You’re Causing Chaos Again

Meng Yan, who had only joined in the middle of watching the livestream, was unaware of the previous context. He turned his head and gave He Changkong a questioning look.

He Changkong’s lips moved slightly, contemplating whether to go explain the details again, but he decided against it and changed the subject, “What do you think about inviting him to join our team?”

Meng Yan exaggeratedly expressed his surprise, “Did you get possessed by someone?”

Even during the transfer period, let alone during regular times, He Changkong didn’t pay much attention to changes in the team’s roster. It was even more unlikely for him to propose inviting someone into their team.

Who comes and goes seemed to have little significance to him.

Return to the Throne is a game that emphasizes teamwork, but He Changkong doesn’t need to exert much effort to coordinate with his teammates, as he can perform well regardless of who his partner is.

He Changkong’s profession is a healer, which in low-tier matches meant being purely focused on healing, timing heals and shields for teammates. In high-tier matches, healers became vital support roles, responsible not only for the basic tasks but also for triggering random events, providing buffs to teammates, and sometimes even acting as the core strategist for the team’s overall gameplay.

Some people praised He Changkong’s support abilities, saying that any type of player could fully unleash their potential under his assistance. If you liked to stand your ground and fight, Kong-Shen would hold your opponents down for you to enjoy a satisfying battle. If you enjoyed recklessness, he would take care of clearing all the traps and obstacles in front of you.

He truly allowed birds to fly in the open sky.1He truly allowed birds to fly in the open sky.:”真真是长空任鸟飞” (Zhēn zhēn shì cháng kōng rèn niǎo fēi) word play from the name “贺长空” (Hè Chángkōng), “长空” (Chángkōng) means “vast sky” or “open sky,” this sentence conveys a sense of admiration for He Changkong’s ability to soar above obstacles and limitations.

He Changkong didn’t need to accommodate his teammates, so naturally, he didn’t pay much attention to finding new partners. A few days ago, when the coach asked them to check out potential talented players in the second team, He Changkong straightforwardly expressed disinterest.

…

Moreover, He Changkong had only watched a low-tier match that seemed like a joke… Even if this streamer’s gameplay was impressive, it wouldn’t make He Changkong regard him in a different light, would it?

Meng Yan looked at He Changkong as if he had seen a ghost, and He Changkong maintained eye contact with him, his lips pursed.

Seeing He Changkong’s serious expression, Meng Yan put on a serious face as well. “By just watching this livestream, at most, we can see that he’s hiding his true abilities, but we can’t accurately gauge how good he really is… Besides, our team doesn’t need more members right now.”

He Changkong withdrew his gaze from Meng Yan and looked back at the now blacked-out livestream, wanting to say something but ultimately choosing to remain silent.

Indeed, their team didn’t currently need additional members, and he hadn’t figured out how to explain his seemingly unusual behavior to Meng Yan.

In a concealed yet easy-to-find place in the alley across from Thirteen High School, stepping inside gave the impression of an ordinary convenience store.

Shen Yanming entered the store with familiarity, exchanging greetings with the owner. Without even looking up, the owner threw a card at him.

Taking the card, Shen Yanming stepped onto the creaky wooden stairs and pushed open the movable shelves that served as a disguise.

A hidden paradise.

Shen Yanming thought, “This is my heaven.”

It was an average internet cafe. Since it was during class time, only a few people were sparsely seated inside.

Shen Yanming found a small private room and settled in. After settling in, He patted the edge of the display screen as if he were patting a close friend’s shoulder, filled with a sense of nostalgia.

The environment and equipment in the internet cafe were mediocre, but killing time here was still better than enduring punishment in the classroom.

He had started anew in life. Originally, Shen Yanming sincerely wanted to turn over a new leaf and focus on studying, but his mind just couldn’t keep up.

He had never been attentive in class before, and after becoming a professional player and focusing on competitions for two to three years without studying, now returning to the final year of high school, his mind was completely empty.

During math class just now, Shen Yanming managed to pay attention for about ten minutes before he began nodding off with his eyes half-closed. His nodding had a rhythmic quality, as if someone in his dream were playing some exciting music for him. When he reached the peak of excitement, a chalk tip flew straight towards his face, abruptly awakening Shen Yanming.

The math teacher had a stern expression, “Shen Yanming, explain the process of solving the point P coordinates.”

Shen Yanming was still a bit dazed, “Coordinates? I’ll send the coordinates to the team channel, and I’ll come support immediately…”

It wasn’t until he heard the suppressed laughter from his classmates around him that Shen Yanming realized he had fallen asleep in class and had been caught red-handed.

He sent a distress signal with his eyes to his desk mate, who passed him a note.

Thinking that he had received the correct answer, Shen Yanming naively read out the contents of the note word by word, “You…are…doomed…just…wait…to die…”

Shen Yanming: “…”

The math teacher’s face gradually turned the same color as the blackboard behind him.

So, a little over ten minutes later, Shen Yanming, who was supposed to stand outside the classroom as punishment, skillfully climbed over the wall and escaped from the school grounds.

Shen Yanming was a boarding student, and in the first few days of school, he was basically isolated from the outside world. When he came to the internet cafe, the first thing he did was not to start the game, but to find a replay video of the Water Friend Competition from that day and watch it.

Previously, he had given his spot to a random support player he matched with, who happened to be from the same city as him, so without any other excuses, she readily agreed and went.

To be honest, it was a very boring match. The random players on their team were completely destroyed by the TMM players.

Kong’s performance was also unremarkable. He only sped up his teammates once and healed them twice throughout the entire match.

Apart from the commentators making jokes and trying to entertain the viewers, the match had nothing interesting to offer.

But It wasn’t like that in the previous life.

At that time, Shen Yanming’s team of ordinary players was at a great disadvantage, with TMM smoothly heading towards the finish line, and Kong was protecting them from the rear.

As the only ordinary player who reached the eighth tier of the ladder, when the other three teammates were wiped out and he was left with just a sliver of health, Shen Yanming secretly followed TMM team, using the terrain to stay hidden. He followed their every move.

Shen Yanming calculated that Kong’s candle, which he used to scout the surroundings, had burned out. Before getting a new candle, the only way to observe the enemy was by listening.

Moving through the bushes made a sound in the game.

Kong, who was playing as a holy priest, turned around and was about to investigate the bushes when a frog jumped out, croaked a couple of times, and then fell silent.

Frogs were random items that could appear in the game. When captured and used on an enemy unit, it would cause continuous damage over time.

The outcome of the battle was already determined, and Kong couldn’t be bothered to catch the frog. He turned around, intending to continue escorting the team to the throne. At that moment, a little White Wolf suddenly dashed out of the bushes and executed a combo with lightning-fast hand speed, causing Kong’s holy priest to lose half of his health.

In this match, the only thing that left an impression on He Changkong was this little white wolf. While the other teammates were cluelessly attacking, this white wolf, as the primary assassin responsible for dealing damage, had to find the crown, tank, and also take advantage of items to secure two kills, greatly prolonging the duration of the match. It was an impressive performance, to say the least.

The commentators at the scene also realized this and their voices became excited, “So, that frog from earlier wasn’t a system item after all. It was a trap set by the little white wolf, who planned this ambush perfectly! What an amazing play!”

Of course, the hand speed and agility of professional players, even ordinary players who reached the top eight of the ladder rankings, was difficult to match.

Coupled with being outnumbered, Shen Yanming eventually met a miserable end under the onslaught of TMM.

After the match, the two teams shook hands, and He Changkong stared at Shen Yanming with an expressionless face, “It’s been a long time since I was successfully ambushed. You’re impressive… I’ve sent you a friend request. Let’s have a solo game when you’re free.”

He Changkong wasn’t just being polite. Shen Yanming couldn’t even count how many times he had been pinned down and defeated by the number one healer in the Chinese server during that brief half-month. Almost every time, he was helpless against the opponent’s attacks.

But now he didn’t have that opportunity.

Perhaps there won’t be such an opportunity in the future.

Shen Yanming sighed. It was his own choice, so there was no need to feel regretful.

However… he couldn’t solo with the number one healer in the national server. Finding a substitute meal would suffice.

Feeling bored at the moment, Shen Yanming took advantage of being securely locked in a private room and started a livestream without any prior notice.

To his surprise, there were quite a few viewers equally bored as him, and they gradually entered the livestream room as he began broadcasting.

Someone greeted him, “Luanzi ge, didn’t you go to school?”

Shen Yanming replied, “Yeah, those lessons is too basic for me. It’s boring to listen to them. Let’s play some games instead.”

Another person asked, “So, what is Luanzi ge planning to play today?”

Shen Yanming smirked mysteriously, “To celebrate the Admissions Office of Tsinghua and Peking University making a big move to recruit me, I’ve decided to hold a lottery event as a gesture of gratitude to all of you… Do any of my brothers and sisters who are watching like playing as healer?”

There were quite a few affirmative responses, and the chat quickly filled with rows of 111.2111: represent laughter. It is similar to expressing “hahaha” or “LOL” in English. The repetition of the number “1” (‘一’: yī) is intended to mimic the sound of laughter.

Shen Yanming continued, “Alright then, in that case, I’ll randomly pick a healer to solo with me.”

As soon as he said that, the barrage of comments turned into an ocean of ellipses.

Shen Yanming’s voice carried a hint of dissatisfaction, “Why are you all like this… Why are some of you asking me to show my face? Am I shameless now? Do you think I’m going to bully the healer? I’m offering myself to be abused by the healer, alright? Who doesn’t know that healers have strong endurance? You can’t kill them at all. You take away a drop of their health, and they heal themselves by ten drops… Whatever, I’ll make the pick.”

Shen Yanming quickly scanned through the online viewers’ IDs and finally stopped at one called “[Stop Messing Around3Stop Messing Around: “你别乱来了” (Nǐ bié luàn láile) ]“.

“It’s you, Luan Luanzi no. 2,” Shen Yanming directly mentioned the person and clicked on their profile. It was a low-level account with no gaming records or rank. The registration date was yesterday, and with such an ID, it didn’t seem like Shen Yanming was being narcissistic to think that this was a smurf account4Smurf account: a secondary or alternate account that a skilled player creates to play at a lower rank than their main account. created solely to get his attention.

Shen Yanming teased further, “Why are you giving us a couple’s name? But this ID is so similar to mine. People won’t be able to tell us apart. How about changing it to something like ‘[My Milk’s Not Working5My Milk’s Not Working: “我奶不动了” (Wǒ nǎi bù dòng le), “奶” (nǎi) is often used as a slang term for healing so the meaning of the id is actually “My healing is not working anymore.”]‘ to complement my ID? It’ll look like we have a perfect harmony, a full display of our affection. What do you think?”

The barrage of comments was filled with other viewers’ reaction, but the person who was mentioned didn’t react at all.

“Luan Luanzi no. 26Luan luanzi no.2: “乱乱子2号” (Luàn luànzi 2 hào), Luan luanzi is a nickname from Shen Yanming’s gaming id, while no.2 refer to [Stop Messing Around]’s id that also have the character Luàn that means chaos there., are you there?” Shen Yanming continued, “Don’t ignore me, it’s making me embarrassed. I was just joking. I’m not into puppy love, even if I were, I wouldn’t do it through online relationships… If you don’t want to solo with me, I can choose someone else…”

When He Changkong received the livestream notification, their afternoon training session had just ended. Meng Yan, who had been practicing with him all afternoon, seemed reluctant to stop and was about to invite He Changkong for a duo queue.

“No duo queue,” He Changkong declined and entered Shen Yanming’s livestream room.

Meng Yan glanced over and his expression turned strange, “Did this little streamer cast a spell on you or something?”

He Changkong didn’t respond to Meng Yan’s comment.

He typed a message in the chat, “If you win against me, I’ll change my name.”

Thank you for reading! 

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1He truly allowed birds to fly in the open sky.:”真真是长空任鸟飞” (Zhēn zhēn shì cháng kōng rèn niǎo fēi) word play from the name “贺长空” (Hè Chángkōng), “长空” (Chángkōng) means “vast sky” or “open sky,” this sentence conveys a sense of admiration for He Changkong’s ability to soar above obstacles and limitations.2111: represent laughter. It is similar to expressing “hahaha” or “LOL” in English. The repetition of the number “1” (‘一’: yī) is intended to mimic the sound of laughter. 3Stop Messing Around: “你别乱来了” (Nǐ bié luàn láile) 4Smurf account: a secondary or alternate account that a skilled player creates to play at a lower rank than their main account.5My Milk’s Not Working: “我奶不动了” (Wǒ nǎi bù dòng le), “奶” (nǎi) is often used as a slang term for healing so the meaning of the id is actually “My healing is not working anymore.”6Luan luanzi no.2: “乱乱子2号” (Luàn luànzi 2 hào), Luan luanzi is a nickname from Shen Yanming’s gaming id, while no.2 refer to [Stop Messing Around]’s id that also have the character Luàn that means chaos there.