Chapter 74
Shen Yanjin found it a bit baffling; he remembered Kai was just playing on his phone a moment ago, wasn’t he?
At this moment, Mi Yonghui burst through the door like a whirlwind, his face covered in sweat.
The expression on his face was unprecedented: “Everyone, uninstall Weibo, forums, and other apps. No streaming in the near future. Regardless of whether we win or lose today’s match, the interviews are canceled.”
Walking in behind Mi Yonghui was Duan Mingyue. His expression was gloomy, and the aura radiating from him was cold; clearly, he was truly angered.
He patted Mi Yonghui on the shoulder, signaling him not to say more.
Seeing this, Shen Yanjin was even more confused. He turned to look at the others in the lounge.
Tans was half-lying on the lounge sofa, playing Dou Dizhu (Landlord), looking as if nothing was wrong.
Song Yuan unhurriedly silenced his phone, then continued swiping at the screen as usual. Who knew what he was looking at? In any case, his expression didn’t change at all.
Kai, on the other hand, looked nervous and flighty, but Shen Yanjin knew his lips were sealed tight; he wouldn’t say anything he didn’t want to.
Mao Qiude was even less worth mentioning; for anything involving gossip, he would respectfully decline.
At this moment, Shen Yanjin actually somewhat understood how Kai felt when he previously complained that there wasn’t a single person in the entire team who would listen to his gossip.
His intuition told him something had happened, and it was something very important. Thus, he looked at Duan Mingyue with unease.
The man pressed a few buttons on his phone. Sensing his gaze, his expression softened slightly, and he smiled at him.
“Let’s go,” Mao Qiude said. “The match is about to start.”
Although Shen Yanjin couldn’t make heads or tails of the situation, personal moods had to take a backseat in the face of a match. He suppressed the uneasiness in his heart, picked up his peripheral bag with the others, and walked out.
Suddenly, Duan Mingyue said, “Sliver, wait a moment. I have something to say.”
Shen Yanjin stopped in his tracks. Mao Qiude nodded at him, signaling him to go over.
So Shen Yanjin walked back into the lounge.
As soon as the lounge door closed, he was pinned into the camera’s blind spot by Duan Mingyue and kissed until he was dizzy.
He subconsciously grabbed the man’s shoulders. When their lips parted, he asked shyly and nervously, “What exactly happened?”
“Kissing you,” Duan Mingyue smiled. “Yanjin, baby, remember: no matter what happens afterwards, I will definitely be with you.”
Shen Yanjin understood immediately. Duan Mingyue had seen his unease and did this.
There had never been such intimacy between the two before a match; this was an exception. Separated by the thin door of the lounge, people were coming and going in the corridor, and the cheers and screams of the audience could even be faintly heard from the arena.
He didn’t ask what the others were hiding. Instead, he nodded with total trust.
First match. KW chose the Blue side first, then first-picked Tata.
The WOF coach flipped through the data in his hand and said, “Sliver’s recent ranked usage of Bell Spirit: zero games.”
“It’s not a strong combo anyway, let it go,” SeeD said. “I’ll take Hammer Girl, she specifically counters Tata.”
Others might not be clear, but Yue Fengling knew very well in his heart that the reason this bizarre combination of Tata and Bell Spirit—who originally had nothing to do with each other—became popular was because of the Jungle-Support duo opposite them.
But as SeeD said, the strength of this combo indeed wasn’t very high, so he didn’t say anything and helped his teammate lock in a strong meta hero that wasn’t banned.
In the audience below the stage, a young man pleasantly surprised nudged another young man beside him who was wearing a baseball cap with the brim pulled low. “Captain, look, this is definitely our strategy. Wow, finally there’s a second person using Tata support. I’m so moved!”
Shi Feng gave an “En” and curved the corners of his lips. “That’s great, you’re not an orphan anymore.”
The young man beside him was none other than TWG’s rookie support, Recall. Although TWG had an unfavorable start, their condition recovered rapidly later on, securing a winning streak, and the atmosphere of the entire team had relaxed a lot.
Recall grinned and said, “This is called personality.”
Shi Feng said, “Next, we’ll have to see if TWG can recognize this ‘personality’.”
Unfortunately, TWG failed to recognize it. Tata support was too bizarre. TWG played it once and lost miserably, so naturally, it didn’t leave much of an impression in everyone’s minds.
KW successfully secured the high-damage, high-control combination of Blade Master plus Tata. For Top lane, Song Yuan took Sword Immortal, responsible for split-pushing towers. Bot lane played their daily pressure-resistance, and Mid lane supplemented with a control and support character to make up for the deficiency. At a glance, the lineup was actually quite decent.
WOF, being an experienced veteran team, made a prompt decision after discovering Tata was in the support position. They threw Hammer Girl to the top lane to farm on her own, re-selected Lily—a very mobile assassin mage—for Mid, and leaned towards protection for their Jungle and Support roles.
It was basically the complete opposite of KW’s lineup.
Because the Mid lane was strong, SeeD played very fiercely from the start, maneuvering the mage to charge frantically at Kai’s face, not stingy at all about trading health with him. Kai was forced under the tower, gritting his teeth: “Little brat doesn’t know to respect the old and cherish the young. You wait, I will definitely win against you today.”
Shen Yanjin recalled for a moment: “In KW vs WOF matches, KW’s win rate should be higher, right?”
“Correct.” Seeing a chance to squeeze Kai, Tans rarely but enthusiastically educated him. “However, every time, SeeD stares at Kai to kill. He loves playing assassins, and every time he scares Kai half to death plus donates a kill. This leads to him winning the lane but having a terrible record. So, KW wins, Kai doesn’t win; WOF loses, SeeD doesn’t lose.”
It was the first time Shen Yanjin heard Tans say such a long paragraph; it was evident how deep his resentment was towards Kai’s persistent daily chatter in his ear.
Even more helpless was that his computer station at the base was next to Kai’s, and their positions during matches were also side-by-side. He couldn’t stay away even if he wanted to.
Kai said displeasedly, “I said, this time I will definitely win! Right, Captain?”
Duan Mingyue aimed for the timing when the opposing jungler went home and stole the first dragon. Hearing this, he casually said, “Good luck.”
Clearly, he was telling him to take care of himself.
Kai felt very sad, but it didn’t matter. In the Tata and Blade Master system, the Jungle and Support could roam separately. Therefore, he said very enthusiastically, “Sliver, we can do it, right?”
Shen Yanjin said, “I believe you definitely can!”
“…” This team is so cold; he didn’t want to stay anymore. Kai said with a tired heart, “Fine. Song Yuan, come down and be a dog for me for a wave.”
Song Yuan said coldly, “Dream on.”
Though they said that, First Blood and the First Tower still erupted in the mid lane. After all, Kai was playing a roaming support-style character this game. The team needed to pour resources in the early game to help him push down the opposing tier-1 mid tower, allowing him to completely liberate himself for roaming.
Duan Mingyue tied down the opposing Jungle-Support who wanted to reinforce in the jungle. Shen Yanjin pulled back the chains bound to SeeD. Kai took advantage of the stiffness to unleash a burst combo, taking SeeD’s head.
Watching WOF’s tier-1 mid tower collapse with a bang, Kai felt he had finally reclaimed some ground. He laughed three times, feeling very refreshed.
“Stop laughing, support.” Duan Mingyue lightly vaulted over the small wall of the jungle bush. His escape route wasn’t straight towards mid lane but circling around the jungle, so WOF’s Jungle-Support didn’t give up the chase.
Seeing the Blade Master about to be controlled, Shen Yanjin Flashed over the wall and threw out his hook chain. He hadn’t practiced this hero for long, so he couldn’t control two people at once like TWG’s support or Duan Mingyue. The target he chose to control was WOF’s jungler.
Hooked, flying kick. Duan Mingyue stopped running too, carrying his big blade and hacking back.
Kai arrived, a 3v2 in the jungle. But since it was in WOF’s jungle, Yue Fengling arrived first to reinforce. The three KW members finished off the Jungle-Support and wanted to retreat, but immediately after, the Teleport of the just-respawned SeeD lit up behind them.
SeeD had died once and gone home to buy equipment; his condition was much better than the low-health KW members. Fortunately, Song Yuan also arrived at this time, and a frantic brawl began in the jungle.
It ended with Kai and Shen Yanjin dead, and WOF’s Top, Jungle, and Support dead.
It looked like a profit, but Kai was in agony: “Damn, my shutdown bounty was taken by SeeD!”
His head alone was worth seven hundred gold. Added to Shen Yanjin’s three hundred, SeeD went home and easily bought another item. Not only did he not fall behind, he even surpassed Kai a bit.
However, Duan Mingyue didn’t die and got a double kill. Song Yuan also got a kill. Tans played a single-player game in the bot lane, but his long-range skill snagged an assist, so he counted as having some soup.
A world where only Kai was hurt was completed.
Fortunately, the mid tower was down. He didn’t need to play mind games with SeeD anymore, focusing on roaming top and bot, continuing to control vision in the dragon area.
But SeeD didn’t let him off. After being caught and killed by Lily and Hammer Girl in the jungle for the second time, Kai’s heart was tired: “Sliver, follow me.”
Shen Yanjin refused: “I’m Tata, much squishier than you. What’s the use of two squishies walking together?”
Kai said, “Right, you are Tata, so why doesn’t he catch you?”
Shen Yanjin said, “That requires him to find me first.”
Kai thought about it; it seemed true. So he was even sadder: “I suspect SeeD installed a radar on me.”
“I declare your declaration valid,” Duan Mingyue said. “Kai go split push bot, everyone else steal Baron directly.”
This meant using Kai to pin down WOF, using Kai’s head to trade for Baron.
Kai, who had gone from 2-0 to a negative KDA, obediently walked to the bot lane. Pushing the wave halfway, he suddenly realized: “Wait, Song Yuan is Sword Immortal this game, why isn’t he the one split pushing?”
Duan Mingyue smiled and said, “Because you have a radar on you.”
Just as his voice fell, Lily, operated by SeeD, sprang out from the bush.
At twenty-four minutes, KW took Baron. Relying on the minion wave advantage, they began to plunder all economic resources on the map.
At thirty-two minutes, WOF’s base was breached. SeeD was the losing MVP with the highest damage in the match. Duan Mingyue and Yue Fengling were neck and neck. Kai took the most damage in the match.
“WOF’s Jungle-Support are still too weak,” Song Yuan said. “They basically did nothing in the laning phase early game.”
WL’s version change this time was too sudden. Unlike the gradual progress in the past, the focus changed abruptly this time, so much so that many teams didn’t have time to prepare.
TWG lost their original captain because of this, and WOF also lost their original Top-Mid advantage. However, quite a few new teams rose because of this, looking like a reshuffle was taking place.
Before entering the lounge, Shen Yanjin went to the restroom first.
There are two places with the most gossip in the world: the restroom and the pantry.
Just as he walked into a stall, he heard two people walk in and start chatting and laughing.
“Heard KW’s captain RedMoon and that new support are a couple, holy sh*t,” one of them laughed. “Real or fake? That’s two men!”
Shen Yanjin didn’t hear clearly what the person behind replied.
He felt as if struck by lightning, his limbs frozen, a vague ringing appearing in his ears.
They… how did they know?
Shen Yanjin lowered his head, his thoughts in chaos.
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