The game has been going on for 20 minutes.
Taking advantage of their numerical superiority, Exalted Emperor focused their fire on and took down the Tempest Dragon. With the entire team buffed by the Dragon King, their white shields increased dramatically, and dragon minions spawned on all three lanes, eliminating any minion pressure.
Jiucheng's side was already at its last gasp. Even if the whole team fought desperately, it would be to no avail. With the sounding of the general offensive, Exalted Emperor Heino led his teammates into the enemy's high ground and pushed it down in one wave!
"Defeat!"
A capital "failure" icon appeared on the phone screen.
Jiucheng's face was ashen. "I lost."
Even with a heavy focus on targeting Exalted Emperor during the ban/pick phase, and even with the combined efforts of five veteran Overlord players including themselves, they still lost to Exalted Emperor.
It's past midnight, the Peak Tournament is closed.
The official rankings of the strongest players in the Chinese server have been finalized.
Jiucheng's fingers trembled as he clicked on the Gan national rankings. As expected, Exalted Emperor Gan was ranked number one in the national server, while he himself was ranked number two.
"Take it easy, Cao Tutu." Maoshen patted Jiucheng's shoulder and gently comforted him, "A loss is a loss. Focus on improving your game skills and try to win next time."
"I served as the nation's Gan for eight years, a full eight years!" Jiucheng gripped his hair tightly with both hands, his eyes filled with pain, and growled, "Now that Exalted Emperor has taken it away from me, tell me, how can I accept this?"
Maoshen knew very well that for Jiucheng, being a top national Gan was no longer a cold honorary title, but a pride that ran deep in his bones and blood!
In 2018, in the KPL arena, Jiucheng, with his unparalleled Gan with Gan Jiang, ushered in the era of mid-lane champions and won the title of the Strongest Overlord.
However, with the updates to the King of Glory, utility mages who don't rely on gold have become the mainstream in the KPL, marking the end of the era of mid-core mages.
Jiucheng was unwilling to give up the mid-core playstyle, so he was abandoned by the KPL League and had to switch to the King of Glory casual community, maintaining the pride of the mid-core era by dominating the national top Gan rankings.
At present, Exalted Emperor's rise to become the top Gan of the country has undoubtedly exposed Jiucheng's hypocrisy and shattered his last bit of pride.
" Cao Tutu, your peak has never faded; your gaming skills are even comparable to the King of Magic Qingrong," Maoshen said with heartache, "But you just can't bear to give up your pride from the mid-core era."
"Is there anything wrong with sticking to the core-centric playstyle?" Touched on a sore spot, Jiucheng laughed angrily, "Just because utility mages are the mainstream in casual and league play, does that mean I have to switch to a support mage?"
"Only when a person stagnates do they repeatedly look back on their past glories," Maoshen bluntly stated. "Stop fooling yourself; you're just filled with fear!"
"You're afraid of transitioning to a utility mage, failing to achieve results, and never regaining the glory of your former core mage days; you're afraid of fading into obscurity!"
Maoshen's words were pearls of wisdom. "You've woven a dream for yourself, a dream that one day the mid-core playstyle will become mainstream, a dream that one day you can once again ascend to the KPL League and dominate the battlefield with your mid-core Gan."
"Now, Exalted Emperor will personally end your dream!"
You should wake up.
After a long while.
Jiucheng lowered his head, his shoulders trembling violently, feeling a deep sense of powerlessness. Just as Maoshen had said, he had indeed been living in a dream. If Exalted Emperor had not ended the obsessions of the Gan from other countries, he might not have woken up yet.
"So I was consciously falling into depravity."
A self-deprecating smile appeared on Jiucheng's lips.
"Save the replay of the Peak Tournament and send it to Lao Zhan and the others." Maoshen stood up and said, "This is important material for studying Exalted Emperor. In the Overlord Feast, Exalted Emperor will be our AG's biggest opponent."
"Um."
Watching the Maoshen depart.
Jiucheng looked at the current Gan of the nation, his eyes filled with complex emotions, and said, "I never thought I'd have to thank you for waking me up."
Douyin, Su Hang's live stream room.
The number of online users exceeded 200,000, and the screen was filled with congratulatory messages, creating a joyful atmosphere.
"Holy crap! Witnessing a legendary moment! The first account in King of Glory of King of Glory history to top both leaderboards for three consecutive days has been born!"
"What can you do in three days? Exalted Emperor will tell you: Gan's Glory Power rose from 0 to 20082, making him the top player in the country, and his peak score rose from 1200 to 2615! He became the number one mid-laner!"
" Exalted Emperor King of Glory. I've said my piece. Who supports me? Who opposes me?"
"Honestly, this last match in the Peak Tournament was quite close. If it weren't for Exalted Emperor Heino's big heart and high resilience under pressure, they definitely would have lost."
"Support Dolia also made a significant contribution, helping the late-game champion block Hou Yi 'Exalted Emperor ultimate and assisting in a comeback from a desperate situation."
"Huh? I remember before the game started, Dolia claimed to be Overlord player. Exalted Emperor, quickly check Dolia's game profile. Just which title of support Overlord is he?"
The live chat urged Su Hang to verify Dolia's identity.
Su Hang laughed, "A few days ago I challenged for the perfect MVP and reached the top 100 stars. Do you guys remember the last game? I was matched with a really good Su Lie player?"
The words "[ Yugong ]" flooded the public chat with comments.
Su Hang nodded. "If nothing unexpected happens, Dolia is Yugong."
You can return to the game results screen.
Su Hang was stunned.
Because Dolia is not Yugong, at least not in the Yugong; she has a different game ID that is both unfamiliar and familiar.
" Liuli?"
Su Hang's memory was instantly awakened. He had been matched with this player named Liuli multiple times from Season 1 to Season 40, guaranteeing at least one match per season.
The chat exploded with comments at that moment.
"Holy crap! It's that whale Whale Overlord on Honor of Kings!"
"Damn it, I just checked the Honor of Kings Camp, and it really is the Whale Overlord Liuli."
"Wow! Exalted Emperor is incredibly lucky, he actually got matched with the Whale Overlord)!"
" Exalted Emperor, hurry up! Add all the legendary skins from the shop to your wishlist right now. She's incredibly generous; she'll fulfill all your wishlist requests as long as you're on her team, win or lose."
"My buddy is so envious! But then again, does the Exalted Emperor really need a few measly coins?"
"Suddenly, it makes sense to turn the tide in a desperate situation. With the Whale Overlord Liuli around, her money power is activated, and the system must arrange for Exalted Emperor to win!"
Netizens were filled with envy, jealousy, and hatred; it was practically overflowing from the screen.
Su Hang frowned. Looking back now, Yugong and Liuli were highly similar in both their positioning habits and playing styles.
"Could Yugong be Liuli's alternate version?"
Su Hang opened the Liuli game homepage.
Game ID: [Liuli]♀
Honor Title: No. 1 on the Chinese Server Noble Ranking
Number of skins: 633.
Rank: Legendary Hundred-Star King
Peak score: 2508 points, consistently ranking in the top ten.
Great Nation Yao, Great Nation Dolia, Great Nation Cai Wenji...
" Liuli should be a girl." Su Hang looked through Liuli's preferred heroes; there were seven Major National Badge, all of which were female support heroes. "I remember Yugong is a boy, right?"
Opening my friend Yugong's game profile, I found that his gender is indeed male, and all the heroes he frequently plays are burly male support heroes.
While gender in the game isn't a reliable indicator, the number of hero matches played doesn't lie. It's like a guy deliberately changing his gender to female and choosing a cute, girly name for his ID, but a check of his hero matches on his profile page reveals otherwise.
Thousands of matches with Sun Wukong, hundreds of matches with Cheng Yaojin, dozens of matches with Lian Po... these clearly reveal the male's true gender.
Just as Su Hang was about to ask Liuli about it.
A friend request popped up.
Liuli has requested to become your friend.
Comment: What a coincidence!