Work Text:
(1)
The rain trickled down as a lone man sat on a bus stop with eyes locked to his phone. He couldn’t hear the rush of people seeking shelter because the sound transmitted from his earphone was even louder. The agitated voice of the commentators, swords clashing one another with the sound of exploding grenades and broken flasks, also the never-ending trash talk from a certain person…
...and then the sound of clicking gears as a pair of metallic wings spread out.
‘Glory’
Blue Rain won.
At the Season 6 of Glory Professional Alliance, Blue Rain won their first championship, toppled down the previous champion, Tiny Herb. Fang Shijing’s hand trembled as the online broadcaster rewound the final moments of the match.
“They… they won… Blue Rain won!!!”
Fang Shijing jolted from his seat. He punched his fist in the air, jumped like a rabbit, and screamed at the top of his lungs. He didn’t care if people around him saw him as a lunatic. They won! Blue Rain won their first championship!
“We won!!”
The commentators still discussed feverishly which was the deciding moment that led to Tiny Herb’s defeat. They concluded the trash talk Huang Shaotian aimed to Tiny Herb’s God of Healing was pretty much the start of Tiny Herb’s downfall. Fang Shijing knew better. It wasn’t the works of Huang Shaotian alone. Messing with the healer’s psyche was a good tactic but if the rest of the team couldn’t cover it, then it’d be meaningless. Yu Wenzhou’s set up during the first half of the match, along with Zheng Xuan and Yu Feng’s coordination, they managed to put Tiny Herb’s formation into disarray. By then, Huang Shaotian’s trash talk would be the most effective. The rest was history. Ice Rain slashed through Wind Guard’s last sliver of health as the Curse of Destruction cast a long distance curse aimed at Vaccaria. Truly a brilliant match.
Fang Shijing regretted he couldn’t watch the match live because of his work. He sighed then he shook his head. It didn’t matter; today was Blue Rain’s day!
We won!
Blue Rain won!
Fang Shijing laughed heartily, with tears almost dropped from his eyes.
(2)
Of course, as an avid gamer he was, Fang Shijing wouldn’t celebrate Blue Rain’s victory with booze but with playing the game! Glory! The rain has subdued by now and thus started Fang Shijing’s journey to find the nearest internet cafe. Along the way, he checked Glory's forum. The forum was full of final match discussion. Most of them were celebrating Blue Rain, but there were also a lot of cursing about how Blue Rain won their match. Many thought Huang Shaotian’s trash talk was very unfair and underhanded. Fang Shijing shook his head helplessly. He wasn’t unfamiliar with such comments—after all, he once partnered with someone who was very shameless to the bone. But to think Blue Rain only won because of Huang Shaotian’s trash talk was a very glaring mistake. Fang Shijing was about to roast this original poster but then his eyes caught something else.
[Big news! Herb Garden declared a guild war against Blue Brook Guild!]
Fang Shijing stunned. A guild war! When was the last time he participated in a guild war? Probably during the early years of the alliance, he didn’t really remember. From the guild long-time viewpoint, the guild war was indeed a loss-loss between the two guilds. The amount of loss equipment and experiences were enormous and both guilds totally gained nothing from it except venting off their emotions. But wasn’t it the main point of playing games? Releasing all the emotions and tensions that couldn’t be expressed in the real world?
Fang Shijing’s blood pumped. If there’s a war, then of course he would participate! Fang Shijing finally found an internet cafe and then rushed inside. The internet cafe was packed, perhaps because of tonight’s final match, but luckily, Fang Shijing managed to secure a computer. He didn't waste any time and logged-in into the game.
"Brother Deep! There you are!"
As soon as Fang Shijing spawned in the city, a Blade Master clad in snow-white armor greeted him joyfully. The Blade Master IGN was Blue Bridge Spring Snow, a rising star among Blue Brook Guild’s elite circle. After retiring, Fang Shijing chose Mechanic as the class of his main account, with Deep Horizon as his IGN. He was still involved with guild matters though not as active as he was before. He also hid the fact that he was Blue Rain’s previous captain, masquerading as a loyal fan of Blue Rain. Fang Shijing eventually gained the trust of the Blue Brook Guild’s elite and had a few times leading dungeon raids and wild BOSS-es hunt. Blue Bridge Spring Snow was one of the few elites Fang Shijing was close with.
“How is the situation?” Fang Shijing asked. He knew Blue Bridge Spring Snow was looking for him for the war matters.
Blue Bridge Spring Snow answered eagerly. “The war spreads out across the cities and some of the grinding maps. Brother Deep, come with me! I’ll lead you to where the battles are most concentrated.”
“Alright, leave them to me! This big brother will absolutely smithereens them to ashes!”
Blue Bridge Spring Snow beamed. Although Blue Bridge Spring Snow held higher authority than Deep Horizon in Blue Brook Guild, he respected and relied on this senior greatly. His skills and commands would greatly help Blue Brook Guild to win this war.
Fang Shijing finally arrived at the war site. It was chaotic—it was exciting. After being briefed about the current updates of the situation, Fang Shijing was ready to join the fray. Suddenly, a loud and very familiar voice sounded across from Fang Shijing’s computer seat.
“Holy fuck, you’re all sore losers! Just accept your loss already!”
Fang Shijing froze at his seat.
...This fucking voice.
Fang Shijing got up from his chair abruptly and stared down at the man sitting across from him. He couldn’t see the man’s face clearly but after spending a lot of years playing games beside him, Fang Shijing didn’t need a full view to recognize this man.
The man with stubbed chin looked up with creased eyebrows. "What? Do you have a problem with me or something, huh…?”
Fang Shijing cracked his knuckle as he smiled widely to the man. “Oh, a lot. I have a lot of fucking problems with you, Old Wei.”
(3)
Never in Fang Shijing’s dream, he’d ever one day meet with this bastard again. After Wei Chen left Blue Rain like a dead-beat father, Fang Shijing has often imagined what sort of punishment he should give to Wei Chen if they ever reunite. Punch him in the face? Definitely. Throw him into the trash can? He might as well call Huang Shaotian and Yu Wenzhou to help. But now, when the man was in front of him, Fang Shijing could do neither because he was still in the guild war. Fang Shijing could only throw endless string of curses while also controlling Deep Horizon.
“You bastard, shameless, fucking irresponsible bastard!”
Wei Chen, of course, cursed him back. "Don't be such a wuss. Can you just leave it in the past?"
"Fucking hell I have to tidy up the mess you leave after your sudden retirement! Can you just at least leave some kind of notice?! Shameless!"
A player beside Wei Chen couldn’t hold his steam anymore.
"Fuck! You dare to insult Boss Wei?!”
"You fucking sit down, only this old man who can cuss at him!” Wei Chen reprimanded.
"Uhh, brother Deep, is everything alright?”
Blue Bridge Spring Snow approached Deep Horizon. It sounded like Brother Deep stumbled into a real-life fight? Uhh, wasn’t this kind of bad?
Fang Shijing recollected himself. “It’s fine. I just met an old friend.”
"Say, let's just we set this aside and take care of the guild war first?” Wei Chen offered a ceasefire. He was also participating in the guild war and all this back-and-forth curses distracting his play. Wei Chen bet Fang Shijing also experienced the same thing.
Fang Shijing understood Wei Chen’s intention. He gritted his teeth and swallowed his anger.
“Fine! But don’t you dare escape again after this war ends!”
“Fuck, you sound like my ex-girlfriend or something.”
“FUCK YOU!”
(4)
Thus, they continued the guild war. Deep Horizon assisted Blue Bridge Spring Snow as they PK-ed the members of Herb Garden. They coordinated with the other parties to launch a massive attack. Unfortunately, Herb Garden’s strength was on par with Blue Brook Guild. They were locked in a stalemate with no resolution in sight. Most of the players could only turn into trash-talking, hoping it would burn the enemy’s morals.
“Blue Rain is trash!”
“Your uneven eye captain is trash!”
“Fuck! What did you say about our captain?! Your slow-ass captain should have retired already!”
“Retire? Are you fucking kidding me he led Blue Rain to championship!”
“Fuck, that’s only because your god trash-talk!”
“Eh, so you admit your God of Healing fell into the trash-talk tactic?”
“FUCK!”
Fang Shijing sighed. He could hear Wei Chen’s trash talk clearly. Not only because he literally sat across from him but Wei Chen’s character was also fighting not far from Deep Horizon. Windward Formation, Warlock. His appearance was a copy of Wei Chen, except Windward Formation donned in a purple robe and held a grim-looking scepter on his hand.
Fang Shijing recognized that scepter. He hovered the mouse to see its description and to no surprise, it was indeed the familiar silver weapon he hasn’t seen for a long time. Death’s Hand—Swoksaar’s previous silver weapon. The current Swoksaar has changed his weapon to tailor Yu Wenzhou’s strength. Fang Shijing was the one who commanded the creation of Curse of Destruction. It was hard for him to let go of Death’s Hand, but it was necessary. He has never regretted doing so, as it has brought Blue Rain to the height of Glory. Although to see it once again in his old friend’s hand… Fang Shijing felt a knot in his heart. That guy has never abandoned Glory.
“Need a hand?” Deep Horizon asked.
Windward Formation wasn’t even polite. “What do you think?”
“To be honest I’d be delighted to see your corpse right here, right now.”
“Fuck, we have a common enemy in sight! Those green witches should be your priorities!”
“Oh, who said I can’t let you die in their hand and then proceed to kill them?”
“Quit joking around!!"
Fang Shijing relented. He threw an Air Drops to Windward Formation’s opponent, shifting their aggro to him. Fang Shijing kiting and harassed them, much worse than Wei Chen did. Windward Formation was able to escape the enemy and secured a safe position from a distance. After a while, Deep Horizon was in a pinch. He asked for Blue Bridge’s help but to no avail since the man was also busy handling another enemy. Deep Horizon shouted at Windward Formation.
“What are you doing, help me here!”
Windward Formation’s scepter was waving, casting an unknown spell towards Deep Horizon’s enemy. Fang Shijing was relieved to know Wei Chen hasn’t abandoned him yet. Although it has been years since they last played together, Fang Shijing has never forgotten how many times he was sacrificed by this moral-less bast—
What the entire fuck?
A fucking Death’s Door?
“Shi—”
It was too late for Deep Horizon to escape the looming black door behind him. The tentacles rushed out to wrap him and the other Herb Garden’s players and then dragged them towards the door to receive exploding damages. Deep Horizon, whose health was below 30%, was killed alongside with Tiny Herb’s supporters. He dropped a few equipment, including a Purple weapon he received from the Blue Brook Guild. Fang Shijing hit the computer table.
“Shit, you shameless!! You never change!!”
Windward Formation laughed loudly beside Deep Horizon’s corpse. “Look, I still have the heart to pick up your equipment. After respawning in the city, quickly get your ass over here!”
“SHAMELESS!!!”
(5)
They played until the sun rose from the east. Who won the war? Honestly, none of them won the war—except for a few scrap pickers who harvested a lot of high-grade equipment. Fang Shijing massaged the spot between his eyes. He was no stranger to all-nighter but fighting in a guild war all night long has drained most of his energy.
“Little Blue, I’ll log out first.”
Blue Bridge Spring Snow took some time to answer. He seemed out of concentration too. “Ah, goodbye, Brother Deep! Thanks a lot for today!”
“We’re the champions!” Fang Shijing said before he logged out.
Blue Bridge Spring Snow replied energetically. “Blue Rain: The Champion!”
Fang Shijing took off his headset. Across from him, Wei Chen has long logged out of the game and was busily smoking a cigarette. Fang Shijing stared at him. Wei Chen pretended not to notice it and then got up from his seat.
“Where are you going?” Fang Shijing asked sharply.
Wei Chen clicked his tongue. “Since when did you become so doubtful of me? Come on, let’s go for a walk.”
Fang Shijing followed Wei Chen unwillingly. They walked out of the internet cafe with no destination in mind, letting wherever their steps led to. Silence, by no means, still enveloped them.
Wei Chen stopped abruptly. He let out a puff of smoke. “I won’t apologize for what I did. It was necessary, you know it too.”
Of course, Fang Shijing knew it. Wei Chen has to be stone-cold leaving Blue Rain. If not, Blue Rain would still be clinging to their past and the succession wouldn’t be as smooth as they had it now.
“But you don’t have to be that dramatic! At least leave us a phone number!”
Wei Chen turned around. He stared at Fang Shijing.
“What?” Fang Shijing asked.
Wei Chen pointed at his cheek. “Go on. Punch me like you always want to.”
Fang Shijing gritted his teeth. “Fuck me, I really sound like your ex-girlfriend looking for justice.”
Wei Chen laughed. “Now, you admit it huh—”
A quick punch landed into Wei Chen’s face. It wasn’t powerful but it managed to leave a blue mark that certainly would stay for a few days.
"Your punch sucks!"
"Shut up! I'm tired!"
Fang Shijing rubbed his knuckle. Though he finally got what he wanted for years, he didn’t feel satisfied any bit. He walked away from Wei Chen, brushing his hair like a madman. Wei Chen sighed as he followed Fang Shijing. Their steps were slow and quiet, like the stream of water flowed peacefully in a calm river. Between the serenity, a low yet sincere voice was heard. It was from Wei Chen.
“...Thank you for taking care of Blue Rain.”
Fang Shijing froze at his place. During these years, he knew he wasn't angry with Wei Chen. If anything, he felt sorrowful and lost. But he never showed it and just brushed it off. There was a dream passed on to him, and the very same dream he passed on to the next generation.
Blue Rain’s championship.
The summer they've always wished for...
Fang Shijing let out a deep breath before revealing a wistful smile he has been holding for a while. He continued walking on his path.
“You should’ve said it to those brats, Old Wei.”
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