Jian Rong felt like he had committed some atrocious offense, and on top of that, the other party involved had caught him by the scruff of his neck, red-handed.
He knew that right now, as long as he pretended to very naturally avert his gaze, everything would be fine. But in the end, Lu Boyuan was still the one who laughed and looked away first.
Right as Jian Rong stiffly rotated his head back around, Xiao Bai exited the video. âWhy wasnât Jian Rong in here ah.â
Yuan Qian nodded. âSeriously, they even included Doufu.â
Pine glanced at the date of posting. âThe videoâs from August last year, he hadnât joined yet.â
Realization dawned on Xiao Bai. He turned off his computer and tried to stand up, only to sense that there was a person rooted behind him. He looked back, puzzled. âHow come youâre still standing here? Werenât you going to bed⊠why are your eyes so red?â
During his last game, Jian Rong had felt sleepy, so he had rubbed his eyes a few times.
He rapidly retreated a couple steps, giving Xiao Bai space to push out his chair. Jian Rong was about to open his mouth and explain whenâ
Lu Boyuan said, âWatched for too long.â
Just as Jian Rong was contemplating fleeing from the practice room at a speed of several hundred meters per second, Lu Boyuan mildly added, âTurn down your monitor brightness in the future, or else itâll hurt your eyes.â
That night, Jian Rong had a dream.
In the dream, he was also in the break room from the video. After Lu Boyuan finished listening to what Xiao Bai said, he dipped his head and laughed for a while, before he looked up at Jian Rong. In a steady voice, he said, âYouâve been watching for too long.â
Apart from his family members, it was very rare for Jian Rong to clearly see someoneâs face in a dream.
Jian Rong was vaguely aware that something wasnât quite right about himself, but he didnât dare to think too deeply about the specifics of it.
Fortunately, his training was packed lately, so he didnât have that much time to ponder over other things.
Their next regular season match swiftly arrived. Before departing, Ding-ge gave them some pre-match instructions.
They were playing against WZWZ today, which could be considered a middle-tier team in the LPL.
âIâll keep this short. There are some things that are inconvenient to say backstage.â Ding-ge cleared his throat. âAlthough weâre already guaranteed to enter the playoffs, you guys still have to play properly in the upcoming matches. Weâve never really lost to WZWZ even after so many practice matches with them, so thereâs even less reason for us to lose in an official match. Today, letâs try our best to win early and get off work early. Donât make any mistakes. That shouldnât be a problem, right?â
The people sitting in the first few rows of the car loudly responded, âNo problem.â Jian Rong was wearing a hat, and he lowered his head to chat with someone from the animal clinic.
Upon reading the incoming text, Jian Rong stared blankly at his phone for two seconds before he quietly muttered, âIncredible.â
âWhat is it.â Lu Boyuan glanced at him from the corner of his eyes.
Jian Rong rubbed his nose. âLittle Orange committed a crime.â
ââŠâ Lu Boyuan felt amused, and he asked accordingly, âDid he get in a fight?â
âNo.â Jian Rong said, âHe made someoneâs stomach turn big1.â
Lu Boyuan: ââŠâ
Jian Rong clicked on the photo that the clinic had sent over. He cast his eyes down as he explained, âOne night, it was raining heavily, so the clinic kindly let him stay overnight with this other female cat. Now the little female catâs stomach is big⊠this female cat is so pretty, why did he have to do that?!â
As Jian Rong spoke, he handed his phone to Lu Boyuan.
Lu Boyuan grabbed his hand and tilted the phone to look at it before quickly letting go. âShe is pretty.â
Their hands were only pressed together for a few seconds. There was a dazed expression on Jian Rongâs face, and his hand remained frozen in midair for a short moment before he withdrew it. âMn⊠you can tell just from looking that sheâs super expensive.â
Lu Boyuan hummed. âLittle Orange is also pretty.â
Thinking of Little Orangeâs gradually fattening face in the recent photos, Jian Rong crinkled his brows, filled with disdain.
Lu Boyuan laughed. âWhat did the female catâs owner say?â
âHave to compensate with some money.â
Ding-ge suddenly clapped from the passenger seat. âWeâre about to arrive, everyone wake up. There are fans here today, if you guys get out of the car looking tired again, watch out or those forum antis will directly pronounce your deathsââ
The three people in front instantly sat up straight. Jian Rong ducked his head, hurriedly replying.
[R-ong: Got it, Iâll take responsibility. How much do I have to pay?]
[R-ong: You should buy some more canned cat food too and feed it to that female cat to supplement her nutrition. None for Little Orange.]
[Love Pets Animal Clinic: No need, Little Orangeâs dad deposited quite a bit of money last time, we can just deduct it straight from there.]
Jian Rong was startled.
Little Orangeâs⊠dad? Who?
Even if this guy really has a dad, shouldnât it be me?
[R-ong: What dad?]
[Love Pets Animal Clinic: Ah, Iâm referring to the individual whose profile picture is a little teacup pig, just like yours. The WeChat name is R.]
[Love Pets Animal Clinic: I saw that the directorâs note for him was also Little Orangeâs dad. Is the note wrong? [laughing crying]]
[R-ong: âŠ]
Jian Rong slanted his phone towards himself, as if he was afraid of someone catching sight of it.
[R-ong: Itâs right]
The customer service sister skillfully and amiably respondedâ
[Love Pets Animal Clinic: Haha, Little Orange is so blessed to have two dads.]
The car stopped at the stadium, and Little Orangeâs two dads got out of the car one after another.
As the match approached, the broadcast camera first focused on the commentators as usual.
Commentator A: âSoft is still a starter today, it seems like the team is very confident in Softâs strength.â
âWhat are you thinking, if I were the coach, thereâs also no way I wouldâve made Soft a substitute.â Commentator B couldnât help but laugh. âTheyâre not idiots, who would bench a player with mechanics like that? After all, you can develop teamwork, but natural talent is much more rareâŠâ
Commentator A was surprised. âHow come youâre suddenly talking him up?â
Commentator B shook his head. âYou probably havenât seen any of Softâs ranked games lately, have you.â
The players took the stage. Commentator B looked at Jian Rong, who was holding his keyboard, and said breezily, âIn any case, I saw them, and I even watched him play a few games in his stream⊠I wonât go into further detail. Everyone knows his domestic server ID, those who want to know more can go search it up. Honestly, in my personal opinion, if nothing had gone wrong with Softâs health in the last match⊠he wouldâve had an opportunity to create an advantage in the mid lane.â
Commentator A interrupted him skeptically, âEnough, enough, thatâs all in the past, so thereâs no need to stir up drama again. Letâs watch this game.â
The livestream barrage began throwing shade before the match even started. Continuing from the rhythm of last weekâs match, they called Soft a âranked game king,â someone who was useless in five-man competitive gaming.
Now the barrage turned to flaming Commentator B, saying that he pulled in a useless newcomer to trample over Savior, and they also cursed TTC by claiming that they wouldnât last through the playoffs.
Not long after, countless âSoft dadsâ and TTC fans rushed to the scene of the affront. They flipped the table and commenced their counterattack.
As a result, before the commentators could even get going, a large portion of fans from both teams had already been blocked, leaving behind a clean and civilized stream environment for the water friends who sincerely wanted to watch the matchâŠ
The match started soon after.
Following Commentator Bâs forceful pre-match boost, at level 6 Jian Rongâs Jayce beautifully predicted where the enemy was going to flash to. He closed in with a flash and tossed out a long-range electric orb, effortlessly getting first blood.
Solo killing the enemy mid laner in a competitive game was already a common occurrence for Soft, but the people watching the broadcast still couldnât resist energetically spamming â666.â
WZWZ was evidently aware of Softâs weak point. Consequently, their mid laner exited the base at level 9 and headed straight for TTCâs bot lane, preparing to coordinate with his jungler to make some trouble.
At that moment, in the stream for Softâs POV, a mystical scene appearedâ
There was the sound of a ping.
[TTC àŒ Soft is asking for assistance.]
The barrage abruptly exploded.
[????]
[Am I seeing things?]
[The game bugged, waiting for a match pause.]
[What? So the dumbass did know that there was an assist me ping in LoL??]
[Several decades from now, as I sit in my rocking chair, my grandson says to me: Grandpa, Soft knows how to use the assist ping now. I chuckle and reply: Donât believe or spread rumors.]
In the team voice chat, Xiao Bai said, half-disbelievingly, âCan you really camp them? Their blue buff is already gone.â
âI can.â Jian Rong hid in the bushes next to WZWZâs blue buff. âHurry up and come here.â
Xiao Bai went over with Pine.
Ten seconds later, before WZWZâs bot lane could react, their mid laner and jungler were camped and killed by TTCâs mid laner, ADC, and support. After the kill, Lu Boyuan arrived just in time, and the four of them encircled WZWZâs bot lane. Jian Rong clumsily helped tank the last wave of the towerâs damage for Xiao Bai, who was wailing out loud, and finished it off with a perfect tower dive.
Eighteen minutes in, Jian Rong went to the top lane with Lu Boyuan and Xiao Bai, and they greatly upped the tempo of the game, directly pushing two of the enemyâs towers.
Twenty-six minutes in, Yuan Qianâs Aatrox flashed and immediately hammered the enemy ADC to the point that his own mom wouldnât recognize him anymore, getting the kill without even having to use his ult. A second later, the other four team members destroyed WZWZâs Nexus.
Before those people who were fighting in the barrage could make it past their half hour ban limit, the first game had already ended.
Everyone thought that the first game went by too quickly, but nobody expected for the second game to be the real rocket booster.
There was one sole reason: WZWZ made a mistake in their pick/ban phase and released Jian Rongâs LeBlanc, as well as Pineâs Aphelios.
This round, Jian Rong no longer went to provide assistance.
Because he simply didnât need to.
WZWZâs mid laner was solo killed at level 4 and died again at level 6. Once he made it back to the lane, he no longer dared to leave his tower.
Fifteen minutes in, WZWZ realized that they couldnât allow Jian Rong to keep farming like this. Four of them surrounded him in the mid lane, and after confirming that he didnât have his flash or blink skills, the enemy support unhesitatingly flashed forward and used his ult to forcefully engageâunfortunately, Jian Rongâs reaction speed was top-tier. He instantly used his Zhonyaâs Hourglass at full health.
WZWZâs four players anxiously waited for Zhonyaâs to finish, and their team chat was extremely tense.
âSupport, daze him, donât let him escape!â
âRelax, Iâm preparedâŠâ
As Zhonyaâs disappeared, the supportâs Leona promptly followed up with a stun⊠and missed.
The support stared blankly as the system notification of his teammateâs death soundedâtheir four-person encirclement failed, and their ADC was oneshotted by Soft.
WZWZâs remaining three members lifelessly watched LeBlanc flash into the jungle, disappearing into the underbrush without a second look back.
[@WZWZâs coach, you there? Who are you looking down on, releasing LeBlanc?]
[Damn damn damn, hurry up and replay that, laozi didnât see it clearly!!!]
[Under typical circumstances, when the dumbass picks those blasted assassins like Zed, Talon, and LeBlanc, if I can clearly tell how he got the kill the first time watching, that just means he wasnât in a good condition that day.]
At twenty-three minutes and forty-two seconds, TTC pushed WZWZâs Nexus, easily winning the second game. In the middle, Pine got a quadra kill, and Jian Rongâs final score was 6/0/2.
âŠ
After the match concluded, the MVP was inevitably and naturally given to Jian Rong.
The others sat in the break room, waiting for his post-match interview.
On TV, Jian Rong looked at the camera indifferently as he responded somewhat unenthusiastically to the hostâs questions. Without his sickly air from last week, this new eighteen-year-old mid lanerâs words were still as unrestrained as ever.
Ding-ge lowered his head, taking notes. âHeâs still not very used to providing assistance, the place he chose to camp in the first wave was too risky. Youâre the one who called him over to the top lane in the second wave, right?â
Lu Boyuan was watching the TV. âMn.â
Ding-ge nodded. âItâs only been a few days, so this can be considered significant progress.â
Yuan Qian propped up his head on his hand. âAi, how come I feel like Xiao Rong is a bit more handsome today?â
Ding-ge didnât bother looking up. âI made him put on some makeup before going on.â
Xiao Bai said, shocked, âDoesnât he hate it when other people touch his eyes? How did you convince him.â
âThey only filled in his eyebrows.â Ding-ge paused for a moment. âI said if he did it, he would appear livelier during the MVP interview and could piss off those antis.â
Xiao Bai: ââŠâ
Yuan Qian ducked his head, scrolling through the messages that he had received during the match. âNice, I knew this would happen⊠yet another person is asking me for Jian Rongâs WeChat.â
Lu Boyuan very slowly blinked once.
âAnother?â Xiao Baiâs hands were braced behind his head. âWho? Someone from my sister-in-lawâs best friends?â
Yuan Qian shook his head. âThis time, itâs a guy, a PUBG accompanying gamer. He said he wants to get to know Jian Rong and be friends with him.â
Xiao Bai was delighted, and he joked, âAmazing, consuming both men and women. The same as my ge.â
âDonât talk nonsense.â There were LPL staff outside, so Ding-ge hastily interrupted them. âGirls are fine, but you can forget about the guys.â
Yuan Qian locked his phone. âWhatâs wrong with guys?â
Ding-ge lifted an eyebrow. âItâs one thing if he adds a girl on WeChat. Although I wouldnât want him to start dating right away, since he just joined the team, I still canât forcibly cut off his red string. But whatâs the point of adding a guy? Did you all forget about how someone sold Xiao Luâs WeChat contact before? Thereâs no point, sooner or later heâll meet the people that heâs supposed to meet.â
Xiao Bai hooked an arm around Pineâs shoulders. âLikewise, canât men also date other men.â
Even though Xiao Bai was slightly chubby, he had a smaller frame, and his fat was distributed very evenly so he didnât seem bulky at all. On the contrary, as he leaned against Pine, who was quite a few kilograms lighter than him, it made Pine seem somewhat taller and broader in comparison.
In a fleeting moment of panic, Ding-ge actually couldnât tell if Xiao Bai was kidding around or if he was genuinely coming out of the closet. Ding-ge only snapped out of it once he saw Xiao Bai knock against Pineâs shoulder, with a dumb smile on his face from start to finish.
Ding-ge rolled his eyes at him and said without thinking, âIf Jian Rong really were to date a man, then thereâs even less need for him to add someone else. To Xiao Lu, heâŠâ
Ding-ge screeched to a stop mid-sentence.
No⊠what the hell was he even thinking about.
âAlright, letâs stop here.â Ding-ge made a time-out gesture with his hands. âJian Rong is extremely straight. I did some research before he joined the team, he often played with female accompanying gamers back when he was streaming. Enough with these kinds of jokesâŠâ
âHow come he still isnât back yet.â Lu Boyuan asked evenly as he stood up and picked up Jian Rongâs equipment bag, along with his own, with one hand.
âAh?â Ding-ge turned to look at the TV. âThe interviewâs over?â
Yuan Qian nodded. âItâs been over for a while now.â
âThen he should be back soon.â Ding-ge checked the time. âHow about you guys head to the car first, Iâll go find him.â
Lu Boyuan didnât say anything. He slung Jian Rongâs equipment bag over his shoulder while he casually carried his own bag in one hand. After he walked out of the break room, he glanced in the direction of the stage entrance, and then stopped on the spot.
As the others exited, they couldnât help but follow his line of sight and look over as wellâ
Their mid laner was currently surrounded by several men and women asking for his signature, including both employees and fans who had snuck backstage due to connections with staff.
Professional gamersâ autographs werenât worth all that much; after all, they were people who you could interact and communicate with in streams, so there wasnât a strong sense of distance. Through the staff, it was possible to obtain most professional gamersâ signatures.
Of course, it still wasnât easy to get autographs from teams like TTC or PUD.
However, Jian Rong didnât care about any of that. It was merely a matter of writing some letters in English, and there werenât a lot of people present either, so he hadnât refused.
Lu Boyuan saw a female fan flash a finger heart at Jian Rong.
When Jian Rong saw the hand gesture, he was startled at first. Then he heard the girl say, âDumbass darling, Daddy loves you.â
Jian Rong huffed out a laugh and handed the pen back to her. âGet lost, get lost.â
After bidding farewell to the fans, Jian Rong turned around and saw that his teammates were waiting for him at the entrance to their break room.
Jian Rong: âJust a moment, Iâll go in to get my equipment bagâŠâ
Yuan Qian stopped him. âCaptain already got it for you.â
Jian Rong froze briefly. He turned and scanned the crowd, but he didnât spot Lu Boyuan. âWhere is he?â
âHe went to the car already.â Ding-ge said, âLetâs go.â
Little Orange got a cat pregnant lol ^Wei: LBY is drinking vinegar, Ding-ge is becoming self-aware⊠so many things happening LOL
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