Chapter 23 – Duo Queue
“No, but that was obviously my exclusive snack! And Captain actually gave it to Ghost!”
Ink was last-hitting minions while Jiang Jiang’s nonstop complaining rang in his ears.
After finishing dinner earlier, Ghost had gone back to his room to organize his things. As usual, the rest of them returned to the practice room, and the moment Jiang Jiang sat down, he started grumbling beside Ink, looking as aggrieved as a newly married wife who’d been wronged.
Without even turning around, Ink said, “How is it your exclusive snack? Didn’t you lose it to Captain in that bet?”
“It was lost to Captain, but that doesn’t mean he can give it to Xiao Lu—ugh, I mean, Ghost—right in front of me!”
“You’re being petty now. It’s Ghost’s first day here. Isn’t it normal for Captain to give him a welcome gift?” A Kai said from the side.
Jiang Jiang pouted so hard his lips could practically hang an oil bottle.
“Normal? Normal, my ass. Back when I joined the team, Captain didn’t give me any welcome gift!”
Pei Ming had just finished a ranked match. Hearing that, he said casually, “I did.”
Jiang Jiang searched his memory and found absolutely no trace of that.
Could it be that Captain had given him something, but he’d forgotten?
Confused, Jiang Jiang asked, “What did you give me?”
Pei Ming queued up for another ranked game and lazily replied, “A smile.”
Jiang Jiang: “……”
A bunch of lunatics!
“A smile, a smile… then why didn’t you give Gho—”
Jiang Jiang was just about to complain when he looked up and saw the practice room door open. Rong Qing walked in, leading Qi Qiao, who was carrying a bag full of gaming peripherals.
Jiang Jiang immediately fell silent.
Other than the sound of keyboards clicking, the practice room became unusually quiet.
“Well then, this used to be Cup’s seat. Ghost, you’ll sit here from now on.”
Rong Qing pointed toward the first seat on the left side after entering.
Jiang Jiang looked up and happened to meet Qi Qiao’s expressionless gaze.
He then glanced at the second seat to the left — the one he was currently sitting in — and silently said nothing.
Ink clicked his tongue and muttered softly, “Wonder who it was that insisted on saying the left side is honorable, the right side inferior, and absolutely had to steal that seat.”
Jiang Jiang glared at him and gritted his teeth in a whisper.
“And whose fault is it for insisting on taking the third seat back then? If I hadn’t been accommodating you—”
“Lin Jiangluo.”
Rong Qing’s voice suddenly drifted over.
“Huh? I’m here!”
Jiang Jiang jumped in surprise.
Rong Qing said, “Ghost is younger than you. Remember to look after him a little.”
Jiang Jiang nodded rapidly like a pecking chicken.
“Got it, got it. I’ll definitely take care of Ghost like he’s my little brother!”
Qi Qiao had been setting down his peripherals. Hearing that, his movements paused slightly.
He raised his head.
“?”
Rong Qing looked much more satisfied hearing that and patted Jiang Jiang on the shoulder.
“Exactly. Having the mindset of treating your teammates like family is what matters.”
Jiang Jiang forced out an awkward smile.
“Haha… sure.”
“Oh, right. I’ve already submitted Faith’s starting roster for this season to the league. Since tomorrow is New Year’s Day, an auspicious day, we might as well release the official announcement tomorrow.”
Rong Qing continued, “You’d better do a livestream today. You can reveal a little.”
Qi Qiao sat down and turned on his computer.
“Okay.”
“How about this — why don’t you queue with someone from the team today? Just pick one person, no need for too many.”
Rong Qing asked tentatively, “How about Devil?”
Qi Qiao’s hand resting on the mouse suddenly stiffened.
He lifted his eyes and looked to his left.
Pei Ming was sitting three seats away from him, wearing his headset, and wasn’t looking over.
Qi Qiao lowered his eyes slightly.
“No.”
Then he added, “Looks like he’s already in a game.”
Rong Qing nodded.
“Alright then. You can handle it however you want. The main thing is just giving your fans some mental preparation.”
Qi Qiao nodded.
If he really duo queued with Pei Ming, he might accidentally…
Qi Qiao knew exactly what kind of person he was.
Yesterday, after Pei Ming said “Interesting,” his mind had gone completely blank, and without saying a word, he had walked straight out of the practice room. It wasn’t until the manager of Monster Esports came out to stop him that he finally halted.
And just now, after hearing what Pei Ming said after tearing off the label, he had nearly loosened his grip and dropped the yogurt.
All of it was still vividly fresh in his mind.
Since Rong Qing had other matters to deal with, he gave a few final instructions before leaving.
The practice room fell silent once again.
Jiang Jiang kept one hand moving on the mouse while secretly glancing at Qi Qiao beside him.
He noticed that Qi Qiao’s current rank was Oracle II, nearly two hundred points higher than his own.
“Stop letting your eyes wander.”
Qi Qiao’s voice suddenly rang out.
Jiang Jiang froze for a second, quickly turning his gaze back as he replied calmly, “Whose eyes are wandering? I’m focusing on training.”
Qi Qiao glanced at his screen and chuckled.
“Practicing last-hitting as a support? Yeah, you look real focused.”
Jiang Jiang: “……”
Damn it. He’d opened the wrong mode.
Silently, Jiang Jiang exited the custom last-hit practice and clicked into ranked mode.
Just as he was about to invite Ink to queue with him, Qi Qiao suddenly spoke.
“Add me.”
Jiang Jiang: “?”
Seeing Jiang Jiang staring blankly without responding, Qi Qiao thought he hadn’t heard, so he repeated himself.
“I said, add me.”
Jiang Jiang took a while to process it before slowly pointing at himself.
“You mean… me?”
Qi Qiao looked at him.
“Besides you, is there anyone else here?”
Jiang Jiang: “……”
He nodded stiffly, thinking Has the sun started rising in the west today?
Still, his hands quickly moved to search for Qi Qiao’s account.
He remembered that during Ghost’s livestreams, the account ID had simply been Ghost.
Not creative at all.
Sure enough, the moment he searched, Ghost’s ID popped up, along with that familiar blank profile picture.
A friend request notification appeared on Qi Qiao’s screen.
[Peerless Unmatched Cute Girl requests to add you as a friend —]
Qi Qiao raised an eyebrow.
“This is your account?”
Jiang Jiang blinked.
“Yeah. What about it?”
Qi Qiao pressed accept.
“Nothing. It suits you pretty well.”
Jiang Jiang: “……”
For a moment, he genuinely couldn’t tell whether that was supposed to be a compliment or an insult.
As soon as the friend request was accepted, a team invitation immediately appeared on Jiang Jiang’s screen.
[Ghost invites you to queue for Duo Ranked —]
Jiang Jiang: “?”
Qi Qiao paused for a moment, choosing his words carefully.
“Rong… Brother Rong’s request.”
Jiang Jiang felt completely thrown off.
Ghost wasn’t queueing with Captain, and instead came to queue with him?
Could it be because he thought Captain was too strong and would steal the spotlight from him?
Even so, despite thinking that, Jiang Jiang instantly hit Accept.
Putting aside the fact that Brother Rong had told them to build a good relationship, Jiang Jiang had watched Ghost’s solo queue streams before.
The guy climbed rank like an absolute monster.
This season, ADC was in a rough spot, which meant supports were suffering right alongside them.
The overseas servers weren’t too bad, but on the Chinese server, if you got matched with a few brain-dead teammates, it felt like pure torture.
That was why, even until now, both Jiang Jiang and Ink were still hovering around Oracle I on their Chinese server accounts.
But if he could hitch a ride on Ghost’s carry…
He might hit Oracle II today.
Once Qi Qiao saw Jiang Jiang join the party, he started adjusting his streaming setup and casually said,
“I’m going live. Do whatever you want.”
Hearing that, Jiang Jiang quickly started adjusting his own streaming equipment too.
After all, there was no reason not to stream.
He definitely had to ride some of Ghost’s traffic while he could.
Since Jiang Jiang streamed often, his setup was ready pretty quickly.
Qi Qiao, on the other hand, took a bit longer.
Back when Faith Esports and Monster Esports had their training rooms designed, both clubs had hired the same interior design team, so the layouts looked very similar.
The only differences were the logos and team-related signs hanging on the walls.
At the moment, Qi Qiao was adjusting the angle of his camera so that any signs related to Faith wouldn’t appear on screen behind him.
After waiting for a while, Jiang Jiang couldn’t keep his mouth shut anymore.
“Hey, Ghost, let me ask you something. What’s your real name?”
Without even looking up, Qi Qiao replied, “Qi Qiao.”
Jiang Jiang blinked.
“Ah… Qiqiao? Like… suspicious?”
Qi Qiao’s hands paused mid-adjustment.
Speechless, he glanced over at him.
“Qi as in Qi Jiguang’s Qi. Qiao as in woodcutter.”
“Ohhh, Qi Qiao.”
Jiang Jiang suddenly understood and nodded.
“That’s a nice name.”
Qi Qiao ignored him.
After finishing his setup, he opened his livestream.
What Rong Qing had said earlier made sense.
If he started by streaming and queueing with a teammate first, then when the official announcement came out tomorrow, the fans would at least have some mental preparation.
And besides, yesterday Wink exposing those ‘Handsome Photos of Big Brother?’ had to be dealt with somehow today.
Otherwise, he had no idea how the people in his chat would keep blowing the whole thing out of proportion.
Though honestly, this was partly his own fault.
If he hadn’t been reluctant to delete those photos back then, then none of this would’ve—
Qi Qiao took a deep breath, forcefully pushing all those distracting thoughts out of his head.
Then he turned on the camera.
[“You’re live?!”]
[“Yo, who’s this? Whose little brother showed up here?”]
[“Where are the handsome older brother photos? Hurry up and show your dad. How come I didn’t know I gave birth to an older brother for you?”]
[“Wait, is this older brother your actual brother, or some idol you’re crushing on???”]
[“I’m betting actual brother. Looking at this little brat, whichever idol ends up with him as a fan must have had eight lifetimes of terrible luck lmao.”]
Qi Qiao: “……”
[“Wait, hold on. Did none of you notice there’s someone in his team lobby?”]
[“Saw it, saw it. What kind of username is Peerless Unmatched Cute Girl?”]
[“Holy shit, little brat, you’re playing with a girl today? Don’t tell me she’s a female streamer too?”]
Qi Qiao resisted the urge to mute everyone in his chat.
“First, I don’t stan any idols. If anything, you people are the ones who’d have eight lifetimes of bad luck for following me.”
[“Alright, alright, fine, I agree with the ‘not stanning idols’ part, but what the hell do you mean we’re the ones with bad luck?”]
[“Maybe the little brat means whoever gave birth to him is the one suffering eight lifetimes of bad luck, hahahaha.”]
Qi Qiao took a deep breath, silently repeating to himself Don’t get mad. Don’t get mad.
Only then did he continue.
“Second, the person in my lobby isn’t a girl. It’s Jiang Jiang from Faith Esports.”
[“???”]
[“What? Faith’s Jiang Jiang? Did I hear that right?”]
[“I just checked — that really is Jiang Jiang’s ID, and he’s streaming too!”]
[“Holy crap, what kind of crossover is this? Fans of both are eating good today???”]
[“I’m dying lmao. There are actually people who are fans of both Ghost and Jiang Jiang? I always thought these two would be lucky if they didn’t beat each other up when put together.”]
Next to him, Jiang Jiang greeted the viewers in his own stream.
“Hi everyone from Ghost’s stream! I’m duo queueing with Ghost today.”
As he said that, he even made a heart shape with his hands.
Seeing this, Qi Qiao quietly shifted his chair a little farther away.
[“Holy shit, this is real? Someone hit me with a hammer.”]
[“Wait, Jiang Jiang, sweetheart, how are you queueing with Ghost? If you’ve been kidnapped, blink twice.”]
[“Oh my god, what kind of horror story is this? Did that little green-haired guy put a curse on you, baby?”]
Afraid Qi Qiao might see his chat, Jiang Jiang awkwardly scratched the back of his head.
“Uh… I haven’t been kidnapped. I really am queueing with Ghost. Actually, we’re pretty close.”
Qi Qiao heard Jiang Jiang through voice chat.
His eyebrow lifted slightly, and he barely held back a laugh.
[“Damn, son, I just heard in Jiang Jiang’s stream that he says you two are pretty close. Is that true?”]
[“No way. Just look at that weird expression on the little brat’s face, hahaha.”]
[“Alright then, so why exactly are you two duo queueing together today?”]
Qi Qiao replied casually, “We’re duo queueing because we’re duo queueing. Why do you all need so many reasons? Can’t I just ride some hype?”
[“666, son, you know how to chase clout now?”]
[“Sigh… looks like your dad here just isn’t capable enough. Couldn’t make you become the number one streamer on Azure TV, so now my poor son has to go chase clout himself.”]
[“Hold on, jokes aside, I have a bold theory. Considering the little brat made two whole videos flaming Jiang Jiang before… what if he signed with Faith, and Faith is forcing him to duo queue with Jiang Jiang?”]
Seeing that chat message, Qi Qiao tightened his grip on the mouse.
No way… they can’t figure it out this fast, right?
[“The person above has got to be joking. Our son would rather die than surrender — there’s no way he’d sign with Faith. I’m confident about that. 😏”]
[“+1”]
[“+1”]
[“+10086”]
Qi Qiao: “……”
Alright. He had overthought it.
Unless he shoved his contract with Faith Esports directly in front of these viewers’ faces, they’d never believe it even if their lives depended on it.
Once the chat had calmed down enough, Qi Qiao queued into ranked about five minutes later.
After the champion bans were finished, he finally had time to glance at chat again.
[“By the way… so those ‘Handsome Photos of Big Brother?’ were actually pictures of your real brother?”]
Qi Qiao paused for a second when he saw the words real brother, but still responded with a quiet,
“Mm.”
Forget it.
Real brother, then real brother.
It wasn’t all that different anyway.
[“Alright then, son, if you’ve got an older brother, why are you still eating instant noodles every day and constantly saying you’re broke? Doesn’t your brother take care of you?”]
Qi Qiao replied immediately,
“I’m already this old. Can’t I support myself? Is eating instant noodles embarrassing? Am I not allowed to say I’m broke?”
Listening to Qi Qiao’s three soul-searching questions, Jiang Jiang silently wiped away a bead of cold sweat beside him.
[“…Okay. Not embarrassing.”]
[“Not embarrassing +1”]
[“Uh… I suddenly have no idea what I’m supposed to say to that.”]
[“Tsk tsk. Stop pretending, son. Just admit it — your brother doesn’t support you pursuing esports, right? Don’t tell me he cut ties with you?”]
Qi Qiao fell silent.
Cutting ties was true.
But saying his brother didn’t support him?
That was practically a joke.
“He supports me,” Qi Qiao said.
[“If he supports you, then why isn’t he giving you money? You’re eating instant noodles every day — it hurts me just watching it!”]
Qi Qiao said flatly,
“That’s called supporting me emotionally. You get it?”
[“Heh. A brother who can’t provide material support isn’t a good brother.”]
[“Makes sense. Agreed.”]
Qi Qiao was speechless.
In the end, he could only brush it off.
“Alright, alright. He’s only a few years older than me anyway. It’s not like he has much money himself.”
After saying that, Qi Qiao was just about to close the chat overlay, determined to follow the principle of out of sight, out of mind.
Suddenly, a notification sound rang out.
[Faith – Devil has sent you 3 Brilliant Galaxies.]
Qi Qiao froze slightly.
Before he could even react, another message appeared on screen.
[“Faith – Devil: ?”]
Author’s Note:
Qi Qiao: ……
Qi Qiao: Is it too late to restart everything right now?