Volume 2 Chapter 2 - Dismissing Style

“Dong Jiang Cup?”

When a new club event was organized, the news spread quickly after the meeting. But He Yu had heard the story from his brother, He Liang, who worked in the student office. It was also a more reliable source. He didn’t stop eating, he just asked confusedly, “Isn’t there a competition already?”

“The Intra School League was participated by students on their own initiatives. Faculties will participate in the Dong Jiang Cup,” He Liang explained.

“I see,” He Yu understood instantly. This wasn’t only a university thing. Competitions like this were also held when he was in high school. Although there weren’t any faculties, there were classes. It was the same concept.

“The school seems fine with the idea and would probably allow them to do it,” He Liang said.

“What about the current competition?” He Yu asked.

“They’d probably run simultaneously since there wouldn’t be many teams if it’s based on faculty. Our school has eighteen faculties and slightly more than 50 programs. We are still unsure if the teams would come from faculties or programs, but it would not be more than 60 teams. The competition rules are not finalized, but the event shouldn’t cost too much time,” He Liang said.

“Oh,” He Yu nodded. He wasn’t too worried about it initially, but he thought of one problem suddenly.

“The teams we have now consist of people from different faculties, don’t they?” He Yu asked.

He Liang nodded, “Yes, most of them met through the club. They probably come from different faculties.”

He Yu thought of Team Lang Qi immediately. He took out his phone and went into their group chat.

The group chat had five people already due to the dinner after their victory against Team Huang Chao. Zhao Jin Ran treated them, and Lee Si Jie didn’t attend, but the four had a good time. Maybe because of the criticisms of his post on the forum, Zhao Jin Ran had become humbler. He behaved very modestly during the dinner and even requested to join when he heard there was a group chat.

Of course, nobody turned him down, but Zhou Mo thought they couldn’t leave out Lee Si Jie too, so Lee Si Jie was invited into the group chat. The two had joined the conversation, but Lee Si Jie was very quiet compared to Zhao Jin Ran’s active participation in the chat.

When he opened the group chat, the few were already discussing the Dong Jiang Cup. Defeating Team Huang Chao seemed to have ignited the passion in Zhao Jin Ran towards the game. He looked very excited about the new tournament as well. Lee Si Jie, who had been silent, had finally spoken, but he poured cold water on the excitement. “The faculty will surely pick the strongest five in the faculty. Your level? Don’t worry about the tournament.”

“How much better do you think you are?” Zhao Jin Ran disregarded him. After that day, Zhao Jin Ran had lost his respect for Lee Si Jie, who had been guiding him. They no longer stuck together. Lee Si Jie still did not attend their practice session, but Zhao Jin Ran was a lot more passionate and arrived punctually every day. Nobody knew how long this passion would last.

After Zhao Jin Ran talked back, Lee Si Jie and even Gao Ge, Zhou Mo, and He Yu, who were going to say something, had become quiet. The group chat was silent for a while, so He Yu turned his screen off.

“What happened?” He Liang saw his expression. He asked while passing him some food. As brothers, eating together once a week had become a habit after He Yu came to Dong Jiang University.

“Nothing. I was just thinking about Team Lang Qi. I know Senior Gao Ge from the physics program like me, but what about Senior Zhou Mo?” He Yu said.

“Don’t you know what he studies after playing together for so long?” He Liang said.

“I only know he plays top lane and what his signature heroes are,” He Yu answered awkwardly.

“His Yang Jian was not bad that day,” He Liang said.

“You watched the game?”

“Yes, I follow sometimes,” He Liang said.

“Then…Do you also follow KPL?” He Yu asked. The first round of the KPL Autumn League started when their semester started. There were games every week. He Yu had followed professional games again after he started playing the King’s Glory. But what about his brother? They watched a game of Team Tian Ze on the first day when they had lunch in the canteen together. After that, he had no idea if his brother watched any of the games. This was the first time He Yu asked.

“Sometimes,” He Liang said.

He Yu was choosing the right words to ask his brother’s opinion, but He Liang threw the question at him first. “Did you watch Team Tian Ze’s game?”

“Huh? Yeah, I did…” He Yu was startled for a moment but nodded.

“What do you think?” He Liang asked.

It was a question that he wanted to ask his brother, but his brother asked him first. He Yu had thought about the answer to this question very thoroughly, so he didn’t need to consider it for too long. “They seem to have two core damage dealers, the mid-laner and the marksman, but they only choose one to focus on more often than not. In the first round, they protected their marksman to speed up his farming, but in the next few rounds, their focus was on the mid-laner. Zhou Jin’s Zhuge Liang was always banned, and his play has improved significantly. His choices are mainly Gan&Mo and Ying Zheng. He had dealt massive damage in almost every game, but…”

“But what? Go on.” He Liang looked at He Yu.

“The problem of harvesting kills is still there. This is also the problem that I have seen in the team previously. They deal massive damage to their opponent, but could not finish them and get the kills,” He Yu said.

“But it doesn’t seem to be a problem anymore, does it?” He Liang smiled and said.

“Yeah…” He Yu nodded. “When their enemies were low health and had to go back to the fountain, Team Tian Ze has always utilized this time optimally to widen the teams’ gold gap. This was particularly apparent in the game against Team Shan Gui. The score was 4 to 1 when the game ended, and three of the kills happened at the high ground. This means that they have gained an absolute advantage without getting many kills.”

“Does that mean that they have found a way to solve what you call a problem?” He Liang said.

“Yes…” He Yu nodded unnaturally. He used to think that the solution to this problem was Team Tian Ze should trust He Liang more and let his assassin collect kills.

But now, Team Tian Ze did not need He Liang and did not adopt He Yu’s solution. They had come out with their own solution — perfecting their operation to compensate for the slight insufficiency of damage.

Insufficient damage?

Then widen the gold gap.

“Many teams are now studying their style. They even have a name for it. It’s called the Dismissing Style.” He Liang continued, “Afterall, the King’s Glory is a turret destroying game, not a killing game.”

“But isn’t killing one of the ways to win?” He Yu raised his head and looked at his brother. “It’s just style, and neither is superior. Anything that wins the game is correct!”

He Liang smiled bitterly. He had seen through He Yu’s mind, and he knew his determination behind playing the King’s Glory. He Liang did not want He Yu to carry these on his back, but it seemed difficult to convince him. But when he looked back at himself, wasn’t he the same? If it wasn’t for the stubborn obsession, why did he spend five years trying to prove himself?

Unfortunately, he still failed.

When Team Tian Ze won the champion title right after he quit, it made him doubt if his persistence was right.

Anything that could win the game was right!

It was what he thought.

But he forgot one thing; there wasn’t such a thing as a guaranteed win, so there wasn’t a 100% correct style.

It wasn’t a matter of right or wrong. There was just winning or losing.

He had lost and failed.

But what about his style? Did it have to be rejected because of this?

No! It wasn’t a style that had always lost, so how could it be rejected like this?

Therefore, there was this sentence that he always said, “I’m not good enough.”

Maybe someone would be better than him.

“Let’s eat!” He Liang smiled at He Yu and suddenly grabbed his bowl.

“Huh?” He Yu was blank.

“I look forward to your murderous victory,” He Liang said.