On the final night before the tournament, Lu Xinyu still had not appeared.
The Dawn team members were panicking. For the past few days, Lu Xinyu had not participated in their training matches. They had assumed Pei Shiyu wanted him to relax, but now, with the tournament starting tomorrow, they still had not seen a shadow of him at their hotel.
Their team had no substitutes.
Pei Shiyu had been trying to contact Lu Xinyu throughout the week, but he had been delayed by his new job. Pei Shiyu made a call in front of the others. After a while, Lu Xinyu picked up, his voice crackling through the connection: “Sorry, I have been held up by some things here. I am already on my way. Tomorrow, tomorrow you will definitely see me at the competition venue.”
He was likely on a high-speed train, and his voice kept cutting out. After saying that, the line went dead.
Wan Yi sighed: “Why is our team’s path so rugged?”
Xu Qing wanted to offer some comfort, but when he opened his mouth, he found no comforting words. Anything he said now would just sound like empty platitudes.
Pei Shiyu: “Everyone, get some good rest tonight. We will meet at the venue tomorrow.”
Xu Qing looked at the Dawn team members. Even he, an outsider, could not help but feel skeptical. Could a team like this really go far?
Xu Qing could not help but look at Pei Shiyu. Had he ever truly considered the current situation?
On the morning of the tournament, they still had not waited for Lu Xinyu, but the event organizers were already urging them to start. The other members of the Dawn team had no choice but to enter the venue first.
Xu Qing sat in the audience, trying to contact Lu Xinyu, but the calls kept going to voicemail.
The popularity of this Eternal provincial tournament was far greater than usual. In particular, the Dawn team had been the subject of heated online debate before the tournament even started, regardless of whether the attention was positive or negative. You could certainly say it was a hot topic.
Beyond the fact that White Crow, who had been insulted and labeled with various derogatory names by her haters, was appearing in person for the first time, the focus was on Pei Shiyu, a former substitute for the Thunder Mist team. He was the one who had replaced the highly active star player Jiang Mian, and he was also “Jingzhe,” the legendary roadside king of the Heavenly rankings. The buffs were fully stacked.
Even the ticket sales for this provincial tournament were one-third higher than the usual lukewarm numbers, and the auditorium was exceptionally noisy. Before the start, the host had naturally done their homework, knowing what everyone was watching for, and occasionally steered the conversation toward the Dawn team.
Host: “Hello to all the audience members present and those watching via our livestreams. You are now watching the first official match of the Eternal National Tournament. Every team participating has experienced fierce competition within their respective provinces.”
“Standing before you now is the team from City B, H Province, the Forest Eagle team; and the Dawn team from Boteng City, A Province.”
After the introduction, the host left a sufficient pause for the audience to react, and the director did a great job by aiming the cameras at the players on both sides. The camera lingered particularly long on the faces of Pei Shiyu and White Crow from the Dawn team.
The audience in the stands could not help but discuss the team, with most of the commentary being insults. The bullet comments on the livestream were filled with filtered words. The barrage of abuse from haters and Jiang Mian’s fans grew louder, clamoring for “Jingzhe” to quit the team.
Sharp-eyed netizens noticed that there were only four people standing in the Dawn team’s arena. What was going on? Where was the other person? How could they play with only four?
The host at the arena clearly noticed this, but there were no specific interview personnel arranged in the lounges for either team at the moment. The host could only ask the staff through their earpiece. The event staff who had gone to understand the situation returned, looking just as confused, and told the host: “They still have a player who has not checked in.”
The host whispered: “No substitutes?”
“I have not heard of any.”
Although the host had not hosted official Eternal KOL events, they had hosted countless other branch tournaments, and this was the first time they had encountered a situation where the team was incomplete right before the start of the match.
The host picked up the microphone, paused for a few seconds, and said: “The Dawn team has encountered some unexpected situations, and their personnel have not yet fully arrived. The provincial tournament is an official Eternal event, and the competition must be fair, open, and transparent. According to the rules, we will start at 6:00 PM sharp as scheduled. If the Dawn team’s personnel have not arrived before the start, they will be ruled as having forfeited.”
The entire stadium was in an uproar. Haters, onlookers, they had all estimated many scenarios for how the Dawn team would play. But clearly, they had not anticipated this scenario. How could they show up with an incomplete team? No official substitute? And you are saying you have absolutely no substitutes?
There was truly no way out.
“Are they here just to be a joke?”
“They cannot even get all their people together, what are they here to play for?”
“Are they here to make a scene? They are in the spotlight, are they planning to lay a huge egg?”
With 10 minutes left until the match, the remaining four members of the Dawn team had been taken to the competition arena to sit down and test their equipment. The equipment had no major issues, but…
Wan Yi could not help but ask: “Can Commander Yu really make it here?”
They could not see Lu Xinyu anywhere at the venue entrance.
Pei Shiyu pursed his lips, took a deep breath, and said in a low voice: “I do not know.”
After Pei Shiyu spoke, the Dawn team’s headset channel fell into a deathly silence. It was not resentment, just pure unwillingness to give up. They had made so many preparations for this provincial tournament, determined to slap the faces of those internet trolls. Taking a step back, even if they lost, they wanted to lose beautifully and with dignity. They wanted to tell everyone that their Dawn team was not what the internet said.
But what was this now? A five-person match, and they could not even get everyone together before the start? It felt like they were standing under the shining spotlight, only to be turned into clowns for people to mock. The audience’s gazes felt almost tangible; they did not even dare to look back at them. Every gaze, filled with curiosity, malice, or speculation, felt like a sharp blade slicing through them, over and over again.
They felt the powerlessness of being unable to do anything.
Through the team’s headset, Pei Shiyu’s voice came through again, strained and hoarse: “I am sorry, this time it was my fault for not handling it well.”
When he knew Lu Xinyu had the intention to quit, he should have recruited a substitute early, just like with Tiger Bro. Even three days ago, when Lu Xinyu said he was going to work, he should have prepared for the possibility that he might not come back. Then they would not be in such a passive position now.
They had already suffered a loss three years ago. Pei Shiyu could not help but clench his fists; he had not realized he was still as stupid as he was three years ago. He was facing almost the same situation as three years ago: the mockery from the audience, the abuse on the internet, the surrounding people not saying much, but their eyes speaking volumes.
He thought he had long walked out of the nightmare from three years ago, but it turned out that he was the one who had never let go.
“I am sorry.” Pei Shiyu reiterated, pale and powerless, both to his teammates and to his past self. He was even worse off than three years ago. Back then, he was the only one, and he could bear all the unbearable attacks alone. But this time, he had harmed teammates who dared to entrust their backs to him, failing their trust.
After apologizing, he kept his head down, afraid to look at the disappointed eyes of his other teammates. He had spent three years moving from the last ban to where the Dawn team was now. After this, he did not know how long it would take. For an e-sports athlete, the golden years were only a few years long; he did not have another three years to waste.
This time, it might be his last appearance on an Eternal competition stage. A true farewell, a mess of an ending.
The timer for the start time ticked forward as expected. The sound of static from the host’s microphone came through first.
Pei Shiyu closed his eyes, his body tensed, as if he were on the gallows in full view of everyone, waiting for the final judgment.
Host: “Now, I announce that the first season of the 2025 Eternal National Provincial Tournament has officially begun!”
It officially begun?
Pei Shiyu opened his eyes, utterly astonished.
The host continued: “The opening match is the Forest Eagle team vs. the Dawn team!”
A sound of a chair being pulled back came from beside him.
Pei Shiyu turned his head abruptly and looked to his side, at the empty seat that belonged to the Dawn team’s support. Someone had just sat down.
Pei Shiyu met a pair of familiar, smiling eyes.
Xu Qing’s voice: “Sorry everyone. Thank you for waiting.”