Chapter 8: Caramel Pudding
First-year courses at S University were relatively easy, and today, there were no classes.
However, summers in S City were very hot, with high temperatures lasting until November.
When there were no classes, they liked to stay in the dormitory, enjoying the air conditioning and playing games.
Only Su Huai, who was in a relationship, had to accompany Xia Heng for lunch and bring back takeout for the three of them.
Besides the food containers, Su Huai also brought back a box of chilled watermelon.
“Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to eat.”
“We have meat, vegetables, fruit, and drinks.”
Xie Yang spread out a disposable tablecloth, opened the takeout boxes, and washed bowls and chopsticks for everyone.
He waited obediently for his roommates to eat together, and he would also help clean up afterward.
Xie Yang was a diligent person, and he kept the dormitory very clean every day.
There were even small potted plants he grew on the balcony.
Xi Rui often joked that he was like a fairy tale snail girl.
Song Xingyu: “With Xiao Xie here, our dormitory should be nominated as the cleanest boys’ dorm at S University.”
Xie Yang bit his chopsticks and smiled shyly, “It’s not that exaggerated.”
Su Huai: “Hey Xiao Xie, do you want to play ranked with us this afternoon?”
Xie Yang hesitated and shook his head: “I want to create a new account to practice my skills.”
Xi Rui, feeling a bit embarrassed about the five-man team incident a few days ago, said, “I gave Sheng Fei a good beating, so he won’t dare to talk too much anymore. We still have a spot in our five-man team this afternoon. Do you want to join?”
Xie Yang quickly said, “No, no, I’m too bad at this game. I don’t even recognize all the heroes. Let me practice more, and then I’ll join you guys.”
Xi Rui: “Alright, if you have any questions or need help, feel free to ask us anytime.”
Xie Yang nodded, “Okay, I know. Thank you.”
Seeing Xie Yang’s sweet smile, Xi Rui felt that he hadn’t beaten Sheng Fei enough. He should give him another beating.
Su Huai: “Xiao Xie, did you create your new account?”
Xie Yang: “Not yet.”
Su Huai: “When you create your account and choose an ID, make sure to pick a cute one.”
Xie Yang was puzzled, “Why?”
Song Xingyu: “Because even if you mess up, some people won’t insult you too harshly. They’ll just consider themselves unlucky for being matched with someone who can’t play.”
In this game, most players are male and often use foul language, but some male players refrain from insulting female players to save face.
If this was ten years ago, it was even more pronounced—female players would be treated more gently, regardless of their skill level.
They wouldn’t be scolded at all.
Xie Yang understood partially.
After finishing their meal, Xie Yang logged into his new account.
He kept this advice in mind and had a hard time coming up with a cute ID that sounded like a girl’s name.
After some research, he remembered the dessert that Qi Xu frequently bought.
Caramel Pudding.
After creating his character, Xie Yang began the long beginner tutorial.
He had joined the game too late, and it had gone through several versions. Even the tutorial videos were outdated.
Xie Yang didn’t understand much and had to follow the tutorial videos slowly.
After completing all the beginner tutorials, Xie Yang played a few normal matches to practice his heroes. Seeing a page full of green victories with a five-game winning streak, he finally mustered the courage to start a ranked match.
He silently prayed for the system to pair him with a patient and good-tempered ADC.
Someone who would be tolerant of a newbie like him.
Entering the pick/ban phase, Xie Yang unhesitatingly banned Thresh.
The memory of being hooked by Thresh repeatedly was still fresh in his mind. He was very scared of champions with hooks, though he didn’t know that Thresh wasn’t the only hook champion.
“Welcome to League of Legends.”
The game began.
Xie Yang followed the tutorial and bought a support item, sticking close to his ADC.
He recognized the champion in front of him—Kalista.
It was the same ADC that had killed him five times when he played with Qi Xu in their five-man team.
Suddenly, the ADC stopped moving.
Xie Yang, not understanding, obediently followed behind Kalista with his Lulu.
What’s going on?
He didn’t know what the ADC did, but his Lulu suddenly fell to the ground!
However, his screen didn’t turn to the black-and-white death screen, and the system didn’t show any kill information. His score was still 0/0/0.
Xie Yang was confused. He hadn’t died, so why was he lying down?
A few seconds later, everything returned to normal.
The ADC was back in lane, and Xie Yang quickly followed suit, not daring to stay behind.
He then noticed a tether-like connection between his Lulu and Kalista.
As long as they maintained a certain distance, this tether wouldn’t break, even through walls.
He didn’t know what it was, but he knew that if he got too far from the ADC, the tether would break.
He was nervous, not knowing what would happen if the tether broke.
Seeing that the opposing support was a hook-using Blitzcrank, Xie Yang became even more nervous.
The opposing support’s hook skill was very fast, and he quickly pulled a minion to the enemy side.
Xie Yang was terrified of being hooked and giving away kills.
Blitzcrank would often rush forward, trying to hook him, and Xie Yang had to hide under the tower.
He knew this wasn’t right, but his positioning was poor. The enemy could easily hook him if they had any skill.
So he preferred hiding under the tower rather than risking getting hooked, only occasionally casting a skill on the ADC.
However, because he didn’t know how to control the distance properly, he missed out on the minion wave’s experience. The enemy reached level three while he was still level two.
Kalista stood motionless behind the minion wave, and Xie Yang wondered if she was typing insults in the chat.
But after a few minutes, there were no messages from the ADC.
The ADC didn’t push forward; instead, she stood still, last-hitting minions.
Xie Yang didn’t understand why, but he felt safe under the tower and could level up.
He didn’t realize that Kalista was freezing the lane to let him gain experience and level up.
So Xie Yang obediently stayed behind the ADC.
He didn’t help with farming, afraid of accidentally taking the ADC’s gold.
Once, he had tried using skills to help clear the wave and got scolded badly by the ADC.
Now, he didn’t dare to use skills on the minion wave, fearing he might accidentally take the ADC’s gold.
Xie Yang also didn’t know how to ward and rarely checked the map. Blitzcrank often hid in the brush, ready to hook him if he stepped out, leaving their vision dark.
Kalista used her Q to scout the brush, where Blitzcrank was lurking.
Xie Yang had just returned from buying items and wasn’t back in lane yet when the ADC pinged a danger signal to warn him.
Rushing back to lane, Xie Yang didn’t understand. He didn’t see Blitzcrank and thought the ADC wanted him to ward the brush, so he headed towards it.
The ADC pinged again, a big exclamation mark appearing before him.
Xie Yang hesitated, and before he could react, Blitzcrank flashed out of the brush and hooked him.
Startled, Xie Yang frantically tried to flash away, but Blitzcrank’s ultimate silenced him, preventing him from using any skills.
With Blitzcrank’s silence and Miss Fortune’s E slowing him, Xie Yang’s health dropped rapidly. The enemy’s damage was too high for him to withstand.
Just as he was about to give up, Kalista used her ultimate, pulling the nearly dead Lulu back under the tower.
The screen shifted, and Xie Yang found himself at a safe distance under the tower, with only a sliver of health remaining.
Xie Yang stared at his critically low health on the screen, dazed.
What just happened?
Was that the ADC’s skill?
He glanced at the game panel and noticed that the green circle in the upper right corner of Kalista’s portrait had turned gray.
Is that the ADC’s ultimate skill?
On his way back to the base, he quickly asked Su Huai for confirmation.
Su Huai: “Kalista? When this hero uses her ultimate, you can see a circle indicating the range. You can control yourself to fly to any spot within that circle.”
Xie Yang recalled the earlier scene but couldn’t remember seeing any circle.
He had just been thrown under the tower.
Su Huai: “What champion are you playing?”
Xie Yang: “Lulu.”
Su Huai: “Then you don’t need to worry about it. Every time you’re about to die, Kalista will use her ultimate to throw you far away, ensuring you don’t die.”
There probably isn’t a Kalista who would throw a champion like Lulu into the enemy team to initiate a fight.
Su Huai was unsure but figured it should be fine since Xie Yang was playing on a new account.
Hearing this, Xie Yang’s eyes brightened slightly.
So that’s how it works.
He opened the in-game chat and typed, “Thank you.”
The ADC didn’t reply.
Still, Xie Yang felt very happy.
Throughout the rest of the game, whenever the enemy Blitzcrank hooked him, the ADC would promptly pull him back.
Each time, Xie Yang would say thank you.
Although the ADC was cool and never responded.
Xie Yang felt like a little fanboy, eagerly following behind the ADC. This was the best player he had ever encountered.
The ADC’s mechanics were impressive, with smooth movements that allowed him to take on two opponents at once. Xie Yang just had to sit back and relax in the bot lane.
He often couldn’t keep up with the ADC’s pace, constantly trailing behind and casting shields and spells on him.
His ADC not only dealt damage but also kept an eye on Xie Yang’s health. Although it was a small thing, it made Xie Yang feel the kindness of a stranger.
Even though he knew that it was just a game and that protecting him was likely just to prevent him from feeding the enemy team in a ranked match, Xie Yang was easily content.
He thought the ADC was very kind-hearted.
Knock, knock—
The door to dorm room 701 opened.
“Qi Xu, the counselor is looking for you.”
Qi Xu frowned slightly. He was in the middle of a team fight, and the game was just one last teamfight away from ending.
“Got it.”
“Sheng Fei.”
Sheng Fei peeked down from his bed, “What’s up?”
Qi Xu: “Take over for me.”
“Oh.” Sheng Fei took his phone, glanced at the game screen, and laughed, “8/0, you could win even if you were AFK.”
“Wait a second.”
“You’re playing without inviting me?”
“Damn, is this your account? Why are you playing on a smurf? No wonder you said no when I asked you to play.”
Qi Xu ignored him and went to see the counselor.
Sheng Fei started playing, noticing that they had the advantage in the Baron fight. Winning that teamfight would end the game.
Then Sheng Fei noticed that the support followed him everywhere.
Not stealing gold or minions, just obediently following behind and casting spells.
“Tsk, is Qi Xu carrying a girl?”
“Caramel Pudding…”
“Thank you?”
“What are they talking about?”
Sheng Fei glanced through the game’s chat history and discovered that the “girl” had been constantly saying thank you.
Some teammates had made snide remarks, but she hadn’t picked up on them and even responded earnestly to their questions.
Qi Xu, on the other hand, hadn’t responded at all.
Where did this well-behaved girl come from?
Sheng Fei thought for a moment and typed into the chat: “No need to thank me, girl.”
Xie Yang had assumed the ADC wouldn’t respond. Seeing the word “girl” left him feeling awkward and a bit stunned.
He wanted to clarify that he wasn’t a girl, but just as he sent the message, the victory screen popped up.
He wasn’t sure if the ADC saw his message.
Looking at the game’s end screen, he gathered his courage and sent a friend request to Kalista, also trying to invite him to the next game.
After a few tense seconds, he received a response.
System: CX330 has joined the room.
Not only did the other player join the game room, but he also added him as a friend.
A sweet smile appeared on Xie Yang’s face.
They continued to play bot lane, with Sheng Fei as Kalista and Xie Yang as Lulu.
When Qi Xu returned from the counselor’s office, he found Sheng Fei lounging on the bed, playing on his phone with a mischievous grin.
Frowning, Qi Xu snatched the phone back.
“Hey!”
“Qi Xu, don’t be so quick to grab it.”
Sheng Fei pulled him aside and said, “This support you got paired with is pretty interesting.”
Qi Xu didn’t hesitate: “Delete them.”
Sheng Fei quickly tried to stop him, “Don’t delete her. This girl is very obedient and well-behaved. She seems like the type you’d like.”
Qi Xu gave him a sidelong glance and scoffed, “What type do I like?”
Sheng Fei looked him up and down, “Tsk, if anyone knows, I do.”
Without looking up, Qi Xu skimmed through the chat history and said nonchalantly, “Know what?”
Sheng Fei: “That support girl, she’s obedient, well-behaved, and sweet. Isn’t that your type?”
Qi Xu glanced at the Lulu following him and casting spells, saying nothing.
Whether sweet or not, she was indeed obedient.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH