CH 9

Jiang Min looked at his main account’s score decreasing due to a few losses, feeling unhappy. He decided to hire a high-end in-game companion to play and cooperate with him.

The curse of solo queue had proven to be effective, and he didn’t dare to try it again easily.

Finding someone to queue with meant that at least two players, including himself, in the team would be controllable, and even if the other three were not so skilled, they could still be saved.

Jiang Min’s friend list was still mostly grayed out, and very skillfully, he opened the “My Moon, Your Heart” in-game companion platform.

As soon as he opened the platform, he remembered the companion who was kicked out by Yu Hao that day.

The in-game companion was very kind and even refunded the money for the remaining unplayed matches, making Jiang Min quite embarrassed.

Otherwise, let’s find that in-game companion again.

Saying it and doing it, Jiang Min found the private chat record on the platform and contacted that companion.

The companion was also online, and quickly joined the game, entering Jiang Min’s team and voice chat room.

“Boss, hello~” The companion was still full of energy today.

“Yeah.” Jiang Min greeted, “Sorry about last time.”

“It’s okay, Boss!” The companion liked Jiang Min as a returning customer. Unlike other bosses who needed him to carry them in matches, this boss had great skills and the matches were easy to play.

“Alright, let’s start, same as before, you take position 4, and I’ll take position 2.” Jiang Min said.

“Sure, Boss!”

Jiang Min began a joyful journey of duo queuing to rank up with the in-game companion.

Little did he know that in a nearby internet café not far from their base, the captain of JW, one of the top three teams in the WPL league, was squeezed into a small room with their boss, staring at the computer screen.

Ji Xiu Yan was almost frozen by the cold air emanating from Yu Hao.

When they left the JW base, everything was fine. However, as soon as Yu Hao saw Jiang Min streaming, this guy followed him as if he was possessed, dragging him to the nearest internet café.

His Maybach parked at the entrance of the internet café had attracted a lot of attention.

Luckily, he rarely showed his face in public, and no one recognized him on the street. Moreover, Yu Hao put on a duckbill cap when he got off the car, avoiding being recognized.

Otherwise, this internet café would be surrounded.

On the one hand, it might be fans of Yu Hao, and on the other hand, it was probably those WOC fans from their country who wanted to challenge him as the captain of JW due to the poor performance of the WPL region in the World Championship.

“Uh, bro…” Ji Xiu Yan saw Yu Hao in such a low-spirited state for the first time since he saw him in the live broadcast of the JW team’s loss in the group stage. “It’s just that Sugar is playing duo queue with an in-game companion. I don’t see any problem with it…”

Yu Hao remained silent, quickly opening the WOC game interface and entering his second account’s login credentials.

“You see, my Bai Cai plays duo queue every day with others!” Ji Xiu Yan, regardless of inappropriate words, tried to appease him. When Yu Hao went crazy, it was quite terrifying. He’d better pacify him first.

Yu Hao entered the game and quickly entered Jiang Min’s voice chat room with his second account.

“As long as you run faster than your teammates, you will survive, accompany me!” Jiang Min’s excited voice could be heard in the voice chat room.

On the synchronized live broadcast screen on Yu Hao’s mobile phone, a barrage of comments flew by.

【Sugar, are you commanding the spring water again?】

【Sugar’s live broadcast is always black and white.】

【Sugar, can’t you change to a color screen?】

【Why is the duo queue so bad today?】

Yu Hao glanced at the barrage, then turned his attention back to the computer screen, locking onto the player with the profile picture of a pink rabbit.

At some point, it had become a trend among professional players in the league to use cute animal avatars, with various hand-drawn cute animals taking turns to be displayed.

Sugar’s pink rabbit avatar was one of the most representative.

“Sugar.”

Yu Hao’s voice sounded in the voice chat room, low and cold.

“Ah, Yu… Little Fish, you’re here.” Jiang Min didn’t notice anything wrong with Yu Hao.

“Playing with an in-game companion?” Yu Hao asked.

“Yeah.”

“How many times have you died?”

“…Not too much.”

“Didn’t I say that if you want to duo queue, you should call me? Is playing with an in-game companion more fun than playing with me?”

The barrage at this moment had become densely packed, making it difficult to read.

“…” Jiang Min was stunned, then said with a slight, unconsciously distressed tone, “I sent you a message on WeChat, but you didn’t reply, so I called the in-game companion.”

Yu Hao paused and quickly exited the live streaming platform, opening WeChat.

Indeed, a few dozen minutes ago, Jiang Min had sent him a message, asking if he wanted to duo queue together.

Yu Hao’s gloom instantly disappeared, and the speed of his transformation startled Ji Xiu Yan, who had known him for many years.

“Sorry, I didn’t see it, my bad~” Yu Hao said quite cheerfully, “Then after you finish this match, we’ll duo queue together, okay~”

If Yu Hao had a tail, Ji Xiu Yan was quite certain that it would be wagging extremely obsequiously at this moment.

“Yeah, sure.”

Although the match between Jiang Min and the in-game companion was a bit bumpy, they managed to win in the end.

Back in the team lobby, Jiang Min naturally handed over the captain position to Yu Hao.

He always did that, as he was used to Yu Hao starting the game and leading the team.

Then, right after, the in-game companion was once again kicked out of the team by Yu Hao.

【Captain Lolita has kicked out the in-game companion from the team】

System interface prompt.

Jiang Min: “Uh, why did you kick him again?”

Yu Hao: “Didn’t you want to duo queue to rank up? We can’t play ranked with three people, right?”

In WOC, the arena ranking could only be done in solo or duo queue. Group queue with three or more players could only play regular matches and not participate in ranked arena matches.

“Uh, although you’re right, but…”

“Let’s go, let’s play another match.”

Yu Hao clicked the game’s ranked arena matchmaking button.

【Hahaha, calculating the psychological shadow area of the in-game companion at this moment】

【Poor guy, kicked out twice in a row KKKK】

【This in-game companion probably never wants to duo queue with Sugar again, hahaha】

Taking the place of the in-game companion, Yu Hao accompanied Jiang Min in a duo queue live broadcast.

When the two of them duo queued, they were full of laughter and joy.

Meanwhile, Ji Xiu Yan felt drowsy on the side.

He wasn’t interested in MOBA games like WOC at all. If it wasn’t for Yu Hao, he wouldn’t have established the WOC division at JW.

He was more into FPS games. If he weren’t so tired, he would have wanted to open a computer in the next room to play games.

Just at this moment, Jiang Min’s live chat suddenly became flooded with people trying to create a negative atmosphere.

【Sugar has been moved to the second team, is it because he’s too weak?】

【Mid-lane and position 1 fighting for resources, Sugar doesn’t understand the current meta at all】

【Won’t take long for him to be forgotten in the second team】

【His gameplay is terrible, he should retire early!】

【No wonder he got kicked, he’s so bad at playing】

And so on.

Although Jiang Min’s performance this season wasn’t as outstanding as in previous seasons, it hadn’t reached the point where everyone was criticizing him.

In fact, almost all mid-lane players were struggling with their positions this season.

Therefore, there were also many fans defending Jiang Min in the live chat.

Everyone had their own opinions, and the chat was a chaotic mess.

Yu Hao and Jiang Min were waiting for the match, and he saw the barrage of the live chat on his phone. He was sure that Jiang Min, who was also streaming, must have seen it too.

It was rare to see so many people trying to create a negative atmosphere in Jiang Min’s live chat.

Moreover, it was the offseason, and there was no situation where fans were criticizing players for their performance during the season. So, there was only one possibility left.

Just as Weibo could buy trending topics and use fake accounts to influence public opinion, the same tactic was used in live chat.

Someone was secretly hiring trolls to harass Jiang Min.

Although he didn’t know who that person was, it was clear that they had ill intentions when they attacked Jiang Min right after he was moved to the second team.

It seemed like they wanted Jiang Min to fall into despair and retire in disgrace.

Having a chaotic and negative live chat was also not conducive to attracting new viewers, as too many trolls could affect the stream’s popularity.

Yu Hao gritted his teeth and pushed the almost sleepy Ji Xiu Yan, saying, “Bro, wake up and do something.”

“Huh? Ah? What do I do?” Ji Xiu Yan looked confused.

Yu Hao handed his phone to Ji Xiu Yan and said, “Take a look, someone is deliberately stirring up trouble. They don’t want Sugar to have an easy time.”

Ji Xiu Yan rubbed his sleepy eyes and looked at the barrage on the screen, which was giving him trypophobia: “What the hell? Where did so many trolls come from? Wasn’t Sugar’s live chat always about happily shipping CP?”

Before Yu Hao joined the fandom, Jiang Min did indeed change his duo queue partner almost every day, and everyone took turns.

So, the fans humorously called it a “CP Hotpot,” where they would enjoy shipping different combinations!

But ever since Yu Hao came, the atmosphere of the live chat changed.

Jiang Min’s duo queue partners were divided into two categories: the fish in the fishpond and the queen fish (referring to Yu Hao).

Yu Hao gave Ji Xiu Yan a sharp glance.

The latter shrank his neck and quickly corrected himself, “I meant you and Sugar’s CP, okay?”

Yu Hao was finally satisfied and withdrew his sharp gaze.

“So, what should I do?” Ji Xiu Yan asked.

“Up to you, just suppress the trolls.” Yu Hao said, “You wouldn’t want these trolls to affect Sugar’s streaming experience, right?”

Ji Xiu Yan was a businessman, and he was about to make a big investment in the new Position 2 player. Of course, he didn’t want the value of this player to be damaged.

Sugar’s live streaming had considerable commercial value, and it couldn’t be influenced by these inexplicable trolls.

Ji Xiu Yan thought for a moment and quickly came up with an idea.

The best way to suppress the trolls was to use the power of natural public opinion.

Otherwise, if they simply hired trolls to hype up the player, the clash of two groups of trolls might end up harming the player more than helping.

At times like this, they had to use explosive news to attract the attention of the players and let them gather together to chase away the trolls.

Ji Xiu Yan soon made up his mind.

He called a well-known Weibo influencer in the esports circle named “Esports Gugu Le” and provided some exclusive information.

“Esports Gugu Le” was known for spreading half-truths and rumors in the esports industry, capturing attention from many followers.

Not long after, Weibo was shaken.

All because of a recent post by “Esports Gugu Le.”

Esports Gugu Le: Breaking News! CC Club sells Sugar for a staggering 30 million yuan, who is this wealthy buyer? (Dog head emoji)

Before long, Jiang Min’s live chat also exploded.

1 TL: YSIAD “You can support me if you like my translations by leaving a comment below, or by sending me a Ko-fi. Thank you ”