The facts proved it: a Witch + Kitten combo was completely unsuited to the jungle map.
Ten minutes in, Qiu Cheng’s character had already died three times.
It wasn’t that Kitten was failing to protect him, it was mainly that Witch was an extreme glass cannon to begin with, and Qiu Cheng’s careless positioning kept letting the enemy dive straight onto his face.
By the third time, he finally lost his patience and started piling pressure on his teammates: “How is the Knight giving us vision? They’ve dived my face three times already.”
Nan Zhiyi felt this little youth trainee was a bit of an innocent victim.
In fact, knowing Qiu Cheng as he did, if he hadn’t been the one playing Cat today, the one getting flamed would’ve been the Commander instead.
He typed: 【Everybody, don’t fight, just play it out, we can win】
Before he could even send it, Witch got dived for the fourth time and died a miserable death on the spot.
Qiu Cheng’s fury fully erupted. “What the hell is this whole team even playing…”
What followed was all “birdsong and flowers” [1] a tongue-in-cheek euphemism, the rest was a torrent of cursing too foul to write out jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2670419_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2670419_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, and Nan Zhiyi had no choice but to mute his mic, lest his own stream get banned by association.
At this point the team’s stats: one at 0–4, one at 0–2, one at 0–1, and one at 1–0.
The only positive record belonged to the Knight, a pure-tank build, utterly powerless to turn the game around.
“…” Nan Zhiyi silently deleted his peacemaking message.
Twenty minutes later.
Despite the substitute Knight’s excellent play, the game was still lost, led to the grave by a 0–6 Witch.
In the instant before he was finally killed, the random secondary carry who’d been silent the whole game seemed to finally crack.
He opened his mic too and yelled straight at Qiu Cheng: “Yelling the whole game, what kind of garbage are you even playing? You think you’re yux, the Witch God? You’re not even a fraction as good as him!”
The word “DEFEAT” popped up amid the random player’s tirade.
Nan Zhiyi sat there stunned for a moment, then laughed helplessly.
“Agh!” he cried, covering his face and slumping back in his chair. “I never want to solo-queue support again! Why is a support’s life so bitter?! I just wanted to climb the ladder!!”
That’s what his mouth said, but his hands honestly queued up the next game in a heartbeat.
Commander role again.
During the Pick phase, Nan Zhiyi opened the chat bar to take a look.
【Grinding the ladder? More like nosediving it now hahaha】
【City Lord played a bit stinky there. That Knight he flamed has a good temper too, holding back from opening his mic through all that】
【Streamer, hurry and pray your carry can hard-carry you this game. Ranked really isn’t for you 【sob】】
【Good news, City Lord’s on the enemy team this game】
【Streamer, streamer, let me scout the enemy for you】
“No, no,” Nan Zhiyi said quickly. “You’ll get my stream banned.”
On his team, the 1st slot, assigned Main Carry, was dragging his feet on picking a class.
After a while, a line popped up in the chat.
【1L: I’m the Knight from just now】
The instant he sent it, he locked Witch almost in the same breath.
Then the 1st slot sent a cutesy cat-emoji sticker from the chat box.
His intent was plain as day: You take Cat.
Nan Zhiyi blinked. “Is he talking to me? How’d he recognize me?”
【You dummy, streamer, just click your avatar, anyone can see the six “Asia Server #1” badges on your profile】
【Whoa, I only just noticed, Xiao Yi’s this skilled???】
The map this round rolled 【Ruins】, far better suited to this melee pairing.
The new game started quickly.
Sure enough, the loading screen showed the enemy main carry was Qiu Cheng, the very same person he’d just been matched alongside.
But once the game began, Nan Zhiyi’s attention quickly drifted elsewhere.
For some reason, the way this Witch he’d been teamed with played felt… oddly familiar.
…Another newbie copying a senior?
Nan Zhiyi hesitated, then typed in the chat.
【South0412: Need me to follow you?】
【CG.Y.letter: No need】
【CG.Y.letter: I’ll farm up first】
At first Nan Zhiyi didn’t catch what he meant. Was he planning to fight for resource points all by himself?
But before long, the player gave him his answer.
【Witch】CG.Y.letter killed 【Bard】yy2233
【Witch】CG.Y.letter killed 【Swordsman】72546zxy
【Witch】CG.Y.letter killed 【High Priest】fall
Nan Zhiyi: “…”
Another way to gather resources in ROE: after killing an opponent, loot the drops from their corpse.
Soon, a new message popped up in the chat.
【CG.Y.letter: 【location ping】】
【CG.Y.letter: 【emoji】】
The little trainee had sent him a money emoji.
Nan Zhiyi was busy hiding the respawn point.
ROE’s respawn point was four stones that could be stashed in your backpack and moved elsewhere. Only once the stones were set on the ground and the resurrection-gate array was activated could fallen teammates respawn, otherwise, they could never return to the match.
This mechanic meant the player in charge of relocating the respawn point in ROE often felt enormous pressure. After all, one slip and a teammate could die for good.
Of course, while a teammate’s body might die, the soul did not, the teammate’s soul stayed right there in the chat and voice comms, “checking in” on the respawn-mover for the entire rest of the game.
Having set up the resurrection gate, Nan Zhiyi rushed to the spot the player had pinged.
The little trainee’s character used a default in-game model. He stood before Nan Zhiyi and dumped a whole crate of gold coins onto the ground with a clatter.
Nan Zhiyi: “…”
Nan Zhiyi moved his character to silently pick up the coins, and silently bought himself a full set of tier-1 armor.
He couldn’t help glancing at the chat bar he’d forgotten to hide, and sure enough, by now it had turned entirely into shipping mode.
【Mm… why does this feel kind of cute?】
【You’re not alone, I’m shipping it too】
【Looks like City Lord wasn’t the streamer’s destined match after all. Quick, hug Trainee-bro’s thigh and climb that ladder hahaha】
【City Lord’s corpse on the enemy side isn’t even cold yet [2] it’s shockingly soon, he was just your “partner” last game jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2670419_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2670419_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, and you’re all already like this? Is this really okay hahahaha】
Coming back to himself, Nan Zhiyi found new content in the chat.
【CG.Y.letter: Follow me now】
Nan Zhiyi minimized the chat bar off to the side, shifted into cat form, and latched back onto the Witch.
But after following the Witch for only a short while, he couldn’t help opening his mouth, murmuring quietly to his stream viewers: “This guy’s Witch play is way too over the top.”
He didn’t play it often himself, but Nan Zhiyi knew the Witch class extremely well. Just from watching for a bit, he could conclude that this little CG trainee’s Witch surpassed 99% of pro players.
As for the remaining 1%, that was, of course, the player who’d been the undisputed Asia Server #1 Witch since before he was even famous, jokingly dubbed the “Witch God”: CG.yux.
He couldn’t resist praising the guy a little.
【South0412: Your Witch is amazing】
【South0412: Can I add you as a friend later? ^ ^】
After a moment, the player gave his reply.
【Witch】CG.Y.letter killed 【High Priest】fall
Nan Zhiyi: “…”
He kept typing.
【South0412: I actually know that guy, he probably just tilted out from losing last game, don’t take it to heart, it’s definitely not your fault】
【Witch】CG.Y.letter killed 【High Priest】fall
【South0412: You played great last game too ^ ^】
【South0412: You’re not still angry, are you?】
The chat box stayed empty.
A minute later.
【Witch】CG.Y.letter killed 【High Priest】fall
Nan Zhiyi: “?”
Why did it feel like he was getting angrier?
For the entire rest of the game, Nan Zhiyi just stayed latched onto the Witch, barely needing to do anything.
The little trainee seemed to hold a grudge against Qiu Cheng, hunting down nothing but his High Priest from start to finish. He wouldn’t even spare Qiu Cheng’s teammates a glance, unless they rushed up to protect the High Priest, in which case he’d kill them too.
Nan Zhiyi watched the same kill notification refresh fourteen times.
By the time the enemy respawn point was destroyed, the High Priest’s KDA had reached 0–15–4.
Just before the last enemy died, a new message finally appeared in the chat.
【【All】 CG.Y.letter: That guy was right】
【【All】 CG.Y.letter: You really aren’t even a fraction as good as yux】
The word “VICTORY” popped up. Game over.
…He really does hold a grudge.
Nan Zhiyi felt a little like laughing, but considering the one being slaughtered like a dog was, after all, his acquaintance Qiu Cheng, he coughed a couple of times and held it in.
On the results screen he sent the little trainee a friend request. He waited a while, but no acceptance came.
Nan Zhiyi couldn’t help picking up his phone and firing off a WeChat to Pigeon.
【Xiao Yi Xiao Yi: Do you know that CGY trainee called “letter”?】
It would be several hours before he saw Pigeon’s reply.
Nan Zhiyi kept solo-queuing, ran off a seven-game win streak, climbed over a hundred points, and just about left the chat dumbstruck.
【666 turns out you’ve actually got skill, streamer】
【Uh oh, he’s not about to go pro in a couple days, is he?】
【Then who’s going to fill my void for an assassin-style support??】
【Be honest, streamer, those Asia Server #1 ranks on this account, you didn’t really climb those all yourself, did you??】
Nan Zhiyi stretched and ignored the screenful of gushing praise.
“So hungry, let me order some late-night food…” He grabbed his phone and lit up the screen.
A few WeChat messages popped up one after another.
【Pigeon: Why are you suddenly asking about someone from a youth-training squad】
A half-hour gap between messages.
【Pigeon: Bro, I’ve got good news and bad news】
【Pigeon: Good news is I happen to know this guy】
Like a tease holding back the punchline, the chat stopped there.
Nan Zhiyi typed: 【And the bad news?】
As if he’d been waiting the whole time for a reply, the response came instantly. Even through the screen, Nan Zhiyi could practically see Pigeon’s eyes glinting with gossip as he hammered away at the keyboard.
【Pigeon: Bad news is this dude had an allergic reaction yesterday and he’s still lying in a hospital bed】
For a second Nan Zhiyi’s brain couldn’t keep up.
He asked: 【Then how was he playing the game?】
Pigeon sent an “are you an idiot” sticker.
【Pigeon: That Qiu the City Lord, he’s your flatmate, right?】
【Pigeon: This whole thing was no big deal to start with, he just ran into a buzzsaw and got stomped. But after that game, Qiu the City Lord kept trash-talking, then rage-blacked-out his screen and ended his stream, and then his fans went and swarmed letter’s Weibo calling him a stream-sniping dog, saying his positioning wasn’t normal, his game sense was AI-good, he must’ve been screen-peeking to catch the streamer out so many times. Tell me that isn’t completely out of nowhere】
【Pigeon: So then, just now, a certain someone’s main account posted a Weibo statement saying he’d borrowed a trainee’s account and it wasn’t the trainee himself playing, take any complaints to him. This person has finals coming up real soon and didn’t want to grind ladder on his own account, to avoid people studying his ranked data】
Nan Zhiyi was drinking water and didn’t read that whole wall of text carefully: 【Who is it?】
【yux, obviously. You Xin. The Witch God. Weren’t you just gushing about how well someone plays Witch? Even chasing him down to add him as a friend.】 Pigeon replied coolly. 【Who else?】
Nan Zhiyi nearly choked to death on his mouthful of water.
Author’s note:
Xiao Yi heard that and just dropped dead on the spot, crack., In the end I decided to release all three chapters together so it flows better.
References[+]