Chapter Thirty-One: The Wrong Choice
The former Miss Fortune chuckled, “Too late. Inviting the gods is easy, sending them away is hard.”
It was an effortless victory.
Unreliable blinked and said, “Fine, I’ll endure it!”
Little Miser chimed in, “May the gods be with you.”
“Get lost! Hurry up and get lost!”
They restarted the game. This time, Miss Fortune picked Mage Daji, while Unreliable selected Marksman Marco Polo.
“Miser, just pick Lian Po,” Unreliable eyed the opposing lineup.
Little Miser didn’t respond for a long time. After repeated urging, he finally chose Da Qiao.
“What’s going on?” Unreliable exclaimed.
“I had something to deal with just now,” Little Miser replied.
“Then why did you pick Da Qiao?”
“I clicked the wrong hero.”
Unreliable was speechless, “How did you mess up with these two heroes?”
Miss Fortune reassured, “No worries, we can still play.”
“I doubt it. The enemy has Cheng Yaojin and Donghuang Taiyi. Our jungler is Jing, our solo lane is Kai. Not enough toughness overall,” Unreliable smacked his lips.
Miss Fortune said, “Da Qiao and Kai can stack tank items. It’s not a big issue. This is just a casual match. Even if the lineup isn’t great, we can make up for it with playstyle.”
Little Miser felt a bit embarrassed, but his master’s words gave him confidence. “Unreliable, to be honest, your skills are decent. If worst comes to worst, there’s always my master. Be confident.”
“Miser, could you at least act like a dead weight?” Unreliable retorted.
“Complaining won’t help now. Let’s start,” Miss Fortune said.
“I know. I’ve fought many battles, more than you two at least,” Unreliable sighed. “I can’t even complain anymore. Inhumane.”
As the game began, the enemy had Donghuang Taiyi, so they were sure to invade. Daji didn’t clear the lane first but instead helped the jungler guard the blue buff.
Donghuang and their jungler indeed showed up. Daji harassed from the side, teaming with their own jungler and trying to contest the blue buff.
Unreliable reacted quickly, “Delay them. If it doesn’t work, let it go. While they’re away, I’ll sneak the red buff.” He headed over with the support.
Early-game Jing was fragile, unable to contest directly. Daji could only harass from a distance. Kai cleared the lane and came to help. Although the blue buff was pulled away once, the enemy took it in the end.
Unreliable said, “Not a loss—I got the red buff.”
Miss Fortune replied, “Traveling with Da Qiao is faster, isn’t it? Drop a teleport circle in the side brush to recall, so we don’t bump into Donghuang and the others.”
“Too late, I see Donghuang,” Unreliable said.
“I’ll come pick you up,” Miss Fortune replied.
Unreliable reminded, “Drop the recall circle first.”
Little Miser placed a circle at his feet.
“Seriously?” Unreliable sweated. “That’s not how you do it.”
“How then?” Little Miser was confused.
There was no time to explain. Marco Polo was low on health and retreated hastily. Daji followed to cover Marco Polo.
Miss Fortune instructed, “Da Qiao, tank upfront. Marco Polo, try not to die.”
Da Qiao finally proved useful—taking the hits upfront and, with Daji’s support, allowed Marco Polo to escape at the last moment, back to safety under the tower.
“There’s a four-second delay on the circle, so you have to cast it early. Place it behind allies when retreating, and ahead of them when attacking,” Miss Fortune explained to Little Miser.
“Got it, Master.”
“Such an obedient disciple…” Unreliable muttered.
Miss Fortune laughed, “If you don’t know, you teach. Only by teaching well can he play well. Besides, what good does your impatience do?”
Fan: Listen to that. Now that’s real rank.
Marco Polo respawned in the fountain and returned to lane. After a while, their enemy jungler Zhao Yun came to gank the side lane.
Miss Fortune warned, “Mid mage is missing—watch out.”
As soon as she finished, fighting broke out on the bot lane. Da Qiao activated her ultimate, Daji clicked it, and together with Kai, teleported to the fight.
Unreliable protested, “Oh no, don’t come over! This is the elevator of death!”
Right after, the system announced Da Qiao and Marco Polo had both fallen.
Daji landed, unleashed her ultimate, fought as she retreated toward the tower, and after her combo, seeing the enemy’s momentum, fled without looking back.
Kai used his ultimate in place but didn’t last long and was killed too.
Kai shouted, “Da Qiao, what were you thinking? Don’t ult in this situation!”
Little Miser apologized, “Sorry, I don’t know how to play her.”
Kai: “If you can’t play, don’t pick! You’re sabotaging the team.”
Miss Fortune replied sharply, “You handed over your own kill—you can’t blame others for that.”
Kai: “If she hadn’t ulted, I wouldn’t have died. And you’re not even calling out your teammate for ditching us!”
Miss Fortune said, “You clicked to teleport yourself. Didn’t you check the minimap before coming down? If the situation’s bad, don’t come. Lacking judgment is your own issue. Besides, if you’d retreated after your ult instead of greedily going for the kill, you wouldn’t have died. So, that kill was your own doing.”
Kai was silent for a moment, then sputtered, “Da Qiao, if I go again I’m a fool!”
Miss Fortune laughed, “Even if you want to play the fool, no one is forcing you.”
Unreliable quickly intervened, “Bro, let’s not argue. It’s rare we get to play together—winning matters most. Miss Fortune, ease up.”
Miss Fortune replied, “I hate players who blame others for their own lack of skill and deaths.”
Unreliable quickly shut up himself.
Five minutes later, Marco Polo was ganked again and killed.
Unreliable sighed, saying nothing.
Miss Fortune asked, “What happened?”
“Can I say?” Unreliable asked.
“State the facts, skip the complaints,” Miss Fortune said.
Little Miser explained, “I guess I failed to protect her again.”
“You didn’t just fail to protect—you revealed my position,” Unreliable said. “No criticism, since it wasn’t intentional. I was careless too.”
Fan: Oh dear, Unreliable sounds so aggrieved…
“Alright, I get it,” Miss Fortune said. “Miser, stick with me next.”
“You’re going to split-push? It’s hard when we’re behind,” Unreliable said.
“We can’t teamfight right now. I need to farm and pick up kills. You head top and work with Kai,” Miss Fortune replied.
And so, Daji and Da Qiao wandered the map; clearing lanes and grabbing jungle monsters wherever they found them.
“Let’s hide in the brush for an ambush,” Miss Fortune said, settling beside the blue buff.
“Okay.” Having played so many games together, Little Miser trusted her judgment.
“They’re coming! Place your first skill under their feet, and drop a recall circle by the path near the second tower behind us,” Miss Fortune directed, then cast her own combo and retreated.
“The enemy marksman is low,” Little Miser wanted to pursue.
“Don’t chase—unless she comes to us,” Miss Fortune waited for her skill cooldown, already standing in the circle.
The enemy marksman guessed they were escaping, but emboldened by Donghuang Taiyi nearby, advanced aggressively, hoping to claim Daji’s head.
“If you insist on coming, then stay,” Daji unleashed another combo, then recalled home at low health. The enemy marksman was slain.
Da Qiao, moving fast, retreated under the second tower and hit “666.”
“Move forward a bit, disrupt their marksman from taking blue, ult behind the blue pit so I can get over,” Miss Fortune continued directing.
Unreliable said, “I’m coming too.”
Daji and Marco Polo both teleported over. Marco unloaded a volley and severely wounded Donghuang Taiyi. Daji didn’t waste her skill on Donghuang, instead instantly killing the enemy mage who came to help.
“Amazing! I was worried the mage would freeze me,” Unreliable said.
“Donghuang is finished,” Miss Fortune said.
No sooner had she spoken than Jing killed the weakened Donghuang Taiyi.
“This Jing is timid, but her timing is good,” Miss Fortune observed. “In a match like this, playing cautiously is smart. She keeps getting her resources stolen, yet her gold is decent because she dies less.”
Jing opened her voice chat and sent a “thank you” signal.
Miss Fortune laughed, “Glad I didn’t say anything bad about her,” then directed Da Qiao toward the enemy’s top lane.
Unreliable headed for the bot lane to split-push as a free agent.
“I can’t see anyone here. Unreliable, be careful,” Miss Fortune said. “Da Qiao, after clearing the lane, don’t rush to push the tower. Help me pick off the jungle monsters nearby.”
Kai spoke up, “This is a tower-pushing game, and you’re not hurrying to push!”
He pushed alone.
Miss Fortune ignored him, focused on killing the birds, with Little Miser close behind.
Seeing enemy icons appear on the top lane, Miss Fortune instructed Da Qiao to ult, rescuing Marco Polo, then use her second skill. Before the enemy could arrive, they took the elevator home.
Unreliable said, “That’s how you play Da Qiao—nice move.”
Little Miser replied, “Rare praise from you, Unreliable. I feel great.”
“Praise, praise—you’re good, and you’ve got a great master,” Unreliable laughed.
The three left the fountain and split into two groups again.
“Be careful—I’m on cooldown for my third skill,” Little Miser cautioned.
“Roger, lifesaver,” Unreliable replied.
Daji moved through the jungle, carefully lurking in the river brush. After seeing no one, she moved toward mid and hid in another brush.
The enemy mage arrived to clear the lane. Daji timed her skills, approached, opened with second skill, attacked while retreating, and claimed the kill.
“Da Qiao, drop a circle in the brush so I can recall and heal. Go toward Kai,” Miss Fortune said.
“Should I ult?” Little Miser asked.
“No rush. Just silence with your first skill, watch the situation,” Miss Fortune said.
Little Miser thought the situation was complicated, but since his master said not to ult, he held back.
Kai was clearing the lane when Donghuang Taiyi appeared. Kai didn’t back down and bravely advanced, only to be ensnared.
Little Miser quickly reported, “Donghuang ulted Kai.”
“Drop a circle under Kai’s feet, then leave,” Miss Fortune controlled Daji to rush over.
Daji and Da Qiao met up, heading toward Donghuang Taiyi. Kai had finished being bitten, used his ultimate to counter, but the enemy marksman arrived as well, making the situation bleak.
“Perfect—Kai is tanking upfront,” Little Miser said.
Miss Fortune continued teaching, “Right. Now, who should we attack?”