Echoes of the Afterglow [Esports]

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[My next book is After I Made Up My Mind to Pursue Someone. The blurb is at the very bottom. Please add it to your collection ( ´▽` )ﾉ]

Secret identity revealed | He has a secret crush and can reassure himself in a second | Long-planned romance | Two-year age gap

Extra scenes on Weibo: @Qiqiaoovo

Oblivious, career-driven sweetheart vs. aloof, scheming, favoritism-prone cool guy

Wearing matching team jerseys, we are bound together. Shoulder to shoulder, we bathe in a golden rain, and our championship seals our fate: never to part.

Blurb:

Xu Yi'an, ID Xuyuan.yuan, became a champion as soon as she debuted. With her sweet, harmless face and fierce gameplay, the contrast is irresistible, and she has won herself a crowd of doting fan moms.

On championship night, a friend tempted her into clicking on a shipping video of her and the team captain. The sight shook the career-focused girl to her core.

Her hand slipped, and she liked it with her main account.

QWG captain Zhou Tingzhi, ID Zhinian.nian, is dashing and sharp, with swordlike brows and bright eyes. Aloof and proud, he was a sensation from the moment he debuted.

Her accidental like sent the post soaring in popularity.

Commenter 1: Butchers aren't allowed to marry each other. That's the rule in Identity V!

Commenter 2: She probably just got tilted and mistook it for a crush. Xu Yuan is still young. It's normal not to know the difference.

Commenter 3: Actually, they're kind of cute together... Can I say that?

Fans: As long as their results are good and they haven't done anything immoral, we'll spoil them no matter what!

The owner of their broke little club waved a hand and decided to have the two of them play up the ship and ride this wave of attention. Worried they might feel awkward, the manager added, "You don't have to play it up. Just be genuine."

"Okay." Zhou Tingzhi looked up casually, his gaze settling on Xu Yi'an, who was standing in front of him protectively like a hen shielding her chick. The corner of his mouth lifted almost imperceptibly as he agreed.

Xu Yi'an blinked in surprise and obediently nodded. She only wanted to get through her career in peace.

In front of the cameras, Zhou Tingzhi defended her without reservation, showered her with praise, and promptly offered her a hand warmer when her hands were cold. His teammates silently challenged him with their eyes: Captain, you're showing favoritism way too obviously.

When the girl looked elsewhere, his gaze grew uninhibited.

Was it obvious? But if she couldn't tell, then it wasn't obvious.

-

Later, one night, Xu Yi'an and her best friend got sidetracked and started talking about love. Her friend poured out her frustrations: "My secret crush is practically an open secret now! How has he still not caught on?"

Xu Yi'an's gaze faltered, and she pressed her lips together. Only then did she realize: "The way you put it, I think someone might have a secret crush on me too."

Her friend was left speechless, then muttered wryly, "So you really didn't know. I almost thought you didn't like him."

Could that be? Xu Yi'an lowered her eyes and suddenly remembered the way she'd awkwardly put distance between them. To him, that must have seemed like a rejection...

When he was caught in a storm of public opinion, Xu Yi'an reopened her long-neglected livestream and said seriously, word by word, "The captain is a really good person. He takes great care of me because..." She paused, then pressed her lips together and quietly added, "We're teammates."

When she was cornered against the wall, Xu Yi'an was utterly stunned. Zhou Tingzhi's eyes were red, like a puppy that had been abandoned. She had never seen the captain lose control. As tears fell, he asked reproachfully, "Are we really just teammates?"

That scared me. At least he wasn't taking revenge because he loved and hated me.

Xu Yi'an smiled to herself, quietly rising onto her toes to close the gap between them. The next second, she kissed his forehead, deliberately drawing out the last syllable the way he did, her voice soft, languid, and flirtatious as she came straight out with it: "I like you."

When her secret identity was exposed overnight, Xu Yi'an fell silent. She struggled to connect the cool guy in front of her with the online persona "Evening Breeze Doesn't Understand Me," who threw tantrums and broke down while begging his favorite girl to adore him. He was obediently drying his hair, his clothes half wet, abs faintly visible, looking pure and harmless.

She had thought the captain's love would be passionate and unabashed. Instead, every bit of his tenderness had been planned long in advance. He kept his love hidden and restrained, afraid of troubling her.

Reading Guide:

1. The characters are not based on real people. Please don't associate them with anyone in real life. Don't scrutinize the game and tournament details.

2. The heroine is a naturally gifted, level-headed player, but she's slow to recognize romantic feelings and is sensitive and vulnerable.

3. One-on-one romance, both leads are virgins, and both are dating for the first time. They're rather immature when it comes to handling relationships.

4. Set in the game Identity V.

After I Made Up My Mind to Pursue Someone

Earnest, innocent coward vs. alluring, possessive charmer

Girl pursues boy / happy ending / both are virgins

1.

Song Zhizhen is the quintessential good girl: sweet, quiet, neat, and a little slow. Plenty of people have shown interest in her over the years, but she has always turned them down politely.

She shakes her head when asked what it feels like to like someone. She's never had a crush, so she doesn't know.

After her best friend badgered her into it, she somehow stumbled into a shooting game called Valorant, despite never having played one before.

She was completely lost in the match, unfamiliar with the controls. She'd get taken out as soon as she saw an enemy, and they were crushed by a huge score difference. The opponents even taunted them: Is one point enough for you?

Song Zhizhen bit her lip, fuming, and typed back. That only earned her more taunts from the other team.

As her anger flared, a clear male voice sounded beside her ear, slightly husky and nonchalant: "Don't get mad. I'll carry you to a win."

It was a completely different voice. Kill announcements kept popping up in the top right corner, and Song Zhizhen finally understood: someone else had taken over.

On the victory screen, her headset crackled. She vaguely heard, "Thanks, Brother Yan. I'll treat you to dinner tomorrow."

"I'm playing ranked for money. There won't be a next time."

The next second, the account's owner returned and queued up another game.

Song Zhizhen raised a hand to her chest, unable to tell what had made her heartbeat go off rhythm.

2.

Cen Yan's daily routine: eat, sleep, attend class, and earn money by playing ranked games.

It was dull and repetitive, but he was used to it by now.

His roommate's take: "Brother Yan, you play games like it's a job. There's no fun in it at all!"

He scoffed. "As long as it makes money, that's enough."

Nothing else matters.

One night, a friend request popped up. The other person wrote with complete sincerity: You're amazing at this game. Could you teach me?

He replied: You have to pay me.

Then added: You have to pay to add me as a friend, too.

He never expected the other person to actually be a little fool, transferring money with the note "voluntary gift" and asking pitifully: Can you teach me now?

Cen Yan's heart softened, but every morning when he opened his eyes and saw the messages she sent, all of them cheesy pick-up lines she'd learned online, his heart hardened again.

-

One day, he woke up and, out of habit, opened his chat with Song Zhizhen. She'd unsent a message at four in the morning and hadn't sent anything else. It felt a little strange, so he casually sent, "Morning." A conspicuous red exclamation mark appeared, and his breath caught.

The little fool had deleted him.

She'd erased him completely, as if she'd never been part of his world.

He laughed in disbelief and blocked the way she always took back to her dorm. "So you use me and then dump me?"

A blush spread to the tips of Song Zhizhen's ears, and she froze in place. She knew that voice too well.

"Add me back, okay?" he coaxed.

Song Zhizhen: "But I'm out of money."

As he sent her a friend request, Cen Yan didn't even lift his eyes. "I'll add you. I'll pay you."

Just don't leave his world without saying a word again.

- Extra Scene -

Cen Yan: What do you mean by always sending me those lines?

He meant the excruciatingly cheesy pick-up lines.

Song Zhizhen took a step back. "I'm pursuing you."

Cen Yan: .

Song Zhizhen said earnestly, "And I've already won you over."

Theme: The courage to start over in youth is the most precious thing of all.