C2 Part2

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Chapter 2: The Social Flower of Esports (Part 2)

It was now the weekend. By the time Ji Xiangkong agreed upon in the evening came around, Qiu Ying had already applied her makeup and was beginning to feel restless, wriggling in her chair. She held her cell phone in both hands. The screen was black, with no new notifications or calls.

Before saying goodbye that day, she had pestered Ji Xiangkong until he finally gave her his WeChat, but he said that he was very busy training so he didn’t check it often.

She tried to test her luck, but he didn’t reply at all.

He was really a hot and cold person. Just a few days ago, he’d smiled at her ambiguously, and now he was so indifferent it was like it was previously a dream.

Seeing that it was just about time for her to start her stream and there was no activity on her game interface, Qiu Ying couldn’t help but worry. He… he couldn’t have forgotten, right?

She bit her lip and couldn’t help but send him a message: “Tonight at 8. You remember, right?”

No reply.

At 8, Qiu Ying sorted out her emotions, turned on the camera, and put on her signature smile.

On the chat, the viewers sent in swarms of questions.

“Who’s the special guest? Cris god?”

Qiu Ying didn’t confirm it, but smiled sweetly to change the subject.

8:05.

Her expectations were like a slowly-rising balloon, drifting high, only to be punctured by a fine needle. Constantly falling, falling.

8:15.

Qiu Ying was about to give up when suddenly a loud sound effect echoed in her headphones, making her jump in shock.

A prompt box appeared in the middle of the screen: “Legend’s Void invites you to join their team.”

The chat went insane, the entire screen instantaneously filled with white words and exclamation marks.

“Legend’s Void!”

“So it turns out to be Ji Xiangkong!”

“Oh my goodness!”

Qiu Ying’s suspended heart finally fell to the ground. Without realizing, her eyes were red.

The phone on her right vibrated with a WeChat from Ji Xiangkong. “Sorry, I just finished training.”

His avatar was the side profile of him wearing a headset, very seductive. Qiu Ying’s aggrieved stomach instantly disappeared.

She requested a game and quickly entered into one. When she reached the selection stage, the chat exploded again. Qiu Ying glanced at the IDs of the ten people in the field and suddenly found Qiao Xin on the list. It was like she had suddenly eaten a fly.

Qiu Ying gritted her teeth and muttered under her breath. Qiao Xin was her fellow female streamer on Youxing, who always loved to mess with her. After seeing that Qiu Ying’s popularity had greatly risen after she switched to Conquer, she followed her over, like a ghost that wouldn’t go away.

Then Qiu Ying thought about it, and that couldn’t be right. Conquer’s system matched up opponents based on the average level of the team. Qiao Xin was normally dancing and singing on streams, so her level in the game was pretty bad. How could she be matched with Ji Xiangkong’s and her team?

Qiu Ying was wondering about this, and then she looked at the ID next to Qiao Xin’s name.

VPGSummit.

VPG?!

—VPG’s sword is their mid, Summit.

—Pei Xi, China’s number one mid of the new generation!

Qiu Ying’s hand, on the mouse, began to tremble.

Qiao Xin actually hooked up with Summit, Pei Xi? She took action fast! However, VPG lost to Legend, yes, so even so, she’d still won. Wait a minute, that meant tonight’s livestream… would be a legendary duel between the global second and third place?!

Qiu Ying was eager to see this, and because of her good fortune, she would be able to watch the number of her viewers skyrocket. She imagined it, but the chat turned in a completely unexpected direction.

“Extra, extra! The biggest noob and the strongest player in the Conquer circle meet each other!”

“Void, you better retire from esports soon! I feel embarrassed for you!”

“To rest his hands and be a professional only with his face, that’s Ji Xiangkong!”

“You tricked C god and still dare to come here to play with a girl, who gave you face?!”

“Ji Xiangkong, your basics are all nothing! Your ultimates are all nothing!”1

The screen was filled with all sorts of taunts and jeers at Ji Xiangkong. Qiu Ying’s head flashed with lightning and thunder. What was going on?

The game began. Qiu Ying closely followed Ji Xiangkong to the top lane and tried to chat with him through the microphone, but he didn’t respond.

Very quickly, he told her on WeChat, “My microphone is broken.”

Qiu Ying hid behind Ji Xiangkong to effortlessly farm, but after a while, he disappeared, leaving her alone. Qiu Ying was dazed for a second, until suddenly, two people came out of the shadows of the forest and killed her.

The screen turned grey and a small box popped up in the top left corner. It displayed—

Killer: VPGSummit.

Qiao Xin wrote on the public channel: Summit, you killed too fast. Give the last blow to me, I want to take her head.

Qiu Ying angrily gritted her teeth and fought back: Don’t be so proud so soon, there’s someone to avenge me.

Of course, the person she was referring to was Ji Xiangkong. However, he had no response, doing nothing and wandering around in the wild zone.

The audience laughed at her misfortune.

“Hahahaha, you’re still counting on Ji Xiangkong? This trash can’t even protect himself!”

“Ying goddess, you grabbed the wrong thigh!”

Qiu Ying was unwilling to leave it at that and went down the lane until she found Ji Xiangkong. Just as she was thinking about fighting monsters with him, one person suddenly crossed the river channel. She wasn’t able to react in time, and in front of her eyes, she was bloodied again until she fell to the ground.

Ji Xiangkong, Void, actually idly looked on!

A small box popped up in the top left corner again. Killer: Floria, Qiao Xin’s ID.

This time, Summit had really hit Qiu Ying until she was just about dead, using his skills until she could only lie in one place, then waited for Qiao Xin to run over from afar and gave her the kill.

This was absolutely humiliating!

Qiao Xin didn’t forget to write on the public channel.

Floria: Aiya~ Qiu Ying, isn’t it obvious you don’t know how to play? What are you doing livestreaming? Go back and entertain people on the National Stars show, or are you so desperate for popularity?

Qiu Ying ground her teeth and a vessel on her temple ticked, but she couldn’t say anything while in front of the camera. After she resurrected, she found an opportunity while Qiao Xin was all alone to ambush her at the mouth of the river. Seeing her nearby, Qiu Ying cast an enchantment, locking her within ice so she couldn’t move or attack. Then she wielded her staff and cast her ultimate, raising up a blizzard.

Just as Qiao Xin’s HP bar was almost empty, Qiu Ying’s skills were suddenly interrupted. In a blink, Summit already blocked off her front, critically attacking her with his two swords. Qiu Ying’s hero fell to the ground.

Qiu Ying glared at the screen with bloodshot eyes, unable to say a single word.

Even across the screen, she could feel Qiao Xin’s smugness.

Floria: You still want to kill me? It’s your choice. They say you need to use your brain for Conquer, so this isn’t for you. Don’t keep on hanging around here like a mutt.

What she went through in the game next was like a nightmare. Like he was marking Qiu Ying as prey, Summit stayed only within her range, completely ignoring everyone else and directly attacking her until she only had a little bit of HP left, before letting Qiao Xin take the kill.

Qiu Ying hid behind the defense tower; Summit and Qiao Xin climbed the tower and killed her!

She was alone; killed! Fighting monsters; killed! Hiding behind her teammates; Summit stunned her with a side attack, Qiao Xin sniped her; was killed! Retreating to the base; was pulled out by a hook; was killed!

Each time a hero died, they would drop some gold. In addition, Qiu Ying had absolutely no opportunity to fight monsters or upgrade to gain gold. After 15 minutes, she had the worst economy and the lowest level in the entire field. The only equipment on her hero’s entire body was a pair of Straw Sandals, which could only be described as “bullied upon sight.”

<details>

<summary>Straw Sandals</summary>

In games like League of Legends you can buy “shoes” with your gold to help buff your movement, so as you can imagine, Straw Sandals, though they don’t exactly exist in League, are the most basic form of footwear that you start the round with.

</details>

In contrast, Qiao Xin had already gained excellent weapons and armor, and was nearly at Level 10’s berserker stage, where she could kill Qiu Ying without any assistance.

“Help me, please.” After she was killed by Qiao Xin yet again, Qiu Ying’s voice nearly broke.

Ji Xiangkong ignored her.

On Qiao Xin’s side, Summit’s attention to her could only be described as meticulous. No matter what, he restored her back to full health, gave her the kill, gifted her equipment. When she bought things, he stood guard next to her. When she was in danger, he arrived as soon as possible. She pointed to the north and he wouldn’t dare go west. He was practically a classic obedient dog.

She died again. Qiu Ying flipped over her keyboard in fury.

What number one mid of the new generation! What is it called if professional gamers bully a girl who isn’t good at games!

I bet Pei Xi is an ugly, disgusting man who has never seen the world!

The audience within Qiu Ying’s stream room continued to drop as they gradually became Qiao Xin’s lively fans.

“Us onlookers came over to watch a show, I hear Qiu Ying’s getting exploded by Qiao goddess?”

“Fellow onlookers, what special guest? They didn’t even interact once! It doesn’t even matter to him whether or not she dies lololol.”

“The death this time is really miserable, not rewarding at all. I’m going next door to watch Qiao Xin and Pei god, bye bye.”

“I always thought you were disgusting, I feel really good watching you being abused now!”

A new message appeared on the public game channel.

Floria: Recently I’ve been doing a quest, “Kill 1 enemy 10 times in the wild zone.” Right now I’m short one time, Qiu Ying, quick, help me finish it.

The cynicism within the chat increasingly worsened. Qiu Ying could no longer manage her smiling expression and finally closed down her camera with a snap, ending the livestream.

Since stepping on the path of livestreaming, Qiu Ying had received many curses from her audience. But this time, she was actually unable to control the turmoils of her own emotions.

His indifference was so obvious. Perhaps he was waiting to make a joke out of her from the beginning.

Some sort of unknown emotion suddenly shattered, one that could not be repaired.

Qiu Ying’s nose was very sour. The screen in front of her was blurry, like it was covered in mist.

“I can’t leave it like this. That great god boosted Qiao Xin, so I was unprepared.”

There was an overwhelming surge of a peculiar sourness and an empty sense of loss within her heart, something unexpectedly sinking.

“I lost this time. It’s no big deal.”

She reached out her hand, wiping her face randomly. The tips of her fingers were wet with tears.

“I only want to take advantage of him, that’s all,” Qiu Ying sniffed and muttered to herself.

**

The entire night, Ji Xiangkong didn’t send any messages. As moonlight spilled into her dark room through her thin curtains, Qiu Ying tossed and turned on her bed. She was unable to keep herself from getting up and turning on her phone, the light from the screen catching her off guard and making her squint.

She pressed on Ji Xiangkong’s WeChat icon, looking at it for a long, long, time.

There was still a tiny bit of expectation saved in her heart. She waited, waited for a new message prompt to pop up next to his icon, waited for him to give an explanation.

Before she knew it, she fell asleep. Qiu Ying dreamed.

It was raining, the entire world filled with noise. Ji Xiangkong stood in front of a public phone booth under the heavy rain. Qiu Ying hid inside the booth, staring at him with wide eyes. She stood on her tiptoes, wanting to stretch to his height, but no matter how much she tried, she couldn’t even reach his chin. Her body wobbled, her center of gravity shifted forward, and her head knocked on the glass door, making her cry out in pain.

His eyebrows drew together and his fingers touched the phone booth door, where rain trickled down. Qiu Ying stood up on her tiptoes once more and kissed his face.

They were separated by a piece of glass between them.

Her lips kissed the glass, ice cold.

Qiu Ying woke up from her dream, heart still thumping like a drum. It took a while for her to calm down.

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Footnotes:

1 the commenter uses kong (空) to say that his skills are “empty” or “nothing,” which is the same kong in Ji Xiangkong’s name

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