Duan Chi frowned slightly when he heard that. He took out his phone, opened Lin Anke’s Weibo account from his following list and pulled up the comment section beneath his latest post.
Lin Anke had only just finished this round of the match, so Panda’s words did not come as a surprise to him. When Xu Qiao had made those threatening remarks in the restroom that day, he had already guessed that a day like this would come.
Panda asked cautiously, “Encore, let me ask you something… Everything he said… it’s all fake, right?”
Duan Chi’s finger paused as he scrolled through the comments. He lifted his head and stared at Panda with an expression that seemed to say, “Did you get your brain caught in a door too?”
Duan Chi: “We were the ones who played TIG in the finals. What would he gain by pretending to be TIG? Did you give him money, or did I give him money?”
“…” Panda’s brain froze for two seconds before he suddenly understood. “Oh, right.”
Duan Chi could not be bothered to pay him any more attention. His fingers continued taking screenshots without stopping.
Lin Anke briefly explained the conflict he had had with Xu Qiao that day but he did not mention his relationship with Xu Sheng.
Duan Chi’s movements paused slightly. He looked up. “He specifically went looking for you after the match?”
Lin Anke nodded. “He had probably just lost the game and was in a bad mood.”
Egg White was so angry that he slapped the table repeatedly. “Fuck! Does losing a match mean he can just make up accusations against other people?”
Adam was getting a little angry too. “How can someone be this petty?”
After figuring out the entire sequence of events, Panda actually breathed a sigh of relief and stopped being so anxious.
A person with a clear conscience has nothing to fear from rumors. Since Lin Anke had not done anything, they only needed to wait for the official investigation results.
Panda reminded Lin Anke, “The officials will probably contact you within the next few days. We haven’t done anything, so there’s no need to be afraid. The investigation team has never wronged an innocent person. I’ll also have the club cooperate with them on our end. They’ll probably just check things like transaction records and whatever else they need. None of that is a big deal but for now, give me control of your Weibo account. I’ll have the publicity department prepare a statement and put it out first to reassure the fans.”
Lin Anke sent Panda the username and password for his Weibo account. Panda opened WeChat and glanced at the message.
“Alright, then there’s nothing else to worry about. I’ll tell you as soon as there’s any news from the officials. Don’t let this affect your training.”
The calmest person throughout the entire training session was, ironically, Lin Anke himself. There was naturally no way something like this would distract him or affect his training.
After going over the necessary precautions, Panda took the account information and left. Duan Chi got up and followed him outside.
“Are you familiar with the person in charge of the venue where the last match was held?” Duan Chi casually closed the training room door and called out to Panda.
Panda paused. “Fairly familiar. Why?”
Duan Chi nodded. “There are surveillance cameras in the corridor outside the restroom. Go ask the person in charge whether those cameras have an audio recording function. If they do, get me a copy of the surveillance footage from that day.”
Panda was confused. “Why do we need the surveillance footage? The investigation is the league officials’ responsibility.”
“I told you to go, so just go.” Duan Chi did not elaborate. He certainly could not tell him that he wanted to hear exactly what Xu Qiao had said to Lin Anke, so he could decide how far this matter needed to be taken.
He paused, then added, “There’s no need to delete those comments on Weibo. I’ll have my brother’s lawyer contact you later and, ”
Panda scratched his head. “And what?”
Duan Chi held out his hand. “Let me see his Weibo password.”
If Lin Anke’s password had anything to do with Xu Sheng, then both Xu Sheng and that Xu Qiao would be finished.
The following day was Monday and the official investigation team from the SEL League arrived at the DG base.
“Manager Jiang, Encore, sorry to disturb you. The league has received a report alleging that player Encore was involved in match-fixing. The investigation team is currently reviewing the match data and needs your cooperation in providing Encore’s electronic device data and the club’s transaction records.”
The procedure was more or less exactly what Panda had described earlier. Lin Anke nodded and handed his phone and computer over to the officials so that they could copy the data on-site.
Seeing how cooperative he was, the staff member’s expression softened somewhat and he reassured him, “Don’t worry. We won’t wrong any player.”
Panda said cheerfully, “Of course, of course. Our tournament officials have always been the most impartial. We have complete confidence in you.”
After checking the records on Lin Anke’s social media accounts, the officials proceeded to examine his bank transactions.
Lin Anke asked, “If it turns out that I didn’t participate in match-fixing, will the person who reported me be punished?”
The staff member hesitated for a moment. “The league allows members of the public to submit reports voluntarily. If the other party didn’t act with malicious intent to fabricate evidence, they generally won’t be punished. However… the public discussion has become quite intense. If Encore is indeed innocent, we’ll ask the other party to provide a certain amount of compensation for the damage to his reputation.”
Lin Anke shook his head. “I don’t need compensation. As long as he makes a public apology, that’s enough.”
Panda immediately chimed in, “Exactly! Our player was completely smeared for no reason. He must issue a public apology!”
It was not an unreasonable demand. The investigation had not even reached a conclusion yet and Xu Qiao had already been stirring up public opinion in his livestream. That genuinely did not comply with the league’s regulations.
The official nodded. “That can be arranged.”
After the technical staff finished examining the data on Lin Anke’s phone, they found no traces of deleted data. Once they confirmed that there were no issues, they returned the phone to him and nodded toward the head of the investigation team to indicate that everything was in order.
The head of the investigation team handed Lin Anke his phone and computer back. “Alright, then we’ll leave for now. We’ll notify you once there are any further developments.”
Panda escorted the investigation team out, exchanged a few more polite words with them and watched their vehicle drive away. Only then did he turn around and head back into the base.
“Did you manage to get the surveillance footage I asked for earlier?”
When Panda returned to the office, Duan Chi was already waiting inside.
He was nearly startled out of his skin by the sudden sight of him. Patting his chest, he asked, “When did you get in here? Where’s Encore?”
Duan Chi casually picked up a pen and spun it between his fingers. “He went back to the training room.”
Panda closed the office door and said, “Not yet. The venue is coordinating with the officials right now. I figured this is a sensitive period, so I didn’t bring it up. Otherwise, even if we’ve done nothing wrong, we might end up making the officials suspicious that there’s actually something going on. Besides, you’re not in a hurry anyway.”
Duan Chi gave Panda a sideways glance. “He just said that Xu Qiao has to apologize?”
“You even know about that?” Panda looked at him suspiciously. “Did you install a listening device in my office?”
“I guessed.” Duan Chi put the pen back down.
Panda was only joking. Of course, he knew Duan Chi would never actually install a listening device but since the subject had come up, he clicked his tongue and said, “Encore actually seems genuinely angry this time. He even took the initiative to ask for a public apology.”
Since they were all competing in the same division, people within the scene had more or less interacted with Lin Anke to some extent. Encore gave people the impression of being quiet, reserved and somewhat aloof.
It was not just the fans. Even quite a few players privately suspected that Lin Anke might have some degree of autism.
Except Duan Chi.
Because Encore genuinely knew how to talk back to him.
If Panda had not happened to run into Lin Anke cursing at Duan Chi backstage at the competition venue before, he probably would have thought that Lin Anke really did have some degree of autism as well.
From Panda’s words, Duan Chi sensed that something was not quite right.
Was Lin Anke really this angry simply because Xu Qiao had maliciously reported him?
Or was there something else going on?
✦ ✧ ✦
Fleurveil
[Translator]
☕ A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR THE TRANSLATOR
Behind every translated chapter is someone who probably needs caffeine.
☕ BUY THEM A COFFEE →
✧ (づ｡•ㅅ•｡)づ ☕ ✧
✦ thank you for reading ✦
← PreviousNext →
ChaptersChapter 1 · He was substituted off the fieldChapter 2 · I’ll avenge youChapter 3 · Leaving TIGChapter 4 · Point and shootChapter 5 · Join DGChapter 6 · Live stream collisionChapter 7 · MysteriousChapter 8 · Transfer NoticeChapter 9 · Want the championshipChapter 10 · Galaxy BattleshipChapter 11 · Be my DogChapter 12 · Post match ConflictChapter 13 · ReportedChapter 14 · Weibo CodeChapter 15 · Live Streaming to attract FansChapter 16 · Duan Chi’s horse was exposedChapter 17 · Emotional articlesChapter 18 · Match voice recording