Chapter 15

【Holy shit????】

【????】

【Is that even human???????】

The shot was too fast. In the stream, even the blue car on the road was only a blurry blue shadow before the Vyron was already downed.

He’d literally turned the A-Max into a hip-fire gun!

The enemy medic boss immediately threw smoke, wanting to revive. After tossing the smoke, he started reviving on the spot. Using the enemy’s smoke, Danger switched positions, moving from Staff Passage 2 to the opposite side’s parking lot.

Targets downed by an AWM bullet took longer to revive, even for the medic with faster rescue speed—14 seconds.

Repositioned, Danger activated his ultimate. Also a medic, his drones flew towards the medic performing the rescue in the smoke, interrupting the revive.

The boss threw a second smoke to try the rescue again, but fumbling frantically, his smoke was poorly placed, also blocking the vision of his own squad’s second Vyron.

This Vyron didn’t seem to have the wallhack.

Danger stood on a container in the parking lot, switching to M14. Without any hesitation, he sprayed blindly into the smoke. Initially, he fired where the one-shot Vyron was, but no hit feedback. Aiming slightly further back, his headset registered the sound effect of hitting someone.

The medic hadn’t let go, continuously reviving.

The medic’s smoke lasted 15 seconds. He spent 14 seconds reviving. When the smoke dissipated, the Vyron had just been pulled up. He frantically used his jet boost to find cover. Still flying in the air, an M14 round locked directly onto his head!

[OLG-Danger eliminated Your escort isn’t up to par with M14]

The medic, out of smoke, turned to run behind the blue car in fright.

[OLG-Danger eliminated Crayon Big Old with M14]

The final enemy Vyron’s C4 bomb was immediately thrown onto the position Danger had just been standing. He jumped off the container, dodging the damage. At that moment, several bursts of gunfire rang out from behind the blue car.

“Bang bang! Bang bang bang! Bang!”

【Now they remember to use signals??】

【Don’t respond to the signal, hacking dog. Now that you’re losing, you remember daddy?】

【Wallhack, 3v1 and still can’t win. Light some incense for that hacker dog’s parents.】

【I’ve already gone to friend the enemy boss. Which companion shop escort dares to carry with wallhacks on? Must report and get compensation!】

The Vyron fired a few more signal shots. Seeing Bai Wei didn’t respond, he tossed another C4, deciding to 1v1 Bai Wei.

30 seconds later.

[OLG-Danger eliminated Fried the contract again, yo with M14]

Bai Wei let out a cold laugh. “Dumbass.”

~

At noon the next day, Bai Wei entered the manager’s office. CatClaw looked up at him. “You streamed ranked yesterday with Show?”

Bai Wei walked over and collapsed onto the sofa. “Played five or six matches.”

CatClaw stood up, his tone resigned. “Young Master Bai, do you have no self-awareness of your own popularity? The haters almost doxxed Show. As soon as I woke up today, Jack told me the online drama’s blown up massively. Everyone’s saying the OLG new sub’s skill isn’t enough, not even as good as Little Gun. TikTok, Kuaishou—it’s everywhere, stream clips of you two duoing. Especially those two matches against the cheater.”

Bai Wei frowned. “What drama?”

“Saying Show’s bad, also that he’s ugly, a 200-kilo fatty.”

“Anyone will see what he looks like once the roster photo is out. If he’s ugly, then who’s good-looking? And judging pro play by looks—what kind of sickness is that?”

“If they didn’t judge by looks, your annual income being double Qin Baotian’s… you think he’d have no complaints?”

Bai Wei knew he was in the wrong there and didn’t press further. He just said, disgusted, “Show played well last night. Except for the two against the hackers, every single match was a map clear.”

“The main problem is that second match where you ran into hackers. I watched it. The first hacker match, neither of you was prepared. Show got caught off-guard, one-tapped by an A-Max. Can’t be helped. But in the second match, you both knew the enemy had a wallhack. Show lost the gunfight, whiffed, which led to you getting two kills while he didn’t even get one, and you wiped their squad. With you as the comparison, no wonder the online hate against him is massive.”

Bai Wei clicked his tongue and looked at CatClaw. “Everyone whiffs. I whiffed too, otherwise I would’ve countered and killed them all.”

“You’re Danger. Who is he? You have many haters, but even more fans. The haters want to bash you. Your fans push the blame onto Show, saying you did your best 1v2, but he couldn’t even handle 1v1. I’ve already had Huarong talk to him. Before the Autumn Split roster photo is released, just don’t pay attention to online drama. In a couple of days, the netizens will move on to someone else.”

Without a word, Bai Wei opened his phone and searched for OLG-Show.

CatClaw was full of worry. “You two have been through storms. Your mental fortitude’s leveled up several tiers. I’m not worried about you. Show is still young, just started pro. Right now, people online have already dug up that he worked as a companion at Ushering Wealth’s shop, but they haven’t found out he was a starter for BOX last year. If the BOX situation gets exposed, considering his existing bad blood with Nestle, he might get someone to throw more dirt.”

After thinking, CatClaw added, “And right now, your relationship with him is very delicate. On one hand, Show’s voice sounds good, so lots of people imagine he’s a handsome guy. When you two duo, some are shipping your CP. But the voice saying he’s a fatty with a young voice is also loud. The shippers are worried he really is 200 kilos. No matter how shippable, you really can’t ship a 200-kilo guy.”

Bai Wei looked at several stream clips, opened the comments. Basically, no positive reviews. One person maliciously speculated Show was a 200-kilo ugly guy; everyone else echoed it. Occasionally, there were skeptical voices, but no one paid them any mind.

Bai Wei watched for a long time, then closed his eyes, rubbing his temples.

“Release the roster photo early. No one should talk about him like this.”

CatClaw said, surprised, “Releasing it now means admitting we’re reacting to the haters’ drama, letting everyone know we’re paying attention to this.”

“As for his skill, it’ll be proven in competition. As for what he looks like—” Bai Wei stood up, deciding to go downstairs and find the person in question. “Letting them appreciate it early is also fine.”

Sensing something was off, CatClaw called out to stop him. “You have thoughts about Show?”

Bai Wei halted, arms crossed.

Only then did CatClaw notice that the young master’s white hair seemed groomed today. He wasn’t gay, so he didn’t pay attention to a man’s appearance. Now, thinking back, it seemed like since the day Show moved into the base, Young Master Bai had been making himself neat and tidy every day.

Not necessarily full makeup, but at least his outfit was pleasing. Coupled with his already striking height and face, he didn’t need to pose much; he was like a peacock in full display, dazzlingly handsome.

CatClaw’s expression became serious. “Do you know what the conflict between him and Nestle was?”

Bai Wei raised an eyebrow slightly. “Wasn’t it that he didn’t listen to Nestle’s shot-calling, and Nestle felt his authority as coach was challenged, so he screwed over the newcomer?”

“If it was just that, would he drive someone to such extremes?” CatClaw took a deep breath. “Show told me it was a romantic issue.”

Bai Wei paused for a second.

“Nestle is definitely straight. So this romantic issue Show mentioned must involve a woman. Are you sure… Show would like men?”

~

Pineapple: [The internet’s just a bunch of idiots! You’re the pillar of our Laifu Esports! Are they blind, can’t they see your skill? Besides the hacker matches, you had map clears every single time! There were even games where God D just played the pure boss and didn’t lift a finger. Your solo vs trios also got map clears.]

[Trashing your skill, trashing your voice, even trashing your looks. Why does your appearance matter to them? Going pro isn’t about who’s the most handsome winning the championship. Your gun skill is freaking amazing.]

[It makes me so mad. They dare to call God Show bad? Then what am I? Worse than bad?]

Yan Xiu looked at the messages sent on WeChat.

After duoing with Danger last night, the drama about him online had taken off. He hadn’t paid attention to it, but the game companions he knew from before were all messaging him asking what was going on.

He simply replied “ignore them” with a sticker, turned off his phone, and continued gaming.

When Bai Wei came downstairs from the third-floor manager’s office, what he saw was Yan Xiu’s thin back.

Qin Baotian was streaming, filling hours; the entire training room echoed with his noisy chatter. Yan Xiu was solo vs trios, fully immersed in his game. He had wiped a squad atop the Babel Tower. The second squad came to third-party too quickly. He had just finished healing, hadn’t repaired his armor yet, and was forced into combat. He managed a 1v2 but couldn’t handle the third, getting sniped.

The four big red words “Extraction Failed” flashed on his monitor. He immediately started the next match.

Jack came downstairs and found Bai Wei watching the newcomer. “According to Auntie Wang, he’s been here since 7 AM, training non-stop until now.”

Last night, the two had streamed until 2 AM. Meaning Yan Xiu had slept at most five hours, probably less.

What should and shouldn’t have been seen—he’d seen it all.

Bai Wei watched a while longer, then looked away. He logged into several social platforms he hadn’t touched in ages, opened OLG’s official account, found the account OLG-Show on the latest Autumn Split roster, followed it one by one, and then set all follows to visible.

Thousands refreshed Danger’s account daily. Not long after, CatClaw sent a WeChat. [What drama are you stirring now, Young Master?]

Bai Wei didn’t reply. He walked into the training room and stopped at Yan Xiu’s desk. He rapped his knuckles on the table. Yan Xiu looked up blankly and removed his headset.

“God D?”

Bai Wei asked, “Trios?”

Yan Xiu froze. “Trios?”

Bai Wei: “Call Qin Baotian too.”

Qin Baotian and Rose were both catching up on their required streaming hours. Bai Wei’s voice passed through their headsets into their streams.

[Is my hubby here? Is my hubby here? Ah ah ah ah ah!!!]

[Rose, turn on your camera, I wanna see my hubby’s handsome face, roar roar!!]

[When is CEO Bai streaming again?]

[Ah ah ah ah ah I’m dying. Is OLG gonna trio?!]

Rose also took off his headset, laughing and crying at the same time. “Hey hey, I’m still here, y’know. Spoiling the new guy so openly right in front of me.”

“Then forget Qin Baotian. Brother Feng, you in?” Bai Wei asked directly.

Qingbao’s stream also exploded. Qin Baotian was in the middle of an Ascension mission, his headset full of system BGM. Only seeing the flooding chat did he realize what was happening. He quickly took off his headset. “No way, so I’m the one being subbed out? Show doesn’t even play the recon role!”

Bai Wei walked around to his own spot and booted up his PC. His voice was faint, a bit listless. “He can play any role.”

Rose looked at the chat in his own stream. “How did this circle back to me?”

Yan Xiu didn’t understand what Bai Wei meant.

All three members of the OLG first team were drama magnets, especially Bai Wei. Every casual sentence, every expression he made… would be clipped, screenshotted, and spread all over the internet.

Bai Wei entered the game. Content creators were already uploading clips of Qingbao and Rose’s streams. The words he’d just spoken in the training room spread across the web.

In the end, they still called Qin Baotian. Rose willingly expressed he wanted to continue solo vs trios practice.

Though no one had ever stated it openly, OLG and the fans tacitly assumed Show would ultimately replace Rose’s flex role. If he hadn’t wanted to win one more championship before retiring, Rose wouldn’t have competed again at the start of this year. Otherwise, Little Gun wouldn’t have been recruited to the first team as a sub at the end of last year.

Too bad this championship he’d waited a year for… the moment he wanted it most, it never came within reach again.

Bai Wei’s streaming hours for the month were already fulfilled, so he didn’t start a stream. All the fans surged into Qin Baotian’s stream. He chatted with his fans while playing trios.

“That rookie on the Wolves? Heard of him. Insanely strong. But definitely not stronger than me.”

“Mods, ban anyone starting drama. Whoever said good voice = 100% fatty? Besides, so what if he’s fat? Who dares discriminate against fat people, mods just block ’em all.”

“Show is very good-looking. How good-looking, I won’t go into detail. You’ll see when the roster photo drops. I definitely can’t turn on my camera. Jack won’t allow it. The whiteboard behind me has new strategic plans on it. Plus, I haven’t washed my hair.”

…

The three played all afternoon. Since the OLG official account posted the roster, Yan Xiu’s personal accounts gained another hundred thousand-plus followers.

After dinner that night, Bai Wei assigned training tasks to everyone.

At 3 AM, the training room lights went out. Yan Xiu rubbed his wrists and went upstairs.

Rose had gone off-stream and to bed around 11 PM—he could be called the number one health guru of the DFL. Qin Baotian had also gone offline not long after. When Yan Xiu came back to his senses, he was the only one left in the training room.

The tap-tap of footsteps climbed the stairs. Just as he reached the third-floor landing, another set of footsteps came downwards from above.

Yan Xiu looked up.

“God D?” he asked in surprise, his light-colored pupils full of astonishment.

Bai Wei wore a black short-sleeve. A silver bracelet on his wrist swayed slightly near his pants pocket. He seemed to have just come from the smoking room, a faint smell of smoke lingering on him.

“You trained this late?”

Yan Xiu was silent for a moment, then nodded lightly. “Wanted more practice.” He kept his eyes down, standing quietly in the stairwell’s shadows.

Bai Wei looked down.

Yan Xiu’s shirt had been washed many times; the collar was loose. His collarbones were faintly visible with each breath.

Bai Wei averted his gaze. “I ordered a late-night snack. What’s your WeChat?”

“Huh?”

The two sentences were so unrelated. Yan Xiu took his phone from his pocket and opened his WeChat QR code.

Bai Wei added him as a friend.

After moving into the OLG base, besides Sister Hua, Yan Xiu had only added CatClaw and Rose. Everyone lived in the same building. If there was anything, just knock on the next door. Even Qin Baotian hadn’t remembered to add him as a friend.

Yan Xiu stared at the new red notification on WeChat in a daze.

Bai Wei’s WeChat avatar was a simple black-and-white silhouette, face unclear. His ID was just “V.”

Suddenly, a new WeChat message popped up.

[V transferred 520 yuan to you]

Yan Xiu’s head shot up.

Bai Wei held his phone in one hand, having just entered his payment password. The stairwell was too dim; his expression was ambiguous.

He said, “The skin I’m gifting you. It’s the Polaris.”