Sister, Choose Me, I'm Super Sweet [Esports] - Chapter 21

Chapter 21: You Guys Won’t Get to the Third Game

Song Jin-yuan didn’t say anything, she just looked at Tong Yi with an expectant expression, as if waiting for her praise. Seeing Song Jin-yuan waiting to be praised, Tong Yi didn’t want to be a wet blanket of a captain.

“Alright, I’ll praise your confidence,” Tong Yi said quickly. “If you win the practice match, your captain will take you to buy candy.”

When Song Jin-yuan heard Tong Yi say this, her eyes immediately lit up. “Really? Then I absolutely have to win this one!” Song Jin-yuan said excitedly.

Tong Yi looked at the confidence and excitement in Song Jin-yuan’s eyes and couldn’t help but smile. She suddenly realized that maybe they had lost their will to fight because New Fire had lost so many times. How could they feel like they couldn’t win before the game even started?

Although their marksman and support players weren’t mature yet, she and Xia Yun were both experienced veterans, and what’s more, they had a very powerful jungler. Facing the Silver Wing team, they might not necessarily lose. It was very likely a 50/50 situation.

“You’re right,” Tong Yi said, stepping forward and patting Song Jin-yuan on the shoulder. “We will win.” This time, Tong Yi said it from the bottom of her heart.

…

At 2 PM, the practice match started on time. The five players of New Fire had arrived at the small training room next door. They sat in a row and had all logged into the game. Tong Yi, as the mid-laner, sat in the middle. To her left was the jungler, Song Jin-yuan. Song Jin-yuan was not using her own account; it was a jungler account given to her by Li Qinghan to prevent Silver Wing from figuring out who their jungler was.

Li Qinghan stood beside them, ready to direct their BP (Ban/Pick) phase. Soon, all five members of Silver Wing’s first team were online and in the room. Bai Bai, Silver Wing’s captain and marksman, sent a message first.

Bai Bai: You guys have made a lot of changes. Three positions on your first team are new. You’re not trying to fool us by bringing in your second team, are you?

Tong Yi glanced at the message from Bai Bai and quickly typed a reply.

We didn’t bring our second team.

Bai Bai: Okay, what about sides?

Tong Yi: You guys are on the blue side for the first game, we’re on the blue side for the second game, and the loser gets to choose sides for the third game. Does that work?

Bai Bai first sent a winking emoji.

Bai Bai: You guys probably won’t get to the third game with us, Xiao Yi.

When Tong Yi saw this message, her brows immediately furrowed. The meaning was obvious: she was saying that New Fire was so bad that they would be swept 2-0 by Silver Wing, and the game wouldn’t even get to the third round.

Before Tong Yi could reply, Xia Yun angrily slammed the table and cursed out loud. “Damn! What is she talking about? What’s her deal? Looking down on us? Then why did she even schedule a practice match with us?!”

“What’s wrong?” Li Qinghan walked over to Xia Yun and asked.

Tong Yi was about to try and smooth things over, but Xia Yun had already started complaining. “Coach, look at what Bai Bai said. She’s talking crazy! She said there won’t even be a third game!” Xia Yun said, pointing at the chat log on the computer screen to Li Qinghan.

Li Qinghan looked closely and immediately became furious. “What’s this? She’s being sarcastic to my players? When I was leading my team to consecutive championships, she wasn’t even a professional player. Does she think I’m not a five-time champion coach?”

Tong Yi, who had been trying to intervene, put a hand to her forehead and sighed helplessly when she heard Li Qinghan join in.

“Sister, it’s okay,” Song Jin-yuan said, patting Tong Yi’s back at the right moment. Tong Yi immediately felt that Song Jin-yuan was an angel.

At the same time, Li Qinghan angrily called Meng Shu, Silver Wing’s coach. She picked up quickly. Before the other party could speak, Li Qinghan launched into a tirade. “Old Meng, what’s wrong with your player? How can she say something like that to my players? Is that polite?”

“What happened? I wasn’t paying attention. I’ll go ask,” Meng Shu replied. Then, there was a rustling sound from the other end of the phone, followed by a quiet conversation. A moment later, Meng Shu’s voice came back. “What’s the big deal? She just said you guys won’t get to the third game. Is that a reason to be so angry?”

“Oh yeah?” Li Qinghan scoffed. “So you think there’s nothing wrong with Bai Bai saying that?”

“What’s wrong with it? It’s not like she’s wrong. How many times have you been swept 2-0 in the PPL? There’s no need to be so sensitive, right?”

Li Qinghan’s vision went black from anger, listening to Meng Shu’s nonchalant tone. This was the first time in her career that she had been looked down on like this.

On the phone, Meng Shu continued, “Besides, some matches even have a trash talk segment before the game. You guys can’t even handle that?”

Li Qinghan took a deep breath. “Alright, Old Meng, you just wait for the Summer Split. You’ll see whether we sweep you or not.”

Hearing Li Qinghan’s words, the talkative Meng Shu fell silent. After a while, she asked quietly, “Damn it, Qinghan, did you… did you poach some amazing player?” Otherwise, why would she be so arrogant?

“I’m not telling you!” Li Qinghan said with a cold snort. With that, she hung up the phone, not giving Meng Shu a chance to speak. She turned to see the five people in a row staring at her. Li Qinghan: “…”

“Coach, haha, that…” The marksman player awkwardly raised her hand, wanting to say something.

Li Qinghan gave her a cold stare, cutting her off. “If you lose this practice match, you’re all doing extra training. Get ready to go over the game footage until dawn tonight,” Li Qinghan said, word for word.

“Uh…” Xia Yun let out an awkward sound. She regretted telling on Bai Bai to Coach Li.

“Okay, Coach. We’ll win,” a serious voice suddenly said.

Li Qinghan looked at Song Jin-yuan, who had just spoken, and nodded in satisfaction. “Good. You should all learn from Xiao Yuan’s confidence.”

Soon, the game officially began. This game, New Fire was on the red side, and Silver Wing was on the blue side, with priority in the BP phase. They first banned Tong Yi’s signature hero, Yu Heng, and then banned the magic assassin, Yue Hu.

“They said they’d sweep us, but they don’t have the guts to let Xiao Yi use her assassin,” Xia Yun muttered softly.

Li Qinghan, who was standing behind them with a notebook and pen, heard this and immediately retorted, “You think they banned her assassin because they’re afraid of her? It’s because they don’t even bother to target other players. They can’t just leave the ban slot empty, can they?”

Xia Yun immediately shut up.

“If you say anything else unrelated to the game, you’ll get an extra half hour of training,” Li Qinghan warned. Xia Yun silently pursed her lips and didn’t dare to say another word. Back when Zhou Shiqing was their coach, she had never experienced this kind of pressure.

Now it was New Fire’s turn to ban a hero. “Ban Qing Nu first,” Li Qinghan said after a moment of thought. Tong Yi unhesitatingly followed Li Qinghan’s command and banned Qing Nu first. Then, Li Qinghan banned another strong support, dismantling one of Silver Wing’s go-to strategies.

It was Silver Wing’s turn to pick a hero first. After a moment, they chose the jungle-core hero, Yun Chuan. Li Qinghan only thought for two seconds before saying, “We can’t reveal our strategy for the Summer Split too early, so we’ll also play a jungle-core lineup this game.”

“Okay, Coach,” Song Jin-yuan replied obediently. Li Qinghan continued to direct them. “First floor, pick [Tian Yi].” [Tian Yi] was a support that could protect allies and initiate fights. Xia Yun’s specialty was fighters on the side lane. After Li Qinghan came, she had already started having her practice tanky side laners, but she wasn’t good at it yet. So, for this game, Li Qinghan planned to have Xia Yun continue to use a fighter, and the task of initiating fights would fall to the support.

“Can we pick a jungler on the second floor?” Song Jin-yuan asked.

Li Qinghan shook her head. “Not yet. The second floor will pick the mid-laner for Xiao Yi. Xiao Yi, you’ll be using a utility hero this game.”

“Okay, can I use Ye Xuan Ying?” Tong Yi replied.

“Yes, pick Ye Xuan Ying.” Utility mid-laners could play a big role in a match, but they relied heavily on teamwork.

Meanwhile, at the Silver Wing team’s base, captain Bai Bai couldn’t help but scoff when she saw New Fire’s second pick of Ye Xuan Ying.

“Their coach was talking so arrogantly just now. I thought they had a new lineup, but it’s still a utility hero,” Bai Bai said with undisguised sarcasm.

Meng Shu frowned and said to Bai Bai, “Don’t let your guard down. Before, Zhou Shiqing was a mediocre coach who couldn’t bring out any amazing players, but Li Qinghan is different.” After all, she didn’t get the title of a five-time champion coach for nothing. When facing other teams, studying their lineups and players was usually enough, but when facing a team led by Li Qinghan, they also had to focus on studying Coach Li Qinghan.

“Coach, you’re just overthinking it,” Bai Bai replied nonchalantly. “If you ask me, we shouldn’t even be scheduling practice matches with weak teams like them. What’s the point?”

Meng Shu gave Bai Bai a look. “I have to give Qinghan some face.” If it had been Zhou Shiqing who had reached out to schedule the match, she might have refused, but Li Qinghan was a different story.

Bai Bai was a little unhappy that Meng Shu kept praising Li Qinghan, but she didn’t say anything else. They were in the middle of a practice match, and they didn’t have time for small talk. “Pick the marksman and support on the second and third floor,” Meng Shu said.

Soon, Silver Wing’s second pick was a carry marksman. After both teams had completed their second and third picks, it was New Fire’s turn again on the third floor. Meng Shu waited a moment, then saw the other side lock in the jungle-core hero, [Jiu Chong Tian].

When she saw this hero being picked, Meng Shu was also stunned.

“See? I told you they’re still using the same old tricks,” Bai Bai said with disdain. “I don’t think this jungler is a rookie at all. She’s probably just Qu Feng in disguise to fool us.”

Meng Shu frowned and denied it. “It’s probably not Qu Feng. Qu Feng has never used Jiu Chong Tian in a match before, and I heard she’s already confirmed her transfer.” What’s more, Jiu Chong Tian was a very difficult hero to play, testing a player’s skills to the limit. Even in professional matches, this hero’s pick rate was very low.