Song Shihan was telling the truth. Aside from excellent crowd control, Emperor of Frost wasn’t strong on his own. He required the presence of Xu Wu as support. If he was chosen for the 3% chance that they might trigger their special passive, then it was surely a brainless choice.
He wasn’t highly playable.
As for Xu Wu, there was nothing else to be said. He required high technical skill to use well, and, unlike traditional support carries, Xu Wu had more control skills, so only by being aggressive and ensuring that the enemy takes his full damage could his team have an advantage.
But his aggression also meant that the AD’s development was going to be affected.
This was why, although Xu Wu was strong, he was a relatively unpopular pick during rank games, and he has never appeared in professional competition in the past.
Song Shihan locked the highest intensity AD, Huohu E’ying. In the current game version, he had the best skillset and was most suitable for laning alone. In general, Huohu E’ying was the AD pick if the support chose to roam to all lanes or protect the jungler.
Jiang Ming’s head ached for a moment. They were obviously completely uncooperative. He remembered what Song Shihan said last night: whether or not there was a support, it didn’t matter to him.
Looking at Zuo Tao, he saw no changes in his expression, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, he was a clever kid; if it were anyone else, Jiang Ming was afraid that they’d feel he didn’t want to play with anyone at all.
After both sides had picked their heroes, they quickly loaded into the game map. Zuo Tao had just purchased equipment from the store when he saw the All Chat on the lower left corner of the screen.
【(World) GGF-STAR: Wow, what a coincidence! God Han is up so early today (*??▽??*)】
【(World) GGF-STAR: Can you please be merciful?】
【(World) Wildfire-FIRE: .】
【(World) GGF-STAR: Ah, it truly is you. So ruthless, so cold.】
【(World) GGF-STAR: Since you refuse, I’ll have to beat you to death instead /a_sinister_smile.jpg】
GGF was another popular team. STAR, from the other team, also played AD and was not inferior to Song Shihan in terms of strength. They almost won last year’s spring split championship.
Jiang Ming had a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach. “STAR is probably livestreaming. I’ll check.” He took out his phone. “Yep. He sure is a paragon worker. You should pay attention to what you say later.”
Jiang Ming lowered his head as he looked at the screen. Because Song Shihan was in the other team, STAR’s live instantly shot up in popularity, with the comments scrolling rapidly.
【Confidence is good, but overconfidence can lead to face-slapping. I won’t specify who I’m talking about.】
【Ahhhhh, it’s been so long since I last saw God Han’s IGN! I am in tears!】
【Hubby, watch! I’m going to beat up this self-indulgent star for you!】
【Has your team found a support?】
【I’ve almost forgotten FIRE even exists. Commenters up there, are you really spitting at my star? Dream on. How long has FIRE been off the game? Does he even remember how to play?】
【Song Shihan fans, get the fuck out of here, you’re all annoying.】
【Are you trying to make me laugh to death? Do you even understand why your dad’s broadcast suddenly got popular? If not for FIRE being here, do you think he could have this many viewers? Is your dad making you say these things?】
【Stop arguing, stop arguing. Everyone should just enjoy the peaceful tourism and harmoniously make them money!】
【Wildfire management, chop chop! Are you playing the summer split? When is the full roster going to be completed? If competing isn’t possible, please sign with a streaming site! I really can’t stand not being able to see my husband!】
Jiang Ming forgot to lower the volume of the livestream as he was watching. Just as he was about to close out of the video, he heard GGF’s STAR laugh as he moved his hero down his lane, saying, “Stop quarreling, everyone. I get along well with FIRE in private, and this is making things difficult for me to handle.
“Hmm, how good? It’s beyond your wildest dreams. We used to sleep in the same room.”
STAR was known to be soft and cute, and he was also very good at interacting with his viewers in livestreams. He had a lot of mom and sister fans.
【Friendly reminder that you’re going to get locked up if you act like that1So the raw was actually 鸡笼警告 (chicken coop warning). It’s a meme about kidnapping ‘chickens’ (people who act cute/arrogant) and locking them up (in a coop) to teach them a lesson about their behavior..】
【What the hell is up with the suddenly soft voice!!】
【Xingxing, mom forbids you from having an early love, you can’t, you can’t!】
【A machine gun is coming to kill you with a 39-meter longsword, focus on the game.】
Zuo Tao, of course, had no idea what the comments on the livestream were talking about, but he’d heard STAR loud and clear.
They used to sleep in the same room?
Even though he knew it was irrational, Zuo Tao still felt displeasure in his heart. He frowned and used his skills on STAR twice. STAR was indeed a professional player; his reaction speed was fast. After finishing off the minions with basic attacks, he dealt damage to Zuo Tao while retreating.
【(World) GGF-STAR: Damn, isn’t this support a little aggressive?】
【(World) GGF-STAR: Buddy, going 1v1 with me like this will just lead to your defeat.】
Song Shihan also noticed that Zuo Tao was moving aggressively, but STAR was right: Xu Wu was at a disadvantage. He glanced sideways at the little boy beside him. Unlike his meek appearance when they spoke earlier, Zuo Tao had furrowed eyebrows and had a serious look on his face, making him look a little fierce.
He wanted to warn Zuo Tao about his positioning, but before he could say anything, Zuo Tao earned enough EXP to get to level 2. He flashed behind STAR during an unexpected moment. He followed up with crowd control. After dealing full damage from his skills, he rained down with his basic attacks.
Song Shihan raised his eyebrows in surprise. He wasn’t expecting Zuo Tao be so aggressive, but more importantly, he realized that Zuo Tao wasn’t stupid. He’d already calculated how much damage he was going to deal, including damage from the minions. STAR’s health bar emptied in an instant.
Zuo Tao only needed one more basic attack to finish STAR off, but at the last moment, he hesitated. He glanced at Song Shihan and stopped.
A good support needed to give his AD as much resources as possible. After all, Song Shihan had mentioned in his interview that the first criterion for his future partner was someone who played well. So, he held back.
They missed the opportunity to get the kill. After the crowd control effect lifted, STAR immediately moved to flash away.
Song Shihan moved Houhu E’ying forward through the bush, shooting an arrow towards the low-health STAR, thus getting the first kill of the game.
【FIRST BLOOD!】
Out of habit, Zuo Tao walked over to the corpse that hasn’t disappeared yet, flashing an emoticon over STAR. As he was turning around to retreat, a pleasant voice came through his headphones: “Did you give me the kill?”
There was a faint smile discernible from his tone. Song Shihan’s laughter was magnetic. Zuo Tao felt his ears tingle from the sound, and he blushed.
“No,” Zuo Tao denied. “You followed up well.”
Song Shihan made a noncommittal sound. “It’s fine. You can get kills.”
【(World) GGF-STAR: T_T so fierce, you’re so fierce.】
Jiang Ming, observing them both from behind, was stunned. Because he was recommended by Su Yueyao, Jiang Ming simply thought that he should be a good player, but he had exceeded all expectations.
Zuo Tao’s ability to calculate damage was so precise it was terrifying. He didn’t actually have that much health left either; had the control effect worn off even a second earlier, STAR could have simply thrown a skill and he would be dead.
He dared to fight, had impressive technical skill, and was a talented player.
Jiang Ming was curious as to why Su Yueyao would be willing to send such a good seedling to Wildfire. If he stayed in the team and underwent training, he would definitely develop competition-level skills in no time.
However, the surprises were just beginning —
As the game progressed and through each clash, Zuo Tao kept demonstrating his extraordinary talent. Xu Wu’s crowd control skills were notoriously easy to miss, however, under Zuo Tao’s control, Jiang Ming estimated that out of ten skills used, nine hit their mark, as if he could easily predict where the enemies were or where they were heading.
Even more unbelievable was the way he seemed to calculate his hero’s damage to stop at a certain value, always leaving just a single hit for Song Shihan to easily take the kill.
After finishing their meal, the other members of Team Wildfire also made their way to the training room. All of them indulged in their curiosity, standing behind Jiang Ming to watch the screen.
“Oh my god,” Wang Qiu muttered, looking at Zuo Tao’s KDA of 0/0/9. He wanted to laugh but he couldn’t dare to. “In the entirety of FIRE’s professional career, is this the first time that someone babysat him so well to the point of feeding him all the kills? How much love would it take for someone to give this many kills up?”
Song Shihan took advantage of their free lane to go to the midlane for a gank. Meanwhile, the enemy AD, together with the jungler and support, circled through the jungle towards Zuo Tao, who was busy pushing the middle tower. The scene came with the feeling of loss, with nothing waiting for him but death.
Si Zheng: “He’s in danger. Song-ge is in the midlane. No one can back him up on time.” It wasn’t only him who thought so; the other three agreed with his assessment as well.
But Zuo Tao remained unfazed. He still had his flash available, and he used his agility to avoid receiving frontal damage as he ran towards the jungle, throwing skills to his pursuers along the way.
Glancing at the mini-map, Song Shihan said, “Five seconds.”
“Okay,” Zuo Tao answered, pursing his lips as he kited around the enemies. Probably because of impatience, the enemy jungler suddenly came to him with his ultimate, followed closely by the AD’s. Zuo Tao seized this opportunity to flash through a wall, narrowly escaping getting caught by these two ultimate skills.
Song Shihan was already moving through the jungle. Zuo Tao’s skills had come off cooldown, and he was able to control the AD and jungler within his range. The enemy support turned tail and ran. Song Shihan’s Houhu E’ying threw arrows one after another from long range, igniting flames on the enemies’ feet, dealing continuous damage.
These two had already received a lot of damage while they were chasing Zuo Tao, and Song Shihan currently had the highest gold earning in the entire game. The situation immediately changed; the enemies knew they couldn’t escape, so they decided to trade Xu Wu by throwing all their damage to him.
Zuo Tao bit his lip. Just as he thought he was going to die, Song Shihan flashed in front of him to catch damage in his place, all while using his basic attack.
“Take the kills.”
Zuo Tao was taken aback, but his hands moved without his input. The Frost Sword fell from the sky and into the burning lake of flames, soon harvesting two heads.
【DOUBLE KILL!】
An indescribable sweetness rose in his heart, and Zuo Tao couldn’t stop himself from smiling, lowering his head as he did so to hide. Song Shihan had wasted his flash, all to keep him from dying.
【(World) GGF-STAR: Aaaaaaaah, hate you, I hate you!!】
【(World) GGF-STAR: FIRE! I declare that the love we shared from sleeping together in the past is over!!】
Zuo Tao stood over STAR’s corpse as he recalled to the base.
End it as soon as possible.
