Chapter 43

“Ok, right now we can see the five members of STG taking the initiative to go to dragon. The five members of EG are also quickly running over!

“Because this is the first fire dragon of the match, it is very important to which team gets it.”

“That’s right! We can currently see Listener (Yao Le) place a ward in the dragon pit. deep (Qi Chen) and sea (Fu Xiaohai) are also hurrying over from mid lane, but STG can already tell what EG is doing. Should they start the fire dragon or not!”

The two commentators were standing there, staring at the screen that was buzzing with activity. The atmosphere of the competition was very tense at the moment, anything could happen at any moment. At this very moment, if either team revealed any kind of weak point, it could cause them to lose the fire dragon, or even lose the game.

“Start or not, start or not!”

The words from the commentators made the entire stadium of spectators become deeply worried.

Suddenly from the EG team, who was at a disadvantage, Qi Chen used his barrel to ER into the enemy team. Immediately afterward he threw a giant barrel into the enemy team that exploded with a bang, causing all 5 members of STG to fly.

“Ok! We just saw deep break into STG’s team and used his ER to scatter the carries from STG! Ead (Zhao Qin)’s Orianna flashed over to provide assistance, STG’s carry jungler is ruthlessly beaten back! Weeden, who has been repelled, has turned his sights onto Siler! Siler, at this time, is quickly auto attacking STG’s support in the back! At max stacks, Twitch’s attack speed is very fast!”

Along with the two commentators who were smoothly talking as if they were announcing the names of dishes, EG and STG were already fighting.

Zhao Qin’s Orianna was targeting the midlaner and wouldn’t let go. As Gu Zixing continued to fight, he also continued to retreat. He had his support use his protective abilities on their midlaner instead. But he didn’t think that the enemy top laner Fiora would suddenly dash in front of him. She used her R ability to show his weak points and in an instant made him, who was originally able to escape unscathed, drop to a critical point.

But STG didn’t think that Yao Le, who was helping the midlaner, would abruptly turn around and use R on Gu Zixing, turning him big in the middle of the fight. At the same time he gave him a shield that could block the damage, while also knocking up the Fiora.  

The enemy support was thinking of hurrying to help protect the top laner with a shield but somehow ended up laying at Gu Zixing’s feet. Meanwhile, the midlaner being hounded by Zhao Qin was already beaten to low health when suddenly the jungler showed up. He Cc’d Zhao Qin and together with the enemy midlaner, stopped Zhao Qin’s retreat. Zhao Qin’s health bar was originally full and was suddenly broken into pieces.

“Mid is still alive.” Zhao Qin said before he died.

“Fuck.” Qi Chen, seeing that one of the carries was already dead, didn’t say another word and dashed forward into the enemy jungler and mid laner. First he threw a Q that exploded on the midlaner that Zhao Qin almost killed, then he recovered himself with his W that would also give him magic damage on his next auto.

As the buff from the support faded, Gu Zixing already took the opportunity to kill the enemy ADC and put the support at half health. His own state was not too good as well and with a flash, he flashed out of the dragon pit.

In the end this fight was a 3 for 2. Additionally, they got the fire dragon. The originally disadvantaged EG found themselves catching up a bit in gold.

“Zhao Qin, don’t be anxious.” Qi Chen probably felt that Zhao Qin, who was sitting next to him looked a bit miserable, so he hurried to say something. “You don’t need to rush in with your skills when you see me start a fight. Along with Boss Gu’s damage, we would have been able to go 2 for 4.”

“So you also understand.” Gu Zixing was top lane farming, hearing Qi Chen speak like this he couldn't help but laugh. “After getting baron, push the tower. Stop pretending to be innocent.”

___

Qiao Yanzhou sat in the lobby and his eyes were unable to leave the screen. Currently the gold difference between EG and STG went from 5k to 1k. STG was starting to sink into the whirlpool created by EG, but while sitting in the lobby, Qiao Yanzhou couldn’t feel happy.

His body lived in the Cao camp but his heart was at Han camp (1). At the moment his mind was focused on a different topic.

Although on the surface Gu Zixing and Yao Le seemed like they had contrasting views, when it came to the competition, the coordination between them was very clear to see. From the early stages farming minions to the tussle that happened, although they could not call the wind and rain for the whole game, they were still very powerful together.

Thinking about what Coach Chen and Qi Chen said before, when Gu Zixing went botlane, he became very picky about his partner. But looking again at the degree of coordination between Gu Zixing and Yao Le…

Qiao Yanzhou couldn’t help but sigh.

The competition entered into the 30 minute mark. With a baron buff, EG got their wish fulfilled and pushed to their base in two lanes.

“ADC still has 10 seconds before reviving, open the gates.”

STG knew that if they didn’t try to fight now, then it was very possible they would follow EG’s rhythm and let them push to the nexus. But the gold disparity between EG and STG was now even. Gu Zixing’s extremely accurate commands made STG practically unable to find a comeback angle.

At the end of the fight, almost everyone in STG felt that whether it was their positioning or their abilities, everything was predicted by Gu Zixing.

This kind of feeling, they weren’t sure if it was more amazing or terrifying.

In the end, EG won 20 to 17 with a 1k gold lead in their last team fight.

EG won the semifinals of the spring season of SPL. The five of them stood in a line in front of the stage and bowed as the entire stadium cheered and took pictures.

This competition was the first win in the SPL for Zhao Qin. The media were very interested in this ultra noobie mid laner who suddenly appeared. So after the competition, Zhao Qin was taken away to do the post match interview while everyone else left to go to the backstage lobby.

“Congrats congrats! Amazing amazing!”

Seeing the team return victorious, Tang Xuan was the first one who couldn’t sit down through it. He stood up to welcome them. “Commander Gu is so outstanding! I’m convinced! I can retire peacefully after seeing that game!”

“Your hand is fine ba!” Qin Xiangnan also hurried over, “How come you said your hand is bad but then selected the old rat.”

“Yeah, when you locked in the rat it scared me to death. I even said to Coach Chen ne, this game is over ba. Your hand is probably going to be crippled.”

“That’s right! You could have just picked a more passive ADC and auto from behind, why are you risking so much! Even if it's not enough you still have Yao Le ne.”

Although the talk in the lobby was revolved around Gu Zixing, he couldn't really say much. He smiled and gestured to everyone that his hand had no issue and walked towards the back of the lobby, only to see Qiao Yanzhou in a corner talking on the phone again.

“Aiya, Mom you can’t let Qiao Ai touch my computer! I mailed it back home with no issue, only for her to break it! I’ll cry! Mom listen to me, no ah. Hurry and make her….” Qiao Yanzhou spoke to this point and turned his head around to see Gu Zixing standing behind him with his arms crossed, head tilted, beaming with smiles at him.

Qiao Yanzhou was distracted for a moment, “Won?”

Gu Zixing nodded his head.

“Fuck, dammit I missed it again!” Qiao Yanzhou was angry and stomped his feet. “That’s enough mom I’m not going to continue talking with you. Don’t let Qiao Ai touch my computer. Just don't even open the package that was used to wrap it! I’m hanging up!”

Hurrying to hang up the phone, Qiao Yanzhou walked next to Gu Zixing.

“I didn’t even need to buy a ticket to come watch the game, but I might as well have gone home to watch on my computer so I could see the whole thing.” Qiao Yanzhou bitterly laughed then suddenly became energized. He extended out both hands, “Congrats congrats, EG entered the finals!”

It would be very normal for a hug to follow after this excited tone, but for some reason Qiao Yanzhou’s hands were only raised halfway when it stopped. His arms were awkwardly hanging midair. Gu Zixing was also stupefied.

Qiao Yanzhou didn’t know why he stopped. Perhaps it was because when he glanced at Yao Le just now, he was looking over here.

“If you want to hug then hug.” Gu Zixing took two steps forward, “It makes me feel very embarrassed with you like this.”

Qiao Yanzhou came back to his senses and was hesitating and wondering what to do when Gu Zixing unexpectedly went to hug him himself! And in that moment Qiao Yanzhou was suddenly aware of a very strong smell — a sweet milky fragrance…

Gu Zixing’s scent was originally faint due to the distance between them, but being suddenly pulled in close it became very obvious.

“An idol… how could you make them take the initiative?” Qiao Yanzhou was still dumbfounded from Gu Zixing taking the initiative, his hands still suspended in midair, unsure of what to do with them.

Because the AC at the stadium was very strong, many players would cover themselves with their long sleeve jackets. So in the moment that Gu Zixing hugged him, Qiao Yanzhou could clearly feel Gu Zixing’s body temperature and feel the cozy material of the EG jacket rub against his arms.

“Xiao Qiao, go with me to the world competition.”

Gu Zixing leaned into Qiao Yanzhou’s ear. His voice was very light. In addition the people behind them were very chaotic so this phrase could only be heard by Qiao Yanhou and Gu Zixing. Gu Zixing’s breath itched the back of his ear, making Qiao Yanzhou’s legs unconsciously weaken.

“That depends on if you give me a chance or not during the talent selection.” Qiao Yanzhou purposely put on a gentle and relaxed smile as his hands wrapped around Gu Zixing. In his heart he knew that in the finals of the EG talent selection, according to the rules he would face off against Gu Zixing.

“Still need to see if you can get to the finals.”

After he finished speaking, Qiao Yanzhou could clearly feel Gu Zixing smile next to his ear. Then he heard him lower his voice again to say, “No need to wait for finals, tonight I’ll let you see if I’m capable or not.”

“Scram!”

Gu Zixing’s laugh was very pleasant to listen to. On top of that his warm breath made Qiao Yanzhou once again feel limp and numb. Even though he told him to scram, both hands already forgot to push this old hoodlum away, his soft legs almost made him kneel down in front of Gu Zixing. Thankfully Gu Zixing was standing, saving him from falling.

“Hand still hurts?” After Gu Zixing let go of him, Qiao Yanzhou’s line of thinking was finally on the right track. “It seems like it doesn’t hurt since you’re still able to play Twitch? Unless it was a first pick.”

Gu Zixing laughed and didn’t utter a word.

“Or you want Yao Le to pay more attention to you? Then you should pick Vayne, Miss Fortune, or Jinx is even better. The support can’t leave you for one second.”

“???”

The words that came out made Gu Zixing confused. He was stuck for a long time and didn’t know how to respond. He didn't quite understand what Qiao Yanzhou meant.

“Nothing.” Sensing Gu Zixing’s halt, Qiao Yanzhou laughed as he tidied up Gu Zixin’g stuff and put it in his bag. “Nothing, I’m just joking with you.”

“Xiao Qiao, are you unhappy?” Gu Zixing moved closer to Qiao Yanzhou’s body.

“That’s not it ah. You already won, how could I be unhappy.” Qiao Yanzhou lifted his eyebrow. “That’s right, I ordered two bottles of red wine from the bar downstairs. After your post-match meeting tonight, we can celebrate.”

“Oh…. ok.”

***
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1. Live at Cao camp but heart wants to be at Han camp: in one place but wanting to be somewhere else.