Chapter 155 (4)
Tong Yao was extremely anxious as she looked at the destroyed nexus turret, the base that only had a nexus standing, and the 40 seconds on her respawn timer: “I suggest to change our fighting song to [1] for the next round, alright? We won’t feel ashamed even if it’s put in the montage…… I feel like the reason we’ll lose this round has a lot to do with that lousy song you just sang. Who started it? I blame you for it!”
As Tong Yao was talking, all her teammates were preparing to move on to the next round. Old Cat and Old K kept retreating from the other team which still had their mid intact. Fortunately, Old Cat was tanky enough now and the minion lane had soaked most of the damage for them. After a while, the two of them were forced back to their own base by the other side’s mid, top, and support that were now supported by a lot of super minions– —
Tong Yao still had 15 seconds left till she respawned.
The commentators mumbled: “Is it over? Is it over?” ZGDX’s minions charged out of their base and Ai Jia and Rongrong moved forward to farm them.
Tong Yong still had 10 more seconds until she respawned.
After Ai Jia and Rongrong cleared away the minions, they moved towards the nexus. In the meantime, Old K, regardless of the danger, thrust into the other side’s three-men group and tried to control Ai Jia, but was instead slain by Ai Jia. Ai Jia however only had a fifth of his health left.
It was 5 seconds before Tong Yao respawned.
Commentator A: [It looks like this round’s over.]
Commentator B: [YQCB’s starting to push the nexus– –But, something’s not right, ahhhh, Smiling is about to respawn, ahhhh!]
When YQCB was half way through destroying ZGDX’s nexus, Tong Yao respawned.
She dashed out of the base, used e, q first to kill Ai Jia; then w, r, and cast ignite to kill Rongrong; and finally blasted Liangsheng, the only player left– –On the big screen, the big words Triple Kill appeared. YQCB had been aced!
The entire audience jumped to their feet, boiling with excitement. The commentators also stood up from their seats!
Old Cat and Tong Yao cleared the minion lane. The base at this point only had less than 100 health points– —
The new minion wave appeared and Lu Sicheng respawned!
Tong Yao handed over the left over minions to Old Cat, then went with Lu Sicheng straight towards YQCB’s base– —
Commentator A: [They’ve come back! Ahhhhhh, come back! ! ! ! ]
Commentator B: [Can they do it? Can they? Smiling and Chessman have reached the other side’s base– –Ah, the esports’ Condor couple! Huang Rong and Guo Jing![2] Diaochan and Lu Bu!][3]
Commentator A: [They’ve started to take down the nexus turret with good speed! ! Ah, Pope’s respawned, but it’s no use. This time Cheng Ge has his Heal at the ready! Pope’s dead! ! What a comeback with only 50 health left on their nexus! ! ! ! ! ! The repeat of a classic move from three years ago! ! ! ! Today! ! ! ! Tonight! ! Right at this moment! ! ! !]
From the moment she respawned, dashed out of the spring, got a triple kill, rushed to the other side’s base with Lu Sicheng till the time they took down YQCB’s nexus turret, killed Pope, continued to blast the enemy nexus, Tong Yao hadn’t said a word. She just felt her heartbeat quicken, her adrenaline level explode, and that she couldn’t see anything in front of her except the enemy’s red nexus– —
It felt like she had even forgotten how to breath.
Suddenly she remembered something she said in an interview when she first started to play professionally. At the time the reporter asked her: Tong Yao, as the major league’s first female professional player, why did you choose “Smiling” as your id?
……She remembered how she had answered the question– —
[Because my favorite professional player is Team We’s Weixiao[4], Guo Xuecheng, the king. He’s the well deserved number one ad in the world. He’s the one who said “don’t give me money, I want to play professionally,” deservedly respected by all the esports world. I know it was the greatest regret in his professional career that he didn’t get the world championship in S2. Later on he retired without having another chance to go back to the S series finals…… Therefore, I hope, one day, I can take the name “Smiling” back to the world stage.]
— –Finally, one day, the name of “Smiling” was going back to the world stage!
[1]: China’s national anthem.
[2]: Their referring to the couple in a famous wuxia story called The Legend of Condor Heroes, (神雕侠侣 / shén diāo xiá lǚ).
[3]: This time it’s a couple from the Three Kingdoms, a period of Chinese history that is most commonly known from the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
[4]: Just a reminder, Weixiao (微笑) means “smile” in Chinese.
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