CH 35

“What’s Sugar picking this round?” Since it’s a duo queue, Yu Hao naturally wanted to choose a hero that complements Jiang Min’s selection.

“Uh, anything is fine,” Jiang Min replied nonchalantly.

Having played WOC professionally for many years, not to brag, but there was no hero he couldn’t handle. The difference was in his proficiency, not his ability.

“How about a random pick?” Yu Hao suggested.

“You go ahead and pick.”

“It’s alright, I’ll wait for you to pick.”

In WOC, the banning and picking phase in non-competitive modes during regular ranked matches didn’t have a fixed order. Each player chose heroes according to their preferred positions, and it wasn’t necessary to follow a specific order like the 1-2-3-4-5 positions in formal competitions.

Moreover, opposing players couldn’t see the chosen positions of their opponents. This means that it’s highly likely that an opponent who appears to have picked a hero for the 2nd position may actually be playing for the 4th position. However, the enemy team might assume they’re selecting a hero for the 2nd position and choose heroes accordingly.

This flexibility added variability to the game, making it more interesting.

“If we pick for the 2nd position first, we might get countered. You go ahead and pick for the 4th position,” Jiang Min observed the enemy’s hero selections.

When Yu Hao looked at Jiang Min’s serious expression, he knew that Sugar would be taking this ranked game seriously.

“Alright,” Yu Hao had a good relationship with other WPL league players and they often exchanged ideas. He had initially thought about having some fun and messing with Lock for a round.

Pressuring the player at the top of the national server had become a “fine” tradition in the WPL professional league. The player currently at the top of the national server was a respected ancient deity, so they let the deity sit comfortably at the top.

However, since Sugar didn’t have that intention, they decided to play this round seriously, giving Lock a favorable chance.

Just as Yu Hao was seriously considering the enemy’s lineup and his own hero selection for this round, he received a private message from “KillMyBirdsOrDie,” which was AXB, the second-position player from the SUM team.

AXB was a Korean player in WPL, but his Chinese was as fluent as that of a local speaker. His ID “AXB” was actually the phonetic abbreviation of “阿西吧” (Axi Ba).

“Buddy, do me a favor, I want to keep Little Lock down :),” he messaged.

Preventing other players from reaching the top of the national server had become a shared “enthusiastic” interest among WPL players.

Yu Hao: “To be honest, I want to as well. But my dear Sugar doesn’t want to.”

“Sug… Sugar? You mean Sugar God?”

“Yeah.”

“Wow, I didn’t realize you guys were so close. Didn’t Sugar God recently transfer to JW?”

AXB and Yu Hao had encountered each other multiple times in ranked games, and they had interacted as friends after that.

“That’s right, our relationship is quite special.”

“So… how about you talk to Sugar God about it? Let’s press Little Lock one more time and make him kneel a few more times to forget about being the top player on the national server.”

“No.”

“?”

“Sugar God wants to win, so I want to win too.”

“…”

AXB’s negotiation failed.

“Okay… just make sure Sugar God goes easy on me. I’m not doing well in the middle lane against him.”

“:)”

Yu Hao chose the fourth-position hero Predator, a hero commonly used in that position.

Predator’s signature skill was “Arcane Plunder.”

He would release a blue arc of light that extended a certain distance. Anyone on its path, whether an enemy or an ally, would be pulled towards the Predator.

This skill had a high degree of unpredictability and often resulted in humorous moments, making this hero a frequent subject of funny highlight reels.

As the hero selections for both sides reached the final stage, Jiang Min saw that AXB, playing in the second position, had chosen a Paladin, so he selected the hero Dark Dance with a passive armor-piercing ability.

Dark Dance was an assassin wielding dual blades who excelled in critical strikes and passive armor penetration to eliminate enemies.

In the WOC game mechanics, there were both daytime and nighttime phases, with a change every five minutes.

As an assassin active during the nighttime, Dark Dance had remarkable mobility during that phase.

In the early laning phase, the two mid-lane heroes tried to chip away at each other’s health. AXB was under pressure when facing Sugar God.

Yu Hao’s Predator, playing in the fourth position, headed to the top lane, while Lock’s first-position Dino roamed in the bottom lane.

During the third wave of minions, Dark Dance set a trap. The Paladin couldn’t avoid it and stepped into the trap, becoming stunned. Dark Dance immediately took advantage of the opportunity, dealing damage with her basic attacks that had the passive “armor-piercing” effect. It hurt quite a bit, and AXB cried out.

“Sugar God! Sugar God! Bro! Spare me~~”

The two mid-lane heroes were engaging in a blood exchange. AXB was heavily injured by Dark Dance and had to spend some hard-earned gold on healing items, making his bird deliver them.

AXB thought that once the bird delivered the items, he could still hold on.

However, to his surprise, a system message appeared on the screen: “Old Driver CarryMe, the courier of KillMyBirdsOrDie, has been eliminated.”

AXB wanted to curse.

Not caring about the fact that he was still in a duel with Jiang Min, he quickly typed in the public chat: “Yu Team, you’re ruthless! Can’t you see my ID? Be careful of getting cursed!”

Yu Hao: “Don’t worry, with Sugar God on my side, I won’t lose.”

AXB was blocked. With Sugar God’s winning rate, it was very likely that their duo queue would be an “MVP” vehicle, assuming nothing unexpected happened.

Sugar God, the man who had once been ranked second on the national server, just a step away from the top, if he decided to become the top player again, given his popularity in the WPL league, no one would want to target him like they did other players. People might even step aside to let him reach the top player position, possibly even throwing flowers at him.

But the tone and arrogance in Yu Hao’s words filled AXB with jealousy. Although they were both second-position players, he also wanted to duo queue with Sugar God. For love, he would even play as a pure support if needed! He just hoped that Sugar God would do the carrying.

AXB lost his focus, and Jiang Min seized the opportunity. Activating the first skill “Outburst,” Dark Dance increased her critical strike chance. The second skill “Trap” stunned the enemy. Her basic attacks, enhanced with armor penetration and critical strikes, quickly took out the low-health AXB.

AXB: “Wuwuwu crying out loud!”

From this point in the game, it seemed that the tide was turning in Jiang Min’s favor. With an advantage in the early game, he not only attacked the middle lane but also roamed between lanes.

Overall, their side was in a favorable position.

“Little Fish, let’s go to the bottom lane,” Jiang Min saw on the map that the opponents were preparing to gank Lock in the bottom lane.

“Little Lock, move further back; the enemies are coming. I’ll be there in the bottom lane soon,” Jiang Min opened in-game voice chat to communicate with his teammates.

“Alright, Sugar God!” Lock responded obediently.

Jiang Min’s teleport was still on cooldown, so he had to rely on his own two feet to travel from the middle lane to the bottom lane.

However, Yu Hao teleported directly to the bottom lane, arriving ahead of Jiang Min.

Lock had managed to pull back in time, but he was still caught by the two opponents who came to gank him.

These two players were none other than the unkind AXB and NewLife.

Their thoughts were simple: regardless of the game’s outcome, they wanted to target Lock’s mentality today!

AXB threw a flying hammer, and Lock’s movements couldn’t shake off the control, leaving him rooted in place.

First-position NewLife immediately moved forward and delivered a series of blows.

Lock saw his health plummet and became extremely anxious.

He managed to control his character to escape and used his Dino’s skills. He executed a jump and stomped, combined with a leap item, to create some distance. Then he dashed quickly toward the location where Yu Hao was.

“Yu Team, help me!” Lock pleaded on voice chat.

In Yu Hao’s Plunderer, he used “Arcane Plunder,” and Lock watched as the blue light approached him, like a light of redemption coming to his rescue! As long as he caught this light, he could instantly teleport to Yu Hao’s side and bid farewell to the two troublemakers behind him.

However, the blue light grazed Lock’s Velociraptor and flew past him, hitting NewLife instead.

NewLife was pulled to Yu Hao’s side by “Arcane Plunder,” and conveniently ended up right in front of Lock, who was barely alive.

Without any hesitation, NewLife took away the wounded Lock.

Lock: [……]

Yu Hao, can you honestly say you didn’t do it on purpose? You couldn’t even use a skill properly from such a close range?

Yu Hao innocently said, “Sorry, my hand slipped.”

Of course, he did it on purpose.

In the “Fish Extermination Plan,” the goal was to make the fish in the pond think twice before approaching Sugar’s car.

With him around, these fish wouldn’t dare cling to Sugar’s thigh for points. Even if they queued together for points, they wouldn’t feel comfortable doing so.

The situation on the battlefield was getting increasingly intense, and Lock was repeatedly dying.

Lock: [QAQ]

“You two, my big brother is captured, and you’re just standing there watching!” he scolded his two teammates.

“Sugar God, save me!”

“Help!”

“Help~~~”

That was the word he had shouted the most during this match.

The teenager next to Yu Hao had just finished a WOC game and stretched lazily, glancing at the top-ranked match on the homepage.

WOC’s spectator system randomly selected top-rated matches to showcase on the game’s homepage for players to watch while waiting for matchmaking.

Many players had the habit of watching top-rated matches while waiting for their own games.

The bystander took a look at the top-rated match on the interface.

“Hmm? This is a 6-star match, with NewLife and AXB, and the little Lock who has recently been hammered, and isn’t this ‘Mid-Lane Veteran’ Sugar God…? And who is this ‘Veteran, Take Me’?” he muttered to himself.

Suddenly, he noticed that the person next to him was also playing WOC.

He glanced at the screen unintentionally and was shocked.

What the heck? “Veteran, Take Me”?

Wasn’t this the player in the top-rated match?

And upon closer inspection, it was Yu Hao!

And next to Yu Hao was… Sugar God?

The person sitting next to Sugar God seemed to be JW’s third-position little mouse.

What the heck!

The bystander suddenly jumped up.

There were not many WOC players who didn’t know about the JW team. Although their performance in the recent World Championship was not good, they were still one of the top teams in the country.

Meeting a professional player in this small internet cafe was an exciting experience for a seasoned gaming enthusiast!

Being able to watch top-tier players’ operations up close was a dream come true!

The bystander tilted his head to look at Yu Hao’s screen, but he didn’t want to disturb Yu Hao because he was fully immersed in the game.

Gradually, more and more people passing by noticed the exciting match.

The gameplay was beyond ordinary!

When people realized that the players in this match were JW’s new mid-laner, Sugar God, and support, Yu Hao, along with the third-position little mouse sitting beside them, they all gathered to watch without saying a word.

Interrupting someone’s top-rated match was considered very impolite!

Everyone agreed that WOC players should maintain high standards of behavior.

Yu Hao naturally noticed the increasing number of eyes on him.

He hoped the rain outside had stopped… After this match, they would need to leave. Otherwise, they might have to call the manager to come and pick them up. With so many people surrounding them for autographs and photos, the three of them might not be able to leave the internet cafe.

Author’s note: Oh my, I really enjoy writing stories about the “Mid-Lane Veteran” and “Veteran, Take Me” duo.

1TL: YSIAD “You can support me if you like my translations by leaving a comment below, or by sending me a Ko-fi. Thank you ️”