C4 Part1

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Chapter 4: Players Underestimated by the Public (Part 1)

Tuesday to Thursday were all filled with university classes. During lunch break, Qiu Ying held up her textbooks as high as her head and struggled down the central spiral staircase of the library on her way to the study room to work. The posts on the internet ridiculed her as a wh*re streamer who unscrupulously sold sex for more popularity, but there were probably very few people who knew that she was seriously studying broadcasting and professional hosting.

When she passed through the lobby of the ground floor, she stumbled. The huge TV screen was playing CCTV’s1 News Live Room.

[In the “World Cup” of global esports, Chinese teams placed second and fourth place, winning over 8 million US dollars in prize money]

In a series of highlights from the live footage, the screen displayed a close-up of Ji Xiangkong. The four teammates beside him were frowning, but only his face was unaffected. His expression was composed as he tapped on the keyboard, speaking into his headset frequently. In the next clip, their opponents were chased away as they fiercely hit their keyboards.

Qiu Ying looked at it with a surge of emotion, then suddenly heard several girls next to her whispering excitedly, blushing, “That person in the shot just now is so handsome!”

“Yeah, his focused expression when he’s wearing a headset is so cool! I’m going to look up his name!”

Qiu Ying couldn’t help but sigh; Ji Xiangkong’s ability to draw in fans was pretty frightening. No wonder his fans were referred to as the cult of the esports circle…

“This guy doesn’t look bad, but he plays terribly.” A boy raised his chin with a swagger. “I’m pretty sure I’m more awesome than him.”

His words succeeded in attracting the girls’ attention. “That can’t be true, he’s a professional player, the world runner-up.”

The boy shook his head, like he was privy to secret information. “It’s just luck, that’s all, he’s just hugging thighs, his teammates are all the great ones.” Seeing the girls with doubtful eyes, he exaggeratedly sighed and began to explain, “For example, their captain Cris, he’s the top person in Chinese Conquer, you know. His teammates already said that ‘you only need to stand next to him and watch him operate and then you’ll know what victory is.’”

When he spoke, he was dragging his words out, with a posture of “I’m a high-end gamer who is taking the time out of my day to chat with civilians.” The girls’ expressions were full of “although we don’t know what you’re saying, you seem to look pretty cool,” and so he became even prouder, endlessly talking about Ji Xiangkong’s professional career.

The content of his words was likely simply the rumors on the internet. After he graduated from high school, he went to Korea to study abroad. He joined a professional esports team over there, but was kicked around like a ball to the secondary and tertiary teams, never gaining any achievements. His teammates mocked his poor hands and said he wasn’t suitable to walk on the path of esports. After he graduated, he came back to China to develop. His level was recognized by most players as the worst in the entire professional circle; his hand speed was slow, his operating didn’t look cool or impressive, from time to time he would get killed by his opponents so many times he became a cash machine…

The boy was still chattering about Ji Xiangkong’s affairs when the girl standing at the very front interjected, “The leadership of those clubs can’t be stupid. Why do they still want such a bad player?”

Several other girls chimed in. “Right, you just said that his captain is China’s top player. They were able to go to a world competition, what are you doing by making trouble for yourself?”

The boy seemed to be stumped, then awkwardly raised his eyebrows. “Who knows, this trash man takes it by using a girl, maybe it’s just the unspoken rule… ow, hey!”

Qiu Ying struck him hard from behind, the book in her hands flying through the air to hit him. Like nothing had happened, she picked it back up and coldly threw out the word, “Sorry.” Then she left without turning back.

Many people were like this. Without using any thought or research, they collected all the gossip and buzzwords, copied them, and then proudly scattered them into the world, calling it the “truth.”

**

After completing her homework for a while in the silent study room, Qiu Ying’s heart was still restless. She put down her pen and rested her head in both hands, feeling at a loss. Her conversation with Ji Xiangkong that night once more came to her mind.

—“Can I continue to keep in touch with you on WeChat?”

—“Still, we shouldn’t.”

It was like a hole had been drilled into her heart, desolate, and nothing could fill it whatsoever.

Before they parted, Ji Xiangkong had apologized to her specially once again. He resolutely said that he should not have listened to the rumors without verifying them for himself, thinking her to be a seducer and an opportunist. He had gone a step too far in making fun of her.

But he was serious for three seconds, with his peach-blossom eyes curved. He said lowly and obscurely, raising his eyebrows, “I’ll compensate you.”

Two days later, Qiu Ying received the so-called compensation in the mailbox. It was an invitation to the celebration for the Global Finals. The people in front of and behind the scenes of the Conquer circle would be there, with quite the number of celebrities, too.

Ji Xiangkong left a note: Prepare well, you may be able to grasp opportunities.

Was he giving her a way to get into the circle? So his suggestion that she become a female commentator that day had not been just careless words.

Qiu Ying held the linen-colored paper in her hands, moved to tears. She was about to properly put away the note when she suddenly discovered a line of bold, bright red words on the back.

—Remember the lesson, don’t try to lure anyone again.

Qiu Ying pursed her lips, hands shaking even more.

**

That evening, Ji Xiangkong also posted a statement on Weibo. He expressed that he had often watched Qiu Ying’s livestream and thought that she was interesting, so he took the initiative to invite her to double queue with him. The two of them did not have a deep relationship. The wind of public opinion suddenly changed direction, the onlookers following along with it to comment.

“I’m just gonna say, that double queue was obviously Ji Xiangkong tricking Qiu Ying, he saw her die so many times and didn’t help out!”

“This female streamer is really pitiful. Obviously, she was hooked by him, but she helped him carry the blame for so long!”

The topic proceeded to develop, becoming a rehash of old ideas with a new context, going from Ji Xiangkong’s character to his professional career with the standard attacks.

In an instant, Qiu Ying’s image transformed from a shameless seducer who hugged onto the thighs of professional players, to a streamer who had lost her reputation from the trap of a playboy. Baby was wronged, but wasn’t baby a tolerant girl?

At that time, Qiu Ying stared at the screen, stunned, dumbstruck.

She had already before experienced the most devastating winter of her life. She had been pushed to the fiercest part of the storm but had been able to brave the rain of bullets to firmly move forward. Never before had there been a person like him who would silently stand in front of her like this, who would shoulder the harm that would bind her on her behalf.

The light breeze stirred the curtains and the rain pattered on the glass. Qiu Ying’s heart was in turmoil. There was something warm slowly creeping across her heart, burning hotter and hotter, like her chest was melting. She wanted to laugh. But the tip of her nose felt like it was being filled with acid and she could only inhale hard, over and over.

She edited a long WeChat message to thank Ji Xiangkong; wrote and deleted, deleted and wrote. She sat restlessly for a night, but did not receive any reply.

In the end, she fell onto her bed, downhearted. What was she thinking? He had already said that they should not contact each other anymore.

**

Nevertheless, in the same way it was difficult to control your appetite, a girl in a period of unrequited love would be filled with passion. Every time she saw a meaningful picture or passage, she couldn’t keep herself from sending him a WeChat.

As she thought of this, Qiu Ying dumped her phone out of her bag. In her chat log with Ji Xiangkong, she alone sang a one-man show.

She wanted to know more about what he was like in his daily life, but he didn’t even have a circle of friends.2

Qiu Ying opened up Ji Xiangkong’s profile, her fingers slowly, slowly, brushing against his enlarged profile picture. They brushed against his fine hair, brushed against his straight nose bridge, brushed against his unsmiling yet affectionate eyes, finally stopping reluctantly to linger on his lips.

The people around her were all looking at her, at which point she realized that she was looking like a female pervert. She withdrew her hand in a panic, the phone fell to the ground with an extremely loud bang; she bent down to pick it up and hit her head with a bang on the table.

The boy across from her raised his head, revealing a pitying expression of “this girl looks nice, but it’s a pity she has an intellectual disability.”

Qiu Ying embarrassedly sat back on her chair. Her gaze swept to the calendar on her phone, where she had marked the important date. Suddenly, her heart began to beat like a drum.

Could she see him again on that day?

**

“Ezreal. Initial health: 430, increases by 80 with each levelup. Mana: 280, increases by 45 with each levelup. Attack power: 47.6, increases by 3 with each levelup. Movement speed: 325. Attack range: 550. Its position is a long-range attacker, mage.”

Qiu Ying gathered her hair behind her head into a ponytail, using an old-fashioned wide headband to push back her bangs and expose her smooth forehead. She rambled while taking notes on Conquer’s informational videos.

The first step to becoming a commentator was, of course, to have proficient understanding of the game.

Conquer had a total of 110 available heroes that players could choose from. Each hero was unique in their four skills, skill trees, and special growth attributes. In order to understand them, Qiu Ying summoned up the spirit of the Daredevil Third Brother3 and learned the game material back to front.

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Footnotes:

1 Not as in CCTV security cameras, but as in China Central Television.

2 As in a circle of friends on WeChat to where he posts pictures.

3 Shi Xiu, a fictional character in Water Margin, a 14th-century Chinese novel and one of the Four Great Classical Novels. Another way to say a person who does their best without fear of death.

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