Chapter 248.1: Not living up to three championships at eighteen.

translator: xiin

editor: apricot

When the next season came around, the only 18 year old left would be Close.

Getting three championships at eighteen could only refer to Close.

Yuan Ze wanted to team up with Close to win the global doubles.

Both Close and Kim Sung-hyun froze outside the door.

The door was open, but he didn’t know how to go in. After hearing these words, he didn’t even know how to respond.

However, the pancake’s fragrance was pervasive and drifted straight into the training room. Although Yuan Ze couldn’t hear anything from outside with the headphones on, his nose was very sharp. One sniff was enough for him to identify a certain someone who was addicted to Chinese food and almost wished he could eat himself into becoming a two hundred pound fatty proud flower in the last half month of his stay here.

It was like ghosts and gods were at play. Just as Yuan Ze turned his head back, Close stuffed the fruit pancake that was in his hands at Kim Sung-hyun and left for the training room next door.

Proud Flower Kim: “……”

Yuan Ze poked his head out to look at him. “Eating two on your own, you’re really capable.”

Kim Sung-hyun glanced in the direction of the neighboring door out of the corner of his eyes, which Yuan Ze caught keenly. “Is Close back from his morning run?”

Kim Sung-hyun sighed. “No.”

Yuan Ze looked visibly relieved. He took a fruit pancake and asked, “Did you add eggs?”

“Five.”

“You might as well be eating a fruit omelette!”

“There are such things as fruit omelettes????”

“Yeah, with fried fruit.”

The two of them were just outside the door. Close could hear them clearly from the next room.

He looked straight at the computer screen in front of him: There was nothing there but a customized icon with their team logo, because FTW had won the world championships. At the bottom of the icon was a tiny F, which signified the highest honor for the championship team. Although it only lasted for ten days, it was enough to show the whole world who the real global champions were.

Close’s eyelashes quivered slightly, and the corners of his lips curved gently.

He who didn’t smile often was deadly when he smiled.

Kim Sung-hyun didn’t expose Yuan Ze, and he didn’t expose Close.

He felt a little sour. In his early years, Yuan Ze had never thought of practicing with the space knight for him. Of course, one of them was on the top lane while the other was on the bottom lane, and they were the furthest distance away from each other in the canyon. Practicing it would have been useless as they didn’t have any reason to cooperate together.

He might feel sour, but he also felt pleased.

He was leaving, but his teammates were becoming more united. He felt a lot more at ease.

Later on, Kim Sung-hyun discovered that Close was also secretly practicing the space knight.

He pushed back in his e-sports chair, chewing on a sesame ball as he looked at Close. “What are you practicing with this for?”

Close: “Getting familiar with it.”

Kim Sung-hyun: “???”

Close continued calmly. “Otherwise, I won’t know how to cooperate.”

Kim Sung-hyun: “…………”

Alright, then. It was indeed their Old Shit and Lulu.

One was awkward; the other was proud. The two of them would rather die than go and double queue directly, but did they have to familiarise themselves like this!

There was no need for Close to practice the space knight. He played jungler in the Team of Gods and would remain in the jungler position even in the doubles.

However, he was very serious about training with the space knight. He learned and developed a clear understanding of all its skills, mechanisms, combos, and the details involved in its operations.

It wasn’t so that he could use it himself but rather so that he wouldn’t be unfamiliar with it when Yuan Ze used it.

Kim Sung-hyun made himself jealous all over again.

Sour, he felt really sour.

When faced with such a talented youth, who wouldn’t f*cking feel sour!

No one knew that the FTW’s proud top laner and jungler had practiced with the same support talent but never had the opportunity to make use of it.

After Kim Sung-hyun left, the senior management of the club listed all of the FTW starters.

There was a transfer period in the league, but reasonably speaking, there was no need to list players if they had no intention to complete any transfers.

The management attempted to comfort them. “It’s just a formality.”

But none of them were fools.

Just going through the motions?

Who were they looking down on?

Yan Jiang, Xie He, Yuan Ze, and Close, which one of them wasn’t a peak, god-level player?

Other teams couldn’t covet them if they weren’t listed, but once they were listed, they would be fought over even drawing sky high prices.

What’s more, this was the post-globals transfer period, which meant players could be transferred across competition zones!

Could such a listing be called ‘going through the motions’? Was FTW’s management stupid or were they treating players as stupid!

The eighteen year old triple champion dream.

Came to an end in the face of this cruel reality.

How could Kim Sung-hyun’s mood not collapse when he recalled these things as he watched these two take out the space-time knight?

It had been a destined parting, and there was no need to think back too much on these things.

After confirming the transfer, Yuan Ze’s last sentence to Close was: “We aren’t suited to being teammates. It’s good being opponents; I’ve wanted to play against you for a long time.”

If there hadn’t been that time with the space-time knight, then Close might have taken him seriously and thought that Yuan Ze was more interested in competing against him.

Now…

Close replied quietly, “Mm.”

Chen Feng had once asked Close: “Do you regret buying an empty FTW?”

Close had shaken his head. “No.”

Even if he had split up completely with his family, even if they’d thoroughly torn up any illusions of familial affection, even if he only had four short years, even if he became a puppet in the hands of the people he hated the most, and even his shoulder, as a professional players’ highly valued asset, was injured…

Close had no regrets. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

He had wanted to protect FTW.

Protect their FTW.

Yuan Ze was stunned for a long time when he saw Close using the space-time knight. He remained so until Gary shouted to him. “Captain, let’s get a double kill?”

Yuan Ze breathed in lightly. “Okay.” His voice was a little hoarse.

Old G looked careless and casual, but in fact, he wasn’t quite that dense. He looked at Yuan Ze out of the corner of his eye and said discreetly, “Have you seen Close’s space knight before?”

Yuan Ze raised his eyebrows, his voice quiet. “No.”

Gary didn’t dare ask any more questions.

FTW was very fierce when it came to their match point. Chen Feng didn’t leave any strength on the table and went for all the talents he could win for FTW.

They got the berserker thief for their jungler, the mid-lane was the immortal warlock, and they had the storm hunter for their marksman. For support, they’d taken the medicine warlock which would be a good match for their top laner.

When faced with such a support talent that required a high level of operation, Brother Cai quivered and sat up straight.

The audience was relieved and scolded Chen Feng a lot less when they saw this line-up.

Although he’d thrown away the third match, he’d managed to accumulate enough strong talents in the fourth match.

There was no need to mention the berserker thief. L&P couldn’t ban it, and they couldn’t snatch it up. It was clearly gift-wrapped for FTW.

As for the immortal warlock and storm hunter, they’d banned them before. Although they hadn’t used them yet, FTW was able to snatch them up first, and they hadn’t planned to take them just to prevent the other side from getting them.

Other than Close’s space-time knight, FTW’s remaining four talents belonged to one of their super line-ups.

These talents were also well-acknowledged as strong talents in today’s professional arena.

One fan worried. “How’s Caicai’s medicine warlock?”

“It’s good, it’s good! I’ve experienced it before in ranked games, it’s really not bad!”

“I remember that Brother Cai used it before, he did a godly operation and took away Kim Sung-hyun’s life. It’s very domineering.”

“Holy shit, that happened? Isn’t our vegetable a salted fish?”

“Salted fish can change too, not to mention with Little Lunatic Wei around!”

“I just want to quietly say that I’m very concerned about the great demon king’s space-time knight.”

“What are you afraid of! Maybe it’ll be as strangely powerful as Little Lunatic Wei’s soul warlock!”

“Well… As everyone knows, the great demon king isn’t very good at cooperating with his teammates…”

The fans couldn’t be blamed for their negative speculations. Regardless of whether it was during the Team of Gods period or even the later FTW, Close would always be known as the great demon king of the singles. He was number one for solo, but his ability to cooperate was non-existent. He would either win the game by playing one against nine or just lose, lose and lose.

One year, plus three years, then the recent half a year. It was a career that had already spanned nearly five years, which was enough to shape a player.

So, was this really all there was to Close?

Wei Xiao was very spirited. “Captain!”

He wanted to go into the other side’s jungle too. He wanted to bully Gary and Yuan Ze the way they’d bullied him before.

Lu Feng replied, “Okay.”

Wei Xiao’s smile was like the sun coming out. It was fortunate that the camera wasn’t focused on them, because if it had, then all the mama, girlfriend, husband, and wife fans would all start screaming endlessly again.

It was funny to consider this actually. This was clearly FTW’s match point game, and they would stop at the top eight if they lost this match. They were only one step away from being eliminated, but they didn’t cower at all. They played like it was the first match, and their state was similar to how they’d been during the battle of freedom. They were letting themselves go, like they weren’t scared of being eliminated at all.

Were they really not afraid?

They were all human, how could they not be afraid.

Even without mentioning the three little ones, even Wei Xiao was a bit scared.

They couldn’t lose and didn’t dare to lose.

Victory was the only option!

Rebounding from the bottom. Perhaps this belief was too strong, but it worked to suppress the tension and uneasiness among them. All their emotions were mobilized, and the only thing they could see was the crystal on the other side.

Blow it up, defeat the opponent, and win!

Wei Xiao had a character where his mood could easily infect others. When he burned with passion, his teammates would follow him into a state of fearlessness.

They just had to fight and be done with it. There was no point thinking about all those other messy things!

Wei Xiao manipulated the berserker thief and charged straight into L&P’s top jungle zone.

Reasonably speaking, the blood thief and blood warrior were strong in the early stages. The berserker thief wasn’t weak, but the space knight didn’t have its ultimate move. With this in mind, they should avoid fighting, but Wei Xiao wasn’t afraid.

Even if the space knight didn’t have its ultimate move, it still had a shield. After seeing Yuan Ze’s time shield, he believed that his captain’s shield could only ever be stronger!

It wasn’t possible to say that nobody was interested in seeing Close’s space knight.

In fact, their fans were both worried and nervous, afraid that FTW would overturn but still watching carefully through their fingers and hoping to see a different great demon king, praying that they could see him show off with any talent.

Close didn’t disappoint.

The berserker thief threw its scythe at the red buff, and Gary, who’d decided to start with the red buff, felt his heart collapse. “Little Lunatic Wei’s here.”

Yuan Ze was in a bit of a confused state at the start. He adjusted his mood, then said, “Fight.”

What was there to be afraid of? The blood thief and blood warrior who were strong in the early stages weren’t afraid of any 2v2 fights.

Wei Xiao still remembered how Old G had played with his blue buff. This time, he would play around properly with… Gary!

That’s right, what was the point in playing with the red daddy? He shot his scythe out with the intent to kill!

The berserker thief was one of the talents that Wei Xiao was best at.

If their inherited shadow thief had an aura, then this talent also carried another aura of its own.

It could be said that Wei Xiao might hold back a bit when he was playing the shadow thief, but he became a real and genuine little lunatic in the canyon when he had the berserker thief on hand.

The audience had also noticed it. “Although there’s nothing to criticize about Wei Xiao’s shadow thief, his entire temperament is obviously more suited to the berserker thief.”

“He was already crazy enough, but with this crazy talent, yeah… it’s not even human anymore!”

“What are you trying to imply, when did Little Lunatic Wei ever act human?”

The conversation in the live broadcast room took increasingly strange turns, and if passers-by were to see it, they would all wonder, “Holy shit, isn’t the score 2:1? It’s the match point, if they lose again they’ll have to pack up and go home. Why is everyone so excited?”

Don’t ask, if you ask, then it’s because Little Lunatic Wei’s too excited!

Wei Xiao really locked in on Old G with his scythe.

Gary sucked in a breath and used his two movement skills to try and pull away. Wei Xiao had guessed what he would do early on and moved first, accurately neutralizing his skill.

Yuan Ze: “It’s fine.” His blood cut and basic attack flew towards Wei Xiao at the same time. This wave of damage smashed down, sending the berserker thief to half health.

Wei Xiao didn’t even try to avoid it. He was both calm and crazy as he focused on Gary.

There was no need to dodge. The space-time knight had unlocked his second skill right off the bat and a shield dropped down from the sky, covering the berserker thief’s body.

The defensive shield switched to a reflective shield, blocking the blood cut and sending the basic attack back to the blood warrior.

Special effects burst out. By the time the shield fell, Yuan Ze and Wei Xiao had lost the same amount of health!

The berserker thief ignored the blood warrior behind him and pulled his scythe back, landing basic attacks one after another on the blood thief that he’d pulled over.

Gary was an old berserker thief player too. He naturally understood this move. “Why does it hurt so much!”

He pulled open the equipment panel and took a look. Okay, okay, okay, Little Lunatic Wei, you’re really capable. As a lofty jungler, you didn’t take the jungler knife and bought an iron sword instead.