Entering the game.
Map: Ascent.
Lin Jiaxin didn’t open her mic, instead dry peeking alongside her teammates, solely focused on trading shots.
At first, sticking with the main group, she could occasionally pick off a low-health enemy or two.
Her score managed to reach 3:1.
The team score was also leading big at 6:2.
Lin Jiaxin was feeling pretty pleased with herself, quite smug.
She thought to herself, ‘So this is all Diamond rank has to offer.’
Even someone like her, a veteran player who hadn’t touched the game in over a decade, could easily rack up kills.
Looks like even if she just grabbed some low-ranked randoms to mix into the roster for the tournament, winning would be a piece of cake!
Just as Lin Jiaxin was fantasizing about crushing her opponents left and right and taking home the championship, the game moved on to the next round.
Lin Jiaxin once again chose to stand behind her teammates.
But this time, as she was crawling into position, she was suddenly wall-banged by the defender’s Operator from behind two people—the shot piercing through the wall and hitting her even though she was in the third position behind cover.
Her hand gripping the mouse went stiff instantly.
‘No way, is he hacking?’
How could that possibly hit her?
Then… after that shot, Lin Jiaxin started feeling completely off.
Not only did she lose all her aim, she couldn’t even snag low-health kills anymore.
She was even bumping into walls while walking.
At the same time, she was deathly afraid of dying.
She didn’t even dare to peek out to throw utility for her teammates or gather info on the enemy.
Several times, the round came down to just her being alive…
Then… after performing a few plays so terrible that even a horse trainer would smile with delight and call her a “fine steed,” her teammates were clearly about to hit red temperature.
They spammed question marks, questioning whether she was even the actual owner of the account.
Lin Jiaxin, of course, wasn’t the account owner.
So she simply pretended not to see it.
This ready-to-explode pressure-cooker atmosphere could have lasted until the end of the round.
Until… Lin Jiaxin finally managed to build her ultimate using the skill points she’d managed to snatch up.
Then, when she used her ultimate to revive the top-fragging teammate, she failed to use her other utility ability to wall off the enemies’ sight and bullets.
This directly resulted in her getting killed immediately after finishing the revive, lying right next to the teammate who got revived and then instantly killed again.
Lin Jiaxin knew this was a huge screw-up on her part.
So she instinctively typed out an “sorry” to them.
Then… the teammate icons in the bottom left lit up again and again.
But they said nothing.
Because there was still a Jett on the field trying to clutch the round.
She had picked up a teammate’s Operator.
She was facing three enemies with full utility and full health all by herself.
Maybe the pressure of the clutch was too much, her nerves too frayed.
While dueling with the enemy, before she even pressed the left mouse button to fire, she instinctively used her dash ability.
Then, unsurprisingly, she got mowed down by the three of them.
The already high-pressure team atmosphere completely exploded.
The three teammate icons in the bottom left instantly lit up as the flame war began:
“Jett, I describe your dream!”
“You’re the one who’s blessed, alright? How the hell do you not shoot there?”
“You don’t know how to use the Operator, so why the hell did you pick one up? An AK would’ve been fine!”
“What the hell are you blaming me for? You all died first and now you’re putting the pressure on me?”
Jett wasn’t backing down either. She was third on the scoreboard, not the worst.
She was just too nervous and messed up once—why was she being singled out?
Lin Jiaxin originally planned to keep playing dead like an ostrich.
After all, even though she was the worst player, the fire wasn’t on her.
As the saying goes, “Better their goose than my goose”…
Then Lin Jiaxin caught a glimpse in her peripheral vision that the guy in the seat next to her had finished his game.
Not only did he win, but his rank was “Radiant”…
Radiant? In that rank full of smurfs and cheaters, wasn’t that just an Ascendant with bad luck?
‘No way, these four guys are actually high-level players!’
Lin Jiaxin’s eyes darted around slyly, and she suddenly changed her mind.
She snuck a glance at her neighbor and saw they were still matchmaking, so she lightly cleared her throat and turned on her mic.
“Ugh, can you guys please stop fighting~”
“Last round was my fault. I didn’t wall off when I went for the rez. Blame me—why are you yelling at poor Jett~”
Lin Jiaxin pitched her voice up, using the sweetest tone and delivery she could muster, opening her mic to try and end the flame war.
Hearing her voice, the mic actually went silent for a moment.
“…You’re 3/12. You get the hell out too! What, did I forget to trash you? Now you’re getting on the mic too—you got an itchy throat or something? I dropped thirty kills and we’re still losing. How many do I have to kill to carry a trash can like you to a win?”
But the top-fragging player, with the ID “Shadow Master,” quickly reopened his mic.
His tone was full of rage—clearly, the pause earlier was just him checking her stats.
“…”
Lin Jiaxin bit her finger, her face flushing red.
A girl’s blush, born only from the verbal filth of the moment…
She clenched her fists, barely suppressing the urge to slam her head into the monitor.
A “go make lemonade” almost slipped out as a comeback!
But the Radiant bro in the seat next to her was still matchmaking.
And at that exact moment, with nothing better to do, he was watching her screen to pass the time.
To maintain her gentle image so she could rope them into playing together later…
So… even though her face was burning red and she was nearing red temperature, she swallowed it all back down and said in a subdued voice:
“Come on, it’s just a game, no need to be so angry~”
“Jett, Jett, don’t be upset either. You buy full heavy armor, and I’ll buy you a gun, okay? Let’s all just play nicely—we can win!”
Endure. You just have to stay optimistic and tough it out.
With her current skill level, even Diamond was a struggle…
If she wanted to win the championship to farm Manifestation True Qi, she absolutely needed real pros to carry her!
“Mommy! Mommy! Are you really going to buy me a gun?”
Jett was already enchanted by Lin Jiaxin.
The moment she opened her mic, all his rage had been dissolved by her gentle, sweet voice.
All that remained… was pure, unadulterated thirst!
“Mommy, Mommy, can you buy me a gun too?”
“Mommy, I’ll carry you to victory. Can you talk on the mic more?”
“Mommy, Mommy, I was playing on a trackpad earlier. I’ve switched to a mouse now. Stand behind me and I’ll protect you!”
But Jett wasn’t the only one thirsting.
Except for the top-fragging Shadow Master, everyone else was now crowding around Lin Jiaxin, calling her “Mommy” left and right.
‘Goddammit! Stop calling me Mommy! If you want a mommy so bad, go call your real mom at home!’
Lin Jiaxin felt a chill run down her spine, goosebumps forming all over her skin.
‘They say Valorant juniors are all repressed—I didn’t expect that in a different world with different people, they’d still be just as repressed.’
But she couldn’t say anything about it. Suppressing the nausea, she kept her voice sweet and continued, “Mhm mhm, everyone play well, we can win~”
“I’m fucking done! Can you trash just get the hell back to your own rank and stop ruining Diamond for us?”
Shadow Master was still going off without restraint.
But Lin Jiaxin and the others had already muted him.
Lin Jiaxin muted him because she was afraid she’d snap and start arguing back, ruining her sweet girl image.
The others muted him because they thought he was too loud and it was interfering with them listening to Lin Jiaxin’s encouraging voice.