Chapter 153 No One Answers the Challenge

The next day, Jiang Zheng woke up early and went to the other room to wake Pei Xing up as well.

After having breakfast, they each headed to their respective classes.

"Senior, see you next time," Pei Xing said with a wave.

Jiang Zheng nodded and bade farewell to Pei Xing.

Upon arriving at the classroom, Zhou Quanyi and the others started questioning him with eager gossip: "Number Four, who was that girl you were with yesterday?"

Hearing this, Jiang Zheng glanced at Liu Hua and said, "Just a junior."

"Number Four, when did you hook up with a junior? I remember you didn't even go to the freshman welcome," Yang Po said.

"What do you mean by hook up? We just met by coincidence," Jiang Zheng replied.

"You still say it's not hooking up? Number Three said you two were acting intimately and even went to eat together," Yang Po pressed.

"Number Three is spreading rumors," Jiang Zheng countered.

"Number Four, what about Jiang Xianyue then? Don't you go becoming a scumbag like Number Two," Zhou Quanyi warned.

Hearing this, Yang Po immediately protested, "Boss, don't talk nonsense. I'm not a scumbag, it's just that each of my relationships tends to be a bit short."

Zhou Quanyi rolled his eyes and said, "And you call that not being a scumbag?"

"I've never played with anyone's feelings," Yang Po argued.

"Alright, the teacher is here," Yu Qingkui interrupted.

Hearing that, everyone instantly fell silent and closed their mouths.

…………

In the evening.

Jiang Zheng arrived at the hotel and started his live stream earlier than usual.

He waited for his opponent, but no one came to challenge him for a long time.

Not a single professional player, neither domestic nor international, showed up to issue a challenge.

He contacted Lin Yu and said, "Help me arrange an opponent."

Lin Yu replied, "Mr. Jiang, we are already working on the arrangements. Please give us a moment."

Meanwhile, on the other end.

Lin Yu asked anxiously, "Is there still no one willing to come?"

A staff member answered, "No one. They all say they are busy."

"Damn it!" Lin Yu cursed under his breath.

There had been no live stream last night, which had already left the fans somewhat agitated. Today, even though he started broadcasting so early with great difficulty, there wasn't a single opponent.

Under these circumstances, having no opponent meant there was no spectacle.

Having Jiang Zheng play regular ranked matches was nowhere near as thrilling as going head-to-head against professional players.

Therefore, everyone in Lin Yu's department was nearly driven crazy with anxiety.

Jiang Zheng had gradually emerged as the top-tier anchor of their platform. In the League of Legends gaming category, his popularity was currently the highest.

Many veteran League of Legends streamers had been overshadowed in popularity by the rising Jiang Zheng.

Nowadays, every time Jiang Zheng streamed, the gift tips alone were quite considerable.

Moreover, Jiang Zheng was on a newcomer streamer contract, meaning the platform took a larger share of the profits.

They certainly did not want to see Jiang Zheng's popularity decline, as that would directly damage their performance metrics.

"Still nothing?"

"Still nothing."

Lin Yu muttered thoughtfully, "I'll go ask the supervisor to see if he has any ideas."

With that, Lin Yu walked over to the supervisor's office.

"Supervisor, Jiang Zheng's live stream is running into trouble," Lin Yu said.

The supervisor frowned. He had only stepped back to let them handle it recently; how could trouble arise so soon?

As a supervisor, it was naturally impossible for him to pour all his energy into a single streamer; he had many other matters to attend to.

Previously, it was because Jiang Zheng's live stream had not yet stabilized. His high popularity at the time was seemingly built on air, and once it collapsed, everything would vanish into thin air.

Later on, Jiang Zheng established a sufficiently solid record, meaning that even if he lost, his popularity wouldn't drop too severely.

Since it had essentially gotten onto the right track, he had temporarily stepped back and stopped paying excessive attention to Jiang Zheng's side.

Jiang Zheng's streams were basically being managed by Lin Yu.

"What went wrong this time?" the supervisor asked in a deep voice, his tone showing a hint of impatience.

"Supervisor, no professional players are willing to play against Jiang Zheng anymore," Lin Yu said.

"What?!" The supervisor's voice pitched up by three degrees.

He naturally understood the consequences of having no professional players to match against him. Many viewers tuned in precisely to watch him crush pro players.

If those matches couldn't happen and no pro players were willing to show up—

"What's going on?" the supervisor asked, massaging his temples.

"We contacted several professional players, and they all claimed they didn't have time," Lin Yu said.

"No time?" The supervisor stared at Lin Yu.

"That's what they said, but honestly, I think they're probably just scared," Lin Yu analyzed.

Hearing this, the supervisor nodded. He rather agreed with this explanation.

He had a fair understanding of how Lin Yu worked; when Lin Yu invited people, he certainly offered benefits.

Professional players were quite busy, true, but he simply couldn't believe they couldn't spare even the time for a single match.

The most probable reason was that they were all scared, lacking the confidence to defeat Jiang Zheng, and thus chose not to show up at all.

He felt a massive headache coming on. Previously, he had worried that Jiang Zheng's strength might be insufficient, leading to a loss that would ruin all their previous efforts. Now that Jiang Zheng had proven his strength, he had ended up scaring everyone away.

"I'll make a few calls and see if I can pull some people over," the supervisor said.

Hearing this, Lin Yu said, "Alright, supervisor."

That was the exact reason he had come here.

He didn't have that kind of widespread connections, but the supervisor was different. The supervisor had all sorts of channels and might actually be able to invite some professional players over.

………………

Jiang Zheng waited, but still no professional players appeared. He was starting to grow impatient.

Should he resort to the mockery mode again?

Jiang Zheng thought to himself.

He had already delivered all the taunts he needed to deliver, and continuing to mock people didn't hold much meaning anymore.

Moreover, persistent taunting would only end up annoying the audience.

For now, he could only pin his hopes on the platform.

With their influence, they might be able to invite a few professional players.

As for international professional players, Jiang Zheng didn't have any good solutions for the moment either.

Time slowly ticked by. The viewers in the live stream room were growing extremely impatient. They had come to watch matches, yet after waiting for so long, not a single match had taken place.

One could tell from the barrage of comments that everyone was starting to grow restless.

Jiang Zheng couldn't even be bothered to comfort them, though there were a few individuals trying to calm everyone down—they looked like personnel dispatched by the platform.

On the other side, Lin Yu was burning with anxiety.

The supervisor still hadn't sent any news after all this time, which was not a good sign.

If the supervisor had found someone, he certainly would have notified him by now, yet up to this point, there was no word at all.

Lin Yu figured that in all likelihood, even the supervisor was struggling to get anyone to come.

In fact, the supervisor inside the office was tearing his hair out. Using his own connections, he had invited several professional players, but not a single one agreed.

Most of them claimed they were busy, while a small fraction bluntly stated they couldn't win.

Jiang Zheng's match record was simply too terrifying. No matter which professional player lined up against him, the end result was always Jiang Zheng winning.

Even world-class professional players suffered the exact same fate.

Under such circumstances, the vast majority of professional players would choose not to fight.

What was the point of playing a match that was fundamentally unwinnable?

"It seems this is the only way," the supervisor muttered to himself.