At night, the video was uploaded online, and JK’s fans eagerly clicked on the post-match interview video.

This was the first time since the beginning of the spring season that JK had been able to hold their heads high.

Everyone was waiting for JK to make a fool of themselves, but this team, which had just changed its support player, easily won the first victory of the playoffs with a score of 3:0, ending LZ’s playoff journey and shutting down comments on Tieba like “JK is not as good as LZ,” “Eden is just a carried waste,” “Lu Qi is just average,” and so on.

The one-sided situation in the live broadcast of the match was like an unfeeling big hand, slapping LZ’s furious fans until their heads were bleeding.

The home team did well, and JK’s fans stood up!

With their heads held high, they clicked on the post-match interview to see who this godly support player was, who could even get the MVP of the game using Yaria.

They were also curious about what the team captain, Lu Qi — — their God Time, thought of this new support.

In the end, for a less than five-minute video, they ended up watching it repeatedly for half an hour, then commented below the video, expressing their confusion:

[What kind of chuuni^[1]Chuuni (中二, short for “chuunibyou,” 中二病) is a Japanese slang term that translates to “middle school second-year syndrome” or “eighth-grader syndrome.”  talk is this — — I love it, it speaks to my soul]

[Upstairs, a forty-meter sword isn’t that easy to put away]

[Sergeant, where’s your damn Italian noodles? Serve it up for this friendly soldier to taste.]

[JK’s Support of Light]

[The sword can’t be sheathed, arranging a lavish funeral for our friendly troops.]

[The pull at the fountain is truly amazing, I’m lucky to witness it again this lifetime.]

“The minutiae^[2]the small, precise, or trivial details of something of Yaria getting on and off her teammates are really something, Qi Ge’s Chang’e almost died on the spot. It’s clear the new support has good reaction speed, Lian’s Gui Guzi and other heroes are not bad either. Hope these two supports can lead JK to broader horizons!]

[I’m becoming a fan of Missy. Sobbing. Isn’t being a support all about protecting your teammates?]

[I know what I am protecting, it’s the hope of the team to win. I’m moved to tears, thinking back to the beginning when I was protecting one person, that kind of feeling]

Of course, many people also noticed some subtle points.

[What the heck? Qi Ge’s gaze was on Eden the whole time like he was watching a child! Afraid she’ll fly away? She’s an adult!]

[Don’t you know that Brother Qi is famous for being protective? Eden seems introverted and doesn’t have much experience, she’s very nervous. I think she’s probably only slightly better when she’s talking about how to play Yaria and the role of the support. She really is a cutie who forgets everything when she sees the game 23333^[3]aka hahahahaha]

[Brother Qi praised her!! My husband actually praised someone else! Don’t stop me, I’m going to play professionally!! If Qi Ge would touch me, I promise not to wash my hair for ten days!]

[As soon as I think about how Eden is living in the team base with Da Qing, Da Ming, and Qi Ge, eating, living, and training together, I feel like I’m living in a lemon pile, all sour — — If back then, I also set up a live stream room and waited for Xiao Ruo to contact me, how great would that be!]

[Hey, how much have you been drinking to talk such nonsense? Don’t just drink, eat something, see how you’ve gotten so drunk.]

[Just now, Da Ming posted on Moments saying that the KPL’s number one Eugene Grandet is treating the whole team to hotpot. Envy, envy.]

Among a bunch of irrelevant comments, topics like “Why not discuss how we’re going to face the esports powerhouse QL tomorrow” were quickly brushed aside.

At this moment, “KPL’s top impoverished club,” JK’s four starters plus substitute support, worth millions combined, squatting at a barbecue shop near the base — — Xiao Ruo and the coach simply could not stand the embarrassment, so they returned to the base first.

After Daming posted on Moments, he found the hot pot tasteless, so he dragged everyone back to the base and ultimately decided on barbecue skewers.

“Cheers!” Da Ming held up the coke at his feet and stretched it forward, only his brother responded lazily.

Yu Yue also raised her bottle slightly but hesitated to join in.

Ling Chen and Lu Qi each held onto their phones and were too busy to pay any attention to him.

“Ling Chen is chatting with his girlfriend about the competition schedule. Captain, as a single dog, how can you not put down your phone and eat?” Da Ming moved toward Lu Qi, “Is this person’s profile pic her own? She’s pretty, who is she?”

Lu Qi turned around, completely blocking the phone screen. “Even meat can’t shut your mouth.”

“Aren’t I just showing concern for my teammates?” Da Ming laughed. “Girlfriend? When did this happen?”

The gazes of the other three people also swept over ambiguously, full of curiosity.

At the moment of eye contact, Lu Qi said irritably, “A fan, it’s her birthday today, and we just won our first match, so I’m in a good mood and replied with a ‘Happy birthday, thank you for your support’, you make it look like I’m cheating.”

“Not a personal account?” Da Ming retracted his curious little head with a grin. “I knew the captain couldn’t possibly like women.”

“I do.” Lu Qi sneered, “I like all the pretty female heroes in the gorge, especially if they can help us win.”

“What a boring person, all that good looks and only cares about the cold, icy trophy.” Da Qing shook his head. “Coincidentally, Eden also only cares about the trophy, we have two trophy slaves in our team now.”

These two trophy slaves seemed to share a similar mindset. JK inadvertently heard Yu Yue telling Lu Qi at the bustling barbecue stall, “The new schedule is out, our match against QL is at six o’clock tomorrow afternoon. Loser’s bracket finals.”

The playoffs are divided into the winner’s group, the regular group, and the loser’s group.

The teams that successfully avoid relegation will enter the loser’s group and fight against the original four teams inside. In the first round, one team will have a bye^[4]the transfer of a competitor directly to the next round of a competition in the absence of an assigned opponent., but as long as Lu Qi was still the captain for a day, his bad luck would not allow the possibility of a bye for the team.

— — The team that got a bye in the first round of the loser’s group, was QL.

The legendary esports powerhouse.

“Are you surprised why the schedule is so tight?” Lu Qi sighed. “The loser’s group, just like the cannon fodder soldiers on the battlefield, always have to go first.”

After the first day of battle, only QL, JK, and LM remained from the five teams.

One team will get a bye and advance unconditionally to battle the regular group.

QL has already had a bye and has no chance to have another bye.

The direct advancement opportunity can only go to JK or LM.

However, still that same sentence — — as long as Lu Qi was the captain of JK, good luck is unlikely to come to JK.

“Choose one out of two!” When this is mentioned, Da Qing pounded his chest and stomped his feet, lamenting, “We, JK, have not received a direct advancement opportunity even once! Next time! Captain, please, wash your hands before going up for the draw, okay?”

— —The second round’s direct advancement opportunity went to LM.

QL vs JK.

Captain Lu’s face was cold, “It’s just QL, after that, it’s a mini vacation for a week. What’s the difference between resting early or later?”

“You’re getting cocky, Captain!” Da Ming joins the lamenting camp, “I’ll tell the coach, his lovely captain is getting air-headed lately, thinking about vacation before even starting the match!”

Lu Qi: “……”

Weren’t you all thinking about vacation first?

Taking care of this group of half-grown kids is a truly frustrating job.

“QL’s boss is rich, that’s why they’re called an esports powerhouse, right?” Da Ming burped, “Last time during the transfer period, they bought Xiao Wei, the original starting support of ARE, for ten million, otherwise how could Qing Guang, that little cub, get his chance? Captain, when will we have a transfer fee of ten million?”

Lu Qi said coldly, “I have it, but I don’t know about you.”

The last time Lu Qi was listed, it was indeed for ten million. Later, after some haggling, they barely managed to bring him back — — but definitely not for ten million

So Xiao Ruo said it was one of the boldest things he had ever done.

— — Another thing was digging out Yu Yue, a relatively unknown streamer, to play as a substitute under extreme poverty.

Luckily, Lu Qi did not disappoint him, and carried the team to victory many times, pushing the entire team further and further.

One can say that without Lu Qi last season, JK might have been relegated directly, they would not have been in the top eight.

But this season was different, Da Qing and Da Ming had grown, Ling Chen had adapted to the pace of the game, and his coordination with Lu Qi was becoming more seamless. They lacked a good support, but now it seemed they had found one.

They were discussing QL’s basic information with their captain.

“It’s nothing special, QL is just wealthy, often buying back well-known players no matter the cost, as long as their boss thinks it’s good,” Da Qing adds, “So in their team, they have Qing Ming in the top lane, Juan Zhi in the jungle, Gu Ren in the mid lane, Xiao Mi in the bot lane, and Xiao Wei as support. Each of them has a great reputation individually, but they can’t become a top-tier team together— —”

“Why— —” Yu Yue did not understand.

“Because they are all experts, none of them wants to yield to the other,” Da Ming, full from eating, holds a long bamboo stick, “One mountain can’t have two tigers, let alone five.”

Previously, some said that if they brought together Cai Shen, Lian, Time, CET4, and Dun Huang, they might have a chance against QAQ.

But as soon as this idea was proposed, it was refuted:

“Just look at QL.”

Wasn’t Qing Ming strong? Wasn’t Juan Zhi strong? Wasn’t Gu Ren strong?

Weren’t Xiao Mi and Xiao Wei not strong at all?

The five of them, all had a solid reputation individually.

But when they came together, they just could not pull off any results.

“QL is a typical five-core, and also a typical no-core,” Lu Qi said. “Each of them can carry, but there’s no leadership. When they play, it’s like they’re playing solo, and the boss even occasionally substitutes Xiao Mi with himself. The team’s gold is always unevenly distributed.”

“Fighting them is always a fifty-fifty win rate. There is a saying that, whether KPL is chaotic or not, QL has the final say.” Ling Chen finally hung up the phone and the first thing he did when he returned to the team was to join the discussion, “When they work together, they can win two matches against QAQ. When they are not united, they can overturn against PS.”

……Being their fans must be really thrilling.

Yu Yue: “Why though? They’re in the same team, what can’t be discussed properly?”

“Xiao Wei,” Lu Qi suddenly said, “Was originally the mid-laner for ARE, but in the past ten years, he was assigned to play support. When QL recruited Xiao Wei, they promised to let him play mid.”

But the promise was not fulfilled.

How could a support who was set on playing mid possibly fulfill the duty of a support?!

“The same goes for Qing Ming, originally a jungle player from PS,” Da Ming said. “From the jungle king to a lonely side laner, what a gap, tsk tsk.”

“Oh, right.” Ling Chen dropped the toothpick in his hand. “I might not have told you yet. Before Qi Ge came over, Wang Lian, aka your senior Lian, was the mid laner for JK.”

As soon as Lu Qi arrived, Lian was forced to step down. How could he be willing?

Da Qing wiped the sweat beads steamed out of his forehead from the smoke, “I’ve heard him say before that the whole team is not worthy of his support, including Qi Ge.”