“Let’s have some fun with Mahjong first, and then continue with the match at twelve.”
[Holy crap, the streamer’s mentality is so damn good. His ranking is messed up, yet he still has the mood to play Mahjong.]
[What’s the point of playing now? Yesterday, you didn’t play. Do you think you still have a chance to get in the top three?]
Ji Xingchen discarded a six of characters and smiled at his concealed seven pairs, saying, “Is top three that hard?”
His words carried a hint of arrogance, and the haters thought he was angry and boasting to them.
Afterwards, this group mocked Ji Xingchen again, and some even started threads on forums to ridicule him.
[It’s not hard to get in the top three? Then why haven’t you made it there yet? Just talking big is useless!]
“Self-draw!”
Accompanied by Ji Xingchen’s cheerful voice, he drew a winning tile, a one of characters, from the wall, immediately winning thousands of chips from the other players.
“I drew the one of characters for a winning hand?? Looks like I have good luck today. My luck shouldn’t be too bad in the match later.”
After finishing a game of Mahjong with three elderly card-playing friends, it was almost twelve o’clock.
Ji Xingchen immediately logged into his match account, waiting for the last minute countdown.
While Ji Xingchen seemed completely unaffected, his fans in the livestream were deeply concerned.
Even though the match was about to start, he still hadn’t teamed up with anyone… Was he going to solo queue all week?
[Is Star going to solo queue again today? Has he found someone to team up with?]
“Yeah, everyone’s teaming up for matches now. Although Star is strong, it feels like he’s at a disadvantage solo queuing.]
“I’m not solo queuing today,” Ji Xingchen chuckled. “I have a teammate, so don’t worry.”
[What??]
[A teammate? When did you find a teammate?!]
[Ah, Star, tell me quickly, who are you duo queuing with?]
Facing the fans’ curiosity, Ji Xingchen teased, “You’ll find out soon.”
So the fans all eagerly stared at the screen, waiting to see who Ji Xingchen’s teammate would be once the match lobby opened.
However, when the countdown ended, Ji Xingchen didn’t actively invite anyone.
But while he didn’t extend invitations, he received five invitations from other players in the game.
Ji Xingchen directly declined four of them, and accepted the invitation from Mengjing’s Xing Cai.
[Wow~]
The fans in the livestream were instantly excited when they saw Xing Cai’s name.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
[It’s Xing Cai! He’s really strong!]
“Rlmf, clmf, j ragbcu veb. P’w yfaalcu bc Vajg ab yf ecyfjajyif!]
[I thought they would be opponents, but I didn’t expect them to become teammates?]
[Ahh, mid laner plus marksman, I really want to know what strategies they’ve secretly practiced!]
Tfrafgvjs, atf ragfjwfgr rqfca atf ktbif vjs qijslcu lc afjwr, jcv atf jevlfcmf cbalmfv atja atfs tjv delfais qgjmalmfv rbwf rqfmlji ajmalmr obg mbbgvlcjalbc.
Vfflcu Al Wlcumtfc jcv Wlcu Jjl afjwlcu eq abvjs, atfs jrrewfv atfs tjv jirb qijccfv atflg ragjafus yfobgftjcv.
However, when Ji Xingchen entered Xing Cai’s team room, he said to everyone, “Strategy? Except for that one match, we haven’t played together at all since then. Can you believe it?”
Livestream: [Unbelievable, unbelievable]
Ji Xingchen’s team chat was open, so as soon as he said that, Xing Cai heard him.
Immediately, Xing Cai laughed and explained to the audience through the team chat, “Star only agreed to team up with me last night. Where did we find the time to plan a strategy? We were the ones who got tricked!”
Then, he turned to Ji Xingchen and said, “So, Star, do you want to discuss how we’re going to play? Do you want to play Angela to fight as jungle? Then I’ll support as Jiang Ziya and we can invade the enemy blue buff.”
Ji Xingchen whistled, “Sounds good, bro. I love fishing with my support, Jiang Ziya! But… actually, I want to try Cai Yan as jungle.”
Hearing this, Xing Cai burst into laughter, “Cai Yan as jungle??? Hahaha, awesome! Bro, you’re really something! Cai Yan jungle… But… are you trying to troll me? What should I do, my goodness… I thought I hitched a ride on an aircraft carrier, but ended up on a pirate ship?”
Ji Xingchen replied, “Dreams are meant to be pursued. What if we see a ghost, right? Cai Yan jungle can work too. And now, even if you want to jump off the ship, it’s too late, I’ve already tied you to me with iron chains.”
[Hahaha, iron chains, that’s hilarious]
[Are they really teaming up for the first time? This is too funny]
[I suspect you two have both boarded each other’s pirate ships. You might end up role-playing each other later, haha]
Just as Ran Feng entered the livestream room, he happened to hear Ji Xingchen’s last sentence.
[Moderator] [Wanfeng Picks Star]: Tied up to you?
Ji Xingchen forgot to turn off the barrage today, and just as he looked up, he saw this message from the boss.
After seeing the boss’s message, he immediately changed his tune: “No, no, no, I just found the key and unlocked it.”
Xing Cai: “What’s unlocked???”
[Hahaha, the boss arrives and Star immediately changes his tune]
[Xing Cai: the confused handyman]
[Our Star can only locks with the boss]
After joking around and lightening the mood, Xing Cai clicked to start.
In less than twenty seconds, the system popped up the names of the ten streamers matched together this time.
Ji Xingchen glanced at the opponents.
He had just boasted about his luck not being bad, but the first match paired him against last week’s best mid-laner and current top scorer, Song Peifeng.
Ji Xingchen had played less than forty games last week, and both his teammates and opponents were randomly matched by the system.
Although he had clashed with some streamers three or four times, he had never faced Song Peifeng.
Unexpectedly, his luck turned sour today. The very person he hadn’t encountered all last week was now his first opponent, courtesy of the system.
Ji Xingchen’s face was red with embarrassment, but the appearance of this lineup excited the audience.
As competitors for the top mid-lane spot last week, everyone had been eagerly anticipating the showdown between Song Peifeng and Ji Xingchen.
Both of them played mid-lane mages exceptionally well, but in their own distinct styles.
Song Peifeng leaned towards a conservative approach, excelling at playing supportive mid-lane champions that benefit the team. He synergized well with his teammates, playing a stable and supportive role.
On the other hand, Ji Xingchen was different. He preferred playing flashy mid-lane mages who could carry the game, often single-handedly turning the tide for his team and achieving miraculous results.
The two streamers with different styles finally collided today, and the scene must have been quite spectacular.
Song Peifeng is currently ranked first in points, so his strength cannot be underestimated.
Except for him, Ji Xingchen has faced everyone on the opposing team before. Therefore, as soon as they entered the pick/ban phase, his first and second pick teammates banned Song Peifeng’s signature heroes, Gan & Mo and Shen Mengxi, as a sign of respect.
The opposing team, being courteous as well, reciprocated by banning three mages and one marksman, including Ji Xingchen.
Even before the match officially began, there was already intense action on both sides.
Although Ji Xingchen’s ranking has dropped to twelfth place, no one dares to let him play his signature heroes.
After all, there are too many variables in the arena, and streamers know that if they let their guard down and allow him to play aggressively like he did in the first three days with Shangguan, it will be a disaster. Even if he’s sick for another two days, he can still catch up in points!
The opposing team, having banned all of Ji Xingchen’s signature heroes, his teammate decided to use Master Lu Ban, the versatile support.
Coincidentally, one of Ji Xingchen’s teammates specialized in support and immediately grabbed Lu Ban.
Lu Ban’s teammate: “I’m really good at pulling people, do you want to pick Xishi to complement my pulling game?”
Ji Xingchen’s cursor hovered over Xishi’s page but didn’t instantly lock in.
Ji Xingchen: “Brother… I don’t play Xishi much.”
Lu Ban’s teammate: “Well, forget it then. Let’s not complicate things. Just pick someone you’re comfortable with, it’ll work out the same.”
Every streamer wants to assemble the perfect lineup during matches. However, conflicts arise due to everyone’s positions and the depth of their hero pools. Therefore, it’s often impossible to create the perfect lineup.
Ji Xingchen’s teammates were considerate enough not to push him to play a hero he wasn’t comfortable with when they saw he wasn’t familiar with Xishi.
However, just when everyone mentally crossed Xishi off Ji Xingchen’s hero pool, expecting him to pull out a predictable Liang, he surprised them all by locking in Xishi as requested by Lu Ban.
Ji Xingchen chuckled, “It’s okay, I may not play her often, but I can manage.”
Hearing Ji Xingchen’s nonchalant tone, the haters were furious once again.
[Is he intentionally messing with his teammates’ mentality?]
[Can’t he show some respect for the game? He used to seem pretty decent before getting popular, but now he’s acting so arrogant. Daring to pick Xishi without much experience? Professional players wouldn’t be as audacious as him.]
[He hasn’t played her much and he dares to pick her? Does he really think he’s invincible in the mid lane?]
Ji Xingchen paid no attention to the haters’ comments. He was currently communicating with Xing Cai to decide on which marksman to pick.
“Brother Star, do you prefer Lady Sun or someone else?”
Xing Cai, who used to solo queue and pick heroes on his own, had transformed into a complete fanboy mode after teaming up with Ji Xingchen today. He even sought Ji Xingchen’s opinion on which hero to play.
Ji Xingchen glanced at the enemy lineup – Lian Po, Ma Chao, Liu Bang, Marco Polo, and Wu Ze Tian.
Tanks, crowd control, and burst damage – the enemies had it all…
After considering for a moment, Ji Xingchen said, “Let’s go with Lady Sun.”
Following Ji Xingchen’s suggestion, Xing Cai obediently locked in Lady Sun for the last position on the fifth floor, and the game officially began.
This time, Ji Xingchen, playing as the team-oriented mage Xishi, knew that the focus wouldn’t be on his individual performance but on supporting the marksman. Lady Sun, being a late-game hero, meant that Ji Xingchen and his teammates’ strategy at the beginning was to avoid team fights as much as possible and focus on sneaky farming.
However, regardless of whether it was Lian Po, Liu Bang, or Wu Ze Tian, the enemies were all strong initiators in team fights.
The more Ji Xingchen’s team tried to avoid confrontations, the more aggressively the enemies pursued them to engage and harass them.
While Ji Xingchen’s teammates were decent in terms of individual skills, their synergy with each other was lacking.
Throughout the game, although everyone was on voice chat, they couldn’t coordinate effectively.
On the contrary, the situation with the opponents’ streamers was different from Ji Xingchen’s side. They were all good friends with Song Peifeng, often playing games together, and had a high level of synergy.
With such a huge disparity in synergy between the two sides, Ji Xingchen’s situation was not optimistic.
His Xishi managed to catch the enemy’s carries several times, but his teammates couldn’t keep up with his pace.
Only Xing Cai’s Lady Sun barely managed to follow up with a few hits, but unfortunately, Lady Sun hadn’t scaled up in the early game, her damage was insufficient, and every crucial moment, Liu Bang from the enemy team would use his ultimate to provide protection, while Song Peifeng’s Wu Ze Tian perfectly followed up with crowd control.
In the end, Ji Xingchen could only watch helplessly as the enemies slipped away from his grasp time and time again.
Despite playing so many matches, it was the first time he went ten minutes without a single kill.
The disadvantage was snowballing, gradually getting bigger and bigger.
After the enemy Lian Po forcefully engaged in two successful team fights, Ji Xingchen’s team lost all their outer towers, leaving only three lonely high ground towers standing resiliently.
At thirteen minutes, all five enemies gathered under the middle lane high ground tower.
At this moment, Ji Xingchen teammate’s jungler, Prince of Lanling, had already died, and the side lane Guan Yu still had 10 seconds before respawning…
So is it his fault or everyone in team were so so?
Thank you for your translation 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖
damn I caught up with the latest chapter and it’s already 5am(ᗒᗩᗕ). Thank you for the translation (◕ᴗ◕✿)
💐❤️💐❤️