Chapter 16: Proxy Playing — Infinite Dimension Professional Player Nine
After the celebration feast, they found a KTV to continue the fun. Mu Jiu sat in a corner, drinking a bottle of cocktail, watching Li Qingming and the other two roommates howling like ghosts into their microphones.
Si Yan finished ordering snacks at the menu and also sat down beside Mu Jiu, picking and choosing from the table before finally selecting a peach-flavored cocktail and leaning lazily against the sofa.
“What, the club you want to go to didn’t contact you?”
Seeing that Mu Jiu seemed to have something on his mind, Si Yan guessed casually.
After speaking, he saw Mu Jiu shake his head with a hesitant and struggling expression. Suddenly realizing, he laughed out of disbelief, “SG?”
Mu Jiu nodded. Si Yan’s brows instantly furrowed, and he let out a hiss, pointing at Mu Jiu, momentarily unsure of where to start.
Mu Jiu could go anywhere he wanted. Even for clubs that hadn’t invited him, Si Yan could help contact them if he was interested—except for SG.
If one were to say which club’s fans in the domestic circuit were most resistant to Nine, SG would rank first, and no one would dare rank second. Swen’s fans alone could tear him apart.
In e-sports, strength is paramount. While he believed Mu Jiu would gradually change the public’s evaluation of him, that didn’t mean he could be so arrogant as to insist on choosing a “hell-mode” beginning.
After a long while, Si Yan calmed his emotions, placed the wine bottle back on the table, and said, “Come, tell me exactly how you’re so out of your mind that you’re looking for death when you’ve already been scolded enough.”
He turned to look at Mu Jiu, who was looking down and acting obedient, yet day by day was doing nothing but seeking death.
“Because of… Swen?” Si Yan continued to guess.
Mu Jiu’s movement of drinking paused, and he remained silent.
But it wasn’t entirely for Shi Wen; it was also for himself.
He couldn’t be trapped by the events of that year forever. He was working hard to find a way out.
Raising the wine bottle to his eyes, the light blue liquid in the bottom half of the bottle shimmered. Looking through the transparent glass bottle, everything behind it was a blur of light. Mu Jiu said, “SG invited me. There should be some misunderstanding in between.”
Logically, Shi Wen already knew juice was him and wouldn’t have made this blunder, but he still had a sliver of hope. What if?
“You also know there must be a misunderstanding. Even if you go for a tryout, it won’t be a good outcome,” Si Yan persuaded.
He could tell Mu Jiu was planning to give it a try. Even though he knew it was impossible, he didn’t want to miss even a single chance. Human hearts are naturally biased. Right now, compared to Shi Wen who had long since blacklisted him, he was definitely siding with Mu Jiu, and couldn’t help but develop some opinions about Shi Wen.
Was it to get revenge for Mu Jiu’s forfeit back then, that he had to call him over just to humiliate him?
As he was condemning him, he suddenly remembered he had done something similar before and felt a bit guilty.
But what was his relationship with Mu Jiu? And what was the relationship between Shi Wen and Mu Jiu? He couldn’t humiliate Mu Jiu, but Shi Wen could directly stab Mu Jiu in the heart. That was different.
Si Yan sighed, looked up, and continued to persuade, “Don’t go.”
He now looked at Mu Jiu like a little girl who was about to be cheated of her body and soul by a scumbag, yet still insisted on saying, “He’s actually very good to me,” feeling frustrated that he wasn’t living up to expectations.
“Once my identity is exposed, I might not even have the chance for a tryout anymore.”
Mu Jiu turned his head and met Si Yan’s gaze. The lights in the KTV were bizarre and motley, reflecting on his face. Si Yan was stunned for a moment because he saw the plea and longing in Mu Jiu’s eyes.
Whenever it involved the matters of that year, Mu Jiu always kept his posture very low, almost in the dust, letting others insult him.
It was common for impulsive professional players to be scolded by fans for various reasons. They would be unhappy and argue with fans online, and managers and coaches would advise them to be considerate of the fans’ emotions.
But Mu Jiu seemed to be the opposite; he was too considerate of others’ emotions, to the point of disregarding his own.
Having said this much, Si Yan couldn’t persuade him anymore. He waved his hand at him, turned away, and spoke with both anger and helplessness, “Whatever you want.”
The next day, Mu Jiu added the SG contact person. The screen stayed on the chat interface where the other party invited him for a tryout.
In the chat box, he had long since typed out: “Okay! I can come over anytime.” His finger hesitated over the send button for a long time and didn’t press it.
Even after being so insistent with Si Yan, it would be a lie to say he wasn’t afraid in his heart.
Finally having made up his mind, just as Mu Jiu was about to press send, a hurried knocking on the door broke the peace in the dorm.
“Open up, quick!” It was Si Yan’s urgent voice.
Mu Jiu put his phone aside and hurried over to open the door.
The other three roommates were also woken up, looking toward the door with sleepy eyes and asking, “Who is it?”
After the door opened, Si Yan leaned against the doorframe, panting heavily, clearly having run all the way here.
Finally recovering a bit, Si Yan asked them with a serious expression to look at the forum.
The most popular post was Lü Shan hinting on his livestream that juice had used a “proxy player/booster,” otherwise how could he explain why he never showed his face and didn’t even appear for the award ceremony.
[Requesting the officials to release the footage from the match room, otherwise proxy playing is confirmed.]
[juice is low-key and doesn’t want to show his face, why are you forcing him? Do you respect people?]
[Suspected juice ‘wash-basin’ fan here. Do you actually believe that reason? Did you laugh while typing it?]
[Cancel the championship! Return fairness to the competition!]
[Waiting for official investigation results, stop bringing mindless rhythm.]
At the same time, Lü Shan was acting pitiful on his livestream, saying his championship had been snatched away by someone using underhanded means, successfully garnering a wave of traffic.
There were also people speaking up for juice in the livestream, but they were kicked out within three sentences.
Li Qingming was so angry he almost smashed his phone, “I knew that grandson wasn’t anything good when I saw him that day. He can’t win, so he starts making up rumors! Mu Jiu, ignore him.”
The other side clearly banked on Mu Jiu not wanting to show his face to disgust him. They first and foremost respected Mu Jiu’s wishes; since he didn’t want to, no one could force him, even if they had to return the championship.
“Si Yan, which streaming platform is he on?” Mu Jiu asked, slowly looking up after finishing the post.
This championship didn’t belong to him alone, and he couldn’t possibly allow himself to implicate the entire team.
Understanding Mu Jiu’s meaning, Si Yan gave him a deep look and confirmed, “Have you really thought it through?”
Mu Jiu nodded and gave an “Mm,” his eyes narrowing slightly, “It has to be said eventually.”
Si Yan gave a knowing smile, “Alright, UU Stream. I’ll help you register.”
If he wanted to ride Mu Jiu’s traffic, he’d have to weigh his own worth first. He was going to have a mid-range showdown with Lü Shan. It could only be said that Lü Shan had truly kicked a steel plate this time.
After the Gaoxiao Bei, besides invitations from clubs, Mu Jiu had also received many invitations from streaming platforms, UU Stream being one of them. So, the process of Si Yan helping him with authentication went very quickly.
Once the livestream preview was posted, the account’s follower count began to skyrocket. Mu Jiu wasn’t very familiar with the operations of livestreaming, so for a long time after he started the stream, it was just a black screen, but it was filled with dense bullet screen comments.
[juice’s livestream room?]
[Baby, please make a statement. I believe you wouldn’t do such a thing.]
[Proxy player, proxy player, proxy player…]
[Those spamming, get out. The fans are as low-quality as the streamer.]
[Better than your master who can’t even show his face.]
[Wait… this account authentication…]
At the same time, Mu Jiu finally found the button to turn on the camera. The screen lit up instantly, and a youth’s face, so exquisite it was almost unbelievable, was magnified on the screen. The public chat went empty for a moment.
[!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]
“Hello everyone, I am juice from Shaonian Xianfeng Dui, and also the former professional player…”
The bullet screen was moving too fast. Mu Jiu could only see the screen filled with exclamation marks. He let out a soft sigh.
“Nine.” His tone was light, yet it set off a massive wave.
Just now, someone had noticed that although the livestream preview was a clarification regarding the proxy player accusation for juice, the account’s authentication was “Infinite Dimension Professional Player Nine.” They thought the platform was glitching again until Mu Jiu appeared, and all the truth came to light.
Translator’s Note
In the C-novel community, we call this a “face-slapping” (打脸) moment. Mu Jiu is essentially saying, “You think I’m using a proxy? I’m the one who invented these mechanics!” Also, “wash-basin fan” (洗脚婢) is a derogatory term for fans who blindly serve their idols. Things are getting spicy!
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