[Esports] I Started an Online Romance with a Big Shot After Retiring Chapter 91

Chapter 91

After the match started, everyone finally understood what Commentator B meant by “selling their ass” [baiting].

As Sky Spirit was thrown to the ground for the nth time, forced to burn skills, and then beaten up by someone tanking the tower with shields, Commentator A sighed with emotion: “I feel like KW is saying, ‘We told you not to play one-tricks, but you just wouldn’t believe us. Look at the consequences.'”

“From SYG’s draft, you can see they originally wanted to play around the buffs and debuffs Sky Spirit provides. But now that Sky Spirit, the core, has been smashed to pieces, the strategy naturally falls apart,” Commentator B said. “I still hope they can adjust their state. Don’t be like the last game where they only found their form when it was about to end; that would be too late.”

Commentator A nodded. “It seems the best way to counter a gimmick is indeed another gimmick. Sliver’s Bell Spirit pick was too wicked. Actually, during the BP phase, I was thinking we might see a long-awaited functional support matchup of Sky Spirit vs. Mechanical Inventor today. I never expected KW to backhand them with a Bell Spirit trap.”

Shen Yanjin adjusted his headset and tapped the keyboard lightly. “Sunny Day now. Ignore him in the next team fight; let him use his ult.”

Kai switched back to shadow form and dived underground. Hearing this, he asked, “Is that okay?”

It wasn’t Shen Yanjin who answered him, but Duan Mingyue. “It’s okay.”

Kai tilted his head. Turning around, he saw members of SYG appearing in the vision of the bottom river. His mouth moved faster than his brain: “Tans!”

However, Tans’ anti-gank ability was far more proficient than he imagined. Before Kai could even speak, Tans had already used his grappling hook to grab the wall and drifted lightly to a safe zone.

Then, he let out an unhurried “Hmm?”

Kai shut up at light speed. An unwarranted embarrassment spread around him. The most crucial part was that only he could feel this embarrassment.

When he saw the SYG figures, he truly panicked, afraid Tans would be caught and killed. He even had his finger on Teleport.

But… in this match, Tans wasn’t the core carry and had no shutdown gold. Dying once or twice wouldn’t matter at all.

Why was he so anxious?

Thinking of his experience during the New Year, Kai shuddered, feeling like he had really lost his mind. Fortunately, he was experienced in adjusting his mental state. After two deep breaths, he refocused his attention on the arena.

Shen Yanjin followed closely behind Duan Mingyue.

Affected by the Sky Spirit, the sky of the entire game map was covered with dark clouds. There were puddles accumulated from rain on the uneven ground, and the sound effects of footsteps became wet and squishy.

The pink-haired young man [Bell Spirit] had hook chains wrapped around his arms. Under the precise control of the operator behind him, every step was as light as a feather.

In the voice channel, teammates were discussing tactics. But the map was extremely quiet.

This quietness didn’t represent peace; on the contrary, it often carried an ominous omen.

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The surrounding vision wasn’t perfect. The more Shen Yanjin walked, the more wrong it felt. His brows furrowed slightly. “Cap…”

Before he could finish, a gust of wind whooshed, and from the darkness at the edge of vision, the light of spells actually emerged!

Someone from SYG was ambushing!

Almost instantly, they were hit with a vulnerability debuff. Duan Mingyue reacted extremely fast, throwing chains to control the enemy, then retreating rapidly to distance himself from the opposing assassin. Meanwhile, Shen Yanjin pressed Cleanse and his Ultimate simultaneously. Under the brief crowd control immunity brought by Cleanse, he forcibly switched to the Soul-Devouring Bell!

Commentator A: “Beautiful! Sliver and Moon God handled that wave so calmly. They made the optimal play while being camped!”

Commentator B: “Not only that, they seem to want to turn and fight.”

Commentator A was stunned. “Turn and fight? Impossible, right? SYG has four people!”

Commentator B: “KW’s Kai still has Teleport in hand. And don’t forget, Sliver is Bell Spirit; he has already switched to the Soul-Devouring Bell!”

Sky Spirit’s speed in opening his ultimate to seal skills was very fast. Under the ultimate state, the Silver Bell was basically a piece of scrap metal.

But the Soul-Devouring Bell was different.

After switching to the Soul-Devouring Bell, due to mechanics, skills would no longer be sealed—after all, there was only one skill left, so what was there to seal?

It was precisely for this reason that Shen Yanjin chose this character instead of other shielding supports.

To be fair, among all protective supports, Bell Spirit’s strength wasn’t high. Moreover, Sky Spirit’s ultimate sealed skills randomly. Even if he picked a stronger character, there was a possibility that his most important skill wouldn’t be the one sealed.

But that was only a possibility. Using Bell Spirit made it one hundred percent certain.

There was certainly an element of luck in matches, but blindly relying on luck was very inadvisable.

Besides, what Shen Yanjin believed in least was luck.

His speed in switching bells was too fast, almost as if he had prepared for it. Since Sky Spirit chose to apply the vulnerability effect first, by the time the ultimate was released, the Soul-Devouring Bell was already in his hand.

“Focus fire on Sky,” he said concisely. At the same time, Kai’s Teleport lit up on the ward just placed nearby.

The method to stop Sky Spirit from continuing to nullify shields in Rainy Day mode, besides forcing him to switch, was—to kill him!

The ring of the Soul-Devouring Bell was completely opposite to the crisp sound of the Silver Bell. That long, drawn-out sound entered the ears, seemingly with endless echoes.

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After one shake, the Soul-Devouring Bell automatically fell into the soil and turned to ashes.

The Silver Bell reappeared in Shen Yanjin’s hand.

The two-second Charm duration was short, but it was enough.

Duan Mingyue and the teleported Kai grabbed Sky Spirit and unleashed a burst of damage. SYG’s support had built defensive items, but having been targeted so hard early on, that bit of defense wasn’t enough to withstand the attacks while charmed. His health bar quickly turned grey.

As soon as he went grey, the clouds dispersed and the rain stopped above the map. Losing the restriction of Sky Spirit’s shield nullification, Shen Yanjin, supporting himself with barely any health left, shielded Duan Mingyue. Only then did he slowly retreat to a safe position.

Sky Spirit’s kill was taken by Kai, while the opposing Top Laner was taken down by Duan Mingyue. Before dying, he stalled enough time to cover the escape of SYG’s Mid and Jungle.

“The decision to focus fire was very decisive.” Commentator A laughed. “Although SYG picked the weird stuff first, they were the ones who got trapped by the strategy.”

“SYG’s damage control in this wave was done quite well,” Commentator B said. “Baron just spawned at this time. SYG’s Mid and Jungle must survive; otherwise, Baron is definitely lost.”

But although SYG’s Mid and Jungle left, their condition was really bad.

KW chose to force Baron directly.

Tans and Song Yuan didn’t make it to this team fight, but under Duan Mingyue’s command, they had already started hitting Baron in the pit. SYG’s Jungler arrived a step too late. KW secured the Baron buff in the nick of time and retreated smoothly.

Once Baron was taken, the gold gap widened instantly.

SYG’s core, Sky Spirit, collapsed utterly, and the rhythm in the late game fell into chaos. KW pushed steadily and took the victory.

Commentator A shook his head. “It’s a pity for SYG this game. Although they were tricked by the strategy, you can see they adjusted later on. By constantly stealing economy, they didn’t let KW pull the gap too wide. The key was still that gank on KW’s Jungle-Support duo.”

Commentator B said, “That gank was actually good. It can’t be considered a mistake.”

“Right!” Commentator A clapped his hands. “That’s the most heart-wrenching part. There were no mistakes. Even the timing of SYG camping vision and the Mid Laner jumping out could be called perfect. But it was still neutralized lightly by KW, and they even got counter-attacked and lost Baron. That wave was too big of a loss.”

Commentator B said, “Yes. The advantage SYG painstakingly maintained for twenty minutes was all given away in twenty seconds. Now KW holds three match points. Okay, let’s first look at the data analysis for this game…”

On the screen, the image froze on the scene of SYG’s crystal shattering and the word “VICTORY” popping up.

Shen Yanjin let out a light breath, took off his headphones, stood up, and walked toward the player tunnel.

Others might not be able to tell, but he knew best.

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In that gank, he channeled the Soul-Devouring Bell. Since the Cleanse effect only lasted two seconds, the channeling could actually have been interrupted in the last second. SYG’s Mid and Jungle indeed had that awareness, but in that exact second, Duan Mingyue threw out his chains, rooting those two in place, and followed up with a stiffening knockback, not sparing any skills.

It was just one second, but without needing any communication, they could already distinguish each other’s intentions.

Shen Yanjin had to admit, this feeling was truly too addictive. In that instant, their minds were connected, their hearts as one. That taste was simply dazzling.

He looked at Duan Mingyue beside him.

The lights in the player tunnel weren’t bright, even a bit dim.

The man happened to turn his face sideways. His narrow, long eyes were equally full of smiles. On one side were screams and cheers, a sea of light signs; on the other side was the screen reflecting their team photos—one cold, one warm. His long eyelashes cast a row of faint shadows in his eyes.

This was the scene Shen Yanjin had fantasized about countless times. It was reality, yet it felt more like a dream.

He felt his palm being held by Duan Mingyue. The force was light, but it held a firm strength.

It was also a strength that made his heart race.

So Shen Yanjin couldn’t help but squeeze back.

Kai shouted obliviously from the side, “Alright! Three match points! The championship is in the bag!”

Song Yuan poured cold water on him. “Who said in the pre-match interview that entering the top four counts as success?”

Kai grinned. “Now entering the finals counts as success.”

“Alright, alright.” Mao Qiude herded them. “Go back to the lounge first.”

SYG was a new team after all. Having lost two games in a row, with the second game lost in that manner, the rookies’ mentalities were affected. And since there were no veteran players in the team to act as the backbone, their state fell apart for a while.

The arena needed machines, but those playing the match were humans after all.

Just like FTK’s rookie, SYG also had big problems in the deciding game. It was okay in the early game; they barely held on. But after the Jungler was caught once, he started to crumble.

Once the Jungler crumbled, he dragged all three lanes down with him.

SYG’s Jungler was excellent. He wasn’t old, but he was already SYG’s captain and core. All the way here, he had been the center of attention, carrying the gazes and expectations of countless people. There were even teams secretly starting to bid to poach him.

But the more eyes, the more expectations, the greater the pressure.

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Unlike the first two games, in the third game, KW won effortlessly, successfully securing the spot for promotion.

Shen Yanjin turned his head to look. On the SYG player bench, that young Jungler lowered his head, seeming to be crying. His teammates surrounded him to comfort him.

Examples of collapsing due to unbearable pressure were simply too common. But among so many geniuses, there was one special exception.

That was Duan Mingyue.

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