Sister, Choose Me, I'm Super Sweet [Esports] - Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Mid-Jungle Synergy

Tong Yi hesitated for a moment before replying, “I’d love that… but you don’t even have any mana left.”

Just as she spoke, the blue buff in the enemy’s jungle was about to respawn.

“I’ll go grab theirs,” Song Jin-yuan said. “Sister, I’m dedicating all the blue buffs in this game to you.”

Tong Yi couldn’t help but let out a small laugh. “Okay.”

The moment Tong Yi said “okay,” Song Jin-yuan suddenly used her ultimate right where she stood.

Tong Yi: “?”

“Oh, sorry, Sister, I pressed it by accident,” Song Jin-yuan explained with a light cough.

“It’s alright,” Tong Yi replied, smiling.

The stream’s chat exploded.

“Hahahaha, I’m dying! Tong just laughed, and the jungle queen immediately ulted.”

“Jungle Queen: ‘My sister smiled at me. Time to celebrate with an ultimate.'”

“Only a fellow fan understands how cute the jungle queen is. ‘Oops, pressed it by accident!'”

“The enemy team is so pathetic. Yuan is just treating their jungle like her own farm. Did their jungler even get a single blue buff this game?”

“If I were the enemy jungler, I’d be having a mental breakdown right now.”

The game ended smoothly in less than 20 minutes, and as expected, the jungler was the MVP.

“You played really well,” Tong Yi told Song Jin-yuan. “Your timing for engagements was spot-on.” Every time Song Jin-yuan initiated a fight, her actions were precise, her strategy was in sync with Tong Yi’s, and she made almost no mistakes.

“Just average, still not as good as you, Sister,” Song Jin-yuan replied humbly.

Tong Yi chuckled and clicked on Song Jin-yuan’s profile. “You have so many national rankings, and your peak rank is quite high,” she said, sounding genuinely surprised.

Not just Tong Yi, but the viewers in the live stream were also shocked to see Yuan’s profile, which was comparable to that of a professional player.

“Yeah, it’s a shame I don’t have more time to play, or I could probably get into the top 50 in peak rank,” Song Jin-yuan said.

Tong Yi thought that a talent like Song Jin-yuan must have already caught the attention of professional team coaches. So she couldn’t resist asking, “Then have you—” She stopped herself mid-sentence.

She remembered she was still live streaming. Asking about being scouted in front of so many people wasn’t appropriate, so she decided to contact her privately after the stream.

“What were you going to say, Sister?” Song Jin-yuan asked when Tong Yi stayed silent.

“Nothing. Let’s continue.”

“Okay, I’m ready.”

Tong Yi took a sip of water from her cup and clicked “Start.”

In this new match, Song Jin-yuan was the first pick, and Tong Yi was the third.

“Sister, do you need a hero picked for you?” Song Jin-yuan asked.

“No need, you just take what you want,” Tong Yi quickly replied.

However, Song Jin-yuan didn’t immediately select a hero. After a moment, she said, “Sister, how about you play Jade Star this game?”

“Jade Star?” Tong Yi was taken aback, not understanding the sudden request.

“Yeah, I see everyone in your live stream asking you to play Jade Star,” Song Jin-yuan said.

Tong Yi was surprised and then looked at the chat. It was indeed flooded with comments asking for the hero [Jade Star]. It was her signature hero, and many people started following her because of it. It was a normal request, but ever since every professional team started banning [Jade Star] in matches, she rarely played the hero. Since she couldn’t use it professionally, she focused on practicing other heroes, and she hadn’t played a mage assassin in a competitive game for nearly a year.

The chat filled with celebratory comments.

“Yes! The jungler girl is the best, she’s doing us a favor!”

“Yuan-god is amazing!”

“Team Captain Tong, did you hear that? She wants you to play Jade Star!”

“Okay, I’ll play Jade Star this game then,” Tong Yi said, pre-selecting [Jade Star] and requesting a hero swap. “But are you watching my live stream?” In the previous game, she occasionally interacted with her viewers, so it was easy for the other team to guess she was streaming, but how did she find her exact live stream so quickly?

As Tong Yi wondered, Song Jin-yuan spoke.

“I’ve been watching since you started the stream, Sister.”

Tong Yi was stunned. She instinctively wanted to ask if she was a fan, but that felt a bit arrogant. She finally cleared her throat and asked, “So you know who I am?”

The person on the other end was silent for a moment, then let out a laugh.

“Of course I do, Yi-god.”

When the words “Yi-god” came from the other person’s mouth, Tong Yi was stunned, then coughed uncomfortably. She felt a strange warmth in her cheeks, as if Yuan had called her that on purpose.

“Hahaha, the jungle girl suddenly teased Yi-god, and Yi-god is speechless.”

“Say something, Team Captain Tong! You’re a grown-up, you have to act like one when a younger girl teases you!”

“The jungler is so playful. I’ll ship this for a second.”

“The person above, you were shipping Heng-Yi before! You’re so disloyal!”

When it was Song Jin-yuan’s turn to pick, she locked in the jungler hero [Heavenly Star] without a moment’s hesitation.

“You’re playing Heavenly Star?” Tong Yi asked.

“It’s the jungler I’m best at,” Song Jin-yuan replied quickly.

The chat comments sped up even more.

“I think Yuan is doing it on purpose. Heavenly Star and Jade Star are a couple in the game’s lore, and so many people ship them.”

“I was just about to say that when I saw the jungle girl pick Heavenly Star.”

“Hahahaha, her intentions are completely exposed!”

Jade Star] and [Heavenly Star]—a mage and a jungler—are sworn enemies in the game’s lore, but their storyline is incredibly shippable. This hero pairing has the most fan content in the game, Breaking the Formation.

“Sister, how about we play with a mid-jungle synergy this game?” Song Jin-yuan asked Tong Yi.

Tong Yi was momentarily stunned, then subconsciously asked, “Sure, but are you good at mid-jungle synergy?” She didn’t mean to offend, but many junglers only specialize in a jungle-centric playstyle.

“I can do it, Sister,” Song Jin-yuan quickly replied.

“Alright then.”

Junglers generally fall into a few major categories: jungle-centric, supportive, and tempo-based. The [Heavenly Star] that Yuan chose is a tempo-based jungler, known for being strong early on and having a great ability to snowball. However, this type of jungler is very vulnerable to having their tempo disrupted, so it requires the player to have great game sense. Jade Star and Heavenly Star are actually an excellent combination for a mid-jungle synergy. Tong Yi hadn’t played this style in a long time, and hearing Song Jin-yuan’s words made her feel excited.

The game quickly began.

At the start, Song Jin-yuan went into the red buff area to clear her jungle, while Tong Yi went to the middle lane to clear the minion wave. After quickly gaining lane priority, Tong Yi immediately went to steal a small monster from the enemy jungle. The second minion wave in the middle lane arrived, and Tong Yi was about to call Song Jin-yuan to share it, but she saw that Song Jin-yuan had already cleared the red jungle and was heading straight to the middle lane.

Tong Yi was momentarily stunned. Then, the two of them tacitly shared the minion wave, then tacitly went to the blue jungle to help Song Jin-yuan clear it, leaving the blue buff for her. Seeing some questions in the chat about this strategy, Tong Yi thoughtfully explained.

“If you’re in a mid-jungle duo queue, this is a perfectly valid strategy. It allows the jungler to clear the jungle faster, and the mid-laner can level up more quickly.”

After Tong Yi’s explanation, Song Jin-yuan also added, “Right. And if a jungler is good at the game, they don’t mind a teammate helping to clear monsters because a faster clear speed makes it easier to snowball.”

The enemy’s mid-laner was an aggressive mage with a long attack range. Tong Yi had lost more than half her health, while the enemy was still at full health. The minion waves were about to meet. Tong Yi saw that Song Jin-yuan was already on her way to the middle lane, so she didn’t go back to the base to recover.

“The most important core of a mid-jungle synergy is ganking the middle lane. For example, I have low health right now, but I definitely can’t give up this minion wave. If the jungler doesn’t come, I won’t be able to get this wave of minions,” Tong Yi explained.

The full-health enemy mage stood menacingly outside the middle tower. If Tong Yi dared to go out to clear the minions, the enemy would immediately use a combo of skills on her.

“I’m here, Sister!” Along with Song Jin-yuan’s sweet voice, Heavenly Star arrived in the middle lane and shared the minion wave with Tong Yi. The enemy mid-laner, who had been ready to attack, suddenly saw a full-health jungler approaching and immediately retreated, keeping a safe distance. While they were clearing the minions, Tong Yi used the opportunity to chip away at the enemy mage’s health.

After clearing the wave, Song Jin-yuan gave the enemy mid-laner a fake visual cue that she was heading to the top lane. At the same time, Tong Yi, with low health, went forward to bait the enemy mid-laner. When the enemy saw a potential kill, she immediately went in to use her skills. But Tong Yi’s movements were so incredible that she didn’t land a single hit. At the same time, Song Jin-yuan came back for a surprise attack and took down the enemy mid-laner with a single combo.

—FIRST BLOOD!

“Nice,” Tong Yi couldn’t help but praise. They were cooperating so well without her even having to give commands.

Song Jin-yuan smiled a little shyly and said, “The enemy jungler had better understand that I’m trying to destroy their mid-laner and come help, or their mid-laner will have a mental breakdown this game.” Hearing Song Jin-yuan’s confident words, Tong Yi couldn’t help but laugh.

Because Song Jin-yuan frequently ganked the middle lane, Tong Yi always had lane priority and was able to roam and support other lanes with her. As a result, their gold quickly snowballed.

“Whether you’re playing with a mid-jungle synergy or not, the jungler needs to pay close attention to the mid-lane minions. You absolutely cannot let the mid-laner lose lane priority,” Tong Yi said to the viewers. If the mid-laner doesn’t have lane priority, they can’t roam and support other lanes. A mid-laner who only clears the middle lane minions will be very poor, so a jungler should prioritize ganking the middle lane over the other two lanes.