New Beginning and Future

Chapter 57: When the Curtain Falls, and Truth Stands Alone

Summary: On a night when storms end and silence speaks louder than victory, truths long buried rise to the surface, rewriting legacies and ending illusions in full view of the world. For some, it's the end of everything they built. For others, it's the beginning of something unbreakable.

Overprotective: ZGDX
Overprotective/Possessive/territorial: Chessman
Chessman is literally his own warning when it concerns his girl

Notes:

⚠️ Author's Note: Oh how the mighty fall and are made to reap what they have sown.

Disclaimer: The Muse would like to remind everyone we do not own FIYS nor the beloved characters nor any dialogue from either the show nor the book...the Muse is very sad and not pleased with this continued reminder that they do not own them and never will!
End Author's Note:

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Fifty-Seven

The tunnel lights bled into a wash of red and gold as the doors opened to the stage. The roar that followed, was not sound so much as a living force, tens of thousands of voices colliding at once, chanting, echoing, lifting the name ZGDX until the entire arena seemed to tremble with it.

Yao stepped forward first, chin lifted, headset hooked over one shoulder, her expression calm but eyes sharp, already in battle rhythm. Behind her, Sicheng walked with the measured stride of someone who'd done this a hundred times and still knew exactly how to make the world slow down to his pace. Pang, Lao K, and Lao Mao followed close, the team formation already instinctive even before they reached their seats.

The stage lights flared; the camera drone swept past; the giant screen behind them blazed with their names.

Pang slid into his seat at the far left, muttering as he adjusted his mousepad, "Feels like walking into a storm out there."

"It is a storm," Lao Mao said dryly from the opposite end, already cracking his knuckles. "We're the thunder."

Lao K was plugging in his headset, voice steady. "Let's make it clean. No sloppiness. No hero plays unless they're calculated."

Yao dropped into her chair in the center, fingers already ghosting across the keys. "Calculated hero plays only," she corrected, a faint smile tugging at her mouth.

Sicheng, seated just to her left, adjusted his wrist brace and flicked through his settings with practiced ease. "That's redundant. Everything we do is calculated."

Pang laughed. "There's the confidence I missed. Welcome back, Captain."

Sicheng didn't glance up. "Focus, Pang. I'm not saving your hide if you get greedy again."

Yao's quiet chuckle threaded through the comms. "You say that every match."

"And every match," Sicheng replied, "he tests me."

Lao Mao leaned back in his chair, smirk audible in his voice. "Family bonding, ZGDX edition."

The signal came through, the countdown flashing across the monitors. Five... four... three...

Yao's voice dropped low over the comms. "Eyes up. Remember the plan. CK's going to push early to force tempo. Let them. We counter hard. No mercy, no room to breathe."

Her teammates responded in unison: "Copy."

The sound cut. The match began.

The arena exploded into light. The cameras zoomed in on their faces, five calm, deadly professionals surrounded by the roar of the crowd. Across the stage, CK's lineup was already flickering on screen, their captain calling out bans with clipped precision. But the energy wasn't even. ZGDX had walked in like they already knew the ending.