The next day, Jiang Lele yawned as he entered the training room. Seeing Jiang Shi with a bun in his mouth, getting ready for practice, he casually asked, “T Bao, what were you up to last night? I heard doors opening and closing several times. It was loud too, like a bang.”
At the time, he thought the base was about to explode.
Jiang Shi’s movement paused as he ate his bun. Then, he stuffed it into his mouth and mumbled, “Went out to get some water.”
Jiang Lele sat down beside him, puzzled. “But I clearly heard you talking to someone.”
Jiang Shi: “…”
They were in a different room, how could Jiang Lele still hear it!
Jiang Shi, completely serious, made something up. “I was chatting with the water. Is there a problem?”
After saying that, he pounded his chest.
He had eaten the bun too fast and was choking.
Jiang Lele stared at him, his expression saying, ‘This guy has lost it first thing in the morning.’
Just then, Xie Xu walked in and placed a cup of soy milk on Jiang Shi’s desk.
Jiang Shi took a big gulp and finally caught his breath.
Seeing Xie Xu enter, Jiang Lele turned to ask him, “Captain, did you hear anything last night?”
Their three rooms were right next to each other, with Jiang Shi’s in the middle. Jiang Lele figured Xie Xu must have heard something too.
Xie Xu noticed Jiang Shi frantically signaling at him with his eyes. He paused briefly before asking, “What did Jiang Shi say?”
“He said he went out for water… and was chatting with it,” Jiang Lele scoffed. “Who are you trying to fool—”
Before he could finish, Xie Xu calmly said, “Oh, then he was probably chatting with the water.”
His tone was steady, without the slightest hesitation, just as decisive as when he issued commands in matches.
Jiang Lele doubted his ears a little. “Huh?”
But that wasn’t even the weirdest part. Xie Xu then pulled a plush toy from his pocket and placed it beside his computer. It’s a cute and cheerful Snowman plushie, completely out of place in the cold, mechanical atmosphere of the training room.
Jiang Lele took a closer look. “Captain, since when did you start favoring that Snowman plush? Isn’t that last year’s old model? I remember we all voted it the ugliest Snowman merch! If it weren’t for you holding it up, it would’ve been a total sales flop.”
“I never looked at it closely before. Now that I do… yeah, it’s pretty ugly!”
“And you put it right where it’s visible on stream? It’s so obvious.”
With every word Jiang Lele said, Jiang Shi’s expression darkened a little more.
Before another internal war broke out between the mid and bot lane, Xie Xu swiftly soothed his ADC. “I think it looks pretty good.”
As he spoke, he patted the Snowman’s head.
Jiang Shi got the strange feeling that he was the one being patted.
He didn’t argue with Jiang Lele, but when Xie Xu kept absentmindedly squeezing the Snowman’s arms, cheeks, and feet, Jiang Shi couldn’t hold back anymore. “Can you stop messing with it?”
He couldn’t even focus on his game.
The moment he finished speaking, Xie Xu poked the Snowman’s belly.
Jiang Shi immediately zipped up his team jacket to his chin, looking defensive.
He was really ticklish.
Xie Xu chuckled, retracted his hand, and said, “Alright, I’ll listen to you.”
“I’ll be playing ranked with Nine and Back later. You and Lele practice together.”
Jiang Shi had no objections—he had been duo-queuing with Jiang Lele for a while now, and their win rate was steadily improving.
Jiang Lele, as usual, started his stream. After making sure the chat was free of anti-fans, he sighed in relief. “T Bao, why don’t you stream too? We have a minimum streaming hour requirement in our contracts, and the month is almost over. You are probably short of them.”
Jiang Shi typically focused on training and only streamed when necessary.
After doing some quick math, he realized he was still about ten hours short. If he didn’t start now, he’d be in trouble later.
The moment he went live, a flood of familiar names filled the chat.
[I knew this guy had to stream today, or else Little Bear TV would be all over him.]
[Little White Hair, ever since you went pro, you don’t care about us anymore, huh?]
[No schedule, no announcements, and you don’t placate us like before. Do you believe we’ll still be loyal to you until the end?]
[By the way, that Korean player from ST is kinda cute. When he stares wide-eyed at the chat and zooms in on comments. It’s so cute that it killed me.]
[ST’s coach said he actually likes T Bao a lot.]
[T Bao, what’s your relationship with Smile? Tell me about it!]
Jiang Shi locked in his hero before noticing the chat. His expression remained indifferent. “I’ve only met him once.”
“As for whether we get along, you’ll see when we face off in a match.”
His flat tone carried a chilling sense of ruthlessness, and the viewers could feel it.
Jiang Shi was frustrated that ST hadn’t let Smile play in their previous matches. He felt they were being looked down on. The more they underestimated him, the more he wanted to crush them.
After that, he focused on the game—until his eye caught something in the chat.
A bunch of new viewers had arrived, all carrying Smile’s fan badges.
[Time, our Xiaoxiao really likes you. Would you guys do a voice chat collab in the stream for a moment? He said he wants to talk to you.]
[Yeah, the coach’s interview wasn’t meant to be sarcastic! Smile respects you and wants a fair match, he is not mocking you!]
[Xiaoxiao specifically asked us to clarify. He wasn’t being passive-aggressive!]
[He even linked your stream at the top of his friend links! His teammates’ streams are listed after yours!]
On Little Bear TV, streamers could add each other’s channels as friends for mutual traffic sharing. It was usually done between close friends.
But in TLG, no one cared about that stuff. Only Jiang Lele and Yu Hui had mutual links.
Jiang Shi watched Smile’s fans pleading in his chat. His expression didn’t change as he replied coldly, “I don’t know him that well, and I’m not interested in these flashy gimmicks.”
“Sounds like a waste of time.”
The moment he finished speaking, a flashy entrance effect filled the chat.
[ST-Smile has entered your stream! Give a warm welcome!]
[ST-Smile has gifted Time a Starship!]
A Starship was the most expensive gift on Little Bear TV, with a full-screen special effect.
Jiang Shi never said no to money. His attitude did a complete 180 as he smoothly said, “Thanks for the Starship, Smile. I appreciate it very much, ge.”
[Tsk, you were bought off with just a thousand yuan?]
[You just said you weren’t close, and now you called him “ge”?]
[Shameless!]
Jiang Shi checked his account balance to confirm the gift was real before responding to the chat. “We should be friendly to international players. You guys are so inconsiderate.”
A flood of rolling-eye emojis filled the chat, mixed with a message from Smile himself.
[ST-Smile: What does ‘little uncle’ mean?]
Jiang Shi patiently explained, “It’s a term of endearment. Check the prefixes in my viewer list.”
[ST-Smile: I see.]
[ST-Smile: There a lot of people in your chat. I ranked low. If I send more gifts like that, can I reach the top?]
[ST-Smile: I want to be intimate with Time!]
Jiang Shi: “……”
[Hahaha, he totally caught T Bao off guard with that one.]
[An explanation for Smile’s fans. If he gets to first place, he’ll be at Xu’s level, which means he’d basically be Little White Hair’s dad!]
[But he’s not wrong. He would indeed be intimate with Time hahahaha…….]
Jiang Shi asked, “Do you even know how much a Starship costs?”
[ST-Smile: I know! I’m rich!]
That sheer confidence gave Jiang Shi chest pains.
He had momentarily forgotten just how massive Smile’s signing bonus was.
At this point, Jiang Shi had no reason not to go all out. He coughed, cleared his throat, and tried to sound warm and friendly. “Since you insist, I won’t stop you. Go ahead.”
Just as Jiang Shi was about to sit back and watch the money roll in, a dazzling special effect flashed across the livestream chat.
“Xiaoxiao-baby, did you send the wrong—”
Before he could even finish the sentence, Jiang Shi saw the glowing notification in the chat.
[TLG-Xu has entered your livestream. Give them a warm welcome!]
[TLG-Xu: What’s so fun to talk about?]
Jiang Shi instantly froze and turned stiffly to look at Xie Xu.
Xie Xu had his headphones hanging around his neck and met Jiang Shi’s gaze calmly. “You just called him ‘baby.’”
Jiang Shi’s heart skipped a beat.
He was used to being playful on stream, especially with fans who were generous with gifts. His sweet talk had no limits—except that he wouldn’t call anyone “gege”. Other than that, “jiejie,” “baby,” and all sorts of affectionate terms rolled off his tongue naturally. He hadn’t expected Xie Xu to hear it.
Their conversation was clearly picked up by Jiang Shi’s microphone.
[I’m laughing to deat. Why does our little white hair look like he just got caught cheating? He doesn’t even dare to blink.]
[Xu’s presence is so oppressive! If it were me, I wouldn’t even dare to breathe.]
[Jiang Lele calls people ‘baby’ and ‘darling’ all the time, but Xu never cares?]
[Weird. These two are just weird.]
Jiang Shi had no time to worry about the chat. Just as he was about to brainstorm an escape, Smile cut in.
[ST-Smile: Time, I see Xu is first on that list. I want to be higher him. You teach me.]
That was basically pouring gasoline on a fire.
Jiang Shi’s eyelid twitched violently. Sure enough, Xie Xu’s expression darkened.
But instead of saying anything to Smile, he simply picked up his phone and called ST’s team captain. There was no small talk—he went straight to the point.
“Smile wants to send gifts to Jiang Shi. Are you aware of this?”
ST’s captain chuckled, clearly enjoying the drama. “Yeah, we know! No worries, he’s not underage, and it’s his own money.”
Smile’s actions were a bit extravagant, but if it made Xu unhappy, that was a win in his book! He was more than happy to see tension between TLG’s bot lane duo.
But Xie Xu’s next words completely stunned him.
“Alright. Then have him send Jiang Shi 100,000 yuan worth—more than me.”
With that, Xie Xu calmly ended the call.
Not even a minute later, Smile’s ID disappeared from Jiang Shi’s livestream.
Clearly, ST’s captain had forcibly logged him out.
Jiang Shi watched the money that was about to land in his pocket fly away. Knowing that naive fool, Smile probably would’ve sent multiple Starships before realizing something was off.
It was hard to level up in the later stages of a livestream.
But before he could fully mourn his loss, a series of dazzling light effects suddenly flashed across his screen, accompanied by the unique sound effect of a Starship gift.
He thought Smile had somehow snuck back in behind ST’s captain’s back. But when he looked up—
[TLG-Xu has gifted 10 Starships to the streamer Time!]
Jiang Shi’s voice caught in his throat. He snapped his head toward Xie Xu. “Captain!”
The platform would take half of the money from the gifts!
Xie Xu casually lifted his hand off the mouse and replied in a calm tone, “When someone else sends one Starship, you call them ‘baby.’ But when I send gifts, all I get is a grumpy ‘Captain.’”
[Hahaha, T Bao is upset about the platform fee, but Xu is jealous over the difference in treatment.]
[Help! Why am I suddenly shipping them? Were they always this sweet?]
[They were, but never this natural.]
[I’m getting fed so much dog food right now!]
Jiang Shi hadn’t even thought of that. But at that moment, the game finished loading, and he had no choice but to focus on moving his hero out of the fountain.
Zhao Jiu asked if Xie Xu was still playing.
Xie Xu responded with a simple “Yeah” and turned back to his screen.
But the next second, a soft touch brushed against the back of his hand on the desk.
Jiang Shi quickly retracted his hand after that brief contact and continued moving his champion. When Xie Xu turned to look at him, Jiang Shi’s champion, who had been walking in a straight line, suddenly started moving like a bot.
Jiang Shi’s ears turned red. “Thank you, Xu, for the ten Starships. Captain-gege, you’re so generous.”
For a moment, the chat froze. Then it exploded.
[Captain-gege~~~~]
[Holy crap! Little Whie Hair’s voice is so soft when he acts cute!!!]
[He wasn’t even talking to me, but my heart still melted. Auntie is sending fireworks for you two~]
[Did that idiot just voluntarily hold Xu’s hand? If they aren’t dating, I refuse to believe it.]
[Are you kidding? They’ve been dating for ages! At this point, they’ve probably kissed dozens of times.]
Jiang Shi saw that last comment and silently refuted it in his heart.
Only twice.
And both were just light pecks.
Even though neither Jiang Shi nor Xie Xu spoke after that, Xie Xu remained in Jiang Shi’s livestream, securely holding the number one spot on the leaderboard.
Feeling embarrassed, Jiang Shi ignored the chat and focused on the game. The fans, however, started chatting among themselves.
[Have you guys noticed how much Little White Hair’s game sense has improved? That match against ST was so satisfying to watch.]
[I thought he’d get completely shut down by severe targeting, but he held his ground and even delivered a solid performance.]
[Besides Time’s own talent, TLG is clearly a great team that knows how to develop its players.]
[I heard that Xu personally trains all the starters.]
[You’re using that term very well.]
[No wonder Little White Hair improved so fast~]
While the chat continued, Jiang Shi took advantage of a recall to adjust his stream settings.
[Did our Little White Hair just move his mouse to do something else?]
[He was too fast, I couldn’t see what he did.]
[What’s he up to behind our backs? Someone, investigate immediately!]
[Report! T Bao has added Xu’s friend link to his stream! And filled all available slots with it!]
[Huh? Who else did he link?]
[There are five slots. He filled them all with Xu…]
[Allow me to remind everyone of what this fool said ten minutes ago—]
[“Flashy gimmicks”]
[“A waste of time.”]
Jiang Shi thought he had been discreet, but the chat still caught on. He looked away and pretended not to see.
A few minutes later, just as he thought the situation had blown over, a comment made him pause.
[Xu just started streaming!]
[Xu changed all his friend links too! Now they’re all Time!]
[Xu just ended his stream!]
The chat turned into a live news feed, making it impossible to ignore.
Jiang Shi lowered his head and smiled slightly.
Jiang Lele, who was also streaming, noticed something thanks to his “enthusiastic fans”. He turned to Jiang Shi with a betrayed look. “I asked you about friend links before, and you said it was dumb.”
Jiang Shi was about to respond when Jiang Lele threw his mouse down and leaned back in his chair.
Jiang Shi: “…”
Too lazy to explain, he just went all in. “I just want to link Captain’s.”
His tone screamed, ‘And what are you gonna do about it?’
Jiang Lele was shocked. “?!”
He turned to Xie Xu, heartbroken. “Captain, link mine too! You have to be fair! You can’t just favor Little White Hair Baby alone!”
Jiang Shi’s smile immediately disappeared.
Damn that stupid Winter Melon!
But since they were live, he couldn’t be so petty as to stop Xie Xu from linking his teammates. After all, there were five slots.
Jiang Shi took out his frustration by relentlessly targeting the enemy AD and even spam-clicked the fountain to harass the AFK Jiang Lele.
[Team Chat] TLG-Time: This guy is AFK. Everyone, report him later.
Jiang Lele was lucky he couldn’t be reported for AFKing as a teammate.
Right after sending the message, Jiang Shi heard Xie Xu speak.
“No room.”
Xie Xu glanced at Jiang Shi, whose mouse was clicking furiously. “They’re all for Time.”
Hearing Jiang Lele wail in despair, Jiang Shi covered his mouth, barely hiding his smile.
AHHHHHHHGHHHHHHHH