Chapter 19: Duo Queue — “He’s Taken.”
Once Mu Jiu added him, the other party immediately started a voice call.
“Hello?” A voice with a slight rasp came from the other side.
He didn’t know much about the process for duo queuing, but were all the leaderboard big shots this proactive?
While Mu Jiu was thinking, he froze for a second. Hearing another “Hello” from the other side, he hurriedly replied, “I can hear you, I can hear you.”
“Okay, good. I’m starting then.”
Mu Jiu marveled inwardly. A man of few words and decisive action—straight into ranking. No wonder he climbed so fast.
Wunv was a strong OB in the current meta. Although Shi Wen didn’t primarily play OB, he often picked her because of her strength, so his ranking on the character leaderboard was only slightly lower than Mu Jiu’s.
He was a meta-slave; he didn’t hold special feelings for any character and simply picked whatever was strong.
As for Mu Jiu’s reason for playing Wunv, it was even simpler. He loved playing OB, but he had no money and couldn’t afford skins. Among the sea of very plain default skins, Wunv was immediately given attention by the developers when she was released. Or perhaps it was because of her skills; the light effects were incredibly gorgeous, and he fell in love at first sight.
Actually, those flashy light effects were often criticized by players. After all, players cared more about winning than glowing. Flashy effects meant it was more obvious to the Boss, making it easier to guard against.
But she glows! She’s pretty! That single reason was enough for Mu Jiu to grind Wunv’s points to the number one spot in the entire server.
After finding a match, during the character selection phase, Mu Jiu saw that Shi Wen’s pre-selected character was also Wunv. He hesitated for a moment, but not for long. He switched to a role the team lacked—the Rescuer, Xuezhe.
He understood perfectly well: with his skill, how could he dare to snatch a position from a professional player?
Just as he locked in, a prompt from a teammate poked him to switch characters.
Shi Wen changed his character to another Rescuer, “Xunshoushi,” giving up Wunv. He said to Mu Jiu, “You take Wunv.”
Mu Jiu’s eyes widened in surprise. Looking at the screen, he still felt a bit of disbelief.
?!
He swallowed and replied, “Okay.”
Despite his surprise, if Swen was giving it up, there was no reason for him not to take it. He decisively switched to Wunv. After today, he would be someone who could say, “Even Swen gives up his role for me.” He really had to flex this.
The match began. Aside from asking Mu Jiu to report the Boss’s status and position, Shi Wen didn’t speak again. Since the Boss had chosen to target Wunv at the start, he trusted Mu Jiu’s strength; kiting the Boss didn’t require his instruction. Moreover, kids these days were very proud; even if he taught him, the other might not appreciate it.
He had lured the person here under the guise of duo queuing; there was no need to start bossing him around immediately. It was better to take it step by step.
Only when the timing was about right did Shi Wen speak up to remind him, “Golden Body in 5s, Teleport in 8s, Blink in 10s. Be careful.”
Since they didn’t know what skills the Boss had carried into the match, they had to be wary of everything.
Mu Jiu was focusing intensely on kiting. Hearing Shi Wen speak, he subconsciously replied with a “Good” and then guarded against the Golden Body according to the 5-second cooldown.
In this game, being attacked by the Boss while performing interactions like vaulting or rescuing would trigger a “slay,” ignoring health and downing the player instantly.
Sure enough, just as he controlled the Boss and was about to vault, the opponent activated Golden Body to slay him. Fortunately, because of Shi Wen’s advance warning, Mu Jiu was prepared. He moved toward the window to fake a vault, but instead hugged the model and dodged to the left.
After dodging, he used the Boss’s attack recovery animation to vault through the window and said to Shi Wen, “Golden Body used.” At the same time, he marveled inwardly—what kind of human calculator was this! His timing was so precise.
“Good. The fragments at the playground and garden are lit. You can lead the Boss that way,” Shi Wen replied.
Despite saying he wouldn’t direct Mu Jiu, Shi Wen subconsciously arranged the route for his teammate. However, Mu Jiu wasn’t as resistant as he had imagined; he agreed decisively and executed the plan.
From the moment Shi Wen mentally calculated the Boss’s skill cooldowns, Mu Jiu knew he had hitched a ride with a master. He had seen people on the forums complaining before: OB players leave their brains behind once they start harassing, showing off mechanics without regard for the big picture, being utterly useless in reality. They would drag down the game’s pace and lose anyway.
While they enjoyed their own mechanics and got high scores, they made it miserable for their teammates, who lost points, win rate, and rank.
With Swen around, he really could leave his brain behind and focus entirely on the harassment. Mu Jiu thought happily. He didn’t mind being directed at all, provided that person’s strength was someone he acknowledged.
The match ended. The Boss, who had been kited by Mu Jiu for the entire game, had no temper left. In the post-match chat, the player sent a crying emoji. Mu Jiu saw it and remembered his ID, comforting him: “Don’t cry, don’t cry. I’ll leave one for you next time.”
Most high-tier players were quite friendly. When the situation was a massive win or loss, the Boss would let one human go, or the humans would leave one person for the Boss so the point deduction wouldn’t be as severe.
Another human teammate from the same match, who had won without even seeing the Boss’s face, excitedly sent an invitation to Mu Jiu to be carried.
[Great One, I’m a noob, please carry me.]
Mu Jiu was about to type “Hahaha” and politely decline when Shi Wen, who almost never spoke in post-match chat, spoke up.
“He’s taken.” He declared his “ownership” very assertively.
After all, having queued for a few matches, he had a good grasp of Mu Jiu’s personality. Unlike his fierce mechanics, he was actually a soft-hearted, kind-hearted “good person.” If someone else cried a bit more, they might lure him away. He really had to guard against it.
Mu Jiu looked at Shi Wen’s domineering words in the post-match channel. He could almost imagine the tone Shi Wen would use if he said it out loud. His face couldn’t help but heat up, yet he didn’t speak up to argue.
Later, Shi Wen asked if he minded if he streamed. After Mu Jiu agreed, and with the promotion from the viewers in the livestream, everyone knew that Nine was bound to Swen.
But following that, everyone in Swen’s stream realized that Nine was a perfect OB with great mechanics, a good temper, and someone who was patient and comforting. Even more people wanted to poach Shi Wen’s “corner.”
“Nine, want to duo? Look at me, I’ll scavenge trash to buy you skins.”
After another match, another person hit on Mu Jiu right in front of Shi Wen. Shi Wen had already set “Hello, I am Nine’s duo. We currently have no plans to break up,” as a quick-chat phrase. Whenever anyone hit on Mu Jiu, he could send it in one second. He gradually became a heartless machine for declaring ownership.
The viewers in the stream watched Shi Wen go from being slightly frantic at the start, secretly testing if Mu Jiu had plans to switch partners, and maintaining his dignity while quietly keeping him, to finally knowing Mu Jiu wouldn’t replace him and arrogantly rejecting others on his behalf.
Shi Wen expressionlessly clicked on his quick-chat phrases, selected the top one, and clicked send. The whole set of actions was as smooth as eating a meal, requiring no thought—so practiced it was heartbreaking.
[Hahahahahahahaha]
[Streamer, streamer, why aren’t you talking? Are you afraid your duo will run away with someone else?]
[Suspected case of the streamer trying to mark his territory but backfiring.]
[It can’t be helped, Xiao Jiu is too good, people are bound to notice him. Streamer, you better take good care of Xiao Jiu!]
[Exactly! Don’t scold Xiao Jiu when he makes a mechanical error, or someone will carry him off, basin and all.]
Shi Wen glanced at the bullet screen and happened to see it. He refuted in disbelief, “I scold him? When did I ever scold him?” He cried out that he was being wronged.
Mu Jiu heard it on the mic and knew he was talking to his fans in the stream. He also thoughtfully stepped up to clarify for him: “No, he hasn’t. He doesn’t scold me. In the last match, I indeed didn’t follow his instructions; it was my fault.”
Shi Wen had only analyzed the pros and cons of that move with him. If he had listened, there would have been a completely different result. Once Mu Jiu understood, he agreed; he admitted his macro sense was still far behind Shi Wen’s.
[Wuwuwu, why is our Xiao Jiu so well-behaved? Darling, let’s not play with this ranking machine.]
Shi Wen saw the bullet screen that Mu Jiu couldn’t see and let out a soft laugh. Mu Jiu asked, “What are you laughing at?”
“They’re calling you ‘Guaiguai’ and telling you not to play with this ranking machine.”
Shi Wen’s voice was magnetic. The word “Guaiguai” traveled straight through the voice chat to Mu Jiu’s ear. Hearing it, Mu Jiu hurriedly grabbed the cold water next to him and finished it, trying to suppress the heat rising from the top of his head.
There was no sound from the other side of the mic for a long time. One could imagine Mu Jiu was doing some mental construction.
“I want to rank up too, don’t blame him,” after a long while, Mu Jiu spoke up for Shi Wen with very little confidence.
[Streamer is tattling, how dishonorable.]
[Who exactly wanted to say it? We know in our hearts. We fans are weak, we can’t carry such a big pot.]
[Xiao Jiu was tricked by this old thing again. You actually just wanted to see Xiao Jiu get embarrassed, didn’t you?]
“Old? How am I old? I’m only 18!” Shi Wen immediately refuted upon seeing the comment. Then he asked Mu Jiu how old he was. Mu Jiu hesitated for a long time before weakly replying, “16.”
“…”
Now it was Shi Wen’s turn to fall silent. The bullet screen was filled with [Hahaha], saying he was an old man luring a minor.
He really hadn’t expected Mu Jiu to be so young. His intention to pull Mu Jiu into the professional scene might need more careful consideration.
“Fine, I’m an old thing. Jiu, why don’t you call me ‘Ge’ and let me hear it?”
Deciding to set it aside for now, Shi Wen’s thoughts returned to the stream and the game as he continued to tease Mu Jiu.
This time, Mu Jiu didn’t hesitate, rejecting him in a muffled voice: “No.”
In e-sports, age isn’t used to determine rank; whoever is better is the “Ge.”
Shi Wen didn’t force it either. Just as Mu Jiu thought he had given up, the match began. Mu Jiu was bound to the Dissociation Table, waiting for a teammate to rescue him. Shi Wen signaled that he was going for the rescue.
The Boss had gone out to control the field; if Shi Wen came now, he could steal the rescue without taking damage.
However, after Shi Wen arrived, he didn’t rescue. Instead, he circled Mu Jiu’s Dissociation Table, refusing to rescue him. While circling, he threatened, “Call me ‘Ge’ and I’ll save you.”
Mu Jiu’s eyes widened slightly, unable to believe Shi Wen would do such a thing.
[Streamer, are you even human? Hahahahahaha]
[Coercing a minor, reported, reported.]
Seeing that the dissociation progress above his head was about to pass the halfway mark, Mu Jiu finally compromised. “Ge, Ge, Ge, save me, save me.”
Before the words even finished, Shi Wen operated his character to directly pull him down. From the camera, one could see the smile on his face had become even brighter.
[Streamer’s hand was probably already on the rescue button, right? Tricking a kid again!]
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