Into Your Arms in a Flash

[Collecting favorites for my civilian dating-show novel, Do You Listen to Sunset Rollercoaster Too?, launching October 29]

*Retired fan x retired pro player / college campus / rivals-to-lovers couple

Qin Jianxia is an old-school competitive fan of Tan Jiqiu, a retired League of Legends pro.

She may have quit following the game, but she still uses usernames related to him in all kinds of games.

After reinstalling Honor of Kings, she played day and night until she reached her promotion series.

She plays marksman, but someone in the first slot instantly locked in Sun Shangxiang without a second thought.

Keeping with tradition, she went straight for the throat: "Stealing my position? Do you even know how to play?"

The first-slot player didn't talk back. Instead, he responded to her hostility with kindness and sent her a skin gift.

Qin Jianxia: "..."

She had no choice but to swallow her pride and pick Cai Wenji.

She used her second skill to "accidentally" steal countless kills from Sun Shangxiang. After the match, she accepted the friend request with a pounding heart.

After a long while, the other person messaged her: Actually, I'm a Tan Jiqiu fan too. Could you invite me to play Honor of Kings next time?

Qin Jianxia: "?"

-

Tan Jiqiu started playing Honor of Kings because of a bet with his teammates.

He unexpectedly ran into a fan whose username was related to him. She gave him a furious tongue-lashing, claimed she had long since stopped being a fan, even called him by a derogatory nickname, and kept provoking him...

On impulse, he agreed to his teammates' next-level bet:

Get her to become his fan again within three months.

As he carried out his conquest, he found himself desperately hoping the deadline would be pushed further and further away.

-

They played ranked together for days, but she still took him for a gloomy gaming addict.

That is, until someone dug up Tan Jiqiu's Honor of Kings account. Her friends bombarded her with messages: "Is this you? You're trending! How are you secretly playing the real girlfriend while keeping it from your bros?"

Qin Jianxia was completely stunned.

Her gaming buddy was the player she'd been a fan of as a teenager? She might as well go buy a lottery ticket.

Only when Tan Jiqiu sent her a long apology did she finally understand.

So she'd not only cussed out her idol, she'd mocked him to his face too...

Later, Qin Jianxia kept feeling that the conquest bet was still going on.

Otherwise, what excuse could she find for her heart skipping a beat?

The heroine's perspective: Wait, am I the girlfriend everyone is talking about?

The hero's perspective: So I fell in love with a "hater."

"At the crossroads, my youth happened to turn back and catch me."

*A college girl who'd be poisoned if she licked her lips x an esports pretty boy who's technically alive but barely

*Not an esports or KPL story, with little gaming content. You can follow along even if you don't play games.

Weibo: @Zhao Fuyue

Theme: Finding yourself again