The livestream chat froze for a few seconds.
[?]
[In that case, I might have misunderstood.]
[Reasonable suspicion is that they only saw the chat…]
[Probably just some casual, playful thing between straight guys, nothing serious.]
[35 intimacy points, progress bar over 10,000… Even if I play secretly every day, I don't get this high intimacy.]
[Alright, now I believe they haven't fought; Leopard Cat and Leopard Cub are born!]
[Help, can CP (couple) fans chill a bit? I'm here to watch gameplay, not ship people.]
[Friendly reminder: if you don't want to see it, you can turn off the chat.]
Meanwhile, Lu Xiangyang was about to casually open a spectator view for a leaderboard match when he noticed a small red dot by an avatar.
Clicking it, he froze for a moment. Then, everyone in the stream saw the black-haired boy on camera suddenly lower his head, revealing only his dark hair and slightly reddened ears.
Everyone saw it, and Lu Xiangyang clicked "Agree."
On the other side, Shen Kuangye was very satisfied as he pulled his gaze away from the chat.
Coincidentally, his ranked match had started, and he found himself paired with two players from Ella: Aria and Iris.
Shen Kuangye had no good impression of them, in fact, he disliked them. Thinking of what they had done in the past made him shiver.
But when gaming, it's best not to mix personal feelings, so Shen Kuangye chose to ignore them.
One of them picked the Explorer, the other the Perfumer.
The remaining player chose the Fire Investigator, so Shen Kuangye filled in as the Mercenary.
Right at the start, Aria juked three times, and Shen Kuangye went to rescue.
The opposing Hunter was a second-tier B.B., and Shen Kuangye couldn't avoid the second-tier shock, even getting stunned during the clash.
[Can he really get stunned?]
[Try second-tier B.B. yourself.]
[The Explorer can still rescue and manage objectives.]
The chat barely had time to send the message before the Explorer scratched his head in confusion and ran over.
He just placed a magnet and instantly unhooked someone, but eventually got stunned and fell.
[Hahaha, combo triggered.]
[The Fire Investigator saw the teammates' status bars and freaked out.]
[The cheerful boy can't even smile anymore.]
[Iris broke again, scratching his head at a teammate's mistake.]
[Scratching guy is like this, probably gonna freak out in the stream later.]
At this moment, the Fire Investigator made a flashy entrance. The Mercenary had already crawled far, the Explorer was spinning in place, and B.B. had covered the area with shock traps.
The Fire Investigator went over, B.B. grabbed the Explorer, preparing to use the balloon knife. The Explorer didn't resist, giving B.B. better room to operate.
Finally, the Fire Investigator also fell.
The Mercenary, now at half health, staggered to the church machine to check a chest—but luck was not on his side; he only found a bottle of perfume.
Half-health Mercenary illegally transported two items to the cemetery machine; the Explorer was stuck on the chair, the Fire Investigator was far away, trying not to block rescue positions.
[Half-health Mercenary versus fully-trapped second-tier B.B., this looks impossible to save, right?]
[Reminds me of some teacher's legendary 3v3 match…]
[Hahaha, was senior trying to graduate?]
Shen Kuangye's Mercenary approached with the perfume.
The result: a single hit, no time to rewind, and an explosion finished him.
The perfume's afterimage lingered, looking pitiful.
The Explorer remained on the chair, the "You're gone" sticker still stuck.
[Just came from the neighboring stream, the swear words were off the charts.]
[True, WILD made a mistake, but no need to curse everyone's ancestors.]
[Guess this guy wants to debut on the gossip forum again.]
[WILD is so unlucky.]
Naturally, they lost this round.
Shen Kuangye exited the game and saw a flood of post-match messages.
In his previous life, he was always so fragile—at the first sight of Shen Kuangye, he'd secretly want to make a move, only to be pushed away and scolded harshly, left staring at Shen Kuangye's cold expression and a sneer:
"Who do you think you are, a newcomer, to act arrogantly with me?"
"You think you can annoy me and still last in this club?"
"…"
That memory was disgusting.
Shen Kuangye frowned in disgust but had learned not to bother with such people. He ignored the post-match messages and started the next game immediately.
What he didn't know was that his fans had gone to other streams to complain.
They first went to Aria's stream, saw them paired with Cheng Rang and Pei Xunan, and quickly reported it there.
Cheng Rang was mocking Pei Xunan's ugly rescue earlier.
"If it weren't for my superior skills, you'd have already taken your favorite chair, baby."
Cheng Rang lazily glanced at the chat and clicked his tongue.
"Why are fans of those two showing up in my stream? Did they get banned?"
The chat exploded like children in a kindergarten class.
[WILD got bullied!]
Cheng Rang smirked: "Isn't that good?"
"I was wondering what happened."
Then he saw a chat message: [It's Aria and Iris.]
Seeing this, Cheng Rang narrowed his eyes and said without hesitation: "Those two idiots again."
[Savage.]
[Salary cut 1000, warning!]
EAR and Ella had existing conflicts: Ella thought EAR was bad, EAR thought Ella was fake and rude. Normally, when paired with each other, both teams felt unlucky.
Cheng Rang could guess what happened—those two had tempers like white phosphorus.
Fans in the chat recapped the match. Pei Xunan looked at their IDs on his phone and silently switched his character to Mercenary.
Cheng Rang also changed Priest to Fire Investigator.
Aria and Iris played one as Forward, one as Little Girl.
Almost the entire round was played normally, but in the end, the remaining player trying to save the Little Girl was blocked at the door by Cheng Rang's Fire Investigator, who, along with a full-health Mercenary, danced in the doorway until the Little Girl and Forward were knocked down, then left safely.
[Hahaha, you're so evil.]
[I knew this round seemed normal, so that was the plan.]
[So tragic, hahaha.]
[Who told them to bully WILD!]
[Will they get reported?]
Cheng Rang saw the chat and lightly smiled: "Reported what? I just misaligned the ball, is making mistakes not allowed?"
[Reasonable!]
[Gotta be you.]
Post-match, Aria wanted to say something, but he had previously tried to insult Cheng Rang for ten minutes straight, and beside him stood Pei Xunan—tall, muscular, intimidating—so he didn't dare.
He could only mutter: "How can a few champions act so arrogant?"
Cheng Rang replied lightly: "Next year, the Abyss will kneel to welcome my championship."
Then he received a mute gift pack.
"Can't handle the game?"
Cheng Rang feigned innocence: "I didn't even try."
Pei Xunan was pleased: "Muted is good, peace and quiet."
Cheng Rang: "…"
Perhaps Aria and Iris had too much bad luck with EAR today.
In the next round, they matched Li Shu and Jiang Chixin.
Li Shu, a surfing pro, first snatched Aria's Explorer, then sent a smile.
[Offering condolences in advance.]
[Hahaha, hit a wall!]
[Book: polite, but also a warning.]
[Predicting this round will be exciting.]
At the start, Iris' prisoner fell immediately.
The Explorer rescued after a brief delay, then scratched his head across the board. Spider seemed to sense the tension but didn't attack immediately.
As the player was about to fly, the spider chased.
Finally, the Explorer juked through, reaching the exit. Spider arrived at the door.
Just as they were about to escape, the Explorer got sucked back, and Spider knocked him down.
"I swear, what are those EAR fools doing!"
Iris threw his phone on the table. Losing all morning had already frustrated him.
The chat was used to this kind of situation:
[You'd think they actually won a championship, lol.]
[Champion of what? Still last on the field.]
[But EAR's team ranking improved to 9th, I think.]
IVL had 13 teams total.
Rising from last to 9th in under a month was a huge improvement.
[No worries, don't argue with them, start the next match, we won't meet them again.]
[Checked their stream! they're still playing, definitely won't queue together.]
Iris steadied himself, agreeing with the chat, and restarted without dwelling on the loss.
Seeing the teammate names, they relaxed—no EAR players, perfect.
The map was Red Church.
He was about to switch characters when a snap sounded. D.M appeared at their desk—Joseph paying a visit.
At this rank, everyone knew how Joseph played. Only one person recently had been so flashy in D.M attire.
Aria and Iris froze their smiles.
Could it be the person they were thinking of?
EAR Club.
Lu Xiangyang sipped the milk Shen Kuangye had just gotten him, tensing as he stared at those annoying IDs on screen—if his gaze could kill, they might already be dead.
[Serious baby.]
[Looks like Aria and the others are in trouble.]
[Joseph revealed, so cool!]
[Who'll dare bully WILD now, we won't tolerate it!]
[We won't tolerate it!]
Lu Xiangyang noticed the chat discussing it; a storm was brewing.
Shen Kuangye didn't bother petty people, but he cared.
These people were bold online; imagine what Shen Kuangye went through at the club before.
He couldn't participate last life, but now knowing, he'd make them pay.
At the start, Joseph played normally, the spawn location perfect to hit three mirror images.
Lu Xiangyang roughly predicted where someone would fall; they were still healing when he arrived.
Aria's Mercenary was half-health, wrist guards not ready, and got taken by Joseph's blink.
He sat on the chair while the two injured teammates could only wait for full-health Perfumer to save.
Joseph struck the chair—one swipe, then another.
"Are they sick? Was it necessary? Just some taunting."
Aria broke. Iris was annoyed: "So petty!"
After the Mercenary came down, Joseph ignored the easier prisoners, pursuing the Mercenary.
Even a non-blink Joseph is ground-level, but Lu Xiangyang's gameplay outmatched him; a retreat slash took him down.
The Mercenary used both wrist guards, went back on the chair, took a photo.
Only two machines left.
Iris' crying Little Girl drank Perfumer's potion to rescue, but got blocked mid-way.
She rode the rocket, Joseph blinked to the chair.
He rescued the Mercenary, then stunned Joseph with the rocket.
The surrounding boards were used; Mercenary had no control.
With 10% left on the machine, mirrors ending, he was knocked down again.
Next target: Iris' crying Little Girl.
Lu Xiangyang's Joseph had rescue; at Red Carpet Gate, the Little Girl had no items and was quickly knocked to the chair.
Prisoner next to the door ignored him.
Post-match, Iris broke down; he didn't dare curse Cheng Rang, didn't dare curse the newcomer?
Before finishing typing, Lu Xiangyang spoke:
[supersun] (photographer): "Mistake."
[supersun]: "Should have whipped more."
[supersun]: exited chat.
The gossip forum exploded.
Even if IVL teams usually hid their displeasure, today EAR openly showed disdain for Ella.
[Though Ella's crew isn't innocent, green-tea plus ultra-macho combo, abusive to girlfriends, hitting multiple boats, making sexual jokes to female players, yet forgiven—awesome.]
[Yeah, they said EAR has nothing to do with drama, but Circe's wrong? Female player scolded those idiots, now it's still talked about.]
[Aira: just report me.]
[So cool, haha, but I heard EAR gets fined for livestream swearing, is it true?]
[True, 1000 per time, XIU—don't know how many times, haha.]
Some even made memes.
WILD's chibi character cried: "Someone's bullying me."
EAR rolled up sleeves: "Who bullied you? I'll get revenge."
Shen Kuangye saw the meme in the afternoon after training.
No entertainment apps on his phone, but Li Shu's group shared it.
I want chips: Hahaha, so funny.
Do Not Disturb: Hahaha.
Shen Kuangye: "…"
He redownloaded Weibo, checked the forum, found the cause.
After reading, he silently laughed.
Such a small thing, and they take it seriously…
"Brother."
Lu Xiangyang stood behind him, leaned over, tilted his head: "Time to eat."
Aurora's players liked a balanced schedule; after an afternoon of training, they said coming to China, they had to try all the local food but didn't know what to eat, so they dragged EAR along.
EAR, being homebodies, didn't know where to go, Haidilao too ordinary, so they suggested a famous restaurant.
While waiting for food, with translators and Tsuki who knows Chinese, communication was fine.
The conversation jumped from matches to travel.
Shen Kuangye barely spoke, only occasionally serving Lu Xiangyang.
He had lost too much weight recently and needed to regain it.
How much? Should he buy a scale to monitor daily?
While thinking, his left arm was touched—Tsuki smiled: "Can you pass me a shrimp?"
Shen Kuangye instinctively rotated the plate toward Tsuki.
Tsuki: "."
Teammates asked: "Why are you smiling so fake today?"
Tsuki, fake-smiling: "Buzz off."
They spoke in Japanese quietly; no one noticed.
Tsuki observed: the EAR player controlling the Hunter barely moves; just a gaze or eating a bit of food, Shen Kuangye serves him. Even refilling juice or warning Lu Xiangyang about hot drinks, he was like a pampered child.
Tsuki concluded silently: Lu Xiangyang is spoiled.