Chapter 169

The suite, after being set up, had completely turned into a simple base. Just as Mo Yin had said, it was very convenient.

In everyday interactions, Tang Qi and the others couldn’t feel that Mo Yin was a young master from an extremely wealthy family. Mo Yin was simply too low-key. His daily routine consisted of holding a thermos, wearing sportswear, and working out and playing games every day. If it weren’t for encountering things that were beneficial to the competition, Mo Yin might have remained this low-key indefinitely.

With the pretext of “adding friends,” Mo Yin’s image was no longer so high and unattainable. Just a casual gesture from him improved the team’s atmosphere. Therefore, the potential crisis of internal imbalance within the team due to Mo Yin’s generosity was invisibly resolved.

Mo Yin simply wanted to win the competition. What was wrong with that?

The system, logging in again, marveled, “Coordinator, how did you manage to make the internal relations of the antagonist’s team so harmonious? Normally, you would have had severe internal conflicts erupt during the Mid-Season Invitational, and the team’s atmosphere would have plummeted to freezing point.”

Mo Yin replied, “Maybe it’s because the food has been good these past couple of days.”

System: “…” What kind of nonsense is this? Does it think it’s so easily deceived?

With no internal conflicts and a comfortable training environment, eliminating all unfavorable factors, DSG was invincible in the Mid-Season Invitational. Their state was off the charts, and they undoubtedly won the championship. Mo Yin also smoothly secured yet another FMVP.

“The reign of the world’s strongest player continues”—media outlets lavished Mo Yin with praise, firmly believing that he would continue to dominate the game.

During the spring transfer period, several top teams made significant moves. The points for the summer season had an even greater impact on the world championship, so it was now or never.

DSG signed two new substitute junglers and supports. Guan Ming and Tang Qi watched people come and go for tryouts every day at the base. To say they felt no pressure would be pure self-deception. Ultimately, they signed two promising rookies from the secondary league. Both were 18 years old, young and full of potential, calling everyone “bro,” with one always adding Mo-ge (Brother Mo) as a friend, which made Tang Qi’s eyes burn with jealousy.

KU underwent a major overhaul this year but still adhered to their guiding principle—only buying well-known players. Once again, they extended a contract offer to Mo Yin, with the price soaring to a level described in the industry as a “do-or-die” effort. This scared the COO in charge of DSG’s esports division so much that he flew to the DSG base overnight to negotiate privately with Mo Yin.

Failing to secure Mo Yin, it was heard that KU’s manager also went to the REAL base to talk to Ye Chi. Media reports in the esports community revealed that they talked for a long time, with a significant possibility of a deal, causing quite a stir.

Indeed, Ye Chi talked with KU’s manager for a while.

“Before me, you first approached MY, right?”

The manager, embarrassed, replied, “MY is a player every team wants to recruit. I won’t hide it; we really wanted MY. Unfortunately, we couldn’t reach an agreement in the end.”

Ye Chi became interested and asked why.

The KU manager replied honestly, “Salary is no longer a key issue for MY. The main thing is we couldn’t meet his lineup requirements.”

“What kind of lineup does he want?”

The KU manager, finding it hard to explain, said vaguely, “Some of his current teammates.”

Ye Chi listened and smiled lightly.

The manager said, “Actually, our lineup for the new season is quite good. You can consider it.”

Ye Chi replied, “I also want to play with my current teammates.”

KU Manager: “…”

So, everyone is playing the loyalty card, huh?

Fine, MY is worth it; he’s that valuable. But how could this grassroots mid-laner not recognize a good opportunity?

Patiently, the KU manager said, “The contract we offer you is something REAL can’t match. And once you join, we’ll treat you as the core of the team, giving you the best development opportunities.”

Ye Chi replied, “What REAL can give me, you can’t. Please leave.”

The KU manager held back from saying the classic villain line, “We’ll see in the summer season,” and reluctantly returned to KU.

In his room, Ye Chi opened Weibo, checking Mo Yin’s activities on DSG’s official account like a devoted fan.

During the Mid-Season Invitational, Ye Chi had been closely following DSG’s activities. He watched every video and photo DSG posted and later taught himself how to find super topics, discovering all sorts of photos and videos from fans encountering Mo Yin abroad.

Whether at home or abroad, Ye Chi always felt the same about Mo Yin. Off the field, he seemed unreachable and unattainable; on the field, he dominated like a king descending, so strong it sent shivers down one’s spine.

When would he become as strong as Mo Yin?

Ye Chi’s eyes gradually sharpened. He locked his phone and lay back on his bed, imagining a vast starry sky. He would become stronger by the summer tournament.

It was rare for teams to maintain their original roster; either the original lineup was indeed good, or the team was so poor they could barely maintain it. Coincidentally, REAL fit both criteria. They did well in the spring tournament, gaining many fans and securing two endorsements. Besides the hotpot restaurant, their jerseys finally featured other sponsors, so they no longer had to joke about being the hotpot team.

As teams returned from their break, the training matches for the summer tournament officially began.

DSG returned home, and the first team they scheduled a training match with was KU.

KU had spent a lot of money to assemble an all-champion lineup, with every player having won championships before. Among them were former DSG top and support players who had been kicked out by Mo Yin.

Old teammates meeting again was bound to be intense.

When Mo Yin reached level two in mid lane, KU’s jungler and support came for a gank. Mo Yin faced a three-man gank without panicking, dodging effortlessly and retreating under the tower with low health. Even through the screen, he could feel KU’s jungler and support cursing, which brought him immense satisfaction.

No matter how people change, some innate mischievousness is hard to eliminate.

With absolute reaction speed and operational ability, Mo Yin ended the training match playfully, especially targeting his two old teammates, killing them and recalling on their corpses.

Tang Qi shivered, thinking that the only thing scarier than being Mo Yin’s current teammate was being his former teammate.

After the training match, Mo Yin went out to rest his eyes. Tang Qi quietly asked Ding Wenquan, “Was it true that Black and Wula were kicked because of internal conflicts?”

Ding Wenquan flexed his fingers. “Of course not.”

“Then why?”

“MY thought they were weak.”

“…”

Tang Qi felt immense pressure.

Guan Ming got up and sat next to Ding Wenquan’s desk, saying to Tang Qi, “Don’t worry too much, you were handpicked by MY last year.” He, on the other hand, felt that he might struggle with the next version update.

“What about me?” Qin Kunlun interjected.

“You were picked by drawing lots.”

“What?”

Ding Wenquan spread his hands. “There were three candidates at the time, and MY thought they were all about the same, so he picked one randomly.”

Qin Kunlun: “…”

“Don’t feel too bad,” Guan Ming laughed, “luck is part of strength too. At least you’re still here this year.”

Qin Kunlun was speechless, then self-deprecatingly said, “Indeed, my luck has been good. Since I joined the team, we haven’t lost.”

Of course, it wasn’t luck, but absolute strength.

Could they win the championship again this year? Summer tournament, world tournament.

For Guan Ming and Ding Wenquan, winning the championship would make them legends in the game, unprecedented three-time champions. Even if the FMVP wasn’t them, even if the most dazzling player in the team wasn’t them, in this era belonging to Mo Yin, they were already fortunate enough. At least Mo Yin’s strength provided them with a comfortable shadow.

“Who do you think will be the toughest team to beat in the summer tournament?” Tang Qi suddenly asked.

The expressions of the group varied, but a common answer appeared in their minds—REAL.

Due to time zone differences, DSG hadn’t had training matches with domestic teams during the mid-season championship. When they returned home, some teams that had ended their break early had already started training matches, and news of these matches spread.

REAL performed very well in training matches.

Their jungler, who missed the spring tournament due to pneumonia, returned stronger after his illness, slaughtering opponents in training matches.

The entire team played confidently and aggressively, with great synergy and strong discipline.

The two teams’ bases were close, and their managers had a good relationship. Through mutual communication, they both felt that REAL now had the level of a top-tier team.

Training matches didn’t count for much, and for teams rumored to be strong in training matches, some spectators held a mocking attitude—strong every year in training matches, but pulling back in official matches, right? Especially since this rumor came from last season’s “Void champions,” the audience was even more skeptical.

The opening match of the summer tournament was REAL against ADT.

Last year’s unresolved issues and the “virtual champion” controversy made this opening match a hot topic.

The livestream chat exploded with comments, with trolls inciting fans from both sides into a frenzy, leading to a barrage of insults that delighted the league, as they enjoyed the influx of viewership.

From the start, REAL played aggressively, clearly still furious about losing to ADT last year due to illness.

“Cool, target mid.”

“Roger that.”

“Kill the jungler.”

“Ignite, ignite.”

In a victorious team fight, the microphone was remarkably clean, a stark contrast to the chaos of the spring tournament. The commentators couldn’t help but note, “REAL’s shot-calling is very clear now, Quit’s leadership has really developed.”

“Shit, you fakers, run, die, woohoo they’re all dead—”

The familiar sound of swearing came through, causing the commentators to fall silent for a few seconds before laughing awkwardly. “Winter is still the same, very passionate.”

“Stop talking,” Ye Chi said in the voice chat, “we haven’t won yet.”

As soon as Ye Chi spoke, the team’s voice chat fell silent and returned to calm, orderly communication.

REAL proved their strength in the new season with two aggressive, fast-paced victories, causing fans in the chat to celebrate wildly and leaving the commentators in awe.

At the DSG base, the players watching the match fell silent.

Spectators might just see the excitement, but insiders saw the intricacies.

“REAL… is pretty strong,” Tang Qi said slowly.

The others remained silent.

DSG hadn’t played a training match with REAL since returning home.

After the mid-season championship ended, the game had a major version update, with significant changes to mechanics, champions, and minions.

DSG’s analysts concluded after studying the new version: “The update is a major nerf for us.”

Every team has its unique characteristics and winning strategies.

DSG was strong, centering on Mo Yin, using his massive mid-lane advantage to influence the entire game. Naturally, the other lanes couldn’t lag behind. DSG’s strategy included a deep understanding of minion waves: how to maximize lane advantages and minimize losses during lane disadvantages. This required brains, top-tier mechanics, game understanding, and team fights—all three elements combined to form an invincible team.

DSG had dominated the game for two and a half years.

Now, the version changes meant that for the first ten minutes, lanes were more isolated, with higher costs for roaming to help teammates. Jungle economy and experience had increased, emphasizing stronger, more mechanically skilled junglers, prioritizing jungling champions with better dueling and laning prowess.

Unfortunately, Guan Ming wasn’t a mechanically skilled jungler. He did the dirty work for the team, often giving jungle resources to Mo Yin or bot laner Ding Wenquan, the main carries. He was used to this sacrificial playstyle, and although he could adapt, it would take time.

As for laning, Ding Wenquan’s laning wasn’t particularly strong; his strength lay in team fight positioning and output. The new addition, Tang Qi, was meant to improve bot lane synergy, compensating for the previous support’s lack of coordination with Ding Wenquan. Tang Qi’s arrival did enhance laning, but it still wasn’t enough for the updated version.

Top laner Qin Kunlun was strong but often overextended. With Mo Yin frequently helping him top lane to amplify his advantage, Qin Kunlun played comfortably, but this habit of overextending became more pronounced.

These combined issues made DSG’s training matches somewhat shaky. They were still winning, but not with the same smooth dominance of the spring tournament. The suffocating pressure was gone.

This change was palpable to their opponents and themselves, leading the coach and analysts to suggest taking a break to adapt to the new version before resuming training matches.

It wasn’t that they had become weaker; the version had simply countered them.

Some teams were nerfed by the update, while others benefited.

Clearly, REAL had become stronger in this version.

The training room door opened, and Mo Yin entered with a cup of tea, seeing everyone quietly sitting, their screens showing REAL’s players interacting with fans on stage. The camera focused on Ye Chi, who was sweating but smiling confidently at the fans’ comments, looking composed and self-assured.

The system was both frustrated and helpless. “Coordinator, you insist on ignoring my advice. REAL will become very strong in the summer tournament. The entire world will favor the protagonist. You can’t resist the will of the world. I’ll emphasize once again, although I don’t know what you’ve experienced in other worlds, the world line energy of this world is very strong,” the system sighed. “Now it’s too late; we can only face reality and smile in the face of defeat.”

Defeat? That word didn’t exist in Mo Yin’s vocabulary.

He had indeed changed a lot, but some things would never change.

Smile in the face of defeat? The phrase itself was laughable.

Mo Yin sat down, turning his back to everyone as he opened the game. “We’ll start training matches again tomorrow afternoon, against REAL.”