Pan Feng groaned. “Damn, I thought he’d made it back.”
Yun Qi hadn’t expected his thoughts to align so perfectly with Pan Feng’s. They’d both assumed the opponent had backed off to resupply and failed to scout the bushes in time, leading to his death. Jiu Ke truly lived up to his ranking as one of the Top 3 on the National Server—he was fearless in combat. Yun Qi realized he’d watched too few of his videos and didn’t know him well enough.
The first blood had slipped away just like that.
After respawning, Yuri pushed the minion wave right into the Defense Tower, timing it precisely with Gares’s respawn. He whittled away at half the tower’s health before being forced to return home to resupply. Yun Qi purchased the Cold Blade and rushed back to lane. No sooner had the wave reached the enemy’s Defense Tower than Yuri emerged.
Gares didn’t retreat. Instead, he shifted left, unleashing a barrage of lightning strikes. Yuri counterattacked swiftly, and without a word between them, the second clash began.
Yuri’s third skill locked onto his target, delivering brief crowd control and damage before chaining seamlessly into his first skill’s devastating burst. Gares’s health plummeted into dangerous territory. That combo would hurt anyone, but Gares had his counterplay ready. He dodged the killing blow and retaliated with his own skill rotation, leaving Yuri teetering on the edge. In that final execute moment, it all came down to raw reflexes.
Yun Qi hadn’t brought Execute—he’d chosen Flash instead. Yuri had taken Execute. Gares’s health dipped into execute range. Yun Qi hit Flash instantly, pulling out of Yuri’s execute zone. With a stroke of heavenly luck, his first skill came off cooldown. He unleashed it with pinpoint accuracy, securing Yuri’s head.
“You have slayed an enemy.”
Gares’s kill announcement came from a different voice actor, instantly recognizable amid the others—you knew exactly what had happened the moment it rang out.
“Nice,” Pan Feng said. “That scared the hell out of me. Lucky I dodged the execute.”
Lao Xun stood behind Jiu Ke, watching their exchange closely. Neither had slipped up; it was purely a battle of reaction speed. The kill result said it all.
Lao Xun glanced toward the corner. The poor kid looked like he had no one in his corner, yet he had the strongest support of all. Yu Jin stood silently behind him, his lone presence more imposing than a raucous crowd.
Jiu Ke showed no frustration at being killed. Both players had ironclad mental fortitude. After respawning, they led their minions forward once more, plunging into another tense skirmish.
The third kill went to Yuri—Gares fell.
But it brought Jiu Ke no joy. In the trade, his First Tower had been destroyed. At four minutes and twenty seconds, the minion wave and respawn timers weren’t enough for him to take the enemy’s First Tower in return. This exchange had cost him.
The opponent fought boldly and timed it flawlessly—not luck, but sharp macro awareness. Without that kind of game sense, losing the First Tower would leave the Nexus Crystal vulnerable.
Jiu Ke found himself facing a tricky foe.
“The timing was spot on,” Pan Feng said. “One second later, and Yuri would’ve dived the tower. We could’ve held this First Tower.”
Yun Qi successfully defended his First Tower. Gares’s first skill kept Yuri under constant pressure, and the poke damage created a significant edge. Jiu Ke led in kills, but on the map overall, Yun Qi held the path to victory. They traded blows like that, grinding Jiu Ke’s Nexus Crystal down to half health. He tried to force a fight, but Gares simply backed off. Jiu Ke had to manage the minion wave while fending off Gares’s relentless poke. Soon Yuri’s health bar looked unhealthy; he was forced to retreat. That single small step back was all Gares needed. He tanked the tower shots and bore down on the Nexus Crystal. Even with only half his gear online, he raw-dogged it with his first skill, bursting the Nexus Crystal apart.
Yun Qi had won.
The onlookers seemed slow to process it. Jiu Ke let out a tsk. He hadn’t been dominated in lane, hadn’t fed excessive kills, and his mechanics were flawless—yet he’d lost.
“Not bad,” Lao Xun said with precise judgment. “Strong macro awareness.”
In the second game, Jiu Ke selected his strongest hero, Phila.
Yun Qi picked Lian.
“I haven’t seen much Lian this season,” Liu Ying said as he dragged a chair over and sat down. “Almost forgot the hero existed.”
“No issue against Lian, right?” one of the substitutes chimed in. “Bro’s Phila is unstoppable.”
Jiu Ke said nothing.
The game began, and Yun Qi immediately sensed the aggression.
Why? Because Jiu Ke came out swinging.
He ignored the minion wave entirely, clearly gunning for Yun Qi’s head first, shoving the wave forward for a quick kill. It was a solid dueling strategy. If Jiu Ke skipped farming to fight, Yun Qi couldn’t safely do so either. Both Lian and Phila were in-your-face brawlers—no kiting possible, just pure melee slugfest.
They clashed without touching a single minion. Neither yielded as their health bars drained into the danger zone, death lurking every second. As if by mutual agreement, they both pulled back. The first exchange ended uneventfully. They healed to full, nibbled at the wave, and then the second round kicked off.
Yun Qi landed his 3-2-3 combo, but Phila barely scratched. A quick glance at his build revealed Small Cloth Armor, giving him solid defense. Yun Qi had rushed pure offensive items. Phila turned the tables, shredding him to half health in an instant. He tried to escape, but it was too late—Phila flashed in for the kill.
“Push the minion wave forward!” someone reminded Jiu Ke.
Jiu Ke didn’t need the reminder. Yun Qi’s First Tower had just exploded, leaving his Nexus Crystal wide open and vulnerable to ending the match at any second.
Pan Feng’s heart sank. “This one’s done for.”
Yun Qi respawned and cleared the wave in a flash. The two of them clashed right under the tower. Phila held an early-game edge over Lian, but after tanking a few tower shots, he fell to Lian’s combo and got counter-killed on the spot.
The momentum swung once more. Yun Qi marched his minions right up to the enemy’s tower. Whatever they were chattering about over there, he couldn’t make it out. He advanced triumphantly, trading First Tower for First Tower until both sides were down to just their Nexus Crystals.
Fighting from different health pools, they danced around each other, landing damage through precise positioning. They tangled near the minion wave for nearly two full minutes with no decisive blows. Not wanting to recall to base, Yun Qi picked up a Small Vampiric Stone, farmed a bit of the wave, and nursed his health bar back to half.
Jiu Ke played ferocious, harassing for those two minutes before diving in face-first. Yun Qi was ready for it. He dodged, closed the gap, and his mouse and keyboard rattled furiously. Phila’s portrait went gray.
The minions breached the Nexus Crystal’s range. Pan Feng let out a string of excited “oh oh oh”s, and amid the cheers, the second game wrapped up.
The unlikely underdog hero had pulled off another win.
Sighs rose from Jiu Ke’s side. Yun Qi spotted Ziwu rising to his feet and leaning in close to peer at Jiu Ke’s screen.
Moments later, Chang Shu strolled over.
Yun Qi met his gaze with a gentle smile. Chang Shu nodded in acknowledgment. “That good, huh?”
Before Yun Qi could respond, Pan Feng jumped in. “Right? I thought we’d lost that one for sure, but we clutched it out!”
He leaned in close to Yun Qi’s ear. “The trial trainee gave you a nickname over there—Top Laner Demon King. And damn if it doesn’t fit.”
Yun Qi pressed his lips together. He hadn’t even known he had a nickname like that.
Standing next to Yu Jin, Chang Shu remarked, “Jiu Ke’s not sleeping tonight.”
Yu Jin shot back, “Isn’t the night just getting started?”
Chang Shu met his eyes and let out a knowing, enigmatic laugh.
Jiu Ke queued up the third game, and Yun Qi accepted without hesitation. His back-to-back victories had drawn a crowd; he didn’t have time to sort out who everyone was. The chatter behind him grew louder and more animated. He gripped his mouse thoughtfully and locked in Wind Hidden—the hero he’d been maining lately.
Jiu Ke countered with Stygian.
This round, he dialed back the recklessness, playing with more composure. The previous two games had given them a solid read on each other, so both settled into a patient rhythm. The match flowed smoother but carried a thrilling undercurrent.
Some in the room were rooting for Yun Qi’s three-peat. Others hoped for Jiu Ke’s grand comeback. With so much riding on the line for their future reps, the crowd fell into a hush—no callouts, no whispers. Pin-drop silence.
Yun Qi had no idea if Yu Jin was still around.
He couldn’t afford to glance back and tried to pick out his breathing amid the subtle sounds, but with so many people, it was impossible to tell.
Wind Hidden’s boomerangs stung on impact, and Stygian’s area blasts packed a punch. They traded blows evenly through the first five minutes in relative harmony. Once their second items came online, the real fireworks started. Stygian split his build—one defensive piece, one offensive—while Wind Hidden went full damage on both. His health couldn’t keep pace, and Stygian’s area denial burst him down.
“No sweat, you got this next one,” someone encouraged.
Yun Qi pressed on after hearing the support, but this game felt like an uphill battle. Stygian’s skills landed with surgical precision. Wind Hidden ate massive damage, burned through his mobility, and died again while his cooldowns ticked.
The crowd shuffled back over to Jiu Ke’s setup.
The two treated their audience like cats chasing mice, footsteps pattering back and forth. Yun Qi snagged a kill here, Jiu Ke answered back there—until Stygian finally shattered the Nexus Crystal to seal the win.
Pan Feng clapped Yun Qi on the shoulder. “Tough break, but you did great. Two out of three—you’re still the champ.”
Yun Qi stretched out his ten fingers.
Over on Jiu Ke’s side, the group buzzed with chatter about how Yun Qi really had some chops, how impressive it was, and so on.
“No big deal,” one of them said. “You’ve been streaming non-stop these past couple days. He’s been grinding hard. Beating you twice is fair play.”
Liu Ying gave Jiu Ke’s shoulder a squeeze. “Bro, you tapping out?”
Jiu Ke shoved his hand away as he stood. “Piss off.”
Liu Ying chuckled and dropped back into his seat to grind some training.
Yun Qi let out a long sigh.
Just when he figured he could finally unwind, a pair of hands settled on him. He leaned back into a warm chest—one hand braced against his desk edge, the other nudging his mouse. A glint of a ring caught his eye. Yun Qi gave a slight shiver and scooted inward, only then realizing he was still there.
Yu Jin worked the mouse, pulling up the control panel and dragging down one of the sliders. His voice drifted down from above. “Sensitivity’s too high. Makes pulling vision easy but causes shakes and skill misses. Dial it to 75% once you’re used to it—that’s the sweet spot. Grind that out over the next couple days.”
Yun Qi cautiously glanced around, his heart pounding. “…Okay.”
Yu Jin finished adjusting his mouse sensitivity but didn’t leave right away. His hand stayed on the mouse, creating the illusion that he had Yun Qi cradled in his arms. In truth, they weren’t touching at all—at most, the ends of Yun Qi’s hair brushed lightly against his skin.
Yun Qi huddled into himself, legs and arms drawn tight. He was slender to begin with, and curling up like this made him seem even smaller, almost invisible. Yu Jin had noticed it yesterday: over the past couple of days, Yun Qi had been going out of his way to avoid any physical contact with him. In his presence, he was always jittery and on edge, like he was terrified of accidentally brushing against him.
It was odd.
But Yu Jin didn’t ask.
He simply observed Yun Qi’s tension and every little movement.
Still holding the pose of fiddling with his settings—without actually moving his hands—Yu Jin said, “First game won on game sense, second on mechanics, third lost on favors. Your best hero never even showed up.”
Yun Qi’s throat tightened.
“You bringing those SK habits over to KRO?” Yu Jin asked softly. “Hm?”
Yun Qi clenched his fingers, fighting to keep the hot blood surging through him under control. “No…”
“No one here needs you looking out for them,” Yu Jin said, his tone leaving no room for argument. “First time—and last.”
Yun Qi bit his lip. “…Got it.”
He could never hide from those eyes. In front of Yu Jin, he might as well have been transparent.
The others’ lively chatter continued.
The training room was still abuzz with talk of the matches.
Yun Qi pressed his clenched fist against his knee, his hand secretly balling up tighter under the desk.
Every breath from above was enough to set him off.
His monthly heats, which usually came like clockwork, seemed to be hitting early this time.
“What did I tell you yesterday?” Yu Jin reminded him quietly. Yun Qi jolted back to awareness—he’d had the nagging feeling he’d forgotten something, and now it clicked.
He glanced up at the spot in question. He was supposed to have taken care of it that morning, but here it was afternoon with nothing done. In a panic, he blurted, “Ah, I forgot…”
Yu Jin pulled his hand back from the mouse and leaned down, his gaze settling on a bead of feverish sweat nestled in Yun Qi’s hair. In a soft voice, he said, “Then you’ll have to be punished.”
