Chapter 17: PDD: "He once declined YM's invitation."

The viewers seemed genuinely intrigued, as if determined to get to the bottom of things. The entire chat was filled with question marks.

PDD, a straightforward and candid man, didn’t hesitate to answer: “I haven’t spent much time with Zi’ang. We met offline only once, when I invited him to join my YM team, but he declined.”

“However, in early 2016, we played ranked matches together quite frequently for a short while. Back then, he carried me all the way to King rank on the Korean server. Later, his rank got too high, so I stopped queuing with him.”

“Zi’ang’s strength—well, besides RNG, I think everyone in the scene knows how strong he is. Back then, in the high ranks of the Korean server, he was a force to be reckoned with, unstoppable like a god.”

“I’m not boasting. Even Faker at his peak might not have been a match for Zi’ang in a solo 1v1.”

“It’s just that at that time, he had no intention of going pro. I don’t even know why he ended up joining RNG’s youth training camp later.”

PDD spoke earnestly, serious and sincere, not joking in the slightest.

The viewers in his stream now had a brand-new appreciation of Lu Zi’ang’s skill.

“Damn, RNG really did something stupid this time.”

“I told you, even though I’ve only seen Sun Nan play once, that one match was enough to prove his skill.”

“For a player like that, it’s ridiculous that RNG didn’t treasure him. No wonder they haven’t won an S-tier championship all these years.”

“The truth is, RNG has been underperforming. Uzi’s skill is still top-notch; otherwise, how could he have won the Asian Games gold medal?”

“What a pity. Such a pity.”

The chat was filled with regret, but even if Lu Zi’ang had joined YM back then, it probably wouldn’t have made much difference.

After all, YM’s resources were limited—there was simply no room for a talent like Lu Zi’ang.

PDD was just a phenomenal streamer, far behind those with capital backing aiming for the LPL. Ever since the LPL’s restructuring, the promotion and relegation system was abolished.

Previously, YM still had a chance to enter the LPL through the LDL secondary league.

Now, the only way to get an LPL slot was through an auction.

It was said this year’s LPL team slots reached a staggering 150 million RMB—a sum no one, not even PDD, could afford.

And that was just the entry fee, not counting the operational costs of running a club.

Simply unaffordable.

At this point, PDD had completely given up on entering the LPL, relying solely on selling players to balance the books. YM had become widely recognized in the scene as a cradle of esports talent.

By now, he had produced a large number of outstanding professional players for the LPL region.

At the end of 2016, PDD was going through a low point, and it was thanks to Lu Zi’ang’s positive energy in ranked games that he managed to hang on; otherwise, PDD might not have made it this far.

Though PDD didn’t mention this in his stream, recalling the energy Lu Zi’ang once gave him, he smiled and said, “Brothers and sisters, Zi’ang is my younger brother. Feel free to follow him and send some gifts—we’re all family!”

PDD’s influence was immense. He even set a goal for his viewers:

“For the first broadcast, let’s aim for some good luck. Everyone, help me hit one million followers. I don’t know if my old face can handle that much shame.”

Then he went into Lu Zi’ang’s stream and sent a hundred super rockets, worth about 200,000 RMB.

Once Lu Zi’ang entered the game, he couldn’t see what was happening in the chat because he hadn’t opened the comments yet—he had no idea what was going on outside.

Under PDD’s rallying, within minutes, Lu Zi’ang’s stream popularity soared past ten million!

On the Shark platform, popularity is heavily weighted by gift value, so it doesn’t necessarily mean the viewer count literally jumped that high—it’s just a metric to watch, not to take at face value.

The follower count was visibly rising, already surpassing two hundred thousand and pushing toward three hundred thousand.

Keep in mind, PDD is undoubtedly the top streamer on the Shark platform—not just in gaming but across the entire network.

His follower count on Shark is nearly thirty million, so for a while, those in Lu Zi’ang’s stream were utterly baffled.

“What’s going on? Why did so many people suddenly show up? They’re not spamming chat, just sending gifts? Damn, that’s over a hundred thousand in gifts in an instant!”

“Are your eyes broken? Didn’t you see ‘PDD about to have abs’ sent a hundred super rockets earlier?”

“Oh, so those are PDD’s fans. By the way, how does Sun Nan know PDD?”

“Go dig it up yourself!”

“Damn, just a few minutes ago you told me to go dig, now you’re telling others the same? What the hell?”

Some helpful fans started explaining the relationship between Lu Zi’ang and PDD in the chat. Soon, word spread far and wide, and everyone understood.

“Everyone, let’s get moving! Spread the word on Weibo, all the short video platforms, social media—help Sun Nan hit one million followers before the stream ends.”

“Go, go! Make RNG regret it, slap Uzi’s face! Go go!!”

Once the momentum caught on, everyone united. Within two minutes, the follower count broke three hundred thousand, charging toward four hundred thousand.

Popularity kept climbing, drawing in plenty of curious newcomers.

Meanwhile, Lu Zi’ang remained fully absorbed in his game, unaware of what was happening outside. He hadn’t opened chat, so the only communication with viewers was through his voice.

“Xiao Lu!”

“Damn, check if your stream’s bugged—your popularity just hit over twenty million...” Meiko, opening the Shark stream, saw Lu Zi’ang ranked first and hurried to tell him.

To be honest, Meiko was a bit speechless. He had been watching Lu Zi’ang’s stream out of the corner of his eye the whole time. Only a few hours had passed, and now the popularity had skyrocketed to twenty million? The follower count was nearly four hundred thousand?

Keep in mind, Meiko himself had been streaming on Langya for over two years, but his total followers barely exceeded three million.

“Oh.”

He expected Lu Zi’ang to be excited, but instead, Lu Zi’ang nodded calmly and added, “Tian Ge, thanks for the heads-up. This game’s almost over. I’ll check it after.”

Meiko was speechless.

The viewers caught this exchange clearly and praised Lu Zi’ang:

“The streamer’s mentality is incredible—just steady as hell.”

“Unmoved by praise or blame!”

“Respect, respect. Sun Nan’s competitive spirit deserves praise.”

“Is the streamer really only seventeen? I don’t believe it. So mature and composed.”

...