You Adopted a Father

"Senior Brother, I've unlocked the ultimate skill... it looks so powerful."

Mu Yawen stared at the skill icon labeled [Unstoppable Force], her heart racing.

According to the description, it was an incredibly formidable move.

"Nice!"

Hearing this, Zhong Yi's eyes lit up, burning with fighting spirit.

"After enduring humiliation for half a quarter-hour, it's finally time for me to reclaim my pride!"

Zhou Yue muttered under his breath, "You’d need to reclaim it four times to break even..."

"Junior Brother Mu, wait for the right moment—use your ultimate when those two are standing together! Brother Shen is way too reckless, refusing to recall even at half health... If you knock them up, I’ll follow up with [Last Breath], and we’ll definitely claim his bounty!"

Zhong Yi ignored Zhou Yue’s sarcasm, his gaze intense as he barked orders.

"Got it!!"

Mu Yawen waved his arms excitedly, not even blinking as he locked onto their movements.

"Now! Charge!!"

Zhong Yi roared.

"I’m going in!!"

Mu Yawen let out a battle cry, his body transforming into the shape of a molten rock titan as he hurtled toward the duo like a massive meteor.

Zhong Yi’s nerves were on edge. Even as Mu Yawen soared through the air, he was already spamming his still-grayed-out ultimate, [Last Breath].

He couldn’t afford to miss the timing.

In his mind, he kept chanting: Last, last, last...

"BOOM—!!"

The moment Mu Yawen landed, several white tethering lines appeared in his vision.

Before Zhong Yi could even process it, [Last Breath] activated faster than his eyes could follow!

In an instant,

Zhong Yi’s figure materialized amidst a cluster of minions!

Shen Bobi and Galen stood to the side, blinking in confusion as they watched the two men suspended mid-air.

"Whoa, Senior Brother, I whiffed!!"

"Dammit... why the hell did I ult minions???"

...

Meanwhile, Lu Ze, who was livestreaming the match, couldn’t hold back his laughter at the scene.

The development timeline for 100 champions had clearly been a bit rushed.

[Last Breath], which was supposed to only target enemy champions, had a glaring bug.

But the whole thing was so hilarious that Lu Ze found himself debating whether to keep it in the game...

"Still... that woman is terrifying!"

Watching Li Moran dominating mid-lane, Lu Ze couldn’t help but marvel.

In just three matches, she had already mastered orb-walking.

And in her very first game with Riven, she was already on the verge of grasping the mechanics of fast Q combos...

Lu Ze half-suspected she had some kind of god-tier esports system installed.

As for Zhong Yi...

He was impressively bad.

No surprise there—he’d probably sneak off to practice against bots later.

But then again,

Lu Ze had left a few... surprises in the bot matches.

...

Twenty minutes later.

"Bro, I’m voting to surrender. You in?"

Zhou Qiaoling stared at the surrender prompt and immediately clicked yes.

Zhou Yue scowled. "I was the one who started it..."

"Surrender? What nonsense!"

Zhong Yi erupted, glaring at them with righteous fury.

"The minions are still fighting! How can we, as cultivators, give up so easily?!"

"Old Zhou, have you forgotten? Who was it that never gave up, even under the weight of misfortune?! Who was it that trained their body at the foot of the mountain every single day?!"

"After enduring so much hardship, how can we surrender in a mere illusion? Pull yourselves together, you fools!"

Zhou Yue sighed. "Sigh... Zhong Yi, if you weren’t 2-18, I might’ve actually drunk that motivational kool-aid... The enemy team only has 40 kills total..."

"Ahem... I’m a late-game carry. Consider this my way of handicapping them early."

Zhong Yi’s face flushed, but he stubbornly clicked "No" on the surrender vote.

Li Moran remained silent, simply unsheathing her broken blade and cutting down foes.

In the end, the surrender vote failed 3-2.

"Don’t give up! Junior Sister Li can still hold them off... Let’s farm up!"

Seeing morale plummet, Zhong Yi hurriedly tried to rally them.

"This illusion is all about one thing—nurturing."

"Raise your champion to its ideal state. Even if we lose, there’s satisfaction in that... right?"

The others pondered his words.

"So that’s why I feel at peace every time my health bar grows a little thicker... Heh, my bad, Senior Brother. I’ll go farm properly now."

Mu Yawen scratched his head, reinvigorated.

"Ohhh! So Senior Sister Li finds fulfillment in nurturing herself, while I find it in nurturing my brother?"

Zhou Qiaoling nodded in realization.

"Wait, so when my brother gets fed enough to duel the enemy, it’s like watching your grandkid finally grow up?"

Zhou Yue’s eye twitched. "Watch your wording... Also, how many of my cannons have you stolen? You know exactly what you’re doing..."

"Then..."

Mu Yawen rubbed his chin, turning to Zhong Yi.

"Senior Brother Zhong, what are you nurturing?"

Before Zhong Yi could answer, a bright streamer message floated across the sky:

Illusion Master Lu Ze: [He’s nurturing a fed enemy.]

...

...

The beauty of MOBAs lies in the fact that—barring extreme mismatches—

any game can turn around.

Take this one, for example.

Zhong Yi, who had been feeding relentlessly, somehow farmed his way to a full build by relentlessly clearing jungle camps and minion waves.

Shen Yan, who had bullied him all early game, was now being chased down and slaughtered...

It was nothing short of absurd.

After a grueling 40-minute battle, Zhong Yi finally proved himself by slaying over 300 minions and backdooring the enemy nexus for a miraculous comeback.

Just moments ago, they had been arguing over surrender. Now, they were basking in the thrill of an against-all-odds victory.

This was the addictive magic of the game.

"Again!"

...

...

The five of them played nonstop all afternoon, only disbanding when Li Moran was summoned by Elder Wen for assistance.

"I’m still not satisfied..."

Zhong Yi was itching for more.

They had won more than they lost, thanks largely to Li Moran carrying most games.

But Zhong Yi was deeply unsatisfied with his own performance.

Feeding early, then farming his way back into relevance—what kind of playstyle was that?

He was convinced his true potential was being wasted. He needed to train harder!

With no teammates around, he booted up [Training Mode], determined to sharpen his skills against bots.

After an afternoon of matches, he felt he had improved.

Remembering how he had been repeatedly killed by a clumsy [Annie] in his first bot game, he was itching for revenge.

Without hesitation, Zhong Yi queued up for a solo bot match.

He didn’t overthink it, focusing instead on his champion pick.

With lightning reflexes, he insta-locked [Yasuo], earning a flurry of question marks from his teammates.

The thought of slaughtering his way back to reclaim kills in the bot match later made Zhong Yi’s lips curl into a smirk:

“Heh heh, here I come, little bots~~”

Sunday is a day off.

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