CHAPTER 78

There was the smell of cologne on Xu Tailun.

Tong Yao found the stench quite irritating.

Tong Yao felt like sneezing and frowned-- --She couldn't believe she'd thought Xu Tailun was a nice person. Not only was he good looking, more importantly he spoke Chinese well and seemed like such a personable guy. Even if he wasn't good looking, he'd still be rather cute...

Her impression of him changed after she had witnessed his true colors.

All of his strong points were now just part of his act. Now even his cuteness became disgusting in Tong Yao's eyes…...Tong Yao slightly lifted her head and coldly looked into the dark brown pupils of the man above her head: "What's up?"

Xu Tailun smiled: "Can't talk to you if there's nothing up?"

"No, you can't." Tong Yao replied: "Let me go."

As she was speaking, she tried pulling her hand out of his grip-- --She wasn't successful and Xu Tailun increased the strength of his grip when he realized Tong Yao's intentions. Now her wrist was starting to hurt.

Tong Yao's eyebrows were knitted even more tightly now.

She could feel Xu Tailun bend over slightly and heard his voice right next to her ear: "Why did you have to say those things and put me on the spot during the stream that day? Wouldn't it be much better if you just denied it completely? It would be much easier for everybody..."

Half way through her struggle to free herself, Tong Yao suddenly stopped and slightly turned her face to the side. Her thumping heart quieted down all of sudden-- --It was the kind of calmness when one realized the enemies weakness. Tong Yao curved her lips up and said: "It's my freedom to say what I want. I'm already doing you a favor when I didn't divulge your lies. You didn't repay me for my favor and even deliberately targeted me during the match today."

"Because I'm not happy about it."

"Your team lost the match because of you."

"I don't care. They wouldn't object to it either-- --I've already won a bunch of matches for them. Isn't it more fun to play as I wish once in a while?" Xu Tailun slightly squinted his eyes: "I can do more than that. Maybe we can lose the next match even more quickly. That won't be any problem as long as you promise me that you'll watch what you say from now on. Be a good girl, en?"

What was that? A promise to throw a game? A dirty deal?

Tong Yao had goosebumps all over her and subconsciously turned her head to look at the other end of the hallway-- --Xu Tailun pinched her chin to turn her head back: "Who are you looking for? Someone that can help you? Lu Sicheng? Don't bother. All of your teammates are busy with my dear teammates in the break room asking them various questions. At this moment, no one-- --"

Before he could finish, Xu Tailun screeched out in pain.

Then he saw a row of teeth marks on his own wrist; the deepest hole had blood seeping out of it-- --Before he could react to what had happened to him, Tong Yao had squeezed herself out between the wall and Xu Tailun's chest-- --

"I don't need any help." Tong Yao used the tip of her tongue to lick her teeth. She could taste blood and spit a couple times: "I hope you don't have AIDS? My mom told me diseases always come in from the mouth..."

"..."

Tong Yao made a face towards him and turned around to go into the restroom.

After she walked in the restroom, her composure crumbled. She leaned against the wall, her heartbeat quickened. Her reflection in the mirror was pale…...She walked over to the basin to rinse her mouth and splash some cold water onto her face to cool herself down. Then she deliberately waited till the next match was about to begin to come out of the restroom. Xu Tailun had already left-- --Tong Yao hastily went back to her team's break room. Her hand was slightly shaking when she opened the door.

Little Fatty asked her: "Where have you been?"

Tong Yao glanced at him and answered in a calm voice: "Restroom."

Then they heard Xiao Rui call them from outside. Her teammates stopped asking her questions and walked out of the room one after another. Tong Yao cast her head down and tried to fall in the back of the group. She followed Little Fatty towards the door. But as her hand touched the doorknob, someone grabbed her arm from behind. Startled, her eyes flickered when she turned around to check. She discovered Lu Sicheng standing behind her.

Lu Sicheng asked in a deep voice: "What happened to you?"

Tong Yao blinked: "...What do you mean?"

"Go look in a mirror. You'll see a face that's white as a ghost."

"..." Tong Yao pulled her arm from Lu Sicheng's hand and said: "I'm fine."

All the players moved to their seats, readying for the next match. Xu Tailun's hand was wrapped in bandages-- --The white gauze around his hand was rather conspicuous. Tong Yao could clearly hear the commotion among the Qing Dynasty fans, to be more exact, Xu Tailun's fans. The commentators were also discussing how Long Ge could hurt himself during a ten minute break...

Xu Tailun, moving slowly, was the last one from his team to take his seat. As if he had sensed an unfriendly gaze, he slightly turned his head to the side and met the eyes of ZGDX's expressionless mid. He smiled at her.

Tong Yao rolled her eyes and turned her head away in disgust

When she turned her head, she met another expressionless face right next to her.

Lu Sicheng: "Nothing's going on? Why are you looking at their jungler?"

Tong Yao: "..."

"Play the match first. Explain after we go back. Don't enter the base if you can't give a clear explanation." Lu Sicheng put on his headphones as he spoke.

Tong Yao: ".........."

According to Lu Sicheng's arrangement, ZGDX would play 4 protect 1 for the second match. All four players would take more defensive champions to make sure that their ADC could survive as long as possible during team fights and deliver all the damage-- --This kind of strategy emphasized on the coordination and trust between each teammate. The personal skill of the ADC as well as his ability to perform under pressure were also crucial to the success of this strategy. Afterall, win or loss all depended on him.

It was a popular strategy in the past. But the current meta-game had moved away from this strategy. In recent years, few professional teams could be seen relying on it.

Half way through the ban & pick phase for Tong Yao's team, the commentators had already figured out the signs-- --

Commentator A: [Smiling chose Lulu, Maokai for Old Cat, Old K's going to choose-- --Nidalee! Wow, it looks like ZGDX is really going to play 4 protect one this match.]

Commentator B: [But is it a good idea for the current meta?]

Commentator A: [It's the players who play the game, not the strategy-- --To be honest, I really like to watch a team like ZGDX at competitions. They not only win often, but are willing to try everything, every champion. It makes watching much more interesting!]

Commentator B: [Hahahahahahahahaha, true. Since the other team is focusing on their mid, mid takes Lulu, who can farm at range, as well as shield, silence, and haste, and her ultimate grants bonus health-- --How would you kill such a champion? I ask you how? If the Qing Dynasty still insists on getting mid lane, then bot will have an easy time. Qing Dynasty has to make a tough decision here!]

The match began, Xu Tailun, as expected, was still trying to harass mid. But this time, Tong Yao had Lulu who was agile and her abilities were both useful defensively and offensively. Xu Tailun tried twice to catch Tong Yao but failed. He had no choice but to stay in the jungle and farm-- --

It didn't look like he was interested in ZGDX's bot either.

Xu Tailun had already wasted time trying to develop his champion when he tried to catch Tong Yao. Old K didn't give him the chance to try and make up for it and had stolen what resources from Xu Tailun's jungle he could while Xu Tailun was busy visiting mid. By the seventh minute of the game, Old K was already an entire level above Xu Tailun!

That wasn't the worst part about Qing Dynasty's situation.

The worst part for Xu Tailun was that after he had farmed the monsters in his own jungle, there was little left for him to do. His level would lag further and further from Old K-- --

In addition, Xu Tailun's teammates at bot were having a difficult time without help from their jungler.

Around the fifteen minute mark, the first team fight occurred. Since ZGDX was playing 4 protect 1, both top and mid didn't press the enemy too aggressively. Both sides were fairly even-- --But it was a different story at bot, Lu Sicheng had farmed roughly 40 more minions than the enemy. They were also behind Lu Sicheng in items as well. The two teams weren't on the same level when they clashed!

After the first team fight, Qing Dynasty, facing three well developed enemy lanes, had realized that their rhythm for the match was even worse than the first one. They were already defeated psychologically at that point.

As Qing Dynasty lost the will to fight, ZGDX continued the match like rolling a snowball. They pushed the turret at mid, then the turret at bot. Their ADC and support were free to invade the jungle, then went up top-- --

Very quickly, the match tilted more and more in favor of ZGDX...

The second match finished soon after the 30 minute mark.

Fifty seconds before the end of the match as ZGDX was pushing the enemy base, Tong Yao saw in the chat: [dqwl, back out of the game].

When Tong Yao took off her earphones after the match, she could still hear the commotion from the audience, discussing whether Xu Tailun had backed out of the game early or because he had simply lost internet connection.

Tong Yao was the MVP of the second match.

This was followed by a wave of laughter from the audience when the MVP was announced on the big screen-- --Everyone agreed that the best performing player for the second match was actually Lu Sicheng. The reason for giving Tong Yao the honor was probably because everyone had a lot of questions to ask her about the game.

Tong Yao passed her own backpack to Little Fatty and went to the interview area. She saw not only a mass of fans but also media reporters waiting for her. The host passed the microphone to her.

The host made the initial introduction as usual and Tong Yao greeted everyone as usual.

Then the host brought up what they really wanted to know-- --

The host: [Are you angry at being treated in such a senseless way in today's matches?]

Tong Yao: "I was in the beginning, but I got over it later on. We won, as long as we won then it's alright. It doesn't matter who's the carry for the game. A strong team should have everyone taking turns at being the carry. It's quite nice that every match there's a player in a different position to be the carry."

The host: [Do you have anything you want to say about today's game?]

Tong Yao: "..."

Sure. She had a lot she wanted to say.

A lot of curses like "you suck" and "damn you" that she wanted to say, but she didn't know whether she should...

Tong Yao looked at the host, the sincere look on the host's face reminded her that the host probably wouldn't accept a curse as an answer. Tong Yao had no other choice but to give a cute smile and said: "Cheng Ge's Ashe is very powerful, remember to ban it in the future."

The audience burst into laughter. Lu Sicheng was holding the backpack with 'smiling' on it not too far away while bent over at their mid's seat picking up all the equipment. He raised his head in surprise to glance over at the interview area.

Obviously, Lu Sicheng didn't expect her to give an answer like that. But no one else saw anything wrong with the answer-- --Everyone knew that the mid of ZGDX was famous for "Chessman bragging."

The host: [Smiling, do you feel it's effective for your opponent to use such an extreme strategy against you? It was effective once before?]

Tong Yao grinned and said in a confident tone of voice: "I don't think it's effective to focus on me when the opposing team isn't equal or superior than our team in the other two lanes. My teammates aren't to be messed with-- --ZGDX is a team with three core players, each lane has the confidence to take over the game."

The host: [Do you agree with the other team's attitude during today's match?]

Tong Yao: "All of your questions today are really scary."

The host: [Hahahahahahahahah!]

Tong Yao: "I know what he's thinking. But I think that when you're the core player on a team, he has to act responsibly during a match to his teammates as well as his own team. That's the most basic attitude."

Tong Yao bit her lips slightly and frowned, unsure whether her words were too revealing or would cause trouble down the road. She wanted to say more-- --Lu Sicheng straightened up his body and strode towards the interview area with two backpacks in hand-- --

His movement caused a stir among the fans. Tong Yao was confused.

"What are you doing here?" She whispered to the man standing behind her like a door god.

"Give me the mic."

Lu Sicheng pulled the mic from Tong Yao's hand as he spoke. At the same time, he glanced over the reporters down below. Though it was just a glance, many reporters stopped writing and looked up at him-- --

"Today, Smiling's only answering questions that you reporters have brought. I sincerely hope that everyone here will report her answers truthfully. After she walks out of here, I don't want to discover that her words have been completely distorted-- --I understand the media needs to play tricks with the headlines to catch the reader's attention, but for this matter, however, is regarding a player's reputation. I hope all of you will be very careful about how you write and what you write."

Lu Sicheng's voice was calm.

The looks in his eyes and the expression on his face all showed that he wasn't joking about the matter.

...

On the way to the parking lot, Tong Yao remained very quiet

She got on the bus and found a seat to hide herself. The seat next to her was soon occupied by her tall captain. Tong Yao looked up and met a pair of dark brown pupils-- --

Lu Sicheng: "You have anything to say to me?"

Tong Yao shook her head.

Lu Sicheng didn't walk away.

Tong Yao nodded this time.

"I want to know whether I've made a mistake again." Tong Yao said: "I made an ambiguous statement to let the reporters make up their own stories and maybe stir up some gossip about Xu Tailun…...I could have kept quiet actually and not say anything-- --"

"..." Lu Sicheng paused: "Why did you think about it that way?"

"..."

"Remember that I told you before that in this business, sometimes you can't do as you want and you have to learn to back away. But no one is asking you to smooth the edges and corners of your character."

"?"

"With your impressive IQ, do you need me to say it straight?"

"...Yes."

"It's not like you were the one cheating the fans, why do you have to apologize?" Lu Sicheng sarcastically ridiculed: "You even put it quite well, if he didn't do anything wrong then no one could stir up anything."

"..........Oh."

"Don't know what you're worrying about."

"Haven't I been madly taking revenge just now!"

"What's the use? Didn't they lose the game anyway? As for you, wasn't it nice to win this time as if you were taking a vacation?"

"You won't say so when bot's being cleaned out."

"It's hard to say."

"What?"

"Maybe more than anyone else, I'm looking forward to the day when you'll carry me, a middle aged player, and win a game?"

".........."

Tong Yao used five seconds to understand what Lu Sicheng meant. At the sixth second, she said: "You're flirting again." Then she lowered her head with a red face. Lu Sicheng stood up to sit in the row behind her. Tong Yao turned on her cell phone and posted on Weibo-- --

[Smiling: Be cautious with sweet talk. The ones who come to wish you a happy new year on their own are all weasels.][1]

One second later, someone replied-- --

[Long live in my mind: Lu Sicheng, someone is bad mouthing you.]