Chapter 22 - Don’t worry, we won.
The feeling it brought was marvellous; suddenly, You Liangxing felt like he understood what the ‘gaming experience’ Liao Su previously mentioned was. To be able to play the game without any hindrances – that was probably what the so-called ‘gaming experience’ was at its peak.
At the end of the match, 【don’t want to move】sent him an invitation for a second match. You Liangxing pressed accept, and the concentration of his spiritedness was very high.
While they were still in queue, You Liangxing took a moment to eye the boy who was sitting opposite of him. When their gazes met, the boy smiled at him affectionately.
You Liangxing lowered his gaze, finding that he did not mind the boy’s stares as much anymore.
The saying that games can be distracting was indeed true.
When they entered the hero selection screen, You Liangxing did not immediately choose a marksman. There was no particular hero that he favoured; if he wanted to try something, he would try it. And seeing as to how one of his teammate had already picked a marksman, You Liangxing scrolled through the mage category before he settled on w.a.n.g Zhaojun.
Since their line-up was still lacking in an auxiliary and jungle, 【don’t want to move】locked in the hero Han Xin to jungle.
The choice surprised You Liangxing. Although his exposure to the game was short, the information that he had at hand was extremely comprehensive. After witnessing【don’t want to move】play support in the previous round, he had a.s.sumed that his party member did not like playing in the jungling position.
In the world of King’s Glory, the position of a jungler was very important in the game. They bore the heavy responsibility of having to manage their economy while catching opponents, and since they had to roam everywhere within the four corners of the match, they were usually the most exhausted player by the end of the game.
And there was more. Due to how peculiar the jungler’s role was, teammates would frequently heap the blame on the jungler once something went wrong. If the top lane loses, it’s the jungler’s fault; if bottom lane does not receive any back up, it’s also the jungler’s fault; basically, as long as there was a mishap, the jungler would have a portion of the blame.
There were always advantages and disadvantages to playing the jungler. While they were always at the risk of being blamed, a good jungler could carry the entire game without any problems. Many well-known anchors on the internet were excellent in playing heroes that could jungle.
The hero【don’t want to move】picked, Han Xin, had a nickname of “Jumping Han” because in addition to the benefits that his pa.s.sive granted, he had a lot of displacement capabilities. It allowed to spear without being marked, and once he was done fighting, he would always run. The technical requirements were high: when done well, he could go one against five, but if it was the inverse, he would not be able to do any damage; one may as well say that if the player was not a G.o.d, they were a pit.
And when he witnessed【don’t want to move】select Han Xin, it gave rise to an inexplicable feeling of ‘it would be a miracle if we didn’t win’ within You Liangxing.
This person was definitely amongst the strong.
You Liangxing only realised the conjecture that he made when he entered the loading screen. Within the short s.p.a.ce of one game, he had subconsciously cla.s.sified the other party as someone strong.
The feeling was rather subtle.
You Liangxing regathered his concentration. In his ears, the start of the game sounded.
[Welcome to King’s Glory!]
[Five seconds until minions sp.a.w.n.]
Since they did not have the relationship of a marksman and a support like the previous game, You Liangxing controlled pink skinned, beautiful idol singer to walk down the middle lane while【don’t want to move】ran into the opposing jungle to steal their enemy’s red first.
The enemy hero that You Liangxing was playing against was the mage Da Ji. While he was walking down the middle lane, the ally Han Xin, w.a.n.g Zhao Jun and the bottom lane’s Di Renjie was moving on the mini map. The other two teammates were remaining silent in the fountain.
— [Ally Di Renjie]: Are you serious! We’re in rank and two people are disconnected!
In a five versus five team battle, the allied team had two people who were offline. The game had yet to begin and they had already faced a setback.
Unexpectedly, Di Renjie was not the only one frowning because You Liangxing frowned as well. He did not antic.i.p.ate that that he would have two disconnected teammates, and while he was thinking that, the enemy Da Ji had reached the intersecting point in the middle lane. Patiently, You Liangxing confronted her and tried to sound out her skill level.
However, it concluded in an unexpected manner. Even though he tapped twice to manipulate his character, he didn’t even manage to touch the edge of her clothes. To make matters worse, he could not dodge quickly enough and ended up being stunned instead.
This game was not going to be an easy one to play.
As soon as the idea emerged from his mind, the ally Di Renjie was murdered in the bottom lane. The prompt [First Blood!] rang throughout the game; the opponents had taken first blood.
Concurrently,【don’t want to move】was retreating from the enemy jungle.
Below his feet, there was no trace of the red buff which meant that his attempt at stealing the enemy’s red had failed. His body was missing his health by half, and behind him, three enemy heroes were giving chase.
You Liangxing went up to answer, and the both of them were beaten back. w.a.n.g Zhaojun took a few attacks from the enemy marksman in Han Xin’s stead, and Han Xin managed to return back to the tower safely after he used a skill to jump away.
Although he was not dead, his health was too low and he could only go back to base after.
As Han Xin was replenishing his health in the fountain, Kang Shengzhe, who had been controlling the hero, flexed his fingers before he picked up his phone again.
While they did not get into a proper fight, Kang Shengzhe could tell that the other team’s actions were very rhythmic, and their awareness was unlike a player from the silver division. In the dialogue box, he typed: k2014; How many consecutive victories?
The person he was directing the question to was You Liangxing. While it might seem abrupt, You Liangxing immediately identified where the problem was. He replied: — Eleven.
Coupled with the victory from the previous game, You Liangxing’s victory streak was at eleven.
Kang Shengzhe laughed softly: “No wonder.”
But You Liangxing could not hear the words that Kang Shengzhe was muttering to himself. Without wasting too much time, he typed back: — It’s fine, it’s winnable.
After sending that line, Han Xin quickly jumped out from the fountain and started rapidly clearing the entire jungle, making every minute and second count as he developed his economy.
Within the community of King’s Glory players, there was the general recognition that when the consecutive win streak was too high, it was inevitable that they would be forced to kneel for the next few rounds. While the system’s matchmaking system seemed reactionary, it kept to particular laws.
It was impossible to always win; if the system told you to lose, you had to lose.
Seeing the words ‘it’s fine, it’s winnable’ floating in the dialog box, You Liangxing did not respond for a moment. He continued to defend the middle lane, and when he had the time, he would run to the top and bottom lanes to support it.
Perhaps the line had a lot of persuasive power, because the Di Renjie, who had been cursing out at their teammates, no longer complained and continued to hold the bottom lane tower staunchly.
They did not have enough teammates and the opposing side’s skill level was not low. Throughout the entire game, You Liangxing and Di Renjie could only stay under the tower and protect it to their deaths, completely deprived of the opportunity to develop themselves.
The headwinds were utterly against them. They were all waiting for Han Xin to develop and the progress was very tense.
When the bottom only had their last tower left, Di Renjie finally exhausted all his patience and initiated a surrender.
Surrendering required a majority’s vote to pa.s.s. You Liangxing chose to refuse, while【don’t want to move】ignored it, and the attempt to surrender fell through.
Irritated, Di Renjie typed: — Still not surrendering? Are you waiting for the new year!? We don’t even have any leads, what are you even playing for!
What awaited him was an empty response. Di Renjie became angrier and continued typing: — Must you insist on wasting time? Fine! Do what you want! I’m not fighting anymore!
Finishing, he returned back to the crystal nexus and randomly walked around it, refusing to leave the fountain.
With that, You Liangxing became the base’s sole defender. Meanwhile, three enemy heroes congregated together and they hovered at the peripheries of the tower range, waiting for the minions to arrive before they attacked the tower.
As You Liangxing guarded the tower, Han Xin’s figure on the mini map was inching closer.
Throughout the entire game’s progress, Han Xin had never stopped wandering through the two jungles to clear the monsters and eat up the minion lines. While the enemies had attempted to catch him, they never succeeded in netting him in. However, when he saw that the minion line was drawing closer and rushing towards the tower, Han Xin suddenly issued a signal.
— Launch an Attack!!!
You Liangxing promptly cooperated and rushed towards the three enemies. As the enemies were attacking him, he casted his abilities under his feet. He opened with his second ability, followed it up with his first and then the third in an unbroken chain, rooting all his enemies in their place.
After using his full suit of skills, You Liangxing did not harbour any hopes for survival. His sole objective was to create an opportunity for Han Xin. Sure enough, like lightning, Han Xin jumped into the midst of the three enemies. His spear impaled the marksman first and killed him off in a second.
Since You Liangxing’s w.a.n.g Zhaojun was underdeveloped, the enemies still had a decent amount of health left after they took some damage from his abilities. Shortly after, their opponents thawed and resumed their operation, immediately launching an attack on Han Xin.
Han Xin fought against two on his lonesome, and his figure was akin to a powerful flying dragon as he flickered left and right. When the first announcement had yet to sound out completely, he had already taken down the other two.
— Shut Down!
— Double Kill!
— Triple Kill!
— Three kills!
Han Xin’s movements were way too fast, and his display of skill was like a cascade of flowers, dazzling everyone. Furthermore, he even managed to save You Liangxing’s w.a.n.g Zhaojun at the last moment.
Yes, although w.a.n.g Zhaojun only had a shred of health left, he could keep his life because Han Xin had killed too fast!
Han Xin pinged: — Clean up the troops!
You Liangxing controlled w.a.n.g Zhaojun to go back to the fountain and rushed out again to push the minion waves once he had full health. Taking advantage of the fact that his opponents had yet to resurrect, You Liangxing led the minions deeper into enemy territory and took down two towers successively.
Glancing at the hero icons, the opposing jungling hero Ju Youjing and top lane’s Lao Fuzi were still alive. Putting aside their hero attributes first, it was obvious that they were more developed than You Liangxing.
While You Liangxing was pushing the tower, he constantly paid attention to the mini map. The moment he saw a trace of the enemy Lao Fuzi, he backed off. He used the flash spell he brought and widened the distance between them in less than a second. However, Lao Fuzi was relentless and he continued to chase.
The ping sounded at his ear again. Next to ally Han Xin’s icon: — Launch an Attack!
You Liangxing twisted back and Lao Fuzi seized the chance to bolt him in place with an ability, and his hammer swung down, slamming into the pink figure and lowering her health rapidly. And in the same second, a red armoured figure pounced onto Lao Fuzi’s back, red ta.s.sel-like hair fluttering, and destroyed him with three stabs of his spear.
From the bushes, w.a.n.g Zhaojun stood up gracefully and stepped over the Lao Fuzi’s corpse before walking side by side with the magnificent Han Xin. Suspecting that the enemy Ju Youjing was nearby, Han Xin stationed himself in the bushes. They constructed a fixed pattern; one lured the enemy while the other killed.
In a blink of an eye, the last person from the enemy team was killed. Thus, the entire team was wiped out.
— An enemy has been slain!
The death notification for the enemy resounded in the game. You Liangxing considered it for a moment and typed in chat: — I will support you.
These four words had a powerful and impressive strength, Kang Shengzhe was smashed into the ground, and he could not respond for a long time.
The time on their enemy’s resp.a.w.n timer were consistent with one another. Ju Yongji had not been dead for long when the first three he killed were resurrected. Kang Shengzhe paused for a moment before he replied: — Okay.
The spoken word was simple, but the calmness of it was incongruous with the speaker’s mood.
Little Angel Liang Liang had offered to support him…
Kang Shengzhe picked up a corner of his quilt and carefully wiped down his screen to ensure that the surface was clean so it would not slip out of his hands.
En, it better not affect his performance.
Kang Shengzhe’s lips hooked up into a smile but his hands could not relax the slightest. The drowsiness he had before he played the game had all dissipated; his real hand speed officially came online, making his operations extremely smooth.
No more time was spent on exchanging text messages. For the rest of the match, w.a.n.g Zhaojun and Han Xin cooperated with each other perfectly.
w.a.n.g Zhaojun was a mage and her skills were biased towards crowd control, therefore, it was suitable for supporting. The difficult part in regard to the hero was that there was a certain time interval between the activation of the skill and the actual release of it which made it easy for the enemies to dodge. Hence, it required the player to carry out some calculations and antic.i.p.ate where the enemies are moving to.
Coincidentally, this request was not difficult for You Liangxing to fulfil. Although he hadn’t played w.a.n.g Zhaojun for long, he had already grasped the method of controlling people with w.a.n.g Zhaojun.
Similar to the experience where he tried Zhong Kui, he was in full control of the hero once the initial trial phase was over.
With one bringing his precise control to the table and the other his quick harvesting, the two of them together brought about a feeling of mutual cooperation that could be found when he was playing Da Ji with Liao Su’s Hou Yi.
And if there was any difference between the two instances, it was the added sensation of being unhindered which felt bright and wonderful.
The gaming process was too tense and You Liangxing did not know how much time had pa.s.sed. He manipulated w.a.n.g Zhaojun to follow Han Xin closely, and he would disrupt the enemy’s rhythm at every turn he got.
However, when they did not have the benefit of numbers, disrupting the opponent’s rhythm was only the first step. After they killed the enemy Da Ji in her jungle, the opposing team still had four players remaining.
From the beginning until now, the kill score changed from 3 – 11 to 25 – 23. To reach this stage even after facing the initial setback of having two absent teammates was already very rare. After experiencing being under spearpoint one too many times, the enemy heroes were now circling under their towers and afraid to step out alone. Whereas You Liangxing and Han Xin were setting up an ambush in the brushes near the middle lane, waiting for the last team fight to start.
The situation was clear with one glance: the enemy team could either fight or drag it out.
Their opponents hesitated for a moment, and then they went out of the tower as a collective. The team fight in the middle lane was on the verge of breaking out.
Although the situation was a two against four, but You Liangxing did not think that it would be difficult to win. The winning condition was the timing of his crowd control. As long as his maneuverers as w.a.n.g Zhaojun was satisfactory and on point, they could win the two-on-four.
The enemies were getting closer, one, two, three…
Suddenly, You Liangxing lurched, and his hands stilled as well. The opposing team was missing one person!
You Liangxing hurriedly looked towards the bottom lane and close to his base. Sure enough, the signal that the last tower was being attacked was issued. One enemy was trying to backdoor on his lonesome.
… They could no longer win.
You Liangxing decisively chose to return back to base but at this moment, Di Renjie, the teammate who had given up and thought the situation to be hopeless and thus said they refused to fight, rushed towards the last tower in the bottom lane and started fighting with the enemy. Simultaneously, Di Renjie typed out a message.
[Ally Di Renjie]: — I’ll protect the base, you win.
You Liangxing cancelled his recall. Although he was not certain if Di Renjie could hold the tower, he would not put down a teammate who chose to stand up again.
Two second later, the notification that the ally Di Renjie was killed emerged.
You Liangxing did not move. Following closely, the enemy hero who was trying to backdoor was killed by the ally Di Renjie.
A life for a life.
However, this base, Di Renjie really protected it.
The figures in the middle lane grew closer. Han Xin was the first to jump out and You Liangxing followed closely. He fired his second ability and ultimate successively after he did some calculations and concurrently, he threw out auto attacks at the enemies nonstop. In a blink of an eye, the decisive battle started.
You Liangxing was very invested, and his hands did not stop even for a moment. However, suddenly, his screen darkened. The character he was controlling remained motionless. Even when he tried to rotate his phone, the game did not respond.
Since his vision abruptly darkened, You Liangxing raised his head.
The train was pa.s.sing through a tunnel, and thus his connection broke, leading to a lag out.
You Liangxing: “….”
This was the first time You Liangxing felt the urgency and tension a game could give, considering how he hadn’t started gaming for long. The few seconds of blankness felt extremely foreign to him, and it took him a while before he could choke the honeyed noises of something he almost unwittingly said down his throat.
All it took was a light push before he started scolding someone in actuality.
The minute it took for the train to pa.s.s through the tunnel was slow and long. When the train compartment lit up again, the phone wasted more time to regain a signal and restore the network. You Liangxing hurriedly reconnected back to the game.
The loading interface looked extremely irritating.
After entering the main lobby, no option to reconnect to the match appeared. You Liangxing could barely respond. It was only then did he realise that the game had already ended.
[don’t want to move]: — What happened?
There was no gloom in his question, nor was there any resentment or anger against the fact that he had disappeared during a critical juncture of the team fight. For this person, it was like he was just carrying out a very ordinary conversation.
You Liangxing took some time to calm down before he replied: — I’m on the train, lagged out.
The other party showed no pause, and quickly replied: — Are you still playing?
Abruptly, his emotions began to rise and fall. You Liangxing was feeling a little fatigued. Stewing, he said: — Not playing.
It was supposed to be an ordinary conversation, but after the playing two bouts together, it brought about a subtle sense of familiarity. After staying silent for a while, he finally asked: — The match just now…
Similarly, the other party quietened down and You Liangxing’s mood dampened by a fraction. Suddenly, the dialogue box lit up again.
[don’t want to move]: — Don’t worry, we won.
T/N: My psychological shadow returned as I was translating this. I remembered I had promotional matches (Best of five) and two of my teammates had fried connections, and before that I had to play a 4v5 match :PepeHands:
But… #DiRenjieRedemption