Chapter 15

Song Zhen pondered Pei Jiyin’s words for a couple of seconds.

[Mengmeng Little Cutie: Like what?]

“How about Electric Rodent?”

[Mengmeng Little Cutie: Sis, no please, let’s not.]

“Then Fire Dance? I think I did pretty well with her last time.”

[Mengmeng Little Cutie: Sis, maybe you should just play Mirror.]

Pei Jiyin laughed. “Weren’t we supposed to not bend for stars?”

Song Zhen touched her face, her ears turning slightly red. As someone not particularly thick-skinned, she found it hard to say it outright.

[Mengmeng Little Cutie: I’m discussing it with you.]

Pei Jiyin started the game.

Once in the game, Pei Jiyin still took the mid lane since the first two picks were the jungler-support couple as Siamese Twins. Song Zhen played the marksman role, but since Yu Ji was banned by the enemy, she ended up picking little Luban No. 7.

Pei Jiyin had a normal start, while Song Zhen got ganked and killed by the enemy jungler within three minutes. Pei Jiyin went over to secure a kill before leaving.

The enemy Sun Shangxiang and Xiao Ming pushed Song Zhen’s little Luban No. 7 back relentlessly, and she quickly gave up three kills. Pei Jiyin tried to help a few times, but the enemy’s rotations were noticeably faster than their team’s.

Pei Jiyin glanced at their jungler several times, but he only ganked the off-lane, completely ignoring Song Zhen.

Since entering the game, Song Zhen hadn’t said a word.

“Are you okay?” Pei Jiyin asked.

[Mengmeng Little Cutie (Luban No. 7): I’m fine.]

[Sweet Blade (Han Xin): You’re fine, but we’re not. Stop feeding.]

Song Zhen pursed her lips.

“Farm his jungle to catch up. This Han Xin clearly doesn’t know how to play,” Pei Jiyin said. “Just mute them all.”

As Song Zhen listened to Pei Jiyin, she saw her type out a flurry of messages.

[Don’t Run Cutie (Xiao Qiao): Sorry, big bro, my friend is just too bad. You’re way better, flying around with Yao Girl—so cool! Checked the scoreboard, and you actually got two kills! You’re amazing!]

[Don’t Run Cutie (Xiao Qiao): Unlike my friend, hogging a whole minion wave and still can’t 1v2 against the enemy Siamese Twins, let alone 1v4.]

Song Zhen’s lips twitched slightly.

[Master of sarcasm!]

[I’m dying, so petty, so petty, so petty.]

[Don’t know why, but I suddenly ship it. Pei: You play, I’ll roast!]

“I’ve said it many times—no nonsense. Civilized streamer here, never insults,” Pei Jiyin said, crossing her legs.

[Sweet Blade (Han Xin): Picking Luban No. 7 against Sun Shangxiang? Deserved.]

[Don’t Run Cutie (Xiao Qiao): Absolutely. Yao Girl choosing to follow your 2-7 Han Xin is clearly the wisest decision.]

[Sweet Blade (Han Xin): Stop being sarcastic, okay?]

[Don’t Run Cutie (Xiao Qiao): Big bro, how could you say that? When was I ever sarcastic? I was totally praising you. You’re so amazing—are you the National Server Rank Han Xin or something?]

Pei Jiyin and Song Zhen pushed the mid-lane tower together, while the enemy had already reached the inhibitor tower on Song Zhen’s lane.

“You don’t have to argue with him. It’s my fault for being bad—my hero pool is too shallow,” Song Zhen said.

“Who’s arguing? I’m praising him,” Pei Jiyin replied. “Besides, you’re queued with me. Of course I’ll back you up.”

“By the way, how come you can talk again?”

“I went to the rooftop again, typing isn’t convenient here,” Song Zhen stood in the corner. “It’s quite cool outside at night.”

Pei Jiyin chuckled. Whether it was because Yao Girl finally had a pang of conscience or suddenly gained sharper eyesight, she jumped off Han Xin’s head—though she didn’t follow Song Zhen either, instead perching herself on Pei Jiyin’s head.

Pei Jiyin was the only one in the entire team with a positive KDA.

[Don’t Run, Cutie (Xiao Qiao): Little sister, do you think that compared to him, I’m actually better?]  

[Sweetie (Yao): True, your eloquence is also better.]  

[Sweetie (Yao): I got scolded last game too, but he didn’t say a word. So infuriating.]  

Pei Jiyin laughed, and Song Zhen raised an eyebrow.  

[Damn, Sis Yin, why not just charm her away now?]  

[Gotta admit, Sis Yin is really popular with girls sometimes.]  

Pei Jiyin turned off her mic. “I’ve always been pretty popular with girls. Don’t be jealous.”  

[Sweetie’s Blade (Han Xin): I’m done, what can I do if you’re bad? What am I supposed to say?]  

[Sweetie (Yao): Oh, so you actually agree with them scolding me?]  

[Sweetie (Yao): If you think I’m bad, then don’t invite me to play. Hilarious—if you hadn’t asked, I wouldn’t even be playing this game.]  

[Don’t Run, Cutie (Xiao Qiao): Big bro, how could you be so mean to sis? She played with you just to make you happy, and this is how you treat her… That’s just too much.]  

[Don’t Run, Cutie (Xiao Qiao): I usually can’t stand seeing my friends get scolded…]  

[Sweetie’s Blade (Han Xin): Xiao Qiao, can you shut up? This is between us—what’s it got to do with you? Ugh, damn green tea bitch.]  

[Sweetie (Yao): Sis was just speaking the truth, how is that green tea? Shut up, you trash.]  

Pei Jiyin couldn’t help but laugh.  

“You’re laughing way too smugly,” Song Zhen remarked.  

“It’s just too funny,” Pei Jiyin sighed. “What do you think the odds are of them breaking up?”  

“Not high,” Song Zhen said dismissively. “Usually, this kind of thing is just a petty fight. Once the heat of the game fades, the guy will coax her, and the girl will probably say ‘forget it.’ Girls tend to be soft-hearted.”  

“Seems like you’ve seen a lot of this, little sister.”  

“Yeah,” Song Zhen replied, thinking of a few friends and clicking her tongue.  

“What’s wrong?” Pei Jiyin asked.  

“Nothing, just remembered something,” Song Zhen leaned against the railing. “A friend of mine once fought with her boyfriend, complaining about how awful he was. I thought, ‘How does that scumbag even deserve her?’ So I told her she could do better.”  

“Who’d have thought? A few days later, they made up. In the end, I was the only one who ended up looking like the bad guy.”  

Pei Jiyin laughed. “As someone who’s been single forever, whenever people bring this stuff up to me, I just say I have no experience, don’t understand, and don’t want to hear it. Eventually, no one asks me anymore.”  

“Noted. I’ll say the same next time,” Song Zhen agreed.  

“Oh, so you’ve been single forever too.”  

“Yeah,” Song Zhen replied. She had too many suitors—all kinds—but none of them appealed to her. She felt it was more important to focus on self-improvement and climbing higher right now. “I’m not interested in dating. It’s just not fun.”

“Mm.” Pei Jiyin had just said it offhandedly, her eyes fixed on the situation between Yao and Han Xin.

The two were arguing even more heatedly.

[Tian Tian (Yao): What do you mean by that?]

[Tian Tian’s Blade (Han Xin): If you’d let me play with other girls, I wouldn’t have invited you. If you don’t want to play, then stop nagging me all the time.]

Pei Jiyin raised an eyebrow. “What a scumbag.”

“Good choice of words,” Song Zhen remarked.

Yao had stopped moving, probably too upset to continue.

[Tian Tian (Yao): So you’re saying I’m in the way of you flirting with other girls, huh?]

[Tian Tian’s Blade (Han Xin): If that’s how you want to see it, I can’t help it.]

[Don’t Run, Cutie (Xiao Qiao): Seriously, with your trash skills, no girl besides your girlfriend would even play with you. Stop flattering yourself—other girls aren’t interested.]

[Don’t Run, Cutie (Xiao Qiao): Your girlfriend tolerates you out of love, but other girls don’t love you.]

[Tian Tian’s Blade (Han Xin): None of your damn business, ***]

When the Nexus exploded, Pei Jiyin heard the girl turn on her mic and quickly curse something, though it wasn’t very clear.

Back in the lobby, Pei Jiyin and Song Zhen were both a little quiet.

The live chat was already buzzing. Who would’ve thought they’d witness a full-blown emotional drama during a gaming stream?

“Should we invite that Yao to play with us?” Song Zhen asked.

“If you want to play with her, I’ll send an invite.”

“Let’s invite her and comfort her a bit…” Even though she’d sworn off meddling in other people’s relationships, running into something like this still made Song Zhen feel uneasy.

Pei Jiyin checked the player’s status—she was in a squad, possibly still arguing. She sent an invite, and after a long pause, the other girl finally joined the room.