Chapter 39 – National Standard
The end of the World Championship marks the offseason, and at the same time, the biannual transfer window begins.
Compared to the previous transfer window, there isn’t much excitement this year. After all, nothing can top the shock of the Stars “marrying” the K team last time.
Lian Rong renewed the contract with TG, signing another short-term contract for the season. This means he won’t get many valuable resources within the team, at most just playing around on Weibo and doing live broadcasts to show his face.
The Black Lotus sisters expressed their frustration.
FG replaced their original top laner and acquired the top laner Zuzhi from the KV team.
And so on.
Anyway, regardless of DCT’s situation, everyone in the DCT team stays busy with late-night training matches, intensive training, and peak matches.
Lin Xingling’s hand has improved a bit, so he can join everyone in training. Cheng Che finally has a legitimate reason to play until dawn in the peak matches, reaching a higher rank.
Usually, besides training matches, flex matches, and peak matches, Wu You usually plays with Phantom. They call it sweet duo queue.
The fans love to see them interact… especially when one is proactive and the other plays hard to get.
Liu Ying enjoys playing solo, always being a lone wolf no matter when.
Originally, Cheng Che wanted him to play in a three-man team with himself and Lin Xingling, but according to Brother Feng, Liu Ying focuses on developing his mid-lane control and adaptability, so that idea was abandoned.
Lin Xingling plays together with Cheng Che.
When Cheng Che is not streaming, he practices the coordination between marksman and support with him.
But during the livestream, Cheng Che doesn’t play marksman.
Usually, he plays jungle, and Lin Xingling doesn’t pick heroes like Guiguzi or Taiyi Zhenren.
Instead, he chooses someone like Yao (曜) or Cai Wenji to protect him.
“What support do you want?” (Xing)
“Cai Wen… or maybe Yao (曜).” (Che)
Cheng Che feels sorry for Lin Xingling’s wrist, so he tries not to let him play unless necessary.
However, Lin Xingling locked in Yao (瑶)[mfn]
[/mfn] as the first pick… it was a powerful move, making the opponents immediately suspect who the spy is.
After all, in high-level matches, if someone picks Yao without considering team compositions, they are either actors or bosses.
Or like him, being led.
Cheng Che chose Yao (曜)[mfn]
[/mfn], who is great for jungling.
Lately, the two of them have been playing ranked matches, making extra efforts to avoid being recognized.
Lin Xingling changed his ID to “LastNightStarCalm,” and Cheng Che said he should be in the front, so he changed his ID to “Clearstars.”
Wu You noticed and asked, “Clearstars… the pure azure sky?”
Their fans who support them as a duo are now calling them the “Pure Azure Sky Combination”… it sounds better than the father-son combination in the bot lane.
In a ranked match at 37 stars in King of Glory, their own marksman made a comment, saying that Yao is a useless hero and sarcastically mentioned that Xingling only picks Yao without considering team compositions, leaving him with no choice but to pick Moskov.
Cheng Che asked, “He forced you to pick Marco Polo?”
The marksman replied with an ellipsis.
In King of Glory, some players have strong prejudices against certain heroes… it’s actually the summoners’ problem, wanting to impose their biases onto the heroes.
After venting his frustration, the marksman still had the audacity to order others around, saying, “Why isn’t the support coming down to help me? Are you camping mid-lane?”
While helping the mid-lane hero Hanzo contest the jungle monster, Lin Xingling quickly signaled and hurried down to the bot lane upon hearing those words.
Cheng Che, who was clearing the red buff, said, “Come… come here.”
“I’ll help him. It’s fine. The opponents have a marksman and support duo, pressuring our top laner as well.” Lin Xingling smiled, showing that he wasn’t angry.
Cheng Che pouted, “Hmm.”
[“You’re not angry, but the kid is!”]
[“The little brother just wants to slice the pineapple into eight pieces.”]
[“Some people are alive but already dead. Marco, take care of yourself. [Amusing emoji]”]
Yao (曜) finished a round of jungle farming, reached level four, and went to the bottom lane to confront the opponents’ marksman and support. He secured a double kill, took the dragon, and gained an advantage.
“Captain, follow… follow me.”
Cheng Che snapped his fingers and said, “I’ve… I’ve farmed well now, I’ll take you… for some chaotic kills.”
“But I’m already dead,” Lin Xingling said weakly.
Yao (瑶): [Yao (瑶), resurrection time: 13 seconds]
Clearstars (Yao (曜)): …
Yao (曜): [Marco Polo, alive]
If I give you the support, and you can’t gain an advantage, why did you sell the support? This is unbearable.
Cheng Che led Lin Xingling to roam around, ganking enemies, taking dragons, and counter-jungling. He never let Lin Xingling follow others again, and he never let him die… Lin Xingling even managed to protect his own shield without breaking it, doing it all himself.
Since the functionality of the Knowledge Gem was changed in 2021, there is no longer a need to split the economy for buying the third-level support item before ten minutes… Lin Xingling didn’t react in time and bought the item after cooldown boots, only to regret it later.
“I bought the wrong item… I should have gone for the big support item directly…”
This is a mistake he should never make because he had never made such an error before, whether in training or in competitive matches.
Dad Star felt extremely guilty and weakly climbed down from Yao’s shoulder, controlled by Cheng Che.
“If we notice it earlier, we can… we can solve it earlier.”
Cheng Che looked up at him and smiled, “Come… come up, in the next game… you’re not allowed to buy the big support item.”
“Hmm!”
[Marco Polo: Can you control the shooter? How can you win without a shooter?]
[Yao (瑶) & Yao (曜): It’s not necessary.]
[“Behind the love story of each Yao (瑶) & Yao (曜), there is an orphaned marksman.”]
[“From the beginning until now, I must say: It serves him right.”]
[“He was the one who insulted Yao at the beginning. Dad Star didn’t argue with him, but he ended up being sold out by him.”]
“Triple Kill!“
Yao (瑶) & Yao (曜) coordinated to secure a triple kill.
Meanwhile, Marco Polo was focused by the opponents’ top laner and mid laner and was killed.
[Marco Polo: Support, aren’t you coming with me?]
Cheng Che: …
[“The little brother is getting arrogant.”]
[“The toxic players in the Chinese server are about to start insulting others, so excited.”]
[“That’s not insulting, it’s friendly communication with teammates, and a chance to greet their family tree. [Dog face emoji]”]
[“As we all know, streamers output with their mouths.”]
[Clearstars (Yao (曜)): What’s wrong? Did you show your disability certificate to the support when you entered the Abyss? Should the support donate a wheelchair to you?]
[LastNightStarCalm (Yao (瑶)): [Received]]
Marco Polo’s mind was running at full speed: Damn, this guy’s flaming skills, this is the national standard… This isn’t a fake account, I’ve encountered the real deal.
[Marco Polo: Clear?]
[Cheng Che: No, I’m uu.]
[“Damn, what grudge do you have against your teammates?”]
[“As a viewer watching both streams: Xiao You just sneezed.”]
[“Sisters who understand each other! Pei Shen increased the air conditioning temperature for the dog-like U!”]
[“Yes! High energy, high energy!!!”]
Marco Polo apologized and started playing properly, focusing on farming.
Cheng Che and Lin Xingling dove the enemy mage under the tower, leaving Yao behind.
“You… you don’t need to come out, I won’t pick you up.”
Lin Xingling shook his head, “You go.”
As he finished speaking, the enemy jungler killed him.
The enemy jungler, Miyamoto Musashi[mfn]
[/mfn], provocatively typed in the chat: “Big support Yao(瑶), hilarious.”
Then…
“Unstoppable!“
[Yao (曜) killed Miyamoto Musashi]
Cheng Che typed in the chat: “Attack speed boots on Musashi, hilarious. You made me think this hero was heavily nerfed.”
[“I thought you were going to say: “Are you brainless to spin kick?””]
[“If you do that, don’t run away, I’m hearing voices in my head now.”]
[“You can insult like this too, I’ll write it down in my little notebook.”]
Captain Yao (瑶) had ten seconds left to revive, and Yao (曜) immediately returned to the base to wait for him.
“Let’s go, I’ll take you to kill… kill that super minion.”
Cheng Che raised an eyebrow, exuding a youthful and lovely aura all over.
“Mhmm,” Lin Xingling smiled and cast his ultimate ability on him. “Genius youth, charge!”
The Yao-Yao combo once again killed Musashi.
Lin Xingling: What happened to the great support Yao?
Today, I will help Yao establish his reputation with my Jungle King.
Cheng Che: Musashi is quite determined. Even with his vision impaired, he couldn’t stop you from carrying the team on all three lanes.
Taunting once for every kill, killing someone strikes at the heart.
TIMI’s Diary: Musashi
September 7th, Weather: Sunny. Today, I mocked the enemy’s great support Yao. His Jungle King showed me what it means to be young and arrogant.
…
In the final team fight of the 37-star rank match, Cheng Che handled it perfectly, waiting for his teammates to consume the enemy’s major control skills before charging in with Yao.
Cheng Che: “Let’s… let’s kill Marco Polo first!”
Lin Xingling embarrassedly said, “Marco Polo is our teammate.”
Cheng Che: …
“Oh, right, I forgot.”
[“Forgot”]
[“Marco: I’m tired of hearing this apology.”]
[“Cheng Che’s little brother is full of hatred for those who bully Dad Star.”]
[“It’s just that Dad Star has a good temper.”]
[“!!!”]
Cheng Che promptly jumped down to avoid the control skills and transformed into a deer form, then instantly used his first ability to land on Lin Xingling.
“That was close,” Lin Xingling breathed a sigh of relief, watching Cheng Che, who had a shield himself, counter-killing the enemy marksman. He felt a burst of accomplishment in his heart.
The most satisfying thing about playing support is protecting others.
This was the first time he felt this way after playing support for so long.
During matches and training, he was always an offensive support, mainly responsible for handling large team fights, initiating fights, coordinating with output to burst down enemies… His mind only had one thing: kill all the enemies on the other side.
If all five of the enemies are dead, then my carry is safe, right?
But now, he seemed to understand what Peak Brother had said… that he still had room for improvement.
Lin Xingling looked up and glanced at the genius youth who was seriously dismantling the enemy crystal with his phone, and smiled.
“Victory!“
Cheng Che turned his head to look at Lin Xingling and extended his hand for a high-five with his team captain.
“Six.” & “Nice~”
Our coordination is the best in the world.
As they were about to start the next game, the enemy mage from the previous match sent a friend request: Jungle King, alone?
Cheng Che clicked reject, and he sent a team invitation: I won’t drag you down. It was the teammates from the previous match who weren’t good. If you’re alone, let’s play together?
Cheng Che rejected again and typed in the reason for rejection: I’m afraid half a person will scare you to death.
Then, happily, he started the next game with his own Sister Yao… ah, no, with his team captain, aiming to climb higher in the ranking.
“Ready?”
Lin Xingling asked, “Do you want Orange?”
Tachibana Ukyo[mfn]
[/mfn]… Cheng Che shook his head and replied, “I don’t play him. I’ll give a performance rating for Yao first.”
This kid is a hundred percent addicted to the internet… Lin Xingling nudged his arm and handed him a peeled tangerine, saying, “I mean a real orange[mfn]The name “Tachibana Ukyo” (橘右京嘛) in China, although spelled with the same character 橘, has a different meaning. The 橘 character that Lin Xingli refers to means “orange,”[/mfn]. Here, it’s sweet.”
Cheng Che couldn’t be bothered to use his hand to take it, so he caught it with his mouth, chewed it, and frowned, “It’s sour, sour.”
[“No, it’s sweet.”]
[“Wow, so sweet, so sweet, so sweet.”]
[“Alright, Han Chuan, stop looking. Dad Star will take good care of Brother Che.”]
[“I really want to ship this pair…”]
Suddenly, a message popped up on the screen in the live stream room: [“FG-Han Chuan: Clear, ban the person who poked me in your live stream room!”]
Cheng Che coughed…
Han Chuan, you’re such a jerk… No, I’m also a jerk. How did I forget to turn off message notifications?
[“Alright, I’ll quickly crawl away myself.”]
[“Goodbye, HXD.”]
[“Hancheng is the true ship, really, let me tell you, the purest Cangqiong CP is the protagonist.”]
[“Commentator A Hua: So sweet, so sweet, so sweet!!!”]
Just as Cheng Che turned off his phone’s message notifications, he said, “Huh?”
Lin Xingling’s peripheral vision also caught sight of that pink barrage and explained with a gentle smile to Cheng Che, “They’re talking about oranges.”
[“Commentator A Hua: Orange [dog head]”]
Cheng Che pursed his lips and said, “No, really… sour.”
That orange was so sour it made his teeth ache.
The barrage was filled with laughter.
Cheng Che tilted his head in confusion and clicked on the next match.
During the hero selection phase, Lin Xingling peeled another orange and fed it to him, this time it was sweet.
“Is it sweet now?”
Cheng Che smacked his lips and nodded.
In the live stream room, everyone could only see a beautiful and slender hand holding a small orange and putting it into Cheng Che’s mouth. They couldn’t see the face of the protagonist in the end.
[“So sweet, so sweet!”]
[“Dad Star, I can confirm, I’m sweet! Really! Sweet!”]
[“I really want to see my male god in person.”]
[“It’s alright, the Autumn Tournament is about to start on September 12th. You can see each other in the spectator stands.”]
…
Speaking of which, the KPL Autumn Tournament would begin on September 12th, not far from now.
During the entire break period, both the coaches and players of DCT were very busy.
Effort will be rewarded.
Phantom and Wu You’s coordination practice became even more seamless, sometimes their synergy was as if they were one person.
Liu Ying reached the top of the peak leaderboard and secured a spot in the top ten for several mage heroes on the Chinese server.
Cheng Che’s Yao and Li Bai reached the Chinese server as well, and the marksman, needless to say, played exceptionally well with very few mistakes…basically none.
As for Lin Xingling… he achieved the first place in the Chinese server with Yao.
In response to this, Dad Star said, “All of you are amazing kids.”
The amazing kids said, “Giving the team captain the first place with Yao is a man’s romance.”
Brother Feng said, “Are you guys messing around with me?…Stars have improved, well, let’s just forget I said anything.”
After one week of preseason matches, the DCT team had more or less grasped the strengths and weaknesses of the other six KPL teams in the Eastern region through the BO3 format. They ranked well in the first round of the regular season with a record of five wins and one loss.
Next, it would depend on their performance together.