TCWSITD – Chapter 59

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Chapter 59 – Recurrence of Hand Injury

Was Lin Jiang really that scary?

Shen Ju suddenly had an overwhelming urge to test his limits.

He started a match right under Lin Jiang’s nose. Lin Jiang glanced at him but said nothing.

After finishing, he took advantage of a moment when Lin Jiang wasn’t paying attention and opened another round.

This time, Lin Jiang couldn’t hold back. He stood up, paced behind Shen Ju twice, then returned to his seat, his peripheral gaze never leaving Shen Ju’s hands.

When Shen Ju finished the second match, Lin Jiang finally spoke. “Shen Ju, come with me for a moment.”

Snickers rippled through the teammates nearby. Everyone knew Shen Ju was about to be lectured, and they were all watching the show with amusement.

Shen Ju wasn’t afraid at all. He stood up and followed Lin Jiang outside, curious about how Lin Jiang would scold him. Like a little tiger, maybe? Roar?

The thought made him chuckle before he could stop himself.

Before he could even step forward, a hand reached out from the room and yanked him inside.

In the dimly lit room, only Lin Jiang’s silhouette was visible. He stood slightly turned to the side, his cold gaze roaming over Shen Ju with a restrained yet dangerous allure.

Shen Ju realized he couldn’t resist Lin Jiang’s temptation at all. Just being looked at so indifferently was was already making him unable to endure it.

He reached out to hug him, but Lin Jiang pinned his hand against the wall.

When Lin Jiang got angry, the strength in his hands grew heavier. His eyes darkened slightly, as if looking at a disobedient child. He warned in a gentle voice, “Can’t you behave?”

His gaze was so cold, yet his voice so gentle. The stark contrast made Shen Ju swallow hard. He still tried to embrace him, but Lin Jiang used his knee to push him back against the wall once more.

Coldly, Lin Jiang’s fingers brushed lightly against Shen Ju’s earlobe as he whispered, “In my world, disobedient puppies get abandoned.”

Shen Ju couldn’t take it anymore.

He wanted to devour Lin Jiang whole.

With a sudden force, he pinned Lin Jiang against his chest and kissed him deeply. Lin Jiang still had a grip on his collar, the pressure on his throat almost suffocating, but Shen Ju didn’t care. He kissed even more fiercely, as if he’d gladly die right there in Lin Jiang’s hands.

God, this was pure torture.

Seeing him every day but never being able to have him. Just a single touch, and Shen Ju’s mind would fill with nothing but thoughts of him.

He turned and pressed Lin Jiang against the wall, his body already reacting. Tangling their tongues together, every taste was unbearably sweet, impossible to stop.

Lin Jiang didn’t resist. He waited for Shen Ju to calm down, leaning against the wall and looking up at him with slightly reddened lips that only added to his allure.

The moment Shen Ju had barely settled, he was ignited again. He pulled Lin Jiang into his arms, rubbing his face against Lin Jiang’s neck, his breathing growing heavier. He longed for Lin Jiang’s touch, but the other refused to give in.

Finally, after enough rubbing, Shen Ju rested his head on Lin Jiang’s shoulder, gently kissing his wrist, his eyes darkening. “I’ll behave. Don’t abandon me. I’ll listen to you. I just wanted to see if you cared.”

Lin Jiang laughed, running his fingers through Shen Ju’s hair, his voice tender yet laced with knives. “If I didn’t care about you, you’d have been so exhausted by me that day you couldn’t even get out of bed. Did you really think you could touch me otherwise?”

Shen Ju’s eyes widened in disbelief. How could Lin Jiang say something so intense with such a detached tone?

He hugged Lin Jiang tighter, burying him in his embrace with a satisfied sigh. “Lin Jiang, you’re too gentle. So gentle it often feels unreal. Sometimes I just want to provoke you on purpose, to see how you’d react. I really, really like you. Any reaction from you, no matter what, I love it all.”

The puppy’s daily confession, though late, had arrived.

Lin Jiang smiled without a word, his fingertips teasing the back of Shen Ju’s ear, stirring his heart into chaos.

Shen Ju grabbed his hand, unable to resist biting it lightly before softening into tender kisses. “Stop teasing me.”

From above, Lin Jiang’s voice drifted down. “Then will you behave?”

Shen Ju nodded, afraid Lin Jiang wouldn’t see it, and added a verbal response. “Mhm, I’ll be obedient.”

Good that he’s obedient. Lin Jiang straightened his clothes and walked away as if nothing had happened, leaving Shen Ju clutching the controller in agony¹Okay, this one I’m not sure if I understand correctly. In raw, it is 崩溃地握紧手柄 (meaning clutching the controller as if on the verge of collapse). If I use my imagination, I can interpret “controller” as “penis” which in this scene Shen Ju is holding his because he got aroused by Lin Jiang. But this is just my interpretation and might not be the case at all., desperately trying to calm his body’s reaction.

He heard Song Zhixu ask Lin Jiang, “Where’s Shen Ju? Why didn’t he come out?”

Lin Jiang chuckled, “He’s crying. Let him cry for a bit.”

“What, Captain, you’re that ruthless?”

“Wait, you actually made Shen Ju cry?!”

“What? Shen Ju’s crying in there?”

“Damn, Captain, how did you do that? Teach me…”

Shen Ju: “….”

He couldn’t refute it—he really couldn’t refute it at all.

He finally understood what Li Qian meant: when Lin Jiang goes ruthless, nobody stands a chance.

After calming down, Shen Ju pulled his cap low and packed his things. Song Zhixu beside him kept trying to peek at him. “Shen Ju, did you really cry earlier?”

Shen Ju: “…..”

Every day, Shen Ju wanted nothing more than to smack Song Zhixu over the head.

After a brief rest, Shen Ju also had to join everyone’s training matches. However, with Lin Jiang controlling his training load, he had no other opportunities.

As the World Championship finals drew closer, online discussions about the match heated up.

Korea had been brimming with confidence about the tournament, never expecting OT to break through the competition and stand on equal footing with them. This was too much for some netizens who believed this year’s championship belonged to Korea, and they launched attacks, declaring that if HIT lost, the entire team should retire in disgrace.

In contrast, LPL fans were optimistic.

Just OT making it to the finals meant they’d already won half the battle. If they could even win the championship, it would be pure joy—happier than celebrating the New Year.

[Hahaha, winning would be the ultimate slap in the face.]

[If they pull this off, Lin Jiang deserves to be crowned a god right there and then.]

[If OT takes the win, they’re going straight onto my personal hall of legends. No team will surpass them for at least three years.]

[LMAO, if they win, I’ll stan them for the rest of my life.]

[No pressure, OT’s already salvaged the face TG lost. Win or lose, I’m chill.]

[The least stressful finals ever.]

[My heart feels completely calm, I even feel like laughing a little.]

Some haters still spewed nonsense online, but OT’s overwhelming public support quickly drowned them out to the point of being unrecognizable.

OT themselves had no experience and no training matches this year, so it was already a huge surprise that they had made it this far.

Even the streamer Ah Cai, who had been a long-time critic of Shen Ju, had his stream bombarded by numerous random viewers, causing his streaming account to be banned for ten days—just in time to miss the start of the finals.

Domestic netizens were dedicated to clearing all public opinion obstacles for them. Even the officials and teams within the industry cooperated with OT in training matches to stand united against the enemy.

Abroad, OT was similarly preparing rigorously.

Song Zhixu had officially expanded his pool to six champions, capable of adapting to any changes and team compositions.

A’Deng’s mental adjustment was also excellent. Zhang Mingying was growing at an astonishing rate, voraciously absorbing all experience that could elevate his skills.

Zhou Wen was already on the path to breaking through his limits on wireless play, spending all his time lately on comprehension outside of training matches.

Only Shen Ju was the one Lin Jiang worried about the most.

After two days of training matches, his hand injury flared up again.

Lin Jiang personally dragged him to the hospital. Now, with only 24 hours left before the finals, the emergency treatment barely managed to stabilize the pain.

But the situation was still not to be underestimated. The doctor had said the treatment was only temporary. Shen Ju’s hand injury was highly likely to suddenly recur during short or prolonged matches.

Lin Jiang looked at the medical report with deep concern. Returning to the ward, he saw Shen Ju taking painkillers. His movements looked particularly awkward because his hand hurt so much. Even twisting the cap off was a struggle.

He offered, “Let me help you with that.”

Shen Ju looked at him, swallowed hard, and downed the pill. “I already took it.”

The strength in Lin Jiang’s hands suddenly drained away. He gazed at Shen Ju with distress, watching as sweat beaded on his forehead from the pain. His heart felt as though something heavy was pressing down on it, making it hard to breathe.

“Is your hand not hurting anymore?”

Shen Ju nodded, then, realizing the lie was too obvious, added, “It’s fine. The doctor gave me painkillers.”

His hand needed long-term rest—but they no longer had time for Shen Ju to recover. He had to endure, to hold on, and play through the final match.

As the team captain, Lin Jiang should have told him the truth.

But out of personal feelings, Lin Jiang couldn’t bring himself to say it. He always felt that those words coming from him would be too cruel.

Perhaps his gaze was too direct, because Shen Ju seemed to understand and slowly quieted down. “Did the doctor say it’s serious?”

Lin Jiang glanced at the medical report in his hand, then back at him. “The doctor said if your hand is overworked in the short term, the injury will recur. There’s a high chance you won’t be able to finish tomorrow’s match.”

But what could they do if he couldn’t finish?

OT had no substitute AD.

Shen Ju fell silent for a moment, suddenly understanding Lin Jiang’s sorrow.

He really wanted to win this championship with Lin Jiang, so he had trained too hard, pushing beyond his body’s limits.

He looked down at the medicine in his hand. “It’s fine. The doctor gave me painkillers.”

Painkillers weren’t a cure-all. At the very least, they couldn’t replace Shen Ju’s actual hand speed. Moreover, during the semifinals, Shen Ju had already exposed his hand injury. HIT would certainly drag the game into the late stages.

The moment Shen Ju made a mistake, they would seize the opportunity.

Tomorrow would be a fierce battle that even Lin Jiang wasn’t confident about. It would push Shen Ju’s injury to the brink, force Lin Jiang to surrender, and drive OT to their knees in defeat…

It was heartbreaking.

After all they had fought for, all they had achieved to get here…

The ward was eerily quiet. Shen Ju traced the words on the medicine bottle, then suddenly clenched it tightly. “No matter what, don’t replace me, okay? Let me finish the match. I won’t let you lose.”

He looked up at Lin Jiang, his gaze making Lin Jiang slightly uneasy. “What do you want to do?”

Shen Ju shook his head, then suddenly walked over and hugged him, resting his head comfortingly on Lin Jiang’s shoulder. “If I don’t win this championship, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life. Years from now, I’ll still look back on this with bitterness… I won’t let that happen, Lin Jiang. Believe me, I won’t let you lose.”

Lin Jiang hesitated before returning the embrace, a vague unease settling in his heart.

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  Okay, this one I’m not sure if I understand correctly. In raw, it is 崩溃地握紧手柄 (meaning clutching the controller as if on the verge of collapse). If I use my imagination, I can interpret “controller” as “penis” which in this scene Shen Ju is holding his because he got aroused by Lin Jiang. But this is just my interpretation and might not be the case at all.