Chapter 38

The game started quickly.

Xiao Yin’s seat was not far from his, just at the neighboring table.

Usually, whether they were playing in matches or practicing offline, they sat very close. But perhaps because it was a Casual Match today, Xiao Yin sitting beside him seemed to amplify his presence infinitely.

Xiao Yin’s every move was casual, adjusting his headset with his fingertips, lowering his head slightly to set his key bindings.

He said, “I’m ready.”

Rong Yi also checked his own skills.

He said, “I’m ready too.”

The Champion Empress was quite difficult to play. Xiao Yin had been a Jungler since he started playing League and had hardly ever played ADC. From the start, it was clear Xiao Yin was still getting a feel for the skills.

Rong Yi picked a not-so-popular healing Champion, Spring God.

The skill effects allow him to leap onto allies or enemies, leaving a shallow skill range along the path.

He can heal his allies or briefly stack control on the enemy.

But because the controls and healing effects are secondary, it’s hard to fully stack the passive, and it’s challenging to choose the right Equipment for the Champion. That’s why hardly anyone plays Spring God.

Netizens focused intently on the live stream.

“Spring God and Empress, it’s been ages since I’ve seen this combo. “

“Yin-God playing Empress! I’m so excited. When has Yin ever played ADC?”

Rong Yi’s fingertips moved slightly, and Spring God wobbled and followed behind Xiao Yin.

Their account levels varied, and the opponents they queued into were only among the top 100 in the server. If they played seriously, the live stream would actually be less interesting.

Rong Yi followed Xiao Yin to the lane, squatting for a while. Seeing no immediate danger, he ran into the Jungle to play with the Jungle monsters.

He poked them, got bounced away, then waited for the Jungle monster’s cooldown to end, and poked them again, getting bounced away once more.

The live stream audience was already laughing.

“Is this a Casual Match Support?”

“The Captain is strolling in the Jungle! Only Yin-God is holding down the ADC lane alone.”

When the Hydralisk finally struggled out of the Jungle, Rong Yi casually gave it a small healing stack.

Rong Yi was wandering in the Jungle, and soon the enemy team grouped up to catch him. He dodged several times but finally got killed because he was overconfident and was sent back to the fountain.

Everyone thought he was doomed, but someone quickly captured a screenshot of the team’s total economy during his screen transition.

“Don’t be overconfident.”

Xiao Yin suddenly spoke, his voice calm and soft, “Come over here, come to my side.”

Rong Yi hesitated a bit. He saw that Wu Daogu in the Mid Lane was low on health and wanted to go heal him. But then he heard Xiao Yin say calmly, “If you go too far, I can’t protect you.”

The live stream exploded:

“YOOOO~~~”

“Yin-Ge’s voice is so nice! So deep and magnetic!!”

“Help me! He’s too protective of his Support! He said he wants to protect the Support! As a Support player, I’m tearing up, willing to go through fire and water for him.”

Rong Yi paused for a moment, then his voice softened slightly.

“Got it.”

He still went to heal Wu Daogu first.

Wu Daogu spammed emotes like crazy: “Captain, hi! Greetings to the Captain! Thanks, Captain!”

Rong Yi chuckled, then returned to the ADC lane to team up with Xiao Yin.

After all, as a Pro Player, all Champions, skill effects, passives, and patch notes were almost ingrained in their minds. Xiao Yin played ADC with cold precision, gaining lane dominance within minutes.

Rong Yi’s Support play was truly exceptional.

The difference in gameplay with and without him was night and day. He scouted all vision, managed Positioning perfectly, and preemptively controlled potentially risky blind spots, ensuring every offensive and defensive maneuver was seamless.

After Hydralisk came to gank the ADC lane several times, he finally realized what he had missed: “Damn! Yin, you’re having too much fun! Your economy is way too high!”

In the late game, the opposing team would turn tail at the mere sight of Xiao Yin. With an economy lead of over four thousand, they were practically dead on sight.

The ADC lane pushed all the way through, and they easily secured the victory.

A few Bullet Screens floated across Rong Yi’s live stream.

“Captain Rong, your Spring God play is amazing. Did you practice it with the team?”

“I practiced it before.”

Rong Yi spoke with a relaxed tone. He clicked “Ready” for the next match. “I used to play Support. There was a Season when Spring God fit well with our Team’s strategy, so I practiced him. But since the Champion’s strength never really peaked, I didn’t play him much in actual games.”

“Oh, right! Easy was previously paired with RS’s Yao Cao, forming the ADC duo.”

“Even though RS is the Main Shotcaller, he had the most interactions with Yao Cao!”

“As an ADC player, seeing Easy play Support makes my heart race. If I encountered a Support like him, I’d marry him on the spot!”

“Even though he’s switched to Mid Lane now, Easy is still my ideal Support!”

The next match queued up quickly. Hydralisk, in the top pick, instantly locked in the ADC Champion Empress.

He enthusiastically called out to Rong Yi, “Captain! Captain, come Support me! It’s my turn now!”

Xiao Yin’s voice came through the mic after a brief pause.

“Switch with me.”

Xiao Yin was in the last pick position again, filling in whichever role was left.

Rong Yi, already used to balancing between everyone, said, “There’s enough for all, everyone can have a turn.”

But no one paid attention to him.

Xiao Yin said, “Three thousand.”

Hydralisk, while sliding to his knees in exaggeration, tried to negotiate, “Three thousand five, Boss, is that okay?”

Xiao Yin decisively replied, “Four thousand.”

Rong Yi: “?”

Hydralisk: “?”

Was he raising his own bid?

Xiao Yin then made a move, and a large reward notification scrolled across everyone’s screens.

[VIT.Yin] has sent [Rong’s Team’s Little Snake] four Rainbow Crystals.

Rong Yi understood.

Three thousand five would need to be split into three Rainbow Crystals and one Five-Colored Flower.

Xiao Yin didn’t bother with the split and simply sent four.

The reward notification rolled by, making Hydralisk’s ID glow with a golden hue. The name [Rong’s Team’s Little Snake] shimmered brightly, sparkling with elegance.

Xiao Yin clicked his tongue lightly.

Rong Yi took another sip of water.

The Bullet Screen continued buzzing with excitement.

“Wow, Yin-Ge is so rich! He casually throws out four thousand like it’s nothing, just like giving out red envelopes. I want some too!”

“Question: Is VIT still hiring janitors? Watching their live streams, it seems like the employees are treated really well!”

“Yin-Ge is so generous!”

Xiao Yin received the Empress from Hydralisk in exchange.

Rong Yi picked Spring God again.

Netizens in the live stream began to notice something unusual: “Yin-Ge is sticking with Easy! Two games in a row, both in the ADC lane!”

“This isn’t right! There must be something going on!”

Rong Yi picked up his water cup and took another sip.

He had lost count of how many sips he’d taken since the start of the stream. His elegant, fair hands frequently left the keyboard.

As the second game began, Rong Yi didn’t pay attention to the enemy’s Lineup. It wasn’t until the game started that he realized the enemy ADC was quite skilled.

Xiao Yin wasn’t playing seriously either, yet their early Laning phase didn’t go as expected. The enemy’s positioning was clever, and their Last hitting was on point.

Following his instincts, Rong Yi glanced at the Bullet Screen.

It turned out that a few minutes earlier, someone in the live stream had mentioned it, and now it was a hot topic of discussion.

“Holy crap, the enemy seems to be Yao Cao!”

“I checked RS Yao Cao’s stream, and he’s live right now too! This match is a Stream Snipe.”

“Holy crap, this is so awkward!”

Rong Yi looked again. The Netizens were right. Judging by the playstyle and Last hitting technique, it was indeed Yao Cao.

This time slot was likely when Yao Cao streamed himself, probably solo, which is why he dared to pick ADC. Solo Ranking up plays very differently from professional Team play.

Rong Yi chuckled.

Xiao Yin glanced over, “What’s up?”

Rong Yi shook his head, “Nothing. Just ran into an old Teammate.”

“Who?” Xiao Yin didn’t look at the Bullet Screen but sensed something was up. His voice was cool, “The enemy ADC?”

“Yeah.”

Stream Sniping wasn’t unusual; this time slot was prone to it. Making a fuss about it would be even more awkward.

On the other side, fans in Yao Cao’s live stream quickly realized they were Stream Sniping too.

From Rong Yi’s perspective, Yao Cao was one of the most talented ADCs of his generation, arguably the best. He was a rare talent in the League.

Back when Rong Yi was in RS, Yao Cao had never been a concern for him.

But that talent came with its own issues.

Yao Cao had a smooth ride from the moment he entered the League. Recruited by Rong Yi to RS, he won a domestic Champion title in his first year and held the top ADC record for three years.

Too young, too much in the spotlight, he didn’t respect anyone, not even his Teammates.

The fans outside were most proud of RS’s lineup: an All-Star team. In reality, the relationships between the players weren’t as harmonious as they appeared on stage.

Each player believed the team should be built around them. None of them were willing to be the first to sacrifice their own performance for the sake of the team—why should it be them?

So Rong Yi took on that role, becoming the strong-willed one who made the tough decisions.

If they wouldn’t choose, Rong Yi would choose for them.

Lang Bai’s Jungler core playstyle was more adaptable to the team’s operations depending on the situation. Rong Yi decided on a tactic centered around Lang Bai, which ended up making fans on both sides resent him.

Lang Bai’s fans thought it was right to build the team around him, but they didn’t like that Lang Bai was often in a floating position; they believed he deserved to be the true carry, not just filling in as needed.

Yao Cao’s fans were even more intense. They accused Rong Yi of holding back a genius ADC, claiming he favored Lang Bai and neglected Yao Cao.

And how did the players themselves feel? Did they think this way?

Rong Yi didn’t know anymore.

After all, he was no longer their Captain.

In this game, Wu Daogu mistakenly leveled up the wrong skill at the start and got ganked in the mid lane. Rong Yi went to assist him briefly before returning to the ADC lane.

Xiao Yin and Yao Cao had already been Laning for a while.

Unexpectedly, Yao Cao was playing very aggressively this game, even going so far as to set up fake vision traps. Xiao Yin narrowly escaped death several times. Hydralisk tried to help but ended up feeding a few kills due to his unfamiliarity with Jungle operations.

Xiao Yin found himself in a 1v2 situation, falling behind in gold.

Seeing Rong Yi approach, Xiao Yin said, “Go play somewhere else for a while; it’s dangerous here.”

His voice was soft, like a breeze—colorless, yet with a hint of calm and casual gentleness.

Rong Yi smiled. “I’m your Support; where else would I go?”

“Alright,” Xiao Yin replied.

Rong Yi noticed Xiao Yin glancing up at him.

“Then don’t go anywhere. Just stay by my side.”