It took a few seconds after Lu Boyuan walked out of the video frame for the stream’s water friends and the streamer himself to snap out of it.

[Is this a teammate benefit???]

[I suddenly remembered something, the day before yesterday when I was watching Xiao Bai’s stream, he asked Pine what runes he should pick for Aphelios. Pine asked him, ‘Does the Tencent gaming assistant not want to serve you’ hahahahahahaha]

[Even if he wanted to change the runes, he didn’t have to hold his hand!!!]

[Exactly, he should’ve held the little dumbass in his lap and selected the runes while explaining their uses!]

[Damn, he went too fast, I didn’t see which runes Road changed!! If someone saw it, could you please let me know ahhh]

[I didn’t see it either I was too busy staring at my husband’s face QAQ]

[Son, open the rune page so Dad can copy it down.]

Jian Rong ducked his head and repeatedly rubbed his neck with his hand. “With how trash you all are, it’s the same no matter what runes you use.”

[???]

[Dammit, why can you only report a personal attack from another water friend on StarTV? They don’t care about streamers attacking water friends, is that so?]

[You aren’t even willing to share this with Daddy? A dumbass that was married off, spilled water that can’t be retrieved??]

Jian Rong disregarded them. He pursed his lips and focused on the game instead.

His Lee Sin was indeed average, but it was enough for Diamond tier, especially with the added help of Road’s runes… by mid-game, the enemy’s jungle was Jian Rong’s second home.

After winning the game, innumerable friend requests popped up the moment Jian Rong returned to the post-match score page.

His friend requests would always blow up if he was streaming. Jian Rong opened the listing and rejected them one by one, all the way until he saw an ID named “Savior.”

He had played against Savior two years ago, so he knew that this Korean server account belonged to PUD’s mid laner himself.

He hesitated and frowned before accepting.

[Savior: HI]

[softsndd: speak chinese¹]

[Damn, you’re telling a Korean on the Korean server to speak Chinese hahahaha]

[LOL I’m watching Savior’s stream, Savior’s Chinese isn’t quite good enough and his pinyin is even worse, he called XIU over to type for him hahaha]

[Savior: soft?]

[softsndd: . ]

[Everyone look! This period!! Is this not the number one cold and aloof male god choice for an online dating partner? My dumbass son is also handsome to boot!]

[Too bad my son only dates in the workplace and not online.]

[Savior: softsndd what does that mean?]

[softsndd: I am your dad]

[Savior: …]

Savior asked Jian Rong if he wanted to duo queue, saying that he could go on his side account. Jian Rong instantly refused.

Jian Rong glanced at the barrage. “It’s not because I think he’s bad, we both play the same role, so how do you queue together? He has to switch to his side account too. There’s no need, we’re not that close.”

At first, Jian Rong only considered this a brief interlude that concluded with his rejection.

Until the day of the match rolled around. Right as he sat down in the car, he heard Xiao Bai and the rest discussing Savior.

Xiao Bai was browsing through Tieba. “Wah, Savior’s really been going through it these past few days. He changed his ID overnight, and he didn’t even stream yesterday.”

“What’s up with him?” Ding-ge got in the car. “Wait a minute, didn’t I tell you not to look at Tieba so much!”

“The match hasn’t even started yet, I’m just getting in my fill.” Xiao Bai scrolled down his screen. “Since he’s been consecutively winning the regular season matches lately, the netizens predicted that he would probably go participate in MSI with PUD this year. Then Korean trolls started to insult him and stir up drama.”

MSI was short for League of Legends’ Mid-Season Invitational tournament, an event that was held once a year. Together with the World Championship and All-Star event, the three competitions were treated as League of Legends’ top three international tournaments.

Only one team from each major competitive regional league could compete in MSI, so solely the Spring Split champion could play on behalf of the LPL.

“Aren’t they insulting the wrong person.” Jian Rong raised an eyebrow. “Who said PUD could get into MSI?”

Lu Boyuan put his equipment bag on the seat near the window and sat down next to Jian Rong. “Never mind if they can get into it or not. If they’re going to flame anyone, shouldn’t they flame 98k first?”

“98k has been flamed for many years now, his mentality is extremely strong.” Ding-ge checked his watch and told the driver to start the car before he said, “98k was the first Korean import player. Forget being insulted, he’s even received death threats.”

Yuan Qian was startled. “Fuck, it was that terrible?”

Xiao Bai: “Then Savior got off considerably lightly… aside from being flamed, his Korean account’s ID was spread online. Now he encounters actors in every single game, and most recently, he lost 13 games in a row. Even though he changed his ID, it’s useless.”

Jian Rong searched up Savior’s match history. It truly was tragic; each game displayed absurd scores like 0/16/0, 0/13/2. No wonder he wanted to play on his side account.

“Tsk, Jian Rong is incredible.” Xiao Bai suddenly said, “There’s actually a stickied post on Ventbar that’s broadcasting your Korean server ranking.”

Ventbar was LoL’s most famous Tieba forum, as well as the largest gathering place for LoL trolls. They nitpicked the winners and flamed the losers. Every well-known pro player possessed a skyscraper of anti posts on this bar.

Jian Rong was an exception. Before he even became a pro player, he already owned a thousand-floor high-rise building in this forum.

Disinterested, Jian Rong put in his earphones. “Oh.”

“However… what the hell.” Xiao Bai turned his head in shock. “You climbed from Diamond 2 to Grandmaster this fast??”

Jian Rong gave an “en.”

Xiao Bai was stunned.

This wasn’t even a fucking question of trying hard or not anymore. In such a short span of time, it was impossible to achieve this without having numerous pages and pages of consecutive wins.

Yuan Qian: “You can climb this fast even in the higher Korean tiers… impressive.”

Jian Rong: “The Korean server is easier to play in than the domestic server.”

For a moment, Yuan Qian couldn’t tell if he was acting cocky or if he was being serious. “…wha?”

Jian Rong said succinctly, “There are a lot of trolls and actors in the domestic server, as well as noobs who were boosted up, making it much more difficult.”

Pine said indifferently, “There are a ton of actors on the Korean server too.”

“That’s right! And those actors are extremely disgusting, they’ll only mess with players, pro or otherwise, who have pinyin IDs.” Xiao Bai paused. “My ge’s been trolled a bunch of times.”

On the Korean server, players with pinyin IDs were silently acknowledged to be Chinese, so they would be targeted by a small portion of ill-mannered Korean players.

Jian Rong’s game ID wasn’t written in pinyin, and his streaming hadn’t taken off yet back when he used to play solely on the Korean server. To top it off, he never really chatted with his teammates in game, so he hadn’t encountered many actors.

However, he knew that this sort of thing did happen. He had witnessed Chinese players being trolled and mocked before, and it was precisely because he had encountered an incident like this that his account had been banned for flaming. From that point on, he very rarely played on the Korean server again.

“It doesn’t matter.” Lu Boyuan tugged down the brim of his cap and closed his eyes for a nap. “Chinese or Korean server, it’s all the same. If you meet one, just consider them a point-feeding dog. I’m gonna sleep for a bit, call me when we get there.”

There were only three matches remaining in the spring season. The three teams that TTC hadn’t played against yet were all of average strength, so as long as nobody made any major mistakes, they were basically assured victory.

They won today’s match without any real suspense; the entire match altogether didn’t even take an hour.

Once the match ended, Lu Boyuan was given MVP.

The one responsible for the interview was a male anchor known for being fond of stirring up trouble. After he asked a few standard questions, he suddenly switched the subject. “With the latest Korean server patch, God Lu, you and your teammates should’ve all gone to practice on the Korean server as well, right?”

Lu Boyuan said, “They went.”

“Then God Lu, you…”

Lu Boyuan had just finished getting acupuncture, and the doctor had recommended for him not to use his hand before the day of the match. However, he naturally couldn’t state such a reason in front of the camera, so instead he said simply, “I forgot the password to my account and only got it back yesterday.”

The anchor laughed. “I see. I heard that Soft is currently aiming for rank one on the Korean server?”

Lu Boyuan cast a cool look at him.

That was something Jian Rong himself had said, that was true, but he had said it in his stream. To the water friends, it was merely a streamer’s typical boasting, nothing more.

But things were different for a match interview. After all, the LPL’s live broadcasts had quite a few international viewers, and its influence reached much farther.

Perhaps the anchor hadn’t realized the consequences of discussing this topic, or perhaps his goal was precisely to add fuel to the fire. The anchor continued, “Lately, the Korean server can even be considered the gathering place for experts. Do you think Soft can accomplish it?”

In the break room, Ding-ge furiously pointed at the TV and cursed, “What kind of dumbass is this! It’s one thing to bring up the fucking Korean server during an LPL post-match interview! But then he also has to mention something a pro player said when talking big… this won’t do, I’m gonna have to call the person in charge, what the hell!”

Xiao Bai shook his head and said, “It’s over, it’s over, someone’s definitely going to dig out Jian Rong’s ID on the Korean server now.”

Yuan Qian: “Do they even need to dig? You forgot, his ID already has Soft in it.”

Xiao Bai contemplated for two seconds before he reached out and placed his hand on Jian Rong’s shoulder. “Jian Rong, a man of character is always ready to surrender or stand tall. Maybe you should change your Korean server ID once you get back…”

Jian Rong was sitting in a lazy way, and he didn’t bother turning his head. “Why do I have to change it?”

“With your current tier, it’s too easy for someone to snipe² you, those actors…”

It was as if Jian Rong had heard some joke. “Those famous actors on the Chinese server who have clearly marked prices of 7 yuan per point, I’ve run into them at least eight times before, if not ten. There’s also a whole bunch of people who instantly retaliate by feeding the moment their mood sours, or immediately going AFK if they don’t get the role they want to play. I’ve had someone who was flamed by me specially find a dozen people to come snipe me—if I can get rank one even on the Chinese server, why would I be scared of them?”

Xiao Bai: “…………”

Even Pine, who was in the middle of playing Fight the Landlord, couldn’t help but raise his hand and give Jian Rong a thumbs up.

Jian Rong didn’t say anything else. He put on his hat and continued to watch Lu Boyuan’s interview, his head tilted back.

Lu Boyuan’s expression didn’t change. He said evenly, “First of all, we’ll play on any server, and it’s my belief that every server has many experts.

“Second, I trust my teammates.”

“Great, then we’ll look forward to the day Soft reaches the peak of the Korean server. Also…”

“There’s nothing to look forward to. Our goal isn’t to be rank one on the Korean server, it’s to be the world champion.” Lu Boyuan’s voice was calm, but his words were enough to explode the live broadcast’s barrage. “Also, this is the LPL’s post-match interview. If you’re interested in our team member’s ranking, you can schedule an individual interview in advance with our team’s manager. That’s all, thank you.”

The camera urgently switched back to the commentators.

The three commentators looked a little awkward as they tried their hardest to hold back their laughter.

The broadcast’s barrage was densely packed, as if this was the Spring Split finals.

[This anchor is making trouble again. Before, because he asked 98k in a post-match interview what his opinions were on his teammates from his old competitive league, he was demoted for almost two years before he could come back. Who would’ve expected him to stir things up again before the regular season’s even finished… as expected, you can’t stop a dog from eating shit.]

[Can he straight up retire this time? I’m tired of him, just perish.]

[I think this is the first time God Lu has gotten angry in front of the camera…]

[No way, this can be called ‘getting angry’??]

[Thankfully Soft wasn’t MVP this time, or else it truly would be very hard to accept if he didn’t get in a fist fight with the anchor.]

[I can already imagine the scene of Soft being crazily sniped by those Korean server actors…]

[Every LPL pro player has been sniped before, right? Never mind the LPL, they’ll even troll their own league’s players. In that respect, the Korean and Chinese servers are very similar, I’m not sure where the idea of the Korean server being good-mannered came from.]

[Damn, that means Soft’s streams will definitely be very exciting from now on, I’m gonna go follow his account.]

[It won’t be that exciting, he constantly encounters actors on the domestic server too. Now laozi is just worried that… will he be banned or suspended from competing for insulting someone on the Korean server? I’m afraid that if my son stays in the Korean server for two days, he’s going to get hit in the face with a huge 99-day competition ban gift.]

[Fuck, you woke me right up…]

[Fans of TTC – suddenly scared!]

Right as Lu Boyuan went off stage, Ding-ge was already waiting for him at the doorway.

“You head back to the break room first to pack up your peripherals.” Ding-ge was glowering. “I’m waiting to talk to someone in charge here.”

Although Ding-ge always told them not to check public forums and to keep a low profile, he had zero tolerance for his team’s players being screwed over or swept up in rumors.

Just like when someone had tried to stab Jian Rong last time; even though Ding-ge had taken care of things in a low-key manner on the surface, in private he had kept a closer eye than anyone else on the overall process.

When Lu Boyuan got back to the break room, Xiao Bai and the rest were already passionately surfing through Tieba.

Jian Rong was also jabbing away at his phone, head lowered.

Lu Boyuan walked over to Xiao Bai and nudged his shoe, indicating for him to move over. Xiao Bai obediently scooted to the side.

Jian Rong was currently participating in a serious insulting match with a hater who said that Lu Boyuan had shamelessly spurred the netizens to cancel the anchor during the interview.

After he skillfully finished typing out his message, he added a taunting smiling emoji and hit send.

A familiar voice came from his right. “Xiao Bai spent money and hired several dozen people to help him clear up rumors on Tieba before, 0.5 yuan per comment.”

Jian Rong: “…”

“With your skill level…” Lu Boyuan paused briefly. “I can give you ten yuan per comment? Is that enough?”

Jian Rong had washed his hands of his old lifestyle for quite a while now. On this rare occasion, he had left the secluded mountain to barge into Tieba once more and had been caught in the act again.

Jian Rong stiffly locked his phone before he lifted his hand and scratched at the brim of his hat.

He was wearing the hat from before again, the one with ‘Road’ written on the right side.

A long moment later, Jian Rong finally said, “For other people, I charge 80 per comment.”

Then he glanced around, and after confirming that the others were all playing on their phones, he said quickly, “…for you, it’s free.”

Just as he said that, Ding-ge pushed open the break room door. Judging from his expression, he had given them a solid scolding.

He waved his hand and said in a bold voice, “Come on, I’ll take you guys to eat out!”

Instantly, the other three people happily got up and left.

Jian Rong also stood up. He slung his equipment bag over his shoulder before he reached out to get Lu Boyuan’s, only for Lu Boyuan to grab his wrist from where he was still sitting.

Lu Boyuan looked at him. “We don’t have any practice matches tonight, what do you want to do when you go back?”

Jian Rong subconsciously glanced at the other team members and replied quietly, “Play ranked.”

Lu Boyuan said, “There’s no rush.”

Jian Rong went silent as he recalled the comments from a few certain dumbasses on Tieba. He started to say that it was very urgent.

“Since you joined the team, aside from those days during Lunar New Year, it seems like you haven’t really left the base.” In a lowered voice, Lu Boyuan negotiated with him, “How about we don’t eat with them, and I’ll take you out to have some fun?”

Yan: Yes it’s a date uwu (also I absolutely live for the moments Jian Rong is being ruthless, fly high my little fearless son)

(*edit*) Wei: Me: why is no one commenting on this chapter. Also me: disabled comments. Sorry friends should be fixed now LOL