I’ll be updating this often (1 per day) until chapter 10 or so! After that, it’ll be updated every Mondays and Thursdays.
TLG and his team returned to their base. The team manager and coach, Yuan Yang, saw them looking dejected and wondered, “Why do you look even more down after going out?”
The youngest, Jiang Lele, with reddened eyes, said, “We went to the nearby merch store and saw many people returning our merchandise, and there were also haters1black fans in CN…”
Yuan Yang’s expression changed upon hearing this. He circled around them, making sure there were no obvious injuries, and then relaxed, “What haters? Are you alright?”
After all, the probability of encountering extreme fans was high since they had just lost the finals last night.
“It’s fine.” Xie Xu sat on the sofa in the hall, stretched his long legs, and poured himself a cup of hot water, “Besides, he might not even be a hater.”
Jiang Lele, seeing his calm demeanor, widened his eyes, “Captain, he was about to cut off the TLG tag on your Snowman collaboration merch! How is he not a hater!”
“He almost got into a fight! He might be violent! Captain, you have to take this seriously!” Jiang Lele also sat on the sofa, getting more frightened as he thought about it, “Did you see what he looked like at the time? Was he very fierce?”
If they remembered his face, they could avoid him in the future.
Xie Xu looked at the rising steam from his cup, and for some reason, thought of the other person’s flushed ears.
“Didn’t see his face clearly.” He smiled faintly, “But he wasn’t fierce.”
After ensuring everyone was fine, Yuan Yang told them to rest well and called Xie Xu to the meeting room alone.
“We need to recruit an AD for our team. What do you think?”
Xie Xu leaned against the table, listening to Yuan Yang’s serious tone, and raised his eyebrows, “An has agreed to transfer to the Hurricane team?”
Yuan Yang was shocked, “How did you know?”
An was TLG’s starting AD and had been with the team for three years, performing adequately. Now in the transfer period, he had not yet renewed his contract with TLG.
“It was easy to guess.” Xie Xu replied indifferently, “He probably found his next team before the finals.”
Yuan Yang was silent for a moment, “After all, we’ve been playing together for three years.”
If he hadn’t heard the news directly, he wouldn’t want to believe that An would leave without discussing it with everyone.
Yuan Yang sighed, “Is it because you’ve been too strict with him recently? You need to give him some face.”
This afternoon, the whole team was supposed to go out to relax. An claimed he hadn’t adjusted from the Korean time zone and refused to go, so Xie Xu had him train alone in the training room and said he would personally check the training time when he returned.
At the time, An’s face was as dark as the bottom of a pot.
Actually, everyone could see that An just didn’t want to go out with them and wanted to slack off alone, but Xie Xu stopped him directly.
“An is still in the training room.” Yuan Yang said.
Xie Xu looked up, “If it weren’t for giving him some face, I could have scolded him to tears in front of tens of thousands of spectators at the Korean stadium.”
He mocked with a tug at the corner of his mouth, “Late to training, leaving early, and during the game, he didn’t follow commands and charged forward, afraid his next team wouldn’t see how ‘good’ he is.”
“Such a person can’t stay in TLG.”
Yuan Yang had nothing to say about this. After the finals, An immediately apologized, saying he was too nervous during the finals, leading to many mistakes.
But no one responded at the time, and Xie Xu didn’t even spare An a glance, taking his gear and getting into the team bus.
The AD role is crucial in this game. Even if Xie Xu played well, he couldn’t compensate for An’s reckless plays.
“An’s playstyle indeed doesn’t fit with yours. It’s a good time to get a new ADC.” Yuan Yang took out a tablet and showed Xie Xu a list of candidates, “There’s actually one player with a unique playstyle, playing shooter heroes like assassins. I thought he might fit well with you, but he refused immediately when I contacted him.”
Xie Xu initially made a name for himself as an assassin-type support. Over the years, he had restrained himself because An liked to play late-game shooter heroes.
Yuan Yang helplessly deleted that person’s ID from the list.
Xie Xu glanced at it – the ID was [Don’t Look for Abuse2the implication is that you shouldn’t fight him because he’ll beat you so badly it looks like abuse], quite unique.
After Yuan Yang left, Xie Xu smoked a cigarette on the balcony. When he went to the training room, everyone except An was there.
Jiang Lele heard the movement behind him, took off his headphones, and turned around, “An said he completed the training time you required and went back, asking me to inform you.”
Xie Xu responded, walked to his station, and started reviewing the replays of the candidates Yuan Yang had sent.
Time passed quickly, and soon it was dark.
Xie Xu was watching the last candidate’s highlight reel of kill compilation, the one Yuan Yang had deleted.
The candidate was also using a late-game shooter, but his movements were very agile. In the early game, he fought one against two, trading health with the opponents, clearing creeps, and reaching level 4 before using his ultimate decisively.
The two opponents were caught off guard, barely escaped back to their tower with slivers of health, and the candidate directly dove the tower to secure the kills. Just before being killed by the tower, he nonchalantly used Cleanse to avoid the damage, recalling beside their corpses, with the three words [Thank you kindly3he actually said 谢谢你/Xiexie ni aka Thank you, but it’s clear that he’s mocking. Since it’s also special enough to get noticed, I decided to make it “Thank you kindly”.] floating above his head.
Taunting and arrogant.
When Yuan Yang pushed the door open, he happened to see this scene and laughed, “Why are you watching his replays? This guy is good in every aspect except he’s too reckless. After taking down the enemies, the prudent move would be to clear the minions4other name for creeps and farm.”
“He survived this time only because he was lucky.”
“It wasn’t luck.” Xie Xu paused the video, “He had already calculated the damage, and recalling beside the corpses was because the enemy mid and jungle were out of vision in the red buff area half a minute ago.”
At this distance, even if the opponents wanted to catch him, they wouldn’t make it in time.
Xie Xu resumed the video, and sure enough, the next second, the enemy mid and jungle rushed to the bottom lane, but it was already empty.
Yuan Yang was thoughtful, “If he hadn’t chosen to tower dive and kill the enemy bot lane, he would have been tower-dived by four enemies.”
This awareness was indeed impressive.
Thinking about it, Yuan Yang sighed regretfully, “It doesn’t matter if you like him, he won’t come.”
Jiang Lele, who had been eavesdropping, took off his headphones, looking gossipy, “What? Who does the captain like?”
“No one.” Yuan Yang coughed, not yet planning to tell them about recruiting a new AD, and changed the subject, “How’s the preparation for your 8 PM stream?”
This was TLG’s first stream after losing the finals, and the atmosphere in the training room was heavy, even An arrived right on time.
But as soon as An saw Jiang Lele’s screen, he frowned, “What kind of trashy stream are you watching?”
The stream’s title was [When can I sleep with Xu?]
Jiang Lele turned to explain, “This streamer just talks nonsense. A few days ago, he was reminiscing with his viewers about an ex he broke up with over 300 days ago. Don’t take it seriously!”
Yuan Yang, ever the straight-laced5in CN: old cadre/old veteran one, had an expression of absolute bafflement.
Jiang Lele felt a bit embarrassed under his gaze and coughed, “I’m just watching for a bit to learn something.”
Yuan Yang asked, “Learn what?”
Jiang Lele replied earnestly, “The art of speaking.”
In the stream, only a hand was shown, skillfully controlling the hero. After killing the enemy AD in front of the support healer, the player coolly retreated and typed “Thank you kindly” to the enemy.
Full of mockery.
[All] Strawberry Jam: ?
[All] I Love Strawberry Jam: Bro, it’s one thing to kill me, but can’t you leave my girlfriend alone? I finally convinced her to support me.
[All] Time6the Shi in Jiang Shi’s name means hour/time: Got it.
Then, with enough damage, Jiang Shi killed both of them in a 1v2.
The chat was flooded with “6667a Chinese slang for “awesome”” .
The couple who black-screened were clearly frustrated.
[All] Strawberry Jam: Are you sick? You’re only level 8, yet you tower dive? Cheater.
[All] Strawberry Jam: Idiot.
[All] I Love Strawberry Jam: nmsl8ni ma si le/ Your mom’s dead
Jiang Shi was about to head to mid-lane for some minions when he saw these messages. He stopped by their corpses and started typing rapidly, the keyboard clacking like firecrackers.
[All] Time: Just came out of the toilet? Otherwise, why is your mouth so dirty?
[All] Time: Don’t babble nonsense just because you have a problem with your brain. Can a cheater pull off Laozi9I, your father. Very arrogant way to call yourself’s moves?
[All] Time: Why aren’t you talking now?
[All] Time: Forget it, I can’t expect too much from you. Hands that can perform these moves probably struggle to type. Better practice sign language at home and stop embarrassing yourself.
After saying this, Jiang Shi made his hero auto-attack their corpses, as if giving them a slap.
The chat exploded with laughter.
[So satisfying.]
[Haha, why did you have to curse at him?]
[I always disliked that couple. At the start, they were taunting T Bao10aka T Baby, saying he’d end up in jail. Why are they quiet now?]
[No one can out-taunt T Bao.]
After this move, many old fans in the stream sent gifts, and Jiang Lele happily sent a small heart worth 0.01.
“I feel invincible now. If anyone insults me later, I’ll just roast them back like this.”
Given how the finals went, it was obvious that their stream later would be full of angry comments. He was just getting ready!
Yuan Yang knocked him on the head, “Don’t you know professional players can’t curse? Do you want to be fined?”
Jiang Lele held his head in grievance and whispered, “But Time didn’t curse!”
Yuan Yang: “…”
He wanted Xie Xu to intervene but saw that Xie Xu was also watching the same stream.
“Why are you joining in?”
Xie Xu’s fans wouldn’t curse; even if there were haters, his fans would deal with them before he had to.
Xie Xu took off his headphones and said casually, “The playstyle seems familiar.”
It was very similar to the highlights he had just watched, especially the skilled way of taunting with “Thank you kindly.”
Under Yuan Yang’s pressure, Jiang Lele turned off the stream. Xie Xu then continued watching on his own computer. Knowing that Xie Xu was interested because the livestreamer mainly played ADC, Yuan Yang didn’t push further but reminded him not to forget the upcoming livestream with the team.
Xie Xu put on his headphones.
The game quickly ended as the bot lane crumbled, and the livestreamer’s team easily secured the victory.
While Xie Xu waited for the next game to start, he suddenly heard his name mentioned in the stream.
“Why do you like Xu?” The livestreamer’s voice, distorted by a poor-quality microphone and static, was still recognizable.
The next second, any semblance of cleanliness in the voice was obliterated.
“Because I want to sleep with him! Isn’t it clear from the stream title?”
Xie Xu: “…”
[Is this streamer crazy? Xu would never like someone like you. He likes someone sweet and well-behaved!]
[Yeah, I remember Xu said something like that in an interview.]
[The streamer is just a foul-mouthed punk; Xu wouldn’t even look at him. Give up already!]
In the Little Bear TV stream, if viewers hadn’t bought a fan badge from the streamer, their IDs would show the fan badges of other streamers. These comments were from users with high-level Xu badges.
“He likes well-behaved ones?” Jiang Shi chuckled softly and lowered his voice, “I’m well-behaved too, don’t you think so, Jie?”
The static noise lessened, and Jiang Shi’s voice, a mix of clean and slightly raspy teenage tones, sounded seductive.
Then, Xie Xu noticed that the fan badges of several of his fans had suddenly switched to Level 1 badges of Time.
“Ladies, don’t learn from my swearing. If you can’t win an argument, just call me, and I’ll handle it for you.” Jiang Shi said shamelessly while poaching Xu’s fans. Then he coughed and the sound of drinking water could be faintly heard.
“Sorry! I went out this morning and caught a cold. My throat’s a bit hoarse.”
[Is it really a cold? I remember you didn’t stream last night.]
[Tsk tsk, were you screaming somewhere all night?]
[Auntie is very sad, I’m heartbroken. (But don’t be a stranger, let me listen next time.)]
[Uncle wants to listen too (hiding under the bed).]
[Meimei also wants to listen (please livestream it).]
These suggestive comments were followed by countless question marks from new viewers.
“What are you all talking about?” Jiang Shi pretended not to understand, “Don’t scare my new fans.”
Then he changed the subject, “By the way, I slept with Xu last night. He’s really skilled.”
[Fuck…]
[You’re dirtier than me!]
[I’m going to Xu’s stream to mention you.]
[Me too.]
Jiang Shi remained unfazed, even leisurely drinking a cup of hot water, “Who are you fooling? He starts his stream at 8 PM, I’ve been waiting for him to go live.”
Besides, as a small streamer with just over 5,000 followers, Xie Xu wouldn’t notice him and would probably think he was just trying to ride on his coattails.
Jiang Shi wasn’t worried at all.
But as soon as he finished speaking, his chat flooded with messages.
[Xu started his stream early!]
Jiang Shi, surprised, entered the stream with skepticism, only to be greeted by Xie Xu’s handsome face on the screen.
Xie Xu wore a loose black and red TLG team uniform with a black sweater underneath, outlining his broad shoulders and straight back. His arms, resting on the table, were long and muscular, exuding strength, a stark contrast to other esports players.
No wonder he’s the number one male god in esports.
Since he started the stream early, Xie Xu was setting up the equipment himself and wasn’t very skilled at it, so he was very close to the camera.
This close-up shot would challenge anyone’s facial features and skin, the so-called “dead angle”, but Xie Xu had no flaws.
Jiang Shi’s heart raced at the sight of Xie Xu’s perfect face and the small mole at the corner of his eye. He murmured, “He’s worthy of being my husband.”
He used to think the promotional posters were heavily edited, but Xie Xu looked exactly like that in real life.
He liked him even more now.
[Please remember, aren’t you also a streamer? You’re embarrassing us in Xu’s stream with your fan badge.]
[It’s over, I’m too embarrassed to tag him. If Xu’s wife fans really find this idiot, they’ll kill him directly. I can’t handle fighting them.]
[Are you worried about him? He just charmed several of Xu’s fans, and they left our stream swearing.]
[If this kid weren’t too lazy to keep pretending, he could charm many fangirls.]
[But just in case, let him have his fun here. Don’t draw attention.]
Just as this comment passed through the stream, they saw Jiang Shi, with his main account, boldly enter Xu’s stream.
He immediately sent three Legendary Starships.
These were the most expensive gifts on Little Bear TV, each costing 5,000 yuan.
Along with the gift was a clearly mischievous message—
[Gege, add me on WeChat?]
With a cute and sweet smiling emoji at the end, it looked soft and adorable.
Clearly, Jiang Shi had taken the advice about Xu liking sweet people to heart and disguised himself accordingly.
Since he spent 15,000 yuan in the stream, Jiang Shi’s message had flashy effects, making it very noticeable.
This move left his fans speechless, but luckily Xu’s stream was busy with other fans and teams sending gifts, which overshadowed Jiang Shi’s message.
[You’re really playing it up, huh?]
[This kid isn’t afraid of anything!]
[Taking advantage of being obscure!]
Jiang Shi genuinely wanted Xie Xu to see his message. After all, he had turned down Xie Xu’s team’s offer and hadn’t heard back since then, so he thought his chances were slim.
He figured he might as well try adding him on WeChat directly.
But even 15,000 yuan didn’t seem to get Xie Xu’s attention.
As Jiang Shi hesitated about sending more gifts, a magnetic, pleasant voice came through his headphones.
“Thank you—” Xie Xu paused, “for the three Starships from [Your Father Jiang].”
Jiang Shi: “?”
He expressionlessly stared at his ID for three seconds before quickly exiting Xie Xu’s stream.
