Mist in the Air Chapter 6

A few days after Nolan Shi and Kai's duo livestream, the forum was in a bloodbath again. Many old stories were brought up and settled again, with Soren Yu's fans of Nolan Shi and Soren Yu's haters of Nolan Shi all arguing with each other.

Nolan Shi was looking at the forum during training. Finn Zhao saw Nolan Shi's computer screen and came to stop him: "Why do you have time to play something else? Why are you looking at the forum? Do you think you're too old?"

"I'm not afraid of being criticized." Nolan Shi scrolled through the webpage slowly, "I've been at the center of the storm for a long time, so I'm used to it."

Finn Zhao didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "You have a good attitude, okay. By the way, let me tell you something."

Finn Zhao glanced at the other people in the training room. Nolan Shi understood, pushed the keyboard away, stood up, and followed Finn Zhao out of the training room.

The two of them went to the meeting room next door. Nolan Shi pulled over a chair and sat down. He put his hands in his trouser pockets and naturally put his long legs on the table: "Is it about live broadcast again? I won't renew the time. Thirty hours a month is the limit."

Finn Zhao leaned against the table and smiled helplessly: "Other teams have signed contracts for 45 hours, and some have signed contracts for 60 hours."

Nolan Shi shook his head: "Impossible. You guys didn't want me to reveal my tactics, and told me to just play a few games during the live broadcast. But if I play too much, you're afraid that I'll slack off and my skills will decline. You guys are contradicting yourself, and you want me to increase the time?"

Finn Zhao knew he was in the wrong, and he also knew that Nolan Shi didn't lack money, but there was nothing else in the club that could impress people except money, so he could only say: "Okay, then at least don't push all the thirty hours to the end of the month, okay?"

Nolan Shi was absent-minded and nodded perfunctorily.

"Then there is one more thing I need to tell you." Finn Zhao pulled a chair over and sat down, speaking in a lighter tone, "I see that you have already gone to the forum, so it should not matter. I will tell you directly, so that you don't get into any trouble when you find out at the last minute."

Nolan Shi frowned and looked at Finn Zhao.

Finn Zhao said slowly: "That's it, he was also your former teammate, Chen Huo..."

Finn Zhao carefully observed Nolan Shi's expression and said, "He will be returning home soon."

Nolan Shiwei raised his chin, his expression did not change at all when he heard the words, he just said: "Oh."

Finn Zhao was a little surprised: "Are you not unhappy?"

Nolan Shi said calmly: "As expected."

Finn Zhao laughed: "How did you guess that?"

Nolan Shi said calmly: "Kai is a man of few words. I talked to him a few words that day and everything became clear to me."

"Ah?" Finn Zhao was confused. "You mean the last time Kai was live streaming, when you and he were duo-queuing?"

Nolan Shi leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling of the conference room with empty eyes, and said, "Yes."

Finn Zhao was completely confused now: "I watched the recording of your live broadcast that day, from beginning to end, without skipping a minute, I watched it all, how come I didn't notice anything?"

Nolan Shi turned his head to look at Finn Zhao, narrowed his eyes slightly, and said: "Want to listen?"

Finn Zhao was really curious, so he nodded and said, "Let's talk about it. We don't have any training right now anyway."

Nolan Shi took out his phone and took a look. There was indeed still some time. He threw the phone casually on the conference table and said, "Then don't urge me to live broadcast in the near future."

Finn Zhao had no choice but to nod after a moment of hesitation: "Okay, okay, okay, I won't rush you."

After getting the assurance, Nolan Shi put his legs down. He looked at Finn Zhao: "Since NSN already has Whisper, why did they let Kai go that day?"

Finn Zhao hesitated: "We are afraid of exposing our tactics. After we have made it to the playoffs every season, we will consider replacing you with a substitute, just to prevent you from exposing yourself too much before the playoffs. It makes sense not to play Whisper in a warm-up match that doesn't count towards points, right?"

"That makes sense." Nolan Shi nodded. "With Soren Yu, I can understand that NSN won't just sell Kai. It could be out of friendship, or they want to enrich their team's routine."

"Soren Yu's specialty is the assassin medic, while Kai has always been the nurse medic. They have two completely different medic positions, which is good. But if that's the case, why did Captain Gu force Kai and Soren Yu to learn it? Force the two medics to merge into one?"

Finn Zhao was stunned: "That... is because Soren Yu is the best medical doctor..."

"You also said that he is the best, so why does Kai need to practice? No matter how much he practices, he can't compare to Soren Yu." Nolan Shi's mouth curled up with a mocking smile, "Even after Captain Gu gave up, the top management of NSN didn't give up and still forced Kai. Kai is still losing points in the high-scoring bureau of the national server. Why is that?"

Finn Zhao said dryly: "Why?"

"Because they are anxious. They are seizing every opportunity to let Kai learn as much as possible in the limited time." Nolan Shi narrowed his eyes and looked at Finn Zhao. "Why do you think the top management of NSN is anxious? Why did Chenhuo return to China at this time?"

Finn Zhao swallowed his saliva: "Why?"

Nolan Shi lowered his eyes and said coldly: "Because Soren Yu is about to leave NSN."

Finn Zhao accidentally started coughing.

"He didn't even join NSN. He's teaching Kai now just to repay a favor to Team Gu and to settle down in NSN." Nolan Shi stood up. "If nothing unexpected happens, Soren Yu will soon form his own team."

"No." Finn Zhao was shocked and looked at Nolan Shi in disbelief, "How did you guess that?"

Nolan Shi turned around and looked Finn Zhao up and down. "There's no need to pretend to be shocked. If he wants to form a team, he must have submitted an application to the league a long time ago. It's normal that I didn't know about it. You're a manager, how could you not have heard any rumors at all?"

Finn Zhao subconsciously avoided Nolan Shi's gaze and laughed dryly: "What can I know?"

"If you really don't know anything, then why are you testing me at this time? And why are you checking my and Kai's live broadcast? It's a three and a half hour recording. How idle are you to watch me and him kill people without skipping a minute?" Nolan Shi examined Finn Zhao and broke the last layer of window paper. "Chen Huo is an assaulter. Soren Yu wants to form a new team and is still short of an assaulter. You are worried that Soren Yu has contacted me, so you are using the live broadcast today to spy on me."

Nolan Shi put his hands in his trouser pockets: "If there is something wrong in what I said, point it out now, and I will immediately sign a contract with you to live broadcast for 60 hours a month."

Finn Zhao was not embarrassed by his past being exposed. He shook his head and laughed: "Nolan Shi, really, I like your intelligence! You are young and usually silent, but you actually know everything in your heart. You are much better than your peers in this respect."

Nolan Shi laughed at himself and turned to walk towards the door.

Finn Zhao had been seen through, but he was not ashamed and simply asked directly: "What about Soren Yu..."

"Don't worry." Nolan Shi held the door handle of the conference room for a while and said, "From beginning to end, he never contacted me."

After leaving the meeting room, Nolan Shi's fingertips felt numb. He took out the Bluetooth headset from his trouser pocket and put it into his ears. He closed his eyes and leaned against the wall for a long time. He returned to the training room only after his emotions had completely calmed down.

Training is still going on, and the warm-up matches are still going on.

No matter how fierce the online disputes were recently, Nolan Shi's game state was always stable. In the next half month of the preliminaries, IAC won four out of four games. Including the previous victory over NSN, IAC has won five games in a row. IAC led the other teams and secured the first place in the league preliminaries.

There are two warm-up matches every day. On this day, NSN played against Crazy Blade in the first half, and IAC played against Worker Bee in the second half.

Although it was not a direct battle, ia had to appear in the same venue at the same time. This time, Finn Zhao's resistance was obviously stronger than Nolan Shi's. From the moment he entered the venue, Finn Zhao became alert and followed Nolan Shi closely, refusing all help from the staff. He did everything himself and was wary of everyone, fearing that some staff would reveal Soren Yu's undercover identity by tearing off the friendly and kind face, and take Nolan Shi away with his eloquence.

Nolan Shi looked at Finn Zhao carefully checking whether there was a note hidden in the label of his mineral water bottle, and he hesitated to speak.

Nolan Shi wanted to kindly say to Finn Zhao, don’t worry, I really didn’t lie to you.

I have been back in China for more than half a month and have had so many opportunities, but Soren Yu really, really, has never contacted me from beginning to end.

Not a hint.

IAC's game was in the second half, so there was plenty of time. Nolan Shi half-lay on the sofa in the lounge. He pulled his baseball cap very low, covering half of his face, but still felt uncomfortable. Nolan Shi took a deep breath, and like someone with obsessive-compulsive disorder, he found his headphones and put them on. He finally relaxed a little.

After a while, Nolan Shi just felt better when he felt something beside him. He opened his eyes impatiently and saw Finn Zhao trying to touch his backpack.

Nolan Shi took off one of his headphones and frowned: "What?"

Finn Zhao immediately retracted his hand. He smiled and said, "I don't know what brand of dried fruit the staff gave you just now. I was afraid you might not be used to it, so I wanted to show it to you."

Nolan Shi suppressed his anger, took out the dried fruits from his bag and threw them on the table, then closed his eyes again.

After checking the dried fruit, Finn Zhao said helplessly: "Don't be angry, you know what I'm worried about. If Soren Yu says something, you will definitely follow him. I have to be careful."

Nolan Shi raised his eyelids and said coldly: "I followed him just because he said something? Am I cheap? Is the word cheap written on my face?"

Finn Zhao laughed: "Your words are too harsh. I didn't say that to you. Don't be angry, don't be angry. You will be on stage soon. Don't be angry. Just sleep. I will definitely not touch your things."

Nolan Shi suppressed his anger, turned up the volume and closed his eyes again.

Half an hour later, NSN won the first half, and it was IAC's turn to compete with the Worker Bee Team. The overall strength of the Worker Bee Team was at the bottom of the league, and Nolan Shi and his teammates finished the game in 23 minutes.

There was nothing to interview after winning against a team that was at the bottom of the league. After being asked a few bland questions, the four IAC members returned to the backstage and walked towards their own lounge. Coincidentally, in the narrow corridor, they ran into the NSN team again.

But Soren Yu was not here this time.

Nolan Shi raised his hand and greeted Quinn Gu. After taking two steps, Quinn Gu said, "Nolan Shi."

Nolan Shi stopped and looked around at the remaining three people in IAC. They thought there was nothing for them to do, so they went back to the lounge first.

Nolan Shi was carrying a peripheral bag and tilted his head: "What?"

Quinn Gu said: "Chen Huo is back, he just got off the plane, I booked a place to welcome him, all his old friends are going, you..."

Knowing what Nolan Shi was afraid of, Quinn Gu greeted him in advance: "Soren Yu is here too, are you... going?"

Nolan Shi looked at Quinn Gu indifferently: "My relationship with Chen Huo was ordinary before."

As if he had expected Nolan Shi to say this, Quinn Gu only asked out of courtesy. After hearing this, he was about to leave. Nolan Shi said, "I'll go."