After returning to the hotel, Coach Lin reviewed today's match with everyone as per usual, carefully replaying and explaining it from beginning to end. It wasn't until 11:00 PM that he let everyone go back to rest.
At the dormitory door, Ye Shaoyang remembered Chen Qianhua's request to add him as a friend. He turned to Chi Shuo and said, "By the way, Captain Chi, please send me Captain Chen's contact card. I'll add him."
Chi Shuo took out his phone, found Xiao Chen in his contacts list, and forwarded the contact card to Ye Shaoyang.
Ye Shaoyang said thanks, turned around, and opened the door to enter his room.
Chi Shuo suddenly asked, "Are you going back to play ranked with Chen Qianhua?"
Ye Shaoyang said, "Depends on Captain Chen. He might not be in the mood to play games since he just lost a match."
Chi Shuo said, "Don't play too late. You just finished a match; rest your brain properly."
Ye Shaoyang replied, "Got it. After all, I'm an esports player who sleeps early and wakes up early."
The two smiled at each other and said their goodbyes at the door.
Chi Shuo turned and entered his room just as a WeChat message popped up from Chen Qianhua: "Send me Lieyang's WeChat. Did you get busy and forget?"
Chi Shuo typed a reply: "I didn't forget. Just sent yours to him; he'll add you very soon."
Chen Qianhua: "Okay."
A few seconds later, sure enough, another message came: "He added me."
Chi Shuo walked to the bedside and sat down. After hesitating for a moment, he asked, "Why did you suddenly want to add him?"
Chen Qianhua: "I think he's very handsome. He's the most handsome Omega I've ever seen."
Chi Shuo frowned warily. "You don't have any ideas about my Yangyang, do you?"
Chen Qianhua said, "You mean poaching him to team Binghun? I have had that thought, but it's just a thought. I know Tianhuan definitely won't let him go."
Chi Shuo: "..."
It seemed that Chen Qianhua also only had competition in his brain. When mentioning "ideas," he actually thought it meant "poaching." No wonder he had remained single by sheer ability until now.
Among their group from the Star City Youth Training Camp, maybe he himself would be the first to leave singlehood?
Thinking of this, Chi Shuo put down his phone in a good mood and went to take a shower.
After Ye Shaoyang and Chen Qianhua added each other and exchanged pleasantries, Chen Qianhua asked, "What time are you sleeping tonight? Still early to bed, early to rise?"
Ye Shaoyang: "Lately I've been sleeping at 1 AM and waking up at 8 AM."
Chen Qianhua said, "It's only eleven right now. Want to play a couple of ranked games?"
Ye Shaoyang: "Sure."
Binghun had lost the match, so they definitely reviewed it after returning to the hotel. To still be in the mood for ranked after the review, this Captain Chen had quite strong psychological resilience. As a veteran player, perhaps he had long learned to take things in stride?
Just as Ye Shaoyang was about to start the group, a WeChat message popped up from Xie Weiyu: "Yangyang, have you finished reviewing? If you're free, let's play together."
Ye Shaoyang said, "I was just about to start a game with Captain Chen."
Xie Weiyu was stunned for a moment. "Ah… Binghun's Captain Chen?"
Ye Shaoyang said, "Yeah, just added him. Do you know him well?"
Xie Weiyu: "Not really."
Ye Shaoyang: "Perfect chance to get to know him then. Coming?"
And so, the duo queue became a trio queue.
Xie Weiyu had a very introverted personality. Aside from his teammates on Yueying, his only friend in the league was Ye Shaoyang. Chen Qianhua was very good-natured and took the initiative to greet him: "Hello, Xiao Yu."
Xie Weiyu: "Hello, Captain Chen."
Ranking with people you weren't very familiar with could be a bit awkward, but Ye Shaoyang was great at livening up the atmosphere. With him there, the voice channel wasn't boring at all.
Ye Shaoyang said, "Mid-Marksman-Support trio queue, we are an invincible existence!"
A row of question marks appeared in Xiao Bai's livestream chat.
[An Omega bringing two Beta bodyguards?]
[I realized Xiao Bai is quite interesting. Last time after playing Yueying, he became good friends with Xiao Yu; this time after playing Binghun, he dragged Captain Chen into ranked too!]
[Does Xiao Bai prefer making friends with Beta players?]
[Yeah, haven't seen him duo queue with any Alpha besides Captain Chi.]
Seeing the discussion in the chat, Ye Shaoyang joked, "After all, I am an Omega. Getting along with Beta friends is more relaxing. Betas don't have pheromones and don't need inhibitors. Just calculate carefully—how many inhibitors do Alphas and Omegas have to take and how many injections do they need from childhood to adulthood? Betas don't need any of that. So worry-free."
He really wished he were a Beta so he wouldn't have all these troublesome issues.
Hearing his words, Chen Qianhua couldn't help but be stunned.
In the eyes of others, being a Beta might mean mediocrity. Their genes weren't as superior as Alphas and Omegas, and they needed to put in more effort to achieve good results.
Yet Ye Shaoyang felt that Betas not needing injections and not being troubled by pheromones and heat cycles was worry-free.
That… didn't seem wrong?
Chen Qianhua thought about it carefully. Since presenting as a Beta, he indeed hadn't needed to visit the hospital or prepare various sprays and medicines. Meanwhile, those Alpha players had to spray scent masking agents every time they went out, get regular pheromone checkups at the hospital, and take injections if their pheromones were unstable…
It was indeed quite troublesome.
Chen Qianhua chuckled softly. "Yangyang makes a good point. I also think being a Beta is pretty good."
Xie Weiyu agreed, "Yeah, I haven't had an injection since I grew up!"
Viewers in the livestream chat started complaining about the hassle of injections and medicine.
Actually, in the ABO world, Betas were the majority, accounting for over 70% of the human population.
Ye Shaoyang's remarks greatly increased his favorability with Beta fans and resonated with many netizens.
Seeing that the livestream was turning into a gender discussion… wait, a six-gender discussion topic.
Ye Shaoyang hurriedly changed the subject. "Are we playing ranked or an arcade mode?"
Chen Qianhua asked considerately, "Xiao Yu has a match tomorrow, right?"
Xie Weiyu: "Yeah, a match at 9 PM."
Chen Qianhua said, "Then let's play an arcade mode to relax. It wouldn't be good if we ran into pro players in ranked."
Ye Shaoyang said, "Exactly. Our three hidden MMRs are very high, so it's too easy to bump into pros. Arcade is more fun. Which arcade mode do you want to play?"
Previously, the mode he often played with Xie Weiyu was Clone Wars, where all 5 heroes on their team were identical. They often picked Illusionist or Ice Goddess to camp in bushes and kill people, which was incredibly joyful.
Chen Qianhua thought for a moment and said, "How about Border Breakout?"
Xie Weiyu nodded. "Sure."
Ye Shaoyang asked puzzledly, "What mode is Border Breakout?"
Chen Qianhua explained seriously, "100 players, grouped in squads, are randomly spawned on a deserted island. Equipment turns into treasure chests dropped everywhere, and meeting other teams means facing red-named enemies you can attack. A safe zone shrinks every minute, and players must head to the safe zone at maximum speed. Whoever survives to the end wins."
Ye Shaoyang thought to himself: Isn't this just Battle Royale (PUBG/Fortnite style)?
A Gods' War version of Battle Royale—interesting!
Ye Shaoyang said, "Then let's start."
The three entered the arcade lobby. Ye Shaoyang found the Border Breakout mode and pressed match.
Xie Weiyu reminded him, "In the hero selection phase for this mode, the hero pool is open to all 100 players. You have to rely on hand speed to grab them. We can't pick heroes that others have already taken."
Ye Shaoyang said, "Should we discuss what heroes to play in advance?"
Xie Weiyu said without hesitation, "I'll grab Wind Elf."
Chen Qianhua: "I'll take a healing support?"
Ye Shaoyang said, "Then I'll take an assassin mage, Abyssal Lord, for mobility."
—Match found. Enter Border Breakout room?
Ye Shaoyang pressed confirm.
100 avatar frames instantly appeared in the room, densely packed. The hero pool was fully open.
Ye Shaoyang grabbed Abyssal Lord with lightning speed, and Xie Weiyu and Chen Qianhua also secured their preferred heroes.
Other players grabbed what they usually liked to play. Some with slower hand speed had their desired heroes taken by others and had to rely on the system's random assignment.
After 30 seconds of preparation time, the arcade match officially began.
All players were randomly spawned on the map by team. Ye Shaoyang's trio spawned in a corner. Xie Weiyu had rich experience in this arcade mode and said, "Let's find treasure chests first."
So the three split up to search for chests. A moment later, Chen Qianhua said, "I found a golden chest with an Explosive Wand inside. Yangyang, come get it."
Immediately after, Xie Weiyu said, "I have Magic Penetration Boots here. Yangyang, I'll pick them up for you."
Ye Shaoyang ran over, took the equipment sent by his two teammates, and equipped them.
Xie Weiyu couldn't help but complain, "Once you put on this gear, is it going to be a rhythm of becoming the BOSS right from the start?"
Chen Qianhua laughed. "You can carry us to an easy win."
The three scavenged chests along the way like a treasure-hunting squad.
After stripping this area of the map clean, Xie Weiyu also found two physical damage items. However, they hadn't found any magic power healing items suitable for Chen Qianhua.
Just then, five people ran toward them.
Realizing their squad only had three people, the opponents initiated an attack without hesitation!
Xie Weiyu Flashed directly over a wall, activating his ultimate for rapid jumps. Chen Qianhua used a vine control skill to root three of the opponents. Xie Weiyu kited and dealt damage frantically, while Ye Shaoyang's shadow rapidly stacked marks, killing the enemy's core damage dealer first.
—Double kill!
Abyssal Lord instantly double-killed the enemy backline!
The remaining two front-liners were quickly whittled down and finished off by Xie Weiyu.
In the end, only one assassin escaped in stealth.
Three vs five, and they quickly killed four opponents. Treasure chests clattered to the ground.
When opponents died, their equipment dropped as chests.
Ye Shaoyang laughed. "Thanks to the friendly forces for delivering equipment from a thousand miles away."
Opening the chests, they found exactly the healing gear they needed.
Chen Qianhua put on the healing gear and popped his ultimate, instantly bringing all three to full health.
Netizens in the livestream chat: "…"
Three Great Demon Kings were running rampant on the deserted island.
Fully equipped with luxurious gear, the trio encountered quite a few 5-man squads on their way to the safe zone. Every time Chen Qianhua started a fight, he controlled the enemy's key carry. Xie Weiyu moved with agility, and Ye Shaoyang was simply the BOSS of the entire match, racking up kills to his heart's content.
In the end, as the 100 players slaughtered each other, the trio survived until the very end.
—Congratulations on winning the Border Breakout match!
Ye Shaoyang was in a great mood. "This mode is interesting. I love finding treasure chests too much. One more game?"
Xie Weiyu and Chen Qianhua also had a lot of fun and quickly pressed ready.
At this moment, at the Professional League headquarters, several staff members of the Tournament Committee were working overtime late into the night.
"The regular season ends in two weeks, and the All-Star event after that is the main highlight! The chairman demands we come up with a proposal by this weekend. It needs innovation; it can't just be friendly matches. Everyone is tired of watching standard 5v5 ranked games."
"Should we consider arcade modes?" an employee who was secretly watching Xiao Bai's stream suddenly said. "I think the livestream effect of arcade modes is really great, and the fans seem very happy too! All-Stars is supposed to be a program inviting ace players to interact; there's no need to be too serious."
"That makes sense. The players participating in All-Stars are all hugely popular gods. If they lose a serious match, fans will definitely be unhappy. But if they get killed in an arcade mode, fans will only laugh, right?"
"Mm, Xiao Li, draft a proposal. We'll discuss it in a meeting tomorrow. Also, get the voting channel for All-Stars ready as soon as possible. With so many new players appearing in the league this year, the competition is expected to be fierce!"