Commentator A: “I have no doubt about that too. Alright, let us watch the match.”

In the voice chat channel.

Nuo: “Feeling an odd tiredness all of a sudden, I don’t want to play the third match, will I be walloped to death if I walk off stage now?”

Ji Zhiyao: “Silly child, what foolish words are you spouting, of course you will.”

Mo Huaifeng: “The center positions have yet to say anything, look at how arrogant you’re getting. What right does a player who follows behind my butt all day long, collecting what I left out, have to say you’re exhausted?”

Nuo: “What’s wrong with collecting what you missed! There is dignity in that too! Do you think any random person is qualified to follow behind you to pick up what you left out!”

Heng: “This flattery was given so conspicuously, a model example for all of us.”

K: “For some reason, I keep having a sort of ominous feeling.”

Ji Zhiyao: “Stop right there! Each time you guys have such a hunch, it’s always nothing good.”

K: “Do you see the champions chosen by the opponents? Still don’t sense anything?”

Heng: “I saw, I think we’re doomed.”

After all, it was very alarming when King battleteam who always had a strong intent to kill brought out a bunch of defensive champions!

Mo Huaifeng: “It won’t be easy, we will only have an advantage if we drag the match into the later stage.”

Ji Zhiyao: “The song Chilly ¹ ourselves, ready, sing”

K: “The chilly night, secures my doom.”

Heng: “Like how sadness always seem to surround me.”

Nuo: “The cold heaven’s will, cannot be explained.”

Ji Zhiyao: “Chances of winning streaming away.”

Mo Huaifeng: “Shut up.”

In the course of laning, Heng was locked in the middle lane once again, he was already at the state where abhorrence grew in him once he saw Boxer’s face. “Where has our jungler gone too? Come and save your child quickly.”

Ji Zhiyao responded with a polite smile while jungling. “Are you lacking calcium, can’t stand alone without any support?”

Heng: “If admitting my calcium deficiency can make you come save me, then sure, I am lacking.”

Ji Zhiyao was suddenly speechless.

Boxer had become much smarter in this match, his eyes completely fixed on Heng, Ji Zhiyao had no way of doing so even when he wanted to assist him in the middle lane and could only wish Heng good luck.

Heng nagged, “Good luck my ass, you guys better pray that Captain can carry us, our middle lane has directly collapsed today, although I am a person with dreams, my dreams aren’t enough to offset the gap between me and Boxer.”

With regards to this Mo Huaifeng said, “if you can’t beat him then say that you’re no match for him, shut up.”

Heng shut his mouth aggrievedly.

And Ji Zhiyao also felt the resistance from the jungle. Due to unfamiliarity and various other reasons, Mina performed a “the doors to my house are always wide open” with his jungle in the previous match. Yet the nature of this match was vastly different, perhaps he lost the key to his house, Ji Zhiyao realized that the defense of the opposite jungle became really tight, Mina would walk past several concealed and convenient hiding spots occasionally which prevented Ji Zhiyao from counter-jungling.

On top of that, Boxer had not only caught onto Heng, in his spare time, he would even come near Ji Zhiyao with Mina to harass him, leading to Ji Zhiyao having to recall frequently as he could not dodge their attacks in time.

Ji Zhiyao: “It’s over, the opposite is clutching so tightly onto me, feels like we’re doomed.”

Nuo: “Everyone being defeated together in the waves of friendship, this feels unusually amazing.”

It was as if the five players of King had eaten Popeye’s spinach and used hacks, since they couldn’t get Mo Huaifeng, they went for Heng, obstructed Ji Zhiyao, a match turned into phases of 2v1 or 3 vs the whole team… And lasted till the 40th minute, King took down the big dragon with a dominance of almost 5000 more gold and destroyed Mix battleteam’s base.

The moment he pulled off his headphones, Ji Zhiyao was even slightly disoriented. He looked towards King battleteam opposite who were pulling off their headphones and cheering, everyone’s silence next to him seemed to turn into a low hum, ringing in his mind.

They lost.

1-2.

Seemed like they hadn’t lost too badly.

Merely second place in the group, they still had a chance.

They probably wouldn’t get hate comments for playing to this extent right?

These odd thoughts knotted in his brain, tangling up Ji Zhiyao’s reflex arc that wasn’t too outstanding in the first place, as his brain throbbed, on the outside, it appeared as him not packing his own equipment and instead sitting and dazing in his seat… For more than 10 seconds, Mo Huaifeng was the first to notice his abnormality, reaching out to graze his forehead, he said in a very warm voice, “Let’s go, shake hands.”

Ji Zhiyao turned his head, then nodded.

Packed up their equipment, then stood in line according to their seating sequence when competing, preparing to shake hands with the winner. Before today, Ji Zhiyao did not experience much of a stir in his feelings when he shook hands after each game, yet when he stood before King battleteam and the hands of Linka and the others one by one, hearing their thoughts or well wishes spoken very sincerely in a language that he could not understand, a brimming feeling of unwilling defeat rose in his heart.

They should not have lost.

They had the capability to win this game, just like their second game.

Whether it was mistakes made in selecting their lineup of champions or mistakes in judgment throughout the matches, going for the dragons at wrong timings, such low-level mistakes shouldn’t have been made.

Hence before walking offstage, Ji Zhiyao looked towards Mo Huaifeng.

Mo Huaifeng lifted the corner of his lips as he looked at him.

“Captain, our finals can be won yeah.”

Mo Huaifeng smiled at him.

Nodding. “It can. Don’t be scared, let me carry you.”

…

Five days later, night of the finals.

Coming from 10 professional leagues all around the world, a total of 26 battleteams, the triennial fateful battle was finally about to usher in an ending.

The largest hall on the site.

There would be six games taking place here today.

At the participants’ seats under the stage, Ji Zhiyao shifted his butt restlessly, while complaining about the rules. “What the hell, only one match between two battleteams, deciding the outcome in just one match? That’s too hasty.”

The stats analyzer said, “That is why it’s called night of the finals, if it isn’t sped up, how would it be possible to finish all the games in one night?”

Mo Huaifeng turned over and asked Ji Zhiyao, “A.K is coming?”

“Yeah, master said he has already arrived. And will be watching me compete later. What so I do? I’m so nervous right now that I feel like peeing in my pants.”

“You’re not the starter, what are you nervous about?”

Ji Zhiyao was suddenly enlightened. “Oh right!”

Xiao sighed. “I’m right beside you. Can you guys not drive the dagger in? I’m about to pee too.”

Nuo assured everyone. “Stay steady don’t be afraid, we are men who have seen the world, what’s there to be afraid of?”

K agreed. “Exactly, second place in the group. Steadily one of the final four, aiming for at least a second place and striving to be the champion, we’re not weak.”

Ji Zhiyao murmured, “If someone told me two years ago that I would be sitting in this seat, waiting to play the finals in the international league, I might have sent him to the psychiatry department in the hospital.”

Yuan Wei nodded. “Yeah, who would’ve thought. At the start when Captain wanted to bring a little broadcaster into the team I opposed with all my might, to think I would be reduced to being your nanny in the end.”

They were softly spouting nonsense to calm their nervous when a bang suddenly sounded from the stage, four huge screens lit up at once. The hosts walked on stage. “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the final night of the 9th International League!”

“Tonight, belongs to every one of you who ardently loves Heroes!”

“Next I will announce the four teams participating in the finals and the sequence of competing.”

“Group A, first in the group, King battleteam from Korea!”

At the participants’ seats, a beam of light shone onto all the members and staff of King battleteam from the top. Alongside the thunderous applause and cheers, they waved and bowed at the audience.

“Group A, second in the group, Mix battleteam from China.”

The same beam of light appeared above Mix battleteam, Ji Zhiyao stood up with the rest and waved to greet the audience behind them.

The Chinese audience with the miniature national flags on their faces cheered at the top of their voice, the sound not any softer than the Korean audience.

How many years has it been!

This moment finally came for China eSports!

Entering the finals of the international league seemed to have become an unreachable dream for China eSports player.

But today, they did it!

So much so that innumerable local eSports fans had thought to themselves, even if Mix battleteam’s Captain and jungler reserve had come out of the closet, but before such results, it seems… It wasn’t that unacceptable.

“Group B, first in the group, Vita battleteam from Korea.”

Hearing this name, Ji Zhiyao’s eyes widened slightly as he asked Mo Huaifeng, “Captain, Vita has become this good?”

“King and a few other strong teams are all on our side, if Vita performed well, it’s not odd at all that they topped their group.”

Ji Zhiyao came to understand quickly and nodded.

“Group B, second in the group, AZ battleteam from North America.”

After announcing the four battleteam, the host read aloud the competing sequence, it was in proper order, King vs AZ, Mix vs Vita, Mix vs AZ, Vita vs King, Vita vs AZ, King vs Mix.

To this, the stats analyzer said, “Not bad, our battleteam can even be the closing game now.”

A corner of Heng’s lips twitched. “CEO Ning, you are truly optimistic. I get a headache once I see those four letters now.”

Ji Zhiyao looked towards the stage. “Why are they still not announcing the official start of the games?”

Mo Huaifeng looked over too, frowning as he answered, “I don’t know.”

Yet in a few seconds, the host revealed the answer. “Next up let’s welcome our special guest, the previous top international jungler, A.K!”

The entire hall screamed!

Another elevated platform on the stage lit up!

Ji Zhiyao’s eyes were bright, looking over, he realized that the composed A.K on the seat seemed to have spotted him and waved in his direction.

Ji Zhiyao excitedly wanted to return the greeting, but was held down by Mo Huaifeng.

“What are you doing? Let go of me!”

“Behave, don’t make eyes at each other.”

“Teacher-student relationship? Brother, your thoughts are very dangerous.”

Mo Huaifeng gazed at him from above. “Just no looking.”

Ji Zhiyao raised his hands in surrender. “Alright, alright, alright, whatever you say. I shan’t look then.”

Mo Huaifeng was satisfied then.

Having introduced A.K, the host then announced the official start to the games.

First match, King vs AZ.

Long story short, it was a game that wasn’t worth watching.

Ji Zhiyao watched for about 15 minutes, before starting to play with his fingers. Mo Huaifeng saw and leaned over, calling him arrogant, Ji Zhiyao rebutted, “Arrogant my ass, I am spending my energy on where I should? Compared to King, AZ is just lousy, I’ve got no eyes for this game.”

Mo Huaifeng had nothing to say.

There was indeed nothing much to watch for, but to have it said so explicitly by Ji Zhiyao, did AZ not want their pride?

In about 30 minutes, AZ lost. The following match was Mix and Vita’s turn.

Ji Zhiyao still stayed behind, Xiao was the starting player.

Their pain from being painfully assaulted by King a few days seemed to have found an output on Vita, throughout the match, with the exception of Vita’s Hyun Woo’s middle being a bearable sight, the top, bottom lanes and jungle were all held down and ruffled up. As Ji Zhiyao watched from under the stage, he was a little surprised at first, but then felt that all of this ought to be so, they had suffered much more than Vita, wasn’t it expected that they thrashed them?

50 minutes later, they came to Mix’s second match of the night, against AZ.

Ji Zhiyao rotated his wrists and went on stage to take over Xiao.

After handshakes and greetings, the match began.

Once the match commenced, Ji Zhiyao started to mess around. “I heard that our North American brothers aren’t too good with quick thinking.”

Nuo: “This tone tells me you’re going to make trouble, Captain you’re not gonna do something about it?”

Mo Huaifeng: “He didn’t say anything wrong.”

Nuo was choked, his eyes almost rolling to the sky. “We ought to let all the China eSports fans have a look at how their Fi-god is like, his heart is leaning towards a certain side so much so that it could be all the way in Siberia already, and he’s still being so noisy every day.”

Mo Huaifeng: “Suit yourself.”

Nuo: “The classic uncaring attitude!”

On the other side, Ji Zhiyao and Heng had sneaked to the opposite to steal the blue buff. As they hid very stealthily, AZ’s jungler only realized after the blue buff disappeared from the mini map, but it was too late. Ji Zhiyao retreated back to his jungle while smacking his lips. “No fun, really no fun.”

K: “It’s still no good that they didn’t catch you, you want them to come for you? Why are you so deserving of a smack?”

Ji Zhiyao: “They would still have to be able to catch me first, the opposing jungler is most probably a terrible one.”

K: “Listen to that, listen to that, the arrogance coming from the capitalist level.”

Ji Zhiyao grinned, going directly for the little dragon once he hit level six.

North America players were used to tanking, speed was usually a weak aspect. Yet Ji Zhiyao had led Mix to seem like there was wind at their heels as they moved, not to mention there was a specialized speed class player Ji Zhiyao, him alone had virtually brought AZ’s junglers and mid-laner in circles… 35th minute, there was a team fight, Mix’s gold was a good 2000 above AZ and wiped out AZ with two members in exchange, without even having to kill the big dragon, they pushed all the way to AZ’s crystal.

Second game, victorious!

Mix had long expected this outcome, there wasn’t much change in their mood, after all, their greatest opponent, King battleteam, was at the end.

After shaking hands and bowing, Mix battleteam left the stage.

Ji Zhiyao had just sat down at the participants’ seats for less than five minutes when the stats analyzer came looking and discussed with him in a low voice. “Xiao said to let you go on for the next game.”

Ji Zhiyao’s gaze instantly became horrified. “What the f*ck?”

“He went on for a long time, only one line moved me, our chances of winning are 50-50 if it’s you against him, whereas with him 0-100. How’s that, do you think it sounds very logical too?”

Ji Zhiyao wore blank face. “Sorry, I do not.”

“Stop talking, there’s no room for discussion.”

Ji Zhiyao rolled his eyes. After a few seconds, he suddenly stood up. The stats analyzer was dumbfounded. “What’s wrong?”

“I’ll go out to find some food while they’re competing, if I don’t have some supper I won’t have the energy to compete.”

The stats analyzer had nothing to say.

“You’re really very arrogant!”