DSF Chapter 82

On the second day, before the players entered for the match, Yan Yibing went to the bathroom first and unexpectedly ran into PYP’s Kim Taeran.

Seeing him, Kim Taeran playfully swayed his neck, whistling while walking like a bird.

Yan Yibing ignored him, turned on the faucet to wash his hands, and even squeezed some foam hand soap from the side, carefully rubbing his hands.

While rinsing the foam, he heard Kim Taeran mutter something.

Due to the low volume and the fact that Korean wasn’t his native language, Yan Yibing didn’t catch what it meant.

However, it definitely wasn’t a friendly comment. After Kim Taeran finished speaking, he cast a triumphant glance at Yan Yibing, like a chicken that had successfully laid an egg, raising his chin arrogantly.

Encounters like this often happened during international competitions.

Some players didn’t dare to behave rudely on camera, so, in the bathroom, leveraging the language barrier, they would exchange some low-level trash talk.

PYP took first place yesterday and was evidently feeling so overconfident that they seemed to have forgotten who they were.

Yan Yibing turned his face, lightly chuckled, and said in Korean, “See you at the airport.”

Kim Taeran was taken aback, seemingly not expecting such a direct statement, which was somewhat provocative.

But Yan Yibing didn’t give him any more reaction, wiped his hands with a piece of tissue, and quickly left.

Kim Taeran furrowed his brows and grunted in frustration.

Yan Yibing returned to his seat and lowered his head to put on his earphones.

Suddenly, Han Mo reached out his hand.

Yan Yibing was startled, thinking he wanted to fist bump for encouragement before the match.

Yan Yibing hesitated for a moment because this gesture was a bit too juvenile, not quite fitting for someone of his age.

But Han Mo quickly tugged at his clothes, discreetly, and handed him something.

Yan Yibing lowered his head to look, it was a piece of milk candy, the kind often sold on high-speed trains and trains that is a specialty from Inner Mongolia.

The packaging was shiny green, encasing small, round milk chunks in milky-white color.

Yan Yibing couldn’t help but chuckle and asked, “Where did you get this?”

Could it be that he brought it from China?

Han Mo kept a straight face, with the headphones hanging around his neck, and sighed, “Bought it in Korea, made in China.”

Yan Yibing burst into laughter.

He could imagine Han Mo intentionally waking up early, finding a convenience store here, and then struggling to use translation software to translate what he wanted, only to end up buying this thing at twice the price compared to China.

Seizing the moment before the match began, Yan Yibing tore open the packaging and popped a milk candy into his mouth.

The candy wasn’t overly sweet. As soon as it touched his tongue, it rapidly dissolved after being moistened, spreading a rich milky flavor in his mouth.

He loved dairy products; milk, cheese, and milk candies could always lift his spirits.

With the candy in his mouth, his voice sounded a bit muffled, partly drowned out by the surrounding noise.

He said, “It’s delicious. Do you have any more?”

Han Mo paused for a moment, then simply turned his chair around, rummaged in his pocket, and shoved more than ten milk candies into Yan Yibing’s hand.

“If you like it we can buy more after today’s match.”

Yan Yibing didn’t hesitate to stuff all the candies Han Mo gave him into his own pocket, then tore open another one and ate it.

Before the match, he was feeling a bit emotionally charged, so diverting his attention with some food was a good idea.

Seeing this, Yu Yan glanced over with confusion. “Is the peripheral check done? DPI adjusted? What are you two doing?”

Chen Chi chimed in, “No small talk when facing a big enemy. I saw Han Mo giving Yan Yibing something. I advise you to give one to me and Yu Yan quickly, or I won’t go easy on you in the post-match interview.”

Han Mo ignored the two of them.

Yan Yibing shrugged innocently and adjusted his noise-canceling headphones.

On the commentator’s desk, Xie Feng furrowed his brows. “Bing Shen and Han Shen are up to something again. Is this a new tactic they’ve come up with?”

Lemon added, “It seems like they’re eating. Bing Shen has already had two. It looks like they’re having a very relaxed and enjoyable cooperation.”

Xie Feng said, “I hope they both perform well today.”

In the barrage:

【I’m confused. If I’m not mistaken, Han Shen just took out a handful of candies and gave them to Yan Yibing.】

【Are these two primary school kids? What exactly are they doing?】

【I suspect poisoning. Han Shen wants to secretly harm Bing Shen!】

【If they keep this up, I might actually believe they have a good relationship… What magical effects does the East Asia Championship have? Does it have the effect of mending broken relationships?】

【Upstairs, please don’t use inappropriate comments. At most, this is turning an enemy into a friend. Do you think you’re reading a romance novel?】

【They’re being sneaky, China team, fight on!】

【Don’t bring in personal stuff. Just focus on the game, even if it means losing a tooth.】

【Hurry up and start the match, the Koreans in the comments are too damn crazy.】

…

Twenty minutes later, the fourth round began.

Xie Feng said, “Ah, this round is the Central Route. It’s very likely to be an airport circle. However, in this situation, NPCs will definitely choose to jump to the airport too. I wonder how many teams will follow.”

Lemon added, “That’s right. Besides trying to get as many kills as possible, they also need to avoid NPC pursuits. There was a team that suffered in yesterday’s round due to this.”

Xie Feng exclaimed, “Hold on, are we… splitting up?”

On the map, you could clearly see the four members of Team China jumping in different directions.

Yan Yibing went to the Quarry, Han Mo to P City, Yu Yan to R City, and Chen Chi to N Port.

Xie Feng said, “This is quite bold. Although this approach allows them to gather the most information, there’s also a risk of being wiped out.”

Lemon: “The most common formation we usually see is 2+2, 1+1+1+1 is rarely seen.”

Within the team, Yan Yibing and the others were equally nervous.

This was the last round on the Erangel map.

They had completely figured out the jumping habits of each team and the clustering areas of NPCs.

This was information accumulated from three rounds of matches, and they didn’t want to waste it.

After discussing all night, the coach and the team came up with a bold plan.

Currently, they were in third place, not too far behind first and second, but they couldn’t pull away from the teams behind them either.

To quickly catch up in points, they had to secure a chicken dinner and prevent the first-ranked PYP and second-ranked ANK from getting more kills.

Chen Chi parachuted first, and Yan Yibing reported, “Twenty people jumped. Not sure if they all went to the airport. There might be people in the Fishing Village and P Port. QW is highly likely to be at the airport; they jumped there yesterday.”

Quickly finishing, he also jumped, quickly flying towards the Quarry with a distance of one thousand five hundred meters. Han Mo opened the mic, “Fifteen missing.”

“Got it.” Yan Yibing understood.

Next, Han Mo jumped, and Yu Yan commented, “Tsk tsk, there are so many people in P City, thirty went down.”

Han Mo: “They’ve scattered, probably want to avoid early fights.”

Yu Yan: “That must be the participating teams. NPCs don’t bother avoiding fights.”

Han Mo: “Hmm.”

Finally, Yu Yan jumped to R City, the least populated area because everyone predicted the circle would likely center on the airport, so they were unwilling to travel that far.

After Yan Yibing landed in the Quarry, he noticed four or five others landing as well.

But shortly after they landed, gunshots rang out. After a moment, the gunfire stopped, with no kill messages.

He deduced that these people were likely NPCs, and as usual, NNTC hadn’t jumped to the Quarry.

Yan Yibing was a little disappointed.

This was equivalent to putting himself in danger. To be on the safe side, he just grabbed some basic equipment and quickly left the Quarry, heading towards P Port.

Chen Chi: “ANK is at the airport. I saw them engaging with NPCs. Besides ANK and me, there are no other teams at the airport.”

Yu Yan: “There’s good loot at R City. Wait for me to bring the gear back for you. It’s frustrating, I killed two, but they were both NPCs. It seems no teams came here.”

Han Mo: “There are a lot of people in P City, probably two teams.” He paused, “M4 firing…” “Oh… NTA is here.”

He got a kill and quickly changed positions.

Yan Yibing: “Did you get a vehicle?” Han Mo: “Wait.”

Yan Yibing patiently waited for a while, then there was a burst of intense gunfire. Han Mo took a deep breath and casually said, “Got a motorcycle, the other team at P City is OSVA.”

Yan Yibing could guess how much effort it took for him to escape.

Yan Yibing: “Are those NNTC idiots heading to P Port again? I’ll go check. Han Mo, since you’re close, come over first. There are four or five NPC in the Quarry. If there are people in P Port, drive from the Quarry to lure them into P Port.”

After saying that, he intentionally took a detour, passing by the Shooting Range and diagonally heading towards P Port.

But when passing by Fishing Village, he paused.

There seemed to be figures in the Fishing Village.

But there had been no gunfire here, most likely indicating a team’s presence.

However, he was poorly equipped and dared not rashly approach. He hesitated for a moment, then continued towards P Port.

He found it strange.

The Fishing Village didn’t have a lot of loot, as they had confirmed yesterday.

Why were these people still loitering in Fishing Village when P Port was right in front of them?

Not to mention, even if it wasn’t certain if there were people in P Port now, even if there were, with two teams, naturally, it would be a fight for dominance. And since they were ambushed yesterday, every team was probably prepared for such situations now.

Yan Yibing had a sudden realization.

What if these two teams knew each other and didn’t want to fight each other?

Then it could only be… PYP and NNTC.

They had no reason to jump to the airport. After all, the airport was prone to NPC ambushes, and once the circle centered on the airport, with eight of them, even the tightest bridge blockade wouldn’t stop them.

Yan Yibing didn’t head towards P Port anymore. Instead, he directly said to Han Mo, “Pass through the Quarry, go straight to Fishing Village, and lure those headless fly NPCs down. I’ll cover you with the gun. Trust me, you won’t die.”

He wasn’t sure if the ones in Fishing Village were PYP or NNTC, but they must have weaker equipment. Attacking the Fishing Village was a more reliable strategy than attacking P Port.

“Of course, I trust you.” Han Mo pursed his lips, driving the motorcycle, boldly passing through the Quarry.

The loud engine noise echoed through the mountains, naturally attracting the attention of several NPCs.

NPCs didn’t need points, and they weren’t afraid of dying. When they saw people, they naturally pursued them.

Being chased by four or five NPCs and riding an uncovered motorcycle, if he wasn’t careful, he would be killed on the road.

Bullets fell around Han Mo’s feet, but he remained calm, his movements graceful, narrowly avoiding death.

At the moment when his helmet was shattered, Han Mo rushed into the Fishing Village, boldly driving the motorcycle into the warehouse at the harbor.

In the Fishing Village were PYP members. Kim Taeran had never seen someone so audacious in contesting a spot, so he immediately rushed over.

Just as he led his men toward Han Mo, the NPCs caught up from behind.

Kim Taeran only knew someone was following, but he didn’t know they weren’t Han Mo’s teammates.

He thought it was a recon team coming to contest the spot. So, he promptly split up his team, sending two to engage with NPCs while he and the others went to the warehouse to kill Han Mo.

Han Mo’s armor had been completely shattered, and he hid behind a container, quickly using a first aid kit.

Kim Taeran and Monkey had already rushed into the warehouse.

Han Mo gritted his teeth, preparing to confront them.

Just as Kim Taeran was about to sandwich Han Mo and force him out, his two teammates outside exclaimed, “Captain, come over quickly, there are four people out here!”

Kim Taeran was stunned.

One in the warehouse, but why were there still four outside?

Teammate: “Fuck! It’s not four! It’s five! We can’t hold them off!”

Kim Taeran subconsciously thought that other teams had also formed an alliance privately, wanting to eliminate them, the top-scoring team, together.

Kim Taeran gritted his teeth. “Hold on a bit, I’ll take down the one inside!”

The next moment, a notification of a knockout flashed.

Teammate: “Captain! They’re NPCs, all NPCs! Ah Heng is down!”

Kim Taeran’s finger hesitated on the trigger again.

Delaying now would mean they wouldn’t be able to escape if the people outside rushed in.

But was the one rushing in on a motorcycle an NPC?

Kim Taeran was in a dilemma.

Monkey didn’t have time to think much. He grabbed his gun and charged forward. “NPC or not, they’re still worth points!”

Han Mo licked his dry lips, prepared for the possibility of being double-teamed by these two.

Bang!

Bang, bang, bang!

【Zero-ICE used a Thompson submachine gun to knock down PYP-Monkey】

Monkey fell with a thud. In the chaos, he could only crawl behind cover, shouting, “Captain, help me!”

Kim Taeran panicked too.

Because, as far as he could see, he hadn’t spotted Yan Yibing anywhere.

It was just a Thompson submachine gun, the most inconspicuous and least-used gun in professional matches.

Using this unremarkable gun without a scope, Yan Yibing, from a distance unseen by Kim Taeran, took down his teammate.

Was he still a human being?!

Far away on the other side of the road, Yan Yibing breathed a sigh of relief.

He blinked his eyes, which were sore from staring, and shook his wrists vigorously.

He really felt like he was getting old. Staring at this distance for a while made his eyes ache.

In fact, he relied entirely on instinct later. To ensure he wouldn’t miss, he almost emptied a magazine of bullets.

Han Mo didn’t give Kim Taeran a chance to catch his breath.

In a one-on-one, he didn’t believe he would lose.

He lightly bit his cheek, tossed a smoke grenade, and rushed out. Concealed by the smoke, he fired while moving, bullets crisscrossing for several seconds until Han Mo let out a sigh of relief.

Kim Taeran and Monkey fell to the ground, but because their teammates outside were still alive, tangled up with NPCs, they still had a chance to be revived.

Han Mo certainly wouldn’t give up on those kill points. Despite his low health, amidst the dissipating smoke, he gave Kim Taeran and Monkey each a final shot.

【Prince-momo used an M416 assault rifle to eliminate PYP-monkey】

【Prince-momo used an M416 assault rifle to eliminate PYP-tai】

The Chinese team harvested two kills, and they were both from the current top-ranked team. If the Chinese team could secure a chicken dinner in this match, the overall points would undergo a drastic change.

Xie Feng slapped the table in amazement. “This move is daring and reckless, bold but exceptionally beautiful! Without absolute trust and confidence, who could pull off such a move of using others to eliminate their enemies so skillfully!”

Lemon added, “Bing Shen doesn’t even have a scope! What kind of eyes does he have? I couldn’t even see the people in the warehouse clearly, yet he managed to hit Monkey and save Han Mo!”

Xie Feng remarked, “The Eternal Light is truly worthy of its reputation. With Bing Shen in this state, I truly believe he could get thirty kills!”

Lemon said, “I heard that Egg Roll Head commentator has gone crazy… The glass around our commentary booth is almost shattered from his shouting.”

Xie Feng chuckled. “Haha, after all, PYP took a big hit. They’ll probably drop from first place this round, and NNTC may or may not perform well today.”

Outside the warehouse, the two PYP players naturally couldn’t beat five NPCs.

They fought with all their might, managing to take down two NPCs but eventually died in the village.

Kim Taeran glared angrily in Yan Yibing’s direction.

Such hostile eyes should have received a warning, but the recorder behind them acted as if they hadn’t seen anything.

In a home game, this kind of tacit bias was unavoidable.

Yan Yibing teased, “Used up your smoke grenade? Then you might not be able to escape.”

Han Mo replied calmly, “It’s worth it. As long as we don’t let them get the kills.”

Yan Yibing chuckled softly, “If I weren’t outside, you wouldn’t have been able to escape. Wait for me.”

Han Mo smirked and couldn’t help but complain, “Master, your gun is too crappy.”

Another voice chimed in. Yu Yan said lightly, “Tsk, don’t I exist?”

He rushed all the way from R City, brought a lot of equipment, and as soon as he found Yan Yibing, he handed him an AKM with a four-times scope.

Yan Yibing quickly loaded his gun, and together with Yu Yan, they provided cover fire, taking out the remaining NPCs.

Han Mo asked, “Don’t we need to use them to destroy P Port?”

Yan Yibing lazily replied, “Chen Chi is also leaving the airport. With the four of us together, do we still need others to deal with NNTC?”

Yu Yan smiled, “It’s P Port again, what a coincidence. It’s time to settle old scores and grievances.”

After licking clean all four loot crates, changing into a new set of equipment, and filling up with bullets, Han Mo rode out of the Fishing Village on the damaged motorcycle.

The circle moved outside the airport, fortunately, Chen Chi had been at N Port.

He quickly swam out, joined them, and Han Mo and Yu Yan helped him with the equipment.

Han Mo rode the motorcycle with Yan Yibing to flank and draw the enemy’s attention, while Yu Yan and Chen Chi launched a frontal assault.

NNTC was, of course, in P Port, ranked low, dissatisfied with their current situation, and just about to leave P Port to get some kills.

The two teams collided perfectly.

Ten seconds later, Han Mo and Yan Yibing sneaked up from behind, taking down Li Xihan.

Fifteen seconds later, Yu Yan and Chen Chi exchanged fire with NNTC, taking down two players, with Chen Chi knocked down.

Twenty seconds later, Yan Yibing finished off Li Xihan, Yu Yan eliminated the last remaining enemy, and helped Chen Chi up.

After eliminating PYP with borrowed hands, they smoothly harvested NNTC.

This round, the Chinese team secured the chicken dinner without a doubt, and their total points jumped to second place.

In the second round, on the Miramar desert map, another large map without the need to fight for locations.

The Chinese team clashed with ANK in San Martin, taking out all ANK members in a three-to-four exchange, with Yan Yibing making it to the final circle alone, securing the second place.

In the third round, the Chinese team continued to use the strategy of using others to eliminate their enemies, luring four NPCs into Lion City and engaging in a skirmish with NNTC.

Yan Yibing and Yu Yan fell, but NNTC was wiped out. Han Mo and Chen Chi made it to the final circle and won the chicken dinner.

At this point, the Chinese team’s total points rose to first place, and Han Mo’s individual KD ratio ranked first.

There was only one day left in the competition.

In the audience seats, Sun Tianjiao stood up excitedly and did a little cha-cha dance.

He stuck his tongue out in Park Il-li’s direction, then turned to Ding Luo and said with a grin, “Tsk tsk tsk, these historically challenged folks are just not up to par. They don’t understand the Thirty-Six Strategies, let alone Sun Tzu’s Art of War. They can’t even execute the ‘Borrow a Knife to Kill’ strategy. We’ve tricked them for two rounds. Oh, the wisdom of our ancestors is truly profound.”

Ding Luo chuckled, “The Joseon Dynasty had over two thousand years of history before. Besides, it was once a tributary state, so I think they are aware of Sun Tzu’s Art of War and the Thirty-Six Strategies.”

Sun Tianjiao waved his finger dismissively, “The Republic of Korea was clearly established in Shanghai in 1919, so it’s only been a hundred years or so.”

“Oh,” Ding Luo thought, Sun Tianjiao’s mouth was indeed quite sharp.

Sharp, yet somehow amusing.

After the match, as the players left the stage, Yan Yibing ran into Kim Taeran again.

Kim Taeran stood with Li Xihan, devoid of their earlier morning arrogance.

With a stern face, Kim Taeran glanced at Yan Yibing, while Li Xihan patted his shoulder.

Yan Yibing gave a lazy smile, “We agreed to meet at the airport. Why didn’t you show up? We had to trouble ourselves to find you.”

The muscles on Kim Taeran’s face twitched, and he gritted his teeth, “Wait for tomorrow.”

Pretending not to understand, Yan Yibing said warmly, “Thanks for the blessings from PYP and NNTC. Let’s work hard together.”

Li Xihan exclaimed, “Who’s blessing you?!”

Yan Yibing, with a playful twinkle in his almond-shaped eyes, said, “Thank you, thank you. I wish you good health too.”

Li Xihan: “Damn…”

During dinner, the coaches repeatedly reminded them to guard against arrogance and complacency, maintain their performance, and play well on the last day of the competition.

Yesterday, it was Han Mo who was upset and not eating enough, and today it was the two coaches who were anxious.

Reaching the summit on the second day felt like having a knife at their throats.

They had to grasp the trophy and honor with great effort, but a moment’s negligence could lead to falling from grace.

Sun Tianjiao comforted, “It’s not like it’s their first time participating in a competition, how can they still be proud? It’s alright. Our Zero team has always been about stability, never slackening. Look at Bing Shen’s performance today, just look at it closely!”

Yan Yibing stuffed a crab leg into Sun Tianjiao’s mouth, “Eat more and talk less.”

Sun Tianjiao pursed his lips, chewing on the crab leg with his small tiger teeth.

After dinner, Yan Yibing once again took the room card from Sun Tianjiao.

“Borrowing, I’ll return it to you later.”

Sun Tianjiao stared blankly at him, “Fuck, I suspect you have something going on with Han Mo! Was it me who’s getting my team poached, not Xiao Ding?”

Yan Yibing patted his chest, “Please use your eloquence on Boss Bian, who has autism.”

With that, Yan Yibing took the room card in his hand and headed to Han Mo’s room.

He had something to discuss with Han Mo, but there were too many people during dinner, and he hadn’t had a chance to bring it up.

Entering the room, Han Mo was in the bathroom taking a shower.

Yan Yibing didn’t disturb him, just pulled up a chair and sat down, took out Han Mo’s computer, turned it on and waited.

He heard the sound of water stopping, followed by the sound of drying, then the rustle of clothes.

Han Mo pushed the door open, and a burst of hot steam followed him out.

His hair was dripping, a few spots on his clothes were damp, and water droplets remained on his face, un-wiped.

The bathroom was filled with mist, making it a bit challenging to dry off completely.

Yan Yibing looked at him for a moment and asked, “Why didn’t you dry off before putting on clothes?”

Han Mo swallowed hard, “I thought it was Manager Sun.”

Yan Yibing was stunned for a few seconds, and then smiled deeply, “Oh, so when Manager Sun comes, you bundle up tightly, but when I come, you don’t wear anything?”

Han Mo’s eyes curved, and he approached, wrapping his damp arms around Yan Yibing’s waist.

“I won’t wear anything when you come, and I hope you won’t either.”

Yan Yibing pursed his lips, his eyelids trembled, and he coughed lightly, trying to maintain a serious face. “So, um, I came to you for…”

Han Mo immediately interjected, “Is there a reward for playing well today?”

Frowning, Yan Yibing said, “We agreed on tomorrow.”

Han Mo, with a faint lemon scent lingering, his eyelashes misty with moisture, even his eyes were moist and bright.

He murmured, “I want a little today.”

Yan Yibing held his breath, staring at him for a few seconds, then quietly took out a piece of milk candy from his pocket, tore open the wrapper, and fed it to Han Mo’s lips, “This is all I have for now.”

Han Mo lowered his gaze, glanced at the milky white candy, then suddenly opened his mouth, taking both the candy and Yan Yibing’s fingertip into his mouth.

The soft tip of his tongue brushed against the fine fingerprints, making Yan Yibing tremble. He gasped, “You—”

He quickly withdrew his finger, breathing quickly a few times.

Han Mo kept the candy in his mouth, savoring the lingering milk fragrance. Suddenly, he leaned forward, pressing his lips against Yan Yibing’s.

Yan Yibing, who had just finished eating two pieces himself, still had the sweet taste of milk in his mouth.

He gasped as he was caught off guard, his lips slightly parted, leaving a gap between his teeth for Han Mo to exploit.

“Mmm…”

Han Mo shamelessly claimed his reward and murmured, “Master smells so good.”

---

Author’s Message:

Han Mo: Don’t wear it, it’s hot.

Yan Yibing: I’m not hot.

Han Mo: I’ll help Master warm up.

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