This chapter has quite the gameplay details, but they’re not too detailed. This series is 70% romance, 20% Jiang Shi vs his fans, and 10% esports!
The next day, TLG played their first match of the new year against the Lion team.
On the way to the competition venue, Yuan Yang anxiously looked at the data online.
The hashtag #TLG Bottom Lane Relationship was lingering at the bottom of the trending topics, occasionally climbing a few spots. He had tried suppressing it multiple times, but to no avail.
Yuan Yang didn’t expect that in the two hours before a crucial match against a strong team like Lion, most of his energy would be spent suppressing this romance gossip.
“Xu, if you want to sweet-talk Xiao Shi, can’t you do it secretly? Why did you have to let the entire livestream see your signature?” Yuan Yang looked at Xie Xu with an indescribable expression. “And it’s even ‘Time’s…'”
It looked like an official announcement.
However, Xie Xu didn’t respond, and instead, Jiang Shi spoke up.
Jiang Shi quickly swallowed the bread in his mouth. “Yang-ge, it’s my fault. At the time, I asked the captain for a unique signature.”
Although he himself didn’t quite understand why Xie Xu wrote that—was it to shut up the shipper fans? Or was it purely what the signature implied?
Thinking about this, Jiang Shi couldn’t help but glance at Xie Xu.
Xie Xu was leaning back against his chair casually. Noticing Jiang Shi’s gaze, he reached out and brushed away the breadcrumbs at the corner of Jiang Shi’s mouth.
Jiang Shi quickly looked away.
Watching the two exchange glances, Yuan Yang was exasperated. “Can you two be serious for a moment? This matter could be big or small, you know?”
Following the gossip was another hashtag: #TLG Rookie ADC Abusing Makeup Artist To Tears#, which was detailed and persuasive.
The public opinion was very unfavorable for Jiang Shi.
Moreover, in the annual matches against Lion, almost a third of the live audience consisted of fans shipping Xie Xu and Sun. With the signature incident last night, not only was the internet in an uproar, but the live atmosphere was also bound to be turbulent.
“Time, do you know how badly you’ll be cursed if you lose this match?” Yuan Yang frowned so deeply his facial lines could crush a fly. “Not just that, the release date of your keyboard endorsement is right after this match. If sales plummet, it’ll seriously impact your future endorsements.”
In truth, he didn’t care whether Xie Xu and Jiang Shi were dating or not, as long as it didn’t affect their game performance. But it absolutely couldn’t be made public.
Xie Xu had been famous for a long time. Beyond being shipped with others, even his girlfriend fans alone could crush the fledgling Jiang Shi. Previously, there hadn’t been any rumors because Jiang Lele and Yu Hui had drawn attention away, and everyone assumed TLG simply love to play around like this.
Plus, Xie Xu’s obvious support had positively brought traffic to Jiang Shi through his fans.
But yesterday’s signature was too explicit, and the traffic Xie Xu brought to Jiang Shi could backfire at any moment.
Jiang Lele muttered after hearing the conversation, “So we just let T Bao get bullied by those crazy fans?”
They had already stormed into Jiang Shi’s livestream room. What was wrong with Xie Xu stepping in to resolve it?
Yu Hui replied calmly, “It’s not as simple as you think. While the captain did step in, it embarrassed those fans in public. They’ll only act crazier on-site today. In their eyes, the captain and Sun are already tied together.”
“If we lose this match, even if it’s not Time’s fault, those fans will ridicule him to death.”
Zhao Jiu also realized the gravity of the situation. “Should we call and tell the venue security to be extra cautious during checks? They won’t bring weapons, will they?”
“That’s unlikely, right?” Yuan Yang hesitated. “How about we avoid the main entrance this time and enter through the underground parking lot?”
Unexpectedly, Jiang Shi instantly vetoed this suggestion.
“No need.” As the person involved, Jiang Shi looked calmer than anyone. “Let them come.”
Anyone who backed down was a cowardly dog.
Xie Xu glanced at him. “Fighting will result in a suspension.”
Jiang Shi’s expression froze for a moment but quickly denied, “Who said I was going to fight?”
Obedient Jiangjiang would never do something so crass.
Jiang Lele thoughtfully added, “Also, no swearing. Swear just once—”
He raised five fingers at Jiang Shi. “Fifty thousand!”
Jiang Shi: “…”
Jiang Lele sighed. “I don’t even dare to imagine the storm of ridicule if we lose…”
“Who said we’ll lose?”
Xie Xu’s tone was lazy and casual. He glanced at Jiang Shi. “Time said he’d crush Sun.”
Jiang Shi had indeed said that. But coming from Xie Xu’s mouth, it sounded like—
[Time will snatch me back.]
Lately, Xie Xu had been acting strangely…
Jiang Shi lowered his head and rubbed his ears. After a moment, he let out a clear “mm.”
Both teams took their seats on stage and began checking their equipment.
The camera panned across the players’ faces as the commentators started warming up the atmosphere.
The male commentator smiled. “Today’s teams are no strangers to everyone, and they know each other very well. Looks like we’re in for another fierce battle.”
“Not necessarily,” the female commentator said, glancing at him. “This year, TLG’s style has been leaning toward aggressive fast pushes. Their previous games all ended quickly.”
The male commentator agreed. “Yes, TLG’s bot lane player, Time, is known for being an assassin-type AD. I’m looking forward to his Senna today.”
As they spoke, the director sensibly switched the camera to Time.
The esports community wasn’t large, and everyone present was well aware of what had happened in Jiang Shi’s livestream the previous night.
“Time looks a bit serious! Facing a strong team like Lion, it’s normal to feel nervous,” the male commentator remarked. “I hope he can keep his mindset steady and deliver some amazing plays.”
The female commentator, more observant, frowned slightly. “Time doesn’t seem nervous, he keeps looking toward the audience. Is he searching for his fans?”
The male commentator laughed. “Looks like Time really spoils his fans. Let’s see what surprises the fans in the audience have brought us tonight.”
The camera panned to the audience, and the fans enthusiastically lit up their signs. The flashy content momentarily left even the experienced commentators speechless.
#Battle For Dignity: If Time loses, delete your account and quite the game#
#Don’t worry, T Bao. We’ll handle those idiots for you!#
#Don’t blame us for disowning you as a son if you lose#
#Focus during lane phase, stop screen-switching to look at Xu. It’s too obvious from first-person shot#
Jiang Shi didn’t have many fans on-site, but they had made multi-line scrolling LED signs. Their high-wattage brightness completely overshadowed the Xu and Sun CP pper fans.
The official livestream chat was filled with laughter.
[HAHAHAHA, which genius came up with this idea? And it’s on a rolling display!]
[When the camera switched to the other section earlier, those CP fans’ faces were pitch-black. I’m dying of laughter hahahhahaha…]
[Numbers don’t matter when you’ve got true love fans. T Bao must be so touched on stage.]
A “touched to death” Jiang Shi was earnestly asking Yuan Yang, “They’re the ones swearing, I won’t have to pay, right?”
“Also, those might be my anti-fans instead. I don’t claim them. It has nothing to do with me.”
Yuan Yang clearly saw the glaring signs in the audience, and his eye twitched hard. “No, the staff will handle it.”
Sure enough, the sign that said “idiot” went dark quickly, but within three seconds, it lit up again.
The word “idiot” was replaced with “fool.”
Jiang Shi: “…”
Jiang Lele laughed so hard. “They’re really awesome, each one counts for ten!”
Zhao Jiu couldn’t help but glance at the audience. “Say what you will, but calling someone a fool almost feels affectionate.”
Yu Hui added, “That’s sarcasm.”
“Enough!” Yuan Yang warned them through the mic. “Don’t let this affect your mindset. Focus on checking your equipment and preparing for the match.”
After speaking, he noticed Jiang Shi still craning his neck to look. Just as he was about to remind him, he saw Jiang Shi instinctively reach to the side with his left hand. A second later, a bottle of mineral water, cap already unscrewed, was placed in his hand.
Xie Xu spoke. “Stop looking, it’ll make you dizzy.”
Jiang Shi slowly withdrew his gaze and took a sip of water.
But he obediently listened to Xie Xu and didn’t look at the audience again.
Yuan Yang suddenly felt a pang of frustration, like a parent raising an ungrateful son.
Forget it. Xie Xu’s words always worked better than his anyway.
After checking their equipment, the match finally entered the official phase.
Regular season matches were BO3, and the first game’s BP[mfn]Ban-pick. Each side taking turns to ban a hero and pick a hero.[/mfn] phase began.
Xie Xu’s Snowman was quickly banned, but this time, Lion also banned Jiang Shi’s Senna.
Those scrims have made Lion fully feel the terror of Jiang Shi’s Senna.
Looking at Lion’s fast-burst[mfn]uhh, I don’t know how to translate Lion’s line-up. Basically, a good chunk of Lion’s hero line-up can quickly kill TLG’s choice of heroes. But, it’s not entirely made of glass cannons. Just the DPS has high burst? Something like that[/mfn] line-up, Jiang Shi immediately locked on a burst DPS.
The livestream channel was drowned in a sea of question marks.
[No, wait, shouldn’t Time choose a hero with some survival capability? Xu picked a soft support[mfn]This means that Xu picked a hero with buffs/debuffs capability, no healing, minimum-to-no hard CCs[/mfn] to start the team fight in this match. Who will protect Time??]
[Does he really only know how to play assassin-style DPS? I thought today’s game was going to be interesting! Lion is obviously going to fast push the bottom lane, and he plays like this.]
[But TLG’s top-lane is a tank hero though?]
[That still depends on whether they can hold on until Nine’s tank hero is tanky enough to do his job. I think the bottom lane will be directly destroyed. ]
[I know what T Bao is thinking, “It’s better to go and fights instead waiting to be bursted down”]
[Above just revealed the truth.]
That commenter really hit the nail. No matter what AD hero Jiang Shi chose, as long as the opponent mindlessly charges at him, he will not survive.
It’s better to fight.
