When an Alpha is Marked by One of His Own Kind

Chapter 5

Shen Qiao didn't want to speak.

Next to him, Lele suddenly clicked his tongue. "Tsk."

On the ban screen, Soraka-the champion Lele had indicated he wanted to play-was summarily banned by their team's AD. Yasuo, the champion the mid laner wanted to choose, was also banned.

Their mid laner was, apparently, quite short-tempered. A flurry of enraged messages instantly popped up in the chat box:

[??????]

[I only ******* know how to play Yasuo. If you ban my pick, the **** am I supposed to play?]

Based on that 'cleaned up' message, everyone got a pretty clear idea of what the mid laner really wanted to say.

The AD quickly replied:

[Low-ranking Yasuo players are ****. They don't deserve teammates. :)]

With that, the mid laner and AD both abandoned their computer mice and started slamming on their keyboards. They fired scathing insults back and forth, sending 'warm regards' to each other's mothers, fathers, and ancestors.

Shen Qiao glanced at the chat, then silently locked in Renekton as his champion. A second later, 'StandUpLittleO' chose the Blind Monk.

Lele observed the fight in the chat box for a while longer. Then, for the sake of getting the match underway, he snuck in a few words to try to calm the two teammates who were at each other's throats:

[Pardon me, folks. I'm sure you're very busy with this thrilling debate of yours, but could I trouble you to pick your champions? I'll help whoever chooses first report the other guy~]

The feud in the chat box didn't let up for a single second, but the two players did eventually choose Lissandra and Vayne as their champions.

Naturally, the mid laner didn't forget to follow up on Lele's promise:

[I don't know how to play Lissandra, so I'm going AFK once we get into the game. Do me a favor and report this ****** later, thanks.]

Lele quickly responded:

[kk~]

Then, he calmly spoke into his headset: "Qiao-ge, remember to report both of them later. For AFKing, and for profanity."

Shen Qiao hummed absently as he took in the combo the opposing team had locked in for their bottom lane-Xayah and Rakan. To Lele, he suggested, "Braum?"

Braum's slowdown passive worked well with Vayne; the two of them could control the opponents' bottom lane duo.

Lele went with Braum. He opened the in-game menu to browse their teammates' information while the loading bar started to fill up, then laughed and turned to Shen Qiao.

"Qiao-ge, have you heard the story of the player in Silver who went 1v9?"

Shen Qiao returned the cigarette he'd taken out earlier to its box. He gave Lele an indifferent look. "As long as you don't troll me, I won't turn against all my teammates and make this 1v9."

Lele shook his head. "2v8 isn't much better. Alright, take a guess. The player who took the jungler position from you. What do you think their stats with the Blind Monk are like?"

"Hm?" Shen Qiao prompted.

Lele didn't leave him hanging in suspense. He read their teammate's gameplay stats off his screen, enunciating each word crisply and clearly: "Lee Sin, the Blind Monk. Matches played, ten. Matches won, zero. So... surprised?"

Shen Qiao fell silent.

He thought for a moment as they loaded into the game. While buying their starting equipment, he switched his usual choice, the attack-boosting Doran's Blade, for Doran's Shield. Then, as he moved Renekton up to the top lane, he said to Lele through his mic, "Let's stay calm. I don't want to crash and burn in Silver."