The video intimacy techniques Yu Zhaohan wanted to learn had to be postponed because the playoffs were just around the corner, and they were going abroad to compete.

Playoffs were different from the regular season. Sixteen teams came from all over the world, and some cities hosting matches were separated by the entire Pacific Ocean, which meant flights of more than ten hours. If they still used a home and away format, it would require a lot of traveling around the world. Just dealing with the time zone differences would waste a day, which would significantly affect the players’ performance. Therefore, during the playoffs, the league officials would select a few cities within a certain range as the match locations.

This year’s international tournament playoffs were held in Europe, specifically in Paris, France, London, UK, Berlin, Germany, and Madrid, Spain.

They had already obtained visas and booked tickets when they secured their playoff spot. Qi Xian couldn’t fly to Europe with them right away because he needed to continue his rehabilitation in China.

This time going abroad, everyone was not as relaxed as the last time they went to South Korea. It was clear that Lu Youshan and Cheese were visibly saddened by Qi Xian’s absence.

Qi Xian helped his teammates pack while comforting them, “If my rehabilitation goes well, I should be able to join you in the semifinals, pretty soon.”

Cheese reluctantly said: “Then I will take the chrysanthemums we bought in Shenyang first, so I can feel you are accompanying us.”

Qi Xian chuckled, “Sure, why not? Timeless, do you want to bring it too? I remember you like pink chrysanthemums.”

Shi Du was puzzled by this conversation. He couldn’t quite put his finger on what sounded strange. He asked: “What the hell?”

Yu Zhaohan passed by and overheard the conversation between the few people and said, “I mentioned to them that you like pink chrysanthemums, so they brought a pot of them back.”

Shi Du: “…Oh.”

The first week of the competition took place in London, and it took nearly half a day to fly there from Shanghai. The little boss spent a significant amount of money to upgrade their tickets to first class, which cost a six-digit figure for each ticket.

Old Tan looked over the travel expenses, which reached over one million, and he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t distressed. But the little boss graciously stated that as long as R.H can return with the champion’s eleven million US dollars, let alone the small travel expenses, each person will be granted a car.

After a nearly 13-hour long-haul flight, the plane arrived at London Heathrow Airport right on time. League officials were responsible for picking them up and taking them to their hotel.

Accommodations for the various clubs were arranged centrally by the league. The four Chinese teams found themselves staying in nearby hotels, and the young players, full of energy, started visiting each other without suffering from jet lag.

Yu Zhaohan met many people. Needless to say, there were a few old acquaintances from the IPL, and he also encountered Archer, the top archer of DSD.

IPL and DSD were actively preparing to face two big bosses from North America, and they jokingly said they’d call whoever went to the loser’s bracket their “daddy.” They even suggested that the highly respected R.H. Captain serve as a witness.

The highly respected R.H. Captain replied, “Childish.”

A group of players from Chongqing Eau were already lucky to have made it to the playoffs, and they seemed to be more relaxed than their three winner’s bracket brothers, as they were playing with the idea that any extra game was a bonus.

After around thirty people dined on a mediocre British buffet in the hotel’s restaurant, they broke off into smaller groups and returned to their rooms.

The room arrangement was as usual, with two players sharing a room. It had become an unwritten rule for Timeless and the Captain to share a room in R.H. Lu Youshan specifically advised Yu Zhaohan not to overindulge in gaming preparation and to make sure he didn’t compromise his rest.

Yu Zhaohan responded, “I have a sense of propriety; you don’t need to teach me how to handle things. And by the way, Timeless isn’t a junior; he’s older.”

Lu Youshan’s mind was consumed by the fact that Shine “has a sense of propriety,” so he replied, “Alright.”

Back in the room, Shi Du began to unpack their luggage. This time, he brought two oversized suitcases. Anticipating that Yuyu might face immense pressure, in addition to the balls, he brought his dinosaur-themed pajamas and even a pot.

Yu Zhaohan watched Shi Du help him deflate the compression bag containing the dinosaur pajamas, and said, “Perhaps we shouldn’t share a room in the future.”

Shi Du stopped moving his hands and asked, “Why do you say that?”

Yu Zhaohan thought thoughtfully: “I’m thinking, maybe I should change my habit of being clingy.”

Shi Du felt a weight on his chest again. He didn’t want to reveal any negative emotions, so he used his usual tone, which often left Yu Zhaohan speechless, and said, “Please, don’t. I’m begging you, don’t. I’ll get down on my knees to beg you.”

Yu Zhaohan said, “But if I can’t be clingy to you in the future, I’m afraid Yuyu will have a hard time adjusting.”

Shi Du fell silent.

The boy looked at Yu Zhaohan quietly for a long time, not knowing what he was thinking. Yu Zhaohan realized that Shi Du had changed completely. He became deeply contemplative, a far cry from his usual lazy high school student appearance.

Yu Zhaohan called out: “Shi Du?”

Shi Du lowered his head and laughed, then returned to his usual appearance when he raised his head again. He tossed the dinosaur pajamas to Yu Zhaohan and said, “The clingy master even wants to learn about long-distance relationships. You’re amazing, Yu Zhaohan.”

Yu Zhaohan pinched the dinosaur’s tail: “That’s why I said I wanted to change.”

Shi Du: sat down beside him and pinched it together. “I’m not being sarcastic; I really think you’re amazing.”

“Thanks for your rhyming praise,” Yu Zhaohan said. “But why are you suddenly praising me?”

“Because you are better than me.” Shi Du said slowly, “If I can’t be clung to by Yuyu, it might not be as simple as getting used to it. I’ll be very sad.”

Yu Zhaohan said, “Ah.”

He rarely saw Shi Du look truly sad. Yu Zhaohan was always the one who was feeling down. Shi Du would console him kindly, despite his sometimes witty remarks. Even if Shi Du was unhappy, he hid it behind an “indifferent” demeanor, just like the previous time he had a disagreement with his family in Beijing and had scratches all over his face. He could still put on a powerful “I don’t care” act in front of Yu Zhaohan.

The only time Yu Zhaohan saw Shi Du so distressed that he didn’t even bother to pretend was when they lost the IPL final against Lawman last year. He still remembered when Shi Dustepped down from the stage, his eyes turning slightly red as he glanced back.

Thinking of this, Yu Zhaohan asked: “If you can’t be clingy to me, will you cry?”

“Maybe,” Shi Du smiled again, “Who knows.”

Yu Zhaohan touched Shi Du’s head: “Don’t cry. Unlike me, you haven’t learned facial expression management. You won’t look handsome when you cry. I prefer handsome ones.”

Shi Du couldn’t laugh anymore and said uneasily: “So you mean if I’m not handsome, your affection level will decrease?”

“If you don’t want to be unattractive when you cry, I can teach you how to cry beautifully,” Yu Zhaohan replied.

Shi Du vaguely realized that the topic was going to be diverted by Yu Zhaohan again, so he spoke cautiously: “I don’t really want to learn.”

“First of all, you need to remember one thing, you must not have a runny nose…” Yu Zhaohan continued giving advice, and did not forget to remind him: “You take a notebook to take notes.”

Shi Du frowned: “It sounds so hard. I don’t think I can learn.”

Yu Zhaohan patiently said, “It’s not hard, it’s simple. Just cry a little more, and you’ll learn.”

Shi Du: “…”

The match between R.H and Sakura was scheduled for the second day, with the highlight of the first day being IPL versus Lawman. The R.H team was too busy preparing for their match and couldn’t attend in person, so they watched the entire game from Old Tan and Lu Youshan’s room.

Lawman still had the same four starters from last year, consisting of one Chinese, one Korean, and two Americans. Throughout the entire regular season, no team in the Western division was able to win even a single map against them.

Teams in the Western division relied more on star players’ performance compared to strategy. This might not be a wise choice for most teams because star players were not something you could just acquire; in a single game, you might only have one or two of them.

However, Lawman’s four starters were all among the best in the Western division in their respective positions. Their usual performance was at a star player level, which meant that what they considered a regular play would be deemed as star-level play for other teams.

Team communication and language were also not an issue. In their match against IPL, Lawman once again displayed their terrifying strength as rulers of the Western division.

In the first two games, IPL was essentially dominated by Lawman, and there was no hope of seeing them win. Just by looking at Xu’s expression, it seemed like he was on the verge of tears.

In the third game, Lawman, thinking they had figured out the strength of the Eastern division powerhouse, “Just This,” held back slightly. Meanwhile, IPL’s performance was gradually improving, and Bi An took the opportunity to secure a triple kill, earning IPL a hard-fought point.

Lawman quickly adjusted their strategy and turned that single point into the only point IPL was able to earn.

In the BO7 playoff format, Lawman won 4-1, sending IPL to the loser’s bracket.

“Tide surprisingly didn’t use Black Swan,” Old Tan commented. “In three out of five games, he used the archer.”

Yu Zhaohan said: “Lawman wouldn’t let him use a version that is considered a sacrifice. Even if he could play on par with my headshot rate using this ‘sacrifice’ character, they wouldn’t allow it.”

Stone asked: “Why?”

“It’s not difficult to understand.” Shi Du said, “Lawman believes in data supremacy, whether it’s player data or hero data. In their view, weaker heroes don’t deserve to be used.”

Lu Youshan, looking at the post-match tank data comparison, said, “Given the extremely dire situation, Bi An was still able to produce such analysis… He should be the main tank for the national team.”

To the relief of domestic fans, in the next loser’s bracket match, Chongqing Eau defeated Busan Cobra 4-0, giving Cobra a one-day visit to the playoffs and extending their own journey in the playoffs.

Because Cobra only focused on kills without capturing objectives and considering the two incidents where their fans attacked R.H players, domestic fans had a deep-seated grudge against Cobra. Seeing them pack up and leave as soon as they arrived in Europe was so satisfying that they went to Cobra’s official website on the Internet one after another and expressed their “sincere blessings.”

[If you don’t understand, just ask, have you finished checking out the hotel rooms?]

[Let me see who traveled more than 20 hours from Busan to London and played four small games]

[I really want to ask the Cobra fan named Kim how he felt after watching this game]

[It’s a bit difficult, I don’t know if I can watch the game in Korea :)]

The next day at noon, R.H’s group encountered Bi An and Xu in the restaurant.

IPL had lost their revival armor, and their performance wasn’t great. Everyone had experienced loss, so they knew that words of comfort had no effect in such situations. Timeless didn’t say anything; he just patted the former captain’s shoulder.

Yu Zhaohan said: “Stay strong.”

Bi An seemed to be in good condition and said with a smile: “The odds of winning this game were never high. We’ve accepted that. It’s just a bit annoying to call those idiots DSD ‘dad’—I don’t like it. I don’t want to think about that; I just want to focus on the upcoming matches.”

“Good luck in today’s game, Captain Yu,” Xu said with a forced smile. “I don’t want to meet you guys in the loser’s bracket.”

Yu Zhaohan nodded: “Okay.”

After dinner, league staff took R.H’s team to the tournament venue. On the way to the dressing room, they ran into the members of the Sakura team.

In their previous regular season match with Sakura, Kaoru changed from his normal demeanor to a hot-blooded comic book style, even learning some basic Chinese to challenge Timeless. But today, he merely gave Timeless a disappointed look and ran over to challenge Yu Zhaohan.

Kaoru said word by word with great difficulty: “Which one is faster, your bullet or my knife…”

Yu Zhaohan said calmly: “My bullet.”

Kaoru’s eyes widened. He must have understood what Yu Zhaohan said but didn’t know how to refute in Chinese, so he muttered in his native language.

Cheese asked Shi Du: “Why didn’t Kaoru declare war on you?”

Shi Du smiled: “He probably thinks I’m just a team’s C player who chooses to lay low.”

In their previous match against Sakura, R.H had used a tank-centric strategy, with double C heroes serving as supporting characters for the tanks. But today, they couldn’t employ the same tactic. Firstly, because Sakura had likely learned their lesson, and wouldn’t fall for the same strategy twice. Secondly, there was still a skill gap between Stone and Qi Xian at that time.

R.H uses the double C dual-core system that they have played the most, with Cheese as the support.

During the setup phase on stage, the four of them chatted in their team voice channel.

Cheese: “Not to rain on anyone’s parade, but the esports venue in London seems a bit smaller than our home arena.”

Shine: “How’s it feel, Stone?”

Stone: “It feels… pretty good, but it’s a bit unusual to see so many Western spectators down there.”

Timeless: “Just think of it this way, Westerners are R.H’s fans too.”

Cheese: “Exactly, the captain has a massive international fanbase, doesn’t he? Oh, wait, I see that caster Alva, he’s holding up the captain’s banner!”

Timeless: “Oh? What’s written on it?”

Cheese: “It seems to say something like ‘Date’…”

Shine: “Don’t get distracted; focus on your aim.”

Amidst the cheers from the audience, the match officially began.