The late-night meal was lavish, featuring barbecue and crayfish.
The group usually didn't have awkward silences during meals, and with Chen Jing there today, it was even less likely.
Perhaps influenced by the Weibo official announcement earlier, everyone was a bit hyped, their voices a little loud, creating a lively atmosphere in the entire restaurant.
These boys were all night owls, not in a hurry to sleep. After eating half their fill, they slowed down their pace of eating and sat around chatting about anything and everything.
Lin Jing didn't feel like eating anything too greasy tonight, so she picked at the grilled vegetables from the barbecue. She didn't say much, spending the entire time listening to them talk.
She had encountered many boys her age at school and had attended school reunions before, but the conversations they were having were different from those of the boys at school. They didn't talk much about anime, girls, or tell dirty jokes. Most of their talk revolved around esports. They would discuss opponents, acknowledging strength and weakness, and talk about retired players, lamenting who retired too soon, whose health wasn't good now, and who couldn't make it big in competitions and had turned to streaming. However, these streamers spoke little, didn't interact much with fans, and weren't watched by many, now leading a somewhat miserable existence.
The conversation meandered further and further, eventually touching upon their plans for upcoming matches.
This was a blind spot for Lin Jing. She listened for a while, finding tactical discussions uninteresting. Seeing Sheng Kuang playing on his phone next to her, she quietly opened her own phone as well.
With the World Championship recently concluded and the KPL Autumn Split not yet arrived, esports fans were at their idlest. YLs' official Weibo had dropped several bombshells in one night, almost causing half the esports community to stay up all night on Weibo to consume the gossip.
In the time it took to eat some of the late-night meal, Sheng Kuang's Weibo comments had already surpassed fifty thousand.
A quick glance at the top comments revealed that they were mostly Sheng Kuang's fans. The top nested comment had two thousand replies. Lin Jing casually clicked into it and discovered a heated argument unfolding.
It was unclear who started it, but with so many replies, Lin Jing spent quite some time reading through the nested comments before understanding that a fan of Yang Sinian had started the trouble. This fan was defending Yang Sinian's loss to Sheng Kuang during his live stream earlier, claiming it was a casual game for Yang Sinian and that he hadn't played seriously, while subtly bad-mouthing Sheng Kuang.
"Can this combination even work? Let alone the two veteran members of YLs, Qin Yu and He Wang, who are already quite foolish, what about Senced? He barely made it to the top four of the World Championship in the CEC this time. As for Miracle, let's not even mention him, he just boasts about his achievements from two years ago. And the top laner called Qing Zui? I've never even heard of them. Where did YLs find this nobody?"
"You again? Didn't you just say that Boss Jing disdains to bother with our Kuangzai? How's your face feeling now? Boss Jing and Kuangzai have joined YLs together."
"And Lan Bowen, saying Lan Bowen's retirement was Kuangzai's fault. But look at them, Lan Bowen and Kuangzai are still on good terms. I don't think your face is hurting, it's probably swollen."
Sheng Kuang's fans didn't back down, especially since this was on Sheng Kuang's turf. Yang Sinian's fan, likely unable to stomach being ganged up on, started to lash out.
"I'm talking about Chen Jing and Li Ran. Chen Jing has gone to YLs, but Li Ran still hasn't paid attention to your master, has he?"
"Don't bring our Ran Shen into this, our Ran Shen isn't interested."
"If you're sick, go take your medicine. Do you know if they interact privately or not?"
Fans of Li Ran, coming to spectate the gossip, were extremely displeased to see their idol implicated.
Yang Sinian's fan was in a heated argument with both Li Ran's and Sheng Kuang's fan bases. Li Ran went online and retweeted Sheng Kuang's Weibo post.
"hjC·ran retweeted @yLs·miracle: Brother, I'll be waiting for you in the KPL Autumn Split."
Upon seeing this Weibo post, the arguing fans immediately stopped. They all took screenshots and replied to Yang Sinian's fan.
Yang Sinian's fan, seemingly having a mental breakdown, disappeared for about ten minutes. When they returned, they shifted their target to Qing Zui.
"Is this your master's teammate? Their runes aren't complete, their heroes aren't complete, let alone skins, all of them are default. Even their rank is only Gold. Is YLs accepting anyone and everyone just to fill the five spots?"
This fan of Yang Sinian had actually caused trouble on Sheng Kuang's Weibo before. They often liked to bad-mouth Sheng Kuang on their own Weibo.
Of course, one had no right to dictate what someone said on their own Weibo. However, constantly coming to Sheng Kuang's Weibo to show their presence was truly disgusting.
Lin Jing watched as this account, right before her eyes, posted screenshots of Jiang Zui's hero count, skin count, rank, zero King marks, and VIP level in the nested comments, mocking him. In the end, this crazy, brain-damaged individual didn't forget to throw shade at Sheng Kuang: "Didn't they say Sheng Kuang is very rich? From a wealthy family? With so much money, his teammate is so shabby. It seems he really treats his teammates poorly, proof of him being a team tyrant!"
Lin Jing couldn't help but let out a low curse, "Fuck."
They could even criticize Sheng Kuang for this?
Lin Jing felt like her entire forehead was plastered with the "death smile" emoji.
Her account, "Sweet Sweet Sweet," was not something she dared to use for gossiping. She was now logged in with another account that had very few followers.
Lin Jing sneered and started typing without hesitation: "If you have a mental illness, go take your medicine. Don't bark wildly on someone else's territory. The foulness of the internet is caused by people like you. Do you know what people like you deserve most? Permanent blocking..."
As Lin Jing was furiously typing, Sheng Kuang gently tapped her hand with his phone.
Lin Jing froze, stopping her finger from pressing the nine-key input.
Sheng Kuang's phone was not locked, and the screen was on his Weibo homepage.
Lin Jing blinked her eyes. After two seconds, she turned to look at Sheng Kuang with a puzzled expression.
Sheng Kuang raised his phone towards her. The bright screen illuminated her sharp chin, making it appear snow-white. He glanced at her, met her eyes, and said, "Here."
Lin Jing blinked again. "Huh?"
"Didn't you want to block someone?"
"..."
"Take it and block. Block whoever you want to block."