The final outcome was Old K and Old Cat's duo queue ended in disaster after just one game. After the match, Old K stood up, said he was hungry and was going downstairs to order takeout, leaving Old Cat sitting alone. With a pitiful gaze, Old Cat watched as Old K shut down his computer and went downstairs. Under the sympathetic looks from Little Fatty and Tong Yao, he muttered to himself, "Old K usually has a pretty good temper, just like his face—he's practically a pushover."
"Then how do you two end up bickering every day?" Tong Yao asked.
"I like to nag, and he just listens to me nag, then laughs it off." Old Cat glanced in the direction Old K had left, then lowered his head. "I wasn't finished—people with good tempers like him usually don’t get angry, but when they do, they’re really hard to appease..."
He wore a conflicted expression.
Little Fatty: "...And now you regret it."
Tong Yao: "Talk to him properly. Don’t let it affect tomorrow’s match."
Old Cat nodded dejectedly, realizing the gravity of the situation—from the day of the match against Team Alpha, it had been him throwing tantrums, and today during scrims, he had left Old K to die in enemy territory without lifting a finger. Thinking it over, it seemed like all the faults were his...
Once he figured it out, Old Cat resolved to apologize properly to Old K before bed—after all, young men had thin faces, and it was embarrassing to admit mistakes in front of too many people...
However, another small incident happened in the afternoon.
It was probably because Lu Sicheng had used Tong Yao’s computer to review the afternoon scrim data while she was streaming, so screenshots of the data page had been taken. Shortly after, rumors like 【ZGDX gets crushed by CK in scrims, ZGDX top and jungle allegedly have a falling out】 were everywhere—
【No way? Didn’t they say ZGDX was unbeatable in scrims?】
【Unbeatable my ass. They’ve barely won against any Korean teams, right? I heard they’ve lost to Korean operator teams and meme teams more than once—it’s not that ZGDX is too strong, it’s that the LPL is too weak. This year, LPL will probably max out at quarterfinals in Worlds!】
【LOL wasn’t the new mid laner Smiling supposed to be super strong? Wasn’t the new roster supposed to be unbeatable in LPL? How come she hasn’t carried the team to any wins?】
【……………………ZGDX dominates two groups in LPL almost effortlessly, but they can’t even beat an operator team? And they got stomped by a meme team without Pope? Weren’t they hyped to the skies?】
【If the top and jungle really have issues now, they’re probably doomed. I have a feeling tomorrow’s match is gonna be a bunch of noobs winning.】
【The guy above hyping the Spring Split relegation team is something else. Just because you have Pope as your daddy, you’re getting ahead of yourselves.】
……
And so on. Similar sarcastic remarks and pessimistic comments about the Chinese League of Legends scene were everywhere.
The main reason was that ZGDX had performed too well before—they hadn’t lost a single BO3 (*best-of-three) and were hyped as the last hope for the Chinese region in this year’s international tournaments. Suddenly getting hammered by CK Team in scrims made everyone uneasy.
Everyone hoped the LPL could finally win an S-series World Championship someday.
So, unconsciously, their expectations for ZGDX had become even harsher—Old Cat was naturally aware of all this. The forum posts had left him restless and irritated. After scrolling for a while, he tossed his phone aside and threw himself onto the bed for a nap. When he woke up, he crouched in his room, waiting for Old K to return... He waited and waited until past one in the morning, but Old K still hadn’t come back. Opening the door, Old Cat saw him sitting downstairs next to the second team’s jungler, patiently teaching the kid how to play Nidalee...
He didn’t even glance up at the sound of the door opening upstairs.
Old Cat muttered gloomily, "You have your own match tomorrow, why the hell are you fussing over someone else?" Then he slammed the door shut with a loud "bang."
Once the corridor returned to its previous silence, the person sitting beside the second team’s jungler continued instructing, "After clearing these rocks, don’t bother with them. Go straight to the bottom lane. Check the minion wave situation mid when you pass by—if it’s leaning toward our side, help gank." As he spoke, he lifted his eyes briefly to glance upstairs, paused, then lowered them again without any further reaction.
—All of this was witnessed by Tong Yao, who was leaning over the second-floor railing.
She stayed there for a while until she sensed someone approaching from behind. A large hand wrapped around her waist, and a solid chest pressed against her back. The man bent down, his furry head nuzzling against hers like a big dog, and asked in a low voice, "What are you looking at?"
"Seeing how far these two are going to drag this out."
"They won’t make up before tomorrow."
"...Then the match—"
"Be prepared to lose."
Tong Yao’s eyes widened slightly as she turned her head, her lips brushing lightly against the man’s. He paused for a moment, then pressed her more firmly against the railing—his slender fingers tilting her chin up as he leaned down to capture her soft lips. "It’s just the Group Stage. Winning every match would actually make people uneasy... These kids are already getting cocky. Today, I heard Little Fatty volunteering to play Bard tomorrow."
Little Fatty wasn’t exactly skilled with Bard. The last time they played against Da Qing, forcing him to pick Bard for the four-protect-one strategy had nearly killed him... Even though they won that match, he still had lingering trauma from the champion.
"The team next door is really strong now..."
"Yeah," Lu Sicheng murmured against her lips, distracted. "So if we’re even slightly careless—bad form, lack of preparation—any of it could cost us the match."
Tong Yao lowered her eyes.
After a moment, she whispered, "But I don’t want to lose, not even in the Group Stage..."
The man nuzzling against her ear paused.
He lifted his head slightly from where it rested heavily on her shoulder, thought for a moment, then said calmly, "It’s not necessarily a loss. But losing now is better than losing at a more critical time—otherwise, when would it happen? The Summer Split finals? Or the World Championship? The team next door is strong, but the traditional powerhouses from the Korean Professional League are even stronger than them right now. When we get to Worlds, that’s when we really can’t afford to lose."
"..."
"Look how full of themselves they’ve become. Every little thing in a match turns into blame-shifting, arguments, messing around in scrims. Winning a few matches in the Group Stage, and they think they’re invincible?"
The man’s voice was low and unhurried.
Laced with a hint of coldness.Tong Yao was left speechless: "...You spend all your time scheming against your teammates, the club executives, and me. Aren't you tired?"
"Exhausted. It's breaking my heart." Lu Sicheng scooped the girl up in his arms, ignoring her soft protest as he carried her steadily toward the bedroom. "How about you reward me?"
Tong Yao reached up to pinch his cheek. "You shameless rogue."
Lu Sicheng chuckled and tightened his embrace, tilting his head slightly to kiss her jawline... Tong Yao laughed and dodged, exchanging quiet words with him, yet her heart was inexplicably filled with unease about tomorrow's match—
Since joining the team, apart from the night before the Summer Split began, she hadn't felt this way in a long, long time.
It was a restless anticipation of the storm to come.
OpenNovel