Chapter 110: Dream

After the match ended, since Zhao Xin’an and Sean had been randomly matched in, the system automatically kicked them out of the lobby. However, Chi Shuo, Ye Shaoyang, and Xie Weiyu, who were in a trio queue, remained in the room.

Ye Shaoyang praised with a smile, “Xiao Yu, you’re cracked (6)! High ground triple kill, MVP!”

In this game, Xie Weiyu dealt over 45% of the team’s damage. With a KDA of 6/0/3, his stats were incredibly beautiful.

Once a marksman farmed up, as long as they weren’t assassinated in team fights, their damage output would be considerable. Sometimes, they could even single-handedly turn the tide of the battle.

This was exactly why Ye Shaoyang insisted on killing Xie Weiyu even at the cost of his own life during their match against Moon Shadow.

Hearing Ye Shaoyang praise him, Xie Weiyu hurriedly said humbly, “It was your support that protected me well. Otherwise, I would have been killed by them seven or eight times already.”

Ye Shaoyang said, “That’s an exaggeration. Your positioning is quite cracked too; you flashed to dodge skills.”

Everyone was streaming, so it wasn’t appropriate to comment too much on the Korean players. Knowing it in their hearts was enough. It was just a ranked win, not an official match, so there was no need to publicize it widely.

Xie Weiyu changed the subject. “Do you still want to play ranked?”

Ye Shaoyang didn’t want to expose the lineup system he and Chi Shuo were secretly practicing. Their trio queue was too likely to bump into international experts. The previous game had been heart-pounding; it was better to take a break.

They were just streaming; there was no rule that they had to play ranked.

Ye Shaoyang said, “How about we go play a fun mode?”

Xie Weiyu agreed, “Sure. What fun mode do you want to play?”

Ye Shaoyang said, “Clone Battle!”

Chi Shuo: “…”

He had never played fun modes.

Actually, besides ranked matches, Gods’ War had some entertaining modes for everyone to relax. These modes didn’t affect rank points, so winning or losing didn’t matter.

Clone Battle was one of them. The player in the 1st slot of our team would choose a hero, and the other positions would clone 5 identical copies of it. They would fight against 5 identical heroes on the opposing team. It was also played on the standard 3-lane map, and destroying the crystal meant victory.

Chi Shuo wasn’t interested in this kind of casual game, but if Ye Shaoyang wanted to play, he was naturally willing to accompany him.

So Chi Shuo silently pressed ‘Ready’.

Ye Shaoyang changed the lobby from ranked to the Arcade Hall, selected Clone Battle, and they quickly matched into a game.

In this game, Chi Shuo was in the 1st slot, so he had to decide on the hero.

Chi Shuo asked, “What should we pick?”

Ye Shaoyang asked, “What does Xiao Yu want to pick?”

Xie Weiyu said, “Captain Chi decides.”

Netizens: “??”
You three are playing kick-the-ball here?

Chi Shuo couldn’t kick the ball any further, so he simply locked in a hero Ye Shaoyang liked, [Illusionist], in the 1st slot. He asked, “Is this okay?”

Ye Shaoyang said cheerfully, “Okay, let’s have five Illusionists.”

The 1st slot player locked it in. After teammates in other slots confirmed, all 5 players’ heroes became [Illusionist].

The game started. Chi Shuo’s [Illusionist] took Smite to jungle. Ye Shaoyang’s [Illusionist] bought a support crystal and went bot lane with Xie Weiyu.

The enemy team had 5 cloned [Machine Gun Hunters]. They were good at clearing minions, but their bodies were very squishy.

The pace of arcade games was faster than ranked. Chi Shuo reached level 6 in just a few minutes. He came to the bot lane and pinged “Attack.” The three of them camped sneakily in a bush, then suddenly rushed out with a combo, instantly killing 2 squishies from the enemy team!

The 2 enemy players didn’t react at all and were instantly killed.

Then, the trio grouped up to steal the Blue Buff. After stealing Blue, they camped in mid lane and used a combo to kill a passing enemy player.

After killing mid, they ran to the jungle and killed the enemy [Machine Gun Hunter] who was jungling. Then, they ran to top lane to camp. Xie Weiyu followed Ye Shaoyang and experienced the joy of bush-camping ambushes.

[Hahaha, the Trio Disaster Squad moves out again!]

[Three Illusionists, oh my god. Chaining CC until life feels hopeless!]

[Yangyang’s W stun, Captain Chi’s W stun. Want to run? Here’s another W from Xiao Yu!]

[The enemy players are going to get PTSD. Are you guys smurfing (bombing fish) on the international server?]

Xie Weiyu hadn’t been this happy in a long time.

The arcade game was indeed very fun. Their three [Illusionists] all bought boots of speed, running incredibly fast. They camped bushes everywhere to kill people. Ye Shaoyang would engage first; if one combo didn’t kill, Chi Shuo would follow up, and Xie Weiyu would clean up.

So, most of the kills went to Xie Weiyu.

The three roamed quickly, purple illusion fragments exploding all over the canyon. This was probably the “Happy Bush-Camping Instakill Combo.” The 5 squishies on the other side didn’t dare leave their towers; anyone who came out died.

Their economy quickly snowballed into a stomp.

Ye Shaoyang said, “It’s a pity the professional league doesn’t have this mode; otherwise, it would be quite fun. Imagine our side picking 5 [Stealth Rogues] and the enemy picking 5 [Bloodstained Assassins]—the map would be completely empty, nobody in sight.”

Xie Weiyu was amused by him. “10 people all invisible, seeing who comes out first.”

Ye Shaoyang: “Come out and realize 5 enemies are all behind you. That would be awkward, hahaha.”

Xie Weiyu: “Hahaha.”

Chi Shuo: “…………”

Netizens in the live stream: “??”

[Yangyang, are you a devil? If the pro league had this mode, it would turn into a comedy show!]

[5 Stealth Rogues vs 5 Bloodstained Assassins, mass invisibility. Whoever comes out first loses?]

[Hahaha, we can suggest this to the league. Have this Clone Mode for All-Stars this year.]

[The All-Star mode for this year hasn’t been decided yet. I think Yangyang’s idea is great. Get the gods together for a Clone Battle, 5v5, mutually tormenting each other!]

After the regular season ended, the Mid-Season Invitational would organize an event inviting highly popular star players, hence called “All-Stars.” The competition format changed every year. Perhaps, when the official survey came out this year, everyone really could write in “Clone Mode” and let the gods troll each other?

The match ended quickly. Xie Weiyu got MVP again with 11 kills.

Although winning or losing in an arcade game wasn’t important, he was still very happy.

It had been a long time since he enjoyed the fun of the game like this.

After becoming a professional player and making gaming his career, he spent every day in dull practice. The pressure during matches was immense; winning brought praise, but losing brought all sorts of abuse. His mental state fluctuated like a roller coaster.

And this season, he had been scolded for two whole months.

Moon Shadow lost in Group S, and the next day, Yaoguang’s new marksman achieved a Pentakill and was deified. The stark contrast was the most direct mockery. Despite trying not to look or listen to the massive doubts online, he still felt terrible inside.

Teammates who had fought alongside him for 2 years hadn’t contacted him once since he left the team.

His new teammates at Moon Shadow were nice to him and didn’t blame him for losing, but precisely because of that, Xie Weiyu felt even more guilty, always feeling like he was dragging Moon Shadow down.

Recently, his mood had been very low.

But today, he was genuinely happy.

Whether it was teaming up to beat the World Champions Cui He and Park Won-seok in ranked, or the subsequent arcade game where he picked an Illusionist and followed Ye Shaoyang running wildly around the canyon camping bushes.

He finally rediscovered the joy he felt when he first started playing games.

He loved this game, so he would definitely persist.

The three played arcade games until 12:30 AM. 5 Illusionists camping everywhere, 5 Frost Goddesses covering the map in ice and snow, 5 Flower Fairies planting flowers everywhere. The streaming effect was particularly good; the bullet screen was plastered with “Hahaha.” Even the usually reticent Xie Weiyu smiled a lot more today.

Seeing it was almost 1 AM, Ye Shaoyang said, “Xiao Yu, ready to end the stream? We have training tomorrow.”

Xie Weiyu nodded obediently. “Mn mn, we have training too. Goodbye, Yangyang.”

Ye Shaoyang closed the stream. Then a private message from Xie Weiyu popped up on his phone: “Thank you. I was really happy today. Let’s play arcade games together again when we have time.”

Ye Shaoyang replied: “Sure, contact me anytime you’re free!”

At the same time, Chi Shuo also sent him a message: “Sleep early. Goodnight.”

Ye Shaoyang replied: “Is Captain Chi going to sleep?”

Chi Shuo: “I’m not sleepy yet. I plan to review that ranked match just now.”

Ye Shaoyang: “I’m not sleepy either. I’ll come review it with you!”

Moments later, Chi Shuo heard a knock on the door.

He quickly tidied his clothes before getting up to open the door.

Ye Shaoyang was wearing pajamas and holding a kitten in his arms. He was about to walk into Chi Shuo’s bedroom when Chi Shuo suddenly turned back, carried his laptop out, and said, “Let’s watch in the living room. It’s more spacious.”

Ye Shaoyang gave a “Mn” and turned to walk toward the living room.

Deep in the night, an Omega wearing pajamas running into an Alpha’s bedroom—although they were reviewing a ranked match openly and honestly, it wouldn’t be good if people found out. In the team base, they still had to mind the impact.

Chi Shuo placed the laptop on the living room table and opened the match recording.

Ye Shaoyang watched with him, holding the cat.

The God’s Eye view made things clearer. Cui He ignored his teammates every time he engaged, which was the root cause of their disjointed team fights. Cui He and Park Won-seok were indeed strong individually, but no matter how strong, they couldn’t win 2v5. In this game, they didn’t take their opponents seriously, nor did they take their 3 teammates seriously.

Ye Shaoyang couldn’t help frowning. “This Cui He seems even more arrogant than in S9?”

In Season 9, they had watched the live broadcast of the match between ATB and Jingzhe. After the match, Cui He and Park Won-seok looked smug, hugging their teammates excitedly while leaving Jingzhe aside. Being excited about winning was understandable, but making the opponent wait so long for the handshake was very impolite.

Chi Shuo said coldly, “After all, they won the World Championship. The Korean media hyped them to the skies. Cui He is called the World’s No. 1 Jungle King, and Park Won-seok is praised as the World’s No. 1 Mid. They have quite a few fans in our country too.”

“World’s No. 1 Mid” was the abbreviation for World’s Number One Mid-Laner.

Looking across the major regions of Gods’ War, there were actually many excellent mid-laners. Mitchell and Clemmons from North America, Sean and Julian from Europe, and Fang Zhengqing and Zhou Jiawen from China were all famous. Among these people, no one dared to claim they were the World’s Number One Mid-Laner.

The title of “Number One” wasn’t something to be taken lightly.

ATB won the championship last year and immediately self-proclaimed themselves World’s No. 1 Jungle King and Demon King. Their egos were truly huge.

Ye Shaoyang looked at Chi Shuo. “Although they are arrogant, they do have the capital to be arrogant. Their individual strength is still very strong. If today wasn’t a random ranked match but against the full ATB team, we might not have won.”

Chi Shuo nodded. “Yes. Cui He’s jungling style is very fierce; he often invades the enemy jungle. Park Won-seok’s mid-lane hero pool is also deep, and their coordination is considered tacit.”

Ye Shaoyang smiled and looked at Chi Shuo. “More tacit than us?”

Chi Shuo’s heart skipped a beat, and his ears burned uncontrollably. Shaoyang looked up at him, eyes smiling—he was just too cute. It made Chi Shuo want to…

Want to hug him and kiss him.

This thought suddenly popped into his mind. Chi Shuo’s ears turned red. He hurriedly suppressed the surging heat in his heart and pretended to be calm. “Of course not. They sometimes make coordination errors too.”

Ye Shaoyang said calmly, “So there’s no need to worry. I don’t believe the two of us together can’t beat them. When the time comes, you take Jungle Carry, I’ll take Assassin Mage. I’m confident I can instantly kill Park Won-seok.”

Chi Shuo said, “The prerequisite for playing against them is that we secure a slot for the World Championship.”

Ye Shaoyang nodded. “Mn, I know. Let’s qualify from the domestic league first. One step at a time.”

Chi Shuo turned his head, looking at Ye Shaoyang’s serious expression, and a hint of a smile floated in his eyes.

——With you by my side this season, I also have the confidence to make it to the World Championship and charge for the world title.

We will realize this dream together.