Winning Streak

Afternoon, four o'clock.
Watching the "Victory" icon slowly reappear on the computer screen, Lin Xiao leaned back in his chair, completely relaxed.
Winning streak.
In half a day, he and Qiao Xin Yu duo-queued in the bot lane, playing a total of seven ranked games from Master tier to Challenger tier.
Seven consecutive wins.
A large part of the reason, of course, was due to their strong and overwhelming individual skills, coupled with their perfectly synchronized teamwork;
But on another front, luck was also an indispensable factor.
After all, in these ranked games, they were only playing bot lane. If their teammates in top, mid, or even jungle were too bad, too unmotivated, then even if they played exceptionally well in bot lane, they might not be able to turn the tide.
Fortunately, in the ranked games that afternoon, the teammates they encountered were quite reliable.
Although there were two or three games where their top or mid lane was heavily suppressed by the opponents, even sometimes exploding, the skill level of these Korean teammates was still there. When at a disadvantage, they didn't panic or give up, but resiliently maintained the situation from collapsing, then waited for ganks and support, or for Qiao Xin Yu, the ADC who had developed strongly, to carry the entire game in mid and late-game team fights.
However, no matter how you looked at it, seven consecutive wins, such a record still surprised Lin Xiao a little.
One must know, this was the highest level of competition on the Korean server.
Even professional players couldn't necessarily create such a clear overwhelming advantage at this ranked level.
So before, Lin Xiao only thought it would be lucky if they could win a few games that afternoon.
Unexpectedly, reality brought him such a big surprise.
At this rate, they would truly reach the strongest Challenger tier in the blink of an eye, entering the top ranks of the Korean server's Challenger leaderboard.
"Hmm, I should probably ask Jian Ren Ni for power leveling fees..."
Lin Xiao thought to himself, unconsciously speaking out the jumbled thoughts in his head.
On the other end of the YY voice channel, Qiao Xin Yu asked:
"You're almost at your promotion series, aren't you?"
...
Reminded by the young girl, Lin Xiao snapped back to attention, his gaze once again fixed on the computer screen in front of him.
Upon seeing it, he was a little surprised and delighted to find that the system's promotion series reminder window unexpectedly appeared in the middle of the game's main interface.
"The next game is the promotion series!"
Lin Xiao happily reported the situation to Qiao Xin Yu.
The young girl was also delighted to hear it:
"Then congratulations to you~"
Lin Xiao shook his head: "Why congratulate me? This account isn't mine. Oh right, I need to ask Jian Ren Ni for power leveling fees later..."
Just then, Qiao Xin Yu also checked her own LP situation, and was instantly surprised:
"Ai, I've also climbed in rank!"
Lin Xiao, hearing this, was a little dissatisfied:
"Only climbed four or five ranks, huh?"
Then he regretted: "If you were playing solo queue, you might have already rushed into the top twenty."
A winning streak, but the rank points were only in the five or six digits on the Challenger leaderboard. Part of the reason was that the LP difference between players in the Korean server's Challenger tier was often twenty or thirty LP. Another reason might be that since Qiao Xin Yu and Lin Xiao were duo-queuing on a Master tier account, the system determined that the LP gained after each game was not much.
If it were a solo queue winning streak, the young girl could gain about six or seven more LP per game, which wouldn't be a small number in total.
Hearing Lin Xiao's regret, Qiao Xin Yu also laughed:
"But without duo-queuing, I wouldn't be able to have a winning streak, so it's not bad."
These words were not just comforting.
For Qiao Xin Yu, after a long time of solo queueing on the Korean server, she naturally knew the difficulty of climbing alone.
Moreover, even if she later duo-queued with professional Korean player Imba, her climbing efficiency couldn't compare to her duo-queuing with Lin Xiao now.
Lin Xiao was only slightly regretful at first, but now hearing Qiao Xin Yu's comfort, his spirits immediately lifted:
"Alright! A winning streak of four or five ranks, so next, let's keep winning!"
"Today, I'll definitely get you into the top twenty!"
...
Since it was almost dinner time, Lin Xiao and Qiao Xin Yu told each other on YY that they would go eat dinner first, and then continue queuing later.
After all, according to the young girl, A Ya went out that afternoon and definitely wouldn't be back before nine in the evening when the dorm manager closed the doors.
In other words, they would definitely be able to finish Lin Xiao's Challenger promotion series today.
At the same time that Lin Xiao and Qiao Xin Yu went their separate ways for dinner, far away in S City, at the training headquarters of the Feng Ye Team, the members also temporarily finished their training and began to prepare for dinner.
Jiang Hao Jie scooped a large bowl of white rice, sat down heavily next to Ran Liao, glanced left and right, confirmed that Jian Yu Ke, sitting in the opposite corner, surely couldn't hear their conversation, then nudged Ran Liao with his arm, asking in a low voice:
"Hey, how's that account of yours doing now?"
Ran Liao was surprised: "Huh?"
Jiang Hao Jie angrily scoffed: "Don't pretend, I saw you secretly checking the stats earlier."
Ran Liao was instantly dumbfounded: "Brother Jie, you saw that too?"
One must know that at that time, he and Jiang Hao Jie were separated by one person in the second position on the left, and one person in the first position on the right, with Xiao Dao and Jian Yu Ke in between. Yet, the latter could still notice his sneaky actions, which was truly unimaginable.
Jiang Hao Jie urged: "Less nonsense, tell me quickly, what were the stats you checked?"
Ran Liao didn't hide it, answering in a low voice: "The current situation isn't clear, but when I checked earlier, it was on a winning streak."
"Winning streak!!"
Jiang Hao Jie's eyes immediately widened, then he couldn't help but want to burst out laughing but tried to restrain himself, finally lowering his voice, extremely excited: "How about that! What did I tell you, there's an eighty to ninety percent chance your account will reach Challenger today!!"
"Yeah!" This time, Ran Liao was completely convinced by Jiang Hao Jie: "Brother Jie, tell me, who exactly is this friend of yours?"
These words had been hidden in Ran Liao's heart for a long time, and he really couldn't help but ask.
A winning streak in the Korean server's Challenger tier.
On average, each game only took a few minutes, winning as easily as cutting vegetables. This level of skill, even considering the element of luck, must be achieved by a top-tier professional player!
Jiang Hao Jie opened his mouth to speak, then held back: "Ai, you'll know when you need to know."
He paused there, then mysteriously added: "Anyway, we'll meet him in the LPL next season."
"Huh?"
Ran Liao still didn't understand, with even more question marks above his head.
That night, after dinner, Lin Xiao and Qiao Xin Yu met online again.
"Continue?"
"Continue~"
One question, one answer, and their Korean server duo-queue journey began again.
And after the winning streak, the first game of Lin Xiao's Challenger promotion series finally encountered some difficulty.