Time flew by quickly, and the year was drawing to a close. Malls started playing the ever-popular Chinese New Year greetings. However, from ST’s camp, bad news came from H-country. ST had been eliminated from the global competition, failing to make the top 10.

This year, every member of ST had played under immense pressure, especially O Lan. As a newly-joined professional player, he had entered such a high-level competition, taking on the crucial jungler position. To avoid holding the team back, he trained until midnight every day, and before going to bed, he would study his opponents’ previous matches for an hour. But they still lost.

During an internal video call with ST’s members, O Lan’s voice cracked with emotion. “It’s all my fault. I’m too weak. The opponent’s jungler was pressing me down, and I had no room to fight back.”

“Captain, I’m sorry. I let you down.” He cried, his nose sniffing loudly. Although his face wasn’t visible, Kuang Ye could tell his nose was probably bright red and covered in tears.

“The opponent was HW, last year’s champion team, with a jungler hailed as the best in the industry. Losing isn’t shameful.”

“But I’m not satisfied, Captain. I’m not satisfied. I really wanted to win so badly.”

This was different from when O Lan had been a streamer, where losing only meant some mockery. Now, on the competition stage, he carried the hopes of all the LPL fans. Even if the opponent was the strongest jungler, or even if the opponent were a superhuman, he still wanted to win. Losing felt too bad. The tears wouldn’t stop.

Yang An, sitting next to O Lan, patted his shoulder. “The opponent had studied your gameplay specifically. They used two flanking positions against you. What could you have done?”

Zhang Qinan spat, “Even champions play dirty, trash!”

Shen Lele spoke reasonably. “Which team doesn’t play dirty at the global competition? If I were the opponent, I’d target O Lan too.”

Last year, ST had almost reached the finals, battling for the regional championship. The battlefield was ever-changing, and their opponents must have wanted to eliminate them as early as possible.

It wasn’t like no one had targeted Kuang Ye last year. At the worst point, all three flanking positions were focused on him.

Zhang Qinan slapped the back of O Lan’s head. “Don’t speak for other teams.”

Shen Lele, however, said that as long as you were on the competition stage, everyone was fighting to win. He patted O Lan’s shoulder in comfort. “Although we lost, at least it was because the opponents were better. Let’s train hard and come back next year.”

“Unlike last year, that stupid referee, damn, made ridiculous calls. The captain was only knocking on the table and they said it was disturbing the game.”

“Those bastards, with their national discrimination, after that, all the LPL teams reported them together, and only then did they tone it down a little this year.”

O Lan, as someone in the competitive scene, naturally knew about this. It was because of that idiotic referee, who kept checking the equipment in the middle of the game and repeatedly asked if ST’s team communications were relevant to the match, causing huge disruptions and contributing to their loss.

Kuang Ye said, “This loss was also partly because I left the match midway. When we get back, I’ll take you all to the International Grand Hotel for a big meal.”

Shen Lele: “Captain, I saw that Wan wan posted about your Buddha Jumps Over the Wall dish on her moments. I want to eat that.”

Kuang Ye: “Dream on. She’s my future wife. Are you? Don’t be picky, or the International Grand Hotel meal is off too.”

Shen Lele: “Heartless.”

Kuang Ye: “Ha, what’s this about?”

Shen Lele: “…”

—

Mu Wan had also learned from the internet that ST had missed out on the finals. She was a bit upset. She had watched every match after ST made it to the finals. Kuang Ye often held video calls with his teammates, discussing strategies until late into the night, but they still lost. The feeling of giving it everything and still coming up short—Mu Wan understood it all too well, having participated in many violin competitions herself.

She still remembered her first loss in a competition. She had hidden in the bathroom and cried for nearly an hour. Afterward, she told her parents that she had dropped something and had gone to look for it. Her parents, seeing her puffy eyes, didn’t call her out on it.

“Aye, are you alright?” Mu Wan noticed Kuang Ye was rewatching the match that caused ST to drop out of the global competition. She walked over and took his hand.

Kuang Ye shook his head. “I’m fine. Everyone gave their best!”

Mu Wan asked, “Then why are you rewatching these matches over and over again?”

Kuang Ye replied, “I realized it wasn’t just O Lan—the opponent was familiar with the playstyles and tactics of every single member of ST.”

“They even knew some of the players’ small habits.”

“For example, after Shen Lele kills someone, he likes to hide in the bushes for a bit, then use a basic attack followed by a movement back to the tower to bait the opponent’s skills.”

“But if you look at this match, a normal player would check the area around the corpse of an allied champion nearby.”

“The cautious ones would even use abilities to scout the area.”

“But in these matches, even after being attacked by Shen Lele’s basic attack, the opponent’s players didn’t fight back.”

“Instead, in the third match, the hook-using player directly used his ultimate in the bushes, as if he knew someone was there already.”

Mu Wan didn’t fully understand. “So?”

Kuang Ye responded, “So they must have specifically studied ST.”

“And they must have done a lot of targeted training in advance. Otherwise, ST wouldn’t have crumbled so quickly in these matches.”

Mu Wan understood. “ST was targeted by the champion team.”

Kuang Ye nodded and then, resting his hands behind his head, complained. “ST has never even reached the finals. Why are they acting like we’re some huge threat?”

“Look at how they made our kids cry in the mobile game.”

O Lan had been repeatedly targeted, and in five games, his economy never exceeded 8,000—he had truly been mistreated.

“This just proves how strong ST is. Even the champion team can’t afford to underestimate us. The wild god, take care of yourself. We’ll beat them next year.”

Listening to Mu Wan use the words that fans in the comments had posted, Kuang Ye thought she was adorably fierce. He leaned in, nipping her cheek like biting into a bun, then resting his forehead against hers.

“Then, wild god, can he sleep in the room tonight?”