WCG Chapter 99.2

In the World Championship, TLG had an undefeated record, making it all the way to the semifinals. The Chinese audience was thrilled, but there were always a few people with Korean IPs claiming they had watched the matches in person and saying things like “it’s hard to describe.”  

Then came the familiar accusations of “luck” and “cheating” that Jiang Shi had heard before.  

Marketing accounts even analyzed their group draw, belittling their opponents, suggesting that teams from other regions were just there for entertainment and that TLG somehow ended up facing all of them. They questioned how TLG managed to pull that off.  

Today, after defeating YB’s second team, TLG didn’t receive much celebration. Instead, the top trending topic was a clip of Xie Xu coldly pushing away the camera.  

Accusations of arrogance, physical aggression, poor attitude, and abuse of power were all thrown at Xie Xu.  

At least some rational fans in China pointed out that the situation shouldn’t be judged solely by appearances, but Korean social media was overwhelmingly filled with criticism.  

This was one of the reasons why Chengcheng and the others decided to cook for themselves today. Apart from celebrating, they also feared their food might be tampered with, so they kept a close watch.  

Jiang Shi originally just wanted to focus on playing the game, but he hadn’t expected the backlash to spread to Xie Xu.  

That, he couldn’t tolerate.  

From the moment he returned to his room, he had been working on this.  

Since he needed image translation for Korean sites, it was slow, but he manually scrolled through hundreds of posts, picked out more than a dozen typical ones, and sent them to Bamboo to check the specific IPs.  

Bamboo studied this field in university, so it wasn’t difficult for him.  

Just now, Bamboo had sent back the results.  

North had anticipated the doubts against TLG and had already prepared a response. “I understand that you have strong opinions about the online controversy. We’ve tried our best to clarify things, but it hasn’t helped. Regarding this matter, both I and YB sincerely apologize. I hope this won’t affect your performance in the upcoming matches.”  

Listening to his grandiose words, Jiang Shi curled his lips into a mocking smile. “You’re really good at putting on a show, but it doesn’t matter. I’m just letting you know.”  

With that, he turned his computer screen toward North. “I heard you have quite a few fans in China. Here, take a look at something interesting.”  

North looked down and saw Jiang Shi’s chat logs with two big accounts. 

One Chinese, one Korean. Both were well-known marketing accounts with a large following.  

The Korean account holder was actually Chinese and responded to Jiang Shi immediately, saying he would sort out the information and post it soon.  

When North saw their conversation, his composed expression completely shattered. “Where did you get this!?”  

Jiang Shi had extracted a large number of IP addresses and compared them with YB’s.  

The results were clear as day.  

[Just to clarify, I’m not a fan of anyone. I just jumped on the hype and checked out this TLG team. They act so arrogant in person, and their gameplay is just average. The main issue is that their opponents are too weak.]  

[TLG beat YB’s second team today, and they’re acting all high and mighty. Korean media tried to give them more screen time, but they just threw attitudes. Their captain even pushed the camera away. I wonder if the equipment got damaged…]  

[Chinese people have such low standards. Can we kick this region out of future World Championships? I don’t want to watch them.]  

Almost every post was inflammatory and manipulative.  

Jiang Shi tilted his head and watched North’s face turn pale. “Your hired trolls are seriously low-level. I spotted them at a glance.”  

He had argued with countless internet trolls during his streams. He could immediately tell who was a real bystander and who had ulterior motives.  

“I also found something interesting… real YB fans seem to reject you quite a bit,” Jiang Shi blinked. “You’ve been in YB for so long, yet you still rely on your leftover domestic fans to maintain face.”  

Back when North and Xu were side by side in China, he was admired. But after moving to Korea, he got scolded like a poor grandson. How ironic.  

Jiang Shi’s gaze suddenly showed a trace of pity. “But it looks like you’re about to lose even those remaining fans.”  

He thoughtfully switched to his chat with a Chinese marketing account, highlighting a circled alt account.  

[Zaibei: I used to be a TLG fan, but now that they’ve had a little success, they’re getting too arrogant. Even Xu is acting like a big shot. My illusions are completely shattered. I’m done being a fan.]  

Attached was a very blurry video, a segment from an old livestream.  

North immediately recognized it as a clip from when he was still in TLG. The video paused at a specific moment, zooming in to show his computer background—clearly running a Weibo alt account with the exact same username as the one making that post.  

He instinctively tried to grab the laptop, but Jiang Shi was faster, retreating to the head of the bed with it. He smirked, “Angry? Or just scared?”  

Jiang Shi hadn’t expected that researching North’s gameplay style would lead to this kind of discovery.  

Hearing the sound of running water from the bathroom, North suppressed his impulse to snatch the laptop and gritted his teeth. “What do you want?”  

Jiang Shi closed the laptop, his tone innocent. “That’s it! I’m just treating you the same way you treated Xu.”  

He could already imagine the reaction from North’s domestic fans when they saw this near-conclusive evidence.  

North’s remaining fans were hardcore loyalists, many of whom had initially shipped him and Xu. Seeing North’s backstabbing comments, unfollowing would be the least of their reactions.  

Jiang Shi got out of bed, put on his slippers, and walked to the door, making a “please leave” gesture. “Alright, I’ve said everything I needed to say.”  

“Those two accounts are very efficient. I also hired quite a few water army, so you might want to turn off your DMs,” Jiang Shi kindly reminded him. “Hope this doesn’t affect your match performance~”  

Hearing his own words thrown back at him, North’s face turned as black as the bottom of a pot.  

At that moment, the bathroom water shut off, and Xie Xu’s voice came from inside. “The bathtub is ready. Are you going to soak? Want to use my shower gel?”  

Jiang Shi almost lost his cold and mocking expression. He turned his head and vaguely replied, “Yeah! I’ll be there in a bit.”  

North’s expression darkened further.  

“I’m about to take a bath with Xu. You being here is a bit awkward—”  

Jiang Shi directly pushed North out of the room and even stuffed the meal North had brought into his arms. “Take care.”  

Before shutting the door, Jiang Shi left him with one last sentence.  

“As long as Xu keeps playing, I’ll be right there with him. And YB? What kind of champion team is that? This year’s trophy belongs to TLG.”  

With that, he slammed the door shut, nearly hitting North’s face.  

North hadn’t expected Jiang Shi to retaliate like this.  

After standing at the door for a moment, he calmed down and came up with a plan.  

He couldn’t afford to lose those fans. If he could suppress the controversy, he would. As long as he won the championship, no amount of scandals would change the fact that he was the glorious North.  

Just as he reached into his pocket for his phone, two people approached him.  

Although unfamiliar, North recognized them as TLG’s jungle-mid duo, Lele and Back.  

Jiang Lele, carrying a half-cut watermelon, immediately stopped upon seeing North and looked wary. Clearly, he recognized him too.  

North’s eyes flickered. He stepped forward with a smile and extended a hand. “Hello, I’m North. We met briefly when I was in TLG.”  

Back when North was about to transfer to YB, Lele had just been promoted to the starting lineup. They had encountered each other a few times.  

Jiang Lele instinctively covered the exposed watermelon flesh with his other hand. “What do you want?”  

Not only did he refuse the handshake, but he also seemed afraid that North might poison his fruit.  

North lifted the plastic bag in his other hand. “I originally brought food for Xu, but he’s already eaten.”  

Jiang Lele looked at the meal box and blurted out, “Did you poison it?”  

Hearing the exact same words again, North’s fake smile completely vanished.  

What kind of people had TLG recruited?

It was useless to show goodwill to deal with such people. North went straight to the point, “Just now, Time told me that he wanted to take a bath with Xu.”

The finals were approaching, and yet the core players of the team were so unscrupulous. If they were in YB, they would be severely punished.

Jiang Lele’s eyes widened in shock. North knew that he was successful. Just as he was about to make further comments, he heard Jiang Lele excitedly said: “Fuck! Little White Hair is so awesome?”

North: “?”

Jiang Lele even wanted to eavesdrop by sticking to the door, but Yu Hui, who couldn’t bear it, pulled him back, “You think Captain won’t beat you?” 

Jiang Lele had to give up his plans.

North couldn’t understand their brain circuits at all. His brows were deeply furrowed, looking utterly baffled. “They obviously didn’t take the game seriously. Besides, wouldn’t this relationship affect you?”

Jiang Lele sneered in his heart.

If Jiang Shi, the king of rolls, was not serious, then they probably used their feet to press the keyboard every day.

Even though he denied North in his heart, Jiang Lele still looked innocent.

“How can their love affair affect us?” Jiang Lele scooped a piece of watermelon and handed it to Yu Hui’s mouth to test for poison, and said with a smile, “Because Back and I are also dating~”

Yu Hui stuffed the watermelon back into Jiang Lele’s mouth with an expressionless face, “Don’t get sick.”

After that, he strode forward.

Jiang Lele chattered with a spoiled voice, trailing behind Yu Hui. “Ba–ck! You’re so cruel to me. Aren’t I your darling mid-laner baby?” 

Then, the two entered the same room.

“Back, let’s take a bath together? Let’s have a romantic bubble bath~”

After this sentence, there was another familiar slamming of the door.

North：“……”

T/L: no, Lele and Back aren’t dating. Yet. They’ll be dating in the extra chapters~ Poor Zhao Jiu…