Chapter 21
Translator: Aafkee
Proofreader: ChaiTea
BattleCat's new streamer, Wanan, streams until 3 am the next day.
[Why are you streaming so late tonight? Don't you usually stop streaming around midnight?]
[Look at her stream title...]
The viewers see this particular comment and look up to see her stream title.
【Will be streaming till 5 am today. Tomorrow's stream will start at 10 pm.】
The popularity that BattleCat's Streamer Tournament has brought her has been quick, but to the same extent, it has gone just as quickly. In just one day, her stream no longer has as many viewers as it used to. However, her stream is still doing quite well as she remains in the popularity rankings.
[Will you start streaming more often after midnight?]
"No," Mu Wanwan replies when she finds the time, "I have something to do tomorrow... So, I'll stream longer tonight to make up for it. My usual streaming schedule is still from afternoon to night".
She yawns incessantly. Even her controls are lagging behind due to her exhaustion. Suddenly, after missing two final hits, she gets up and goes straight to her bathroom.
She is much more alert now that she has splashed some cold water on her face. She goes back to her seat and resumes her game.
Her skin is naturally fair, so her makeup foundation isn't even that obvious. Although she's wearing makeup, it doesn't look too different from her usual skin colour.
She struggles to keep her eyes open as she finishes her stream. She quickly removes her makeup and then crawls into bed.
She's obviously tired, but she can't fall asleep.
... Why did she agree to visit Pei Lu's training base again?
She doesn't understand it herself, no matter how much she thinks about it. She turns over in bed and grabs her phone to search online for "Team TS training base". There are a lot of related search results.
But they are all pictures of the exterior of the training base. It's a tall building with two large letters, "TS", right in the middle of the building. The letters are accompanied by a silver background, giving it an imposing appearance. There are no photos of the inside of the building, but some photos of TS's middle laner, Lil Meatbun, playing in the base.
She had agreed to meet Pei Lu at a nearby supermarket near the training base.
She quickly searches the online map for the route to her destination, takes a screenshot before forcing herself to put her phone down in the bathroom and go back to sleep.
At a small intersection near a certain supermarket, Mu Wanwan tries to warm her hands with her breath as she looks around.
In her haste to get out, she only remembered to put on her scarf, leaving her hat and gloves at home. Her hands are freezing now.
Knowing that her identity is exposed anyway, Mu Wanwan didn't bother with makeup this time. She doesn't like to wear too much make-up in the first place.
Pei Lu sees a small, tightly wrapped figure as he turns the corner. The small figure appears to be unconsciously kicking the bottom of a metal street signpost with the toe of its shoe, white breath clearly visible from her mouth.
"Sorry," Pei Lu jogs over quickly, "I'm late."
"You're not late," Mu Wanwan lifts her head. She smiles when she sees him, "I came early. There wasn’t any traffic today."
Having seen so many of her streams, Pei Lu is surprised to see her without makeup on.
When he recovers from the surprise, he sees Mu Wanwan's hands still in front of her mouth. She hadn’t pulled them back yet.
"It's really cold today. Why aren't you wearing gloves?"
"I forgot about it. It's all right. Let's go."
As she turns to make her way, she glances at the person next to her. Pei Lu is wearing a deep blue mask today, revealing only a pair of eyes and a sharp nose.
"That won't do," Pei Lu stops suddenly after a few steps.
"Huh?"
He removes his gloves, revealing his well-structured hands, "You can wear mine. The walk back will take about ten minutes.
With that, he doesn't give Mu Wanwan a chance to refuse and pushes the gloves into Mu Wanwan's hands.
The inside of the gloves folds slightly outwards from the pressure. Mu Wanwan can feel the warmth he had left behind.
She is stunned for a second, "But aren't you cold?"
"No," Pei Lu thinks for a second before reaching out and touching Mu Wanwan's fingertips with the back of his hand, "Look, it's warm."
He pulls his hand back and puts it in his pocket before she can say anything, "Let's go.
They arrive at TS's base not long after.
The exterior of the base looks exactly like the photos she saw online. Mu Wanwan looks around and notices that it is surrounded by restaurants and entertainment. It could even be considered a prime location.
It seems that the sponsor of TS is pretty loaded to have a base in such a prime location. It's also no wonder this guy seems to eat well every day.
"We're here," Pei Lu stands before her and presses the passcode for the entrance gate.
Hm, six 6s*.
(T/N: 666 is an internet slang in Chinese, which translates as being smooth, amazing, skilled, etc.)
They must be very lucky not to have had any break-ins so far, despite being in such a location*.
(T/N: In case it wasn't clear enough, she's throwing shade at the fact that they set such an easy passcode for their front gate. xD)
When she walks in, she notices that the heating is on and it's a very pleasant temperature inside. The training base isn't that big; it's only four stories.
"Even though the training base isn't that big, only Team One lives here. The members of Team Two go back to their own houses," Pei Lu explains, as if able to read her mind, "Each of us has our own room, even our own bathroom... and so on.
A middle-aged woman sits at the small reception desk on the first floor. She smiles when she sees Pei Lu, "Xiao-Lu, what do you guys want to eat later?"
"We've not decided yet. I'll send you the list later."*
(T/N: It's worth noting that he used the polite form of "you" here, which speaks volumes about his personality.)
"Sure."
And the receptionist is there to take their food delivery... Amazing.
They walk casually around the base. They reach the ground floor, where the hospitality room and the offices of the TS management are located. No one is there at the moment.
Soon after, Pei Lu leads her to the second floor.
The entire second floor is open. This is usually the training room for the players. There is also a toilet and a pantry on this floor.
Mu Wanwan can hear voices coming from the second floor as she climbs up the stairs to the second floor.
"Stupid tiger head, why are you trolling and picking random heroes again?!"
"How am I trolling?"
"You're a god damned solo top! Why did you pick Ezreal??"
"I've invented a way to play -- Solo top Ez, what's the problem?!"
"I dare you to say that in Brother Yang's face. See if he'll give you a punch. Stop your nonsense and play your Maokai."
"I've been too stressed recently. Can't you be more understanding??"
"No. You can either switch to Maokai or leave the team. I'll duo with Mu Tou instead."
Worried that they might be too reserved, Pei Lu did not tell the others at the base about Mu Wanwan's visit. He wanted her to see the more natural side of TS.
Pei Lu lets out a few coughs, "They're not always like this."
Mu Wanwan nods her head quickly, "I understand."
At the sound of a woman's voice, all three people in the base stop what they are doing.
Lil Meatbun is the first to recover. He stares at Mu Wanwan for three seconds before asking, "This is...?"
Mu Wanwan takes the initiative and introduces herself, "Hello, I'm Mu Wanwan. I'm a fan and here to see the training base."
"A fan?" Lil Meatbun looks at Pei Lu in confusion.
Pei Lu is desperately trying to signal to Lil Meatbun with his expression.
Lil Meatbun immediately gets the memo and replies, "Oh, that's right. Welcome, welcome!"
Brother Hu gives Pei Lu a playful look and asks with a cheeky smile, "Are you a fan of our whole team, young lady? Do you have a favourite player?"
"I'm a fan of TS," Mu Wanwan continues, a little embarrassed, "my favourite player is God Lu.
Although Mu Wanwan was the one who said it, Pei Lu was the one who blushed..
So her name is Mu Wanwan.
It's simple and has a nice ring to it.
He quickly tries to change the subject, "Where do you want to see next? I'll take you there."
"Oh, anywhere is good," Mu Wanwan looks agreeable.
"What's there to look at?" Lil Meatbun gets familiar with others very quickly — especially with pretty ladies. He waves her over, "Brother Hu and I are about to play a duo game. Do you want to watch?"
Mu Wanwan gladly agrees.
Pei Lu pushes his gaming chair over to Lil Meatbun's desk and says, "Sit here. I'll get you a cup of hot water."
"No, no. It's all right," Mu Wanwan waves her hands quickly.
Pei Lu says nothing and goes straight to the pantry.
After Pei Lu leaves, Lil Meatbun turns to her, "Wanwan. I can call you that, right?"
"Of course you can."
"Do you play LoL too?"
"I do."
"What rank are you?"
"Stop bothering the young lady. Can't you be quiet and just play the game? Get out of the base, quickly!" Brother Hu shouts from behind.
"Tsk, I'm on my way."
That is when Mu Wanwan finds out that Lil Meatbun is playing Karthus, an off-meta middle lane hero. You rarely see anyone playing Karthus in quick games, let alone tournaments.
Mu Wanwan looks at the team combination and says subconsciously, "The team combo in this game isn't that good."
"Yeah, it's all that stupid Hu's fault. I told him to play Maokai, and he chose Tryndamere instead. We have no tank!" He says as he opens the window to check the opponent's team information. Mu Wanwan sees the IDs of the players on the other team.
She can't help herself, "You have to be careful. Their jungler will gank you at level three.”
"No way. At least I have a slow wall. I won't be easy to catch. I don't think their jungler wants to make things difficult for himself."
Karthus is still farming on his lane at level three. Just as he is about to reach level four, two enemies suddenly appear from the direction of Karthus' tower — their jungler, Sejuani, is really here for a gank with her support, Blitzcrank.
And just like that, Karthus is ganged up on by three enemies and beaten to death. Lil Meatbun ruffles his own hair in annoyance and says half-jokingly, "They've really come. Are you a prophet or something?"
"Is he coming to the top lane?" Brother Hu asks, "I think I saw him move up after he ganked you."
"Maybe you should ping and warn the bottom lane," says Mu Wanwan, "they will probably gank the bottom lane after ganking the middle lane."
Half a minute after she said that, Sejuani and Blitzcrank appeared in the bottom lane and successfully ganked their team's support.
Brother Hu is stunned, "... Girl, your map awareness is really good."
Mu Wanwan laughs, "Nah, I don't have anything like that."
Pei Lu happens to return at that moment. He puts the mug next to Mu Wanwan's hand. It isn't water in the mug; it's coffee.
Mu Wanwan is once again spot on with her words regarding the bottom lane. Lil Meatbun finds it even more curious now, "If that's not map awareness, what is it? Women's sixth sense? Is it really that magical?"
Mu Wanwan answers truthfully, "I've been matched with them many times. This jungler and support queue as a duo, so they're always ganking together."
Lil Meatball looks at the IDs again, "Now that you mention it, those two IDs look really familiar... But I don't have much of an impression of them, just that this jungler is pretty good at ganking.”
He realises something isn't right the moment he finishes his sentence.
"Wait, no. Young Lady, what rank are you again?"
Mu Wanwan puts her hands on her knees, her tone extremely natural, "Well, Challenger."
There is a moment of silence throughout the base; only the vague background music from the game can be heard through the headphones.
Lil Meatbun would probably have laughed it off and taken it as a joke ten minutes ago. But now... it seems pretty legit?!
He glances at Pei Lu quickly.
Only then did Pei Lu introduce her once again.
"She's Wanan," he pauses for a moment before continuing, "the female streamer you like to watch."
The room is silent.
Ahh, I can't wait to read more!!
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