🎖️ Extra Update on Anniversary Celebration 🎖️
In the first round of the Summer Split regular season, DG’s first match was against the Yuanche Team.
“Yuanche made it to the quarterfinals in the Spring Split this year. They’re not exactly a powerhouse but they’re not weak either. For the first game, stick to our usual style and play it safe. Before the playoffs, your only task is to get yourselves properly integrated as a team.”
Before the players took the stage, Yuanshan still reminded them of the same things as usual. Then he looked toward Lin Anke. “It’s your first time calling the shots. Don’t be nervous.”
“Okay.”
Commentator A: “Welcome to the first round of the regular season of the SEL Starfall Echoes Professional League! Yuanche versus DG, with both teams’ players already in position. Before the match begins, let’s first have the coaches step forward for the customary handshake.”
Yuanshan walked to the front of the stage and exchanged a brief handshake with Yuanche’s coach before the BP phase began, with both sides banning and selecting their heroes.
Yuanhui immediately banned Duan Chi’s signature hero, Star Hunter, the hero with which he had won the Spring Finals FMVP title. His second ban was Cupid, followed by Night Ranger as the third.
Every single one was a hero on which Duan Chi had delivered a standout performance during the Spring Split.
Commentator A: “Yuanhui has gone for three bans specifically targeting Safer! They clearly came prepared for this! DG, meanwhile, has banned some of the strongest junglers in the current patch. Yuanshan’s BP is still as steady as ever.”
Commentator B: “It seems this Spring Split FMVP has put quite a bit of pressure on everyone.”
Yuanshan paid no attention to Yuanche’s deliberate targeting of Duan Chi. Instead, he spoke calmly into the team comms. “Give Encore Timekeeper first.”
Hearing that, Danqing immediately said, “Are we really going this hard right from the start? What if we completely destroy Yuanche’s mental state?”
Commentator A sounded somewhat surprised. “Now this is interesting. Yuanche has banned three AD heroes yet DG has chosen the support hero Timekeeper first. Aren’t they worried that Yuanhui will simply ban out all of Safer’s remaining heroes?”
DG picked Timekeeper. Not wanting to give DG the Timeflow Timekeeper combination, Yuanhui immediately had their marksman lock in Timeflow, then continued banning the other strong marksmen.
Deep Sea, Yuanhui’s player, hesitated slightly. “DG picked Timekeeper first. Should we specifically counter Encore?”
Xu Qiao, Yuanhui’s jungler, clearly didn’t think much of it. “What is there to counter about him?”
Yuanhui’s coach also saw no need to specifically target Lin Anke. “It’s just a different support. It won’t make much difference.”
….
Thirteen minutes later…
Commentator A: “Encore caught all five!!! Safer is already following up with the damage! Yuanche are all at critical health! Can they get away?? Jiangnan has gone in!! Triple kill! The final two kills are taken by Safer! That’s a team wipe!!!”
Commentator B: “Is this really the Encore we know? His reactions were incredibly fast! In any case, let’s congratulate DG on taking the first game!”
The Yuanche fans in the venue erupted into an uproar.
The five DG players got to their feet and headed backstage. Over on Yuanche’s side, all five players wore grim expressions.
Yuanche’s coach began demanding answers from them one by one. “With that many people there, not a single one of you saw where Lin Anke was? Huh? Xu Qiao, you tell me. What the hell were you doing just now?”
Xu Qiao’s expression was the darkest of them all. “I didn’t expect him to suddenly dive straight at us.”
“Didn’t expect it?” The coach was so furious that he nearly choked on his own anger. “You used to queue up for three man games with Xu Sheng and Lin Anke all the time, didn’t you? How many times did Xu Sheng pull you into games with him? And now you’re telling me you didn’t expect it?”
Xu Qiao was close with Xu Sheng and he had originally come over from TIG. By all rights, out of everyone here, he should have been the one most familiar with Lin Anke’s playstyle yet he had the nerve to say that he hadn’t expected it. How could the coach possibly not be angry?
They had been completely wiped out in the very first game. That was far too damaging to the team’s morale.
Xu Qiao’s face remained dark. “I never really paid attention to him. He used to play pretty passively. This time was probably just a coincidence. We were the ones who made a positioning mistake just now.”
The coach had no time to argue with him. The next game was about to begin, so all he could do was wave his hand impatiently. “Pay attention next game. Get back up there.”
…..
And in the two games that followed, Lin Anke found an opening every single time.
As the jungler, Xu Qiao kept getting caught out. Whenever he tried to gank Duan Chi, he couldn’t finish the kill and whenever he tried to retreat, Lin Anke would control him and leave him behind. He was frustrated to the point of misery.
In the end, Yuanche lost to DG with a score of 0–3.
Even the commentators were somewhat surprised. There had never really been much doubt that DG would win against Yuanche but three consecutive one sided victories were still enough to leave everyone stunned.
Was this really DG?
Was this really Encore?
“Yes! We’re done for the day!” Danqing cheered from backstage, jumping up in celebration.
Yuanshan and Jiangnan went to the front of the stage to take part in the interview, while Lin Anke, having drunk a little too much water, went to the restroom.
He was quite familiar with this venue. He didn’t need a staff member to show him the way and simply walked straight into the bathroom.
None of the three games today had come as a surprise to him. Yuanche had never been a particularly strong team to begin with and he was also fairly familiar with Xu Qiao’s usual rhythm.
As he washed his hands, Lin Anke silently replayed the match in his mind, going over every moment and thinking back on whether there had been anywhere he had made a mistake.
“Are you very happy that you won the match?”
A mocking laugh came from behind him.
Lin Anke turned around and saw Xu Qiao.
He was leaning against the doorway, his expression dark as he stared at Lin Anke. From head to toe, he practically radiated the unmistakable message that he had come looking for trouble.
Xu Qiao was quite close to Xu Sheng but he had always looked down on Lin Anke. Lin Anke had never understood where that hostility came from but he had never cared enough to investigate it either.
He pulled a tissue from the dispenser on the counter and unhurriedly wiped the water from between his fingers, his voice calm and even. “Shouldn’t I be happy that I won?”
“Happy?” Xu Qiao took a step forward, his teeth practically grinding hard enough to make a sound. “What are you pretending for? Do you even deserve to win?”
“Why wouldn’t I deserve to?”
Xu Qiao stared at him, his gaze so vicious that it seemed as though he wanted to carve a piece of flesh straight from Lin Anke’s body with nothing but his eyes.
“Lin Anke, I’m genuinely sorry for Xu Sheng. You know perfectly well how he’s treated you all these years. He protected you like you were the apple of his eye and what did he get in return? He spent all that effort raising someone like you, only for you to turn out to be an ungrateful bastard.”
Lin Anke’s hand stopped moving as he wiped his fingers. He turned his face slightly and met Xu Qiao’s eyes directly.
“An ungrateful bastard?”
Lin Anke didn’t think there was anything he had done that he owed Xu Sheng for. He had done everything he was supposed to do. If he really had to name one thing, then there was only the five million Xu Sheng had paid back for him.
Sure enough, Xu Qiao let out a cold laugh and sneered sarcastically. “What? Am I wrong? He paid back the full five million for your father. That happened, didn’t it? And you? How did you repay him? Back when you were at TIG, you slacked off during matches, deliberately threw your teammates under the bus and lived off Xu Sheng. He practically carried the entire team on his back, dragging all four of you into the finals, only for you to turn around and throw him in the grand finals just so you could curry favor with DG. So why did you stop throwing matches after you joined DG? Is it because DG pays you more?”
“If Xu Sheng had known you were this kind of person from the very beginning, he should have just left you to fend for yourself. Like father, like son. You’re exactly the same as that bloodsucking father of yours.”
Lin Anke suddenly clenched the tissue in his hand. The thin sheet of paper was crushed into a wrinkled ball in his palm.
He stood there in a daze, as though someone had suddenly dumped an entire basin of cold water over his head.
Xu Sheng had even told Xu Qiao about something like this?
He knew Xu Sheng was talkative and had plenty of friends. Whenever they chatted, Xu Sheng always had a tendency to tell people everything and anything.
Lin Anke had warned him before. He didn’t want other people to know about his family matters.
Xu Sheng had nodded readily enough back then.
And yet, in the end, he had still told someone?
Lin Anke lowered his eyes and took a deep breath. He tossed the tissue into the trash can, his voice deliberately kept flat and even. “I’ll pay him back. As for what happened between the two of us, that has nothing to do with you. I’ve never thrown a match for my teammates. If you think otherwise and you’re dissatisfied with me, you can always report it to the officials.”
Xu Qiao gave a light, contemptuous snort through his nose, the sound carrying an unmistakable sense of superiority and disdain. “You think I don’t dare? Xu Sheng is willing to cover for you because he’s an idiot in love. I’m not.”
Lin Anke didn’t bother responding to him anymore. He simply turned around and walked out.
✦ ✧ ✦
Fleurveil
[Translator]
☕ A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR THE TRANSLATOR
This translator has expenses. Coffee is one of them.
☕ BUY THEM A COFFEE →
✧ (づ｡•ㅅ•｡)づ ☕ ✧
✦ thank you for reading ✦
← PreviousNext →
ChaptersChapter 1 · He was substituted off the fieldChapter 2 · I’ll avenge youChapter 3 · Leaving TIGChapter 4 · Point and shootChapter 5 · Join DGChapter 6 · Live stream collisionChapter 7 · MysteriousChapter 8 · Transfer NoticeChapter 9 · Want the championshipChapter 10 · Galaxy BattleshipChapter 11 · Be my DogChapter 12 · Post match ConflictChapter 13 · ReportedChapter 14 · Weibo CodeChapter 15 · Live Streaming to attract FansChapter 16 · Duan Chi’s horse was exposedChapter 17 · Emotional articlesChapter 18 · Match voice recording