【A Mao’s Mom: Cheng Ge blocked me, crying face, need a hug from big sis to get up from the floor.】
【ZGDX、Smiling: Just stay lying there then.】
【A Mao’s Mom: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA OMG I can’t believe Cheng Ge actually blocked me?! This is the guy who would say “Everyone’s got it tough, just let them post” to people spamming shady ads—and he blocked ME, what do I do I’m so happy!!!】
【ZGDX、Smiling: …………? Don’t really get what you crazy stans are thinking, the idol’s weird so the fans follow suit?】
【A Mao’s Mom: You used to be Cheng Ge’s crazy stan too, pal!】
【ZGDX、Smiling: Ever heard of ‘distance makes the heart grow fonder’? Not anymore, I’ve decided to just be the King’s crazy stan wholeheartedly.】
【A Mao’s Mom: That poker-faced guy.】
【ZGDX、Smiling: Nope, our King smiles super brightly when watching girl group performances.】
【A Mao’s Mom: What about Cheng Ge?】
【ZGDX、Smiling: Poker face 24/7 plus sarcastic looks and nonstop flirty talk, forget it, too scary.】
【A Mao’s Mom: Your words are dripping with some mysterious sense of superiority.】
Tong Yao: “…”
Superiority huh…
Did it?
The girl holding her phone silently stared at the ceiling for a while before concluding this was slander from her friend. She sent a series of 【eye-roll】【eye-roll】【eye-roll】 emojis at her, then put down her phone and continued watching the video of KING team’s LSPL Spring Split finals on her iPad, pausing occasionally to jot down notes about the opposing players’ minor habits—
Not only did she record the Mid Laner’s habits and behaviors, she also noted the Jungler’s gank routes… Generally speaking, the three lanes are dynamic, but jungle camp resources are fixed, so every Jungler has their own preferred clearing sequence. Identifying their patterns would greatly help in avoiding ganks and preventing enemy invasions into your own jungle.
For example, KING’s Jungler—he might not even realize it himself—but after clearing his first camp, he’d usually show up mid for a gank. If it worked, great; if not, he’d just harass the enemy Mid Laner a bit before recalling—
This was a player’s personal habit.
Tong Yao bit the tip of her tongue as she scribbled down the opponent’s jungle path: clears own jungle pre-level 3, hits level 4 off scuttle crab, then invades enemy’s red-side Krugs… After a moment’s thought, she added “(countergank opportunity here)” before tossing her pen aside and resuming the match video…
Just then, her phone lit up again—
【A Mao’s Mom: So what do you think is really going on between you and Cheng Ge? How do you explain that weird bed declaration of his that day? Even as a joke, it’s just… You have no idea how hard the Forum and Weibo went in on your drama after that. And now today, he does this.】
【ZGDX、Smiling: Like I said, he occasionally spouts flirty nonsense.】
【ZGDX、Smiling: What did he do today?】
【A Mao’s Mom: He stopped you and Jian Yang from making up!】[ZGDX、Smiling: Probably really didn’t want me to get distracted by things like relationships, right? Seems like no one on our team has a partner either, yet they all have hordes of pretty female fans.]
[A Mao’s Mom: Smelling hypocrisy through the screen.]
[A Mao’s Mom: Do you really think Lu Sicheng did this just for the team’s performance?]
[ZGDX、Smiling: The guys on our team all have tons of female fans. Cheng Ge’s fans alone would need trucks to haul them all. Plus, he’s from a good family, handsome, and loaded. If he took a liking to me, it’d be undeniable proof I’ve cast a love spell on him—as the ancients say, matches should be of equal standing. If he were to fancy anyone, it should be a refined lady with height, beauty, and grace.]
…If the earlier statement was hypocritical, then this was the truth.
[A Mao’s Mom: …No need to be so self-deprecating. You’re great.]
[ZGDX、Smiling: For some reason, your serious tone of comfort makes me really want to block you.]
[A Mao’s Mom: Sweetie, I am tall, beautiful, and graceful. The most annoying part is that my dad’s loaded too. Last year on Double Eleven, while everyone was scrambling for half-price Weibo memberships, I bought a Maserati.]
[ZGDX、Smiling: …………………………]
[ZGDX、Smiling: Doesn’t change the fact that A Mao’s dad is an idiot.]
[A Mao’s Mom: …Fair point. A flaw in my life. Consider it charity for good karma—maybe in my next life, my husband will be hotter than Li Yifeng thanks to the merits I’ve accumulated.]
And with that, the girls’ private chat time with her bestie came to an end.
Tong Yao tossed her phone aside and focused on finishing the match she was watching. Yawning, she turned off her iPad, crawled under the covers, and reviewed the new notes in her notebook by the bedside lamp before finally closing it and turning off the light to sleep.
—When she closed her eyes, Tong Yao had originally planned to mentally go over the individual habits and jungle routes of KING’s team members. But somehow, Jin Yang’s words— “Do you really think Lu Sicheng did this just for the team’s performance?” —kept echoing in her mind like a haunting refrain…
Tong Yao: “……”
A man going out of his way to sabotage her relationship with another guy by making up all sorts of excuses?
………………To say she didn’t let her imagination run wild would be a lie.
In fact, for a split second, she had already mentally gone through the steps of confession, dating, and proposal with Lu Sicheng, about to enter the sacred matrimonial hall—in her imagination, her father placed her hand into the man’s slender, elegant fingers clad in white gloves—
She in a pure white wedding dress.
He in a sharp black tuxedo.
The chapel bells rang, surrounded by the blessings of friends and family…
Tong Yao: “…………………………”
Hehehehehe.
The young woman pulled the covers over her face—
No wonder they say a maiden’s heart is always poetic. A little fantasy never hurt anyone ( rolls eyes ).
……
On Saturday, they squeezed in a scrim with the neighboring team. Though they won, it wasn’t as effortless as the first time. The opposing team seemed determined to perfect their Jungle-Support Duo Roam strategy—during the early laning phase alone, Tong Yao saw their support pass through mid-lane at least four or five times.
Bunch of noobs improving way too fast.This made Tong Yao realize she couldn’t afford to underestimate any of the remaining eleven teams in the LPL. Who knew how much the other teams had changed after the short transfer period and adjustments in form?
Their regular match against Team KING was scheduled for 1 PM on Sunday. Tong Yao got up early in the morning and was already in the living room flipping through her notebook, which contained notes on all the habits of KING’s players. Ming Shen walked past her with breakfast and glanced over, raising an eyebrow. "You made these notes yourself?"
"Yep," Tong Yao replied without looking up. "Know your enemy and know yourself, and you’ll never be defeated."
"Impressive. That’s some dedication." Ming Shen patted her head approvingly. "Normally, this kind of thing would be handled by the data analysts and coaches, but since it’s the start of the regular season and they’re a newly promoted team, Xiao Rui told us not to bother too much..."
"We can’t look down on them just because they’re a newly promoted team."
"Mm," Ming Shen chuckled. "It’s not about looking down on them. It’s just that there are stronger teams we need to focus on. Analyzing a bunch of noobs who’ve completely transformed is already a lot of work."
Tong Yao tilted her head back to look at Ming Shen and, sure enough, spotted dark circles under his eyes. The breakfast in his hand also included a cup of black coffee—probably because after last night’s scrims, the players went to bed early for today’s match, while Ming Shen stayed up late organizing the scrim data.
As they talked, Lu Sicheng and Lu Yue came downstairs one after the other. Lu Yue sniffed the air, walked over to Ming Shen, and directly took the coffee he had made, drinking it under Ming Shen’s protests of "Make your own if you want some!" Meanwhile, Lu Sicheng snatched Tong Yao’s notebook from behind.
Tong Yao: "Hey!"
Lu Sicheng: "'If they hit level three first, the ADC will aggressively pressure with an 85.37% chance'... Huh, where’d this decimal come from?"
"Don’t just grab people’s notebooks! What if it was a girl’s diary?!" Tong Yao stood on the sofa and snatched the notebook back. "The decimal is from watching dozens of matches and calculating it!"
"You watched dozens of LSPL matches," Lu Sicheng repeated flatly.
Tong Yao lifted her chin. "Yeah!"
Lu Sicheng paused, then asked, "...Are you that bored?"
Tong Yao put her hands on her hips. "Why are you all so overconfident? Be careful or you’ll crash and burn today!"
Lu Sicheng let out an "Oh," rubbing his ear and muttering, "No need to yell," before walking away to grab some food from the kitchen. Noticing the barefoot girl on the sofa still glaring at him, he circled back and met her gaze—now at eye level since she was standing on the sofa. "Stomach not hurting anymore?"
"Huh? What?" Tong Yao blinked, notebook still in hand.
"Don’t start whining about needing the bathroom during the match again." Lu Sicheng shoved a cup of warm milk into her hands. "Drink it, then get down from the sofa. What are you doing up there anyway?"
With that, he turned away to pack his peripheral bag.
Tong Yao stood frozen on the sofa, holding the milk, before suddenly plopping down cross-legged and gulping it down. She set the cup aside and ran up behind Lu Sicheng. "No one has period cramps for four or five days straight—that’d be unbearable!""Oh." Lu Sicheng didn't even turn his head. "Put on your shoes, the floor's cold."
Tong Yao looked down at her bare feet, then glanced back at the forgotten house slippers beside the sofa. After a brief pause, she agilely hopped onto the chair in front of her seat, unplugged her mouse and keyboard, and stuffed them into the peripheral bag leaning against the chair—
Ming Shen, while bringing breakfast to Lu Yue, casually kicked her slippers over to her.
With her peripheral bag on her back and shoes now on, Tong Yao reached the entrance hall. Peeking outside, she saw the bus waiting to take them to the competition venue. This time, her mood was considerably calmer compared to her first opening match. She bent down to swap her house slippers for flip-flops, then jogged out to board the bus.
Choosing a random seat on the bus, she settled in as the rest of the team gradually filed on. Lu Sicheng was the last to board. As he passed Tong Yao, he paused slightly and leaned back. "Shorty."
"Hmm?" Tong Yao, engrossed in her phone, didn't look up.
"Let me see that girly notebook of yours."
"..." Tong Yao looked up in shock. "Why do you want to see my notebook?"
"...KING's data analysis." Lu Sicheng sounded slightly exasperated.
"Oh, oh, right." Tong Yao pulled the small notebook from her pocket and handed it over. "But didn't we say it wasn't necessary since they're not a strong team?"
"Since it's already done, might as well take a look."
Lu Sicheng took the pink notebook, gave it a little shake in Tong Yao's direction, then walked to the back row to peruse it carefully. Tong Yao rested her chin on the seatback, watching him until he turned the first page. Without looking up, he said, "Keep staring and you're getting kicked off the bus." Her head promptly disappeared behind the seat with a "whoosh."
The bus left the team headquarters around 10 a.m.
A drowsy atmosphere settled over the vehicle...
Old Cat was snoring under his jacket, Little Fatty's head drooped in half-sleep, Tong Yao curled up in her seat chatting on WeChat, while Old K sat beside Old Cat playing a mobile game—
Mid-game, Lu Sicheng called Old K to the back row, turning the notebook audience from one to two. Their low murmurs and occasional coughs drifted from the rear. Tong Yao initially strained to eavesdrop...
But soon, the bus's sleepy vibe got to her too.
She dozed off still clutching her phone.
Old K read aloud from the notebook: "'After clearing the first jungle camp, high probability of ganking mid—if successful, great; if not, harass the enemy Mid Laner before recalling'—'Countergank opportunity here'... What the hell is this?"
Lu Sicheng, propping his head with one hand, chuckled unexpectedly. "It's telling you to countergank. Can't you read?"
Old K blinked. "No, I can't. This data analyst... why does she keep inserting herself into the analysis like this?"Lu Sicheng lazily responded with an "Mhm," glancing at the person nearby who was hugging her phone like a dozing chick. When the car jolted slightly, her whole body trembled before she abruptly opened her eyes, stretching her neck like a meerkat with a face full of confusion that screamed, "Who am I? Where am I? What's happening here?"
The man lowered his gaze, his long, thick lashes veiling the deeper amusement in his eyes. "Because she’s a born actress, full of drama."
Old K: "..."
...
The match between ZGDX Team and KING Team that day went exceptionally smoothly.
Just when everyone thought this team, known for dragging games into the late stages and excelling in comebacks, might actually surprise ZGDX, they quickly realized ZGDX remained unshaken—throughout the entire match, the movements of KING Team's jungler seemed completely predictable. Every time he tried to ambush someone, Old K would mysteriously appear behind him like a ghost...
And then there was the mind games over jungle resources.
In the first game, Old K chose to start with his team’s Red Buff. After clearing the Red Buff, he moved to the next camp, the group of four small raptors known as F4. By then, the only remaining camp in ZGDX’s top-side jungle was the Krugs.
Old K then rotated from F4 to the bottom-side jungle to take the Blue Buff and the Wolves. After clearing those, he outright abandoned the bottom-side Toad camp and turned back toward the top-side jungle—
At this point, KING Team’s jungler was Level 4.
Old K was only Level 3.
Caster A: "What’s the logic behind skipping the Toad? Is he saving it for Cheng Ge?"
Caster B: "But he’s already behind in levels! Cheng Ge is already dominating KING’s bot lane duo—giving up resources like this makes no sense!"
Just as everyone assumed Old K’s slower jungle clear was a misplay, they suddenly saw him return and immediately catch KING’s jungler attempting to invade his top-side jungle near the Krugs!
The enemy jungler was visibly stunned to see Old K guarding his own jungle at this timing. After hesitantly landing a basic attack, he immediately tried to retreat—
But right then, Tong Yao had silently flanked from behind, cutting off his escape route. Working with Old K, they swiftly eliminated the overconfident invader from KING Team!
First Blood!
Amid the roaring cheers from the audience, KING’s jungler slammed his mouse in frustration. "Why didn’t you say their Mid Laner was missing?!"
"How was I supposed to know? I saw her push the wave and back off—I thought she recalled!" KING’s Mid Laner sounded equally shocked. "Who knew she was coming for you? How did she even predict you’d invade after taking the Scuttle Crab? Normally, Old K should’ve cleared the Toad before coming back for the Krugs, right? Are these guys cheating or what?"
Amid the chaos in KING Team, their entire rhythm fell apart.
The initiative was now entirely in ZGDX Team’s hands.
From then on, with their jungler’s pathing seemingly completely read by ZGDX, KING’s jungler remained utterly ineffective for the next two games. He could only watch helplessly as ZGDX crushed his team in the laning phase, leveraging their advantage across all three lanes to decisively close out the games in the mid-game—
Without even giving them a chance to drag it to the late stages.Not to mention turning the tables in a losing game.
After the match ended, the players shook hands. The captain of the KING Team, who was also their jungler, said with a sullen expression, "I didn't expect your team to even study the data of LSPL teams. You're really strong—what an exciting match."
Hearing this, Lu Sicheng smiled faintly and nodded toward the short figure walking ahead of him, who was earnestly shaking hands and bowing to each opponent. He said lightly, "It's our mid laner. She thinks everyone is strong."
At that moment, Tong Yao, who had finished shaking hands with everyone ahead, paused and turned back, her gaze meeting Lu Sicheng's.
After bowing to everyone and turning to pack up her peripherals, she chased after Lu Sicheng and asked, "Were you talking about me behind my back?"
Lu Sicheng: "Paranoid much?"
Tong Yao's lips twitched as she was about to say more, but a staff member called out to Lu Sicheng for an MVP interview. Lu Sicheng instructed Little Fatty to pack his peripheral bag for him and headed toward the interview area.
As he approached, the front row of the audience seats near the interview area was already packed with waiting fans. Cameras were raised high as Lu Sicheng walked in. Seeing this, Tong Yao slowed her movements and curiously glanced toward the interview area.
Host: "Congratulations to ZGDX and Chessman for securing the first match of the LPL Summer Split group stage! At this moment, do you have anything to say to your fans?"
Lu Sicheng: "Thank you all for your continuous support. We’ll give our all in the Summer Split."
As soon as he finished speaking, screams erupted.
Tong Yao, crouched behind the computer unplugging her mouse, peeked out with half her head, her face full of confusion.
Host: "Cheng Ge really knows how to charm the fans. Now, I’d like to ask—facing a newly promoted team from the LSPL, ZGDX, as a traditional powerhouse, was surprisingly well-prepared. This was quite shocking. What prompted ZGDX to take such an approach? Is this the secret to your success?"
Lu Sicheng: "No."
Host: "..."
Lu Sicheng: "It’s our mid laner. She’s afraid of everyone. If we slack off against any team, she’ll say we’re getting arrogant. Just this morning before we left, she stood on the couch and loudly declared that we’d lose today’s match."
Lu Sicheng’s description was so vivid that the fans burst into laughter. Behind the computers, Tong Yao yanked out her keyboard cable with force and rolled her eyes hard at the interview area.
Host: "It seems Cheng Ge gets along quite well with ZGDX’s new mid laner."
Lu Sicheng: "Mhm," he responded. "Just okay. We’re not that close."
As he spoke, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a short figure emerge from behind the row of computers in the player seats. She angrily slung her peripheral bag over her shoulder, stomped her feet as if furious about something, flipped her hair, and turned to leave.
Once that figure disappeared into the player tunnel, Lu Sicheng lowered his eyes, concealing a faint smile as he added, "But she’s strong and takes things seriously. As captain, I’m glad to have such a teammate. With her joining, ZGDX will be stronger than ever this summer."
OpenNovel