Chapter 86 - Round one.
Kang Shengzhe did not object, but Liang Chulin was the first to refute: “I want to be in a team with Brother Liang Liang. Group my older sister and Kang Shengzhe into one team instead.”
It was natural for Liang Chulin to want to be in same team as You Liangxing, but the most important factor was that he wanted to solo Kang Shengzhe. Furthermore, if he was paired with Kang Shengzhe, he would have to go against You Liangxing and Liang Chuhan. One was his idol, the other was his older sister, and he did not want to fight either of them.
He only want to fight Kang Shengzhe! Who told him to grow so tall!
You Liangxing was only afraid that there was no way to play the game due to the uneven distribution of power. However, since neither of the Liang siblings cared about the configuration, he could only reply, “Okay, we’ll do it your way.”
Meanwhile, Kang Shengzhe did not say a word from beginning to the end, but he did give You Liangxing a deep gaze when he was suggesting the team placements. The four of them took out their phones and logged in. As the game was initializing, You Liangxing sensed something moving across his leg underneath the table.
Someone was touching and pinching his lower leg, and they even held it.
Other than Kang Shengzhe, You Liangxing could not imagine anyone who had hands as long as his. Not only was he doing it during a proper and serious moment, Kang Shengzhe was even teasing him in front of other people and it only felt right for You Liangxing to show him no mercy as he stepped on Kang Shengzhe’s foot. Immediately after, Kang Shengzhe’s body slanted towards the side and his expression collapsed as well.
Noticing that Kang Shengzhe was acting strange, Liang Chulin asked: “What’s wrong?”
You Liangxing spoke first, voice indifferent. “Don’t concern yourself with him.”
Kang Shengzhe huffed, and under the puzzled gazes of the Liang siblings, he lifted his phone. Although it seemed like he was gearing up to play a game on the surface, it was undeniable that he was sulking when closely observed.
The game entered the team interface with You Liangxing opening the room that was meant for a three versus three. You Liangxing and Liang Chulin were on one team while Kang Shengzhe and Liang Chuhan made the other, and both sides had a bot to fill up the last spot.
Even when it was just casual daily gaming, Kang Shengzhe would log into his own main account, and the name【don’t want to move】was one he had not seen in a long time, which made You Liangxing a little nostalgic. Liang Chulin and Liang Chuhan, on the other hand, found the name strangely familiar but none of them said a thing. Since both teams were facing each other while gaming, it was asinine for them to communicate with one another because whatever you said to your teammate could be heard by the opposing team, and it was better to stay quiet.
Liang Chulin understood this logic and he did not trade any tactics with You Liangxing. In his heart, he just wanted to engage in single combat with Kang Shengzhe, and he was not a stickler for cooperation and tactics. When he was choosing a hero, he specifically chose a mage with a higher damage output by the name of Xiao Qiao – who was known to have high burst damage when she casted her full set of abilities – and he prepared himself to kill Kang Shengzhe on his lonesome later.
While You Liangxing and Liang Chuhan did not possess the adamant need to kill the opposing team, both of them chose heroes that had a strong tendency to do well, achieving the same results in spite of the different tunes they sang. You Liangxing went with Yang Jian, Liang Chuhan Zhong Wuyan, and Kang Shengzhe was the last to pick Han Xin.
Liang Chulin stared at Kang Shengzhe as he made his choice, and when he saw Han Xin, he immediately ascertained the way he should play the game: be wretched, be wretched like your life depends on it.
After receiving a huge impetus from his games with You Liangxing, Liang Chulin had practiced hard for a period of time, and his rank rose from platinum to Xingyao as a result. His skill level was close to Liang Chuhan’s, and while he did not know how well Kang Shengzhe played, he felt that he would not lose.
He did not believe that Kang Shengzhe, the top liberal arts scholar in City A who had attained a higher score than he did, was more skilled than he was at games as well.
If that was really the case, he might as well write a biography for Kang Shengzhe!
Sneaking a glance at Kang Shengzhe, Liang Chulin’s lips hooked up secretly and gathered his concentration. As soon as the match started, he immediately jumped out of the fountain and ran along the leftmost direction.
The custom room for three against three was different from the five versus five instance in the sense that while it lacked the usual top, middle and bottom lanes, it still had a jungling area and one central lane with two defensive towers. Han Xin was a jungling hero that required a lot of economy, and Liang Chulin calculated that Kang Shengzhe would enter the jungle to clear the camps. Thus, he went to the centre of the jungle to find a bush to hide in advance.
Sure enough, a few seconds later, Kang Shengzhe’s Han Xin leapt over the wall smoothly, white shadow flashing across the screen as his spear moved gracefully, beginning the process of clearing the camp.
Unexpectedly, his Han Xin was even clad in the White Dragon’s Howl skin. What a little local tyrant, Liang Chulin rolled around his heart, but his eyes were focused on the monster beneath Han Xin’s hands and it did not even stray once.
The monster’s health bar consistently lowered and Han Xin’s health simultaneously dropped as well. In the beginning stages of the game, everyone was very brittle and the damage that these jungle monsters could do to the heroes was rather significant.
Under his continuous monitoring, Liang Chulin determined the best opportunity to release Xiao Qiao’s first ability which was a pink fan that was shot out linearly, and its target was not only the low health monster but Han Xin himself.
That’s right, not only did he want to steal his jungle camp, he wanted to hit his face directly, and anger him to death!
His fan flew out and Liang Chulin did not intend to give Kang Shengzhe a single chance. According to his plans, Kang Shengzhe’s health was supposed to drop lower from the jungle monster’s attack and after he took a blow from his fan, he would only have a bare fraction of health left, which was the moment for him to harvest and the first blood would be his.
However, when Liang Chulin ran out, Han Xin made an abrupt jump to evade the incoming fan as if he had some kind of premonition about it while simultaneously casting his smite in a jiffy to claim the monster. Xiao Qiao’s fan ended up empty and the gains from the monster landed in Han Xin’s hands. The level above Han Xin’s head went from one to two, and in a blink of an eye, he had one more skill than Liang Chulin.
From the first moment where a sudden attack smashed into her head to the three consecutive jabs from a spear, Xiao Qiao was constantly impacted by a deacceleration effect. Kang Shengzhe’s use of positioning to trap his opponent was extremely precise; he happened to press Liang Chulin against the wall, and he tapped on his head to attack him.
He was so calm like he known that he was in the bush from the start. Despite knowing, he still continued to clear the camp so joyously, was he an actor?! Liang Chulin was clamouring in his heart, and he used the flash he had on hand to pa.s.s through the wall to escape.
The flash had a cooldown of 120 seconds, and using it made Liang Chulin’s heart hurt. However, the most heart-aching thing happened afterwards; before he could start running after executing his flash, Kang Shengzhe’s Han Xin had already jumped over the wall and stuck to his back. Seeing that, Liang Chulin could only steel his resolve and turn back to throw out his fan, only to have it hit nothing. Meanwhile, Han Xin had already moved to his side and stabbed him with his spear, causing the announcement for first blood to sound out in the game.
— First Blood!
Liang Chulin: “……”
… His face had just been shown off to.
Liang Chulin was rendered speechless. “Impossible, how did your hand move so fast?”
Kang Shengzhe did not bother to look at him and continued to manipulate his Han Xin to clear the jungle. Although Liang Chulin had died, You Liangxing did not have the time to go to the jungle to catch people because he was currently in front of the enemy defence tower and minion waves, going against Liang Chuhan. Thus, Kang Shengzhe became the sole contender in the jungle and his level climbed to level four in a short while.
Despite being defeated in the first battle, Liang Chulin was not discouraged. Han Xin was a hero that required a high hand speed but the possibility of accomplishing it by chance existed as well, and Kang Shengzhe might have randomly smahsed his b.u.t.tons just now. Afterall, even a blind cat could find a dead mouse. Besides, even if that was Kang Shengzhe’s bona fide hand speed, he would still die after taking a full suit of Xiao Qiao’s skills when she pounced on him from the bush, and even his hand speed would not be able to save him then.
Liang Chulin quickly harvested a wave of minions and gained his ultimate. Then, he surveyed the mini map and squatted in one of the brushes. Han Xin was coming from the right to cull more monsters, and he was approaching swiftly.
Liang Chulin timed the distance, preparing to use his second ability to blow him into the air before using his ultimate to strike him in the face. However, before he could release his ability, Kang Shengzhe’s Han Xin suddenly jumped into the bush he was in, and the abruptness of the situation left Xiao Qiao without the ability to even react before Kang Shengzhe had already claimed her head.
Liang Chulin: “???”
What kind of ghost was this!?? Did he give Tianmei so much money the system decided to grant him special vision within the jungle??
How did he know that there was someone the brushes!
Liang Chulin gritted his teeth and said, “I don’t believe it! If you have the ability, come duel!”
He was the one who had wanted to rob someone blind from the bushes to begin with, but now he was also the one adamantly asking for a duel. Kang Shengzhe looked at the name【Not a Primary School Student】that was above his hero’s head, and with those five big words, he instantly remembered that they had played a few games together before. It was no wonder why he found this person’s playing style so familiar.
Kang Shengzhe promptly smiled. “Come.”
Liang Chulin: “I’m here!”
Not long after, Liang Chulin’s match score changed from 0-2 to 0-3, and later…. It became 0-8.
Liang Chulin: “……”
While they were fighting one battle after another, You Liangxing and Liang Chuhan were both without kills as they confronted each other at the crossroads of their lane. Although both of them fought with victory in mind, Liang Chuhan was aware that there was a slight skill differential between her and You Liangxing, and she focused on preserving her life instead. With the Xingyao-ranked player being conscientious about her life and backing the moment her health was low, even You Liangxing could do nothing about it. Thus, neither of them had any deaths, and You Liangxing could only attack her two defensive towers, thus bringing them to the final juncture where he had to shatter the crystal nexus in order to end the game.
By this time, Liang Chulin had already died nine times and he was crying. Kang Shengzhe, having displayed his skills like a deluge of cascading flowers, was in a decent mood. Briefly, he glanced at the situation between You Liangxing and Liang Chuhan, and he could not resist commenting: “When you’re gaming, you can’t go easy on people.”
You Liangxing said, “She’s very skilled.”
The implication was that he never had any intention to go easy on her and Kang Shengzhe chose not to express his opinion. Carrying his glorious battle record on his back, Kang Shengzhe exited his jungle and went back to his defensive tower and occupied Liang Chuhan’s position, using his Han Xin to completely obscure her Zhong Wuyan from view.
Liang Chulin, who was in the middle of resp.a.w.ning, could not help but remark, “What are you doing?”
The shorter boy might not understand his intentions, but You Liangxing did. Kang Shengzhe wanted to challenge him. From the start of the game where Kang Shengzhe had chosen Han Xin, he knew that this person wanted to show off in a loud manner, and now that he had come calling for a duel was not surprising in the least.
Hence, You Liangxing controlled his Yang Jian to go forth and Liang Chuhan, having seen through their intentions, went to the side to quietly watch. Liang Chulin gritted his teeth and exclaimed, “Brother Liang Liang, Brother Liang Liang, beat him to death!”
However, the conclusion of the match arrived very quickly; within a few seconds, You Liangxing was killed by Kang Shengzhe and he entered a fifty second resurrection period.
Kang Shengzhe thus won the battle and brought his minion wave to take down You Liangxing and Liang Chulin’s defensive towers. When the match ended, Kang Shengzhe had bagged a total of ten kills and became the incontestable and well-deserved MVP.
It should be said that You Liangxing did not lose solely based on his mechanics, but rather the fact that Kang Shengzhe’s economical development had left everyone else in the dust. Liang Chulin was well-aware of that in his gut, and he snorted: “You could have won but you chose to kill me so many times.”
Kang Shengzhe said, “Is there even any meaning in killing you? It’s not challenging at all.”
Liang Chulin: “… QAQ you!”
He could tolerate being killed, but after hearing Kang Shengzhe’s words, it seemed to imply that it was interesting to kill You Liangxing. Liang Chulin admired You Liangxing in his heart, and he immediately came to his idol’s defence, “If I hadn’t fattened you up just now, you wouldn’t have been able to kill Brother Liang Liang.”
Hearing the address ‘Brother Liang Liang’, Kang Shengzhe grew frustrated. Faintly, he replied, “Did I say I wanted to kill him?”
Liang Chulin was perplexed. “If you didn’t want to kill Brother Liang Liang, who did you want to kill?”
You Liangxing suddenly interrupted them, “Eat.”
The dishes were already on the table and Liang Chulin made a noise in response before he lowered his head and started to eat. Kang Shengzhe, on the other hand, met You Liangxing’s gaze openly, and after staring for a short beat, he shot a look at Liang Chuhan, who had already kept her phone and started eating.
Who did he want to kill? He wanted to kill his teammate!
But such a function did not exist, and thus King’s Glory was blackened for life.