Qin Rui had already reached Diamond, while Ye Shaoyang was currently Platinum IV.

In the game’s ranked mode, as long as any teammate reached the Diamond rank, the lobby would switch to “BP Mode,” meaning the preparation phase required BANs and PICKs (banning and selecting heroes).

Banning a hero was also called “putting them on the BAN list.” Once a hero was banned, no player on either side could use them for that match.

In lower-tier matches prior to this, players could choose randomly, and both teams could pick duplicate heroes.

Starting from Diamond rank, however, the prep phase required banning heroes first before selecting them. The pick order went: Blue team picks 1, Red team picks 2, Blue team picks 2, Red team picks 2, Blue team picks 2, and Red team makes the final counter-pick.

This made a player’s “hero pool” a critical factor. If your hero pool wasn’t deep enough and you didn’t know how to play many heroes, it would be extremely awkward if the enemy team snatched away or banned your main.

At present, the only mid-lane mages Ye Shaoyang had unlocked for ranked play were Abyssal Lord and Frost Goddess. If [Abyssal Lord] got banned and [Frost Goddess] was picked by someone else, he would be left with no heroes to play at all!

He couldn’t very well go play the top-lane tank hero provided by the system for free.

Ye Shaoyang temporarily paused his live stream, leaving a pinned notice: “Going to feed the cat, back in half an hour.”

He actually did need to feed the cat, though he dispatched Qin Rui to handle it.

There was a cabinet at home specifically designated for Xiao Bai’s food. Qin Rui opened a bag of freeze-dried treats and scooped a spoonful into Xiao Bai’s bowl. The little kitten gobbled it up ravenously, and once finished, meowed continuously for more. Qin Rui said helplessly, “Brother, your Xiao Bai has such a massive appetite. Won’t he get too fat if he keeps eating like this?”

Ye Shaoyang replied, “He’s still young, so eating a lot isn’t a problem. We can control his weight once he grows up.”

Qin Rui had no choice but to feed him another scoop. Once the kitten was full, he returned to the sofa to keep playing with his yarn ball.

Meanwhile, Ye Shaoyang took advantage of this brief window to quickly grind out a few bot matches, raising the hero proficiency of [Illusionist] to 100.

[Illusionist] was also a mage assassin, with mechanics that were much simpler compared to [Abyssal Lord]. He practiced this hero primarily as a backup option in case both [Abyssal Lord] and [Frost Goddess] were picked or banned.

Having prepared properly, Ye Shaoyang turned his stream back on.

Seeing the kitten back on camera, viewers in the stream immediately sent a flood of affection.

A bright golden bullet-screen banner flashed across the top of the stream:

【Most Handsome Warrior sent streamer Xiao Bai 1 Flying Rocket! Message: Buy some canned food for the cat】

This was the very first gift Ye Shaoyang had received since he began streaming. He froze for a moment before saying with a smile, “Thank you to [Most Handsome Warrior] for the Rocket. Everyone doesn’t need to send gifts, my cat has a cabinet full of canned food he can’t even finish.”

He hadn’t come to stream to make money, but rather to use this platform to catch the attention of major domestic teams as quickly as possible and find a discerning coach who appreciated his skills and was willing to sign him.

However, the stream audience paid no mind to his request, and another gift was sent right after:

【Only Plays Support sent streamer Xiao Bai 1 Deep Sea Fish! Message: Streamer’s mechanics are pretty good】

This was the most expensive gift on the Whale Platform, triggering a site-wide broadcast announcement.

The site-wide announcement brought in a massive wave of curious onlookers, leaving newcomers completely bewildered:

【Can cats play games now? Has this cat turned into a spirit?】

【Filling in the newcomers: the streamer is using Abyssal Lord to push for national rankings, this is his ragdoll cat】

【He said his cat was the one playing those three matches yesterday where he died 8 times in a row [Doge.jpg]】

【This streamer’s style is truly something else, followed!】

The follower count for Xiao Bai’s stream grew higher and higher, breaking past 50,000 in the blink of an eye.

Ye Shaoyang minimized the chat window and continued gaming.

Ranked play began, and both sides entered the BP phase. Luckily, Abyssal Lord wasn’t banned, and since Ye Shaoyang was Blue Side First Pick, he locked in [Abyssal Lord] immediately.

To avoid doubts from his teammates, he sent his match record directly into chat: 【Abyssal Lord: 16 matches played, 100% win rate】

His teammates excitedly spammed thumbs-up emojis: “Insane, insane!”

“Scared me for a second, I thought someone was practicing a hero again. Looking at this win rate, we’re solid!!”

“Master, I’m ready to be carried.”

The match went exceptionally smoothly, and Ye Shaoyang played the hero with increasing fluency.

More importantly, Qin Rui was gradually keeping up with his macro strategy. Since the two were sitting side by side duo-queuing, Ye Shaoyang could direct Qin Rui at any moment to scout bushes, ensuring he wouldn’t be ambushed or sniped by enemy assassins.

As long as he farmed steadily into the mid-to-late game, his Abyssal Lord could suppress the enemy team completely.

The match ended at 15 minutes. Abyssal Lord finished with a 7-0-3 stat line, taking MVP once again.

Due to the win streak bonus points, Ye Shaoyang’s rank went up by 2 full stars directly.

The gaming streak continued.

Abyssal Lord on a 18-match win streak, hero power 5,180!

Abyssal Lord on a 19-match win streak, hero power 5,530!

Abyssal Lord on a 20-match win streak, hero power 5,970!

The stream audience was left dumbfounded.

Those who had doubted him initially shut their mouths completely, joining the crowd in spamming “666” until the entire bullet-screen chat was filled with it. Naturally, there were still a few unconvinced comments mixed in:

【Even more insane than Brother Yu next door. Brother Yu’s 20-match streak got broken, his current win rate is 95%】

【You can’t compare it like that, Brother Yu has been playing in Master and King tiers, while streamer Xiao Bai is in Diamond, right?】

【Diamond tier and King tier aren’t on the same level at all】

Indeed, a win streak depended heavily on the rank tier it was achieved in.

Although Diamond-tier players were quite familiar with the game and could pull off flashy mechanical plays, their team synergy, rotation awareness, and map support were still lacking. Supports in particular were often unprofessional when it came to placing vision wards and scouting enemy rotations. That was precisely why Ye Shaoyang could lie in wait inside bushes to assassinate key enemy targets.

His tempo control, timing, and minion wave management were all at a professional player’s level. As long as he built an early advantage, carrying his teammates to victory was effortless.

However, once in King-tier matches, if the enemy team had a skilled support, ambushing opponents wouldn’t be nearly as easy.

After a full morning of play, his account [Xiao Bai] had win-streaked all the way from Platinum into Diamond. Ye Shaoyang paused the stream and went to eat lunch with Qin Rui.

The viewer count in the stream room didn’t drop; instead, it continued to grow. Looking at the endless stream of gifts in the backend, Ye Shaoyang said with a laugh, “Our Xiao Bai actually has great potential to be a star cat, so many people are sending gifts to buy him canned food.”

When he originally placed the cat on the sofa, he hadn’t anticipated that Xiao Bai would be such a massive fan magnet; he had simply wanted the kitten by his side for company while gaming.

As it turned out, his Xiao Bai was incredibly helpful, bringing the stream’s follower count past 100,000. One portion came to watch him play games, while another came purely to admire the cat.

Gaining 100,000 followers in just half a day catapulted him straight to the top of Whale Platform’s “Rising Streamers” chart!

In the afternoon, Ye Shaoyang resumed ranked play with Qin Rui after getting plenty of rest.

Qin Rui kept feeling a sense of unreality.

Yesterday, he had been thrilled over a 15-match win streak. By this afternoon, their win streak had passed 30 matches.

And they were still winning.

He was completely numb to winning by now.

What did it feel like to be numb from winning?

It was likely something his classmates had never experienced in their lives.

Having an awesome older brother was simply amazing!

At 8:00 PM, Qin Rui became the first to reach the [Supreme King] tier.

At 8:30 PM, Ye Shaoyang’s [Master I] reached max stars as well.

Ye Shaoyang was about to enter his promo series.

Promoting from Master to King was a nightmare for countless players.

In the game, the “Supreme King” tier was packed with experts. Opponents matched in a promo series would include several Supreme King players, making it extremely easy to crash and burn if one’s skill wasn’t up to par.

Players stuck in their promo series were as common as hair on a cow, and the stream viewers couldn’t help but get worried:

【Play well in your promo match! Reaching King earns a channel sub!】

【He’s been win-streaking from 10:00 AM until now, it’s going to be very easy for him to match against opponents who are also on massive win streaks】

【I checked the streamer’s stats on Gods’ War Assistant—including yesterday, his win streak has reached 49 matches! 39 matches were on Abyssal Lord, and the remaining 10 were on Frost Goddess. Does the streamer only know how to play these two heroes?】

Right at that moment, a bolded bullet screen suddenly flashed across the screen:

【HOLY SHIT! The streamer’s promo match matched him against Brother Yu!】

【I have both streams open right now. The enemy mid-laner is indeed Brother Yu, I saw streamer Xiao Bai’s cat avatar in Brother Yu’s stream!】

Before a match began, neither side could see the opponent’s IDs.

However, the loading interface displayed the avatars of all 10 players. Ye Shaoyang’s cat avatar was extremely eye-catching, so viewers who were watching both streams simultaneously to learn the new hero spotted the coincidence right away—

In popular streamer [Brother Yu]’s match, the cat avatar of Xiao Bai had appeared among his opponents.

Ye Shaoyang remembered this Brother Yu.

When he opened the streaming platform at 10:00 AM this morning, [Brother Yu]’s stream had already reached 2 million viewers.

During his stream earlier, fans of this streamer had frequently popped up in the chat, claiming that Ye Shaoyang was playing in Diamond tier, meaning his win streak lacked the gold-standard credibility of Brother Yu’s King-tier matches.

With both streamers playing [Abyssal Lord], it was only natural for people to compare them.

Seeing the chat comments, Qin Rui lowered his voice and whispered into his brother’s ear to avoid being heard by the stream audience: “Brother, this Brother Yu is a very popular streamer in the gaming section. Last year, when our Chinese pro players failed to win the trophy at the World Championship, he even made sarcastic remarks online. He slammed Chinese players for only being brave at home and turning into a bunch of cowards at the World Championship, saying it would be better to let him play instead. He has tons of fans and haters alike, relying on controversy to draw a massive amount of traffic.”

“Is that so?” Ye Shaoyang raised an eyebrow. “‘Better to let him play instead’?”

Using amateur skill to challenge the professionalism of esports players—who gave you the nerve?

Ye Shaoyang narrowed his eyes at the screen: “Let me meet this streamer and see just how amazing he is.”

Meanwhile, in Brother Yu’s stream room:

【The one with the cat avatar on the opposing side is a new streamer who’s also using Abyssal Lord to push for national rankings!】

【Streamer Xiao Bai? His cat is super cute, I’m watching his stream too】

Immediately, people began spamming hate comments:

【A newbie Xiao Bai has the nerve to push for national rankings? Brother Yu, teach him a lesson!】

【Exactly, our Brother Yu’s Abyssal Lord is the absolute best, everyone else stand aside】

【That #1 newcomer streamer [Xiao Bai]? Totally shameless. Terrible mechanics, relying entirely on a cat to draw traffic】

Xie Yu (Brother Yu) let out a laugh, feeling completely disdainful in his heart.

A newcomer streamer dared to claim they were pushing for national rankings?

They clearly didn’t know their own limits.

He quickly typed into the team chat channel:

[Brother Yu]: I’m playing mid, leave Abyssal Lord for me, don’t ban.

[Brother Yu]: Hero stats: [Abyssal Lord] 45 matches played, 95% win rate.

His teammates erupted in excitement:

[Momo-a]: Holy shit, is that Brother Yu? I watch your streams all the time!

[Assassins]: This game is secured, Brother Yu please carry us!

——Match started. You have been assigned to the Red side.

The Red side picked second during BP, and Xie Yu frowned, an uneasy premonition creeping into his heart.

Sure enough, Blue side’s Slot 1 instantly locked in [Abyssal Lord]!

Having snatched Abyssal Lord, Ye Shaoyang quickly typed into his team channel:

[Xiao Bai]: Mid and support duo-queuing. Marksman, play safe under tower before Level 6. After Level 6, support will help bottom lane.

[Xiao Bai]: Jungler should start Blue, mid will help guard Blue.

Seeing his instructions, one teammate responded unhappily: “Why should we listen to you?”

[Xiao Bai]: Hero stats: [Abyssal Lord] 39 matches played, 100% win rate, Ranked #1 in Star City.

[Only Plays Jungle]: …Insane.

[Wooden Head]: Alright, alright, alright! We’ll follow your calls!

[Losing Stars Daily]: 666, master! If you tell me to run headfirst into a wall, I’ll do it without hesitation~

Ye Shaoyang sent a smile emoji and said politely, “This is my Master-to-King promo match, so the opponents we match with will probably be very strong. Brothers and sisters—Alphas, Betas, and Omegas—please don’t throw or act this game. Thanks a bunch!”

Teammates: “…”

Viewers: “????”