The texture of Lin Meng's slightly moist palms was different from that of a man's hands, which were dry and warm. There were some rough and tough calluses from long-term training, sending tingles through her ears.
In truth, Lin Meng didn't care much about what others said. Ever since she entered the professional gaming industry, she had received too much criticism, especially when she replaced Yu Mo in the Kars tournament two years ago and lost in the Asian Invitational. The questioning and insults at that time were the most fierce and heartless. Countless accusations and blame were hurled at her, forcing her to bear it.
She had developed an immunity to these heart-wrenching incidents long ago. After all, if she hadn't developed this immunity, she would probably have succumbed to depression and ended her life.
Just as she had told Xiao Xingheng before the match, she knew what kind of person she was, so she didn't need to listen to others' evaluations.
Yu Mo's action wasn't necessary, yet it touched the softest part of her heart.
All along, it seemed as though only Yu Mo wholeheartedly wanted to protect and care for her, fearing even the slightest harm to her.
Although sometimes he appeared a little clumsy and clueless, his determination was firm as iron and had never wavered.
Lin Meng exhaled softly, her lips trembling slightly with restraint. She clenched her hand tightly around Yu Mo's wrist.
"Nothing's wrong," she said softly. "Let it go, or we'll all be photographed later."
Yumo was stunned for a moment.
The girl's fingertips were slightly cold, and the touch on his wrist felt like a small electric current. The tingling sensation seeped through the old scar and into his blood, hesitated for a moment, but he didn't insist, let go of her hand, and patted Linmeng's head instead. "Let's go."
The two walked out of the soundproof room.
Suddenly, the voices surged in like a tide, overwhelming and noisy.
The audience and the stage were quite a distance apart, but Linmeng's hearing was excellent, and she could still hear some unpleasant content.
"What kind of crap did we just watch? Damn it!"
"That logistics officer is like a freaking idiot, charging in like that, just to die?"
"We can go watch the injured. The stupid logistics officer must be top of the list for being injured."
"No sense of positioning at all. Looks like a woman is just worthless."
"Please, don't ruin the professional gaming experience. The looks of these female gamers are great, why not go play Miracle Nikki?"
"Don't just blame the women. Four champion players can't even carry one noob. How did they even win the championship, huh?"
"What the hell? This woman is just a disaster. She's blaming E Team forcibly?"
"Yeah, weren't the fans randomly selected? And you expect fans to perform at a professional level? Weren't all of you E Team gods supposed to carry the team?"
"So E Team sucks and we shouldn't say that? Got all proud after winning a championship. A friendlies match in a week and it's a disaster. What have you all been doing this week? We might as well rest until the autumn season."
"Is this a black screen? How did they get in here?"
"Manager! Manager! There's a black-clad fan over here!"
"Damn, I'm out, this competition is just frustrating to watch."
"If you're leaving, take me with you. We'll consider the ticket money wasted, the state of this autumn season will probably be terrible."
Linmeng walked expressionless with the logistics staff across the stage, heading for the dressing room.
Once the door was locked, only a few players remained in the dressing room, even the doorbell was turned off.
Yumo crossed his arms and leaned against the door, his knee slightly bent, his gaze sweeping over the heads of the group, seemingly calm and light, but actually carrying pressure. As he scrutinized them, Pandar could no longer bear it and spoke up first, "It's my fault."
Four pairs of eyes landed on his face.
Pandar scratched his head apologetically. "I missed too often, always leaving a gap."
"Me too," Deer followed quickly, "I had problems with my positioning today."
One by one, the two confessed their mistakes, and looked at Yumo pitifully.
Yumo swept his coat tails and said, "That's not it."
Pandar and Deer both looked puzzled.
"That's not the key issue," Yumo calmly said to them, "What I want to ask you is, why don't you trust the support?"
As soon as he said so, both Pandar and Deer's faces changed.
Linmeng looked up, and with Yumo, glanced at Pandar and Deer, showing no surprise in their eyes.
Pandar stammered, trying to deny, "We didn't—"
"The first time there was a gap, the support came to heal you, you were standing still and she could've used a single medicine to fully heal you. Why did you run behind cover, wasting group healing items?" Yumo asked, "And you, Deer, I don't need to say anything. Your style of play is like we're a team of novices with no hope, what's up with that? If you don't trust the support, you shouldn't be playing team games!"
Yumo's words were as direct as they could be, both Pandar and Deer looked guilty and bowed their heads. Pandar murmured, "I'm sorry…"
Yumo stopped criticizing and looked at Linmeng, who sighed lightly, glanced at the timid duo and found them quite pitiable and couldn't get angry anymore.
"Forget it, we lost," she shrugged. "Let's not dwell on the past. I hope that everyone can trust me enough for the next two rounds, and focus on dealing with the opponents, instead of dealing with me."
Pandar and Deer nodded, but their eyes were evasive, clearly not speaking their minds.
Linmeng knew she couldn't blame them. After all, it was their first meeting, and nobody knew each other well. It was not easy to completely entrust one's back to a stranger.
She didn't want to dwell on this issue again, as it would make everyone nervous and backfire. At that moment, Yumo suddenly said, "Deer, show me your hand."
Everyone was startled, and they all looked at Deer.
Deer's expression changed slightly, and he instinctively moved his left hand behind him. "Don't. I'm fine…"
Yumo frowned, and quickly walked over to pull his arm out from behind.
Deer had put on a long-sleeved jacket as soon as he came in, but Yumo rolled it up to his upper arm, and when he reached the elbow, Deer uncontrollably took a sharp breath, revealing a large bruise at his elbow.
"No wonder your positioning was so bad," Yumo said. "How did you get this? It wasn't there when you came."
"I, uh, leaned on something…" Deer said halfway, then changed his mind, stammering, "No, I… I accidentally bumped into something."
"Does it hurt?" Yumo said. "I have some adhesive bandages, I brought them."
"It's okay, no need for bandages," Deer said quietly. "I can perform better if I hold back a little."
Since Deer didn't insist, Yumo didn't push it. He checked the time, and the mid-game break was almost over, so they packed up and headed to the door.
The door opened, and a man with brown hair and blue eyes was leaning against it, not very tall, a little shorter than Yu Mo. His deep eye sockets and aquiline nose gave him a somewhat wild and charming look.
He turned out to be TIMI, the center position of the Saint Laurent team.
When preparing for battle just now, Yu Mo took Lin Meng and sneaked around the Saint Laurent lounge, and now, TIMI's return balanced their actions. Yu Mo didn't pay much attention to him, just gave a very polite smile.
TIMI responded with a string of chirps, turned his head towards Lin Meng, and provocatively wagged his legs and raised his eyebrows.
"Hey," he greeted, not very standard.
Lin Meng had been following Yu Mo closely, thinking about the match strategy. TIMI's sudden voice startled her, and she grabbed the back of Yu Mo's wrinkled clothes, looking at the French man with a cautious expression.
Not only her, but also Panda, Lu, and Lao Mai showed some hostility. Panda even intentionally squeezed his chubby body forward, bowing to separate TIMI.
TIMI didn't mind and continued chirping, then, as if performing a magic trick, produced a rose from his pocket, squeezed it in his hand, and handed it to Lin Meng.
Lin Meng puzzledly raised an eyebrow at the rose: "......?"
Panda: "......"
Lu: "......"
Lao Mai: "......"
What the hell was this?
The three of them had obviously never encountered such a bizarre situation of an opposing teammate coming to the backstage to give a flower. They all looked at Yu Mo, puzzled.
Yu Mo felt the clothes on his back being pulled tighter and tighter by Lin Meng.
TIMI shook the rose in front of Lin Meng and smiled even more.
Lin Meng didn't understand the French man's chirping, and she glanced at the rose. It was a bright and dewy flower, with tender petals like silk and a few sparkles of dew. What did this mean? A friendly meeting?
Although the match was tumultuous, it was a friendly match, so did they need to put on a show? After all, she was currently representing Team E.
Thinking for a while, Lin Meng raised her hand to take the flower.
Just as her hand was about to touch the flower, a handsome hand suddenly reached out and skillfully plucked the rose from the stem. Yu Mo, expressionless, intercepted the flower.
TIMI's smile froze on his face.
Yu Mo gave him a perfect professional fake smile and put the flower into his pocket.
The French man's expression looked as if he had been struck by lightning.
"Thank you," Yu Mo said to TIMI in French, and then waved his hand, leading the E-team to the stage without looking back.
Lin Meng, still puzzled, followed Yu Mo, couldn't help but speak up: "Team Captain, that rose, it was meant for me. Why are you keeping it at your chest?"
"Anything meant for you, you'll take it. Even if it's a hot potato?" Yu Mo said impatiently. "You dare to wear flowers even though we haven't won the match? Do you know that pride goes before a fall!"
Lin Meng was even more puzzled when it suddenly escalated to a moral level, "Pride? It's not like I asked for the flower, he wanted to give it to me. Besides, you're also responsible for losing the match, so why are you wearing it?"
"Because I am the team captain," Yu Mo said.
"Is being a team captain a special privilege?"
"For a team captain, this is the flower of friendship!" With each word, Yu Mo explained. By this time, they had reached the front of the stage, and the lights and cameras focused on them, and everyone noticed the rose on Yu Mo's chest.
"Friendship comes first, the game comes second," Yu Mo gestured towards the camera, half-joking and half-serious, "Thank you, Saint Laurent."
Panda instinctively shrank his neck, "I feel like the captain is being tough..."
Lu and Lao Mai: "......emm."
After they had all sat down, Lin Meng was still upset. She adjusted her equipment and keybindings while the host talked about sponsors and dragged on.
She felt that her healing strategy was too conservative, this couldn't go on, after all, it was no longer a guaranteed win.
She thought for a moment and took off one piece of armor, adding another healing item to fill the gap.
Panda sat next to her, sneakily stealing glances at her actions.
The young lady's hands looked beautiful and delicate, with slender fingertips, fair skin, and graceful movements. At first, Panda was watching with the intention of currying favor, but he became increasingly surprised as he watched.
Healing items are all active skills, and active skills require keyboard control. Linmeng already had a sufficient number of healing items, and now she added one more, making it difficult to find space on the keyboard.
Panda wondered where this young lady was going to fit the new skill. Then he saw Linmeng assign a very short cooldown active skill to the Y key.
Panda was astonished and, unable to help himself, he took out his own paw and gestured on the keyboard. He realized that no matter how much he stretched, none of his fingers could easily reach the Y key when his primary fingers were on the basic WSAD keys.
It's a short cooldown active skill that needs frequent pressing.
"What kind of fingers are these? Is this for real? I don't believe it, I don't believe it, I don't believe it!" Panda's worldview was once again shaken.
Linmeng seemed to sense Panda's inner monologue and proceeded to tap the Y key several times. She pressed it smoothly and was quite satisfied with the key layout, so she confirmed it.
Panda felt embarrassed and looked at the keyboard, the key positions, and those hands. He shook his head with a sigh and disbelief.
At that moment, a thought flashed through his mind like lightning.
It startled him, and he slowly widened his eyes, abruptly turning his head, almost knocking off his headphones.
He looked back at Linmeng's keyboard.
Linmeng's fingers glided over the colorful and glowing keyboard buttons, agile and swift, almost leaving a trail.
It was these hands and this unique keyboard layout.
"Handicapped DPS LEMON," Panda murmured.
Linmeng glanced up, "What?"
"You shouldn't be called Handicapped DPS LEMON, you should be called Phantom DPS LEMON!" Panda muttered, smiling as if he had found a treasure, then he looked at Linmeng and winked.
"I entrust my back to you," he said confidently, "Make sure to protect my dog life, Lemon!"
-
The second round of the match began.
The event host, Dan Sai, felt his heart in his throat.
The result of the first match had already been uploaded online, and in this age of massive information flow, even the slightest movement could lead to a surge in traffic. Several major media platforms were overwhelmed, and several phone calls had already been made to his cell phone.
Dan Sai felt he needed to prepare his resignation letter in advance.
"Hey, Dan Ge, you're stepping on my charging cable!" Xu Dan Dan whispered from the side.
"It's just a step, what's the big deal? Making a fuss over nothing," Dan Sai grumbled irritably, "Let's hurry up and finish so everyone can go their separate ways."
"Why do we all have to go our separate ways?" Xu Dan Dan said, "Dan Ge, can't you have a little confidence?"
"I don't have any confidence," Dan Sai snapped, "Encountering such a thing is just my bad luck. I—" His words were cut off as he heard the audience gasp and scream.
On the big screen, Panda emerged from cover with only a quarter of his health, facing Saint Laurent's vanguard and artillery halfway up the hill. From this angle, it was clear that Panda was in a very dangerous situation.
"It's over, it's over," Dan Sai pounded his palm, anxiously pacing back and forth, unable to bear watching the big screen, "Even if you want to end the fight quickly, there's no need to resort to such desperate measures..."
The sound of gunfire and continuous gunfire erupted, and there was a different kind of scream from the audience, which rose in excitement and joy.
"Wow, amazing!" Xu Dan Dan jumped up from her seat in excitement, eager to walk out and look at the screen. She accidentally stepped on Dan Sai's shoe, "They're about to make a comeback! Da Da's about to make a comeback, Dan Ge!"
Dan Sai's shoe was kicked several times, the toe sinking in, his face turning green. Just as he was about to speak, he heard a girl in the front row scream, "Ah ah Da Da, I love you!!! I want to have a monkey for you!"
Dan Sai had no time to retort, he turned to look at the big screen, and saw that Panda, who had appeared to be in a dire situation, had taken down the Saint Laurent vanguard soldier, leaving only a TIMI artillery, then turned and ran with a sliver of health.
Dan Sai was stunned for a moment, "What's going on!" He couldn't help but pat Xu Dan Dan, asking urgently, "Wasn't they about to die just now?"
"The support left two big healing skills for him!" Xu Dan Dan couldn't contain her excitement, "The other side didn't expect E team's support to only bring one piece of armor and an extra healing item. She's a real top-class support!"
"But isn't this support very fragile!" Dan Sai asked, "What if the other side focuses their fire on her—?" He realized that his emotions had been unknowingly tightened by the battle, just like the audience below.
-
Sure enough, Saint Laurent noticed something off about E team.
TIMI spoke a bunch of gibberish, looking serious. They immediately changed their focus from Panda, who still had very little health, to target Linmeng.
"Old Mai, charge ahead 60." Yu Mo had preemptively made his move.
Old Mai reacted quickly, rushed to protect Linmeng, and with his gun, forced some of the enemies to retreat. Bullets flew out from an unknown source, hitting Linmeng in the head.
Linmeng had only one piece of armor, which meant she was extremely fragile, almost like a piece of paper. This one shot almost took her life, leaving her with only a few hundred points of health. Her major healing skills were on cooldown, and the remaining healing items couldn't fully restore her health in a short time. Even a slight brush would lead to her death.
The entire team was on edge.
"Should the support retreat?" Lu's voice was tense, "I can cover her."
"Don't move! Support, don't move either!" Yu Mo said in a deep voice, "Old Mai, keep the pressure."
"I understand," Old Mai said.
Linmeng's heart was pounding.
Old Mai was very close to her, still outputting in the eastern direction, exerting pressure on the enemy artillery and vanguard. However, the sniper's position on the opposing team was unclear, and judging by the recent gunfire, the sniper's position was quite favorable. Therefore, Lu's blind cover was not very useful.
The translation of the text is as follows:
I just don't know how much longer the cooling time for the opponent's sniper rifle is. If she takes another shot, she's really done for.
Her palms started sweating, hesitating whether to move closer to the cover.
But Yumo told them not to move.
Should she listen to him or not?
In just a few short seconds, Lin Meng felt like time had been infinitely stretched, as if several centuries had passed.
Trust your teammates...yes! Trust your teammates! Her teammate is Silence!
The old rifle was empty, this was a huge window of opportunity, both for the old and for Lin Meng.
Lin Meng continuously adjusted her line of sight, and at that moment she saw a faint shadow of a dog in the deep grass.
"South 90!" she blurted out, "He's at South 90—"
"Bang!" the other side fired.
Lin Meng felt her breath pause, adrenaline instantly breaking through the limit, but before she could get hit, her display suddenly teleported.
"A rush of sound," the screen flipped upside down, and she fell into abundant vegetation, with swaying plants and a huge rock in front of her, and a sniper lying beside her.
The sniper had already retracted the hook in their hand, changed rifles, aimed, and acted fluidly.
"Bang."
E_Silence successfully killed Sla_LAN.
Lin Meng felt a rush of excitement as if injected with adrenaline, she began to tremble from the fervent excitement. She slightly turned her head and looked at the man beside her.
"Replenish your status," Yumo said without looking at her, his gaze fixed on the screen, his brows furrowing slightly, his expression appearing ruthless due to his extreme focus. "It's not over yet."
Lin Meng regained her senses like waking up from a big dream, "Okay," she replied, quickly shifting her attention back.
But even so, she couldn't restrain herself from wanting to scream.
Yumo who was wholeheartedly into the match looked so handsome!
Yumo, who was commanding with disregard for anybody's feelings, was also too handsome!
At this point, Saint Laurent had already been reduced to two people, greatly weakening their attack. Ah Lu, who had been holding back earlier, had already accumulated ammunition, and at this moment, they launched a relentless attack with Pander, charging towards the high ground on the opposite side.
...
Amidst the fanatic screams from the audience, Yumo slowly took off his headset.
Ah Lu and the old man on his right were already embracing each other in excitement, while Pander at the other end was gleefully banging on the table, Yumo let out a sigh, he raised one hand to support his chin, and turned his gaze calmly towards Lin Meng.
The young girl was still a bit lost in thought, sitting upright, her eyes focused on the computer screen without blinking, her mouth slightly open.
"Did we win?" she asked softly.
"Yes," Yumo nodded, "We won."
"I won with you," Lin Meng suddenly turned to look at Yumo.
She seemed to want to smile, but her brows unconsciously wrinkled, and her eyes turned red.
Yumo glanced sideways at the direction of the camera, where Pander, who had just taken first blood, was, then lazily raised his hand, reaching towards the stray strand of hair on Lin Meng's forehead, tucking it behind her ear with a smile.
"Why do you look like that? It's scary," Yumo said.
"I'm just excited..." Lin Meng shrank back, rubbing her eyes, "You're really good with the hook..."
"Look at you, am I not good with anything else?" Yumo raised an eyebrow, switching position to support his chin with the other hand.
"Nothing else...isn't it your normal performance?" Lin Meng said, "Isn't it?"
Yumo was a bit helpless, sighing as he got up from his seat, "Ah, it's really hard to be a good person these days. Service is so attentive, the experience is clearly excellent but it doesn't even earn a little praise from this young girl."
As he finished speaking, the few people around stopped in their tracks, casting indescribable looks at him.
Pander, the chubby one, never had the foresight, his face full of hopeful anticipation, blurted out directly, "Service, what service?"
Lin Meng: "..."