[Esports] I Started an Online Romance with a Big Shot After Retiring Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Tacit Understanding

Crow also understood the situation well. After sending a cute emoji, he leisurely walked back under his own defensive tower before starting the recall channel, not giving the enemy jungler who arrived a step later any chance to salvage the situation.

At the same time, he also pinged a signal toward the middle lane.

Even though they were just strangers who had met by chance and didn’t know each other, Shen Yanjin felt that Crow’s signal was meant for him.

He glanced at the middle lane, pulled up the scoreboard, and hissed.

He had been having so much fun playing dirty back and forth just now that Shen Yanjin only now realized that while the bottom lane was blooming, the middle lane was also reporting success after success.

Except it was the enemy’s success.

The enemy mid laner had picked Lily, a late-game hero. Once she scaled up, her burst damage was terrifying, basically deleting one kid with one hit.

The enemy jungler was also one who believed in “mid is your father,” squatting in the middle lane all day long when he had nothing else to do. The two of them had great mid-jungle synergy and had farmed quite well. If this continued, they wouldn’t even need to reach the late game; by mid-game, their side would be instantly deleted by Lily beyond recognition.

Crow signaling him meant he wanted him to roam to the mid lane to help?

Shen Yanjin had always hated people ordering him around. Plus, their mid-lane mage had already passionately fed to a 0-4 score right from the start. In Shen Yanjin’s eyes, he was no different from trash and had already lost even the value of being helped.

But he licked his lips, bewitched, and actually obediently went.

Of course, half the reason was that Shen Yanjin also felt this Lily couldn’t be left alone. Their bot lane duo consisted of two pitifully squishy champions. If they really let their mid lane continue to feed the “daddy,” then this game would be over again.

Over meant losing points, and Shen Yanjin didn’t want to lose points.

However, when he reached the mid-lane bush, Shen Yanjin had already dived into the shadows, waiting only for the mage to initiate. But the friendly mage had evidently been GANKed by the enemy into psychological trauma, cowering and afraid to go up and bait.

Playing a control-type support, what one feared most was encountering this kind of teammate. The opportunity was right in front of their eyes, yet they hesitated to act, wasting good chance after good chance.

This was why Shen Yanjin didn’t really want to come to the mid lane.

The jungler obviously shared this thought—help the winning lanes, not the losing ones—and showed no intention of moving toward mid. Just as a vague irritation rose in his heart, a flash of cold silver light suddenly appeared behind him.

Crow’s sniper rifle!

Two thousand gold in economy had already allowed his gun to upgrade into the most lethal bolt-action rifle in WL. Clearly, this friend was also someone who didn’t care for his life, actually putting all his money into attack damage and attack range.

Two waves of tacit cooperation had established the most basic trust. Seeing this cold light, Shen Yanjin instantly felt reassured and rushed forward without hesitation.

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Under his control, the pitch-black shadow began to wriggle and change shape, climbing up and wrapping around Lily’s calf. Immediately, without giving the opponent any chance to react, Shen Yanjin activated Shadow Baby’s ultimate skill.

Before the mid-lane tier 1 tower, the originally round shadow ball let out a roar. Muscles bulged all over its body as it instantly grew several times larger in size. The shadow wrapped around Lily’s calf turned into two huge and grotesque claws.

With only a short scream heard in the game, Lily, who was about to return under the tower, was dragged directly by the claws to the bush in the river. The vision in the river had long been controlled by Shen Yanjin, providing excellent visibility.

Duan Mingyue squeezed the trigger of the sniper rifle, a hint of a smile appearing on his lips.

Bang—!

The loud report of the bolt-action sniper echoed through the entire canyon. A beam of light, like lightning, shot straight from the bot lane through the river, not missing by a fraction, directly piercing Lily’s heart!

This shot was ridiculously far and heinously accurate!

The moment the kill notification popped up, the bullet screen boiled over. Countless “666” filled the screen. Duan Mingyue let out a light breath. Having secured the head and with the early game exploding in his favor, his expression was somewhat complex and strange.

Crow’s sniper glint was a passive effect of aiming the gun. That flash was intentional on his part, gambling on whether this Shadow could understand his intent.

The result was that not only did he understand, but he also did better than he had imagined.

It was simply as if they had coordinated countless times before.

Duan Mingyue glanced at the bullet screen assistant. Amidst the sea of 666s and praise, one comment drifted past, completely out of place.

[Um… have you guys noticed that Moon God is especially silent this game?]

Duan Mingyue came back to his senses. While last-hitting minions, he smiled and said, “Yeah, Moon God is really talking very little this game.”

[? Bullet screen chat streamer don’t interrupt.]

[Really, I wouldn’t have noticed if you didn’t say it. I was already mesmerized watching.]

[Are Moon God and this Shadow Missy duo-queueing? Their tacit understanding is so good.]

Duan Mingyue said, “Not duo-queueing.” He paused, then smiled slightly, “Hearing you guys say that, the synergy does seem a bit good. How about I ask Shadow Missy after this game?”

[Holy sh*t, Moon God wants to duo with someone? Is it raining red rain from the sky?]

[Didn’t you just reject Lucida’s team request? Cheater! Scumbag!]

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[Ship-teasers, have some self-respect.]

The more people there were, the worse the atmosphere, and the easier it was for rhythms to be started. In the blink of an eye, the bullet screen began to tear into each other vehemently because of this “scumbag” comment.

Duan Mingyue stopped looking at the bullet screen. On the monitor, the round little black ball had already reverted to its small, cute appearance, rolling and running back to his side, obedient and docile. Where was any trace of the fierceness from catching someone just now?

For some reason, Duan Mingyue felt that this Support’s gameplay was very similar to someone.

Someone who had once used him and then kicked him away.

That person’s coordination with him had also been this tacit, seamless without needing any words. Their jungle-support roam duo had once become a nightmare for everyone in high ELO at that time.

But how long ago was that? How could it be such a coincidence?

Duan Mingyue retracted his wandering thoughts, smiled self-mockingly, and turned to concentrate on farming minions.

Crow was now far ahead in experience and equipment, making it impossible for the opponent to even lane against him. He smoothly took first blood plus the first tower, then helped the jungler control the dragon. After recalling and upgrading, his equipment was luxuriously messy.

Just when the rhythm was most comfortable, the chat box in the bottom left corner popped up with a sentence that wasn’t so comfortable.

[[All] White Water Spring (Lily): Enemy Crow, is hacking fun?]

As everyone knew, hacking and match-fixing were bottom lines in esports that absolutely could not be touched. Touching either one basically resulted in a lifetime ban.

Precisely because of this, these two things were also the main rhythm points for internet keyboard warriors to flame players.

Duan Mingyue didn’t even need to look to know that his stream chat must already be a storm of blood and rain.

He had no intention of fueling his own rhythm, and was also afraid fans would chase over to curse at people. After offering a few words of comfort, he cleared the chat box, not intending to make any reply.

However, the opposing Lily refused to let it go. Seeing he didn’t reply, she followed up with two more sentences.

[[All] White Water Spring (Lily): Why aren’t you talking? Guilty conscience?]

[[All] White Water Spring (Lily): The enemy Shadow is also a boss (paypig) right? Climbing ranks by clinging to a hacker’s thigh, isn’t it disgusting? Do you two only have one page on your household register?]

[[All] White Water Spring (Lily): Reported already, two idiots. Wait for your ten-year ban.]

This was going a bit too far. Cursing him didn’t matter; being cursed could be turned into bitter joy, taken as praise for his accurate marksmanship, and ignored.

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But cursing the Support…

Duan Mingyue frowned. Just as he was about to mute, Shadow Baby, who had been following by his side, suddenly stopped moving.

[[All] UOOW (Shadow Baby): QAQ Of course it’s two pages~]

[[All] UOOW (Shadow Baby): The other page is you, obedient son.]

[[All] UOOW (Shadow Baby): QAQ Being bad is one thing, but cursing your father too? Your mouth is so smelly. Hmph, rebellious son, I’m going to report you too!]

Shen Yanjin’s ten fingers tapped furiously on the keyboard, raising his generation status in the void, then skillfully and quickly clicked report.

He always had a knack for disgusting people. Kaomoji plus sarcastic tone plus a tilde—the damage far exceeded pure verbal abuse. It belonged to physical attack plus magical attack, extremely toxic.

Clearly, the opposing Lily couldn’t withstand this set at all, cursing him for being disgusting, calling him shameless, and saying he was disgracing women by playing Support and hugging a man’s thigh to climb ranks.

Seeing himself being taken for a woman, Shen Yanjin didn’t clarify. He smiled lazily and tapped his fingers lightly.

[[All] UOOW (Shadow Baby): I have a brother and you don’t, that’s my reason for climbing ranks~]

[System detection: Player White Water Spring has used inappropriate language in this match and has been muted. Players please consciously maintain the game environment and watch your words and actions.]

Almost the instant he sent his words, the yellow system notification flashed up—Lily was muted.

Shen Yanjin raised his eyebrows. Ay, this wave, this wave is a huge victory. So he hummed a little tune and went to find his ADC.

However, he couldn’t be happy for too long. The system notification sounded again.

[System detection: Player UOOW has used inappropriate language in this match and has been muted. Players please consciously maintain the game environment and watch your words and actions.]

Tsk.

Seemed his cursing was still too explicit.

It was his fault. Previously, professional regulations explicitly stated that active players were not allowed to engage in any taunting or abusive behavior in RANK matches, with violators subject to fines and suspensions. As a result, now that he was returning to his old trade, his skills had become a bit rusty.

Shen Yanjin and the opposing Lily perished together. The chat box quickly quieted down, and the canyon of WL returned to peace and silence.

The muted Shadow ball rolled around beside the minion wave, occasionally helping Crow deal with residual health minions he hadn’t had time to eat. Even though it couldn’t speak, Duan Mingyue inexplicably sensed a bit of grievance from that dark little lump.

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He paused, not knowing what association he made, and smiled slightly.

The bullet screen evidently also had a lot of affection for this Shadow who had flamed the opposing Lily for them, and the atmosphere in the chat became much more harmonious.

[Hahahaha this Shadow really is a Missy.]

[Fiery little sister, loved it, loved it.]

Duan Mingyue lowered his eyelids, his fingers tapping lightly on the keyboard, interacting in the public chat for once.

[[All] Who’s Who’s Who (Crow): Not a hack, report at will, checkable. By the way, carrying someone to rank up is my pleasure, it has nothing to do with anyone else.]

Shen Yanjin didn’t expect the AD would actually speak up for him. His mood instantly improved significantly.

He hopped around Crow, unleashing a pile of cute emojis all at once.

Duan Mingyue looked at the emojis popping up endlessly above the little black ball’s head. The corner of his mouth hooked up, but the emotion contained in his eyes was more complex.

Shen Yanjin acted cute internally but held grudges externally. Duan Mingyue cooperated very well with him, chasing the opposing mid laner all over the map with him.

The enemy mid laner’s mentality exploded. Targeted intentionally by Shen Yanjin, the early-game “big daddy” was caught until he became crippled. The bot lane was completely pierced through. Even though their top and jungle had decent farm, it was hard to turn the tide. After being wiped out in two team fights, the opponent wisely surrendered.

The enemy crystal shattered, and the victory plaque rose from it.

Having finished a rare smooth-sailing match, Shen Yanjin left the settlement screen and stretched comfortably.

The phone he had casually set aside earlier was flashing its notification light, reminding its owner of unread messages.

Shen Yanjin picked it up for a look.

[WOF-Mountain: ?]

[WOF-Mountain: Alright then.]

[WOF-Mountain: By the way, Sliver, look at this.]

A contact method was attached below.

[WOF-Mountain: This doctor has a pretty good reputation in the circle. PGO’s captain is also doing physical therapy there. Give it a try?]

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Shen Yanjin felt a warmth in his heart, and the corner of his lips curled up.

[Sliver: En, thanks.]

Yue Fengling replied unexpectedly fast.

[WOF-Mountain: You really don’t plan to play professionally anymore?]

Shen Yanjin froze, giving a bitter smile this time.

He wanted to play, but was there any team willing to take him?

The esports industry was like this: professional careers were short, competition was fierce, and there was always a bunch of people behind you who were more outstanding, more talented, and younger than you, watching like tigers. Shen Yanjin had played for five years and could be considered an old-timer in the industry. He had seen countless genius youths rise up, only to silently fade away, blending into the night, remembered by no one.

When Shen Yanjin first debuted, countless people praised and flattered him. At that time, he let it get to his head, truly thinking he was special and unique. Now retiring in disgrace, he smiled bitterly and accepted his fate—he was just one of the ordinary people.

That was the logic, but his mouth couldn’t admit defeat.

[Sliver: Hehe, leaving everything else aside, is there any team in the alliance right now worthy of my support skills?]

[Sliver: I am very noble; you guys can’t climb high enough to reach me.]

[Sliver: However, if RedMoon were to personally beg me to go to the KW team, I might consider it :)]

Yue Fengling took a long time to send the next message this time.

[WOF-Mountain: …?]

[WOF-Mountain: Have you been repressed for too long and finally gone crazy?]

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