to strategically destroy towers, not a game to kill people. They forget that the one who won that game was our Legend!”
He slowly closed his eyes, his chest heaving. “In the end, in this world, there are very few masters of Conquer. Most of people only have a shallow understanding. Even the boss is no exception.”
Lin Yixuan coldly asked, “You’ve said so much, you’ve been kidnapped by public opinion, right?”
No one answered.
Lin Yixuan unzipped his uniform, cast it off, and fiercely threw it on the table. “Conquer is a game of brothers! I will only play with Xiangkong! If he goes, I will not stay!”
The manager laughed angrily. “A mere newcomer dares to speak like this? Don’t forget that you still have two more years on your contract with Legend!”
Lin Yixuan still wanted to say more, but Ji Xiangkong held his arm. “A’xuan,1 don’t say any more.”
The sunlight passed through the window of the meeting room, falling on his pale and handsome face. He smiled wearily. “I understand.”
Ji Xiangkong got up from his chair and slowly walked out. His teammates tried to support him, but he waved his hand in rejection, lowly saying, “I’m fine, let me be by myself for a while.”
Ji Xiangkong opened his room door, entered his room, closed the door, and then like his whole body had suddenly lost all its strength, his back hit the door.
One evening after the end of the Global Finals, he had a private in-depth conversation with captain Cris.
“Do you like Seattle?” Cris gazed over to the Space Needle in the distance with a wry smile. “I’ve come here four times, and each time I’ve returned heartbroken.”
Ji Xiangkong moved his lips but could not say anything.
Cris looked at his open palms, his fingers trembling slightly, drily saying, “There is no one who can experience the cruelty of time better than esports players. Ten years have passed just like this.”
Those enthusiastic fans once shouted: Cris is our generation’s youth, our faith!
Ji Xiangkong knew that during the era when esports was marginalized as disgusting, Cris had persevered to walk, step by step, through the hardships.
Scolded by parents, ridiculed by relatives, floundering around to different informal clubs. He could only eat after he won games; if he lost, it was a day when his stomach remained hungry. He often had to shoulder the expenses himself to play in outside games. On cold nights he slept in internet cafes, curled up and shivering.
At that time, he had nothing but the burning dream he held in the palms of his hands.
Year after year, professional players like Cris fought all across the world, winning one championship after another for China. Only great achievements could stimulate the audience’s enthusiasm, could attract the mainstream media’s attention.
Their stories were continuously praised, inspiring countless young people. Just like Ji Xiangkong.
Finally, starting from a few years ago, the large prize money, along with the Chinese teams’ excellent performance, led Conquer esports events to repeatedly appear on CCTV2 and even received recognition from the General Administration of Sport of China.
This was how the older generation conquered the country for them.
The fact that esports could reach this point now was completely inseparable from their sacrifices and efforts.
Ji Xiangkong suddenly thought of the things that the American team’s young genius, Jeffery Chen, had said during their confrontation after the finals.
—But Cris is already old now. What’s the value of a professional player who can’t play? He used to be a legend before, but now he’s just a burden.
—Also, there doesn’t seem to be any Chinese player who’s able to succeed him.
No one to succeed him…
Ji Xiangkong raised his eyes to look at his captain.
Was there a person who made people safe as long as they were present?
Cris was a very good example.
He gained the title of “China’s top Conquer player” not only because he was at the pinnacle of godly operation, but even more so because his presence in the team was like a stabilizing force.
In the face of a large competition with tens of thousands of spectators on site, in the middle of an intense game where life and death were decided in a few short seconds, a professional player’s psychological strength was also a barrier. As the captain, Cris stood humbly upwind and patiently downwind, the team’s pillar.
In the year he had been teammates with him, Ji Xiangkong thoroughly believed that as long as Cris was on the battlefield, they were fearless!
Many, many times, he had seen Cris’s silhouette and heard the entire audience shout out Cris’s name, and yearned to be like him.
Ji Xiangkong clearly remembered that night, as they neared the hotel, Cris suddenly stopped walking next to him.
“Legend is a team that I’ve helped raise. Although A’xuan is a newcomer, he is gifted. Lu Feng and Huo Yao are also in the golden years of their professional careers. Since everyone all says that Conquer owes Cris a Global Finals championship, then please bring one back for me.”
Cris solemnly reached out to him.
“Xiangkong, replace me to become Legend’s soul.”2
“…”
“Don’t pay attention to the noise. If everyone could understand you, then wouldn’t you become an ordinary person?”
The wind shook the trees, leaves falling down like rain, and below the sunlight Ji Xiangkong suddenly thought of the profoundly memorable words of Naruto’s Third Hokage.3
—When the tree leaves dance, one shall find flames. The fire’s shadow will illuminate the village, and once again tree leaves shall bud anew.
Ji Xiangkong’s lips tightened, a rare seriousness appearing on his ever-irreverent face. He gripped Cris’s hand, the expression in his eyes gradually deepening.
“I promise you.”
……
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Footnotes:
1 Adding “A-” to the beginning of a character in someone’s name is another way to indicate closeness with them.
2 It could be more accurately translated as spiritual leader, but I thought that would have somewhat more religious connotations than intended.
3 Yes, really (lol). According to the Naruto wikipedia, Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Third Hokage, was hailed as a “God of Shinobi.” The following quote is his last words upon fighting Orochimaru and trying to seal his soul during the invasion of Hidden Leaf Village.
lilypad translations 
Businesses too often treat their employees as objects… throw them away when they think they’re not useful anymore🤨
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