​

Lin Ao happily prepared for the battle, but later found that things were not as he thought.

 

Lin Ao thought they would be on the same team, and the reserve players would be on the other side. Alternatively, Lu Lian would be on the same team as the reserve players, and Lin Ao could handle 1v2; after all, he had wanted to beat Lu Lian again for a long time.

 

But things weren't as he expected. Lu Lian took him to the reserve team's training room and said, "The person is in the next room. Let's play a game together first, and we'll meet him later."

 

"..." Lin Ao replied with a disappointed "Oh."

 

Lin Ao's little tricks couldn't be hidden from Lu Lian, but Lu Lian didn't expose him.

 

This kid wanted to beat him every day.

 

The training room for the ML reserve team had several booths, each with five computers. This room was specially reserved for them, and only Lin Ao and Lu Lian were present. But, some curious ML reserve team members couldn't help but take a look when they passed by.

 

Lin Ao sat down and glanced at Lu Lian's computer. He remembered that Lu Lian's smurf account's rank should be low, probably not good enough to play ranked with him. So he suggested, "How about we play a normal game?"

 

"No need, let's play ranked. I have a high-ranked account," Lu Lian replied, logging into an account called TestAccount123.

 

Lin Ao silently cursed at the casual name.

 

Then another person with a fancy name entered—Hua of Huahua World, Hua Zhiheng.

 

Following that, a player with the name "SupportIsYourDad" joined the team.

 

SupportIsYourDad: So many people!!!

 

SupportIsYourDad: Boss, you didn't say anything before.

 

TestAccount123: Lion180, our mid-laner; Hua Hua, our coach.

 

TestAccount123: Don't be nervous, we're just playing a casual game.

 

SupportIsYourDad: ...

 

SupportIsYourDad: Boss, I'm even more nervous now.

 

This person knew that this match was a selection match. If he didn't perform well, he probably wouldn't make it to the new team.

 

Lin Ao, hearing the typing sound next to him, guessed that Lu Lian was probably comforting this guy.

 

He was annoyed by people who were always jittery and talked non-stop.

 

Lion180: What are you panicking about? Show some confidence with your ID.

 

SupportIsYourDad: !!!

 

Lion180: Now, you're not just someone's dad, but everyone's dad!

 

Lion180: Except for mine.

 

Lion180: Put some effort into it!

 

Lin Ao forced Lu Lian to say a bunch of comforting words. Surprisingly, it seemed to work.

 

SupportIsYourDad: What Mid Bro says is right.

 

Lu Lian and Hua Zhiheng: "..."

 

They didn't expect Lin Ao's random comforting words to actually work.

 

SupportIsYourDad: Mid Bro, I'll do my best!

 

On hearing Lin Ao's words, Lu Lian and Hua Zhiheng exchanged a glance and silently smiled. Lu Lian then deleted the comforting message he was typing.

 

The four formed a team, entered the game, and turned on the team's voice chat.

 

Lin Ao asked, "What will you play? Support?"

 

SupportIsYourDad hesitantly said, "Big brother, although I used to play support, I want to switch to jungle."

 

Professional players usually had fixed positions, but they might change positions due to team composition or personal reasons. For example, Hua Zhiheng used to be a support in the team, but later switched to AD Carry. The mid-lane mage recognized in Europe and America was also originally a jungler.

 

"In that case, go jungle," Lin Ao said. To him, games were meant to be played freely, and you could play whatever you liked. Also, this reserve player's position didn't affect him. Besides, he had no interest in ML's mid-lane position. Even if someone had their eye on it, he wouldn't be afraid. In esports, whoever was strong had the final say, and if someone wanted to challenge him, he was up for a PK.

 

The support is your dad, but what he thinks is, "Wuwuwu, Mid-lane Big Brother is so good, not like others who mock me for wanting to switch to jungle even though I'm a support." Then, he says out loud, "Mid-lane Big Brother, you're really good."

 

It's the first time Lin Ao has been praised with "you're really good." Whenever someone says "you're really strong," he doesn't find it strange, so he clears his throat and his face blushes slightly as he asks, "Don't you usually watch livestreams?"

 

Person: "Yes, why?"

 

Lin Ao doesn't reply, silently locks in the hero, Mage Hei Wuchang (Black Impermanence).

 

Lu Lian turns off his microphone and whispers to the person next to him, "Feeling awkward now?"

 

Lin Ao's shoulders tense up, he glares at Lu Lian fiercely and says, "Mind your own business, don't fall behind later."

 

Lu Lian smiles and doesn't say anything.

 

Lin Ao notices that no matter how fierce he acts, it's like hitting cotton, and Lu Lian rarely gets angry or argues back.

 

In fact, this tactic of backing off and yielding works well against Lin Ao.

 

Lin Ao doesn't continue to challenge Lu Lian and instead says to SupportIsYourDad in the game, "It's nothing, watch fewer livestreams, it's good for your physical and mental health."

 

SupportIsYourDad quickly agrees, "Yes, yes, Mid Bro, you're right. We should watch fewer livestreams. I heard my coach say there's a streamer named Lin-something who's the king of trash talk in King's Glory! If you listen to him for a night, you'll be in a bad mood for a whole week."

 

Lin Ao: "..." He realizes they're probably talking about him.

 

Lu Lian can't help but smile and earns himself a fierce glare from Lin Ao.

 

Hua Zhiheng, who's playing the game at home, joins the banter as well. Since Lin Ao can't target him now, he purposely joins in and makes fun of Lin Ao with SupportIsYourDad.

 

For a while, the team voice chat is filled with joyful laughter.

 

Lin Ao listens to their banter and suddenly says, "Actually, I'm that Lin-something streamer you mentioned."

 

SupportIsYourDad, who was just teasing Lin Ao, immediately falls silent, as if disconnected.

 

Once the four players lock in their heroes, the game officially starts. SupportIsYourDad notices the name of the enemy top-laner and exclaims, "Hey, what a coincidence!"

 

Lin Ao asks, "Do you know him?"

 

SupportIsYourDad: "More than just knowing, we are very familiar. The enemy top-laner is my current teammate, and he also plays AD Carry when he's not playing top. It seems like he's also playing with someone now."

 

Lin Ao glances at the name of the enemy top-laner—I Am the Son of Support.

 

"..." Lin Ao feels that this ID is quite self-deprecating.

 

"Mid-lane Big Brother, be careful, the enemy mid-laner seems to be a pro player's smurf account, I've heard," SupportIsYourDad warns.

 

Lin Ao excitedly asks, "Really?"

 

SupportIsYourDad: "..." Why is our Mid-lane Big Brother so excited?

 

Lu Lian adds, "The enemy mid-laner is from NYE's second team. Although it's the second team, he's already at the level of a first-string player."

 

Lin Ao understands, "You mean the team that loves to boast about their four-protect-one strategy, with their jungler, top, and support all acting like nannies around their mid-lane, who is the crown prince of the team, but once he falls, the whole team crumbles?"

 

Hua Zhiheng says, "You just described a team, but why is the prefix so long?"

 

Though they were speaking the truth.

 

Lin Ao rolls his eyes and unconsciously glances at Lu Lian beside him.

 

Surprisingly, Lu Lian doesn't seem to mind Lin Ao's mockery.

 

Lin Ao thought that, as the boss, Lu Lian might reprimand him.

 

Hua Zhiheng adds, "Let's keep these remarks within the team and not talk about it outside."

 

"Then you don't have to worry," Lin Ao realizes that Lu Lian doesn't care, so he becomes even more arrogant.

 

Hua Zhiheng is relieved, but then Lin Ao continues, "I've already argued on an esports message board using the same argument. The 100,000 fans of that team found me and challenged me, but after arguing with me, they realized I was right and went back to criticize their own team's manager and coach."

 

"..." Hua Zhiheng feels like he has lost more hair in a few minutes with this team than in his ten years of playing games.

 

As they chat, the game countdown ends, and the four players buy their starting items and head out.

 

Lin Ao plays as mid-laner Hei Wuchang, while Lu Lian supports as Bai Wuchang. Hua Zhiheng plays AD Carry as Cupid, and SupportIsYourDad jungler as Hunter.

 

In the third minute of the game, Lu Lian sneaks around to the enemy's side with clever positioning and hooks the enemy AD Carry precisely with Bai Wuchang's Soul Hook ability.

 

Hua Zhiheng's Cupid quickly follows up, and with his little bow and arrows, he constantly shoots pink arrows at the enemy AD Carry.

 

Hunter, who was lying in ambush in the brush, jumps out too.

 

3v2, Hua Zhiheng's Cupid secures the first kill.

 

Seeing that the situation is unfavorable, the enemy support turns to run, but is once again hooked by Lu Lian's Bai Wuchang. As the enemy support's health is low at this point, they die in Bai Wuchang's hands.

 

Lin Ao hears the sound of the first blood and is a bit surprised; it's rare that he doesn't get the first blood.

 

But he isn't discouraged; instead, he feels motivated. He clicks the keyboard more fiercely and becomes more engaged in the game.

 

The enemy mid-laner is struggling to keep up under Lin Ao's pressure. He recognized Lin Ao's ID from the beginning and they have no personal relationship, but he's now starting to doubt if Lin Ao has some grudge against him.

 

After all, he had secretly watched Lin Ao's livestream and even anonymously donated a few tips, considering himself half a fan.

 

Lin Ao plays as Hei Wuchang, who consumes a lot of mana. Several times, he gains an advantage against the enemy mid-laner but can't secure the kill because he's out of mana.

 

In a normal match, he would have already taken his own blue buff. However, in this test game, he knows it's more important to test SupportIsYourDad's performance. So, he restrains himself from stealing blue buff and instead considers whether he can sneak into the enemy jungle to take one.

 

Suddenly, Lu Lian's voice rings out, "They already took it, forget about it."

 

Lu Lian's sudden and unexpected response surprises Hua Zhiheng and SupportIsYourDad, who haven't fully grasped his intention.

 

But Lin Ao understands. Did Lu Lian activate a divine power? How did he know that Lin Ao wanted to steal the blue buff? And how did he know that the enemy's blue buff was already gone?

 

Just then, SupportIsYourDad notices Lin Ao's advantage and says in the voice chat, "Mid-lane Big Brother, take the second blue buff."

 

Lin Ao says, "It's not good to do that," but quickly takes the blue buff anyway.

 

SupportIsYourDad widens his eyes, realizing he didn't even have the chance to insist.

 

With the blue buff, Lin Ao feels invigorated and immediately kills the enemy mid-laner.

 

The enemy mid-laner lies on the ground, using an emote of a little white flag.

 

In the eighth minute, the jungle on both sides of the mid lane is in darkness due to lack of vision, and Lin Ao feels something is off.

 

Suddenly, a skill shot flashes from behind him. He instinctively uses Flash and dodges the attack.

 

"What the f*ck, is that prediction?"

 

"No, I think it's reaction speed!"

 

"That's an amazing Flash!"

 

Unknowingly, the training room has already gathered the members of the ML's youth training team, and they are all excitedly discussing Lin Ao and Lu Lian's plays.

 

Originally, the coach of the youth training team wanted to catch them and bring them back for training, but when he came to catch them, he saw the match and got drawn into watching it with the team members.

 

"Especially that Hei Wuchang, my god, what speed! If it were me, my hand would have cramped already."

 

"I think his positioning is what's truly impressive, he always manages to dodge the enemy's attempts to catch him."

 

"His play is so amazing."

 

"Are they newcomers? This is too powerful."

 

The coach of the youth training team next to him thought to himself, no, they are not your teammates, but your future enemies.

 

Not right either.

 

With the strength of these two people, the gang of little bastards he brought may not even be able to reach the enemy.

 

He was not reconciled to the enemy's jungler's first hit and missed, flashing to keep up, wanting to continue to catch Lin Ao.

 

At this moment, Bai Wuchang's soul hook swung over, hooking the enemy jungler precisely.

 

It was Lu Lian who came to support him.

 

Seeing this, Lin Ao turned his head quickly, and cooperated with Bai Wuchang to take away the heads of the opposing jungler.

 

Then, Bai Wuchang also handed over a flash, and hooked the enemy mid laner again.

 

Lin Ao was secretly surprised that Lu Lian's hook was so accurate, and for him now, as long as Lu Lian can hook someone, the opponent will die.

 

Soon enough, the opposite mid laner fell again.

 

Black and White Wuchang stood beside the two corpses.

 

The two tall, thin and pale heroes exuded a faint light of darkness, like real messengers of the underworld.

 

For Lin Ao and the others, this round was a smooth one, and they played very smoothly.

 

Of course, the enemy was not weak, and they were very resilient. They never gave up and tried several times to fight Lin Ao and the others. In the end, the two sides fought for more than 30 minutes before ending the battle.

 

When the word "victory" appeared in Lin Ao's eyes, his eyes were obviously brighter than when he won the victory before.

 

He let go of the mouse and keyboard, and stretched his fingers lightly, feeling a sense of unfinished business in his heart.

 

For so long, Lin Ao has been in solo queue except for playing ranked with Glasses, his sister-in-lae, and occasionally bringing fans.

 

In his world, there is no concept of cooperating with his teammates. To be honest, Glasses might be able to fight Lin Ao in the past, but now Glasses was not Lin Ao's opponent at all. Even when Glasses and anchor girl are fighting together with Lin Ao, they actually still couldn't keep up with his rhythm, and couldn't play well with him.

 

But this round is different, whether it's Lu Lian's Bai Wuchang wandering around in the later stage, or the wild hunter helping him catch, every time he can step on the timing and catch one accurately.

 

After the round was over, Lu Lian took off his earphones, looked at Lin Ao, and asked, "How is it?"

 

Lin Ao pursed his lips, the corners of his lips raised a small arc, and said with satisfaction, "Not bad."

 

Lu Lian understood that not bad actually means great.

 

Lin Ao also took off his earphones, and turned his gaze to Lu Lian, "Actually, I think the son on the opposite side who calls me a support is also good at top laner. I tried to catch him a few times just now, but he responded very quickly. Dodged, and his ult was opened in time, saving his teammates a few times."

 

"The most important thing is that he can actually use the ‘SupportIsYourDad’. He is definitely not an ordinary person."

 

Lu Lian felt that Lin Ao's criteria for selecting and evaluating people were also very unusual, but it didn't matter, because they came to the same goal by different routes.

 

"I think the same as you. Before he applied to be transferred to our team as the top laner, I said to think about it. Now it seems that it can be passed."

 

Lin Ao's eyes widened: "This time we sign two?"

 

"Yes, I said it at the gate of the base, this time we are here to fight 'them'." Lu Lian stood up, glanced at Lin Ao's hair that was scratched by the earphones, and helped him tidy it up. He said softly, "Let's go, now go see your jungler and top laner friend."

 

Lin Ao was startled, then raised his hand and touched the place where Lu Lian touched just now. His ears turned red for no reason.

 

What is this counterfeit trying to do?

 

Lin Ao got up while muttering. Upon turning, he saw a bunch of people standing outside, all looking at him eagerly.

 

Lin Ao's movements froze, a little uncomfortable with the scene, so he shrunk his chin, trying to bury it in the collar of his clothes.

 

Lu Lian gave a friendly smile to the coach of the youth training team.

 

The coach of the youth training team snaps out of his daze and quickly shoos them away, saying, "Alright, that's enough. Everyone go back to training. Compare their play to yours and see if you dare to be lazy."

 

As the saying goes, the bystanders see the excitement while the experts see the skills.

 

Others might not be able to see how impressive Lin Ao's plays are, but the members of the youth training team can.

 

The coach and the members of the youth training team disperse.

 

After the people outside dispersed, Lu Lian asked, "Don't like being watched by many people?"

 

Lin Ao replied gloomily, "It's not that I don't like it, I just haven't gotten used to it."

 

Looking at the people who had left, Lin Ao's eyelashes trembled, then he suddenly straightened his back, raised his head high, and said, "But I'll gradually get used to it."

 

"Hmm?"

 

"In the future, at the Global Finals, there will be even more people watching."