Chapter 1 – The Green-Haired Trash-Talking Streamer
December 21st.
On Azure TV’s platform-wide trending livestream rankings, Arcana streams occupied nearly the entire front page.
Tonight was the final All-Star Match of Arcana Oracle’s Season 13.
Unlike previous years, this year’s event featured not only exhibition matches between star professional players from every major team, but also appearances from fan-voted top streamers.
However, among all the major streamers listed beneath the official broadcast, one stream from the Emotional Support Chat category unexpectedly ranked within the top ten.
The stream screen was blank, but the title was eye-catching—
<Sweet Puppy Boy Offering Shelter to Heartbroken Daddies.>
[“It’s the All-Star Match ahhhh! We voted for you one vote at a time, Ghost, and you’re seriously not going?!”]
[“Son, do you know how many alternate accounts I used just to vote you into All-Stars?!”]
[“So many people from Monster’s trainee camp went. Why aren’t you going?”]
[“Fine, fine, “offering shelter to heartbroken daddies.” We’re all heartbroken daddies here!”]
[“Seriously? You little brat, you’re STILL hanging around in the emotional chat section? Don’t think I won’t roast you just because you’ve got a pretty face!”]
[“Ghost, are you commentating on the All-Star Match today?”]
The split-screen remained on Arcana’s PLAY lobby interface, reflecting the handsome face of the young streamer.
The boy had dyed mint-green hair.
His features were strikingly beautiful, as delicate as an ink painting—pale skin, crimson lips.
A blood-red beauty mark rested at the corner of his eye, giving him an almost vampiric elegance.
Qi Qiao brushed aside the messy mint-green bangs hanging over his forehead and lazily clicked into solo queue mode.
“Calling me ‘son’ breaks daddy’s house rules. Enjoy your one-way ticket out.”
“Not commentating today. Grinding rank.”
As he spoke, Qi Qiao had already opened the ranked match queue.
Arcana (Arcana Oracle) was a globally popular competitive MOBA online game.
In the game, players could choose from five main classes: Mage, Assassin, Warrior, Marksman, and Roamer.
While keeping traditional competitive MOBA mechanics, the game introduced horror elements, including a random event called “Oracle Revelation,” triggered every ten minutes.
Victory was achieved by destroying the enemy team’s Courtyard Tree—the equivalent of the crystal core.
Qi Qiao trained at Monster’s Youth Team, the team’s trainee program, and both in training and on stream, he primarily played the mid-lane position.
Since Qi Qiao was first pick this match and didn’t need to ban any heroes, he idly watched chat while absentmindedly dragging his mouse around the hero pool, clicking random champions with rapid taps.
[“Ghost, why are you only Diamond I?”]
[“No All-Star Match for you, huh? Instead you’re here farming Diamond lobbies.”]
[“Son, your national rankings for Sif, Lind, and Loki are gone!”]
[“What heroes is the streamer good at?”]
[“Ghost ba— cough, Ghost absolutely massacres people on mages. His jungle teammates cry for their mothers.”]
Qi Qiao raised an eyebrow.
“I’m only Diamond because I’ve only played ranked for two days this season. I’ve spent the last two months on custom servers. I can always grind back my national rankings later. But what exactly do you mean when you say my jungling sucks?”
[“???”]
[“Ghost, your jungle definitely doesn’t suck. Seriously.”]
[“Your teammates cry because after clearing both your own jungle and the enemy jungle, you still manage to cover all three lanes.”]
[“That one Captain game where you got forty kills and gave the enemy a perfect shutout—turned a five-player game into a solo match.”]
[“I’ve got the replay pinned on my profile. New viewers, go watch it.”]
Qi Qiao stopped paying attention to chat.
“Even in solo queue, I still win.”
[“Tch. Living off that pretty face. It’s only Oracle I rank games anyway.”]
[“No denying Ghost is handsome, but he’s literally the number one mage in Monster’s Youth Team. His skills speak for themselves.”]
[“666. Captain is a super unpopular pick. If you think it’s easy, go do it yourself.”]
[“One person farming all three lanes? So your teammates just do nothing?”]
[“Shut up, troll. That game had four deadweight actors on the team. If he didn’t take all three lanes, should he eat your mom’s ashes instead?”]
Qi Qiao had only started streaming a few months ago, and at first he never showed his face.
It wasn’t until three months ago, after joining Monster’s Youth Team, that he turned on his camera.
That was also when the haters started multiplying.
Still, Qi Qiao had never cared much about that sort of thing.
The hardships he’d gone through before the age of twelve had already forged an unusually strong heart.
It was just that these past five years had been fortunate.
Someone had carefully sheltered him, raising him inside a greenhouse.
Only now—
That same person had thrown him back into the freezing cold.
Qi Qiao drifted off in thought.
Irritated, he ran a hand through his hair.
Then his sharp eyes caught a line in chat.
[“The real jungle god is still Devil. This season, he actually dared to use Jormungandr Serpent Maiden.”]
Qi Qiao’s gaze froze.
His fingers, which had been clicking around absentmindedly, suddenly paused.
As if fate were playing a joke on him, the hero currently highlighted in the selection pool happened to be Jormungandr Serpent Maiden.
He clicked his tongue internally.
Yet somehow, as if possessed, his finger pressed Lock In.
[“Holy sh*t, why did Ghost lock Serpent Maiden?!”]
[“Baby, daddy’s never seen you play that before!”]
[“The moment chat mentions Devil and the streamer picks Serpent Maiden—is this a challenge?”]
[“LMAO. Don’t forget Devil won Global Championship MVP at eighteen. That wasn’t for nothing.”]
[“666. People were just talking about Serpent Maiden being a niche jungle pick, and now this guy’s taking her mid. His teammates are gonna burn down his ancestral grave.”]
[“Stop stirring drama. Since when can’t Jormungandr Serpent Maiden be played mid?”]
Qi Qiao said nothing more.
The endless flood of [Devil] in chat left him increasingly irritated.
Fortunately, the match started soon after.
This round’s randomly selected map was—Lost Atlantis.
While waiting in the spawn area beneath the Courtyard Tree (the fountain), Qi Qiao quickly purchased a Mana Recovery Crown.
Jormungandr Serpent Maiden was a hero with extremely fast wave-clearing ability, but her mana consumption was heavy.
For a mid-lane playstyle, managing mana efficiently was the key.
As the match began, Qi Qiao immediately guided Serpent Maiden toward the upper half of the map, preparing to take position.
The enemy Loki had just been trading damage with their team’s Thor.
Because of the hero matchup disadvantage, Loki had no choice but to retreat back under his turret.
[“That fire-breathing idi*t (Loki) is hiding under tower. No chance of finishing him off.”]
[“Would’ve been perfect if Lightning Dragon (Thor) hadn’t pushed in so aggressively just now.”]
[“What kind of map awareness are you expecting in Diamond rank?”]
Qi Qiao narrowed his eyes slightly and, without hesitation, activated Sprint.
Under the tower, Loki pressed F to recover health, probably planning to freeze the wave outside the turret before farming.
He didn’t pay the slightest attention to the minimap below.
Before he could last-hit even a single minion—
A purple shadow suddenly circled around from the side of the tower.
A perfectly aimed Q skill struck Loki directly.
Immediately after, Serpent Maiden rushed into turret range and landed a point-blank basic attack, triggering her passive explosion.
[First Blood——]
The moment the in-game announcement sounded—
Jormungandr Serpent Maiden flashed out of turret range, narrowly avoiding fatal tower damage.
[“Holy sh*t, from an angle that tricky, he actually landed the Q?!”]
[“Ghost calculated that tower damage perfectly too!”]
[“Son, your hero pool is so deep. Daddy is genuinely proud~”]
[“Just lucky. Don’t get cocky.”]
Qi Qiao looked up.
First, he gifted the guy calling himself “Daddy” a one-week mute package.
Then he spoke calmly.
“Luck is part of skill too.”
[“A pretty-face streamer should stop trying to show off mechanics. Everyone knows what kind of player you really are.”]
[“Okay, okay, so the pretty boy admits it was luck. Let’s see how many full damage combos you can actually pull off this match.”]
Qi Qiao glanced at chat twice and let out a lazy smile.
“A full combo? Of course it has to be complete.”
“Wouldn’t want it less complete than your body, after all.”
After saying that, Qi Qiao stopped paying attention to the bloodbath erupting in chat.
Instead of pressing B to recall, he returned mid lane and continued farming.
This match, his mid-lane opponent was Frigga.
After getting poked by several of her Q skills, his health bar quickly dropped close to empty.
[“Tsk tsk, talking about bodies and all that, but can’t even dodge a few skill shots.”]
[“Ridiculous. You know Frigga has long range, yet you’re still trading with her.”]
After clearing one more minion, Qi Qiao retreated beneath his turret and started recalling from a position right near the edge.
[“666. Recalling in a place like that… nobody except this green-haired trash-talker would think of something so dumb.”]
[“LMAO. And this guy is supposed to be Monster Youth Team’s star mid-laner? Even I wouldn’t respect that play in Platinum.”]
Qi Qiao glanced at chat again.
This time, a faint smile appeared on his lips.
[“What are you looking at? Can’t you run farther back?”]
The moment the minion wave entered tower range—
Frigga activated Sprint and flanked from the side, preparing to cast Q.
Yet at that exact moment—
The previously motionless Serpent Maiden suddenly countered with a Charm.
As Frigga was forcibly pulled toward him—
Qi Qiao immediately followed with an Ice Blade, securing the kill.
[“”Even Platinum wouldn’t respect that play,” huh? Ghost was baiting Little Queen Frigga the whole time, okay?”]
[“Did nobody notice Ghost leveled W first? Yet all you know how to do is yap yap yap~”]
[“Hey pretty boy hater, bark again so I can hear you.”]
Over the next few waves—
Qi Qiao first coordinated with bot lane to secure a double kill.
Then he organized an invasion into the enemy jungle—
Completely taking control of the match tempo.
During the final team fight, they could have ended the game immediately since they already had the advantage.
But their jungler insisted on dragging the team to take Baron instead.
As a result, all five enemy players, who had been hiding in the brush, jumped them.
Fortunately, Qi Qiao arrived just in time.
He entered the fight with his ultimate, landing the perfect AOE burst damage and securing a Pentakill.
The game ended.
Jormungandr Serpent Maiden’s final score: [21 / 0 / 14.]
[“Alright then, all you corpses can crawl out now and count how many Q skills Ghost landed in a single game!”]
[“Not counting the ones used on minion waves or for checking bushes, our boy hit every single one~”]
[“Oh wow, amazing. So what? He’s still nowhere near as good as Devil.”]
[“Exactly. Our Devil is the real unbeatable one!”]
This happened to be his final Diamond promotion match.
After this game, he officially ranked up to Oracle I.
“Unbeatable?”
Qi Qiao’s tone rose slightly at the end, followed by a cold laugh.
Suddenly, he had completely lost interest in continuing to queue.
[“Oh? And you still say you’re not provoking him? So what exactly is your problem then?”]
Qi Qiao closed the game and switched back to Azure TV.
“Unbeatable? His invincibility frame timing isn’t stable, he still loses around a hundred HP during ganks, and his infinite combo maxes out at only six chains.”
He paused briefly, fingers hovering over the mouse.
His gaze flickered slightly.
“And…”
“He pays way too much attention to the mid-laner.”
[“Wait, now losing health during a gank means his invincibility frame timing is bad???”]
[“Since when is a six-chain infinite combo considered bad???”]
[“Forget the rest, what the hell does “paying too much attention to the mid-laner” even mean?”]
[“Devil takes mid wave at 1 minute 40 seconds and somehow that counts as paying attention to mid now?”]
[“After taking the wave he either rotates bot lane or top lane. The poor mid-laner gets assassinated and he doesn’t even look twice. Since when does that count as paying attention?”]
Qi Qiao said nothing.
Instead, he opened Arcana’s official livestream.
The stream happened to be at the closing stage of the awards ceremony.
“Alright! And this year, our award for League’s Most Popular Team once again goes, without any surprise, to Faith!”
The host raised the microphone and shouted loudly.
“So let’s give them our loudest applause—please welcome Team Faith to the stage to accept their award! Congratulations!”
Inside the massive circular stadium, blue and violet lights flashed in alternating waves.
Every seat was filled.
The thrilling background music was completely drowned out by the deafening applause and endless cheers erupting from the crowd.
Support signs from every major team lit up across the venue like a sea of stars.
But looking closely, more than half of those glowing signs carried Faith Team’s crescent moon emblem.
“Faith—Faith—Faith!”
“Faith—Faith—Faith!”
Amid the thunderous chanting—
The members of Team Faith stepped onto the stage one after another from backstage.
Walking at the very front was a strikingly handsome young man. Tall and lean, he stood nearly a head taller than everyone else. He led the team forward before stopping beside the host.
Intersecting stage lights fell across his slightly messy black hair. His long wolf-cut strands brushed lightly over his forehead.
His eyelashes hung low, and a shadow fell across the bridge of his sharp nose.
The moment the white-and-black team jersey printed with [Faith – Devil] came into view, the screams erupting throughout the stadium instantly rose another level.
“Devil is so handsome ahhhh!”
“Aaaah Devil hubby, look at me just once!”
“I love you so much, Devil hubby!!!”
Seeing the crowd’s reaction, even the host couldn’t help laughing.
“Hahaha, Devil’s popularity really is on a completely different level. Every year, your name is the one we hear shouted the most!”
Hearing this, the young man curled his lips into a faint smile.
“Thank you all for your support. I hope you’ll continue supporting us in the future as well.”
“Ahhhh Devil smiled!”
“Devil is ridiculously handsome!”
“Devil hubby, I’ll love you forever!!!”
Devil.
Pei Ming.
Captain of Team Faith.
The number one jungler in ACR’s China Region.
A legendary player who had won the Global Championship title three consecutive years in a row.
Five years ago, during the ACR World Championship, eighteen-year-old Devil burst onto the scene out of nowhere.
As a rookie, he directly claimed the World Championship title and secured the MVP award, creating a sensation across the entire world.
From that moment onward, his team, Faith, became the dream destination—the sacred ground of esports—in the eyes of countless players.
If there was one true superstar at the absolute peak of the esports world—
No one could surpass Devil.
“Alright! We can definitely feel Faith receiving everyone’s overwhelming enthusiasm!”
The host raised his hand energetically.
“And now, we officially present this year’s award for League’s Most Popular Team—please welcome our winners!”
Very quickly, the award presenter stepped onto the stage and handed the trophy to the members of Faith.
Thunderous applause erupted from the audience below.
“Ahhhh I’m going to support you guys for ten thousand years!”
“Even if Cup transferred away this year, it’s okay! I know you’ll definitely find a new mid-laner!”
“Faith, I love you all! You have to win the Season 14 World Championship!”
Amid the loudest applause of the entire night—
The four members posed together for photos, waved goodbye to the audience, and headed toward a private exit tunnel.
…
After boarding the team club’s private van, support player Jiang Jiang finally let out a long sigh.
“Phew… finally over. I’m so sleepy I’m about to pass out.”
ADC player Ink, sitting beside him, raised a hand and casually patted Jiang Jiang’s fluffy brown hair.
“Funny coming from the guy who knew he’d be on camera today but still stayed up half the night scrolling videos.”
Jiang Jiang let out a huff and slapped Ink’s hand away in annoyance.
“Mind your own business. I’m just complaining a little.”
Top-laner A Kai, sitting on Jiang Jiang’s right, was already preparing to catch some sleep.
“Can you two stop flirting already and let me sleep in peace?”
Jiang Jiang clicked his tongue.
“Who’s flirting? I’m straight, okay? I like tall girls with long legs.”
A Kai raised an eyebrow.
“Wait… are you discriminating against my sexual orientation right now?!”
Team manager Rong Qing, sitting in the driver’s seat, smiled as he spoke.
“If you’re going to sleep, do it now. After these three days off, don’t expect life to be this easy again. Now that Cup is gone…”
Mid-sentence, Rong Qing suddenly paused.
The inside of the van fell silent for a moment.
From the front passenger seat, Pei Ming spoke calmly.
“Now that Cup has left, our next priority is the transfer window… or promoting a mid-laner from the Youth Team. Either way, the adjustment period is going to be rough.”
After this year’s semifinals, Cup had suddenly requested to terminate his contract.
They didn’t know the exact details.
All they knew was that he had already transferred to the European League.
As for the real reason—
Probably only Rong Qing and Pei Ming knew.
But neither of them had ever mentioned it.
Originally, Jiang Jiang had wanted to catch up on sleep.
But now it felt like a heavy stone was pressing against his chest, completely driving away any drowsiness.
So he opened Azure TV, intending to casually scroll through a few videos.
While browsing—
A trending topic suddenly caught his eye.
<Monster Team Youth Player Ghost Streams While Trash-Talking Devil>
Jiang Jiang’s eyebrow twitched.
He immediately clicked on it.
There were already multiple clipped videos attached to the topic.
He randomly opened a few.
“Holy sh*t, Captain! There’s this green-haired streamer roasting you!”
Jiang Jiang instantly perked up.
He practically sprang out of his seat and leaned over behind Pei Ming.
“Hey Captain, that little green-haired guy is Monster’s trainee everyone’s been talking about lately.”
“You think him trash-talking you has something to do with Bang giving him lessons or something? You two teams have had crazy tension lately.”
Jiang Jiang fired off sentence after sentence like a machine gun.
But when he looked up—His captain showed absolutely no reaction.
Pei Ming’s eyes remained half-lidded as he stared at his phone screen.
The corner of his lips curved upward ever so slightly.
That suspiciously familiar expression…
Jiang Jiang suddenly raised his head and immediately peeked toward Pei Ming’s phone.
Unfortunately— His captain’s reflexes were faster.
By the time Jiang Jiang caught a glimpse— Only the photo album categories remained visible.
And right there— The all-too-familiar folder.
[Little Brother Pretty Photos.}
Pei Ming lazily lifted his eyelids.
“Go to sleep.”
Jiang Jiang immediately exploded.
“Captain, you don’t stream, you don’t check Weibo, and every single day you just sit here staring at your little brother’s pretty photos. Are you seriously okay?”
“And besides, didn’t your brother run away from home a whole year ago? He’s this disobedient, yet you still keep looking at those photos every day!”
Jiang Jiang muttered under his breath again.
“And every day you keep bragging about how good-looking your brother is, but you hide the photos and won’t let any of us see them.”
Pei Ming glanced at him.
“He’s well-behaved.”
A brief pause.
“And he’s good-looking.”
Jiang Jiang nearly laughed out of frustration.
“Sure, sure…”
“But your words mean nothing. You and your brother aren’t even blood-related, so I can’t exactly judge based on your personality or your face.”
He clicked his tongue before deliberately coughing.
“Still… I think this little green-haired streamer may have a sharp mouth, but honestly, he’s pretty damn good-looking.”
He smirked deliberately.
“Probably better-looking than your brother.”