135 Everyone Knows

Seeing the two expressions that seemed to ask, ‘what on earth are you talking about?’, Qiao Yue shook her head, too lazy to explain. Instead, she asked Xu Hao why he had come.

When she was hospitalised, her classmates came to visit her. It had only been two days since then, yet here he was. Xu Hao probably had other reasons for visiting.

Qiao Yue’s question surprised Xu Hao. “President, didn’t you tell your brother?”

“No, he’s been a little busy these two days,” Qiao Yu replied.

“What is he busy with? Why didn’t you tell him about something so important? It’s big news for the game!” Xu Hao clamoured excitedly.

The two questions piqued Qiao Yue’s curiosity. She had not been online for a while, but not very long. What could have happened in the meantime?

“What’s going on with the game?” Qiao Yue asked.

Qiao Yu was about to explain the situation to Qiao Yue when Xu Hao stopped him. With an enigmatic smile, he urged Qiao Yue to go online and have a look for herself.

Xu Hao’s refusal to speak openly caused Qiao Yue to frown, but she still did as he suggested, clicking on the game icon on her laptop. It would take a while for the game to load. Something in Xu Hao’s expression sent chills down Qiao Yue’s spine.

“Would you please give me the gist so I can mentally prepare myself?” Qiao Yue pleaded, beginning to feel exasperated by all the secrecy.

Xu Hao chuckled. “Nah. It’d be more fun if you saw it for yourself.”

By then, the game had loaded and was now waiting for input from Qiao Yue. She did not disappoint, immediately clicking ‘enter’.

As soon as she entered the game, friend request notifications began ringing one after another, leaving Qiao Yue dumbfounded. What was going on?

It took two whole minutes before the sound of notifications petered out. Qiao Yue opened the friend request page and saw more than a hundred messages. She briefly considered whether she had done anything to offend someone for them to send so many people to beat her up.

“What’s going on?” Qiao Yue squeaked, her face paling in fright.

Xu Hao burst into laughter. “I’ll let you enjoy the limelight. Take your time. I’m sure you’ll find people you’d like to game with!”

“Fourth Brother, what is all this?” Qiao Yue doubted she could get anything useful from Xu Hao, so she turned to Qiao Yu.

Qiao Yu sighed. “Your lane opponent in our last match was a streamer. Many people watching her stream saw how amazing you were and are now hoping to play with you in-game.”

Qiao Yu had experienced much the same two days ago when he and Xu Hao loaded up their game clients to play for a bout or two. Who could have known that his screen would be bombarded by friend invites as soon as the game loaded? It was a shocking scene. Only after Xu Hao checked the forums did they learn what had caused this sharp uptick in attention.

Xu Hao could barely contain his laughter, adding, “It’s not as simple as you think! Qiao Yue, your open beta account information was dug out. Now there’s a host of gamers, mostly females, hoping you’d carry them in games.”

“What do you mean?” Qiao Yue frowned, unsure what to make of this development.

“Go to the forum and take a look.”

Xu Hao had been feeling quite happy lately. He did not think he would end up playing with such a celebrity through the game’s random matchmaking.

At first, he thought that Qiao Yue was only good at playing support champions. However, that changed swiftly upon watching the replay of their match. Qiao Yue was a surprisingly competent mage player. More impressive was what several netizens managed to uncover, showing how Qiao Yue was an excellent all-rounder. He had made quite a tidy profit through sheer force of luck!

The best part was that Qiao Yue had agreed to join the team. Since they were practically teammates, Xu Hao treated her as such.

Following Xu Hao’s advice, Qiao Yue quickly surveyed the game’s forums. She did not even need to spend any effort searching; it was the post pinned at the top.

The original poster compared the video of ‘Don’t Hit Mage’ to ‘Cooking Wine’. Many people were immediately drawn to the similarities in playstyle; whether it was positioning, timing or the ability to sweep away threats with a grand entrance, they shared too much in common to be explained away by mere coincidence. Ultimately, the original poster concluded that these two IDs belonged to the same person.

Qiao Yue was left speechless. How much free time did these people have? Couldn’t they have spent it elsewhere instead of chronicling her habits?

Sighing, Qiao Yue asked, “So what do we do now? Should I create a new account?”

The game was purely for entertainment; Qiao Yue did not want to attract unnecessary trouble.

Xu Hao guffawed happily. “Why should you create a new account? You should take advantage of your popularity to boost the team’s fame! Although the main roster has already been decided, we can still add more members to our reserve, especially if they are good.”

That was a surprise to Qiao Yue. She could not help but ask, “Are you thinking of forming another team? Are you planning to grow the team and expand its influence in the gaming industry?”