C18 Part2

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Chapter 18: Accompany You to the Top of the World (Part 2)

In July, Qiu Ying accompanied the Chinese Conquer delegation once more, boarding a plane to Seattle, America. This year, she was not a dazzling, eye-catching commentator beneath the spotlights but rather a manager who was busy working hard behind the scenes, living and dying together with her team.

Currently, Phoenix hadn’t participated in any large international competitions, so foreign media didn’t look favorably upon this new team. They saw Phoenix as just momentary fresh meat who chose heroes and setups that weren’t the strongest in the latest updates at all. Looking at a seemingly random lineup like this, the didn’t seem to be stable.

The teenage genius of the two-time Global Finals Champion team Titan, Jeffery Chen, flamed on Twitter that Phoenix’s appearance here simply showed that Chinese Conquer was now a mess with only noobs pecking at each other.

This tweet was quickly translated and spread across each of the major domestic online forums. All of the gamers surged up in action.

In their hotel team training room, Lin Yixuan happened upon this tweet and shook his head with a click of his tongue. “Why does this dude love running his mouth off every year?”

“He even publicly mocked Ji ge last year. If I was in a face-to-face confrontation with him during the competition, even if I only had a 50% chance of winning, I’d kill him too.” As Xia Ling watched Titan’s competition recordings, he brushed off his hands and smiled at Ji Xiangkong as he said, “If I can’t bear it, then I act; whether I live or die, I don’t care.”

Lin Yixuan cast a side glance at him. “And then he’ll chop you up, Xiangkong will turn around and push your head into the display monitor, perfect.”

Xia Ling raised an eyebrow at him. “Just wait and see.”

As everyone was fooling around, someone opened the door of the room. Qiu Ying turned back to see the one who was once “China’s top Conquer player.”

“I have some free time, so I’m here to be your service staff.”

Besides Sun Zeyi who went up to embrace him, the other people all stood up at once.

Cris remained a game commentator this time, but he chose to move forward with his identity as Phoenix’s boss. Despite being widely renowned and admired by tens of thousands of people, there were always regrets lingering in her heart. This team was the thing in which he had entrusted his hopes.

Two days later, the top sixteen Conquer teams in the world gathered together, kicking off the prelude to this annual event. As those who had the supreme honor of representing the highest level in sports, every professional Conquer player’s dream was to play in the Global Finals and plant their flag in Seattle!

Phoenix ushered in an excellent first performance on the global stage. Strong and full of confidence, they won a victory in their first battle and threw open the doors to success.

Pei Xi and Lin Yixuan’s “Jungler-Support” was an excellent combination. In the cameras, one didn’t say a single word and the other was overflowing with them, yet it had a sort of mysterious harmony to it.

Xia Ling’s performance also became a focal point from time to time. Many newcomers were very strong in online competitions, but would often get so nervous in offline competitions at a ten-thousand person arena, facing the audience and cameras, that they couldn’t even hold their mouse properly. But after all, he had debuted as an athlete and had once entered a national competition, so his psychological quality far exceeded that of his peers.

Yet Sun Zeyi was, after all, older, and would already be sweating heavily after a few rounds.

As the group matches progressed in full swing, audiences around with world were continuously re-evaluating what they currently knew with the strength that Phoenix demonstrated.

Their ADC, Sun Zeyi, burned through money like crazy, but was extremely vigilant as he walked and was like the pillar of the team. In an advantageous round, he was as solid as a backup force, and in a disadvantageous round he was strong enough to turn the tides.

Their support, Lin Yixuan, could sometimes dedicate all of his money toward the team’s equipment and place wards all over important areas to provide the team with vision; but other times, he could incarnate into the sharpest assassin who left not a single piece of armor behind in his wake, making his enemies quiver if they caught a hint of him.

Their mid, Xia Ling, took up much less resources than other mids and set the rhythm of the team for the early- and mid-game. Though young, he was gradually revealing a team leader’s light.

Their jungler, Pei Xi, was the crux of how varied the whole team’s tactics now were.

Pei Xi could “Mid-Jungler Link” with Xia Ling, could “Jungler-Support” with Lin Yixuan, could completely demolish the enemy if he formed a three-person group in bottom lane, could himself develop into the third nucleus after the big brother ADC and the second brother mid, and even exchange positions with Xia Ling to resort to “shadow tactics”.

And all of this was was thanks to their commander, Ji Xiangkong.

In comparison to previous teams who all monotonously played using Pei Xi as their nucleus to implement a “four-protect-one” style, we could say that Ji Xiangkong maximized Pei Xi’s value as a killing machine.

As the captain, commander, BPer, he had a strong, steady and unmovable, heart, was willing to be the first one to charge in, and also had precise control over their situation.

What was even more terrifying was that after he exchanged blows with their enemies, he would always be the first to break through his opponent’s tactics.

In the few weeks that the Global Finals took place, all of the teams went through mirror processes of being learnt and broken through. Phoenix had many methods, and only if their hero pools were deep could they go far. If they encountered a trick, they would tear it apart with devastating lethality.

Ji Xiangkong’s existence made people experience a sort of pleasure from being crushed by IQ when they were watching Phoenix compete.

As Pei Xi himself said: “I’m a gun, he tells me where to shoot.”

What would happen when the strongest team mind was paired with the strongest individual ability?

After going through two weeks of competition, Phoenix advanced into the winners’ bracket with the most accumulated points of their group, Newland closely followed and advanced on the next day, and Dragon lost several matches in a row and were forced to enter the knockout round.

Even if their results showed a great improvement from last year, everyone could see that besides Phoenix, the other two Chinese teams were fighting with extreme effort. Thinking back on the three pillars of Legend, Dragon, and VPG from yesteryear who had nearly undefeated records in the group stage, on this grand occasion that Chinese Conquer was fighting against the entire world with the strength of a single nation, countless esports fans sighed endlessly.

The weekend that the competition was on break, Qiu Ying took advantage of their brief resting time after dinner to help massage Ji Xiangkong’s neck and waist in his room. When she was about to leave, Ji Xiangkong blocked the door, crooking an index finger to point at his lips.

Qiu Ying was in a hurry to go back to the training room. She went up on her tiptoes and hastily pecked his lips.

Ji Xiangkong took her back into his arms. “You missed.”

Qiu Ying kissed him again.

“No heart in it.”

She kissed him again.

“Too far up.”

She held his neck and carefully pressed a kiss on him.

“Too far down this time.”

No longer able to stand it, Qiu Ying pounded his chest. “Are you done or…”

She hadn’t yet finished speaking when Ji Xiangkong took her by the chin and lowered his head to kiss her hard, lingering there for a long time before their lips finally separated. His eyes curved into crescent moons. “Not done.”

He hugged Qiu Ying tight and she rested her cheek on his chest, listening to his strong heartbeat.

“Did you know? I’ve never wanted to win as much as right now. Before, I wasn’t afraid of people abusing or slandering me, but now I want to protect the people around me from harm, so I have to become stronger.”

Qiu Ying could feel a slight trembling. It was him, leaning into the crook of her neck as he spoke.

“From the moment that Phoenix was established, I wanted to tell you that I’ll take you to Seattle, take you to stand with me at the top of the world.”

He took her hand that was on his back and pulled it to his lips to kiss it, ink-black eyes carrying dazzling stars that made her heart pound.

“I’m someone who who will never say something I’m not absolutely certain of.”

**

Several days later, the competition changed drastically. In the morning, Dragon was knocked right out of the knockout rounds and Newland was forced into the losers’ bracket by the first-seeded Korean team!

In the afternoon, Phoenix lost 1:2 to the defending champions, Titan!

Titan, who had recorded a 3:0 win against Legend, American demons who had ended Cris’s dreams of the championship, pushed a Chinese team to the edge of a cliff once again this year!

During the post-match interview, Jeffery Chen carelessly shrugged his shoulders. “As I said, it is easy.”1

This familiar plotline caused the majority of Chinese Conquer fans to fall into a deep panic. They couldn’t help but doubt that maybe Phoenix’s previous successes were just because the other teams lacked research against a new team and didn’t pay enough attention to them, and now they’d already been thoroughly figured out by their opponents and reached the end of their line.

But if Phoenix had no more methods, where had they broken through from?

“The issue with Phoenix is that they’re spread too far out. They dare to use and play anything, and in the two rounds they lost to Titan, Void selected several heroes whose win rates are zero.”

“Their games are extremely ornamental. Their fresh lineups from the start of the round make the audience full of expectations, but they’re also often unstable because they’re too innovative. Every time I look at them, I start sweating.”

On the Chinese analysis desk after the match, the commentators and distinguished guests were reviewing the match. Amidst the dark and dense clouds of worry, only Cris maintained an optimistic attitude. He believed in Ji Xiangkong’s psychological quality and that he would surely be able to hold out during their hardest time and, while adjusting his own state, comfort his teammates at the same time.

Each stage of the losers’ bracket competition was a game of life or death. Only if you won against everyone could you ascend to the last fighting arena.

In the mid-game break, Sun Zeyi smiled as he patted his teammates’ shoulders. “Brothers, play for a few more rounds with gege, I’m already 30 years old and perhaps, I will no longer have this opportunity in the future.”

He had always thought of this day as his last madness.

Ji Xiangkong laughed as he put on his headphones. “We’ll do more than win a few more rounds. We’ll get the championship.”

Lin Yixuan waved a fist. “That’s right! The championship!”

Xia Ling waved his fist as well. “No one can be sure of the final result of the very end. We’ll kill our way back there!”

Pei Xi lightly replied, “Mm.”

As he saw each of his teammates full of fighting spirit, Ji Xiangkong’s lips hooked upward.

In a crisis, the more you encountered setbacks, the more you had to believe in yourself. If you lost confidence at a crucial moment, your hands and feet would become bound, unable to make a correct judgement and plunging into an infinite negative loop.

Phoenix rapidly marshaled up their morale. After they eliminated a strong Southeast Asian team, they met Newland.

The “happy” moment to choose one out of the two had arrived.

The one who lost was about to bid farewell to the stage.

The fight amongst Chinese teams was like a blade to the heart. Phoenix’s rebirth from nirvana displayed pride enough to resist the world even despite their team being seen as mediocre. Yet Newland had struggled up from a second-strong team up until now, and were like a clear stream in the impetuous Chinese esports circle, winding their way up. How could they ever stop chasing their dream?

In the end, the moment that Newland called out GG, a line of words was displayed on the public chat.

Newland.Ty: Good luck, Phoenix!

The Chinese fans in the arena immediately burst out with lamentation.

In the post-match handshake, Newland’s captain Tao Yu hugged Ji Xiangkong tight. The rims of his eyes were red and he slowly, seriously, said, “Good luck. Take our place and keep on winning.”

Ji Xiangkong nodded solemnly. “Definitely.”

In the week following, Phoenix went through several fierce battles beneath the glint of the knife and the shadow of the sword, sending team after team who were favored to win the championship back home in the knockout round. Now they not only had ever-changing tactics, they fumbled out from long-term observation of competition recordings a playstyle of “as you do, I apply to myself” —

In the BP stage, they grabbed the opponents’ best heroes and used their opponents’ strongest tactics to crush and defeat them.

When defeated by their enemies with the unique skills they were most confident in in the exact same way, many teams were demoralized. After losing the first round, they would continue to keep losing them.

This head-to-head playstyle needed strong courage. The moment he’d decided to use it, Ji Xiangkong remembered what Qiu Ying had once told him: “There isn’t anyone who can define yourself for you. As long as you think you can, there’s nothing you can’t do.”

In the winners’ bracket, the American Titan defeated the Korean RTC.

In the losers’ bracket, the Chinese Phoenix defeated the Korean RTC which had dropped down to the losers’ bracket, and among earthshattering cheers they stepped up onto the last fighting arena of the Global Finals.

According to D Corp’s official statistics, from the beginning of the Global Finals up until now, Phoenix’s entire team had used up to 96 heroes, which accounted for 81% of all of the heroes in Conquer!

This was a record that had never before been seen!

In chat, someone ridiculed: “Before every competition, Captain Ji flips through a list of the heroes and sees if there are any he hasn’t chosen yet. Everyone: let’s play and see next round.”

The night before the finals, after their battle preparations finished, Qiu Ying sorted out the BP data for the final battle in Ji Xiangkong’s room.

She’d finished half of the work before Ji Xiangkong suddenly spoke. “Your bangs are nearly going to cover half of your face.”

Hearing this, Qiu Ying moved her head around. Recently, she’d truly been too busy and without any free time to pay it any mind, but when she lowered her head her hair would cover part of her vision.

Feeling warm fingers brush against her forehead, she turned her face toward Ji Xiangkong’s smiling, slowly curving, eyes. “I’ll help you cut it.”

Thinking back on how she wanted to put a silk stocking on her head without any face to see anyone after every time her bangs were blunted, Qiu Ying frantically shook her head. “No!”

Ji Xiangkong flicked her with his index finger as he slowly stood up. He took out a pair of scissors from the drawer, returned to her side, and placed his large palm on her head. “Be good, don’t move.”

Qiu Ying stared at him as if she were looking death in the eye, biting her red lips hard as tears gradually filled up in her clear eyes.

Time passed, moment by moment. Ji Xiangkong was focused, and Qiu Ying was trembling.

Up until Ji Xiangkong placed a mirror in front of her, Qiu Ying was covering her face. Only after she peeked through the gaps in her fingers to look clearly at herself did she cry out in surprise, “Wow! Your skills are really pretty good!”

Not only had they not been blunted, they looked a lot more lively.

Ji Xiangkong put the scissors back in their original place. “When I was studying abroad in Korea before, I learned from those big sisters.”

Qiu Ying pricked up her ears, like a cat fluffing up all of the fur on its body. “Which big sisters?”

“Ah, the senior sisters over there.” Ji Xiangkong raised his eyebrows, made a fist with his hand, and coughed gently into it. “I’m good-looking and my mouth is sweet too, so the big sisters all really liked me.”

Qiu Ying moved forward and poked several times, hard, at his waist. “How did they like you? What did they do to you? Explain now, and be honest!”

“I’m lying.” Tickled by her, Ji Xiangkong laughed until his entire body was trembling slightly. “Back then, I was fairly short on money, so I worked many different part-time jobs and happened to learn that.”

Qiu Ying stopped moving and closed her mouth.

She knew that there had been a thousand and more days and nights in the past when she had not yet appeared. He had experienced the feeling of failure, a bleak professional career, the struggle between his dream and reality, crushing defeat after defeat. Setbacks had ground his pride and spirit down until they lost their edges and corners.

But despite that, he had still persisted. When he talked about the past many years later, his expression was as light as the wind in the sky, as if all of the pain he had once received was nothing more than an insignificant interlude in his life.

Cris’s evaluation of Ji Xiangkong sounded in her ears: “Someone who can do great things. An open mind, forbearance, tenacity, courage — all of these, he has.”

“Your eyes are flashing as they look at me; what are you thinking about?”

Qiu Ying returned to herself and playfully batted her eyelashes. “I’m imagining you throwing around gold after you get the championship bonus…”

“That should be you throwing around gold, too.” Ji Xiangkong drew in his arms to pull her closer to his chest, chin rested on the top of her head. “I’m just responsible for competing. Spending the championship bonus is my woman’s business.”

Qiu Ying’s cheeks immediately heated up. Her head was rubbing against his warm chest and softly, she said, “I don’t want gold, silver, or jewelry, nor do I want fresh flowers or good wine. I just hope that your dream will come true.”

She took his palm in both of her hands, rubbed it hard, and drew it to her mouth to let out a sincere breath. “I’ll give all of my luck to you. You’ll surely be able to make every one of your critical hits.”

Ji Xiangkong’s eyes softened. He dipped his head with a light laugh to kiss the corner of her lips.

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1 As with everything he says, originally in English.

***

Though he never made an actual actual appearance (other than a few throwaway lines) you may remember that Ty, Tao Yu, was the other player who along with Lin Yixuan, Ji Xiangkong brought into the professional world.

Of course, it’s also impossible to forget about Jeffery ‘what a waste of an MIT education’ Chen.

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