Ye Shaoyang and Chi Shuo chatted about the new hero for several minutes.

His impression of the boss was very good—no airs at all. He didn’t act superior just because he had tipped gifts, politely maintained distance, didn’t pry into private information, and kept the conversation strictly centered on the game.

This kind of online-friend meetup felt very comfortable.

Before they knew it, it was 2 PM. Dazzling lights lit up the stage, and under the tech-heavy lighting effects, the entire stage slowly rose into the air like a blooming flower petal.

Host Lin Qi’s voice rose a decibel: “Audience members here on site, viewers on all major streaming platforms—good afternoon! This is the Gods’ War Official Pro League, Season 9, Playoffs!”

Yao Mu followed up: “Today, we will welcome the first match of the playoffs: Team Jingzhe versus Team Huowen! The players are ready. Let us welcome today’s competing teams with warm applause!”

Transparent glass elevators slowly descended from the second floor to the stage, a design like “the descent of gods,” causing the venue to erupt with deafening screams and cheers.

Team Jingzhe entered first. They wore neat deep purple uniforms; the team emblem on the back somewhat resembled a scorpion, full of mystery. Captain Fang Zhengqing was handsome, wearing silver-rimmed glasses, smiling—he looked very good-tempered. His popularity was clearly very high; the moment he appeared on stage, fans below went crazy shouting “Captain Fang!”

The surrounding cheers were very loud. Chi Shuo leaned close to Ye Shaoyang’s ear and lowered his voice to introduce: “The one standing in the very center is Fang Zhengqing. To his right is Xie Yuan, and next to him is Li Yunmo—Team Jingzhe’s iron triangle combo. They’re also the three we ran into in ranked that time.”

Ye Shaoyang understood: “I Am Very Square, I Am Very Round, and A Piece of Cloud?”

“Mn. Their in-game IDs are: I Am Very Square, I Am Very Round, and A Piece of Cloud.”

“…” Ye Shaoyang didn’t want to comment on the three gods’ names. Holding back a laugh, he said, “Their poison comp draft is indeed pretty strong.”

After Team Jingzhe’s players greeted the audience, they quickly walked into the soundproof booth to start adjusting equipment. Ye Shaoyang noticed that all five brought their own keyboards and mice. It seemed the Gods’ War Pro League allowed players to bring their own peripherals—using their usual keyboards and mice would feel more comfortable during the match.

Following that, Team Huowen’s five members descended onto the main stage, and another wave of screams and applause erupted around them.

They wore red uniforms collectively; their team emblem looked like a flame encircled by a round crest. The guy in the center was tall, smiling and bowing to the audience, very polite.

Ye Shaoyang was very close to the stage and could clearly see the players’ faces. He discovered that the average looks of esports players in the ABO world were quite high—probably because most esports players in this world were Alphas?

According to the information he had looked up, Alpha genes were generally superior, with strong conquering instincts, making them suited for this kind of intense esports competition. Although Omega genes were also excellent, most had gentle personalities and were more interested in music, painting, literature, and arts. Omega players in the esports circle were rarer than giant pandas.

The league didn’t prohibit Omegas from competing, and Ye Shaoyang didn’t need to worry about that 50% chance of differentiating into an Omega—either way, it didn’t matter to him. Nothing could affect his determination to compete.

Chi Shuo lowered his voice to introduce: “The one in the center with the ID Zhou Zhou—Zhou Jiawen, captain of Team Huowen, also currently the youngest captain in the domestic scene.”

Zhou Jiawen? Ye Shaoyang hadn’t heard this name before and couldn’t help asking curiously: “The one standing in the center usually plays mid lane, right? Is he also a mid laner?”

Chi Shuo nodded: “Mn. World-class mid laner, top 50 on the international server combat power rankings. Domestically, he’s on par with Fang Zhengqing. Little Zhou is very good at artillery mages; his skill hit rate exceeds 80%.”

Ye Shaoyang raised his eyebrows in surprise: “That impressive?”

Mages relied on skills to eat. Missing or misaiming skills was very normal. An 80% skill hit rate meant 8 out of 10 shots landed on the opponent. If you let him pick a burst-damage artillery mage and didn’t kill him in teamfights, he could instantly delete your backline squishies.

Ye Shaoyang couldn’t help saying: “Looking at it this way, both Jingzhe and Huowen are mid-core teams?”

“Correct. That’s also the reason I invited you to watch the match live.” Chi Shuo turned back to look at him, his gaze uncharacteristically gentle. “Don’t you like mid lane? Today, you’ll see a showdown between world-class mid laners.”

Mid-core teams were teams that built their strategy around the mid laner. The jungler would yield a portion of jungle resources to the mid laner, letting them develop as quickly as possible and serve as the main damage dealer in teamfights.

Hearing this, Ye Shaoyang immediately perked up—barring surprises, Zhou Jiawen, Fang Zhengqing, and these other world-class mid laners would become his strongest opponents in the future. He naturally had to carefully observe these top-tier players’ mechanics to clearly understand how large the gap still was between him and them.

Chi Shuo noticed that the moment he said today was a “world-class mid laner showdown,” Xiao Bai became energized.

The guy sitting beside him had eyes bright as stars, staring intently at the main stage. That focused appearance was like a student listening to their favorite teacher’s lecture.

From his eyes, you could see his intense interest in esports matches.

The corner of Chi Shuo’s lips curved up slightly. He leaned back in his chair and directed his gaze toward the stage.

Both sides’ players were adjusting equipment in the soundproof booths.

The arena host said: “Let us hand the time over to the caster desk!”

The large screen switched to the second-floor caster desk.

The caster desk was set up very professionally. Some game figurines were placed on the caster table. A male and female caster sat there properly. The male caster wore a very formal short-sleeved shirt with a tie; the female caster wore a proper business suit dress.

After the camera cut over, the two began their coordinated commentary.

“Welcome to the first match of the Gods’ War S9 Playoffs Winners’ Bracket: Jingzhe versus Huowen.”

“I’m official caster Youyou.”

“I’m official caster Mingyu.”

“Here, we would especially like to thank XXX, XXX Group for their strong support of the Gods’ War Pro League.”

“The official betting channel is now fully open. Audience members can place match bets on the betting platform. Betting coins won can be used to exchange for peripherals in the official shop, or for skins in the game.”

“This match will be fully supervised by AI. The Gods’ War Tournament Committee’s official referee team will be responsible for the fairness of this match.” “Next, let us introduce the starting members of both teams.”

The two casters rapidly introduced the members of both teams.

As they introduced them, each player’s face appeared sequentially on the large screen. After introducing the players, the equipment was also just finished being adjusted. The referee inside the soundproof booth gestured to the director, and the game screen appeared on the large screen.

Game 1: Ban-Pick phase.

Both coaches began targeted bans.

Team Huowen drew blue side and banned first.

Their coach almost without hesitation banned [Cobra King].

Youyou smiled: “Captain Fang’s [Cobra King] indeed made it to the ban seat.”

Mingyu remarked: “Playing against Jingzhe, you must ban [Cobra King]. This seems to be a default rule in the coaches’ circle? After all, Jingzhe’s poison comp is genuinely strong. If you let it through, it’s very hard to counter.”

Following that, Jingzhe’s Coach Chen banned.

The hero sent to the small black room was [Blaze Goddess].

Youyou said: “Banning [Blaze Goddess] is also expected. After all, Captain Zhou’s Blaze Goddess is also very strong. Looks like both coaches have strong火药味? They banned each other’s strongest systems.”

Mingyu asked curiously: “Who will the second ban slot go to? Continue targeting mid lane?”

Youyou said: “Possible. After all, both are mid-core teams.”

The next moment, Huowen banned [Flower Fairy] that Fang Zhengqing was good at, while Jingzhe banned [Ocean Goddess] that Zhou Jiawen was good at.

Four mid laners banned in a row in the first phase?

Ye Shaoyang had mixed feelings—he had also enjoyed this treatment in the past. Back when Team GD was in the playoffs, the opposing coach had continuously targeted mid lane, banning all the mage assassins he was good at.

This situation was very uncomfortable; you couldn’t pick the heroes you liked.

But he should also feel honored.

After all, being targeted so heavily by the opposing coach was enough to show how much the coach feared you.

The BP phase quickly concluded, and both sides’ compositions were locked in.

Ye Shaoyang focused on the mid-lane heroes.

The mid-lane hero Fang Zhengqing picked this game was [Forest Whisper], a summoner-type mage who could summon green vines to bind opponents and could also plant trees to block the enemy’s advance. Just reading the skill description gave people a headache.

Zhou Zhou picked [World-Ending Mage], simple and brutal—if his ultimate hit a squishy, it could instantly delete them. If the ultimate missed… then he hit nothing.

The two players’ strength was evenly matched. Who would gain the upper hand?

Ye Shaoyang widened his eyes, watching the match with full focus.

In the early game, Captain Fang had a slight advantage. Planting trees everywhere restricted Captain Zhou’s positioning, making even last-hitting difficult. Probably driven to the point of losing his temper by the annoyance, at the 6-minute mark, Zhou Zhou suddenly flashed plus ultimate, and Fang Zhengqing directly flashed away to escape.

From the audience’s perspective, the two had almost simultaneously used Flash—you predicted my prediction.

It wasn’t until the director’s arena slow-motion replay that everyone could clearly see: actually, Captain Zhou had used Flash first, wanting to ultimate-delete someone, and Fang Zhengqing had used Flash second to escape. The gap was within 0.2 seconds.

This kind of reaction capability was worthy of being called world-class mid laner.

The mid-lane fighting grew more and more intense.

Teamfight after teamfight, deafening cheers continuously rang out across the venue.

But Ye Shaoyang tuned it all out, his gaze consistently focused on the large screen at the venue.

Game 1: Huowen won with a slight advantage.

Game 2: Jingzhe tied the score.

Game 3: Jingzhe took match point first.

Game 4: Zhou Jiawen picked [Frost Goddess], who was suited to stalling the pace. He defended the high ground for 10 minutes, and in a crucial teamfight wave, he froze three opponents solid, winning a 0-for-3 trade and turning defeat into victory!

Score 2:2. The final deciding game was about to begin.

Chi Shuo looked at the person beside him. Xiao Bai was extremely focused while watching the match, even more serious than many team coaches. No matter how loud the surrounding screams were, they didn’t seem to affect him.

He would sometimes lower his head in deep thought, sometimes applaud because of a player’s brilliant play, and sometimes slightly furrow his brow, seemingly having spotted a player’s mechanical mistake.

Chi Shuo observed him without showing any sign.

The match process was very intense; the two of them didn’t exchange too many words while watching. But Chi Shuo could confirm that the person beside him possessed the essential qualities of an esports player—focus and calmness.

Xiao Bai’s attitude of seriously appreciating the match, compared to the enthusiastic fans around him, seemed out of place. Yet it also precisely illustrated that his standpoint was different from that of ordinary viewers.

Most viewers watched matches just for the excitement, clapping excitedly whenever someone got a kill. But when Xiao Bai watched matches, what he saw was draft synergy, player mechanics, timing execution, and other more core elements.

There was still a rest period before the deciding game.

Chi Shuo proactively spoke: “In Game 5, we should be able to see Jingzhe’s poison comp.”

Ye Shaoyang asked in surprise: “The coach won’t ban [Cobra King]?”

Chi Shuo said: “If a playoff series reaches the deciding game, the rule is forced open ban—blind pick heroes.”

In normal BP phases, both coaches would desperately target your strong heroes or compositions. But in the playoffs, as long as both teams reached the deciding game, the league required both coaches to “open ban.”

So-called “open ban” meant “not banning a single hero.”

All heroes were open to both teams’ players to freely choose. This meant both sides could pick their favorite heroes and bring out their strongest compositions to fight for victory.

Seeing the guy beside him fall into deep thought, Chi Shuo couldn’t help asking in a low voice: “If they let you face Fang Zhengqing’s [Cobra King], what hero would you pick?”

Ye Shaoyang thought for a moment and said: “Bloodstained Assassin plus Illusionist—can mid-jungle synergy insta-delete him?”

Chi Shuo said indifferently: “With good coordination, you can force the kill.”

Ye Shaoyang said: “But killing Fang Zhengqing isn’t enough.”

Chi Shuo nodded: “Correct. Team Jingzhe still has Xie Yuan.”

Ye Shaoyang smiled slightly and looked at Chi Shuo: “What if we kill both of them?”

Chi Shuo: “…”

Kill both of them?

This sentence was easy to say, but Fang Zhengqing was a world-class mid laner, Xie Yuan was a world-class marksman, and they still had a very calm support sticking close to protect them. Force-killing one was already very difficult—killing two?

Which mid-jungle duo in the league would dare to talk such big game?

But Xiao Bai said this very frankly, as if it were a matter of course.

Ye Shaoyang said seriously: “To crack a double-carry composition, you need double-carry players of comparable skill level. To deal with the poison stacking and poke playstyle, the best method is mid-jungle synergy directly deleting the core of their poison comp. If the coordination is good, with the jungler and mid laner striking simultaneously, quickly killing two people on the opposing side is achievable.”

He paused, then smiled and said: “Although it’s very difficult, there’s always hope of doing it, right?”

Chi Shuo fell silent.

—Yes, there was hope.

But the league’s coaches simply didn’t dare to let Jingzhe’s poison comp through. They didn’t dare to try this hope.

Chinese region teams couldn’t win the World Championship not because the players’ skill level wasn’t enough, but because the entire league’s environment lacked this kind of bold innovation, this spirit of breaking through against the wind.

Match compositions were always those few sets, swapped around without much novelty. They studied foreign tactics every day, yet rarely created their own tactics.

And Jingzhe’s created poison comp, Huowen’s created fire field system, and Tianhuan’s mid-jungle synergy back in the day…

Were always banned.

Instead of seeking a method to crack them, they didn’t let the opponent use them.

In this kind of environment, how could they improve? How could they face the World Championship with wolves circling all around?

Chi Shuo turned back to look at the guy beside him—his smile was very frank, a pair of eyes bright and clear, like a newcomer who understood nothing and was talking big; yet also like an expert who had seen through too many puzzles and was open-minded and free.

These two contradictory traits were perfectly fused in Xiao Bai’s body.

Although Xiao Bai only knew how to play a few heroes, he had pinpointed the mental knot that had troubled Chi Shuo for a long time.

There was hope—why not try?

The corner of Chi Shuo’s lips curved up slightly. He looked at him with a gentle gaze and asked: “Xiao Bai, are you interested in playing in the pro league?”