translator: Oyen editor: Ciel
After returning to the club, Qin Mo gathered the players for a meeting, where he briefly summarised the first five weeks of the competition, and also sorted out the data. Everyone was made aware of the changes in the team.
Although their rank had fallen to fifth place, the team’s morale was higher than ever before, because everyone knew—— the time to counterattack had finally come!
In the following week, Qin Mo no longer instructed the newcomers to practice as a team, and instead increased the training for the core lineup. Even their ‘three gods’ lineup of himself, Xiao Han, and Zhu Qingyue also appeared in the custom training room. Seeing this, Shen He was extremely excited, and sent a private message to Li Muran. “It’s actually Han, Mo and Qingyue, the three world-class players! If this lineup is really used, the opponent will definitely be blinded!”
Li Muran sent back a single word: “En.”
“Next week, we’re facing Sky team. It seems like our masters will personally take to the field?” Shen He questioned.
Li Muran: “En.”
Having become accustomed to his short replies, Shen He didn’t feel that Li Muran was being cold, and continued to express his excitement alone. “It’s so awesome!”
“Xiao He, join the team to practice our cooperation,” Qin Mo called out.
Shen He immediately returned to his senses and joined the team, only to realise that this lineup was actually himself, Qin Mo, and Xiao Han. Looking at the IDs ‘Ink Mark’ and ‘Thousand Miles Ice’ in his teammates’ list, Shen He felt a blazing passion ignite within him—— to fight side by side with his master was a dream come true.
***
After a week of intensive training, everyone returned to the Shanghai arena once again.
Last time, they faced the Whisper team in Shanghai. This time, their opponent was Sky team. The biggest difference was that the Sky team was part of the Wind Colour club, and Shanghai was the Wind Colour club’s basecamp.
This place was Sky team’s home court. Everyone felt the immense pressure of playing an away game as soon as they arrived on the scene—— out of the tens of thousands of spectators, over 90% were Sky team’s fans.
The uniform of the Sky team was blue, and the audience seats were like an ocean of blue. Fans cheered the Sky team on with various lightsticks and banners. Watching from backstage, Shen He couldn’t help expressing his fear. “Home courts are really terrible! If we defeat Sky later, will we be booed by the fans?”
“Just concentrate on the game and ignore the audience,” Qin Mo reminded him.
Scratching his head, Shen He obeyed his master and stopped talking.
Upon commencement of the game, Liang Ru started with an introduction of both teams. “At the present moment, Sky team ranks fourth, and has one more point than Mojue. The result of this game will determine their standings after this.”
“In previous weeks, Qiu Zongping and Yuan Xi have never played together,” Ye Chao noted. “Three of five rounds was because captain Qiu was banned. However, in draws where he wasn’t banned, Qiu Yuan did not enter the field together. The signature lineup of the Sky team has not been seen on the field. What do you think is the reason for this?”
Certain members of the audience offered witty replies on the bullet screen: “Is it because of the carnival confession drama?”
“Does Yuan Xi really like Qiu Zongping? [Shocked face]!”
“I don’t know what captain Qiu means by this. In any case, the double summoner combination of Sky team has never been seen in the three-player competition!”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Is there a problem with the team?”
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Judging from the situation in the soundproof room, Yuan Xi was chatting normally with Zhou Xuewei. It wasn’t known what they were talking about, but Yuan Xi was smiling, and seemed to be in a good mood. As for Qiu Zongping, he was confirming the specifics of the equipment with the referee from the player’s chair, tapping away at the keyboard with a serious expression—— most of the time, his expression was just this serious, and he showed no other emotion.
“Perhaps captain Qiu has his own ideas.” Liang Ru offered. “The pressure from the first half of the competition is not large, and it is convenient to train the newcomers.”
Ye Chao also cleverly bypassed this topic. “En, several newcomers in Sky have made rapid progress in this period. This is especially so for Li Dongqing, this key seeding, who has played many games with Yuan Xi and Xuewei. His playstyle has also matured quite a lot.”
“They are facing Mojue today. Do you think the double summoner lineup will appear?” Liang Ru asked.
“It depends on whether Mojue will send the Twin Stars or not,” Ye Chao replied.
***
At 4pm in the afternoon, the lights on the stage lit up, and a familiar passionate melody could be heard.
Both commentators paused their discussion. “Good afternoon everyone!” Ye Chao greeted. “Welcome to the sixth round of Peerless Jianghu professional league’s three-player competition. Today’s battle will be between Mojue and Sky. Let us turn our attention to the big screen… both captains have already cast their die. Since Qin Mo rolled 89 points while Qiu Zongping rolled 36, Qin Mo will be given the first initiative.”
“Will Qin Mo choose to give up first pick?” Liang Ru questioned curiously.
As soon as she said this, Qin Mo chose to allow his opponent to go first.
Qiu Zongping was forced to start the first round, and had to select three maps within 30 seconds. He selected his maps very quickly; obviously, he was ready to face Mojue, and selected three swamp maps—— because there were summoners in Sky team, so he could take advantage of the swamp.
As all three maps were similar, Qin Mo banned two maps that had the negative effect of causing blood loss, leaving the relatively simple ‘Luoyue Bay’.
This map featured a night scene with a curved moon hanging in the sky, and large areas of water that appeared silvery under the bright moonlight. At first glance, it seemed like an aquatic map, but Luoyue Bay was in fact classified as a variant of a swamp map—— players who fell into the pool would be poisoned. This map also had the effect of causing players to lose both blood and blue every second when poisoned by the waters.
Healers couldn’t remove the poisoned status inflicted by the map, but they could add blood to ensure the players lasted longer. The choice of bringing along a healer would determine how the team would fight.
During the dispatch phase, Qiu Zongping submitted the names of five players including the double summoners, a healer, and two outputs. Next, Qin Mo would decide whether or not he wanted to ban a player.
To the audiences’ surprise, Qin Mo still—— didn’t ban this time!
It had been six rounds since the start of the three-players competition. Qin Mo simply couldn’t stop releasing the opponents’ most powerful combinations!
Ye Chao was surprised. “Qin Mo once again released the strongest combination on the opposite side. Will he command in person today?”
Then, Qin Mo submitted his list of players—— Ink Mark, Thousand Miles Ice, Three Waterdrop, Drunken River, and Silence.
As if they were injected with chicken blood, the audience on the live broadcast platform began to frantically brush their screens: “God Mo is finally playing!”
“Ink Mark, long time no see! I really haven’t seen this ID for more than a month!”
“After such a long rest, are the Twin Stars finally going to play?”
“If they don’t play, we’ll all forget that there is a captain named Ink Mark.”
The fans were very excited, and even Ye Chao couldn’t help but get caught up in the excitement. “Because Qin Mo skipped the ban stage, captain Qiu can’t ban players. Mojue can send the Twin Stars directly?”
Liang Ru asked. “Are you sure that Twin Stars will play at the same time? Perhaps only Xiao Han will be sent?”
“From this list, Twin Stars should be playing together,” Ye Chao mused. “Of course, Qin Mo may also be deliberately deceiving Qiu Zongping. After all, his thoughts are hard to predict.”
***
In the Sky team’s soundproof room, Qiu Zongping had a bad feeling when he saw Qin Mo skip the ban stage.
Sure enough, the list submitted by Qin Mo included Xiao Han, Qin Mo and Liu Hong, as well as the two newcomers, Shen He and Li Muran. No matter which lineup was sent, the existence of Twin Stars was definitely a huge threat.
If the opposite side sent Twin Stars, it would be difficult for Li Dongqing, a newcomer, to face them.
God Mo was forcing him to come up with the strongest lineup, right?
Taking a deep breath, Qiu Zongping turned around. “We will go with our main lineup. Any questions?”
The main lineup he spoke of was the combination of Qiu Zongping and Yuan Xi’s double summoners along with milk god Zhou Xuewei. This group had Qiu Zongping’s main force control field + auxiliary attack, Yuan Xi’s main force attack + auxiliary control field, and Zhou Xuewei’s guaranteed heals from the back row, which was an undisputed first-class lineup in the current Peerless Jianghu alliance.
But that was before the carnival incident.
After the confession at the carnival, Qiu Zongping recognised that there was now a gap between Yuan Xi and himself, and that their cooperation was not as tacit as before. During the friendly match with Mojue, Yuan Xi was also caught by the opponent because of a mistake.
In order to adjust Yuan Xi’s mentality, Qiu Zongping sent Yuan Xi and Xuewei to play when he was banned, and did not play with Yuan Xi when he wasn’t banned. Outsiders perceived that he was training newcomers, but in fact, besides training newcomers, the more important thing was—— he wasn’t sure about Yuan Xi’s current state.
The fact that Yuan Xi actually liked him was extremely surprising. He couldn’t break Yuan Xi’s heart by saying too much, yet he didn’t want to give Yuan Xi hope. All he wanted was for Yuan to give up and concentrate on the game as soon as possible. He didn’t like men, so this sort of solution was the best he could think of.
Hearing the captain’s question, Zhou Xuewei took the initiative to reply. “I have no objections.”
Qiu Zongping looked at Yuan Xi, who was seated next to her. Panicked, Yuan Xi immediately looked away. “I’m okay with this as well.”
“Are you sure?” Qiu Zongping asked.
Yuan Xi lowered his head. “En.”
Qiu Zongping said nothing more, and selected the lineup of Qiu, Yuan, and Zhou in the final confirmation box.
Once again, the double summoner lineup was taken out. He only hoped that Yuan Xi would not get emotional, and could find the state that esports players should have.
***
At the same time, in Mojue team’s soundproof room, Qin Mo glanced at Xiao Han. “After a long rest, it is time to come out and exercise.”
“I’ll listen to your arrangement.” Xiao Han smiled.
“Xiao He, come here,” Qin Mo continued. “We’ll play in the first game.”
“That’s great!” Shen He was excited. “I will play in the back row to control the field. Master, do you want to play a fast break?”
“En.” Qin Mo nodded. “In accordance with this week’s training, we’ll use a blitzkrieg strategy.”
Soon, the final list from both sides was displayed on the big screen.
Qiu Zongping, Yuan Xi, Zhou Xuewei VS Xiao Han, Qin Mo, Shen He.
Seeing the list, Xiao Han couldn’t help commenting. “You really forced Qiu Zongping to send out the double summoner lineup.”
“En.” Qin Mo nodded. “He and Yuan Xi have been playing separately in three-players competition, but it is impossible for them to maintain this until the five-players team competition. Running away is not a solution; it is better to face it as soon as possible.”
Qiu Zongping obviously understood Qin Mo’s meaning. Since Mojue was using Twin Stars in the lineup, he also had to come forth with their strongest summoner flow to fight.
Yuan Xi sat in the player’s seat, staring at the computer without blinking. It was impossible not to be nervous when the person he liked was nearby. Besides, the other party already knew that he liked him and politely said no, which made him feel even more stupid.
But Sky team’s lineup had cooperated countless times. He couldn’t drag his teammates down.
He was a professional player; he came to the Wind Colour club to play games, not to fall in love.
Perceiving Yuan Xi’s nervousness, Qiu Zongping whispered. “Don’t think too much. Fighting.”
“En…” Yuan Xi nodded. “Fighting.”
At this moment, they were just teammates fighting side by side.
Thinking of this, Yuan Xi took a deep breath, held the mouse tightly, and pressed the preparation button.
On the opposite side, Mojue’s Han, Mo and He also pressed the preparation button.
Qiu Zongping: “They don’t have a healer, so we just have to kill Shen He. In their lineup, Shen He is the weak point.”
“Understood.” Yuan Xi nodded immediately.
The core lineup of both sides came out at the same time. In the three-player competition, Han-Mo Twin Stars and Sky’s double summoners, who had not been on the same stage, finally faced off on the field!
Ugh, I feel so bad for Yuan Xi. That must hurt a lot! 🥺 Now I’m really curious… Just how exactly will Qiu Zongping start liking Yuan Xi? Can’t wait for the extras to find it out~
Thank you for the chapter! 💜💜💜
Yesss, my poor innocent baby Yuan Xi 😭
Qiu Zongping will really realize his feeling for Yuan Xi in the 14 chapters(if i’m not wrong) of their extras, no worries, still long way to go 🤣
You’re welcome~ ❤
Aww, even after he left Wind Color, Xiao Mo is looking after his juniors. He’s trying to push the double-summoners to fix their mentality, while taking advantage of it. 😂😂😂
because that 5 juniors he brought back then were like his own apprentices~, he caress 🤭
I feel bad for Yuan Xi. Poor Xi Xi （πーπ） .
Thanks for the chapter ❤️
Me too 😭
You’re welcome~ ❤
Qin mo guiding so many juniors. Large tree shading all the young saplings. Yuan xi is simple minded but an excellent gamer so I hope he’ll be able to separate personal feelings from work. (Distance yourself outside of the matches and training but don’t be afraid to work with him.)
qiu zongping is trying to be polite but his politeness only hurt yuan xi even more!! if only i could make yuan xi not like him anymore. or maybe i want to accumulate the number of times he hurt yuan xi so that if it’s time for their story in extra chapters, the regret he’ll feel will not be meager