After finishing lunch, Lin Jing put down her chopsticks. Just as she was about to get up and leave, Lan Bowen’s phone rang. He glanced at the screen, and his brow furrowed.
Seeing his reaction, Chen Jing asked curiously, "Who is it?"
Lan Bowen said, "Yang Yu."
Sheng Kuang thought he misheard and glanced towards Lan Bowen, "Who?"
Lan Bowen: "Yang Yu."
Chen Jing: "Is it the Yang Yu I know?"
Lan Bowen: "Yes, the Yang Yu you know."
Yang Yu, whom they were talking about, was someone Lin Jing didn't know personally but was aware of. He was the coach of the gdt team and the former coach of Sheng Kuang, Chen Jing, and Lan Bowen.
Chen Jing asked, "What does he want with you?"
Lin Jing was also curious why Yang Yu was looking for Lan Bowen and abandoned her thought of going upstairs.
Chen Jing muttered, "He still has the nerve to come find you? He wouldn't be asking you for a practice match, would he?"
Lan Bowen nodded, "You guessed it right."
Chen Jing almost choked on his food, "What?!"
Yang Yu had sent a voice message, but Lan Bowen had read it as text earlier. Now, he decided to play it directly.
Yang Yu: "Wen Zi, long time no talk. How have you been? How's your back injury? Do you have time this afternoon? Let's have a practice match?"
For some reason, Yang Yu's words hit a nerve with Chen Jing, and he exploded, "He's such a shameless bastard! How dare he ask about your back injury? If it weren't for him, you wouldn't have retired so early, and you wouldn't have been rushed to the hospital by ambulance after just one regular season match!"
Lan Bowen's retirement was very sudden. Although he wasn't young at the time, he wasn't old either; he was far from being at the age where he should retire.
But after losing two matches, he directly announced his retirement, citing only physical reasons without going into detail.
No one had expected that Lan Bowen's condition at the time was so severe that he had to be taken to the hospital straight from the game.
Lin Jing subconsciously glanced towards Lan Bowen.
On her way, her gaze swept over Sheng Kuang, who was sitting next to her.
Sheng Kuang had his eyes downcast, his expression unreadable, but the oppressive aura around him was palpable.
Lan Bowen, on the other hand, seemed quite calm, not as agitated as Chen Jing.
Chen Jing became more and more annoyed, "He fakes concern, asking if you have time this afternoon for a practice match. What kind of way is that to ask? He directly asks if you have time this afternoon. That's basically telling you to come for a practice match!"
"You're right, he's informing me," Lan Bowen said. "But given the current situation, should we agree or not?"
Before anyone could speak, Lan Bowen presented his analysis: "If we don't agree, based on gdt's usual style, they will definitely spread rumors saying that they asked yLs for a practice match, and yLs was too afraid to accept."
"If we agree, none of you have any practice matches scheduled for today, so it's sudden. You won't be prepared, and your condition is unknown. If it were any other team, it wouldn't matter; a loss is just a loss. But gdt is not just any team. To put it mildly, we have some friction with them; to put it bluntly, we have too much of a feud. If we lose, they will definitely seize this opportunity and leak the news, saying that yLs was thoroughly crushed by gdt in a practice match."
Chen Jing said, "So, whether we agree or not, gdt might use it to their advantage?"
"Exactly. So, you see, agree or not?" While Lan Bowen was seeking everyone's opinion, another message arrived from Yang Yu.
Yang Yu sent another voice message. Lan Bowen played it for everyone to hear: "Wen Zi, why aren't you saying anything? Give me a reply, yes or no. If not, we'll find another team. It's okay if you don't agree; quite a few teams are hesitant to practice with us."
Lan Bowen remained silent and simply spread his hands, indicating for everyone to make the decision.
Qin Yu and He Wang couldn't decide and stayed silent.
Jiang Zui, accustomed to playing in casual matches, was nonchalant, "Whatever, if you guys want to agree, we agree. If you guys want to refuse, we refuse. It makes no difference to me."
He paused, then added, "I encountered the top laner from gdt in a ranked game before, and I solo-killed him seven times in one game."
Chen Jing looked at Jiang Zui with admiration and gave him a thumbs-up, "Zui Ge, amazing! So, if we agree to the practice match, will the gdt top laner start trembling when he sees you?"
Jiang Zui swallowed his food and shook his head, "No, he doesn't know that it was me who killed him seven times because I was using a smurf account."
Chen Jing: "..."
"Actually, it's not just gdt's top laner that I've killed. hjC's top laner has also been killed by me in ranked games," Jiang Zui thought for a moment and then corrected himself, "Most of the top laners in your league who play ranked games have been killed by me. It's just that they don't know it's me."
Seeing that the topic had strayed, Lan Bowen tapped the table, "Let's get back to the point. Agree or not, give me an answer."
Chen Jing looked at Sheng Kuang, "I'll do whatever Kuang Zai says."
Lan Bowen turned his head to look at Sheng Kuang as well, "What's your opinion?"
"My opinion?" Sheng Kuang put down his chopsticks, took a tissue, and wiped his lips. He raised his eyelids, "Agree."
"Why not agree? gdt is a strong team. It's a great opportunity to practice our synergy. We shouldn't miss it, so let's agree."