Jiang Shi quickly adapted to TLG’s schedule. When he went to the training room the next day, Jiang Lele and Yu Hui had just arrived as well.
They greeted each other and sat down in their respective spots.
Jiang Shi glanced to the side; it was empty.
Xie Xu hadn’t arrived yet.
Yuan Yang happened to push the door open and come in. Noticing Jiang Shi’s gaze, he explained, “Xie Xu will be here later. He went to the clinic.”
Jiang Shi asked, “What’s wrong with Xu?”
“Nothing major.” Yuan Yang smiled at his anxious look. “Just a routine check-up.”
Xu had been playing for so many years, and his right hand had developed tendonitis, so it needed proper care.
“You guys too. If you feel unwell, not just your hands, make sure to tell me. We have a doctor at the base.”
The others all responded affirmatively.
Seeing that the others were calm, Jiang Shi knew it was a minor issue and didn’t ask further.
At that moment, the door to the training room was pushed open, and An walked in. Jiang Shi’s chair faced the door, so An saw his white hair sticking out as soon as he came in. His expression turned cold. He didn’t even greet Yuan Yang and went straight to his seat.
Jiang Shi didn’t spare him a glance either.
Who was going to spoil him?
Yuan Yang sensed the tension between the two and quietly asked Jiang Shi, “Did he bully you?”
In Yuan Yang’s mind, Jiang Shi was a good kid who needed protection from the elders. Having just arrived at the base, unfamiliar with the place, he was genuinely worried that Jiang Shi might be bullied and just swallow his anger.
Moreover, Jiang Shi’s potential was worth careful nurturing for any team.
Jiang Shi put on his headphones and casually said, “No.”
That guy couldn’t bully him even if he wanted to.
Only then did Yuan Yang feel relieved. Seeing that Jiang Shi was ready for solo queue, he reminded him, “You can practice more with your teammates. I’ve arranged a scrim with MR team for next Wednesday night. Just giving you a heads up so you can be prepared.”
This would be Jiang Shi’s first official scrim since joining TLG.
After finishing, he remembered something and added, “Regarding your joining TLG, I haven’t announced it publicly yet. Don’t mention it on social media either.”
He wanted to turn Jiang Shi into TLG’s secret weapon, to make a stunning debut in the regular season.
Jiang Shi nodded in agreement.
After giving instructions, Yuan Yang left the training room.
Jiang Shi recalled what Yuan Yang had said earlier and turned to look at Jiang Lele beside him.
Jiang Lele was rolling up his sleeves, chatting with Yu Hui, “Xiao Huihui, I must show you my newly trained Nuka today. Come to mid lane after you clear the jungle, and we’ll definitely get first blood!”
Yu Hui rubbed his arm in disgust, “Call me that again, and I’m out.”
“No, no, no.” Jiang Lele quickly pleaded, “Okay, Back, carry me today. The season is almost over, that Little White Hair has already reached Challenger rank, I at least need to get to Grandmaster, or Yang-ge will scold me to death.”
He was feeling the pressure.
As Jiang Lele finished speaking and turned his head, he met the gaze of the top-ranked player himself.
“Let me repeat once more.” Jiang Shi pulled down his headphones, expressionless, “My hair is gray.”
Not damned white!
In Jiang Lele’s mind, he automatically added the next sentence, “Keep calling me that, and I’ll kill you.”
He shrank back instinctively.
‘Bu-but… gray hair isn’t as nice as white hair…’
Jiang Shi ignored him and looked past Jiang Lele towards Zhao Jiu, “Jiu-ge, want to queue together? I have other accounts in different ranks.”
Zhao Jiu looked a bit apologetic, “The coach has me grinding in the Colosseum lately, so I can’t queue.”
The Colosseum is another ranked mode in God Making, which can only be played solo, and once in a match, IDs aren’t displayed. It’s considered fairer and more challenging compared to other modes.
Jiang Shi: “No problem, you go ahead.”
As he turned his gaze back, he suddenly locked eyes with An on the other side.
An chuckled, “What, no one to duo with? Why don’t you beg me?”
Zhao Jiu detected the sarcasm in his tone and frowned, about to say something when Jiang Shi replied.
“Two ADs duoing, do you think this is Candy Crush or something?” Jiang Shi glanced at him lightly, “If you beg me, I might reluctantly agree to let you be my support.”
Despite saying this, Jiang Shi’s tone clearly showed reluctance, as if having An as his support was too troublesome.
This tone made Jiang Lele, who was watching, unable to hold back a laugh.
The Little White Hair was really funny.
Yu Hui, realizing Jiang Shi was looking for someone to queue with, offered, “You can wait until I finish this match with Jiang Lele.”
Jiang Shi shook his head, “No need.”
He couldn’t stand Jiang Lele’s clinginess.
Jiang Shi put on his headphones, ignoring An’s resentful gaze, and queued for a solo game.
Had this been before last night, Jiang Shi might have felt awkward.
But Xie Xu had told him, he had already signed with TLG, so he wasn’t an outsider.
The other teammates were just coincidentally busy, and he wasn’t so mentally fragile.
Jiang Shi played two games on his own when he heard the door open behind him. A rush of cool air and a pleasant citrus scent accompanied the incoming breeze.
He turned around and met Xie Xu’s gaze.
Xie Xu was only wearing a thin beige sweater, with his collarbones faintly visible and a slight dampness lingering on him.
Jiang Shi looked at Xie Xu’s still-damp hair tips and asked, “Did you take a shower?”
Whether it was from being soaked or not, the mole at the corner of Xie Xu’s eye seemed fainter than usual, making him even more attractive.
Xie Xu nodded, pulling out a chair and sitting down, “My hand smelled from soaking in medicinal water, so I took a shower.”
Jiang Shi looked at his thin sweater and pursed his lips, “Xu, you’re wearing too little.”
Xie Xu turned to look at him, “Hmm?”
Jiang Shi was momentarily stunned, then rubbed his ears and lowered his voice, “Captain, put on another layer.”
Xie Xu then draped the team jacket over his shoulders, “I’m not used to wearing too much after a shower, don’t imitate me.”
Jiang Shi quickly glanced at him and then looked away, as if his thoughts were running wild.
‘Not used to wearing too much means how little?’
Jiang Shi’s thoughts seemed uncontrollable.
Xie Xu opened his computer and, seeing Jiang Shi still staring blankly at him, asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Jiang Shi shook his head, dismissing the outrageous thoughts, and replied seriously, “Yang-ge told me to practice with someone, but they’re all busy.”
After speaking, he looked expectantly at Xie Xu.
Jiang Shi knew he looked innocent and was good at using this advantage to gain favor.
Like now.
The black headphones made Jiang Shi’s face look even smaller, and when he focused on someone, he looked like a hamster waiting to be fed.
Xie Xu reached out, ruffling the hamster’s hair even more, and decisively offered, “Log in.”
Although Xie Xu had briefly played with Jiang Shi using Jiang Lele’s account last time, this was their first serious duo queue.
Jiang Shi perked up and focused on the game.
In this match, the opposing ADC was evidently cautious, not giving Jiang Shi any chances to harass, allowing both to farm safely.
However, once Jiang Shi reached level 4, he couldn’t sit still and initiated an attack, hitting the opponent with a combo and skillfully dodging the enemy’s damage.
The opponent, with low health, retreated under their own tower. Just as Jiang Shi was about to flash under the turret to secure the kill, Xie Xu’s voice came through his headphones.
“Fall back, their jungler is coming.”
Jiang Shi heightened his vigilance, and sure enough, the enemy jungler appeared in the bot lane the next second. Being prepared, Jiang Shi flashed back under his tower.
If he had gone for the dive, not only would he have failed to kill the ADC, but he might have given up his own life.
As the minion waves met again, the enemy jungler provided vision for a retreat into the jungle.
Jiang Shi’s eyes narrowed, confirming, “They want to dive me.”
He knew this strategy too well. He was out of skills and had used his flash in front of the enemy – he was now a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.
Sure enough, the enemy ADC began to block Jiang Shi’s access to the minions.
Jiang Shi couldn’t stand playing so passively and decisively stepped out of the defense tower to farm.
He had no skills, and the enemy ADC wasn’t in good shape either. As long as he was nimble, he could not only farm but also trade with the enemy AD.
Sure enough, as he stepped out of the turret and took the first minion, the enemy jungler emerged from the bush.
Jiang Shi didn’t retreat an inch and went straight for the enemy AD.
[Don’t Look For Abuse] killed [Throwing Socks]!
[First Blood!]
At this moment, Jiang Shi was barely hanging on with a sliver of health, just waiting to be taken down by the enemy jungler. Suddenly, the sound of a healing effect played. Xie Xu appeared in time, controlled the enemy jungler, and gave Jiang Shi enough time to retreat.
Jiang Shi safely returned to the protection of his tower.
[All] Lion-Sun: Your support is fast! If you were a second late, that ADC would be dead.
[All] Lion-Sun: Are you duo-queueing? Flashing in to save.
Jiang Shi saw the prefix and realized they had encountered a professional player.
The Lion team had made it to the top four in the last finals – they’re a formidable team.
Sun was their starting jungler.
[All] TLG-Xu: Yes, now that you know, stay away from the bot lane.
After replying, Xie Xu explained to Jiang Shi, “Sun has this bad habit in casual matches, he likes to break the bot lane and push straight to the high ground.”
Despite Xie Xu’s warning, Sun didn’t change his approach. Once, he brought four people to dive Jiang Shi. Even though Jiang Shi anticipated it and retreated to the second tower, he was still killed.
Luckily, thanks to his skills, he managed to take down the enemy ADC, and Xie Xu, playing a mage hero, helped the top-laner secure a kill.
But Jiang Shi still felt aggrieved.
Looking at the black screen on his computer, Jiang Shi rubbed his face and stayed silent.
[All] Lion-Sun: Tsk, where did you find this ADC, playing so aggressively?
[All] TLG-Xu: Focus on your red buff.
Both sides knew each other’s rhythms and tactics, so it wasn’t surprising that Xie Xu could guess Sun was at the red buff.
However, just as Sun was about to secure the red buff, Jiang Shi appeared out of nowhere and snatched the low-health buff with a long arrow, leaving Sun with nothing but Jiang Shi’s retreating figure.
Sun wanted to chase but noticed Xie Xu standing boldly in the bush by the river, ready to counter if he dared to step forward.
Sun laughed.
[All] Lion-Sun: So you told me I was at the red buff to signal your little marksman to come and take revenge?
No one replied, but at the next buff spawn, when Sun arrived, it was already gone.
Xie Xu and his ADC had stolen the buff again.
[All] Lion-Sun: Bro, I’m livestreaming! You’re really making me look bad.
With Xie Xu’s protection, Sun didn’t even dare to chase him.
Just then, Jiang Lele finished his game and came over to watch their match. Recognizing the familiar ID, he exclaimed, “Captain, you guys ran into Sun?”
Seeing how Xie Xu had protected Jiang Shi and stolen the buffs, he teased, “Captain, you’re breaking the hearts of the CP fans in his stream.”
Jiang Shi turned his head, “What CP fans?”
Jiang Lele was surprised, “Aren’t you a fan of the captain? How do you not know this?”
“Captain and Sun entered the esports scene at the same time and have fought countless times. They’re good friends, so many people ship them as a jungler-support CP. Some even hoped they’d join the same team during this transfer period.”
But that, of course, was impossible. Neither Lion nor TLG would let their players go.
“Haha, now Sun’s fans are in my stream crying, asking me to tell the captain to be gentle.”
Jiang Lele had also started his stream, and Jiang Shi glanced over. Besides crying emojis, some viewers were spamming Xie Xu and Sun’s IDs with a pink heart in the middle. Some even told Jiang Shi to get lost, calling him an eyesore.
Jiang Shi’s hand gripped the mouse tightly.
He looked away, comforting himself inwardly.
‘They are all just fans having fun. Xie Xu is currently single, and I have the advantage of being close to him, so I shouldn’t worry about these trivial things. I need to be patient—’
‘Bullshit!’
Jiang Shi immediately sold the armor he was planning to buy and switched to high-damage armor-piercing equipment.
Sun, completely unaware, passed through his own jungle only to be ambushed by Jiang Shi who burst out from the bushes. Sun barely managed to escape with low health using his agile skills, but Jiang Shi relentlessly chased him, diving under the tower to secure the kill, leaving himself with only a sliver of health, hiding in a gap between the towers where he couldn’t be hit.
[All] Lion-Sun: What grudge do you have? Chasing me down like this?
[All] Don’t Look For Abuse: Ah, sorry, my hand slipped and chased too deep.
After sending this message, Jiang Shi also posted a silly smile emote next to Sun’s corpse. The big-headed cartoon character shaking its head was incredibly mocking.
Sun laughed in exasperation. Just as he was about to ask Xie Xu where he found such a sarcastic ADC, he saw another line of text from Jiang Shi.
[All] Don’t Look For Abuse: Xu, can you come and get me? I’m low on health QAQ
He also sent a crying emote in the global chat.
If Xie Xu came over, he would step over Sun’s corpse, making it clear who was a better match for Xu.
Soon enough, Xie Xu appeared just in time, tanking the tower for Jiang Shi. He glanced at Jiang Shi as he did so.
Jiang Shi didn’t dare to meet his eyes.
Was his little trick discovered?
Standing at the edge of the tower’s range, Xie Xu made it clear that if Jiang Shi retreated one step, he’d be hit by the tower and all his bravado would instantly crumble.
Jiang Shi licked his dry lips and called out, “Captain.”
Using the term Xie Xu had corrected him on, Jiang Shi softened his voice, “Save me.”
