Chapter 8

Rong Yi had been battling in his room all day and indeed felt that anger could unleash unlimited potential—his win rate today was higher than usual, indicating he was in good form.

In the afternoon, he came out to eat. Xiao Yin sat across from him and calmly asked, “Duo queue tonight?”

Rong Yi agreed without much thought, “Sure.”

After eating, Rong Yi went to the same spot as yesterday, sitting at the window with his back to Xiao Yin. Xiao Yin was behind him, and the full-view camera facing him was taped up.

“Am I live?” Xiao Yin inquired from behind.

Rong Yi responded with a grunt, then heard Xiao Yin start operating. That familiar, raspy voice soon echoed again.

“Hello everyone, today I’m duo queuing with my teammate.”

“I didn’t stream yesterday because I was duo queuing with him too.”

Xiao Yin was answering questions from the live chat, his voice calm and indifferent, without much fluctuation.

Xiao Yin wasn’t one to talk much. He was often quiet in his streams, usually just playing some music.

Xiao Yin loved listening to instrumental music, occasionally playing a few cheerful tracks. His unique style made his stream consistently popular, with the viewership peaking to the top two on the platform every evening.

Entering champion select, Rong Yi had the first pick. He glanced and saw Xiao Yin was last. He asked, “Should I get Yin for you?”

Being far from Xiao Yin’s microphone, the audience could only vaguely hear a voice.

A clear and youthful tone, somewhat boyish.

“Wow!! The new mid laner’s voice is so clear and pleasant! Is he new?”

“Yes, it’s the new mid laner!! We have a mid laner now!! Yay!”

“As expected, the treatment is different. Yin-Ge won’t duo with the other guys.”

…

“Pick your own, I’ll fill,” Xiao Yin said.

Rong Yi heard him and didn’t hold back, picking Li for himself.

Everyone else chose their positions, and Xiao Yin filled with Earth Mother.

Earth Mother, officially known as Mother of the Earth, is a Tier 0 support, often forcing opponents to take their hands off the keyboard with hard crowd control. Its drawback, like many control supports, is its lack of mobility, heavily relying on Flash.

Rong Yi himself was a top-tier Earth Mother player. He asked again, “Should I switch with you? Do you want Li?”

“No switch, I’ll support you,” Xiao Yin said calmly.

Rong Yi looked at the lineup and found it acceptable.

Li had high burst and mobility, making it viable as a mid core, although this playstyle was now rare. The current meta favored ADC core and jungle core; RS was an ADC core, guiding the development lane.

He took a moment to glance at Xiao Yin’s stream.

The bullet screen was full of “long time no see” comments.

“Xiao Yin playing support? I don’t believe it.”

“Is it going to be a kill-stealing Earth Mother? Reminds me of that pro player who played Earth Mother and took all the kills. Who was that…”

“RS’s Easy, that’s who! Hilarious.”

Rong Yi’s mouth twitched.

They had lost that game, with only three kills for the entire team. Their ADC lane had been ganked and collapsed, and he had managed to secure the three kills himself due to his tankiness. He was still being criticized for it.

Xiao Yin followed Rong Yi, quietly staking out vision at the start. Amid the silence, Rong Yi suddenly heard Xiao Yin’s cold voice, “If the support takes all the kills, the blame lies with the core.”

VIT placed great importance on last hitting and resource distribution for the core roles, to the point of being extremely strict due to the aggressive and high-risk playstyle.

Wherever Xiao Yin was, the industry’s highest technical standards were present, and no one contradicted him.

As soon as he spoke, the bullet screen’s tone shifted, silencing those who had been ready to stir up trouble.

“True, true, E-God’s support skills are impeccable, top support for sure.”

“Yin-Ge, have you noticed E-God? You two ran into each other in ranked a few days ago, and you asked if he wanted to add you as a friend, it was him!”

Xiao Yin’s expression softened slightly. Rong Yi heard him lean back, crossing his arms as his sharp gaze shifted towards him during the waiting screen.

“I’ve already asked for his contact.”

For some reason, Rong Yi felt his ears heat up at this.

In this game, their opponent’s support took the conventional ADC route. When the jungler passed by, Xiao Yin tower dived at level one, controlling two enemies and sacrificing himself, allowing Rong Yi to secure double kills.

Rong Yi roamed to support, always scouting vision in the top lane. He was cautious with his skills, only calling out, “Come over, collect the kill,” when he had a slight advantage.

One instance involved the enemy jungler, Di, who thought he had escaped, repeatedly taunting and recalling in place.

Xiao Yin remained expressionless, waiting until Rong Yi cleared the others before Flashing in with Divine Judgment, controlling Di and letting Rong Yi finish him off.

-“Did I enter the wrong stream? Is this really Yin-Ge’s stream?”

“+1, he had all seven skills up, any Q would’ve killed Di.”

“Li is fed so fat, 8 kills already, with a 4k gold lead. This game is a breeze.”

“As expected from a pro duo queue, amazing coordination! But who is this mid laner? Yin is willing to play support for him.”

“Remember the last guy who taunted while recalling? Yin-Ge chased him down fourteen times!”

Throughout the entire match, Xiao Yin didn’t take a single kill, steadily securing assists while staying by Rong Yi’s side.

Rong Yi played exceptionally well.

Starting the second game, Xiao Yin picked first, choosing Li. When it was Rong Yi’s turn, only the jungle position was left, so he picked Yin.

Before the game started, teammates could swap chosen champions, so they would take turns picking.

Rong Yi asked politely, “Want to swap?”

Xiao Yin replied, “Either way is fine.”

His overly accommodating attitude made Rong Yi a bit cocky, arrogantly deciding not to swap and roaming around with the jungler.

Xiao Yin went mid, but his role was similar to the previous game: scouting vision, initiating fights, and leaving the kills for Rong Yi.

Yin’s R skill was immensely satisfying for securing kills, dashing in a specified direction, slicing through enemies along the way, and delivering a final devastating blow at the end—visually spectacular.

Despite the high difficulty of the champion, mainly due to the long wind-up time and the inability to pivot mid-dash, making a miss a certain death sentence, it didn’t detract from its coolness.

When the in-game kill effect announced “Quadra Kill,” Rong Yi’s mood visibly improved, and he let out a soft whistle.

Just like the previous game, Rong Yi took all the kills, and the stream was flooded with a barrage of “6661” .

The various streamer groups fell silent, ceasing their activities.

They could stream snipe Rong Yi, but they couldn’t handle both him and Xiao Yin at the same time.

The duo queue of these two was an overwhelming force from the pro scene, making it impossible for them to lose.

They queued for a total of seven games. In the final game, they happened to match with Wu Daogu, who was itching to rank up.

Three minutes into the game, Rong Yi followed Xiao Yin into the enemy jungle to gank.

Wu Daogu looped around, trying to ambush Rong Yi, but got countered and killed before realizing who he had faced: “Damn! Xiao Yin, you’ve fed him so fat! Four kills in three minutes!”

Bullet screen:

“This is top lane.”

“Top laner strategizing for three minutes, only to find teammates already defending the Nexus.”

“Wu Daogu.”

“Damn! Xiao Yin, you’ve fed him so fat!”

The bullet screen formed a neat formation, and Rong Yi laughed as he took off his headset.

Xiao Yin looked over and asked softly, “Feeling better?”

Rong Yi didn’t catch it, simply looking back with a “Hmm?” sound.

His eyes, shaped like peach blossoms, sparkled with a slight curve, and his fair skin had a faint mark from the headset.

He didn’t hear what Xiao Yin said, so he glanced at the bullet screen, still repeating the same lines.

“They’re saying you played support really well, feeding me so much, boss.”

“Hmm.”

Rong Yi turned back, noticing Xiao Yin’s gaze roaming over him, finally resting on his slender collarbone.

“Still needs some work.”

Footnote:

1. 666(666): In Chinese internet slang, the number “666” is commonly used to express admiration, praise, or to indicate that someone has done something really well. The origin of this usage comes from the pronunciation of the number six (liù) in Mandarin, which sounds like the word for “slick” or “smooth” (溜 liū). When someone performs exceptionally well or does something impressive, people will often comment “666” to show their approval and appreciation. It’s similar to saying “awesome” or “great job” in English.