Chapter 57

Qu Xing lay in his arms for a long time. Ling Yin stayed with him quietly, playing with his light pink hair. It seemed like almost a week had passed.

He said regretfully, "Should I dye it back?"

"Hmm..." Qu Xing raised his eyes casually, and saw the mottled red marks and teeth marks on the side of Ling Yin's neck, and his whole body froze.

Ling Yin had been sensing him from all angles, and immediately noticed it, and hurriedly asked, "What's wrong?"

"Ouch, ouch, ouch." Qu Xing blew on his neck in a panic, "Does it hurt?"

Ling Yin paused, then laughed: "Guess. Let me bite you back and you feel it?"

Qu Xing was quite generous. He immediately raised his head and stretched his neck forward: "Come on!"

He waited for a long time, fearlessly waiting for his own death. Ling Yin leaned forward. He didn't feel any pain, but instead a tingling sensation brought on by the wet tip of his tongue. Ling Yin sucked lightly, leaving no mark before separating. Smiling at him, he said, "Get off quickly."

"What are you doing?" Qu Xing covered his neck and got off his legs.

"Nothing, my legs are numb." Ling Yin moved his legs.

"Ah—" Qu Xing laughed and quickly knelt down to the side to massage his legs. Ling Yin grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and lifted him up.

Ling Yin couldn't help laughing: "Why are you so cute?"

Qu Xing looked at him with a smile, her eyes regaining their former sparkle. She leaned over and kissed the side of his mottled neck: "Why are you so charming?"

He moved away after the kiss. He'd been so close earlier, feeling him through skin and smell, but now, taking a full look, he saw how badly Ling Yin had been bullied. A pinch mark lingered on his jawline, a mark that hadn't completely faded after so long, a testament to how hard he'd been. His shoulders and neck were covered in a mess of teeth marks, his clothes were ruffled, and his legs were still numb. It almost made him want to strip him completely naked and then give him a good beating.

Ling Yin stepped back when he was looked at: "Don't seduce me, or you won't be able to train tomorrow."

“…”

"oh……"

Qu Xing reacted.

He is 1.88 meters tall.

If I really take it off, I might be the one who gets bullied...

The next day, Ling Yin calmly walked into the training room with spots on his neck.

Although most of the scars had faded after one night, Ling Yin's skin was still red because Qu Xing had pinched and bitten some of it, leaving it covered in layers of scars.

When Le Anyi accidentally noticed it, he felt terrible.

He waited anxiously for Jiang Lin to come down, dragged him over and ran to the corner, muttering, "It's over. I suspect our Xiao Yin is really the one down there."

Jiang Lin half-closed his eyelids and asked, "Why?"

Le Anyi: "Look at his neck."

Jiang Lin lifted his eyelids to look, and then, his sleepy eyelids slowly opened, revealing half of his pupils that had not seen the light of day for a long time: "Oh my God...wait...maybe Xingxing has more than him, so what's this?"

As he was speaking, he turned around and that bright star strolled in radiantly. He glanced at Ling Yin's neck and touched it lovingly: "Does it still hurt, brother?"

Holy crap!!!!

Ling Yin said quietly, "It didn't hurt in the first place."

Jiang Lin squeezed Le Anyi, as if trying to squeeze himself into Le Anyi's flesh to seek a sense of security: "They are talking about the neck, right? Is it the pain in the neck? He said it while touching his neck."

Le Anyi: "Fuck, there's not a single mark on Xingxing's body."

"Our team leader was..."

"What are you two looking at?" Qu Xing stood behind Ling Yin and turned around.

Le Anyi said quickly: "Nothing."

Jiang Lin asked, "What did you two do last night?"

"I didn't do anything." Qu Xing was confused. "What's wrong?"

"..." His expression was full of genuine emotion, innocent and pure.

Jiang Lin reacted instantly and pushed himself away from Le Anyi: "I am sick for guessing these things with you every day."

Qu Xing: "Guess what?"

Jiang Lin: "Nothing!"

Qu Xing: “Oh…”

Qu Xing turned to look at Zhao Hui and said, "Coach, who are you training with today?"

"UNG," Zhao Hui said. "Play well today. We've lost a lot of practice matches against UNG recently."

The training match was still BO2. They won the first game, but the victory was not smooth. They relied on the three talents in the middle and bottom lanes to turn the tables and win.

Zhao Hui's brows were furrowed as he looked at the back of He Weichen's head. He wanted to say something, but considering his condition for the next game, he forced himself not to say it.

"It's okay, next one."

The early stages of the second game were calm, and both sides were on edge.

"Vanguard, they want to move." Ling Yin said.

"I'm here." He Weichen said.

He Weichen's Lee Sin, who was almost at full health, was hiding in the shadows. The upper player was already pulling the vanguard. His health had just been depleted by them, and he was not in a good condition.

He Weichen hesitated for 0.1 seconds between waiting for Le Anyi to come over to support the vanguard and controlling the upper to kill first. He decisively chose the latter and quickly reached out, aiming directly at the upper.

Almost at the moment he flew up, Anvy's Sword Demon also came out from the side with a scarlet sword. Although Upper was low on health, he was very confident. He slipped away and immediately cooperated with Anvy to counterattack.

At the same time, Yina arrived at the scene, and the Forbidden Wall separated the DL members who had rushed to support. He Weichen was isolated and died quickly. UNG took the Rift Herald.

Ling Yin said calmly: "Hold steady first."

He Weichen: "Yeah."

UNG used the single-lane advantage of the Vanguard and the Sword Demon to continuously exert pressure, and the three gathered in the middle lane to try to pull down DL's second tower in the middle lane.

Ling Yin: "Stars."

Qu Xing: "Here I come."

Ling Yin pulled slowly for a few seconds, and suddenly, he seized the tiny overlap in the movements of the three UNG players, and controlled Clockwork to pull the three back at the maximum distance. At the same time, Qu Xing's Xia also took position, and under the perfect protection of Jiang Lin, penetrated the enemy formation, and flew feathers all over the sky to deal explosive damage, taking down two heads and temporarily forcing UNG to retreat.

upper: "It's okay, don't mess up the rhythm."

In the mid-game dragon fight, both teams battled for vision. Jiang Lin cleverly flanked, finding the perfect moment to make a grand entrance and unleash Burst. The fight erupted instantly, Ling Yin's Clockwork Orb exploding through the crowd. Qu Xing, like a ghost, moved through the crowd, dealing damage as he moved. Just as he was about to rip UNG's teamfight formation apart, his eyelids twitched.

While Qu Xing was dealing damage, he quickly glanced at He Weichen. Before he could even finish saying "Don't steal", Lee Sin had already gone down to the dragon pit.

In an instant, He Weichen's movements were detected by Upper. Upper decisively sent out a signal, and the moment it landed at the Dragon Pit, the other four UNG players immediately understood and decisively abandoned the frontal battle. Anvy's TP beam landed behind the Dragon Pit, Yina drifted to block the path, and Fan's grappling hook accurately hit He Weichen.

The situation quickly reversed, He Weichen was melted, and Le Anyi, who was in an awkward position, was also left behind by UNG.

The pace then plummeted. UNG's five players coordinated perfectly, advancing rapidly and quickly reaching the high ground. Qu Xing's Mantian Feiyu, combined with Ling Yin's ultimate, temporarily repelled UNG's aggressive advance. Unfortunately, the loss of key resources put them under immense pressure on vision and the minion wave. He Weichen was repeatedly killed by Upper, and the jungler's repeated deaths left DL with a rhythmic vacuum.

In the end, DL lost the second training game.

None of the five spoke. Qu Xing stood up, his expression as usual, hooked his finger with Ling Yin, and followed the others to the adjacent discussion room.

The team's physiotherapist took advantage of this break to come over and give several players a relaxing massage.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch~ This, this, this—" Qu Xing pointed to the base of his neck. The physical therapist smiled and massaged his muscles one by one. He squinted his eyes in comfort, quietly watching Zhao Hui and Ueno talking.

The reason for this loss was obvious: Le Anyi was too hesitant, and He Weichen was too aggressive. This wasn't just the loss; the wins also had the same problem. Sometimes the other three could recover, but sometimes it was difficult.

He hadn't expected UNG to grow so rapidly even at this point. Their rivals, combined, could achieve a one-plus-one-less-than-one effect. Their style had become so unexpected that he had to rethink how he'd analyzed these opponents back in VIN; he'd never gotten a clue.

"I've said this countless times." Zhao Hui's usually calm voice was tinged with anxiety. "He Weichen, why don't you change? Tomorrow we'll play a BO5 against UNG. How are you going to win if you're still playing like today? In esports, if a team has even a single weakness, you can't compete. UNG doesn't have any weaknesses now! They're not the UNG of last year, or even the UNG we played in a BO3 last time. You're still stuck in your ways, and today's performance was even worse. Forget weaknesses, you're a complete wreck! Le Anyi, you're no better! Every time the game reaches the end, you two start acting up like you agreed!"

Le Anyi lowered his head in shame, playing with his hands. He Weichen frowned and stared at the video Zhao Hui was showing him. He said nothing.

"Le Anyi is okay, at least he made fewer mistakes. It's just that his performance was a bit flat." Zhao Hui tapped the screen. "Look for yourself! If Ling Yin hadn't covered you up with that dribble, this match would have ended eight hundred years ago! How could you drag it out until forty minutes and then lose?"

Zhao Hui: "I've told you many times, you're sometimes too confident in your mechanics. You always rush in without properly assessing the situation. What's the end result? Small moments are fine, but when it comes to big moments, you're left with nothing but your jungler. Tell me, how are you going to fight for resources? Are you going to rely on your AD carry?"

He Weichen still stared at the video without any expression.

Zhao Hui pounded on the table, his voice rising. "This game is essentially a mid-jungle game! You're a jungler, and you still have to rely on the AD to constantly remind you? Yes! Ling Yin is the commander, he can tell you the right thing to do. Qu Xing is the commander, he has superpowers, he can split up and focus on all three lanes, he can treat you all like idiots. If you make a mistake, he'll immediately tell you everything about positioning and skills, and you just have to obey."

"How many mistakes did you make before that Ling Yin helped you avoid?" Zhao Hui said, "How many games this season have you played because the mid- and lower-level teams have such a huge advantage that you couldn't even afford to give up? Don't you realize this? Do you think your skills have improved?"

He Weichen's expression was not very good: "I don't think so."

"If you don't think so, then why don't you change!" Zhao Hui said angrily, "Why haven't you changed in all these years? Can Ling Yin possess you? Can Qu Xing stare at you from time to time, but can he stare at you all the time? This is a five-player game, and in the end it becomes a game for the two double carries. How fun is that?! Do you think we'll face EKN in the final Worlds?!"

After the therapist finished massaging Qu Xing, he went behind Ling Yin and saw a red mark on his neck. He felt a little embarrassed. "Should we massage your neck?"

"It's okay, it doesn't affect anything." Ling Yin was shameless as he continued to play the replay.

Zhao Hui: "I know you were anxious in the latter stages of the game. Seeing UNG getting better and better together, you wanted to do something too. But you have to assess the situation clearly first, right? If you don't mark someone, you'll make a mistake. How can you play this game?"

He talked until his saliva dried up, but He Weichen didn't even budge. He Weichen had been like this every time he'd talked about this for years, neither refuting nor responding, not expressing his thoughts. He just sat there in silence, refusing to change.

Zhao Hui frowned and looked at him for a long while, but in the end he couldn't say anything new. He could only sigh deeply.

"Forget it, let's adjourn the meeting!" Zhao Hui stood up, still unable to hold back his own useless warning: "Pay attention in tomorrow's game, and don't give away unnecessary kills."

The next day.

Facts have proved that Zhao Hui's advice is indeed completely useless.

This is the first time DL has played a full BO5 in the spring season, and the score with UNG is 2-2, entering the final deciding game.

In the early stages, the two sides fought back and forth, with DL even slightly outplaying UNG. It wasn't until a Baron kill that He Weichen, as usual, went to gank top lane, pressing hard, hoping to team up with Le Anyi to kill Anvy. However, Anvy outplayed them both, one on two, and they both lost half their health. Le Anyi immediately called for a retreat, and He Weichen quickly calculated the damage and said, "We can handle it."

However, hesitation is a must at this moment. The two men, one moving forward and the other backward, hesitated for a moment, failing to coordinate properly, and Anvy seized the opportunity, controlling He Weichen and quickly killing him. Then, Burst's long-range projectile shattered Le Anyi's health, leaving him with only a sliver of health left, before Anvy chased and killed him.

With both top and jungle dead, Baron was completely uncontested. DL's rhythm collapsed, and UNG, who had been studying them for a month, seized the opportunity and launched a powerful counterattack. After taking Baron, they steadily advanced. Ultimately, for the first time, DL's winning streak on a major match was broken.

After so many consecutive wins, this was the first time that DL didn't have to stand up and run to the other side to fist-bump one by one, but instead the other side came to their side.

While standing there waiting for the five UNG people to come over, Qu Xing was still looking sideways at the computer screen, wondering what he was thinking.

If you lose, you don’t have to accept interviews. You can just pack up and go home after the five-player fight.

The rest of the team was waiting behind.

This wasn't even the most crucial match, so even if a loss was a bit upsetting, it shouldn't be so depressing. But they'd been losing more scrimmages than winning in recent matches against UNG, and even losing official matches. There were only a few obvious problems, but they were like a tumor, plaguing them for years, seemingly unresolved. The coaching staff was completely exhausted.

Zhou Si, who patted everyone's shoulders calmly as usual, had said too much and was too exhausted to continue, so he sat in front of the screen in silence. Song Tianhua's temper couldn't be contained, and his face flushed at the sight of anyone. He said softly, "He Weichen, what's wrong with you?! If you're so obsessed with being a hero..."

"Alright," Zhao Hui said, "It's just one loss. Don't be too harsh. We've all worked hard."

Ling Yin saw Qu Xing frowning and raised his hand to rub his neck: "It's okay, you have to lose a few times."

Qu Xing smiled, pulled his hand down and held it in his.

He wasn't frowning because he lost the game, nor because He Weichen made a mistake. Those two things were perfectly normal. He'd been dealing with "mistakes" since he started playing, and he felt that times like these were the time to learn to live with them. Making mistakes was inevitable; the key was to review the situation, consider how to make amends, and learn how to correct them promptly. If everyone pointed at a dedicated player and called their hard work heroic, then there would be no heroes in League of Legends.

But Qu Xing knew that their coach Song had a bad temper, and fortunately Zhao Hui could occasionally stop him.

He Weichen had been scolded so much the past few days that he wasn't even in the mood to argue with Le Anyi. He silently walked past Song Tianhua, whose face was still brimming with anger despite his silence. Without looking at anyone, he lowered his head, packed his peripherals bag, and walked out.

Ling Yin was used to this scene. He never liked interfering with other people's emotions unless he really needed to. So he just glanced at He Weichen as he walked out in silence.

"Let's go." Ling Yin hooked Qu Xing's hand.

Qu Xing: “Yeah.”