Chapter 156

The match between REAL and PHQ set new records for viewership in this postseason tournament.

The match video reached over a million views within a few hours of being uploaded.

During Ye Chi’s interview segment, the barrage of comments scrolled densely, especially when he answered the final question. Comments like “Grinding teeth is invincible in the world” flooded the screen, practically covering it. In reality, the audience at the venue was already ecstatic, screaming continuously. Ye Chi paid little attention, dismissing it as another attempt to piggyback on his popularity.

Just because he was a professional player, did that mean he had no right to like another professional player?

He didn’t care about the gossip; he just wanted to express his thoughts truthfully.

That night, back at the base, everyone celebrated vigorously. The match had been tough, with ups and downs, overcoming many obstacles that made their victory all the more thrilling.

They were excited, but they couldn’t stay excited for too long.

The playoff schedule was tight; ADT would face DSG tomorrow, and the day after they would play against KU.

After reviewing the game, the exhausted players who had played all day went back to rest.

Chen Dong collapsed on his bed after showering, staring blankly at the ceiling for a long time. Finally, he murmured, “I never dreamed Mo Yin would come to watch our match.”

Ye Chi lay on the adjacent bed, his heart stirred slightly.

“Captain,” Chen Dong said, “maybe Mo Yin really sees you differently.”

Ye Chi fell silent for a moment before replying, “Get some rest.”

Peaceful tranquility settled in the dorm room.

A few minutes later, Chen Dong rolled over. “Captain, did you know…”

Ye Chi patiently listened, but Chen Dong abruptly stopped himself from continuing. Perplexed, Ye Chi asked, “Know what?”

Chen Dong had been momentarily carried away by emotions and almost blurted out something impulsive. Calming down, he quickly changed tack, “Do you know how handsome you are?”

Ye Chi was silent for two seconds. “Go to sleep. Stop talking nonsense.”

Chen Dong: “……” Indeed, you’re our steadfast straight man captain.

So, which wire did he cross just now, wanting to give Ye Chi a lesson in “Grinding cp”?

The audience in the esports circle is predominantly young, and many fans love to ship players together. Chen Dong himself had several “ships”; due to his good relationship with Tang Qi, he was paired up, and after Tang Qi transferred to DSG, his popularity with Ding Wenquan quickly surpassed his previous one with Chen Dong.

Fans of both sides often clashed; once, they argued fiercely, hurling insults at each other. “Dongqi” fans accused Tang Qi of fickleness, saying that after marrying into a rich family, he neglected Chen Dong and listed several wrongdoings since Tang Qi’s transfer, dubbing Tang Qi as the “Esports Pan Jinlian.”

Chen Dong was amused by “Esports Pan Jinlian” and immediately forwarded it to Tang Qi.

Tang Qi replied, “……”

As Chen Dong scrolled further down, he found “Ka Qi” fans accusing him of being the “Esports Wu Dalang,” making him unable to laugh.

Ship fans brawled, and no one walked away unscathed.

According to Chen Dong’s observations, almost every player in the circle had a ship. Even those who were married or publicly dating couldn’t escape; ship fans insisted, “I ship my ship, what does your player have to do with it?”

The only one without a ship was Mo Yin.

Mo Yin was so powerful and bizarre; he didn’t interact with people in the circle, and his relationship with teammates was plastic. His teammates who won the championship together said they would kick him out when his technique slipped. How could anyone shake his ship?

Mai Bao fans never indulged anyone, dared to come and kill them all!!!

But this year, the “Grinding teeth” quietly came into being.

The birth of the “Grinding teeth” originated from a magical post.

—”In a deserted corner, there are more romantic secrets. Perhaps that’s just a light sentence of ‘SB’.”

The poster started with an extremely mocking narrative description of Ye Chi and Mo Yin’s highly anticipated regular season, where Ye Chi was thrown back by Mo Yin.

“At that time, he was deeply attracted to him because he had never seen such a special man who was so poor and loved to pretend. You’re special, you’re so poor, you caught my attention…”

Then he commented on the incident where Ye Chi and Mo Yin clashed in qualifying.

“Countless mid-lane players once stood before him to challenge his majesty, but only he, with just a single word, made him who had always been calm and self-possessed lose control and say those two intimate words—’SB.'”

The poster might be a fan of Mo Yin’s, or maybe just someone enjoying the fun, but undoubtedly, he should be very annoyed with Ye Chi, using teasing and witty language to criticize Ye Chi as worthless.

The post went viral.

A bunch of people below were laughing.

Someone sarcastically replied with “Grinding teeth,” and then a bunch of people started suggesting funny couple names for the two.

“Grinding teeth” combines the initials of Mo Yin and Ye Chi’s surnames, suggesting both a pathological behavior that makes people feel like their teeth hurt and an irritating feeling. The top commenter who proposed the couple name quickly got a lot of responses from the commenters below.

And so “Grinding teeth CP” was born.

Chen Dong had been high-intensity surfing all along. He first discovered this CP in Ma Bao’s fan group and was shocked. It was more shocking than seeing “Esports Pan Jinlian Wu Dalang.”

The fan group exploded too, instantly dividing into several factions. Some thought it was the scheming Madman finding another way to gain popularity and must be countered, some thought it was just for fun and should be ignored to avoid giving it attention, and some had already started flaming the comments.

The flamed-up fans of “Grinding teeth” weren’t happy and started deliberately replying with things like “Grinding teeth is invincible” and “Grinding teeth is real” to fight back against the fans.

Chen Dong got a headache and simply stopped reading.

Later, after Ye Chi went to the DSG base to find Mo Yin was exposed, Chen Dong remembered this incident again, quickly reconnected, and found that the situation had completely exceeded his imagination.

In conjunction with Ye Chi’s visit to Mo Yin and the incident, someone dug up that the day before Ye Chi went to find Mo Yin, REAL and DSG had a training match, and the results of the training match were posted.

In the past, DSG’s training match results were very good and also very rational. You could roughly guess how they crushed the opponent.

But this training match looked like a free-for-all, with many kills on both sides, especially Mo Yin and Ye Chi’s kill and death counts looking symmetrical.

The audience couldn’t stay calm.

——[Can anyone explain? I smell something fishy.]

——[Uh uh uh uh uh, you’re not alone.]

——[We know DSG’s training style, they know how to finish off the opponent in fifteen shots, but they played with REAL for so long, something’s not right…]

——[Looking at Ye Chi’s stats, did his husband beat him up?]

——[Imagine a 1.85-meter-tall petite wife going to the base to question her husband, uh uh uh uh]

——[Hahaha crying outside the DSG base like a crying gege waiting for his husband to come out for comfort]

——[His husband: SB]

——[Ah ah ah ah so dark, but so addictive… A clingy petite wife matched with a cold husband, crazy gege bravely chasing love, I’m tearing up]

——[Guys, I’m really getting into this, who’s going to wake me up!!!]

——[Stop struggling, Grinding teeth is invincible, it’s normal to get addicted, just surrender]

Chen Dong felt like his eyeballs were about to pop out.

Okay.

Looking at it this way, Esports Pan Jinlian and Esports Wu Dalang don’t seem so far-fetched after all.

For some reason, the Grinding Teeth CP inexplicably became more and more popular later on, perhaps because both Ye Chi and Mo Yin are very handsome, and videos of the two edited together became quite explosive.

Someone dug up the scene where Mo Yin and Ye Chi fist-bumped during the Spring Season regular season.

Ye Chi stared at Mo Yin with both eyes, his lips moved up and down, Mo Yin walked over and looked back, their eyes collided, and a second of footage was cut out in a frenzy.

What Ye Chi said at the time was also wildly imagined and arranged by CP fans.

——[I understand lip-reading, he said ‘husband’.]

——[I understand lip-reading, he said ‘husband, you’re amazing’.]

——[I understand lip-reading, he said ‘husband, whether in bed or out, you’re so fierce, I hate you so much’.]

——[I understand lip-reading, he said ‘husband, you hurt me so much, you have to kiss me well tonight to soothe me’.]

……

Grinding teeth fans mainly enjoy a whimsical and self-sufficient kind of happiness.

Even if Mo Yin and Ye Chi didn’t have much contact afterwards, CP fans could still create various stories for them.

Without stories, they’d create stories, and Chen Dong couldn’t imagine what would happen when fans found out Mo Yin came to watch their matches and Ye Chi made such remarks on stage, how CP fans would arrange the storyline for the two!!!

A 1.85-meter-tall petite wife…

Chen Dong shuddered and closed his eyes to sleep.

Forget it, what happens online has nothing to do with reality, let them be, even if he told Ye Chi and asked him to be more careful in the future, it probably wouldn’t stop CP fans from creating, everyone is just having fun, let’s not take it too seriously.

“Chen Dong.”

The protagonist suddenly called out to him, and Chen Dong jolted. “What’s up?”

“Do you think we should go watch DSG’s match tomorrow?”

“…”

Chen Dong held back, just about to burst out laughing.

Stay calm, breathe.

Chen Dong replied slowly, “Isn’t there a training match tomorrow?”

“There’s no conflict in time,” Ye Chi’s tone sounded serious. “The showdown between DSG and ADT is worth watching.”

“Watching at the base is fine too.”

“Yeah, that works.”

Chen Dong breathed a sigh of relief quietly. Damn, why was he relieved about this kind of thing?!

“But both their teams came to watch our match today. It wouldn’t be nice if we don’t go when we have the time.”

Chen Dong: “…”

“So, shall we go? Who should we support? DSG and ADT are both here today.” Chen Dong struggled desperately, trying to salvage something.

“Do you think they care about these things?”

“…Maybe.”

Ye Chi stated directly, “I support DSG.”

“…”

Chen Dong: Definitely a doting wife!

No—Chen Dong frowned painfully, trying to drive away all those weird thoughts from his mind.

“Forget it, let’s sleep first. We’ll decide after the training match tomorrow.”

Chen Dong: How can he sleep now?!

The next day, REAL and the neighboring district played a training match in the afternoon, as most other teams were on holiday, so there were fewer training matches.

At this stage, training matches were basically for practicing game feel, and the tactical systems to prepare were already set.

After reviewing the training match, the coach suggested, “Should we go watch the DSG and ADT match live?”

“…”

“It’s too far,” Shanglu Liancheng on the top lane opposed. “It’s over an hour away. We could play several games in that time. It’s the same watching it at the base.”

Chen Dong immediately supported, “Right, let’s get our game feel right. Tomorrow’s match is important, we can’t be complacent just because we have a respawn timer.”

Sun Yuanyang looked at Chen Dong puzzled, “Don’t you want to watch your idols’ match live?”

“I’d rather play a live match with my idol.” Chen Dong blurted out, then froze himself. How did he say that, as if he had thought about it many times in his mind?

“Chen Dong is right,” Ye Chi looked at Chen Dong. “We still have a chance to meet on the field, don’t waste time, play a few more games to find your feel.”

Chen Dong felt a surge of warmth and nodded, “Listen to the captain.”

After discussing with everyone, they decided to stay and play games, and watch the match when the live broadcast started. The coach was also pleased and went to his computer to continue refining tactics and simulate the ban-pick phase.

At 5 PM, when the match was about to start, everyone stopped their games and prepared to watch this epic battle.

Chen Dong and Ye Chi sat next to each other, leaning towards Ye Chi to watch the match directly.

Ye Chi’s afternoon remarks finally allowed Chen Dong to look straight at him, fewer additional associations now, yeah, he really was a great captain for the whole team.

Ye Chi stared at the screen, looking extremely focused.

DSG’s players appeared.

The barrage kept scrolling, incredibly popular.

When Mo Yin came on stage in red and black team uniforms, the barrage dominated the screen, and Ye Chi opened a quarter of the barrage and felt that 30% transparency was almost impossible to read.

The remaining REAL players didn’t know when they had come to Ye Chi’s computer too and sighed, “Mai Bao looks really handsome.”

Chen Dong’s brow twitched.

On the screen, Mo Yin stood firm, like the other players, hands clasped facing the camera. His movements were particularly natural, and matched the expression on his face, his cold eyes exuding a sense of oppression.

“He is indeed handsome,” Ye Chi echoed.

Chen Dong glanced at him, thinking: Hold it together, he couldn’t let himself get carried away! He’s a captain of steel, not some 1.85-meter-tall petite wife!

Ye Chi pulled his chair closer, and clicked the upper right corner to log in, his fingers flew across the keyboard, logged in, and then clicked the bottom right corner.

——REAL-Quit sent “Grand Fireworks” X1 to DSG-MY, fireworks bloomed just for you, igniting the focus of the arena!

From login to sending gifts, the whole process took less than five seconds.

The person with an astonishing hand speed pushed the keyboard back and continued watching the match.

The screen was dominated by fireworks effects, and at the same time, the barrage scrolled— “Grinding teeth is invincible,” the imposing message filled the screen.

Ye Chi tilted his head and pointed at the screen, asking everyone, “What does ‘Grinding teeth is invincible’ mean? I received a card yesterday that also had this phrase.”

“I don’t know.”

The teammates hadn’t heard of it either. “Could it be some kind of blessing or good luck charm?”

Chen Dong: “…”

He decided to stay silent.

Ye Chi shook his head, equally perplexed, and nudged Chen Dong with his elbow. “You seem to know more about these things. What do you think?”

Chen Dong hurriedly shook his head. “I don’t know, I really don’t know anything!”

Ye Chi teased, “I haven’t said anything yet, and you already don’t know?”

Chen Dong gritted his teeth. “I don’t know what they mean by using that phrase either.”

Ye Chi glanced at the screen again. The camera seemed to favor Mo Yin, with the director shooting from every angle possible, including a dramatic upward shot from below Mo Yin’s legs, gradually zooming in, capturing his profile sharply. Despite the deadly angle, Mo Yin looked down with an indifferent expression, yet still managed to look incredibly handsome, causing the barrage to tremble again.

Ye Chi looked away from the screen and asked, “I was actually asking how many gifts one needs to send to join in the support?”

Chen Dong: “…”

Doting wife! A 1.85-meter-tall doting wife!