"...Captain."
"What?"
Tong Yao glanced at the man who had just sat down beside her, clutching an empty mineral water bottle. "If this were ancient times, you'd have to marry me for saying such nonsense."
Lu Sicheng clicked to start a ranked match, responding with an indifferent "Oh," his eyes fixed on his computer screen. "So what?"
Tong Yao kicked him under the table and raised her eyebrows. "Marry me, then."
Lu Sicheng remained unmoved. "Hmm."
She kicked him again. "Scared?"
Finally, Lu Sicheng turned his head to glance at her and suddenly asked, seemingly out of nowhere, "Can you cook?"
Tong Yao answered without hesitation, "No."
Lu Sicheng: "So you only know how to eat? Then yeah, I'm scared."
Tong Yao: "..."
Tong Yao: "Are you even human? Why can't you ever say something normal?"
Lu Sicheng: "You made me this way."
Tong Yao: "So it's my fault?"
Lu Sicheng: "Who else would I blame?"
Tong Yao: "..."
Every day, she endured with all her might, pushing her limits to resist smashing her computer case over the head of the person next to her... Sometimes, even Tong Yao couldn't help but wonder if it was the overly gentle and forgiving nature of their fans that had led these internet-addicted players to lose sight of their actual charm and worth—
Such inexplicable flattery often drove them to say and do crazy things...
If only there were a "Wonder Woman" in the fandom to knock some sense into these men, that would be truly wonderful.
—At first, Tong Yao had merely entertained the thought in passing.
But what she hadn't expected was that, as if the heavens had heard her silent plea, within eight hours of her musing, this "Wonder Woman" actually...
...appeared for real!
......
The whole thing began with a prominent fan of the "Great Qing Team," a girl whose Weibo ID was "Guoguo."
Guoguo had gained considerable familiarity with the Great Qing Team's staff by frequently editing and sharing amusing clips and quotes from the team members' livestreams. As a result, she often had exclusive tidbits about the players' daily lives to share... Over time, she became a respected figure in the fandom, amassing twenty thousand followers.
Everyone knew that this "Guoguo" was the moderator of Xu Tailun's livestream channel and the admin of his personal fan group. She kept a low profile, never got involved in online drama, and didn't engage in clique behavior or exclusionary tactics—
Thus, Guoguo was highly regarded among Great Qing Team fans. Her reputation was built on being ever-present during Xu Tailun's streams, having both time and money to spare, maintaining a humble demeanor, and having insider connections within the team.
Around 8 PM that evening.
A female fan of the Great Qing Team, having finished dinner with nothing better to do, began scrolling through Guoguo's Weibo to catch up on funny moments from the team's recent livestreams. As she scrolled down, she suddenly noticed a system notification: just a minute ago, this prominent fan Guoguo had consecutively liked several posts from a small account named "In Your Name."
Out of curiosity, the fan clicked to check out this "In Your Name" Weibo account.Then she noticed something very odd about this Weibo account. First, it was clearly a personal alt account with only one or two bot followers gifted by the system, and all posts had zero reposts, comments, or likes. Second, the posting frequency was unusually high—starting about half a year ago, there were consistently two or three updates per day.
Half a year ago—that happened to be shortly after Xu Tailun joined the Great Qing Team in the LPL.
Out of curiosity, this fan of the Great Qing Team began carefully browsing the posts by this account named "In Your Name." The most striking one was the latest update: a photo of a lethargic Little American Shorthair kitten lying on a mat, with what appeared to be a veterinary clinic in the background. The caption read: [Get well soon, little one. It’s all my fault. So worried about you :( ]
This was unmistakably the same "Mimi" that frequently wandered in front of Xu Tailun’s livestream camera.
Considering how Xu Tailun had insisted earlier that afternoon that "a staff member took it to the vet," and now seeing this Weibo account that clearly didn’t belong to any staff member, it was hard to imagine the fan’s sheer what-the-fuck mood at that moment—
The hardest part? She persevered through that mood and kept scrolling.
Yesterday.
First post from "In Your Name": [Fighting. So upset. Don’t know if I’m not doing enough. I’m trying so hard, but am I still not as good as her? Or am I just destined to stay hidden?]
Second post: [Feels like there’s no future. Maybe I’m just disposable to you?]
The day before yesterday.
Post from "In Your Name": [Shop shop shop :D]
Attached: A screenshot of a shopping agent transaction, four-digit price, note: Givenchy summer new XXXX short-sleeved shirt.
Three days ago.
Post from "In Your Name": [Hehehehehe.]
Attached: A flirty WeChat exchange. The guy: "Baby, are you asleep?" The girl: "I’ll stay up with you?" The guy: "Go to sleep, I still have to game. Got matches this week—gotta win." Then he sent a red packet. After she claimed it, he said: "Take the money and sleep well." The red packet amount: 5.20 RMB.
Four days ago.
Post from "In Your Name": [You’re unhappy, so I’m unhappy. Hope you can cheer up. I know you really want to win. Don’t be upset, okay?]
Attached: A WeChat chat log. The guy: "Lost the match. Teammates are all idiots. The moment I leave, everything falls apart. How are they this bad? Why even go pro?" The girl: "Ahhh it’s okay, win next time!" The guy: "They’re too stupid. Why do I have to carry these morons? Chinese LoL is just trash." The girl: "Don’t say that..." The guy doubled down: "It’s true. Next year I’m going back to Korea or switching teams. Only here for the money anyway."
Way back... (who knows how many days ago)—the day Xu Tailun’s kitten first made its debut.
Post from "In Your Name": [Bought this little one at the flower market today. So happy. Feels like I have a bond now, something to care for.]
Attached: That now-familiar American Shorthair kitten.
...At this point, anyone who still didn't understand the situation would have to be a complete fool—realizing immediately that she'd stumbled upon a major scoop, the enthusiastic Spectator masses quickly saved the link to the "In Your Name" Weibo post and took screenshots of key posts along with their dates.
Then she turned to the Forum to make a post—
[Holy shit! Great Qing Team fans' dreams shattered! What happened to Xu Tailun being a sweetheart?!]
Beneath the title, she dropped a barrage of damning Weibo screenshots. Within a minute, the post had dozens of replies, with comments flooding in like "WTF is this?" "Early bird gets the worm!" "Damn, girl, you're killing it!"...
—And with that, the curtain rose on a storm of blood rain!
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