Chapter 5: Revelry

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Seeing Shen Tan’s words, Lu Mi was momentarily dazed.
No one had ever spoken to him like that since childhood.
Whatever he wanted, it was always given to him.
But when someone like Shen Tan said it, Lu Mi didn’t take it seriously.
For someone of Shen Tan’s status and position, marrying him was probably just a fleeting amusement. People like them didn’t care about marriage; even if married, they could be with others.
Yet, for a brief moment, Lu Mi felt happy.
The corners of his lips curled up slightly as he sent Shen Tan a message: “Thank you, Mr. Shen.”
Shen Tan didn’t reply.
Lu Mi, on the other hand, breathed a sigh of relief.
He put down his phone and messaged Shuimu to tell him he was starting his livestream now, deliberately ignoring the barrage of reprimands from the guild management, then quickly launched the game and began streaming.
He had taken two days off and needed to make up for the time; otherwise, his guaranteed monthly salary would be deducted.
Although the guild management threatened him with attendance requirements, withholding pay would be illegal since they had signed a contract.
Lu Mi didn’t have an enormous fanbase, but he had a number of loyal fans who were already filling the chat as soon as he went live.
[Finally, Brother Lost is streaming!!!]
Lu Mi’s streaming and in-game name was “Lost.”
He glanced at the chat and softly said, “Good evening, everyone.”
[You’ve said five words so far today, let’s count how many words in total you say.]
Lu Mi chuckled lightly; his voice was soft, like a cat purring quietly.
[Did he just laugh? So cute! Did anyone record this? Please send it to me!]
[Isn’t he ranked tenth on the national server? Can he just play the game seriously? Such nonsense.]
Two days ago, Lu Mi’s honor ranking was tenth. But the competition for the honor leaderboard was fierce, and most of those ranked at the top were professional players. It was normal for a “king of solo queue” like Lu Mi to be pushed out of the top ten after a day without playing.
He had just checked and found himself down to fifteenth place.
Probably because professional tournaments were coming up, and the pros on the leaderboard were busy training, with no time to climb ranks.
Without hesitation, Lu Mi started a match to warm up.
[What? Why not play ranked?]
[Did he get banned for cheating and now afraid to play ranked?]
The game hadn’t even loaded yet, and Lu Mi hadn’t turned off the chat.
“Destination” had been popular for years. Although the anti-cheat system was robust, technology had advanced, and cheats had evolved alongside it.
Two days ago, a streamer on a rival platform was caught cheating in the top twenty honor rankings. Lu Mi had only heard Shuimu mention it briefly and hadn’t paid much attention.
He pursed his lips and softly said, “No, just warming up.”
His tone was gentle; even his denial carried no threat.
[Lost can’t possibly cheat? He’s been a solo king for so long.]
[If he’s not cheating, why not go pro? Sounds like he’s still young.]
Every livestream had this kind of chatter. Lu Mi paused briefly at the mention of going pro, then turned off the chat.
The game was now at the hero selection screen.
Similar to traditional MOBA games, “Destination” was a two-team game, divided into red and blue teams. Victory went to the side that defended their base.
Each game randomly selected a map, differing in background but identical in layout: divided into four zones—top, mid, bot, and jungle. Each lane had three flags per side, each with defenses that needed to be broken sequentially before attacking the next. Destroying all three flags on a lane allowed attacking the base.
Both sides had half the jungle, where neutral monsters spawned along with red and blue buffs. After ten minutes, a powerful monster appeared that granted a team-wide buff.
The jungle was more concealed but freely enterable.
Heroes were categorized as tank (top), mage (mid), marksman (bot), support (roaming), and assassin (jungle).
Lu Mi mainly played the jungle role.
He quickly picked “Savage,” a jungle hero heavily nerfed this season.
Savage was a veteran hero from the game’s early days who had once been powerful but had to give way to new heroes. This season, he was nerfed from a one-hit assassin to a fragile, one-hit squishy.
Lu Mi rarely played this hero before; he usually played ranked games cautiously.
But this was a casual match, and he wanted to practice.
Though practicing heroes was of little use to him.
That message was right.
He couldn’t go pro—not because of his age, and not because he cheated.
As a regular streamer, no matter how deep his hero pool was, it didn’t matter much.
Lu Mi tightened his grip on the mouse and confirmed his choice.
He closed the chat and didn’t notice the chat becoming even livelier.
[Matched with Amo again; what a coincidence.]
[Amo said yesterday it’d be great if his jungler was as good as Brother Lost.]
[Brother? Hasn’t Amo heard Lu Mi speak? Haven’t you seen how he quietly tells people not to argue when getting insulted?]
[Sorry, I’m an Amo fan, I called him brother.]
[I thought Amo would meet someone even more aggressive than him, but that amazing jungler last time was just a younger guy?]
[Can you stop shipping them here?]
Lu Mi didn’t notice that their support was Amo, heading straight to the jungle.
He farmed quickly; even with an outdated hero like Savage, he had his own system.
But Savage was too fragile now; he couldn’t invade the enemy jungle. Lu Mi farmed his own jungle, helped mid clear waves, and took a few kills from the enemy mid.
Enemy mage: “What? Where did the jungler come from? Why isn’t the support helping?”
Enemy marksman: “Can you just hide under the flag properly?”
Enemy jungler: “Who took my jungle? Marksman, was that you? I just saw you over there!”
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Before the enemy marksman could finish typing, his body was already on the ground.
Without a word, Lu Mi slipped into the grass and returned to his jungle.
Enemy marksman: “Is the enemy jungler cheating? Who plays Savage like this? If he’s not cheating, I’m a monkey.”
[Here come the ‘losing is cheating’ comments again.]
[Amo’s gonna be attached to Lost again? Amo, you love him so much!]
Our support: “If you’re bad, practice more. Typing while lying down makes you look so capable?”
[Amo loves him so much!]
In casual matches, teammates varied in skill. Only Lu Mi and the support had positive scores. Seeing the enemy marksman on bot lane with nearly no health, Lu Mi typed in team chat: “Support, follow me.”
He had the early advantage, but Savage was too fragile late game. Without a support, it was hard to survive once the enemy targeted him. Their marksman was already struggling to farm.
[Is this mutual dedication?]
Just as Lu Mi expected, after fifteen minutes, it became difficult to catch isolated enemies.
The enemy tank played a half-tank, half-damage role but was building full damage and farming steadily. Lu Mi avoided direct confrontation initially.
But his teammates lost a team fight, and the enemy tank grabbed all the kills.
The tank’s game sense was excellent, and he had developed well.
The chat noticed too.
[Wait, isn’t that tank’s ID from the Meme Squad jungler?]
[You mean the Meme Squad that didn’t even make it to the mid-season tournament this season? Sounds like him, probably his main account.]
In the enemy channel:
Black Horn (enemy tank): “I’m taking care of the jungler. He can’t beat me. Savage is trash now; enemy jungler’s skills are average.”
Black Horn farmed quietly early on.
Their team had missed the mid-season tournament, morale was low, and they played ranked just to relieve stress.
Used to high-level play, he didn’t expect such poor teammates to be dominated by such a weak old hero who even took his jungle role.
But he was streaming and couldn’t curse.
At fifteen minutes, the big neutral monster respawned. Lu Mi wanted to gather for a contest, but everyone except him and support was wiped out.
They had to give up the first big monster, and the situation had completely reversed. Even with support, Lu Mi could only play defensively.
[Game’s lost.]
[Too selfish, took all the resources himself. How could teammates farm?]
[What are you talking about? These teammates don’t deserve resources. Lost usually just farms peacefully, okay?]
At twenty minutes, their bot lane flags were down to the last one, half health remaining, and teammates had been wiped out again.
Enemy mage: “Where’s your jungler? Why hiding like a turtle?”
Enemy marksman: “Wasn’t the support shouting before? Now he’s down too?”
The marksman danced on the support’s corpse.
Our support: “Bullying the weak.”
From their perspective, Lu Mi was still hiding.
[Are you planning to charge in alone?]
[He actually swapped to invisibility and resurrection items. If sold, he could afford a Guardian Angel.]
Guardian Angel keeps you alive at 1% HP for five seconds; invisibility item grants two seconds of stealth when out of combat; resurrection item revives you immediately after death.
But there were five enemies.
[One versus five? Unlikely.]
Enemy tank: “Jungler, wanna surrender?”
Lu Mi ignored him. With their flag almost destroyed, he activated his rage skill and charged at the clustered enemy mage and marksman.
His movements were so fast the enemy barely reacted. The tank was already at their base, unable to respond in time.
The mage and marksman fell onto support Amo.
Amo revived too.
Our support: “Ah.”
Enemy marksman: “? He must be cheating.”
Lu Mi didn’t stop. He immediately activated invisibility, dodged the enemy jungler’s ultimate with precise movement, took the enemy jungler’s kill, and died himself.
Only the enemy tank and support remained alive; our jungler and support were left as well.
Our support was fragile; enemy support had healing skills, fully restoring the tank’s HP damaged by the base.
Lu Mi wasted no time. Upon dying, he switched to Guardian Angel. After reviving, he charged the enemy tank.
[Can’t win. Savage’s nerfs are too severe, and the tank has Guardian Angel.]
Lu Mi focused intently on the tank’s movements, dodging fatal damage with skill at the moment the tank cast his skill.
Still, his HP dropped by half.
His ultimate had two seconds cooldown left.
Lu Mi pressed his lips but remained calm.
He counted the seconds.
One.
The tank used a double dash to close in.
Lu Mi double dashed onto the enemy support, halving the support’s HP.
[Give up, the enemy still has Guardian Angel.]
Two.
Lu Mi switched targets to the tank. The tank targeted him and started channeling a damaging skill.
But Lu Mi’s skill cast was instant.
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Ultimate plus basic attack.
The tank’s HP depleted; his skill was only halfway cast before he fell.
Lu Mi had ten percent HP left. He used a basic attack to bring the enemy support to half health, who then healed him.
He calmly spoke into the mic: “Support, can you give me the rage buff when the enemy revives?”
[Such a soft voice.]
[I can’t associate such a gruff Savage with Lost’s voice.]
[So calm under pressure. I thought he was doomed, but Amo tanked damage well.]
[Maybe it’s the power of love.]
Amo also spoke, his voice magnetic and male: “Of course.”
“Thanks.” Just as Lu Mi finished, the enemy tank revived and activated Guardian Angel.
Simultaneously, a red glow appeared around Lu Mi. Without pause, he immediately used his QR combo skill on the tank.
The tank reacted a fraction late but still tanked the skill.
Back in Black Horn’s stream:
“He’s just a squishy now; how could he beat me?” Black Horn was confident, but in the next second, his HP almost hit the Guardian Angel trigger point.
Cursing almost slipped out, Black Horn hastily cast his ultimate on Savage.
But Savage seemed to have predicted his move, dodging with a double dash!
Black Horn froze and blurted, “Is he using some kind of auto-targeting hack?”
[Don’t pros all predict like that?]
[The enemy isn’t a pro. If he’s so good, why not go pro?]
While Black Horn ranted, Lu Mi’s teammates had all revived.
The enemy had half a minute left before their revival.
That thirty seconds was enough to turn the game around.
Lu Mi didn’t continue to fight the low-HP enemy tank but retreated to the base to recover.
Even if his teammates were weak, they could finish the tank without skills or buffs.
After half a minute, Lu Mi’s team destroyed the enemy base.
[They actually won?]
The game ended, and Lu Mi logged out.
In the current patch, Savage was still too weak. He had checked; except for the tank, the enemies were low rank.
Maybe his teammates weren’t strong enough either.
If both teams were professionals, it’d be a better test of whether Savage was viable this season.
But that was impossible for him.
Lu Mi pressed his lips and reopened the chat.
[Lost baby, look at Amo! Amo sent you a friend request!]
[What is this, a couple united is unbreakable.]
Focused on the game, Lu Mi seldom noticed other things.
He glanced at his friend list and saw Amo’s friend request.
He only realized the support this game was Amo after it ended.
But recalling the manager’s words, he hesitated to accept the request.
While he pondered, the livestream interface suddenly flashed: [Streamer Amo entered this stream.]
[Streamer Amo sent streamer Lost 520 bouquets.]
[Streamer Amo: How about adding me back?]
[User 97654398 sent streamer 999 bouquets] ×10
Each bouquet cost five yuan.
Lu Mi didn’t usually receive many gifts; this was a significant amount for him.
He was stunned.
Amo had sent so many; it seemed impossible to refuse now.
But who was this user?
Not only Lu Mi was stunned, the chat urging him to add Amo froze as well.
Sending so many 999 bouquets was a privilege reserved for big streamers.
Lu Mi opened his mouth to say thanks when his phone lit up.
He glanced sideways.
Shen Tan: “You play very well.”
Someone like Shen Tan actually... watched his stream?
How did Shen Tan find his channel?
Did Shen Tan know from the start?
Even without mentioning his streaming, Shen Tan must have known.
Lu Mi trembled slightly.
His phone vibrated again.
Shen Tan: “Do you want to add him as a friend?”