For once, TTC’s base was quiet for the entire day. The semifinals the previous day didn’t go well, so nobody was in the mood to play around. After they woke up, everyone either holed up in the living room or in their own room to watch the competition replay or a movie to pass the time.

A series of hasty footsteps interrupted the momentary peace. Xiao Bai charged straight from the living room to the practice room, holding his phone, gasping for air as he shouted, “Ge—someone hacked into your livestream account!!”

His ge was sitting in front of the computer, his posture a bit relaxed.

When Lu Boyuan sensed the movement, he removed half of his headphones and slowly looked back. “?”

“Someone hacked into your livestream account and they’re sending out gifts from it. And they’re sending it to that bluenette dumb—” His voice abruptly cut off.

The sky was already dark outside, and the lights in the practice room weren’t on, so the only source of light in the room was Lu Boyuan’s desktop monitor in front of him. With one hand on the door frame, Xiao Bai squinted and finally managed to make out what was on the monitor. He firmly swallowed the “ass” that he had yet to say back into his stomach.

A familiar livestream interface was displayed on the monitor, and the exaggerated special effects that could only be triggered by a “Sea of Stars” gift floated across the screen.

There was a tiny video at the bottom left corner of the screen. Xiao Bai couldn’t see the face of the person in the video very clearly; he could only see the person’s blue hair, which was even more exaggerated than the special effects.

Xiao Bai: “…”

Lu Boyuan swept a glance over the barrage. All the messages claiming that he came to find Soft to settle accounts were gone.

After he finished listening to Soft’s thanks, he moved his finger and exited the livestream.

The door to their base was pushed open. Ding-ge came in carrying a few large bags of midnight snacks and locked eyes with Xiao Bai, who was standing, dazed, in the practice room doorway.

“Come eat midnight snacks.” He shot a look in the direction of the practice room, a pained look on his face. “Call Road too.”

After every competition finished, the club would always give the players a break. But right now, all of TTC’s starters, besides Kan, had stayed at the base.

They sat around the coffee table, which was piled with large and small takeout boxes. Recently, in order to ensure that no mishaps would happen during the competition season, they had only eaten nutritious meals for who knows how long.

Xiao Bai stared at the crayfish that the young man next to him was holding. He insinuated, “P-baby¹, your crayfish is so plump.”

The person sitting next to him was the team’s ADC, Pine. He was a twenty year old young man with monolids. His appearance was a little cold, just like his personality.

Pine made an “en” noise. After he peeled off the shell, he popped the meat into his own mouth.

Xiao Bai, “…stingy.”

Ding-ge came back after taking a phone call. He tossed his phone onto the sofa before he rolled up his sleeves and sat down. “The platform called me to ask if your account was hacked. You’re really something else.”

Lu Boyuan lowered his head and peeled the crayfish. “I’ll switch accounts next time.”

Ding-ge humphed, not very pleased, before he discovered something else was wrong. “Next time? Why is there a next time??”

Lu Boyuan said, “His reflexes are very fast.”

Ding-ge was startled. “En?”

“In the entire game, an untargetable skill² only hit him one time,” Lu Boyuan said.

Actually, in the game just then, his deepest impression was still when Soft seized the opportunity to remove the enemy’s CC by using the Quicksilver Sash. It was direct and efficient, and one could almost call it instantaneous.

Even if that happened in a professional arena, it would still be an astonishing maneuver.

But it only happened once. Lu Boyuan wasn’t certain whether his reflexes were fast or his luck was just good.

“Ge, you just don’t know.” Xiao Bai wiped his mouth. “That little bluenette stays in the Gold and Platinum ranks all the time, so he fights a bunch of really weak people. In the higher tiers, he would probably get the crap beaten out of him…”

“He wouldn’t.” A man walked out from the kitchen, carrying a jug of orange juice. It was the team’s top laner, Yuan Qian, the big brother of the team. He was a good person and didn’t have a temper, and he was somewhat overweight. He poured every person orange juice. “I’ve played against him before.”

Everyone looked at him.

Xiao Bai was flabbergasted. “Qian-ge, you’ve played with that little bluenette before?!”

Yuan Qian said, “Yeah, what’s wrong?”

“He’s insulted you before in his livestream!” Xiao Bai instantly snitched. “He’s also insulted P-baby and Kan. Kan can even be considered his livestream room’s permanent guest.”

“I know.” Yuan Qian wasn’t angry at all. He chuckled, embarrassed. “I really did have some gameplay issues during the matches he was talking about.”

Xiao Bai: “…”

Ding-ge noticed something else. He said curiously, “He has an account that can even play ranked with you?”

LOL’s ranking system was divided into several major tiers: Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Master, Grandmaster, and Challenger. Two players had to have similar ranks in order to duo queue together. Challenger and above, you could only solo queue.

Since pro players usually had to practice, they couldn’t spare too much energy to play ranked. Currently, the TTC member with the highest rank was Yuan Qian, who had 500 LP in the Korean server’s Challenger tier.

The one with the lowest rank was Lu Boyuan, who was in Diamond 4³. It was because he hadn’t touched ranked games for a long time, causing the system to automatically deduct his points and drop his ranking.

“He does, and not only that, we played together on the Korean server. At that time, I was probably around 100 LP, so I often ran into him. It seems like he always plays on the Korean server whenever he isn’t streaming.” Yuan Qian recalled something. “Two years ago, his rank was very high, but later, since highly ranked games apparently didn’t have a good effect on the livestream, he went to play in the lower tiers.”

Xiao Bai pinched his crayfish and, after a long pause, spat out a, “…how tacky.”

Lu Boyuan asked, “He liked playing assassins too before?”

“Correct. He was actually pretty well known on the Korean server back then.” At that point, Yuan Qian finally realized something. “Why are we suddenly talking about him?”

Ding-ge said, “No reason. Weren’t we looking for a new mid laner recently… he was on the potential candidate list that the team gave us.”

“No way!” Xiao Bai was alarmed. “Absolutely no way! In this team, if he’s here then I’m out! If I’m here then he’s out! He and I cannot co-exist in the same place!”

Ding-ge said, “There’s still two years left on your contract with the team, it’s not up to you.”

Xiao Bai: “…”

Yuan Qian shook his head. “Don’t think about it, if that’s the case. He most likely wouldn’t join.”

Lu Boyuan asked, “Why not?”

“Before, a team asked me to convey a message to him, but he immediately declined. He didn’t even accept the contact details.” Yuan Qian paused. “He said that the newcomer’s signing bonus was too low, and that it wasn’t as profitable as streaming.”

Xiao Bai: “……extremely tacky!”

Lu Boyuan lowered his eyes and nodded; he didn’t ask anything else.

In the first place, he only went to take a look because of a sudden impulse. It wasn’t yet to the point where he felt like he extremely wanted the other person.

—

Road came and left quickly. For half an hour after he left the stream, the majority of fans who came after hearing the news stayed.

[How come TTC’s official account still hasn’t posted a hacked account announcement!!]

[Road probably came to do charity. Paying close attention to an orphan’s life, with you and me serving witness.]

[Got off late after work. Bros, what’s going on, why is this moron sitting so properly today?]

Jian Rong finished his dinner in two swift bites before he wiped his hands clean with a damp paper towel. Just when the water friends thought that he was going to open the game, he moved his mouse cursor over to today’s gift-giver list.

After repeatedly glancing at the number one ID on the gift-giver list, Jian Rong finally nonchalantly opened the game client.

[? Just how many times are you going to look at it??]

[What, do you think ‘TTC ་ Road’ is going to disappear if you don’t look at the gift-giver list for one second?]

[Why the hell are your ears red! Just like a girl!]

When Jian Rong spotted that comment, he put his headphones back on and covered up his ears before expressionlessly striking back, “You’re the one who’s acting like a girl.”

Eleven at night, Jian Rong ended his livestream on the dot.

After taking a shower, he absentmindedly scrubbed at his hair with a towel while scrolling through the messages that he received while streaming.

[Shiliu: Bro, amazing. Tonight your livestream’s popularity points even surpassed those retired players’ points.]

[R-ong: I’m not the amazing one.]

[Shiliu: It’s all the same, those popularity points must feel extremely good.]

Shiliu was well-known for having many connections. Jian Rong thought a bit before he typed:

[R-ong: Was Road really the one on his livestream account?]

[Shiliu: How about I help you give a call and ask?]

[R-ong: Okay.]

[Shiliu: … okay my ass, I was just joking. Do you think Road’s number is that easy to get!]

[Shiliu: But I do think it was Road himself. Who would dare to randomly login to Road’s account?]

[R-ong: … oh.]

[Shiliu: Speaking of which, I received an enormously juicy piece of gossip today!]

[R-ong: What?]

[Shiliu: That night after the semifinals finished, people from the LPL went over to TTC’s base, and it seems like they took Kan away!]

[Shiliu: This is my first time hearing about something like this! Why do you think they took him away? It can’t be that you really predicted it correctly??]

There was no reply for a long time from the other side. Shiliu was typing out another long analysis into the message box, and just as he wrote the concluding “matchfixing is more harmful than useful for Kan,” his phone vibrated.

[R-ong: Idk.]

[R-ong: If the actual person was the one on the account, then why would he send me gifts.]

Shiliu: “?”

[Shiliu: I’m telling you about LPL’s most exciting and stunning piece of gossip this year right now, don’t make me slap you.]

[R-ong: Oh.]

[R-ong: Did he only enter my livestream room because his hand slipped and he clicked on the wrong thing on the platform’s homepage?]

Shiliu wilted, and his desire to share gossip instantly disappeared without a trace. He numbly typed out a reply.

[Shiliu: Idk, he probably wanted to bribe you with gifts so that you’ll insult TTC a little less in the future.]

[Shiliu: I finally realized. You’re a true fan of Road.]

Jian Rong was about to explain, but he ended up deleting the few words he typed out.

[R-ong: En.]

The fourth day after the semifinals competition, the fans’ abuse and ridicule of TTC finally calmed down a little—the S10 World Championships was just a few days away, and LPL’s PUD team would be facing off against Korea’s HT team. The fans’ attention was all directed to PUD instead.

That day, at one in the morning, TTC’s base was brightly lit.

LoL’s competitions largely took place in the afternoon or at night. The professional players would adjust their own daily routines so that they would maintain the best conditions during those hours.

Since their biological clocks were already used to that kind of lifestyle, everyone still stayed up late even on days with no practice or competitions.

Lu Boyuan sat next to Xiao Bai and Yuan Qian, a jacket draped over his shoulders, observing them as they played ranked.

After the competition finished, everyone had already slowly begun to relax. Today both of them were playing in the national server. Xiao Bai was playing jungler on his Diamond account, and his playstyle could only be described as trash, so the entire time Lu Boyuan was only watching Yuan Qian’s monitor.

Another game concluded. Yuan Qian felt like it was hard to play in the Diamond ranks while solo queueing, so he invited a random friend to join his party. The people on his friends list were all either pro players or highly skilled strangers that he met while solo queueing, so they were all extremely capable.

A player with the ID “Just Watch My Gameplay” entered the party lobby.

Yuan Qian clicked on the queue button before he canceled it again after just a few seconds.

He put a hand over his stomach as he opened up the chat box and typed out a “sorry for the inconvenience.”

“What’s wrong?” Lu Boyuan asked.

Yuan Qian wore a painful expression. “My stomach hurts…”

Lu Boyuan nodded. Just when Yuan Qian was about to send the message, Lu Boyuan stood up from his chair.

“I’ll play for you.” Lu Boyuan said.

“?” Yuan Qian was startled before he quickly shook his head. “No need, it’s not like we’re in queue or anything… and if Ding-ge finds out, he’ll scold me.”

Ding-ge prohibited Lu Boyuan from playing the game. In order to keep watch, he would even occasionally look through his game scores.

Lu Boyuan was already extremely bored.

He stood there and didn’t move. “I’ll only help you play for a little bit. You can play once you get back.”

Yuan Qian: “…really, no need.”

Lu Boyuan said, “Get up.”

Yuan Qian: “…”

Successfully taking Yuan Qian’s spot, Lu Boyuan asked, “Who’s the teammate?”

“I didn’t look too closely, I just randomly invited someone. I think this person has changed his ID before, you can look at the note⁴.” After Yuan Qian said that, he immediately rushed to the bathroom.

Lu Boyuan opened the friends list and took a glance.

Note: Soft.

The other person in the party suddenly spoke.

[Just Watch My Gameplay: Clicked the wrong thing, I’m solo Q.]

[Invincible Q-Ge: Okay.]

[Just Watch My Gameplay: Who are you? I’ll add a note.]

Even though it had been a long time since Yuan Qian played on the national server, his national server ID still wasn’t a secret. Anyone could find it if they searched on the internet.

[Invincible Q-Ge: Qian]

Jian Rong, who was about to leave the party, froze.

[Just Watch My Gameplay: TTC’s Qian?]

[Invincible Q-Ge: En]

[Just Watch My Gameplay: Oh…]

Lu Boyuan didn’t want to waste any time. Seeing that Soft still wasn’t leaving, he decided to withdraw first.

[Just Watch My Gameplay: Then how about we play a few games together? You’re trying to get into Challenger, right? I’ll carry you up.]

His words were both self-confident and arrogant.

[Invincible Q-Ge: Sure]

[Just Watch My Gameplay: But you have to answer one of my questions first, bro]

[Invincible Q-Ge: ?]

[Just Watch My Gameplay: A few days ago… on Monday, was Road the one on his livestream account?]

—

The author has something to say:

Soft: Online waiting for a response, a little nervous.

Wei: Soft is so CUTE omg T^T