ATLAS TRANSLATES

Everyone’s expressions were varied and interesting.

Especially the female director, who paused for a moment and gave Yu Ge a meaningful look, her eyes saying volumes.

The interview was over. Not caring about others’ reactions, Yu Ge leaned forward, preparing to get up from his chair.

The director quickly said to Yu Ge who was about to leave: “Fish, wait, could you take one more photo with Conquer? We might need it later.”

Yu Ge’s movement froze.

Chen Yuzheng also stood up from his seat.

After both of them stood in position.

Yu Ge’s expression was stiff. His lips moved slightly, speaking in a voice only the two of them could hear, barely a whisper: “Could you stop being so… crazy during interviews?”

Chen Yuzheng looked innocent, “People these days have such wild imaginations, how can you blame me?”

The cameraman poked his head out and gestured with his hand, “Could you two stand closer together?”

Yu Ge ignored him completely, staying rooted to his spot.

Chen Yuzheng casually moved closer and directly put his arm around Yu Ge’s shoulder.

Yu Ge’s expression changed, enduring it for a moment, his whole body radiating rejection.

One wore TG’s black uniform, the other wore OG’s red and white uniform. They were even similar in height – one bold and unrestrained, the other silent and aloof. Both equally handsome, they were… unexpectedly well-matched.

Xiang Jiajia watched in a daze, muttering to herself: “This is… literally like taking wedding photos…”

After taking the photo, feeling mischievous, the director sincerely said to them, “Wishing you happiness together.”

It would be hard to end this without a wedding.

Yu Ge: “?”

Chen Yuzheng had only been playing along for the material effect, but now his face showed some discomfort as he removed his hand from Yu Ge’s shoulder, “Aren’t you all misunderstanding something?”

The staff turned off the soft light beside them and sighed, “No need to explain, we all understand.”

Chen Yuzheng: “…”

Xiang Jiajia excitedly grabbed Yu Nuo’s hand, “Even though I know Chen Yuzheng’s words just now were meant for you, I still want to say, wuwuwu, I ship it, I really ship it! The main leads giving us sugar themselves, it’s too sweet!”

Yu Nuo: “…”

She had been exposed to fandom since college, and many of the planners she knew were fujoshi. Although she didn’t read BL, she knew a bit about it.

But those two…? They were like Earth and Mars, two people who would never intersect.

Yu Nuo hesitated greatly: “You mean, my brother and Chen Yuzheng?”

Xiang Jiajia covered her face as if about to faint, nodding vigorously.

Yu Nuo fell silent, starting to question life.

—

That day after the matches ended, the TG team returned to their hotel.

After eating takeout, the coach casually analyzed their current situation.

Thomas: “Why do I feel like LPL’s chances of winning the championship this year are quite optimistic? Actually PPE isn’t as strong as rumored, didn’t we beat them in the continental match?”

Coach: “Korean teams’ BO1 and BO5 are two different concepts. WR’s raw strength has some gap with PPE. If OG’s condition isn’t good, PPE might be able to take down two in the left bracket.”

Killer sighed melancholically: “I’m confident about LCS, but LCK’s second seed seems quite strong too.”

“A defeated army must win, what are you afraid of?” Van kicked him, “Can’t you have some confidence? Let’s charge at them! First take down the Korean team, then deal with the Europeans. We’ll wait in the finals then, whether it’s WR or OG, either brother will do.”

…

October 19th, the quarter-finals were held at the Shanghai Stadium.

There were four quarter-final matches over four days.

The left bracket went first. Two days later, WR lost to PPE, stopping at the quarter-finals despite putting up a strong fight for several games. OG beat the European team 3:1, becoming LPL’s first team to secure a semi-final spot.

On the fourth day, TG faced off against Korea’s second seed BACK.

The arc-shaped stadium had thousands of seats arranged in tiers, with three giant screens in the center playing highlight reels from TG and BACK’s matches so far.

Scene after scene flashed by – Chen Yuzheng wearing headphones giving intense commands, Killer pumping his fist and roaring after winning the semi-finals, Thomas wiping tears after losing to OG again in the finals. Joy, dejection, even despair… All of TG’s glory and defeats along the way were condensed into a few minutes of footage, moving the fans in attendance deeply.

When TG’s five members walked on stage, the audience erupted in screams so loud they almost drowned out the host’s voice.

Even the casters couldn’t help but marvel: “This is home court advantage? The fans are so passionate.”

In the first game, both sides played slowly. Even at twenty minutes there hadn’t been any kills. The longer the game went, even the tiniest mistake by either side could cost them the whole match.

The casters worried: “Killer took a roaming champion but got pinned down by the enemy, stuck in mid lane. The tactical system they planned has completely failed to materialize.”

“As we’ve been saying, this isn’t TG’s usual playstyle. They’re unconsciously conforming to BACK’s rhythm, constantly being led by the nose, just like when OG threw them off in the summer finals.”

“Can’t help it, this Korean-style operation is like sticky candy – if you retreat they advance, if you attack they defend. They won’t teamfight without absolute certainty, basically zero mistakes.”

TG played weakly in the early game, silently getting eaten away by BACK. By mid-game, all five BACK members recalled and bought ten control wards. TG lost control of most vision.

The first game ended at forty minutes.

TG lost to BACK.

At the caster desk, Xiao Li briefly reviewed the game, somewhat regretfully: “Although they’re only LCK’s second seed, BACK are last year’s world champions. Compared to them, TG is still a bit green.”

After the mid-game break, TG’s members returned to the stage.

The fans’ enthusiasm hadn’t been dampened at all by the recent loss. Instead, they waved LED signs even more passionately. The applause lasted over ten seconds, with some male fans in the front rows roaring encouragement: “TG GO FOR IT!!!! JUST DO IT!!!!”

Even Killer was startled, mumbling: “That guy’s voice is so loud.”

Although they lost the first game, TG’s members were still in good spirits, not too depressed. During champion select for the second game, everyone was still chatting and laughing with the coach.

As they formally entered the game interface, Ultraman adjusted his breathing and turned his head to ask: “Brother Zheng, are you scared?”

“Scared of what?”

“The opponents are Korean.”

Chen Yuzheng stared at the computer screen and snorted coldly, “Mere insects.”

Ultraman’s face was full of admiration as he gave him a clap, spitting out two words: “Badass.”

Whether inspired by the male fans’ roars or Chen Yuzheng’s show of bravado motivating his teammates, from the second game onwards, all of TG suddenly found their form. They stopped dragging things out with BACK, with Killer and Ultraman taking turns coordinating with Van to roam.

BACK had a fatal weakness – their AD carry had always been underwhelming. And TG happened to be strong in bot lane. At 11 minutes, the enemy mid laner couldn’t keep track of Killer, letting him run to bot lane.

TG directly performed a classic four-man gank, sending BACK’s bot lane duo to heaven together.

As the venue’s atmosphere got more and more heated, TG found their groove. After BACK took the first game, they fought back hard, forcefully winning two games in a row to reach match point.

…

Game 4.

Before champion select, the coach massaged Thomas’s shoulders: “Stay calm, just play normally, don’t make mistakes, and leave no regrets.”

Killer chanted: “Amitabha, hope this is the last game.”

Ultraman brainwashed him: “Brother Sha, from now on you’re the world’s best mid laner, I believe you can carry.”

Killer: “…”

At the start, BACK began jungling from bot side.

At 7 minutes, another royal duel broke out in bot lane. Killer’s Ryze directly ulted down, the enemy AD mispositioned and got locked down, giving TG first blood.

Van rushed over and secured the ocean drake.

Throughout the game, Van focused on helping bot lane, feeding Chen Yuzheng’s Lucian until he was incredibly fat.

Mid-game, BACK caught Chen Yuzheng alone in mid lane.

The caster shouted: “Conquer be careful!!!! Run!!!”

But as soon as the words left his mouth, Chen Yuzheng counterattacked.

Two enemies came for him, but he showed no fear, dashing forward to get in their faces and deal damage.

How could a squishy AD carry be so arrogant??

BACK’s jungler and support were stunned for a moment before using their abilities to charge in. Just then, Killer, Ultraman and Van suddenly jumped out from the unwarded brush.

The caster realized what happened and shouted: “BACK took the bait! They’re in trouble!”

With their support dead, BACK’s AD carry hurriedly arrived at the fight. Unfortunately, their frontline had fallen, and before he could use any abilities, Van’s Gragas ultimate sent him flying.

When he landed, Chen Yuzheng followed up with a combo.

The caster yelled: “He’s inting, he’s inting, he doesn’t care about his life!! Conquer deleted him!!!”

On the big screen, Lucian’s golden Culling came out, directly shredding the enemy AD carry and jungler into pieces.

TG won a perfect teamfight and secured Baron.

The caster couldn’t contain his excitement: “Unstoppable!! With three items complete, Conquer is dominating BACK at will! will! WILL!!!”

“Honestly, I just love watching Conquer go wild. Like a newborn calf unafraid of tigers, even in such a tense match, no matter how strong the opponent is, he seems to not know how to spell the word ‘fear’.”

TG took the Baron buff and grouped up to destroy BACK’s mid inhibitor.

After respawning, BACK wanted to make a last stand.

Their top laner TPed to flank, trying to catch TG in mid lane as Kennen ulted. Although the effect was decent, it was disconnected from his teammates and the damage couldn’t follow up in time. Too far behind in economy and items, when the rest of BACK arrived, after some skirmishing, they still got surrounded by TG and teamwiped.

When TG regrouped at the inhibitor, the venue’s atmosphere exploded. Countless people stood up from their seats chanting TG’s name.

The caster screamed: “Is it over? Is it over?”

The red side’s nexus health dropped bit by bit, BACK powerless to turn it around.

“3:1!! I could do this!! TG beat BACK three to one!!!! Today’s the day! Send the Korean team home!!”

Watching TG’s five members take off their headphones, the young men hugged in a group, shoving each other as they walked to the other side of the stage to shake hands with their opponents.

At the caster desk, Xiao Li broke into a smile.

Just a few months ago, she had witnessed TG’s defeat in the summer finals.

And now, the whole venue was cheering for TG.

She couldn’t help but say: “Their efforts weren’t wasted. The sweat and tears they shed, the road they walked, every footprint they left, has been deeply imprinted in every spectator’s heart. A thousand words condense into one sentence – congratulations to TG for making the semi-finals!”

—

Because Korea’s dominance at Worlds had been so strong before, crushing countless LPL teams and making veteran players cry on the finals stage, Chinese audiences had always been most anticipating yet most nervous about China vs Korea matches. Two days ago when PPE defeated WR, domestic public opinion was very dejected.

[Youth returns]

[It’s all back, all back, still the familiar recipe, familiar taste, familiar match, Korean teams – LPL’s eternal daddy]

On the last day of quarter-finals, under widespread pessimism, TG won clean and perfect, finishing beautifully.

Making LCK teams suffer several losses in a row, TG greatly boosted LPL’s morale. They let countless viewers get sweet revenge, with chat rooms spamming 6666 non-stop for quite a while.

Both OG and TG secured semi-final spots. Weibo users commented:

[Please, can the two teams fight hard and turn S11 into LPL’s autumn finals?]

[Fish, Conquer: Bet you didn’t expect it’d be us two again!]

[Beijing Bird’s Nest is waiting for you, this year’s championship stays in China I think it will work]

…

In the hotel’s temporary break room, Yu Nuo sat on the sofa charging her phone, chatting with Xiang Jiajia.

Xiang Jiajia: “To be honest, after that interview, I started shipping your brother with Conquer’s CP, these two babies are so promising!”

Yu Nuo: “…?”

Xiang Jiajia: “I really love this quote: After our parting, we meet at the peak!”

Xiang Jiajia: “Wuwuwuwu, both TG and OG made it to semi-finals!!! Hope Fish and Conquer can meet at the peak in the end, want to see them hug again on stage, please heaven grant this CP fan’s wish!!!”

Looking at Xiang Jiajia’s messages, Yu Nuo suddenly felt her existence was… somewhat redundant.

Xiang Jiajia rapid-fired several fanart images to her.

The content was so explicit and shameless that Yu Nuo couldn’t bear to look closely.

Thinking of the Fish/Conquer super topic Fu Yidong had shared with her before, Yu Nuo opened Weibo to search and check it again.

She didn’t know before, but looking now shocked her.

Last time the super topic only had a few hundred people, but now its activity ranked in the top 100. All kinds of pictures and stories, jokes inside were even more explicit than what Xiang Jiajia sent her.

After browsing through it all, Yu Nuo’s face unconsciously turned red. When she tried putting herself in their shoes, some vivid scenes uncontrollably floated through her mind.

She took a moment to calm down, feeling she temporarily couldn’t face Chen Yuzheng and Yu Ge directly.

On WeChat.

Xiang Jiajia: “Ice prince top x Flirtatious rebellious bratty bottom, this CP is sooooo perfect”

Jiajia: “I don’t care, Nuo Nuo, abandon small love for greater love. You step aside, let them be together!!!! Then ship with me, we’ll ship until the end of time! Never give up!!”

Yu Nuo was typing when suddenly she felt a warm breath by her ear.

She jerked her head up.

The person in question was leaning behind her, bent over, who knows how long he’d been secretly watching.

He tilted his head and smiled at her: “Who are you chatting with?”

Yu Nuo guiltily turned off her phone, “With Jiajia.”

She quickly changed the subject, praising him: “Chen Yuzheng, you were amazing today.”

“What was amazing?”

“It’s your first time at Worlds, and you could play so well. Today from backstage, I could hear so many people chanting your name.”

“Mm, that’s true.” Chen Yuzheng basked in Yu Nuo’s admiring gaze, sitting down beside her to ask: “So, what were you chatting about just now?”

How did the topic come back to this.

“Just…” not knowing how much he saw earlier, Yu Nuo forced herself to say, “chatting about some private stuff.”

“Oh.” Chen Yuzheng stared at her thoughtfully, repeating word by word: “Ice prince top? Flirtatious rebellious bratty bottom? Step aside? Let them be together?”

Yu Nuo: “…”

Chen Yuzheng: “Who are you letting be together?”

Yu Nuo smiled awkwardly: “That was Jiajia joking.”

“Was it funny?”

Yu Nuo turned her head to the side, controlling her expression: “Um… not very funny.”

Looking at his expression, she fell silent for a moment, suddenly feeling like teasing him, “What should I do, I might have been brainwashed, feeling like you and my brother seem…”

“Alright, stop with the ‘seems’.”

Chen Yuzheng’s expression was complicated as he cut her off.

Originally, he hadn’t taken this matter to heart at all. He never cared about people cursing him, praising him, or even fantasizing about him.

But seeing Yu Nuo become like this, Chen Yuzheng suddenly felt the situation was getting serious, “Little Fish, I need to make a solemn declaration to you now.”

Yu Nuo: “Hm?”

“I, Chen Yuzheng, even if Earth is destroyed, will never like men, and moreover.” His eyes curved slightly upward: “No matter what, I wouldn’t be the bottom, understand?”

Yu Nuo quickly appeased him, “I understand, I understand, actually everyone’s just playing around, don’t take it to heart.”

“How can I not take it to heart? This is about my dignity and pride as a man.”

Chen Yuzheng was very displeased, accusing her, “Others aside, you’re my girlfriend, how come you have no sense of possession over me? Your love for me is too shallow.”

“No.” Dumbfounded at being lectured, Yu Nuo didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, “But that’s my brother, and he’s a guy.”

“So he’s not human?” Chen Yuzheng vindictively pinched her waist.

“Mm, my brother’s not okay either.” Yu Nuo obediently went along with him, “Whether men or women, you can only like me alone.”

Chen Yuzheng snorted coldly before reluctantly saying, “Fine, since you’re so petty, I can only agree.”

—

Having just won their match, TG’s members were extremely relaxed. After eating at the hotel, they lounged on the sofas outside chatting.

“Xiang Jiajia.”

Hearing someone call her, Xiang Jiajia looked up from her phone screen, “Ah? What is it?”

Killer had been talking with Ultraman, but when he saw Chen Yuzheng walk over to Xiang Jiajia, his eyes also followed them.

“I heard you’ve been shipping my…” Chen Yuzheng paused, recalling that term, “CP?”

Xiang Jiajia hesitated nervously, her eyes wandering, not answering immediately.

Chen Yuzheng gave a cold smile and tossed a pink and blue wrapped candy to Xiang Jiajia.

Xiang Jiajia was confused, looking down and picking up what landed beside her leg, “What’s this for?”

He commanded: “Eat it.”

For some reason, Xiang Jiajia found Chen Yuzheng’s demeanor rather frightening. She swallowed hard, tore open the wrapper, and under his intimidating gaze, put it in her mouth.

Chen Yuzheng curved his lips: “Is it sweet?”

Xiang Jiajia managed a difficult nod.

“Heh heh.”

Xiang Jiajia: “?”

Chen Yuzheng asked leisurely: “Do you know what this is?”

“No.” Xiang Jiajia played along and asked: “What is it?”

Chen Yuzheng: “This is the token of love between me and my girlfriend.”

He particularly emphasized the word “girlfriend” very clearly.

Xiang Jiajia sat uncomfortably, not knowing what to say, and randomly praised: “Is that so, this candy, it’s quite sweet…”

Chen Yuzheng raised an eyebrow, slowly asking back: “Sweeter than me and Yu Nuo?”

Xiang Jiajia: “…”