From Pokémon to The International, Dota 2

Chapter 98 An Accidental Encounter with a Girl

After the match ended, Gu Ran and his teammates gave each other a high-five in celebration. Then his stomach suddenly growled. He hadn't eaten much because of the match at 3 p.m., and now that the match was over, he suddenly felt a bit hungry.

So he told his teammates, and everyone else prepared to watch the next Group B match together in the training room. Gu Ran, on the other hand, went to the restaurant to treat himself before coming back to watch the match with his brothers.

The hotel's buffet is very thoughtful, taking into account that the athletes have different competition times and schedules, and food is available 24 hours a day.

The corridor was covered with a dark gray carpet that was soft but didn't sink in when you stepped on it, absorbing all the sound of footsteps.

Before even reaching the restaurant entrance, the aroma wafted over, causing Gu Ran's stomach to rumble again. This time, even a volunteer passing by in the corridor heard it. The girl in the event T-shirt smiled slightly, and Gu Ran, feeling a little embarrassed, could only quicken his pace and push open the restaurant door.

The restaurant's lighting design is very sophisticated. It uses a large number of warm-colored light strips and individual pendant lights, each of which illuminates exactly where it should.

The warming lights in the hot food area emit a soft orange glow, illuminating the food surfaces as if applying a filter to each dish individually. The spotlights above the serving counters are carefully angled to present the food's colors in the most enticing way to customers, without being too harsh on their eyes.

The restaurant floor is covered with light oak flooring that has a slight springiness when you step on it. The tables and chairs are made of dark walnut wood, and each table has a small glass vase with a fresh daisy in it.

Hot dishes section, Western cuisine section, Japanese and Southeast Asian cuisine section, dessert section — the food is so abundant that it can keep diners with decision-making difficulties busy for half a day.

After eating at hotel buffets a few times, Gu Ran realized a truth: if you don't know what you like to eat the most, just go to a buffet once and you'll find out. Faced with so many delicious foods, you'll subconsciously choose what you love to eat the most.

So Gu Ran didn't hesitate to first make a bowl of egg fried rice, then add twice-cooked pork, stir-fried loofah with eggs, Kung Pao chicken, and a cup of special fruit tea. None of them were particularly expensive, but Gu Ran just loved to eat them.

That's it for the first batch. Come back for more after you've finished eating.

Gu Ran happily carried the plate back, but just as she rounded the corner of the dessert area, she suddenly paused.

In the corner by the window, a familiar figure was sitting alone at the dining table.

His signature brown curly hair gleamed softly under the warm yellow lights of the restaurant, falling somewhat messily over his forehead. He wore a dark gray hoodie, and two tattoos were visible on his left forearm from the cuff: Gokumon from Jujutsu Kaisen and Buck from Berserk. The dark lines looked particularly sharp against his slightly tanned skin.

yatoro, a two-time TI champion.

Gu Ran walked over and sat down diagonally across from Yatatoro, then greeted him very warmly: "Hi, Yatatoro!"

Gu Ran's English was decent, so Yatoro understood. He looked up at Gu Ran, a little confused.

"Hey Meat God, I'm your fan! We even had a practice match a couple of weeks ago. I'm Firefly, the mid laner from Soul Stone."

Yatoro thought for a moment, then his expression changed to one of sudden realization. He smiled and said, "Hello, what can I do for you?"

Gu Ran actually wanted to get along well with Ya Tou Rou so that it would be easier to arrange training matches in the future. Of course, he couldn't say this outright; he had to get closer to her first.

"I just wanted to come and pay my respects to the master. Oh, master, is that tattoo of the Prison Gate? And Buck, I also really like Berserk and Jujutsu Kaisen."

The girl's eyes lit up; being able to recognize the two tattoos meant they were indeed kindred spirits.

So the two brothers started discussing the plots of the two comics: one a dark, action-packed manga, and the other a manga with a terrible ending. But it has to be said that their plots also have a lot of things that can satisfy the fantasies of teenage boys.

Will they win?

【2.5 Enlightenment】

They laughed together when they talked about some funny jokes. Shared interests can be a magic weapon for bringing people closer.

After chatting for a while, the two finished their meal, added each other as friends, said goodbye, and left. Gu Ran knew that haste makes waste, and it would be too opportunistic to propose a training match now. He decided to wait until they could chat more and get to know each other better before making a decision.

Back in the training room, the Group B matches were underway. This match was between Falcons and Brothers. It was clear that Brothers' playstyle was still too immature in the face of a truly strong professional team. The opponent could fight them if they wanted to, and if they didn't want to engage in team fights, you couldn't catch them. In addition, Brothers' raw skill was also lacking, and they were quickly swept in two matches.

After the speedrun, the opposing offlaner ATF planted his guild's flag at Brothers' fountain entrance. Despite having only a little over 4,000 MMR and being banned by Valve, he devised a new way to taunt.

The viewers in the live chat really wanted to criticize this guy, but since he had lost the game, they felt like he was just barking incompetently, so they turned their anger on Brothers instead.

At first, the audience was somewhat hoping that Brothers could come up with something new to trick Falcons, since they shouldn't have been studied before. However, when they actually started playing, they found that the gap between them and the strong teams was too disheartening. The difference in raw strength was too great, and when they were completely outmatched in the laning phase, no tactics were useful.

As a result, troll posts appeared in various D0TA2 communities, which reflects that the number of viewers for this competition is quite large.

After watching this match, it's time to prepare for tomorrow's game. The five brothers opened Tencent Meeting and started discussing their strategy for tomorrow's match against 0G.

The opposing team fits our stereotype of Southeast Asian teams quite well – they pick strong heroes, but their gameplay lacks strategy. Even when they gain an advantage, they might retreat to the jungle to farm. Furthermore, they lack the ability to close out games; their average game duration is a staggering 55 minutes.

[Their victory in the Southeast Asian TI qualifiers was mainly due to having more core players and stronger individual skills than their opponents. Their opponents also lacked the ability to close out the game, so the match was dragged into the late game. 23savage's teams mostly played single-core lineups, which made them unable to beat 0G in the late game.]

Su Xiaoman first summarized the characteristics of the opposing team, which sounded like a team that liked to pick multiple core heroes and hold back.

[Their weakness is probably TORONTOTOKY0. His career path, switching from position 2 to position 5 and then to position 3, is unique among players. Moreover, it seems that he didn't bring any significant improvement to 0G after joining the team. Instead, he often made some rather brainless plays. Perhaps his role in the team is mainly to lead, and his individual skills are lacking.]

Lao Fang pointed out their target – Old Tokyo had only recently switched to 0G and his synergy with the team wasn't particularly good.

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