Volume 1 Chapter 7 - To Bad He Declined

“Nice work!”

As Huang Chao’s crystal exploded, Gao Ge was excitedly celebrating with his two other teammates.

“Thanks.” He Yu felt very emotional. This was the moment he had been dreaming of. This was the real thing, and being here in-game was much more fun than being an audience at the KPL matches. This was when he realized that regardless of how wild his imagination could be, it was nothing compared to the reality of being in a game. Although this was the rarely-played Battle Plains map, and although the venue was not as grand as he imagined, the ecstasy and excitement that came with this victory were much more than he could have imagined.

He had only one regret: that this competition was much too short, as he had many other things he wanted to try.

But it was over.

He Yu returned the phone he had borrowed from the classmate, and said his thanks. As the classmate took back the phone, he looked awkwardly at Zhang Cheng Hao. It was Zhang Cheng Hao who had graciously let him borrow a phone, but in return, he was handed a disastrous defeat. The three Huang Chao players held onto their phones, their faces filled with discontent.

However, Gao Ge did not care for the Huang Chao team, and instead paid full attention to He Yu, “Great teamwork back there, it feels like we’ve got some chemistry. How about this, do you want to join us at Team Lang Qi?”

Join a team?

This sudden proposal took He Yu aback, he had never imagined this would happen. Back in high school there was no shortage of classmates who played The King’s Glory and all of them would have dreamed of this, but his patience and tenacity were what led to today’s events. He Yu’s heart was eager and hopeful, but when it came time to decide, he declined the offer.

Before he could say anything, Huang Chao’s three players had walked up to them.

“That was decent Gao Ge, you guys really have been practicing Battle Plains huh?” Zhang Cheng Hao said enigmatically.

“We’re nowhere near that good at it, but it’s enough to handle you guys.” Gao Ge replied.

“Stop tooting your own horn. The respawn time of the monsters on this map is completely different from that of the Valley of Kings. Did you think you’d have a chance if we knew about this earlier?” Zhang Cheng Hao boasted. There was no doubt that this remark wasn’t just for Gao Ge, but for the surrounding audience as well. The three main players of Huang Chao had been terribly defeated by a Lang Qi team who casually brought on a random substitute – that was enough to get them laughed in The King’s Glory circles at Dong Jiang University for a long time.

“You might not have known for the first two waves, but there’s no way you would’ve missed it after that,” He Yu rapped back.

Zhang Cheng Hao was at a loss for words. If he had been more careful, he would have realized that. They even missed the spawn of the Tyrant in the two-minute mark, so how could they boast that it was just a lucky victory for Team Lang Qi?

And by the time they realized the pace of the match was way quicker than it was in the Valley of King’s, it was already too late.

“Don’t try to use ignorance as an excuse when you’re not even sure of yourself,” Gao Ge said contemptuously. Zhang Cheng Hao’s vain attempt to explain away his team’s loss to the surrounding audience suddenly seemed ridiculous. Zhou Mu Tong and Xu Kai Huai lowered their heads, as if wanting to bury their heads and pretend they weren’t there. Zhang Cheng Hao’s face turned bright red. Staring at He Yu, he suddenly realized: there was no way that someone who knew that was new to The King’s Glory.

“He Yu, you’ve definitely played The King’s Glory before, right?” Zhang Cheng Hao said.

“I haven’t played it, I just had some understanding of its mechanics,” He Yu replied.

“Hmm?” This made Zhang Cheng Hao very suspicious, and he had a strong hunch that he had fallen into a trap of some kind. But this random player was chosen by himself after all, and no matter how smart Gao Ge was, it was impossible to guess that he would have picked He Yu out of all people. It could only have been some bad luck.

“You were lucky this time, I’ll confess.” Under these circumstances, Zhang Cheng Hao had to admit something at least.

“You were the lucky ones. You could have chosen anyone, and you picked someone who could actually play. What a stroke of luck, huh?” Gao Ge said.

“Don’t think too highly of yourself. This is just Battle Plains. I’ll be waiting for you and Lang Qi at the school tournament this semester. Hopefully, you’ll win some rounds and not get eliminated that early,” Zhang Chenghao said.

“We’ll see about that, see you at the game.” Gao Ge responded dryly, but as he said this, he put his hand on He Yu’s shoulder, as if he was already a member of Lang Qi.

Zhang Cheng Hao wanted to add something, but before that could happen, some of his friends hurried to his side and whispered something into his ear. Zhang Cheng Hao was suddenly startled. His attention was no longer on Gao Ge, and he quickly called his friends to leave.

“Just you all wait!” Before leaving, Zhang Cheng Hao glared at Team Lang Qi, including He Yu.

Seeing this hostile glare from Zhang Cheng Hao, He Yu looked at the person next to him stunned, “I did say that I declined your offer, right?”

“Can’t you rethink your decision?” Gao Ge asked.

“There’s no need for that.” He Yu said firmly.

“That’s really a pity. I’ve no idea what’s your reason for doing so, but if you’re ever looking for a team in the future, feel free to contact me at any time. My name’s Gao Ge, and I’m in the third grade of the Physics program.”

“Thanks,” He Yu didn’t promise anything, but his appreciation showed through.

“See you around,” Gao Ge smiled. Only when looking at this smile did He Yu suddenly remember, wasn’t this the girl he almost walked into the corridor when he came out of his brother’s office?

Gao Ge had already turned around at this time, telling her friends to leave too. Zhou Mo, who was originally very excited, now looked full of disappointment after hearing He Yu’s refusal to join. He regretfully glanced at He Yu again and silently followed Gao Ge after she called out to them. After walking out of sight, he suddenly heard one line from Gao Ge, “Persuade him.”

“Huh?” Zhou Mo froze, turning his head to look at Gao Ge, only to find that Gao Ge was not talking to him. The person whom she was talking to walked pass them and didn’t show any response.

“Who’s that?” Zhou Mo asked.

“He Liang.” Gao Ge said.

“What?”

“He Liang from the student office.”

“Oh, the former professional jungler in Team Tian Ze, He Liang! I’ve always felt that Tian Ze’s playstyle and tactics never suited him, they gave him no room to shine at all!” Zhou Mo usually didn’t talk much, but once the topic of KPL’s professional players and tournaments was brought up, he immediately expressed his views. He even forgot about why they were talking about He Liang in the first place.

“The unfortunate thing is that in the year right after he retired, Tian Ze immediately won the Autumn League,” Gao Ge said.

“Tian Ze’s new jungler You Ya Zhong is totally different from He Liang. I can’t say who’s better between the both of them, but Tian Ze’s tactics seem to fit Ya Zhong better.” When Zhou Mo talked about these things, he truly came alive. The Zhou Mo who constantly seemed dull and bored at the Lang Qi’s welcoming booth, and the Zhou Mo who was standing right here with a grin on his face felt like two completely different people.

“Tian Ze’s record has really been stable because of that. If it weren’t for the fact that Zhou Jin was sick during the play-offs in the Summer League and they had to pull out, they would’ve been the champions,” Gao Ge said.

“Without Zhou Jin, Tian Ze lost almost a tenth of their strength. I’m not sure how well Zhou Jin will perform though this season, especially at his age,” Zhou Mo sighed.

“The way this conversation is going, we’ll end up talking about all the players in KPL,” Gao Ge said.

“Huh?” Zhou Mo froze for a moment, and after realizing they had really strayed far from the topic, smiled embarrassedly. He was always like this, once he began talking about the tournaments he couldn’t stop.

Zhou Mo looked back and saw that He Liang was walking towards He Yu and his group of friends. The relationship between the two felt like a very close one.

“Who’s that freshman?”

“He’s He Liang’s younger brother,” Gao Ge said.

“How do you know?” Zhou Mo wondered.

“When I went to the student office, I happened to meet him while he was looking for He Liang.”

“No wonder.” Zhou Mo had long noticed that Gao Ge was acting differently after Zhang Cheng Hao selected the random substitute earlier. Turns out he already knew the details of this person. In this way, Zhang Cheng Hao was really unlucky. It didn’t matter how many games this person had been in. As soon as he came up, he could instantly spit out information on the mob respawn time for Battle Plains. In fact, Zhou Mo, like Zhang Cheng Hao, did not know this either. It could be said that they had an advantage from the very start.

“It seems that Zhang Cheng Hao was right, we were lucky,” Zhou Mo said with some emotion.

“You can’t say that. Do you think I would have had that information on hand too?” Gao Ge said.

“You know the monsters’ respawn time for Battle Plains?” Zhou Mo was unconvinced. As Gao Ge’s companion in King’s Glory, he knew her very well. He was convinced that Gao Ge was just like him – decently smart, but having no knowledge about Battle Plains.

“I might not know, but Baidu knows.” Gao Ge said to Zhou Mo while showing her mobile phone. The browser was opened on an article about Battle Plains.

“So you already knew the winning strategy for this map?” Zhou Mo asked.

“I didn’t know until I searched, but that He Yu, he knew beforehand,” Gao Ge responded.

“It would be great if he is our teammate,” Zhou Mo said with some longing.

“Who said he isn’t,” Gao Ge said, as she looked back at the brothers who were talking while walking.