WCG Chapter 74

Thank you TimelessKing for the donation~ These 2 bonus chapters are sponsored by them and Paprika (from the leftover prev donatoin)!

Jiang Shi was stunned for a moment, feeling that Xie Xu’s words were a bit strange. However, he still let him in without hesitation and kicked Jiang Lele out. “Go play with Back.”  

He wanted to have a sweet duo queue with Xie Xu.  

Once he invited Xie Xu, Jiang Shi immediately hit the “Start Matchmaking” button without even saying a word. 

First, get him into the game.  

During the hero selection phase, neither of them spoke.  

Jiang Shi was feeling anxious about what Jiang Lele had said earlier — those two words: “in love.”  

Xie Xu seemed to have already guessed that the person Jiang Shi mentioned was his ex-boyfriend from an online relationship.  

But Jiang Shi hadn’t said anything that gave it away. How did Xie Xu know?  

While Xie Xu was choosing his hero, Jiang Shi snuck a glance at him, but all he could see was his profile, looking slightly cold.  

Jiang Shi’s intuition told him that Xie Xu wasn’t in a great mood.  

His heart skipped a beat—  

Xie Xu was jealous!  

Maybe it was because they were in an ambiguous stage of their relationship. Xie Xu seemed particularly sensitive to any information about his ex, often trying to get him to spill details, but Jiang Shi had always been cautious about what he said.  

Even so, it seemed Xie Xu had still gotten jealous.  

Looks like he has to coax Xie Xu. 

Seeing that Xie Xu hadn’t selected a hero for a long time, Jiang Shi coughed lightly. “Captain, if you’re not in the mood to play, you can pick The Cat. I’ll carry you.”  

This was his way of letting Xie Xu take it easy.  

But after saying that, Jiang Shi realized something. He turned his head to look at Xie Xu. “Captain, can you hear my mic clearly?”  

He asked several times, but Xie Xu didn’t respond.  

Xie Xu could hear Jiang Shi’s voice perfectly well. Beneath the heavy, muffled noise of the mic was the boy’s naturally clean tone, and when he called him “Captain,” the intonation was the same as when he used to call him “Gege”—with a slightly rising pitch at the end, sounding obedient, almost like he was whining.  

Every time Jiang Shi spoke, it only made Xie Xu’s expression grow darker.  

The voice coming through the mic was identical to the one he’d heard a year ago from his missing online boyfriend.  

Jiang Shi took off his headset, puzzled. “Captain?”  

[Gege.]

The voice in reality merged with the one from the mic from before. 

Xie Xu let out a long sigh of relief.  

His feelings were complicated.  

He was glad his former online boyfriend was still living well and had even come back into his life.  

But the boy seemed to have completely forgotten about him.  

Xie Xu’s fingers twitched, and he selected The Cat.  

In the past, when they duo-queued, the hero he played most often with Jiang Shi was The Cat.  

Sure enough, when Jiang Shi saw the hero selection, his eyes lit up.  

He loved being close to Xie Xu.  

“Captain, I’ll give you the blue buff. The Cat deserves to have a blue buff under her feet!”  

“Gege, you look so cool with a blue buff! I’ll clear the rest of the jungle for you!”  

Throughout the match, Jiang Shi didn’t let anyone knock Xie Xu down. Whenever Xie Xu was chased while warding, Jiang Shi was the first to come to his aid.  

“Captain, you hide. I’ll avenge you. They’re done for!”  

[Gege, you hide. I’ll fight back right now!]

Later in the game, during a team fight, Jiang Shi even flashed in to block a lethal attack aimed at Xie Xu, leaving himself critically injured and dying.  

Xie Xu frowned. “That wasn’t necessary. You still had a bounty.”  

“I wouldn’t do that in a professional match,” Jiang Shi quickly explained. “But in ranked games, I won’t let you die before I do.”  

[I’ll always stand in front to protect Gege!]

Xie Xu fell silent.  

After confirming his suspicion, memories of their duo-queue games from before surfaced one by one.  

How many people had Jiang Shi sweet-talked like this?  

When the match ended, Jiang Shi had helped Xie Xu’s The Cat earn MVP.  

In the next game, they ran into some old acquaintances—Lion’s jungler Sun and their mid-laner Juzi.  

[All] Lion-Sun: What’s with this combo? New strategy?  

Xie Xu had never used The Cat in a professional match.  

Sun glanced at his livestream chat.  

[All] Lion-Sun: Someone in my stream said every time you play like this, it’s to show off your relationship with Xu.  

[All] Lion-Sun: So, are you two really dating?  

Neither of them responded.  

Xie Xu couldn’t be bothered, and Jiang Shi didn’t like Sun at all.  

Date my ass! He’s still trying to appease Xie Xu who was jealous over his ex-boyfriend!  

“Why are my fans wandering around in his stream?” Jiang Shi muttered.  

Xie Xu seemed to remember something and said, “We just finished a match. Your fans probably have a lot to say. You should start your stream.”  

He had something he wanted to discuss with Jiang Shi’s fans.  

Since Xie Xu suggested it, Jiang Shi didn’t hesitate and quickly went live.  

 [Why did you suddenly start the livestream?]

[Okay, okay, Little White Hair, keep this frequent livestream.] 

[I heard that Sun was livestreaming and met T Bao, so I was about to go over his stream.] 

[Upstairs, go back to Sun’s instead. I just came back from Sun’s channel, and his livestream channel was quite interesting.]

Jiang Shi sent 100 lucky bags worth 10 yuan on his channel. “Are you really my fan? If you get my lucky bag, you’re not allowed to change channels[mfn]OG: Climb (the) wall. Slang for going to someone else (not your bias) channel/room/etc OR changing your bias[/mfn].

[What is this little idiot saying? I can’t hear him at all, his voice sounds like it was underwater.] 

[What a shtty mic he uses.] 

[Sisters, based on the lucky bags and lip movements, he should want to throw money at us so that we won’t go over other people’s channel.]

[…does he really think he can bribe us with that little money?] 

[Just go over!] 

Although they said that, Jiang Shi’s fans in his channel never stopped commenting or sending fan cards. They all took advantage of Jiang Shi’s livestream to increase their intimacy and upgrade their card levels.

Jiang Shi frowned when he saw many people in his livestream channel complaining about his bad and unclear microphone. “Are you sure you can’t hear my voice clearly?”

—If so, why can Xie Xu hear what he says every time?

Forget it, as long as there is no problem communicating with Xie Xu, it’s fine.

“It’s time to test our father-son relationship.” Jiang Shi said leisurely, “If you can’t hear clearly, it must be because our bond is not deep enough. Watch Dad’s operation carefully.”

[What is he mumbling to himself? ]

[I originally thought that his previous mic was lethally garbage enough, so I didn’t expect this little idiot to have such a hidden ultimate weapon. ]

[Family members, I can’t take it anymore. I turned down the volume of my headphones. ]

[If this continues, T Bao will be downgraded from a handsome streamer to a silly one in my mind.] 

Xie Xu also saw the comments were full of complaints. “Time said that everyone is an old fan and should be able to hear it clearly.”

After a brief pause, he added, “Time also said that he would play well and live up to your expectations.” 

[This pause is very clever.]

[The little idiot must not have said anything nice.]

[Xu’s voice made me turn the volume back up.] 

[As the captain of TLG, Xu has given too much to this family.]

[This is not the captain’s job. Have you ever seen Xu manage Lele’s livestream channel?]

[That’s right, this is clearly a special treatment for boyfriend only~]

Jiang Shi saw this comment and couldn’t help but glance at Xie Xu.

However, Xie Xu seemed to be just a translator for him. Seeing these, he didn’t explain or show any extra expression.

Didn’t he appease people with his performance in the last game? He could only work harder in this game.

Because of the collision with Lion’s jungler and Juzi, new and old grudges emerge. Xie Xu kept close and connected to Jiang Shi at all times using his skill. 

Sun came down to the bottom lane frequently, but never succeeded in catching them off-guard.

It’s a well-known fact that Xie Xu is really good at roaming and establishing rhythm. Even if he plays as the Cat, the battlefield is still dancing to his tune. 

Unfortunately for Sun, all he could do whenever he saw Xie Xu’s hero come to hop at Senna’s head was click his tongue in frustration. 

[All]Lion-Sun: You lovebirds won the match so you two started to play around in the ranking, right?

[All]Lion-Sun: Just wait! I will beat you in this game too!

He and Juzi got the combat power!

Xie Xu, who had nothing to do, finally replied.

[All]TLG-Xu: Were you scolded by the coach during the review? Why so angry? 

[All]Lion-Sun: …

[All]Lion-Sun: Just because you know doesn’t mean you have to say it, okay? 

They just finished the review and were scolded. The coach said when was he stupid enough to be fooled by a newcomer in the official arena.

[All]Lion-Sun: Why isn’t Time talking?

While typing, he and Juzi went to the bottom lane.

Jiang Shi killed their team’s AD in the last wave, but he didn’t dodge.

Plus, The Cat’s ability to protect the ADC was still a little lacking. With the cooperation between Sun and Juzi, they were able to tower-dive Jiang Shi. 

After a few seconds, Jiang Shi responded.

[All] TLG-Time: I’m getting blue buff for my captain. 

Sun froze for a moment. The blue buff area was on the upper side of the enemy’s map — why was Jiang Shi going so far?  

After missing his chance in the bottom lane, Sun realized what was happening and rushed back to his own blue zone.  

The freshly spawned blue buff was killed right in front of him.  

The supporting The Cat had a neat, square, blue symbol under her feet now.  

With a set of dashes, Jiang Shi took The Cat and left, not forgetting to fire a volley of bullets at Sun. Above his head, a [Thank you kindly] popped up, maxing out the taunt factor.  

[Laughing to death.]  

[If I were Sun, I’d probably jump out of my chair and start cursing.]  

[Don’t be fooled by how innocent and timid this Little White Hair looks when he’s with Xu. When it comes to matches, he’s not only aggressive but also incredibly sly.]  

[This kid was born to be a pro.]  

This round, Jiang Shi didn’t just steal the blue buff—he also took down the mid-lane tower in the process.  

Trading the mid-lane tower for the bottom-lane one? Huge profit.  

After clearing the wave and collecting a round of resources, Jiang Shi returned to base with The Cat.  

Since the two were linked, he didn’t need to switch views to see what Xie Xu was doing.  

Xie Xu was doing nothing. His female hero had her legs crossed, blowing bubbles above Jiang Shi’s head.  

Jiang Shi held back for a while but eventually clicked on Xie Xu’s avatar.  

Xie Xu had just returned to the fountain and paused for a moment while buying equipment. He didn’t say anything and continued shopping as usual.  

Jiang Shi pursed his lips in disappointment. In the next round, Jiang Shi and Xie Xu had a 2v3 fight. They barely managed to take down the enemy support before retreating with a sliver of health, thanks to Jiang Shi’s positioning.  

Back in the fountain, Jiang Shi clicked on The Cat’s avatar again.  

One of their teammates couldn’t take it anymore.  

[Team chat] Stop Pretending: Are you two giving each other a bath in the fountain? Clicking on each other like that.  

Jiang Shi: “…”  

Even the live stream viewers were confused and started asking questions.  

[What’s Time doing? Mocking Xu?]  

[Xu already did everything The Cat could in that last fight. What’s there to click about?]  

[Are upstairs new to this channel?] 

[The Little White Hair is just like a peacock, spreading his tail feathers and fishing for compliments!]  

[But seriously, why isn’t Xu reacting? Even if the newcomers don’t get it, Xu should.]  

Jiang Shi was also puzzled. Previously, whenever he did this, whether in ranked games or official matches, Xie Xu would always compliment him.  

He pondered for a few minutes, his expression turning serious.  

It seemed Xie Xu really cared about that ex-boyfriend—so much so that he wasn’t even willing to engage in small interactions like this anymore.  

For the rest of the match, Jiang Shi played distractedly. Combined with Sun and Juzi’s targeted plays, their team ended up losing their high ground.  

After the game ended, Jiang Shi didn’t rush to start another. He turned to Xie Xu and explained, “Captain, I really have nothing going on with my ex-boyfriend. We just played a few games online. We never met, and I’ve never even heard his voice.”  

Xie Xu glanced at the camera.  

The stream was still on.  

But the viewers didn’t understand what Jiang Shi was saying, leaving a screen full of question marks.  

Xie Xu’s gaze darkened. “Then how did he become your ex?”  

[Oh? Are we discussing exes now?]  

[Wow, a crematorium[mfn]uhhh how to explain it concisely? Basically, a dramatic romance situation? Like, if you know (wife/husband)-chasing crematorium, you understand the gist. If you don’t: the previous phrase is describing a situation where A wronged B, so B left. In the end, A regrets it so much so they have to chase B and beg for forgiveness so they can be together. It’s a very dog-blooded trope.[/mfn]! Exciting!  Love it, keep going.] 

[I’ve been a fan of the Little White Hair for over two years now. I know about his ex-boyfriend. I think he fell for him because of a hand close-up.]  

[@TLG-Xu]  

Seeing this comment, Jiang Shi almost spat blood. Just as he was about to end the troublesome stream, Xie Xu spoke. “What close-up?”  

Jiang Shi: “…”  

“A really ugly close-up,” he said seriously. “When I looked at it later, I thought the picture must’ve been Photoshopped. Otherwise, how could it be so blurry?”  

“I must’ve been fooled at the time.”  

Xie Xu’s hand on the mouse twitched slightly, and he gave Jiang Shi a strange look.  

Back then, when they had video calls, Jiang Shi wouldn’t let him speak—he’d only let him show his hands.  

[Ahhhh, Gege’s hands are so pretty! Mwah~]  

[Gege, would you consider wearing leather gloves? Either fingerless or full, they’d suit you perfectly~]  

[Gege, let’s meet sometime! Could you wear a mask when we do?]  

During that time, Jiang Shi was obsessed with his hands. 

Just like how he used to stare blankly at Xie Xu’s face when he first joined the base.  

The viewers in the livestream reacted more directly than Xie Xu.  

[I didn’t hear much else, but I definitely heard him say “ugly.”]  

[Little White Hair, are you feeling guilty? Weren’t you the one who hugged that blurry picture and cried every day after your breakup?]  

[I swear on my Level 60 fan badge, T Bao was really devoted to his ex-boyfriend. He had a hard time during that period—he’d stare at that picture in a daze after ranked games.]  

[I remember that too. I used to send T Bao gifts often because I was worried he couldn’t even afford food.]  

[T Bao must’ve been going through something. He looked completely crushed back then. The only things that could cheer him up were that close-up and a Snowman doll.]  

The commenters were all veteran fans with high-level badges, lending their words a lot of credibility.  

Seeing them reveal more and more, Jiang Shi panicked and quickly said, “That’s it for today.”  

With that, he swiftly ended the stream.  

Xie Xu took off his headset and turned to Jiang Shi. “What happened during that time?”  

“It’s nothing, Captain. Not as bad as they’re making it sound,” Jiang Shi explained. “I owed someone money back then, worked delivery during the day, streamed at night. Sometimes I got tired and vented a bit in my stream.”  

Back then, his streaming income was low, and since he thought no one was watching, he’d let loose and talked a lot about his ex-boyfriend.  

Fortunately, Xie Xu didn’t press further. He simply acknowledged with a hum and said, “You play for a while. I have something to do.”  

Jiang Shi breathed a sigh of relief and obediently responded, “Okay,” before heading off to find Zhao Jiu.  

Xie Xu watched Jiang Shi queue for another ranked game, then took out his phone and messaged a manager at Little Bear TV, Cheng Lei.  

[Xu: Can you pull up Time’s stream replays from a year ago?]  

[Cheng Lei: If he saved them, I can.]  

[Cheng Lei: But it seems like he disabled the replay function.]  

[Cheng Lei: You can still access them with your account.]  

Jiang Shi had given Xie Xu the highest-level permissions for his stream.  

With that, Xie Xu found a way and soon located the replay videos based on the dates.  

Jiang Shi streamed diligently, every night from 9 PM to midnight. But during those few days when he disappeared, his stream suddenly stopped for three days.  

Xie Xu located the replay from when he resumed streaming.  

The person in the video only showed his hands, thin and pale, holding a cup of instant noodles. When he lowered his head, a bit of gray hair and half his face were faintly visible.  

“The noodles aren’t fully cooked. They’re a bit hard,” Jiang Shi said with a slightly nasal tone, as if he’d just cried.  

He sounded pitiful.  

But in the next second, that pitiful image shattered.  

“The idiot next to me won’t stop smoking. He’s suffocating me to death.”  

Then, Jiang Shi left the screen for a few minutes. The faint sound of a heated argument could be heard, though Jiang Shi clearly won.  

When he returned, he finished the cup noodles in a few bites and resumed his ranked games. Coincidentally, he was paired with a support player using The Cat.  

[Team Chat] Don’t Look For Abuse: Support with the jungler? I can’t stand The Cat anymore.  

After that game, which they won, Jiang Shi showed no trace of happiness.  

He pulled out his phone and stared at it for a long time. From the stream’s angle, it was faintly visible that he was looking at a hand close-up.  

“This is my boyfriend. He also likes to play The Cat,” Jiang Shi said with a sniffle. “But I lost him.”  

Heartbroken, Jiang Shi tightly gripped his phone. His tone was both sad and stubborn. “I won’t like anyone else. I’ll be a widow for him all my life.”  

Xie Xu: “…”