Chapter 31: Poisonous Milk
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
At that moment, Ji Jin felt as if the biggest and most magnificent firework had been ignited in his heart. Countless sparks exploded in the softest part of his heart, almost leaving him speechless.
He waved his hand at Lu Yao and beckoned him to come up. However, Lu Yao shook his head after seeing this, took a few steps forward, and reached the wall’s base, loosening the string of the helium balloon.
The helium balloon slowly floated upward following Lu Yao’s movements, finally stopping right in front of Ji Jin’s eyes. Hanging from the balloon was a small box of White Rabbit milk candies, swaying gently with Lu Yao’s hand motions.
Ji Jin opened the window and pulled the helium balloon inside; Lu Yao immediately let go of the string below.
Ji Jin wanted to say something, but Lu Yao’s message beat him to it—“The balloon is for Ji Xingxing, the milk candy is for brother to eat.”
Lu Yao didn’t send this message as a voice note but as text. Yet the moment Ji Jin saw it, he could vividly imagine Lu Yao’s tone and voice.
It surely carried a coquettish meaning, especially the word “brother,” which must have been said softly and sweetly, just like the milk candy.
Ji Jin replied with a simple “Okay.” When he looked down again, he saw that Lu Yao was already preparing to leave, waving goodbye to him. Ji Jin waved back, and Lu Yao left with satisfaction, turning back reluctantly several times until his figure disappeared near the apartment building.
Ji Xingxing was watching cartoons nearby and didn’t notice any of this. Ji Jin took down the White Rabbit milk candy from the balloon, then carried the balloon and walked around in front of Ji Xingxing. At first, Ji Xingxing was focused on the TV, but suddenly his eyes lit up when he saw the large helium balloon.
Ji Xingxing’s expression was strikingly similar to Lu Yao’s; for a moment, Ji Jin almost thought he saw a miniature version of Lu Yao.
“Xingxing wants the balloon?” Ji Jin teased, holding the balloon as an enticement.
“Yes! Baby wants the balloon~” Ji Xingxing stood up from his small stool and waddled over to Ji Jin’s legs. Overexcited, the little baby nearly fell, but just happened to lean against Ji Jin’s leg.
Ji Jin worried he might actually fall, so he quickly cut the overly long string tied to the balloon and fastened it to Ji Xingxing’s wrist. After being tied, Ji Xingxing excitedly ran several laps around, jumping up and down, and finally collapsed on the sofa, exhausted.
It was getting late, so Ji Jin took Ji Xingxing to wash up. Seeing the bathroom completely empty, he suddenly remembered he had promised Lu Yao to stay in the small apartment, and Zhao Ze had already moved his things there.
Ji Jin smiled and shook his head, having no choice but to take out the backup toiletries to wash up.
At this rate, he feared he wouldn’t be able to bring his daily necessities back anytime soon.
It wasn’t until the next morning that Naisi came again. Before arriving, he had asked Ji Jin if Ji Huan was home and only dared to come after learning he wasn’t.
“Ugh… your brother is really scary,” Naisi complained the moment Ji Jin opened the door. Today, Naisi wore a short-sleeved shirt and beach-style shorts, looking carefree with a somewhat silly vibe.
“You’ve got the nerve to say that?” Ji Jin raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you going to marry me? Aren’t you going to mark me? When my brother said it, you had to agree. Naisi, you’ve got guts.”
“Well… who wouldn’t want to marry God Ji?” Naisi hesitated for a moment, then quickly seized the opportunity to shift the blame, “I heard Jiao Yue from the TAO team came right after hearing the news, definitely coming for you. Even with Ji Xingxing around, they want to mark you.”
Ji Jin pinched Naisi’s baby face hard, “Why don’t we just sell you to the TAO team to get a promising player for our MOE team?”
“Then just let me join your MOE. With a genius sharpshooter like me, you still want to replace me? Are you looking down on me?” Naisi hadn’t even processed the last sentence before starting to argue with Ji Jin.
“That works too. MOE’s training room opens today; you can come over to practice with us,” Ji Jin went inside to pack, while Ji Xingxing waddled around his father’s feet in circles.
“Hey, wait, when did I say I wanted to be a sparring partner at MOE? You have no honor!” Naisi tried to resist, but Ji Jin and Ji Xingxing dragged him to MOE’s training room anyway.
Actually, the summer break hadn’t ended yet, but because the team’s performance was poor and new members had just joined, Zhao Ze applied to use the training room early. Any players willing to return could come and train.
Ji Jin didn’t have much to do, and having run away from home with no relatives to visit, he came back early to train. Naisi happened to be there too, so the two of them played a few solo matches.
Around ten o’clock, Cheng Pian also came back. Cheng Pian’s family lived locally, so his commute was quick. He had stayed in the team for a while waiting for Ji Jin’s Omega issue to resolve, so he arrived early. The three of them then teamed up for ranked matches.
Ji Xingxing watched cartoons and played with toys in the nearby lounge with Zhao Ze, behaving well the whole time.
In the afternoon, the other MOE team members also returned. Most of them were veterans of the professional league and held some reverence and awe for the top sharpshooter, Naisi. Hearing they could play with Naisi was like a shot of adrenaline, so they all joined in the matches with him.
Naisi was “exploited” by Ji Jin for two days straight but eventually couldn’t endure Ji Jin’s harsh demands any longer. On the third morning, he packed his bags and took a flight back to S City.
With the autumn season competition starting earlier than expected, various teams gradually returned to resume training. Although IKW was the champion team, they weren’t arrogant; all team members returned to training diligently.
Lu Yao’s vulnerable period had just passed, and the team regrouped and resumed training.
At this time, professional league players seemed to have only just realized that Ji Jin was an Omega—an earth-shattering revelation—and many teams privately discussed it. However, basically no one thought there was anything to discriminate against regarding Ji Jin being an Omega. After all, as Alphas, they still couldn’t beat the team led by an Omega.
By the end of June, the Legend Reappearance professional league autumn competition officially entered the preparation stage, set to begin in early July. The competition had been hyped for a while, with high popularity and excitement. Especially with Ji Jin’s return, many veteran players came back to the game.
The autumn competition was divided into regular season, playoffs, and finals.
The regular season used a single round-robin BO3 format, meaning each pair of teams only played one match, and the first to win two out of three games was the winner, earning one point. The playoffs and finals used a single round-robin BO5 format, where each team played one match against every other team, and the first to win three out of five games won.
This competition format had been used by the league for two or three years and was not expected to change for the time being. Moreover, the top three teams in the autumn season would qualify for the continental and global finals.
Therefore, the autumn season each year was one of the most fiercely competitive tournaments.
Before the matches began, the order of matches was determined in advance through a random draw. The official broadcast revealed the schedule live to ensure there was no cheating involved.
Although it was a single round-robin, the match order was still very important. Facing a strong team right at the start could easily crush morale and confidence, leading to poor performance. Conversely, meeting weaker teams first could boost confidence, but might also cause overconfidence and unexpected losses.
Thus, the match order was very significant.
On the day the match order was announced, the entire MOE team waited in the training room for the live broadcast. Cheng Pian and He Jia even started a livestream, first playing two games to hype up the atmosphere, then mainly to broadcast the match schedule.
The official broadcast began at 8 PM. Everyone gathered around the computer waiting for the host to speak, while Cheng Pian and He Jia casually chatted and made predictions.
“Our team’s last schedule was pretty good. Last time the strengths and weaknesses alternated, so we occasionally won and got some practice against strong teams,” Cheng Pian said while waiting for the schedule.
“It was decent, but not as exciting as ACK’s ‘death trip’,” He Jia chuckled, and the chat immediately understood the reference, flooding the screen with mentions of the ‘death trip.’
ACK was an established veteran team that usually made the playoffs. However, in the spring regular season, they were unlucky enough to face five of the strongest teams at the start, all championship contenders, which completely shattered ACK’s mentality and nearly caused them to miss the playoffs.
“What do you think about our schedule this time?” Cheng Pian analyzed. “I feel the random draw should have some differentiation, so it won’t be too difficult.” He flipped through last year’s schedule data.
“I don’t think we’ll have a ‘death trip.’ Our team usually keeps a low profile, and our previous schedules have all been decent,” He Jia said with firm confidence.
Ji Jin glanced at Ji Xingxing in the lounge, then came back and tapped Cheng Pian, who was nearby, on the shoulder with a book. “Guessing the schedule is risky; it’s easy to jinx it! Think about the CYW team.”
At the mention of CYW, Cheng Pian and He Jia shuddered in fear and dared not make any random guesses. Even the chat started educating viewers about the CYW team.
CYW was another strong veteran team, even older than IKW. In the year when the finals were between the newly formed IKW and CYW, CYW’s captain had confidently declared victory, publicly stating they wouldn’t come in second place.
However, they ended up second place three or four times in a row, always being blocked by IKW in the finals, earning the nickname “perennial runner-up” and becoming infamous for jinxing themselves.
Right after Ji Jin finished speaking, the official broadcast’s system automatically generated the match schedule. Everyone crowded around to see it, and Coach Liusha nearly had a stroke from the stress.
MOE’s first five matches were against IKW, LPF, CYW, and TAO, with only the third match against a small team that had never made the playoffs. The rest of the schedule was packed with strong teams facing each other, and weak teams grouped together.
This schedule was even worse than ACK’s infamous ‘death trip.’
Cheng Pian and He Jia were stunned during the live broadcast, staring blankly at the schedule, and many fans thought the stream had frozen.
“What nonsense were you two talking about just now!” Coach Liusha angrily stormed over, wanting to beat Cheng Pian and He Jia for their foolish words. “Jinxing! Jinxing! All jinxing!”
“We can’t be blamed entirely… it was… it was live streaming!” He Jia pleaded desperately, then suddenly pointed at Ji Jin as if remembering something, “It’s God Ji, definitely God Ji! He said it’s easy to jinx it! When God Ji speaks, it must have magical power. I felt a mysterious force surged through me just now, making me say the jinxing words!”
Everyone looked at Ji Jin, who just showed an innocent expression.
Then, everyone except Ji Jin gave He Jia a thorough beating —
How could God Ji ever jinx anything? And they certainly wouldn’t beat up an Omega, so He Jia was the perfect scapegoat.
While the team was noisy and chaotic, Ji Jin received a call from Lu Yao. Lu Yao’s side also sounded messy, probably also waiting for the schedule earlier.
“Did you see it, brother?” Lu Yao’s voice came through the phone, soft and steady, which sounded especially pleasant to the ear amidst the commotion.
“Yes, I saw it.” Ji Jin looked at the newly downloaded schedule on his computer screen. The first match was against IKW.
“I’m very happy… and looking forward to it.” Lu Yao’s voice carried a bit of a coquettish tone, sweet like the white rabbit candies, “To play against brother in the very first match.”
In other words—
In the first match, he would get to… see his brother.
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