【16】Are Pro Players Such a Big Deal?
“Brother?” Song Zixuan pushed the door open, looking around inquisitively, and handed the milk in. “It’s heated.”
With his back to Song Zixuan, Wen Ran whispered an angry curse at Jiang Yan:
“Dumbass!”
“Alright, you go busy yourself.”
Song Zixuan gave an “Oh.” Although he didn’t know what these two were discussing so secretively, it was his brother’s order after all, so he couldn’t disobey.
Jiang Yan took the milk, unscrewed it, and naturally handed it to Wen Ran. “You have a bad stomach. Remember to heat it up in the future too; don’t always drink cold things.”
“High-calcium milk. Aren’t you only eighteen? Drink more, maybe you can still grow a bit taller.”
Wen Ran was 172cm tall. Due to malnutrition, he hadn’t shot up very high. clearly an adult, he looked even younger than Song Zixuan.
This was the first time in four years someone had cared about him. Wen Ran instantly regretted his quick mouth earlier and gave a soft “Oh.”
Just as he took the milk, he heard Jiang Yan say:
“After all, boys under 1.75 meters are practically disabled.”
Wen Ran: “…”
He really wanted to splash the milk on this dog’s face.
Before he could put it into practice, Jiang Yan reached out and patted his head. “But it doesn’t matter. Brother came this time mainly to ask you: do you have any intention of dating Brother?”
Wen Ran: “???”
“Brother is a pure-hearted young man; I don’t play games.” Jiang Yan lowered his eyes, casually rubbing his own wrist. “For some things, it’s still better to have a title to be justifiable.”
People who knew him knew this was a motion he often made when nervous.
Wen Ran had experienced a failed relationship and didn’t think in that direction at all. Moreover, with Jiang Yan’s lazy tone, talking about dating sounded as simple as talking about eating or drinking water.
The other party’s family background, guaranteed admission to a prestigious university, and self-started business—everything was worlds apart from him.
Thinking of how Li Hao treated him, and Jiang Yan being ten thousand times better than him, Wen Ran didn’t want to experience the same thing again.
“I said, let’s just treat what happened that night as if it never happened. We’re all adults; what’s wrong with sleeping together once? It was consensual; do you have to be so melodramatic?”
“Besides,” Wen Ran said impatiently, “If I date, I only Top!”
Jiang Yan: “…”
His matter with Yi Jian Shuang caused a huge uproar on Chenguang TV. In the past few days, it had been edited into various videos flying all over the place. Many people questioned his ability, but the result was him taking first place on the leaderboard, slapping those people hard in the face and making Wen Ran thoroughly famous.
It should be known that in the past, leaderboards like the Chenguang Cup were basically for streamers to dominate. Never had a passerby been able to take first place.
Moreover, rubbing a million-follower streamer on the ground while possessing powerful skills—Chenguang TV naturally wouldn’t let go of such an opportunity to gather traffic. They sent him a text message in the afternoon.
Asking if he was interested in signing a contract with the platform to become a signed streamer. They could directly offer a B-grade contract, with a monthly base salary of five thousand and a fifty-fifty split on tips. If he was willing, they could interview in a week.
Wen Ran thought of his ID card, which was still nowhere to be found.
He pursed his lips and exited the interface.
Wen Ran casually started a game. He had long reached the rank above Grandmaster and could play Peak Tournament matches.
He wasn’t actually only good at playing Mid Lane. His other positions were also not bad; he counted as an all-rounder.
Back in the WK Youth Training Camp, he had played Top Lane and Jungle. Therefore, when a teammate snatched the Mid Lane regardless of his pre-selection, Wen Ran didn’t get angry and selected a Support to fill.
This game’s Top Laner and Mid Laner were both engage-heavy heroes, and the Assassin was also a mechanical operator type. The overall lineup had strong initiation. So, Wen Ran chose a protection/sustain type support, Little Butterfly.
Little Butterfly was often used in professional matches. Not only could she protect teammates and increase dual resistances, but her ultimate, “Sacrifice,” could also give a teammate a resurrection chance.
The opening was normal. The Mid Laner, Ninja Spirit, was a mage strong in the early game with fast wave clearing. The ADC was weak early on and couldn’t out-trade the opponent. Wen Ran naturally chose to follow the ADC in the bottom lane to farm. But in less than a minute, Ninja Spirit gave away First Blood.
[Ninja Spirit: Where is the Support?]
[Ninja Spirit: Not coming over to help pressure the mid lane?]
[Ninja Spirit: If you were here just now, I could have killed the opponent.]
Wen Ran ignored him. Just now, the enemy support was also helping their ADC in the bottom lane. Ninja Spirit giving away First Blood was entirely due to his own issues.
However, he hadn’t played on his own account for a long time. This account was currently only at 1700 points. For people in this bracket, the requirements didn’t need to be so harsh.
Ninja Spirit kept sending some commanding sentences, but no one on the team paid attention to him.
Soon, a team fight broke out. Little Butterfly’s ultimate had a 0.3s cast delay. During this time, one could slide to select the teammate to resurrect. After 0.3s, it would automatically resurrect the nearest teammate. The Top Laner had originally started a good fight and had already engaged the enemy Mid Laner. But for some reason, Ninja Spirit completely missed his ultimate and ate a full combo of skills, getting taken out directly. He even implicated the Top Laner. Fortunately, Wen Ran pressed his ultimate in time. After the Top Laner revived, he finished off the low-health enemy, trading one for one to salvage the loss.
Ninja Spirit, however, was unhappy. He turned on his mic directly: “You Support, do you even know how to play?”
[My Mechanics Are Better Than Yours: ?]
“It’s fine that you didn’t come to help at the start,” Ninja Spirit’s voice was full of anger, “but you don’t even know how to use your ult on me!”
[My Mechanics Are Better Than Yours: Your ult was already gone. Resurrecting you wouldn’t have been much use.]
Ninja Spirit: “Heh, don’t know what you’re wandering around for. Don’t know how to protect the Carry, zero awareness. 1700 bracket is indeed full of trash!”
[My Mechanics Are Better Than Yours: I play Support to provide vision, not to watch the grass grow on your grave.]
[My Mechanics Are Better Than Yours: With the way you play Ninja Spirit, even a New Oriental chef would have to hand you a cigarette and call you a ‘good dish’ (very bad).]
“You dare say I’m bad?” Ninja Spirit was furious. “Do you know who I am?”
“I am Silver! I’m a pro!”
Silver was a substitute Jungler for Team Right. Wen Ran had watched his games.
[My Mechanics Are Better Than Yours: Oh, it’s you.]
“Good that you know. I originally didn’t want to haggle with you too much. Apologize to me, listen to my commands properly, and play around me as the core. I’ll carry you to a win.”
Silver finished speaking and leaned back somewhat smugly. Then he heard Little Butterfly turn on the mic:
“On what basis will you carry me to a win?”
“Based on your T0-speed entry to instant death? Being a blue-collar worker who can’t cut the Carry? Or squatting in the jungle for two minutes to catch a Mirror Moon who has higher economy and physical damage immunity than you, only to get counter-killed?”
“Or is it based on your war-criminal level performance in your debut this season, cementing your position guarding the water cooler?”
“So what if you’re a pro player?” Wen Ran’s voice came clearly through the headset. “Are you such a big deal?”
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