🦤 Day 3 of Anniversary Celebration 🦤
The experience of facing the champion Nocturne on the enemy side and the experience of having him attached to one of your own teammates were completely different.
Su Letong had once been tormented to the point of tears by this elusive, unpredictable champion but in today’s match, experiencing it all from the first person perspective made him finally understand just how exhilarating it was to absolutely dominate with Nocturne.
His ultimate, [Paranoia], could reduce the vision range of all enemy champions and while the skill was active, it completely ignored distance, allowing him to instantly teleport directly to the side of any enemy champion. An ability that could launch such a sudden assault and catch opponents completely off guard created an enormous amount of psychological pressure on the enemy. Players commonly referred to it as “turning off the lights with Nocturne.”
“Darkness, come!” (Nocturne’s voice line when activating his ultimate.)
In Yi Xingran’s hands, however, turning off the lights with Nocturne meant only one thing, the Grim Reaper had arrived and he never missed.
In an instant, the entire Rift became fraught with danger. It was as though the game of “Night Has Fallen, Close Your Eyes” had begun, leaving absolutely no such thing as a peaceful Christmas Eve.
【Triple Kill!】
Su Letong let out a string of strange, excited cries, completely unable to put his excitement into words. All Yi Xingran could feel was as though a little steam train had chugged straight through his headset, accompanied by an endless stream of cheers praising how handsome, amazing and incredible he was, along with one exclamation after another.
“So this is how amazing it feels to dive in and cut people down with Nocturne! Aaaah! Aaaah! Help, help! Catch me, catch me, I’m going to die!”
He got him.
After taking Yuumi deep into the enemy jungle, Yi Xingran killed the opposing duo of the ADC and support right on the spot. Yuumi, who had been attached to him the entire time, was then also struck down.
The terrifying hunter slipped through the wall and dodged the enemy champion from the top lane who had come to surround him, leaving without even looking back.
Then, amid the frantic cries for help coming through the headset, he pulled out to the most extreme possible distance. At the exact moment he stopped, he successfully caught Yuumi again, allowing the cat to ride along as he coolly and stylishly escaped. The entire maneuver had the effortless air of someone who merely flicked his sleeves and left without taking even a single cloud with him.
Poor Yuumi had been repeatedly dancing on the razor’s edge between life and death for one terrifying moment.
“He actually caught me! I thought I was definitely going to die! Sob, sob… Brother Xingran really is the god of mercy!”
Su Letong had survived with only a sliver of health remaining. He could not stop marveling at Nocturne’s dazzling series of maneuvers and once they were safely out of danger, he even threw every available healing and recovery skill onto Yi Xingran.
Yuumi’s model was that of an incredibly adorable little cat. She was tiny and short and even when casting her abilities, she seemed to be acting cute, waving her little paws vigorously as she continuously flung magic at her targets.
Just looking at her was enough to put anyone in a fairly good mood.
Unfortunately, while one side was filled with happiness, the other was drowning in misery. The game interface once again popped up with the notification that their own ADC had been slain.
At the beginning of the game, the ADC had insulted Su Letong and even refused to let him come to the lane. It had only been Yi Xingran’s casual “It’s fine. Stay with me and we’ll carry him together” that had convinced Su Letong to remain by Nocturne’s side after that, leaving only to roam and provide vision.
But Lucian, who had already been unhappy about him choosing a support champion that was so focused on utility, had now completely lost his temper.
Not only had he been unable to win the lane against the opposing duo, he was constantly being ganked by the enemy jungler. Even when he hid beneath his own turret, they would still dive him and kill him. He had already been camped into a score of 0–6!
“Fuck!” Lucian launched into an impassioned tirade over voice chat while waiting to respawn. Apart from a string of words that were automatically censored, he directed every ounce of his fury at Yuumi.
【The Purifier · Lucian: F*ck you, does your damn support even know how to play? You don’t provide vision, you don’t call missing! You’re just a f**king freeloader!】
【The Purifier · Lucian: What the f**k is this garbage support? Can’t you see we’re getting pushed in bot lane? All you know how to do is wander around the jungle!】
【The Purifier · Lucian: You f**king parasite, just go die!】
Su Letong felt both wronged and aggrieved. He had clearly done everything he was supposed to do yet the ADC was even blaming him for losing a one on one fight in the bottom lane!
But Su Letong was terrible at arguing and he was afraid of conflict, so he did not dare to fight back. All he could do was watch helplessly as Lucian hurled insults and profanity at him, becoming more and more vicious with every word.
After Yi Xingran finished taking the dragon, he noticed that Su Letong, who had been making those excited little cries all this time, had suddenly gone silent. He lowered his eyes and glanced over, catching sight of the profanities continuously popping up in the lower left corner of the screen, each one partially censored with asterisks.
Su Letong’s hunched shoulders were trembling faintly. He looked as though he was about to be reduced to tears and even the normally bouncy, energetic Yuumi seemed to have been covered by a layer of gloom.
Tsk. What was he crying for?
Yi Xingran rubbed his wrist. When he placed both hands back on the keyboard, he muttered softly, “Troublesome.”
Su Letong: “!”
Sob, sob… Did Brother Xingran really find him annoying?
He lowered his head dejectedly, wondering whether he had once again performed badly somewhere. He had not even managed to figure out what he had done wrong during his self reflection when he suddenly saw another message from his teammate appear on the game interface.
It gave him the exact same sense of security he had felt at the very beginning of the match, when Yi Xingran had pinged him, sent [Follow Me], defended him and stood up for him.
【Eternal Nightmare · Nocturne: Heard someone’s in their promotion series?】
Lucian, who had been relentlessly spewing out *** at him, froze for a moment.
Then, one message after another from Nocturne began appearing on the screen. His typing was so fast and the messages came in such a relentless barrage that Su Letong could only stare in amazement. For a moment, he nearly forgot that he had been upset.
【Eternal Nightmare · Nocturne: How come you’ve been playing for so long and you’re still in your promotion series? Is it because you don’t want to make Diamond?】
【Eternal Nightmare · Nocturne: This game really does feel like a four versus five. Somehow, every team fight always seems to be missing one person. Wonder why that could be.】
【Eternal Nightmare · Nocturne: Is Lucian some new champion? When did the League get a freeloader ADC that I didn’t know about?】
After a brief pause, Lucian tried to save face by shifting the blame.
【The Purifier · Lucian: We’ve been getting camped bot lane and you’re too blind to see it? I’m the AD! How am I supposed to deal damage if you don’t protect me?!】
Oh.
The corners of Yi Xingran’s lips curled upward slightly.
【Eternal Nightmare · Nocturne: Oh? Now you know the support is useful?】
【Eternal Nightmare · Nocturne: Your AD got solo killed in lane. What damage are you talking about?】
【Eternal Nightmare · Nocturne: Are you talking about using your 0–6 kill death ratio to deal damage?】
【Eternal Nightmare · Nocturne: Oh my, how did it become 0–7? ^^】
……F*ck you, you ***!
Lucian had barely returned to lane before dying yet again. His blood pressure shot through the roof. Even smashing his mouse against the desk was not enough to vent his anger. His fingers hammered against the keyboard with a furious clatter as an endless stream of profanity poured out, violently spraying attacks across the chat.
【The Purifier · Lucian: Bringing some freeloader champion around and showing off your ** plays! Let’s see how you guys are supposed to play this game late if you don’t protect me! Three of them are building full tank! Without my damage, who the hell do you think you can even cut through? You really think you’re so f**king good now?】
【The Purifier · Lucian: Just keep messing around! If we actually win this game, I’ll f**king eat sh*t on stream!】
【The Purifier · Lucian: If you’d followed me earlier, would there have been this much trouble? A support who can’t even protect the AD is good for f**k all! You’re all a bunch of useless noobs! Every one of you is trash!】
Su Letong hesitated.
Although the way this ADC spoke was unpleasant to the extreme, there was indeed one thing he had analyzed correctly. The enemy top laner, jungler and support were all relatively tanky and they had also invested heavily in defensive items.
Considering that their own team composition leaned more toward a group of assassins and physical damage champions, once everyone’s equipment was fully built and the game dragged into the late stage, the enemy lineup really would be difficult to deal with.
Everything was for the sake of climbing the ranks!
Su Letong bit his lip. He knew when to bend and when to straighten and after weighing the situation carefully, he cautiously asked in a soft voice, “Brother Xingran, how about I…………”
“Do you want to be insulted?”
Fuck it.
Yi Xingran felt a sudden urge to pull out a cigarette but the moment he remembered that he was still in TheX’s training room, he frowned irritably and forcibly suppressed the impulse.
His left hand, however, was left with nothing to do. After idly rubbing his fingertips together twice, his hand casually settled on the keyboard.
His hands were restless anyway. Since he had nothing better to do, he might as well insult Lucian a couple more times.
【Eternal Nightmare · Nocturne: You’re trash and you talk too much. If you don’t want to win, just surrender.】
The moment those words appeared, they managed to provoke the other two teammates who had also been caught in Lucian’s verbal crossfire but had remained silent until then. Lucian might have been blind but they still wanted to win! It was obvious at a glance who the strongest player on the team was. As long as they held onto the carry and followed him properly, this was clearly a game they could win!
The top laner and mid laner both stepped in to mediate, occasionally taking the opportunity to throw a jab or two at Lucian as well.
Yi Xingran pressed his lips together and let out a mocking chuckle. “In my games, there has never been such a thing as the late game.”
Su Letong froze for a moment, unsure whether he was more touched or more shocked. His eyes were slightly misty with tears.
Lucian could not withstand the pressure from all of his teammates piling on him. Even then, he stubbornly tried to defend himself and come up with excuses.
Until one sentence from Yi Xingran completely ended the argument.
【Eternal Nightmare · Nocturne: The thing I hate most is people apologizing afterward ^^. Otherwise, you can just stay AFK in the fountain. It’ll be a perfect chance to see exactly who the freeloader is~】
Fuck!
Lucian angrily fired back with a string of complete gibberish, so incoherent that he could barely piece together a few recognizable Chinese characters.
The world was finally quiet.
Immediately afterward, Yi Xingran controlled Nocturne as he launched a surprise attack into the Baron pit from a thousand miles away.
With Yuumi attached to him, he endured the assault of all five enemy champions, timed his Smite perfectly to steal Baron right from under their noses and even casually cut down the heads of the enemy duo in the process. The entire sequence flowed together flawlessly, so smooth and effortless that it seemed as though he were moving through a battlefield where no one else even existed.
Amid Su Letong’s loud, excited shrieks, congratulations and cheers from the top and mid laners flooded the screen.
【Holy shit! That was insane!】
【Bro, you’re absolutely cracked! I’d already thought we were going to have to give it up!!】
【Dude, you’re fucking amazing! Holy shit, that play! What kind of monstrous hand speed is this?!】
Yi Xingran marked a location on the enemy Nexus. Then he relaxed and leaned back against the backrest of his gaming chair, his posture completely at ease. His voice was casual, carrying a faint hint of drowsiness as he said, “We end it in one push.”
“!”
As though he had suddenly been injected with a shot of adrenaline, Su Letong immediately sat bolt upright. He began furiously typing, relaying his big brother’s command to his teammates.
【Magical Cat · Yuumi: Aaaaaah! We have a chance! We can end it in one push! If my big brother says we can end it here, then there’s absolutely no problem! Charge, charge, charge, charge!】
The four of them charged forward with the minion wave empowered by the Baron buff, advancing triumphantly all the way toward the enemy high ground.
Their momentum was unstoppable, surging forward with the force of a splitting bamboo stalk. In the final chaotic five versus four team fight, they not only won the battle but also forcibly destroyed both Nexus turrets before completely blowing up the enemy Nexus.
One second before the game screen froze, Yi Xingran drew a question mark right in Lucian’s face while the latter was idling in his own fountain, twisting the knife in the wound with one final, merciless taunt.
【Eternal Nightmare · Nocturne: Feels pretty good, doesn’t it? Even a freeloader ADC can still win ^^】
Without giving Lucian even a moment to type out another reply, Yi Xingran turned around and left after delivering his final taunt. Right in the center of the screen, the brilliant glow representing victory flashed brightly.
【Victory!】
This was their first crushing victory after a string of consecutive losses. Su Letong was so excited that he practically wanted to jump straight out of his seat. He happily prepared to run over and acknowledge his new “big brother” on the spot but the instant he stood up, he caught sight of the person approaching and abruptly stopped.
His entire body froze in place.
Yi Xingran had not heard any movement. He took off his headset and casually ran a hand through his hair. “I’m asking you, if someone insults you, don’t you know how to insult them right back? Are you going to lose a piece of flesh or something? Why just sit there and take it? What are you, some kind of little masochistic punching bag who just loves getting bullied?”
The “punching bag” trembled slightly. With his fingers stiff from nervousness, Su Letong gently poked Yi Xingran on the shoulder. “B b b b big brother, there are rules on the team……”
“It’s not like I did anything except throw a few sarcastic remarks at him.”
Yi Xingran’s eyelids drooped lazily. He smiled as though it were nothing worth mentioning. “If you don’t tell and I don’t tell, who’s going to know if nobody reports it?”
Just as the conversation reached this point, Pei Du walked into the training room and happened to hear those few lines. He lowered his eyes, his gaze falling onto the round head covered in pale pink hair and his eyes narrowed slightly.
“You’ve only been in the team for one day and you’ve already become someone’s ‘big brother’?”
“?”
The pink haired head, which had been halfway through a yawn, immediately whipped around. His already large, almond shaped eyes widened even further, his pupils practically expanding with them. His watery eyes were filled with shock, confusion and complete bewilderment, along with a trace of guilt from being suddenly caught red handed.
“Why don’t you make any sound when you walk? Are you a ghost or something?!”
Caught red handed, he became embarrassed and angry, immediately turning the accusation back on the other person while still desperately trying to muddle his way out of the situation.
Pei Du had his coat draped over one arm. For a moment, he could not quite suppress the slight curve at the corner of his lips, seemingly thinking that this particular kind of “cute” was very different from the “pretending not to know” kind of “cute.”
“Oh? Did I scare you?”
Pei Du gave a quiet laugh and pointed down at his own feet. “I have a shadow. You don’t need to be afraid. All those stories about ghosts and monsters are just things adults tell children.”
Yi Xingran frowned.
You’re the child! Your whole family is made up of children!
From childhood until now, he had never been afraid of the dark, much less ghosts. Who did this guy think he was looking down on?
But the words were already at the tip of his tongue when he suddenly remembered that if what had just happened while he was on voice chat and insulting someone got exposed, he would inevitably be fined again.
There were already so many damn rules that they were enough to drive him insane! And now, of all things, he had been caught red handed?
Yi Xingran was not sure exactly how much Pei Du had heard but judging from Su Letong’s reaction, he estimated that Pei Du had probably heard almost all of it.
Seeing that Captain Pei, who had always been fair and impartial, did not immediately make things difficult for him, Yi Xingran rubbed the tip of his nose. He was just about to decide that if Pei Du did not ask, then he would simply pretend nothing had happened when,
“You were duo queuing, weren’t you? You used your main account to curse at someone?”
Pei Du had only just taken his seat when Yi Xingran immediately put on an exaggerated expression of utter surprise, as though he had absolutely no idea what the other man was talking about.
“Huh? What cursing?”
A pale pink head poked out from behind the back of the chair, only the very top of it visible. The little strands of hair that had been mussed up by the pressure of the headset stubbornly stuck up in every direction. If one did not look closely, they might even mistake them for the fluffy fur of some little kitten.
“It wasn’t me. I didn’t do anything. Captain, what are you talking about?”
Yi Xingran busied himself adjusting his peripherals, the mouse clicking rapidly beneath his fingers. His movements were smooth and completely without hesitation. Then, without giving Su Letong any chance to linger, he called out, “We’re climbing, right? Time is tight and the mission is heavy. Come on, one more.”
Su Letong immediately scurried back to his own seat, responding with an eager string of “Oh, oh, oh!” The moment the team fight started, he followed without hesitation and his little steam train quickly began blowing its whistle.
“Aaaah! Hurry, hurry, hurry! We’re running out of time! Training is about to start and we won’t be able to play many more games!”
The two of them opened the game at lightning speed, put their headsets back on and threw themselves seriously into the great cause of climbing the ranks. Their expressions were so solemn that they looked as though they were preparing to participate in a presidential election.
Pei Du was silent for two seconds before turning his eyes sideways and glancing at Yi Xingran.
Getting someone to behave was not easy but leading someone astray was surprisingly quick.
However, when he turned around again and his gaze landed on Park Seokho’s seat beside him, now empty and unattended, the corners of his lips, which had just lifted slightly, unconsciously flattened once more.
He had already sent people to investigate things such as transaction records and personnel contacts. The moment they discovered anything suspicious, they would immediately report it to the league.
But Pei Du could not help recalling that, in his previous life, Park Seokho had served the team for three years. When, exactly, had that kind of match fixing behavior begun?
The MSI was about to begin. Aside from the S Championship, it was the most closely watched mid season tournament of the year and he did not want any unexpected trouble to arise at a time like this.
Pei Du rubbed his fingertips together thoughtfully for a moment. Then he lowered his head and sent a message to Coach Zheng.
【Have Fire play a few more practice matches with the second team. First, come up with a lineup and tactical system suited to his style and rhythm. Do it quickly.】
Triple update on AIPE as we are celebrating!!
This September, our Realm is turning 1 year old! So for the celebration, we are making everything special! Send us your art and vote for your favorite novels to unlock more extra updates! Find out more about it at => Velicres Realm Celebration
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Fleurveil
[Translator]
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ChaptersChapter 1 · Fire the hole!Chapter 2 · Dude, I’m here to save youChapter 3 · Plaster HeadChapter 4 · I’m well behaved, I don’t talk muchChapter 5 · It’s what Cross needsChapter 6 · What are you barking like a dog?Chapter 7 · “Ah! It’s so… so damn cold~”Chapter 8 · What are you looking at, you pervert!Chapter 9 · The cat I bought for free got dirty.Chapter 10 · Oh no! I forgot to switch to a smaller account!Chapter 11 · It’s my turn to performChapter 12 · Insults? That’s slander! This is slander!Chapter 13 · He’s a very nice personChapter 14 · Hunting TimeChapter 15 · A straight man sells himselfChapter 16 · The number one person who doesn’t eat stressChapter 17 · He is so vividChapter 18 · War! War! War! Kill! Kill!Chapter 19 Part 1 · What’s wrong with guys rubbing against each other?Chapter 19 Part 2 · What’s wrong with guys rubbing against each other?