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Chapter 72




Chapter 72
A match in the semi-finals turned out to be a total one-sided thrashing. Be it the commentators or the audiences, everyone is equally confounded.
Is it because PH is too strong or is it because PH is too weak?2
Or does this mean, in a battle of two teams with similarly aggressive styles, it’s much easier for one to trounce the other completely?
Candy tries to find an excuse for the pitiful PH: 【The player who started PH is their Solo-Laner, Qz. Before Goldfish entered PG, Qz was once PG’s Solo-Laner. Because his attempt to fit in ended up in failure, he had no choice but to leave PG and set up PH to enter in this Pro’s League – Just think about it. He must be facing some pressure going up against his former team ba?】
Halfling, by contrast, doesn’t have one ounce of sympathy for PH: 【Before the Elimination Round began, I went back to the matches of every participating team this time. To be honest, I think luck was at play in getting PH into this round. The teams they faced in the Preliminaries were hardly strong. In the Qualifiers, they got sorted into Category B, which is the same as SOS, and were only able to lose 1 – 2 against SOS and qualify for this round by the skin of their teeth.】
Pausing here: 【Being a new team that’s debuting in this season, it is indeed an achievement to be able to snatch a win from a Top 8. Nevertheless, those who have been paying attention the past LDPLs would surely know, SOS have been growing weaker and weaker with every season. In the last season, they even lost to PG and were simply knocked out of the Top 8. 】
【Uh, after listening to your explanation, suddenly, it does feel like it’s only natural for PH to be outclassed by PG…… Afterall, this season’s PG is far stronger than they were in the last pro’s league!】Candy realizes there’s no hope for PH and thus gives up on speaking up for them, 【But with all that said. Even if they can’t beat PG, to not get a single kill off them so far…… Don’t you think that’s too devastating?】
Yes ah. It is so devastating. It’s devastating to the point where the crowd are already desensitized to PG’s berserk kills, no longer cheering as they previously did.
When the match first started, this is their reactions:
“Goldfish’s way too amazing!”
“Is Fei Ge going back to his Jungle Tyrant ways?!”
“GOLDFISH, GOGOGO!”
“Your Fei Ge’s truly still your Fei Ge!”
But near the end of the match, the crowd’s reaction has completely transformed into:
“Oh. Looks like PH’s gonna be aced again.”
“Seems like PG’s intending to zero out PH again.”
“What’s for dinner tonight?”
“Let’s just see what’s around here ba. We’ll go with whatever there is.”1
At last, PG floors PH with 2 – 0. In the first round, they zero out PH. In the second round, PH stole 2 kills off them, but those were because Luo Yiming tower-dived to gank and ended up serving himself on a silver platter.
Additionally, Qin Fei used Burial Sword in the 1st round and got a total of 12 heads. Jing Yu also got 12 of them, but the MVP was alas given to Qin Fei. That’s also the reason why throughout the course of the 2nd round, Jing Yu never stopped outing.
In the 2nd round, Qin Fei went with Satan and secured a total of 10 kills. Jing Yu still went with Moonshadow Spider and got down 18 kills. He’s also thus allocated the MVP by the system. In an instant, the whole fish’s feeling much better~
Qin Fei is still about to say that if he got Burial Sword for the 2nd round, he could’ve definitely gotten a more terrifying score than the 1st round. Yet when he turns his head and spots Jing Yu’s large smile, radiating with happiness, suddenly, it seems like nothing else matters. He smiles exasperatedly: “Good game there.”1
Jing Yu turns his head and meets his gaze. He smiles slightly: “The same goes to you~”
In comparison to PG’s relaxed air, on PH’s side, after Qing Zi loses the match, he wrenches the headphones off his ears and hurtles it brutishly to the ground!
Since there’s still the soundproofing dome between them, no one can pick up the sound from inside. However, just by looking at the way his teammates jumped, it’s quite obvious that the headphones made a significant sound when it crashed to the ground.
Qing Zi’s not content even after crashing his headphones. He rises up brusquely, flipping his gamer’s chair, then he even raises and hurls his own keyboard into the ground!1
The host peers at the situation through the one-way mirror and gets a huge scare: 【What happened?! What’s happening in there? Someone, come take a look!】
The security around the venue immediately spurs into action, circling the five from PH while the audience’s stand plunges into dead silence, anxiously watching the scene unfolding onstage.
Soon enough, the transparent dome opens out towards the sides of the stage. After the members of PG get up from their seats, they are shocked by the state of wreckage over on the other team’s end.
The biggest coward of them all, Ye Hong, ducks behind the other four at once.
Luo Yiming scowls as he attempts to crack his knuckles to no avail…… Nevertheless, he still puts on a tough act: “What? You going to PK us out of game?”
Saying this, he ducks behind Qin Fei with a dead serious face: “It’s a battle! Fei Ge, you’re on!”
Han Leng’s face is also marred with a deep-seated scowl as he tucks Luo Yiming and Jing Yu behind himself: “Stay behind me and Fei Ge, you guys. If a fight really breaks out, leave us behind and make away.”
Since they’re talking damages outside the game, Luo Yiming can hardly bring himself to say his usual “If you’re dying, we’re dying together” words. Upon hearing his warning, he gives a compliant “En.”
Jing Yu, by contrast, doesn’t say half a word from start to end. When he left his gamer’s chair and saw the other team surrounded by the security guards, he didn’t even blink once.
Qin Zi obviously didn’t think his own actions would trigger off the guards. Under the gazes of all present, he naturally doesn’t dare to make a move, but he can’t squash his boiling fury no matter what and jabs a finger at Qin Fei, screeching: “You knew goddamn well how to solo-lane from the beginning! What motherfucking for did you still recruit a solo-laner?! Were you just playing me?!”
Qin Fei closes his eyes. He can’t be bothered to reply.
“Treating people as though they’re at your beck and call, thinking they’ll leave at your orders, calling them to frigging scram just because you’re not happy – Who d’you think you are?! The King?!” Qing Zi’s rage builds the more he spits, “If not for you, this Laozi would have motherfucking be in MY already!”
Luo Yiming reaches the limit of his tolerance with those words. While still tucked behind Qin Fei and Han Leng, he hollers back: “You’d have been a substitute even if you entered MY! You came over to PG because you didn’t want to be a substitute! Don’t toss the pot over to our Fei Ge, alright?!”^
(^The fact that LYM’s the one saying it QAQ)
T/N : you know you mess up real bad if the team joker says something2
Han Leng also says: “We’re all grown-ups. Can you be a bit more mature? It was you who decided to leave MY for PG. Before you came, our Coach made it clear to you that the final say goes to Fei Ge. You agreed to that too!”
Since his teammates have already spoken up for his sake, Qin Fei naturally can’t remain silent still. Thus, he says: “Why waste your breath and words? I’ll just ask you one thing – With this shitty game of yours today, what makes you think you’ve got the right to join PG?”
A single line from him makes Qing Zi struggle to find words. After falling silent for a beat, he turns to get help from his teammates: “Xiao Wai, say something!”
The Jungler Xiao Wai who had briefly played with PG too instantly backs up a step, body language seeming to plead “Don’t look at me.”
Qing Zi’s seriously pissed to the point where he wants to beat someone into the ground: “You wimp! Didn’t you get high trash-talking Qin Fei in private?! Do you lose all guts when you’re facing him in person?!”
“No……” Xiao Wai’s near tears.
“Tsk. How annoying.” Qin Fei simply can’t be bothered to bicker with this bunch. He turns around uncaringly, “Let’s go. We’re heading back to the hotel.”
This time, not a single person stays behind to watch the successive matches. Every member stalks after him wordlessly, heading for the tournament venue’s exit at the side.
The host scrambles to get everything back in place. He coaxes PH off the stage with much effort and then gets the staff to check and see if the equipment was damaged.
Following such an event, Qing Zi and co. still their hands and step off stage but in the end, still unable to bottle their anger, they leave the tournament venue one after another.
The host quickly signals a few guards to follow them with his gaze, if only to prevent the two teams from breaking out a fight outside the venue.
The moment they step foot in the hotel, Qin Fei casts the steely order of “No one’s to step even half a step out of the hotel.”
Even if he can fight, in a situation where he doesn’t know how strong Qing Zi is, he wouldn’t go head to head with him.
The news of this event spreads briskly online – Not long after they arrive back at their hotel, the forum’s already got burgeoning posts about “PG zeros out PH in the Semi-Finals, PH can’t take it and screeches at PG thereafter”.
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The general consensus is in PG’s favour.
【I went and searched up PG and PH’s full names, and only then did I find out…… PH’s way too agitating! PG’s already doing them a favour by not bashing them up, but they’re actually turning their fists on PG?!】
【In e-sports, being a veggie is the greatest sin! Qz’s such a veggie yet he still dreams of joining PG? Where’d he get all his shame from?】
【They can’t win in-game so they went for a PK out of it? If you can’t bear losing, then don’t be an e-sports player ah!】
After scrolling through all these discussions and replies, PG feels much better.
An uneventful afternoon passes them right by. At night, save for Qin Fei who’s still dead to the world, the other four round up in Ye Hong’s room to play the mobile edition of 《Demon Lord》, alternatively known as 《Demon Lord: War of the Demons》.
Ye Hong: “Yiming, why did you die again?”
LuoYiming: “I must be playing a fake Dark Cupid!”
Han Leng: “You’re really taking this to be the desktop edition? Reign yourself in!”
Jing Yu: “It’s okay! I’ll carry him!”
Ye Hong: “……Why did you die as well?”
Jing Yu: “Tsk! I must be playing a fake Frozen Heart!”
Ye Hong’s torn between tears and laughter.
In the end, after losing three consecutive matches, the four people uninstall the game app one after another.
Ye Hong: “Ai. To think we got worse after the game’s watered down.”
Jing Yu: “If only Fei Ge could also join in with us.”
Luo Yiming: “I’m parched.”
Han Leng: “Ye Zi, go get a cup of water for Yiming.”
Ye Hong: “Why’s it me?”
Luo Yiming: “I don’t feel like drinking water. Do we have some sodas?”
Jing Yu falters: “I want some soda too. Why don’t I go get them now? Tell me what you want.”
Ye Hong: “Ah, you’re so nice!”
Thus, the trio make a list of the beverages and snacks they’d like. Jing Yu remembers it all after listening to it once. He blithely picks up his phone and takes the elevator down.
The trio continue to chit-chat as they used to. Some time passes before Luo Yiming wonders aloud: “Where did Goldfish go? It’s taking him a while ah…… Speaking of which, he’s such a nice person!”
Ye Hong: “True, true. Little Goldfish’s got a winning personality. He never loses his temper and he’s never difficult with us. Oftentimes, he’ll take initiative to do things.”
Han Leng: “He gives off the image of a good boy. Going by his disposition alone, he totally doesn’t resemble an orphan who’s lived a hard life.”
Ye Hong: “Speaking of which, I’ve always suspected he’s a rich second generation kid who ran from home. Do you guys think—”
Before he gets to share his thoughts on it, the door’s abruptly knocked upon. Ye Hong startles, heading to the door uncertainly: “Who’s there?”
“Me.” The one-worded answer carries a familiar intimidating tone.
“Fei Ge?” Ye Hong opens the door and as expected, Qin Fei is indeed the one standing outside.
He still seems to be slightly sleepy, yawning as he enters the room and takes a one-over of the room: “You guys sure are gutsy, playing mobile games in a group. Aren’t you scared of the Coach telling you off?”
Not waiting for an answer, he suddenly stills, asking sceptically: “Where’s Jing Yu?”
At this moment in time, Ye Hong still hasn’t realized what’s wrong. He answers casually: “He went out to get some sodas.”
“Fuck!” Qin Fei cusses and swiftly whirls around to leave. When leaving the room, he doesn’t even turn to look back at them as he yells, “I told you to not take half a step out of the hotel, and what do you do?!”+
Then, “BANG!” The door slams close!
Ye Hong: ! ! !
This is bad! Is Little Goldfish in danger?!