CH 23

The live stream of horror games had taken half of Hao Qianyi’s life, and for the next few days, he was constantly on edge.

The slightest rustle of the wind made him suspicious and paranoid.

Even the occasional meowing of the cats kept at the base could startle him into a jump.

In response to this, the Silver and Gold Bun Brothers and Yu Hao showed extreme disdain.

Only the newcomer, Jiang Min, expressed concern for Mouse.

Hao Qianyi was moved to tears and even shared his cherished snacks, which he had kept for years (maybe), with Jiang Min.

He couldn’t help but exclaim, “My Sugar God is the best!”

Days passed one by one, and Christmas was just around the corner.

Every year, as the end of the year approached, various live streaming platforms planned special events to stimulate spending and attract more viewers.

JJ Live, the platform JW Club was signed with, was no exception.

They, along with their contracted gaming streamers and teams, including JW, planned a special event for an online friendship match as part of the World Online Championship (WOC).

This WOC Friendship Match involved six streamers and four professional players from four WPL (World Pro League) teams under JJ’s contracts.

These ten individuals would be divided into two teams for a showdown, and the winning team would receive a special gift from JJ Live.

In this regard, discussions had already taken place between JJ’s game section operations manager and the various teams regarding which player each team would send.

Since the goal was to boost popularity, attract fans to send gifts, and encourage spending, it was essential to choose the most trending players from each team.

The other teams had selected their high-profile players for this event.

But when it came to JW, both Yu Hao, the Golden and Silver Bun Twins, and Mouse were highly popular choices. However, during discussions with the manager, JJ Live expressed their desire to select the recently sensationalized “aloof weirdo” who had been making waves on Weibo.

JW manager Shen Qi wore a troubled expression on the phone and said, “Um, but we haven’t made an official announcement yet, so he won’t participate in the live broadcast for now.”

Opening a live broadcast would expose Sugar God’s identity! He’s the one set to win the “Holding Your Breath Contest”!

JW is one of the top popular teams in the country, and signing with them was a costly and strenuous effort. Naturally, they needed to communicate thoroughly about the selection of participants for the event.

The operations manager from JJ Live on the other end quickly responded, “No problem at all. He doesn’t have to go live. Just appearing with the title of JW’s new mid-laner is enough, and he doesn’t even have to speak!”

The goal was to create buzz. Whether the enigmatic player himself would livestream the friendly match wasn’t too important. As long as they could put his name out there, viewers would naturally flock to other participants’ streams, achieving the goal of attracting viewers.

“Um… alright then.” Shen Qi contemplated for a moment. This was an opportunity to increase JW’s exposure, and he had to be responsible to the sponsors.

The higher the exposure, the happier the big money sponsors would be.

Although they weren’t short on money. In theory, even without other sponsors, as long as they had Mr. Ji’s support, JW would still be the wealthiest team in the league.

But as the manager, meeting the sponsor’s demands was his responsibility.

Shen Qi eventually agreed to JJ Live’s request for player selection and informed Jiang Min of the decision.

“Um, but manager, what if I get exposed?” Jiang Min hesitated. “In a friendly match, we’ll need to use voice chat to communicate with teammates, right? If I accidentally get recognized by my voice…”

Shen Qi patted Jiang Min on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, you can just type that your microphone is broken!”

Jiang Min:…

Will anyone really believe such a lame excuse!?

———-

In the blink of an eye, the day of the WOC Friendly Match, which JJ Live had chosen on a weekend close to Christmas, had arrived.

The friendly match adopted a BO3 format, with the winner of two out of three games declared the overall winner.

Two well-known JJ Live streamers were appointed as the captains of the participating teams.

One was retired professional player Ying Ge. Due to his humorous and entertaining streaming style, he stood out among retired professional gamers who turned to streaming and became one of JJ’s top gaming streamers.

The other was someone of similar age to Ying Ge, Wang Guo. Wang Guo, another JJ gaming streamer, was once just a regular player but gained fame on streaming platforms for his comical and entertaining personality.

Wang Guo had a fiery temper and could be quite a clown. Due to his age and declining performance, he was no longer the “King of Regular Players.” He often made bizarre mistakes, whether intentional or accidental, during streams.

Regardless of whether these errors were staged or genuine, they boosted his viewership.

However, Wang Guo had a flaw: he had a foul mouth when frustrated. He could berate opponents, teammates, or even viewers. His manners were poor, earning him the nickname “The Insulting Sage.”

Both of these streamers had considerable popularity on the platform and were of similar age. According to JJ’s operational plan, these two became the captains of the evening’s friendly match.

Fans in Wang Guo’s live chat room immediately expressed their views: “This doesn’t seem like a choice based on age.”

Without a doubt, they were now subject to Wang Guo’s ruthless “insults.”

The player selection rules for the friendly match allowed the two captains to engage in a 1v1 city showdown in the mid-lane to determine the priority of selecting players.

Wang Guo and Ying Ge faced off in a one-on-one showdown at the mid-lane. In the end, Ying Ge narrowly won, securing the priority to choose players.

For the sake of entertainment, in addition to the technically skilled gaming streamers, two female streamers with no technical prowess but exceptionally good looks were also invited to participate.

Following the principle of ladies first, Wang Guo and Ying Ge each chose a female streamer as their teammates.

“All right, Ying Ge, it’s your turn to choose next,” Wang Guo said as he examined the list sent by JJ Live, contemplating his next pick.

His gaze landed on the JW team members on the list.

Wang Guo, during his time as a regular player, had often matched up with JW’s coach Bai Yin many times. Over time, they had become friends, and they still maintained regular contact.

Despite his sharp tongue during his streams, Wang Guo was actually quite loyal.

If Ying Ge didn’t choose someone from JW, then he would do it himself. After all, he was one of Bai Yin’s boys. It would be embarrassing to be left as the last choice.

But the ID… JW.L, was this a new player introduced by JW?

Before participating in the event, Jiang Min had deliberately changed his ID from “Let’s Play Together, I’m Number 2” to JW.L, with “L” being the first letter of Lollipop.

Seeing this ID, Wang Guo suddenly recalled the recent buzz on Weibo about the enigmatic player.

He had watched the video; the kid was indeed impressive.

This JW.L might just be the new mid-laner for JW.

Ying Ge chose a player from MPP, his former team, as his teammate to give his old team some face.

In this selection process, no one wanted to be chosen last.

Being chosen last meant a denial of one’s skills, often referred to as the “bottom-tier horse’s” sorrow.

Jiang Min was observing, wondering if he, hiding behind an alias, would end up as the last pick.

Suddenly, he heard Wang Guo say, “I choose JW.L.”

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