The Doctor said I Have to be A Kept Man - Chapter 12

“Aaaaah, I’m finished?!!”

The moment Lin Huo stepped into the training room and learned that a bottom-lane duo was coming for a trial today, he was completely shell-shocked. Only yesterday, he was thinking how easy professional matches were with “Brother Chi” and Captain Jin carrying the team, he just needed to have hands to win.

Who would have thought that after just one night, everything had changed?

“Waaaah, I’m finished too.” Lu Lu and Lin Huo hugged each other and wailed in mock despair.

Chi Ruanfan pinched the bridge of his nose, caught between laughter and tears. “Stop messing around. You’re fine. The newcomer plays high-mobility marksmen; it doesn’t conflict with Lin Huo’s role. They aren’t here to replace you.”

“Meaning…” Lin Huo wiped away non-existent tears, looked up with glowing eyes, and said, “They aren’t here to break us up, they’re here to join us?”

Chi Ruanfan paused. “…You’re so dramatic.”

Click.

The training room door pushed open.

“Come on, everyone, meet our newest members of Team Chaoge: Zhaoxing and Chaoyang.” Coach Flying Cloud led a young man and a young woman into the room.

Chi Ruanfan glanced over. The boy at the door wore a black headband and a friendly smile. The girl had her hair in a bun and a neutral expression, her eyes curiously scanning the training room’s setup.

Tsk, an old teammate reunion. Chi Ruanfan’s lips curled into a smile.

In this life, they hadn’t fought side-by-side for seasons yet. Their only connection was the occasional duo or trio queue. They hadn’t even trio-queued that often because S6-era Chi Ruanfan mained marksman, which clashed with Zhaoxing’s position.

“They got here so fast.”

Even though he knew he wouldn’t be replaced, Lin Huo still eyed the boy with the headband warily. This is the newcomer who specializes in mobility marksmen? He looks sunny and cheerful, but people like that are often the deadliest, killing you without a trace.

Lin Huo thought: I’ve seen right through you.

The boy felt Lin Huo’s gaze and gave him a playful wink. Lin Huo immediately glared back.

It’s on! The psychological battle between the two marksmen!

While Lin Huo and the boy were “exchanging looks,” Lu Lu’s attention was on the girl with the bun. He found it hard to muster hostility toward a girl. After a long silence, Lu Lu asked with a red face, “Miss, which supports do you usually play? We can exchange experiences.”

The girl glanced at the boy beside her, then looked at Lu Lu and gave an embarrassed smile. “Sorry, I don’t really play support.”

“Huh?” Lu Lu was baffled. Weren’t they the new duo? If she didn’t play support, were they putting two marksmen in the bottom lane? What kind of bizarre combo was that?

Chi Ruanfan chuckled and stood up to introduce them. “Her ID is Zhaoxing. She specializes in mobility marksmen. She’s not the support.”

As soon as Chi Ruanfan spoke, both newcomers looked at him.

“Chi Fou?” the boy asked in confusion. They gamed together occasionally, and although they had never met in person, they recognized the voice. But if this was Chi Fou, then who was the guy who had been having an intense “staring contest” with him just now?

“That’s me,” Chi Ruanfan smiled.

While one side was a harmonious meeting of gaming friends, the other side saw Lin Huo looking at the girl in disbelief. “YOU’RE the marksman?!!”

Zhaoxing gave him a slight nod. The marksman is a girl?!

Lin Huo’s gaze slowly shifted, finally landing on the boy with the headband. He asked blankly, “Then you…”

The boy extended his hand. “ID Chaoyang. Support main.”

This was completely against the “standard” playbooks. Stereotypes really were a killer.

Lin Huo shook his hand awkwardly. “Lin Huo. Marksman main.”

As they shook hands, Chaoyang asked the question that was bothering him: “Brother Lin Huo, why were you having such intense eye contact with me just now? I thought you knew me.”

Lin Huo coughed. “Well, you see… my vision has been declining lately. I couldn’t see clearly.”

So embarrassing. I spent all that time posturing only to realize I was targeting the wrong person.

Once everyone had been introduced, Chaoyang moved to Chi Ruanfan’s side, staring at his team uniform in awe. “Nice, brother. You entered Chaoge without a word. If the coach hadn’t said it was you who recommended us, we wouldn’t have known you were already a pro.”

Chi Ruanfan smiled. “Aren’t you pros now too?”

“It’s not the same. We’re still in the trial phase,” Chaoyang said.

“Are you afraid of failing a trial?” Chi Ruanfan asked.

“Well… if it were just one of us, maybe. But with the two of us together?” Chaoyang looked back at Zhaoxing, and they shared a knowing smile. “When it comes to synergy, we don’t fear anyone.”

“That much confidence?” Lin Huo couldn’t help but interject. “How does your synergy compare to me and Lu Lu? we’ve been partners for two years.”

Zhaoxing met Lin Huo’s gaze and said directly, “Want to settle it in a game?”

“Fine by me. I won’t go easy on you.” Lin Huo opened his bag and pulled out his keyboard.

Zhaoxing and Chaoyang scanned the room and took the seats at the coaching desks. Coach Flying Cloud liked this “settle it in the game” attitude. He laughed. “I’ll go talk to the second team and pull together a 5v5 scrim.”

“Young people… always wanting to prove who’s best,” Chi Ruanfan muttered, sitting back down and launching the game.

“You’re quite close with them?” Jin Zhu, who had been silent until now, asked in a low voice.

Jin Zhu only knew that Chi Ruanfan was gaming friends with them. But “gaming friends” could mean anything—from names sitting in a list to people who actually played together and had a bond.

“Yeah…” Chi Ruanfan had barely uttered the words when he felt a chill up his spine—a dangerous warning signal.

He immediately added, “But no matter how close we are, they can’t compare to you.”

“Oh?” Jin Zhu sounded skeptical.

Chi Ruanfan thought: Being a “Sea King” (player) is hard work.

Wait, I’m not a Sea King! Teammates are teammates, and Jin Zhu is Jin Zhu. They’re different. If he had to say how they were different…

Chi Ruanfan thought about it, then leaned in close to Jin Zhu’s ear and whispered, “I’m just average friends with them. Our interaction distance is over fifteen centimeters. But we are best friends; our ‘intimate distance’ is within fifteen centimeters.”

Jin Zhu paused, turned his head toward Chi Ruanfan, and said slowly, “Plus or minus… fifteen centimeters?”

Chi Ruanfan: “Mn…” Wait, did that sound wrong? Where did I hear that theory again?

“Hold on, let me look it up.” Chi Ruanfan immediately sat up straight, grabbed his mouse, and opened the browser.

“Room is ready!” Lin Huo shouted. “Captain Jin, Brother Chi, I’ve invited you. Get in!”

“What’s the rush?” Chi Ruanfan typed rapidly. Perhaps because of Lin Huo’s shouting or some other reason, he kept making typos and had to delete and restart.

Jin Zhu gave a silent smile. “Scrim first.”

“…Fine.” Chi Ruanfan moved the mouse, entered the game, and picked the Melee Mage.

5v5 Scrim, Game 1. The original first team was the “Life” (Holy) faction, while Zhaoxing, Chaoyang, and the second team members were the “Death” (Undead) faction. Lin Huo picked his best stationary marksman, Ice Arrow, while Zhaoxing picked the representative mobility marksman, Phantom Fairy.

The game began. As soon as they loaded in, Meng Dong (back with the second team) typed in the public chat.

Meng Dong (Melee Mage): Chi Fou, come mid! A duel between Melee Mages!

Scrims were flexible enough to allow duplicate heroes. Seeing Chi Ruanfan take the Melee Mage, Meng Dong had picked the same. Chi Ruanfan stared at the chat, his keyboard clicks sounding murderous.

Chi Fou (Melee Mage): Prepare for a beating.

From the start, Chi Ruanfan played exceptionally aggressively. Before, he would just freeze the lane to deny gold; now, every time Meng Dong showed his face, he got hit. After a few waves, Meng Dong was almost pushed out of experience range.

Meng Dong couldn’t take it and typed again. Meng Dong (Melee Mage): Brother Chi, please have some mercy!

In the bottom lane, Lin Huo was being bullied so hard he didn’t dare leave his tower. When he saw the chat, he realized someone had it even worse and felt better about himself.

“Brother Chi is extra fierce today. Who annoyed him?” Lin Huo muttered. He didn’t care; as long as the fire wasn’t directed at him, he was safe. Turning to his support, he said, “Lu Lu, we’ll scale for the late game. Once I’m farmed, I’ll kill that little fairy in two hits.”

“Mn.” Lu Lu could only agree. The Phantom Fairy had too many dashes, and Zhaoxing’s mechanics were flashy; it was impossible to contest the lane early.

As Lin Huo and Lu Lu huddled under their tower, a sound of wind rushed through their headsets. A Phantom Fairy in a pink dress appeared right in their faces.

“Crap!” They were startled, but relaxed when they realized it was just an illusion. Lin Huo said, “Don’t worry, her real body wouldn’t dare—”

The next second, the real Phantom Fairy descended.

Lin Huo: “!!?”

[Chaoge-Zhaoxing (Phantom Fairy) killed Chaoge-Lin Huo (Ice Arrow) – First Blood!] [Chaoge-Chi Fou (Melee Mage) killed Chaoge-Meng Dong (Melee Mage).]

The two kill announcements rang out almost simultaneously.

Lin Huo was stunned. “You’re a marksman! Is there any marksman who outputs damage by jumping into someone’s face like that?!”

Marksmen were squishy and had long range; most played from a distance. Lin Huo was genuinely bewildered by Zhaoxing’s “death-defying” playstyle. Worse, the Phantom Fairy escaped the tower alive, and Lu Lu’s low-health priest didn’t dare chase.

Zhaoxing cleared the rest of the wave and recalled under Chaoyang’s protection. Hearing Lin Huo’s voice through the headsets, she simply typed a single period [ . ] in the chat.

In the first scrim, the Lin Huo-Lu Lu duo was completely crushed in the early and mid-game. It took the whole team focusing all resources on Lin Huo’s Ice Arrow to drag the game into the late stage and secure the win.

Scrim Game 2. This time, the second team hyper-targeted Chi Ruanfan in the pick-and-ban phase, banning both Melee Mage and Array Master. After Chi Ruanfan picked Fire Mage, Zhaoxing immediately locked in the Cannoneer, a direct counter to the Fire Mage.

Chi Ruanfan: “…This is a battle between you bottom-laners. Why are you picking on me?”

Jin Zhu secured his signature Wind Assassin and built an early lead. However, Chaoyang protected Zhaoxing’s Cannoneer so well that they forcibly dragged the game into the Cannoneer’s power spike. The Cannoneer found an opening to jump in and delete Lin Huo, following up with a push that destroyed the Nexus.

Zhaoxing, Chaoyang, and the second team won.

Chaoyang took off his headset. The first thing he did was ask Chi Ruanfan, “How did your Mage get so strong all of a sudden? If the second team guys hadn’t warned us, we would have been fooled by you this game too.”

Chi Ruanfan couldn’t easily answer that, so he flipped the question. “Take a guess?”

“How am I supposed to guess that?” Chaoyang gave up.

Lin Huo was also curious. He looked at the two newcomers. “How long have you guys played together? Your synergy is too good. I couldn’t even pick you off.”

Chaoyang: “We’ve played about as long as you guys, but our synergy is innate.”

“Innate?” Lin Huo was confused.

Zhaoxing turned around, tucking a stray hair behind her ear. “We’re twins. It’s hard to say synergy is ‘innate,’ but growing up together means we understand each other perfectly.”

“Twins?!!” Even Guzi, who usually acted like an invisible man, was shocked into speaking.

The team’s gaze bounced between the two. Lu Lu said in confusion, “You don’t look alike.”

Chaoyang and Zhaoxing shared a smile. Chaoyang said, “Fraternal twins. We don’t have to look alike.”

At that moment, Coach Flying Cloud walked in, grinning ear to ear. He announced: “You all played very well in these two games. Zhaoxing and Chaoyang will be training here from now on. Next, we will focus on five-man team coordination to prepare for Sunday’s match.”

“We passed the trial?” Chaoyang was pleasantly surprised.

“You passed,” Flying Cloud confirmed.

“Yes!” Zhaoxing and Chaoyang high-fived.

Chi Ruanfan looked at his newly joined old teammates, his eyes full of anticipation. This was a team formed from the core players of both Chaoge and Yexian. Once this team gelled, they would be a force where anyone could be the carry.

Jin Zhu’s Jungle carry, his Mid carry, Zhaoxing’s Marksman carry, Chaoyang’s Support carry… even Guzi and Lin Huo, given enough time to grow, could hold their own. These players were young, but they possessed infinite possibilities.

Chi Ruanfan looked at Jin Zhu beside him, wanting to tell him that his 100 million was well spent.

Jin Zhu met his gaze and spoke first: “Have you finished looking up ‘plus or minus fifteen centimeters’?”

Chi Ruanfan: “…”

Damn it! Why is he still on that?!

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