This was the first time an online acquaintance had ever suggested meeting up in real life. However, Sound Slowly was a friend he’d known for quite a while. A single meeting wouldn’t hurt, and Lin Linya trusted him. He was just about to reply when several more messages came through.
It was a photo of the front of an identity card. [I’m really not a scammer! Look, my ID.]
Sound Slowly’s real name was Ji Wensheng. His ID photo showed him to be a rather gentle, handsome guy. Lin Linya had heard before that people who were amazing at games were usually not much to look at; apparently, that wasn’t entirely true.
A bit amused and exasperated, he quickly replied: [It’s fine, Bro. Don’t do that, you’re scaring me.]
[Great!]
[I’m really happy, Yaya.]
[But I have some things to take care of these next few days. Could we meet a bit later? I want to prepare properly.]
Lin Linya was a little stunned. He thought to himself, It’s not like this is an online romance meeting. Why on earth would two guys meeting up need to prepare properly? But he didn’t want to dampen his enthusiasm, so he agreed. [Sure, sounds good.]
Lin Linya was a third-year university student himself. At night, he did some streaming to earn meal money. To avoid disturbing his dormmates, he’d rented an apartment outside since his freshman year and lived alone.
He’d previously streamed some minigames and sang songs, but his popularity had always been lukewarm. Ever since he started streaming Glory, his stream attracted a lot more male fans. Although people frequently called him trash, it also brought him quite a bit of traffic.
Opening his stream, he immediately saw lots of snarky comments, as expected. But Lin Linya was already used to it. He ignored them directly and opened the game interface.
Before, Sound Slowly had always invited him to play. As soon as he logged in, it was Duo Queue, swiftly climbing ranks. This was the first time he was seriously studying the game on his own.
On his desk sat a cup with a little bear design. In the summer heat, he wore shorts, curled up in his huge Gaming Chair, the shorts having ridden up almost to the top of his thighs.
[That leg… I’m good now, sisters.]
[Honestly, if I were Yaya’s Husband, there’s no way he’d be sitting here streaming peacefully right now.]
[Rock hard. Saving this for tonight.]
[WHAT DO YOU FCKERS WANT WITH MY SPROUT BABY’S LEGS! GET LOST!]
Lin Linya wasn’t reading the danmaku and had no idea what was happening. His account was newly registered. Although his Win Rate and rank were high, he had basically no heroes or Skins to use.
He browsed the shop, opening the page for the few heroes Sound Slowly had taught him to play. His eyes widened in surprise. “So Anana has this many Skins. This one is too cute, right?”
Anana’s Original Skin had a forest theme. Thus, her Fawn form and Skirt were green. The skin Lin Linya was looking at was pink, however, with full-screen Little Flower effects filling the screen. It looked like a Little Princess—incredibly cute.
[Still not as cute as Yaya.]
[Donated Wolf Fang Coin x10000! Baby! Husband will buy it for you! Want to see you play the lovely pink Anana!]
[All you male fans who tease Yaya every day, aren’t you going to come out and buy your Wife a skirt?]
[Little Sister really loves cute things, ah. Her eyes totally lit up.]
With the exception of a few limited Skins that were no longer available for purchase, Lin Linya unhesitatingly bought every Skin available in the shop. He lifted his chin proudly. “See that? 21-year-old male college student buying outright. Future so bright, you can’t even look at it.”
[Buy buy buy! If baby likes it, buy it. My darling is cute, whatever he says is right.]
[lol, trash player, vast skin collection.]
[Wearing the most expensive Skins to take the most savage beatings.]
“Gotta test the feel of these, right?” Having bought new Skins, Lin Linya felt competent again. However, he didn’t dare queue for Ranked Mode alone and ruin people’s games, so he started a Casual match.
During hero select, Lin Linya was first pick. Not noticing their team had a duo, he locked in the freshly skinned Anana. The duo picked Arrow Tome for the guy. The girl, having lost the Support role, picked a Mage.
The moment the game loaded in, Lin Linya cast a Skill, happily spinning in the Fountain. “I’m so pretty.”
Seated atop his Fawn, he tottered after the Marksman. Before he’d taken more than a few steps, the Marksman pinged a quick chat: “Retreat!”
Lin Linya was baffled. “Is he telling me to leave?”
He wasn’t a clueless person. Without a word, he crossed through the Jungle towards the Mid Lane. The moment he reached Mid, the Mage also pinged “Retreat!” and told him to go away, not to leech her Gold.
“But I bought the Small Support Item…” Lin Linya said, feeling aggrieved.
Buying the Small Support Item component meant you didn’t siphon your teammates’ Gold. The Mage knew this perfectly well and typed rather rudely: [Just don’t follow me, anyway. Seeing you is just bad luck.]
It was only then that Lin Linya noticed the Marksman (Arrow Tome) and the Mage (Plum Orchid) had matching couple IDs.
[So speechless. Is this duo toxic or what?]
[They’re really feeling themselves. Baby, just go follow the Jungler. Don’t mind them.]
[Report them after the game. I swear, I hate fcking idiot couples in game the most.]
Lin Linya pressed his lips together, silently going to follow the Jungler.
But their Jungler had picked Warp Drifter this game, a hero with very high mobility and fast displacement. Lin Linya’s Anana was a short-legged little thing and simply couldn’t keep up.
Their Jungler was at least reasonably competitive. Three minutes in, he’d ganked the enemy Marksman for a Kill and even invaded the enemy Jungle to steal a buff. Lin Linya was trailing behind, running his little Fawn hooves ragged and still couldn’t get in range to heal him.
[Warp Drifter (I Call the Shots in the Jungle): Support, stop following me. It’s useless.]
The hero Lin Linya controlled stopped in its tracks. It was the first time he’d ever been so despised playing Support. Yet he clearly hadn’t done anything wrong.
The Mage, who’d been hostile to him the whole time, sneered: [Little Green Tea Bitch. Your Rank Tier is just too low. Did you really think playing some useless little Support makes you the team’s darling Group Pet?]
Lin Linya didn’t speak. He didn’t type back either. His little face set in a hard line, he sold all his Support Items and bought a full set of Attack Speed Items. Alone, he went to the Bottom Lane to push the wave and hit the Tower.
The enemy Jungler came to gank. Anana had absolutely no self-preservation abilities. A moment later, his screen was gray.
The Mage, who had cleared the Mid Lane wave and was now just standing idle under her Tower, mocked him again. [Serves you right.]
The danmaku had already exploded, everyone passionately typing furious insults at the couple. It was then that the Jungler, utterly fed up, typed: [Support, stick with me.]
Lin Linya sold his Attack Speed Items and bought back a set of Support Items, following behind the Jungler. To keep up, he purchased Speed Boots and a Speed Item.
Although Anana’s self-preservation was extremely weak, her ability to protect her teammates was very strong. With an already powerful and aggressive hero, it was even better. His pairing with Warp Drifter was simply a god of murder—whoever they targeted died.
They won one final small Team Fight. The entire enemy team was Wiped Out except for their Jungler. The enemy Jungler’s HP was also critically low, making escape impossible. He decided to expend all his Skills, hoping to take someone down with him.
Before Lin Linya could even feel joy, the enemy Jungler’s target-locked ability flew towards a low-health teammate. The closest ally was the Mage, still at Full Health. Yet she stood completely still, watching the enemy’s Skill fly past, utterly indifferent.
Anana was killed. The pink Fawn let out a mournful cry. The cute girl crumpled to the ground.
Lin Linya stared blankly at his gray screen.
Their Jungler had pushed a minion wave all the way up and was just about to destroy the enemy Nexus. Lin Linya’s hero still had over ten seconds before respawning. It was too late.
Just then, the Jungler suddenly Recalled right on the spot.
Seeing the Full Health Jungler Recall, the Marksman erupted in rage, turning on his mic to scream, “Are you fcking sick in the head?! Why’s a full-health dude Recalling? Just take the damn Nexus!”
The Jungler arrived back at their home Fountain and stopped moving.
Lin Linya’s heart suddenly started racing. He silently counted down. A few seconds later, his hero respawned. He dashed out from the Fountain. The Assassin dressed in a black trench coat ambled casually behind the little Deer Maiden, like a dutiful bodyguard.
It was only then Lin Linya confirmed it. The Jungler had deliberately Recalled to wait for him.
The furious Mage spat out a single line: [Simp.]
Lin Linya had assumed the Jungler would ignore her. People could insult him, but because of him, his teammate was getting insulted—that he wouldn’t stand for. He was huffily getting ready to type a furious retort.
Just before the enemy Nexus exploded, the Jungler suddenly turned on his mic. An attractive, magnetic voice emerged. “You lot aren’t worthy of winning. But he is.”
Victory!
The Victory banner flashed triumphantly right as his words ended.
[This Jungler Bro, I’ve fallen, I’ve fallen.]
[Hard carrying and also so damn smooth!]
[Yaya, Charge! Go get him! You’ll have a new pair of strong legs to help you rank up in the future!]
The next second, Lin Linya received a new friend request. It was the Jungler from the last match. The moment he accepted, he was pulled into a party.
The man’s lazy voice was somewhat familiar. “Sound Slowly’s gone for one moment, and you just let people walk all over you?”
Lin Linya froze for half a second, then suddenly remembered it was a teammate Sound Slowly had once invited for a Trio Queue session. Embarrassed, he turned on his mic. “Bro Yi, good to see you. Why did you change your ID?”
Chu Fengyi replied, “Didn’t. This is my Smurf Account. For practicing Jungle.”
Chu Fengyi hadn’t expected to run into him while playing on his Smurf. He wasn’t streaming. While gaming, his phone had suddenly pushed a notification for Lin Linya’s stream. Seeing that familiar teammate ID, he’d realized they’d been matched into the same game.
At first, Chu Fengyi hadn’t planned on revealing his identity, just intending to play the match out decently. But those teammates were simply too much. Even he couldn’t bear to watch any longer.
What a pair of clown lover trash, he’d muttered to himself, all the while sneaking glances at his phone, watching the boy’s reaction.
His phone screen was still open to Lin Linya’s stream. The kid’s aggrieved expression when the two players shooed him away… his eyes had actually reddened. Being bullied, he’d looked simply pitiful to the point of heartbreaking.
When he’d sold his Support items to go clear minions, that stubborn little expression was both pitiful and cute.
Suddenly, Chu Fengyi recalled how, when the boy sang earlier, two tiny dimples would appear when he smiled. He decided the boy looked much better when he was smiling.
He didn’t even know what he was thinking. On a weird impulse, he pulled the guy into his party. He even said a line he would previously never, ever say. “Want me to boost you?”
Lin Linya’s eyes lit up, but he immediately deflated. He asked, cautiously, “My mechanics are really terrible. I better not drag you down. What if I get you cursed out with me?”
“It’s no problem. As long as you don’t mind me practicing my heroes,” Chu Fengyi said flatly.
Lin Linya was biting his lip, desperately trying to suppress his delight. “I don’t mind, I don’t mind at all!”
In Chu Fengyi’s earphones rang the boy’s elated voice. He glanced at his phone screen, seeing the boy’s mood finally brightening. Unbeknownst even to himself, the corner of his own lips curved upwards.
