IRAJAS Chapter 112

After losing the first game, KIG’s overall morale was affected.

They couldn’t shake off the devastating loss from the previous game. In the second game, they played hesitantly, looking ahead and behind, missing many opportunities. In the end, they were defeated by DT in a snowballing manner.

It wasn’t until the third game that KIG woke up, unleashing numerous potentials at the brink of death, almost turning the tide. But in the end, they fell short, thoroughly defeated by Lin Lan’s unstoppable solo performance.

Three games played, three games lost.

They couldn’t even secure a single point from DT’s hands.

During the regular season, DT practiced their lineup and teamwork, thus giving KIG many chances.

In reality, DT’s strength was even more terrifying than they imagined.

The five members of KIG were like defeated roosters, accepting DT’s handshake with lowered heads. They always felt a sense of shame in front of Lin Lan and Xiao Shengjing. When the five of them shook hands, none dared to look at them, each burying their heads lower than the other.

Shi Quan had said that one must bow one’s head during a handshake. Being too high would disrespect the opponent. So the five members of DT also followed suit, burying their heads. Finally, Lin Lan felt like he was about to bury himself in the ground.

After shaking hands, they quickly made their exit and packed up their equipment before heading home.

Today was another fulfilling day.

The barrage of comments found amusement in this: [Haha. Why are they burying their heads lower one by one?]

[DT can’t bury theirs higher than them, so they have to bury them even lower.]

[Hilarious. They’re about to bury themselves in the concrete…]

[Suddenly realized that KIG players are quite amusing.]

[Whether they’re amusing or not, their strength is indeed formidable.]

[With such strong strength yet still losing 3:0, it shows how formidable DT truly is…]

[Winning the semifinals so easily. I feel like the championship belongs to DT.]

[Not necessarily. It also depends on how ENG performs tomorrow.]

[I think ENG is not weak either.]

[But ENG lost to DT in the regular season.]

[The regular season isn’t important, the playoffs are.]

[KIG won in the regular season, but still lost in the playoffs, right?]

[…]

The barrage was filled with discussions about the two teams, while the big screen displayed data panels and highlights from the recent match.

After a short break, they quickly moved on to the post-match fan meeting session with DT.

In this session, all five members of DT would go on stage, and then five lucky audience members would be chosen by the officials to receive gifts from them.

At the same time, this was the part Qi Rong was most looking forward to. She grabbed her nearby friends, getting excited: “Do you think they’ll pick me?”

The little sisters looked around the venue, which was packed with people, mostly DT fans. Among them, Lin Lan’s fans were the majority…

“No problem! You’ll definitely get picked!”

Qi Rong exclaimed excitedly, “Ah ah ah! Pick me! Pick me! I want to take a photo with Lin Lan!!”

However, ideals were lofty, but reality was harsh. Not even one of the five chosen was her.

What’s more infuriating was that the fan picked to take a photo with Lin Lan not only took the picture but also made a heart gesture with Lin Lan, smiling sweetly in front of the camera.

Lin Lan was cooperative throughout. He even bent down intentionally to accommodate the height of the female fan.

This scene excited fans of both genders in the barrage. Lin Lan wasn’t aloof at all; he really treated his fans well!

Qi Rong bit her handkerchief, feeling sour… Lin Lan was so tall, handsome, and good to his fans. But she wasn’t chosen…

After the gifts were given, the players started to leave one by one.

Next was the post-match interview session. As expected, the officials sensibly arranged for Lin Lan and Xiao Shengjing to be interviewed together and, predictably, asked about the geometric barrel feeding operation, “Could you please tell us about the communication during that wave?”

Lin Lan recalled, “The captain told me to engage, so I did.”

Xiao Shengjing nodded, “Yeah. I just wanted to give it a try. I didn’t expect it to work.”

The host continued, “Now, the barrage affectionately calls you both the Feeding Fish CP, expressing their fondness. What do you two players think about that?”

Lin Lan couldn’t help but smile briefly, but as he realized it was an interview, he immediately put on a serious face again, “We’re very happy. Thank you all for liking us. The captain and I will strive for even better coordination in the future.”

“Alright. One more question, Captain Xiao’s use of the ultimate to predict Lee Sin’s E-flash successfully saved the low-health kiner. What was the basis for that prediction?”

Xiao Shengjing calmly took the microphone, exuding the composure of a noble son, cool and self-assured, “Instinct.”

“What kind of instinct?”

“I don’t want Lin Lan to die, so I instinctively threw out the ultimate.” He finished, then glanced at Lin Lan with a smile in his eyes.

Lin Lan obviously didn’t expect this answer. He widened his eyes. After all the speculation he had done, it turned out the reason the captain made that move was simply because he didn’t want him to die…

As soon as this statement was made, almost the entire audience erupted into screams. Just a second ago they were shipping the CP, and the next second, the CP was in business. What kind of feeling was that?

[Ahhh! The ShengLan CP is definitely real!!]

[What? My Feeding Fish CP is real?]

[Waaah, Mom, I’ve shipped a real CP…]

[My goodness, is this business online?]

[Remove the ‘business’, they’re the real deal!]

[No way, no way, I can’t believe it. Watching an interview got me all excited…]

The host asked some bland questions, and the interview segment officially ended. But the excited fans in front of their screens couldn’t hold back, rushing online to join the discussion.

That night, DT had a total of three trending topics. One was “Congratulations to DT for entering the finals”, and the other was “The geometric barrel feeding operation.”

The last one, and the most popular one, was “I don’t want Lin Lan to die”. Below it, fans were all waving the CP flag, and all relevant discussion boards were flooded.

Under these trending topics, the versatile netizens also posted several images. The funniest of these were the Feeding Fish images of Lin Lan and Xiao Shengjing.

In the image, a big fish was leaping into the air, mouth wide open as if to eat something. Lin Lan and Xiao Shengjing’s avatars were photoshopped onto the bodies of the two people feeding the fish. One held a Syndra’s avatar while the other held a Lee Sin’s avatar, and they happily fed them to the fish. Compared to the opponents who were crying and wailing, the two of them were laughing maniacally.

When Lu Shi saw this image, he laughed uncontrollably, pounding the table repeatedly, “How crazy are you two? Hahaha…”

Lin Lan was watching the replay of that match. No matter how many times he watched it, he found it hilarious. Was it a bit crazy?

But what exactly was that instinct the captain mentioned? That kind of judgment beyond limits, could he do it too?

The match ended early that day. After a brief analysis with his teammates, it was only 11 p.m. Lin Lan secretly opened a live broadcast.

As soon as he went live, a large number of viewers flooded in: [Wow! What am I waiting for! Lan is live!]

[I was just thinking that he would go live after the match ended, and he actually did.]

[Hahaha, Lanbao seems to be in a good mood today…]

[Feeding fish makes him happy. Of course, he’s in a good mood.]

[Thank goodness I set a reminder for Lin Lan’s live stream, or else I wouldn’t have seen it.]

[Ahhh, so touched. I haven’t seen you livestream in over a month!]

[Huh? Where’s the captain? Why isn’t he with you?]

Just as the barrage of comments was made, Xiao Shengjing’s livestream room also opened. Lin Lan immediately dragged him into the room, and his voice could easily be heard in the livestream room, “How long are you streaming for?”

“I don’t know, maybe one or two hours, then I’ll end it.”

The barrage lamented: [No, don’t end it!]

[You just started streaming!!!]

[We’ve waited for a month, and you’re only streaming for one or two hours?]

[Waaah! If you end it later, we won’t even get to see you one last time.]

[Thank goodness I came early.]

The game started, with Lin Lan as the mid-laner and Xiao Shengjing as the jungler.

Looking at the team list, Lin Lan suddenly had an idea: “Captain, is Gragas fun?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I want to play it.”

“You want to play mid-lane Gragas?”

“Uh… I actually want to try jungling.” Lin Lan glanced back at him, “Is that okay?”

Xiao Shengjing never refused Lin Lan’s requests and immediately replied, “Sure.”

Lin Lan was excited, “I want to play Gragas. Let’s try the geometric barrel feeding again?”

Xiao Shengjing smiled and, without hesitation, picked Fizz, while Lin Lan chose Gragas.

The chat went wild: [No, don’t let Lin Lan jungle!]

[He’s really bad at jungling! I’ve seen it before!]

[Captain Xiao!!! I advise you to calm down!]

[Oh no, oh no…]

[Oh my god. I thought I’d see them dominating, but am I the one being dominated?]

[Captain Xiao is usually so calm. What’s going on today?]

[Love truly makes people blind.]

[SOS…]

Seeing Xiao Shengjing and Lin Lan pick those two heroes, a teammate who recognized their IDs asked: [Is Captain Xiao and Lin Lan switching accounts to play?]

Lin Lan: [No, we’re practicing coordination.]

3L: ?

4L: ?

5L: ?

I should have stayed in the Master tier.

The game started. Although Xiao Shengjing wasn’t very skilled at playing mid-lane, he could still manage to hold the line.

But Lin Lan was a different story. His jungle pathing was a complete mess. One moment he wanted to gank bot lane, then after failing, he wanted to gank mid lane. When he returned to the top lane, he found his jungle cleared, fell into contemplation, and then ran to invade the enemy jungle. He lost the smite contest and had to escape over the wall in disgrace.

He was still not convinced and went to cause trouble for the enemy again.

This time, the enemy didn’t hold back. They converged from mid and top lanes and executed Lin Lan on the spot.

Lin Lan: “Uh… Am I a bit bad at jungling?”

Xiao Shengjing laughed, “It’s not too bad.”

The barrage: [???]

[Captain Xiao, why are you lying through your teeth?]

[Not just bad! You’re completely ruining the rhythm!]

[Gragas: Unlucky!]

[Why would a good mid-laner decide to play jungle QAQ…]

[Promise me that you’ll give the jungle position back to Captain Xiao. You’re really not suited for it!]

[I finally understand why Lin Lan has played every position except jungle—he’s really bad at it.]

[Hahaha, I’m dying of laughter…]

Finally, Xiao Shengjing couldn’t take it anymore and actively guided him on the route, helping Lin Lan regain some rhythm.

With the improved rhythm, Lin Lan smoothly reached level six. Excitedly, he headed to the mid lane, eager to coordinate with Xiao Shengjing: “Captain, come on, let’s do the geometric barrel feed!”

Xiao Shengjing feels helpless. He could only step forward to bait the enemy jungler to reveal themselves, then quickly pulled back, setting up a big fish for them.

The timing of the big fish wasn’t great, with the bite radius being only moderately sized.

But Lin Lan, still confident, charged forward and threw his ultimate, trying to knock the enemy mid-laner into the fish.

However, his timing was clearly off. Although he knocked the enemy up, the big fish hadn’t started biting yet. The enemy immediately flashed away and counter-attacked.

Lin Lan and Xiao Shengjing switched positions, their coordination a mess, and both died to the enemy.

Xiao Shengjing asked, “Was it fun?”

Lin Lan replied, “Not fun.”

The barrage was in stitches: [Hahaha. The fish are starving because of you…]

[I’m laughing so hard. Why is this so funny?]

[They’re supposed to be top-tier streamers, why are they being so comical?]

[I’d rather watch you play in a match. I can’t bear to watch this coordination.]

[Someone please beg them to switch back!]

Unsurprisingly, they lost the game. Lin Lan suddenly fell into deep thought. Everyone thought he was reflecting, but then he said, “I think I understand a bit. Captain, shall we go again?”

Despite feeling helpless, Xiao Shengjing agreed and started another mid-jungle coordination game with him.

The screen was flooded with question marks. The audience, having watched their terrible coordination all night, was exasperated.

[I need an oxygen machine…]

[Help, I’m suffocating from watching this!]

[I’d pay a lot for a pair of eyes that haven’t seen tonight’s stream.]

[Yeah, streaming for one or two hours is fine. Any more and I can’t take it.]

[Crying and laughing at the same time…]

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