[Isn’t this Star Lion just ridiculous? His trash-talking is so childish and funny. Neither his Flash nor Cleanse was timed perfectly—no problem at all!]
[As expected from ZC fans, just a bunch of dogs barking nonsense. It’s the 21st century, and they’re still dragging gender into gaming. Truly, fans follow their master’s lead~~]
[But this game is really frustrating. I just checked, and the opposing Star Lion and Sunflower are both from the national server and have been duo-queuing together for a long time. A comeback doesn’t seem likely…]
Yan Chengfeng hadn’t originally planned to respond to Star Lion.
The main reason was that the person’s ID was associated with another club, and the dynamics between different teams weren’t the same as the usual rivalry between random opponents in a game. If he could avoid it, he preferred not to get involved.
But Yan Chengfeng had a bad temper, so it was impossible for him not to be irritated by the comments.
He didn’t mind being insulted personally—he knew he could easily outplay this person. But KYM was like his second home, a team he had admired from the moment he started playing and watching esports. It carried his best memories and youth.
Star Lion hadn’t just targeted KYM; he also brought up the championship loss, hitting every sore spot for Yan Chengfeng.
What bothered Yan Chengfeng the most was the comment: “An omega playing AD is a joke.”
Yan Chengfeng glanced at Zhen Ning beside him and couldn’t help but say, “…Don’t pay attention to him. He’s just an idiot.”
There was a brief silence before Zhen Ning replied, “It’s fine. I don’t care.”
In fact, Zhen Ning probably really didn’t care, because right after saying that, he went back to farming, steadily building up his gold.
But the one who truly couldn’t remain indifferent was Yan Chengfeng.
He knew he was a very contradictory person. Even though he’d said sarcastic and harsh things to Zhen Ning since they’d reunited, when he saw others belittling Zhen Ning, he couldn’t help but feel incredibly angry. After all, when did it become acceptable for random people to speak like this?
The next moment, Zhen Ning said, “They don’t have vision in the bush, and my Cleanse is up.”
Yan Chengfeng froze for a moment before his heart skipped a beat as he quickly understood what Zhen Ning meant.
“No vision” and “Cleanse up” meant they could ambush the enemy, turning the passive situation around.
Zhen Ning was subtly asking Yan Chengfeng: Do you want to try making the first move?
They used to enjoy looking for opportunities even in dire situations, and even if they were going to lose, they wanted to lose without regrets.
Yan Chengfeng understood the hint. He glanced at the minimap and said, “Okay, they just went back to buy items. Let’s wait in the bush for a bit.”
They silently waited in the bush for a while, until the opposing bottom lane finished buying their items and headed back to the lane.
Their position was actually quite good now, but Yan Chengfeng realized a serious problem: he was playing a healer.
Out of his four abilities, three were healing spells, and one was a very short-duration crowd control. A healer like this… was just too passive.
“I can’t engage with this hero.”
Yan Chengfeng felt a headache coming on. “Even if we control Star Lion, we don’t have the damage to finish him off. Unless Star Lion is stupid enough to walk right into the bush, engaging isn’t a good idea.”
Zhen Ning said, “No need to engage.”
“Don’t move yet,” he said calmly.
Yan Chengfeng was confused. “What are you saying—”
He watched as Zhen Ning stepped directly out of the grass.
Yan Chengfeng: “?? You’re going in just like that??”
Originally, Yan Chengfeng thought they were setting up an ambush, but he didn’t expect Zhen Ning to suddenly expose his vision like this.
Not only that, Zhen Ning controlled Noble Frog to walk up to the lane, first flicking its wet tongue at Star Lion, then nonchalantly continuing to farm the minions.
Yan Chengfeng: “…What exactly are you trying to do?”
The enemy’s Star Lion wasn’t an idiot. Seeing Zhen Ning’s bold provocation, he naturally didn’t act rashly.
Generally, an AD who dared to farm so recklessly like this was probably being watched by a jungler in the river.
However, after the support confirmed that there was no jungler lurking in the river, the enemy bottom lane started to stir.
The frog-and-healer combo had a very low power ceiling, so even though the enemy bot lane realized that Yan Chengfeng might be hiding in the grass, the healer wasn’t much of a threat, and at this moment, the frog was still considered an easy target.
The enemy’s Star Lion didn’t hesitate any longer. Seizing the opportunity, he used his mobility and rushed directly toward the frog, who was still flicking its tongue and swaying its head.
Yan Chengfeng saw all of this and grew increasingly anxious.
Because Zhen Ning hadn’t clearly explained what he was going to do, he only said, “Don’t move yet.” But Yan Chengfeng was never the type to just watch his AD get attacked without doing anything.
He impatiently clicked on the ground with his mouse, gritted his teeth, and stepped out of the grass himself.
However, their distance was simply too far. Yan Chengfeng took a deep breath, watching as Star Lion was about to reach out his claws toward the head-bobbing frog—
Yan Chengfeng took a deep breath.
The next second, he used his Flash, placing his body in front of Noble Frog and taking the full brunt of Star Lion’s ultimate for Zhen Ning!
Zhen Ning was stunned.
The chat went wild.
[？？？？？？？？？]
[First, Mooncard uses Flash to catch Sunflower’s seed, and now Vine Witch uses Flash to block Star Lion’s ult. Who taught you two to use Flash so recklessly?!!]
[So gentle, so delicate, so thoughtful. I’m crying. Yan Chengfeng, who are you? You’re so unfamiliar…]
Yan Chengfeng was immobilized by the enemy’s crowd control. Seeing that Zhen Ning was still in a daze, he couldn’t help but shout, “Come on, attack him already!”
Zhen Ning snapped back to his senses.
His reaction was quick—almost instantly, he activated his ultimate and positioned himself to deal damage.
Star Lion’s ultimate was wasted on a lowly healer. Without his highest burst skill, he was clearly flustered and could only rely on basic attacks while retreating with his support.
But Noble Frog had no intention of letting him go.
The little frog jumped after Star Lion, its tongue making a thwack-thwack sound as it lashed at the enemy, the slime slowing him down. Coupled with Zhen Ning’s aggressive attacks, which forced Star Lion to retreat under intense pressure, his control was flawless.
Even so, the enemy was a Star Lion two levels higher than Zhen Ning and one of the strongest heroes in this patch, capable of going toe-to-toe with any marksman.
Not to mention, Star Lion had better equipment, being two levels ahead of Zhen Ning.
Even though Yan Chengfeng had blocked the ultimate for Zhen Ning, the level difference was too great, and Zhen Ning’s health was dropping quickly. It seemed inevitable that they would both fall together.
However, since Yan Chengfeng was playing as a healer this time, the next scene that unfolded was both magical and thrilling—
Zhen Ning’s Noble Frog was on the verge of death, its health bar nearly drained, but then, suddenly, it surged back up like a heartbeat monitor and was instantly healed to full!
Then it dropped again, only to be healed back up, and then it dropped once more, only to rise again, repeating this cycle over and over.
Yan Chengfeng felt like he didn’t even have time to breathe. While positioning himself at a safe distance, his hands moved rapidly as he kept Zhen Ning’s health up, one heal after another.
At that moment, the enemy’s Star Lion and Sunflower bottom lane were utterly frustrated. They found themselves stuck in the dilemma of wanting to kill the healer but being unable to do so, while also failing to finish off the AD.
Yan Chengfeng gritted his teeth, watching Zhen Ning’s health bar rise and fall, just like his own heartbeat, fluctuating wildly. Until—
[KYM-Neither] killed [I won’t change my username unless ZC wins the championship in America this year]!
[KYM-Neither] got a double kill!
The training room fell silent; no one spoke.
Yan Chengfeng remained quiet for a moment, but he just couldn’t hold it in anymore. Proud of himself on the inside, he kept a nonchalant expression on the outside. “…Aren’t you going to say thanks?”
Zhen Ning was slightly taken aback. “What?”
Yan Chengfeng froze for a second too.
“I just used my Flash to block that ult for you.” He turned to Zhen Ning’s profile, disbelief evident in his voice. “Don’t tell me you didn’t see it!”
Zhen Ning was silent for a moment before replying, “Oh, I saw it.”
“I was just wondering why you suddenly blocked for me,” Zhen Ning said.
Yan Chengfeng wondered if there was something wrong with his ears.
“Why?” He laughed in exasperation. “Isn’t it obvious? You randomly ran out of the grass, Star Lion was about to ult you the next second, and if I hadn’t blocked it, you’d be dead. Don’t you get it—”
Zhen Ning: “I know.”
Yan Chengfeng: “…?”
“I told you not to move because my plan was to clear the wave first and lure Star Lion into using his ultimate. Our jungler was also clearing the red side and would be here soon.”
Zhen Ning continued, “As long as I baited out Star Lion’s ult and you stayed alive, once the jungler arrived, you two could definitely take him down.”
“I just wanted to take his ultimate because even if we were both on the lane, Star Lion definitely wouldn’t be stupid enough to use his ult on you.” He added calmly, “I never planned on surviving.”
Yan Chengfeng: “…”
“But you blocked the ult for me, and in the end, we both survived. It really was a win-win situation.” Zhen Ning thought for a moment and then added, “Now that I think about it, your plan was definitely more detailed than mine.”
Yan Chengfeng was left speechless.
He truly had no words because he hadn’t expected that, from both his and Zhen Ning’s perspectives, they had the same unspoken thought: sacrifice myself to let the other live.
An inexplicable flutter surged within him, and he couldn’t quite figure out what he was feeling.
Some things seemed like they wouldn’t change no matter how much time had passed.
Yan Chengfeng didn’t know how to tell Zhen Ning that, at that moment, he hadn’t done any so-called “detailed” thinking at all. He had simply seen Zhen Ning about to be hit by Star Lion and instinctively rushed out to block the attack for him.
In any case, the situation began to gradually become clearer.
After that wave of cooperation, they had figured out the rhythm for the two heroes’ damage output.
In fact, even the most mismatched heroes could perform unexpectedly well if the right strategy was found.
Before taking down the enemy’s Nexus, Yan Chengfeng was in a great mood and posted two messages in the public chat:
[KYM-Chef]: I don’t know if KYM can win the world championship. After all, life is unpredictable, and there are too many strong teams. Winning the championship is really hard.
[KYM-Chef]: But beating your favorite team? That’s no problem at all.
His words were bold and arrogant, leaving no room for Star Lion or his favorite team. The chat instantly exploded, flooding the screen with messages.
[So savage, so savage, so savage. But I really didn’t expect this game to turn around—it made me break out in a cold sweat.]
[It’s over, it’s over. Now that those two messages are out, I can’t even imagine it. The Fried Skewers fans and Grilled Corn fans have already been at each other’s throats. Tonight’s forum is probably going to explode with drama…]
[Soooo satisfying. It’s been almost a month since I’ve been blessed by such sweet words. Right now, I’m feeling completely refreshed in every sense!]
Looking at the final statistics, Yan Chengfeng was also left in disbelief. He really hadn’t expected this kind of match to turn around.
He felt like he’d never be able to play a healer like that again. By the time the match ended, his nerves were completely on edge, and his vision was practically tinted green.
Healing had been so painful.
But… it was also truly exhilarating.
In a daze, he noticed Zhen Ning had stood up.
Yan Chengfeng, still recovering, instinctively asked, “Where are you going?”
Zhen Ning replied, “You keep playing. I want to rest for a bit.”
Yan Chengfeng frowned.
He glanced at the time on his screen and realized the match had lasted almost an hour. It was already noon.
Zhen Ning had mentioned before that he needed to take a dose of his daily suppressant at noon. So, this “rest” didn’t mean…
Yan Chengfeng stared blankly at the screen for a moment.
It seemed like he suddenly remembered something. He immediately turned off the livestream and rushed out of the training room in long strides, startling Tao Luo, who had just entered while yawning. She muttered, “What’s wrong with him this time?”
Yan Chengfeng shouted at Zhen Ning, who was at the end of the corridor, “Zhen Ning!”
Zhen Ning’s figure froze. He turned around and quietly looked at Yan Chengfeng.
“You, you…” Yan Chengfeng’s Adam’s apple moved slightly.
The burning question, “Are you going to take suppressants now?” hovered on the tip of his tongue, but no matter what, he couldn’t bring himself to say it.
After all, how could he ask such a thing? He, an alpha, asking an omega something like that—was that appropriate?
However, recalling the conversation he overheard that morning in the lobby, Yan Chengfeng felt a surge of conflicting emotions, so much so that he couldn’t quite explain why he had instinctively called out to Zhen Ning or what he even wanted to say.
“You still haven’t told me how long you’ll be resting.”
After a long pause, Yan Chengfeng gruffly forced out a completely unrelated comment. “After all, we only played one ranked game. If we quit now, just when things are starting to click, wouldn’t that be pointless?”
Zhen Ning was silent for a moment before replying, “It won’t be too long.”
Without hesitation, Yan Chengfeng asked again, “Won’t be too long? Then how long exactly?”
Zhen Ning looked straight into Yan Chengfeng’s eyes.
He suddenly asked, “What’s wrong with you?”
Yan Chengfeng was taken aback by the question.
“W-what do you mean, what’s wrong with me?” He inexplicably felt a bit flustered. “I’m the one asking you the question…”
Zhen Ning stared at his face and walked right up to him.
Whether it was in the past or now, every time Zhen Ning looked at him with those dark, clear eyes, Yan Chengfeng had the feeling that all his inner thoughts were being seen through.
He heard Zhen Ning say, “Since you entered the training room this morning, you’ve been acting a bit off.”
“Yan Chengfeng.”
Zhen Ning called his name and calmly asked, “This morning, did you overhear my conversation with Dr. Zheng in the lobby?”
Author’s note: Sensitive and clever Xiao Ning!
I’m not surprised he overheard since MC has the social intelligence of a 2 year old….