Rise

Su Xue quickly queued into her first match. In champion select, she picked her main, Caitlyn. Out of all the ad-carries she played, she’d been doing the best with Caitlyn lately, especially at farming. Plus, it was never a bad idea to start the day on a high note. The enemy picked Jinx, a relatively easy opponent. Her mood lifted and she said to her viewers, “Hehe! Watch how I carry this match, guys!”

The viewers in the stream had a different opinion. 

「haha the zero income streamer is bulsshitting again」

「watch her feed lol」

「the human ATM is bragging!」

「so confident, xue xue! r u alright? loool.」

“Screw you guys! I’ll make you all eat those words when I carry like a god!” Su Xue erupted.

The match got off to a good start. Su Xue played rather well, taking full advantage of Caitlyn’s superior range to pressure the enemy Jinx in the early laning phase. At six minutes in, she even managed to get a kill and assist when Rek’Sai came for a gank.

The viewers were startled beyond belief.

「Woah! Maid, are you scripting today!?!?!?/」

「wow, that was actually good!」

“See, what did I say? I’m going to carry like a god today!” Su Xue exclaimed smugly.

Su Xue was playing exceptionally well this game. Clearly, Lin Feng’s training these past few days was effective. When she hit 78 CS at the 10-minute mark versus Jinx’s 55, the viewers were all gasping in admiration.

Su Xue maintained a calm expression on the surface, but inwardly she was grinning from ear to ear. Hahaha! All that hard work is paying off! I can finally carry with my Caitlyn!

Ever since that match with Ol’ Black a few days ago, Su Xue saw her viewership steadily climbing, from 40-odd viewers to over 200. The new viewers also couldn’t help but nod approvingly after watching Su Xue play for a bit.

「hoh wow, her caitlyn is pretty solid」

「yea! she’s way better than those e-girl thots!」

「right? We’re on Huya to watch people play games, not play with themselves!」

Gaining the approval of her new viewers, Su Xue’s mood lifted even higher, and she started concentrating even harder on her play. It also helped that her long-time viewers were putting in a good word for her.

「Yup. Xue Xue might suck, but at least we can tell she tries hard!」

「way better than those other female streamers!」

「btw where’s our lil bro???」

Su Xue’s long time viewers started asking about Lin Feng. He hadn’t been in any of her streams the past few days. So, they were starting to miss him. The new viewers also recalled Lin Feng. How couldn’t they? He was Godlee!

「ohhhhh! Do you mean that kid who played the sword of the occult Lee?」

「that kid and her live together? r they siblings or something?」

「I came to this stream for godlee!!!」

Noticing the conversation in the chat, Su Xue curled her lips and explained, “Hmph! He’s busy picking up girls!”

✹

At the NetCow Cafe. Lin Feng and Tang Bingyao were still playing League of Legends together. Right now, they were in a ranked match. Tang Bingyao was playing Twitch, while Lin Feng played jungle Fiddlesticks.

After practicing Twitch for several games, Tang Bingyao was clearly getting better at him. Even if Lin Feng didn’t babysit her lane, she could still scale very well by herself, at times even picking up kills on the enemy laners. Twitch wasn’t a very strong laning champion. But if you could get a lead with him early on, then when the teamfights started in mid to late game, he would be nothing short of a monster.

At about 14 minutes into the game, the second dragon spawned. The enemy team gathered in the dragon pit and started fighting it.

Lin Feng seized this opportunity to leap over the wall around the dragon pit with Crowstorm and right into the heart of the enemy team. A cacophony of caws rang out in the air as the Harbinger of Doom engulfed the enemy in a murder of crows, dealing a massive amount of magic damage!

At the same time, Twitch popped out of stealth behind the enemy ranks with Spray and Pray[1]. A spray of noxious bolts cut through the air!

“PINS AND NEEDLES! AHAHAHAHAHA!”

PTSUI! PTSUI! PTSUI! PTSUI! PTSUI! 

An endless assault of bolts skewered the enemy team, melting away what little remaining health they had left. 

《Double kill!》

《Triple kill!》

《Quadra kill!》

The game announcer’s voice rang out across Summoner’s Rift consecutively!

“Awesome Tang Tang!” Lin Feng laughed. “See? I told you Twitch was great at teamfighting!”

“Mhm.” Tang Bingyao nodded. Then, she turned to Lin Feng unhappily. “But I didn’t pick up a single kill.”

“Oh, you didn’t? I didn’t notice.” Lin Feng replied, feigning ignorance.

“Liar,” Tang Bingyao said as she stared at Lin Feng.

✹

Su Xue encountered a snag in her first game. Her Caitlyn was doing pretty well early game, but the rest of her team lost their respective lanes. The enemy top lane Darius turned into an unkillable monster, while the enemy mid lane LeBlanc could one shot anyone she saw. So, when the first team fight broke out, even though she had scaled well, she still couldn’t turn back the tide.

《You have been slain!》

Seeing her screen going gray, Su Xue went wide-eyed. “How did it end up like this…?” She genuinely felt she was playing really well, and even her viewers agreed too! But with these kinds of teammates, there was nothing she could do to turn the tide. No matter how well she scaled, the enemy mid and top lane were just too fed! She just had to be matched up with these kinds of teammates!

The viewers started comforting her.

「don’t feel too down, xue xue. you played really well」

「it’s alright, just move on to another game」

The new viewers were also chiming in.

「bad teammates can’t be helped」

「It’s already pretty hard to shut down a darius and leblanc when they’re not fed.」

「NOT HER FAULT TEAMMATES BAD」

However, several unpleasant voices suddenly interrupted the harmonious atmosphere, catching everyone’s attention.

「trash streamer, playing caitlyn with that skill? stop feeding the leblanc!」

「what a boosted monkey! I’m way better and Im Bronze!!」

「where did this trash streamer come from? never even heard of her. such crappy play and she actually wants to be a streamer? Our Rose is way better!」

Su Xue hadn’t even noticed these messages yet before her viewers already erupted in anger.

「Fuck off! Who the hell are these people? Talking shit as soon as they join the stream!」

「rose? who da fuk is rose???」

1. Twitch unleashes the full power of his crossbow, shooting bolts over a great distance that pierce all enemies caught in their path.