TCWSITD – Chapter 25

Chapter 25 – Lin Jiang’s Livestream (Pt. 1)

OT won the match, temporarily securing the top spot with a 3-0 lead.

After the match, the internet exploded with trending topics, sending Lin Jiang and Shen Ju into another wave of popularity.

In a quieter corner, Song Zhixu also made a small appearance on the trending list—thanks to that double teleport play with Lin Jiang. Their synchronized landing earned widespread praise.

His fans flooded the comments section—

[Been stanning you, you lovable goof, for a long time now—but this is the first time I’ve seen you play this well.]

[Not sure why, but in that moment, you looked insanely cool.

[You standing next to Lin Jiang doesn’t feel out of place now.]

[You truly are the best (and chubbiest)!]

[Song Zhixu, you have to work hard to catch up with your teammates!]

After the match, Song Zhixu scrolled through the comments. He paused at the third one—and chuckled.

Hard work really does bring you closer to the people you admire.

With OT’s victory, they temporarily held first place, their popularity soaring—enough to make KUG fans grind their teeth in frustration.

But it didn’t matter. Once KUG won their next match, they’d immediately reclaim the top spot.

After the long-awaited moment, Alike finally took the stage—but his form was off, and KUG lost the first game right out of the gate.

Although they managed to win the next two games, dropping even a single round meant that their ranking ended up below OT’s.

Fans were devastated.

Rankings are determined by match wins first, and if those are tied, the number of individual game wins decides the outcome.

Originally, both KUG and OT had two 2:0 victories, making their match and game scores identical. But by the “last in, first out” rule, OT—who played later—was ranked higher than KUG.

At the time, this sparked serious outrage among KUG fans, who felt the ranking system was unfair and unreasonable.

But now that OT had gone first and KUG followed afterward—only to stumble, underperform, and lose a game—they were firmly ranked beneath OT.

As a result, the tone online shifted to this:

[KUG fan: Rankings are temporary. Who’s actually celebrating this?]

[OT fan: Our ranking is higher than yours.]

[KUG fan: What’s there to gloat about? Beating three weak teams isn’t impressive. Worry about your upcoming matches instead.]

[OT fan: Our ranking is still higher than yours.]

[KUG fan: Alike’s plays are way more impressive than Lin Jiang’s!]

[Lin Jiang fan: Our win-rate is higher than yours too.]

The KUG fans were utterly crushed. No matter how they argued, they just couldn’t win.

So, for the next two days, they collectively decided to stay off the internet—at least until KUG recovered their dignity. Then they’d come back swinging.

Lin Jiang hadn’t been paying much attention to the internet lately. When Song Zhixu showed him some online comments, his first reaction was: “Are they scolding me?”

Song Zhixu widened his eyes. “How could they scold you? You played so well—of course it’s all praise. Right now, everyone’s bashing KUG. They’re getting dragged every week.”

Lin Jiang remembered that in his past life, KUG hadn’t received this much backlash. Instead, it was him who was constantly criticized during his time in the rotation.

Every match brought a fresh wave of hate until he was too afraid to even go online. Only after management suggested he give up his starting position to Alike did the criticism finally begin to die down.

Out of curiosity, Lin Jiang scrolled through the comments—and sure enough, things were nothing like he remembered.

In his past life, he had changed his playstyle for the sake of his team, molding himself into a bland, utility-based mid laner.

In this life, he had also adapted for his team—but this time, by stepping up as the hard carry.

He hadn’t expected things to turn out so differently.

As he scrolled, Lin Jiang read each comment carefully.

So it wasn’t just Alike’s flashy plays that drew admiration. There were people who genuinely appreciated his calm, team-oriented style too.

They cheered for him, rooted for him, and hoped he would deliver the perfect ending.

[Ahhh Jiangjiang truly is an all-rounder!]

[There’s literally no champion he can’t play.]

[With a champ pool this deep, training must be exhausting, huh?]

[But hey—it’s all for the team. All to win.]

[I won’t argue online. I’ll just stay here, quietly supporting my river, waiting for the day he’s recognized by everyone!]

[I really want Lin Jiang to stream again, wuwuwu…]

Lin Jiang couldn’t help but smile. He handed the phone back to Song Zhixu, only to see him still staring at him in a daze. Lin Jiang tapped him on the forehead and said, “Spend less time on the internet and more time improving yourself.”

Song Zhixu’s heart melted at his gentle reprimand.

So, so gentle! How could someone be this gentle when scolding someone?

That night, after training for a while, Lin Jiang found himself unable to stop thinking about the online comments. He glanced at the clock—it was already 11 PM. At this hour, probably not many fans were online, right?

He opened the livestream page, typed on his keyboard, and logged into the account he hadn’t touched in nearly a month.

Since his rebirth, he hadn’t logged in even once. The account manager had reached out several times, but he always found excuses to brush them off.

Lin Jiang thought he’d hidden it well—until today’s comments made him realize he’d just been running from the online backlash all along.

If he truly wanted to sever ties with the past, the first thing he needed to confront was the demon inside his heart.

Lin Jiang opened the stream setup screen and clicked “Go Live.” Within minutes, a flood of viewers poured into the room.

[!!! Did I just see what I think I saw?!]

[I’m seriously gonna cry, river streaming in the middle of the night??]

[LIN JIANG AAAAAA you’re finally back!!]

[You’re finally here. I’m so glad I never gave up waiting.]

[Jiang ah, how am I supposed to live without you ?! ]

[Lin Jiang, you scared me to death. During the time you terminated with KUG, there was no news at all. I worried you might’ve jumped into the lake.]

Lin Jiang looked at the barrage and laughed. His camera wasn’t ready, so only his voice came through.

In the pitch-black screen, his laugh was oddly comforting, sending a warm tingle through everyone watching.

[Ahhhhh Mom! Guess what I just heard!]

[No way I’m letting my little sister hear this—she’d probably storm your door in a frenzy.]

[Who understands? I’m a grown man, and I almost got turned on by that laugh.]

[I’m willing to be a 0[mfn]0 or 做 (zuò) – slang, meaning “be the bottom or submissive partner,” often used jokingly in fandom[/mfn] for A’Jiang.]

[???]

[Damn bro, that’s savage!]

After fumbling with the camera for a while, Lin Jiang’s face finally appeared on screen.

He wasn’t very good at handling these things, so the angle was a bit weird.

Even under the unforgiving HD camera where every pore was visible, his face remained flawless no matter how awkward the angle was.

[Wait… why am I drooling now?]

[Can I just be that camera?]

[I seriously want to lick that camera.]

[??]

[You’re such a perv!]

[Guys, snap out of it. We’re here for the gameplay, okay?]

[Can we please not let people outside think we’re all perverts?!]

Lin Jiang was famously known in the scene as having a good temper. He never took harmless jokes to heart. Over time, his fans became very relaxed and free with their words.

Someone even made a highlight video called “The Calm Lin Jiang and His Crazy Fans.”

While the fans went wild in the barrage, Lin Jiang stayed cool and patiently answered every quirky question thrown his way.

Even non-fans couldn’t help but gush, “Lin Jiang and his fans are adorable together.”

Fans from rival teams even sighed, wishing they could join the fun and experience what it’s like to be one of Lin Jiang’s fans.

In the short time since Lin Jiang logged in, the barrage had already bombarded him with questions—and true to his style, he answered almost every single one.

[Fan: Where did you go during those ten days you disappeared?]

Lin Jiang took a sip of coffee. “I didn’t really disappear. I just stayed off the internet. I was busy searching for a team and didn’t know how to explain it to you guys back then.”

[Fan: Why did you choose OT?]

Lin Jiang replied earnestly, “Because I had no other team to go to.”

[Fans: ls the new team treating you well? Are your teammates bullying you?]

Lin Jiang smiled, “They treat me very well. You don’t need to worry about me. I’m very happy here.”

[Fans: I heard Shen Ju crippled two mid laners, wuwuwu… he didn’t do anything to you, right?]

Lin Jiang chuckled at the comment, setting his cup down. “Thanks for your concern, but I’m perfectly fine. Shen Ju’s actually really well-behaved.”

The barrage instantly exploded with question marks. They could understand the previous answers, but what did “Shen Ju is very well-behaved” mean?

Fans screamed one after another——

[Lin Jiang, don’t let him fool you!]

[He’s faking it! Absolutely faking it!]

[You’re so naive! He’ll eat you alive!]

[He has antisocial personality disorder!]

[Remember when he got banned for hitting someone?!]

Lin Jiang had intended to defend Shen Ju, but before he could speak, the barrage suddenly changed—

[Shen Ju, hahaha… he’s great.]

[Yeah, handsome and skilled.]

[You can tell from his face—he’s a kind-hearted little angel QAQ.]

[Jiangjiang, get along well with him, okay?]

[Hahahahaha… ]

Lin Jiang blinked, confused for a moment—until a shadow quietly fell over him from behind.

It was Shen Ju.

He stared at the chats flying across the screen. “Am I seeing things? Why does it feel like your whole barrage is roasting me?”

Lin Jiang glanced at the flood of comments—now suspiciously full of praise—and chuckled softly. Lifting his coffee, he replied, “Nope, they’re all praising you.”

He took a sip, his eyes narrowing contentedly.

Behind him, Shen Ju suddenly leaned in, nose twitching slightly as he moved closer.

The barrage instantly exploded—

[Ahhhh! Lin Jiang, watch out for a sneak attack!]

[I take full responsibility for what I said earlier—Lin Jiang had nothing to do with it!]

[Don’t touch my A’Jiang! Dog Shen, I’ll never forgive you!]

[Run, Lin Jiang, run!!]

Just as everyone thought Shen Ju was about to do something violent…

He bent down, sniffing Lin Jiang’s coffee like a curious puppy—his delicate profile framed by slightly tousled hair, looking, for once, surprisingly well-behaved.

“Vanilla,” Shen Ju murmured. “Smells really nice.”

His gaze lingered on Lin Jiang, like a puppy waiting for its owner to share a treat—just short of wagging its tail.

“Can I have a cup too?”

Lin Jiang nodded. “Sure, I’ll brew one for you.”

He got up from his seat, and Shen Ju smoothly sat down in his place. As he looked at the barrage on the screen, his lowered eyes flashed with a cold glint.

Without a word, Shen Ju took hold of the mouse and swiftly issued one-month bans to every account that had dared to trash-talk him just moments ago.

The barrage exploded again—

[Ahhh! He was faking it all along!]

[Jiang ahhh!!! I’m going to die a heroic death!]

[Lin Jiang, remember my dying words. Never trust a single word from that damn Dog Shen!]

[Lin Jiang, turn around and look at this mad dog!]

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Hi, this is strawberrypoptl! I just wanted to talk about three things:

1. Chapter Length: From here on out, the author started making each chapter about three times longer.. Previously, the translated chapters were around 8-10 pages, but now they’ve jumped to about 20–24 pages. The original still has it as one big chapter, but I like to break my translation into multiple parts because it helps me stay focused. (Sometimes I get a bit discouraged and lazy when I see how many pages I still have left to translate.)
2. Sections Upload: for now, my plan is to post all the parts together (with about 30 mins interval to not mess up the NU chapter list) so the story flows smoothly with no awkward breaks. For example, Ch26 has 3 parts: 26.1, 26.2, and 26.3. These will all be uploaded at the same time—unless I run out of stockpile of edited chapters. I’ll try to pace my self so we won’t run.

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