No one expected well-behaved Zuo Tao to be so bold during the trashtalk session.
Under the guidance of the staff, the team walked towards the competition stage, the smiles on their faces impossible to suppress. Wang Qiu laughed so hard that he burst into tears, patting Zuo Tao’s back and saying, “How come I never knew you were so funny?
“A single sentence came with an immeasurable amount of killing intent.”
Zuo Tao waved his hand. He was, honestly, proud of himself, but he smiled humbly. “I saw it online, and everyone’s talking about it.”
They reached the stage. He put down his peripherals bag on the seat next to Song Shihan’s.
Si Zheng was also laughing. “You’re really amazing. I want to know how WIND is feeling right now.”
CAT: “Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s nothing positive.”
“Huh?” Zuo Tao said uneasily, coughing before he said: “Did I say too much?”
Song Shihan glanced at him, a faint smile curling his lips.
Actually, Jiang Ming was also trying hard to suppress his laughter, but with the team already on stage, he had to stop them from talking about the matter further. If the referee who monitored team communications before the game heard them1Team communications during competitions are monitored from the moment the teams are on stage during equipment check not only to make sure that there’s nothing wrong with the equipment but also to ensure that all players remain professional. Sometimes these communications are released to the public as highlights or ‘behind the scenes’ kind of things, and sometimes it might cause players demerits if the organizers deem their behavior against the rules and code of conduct., it might cause another scandal.
In addition to that, netizens of today were all eagle-eyed, and everything was being livestreamed. If the team got caught behaving negatively, they would have to ask for help from PR again.
“Alright, stop laughing,” Jiang Ming said, “Hurry up and get adjusted. The game is about to start.”
【Asking for clarification but why does Wildfire feel so different from other teams? It’s like they’re having so much fun… is QIU laughing so hard he’s crying?】
【What’s there to enjoy? Are they not under pressure in a match against REBORN?】
【Uh… I think I know what they’re laughing at.】
【Upstairs, is the secret code — again and again?】
【Noble.】
【HAHAHAHAHAHAHA】
Five minutes later, with both teams seated and ready, the game officially began.
During the first phase, each member of both teams was eligible to one ban slot. There had obviously been a planned tactic, as REBORN’s tank and support quickly banned the AD heroes High Priest and Youhun Mingqiang2幽魂冥槍 lit. ghost’s underworld spear, while the mage, WIND, banned Huohu E’ying3火狐惡影, lit. Firefox Evil Shadow.
The first three bans were all ADC4ADC = Attack Damage Carry, these are heroes/champions/characters that focus on damage to be able to carry a team, usually marksmen/ranged heroes that depend on equipment marksmen.
Wu Shuibo, who was commentating for the game, smiled and said, “Wow, seems like REBORN is trying to suppress FIRE for this match. They banned three marksmen in a row, truly giving FIRE face5Face, or reputation. He’s mentioning that this is kind of a praise for FIRE as they are careful not to let him get any of the heroes he’s good at, because that would mean an easy victory for him.”
Lin Taisen also gave his own thoughts. “There’s no other way, this version of the game gives ADs an advantage. Moreover, FIRE has been known for his High Priest and Youhun Mingqiang, and Houhu E’ying is currently the strongest hero in the game. If they left any of those tree heroes open and FIRE gets an advantage during the early game, it would be very difficult to move by the time they reach the late game.”
In Wildfire’s team communication line —
Song Shihan glanced at the heroes from the other side and said, “Don’t mind the AD. Focus on the mage and support.”
They had done their homework and studied all the teams participating in the preliminaries. Except for the veteran teams that they were more than familiar with, the newer teams were nothing to be afraid of. REBORN, the only outlier, didn’t have public games available, and this would be considered its team debut. The level of coordination and their tactics were a mystery to everyone.
So, all they could do was develop plans based on past matches of the individual members of the opposing team.
WIND was someone familiar. As a mage, his gameplay was impeccable, with good operations and game awareness. Their support, RONI, has been famous since he was young, and he was known as the strongest crowd control support in the current 《Rising Wind》 league. His former team, TM, had also won numerous championship titles, making him something of a tricky existence.
Their jungler, like Zuo Tao, was also a newcomer who has never appeared in public before, but as someone that has been chosen to be a starter for REBORN, his skills must be impressive.
Because it was only the first match, both teams kept their cards close to their chests. Jiang Ming did not dictate what heroes they should use.
The last two picks were left to Zuo Tao and Song Shihan. Song Shihan ultimately locked on the hero Nirvana. It was a highly demanding AD hero which had both movement and damage skills, making it a semi-late game hero.
Zuo Tao was hesitant.
He realized that there wasn’t a single tanky hero on REBORN’s line-up. At first glance, they looked like crispy ATMs6Crispy = heroes that are easy to kill but with high damage; ATM = automated teller machine, as in those used by banks. Killing heroes give gold and EXP, so crispy heroes are easy sources of economy..
But he was conflicted. Should he choose a healer, a crowd controller, or just play as usual as a support?
If he chose healer or crowd control, he wouldn’t be able to show Song Shihan his strength.
As if reading his mind, Song Shihan said, “PINK, just choose what you want.”
Wang Qiu was busy adjusting his runes, casually adding: “Yes, play whatever you want. With your brothers and sister here, there’s nothing to be afraid of. It’s only the first match. Don’t think too much about it and do what you want.”
Si Zheng: “If you want to use the Fairy, do it. I’m tanky enough for all of us.”
Hearing their reassurances allowed Zuo Tao to finally let go of his hesitations. He didn’t choose the fairy, of course, instead choosing a hero that has rarely appeared in high-rank games, the Elemental God —
The Elemental God was known to currently be the support hero with the highest damage, second to none —
But the disadvantage was that 70% of rewards if he kills another hero would be given to nearby teammates.
Unlike other healer or crowd control supports, the Elemental God did not have an early-game support skill, needing to reach level 8 before he could activate his crowd control.
Even his high damage could only be achieved if he could kill or get assists —
Each kill gave him 5% mana boost, and assists give him half of that. Jungle creeps gave different bonuses depending on their level.
It was precisely because of all these requirements that Elemental God usually only appeared in low-rank matches. There was, after all, a mix of good and bad players in the lower ranks, and he could easily get kills and assists. As long as he completed his magic equipment, he was an extremely destructive hero.
But in the higher ranks, with players whose awareness and skills have been honed, it wasn’t as easy. Sometimes, games can even end with the total number of kills by both sides countable on one hand.
It wasn’t wise to choose Elemental God in these kinds of situations.
Done sorting his settings, Wang Qiu looked up and choked. “Isn’t this… a little too loose?”
【HAHAHA QIU’s expression is truly a treasure of the internet. God only knows how my face twisted when I saw PINK lock on Elemental God.】
【For real though, is it strategically sound to take Elemental God?】
【The game hasn’t started yet, so we can’t make any quick opinions. I won’t even mention why Fairy Song’s pick rate suddenly skyrocketed recently.】
【Wake up, ladies. Fairy Song is at least utilizable as long as she gets her equipment, but Elemental God requires kills!! Do you really think heads would just roll to his feet?】
With both sides finished finalizing their lineup, the match quickly began.
Zuo Tao bought his roaming equipment and, instead of following Song Shihan down to the bottom lane or helping CAT with her red buff, he activated his acceleration skill and crossed the river to REBORN’s jungle, arriving before the enemy and camping among the bushes.
The livestream gave the audience an observer’s view, thus all players’ movements were visible. No one was expecting Zuo Tao to invade the enemy jungle, evident by the flood of question marks across the screen.
Wu Shuibo: “Uh… honestly, Zuo Tao’s choice of Elemental God surprised me, and now what is he trying to do? Does he plan to steal the enemy jungler’s blue buff? Shouldn’t he consider that he is very squishy in the early game? REBORN’s AD and support are accompanying their jungler. Even if he successfully steals the buff, would he be able to escape?”
He turned to his partner and asked:
“As his uncle, do you understand the child better?”
Lin Taisen answered lowly: “Actually, this uncle doesn’t quite understand his nephew either.”
REBORN still had no idea that Elemental God was in their jungle, hidden in the bush, waiting for an opportunity to cause trouble.
When RONI first saw that Zuo Tao chose Elemental God, he smiled and told his team in English — “Is this really Wildfire’s support? That popular Fairy Song, that was from him, too?”
Xiao Cheng wasn’t happy, instead only responding: “Be careful, don’t let him kill you.”
But RONI didn’t take it seriously. He flicked his blond hair and spoke arrogantly: “Don’t worry, it’s just one useless hero. I’ll make sure he’s useless from the early to the late stage.”
Off-stage, GGF’s area.
GGF’s AD, STAR, chuckled softly as he looked at RONI’s arrogant face, schadenfreude brewing in his heart. Their jungler, confused, asked: “What are you laughing at?”
STAR leaned back on his chair with a ‘been there, done that’ expression on his face, raising his chin at the screen. “That’s guy’s a goner.”
Just as he finished speaking —
REBORN’s jungler was planning on using his spell7So, junglers have a special spell that they take at the preparation stage if they plan on playing jungler, which gives them additional damage on jungle creeps, buffs, and monsters so they don’t have to wait for the last hit before getting it. Other roles can take any of the other spells (flash, accelerate, execute, etc) on the last bit of HP on the blue buff when an elemental ball flew through the air, and the monster fell on the ground, dead.
The jungler’s head was blank, filled with question marks — “Hey, where’s my blue?!”
Realizing what had happened, Wang Qiu exclaimed: “Beautiful, Taozi! Now run, WIND is on his way down.”
Zuo Tao had already started running after successfully stealing the buff, all while typing in the chat —
【Wildfire-PINK: Thank you.】
The three people who had been dealing damage to the buff quickly chased after the thief.
Lin Taisen: “Bobo, stop laughing. That was indeed a surprising move from PINK, but it was also very risky. REBORN has realized his path and are moving to circle him. If they lose one member here, Wildfire will lose the clash.”
Noticing the situation on that side of the jungle, CAT and Song Shihan, who had both finished clearing their own creeps, headed towards Zuo Tao’s location.
Zuo Tao paid attention to the mini map, making sure to deal damage with his basic attack while agilely moving. However, after successfully evading several skills in a row, he was ambushed by RONI who had circled around and emerged from behind him. With a single control skill, he fixed Elemental God in place. WIND was rushing from the midlane, his skills ready.
Zuo Tao clicked his tongue, calculating how much more of his health would be left after the control skill on him was lifted —
CAT and Song Shihan flashed through the wall one after another. CAT used her skills first, and Song Shihan quickly followed up with another. Although he only needed to use another basic attack to kill RONI, he stopped and said, “PINK, take the kill.”
“That’s no good…”
Despite saying so, Zuo Tao only had a brief moment of hesitation before Elemental God, free of crowd control and with low HP left, rushed forward. Another elemental ball flew through the air and completed the first kill of the game. The bounty was distributed between Song Shihan and CAT.
【FIRST BLOOD!】
The gymnasium erupted in cheers!
Less than three minutes into the game, the first blood was actually taken by a support.
STAR, on the other hand, was completely calm. He shrugged and said, “Look, didn’t I say he was a goner? That pink-haired Gu8The legendary poisonous insects, usually used to curse and harm others is annoying, and RONI is nothing to him.”
In the game, REBORN’s jungler and AD had low health left. WIND had gotten caught by Wang Qiu, unable to get away, and when they saw CAT and FIRE, who still had full health, they turned around and left.
It was too late. Song Shihan used a displacement skill to move closer and cast a fireball.
The two fell to the ground.
The first small clash of the game ended.
【FIRE’s one shot kill is 69Slang for ‘awesome’!】
【I’m about to die laughing.】
【Who would ever think that Elemental God could be used like this? A buff plus a kill, with this method of earning bonuses, he’s already almost caught up to the mage, right?】
【FIRE makes taking blood10Dealing damage look so handsome, it’s gone straight for my heart. Why can’t I find such an AD!!】
【I can’t explain why, but after that clash, I get the feeling that we will be seeing a lot of deaths in this game.】
【Supporting the prophet.】
The game reached 15 minutes, and the third dragon has respawned in the jungle.
Except for during the early game, REBORN’s overall gameplay became more cautious, with both teams’ economies equalizing. Everyone was developing moderately with the exception of Song Shihan, who had a higher kill count than the rest of them.
Zuo Tao placed a ward in the river. Three seconds later, it was removed by RONI, darkening his view. “CAT-jie, be careful, they may be heading to the dragon,” he said.
REBORN has taken both dragons, and if they are able to take the third one, Wildfire’s early game advantage would be for naught.
Song Shihan: “Harass11In gaming terms, this means to keep them busy by poking them with damage so the opponents aren’t able to focus on objectives such as jungle creeps or minions, while also making it easier to pick off enemies when your teammates come to your lane to gank. them. I’ll follow up.”
Zuo Tao agreed, moving through the bushes in the jungle.
Song Shihan cleared the last line of minions and was about to follow when the enemy top laner teleported to his lane, blocking his way up the river. At the same time, the mage and jungler arrived at the dragon pit. They needed to initiate a team fight.
Thirty seconds later, CAT fell under RONI’s crowd control. REBORN’s AD finished the kill.
The dragon still had a third of its HP left.
Lin Taisen said: “This positioning is unfriendly to Wildfire. They’re far from each other and now CAT has been killed. If they continue to fight for the dragon, they’ll all be in danger. REBORN has a clear advantage after this team fight, and we must commend RONI for his skills.”
Si Zheng and Wang Qiu rushed into the dragon pit, but the enemies’ skills were all on cooldown. Coupled with the dragon’s indiscriminate damage, they both died, but REBORN’s health bars were also low.
Wu Shuibo: “Two-v-four, SZ and QIU are gone. Although REBORN have low health, FIRE is busy in the bottom lane. This dragon should ultimately fall to REBORN without any surprise.”
REBORN had no intentions of letting this dragon slip through their fingers. Although they were all losing health12All creeps/minions can also deal damage to heroes, dealing higher damage as they level up while they also get tankier, they didn’t leave the dragon pit.
REBORN team voice chat —
Top laner: “Bros, FIRE is too strong, I can’t keep this up any longer.”
Jungler: “Should we withdraw?”
WIND: “Keep FIRE as busy as possible. He won’t be able to come up. We have to take this dragon.”
Their top laner gritted his teeth. “Okay. A trade13Trading is when you trade one objective for another, in this case the top laner trades his life by delaying the enemy AD so that his team could take the dragon, then.”
It seemed as if everyone had forgotten about Zuo Tao. After the team fight, Elemental God only had half his health left and was currently the one closest to the dragon pit. He only occasionally threw a few skills to interfere with the opponents before reluctantly retreating.
What people saw in the livestream —
Zuo Tao watched his teammates die but he remained calm, focused on his screen. He hid within the bushes and stopped moving.
Wu Shuibo: “Wait, PINK hasn’t left yet? Does he plan on stealing the dragon? It’s bold to attempt it at this point. Once he dies, only God Han would be left on their side and they’ll be at a complete disadvantage, oh. PINK truly is too young.”
Lin Taisen, on the other hand, had a completely different view of the matter. He thought he could see through Zuo Tao’s plan, but he didn’t mention it: “Well, based on my understanding of player PINK, he might not just want the dragon.”
【What does that mean? He plans to steal the dragon and get kills?】
【HAHAHAHA the funniest joke of the season has finally been said.】
【Could it be possible that SZ and QIU’s entry during the team fight was simply to lower REBORN’s health?】
【Stop trying to be funny, fam.】
Zuo Tao eyed his health bar, calculating. When it reached a certain value14Because of the dragon’s damage, he used his acceleration and activated his only crowd control skill.
RONI was the first to realize that something was wrong. “Be careful!”
WIND, who was standing outside the dragon pit, immediately moved forward and sent a skill at Zuo Tao’s direction.
He glanced at the map and saw that Song Shihan already had low health. He breathed a sigh of relief.
According to his understanding of Song Shihan, he would not come up here to help his support at a time like this, so even if PINK successfully hits him with his crowd control, at most it would only be a delay.
However, Zuo Tao didn’t throw his skills at him. WIND, overjoyed, immediately used his damage skill.
At the same time, Song Shihan, who had already killed the enemy top laner, appeared without warning and took the damage that would have killed Zuo Tao, managing to hit WIND with his own skills in a trade before he died.
Zuo Tao, who had been retreating, turned around and flashed through the wall of the dragon pit. He used his control kill to keep the three enemies within reach. The next second, a powerful, colorful elemental light broke from the Elemental God, descending from the sky and exploding in the dragon pit, harvesting both the dragon and the heroes.
The moment the light dissipated, the system announcements sounded one after another —
【Dragon killed!】
【TRIPLE KILL!】
RONI slammed the table with his hand and said, “Didn’t you say FIRE wasn’t coming to help?”
WIND wasn’t expecting it either. He looked at his gray screen with an unpleasant look on his face.
On the commentator’s table —
Wu Shuibo: “Ah, ah, ah! PINK did it, PINK did it! Oh my god, he is the pink objective stealer, how many surprises does he still have for us? We have no idea!”
“Triple kill!!!” Lin Taisen exclaimed excitedly. “Thank you, PINK! Thank you, Wildfire, for such a wonderful play!”
The gym was silent for half a second before wild screams once more erupted.
【Mama, my scalp is numb!】
【Goodness gracious15Raw is ‘老天鵝’, lit. ‘Old swan’. It sounds a lot like ‘老天儿’, which is ‘My god’, as in what you say when you’re surprised., what kind of play is this from Fenmao16pink hair, ZT’s nickname among the netizens?? Is this really damage a support hero can deal?】
【You should see his equipment, plus he already has a kill. His damage is catching up to QIU’s.】
【I’m going to be PINK’s fan from now on. He turned around and just took kills; he’s so handsome I’m going to cry.】
【Friends… was that just me or…】
【FIRE is beyond my expectations. I never expected he would help PINK take damage.】
【Crying. If this ain’t love!】
【The bottom lane double carry has been born.】
【Understood, playing the game as Elemental God and I will definitely rank up!】
The game came to an end after forty minutes and Wildfire, who dominated from the early game, unsurprisingly won the first match.
Taking off his earphones, Zuo Tao smiled as he got up, but he was suddenly hit with a spell of dizziness. Keeping himself steady with his hands on the table, he pretended to be fine and followed behind the others to the lounge.
The lounge was filled with laughter during the 10-minute break.
Jiang Ming: “PINK, you were amazing out there, especially during the last clash.” He was excited, giving Zuo Tao a bear hug.
Zuo Tao smiled, silly, rubbing at his warm face. In fact, he wasn’t expecting to secure those three kills in the dragon pit. If it wasn’t for Song Shihan’s sacrifice to take damage for him, the game wouldn’t have been so smooth.
He looked up at Song Shihan, a bright smile on his face, saying, “Captain, thank you…”
Song Shihan spoke, making him stiff: “Jiang-ge, where are the youth trainees?”
Jiang Ming didn’t react for a moment before saying, “Youth trainees? In the lounge next door. What’s going on?”
“Call their support on stage,” Song Shihan said shortly.
Jiang Ming almost felt like he was hallucinating. “What?”
It wasn’t only Jiang Ming, but the others found this strange as well.
“No, what do you mean, call their support on stage?” Jiang Ming asked again. “What’s wrong with Zuo Tao?”
Zuo Tao also looked at Song Shihan, vulnerability flashing in his eyes.
Song Shihan frowned. “His fever is back.”
Stunned, Jiang Ming immediately moved closer and checked Zuo Tao’s forehead with his hand. His face changed. “I’m calling the doctor.” He looked at Wang Qiu. “QIU, talk to them next door.”
“I can do it!” Zuo Tao quickly spoke up, voice trembling. “It’s just a fever, coach, I can persevere!”
Jiang Ming opened his mouth, looking at Song Shihan.
Song Shihan lowered his eyes and looked at Zuo Tao, asking lowly, “Zuo Tao, did you take your medicine?”
Zuo Tao looked away, not responding.
He didn’t take his medicine, worried that it would make him drowsy. He planned on taking it after the game.
“Captain, I’m fine,” Zuo Tao insisted, pursing his lips. “I can do it.”
Feeling helpless, Song Shihan looked away, hand against rubbing his forehead. He didn’t respond to Zuo Tao, addressing Jiang Ming: “Jiang-ge, call the youth trainees.”
Zuo Tao: “Captain…”
Song Shihan didn’t give him the chance to continue. His face was cold as he said, “Zuo Tao. Do you think the team can’t win without you?”
The lounge went quiet, so silent that one would hear if a pin dropped.
Ever since he joined Wildfire, Song Shihan had never spoken a single harsh word to him, leaving him stunned, eyes turning red.
He lowered his head and answered, “No…
“I just… this is the first game,” Zuo Tao said, his noise sour. “…I want to win with you.”
He waited for Song Shihan’s response that never came. Biting his lip, in plain view of everyone in the room, he reached out for Song Shihan’s hand and said, very quietly —
“Gege, please don’t stop me from playing, okay?”
From the TL:
Gege, please don’t keep me from playing, okay~
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An extra chapter will be posted each time we reach our dono goal of 3 ko-fis~
![Dissatisfied [e-sports]](https://www.freenovels.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/4997572.jpg "Dissatisfied [e-sports]")
