Moments later, everyone logged into their pro accounts and piled into the custom lobby. Even before the game kicked off, all ten players in the 5v5 room had their mics blasting, the chatter filling the air. The enemy team was stacked with gleaming gold pro accounts, all prefixed with Shenzhen Typhoon. The room owner was on their side—they were the ones who’d set it up, probably their Team Captain, that guy called Little Five Wolf.
Little Five Wolf’s mic light kept blinking as he called out, “Hold up, where are Liu Ying and Jiu Ke? How’s Yi Yang showing up again? I swear I see this kid everywhere. And who’s Milk Cap?”
Yi Yang shot back, “Five Wolf, enough chit-chat. We’ll just smash you flat.”
Little Five Wolf snorted. “Little punk.”
Yi Yang grinned. “Yeah? And what?”
Another mic blinked to life—Qidu, his voice deep and resonant. “Ziwu, you hitting Shenzhen next week for drinks? We’ve got a swarm of youth trainees here dying for a glimpse of you. Come flex that charm.”
“Not a chance,” Ziwu replied. “No joyrides before the Grand Tournament. Save the booze for my victory party.”
Shenzhen Typhoon Yaya chimed in. “Mind introducing your top laner? What’s Jiu Ke’s excuse for bailing? Thinks he’s too good for me?”
Ziwu laughed. “Nah, we think too much of you. That’s why we sent one of our heavy hitters.”
Shenzhen Typhoon Yaya scoffed. “Bullshit. You’re just feeding me another sub again.”
Little Five Wolf cut in. “You done yapping? Let’s queue. Say what you gotta say.”
“Hit it.”
Once the game loaded, the enemy mics went dead silent as both teams dove into champion select. Ziwu was locked in fourth pick, so he had a moment. He turned to Yun Qi. “Typhoon’s solid—mid-to-upper tier pros. Yaya’s soloed Jiu Ke twice before, so stay sharp.”
Yun Qi scanned the hero pool, locked in his pick, and said nothing.
Ziwu shrugged it off. He figured Yun Qi hated him more than anyone right now—ever since last night.
All to the good.
Yun Qi went with Dust and fell quiet. His lane opponent snapped up Wind Hidden—that was Yaya. Yun Qi wasn’t fazed; with their comp, nothing beat Wind Hidden Lian or Fist Lion for top.
Chang Shu had grabbed Immobile Marksman—no mobility whatsoever. High-burst divers were their nightmare.
The game launched. Nobody bothered with headsets. Rong Rong announced, “Roaming top first.”
They clearly weren’t sweating this scrim. You could only play that loose when your skill ceiling towered over the enemy.
With Rong Rong up top, Yun Qi opened laning against Wind Hidden. Rong Rong played his angles slyly. When both were sitting at half health, he popped stealth and dove in. Specter yanked the Wind Hidden back just as his foot crossed the tower threshold. No chance for Flash—the guy crumpled under tower to Yun Qi’s strikes.
【Shenzhen Typhoon Yaya: Rong Rong, you…】
【Shanghai KRO Rong Rong: :)】
【Shenzhen Typhoon Yaya: Rong Bao, I love you so much. Don’t let me down too hard.】
【Shanghai KRO Rong Rong: But Rong Rong loves Chang Shu.】
Yun Qi watched the exchange, no real beef in it—just this oddly endearing vibe. Rong Rong was about his age, barely into his twenties. The guy’s highlight reels were spotless, never a harsh word or curse. Ever since they’d hashed out their misunderstanding, he’d slipped right back into the Rong Rong from Yun Qi’s online feeds.
The back-and-forth screamed old friends.
【Shenzhen Typhoon Yaya: Rong Rong! No loving anyone else!】
【Shanghai Chole Yi Yang: You two are burning my eyes.】
【Shenzhen Typhoon Yaya: Little rat rocking a Chole tag and still yapping?】
【Shanghai Chole Yi Yang: Forgot to swap it.】
【Shenzhen Typhoon Yaya: Turncoat.】
【Shanghai Chole Yi Yang: You’re toast.】
Right on cue, the announcer blared: Andre takes down Wind Hidden.
The enemy top laner instantly became public enemy number one.
Messages flew, roasting Yi Yang nonstop.
Lao Xun glanced over. “Here we go again. I set this scrim for you all to improve, not turn it into casual games.”
Yi Yang waved him off. “Beat it, old timer.”
Lao Xun smacked the back of Yi Yang’s head and bailed, heading out of the Training Room.
Ten minutes in, Rong Rong and Chang Shu were shoving the bot-lane tower.
Chang Shu remarked, “If they keep playing like this, they’re out of the championship race. Same skill as last time—no real gains.”
Rong Rong beamed. “Isn’t it just ’cause Rong Rong’s that good?”
Chang Shu played along. “Fair. My support daddy’s a beast. Doesn’t mean they improved at all.”
Ziwu was off in dreamland on Athena, ignoring top and bot entirely. Just auto-attacking River Crabs. One peek at the Battle Record Panel, and it was clear: he had solo-killed Goddess four times already.
Yun Qi glanced at Ziwu. He was leaning back in his esports chair, methodically clicking his mouse with a serenity that made it seem like he wasn’t even laning against an opponent.
【Shanghai KRO Ziwu: Seven Degrees Space, come eat this wave.】
【Shenzhen Typhoon Qidu: Your mom】
【Shanghai KRO Ziwu: Say that again?】
【Shenzhen Typhoon Qidu: Your mom your mom your mom. Tell me to eat a wave of minions? Fine, I could call you daddy.】
Then Yun Qi watched as that Athena, who had been leisurely munching on a River Crab, suddenly flashed under the enemy Defense Tower. With lightning speed, she took down the enemy Goddess—who was two thousand gold behind him.
Yun Qi looked over. Ziwu’s expression remained perfectly calm as he slowly backed out of the Defense Tower without a word.
Yun Qi had lost count of how many times he’d heard Jiu Shuang rave about Ziwu’s dominance in mid lane.
The gap between people.
When Pan Feng had described it to him, Yun Qi had imagined something like a scrim match—intense and back-and-forth. But this was effortless. He’d never played a game this relaxed before. He had to admit, the player sitting next to him was something else—strong enough that Yun Qi could focus solely on his own lane without worrying about any other one collapsing.
Yun Qi didn’t hold back, either. There was no need to pull punches against a team he’d never faced before. Yaya on the enemy side caught on after those three kills: Ziwu wasn’t bluffing. This wasn’t some substitute; it was a monster even more troublesome than Jiu Ke.
How had KRO managed to poach players of this caliber?
【Shenzhen Typhoon Yaya: Captain Yu, why aren’t you rotating up? When do we get to face the old man?】
【Shanghai Chole Yi Yang: Don’t embarrass yourself. You can’t even take me down, and you want to see my bro?】
【Shenzhen Typhoon Little Five Wolf: Oh right, you’ve got Liu Ying above you too.】
That line successfully set Yi Yang off.
【Shanghai Chole Yi Yang: Say that shit again. Liu Ying and I are on the same level! He’s not one bit better! Got it?】
【Shenzhen Typhoon Little Five Wolf: Got it. Liu Ying’s the GOAT.】
Five minutes later.
【Shenzhen Typhoon Little Five Wolf: Yi Yang, can you stop stealing? Is my Blue Buff that delicious?】
【Shanghai Chole Yi Yang: Get your teammates to guard it then.】
After typing that out, Yi Yang called to the team, “Hurry up! Chang Shu, Rong Rong! Gank him, gank him. I’m taking down Five Wolf.”
Little Five Wolf had no idea Yi Yang was gunning for him specifically, but he knew to ward the bushes and understood Yi Yang’s playstyle well enough to steer clear of the obvious trap. He simply yielded the Blue Buff area entirely.
Chang Shu chimed in, “Forget the gank; it won’t work. Rong Rong and I have bot lane shoved so hard he can’t even take Blue.”
Yi Yang waited in ambush for a while, but nothing happened—the enemies had clearly read his intentions. Disappointed, he left the jungle and headed for Dragon.
At the same moment, an announcement rang out from top lane.
Wind Hidden had been killed. Solo kill.
【Shenzhen Typhoon Yaya: Kinda confused here, bro. With that health bar, shouldn’t you have backed?】
【Shenzhen Typhoon Yaya: Balls of steel. If I’d had Flash ready, you were toast.】
【Shanghai KRO Milk Cap: But you didn’t.】
【Shenzhen Typhoon Yaya: Just a few seconds short.】
【Shanghai KRO Milk Cap: Three seconds to go. Alright, now I should back.】
Ziwu chuckled. “Nice one. Solid map awareness.”
Yun Qi shook his head. “That’s not awareness. That’s just basics.”
Ziwu grinned. Yun Qi clearly didn’t like being praised by others. He’d been planning to hype him up a bit to lighten the mood, but it looked like the guy wasn’t interested in his flattery.
What a grudge-holder.
The matchup had started out lighthearted, but fifteen minutes in, it turned dead serious. The opponents didn’t want to go down ugly, so they buckled down. There was still some tug-of-war to be had. Shenzhen Typhoon might not match KRO’s overall skill, but they were one of the top teams down there. It wasn’t a total cakewalk—late game turned into a deadlock. Typhoon lost their bot High Ground while KRO only sacrificed first towers. The lane push pressure weighed far heavier on Typhoon.
The kid Yi Yang didn’t hold back with his words, repeatedly asking the enemies if this was really their level this year. They ignored him, though—tower defense had them all spinning in circles, frantic.
Everyone seemed accustomed to Yi Yang’s sharp tongue; no one reined him in. Yun Qi stayed quiet too. They’d held the advantage from the start and were chilling when suddenly someone sat down right beside him.
Yun Qi didn’t need to look up. He recognized that presence just from the feel of it. His hand shook ever so slightly. In that split-second lapse, Wind Hidden took him down.
“You have been slain!”
【Shenzhen Typhoon Yaya: Payback time.】
Yun Qi didn’t even see what the enemy typed. His breathing had already grown erratic, and Yu Jin was sitting right beside him.
Noticing that Yun Qi hadn’t made a move for far too long, Yu Jin spoke up. “Am I slowing down your sword draw?”
Yun Qi clenched his fists. His ears flushed red, and so did the tip of his nose. In the cool Training Room, with everyone intently focused on their screens, he crumbled under his own crushing shame.
The warm sensation from last night still lingered. He had clung to Yu Jin, lost in frenzy amid the roar of thunder and rain. Yu Jin hadn’t been some lifeless corpse in his arms—he had responded, satisfied him, even left bite marks on his collarbone.
He would black out upon waking, forgetting everything. Yun Qi had heard that heavy drinkers were always a muddled mess the next day. So he had no reason to panic around Yu Jin now. He just needed to convince himself to stay calm, no matter what he’d done with Yu Jin’s hand…
If he didn’t know, then it was as good as nothing happening.
But why was he still so terrified?
Yun Qi’s breaths came in sharp gasps, as if he were right back in the heat of last night. His fingers fumbled uselessly over the keyboard. The enemy’s jungler ganked him, and Yun Qi died. He had barely respawned before his screen went black again.
A choked sob escaped him.
“Focus,” Yu Jin said from beside him. “You’ve already fed two kills.”
Yun Qi’s eyelashes trembled as he stared at his screen. He couldn’t be sure—he was too unsure. Yu Jin letting things slide yesterday was real, but so was Yu Jin responding to him. So… had he been awake or not?
Yu Jin hadn’t brought up a single thing today. He probably didn’t remember, right?
Yun Qi tried to force himself to concentrate on the match, but his shame was tearing him apart. He needed an answer—now!
Amid his bungled inputs, Yun Qi ventured hesitantly, “You… drank too much yesterday.”
Yu Jin let out a soft hum. “Mm.”
Yun Qi watched the team fight erupt in bot lane and rushed toward it. The instant he reached his teammates, he failed to intercept that follow-up skill aimed at the low-health Chang Shu—or perhaps he simply didn’t react in time. All his attention had been stolen by Yu Jin’s next words.
Words that hit him like a bolt from the blue.
“But I never black out.”
