Chapter 22

Zhai Yi accidentally selected Lanling King, causing the live stream barrage to go crazy with screams.

: AHHHH Zhai Yi is going to play jungler, that’s awesome!

: Finally, we get to see Zhai Yi play another position.

: Zhai Yi must’ve slipped—third floor wanted jungler, all their pre-selected heroes are junglers, this is a clash, right?

: Does third floor have issues? Why are they starting to curse?

: Zhai Yi didn’t intentionally take the jungler spot, what’s there to curse about? Can’t we just play nicely?

: Third floor probably only knows how to jungle?

: Damn! Third floor also picked a jungler hero, clash.

: Third floor picked Mirror, but Mirror wasn’t even in their pre-selects? They’re probably gonna throw.

: If they dare throw, report them.

….

Zhai Yi saw third floor pick Mirror and said nothing. Seeing the barrage messages, she advised: “It’s fine, it’s my fault—I slipped and picked Lanling King. I’ll go top lane, give jungler to Mirror.”

Little Maple Leaf was a girl and quickly said: “Then I’ll take Marco Polo? The other one, are you sis or bro? You can play Yaomei!”

YL157483XXXX sent a message: I’m a girl, I can play Yao.

Little Maple Leaf said: “Sis, wanna voice chat to communicate?”

YL157483XXXX: Environment doesn’t allow it, can’t voice.

Little Maple Leaf understood: “Okay, let’s communicate more in chat, follow Zhai Yi’s lead.”

YL157483XXXX: Okay.

Zhai Yi touched her nose, staying silent.

Second floor teammate picked mid laner Wang Zhaojun.

Game starts.

Zhai Yi brought Smite, planning to play sidelane jungle. Mirror started red, so Zhai Yi deliberately checked Blue Zone to guard their Blue Buff.

Mirror: Don’t touch my blue!

Zhai Yi said nothing and went back to top lane to clear the wave. The enemy hero she was facing was Xiahou Dun.

Suddenly, a teamfight broke out in Red Zone. Enemy jungler Zhao Yun came to counterjungle, Mirror got caught, and the marksman brought Yaomei to help right away. But the enemy mid and marksman arrived even faster.

Marco Polo and Yaomei died trying to save Mirror, who stole the Red Buff and ran.

Little Maple Leaf got pissed and directly asked: Mirror, if you’d counterattacked, you could’ve at least gotten mid Xiao Qiao and Sun Shangxiang’s heads—why’d you run?

Mirror: I’m not level 4 yet, couldn’t get an advantage, I’d die there too.

Little Maple Leaf: I told you, if you counterattacked, you could’ve taken mid and marksman’s heads.

Mirror: I’m the jungler, don’t wanna join early fights, need the economy.

Little Maple Leaf: Jungling like you do, I’m done.

Mirror: You marksman fed from the start, what did I say?

Little Maple Leaf was so mad she dropped a curse word. Just as she was about to keep cursing, Zhai Yi stopped her: “Don’t curse, play properly—this one’s winnable.”

Little Maple Leaf remembered Zhai Yi was streaming and held back: “This matchmaking has all kinds of trash players.”

: This Mirror is nuts, Little Maple Leaf is right—in that teamfight, if he’d turned back to counter, he definitely could’ve gotten mid and marksman’s heads.

: The jungler is such a coward, go play support instead!

: Don’t slander us support players, we supports are brave too.

: This guy’s Mirror play is so bad, even minions can beat him.

: Fk, he used his ult to steal Lanling King’s head on Xiahou Dun, who was clearly already dead. Lanling King was just waiting for his Shadow Dagger to directly kill Xiahou Dun. Did he need Mirror to come finish the damage?

: Yeah, stealing heads on purpose!

: Using ult for a head steal, trash player.

Zhai Yi glanced at the barrage: “Don’t curse, or the stream will get banned.”

“Playing the game is to win. One head is no big deal.”

The comments on the barrage immediately calmed down; they were also afraid the stream would get banned.

Zhai Yi cleared the Top Lane teleport flower and checked the bot lane teamfight, then directly teleported down.

At this moment, Mirror was farming the dragon, Zhao Yun was hiding in the river grass, both mid laners were heading to bot. Zhao Yun eyed Mirror’s dragon progress and jumped in with his ult, stealing the dragon and killing him in one smooth motion.

Zhao Yun also spotted the incoming mid laner Wang Zhaojun heading to bot support and immediately intercepted her, taking her head.

Now bot lane was surrounded from behind by Zhao Yun and Xiao Qiao, while enemy Sun Shangxiang and Xiao Ming advanced aggressively.

Mirror was killed by Zhao Yun, and the dragon stolen; he raged in game chat.

Mirror: Unbelievable, doesn’t the marksman look at the map?

Mirror: I’m farming dragon, you don’t know to come support?

Mirror: Blind or what? Great, now Zhao Yun’s about to respawn, and the dragon’s stolen.

Mirror: Summer vacation? Bunch of kids.

Mirror: Total garbage. Mid feeds, bot feeds, top has Lanling King beating Xiahou Dun. Might as well FF at six minutes.

Little Maple Leaf saw the messages and wanted to curse, but due to the stream and being outnumbered, she held it in.

The enemies pressed hard; Ming Shiyin tanked the tower, letting the others dive to kill her and Yaomei.

Little Maple Leaf popped Marco Polo’s ult, forcefully taking Ming Shiyin and leaving the other three heroes low health.

Yaomei used her passive to turn into a fawn, but her escape path was wrong—Xiao Qiao and Sun Shangxiang ahead, Zhao Yun behind.

Yu Lanting thought she was done for here too.

Just then, Zhai Yi’s voice rang in Yu Lanting’s headset.

“Yaomei, on me.”

Yu Lanting’s mind went blank, her body moving on instinct; Yaomei flew straight onto the arriving Lanling King.

With Yaomei’s buffs shielding him, Lanling King went on a rampage, taking three heads, pushing the bot tower, then returning to mid to take the first tower.

Little Maple Leaf excitedly said: “Zhai Yi-jie, you’re so awesome, badass!”

Before Zhai Yi could respond, Mirror started whining in game chat again.

Mirror: Anyone can steal heads?

Mirror: Left with a bunch of low HP, failing to kill them is trash.

Mirror: Lanling King’s just a sneaky coward.

Little Maple Leaf exploded: “I can’t take it anymore aaaah”

Marco Polo: You’re trash yourself and calling others out?

Marco Polo: You as jungler? Enemy team’s thanking you for the heads and dragon you fed.

Marco Polo: You’ve only got one kill so far—did you steal it from Lanling King? How do you have the nerve to taunt your daddy like that?

Marco Polo: Having a disobedient son like you must be your real dad’s good fortune.

Marco Polo: I put up with your barking in the early game, but now you wanna bite? Don’t blame me for putting a dog collar on you.

Mirror: You’re just #@# trash, and you have the gall to talk? You have the nerve to open your mouth with a negative KDA.

Mirror: The support is also a ￥#&.

Mirror: You guys are with Lanling King, aren’t you? A bunch of garbage waste ##￥￥&.

(The censored words were all insults; Mirror straight-up unleashes a barrage of curses.)

Little Maple Leaf was about to keep cursing, but Zhai Yi advised: “Just focus on bot lane properly. I’ll come gank. No need for you to curse—I’ll handle it.”

Little Maple Leaf thought Zhai Yi was going to curse on her behalf and worried it would affect Zhai Yi’s reputation: “Zhai Yi-jie, don’t curse. I won’t either. People like that aren’t worth it.”

Yaomei: Don’t curse. It’s not good.

“I’m not cursing anyone.”

Zhai Yi controlled Lanling King to secure Xiahou Dun’s kill, then moved to the mid lane bush. Seeing Mirror ult and go in to finish off Xiao Qiao, she directly used her second skill to steal the kill.

Mirror: You’re stealing kills.

Lanling King: This is just the beginning.

Lanling King: I’ll make sure you don’t get a single kill this whole game.

From the moment Lanling King said that, Zhai Yi stuck to Mirror. Mirror jungling? She went to steal. Mirror taking dragon? She stole it. Mirror killing? She stole it too.

By the time the enemy high ground towers on all three lanes were broken, Lanling King’s score was already 15/1/2, while Mirror’s was 1/7/14.

: If I were Mirror, Lanling King would piss me off to death.

: Can’t outjungle the camps, can’t steal the big dragon, can’t get kills, can’t even take the minion wave.

: Mirror’s economy is even worse than Yaomei’s now. LOL.

: Zhai Yi’s Lanling King is so strong—multiple triple kills.

: Yeah, Zhai Yi’s Lanling King is top-tier. Great awareness and mechanics—super smooth. Earlier when Mirror sold her out while killing Xiahou Dun and Zhao Yun, she instantly swapped to Revival Armor and Nameless Blade. That reaction speed was insane.

: Mirror started getting sold, intentionally feeding now.

: Total trash. Mentality collapsed, pretending to be dead on purpose.

: This game’s a win. Marco Polo’s come online, mid Wang Zhaojun is solid, and Lanling King is unstoppable. Enemy Xiao Qiao panics at the sight of Lanling King’s mark.

: Xiao Qiao player’s fear.

: Zhai Yi’s Lanling King has awareness, mechanics, and movement. Not just Xiao Qiao—Xiahou Dun and Zhao Yun are scared too.

: Zhai Yi’s too C-position, slaughtering everyone.

Just when everyone thought the game was about to end, Zhai Yi suddenly stopped at high ground, letting the enemy clear the minions.

The bullet chat exploded with “?”, confused by Zhai Yi’s actions and intentions.

Zhai Yi glanced at the camera and said in a smug, mocking tone: “We can’t let people curse us out and then let them win lying down.”

The enemy seemed to catch on too. They pushed mid hard. Marco Polo and Yaomei recalled, waiting to defend. Mid laner seemed to know something too and said nothing, just recalling. Only Mirror got caught and killed by Zhao Yun in the jungle.

Lanling King: Have you ever seen hope? Ever seen hope destroyed by your own hands? Do you know that feeling of utter powerlessness?

Lanling King: I saw your draft picks and knew you’d jungle, but I didn’t expect your jungle skills to be this trash. Even the little jungle pigs can’t bear to watch.

Lanling King: With your jungle tech, give a jungle knife to a little pig and it could hyper-carry.

Lanling King: Maybe I’m overthinking it. Have you been playing with your feet this whole game?

Lanling King: Your jungle skills are like an old grandma stewing pig trotters—too lazy to debone.

Lanling King: Empty-headed is fine, but don’t let it fill with water.

Lanling King: Is Mirror’s ult that expensive? Haven’t seen you use it a few times this game.

Lanling King: See that Storm Dragon King? Go take him as your master.

Lanling King: Enemy Zhao Yun’s probably MVP. He owes you big time—gotta thank his rebirth parents.

Lanling King: Think about it—you played a huge role. You carried the enemy team.

Lanling King: With a mentality this fragile, glass heart—no girlfriend in real life, huh?

Lanling King: Uninstall the game. Go play 4399. That’s more your speed.

As soon as the words landed, the enemy pushed to the nexus crystal. The game ended in defeat.

Zhai Yi and the others successfully reported Mirror.

Zhai Yi immediately started a new game and pulled in the previous mid laner to the lobby to make up for it.

: Epic. Cursed so satisfyingly. Why let scum like that win? Deserved loss.

: Mirror’s probably getting LP deduction and banned.

: Serves him right.

: Love Zhai Yi’s personality so much. Wife, I love you.

: Wife, keep jungling this game. You’re too good.

: Can’t spoil people like that. Gotta curse ’em.

: Zhai Yi doesn’t use a single swear word, but every line hits where it hurts. Too ruthless—even I’m tilting a bit.

…

New lobby setup was similar. Zhai Yi filled jungle.

Little Maple Leaf picked Marco Polo again, Yu Lanting Yaomei, mid still Wang Zhaojun, top Sun Ce, and Zhai Yi picked Mirror.

This game, Zhai Yi dominated the whole map, hard-countering the enemy with zero comeback potential.

Bullet chat cheered nonstop. Every flashy play with a hero got the audience more hyped than Zhai Yi herself.

Zhai Yi streamed until 7 PM. She noticed Yu Lanting’s account always lurking in chat. Some viewers left from exhaustion, others bounced after games, but YL157483XXXX never left.

Zhai Yi planned one last game before resting when her phone pinged with a message from Lin Ranjiao.

Lin Ranjiao: You’ve been playing all day. Stop. Balance work and rest.

Zhai Yi: Shorten my stream time for me.

Lin Ranjiao: No way.

Zhai Yi: “…”

Not even a sincere persuasion.

Zhai Yi glanced at the audience list on the screen and gave up on the last round.

“I’ve been playing all day. Let’s stop here for today. Everyone, get some early rest. Good night.”

“Next time, when are you going live?” Zhai Yi thought for a moment. She was filming a variety show right now, so her schedule really wasn’t fixed. “The variety show wraps up at 9 PM, so I might stream for a few hours then.”

“Okay, that’s it for today. See you.”

Zhai Yi ended the stream, stood up, stretched lazily, and rubbed her stomach. She was a little hungry.

Zhai Yi left her room and headed to the first-floor kitchen to check out the feast Luo Xi had provided.

She grabbed a few pieces of sushi and some salmon, along with a bowl of ramen, then sat down at the dining chair to eat.

Hearing footsteps, Zhai Yi looked over and saw Yu Lanting standing awkwardly at the stairs, watching her.

The two exchanged a glance.

Yu Lanting lowered her eyes, a strange pang of panic rising inexplicably in her heart, as if she feared Zhai Yi might see right through her with that look.

“Come down for some food?” Zhai Yi spoke first.

Yu Lanting nodded. “Yeah, I’m a bit hungry.”

Zhai Yi said, “There’s still plenty of good stuff left. Go take a look.”

“Okay.”

Yu Lanting descended the stairs and made a beeline for the kitchen, her steps quick.

Zhai Yi took a bite of sushi and said casually, “Wife?”

Yu Lanting stumbled slightly and let out a guilty “Ah?”, panicking. “Wh-what?”

Zhai Yi turned back with a smile. “I think this sushi has a hint of wife cake flavor. Wanna try?”

Yu Lanting covered her fluster with a haha laugh. “That’s pretty magical.”

Seeing her flushed cheeks and evasive gaze, Zhai Yi let out a short chuckle. “Yeah, pretty magical.”

She looked all soft and fragile, but she actually had some real guts.

Wasn’t she calling out so enthusiastically in the live stream just now?

Why so shy all of a sudden?