Jing Yu is å§ by his first reaction. His second reaction is ā Mommy! The God is just sitting by my side! And he even poured a cup of water for me just now!
His third reaction ā Finished. Iām finished. My behavior just now doesnāt have any problems ba? I didnāt leave a bad impression on the God ba??
His fourth reaction ā Heavens, Iām so happy! Happy to the point where Iām about to faintā¦ā¦
His fifth reaction ā AUTOGRAPH!!! Right, I can faint. But the autograph cannot be forgotten!
Qin Fei and Jing Yu stare at each other. Seeing as if he hasnāt budged for half a day, Qin Fei canāt help but raise a hand to wave it before his eyes: āStill alive?ā
Jing Yu blinks at once, coming back to reality: āFei Ge! Iāve liked you for a long time!ā
Qin Fei: āLeave the autograph aside for now.ā
āCan you help me sign aā¦ā¦. err?ā
Jing Yu blanks out for a second. He didnāt think Qin Fei would already know his thoughts.
The God said, āLeave it aside for nowā. Of course, he will obediently zip his mouth and wait.
Qin Fei carefully appraises the youth by his side. He claimed he is 20 years old, yet he looks no different from a minor. Perhaps itās because his lower jawline is overly soft. It causes his side profile to be slightly androgynous. Itās no wonder Luo Yiming mistook him for a girl then.
Actually, he is fairly good-looking. However, rather than saying heās handsome, itād be more accurate to say heās beautiful. Especially that pair of eyes. Under the light, they become a sparkling pair of bright ambers. The more one looks at them, the more entrancing they become.
Heās totally different from the image Qin Fei had in mind. Heās not a hikkikomori**, an obese frame packed with layers of fat. Neither is he an arrogant little brat, mistaking himself to be the top of the world.
(**hikkikomori č¶³äøåŗę·: Someone who never steps out of the house. I used the Japanese equivalent to be more concise.)
Donning a white shirt, heās a very clean and pure-looking person; just like a newborn cub.
Towards this kind of person, even if itās the normally fierce and overbearing Qin Fei, his tone still softens subconsciously: āToday, weāve got a practice match at 2pm. The opponent is the team that ranked seventh in the last PGL, Ane. Youāre playing the jungler in this match.ā
āEr? Then, youā¦ā¦ā
āIāll play solo-laner.ā Qin Fei does not hesitate to say, āThe one whoās originally supposed to play solo-laner couldnāt keep up, so he left. That was two days ago.ā
Standing off to the side, the edges of Luo Yimingās lips curve up. He whispers to Han Leng beside him: āThat guy got scared away by Fei Ge.ā
Han Leng shrugs.
āAre there any problems?ā Qin Fei seriously asks Jing Yu.
Faced with such a serious tone, it makes Jing Yu somewhat not dare to meet his eyes: āNoā¦ā¦ā
āAlright. Ye Zi, take him to go familiarize himself with the equipment.ā
āOK.ā
The person seated on the coffee table rises to his feet, heading towards the training room at the side of the living room. This is the training room dedicated to the official members of pg. It only has five PCs.
Ye Hongās appearance gives off the impression of a calm and mature man. Therefore, walking next to him, Jing Yu loses all pressure he had when he was facing Qin Fei, instantly becoming more lively:
āActually, I also like you a lot~ Everyone else all finish a fight before they slip away, yet you always slip away before turning around to gank them.ā
āItās a necessity ah. Ganking and stuffs like that, theyāre the most satisfying way to win~ā
Jing Yu å§ for a moment: āBut you are a mage.ā
āActually, Iām still alright. At least I know how to retreat.ā Ye Long smiles conversationally, āWhen Blondie starts fighting, thatās the true definition of not recognizing oneās family**.ā
(**Not recognizing oneās family å äŗ²äø认: basically, he plays without concern for allies or enemies)
Blondie ā Luo Yiming ā one ā pgās marksman.
āOhh~ā Jing Yu matches the nickname to the person with some difficulty. āHis character control is also quite good. Moreover, he frequently clinches MVP.ā
āThatās because the marksmanās in the C position** ma! You use this PC.ā Ye Hong points to the innermost computer and tells Jing Yu, āThat PC to your side is Fei Geās. His things, youāre better off not touching.ā
(**C position cä½: Center position: Carries the team as the name suggests)
āEn, I wonāt touch them.ā Jing Yu gets over to sit before the innermost computer.
The screen is turned on, but the desk is very clean, as though itās never been used.
Jing Yu double-clicks the game icon to open the login interface, keying in his own account password to re-enter the game.
āHave you gotten used to the mouse and keyboard yet?ā Ye Hong slips into the center seat, logging into his account.
The account which heās using is his side account. Itās exactly the jkll who sent a message to Jing Yu before.
Jing Yu tests the mouse in his hand. It feels alright, but heāll still need to familiarise himself a bit: āIām playing a match to get used to it. Are you game?ā
āGame on, letās form a tag team!ā Ye Hong immediately replies, a step ahead of Jing Yu in sending him a team formation request. Jing Yu clicks to accept.
At this moment, Qin Fei, Luo Yiming, and Han Leng, these three people, are still seated on the large living roomās sofa, resting.
Luo Yiming takes the seat Jing Yu had sat before, poking at the box of cake atop the coffee table: āWhose birthday is it today ah?ā
āNo oneās. Jing Yu brought it over. Itās a meeting gift ba, perhaps.ā Whilst saying this, Qin Fei is a little uncertain himself.
They still havenāt decided whether to sign a contract with him. Itās enough for him to come in person, what for does he still bring a cake?
He naturally wouldnāt have guessed, this cake is something Jing Yu specially bought for him. The others just happen to be stained by his glory.
Luo Yiming isnāt reserved. Heās already tearing the ribbon from the cake box, but his hand is slapped away by Qin Fei: āHavenāt you already had enough for lunch?ā
Luo Yiming continues to paw at the box: āIf we donāt eat it, itād be a waste ah~ Ever heard of after-meal dessert?ā
This time, even Han Leng canāt bear to keep watching. With one hand, he seizes Luo Yimingās restless paw: āEven so, we should wait for Jing Yu and Ye Zi to eat together.ā
Saying this, he suddenly thought of a problem. Han Leng looks at Qin Fei, āThatās right, Fei Ge. The matter regarding Jing Yuā¦ Have you told the Coach yet?ā
pg this team consists of four members: Qin Fei is 20, Luo Yiming 19, and Ye Hong and Han Leng are both 21. However, they all address Qin Fei as Fei Ge.
Qin Fei has long gotten used to it. Being called āGe**ā by people older than him gives him no pressure at all. He evenly replies: āNope. Iāll mention it when he drops by.ā
(**Geå„: Big Bro)
These past few days, pgās Coach, former pro-gamer Fang Luofan, has been splitting his head over the matter of a solo-laner.
Solo-laners are not hard to find. Itās just, solo-laners who are able to keep up with Qin Feiās paceā¦. Theyāre fewer than few ā No. Theyāre absolutely impossible to find!
Yet, for the solo-laner serving who serves as a tank* for the whole team, if they canāt keep up, the entire teamās survivability will take a plunge. Itāll be easy for the entire team to be wiped out.
(*tank ę伤害: aka. meatshield. The player that draws attention and damage away from the allies to let the allied party fulfil the objective.)
āThis is killing meā¦ā¦ā The 30-year-old Fang Luofan is anxious to the point where all his hair is ready to turn white.
Three years ago, due to a car accident, he suffered a bone fracture in his right hand, regretfully bidding farewell to the e-sports circle.
Subsequently, even though his injury healed, his APM* could no longer compare to his youthful days, leaving him to only narrate the games.
(*APM, Actions Per Minute: How many moves the player can make each minute using the keyboard)
ā Until three months ago, a team calling themselves pg appeared out of nowhere. In the elimination round, they played recklessly, clinching tickets for the qualifiers. Almost at the same time, they extended an olive branch to him, inviting him to guide pg as their coach.
To date, Fang Luofan is unable to forget the first time he met Qin Fei offline.
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This youth bearing a face full of ferocity lifted his chin and used an insufferably confident tone to tell him: āI will win the championship. Both yours, and mine.ā
At that time, Qin Fei played as a solo-laner.
When Fang Luofan was still a pro-gamer, the position he played was precisely a solo-laner.
Qin Fei never mentioned which pro-gamer is his favourite, but in his playing style, Fang Luofan spotted a trace of himself from back in the old days.
Perhaps, itās because of this reason. Fang Luofan suffered a momentary lapse in judgement and accepted Qin Feiās invitation.
Back at that time, Luo Yiming had yet to join pg. pgās marksman is Han Leng ā Thatās right. Itās the present Support.
pgās Support and Jungler back then were all Qin Feiās high school friends. After helping Qin Fei to beat his way into the qualifiers, they left pg single-mindedly to focus on their studies.
Qin Fei couldnāt find any teammates and therefore had no way to continue playing in the matches. Itās then that he finally found Fang Luofan. Though he was inviting an coach to guide pg on the surface, itād be more accurate to say he was borrowing Fang Luofanās reputation in the e-sports circle to gather new teammates.
Fang Luofan didnāt disappoint him. On the second day of practice, he actually dug out an overlooked Luo Yiming from another team.
Luo Yiming is a marksman, yet he just likes to gank relentlessly. In the long run, this wins the team nothing, so he was loathed to high heavens by his original team. Yet, it is exactly this behaviour of his which made Fang Luofan uncover his natural talent for character control*.
(*character control čµ°ä½: as the term suggests, it is the degree to which you can control your Demon. LYM might even be able to dance the Meow-Meow Dance to the beat, Iād bet)
Luo Yiming loves to PK* indeed. But he also didnāt stupidly rush forward to receive a beating. As a marksman, his character control is remarkably flexible. The foeās marksman is only rarely capable of sniping him down.
(*PK ā Player Kill)
What about Han Leng? When playing as a Marksman, heās all kinds of overlooked, but when playing Support, heās fiercer than anyone else, even comparable to Qin Fei in intensity.
Just like that, pgās initial style and development direction were set.
Then, a grave problem reared its ugly head ā The jungler couldnāt keep up!
Actually, before switching out countless solo-laners, pg already exhausted their supply of junglers. Itās just that at the time, pg hadnāt yet barged out of the Elimination Round, so the spotlight wasnāt on them and nobody noticed.
In this manner, pg continued to switch teammates whilst honing their style and competing in matches. In the end, it was under Qin Fei this battle warrior of a junglerās lead that pg successfully snatched victory in the qualifiers.
The solo-laner is less critical in the opening stage of the game. As most team battles in the earlier half of the game are focused on the mid-laner, marksman, and the jungler, the solo-laner rarely participates in them. Therefore, until they are able to find a permanent teammate, Fang Luofan decided to first give up on the top lane, focusing on strengthening the bottom and mid lanes.
Just like that, Qin Fei was plugged into the Jungler position by him.
Afterall, pgās style is to focus on the earlier half of the game. So long as they managed to secure an advantage in the first half, winning would not be that difficult in the end.
The facts have proven Fang Luofanās decision was not wrong.
Playing in this manner, despite sacrificing the top lane, pg was able to secure a string of victories in the qualifiers, snatching the tickets to the official tournament, hyping up their popularity with every match.
At that time, pgās popularity was unrivalled by any team in the in circuit. So long as it was a gamer, everyone knew pg.
And yet, the reality is always harsh and merciless ā In the official tournament of the eight strongest thereafter, pg was crushed.
Thereās nothing more to be said. The words suffice: They were crushed.
In the round-robin tournament, whilst matching up against the other 7 of the Top 8 in a Bo3*, all matches received a devastating score of 0 ā 2. -14, this terrifying score was just like a bucket of cold water, dowsing pgās newly gained fans from the qualifiers till their hearts were cold**.
(*Bo3 = Best of Three. So, they play 3 matches and the first to score 2 victories wins the game)
(** till their hearts were cold ęµäŗäøŖéåæå: āBecause the expectations they bore were too high, they lost every ounce of faith in pgāāmeaning.)
Nevertheless, despite their loss, Qin Feiās individual performance in the official tournament dazzled and drew the eyes of many. A good number of games led by him were all pretty good. Itās only a pity ā the solo-laner canāt keep up!
Fang Luofan is really about to be worried to death.
Heās woefully aware, if they do not resolve the matter of the solo-laner, donāt talk about the Official Tournament in the Fourth PGL, they wonāt even be able to bear through the Elimination Round.
The last two survivors of the Elimination Round enter the Qualifiers, only after securing victory in the Qualifiers then are they able to re-enter the ranks of the Best 8, earning the right to go up against the strongest teams.
āIām sorry, Senior Fang Luofan. I am aware of my own flaws. I know I canāt keep up with pgās pace, soā¦ā¦ā
āItās okay. Since youāve already made your decision, thenā¦ā¦ I wish you all the best.ā Fang Luofan hangs up with a sigh.
Even this last splinter of hope has been slaughtered, pgā¦ā¦ Do they really have no choice but to adjust their playing style?
Fang Luofan lets out another sigh, downing his cup of coffee in one go. Then, he leaves the cafe, heading towards pgās clubhouse.
Letās first talk to Qin Fei about how to bear through todayās practice match ba.
******
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