Chapter 49

There was actually a plan for the 2nd day of the EG Talent Selection Competition.

A group of people who had never played together were partnered with himself who usually did what he pleased; against a group who practiced and competed together for ages with championship titles. 

This kind of circumstance, if you weren't beaten to death then you were halfway there. 

But the higher ups of EG believed that this was a good way to put the candidates through a mental test. It was very important to pay attention to the mental state of pro players, however the arrangement for this competition felt a bit merciless. 

Qiao Yanzhou sat in the spectator lobby as he waited, nervously tapping one finger. Gu Zixing probably hadn’t noticed him yet. After he finished talking to Coach Chen, he sat next to Qi Chen to talk. His face continued to carry a faint smile. It was very obvious that this competition had no burden on him. 

Having Qiao Yanzhou and Shen Yinan put on the same team was not actually good news to Qiao Yanzhou and the other members. Because there were only two spots, of the ten people, most likely they would pick one person from each team. 

It wasn't that Qiao Yanzhou had no faith in himself, but having faith in himself didn’t mean he was stupid. Everyone in the domestic alliance knew of Shen Yinan. Every day when he streamed he had over a hundred thousand viewers. During Chinese New Year or other holidays, when he held raffles there were thousands participating. The only flaw that Shen Yinan might have was that he was a bit older than average. A pro player would usually play until they were 25, but Shen Yinan was already 22 this year. 

But thinking about last night where Gu Zixing said the relationship between Shen Yinan and the higher ups of the org wasn’t bad, this flaw of Shen Yinan might not even be considered a flaw.

“I’ll go ADC, you guys play well and coordinate with me bot lane. Don’t drag me down!”

The one who spoke was Shen Yinan. Don’t be fooled by his streamer face where he was normally a very pleasant person, in reality he was nothing like his streamer personality at all. He had a terrible arrogant temperament, and without even discussing it immediately took leadership like he owned the world. A typical representation of a pampered and spoiled young master.

As Qiao Yanzhou was leaving yesterday, he overheard people talk about how Shen Yinan was angrily raging that he was going to solo kill Gu Zixing and let everyone watch. As a result, he was beaten by Gu Zixing until he was disorientated. 

Qiao Yanzhou disliked this kind of person the most. 

“The five people sitting across from you won't drag you down, why don’t you go over there ah.” Qiao Yanzhou narrowed his eyes at him and smiled.

The person sitting next to him heard and couldn’t help but sneak a laugh as well. Turns out that this Shen Yinan, in private, wasn't really someone likable. 

“No worries because after today’s competition, I’ll be able to go on. You guys on the other hand should worry more about yourself ba.” Shen Yinan coldly snorted. 

“Ok, wait for when you solo kill Gu Zixing to let us see.” 

Having not known who said that, Shen Yinan’s face turned ugly when he heard it. 

In the end Qiao Yanzhou was arranged to go mid. Shen Yinan and someone named Duan Yi went bot. The jungler, who was called Xu Feng, was also a streamer from Ivory Cat and the top laner was called Fang Huai. Qiao Yanzhou was unfamiliar with this person so he should probably be like Qiao Yanzhou, a moderately small streamer. 

Before entering the game, Qiao Yanzhou had a premonition. This Shen Yinan was definitely not someone who was easy to deal with. But he currently didn't have time to care about Shen Yinan, afterall there was still a person who was even more terrifying and troublesome who was waiting to dispose of him.

And that was the legendary mid laner, the kind-of-handsome-big-devil-king —- Gu Zixing. 

It wasn’t his first or second time facing Gu Zixing, but they were all private games. It was the first time doing it in an open competition. Qiao Yanzhou was a bit nervous, but he was even more afraid of humiliating himself. He was kind of regretting not asking Gu Zixing to leave him some face today during the competition, even though telling him wouldn’t do sh*t. 

The space for the competition was arranged like an SPL tournament. Two teams were lined up with a gap in the middle of the stage. While Qiao Yanzhou was debugging his equipment, he lifted his head up and happened to catch Gu Zixing looking at him. By his side sat Qi Chen and on the other side was Fu Xiaohai. 

Note: Players usually run tests with their equipment to make sure everything is fine before competition. 

He wasn’t sure why, but when Qiao Yanzhou saw that the two people who sat by him weren’t Yao Le, he felt relieved. 

But this feeling of relief instantly left as Gu Zixing threw him a flirtatious look….

A flirty look was a flirty look, but when it came to the competition, Gu Zixing was able to quickly enter the zone.

And then he saw Gu Zixing pick Yasuo.

This speed, it was like he was a child.

Coach Chen’s face turned ugly when he saw this.

Although Coach Chen had told the five of them before the game that they could pick whatever they wanted to help loosen up the tension, but this kind of “pick whatever you want” was a bit excessive. 

Yasuo, the Unforgiven, was a champion in the game that could be watched but not played. In the entire alliance, it was #1 in pick rate but also #1 in loss rate. It inevitably made it so that every time it was picked, it turned into a big deal. It made teammates terror stricken at the news and let the enemies rejoice. It was said that if you played well, he was called Yasuo. If you didn’t play well, he was called Tuo’rsuo.

Tuo’r = childcare and Suo is taken from Yasuo. It’s what you call  a very bad Yasuo player. They play like child so you’re now forced to take care of them and carry them. Also Yasuo is just kind of a meme in LoL because people love picking and playing him, but most people are generally terrible at the champion. It’s not surprising to see them go 1/10 at the end of a game.

Qiao Yanzhou was also a bit stunned. Not to brag, but he’s been a fan of Gu Zixing for so many years and had never seen him play Yasuo. He didn’t know what the strategy here was. 

As his teammates were also discussing this, Qiao Yanzhou didn’t feel like interrupting. He sat there thinking for a moment before deciding to pick a flexible champion, LeBlanc the Deceiver. She could attack and retreat, and if she couldn’t kill she could also run away. 

After the pick/ban phase ended, the competition officially started. 

After leaving his team fountain, Gu Zixing’s Yasuo was found in their jungle wandering around. Then he ran towards the mid lane to wander about, appearance was extremely taunting. 

But if it was just wandering around then it was fine. What gave Qiao Yanzhou an even bigger headache was that the Yasuo’s whirlwinds were very accurate. It was like he was using a cheat tool. If it was before Lv 6, it was ok. But after Lv 6, Yasuo’s damage would hurt and Qiao Yanzhou would certainly suffer. 

As he was worrying about this, Qiao Yanzhou suddenly heard Shen Yinan randomly start to holler.

“Support, where is your shield? Are you blind? Does it make you happy that I lost two minions?”

The support, Duan Yi, didn’t utter a word, but judging from how bad their facial expression was, you could tell he was in a bad mood. Qiao Yanzhou shot a glance at Shen Yinan, but didn't say anything. 

Gu Zixing was still causing trouble, but what made Qiao Yanzhou the most angry was that Gu Zixing seemed to be able to detect his mental state. Everytime Qiao Yanzhou wanted to go in and damage him, Gu Zixing would throw up a windwall and block all his abilities. 

Actually Qiao Yanzhou had this type of feeling ages ago. He humbly asked Gu Zixing why, but Gu Zixing at the time vaguely said “The more you play, the more you’ll understand.” 

In contrast, Qiao Yanzhou’s jungle Olaf was swimming around the top side of the map to farm, so Qiao Yanzhou didn’t have much hope in him to come help. 

“Support just swim away ba, leave me further!” 

“You’re the one who tried to 1v2 and you’re blaming me?”

Having been suppressed by Gu Zixing, Qiao Yanzhou was already a bit agitated when hearing Shen Yinan say this. A fire ignited in him.

“Support, come mid, ignore him.”

“???” The support had rolled up his sleeves and was ready to throw down his mouse and argue with Shen Yinan, when he heard this he was distracted for a moment.

“It doesn’t matter which lane you get experience from.” Seeing that the support hadn’t moved, Qiao Yanzhou spoke again. 

“But God Gu already pressured you and is ahead by one level,  if I go over to leech experience…” Duan Yi discussed it with him, then finally in the end only said, “Thanks.”

“No problem.”

“How come the support came mid lane?”

Over on EG’s side, Qi Chen was originally preparing to come mid and gank when he suddenly saw that there was an extra person. “Bot lane tower hasn’t fallen yet. Why did he switch lanes?”

“Probably bullied out by the ADC,” Gu Zixing laughed. “You don’t need to come mid lane anymore.”

“I get bullied by you everyday but I don’t say anything?”

“Not the same.”

Gu Zixing and the other teammates had played with Shen Yinan before. Plus the test from yesterday, he understood a bit about him. 

This man’s personality was very odd. In addition, rumor was that there were many people in the professional league whose evaluation of Shen Yinan were not very good. This could also be the reason why Shen Yinan had only been a streamer. Of course Gu Zixing didn’t say anything about Shen Yinan, he looked at everyone equally. Even though he didn’t really like him, his appearance and demeanor was still the same. His warm smile indicated a safe distance.

“Support come midlane. Xiao Qiao must be suffering. He was already behind in experience and it’s not even time to group yet.”

“What did you just call him?” Gu Zixing stared blankly for a moment. 

“Xiao Qiao ah.”

“You think you’re allowed to call him Xiao Qiao?”

“Aiyou!” Qi Chen suddenly smiled, “I'm sorry Master Zhouyu, I won’t dare to next time!” 

“Master Zhouyu is also something you can't call.”

“.....”

EG’s midlaner and jungler still had the energy to ridicule each other. Qiao Yanzhou’s side wasn’t as relaxed. Mid lane was already in a bad situation and then added a support, this kind of ‘when it rains it pours’ feeling that originally made Qiao Yanzhou feel heroic and fight for justice instantly disappeared into nothing. 

And then the bot laner who was abandoned by their support was caught by Qi Chen.

“Red buff spawned, go grab it.” Qiao Yanzhou glanced at the bot side of the jungle and instructed the support.

“Let me see who dares to take my red buff!” 

Shen Yinan already died four times, the fifth time he died he heard Qiao Yanzhou say this. 

The support was startled for a moment. “Go, I’ll accompany you.” Qiao Yanzhou smirked and automatically ignored Shen Yinan’s hollering. The two people didn't take long to get the red buff. 

Qiao Yanzhou’s current reasoning was very clear-cut, since it was already determined they couldn’t win, then just do whatever makes them feel better. Furthermore, he was most unafraid of this Shen Yinan who was the kind of person who was meek in public but a tyrant at home. It’s not like he never had fights with Liang Dong in highschool, it was nothing to be afraid of.

“Their support took the ADC’s red buff…” Qi Chen couldn't help but smack his lips. “Do all the young people nowadays have such big tempers?”

Gu Zixing already realized earlier, he couldn’t hide the smile on his face. 

Qiao Yanzhou actually didn’t play too badly midlane. Although he was suppressed by the other was still going steadily. It was only because he added another person that he became even more behind. 

“We can stop now” Yao Le suddenly said, “There’s no reason to continue playing.”

Gu Zixing actually already thought about it, it was just that when Yao Le mentioned the same thing he got distracted for a moment.

But at this moment, a Lulu with a red buff suddenly jumped out behind him. First attacked Gu Zixing with his shield which automatically attracted the tower to target him. Immediately afterwards, Gu Zixing saw Qiao Yanzhou from his own tower jumped over, directly chaining Gu Zixing. 

Lulu followed up with an R and made Qiao Yanzhou’s LeBlanc big, but he embarrassingly got hit by Yasuo’s whirlwind. LeBlanc’s skills were blocked by his windwall, but Qiao Yanzhou was determined and refused to let go. He auto attacked twice and used his Mimic Sigil of Malice. In the end, he refused to relent and used an ignite. 

Lulu followed up with her Polymorph and Gu Zixing was finally left with no HP.

Qiao Yanzhou was ecstatic, in a flash the tower was also left with a sliver of HP. Gu Zixing and Qiao Yanzhou both fell to the ground together. 

These sets of movement made Qi Chen, who was about to rush over, stare foolishly. For some reason, his mind started echoing the melodies of [Husband and Wife return Home]...

Husband and Wife return home is a classic piece of the Huangmei Opera.

You cultivate the field, I’ll weave cloth~ 

You give me a kill, my screen goes black~

“The silence needed to come a bit earlier then it would be fine. Yasuo’s whirlwind range is very big. Next time after marking him, leave some more space in between.

Qiao Yanzhou was even analyzing their fight just now with the support next to him, when suddenly from the corner of his eyes, he realized that Gu Zixing was beaming at him.

Why is he looking at me? 

Ai? Wait, did I just kill him? 

WTF?