The back-to-back “expulsions” of Tayloo and TM from the labels of “strong teams” and “powerhouses” caused a huge stir. Of the HPL’s so-called Four Great Powerhouses that netizens had drawn up, only two were left standing.
Even though PNG kept cutting down one strong opponent after another, most viewers still regarded them as a dark horse that had surged out of nowhere. Before winning a proper, official title, they weren’t considered qualified to be promoted into the “Big Four”—being a gatekeeper was seen as more than enough.
Esports Insider No.8 V: #Vacant Seats Among the Four Great Powerhouses# Who will become HPL’s next top-tier powerhouse?! (eating popcorn)
[Attached image — PNG July Match Schedule]
[July 1: PNG vs DP, 13:00 p.m., Sucheng Jinghu Sports Center]
[July 2: PNG vs GEN, 13:00 p.m., Sucheng Hengyi Esports Arena]
[…]
Comment: LOL, this tag is ridiculous—are they turning PNG into quality inspectors now?
Comment: I’ll admit it, PNG as quality inspectors works for me. They’ve got something when they face old-school powerhouses.
Comment: They can still fight strong teams, but weaker ones are seriously unlucky when they run into PNG… I’m still thinking about those two games against VTA. Mid lane was just straight up feeding—Wind got fed to the point of being speechless, hahaha.
Comment: Ever thought maybe it wasn’t feeding, they just genuinely couldn’t win? Your Brother Wind walks up and gets a level-2 solo kill—who can withstand that?? Does VTA have no pride?!
Comment: Honestly, it’s fine—rank 41 getting crushed by rank 2 isn’t a big deal (lol).
Comment: Is nobody actually looking at the schedule? July is brutal, and no one’s talking about it? The top five all have to face each other in July.
Comment: I saw it. Nothing much to say—sooner or later they all have to play anyway.
Comment: Twenty-one matches in July is insane—who scheduled this? Aren’t they afraid of exhausting the players to death?
Comment: No choice, there are too many teams. If they don’t speed it up, there won’t be time for playoffs.
There are 48 teams in the HPL regular season. Even with a single round-robin, each team has to play 47 matches—an enormous test of players’ adaptability, stamina, skill, and overall quality.
The summer regular season is slated to end in mid-August, so the schedule speeds up in July. In June, teams could still mess around and do promotions everywhere, and PNG even collaborated with Little Shark for some content. But once July hits, there are matches almost every day, leaving hardly any time for activities.
For fans, the final bit of “after-school” material comes from the official Monthly Match Mic released at the end of June.
This is a show jointly produced by the HPL competition committee, referees, and the teams. It turns some of the fun in-game player chatter into short videos and uploads them to Didi Video.
Teams’ own official accounts sometimes release similar mic-up clips, but they’re usually nowhere near as good—after all, the official version has recordings from both sides of the match.
This is also the segment PNG fans look forward to the most.
…There’s no helping it—this damn team treats regular fan engagement like it’ll cost them their lives. Even when they do post daily content, they’re stingy as hell.
Comment: LOL, I casually checked—PNG’s official video account’s latest post is already a month old, congratulating Wind on joining the team and promoting the summer split PV… everything else is just re-uploaded player stream recordings!! Aren’t you way too lazy?!
Comment: Does that livestream collab with Little Shark count? …Even though it was all posted by Little Shark (dazed).
Comment: Such a useless official account, not following it is fine!!
Comment: Fake team operations: daily vlogs, fan interaction, rallying fans for support. Real team operations: repost players’ stream replays and pretend you updated—sometimes not even bothering to edit them!!
Comment: These guys haven’t streamed since the TL match… forgot their passwords again, huh?
PNG’s early July matches were all in Sucheng. The players had just finished packing and put their luggage together in the first-floor lobby; later, the club would take them to the high-speed rail station.
Lin Zhaoxu casually tossed his backpack together with his teammates’, plopped down on the sofa, and started scrolling on his phone—just in time to see some netizen comments.
“Pfft!” Lin Zhaoxu burst out laughing. Thoroughly entertained by the fans’ grievances, he quickly squeezed over to Sui Ning’s side. “Feng—bao—!”
The drawn-out, winding tone made Sui Ning freeze; he nearly dropped what he was holding.
Sui Ning: “…Just say it.”
Lin Zhaoxu grinned wickedly. “Your fans are asking if you forgot your streaming account password again—why haven’t you been streaming at all?”
Sui Ning sighed helplessly. “I didn’t forget… but after two more days of training, who knows.”
He shrugged. PNG’s training and match schedule was packed too tight. The earlier livestream collaboration with Little Shark was precisely so they could reduce the required streaming hours in July.
Nearby teammates all turned their heads away, snickering. Ji Yunyu hooked an arm around Sui Ning’s neck with a grin. “Since when did my Feng-bao start telling cold jokes, too?”
“Cut it out…”
Lin Zhaoxu scrolled a bit more and waved his phone at Ji Yunyu. “Yun—same for you. Your wife fans are going crazy. I’ll read a few for you—”
Ji Yunyu’s expression stiffened as he reached out to grab the phone. “Don’t—”
This move right here—this was friendly fire with double damage!
Lin Zhaoxu giggled, eyes dropping back to the screen, and read out the most-liked comment: “…Wuwuwu, husband Yun, I miss you so much. When can you stream together with Feng-bao again? If possible, please tell him I miss him too… uh, this one doesn’t count.”
“Hubby, where’s your wife? I’m not asking about myself—I mean that cute one who can play mid… uh.” Lin Zhaoxu blinked slowly.
Ji Yunyu froze on the spot.
Wei Ye was barely holding back his laughter. Cheng Su, who had been quietly watching the drama unfold, stayed calm. He glanced at Sui Ning’s expression, then turned to look at Ji Yunyu. Only after confirming the faint hint of smug satisfaction on Ji Yunyu’s face did he let out a silent sigh.
…He really couldn’t tell whether Son Xu was stupid or smart. Every time he danced right on a minefield, he somehow managed to save himself at the critical moment.
Cheng Su rubbed his chin and gave Lin Zhaoxu a once-over, confirming—yeah, definitely stupid.
Lin Zhaoxu looked completely baffled. “What’s up with your fans? Why are they calling Feng-bao ‘wife’?”
“Who knows what they’re thinking,” Ji Yunyu replied, making something up on the spot. “Isn’t there that trend online lately—‘one husband, one wife,’ like every pair automatically gets assigned roles? Probably just that meme.”
Lin Zhaoxu asked, “Then why is Feng-bao the wife?”
After asking, he turned his head and stared at Sui Ning. “Woohoo—yeah, that actually tracks.”
Sui Ning slowly raised the keyboard in his hands. “…What exactly are you woohoo-ing about?”
Lin Zhaoxu hurriedly dodged. “I’m saying you’re handsome!”
“Alright, alright,” Chen Chen laughed. “If your fans saw this scene, they’d probably lose a hundred thousand followers overnight. Xiao Ning, Yunyu—tell your fans to hang in there. You won’t have time to stream for a while.”
The two of them responded in agreement.
Lowering his voice, Lin Zhaoxu leaned over to Cheng Su and complained, “Every time I hear Brother Chen call Feng-bao ‘Xiao Ning,’ it just feels…” …like he was calling some soft, cute little girl.
Sui Ning shot him a sideways glance.
“…Feels full of love!!” Lin Zhaoxu immediately straightened up, looking righteous and serious.
…Good save. Otherwise, PNG’s marksman would be minus one. Sui Ning gave him a faint smile and calmly looked away.
When Sui Ning first heard Chen Chen call him that, he’d also felt a bit helpless—but the reasoning was solid: Feng-bao didn’t sound like something a coach should say, calling him by his full name or “Wind” felt too formal, and neither really fit PNG’s vibe…
Chen Chen clapped his hands. “Alright, pack up your stuff and get ready to head out.”
——
July 1st, Sucheng Jinghu Sports Center.
Dropping (DP) was currently ranked 39th on the standings, firmly in the bottom tier of the league in terms of overall strength, and realistically posed no threat to PNG.
On the contrary, PNG put significant psychological pressure on DP. When the DP players sat down in the match area, none of them looked very good.
The main stage at the Sucheng venue was a bit smaller than the one in Shanghai, so DP could clearly see PNG’s five players not far away, all wearing relaxed expressions—a stark contrast to themselves.
DP’s voice comms were dead silent.
After a long while, their most experienced player, jungler Shao Yuan, hesitantly spoke up. “Why is no one talking?”
“What do you think?” support Zhou Zhi said. “Nervous, obviously.”
As he spoke, Zhou Zhi repeatedly adjusted his headset and blew warm air into his palms, as if trying to thaw out frozen fingers.
But Sucheng summers were always scorching. Outside the arena, the noon temperature was racing toward 35C. Anyone could tell that this whole routine was just a way to ease his nerves.
Shao Yuan asked, “Where’s Amber? Why isn’t he saying anything?”
The youngest member of the team, mid laner Amber—Zhuang Yan—was completely unlike his usual trash-talking self, keeping his head down and staying silent.
Marksman Lu Huaili glanced over and explained, “Your little Amber brother saw that ID on the other side and is panicking hard. PNG_Wind—bro, are you scared or what?”
“…Obviously,” Zhuang Yan took a deep breath.
After a pause, he forced a casual tone. “My stomach hurts a bit.”
Behind them, a well-meaning referee turned on the mic. “Amber, what’s wrong? Do you need to report an issue?”
“No, no, no—”
“He’s fine, ref, just ignore him!”
Shao Yuan scoffed. “He doesn’t hurt at all, okay? I know him. This is just him setting up the excuse in advance—so when he gets solo-killed later, he can say his stomach hurt, and he wasn’t in good condition. I see right through him!”
Zhuang Yan pouted. “You even figured that out?”
Lu Huaili laughed. “It’s over—Brother Wind has given our Amber a psychological shadow.”
DP had training matches against PNG before.
Given DP’s league ranking, the fact that PNG was willing to accept the training match invitation already counted as a “privilege,” and the DP players were very grateful. But after playing those games… Zhuang Yan really had suffered.
When Wind played, he showed absolutely no mercy. The moment he caught a mistake, it was a level-2 solo kill—no counterplay whatsoever.
Their head coach, Andy, was also helpless. The gap in strength was simply too obvious. But there was nothing to be done—everyone was in the same league.
Andy patted Zhuang Yan on the shoulder and comforted him. “It’s okay, just do your best! This season we’re here to train. As long as we show spirit and play with heart, that’s enough!”
——a
…Unfortunately, pep talks don’t work against absolute strength.
As soon as the match ended, this seemingly ordinary regular-season game shot straight to the top of the trending list.
#AmberCried#
#WindYou’reNotHuman!! (doge)#
#PNG2:0DefeatsDP#
Esports Circle Xiao Ba V: #AmberCried# In Game 2 of the BO3, blue side DP got completely perfected—full base wiped. Amber finished 0/6/0. Poor kid couldn’t hold it together the moment the match ended…
[GIF of Zhuang Yan lowering his head and wiping away tears]
Comment: Uh… this is just miserable, miserable, miserable
Comment: Kid, listen to your uncle: HPL mid lane is deep water, you can’t handle it…
Comment: Just watched the replay—Wind is honestly a great white shark. He had him pinned under tower from level 1. Bro, Amber was playing a lane-bully champ—how did Wind beat him into complete non-functionality?! Brutal.
Comment: I was about to say, Amber just got promoted from HDL to the top league, don’t bully him too hard… then I realized something was off. The guy on the other side never even played in HDL before (grin).
Comment: Old PNG fan here, already starting to feel bad for him.
Comment: Hey, I heard this from the secondary stream: when they were up 15k gold, Wind was actually being pretty merciful. A lot of Amber’s positioning was guaranteed death… and Wind still didn’t kill him.
Comment: Same secondary stream. Crispy Duck’s commentary was hilarious. Quote of the day: “If that position were me or Cheng Wensheng, Wind would’ve ulted in and killed instantly. Why’s he being so gentle with him? I’m mad!”
Comment: LMAO, this one—this one is Duck being jealous.
Comment: Holy crap hahahaha, a brand-new definition of gentle.
Comment: Cowering before cannon fodder, throwing haymakers at gods? Damn, I’ve gone against the haters again!
DP’s promo team seized the momentum and released their edited in-game voice comms…
As expected, Lu Huaili’s god-tier summary once again got turned into a meme by enthusiastic netizens.
#ThatIDOnTheOtherSideMakesMePanic#
Comment: Hahahahaha help—Feng-bao, what’s wrong with you? You beat the kid into depression!!
Comment: Thinking about it… if one day I queue ranked as mid, load in, and see the enemy mid’s ID is PNG_Wind… I’d probably suffocate too.
Comment: Suffocate? Wouldn’t you be screaming with joy and taking screenshots like crazy? You queued into Feng-bao!!!
Comment: I knew this day would come, just didn’t expect it to come this fast (grin).
Comment: Old Diamond Walnut stream fan here, crying TuT. This is only the first step. One day, the ID PNG_Wind will make even the world’s top teams feel uneasy when they see it.
In the hotel room, Ji Yunyu was reading those comments too.
He was still sharing a twin room with Sui Ning. The hotel layout couldn’t be changed casually—Sui Ning’s words, because he couldn’t be bothered to move back again—so a nightstand sat between the two beds, forcing Ji Yunyu to sit on Sui Ning’s bed.
…It was pretty soft. Ji Yunyu tilted his head and pressed down hard on the mattress with his hand.
Sui Ning sighed, fingers itching as he reached out and tugged at the little purple tuft of hair on Ji Yunyu’s forehead. “What are you, a child who’s lost all autonomy? You have to come sit over here?”
“I am,” Ji Yunyu said shamelessly, nodding in admission.
He held his phone up in front of Sui Ning, eyebrows raised teasingly. “Any thoughts after reading all that?”
“No particular thoughts,” Sui Ning said, amused.
“Our Feng-bao is really impressive. Just the ID alone scares people.”
“Is that so? You’re not bad either,” Sui Ning replied calmly. He took Ji Yunyu’s phone, tapped into the top trending topic, and flipped his wrist to show it to him.
#XiaoYunDuo# [Explosion]
Sui Ning smiled faintly, looking straight into Ji Yunyu’s eyes. “…Happy? Everyone’s very concerned about your ID too.”
Ji Yunyu: ?
…What the hell?!
“That mic,” Sui Ning said, tossing the phone back to him. “Didn’t I accidentally call you that once before… yeah.”
Even though he’d deliberately avoided using Xiao Yunduo during matches afterward, he was so used to saying it in private that he just couldn’t break the habit—and ended up saying it several more times.
Back then, Sui Ning had a bad feeling, vaguely convinced that the Mic’d Up show would include those clips… and sure enough, the nightmare came true.
Ji Yunyu covered his face and groaned.
Sui Ning pressed his lips together. “…Are you angry?”
“No,” Ji Yunyu looked up at him, eyes smiling. “Why would I be?”
“Because of this…”
“This is proof that we’re close,” Ji Yunyu said matter-of-factly. “I wish everyone knew.”
“—Of course, they don’t get to call me that.”
With that, he lowered his head and checked the comment section under the topic.
#XiaoYunDuo#
Comment: Holy shit AHHHHHHHH
Comment: Honk honk honk hehehehehe—
Comment: It’s real. This is all real.
Comment: From now on, God Yun isn’t God Yun anymore, he’s Xiao Yunduo~~
Comment: Don’t get it wrong. It’s obvious only one certain someone gets to use that nickname. You ever see other teammates dare to? (grin)
Comment: A nickname that slips out in an emergency… damn it, why does this feel so real, I’m crying.
Comment: Even calling him Yunyu afterward was so smooth, so embarrassing. Somehow, it makes God Yun feel older—mentally speaking.
Comment: Damn it, HPL official is really the biggest shipper, isn’t it?! Are these voice lines real?! How can two people be so in sync that just calling a name lets the other know exactly what to do?! And it’s not once or twice—it’s every single time!!
Comment: When Feng-bao’s shotcalling, he explains everything in detail to everyone else. Only with God Yun… he just says “Yunyu,” and he gets it. I’m sobbing.
Comment: I’m done for. I’m really going to ship myself to death here today… HPL, remember this—you owe me a life!!
Ji Yunyu: …
At least they knew that not just anyone could call him Xiao Yunduo.
Satisfied, Ji Yunyu casually slipped his phone into his pocket.
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