In the world of professional gaming, a realm of possibility that most of the older generations scoffed at, there was a particular newbie that caught the public’s attention.
This newbie, who went by the streaming name of Bluestar, shook the gaming community in violent waves after his incredible performance on the newly released platform Legend The Of Wind.
Everyone in the E-sports circle, regardless of if they liked first person team shooters or just barely dabbled, knew about this rising god of LOW.
However, at the height of his popularity, right before he was about to join as a professional…
Bluestar vanished without a trace.
Fans of his cried and cried for days on end, practically foaming out the mouth trying to find answers toward the identity of the streamer and his whereabouts.
However, the E-sports circle was the kind of place that relied heavily on strength and appearance, and little by little all of Bluestars fans died out.
Occasionally, people would bring it up, stirring up feelings in previous fans’ hearts, but it never amounted to anything.
Three years later, the once triumphant Bluestar had been reduced to nothing more than a forgotten god of LOW.
Tales like these weren’t hard to come by, however.
In the almost five-year history of the game, there were many popular streamers that turned into nothing but memories.
After all, E-sports was a genre that relied heavily on youth.
And one such youth, by the name of Wu Biaoqing, was currently setting up his first ever live stream.
“Come on Wu-ge, you’ve got this!” His friend assured him, “They didn’t let you go live during the rookie training camp, so now’s your chance to shine.”
“The only shining I’ll be doing is shining the captain’s shoes when I don’t meet my quota.” Wu Biaoqing sighed.
The usually tight-lipped youth was rather feisty when it came to his friend Chang Hui—
Whether it was because they knew each other from youth training, or because Chang Hui and him ended up on the same team, no one was sure.
“Just wait until the end of the month and pull an all-nighter for three days, easy peasy!” Advised the close-ranger.
Wu Biaoqing rolled his eyes.
“I’m starting to think your username is very fitting, Lethal.”
You see, Chang Hui and Wu Biaoqing were both a part of the same E-sports professional team.
To be more specific, it was a professional team for Legend Of The Wind.
And not only were they in the same team, they’d both gone to the same rookie training camp, and both ended up debuting as starters.
Talk about lucky!
“What are you two doing?” A cheery voice asked, echoing from down the hall all the way to the training room, “I certainly hope it’s live-streaming.”
The two idiots rushed to get their equipment ready as soon as possible.
…talk about domineering!
The door to the training room opened, revealing a soft-featured, light haired man, contrasting the older players in the room.
With his blue hair, mixed with their slight gap in age, one might very well think he was a rowdy teenager who’d come to knock some sense into them.
While it was certainly unconventional for the youngest player on the team to be the captain, it was very fitting.
He was just that kind of person—
Even the air around him felt an oppressive urge to work hard.
Wu Biaoqing coughed into his hand, focusing on his computer screen.
“Good morning, captain.” The two rookies greeted, hoping they sounded respectful enough.
The man in the doorway, named Xi Zhe, fought back laughter before sitting down at his own computer.
“Where’s Men Wu?” The captain asked, to which the other teammates shrugged.
“Probably oversleeping again,” replied Wu Biaoqing, “he has trouble falling asleep until five or six.”
It wasn’t uncommon for forever introverts, like the people who decided playing video games professionally was a good idea, to stay up rather late.
Only, it was a pain for their captain who’d worked so meticulously to plan their live stream time tables.
However, ignorance is bliss, so ignore Wu Biaoqing did as he logged back into his main account.
Since there were ranking requirements as well as live stream quotas, it wasn’t uncommon for players on teams to use their official account, to make sure that they wouldn’t fall too far down and worry about getting kicked out.
However, just like Wu Biaoqing, many players possessed alternative accounts meant for trying new things and playing without worry of thousands of fans watching every move.
Luckily, Wu Biaoqing was only being introduced to the platform that very morning, or he would know how it felt to have tons of fans breathing down his neck.
As he passed the loading screen, his familiar username popped up in the corner, making his eyes light up.
He had never been very expressive though, so he didn’t actually smile.
After fiddling around with his controls for a while, he opened the live stream application, and saw that same username at the top of his screen—
LIFE.Isolation
It put him at ease, seeing something familiar in such a new step he was taking to achieve his dream.
Why isolation?
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.
Well, originally he’d picked it because he felt out of place.
He felt different among the rookies, among most people.
However, he’d grown since he first chose it, and decided that it was no longer in reference to his feelings and it was instead his play style.
No matter what mode the competition was, no matter how many teammates his opponents were surrounded by, he would always be able to make them feel isolated.
The LIFE part of his streaming user was actually in his game username as well.
Why?
Well, LIFE was the name of their team of course!
Each letter stood for the initial of their in-game name, as despite being a Chinese team, it was a rule that all professional usernames must use Roman characters.
Chang Hui was L, which stood for his user, lethal.
Wu Biaoqing was I, for isolation.
Xi Zhe was F, for ferocity.
And, last but not least, Men Wu was E, for earnest.
Each member was able to pick out a name that represented them, so it was only natural to create a team name that had a piece of everyone.
That was how LIFE was born.
With a click of a button, Wu Biaoqing entered the live stream room at the same time that Men Wu finally made his way to the training room.
LIFE had a contract with the live stream platform, and LIFE.isolation’s stream was set to be put on the number one trending list at exactly twelve in the morning, so Wu Biaoqing had time to spare until people started flooding in.
With a shaky inhale, he entered the game, expecting nothing but static silence at the beginning.
It wasn’t like someone could blow up the very second they started streaming—
It was a process that took time, or money, or sometimes both.
Temporary fans could be bought, but loyal fans could be scored only through the streamers talents and willpower, whether by being a charming anchor or having incredible gameplay.
However, what Wu Biaoqing didn’t expect was for someone to join right away.
RedCamellia joined the stream, say hi!
Once more, the isolating youth brightened up almost unnoticeably.
Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he forced a proper greeting out.
“Looks like you’re my first viewer. What mode should I play?”
It was silent, save for the sounds of his teammates and the obnoxious character selection music.
Assuming whoever joined had left, he went back to flipping through his skins, before a message popped up in the corner of his screen
[RedCamellia: Solo?]
Wu Biaoqing blinked, slightly surprised, before nodding.
“Mn.” He assented, clicking the option before entering the game lobby.
In Legend Of The Wind, there were three modes.
Well, technically there were four, but no one really paid attention to the story aspect of the game, since it was rather easy to complete.
The other modes included team queuing, where you could play with four people.
There was also duo queuing, where you could partner with someone.
And finally, there was solo queuing, where you played without anyone to help you.
Wu Biaoqing preferred solo, since it required the least amount of talking, so he was rather happy that the viewer had requested it.
He usually trained using solo, since he could start a game whenever without having to wait for his teammates or trying to work with strangers.
In Legend Of The Wind, there were “skins” that people could equip that had different levels of skill points, which determined what type of play style it was best suited for.
For example, Men Wu was the team’s support, so he stuck to characters that had high skill points in protection and healing.
Wu Biaoqing preferred skins that had high skill points in long range combat and stamina, which worked for his sneak attack prone play style.
The aim of the game was simple—
Destroy the enemies crystal at the top of their tower, and win.
However, actually playing was a whole different story.
There were many different strategies for each mode.
For example, a technique used to win in a team match might be useless in a solo match, or vice versa.
Wu Biaoqing watched his character stroll leisurely through the game world, occasionally battling the troops his enemy had been able to gain control of.
That was another thing—
In order to win, you had to take control of enough troops to topple the other side’s crystal, which is how you effectively destroy it.
That meant that not only did you have to think about distracting the enemy with a direct attack, or killing them enough times, but you also had to make sure you gained enough troops to make your efforts worthwhile.
Thus, just raw talent with fighting wasn’t the only important thing for players.
It was also about managing things, and thinking ahead.
Being in the top 60 on the international server meant that he was faced with strong opponents, so Wu Biaoqing never let his guard down, even when faced with an ID he didn’t recognize, and played as if it were a professional game.
That would end up being a very smart decision, at least in this particular round.
Bang!
Someone fired directly at him, knocking down a third of his health.
No matter how talented Wu Biaoqing was, he wasn’t able to identify the position of his enemy from a single shot, so he quickly ran to take cover to by for more time.
The game hadn’t gone on for very long, and he was surprised to be attacked so suddenly.
Perhaps the player he was up against was confident in his skills?
A little too confident, if you were to ask Wu Biaoqing.
[RedCamellia: hiding?]
The player by the user Isolation shook his head.
“Waiting,” he said, “once they fire again I’ll be able to gouge their position.”
Bang, bang!
Two shots, one after the other.
Just like he wanted.
It was at that time that the clock hit 12:00, and Wu Biaoqing’s one viewer live-stream suddenly shot to the high ranking streams bar, as per the agreement.
E-sports fans who happened across it flooded in.
[BaobaoBaobei: Who is this dude? The chat log is kind of sad 55555]
[Topofthe.world: Shit, is he playing who I think he is?]
[WuDu990: I just came from his live, he really is playing against FW!]
[Heaven_Sent: FW?? How long?!]
[Z.fx2207: like ten minutes?]
[BaobaoBaobei: holy shit!]
[WuDu990: +1]
[Heaven_Sent: +2]
[Topofthe.world: +3]
[Z.fx2207: +4]
…The chat continued on like that, and so did the oblivious Wu Biaoqing.
“Watch this,” he said, “and you’ll understand the different world of professional players.”
The anticipation built, but most viewers were unimpressed, especially fans of the so-called ‘FW’.
[dirtylaundry: of course a rookie like him thinks he can beat our camouflage god]
[misguided_apples: if he can beat FW I’ll kneel down and call him daddy right where I stand!]
[onceamoon: He’ll be too scared to ever turn his face cam on]
[dirtylaundry: lololol]
However, those who weren’t fans of FW were just as confused as anyone.
[retreat2defend: who the hell is FW? Some kind of god?]
[misguided_apples: of course, he’s the god of camouflage after all! No one can beat him.]
“If he’s a god, then I guess even gods can be killed.” Wu Biaoqing replied nonchalantly, before shooting into the air.
To viewers, it seemed as if he were simply firing to fire, and left many feeling confused.
However, no one expected that in the next moment, a notification would appear in the top left corner of the screen.
{ForeverWin was killed by a headshot by LIFE.Isolation. 10 second cooldown enabled.}
And with that, the plan Wu Biaoqing had started crafting since the beginning of the game started to unfold.
To utilize those ten seconds of cooldown time before your opponents revival was a vital skill for 1V1 battles.
Solo queuing in the jungle realm like them especially, even milliseconds counted.
As Wu Biaoqing counted silently in his head, he had no idea that the livestream chat exploded.
[onceamoon: Fuck???]
[Heaven_Sent: Damn, who would’ve guessed that this newbie has some skill!!]
[dirtylaundry: Firing a headshot with no scope in the jungle realm… isolation, I take back what I said!]
[WuDu990: 666]
[Topofthe.world: 666]
[BaobaoBaobei: 666]
Wu Biaoqing knew this wouldn’t be the end of it, though.
Bang!
Another shot, and he was surviving on barely a sliver of health.
It seemed like this ForeverWin relied heavily on close range attacks, and must be more used to team games where he had snipers to cover him.
He also didn’t have a high headshot capacity.
[misguided_apples: See, don’t underestimate FW!]
Too bad his FW had already lost in the eyes of Wu Biaoqing.
Bang!
Another bullet flew through the air.
{ForeverWin was killed by a headshot by LIFE.Isolation. 10 second cooldown enabled.}
The chat exploded again.
[Z.fx2207: Damn, LIFE just earned a new fan!]
[Heaven_Sent: already looking forward to the seasonal championships]
What they didn’t know his the frantic calculations going on in Wu Biaoqing’s mind.
It all relied on those last 10 seconds.
If he couldn’t topple the tower, it was game over for him.
He took a deep breath, emptied any worries, and counted down.
10…
[Topofthe.world: fuck, can he really win?]
9…
[misguided_apples: if he really wins, I’ll eat a shoe!]
8…
[Heaven_Sent: Didn’t you already say you’d call him daddy? Would your dad want you to choke and die? Run along and die then.]
7…
[dirtylaundry: I’m an FWie through and through, but even I have to admit this is exciting!]
6…
[WuDu990: I think he’ll really do it!]
5…
[RedCamellia: He won.]
4…
[BaobaoBaobei: ???]
[prettyfly: ???]
[misguided_apples: ???]
3…
{LIFE.isolation toppled ForeverWin’s crystal}
At three seconds before ForeverWin’s cooldown completed, the ‘You Win’ notification appeared on Wu Biaoqing’s screen, and he leaned back, content with himself.
Meanwhile, the chat went wild.
[prettyfly: He really did it!]
[notsotough: 666]
[Heaven_Sent: What was that about eating a shoe?]
[misguided_apples: …I admit my mistakes, forgive me dad!]
“I suppose I can forgive you,” he replied, entering back into the character selection lobby.
[Z.fx2207: fuck, just who are you?]
A rare smile tugged at his lips.
“Your uncle.”
Biaoqing is so cool~ and I’m guessing RedCamilla is the shou >w<
RedCamilla is the first viewer after all… ⁄(⁄ ⁄ ⁄ω⁄ ⁄ ⁄)⁄
Looks interesting~
Тhank you❤️
(´꒳`) ♡
AAAAAAAAAAAHHHH i love these high iq style of playing
Thanks for the chapter ♡♡♡♡♡
（╹◡╹）♡
He’s charming
Thank you for your translation 💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚