Chapter 26

“Hello, everyone, I’m on, I’m on. I promised Little Yu today I’d do a voice chat with him.”

After his usual greeting, Lin Linya clicked the voice chat function in his livestream room. The moment they connected, Little Yu’s giant face was shoved right up against the lens, the top-down angle making him look so ugly it was a complete disaster.

Lin Linya, “…”

He calmly moved his mouse. “Sorry, everyone, I think I connected to the wrong person. I’ll hang up and reconnect right away.”

“Wait, it’s me, it’s me, don’t hang up, hey,” Qiao Yu moved back a bit, revealing his whole face. Once he looked handsome again, he flicked two fingers from his forehead in a wave. “Yaya Baby, good evening, hey bro, and to everyone from the neighboring livestream room, how are you all?”

Lin Linya asked, puzzled, “Why are you so close to the lens? The moment you opened your mouth, I thought you were going to eat the camera.”

Qiao Yu looked all coy, fidgeting for a long while before finally backing up to an acceptable social distance. Lin Linya finally saw what he was wearing today, and his pupils contracted in shock.

A deep black, silky shirt was worn like a jacket, none of the front buttons fastened. His chest was wide open, revealing tight abs and pecs, and his pants hung loose and looked ready to fall at any moment.

He covered his chest with both hands, looking like a bullied virtuous housewife, blushing furiously, not daring to meet Lin Linya’s eyes at all.

Lin Linya’s gaze moved away from his abs. He hadn’t expected him to actually be quite toned under such a skinny appearance. He looked at him, confused, “What are you doing? Fan service?”

He paused, then suddenly had an epiphany and got angry. “I get it, you’re trying to seduce my few remaining fans! No wonder you wanted to do a voice chat with me today. How could you?!”

Qiao Yu, accused like this, immediately panicked and frantically started buttoning up his shirt. “I really wasn’t, that’s not what I meant.”

Lin Linya, “Hm… the fans say you can dance. Show us a bit.”

[I’m dying of laughter, silly baby, he’s trying to seduce you.]

[Just now when Yaya Baby wasn’t here, he was dancing and twisting his waist so fast it was a blur. Now he can’t even look my baby in the eye when talking. Guess Little Yu’s usual crazy antics are just an act; he’s actually a pure-hearted puppy.]

[His face is so red, I can’t take it. This atmosphere is too easy to ship, so ambiguous!!!]

While Qiao Yu was getting ready, Lin Linya turned off his microphone and said seriously to the wildly scrolling danmaku, “I don’t want to watch him dance, I’m helping everyone abstain from male desires. No need to thank me too much.”

Qiao Yu put his sunglasses back on. Just like the fans said, he was actually quite handsome when he wasn’t talking. He had a foundation in street dance, every move clean and sharp. His half-unbuttoned shirt was teasingly revealing, his hand tracing down his neck, sliding all the way down to his belt buckle—incredibly sexy.

After the dance, he returned to the camera. Fine beads of sweat slid down his chin as he panted lightly, but the first thing he did was obediently button up his shirt to his chest. “How was it? Handsome or not?”

Lin Linya crossed his hands under his chin, his expression profound. “Strengthen your convictions, resist male beauty, starting from me—actually, starting from yourselves.”

[??? You little…]

[Guess my baby likes looking at handsome guys too.]

[As expected, handsome guys appreciate each other.]

[I saw a hilarious comment from the neighboring stream: said they’ve never seen Little Yu so socially anxious, guess he’s shy in front of the little sister.]

Lin Linya noticed he was embarrassed, so he turned on his mic and praised him. “Not bad, I suggest keeping that as a signature performance for later. Stop being a playboy in the future, it has no future.”

Qiao Yu didn’t hear the last part at all; he just heard the Little Doll calling him handsome. He grinned like a complete idiot, the corners of his mouth almost reaching his temples, a complete 180 from the sexy look he had while doing K-pop just moments ago.

He wiped the sweat from his head. “Still need practice.”

Lin Linya was a little curious. He gestured near his own chest. “How did you do that move just now? Can you teach me?”

An impromptu lesson began. Qiao Yu demonstrated while explaining, “Place your left hand at neck level, slowly move it down, and your body follows your hand’s movement in an S-shaped sway.”

Lin Linya was a natural at this; his body was very flexible, executing the move with ease. Qiao Yu praised his talent, suggesting he could learn some short dance routines in the future.

[Show the waist, show the waist! If you don’t, I’m gonna riot!]

Lin Linya knew exactly what they wanted to see. He was wearing a loose short-sleeved tee, so he used his other hand to pull the hem tight against his body. Even through the fabric, you could tell how slender that waist was.

On that pretty, innocent face, the nonchalant expression was the most lethal. Even the little black mole under his lip became extra seductive.

His slender, pale fingers traced from his long, elegant neck down to his chest, then further down past his waist. It made people unable to tear their gaze away, wishing they could replace his hand with their own, to grasp that fragile waist so he could never escape.

Just as people were swallowing nervously, waiting for his hand to go even lower, he sat back down, posture perfectly upright.

He criticized, “What are you thinking? You think this is something you can watch on Wolf Fang? Whoever just saw this, go finish your Youth Study first.”

[Streamers who pander to fans have the best luck.]

[Oh my, my baby’s body is so soft, is this talent?]

[Can’t help but think of some steamy stuff again. With that flexibility, many poses should be possible, right.]

[Studying now, studying now.]

Qiao Yu knew he was in a good mood now and took the opportunity to invite him to play. “Wanna play Glory? I’ll invite my good brother, you know him too, he’ll trio queue with us tonight.”

Lin Linya opened Glory to check his game loading progress. “I didn’t update it during the day. You guys form the team first; I’ll update my game.”

Qiao Yu told him to take his time, no rush.

He logged into the game first. Little Yang was already online. He pulled Little Yang into the team room. After Little Yang greeted him, he said, “Wait before you start, I need to invite a friend. We’re queuing together tonight.”

Qiao Yu hesitated. “I need to invite a friend too. Can’t start with four. Forget it, invite your friend in first. I’ll ask Picky if he’s coming later.”

“Okay.”

Just then, his food delivery arrived. Qiao Yu went out to get it. When he came back, he saw Lin Linya was already in their team room.

A head full of question marks. Just as he was about to ask, he suddenly heard Little Yang impatiently urging him, “I invited Yaya. Where’s the friend you were going to invite? Has he not finished updating yet?”

Qiao Yu, “…He’s already been invited in by you.”

Little Yang’s tone held no guilt whatsoever for stealing someone else’s support. “Ah? Is that so? What a coincidence.”

Coincidence my ass!

Qiao Yu had no idea how the two of them even knew each other. “Why? When did you guys exchange contact info? Have you already duo queued?!”

Little Yang kindly reminded him, “Last time you used Yaya Baby’s account to play Armando in the scrim, I sent a friend request and you accepted it. You forgot?”

Qiao Yu really wanted to cut off his own traitorous hand. His expression was anguished, as if he’d discovered his wife sleeping in the same bed as his best bro, and his best bro was telling him he’d personally handed over the room key.

He asked Lin Linya pitifully, “He invited you, and you just queued with him?”

Lin Linya hadn’t expected this either. His pretty cat eyes flickered frantically with guilt. “Little Yang said he plays Marksman, and I play Support, so we’re the most suited for duo queue.”

He pressed his lower lip, his eyes wide and round, looking innocent—very much like that sweating cat meme trending online recently.

[I said before that Yaya Baby promised Little Yang a duo, how come he suddenly promised Little Yu too? Never thought the fishpond would have such poor management and suddenly collapse. I’m dying of laughter.]

[I think this is great, though. If everyone queues together, no one has to fight over Yaya Baby.]

[Little Yu: You really gave it to him?]

[Yaya Baby: He said he’d treat me well.]

Qiao Yu was even more heartbroken. “You’ve never even called me Bro Yu once. Every time I ask you to play, you don’t come, only sending me your Fight the Landlord helper links so I can help you claim Happy Beans.”

Lin Linya felt even more guilty.

Because Qiao Yu really was a good guy. Every time, he’d help by clicking those helper links. The two of them even had a Fire icon on Penguin messenger because Qiao Yu kept interacting with him.

He quickly called out sweetly, “Brother Little Yu.”

This time, Qiao Yu was genuinely hurt. He saw through it all now. The Little Doll was a heartless rank-climbing machine. They were just his Utility Players for gaining ranks—and he, a Mid Laner, was at the very bottom of the boosting food chain.

Little Yang even taunted him from the side, “You, an Armando player, always duo queuing with Spirit Cat. See those stars in the sky? All dropped from you two duo queuing.”

Qiao Yu, “…” Couldn’t argue with that.

Picky entered the team room to face exactly this atmosphere. He was a bit blunt by nature. Seeing Lin Linya, he was surprised. “Didn’t you say you were busy?”

After a few seconds, his tone turned a bit sour, his voice muffled. “But you have time to play with them?”

Little Yang loved teasing this younger high schooler the most. He laughed, saying, “Of course he’s queuing with me if he’s playing support. Don’t you know why a gaming hotel room has four beds? Because the support and the marksman sleep together.”

Qiao Yu wasn’t in a hurry now. Picky was the one he’d invited. He leisurely opened his takeout and started slurping noodles. “Now it’s perfect, four, missing one. If the Little Doll invites someone to play Clash Lane, we can go straight to a 5-Man Squad.”

Lin Linya, “…”

Even as he said that, Qiao Yu sent the team link to the chat group. A Clash Laner hopped on, and they started a 5-Man Squad match.

Many Marksman players have a common problem. Little Yang picked his Main Hero, his confidence reaching its peak. He said to Picky, “Little brother, give me the first Red Buff. Bro and Yaya Baby here will carry you to victory.”

Picky glanced at him, letting out a cold snort. “With that Trash-Tier Hero of yours? The support would be better off following the mage than you. Following you to Farm Lane—is that a demotion?”

Qiao Yu, in the middle of slurping noodles, suddenly flared up. “Personal attack?”