Chapter 111: A New Mission

He had no idea when he had triggered a quest.

【Quest: Soundly defeat various professional players via livestreaming. Time limit: one month.
Temporary Skills:
Insight: Possess powerful observational abilities.
Swift as Lightning: Reaction time is greatly enhanced.
I Understand This Game: Understanding of the game far exceeds that of the average person.】

Jiang Zheng wore a complicated expression; he had no clue when this quest had been triggered. He had been so focused on his heated argument earlier that he hadn't even noticed the notification. Could one actually trigger a quest just by hurling insults?

Jiang Zheng pondered this. He had tried various methods before to trigger a quest to no avail, yet today, while locking horns with someone in a heated debate, a new quest had suddenly appeared. Regardless, it was a new task, and since he couldn't be picky, he figured any quest was better than none.

With a new mission in hand, Jiang Zheng no longer had the heart to watch livestreams. He crawled onto his bed to study the details. First off, the task of soundly defeating professional players was certainly not simple. Beating pros wasn't easy; they were the professionals, after all. To put it simply, while gaming was just a pastime for Jiang Zheng, it was how the pros made their living. Comparing his hobby to their livelihood was a losing battle. They trained daily, their entire job revolved around gaming, and they had analysts dedicated to studying how to play better. Jiang Zheng, at most, skimmed online guides and rarely spent much time playing. The gap in skill levels was naturally immense.

Jiang Zheng acknowledged that the system’s temporary skills were powerful. Since the system had issued this quest, it meant success was possible. These temporary skills would bridge the gap between him and the pros, giving him a high probability of winning in a match. He clung to this belief—it was the confidence granted by the system’s temporary skills. However, these skills weren't always ready to use; sometimes they required specific conditions. Jiang Zheng decided to look into that later.

A different problem lay before him now. Setting aside the skill gap—which the system could bridge—how was he supposed to get professional players to play against him?

That was the crux of the quest. To defeat them, he had to compete against them, but they were busy with training and had no time for random matches. An invitation? On what grounds? Jiang Zheng currently had no fame; beating him offered no benefits, and losing would only be embarrassing. No rational person would accept his invitation. If he were a top-tier streamer, inviting a few pros for a match wouldn't be an issue, as building a connection with a big streamer could offer career benefits after retirement. But Jiang Zheng wasn't even a streamer, nor did he know any pros. The idea of an invitation was out of the question. Without professional opponents, the quest would remain impossible, even with the system's help. Jiang Zheng racked his brain; he had to come up with a plan.

***

Online, a video had gone viral. Many people clicked on it with skepticism and exited in shock. They had seen people argue before, but never like this. The speed of his insults was superhuman. Many even suspected it wasn't a person typing, but a machine. How could a human's typing speed be that fast? And what software could insult others with such… sophistication? Many of the insults involved professional jargon, making them incomprehensible to the uninitiated. The insults spanned several specialized fields, and he barely used any profanity, opting instead for biting, indirect sarcasm.

In the comment section:
"I’ve finally witnessed what a tongue-lashing against a group of scholars looks like. So this is how Zhuge Liang must have done it. Understood, understood."
"Look at the screen full of bullet comments; they were stunned into silence, completely unable to fight back."
"I was there in real-time, and I was bewildered. The comments came flying out like a machine gun."
"To be able to insult someone so creatively without using a single dirty word—that’s a talent."

The video was hot, but since no one knew who Jiang Zheng was, it had no real impact on him. People were just watching for entertainment, intrigued by the stinging remarks. Some even began trying to imitate him online. In Jiang Zheng's dormitory, his roommates were also discussing this mystery person, mostly because the insults were so smooth. Jiang Zheng didn't say a word; he couldn't exactly admit it was him.

He had a rough idea of how to get the pros to play against him, but the plan wasn't mature enough yet. He needed to think carefully to iron out the flaws. As long as the plan worked, he believed he wouldn't lack professional opponents. With a one-month deadline, he didn't need to rush; there was a lot of preparation needed.

Once he had a lead on how to engage the pros, Jiang Zheng began to sharpen his own skills. League of Legends was a team game, not a solo endeavor. Winning required collective effort, and both game sense and mechanical skill were indispensable. Jiang Zheng admitted that his game sense was inferior to that of professionals, who understood the game at an incredibly high level. Even if he could outplay a pro mechanically, he would likely lose a full match because his teammates lacked professional-level skill and coordination. Every pro team was well-drilled; their synergy would far outstrip any team he could scrape together. In every aspect, winning a standard match was almost impossible. Skill couldn't overcome everything; if his teammates failed, they would become the opponents' breakthrough point. Under economic suppression, he had no chance of winning.

Therefore, Jiang Zheng decided to take a different path: instead of standard 5v5 matches, he would challenge them to 1v1s! A duel required no team cooperation and less emphasis on global game sense; it was a pure test of mechanical skill. This would minimize his weaknesses and maximize his strengths. Even for duels, Jiang Zheng needed to prepare—familiarizing himself with every hero and deepening his understanding of the game. Equipment, runes, hero abilities, attack animations, jungle spawn timers, and minion wave timings—all these were part of the game. Jiang Zheng intended to study them all in depth.