Chapter 297

Under normal circumstances, Bai Liang wouldn't act recklessly in dangerous places.

Of course, he wasn't afraid of being discovered.

With his luck, even if someone found him, it'd probably be some beautiful girl—and who knows, maybe it'd turn into some harem plot.

He usually thought carefully about girls' feelings.

Most girls still needed a sense of security.

So he mostly chose hotel rooms, rarely used RVs unless he happened to run into one~

When the mood struck, there was no choosing the place, and the girl didn't want to move either.

So far, there had only been that one time—with Li Yitong—in the KTV bathroom, and it wasn't because Bai Liang suddenly got some wild idea and wanted to spice things up.

It was the little evil kitten who took the initiative.

This was like an animal show—you could refuse an animal show, but you couldn't stop an animal from performing anyway.

As for this time, Bai Liang was about to step onto the stage for a competition—his first and last professional match.

Yet Yang Mi, that sly bitch, pulled this on him?

Damn it!

This was even more absurd than eating beef noodles before the match!

Bai Liang stood frozen, caught in silence and indecision.

Yang Mi, however, glanced at him with a grin, then tapped away in her high heels—tap-tap-tap—toward the rest room.

Her personal assistant hesitated, "Sis~ Where's Xiao Bai? Isn't he coming?"

Yang Mi chuckled, sat down, lightly brushed her silk stockings, adjusted her collar, and said confidently, "He's coming~"

So what if she was thirty-two in lunar age? Still managed to make the boy lose his mind.

After all these years in the entertainment industry, spending so much on her face and body—wasn't this exactly when it paid off?

Five minutes later, her confidence cracked.

No way! He really isn't coming? This made her look so foolish—she'd just bragged to her assistant.

She couldn't help glancing at her assistant, who kept her eyes down, face utterly expressionless.

But Yang Mi blurted out, "Come on, laugh if you want to—I'm not gonna fire you or anything, right?"

"Sis, Bai Liang really doesn't know how to appreciate you!" the assistant immediately chimed in, scolding.

That actually amused Yang Mi; she waved her hand, "Nah, not that bad—the brat's got some self-control. Too bad I went out of my way to change into this outfit today."

"Aren't you doing something tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow's event? Heh, I'll just hang out with Yang Tianbao."

Yang Mi knew full well tomorrow's lineup—she was just there to fill the crowd.

Otherwise, why would she have rushed over today? She wasn't some teenage girl who'd show up to scold someone for not answering calls or texts.

This wasn't some love drama~

These were the reasons she told herself.

Right now, Yang Mi got along well with Yang Tianbao—in fact, she'd had good relations with most of the 85s.

But time flew by, and her "girlfriends" came and went.

Now, she didn't even have a husband anymore.

Luckily, she still had money and her career.

The cost, perhaps, was what many said—that the light in her eyes was gone.

But she didn't care about that; she just felt a pang of nostalgia—she hadn't acted on such sudden impulse in a long time.

"Sis, you just smiled so beautifully~" the assistant suddenly said.

"I smiled?"

"Yeah, it felt like years ago."

"What kind of feeling from years ago?" Yang Mi asked curiously.

The assistant thought a moment, "When everyone told you not to marry so young, and you said, 'He's different.'"

These words froze Yang Mi's expression.

Because she'd just met another… different person~

This time, he really was different—but she was already thirty-two.

"Knock-knock-knock~"

The sudden knock made Yang Mi's heart flutter.

But the assistant had already gone to open the door; upon seeing Bai Liang, she promptly stepped outside to stand guard.

"Huh? Did I come late?"

Bai Liang instantly sensed something off about Yang Mi's mood—he thought, Come on, sis, you're not gonna get mad over a few minutes?

Such a short fuse—you'd hit menopause early, even rabbit talismans wouldn't help.

"No, you're right on time!" Yang Mi beamed at him, her eyes suddenly bright.

——

"Master, where'd you go? Lingering outside so long?"

"Calming fans," Bai Liang waved dismissively.

Wang Sicong spotted the hickey on Bai Liang's neck and grinned, gesturing for someone to bring paper~

He teased, "Your female fans are pretty wild!"

"Not bad."

Bai Liang also felt Yang Mi seemed slightly off today.

A man in his thirties, acting like a little girl.

No idea why he insists on holding hands.

Maybe... it triggered a delivery discount, thirty off when you spend thirty?

It didn't waste any time though; the match tactics that needed arranging were pretty much all arranged.

Anyway, the other players were just there to "be dogs" for Bai Liang and Wang Sicong — those two just pick their best heroes and that's that.

So the question is, which hero is Bai Liang best at in the mid lane?

"The goddess of luck is smiling~"

Three magic cards flipped and whirled between his fingers, red, yellow, and blue streaks of light tracing afterimages, as if gripping fate by the throat.

"For the final pick, player Bai Bai Daxian has chosen mid-lane Twisted Fate! Wonder how his card-cutting skills are~"

"Twisted Fate is still pretty luck-dependent, but our player Bai Bai Daxian should be way ahead in that department~"

"."

Way ahead? That's an understatement!

Next up is the performance of how to move around. When Bai Liang starts mashing randomly, that's his strongest state while playing.

If he plays seriously, he's the strongest king; if he plays randomly, well, that rank is hard to say — even Faker might not land a single non-targeted skill on him.

Plus he always racks up the most extra gold through last-hitting, those little sixes, leaving the commentators completely dumbfounded.

Wait, is this hero really that luck-dependent?

"Holy crap, is Bai Bai Daxian that insane?!"

Wang Sicong, being tortured in the bottom lane, kept hearing kill after kill and even solo kills from mid and jungle, and was completely dumbfounded.

Is the other side throwing the game on purpose? Scared of the ten-thousand-plus "executioners" in the venue?

"Liang-ge is badass!"

IG's jungler King Ning went wild hyping him up, but it wasn't entirely empty flattery — that yellow card cut was way too smooth.

Always instant yellow-card cuts, feels even more exciting than the team's original mid-laner!

Just when Wang Sicong thought the opponents might be throwing the game, his spirit lifted, and he wanted to turn things around and stand tall as the man of the hour.

"A cold gleam arrives first, then the spear strikes like a dragon!" The opposing VG team's jungler, determined to play security guard, charged in and started stabbing Wang Sicong's hero wildly.

Actually, he had gone mid to cause trouble, but after being killed twice in a row by King Ning and Bai Liang, he decided to go for the soft target instead.

Throughout the whole match, the fangirl fans gave it their full support!

Felt like the applause and cheers barely stopped the entire time.

Many of them probably couldn't even understand the game — being able to spot the hero Bai Liang was controlling on the big screen was already an achievement.

But there were commentators at the venue!

Every time the commentators praised Bai Liang, they went wild.

After discovering this little "control switch," the commentators' flattery never stopped.

Likewise, the bullet comments "exploded."

"Wait, Bai Bai Daxian can really play?! Awesome. That little movement was way too smooth."

"Feels just like he's running a script — VG's mid-laner hasn't landed a single skill."

"Every time it's an instant yellow-card cut, I'm genuinely moved. Cover his ID and I'd think it was Rookie sitting there playing."

!

"Does Rookie's Twisted Fate even play at this level? He plays two-ball-one-chicken."

"I think the passive is the most ridiculous thing — every time the director cuts to him, I feel like he's getting max gold every time! Is he hacking?"

"Hacking's impossible, maybe not fully hacked anyway, just type 'ridiculous' on the public screen and that'll do."

"I just remembered, Bai Bai Daxian said in the pre-match interview that he's lucky... there's no way it's this kind of luck, right?"

"With luck this good, why not play Tryndamere and crit every hit?"

"There's the All-Star exhibition match tomorrow too, he might just chase Zhou Jielun down critting every hit, haha~"

"."

When the opponent's nexus was destroyed, all seven players on both teams breathed a sigh of relief, and one player secretly thought it was a shame: he hadn't finished stabbing~

Wang Sicong was a bit annoyed — damn that jungler kept stabbing him up the ass, ruining his entire gaming experience.

Especially since his KDA was still negative, even producing a hilarious "telescope" scene, while Bai Liang went 6-1-15.

Although he didn't completely demolish the whole game, a Twisted Fate playing like this in a pro match was enough to make those esports fans look at him with new eyes.

At the very least, no one would ever again say Bai Liang came to ride the esports hype train.

After all, no matter how weak VG is, they're still a pro team.

Plus, seeing how Wang Sicong got stabbed up, by contrast everyone would feel they definitely weren't throwing the game.

Summary:

Bai Liang actually has pro-level skills?!

With skills like this and not going pro to make a name? Oh right, he's a top-tier celebrity, a ten-billion box-office Mr., never mind then.

Sister Yanzi: Although esports male fans don't really spend much, they're a decent pool of casual fans relatively speaking.

Getting such a huge circle to develop goodwill toward Bai Liang is absolutely a blood-profit, no loss.

And the esports circle does have female fans too. After all these years of LPL operation, it's perfect to let our own Dou Xiao Bai come "harvest" a wave of female fans.

Reel them in! Reel them in hard!

Although using this method to gain fans and consolidate public goodwill is a bit strange, Sister Yanzi says her own Dou Xiao Bai has plenty of weird tricks up his sleeve.

After the match, Bai Liang stood on stage with Wang Sicong with a smile, accepting an interview from a beautiful host.

Seems her name is Yu Shuang.

Unfortunately, though today's host had also shown up in full formal dress, the two being interviewed barely glanced at her at all.

Bai Liang had his attention fixed entirely on the fans who had come to support him.

As for Wang Sicong—he was looking at Yang Mi right in the middle of the front row~

It's not that he's that much of a creep; he mainly felt like something was off somehow.

Hold on!

Where are her stockings?!

Where did that pair of Balenciaga stockings go?!

At this moment Yang Mi was bare-legged; although she still looked quite good, she was clearly a notch better when she had been wearing the black stockings earlier.

Why on earth take the stockings off?

Bai Liang: They're in my pocket. Want them?

The match itself lasted just over thirty minutes, and the post-match interaction with the live audience took another half hour.

After all, with so many fans who had bought tickets to watch, Bai Liang certainly couldn't just pat his butt and dash off.

It was basically an impromptu fan meet-and-greet.

He pulled some people up for interaction, then handed out pre-prepared signed photos and the like.

Bai Liang had always been quite patient about this—after all, he had always been the type to dote on his fans.

Minors excluded!

Among the female fans chosen to come on stage, those few underage little girls—Bai Liang didn't talk games with them at all.

He went straight to asking about their studies.

Adults couldn't escape either. College students? You're my fans—have you studied the civil-service exam guide yet? I'll be releasing a graduate-entrance-exam guide at the end of the year too~

"I'm dying laughing—the Great Immortal himself went pro, and then tells his fans not to play games?"

"A full-on fan-discipline scene. The League of Legends person in charge next to him doesn't even look too happy—bro, you're the spokesperson!"

"It's fine, he has to say it. Otherwise someone would definitely try to stir things up, saying he's leading his fans astray and making them addicted to online games."

"Bai Liang has always been like this. After all, there's no other star in the entertainment circle who tells fans to study for the graduate or civil-service exams."

"He seems to really be planning to take the Peking University entrance exam—he said so before, and I thought he was just bullshitting~ He's this famous and still has time to read and prep for grad school?"

"Maybe geniuses are just like that—better at studying than you, better-looking than you, and on top of that, better at gaming than you."

"He even dared to sit for the civil-service exam and the judicial examination at the same time back then. What kind of brain is that?"

"Even as a guy I'm a little tempted to become the Great Immortal's fan—this brother really does have something going on."

"."

A perfect pro debut.

And then came the "retirement ceremony" right after.

Two pro players with a 100% win rate—together they've left quite an odd mark on the history of League of Legends competitive play.

Wang Sicong was obviously just there to mess around; his skill level is that of a casual gamer, a pure freeloader.

But the discussion about Bai Liang's actual skill level only grew more heated, and related topics even shot up to the trending searches.

That topic was pushed up purely by esports fans banding together; the idol-circle girls were more focused on Bai Liang's outfit today.

They don't really know much about the game content itself, so even when they discuss it, nothing much comes of it.

Anyway, the Great Immortal is awesome—that's all that matters~

As for his outfit today? Just an IG team jersey.

But the idol-circle girls somehow spun a whole flower out of it.

This thing counts as team merchandise, so it also helped move some product on the side.

And after this wonderful collision between esports and the entertainment circle, the drama "Love O2O" was dug up again and gained quite a bit of renewed buzz.

Gaming god Xiao Nai, right—back then Bai Liang had ridden this role straight to the top tier.

And at this moment, the screenwriter and original author of "Wei Wei," Gu Man, suddenly jumped in on the action.

"New book coming soon—gaming and aerospace elements. @Bai Liang @Dilireba, my male and female leads—are you ready?"

(End of chapter)