Chapter 39: Wei Xiao: I choose Close.

translator: xiin

editors: apricot & juurensha

Shit, he really dared to say it!

The entire audience followed suit and grew excited.

The audience in the banquet hall was full of professional players, some of whom were famous. They understood Marshal better than the fans did, and they also understood more about the value of the Temple of Glory.

For Marshal to be listed in the Temple of Glory, there was no doubting his strength.

When facing the strong, many people would become nervous and afraid.

This was human nature. It was understandable, but it wasn’t appreciated.

It was different with Wei Xiao. He wasn’t afraid or nervous, and could even dig a trap for Old Thief Yuan and launch a perfect verbal attack.

Powerful! No matter what his technical abilities were like, his mentality was very strong!

Yuan Ze was a pure sadist through and through. The stronger his opponent was, the more interested he was. If Wei Xiao quailed, then he would forget who this person was at any minute.

However, not only did Wei Xiao not back down, he could always surprise him with a ‘counterattack’.

Yuan Ze liked this child and had a very sincere appreciation for him.

The host was really sad. Was the e-sports circle all so flashy? One person after another had no filter over their mouths and really dared to say whatever they wanted to!

Fortunately, she didn’t have to translate this time. Everyone had understood.

The host tried to forcibly soften up the atmosphere, “In that case, please pick your opponents. Will Marshal choose?”

The opponents could be picked from any doubles team that had registered in professional competitions.

Yuan Ze reverted back to being a gentleman again, “Let the kid choose.”

Wei Xiao wasn’t polite and accepted the button that the host handed over.

This doubles performance match was already full of drama. First, Yuan Ze had selected his teammate, and then it was Wei Xiao who picked an opponent.

After layer upon layer of unexpected occurrences, everyone’s expectations had already been roused to the highest peak!

The opening game was an explosive 5v5, followed by a dramatic doubles match. These opening games were really great!

Before long, the names that scrolled across the screen stopped, and the selected opponent appeared.

It wasn’t Kim Sung-hyun and Li Heran, nor was it Asleep and Cong Yi from China.

However, the two names that floated on the screen weren’t unfamiliar––SK.Ali, SK.Ayu.

This Carp combo was the new rising star of the doubles competition.

SK was a new South Korean team. They focused on the doubles competition and were eager to achieve results.

Although this group hadn’t officially participated in the global competitions, they had the immortal partners Kim Sung-hyun and Li Heran in their domestic competition zone, and they’d honed their skills significantly under them.

Pro was more focused on obtaining the top spot in the team competition this year, so they had relaxed their attention on the doubles.

Since SK, as a brother team in the same competition zone, wanted to fight for recognition in the doubles competition, Pro was willing to help.

So, even though Ali and Ayu weren’t sufficiently experienced in big competitions, there was no doubt that they were very strong.

Their strength was probably higher than that of last year’s doubles runner up.

Yuan Ze laughed, “You’re really quite lucky.”

To be able to draw out a pair who were almost equal to drawing Kim Sung-hyun and Li Heran.

Wei Xiao glanced at him, “Scared?”

Yuan Ze: “……”

Wei Xiao didn’t give him a chance to open his mouth and speak, “Get offstage if you’re scared. I’ll change partners.”

Yuan Ze looked at Lu Feng seated off-stage from the corner of his eye and said in a low voice, “Your captain isn’t good at doubles.”

Wei Xiao tsked, “There’s nothing my captain isn’t good at!”

Yuan Ze didn’t say anything else. He shook his head and said, “Come on, the game is going to start.”

The four people took their seats and entered the ban & pick stage.

There were also six ban positions in a doubles competition. This wasn’t just for the sake of targeting the opponent, but also so that some talents that were overpowered in the current version of the game could be banned, saving everyone from suffering if they weren’t able to snatch it up.

The commentator finally became aware of a problem.

“If I remember correctly, Quiet is also a top-lane, right?”

“Yes, the China competition zone FTW’s new top-laner.”

“As we all know, Marshal only plays top-lane heroes.”

Regardless of whether it was team competitions, doubles, or even the singles competition he had participated in three years ago, he used top-lane heroes.

Yuan Ze had a famous quote, “The top lane is a faith. Using other talents is insincere, like cheating.”

Later, Gary exposed the truth after drinking, “Oh, our captain can’t play other positions. To be honest, I saw him take the shadow thief once. Tsk tsk tsk, it wasn’t like cheating, it was more like domestic violence, yes, being on the receiving end!”

In any case, no matter what the truth was, Marshal only used top lane heroes––Old Dog Yuan wanted his dignity, and he wouldn’t shame himself in front of over 100 of his colleagues. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

So, that led to the problem…

Commentator A: “It’s not that you can’t play a doubles game with two top-laners, but the win rate isn’t high that way.”

A doubles match depended on cooperation. Using heroes with different positions could play out a better effect.

Commentator B: “After all, it’s a performance match. Winning or losing isn’t important as long as it’s fun to watch.”

As soon as these words came out, the people from the China competition zone who understood the truth all expressed, “Ha-ha.”

Winning or losing didn’t matter?

Did you take a look at who was sitting up on the stage!

That was the little beast who picked fights with half the Glory circle and would love dearly to stick the word ‘Victory’ on his forehead!

How could he concede defeat!

Commentator A: “Well… Quiet took the shadow thief.”

Commentator B: “He isn’t taking it for God Yuan to play, right?”

Commentator A: “God Yuan’s shadow thief…”

Old G’s drunken words were still fresh in everyone’s memories.

Commentator B: “He locked it! FTW’s new top-laner will be using it!”

Not only were the commentators surprised, most of the players in the banquet hall were also surprised.

The shadow thief was a hero that was practically linked up with Close.

Who at the scene had never thought of competing in the individual competition?

However, what was the use of thinking about it?

Just look at the great demon king that stood at the peak, and they could f*cking only think about it!

Countless top players liked the shadow thief. For no other reason, but because the upper limit for this hero was too high, and how it was operated depended on each player’s own level.

How the shadow thief played out was directly related to a player’s real strength.

It was so simple and so rough. Who wouldn’t want to use it to prove themselves!

Unfortunately, the great demon king in front of them was too fierce. The shadow thief could only become the white moonlight in everyone’s heart––sacred and inviolable.

One of the contestants off-stage spoke brainlessly, “Trying to drive a duck onto a perch?”

“Marshal probably plans to use the divine warrior. As we all know, the divine warrior and shadow thief is an immortal pairing.”

“Quiet is a little miserable; is he going up on stage to act as a foil?”

“There’s no helping it. Who told him to meet Marshal.”

“Tsk tsk tsk, you can mess with anyone, but don’t mess with that old dog.”

“Feeling heartache for Quiet.”

The 3U team who had heard all this: There’s really no need to feel heartache.

Ever since Wei Xiao went up on stage, Lu Feng hadn’t spoken a single word.

Chen Feng looked at him several times. He wanted to say something, but he didn’t know where to start.

Tang Chen was less careful and opened his mouth to start with, “Speaking of which, Old Yuan’s divine warrior was trained up for Old Lu.”

Chen Feng: “…………”

Would you die if you f*cking spoke less?

The White Cabbage who loved gossip and didn’t know the truth perked up his ears.

There was content! And it was a huge piece of ancient gossip!

The Gossip Emperor’s heart was perked up and ready to make trouble.

However, Chen Feng avoided the topic and didn’t dare to discuss it while the person involved was very calm. Lu Feng could be heard saying, “That’s not it.”

He was actually willing to talk. Top-lane was immediately interested and asked, “Is it true? Yuan Ze was the one who said so; he said that the team wanted the two of you to play doubles, and at the time, the combo of divine warrior and shadow thief together was incredibly strong. You were particularly good at the shadow thief in the team, and Yuan Ze…” Had been the team’s top-laner, and practicing the divine warrior was very necessary for his position.

Although Yuan Ze’s divine warrior wasn’t weak, at the time, he’d been better with the heroes like the death knight and shadow gunner, and the stable divine warrior wasn’t something he was good at.

Lu Feng paused, then said, “Him and I are unable to play doubles together.”

Tang Chen wanted to ask more, but Chen Feng gave this great fool a push and said, “Doubles really depends on a player’s character. Of course you two weren’t suited to play together.” These words were aimed at smoothing things out.

In fact, within the Team of Gods back then, there was nobody who could play doubles.

Doubles wasn’t like the individual competition where they could just directly let loose and be done with it.

A doubles match wasn’t like the team competition where there were many places they could coordinate together.

Doubles was unique, more unique than the individual competition.

It required the two players in the field to have an incomparable compatibility, tacit understanding, and cooperation, and it also required mutual tolerance and trust.

In 2020, the champions of the double competition were Kim Sung-hyun and Li Heran, who’d been sleeping together in the same room since junior high.

Asleep and Cong Yi, the seed players for the doubles competition in China, grew up together since childhood, and nobody except Cong Yi could understand Asleep’s words.

Looking at this Carp combo who were up against Yuan Ze and Wei Xiao, the two 17 year old youths had been eating and sleeping together for more than a year in order to develop enough tacit understanding and make their mark in the doubles competition.

A doubles match was by no means something that two players could successfully play together at will.

That was what everyone thought, until…

“Holy shit, he’s motherf*cking strong!”

“Have these two trained together in private before?”

“This kid’s shadow thief is too powerful!”

The game began. Yuan Ze took the divine warrior, and Wei Xiao took the shadow thief. The two of them entered the arena, and their momentum was as vibrant as a rainbow!

While everyone still believed that Wei Xiao’s shadow thief was a foil, he recklessly started up the first kill!

The terrain for the doubles match was similar to that of singles, but it had two more corners to the map than the singles one. There were two ancient creatures in the corners that added additional strategies and variables for the doubles match.

According to principle, in a doubles competition with a top-laner and a jungler, the top-laner should clear the line of soldiers while the jungler went to control the dragon. After developing for a while they would then start to make trouble.

These two weren’t like that. They were simply poisonous.

At the start of the game, the divine warrior stacked up his buffs and charged towards the tower to receive a set of skills from Ali. Ali was very cautious and made a tactical retreat, wanting to avoid being attacked, but who could’ve known that the divine warrior wouldn’t retreat? Instead, it advanced and directly absorbed the damage from the opposing side’s defensive tower. Just as he was sending himself to die beneath the tower, a red light flashed by. The shadow thief’s stealthy and sudden attack with a set of skills took away Ali’s life!

First blood appeared just like that. The divine warrior and shadow thief retreated from the defensive tower at the same time. They had been fierce when they attacked and silent when they retreated. The only one who toppled was SK’s Ali!

This round of cooperation left the audience stunned.

It took the commentator a while before they could say, “Very, very tacit.”

Commentator B: “The divine warrior did its absolute limit in resisting the tower, but if the shadow thief was even one second slower, he would’ve died beneath the tower.”

Commentator A: “The last hit from the tower fell on the shadow thief’s body. His calculations were precise!”

After that, it became even more exciting.

Everyone had thought wrongly. How was this shadow thief a foil?

This was clearly his home court!

The real foil was Yuan Ze’s divine warrior. He was a strong and aggressive player, but once he changed his style, he was able to create flourishes with the divine warrior that was the epitome of stability.

Why was the divine warrior and shadow thief such an immortal pairing in a doubles competition?

It was because there was a natural fit between these two talents.

The shadow thief could strike suddenly, like a sharp blade pulled out of its sheath.

The divine warrior had a high fault tolerance rate and could clear away all obstacles for that sharp blade.

One to launch sudden attacks, one to guard the rear, it was a natural mutual dependency!

Soon, there was someone who couldn’t help saying, “This shadow thief… was it personally trained up by Close?”

“Doesn’t seem like it, I always feel that there’s something different about it.”

They couldn’t see it, but those who were familiar with Close could understand the difference at a glance.

On the Pro side.

Kim Sung-hyun spoke to the man beside him, “No wonder Yuan Ze is trying so desperately to pry him out.”

Seated to his left was a cold and indifferent-eyed man. At first glance, it seemed that his facial features were flat, but after looking for a long time, he seemed to have a certain charm. His low-key, calm temperament made it easy to forget him, but he should definitely not be ignored.

This was Pro’s captain, the support position, Li Heran.

Li Heran replied, “He’s a very compatible player.”

Kim Sung-hyun: “It’s rare to see such a strong one.”

The universal criteria for evaluating a player was based on the strength of the individual, while the other criteria was their compatibility levels, which was what every strong team yearned for.

Most support players were highly compatible and could work with their teammates, coordinate with the team, and in most cases, integrate the entire team together.

However, support positions tended to be generally quite weak when it came to their personal strength.

It wasn’t that they weren’t good, it was just that they had different priorities.

Strength and compatibility were two criteria that tended to diverge.

Strong players were generally not very compatible with others, while those who could be perfectly compatible with others were generally not very strong.

Looking at the entire global Glory circle, there was only one person who met these two criteria and had reached the peak.

FTW’s former captain.

The man who’d ascended to the Temple of Glory as a support position and created countless myths.

And now, another one had shown up…

FTW’s Quiet.

A little lunatic who’d just entered the professional circle, yet played like a little maniac in the canyon––

It appeared disorderly and reckless, but in fact, every step was calculated, and his moves were defensive everywhere.

It was that extreme, yet just as harmonious.

It left people amazed.

This was also the difference between Quiet and Close.

One gave the home team momentum, while the other was absolute control.

It wasn’t the same.

There was no suspense about the outcome of the game.

Yuan Ze and Wei Xiao won.

It wasn’t that Ali and Ayu weren’t strong, but they were unable to play out their real strength from beginning to end.

The cooperation between Yuan Ze and Wei Xiao was much better than they’d expected. The operations of the shadow thief broke through their cognition again and again.

In the early stages, their mentality grew unstable, and it was practically shattered in the later stages.

Kim Sung-hyun could see it clearly, “These two kids are still inexperienced.”

It wasn’t that they couldn’t beat them, but that they’d been beaten into a daze.

In the final analysis, Yuan Ze and Wei Xiao were a temporary team. They weren’t familiar with each other beforehand, and no matter how talented they were, they shouldn’t have been able to win so easily.

The main reason for their victory was that the Carp combo’s mentality had collapsed and they couldn’t hold up. If it had been Kim Sung-hyun… oh, if it had been Asleep and Cong Yi, it wouldn’t have been to the point where they’d lose to this temporary group.

No matter what the reasons were, winning was a fact.

What made people even more convinced was that this Quiet really had some skills!

In this match, the shadow thief had shown off to the heavens and won everyone over.

Among other things, he was entitled to receive Marshal’s invitation and even more qualified to refuse him.

They’d all originally thought that FTW would have a bad year this year, but unexpectedly, they’d obtained fresh blood, and it was fresh blood that wouldn’t be overshadowed by Close’s glory!

Was this the end of the performance matches?

Obviously not.

The host came up to the stage again, congratulating the victors while comforting the defeated team. Then, she said, “Next is the last part of the program.”

Sure enough…

They’d already had 5v5 and doubles. They couldn’t leave out the individual match!

But, this time, the competition committee had decided to shock them all the way to the end, and they all heard the host continue, “The winner of the doubles competition can choose the next match.”

This opportunity fell into Wei Xiao’s hands, because Yuan Ze had already chosen once.

Wei Xiao could choose to find a teammate and continue to play doubles, or choose an opponent and have a brilliant solo match.

After hearing this rule, everyone who knew Little Lunatic Wei all fell silent:

There was no getting away from it…

The little lunatic wanted to solo with Lu Feng even in his dreams.

How could he let go of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

Who could’ve known that Wei Xiao would pick up the microphone and say, “I pick Close. I want to invite him to be my teammate.”

He gave up the chance of a solo match and chose to play another doubles match, this time with Close!