Qiao Jingjing had been silently grumbling about his King Tier 50 stars, thinking, "Even if you didn't force me to solo queue and lose stars, I'd still have fifty stars." But at this moment, she froze in surprise and looked at him in astonishment.
The host exclaimed with slight exaggeration, "An aerospace designer? That's incredible! Do you build rockets? I know about the Fat Five."
"No," Yu Tu replied briefly. "I work on deep space probe design."
"...I can't ask more—I don't even understand the terms," the host wiped his sweat. "Alright! Both teams are assembled again! Please take your seats!"
The red and blue teams returned to their respective competition seats on either side.
The pre-match discussion time for the second round was shorter, only five minutes. Team Good Luck didn't sit down immediately but gathered in a circle to discuss. Following their habit from the previous round, everyone first looked at Qiao Jingjing.
Qiao Jingjing seemed distracted and was taken aback by their gazes. Then, as if suddenly remembering, she went "oh" and turned her head toward Yu Tu, wearing an expression that said, "Since he's here, why should I bother thinking?"
Yu Tu: "..."
The short-haired girl excitedly glanced back and forth between the two of them.
Zhou Yin felt like he'd been force-fed a mouthful of dog food. He cleared his throat and said, "We coordinated pretty well last round. For the second round, let's adapt based on how the opponents pick. You play Marksman and fill Xia Xue's position?" he asked Yu Tu.
"I can do anything, but," Yu Tu pondered, "last round, their bans mainly targeted Jingjing. However, Jingjing's performance with Dong Huang Tai Yi was outstanding, so they should realize their strategy was flawed. This round, they'll likely ban the three heroes our non-pro players used last round."
The bespectacled guy said, "You mean they'll ban Dong Huang, Bian Que, and Kai?"
Yu Tu nodded. "That's highly possible. Non-pro players usually have shallow hero pools and might only master one or two heroes. The ones they picked last round are definitely their best, so banning them could disrupt the entire opponent's strategy. Plus, they don't know enough about me to ban effectively, and Teacher Zhou Yin's hero pool is too deep to target."
Qiao Jingjing nodded repeatedly, but her eyes were fixed on the staff nearby, who were helping Yu Tu set up his ID. Due to character limits, her ID last round was "GoodLuckTeam Jingjing," and Yu Tu's ID would probably be "GoodLuckTeam YuTu"? But did they know which characters "YuTu" referred to?
She couldn't help but distractedly supervise the process.
The short-haired girl grew anxious. "But I can only play Bian Que as Mid-laner! I'm somewhat familiar with Cai Wenji and have played Zhang Fei, but I'm average at it."
The bespectacled guy said, "If they ban Kai, it's fine—I can play other heroes. But I can't handle Mid-laner; I'm not great with squishy heroes."
Seeing the staff correctly set up the ID, Qiao Jingjing finally turned her attention back. Pretending to keep up, she seriously voiced her opinion—
"So what do we do?"
Short-haired girl: ...Why did the goddess's IQ drop so fast?
Yu Tu: "..."
Yu Tu said helplessly, "If that really happens, Jingjing and I will play Marksman and Mid-laner."
Zhou Yin asked, "Sister Jingjing, can you play Mid-laner and Marksman?"
Qiao Jingjing's temporarily absent intelligence returned as she calculated, "Then I'll play Ying Zheng as Mid-laner. He clears minions quickly and is safe. Or I could play Gan Jiang Mo Ye—if I can't beat the Pig God, I'll just hide under the tower."Without a hint of shame, she laid out her cowardly strategy and then cheerfully praised Yu Tu, "He's flexible and has a deep hero pool, so any marksman will do."
Everyone looked at Yu Tu.
Yu Tu had no choice but to accept it. "...Yeah."
Zhou Yin clapped his hands. "Alright, let's do it!"
Five minutes later, the second round's ban/pick phase began.
This time, Team Good Luck was on the red side, so Team Plucking Stars, as the blue side, had the first ban and pick. Just as Yu Tu had predicted, they didn't ban Wang Zhaojun, Cai Wenji, or Zhang Fei again. Instead, they banned Donghuang Taiyi, Bian Que, and Kai in sequence.
Team Good Luck was prepared and calmly continued to ban three junglers. For the fourth ban, Zhou Yin discussed with Yu Tu and decided to ban the uncle's Hua Mulan, who had performed quite well in the previous match. Of course, this ban was a special one for the exhibition match and couldn't be implemented in the system, so it was done verbally.
After seven heroes were banned, before the other side started picking, Qiao Jingjing suddenly heard Yu Tu's voice in her headphones, "Jingjing, we already won the last round. Do you want to be a bit bolder this time?"
Qiao Jingjing was taken aback and turned to look at him. Yu Tu was sitting to her left, adjusting his phone settings without looking up, but his deep voice reached every teammate through the headphones.
"In the last round, the pro players on Team Plucking Stars went easy on the anchors. If they still do that this round, the first pick should be a jungler, so we'll most likely get Baili Shouyue."
"You mean..."
"I'll take mid-lane, you play marksman."
As soon as he finished speaking, the other side locked in their first hero—it was indeed the jungler Baili Xuan Ce.
Zhou Yin whistled; he found it quite thrilling.
Soon, both teams' compositions were set.
Team Good Luck: Baili Shouyue, Cai Wenji, Zhuge Liang, Bai Qi, Da Mo
Team Plucking Stars: Baili Xuan Ce, Zhuang Zhou, Niu Mo, Sun Shangxiang, Shiranui Mai
After the heroes were chosen, there were still several dozen seconds for in-team adjustments, so it wasn't yet confirmed who would play which hero.
The live stream platform was already buzzing with discussion.
"Is Pig God playing Shiranui Mai to give the blue buff to the anchor again? Too humble."
"Qiao Jingjing playing Cai Wenji? Still getting carried to victory..."
"Wasn't she supposed to be a gaming expert? An expert who only knows one support?"
"She's still not that good, right? Picking Cai Wenji even against pros."
"I kind of get her strategy now—playing support means she can talk her way out whether they win or lose."
The commentator thought the same, though he phrased it much more politely, "It seems the new handsome guy will play Baili Shouyue, filling Xia Xue's marksman role, so Qiao Jingjing should still be on support. With Donghuang Taiyi banned, her playing Cai Wenji isn't bad—it's a hero with relatively high error tolerance."
"Both teams are making final adjustments to their compositions... Wait, am I seeing this right? Qiao Jingjing playing Baili Shouyue? Baili Shouyue?!!! Let's see if they'll adjust again!"
"It's confirmed! Qiao Jingjing on Baili Shouyue! The new handsome guy Yu Tu on mid-lane Zhuge Liang! Zhou Yin on jungler Da Mo. Team Good Luck has made major composition adjustments! Unexpected!"
A wave of discussion rose from the audience, and the live stream platform exploded.
"Am I seeing things? Qiao Jingjing on Baili Shouyue? Did they mess up their adjustments?"
"She's not playing support anymore?"
"Baili Shouyue is really difficult to play, with long-range sniping. Can she even aim properly?"Amidst numerous speculations, both teams entered the map.
As the game began, Qiao Jingjing headed straight down the lane with her gun.
In the current version, Yu Tu playing as the Marksman had a much higher chance of winning than her, even with her best hero, Baili Shouyue. Yu Tu was far more skilled—like his mysteriously accurate blind snipes...
But if she didn’t compare herself to him, she was pretty decent. If she had a chance to show off, of course she wouldn’t pass it up. As for winning or losing—well, they’d already won one round. Even if they lost the next two, it wouldn’t be too embarrassing, right?
Qiao Jingjing thought carefreely.
Cai Wenji followed behind her, voice tense. "Should I stick with Jingjing?"
Yu Tu said calmly, "No need to be too nervous. Our lineup has the advantage. Stand by the river for now; Jingjing will solo the bottom lane."
Cai Wenji timidly asked, "Do we have an advantage? I’m using Cai Wenji..."
Qiao Jingjing reassured her, "In the early game, heroes like Fire Dance can poke us from a distance. With you healing, we won’t need to recall. It’s pretty good. Besides, we have Zhou Yin."
Yu Tu agreed, "Yeah, we have Zhou Yin."
Zhou Yin: "..."
He felt like he was being ganged up on.
Zhou Yin said, "Cai Wenji, stick with me. Don’t split the farm."
Qiao Jingjing checked the Red Buff briefly, sensed that the enemy hadn’t come to invade, and headed straight for the bottom lane minion wave. Actually, Shouyue could clear the Red Buff quickly; in casual matches, she usually took it first. But in a formal competition like this, it was more important to leave it for the Jungler to farm.
The enemy Zhuang Zhou was already clearing the minion wave. Qiao Jingjing didn’t rush forward but stayed under the turret, using her second skill to aim.
Unbeknownst to Qiao Jingjing, from the very start of the match, all the cameras were focused on her Baili Shouyue. After all, this was an exhibition match—not too strict—so of course, they prioritized what the audience most wanted to see. And what did the audience want to see the most? Exactly how good Qiao Jingjing’s Baili Shouyue was.
On the big screen, the tiny Baili Shouyue crouched under the turret. The three red targeting lines of her skill gradually converged into one, then moved swiftly—fire!
With a "bang," the first shot accurately hit Zhuang Zhou.
A soft gasp rippled through the audience.
What made Baili Shouyue such a showy hero was the sudden thrill of sniping an enemy—the visual effect was quite heart-pounding. If it instantly eliminated a low-health target, it could make your heart skip a beat.
Though Zhuang Zhou was tanky and only lost one health bar, the moment of impact still felt exhilarating. The commentator, who had been instructed to praise Qiao Jingjing as much as possible, immediately chimed in: "Not bad, not bad, pretty accurate."
However, the live stream chat told a different story.
"Was Zhuang Zhou just standing still clearing minions? His positioning is average."
"Basically saying, 'I’m tanky, come hit me lol 23333'"
"It’s alright, don’t be too harsh. After all, I’ve missed shots even with my cannon-wielding Huang Zhong."
After landing her first shot, Qiao Jingjing left the turret to clear minions, smoothly reaching level two, and began placing vision in key spots. Spotting Zhuang Zhou reappearing in her line of sight, she took another sniper shot.
This one, however, missed.
And because her prediction was off, it veered quite far off target.
Qiao Jingjing muttered in frustration, "Thank goodness the first shot hit. If I’d missed two in a row, I’d probably be ridiculed."
Yu Tu remarked, "Such heavy idol baggage?"
Qiao Jingjing sighed, "Yeah..."Before she could finish her sentence, she heard a familiar female voice shout—"First Blood!"
She froze for a moment and quickly looked over. The screen showed Zhuge Liang killing the enemy Jungler Xuan Ce.
Yu Tu had secured the First Blood.
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