Five Blacks

Three hours ago, in a brightly lit rented apartment in the Magic City.

The smell of instant noodle cups mixed with unemptied trash, creating a unique scent of decadence peculiar to young people.

Guzimiao, a somewhat famous gaming streamer in the broadcasting circle, was roaring into his microphone, his spit flying onto the expensive condenser mic in front of him.

"Brothers! Wake up! Today, we are going to do something big!"

While shouting, he dragged friend IDs in the game client, pulling streamer after streamer with flashy avatars into a custom party.

"Five streamers, climbing the ranks! If we don't hit a ten-game win streak today, no one is allowed to go offline!"

Because League didn't have built-in voice chat back in those days, the YY voice channel quickly became lively.

After a buzz of static, a frivolous voice was the first to sound.

"Hello, hello? Brother Miao, can you hear me?"

"Hey, is my mic peaking?"

"I hear you, I hear you. Is everyone here? How is everyone's condition today, are we confident?" Guzimiao cleared his throat.

"Confidence? The word 'lose' isn't in my dictionary."

Another streamer, Bull Monster, spoke with a muffled, deep voice that sounded very reassuring. "I say, Brother Miao, isn't a ten-game win streak looking down on us a bit? How about we push it straight to fifteen? I'm afraid if I don't stream long enough, the platform will dock my pay."

Streamer Guzimiao said this while pulling the other streamers into the team.

As soon as these words came out, a burst of laughter erupted in the YY channel.

"A fifteen-game win streak? Bull Monster, are you planning to pull an all-nighter?"

"Yeah, my wife is still waiting for me to get off the stream and go to bed."

Guzimiao chuckled, not picking up on their banter, but instead glancing at the bullet screen comments in his own stream.

[Brother Miao, rise up! If you get a ten-game win streak tonight, I'll gift a Rocket!]

[How is one enough? I'm saying it now, from this moment on, for every extra win, I will personally sponsor one Rocket!]

[The boss above is so generous!]

[The boss is confused!]

Seeing this comment, Guzimiao's eyes lit up. He slapped his thigh hard and roared into the microphone:

"Bros! A boss in my channel just spoke up! For every extra win, he's gifting me a Rocket. Let's guarantee a ten-game win streak and chase for twenty!"

Other streamers also had big spenders speaking up, so they all got excited one by one.

"Brothers, look alive! For the Rockets!"

"For the Rockets!" The YY channel instantly surged with excitement.

And so, over the next three hours, the five of them were absolutely unstoppable, slaying gods and buddhas alike.

A nine-game win streak!

The toughest match during this time was merely giving away two kills at the start.

Most of the time, the opponents surrendered before the twenty-minute mark. In a few games, someone on the enemy team even typed in all-chat mid-game: "Bros, are we still playing? I'm going to go watch streamer Bull Monster's plays."

Then, that person actually went AFK in the fountain and alt-tabbed to watch the stream.

At this moment, the victory screen of the ninth game had just frozen in place.

"Sigh, this is boring."

The top-lane streamer, Bull Monster, yawned, his voice full of the disdainful loneliness of a master. "I haven't even really tried yet and the enemy has already collapsed. What's the difference between this and playing against bots?"

"True, it feels like we don't have any opponents left in this skill bracket."

In Guzimiao's stream, the chat was also flooded with words like "boring" and "noob-stomping."

His eyes darted around as a plan formed in his mind.

"Brothers, the viewers are all saying we're just stomping noobs and they think it's meaningless." Guzimiao deliberately dragged out his words. "How about... for the last game, we feed the enemy a few kills first to increase the difficulty?"

He paused, continuing to fan the flames: "If we don't create a comeback scenario, our viewers won't enjoy watching."

"Sure!"

"No problem with me!"

The chat was also filled with massive agreement.

After all, having every game be a breeze really made it feel too easy.

The other four in the YY channel replied almost instantly. Winning so easily had inflated everyone's confidence to the absolute limit.

"Alright! Then it's settled!" Guzimiao grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth, looking like a wild wolf about to hunt.

He looked at the rapidly scrolling comments in his stream, seeing phrases like "comeback myth" and "streamer is awesome," and his blood boiled with excitement.

"Brothers, sit tight."

Saying that, he moved his mouse and fiercely clicked the matchmaking button.

In the client, that familiar, crisp sound effect rang out.

"Our tenth win streak, initiate!"

Lin Mo pushed open the ajar door of the internet cafe, and a familiar smell, a mix of instant noodles and cold air conditioning, hit his face.

Of course, the strongest smell was still cigarette smoke.

Inside, four screens were already lit up in the five-seat section by the window.

Fang Jun, An Yuexin, Hao Qiang, and Jian Lihao each held a bottle of iced black tea. With headphones hanging around their necks, they were pointing and gesturing at the screens.

They were only missing Lin Mo.

"Old Mo, your speed is lacking. Our machines are already warmed up."

Fang Jun turned his head and shouted, casually grabbing a large bottle of iced black tea from under the table and slamming it onto the empty desk space. "Yours, exclusive for our big carry."

The guys chuckled.

Everyone knew perfectly well who was the biggest carry on this street.

Lin Mo didn't stand on ceremony. He twisted off the cap and took a gulp, the ice-cold liquid sliding down his throat and dispelling the late summer heat. He sat down and skillfully typed in his account and password.

"Come on, come on, hurry up. My broadsword has long been thirsting for blood."

As the lobby owner, Fang Jun started the matchmaking!

[Match Found]

It was an almost instant queue pop.

"Whoa, good luck today. Usually, a five-stack takes three to five minutes to find a game." As Fang Jun muttered, he pressed the accept button at the speed of light.

After four crisp clicking sounds, the five of them entered the champion select screen.

Since five-stacks could only play normal draft, the atmosphere was relaxed, and everyone picked their champions based entirely on whatever they felt like playing.

Top laner Fang Jun instantly locked in Nasus, making it clear he intended to be a lone wolf farming until the end of time.

Mid laner An Yuexin picked Kassadin. At this time, Kassadin still had his silence on his Q ability.

In the bottom lane, Hao Qiang and Jian Lihao pulled out a Vayne and Alistar combo.

One was the strongest late-game ADC, and the other was the tankiest engage support.

Lin Mo looked around, smiled, and finally locked in Lee Sin.

An early-game jungler who needed to carry the tempo of the entire map, paired with four late-game hyper-carries crying out to be fed.

With this team composition, all the pressure fell squarely onto his shoulders.

Entering the loading screen, the enemy team's voice chat was already blowing up.

"Hilarious, with the enemy's wave clear, I suspect our minions could push their base by themselves."

"Yeah, is giving them five free kills still making it too hard for them?"

"Should we increase the difficulty even more?"

The one speaking was the jungle streamer, Old Kuai.

He glanced at his own chat, which was filled with words like "noob-stomping" and "torture game," and his vanity was immensely satisfied.

"Alright, I'll listen to you bros. Let's give the enemy a little bit of a shock."

Old Kuai waved his hand grandly, "Bottom lane duo, don't go to lane. Come straight to the red buff and help me leash."