"Good afternoon everyone! That's right, I turned on stream early because I felt like surprising you all."
[Sleeping God's here today!]
[Who? Why's everyone calling Sleeping God when it's Q's stream? Am I in the wrong spot?]
Xiao Qiu picked a few of the barrage comments as they passed, allowing the AI voice to finish speaking before replying joyfully: "Yes, yes, my little brother joins most days - welcome to the new viewers, Sleeping God is my younger sibling and he's a resident secondary host here! Always sleeping, yet still present."
Though he didn't mention it, it was a well-known fact that his fans were his brothers, and he was convinced that his brother had even more fans than he did in his stream. None of them knew that he was Frost, but they would constantly probe for details in his chat. Not that he minded, he loved talking about his brother the most.
Xiao Yi, known as Sleeping God was vastly different than the Frost known to the esports world. He had many mother, brother, and sister fans and had virtually no haters.
Frost was completely different, although respected, a lot of the esports community didn't remember him but there was still a small group of people salty that he quit his position as the leader of Team X, and then disappeared from the esports world.
It just so happened that his exit was on the same day that Team X posted that they were disbanding.
['It doesn't matter where I am - I will sleep']
"I was just thinking that he's like a cat!"
[What are we doing today?]
"Hmm… What would you guys like to see me do today? React to our games footage, react to other streamers or replay some of my old games and explain my thoughts to you?"
[Watch the Worlds!]
[We want you to commentate on the Worlds…]
[Why didn't you mention the Worlds? You didn't watch last year either.]
[Do you and Moon have beef?]
Players paid in gifts from the streaming site for their messages to be played over voice, and Xiao Qiu had to sit and patiently wait for them to stop before replying.
Xiao Yi felt his older brother shift under the strict beatings from his viewers and he thought to himself - it must be his fault because he doesn't want to see his old teammates, and neither does Xiao Qiu. It would be in his best interest to react to it while the viewers are high, though.
Was he causing his brother to lose out on getting fans, all because of his problems?
Xiao Qiu had joined Valley of Light not long after the group did, Chen Qiang - Flame - was the one to bring his old laptop with him to the hospital and give it to Xiao Qiu so he could play with his brother and them when he had time.
It was his gesture of saying that they were friends.
Xiao Qiu then followed them into the esports realm a couple of years later as a streamer and eventually accepted an offer to join Team Blue.
He began to frown, and was about to wake him up when his brother suddenly sat straight on the couch, cradled his head through the movements, and whispered: "We'll watch it this year, is that okay? Wake up if it's not."
Xiao Yi didn't wake up.
He had successfully avoided content that included his previous teammates, his former childhood best friends for the past three years.
He had to admit, it was excessive that his brother was even avoiding it on his behalf when he was a commentary streamer. He just had to get over it, face the hurdle, and remember not to regret it.
Xiao Qiu waved his hand off and smiled: "I just didn't think you guys would be interested in me reacting to it before, how about we do it this year huh?"
[Finally!]
[Be savage as always!]
[Will SG be watching with us?]
[Ahhh, grab your popcorn!]
[Only if little brother commentates!!!]
Xiao Qiu broke out into a hearty laugh at his viewers. His viewers knew his personality the best, he didn't hold back for anyone who wasn't his cute younger brother. Not himself, not his teammates… Well, aside from their captain Lee, there was no way he'd be able to match Lee's comments. They always hit where it hurt!
His fingers flew against the keys as the barrage continued to commentate, mostly between themselves, and he found himself on the page of the official Valley of Light page. Thankfully, the two announcers he'd seen earlier weren't on the official stream - they must have set up their personal cameras in the arena.
The stream switched so the live stream of the championship covered the entire screen and a small window of the two brothers was tucked to the top right, situated just a fraction under the corner.
"Ah, it looks like it hasn't quite started yet. Why don't we answer some questions while we wait?"
The barrage flew across the stream once more, and Xiao Qiu found himself scrolling through the back end of the page to find topics. Unsurprisingly, there were still a few randoms who had no idea what Valley of Light was that had found themselves wandering to his stream - probably coming in from the recommendation section.
Xiao Qiu stretched his arms out and began explaining: "Valley of Light is both an MMORPG and a MOBA. They both intertwine, but you can also be better at one than the other…"
Xiao Yi: "…"
The viewers who know what Valley of Light is already: "… He's explaining… Again… Send them to the website! Shoo!"
"Shh, it's okay. Valley of Light was released about ten years ago and has had six World championships! China has won once, and the team that whisked the trophy away was Team X! Since then, though, we haven't won once. Not one time! My team didn't make it, but there's always next year!"
Xiao Yi: "He's rambling again…"