Chapter 2

The Gaming Partner, who had remained silent all this time, quietly typed out a string of ellipses. However, the next few kills still landed on the Gaming Partner, and Yao didn’t secure a single one.  

When the second Blue Buff respawned, Pei Jiyin timed it perfectly and once again stole the Blue Buff the Gaming Partner was taking.  

“Sis, Mai Shiranui doesn’t even use mana,” Yao said.  

Pei Jiyin ignored her.  

[She’s so cute, why are you stealing her Blue Buff?]  

[LMAO, I can tell Yao wants to curse but is holding back to keep up her image.]  

……  

After Pei Jiyin took the Blue Buff for the third time, Yao took a deep breath and said, “Sis, how could you do this?”  

Finally, Pei Jiyin turned on her mic.  

“Sweetie, he’s someone I paid for, so that’s my Blue Buff. If I don’t give it to you, too bad.” Pei Jiyin also switched to a sweet, girly voice—as a streamer, she had to be good at everything.  

Yao was clearly stunned by Pei Jiyin’s voice.  

“Also, are you sure I’m definitely older than you?” Pei Jiyin chuckled softly. “I’m only nineteen this year.”  

The previously silent teammates finally reacted.  

[She Wants My Life (Ma Chao): What luck today, two girls with such nice voices?]  

[Claiming All Three Lanes (Sun Shangxiang): I love the mid-laner’s voice, uwu.]  

……  

“No, you are definitely older. I’m only sixteen this year,” the twenty-one-year-old Song Zhen shamelessly lied.  

Song Zhen turned off her mic, never wanting to speak again. She ruffled her hair, convinced that her brain must have fried from studying too much today. Why had she suddenly felt the urge to mess around in-game?  

In the first match, no one had their mics on. In the second, she ran into someone with an even sweeter voice than hers. Truly, everything in videos was just acting.  

Song Zhen glanced at her darkened screen and sighed. So embarrassing. At least no one saw it, and thankfully, her roommates weren’t around.  

Mai Shiranui walked over and circled her twice. Seeing the “Well played!” emote above the enemy’s head, Song Zhen wanted to dig a hole and bury herself.  

By the time she respawned, her four teammates had already destroyed the Nexus.  

Song Zhen looked up at the ceiling. She had contributed absolutely nothing this match, just freeloading a free star.  

Pei Jiyin was a little disappointed when Song Zhen stopped talking after she spoke up. After exiting the game, she started a casual match and sent an invite to that Yao player, whose username was “Mengmeng Little Cutie”—a name that was clearly trying too hard.  

The other player only accepted on the third invite.  

[Mengmeng Little Cutie: What’s up?]  

Pei Jiyin immediately started the match. “Your voice is so sweet, why aren’t you talking anymore?”  

No response. Only when the hero selection screen appeared did the other player turn her mic back on.  

“You think my voice is nice?” Song Zhen asked cautiously, forcing a higher pitch.  

“Mhm. This match, I’ll jungle. You play Yao and protect me, okay?” Pei Jiyin said.  

Song Zhen actually didn’t want to play Yao again. She had already picked Xiao Qiao when Pei Jiyin spoke up again: “Do you not like me? Is that why you won’t play Yao?”  

Song Zhen: “……”  

Resigned, she switched to Yao.

Pei Jiyin contentedly selected Baili Xuance, one of the favorite jungle carries for Yao players. Song Zhen always felt that Pei Jiyin seemed utterly unreliable.  

“Sis, I’m not very good at jungling. Can you protect me the whole time?” Pei Jiyin said.  

“Okay.” Song Zhen’s voice trembled as she looked at Pei Jiyin’s green proficiency level. Thankfully, it was just a casual match—no stars would be lost. Heaven knew how hard it had been for her to solo queue all the way to Diamond Tier.  

“Don’t worry, sis. I’ve practiced in Training Mode and played a few AI matches. I’m pretty good,” Pei Jiyin reassured her.  

Song Zhen: *Even more terrified now.*  

After clearing the red and Blue Buff, Pei Jiyin, now level three with Yao in tow, crouched in the bushes of the bottom lane. When she threw out her hook, she could practically feel Song Zhen holding her breath—only exhaling in relief once the hook landed.  

“Sis, did you think I’d miss?” Pei Jiyin’s voice was pitiful as she secured the first blood.  

“Not at all, I didn’t think that.”  

Then, over the next fifteen minutes, Pei Jiyin demonstrated eight hundred different ways to feed the enemy. Her KDA went from 1-0-0 to 1-12-0, while Song Zhen’s went from 0-0-1 to 0-12-1.  

“Sis, I’m sorry. I’m just too bad at this. You’re not mad at me, are you?”  

Song Zhen: “…”  

“How could I be?” Song Zhen felt like she was about to snap. Talking in a forced sweet voice was exhausting enough, but this woman was deliberately teasing her.  

“Then, sis, can we add each other after this? I’d love to play with you again. I really, really love your voice,” Pei Jiyin said, her tone dripping with faux vulnerability. “I wanted to add you earlier, but I noticed you had friend requests turned off.”  

“Sure…” Song Zhen was mentally drained.  

After the match ended, Song Zhen wanted to just log off and pretend this woman never existed. But as someone with proper manners, she had to follow through on her word, so she reluctantly sent a friend request.  

Pei Jiyin had been waiting. Seeing the friend request pop up, she chuckled. “This girl’s got a great temper, so stop flaming her, alright? Maybe she was just messing around. And don’t go adding her either. If it were me, I’d have lost my temper by now. Anyway, it’s getting late—I’ve got class tomorrow, so I’m calling it a night. Later, guys.”  

After shutting down her stream, Pei Jiyin clicked into “Mengmeng Little Cutie’s” profile. The other girl’s most-played roles were mid-lane, support, and ADC, with average win rates. Her match history wasn’t hidden, though—all solo queue, and she’d lost six in a row just yesterday.  

Pei Jiyin laughed. *That’s just tragic.* She then checked the girl’s close relationships tab—completely empty. Clearly, she really did play alone.  

**[Cheng Yu: The Chinese Dance Club is recruiting. Wanna sign up?]**  

**[Pei Jiyin: Me? Dance? Do you know how stiff I am? You really think they’d take me?]**  

**[Cheng Yu: Just give it a shot. I bet they’d love to have a pretty face like yours.]**  

**[Pei Jiyin: There are plenty of pretty girls.]**  

**[Cheng Yu: Come on, sis. Have some confidence in your looks.]**  

Cheng Yu sent over the sign-up QR code. Though Pei Jiyin protested verbally, her body acted honestly—she scanned the code and registered without hesitation.

Few people could make her heart flutter at first sight like this. Pei Jiyin felt she still needed to give it a try—at least get his contact information first. Unfortunately, the student union recruitment had been at the start of the semester, and since she’d missed it, there was no way to join now.

The Chinese dance club’s sign-up period lasted five days. She went to the library every day during that time but never ran into Song Zhen again. Five days later, she received an interview notice from the club.