IRAJAS Chapter 6

On the day of the match, Lin Lan also went to the venue. Due to his identity, he couldn’t even enter the arena and could only sit in the lounge with Lu Shi, watching the recorded footage on the screen.

Leaning against the chair, Lin Lan watched casually.

He used to be the one on stage, and he had never watched teammates’ matches from this perspective before. It was quite novel.

“Why did Brother Wu pick Jayce again?” Lu Shi, who played in the top lane, had his own understanding of the game. He muttered, “I feel like we’re going to lose this round. How can Jayce deal with Mordekaiser…”

Jayce against Mordekaiser was indeed a tough matchup. With the enemy jungler being Xin Zhao, Lin Lan could only say that he wouldn’t be able to win this match in his lifetime.

Sure enough, Wu Tianqi started losing from the top lane and stubbornly insisted on confronting the opponent. Getting caught twice in the process led to a complete collapse.

The director cut to Wu Tianqi’s face, his forehead veins popping, neck turning red. Even through the screen, one could feel his frustration.

The opponents began exploiting him as a weak point, and just from the economic standpoint, he lost two thousand. In the mid-game team fights, Jayce seemed completely ineffective, and DT frustratingly lost the first game. The opponents directly secured the match point.

Coach Zhang hurriedly prepared for the second game. At first, the picks seemed good, but unexpectedly, Wu Tianqi picked Jayce again.

Lu Shi spoke quickly, “It’s over, it’s over. We’re going to lose this one again…” After saying this, he quickly covered his mouth, checking the reaction of the boss behind him.

Today’s match was crucial, so Boss¹Boss Mu and Brother Mu, the same person Mu also came to the venue. However, his way of cheering was quite unique. He brought a small Buddha statue with him, placed it on the table, and devoutly worshiped it. He even lit three sticks of incense.

Lin Lan sprayed the water he was drinking, “Pfft.” He had played professionally for five years, and it was the first time he saw a boss bring a little Buddha to the venue.

His previous bosses didn’t believe in Buddhism. They did all sorts of unethical things for the sake of profit. Two players in the team were frozen by him for a whole two years, and they were only released after almost being punished by the league.

It seemed that they didn’t believe in Buddhism.

Otherwise, how could they not fear retribution?

Lin Lan refocused on the match, quietly watching.

This round was no different from the previous one, and it was even worse than the first round. Wu Tianqi in the top lane was caught again, the mid laner couldn’t hold his ground, the bot lane seemed to be sleepwalking, and Xiao Shengjing’s performance was also quite ordinary. Falling behind in both economy and taking a bath, there was no point in turning the game around.

Lin Lan didn’t need to watch to know the result; it was undoubtedly a loss.

Watching the crystal explode, Boss Mu’s vision went black. “Lost?”

“Yeah,” Coach Zhang nodded.

“Do we have no chance now?”

“You can say that, but you can’t say that. We still have two more games ahead…”

The problem was that the next two opponents were even stronger than today’s.

Boss Mu’s vision darkened, almost fainting from anger. Trembling, he took out his rapid-rescue heart pill and calmed down only after taking two. Lin Lan saw his hand shaking even when holding the cup.

“Boss Mu is going to be furious,” Lu Shi whispered to Lin Lan, leaning in, “I heard that after the investors withdrew, Boss Mu put his entire fortune at stake. He mortgaged his house to the bank. If they can’t advance, he and his wife will have to sleep under a bridge…”

Lin Lan thought Boss Mu wasn’t a qualified capitalist. He actually risked his entire wealth on such a low-probability event?

In the LDL, only the annual champions could directly advance, while the runners-up and third place needed to challenge the bottom teams of the LPL and win to advance. Therefore, DT had at least a tiny chance to reach the top three.

However, after losing this match, DT’s ranking dropped to fourth. They had to win both of the remaining matches to have any chance of turning the situation around. But the remaining two opponents were the first and second teams of the season, and one of them had core players who had been honed in the LPL. DT had no chance against them.

Instead of worshiping a small Buddha here, it might be better to see which bridge had a more comfortable spot.

Lin Lan nonchalantly rubbed his nose, thinking that the comfortable lazy life might end with this. He tried to offer a solution, “Coach, have you considered trying the substitute players?”

To his surprise, Coach Zhang adjusted his glasses and patted his shoulder with a serious tone, “Xiao Lin, Coach understands that you want to play, but the game is not child’s play. You need to understand the coach’s decision.”

Alright then.

Lin Lan didn’t insist.

After all, it was quite absurd to replace a substitute support who had never played with the starting support, who had not made any mistakes.

Back at the training base, Boss Mu seemed to have not recovered from the blow; it was said that he went to the hospital as soon as he got out of the car.

Coach Zhang led a meeting to review the game, casually mentioning that Wu Tianqi seemed a bit overzealous today.

Wu Tianqi exploded instantly, blaming the bot lane with a barrage of complaints, “Didn’t I send you a message that the top laner used teleport to come down? Why didn’t you retreat? You directly gave him a kill. He comes up to the top lane to fight me, how can I play? Tell me how to play? He’s a Gangplank, I’m playing Jayce, and the jungle doesn’t come to help. I can’t play!”

In fact, the bot lane coordination was already good, but unfortunately, the enemy top laner developed too well, and there was no way to escape. If someone had to be blamed, it was because Wu Tianqi gave away too much, yet he couldn’t detain the enemy.

Originally, the blame was on the top lane, but it ended up being shifted to the bot lane. To make it worse, the bot duo silently bore the blame.

Lin Lan, who was watching the drama, couldn’t help but shake his head.

This team should just disband early; it’s truly annoying to watch.

Wu Tianqi didn’t think there was anything wrong with himself. Seeing Lin Lan shaking his head, he exploded again, “What do you mean by shaking your head? Do you think what I said is wrong? Then come up and say it.”

The gaze of everyone followed Wu Tianqi backward.

Lin Lan was sitting in the last row, not drawing much attention, not even getting any light on him. He sat in a very relaxed posture, casually lifting his eyelids as if the end of the world had nothing to do with him.

Originally, he didn’t intend to express his opinion, but seeing Wu Tianqi being so arrogant, he couldn’t help but want to retort. Just as he was about to speak, Xiao Shengjing in front spoke, “Back to the meeting.”

So everyone redirected their attention back to the meeting.

In the darkness, Lin Lan raised an eyebrow slightly.

Was Xiao Shengjing helping him just now?

After the meeting, Lin Lan discreetly followed him, trailing behind until they reached the restroom. He looked at Xiao Shengjing through the large mirror above the sink, and the other party noticed his gaze, lifting his head and asking, “Is there something?”

Lin Lan didn’t like beating around the bush; he asked directly, “Were you helping me just now?”

Xiao Shengjing didn’t answer immediately. He calmly finished washing his hands and gently dried them with a paper towel. “I don’t like the team being too noisy. You don’t have to assume things.”

After listening, Lin Lan turned and left.

He was quite sure this wasn’t a silly dog. If it were, how could the silly dog resist not talking to him?

Xiao Shengjing thought Lin Lan was making trouble for no reason, wanting to start a conversation with him. However, when he looked up, Lin Lan had already left.

Staring at the empty mirror, he suddenly felt a strange sensation, but he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was.

…

Lin Lan returned to his room to sleep. Whether he was contemplating or dreaming, he unexpectedly saw the silly dog in his dream.

The person in front of him was no longer spirited. He sat haggardly in front of the hospital bed, his head lowered, continuously wiping his hands. Despite having wiped them many times, he kept doing it repeatedly, as if nostalgically recalling the past.

Lin Lan seemed to feel a moist touch, but he couldn’t move.

His body became heavier and heavier, consciousness began to detach. Someone shook him forcefully, shaking his head even more, and when Lin Lan opened his eyes drowsily, he saw Lu Shi anxiously shouting by his bedside, “Something happened; our team is in big trouble. Lin Lan, wake up quickly. Xiao Hai’s hand is injured.”

The support’s hand is injured?

Lin Lan instantly became alert.

 

Author’s note:

Changed the plot temporarily, which led to a late update. Tomorrow, I’ll send a small red packet to the lovely readers who leave comments on this chapter~mua~

Thanks to the little angels who sent landmines: Aurora 2; Xiaoan 1;

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  Boss Mu and Brother Mu, the same person