《You have been slain.》

Ah Mei struggled to process what just happened, her screen having turned grey again. Her expression flashed between rage and humiliation until she was pale from the blood draining from her face. This was an unbearable disgrace! She felt as if she’d been stripped naked in front of all her viewers! The indignation and rancor inside of her threatened to spill over, reaching a crescendo in her heart. This was already the third time in a row Rengar had ganked her! Not to mention he was getting more and more brazen! He acted as if killing her couldn’t be any easier! The announcer’s voice felt like a slap to her face. A crisp pa pa pa sound ruthlessly ringing out across her cheeks, showing no signs of stopping until her face was red and swollen. All of this pushed her to the edge, and over it. Without even thinking about her image, she started furiously typing away in the game chat.

「how many times do you want to fucking kill me you stupid fucking Rengar?!?!」
「did i fucking kill your parents or something!? go kill yourself and fucking join them!!!!」

The vulgarity coming out of her mouth was in stark contrast to the usual sickly cute and childish way Ah Mei portrayed herself. She had well and truly gone off her rocker.

Before long, a reply came from the enemy team in all chat.

Evening Snowfall (Rengar):「100x.」

Ah Mei’s eyes widened, her face turning increasingly brighter shades of red. If she didn’t start breathing soon, she would really pass out from anger!

✹

“What an odd person… Why is she asking someone how many times they want to kill her?” Lin Feng muttered in bewilderment.

Su Xue’s viewers couldn’t help burst out in laughter, imagining what LovelyRose’s expression would be like after reading that reply. They weren’t as thickheaded as Lin Feng, and understood the only reason she typed what she did was that she had been driven off the deep end.

Of course, Lin Feng didn’t think he could really kill Caitlyn 100 times. That was simply impossible. But there was something else he could guarantee, and that was that he would kill her as many times as he could! “Watch guys. Caitlyn won’t get a chance to see the minion wave again!” he declared with a raised fist.

“You can do it! I believe in you! Turn her into an all you can eat buffet!” Su Xue cheered on from the sidelines. From the start of the game to now, watching Lin Feng play was extremely cathartic for her. She could finally vent all the pent up negative emotions built up earlier in the day. Plus, Lin Feng was already 6/0/0 with his Rengar, only two kills away from reaching Legendary. Killing Caitlyn would only get easier from here.

“Build a Sword of the Occult!” Su Xue excitedly suggested.

Lin Feng shook his head. “No, if I want more damage. I might as well build a Ravenous Hydra.”

“But you don’t have enough gold?” Su Xue said, unsure.

“Don’t worry. I will if I pick up another few kills,” Lin Feng chuckled.

On the wider scale, the game could still go either way. On the red team, after killing Caitlyn again, Lin Feng helped his teammates destroy the enemy’s outer bot lane tower. After which, they headed to the river and picked up the first dragon of the game. This gave them a small lead in terms of gold. However, at the same time, Orianna was losing to Syndra in mid lane. As for top lane—

《An ally has been slain.》

Riven had solo-killed Malphite again. This meant she was really strong right now. Her damage wasn’t to be underestimated. With a well-timed flash, she could easily decimate the backline in a team fight. Lin Feng was well aware of this fact. But he still decided to leave Riven be for the time being.

In Su Xue’s stream chat, the trolls saw this as a good excuse to start flaming Lin Feng again.

「what a puss! only knows how to camp caitlyn」
「nub! Go 1v1 riven you scrub!」
「hes too scared! bloody coward!」

The trolls were starting to grasp at straws. Even they had no choice but to admit that Lin Feng was a really good Rengar. Every time he used his ultimate, he would pick up a kill. A hint of admiration even started sprouting in the hearts of some of the viewers from LovelyRose’s stream. His Rengar was simply too superb, be it the instagibbing or the way he pulled off ganks!

Lin Feng couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to the trolls. He focused on the game that was only 12 minutes old. “Mhm, Caitlyn should be collecting her red buff by now,” Lin Feng muttered. “Let’s go kill her there!”

The trolls were speechless. They were already at a complete loss at what to say. Goading was useless. Flaming was useless. All they could do was helplessly watch as Lin Feng activated his ultimate. They felt no suspense. It would be another kill.

Lin Feng had his Rengar pass through the river and sneak into the enemy’s jungle. With five full ferocity stacks, Rengar silently snuck along the walls behind the red buff camp and entered the brush. Red buff had respawned. He planted down a vision ward and confirmed the area was safe, then lay in ambush. He judged Lee Sin would give the red buff to LovelyRose. So, he patiently waited.

Before long, Caitlyn appeared within vision. She was heading towards red buff, and her support Nami wasn’t following directly behind her.

“Good, that’s another easy kill,” Lin Feng muttered. “INSTAGIB!”

With a swift click of the mouse, Rengar pounced out of the bush and onto Caitlyn. His claws lit up and tore into her, shaving away most of her health. What little remained was quickly emptied out by another two attacks. A lifeless corpse fell to the ground.

《Godlike!》

Ah Mei had a blank look on her face as her screen turned grey again. She really was going to go insane! “I-I died again…? I didn’t even go to lane! All I wanted was red buff! Is this Rengar fucking everywhere!?!”

At this point, her teammates also finally had had enough. After seeing their beloved streamer being played and toyed around with right under their noses, they felt like they had no face left. This wretched Rengar had to die!

A ward close to the bot side tri-brush lit up with the teleport animation. Riven was teleporting! Meanwhile, Syndra abandoned her lane and headed toward the jungle, planning to cut Rengar off! All the while Nami chased after Rengar with a Flash and then targeted him with Exhaust, slowing down his movements to a crawl.

Seeing her teammates making a move on Rengar, Ah Mei couldn’t help but shriek, “KILL HIM! KILL THAT DAMNED RENGAR!”

On Su Xue’s stream, her loyal viewers felt their hearts tighten. Things were getting a little dangerous this time around!

The viewers were dumbstruck. Even if Morgana hadn’t rooted Caitlyn to the ground with Dark Binding, Lin Feng probably still had the damage to kill her by himself. This Rengar damage was absolutely insane! Lin Feng, however, didn’t appear satisfied. He even complained, “Ah, I didn’t instagib her. Guess I’m still lacking a bit in the damage department.” Especially this last bit left the viewers speechless.

“You want to kill her the instant you touch the ground? Aren’t you getting a bit ahead of yourself here?” Su Xue asked.

“Not at all.” Lin Feng shook his head, then confidently smiled. “You’ll see in a bit. She’ll be dead before she can even blink.”

Rengar was a champion with frightening burst damage, especially after picking up four kills so early in the game. In fact, had Lin Feng first gone back to base and upgraded his items before ganking the Caitlyn again, he would’ve had enough damage to instagib her, or any other squishy champion for that matter. He couldn’t complain though. Caitlyn had died twice in a row, with the second time being the moment she stepped out of tower range. She didn’t even reach her minion wave before being sent back to the fountain.

Ah Mei was completely stupefied. She started shaking with an unsightly expression on her face, while furiously typing away on her keyboard.

「lee come bot!! this fucking rengar is camping me!!!!」
「i’ve already died twice!!」
「focus him for me!!!」

A trace of fear lingered in Ah Mei’s eyes. Both times Rengar had come to gank her, she had no chance of escaping. He had locked her down with Bola Strikes and followed up with a ridiculous amount of damage. She was basically dead the moment Rengar got a chance to jump on her!

While Lin Feng set up a tent in bot lane, Lee Sin didn’t linger idly either and succeeded in killing Orianna with the help of Syndra. This put a wrench in Lin Feng’s plans of taking the first dragon after killing Caitlyn. As for top lane, the Master rank Riven had managed to solo kill Malphite and even took the first tower of the game. Naturally, these developments reinvigorated the trolls in the chat.

「6666666!!」
「RIVEN OP!!!!」
「hahahaha get solo killed loser! this rengar is shit! if you have the balls, go 1v1 the Riven!」
「the dumbass only knows how to camp bot… only chance he’ll ever get of getting close to a pretty girl」

Lin Feng glanced at the chat. “Huh? You want me to go top?”

The trolls immediately started egging Lin Feng on to 1v1 Riven, thinking he was a dumb brat who’d get riled up at the smallest provocation. Even though Rengar had the kill advantage, Riven enjoyed the level advantage. So, if they did fight, she wouldn’t necessarily need to fear him. They eagerly waited for Lin Feng to fall for their bait and decide to go top.

How could trolls affect the game? They would try and anger the streamer enough to lose their ability to think clearly and end up doing something stupid. This kind of result was what gave them the greatest satisfaction in life!

Lin Feng looked straight into the camera and widely smiled. “Don’t wanna.”

The two simple words caught the trolls completely off-guard. They were dumbstruck. W-what?

“I don’t feel like 1v1ing the Riven. I’ll just keep camping bot.” Lin Feng paused, looking like he was thinking something over before adding, “Don’t like it? Then bite me.”

「PFFFT! HAHAHAH!!!!!!!!」
「Oh My God! Amazing Li’l Bro!1!」
「he really got em! what a troll!」

Su Xue’s loyal viewers couldn’t help but erupt with laughter. Lin Feng was really worthy of their admiration in every respect. He could even bait the trolls so easily! Where they originally worried he might fall for their goading, now those trolls were the ones with eggs on their face!

Su Xue burst into giggles, rolling her eyes at Lin Feng. “You’re too mean, teasing them like that. Hahaha.”

Lin Feng scratched his head. “What? I’m serious…”

Lin Feng had never once thought of ganking top lane, let alone 1v1ing the Riven. For one, he wouldn’t necessarily land a kill on her. And if he failed to kill her instantly, he might end up getting killed himself instead. Besides, his top laner was a Malphite. Even if he lost early game, he would still be useful in the mid and late game as long as he could properly land his ultimate. There was one other reason. From the start of the game, he planned to camp bot lane. After all, he’d promised to expose LovelyRose for the pile of garbage she was.

“A man always keeps his promise!” Lin Feng said, clenching his fist.

“Pfftt, you’re just a kid. What man?” Su Xue rolled her eyes.

Lin Feng shifted his focus back on the game. His recall timer had hit zero. On the summoner platform, he upgraded his jungle item and combined his two Long Swords into a Brutalizer. He might not be confident in instagibbing Riven, but Caitlyn was a whole ‘nother story. So, he headed back to bottom lane in his mobility boots.

The trolls watching the stream had an uneasy premonition in their hearts. Especially when they noticed that Rengar’s ultimate was back off cooldown.

「this rengar…」
「Don’t tell me he’s going to gank bot again?」
「has he got no shame!?!?!」

A moment later, they had to watch their uneasy premonition come true. Lin Feng guided his Rengar through the jungle and entered the river, then pressed down on a certain key. His figure disappeared in stealth.

Badump… Badump… Badump…

Badump… Badump… Badump…

A steady, rhythmic heartbeat rang in the air. Rengar’s vision slowly became dyed red. The colour of flowing blood. His thick killing intent. A deep growl came from his throat. “A true hunter never rests…”

✹

Having died twice already, Ah Mei’s nerves were completely on edge, to the extent that if the enemy Sivir or Morgana showed any signs of moving towards her, she would immediately retreat to her tower in a panic. Her own viewers had a hard time seeing her like this. They kept telling her not to panic so much in her stream chat. But this only caused her cheeks to glow hot in embarrassment, and not for her panic to subside. That punk was in her head! The hatred she felt for Lin Feng seeped down to the bone marrow. If it weren’t for him, she would never be this humiliated, this pathetic…

While Ah Mei was stewing in her thoughts, a blood red marker suddenly appeared above her head. The indicator of death. “A-again!?” she shrieked in panic and disbelief, her voice almost cracking. She frantically smashed down on her keyboard, launching Caitlyn backwards with her 90-Caliber Net. Too late. A shadow pounced on her.

Lin Feng’s fingers agilely moved across his keyboard, activating one skill after the other. Each one shaved away a large portion of Caitlyn’s health. Rengar touched the ground. Caitlyn collapsed to the ground. There was nothing she could’ve done. Instagib.

Holy shit! The viewers stared at the stream dumbly. It took them a moment to move their fingers, but then the stream chat went into an uproar.

After picking up her first kill, Ah Mei was in a good mood. Even though her expression flashed with gloominess when she recalled how Rengar had already picked up two kills, at least she was having no problems scaling at bot lane. She glanced at Sivir and Morgana, her lips curving into a smile. The support Morgana was a Platinum player while the ad-carry Sivir was Diamond 5. Even though the Sivir player was more skilled than she was, she was playing Caitlyn who had the superior attack range. Plus, her own Support was Diamond 2. So, she had no problem pressuring the enemy.

Ah Mei recalled back to base and bought a pickaxe to give herself a larger edge in bottom lane. “Diamond ad-carries are nothing special,” she happily muttered to herself. “Ha, I must’ve gotten better! Jerks calling me a boosted thot. I’ll show them! I’m just as good as any other Diamond ad-carry now!”

Ah Mei snapped out of her daydreaming. As she glanced at the opposing team’s scoreboard, she knitted her brows. Despite being down a kill and losing in lane, Sivir was even with her in CS. She was never great at last hitting minions. Even in the last match, Evening Snowfall was close to 30 CS up on her at 10 minutes. Just thinking about it brought a frown to her pretty face. How could she lose in CSing to a Gold noob?

Shifting her thoughts back to Sivir, a cold gleam flashed in her eyes. “Looks like it’s time to tell Lee Sin to come down for a gank again—” Suddenly, her eyes went wide with alarm after a blood red marker started glowing above her Caitlyn’s head! “What’s goi—?”

A dark silhouette appeared out of nowhere and pounced on Caitlyn at frightening speed, leaving Ah Mei no time to react. Rengar’s hunt had begun!

✹

Closing in on his prey under the guise of stealth, the Pridestalker’s vision was dyed in blood, as if the only thing driving him was the lust for the kill. After appearing within hunting range, glowing markers appeared above the heads of two enemy champions!

Lin Feng clicked on Caitlyn with his mouse. Rengar pounced out of stealth and threw out an empowered bola, rooting her to the ground. His blade cut down into her and took away a large portion of her health. Then, he smoothly sidestepped the Aqua Prison thrown at him by Nami.

The viewers of the stream stared blankly at their screens.

「holy shit!!!! what the… that micro skill dude!!!!」
「BEST REACTION SPEED EVAAHHH!!!!」
「teach me senpai, plsplspls」

Ol’ Black who was also watching the stream sucked in a cold breath of air. “What a god!” Unlike the rest of the audience, who only saw that Caitlyn lost half her health in an instant and not how, he understood the level of skill required to pull this feat off. Suffice to say, he was thoroughly impressed by Lin Feng.

Ah Mei finally reacted, for the most part with a shrill shriek. Still, she smashed down on her keyboard in a last ditch effort to escape.

Caitlyn fired out her 90-Caliber Net and flew backwards from the recoil. But the skill failed to connect with Rengar, and failed to apply the slow. Rengar moved quickly and circled behind her.

“Flash! Flash!” Ah Mei screamed as she pressed the F key on her keyboard multiple times and tried to escape to her tower for safety. Meanwhile, Nami came to her help by targeting Rengar with Exhaust.

“You think you can escape?” Lin Feng laughed. Even though he was slowed by the effects of Exhaust, he only needed to take two steps to enter the brush.

Lin Feng flicked his mouse cursor on the fleeing Cialtyn and clicked down on the right button. Rengar’s body arched back before leaping out of the brush toward Caitlyn! He threw out a Bola Strike, this one only slowing her down.

Ah Mei was in a complete state of panic. She frantically clicked on her mouse, trying to retreat to the safety of her tower. But the slow shattered any hope of her surviving.

Sivir finally arrived and threw out her boomerang at Caitlyn. This was all she could get in before Lin Feng dealt the killing blow.

《You have been slain!》

Ah Mei stared dumbly at her screen as it went grey. In the background, the trio at bottom lane had now shifted their focus to Nami. Morgana rooted her with Dark Bind, after which Renger and Sivir made short work of her.

《Double kill!》

Su Xue’s viewers erupted with cheers.

「666666666666!」
「GODGARRRRRR!!!!!!!!」
「What a double kill!」
「HOLY DAMN!! that was sooooo satisfying to watch! kill her again! kill her again!」

In stark contrast to these messages overflowing with excitement, the trolls were dead silent, not uttering a peep.

Much like her viewers, who were happily joking with Lin Feng, Su Xue also felt cathartic after seeing LovelyRose die. However, she didn’t let the excitement get to her head and reminded Lin Feng, “You can get the first tower now, right?”

Lin Feng shook his head. “No, I’ll let the tower stand.”

“What?” Su Xue was stunned. “Why? It’s an easy first tower.”

The trolls were also startled. After picking up the double kill, they knew it was an easy first tower. They instantly pounced on the opportunity to insult Lin Feng.

“Because it’ll be easier to gank Caitlyn as long as the tower stands,” Lin Feng explained.

The trolls found their insults caught in their throats. Their faces started turning green as if the anger were going to make them cough out blood!

「you cocky motherfucker」
「You think you’re so great!? Guess what? You’re pathetic.」
「cant wait to see rose make him regret that」

However, that moment would never come. A minute later, Lin Feng started heading towards the bottom lane again. Caitlyn should be heading back to lane after her short trip back to base. He placed a vision ward in the brush closest to the enemy outer turret, then waited in ambush.

Eight seconds later, Caitlyn arrived back at her outer turret. Before she could even approach the minion wave, Lin Feng pounced on her with full ferocity stacks. With another mid-air empowered Bola Strike, he rooted her to the ground and started attacking her.

Ah Mei was furiously clicking towards her outer tower, desperate to escape. Her health was down to less than half health when the root finally broke. But before taking even one step, a Dark Binding struck her squarely, locking her down again. After which her screen went grey, again.

Be it the regular viewers or the trolls, everyone was dumbstruck.

《You have been slain!》

Ah Mei stared dumbly at the death screen before snapping back to her senses. Her entire body trembled with anger. However, there were still traces of fear and panic lingering in her eyes. “T-this… this is too much!”

“Did the trolls stop talking? Got nothing more to say?” Lin Feng’s innocuous remark resounded like a crisp smack to the faces of the trolls.

Su Xue’s eyes lit up. Her real viewers also relished in the schadenfreude and vindication.

「hahahhaha take that! told you you’d be eating those words!」
「LOL that shut them up real quick!」

Lin Feng proved why he was worthy of their respect yet again. Not only was he amazing at the game, even a simple remark from him could deal critical damage! The viewers snickered thinking back to the proud claims of those trolls. Lee Sin hard counters Rengar! Ha! No one counters our li’l bro! Invading at Level 2? What a joke! Ha! Who is the joke now? Please, keep talking trash!

The faces of the trolls went red hot from the sting of embarrassment before lashing out in a rage.

「Dumbasses! Think you’re hot shit just because he got first blood?」
「trash streamer! getting excited over something so small!」
「talk to us again when you actually win a game」
「acting like they won the game. NEWSFLASH that was just first blood. God…. never seen such dumbass streamers in my life」

Of course, Lin Feng wasn’t the slightest bit bothered by the comments flung at him by the trolls. He had his Rengar retreat from the enemy jungle and head for his own red buff camp. In the minimap, he’d noticed that the support Nami was on her way to help Lee Sin retake jungle control. So, although he could’ve stayed for another gank, he decided the risk was too great. His eyes lit up with fighting spirit. This was fine too. After all, picking up kills depended on arriving at the right time, or being at the right place, sometimes both!

After clearing his red buff camp, Rengar reached Level 3. Lin Feng scanned the minimap and noticed that in top lane Malphite was being pushed in by the enemy Riven. “Mhm. Looks like we’re going to gank top!” he decided, already guiding his Rengar up there.

At 4:30 minutes into the game, the minion waved stopped just in front of red team’s outer tower in top lane. Rengar directly passed through the tri brush[mfn]The tri brush connects the jungle, river, and lane.[/mfn] into the river for the gank.

Riven’s path of retreat was cut off!

Rengar lay in ambush in the river brush, waiting for Riven to come in range. Then, he leaped. His attacks were perfectly linked together. From a fully empowered Savagery[mfn]Rengar’s next attack brutally stabs his target for bonus damage. Ferocity effect: deals increased damage and grants Attack Speed.[/mfn] to a Bola Strike—to slow Riven down—and all the auto attacks in between. They shaved away a large chunk of her health.

Malphite finally caught up and attacked the Riven with Seismic Shard. A shard of the earth shot through the ground and struck Riven, stealing her movement speed.

Riven reacted with Ki Burst, briefly stunning Malphite and Rengar. Then, she escaped with Flash and a dash from Valor[mfn]Riven steps forward a short distance and blocks incoming damage.[/mfn].

The trolls watched on in excitement. The Riven survived and looked no worse for wear! They immediately started spamming the chat, ridiculing Lin Feng for his failed gank.

「loool! that’s how you can tell he’s trash. what n00b uses his ferocity stacks for a little more damage? HAHAHHAAAAHA」
「SHITGAARRRRRR」
「ahahaha what a garbo! can’t even kill riven when she’s pushed in so far!」

These remarks had some merit. A fully empowered Savagery only dealt more damage, but an empowered Bola Strike turned the skill’s slow into a root. In other words, if Lin Feng had rooted the Riven with an empowered Bola Strike, he might’ve killed her. Now, however, even if he flashed after her, he still wouldn’t catch up to her.

“Mhm? Who says I can’t get the kill?” Lin Feng asked with a mysterious smile.

The trolls were caught off-guard. They were just about to call him out on his bluff, when their mouths fell open in shock.

Rengar flashed. However, he didn’t flash toward Riven, but rather diagonally into the top brush.

The Riven player was bewildered before his face paled in realization. He quickly tried to move his champion as far away from the bush as possible. But it was already too late.

After Rengar entered the bush, Unseen Predator was triggered. “Nothing will escape!” a deep growl rang out like the herald of death. Suddenly, a shadow shot out of the bush and pounced toward its prey!

Rengar leaped onto Riven! With an auto attack, red buff took effect and applied a slow. All of Riven’s skills were on cooldown. She had nothing left to escape. The auto attacks kept coming in until she finally collapsed dead on the ground.

《You have slain an enemy!》

“Nice!” Su Xue excitedly blurted out.

The chat boiled over with excitement. Even after using all her skills to get away, Riven still died! Lin Feng’s Rengar was godly!

The trolls found it hard to believe what just happened. The barrage of insults they were about launch became stuck in their throats, while their cheeks started burning with a stinging sensation. They’d never even considered using Flash like this. Lin Feng’s quick thinking allowed him to cross a far larger distance than possible with just Flash. The rest was history.

Ah Mei’s pretty face slightly warped with anger. She angrily typed in chat.「What the hell is going on? How did you die at top!?」

The Master-rank Riven player also had an unsightly expression on his face. He reluctantly admitted in chat.「that Rengar is pretty good」

The game was barely five minutes in, and Lin Feng’s score was already 2/0/0. At this time, Lin Feng noticed Lee Sin making a gank attempt on Orianna and moved his screen over to the mid lane. Su Xue’s long time viewer, Water Wraith, reacted brilliantly, flashing away to the safety of his tower and not allowing the gank to succeed.

Su Xue’s viewers excitedly typed in chat.

「Nice job, Wraith!」
「that’s what you expect from a Diamond 1!!!!」
「NICE!! Shitlee needs to ask Godlee for a lesson」

Lin Feng returned to base. After completing his jungle item and buying a pair of boots in the fountain shop, he went back to farming his jungle. Rengar’s ganking ability in the early game was pretty weak. But when he reached Level 6, he would become a true predator of the jungle. No one could stop him then.

At the six-minute mark, Lee Sin ganked bottom lane. Morgana had to sacrifice her life in order to protect Sivir. Unfortunately, the kill went to Caitlyn.

Ah Mei’s mood immediately lifted. She chuckled happily, “The enemy bot lane is so trash. Hahaha.”

The 60,000 viewers in her stream showered her with praise for her Caitlyn skills.

Meanwhile, Lin Feng killed Gromp and reached Level 6. “Oh! I’m Level 6.” He glanced at his minimap and nodded. “Let’s get this party started.” Then, he activated Thrill of the Hunt. Rengar’s predatory instincts took over, camouflaging him and revealing the nearest enemy champion in a large radius around him. With his increased movement speed, he stalked to bot lane.

Badump… Badump… Badump…

Lin Feng’s screen was suddenly submerged in an ocean of blood. Everything else got drowned out. All that remained was the steady rhythmic sound of a heartbeat.

Badump… Badump… Badump…

This was the heartbeat of the Pridestalker, yearning for the thrill of hunting down worthy prey.

Su Xue bit down on her lips in anticipation and tightly clenched her fists.

The viewers all held their breath. They didn’t even blink, afraid they would miss out on a single moment.

「He’s finally ganking bot!」
「he activated his ult so early, you think can he pull it off?」
「was it too soon???」

Lin Feng’s eyes narrowed, his gaze becoming increasingly focused. He’d already firmly locked his sights on Caitlyn. Under his control, Rengar stealthily passed through the jungle, closing in ever faster towards his prey! The true hunt… was about to begin!

Both teams had selected their champions. As the timer hit zero, they entered into the loading screen. The viewers could see the compositions of both teams. On the top half of the screen was the blue team led by LovelyRose. They had a top Riven, mid Syndra, jungle Lee Sin, ad-carry Caitlyn, and support Nami. Lin Feng’s red team was on the bottom half of the screen. They had Malphite in the top lane, Orianna in mid, jungle Rengar, ad-carry Sivir, and support Morgana.

Ah Mei glanced at the enemy team’s lineup before her gaze fell on the portrait of Rengar. Her lips curved up into a disdainful smile. Rengar? Brat, you’re in way over your head if you think you can carry with jungle. She originally thought Lin Feng would pick ad-carry, which left her feeling a bit apprehensive. After all, she was only Platinum 5 at best. If that kid really was a Diamond player, she might face some issues in the bot lane. Now, however, she felt completely at ease. After all, the two Master-rank players in her team were the top laner and jungler. And she refused to believe he could be better than her own jungler.

Ah Mei tabbed out of the game and sent her jungler a message on QQ.

「Play your best this game. I want you to completely crush that Rengar.」

The Lee Sin player chuckled confidently.「Don’t worry, Rose! I’ll make him wish he was never born!」In the current meta, Lee Sin was an S-tier jungle champion while Rengar was a low A-tier, high B-tier jungler. Plus, he was confident in his Lee Sin. Shutting down a Rengar would be a piece of cake!

Ah Mei nodded in satisfaction. Thinking about how she would humiliate this brat and Evening Snowfall again, she couldn’t help but break out into a sadistic smile.

✹

Su Xue returned to the room with water. She set the glass aside on the table in front of Lin Feng, then whispered to him, “Give it your best. I’m counting on you to get revenge for me!”

Lin Feng confidently nodded. He muted the mic for a second and turned to Su Xue. “You can trust in me. I’ll expose her for the trash she is!”

Su Xue couldn’t help but burst into laughter. “Hey, hey, watch your mouth! That’s kind of excessive, don’t you think?” Even so, she felt her spirit lifted. With that kind of promise, how could she not have faith in him?

“Excessive?” Lin Feng shook his head. “After what she did to you? Not at all!” His eyes flickered with a sharp light as they fell on the portrait of Caitlyn. To condone her viewers committing such terrible behaviour, not even feeling the slightest bit remorse, and behaving even more arrogantly…. For this kind of person, no punishment was too excessive!

《Welcome to Summoner’s Rift!》

While the game announcer’s voice welcomed the players to the rift, the trolls from LovelyRose’s stream continued flooding the chat of Su Xue’s stream with vulgar and negative comments.

「Jungle Rengar? More like shitgar. Watch him get stomped. Hahahaha.」
「lee sin hard counters counters rengar!!!!」
「what rank is this kid anyway? anyone wanna bet lee stomps him within 5mins? kek」
「tsk tsk, thinking he can carry with jungle XD where does his confidence come from?」

Su Xue’s old viewers and the new arrivals from Ol’ Black’s stream couldn’t stand for these nasty remarks and continued fighting back.

「shut your mouth and watch your lee get slaughtered」
「Watch your language, okay? Can’t you guys just behave and watch the game?」
「stupid trolls……. lil bro will make you eat your words!」

Su Xue’s viewers, both old and new, had complete confidence in Lin Feng. Even if Lee Sin was a Master-rank player, they still believed their li’l bro wasn’t any bit inferior! Of course, they were only partly correct, for he wasn’t just not inferior, but completely superior in every aspect!

✹

When the jungle minions spawned, the game officially started. Lin Feng killed Gromp first with the help of his bot lane and directly reached Level 2. Then, he had his Rengar head straight for the river.

Eh? The viewers were stunned. Rengar isn’t doing blue buff? Then, their eyes went wide as they realized what Lin Feng was planning. He was going to invade the enemy jungle to catch Lee Sin off guard!

Su Xue’s viewers became excited.

「God damn! What a chad!」
「that’s our li’l bro right there!!!!」

The trolls became a bit anxious. Still, their Lee Sin was Master-rank! So, they started stirring again in the chat.

「a lv2 invade? is he stupid or something??」
「this kid delusional or what?」
「HA! What a joke XDDDD Watch him die!」

Lin Feng couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to the chat. His full focus was on an early Level 2 invade! He guided his Rengar through the river and into the enemy jungle near mid lane, going straight for the red buff camp. This jungle path was pretty much bullet proof, because he knew Lee Sin was going for a red start. If Lee Sin did red buff and tried to gank mid lane, he’d catch his target. If Lee Sin did golem camp first and headed for red buff after, then it was even better. So, regardless of whether he started red or golem camp first, he would be around the bot side jungle for sure. In other words, there was no way Rengar could miss his target.

Rengar moved along the walls and stealthily entered the brush next to the red camp. He was immediately greeted by the sight of Lee Sin just starting on red buff.

“You got him!” Su Xue excitedly blurted as she spectated from the side. Her viewers were equally excited in the stream. Meanwhile, the trolls felt their hearts sink to the pits of their stomach. It appeared Rengar’s invade was going to succeed.

Lee Sin was fairly vigilant. After hitting the red buff twice, he led it toward the brush. Where normally this would be the safe play, now it was a recipe for disaster.

Lin Feng didn’t give the opponent any time to react. He immediately unloaded his highest damage combo onto Lee Sin, taking full advantage of the full ferocity stacks[mfn]Rengar’s abilities build Ferocity. Upon reaching full Ferocity, his next ability becomes empowered and grants him Movement Speed on cast[/mfn] he built up from fighting the gromp earlier.

Lee Sin instantly lost more than a third of his health. He tried to escape with Flash. However, Lin Feng easily pounced after him with Unseen Predator. Then, he threw out an auto attack followed by a Bola Strike[mfn]Rengar throws a bola, slowing the first target hit for a short duration.[/mfn] to slow the Lee Sin down.

Lee Sin slammed his fist down on the ground to slow Rengar down and buy himself enough time to escape. But it was all futile.

With so many bushes around in the jungle, it was simply impossible to escape a Rengar. A few seconds later, the announcer’s voice rang out across Summoner’s Rift.

《First blood!》

Lee Sin’s body collapsed to the jungle floor.

Su Xue’s viewers erupted with excitement, flooding the chat with impassioned praise, while the trolls were stunned silent.

At bottom lane, Ah Mei was also stunned, an unsightly frown appearing on her pretty face. “What the hell happened?” she roared. How did her Master jungler end up giving away first blood to that kid?

The Lee Sin player’s expression was extremely unsightly. He never expected something like this to happen. He felt a strong urge to ram his head into a wall! Why was the Rengar in his jungle this early?

Lin Feng quickly retreated from the blue team’s jungle. As he made his way back to his own side of the map, he glanced directly at the webcam with a smug smile. “Oh? Did the trolls stop talking? Got nothing more to say?” His voice was calm, but it felt like a ruthless slap to the faces of all the trolls.

All the trolls from LovelyRose’s stream were taken aback by Lin Feng’s words. But they quickly snapped back to their senses. Furious they had been cowed and intimidated by a little kid, they flew into a rage.

「Who the fuck are you?」
「ooohhhhh soo scaaary bro, almost pissin in my pants」
「the hell does it matter if we give that stupid bitch what she deserves!?」
「lol are you her boytoy or something?」

The messages in the chat became increasingly nasty and unpleasant. Lin Feng’s eyes slowly narrowed, flashing with anger. It was as if his entire person were radiating an incomparably dangerous aura that made a person’s hairs stand on end. He was angry. No, furious! These trolls with their flippant attitudes had truly pushed him past the brink!

With Lin Feng’s laissez-faire personality, even if someone insulted him to his face, he wouldn’t take much heed. In fact, he might even find it funny and laugh at it. But attacking those he cared about was something completely different! Ignoring the flood of messages spamming the stream chat, he quickly found the QQ chat window with LovelyRose and sent a message:「rematch?」

This was a declaration of war! The trolls all dropped their jaws in shock, then erupted into laughter.

「LOL? a rematch? this kid doesn’t know when to give up」
「Awwww….. He wants to get revenge for her. What a simp! lol」
「ROFL bet he’s just as bronze as her」

Ah Mei couldn’t help but sneer. “Who does this kid think he is? The streamer? Ha! What is this? Two streamers? What a joke.” However, her expression froze after seeing the next message that appeared in the chat.

Lin Feng typed away on the keyboard, his expression unchanging.

「What? Scared you’ll be exposed?」
「Well, you might as well apologize then.」
「And take the steaming pile of trash you call your viewers with you and get the hell out of my stream.」

The messages Lin Feng sent had Ah Mei and her viewers twitching their eyelids with irritation.

「The balls on this fucking kid!!!!!」
「has he even hit puberty yet!?」
「FUCK! He really wants his ass beat!」

✹

At Ah Mei’s apartment in Central Shanghai.

“Ho…? This kid sure has a mouth on him,” Ah Mei remarked with a light chuckle, her eyes narrowing dangerously. Then, her expression turned frosty. “Fine. If you want to die, I’ll gladly send you on your way.”

Ah Mei didn’t take Lin Feng seriously at all. She had complete confidence in the viewers she recruited to her team. Two were Master-rank players, another was Diamond 2, and the last one was Diamond 3. How old was this kid? A high schooler at most? She snorted in disdain. How good could this high schooler possibly be? It would already be beyond impressive if he was Diamond 5. Yet, he wanted to seek retribution for his princess like some sort of knight in shining armour? How laughable!

But, that was fine too. Ah Mei’s eyes narrowed as she licked her lips with an alluring smile, her gaze flashing with a cruel light. If she could thoroughly destroy the last vestiges of Evening Snowfall’s hope… Just thinking about it made her shudder in sadistic excitement.

✹

“Hey, who are your teammates?” Lin Feng asked.

Su Xue wiped away her tears. Even though her eyes were still red, at least she could breathe again. Lin Feng was like her tower of strength. She snapped back to her senses and hurriedly replied, “Some viewers from my QQ group chat. Just give them a shout, and they’ll answer.” Then, watching him pull open the QQ group chat, she feebly asked, “Umm… are you thirsty? Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Eh…?” Lin Feng stared at Su Xue in a daze.

Su Xue’s cheeks slightly flushed red, clearly betraying her embarrassment. She quietly said, “A-aren’t I the maid? Then shouldn’t I help you get some water, or something…”

“Oh!” Lin Feng snapped back to his senses. Then, he stared at Su Xue with a stupid grin. “Sounds good! Don’t worry. I got this!”

Su Xue gazed at Lin Feng, then forcefully nodded. “Alright! I believe in you.”

Lin Feng turned to the QQ group chat and sent a message.「Guys, I’m here!」

The chat immediately boiled over in excitement. Su Xue’s loyal viewers all knew how good Lin Feng was. If he were to step in, he could definitely get revenge for them! They immediately started to recount what happened in the previous match.

Lin Feng solemnly nodded. “It’s like that, huh?” The situation was a bit more troublesome than he expected.

LovelyRose herself wasn’t a particularly good player. In fact, Su Xue was a good match for her. But the other four members in her team were Diamond 3 or higher. Their jungler and top laner were even Master-rank. On the other hand, Su Xue’s team mostly consisted of Platinum to low Diamond players. Water Wraith was the only exception. He was a Diamond 1 mid main.

With pretty much the entire team outclassed by an entire rank, Lin Feng felt he couldn’t carry with an ad-carry. This role simply wasn’t suitable for carrying when there was such a large skill gap. All the enemy jungler had to do was camp his lane while allowing his own allies to smoothly scale. At that point, he couldn’t guarantee victory. But, the situation wasn’t unsalvageable.

Lin Feng rubbed his chin before coming to a decision. He asked in the chat,「Hey jungler, can you play ADC as well?」

✹

While the 10 players were preparing for the match, the trolls were still occupying Su Xue’s stream. They continued spamming the chat, spewing out every insult under the sun.

However, Su Xue’s loyal viewers and the additional 100 from Ol’ Black’s stream started launching a counterattack and erupted in support for Lin Feng. Some of the new viewers were especially vocal. Most of them had only come here because of Lin Feng’s god-Lee. So, they were naturally excited about getting the opportunity to watch him play again.

Ol’ Black was also watching the stream. His brows furrowed. Lin Feng was really good at the game, without a doubt. But the gap in skill between the two teams was too great. Could he really solo carry this team?

On the other hand, Lin Feng himself wasn’t one bit worried. After creating the lobby for a blind pick game and going into champion select, he directly locked in his champion. The champion’s portrait lit up next to his summoner name. The viewers in the stream gasped in surprise. Even the trolls went wide-eyed with surprise. Rengar, the Pridestalker!

At this moment, Lin Feng relaxed his breath and closed his eyes. He started entering the zone.

A primal jungle, dead leaves dotting the muddy soil. Barely discernible footsteps approached ever closer at a frightening and dangerous tempo. A gust of wind blew past, scattering the leaves in the air. A deep, growling voice brimming with ice-cold killing intent rang out. “Whose head… shall I take?”

Lin Feng slowly opened his eyes, revealing a blazing fighting spirit that struck at one’s soul. Whose head? He’d already decided on his prey.

“Apologize…?” Su Xue muttered in an incredulous daze before forcing down the unbridled rage that threatened to erupt out. She had never met a more shameless and despicable person in her life! LovelyRose’s viewers came to her stream and wreaked havoc first! What did she have to apologize for?

But LovelyRose’s tone was perfectly calm, as if this were only the natural course of things.

LovelyRose:「Apologize, and I’ll let you off this time. I’ll also call off my white knights and simps..」

EveningSnowfall:「Apologize for what? I did nothing wrong!」Su Xue gnashed her teeth.

LovelyRose:「Your viewers are coming to my stream and cursing at me. You have a responsibility for them as their streamer. Even if you are innocent, which I highly doubt, you should still apologize for those dimwitted viewers of yours!」

Su Xue opened the QQ conversation with LovelyRose on her stream. When her loyal viewers saw it, they immediately exploded in anger and furiously started typing in her special chat group.

「Fucking hell! This bitch actually wants us to apologize!??!?」
「Xue Xue ignore that bitch!」
「fuck! what the hell do we have to apologize for?」
「it was them! they started this shit! all we did was go over there and nicely ask her to stop it. AND she ducking banned us!!! if anyone should apologize, it’s her!」

Su Xue didn’t pay attention to the messages in her special group chat. Instead, she was thinking of what to say, while biting on her lips in indignation. Finally, with a look of resolve, she typed out her response.

EveningSnowfall:「Tough luck for you then. You won’t get it. Not me or my viewers have anything to apologize for.」

To say nothing of Su Xue’s long-time viewers, even the hundred or so from Ol’ Black’s stream were deeply moved, turning from casual watchers to loyal followers.

What sort of thing made a streamer gain a loyal following? It wasn’t necessarily how well they played a game or how pretty they were, but rather how closely they connected with their viewers! Su Xue was doing exactly that right now. She stubbornly persevered in order to maintain the honour of her viewers!

LovelyRose:「Tsk tsk. Still not willing to admit your wrongs? Fine, if you don’t want to apologize, I have another solution…」

LovelyRose:「Let’s have an in-house 5v5. Your stream against my stream. The loser has to apologize to the winner.」

Su Xue stared at the message, dumbfounded. Her long-time viewers were also shocked.

EveningSnowfall:「An inhouse 5v5?」

LovelyRose:「Correct. Since we’re both League streamers, we should settle it on Summoners Rift. The loser has to obediently do whatever the winner says. We’ll speak with our skills. Sounds fair enough, right? 」

Ah Mei then reclined back in her chair as she stared at the messages. Her lips curved into a devious grin. She was quite satisfied with the proposal she just came up with.

When Evening Snowfall’s viewers came over to her stream earlier, a few were saying things like, “dumb thot”, “go back to camgirling”, “typical e-girl, showing more cleavage than gameplay,” and “she isn’t even good at the game”.

What annoyed Ah Mei the most were comments like these. If she would climb the ranked ladder by herself, her main role ad-carry would get her to Platinum 5 at best. However, thanks to some people boosting her account, she sat comfortably in Diamond. So, she was extremely sensitive to people questioning her skill. Evening Snowfall’s viewers who came to her stream had to be punished, and what easier way was there than challenging a Gold-rank noob and her 200 viewers? Where she could easily find Diamonds or even Masters, Evening Snowfall would probably couldn’t even find enough Diamonds to fill her roster! This would show those viewers who dared to call her out!

Evening Snowfall still hadn’t replied. Ah Mei smiled derisively and typed out another message.

LovelyRose:「What? Don’t tell me you’re scared now?」

EveningSnowfall:「Fine!」

The moment Su Xue accepted the challenge, the sound of thunder rang out from outside the window. Rain started pouring down from the sky.

✹

After bolting out of the NetCow Cafe, Lin Feng immediately flagged down a taxi to go home. Shortly after he got into the car, the pitter patter of rain tapped on the window followed by the sound of thunder. A heavy downpour started. The sudden change in weather caused the initially open streets to jam up with traffic.

Sitting in the back of the taxi, Lin Feng fiddled with his smartphone while anxiously glancing at the time every few seconds. After 15 minutes and the traffic not abating in the slightest, he finally had enough. He threw the taxi driver some money before opening the door and rushing out into the rain. “Keep the change!” he yelled over his shoulder.

It was raining buckets. Bean-sized rain drops pelted Lin Feng, drenching him. However, he didn’t appear to care as he madly dashed home.

✹

News of the drama had already spread. Almost all the League streamers on HuyaTV had heard of the cat fight that broke out between a new streamer called Evening Snowfall and LovelyRose. Ol’ Black had just gotten online. When he saw what happened, he quickly got on QQ and sent Su Xue a message.

Ol’ Black:「you really going to do it? you really shouldn’t have agreed. since she dared to challenge you, she’s confident in winning. with her 60,000 viewers, odds are she will find way higher ranked viewers…」

EveningSnowfall:「You don’t need to persuade me. I’m telling you the truth. Me and my viewers never started anything, but LovelyRose still wants me to apologize! If she wants to 5v5, then I’ll face her!」

Ol’ Black:「alright, then look around to see if there are any good players among your viewers. I’m really not in the position to help you right now. please understand.」

Ol’ Black really did like Su Xue, she seemed like a nice person and they got along. But he’d be completely ostracized if he got involved in this. The circle of big streamers wasn’t that big in the first place. So, it wasn’t wise to go around provoking others.

EveningSnowfall:「Don’t worry. I understand. It’s the thought that counts. I’ll handle this situation by myself.」

Ol’ Black couldn’t help but bitterly smile. Su Xue was taking this situation too lightly. She was at a complete disadvantage. Odds were she wouldn’t even find a single Diamond player to help her. Suddenly, he thought of someone.

Ol’ Black:「hey, where’s that little brother of yours? if he plays, you’ll at least have some chance of winning.」
Lin Feng’s amazing Sword of the Occult Lee Sin was still fresh in his mind.

EveningSnowfall:「He’s not here.」
She couldn’t help but think of Lin Feng too. If he were here, maybe we’d really stand a chance. But she quickly shook her head, determination flashing across her gaze. Lin Feng wasn’t here right now. She wasn’t the maid being ordered around by her viewers. She was Evening Snowfall, the host of this stream! It was up to her to protect this stream and her viewers!

✹

A heavy downpour came down on Shanghai. The howling wind and rain wreaked havoc on the streets as pedestrians hastily sought shelter underneath their umbrellas. Suddenly, many looked up in amazement at the silhouette of a boy running through the storm like his life demanded it.

As Lin Feng ran, all he could think of were his past interactions with Su Xue.

“Hey hey hey! Don’t tell me you want me to pour you water like some maid?”
“You little scoundrel! I’m supposed to be the streamer here!”
“Ahem… well, it’s nothing big. I… just want to ask if you can make me better at the game.”
“Oh, I didn’t sleep last night. I got so absorbed into practicing my CSing that I lost track of time.”

Lin Feng recalled Su Xue’s nervous expression when she came to ask him for help, the large dark bags under her eyes when she stayed up all night practicing, and the excitement on her face after finally seeing her hard work pay off. All these scenes floated across his mind. What was Su Xue to him? Someone full of complaints and prone to flipping out from time to time. But for all her thorniness, she always put in the effort to make delicious meals for him every day. Even though their time together was short, he already saw her as an older sister. She was pretty much family.

The rain pelted at Lin Feng’s face and slid down his cheeks. It soaked his hair, causing his bangs to fall over his eyes. He wiped away the water from his face mid-run as he thought of the words he told Su Xue.

“No matter how stupid or unrealistic people say your dreams are, as long as you try your hardest, I think it’s worth respecting!”
There was a second half to this line. “If you’re willing to risk everything for this dream, then you’ll definitely succeed!”

But at this moment, someone was destroying Su Xue’s dream right in front of her, making all her hard work go down the drain and humiliating her. This kind of thing was… “UNNFFFFOOOORRRRRGIVAABLE!” Lin Feng bellowed out as he ran through the rain with all his might.

✹

Su Xue tightly bit her lips, her face ashen. Their nexus was destroyed almost exactly at the 20-minute mark. The large, bold letters spelling defeat stung more than she wanted to admit. The gap in skill was far larger than she expected. Though LovelyRose was a fairly mediocre ad-carry and a good match-up for Su Xue, her teammates were anything but mediocre. The weakest was Diamond 3, while she also had two Master players. Meanwhile, Su Xue only had one Diamond 1 player, the others ranging from Platinum 3 to Diamond 5. This was a difference of more than an entire tier! No matter how hard they tried, it was lost from the start.

The trolls from LovelyRose’s stream started stirring again, blotting out Su Xue’s stream with messages.

「Hahahaha! Trash!」
「STUPID BITCH!!!! let’s see what you have to say now!」
「trash streamer, let’s hear that apology!」
「trying to be a stream with this skill? hahahahhahahahhahahaha aren’t you embarrassed!」
「DELETE YOUR ACCOUNT」

Every ridiculing message was as sharp as a knife, stabbing into Su Xue’s heart. Battered and bruised, she moved her mouse over her stream and turned it off. The viewers in her QQ chat group were sending her messages, as was Ol’ Black. However, she was in no mood to look. She lowered her head, her bangs covering her face and hiding her expression. She continued sitting there motionless, save for her lightly trembling shoulders.

BAANGG

The front door slammed open. An instant later, with the sound of heavy footsteps, Lin Feng burst into Su Xue’s room, cutting a sorry figure. He was completely drenched in sweat and rain as water droplets dripped down from his clothes to the floor. Still gasping for breath, he said, “Hah… hahh…, I-i’m home!”

Su Xue stopped trembling. Slowly, she raised her head, her pretty and elegant face already completely covered in ugly tears. In an incomparably feeble voice, she called out, “Lin Feng… h-hick, help me!” The words were barely audible, but they conveyed the unimaginable grief and despair she was feeling.

Lin Feng took a deep breath, then vigorously nodded. He didn’t even grab a towel before swapping places with Su Xue and fixing his gaze on the monitor. With a few clicks on the mouse, he turned the stream back on again.

Seeing an unfamiliar face appear on the stream, the trolls in Su Xue’s chat were stunned and briefly stopped spamming the chat.

Scanning all the hateful messages, Lin Feng narrowed his gaze as a dangerous and wrathful light flickered in his eyes. He took a deep breath and stared straight at the webcam as if he were directing his gaze at the countless trolls. Then, he slowly opened his mouth. “That was the maid earlier… I’m the streamer. If you’ve got a problem. Then. Come. At. ME!”

More and more people were entering Su Xue’s stream, and a good 80% of them were trolls sent by LovelyRose. They blanketed the chat with insults and general vulgar language. Just one such message was enough to make someone’s blood boil and anger well up inside of them. Let alone thousands. A thousand trolls all hurling the most vile abuse at once. No one could endure this kind of attack.

Su Xue was on the verge of bursting into tears. Her face flushed with anger as she bit down on her lips and continued to manually ban the trolls one by one. But they would quickly come back with new accounts and bring more with them. It was like trying to put out a forest fire with a cup of water. It was truly a heartbreaking sight to see this young woman fighting back to no avail.

Don’t cry. You can’t cry! You must not cry! Su Xue kept repeating in her head. It was only this mantra that allowed her to persevere in the face of this relentless barrage.

Even the hundred-plus viewers from Ol’ Black’s stream couldn’t bear to see this any longer and spoke out.

「Hey hey. Enough already!」
「Is that your goal? Bully a new streamer into crying live on stream? You guys are despicable!」
「this is ridiculous… she never even mentioned this lovelyrose before」

Needless to say, if even these new viewers were speaking out for Su Xue, her loyal viewers were beyond incensed. After consulting with each other in the special group chat, the several dozen of them decided to storm into LovelyRose’s stream and spam her chat.

But LovelyRose wasn’t the slightest bit perturbed. She banned them all from her stream, then chuckled derisively in her usual alluring tone. “You think you can spam my chat with your little group? Very funny.”

✹

“Damn! Some juicy drama is happening on Huya right now!”

“A catfight broke out between two female streamers!”

Back in the NetCow Cafe, Lin Feng and Tang Bingyao were about to queue up for their next match when they overheard the conversation of the patrons nearby.

Lin Feng’s eyes lit up. “Oh, a cat fight? I wanna take a look!”

“What’s so interesting about that?” Tang Bingyao remarked.

“I love watching juicy drama!” Lin Feng said in high spirits. He quickly tabbed out of the game client and opened up Huya on his browser. However, when he got onto the main page, he paused. “Eh, where’s the drama?” He shot up from his seat and shouted at the patrons a row over, “Hey! Where’s the juicy drama?”

Tang Bingyao quickly turned her head, pretending she didn’t know him.

The patrons a row over replied, “Go on Huya, and search for Evening Snowfall!”

“H-huh?” Lin Feng was stunned.

Tang Bingyao turned to Lin Feng curiously. “Are you alright?”

But Lin Feng didn’t appear to hear her. He hurriedly typed ‘Evening Snowfall’ in the search bar and clicked on the only result that popped up. After the stream loaded up, he was greeted by the sight of Su Xue on the verge of breaking into tears with a blanket of abusive messages scrolling over her stream. He scanned the messages one by one, the blood slowly draining from his face. His eyes trembled as the mouse he was gripping started making cracking noises. “Despicable… Despicable!” His expression became incomparably scary. “Completely despicable! These people are too much!”

All the nearby patrons in the internet cafe turned their attention to Lin Feng.

“Hey! What’s wrong? Tell me!” Tang Bingyao asked, alarmed by Lin Feng’s sudden outburst.

Lin Feng shot up from his seat. “Tang Tang, I’m going home. We’ll play tomorrow!”

“But the match is already about to start…” Tang Bingyao said.

But Lin Feng didn’t listen to her. He’d already grabbed his schoolbag and ran out of the internet cafe.

✹

A certain apartment complex in central Shanghai. In a lavishly furnished room, Ah Mei sat at her desk dressed in her typical low-cut tank top. She was the streamer known online as LovelyRose, and this was how she attracted viewers to her stream. Right now, she opened Evening Snowfall’s stream and was looking at the barrage of messages scrolling across the screen with a disdainful smile on the corner of her lips. They were all from her viewers standing up for her!

Ah Mei was quite satisfied. She didn’t care about where this started from or who was right. Or wrong. This hundred viewer Andy who started streaming yesterday had the audacity to pick a fight with her? What a joke! But after switching back to her own stream, she saw a few messages here and there in her chat cursing her out. She couldn’t help but knit her brows. This newbie managed to gather a few loyal viewers, an irritating bunch of simps trying to turn into knights for their Queen.

She mulled on it for a bit, then opened up her QQ and found ‘Evening Snowfall’ in the Huya section. Then she hammered out a message, her fingers flying over the keyboard with elegant grace and fury, a deadly viper about to unleash venom.

LovelyRose:「Evening Snowfall, right? Can’t you control your viewers better? They’re running over to my stream and causing trouble for no reason.」

Su Xue saw a QQ notification pop up on her phone. After opening it up, she couldn’t believe what she saw. LovelyRose actually had the gall to criticize how she controlled her viewers? This kind of shameless person actually existed! She furiously typed out a response.

EveningSnowfall:「It’s your viewers who came over to my stream first! How could you have not noticed!?? All they’re doing is spamming my chat! Please do something about them! How can you have so little control over you viewers!」

LovelyRose:「Oh, really? Then how come I’ve heard that it was you who provoked me first?」

EveningSnowfall:「I never said anything! Don’t make baseless accusations!」

LovelyRose:「I’m making baseless accusations? I don’t think my viewers would go to other streams for no reason, let alone your tiny little stream. Plus, why would I waste my time caring about a little stream like yours?」

EveningSnowfall:「Fine. Let’s just say this is a misunderstanding. Then, can you please call your viewers off? They’ve already disturbed my stream enough.」

Su Xue was about to explode, but she took a deep breath and calmed down. She couldn’t handle the chaos in her stream. It had gone on for far too long. Her loyal viewers were becoming anxious and a bunch of them had started crusading for her sake. Perhaps compromise was the smart solution here.

LovelyRose:「Want me to call them off? Sure… Apologize. To me. So both your viewers and mine see it. 」

In League of Legends, there were three great blunders: No vision in the brush. The enemy has no flash. I can get the kill! In the same vein, man had three great questions in life: Who am I? Where do I come from? Where am I heading? Before Su Xue’s viewers was also a question. Who the hell was Rose? But her viewers couldn’t be bothered to think about this question. Fuck! Who the fuck cares who Rose is! Trash talking Xue Xue? Can’t compare to Rose? What right do you have to decide that!

Su Xue’s long-time viewers might make fun of her in her stream and viewer group chat, but that never went beyond light hearted jokes and banter. It was a testament to how close they were. This was their sole right as her friends! So, when they saw the messages of these trolls, they immediately flared with anger.

「where did these morons come from? they forget to take their medicine?」
「the fuck is rose? never heard of her!」
「obvious trolls, can’t even tell this game isn’t caitlyn’s fault!」

The several trolls in the chat chuckled coldly.

「You don’t know Rose? Fucking losers hahahahah!! 」
「how is this shitty streamer losing in gold lmaaao! Rose is Diamond. don’t even try to compare, okay?」
「trash streamer has trash viewers, seems about right」

By the time Su Xue finally noticed the situation, the trolls had already completely riled up her viewers. She was already in low spirits after losing the game due to bad teammates, but after seeing the messages those trolls typed in her chat, her mood got even worse. Why were they randomly stirring up trouble here anyway? If they didn’t like her stream, they could just leave. There was no need to purposefully antagonize others. Not to mention she clearly played well this game. So, why were they trash-talking her?

Su Xue had heard of Rose before. She was also a League of Legends streamer, a way more popular one, with her streams averaging 60,000 viewers regularly. Su Xue had even watched some of her streams before. Her stream name was LovelyRose. She was pretty mediocre at the game. The only reason she was so popular was that she was the kind of female streamer who always wore highly revealing clothing, showing off her cleavage, legs, and whatever else she could get away with without getting banned. Sometimes she didn’t even play the game and just chatted with her stream, browsing clothing websites and asking her viewers what she should buy. She was precisely the kind of streamer Su Xue didn’t want to become.

Despite her distaste for this kind of behaviour, Su Xue never expressed any feelings about it in her streams. After all, everyone was trying to make a living in their own way. What right did she have to criticize them for it? You have your own thoughts, and I have mine. There was nothing worth arguing about. Now, though, there were trolls riling up people in her stream and comparing her to this other streamer. How could Su Xue possibly accept this?

Su Xue was inwardly sullen and fuming, but she tried to maintain an amiable appearance. “Alright, alright guys, that’s enough. Let’s all just watch the stream, okay? If you have a problem with my plays, feel free to point out what exactly. I’ll try my best to improve. And if you really can’t stand it, you can always leave. There’s no need to start arguments with others in chat.”

These words failed to have the desired effect. Rather, after realizing they had her attention, the trolls became even more unbridled, launching even uglier and more vicious attacks at her.

Su Xue let them go on for a little longer before she couldn’t stand it any longer and used her stream host privileges to ban them from her stream. The stream finally settled down for a bit. But within minutes, trouble came knocking again. Just as the stream chat was calming down, a swath of messages flooded in.

「trash streamer! play like trash but wont let others point it out!」
「BANNING US??? Stupid bitch, is that all you know how to do!」
「Rose is way better than you! Can’t accept it? Doesn’t matter! Just cause she’s better, you won’t let us say it, huh? Stupid bitch!」
「butthurt muchhhh? ifff you get butthurt so easily, then don’t be a streamer!」

The trolls were back and in full force. Apparently, the several people who were just banned came back with new accounts, and it appeared they called over more helpers from LovelyRose’s stream.

LovelyRose was currently streaming. There were over 60,000 fans watching her. When they saw the messages, “Some other trash streamer is challenging Rose,” and, “They even banned us for no reason,” many came rushing over.

「Heard some trash streamer is banning people for no reason. Came here to see if i’d get banned.」
「bitch, y are you shit talking our Rose??!」
「what makes you think you’re so great?!」
「HAHAHA thinks she can challenge rose with her hundred viewers. This bitch is just looking for drama! CLOUT CHASING BIITTCHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!」

Seeing these trolls overrunning her chat, the blood drained from Su Xue’s face. Never could she have imagined that banning a few trolls would result in even more flooding her stream, and they were even making baseless accusations! When did she ever trash talk Rose?

“I never said anything!” Su Xue exclaimed.

The trolls completely ignored her. They didn’t care for her explanation and continued mocking and insulting her.

Su Xue tightly bit her lips, trying her hardest to put on a strong front. But the faint trembling of her shoulders gave away how much these insults dug at her heart.

The trolls in the chat continued insulting her, their language growing ever harsher and their messages in growing frequency. Su Xue forced herself to ignore them, focusing back on the game. Then, she switched back to the stream chat and took out the banhammer.

It was useless. No matter how many trolls she banned, more just kept coming in. All of them came from LovelyRose’s stream. Su Xue’s loyal viewers tried to defend her, but they were vastly outnumbered against the troll army. All their messages were drowned out by the trolls.

「STUPID WH0RE」
「fking bitch, keep banning us!」
「you can’t ban all of us HAHAHAHAHA」
「The Rose army is endless! How dare you try to challenge us!」

✹

Some of Su Xue’s loyal viewers finally had enough and ran over to LovelyRose’s stream.

「Hey, can you control your viewers?」
「We’re being overrun by trolls from your stream. Are you paying any attention??」
「Answer us, LovelyRose. Control your viewers!」

The several viewers from Su Xue’s flared out in anger. But no matter how much they spammed the chat, they were completely ignored. The viewers from LovelyRose’s stream even started making fun of them.

「Your streamer shouldn’t have started it」
「likes dishing it out, but can’t take it back. I heard she’s even banning people for no reason.」
「hehee that’s what u bitches get for picking a fight with rose. you think it’s bad now? you haven’t seen nothing yet!」

The viewers from Su Xue’s chat couldn’t hold back their anger and started fighting back against the viewers from LovelyRose’s stream. But before they could get more than a few words in, a message appeared in their chat and their ability to type in the chat disappeared.

《You have been banned from this chat room by LovelyRose.》

LovelyRose’s voice lazily rang out from her stream, carrying with it an obvious note of disdain and mockery. “You lot, stop disturbing my stream. We don’t welcome rude simps here.”

✹

Su Xue’s stream chat was completely overrun by trolls from LovelyRose’s stream. It was utter chaos. The trolls were throwing every insult out there at her.

Su Xue’s shoulders were faintly trembling. The corners of her eyes were already starting to turn red, but she bit down on her lips, refusing to let her emotions get the better of her. Don’t cry! No matter what! Don’t cry! Don’t cry! Don’t cry! Crying was admitting defeat! She couldn’t let these trolls win!

But Su Xue couldn’t help but feel a sense of fear and helplessness well up from her heart. She’d only been streaming for half a month, putting in blood, sweat, and tears to slowly build up her viewership. But now, all her efforts were going to be destroyed in the blink of an eye! “What do I do?” she murmured to herself helplessly.

✹

Lin Feng and Tang Bingyao were still at the NetCow Cafe. They had just finished a game. After easily picking up a victory, they were about to get into another match, when Lin Feng overheard a conversation from some other customers nearby.

“Hot damn! There’s some juicy drama happening on Huya right now! Some new female streamer is being raided. Her stream is completely overrun with trolls!”

Su Xue quickly queued into her first match. In champion select, she picked her main, Caitlyn. Out of all the ad-carries she played, she’d been doing the best with Caitlyn lately, especially at farming. Plus, it was never a bad idea to start the day on a high note. The enemy picked Jinx, a relatively easy opponent. Her mood lifted and she said to her viewers, “Hehe! Watch how I carry this match, guys!”

The viewers in the stream had a different opinion.

「haha the zero income streamer is bulsshitting again」
「watch her feed lol」
「the human ATM is bragging!」
「so confident, xue xue! r u alright? loool.」

“Screw you guys! I’ll make you all eat those words when I carry like a god!” Su Xue erupted.

The match got off to a good start. Su Xue played rather well, taking full advantage of Caitlyn’s superior range to pressure the enemy Jinx in the early laning phase. At six minutes in, she even managed to get a kill and assist when Rek’Sai came for a gank.

The viewers were startled beyond belief.

「Woah! Maid, are you scripting today!?!?!?/」
「wow, that was actually good!」

“See, what did I say? I’m going to carry like a god today!” Su Xue exclaimed smugly.

Su Xue was playing exceptionally well this game. Clearly, Lin Feng’s training these past few days was effective. When she hit 78 CS at the 10-minute mark versus Jinx’s 55, the viewers were all gasping in admiration.

Su Xue maintained a calm expression on the surface, but inwardly she was grinning from ear to ear. Hahaha! All that hard work is paying off! I can finally carry with my Caitlyn!

Ever since that match with Ol’ Black a few days ago, Su Xue saw her viewership steadily climbing, from 40-odd viewers to over 200. The new viewers also couldn’t help but nod approvingly after watching Su Xue play for a bit.

「hoh wow, her caitlyn is pretty solid」
「yea! she’s way better than those e-girl thots!」
「right? We’re on Huya to watch people play games, not play with themselves!」

Gaining the approval of her new viewers, Su Xue’s mood lifted even higher, and she started concentrating even harder on her play. It also helped that her long-time viewers were putting in a good word for her.

「Yup. Xue Xue might suck, but at least we can tell she tries hard!」
「way better than those other female streamers!」
「btw where’s our lil bro???」

Su Xue’s long time viewers started asking about Lin Feng. He hadn’t been in any of her streams the past few days. So, they were starting to miss him. The new viewers also recalled Lin Feng. How couldn’t they? He was Godlee!

「ohhhhh! Do you mean that kid who played the sword of the occult Lee?」
「that kid and her live together? r they siblings or something?」
「I came to this stream for godlee!!!」

Noticing the conversation in the chat, Su Xue curled her lips and explained, “Hmph! He’s busy picking up girls!”

✹

At the NetCow Cafe. Lin Feng and Tang Bingyao were still playing League of Legends together. Right now, they were in a ranked match. Tang Bingyao was playing Twitch, while Lin Feng played jungle Fiddlesticks.

After practicing Twitch for several games, Tang Bingyao was clearly getting better at him. Even if Lin Feng didn’t babysit her lane, she could still scale very well by herself, at times even picking up kills on the enemy laners. Twitch wasn’t a very strong laning champion. But if you could get a lead with him early on, then when the teamfights started in mid to late game, he would be nothing short of a monster.

At about 14 minutes into the game, the second dragon spawned. The enemy team gathered in the dragon pit and started fighting it.

Lin Feng seized this opportunity to leap over the wall around the dragon pit with Crowstorm and right into the heart of the enemy team. A cacophony of caws rang out in the air as the Harbinger of Doom engulfed the enemy in a murder of crows, dealing a massive amount of magic damage!

At the same time, Twitch popped out of stealth behind the enemy ranks with Spray and Pray[mfn]Twitch unleashes the full power of his crossbow, shooting bolts over a great distance that pierce all enemies caught in their path.[/mfn]. A spray of noxious bolts cut through the air!

“PINS AND NEEDLES! AHAHAHAHAHA!”

An endless assault of bolts skewered the enemy team, melting away what little remaining health they had left.

《Double kill!》
《Triple kill!》
《Quadra kill!》

The game announcer’s voice rang out across Summoner’s Rift consecutively!

“Awesome Tang Tang!” Lin Feng laughed. “See? I told you Twitch was great at teamfighting!”

“Mhm.” Tang Bingyao nodded. Then, she turned to Lin Feng unhappily. “But I didn’t pick up a single kill.”

“Oh, you didn’t? I didn’t notice.” Lin Feng replied, feigning ignorance.

“Liar,” Tang Bingyao said as she stared at Lin Feng.

✹

Su Xue encountered a snag in her first game. Her Caitlyn was doing pretty well early game, but the rest of her team lost their respective lanes. The enemy top lane Darius turned into an unkillable monster, while the enemy mid lane LeBlanc could one shot anyone she saw. So, when the first team fight broke out, even though she had scaled well, she still couldn’t turn back the tide.

《You have been slain!》

Seeing her screen going gray, Su Xue went wide-eyed. “How did it end up like this…?” She genuinely felt she was playing really well, and even her viewers agreed too! But with these kinds of teammates, there was nothing she could do to turn the tide. No matter how well she scaled, the enemy mid and top lane were just too fed! She just had to be matched up with these kinds of teammates!

The viewers started comforting her.

「don’t feel too down, xue xue. you played really well」
「it’s alright, just move on to another game」

The new viewers were also chiming in.

「bad teammates can’t be helped」
「It’s already pretty hard to shut down a darius and leblanc when they’re not fed.」
「NOT HER FAULT TEAMMATES BAD」

However, several unpleasant voices suddenly interrupted the harmonious atmosphere, catching everyone’s attention.

「trash streamer, playing caitlyn with that skill? stop feeding the leblanc!」
「what a boosted monkey! I’m way better and Im Bronze!!」
「where did this trash streamer come from? never even heard of her. such crappy play and she actually wants to be a streamer? Our Rose is way better!」

Su Xue hadn’t even noticed these messages yet before her viewers already erupted in anger.

「Fuck off! Who the hell are these people? Talking shit as soon as they join the stream!」
「rose? who da fuk is rose???」