Honor of Kings Rookie

Breakfast was generally harmonious, except when Tang Wulin occasionally "accidentally" smeared jam on the corner of Gu Yue's mouth, only to be forced by her "death stare" to wipe it off himself.

After the meal, the two naturally curled up on the spacious living room sofa, each picking up a phone and tapping the icon—Honor of Kings.

Gu Yue's account currently displayed "Legendary King · 276 Stars," while Tang Wulin's was merely "Strongest King · 23 Stars." In Gu Yue's eyes, that rank gap was roughly equivalent to the difference between a professional player and an old man from the neighborhood. The lingering grogginess from waking up had been washed away by the thrill of the game, and she even felt a faint surge of heroic resolve to carry a rookie—though this "rookie" happened to be her husband in the eyes of the law.

"We agreed, okay? I'm going mid. You can do whatever, but don't feed too hard and mess up my KDA." Gu Yue adjusted Diao Chan's in-game settings as she gave the order in a queenly, unquestionable tone.

"Don't worry, don't worry. Wherever my wife points, I'll fight. I guarantee I'll be your sturdiest shield!" Tang Wulin grinned as he instantly locked in Cheng Yaojin, as if he could already see himself activating his ultimate to heal, charging in and out of battle with unmatched valor.

However, reality was often far harsher than ideals—usually the sort of harshness that got you pinned to the ground and rubbed raw.

On the loading screen, Gu Yue looked at the enemy lineup: Luna, Jing, Gongsun Li, Yao, and Lian Po. Then she looked at her own team: Diao Chan (Gu Yue), Cheng Yaojin (Tang Wulin), Hou Yi, Zhuang Zhou, and Liu Shan. Her heart sank slightly. If this lineup collapsed even a little in the early game, the late game would be difficult.

"Help me watch blue at the start. Don't let them steal it," Gu Yue reminded him. She was playing Diao Chan, and the blue buff was crucial to her.

"No problem!" Tang Wulin replied confidently.

A minute passed.

Gu Yue cleared the first wave of minions and was about to check her blue jungle when she saw that the blue buff icon on the screen had already turned gray—enemy Luna had taken it. Meanwhile, their Cheng Yaojin was leisurely recalling beneath a tower on low health, covered by a thick shield. He had clearly activated his ultimate to recover health.

"Tang Wulin! Where's the blue?!" Gu Yue demanded in a lowered voice.

"Huh? Oh! Sorry, honey! I looked the wrong way just now. I thought that was our jungle, but when I got there, I realized it was the enemy's, so I didn't dare steal anything and just came back..." Tang Wulin sounded full of apology, but if one listened closely, there was also a hint of Wasn't I clever to avoid a fight? in his voice.

Gu Yue: "...Are you actually blind, or just pretending? That was our blue jungle!"

Five minutes into the match, Gu Yue had barely stabilized the mid lane through sheer skill. She had even solo-killed the opposing Gongsun Li once. Just as she relaxed a little, terrible news came from bot lane. Hou Yi had been completely shut down, sitting at 0-4. And the culprit was Tang Wulin's Cheng Yaojin.

"Old Cheng! What are you doing?! Hou Yi got caught—why didn't you support him?!" Gu Yue shouted during a gap in the enemy's skill barrage.

"I... I saw them coming, but my ultimate was still on cooldown, and I couldn't run over there in time! Besides, I'm the tank. I had to protect the backline... Uh, though it seems I didn't manage to protect him..." Tang Wulin sounded aggrieved.

"You're Cheng Yaojin! Don't you know whether your ultimate is ready or not? If you couldn't run over, couldn't you TP? What about the teleport pad?"

"The teleport pad... I think the enemy had occupied it..."

Gu Yue took a deep breath and told herself not to get angry. Anger damaged the liver, and besides, this guy was her legal spouse. She couldn't commit domestic violence... at least not yet.

Ten minutes later, the situation had completely fallen apart. Although Gu Yue did her best to show off her mechanics, two fists could not defeat four hands, and no matter how strong Diao Chan was, she still feared crowd control. Tang Wulin's Cheng Yaojin was indeed very tanky, but he seemed to have some misunderstanding of the concept of "damage." He hovered around the edge of every team fight, occasionally jumping in to activate his ultimate, and then... there was no then. Either he was instantly focused down, or he ran back at full health while chanting, "I soaked damage! I soaked damage!"

The moment that broke Gu Yue the most came at the very end, just as their core was about to fall. Gu Yue seized an opportunity and pulled the enemy carry, Gongsun Li, with her second skill. One full combo nearly killed her, and it looked like they might turn the game around. At that critical instant, Tang Wulin's Cheng Yaojin emerged from who knew what corner and used... his first skill on the low-health Gongsun Li? The damage barely tickled her. Not only did he fail to keep her, but his dash put him directly in Gu Yue's retreat path, causing Gu Yue to be trapped by Jing's arriving ultimate and instantly erased.

Defeat

The screen went gray. Gu Yue kept her finger suspended over the screen, unmoving, for a full three seconds. She felt her temples throbbing, her blood pressure nearly reaching its limit.

Tang Wulin cautiously leaned closer, studying Gu Yue's expression as he said weakly, "Honey... I'm sorry. I... I dragged you down again. I was trying to go over and stop her..."

Gu Yue slowly turned her head and stared at Tang Wulin's face, which was full of "innocence" and "I tried my best." Her chest heaved violently. She wanted to curse, throw her phone, and grab his ears to ask whether his brain was filled with paste or tofu pudding. But seeing how aggrieved he looked—more aggrieved than she was—and remembering that he really had "tried" to support her every time, even if the results had been unbearable, she seemed... unable to find a particularly justified reason to explode. After all, he had not gone AFK, nor had he intentionally fed. He was simply... too terrible.

"...Forget it." Gu Yue squeezed out the two words through clenched teeth, tossed her phone aside, and leaned back into the sofa with a profound sense of helplessness. "At your level, I can't carry you. I absolutely can't carry you."