Chapter 110: A Battle of Wits Among Scholars

Monday’s classes proceeded as usual, and across the vast campus, Jiang Zheng did not once run into Jiang Qianyue or Pei Xin again.

After finishing his classes for the day, Jiang Zheng went to the sports field for some exercise. By the time he returned to the dormitory, dusk had already settled.

Inside the dorm, Zhou Quanyi was watching a livestream, while Wang Bing was browsing items on a shopping website.

“The boss is watching livestreams again,” Jiang Zheng remarked with a smile.

“Yeah,” Zhou Quanyi replied briefly.

Jiang Zheng took a shower and then sat down in a chair, feeling a bit bored.

Why not just watch some livestreams?

The thought suddenly occurred to him.

He wasn’t particularly interested in livestreams before and rarely watched them. But as the industry had surged in popularity over recent years, with news about it everywhere, plus the relentless push of short videos, Jiang Zheng had come to understand the field somewhat.

There were many types of livestream content, but few piqued Jiang Zheng’s interest. After some consideration, he decided to watch a gaming livestream.

His favorite games were competitive ones, and lately, he had been playing League of Legends most often.

He had a certain interest in content related to that.

Previously, Zhou Quanyi had been watching such streams, and Jiang Zheng had been captivated as well.

Today, however, Zhou Quanyi was watching a different game’s livestream.

Jiang Zheng wasn’t interested in that one.

He downloaded a livestream app and searched for broadcasters in the League of Legends section, which was filled with related streams.

Suddenly, Jiang Zheng noticed a stream with a cover image bearing the words “Former Pro Player.”

His eyebrows rose slightly at the sight. A retired professional player’s stream?

That game had been out for many years, yet its popularity remained undiminished. It had carried the childhood memories of countless players and would continue to do so for many more.

Many played it well, but the best were undoubtedly the pro players.

The peak period for gaming performance was short. Many pros were formidable at their peak, but once past it, their skills declined sharply.

It was inevitable—age diminished energy, reflexes, and hand speed, causing even sharp awareness to fall behind in execution.

A new generation replaced the old.

After retiring, professional players had few paths to choose from, one of the best being game streaming.

Though they could no longer compete professionally, their game sense remained sharp, and their skills, when playing casual matches, were still top-tier.

Thus, being a technical game streamer meant meeting high standards in skill.

The streaming industry was fiercely competitive. Purely skill-based streams were highly sought after two or three years ago, but now, mere technical prowess was no longer enough.

To become a top streamer, one needed not only outstanding gameplay but also an entertaining streaming style.

Jiang Zheng saw that this particular stream didn’t have many viewers.

Still, out of curiosity about the “Former Pro Player” label, he clicked in.

At that moment, the streamer was playing the jungle role, and Jiang Zheng began watching.

But after a short while, he frowned.

Former pro player? Is this it?

The first two game phases had completely thrown the team off balance.

Jiang Zheng shook his head in disbelief.

The next two team fights were even more painful to watch, crushing the team’s last hope for a comeback and leading to a direct loss.

Losing and winning was normal in gaming, and although the former pro’s play was painful to watch, Jiang Zheng could understand that being out of form and skill decline were natural.

But what came next was intolerable.

The streamer started wildly blaming teammates, angrily berating them as if the loss was entirely their fault.

Jiang Zheng saw clearly that the streamer himself had caused two bad game phases that led to the defeat.

Now, he was frantically shifting blame onto his teammates?

Jiang Zheng’s fingers flew across the keyboard as he typed: “Is this the level of a former pro player? Blaming teammates? Maybe think more about your own mistakes.”

He had just expressed his displeasure in the chat.

The streamer’s expression immediately darkened upon seeing the message, but he refrained from swearing back. After all, insulting teammates was one thing, but insulting viewers could alienate others.

No need for him to curse—his fans would do that for him. He just had to pretend he hadn’t seen it.

Jiang Zheng was met with a barrage of insults in response.

A keyboard war broke out.

Jiang Zheng’s typing speed was unmatched—like a “tentacle monster” skill activated, his fingers were lightning fast.

Within seconds, he could fire off a chat message.

The more people insulted him, the more fiercely he retaliated.

He wasn’t someone to be bullied; if others insulted him, he would certainly fire back. He couldn’t bear to swallow his pride.

Jiang Zheng fought alone against many, silencing them one by one.

Often, before they could finish a sentence, he had already fired off two.

How could they possibly win against that?

Still, they had the numbers, so the battle was somewhat balanced.

Jiang Zheng’s output was maxed out, and half the chat messages were from him.

The streamer had never encountered such a situation—where one person could simultaneously out-curse so many.

The moderators’ few attempts at calming the situation were instantly drowned out by the flood of messages.

Ending the feud was actually simple—just kick Jiang Zheng out.

But they delayed doing so.

Though it was a flame war, it undeniably boosted the stream’s activity, with more chat messages than ever before.

Previously, it had been hard to get viewers to chat, but now the chat was even lagging from the volume.

This surge in activity was why they hesitated to remove Jiang Zheng.

After a while, the chat quieted down, gradually dominated by Jiang Zheng’s messages.

The viewers had never seen such a ridiculous scenario—a single person winning a flame war against an entire stream.

They found themselves unable to keep up with his speed, growing angrier by the minute.

Eventually, many gave up and left the stream.

Jiang Zheng was in high spirits, fully engaged in the rapid-fire verbal battle, thoroughly enjoying himself as he suppressed the entire stream.

His insults were varied and cleverly veiled, sometimes hard to understand as insults at all.

His high output was partly thanks to his recent relentless study.

As viewers dropped off one by one, many frustrated, the streamer realized this was a problem.

Though chat activity had increased, the viewer count had dropped.

After all, viewers were the foundation; without them, everything else was meaningless.

This couldn’t continue. He finally instructed a moderator to kick Jiang Zheng out.

Only then did the war of words end.

Jiang Zheng rubbed his sore fingers, feeling utterly satisfied.

Though kicked out, he had enjoyed the fight thoroughly.

Suddenly, his expression froze, then shifted to one of curiosity.