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It should already be deep into the night where Shen Tan was.

Lu Mi stared at Shen Tan’s profile picture in the friend-request section. He had no idea when Shen Tan had added him, nor why.

Perhaps adding someone as a WeChat friend was nothing unusual to Shen Tan. Once he grew tired of it, he could simply act as though nothing had ever happened.

After hesitating for a moment, Lu Mi accepted the request.

Shen Tan did not send him any messages.

Lu Mi started his second livestream of the day and greeted everyone first.

Because Shen Tan had sent him a large gift the other day, Lu Mi’s popularity was much higher than usual when he went live.

The Yari livestreaming platform, where Lu Mi streamed, had several ways of directing traffic to a channel: events, guild support, guild spending, wealthy viewers showering streamers with gifts, and so on. The more gifts a streamer received, the more traffic the platform would send him—and it would not be limited to a single stream.

That was why the guild management had told Lu Mi to take good care of his biggest patron.

It was not only the guild that stood to make money. If Lu Mi’s traffic rose, he might become popular, and his income would increase as well.

But Lu Mi’s attitude remained the same as before.

After greeting everyone, he closed the chat and queued directly for ranked matches.

The ranked games at night were harder than those in the afternoon, and Lu Mi’s score was already high.

Fortunately, he had almost fully adapted to his new computer and keyboard. After several consecutive games, everything went smoothly.

It was just that some of his teammates had lower scores, so he could not gain many points. Even after winning several matches, he had climbed only two places in the rankings.

Still, Lu Mi was already very satisfied.

He glanced at the time. It was a little after nine. He could play one more game.

As soon as he entered the champion-selection screen, someone on his team preselected the jungler Bamboo Dragonfly, the same champion Lu Mi had chosen.

Bamboo Dragonfly was a petite female jungler, named for the bamboo dragonfly that spun constantly above her head. Despite her small stature, she dealt devastating damage, and her ultimate allowed her to take flight, turn invisible, and escape.

In games at this level, it was rare for two players to queue into the same position. However, if there were too few players at the same rank, position clashes could still happen.

Most likely because of his several consecutive wins, Lu Mi had been matched with teammates whose scores were close to his own.

[Is Lost going to play support again? I’m a little scared of a support who can last-hit minions and actually deal damage.]

That afternoon, Lu Mi had given up his position in the very first game.

Unfortunately, his team’s marksman had failed to develop properly and had even blamed Lu Mi for it. Lu Mi had no choice but to take the marksman’s minions so that the resources would not go to waste.

[How about this? Why don’t you turn on your mic and tell him, “Big brother, let me play jungle”?]

[Give up. Baby Lost never reads the chat. Even if he did, he’d never call anyone big brother.]

Lu Mi really had not been reading it.

Remembering the game in which he had filled in as support, he hesitated for a few seconds. By then, the teammate who had also preselected Bamboo Dragonfly had already sent a message in team chat:

“Does the third player want to play jungle?”

Lu Mi replied, “Could you let me have it?”

His teammate answered, “Sure, if you call me big brother.”

[Is he spying on our chat?]

Lu Mi: “…”

He fell silent for a while and glanced at his support champion.

He could play anything, but at this rank he still felt it was safer to use his strongest position. Even so, if the other player was better, he was perfectly willing to give up the position.

By the time Lu Mi had selected a support champion suited to his preselected lineup, his teammate had chosen one as well.

It was the exact same support champion.

It seemed their thinking was very similar.

Lu Mi froze for a moment.

His teammate wrote, “It’s fine if you don’t answer me. I’ll call myself big brother.”

He locked in the support champion immediately, apparently giving the jungle position directly to Lu Mi.

Lu Mi: “…”

Lu Mi could not help laughing. He sent a thank-you, then switched his champion back to Bamboo Dragonfly.

Once the game began, Lu Mi glanced at his support teammate’s ID: Loves Donuts.

It looked like a girl’s name.

[Wait, is this the Donut from the RRG team?]

RRG had originally been one of the favorites to win the Mid-Season Championship. But in yesterday’s match, after losing the first game, they had immediately substituted their support, Donut, as though they had placed all the blame on him. It had not changed the outcome, however, and they had still been eliminated in the semifinals.

Donut’s in-game ID was Loves Donuts, and he was male.

[No way. Maybe it’s just some trick that lets people share the same name.]

[I searched for him in-game. It really is him. His ranked score should be about the same as Lost’s. The only support player who could climb that high is Donut, and he’s still stuck on the bench.]

Lu Mi did not notice what the chat was discussing.

The game was just as difficult as he had expected. Neither side could find a good opening, and once the game passed the thirty-minute mark, they had to secure both major jungle objectives in the next wave to gain an advantage.

But both sides knew that a team fight could easily turn the game around. The opposing team, as well as the teammate who had his microphone on, would each take one objective.

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To take both, they would have to steal one.

But it was too dangerous. Lu Mi could not completely trust that he would survive the attempt.

“Lost, I’m going to secure vision. Can you come over? The others should take the Serpent. Give their support a ward to spot.”

The support suddenly spoke over voice chat. He had an extremely young male voice.

Lu Mi’s palm grew slightly damp. He turned on his microphone.

“Sure.”

The support seemed to pause. “You really are a little brother? Then I’ll head over and wait for you. Don’t show yourself yet.”

“If the two of you die, this game is over. Thirty minutes wasted,” the marksman could not help saying.

The support laughed. “You have to trust your teammates. Don’t you trust Lost’s mechanics?”

The marksman said nothing more.

It was obvious that the support was probably a professional-level player.

Hearing him say that, Lu Mi could not help tightening his grip on the mouse.

He was patient in everything he did.

First, he showed the enemy mid laner a false glimpse of himself. After being reduced to half health, he took a circuitous route toward the objective pit.

Just as he had predicted, the enemy team had indeed chosen the safer approach, with one player taking each objective.

Lu Mi calculated the objective’s remaining health.

Just as its health reached the execution threshold, the support leaped into the pit and locked down all five enemies with a single massive control ability. Lu Mi immediately passed through the wall, entering attack range at the same moment as the enemy jungler, and both of them executed the objective.

They successfully stole it.

The instant the enemy’s abilities struck him, Lu Mi did not hesitate. He activated his E ability and vanished, negating all the damage as he escaped.

The support, meanwhile, had already flashed away with barely any health left and used a movement ability to flee the moment Lu Mi passed through the wall.

There was no doubt that they won the game.

After leaving the results screen, Lu Mi checked the time. It was just a few minutes before ten. He was about to open the chat and say goodbye when a friend request from “Loves Donuts” appeared on the game interface.

The sweat in Lu Mi’s palms increased.

He had encountered many formidable teammates, but very few who coordinated with him so perfectly.

He could sense that the support was a professional player.

And the only professional player who used the ID “Loves Donuts” was the support from RRG.

Playing with a professional player felt different from playing with an ordinary person.

Lu Mi stared at the ID for several seconds before accepting the request.

Loves Donuts: “Want to play regular ranked? Climbing by solo queue is too difficult.”

The game had two kinds of ranked modes. One was regular ranked, where the only distinction was rank and players could queue solo, duo, trio, or as a five-stack. The other was the ranked-score mode Lu Mi had been playing all along, in which players could climb only through solo queue.

Lu Mi took a deep breath.

“I’m done for today. I’m logging off.”

After sending the message, he opened the livestream chat.

[This is a professional player!!]

[What are you getting excited about? It’s not like Lost has never matched with a professional player before.]

[A-Mo has entered the stream!!]

[Lost, why don’t you ask whether their team is still recruiting?]

[That’s hilarious. A cheating streamer wants to go pro?]

[Our Lost is famous now. He even has haters.]

Before Lu Mi could say anything, Loves Donuts replied:

“Alright, maybe next time.”

“Have you ever considered going pro? I looked at your KDI. A professional team must have invited you before, right?”

This time, Lu Mi did not hesitate. He replied directly:

“I’m not going pro. Thanks.”

Sensing his obvious rejection, Loves Donuts hurriedly added, “It’s just an old habit—I asked without thinking. I don’t have the authority to recruit anyone, so don’t block me, little brother.”

But he received no reply for a long time.

Lu Mi exited the game and glanced at the chat.

[I told you our Lost could go pro!!]

[Please. Donut himself is stuck on the bench.]

[Once the Mid-Season Championship is over, all the major teams will start recruiting. Why don’t you really give it a try, Lost? You’d definitely earn more than you do as a streamer.]

Almost the entire screen was filled with messages about going professional.

Lu Mi gripped the mouse tightly. Only after a long while did he say softly, “That’s all for today’s stream.”

Even his voice was trembling slightly.

To Lu Mi, becoming a professional player was something impossibly distant.

He could no longer make his own choices about his life.

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Just as he was about to close the stream, a gift notification suddenly drifted across the center of the screen.

[User 97654398 sent the streamer ten bouquets worth 999 coins] ×10

As though to prove that Lu Mi was earning quite a lot as a streamer, Shen Tan sent the gift ten more times in succession, directly giving him one hundred sets of 999-coin bouquets.

Lu Mi remained frozen for quite some time, until his phone began to vibrate.

On the screen, Shen Tan was directly calling him by video.

Had he called to hurry Lu Mi into ending the stream?

“Thank you for the gifts, User 97654398.” As he spoke, Lu Mi closed the livestream.

He paused over the accept button for several seconds before answering the video call.

The phone seemed to have been placed on the coffee table. Shen Tan was sitting on the sofa on the screen.

Lu Mi had never video-called anyone before, and especially not Shen Tan. He could not help pressing his lips together.

“You don’t look very happy.”

Shen Tan rested his elbow on his knee and leaned toward the camera, making Lu Mi feel as though Shen Tan were staring directly at him.

Lu Mi hurriedly shook his head. “…I’m not.”

Perhaps he was, but it was not because of Shen Tan.

“Is that so? I thought you were unwilling to video-call me. But now it sounds as though you’re not unwilling after all. Since you don’t dislike seeing me that much, can I come home early?”

Shen Tan’s expression was as calm as ever, but Lu Mi seemed to hear amusement in his voice.

Lu Mi: “…”

For a moment, he did not know whether he should answer yes or no.

No matter what he said, it seemed he might upset Shen Tan.

“It’s fine if you don’t want me to come home. I can accompany you to sleep another way.”

Shen Tan gave a quiet laugh.

Lu Mi asked instinctively, “What way?”

“You’ll have to go back to your room before I can tell you. Or are you unwilling to sleep in my bed when I’m not there too? That won’t do. You need to get used to it in advance. I can’t stay away from home forever.”

As he spoke, Shen Tan glanced at the livestream chat, which was still filled with messages about going pro.

Lu Mi’s expression in the video was no longer as timid as before.

Instead, there was a faint sadness in his eyes.

Even his tone had changed.

Shen Tan narrowed his eyes and closed his laptop. When he turned his attention back to the phone, Lu Mi had already returned to his room.

“I’m not unwilling.” Afraid that Shen Tan would not believe him, Lu Mi sat down on the edge of the bed and explained softly, “I slept in the bed last night.”

Shen Tan had not been there, and he had slept very well.

But Lu Mi could not say that.

Shen Tan seemed to believe him. He leaned back into the sofa.

“That outfit suits you.”

Lu Mi lowered his head and glanced at his clothes. He still had not changed since returning home; he was wearing the clothes Shen Tan had bought for him.

He had not thanked Shen Tan yet.

Holding up the phone, he moved it farther away so Shen Tan could see the outfit properly.

But once he had done so, he felt it was inappropriate and quickly brought the phone back, his ears turning red.

“Thank you for the clothes.”

He liked them very much.

Shen Tan was the first person to buy clothes for him so carefully.

Back at the Lu household, many of his clothes had been hand-me-downs from his eldest and second brothers. Others had been gifts, or things Lu Nande had bought for him on a whim when he was in a good mood.

No one had cared whether they suited him.

Lu Mi had never cared either. If he could wear them, that was enough.

Shen Tan hummed.

“How are you going to thank me? There are many ways to show gratitude.”

Lu Mi paused. “I…”

There was nothing he could give Shen Tan.

“Preferably in a way I like.” Shen Tan spoke unhurriedly. “You should know what I like, shouldn’t you?”

Without meaning to, Lu Mi pictured Shen Tan holding him on the sofa and kissing him. His ears grew even hotter, and his hand trembled.

Shen Tan’s gaze fell on his flushed ears. One corner of his lips lifted slightly, and he smiled for an instant before it vanished.

“No rush. Take your time thinking about it. I haven’t come home yet, so for now, you need to shower and go to sleep.”

It seemed he was giving Lu Mi time to recover.

It was already after midnight where Shen Tan was. He really should sleep.

Relieved, Lu Mi hurriedly answered, “Okay.” He was just about to say good night when Shen Tan seemed to guess what he intended to say and interrupted him.

“Leave the phone here or take it with you. You can choose.”