Chapter 57

In the second game, RS couldn’t gain any advantage from targeting, as Rong Yi’s Memory Key perfectly complemented Yin’s ultimate, eliminating the disadvantage of Yin’s long cast time and cooldown.

Behind the unrestricted 40-second ultimate was a 4-second action lock and a map-wide vision decay effect. This is why Yin is challenging to play well in professional arenas.

The long cast time and action lock are minor issues compared to the innate vision limitation. Only the truly skilled dare to pick such a character.

The game ended with a score of 2:0.

Rong Yi’s prediction during the break came true: a clean sweep.

However, this playoff match indeed showcased the unique strength of the playoffs. All the teams began to exert their full power, unveiling new tactics and strategies.

Including Team VIT, where the combination of Memory Key and Yin appeared on the arena for the first time.

“That was amazing!”

“I predict that the pick rate of Memory Key and Yin will skyrocket tonight.”

“A flood of new, inexperienced Yin players is coming. I’m starting to feel deeply worried.”

“Alright, I’m off to play Yin and Memory Key.”

“I’m back. Playing Yin feels like being a blind man long action locks and the enemy kites me like I’m a dog.”

“I’m back too. I’m a loyal VIT fan. Here are my match stats.”

“Don’t flaunt your 0-12 Li!”

“Wow, there’s even a 0-12 Memory Key. You’ve proven your true fandom.”

After the match, everyone in the training room breathed a sigh of relief.

The first playoff game was easier than expected.

This time, Rong Yi and Xiao Yin coordinated exceptionally well, earning praises from the team.

Hydralisk smugly said, “The Boss’s Yin is nothing special. I could do just as well.”

Xiao Yin replied, “Let’s see you play Yin in the team stream tonight.”

Hydralisk immediately changed his tune, “The Boss is amazing! The Boss’s Yin is the best in the world!”

Everyone laughed.

Rong Yi laughed too.

Rong Yi didn’t rush to get up; he remained leaning back in his chair, examining the match statistics.

It was a professional habit. Even though he knew they’d do a post-match analysis later, his first instinct was always to check the data on both sides.

The others had already left, but Xiao Yin, knowing Rong Yi’s habit, got up and sat beside him.

At first, Rong Yi thought Xiao Yin was there to review the data with him, but soon realized he was merely waiting.

“Give me a moment to jot down the stats. I’ll be quick,” Rong Yi said.

“No rush. Let them go ahead. You can stay with me as long as you need,” Xiao Yin replied.

His tone was calm and natural. Rong Yi thought for a moment, smiled slightly, and glanced outside.

There was always a post-match interview session with the competition training team, and since VIT didn’t have a fixed coach, the members took turns speaking. Today, it was Hydralisk’s turn.

The training room door was half-open, and referees and staff members were coming and going. Anyone passing by could take a glance inside.

Suddenly, Xiao Yin stood up and walked to the door, closing it.

Rong Yi looked over.

Xiao Yin’s expression was calm and indifferent: “It’s a bit noisy.”

With the door closed, the room was suddenly quiet, leaving just the two of them.

Everyone outside knew about their relationship by now, but they could only imagine what was happening behind the closed door.

Of course, Rong Yi merely let his mind wander on this thought briefly.

Lately, he and Xiao Yin had hardly any time alone together. They lived in apartments across from each other, but in recent days, they rarely saw each other outside of training sessions.

They were so busy that they even ate their meals in the training room.

This small moment of solitude after the match felt precious to Rong Yi.

Xiao Yin handed him a pen. It wasn’t his usual fountain pen but a regular black plastic pen. Then, he sat beside him, watching.

Rong Yi switched the mouse to his left hand, using his right hand to write.

He had a remarkable but somewhat useless skill: ambidexterity. Lin Yi once said it was a sign of his superior intellect.

The pen moved across the paper with a soft scratching sound.

After finishing a page, Rong Yi relaxed, grabbed his water cup, and started chatting with Xiao Yin.

They didn’t talk about anything specific; it was just casual conversation to unwind.

“Are we driving ourselves back?”

“If it’s just you and me, I’ll drive.”

Rong Yi leaned back, stretching his neck, and rested against the chair. He smiled and winked at Xiao Yin, “Then I’ll trouble Yin-Ge.”

After Rong Yi finished recording the data, he switched the mouse back to his right hand and clicked on Xiao Yin’s stats.

The character panel and skin appeared on the side.

This game’s skins provided no in-game advantages. Xiao Yin was using the default Yin skin: a sleek, dark cloak, black sleeves fluttering in the wind, and eyes bound with bandages under tousled hair.

It looked really cool—a character he had loved for many years.

Xiao Yin noticed him right-clicking, rotating the character model.

He tilted his head slightly. “Do you like Yin?”

Rong Yi nodded, a bit shy. “Yeah, he’s my main champion.”

“What does ‘main champion’ mean?” Xiao Yin asked.

Talking to the out-of-touch boss could be exhausting.

“It means my favorite,” Rong Yi explained.

He glanced at Xiao Yin. “You’ve played Yin for over five years. Don’t you like him?”

“Not really. I play him because he’s effective,” Xiao Yin replied.

Rong Yi subtly pouted.

An expected answer.

He eagerly began to tell Xiao Yin the character’s story.

It was rare, but during his enthusiastic explanation, Rong Yi found a bit of his old passion returning. He got more and more excited as he spoke.

“Have you ever seen Yin’s eyes?” Rong Yi asked Xiao Yin.

Xiao Yin glanced at the character panel. “He’s blind, right?”

“He got his eyes back later. One of his skins has an idle animation showing his eyes. But that’s an ancient limited edition skin.”

The official tournament accounts had all skins unlocked, so Rong Yi specifically pulled it up to show Xiao Yin.

“Look, this one.”

Xiao Yin took a look.

Professional players studied the feel of each skin, and though he had this one, he had rarely used it, let alone noticed such small details.

“In the idle animation, he unwraps the bandages and looks down.”

On the screen, the handsome hermit unraveled the bandages around his fingers. His right eye was dark red, and under the dark, tousled hair, his left eye was gold, split into two narrow, demonic eyes.

Xiao Yin followed his explanation. “His eyes are two different colors.”

Xiao Yin wasn’t particularly interested in these little stories. Naturally, he wouldn’t get as excited as Rong Yi, but he listened quietly and attentively as Rong Yi spoke.

“Because one of his eyes was given to him by Li,” Rong Yi said, rattling off the lore effortlessly. “After Yin was rescued and brought back to the Valley of Shadows, Li saw that the master of the lava and mountains was born blind. So, he replaced Yin’s eye with his own left eye, allowing him to see the world.”

“Li said, ‘My world is beautiful, and I want you to see it too.'”

Xiao Yin was familiar with that part of the storyline.

Li was the lieutenant of the Snowfield Guard, while Yin was a hermit detached from the world. Once, on a mission, Li ventured too far and, gravely injured, encountered the legendary master of the mist-shrouded mountains.

The two characters lived together for two months, shamelessly, until Li’s injuries healed.

Their identities and stances were too unique, making it impossible for them to stay together. Their separation was inevitable: Yin would continue to guard his sky, lava, and mountains, while Li would protect his ice fields, people, and the winter winds.

After Rong Yi finished narrating, Xiao Yin smiled faintly.

“So, they were a couple?”

His smile was captivating, a mix of his usual coldness and a touch of warmth.

Rong Yi remembered that the two of them had been primarily playing these characters recently. He also recalled how, during duo queue with Xiao Yin, casual players had made jokes about it.

Rong Yi glanced up at him. “You didn’t know?”

Xiao Yin paused and said, “I knew.”

Rong Yi retorted, “Then why did you ask me?”

“I wanted to hear you say it.” Xiao Yin looked at him quietly. “You look good when you talk.”

The training room was exceptionally quiet, so much so that they could hear each other’s breathing.

Rong Yi’s ears turned red again, silently.

Thankfully, Xiao Yin gave him some room, asking, “So, did they end up together?”

Rong Yi shook his head. “No, they might never see each other again. Di betrayed the legion, and Li has to bear the burden of defending the entire ice field alone. As for Yin… according to the official lore, he rarely appears in historical records, and no one knows what he went on to do.”

“He will go looking for him,” Xiao Yin said.

He spoke with such certainty that Rong Yi didn’t quite understand, but he didn’t ask further either.

Rong Yi stood up and put away his notes. “Alright, let’s head out.”

The team had another livestream task that evening. Similar to last time, it was a casual segment for an official esports tournament, where they just needed to broadcast some everyday team activities.

This time, Rong Yi didn’t have any product promotion tasks because he had declined them. However, the other three members did.

Having done a livestream before, everyone was now familiar with the recording process.

Rong Yi had the most free time. After winning a match today, he felt the training was paying off. He started his own stream, giving out two thousand red packets since dinner.

The others joined a bit later than him.

“Captain Rong, where are the others?” a bullet screen comment asked.

Rong Yi glanced at the time and replied casually, “It’s not time yet. They haven’t finished eating.”

“Captain Rong, what is Hydralisk doing? What did he eat today? Hydralisk fans reporting in.”

Rong Yi looked back. “Hydralisk had onion beef rice.”

“Captain Rong, what about Grey Cat! Where’s Grey Cat? We want to see Grey Cat too!”

Patiently, Rong Yi helped locate Grey Cat.

“He’s changing clothes. He’ll be on soon.”

“What about Gu-Ge! Is Gu-Ge going to sing on stream today?”

“I don’t know. You’ll have to ask him.” Rong Yi then checked on Wu Daogu. “He’s still downstairs. Not sure what he’s up to.”

All questions answered.

At that moment, the bullet screen filled up with:

“And what about Yin!!! Captain Rong! What is Yin doing! Is he with you?”

“What’s Yin doing—check it out!”

“Can we ask now? The match is over and he’s resting! We want to know! Where’s Yin—where’s your husband—”

“We haven’t had any sugar in a while—”

The netizens had finally found their chance to tease him after careful planning.

Rong Yi remained calm.

“Yin, huh.”

He was about to turn around to look for him when he saw Xiao Yin pulling up a chair and sitting down beside him.

The broadcasting studio was still not fully occupied, leaving just the two of them.

Xiao Yin’s way of pulling up a chair made it seem like he wanted to squeeze in next to Rong Yi rather than occupying his own workstation.

Rong Yi didn’t have time to respond to the netizens; he shifted a bit to make room for Xiao Yin.

“Yin-Ge is here with us, getting ready to start the stream.”

Rong Yi’s answer was accurate, but it wasn’t what the netizens wanted to hear.

“It’s been a long time since we had any sugar,” Xiao Yin suddenly said.

“Hmm?”

Rong Yi didn’t catch on immediately. He looked up and gave a light hum, then saw Xiao Yin sitting beside him, tilting his phone toward him.

On Xiao Yin’s screen was that old forum thread, filled with netizens loudly clamoring for some “sugar.”

The thread starter also mentioned that they had been too busy with work lately to provide any updates.

“Want some?” Xiao Yin asked.

The netizens vaguely heard Xiao Yin’s voice.

“Ahhh, Yin-Ge is right there—I heard Yin-Ge talking to Easy!”

“Oooohhh—”

“Ah, what—”

The microphone icon on the screen flashed green, then went still in the sudden silence.

Before Rong Yi could ask “how,” Xiao Yin leaned in and kissed him.

The kiss was different from before. It was more like a gentle nibble on his lips.

Then, the tip of Xiao Yin’s tongue pressed against his teeth.

He passed over a small piece of pineapple candy from who knows where.