Chapter 165

The training match lasted for thirty minutes.

Compared to the regular season in spring, REAL has indeed grown significantly, both in Ye Chi’s individual laning abilities and in REAL’s team coordination, showing great progress.

Mo Yin could clearly feel Ye Chi’s reaction speed and timing in skill execution getting closer to that of a true top-tier player during their mid-lane matchup.

In team fights, the coordination among several members of REAL has become much more cohesive. In contrast, today DSG’s players, whether due to fake alcohol or returning from vacation with low spirits, especially jungle player Guang Ming and support Tang Qi, were wandering around and getting caught by REAL’s counter-ganks, making DSG’s victory not so smooth.

After the game ended, Guang Ming and Tang Qi didn’t look too good. Solo laner Qin Kunlun also had a sour expression. The jungle and support players fed kills on the top lane, with Guang Ming being the first victim. Fortunately, with the significant damage output from the mid and bot lane carries, they narrowly won the game.

Even in just a regular training match, Mo Yin’s gameplay was flawless. He gracefully dominated several team fights, dealing tons of damage.

After narrowly winning the training match, Mo Yin quietly picked up his water bottle and left the training room.

Whether in matches or training matches, when teammates make mistakes, Mo Yin never shows any other reaction. However, it’s very likely that the player who made the mistake won’t appear in the training room a few days later.

So even if Mo Yin leaves quietly without saying anything, he still leaves a huge pressure in the training room.

Ding Wenquan stood up and patted Tang Qi’s shoulder. “You seemed distracted today.”

Tang Qi trembled slightly and hurriedly explained, “Took a couple days off, lost my touch a bit.”

Ding Wenquan said, “There can’t be any excuses if you want to stay in DSG and compete.”

Since Tang Qi was newly added, Ding Wenquan reminded him. As for Guang Ming, they were former teammates. He had seen how mercilessly the team had kicked out the support and jungle roles, so there was no need to elaborate.

DSG offered top league salaries in their contracts, including a price on their pride.

Compared to the icy atmosphere in the DSG training room after their victory, REAL was the complete opposite. Their training room was filled with harmony and joy, celebrating their ability to last thirty minutes against DSG, highlighting their progress. They praised each other, analyzed how to improve further.

The system was furious and quickly changed its stance, strongly urging Mo Yin to buy out REAL and become the villain, delaying the story’s development.

“Every time you face REAL, the gap in strength between both sides will narrow. If this continues, by the regular season of the summer tournament, you’ll lose a game first, struggle with a 3:2 win in the playoffs. Then, REAL will climb up from the loser’s bracket to defeat you. After that, you and your team will become a mere supporting cast for the main team.”

The system spoiled all the upcoming plot points in one breath, then waited for Mo Yin’s response.

Mo Yin took the hot water, calmly said, “Didn’t your predictions go wrong in the spring season?”

The system: “…”

“That’s different.”

“The spring season isn’t when the main characters’ powers explode. It’s the summer season and the world championship.”

“Fair enough.”

Seeing Mo Yin still indifferent, the system felt discouraged. Then it thought of a terrifying possibility. “Coordinator, you’re not doing this voluntarily… I mean, getting intimate with the main character…”

“Yeah, what else?” Mo Yin blew on the hot tea, took a sip, “Is he supposed to rape me or something?”

The system: “…”

“At least he lured you when you lost your memory, which is pretty despicable!”

“I don’t think I ever said the last world was the first time, did I?”

The system went offline again.

Mo Yin sipped his tea, a faint smile on his lips. Occasionally teasing this stupid system was quite entertaining.

As for today’s mistakes in the training match by the jungle and support players, Mo Yin didn’t feel much. As the system said, world lines have energy, and the mistakes of Guang Ming and Tang Qi are manifestations of the world’s will.

In team games, the arrogance of relying on individual strength to win matches, a form of excessive personalism, indeed contrasts with the antagonists.

Typically, overly strong antagonists lose to resilient main character teams due to ignoring team strength. Now that Mo Yin knows the script, should he talk to his teammates and connect with them to fix this fatal flaw that caused him to fail?

Mo Yin returned to the training room with his tea, where the atmosphere remained tense.

Tang Qi gathered his courage and approached Mo Yin. “I’m sorry for my mistake during the training match just now.”

Mo Yin clicked open the game without looking up. “Let’s train.”

His tone was flat, devoid of blame but also not comforting. Those three words felt like a slap across Tang Qi’s face, leaving him stinging.

Idols, from a distance, were infinitely idealized, and even up close, Mo Yin hadn’t disappointed him. What disappointed Tang Qi was himself.

Tang Qi slowly returned to his seat. As an esports player, handling pressure was part of professional conduct. Yet Mo Yin’s overwhelming perfection brought a pressure unlike any other. DSG lived under this intense domination, knowing that to wear the crown meant bearing its weight.

What the protagonist did was his own business. Mo Yin had no intention of emulating Ye Chi or turning DSG into another REAL. DSG wasn’t a grassroots team; it was the league’s top team with the highest salaries, top-tier players, and a brutal environment. The game’s rules here were set by Mo Yin and would continue to be upheld by him.

Comforting teammates? If they could adjust themselves, fine. Otherwise, they could leave.

They continued with two more days of training matches against REAL, ADT, and KU, and without exception, DSG emerged victorious. Mo Yin’s performance remained steady, and Tang Qi and Guang Mingzhen gradually regained their form.

The team leader gave them another day off.

Chen Dong sent a WeChat message inviting Tang Qi to a private gathering.

—— [Our team building event, will you come?]

Tang Qi smiled bitterly, thinking that team building events like this might never happen in DSG.

—— [Why would I come to your team building?]

—— [You can take a guest spot. Don’t worry, Sun Shao will reimburse you.]

—— [I’d better not… Not in the mood…]

Chen Dong called Tang Qi to ask what was wrong.

They had been teammates in a secondary league, fighting together. Tang Qi hesitated before admitting that he felt he had made mistakes during their training match and couldn’t forgive himself.

“Forget it, we’re about to get beaten to death, are you still not satisfied? That’s about enough, even for our hollow champion.”

Chen Dong’s self-deprecating comfort quickly eased Tang Qi’s mood a little. After a conversation, Tang Qi agreed to join REAL’s team building event.

All of REAL’s members were waiting in the lobby of the secret room.

Chen Dong leaked some information, “DSG’s atmosphere is really terrifying, not losing a single match still maxes out the pressure. Tang Qi’s a bit overwhelmed.”

“Really? Still feel any pressure from always winning?”

“Not winning convincingly enough.”

The teammates fell silent for a minute, then someone said in classic resignation, “Damn.”

Yet Ye Chi said, “Only always winning brings pressure. It’s normal.”

Chen Dong teased, “Captain, sometimes you give me quite a bit of pressure too.”

Ye Chi asked, “When?”

Chen Dong: When he’s a wife.

While they were chatting, an SUV parked in the yard. Chen Dong saw Tang Qi get out of the front passenger seat and quickly stood up to wave. Before he could wave twice, two people got out of the back seat, DSG’s jungle and top laner. Chen Dong’s waving hand froze, and then someone got out of the driver’s seat—Ding Wenquan.

“That truck heard me calling and said it wanted to come along…”

“Guang Mingzhen and Wow were playing badminton in the parking lot, and they decided to come too…”

Tang Qi explained the situation with embarrassment on his face.

Chen Dong thought, isn’t this turning into a joint social event for two teams?

REAL’s players quickly recovered from their surprise and welcomed DSG’s players.

Ye Chi glanced over them, hesitant to speak. Ding Wenquan, understanding his thoughts, said, “MY didn’t come.”

Ye Chi nodded quietly.

Qin Kunlun and Guang Mingzhen hadn’t had a good impression of Ye Chi before, but after seeing him lead the team against ADT in that BO5, they had changed their minds. The two teams exchanged greetings, and the atmosphere became somewhat awkward, like meeting unfamiliar colleagues at a company annual meeting—awkward yet polite, after all, they were all in the same circle, around the same age. Soon, the atmosphere became less stiff.

With more people around, Chen Dong went to negotiate with the secret room staff about what games could accommodate so many people.

DSG’s team members and REAL’s team members were chatting in the lounge.

Qin Kunlun, known for his straightforwardness, asked Ye Chi, “Did you know MY before?”

Ye Chi shook his head. “No.”

“Oh,” Qin Kunlun responded. “MY rarely interacts with people.”

Sun Yuanyang sarcastically remarked, “Does dealing with idiots and weaklings count as interaction?”

Qin Kunlun replied, “Of course.” Then he explained to Mo Yin, “He’s not targeting anyone. He just thinks everyone except him is trash, and when comparing, it’s true.”

No one could find anything to refute that. Well, compared to Mika, they were indeed all trash.

Zhang Hanyu, REAL’s support now partnered with Chen Dong, comforted Tang Qi, “Being teammates with someone this strong can be a lot of pressure. You fear making mistakes and holding the team back.”

Tang Qi gratefully glanced at Zhang Hanyu.

“It’s not that bad,” Ding Wenquan added. “It’s not like finding a wife where compatibility matters. For teammates, being strong and professional is enough.”

Tang Qi nodded again in agreement. He understood the logic, but dealing with pressure was a mysterious thing not easily overcome.

Ye Chi had been listening quietly, his expression thoughtful.

Chen Dong returned, saying everything was arranged, and they could play games with a larger group. Everyone stood up, and Ye Chi stood as well, but hesitated, his feet rooted in place. As everyone began moving inside one by one, Ye Chi finally said, “You guys go ahead. I’m going back.”

The base remained quiet and serene. Mo Yin was alone in the training room, immersed in his game.

Auntie had made him a sandwich, but due to the game, Mo Yin had only eaten half and left the rest to finish later.

*Knock, knock—*

Someone knocked on the door.

Mo Yin turned his head. The door pushed halfway open, revealing the team leader.

Mo Yin silently questioned him with his eyes.

The leader smiled. “MY, someone’s here to see you.”

Mo Yin, sandwich in hand, remained impassive as the leader stepped aside. Half of Ye Chi appeared, dressed in a black T-shirt with freshly cut short hair, looking clean and refreshed. He waved at Mo Yin. “Hey.”

On the way there, Ye Chi hadn’t hesitated for a second.

All of DSG’s team members were here. So where was Mo Yin? Alone at the base?

Ye Chi didn’t know why, but suddenly, he felt a surge of impulse.

And that impulse led him to stand in DSG’s training room, face to face with Mo Yin, who sat in his chair.

Ye Chi couldn’t express the nervousness in his heart or the inexplicable joy he felt. One thought led to another, and here he was, audaciously showing up at someone else’s base, even startling their team leader.

Mo Yin’s expression remained calm and undisturbed as he finished chewing his sandwich.

Ye Chi lightly tapped his own lips. “Salad dressing.”

Mo Yin chewed his sandwich, then turned his face as if seeing through the air, refocusing on the computer screen. After swallowing the last bite of his sandwich, he extended his tongue to quickly lick off the salad dressing at the corner of his mouth. His expression was indifferent as he coldly said, “Are you here to apply as a substitute?”