Work Text:
Yu Wenzhou watched the clouds pass by as the plane soared through the sky. Huang Shaotian was sitting next to him, holding a blanket on his lap as he slept, his head resting on Yu Wenzhou’s shoulder. The latter was lost in his thoughts, thinking that this still felt slightly unreal.
Who would’ve thought that after a number of seasons, they’d leave the Chinese playing grounds and travel to Europe to compete against teams from other countries? Plus, with all of the strongest players from their domestic teams, Yu Wenzhou believed that they definitely wouldn’t be any worse than any other team.
Saying that the captains from the big powerhouse teams like Blue Rain, Tiny Herb, Tyranny, and the recently joined Happy, would’ve sounded like a joke, even if it was said last year. Yet here they were, on a plane to Switzerland, to compete in a global tournament.
Huang Shaotian shifted slightly in the seat next to him, unconsciously nuzzling against Yu Wenzhou’s shoulder. He looked over, and helped pull the falling blanket back over Huang Shaotian’s legs. Soon, they’d be walking the streets of an unfamiliar country and seeing the faces of unfamiliar pro players. But for China’s pro team, backing down and shying away was never an option. They were going to rush in, and fight to their limits, without letting the other countries even get a chance.
-
There were a few events before the actual global competition, one of them being a showcase within teams. Each country would send four representatives, in groups of two, to duel against each other. Of course, no team would show off their true strength; this was just an event to show off their team’s cohesive skills, or individual skills, depending on the player.
The Chinese Glory Team decided to send Yu Wenzhou and Huang Shaotian against Zhou Zekai and Sun Xiang, because they had been on the same team beforehand. Although Zhang Jiale and Zhang Xinjie had been as well, it was a bit boring to watch a basically 2v1 match, so they didn’t go on stage.
“We’re not going to go easy on you!” Huang Shaotian slapped Sun Xiang’s shoulder.
“I sure hope you won’t,” Sun Xiang snorted. “Just because we haven’t been teammates for as long doesn’t mean we will be any worse.”
“Oh, really?” Huang Shaotian laughed. “Say that again after we beat you!”
“Let’s have a good match,” Yu Wenzhou nodded toward Zhou Zekai, who gave him a small hum in response.
A few minutes later, the four of them stepped onto the stage, their jackets bright under the spotlights. Cheering rose from the crowd, nearly overwhelming the four of them. Even though the crowds in China weren’t small, this… venue filled with people from various countries was way bigger than theirs.
People were holding up signs with unfamiliar characters, their screaming incoherent as they waved the neon signs around. The pro players were stunned for a second before they met in the middle and shook hands. They then split off and sat down in front of the computers, starting to adjust their peripherals.
Surprisingly, they allowed voice chat in this competition. Everyone in the Chinese team groaned when they saw that, knowing that the rest of the world was ignorant toward Huang Shaotian’s exclusive skill of non-stop trash talking. Of course, that could be used to overwhelm the other teams’ players but… not only did Huang Shaotian’s talking bother his opponents, it also bothered his teammates. Therefore, people sincerely hoped that they could stick to the way they trained in the domestic competition, without voice chat.
Huang Shaotian interlocked his fingers and turned his palms outward, stretching his fingers and arms. He then stretched them upward before letting his fingers separate and bringing his arms down. He clicked the mouse a few times and adjusted his headphones, bringing the mic down to his lips. “Are you ready?” He asked, turning his head to look at the Samsara players a little bit away.
“Ready whenever you are,” Sun Xiang responded.
All four pointers hovered over the “ready” button, which was clicked a few seconds later. Their screens turned dark as the game brought their characters into a custom map so they could duel. At this time, the broadcasters started to talk in the background, introducing each person and their character’s class. Though, the pro players sitting on the stage couldn’t hear them because of their headphones.
“Captain, we’re going to win!” Huang Shaotian said into his mic without turning to look at Yu Wenzhou who was sitting next to him.
While the map was being set up, the teams could chat privately, to form plans and strategies. And since they were speaking into a mic, their voices could be projected into the audience as well. And so, when the broadcasters amplified Blue Rain’s mics, all they heard was Huang Shaotian saying that instead of talking about strategies.
“Mm,” Yu Wenzhou hummed in response. “Let’s give it our all.”
“Of course!”
Before they could say any more, their screens lit up, and their characters stood on a map, the camera panning 360 degrees so that they could see what was around them. It was a half-forest, half-desert map. Which team had what advantage in which area was easily discernible.
The second their characters could move, all four of them chose to hide. Huang Shaotian immediately changed his chat to [All] and spoke into his mic.
“Where are you? Don’t hide!”
The audience was stunned.
What was this?
Did Chinese players all play like this?
No one responded, and Huang Shaotian controlled Troubling Rain to jump onto a tree branch. There were people who were laughing in the back room when they saw that. Sun Xiang and Yu Wenzhou had spawned in the desert area, while Zhou Zekai was on the other side of the forest. Huang Shaotian was alone, and he cautiously patrolled the area.
“A half-half map,” Yu Wenzhou said in the team chat. “I spawned in the desert.”
Huang Shaotian quickly switched to team chat and responded with, “I’m in the forest! There’s no one around me right now. I can find my way over, captain, where are you? Don’t move, I’ll go as fast as I can.”
“We don’t have to see each other to work,” Yu Wenzhou responded quickly, shutting down Huang Shaotian’s ideas. “Let’s see if we can find the others first.”
“Okay.”
On the other hand, Zhou Zekai and Sun Xiang decided to meet up. They advanced on the boundary between the forest and the desert, doing quick sweeps to see if they could find Blue Rain before the latter found them.
Huang Shaotian hopped onto another tree branch before he saw the two pro players on the ground. “I see them,” Huang Shaotian immediately tossed out his coordinates.
“Okay,” Yu Wenzhou responded with one word.
As soon as that was said, Huang Shaotian jumped out of the tree and slashed downward, yelling “I see you!” as he did so.
The audience stared in confusion. A 1v2? He was definitely going to lose; all Zhou Zekai had to do was back away and shoot him a few times while Sun Xiang fought against him, and Huang Shaotian would drop dead.
What made them even more confused was how Huang Shaotian managed to continuously talk while controlling Troubling Rain to avoid attacks and throw out damage.
“Hey look over here! I bet you didn’t think it’d happen like this, right? Watch my blade! Do you think you’re so good because you have backup? Do you think I’ve never won a 1v2? I have, even against pro players! Don’t underestimate me, I’m coming for you! Watch my blade! Betcha can’t dodge this!”
Of course, most of the audience couldn’t understand Chinese, so all they heard was a jumble of vowels and consonants as he jumped around and slashed with his sword. It was quite dizzying from first person view, so the large screen playing in the back changed to third person. They were able to see Huang Shaotian’s flexible maneuvers as he dodged bullets and stabs while trading them for his own.
“Where’s his teammate?” Someone in the audience asked the person sitting next to him. “They can’t be unable to cooperate right?”
“Of course not,” the other person responded. “He’s probably just stalling for time.”
In fact, he was right. Yu Wenzhou had arrived at the site a few seconds ago, but stayed hidden as he started to summon a spell. Huang Shaotian could clearly hear the noise of a spell starting to be formed, but he showed no signs of it. He continued to taunt Sun Xiang while forcing Zhou Zekai to shoot bullets before he quickly rolled backward. Sun Xiang mindlessly charged forward toward him, only to be trapped by a set of shining purple bars.
“Heh,” Huang Shaotian jumped up and slashed toward Zhou Zekai. “Didn’t you say your teamwork wouldn’t lose to ours? How about now, huh?”
“Shut up!” Sun Xiang finally shouted back, spinning the spear in his hand and stabbing it toward Huang Shaotian.
The surprise attack caught Sun Xiang off guard and he lost a significant amount of health, forcing him to back off. The two sides came to a standstill as they tried to sound each other while hiding in the trees.
At that moment, a silence had fallen over the audience, as well as the rooms where the other countries’ pro players were watching the match.
“What… what just happened?”
The broadcasters replayed that moment, turning on the mics from Blue Rain’s side. But what happened stunned them again. There was no communication between the two of them! Yu Wenzhou hadn’t even said that he had arrived; he directly started summoning from behind Huang Shaotian. Of course, there were sounds of his summoning, but most of it was drowned out by Huang Shaotian’s talking and the clash of his sword against Sun Xiang’s spear.
Yet at the critical moment, Huang Shaotian had lured Sun Xiang into Yu Wenzhou’s range, allowing him to trap the battle mage! Only after a second replay did people slowly come to their senses. It… it could’ve been a fluke, or just a lucky moment. This was what most of the audience thought. Perhaps he had seen Yu Wenzhou’s screen, or maybe the mic didn’t pick up what he had said.
But all of the pro players knew, this definitely wasn’t something that happened by chance.
Only through years of constant teamwork, and cultivated tacit understanding, could something like this happen. Huang Shaotian, who had played alongside Yu Wenzhou for years, could easily pick up the sounds of the spell. From those years of experience, he was even able to tell what kind of spell it was, and when it would finish casting.
So, he cooperated with Yu Wenzhou without a word of interaction. Pro players were banned from looking at their partners’ screens during competition, and the mics were extremely sensitive. There was no way that it would have missed something like that. The pro players felt a chill run down their spine as they started to gauge how scary the Chinese team was.
In the stadium, a broadcaster started to speak loudly. “This is the Chinese Glory Team’s warlock Yu Wenzhou and swordsman Huang Shaotian, known as China’s sword and curse! From their many years of teamwork, they were able to understand each other so well to the point that they did not even need to say anything to set up and successfully execute a surprise attack! The Chinese team will definitely pose a threat in this year’s competition, let us see what other surprises they will bring us!”
The four of them continued to fight, exchanging blows faster after Yu Wenzhou revealed his attendance. It was a close battle, but because of the surprise attack forcing Sun Xiang to suffer a large amount of damage, Blue Rain’s players still won in the end. The battle had dragged on for a long time, but people continued to watch intently, making note of Yu Wenzhou and Huang Shaotian’s cooperation, as well as Zhou Zekai’s stunning gun skills and Sun Xiang’s combat ability.
Golden wings representing the Glory logo unfurled on the screen, the key swinging into place as the battle ended. Huang Shaotian took off his headphones, laying them on the table as he beamed at Yu Wenzhou.
Yu Wenzhou held up his hand as he stood up, Huang Shaotian eagerly giving him a high five. The two of them shook hands with Samsara’s players before they walked off, discussing the match they had just fought.
“You know, some things like understanding takes time to develop,” Huang Shaotian jabbed at Sun Xiang.
“I know, I know,” Sun Xiang turned away.
“Maybe in a few years you’ll catch up to our level!” Huang Shaotian laughed as he naturally intertwined his fingers with Yu Wenzhou’s.
“Shut up!” Sun Xiang sped up, Zhou Zekai looking at them for a moment before following after his team’s battle mage.
Huang Shaotian continued to laugh as he looked at Yu Wenzhou, glee glittering in his eyes. “I bet we surprised them with that,” he sighed. “In the actual competition, we’ll show the world what China’s sword and curse really is!”
Yu Wenzhou squeezed his hand softly. “Yeah, we will.”