WCG Chapter 29.2

Yuan Yang couldn’t bear to look at Jiang Shi’s reflection letter any longer. He stuffed it into his pocket, now hesitant about whether he should give Jiang Shi back control of his Weibo account.

As if sensing his thoughts, Jiang Shi asked quietly, “Yang-ge, can I have my Weibo back? Or at least give me an alt account?”

Yesterday, he had nearly been recognized while chatting too cheerfully with netizens on an alt account, leaving him too scared to say anything further. 

His alt account was filled with content he didn’t want to delete, but if someone found out, it would cause a storm. 

Registering a new Weibo account was too much of a hassle, so he thought to ask the team for one.

Yuan Yang asked, “Why do you need Weibo?”

Without hesitation, Jiang Shi replied, “They called me a noob! I need to clarify!”

Though Xu had pulled him out of An’s livestream yesterday, which felt satisfying, it didn’t stop the netizens’ gossip. They were all talking about his scrimmage against MR, questioning how he managed to outperform others and get selected if he couldn’t even beat the “pink tie” in official matches. 

Some even accused Xu of favoritism, claiming that Jiang Shi was just a bad player.

How could Jiang Shi tolerate that?!

But after almost getting recognized last night, he had held back, unable to speak out, and now he had several mouth ulcers from the frustration. 

That’s why he decided to ask Yuan Yang.

Unfortunately, Jiang Shi’s intentions were written all over his face, and Yuan Yang immediately rejected his request for a Weibo account. He even asked Xu, who had just entered the training room, to keep an eye on Jiang Shi and ensure he didn’t post anything online.

Xu placed a bottle of milk on Jiang Shi’s desk and agreed. 

Jiang Shi fell silent. 

With Xu watching, he didn’t even dare log into his alt Weibo account.

Meanwhile, Jiang Lele, seemingly intent on antagonizing him, started a livestream, chatting with viewers while browsing Weibo.

“Why isn’t Time joining the battle on Weibo with you guys?” Jiang Lele asked with a grin. “The coach took his account away! He’ll get it back after tomorrow’s stream.”

Time’s fans, who were lying in wait, had become regulars in the TLG players’ livestreams. Since Jiang Lele had been a long-time fan of Time, he was getting along well with them.

“And how’s his expression now?” Jiang Lele glanced at Jiang Shi. “He looks like he’s about to kill me.”

Jiang Shi turned away, refusing to engage. 

He knew Jiang Lele was getting back at him for hiding his alternate identity, so he let it slide.

He put on his headphones, cranked up the game volume, and tried to tune everything out.

Jiang Lele, seeing that Jiang Shi wasn’t responding, lost interest and lazily continued chatting with fans. “You’re talking about the scrim against MR? Jiang Shi’s mistake wasn’t that big. It was just a matter of adjusting his playstyle, and he’s improved a lot in our recent ranked games.”

“Is Jiang Shi really worse than MR’s ADC?” Jiang Lele was starting to get annoyed. “No way! Jiang Shi’s performance was great that day.”

Despite Jiang Lele’s defense, the chat was flooded with trolls, and as long as they weren’t engaging in personal attacks, Jiang Shi’s fans didn’t intervene. Meanwhile, Jiang Lele’s fans were too mild-mannered to fight back, and the situation started to spiral out of control.

But soon enough, the video showed someone abruptly pulling Jiang Lele’s keyboard aside.

Jiang Shi couldn’t take it anymore!

[TLG-Lele: Come on, come on, whoever called me a noob, let’s Solo. Room number xxxxx.]

[TLG-Lele: If you run away, you’re a dog.]

He even added a cute, blushing emoji.

[Hahaha, I knew it. Got him on the hook!]

[Silly son, you’re so predictable. I can’t wait to see tomorrow’s stream, I almost feel sorry for you.]  

[What are you saying? We’re all Time’s real fans here. There’s no way we’d crash his stream tomorrow, right?]  

[Exactly, exactly. Baby, you better prepare well for tomorrow’s stream. Don’t disappoint Mom.]  

[By the way, what’s up with this idiot’s skinny arms? They’re half the size of mine.]  

[TLG’s meals not cutting it, ah? If you’re in need, let me know, and I’ll send some grain and vegetables to my idiot kid.]

Earlier, when Jiang Shi saw Jiang Lele’s livestream chat filled with people calling him a noob, he angrily rolled up his sleeves. But instead of continuing to argue using Jiang Lele’s account, he quietly waited in the Solo room.

He’d take down anyone who dared to show up!

But five minutes passed, and not a single opponent appeared.

Jiang Shi: “…”

‘Fine, fine, you’re messing with me, huh?’

The father-son relationship between him and these fans was officially over.

Just as Jiang Shi was inwardly cursing, someone finally entered the room. He chuckled to himself—who was the fool confident enough to challenge him? Glancing at the ID, he saw—TLG-Xu.

Jiang Shi: “?”

Ever since his alternate identity was exposed, Jiang Shi had been avoiding Xie Xu. He’d kept his head down whenever they spoke and even abandoned their usual duo matches, opting instead to coolly climb the ranks in solo play. 

Now, seeing Xie Xu’s ID, Jiang Shi felt a bit unfamiliar with it.

He pulled off his headphones and glanced at the person beside him, unsure. “Captain?”

Why had Xie Xu joined his Solo room? 

“Are you really going to PK¹Player Killing. But in China, it’s also used outside of MMORPG, and it just means “to fight” me with a support role?”

Wouldn’t this make him look like a bully! 

Xie Xu was silent for a moment before answering, “No, I just wanted to ask if you’d like to duo queue.”

He pointed at the schedule buried under Jiang Shi’s keyboard. “Yuan Yang mentioned that for tomorrow’s stream, we’d start by duo queuing.”

Jiang Shi blinked and pulled out the schedule, realizing that this was indeed part of the plan.

So, Xie Xu was just preparing for tomorrow’s stream?

Understanding this, Jiang Shi exited the Solo interface and agreed to duo queue with Xie Xu.

They played until almost 2 AM, and soon the training room was empty except for the two of them. 

After one match, Jiang Shi noticed Xie Xu rubbing his wrist and quickly called for a break. 

“Captain, you should rest for a bit. I’ll play one more ranked match and then head to bed.”

With tomorrow’s stream in mind, Jiang Shi knew he needed to be well-rested.

Xie Xu hummed in agreement, turned off his computer, and casually reclined in his chair. “You play, I’ll just relax with some mini-games.”

Jiang Shi began matchmaking for his next game, but due to his rank and the late hour, the queue took forever. Bored, his thoughts drifted to his phone lying on the desk. He couldn’t help but wonder what his “family members” had been up to that night. Unable to resist, he sneakily logged into his alt account and checked the comments on his Weibo. As expected, there were plenty of new messages.

[I laughed so hard watching Jiang Lele’s stream today. How did I never realize how easy he is to fool? So pure!]  

[Don’t be fooled by that little idiot’s cocky tone, he’s just a little brat who barely reached adulthood.] 

[How long do you think he waited in the Solo room?]  

[At least half an hour, I bet.]

Jiang Shi winced at that last comment. 

If Xie Xu hadn’t shown up, he probably would have waited that long.

[Is this little idiot spying on us with an alt account?]  

[Come on, come on let’s battle! If you run away, you’re a dog~]

Jiang Shi: “…”

His fans were ruthless, stabbing straight to the heart.

His hands moved faster than his brain, and he’d already typed out a lengthy response in the comment box, ready to hit send. 

But just as he was about to, a shred of reason stopped him. 

This alt account’s ID had already popped up enough times in these comments—if he posted again, they’d definitely catch on.

But he was so frustrated!!!

In his frustration, Jiang Shi kicked the desk, accidentally hitting his previously injured knee against the edge, causing him to wince in pain.

When it rains, it pours. 

Could his luck get any worse?

The commotion he caused caught Xie Xu’s attention.

“Does it hurt?” Xie Xu reached out and gently pressed his knee, frowning. “Did you apply any medicine afterward?”

Jiang Shi looked at Xie Xu’s hand on his knee, strangely feeling no pain at all. He slowly blinked. “It doesn’t hurt anymore. I didn’t apply any medicine.”

He hadn’t even thought about that.

“I’ll bring a bottle to your room later. Remember to apply it before bed,” Xie Xu said, withdrawing his hand. “Try to move more carefully in the future. Don’t be so reckless.”

Jiang Shi pouted. “I was just really mad.”

He briefly explained the situation, trying to prove that he wasn’t usually so rash.

Xie Xu looked at him with a bit of helplessness. “All this because you couldn’t respond?”

Jiang Shi nodded vigorously.

Couldn’t Xie Xu understand the frustration of being stepped on without the ability to fight back?

Seeing the serious expression on Jiang Shi’s face, Xie Xu thought for a moment, then took out his phone, unlocked it, and handed it to Jiang Shi. “Then use mine.”

Jiang Shi’s eyes widened in shock, and he immediately refused. “No way, no way.”

How could he possibly use Xu’s account to post those things!

Xie Xu raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t you just use Lele’s streaming account earlier today?”

Jiang Shi wanted to argue that it was completely different, but as he looked at Xie Xu’s phone, with the Weibo app already thoughtfully opened, he found himself shamefully tempted.

This was God Xu’s Weibo account, after all, where his words carried weight. If he posted something, who would dare to argue?

Xie Xu placed the phone on the desk. “I’m going to get some warm water, you go play with it.” 

As the door to the training room closed, Jiang Shi quickly grabbed Xie Xu’s phone, navigated to his Weibo comment section, and within a minute had typed out and posted his response.

[TLG-Xu: Time isn’t a noob. He’s the best AD I’ve ever seen, and he’s very cute~]

As Jiang Shi stared at the comment, his previous frustration melted away instantly.

If he had his own Weibo account, he’d rush over to Xie Xu right now without any hesitation. 

But Jiang Shi consoled himself that seeing others chime in with agreement would have the same effect.

As he expected, the comment quickly garnered replies.

[You little idiot, who let you play with Xu’s phone secretly? Log into your main account and argue with your dad!]

Jiang Shi: “?”

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  Player Killing. But in China, it’s also used outside of MMORPG, and it just means “to fight”