[Camping him isn't okay, having more gold isn't okay either. What, does your precious daddy make the game rules too? Bro 05's fans really are braindead.]
[Why don't you stop and think about why Bro 05 has less gold than Rice Cake? All you do is defend him. You braindead fans are going to coddle him right back into an embryo.]
[If you can't beat him, you can't beat him. Making all these excuses just makes you look bad at the game and like sore losers.]
At first, Yu Nian had only solo-killed him when he happened to pass by. Later, he started chasing him down outright. With Tao Yan's mage backing him up, even in team fights, they focused Qinggang first and hammered him so hard that he eventually stopped daring to come out.
[The streamer isn't even pretending anymore, huh? Hahaha.]
[Why bother pretending? He was already being way too nice, even giving him time to farm. Our streamer is beautiful and kind /starry eyes]
[Baby Nian's inner monologue: I was so busy slapping your fans around that I forgot to slap you, huh?]
The enemy jungler asked, [Guys, do you have a grudge against our marksman?]
[Rice Cake Isn't Cake (jungler): Yep. We do.]
[Enemy jungler: ...]
Qinggang was so furious he started cursing. [Are you two sick in the head? Is chasing me around that fun?]
[Rice Cake Isn't Cake (jungler): Sure is. If you're upset, hit back. What, are you not fighting me because you don't feel like it?]
Qinggang fell silent.
[Can't win the fight, can't win the argument. Just asking to be humiliated.]
[Would he keep hiding if he could beat him?]
[Lmao, I bet Qinggang blocks both Baby Nian and Mousey after this.]
[Good. Just seeing him is bad luck.]
The torturous match finally ended with Yu Nian's team winning. After beating the man senseless, Yu Nian felt thoroughly refreshed.
He teamed up with Mousey for a few more matches, then happened to notice a comment drifting across the chat.
[Weird. How come we haven't seen Boss Y today?]
Yu Nian paused. Only then did he realize he hadn't seen any sign of Y all evening.
Y didn't talk much, but every time he entered the stream, there was a prominent system notification, and the viewers would flood the chat. There was no way Yu Nian could miss it.
If even the viewers hadn't seen him, then he really hadn't entered the stream.
Before this, Y had appeared every evening and said something to him. The timing varied, but after a while, Yu Nian had grown used to it.
Not seeing that familiar name tonight suddenly left him feeling a little hollow.
After the stream ended, Assistant Yin contacted him. Yu Nian was startled to discover he was still awake.
Assistant Yin: President Qin has been away on business these past few days. There's been an issue with a project, and he's been in meetings all evening.
Yu Nian found that a little strange. Why was he telling him this?
Surely he didn't need to know Qin Yuheng's whereabouts?
But then Yu Nian thought about how, despite being so busy, Qin Yuheng had still kept an eye on his situation and even sent Assistant Yin to help. He hardly knew what to say to such thoughtfulness.
He felt he owed Qin Yuheng so, so much more now.
Assistant Yin: You've handled this very well, Mr. Yu. I'll keep monitoring public opinion on my end.
Assistant Yin: Clearing your name is important, but from another perspective, I'd suggest posting a teaser first, letting the situation develop a little, then releasing the evidence gradually.
Yu Nian understood what Assistant Yin meant. A teaser would give viewers advance notice that he intended to fight back. While the slander was at its hottest, it would keep people waiting for a reversal and give his rebuttal some breathing room. Otherwise, if the one-sided backlash went on too long and people lost interest, no one would bother looking when he finally cleared his name.
Releasing all the evidence at once wouldn't work either. Putting it out bit by bit would draw more attention and keep people waiting for the next installment, allowing it to reach a wider audience.
His remarks had already shifted public opinion somewhat. With Assistant Yin helping things along behind the scenes, the situation wasn't all that bad for him.
Last time, Yu Nian had cleared things up too quickly. Although Qinggang's misleading edits and fabricated claims had been nasty, the incident had ended before it spread beyond their circle.
If Yu Nian wanted to promote himself, he could also take the opportunity to reveal his family circumstances and play for sympathy, or turn on his camera during a stream.
He knew he wasn't ugly. Showing his face would make his streams much more popular.
But Yu Nian hadn't done that. It wasn't that he didn't understand. He simply didn't want to.
Yu Nian: Is this what President Qin wants?
There was a brief silence before the reply came. No, this is my own suggestion.
Yu Nian: Thank you. I'll consider it.
Assistant Yin was a little surprised. He'd thought Yu Nian's question meant he was going to refuse.
Of course, Yu Nian had his own considerations.
When Assistant Yin first approached him, he'd offered some advice, explaining that some of the company's material from third parties wasn't suitable for direct release. It might instead make people question how Yu Nian had obtained it so easily.
Assistant Yin had originally wanted him to extract chat logs and records of his movements from his own phone as evidence, but Yu Nian hadn't produced that evidence right away.
He'd wanted to see how those people thought and reasoned in his stream first.
Of course, the truth was that many people spoke without logic and wouldn't listen to reason, so Yu Nian had cursed them out.
It hadn't been purely to vent. He'd also wanted to knock some sense into a few of them.
Of course, he didn't have some superior notion that everyone else was drunk while he alone was sober. He was simply a little more rational than a certain subset of people.
As it happened, he was a streamer who attracted a certain amount of attention.
If this incident could leave an impression on some of them, perhaps the next time they encountered something similar, they would think a little more, hesitate a little longer, and look for evidence before casually joining in the online harassment of another person.
Then all those things he'd said wouldn't have been wasted.
He wouldn't market himself by playing for sympathy, but letting this incident develop a little wasn't a bad idea. Once the spectators untangled all its twists and turns, he believed plenty of them would change their initial opinions.
Besides, what was wrong with getting a little traffic out of it, as long as he wasn't doing anything immoral?
After all the abuse he'd taken, he'd earned it.
Not long after Yu Nian ended his stream, several more videos appeared online. One was a clip of him confronting his haters head-on during the stream. He hadn't shown his face, but his composure, his reasoned, well-supported analysis, and especially the final barrage of insults that could practically qualify as rap sparked plenty of discussion.
[Holy shit, I genuinely love this. He's so articulate, and his tone is so steady. I can just picture him sitting calmly behind his screen, looking at these people like they're clowns.]
[Master-level!!!]
[Listening to him talk is so satisfying, and he gets right to the point. Unlike certain people who spew dirty jokes and start making things up the second they open their eyes each day. Oh, and lately they've learned to play the victim too~]
[It's true. I recommend checking out Rice Cake's stream. He really has solid values, and he's a college student. Classes by day, streaming by night. He never makes dirty jokes or swears, and he's really respectful.]
[What? A fresh young college boy? Big sis is coming! /drool /drool]
[You people are seriously desperate. You're fantasizing about someone who doesn't even dare show his face? He says he's a college student and you just believe him? With how calculating he is, he could've been hustling out in the world for eight hundred years already.]
[Haha, bet you didn't know this. I heard Qinggang say he'd met Rice Cake at an interview, and he was hideous. Big, flat nose, a face full of pockmarks, short and fat, apparently only about 160 centimeters tall. Just hearing that description killed my appetite. Only his fans still fantasize every day about him being some gorgeous guy, haha.]
[One bro makes it up, another bro believes it. Qinggang's reputation is already in ruins, and you're still buying his stories?]
[Who else remembers this whole thing started because Qinggang got exposed for pretending to be a contracted streamer and everyone mocked him? Now Rice Cake has somehow ended up the victim getting attacked? /shrug]
[Sigh. The whole internet is full of high-and-mighty judges. The second they decide someone has a problem, they can't wait to sentence them to death. So many people say things without any evidence at all.]
The tide in the comments had shifted, but the arguments remained fierce.
There were several more videos below: a clip of the convenient chance encounter with Qinggang while duo-queuing with a friend, the two big spenders in Rice Cake's stream taking turns throwing money at him, and a full account of Qinggang repeatedly making mistakes and flying into a humiliated rage after landing in the same match as Rice Cake.
The earlier incident was brought up again, and plenty of people even dug out the clip of Yu Nian crushing Qinggang's marksman to watch over and over.
While Yu Nian slept, his follower count quietly climbed again.
Before you continue