Magic City!
In the luxury flat of Pipi Shrimp Beach Seaview No. 1, a heavyset man sat in his seat, looking at the somewhat nervous man before him, and sighed heavily. "You sure?"
"Um, Boss Pan recommended me to come, Teacher PDD. This time our LGD is sincere. If there are any good players—"
"You know, your reputation in the industry in this regard!"
The man sitting before Teacher Piao was precisely Mai Zijian, who had just been promoted to coach of team LGD this year. This year, LGD had picked up a massive bargain, buying Peanut from the LCK side, who back in the day had almost played Clearlove into retirement.
But with the Spring Split more than halfway through, forget about LGD contending for MSI qualifications—if they kept playing, they wouldn't even see the playoffs. Peanut looked at these results and wanted to run away too.
However, by the time LGD wanted to find players, it was already too late. Good players already had teams. It was all a gacha draw now, so LGD naturally thought of the source famed as the LPL's "Twin Stars, Two Crowns"...
"YM!"
PDD furrowed his brows. "The hell! None of these LPL teams are good people. They all want to slice off a piece of lean meat from my body. If the meat on my body could really be cut off by these LPL teams, by now I'd have gone straight from XXXL to XL, from Fat Little Brother to just Little Brother—abbreviated as XDD!"
Ever since the LPL won its two championships—one Ning, one Tian, both FMVPs—PDD recalled the image of YM passing by the LPL seven times without entering, and his expression turned cold.
"You've plucked all the pig hair! Bastards!"
He was just about to start cursing...
"Teacher Piao!!! Why did the water suddenly cut out!"
"I haven't even finished washing my hair! Don't force me to run away from home and hang myself under a bridge, making you feel guilty for a lifetime!"
???
Mai Zijian looked over in confusion at the youth who walked out from the bathroom beside them, bare-chested, foam still in his hair.
The two exchanged a glance. Mai Zijian looked at PDD again, his eyes carrying a few more hints of intrigue.
Could it be... PDD was the mature older sister type?
Was PDD keeping a secret lover in a golden house, going man-on-man? Could it be because of the previous cuckold scandal involving the old-generation IG veteran Deyun Se, making Teacher Piao afraid of women and starting to become interested in young boys?
Then someone like himself... wouldn't he be a tsundere soft girl?!
Mai Zijian unconsciously took a step back, distancing himself from PDD.
"Huh? What's with that look?"
PDD looked at him in surprise, Mai Zijian's brows nearly pinching together into the character "Chuan."
"No, Teacher Piao, the water's off!"
Di Wu let out a long breath. "Washing my hair halfway, what am I supposed to do now that the water's off? I'm gonna get depressed!"
"The hell, I forgot to tell you the water's off today. Just make do and blow-dry it!"
Faced with PDD's answer, the corner of Di Wu's mouth twitched slightly. "B-blow-dry?"
"Otherwise what do you want? Wash your hair upside down with cola? There's a big bottle of cola in the fridge. I don't mind!"
"I'll choose blow-drying! Mainly because we can't waste food!"
"You're a fucking genius, Private Di!" Teacher Piao gave a thumbs-up.
Di Wu sighed heavily. This was already the last resort.
Mai Zijian glanced at the departing youth's back, then looked at Teacher Piao again.
"Ahem, as you can see, many of our YM players have already been picked. Don't you have your own youth training? Coming to me every day... right now I only have that kid who got sent back!"
"Huh? He's Gnik?"
Hearing Teacher Piao's introduction, Mai Zijian pointed at the departing Di Wu. He looked too different from his stage appearance, plus there was still foam in his hair; Mai Zijian hadn't recognized him for a moment.
Teacher Piao nodded while pulling out an e-cigarette and silently taking a drag.
Hm? Why was there no smoke? Did the pod need changing? He had just changed it—
"Damn, it's upside down again!"
Good thing it was an e-cigarette!
Inside the bathroom of PDD's mansion, Di Wu turned on the hairdryer, blowing away the foam on his hair. He looked at the somewhat young, immature face in the mirror.
That's right. He had been reborn!
This year was 2020. To his previous self, it was five years ago.
He only remembered watching the Vanguard Tournament, where TES was spun like a top by Hanwha without winning a single game. Watching it left him a little oxygen-deprived, and the next day he fainted at home. Then he was reborn into the body of Di Wu, who shared his name, in 2019.
Still as a youth trainee for team YM. Back then he had been high-spirited and arrogant, swearing to save the LPL from fire and flood, to prop up the collapsing great building!
Last year he had already made it to the LPL.
As a youth training club that had produced an FMVP like Ning, once internet memes started spreading, everyone got to know YM.
Many clubs chose to come to YM to draw cards. As a mid laner, Di Wu was bought by OMG for the Summer Split last year.
However, professional players who shot to the heavens like JKL were still rare. Moreover...
What teammates does Yu Wenbo have? What teammates do I have?!
Di Wu couldn't help but recall that tiny person, like the evil pufferfish Jaken from Inuyasha.
That's right. His teammate from last year was the famed God K, Krystal! That very Tristana chef who created the famous dish "one fish, four ways"!
After last year Krystal retired. Of course... he had nearly conveniently taken him along too, in the physical sense.
Krystal, that bastard, in-game was like a homosexual. Whenever he took an ultimate, he had to stick right by his side.
He had emphasized to Crystal many times: Both carries, don't stand together! Both carries, don't stand together!
Originally he had been quite happy. After all, in his previous life he had quite enjoyed God K's streaming content. Plus, Fish Man couldn't be played in pro now, so at least Krystal couldn't treat him to a Big Shark anymore.
But... everything was different from what Di Wu had imagined. Sure enough, he had still underestimated Masuto's strength. Without Fish Man's fish, there were still other ultimates, weren't there?
That bastard—as long as he ate Nautilus's ultimate, Vi's ultimate, he had to stick to him. Even Tristana's Explosive Charge had to be one bite each.
The two were even called "good brothers who've eaten strikes together"—except the "strike" was the strike in "knock-up"!
Good brothers! Sharing hardships!
They were one hardship away from getting him retired too. After OMG finished last year, they sent him back to Teacher Piao as well, making him the only player currently "returned" to YM.
After a year of fighting alongside God K, he had tasted all the bitterness of playing professionally. A highlight reel of the two of them eating ultimates together could be edited into five minutes.
Plus being sent back, he now had no confidence in playing professionally anymore. He had always been that type of mediocre mid laner with no real carry ability.
Being returned by OMG this time was essentially his Dao heart shattering. Now he even doubted whether he still had the ability to fight on the professional stage again.
Biyangde Pake once had a famous saying: "The smaller the ability, the smaller the responsibility!"
Moreover, starting from this year, the LCK would rise again too. Only EDG would spend big money to win the 2021 championship.
After that, the Demon King would revive and return, and another era would fall.
What excitement was he going to join in on? Better to take advantage while PDD was still streaming, create some hype with Teacher Piao, become a streamer doing "mama mia" every day and occasional giveaways. He could still make a fortune.
At the very least he could reach Xiao Ma's level, never worrying about food or drink for the rest of his life.
"Little Di!"
Teacher Piao and Mai Zijian walked to the bathroom door. "Do you want to consider going to LGD? They need a rotating mid laner! They have Peanut, you know?"
Peanut!?
Hearing this name, Di Wu's eyes couldn't help but light up. After all, Peanut was that genius youngster who had passionate great battles with SKT on the Tigers.
But Di Wu still shook his head. LGD right now—even Peanut couldn't carry them. Him going wouldn't be of much use either. He'd just get flamed. With the current public opinion environment, it was better to be a streamer.
Mai Zijian stood by looking somewhat anxious. The LGD boss had given the manager an absolute order: no matter what, get a substitute first to try rotating in.
If they kept losing like this, forget MSI—they wouldn't even make playoffs.
His pressure was immense too! Right now even if it was Gnik, who last year ate knock-ups together with God K, he didn't care. Bring him back to report first. Plus—
He was cheap! Gnik's current value was very low. Teacher Piao had just said he could be taken away for a token offer.
"Forget it!"
"LPL? Even dogs wouldn't play!" Di Wu shook his head coldly.
Hearing this, Mai Zijian was also somewhat helpless. He could only shake his head at PDD, planning to return to the base tomorrow. Just as Teacher Piao was seeing off the guest at the door...
"Ding!"
[System activating]
The sudden mechanical voice in Di Wu's mind made him abruptly raise his head.
Hm? Could this be... the legendary golden finger!?
But that said!
"Wait a moment!! Coach Mai!!"
......