Lin Feng sat behind his computer in the soundproof booth. Over the bezel of his monitor he could see the crowd cheering. He smiled. It’s only a small tournament. The stage will grow. Time to give them a little taste of what I can do! He looked back at his screen. His Zed was one minion away from reaching Level 6 and unlocking his ultimate skill. Fizz is at least three minions from a level up. This is my window! He stuck to his normal movement path and moved to last hit a caster minion. Just make it look like it’s nothing. He grinned and placed his finger on the Ctrl and R keys. The combination of the two buttons let him learn a new skill and pushing the R key again would activate his ultimate skill.

Zed cut through the caster minion’s health with his bladed gauntlet! Lin Feng pressed down on the keys, his fingers gliding over the keyboard in practiced motion. Death Mark! Four shadows dashed at Fizz and marked him! Any damage dealt to Fizz in the next three seconds would deal an additional burst of damage. Zed switched positions with one of the shadows! He then cast another Living Shadow, both of them imitating the skills the main body cast. Too easy! Lin Feng laughed as he used Zed’s two damaging abilities. Shadow Slash! All three versions of Zed slashed out around them, cutting into Fizz and hemorrhaging his health! He followed up with Razor Shuriken! The three Zeds all threw a razor sharp shuriken that sheared away at Fizz’s health bar! And finally, the mark triggered. A portion of all the damage Zed just dealt to Fizz was repeated!

《You have slain an enemy!》

“IT’S A SOLOKILL IN THE MID LANE!” Silent Reed cried out into her microphone. She stared at the screen with her eyes wide open. How did he get so good!? He’s way better than in the Shanghai 16 School Tournament! She shook her head and continued, “ZED KILLED FIZZ!”

“WOOOOOOOOO!”
“OH MY SHIT! WHAT A PLAY!”
“SNAP! That was fucking insane!”
“Holy MOLY! What the pepperoni!”
“I can’t believe this! He just… WOOOOO!”
“SICK! FUCKING SICK!”

Rollfire glared at the LCD screen. Come on stupid Fuzhou Tech! Do something! ANYTHING! Start winning this game! He suddenly started smiling. He grabbed his microphone and said, “Don’t celebrate just yet! Look at what’s happening in the bot lane! They’re collapsing on the Gnar!”

Zhang Hao’s Gnar was struggling to keep his own in the lane swap. He had to fight against an Alistar who could land strong crowd control skills and a Kog’Maw who absolutely couldn’t be given any kills. Kog’Maw was a hyper-carry. It was almost impossible to stop him once he got a couple of kills under his belt. But he first had to get those kills, and against a Gnar that was incredibly difficult.

Gnar was partly a ranged Champion. This gave him a lot of wiggle room in a lane swap situation. He could sit behind his tower and Hop around if the opponent tried to engage him, throwing out auto attacks. And then there was Mega Gnar. When his rage meter filled up, Gnar transformed into a large monster with monstrous damage, health and crowd control skills! It was so difficult to play against this combination of skills all in one Champion that right after his initial release, Gnar had an almost 100% ban rate in professional League of Legends. It wasn’t until several months down the line that people learned how to play against him. Mini Gnar was slippery, but vulnerable. The trick was to bait out Mega Gnar, retreat and wait for Gnar to transform back to his original form, and then jump on him!

Fuzhou Tech employed this very tactic. Kog’Maw and Alistar harassed Zhang Hao’s Gnar and made him fight for every last hit on a minion. This filled up Gnar’s rage meter a little at a time. All the while, Fuzhou Tech’s Jungler had his Rek’Sai move through the Jungle in the direction of the bot lane. He cleared camps and knew roughly how many seconds he had until he had to arrive in the bot lane.

Zhang Hao’s Gnar transformed into Mega Gnar! He gained a massive stat boost and held free reign over the lane as Kog’Maw and Alistar retreated! But the transformation only lasted for a little while. The rage meter bottomed out and Mega Gnar reverted back to Mini Gnar. Right then, Rek’Sai arrived in the bot lane. He worked together with Alistar and Kog’Maw to chase down Gnar all the way under Blue team’s outer tower. They didn’t stop there. They knew they had the damage. The three Champions from Fuzhou Tech dove Gnar under his outer tower. They linked their crowd control abilities together perfectly and allowed Kog’Maw to free fire his way to his first kill of the game!

《You have slain an enemy!》

“And they got the turnaround kill!” Rollfire exclaimed, grinning. Finally! Now keep building on this! I don’t even care anymore! Just beat these stupid representatives of this stupid organization and let this stupid bitch next to me who was hired by the same stupid organization be wrong!

“That was a sweet towerdive!”
“Fuzhou Tech is finally doing something back!”
“WOOOOOOO! FUZHOU TECH IS BACK IN IT BOYS!”
“I’M FROM FUZHOU TECH!”
“Fuzhou Tech to win it all!”

Sun Ruinian sat at the front of the stands, right next to the stage on which the soundproof booths stood. He glanced over his shoulder at Rollfire and rolled his eyes. Dickfire is going at it again. What a dude. He shook his head and looked back at the LCD screen showing the game. Shi Hang is the best Zed in China, I’m sure of that! But this Midlaner is also playing a really mean Zed. They might even be at a similar level… Team Shanghai’s Midlaner is really, really good. He looked at Gnar’s corpse lying underneath his outer tower. Zuo Cheng can’t win the mid lane. He just isn’t good enough. We have to recognize that and look further. We need to find something to abuse. Every team has their weak link. For Team Shanghai, that is their Toplaner. That Gnar is not all that good. C+ grade at best. Maybe worse. I need to watch him some more. If we can create a tactic to focus him and pull ahead from there, we might not even need to worry about their Midlaner. We can win the game through the top lane!

✹

Zhang Hao kicked against the back of his desk, frustrated. He grimaced and said over the team’s voice chat, “Sorry. That was my bad. Shouldn’t have happened.” I’m the worst player on the team. I know that! That’s why I’ve been working so hard to improve! I need to get better for the team! They need me to hold my own! And then I give away a kill to the one Champion that absolutely can’t get fed! Why can’t I improve like Tang Tang? Or play like Lin Feng!? Why are they just getting so much better while I’m struggling to improve at all! I need more time but I don’t have any time! And every training I see them pulling further ahead of me! What am I, HOW am I supposed to kee—

“It’s fine,” An Xin said over the team’s voice chat. She glanced at Zhang Hao who sat next to her and smiled. “It’s just one kill and Kog is still weaker than Tang Tang’s Ezreal. That’s all thanks to you. You’re doing a good job.”

Tang Bingyao nodded and added, “Mhm. I have more CS. You’re doing good to keep him down.”

“What are you guys even worrying about?” Lin Feng asked over the team’s voice chat, confused. “You have me! I’m playing Zed! HaoBro can feed that Kog’Maw 50 kills and it won’t matter! I’ll just assassinate him before he can get any damage off! One shot! BOOM! KILL!”

An Xin shook her head. Idiot. But then she giggled and added, “Don’t forget about me. My Fiddlesticks is really good, you know!”

Zhang Hao looked at the players sitting next to him and felt the muscles in his shoulders relax a bit. They’re right! Lin Feng’s Zed can Death Mark Kog’Maw and kill him. He already has two kills and is only getting stronger! And if BunBun gets a Fiddle ultimate on the Kog’Maw, he’s dead too! It doesn’t even change anything if there are four other players from Fuzhou Tech around! She’ll just kill them all! It’s okay! The rest of the team has my back! I just have to work my ass off to have their back as well when they need it! Trust! It’s all about trust!

✹

The situation was very tense in Fuzhou Tech’s soundproof booth. They were struggling to stay in the game, and their tournament life was on the line this game! The shotcaller on their team was their Jungler. He was playing Rek’Sai and keeping an eye out on everything that was happening. He’d talked to his team about their failure to properly ward during the first game and how they had to change that around this game. But their ward coverage at only 8 minutes into the game was abysmal. He said over the team’s voice chat, “We gotta care for the Fiddle! Don’t forget to ward, guys! Buy vision wards and normal wards, and place them down! I want to see a wall of vision in the river and our Jungle!”

The players from Fuzhou Tech agreed and started looking for opportunities to recall back to base and buy wards. All the while, their Jungler kept reminding them of their gameplan. “Fiddle has hit Level 6 for sure by now. Aside from Zed, he’s their biggest threat. But we can make him completely useless if we get our wards down! Just like in the last game! If we’d warded properly, they would’ve never stolen the Blue Buff and won the game on the back of that! I don’t want to see us making the same mistakes again! Let’s focus on this! The longer we drag this game out, the stronger we’re going to get! They need to find the jump on us, and not the other way around! And they can’t find that engagement if we have a strong wall of vision set up! We’re winning this game!”

Over the next minute, Red wards started popping up around the map. The fog of war was slowly being dispelled from Fuzhou Tech’s Jungle. They knew exactly what was going on there and even had a decent idea about what was going on in the river. This didn’t go unnoticed by the audience or the casters. Rollfire especially was thrilled to see Fuzhou Tech taking his advice to heart. He laughed and said through his microphone, “A good wall of vision will keep the Fiddlesticks away! This game is very much in the grasp of Fuzhou Tech!”

The players from Zhejiang University’s team were finding themselves agreeing with Rollfire. The Jungler nodded and said, “At least Fuzhou Tech knows what they’re doing. It’s fine that they’re a little bit behind right now. They just need to keep up vision and drag the game out. They’ll win this, fed Zed or not.”

“Exactly,” the Toplaner agreed. “Zed and Fiddlesticks are the two carries for Team Shanghai as it stands. And Fuzhou Tech can eliminate Fiddle through warding alone. Use Alistar for Zed and this is going to be an easy win for Fuzhou Tech in the late game. Maybe sooner if they give Kog’Maw as much farm as possible and help him scale faster.”

The audience had been discussing Fiddlesticks on and off since the Champion was locked in. The consensus was that they really wanted to see a good Fiddlesticks ultimate. But with the way the game was progressing, that outcome was starting to look less and less likely. Rollfire was one of the few people greatly excited by this development. He sat up straighter in his chair and was actually engaging with the audience for a change. “I can hear your murmurs! And let me kill the dream! No, it’s not happening! Fuzhou Tech has their line of vision up! Fiddlesticks won’t get a good ultimate off! And if Team Shanghai tries to force anything here, Fuzhou Tech has the perfect lineup to counter them! This game is quickly changing!”

“Maybe Fiddlesticks can bait Fuzhou Tech into a dragon fight?”
“Right! Fuzhou Tech’s dragon vision isn’t that great! Fiddle can get his ultie off there!”
“That’s like the perfect spot for his ultimate too! Fuzhou Tech won’t be able to escape!”
“Shit, I really want to see that happen now!”
“Didn’t you guys hear what Rollfire said? It’s not happening!”
“He’s been wrong before! Please let him be wrong again! I want to see a good Fiddle ultie!”

The game clock continued ticking. It struck 9 minutes when Team Shanghai gathered around the Dragon Pit. They waited and even walked through a couple of wards from Fuzhou Tech on purpose. But Fuzhou Tech didn’t bite. They ignored the Dragon and the potential fight with Team Shanghai, and instead focused on farming minion and jungle camps elsewhere on the map.

“A sensible choice!” Rollfire exclaimed from the caster desk. He looked out over the audience and explained, “You might think that Fuzhou Tech has a strong team to contest Dragon with Rumble and Fizz. But you can’t forget that Kog’Maw hasn’t scaled yet. He needs levels and items. Contesting this Dragon is an unnecessary risk for Fuzhou Tech. By giving up on it they aren’t losing out on much while also not opening themselves up to the risk of a Fiddlesticks ultimate! They need to use this time to farm and scale. There will be more Dragons to contest. Fuzhou Tech will get their shot!”

Silent Reed knitted her brows and said, “That’s how the game is shaping up. Fuzhou Tech is showing some really strong decision making here!” Come on Team Shanghai! Prove this asshole next to me wrong! She blinked, surprised. Wow! I started cheering for Team Shanghai just because of how annoying Rollfire is! But please prove him wrong! I don’t want to see him be right! You guys are just as capable of seeing the bigger picture as Fuzhou Tech! Please tell me you have a plan in mind! I want to see you win!

✹

“Take Dragon,” Zeng Rui said over the team’s voice chat. “If they don’t want to fight, we’ll just take the fight to them. Let’s see how much they’re willing to give up. We’re going for the mid tower next. And BunBun, start taking their Jungle Camps. We’re going to make them put up a defense somewhere!”

An Xin smiled and replied, “That sounds good! Let’s see how long their patience will last!”

Team Shanghai followed the goals set by Zeng Rui. They took the Dragon at 9:40 minutes and they destroyed the outer tower in the mid lane 40 seconds later. An Xin’s Fiddlesticks disappeared into Fuzhou’s Jungle and started claiming camps, while the rest of the team moved around the map in search of their next objective. The scale was slowly tipping in Team Shanghai’s favour, but Fuzhou Tech wasn’t giving up. They evaded fights at all costs and focused on scaling up their Fizz and Kog’Maw. And little by little, it was working. Team Shanghai didn’t get the push they really wanted and Fuzhou Tech was digging itself deeper and deeper into the game.

The players from Zhejiang University watched the game develop from their seats in front of the soundproof booths. And the more they watched, the more they found themselves agreeing with Rollfire. The Support raised an eyebrow and noted, “It’s looking pretty bad for Team Shanghai. They’ve got the outer towers and some Jungle Camps, but what more can they realistically get? The inner towers are easier to defend because they’re closer to the base. And Fuzhou Tech is just farming minions.”

The Jungler nodded and said, “It looks like Team Shanghai is pushing their lead. But really they’re desperate to find an opening. They’re fighting a battle against time! And in the entire game so far, Fiddlesticks hasn’t found a single opening for his ultimate yet! That’s pretty bad for them. If they can’t find something soon, they’re out of this game. It’s going to end up being a 4vs5 game where Fiddlesticks is completely useless! And Kog’Maw will just shred through Team Shanghai’s lineup!”

Sun Ruinian listened to his teammates but didn’t participate. He stared at the large LCD screen above the soundproof booths and tapped his chin in a slow, steady rhythm. This can’t be it from Team Shanghai, right? They didn’t expect to just get an opportunity thrown at them, right? That Midlaner is too good to come unprepared! Something is going to happen, I can feel it. How are they going to force this play? What do they have in mind? They really can’t afford to let that Kog’Maw or Fizz get too much stronger. It’s going to be so hard to come back from that. He chewed on the inside of his cheeks and looked through the glass windows of the soundproof booths. They still look calm, I think. They must have something prepared.

Back on the caster desk, Rollfire was having the time of his life. The audience was following along with everything he said and they were now all convinced that Team Shanghai was doomed to lose this game. Let’s just add a bit more to it. I will make this stupid organization regret putting me on this dumb game! He grinned and said through the microphone, “Team Shanghai is done for if they don’t push for the win right now! They can try and push for little advantages all they want, it won’t matter a thing in the late game! Fuzhou Tech’s team is coming online! They’re getting the levels and items and will soon turn this game around! Just watch Kog’Maw rip through Team Shanghai’s Zed and Fiddlesticks! It’ll happen! Trust me!”

Silent Reed bit on her lips. He can’t be right! Stupid asshole! But it looks like, it looks like he is… She closed her eyes for a brief moment to settle the turmoil in her stomach. Then she flashed them open and said, “You’re right! Team Shanghai needs to end the game as soon as they can! Fuzhou Tech is slowly catching up. One decisive fight is all that Team Shanghai needs here to finish it and claim the series! It’s a very open game that can go either way!”

Rollfire sneered and asked, “Force an engage? Ha! As if!” He turned to look at the audience and shouted, “It’d be a wonderful story to see the underdog high school team win it all! But that’s just not realistic. This isn’t the little kids league they usually play in. This is the Collegiate Cup! Expecting your opponent to screw up isn’t a tactic that is going to work here! Team Shanghai screwed themselves over in Champion Select and they are feeling the pain now! Fiddlesticks simply doesn’t fit in the meta, nor in Team Shanghai’s team composition! And Fuzhou Tech is playing a lot better than in Game 1. They’re clawing their way back from an early deficit and will soon get the complete turnaround fight! And then, then!” He briefly paused, drawing all attention towards him, and then added, “And then we’re going to an all deciding Game 3!”

Fuzhou Tech was in a terrible mood after the disappointing loss in Game 1. But they could change their fortunes right away! The Winter Collegiate Cup’s Round of 16 was a best of three series. They were down one. Now it was time to go up two! The five players sat behind their computers in the soundproof booth, eager. And Silent Reed had the perfect vantage point to see this from the caster desk! She held her microphone close to her mouth and said, “Just look at the players from Fuzhou Tech! So serious! So ready for this game! Oh, and look! We’re loading in!”

《Welcome to Summoner’s Rift!》

“TEAM SHANGHAI IS GOING TO QUARTERS! WOOT WOOT!”
“They really are if Fuzhou Tech doesn’t bounce back from that abysmal performance. I’m honestly stunned that they’re still willing to show their face—”
“WOOOOOO! FUZHOU TECH GONNA GET BACK INTO THIS!”
“Please let this be a more entertaining match to watch!”
“Us neutrals want some spectacle! OR DRAMA! DRAMA IS GOOD TOO!”

The players from Team Shanghai and Fuzhou Tech spawned on their respective fountains and spent the 500 starting gold in the shop. This was the moment Silent Reed chose to move the focus away from the Fiddlesticks discussion and towards the matchup in the mid lane. She said into the microphone, “Last game was a fierce battle in mid with two strong players going head to head! Team Shanghai won that round, so Fuzhou Tech is certainly looking for redemption! That Fizz pick is plenty proof of that! And don’t forget that their Midlaner is a Master on the Ionia server!” She waited for the crowd to respond and then continued, “But we’ve all seen what Team Shanghai’s Midlaner can do on an assassin! The real question now is if his Zed is as good as his Yasuo!” She turned to look at Rollfire and asked, “What do you think? Does this Zed have the skill to outplay Fizz like he did in Game 1? Or will something else happen?”

Rollfire knitted his brows and looked at the large LCD screen above the two soundproof booths. His Yasuo last game actually looked pretty decent. Better than that Lux anyway. I’m not going to make myself look like a fool again! This game I’m going to be the hero and show the Shanghai Esports Association why I’m too good for this stupid series! I’ll make them regret not putting me on a better game! He smiled and said, “That’s hard to say. Technically, Zed versus Fizz is a pretty even matchup. It’s all going to come down to skill.” Those damn kids got lucky in the first game. But this time they’re going to make a mistake. Fiddle is proof enough! And when those stupid representatives of the stupid organizers screw up, I’ll be ready to jump on it! Make the best commentary by flaming those jackasses who put me on this stupid noob game! It’d be even better if the Zed is the one screwing up. Talking about Zeds… He grinned and added, “I don’t know how many of you guys remember, but there used to be a Zed main on Zhejiang University’s roster. He was a Kage! I wonder how this Zed will measure up to him.”

Kage was the highest rank title for masters of the shadows in the popular manga series Naruto. And Zed just happened to be a master of the shadows himself. So Chinese League of Legends fans used Naruto’s ranking system to rank Zed players. The lowest rank was Genin, followed by Chunin, Jonin and finally Kage. Right now, Rake was recognized as the strongest Zed player in the world. His outstanding achievements during the 2014 OGN Summer Playoffs on Zed had cemented that position. He was the real Kage. But there were plenty of other strong Zed players who’d been given the Kage title by their fans. One of them was the former captain of Zhejiang University’s esports club.

The players from Zhejiang University’s team looked at each other when Rollfire mentioned the Kage from their university. The Jungler asked, “He’s talking about Shi Hang, right?”

Zuo Cheng who was the current Midlaner for Zhejiang University nodded and said, “He is! He’s talking about the Captain! Captain Shi Hang is my idol! I’m still watching old videos of his Zed and trying to play just like him!”

Sun Ruinian smiled and chimed in, “Yes. That’s Shi Hang for you. His Zed is unbelievably good.” Shi Hang, you made us who we are today. You were the first all the way back in Season 1 to start about League. You made the esports club at our university. And then you went on to become a professional player! One of the best in all of China! He shook his head and grimaced. But why did you have to retire so early…? You still have so much more to give! Graduating from university can wait! You can be a professional player again! Sun Ruinian breathed in and smiled. But whatever you choose to do, we’ll always remember you for all the good you’ve done for our university!

“His Zed is the best!” Zuo Cheng continued, excited. He turned to look at Sun Ruinian and added, “If Shi Hang wants to play, he just needs to say the words! I’ll sit out! He can have my spot! Oh man, I so badly want to see him play again! I’ll be the waterboy! Benchwarmer! Anything just to see him play again!”

The other members from Zhejiang University’s team all nodded and spoke out their agreement with Zuo Cheng’s statement. They’d talked about this subject more than a few times over the last couple of months, especially in the period following their elimination from the previous edition of the Collegiate Cup. It wasn’t that they weren’t happy with Zuo Cheng. He was a great Midlaner and won them many games. But he wasn’t Shi Hang. If Shi Hang had played on their team, they believed that they’d have won the entire tournament.

Sun Ruinian scrunched his nose and sighed loudly. “Forget it, guys. He’s not interested. I’ve asked him about it too many times already. His answer is always the same. This tournament is kiddy stuff to him. And he’s right. He was one of the best professional players in the LPL! Even if he’s taken a break from competitive play, he still has the skill to cruise through this tournament! We’d just be along for the ride.” He looked at his teammates and concluded, “So let’s stop daydreaming. Professional players, former or current, won’t ever bother with a tournament at this level. We’re a kiddy league to them. You guys know how good Shi Hang is. You know what I’m saying is true. So let’s focus on what we can control, our skill. Now, let’s watch this game.”

✹

The players from Team Shanghai and Fuzhou Tech had bought their starter items and were now heading down their respective lanes. Team Shanghai opted to go with a lane swap. Zhang Hao went to the bot lane with his Gnar to face off against Kog’Maw and Alistar, while Tang Bingyao’s Ezreal and Zeng Rui’s Leona went to the top lane to fight Rumble.

“I don’t understand this lane swap,” Rollfire commented from the caster desk. He knitted his brows and continued, “Kog’Maw is very strong in the late game, but weak early on. Leona and Ezreal can really shut him down and make him irrelevant before getting strong enough. Gnar can’t do that. I’m really struggling to see the point of this lane swap.”

Silent Reed felt just as confused as Rollfire. She stared at the large LCD screen and guessed, “Maybe they’re really afraid of the Rumble getting one over on the Gnar? I mean, if he gets ahead, that’ll make it really tough for Team Shanghai to contest the first dragon. Rumble’s ultimate skill is just perfect to win fights at the Dragon Pit!”

Rollfire raised an eyebrow and glanced at Silent Reed, but he didn’t react to her assessment. I won’t give you the pleasure of lucking your way into a correct guess!! You’re WRONG! The high school kids are being dumbfucks! I just hope Fuzhou Tech will finally punish them for it! It’s about time these representatives of the Shanghai Idiots Association get knocked down! He narrowed his eyes and turned his attention back to the large LCD screen. I’ll just wait for the— DAMMIT! NOT AGAIN!

Fuzhou Tech’s Midlaner had picked Fizz as a direct result from what happened in the first game against Team Shanghai. He was convinced he got duped into losing by a trolling Yasuo. So he went with an aggressive Champion in Fizz who could push and punish the type of player he believed the Yasuo, or Zed in this game, was. But the start of the laning phase went anything like he’d expected. How did he get the minion wave to freeze right outside of his tower!? We’re barely a minute into the laning phase! And he keeps hitting those damn Shurikens! They’re impossible to hit! How do I keep walking into them? Does he know where I’m going to dodge or something? NoNoNo! Stop this! Focus and beat this troll! He’s just trolling!

The Blue and Red minions were in a fierce struggle just outside Blue team’s outer tower. Melee minions were clashing swords while caster minions fired their magic from the backline! Fuzhou Tech’s Midlaner watched this play out and gritted his teeth. I’m missing out on CS if it keeps going like this! The Junglers should still be clearing their camps. It’s a little bit risky, but I need to act now! I need to break this freeze open! Fuck! He moved his mouse over the nearest Blue minion and clicked on it. His Fizz started running towards it.

Lin Feng was slowly getting back in his old groove. He’d noticed the patterns in how Fuzhou Tech’s Midlaner  moved during the first game and applied that knowledge in the second game. Every time Razor Shuriken came off cooldown, he activated the skill. His Zed threw a shuriken in a straight line and each time it connected with Fizz, shaving away at his health! And then, just like in Game 1, Fuzhou Tech’s Midlaner crossed the midway section of the lane without having ward coverage. Lin Feng laughed and said over Team Shanghai’s voice chat, “He really fell for it again? He really fell for it again! ZengZeng, go in!”

“I’m going in,” Zeng Rui replied over the team’s voice chat.

“NOT AGAIN! GO BACK FIZZ! GOOOOOO BACK!”
“Shit! I can’t watch this. That Leona roam is so dirty!”
“How did that Fizz not learn from the previous game? Jesus!”
“RETREAT FIZZ! DON’T DO THIS!”
“Oh my god, he’s falling for it again… What a fucking noob!”
“FUCK ME! What’s wrong with this dude? Is he trolling?”

“It’s the Level 1 roam!” Silent Reed cried out from the caster desk. She grabbed her microphone and moved it close to her mouth. “Leona timed this roam perfectly! Fuzhou Tech won’t know what hit them! It’s going to be first blood in the mid lane again!”

Rollfire was steaming in rage next to Silent Reed. Why can’t they fucking ward? How stupid is this Fizz!? He said through gritted teeth, “It’s going to be really hard to escape from this roam for that Fizz.”

Zeng Rui’s Leona had walked down the river from the top lane and arrived in the mid lane just as Fizz ran forward to break the minion freeze. Zeng Rui had his Leona charge at Fizz and cast Exhaust on him! A debilitating energy wrapped around Fizz and drained away most of his stats! His movement speed slowed to a crawl and he was forced to use the only escape ability he had. Flash. But Zeng Rui was prepared for this. He flashed right after Fizz and then slammed his shield into the Fizz. Shield of Daybreak! It rammed into Fizz with such power that it stunned him!

“Nice!” Lin Feng cried out over the team’s voice chat. He last hit a caster minion, which brought him to Level 2, and then learned Living Shadow! This skill allowed him to place a living shadow of himself in front of him. “I’m coming!” he shouted as he activated the skill. A Living Shadow appeared right next to Fizz. Lin Feng then used the second part of this skill, switching positions with his shadow! He cast Ignite on Fizz! An unquenchable flame burned away at Fizz’s health bar! Zed followed up with an auto attack, his sharp blade dealing a ton of damage, before finishing the job with a Razor Shuriken!

《First Blood!》

The crowd erupted with cheers! Their voices boomed through the venue and slammed into the glass of the soundproof booths! And it wasn’t just the regular audience members who were impressed. Even the players from Zhejiang University were in awe. More specifically, their Support was deeply impressed with Zeng Rui’s gank. He exclaimed, “That roam! Holy crap that was beautiful! The way they set up the top lane to make it seem like nothing was going on! Wooo that was impressive!”

Zuo Cheng looked at the large LCD screen, entranced. He saw how Zed broke the minion freeze after picking up the kill and bit on his lips. “That Fizz just lost so much there. If that death wasn’t bad enough, losing out on all those minions is going to hurt real bad! This is looking rough for him already.”

Sun Ruinian looked from the large LCD screen to Zuo Cheng and felt his stomach drop. That play looked good and Zuo Cheng looks worried. He chewed on the inside of his cheeks as he turned back to look at the large LCD screen. Is he better than an A- Midlaner? A? How good is this Midlaner? Shit! How are we going to beat them? That Midlaner is better than Zuo Cheng! We need, we need… He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes. We need Shi Hang. We’re not going to win without him.

✹

Tang Bingyao’s Ezreal froze the minion wave in the top lane. She could hold her own against a Rumble the first few levels because of her ranged attacks. This was also what allowed Zeng Rui to make the roam to the mid lane. But freezing a minion wave wasn’t as easy as Lin Feng often made it look. She tried to manipulate the minions to the best of her ability and the freeze persisted for a good while. But between Rumble trying to disrupt it and making small mistakes herself, the Blue minion wave grew in size. More and more Blue minions slaughtered their way through the Red minions until Tang Bingyao couldn’t hold the freeze anymore. A massive wave of minions started marching from the Blue outer tower to the other side of the lane.

Tang Bingyao pursed her lips and tightened the hold on her mouse. I can’t let Rumble get all this gold and experience! I just got a nice head start. Mhm! I’m going to stop him! I’ll push him away from the minions and make him retrea—

“Get ready, Tang Tang. We’re circling around,” Zeng Rui said over the team’s voice chat.

An Xin added, “I’ll engage!”

“Almost there!” Lin Feng chimed in.

The Blue minions charged at Red team’s outer tower, unafraid of death. Tang Bingyao’s Ezreal followed right behind them, firing skills and auto attacks at the Rumble to keep him from getting last hits on them. And then, right as the minions slammed into the outer tower, An Xin, Lin Feng and Zeng Rui walked into the top lane.

An Xin’s Fiddlesticks got close to the Rumble and cast Terrify on him! Nightmarish illusions incapacitated Rumble for a second, which allowed Zeng Rui’s Leona to land an easy Zenith Blade! A solar projection of her sword pierced through Rumble and Leona dashed at him! Then she slammed her Shield of Daybreak into him! Stunned!

Lin Feng’s Zed jumped in with his Living Shadow and then attacked with his Razor Shuriken and the blades attached to his gloves! It dealt a lot of damage, even this early in the game. Rumble’s health dropped fast. But they were fighting Rumble right underneath his tower. The turret locked onto An Xin’s Fiddlesticks and fired an energy shot at her. She had to move out of range before a second one could hit, which caused the tower to shift aggro onto Zeng Rui’s Leona. He ran away before the tower could attack him. As did Lin Feng’s Zed, because Tang Bingyao’s Ezreal had fired a Mystic Shot at the low health Rumble! The damaging bolt of energy whizzed through the air and knocked Rumble out cold!

《You have slain an enemy!》

“WHAT A TOWERDIVE!” Silent Reed shrieked at the top of her lungs. “Team Shanghai did it all perfectly! Fuzhou Tech didn’t know what hit them! And now with Rumble dead, Team Shanghai can take the top tower! That’s just going to make life so much harder for Rumble! Where’s he going to go? Is Fuzhou Tech going to follow along with the lane swap now? They really have to do something if they wanna stay in this! It’s their tournament life that’s on the line here!” She turned to look at Rollfire and asked, “What do you think? You have to admit that that was a beautiful play, right!?”

“It was,” Rollfire replied. He took a long, deep breath and added, “It was a good towerdive.” Those words were incredibly difficult for him to say. It was him admitting that Team Shanghai wasn’t just a team of high school students who didn’t know how to play the game. They were a team that could compete against university teams. That the game he was hired to cast wasn’t all that terrible after all. That the Shanghai Esports Association hadn’t screwed him over. He gritted his teeth and glared at the large LCD screen. It’s not over yet! Yeah, that 4 man collapse was impressive. Yeah they juggled the tower aggro correctly. And yeah they baited Fuzhou Tech well enough. And yeah there was no way Rumble could escape that. But that was just one gank! Or two now. But the game has only just begun!

Silent Reed was getting used to the little input Rollfire was giving in this series. She glanced at him but decided against mentioning it. I’ll just do the best I can! I’ll be Westwind and me! She grabbed her microphone and shouted, “Team Shanghai has the initiative again! But we haven’t seen too much from the Fiddlesticks yet. I’m really curious to see how they’re going to play with him! He’s such a niche Champion! But with how Team Shanghai is playing, they must have something special planned for him!”

Rollfire didn’t entertain the audience or Silent Reed with his opinion on the Fiddlesticks. But he clenched his fist under the table until his knuckles were white and gritted his teeth. You think they got a plan to use that Fiddle? Piss off! Yeah, Team Shanghai’s lanes are doing well and it might look like they’re winning now, but this is still a 5vs5 game! And that Fiddle is basically useless! Just wait until Fuzhou Tech sets up their line of vision! That Fiddle pick is going to look stupid then! Fuzhou Tech is going to fight their way back into this game after this minor setback and secure a win! Then we’re going to an all deciding Game 3 and the Shanghai Idiots Organization will find out that their team is also a group of cocky idiots!

Chu Fang was in charge of the East China Regionals, so he was present at the event. And he was also in charge of Team Shanghai, so he watched their games. Right now, he sat in a private room backstage in front of a large tv screen that showed the game between Fuzhou Tech and Team Shanghai. Staff members were walking into the room and asking him to sign off on things, but he brushed them away. His full attention was directed towards the screen, towards Lin Feng. Maple. He smiled and balled a fist. He’s good! Much better than the last time I saw him play! I don’t think it’ll take him much longer to reach Goalie’s level. That’s a good start for him. And from there we can push him to the real top!

The last weeks since Chu Fang had rediscovered Lin Feng came to mind. He lost a lot of his skill during his four year hiatus. I really wasn’t too impressed with what I saw… Chu Fang shook his head and grinned. But he was the best. And he still is the most talented player I’ve ever seen! If we use the normal grading system, Maple would’ve hit anywhere between 95% to a perfect score. And Lin Feng hasn’t dropped that far down. Some things you just don’t forget. I’ll give him a solid A right now. Yeah, I think that’s a fair grade.

The system to judge a player’s skill level was incredibly comprehensive. Lin Feng’s ability in some aspects had declined sharply over the last few years, his game mechanics being one of them. But there were other aspects of the game that he didn’t unlearn. He knew like no other how to roam around the map, follow up on engages and control the flow of the game. They were the aspects of the game that many professional players were still struggling with, yet he’d mastered them. This was why he could still play at the highest level despite his break from the game.

Chu Fang was in an incredibly good mood. Some of these things just come so easy to him! As if it’s second nature! So many pros struggle with learning how to roam their entire career, yet he just knows how to do it! It’s those little things that he’s just so good at! And then there also is… He turned his attention to the large tv screen which was currently focused on the mid lane.

A storm was brewing around the tip of Yasuo’s blade. Lin Feng had dashed through to one minion! Sweeping Blade’s cooldown was almost zero. He just couldn’t target the same minion twice. He didn’t want to. There was another minion closer to the Lux. He had his Yasuo dash through that minion and clicked on the Lux, his finger lightly pressing down on the D key.

Fuzhou Tech’s Lux panicked. She saw the fed Yasuo dashing towards her and knew she was dead if he got on top of her. Light Binding! She cast a sphere of light that flew straight towards the Yasuo!

Lin Feng was ready for the Light Binding. He cast Flash. Yasuo disappeared with a mottled flash of light, then reappeared on top of the Lux. He activated Steel Tempest. The storm brewing at the tip of the blade was unleashed onto the battlefield! Winds howled and raged, launching Fuzhou Tech’s Lux into the air! And then Yasuo used his ultimate skill. Last Breath! He blinked to the Lux and suspended her in midair! Then he unloaded a flurry of strikes on her before slamming her back to the ground! The unquenchable flame from Ignite started burning on Lux’s skin and a sharp cut from Steel Tempest pierced her body!

《You have slain an enemy!》

The audience erupted into cheers! Lin Feng had achieved a solo kill on the Lux! And he got away with zero damage dealt to him! It was especially the dodging of the Light Binding that evoked a strong response from everyone watching. That wasn’t just limited to the spectators, but also to other teams competing in the tournament. Even the players from Zhejiang University were feeling the heat. Their Midlaner, Zuo Cheng, started to realise that beating Lin Feng might actually be impossible, while Sun Ruinian began to reevaluate his earlier assessment of Lin Feng’s skill level.

Chu Fang grinned when he heard the cheers and started laughing when he saw the stunned expressions from Zhejiang University’s players on a second screen. That’s right! His game senses and awareness are slowly coming back! He’s getting better and better by the game! But what’s even more important are his mechanics! No one had better mechanics than him! And they’re coming back to him! We’re getting to see the real Maple mechanics again! He’ll stand on the Rift and become invincible again! Just like we planned!

“Maybe we can push him a little harder,” Chu Fang mumbled. He was better than Phoenix back in Season 1. Only Rake could put up some kind of resistance! But Lin Feng… Maple was the best! He just was! We need that player back so that China can finally grow into one of the big regions! He chewed on his lips and tapped his fingers on the table next to him. With the way he’s improving, I don’t really see anyone in this tournament being much of a problem for him. Even that Goalie guy won’t be his match. It would help if everyone knew how good he is. They might prepare harder…

Chu Fang shook his head and frowned. That Midlaner from Fuzhou Tech might be a Master on the Ionia server and a B grade Midlaner, but that’s just not enough to make Lin Feng really try. And it also doesn’t help that the rest of Team Shanghai is also doing great. If Lin Feng doesn’t really get pushed, he won’t show exactly how much he’s capable of. It’s a shame, really. Goalie won’t know how good Lin Feng is and won’t prepare for that. He’ll be screwed. I kind of… I really want to see a fully prepared Goalie take on Lin Feng. He sighed and focused back on the game.

✹

Lin Feng’s Yasuo was fed. There wasn’t a single player on Fuzhou Tech’s team safe from him. But the other players from Team Shanghai were also playing at an incredibly high level. Tang Bingyao’s Lucian and Zeng Rui’s Thresh decimated their opposition in the bot lane and destroyed the outer tower 13 minutes into the game. They then rotated to the mid lane and helped Lin Feng get another kill on Fuzhou Tech’s Midlaner followed by finally destroying the outer tower. Lin Feng had kept it up until now, just so that he could farm a few more kills on Lux.

An Xin also found the flow of the game, and of her Champion. Evelynn was the mistress of the shadows. There were so many potential plays An Xin could make with this Champion, because Evelynn could move around the map invisible. And that was exactly what An Xin started doing. Whenever Fuzhou Tech got the idea of teaming up to try and fight Team Shanghai, she would find a flank on them. Then she’d engage them from behind, bursting their backline down and distracting them from the follow up by the rest of Team Shanghai.

The audience didn’t understand what had changed. They mumbled questions about the Evelynn that started the game farming Jungle camps like a noob yet was now finding the perfect angle for every attack. There was only more confusion in the responses. No one knew what to say. They didn’t have the answer. Most of all, Rollfire didn’t have an answer. He sat quietly at the shoutcaster desk, letting Silent Reed hype everyone up for the next beautiful engage orchestrated by An Xin’s Evelynn!

“Get ready, I’m going in!” Became the staple sentence for An Xin when she’d found the gank. The other players from Team Shanghai knew that when those words arrived over the team’s voice chat, they didn’t need to wait any longer. They could rush forward and jump at Fuzhou Tech’s team! The ensuing teamfights were clean victories. Every last one of them.

The game time hit 20 minutes and the surrender option became available. But this was a tournament with serious money on the line. Fuzhou Tech wasn’t willing to surrender, arguing over their team’s voice chat that they still had a chance at a comeback as long as their nexus was alive. They finally agreed that they just had to play the game ultra-defensively and hope for Team Shanghai to make enough mistakes for them to catch back up. More importantly, the longer a game went on, the fewer mistakes Team Shanghai could permit themselves to make. Because there was a maximum level and maximum number of items each Champion could buy. Once those were reached, it was only a matter of time until the other team caught up.

But the game never reached that point, because Team Shanghai didn’t make any mistakes. Zeng Rui made sure of that. He guided his team from one tower to the next, pushing for objectives rather than kills. When the Dragon spawned, the team was preparing something in the two lanes bordering the dragon pit. And after slaying the Dragon, they’d go back to taking down towers. Fuzhou Tech lost their outer towers and inner towers. They tried to protect their inhibitor towers and inhibitors, but Team Shanghai was too far ahead.

At 25 minutes, Team Shanghai made the final push into Fuzhou Tech’s base. They were buffed by Baron Nashor and a powerful pink-purple aura flowed through their minions, bolstering their stats! It was overkill. Fuzhou Tech was torn apart, after which their Nexus towers and finally the Nexus itself were destroyed. The energy that exploded from the nexus morphed into the red victory screen for Team Shanghai.

VICTORY!

“WOOOOOO!” Silent Reed screamed her throat dry. She shoved the microphone halfway into her mouth and shouted, “THAT IS 1-0 FOR TEAM SHANGHAI!”

Rollfire stared at the screen, numb. H-how is this even possible? How did these fucking kids… He took a deep breath. A staff member reminded him through his earpiece that he had a job to do. So he grabbed his microphone and cheered, “Team Shanghai won this game! Yeeeey!”

“WOOT WOOT! BUNBUN IS THE BEST JUNGLER EVER!”
“WOOOOOOOOOOO!”
“Fuzhou Tech got wrecked by a bunch of high schoolers! HAHAHA!”
“That Yasuo! HOLY FUCKING GOOOOOOOD!”
“GO GO! GO GO! TEAM SHANGHAI! YAY!”
“Lux spread her legs for that yasuo! LOL!”
“HAHA! Didn’t know Fuzhou Tech’s Midlaner was into hentai shit!”

Sun Ruinian ignored the cheering crowd behind him and the blaring shoutcaster at the caster desk. His entire being was focused on Team Shanghai’s soundproof booth. More precisely, on the Midlaner. That dude… Lin Feng? He isn’t A-. He’s an A, maybe higher. Hard to tell from this game. Fuzhou Tech just isn’t good enough. Fuck! I want to be happy that there’s a talented Midlaner. It’s just… We need to play against him! He shook his head and glanced at the Midlaner on his team. Zuo Cheng isn’t that good. We’re going to have to find a strategy to deal with this Lin Feng. But it’s not just that either.

Sun Ruinian turned his attention to Zeng Rui and grimaced. Zeng Rui has also gotten a lot better. He’s right up there with that Midlaner, maybe a little bit worse. But still. He’s a good player that’s going to require a lot of planning on my part. He bit on his lips and looked at An Xin. And then there’s that girl. Her early game Jungling wasn’t anything impressive. We can beat that. But then… He shook his head. I don’t really get what happened in the mid game there, but it’s like she woke up and decided to play a little. I’ve got no clue how good she actually is. Maybe it was just luck and leaning on that Midlaner to carry her. But if any of that was real skill, then we’re in deep shit.

✹

There was a little downtime between the first and the second game. The players from Team Shanghai and Fuzhou Tech were given the chance to take a toilet break and unwind for a couple of minutes. What the organizers did during this time was having the casters reflect back on the game while playing highlights on the large LCD screen. Silent Reed took charge in this. She smiled and said into her microphone, “Team Shanghai really deserves some congratulations for that massive win! What a display of skill!” She turned to look at Rollfire and continued, “After a questionable start, Team Shanghai’s Evelynn really fell into her roll. What do you think, Rollfire? I know you had a few choice words for her early on.”

Rollfire bit back. Don’t think I can’t see what you’re trying to do! But I won’t let you get to me! He forced a smile onto his lips and replied, “You’re completely right. The start was really rough for her, which I pointed out. But it’s like she could hear me and took my advice to heart. She worked really hard to turn things around and by the end of it she looked pretty decent.”

“I think pretty decent might be underselling it a bit,” Silent Reed argued. She giggled and added, “Pretty damn goo—”

“However,” Rollfire interrupted. He narrowed his eyes and said, “Fuzhou Tech got too comfortable with how the Evelynn played early on. They should’ve set up a proper line of vision to stop that Evelynn from getting all those flanks on them. Had they done that, who knows, maybe they’d have won.”

Silent Reed looked at Rollfire and raised an eyebrow. Why can’t he ever say something positive? It’s like he’s got a personal vendetta against Team Shanghai. He’s not even trying to hide it! She shook her head a little and said, “I suppose you’ve got a point about Fuzhou Tech’s warding. If they’d invested more gold into vision wards, they could’ve stopped a lot of these engagements from Evelynn. But I’m not sure if that alone would’ve been enough for them. The Yasuo was the real carry here.”

Rollfire chuckled and concluded, “Let’s just hope Fuzhou Tech has learned from this first game. I’m hoping to see a stronger performance from them in the next game. Then they might actually punish that Jungler for the glaring holes in her ga—”

“I think that’s enough of that!” Silent Reed interrupted. She pointed at the large LCD screen and continued, “Looks like we’re getting ready for the second game between Team Shanghai and Fuzhou Tech! The series right now is 1-0 for Team Shanghai! Let’s see if they can bring this best of three series home, or if we’re going to an all deciding Game 3!”

Game 2 of the East China Round of 16
Team Shanghai (Blue) vs Fuzhou Tech (Red)

Top: Gnar versus Rumble
Jungle: Fiddlesticks versus Rek’Sai
Mid: Zed versus Fizz
AD-Carry: Ezreal versus Kog’Maw
Support: Leona versus Alistar

Silent Reed looked up at the large LCD screen and read through the line up. Then she mumbled, “Fiddlesticks? What? Why?”

A confused buzz murmured through the audience. Even the other teams competing didn’t know what to make of this choice of Champion. Fiddlesticks wasn’t a bad Champion, but he wasn’t particularly strong in the current meta either. His entire kit relied on him getting off a good ultimate. But a well organized team could plan for this and play around it. This was the main reason why his winrate in low elo games was incredibly high, yet he was almost never picked in the higher ranked games. And it was unheard of to pick him in competitive play.

“Jungle fid? Did they lose a few too many brain cells?”
“Oh god, those high school kids got cocky…”
“What the hell are they thinking? Do they want to lose!?”
“What bm! Holy sweetness! Gimme some of that!”
“Fuzhou Tech better wrecks them for this!”

Rollfire smiled a smile that didn’t get anywhere near his eyes. He grabbed the microphone and said, “Team Shanghai has chosen to go with Fiddlesticks Jungle! He’s a strong Champion that can easily ace Fuzhou Tech’s team! He’s a pentakill Champion! It’s just…” He paused briefly before continuing, “It’s just that Fuzhou Tech only has to cancel or evade Fiddle’s ultie to make that Champion completely useless! And there’s nothing Fiddle can do about it!”

Silent Reed bit on her lips and then argued, “He is not often seen in high ranked games. But that doesn’t make him a bad Champion.”

“Oh, he’s not bad. I’m not saying that,” Rollfire fired back. He shook his head and continued, “It’s just that when you play against a well prepared team, the threat a Fiddlesticks brings is greatly reduced. And we should be able to assume that the teams competing at the Winter Collegiate Cup have at least reached that level of skill. But I guess it all comes down to whether Fuzhou Tech can sort out their warding problems. Keep vision on the Fiddle and he’s useless.”

“I guess so,” Silent Reed said. She glanced at Team Shanghai’s soundproof booth. Why would they pick Fiddlesticks? He’s such a strange champion to go with. Do they have something specific in mind? I don’t get it… They must have a plan for this, right?

Rollfire chuckled and said, “I was talking about Fuzhou Tech needing to sort their warding out, and now they’re getting to show us right away if they have learned from their mistakes! If Fuzhou Tech messes up again, they only got themselves to blame for a terrible ending to this tournament. But let’s face it, they should be a strong team for making it this far. I’m guessing they’ll figure out how to ward properly.”

✹

Everyone was confused about An Xin’s choice of Champion. Even Zeng Rui wasn’t feeling it. He knitted his brows and asked over the team’s voice chat, “BunBun, you sure about this?” Fiddlesticks isn’t in a great place right now. It’s just how the meta works. We should be focusing on other Champions. That’ll also help us prepare for games further down the road. Why are we wasting a game to play with Fiddlesticks? I don’t get how this is going to help us as a team, even if we win the game.

“Don’t worry about it! I’m pretty good at Jungle Fiddlesticks too!” An Xin replied, forcing a smile forward. Zeng Rui needs to know about the game plan. I’ll just guide him through what he needs to know…

There was a strange silence. An Xin was clearly holding back, lacking her usual insightful explanation. It was painfully obvious to Zeng Rui, Tang Bingyao and Zhang Hao that An Xin wasn’t telling them something, but Lin Feng didn’t notice this. His focus was on the loading screen, which showed the lineup for the game. Fizz? FIZZ! He grinned and tapped his finger on Zhang Hao’s shoulder. “HaoBro! HaoBro! Do you see that? Those idiots picked Fizz!” He laughed and added, “I’ma have a fish steak sandwich!”

Rollfire and Silent Reed were arguing about An Xin’s Evelynn. They questioned her moves and pointed out aspects of her game that were subpar. The audience nodded along, slowly letting their focus be pulled away from the game. All they knew was Evelynn. Her every move was scrutinized and judged by Rollfire. Silent Reed would say a couple of words in An Xin’s favour. But An Xin’s Evelynn simply wasn’t all that impressive. The audience agreed with Rollfire and completely missed what happened in the game until the voice announcer blasted through the speakers.

《You have slain an enemy!》

“A KILL!” Silent Reed exclaimed in reflex. Huh? What happened? Where did the kill… She looked up at the large LCD screen that was already showing a replay of the fight, including the voice chat from Team Shanghai. She said into her microphone, “Let’s watch the replay!”

At 7 minutes into the game, Zeng Rui’s Thresh wandered up the river towards the mid lane. Blue Team’s Lux didn’t have Flash available after using it a little earlier. Nor did she have wards to protect herself from the gank. Zeng Rui’s Thresh walked into the lane and hooked her with a Death Sentence. Then he reactivated the skill to dash at her. “Go in, Lin Feng!” he shouted over the team’s voice chat as he Flayed Lux backwards.

Flay briefly knocked a Champion up. This allowed Lin Feng’s Yasuo to target Lux with Last Breath! He blinked on top of the Lux and suspended her in midair! Then he erupted with a flurry of slashes, his sharp blade cutting through Lux’s health bar! For the final attack he raised his katana high above his head before hacking down on Lux and slamming her to the ground!

Lux had a sliver of health remaining. She ran away and threw out a Light Binding behind her. The cage of light flew in a straight line at Yasuo, who dashed through a nearby minion to both dodge the skill and line up for Steel Tempest! He stabbed out with his blade and nicked her! Then he targeted Lux with the Sweeping Blade into Steel Tempest combo! He dashed through her and swept out in a wide arc with his katana!

The voice announcer’s kill message rang out, followed by Lin Feng saying over Team Shanghai’s voice chat, “Nice job, ZengZeng! That was a great roam! But you didn’t need to. I would’ve killed her anyway!”

The replay ended and the game on the large LCD screen returned to real time. Silent Reed sat at the caster desk, glancing at Rollfire to see if he had something to say. Do something! Anything! Open that stupid mouth of yours! She shook her head, annoyed. Fine! I’ll do it all by myself! She forced a smile and shouted, “WOOOOO! What a play! What a play! The Thresh found the opening where Fuzhou Tech wouldn’t suspect him to make a play in the mid lane. And… WOOOOO!”

Silent Reed breathed in, trying hard to hype herself up. Why can’t this guy help me? Fuck this! She breathed out and continued, “I’ve got some juicy intel on this Thresh! He’s a Challenger on the Ionia server! That would explain how he makes these perfect plays, don’t you think, Rollfire?”

Rollfire shrugged and replied into his microphone, “It was a good roam. But let’s be honest here. That kid in the mid lane was right. Lux is playing far too aggressively for the situation. Thresh or no Thresh, it would’ve been a kill.”

The players from Zhejiang University were sitting in the player seating area, trying their hardest to watch the game between Fuzhou Tech and Team Shanghai. But there was a commentator who through his lack of talking distracted them constantly. They glanced over their shoulders at the caster desk and then back at the large LCD screen showing the game.

“What’s wrong with that caster? Why is he so annoying?”
“I don’t know. Really killing the mood though. Maybe it’s his time of the month…”
“Dunno, but he’s being a massive dick. He should eat one!”
“To be honest, I thought the Thresh roam was really impressive. I didn’t see it coming.”

Sun Ruinian listened to his teammates and then glanced over his shoulder at Rollfire. They’re right. He’s a dick. Just because you don’t like a team doesn’t mean you should talk them into the ground… Show some sportsmanship, dick. He closed his eyes and took a deep, calming breath. Let him be a dick. We won’t be like that. We’re going to give Team Shanghai the attention they deserve. And from the looks of it, that’s a lot. We’re going to be up against them in the quarters if it goes on like this. Hmmm… He watched Zeng Rui move and replayed the previous roam that led to killing Lux in his head. He cross referenced that information with his own experience playing with and against Zeng Rui on the Ionia server. He was a B+ Support last year, and he’s only getting better. A lot better. Talking about general game skills, not role specific, he might even be as good as I am. That makes him at least an A-! No one should look down on players that good, especially not Dickfire at the caster desk. He glanced over his shoulder at Rollfire again, annoyed.

✹

Rollfire glared at the large LCD screen, his nose twitching. An organizer had just told him through his earpiece that he had to tone it down. Who cares what the fuck they want! They put me on this stupid game! He gritted his teeth and shook his head. Fuck! I need this gig. I can’t make them too upset. I’ll just tone it down a bit. Find my spots. Mock them when I can! He nodded and grabbed the microphone. He said, “Looks like Fuzhou Tech has got their work cut out for them. But that might all change really quickly! Jarvan IV is going to the Blue Buff Camp and Lux is doing the same. If she gets the Blue Buff, she’ll have all the mana to harass Yasuo. Even the mid lane isn’t over yet! This game is still wide open!”

“Oh, Oh! There!” Silent Reed exclaimed, pointing at the large LCD screen. Right. They can’t see what I’m pointing at. She laughed a bit and then said, “Evelynn is moving towards Blue team’s Blue Buff Camp as well! It looks like she’s going to invade! Oh my god, there’s a Red ward in the brush there! She has full vision on the Blue Buff Camp! It’s going to be an invade! Will she get the steal!?”

“SHE’S GOING TO STEAL IT!”
“Such perfect timing by that Eve!”
“That is such a dirty ward she placed there!”
“This is so impressive. Go steal the Blue Buff!”
“GoGoGo Evelynn!”
“Best ward on the Blue Buff Camp ever!”

An Xin’s friends from High School 13 were also in the stands cheering her on. Liu Yue jumped to his feet and exclaimed, “BunBun is going for her classic invade! This is going to be so much fun! WOOT WOOT!”

Yang Fan adjusted his glasses and said, “Rollfire made a big mistake looking down on BunBun. He’ll get a good hard slap in his face for his arrogant words. Our BunBun is a Super Challenger in the Jungle!”

Ren Rou nodded and chimed in, “Serves him right for being mean to BunBun! She’s the best Jungler at our school!”

“She totally is!” Liu Yue replied, laughing. He then cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, “Our BunBun is the best Jungler! WOOT WOOT!”

Ouyang grinned and jumped up to his feet. He wrapped one arm around Liu Yue and threw the other up in the air, screaming, “BROPHINA! BROPHINA, TEACH THIS DUMB IDIOT ON THE CASTER DESK HOW TO JUNGLE!”

The caster desk was placed right next to the stands. Silent Reed looked into the crowd at the young man who’d managed to shout over everyone else and then turned to look at Rollfire. He’s steaming! He’s losing it! I can see the smoke coming from his ears! She placed her hand over her mouth and tried very hard to stop herself from giggling. I can’t do this. Stay professional. Don’t laugh at him! Don’t laugh at him! She took a deep breath and focused back on the game. “Evelynn is already closing in on the Blue Buff! She has perfect vision! And she’s pinging on it! Is this for the Yasuo? Are they looking to do something more than steal the Blue Buff!?”

The large LCD screen above the two soundproof booths zoomed in on the Blue team’s Blue Buff camp. Jarvan IV was attacking the Blue Sentinel and Lux had arrived to attack it as well. They looked oblivious to Team Shanghai’s Evelynn standing off to the side in stealth. This was one of the advantages Evelynn brought to the game. She was invisible unless revealed.

Sun Ruinian raised an eyebrow and nodded. Impressive. She has her timings down. And these are the kinds of plays you’d expect to see from an Evelynn. I’ll have to re-evaluate her. Didn’t expect her to play like this after watching her farm the Jungle before. And after Dickfire told us how bad she is… He glanced over his shoulder at Rollfire and shook his head. What a dick.

“I don’t think they know! I don’t think they know the Evelynn is right there!” Silent Reed exclaimed. “They don’t have a clue! Oh my god! What a mistake! WARD! PUT DOWN A VISION WARD!”

Rollfire snorted and said, “That’s a mistake by Fuzhou Tech. And it looks like they’re going to get punished for it. That Evelynn gave them a false sense of security early on and now they don’t see the obvious Blue steal. If that was the plan all along by the high school kids, then that is somewhat impressive…”

“Holy shit shit shit! It’s going to be a steal!”
“PLACE DOWN A VISION WARD! YOU HAVE IT WITH YOU!”
“I can’t watch this. Lux has the vision ward in her inventory! She just has to place it down!”
“PLEASE LUX! STOP BEING SO COCKY! PLACE THE WARD!”
“Tell me when it’s over! I don’t wanna see this!”
“I know I shouldn’t have applied to Fuzhou Tech! Now I’m stuck supporting this shit team!”
“Oh my god! Look at the Yasuo. He’s going to help Eve…”

The Blue Sentinel steadily lost its health until there was only a sliver remaining. Lux cast Lucent Singularity! An anomaly of twisted light wrapped around the Blue Sentinel and charged him up with electricity! She moved forward to auto attack the monster and discharge the electricity. But this small gap between the skill and her auto attack was too big. An Xin’s Evelynn revealed herself from stealth and targeted the Blue Sentinel with Smite. A monstrous hand slammed into the Blue Sentinel and claimed its life!

“SHE STOLE IT! THE EVE STOLE THE BLUE BUFF!” Silent Reed exclaimed. And the crowd reacted to her, just like they had to Westwind. People jumped to their feet and threw their arms in the air! They cheered and screamed in Team Shanghai’s support! Silent Reed smiled and shouted, “The high schoolers are winning! AND THE YASUO! THE YASUO!”

✹

“What the fuck happened there?” Fuzhou Tech’s Support asked over the team’s voice chat.

The Lux player snarled, “The Eve—”

“Yes yes! But why didn’t you place a vision ward down? You have it in your inventory!” the Support continued.

“Well, tha—”

“WATCH OUT FOR THE YASUO!” the Jarvan IV player interrupted.

Lin Feng’s Yasuo appeared around the outer wall of the Blue Buff Camp, right near Fuzhou Tech’s Lux. The Lux retreated back along the wall towards Jarvan IV and cast a Light Binding behind her! It was a panic reaction. Yasuo had the skill Wind Wall. He cut upwards with his sword, commanding the winds to protect him! The Light Binding disintegrated before it reached Yasuo!

“Sweeping Blade,” Lin Feng mumbled as he pressed down on the E key quickly followed by the Q key. His Yasuo dashed through the Lux and then swept out around him with his blade! Steel Tempest! Gusts of wind gathered around the tip of his blade, a storm slowly brewing. Jarvan IV was in range and Yasuo cast Sweeping Blade again to dash through his next target! He then linked this skill with Steel Tempest for a second time! His katana swept through Jarvan IV and a storm gathered at the tip of the blade!

“What’s he doing? Why is he dashing away from the Lux?” Silent Reed asked. She moved the microphone a bit closer to her lips and looked out at the audience. “Does he want to kill the tanky Jarvan IV?”

“Maybe those early kills got to his head,” Rollfire chimed in from the side. He grinned and continued, “Now he won’t get either of them! He threw away a surefire kill!”

The large LCD screen showed exactly what Rollfire predicted. Jarvan IV used his flag toss combo to get away from the Yasuo, jumping over the wall next to the Blue Buff camp and running away together with Lux! “See?” Rollfire asked, laughing. “He forgot to take Jarvan IV’s skill cooldowns into account! Now both Jarvan IV and Lux are getting away!”

“WHAT A MISPLAY!”
“This is going to cost them…”
“They could’ve had both of them!”
“Maaaaan, so embarrassing!”
“I wouldn’t wanna be in their booth right now, haha!”
“Kids gonna be kids.”

✹

Lin Feng smiled. It’s too easy at this level. Just too easy. He’d placed down a ward along the edge of the Blue Buff Camp on his approach. Now he had perfect vision as Lux and Jarvan IV tried to run away together. They were practically standing on top of each other in the thin pathways of the Jungle. Lin Feng glanced down at his skill bar. He’d cast Steel Tempest twice in a row already. His next attack would launch a tornado. He pressed down on his Q key and said over the team’s voice chat, “I’m going in! Give me the follow up!”

Yasuo swept his katana forward, unleashing terrifying winds onto Summoner’s Rift! They gathered together and spun around each other, forming a massive tornado that barreled through the Jungle! It chased down Lux and Jarvan IV and hurled them up into the air! This unlocked Yasuo’s ultimate skill, Last Breath! He Blinked towards the two Airborne Champions and kept them suspended there, attacking them with a flurry of strikes! Then he raised his katana high above his head and hacked down with all his might! Empowered by wind and with the help of gravity, he slammed Lux and Jarvan IV back to the ground!

An Xin’s Evelynn flashed over the wall separating her from the fight and then cast her ultimate on Lux and Jarvan IV! Agony’s Embrace! Venomous Tendrils erupted from the ground to lash out and impale Lux and Jarvan IV, hampering their health and draining their movement speed!

Lux was on the brink of death after eating these attacks. Lin Feng’s Yasuo struck her with Steel Tempest. The clean cut of the blade sheared away the remainder of her health. He followed up with Sweeping Blade, dashing through Jarvan IV and then struck him with an auto attack! Steel Tempest came off cooldown a second later and a clean cut pierced Jarvan IV! His health bar emptied out!

《Double Kill!》

“THEY GOT THE DOUBLE KILL! YASUO GOT THE DOUBLE!” Silent Reed exclaimed, smiling. They’re so much better than during the Shanghai 16 School Tournament! It’s really fun to see them progress! “GO TEAM SHANGHAI!”

“HOLY SHIT! WOOOOOOO! DOUBLE KILL!”
“WHAT A GOD! YASUO IS A LEGEND!”
“YASUO HAS HIT HIS POWER SPIKE! HE HAS HIT HIS POWER SPIKE!”
“Oh my god! How did he hit both of them!?”
“I NEARLY PISSED MY PANTS! YASUO IS MY NEW HERO!”
“Eve did bloody well as well!”
“TEAM SHANGHAI! WOOT WOOT!”

“Tell us what you think!” Silent Reed said to Rollfire. Let’s have a little fun here! Annoy this annoying ass! She giggled and continued, “Wasn’t that amazing? And you were totally mistaken! He didn’t let them get away!”

Rollfire glared at Silent Reed and felt his nose twitching again. Don’t think I don’t see what you’re trying to do! You’re trying to get my rating down so that you get more invitations to cast games! But it won’t be that easy! This was just a lucky play! Or skilled… He moved his lips around and furrowed his brows. Fuck me! Why couldn’t he miss that tornado? All he had to do was miss that damn tornado! He opened his mouth to say something, but then saw Silent Reed giggling again. He could also hear the crowd cheering in the background. They don’t want to hear anything from me. They’re already fired up. He took a deep breath and closed his mouth. Fuck, I’ll get back at you for this!

✹

Sun Ruinian watched the replay on the large LCD screen in silence. His teammates were cheering for the Yasuo and Evelynn, as was everyone else in the venue. But he didn’t have the time for that. That Yasuo knew what he was doing from the start. He needed a bit of luck to have Jarvan IV and Lux stack on top of each other. But everything else… His mechanical abilities, judgement, confidence… how is it all so good?

Sun Ruinian glanced at Zhejiang University’s Midlaner and pursed his lips. Shit. That Yasuo is better than our Midlaner. A lot better. I can only give so much credit to luck. That play was all Yasuo. Luck or no luck, he got the two kills. And this wasn’t even the first time this game! What rank wou—

Goalie. Sun Ruinian looked through the glass of the soundproof booth at Lin Feng. We gave Goalie an A+. He’s the best of the best. No one is as good as he is in the mid lane in this tournament. If the rest of that team comes together, they might even win this entire tournament! He glanced up at the large LCD screen again. But this Yasuo. He might be as good as Goalie… He knitted his brows and mumbled, “Or maybe I’m looking too hard into this. Maybe there was some luck and he’s only A-… Only A-, what am I saying? We can’t beat that.” He chewed on his lips and shook his head. I need to come up with something to deal with him. We can’t expect to play our game and just magically beat him. He’s good. Really good. Too good.

It was game time! Team Shanghai and Fuzhou Tech sat down behind their computers in the two soundproof booths and double-checked their settings. The hundreds of spectators in the stands were spending these last couple of minutes until Game 1 speculating about the final outcome of the best of three series. Many of them were relatively new to competitive League of Legends and hadn’t the faintest clue who Team Shanghai or Fuzhou Tech were. But there were also some who’d attended the previous edition of the East China Regionals. One of them turned to a friend and asked, “Fuzhou Tech got this far last time around too, right?”

“Think they might’ve even made it to the quarter finals last year. It’s a bit fuzzy… But from what I recall, they were on a roll,” the friend responded.

“Fuzhou is a pretty decent team then? Are they gonna win this one?” someone else asked.

The friend nodded and explained, “Yeah, I think they were pretty good. If I’m not wrong, they went down against Fudan in quarters. And Fudan was like the best team. Oh shit! I remember now! That was a pretty exciting series too! Fuzhou made it really difficult for Fudan, almost winning a game even! They really should’ve made it to semis…”

“You must be dreaming!” a random audience member butted in. He sat a row behind the friend and leaned forward to join the conversation. Then he continued, “Semis? Fuzhou in semis? Dream on! No way! Only the really big teams make it to semis. Think Fudan, Zhejiang and Shanghai University of Finance! Fudan was just trolling around a bit in that series. They’re like a gazillion times better than Fuzhou Tech!” He shook his head and laughed before adding, “A little team like Fuzhou Tech? They were lucky to get as far as they did. Bunch of noobs.”

The audience had gone mostly quiet, many people either listening or joining in on the conversation going on. One of those joining in was Han Ying. She attended Shanghai University of Finance and was a member of its esports club. She was also the one who’d welcomed Team Shanghai on campus and witnessed the 2-0 KO Team Shanghai dealt to Luo Yu’s team. If our team is one of the big three, then what about Team Shanghai? They destroyed Luo Yu! That Midlaner was a freak! We never did get his phone number after how that played out… She giggled and then said, “Team Shanghai might win this series then. They beat Luo Yu 2-0 a few weeks back in a scrim. It was a really one-sided series. Team Shanghai played that really well!”

There were many people in the stands who refused to follow Han Ying’s line of thought. They didn’t know Team Shanghai and had never seen them play. The only fact of interest to them was that Team Shanghai comprised five high schoolers, two of whom were girls. Their limited view on League of Legends consisted of their experiences in solo queue and the matches they watched on television. Neither spoke very highly of high school students or female players. That alone was reason enough to toss any notion of Team Shanghai actually being good aside.

“Just a bunch of fucking kids!”
“How good can they really be?”
“Fuzhou Tech has an Ionia Master Midlaner! Try and beat him, damn high school kids!”
“He’s a real life B Midlaner! And then you got the noob at Team Shanghai!”
“Noob high schooler better surrender if they know what’s good for them!”
“I should’ve skipped today… Boring matches. Fuzhou is just gonna stomp those high schoolers!”

There were also people in the crowd who’d attended the earlier rounds Team Shanghai had played in. They’d watched the high school kids tear through strong lineups of university teams! And they could hardly believe what they were seeing in those rounds. They’d mumbled and whispered with each other during those games, trying to comprehend what was going on. It didn’t make sense to them that high schoolers could be that good! But seeing is believing. And right now, as a direct result from those earlier rounds, they were on the Team Shanghai bandwagon!

“It’ll be a stomp for sure! But Fuzhou won’t do any of the stomping!”
“You noobs seen Team Shanghai’s Midlaner play? He’s a fucking god!”
“The Lin Feng guy is A+++! He’ll wreck that B scrub from Fuzhou Tech! Mark my words!”
“And they also got a really strong Support! He’s a crazy good Challenger on the Ionia server!”
“Don’t forget about their Jungler either! Her ganks were outta this world!”
“They’ve got such a strong team. Fuzhou won’t know what hit them!”

The former teammates from Team Shanghai had also come to attend this round of the Winter Collegiate Cup. They’d kept quiet, and even shrunk back a little when they heard the sheer ferocity with which some students vocally assaulted their friends. But after the first couple of positive comments rang out, they found their confidence again. Led by Ouyang, they all jumped to their feet and shouted in support of their team!

“TEAM SHANGHAI! WOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
“IF ANYONE CAN, LIN FENG CAN!”
“ZENG RUI BEST SUPPORT IN THE WHOLE WIDE WOOOOORLD!”
“TEAM SHANGHAI ALL A+++!”
“What Fuzhou Tech? BUNCH OF NOOBS!”
“TEAM SHANGHAI FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP!”
“WOOT WOOT! BUNBUN IS BETTER THAN ME!”

✹

The organizers of the Winter Collegiate Cup had hired some of the best casters they could find in Shanghai for Regionals. There were different duos for the different phases of the tournament. And for the Round of 16, they’d invited Silent Reed and Rollfire. Silent Reed was an up and comer working for Breaking Esports, a game media company, and had left a great impression after her work with Westwind at the Shanghai 16 School Tournament. Her co-caster was Rollfire. He was a rather famous individual in the scene as a second-rate caster with a lot of experience. The invitation to cast at the Winter Collegiate Cup was a given for him.

But Rollfire wasn’t at all happy about how it played out for him. He glared at the teams preparing for the games in the soundproof booths and then glanced at Silent Reed before quickly looking away. I should’ve declined the offer! What is this shit? Are they trying to make me mad!? I’m far too good for a game like this! A FUCKING HIGH SCHOOL TEAM! I have to cast a stupid fucking high school game! This is so far beneath me that it isn’t even funny! At least give me a game in the quarter finals! That’s the kind of games where I belong! I’m a professional caster! Not some stupid rookie like this one here. He glanced at Silent Reed again, his nose twitching in anger.

Rollfire was introduced to Silent Reed a few hours earlier. He’d cast games with many pretty faces before, but she still caught his eyes. So while he usually expected people to recognize him and take the initiative to greet him, he went out of his way to greet her. To start a conversation with her. To have a little fun before the games started. But she didn’t reciprocate his gestures. She nodded at him and then turned away to talk with someone else.

Bitch. You fucking slut! It’s just because I’m a second-rate caster, right? If I was first-rate… I’m basically a first-rate caster dammit! I’ll get the qualifications for it soon enough! And what are you? YOU’RE NOTHING! NOTHING! Rollfire was steaming in rage, his knuckles white and his teeth clenched. You’re just a pretty face, that’s all you’re good for! You should be happy to be here and cast with me! You stupid, stupid, FUCK ME! I don’t deserve this shit! I should be casting the quarter finals! This stupid fucking bullshit! I’m way too—

The audience started cheering and the large LCD screen above the soundproof booths jumped to life. Game 1 of the East China Round of 16 was already getting underway! Fuzhou Tech and Team Shanghai had locked in their Champions and they were in the loading screen, waiting for the game to start!

Game 1 of the East China Round of 16
Fuzhou Tech (Blue) versus Team Shanghai (Red)

Top: Mundo versus Darius
Jungle: Jarvan IV versus Evelynn
Mid: Lux versus Yasuo
AD-Carry: Tristana versus Lucian
Support: Morgana versus Thresh

Silent Reed looked at the lineup for both teams and said into her microphone, “Pretty standard lineups, as we expected. Except, oh! That’s strange. Team Shanghai’s Jungler is playing Evelynn! We’ve seen her play Lee Sin and Jarvan IV before, but I don’t think we’ve ever seen her on Evelynn! I wonder what brought about this change?”

Rollfire snorted and replied, “Evelynn? What a stupid choice. She relies completely on positioning. There are so many ways this can backfire. I don’t see how this is a viable option at this level of play.”

What’s got him going? Silent Reed glanced at her co-caster. Is he mad or something? He looks angry. What’s got into him? She shook her head and focused back on the lineups. I’ve seen that An Xin play quite a few Champions, but never the Evelynn type… I wonder why. Maybe she was just saving it? Right, I’m casting! She smiled and said, “I’ve seen her play before and she was really good! I think she knows what she’s doing.”

Rollfire snorted. Good? Piss off. She’s a dumb high schooler trying to show off. Or whatever. What the fuck am I even doing here? Why am I stuck casting this dumb ass game? They should be inviting me for the fucking main tournament! I’m too good for this! He looked up at the large LCD screen above the soundproof booths and noticed the names of the teams. Team Shanghai. Representatives of the Shanghai Esports Association. My boss. The assholes who hired me to do this stupid shit! He kicked against the back of his desk and grumbled under his breath, “Might as well just quit. Stupid shit. If these dumb high schoolers win, I’m quitting. I’ll quit this stupid ass profession!”

Silent Reed glanced at her co-caster, watching him grumble. What’s he saying? Why isn’t he casting? We need to cast! She tried to catch his attention without making it too obvious, but he didn’t see it. Idiot! Why can’t you be more like Westwind? He knew how to hype a game up! She smiled at the thought and then said, “Looks like the game has loaded! It’s Fuzhou Tech on the Blue team versus Team Shanghai on the Red team! Let’s go in!”

✹

《Welcome to Summoner’s Rift!》

An Xin started her Jungle path on the Blue Buff Camp. She killed the large golem with the help of Tang Bingyao’s Lucian and Zeng Rui’s Thresh while glancing around the map. Mid looks gankable. It just needs a little push. She said over the team’s voice chat, “Hey, Lin Feng. I’m coming mid right after the Red Buff for a gank. Get ready.” She then had her Evelyn run to the other side of the Jungle to attack the Red Brambleback.

“Okay! I’ll be ready to kill Lux!” Lin Feng exclaimed, laughing.

The players from Team Shanghai knew better than to entertain Lin Feng. They ignored him and focused on their respective lanes. An Xin’s Evelynn attacked the Red Brambleback and killed it almost four minutes into the game. “Coming now,” she said over the team’s voice chat.

Lin Feng had been preparing for the gank by manipulating the minion wave. He’d focused on attacking Lux, causing her health bar to drop, and then baited her into attacking a minion instead of his Yasuo. The minion wave slowly pushed towards Red Team’s outer tower and Lux was forced to push further and further forward to get last hits. This was an incredibly dangerous move with Evelynn on the opposing team. Evelynn was the Mistress of the Shadows. She was invisible unless she walked over a vision ward or entered within range of an enemy Champion or structure. But An Xin was good enough at the game to maneuver her way into the mid lane and behind Lux unseen.

Lux pushed forward to last hit a minion and stay even in creep score with Yasuo right as Evelynn arrived in the mid lane. A storm was already brewing at the tip of Yasuo’s blade. Lin Feng activated the third cast of Steel Tempest! Yasuo swung his blade forward, commanding a tornado to blast over the Rift! It blew through Lux and knocked her up into the air! Yasuo followed up by dashing through a minion to close the gap with Lux and then attacked again with Steel Tempest! His blade cut through Lux and sheared away at her health! All the while, An Xin’s Evelynn stepped out of stealth and slashed twice at the Lux with Ravage! She followed up with a constant stream of Hate Spikes! Thorny shadows erupted from the ground and cut through Lux’s health bar!

《First blood!》

Silent Reed jumped up from her seat and clutched the microphone, shouting, “BEAUTIFUL! What a perfect flank by Evelynn! It was all timed down to perfection! There was no escape for the Lux!” She glanced at Rollfire. Come on, say something! I can’t be Westwind and me! Cast! You’re supposed to be good!

But Rollfire was in no mood to cast. He nodded and mumbled, “Yeah. Nice gank. Yeeey for Team Shanghai.” I just talked shit about the Evelynn and now she lucks her way into a successful gank! What is this bullshit? I should be casting the quarter finals! Not this crappy round! His eyes were bloodshot and his hands were trembling. I have to cast with this stupid disrespectful girl and now the stupid audience is also cheering for the stupid high school team and, and… He knocked his hand on the table and bit down on his lip. I’m quitting! I’m not degrading myself by casting these low ranked games! I’m really going to do it!

“Did the Lux forget she was up against an Evelynn or something…?”
“Why was she playing so aggressive…?”
“WOOOOOOOOO! TEAM SHANGHAI! WOOOOO!”
“WOOT WOOT! LIN FENG IS THE BEST!”
“It was so obvious that both Junglers were going to gank… Why in the world be so aggressive?”
“That Lux is stupid. Practically giving the game to Team Shanghai!”
“What a massive misplay by Fuzhou…”
“GOOOOOOOO! TEAM SHANGHAI FOR THE WIIIIIN!”

It wasn’t just Rollfire or the audience that could tell that Fuzhou Tech’s Midlaner had overextended, even his teammates had noticed as much. They glanced at their Midlaner and asked him why he didn’t play that more defensively. But the Lux player didn’t agree with his teammates. He shook his head and explained, “It’s not my fault! Really! That wasn’t my fault! It’s because of this Yasuo! I think he’s trolling me or something! It was so troll! I don’t know what else to say! I got confused by his trolling! This isn’t my fault!” He breathed in and chewed on his lips before adding, “Sorry. I’ll play better.”

✹

Sun Ruinian from Zhejiang University’s team was watching the game from the player seating area. The large LCD screen above the stage showed the game in spectator mode, meaning that he could see the Evelynn through the shadows cloaking her. And he also saw Lux moving forward for a last hit at just the wrong time before giving away first blood. He shook his head and mumbled, “What are you doing, mid? Play it safe! It’s an Eve Jungle. What did you expect? You can’t let her get behind you too easily!” He moved his lips around for a bit and eventually added, “The Yasuo played it well though.”

Yasuo was a melee Champion while Lux was a ranged caster. This gave Lux a big advantage in the early game, where she just had to sit back and land her skills and auto attacks on Yasuo. But Lin Feng wasn’t just any Yasuo. He didn’t let himself get harassed and struggle to keep his health up. He learned Sweeping Blade at Level 1 and continuously dashed through the minions, looking for openings to land some poke damage on Lux.

The aggression increased with Yasuo’s level. When he unlocked Steel Tempest at Level 2, he dashed through Lux and swept his blade out at her. Winds gathered at the tip of his blade. He would dash away through a minion behind him and get a second cast of Steel Tempest on a minion. Then, as the storm brewed at the tip of his blade, he dashed through a last minion to throw the Lux off guard and then blew a tornado at her!

Champions had low health at the early levels and minions could deal substantial damage. Lin Feng’s Yasuo was hemorrhaging health with this early game aggression. The Lux failed to hit any of her abilities and got constantly hit by his, yet her health wasn’t any lower than his. But this was acceptable, because Lin Feng wasn’t employing this tactic to get a kill on Lux. His goal was to annoy her until she made a mistake. And that was exactly what happened. She grew irritated with the Yasuo, made a couple of mistakes with last hitting minions, and tunnel visioned so hard on him that she completely forgot about Evelynn.

Sun Ruinian looked at Team Shanghai’s soundproof booth and then up at the large LCD screen. He said, “The Yasuo is good. We can’t underestimate him. He won the mid lane with that little play.” I wonder what Zou Cheng thinks about him. He nodded at the man sitting next to him and asked, “What do you think? Is this guy B+? Better? How much better do you think? Can you beat him?”

Zou Cheng was Zhejiang University’s Midlaner. He knitted his brows and watched the Yasuo play. He’s good, really good! But I’m also really good! He said through gritted teeth, “He’s alright. I’m confident in myself.”

Sun Ruinian nodded and looked back up at the screen. It’s only first blood. Maybe I’m seeing things. Let’s see how this game plays out before coming to any conclusions. We’ve got time to prepare. But I saw the replays… He’s good. Really good. B+ at minimum. Probably better. Just a question of how much. We’re going to have to be careful about him.

✹

Tang Bingyao was focused on last hitting minions, constantly keeping an eye open for an opportunity to land some poke damage on Fuzhou Tech’s Tristana or Morgana. Her Lucian was the stronger ad-carry in the early game and she had to make use of that if she wanted to bring this game home. Zeng Rui was speaking in her ear, constantly telling her what to do. Which minion to hit, when to pause, and how to position. Mhm. I got this. I’m good. I got this.

At 4:30 minutes, Zeng Rui found the opening. He said over the team’s voice chat, “Go in!” He then had his Thresh walk towards the Tristana. A minion protecting the Tristana was one auto attack from dying. The bullet from Lucian’s gun was already in midair. Everything pointed towards Zeng Rui going for the Tristana. And Fuzhou Tech believed as much. Tristana didn’t wait to find out and Rocket Jumped away, while she also received a Black Shield from Morgana to protect her against crowd control. But Zeng Rui was never going for the Tristana. It was all a trick to get a clear line on the Morgana. Thresh’s scythe flew through the air and hooked the Morgana.

Tang Bingyao nodded and replied, “Mhm!” She had her Lucian follow after Zeng Rui’s Thresh with Relentless Pursuit! This activated Lucian’s passive skill. He raised both his guns at Morgana and fired a doubleshot! He then attacked with Piercing Light! Both guns were still aimed at Morgana as a beam of light blasted through her, followed up by another doubleshot!

Fuzhou Tech’s Morgana Flashed away, trying to get in range of the Tristana to get a heal and survive. But the Tristana had run too far away already and Tang Bingyao didn’t give her any time to turn around. Lucian flashed after Morgana and fired two more auto attacks to claim the kill.

《You have slain an enemy!》

“WHAT A HOOK!” Silent Reed exclaimed. She clutched the microphone and brought it close to her mouth, a little trick she’d picked up from Westwind, and continued, “That was some great skill by Team Shanghai! And I have a juicy bit of intel! This ad-carry and Support were on opposing teams before this tournament! Look at how they’ve come together! Team Shanghai is really pulling ahead here!”

Rollfire wouldn’t hear anything about it. He shook his head and argued, “That was just a bad play by Fuzhou Tech. This should’ve never ended in a kill. Everyone could tell that that Thresh was just baiting Morgana to use her Black Shield on Tristana. He was clearly going for the squishier target, which is the Morgana. I can’t believe how easily Fuzhou Tech fell for this very obvious play. But well done to Team Shanghai for showing some basic tactics.”

The people in the crowd weren’t nearly as invested in talking down the players from Team Shanghai as Rollfire was. There were a couple of halfhearted comments about how Rollfire had a point and several more people arguing that it wasn’t obvious to them at all that Thresh was setting up a bait. Most people, however, were simply cheering for a beautiful play.

“WOOT WOOT! TEAM SHANGHAI IS THE BEST!”
“TANG TANG! YOU’RE AMAZING!”
“What a play by Team Shanghai! Their mid and bot have already won!”
“Are they going to win top too now?”
“WOOOOOOOOO!”
“Sick Thresh hook! Absolutely mental! Impressive as fuck!”

Rollfire glared at the audience, annoyed. You idiots can’t even tell how bad these teams are playing! What’s worth watching here? Even I could’ve played that better! And I’m no great player. Only goes to show how terrible these two teams are! They shouldn’t be in the Collegiate Cup… Or, better even, I shouldn’t be asked to cast these crappy games! I should be casting the main tournament! He tried to breathe his annoyance away, but it wasn’t working. There were still people in the audience doubting him or ignoring him altogether, and his co-caster kept glancing at him too. I’ll show them how stupid they are! Stupid idiots! They don’t know shit!

“You see that Evelynn?” Rollfire asked Silent Reed. “See how she only managed to force a flash from Fuzhou Tech’s Mundo in the top lane when that play in bot went down? She’s basically been useless otherwise, except for the early play in mid. Doesn’t look like she knows how to play the Champion at all! How can Fuzhou Tech not be taking advantage of this?”

Silent Reed looked at Rollfire and shook her head, exasperated. First you make me do all the casting and now you’re bitching about something you don’t even need to bitch about? Can you be any more of a man-child? She closed her eyes for a brief moment and then asked, “Please, tell me more.”

Rollfire completely missed the sarcasm in Silent Reed’s words. All he heard was an invitation to talk more. He laughed and explained, “See, it’s very simple. Team Shanghai isn’t playing Evelynn like you’re supposed to play her! Her strength isn’t in clearing Jungle camps, which is what she’s doing. You want to use her invisibility in the early game to get a lot of map pressure! Force the other team to play defensively and help all lanes get ahead!” He briefly paused to make sure he had everyone’s attention before continuing, “Her initial gank in the mid lane was good. That’s exactly how you’re supposed to play Evelynn! But look at what she’s done since… Nothing! Absolutely nothing! There isn’t even any pressure on Fuzhou Tech! She’s, pun intended, invisible. I think that girl should practice playing this Champion a bit more before she pulls it out in a real tournament. She’s going to get punished for it.”

“Who knows?” Silent Reed replied. She looked at the large LCD screen and added, “The way I see it, we’re only a few minutes into the game and she helped two of her lanes while the third lane is doing great on its own. Why can’t she get a bit of experience in the Jungle as well?” She glanced at Rollfire and tried not to smile when she saw the red-hot anger on his face. Annoying idiot!

‘Twas the evening of the new moon, and the night sky was dotted with twinkling stars. Below that sky was the bustling metropolis of Shanghai, with all its bright lights. But throughout the city were quiet residential areas, illuminated by the pale-yellow glow of streetlights. These neighborhoods were quiet and peaceful, a stark contrast from the noisy downtown streets. It was nice, the fact that such warmth and comfort could be found in a forest of reinforced steel and concrete. 

That’s what An Xin was thinking about as she spoke to Lin Feng on the phone. She could see it all from the window in her room, high up on a skyscraper. Something about talking to Lin Feng always made her feel calm and peaceful. Cosy, even. Just like those neighborhoods woven through Shanghai. Until he asked her that question. 

“You aren’t lying to me, right?” 

That question was a cold wind, sucking away all the warmth and cheer from the conversation. You aren’t lying to me, right? The question echoed and lingered inside An Xin’s mind, hammering away at the cheerful façade she was trying so hard to maintain. Threatening to break apart the lie she crafted so well that even she started to believe it. Trying to break the box in her mind where she’d hidden away something she didn’t even want to tell Lin Feng. You aren’t lying to me, right? 

There was a long silence after Lin Feng asked her that. A long silence that An Xin used to consider what she was going to say. Should I tell him? Do I want to tell him now? How… An Xin opened her mouth to say something, and then closed it again. I expected this! I should’ve been ready! I’ll tell him! She cleared her throat with a little cough. And then said, “Why would I lie to you?” Not now. I’ll tell him later. This isn’t the right time… She sounded calm and collected, and threw the question right back at him with complete confidence. Like she had no idea what Lin Feng was even talking about. It was perfect. Except for the slight crack in her voice at the beginning, that’s what betrayed her.  

Lin Feng asked again, “How sick are you? Are you actually okay?” 

An Xin laughed. She put everything into that laugh, trying to make it sound reassuring and like she didn’t have a care in the world. Then she said, “I told you that already, didn’t I? Let me say it slowly since you’re having trouble understanding. I’m. Perfectly. Fine. REALLY! Everything is peachy! Look, you’ll see me at practice tomorrow evening. You’ll see that I’m fine. Why would I even lie to you about that? What reason could I possibly have to hide something important from you?” She paused right after that to let it sink in. Then she continued, “There is absolutely nothing wrong with my body. I’m fine… Ask some of the other boys at school, they’ll tell you I’m pretty fine too!” She laughed and paused again. Waiting for Lin Feng to laugh with her at the joke she just made. When he didn’t, she started talking again, “Lin Feng, tell me this. Have you ever seen me get sick? Ever? Nope! I’m the one that was always running around taking care of you every single time you caught a cold. You’re the one that’s always getting sick!”

Lin Feng scratched his head and muttered, “Yeah, I guess that’s true… But… Hm… I don’t know. Something doesn’t feel r–No, not that. Why do I get the feeling that you’re hiding something?”

An Xin smiled. But it was a sad smile. This guy is such a blockhead and oblivious to everything. But this he picks up on? Let’s see… “Stop overthinking! When has that ever done you any good? You think you can figure out everything that’s going on, Sherlock Feng? You sure you’re smart enough for that? Are you trying to pretend you’re Tang Tang now?

Lin Feng smiled. Now that An Xin was back to making fun of him and throwing out roasts, it seemed like everything was okay. He felt the knot in his chest loosening. But it didn’t disappear entirely. Lin Feng thought about everything for a couple of seconds, and decided to ask one last time. “Are you really okay?”

“I am.”

“You’re not lying to me.”

“I’m not.”

“You have to promise. You swear…?”

An Xin hesitated. Then she started to say, “I promise…­­–“  

Lin Feng cut in before she could finish. “Okay! I believe you! See ya at practice tomorrow! We need to get as much work in as possible before the next game. Oh! Oh! Remember to call Five!”  

An Xin laughed. “Alright, alright, I’ll call Five! I remember! Bye now!”

Lin Feng ended the call. An Xin’s fine… I think. He believed An Xin. She wouldn’t keep something important from him. But… There was still a knot in his chest and the lingering feeling that he’d forgotten something important. Something that was right in front of him and completely obvious. He just couldn’t figure it out. He thought about it for a couple of minutes, and decided not to bother lingering on it for now. It’ll put itself together in my head. I need to distract myself with something else! With that thought, he pulled his books out and started his homework. 

An Xin still had the phone in her hand after the call ended. She quietly lowered herself onto her bed and sat there with her head down. Silent. Her hand turned white and started shaking from the grip she had on her phone. Lying to you… I didn’t want to. I don’t want to. I tried so hard not to! But I just couldn’t tell you everything, Lin Feng. Please forgive me for lying to you! I just wanted to hide this for a little bit longer, I’m sorry. Please let me keep this illusion going for just a bit longer… 

✹

School started on the next day. An Xin wasn’t there in the morning. Lin Feng wasn’t too worried about this, since she told him that she would be at practice in the evening. 

Evening finally rolled around and Team Shanghai met up at the internet café. And An Xin was there, just as she said she would be. Everyone on the team breathed a sigh of relief that An Xin was well enough to practice. They ran up to her and started asking her questions.

“BunBun, are you okay? 

“Are you feeling better now?” 

An Xin replied with a smile, “It’s okay. I’m perfectly fine now! Sorry for worrying everyone”

“See! What did I say guys? BunBun is always fine! It’ll take a gorilla to knock her down!”

Zeng Rui looked at An Xin up and down. She looks fine. Okay. We can get back on track now! He nodded stiffly at her before saying, “Good! Now we continue practicing! We’ve only got two more days until the Round of 16 starts.”

An Xin nodded back at him with a smile. Then she said, “I wasn’t just sitting around doing nothing for the last two days. I’ve been thinking and I came up with a lot of strategies. For today’s practice, I want to try something different.”

Something different? Zeng Rui cocked an eyebrow and stared at An Xin. She wants to try something different two days before we play? Is she serious? He continued to stare at An Xin, and she stared right back. Her smile didn’t falter even a little bit. 

“Don’t you worry, Zengy! Nothing is going to change on your end. Well. Not much will change. I’m just going to try a new style of jungling. Something different! You’ll see when we get into the Rift.”

✹

Team Shanghai jumped into another intense training session.

An Xin started showing the rest of the team the new Jungle-play and strategy that she came up with. Her new style of jungling. And it started with changing her champion pool up. Her old pool of champions consisted of Lee Sin, Jarvan IV, and Rengar. All three were phenomenal Jungle champions. But An Xin really popped off when she played Lee Sin and Jarvan IV. But she had decided to abandon her well-known Lee Sin and Jarvan IV for completely different champions. 

 The new champions she decided to play were Rek’Sai, Evelynn, and Nunu. These champions had to be played very differently. Lee Sin and Jarvan IV were all about mechanics. The new champions An Xin wanted to play relied more on map awareness and planning rather than mechanical ability.  

Lin Feng noticed the change immediately. And was also the first to complain about her new champion pool. “Why aren’t you playing Lee Sin, BunBun? Why are you playing easy champions like Nunu and Evelynn?” Easy wasn’t the best word to describe those champions, but it was the one that made the most sense to Lin Feng. As far as he was concerned, An Xin had fantastic mechanics and it would be a waste for her not to take advantage of that. Nunu and Evelynn would not allow An Xin to showcase her mechanics.

Zeng Rui also noticed An Xin’s decision to go on a parallel playstyle. Lin Feng isn’t wrong. Lee Sin is deadly with An Xin’s mechanics. It is an advantage that we shouldn’t throw away. But this could also work for us if she can pull it off. She has the map awareness for it. He decided to speak up, “Hang on Lin Feng. This is not a bad idea at all. If An Xin expands her champion pool and adds a completely different play style, it’ll give us far more flexibility in the team comps we can run. It also expands the strategies we can try out. More importantly, everyone knows about An Xin’s Lee Sin already. When we go up against opponents like Zhejiang and Fudan, this’ll be one more ace up our sleeves.”

Tang Bingyao and Zhang Hao nodded, agreeing with Zeng Rui’s assessment. Lin Feng looked confused and glanced at An Xin quickly. Then he looked back at Zeng Rui and agreed with the change. Lin Feng glanced at An Xin one last time before he started playing again. Lost in thought. 

Team Shanghai continued training and honing their gameplan for the rest of the evening. And then they said their farewells and went home. 

Except for Lin Feng. After the team session ended, he continued to play. But he was playing on his Challenger account on the Korean server. He’d been secretly climbing on this account. Every night, he’d play at least five games to steadily raise his LP before going home.

✹

Two days flew by with Team Shanghai training every single night. In the blink of an eye, it was 5:30 PM on Saturday. The East China Regionals were about to start. Team Shanghai was in Group A, so they were scheduled to play in the first match. The other team in Group A was Zhejiang University, the team that had gotten fourth place in the previous Collegiate Cup. The team that had Samsara, a God-tier AD-Carry. They were scheduled to play the second match. 

Thirty minutes before the start of the East China Regionals Round of 16. The spectators were just starting to come in to take their seats. The stage lights were buzzed to life and flooded the entire venue with color. The air was electric. The tension palpable before the teams had even taken their places. The giant LCD screen above the stage was counting down the time until the games started. Everything about this particular stage dazzled and added to the hype. From the stage to the seats to the custom-ordered gaming chairs, keyboards, mice. Even the computers added to the ambiance, with flashing LEDs and lights. 

The seats at the venue were divided into two distinct sections. Red and Blue. Even the stage lights dancing over each section were different, highlighting the competitive vibe. As the audience filed in, they took the seats on the side of the team they wanted to support. People were getting ready with their signs and starting to plan out their cheering strategies. Most of the audience was male, but there were a few girls here and there.  

Once most of them had taken their seats, the giant speakers boomed to life. Epic battle music thumped in the chests of the people who had come to watch, amping them up even more. In 20 minutes, the awesome games that everyone had come to see would finally start! Every single team that had climbed this far into the tournament was great! Every single game promised pure adrenaline. 

This year was especially exciting because Fudan University, Zhejiang University, and Shanghai University of Finance had made it back into the Round of 16. They were well-known teams that had played well last year. But a lot of the excitement was reserved for Fudan University and Zhejiang University. In last year’s Collegiate Cup, these two teams placed 3rd and 4th respectively. That was the furthest that the East China region had ever gotten in the last Collegiate Cup. And neither of the two teams had given up. They spent the last year pushing themselves further and getting better. Now they burned with competitive ambition to claim the championship.

More importantly, the audience wanted them to win. They wanted to see the Collegiate Cup brought back to East China!   

“Fudan got unlucky in the semifinals last year, that’s all. They could have totally made it to the Finals and they were good enough to win the whole thing!”

“Well, you can say the same thing about Zhejiang! They’re definitely better than Fudan. But they got unlucky in the semifinals too and had to play last year’s champions. That’s why they’re stuck in second tier with Fudan.”

“Zhejiang? OMG! The Captain of Zhejiang’s team is soooo hot! He’s their AD-Carry! And I heard he’s also one of the top Challengers on the Ionia Server! He’s so intense! I wish he’d look at me like that just one time. My heart would stop but it’d be so worth it.”

That last comment came from a pretty girl in a cute Teemo hat. But the sentiment was echoed across most of the female fans who had come to watch the East China Regionals. They were all here for Samsara, the AD-Carry from Zhejiang University. 

Zhejiang University’s team captain, Sun ‘Samsara’ Ruinian, wasn’t only known for his superb skills as an AD-Carry. He was handsome and charming as well. Great gameplay packaged in such an exquisite container made the hearts of the female fans squeal with glee. 

Sun Ruinian was 181 centimeters tall with sharp eyebrows and deep, black eyes that sparkled like the night sky. He had a great personality too, friendly and polite to everyone. The man oozed charm, and a single smile stole the hearts of many maidens. 

“So what if he’s a little good looking? It’s not like that helps you win a tournament…”  

“He’s not only hot! He’s Hangzhou’s best AD-Carry too! If you think you can do better, go ahead and try!” The girl in the Teemo hat screamed back.

The male student who made the first comment was jealous. When the girl in the Teemo hat gave him a verbal smackdown, he had no comeback. He couldn’t claim to be a better player than Sun Ruinian, nor was he as handsome as Sun Ruinian. But he had to say something so he mumbled, “Yeah, well, so what? He’s good and good-looking. Big deal. Team Shanghai has TWO pretty girls on their team and they’re amazing too! I’ll bet their AD-Carry Tang Bingyao is just as good as Sun Ruinian! She’s probably better! And she’s way better looking than him!”

✹

Zhejiang University and Fudan University were clearly the crowd favorites in the East China Regionals. They were also the obvious front-runners. Both teams had won the Regionals last year and advanced all the way to the semi-finals of the Collegiate Cup. Everyone assumed the same thing would happen again this year. But an interesting twist made itself known in the form of a dark horse. Team Shanghai, the representatives of the Shanghai Esports Association.

Before the start of the Collegiate Cup, Team Shanghai was a literal unknown. All of the other University teams and even the fans assumed that a team formed from all high school players was a novelty. Something to give high school players experience for when they got to the real University teams. No one assumed that they would be a real contender. All of that changed after the first round of the Qualifiers. Team Shanghai proved themselves not only to be a real team, but also one that could upset what was a stagnant pool of teams and winners.

Every team in East China had heard about the scrims Team Shanghai played against Shanghai University of Finance by now. They’d discussed it extensively, and they were still talking about it. No one thought Team Shanghai would do as well as they did. Nor did they believe that Team Shanghai was capable of blowing Shanghai University of Finance out of the water. But that’s exactly what happened. And the news had trickled all the way down to the fans. 

When Tang Bingyao and Team Shanghai got mentioned again, a group of students from Tonji University who had come to watch the Round of 16 started talking about them. 

“Even Shanghai University of Finance got 2-0’d by them…Doesn’t that mean that Team Shanghai is at least good enough to make it to the quarterfinals of the Collegiate Cup?” 

“Don’t be so quick to judge or buy into the hype. How do we know that Shanghai University of Finance didn’t lose on purpose? They could have used it as a chance to play some mind games on the other teams. Think about it. How could a team that made it to the quarterfinals in last year’s Collegiate Cup get rolled over by a completely unknown team so easily?”

“So they’re better than Shanghai University of Finance. Big deal! Even if they’re good enough to make it to the quarterfinals, so what? It doesn’t matter at all. Team Shanghai is in Group A. So is Zhejiang University.”

That statement rang out in the minds of all of the spectators. Team Shanghai was in the same group as Zhejiang University. Only one of the two teams could advance past the regional quarterfinals, and everyone knew that it would not be Team Shanghai.

✹

The whole team from Zhejiang University sat together at the very front row of the spectator stand. At ground level in a special area reserved for official players and teams. Sun Ruinian, the AD-Carry and Captain, spoke to the rest of his team, “Unless something completely unexpected happens, Team Shanghai is going to win this game. We’ll be up against them in the Top 8. So pay attention and see how they play.”

Sun Ruinan had also done his research on Team Shanghai. He was confident that they were good enough to win this game and advance to the next round. And he was confident that his team could beat them in the Top 8. 

They’ll make it to the next round, but that’s as far as they’ll go… Sun Ruinian thought to himself while nodding. They’re a great team. This is just bad luck. They cannot win against us. He had watched both of the previous matches that Team Shanghai played and was impressed by the skill they displayed. As good as they are, they just aren’t ready to beat us yet. Maybe in a few years, after they play a few more tournaments and get more experience.  It’s going to be tough battle when we’re up against them in the quarterfinals. We can’t afford to underestimate them or take it easy. But Zhejiang’s going to be the team that wins! 

Sun Ruinian’s eyes lit up with competitive fire. This time, his team was aiming for the championship! They would not be stopped! Not again! Then he thought about Team Shanghai’s players and smiled ruefully. I feel a little bad for Team Shanghai. We’ll be cutting their Collegiate Cup run short here, and they’re good enough to deserve more games. But there’s nothing that can be done. The thought that his team might lose never crossed his mind. Zhejiang University had placed fourth in the last Collegiate Cup. Both him and his team had gotten stronger in the year since then, and they were aiming for higher than fourth!

✹

15 minutes before the start of the first match in Group A. Team Shanghai had already gathered in the lobby backstage. They were waiting to be called up to the stage to take their seats. Zeng Rui used the time to talk to the rest of the team about the research he’d done.

“Zhejiang University’s Captain is their AD-Carry, Sun Ruinian. He goes by Samsara in-game. He’s a Challenger on the Ionia Server and he’s also the best AD-Carry in all of Hangzhou” Zeng Rui paused to flip the page in the small notebook he carried around with his notes. He also massaged his temples for a couple of seconds, and then continued reading. “According to everything that I’ve been able to find about their team, Zhejiang University is somewhere between a B and a B+. Sun Ruinian’s individual skill as an AD-Carry is rated at B+.”

Zhen Rui paused again to look at the rest of his team. “All of this information is based on last year’s stats. We don’t know if Zhejiang University as a whole has improved as a team after last year’s Collegiate Cup. But I can tell you from what I’ve seen, Sun Ruinian has most certainly gotten better.” He flipped to another page in his notebook and glanced at what he’d written down. Then he looked up at Lin Feng, Tang Bingyao and Zhang Hao. “Hm. He’s probably an A- now.” 

Zeng Rui looked straight at Tang Bingyao as he said those words. Everyone understood what he meant by that. Zhejiang University was going to be a tough opponent for Team Shanghai. But most of the pressure was going to be on bot lane. And even more specifically on Tang Bingyao. She had improved considerably, and very quickly too. And she was still getting better with every game they played. But she had not gotten to the point where she was better than the best AD-Carry in Hangzhou, Sun Ruinian.

Tang Bingyao nodded. Slowly. Then she asked, “Zeng Rui, what’s all this B+ and A- stuff mean? You didn’t explain your rating system. Mhm! I know he’s better than me, but I don’t know how much better.” 

Zeng Rui massaged his temples again. “Sorry. Let me explain how this works. A player or team rated at a C+ or higher is considered to be at the semi-professional level. Above that, we have B and higher. That means that the team is a real contender for the Collegiate Cup championship. B+ means that the player is skilled enough to be a star player on B rated teams like Fudan or Zhejiang. He’s good enough to carry on teams that are already really good. Understand?” Zeng Rui paused to make sure that everything was clear. He saw Tang Bingyao nod at him, and then continued on.

“An A-, that means that the player has already passed the threshold of the amateur scene and is at the level of a professional player.”

Zeng Rui explained all of this calmly. There was no excitement, no dramatic flair, nothing. Every word was spoken in a completely detached tone. It didn’t sound like he considered any of this to be extraordinary or shocking. But his frank delivery did very little to soften the implication of what he’d just said. Team Shanghai was going to be up against an AD-Carry who was at the professional level in the quarterfinals of the East China Regionals. And all of that pressure was going to be on Tang Bingyao’s shoulders! 

Lin Feng thoughtfully rubbed his chin after Zeng Rui’s explanation. “Hm. So that’s what you meant. I didn’t know either. Good thing Tang Tang asked.” He thought about it for a couple of seconds longer and started to get curious. He snapped his fingers at Zeng Rui and asked, “Hey! Wait. ZengyZeng, what grade would you give yourself?”

Zeng Rui’s eyelids twitched. Thundering dumbass. But he quickly composed himself and calmly replied, “Last year, I would probably say that I was at a B+. As for where I am right now… I’m not sure. I don’t have enough information to come to a definitive conclusion on that.”

For anyone else, a grade of B+ would be cause for celebration. Zeng Rui was still only a high school student, and he was only a step away from being as skilled as a professional player. And that was last year. He’d grown since then and gotten even better. Zeng Rui was unquestionably a genius at the game. But it was not worth much for the current situation that Team Shanghai was in. 

“It’s not good enough,” Zeng Rui coldly stated. “There is no reason for us to believe that I can do anything about bot lane in the game against Zhejiang. Even if I had gotten to the point where I could say that I was A- now, it wouldn’t change anything. I’m a Support main at the end of the day. Zhejiang University has Sun Ruinian as their AD-Carry. What I can do against him is limited. At the base level, I won’t be able to exert as much pressure as I did in our previous games. This is going to come down to Tang Tang, and if she can hold her own against Sun Ruinian.”

This was as close to sugar coating something as Zeng Rui could possibly get. He didn’t want to throw so much pressure at Tang Bingyao before the game even started. But he did need to get the message across as nicely as he could. The truth was that he wanted to say something very different. He wanted to say that if Tang Bingyao couldn’t hold her own against Sun Ruinian, then they could not win. Bot lane would become Team Shanghai’s weak link, and would get targeted by Zhejiang University. And that was enough of a disadvantage to cost them the game. 

To make it even simpler, the bot lane would be the crucial factor that decided the game between Zhejiang University and Team Shanghai. And all of it revolved around the matchup between the two AD-Carries.

Tang Bingyao bit her lips. Hard. She had a complicated expression on her face as she processed all of this and the weight settled on her. Then she nodded at Zeng Rui and said, “I’ll do my best! Mhm!”

Zeng Rui nodded back at her before continuing, “Tang Tang’s probably a B grade AD-Carry right now.” He looked at Zhang Hao and said, “You’re a C+ Toplaner.”

Zhang Hao’s expression crumpled into disappointment with a hint of shame. In all fairness to him, a C+ was already very high for an ordinary high school player. In Shanghai High School’s team, he was the second best player after Zeng Rui. But when it came to Team Shanghai, he was one of the weaker links. Especially when compared to teams like Zhejiang University or Fudan University, where all of their players were at B- or higher.  

Zeng Rui turned to An Xin next. He frowned before saying, “BunBun…” He paused after he said her name. Zeng Rui was hesitating because he found himself having trouble giving An Xin’s skill an honest evaluation. Even though they’d played so many games together on top of all the training and practice sessions, something told him that he could not see her true skill at the game just yet. If I had to guess, I’d say somewhere between a B+ and A-… maybe? “I can’t figure out where BunBun stands accurately, but I can say that she’s higher than a B.” 

An Xin wasn’t the only person Zeng Rui had difficulty getting a read on. There was one person that he absolutely could not see through at all. He looked at Lin Feng for a couple of seconds, not saying a word. This thundering dumbass of a Midlaner… what would he be?  

Lin Feng noticed Zeng Rui glaring at him and asked, “Me?” Lin Feng pointed at himself. “You’re trying to figure out my grade?” He waved his hand and laughed, “I’m really good at getting graded too! I’m definitely an A+. But ZengyZeng, your grading system kinda sucks. Everybody gets an A! The standards are way too low.”

The vein on Zeng Rui’s forehead throbbed. This thundering dumbass thinks my standards are too low? MY STANDARDS ARE TOO LOW? Sun Ruinian is Hangzhou’s best AD-Carry! He’s the Captain for Zhejiang University’s Team! AND I ONLY GAVE HIM AN A-! How the hell is that too low of a standard? Wait. Is he just trying to make fun of me? 

The truth here was that Zeng Rui was wrong about his standards, and Lin Feng was being completely sincere. But Zeng Rui didn’t know that. 

An Xin glanced over at Lin Feng and smiled. She didn’t say anything to Zeng Rui or the rest of the team. But she was thinking along the same lines as Lin Feng. Zeng Rui’s system is great. But it’s limited. It only works if you’re trying to rank players from the amateur level to the base professional level. Beyond that, it has no value. 

The system used to evaluate and rank players in the professional scene was completely different, and it was based on a percentage system.

The base professional player threshold was 70%. This was what Zeng Rui determined to be an A- in his system. But this was where the ranking started for professional players. It was not the ceiling. Or even close to the top. 

Between 80-90% was where the real stars of the professional scene grouped up. All seven of the Seven Kings where somewhere at this tier. 

Beyond 90%, that was reserved for players at the pinnacle of the professional scene. Each of the 4 Emperors were beyond 90%. 

Back in Season 1, when Lin Feng was at his prime and stood at the same level as the current Four Emperors, he was also beyond 90%. One, his most respected mentor and coach, had given him a score of 95%. The same score that Han ‘Rake’ Seho, Sovereign among the Four Emperors, received.

✹

This entire conversation was chronologically out of order. Zeng Rui and the rest of Team Shanghai were talking about the team they’d be playing against in the Top 8. That was the next round. But in the next ten minutes, Team Shanghai was about to play the first game in the Round of 16. They had yet to win that game. They had not even started that game. But everyone spoke as if it was a foregone conclusion. 

Disregarding an opponent in a major tournament and casually speaking of the game after that was rude and insulting. But sadly, that was the reality of the situation that Team Shanghai was in at the moment. Team Shanghai’s opponents in the Round of 16 was Fuzhou Tech from the Fuzhou League. They had also made it to the East China Regionals last year, but they were a mediocre team at best. According to Zeng Rui and An Xin, Fuzhou Tech was the perfect opponent to test out their new strategies.

✹

Five minutes later, the first match in Group A of the Round of 16 started. Team Shanghai versus Fuzhou Tech!

Following a wave of cheers, both two teams walked up to the stage and sat down in front of their computers.

Sun Runian, seated in the spectator stands with the rest of his team from Zhejiang University, watched every player on Team Shanghai closely. And focused on the game that was about to be played. Team Shanghai… I want to see exactly how good these high schoolers are!