At exactly eight o’clock in the evening, the big screen, which had been playing a highlight reel of the matches, suddenly dimmed. Following that, the powerful title “Devour,” along with its distinctive icon, appeared at the center of the screen.
Accompanied by an incredibly stirring melody, a beam of light ignited the pitch-black stage, which was split in two: the left side was a brilliant orange-red, while the right was a deep, tranquil blue.
These two colors represented the two teams in the finals: the deep blue stood for the Chenzhou team, which topped the season’s overall points leaderboard, and the orange-red represented the previous year’s champions, the Cheng Guo team, who was ranked second this year and had been closely pursuing the lead.
The big screen split into two, sliding over the faces of the players from both teams. As each player’s face appeared on the screen, the commentators aptly introduced their names, professions, and records to the audience.
After these shots were completed, accompanied by the host’s barely concealed excitement, the grand finals of the Devour Cup finally commenced.
Since the last time Ye Zhou played the game with Boss Jiang, which resulted in Boss Jiang being criticized, and with work keeping him extremely busy, Ye Zhou had hardly touched the game. Now, after such a long time, he found the skills and movements on the screen somewhat unfamiliar.
Fortunately, the two commentators invited by the organizers were very reliable. In addition to explaining some of the jargon, they provided spot-on commentary for every attack and defense from both sides, allowing even players with a shallow understanding of the game to follow the match with their help.
Of course, this only applied to the parts of the game that the commentators could explain. In such high-level matches, despite the high quality of the commentary, it was still not possible to cover everything. Some details that even the commentators missed could only be understood by the top players themselves.
Just like now.
The match had been going on for ten minutes, with both sides having secured almost equal resources. The Cheng Guo team initiated the attack, leading to a very tense exchange.
The Cheng Guo team tried several times to focus fire on the healer, but each attempt was thwarted by the Chenzhou team’s defense, which was as solid as a wall of bronze and iron. Undeterred, Cheng Guo continued the standoff for nearly two minutes until their controller, under the cover of their own healer, successfully immobilized Chenzhou’s controller—a freeze lasting five seconds.
In a match where victory is the goal, every mistake can become a significant obstacle. Five seconds in a competition of this caliber can have dire consequences if not adjusted in time and exploited by the opponent.
After immobilizing the controller, the entire Cheng Guo team immediately switched targets, aiming to swiftly take down Chenzhou’s controller with the speed of lightning.
The importance of control in a professional team cannot be overstated; a good controller can even lead the whole team to carry the game. A team lacking control faces a significant blow to their entire combat system.
The hearts of all the spectators were in their throats, especially the fans of the Chenzhou team, who watched with bated breath, not daring to even sigh, fearing that their team would be breached in the next second.
Ye Zhou was no exception; he naturally hoped his team would win. Although he was not deeply versed in the game, he clearly understood that the current situation was highly unfavorable for Chenzhou, and the slightest carelessness could lead to losing the entire match.
“Save him, you must save the controller!”
This was the silent plea of countless Chenzhou fans. Ye Zhou, too, was so agitated that he straightened his back unconsciously, staring motionlessly at the screen, his nerves tense.
Jiang Tingyuan, seeing his tension, whispered softly in his ear, “Your team has a plan.”
Before Ye Zhou could grasp the meaning of these words, he saw on the screen that after several failed attempts to rescue their teammate, the remaining four members of the Chenzhou team seemed to give up completely, turning their attack on the Cheng Guo healer in a seemingly self-destructive move.
Allowing their own controller to be brutally beaten, the four players, after a symbolic attempt at rescue, effectively sacrificed their controller.
The commentator’s voice, filled with excitement, analyzed the progress of both teams: “Currently, both teams have chosen to focus fire, but the difference is that Cheng Guo is targeting Chenzhou’s controller, while Chenzhou is targeting Cheng Guo’s healer.”
“The situation now must be a tactic that Cheng Guo team had planned early on. As everyone knows, the controller player of Chenzhou team is still a newcomer who has not been in the field for long, and is also Chenzhou’s weakest link.”
“They feigned an attack on Chenzhou’s healer but then took control of the controller during the tense standoff. However, Chenzhou’s situation does not look optimistic. Compared to the proactive Cheng Guo, their move to focus fire on Cheng Guo’s healer seems to be a move of desperation.”
“The Chenzhou players are quite fiery today, coming in with their ultimates. According to the records, within just one minute, the mana bars of the four players have already been depleted by more than half. If they continue to fight under such a high load, I’m afraid…”
At this point, Commentator A’s voice suddenly stopped sharply. In response to his partner’s inquiring gaze, he spoke with a somewhat hoarse voice, “…Let’s pay attention to the health bars of Chenzhou’s controller and Cheng Guo’s healer.”
Following Commentator A’s words, the camera immediately gave a close-up of both sides’ health bars.
With the help of this close-up shot, many spectators on-site and those watching the live broadcast across the country were stunned.
The reason was simple: the health bar of Chenzhou’s controller, who had been targeted first, still had one-third remaining, while the health bar of Cheng Guo’s healer, who had been targeted later, was noticeably shorter than that of Chenzhou’s controller.
This – this is illogical.
Not to mention that healers inherently have more health than other classes and possess skills to heal themselves.
The controller class, on the contrary, is the most fragile of all classes. Most importantly, Cheng Guo focused fire on Chenzhou’s controller much earlier than Chenzhou did on their healer, during which Chenzhou even wasted a lot of time trying to save their own controller twice, missing the best opportunity to focus fire.
In the midst of everyone’s disbelief, Xu Cheng successfully depleted Cheng Guo’s healer’s health bar with a beautiful ultimate move, swiftly devouring it and gaining a significant boost in all attributes, with an attack far greater than at the beginning.
After easily taking down Cheng Guo’s healer, the audience’s anticipated reversal did not occur, and the Chenzhou team ultimately secured the first victory of the day with a score of 1:0.
Ye Zhou, in disbelief, turned and asked, “Did we win?”
“Yes,” Boss Jiang nodded, patted his head, and slowly said, “The controller was bait. If you’re interested, you can go back and watch the replay, and you will find that your team played this hand very well.”
Highly focused during the match, one tends to overlook many details. Now, with Boss Jiang’s hint, Ye Zhou understood somewhat, looking at Boss Jiang’s eyes as if they were shining, with undisguised admiration.
“Jiang-ge, you’re too amazing!” Ye Zhou’s extravagant flattery was relentless, but halfway through, he suddenly realized, “Wait, Jiang-ge, don’t you not play games? How do you know all this?”
Jiang Tingyuan’s lips curved slightly, meeting Ye Zhou’s gaze, he said nonchalantly, “I have invested in ‘Devour,’ so I’m fairly familiar with it.”
Ye Zhou: “…”
??? You rich people really have a lot of tricks!
With the first match as a foundation, if Cheng Guo team wins the second match, it would lead to overtime. If Chenzhou wins this crucial match, then naturally, the championship belongs to Chenzhou.
Due to the miscalculation in the first match, Cheng Guo’s playstyle was very cautious this round. They no longer dared to employ risky tactics like before, knowing that any slight mistake caught by Chenzhou could turn the tide against them, rendering all their efforts this season in vain.
Under such immense pressure, their playstyle was much more conservative compared to the previous round. On the other hand, Chenzhou team, perhaps because they had a safety net from the previous win, played the entire team much more relaxedly, with one flashy move after another, dazzling all the spectators and even leaving the commentators breathless.
Being cautious is good, but being overly cautious is not necessarily so. In this round, Cheng Guo’s desire for stability ultimately led to their defeat under Chenzhou’s flexible adaptability and innovative tactics.
As the word ‘Victory’ flashed in golden light on Xu Cheng’s computer screen, he sat in the player’s seat, silent for a long time, staring blankly at the screen. It’s uncertain how much time passed before he gently reached out, touching the shimmering characters on the screen.
The other team members had already left, but the vice-captain came to his side, covering Xu Cheng’s hand with his own. He chuckled softly, half-hugging his shoulder, and remarked, “It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?”
“The fourth championship,” Xu Cheng finally snapped back to reality, turned his head, and laughed with him. But as he laughed, his eyes reddened, and a thin layer of mist gathered at the bottom of his eyes, “I thought I’d never have the chance again in this lifetime.”
“Of course, you had a chance.” The vice-captain’s hand on his exerted a slight pressure, as if to transfer his own strength to him.
Following Xu Cheng’s gaze back to the screen pulsating with ‘Victory,’ he said softly, “Flowers have their days of bloom, and people can be youthful again, just like Mr. Ye often says.”
“…What?”
“You’re still young, and as long as you wish, the future holds endless possibilities.” With that, the vice-captain’s gaze toward Xu Cheng was filled with an unusual softness, “You will go very far on this path, today is just a new beginning.”
The blessings were sincere, but… so was the regret.
“You will always accompany me, right?” Xu Cheng asked.
“Of course.” The vice-captain did not hesitate, as if the flicker of regret in his eyes had never appeared. He patted Xu Cheng’s shoulder and said, “Let’s go, it’s time to go out and reclaim our honor. Mr. Ye is waiting for us outside.”
Upon hearing this, Xu Cheng rubbed his eyes. When he opened them again, the mist had cleared, and he was once again the irascible captain of the Chenzhou team who brooked no dissent.
As he stood at the center of the stage, amidst countless cheers and applause, Xu Cheng and his teammates received the official trophy, symbolizing the highest honor of ‘Devour.’ Almost immediately, he spotted Ye Zhou, who was clapping enthusiastically in the crowd below the stage.
He exchanged glances with a few teammates, and to everyone’s surprise, they suddenly made an unexpected move.
The five members of the Chenzhou team holding the trophy jumped off the stage and walked over to a stunned Ye Zhou in the VIP seats, presenting the trophy to him.
Xu Cheng said, “Mr. Ye, thank you for your support all this time. We have fulfilled our mission and achieved our dream, thanks to your help. This trophy is our gift to you.”
“I hope it can also fulfill the e-sports dream in your heart.”
Ye Zhou: …?
Dream? What dream? What e-sports dream?
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