TuxedoTranslations

Chapter 34

Before Xia Xiaotong joined, he had no idea what had happened in the three-person team, but was quite happy to greet Hua Feihua before leaving.

The three of them reformed the team, and Xia Xiaotong said, “I’ve never played 3v3 before! Is it really okay for me?”

Zhou Yanjun, unfazed, said, “Of course, two melee and one ranged, the gold medal configuration! Invincible!”

Bo Yu: “…Hmm.”

Xia Xiaotong, not having experience with 3v3, trusted Zhou Yanjun without question. The three of them queued up.

Once they entered, Xia Xiaotong saw the true brutality of the arena.

He glanced at the health bars—everyone had more health than him by a whole digit—and wondered, “Fatty, Little Bo, I think I’m the easiest to kill here!”

Zhou Yanjun said, “Be confident, take out the ‘I think’.”

Xia Xiaotong’s eyes widened, “But won’t they all focus on me?”

Bo Yu replied, “…Yes, they definitely will.”

Xia Xiaotong: “???”

Thanks to Zhou Yanjun and Bo Yu’s rankings, everyone except Xia Xiaotong was a proper PVP main. The enemy team immediately formulated a plan upon seeing their meat grinder team composition—to take Xia Xiaotong out as the healer.

Before Xia Xiaotong even had a chance to react, the countdown ended, and the enemy team rushed out like mad dogs.

“Xia Xiaotong, hold on for a few seconds! As long as you survive, you’ll be the best wizard!” Zhou Yanjun, with no conscience, had already rushed out with the divine beast, while his voice echoed in the distance. Xia Xiaotong was stunned when he saw two knights from the enemy team charging at him.

“Ah! Mom!!!” The little wizard’s scream filled the air as he tried to run, only to be knocked down by a powerful blast of air. He staggered to his feet, attempting to run again but was mercilessly trampled by the knights’ iron hooves!

In the next second, Xia Xiaotong died instantly.

The enemy elves had held back a bit, and their movement was sharp. It took Bo Yu and Zhou Yanjun a while to kill them, but when they turned to fight the two remaining DPS from the enemy team in a 2v2, the situation was less favorable.

In the end, all three of them were defeated by the enemy knights’ hooves, lying side by side staring at the sky until the system teleported them out.

This loss was expected. As soon as they left the arena map, Xia Xiaotong angrily grabbed Zhou Yanjun’s arm and shook it furiously, “Fatty, you lied to me, you lied to me!”

“I didn’t lie to you!” Zhou Yanjun grinned.

“You lied to me, you said we had the gold medal configuration!” Even though Xia Xiaotong was naive, after this round, he finally understood what the arena was about. “You should’ve brought a healer! At least a healer could hold on a bit longer, what was it called again, sustain… sustain—”

Bo Yu: “Sustain.”

Xia Xiaotong: “Yes! Sustain!”

“What’s the use of a healer? If you’re bad, you’ll still lose. The difference between losing in three minutes and thirty minutes is just that,” Zhou Yanjun said with his usual nonsense, “If you were really good, you’d dodge the enemy’s burst skills at the start, then work with us to take out their healer, and then it’s three versus two. Isn’t that an automatic win?”

Xia Xiaotong: “?!”

The little wizard actually started considering the feasibility of this plan, “Hmm, you’re kind of making sense…”

Bo Yu sighed and rubbed his forehead, clearly unable to listen anymore.

“Hey,” he nudged Zhou Yanjun with his elbow, “You’re going too far. He hasn’t even refined his equipment yet, no defense or health bonuses at all. How could he dodge the enemy’s burst skills? A knight’s roar will kill him instantly.”

“Exactly, this is the perfect time to practice awareness and positioning!” Zhou Yanjun said, turning his back to Bo Yu and lowering his voice, “Little Bo, there’s less than two months until the league starts. If we don’t push him a little now, we’ll definitely lose with a four-to-one strategy.”

“But—”

“I think Xia Tong is different from regular Alpha players,” Zhou Yan Jun said. “Although I can’t exactly say what’s different, our usual standard training methods probably won’t work on him.”

Bo Yu hesitated, still unsure how to respond.

“It’s just taking hits and losing streaks, who hasn’t gone through that?” Zhou Yan Jun said. “The more you get beaten, the stronger you become!”

Before he could finish, someone tugged at his shirt from behind.

“Fatty,” Xia Tong said, biting his finger as he leaned in. “Tell me about the knight’s skills, or I won’t know how to dodge.”

“Sure, no problem.” Zhou Yan Jun grinned, noticing that Bo Yu still looked worried. He couldn’t help but joke, “Look at how eager Xia Tong is, don’t block his progress!”

Bo Yu glanced at the eager little wizard, and reluctantly gave up on trying to stop him.

“Knights usually start with a Roar of the Beast,” Zhou Yan Jun began. “It’s a channeled skill. You were knocked back last time because of it. Roar of the Beast carries physical damage and a stun debuff, so we typically use this to start an attack chain, followed by a warrior’s control skills to finish off the opponent…”

Zhou Yan Jun cleared his throat and began his mini lecture. Despite his usual carefree attitude, when talking about his main class, he was detailed and passionate. He explained every skill in detail to Xia Tong.

Xia Tong listened carefully, opening his skill interface to compare.

His mind was racing, and with Zhou Yan Jun’s explanation, the fog in his brain began to clear. What seemed like a confusing mountain trail started to reveal a path out.

“These are the common strategies,” Zhou Yan Jun continued. “In short, if there’s control, use dispel, if there’s burst, use damage reduction. You need to predict the opponent’s moves.” He paused, then asked, “Did you understand all that?”

“Mm…” Xia Tong nodded thoughtfully. “Do you think I can dodge these skills?”

“How is that possible? You’re overthinking it,” Zhou Yan Jun said. “Take the Roar of the Beast, for instance—the area of effect is huge! Unless you somehow jump out of the arena, you can only rely on a damage reduction shield to survive. With your Omega stats, you’ll get blown away by the roar and probably take fall damage too.”

“Got it.” Xia Tong nodded. “Queue us up again, let’s try again.”

The theory sounded great, but reality might be harsh. Bo Yu didn’t voice his concerns, but he silently prepared for another round of defeat.

The three-man “knife team” queued up quickly.

As the opponent’s team appeared, a series of letters—KUQ_KKong—flashed on the screen.

The three of them froze for a moment, then leaned back in unison as a reflex.

“Big gorilla!!” Xia Tong exclaimed.

“F**k me, what the hell?” Zhou Yan Jun cursed.

“…We’re doomed,” Bo Yu said.

During the preparation phase, Zhou Yan Jun jumped up angrily. “How the hell did we get matched with this f**king guy? Did I not check the calendar or wash my face before queuing? How the hell did we end up face first in s**t—”

Bo Yu coughed, glancing at Xia Tong, signaling Zhou Yan Jun to watch his language. Zhou Yan Jun took a few deep breaths and condensed his swearing into a few words, “What the hell!”

Xia Tong’s face was also grim, his small eyebrows furrowed. “I just started playing in the arena, why am I matched with this gorilla?!”

Bo Yu and Zhou Yan Jun were stunned by his words.

The system matches players of similar skill levels to ensure a balanced game experience. This prevents high-level players from stomping newbies and also avoids overwhelming new players with elite players right away.

Professional players usually start at the ninth rank and compete in ranked matches. Zhou Yan Jun and Bo Yu were barely at the highest level for regular players, and Xia Tong was still a beginner with zero rank. They should never have been matched with a top player like Kong.

“Damn… what kind of terrible record did he get to be matched with us?” Zhou Yan Jun gritted his teeth, sneering.

“You don’t have to insult him like that…” Bo Yu said quietly. “I also feel kind of offended here.”

“I’m so pissed…” Xia Tong muttered. “Just thinking about getting beaten by him…”

“Don’t be afraid, Xia Tong. We’re not doing a healer this time, let’s focus on protecting the small guy,” Zhou Yan Jun said.

Bo Yu: “Mm.”

Xia Tong stomped his foot. “Why are you protecting me? I’m not a healer, it won’t help! Let’s just play normally. I’d rather lose to him than get beaten!”

Zhou Yan Jun: “So you admit you’re the small guy now.”

Xia Tong: “………”

The cheeky knight laughed loudly and, together with Bo Yu, charged forward at full speed. The opposing team charged toward them with equal intensity.

The professional esports world is small. Kong, who had once foolishly led his team to steal a monster from a rival group, ended up in a disastrous wipeout. That incident quickly spread within their circle. While it didn’t cause much damage to the Sabre Tooth Tiger club, it was a huge embarrassment for Kong, who was already facing criticism for a previous scandal. After being fined for inappropriate behavior, he was now facing more trouble, and no one in his team wanted to talk to him, let alone queue up for ranked matches with him.

Of course, Jin Gang didn’t think he was wrong. In his mind, he was cursing the Saber-toothed Tiger team for being useless. It was bad enough that he lost face because his skills weren’t up to par, but now they were shifting the blame to him. He also thought his KUQ teammates were making a fuss about nothing and that the team was lacking unity.

“Damn, they’re all just jealous of me,” Jin Gang thought. “If you guys don’t want to team up with me, fine, I’ll just solo queue. I’ll rank up faster than you guys and watch how I slap you in the face.”

So, he went solo queuing.

Whether it was due to the emotional stress affecting his gameplay, his results were like a rollercoaster, dropping him out of the top rankings on the Chinese server. Furious, Jin Gang thought the system had matched him with idiots, so he decided to call up two high-ranking solo players to team up.

He thought group queuing would improve his record, but it turned out to be worse than solo queuing. The three of them lacked coordination. They each had their own playstyles and all considered themselves experts, refusing to cooperate. After several mistakes, Jin Gang angrily blamed his teammates, which pissed off the healer. The male elf threatened to record the game and post it on the forum to show everyone who the real noob was.

A few of Jin Gang’s mistakes were undeniable, and he couldn’t pretend they didn’t happen. Worried that the healer would post the video, he reluctantly apologized. But the male elf was impatient and wanted to leave the team to find other teammates. Jin Gang, scared, begged him to play a few more rounds.

“The next match is definitely a win!” he urgently said.

“Are you saying that all those previous matches were just a show?” the elf sneered.

“Yeah, whatever. He’s a total noob,” another teammate said.

Jin Gang gritted his teeth. Desperate to turn things around, he quickly queued up for another match before the two of them could leave.

Once he queued up, he couldn’t cancel without facing a punishment debuff, and his teammates didn’t expect his quick reflexes. They grumbled but entered the match anyway.

As soon as the match started, Jin Gang thought his luck had turned. He saw that the enemy team had three DPS players and no healer.

When he saw the opponents’ IDs, he screamed in excitement.

“We’re going to win this one!! We’re definitely going to win!!” he shouted.

“Duh, the enemy’s a knife team,” his frustrated healer teammate muttered. “If you can’t beat them, just get a dog to replace you!”

Jin Gang’s face twitched, but he held his tongue. At this point, the external conflict was more important than the internal one. He gritted his teeth and directed his knight teammate. “See that Summer Xiaotong? He’s a newbie, just hit max level. He probably came here to leech points. Let’s kill him first!”

Meanwhile, Summer Xiaotong was calculating in his head.

Based on how fast Zhou Yanjun and Bo Yu killed the healer, Xiaotong figured if he could survive for 30 seconds under the fire from the enemy’s two DPS players, they would probably win. If they didn’t focus on him, he could help Zhou Yanjun and Bo Yu take out the healer faster. Three people killing a healer would be much more efficient!

Worst case scenario—just survive those 30 seconds!

A knight and a hunter.

Just as Zhou Yanjun predicted, the enemy knight opened with a Beast Roar, shaking the ground beneath him!

“Xiaotong! Use your damage reduction!” Zhou Yanjun shouted.

Xiaotong’s eyes flashed, and in mid-air, he saw a red aiming line. In an instant, he abandoned casting his protective spell and jumped using the wind from the Beast Roar.

“Boom!” The shot missed.

“Damn it!” Jin Gang cursed furiously. “I aimed at you, and you blew the shot away! Are you an idiot?!”

“You couldn’t aim properly, don’t blame me!” the knight sneered.

“Then why the hell did you follow him? I’m dead! Help me!” The elf on their team was barely hanging on under Zhou Yanjun and Bo Yu’s concentrated fire!

The knight hesitated, then gave up on helping Jin Gang and turned toward Zhou Yanjun, attempting to disrupt their combined attack. Xiaotong wouldn’t give him the chance. He raised his staff and fired a series of damage spells like lightning at the knight.

“Shit!” The knight didn’t expect Xiaotong’s skills to come so fast and densely. He tried to dodge, but couldn’t in time, and Xiaotong’s special weapon triggered, reducing his health by half. By the time the knight tried to turn around, it was too late. The elf had already been killed by Zhou Yanjun and Bo Yu.

“Damn bastard, die!” Jin Gang, taking advantage of Xiaotong casting his skills, finally landed a shot. Xiaotong, being a fragile Omega, was severely injured, and the fall caused more damage. His health quickly drained, turning the match into two DPS players against two DPS players.

“Ha! Fire!” Jin Gang killed Xiaotong, feeling refreshed. He mockingly said, “Finally, I get to face you head-on!”

“Face me? You’re not worthy!” Zhou Yanjun spat, sneering. “Look in the mirror, do you even have the guts?”

“What the hell else do you know how to do besides talk big?” Jin Gang mocked. “You couldn’t even stay in KUQ and had to leave! How’s your time in that dead team, Polaris? Pathetic!”

“Fuck your mother!!” Zhou Yanjun was about to explode, shouting furiously, “I’ll smash your head in before the league starts!”

The two teams suddenly clashed. Jin Gang skillfully retreated, and after the hunter disengaged, they gained an invisible buff that made them semi-transparent, increasing their movement speed to help find a hiding spot. Ignoring his teammates’ curses, Jin Gang sold out his knight teammate.

“Boom!” He sniped Zhou Yanjun from the shadows, watching blood splatter from the fat knight’s body, feeling a twisted sense of satisfaction, then fired another shot.

“Fuck! This bastard doesn’t care about his teammates!” Zhou Yanjun was shot several times in a row, his health dangerously low. He was forced to use his damage reduction skill and shouted, “If I die, no one will be able to use the tracking skill. If you go up against him, you’ll definitely be killed by him!”

“I’ll block the bullets for you!” Bo Yu shouted.

“Haha! You all have to die! I’ll make you all pay!!” King Kong laughed wickedly in the dark but didn’t notice someone suddenly appearing behind him.

With only a few points of health, Xia Tong leaned back and swung his staff fiercely towards the end of the laser aiming line.

“I told you not to badmouth Fatty… I told you not to badmouth Polaris! Go to hell!!”

With a loud bang, the soul-shattering spell hit King Kong’s head with pinpoint accuracy. King Kong never imagined that his position would be discovered, and even less that Xia Tong wasn’t dead and his ID was still active. Hunters had no advantage in close-range PvP, and as he searched for something to prop himself up with, Xia Tong had already begun swinging his staff wildly. The spells came at him relentlessly, giving him no chance to catch his breath. Xia Tong then unleashed an infinite soul-reversing combo that shattered the entire tree canopy! King Kong fell to the ground amid broken branches and leaves, landing right at Zhou Yanjun’s feet.

He stiffly raised his head and saw Zhou Yanjun grinning at him with a “friendly” smile.

—

While Lin Mingfei was charging his phone in the house, he casually clicked into a live stream of a popular anchor named “Father of Dorayaki.” He saw a national server elf player lying in the arena map angrily cursing his teammates.

“I’ve been grinding the ranks with KKONG, this idiot! I can’t even keep my ninth rank now! Yeah, that King Kong from KUQ! You read that right, they’re a damn kitchen knife team! Polaris has two melee DPS and a low-level alt, shouting all over. KKONG just got killed by that alt. We’re going to lose! With this level of awareness and reaction, and still wanting to play professionally? KUQ is done for!”

In the live broadcast, a clear voice could be heard cursing from a distance.

“Go to hell—”

Lin Mingfei leaned back slightly, his eyes narrowing.

He playfully switched out of the live broadcast interface and sent a message to Xia Tong on his friend list.

Polaris_Zero: [Was it you who killed King Kong?]

After sending the message, he didn’t bother to wait for a reply, unplugged his fully charged phone, and went downstairs.

Halfway down, his phone vibrated.

Xia Xiaotong: […It was me QAQ.]

Xia Xiaotong: [Brother, I didn’t mean to curse QAQ…]

Xia Xiaotong: [I wasn’t like this before, believe me QAQ. I just couldn’t control myself QAQ.]

Xia Xiaotong: [Am I not being obedient? QAQ]

Lin Mingfei smirked slightly.

He was just curious, not angry, and was amused by how the little Omega seemed so worried.

He didn’t think there was anything wrong with Xia Tong’s confrontational behavior. On the contrary, it made Xia Tong seem more down-to-earth, cheerful, and cute.

Polaris_Zero: [It’s fine, you’re doing great, I don’t blame you.]

Polaris_Zero: [It must have been Zhou Yanjun who led you astray. Blame him.]

–

The author has something to say: Zhou Yanjun: ??? What’s going on?

Feel free to donate for earlier/bonus chapter releases! Thanks for supporting me and enjoy reading 😀