Esports world champion, debuted as the center of a talent show

The sound quality was slightly distorted through the microphone, but the familiar voice still made the audience in Yan Zuo's live broadcast room scream with excitement.

Yan Zuo glanced at the screaming comments in the live chat, a hint of amusement in his eyes: "Yeah, the competition schedule is a bit late, we don't get back to work until tomorrow. What about you? Why are you suddenly online?"

Jiang Zhiyu's voice was still hoarse from not having woken up long ago: "Nothing much, just came up to do a ranking test."

Hearing Jiang Zhiyu's voice through his headphones, which sounded completely different from yesterday, Yan Zuo couldn't help but exclaim, "Your voice is quite different online and offline, no wonder—"

As he was speaking, he suddenly realized something was wrong and quickly shut up, but what was said was like water spilled on the ground, impossible to take back.

Jiang Zhiyu was silent for a second, then said in a nonchalant tone, "Really? I didn't pay much attention."

【What do you mean? Did you two meet up in person recently?】

[A private meeting? Or some kind of event meeting? Wait, R-God has suspended all activities.]

[Aren't we even friends? Why did you secretly meet up with us offline without telling us? Do you even consider us family?]

When did we meet? Weren't you on vacation recording some talent show?

At this moment, the number of viewers in Yan Zuo's live stream was skyrocketing, and soon it exceeded 10.

River, who hadn't been seen for a long time, suddenly went online without warning. The news that he was playing duo queue with Yan Zuo spread far and wide, causing a stir in River's fan circle. They called on their friends and flocked to Yan Zuo's live stream.

The screen was soon filled with comments, so dense that not a single gap could be seen. Many people had to turn off the comments to see Yan Zuo's game screen in its entirety.

Yan Zuo saw the barrage of comments asking when he met River in person, and cold sweat broke out on his back.

He chuckled awkwardly and changed the subject: "Hey, how many placement matches do you need left?"

"I didn't win a single one of the three matches."

"Okay, shall I open it then?"

"Um."

The game started matchmaking. Because Jiang Zhiyu's rank was undetermined, he dragged down Yan Zuo's rank by a little, which made the ranked matchmaking process exceptionally smooth.

The moment the loading page popped up, the IDs of both teams' teammates were displayed on the screen. On Yan Zuo's side, besides himself and Jiang Zhiyu, there were three random teammates, one of whom had an ID that wasn't anonymous: Booth.

Sharp-eyed viewers in the live stream recognized it at a glance.

[Huh? Is that other random teammate Booth?]

[It really is him! That streamer who specializes in exploiting online trolls and stirring up trouble!]

What a coincidence... I hate him so much...

I remember he used to stage accidents to attract attention; how unlucky! I need to back off!

Booth's style is controversial in the gaming streamer community. He doesn't rely on skill to gain popularity; instead, he focuses on catching various controversies, riding the wave of trending topics, and especially enjoys smurfing and dominating low-ranked games to attract attention.

At the same time, he is a former professional, and he often talks about his past in the professional scene in his live stream. He frequently mentions River and maintains the popularity of his live stream by relying on nostalgia and controversial topics.

Once in the game, Booth turned on his mic and exclaimed excitedly, "Wow!! My chat is telling me I got matched with R-God and Yan Zuo, is that true?"

Upon hearing this, the other two random teammates immediately chimed in: "Huh? Really?" "Holy crap, R-God and Yan-ge?"

Yan Zuo politely replied, "Good afternoon."

Jiang Zhiyu didn't respond via microphone, but simply typed in the chat box: 【Hmm.】

This immediately ignited the enthusiasm of the random teammates, who started excitedly sharing their matchmaking moment and talking incessantly about how long they had loved River, only stopping when the game officially began.

During the gun-buying segment, a random teammate excitedly shouted into the microphone: "R God! I'll buy you a revolver!!"

Jiang Zhiyu chuckled and also turned on his microphone: "No need, you can play your game."

Once the game started, they were relatively well-behaved in the early stages, except for occasionally popping up a line like "I'll buy you a gun." They were all focused on their game skills, and the viewers in the live stream also calmed down from their initial excitement and began to watch the game situation seriously. For the time being, there were no major ups and downs.

No one expected that the stability would only be temporary.

As the game progressed to the middle, the group had just scored a point and the atmosphere relaxed slightly. Booth suddenly spoke up as if chatting casually, his tone carrying a hint of deliberate inquiry and amusement.

"By the way, Brother Yan Zuo, there's something I've been wanting to ask you."

While operating the gun purchase interface, Yan Zuo casually replied, "Go ahead."

Booth spoke slowly, deliberately controlling his tone, making sure each word was clear and easily heard through the microphone: "Didn't you go to participate in 'Shining Project' as a guest observer? I recently stumbled upon clips from that show, and I noticed that the winner, Jiang Zhiyu, really looks a lot like River. Whether it's his demeanor or his eyes, they're inexplicably similar to me. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way, right?"

Upon hearing this, both Yan Zuo's live stream and Booth's own live stream fell silent for a moment.

Booth pressed his advantage, deliberately steer the conversation toward sensitive topics, clearly trying to stir up trouble in front of the person involved: "Brother Yan Zuo... Could it be that you saw him and thought he looked a bit like River, so you went there specifically to join in the fun, to find a meal replacement to remember your old friend? Hahahaha."

He knew very well that saying this would definitely cause a sensation.

He was well aware of River's influence in the e-sports circle, and he also knew that Jiang Zhiyu was currently enjoying explosive popularity in the talent show. Moreover, there had always been subtle undercurrents between the fans of "the two" beneath the calm surface. Bringing up the sensitive topic of River and Jiang Zhiyu's somewhat intimate relationship would generate top-tier traffic.

As for whether it would offend the person in question, whether it would embarrass "River" who was playing the game, or whether it would provoke conflict between the two fan groups, he didn't care at all.

What he wanted was never to play games peacefully, but to attract attention and make money through controversial topics. As long as the popularity went up, his goal was achieved.

The moment the words left his mouth, Yan Zuo's face darkened instantly.

He glanced instinctively at the game's voice chat channel, his heart tightening, wanting to immediately interrupt the conversation.

On the other end of the headset, Jiang Zhiyu, who had been quiet and focused solely on his work, suddenly fell completely silent, into an unusually still silence.

The chat in Yan Zuo's live stream exploded immediately, with angry comments flooding the screen.

[Does this person want to die? What nonsense are they spouting??]

[Hello? The topic's trending, but what if you only have one page left on your household registration book?]

When will these streamers who exploit online trolls be banned? They're utterly disgusting and have no bottom line; they're really stirring up trouble.

[Are you crazy? What do you mean by "missing loved ones"? River's still in the game mic, are you out of your mind?]

[I'm so angry! R-Bao finally managed to log on once and ran into this disgusting person. I'm ready to punch them.]

Booth, making money illegally will be punished.