Powerful Investment Chapter 6: Passion Never Fades

Chapter 6: Passion Never Fades

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

 

Ji Jin’s voice was clear, but since he spoke into the headset, everyone on the team could hear him distinctly.

At that moment, everyone present felt a sudden jolt in their hearts.

No one knew the real reason why Ji Jin had retired back then. Many speculated, but no one would have thought it was for this reason.

Because at that time, Ji Jin was like a god in the entire esports scene.

As long as he was there, there was no match he couldn’t win; whenever he played, the stadiums were always full. He was always the MVP of every game. If a player like Ji Jin could be abandoned because the team no longer needed him, then what chance did these immature esports players have?

As fellow esports players, they couldn’t help but feel a sense of sympathy and sadness. But Ji Jin, who was silently bearing their sympathy, raised his head as if nothing had happened and spoke lightly, “But a championship, no matter which team I’m in, I can win.”

Cheng Pian: ???

Cilantro: ???

Little Monster: ???

Best: ???

They must have misheard. With such a small, mediocre team that always ranked at the bottom of the playoffs, how could he say he wanted to win the championship? God Ji’s words were always unique — shocking yet thought-provoking.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Ji Jin raised an eyebrow in surprise. “You don’t think I joined MOE just to get second place, right? That wouldn’t make any sense.”

Except for Ji Jin, all the other MOE members choked on their saliva from shock.

God Ji, did you even understand MOE’s past strength? Even IKW didn’t dare guarantee a championship; this kind of small team definitely wouldn’t say that.

“Well… yeah, it’s a bit meaningless.” Cheng Pian, the youngest with the strongest psychological endurance, was the first to recover and gave an awkward smile.

“You’re still young, you need to have some ambition.” Ji Jin leaned lazily back in his gaming chair.

“Have ambition! Have ambition!” Ji Xingxing, who was still learning to talk, repeated.

“God Ji said it, God Ji said it.” The others smiled awkwardly and subtly.

But… since they had already entered the professional league, every pro player dreamed of a championship. Especially now that they had God Ji on their team.

They had only played two matches, and it was already time for lunch. The MOE team went downstairs to eat together. Ji Jin held Ji Xingxing’s hand and followed the group.

Zhao Ze, who was originally in the middle of the group, looked back at Ji Jin and slowed his pace to walk beside him.

“How do you feel today?” Zhao Ze asked quietly. He accompanied the team daily and knew their hard work and dreams the best. Even though he wasn’t a real pro player, he loved the game and wanted to win the championship too.

“Just barely getting by,” Ji Jin looked up and glanced at Cheng Pian, who was joking and playing ahead, and Cilantro, who was making faces behind him.

“Really? Where do you feel it’s just barely? Do you want extra training?” Zhao Ze’s heart skipped a beat, afraid he would hear a harsh critique, so he quickly explained for the team, “They all work hard usually; maybe they were just nervous playing with God Ji for the first time.”

“Hm?” Ji Jin turned with a strange look, “Barely getting by… but still can win the championship, right?”

Zhao Ze, who hadn’t heard Ji Jin’s shocking statement in the training room, froze for a moment.

Ji Jin smiled slightly, “They’re all good prospects, just need some polishing.”

Zhao Ze finally relaxed. But God Ji’s mouth was really as the rumors said —
One sentence could stir the world, and sometimes silence was even more frightening.

“There’s one more thing, God Ji,” Zhao Ze suddenly remembered, “This morning you guys used pro accounts in ranked games… Your comeback was leaked by some attentive… cough, fans and even made it to trending topics.”

Zhao Ze showed a worried expression and hesitated before saying, “Actually, it’s better if you don’t look at it. The higher-ups have arranged a press conference to officially announce your return.”

Ji Jin raised an eyebrow and immediately took out his phone to check the trending topics.

After so much discussion, #GodJiReturns #LegendEnds has become the number one trending topic on Weibo. The topic was full of comments like “God Ji returns, signs with MOE, the god has fallen from the throne, a legend’s end.” Many people even clipped the part from the last game where Bai YiKe was weak early on, using it to prove that Ji Jin’s legend was over.

The seventh trending topic was the MOE team, with many fans debating whether Ji Jin really signed with MOE. Although the top trending topic was critical of Ji Jin, MOE fans remained realistic. Even if Ji Jin wasn’t at his peak, his aid was still precious to MOE.

And at fifteenth, Ji Jin’s name was trending directly.

#Ji Jin Passion Never Fades#

Clicking into the trend, the first Weibo post read—

@Ji Jin Head-Patting Recommendation Squad: Passion Never Fades.
Attached was a video titled: God Ji Highlight Reel.

Ji Jin knew this Weibo account because it had been editing videos of Legend Reappearance gameplay since long ago. The videos often included commentary. He had listened to this commentator before — the commentary was very on point, even comparable to a professional coach.

However, this person only edited and commented on matches related to Ji Jin and was probably his number one fan. Since Ji Jin retired, this Weibo account hadn’t updated for two years.

Unexpectedly, the moment Ji Jin’s news appeared today, this person had come back too. This showed… this person had always stuck with the game, never leaving.

“Passion never fades…” Was it a direct contradiction to the marketing accounts claiming “The Legend Ends”? Ji Jin smiled knowingly. It was impressive that even though he had quit so willfully, someone was still making videos for him.

Ji Jin logged into Weibo, an account he hadn’t accessed for years, first reposted the video from @Ji Jin Head-Patting Recommendation Squad, then reposted and commented on the top trending post from those marketing accounts talking about the “legend ending.”

Finally, he put his phone back in his pocket and took Ji Xingxing to eat.

Zhao Ze saw Ji Jin slowly smile at the trending topics on Weibo, then type a few words before slipping the phone back into his pocket — it seemed like he had posted something.

But Ji Jin’s Weibo had been unused for two or three years. Even Zhao Ze couldn’t find it right away. He searched in place for five minutes before locating Ji Jin’s Weibo, where the latest post had already received over 30,000 comments.

@Ji Jin: Thanks for your concern. Although the legend ended, I came back to try for a few championships. //@GameCommentator: God Ji returns, signs with MOE, god falls from the throne, a legend ends.

Zhao Ze: ???!!!

My God Ji!!! You could just say things like that inside the team. Why say it on Weibo? Can we be a bit modest and friendly? Even if you want to win championships, don’t say it like this!

Zhao Ze nearly rolled his eyes and fainted.

Before he could faint, he saw Lin Naisi from the runner-up LPF team this year also stirred the pot by reposting the Weibo.

@NiceMilkSuperMilk: Don’t even think about it — the championship will definitely be ours, LPF’s. //@Ji Jin: Thanks for your concern. Although the legend ended, I came back to try for a few championships.

Lin Naisi, ID Nice, also called Naisi, was reputed as the league’s top marksman. His LPF team won the finals last year. Most importantly, Lin Naisi was an active Weibo user with a huge fan base, probably far more followers than Ji Jin, who never logged in.

With this repost, Ji Jin’s comments would spread through the entire esports community in no time.

Zhao Ze steadied himself against the wall — now he understood why IKW’s former manager Ke Yu had to get hair transplants every year.

Ji Jin brought Ji Xingxing to the cafeteria. The cafeteria auntie had already received the news and specially prepared baby food for Ji Xingxing.

Since the auntie was a bit older, she doted especially on Ji Xingxing. When she tried to serve a second helping, Ji Jin firmly refused.

Ji Xingxing’s little belly was full and round, and Ji Jin worried that he might eat too much and get a stomach ache.

After feeding Ji Xingxing, Ji Jin started eating. He normally ate slowly and didn’t have a big appetite. Just halfway through his meal, someone uninvitedly arrived.

With a soft clatter, the young team captain Cheng Pian sat down opposite Ji Jin, then realized and added, “Sorry, may I sit here?”

The seventeen-year-old boy looked youthful, shy, and a little embarrassed.

Ji Jin looked up. Through Cheng Pian’s eyes, he saw that same boy from long ago.

“Sit,” Ji Jin said quietly.

“Sit! Sit!” Ji Xingxing had finished eating and was bored, wanting to slip away, but since the rope was in Ji Jin’s hand, he couldn’t run off and was actually glad someone came to sit with him and play.

“Emm… I’m sorry for my attitude earlier, God Ji,” Cheng Pian said quietly, head bowed. “Because I… I thought if you came back, you would definitely join the IKW team.”

Cheng Pian’s first impulse to play games had come because of Ji Jin.

It was one afternoon during last summer vacation when a classmate invited Cheng Pian to secretly go to a nearby black-market internet café to play. Cheng Pian hadn’t played many games before; the few times he did were mostly helping classmates get through levels. His hand speed was fast and his memory good — as long as he remembered the controls, he could clear levels smoothly.

But that day, when he arrived at the internet café, he was immediately drawn in by Ji Jin’s gameplay videos. They were some of Ji Jin’s earlier videos, showing Bai Yike in a feathered robe, graceful and light, wielding a long sword to win a pentakill with three swift strikes.

He had never seen such vivid special effects, nor such an elegant and moving character before.

More importantly, the player controlling that character was so skilled — fluid, precise, no hesitation, every move flowing seamlessly.

From that day on, it was the first time he touched this game, the first time he played this character, and the first time he encountered Ji Jin as a person.

From then on, he fell in love with the game and deeply admired Ji Jin.

“No worries, maybe everyone thought that way. It’s not a big deal,” Ji Jin replied calmly. He always ate slowly, and talking made him even slower. He poked here and there with his chopsticks like a picky child.

“Others probably had similar thoughts too. Let me come and apologize, God Ji,” Cheng Pian said hurriedly, afraid Ji Jin would misunderstand.

“It really doesn’t matter,” Ji Jin smiled. He hadn’t taken such a small matter to heart.

But then… Ji Jin suddenly looked up sharply. He had just felt as if there were hostile eyes nearby… watching him closely.

“What’s wrong?” Cheng Pian thought Ji Jin was still bothered by the earlier conversation. Following Ji Jin’s gaze, he saw nothing unusual except a lone teammate in the group. “That’s Alex, the captain of the second team now. He used to be a warrior in the first team. Is something wrong with him?”

“Nothing, nothing,” Ji Jin shook his head. He glanced again at the lean young man sitting across, feeling the earlier sensation had been just an illusion, quickly passing.

But… calculating the dates, Ji Jin realized his mating season was approaching soon and he should be careful.

 

Author’s note:
Different people have different understandings of #PassionNeverFades#:
Players: Love for the game never fades
Fans: God Ji is amazing, passion never fades
Xiao Lu: Likes Ji Jin, passion never fades, misses the senior, and…
God Ji [frustrated]: You pig-headed fool, shut up

 

 

 

 

 

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