[The King's Avatar] Do Veteran Players Still Have to Sell Their Bromance After Ten Years?

During an interview with the national team at the World Invitational Tournament, a reporter in Zurich asked Zhang Jiale what he thought of Ye Xiu.

Zhang Jiale had prepared a snarky answer, but when he opened his mouth, he suddenly forgot his lines and stumbled out, "This gay is an idoit..."

The day after the interview, Ye Xiu showed up with an edited video and teased him. "Hey, Lele, I had no idea you'd been secretly in love with me for so many years."

Zhang Jiale took one look and realized that his mangled English had been taken seriously. His awkward stammering and forgotten lines had been interpreted as coy shyness.

The worst part was that Lao Feng even sent a message from back home: "Hey, why not take this opportunity to play it up a bit and get some overseas fans?"

Zhang Jiale: "Has Lao Feng lost his mind?"

The thing was, trying to sell a bromance when you were pushing thirty was a little pathetic, and even if he wanted to cooperate with Lao Feng, he just couldn't pull it off.

Fortunately, the CP fans could ship them. Standing in the same frame was enough to count as feeding them, and exchanging glances meant they were secretly seeing each other.

Then the management got in on the act and stirred things up a little. The foreign girls went wild for it, while the domestic forums were full of laughter.

Glory > Gossip Board

#Has Lao Feng finally lost it, forcing two men in their thirties to sell a bromance? [Hot]

1L What do you mean the World Invitational interview asked Zhang Jiale what he thought of Ye Xiu and his answer was: gay

18L The overseas fans are going crazy and I'm laughing my head off too. Lele's broken English made him forget his lines in the interview, but the foreign girls took it as a shy crush and counted up ten years of interactions to prove how sweet their relationship is.

These past few days, there have been continuous reports that Ye and Lele have gone to and from work together several times, shopped at convenience stores, gone out to eat, and even worked out at the gym together?

How could these two possibly do so many things together? Lao Feng, your act is painfully obvious.

But now Ye-Le has topped the overseas growth charts for real-person shipping. At this point, it's become an art.

62L Ye-ge has connections at home, okay? Why would he need to bow to Lao Feng's pressure and play it up? I think it's real. Ye-Le is 99% canon.

99L Ye-Le shippers, stop dreaming. Your Ye-ge's only true love is Glory. Who complains about getting more traffic? It's just playing up a bromance, no big deal. Just wait, they'll break up and cut ties as soon as they get back to China.

After the World Invitational ended, the national team disbanded on the spot and everyone went their separate ways. Naturally, the CP gradually lost its popularity too.

But then Season 11 began, and Glory launched a new anniversary event. A long-buried thread was dug up again.

145L You're right, but the price has gone up. I've been sneaking peeks at Ye Xiu's diary for years, so it's hard not to say the two of them are for real.

149L: ?

*

One day, Zhang Jiale was bored and dug up an obscure old thread documenting all kinds of little in-game menus from Glory's launch onward. As he read, it brought back many things he had long forgotten.

He read and saved the posts, occasionally writing down a few thoughts when something stirred a memory.

Then Glory's new anniversary event looked back on thirteen years of changes and included lots of obscure trivia questions. The thread was dug up along with it.

And then the trending topic "Ye-Le is real" appeared.

Zhang Jiale: Again?

He clicked on it and saw his musings posted together with the thread. The original poster had been identified by the Alliance: Ye Xiu.

In the chat window, an avatar radiating mockery bounced. Ye Xiu sent him a ticket to an away game:

"Hey, Lele, still secretly in love with me after coming back to China? Snooping through my diary is no fun. Why not come to H City and see me instead?"

#Blurb is provisional; that's roughly the premise. Ye-Le only.

Theme: Keep working hard for your dreams.