WCG Chapter 62.1

Merry Christmas!

Thank you Paprika, w, and Hannibaru for the generous donations! I’ll upload the bonus chapters ASAP~ For now, enjoy 3 bonus updates for this series!

Jiang Shi stared at the familiar reply, blinking.  

[Team Chat] Your Dad Is Here: Wow, really? How do you know that line? Coincidence? Or were you watching that impersonator’s stream earlier?

Considering the overlap between Xu’s fans and his own, it wouldn’t be surprising if this person had found the stream.  

[Team Chat] Your Dad Is Here: Or… is that what you actually think?

If it was the latter, this person seemed quite perceptive. 

Jiang Shi’s smirk widened.  

The person didn’t respond, though. Instead, they continued playing in Xu’s characteristic style. They kept sticking close to Jiang Shi, scouting when he pushed towers, and covering his retreat during kills.  

It made Jiang Shi feel incredibly at ease.  

[Team Chat] Your Dad Is Here: You’re pretty good, but weren’t you a main ADC? No need to change just to imitate Xu.

[Team Chat] Your Dad Is Here: How about you try imitating me? I’m an ADC main too.

The earlier compliments had clearly softened Jiang Shi’s stance enough for him to make such a generous suggestion.  

Xu chuckled softly at the message.  

[Team Chat] Summer Night Dark Tune: I can’t imitate you.

Indeed, no one could replicate Jiang Shi’s unique playstyle and personality.  

Jiang Shi, not expecting his lengthy persuasion to be brushed off so nonchalantly, felt slightly irritated. 

He wasn’t known for his patience, so he quickly lost interest in further coaxing.  

His phone buzzed at just the right moment. It was a message from Xu.  

[Xu: There’s a wonton shop near the internet café that tastes pretty good. Want to take your friend to try it?]  

[Obedient Jiangjiang: No, I’ll just eat the buffet.] 

Xu’s suggestion gave Jiang Shi a bit more patience, so he made one last “plea” to his supposed fan.  

[Team Chat] Your Dad Is Here: Still stubborn, huh? I’m only saying this because you’re my fan. Don’t make me take drastic measures.

Jiang Shi had his reasons for this persistence. This player’s style was too similar to Xu’s, and they had even publicly claimed to be Xu when asked. If they did something bad, it might sully Xu’s reputation.  

Meanwhile, Xu glanced at his vibrating phone. 

He saw Jiang Shi’s reply and knew exactly that “buffet” meant instant noodles.

He had finally gained a few pounds thanks to the team’s care, and now he’s back eating instant noodles? If Xie Xu remembered correctly, Jiang Shi only drank a bottle of milk for breakfast today.

Xie Xu’s gaze darkened slightly. He typed a message in the game chat.  

[Team Chat] Summer Night Dark Tune: Come to XX Wonton Shop. 

Jiang Shi squinted at the message.  

Bamboo also caught on immediately. “Tch, looks like your fan challenged you to a fight. They probably know where you live. That shop is just around the corner.”

Jiang Shi never backed down from a challenge.  

[Team Chat] Your Dad Is Here: Just wait for me.

[Team Chat] Summer Night Dark Tune: Table 8.  

With the terms set, Jiang Shi didn’t drag out the game any longer. He finished it quickly, packed up his instant noodles, and rushed to the wonton shop with Bamboo in tow.  

Jiang Shi was ready to see just what kind of stubborn fan he was dealing with.  

Upon arriving, they spotted Table 8 with two steaming bowls of wontons already placed there.  

The bowls were brimming with hot wontons, steam wafting into the air.  

Jiang Shi hesitated, glancing around the shop. Everyone else seemed to be regular diners.  

His eyes returned to the wontons. Something about it felt off. “Is this guy trying to poison us?”  

The shop owner overheard him and rolled their eyes. “These are fresh wontons I just made. Poison? Don’t slander my shop.”  

Bamboo quickly explained, “No, no, boss. He didn’t mean you. Someone asked us to come here.”  

The owner looked at Jiang Shi’s flamboyant hair color and said, “I know. These are for you two.”

“One of them was specifically requested to have extra dried shrimp — for the white-haired guy.”  

Jiang Shi: “?”  

He paused, confused, and corrected the shop owner, “Uhm, actually, my hair is gray.”  

Bamboo, unimpressed, retorted, “Yeah, right. It’s basically faded to white now.”  

Jiang Shi: “…”  

He used the hair dye that Jiang Lele gave him to touch up the color of his hair before the New Year. After that, he couldn’t see the previous gray at all, it was completely white. Even Yuan Yang asked him why it faded so much overnight.

Jiang Shi coughed and tried to change the subject. “This is not the point.”

He was about to ask the boss about the wontons, but immediately Bamboo pulled him to sit down.  

“What are you doing? We’re here for a fight!” Jiang Shi complained, watching Bamboo pick up the chopsticks. “Are you really letting food distract you?”  

“But what does that fan mean? How do they know that I like extra shrimp in my wonton?” 

Bamboo took a bite of his bowl of wontons and hinted, “You didn’t know?”  

Bamboo immediately realized it when he saw the boss bring out the wontons.

Jiang Shi poked at the fat shrimps in the wonton. Suddenly, an outrageous guess emerged. He instantly froze. 

Bamboo looked at his friend’s stunned expression and swallowed the wonton in his mouth. “Finally guessed it?”

“Think about it. Who else could pull off such precise gameplay with Snowman, know that you and I were duo-queuing, and even pinpoint their internet café’s location?”

Bamboo delivered the final blow, “Also, didn’t Xu ask you about dinner earlier?”  

At that time, he saw Jiang Shi replying to messages on his phone. 

Jiang Shi: “…”  

Case closed.  

Suddenly, the memory of his outrageous in-game comments hit him like a truck:  

[Train for a lifetime, and maybe then you’ll catch up.] 

[Who upset you?]

[You.]

[Stop pretending. You’re one of my fans, aren’t you?]

[Does Xu like men?]

[I think Xu likes his little AD.]

Jiang Shi’s chopsticks slipped from his hand and clattered to the floor.  

Bamboo calmly threw the dirty chopsticks into the trash can, opened a new pair for him, said to the devastated-looking Jiang Shi: “Relax. If Xu’s feeding you like this, it means he didn’t take your antics to heart.”  

“That’s not the point.” Jiang Shi groaned, feeling scratching his hair with hand wasn’t enough and he wanted to scratch his toes. He was that embarrassed. “Did I seriously call myself his dad earlier?”  

Bamboo nodded with a deadpan expression. “Didn’t your first interaction with Xu involve you using the ID ‘Your Father Jiang’? Shouldn’t you be used to it by now?”  

History truly does repeat itself.  

Jiang Shi felt numb. How could anyone get used to this?  

Bamboo, unfazed, took another bite of wontons. “Well, these are really good. Didn’t you used to come here a lot too? Guess Xu knows you pretty well.”  

Jiang Shi barely responded. 

He couldn’t taste the wontons at all.  

Seeing him distractedly eating while checking his phone, Bamboo finally couldn’t take it anymore. “Just talk to him. Stop brooding.”  

There must be an explanation for this matter.

Jiang Shi asked, exasperated. “Talk? How? Should I confess that the guy calling himself Xu’s dad and asking if he likes men was actually ‘Obedient Jiangjiang’?”  

Bamboo: “…”  

“Then what’s your plan?”  

Jiang Shi’s eyes lit up with a sudden idea. “What if we just say it was you playing on my account?”  

Bamboo rolled his eyes, he knew Jiang Shi’s character very well. He opened his WeChat and handed it to Jiang Shi. “You go and explain it yourself.”  

He didn’t care anyway, as long as Jiang Shi could save a sliver of his dignity.

Jiang Shi took Bamboo’s phone and immediately picked out his words. Five minutes later, he had edited the message. 

[Bamboo: That ‘Your Dad Is Here’ account was me. It had nothing to do with Jiang Shi. He tried to stop me, but I didn’t listen and said a bunch of weird things. Sorry about that.]

He even added an apologetic sticker for good measure.  

The chat displayed “The other party is typing…”  

Jiang Shi held his breath, awaiting judgment.  

[Xu: Mm.]

[Xu: Are the wontons tasty? I added extra dried shrimp just for you.]  

Jiang Shi felt relieved when Xie Xu didn’t press further. The wontons and dried shrimp in his mouth suddenly tasted even better.  

[Bamboo: Delicious, thank you, Captain!]  

After sending the message, he happily took a sip of the soup and even had the leisure to chat with Bamboo. “This place still has the same old flavor. No wonder it’s packed with people even with the New Year coming up.”  

Before joining TLG, he used to come here alone for wontons quite often—sometimes three meals a day.  

He had only taken a few bites when his phone vibrated on the table.  

This time, Xie Xu didn’t reply as quickly as before. It took him two or three minutes to respond.  

[Xu: No need to thank me, just don’t eat instant noodles.]  

[Xu: Let me know when you get home.]  

Jiang Shi froze for a moment when he saw the message. Then, he turned to Bamboo with a serious expression. “Even if we’re brothers, if you try to take Xie Xu from me, you’re finished.”  

“You’d better confess honestly.” He handed Bamboo his phone screen and gritted his teeth. “When the hell did you get so close to Xu?”  

Reporting when you get home? Wasn’t that a privilege only he had?  

Bamboo, confused by Jiang Shi’s accusatory tone, asked, “What on earth are you talking about?”  

The only time he’d talked to Xie Xu was when Xie Xu asked him to take good care of Jiang Shi. How were they suddenly “close”?  

Bamboo glanced at the phone screen and scrolled up until he saw the message—  

[Thank you, Captain.]  

Bamboo: “…”  

He grabbed the phone, turned the screen to face Jiang Shi, and said, “Look at what you sent.”  

Jiang Shi looked up and saw the word [Captain] in his message. Silence.  

So he was the idiot.  

So Xie Xu’s messages were meant for him? And he’d just gone along with it without calling him out?  

And that in-game line about Xu liking his little AD… was that real or just teasing too?  

With the situation at this point, he might as well thicken his skin and ask directly.  

Jiang Shi was just about to text when his phone rang. The landlord’s anxious voice came through: “Your cat scratched someone!”