Seeing that a certain hot-headed kid in the team chat was losing his temper again, Sui Ning immediately gave Ji Yunyu a light kick under the table.
He glanced sideways, hinting: Don’t argue with random teammates during the livestream.
Ji Yunyu caught the signal, pouted, and swallowed his urge to argue further.
He was in the fourth slot, picking the recently reworked jungler Coldfront Lord - Ernori, with a current power level of just over 14,000.
Ji Yunyu hadn’t been into grinding hero points before, but this season—thanks to a certain handsome darling’s influence—he’d started thinking about ranking some heroes to national level too.
[He Acts on Instinct]: Did I say something wrong? Why so worked up?
[He Acts on Instinct]: The two of you on 3–4 are duoing? Another couple? Unreal.
Provoked by Ji Yunyu’s pointed question mark, the stranger didn’t back down and kept arguing.
[Ah, honestly, I was about to curse, but when I saw certain two characters, I swallowed it back.]
[Same. I was angry at first, but now I just wanna say... hey little buddy, you’ve got great taste!]
[Help, aren’t they a couple too? ...Wait, why did I even say too ^^]
[Recording now—was gonna expose this arrogant clown, but now I just wanna salute this keen-eyed frontline reporter!]
Situations like this—people refusing to coordinate, hating on “off-meta” heroes—were nothing new, especially when it came to Spirit Fawn. One wrong pick could spark a flame war. But the viewers in the stream couldn’t care less about the cocky first player; all eyes were on the beautiful little fae and the cool, aloof assassin duo.
Hero selection ended. The game loaded in.
Blue Team: [He Acts on Instinct] – Frost Goddess, [She Is Nature] – White Bird, [Fenglan] – Spirit Fawn, [Cloud] – Coldfront Lord, [When's Dinner] – Thunderfury
Red Team: [Eating Melons On The Spot] – Gunslinger Caitlyn, [None Of My Business] – Dragon Monk, [Wind’s Puppy] – Stellar Sprite, [Servant Come To My Room] – Little Traveler, [She Loved Me Too] – Broken King
Just as expected, [He Acts on Instinct]’s Frost Goddess had a Provincial Top 100 golden badge beside the portrait, and [She Is Nature]’s White Bird had the same. Ji Yunyu’s Coldfront Lord, however, displayed a Nationwide Top 50 lightning-blue badge.
As for Sui Ning—naturally, nothing at all. In this bracket, that made him look rather unreliable.
And yet, both [He Acts on Instinct] and [She Is Nature] had matching Level 12 Lover badges, proof of their long-term duo queue and solid bond. Which made [He Acts on Instinct]’s earlier jab at “couples” hilariously self-owning.
But the chat didn’t have time to mock him—everyone’s attention was locked on the empty space beside the 3rd and 4th slot IDs.
[@Fenglan @Cloud look at the two next to you! Isn’t that pink heart badge gorgeous? Don’t you guys want one too?!]
[Get one!!]
[You have to get one!!]
Sui Ning saw the barrage and teased, “You like the Provincial Top 100 badge that much? Funny, when I was playing National rank, none of you said that looked good.”
He lowered his eyes, pretending to sound forlorn. “So… you guys prefer the provincial one. Guess I’m just not worthy.”
[????]
[Someone’s playing dumb—arrest him immediately!]
[Help, I refuse to believe this man’s emotional intelligence is real. He keeps teasing us, I can’t take it anymore!]
[You’re the most worthy, sob sob QuQ]
[My silly baby, who said anything about the gold badge? We’re talking about the pink one! The big heart with the number 12!]
[I’m just saying it straight—I want to see these two with a pink heart between their names!!]
[Even Xu Xu and Brother Su down bot have a friendship badge—how can the mid-jungle duo not have a heart one?!]
As soon as that barrage hit, Sui Ning acted like he hadn’t seen it—looking innocent as ever.
Meanwhile, Ji Yunyu’s chat was saying the same thing.
He glanced over at Sui Ning and, meaningfully, repeated through his mic, “Makes sense, doesn’t it?”
Sui Ning pretended not to hear. “…Someone’s asking how to play Spirit Fawn. Honestly, I haven’t really used her before, so I’ll just try my best.”
[…Excuse me, is anyone actually here for a Luer guide?]
[Man’s got serious skills at dodging topics via chat replies.]
[So that’s the plan—divert with a question and flee the scene. My poor baby, so shy, hehe.]
[You can dodge for now, but not forever~ hehe]
Ignoring the chaos, Sui Ning mentally reviewed Spirit Fawn’s skills while loading in.
Truth be told, Spirit Fawn was a very awkward hero—her abilities were all “useful, but not that useful.”
Her Q could knock up and reveal a single target from range—good, but single-target. Her W dealt AoE damage—but required channeling. Her E healed allies—but not herself.
And her ultimate attached to a teammate, giving them shields and enhancing her skills—meaning she was bound to teamplay.
Knock-up, vision, AoE poke, healing, shielding—on paper she had everything a top-tier support needed, yet lacked the punch to truly shine. That’s why she rarely appeared in high-rank matches or tournaments.
Sui Ning explained seriously, “This match, our bot lane is Fawn–White Bird versus Caitlyn–Little Traveler. Fawn’s laning isn’t great, but White Bird’s early pressure is strong—she can handle 1v2 easily.”
[??? You’ve changed. You used to be the one doing the 1v2s.]
[He’s not the ‘1’ anymore—if you know, you know, hehe.]
[Can this chat not for one second—]
[Wait, none of you noticed the enemy mid’s ID and hero pick? Is every high-rank match just a fan meetup now?]
[We noticed. So what? “Wind’s Puppy” has nothing to do with “Fenglan” (snickers).]
“The enemy mid’s one of your fans,” Ji Yunyu grumbled, clearly jealous. “Figures—it’s Feng-bao, after all.”
Sui Ning chuckled at his tone. “What’s this, God Yun—jealous already?”
“You don’t get it.”
I’m not jealous you have fans, Ji Yunyu thought, I’m jealous they won’t stop chasing you. He rolled his eyes in silence.
When his gaze drifted back to the delicate Spirit Fawn on screen, though, his mood lightened a little. His voice perked up, energetic again. “When you hit level six,” he said, “I’ll come pick you up.”
Sui Ning paused. “…That soon?”
Wouldn’t that mean leaving White Bird all alone to handle a 1v2?
Not early at all. Ji Yunyu silently refuted in his heart — if it weren’t so inhumane to make the marksman on level one shut down completely, he’d have asked Sui Ning to come to him right from the start.
Ji Yunyu said, “It’s fine. If we play together, it’s easier to snowball.”
Sui Ning thought for a moment, then nodded. “…Alright.”
[???]
[Am I hallucinating? Feng-bao playing support this obediently?]
[Help— how can someone be this well-behaved?? I want such a docile mage to play support for me too!!]
[ First you have to be Cloud]
[So changing lanes really does change a person? Feng-bao’s mid-lane self would never be this meek—if he doesn’t wipe out the enemy mid, that’s already considered gentle! QuQ]
[My advice: play more fun matches as support ^^ everyone loves watching good boys~]
While the loading screen was up, the chat spammed all kinds of teasing comments.
System: Welcome to the War of Glory!
As the five players bought starting gear and headed to their lanes, they’d barely moved a few steps before the enemy team sent over a “friendly greeting.”
[Wind’s Puppy]: (All) Whoa—!!! My Feng-bao!!!
[Wind’s Puppy]: (All) I actually got queued with you! Are you streaming? I swear I’m not stream-sniping!!
[Fenglan]: (All) Hello ^^
Holy crap— the idol replied to me!!! The red-side player “Puppy” was ecstatic, his fingers flying wildly over the keyboard, about to flood the chat with all sorts of sycophantic praise—
—but just before sending, a shred of reason stopped him. Feng-bao’s streaming— be reserved, be reserved…
…hehehehe.
[Eating Melon on The Spot]: (All) Damn, I just peeked at 32566— it really IS him!! Can I get a friend slot!?
[Eating Melon on The Spot]: (All) And he’s duoing with Cloud too! I thought the IDs looked familiar! Both are real?! We’re doomed this match. You two wanna chat a bit?
[None Of My Business]: (All) No way… I literally just said I’d invade their jungle… I almost invaded Cloud’s jungle?! I’m so sorry I was too young TvT Why are you two in this rank anyway??
[Cloud]: (All) ^^ Someone hasn’t been using his main lately, but I won’t say who.
[Fenglan]: (All) 0v0
[Wind’s Puppy]: (All) Baby, why are you playing support QuQ I wanted to lane against you, wanted to be solo-killed by you!
[He Acts on Instinct]: (All) ?
[Fenglan]: (All) Next time for sure.
[??? Bro’s insane.]
[Not gonna lie, I wanna be solo-killed by Feng-bao, too]
[Can’t kill Feng-bao? Getting killed by him still counts as having loved once, right? sweats]
[I swear one day these fans will kill me with laughter hahaha— so, Feng-bao, when are you solo-killing me?]
[ First, you gotta get queued with him. Keywords: 60 stars in National Server, 100 stars in International]
Puppy sadly spammed several crying emojis.
He waited quietly in mid lane. When the Frost Goddess appeared, he immediately tensed up ten thousand percent, playing with exaggerated caution.
This is someone even Feng-bao lets play mid… absolutely not to be underestimated! he warned himself.
——
Meanwhile, on the other side, He Acts on Instinct was deeply confused.
…How did this turn into a chatroom before the match even started? Are they about to surrender? It feels like a fan meet-and-greet!
She and her boyfriend had no idea what was going on from hero select till now—they never watched tournaments or streamers, just played ranked casually together.
She’d always thought anyone queued with her would be around her level, which was why she’d gotten so mad when the third pick locked in Spirit Fawn—
This isn’t some low-rank smurf lobby! What’s the point of picking that?!
If there’d been more time in hero select, she’d definitely have flamed the third pick.
But after seeing the blue lightning glow of a Top 50 National badge next to the fourth pick’s name, she’d swallowed her words. Those two probably duo-queued. If she talked too much and got slapped in-game, it’d be too embarrassing.
She grumbled to her boyfriend, “Figures—just duo-boosting. With a combo like that, we’re getting trolled again.”
“It’s fine, I can still carry even without support,” the boyfriend said confidently.
But once they loaded in and saw the all-chat messages, her stomach dropped.
…32566, streamer…?
That third pick was a streamer? And he was live right now?!
A sudden bad feeling surged up. She and her boyfriend exchanged glances, both uneasy.
“I… I’m gonna check.” She swallowed hard.
After clearing the first wave, she skipped lane control, tabbed out, and opened her browser.
Little Shark Platform, right? She typed in 32566—
The first result popped up: [Low-Rank Fun Queue — Duoing With My Jungler].
Low-rank fun queue? But this match’s average is 60+ stars—maybe it’s the wrong person? She frowned, then glanced at the streamer’s name—PNG_Wind (Fenglan).
…PNG.
PNG?????
“What the fuck?!”
All pretense of gentleness shattered. She gawked in disbelief. “He’s with PNG? Seriously?!”
Even if you don’t follow the pro scene, you know the name PNG! Maybe she didn’t know their exact records, but— this was a pro team!
She clicked the stream. It was indeed their match.
This Fenglan is a pro?!
And the stream had over thirty million viewers?!
She gasped so hard her toes could’ve dug a palace into the floor. Mortified, she clicked his profile.
Unlike streamers who used avatars or hid their identity, pro players had public pages — Sui Ning’s face and profile popped right up.
She froze. “…Holy crap. He’s so handsome.”
Her boyfriend snapped his head toward her, instantly suspicious: ?
But she ignored him, scrolling down the bio—so many titles, so many National #1s, the new-generation solo-queue king— how the hell did I end up in the same game as him?!
…and he’d said “duoing with my jungler”…?
With a sinking heart, she clicked the top recommended channel: [Low-Rank Queue — Helping My Mid Climb].
Streamer: PNG_Cloud. Same as their fourth pick.
What the— I actually queued with TWO pros?!
Tears of disbelief welled in her eyes as she opened Ji Yunyu’s profile.
She blurted out again, “Holy crap. He’s so handsome.”
Her boyfriend, now on full alert: ??
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