Glory [e-sports]

If it came to being big-hearted, then nobody at the scene was more so than Wei Xiao.

When it came to being careful and attentive, then even the sensitive Chen Feng would count as being on the same level as him.

Wei Xiao had felt a sense of dissonance within the team ever since the bloody losses FTW suffered at the start of the game.

Ever since the captain left, one of his mandatory daily tasks was to get to know all his teammates.

Brother Cai’s zen, Ning Zhehan’s timidness, Yue Wenle’s recklessness; he observed it all, adapting to and guiding these traits.

Relatively speaking, Tang Chen was the most reassuring one of the group.

He was an old pro, rich in experience, broad-minded and strong… all his advantages put together equaled one word: steady.

Brother Tang was very stable, steadily guarding the top lane. He didn’t make his teammates worry.

This feeling was different from the captain. To be more precise, the captain was like a vast sky that covered the whole canyon, giving pressure to the other team and freedom to his teammates.

Tang Chen was more like a solid wall, blocking the enemy’s barrage of bullets and giving his teammates enough time to find an opportunity to attack.

Wei Xiao liked Close and could adapt to him best, but when it came to other professional players, maybe Tang Chen would be the better choice in the top lane.

He wasn’t aggressive, his pace was steady, and it made people feel comfortable.

Chen Feng was right. Tang Chen was a rare top-laner, and if he had been anywhere else but in the Team of Gods, in any other team, he would’ve been a treasure.

In the last game, Wei Xiao had gradually discovered the problem while constantly trying to steal resources.

Perhaps because the audience’s eyes remained on Yue Wenle, they had focused on flaming him for his recklessness. They blamed him for losing his head in the game to foolhardiness and disregarding everyone and everything, causing them to lose the game.

But in fact, that wasn’t the case…

Yue Wenle’s problem wasn’t a new thing, and it wasn’t so easy to change. With the correct guidance, he was like a miracle soldier, but the problem was that the balance of their team had deviated.

When the bottom lane was reckless, but the top lane was steady, there was a balance.

When the bottom lane was reckless, but the top lane shrank back, then there was an imbalance.

What had happened to Brother Tang?

Wei Xiao had thought about it for a long time without any results, until they returned to the lounge.

With Wei Xiao’s words, the lounge grew so quiet that the sound of a needle dropping could be heard.

Chen Feng and Tang Chen were both a little flustered. They had considered that Wei Xiao might discover something, but they hadn’t expected that he would say it so frankly.

The decisive game against 3U was about to begin. Wasn’t he going to blow up the other three cubs’ mentality by dropping this sentence?

Chen Feng frowned, wanting to give a vague explanation and let the matter drop.

But Wei Xiao was more ruthless and asked an even more direct question, “Are your cervical vertebrae uncomfortable?” He was asking Tang Chen.

Tang Chen: “……”

Bai Cai, Ning Zhehan, and Yue Wenle were even more stunned. Bai Cai was the only one who could still speak, “Brother Tang… did your cervical vertebrae problem flare up?”

Tang Chen immediately replied, “What do you mean, flare up? How can it be so serious.”

There were indeed some problems with his cervical vertebrae, but it wasn’t that serious. It was just the normal strain that professional players suffered from, enough to cause pain, soreness, and swelling, but it would recover with rest.

When he pretended to have a ‘fractured’ back when Wei Xiao joined the team, it had mostly been an act.

Wei Xiao was really damned perceptive, “Could it be that you slept badly?”

Tang Chen couldn’t continue his words––it was just that it really was a bit true.

He was quite concerned about away games. Coming one day ahead of time and sleeping in a strange place, if he couldn’t adapt and didn’t sleep all night, his energy levels would be low, but if he slept, then his neck wouldn’t be able to deal in the morning.

He’d started to feel uncomfortable in the morning, but after the first game, the discomfort had spread out into a headache.

It had been particularly serious during the game just now. The tendon that stretched from his spine to his arm was so painful that his hand felt like it was cramping.

Little Ning was a little flustered, “Then, in the next game…”

Wei Xiao interrupted him, “Why didn’t you say so earlier!”

His light, unconcerned tone made everyone confused for a moment.

Wei Xiao set down his fork, wiped his hands, and came over, reaching Tang Chen’s back with a few steps, “You may not know this, but I learned from Doctor Chen.”

Even someone with nerves as rough as Brother Tang’s would feel muddled at this time, “What…”

The informed vegetable: “……”

Wei Xiao continued, “Physiotherapy. Doctor Chen said that my skills are enough to go and take the practical test. Come on, come on, I’ll massage it for you. I can ensure that you’ll immediately be as lively as a dragon and invigorated as a tiger.”

His voice fell, and his slightly heated fingers landed on the back of Tang Chen’s neck.

Everyone stopped paying attention to eating their snacks and watched this wonderful, strange show instead.

Wei Xiao pressed down a few times, then tsked and said, “Brother Tang, you’re really too tight.”

Tang Chen: “……”

Wei Xiao talked as he massaged, “Cervical spine exercises, got it? Do it once for every game, and you can ensure that you’ll resurrect with full health, able to screw over the other side and overturn the heavens and earth.”

Tang Chen: “……”

Bai Cai couldn’t keep listening any longer. He rubbed his forehead, “Can’t you f*cking speak human words.”

Wei Xiao: “Ah?”

Bai Cai: “Would you die if you didn’t talk dirty!”

Wei Xiao only realized after the fact, “F*ck, Old Bai, you’re so dirty!”

Brother Cai: “…………” This was so damned ridiculous, he’d never seen someone who retaliated like this.

Chen Feng thought of a certain someone far away in America and felt a little lucky: If Close was here, then Old Soup would be so covered in vinegar, he’d become Vinegar Soup.

Regardless of how ‘dirty’ it was, Wei Xiao’s technique wasn’t exaggerated.

After massaging him for five or six minutes, Tang Chen was pleasantly surprised, “It really works.”

Wei Xiao was quite proud, “Of course, I practiced it especially for love-ahhhh… for the captain!”

Brother Cai understood what he meant and almost choked to death. He wished he could weld his closet door shut!

Ning Zhehan came over, “Brother Tang, next time, let’s bring our pillows with us when we have an away game.”

Tang Chen was stunned.

Ning Zhehan gave him some advice, “Really. When I was studying, there was a classmate of mine who was picky about beds. He took his pillow with him wherever he went…”

Yue Wenle added, “Yes, the pillows in our base are really good for sleeping.”

Bai Cai’s eyes were filled with money, “It’s 8000 for two pillows, how can you not sleep well with them?”

Ning Zhehan only learned about this now. “Holy shit, it’s so expensive!”

Bai Cai: “Do you know how much the mattress costs?”

Ning Zhehan asked quickly, “How-how much?”

Bai Cai put up a few fingers, and Ning Zhehan sucked in a breath of air.

Brother Cai patted Little Ning on the shoulder, “Now you know how much the captain loves us.”

Ning Zhehan nodded like garlic being pounded. “This love is so rich!”

The half-time break was only fifteen minutes, and it passed by quickly.

When they went back up to the stage, Tang Chen’s state had changed. The paleness of his complexion had faded, and the former warmth was back between his eyebrows.

He walked in at the end of the team, once again the high wall that guarded FTW!

Chen Feng didn’t say anything more.

What Wei Xiao had given Tang Chen wasn’t just simple relief from his cervical discomfort, but also the strength to accept and face it.

If he was experiencing discomfort, he could say it.

If there was a problem, he could talk about it.

He wasn’t alone.

We’re not that vulnerable.

Even the wall that propped up the team needed sunshine and comfort.

The game that started at half past six had already been played until half past eight.

After finishing a stage of the physiotherapy, Lu Feng was in the resistance room doing resistance training.

The resistance training was relatively comfortable, but it required doing the same movement over and over without any change. It would get very boring over a long period of time.

When the nurse asked him if he needed anything, Lu Feng asked her to help him load up the official live broadcast room from China.

The nurse was particularly kind to him, “Is this your team?”

Lu Feng nodded, “Yes.”

It just happened that the camera was focused on the players as they entered the arena. A black haired, pale skinned youth smiled at the camera, revealing the small tiger teeth on one side of his mouth, his appearance cute and handsome.

The nurse stilled slightly, “He’s very good looking.”

Lu Feng was also looking at him, “Mm.

The little nurse looked at him a bit more, and the more she looked, the more she felt that he was attractive. She asked curiously, “Does he have a girlfriend?”

Lu Feng: “……”

The nurse blinked. “A lot of people must be interested in such a handsome boy.”

Lu Feng paused for a moment, then said, “I don’t know about others, but I like him very much.”

The little nurse: “!”

Lu Feng looked at her and asked, “Can you keep it a secret for me?”

The little nurse sucked in a breath, then nodded her head like garlic being pounded.

Those who weren’t in the circle didn’t understand things that happened in the circle, but it didn’t prevent her from eating a mouthful of sugar!

FTW vs 3U’s third match.

This wasn’t just the decisive game for 3U anymore; it was also the decisive game for FTW.

No matter what, it was their last game that night.

If they won, they’d have grabbed a point and temporarily have the top rank for the regular season.

If they lost, they’d lose a point, but it wouldn’t be to the point where getting first place in the group was out of reach.

Points battles were all like this. It was difficult to determine the team’s position until the last game was played.

This game wasn’t at the level of ‘life or death’, but both sides were very serious: they were showing respect to their opponent as well as to themselves.

The BP was relatively slow in the third match, especially when it came to FTW. They had a slight dispute amongst themselves.

Tang Chen said, “Can I use the space-time knight?”

Chen Feng frowned. “We haven’t practiced this line-up privately before.”

Tang Chen didn’t say a word.

Wei Xiao: “Double support?”

Chen Feng: “Mm.”

Wei Xiao: “Let’s do it, I want to try how it feels to have double the love.”

Chen Feng: “……”

The so-called ‘double support’ meant that there would be two support talents in the team. Brother Cai would be the main support, but either the top-laner or mid-laner in the team would take a support type talent.

For example, 3U was very good at having Li Chun play the zither warlock, which was a support-type mid-lane talent. It could DPS and control the enemy as well as heal friendly troops.

3U was a typical jungler core team, and they often used double support with Asleep, the three people sticking together to gank the other side.

This kind of double support set up was very common, and many teams could use it. For example, South Korea’s Pro had also used double support with Kim Sung-hyun before. It was a very valid way of raising up their Baby Hyun into your Daddy Hyun, protecting him until not a single gap was left. As long as the opponents couldn’t touch Kim Sung-hyun, then Pro was INVINCIBLE in all caps.

It was very common to see a mid-lane support, but it was very rare to have the top-laner play support.

The divine warrior was a function-based top-laner, but its talent attributes were––warrior, tank.

It wasn’t much different from a pure support, but it could advance and retreat.

It was different for the space-time knight. This was a talent that could be used as a pure support, but it was just that Brother Cai didn’t like to use it much.

Knights naturally had high health and a defensive bonus. They were very good at taking a beating.

The space-time knight was a wonderful support talent. Amongst its skills, there was continuous DPS, a large-scale forced control, and a high mobility team skill––space-time prophecy.

This skill was effective on friendly troops. If it was used at the right time, it could let teammates break through the shackles of time and return back to the state they were at one second ago.

What did this mean?

It meant that even if Yue Wenle died in that one second, time would go back, and he would be resurrected.

The space-time knight was precisely such a bug-level skill.

It sounded great, but it was very hard to master.

If it was used well, it could bring the dying back to life and turn the battle situation around, but when it was used badly, it was useless.

This one second was too hard to grasp. It was meaningless if used too early, and useless if used too late.

One second was very short in the game, but in a group fight, it was also fatal.

How this one second was grasped depended on how the space-time knight played with time.

Just then, 3U took the zither warlock. They also planned to play double support!

Tang Chen spoke up again, “I want to give it a try.”

It was rare for Old Soup to be so insistent. Chen Feng agreed, “Alright.”

He wasn’t worried about Tang Chen’s space-time knight. It was just that he was afraid that his teammates wouldn’t be used to it.

This talent put too much emphasis on teamwork.

If their tacit understanding was sufficient, it would be godly. If their tacit understanding was insufficient, then it would be damning.

There was no middle ground.

Wei Xiao stared at the talent column, “Since it’s double support, I’ll use the shadow thief.”

He’d seen it before––

Brother Tang’s space-time knight and the captain’s shadow thief.

It was in a game two years ago, when Wei Xiao saw Close for the first time.

The author has something to say:

While writing about e-sports players’ pain, I felt deeply for them.

Not to mention them, even us who type out words on the keyboard have to stick plasters and struggle QAQ.