The match was a total spectacle — even the BP in the second game could fuel trending topics — and Xu Meng’s team felt like something was stuck in their throats.
The big-money tag they’d pushed was now well outside the top ten; six or seven of the top ten trending topics were about Sui Ning, and clicking them only showed baffling comments that made you livid just to read.
“How did this garbage even get on the hot search? I can’t make sense of any of it! Who is backing this Sui Ning? Why are they hyping him so hard?!” The manager fanned himself and complained nonstop.
Xu Meng felt his mood sour.
Manager Zhang was used to the entertainment world and didn’t dabble in subcultures — he only came on board for this <My Jungle Belongs to You> drama because of Pei Siyuan’s name.
He couldn’t understand why so many weird people kept bumping absurd tags, or that there were entire ‘circles’ outside the entertainment industry that could drive trends like this.
Xu Meng closed his eyes, lying back in the shade on the lounge chair. “It’s done. What’s the point of complaining?”
“But this Sui Ning—”
“Please let me be,” Xu Meng snapped.
Manager Zhang glanced at him and didn’t take it too seriously. “What’s wrong with you? Getting dramatic? You didn’t jump on a few tags earlier when you could’ve piggybacked, and now you’re acting high and mighty?”
“Do you know people online have screenshotted your gameplay footage and are comparing it to Sui Ning? I suspect he’s behind it. Who in their right mind would compare your stuff to a pro—you're an actor…”
Like a fly buzzing in his ear, the complaints ground on. Xu Meng’s temper, repressed all day, began to boil over; he forced himself to breathe slowly to keep it down. He glanced at Pei Siyuan, who was talking lines with the director, not far off, and felt bile rise.
All those frustrations piled up; Xu Meng was a powder keg. A small, furtive sound caught his attention, and he sat up, fixating on the assistant. “What are you looking at?” he asked sharply.
Manager Zhang was sent by the company to handle him and had some family connections within the firm—her constant noise and fussing were barely tolerable. But how did that little assistant dare to make noise too? Couldn’t she see he was trying to rest? Xu Meng was utterly irritated, desperate to find someone to vent his anger on.
The company’s assistant, Xiao Yu, startled and nearly dropped his phone.
Xu Meng’s eyes grew colder. He had a handsome face, and his clear, innocent-looking eyes — the ones fans praised as spotless — were ice at the moment.
Xiao Yu, seeing Xu Meng about to blow, hurriedly explained, “I—I was looking at our trending being pushed down, and…”
He hesitated, then turned the phone around to show the live stream of PNG vs. AQ, with the chat overlay exploding.
If Xiao Yu hadn’t set a cap on the barrage, the screen would have been completely taken over by chat and the video would be invisible.
Xu Meng’s gaze fell on the screen. The broadcast had just finished the first round of bans: AQ had locked in the marksman White Bird, while PNG’s first pick hesitated.
More precisely, PNG’s draft player Wei Ye hesitated.
The director cut to Wei Ye, showing him repeatedly turning to ask teammates with a stunned expression.
After getting confirmation, his face shifted into a teasing, expectant look; his mouth moved like he was saying “wow, wow.”
“What’s going on? Myerii looks surprised by his team’s first pick,” Qing Ci teased. “Coach is behind him pointing — did they forget a hero?”
“The pick timer’s almost out,” Chao Mi added. “Not gonna lie, from Myerii’s repeated confirmation I have a bold idea…”
[I’ve actually got a bold idea too…]
[Me too…]
[No way… they wouldn’t dare…]
[WTF you guys, stop with the riddles and get out of the stream.]
When the pick timer dropped to 3 seconds, Wei Ye’s mouth twitched. He quickly selected the hero his teammate had indicated and confirmed.
Winter Queen - Yuna.
The studio and stream fell silent for a second, disbelief written on faces.
Fans watching blinked hard, confirming the tall, ice-blue, snow-crowned figure on the AR projection was indeed the northern queen.
They shared Wei Ye’s half-mocking, half-excited expression; hearts hammered. “Ohhhhhh—!!”
This crowd of seasoned spectators, gluttons for competition, stared greedily at the big screen, their minds already anticipating the next scene. Many began to hoot and whistle in excitement.
[Ahhhhhh!!]
[Fuck, fuck, fuck—!!!]
[Holy shit—this is real!! Balls of steel, Feng-bao!! How are you more hype than me? You want to make this a full-on tutorial match in your first BO3!! My god I might fall in love!!]
[A player more hyped than the audience — first time seeing that!! Even though Yuna is one of Feng-bao’s national-server heroes — ahhh I wouldn’t dare even imagine this!]
[This is way too intense, damn it! Every round is a deathmatch—either you die or I do! Just like the last one, no matter who loses, it’s going to be embarrassing all the way to the Pacific Ocean!!]
[Last round, Dami’s Yuna was a total flop, but this time Wind is putting on a full-on masterclass—seriously ruthless!! If he loses, though, Wind’s gonna fall off his pedestal again!!]
[Damn it, Feng-bao, you weren’t like this before! At most, you’d just talk big during livestreams!! Why the hell are you playing on the edge every round now—ahhhh!! If you lose this one, you’ll get tons of haters!! How’s your mom supposed to defend you then!?]
[Honestly, if they win both games, that’s a top-tier wake-up call to the whole HPL mid-laner scene.]
[Support]
The two commentators at the desk couldn’t help themselves and shouted, “My god!!”
“I thought exactly this — Wei Ye’s expression was weird, I thought maybe he’d pick Yuna. I didn’t expect them to actually do it!!”
“Seriously, you wouldn’t make that face for any other pick!”
Chao Mi couldn’t contain his excitement. “My god!! I really want to storm the player stage and drag them all back to interrogate them! Whose idea was this?! Insane! Reckless!!”
“Madness!!”
Chao Mi spat, then uttered one word that every Wind fan would shout: “This situation, this scene, I can only describe it with one word: madness!!!]
[MAD MAD MAD!!]
[Waaah, my Feng-bao — you’re gonna go mad one day!!]
[Before he goes completely insane, my heart might give out first. Fucking hell, someone hand me my emergency heart pills!! I’m gonna die!!]
[I swear, whenever I browse Wind’s topic page the ads they show me are for heart medication!!]
[This one’s next-level — just now I saw a Taobao product link: Danshen Heart Pills (a must-have for PNG fans).]
[I’m different. My suggestion is everyone should watch more of Wind’s matches to get their cardio going — get those lazy organs moving! That’s the healthy, non-toxic way to protect your heart!]
BP keeps going; PNG’s second pick locks in Shadow Hawk.
Qing Ci continued the commentary: “Picking Shadow Hawk second isn’t surprising. To be honest, my mind is still stuck on that first pick — what exactly was PNG thinking?!”
Too bad his voice can’t reach the player seats — if PNG heard him, they’d say:
Fun. Really fun. Heh heh.
A minute earlier, when the first ban phase finished, Chen Chen told them they could pick a support in the first three picks and then a carry, and he asked Sui Ning what he wanted in mid.
Chen Chen asked, “How do you want to play this? Want me to leave you a counter?”
His subtext: if they need to leave a counter for mid, first pick a marksman for Lin Zhaoxu, since counters are less clear bot than mid; either way works.
Sui Ning shook his head. “No need, just take it.”
“What do you want to take?”
This wasn’t the usual training test of macro — the coach was genuinely consulting the player.
Chen Chen pondered for a moment. “There aren’t many good marksmen left in the pool for this round. We can take either Spear or the Void Devourer for bot lane. That means we’ll focus mainly on the mid-game. For mid lane, it’s best to pick someone who can make an impact early to mid. Phantom Trickster has a strong early-game tempo, and we can also consider Celestial Songstress. Cloud can sync well with any tempo-based hero you play.”
There was actually another, possibly better, option — but Chen Chen didn’t mention it.
Sui Ning gave a soft laugh. Though his back was to the coach, he seemed to read his mind: “There’s a better one.”
He moved his mouse, clicked a hero portrait, and preregistered it. Because it wasn’t yet his turn to lock, his preregister would only show to teammates.
Winter Queen - Yuna’s portrait popped up simultaneously on the other four teammates’ screens.
Ji Yunyu noticed first and chuckled: “Knew you’d pick that.”
Sui Ning glanced at him quickly, pursed his lips to hold back a smile.
Chen Chen leaned over, put a hand to his forehead — part amused, part resigned. If it were a veteran or a normal match, playing a demonstration game might be fine, but this was Sui Ning’s debut match; Chen Chen had to consider more, which was why he hadn’t suggested Yuna.
Yet Sui Ning volunteered it anyway.
Sui Ning was nonchalant: “I can play Yuna pretty well (as in, I’m #1 on the national server). We can play her this game.”
Lin Zhaoxu went nuts with excitement, sucking in a breath: “Holy shit, my boy is insane!! Is this for real?!”
Cheng Su kept a straight face: “Calm down. Watch your language or the ref will be just for show?”
Referee (pretending invisible): …You two are the same.
Actually, unless it was seriously insulting, the refs wouldn’t intervene for those common edgy gamer quips.
But hearing the excited chatter through the headset piqued the ref’s curiosity; he squinted to check the players’ screens.
There was that familiar icy-blue in the midlane preregister.
Seeing Yuna’s portrait, the ref’s breath hitch and his heart sped up.
…Lin Zhaoxu was right — this guy is truly mad. If they actually pick her, the outside world will explode. The ref restrained his excitement and focused on Sui Ning.
Who doesn’t love a sweet reversal where the underdog suddenly slaps everyone down?
Sui Ning didn’t know the internal theatrics nor admit he wanted a teaching-match: “Not being crazy — Yuna’s just genuinely solid.”
Lin Zhaoxu snorted: “Yeah right. Everyone knows you.”
Training together had shown him Sui Ning is gentle off-stage, neighborly brother vibes — but on stage he’s arrogantly fierce, the kind of arrogant that’s built on skill, a terrifying strategist — not just trash talk, but dangerous in subtle moves.
Staring at him, Sui Ning feigned innocence with a blink.
Wei Ye, who was picking on stage, was in a daze, eyes glittering with gossip and anticipation.
“Wow. Wow.” Wei Ye kept looking between teammates and the screen, at a loss for words, “Wow — really picking her? Wow.”
“Pick,” Sui Ning nodded.
Wei Ye glanced at him, then the screen, then back — turned into a single-purpose “wow” machine.
Chen Chen sighed and pointed at Wei Ye’s screen: “Pick it. It’s right there, that one.”
With the countdown near its end, Wei Ye’s thrill peaked and he shook as he clicked.
[Winter Queen - Yuna]
[Click to Confirm]
At the same time, Zhou Hang’s face went completely dark.
Xu Meng’s face went dark too.
He pulled out his phone, opened Weibo trending, and sure enough a few new entries had his name.
#TeachingMatch#
#TheyReallyPickedYuna#
#MadMadMad#
……
Other stars were also trying to ride the trend and his trending had slid near fifteenth.
Xu Meng stared at the rankings expressionless, then flung Xiao Yu’s phone back at him, slamming it into the young assistant’s chest.
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