The president angrily demanded, “Where’s the damage output? That Big Hammer on the enemy team is practically sitting on my face!”
“Don’t worry, don’t worry, I’m rolling it right now,” Mo Xiangwen said. He glanced at the battlefield and decided to circle around to the high ground. “Be there any second.”
“Xiao Yi isn’t even on the frontline,” Xiao Huo explained, his face miserable. “With just me as half a Hanzo up front, how could I possibly hold the pressure?”
“What the hell is he doing?” The president was startled. He cast a purple bubble on himself, then quickly turned for a glance during a spare moment. The McCree who should have been in the backline was gone. “I don’t remember you dying?”
“Farming ult, farming ult. Seriously, any second now.”
“Fuck, you’re farming ult again? Be a human being for once.” The president cursed, but still pushed forward a bit. “Hurry up.”
Mo Xiangwen carefully maneuvered his character to avoid the enemy’s vision. He finally reached the high ground behind them, spotting the enemy Ana standing there, fully focused on healing her teammates.
“Pigeon, dive in quick, bait out their skills for me.”
Pigeon sighed. She checked her health—barely over a hundred—and resolutely hit shift to leap into the crowd. The enemy team vaporized her in an instant.
The moment Pigeon’s gorilla dove in, Mo Xiangwen rolled forward, flashed his grenade, and followed up with a six-round high noon combo to take out Ana. He immediately started channeling.
“Noon has arrived—”
A pink bubble and blue light instantly enveloped him.
“You’re amplified—push now!”
Under Bai Bai’s nano-boost, the red dots on his screen quickly turned into four skull icons.
Bang bang bang. The Peacekeeper’s machine gun spat out four shots in a flash, cutting down every enemy on the field.
“Can’t you stop farming ult every damn day? Please, just fight the frontline for once?” The president was in the middle of complaining when he suddenly saw a yellow beam about to land in the pile of his dead teammates. He yelled a frantic warning. “Fuck, fuck—Mercy, shoot her down!”
But it was too late. Mercy finally descended into the cluster of his fallen allies.
“Heroes never die!”
The enemy team went from one survivor to five in a heartbeat.
With all their skills on cooldown and their main tank down, they had no chance against the enemy’s full-health quintet. The whole team got wiped.
Naturally, he didn’t snag MVP. That honor went to the enemy Mercy.
“You farm ult every day, and I don’t see you getting MVP,” the president snorted coldly. “Stop playing DPS. Go duo-tank with Pigeon. You two have great synergy anyway.”
“Yeah, yeah! I’m always the only one holding the frontline, and the president’s still demanding damage from me,” Xiao Huo chimed in, clearly unhappy. His shields on the enemy hadn’t even shattered more than a couple times. “If we’re flanking, shouldn’t that be my job?”
Pigeon: I’ve pulled all the resources for you, and Bai Bai even threw in an extra nano-boost that wasn’t even needed.
Bai Bai: Next time too.
Pigeon: ?
Don’t Play Holy Slash: ?
Pass One Charm: ?
“Ahem.” Mo Xiangwen cleared his throat awkwardly and admitted his mistake over voice chat. “My bad, my bad. Otherwise, that Mercy would’ve been deleted no problem.”
“Too late. You’ve betrayed the team’s trust. Go play your favorite Big Hammer,” the president chuckled. “I’ve lost all morning. Can I get one win, please?”
“I bet it’s this stupid burst ELO. We win too much normally.”
“You switching or not?”
“I’m switching.” Mo Xiangwen agreed right away, a hint of grievance in his voice. “I love duo-tanking with Pigeon the most. Saying tanks are no fun has gotta be a lie. Let me handle it.”
It had to be said—their synergy with Pigeon was top-tier. Whether alternating shields or swapping to take aggro, they barely needed to communicate.
His charging Big Hammer paired with Pigeon’s Zarya handled frontline pressure while dishing out DPS that rivaled the carries.
With solid peel up front, the backline enjoyed a comfy damage and healing paradise.
They steamrolled match after match, finally grinding out a full set of green ranks before logging off in high spirits.
After logging out, Mo Xiangwen remembered the novel cover issue. He posted in the group chat.
Human-Dragon Unity: Anyone know an artist?
Replies poured in almost instantly.
Bai Bai: I do, I do!
Pigeon: Nope.
Bai Bai: I DO!!!
Pass One Charm: Nope.
Bai Bai: Xiao Yi, look at me! I know one!
Don’t Play Holy Slash: I was gonna offer to ask around, but since Bai Bai knows, just hit her up.
Human-Dragon Unity: Cool, Bai Bai, DMing you.
Mo Xiangwen tapped on Bai Bai’s Qiongmei avatar in the group and jumped to private chat.
Human-Dragon Unity: Bai Bai, can you intro me to that artist?
It was kinda funny. He was one of the earliest members after the president and Xiao Huo, while Bai Bai had joined late, right before the guild nearly disbanded.
But she was the first to add him as a friend.
Back when the group had about a dozen people and chat moved fast, newbie questions from Bai Bai often got buried.
He’d been bored and paid attention, answering every one for her.
Later, after friending, she just DMed him everything.
Bai Bai: Uh… she’s kinda shy, doesn’t like adding randos.
Bai Bai: But whatever you need, I can pass it along!
Human-Dragon Unity: Nah… we gotta talk pricing too. Forwarding everything would be a hassle.
Bai Bai: Discount price! Absolute industry insider discount! I’ll make sure she gives Xiao Yi the best deal!
Human-Dragon Unity: Bai Bai know the art scene well?
Bai Bai: Um… a little? A tiny bit?
Human-Dragon Unity: Got it. If you’re negotiating price, I’m chill with that. Just hope this artist’s style fits.
Bai Bai: I think… it’s decent?
Bai Bai: [Sent a file.]
Bai Bai: Check these out. All her work.
Mo Xiangwen downloaded the file and opened it. Not bad at all.
The illustrations featured petite girls in white thigh-highs, with pure, captivating eyes.
One issue, though—why all white-stocking girls?
Whatever. His current need was exactly a white-stocking girl, so it worked.
He could ask for other stuff later. No real artist only drew one archetype anyway.
Human-Dragon Unity: Looks great. So good I worry I can’t afford a standing illust for my character.
Bai Bai: ! I’ll vouch for Xiao Yi. We can make it happen.
Bai Bai: But… I wanna ask something for her too.
Weird. Artists proactively making requests these days?
Human-Dragon Unity: Oh? For a discount, sure, anything goes.
Bai Bai: If Xiao Yi wants more art later, ask my friend first if she’ll take the commission.
Human-Dragon Unity: ? Odd request. She short on gigs? Skill’s too good for that.
Bai Bai: Uh, she doesn’t take commissions easily.
Doesn’t take easily? Right, Bai Bai mentioned she was introverted.
But since it was Bai Bai’s friend offering the best discount, he’d help out.
Human-Dragon Unity: Sure. Discounts? Happy to keep commissioning her.
Human-Dragon Unity: [Sent a file.]
Human-Dragon Unity: Specs inside. Thanks, Bai Bai. Let me know the price.
Bai Bai: Got it, sending to her now.
Bai Bai: I can’t see it, but Xiao Yi better not back out, okay?
Human-Dragon Unity: Loyalty program? No prob.
