Atlas Studios

  Atlas Studios

  Ji Zhiyao suddenly turned back as if having recalled something and continued to look towards Ji Qingge with a cold smile, “You aren’t competing, so you can continue staying here to reflect.”


  “Boohoo!”


  Ji Zhiyao walked into the elevator with Mo Huaifeng in tow. Before the doors closed, he unconsciously glanced outwards and even tried to hide it, but only made it more conspicuous by tidying his hair, feigning nonchalance. Mo Huaifeng was slightly tempted to laugh at such a sight, and asked, “You’re not even angry anymore, why won’t you let her eat with us?”


  “This mutt wouldn’t learn, what choice do I have. She dared to come all the way here behind my back, not even worrying that she might be kidnapped……” Ji Zhiyao nagged in a low voice. After some time, he said while smacking his lips, “We’ll bring some food back for her, Captain do help me to think about what to get.”


  A smile flashed through Mo Huaifeng’s eyes. “Alright.”


  Because he was thinking about Ji Qingge the whole time, Ji Zhiyao did not even spend much time before he was done eating, then he abandoned Mo Huaifeng who had yet to finish and brought a pack of food back to the hotel alone.

  Once the elevator doors opened, Ji Zhiyao’s sharp eyes caught Ji Qingge sitting where she had sat before he left, not having moved an inch, her small face looked extremely dispirited. He quickly walked over and put the lunch box down before her, saying, “Eat.”


  “Brother you’re not angry anymore?”


  “Angry!”


  “I was so obedient to wait for you, you’re still angry?”


  “Angry!”


  “Will you be appeased if I don’t eat? Then I shall not eat!”


  He said very aggrievedly, “I’m not angry, eat.”


  Ji Qingge knew very well that it absolutely wasn’t right to continue reaching out for a yard after taking an inch and responded with a very joyful “mm”, then picked up her chopsticks and started to chow down the food.

  Ji Zhiyao rested his chin on his hand as he lazily watched her eat.

  Ji Qingge ate a few mouthfuls, then asked, “Brother, has your competition been smooth going?”


  “Yes, we’re killing whoever comes our way.”


  “That’s great, before coming over I was still worried that you would lose the competition.” Ji Qingge said, “I’ll eat by myself here, go back to training. Don’t you guys have fixed timings for training?”


  Ji Zhiyao thought for a moment and recalled that there were indeed still some videos that he had yet to finish watching, whereas the entire level of this hotel had been booked by the club and was very safe. Hence he said, “Go look for Yuan Wei after you’re done eating, get him to find an empty room for you to take a good rest. I’ll get back to my matters.”


  Ji Qingge agreed.

  Hence Ji Zhiyao returned to his room and turned on his laptop.

  There were a total of 26 battleteams in the official competition, divided in groups A and B, 13 battleteams per group. According to their groupings, every battleteam had to play five matches and be ranked according to their score. The first and second battleteams of one group would compete with the first and second battleteams of the other group respectively, to arrive at the final placings.

  This also meant that, if Mix is aiming for a good placing, they would need to play at least six rounds, with three matches of 5v5 each, that was a total of 18 matches.

  And all these, were all set to be completed within the next two weeks.

  Just the thought of it felt very tiring.

  Ji Zhiyao stared at the rules, staying silent for a long time.

  A click sounded, the door was opened from the outside. Ji Zhiyao lifted his head and saw it was Mo Huaifeng and smiled. “You’re back?”


  Mo Huaifeng nodded. “What are you looking at?”


  “Rules of the competition. The matches are very closely packed, just by looking at these I can already sense that it will be very brutal.”


  Mo Huaifeng walked to his side and sat down. “There’s no match that isn’t brutal, play your best, don’t think too much.”


  Ji Zhiyao inhaled deeply. “Makes sense. Hopefully Tall Boots would not be in the same group as us.”


  Mo Huaifeng made an “mm” sound, indicating his agreement.

  If Mix and Tall Boots were placed in the same group, there was a very high chance of them having to battle each other and that wouldn’t be good……

  22 September, South Korea.

  All over the world, as long as they had an interest in Heroes, whether in established eSports power countries such as South Korea and North America, or China and etc, developing countries in the new generation eSports, everyone was in anticipation of the opening of the international league.

  The opening ceremony was to begin officially at 8:10 AM, before 8 AM, the venue was continuously set in such a chaotic atmosphere, crew members hurrying everywhere, it was unknown what they were busying over…… At 8:10 AM, the entire venue seemed to suddenly fall into silence, then a blast sounded from the middle of the pitch dark stage, fireworks burst into the air on both ends. Along with the sound, rows and rows of lights gradually lit up, the two pieces of huge LED screens that were lit up the stage from above were very eye-catching. At the same time, on the elevated platform towards the back of the stage, two commentators were waving and greeting the audience.

  Following that, the theme song of Heroes sounded in the venue, the trophy of the 9th International League was projected on the third piece of huge screen behind the commentators.

  At this point, the audience under the stage were already cheering thunderously.

  As the theme song gradually came to an end, the two screens on the left and right suddenly lit up, and a battleteam dressed in an all black uniform slowly appeared. The camera skimmed past each of their faces.

  The champion of the previous international league, King!

  As they were competing on home turf and the previous champion was also a Korean battleteam, the Korean audience beneath the stage were on the edge of losing control of their emotions, each of them were cheering louder than the other, the entire hall was filled with such sounds.

  It lasted for a good 15 seconds, before the screen cut from King battleteam onto the next battleteam.

  The switches between the 20 default battleteams ended, and was followed by the six battleteams who had sailed against the currents in the qualifiers to earn a spot.

  Mix was the first.

  The camera swept past seven young faces. Whether it was because of their good looks or some other reason, the volume of the cheers from the audience were second only to the cheers for King battleteam. Many of the audience who had expressed abhorrence for Mix back home were also cheering loudly right now, their mindset was very simple: Away from home, everyone was Chinese that were dear to each other, even if I do not like you, I would not allow others to see it.

  Very soon, the total of 26 battleteams had all been introduced.

  Meanwhile, the LED screens dimmed again and all the lights came on, the entire hall was brightly lit. Two hosts, a male and a female, dressed in a suit and a gown walked on stage from a side and announced together in high spirits, “Ladies and gentlemen, we officially announce, the start of the 9th Heroes International League!”


  Behind them, the fireworks rocketed into the air once again.

  The whole hall burst into cheers.

  At this moment, the triennial eSports grand occasion finally kicked off.

  They began with the division into groups.

  As the 26 battleteams were to be randomly divided by the computer system, they only needed to wait for the outcome off stage.

  All the Mix members were deadly quiet as they sat in the waiting room specially reserved for participants, even their eyes weren’t glancing everywhere anymore. Yuan Wei was made slightly uneasy because of their sudden change and asked, “Though I’m feeling very nervous too but it’s not to the point where all of you are…… My children, are all of you suppressing yourselves and preparing to stir something again?”


  Nuo said, “You’ve thought too much, I’m just nervous.”


  “What are you nervous about? It’s not like it’s your first time.”


  “Are you referring to how we lost just two matches in the previous league?”


  “What’s important is the participation.”


  “What’s important is the participation? Excuse me? Let’s not talk about it, if it happens again this time, we’ll probably be struck off the list by the China eSports Association when we return home.”


  Nuo was ranting on when they heard a knock on the door, being the closest to the door, Ji Zhiyao stood up to open it. A blond staff member smiled at him, then said in English, “Hello, is this Mix battleteam?”


  “Yes, hello.”


  “The groupings are done, Mix battleteam is in group A, please send your person-in-charge to draw lots to decide your opponent.”


  What Ji Zhiyao was worried about was another matter. “Can I ask you a question? Can you tell me which group is the other Chinese battleteam, Tall Boots in?”


  “Tall Boots? Sorry, I don’t have any impression of this name. I only know that there are two Chinese battleteams in group A.”


  Ji Zhiyao’s expression became very upset, but at the thought that he needed to find someone for the drawing of lots, he told the staff member, “Please hold on for a moment, I’ll go get our person-in-charge.”


  He turned and walked into the room to get Mo Huaifeng. “Captain, the groupings are out, we’re in group A, they’re telling you to go draw lots.”


  Mo Huaifeng stood up. “Okay.”


  “Another unfortunate news, if the staff member remembered correctly, Tall Boots in is the same group as we are, group A as well.”


  Everyone drew in a gasp of cold air.

  Though Mo Huaifeng’s expression did not look too good either, he managed to stay composed. “I’ll go draw the lots first, we’ll talk when I get back.”


  With that, he walked out. As he went passed Ji Zhiyao, he even squeezed his hand to indicate to him not to worry.

  The door closed, Ji Zhiyao dejectedly walked to the sofa and sat down. The others didn’t look any happier than him, like chickens that had their feathers plucked, all spiritless. After keeping quiet for a moment, Heng suddenly said, “It’ll be fine if we don’t meet Tall Boots, if we do, do we eliminate them or not? If we eliminate them, we’ll be criticized for being too harsh with no care for brotherhood, if we don’t, then we’ll be getting ourselves in trouble…… What the hell was this, could it be that the organizers are intentionally messing with us?”


  Yuan Wei replied, “Why would they be so idle to mess with us? It’s purely because we’re unlucky.”


  K sighed, “Ah man, don’t worry, there are 13 teams anyways. The probability of us picking Tall Boots is 1/12, when rounded down it’s approximately zero, don’t think too much of it.”


  Xiao agreed. “Yeah, don’t think about it anymore. Our Captain is a lucky guy, we definitely won’t get them.”


  Yet the facts proved that, they seemed to have used up all their luck. Mo Huaifeng walked in with a deep frown and told them the outcome.

  Mix vs Tall Boots.

  The first match, was an internal battle within China.

  The stats analyzer stood up with a “whoosh”. “How could it be so coincidental…… I am going to go to the organizer to find out the exact happenings, could it be that the China battleteams have been made the victims of secret manipulation?”


  Mo Huaifeng grabbed his shoulder at once. “I’ve asked. They’re very willing to provide CCTV recordings of the handling of the computer system and when all the teams were drawing lots earlier, I don’t think there’s a problem.”


  All at once, the entire room sank into an even deeper silence.

  Regardless of who such a thing happened to, it would make them feel terrible all the same. Besides China only had a total of two participating battleteams, and they were to be reduced to only one on the very first day……

  After a good while, Mo Huaifeng spoke up. “The outcome will not change. Since our opponent has been decided, then we’ll play our best. It is respect towards Tall Boots also respecting ourselves.”


  The others nodded with heavy hearts.

  Mix and Tall Boots’ match was the second match in zone B. They sat around for about two hours in the waiting room, when it was close to 10 AM, there were then staff members who came to knock on their door, announcing that they could go on stage already.

  Mo Huaifeng pulled on his team jacket then stretched out his right fist into mid-air. “Mix, all the best.”


  Everyone smiled at each other and stretched out their fists, bumping them together as they shouted, “Mix, all the best!”


  Then they went on stage successively.

  Ji Zhiyao together with Xiaofei, Yuan Wei and the stats analyzer sat in the spectators area closest to their team, quietly watching the five people go on stage, then bow to Tall Boots.

  All at once, the audience went wild.

  Commentor A: “I did not expect, within two hours of the international league opening, to see such an interesting scene, a battle between China’s only two battleteams.”


  Commentator B: “This led me to think of a Chinese proverb, I’m not sure if it’s used correctly, known as ‘going at one another’s throats’? Apologies, I do not understand Chinese, if I have used it wrongly please excuse me. We can see that the Chinese audiences beneath the stage seemed to be extremely enraged. Yes, if I was an audience, seeing the only two battleteams from my country going against one another in the first match of the first day, and one was set to be eliminated, I would be feeling the same way as they do.”


  Commentator A: “But looking at it from another point of view, it seems rather interesting, doesn’t it? Now let us take a look at the information of these two battleteams. Mix, seeing their information, I realized that I do have an impression of this battleteam, their Captain Mix.Fi, ranks no. 3 amongst ADCs in the world. Others…… Oh yes, they also have a jungler reserve, currently ranking no. 32 internationally, but he is not playing this match.”


  Commentator A: “Whereas Tall Boots is weaker in comparison, only their Captain Xiaoye is no. 28 on the international ranking of mid-laners, the others do not have any placings…… Then would these two rivals admit defeat or whatsoever to allow the stronger team to conserve their capabilities? I’m looking forward.”


  Listening to the end, Ji Zhiyao felt that there was some teasing in “admit defeat” that the commentator mentioned and could not help but clench his fists.

  Up on stage, everything was ready to go. Both teams put on their headphones.

  The match began, Xiaoye changed his old style that used to be more indecisive than Ji Zhiyao. Instead he brought along Heng and Mo Huaifeng, the mid-laner, ADC and jungler trio sneaked to the opponent’s jungler to steal creep. Heng and Mo Huaifeng were more cunning, the spots that they hid in were especially concealed, leading Lan Guang to think that Xiao was the only one there and he rushed forward. In the end he was battered so harshly by the trio that he started to suspect life, using a flicker on top of Xiaoye coming to his aid, he then escaped successfully and recalled to the fountain.

  Three of them cunning foxes openly sauntered about before Xiaoye and took away a blue buff before leisurely returning to their own positions, Xiaoye was so infuriated that he almost puked blood.