Chapter 8
Translator: Aafkee
Proofreader: ChaiTea
Indeed, you can’t talk behind someone’s back!!
But what she said can not really be considered gossiping, can it?
… At most, it can only be considered a virtual declaration of love?
Mu Wanwan replies cautiously, “Hello.”
She can’t be sure whether or not the other party watches her stream.
Ahhhhh, this is too embarrassing!
And at this very moment, the comments go crazy as well.
[Wtf hahahahahaha, you actually summoned the actual person by talking about him?!]
[Is he a scammer?? He’s probably a fake, isn’t he? He’s most likely hired by the streamer to entertain us netizens.]
[The one who commented before me, are you dumb? Who the hell would use an account with Challenger rank just to pretend to be a professional player? Besides, the streamer wouldn’t dare to do it or she’ll be flamed by the whole League of Legends community and fans.]
[Thank you streamer, for exposing my God Lu’s ID, please accept my present to you.]
Mu Wanwan is speechless.
Looking at the influx of presents in such a short period of time, Mu Wanwan somehow has the illusion of her being Pei Lu’s fake fan*…
(T/N*: The term used here is 白嫖. The direct translation means to call for a prostitute without paying. It is often used as slang to describe a person who claims to be a fan of an idol etc without spending money to support them i.e. buying merch, goods, going to their concerts, and yet, they continue to enjoy the idol’s content that is shared by others. I don’t think there is an English equivalent term for this so I am going with “fake fan”.)
【TS.Luu: I saw your game history.】
[Why does it feel like it’s a “Woman, you have successfully aroused my interest” kind of perspective from an overbearing CEO?!]
[The one who commented before me, you are not the only one who thinks that!!!]
Only then does Mu Wanwan gather herself and open up Pei Lu’s past games history.
The whole list is filled with… solo champions for the middle lane?
Besides, the results are pretty good, too.
She quickly turns off the game interface.
【DepressedPrince: You’re changing your role???】
【TS.Luu: ...No.】
Mu Wanwan lets out a sigh of relief.
It would be grievous news to have such an outstanding support switch roles.
She hesitates for a while and can not help herself but ask.
【DepressedPrince: Wanna queue for a game together?】
[Tsktsktsk, female streamer wants to gain popularity through Lu.]
[The popularity of Wanan’s streams are not low to begin with.]
[She’s still a new rookie streamer even if it’s not low. What are the fans bragging about? She even dropped from 2nd place on the first day, to 6th place now in terms of popularity.]
【Ts.Luu: Nah.】
[Hahahaha Right in your face!! I hate female streamers like you the most, only thinking about how to gain popularity by freeloading from others.]
[You can tell by a glance that that was a comment from a female as well…]
Mu Wanwan does not find it surprising at all. Just as she wants to reply with an “okay”, another message pops out again.
【TS.Luu: I have a practice match tomorrow, so I’m going offline.】
Mu Wanwan is a bit surprised that Pei Lu would take the effort to explain why to her.
【DepressedPrince: Okay, good luck.】
【Ts.Luu: You’re not playing anymore?】
【DepressedPrince: Hm?? I am playing...】
【Ts.Luu: I see that you have not been in-game for a long while now.】
【DepressedPrince: I’m going to start right now!】
It was really ambiguous, Mu Wanwan could not tell whether the other party is currently watching her stream or not at all.
Forget it, it is for the best if he didn’t. Even if he did, there is nothing she could have done.
However, she doesn’t dare continue being his “fake fan” by declaring her “love” for him anymore. She automatically ignores all the comments that have to do with Pei Lu.
She lets out a slight cough, “Is there anyone else who would like to request for me to play a specific champion? If not, I’ll just choose whatever.”
At that moment, many comments came asking what is the price for a request. Those who want to see the streamer play non-mainstream champions replies proactively.
Just as Mu Wanwan is about to click on the “PLAY” button, she receives a few gifts.
【MissDoYouWannaHaveAMeatBun gifted you five presents.】
It is an ID that she is familiar with. Mu Wanwan moves her cursor away, “Thank you MissDoYouWannaHaveAMeatBun’s presents, please send your request straight to Moderator number 2.”
Every stream has its own moderators, although the number may vary. Although Mu Wanwan does not have an assistant, she has two moderators. One specifically for banning trolls, while the other is in charge of communicating with her viewers.
Soon, the moderator sends the other party’s request to her.
This viewer requested her to play is Caitlyn.
Mu Wanwan is a bit surprised. There aren’t many people who would pay to request for her to play any particular champions since she has changed her rules. Caitlyn herself is already a pretty popular AD champion and she quite likes playing her as well. Who would have thought there will be someone who would purposefully spend 500 dollars* just to make that request…
(T/N*: About 78 USD. That is hella expensive wtf LOL.)
She straightens in her seat as she prepares to play a good game for her “boss”.
…
The next day, during the practice match, Brother Hu throws a glance at the person next to him, “Xiao-Lu, why do you look so listless? Are you okay?”
Pei Lu rubs between his eyebrows, “I’m fine.”
“How can he not be listless,” Lil Meat Bun’s face is filled with sorry for Pei Lu, “... He spent over 4000 dollars* just to request for the streamer to play specific champions last night.”
(T/N*: About 625 USD.)
Brother Hu is shocked, “Huh?”
“It was that female streamer, you can request for her to play a specific champion on stream if you gift her 500 dollars.”
“How willing, Xiao-Lu,” Chen He lets out a laugh, “You didn’t request her to play Sona the whole night, did you?”
Judging from his question, he obviously did not pay attention to their conversation during dinner last night.
Pei Lu does not confirm nor deny. He turns his head toward Lil Meat Bun and says, “I’ve transferred the money to you via Alipay, Meat Bun.”
“I know, can’t you see me feeling sorry for you for losing that much money?”
The ones having a practice match with them today is TS’s second team. It is a team made up of kids with an average age of under eighteen, so no one dares to interrupt their conversation as each and every one of them modifies their own rune page.
Sitting opposite Pei Lu is the second team’s ADC, who is only seventeen this year. His gaze meets Pei Lu’s and just as he is about to shrink back, Pei Lu breaks into a smile and asks, “Has practice been tiring lately?”
The boy is surprised. He immediately shakes his head and answers, “It’s not tiring.”
Pei Lu replies with a “hn” when Brother Yang enters the room carrying his little notebook.
“Let’s start.” Brother Yang stands behind them, “Play a few rounds first, I’ve scheduled a practice match with Team HSS this afternoon.”
“Why did you invite them?” Chen He says, clearly unhappy with his choice, “They’re so rubbish, what can we even gain from playing against them? Can’t you invite other stronger teams?”
“Do you think y’all are very strong now?” Brother Yang scoffs, “You guys should be happy that you can even schedule a practice match nowadays. The whole circle is now aware of how you stood another team up. Do you know how hard it is for our team to schedule a practice match nowadays because of you?”
They had once scheduled a practice match with a certain team but Chen He went missing at the last minute. Since no one was prepared for that, the other team wasted the whole afternoon with them that day.
Chen He tries to justify himself, “My mum was sick at the last minute. It’s not something I can control.”
Brother Yang doesn’t even bother to respond to that.
If not for Chen He’s mother updating her social media and was coincidentally seen by him, Brother Yang nearly believed him.
Pei Lu stated, “Let’s begin.”
“Wait, wait, wait, wait,” Chen He releases the mouse in his hand, “Why are they sitting opposite us, won’t they be able to hear all that we have to say?”
Pei Lu does not understand, “What’s wrong with that? Besides, they’ll all be wearing headphones.”
“We need to keep our strategies a secret, of course.” Chen He grins as he winks at him.
The expressions of the children in the second team change immediately.
Due to the lack of sleep, Pei Lu’s voice is a bit hoarse, “They may become TS’s first team’s team member someday in the future.”
“That’s in the future. Who knows what will actually happen in the future?”
What Chen He said was a bit harsh, but it was reasonable.
“There are some problems with their computers today. The maintenance staff is still fixing them.”
Just as Brother Yang finishes his sentence, the maintenance staff walks over to tell them that the computers are fixed.
And so, the second team leaves the practice room to go back to their own.
Pei Lu ponders for a moment in his seat and asks suddenly, “Chen He, how long have you been playing this game?”
“Five years. I have been playing this game since it was released,” Chen He is puzzled at his question, “Why are you asking about that suddenly?”
“Nothing.”
The game starts and Pei Lu walks to his lane and looks at Chen He as he misses two last hits, consecutively, “You should start practising your last hits.”
He recalls the stream he watched last night, the girl had a single-hearted devotion. On top of being able to scuffle and move to the middle lane for ganks, she was able to last hit everything. She would never miss the last hits on the lane if she could help it.
“That’s nothing, they’re only worth a few tens of gold.”
Pei Lu creases his brows, “Every creep is important early in the game.”
“I know, I know, I’ll last hit properly,” Chen He laughs, “Xiao-Lu sure is strict.”
He misses another creep as he speaks.
Pei Lu can’t be bothered to say anything about that anymore, “Let’s fight when I’m level six.”
They become level six really soon. Pei Lu controls Thresh to move forward, accurately hooking the opponent’s ADC.
Chen He is playing as Vayne this game, probably because he felt good using her during their match against MA yesterday. When it was his turn to choose his champion just now, he chose Vayne without any hesitation.
Chen He is about to follow up but who knew that he would suddenly get hit by Janna’s Q in his face, knocking his character up, interrupting his movement.
The enemy ADC escapes successfully.
Before Pei Lu can even say anything, Chen He already opens his mouth, “Xiao-Lu, you can’t blame me for this. The support released the Q right in my face.”
Janna clearly charged up* her Q for two seconds before she released her skill.
(T/N*: Janna can choose to charge up her Q before she releases it or release it immediately. In this case, Janna charged up her Q, which deals more damage but it becomes harder to hit your opponent because the skill is visible when it is charging up, making it easier for others to dodge it.)
They won the practice match only by a hair and Chen He’s overall score at the end of the game was only 8.1, not displaying much effect as an ADC. He had lost two one-on-one fights with the enemy when they were pushing each other’s first tower.
Chen He continues to grumble, “Xiao-Lu, why didn’t you follow me? Ahh, damn it. Since when did he get two kills? He had one more piece of equipment than me, how was I supposed to fight this?”
In short, today’s practice matches were unpleasant. They even lost two games.
This is why when he returns to his base that night and sees that Mu Wanwan is still online, he can not help himself but send her a message.
【TS.Luu: Want to play a game or two?】
The other party is still in a game so Pei Lu goes directly to her stream to have a look. As usual, her makeup is thick today, too. Her hair is coiled up and her lips are now bright red instead, displaying a different aura.
Makeup sure is magical.
But he still thinks that her face without makeup looks better.
Messages sent by your friends can be seen even in-game.
This is why Mu Wanwan becomes distracted for a long while when she sees the message.
After controlling her character to return to the base, she immediately replies to the message, “Don’t you have a match tomorrow?”
She has checked the competition schedule after chatting with Pei Lu last night. They have regular matches every day, but a team usually does not have two consecutive days of matches.
TS’s next match is tomorrow.
【TS.Luu: Hn, it’s fine. I’m only going to play for a bit.】
Mu Wanwan replies immediately, “Okay, I’ll try to be quick!”
She pushes up a strand of black hair that is hanging down in front of her forehead before she opens up the game chat.
【DepressedPrince: Group up, let’s end this quickly.】
Her current team’s support asks, “AD, wanna add me as friend and duo* together?”
(T/N*: To team up and queue for games together as a pair.)
【DepressedPrince: Nah, I’m always solo.】
The comments quickly responded by accusing her of being a big liar.
They are already dominating the game in the first place. They snowballed and won the game easily after winning a team fight.
After exiting the game interface, she bites her lips and contemplates whether or not she should tell Pei Lu that she’s a streamer.
If she doesn’t say anything, she is worried that Pei Lu would say something he shouldn’t in chat — his team strategies, for example.
If she does tell him, she is also worried that Pei Lu will come to her stream and see her restless viewers who are extremely ready to cause trouble.
Clearly, she has already forgotten that she was the one who declared her love for him three times.
— Pei Lu most likely would not share things like strategies with an acquaintance, who he has just met, like her, right?
It only takes her ten seconds before she makes her decision.
She won’t tell him.
Besides, Pei Lu doesn’t seem like the type to watch streams.
She needs to protect her sockpuppet*!
(T/N*: Actually didn’t know this term existed before this, but apparently, it refers to a false online identity, typically created by a person or group to promote their own views or opinions. The original term used here is 马甲, which essentially means the same thing as “sockpuppet”. So in this context, Mu Wanwan does not want Pei Lu to know that she is a streamer so she wants to protect her “fake identity” as a non-streamer.)
No comments:
Post a Comment