Chapter Fifty: The Wild Queen

Yuan Zhong had no other choice but to march on with her head down, trying to shake off the person behind her. But after a while, when she glanced back, he was still trailing exactly one meter behind, hands in his pockets. His expression was hidden by a mask, but his eyes said it all—utter impatience!

It wasn’t until they reached the parking lot that Yuan Zhong realized Qi Leyi was actually escorting her. Oh, why couldn’t he have just said so? Why all the hostility?

“I’m here. Thank you,” Yuan Zhong turned and thanked him sincerely.

Qi Leyi said nothing, marveling at the length of her mental lag.

There are people who not only do good deeds without a word, but also fear being thanked by others, so they cover up their kindness with a gruff attitude to avoid misunderstandings. Such people are actually very gentle at heart. For some reason, Yuan Zhong thought of Lin Hui.

Of course, they were different. Lin Hui was cold on the surface, while Qi Leyi was fierce.

She suddenly wondered, what would happen if those two met?

Qi Leyi didn’t seem ready to leave—was he planning to wait for her to get in her car? Yuan Zhong sped up, not wanting to delay him any longer.

Qi Leyi followed her as she made a circuit of the lot, but grew puzzled; the parking garage was large, but why was she circling around Area A?

Yuan Zhong finally stopped in her tracks.

As a car pulled out, Qi Leyi hurriedly pulled her aside. “Why are you suddenly standing at a blind corner? Your sense of safety is really questionable.”

Yuan Zhong looked embarrassed. “I—I don’t remember where I parked the car.”

“The number?”

She shook her head.

“Which area, roughly?”

Another shake.

Fine. Qi Leyi surveyed the lot. There were six areas: A, B, C, D, E, F.

“Why don’t you head back? I’ll manage,” Yuan Zhong suggested.

“If I leave, will you find it?” Qi Leyi arched a brow.

“No, I mean, you can go do your own thing. I’ll look for it slowly.”

“Are you planning to search all six zones?”

Yuan Zhong looked at him. He was giving her that “are you an idiot?” look again. She couldn’t help getting a little annoyed: “I have my own method…”

“I’m all ears.”

Yuan Zhong lowered her head, staying silent.

“Hey, come on! Say it!” Qi Leyi prodded.

“Could you… please stop making so much noise?” In real life, whenever she tried to retort or say something sharp, she’d always stutter a little. Only in games was she fluent—oh well.

Qi Leyi raked a hand through his hair and waited.

Yuan Zhong stood there, muttering under her breath, hands gesturing as if working something out.

Finally, Qi Leyi couldn’t hold back: “Excuse me! Master Yuan, are you casting some sort of spell?”

Yuan Zhong slowly rolled her eyes at him. Qi Leyi was momentarily stunned, then couldn’t help but laugh.

She ignored him and continued figuring things out, her fingers tracing invisible paths.

After a while, she began her search, scanning her surroundings as she crossed Area B, pausing midway, then moving on to Area D, repeatedly glancing around at every intersection. Finally, at the boundary between D and E, she found her car.

Watching Yuan Zhong pull out her keys and unlock the car, its cheerful chirp echoing, Qi Leyi found the whole thing rather amusing.

“How did you remember?” he asked.

“I just retraced my steps in my mind, recalling which billboards I’d seen.” Yuan Zhong let out a sigh of relief. She’d better take a picture of her parking spot in the future.

She climbed into the car, and Qi Leyi “folded” himself in as well. Seeing her confusion, he said bluntly, “Drive me home.”

“Oh, right, saves us both time.” Yuan Zhong nodded.

After this little episode, once home, Yuan Zhong messaged the trio’s gaming group, saying she’d be half an hour late logging in.

Not-the-Petty-Ghost also left a message, saying he was too busy and couldn’t play for the next couple of days.

Yuan Zhong was a bit curious. She’d always thought Not-the-Petty-Ghost’s job was quite free and easy—could he really be so busy he didn’t even have time for a couple matches?

Unreliable chimed in, “Do you have some misconception about freelancers? We’re plenty busy too, you know.”

“Just a couple of games for relaxation—how much time could that take?” Yuan Zhong thought to herself. If she could set her own schedule, even with overtime, she could still spare an hour, and a bit of relaxation would boost her efficiency anyway.

“It’s not strange for Petty-Ghost to say he has no time for games. It’d be weirder if I said I didn’t,” Unreliable replied. “His job actually takes a lot of time.”

(Page 1 of 3)

“Trio queue, nice,” Cong Wenbin was online.

But to be honest, without Not-the-Petty-Ghost, the games were easier to win.

On the hero selection screen, Unreliable snatched the marksman for center stage, Cong Wenbin instantly picked support, and Yuan Zhong naturally went jungle, this time securing Lan.

“It’s rare—Lan wasn’t banned,” said Yuan Zhong.

“Looking at these weird bans, I bet they’re all players who got wrecked before,” Unreliable commented.

The game began smoothly. Yuan Zhong cleared half her jungle, timed her rotation, and arrived at mid to contest the river crab.

“Wow, their mage Angela is really reckless with her positioning,” Yuan Zhong said, immediately pouncing forward and, with her team's Daji, took Angela down.

She cleared her other jungle, then lay in wait in the bottom lane’s brush.

“Unreliable, try to bait them in,” she said.

“Got it. Watch me sacrifice… some HP.” Unreliable purposely stepped up, taking damage until he was half health, then retreated behind his support.

The enemy marksman, lured in, advanced with his support to try their luck.

“They’re really coming? Then let’s keep them here.” Lan burst out, claiming two kills.

The enemy jungler, Dian Wei, hurried over. Yuan Zhong, with her skills on cooldown, slipped back toward her own jungle, ducked out of vision, then doubled back.

“Two on one, don’t chicken out,” Yuan Zhong told Unreliable.

“I just sacrificed half my health for you…” Unreliable replied helplessly.

“Then make it three on one, my ultimate will be up in five seconds.”

Cong Wenbin was decisive: “Go.”

Support led with crowd control, marksman followed up with damage, and Yuan Zhong struck at the perfect moment, easily finishing off Dian Wei.

“Hey, give me a kill,” said Unreliable.

“You can have all the red-side jungle,” Yuan Zhong replied, then slipped into the enemy’s blue side.

Just then, their mid Daji spoke up: “Lan, you’ve got blue buff—leave the home blue for me.”

Yuan Zhong replied in text-to-speech: “Sure, go ahead!”

After clearing the enemy’s blue, Lan headed mid, peered between enemy towers—Angela was low, recalling behind the first tower.

A sure kill—no reason not to take it. Angela was promptly sent back to base.

Dian Wei respawned and headed to his red. As he started on the red buff, his teammate Mi Yue came by.

Mi Yue saw Lan and messaged: “Lan, hubby, I want this red.”

Yuan Zhong laughed and replied, “Sure, come take it!”

She chased Dian Wei off with a full combo—her superior gold left him low and retreating.

Lan turned to help Mi Yue finish the red, letting her have the last hit.

Mi Yue: “Thanks, hubby.”

The enemy Sun Ce, poking around, saw Lan leave and ulted onto Mi Yue. After his combo, Lan returned and finished him off, sending him back to base as well.

Then mid Daji said: “Hubby, Angela’s bullying me.”

Lan: “On my way!”

Angela died again.

Unreliable laughed, “Look at you, with Petty-Ghost gone you’re just leading everyone on.”

“Nonsense, Petty-Ghost is my disciple—none of this has anything to do with them,” Yuan Zhong laughed as well. Games are always more fun with interesting teammates.

Unreliable typed: “Lan, hubby, give me a kill.”

Lan: “Sure, delivery incoming.”

She sneaked to the bottom lane, waited for her chance, dodged the enemy support, and with a full combo and ult, tossed the opposing marksman right in front of Unreliable.

“Beautiful!” Unreliable said, “Your Lan is solid.”

“Thanks for the praise.”

Daji: “Hubby, I want a kill too.”

Lan: “Be good, follow me for team fights.”

(Page 2 of 3)

Mi Yue: “Hubby, I want to follow you too.”

Unreliable couldn’t take it: “Wake up, I’m the real carry here!”

No one paid him any mind—only Cong Wenbin stayed loyal and followed him everywhere.

The game ended quickly. As they pushed the enemy’s crystal, Yuan Zhong turned on all-team voice: “Babies, are you satisfied?”

Daji and Mi Yue were shocked: “A female jungle queen!”

Next game, same lineup—the only change was Yuan Zhong, who picked Zhuge Liang since Lan was banned.

Her Zhuge Liang was equally dazzling: several tower dives, zero deaths, and at the enemy fountain’s doorstep, she even pulled off a double kill.

“So arrogant,” Unreliable commented.

“Of course, a jungle queen must have the bearing of a king.”

Cong Wenbin said, “Let’s switch it up next game.”

“You want to play jungle?” Yuan Zhong asked.

“No way.”

Yuan Zhong didn’t mind. “Sure, I’ll take marksman, you support me.”

In the next match, Unreliable picked Sun Wukong, Cong Wenbin chose Yao, Yuan Zhong picked Yu Ji, and the other two remained Daji and Mi Yue.

At the start, Yao didn’t help mid with wave clear but went straight to the jungle, and even after clearing, she never came over.

Yuan Zhong asked, “Hey, aren’t you forgetting the marksman’s over here?”

Cong Wenbin ignored her.

Daji: “Hubby, I’ll help you!”

Yu Ji: “Great, I won’t have to be a lonely marksman.”

During the game, top lane Mi Yue came down twice, helping crush the enemy’s bottom lane.

Yuan Zhong said to Unreliable, “You’ve got your own dedicated support. Even the top laner came down twice, and I haven’t seen Yao yet.”

Cong Wenbin replied, “No need.”

“Wow, you have so much faith in me, I almost feel bad complaining.”

Cong Wenbin explained, “No, I meant I don’t need you. Supporting Sun Wukong is enough to win.”

“Wow, my temper’s flaring. I’m about to go AFK.”

Daji: “Don’t be mad, hubby. I’ll stay with you.”

Mi Yue: “Hubby, let’s both go AFK and let him eat his words.”

Unreliable laughed, “You’ve definitely got more fans. Anyway, Wukong is strong right now, don’t worry—mid to late game, Yao will follow you.”

Cong Wenbin: “I won’t go.”

Yuan Zhong: “I don’t want you.”

“Are you two about to start a civil war?” Unreliable asked.

Daji: “It’s all your fault!”

Mi Yue: “Troublemaker!”

Cong Wenbin: “You two are vixens!”

“Beloved consorts, don’t be angry. Let’s take a stroll through the canyon,” Yuan Zhong declared grandly.

Mouths kept moving, but hands didn’t slow—after pushing down the first turret on both bottom and top, they invaded the enemy jungle from both sides, and soon even the enemy mid tower couldn’t be defended.

At twelve minutes, the enemy surrendered.

“These games are too easy—no challenge, no fun,” Yuan Zhong said.

“If you want a challenge, just say the word,” Unreliable replied.

“Next time. I’m logging off for now,” Yuan Zhong said, already thinking about how to help Qi Leyi.