Chapter 59
The Mid lane, as the name suggests, is the most central position on the game map. It is the intersection of four jungle quadrants and two river channels. It is no exaggeration to say that this is the most critical strategic hub.
The principle behind the Mid-Support synergy tactic is simple: the Support roams to ensure the Mid laner’s growth, and the Mid laner, utilizing their superior farm, constantly rotates to the top and bottom lanes, spreading their advantage to teammates.
However, the hidden dangers of this playstyle are also significant. This tactic relies too heavily on the Mid laner’s individual ability. If the Mid laner cannot beat their opponent or even control the minion wave, then roaming is out of the question. If they force a roam without gaining anything, not only will their own growth be affected, but the opposing Mid laner will also get a free pass to farm happily.
Because of this, the current mainstream meta is the Jungle-Support dual roam: low cost, high return.
The reason Shen Yanjin proposed the Mid-Support tactic was largely that he believed in Kai’s individual strength. This guy was wretchedly cunning; he knew how to steal farm, protect teammates, and step up to deal damage at critical moments.
But Shen Yanjin had never truly played with Kai before. His deepest impression was still the “justice execution” back when Kai hadn’t recognized him.
The ending was tragic, to say the least.
Kai had no idea that the Sliver in his team was the culprit who had once given him PTSD regarding the Bell Spirit. He bought health potions and swayed his way to the mid lane, moving in and out of the triangular brush like he had ADHD, his mouth never resting. “I picked the Chrono Manipulator, and the opponent followed up with Lily. Isn’t this plainly wanting to solo me?”
Both were characters with strong wave-clearing abilities and intense poke. Whoever fell into a disadvantage would be forced to cower under the tower to last-hit, or else it would be a pure fight to the death.
Shen Yanjin said, “Yes, a battle for supremacy. Only the survivor gets to last-hit.”
Kai was impassioned. “Don’t worry, watch me beat him until he’s covered in dog blood. Who am I? The number one Mid laner of the Mid-Season Invitational, the man whose MVP count is second only to the Moon God!”
These words sounded a bit familiar.
Shen Yanjin thought back and realized Kai had used this same speech in that Diamond-tier match where he met Shen Yanjin and Duan Mingyue.
The result had been tragic.
He didn’t say anything, but after the level four minion wave was cleared, he uneasily sneaked from the jungle to the mid lane brush.
Surprisingly, Kai didn’t mess up this time. Since they had discussed it beforehand, he didn’t recklessly push the wave. Instead, he occasionally stepped up to tank the aggro and trade blows, keeping his health bar at a value that would make the opposing Mid laner itch with temptation.
With this amount of health, as long as the opposing Jungler had any interest, half a combo would be enough to take the head. To dare play like this, one was either a fool or full of confidence in their mechanics.
Kai was obviously the latter.
Seeing Shen Yanjin enter the brush, he calmly took a step forward. This position drew the aggro of the cannon minion and also lured the opposing Mid laner.
If Kai had done this suddenly, it might have aroused suspicion. But it just so happened that from the start of this game, Kai had frequently made this kind of “mistake.” After three or four times, the fake became real.
Even Shen Yanjin couldn’t help but be impressed by Kai’s “boiling a frog in warm water” acting skills.
Coincidentally, Shen Yanjin’s Jungler revealed himself in the vision of the top lane. Now the opposing Mid laner had no doubts. He stepped up directly, wanting to execute a combo. Shen Yanjin moved faster; the staff in his hand pointed, adding a basic attack to trigger his passive, rooting the person firmly in place. Kai took First Blood.
“Nice! Good coordination!” Kai took the kill, pushed the wave, and took turret plates. His experience and gold skyrocketed. “Didn’t expect that, did you, little Lily? The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind!”
Shen Yanjin casually sent an emote, recalled to buy equipment and wards, and returned to the bot lane.
Seeing the emote, Kai remarked casually, “Why do supports all like to send this emote?”
Shen Yanjin’s finger paused. Crap. When he was playing as UOOW, he sent emotes every day. He had gotten used to it. He coughed with a slightly guilty conscience. “Really? Who else uses it?”
Previously, hearing that UOOW might join KW, Kai spent several days catching up on her game recordings and spectator views. He was attentive and noticed UOOW would pop an emote now and then. Seeing Sliver use it just now, he spoke without thinking.
Being asked back, he realized this topic seemed a bit inappropriate.
After all, Sliver was pulled into KW temporarily because UOOW reneged. It sounded like he was a replacement—that was one layer of inappropriateness. Furthermore, UOOW had previously had so many heated scandals and trending searches with the Captain, while Sliver was now the Captain’s “suspected” current partner. This made it even more inappropriate.
But the words were spoken, and the die was cast. Kai bit the bullet and continued, “UOOW.”
As the name landed, both of them felt a wave of guilt coincidentally.
Kai laughed dryly twice and hurriedly changed the subject stiffly. “Sigh, speaking of which, the Captain also had a Support player he liked quite a bit back then. Their style was quite similar to yours.”
Since it concerned Duan Mingyue, Shen Yanjin asked, “Who?”
“You probably haven’t heard of him. Er, counting the time, he was a kid who debuted around the same time as you.” Kai said, “Think his name was Yan… Yan… Yan-something? It’s been too long, I really can’t remember clearly. But back then, the Captain took him duo queuing to rank up every day. Whenever he was free, he’d be holding his phone, like he was in an online romance…”
The more he spoke, the more he felt something was wrong, and his voice gradually trailed off.
Phrased this way, it sounded like he was telling the current partner about an ex.
And compared to UOOW, this was even worse.
Listen, Sliver had stopped talking!
Kai wailed in his heart, feeling his EQ and IQ were both in arrears. The more he said, the more mistakes he made. He rarely chose to shut up: “Cough, wait for me to hit level six, I’ll drive straight to the dragon pit to gank bot…”
“And then?” Shen Yanjin suppressed the slight tremble in his voice. “Since the Moon God liked him so much, why didn’t he invite him to join the team?”
“Er…” Failing to change the subject, Kai braced himself and continued, “Later, that person, too… don’t know why, but he suddenly deleted his account and ran away.”
Hearing this answer, Shen Yanjin bit his lower lip hard.
After Duan Mingyue and Shen Yanjin established their relationship, neither of them had mentioned the events of that summer.
But whether Shen Yanjin was willing to admit or accept it, it was an established fact, standing there quietly. It remained the same whether he looked at it or not.
Hearing it from someone else’s mouth at this moment, Shen Yanjin’s heart ached.
He thought with a bitter smile: It seems Duan Mingyue still saved me a bit of face. He didn’t tell anyone that I ran away because my feelings for him were discovered and rejected.
Kai smiled awkwardly. “But that’s all in the past. If you ask me, that person wasn’t as reliable as you. You don’t know, after he ran away, the Captain simply went crazy. He got into arguments with people in RANK and was directly banned for four games. Our whole team was—”
“Wait,” Shen Yanjin suddenly interrupted him. “You… what did you say? Banned?”
Kai was stunned. “Ah, yes.”
Shen Yanjin asked, “How do you know it was because of that Support?”
Hearing the unconcealed agitation in his tone, Kai thought he was unhappy. “The Captain wrote the self-reflection letter personally, in black and white. That really is all in the past, a long time ago! I dare say, the Captain’s favorite… cough, Support right now is you!”
After saying that, he felt he had painted his captain as a scumbag, and his guilt deepened. He said weakly, “Let’s… continue ranking.”
Shen Yanjin remained silent for a long time before giving an “En.”
In this game, having consumed resources, Kai naturally shouldered the heavy responsibility of the team’s rhythm point in the early game. The biggest characteristic of the Chrono Manipulator was flexibility. The ultimate ability, the teleportation gate, could greatly reduce travel time between lanes and improve support efficiency.
Although Shen Yanjin picked an AP support this game, he built tank items, treating himself as a frontline and crowd-control tool.
After Kai took the Blue Buff, he asked concisely, “Is bot lane workable?”
Shen Yanjin’s reply was even simpler: “Come.”
Coincidentally, the opposing Jungler was also counter-ganking in the bot lane. It was a 3v3, but Shen Yanjin’s initiation was too beautiful. Relying on his tankiness, he flashed directly into the tower to root the enemy. The special effects of Kai’s teleportation gate lit up almost seamlessly. A burst of damage was unleashed, striking first to cut down the Support.
The speed was so fast that the AD carry didn’t even react in time to use the Heal in his hand before the Support fell.
Killing a Support wasn’t enough!
Shen Yanjin was fully aware of his role as a tool man. This play was meant to trade his life for the enemies’. He maneuvered to dodge the first control skill from the opposing Jungler, too lazy to even leave the tower range, and activated his ultimate right there. The earth trembled, and a bottomless fissure cracked open on the ground.
The opponents didn’t expect this Support to be so wild. Both the enemy AD and Jungler were stunned in place. Kai flashed to follow up with damage, and the allied ADC on the side also got a sip of the meat soup.
Shen Yanjin tanked the tower until he died, but this one-for-three trade set a huge rhythm. The ones who died were the Jungler and AD; the opponent’s rhythm was completely disrupted.
Kai, a character who shines in the late game, got four kills in the early game. He went home to buy a major item, becoming an absolute monster.
The opposing Mid laner failed to grasp the equipment gap between himself and Kai for a moment. He probed slightly and was instantly deleted—not even controlled, just drowned by raw damage.
Shen Yanjin got assist gold, so his equipment and experience weren’t lagging behind after returning to base. Kai’s laning phase was thoroughly liberated. After clearing minions, he ran between the top and bottom lanes, not worried about bumping into anyone at all. Come one, kill one; come two, kill a pair. No fear.
Another team fight in the mid lane. Coordinating with Shen Yanjin’s crowd control entry to instantly delete the enemy’s two carries in the back row, Kai finally blurted out the emotion he had been holding back the entire game: “Too strong, holy crap. I feel like I can go legendary at any moment now.”
Shen Yanjin’s mind was still spinning with what Kai said about Duan Mingyue being banned. It was clearly him who told me to get lost personally, so why did he…
So, regarding Kai’s words, he only gave a distracted “En.”
Kai assumed he was still unhappy because he had mentioned two people who shouldn’t be mentioned, so he sheepishly shut his mouth again.
One was absent-minded, the other extremely guilty, so they didn’t speak much. After finishing this legendary Chrono game, they played two more. Each game was more comfortable than the last.
Kai had to admit that when Shen Yanjin truly wanted to support a teammate, the feeling was truly wonderful beyond words. He could clearly feel the resources of the entire game tilting toward him under Shen Yanjin’s manipulation, yet at the same time, the development of the other two lanes didn’t lag behind, avoiding the pressure of “must carry after taking resources.”
If the atmosphere in the voice channel hadn’t been so oppressive, it would have been perfect.
With the sound effect of the crystal shattering, another victory was secured. Shen Yanjin exited the settlement screen and was just about to continue queuing when his shoulder was gently squeezed.
“Duo queuing with someone?” Duan Mingyue leaned down to look at Shen Yanjin’s screen. “Kai?”
Kai perked up. “Isn’t this a coincidence? We were practicing a routine, just finished!”
Duan Mingyue looked at Shen Yanjin again.
Since Shen Yanjin had stayed indoors with heating, he clearly perceived the chill of the evening breeze remaining on the man’s clothes. Obviously, Duan Mingyue had come to find him as soon as he returned to the base.
He took off his headset and nodded gently. “Yes, finished. Moon God, I have something I want to ask you, is that okay?”
Duan Mingyue naturally had no objections and led Shen Yanjin out of the training room.
Leaving Kai shivering alone in the training room. Holy crap, Sliver isn’t going to call the Captain to account for that matter from a few years ago, is he?! Please, please don’t tell the Captain I was the one who let it slip!
Coincidentally, Tans had forgotten something in the training room and came downstairs to get it. Seeing Kai sitting at his station looking like he lost his soul, staring blankly at the screen without queuing, he asked puzzledly, “What are you doing here?”
“Making a resolution,” Kai said with heartache. “I swear, I will never gossip blindly about others again!”
Tans: ?
There’s actually such a good thing?
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