Lin Zhaoxu was still grumbling about his light sign, pestering the analyst to swap it for another one, but Chen Chen shot him a sharp glare and shut him down. In the end, every player ended up holding some kind of cheering prop—only Chen Chen stood there with his arms crossed, looking like a big boss.
“Tch…” Lin Zhaoxu sneaked a glance at the coach and muttered under his breath, “Why do we all have to hold something, but Emperor Chen doesn’t?”
Chen Chen chuckled. “I’m the coach. Who the hell are you?”
Players fooling around with it was fine, but if a coach showed up at the venue cheering for players from other teams—whose side would that be? Which player? That kind of thing couldn’t be explained away just by saying you had a good relationship. Chen Chen wasn’t stupid enough to do something like that.
Soon, the small guide lights inside the venue were switched off one by one. The surroundings sank into even deeper darkness—so dark that you could barely make out the person sitting next to you. The sudden darkness made Sui Ning a little tense, but he couldn’t suppress the curiosity in his heart. Across both his lives, he had rarely watched a match from this angle—standing among the sea of spectators, looking up at the stage.
The other fans in the arena were clearly used to it. Not only were they unafraid of the near–haunted-house level darkness, waves of excited screams and applause burst from the crowd instead, mixed with thrilling battle cries.
Blinding spotlights cascaded down like a silver river, landing on the players at center stage. Behind them, the fans of both teams instantly exploded. Before Sui Ning could even properly look toward the main stage, he was drawn by the overwhelming roar from behind him. He turned his head slightly to glance back—
Behind the left side sat HTG’s fans. Row after row stretched outward, tens of thousands strong. In the center of the crowd they unfurled a massive banner bearing the cross-like emblem of the Heretics—symbolizing those who forever struggle against fate, the unbelievers, the heretics.
“Heretic! Heretic——!”
Without any amplification equipment, their voices alone were enough to pierce the eardrums and shake the dome.
Naturally, Navic’s fans on the right refused to be outdone.
Football had “derbies,” and HPL had them too. A match between Navic and HTG was exactly that.
The two teams had been rivals domestically for years. Even if the fans hadn’t started with a grudge, they’d fought enough to develop one. They’d even made chants like “Heads may roll, but the cheers against HTG must stay in tune.” Of course they weren’t about to let their team lose in momentum.
“Natus——Vincere——!!”
“Natus——Vincere——!!”
The fans shouted their team’s full name while waving glowing light signs that sparkled like stars.
Compared to abbreviations or short team names, chanting Natus Vincere—a long Latin phrase that wasn’t easy to pronounce—in perfect unison was extremely difficult. Yet they had managed it year after year.
At the same time, a giant cheering banner was unfurled in the middle of their section. On it was the silhouette of a black crown—uncolored, unlike any known historical crown. Only the gemstone set in the center of the crown shone with a Sri Lankan-red hue, like a streak of winding blood, identical to the color of the jewel on the World Championship trophy. At the most prominent spot on the banner, a bold line of words stood out clearly—
Natus Vincere
Born to be King
It was the semantic Chinese translation of the team’s name—and also the fans’ unwavering expectation for their team.
——
“Summoners, are you ready?!”
Qing Ci appeared at the familiar time, his impassioned voice pushing the atmosphere in the arena to another small climax. “HPL Season 6 Summer Playoffs, Game 11—!”
“This match is destined to be extraordinary! It is the final match of the lower-bracket revival series. From these two teams, the Summer third-place finisher will be decided—and the winner will be completely ‘revived,’ heading to the Capital Stadium to challenge the upper-bracket leader PNG for the championship trophy!”
“And more than that—the two teams competing today are HTG and Navic. Does this matchup feel familiar to you?!”
The excited fans responded like obedient students answering a question:
“YES!!! Spring finals!”
“That’s right—the Spring Grand Final! Who would’ve thought the spring champion and runner-up would meet again here? The quality of this match is beyond doubt—”
The commentators enthusiastically went over the history between the two teams, their voices echoing together with the roaring fans. The atmosphere kept heating up, and even Sui Ning found himself getting a little excited. Seeing this, the analyst immediately stuffed another light sign into his arms that read Reach the Moon in the Ninth Heaven.
Sui Ning: …
He stared at the glowing golden moon on the sign and the small letters Cpyhc in the lower right corner. Unable to resist, he waved it lightly in his hand.
Lin Zhaoxu, who had been glancing around everywhere, saw this and was instantly horrified. Oh no—our mid laner’s watching one match and already changing loyalties?!
Then he looked at Cheng Su next to him and was even more shocked. How the hell was this guy waving two signs at once—and doing it with rhythm?!
Lin Zhaoxu stared at him like he’d just caught a cheating lover and demanded, “Why are you so skilled at this?!”
“Cheng Wensheng forced me,” Cheng Su replied indifferently, glancing sideways at their overly excited marksman.
Back then, his useless older brother had forced him to watch TL matches and cheer along. He’d long since mastered the art—waving ten light signs at the same time wouldn’t even be a problem.
——
At one in the afternoon, the match officially began.
Navic’s starting mid laner today was Fiw Xiang Jin, while HTG’s lineup was exactly the same as when they played PNG—no roster changes.
The coaches leading the two teams were Coach Panpan—who somehow coached two teams at once like he had mastered the Shadow Clone technique but whose hairline was hanging by a thread—and Coach Tang Yu, the top-tier fake-smile boy.
In Game 1, wary of Nv_Lime’s reputation, HTG focused their bans on the bot lane. One marksman after another was sent to the spectator bench amid the audience’s wails. Coach Panpan didn’t miss the opportunity. He let Fiw pull out the hero he’d played all summer—Stone Sentinel—turning him into the ultimate utility mid, shoving the wave and roaming everywhere to support.
“These two teams—when they play each other, the BP is extremely important. In Game 1, Panpan let Lime take the pressure, which actually played right into that turtle bastard Tang Yu’s hands. HTG clearly believed they could break Navic’s double-support strategy with Fiw in mid and Mistake on top.”
Chen Chen analyzed, “If HTG wanted to cripple that strategy in BP, they’d need to ban both the mid and top lanes. That’s very risky. It’s better to just suffocate the bot lane.”
Sui Ning and the others listened attentively, while some fans sitting close behind them pricked up their ears to eavesdrop…It was too dark in the arena to see clearly, but who exactly was this guy in front of them? Why did his analysis sound far more reasonable than the nonsense the commentators were spouting?
“Crush the marksman core. Give Lime a bunch of late-game carries that can’t actually carry. Even if mid and top want to roam, they won’t be able to create much impact. That way HTG’s marksman Style will have a much easier time, and their mid and top will naturally have the advantage against two utility picks. HTG’s first round of BP was actually pretty decent.”
Chen Chen reluctantly praised Tang Yu a little, then immediately changed tone. “But Tang Yu trusts the individual strength of certain star players a little too much.”
Just like those games HTG played against PNG. By the end, Tang Yu had already realized that the Verdant Treant was an unshakable venomous snake—an immortal bloodsucking leech. Yet he still chose to believe that Yu Cai, who had dominated the top lane all summer, could overcome the problem.
If this were the regular season, or if it were Game 1 of a BO5, that decision would be fine. But that had been the semifinal decider. HTG had already been standing at the edge of a cliff. The losses in earlier games had proven that there was a flaw in their BP approach. If it wasn’t corrected in time, then it wasn’t “trusting the players”—it was simply the coach’s incompetence.
Chen Chen silently stomped on Tang Yu in his heart.
“If HTG loses Game 1, it’s fine,” Chen Chen said. “But if they win it, then it’ll be really bad.” Tang Yu would believe in the current approach even more.
A few sharp-eared HTG fans in the row behind them finally couldn’t take it anymore and angrily snapped back. “Who the hell are you?! Spouting all this bullshit! You say Coach Xiao Yu isn’t good—who do you think you are?”
“Exactly! Cursing HTG to lose—I bet he’s just some Bronze player!”
“If you’re so good, why don’t you go up there and do the BP yourself?!”
“Turn around if you’ve got the guts! Let me remember your face—don’t you dare leave when the match ends!”
Chen Chen obediently turned around and glanced at them once before calmly turning back to watch the game.
The people behind him froze instantly. Their mouths hung open as they stared blankly, unable to speak for several seconds.
The fans exchanged looks, seeing the same confusion in each other’s eyes.
…Why does that guy in front look so much like PNG’s coach…???
——
Facts soon proved Chen Chen right. Navic lost the first game by a small margin, but they quickly found the problem. In Game 2, they didn’t even change their strategy—they ran the exact same lineup again against HTG.
This time, even though B went completely berserk, he still couldn’t save HTG. Guesz was entangled on the top lane and couldn’t break free, almost like a repeat of PNG’s deciding game—he went silent for the entire match.
Bot lane was the same story. Although Style was already a rare top-tier marksman, Lime was the top of the top—the undisputed number one in the hearts of all marksman players. When Navic’s captain was injured, their coach imprisoned, and the team was collapsing with inexperienced new members, it was Lime who held the line through their darkest period.
So after getting caught twice, Style completely lost the right to contest the lane against Lime.
Both side lanes collapsed like an avalanche. Although B performed brilliantly afterward, he couldn’t stop the downward spiral. Navic successfully tied the score at 1:1.
“Holy shit, Brother Li is carrying like crazy!”
“Zou Jiayou—!! God of the bot lane!!”
“Li, hubby! You’re the best!!”
“I told hubby I didn’t want to see Navic lose, so hubby immediately beat up HTG for me!”
Lin Zhaoxu’s face turned green. The “Jiayou hubby” sign in his hand had never felt so scorching hot…
On stage, Tang Yu’s face was green as well. Getting beaten in a similar way by two different teams—he wasn’t an idiot. In the next game, he was determined to remove those clingy, tanky front-line heroes from the top lane and free Yu Cai.
At the end of the day, HTG was used to Yu Cai’s ability to single-handedly dominate the top lane. But they weren’t used to centering their tactics around him. When facing teams that pressured top lane like this, HTG struggled to find effective solutions—and Yu Cai would easily go quiet.
However, just as Tang Yu was calculating his plans, Navic suddenly requested a substitution for the next game.
“????”
“Holy shit…????”
“Tell me who you can even swap in—you only have one substitute—are you serious?! Holy shit holy shit!!”
“Alright, for Game 3, Navic has requested a substitution.”
The commentator tried hard to sound calm, but the corners of his mouth kept rising uncontrollably.
“As we all know, the HPL has clear regulations regarding mid-series substitutions. Teams must submit a roster before the match, and only the substitute players listed there may be swapped in during the game. Which means—”
Before he could finish, someone in the audience shouted the answer first:
“—Meng Xiyue!!!”
The name dropped like a thunderbolt. The fans who had been shouting moments ago suddenly went completely wild.
“AHHHHHHH—sob sob sob…”
“Navic, after the substitution I’d better see Cpyhc. If you’re trolling me I swear I’ll go down with you, seriously, sob…”
“We can joke around, but don’t mess with my Yue, please—sob…”
“Crispy duck… I hug crispy duck in my dreams… I don’t even dare eat it… I just hold it and drool, sob sob…”
After babbling and crying for a long while, when the break between games ended and the players were about to return to the stage, Navic’s fans no longer shouted the team’s name.
The door to the players’ tunnel seemed to push away the entire summer’s gloom for Navic. From afar, they saw a long-absent figure walking out of the passageway. All the tangled emotions of despair and hope in their hearts suddenly settled into a strange calm.
The excitement of this moment turned people who could normally argue with haters online for three hundred rounds back into infants. They forgot words and language, and could only let out the most primitive cries from their throats.
This long wait—one that had felt like it would never end—finally turned into a single name today:
“—Cpyhc!!”
“Meng Xiyue!!!”
“Navic——!!”
Even the rival fans fell silent for once. The volume, far louder than roaring mountains and crashing seas, was impossible to miss. Meng Xiyue heard it, of course. He smiled and, just like he had done countless times before, waved toward the audience.
——
“God Yue, welcome back!!!”
At the commentary desk, Qing Ci was already crying his eyes out. “We’ve waited so long for this moment! Navic has subbed out Fiw, and the substitute coming in is Cpyhc—everyone’s familiar God Yue, sob—sob—”
“This is a signal worth celebrating for every Navic fan… no—for every HPL viewer!”
Chao Mi wiped away tears as well. “In the final round of the revival bracket, right at the tail end of summer, Cpyhc has finally returned to the stage! He looks to be in good condition. This means Navic hasn’t lost their captain, and HPL hasn’t lost such an extraordinarily talented mid laner!”
The fans below had already cried themselves into a mess. Even HTG’s side of the crowd was moved by the emotion, applauding continuously to welcome the return of a respected rival.
Every online platform was instantly flooded with posts. Weibo lagged so badly people couldn’t even log in. But no one at the venue had the spare attention to care about that. The break between games felt like a lifetime had passed—they felt as if they had returned to spring again.
Amid the chaotic screams and sobs, Chen Chen suddenly spoke.
“Wind.”
The coach turned around against the backlight and looked at Sui Ning, his eyes sharp and bright. “I’ve received news. Navic brought in the best specialist teams from both inside and outside the country. After an entire summer of treatment, Meng Xiyue has basically recovered. During the treatment, he kept training actively, and after recovery, he didn’t fall behind on progress. He’s already ready to participate in high-intensity BO5 matches.”
“Do you know what that means?”
Chen Chen spoke as if asking—but also as if informing him. “If Navic wins today, then your opponent in the finals will be him.”
…Reach the Moon in the Ninth Heaven. From the heights of the heavens, looking down upon all. In the hearts of his fans, Meng Xiyue was exactly that kind of existence.
A mid laner crowned with countless honors—the strongest active mid laner in the country.
After saying this, Chen Chen quietly waited for Sui Ning’s reaction.
Sui Ning was silent for a moment. Then he suddenly curled his lips into a smile and lifted the light sign in his hand, giving it a little wave toward Chen Chen.
He said:
“That’s good.”
A match without a worthy rival was like a painting drained of color. Lowering his gaze to the moon on the sign, Sui Ning realized that, unlike the gentle and mysterious purple that accompanied him daily through Ji Yunyu’s presence, his professional career also needed the bright, blazing gold in his hand—
Both companion and enemy.
He raised his eyes toward the main stage. Meng Xiyue had already taken his seat in Navic’s player area, adjusting his equipment.
At this moment, Sui Ning’s anticipation was no less than that of any Navic fan.
——
The fans who had been eavesdropping behind them were completely dumbfounded.
…Wind? Finals?
So PNG was actually sitting right in front of them this whole time?! Huh???
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