WCG Chapter 41

Before Xie Xu could answer, the door to the training room was suddenly pushed open with a bang. 

“Jiang Lele, did you run into An in ranked matches earlier?” Yuan Yang’s voice was filled with shock and anger. “What did you chat with him about?!”

Jiang Lele, who had been trying out Jiang Shi’s keyboard, looked completely confused. “Huh? I just casually chatted with him.”

After all, they had been teammates for three years. An asked how things were going recently, and Jiang Lele casually replied.

Yuan Yang shot him a glare. “Are you sure it was just casual?”

He leaned over, turned on one of the computers on the desk, searched for An, and opened his livestream.

Tonight, the Spring Split draw was determining the match order, and many pro players were streaming while waiting for the results. An was one of them.

“Are you all asking about TLG’s new strategies?” An raised an eyebrow. “I’m not sure about that. I’m no longer a TLG player. I only chatted with Lele last time we played, and guessed they might be having him play as a utility support or babysit the ADC.”

Jiang Lele typically played long-range damage mages on the field, occasionally using mage-assassins to assist teammates or pin down enemies. It was rare for him to play a utility support role, full of control abilities.

“But I was just guessing based on seeing Jiang Lele practicing Nuka and River Girl,” An said with a smirk. “I could be wrong, though. If you’re curious, you can ask TLG’s players yourself.”

[The Spring Split is on the corner, but all members of TLG seem to be gone from the online scene. Not only did Jiang Lele not appear, but even Time is gone after his debut stream.]

[I think the streamer makes sense. TLG is working on new tactics!]

[But TLG’s tactics are quite flexible, yeah? They can have the jungler form a linkage with the support and roam, all-out offensive push, or even 3-protect-1 late game. It’s hard to guess which playstyle they’re gonna choose.]

[Several TLG players have deep hero pools, especially Xu. Otherwise, they can’t have this many available playstyle.]

[Plus, TLG has a new AD this time. He looks quite strong, so there might be a few new surprises.]

The barrage of comments seemed to catch An’s attention, and he chuckled. “Let me tell you this: no matter how TLG’s tactics change, Xu is always the core. Even if you only see Xu on the map, there’s a good chance four more will pop out right behind him.”

“When you play against TLG, the others don’t matter much. Just keep track of Xu, and you’ll get a rough idea of what they’re up to.”

This seemed like common sense, but coming from someone who had played alongside Xu for three years, it carried weight. 

Whether or not others could read Xu’s intentions, An was sure he could.

Yuan Yang exited the livestream and looked at Jiang Lele, speaking in a heavy tone. “Apparently, when you queued with An, he was streaming and asked what you’ve been playing and who you’ve been playing with. After you answered, he figured everything out.”

Xie Xu frowned. “He said all that in his livestream?”

Yuan Yang nodded. “He guessed that we’d have Jiang Lele play as a utility support on the bot lane and even mentioned that anyone going against us should focus on shutting down Time early.”

Jiang Shi made a casual remark. “Let him come.”

This defeated general was still arrogant. 

“Take this seriously,” Yuan Yang sighed, exasperated by Jiang Shi’s cocky tone. “He spent a lot of time in TLG and knows our tactical system, especially Xu’s playstyle.”

It wasn’t unheard of for former teammates to crush their old teams after switching squads.

Yuan Yang sighed again. “That’s why I’ve had you and Lele practicing duo queues.”

Jiang Shi was a wildcard, able to form a deadly bot lane duo with Xu or throw off the opposition by coordinating with the adaptable Jiang Lele. But now, their strategy had been exposed before it even fully took shape.

The more Jiang Shi listened, the more something didn’t sit right. Suddenly, he realized something. “So when Lele and I were playing, we weren’t just messing around? It was actually part of the strategy?”

Jiang Lele: “?”

Yuan Yang: “…”

Yuan Yang looked utterly defeated. 

He probably shouldn’t have hoped for a coordinated mid-bot linkage.

Jiang Lele looked at Jiang Shi with a bit of resentment. “Little White Hair, did you forget I came down to the bot lane to back you up and block that hit for you?”

Jiang Shi turned to him calmly. “I remember.”

He added calmly, “It’s just that because you leeched my minions, I leveled up to four a step later. Otherwise, when you dragged their jungler onto me, I could’ve escaped.”

Jiang Lele: “…”

“Alright, enough,” Yuan Yang quickly intervened, fearing another fight between the two. “There’s no point in arguing now.”

“It should be fine. An only knows which heroes Lele is practicing. As long as we work on our coordination, it won’t matter what he knows. Plus, with so many teams, we probably won’t face Hurricane until much later.”

By then, they’d just crush them.

At that moment, after a long pre-show, the team draw finally began.

In the early rounds, Lion was drawn first. The officials connected to their captain, Sun, for the live draw.

They drew a lower-tier team, which made the chat buzz with disappointment.

[Boring. I wanted them to draw TLG!]

[TLG’s draw is coming up soon. Let’s wait and see who they’ll face.]

[This is T Bao’s debut! How about using Hurricane team as a warm-up~~]

[That idiot An is still yapping in his stream, saying T Bao is a bad player. It’s pissing me off!!!]

[Don’t worry, I’m compiling a highlight reel of Time stomping him 30 times. Gonna send it to him as a gift.]

[Will that traitor die if he doesn’t leech TLG’s clout?] 

[I can’t even get into his stream anymore. He’s kicking out anyone with a T Bao fan badge. Just wait, I’ll switch to my alt account and curse him out.]

Seeing all this, Jiang Shi narrowed his eyes.

While everyone else was discussing Lion’s first-round matchup, Jiang Shi quietly opened his phone and slipped into An’s livestream—

Using his main account.

An was chatting with his viewers. “You’re curious about TLG’s new bot lane? Well, I recently saw them duo queuing in Jiang Lele’s stream.”

He paused, seemingly choosing his words carefully. “To be honest, they played like garbage. I’m genuinely concerned for TLG’s future.”

Time fans lurking in the chat were instantly furious, but before they could lash out, they noticed a very familiar ID in the chat.

[Fck, little idiot, why are you here?]  

[Are you here to fight?] 

[Good, good, good, now I can sit back and watch the show.]  

[T Bao, are you dumb? Call Xu to back you up!]  

[All jokes aside, I just want to ask, silly son, why did you vanish after your debut stream? I missed you!]  

[Me too! Has TLG’s training been too harsh? If you can’t take it, go cry to Xu and ask him to cut you some slack.]  

[6, above, so true.]  

[I wonder how far T Bao and Xu have gotten. They haven’t slept together yet, but surely kissed, right?]  

[Nah, look how he acts all shy around Xu. Bet they haven’t even held hands yet, what a coward.] 

[T Bao, why don’t you stream now? Lots of teams are live streaming the draw! You could stream a little kiss scene.]  

[Or maybe just gnaw on Xu’s thermos cup.]

An, having finished speaking, turned his attention to the draw results, not realizing that his stream was suddenly flooded with Time’s fans, saying things he didn’t quite understand. Among them, a flashing pro player’s name — TLG-Time — stood out in the viewer list, making it impossible to miss.

For a moment, An thought he was seeing things. Then, he noticed the pro player chatting with fans.

[TLG-Time: Won’t stream until after the first match of the Spring Split. Stop speculating.]  

[TLG-Time: What am I doing here? Watching for fun.] 

An’s face darkened instantly, but instead of lashing out immediately, he scanned the viewer list repeatedly to confirm that Xu wasn’t there. Finally, he spoke up, “My channel isn’t a place for you and your fans to chat. Leave on your own before I ban or kick you out.”

[TLG-Time: Were you looking for Xu? Captain’s right here with me, watching your stream. He told me to keep chatting with you.]

Jiang Shi was always good at flaunting his association with Xu.

Sure enough, An went silent, and his hand, which had been ready to kick Time’s fans, froze mid-motion.

[Hahaha, he’s scared!]  

[Why isn’t this idiot talking now?]  

[If my stupid son is dogsht, then you’re worse than trash. Even a dung beetle would take a detour when they see you. Do you understand?] 

[Have you received that video compilation of your defeats yet, noob? Watch it carefully and remember your place.]

If Jiang Shi was using Xu’s name to bully An, his fans were even more ruthless. With Jiang Shi around, they would directly ride on An’s head and shoot him. 

Jiang Shi, unfazed by the mocking comments calling him “shit,” typed calmly.

[TLG-Time: Feel free to kick them out (sincere suggestion).]  

[TLG-Time: And don’t forget to watch that compilation of your 30 losses.]

An couldn’t hold back anymore and snapped, “Why so cocky? Let’s settle it on the battlefield if you’ve got the guts.”

He probably figured TLG’s coordination was in shambles, and they’d dread facing his new team.

While An had accurately guessed what others were thinking, Jiang Shi was clearly not fazed.

[TLG-Time: Funny, I was thinking the same thing.]  

[TLG-Time: After all, 30 losses don’t seem to have made an impression on you. Hopefully, we’ll meet in the first match of the Spring Split. I could use more footage!]

Jiang Shi added a cute blushing emoji at the end, as if he was having a pleasant and friendly chat with a senior player.

Seeing the frustrated look on An’s face gave Jiang Shi immense satisfaction. After enjoying the scene for a moment, he finally exited the livestream and shifted his focus back to the draw results.

But as he raised his head, he noticed Xie Xu looking right at him.

Jiang Shi quickly covered his phone screen and blinked innocently. “Captain, why are you looking at me?”

Xie Xu glanced at the screen Jiang Shi was trying so hard to hide but didn’t press the issue. “It’s our turn to draw next. I was wondering if you’d like to do the honors.”

Jiang Shi looked confused. “Isn’t the team captain supposed to draw?”

“There’s no strict rule,” Xie Xu said, moving his mouse over to Jiang Shi, signaling him to take over. “The officials will connect with me in a moment.”

No one objected. Yuan Yang smiled, “It’s your first match, after all. Letting you do the draw might bring some good luck!”

Jiang Shi hesitated. “You sure? What if my luck is bad today?”

Zhao Jiu encouraged him. “Don’t worry, a lot of the strong teams have already been drawn. We shouldn’t run into any tough ones.”

Then he remembered something. “Wait, isn’t Wind¹just a note, Hurricane and Wind are the same team. “Hurricane” is just written in Chinese characters (飓风), while “Wind” uses the Latin alphabet. still in the draw?”

Yu Hui nodded. “That’s right.”

Jiang Lele suddenly grew nervous, clasping his hands together in a prayer-like gesture. “Please don’t draw Wind, please don’t draw Wind. Let us face them when we’re ready to crush them!”

He really didn’t want to face them first. It’d be humiliating to be stomped by their former teammates after such poor coordination.

At that moment, the commentator’s voice rang out, “Let’s turn our attention to TLG’s draw now. I’m excited to see who they’ll be matched with!”

Jiang Shi placed his hand on the mouse.

Jiang Lele, still praying fervently, muttered, “I’ll trade Little White Hair’s ten years of being single if we don’t get matched with Wind.”

Jiang Shi smiled. “In that case, I’ll trade fifty years of you not finding a girlfriend for a first match against Wind.”

With that, he clicked the mouse decisively.

Three seconds later, the result appeared on the screen:

[TLG vs Wind]

Jiang Lele: “?!”

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  just a note, Hurricane and Wind are the same team. “Hurricane” is just written in Chinese characters (飓风), while “Wind” uses the Latin alphabet.