Faced with such an explosive turn of events, not only was the official Weibo of the Operator Team instantly flooded by the spectator masses, but the members of ZGDX also received warm greetings from their homeland. For instance, Tong Yao’s Weibo was particularly lively—
Upon seeing the temporary position list, Tong Yao’s first reaction was to post a new Weibo:
[Salty Fish Girl Smiling: Dear Captain, I’ll do my best to support you. Mwah~]
Old Cat, who was the first to see her post, could only sigh: "Such a beauty, yet so eager to feed."
And indeed, Tong Yao’s Weibo quickly became a hot topic—
[Oh dear, this Operator Team: You playing support… I can only say the official decision is quite creative… All I can say is, if Little Fatty isn’t dead yet, it might be better to bring him back.]
[OCD Clean Freak: This match… Just have fun, okay? [laugh-cry][laugh-cry][laugh-cry]]
[Hey, You Stop Right There: Let’s be real, Tong Yao can’t play support. Watching her duo with Lu Sicheng in the bot lane, her mechanics are god-tier but her awareness is bronze-level… Just the fact that she never buys Sightstone or wards makes me want to throw her into Bronze-tier and let her suffer!]
[Jumping Candy Biubiubiu: Hahaha, the bot lane’s breakup is imminent!]
[Don’t Lie to Me: I heard Fatty ended up in the hospital from eating hot pot? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!]
[Salty Fish Has No Dreams: Always finding new ways to stir up drama.]
[Hahahaha Heheda: If you lose to the Wild Card tomorrow, at least a third of the blame goes to the two teams next door who didn’t give you Lao Gan Ma! The reason? Lack of unity!]
[I Have No Dreams Either: I’m honestly done with you guys. Ten days off and you decide to eat hot pot the day before the match—if Little Fatty wanted to eat, why didn’t you just muzzle him???]
……
On the way back to the hotel, Tong Yao was scrolling through her phone when she suddenly slapped her thigh in regret: “Right! Why didn’t we muzzle Little Fatty back then?”
Lu Yue: “Where would we even find a muzzle big enough for Little Fatty’s head?”
Tong Yao: “……”
Lu Sicheng pulled out his phone and glanced at Tong Yao’s Weibo: “Your fans have a point. I’m genuinely worried your support play might make me fall out of love with you—never thought I’d have to be supported by you outside of duo queue, and at the World Championship no less…”
“We’ve only duo’d bot lane three times.”
“Exactly. Now’s the time for you to reflect on why that number is only three.”
Tong Yao turned to him with a playful grin, and the man put down his phone: “Go on, what support do you plan to pick for me tomorrow?”
Tong Yao’s eyes rolled thoughtfully: “Lots of options—Karma, Jayce, Annie, Brand, Leblanc, though they’ll probably ban the last one… Oh, Lulu! Yeah, Lulu’s great. Her Q has long range, W can speed you up or hard-CC and silence enemies, E can shield you or deal damage, and her ult heals and knocks up…”
Lu Sicheng finished for her: “Except you’ll never use W to speed me up, E will only be for damage, ult only for yourself, and Q’s long range is just for stealing kills—most people pick Lulu to protect their AD, but with you, I only sense ulterior motives…”Lu Sicheng became more convinced of his own speculation as he spoke, standing up to announce to everyone, "Ban Lulu tomorrow. I don’t want to see that champion."
Tong Yao put away her phone, fuming, "Lu Sicheng, you really don’t love me anymore."
Lu Sicheng turned his head and looked expressionlessly at the person clutching their chest and collapsing into their seat, then smiled faintly, "Indeed. Forgive my incompetence—I truly can’t afford to love you."
...
The next day.
The second round of the Season 6 World Championship Group Stage officially began.
As the first team to play on the opening day of the second round, ZGDX Team and the Wild Card region’s Russian Bear Team arrived at the venue early. Over the ten days since the first round of the Group Stage ended, the two teams had quickly become acquainted through broken English and had gotten along quite well. Before entering the player lounge, they enthusiastically greeted each other when they met... The Bear Team’s players had probably already received the news about their opponent’s unexpected last-minute lineup change. Before entering the lounge, their bot lane duo even came over to greet Tong Yao, saying they looked forward to learning from her in today’s match... Standing in front of the burly Russian brothers, Tong Yao looked like a tiny chick, her thighs not even as thick as their arms, yet she fearlessly shook hands with them and grinned, saying, "Good luck!"
Naturally, she couldn’t escape Lu Sicheng’s mockery when they entered the lounge: "'Good luck'? You might as well save that for me, since I’m the one who’ll have to 1v3 in the bot lane today."
Tong Yao tugged at his sleeve, "...Lu Sicheng, enough already. What do you know? Friendship first, competition second!"
Lu Sicheng wasn’t buying her nonsense: "If you dare skip Sightstone again today, see if I don’t unplug your internet cable."
Tong Yao: "I’ll buy it, I’ll buy it! Worst case, I’ll just ward mid lane all game!"
Lu Sicheng: "..."
As the two bickered back and forth happily, Xiao Rui suddenly burst into the lounge in a frenzy, interrupting their conversation—the commotion silenced the room for a few seconds. Xiao Rui took a deep breath: "Do you guys remember how, before the World Championship started, the LPL officials kept hyping up some mysterious guest commentator or whatever?"
Tong Yao thought for a moment—she vaguely recalled something like that, but those things were usually just gimmicks no one really cared about... With that in mind, she curled her lips, pulled Lu Sicheng’s wrist over to check if he needed a wristband, and absentmindedly replied to Xiao Rui, "Who is it?"
Lu Sicheng glanced down at his wife carefully holding his hand and was about to say he didn’t need a wristband when he noticed Xiao Rui pointing outside: "He’s here. It’s your Oppa Gao."
Lu Sicheng paused.
Tong Yao didn’t catch it at first, frowning, "What?"
Xiao Rui: "Gao Xucheng!!!!"
Tong Yao: "..."
Tong Yao: "???"
Tong Yao: "!!!"Tong Yao let out a scream, dropped Lu Sicheng's hand, and like a proper fangirl, bounced up and pushed past Xiao Rui blocking the doorway to quickly step outside—peeking around the corner of the player tunnel for a while before walking back in stiff, awkward steps. She announced to her bewildered teammates, "It's really him! The special guest commentator is actually my king! Friends, do me a favor today—play well and don’t lose. I can’t bear the thought of losing to a Wild Card team under the ID 'smiling' in front of my king."
Everyone: "………………"
Lu Sicheng: "What happened to 'friendship first, competition second'?"
Tong Yao shot him a glance: "That’s a lie. In esports, only winning matters."
Lu Sicheng: "..."
From then on, Tong Yao remained in a state of exhilaration.
She looked like if she were still playing Mid Laner today, she’d either dominate the enemy team, achieve godlike status, and secure a Penta Kill—or get utterly crushed and feed the enemy a Penta Kill. Lu Sicheng tried to calm her down but failed; he tried to suppress her enthusiasm but failed again... Eventually, he had no choice but to accept that today’s support player was a complete madwoman.
The excitement continued as the audience gradually filled the venue, the players took their seats, and the match officially began, entering the Ban & Pick phase. The commentators took their positions and started speaking:
Commentator D: [Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the second round of the Group Stage at the Season 6 World Championship! Today’s opening match will be between the LPL region and the Wild Card region—Oh, the players are now in position, and we can see some minor adjustments in the LPL team’s lineup... Alright, both sides have begun their first Champion bans. As expected, Bear team bans LeBlanc first... Hey, buddy, I think that’s unnecessary—the person who knows how to play LeBlanc is sitting in the support seat today!]
Commentator F: [It’s worth noting that today’s LPL commentary booth has a special guest commentator... Director, can we get a shot?]
Commentator D: [Let’s welcome our legendary hero—WEIXIAO!]
The crowd erupted in laughter and cheers.
Commentator D: [I imagine WEIXIAO must be thrilled to return to the World Championship stage today as a commentator—especially when the players representing his region are right there on the competition stage, one of whom even carries an ID with the same meaning as "WEIXIAO" and has vowed to bring that ID back to the world stage!]
Commentator F: [I don’t even want to commentate anymore—I just want to go over to the LPL guest commentary booth and ask WEIXIAO how he’s feeling right now...]
Commentator D: [I don’t know about his feelings, but I know what smiling is thinking—Hey! Girl! You’re in the middle of a match! Standing up like that should count as a foul!]
Amid Commentator D’s teasing laughter, the director switched the broadcast feed to the player seats, where everyone could clearly see Tong Yao—who had just finished her first Champion ban—suddenly springing to her feet the moment she glanced up and saw her idol’s stoic face on the big screen. Her eyes widened, and she quickly looked around before locking onto a distant corner where the LPL live commentary booth was located. Her face lit up with excitement!She bounced up, enthusiastically waving both hands in that direction!
With her headphones on, she couldn't hear the audience roaring with laughter to the point of nearly passing out... But through the player cameras facing the audience, viewers could see the other four ZGDX members first turning to look at her with bewildered expressions, then simultaneously facepalming in perfect unison—this synchronized reaction made the crowd laugh even harder.
Finally, everyone watched as the man sitting beside her reached out, grabbed her, and forcefully pushed her back into her seat—Lu Sicheng: "Sit your ass down!"
Tong Yao was unceremoniously shoved back into her chair.
She slapped away the large hand on her shoulder: "Why so mean! It's my first time seeing Gao Xucheng in the flesh! Can't you let me be excited for once? Put yourself in my shoes! Could you stay calm if you saw Liu Yifei in person?"
Lu Sicheng expressionlessly banned Braum, the support champion the opposing team excelled at: "I don't like Liu Yifei."
Tong Yao fumed: "Bullshit! Your WeChat chat background is Liu Yifei! I always thought it was me! I was shocked when I secretly saw it last time! I was nice enough not to call you out, and now you're playing dumb!"
Lu Sicheng: "..."
Lu Sicheng: "That's not true. Lu Yue secretly changed it."
Lu Yue: "Bullshit!"
Lu Yue: "Bro, did you forget I'm here today too? Is this how you guys usually slander me?"
Lu Sicheng: "..."
As the Ban & Pick phase moved to picks, ZGDX had first pick in blue side—Tong Yao slapped her mouse: "Old Cat, take Lulu!"
Lu Sicheng: "No Lulu."
Tong Yao: "Lulu!"
Lu Sicheng: "Denied."
Tong Yao: "First item today: Magic Penetration Rod."
Lu Sicheng: "Try not building Sightstone, I dare you."
Ming Shen: "You guys are so damn loud, seriously. Old Cat, just give her Lulu, give it to her, ugh... It's like taking a bunch of elementary school students abroad for competition. The Little White Dove Children's Esports Team?"
Old K: "Locked in support, might as well pick AD too. What AD should we take?"
Tong Yao: "No idea. Ask the Liu Yifei fanboy."
Lu Sicheng: "Shut your mouth."
Old K: "..."
Amidst the chaos, ZGDX's voice comms were a complete mess. The backstage audio staff looked bewildered, unable to understand what these energetic players were arguing about... When the match officially began, during the brief loading screen tranquility, a blond, blue-eyed staff member backstage took off his headphones, rubbing his ears while complaining to his colleague: "Good lord, these guys are so damn loud! Weren't they supposedly taking care of a sick teammate at the hospital until midnight last night? Doesn't seem like it, huh?"
Author's Note: Here we go, here we go, here we go!!
PS: Just to clarify, there won't be any direct dialogue or special focus on Gao Xucheng later because I remember he actually was a commentator guest during S6—that part's true, so it's okay to mention. But if I were to give him lines or direct screen time, that would be me fictionalizing a real person, which I find cringey. So there'll only be indirect mentions...
=Ad time! Recommending a sweet little free-to-read novel for our puppy fans!= "Original Three Points Sweet"Xianbei had severe social anxiety and couldn't look people in the eye when speaking.
Yet she secretly had a crush on a man.
Gritting her teeth and steeling herself, Xianbei turned around. "I-I-I l-l-love..." she stammered for what felt like ages, her face burning red and sweat beading on her forehead.
Then he embraced her from behind, whispering softly, "Me too."
—"I've tasted countless flavors, but yours is the only one I crave."
Independent milk tea shop owner x NEET manga artist heroine
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