Jiang Shi’s boldness and sudden retreat were clearly seen by his viewers, and as the saying goes, like streamer, like fans — the barrage was filled with grinning faces.
[I’m dying of laughter, made a grand entrance, and left quietly.]
[Father Jiang, why did you stop pretending? Weren’t you asking for this didi’s WeChat? Xu saw you, so why run away now, hahaha…]
[I’m seriously laughing to death, didn’t you all notice how hard he clicked the X to exit the stream? I felt like his mouse was going to explode.]
[T Bao probably wanted to find a hole to hide in. Failed so completely at pretending to be sweet.]
Jiang Shi looked expressionlessly at the barrage of comments, moved his hand, and gave them a ten-minute mute package.
[? Angry out of embarrassment? Didn’t expect this, huh? I still have an alt account.]
The next second, Jiang Shi muted their alt account too, treating everyone equally.
But the fans’ words reminded him of something.
Xie Xu had no idea who “Father Jiang” was. Even if he tracked him down through this account, Jiang Shi hadn’t shown his face, and his microphone was bad enough to distort his voice. He could always just use another alt account.
Thinking this, Jiang Shi’s mood improved significantly. He returned to the game interface and lazily said, “Who said I ran away? It’s called a strategic retreat.”
At this moment, the game match was completed, and Jiang Shi ended the topic, “No more chatting, let’s continue with the ranks.”
On the other side, Xie Xu ended his stream after just an hour and went straight to find Yuan Yang after leaving the training room.
“You mean that streamer named Time?” Yuan Yang had a knowing look on his face. “I figured you were interested, so I checked his stats.”
Yuan Yang turned the laptop on the desk toward Xie Xu, “His ADC skills are indeed impressive, with very good stats, but he always streams in Platinum rank games. There aren’t many high-rank matches in his replays.”
Xie Xu glanced at the KDA, which was an impressive 5.4, with a total damage share of 35%.
These stats were extraordinary. By comparison, An’s stats in the recent finals were only half of Time’s.
Xie Xu pondered for a moment, “Does he have any other accounts?”
“I’m not sure.” Yuan Yang shrugged, “I did a quick survey and couldn’t dig that deep.”
He frowned, “But, didn’t you overlook something? The age of an esports player is crucial. He’s been streaming for at least three years. Judging by his voice, he’s older than Zhao Jiu.”
Zhao Jiu was TLG’s top laner and was already 24 years old.
Xie Xu looked away from the screen, “His real age isn’t more than twenty.”
Yuan Yang chuckled, “So sure?”
He was about to ask why but then fell silent, realizing something.
Xie Xu’s expression remained neutral, “Nothing to hide. I’ve gotten used to that kind of voice.”
Once, a certain someone also used a similar poor-quality mic, making their voice completely distorted, but they were only eighteen. Over time, he learned to ignore the static and listen to the underlying tone.
He explained lightly, “Time’s voice is low due to the mic and a cold.”
Yuan Yang quickly nodded and steered away from the voice topic, “Then I’ll send him a trial invitation from TLG’s official account.”
“No need.” Xie Xu took out his phone, “I already added him on WeChat.”
He had seen Time’s message about adding WeChat and had sent a message through the backend.
Yuan Yang smiled, “That makes my job easier. By the way, that companion player [Don’t Look For Abuse] contacted me again. He sent me a long message saying he really likes TLG and hopes we can give him another chance. I agreed.”
Xie Xu paused his scrolling through the backend and responded with a simple “Mm.”
Yuan Yang didn’t notice Xie Xu’s subtle change and continued, “I’ll let him, Time, and a few others try out together.”
He paused, picking up his phone, “By the way, why haven’t you sent me Time’s WeChat yet?”
Xie Xu looked at the red exclamation mark in the chat, realizing something, and sighed, “Forget it, use the official account.”
Time had blocked him.
On the other side, Bamboo was queuing with Jiang Shi and was shocked, “You blocked Xu?”
Jiang Shi stole a mid-lane minion from Bamboo, then lazily replied, “What else? Wait until he really adds me on my livestreamer account, finds out I want to sleep with him, and has called me Father before. Do you think we’d still have a chance?”
Bamboo laughed, “You’re this shameless, why worry? Did you really believe what those people said in the stream about pretending to be sweet to get close to Xie Xu?”
“Why not? I found the interview they mentioned too.” Jiang Shi’s tone was calm, “Besides, someone strong and slightly aloof like Xu suits a well-behaved persona perfectly.”
Bamboo watched Jiang Shi, who was running from bot lane to steal his minions, and rolled his eyes, “So you’ve become an expert at flirting?”
Jiang Shi’s previous online relationship had been won over using similar tactics.
Jiang Shi smiled without shame, “Thanks for the compliment. 998 yuan to join, I promise to teach you until you learn it!”
Bamboo’s mouth twitched, ignoring him.
Despite their chatter, they played the game seriously.
This was Jiang Shi’s companion account, at the Master rank, and with the support and jungler sticking together from the start, Jiang Shi had to endure and farm.
After a brilliant move where Jiang Shi killed the enemy ADC, he was without flash and got dived under the tower by the enemy mid, jungle, and support.
Bamboo, who was helping at the top lane, immediately spoke up, “My bad, I didn’t see the mage’s movement.”
Jiang Shi was buying equipment back at the base and casually replied, “No big deal.”
The enemy team had used all their ultimates and summoner spells, and Jiang Shi managed to clear the minion wave before dying, so it wasn’t a loss. The optimal move now would be for the jungler and support to invade the enemy’s upper jungle and then push mid with Bamboo.
However, when Jiang Shi looked up, he saw the jungler taking a long detour from the upper jungle to clear minions in the bot lane.
[Team Chat] Don’t Look For Abuse: ?
[Team Chat] Dreaming of Clear Rivers: You’ve got the nerve to type a question mark? Picking Senna, a weak early-game ADC, and not contributing anything. Stop whining.
[Team Chat] Eat More Bamboo Shoots: Look at your poor economy. If you don’t know how to play, don’t feed1sending yourself to die at enemy’s hand, so you’ll be “feeding” them gold and EXP.
Jiang Shi was so amused by the jungler and support’s comments that he laughed. Instead of retorting, he bought a pair of boots of swiftness and started farming jungle camps, both his own and the enemy’s whenever possible.
Ten minutes later, Jiang Shi’s economy soared to the top of the game. He even stole the red buff with a single basic attack right in front of the jungler, who was so furious that he started smashing his keyboard on the spot.
[Team Chat] Dreaming of Clear Rivers: So you don’t want to win, huh?
[Team Chat] Don’t Look For Abuse: Go AFK, it doesn’t make a difference whether you’re here or not.
This comment infuriated the jungler, who immediately went back to the fountain and AFKed.
With Jiang Shi’s economy now booming, his damage output was explosive, ending the game with a score of 15-3-7 and being the team’s carry.
At this moment, a notification popped up in the game:
[Your teammate [Don’t Look For Abuse] has been recommended to Little Bear TV’s expert watch section. Keep up the good work!]
The game had a deep collaboration with Little Bear TV, where high-level matches of top players would be broadcast for others to watch and learn.
Bamboo was used to this. Jiang Shi had the skills to back it up.
Twenty minutes later, the game ended with Jiang Shi carrying, having dealt 43% of the total team damage, leading them to victory.
Before the teammates could exit the lobby, Jiang Shi quickly typed a question mark.
[Don’t Look For Abuse]: ?
This time, neither the jungler nor the support replied. Their icons went gray as they logged off immediately.
Even Bamboo couldn’t help but praise, “Your Senna is seriously amazing!”
Senna had high damage output but was very fragile, with only her second ability providing brief physical damage immunity. Yet, Jiang Shi managed to play her as if she had a Zhonya’s Hourglass2a LOL item that make you invulnerable from damage for a short period of time effect without any support protection.
Jiang Shi took a peppermint from a nearby candy box and popped it into his mouth to stay awake, mumbling, “Dealing with people like that, you have to carry them to victory so they realize their own position.”
“Next game.”
It was already 2 AM, and Bamboo was starting to feel the fatigue, “After this game, I need to sleep. How long are you planning to play?”
Jiang Shi bit into the peppermint, feeling much more awake, “Probably until around 4 AM. I want to get this account to Grandmaster in the next few days.”
Bamboo quickly guessed the reason, “For the TLG tryouts, right? Both of your accounts received invitations. I thought you’d be conflicted, but now you’ve decided to use your companion account?”
“Of course.” Jiang Shi didn’t hesitate, “I can’t break my well-behaved persona even a little, and I don’t want to develop a father-son relationship with Xu.”
Xie Xu definitely wouldn’t forget the ID [Your Father Jiang] anytime soon. If Jiang Shi used his streamer account, under such a name, how could he possibly flirt with Xu?
They continued gaming, and since Little Bear TV’s livestream had a slight delay, it was still showing the game’s conclusion, with the screen stopping at the moment Jiang Shi sent the question mark.
On the other side of the screen, three heads were closely watching that mocking and arrogant question mark.
Jiang Lele’s eyes were wide open, “Jiu-ge, are you sure this is the ADC the captain is interested in?”
TLG’s top laner Zhao Jiu nodded seriously, “The captain’s phone was playing this person’s match replay all night. I even heard him discussing it with Yuan Yang in the break room.”
TLG’s ADC had always been their weak point. Neither the second team nor the trainees had any promising talents, which was why Yuan Yang was recruiting externally.
Jiang Lele slumped over the desk in despair, “I know this person. One time, I had to fill in as ADC, and he solo-killed me at level two when I tried to lane3farming at your own lane.”
At that time, his teammates comforted him, saying it was fine since he was filling in, and even asked the opponents to go easy on him to give him some gaming experience.
Jiang Lele was using his professional account with the TLG prefix, and just as he was moved by the kindness of his wild teammates—
[Don’t Look For Abuse]: Pro player?
[Don’t Look For Abuse]: Check out my ID.
In that game, Jiang Lele got utterly destroyed, ending with a 0-10 score, and was even flagged by the system for feeding, losing more than ten credibility points.
This experience left him with a severe psychological shadow, and it took watching Time’s streams for several days to regain his confidence4Oh Lele Baby… that’s Time’s alt account….
Jungle player Yu Hui commented, “He’s strong and can synergize well with the captain.”
Zhao Jiu nodded, “Yuan Yang said the same thing.”
Seeing how quickly the two accepted this, Jiang Lele put on a stern face, “Anyway, I absolutely won’t welcome this fiend!”
The tryout was scheduled for Saturday at 9 AM., and five people showed up at TLG. Jiang Shi glanced around and noticed that they were either professional players or popular streamers. He was the only one who was just a companion player.
Moreover, the other four were all dressed in suits, with ties meticulously done. Jiang Shi looked down at his specially chosen pink sweatshirt, which he picked to seem more amiable, and smiled.
Damn, the person who contacted him didn’t say anything about formal attire!
Now he looked like a delicate pink flower growing out of black soil.
The person standing in front of Jiang Shi felt a sudden chill down their spine and awkwardly adjusted their tie. It seemed the suit wasn’t warm enough.
TLG’s facilities were divided into the main and auxiliary buildings. The main building housed the first team, while the auxiliary building was for the second team and trainees. Their tryouts were in the auxiliary building. As they passed the main building’s entrance, Jiang Shi noticed someone peeking out, covering their eyes and peeking through their fingers.
Jiang Shi: “?”
Jiang Lele’s eyes scanned the five candidates, clutching Yu Hui’s arm tightly, “Is it the second guy walking, the one who looks fierce and hard to approach?”
“No,” Yu Hui replied, enduring the pain in his arm. “I’ve seen the photos. It’s the last one in line.”
The distinctive hair color was unmistakable.
Jiang Lele shifted his gaze to the back and locked eyes with Jiang Shi, whose expression was blank. In shock, Jiang Lele blurted out, “The demon is a Little White Hair with pink bunny ear?!”
Jiang Shi clenched his fists.
At that moment, a hand reached out from behind Jiang Lele, grabbing his collar, “Stand straight.”
“Also, be polite when you speak.”
Xie Xu, possibly just woken up, had a slightly hoarse voice. He draped TLG’s team jacket loosely over his shoulders as he walked out to greet the newcomers, “Welcome to TLG. I hope we can work together in the future.”
The group nodded and greeted Xie Xu.
Xie Xu’s handling of the situation allowed Yuan Yang to breathe a sigh of relief. He was worried about rumors spreading that TLG members were rude and arrogant.
When it was Jiang Shi’s turn, he struggled to maintain his smile. The people ahead took so long that his face was starting to freeze in the cold wind.
He looked up—
This was Jiang Shi’s first time facing Xie Xu directly. The other’s calm, dark eyes faintly reflected his own image.
Jiang Shi’s heart pounded uncontrollably.
He’s truly a heavenly dish!!
Moreover, he had underestimated the impact of this face on him. His carefully prepared speech got stuck in his throat.
“He-hello—”
The greeting came out stuttered, and Jiang Shi suspected his tongue had gotten tied by the wind. He bit down hard on his tongue and continued, “My name is Jiang Shi, nice to meet you.”
Xie Xu raised an eyebrow, “Which Jiang?”
Jiang Shi’s recently relieved breath instantly tightened again. It couldn’t be what he thought, right?
He hadn’t shown his face while streaming with his “Your Father Jiang” account. The microphone was so bad that even Bamboo couldn’t recognize his real voice. How could Xie Xu make the connection?
Under Xie Xu’s scrutinizing gaze, Jiang Shi’s toes curled, and his ears gradually turned red. Even the bunny ears on his hat twitched.
When Xie Xu’s eyes moved to his hands, Jiang Shi quickly stuffed them into his sweatshirt pockets with lightning speed.
This action was like covering one’s ears while stealing a bell. The problem was that the previously flat pink sweatshirt now had a large bulge in front, looking even sillier among the neatly dressed suits.
Jiang Shi: …
Just as Jiang Shi considered if leaving now could salvage his dignity, the young man in front of him suddenly chuckled softly, “I was just asking casually.”
“Don’t be afraid.”
