Chapter 380 – Go-God-Goo-Goddd-Go—

 

Lin Feng, Shi Hang, and Tian Tian got to the NetCow Cafe. Lin Feng led them inside and to the private room reserved by Team Shanghai. He banged on the door a couple of times before opening it and barging in, “Hey guys! Look who I brought back here!” 

Lin Feng walked in first as the rest of Team Shanghai stopped what they were doing and looked at the door. Shi Hang followed Lin Feng in. The team looked mildly surprised, but they already knew Shi Hang from the East China Regionals. Shi Hang casually waved at them in greeting and then moved further into the room. Then Tian Tian squeezed into the room and looked at the rest of Team Shanghai nervously. He put up his hand, a bit awkward, and said, “H-hey.”

Zhang Hao’s eyes grew round and wide. He stared at Tian Tian and stammered, “Go-God-Goo-Goddd-Go—”

“Hey Fatty,” An Xin said, smiling. She got up from her chair and threw her arms around him, pulling him close for a hug. She continued, “Long time no see. How’ve you been?”

“B-bunBun!” Fatty replied as An Xin hugged him. The pressure and reassurance of the hug released some of the tension in his body and a little of his anxiety. “It has been forever since we last saw each other! I’m good! H-how are you?”

“She’s good too!” Lin Feng interrupted. He then looked at the others in the room. At Zhang Hao still stammering in shock, at Zeng Rui slowly shaking his head and mumbling something incomprehensible and at Tang Bingyao who was looking back at him with her head slightly tilted. He grinned and said, “Guys, meet Fatty! He was my Toplaner way back in Season 1! We played at Worlds together! Oh! We watched him play at Worlds with KG a couple of months ago! He looks just the same in real life as he does on camera, don’t you think!?”

Zeng Rui looked up at Lin Feng and scrunched his eyebrows. Fatty? Did he just call God Roundy… Of course he did. Thundering dumbass. He shook his head and chuckled at the strangeness of it all before turning to look at Tian Tian and saying, “It’s an honour to meet you, Tian Tian. I still remember that Hecarim five man ult you pulled off at Worlds. That was… That was immense.”

“T-thanks!” Tian Tian replied, smiling meekly. “Oh, but you can call me Fatty. You’re Lin Feng’s friend and Lin Feng’s friend is my friend!”

Tang Bingyao nodded in understanding and said, “Hi Fatty! It’s nice to finally meet you.”

Zhang Hao heard a ringing in his ears, deaf to the conversation going on around him. He stared at Tian Tian, his throat dry and his heart slamming into his ribcage. T-t-that’s God Roundy! GOD ROUNDY! GOD ROUNDY IS IN THIS ROOM! HE SAID HI TO ME! I’M IN THE SAME ROOM AS GOD ROUNDY!

An Xin looked over her shoulder at Zhang Hao and said, “Hey, Zhang Hao, you still with us? I think Fatty might be here to help you out a bit.” She turned her head to look at Lin Feng and asked, “Right?”

“Yep!” Lin Feng replied. He put a hand on Tian Tian’s shoulder and explained, “So listen… Fatty over here doesn’t have to practice with his team tonight. Which gave me a brilliant idea! I brought him over here so he could coach HaoBro for a bit. Throw out some tips and pearls of wisdom. With a little bit of training from Fatty, HaoBro’s going to get so much stronger! Our team is going to level up, and it’s going to be easy when we’re up against Team Beijing!”

Zhang Hao pointed at himself and stammered, “M-m-me? He came here… to help me? God Roundy is here… for me?”

Tian Tian nodded and said, “Y-yeah. I heard you could use some help.”

Zhang Hao started smiling, brighter and brighter. He asked again, “Me?” And when Tian Tian nodded again, he started laughing. He got up from his gaming chair, ignoring his trembling legs as he walked up to Tian Tian and shook his hand. He continued, “Thanks… Thank you! Thank you! I’d love that! I can’t even believe this is happening! I’m getting a personal coaching session from God Roundy! Oh my god! You’re God Roundy! God Roundy! You don’t know this but I’ve watched all your videos! You’re the reason I started playing top lane! The way you play it’s just… Oh my god! I can’t believe you’re really here! To help me!”

Shi Hang nudged Lin Feng, winked and said, “Think you might have some competition there.” Before Lin Feng could argue with him about that, he added, “Anyway, what about me? Fatty’s here for HaoBro, who am I here for?”

“Oh, you?” Lin Feng asked, rubbing his chin in careful consideration. He then grinned and said, “You can’t really help me, but… What about bot? You used to ad-carry! Help Tang Tang and ZengZeng out while they play in bot lane! They can learn a ton from you!”

Shi Hang clicked his tongue and complained, “Man, I’m a mid main now. Didn’t you hear that I quit playing ad-carry ages ago?”

“Oh, I remember,” Lin Feng replied, laughing. “I’d never forget the games that made that happen!”

“Hey!” Shi Hang exclaimed. “Rude!” He then chuckled and added, “Yeah, I won’t be much help teaching you how to play mid. I’ll see if I can help Tang Tang and the Support out in bot.”

“Zeng Rui,” Zeng Rui introduced himself, sticking out his hand. “Thanks for helping us.”

The private room at the NetCow Cafe had five computers placed against the wall. Team Shanghai took place behind their computers, just like they would in a tournament game. Zhang Hao sat to the far right, next to him sat An Xin, then Lin Feng and finally Tang Bingyao and Zeng Rui. Tian Tian got a chair and sat down behind Zhang Hao, while Shi Hang pulled up a chair between Tang Bingyao and Zeng Rui. When everyone was in position, Lin Feng pumped his fist into the air and shouted, “IT’S TIME TO D-D-D-DUEL!”

Team Shanghai got into their first game. Lin Feng and An Xin played their usual game, strong and confident. Then there were Tang Bingyao and Zeng Rui. Shi Hang was pointing things out to them, giving tips and sharing everything he knew about the bot lane. It gave them a massive boost of self confidence while also increasing both their personal skill levels and their bot lane synergy. And finally there was Zhang Hao. He was a nervous wreck. His body was tense and his gameplay was disastrous.

“I-I’m sorry, God Roundy!” Zhang Hao apologised. He shook his head and continued, “I don’t know what’s going on. I’m not usually this bad! Well, I’m not good either. I’m not saying I’m good like you are! I’m just… I’m usually not this bad! I can play decently! I even got to Master on the Ionia server! But it’s really hard and, and…” His breathing turned into hyperventilating and his vision started spinning.

Tian Tian looked at Zhang Hao and noticed how stressed he was. The nerves were eating away at HaoBro. Tian Tian knew exactly how it felt. Because he had to fight through that same gnawing anxiety all the time. He then glanced at Lin Feng and felt a calmness wash over him when he breathed out. I was freaking out at Worlds, and then Lin Feng called. He told me everything would be alright, and it really was! Just hearing his voice… Hearing someone say they believe in me… He breathed in and said on the exhale, “I-it’s okay. You’re more like me than you think. I also stress a lot. L-Lin Feng knows. Back at Worlds, I almost missed a game because I was stressing so much. Just try and calm down…” He glanced at Lin Feng before adding, “A-and I believe in you, HaoBro!”

Zhang Hao’s hands stopped moving. He turned his head around and looked at Tian Tian, searching for something and finding it in a nod from Tian Tian. I never thought pros get nervous… They always play so well! But if even he gets nervous… He said he almost missed a game! His vision stopped spinning and he got a hold of his breathing again, though they still came in short and fast bursts. He finally said, “Thanks. I needed to hear that.”

The game was almost over by the time Zhang Hao found his confidence. But he carried that newfound confidence over into the next game. He started playing at the level he knew he could play at, and then began improving, putting to practice every bit of information Tian Tian gave him. And by the time Team Shanghai got into their third game, he even started asking Tian Tian questions, actively looking for the help he was being offered.

The impromptu coaching session came to an end at 10 P.M. Tian Tian and Shi Hang both had early training sessions the next morning, so they wanted to sleep at reasonable hours. Zhang Hao thanked Tian Tian a thousand times over until Lin Feng closed the door to the private room behind him, leaving with the two active professional players. 

Zhang Hao turned to look at his other teammates and said, “Can you guys believe that? I just got coaching from God Roundy!”

Tang Bingyao nodded and added, “Mhm! And we from AyDeeCee!”

Outside the NetCow Cafe, Lin Feng waved Tian Tian goodnight as he drove off in a cab. Shi Hang walked up from behind him, having just bought a new pack of cigarettes. He lit one up and said to Lin Feng, “Man, you really know how to find them. That Tang Tang girl really is something. Her reflexes and mechanics are really good, even for LPL standards!”

“I know right!?” Lin Feng exclaimed, grinning. “I couldn’t believe it when I saw it the first time either!”

Shi Hang nodded and said, “At this speed, it won’t be long til you make it to the LPL.”

“Yeah, but that’s for later. I’ve got a couple of things I need to do first,” Lin Feng replied. He glanced at Shi Hang and continued, “I need to win the Collegiate Cup, cause I don’t wanna poop on your legacy… Heh! And then I also need to climb to the top of the Korean Challenger ladder… before the start of Season 6.”

“The top of the Korean Challenger ladder? What?” Shi Hang blurted in surprise. “By the start of Season 6? Hasn’t Season 6 already more-or-less started? The ladder hasn’t been reset yet, but the season rewards have been given out already. Why would you still care about your rank?”

Lin Feng scratched the back of his head and explained, “I don’t really care about end of the season rewards. It’s just that I promised One that I’d climb to the top of the Korean Challenger ladder. I want to keep that promise, but I’ve only got like a week left and I also need to practice for the Win—”

“Hold on, hold on, hold on!” Shi Hang interrupted. He grabbed Lin Feng by his shoulder and stared straight at him. He then asked, “One? The One?”

“Yeah?” Lin Feng said, confused.

“You’re climbing the Korean ladder for One?” Shi Hang asked. He felt his heart rate going up and butterflies swimming around in his stomach. One! The most legendary player ever! Shit, I wish I was so close to him… The things I could learn from him. If I can be half the player he was one day… He shook his head, stunned.

Lin Feng shrugged, wryly, and said, “One gave me a Korean Challenger account and told me to climb. He told me to get into the Top 5. I was going to show him I could make it to the Top 3! But I just don’t have enough time! With my exams and the Winter Collegiate Cup… It’s just really hard to find time for everything!”

Shi Hang breathed in long and deep. He then sighed loudly and said, “Top 5? Jesus. That’s a you and One kinda thing. Only you two can make those crazy things happen.” He briefly paused, shaking his head repeatedly, before asking, “Where are you at now?”

“Not even in the Top 30… Still a few places off,” Lin Feng replied. “It’s those stupid exams! Without the—”

“Top 30?” Shi Hang interrupted, gasping. He jabbed his forehead with his finger and said, “You’re nuts. Both of you are! Top 30 is insane enough already and you’re still not satisfied! You two are both monsters! Still… You’re right. It’s going to be really hard to hit the Top 5 before the ladder resets. You basically need to stomp OGN pros every game.”

Lin Feng nodded, prowling, and replied, “Yeah. That.”

Shi Hang noticed the drop in Lin Feng’s demeanor, from his usual smile disappearing from his face to his shoulders slumping by his side. He hurriedly said, “But I’m sure you can do it! One wouldn’t give you an impossible task. I’m sure he believes in you, and if anyone can do it, it’s definitely you.”

Lin Feng nodded and replied, “I know!” His shoulders rose up again and his usual grin appeared back on his face. He pumped his fist in the air and proclaimed, “I’ma win the Collegiate Cup and get to the Top 5 on the Korean Ladder! Just watch me!” He then scrunched his eyebrows and asked, “I watched a bit from the LPL the other day, with Team Rapids playing… Why weren’t you playing?”

Shi Hang shrugged and explained, “I’m still new to the team. We’re still working on meshing me in with the others. Don’t worry. I’ll get my shot and I’ll make sure I won’t need a second shot. I’ll claim the starting position in no time. Actually, with a bit of luck, I might already get to play in our next game against KG.”

Lin Feng laughed and replied, “I’d love to see that!”

“I bet,” Shi Hang said. “You better be cheering for me though. I’ll make sure to put on a show!”

Team Shanghai met up with Chu Fang the next day at Pudong Airport. They got a flight to Beijing at 9 A.M. and safely landed two hours later. Lin Feng pulled a brand new list of restaurants from his pocket and showed it to everyone, explaining which restaurants they had to check out and which one he wanted to start with right away. They went there for an early lunch, much to Lin Feng’s delight. After which they walked to the hotel, where they checked in and retreated to their rooms. 

“Be back here at 5 P.M.” Chu Fang reminded everyone as he saw the doors to the different rooms close. He then shook his head and mumbled, “Kids these days really should work on a healthier sleeping schedule. Talking about…” He turned his head around and looked into the room he was sharing with Lin Feng. Lin Feng was sitting behind a desk with his laptop open. Chu Fang squinted his eyes and asked, “Are you in Champion Select already? When… Why… Are you not tired?”

“No time,” Lin Feng replied.

Chu Fang walked over and looked at the screen. He asked, “Playing on the Korean server again?”

Lin Feng nodded and explained, “Yes. I’m so close but there’s no time left! I need to play every second that I can!”

Chu Fang shook his head and said, “I still can’t believe it… Top 5 Korean Challenger. Only One would ask something so absurd. Anyway, what rank are you at now?”

“34,” Lin Feng replied.

“34?” Chu Fang muttered, shocked. His eyes grew round and wind and he covered his mouth with his hands. What the hell! He was like Top 100 back in Guangzhou! How did he get so high up!? He had exams! How did he even find the time to play at all! Shit… Shit! He might actually do it! He might actually reach the Top 5! He’d be the first Chinese player to ever do that. He’d be right up there with Rake… Oh my god, I can already imagine the waves that’s gonna cause! Every team is going to try and figure out who he is, and when they do… He chuckled. Everyone will know, soon enough.

Chapter 379 – Lin Feng’s Going on a Date!

 

Su Xue stretched out in her chair and yawned loudly. She could hear Lin Feng running around the apartment looking for his things and getting ready. And just when it looked like he had everything, he double checked his bag and thought of something he’d forgotten. Another round of running followed, until he stood with his bag in front of her and said, “I’m out! See ya!”

“Face mask?” Su Xue asked.

Lin Feng halted. He bit on his lips and tapped his chin, then slapped himself in the face and put his bag down again. “Woops!” he said before running to his bedroom again and getting his facemask. When he got back, he looked at Su Xue and said, “I’m out! See ya for real this time!”

“Keys?” Su Xue asked.

Lin Feng’s eyes grew round and wide. “Uhhh,” he stammered, scratching the back of his head. “Guess I can’t forget those… heh, heh.” He felt around in his pockets, then ran back to his bedroom and threw it upside down in search of his keys.

“Lin Feng?” Su Xue loudly said through the apartment. She waited for his head to pop around the door, then pointed at the fruit bowl on the table and said, “I think you threw them in there a while back.”

“Of course! That’s where I left them! I completely forgot!” Lin Feng exclaimed. He grabbed his keys and before turning to look at Su Xue. He grinned and said, “Thanks! I’m out for reals this time! See ya!” And then he sprinted for the front door.

Su Xue smiled and replied, “Have fun. See you tonight—” She could hear the front door slam shut. Guess he’s gone. Heh! She looked at the dishes on the table before turning towards her bedroom. Nap a bit more and then clean, or clean and then nap? I’ma hate myself when I have to clean after waking up. But I’m so tired… Why do I always have to go so over the top with food? I spent 3 hours this morning cooking for the kid and he was done in 3 minutes! She chuckled and gathered the bowls and chopsticks. Love to see how excited he gets though. Clean and then nap and then another long night of streaming! Yush!

Team Shanghai had to prepare for the next round of the Winter Collegiate Cup. That meant that during practice there was no goofing around with the new Graves. Everyone played in their normal roles on the Champions they needed to practice for the different strategies and team comps An Xin and Zeng Rui had come up with. And after every game, the two of them would sit the rest down and go over every aspect of the game, both big and small, and point out what went well and what they still had to work on. It was a long day of hard work.

The sun was gone by the time Team Shanghai finished. They’d played a total of 9 games, each followed by lengthy discussions about what worked and what didn’t work. Lin Feng listened for a good while, even contributed a bit here and there, but eventually he felt they were overthinking things. He believed that intuition and trust weren’t something you could plan; they were skills that had to be honed through practice. So when Zeng Rui went on another tangent about how Tang Bingyao could trust him following one of three set paths when he pinged on the right side of the bottom lane, he put his hand up and asked, “Do you know who we’re playing against yet, ZengZeng?”

“Uh, what? I… What?” Zeng Rui said, his train of thoughts collapsing.

“The Winter Collegiate Cup,” Lin Feng said. “Who are we playing next?”

Zeng Rui looked at Lin Feng and narrowed his eyes. He said, “I was just explaining to Tang Tang—”

“You can’t plan for everything! Just trust her! She’s got this!” Lin Feng interrupted. He then turned to look at Tang Bingyao and said, “Right?”

Tang Bingyao nodded slowly and replied, “Mhm… I think. Yeah.”

Zeng Rui took a long, deep breath and massaged his temples. We need to be ready and, and… He turned to look at An Xin, who was smiling that knowing smile at him. I went on for too long, didn’t I? He glanced at the clock on his computer and saw that it was already well past 6 P.M. Oh. Time really did fly. Maybe we should break… He took another deep breath and then said, “The next round is the quarterfinals. Eight teams are remaining. There is us. And then there’s Team Beijing, the Beijing University of Science and Technology, Shenyang University of Engineering, Fudan University and Zhejiang University. They made up the top 4 in the last Collegiate Cup. The other two teams are Wuhan University and China University of Political Science and Law.

“Now the teams we really need to watch out for… First of all there is Team Beijing. We saw them play in Guangzhou and they were really strong. That Yu Ping who got the quadra on the Riven— No, Lin Feng, I don’t care if you got a penta. He got a quadra and his team is strong. We’re going to take them seriously. Anyway, where was I? Right! We also need to watch out for U-Tech Beijing and Shenyang University. The others aren’t weak teams either, but these three are looking to be our biggest competition,” Zeng Rui concluded.

Tang Bingyao nodded and asked, “How strong do you think they are? Like A-? If I play well…”

Zeng Rui shook his head and replied, “No. I’m expecting them to have hit grade A. That means that their ad-carries are going to be really good, as will their Toplaners and every other player on their teams.” He briefly paused and looked at his four teammates before continuing, “It’s going to be difficult, guys. We can’t get complacent. We need to train as long and as hard as we can and hope that that is enough to get the advantage over these guys.”

“Zeng Rui is right,” An Xin said. She smiled and continued, “We really need to work hard to be ready for the next round. But we’ve already played a lot today. How about a break for dinner? We can order some takeout and just chill a bit, then practice some more when we’re done eating.”

“Chicken cutlet! Ain’t I right, Lin Feng!?” Zhang Hao suggested, laughing.

Lin Feng grinned, but then scratched the back of his head and said, “Uh, yeah… It’s just… I’ve already got plans tonight. And… well, since its getting kinda late, I really need to start heading over there!”

An Xin raised her eyebrows and looked at Lin Feng, who was throwing his things into his bag, hurried. He always looks excited when there’s food on the menu and now he’s refusing food and still looks excited!  He’s going to get food. But with whom? And where? Hmm… I’ll figure it out later. She sighed and said, “That’s okay. The rest of us can still eat together and then practice some more.”

Shi Hang had spent every minute of every hour he wasn’t practicing with his new team spamming Lin Feng’s phone, asking Lin Feng to please go out to dinner with him. That was how Lin Feng experienced it, anyway. But Lin Feng had good reasons to turn Shi Hang down. “I can’t! I’ve got exams and I can’t screw them up!” “BunBun will get really mad with me if I don’t study with her and Tang Tang!” “They’re forcing me to sit in between them and then they both grab my arms!” “It’s like I’m in shackles here!”

When the exams for High School 13 had ended, Lin Feng no longer had any excuse to refuse. But he also really didn’t want to have dinner with Shi Hang alone. He just couldn’t understand the appeal of two people eating together. No matter how he looked at it, it always looked boring. A man and a woman, or two men or two women… The combination didn’t matter; all that mattered was that when he saw them sitting together at their table, staring deep into each other’s eyes, they always looked so bored! He wasn’t going to let that happen between him and Shi Hang, so he invited Tian Tian to come as well.

Tian Tian was more than happy to tag along, mostly for the food but also to see two of his old friends again. He was already waiting at the restaurant with Shi Hang when Lin Feng appeared around the corner. A smile blossomed on his face. His heart skipped a beat. “LIN FENG!” he hollered, waving.

“FATTY!” Lin Feng shouted back.

The two old friends, best friends, ran at each other. Fatty’s layers of fat jiggled up and down with every step until he embraced Lin Feng in a big bearhug. He said through heavy breaths, “LIN FENG! I… I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!”

“Missed you too, bud!” Lin Feng replied, laughing. He’d chatted a bit with Tian Tian over the last couple of weeks. But due to his exams and Tian Tian’s busy schedule, it wasn’t much more than a “Hi” here and a “How are you” there.

Shi Hang chuckled and said, “Now kiss!”

“No way! We ain’t gay!” Lin Feng exclaimed, grinning. He let go of Tian Tian and looked past him at Shi Hang. He asked, “I heard you’re back on Team Rapids. What’s it like to play for your old team again? Happy to see all your friends from back then again?”

Shi Hang raised his shoulders and replied, “Not really seeing much of them, to be honest. Most of them quit. There’s only like two guys left in upper management, but I never really knew them. My team is all new.”

“So you get to make new friends!” Lin Feng cheered.

Tian Tian nodded and added, “Lin Feng is right! Y-you need to make friends. Knowing each other well and trusting each other is what really makes a team!”

Shi Hang rolled his eyes and replied, “Yeah, yeah. I get it. That’s enough out of you two. I invited you guys to talk about the good old times, not to nag me about my new teammates!”

The trio walked into the restaurant and started by ordering dessert. Tian Tian argued that it was healthy to start a meal with icecream and Lin Feng was more than happy to follow with that belief. They spent the next couple of minutes chatting about the old times, but then the topic shifted to current events. The new LPL season had started together with the release of the Season 6 patch. Shi Hang and Tian Tian had even played their first match against each other and they would go at each other again a couple of days later.

Tian Tian poked the icecream with his chopsticks and said, “Team Rapids is a lot stronger this season. T-they’re not at KG’s level yet, but they’re good. Once Shi Hang gets settled in, I-I can see them making it all the way to the top 4! Think of that! B-both of us at Worlds this year!”

Shi Hang waved his hand and replied, “It’s still far too early to tell! I’m just trying to fit in with the team right now. We’ll have to see how that pans out before we start thinking about qualifying for Worlds.” He briefly paused, his lips curling up and his eyes starting to shine, and then added, “But I’ll try and become the best Midlaner in China again! And qualifying for Worlds would be really cool!”

Lin Feng snorted and said, “Until I get back. Then you’re back to second best!”

“You worry about getting back first!” Shi Hang replied, laughing and winking at Lin Feng.

“Yeah!” Tian Tian chimed in. He turned his head to look at Lin Feng and asked, “When are you coming back? I’m still waiting. I guess you first have to win your tournament, right? How far are you now? Quarterfinals yet? Or still Round of 16?”

Lin Feng grinned and replied, “Quarterfinals! We did really well in the Round of 16 and stomped Team Guangzhou! You should’ve seen it! I got two pentas! Now we’re just a few matches away from winning the tournament!”

Shi Hang clicked his tongue and said, “What are you bragging about? You’re the one, the only, you’re mister legendary himself! What? You wanna tell me Maple is proud of winning some damn uni tournament? Come on, dude, you’re better than that. I’d worry more about not winning. I mean, you’re Maple. If you lose, just think about the stain on my legacy! Me losing to some random nobody in a uni tournament!”

Tian Tian snorted in laughter, the beer in his mouth fighting its way up his nose and out. He yelped in pain and grabbed his nose, then started laughing again. Tears appeared in his eyes as he pointed at Lin Feng and then at Shi Hang. He said, “S-stain on Shi Hang’s legacy! Lin Feng poops on Shi Ha— Haha!”

Lin Feng narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips, but then started grinning again. He rubbed his chin, acting like he was thinking long and hard, and finally said, “I think we might have some trouble, yeah. It’s like… We don’t have the most balanced team and Team Beijing does. Tang Tang in bot is still getting better and better, but she isn’t up there yet, you know? And then we’ve got our Toplaner, HaoBro. He’s a great dude but he’s just not the most talented player ever. I think he’s going to have a really hard time against Team Beijing’s Toplaner. And then it’s going to come down to me to pick up the slack in bot and top while I also have to win mid— Wait.” He turned his head to look at Tian Tian and asked, “Are you busy later tonight?”

 

Chapter 378 – The Fickle Minds of Viewers

“SUUUUU XUUUEEEEE! I forgot my keys again!” Lin Feng shouted, rapping his fist against the hard wood of the front door.

Su Xue glanced over her shoulder and then shook her head. Again? How does he keep doing it… It almost feels on purpose… She took a long, deep breath and then looked at her camera. “Hey guys…” she started, glancing at the chat. Oh, they already know. Guess they can hear him too. “Yep. That’s Lin Feng,” she said. She then got up from her gaming chair and walked towards the front door.

“SUUUUU XUUUEEEEE! Open the door please!” Lin Feng yelled at the door, ignoring the neighbour looking through the window a couple doors over and shaking her head.

I should just let him wait. Yep. Gonna make him wait. Su Xue smiled as she skipped into the kitchen and started playing with her favourite cleaver. It’s so nice and sharp and it always gets him out of be

“SUUUUU XUUEE—”

“YES YES! I’M COMING! OH MY GOD CAN YOU SHUT UP FOR ONCE!?” Su Xue exclaimed. She pulled the front door open and grabbed Lin Feng by his shirt, then dragged him inside. She shut the door behind him and then turned her head to look at him through narrowed eyes. She slowly said, “Everyone could hear you! They’re going to complain to Chu Yishu, and you know who she’s going to complain to? Me!” She jabbed a finger on her chest and continued, “Me! She’s going to call me up, again, and ask me if I’m locking you out! Is that what you want!?”

Lin Feng scratched the back of his head and said, “Uh, sorry. Sorry. I just kinda thought you liked opening the door for me…”

“No. No I don’t,” Su Xue replied, shaking her head. “What made you think I like to be interrupted mid stream? You…” She gritted her teeth and shook her head. Nope. Not gonna let him get to me. I’ll get to him! She smiled and said, “Come, we’re going to my room. The viewers are asking for you. They want to see you Jungle Graves all night long! And I know you’ve got holidays, so don’t even think about going to bed!”

“I wasn’t planning to sleep anyway!” Lin Feng replied, laughing. He brushed past Su Xue and said over his shoulder, “And I’ve been itching to play the new Graves too! They wouldn’t let me at the internet cafe earlier…”

“How mean of them,” Su Xue replied, smiling. She watched Lin Feng stride towards her room and clenched her fist. Good. With him… Yeah. She closed her eyes and took another long, deep breath. With him here, it’ll definitely be a success!

Hundreds of thousands of people had tuned in to the Winter Collegiate Cup and watched the games with Su Xue casting. And then, when all those viewers opened the chat to say how good she was, there were tens of thousands of people spamming her streamlink. This resulted in Su Xue’s stream seeing a big spike in viewer numbers, shooting past the 100,000 mark and going up even higher. Su Xue wanted to leave a good impression on all these new viewers. She could try and do that with her own skill, but she knew she wasn’t the best player; Lin Feng was the best. With his skill and her commentary, all these new viewers would fall in love with her stream and stick around, she was sure of it!

Su Xue walked back into her bedroom. Lin Feng was already sitting in her gaming chair, chatting with the viewers. She pulled up a chair and sat down next to him, then leaned over him to read the stream chat.

LLIILLLL BROOOOOOOOO

Long time no see bud! MISSED YA!

TEAM SHANGHAI MIDLANER! HE BEAT GOALIE AND NOW HE GONNA JUNGLE GRAVES!!!!

he’s our young master the emperor and xuexue’s his maid! GET HIM SOME WATER MAID!

lil bro, you sure jungle Graves is gonna be cool? I seen a bunch of them…………………..

THEY SUCK! NEW GRAVES SUCKS! BRING BACK OLD GRAVES! RIOTRIOTRIOT

“They’re right, you know?” Su Xue said to Lin Feng, pointing at the chat. “We’ve seen a couple of Jungle Graves’ already and they all sucked… hard. Like, really hard. I don’t think we’ve seen a single Jungle Graves that looked even a little decent…”

Lin Feng grinned and patted his own back. He said, “Don’tcha worry! This is just some low elo games! I can play Veigar Jungle or… or Yorick ad-carry and still win!”

Su Xue giggled and replied, “Yorick doesn’t even have ranged attacks. He just… he just hits people with his shovel…”

“Exactly!” Lin Feng exclaimed. He grinned and continued, “That’s how easy it’ll be! I’ll hit them with my shov— shotgun and send them back down to plat!”

Lin Feng played Jungle Graves exactly like An Xin played Jungle Lee Sin. He took the Red Buff and then went straight into his opponent’s Jungle. There he waited for their Jungle Evelynn to show herself at her Red Buff Camp and then he waited a bit more. He watched Evelynn lose health auto attacking the Red Brambleback. When her health fell below half, he fired an auto attack followed by the explosive shell from End of the Line! He continued with a second auto attack, then dashed for a quick reload of one shell with Quickdraw! One final auto attack secured the kill.

《First Blood!》

The next 20 minutes were similar to this first exchange in the sense that Lin Feng’s Graves ran around the map and shot Champions like they were minions. He picked up kills and made the new Graves look like the most overpowered Champion to have ever set foot on the Rift. His final score was a staggering 17-1-3.

Su Xue sat next to Lin Feng quietly, having long forgotten she was there to commentate. Her jaw hung wide open and when the victory screen showed she muttered, “My god… I-I didn’t know… Is he really that strong?”

Lin Feng grinned and replied, “Yep! He’s awesome! You saw his high damage, right? Like how I kept blowing them up? It was so easy! And then, you saw how I wasn’t even buying much damage but also armour and magic resist? Yeah, see, when you buy that, he can even be like a semi-tank! A TANK THAT DOES A TON OF DAMAGE! He’s so cool! So, so cool!”

NEW GRAVES OP AS FUCCCKKKKKKKK

nerf incoming

what did riot think releasing such an op champion…. you see how he just rekt the enemy? MAD

sick… SO SICK! Kappa

Tell the maid to get you some water!!!

YoYoYoYo, FENGBRO! WIN FENG! PLAY HIM IN ADCARRY! GO ADC ON THAT GRAVES!!!

I WANNA SEE ADC!!!!! SHOW US ADC GRAVES!

adcarry graves op as fuck tooooooo????

Su Xue sighed loudly with false exasperation and complained, “Two days! I’ve been back for two days and I’m the maid again. AGAIN! You little shits keep demoting me to maid whenever Lin Feng is around! Can’t you guys just, for once, support me? Maybe I wanna play too!”

know ye place stupid maid!!!

I THINK LIL BRO”S GLASS IS EMPTY! WHERE HIS LEMON WATER!?!?!??!!?!

Y U NO ORDER HIM CHICKEN CUTLET YET!??!?!?!??!

the delivery guy must feel lonely… she hasnt ordered from him in weeks…

The next two games Lin Feng played Graves in the ad-carry role. He pointed out to Su Xue what the strengths of the new Graves in the bot lane were and how to play around the reload time after every two auto attacks. He showed her how to retreat while also dealing damage with a Quickdraw dash and how to abuse the terrain to fire a quick End of the Line. Bit by bit, Su Xue took over the analysis from Lin Feng, pointing out which plays he was going to make before he even made them. She started smiling and leaned closer to the screen, excited. And by the end of the game, she was EveningSnowfall, the caster that many of the new viewers came to see.

Lin Feng glanced at Su Xue and grinned. “Alright!” he said to the camera. “That’s three wins in a row now. I think it’s about time I chill for a game.” He then turned his head to look at Su Xue and asked, “Hey, how about you give it a go? Try the new Graves in bot!”

Su Xue looked at Lin Feng, unsure, and asked, “Really? I don’t think…”

“It’ll be fine!” Lin Feng replied. He grinned and added, “I’ll Support you! It’ll be fun!”

Su Xue nodded, faster and faster until she’d convinced herself she wouldn’t make a complete fool out of herself on Graves. “Okay! Let’s do it!” she replied. She then turned to look at the camera and continued, “You guys will get to see how good I really am as an ad-carry now that I don’t have some random Support!”

Lin Feng got up from the gaming chair and ran to his bedroom to grab his laptop. Su Xue watched him go and then spent the next couple of minutes chatting with her viewers, hyping them up for the game to come while Lin Feng set himself up next to her. And then they played. Lin Feng played the Support-style that Su Xue had grown so comfortable with. He was always there when she needed him to and he always made the plays she didn’t even know she wanted him to make. The last of her nerves slipped away and by the tenth minute of the game, she sat on the edge of her gaming chair furiously clicking on her mouse and shouting orders.

“WardWardWard! WARD!”

“Aaaaah! They’re diving me! SAVE ME! SAVE ME!”

“Don’t kill steal! Give me, GIMME! NICE!”

“Hahaha! Too easy! We’re so good together!”

“Oh yeah! Just like that! I like it just like that!”

“Sweet! Awesome! Perfect! VICTORY!”

Su Xue ended the stream at 4 A.M. When the camera was off, she leaned back in her gaming chair and yawned and stretched and closed her eyes for a bit. She could hear Lin Feng unplugging his laptop cables and gathering his things. Guess he’s going to forget to brush his teeth again, and… She asked with a sigh, “Hey, Lin Feng?” She turned her head and opened her eyes to look at him, then continued, “No sleeping until you’ve brushed your teeth, washed your face and… And I think that’s it. Oh! And put on your pyjamas!”

“Uh-huh! Uh-huh!” Lin Feng replied, nodding. “I’ll do it right after putting my laptop—”

“Nope!” Su Xue interrupted. She stood up, grabbed him by the arm and continued, “You’re just going to fall asleep when you see your bed. Put your laptop down. Come. We’re going to brush our teeth first.” She then pulled Lin Feng down the hallway to the bathroom and complained, “You’d be a slobbering mess without me, you know that right? You would be locked out of the house, forget to shower, smell like shit and sleep on the street in the rain… So you would shower, I guess…”

“I’m not that bad!” Lin Feng exclaimed. “So what if I sometimes forget to brush my teeth? It happens! It’s like 4 A.M. and I’m tired! When I see my bed, it’s just… it’s just so easy to lay down for a few minutes. And then I open my eyes and it’s suddenly the next day!”

Su Xue smiled and pushed the door to the bathroom open. She waited for Lin Feng to enter and then followed behind him. “Oh, that has me thinking,” she said. “Before you left for Guangzhou, you always finished the night on the Korean server… How’s that going? You still playing on there?”

Lin Feng rinsed his toothbrush and put some toothpaste on it. He then glanced at Su Xue and asked, “What? Sorry, wasn’t listening…”

“The Korean server. Are you still playing on there?” Su Xue asked for a second time.

“Oh! Yeah! Yeah, it’s going,” Lin Feng replied.

Su Xue scrunched her eyebrows and asked, “Wait… Like, really? I thought you were too busy with the exams and everything. Where did you find the time to play on the Korean server? When!? Why didn’t you tell me!? We could’ve streamed a couple of those games! How far are you already? Are you still climbing?”

Lin Feng nodded and said with his mouth full of toothpaste, “Hmm! Doin’ good. Rank 34.”

“34? Thirty. Four!? Really!?” Su Xue exclaimed, shocked. Her eyes grew wide and she continued, “That’s almost top 30! You’re already almost in the top 30? That’s so fast!”

Lin Feng rinsed his mouth, gurgling, and spat the toothpaste out before turning to Su Xue and saying, “Yeah, it’s okay I guess. I would’ve liked to be a bit further. There isn’t much time left and this is basically the hard part where I’ve got to play really well.” He briefly paused before adding, “But I’m tired. I’m going to sleep.” He didn’t wait for a response from Su Xue and left the bathroom, heading for his bedroom. Heading for bed.

Golden rays of sun shone through Lin Feng’s bedroom window and the smell of food came in from the door. Lin Feng opened his eyes and stretched out long. He glanced at his alarm clock and saw that it was already well past noon. He grinned and mumbled, “No more exams. I can finally sleep in. This is the life!” He pushed the blankets off and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face. He then got dressed and walked into the dining room, where Su Xue was already waiting for him with a fully prepared lunch.

Su Xue looked up from her magazine at Lin Feng and smiled. She said, “Morning, sleepyhead. Here, have some lunch.” She watched him dig in and only then sit down and giggled. When he refilled his plate for a third time, she asked, “So what’s on the schedule today? Are you meeting up with Tang Tang and BunBun?”

Lin Feng nodded and replied, “Yeah! We’re flying to Beijing tomorrow already for the next round and Zeng Rui wants us to get as much training in before then as possible. So we’re going to get some games in and train.” What Lin Feng didn’t tell Su Xue was that he was also going out to dinner tonight. With an old friend. 

Chapter 377 – A RAW Chapter

 

Note by Sietse: This Chapter is the promise Devshard made to ReapingHunter. For a further explanation, scroll down to the Translator Thought. Or go to the comment section on Chapter 376 and read up on that.


January 25th-26th was judgement day for all the students from High School 13!

The exams had arrived!

A cloud of gloom appeared to hang over the entire school, bearing on the students so hard that it was difficult to breathe.

Exam proctors walked into the examination rooms carrying huge, massive stacks of papers in their hands and expressionless looks on their faces. 

A moment later, the bell signalling the start of the exam rang, which was quickly followed by the sound of students scribbling down on their papers with their pens.

After morning exams were over, there was a brief intermission before the students walked back into the examination rooms for their afternoon exams.

This pattern repeated itself the next day.

The tension that filled the examination rooms was more intense than a crucial Baron at 50 minutes into a game of League of Legends.

Even during the rest period between exams, all the students had tense expressions on their faces. They were in no mood to chat with their friends, except to double and triple check whether their answers to particularly difficult questions were correct. And then their worry focused on the next exam.

This intense examination period continued on until late in the evening on the second day.

The two days of exams were finally over. 

The sun was already setting over the horizon when the students from High School 13 left school grounds. All of them breathed a shared sigh of relief as smiles started surfacing on their faces.

“Finally, it’s over!”

“Holy crap, that was hell! I never want to do that again!” 

“Hahaha! Freedom! FREEDOM!”

“Now we can sit back and relax!”

“It’s winter vacation! Winter vacation is here!”

The sound of cheering students gradually filled the school grounds.

After walking out of the exam room, Lin Feng happened to see An Xin and Tang Bingyao walking out. He waved and smiled at them and said, “BunBun, Tang Tang! Let’s head to the internet cafe and play some games of League!”

Tonight, all the internet cafes near High School 13 were destined to be packed with all the students that just finished their exams.

Ouyang had already gone out of his way to book a 12-person room at the NetCow Cafe in advance. All of Team Shanghai’s friends and former teammates, which included members from High School 13’s team and Shanghai High School’s, gathered together for a large meet-up.

Ouyang struck a pose and shouted in the middle of the private room and declared, “No one talks about exams tonight! We’re gonna play till we pass out! Sleeping is for losers!”

In the next second, Ouyang was smacked in the back of the head by Ren Rou. She said, “Get your foot off the seat! People have to sit there! Why aren’t you cleaning it up!?” 

Ren Rou then turned to everyone else and said with a bright smile, “But shitty Ouyang is right for once. Let’s all enjoy ourselves tonight!”

She was immediately met by cheers of approval from the dozen-plus people in the room.

The 12-person room had 12 computers in total. Lin Feng still found the gathering to be too small for his tastes, but people could take turns ranking together. Besides, chatting and spectating from the sidelines was also pretty entertaining.

After all, it was winter vacation!

With exams no longer looming over them, anything and everything was acceptable!

Liu Yue inched over to Lin Feng’s side and asked with a face brimming with excitement, “Hey, is it really true that you got two pentakills against Team Guangzhou!? Isn’t Goalie supposed to be some kind of pro level Midlaner? But you stomped him? Like he was some kind of noob!?”

After hearing about Lin Feng’s exploits during the Collegiate Cup Round of 16, Liu Yue’s worship of Lin Feng grew even deeper. The only reason it didn’t reach levels of fanaticism was that he was a Jungle main. All evening, he kept asking Lin Feng for advice about how to play Graves in the Jungle.

Chen Ze and Wei Dong were also there. After chatting for a while, Wei Dong asked Lin Feng, “Hey, when’s your next match happening? It’s probably soon, right?”

“Yup! We’ll be flying to Beijing on the 28th. They’ll be doing the draws on that day, then the quarterfinals officially start the next day,” Lin Feng replied with a smile.

Chen Ze couldn’t help but look at Lin Feng enviously. He said, “I still can’t believe you’re in the quarterfinals now. It’s a shame it’s in Beijing, or we would’ve definitely come to cheer for you guys.”

Ouyang inched over to Lin Feng’s side and exclaimed, “Chen Ze is right!” He briefly paused before nudging Lin Feng and asking, “Hey, the Shanghai Esports Association is paying for everything, right? Do you think you could help us get some plane tickets to Beijing too?”

Lin Feng scratched his head and replied, “Oh, sure… I’ll ask!”

Not far away, An Xin rolled her eyes. She turned to Tang Bingyao and Ren Rou and said, “Tang Tang, Rou Rou, let’s ditch these idiots and play a match together!”

Lin Feng’s ears perked up and he immediately shouted. “Hey! I want to join too! Wait for me!”

“Join my ass! Focus on winning the current game we’re playing right now!” Zeng Rui shouted.

Zhang Hao had an anxious expression on his face. “Dude, you just spent a whole teamfight sitting in the fountain. Without your mid lane, we almost ended up losing the fight.”

Lin Feng snapped back to his senses. “Oh right! Hahaha! I almost forgot I was in a game because I was so busy chatting! Don’t worry! I’m coming to carry you guys!”

After playing League till 2 AM in the morning, everyone finally called it a night and left for home.

As usual, Lin Feng and Tang Bingyao walked home together.

The warm glow of the street lamps scattered over the sidewalk. It was also fairly chilly tonight. However, Tang Bingyao was skipping happily along the pavement as she chatted with Lin Feng about the latest changes that came with the arrival of Season 6.

“I think you can still keep playing Graves ad-carry!”

“Eh? No way. He’s definitely gonna be played in the Jungle from now on!” 

“Mhm. But what I’m saying is that he can still be played in bot!”

“Sure he can, but it’s too much of a waste. If you don’t believe me, let’s make a bet. Once Season 6 officially starts, Graves is definitely going to be played in the Jungle!” 

“Mhm! Okay, it’s a bet! But what are we betting?”

“Ten chicken cutlets!”

“Ten?” Tang Bingyao’s expression instantly froze, as she unconsciously reached out to protect her purse. After hesitating for a moment, she stuck out three fingers and said, “Ten is too much. How about three chicken cutlets?”

Lin Feng rubbed his chin. “Three, huh? Let’s go in the middle and say five!”

Tang Bingyao thought for a moment, then firmly nodded her head and said, “Alright, five!”

Lin Feng’s expression immediately brightened after his successful negotiations. He smiled and replied, “You’re going to lose for sure!”

Tang Bingyao looked up at the Shanghai nightscape and cheerfully smiled. She said, “We don’t know that for sure!” The bet itself didn’t actually matter. She was just happy that  she would get to share a meal together with the person she liked. In her mind, she’d already won.

 

 

Chapter 376 – Rebirth of the Maple Who Rose to Fail His Exams!

 

The engines on the airplane rumbled to life. The flight attendants walked down the aisles reminding people to stow their tray tables and put their seats into the upright position. The cabin filled with noise as the airplane got ready to take off. But An Xin heard none of that. None of the noise could penetrate the peaceful atmosphere that had settled over the back row, where she sat with Lin Feng. With the Ashe plushie on her lap. As she looked at it, her heart beat fast and slow at the same time with light trembles of joy. 

Lin Feng waited a couple of seconds for An Xin to say something. But she remained silent, and he mistook that for confusion. He picked it up off her lap and waved it in her face, oblivious to everything else in his excitement. “Look! It’s the Ashe you wanted! Remember? You said you wanted it! It’s the exact same one. I helped you get it!”

An Xin’s face flickered with a complicated expression. “You went all the way there just to get me this Ashe plushie? So early in the morning?” she asked quietly and softly. So softly that the question was barely audible over the hum of the engines.

“Yeah! That’s why I set my alarm for 5:30 AM! I really lucked out! My phone had just enough power for the alarm. It died right after I left the hotel. And then I got even more lucky and got the Ashe doll. It only cost me ¥20!” 

An Xin stared at the big grin on Lin Feng’s face and the Ashe. She bit her lips to keep herself from smiling. “You’re an idiot. I didn’t want it that much. Why’d you have to go out of your way to get it?” She wanted to yell at Lin Feng for being foolish, but her heart just wasn’t in it. And her rebuke wasn’t even the slightest bit harsh. 

“I made a promise! I gave you my word that I would help you get it! A real man always keeps his promise!” Lin Feng exclaimed.

An Xin smiled at Lin Feng’s declaration. He’d said the same thing earlier, back at the hotel. An Xin’s heart fluttered and warmed that he had cared enough to remember his promise to her and had gotten her the Ashe plushie. 

“Here, take it!” Lin Feng stuffed the Ashe in An Xin’s arms. “I told you I’d get it and I got it! Hahahaha! I’m really good at claw machines too!” He smiled brightly. 

An Xin accepted the Ashe plush and hugged it tightly. She buried her face in it, to hide her blush as she softly whispered, “Thanks.” She kept hugging the soft plushie, but it was clear that she wanted to hug Lin Feng and couldn’t at the moment. So she hugged the Ashe as tightly as she wanted to hug Lin Feng.

An Xin slightly bit her lips as she quietly muttered the word, “Idiot.”

The Collegiate Cup’s Round of 16 had yet to end, but all of Team Shanghai’s members had returned home. In a truly shocking twist, their plane had taken off and landed with no issues. There were no prophetic visions, An Xin was not stuck in a time loop where she was forced to solve issue after issue to find the best timeline, and there were no motherfucking snakes on that motherfucking plane. It was just an ordinary ride on an airplane, followed by the usual hustle and bustle of disembarking from the plane. 

Now that they were back home, Team Shanghai would spend the next couple of weeks buried in textbooks as they prepared for their upcoming exams. Even Lin Feng, who’d been complaining the most earlier, had no option but to study. He simply didn’t have enough time to do anything else. After returning to school, he didn’t even have the time to chill with Ouyang, Yang Fang, and the others so he could tell them what happened in Guangzhou. And neither did they. Everyone in High School 13 was busy studying and tense about these upcoming exams. And so, Lin Feng returned to school and dove head first into studying. 

An uneasy and thick tension had descended over the hallways of High School 13. There was no happy chatter or jokes. There was only one thing on everyone’s mind and one topic worth not talking about. That was the exams. There were a few hushed whispers in the halls, but that was about it.

“I’ve only got a week left to live! My parents are going to kill me after these exams!”

“Samsies! We gotta ace them! There is no other option!” 

“If we don’t crush these exams, we’ll get crushed instead!” 

Everyone was nervous. Well, almost everyone. Lin Feng retained his cheerful obliviousness and optimism. “I’m gonna ace this exam! If this were a webnovel, I’d be the protagonist! And there’s no way I’m going to fail because the hero always triumphs! You’ll all see! I’m really good at exams too!” He boldly declared, fighting back against the unseen but palpable tension in the air. And then he buried himself in his textbook.

Even as he studied, Lin Feng knew in the back of his mind that he was the protagonist. This is my story, and I’m not going to be stopped here! These exams aren’t an obstacle, they’re a stepping stone! And I’m not going to be defeated by a step! I’m going to face this exam head-on and sweep through it like I do with everything else! No mere exam will stop my rise!

This delusional level of self-confidence that Lin Feng had wasn’t entirely unwarranted. While he believed that his confidence came from his own patented Trynadamere problem solving method and Nasus study methodology, and that he was protected by protagonist plot armor, none of those things contributed much. The real ace up Lin Feng’s sleeve was that he had An Xin and Tang Bingyao to help him out.

An Xin and Tang Bingyao were excellent students. They were just as good at school as they were at League of Legends. In fact, Tang Bingyao was well-known for being one of the smartest girls at school and a bookworm. An Xin was equally intelligent, and could coach someone through studying just as well as she could coach them in League. And she’d gotten Lin Feng through exams before.

Since he had both of these girls supervising and helping him through studying, Lin Feng didn’t have to worry too much about getting through his exams. Neither did Ouyang, who also had the advantage of Tang Bingyao and An Xin simply because he was Lin Feng’s deskmate and remained in close proximity. And speaking of Ouyang, he’d occasionally try to get Lin Feng to talk about what happened in Guangzhou. Whenever he could get away with it because both the girls were distracted or away. Even though Ouyang was focused on the upcoming exam, the story of how Team Shanghai defeated Team Guangzhou 3-0 was too legendary to ignore. Not just for Ouyang. Everyone in Lin Feng’s class wanted to know what happened. It was a welcome study break, and everyone leaned in to listen as Lin Feng recounted what happened to Ouyang. 

“Haha! That’s so awesome! You riggity-riggity-rekt them!” Ouyang exclaimed when Lin Feng finished his story. “You made those douchenozzles your bitch! That’s exactly what Team Guangzhou deserved! Did you throw in a ‘I, your father, have schooled you’? Because what’s the point in spanking them like that if they don’t call you Daddy after?”

Ren Rou smacked Ouyang in the back of the head. But a soft one. She secretly approved of it all. “Yeah. That Seo is a raging jackass. He hurt our Tang Tang! Unforgivable!”

Ouyang rubbed the back of his head where Ren Rou whacked him. But he was too excited by the story to focus on it for long. He asked Lin Feng, “Bro! You played Riven, right? How’d it go! Tell us all about that! Did you really get a pentakill at the end?”

“Yeah! I hard-carried that game with my Riven and got a penta! It was great! Ask BunBun! She’ll tell you how great I did that game.” Lin Feng said. He turned to An Xin and said, “BunBun, I hard-carried with Riven and got a penta, right? Tell them!”

An Xin didn’t even bother looking up from her book as she casually replied, “Oh, is that what happened? Sorry, I don’t remember.”

And speaking of An Xin, neither she nor Lin Feng brought up the Ashe plushie after they got back toi Shanghai. It was a private moment between them, and their secret alone. As far as everyone else was concerned, nothing had changed between them. An Xin interacted with Lin Feng exactly as she did before. She continued to make fun of Lin Feng every chance she got, and smacked him down whenever he did something stupid. As far as the rest of the world was concerned, the incident with the Ashe doll never happened. But for An Xin, it was a treasured moment.

Since An Xin had completely ignored him, Lin Feng turned to Tang Bingyao. “Tang Tang! Tang Tang! Help me out here! Tell them I got a penta, and that I’m not lying.!” 

Tang Bingyao was completely focused on studying. Only after Lin Feng pestered her a few more times did she raise her head and nodded. “Mhm? Who’s lying?”

Ren Rou rolled her eyes. “Everyone is busy studying! Stop bothering Tang Tang and An Xin! You guys need to stop gossiping like old ladies and focus on your studying too!” Then she walked back to her desk and got back into her books.

Lin Feng’s cheerful smile faded and he looked gloomy. “But I really am telling the truth…”

“Broheim! I believe you, bro,” Ouyang said, and smacked Lin Feng on the back. Then he inched closer and continued, “So… since we’re best bros and I believe you about your pentakill and all that… how about being a bro back and letting me copy your answers for the English practice exam?”

“Huh? There was an English practice exam?” Lin Feng asked.

Ouyang looked at Lin Feng in surprise. “What? Did you really not know? We’re supposed to hand in our answers tonight!” 

“I forgot!? I think!? Did I even know about the English practice exam? Oh no!” Lin Feng cried out. Then he immediately started working on it.

Sitting at the neighbouring desk, An Xin raised her head and smiled. Well, at least some things never change. Lin Feng is still an idiot. But every once in a while, a very thoughtful and sweet idiot. My idiot… An Xin continued to smile that secret smile as she went back to studying. 

Su Xue flew back to Shanghai from Guangzhou two days after Team Shanghai left. But the night before she left, Zong Yao, the executive from Huya TV, invited her to a dinner with a few other well-known streamers and shoutcasters who were from Guangzhou. That had been a big night for Su Xue. It was her foot in the door. She was now officially a part of the shoutcaster circles. 

Once Su Xue got back to Shanghai, she started streaming again. And told her viewers all about her experience as a shoutcaster and the dinner. “Guys! The dinner went so well! Mr. Zong Yao introduced me to everyone and told them how much all the viewers liked my shoutcasting! It didn’t hurt that all the other streamers and shoutcasters saw the matches I was commenting on and how great I was. They were all so friendly! You guys wait and see, I might become a really famous professional shoutcaster one day!” Su Xue declared to her streamer.

It goes without saying that her viewers were happy for her. But they were even more happy to have an opportunity to roast her and bring her back down to earth. 

Oh deer! Is she getting big-headed or did they feed her too much?

Snofell gettin fat? 

Dreans are em-t calories! she must be eating her feelings again!

xuexue! You’re already really famous with us! You don’t need more that me, bb!

she’s bronze at league, but a Challenger at pipe dreams

Maid-chan dreaming of seducing domineering CEO and becoming Misteress!

tsk tsk, I almost believed her

After returning from Guangzhou, Su Xue resumed her regular streaming schedule, which included a daily session of roasting by her viewers. Truthfully, though, all of them were happy to see her face on stream again, and they were glad that her journey as a shoutcaster was going smoothly. 

The fact that Su Xue’s viewers had spammed the Collegiate Cup livestream’s chat with phrases like, “SNOWFALL ARMY”, ‘The maid is surprisingly good at casting too!,” and “Su Xue is a streamer too! You can check her out here!” was proof enough of their support.

Su Xue was also aware of this. So, she didn’t get mad when she saw her chat roasting her. “I see you guys really missed me when I was gone for the past few days, huh?” 

u were gone?!?!?

Masters don’t notice when the maid is gone!

I missed you like a hiker misses a wet sock!

We wanted to watch lil bro win! But you showed up there too!

we missed lil bro more!

yeah! Get lil bro to stream his ranked games some more!

maid, stop hogging all the liemight!

Su Xue finally had enough and rolled her eyes. She said, “Hey, your ‘lil bro’ is busy right now. He’s a high school senior, you know? He has exams to worry about!”

Speaking of which, Lin Feng was completely swamped with homework these past few days, so much so that he had no time for anything else. Not even a free meal. Once Lin Feng got back to Shanghai, Shi Hang, the newly recruited Midlaner of Team Rapids, had called him up to invite him out to dinner. 

“Sorry, can’t make it! I have homework!”

“What?” Shi Hang asked, surprised. He refused a free meal!? Lin Feng. Turning down a free dinner? OH! OH! “Hahaha! Right, you have exams, don’t yah? I thought ya were sick for a second there. Can’t see you turning down food otherwise. But no wonder. Or maybe this is a miracle. We should put the news up everywhere. Dark Horse League Talent Lin Feng turns down food to study! Easy 25 million view video! Hahahahahaaha! It’s tough, being a highschooler. Ain’t it, son? ”

Lin Feng ignored Shi Hang’s taunts and hung up, but Shi Hang quickly called him back.

“Hey wait, real talk for a moment. S6 is about to start soon. I’m still trying to get used to the new meta. Want to play some duo queue with me?”

Lin Feng nodded. “Sure, just do my homework and take my exams for me!”

“…” Shi Hang rolled his eyes and hung up this time. High schoolers these days, ain’t no reasoning with them. 

Lin Feng thought about what Shi Hang had said after the call. Despite being busy with studying and homework, Lin Feng had kept an eye on what was going on with the new season. The meta was going to change with Season 6. Apart from the release of another marksman and the previously teased Aurelion Sol, Lin Feng had also read about several old champions getting a rework.

The one that caught his attention the most was Graves. The Outlaw was getting a huge change.

Graves was a grumpy looking man puffing on a big cigar and firing 9mm bullets from his shotgun. This suboptimal combination resulted in him not being nearly played as often as Riot Games wanted to see, so they decided to change him up. The first of two major changes was his ammo. The 9mm bullets were replaced with shotgun shells, and since his shotgun was a double-barrel, he could load two shells at a time. What he lost in firing consistency to this change, he gained in power. His auto attacks did more damage and now had a spray effect and knockback effect. Beyond his auto attacks, his Buckshot skill also needed a change. The suboptimal version saw him fire three bullets in a cone from a double-barrel shotgun, which wasn’t very effective. That was why Buckshot was replaced with End of the Line. Graves could fire two shells from his double-barrel shotgun that morphed together into an explosive shell and would fire straight ahead! After two seconds or when the shell struck terrain, like a tree or a tower, it would explode.

The changes to this champion were interesting enough that An Xin relented and let Lin Feng sidetrack her into a conversation about it instead of studying. “He’s not going to be a viable ad-carry anymore, Lin Feng. You can’t play Graves as an ad-carry when he can’t auto attack consistently. This rework doesn’t make much sense to me. Unless…”

Lin Feng jumped in before An Xin finished her thought, “Its about skill, BunBun! If you’ve got skill, I think he’s very playable as an ad-carry.” 

An Xin shot him a look. “Not everyone is Maple, dingus. Balance changes and reworks are supposed to make champions more playable for everyone across all tiers! Not just the best players!” 

“Fine, fine. You win. He’s not an ad-carry. I’ll play him in mid! The changes make him way more fun!” 

“I don’t know about that…” An Xin read through the changes to the champion again and calculated how much damage the new Graves could do and how much damage he could take. “Yeah, I don’t know if he’s good for mid lane. But… he looks like he’d be great as a Jungle champion. Early game damage that scales better than Lee Sin!” 

The rest of Team Shanghai had kept up with the new patch notes as well. When they all met up at the internet cafe to blow off some steam and get a little practice in, all of them started talking about the changes to Graves.

“Do you guys think this is a buff or a nerf for Graves?” Zhang Hao asked. He was unsure about how to interpret the changes listed in the new patch notes.

Lin Feng jumped in immediately. He’d been talking about this with BunBun for a day now. “I think it’s a buff, but it looks like you won’t be able to play him as an Ad-Carry anymore.”

Tang Bingyao tilted her head, perplexed. “Mhm? Not an Ad-Carry anymore?” She’d played a few games with the new Graves recently, and noticed how much more difficult it was to play with Graves. And how awkward it was to wait for Graves to reload after firing two shots.

An Xin laughed. “Very astute, Lin Feng! Did you figure that out all on your own? You’re not just telling them what I said yesterday? But he is right, guys. The new Graves is looking like a Jungler.” 

“We can test it out ourselves,” Zeng Rui suggested. He had his own opinions about the changes for Season 6. Especially the massive buff to ad-carry champions. If Season 5 was the League of Top Lane, Season 6 was shaping up to be the era of Ad-Carry dominance.

“The bot lane is going to be even more important now,” Zeng Rui remarked. For a support main like him, this was both good and bad news. The good news didn’t need to be elaborated, but the bad was because it meant the bot lane was going to become even more chaotic.

Lin Feng laughed and patted Tang Bingyao’s shoulder. “So Tang Tang has to try even harder. She’s going to be our carry in the future!’

Tang Bingyao nodded firmly. She’d understood what was happening after reading the patch notes, and she’d also experienced how much stronger champions like Corki and Ashe were on the new patch.

“It’s a shame that the Collegiate Cup is going to continue with the Season 5 patch. We won’t get to play with the new changes,” Lin Feng said with a sigh. Then his smile perked right back up. “It’s fine! Once we win the Collegiate Cup, we’ll get to play the new patch in other tournaments!” 

An Xin rolled her eyes. ‘Idiot. How about we focus on the Collegiate Cup first before thinking about other tournaments?”

“No need! We’ll win for sure! I’m the protagonist, remember? I can’t lose!”

An Xin narrowed her eyes and smiled. “Oh, is that so? You can’t lose? Why does the hero need to sit around studying then? I’m guessing that you’re all prepared for the exams, right? Maybe because you already took them in a previous timeline and then went back to the past to set things right? What’s this webnovel called again? Rebirth of the Maple Who Rose to Fail His Exams?”

Lin Feng’s expression immediately changed and he grumbled. “Hey, BunBun! Don’t bring that up!”

Chapter 375 – A Flight to Remember

The engines on the airplane rumbled to life. The flight attendants walked down the aisles reminding people to stow their tray tables and put their seats into the upright position. The cabin filled with noise as the airplane got ready to take off. But An Xin heard none of that. None of the noise could penetrate the peaceful atmosphere that had settled over the back row, where she sat with Lin Feng. With the Ashe plushie on her lap. As she looked at it, her heart beat fast and slow at the same time with light trembles of joy. 

Lin Feng waited a couple of seconds for An Xin to say something. But she remained silent, and he mistook that for confusion. He picked it up off her lap and waved it in her face, oblivious to everything else in his excitement. “Look! It’s the Ashe you wanted! Remember? You said you wanted it! It’s the exact same one. I helped you get it!”

An Xin’s face flickered with a complicated expression. “You went all the way there just to get me this Ashe plushie? So early in the morning?” she asked quietly and softly. So softly that the question was barely audible over the hum of the engines.

“Yeah! That’s why I set my alarm for 5:30 AM! I really lucked out! My phone had just enough power for the alarm. It died right after I left the hotel. And then I got even more lucky and got the Ashe doll. It only cost me ¥20!” 

An Xin stared at the big grin on Lin Feng’s face and the Ashe. She bit her lips to keep herself from smiling. “You’re an idiot. I didn’t want it that much. Why did you have to go out of your way to get it?” She rebuked him, but there wasn’t a hint of blame in her gaze.

“But I promised you I’d get it! A man keeps his promise!” Lin Feng said.

Lin Feng had said almost the exact same words to An Xin before back at the hotel. Now, he’d kept his promise and brought her back the Ashe plush. He’d backed up his words with action. 

“Here, take it!” Lin Feng stuffed the Ashe plush in An Xin’s arms. “See, I told you I’d get it! Hahahaha! I’m really good at claw machines too!” He smiled brightly. 

An Xin accepted the Ashe plush and held it in her embrace. She buried her head into it, hiding the expression in her eyes as she softly whispered, “Thanks.” She hugged the plush tightly, as if she wasn’t willing to let it go, as if the thing she was hugging wasn’t only the plush.

An Xin slightly bit her lips as she silently muttered the word, “Idiot

“Hey, look! There’s fireworks!” Lin Feng interrupted, jabbing his finger across An Xin’s face to point out of the small airplane window.

“You idiot!” An Xin yelped, pushing away the arm that was in her face. She then looked out the window and her eyes went wide and round. Her heart stopped beating slow. Or fast. It was stuck in her throat. Her voice trembling, she mumbled, “L-L-Lin Feng… That’s not… That’s not fireworks! THE PLANE IS ON FIRE! THE PLANE IS ON FIRE!”

More people started noticing the fire burning at the second motor on the left wing. There was that first moment, brief as it was, in which the airplane turned completely silent. No one spoke. No one even breathed. They only stared at the black flumes twisting and twirling around the red tongues of flame.

Lin Feng scratched the back of his head and looked around the cabin, at the strange calmness of it all. He asked, “Isn’t it supposed to—”

“NO IT’S NOT!” An Xin screamed.

Everyone turned to look at An Xin. They knew she was right. And as if to confirm it, oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling, the warning labels went on and the captain’s voice sounded over the intercom system, “We’re experiencing some light turbulence. Please return to your seats, put on the oxygen masks, and stay calm. Thank you for traveling with Amazing Airlines.”

A couple of people listened. They raced for their seats, pushing aside those in their way, and strapped themselves in so tightly that the polyester of the belt cut into their skins. But most never made it back to their seats. They stood there, staring at the fire that was trying to jump to the motor closest to the cabin, petrified. A particularly sturdy woman collapsed to the ground. Fainted from fear. But no one watched her, even noticed her.

“I can smell it! I CAN SMELL IT!”

“IT’S IN THE CABIN! IT’S GONNA GET INTO THE CABIN!”

“AAAAHHH!”

“WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE!”

“I DON’T WANNA DIE!”

“SMOKE! I CAN SEE SMOKE! IT’S GETTING INTO THE CABIN!”

Stewardesses ran along the left isles, urging people to return to their seats. Begging them. The airplane shook. No one was listening; everyone saw their lives flitting past their eyes. A primal fear gripped them, tightened around their necks and stopped the flow of reason between their minds and the rest of their bodies.

The captain’s voice sounded over the intercom system again, “We’re experiencing some small issues. Nothing we can’t handle. We’re going to make an emergency landing. Please return to your seats, and thank you for flying with Amazing Airlines!”

People paused again, until the next strike of turbulence. A few lost their footing while a couple of others started moving. Through the screaming and the sobbing and the bodies that’d given up already, they pushed their ways towards the emergency exits. They tried to unlock the doors, but a half dozen fail-safes ensured that couldn’t happen. Turbulence tried to knock them off their feet, but their grips on the emergency doors made sure that wouldn’t happen. And then logic twisted. The emergency exit near the front of the airplane flung open.

An Xin sat in the back, petrified, holding Lin Feng’s hand tightly in her own. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the burning wing, but she could feel from the sweat in her hands and the trembling and shaking that Lin Feng was just as scared as she was. Maybe even more. And then the air got knocked out of her due to the sudden change of pressure in the cabin. A jolt shot through her body. Where’s my Ash… Lin Feng… She pinched in Lin Feng’s hand, making sure he was still with her. And smiled. It became hard to breathe, impossible. Specks of black swum in her vision. Her thoughts slowed down as she could feel the airplane losing altitude, fast. Far too fast.

“We’re going to die… We’re going to die…” Lin Feng mumbled quietly. “There is still so much… There are still… I never even got to say sorry to my friends…”

An Xin tore her eyes away from the burning wing. She pushed through the darkness trying to claim her and the strong smell of burning plastic trying to knock her out, and reached both arms around Lin Feng. She hugged him. Pulled him close. She whispered in his ear, “At least we’re together. Just you and me.” The last thing she saw was the back of his neck. She pushed her nose closer to him, smelling his fear and finding some solace in it. I’ll miss you. Sorry we never got to go back to Worlds…

The engines on the airplane rumbled to life. The flight attendants walked down the aisles reminding people to stow their tray tables and put their seats into the upright position. The cabin filled with noise as the airplane got ready to take off. But An Xin heard none of that. None of the noise could penetrate the peaceful atmosphere that had settled over the back row, where she sat with Lin Feng. With the Ashe plushie on her lap. As she looked at it, her heart beat fast and slow at the same time with light trembles of joy.

Lin Feng waited a couple of seconds for An Xin to say something. But she remained silent, and he mistook that for confusion. He picked it up off her lap and waved it in her face, oblivious to everything else in his excitement. “Look! It’s the Ashe you wanted! Remember? You said you wanted it! It’s the exact same one. I helped you get it!”

An Xin’s face flickered with a complicated expression. “You went all the way there just to get me this Ashe plushie? So early in the morning?” she asked quietly and softly. So softly that the question was barely audible over the hum of the engines.

“Yeah! That’s why I set my alarm for 5:30 AM! I really lucked out! My phone had just enough power for the alarm. It died right after I left the hotel. And then I got even more lucky and got the Ashe doll. It only cost me ¥20!” 

An Xin stared at the big grin on Lin Feng’s face and the Ashe. She bit her lips to keep herself from smiling. Wait. I know this. I know Her eyes grew wide and round. She turned away from Lin Feng and looked out of the window. The airplane was getting ready for takeoff. It’s going… We… “THE PLANE IS GOING TO EXPLODE! IT’S GOING TO EXPLODE! GET OFF THIS PLANE! IT’S GOING TO EXPLODE!” she screamed as loudly as she could, jumping from her seat and already pulling Lin Feng with her to the exit. “LET US OFF! LET US OFF! IT’S GOING TO EXPLODE!”

Chapter 374 – Lin Feng Lost!

 

Su Xue stood there, phone still in her hand and halfway up to her face, looking shocked. The silence stretched on as everyone waited for her to tell them what happened. But she said nothing. Eventually, Lin Feng got up from his bed and asked, “Su Xue, what happened? What did Huya call you for?” 

Su Xue had a complicated expression on her face. She looked at Lin Feng and opened her mouth to explain. And then closed it again. Then she shook her head to clear her mind. Finally, she answered. “Hm… I’m not going home with you guys tomorrow. That call was from Huya… One of the executives that works there. I’ve mentioned him before to you guys, right? Zong Yao. He… Well. He…—” 

“Su Xue, did he ask you to do something inappropriate? We won’t stand for that, and you don’t have to worry about Zong Yao either! The Shanghai Esports Association is no paper tiger! Tell me if you need help!” Chu Fang cut in. He’d noticed how distraught Su Xue was and started to get concerned. 

Su Xue looked at Chu Fang for a few seconds. Then she laughed. “No, no, no. Guys! It’s nothing like that! This is really good! Oh god! I’m so, so, so sorry guys! I couldn’t believe what just happened and I needed a minute to process it all. Mr. Zong Yao is a really nice person! He called to tell me that everyone loved my shoutcasting! So much so that they want me as the shoutcaster for two more matches tomorrow!” 

Zong Yao explained the entire situation to Su Xue on the phone. Right after asking her to be the shoutcaster for two more matches. But she was so stunned and thrilled by the unexpected news that she couldn’t understand it at the time. During the Round of 16 match today, Huya had run multiple surveys to find out which shoutcaster the viewers liked best. And Sue Xue had won by a landslide! Over 68% of the viewers who participated in the survey had voted for her! Zong Yao had also told her some of the comments left by participants in the survey. 

“If Evening Snowfall is shoutcasting, I’m watching!”
“Evening Snowfall is the real dark horse talent discovered in this tournament!” 
“Best shoutcaster was definitely Evening Snowfall! Kappa! Kreygasm!”
“EveningSnowfall Pogchamp! She was great! Man, today’s matches were exciting, but she managed to hype me up even more. Seeing her getting so excited on the desk… BibleThump!”
“EveningSno’s got a great personality. Great face too! And she knows the game!”

Zong Yao had obviously selected the most positive and nicest comments. But the rest of the responses were along the same lines. The audience loved Su Xue! Her unique shoutcasting style, drawn from her experience as a streamer, had resonated with something in all of the viewers. Her sheer popularity was an unexpected development though. Huya TV’s management reacted quickly though, and decided to let Su Xue be the shoutcaster for two more matches. Then they asked Zong Yao to get in touch with her to confirm that she’d be there.

All of Team Shanghai cheered when they heard the good news. The victories kept rolling in today. An Xin walked over to give Su Xue a hug and said, “Congratulations! This is such great news! You’re going to be amazing tomorrow!” 

“Phenomenal work, Su Xue! This is going to take you up to a whole different level!” Zeng Rui called out. And then he let out a little chuckle. “Heh-heh! I guess this means… you’re Huya’s little pogchamp now heh-heh!” 

Chu Fang smiled. “Indeed! Zeng Rui understands exactly what this means. Huya is going to start paying a lot more attention to you now. You’ll get even more chances to go up on stage and show the world what you can do. This is a hard-won opportunity that most people can’t even dream of grasping. Make sure you take advantage of it. Congratulations!”

After being cheered on by the members of Team Shanghai, Su Xue was also fired up. So much so that she punched her fist into the air, like Lin Feng usually did, and said, “Hell yeah! Yeah! I’m going to kill it tomorrow!”

Lin Feng, who had been suspiciously lowkey with her cheering, inched his way closer to Su Xue and asked, “This is such great news, right guys? How about we go get something to eat and celebrate?”

Everyone turned to Lin Feng and shouted in unison, “No!”

Everyone in Team Shanghai got up at 7AM the next morning and washed up. Their flight was at 10AM, and they needed to get into a cab and get to the airport. Su Xue also got up to see them off. Because she was staying at Huya TV’s request, they’d be taking care of her new travel arrangements. 

The plan was simple. Everyone on Team Shanghai would wake up in the morning and get ready to go. Then they would all meet up in the lobby, say goodbye to Su Xue, and be on their way home. The airport was 40 minutes away from their hotel. An Xin and Zeng Rui had made sure to include a buffer for anything unexpected. There was no way they would miss their flight.  

What An Xin and Zeng Rui didn’t account for was Lin Feng. When Team Shanghai gathered in the hotel lobby, he wasn’t there. They looked around and did another headcount just to make sure. 

“1, 2, 3, 4, 5…. Lin Feng! Where did Lin Feng go!?” 

No one on Team Shanghai had any idea where Lin Feng was. Neither did Su Xue. After a few tense minutes of checking with each other, no one could remember seeing Lin Feng in their room. Or walking down with them. Which made this even more puzzling. After all, this was Lin Feng. Not Kuroko. He was always making noise or eating or doing something. Chu Fang decided to run back up to their hotel rooms to look for him again. Just in case Lin Feng was still sleeping under some blankets or in the bathroom. But it was fruitless. Lin Feng was nowhere to be found!

This delay caused by Lin Feng made An Xin furious. “Bloody hell! He’s been so calm for the last few days that we let our guard down. How did he manage to get lost without any of us knowing?! Does he hate it when everything goes well for a change?” Then she took a deep breath and fixed her hair. She thought about where Lin Feng could have gone and how to track him down while she did this, and came up with an idea. An Xin walked over to the front desk of the hotel and spoke to the receptionist for a bit. The receptionist confirmed that someone matching Lin Feng’s description left the hotel with his luggage a little bit earlier. 

“He left… with his luggage?!”

Everyone was dumbstruck.

“Where the hell could he have gone!?”

“Mhm! The airport! Did he decide to go on ahead to the airport? Without us?” Tang Bingyao asked.

An Xin shook her head. “That just doesn’t make any sense. We were all going to leave together. We made sure he knew the plan. I made sure he knew the plan. Why on earth would he randomly decide to go off to the airport alone? Besides, he would have told one of us if he had some reason for leaving early.” An Xin pulled out her phone and dialed Lin Feng’s number as she spoke. A moment later, she got an automatic response that the other line had no signal or that the phone was turned off.

Su Xue facepalmed. “I know what happened. It’s Lin Feng. He’s always playing or reading something on his phone until he falls asleep. So he never charges it at night. He always forgets to plug it in before he nods off! He probably forgot last night too!”

Chu Fang frowned. “This isn’t good. If we can’t get in touch with him, we can’t confirm where he is. If he didn’t head to the airport ahead of us, we won’t be able to meet up with him.”

Zeng Rui massaged his temples. “Thundering. Dumbass.”

Team Shanghai had no other option but to sit down in the hotel lobby and wait for Lin Feng to come back. Or contact them somehow. All they could do was sit there and pray that Lin Feng showed up in time for them to leave. And so, they waited. Until 7:20AM. 

And there was still no sign of Lin Feng.

Chu Fang wiped the beads of sweat on his forehead and said, “Alright guys! We can’t sit here and wait any longer. We’ll miss the plane if we do. Let’s go to the airport and see if Lin Feng is there. If he isn’t, you guys head back to Shanghai and I’ll go look for him. Hopefull—”

“I could bring him back with me, Chu Fang! I’m staying here for another day anyway. If he’s not at the airport, I’ll find him before the matches and then bring him back to Shanghai with me. Once he realizes that he missed the flight, he’ll come looking for me anyway.” Su Xue said, interrupting Chu Fang. 

Everyone reluctantly nodded. It didn’t make sense for the entire group to miss the plane. Especially since Su Xue was staying behind. They started gathering their luggage while An Xin called a cab. And then Zhang Hao noticed someone walking into the hotel lobby. “Guys! Look! LIN FENG! Isn’t that Lin Feng?” he exclaimed while pointing. 

Everyone looked up and at the person Zhang Hao was pointing towards. It was Lin Feng. With his luggage on his back, a tray of soymilk in one hand, and a bag of steamed buns in the other. He’d heard Zhang Hao yelling his name and looked over to find everyone from Team Shanghai. So he started waving the bag of steamed buns at them happily. “Wow! Everyone’s already down here and ready to go? Nice! You guys didn’t eat breakfast yet, right? I went out for food, and I brought more than enough for everyone! Let’s eat!” 

Everyone was speechless.

Su Xue had murder in his eyes and she gnashed her teeth, ‘I. Am. Going. To. Kill. Him. He is dead, one of these days. I’m going to kill him dead!”

Zeng Rui expressionlessly nodded in agreement.

An Xin flashed her murder smile at Lin Feng. “When we get back home, I’m going to beat the stupid out of him.”

Now that Lin Feng was back and the entire group was ready to leave, Chu Fang breathed a sigh of relief. But there was no time to eat the breakfast that Lin Feng brought back. They needed to get to the airport as quickly as possible. “Guys! I called two cabs to take us to the airport. They’re outside! Eat in the car! We need to go now!” Chu Fang said as he shepherded them out of the hotel and into the cabs. 

Chu Fang and An Xin hauled Lin Feng into a cab with them, where they forced him to sit in the middle. Where they could keep an eye on him. As the cars left for the airport, Chu Fang checked his watch to make sure they would arrive in time. Then he looked at Lin Feng. “Lin Feng, don’t do something like this again. You had us all worried sick.” 

Lin Feng scratched his head. “Um, sorry. I wanted to send a text, but my phone was dead!” Then he held up two steamed buns in his hands. “I got you guys breakfast though!”

An Xin stared at Lin Feng, her lips curving into a faint smile. “Did you really go out to buy breakfast? Nothing else?”

Lin Feng looked down before mumbling his answer. “Yeah! You know me! I’m Lin Feng and I like food! Only went out to get breakfast. Haha!”

“Oh? You didn’t do anything else while you were out?” An Xin asked.

“Nope!”

“I see,” An Xin said, but her expression said she didn’t believe him at all.

After an uneventful cab ride, Team Shanghai finally arrived at the airport. Then they went through security and checked in for the flight. They’d made it just in the nick of time. All of them sat at the departure gate, waiting for boarding to start, and relaxed. 

Nothing more happened, and the plane started boarding 30 minutes later. Team Shanghai got on the plane and started sitting down. Lin Feng and An Xin ended up sitting next to each other. And since they were all on the plane and waiting for it to take off, Zeng Rui, Zhang Hao and Tang Bingyao decided it was a good time to catch up on some sleep. Especially since they had to wake up early to make this flight.

Lin Feng was wide awake and bored. So he pulled out his phone and hit a few buttons before looking down at it sadly. “Oh no! The battery is still dead…” Then he turned to An Xin and asked, “BunBun, let me play with your phone?”

An Xin rolled her eyes. “No way!”

“Come on, don’t be so selfish!”

“Idiot! The plane’s about to take off! Our phones are supposed to be off right now and we’re not allowed to have them out!”

“Oh, rodger-dodger…”

Suddenly, An Xin smiled at Lin Feng and asked,“But we can talk right now. Be honest! Where did you go this morning?”

Lin Feng’s eyes widened. And then they started spinning as he tried to look everywhere except at An Xin while replying, “I told you. I went out to buy breakfast!”

An Xin’s smile didn’t change at all. “Really now? That’s so curious! I spoke to the receptionist at the hotel. That’s how I found out that you left the hotel with your luggage. But you know what else she told me? That she saw you leaving at 6AM. We all know that you came back with the steamed buns at 7:20AM. So….. that means that it took you an hour and twenty minutes to buy some breakfast. Did you go out and make the steamed buns yourself? Do you think I’m an idiot? Are you trying to turn this BunBun into a steamed bun with all the hot air you’re blowing?”

Lin Feng looked like a deer in headlights. He knew he’d been caught. 

An Xin continued staring at Lin Feng, waiting for him to spill the beans.

Finally, Lin Feng folded under the pressure and confessed, “Alright, alright! You win!” He looked around carefully, then took his bag out from under his seat. While he opened it, he turned to An Xin and said, “You have to keep this really secret! I was going to give this to you later on… I swear! Just don’t tell Chu Fang and the others. They’ll be so mad if they find out what I was doing.”

An Xin slowly nodded. “Yes, yes, I know. I’ll keep your secret. Now show me what it is that was so important that you woke up at 5:30AM to go get? And almost made us all miss this flight. What did you go get?”

Lin Feng pulled something out of his bag and put it on An Xin’s lap. As she looked at it, her eyes popped open in surprise.

It was the super cute Ashe plushie doll! The exact same one that she said she wanted a few days ago! 

 

Chapter 373 – Logistics & A Small Interlude

The second Team Beijing got back to their hotel, Fan Yuan gathered his team together to tell them, “Make sure you think about everything you saw today! We have to crush Team Shanghai! Don’t hold back, don’t underestimate them, don’t take any chances. We’re going in hard and we’re going to win! We have to win, no matter what!”

Everyone on Team Beijing nodded slowly, not saying a word. Except for Zhang Hongyi. He coldly stated, “That is obvious. All of us watched their match this morning. Two pentakills. One with Riven and another with Kalista. This is not an opponent that we can take lightly.” 

Yun Ping’s eyes flashed with a competitive gleam as he took a deep breath. “Of course we have to win! The Collegiate Cup belongs to us! We have to take it home!” Going up against someone who had defeated Goalie hadn’t discouraged him at all. Quite the opposite. It fanned and stroked his competitive spirit, firing him up. He’d even picked Riven in Game 3 in an attempt to send a message to Team Shanghai’s Midlaner. You think you’re hot shit because you can play Riven in mid? So can I! We’ll figure out who’s better between us on the Rift, and settle things once and for all!

“Thank god that’s finally over! I’m beat!” Su Xue exclaimed while sighing as she fell into her soft bed. It had been a long day of shoutcasting for her. After the match finished, she left with Team Shanghai and ate dinner with them before returning to the hotel. As she lay there in bed, with Team Shanghai talking and celebrating in the background, her thoughts wandered back to the day. Today was amazing! Wait-wait-wait! Thinking about it is going to get me excited again and then I won’t be able to sleep. We’re all getting on the flight back to Shanghai tomorrow at 10AM. I need to wake up! But today was a really good day. Lin Feng and his team got through to the quarterfinals!

The day truly had gone well. Not just for Team Shanghai, but also for Su Xue. She’d had a phenomenal debut as a professional caster. But the celebration for Team Shanghai’s victory had not died down just yet. Or ended, in Lin Feng’s opinion.

“My brothers! The night is still young and we are ALIVE! And everyone knows that there ain’t no party without an afterparty! And that the afterparty is better than the party! WE SHOULD CONTINUE TO CELEBRATE! WITH A MEAL!” Lin Feng enthusiastically suggested. 

“Didn’t we just eat dinner…?” Zhang Hao asked, muttering in shock.

Lin Feng looked at Zhang Hao, penetrating him with sudden seriousness. “Zhang Hao! Is there only one game in a match? No! Are we all one trick ponies who can only play a single champion? No! So why do we limit ourselves to a single meal to celebrate? We’re going for number 1, the top spot, the Collegiate Cup. And beyond that! Because all of us dream of being at the top. Is there any reason for that dream to be limited by the rules set by others about single dinners? Or a set number of meals? NO! The meal that we ate, the match that we just won, that was only the appetizer! It doesn’t count as a celebration meal! We must continue to celebrate and continue to have reasons to celebrate as we chase our dream! WE EAT BECAUSE THAT IS OUR ASSAULT ON THE COMMONPLACE AND THE ORDINARY! WE EAT BECAUSE WE NEED TO FUEL UP AS WE RUN AFTER OUR DREAM! And we celebrate as we eat every meal. Zhang Hao, how could you possibly think that we would celebrate only once over a single meal?” 

“… Sure. But didn’t we celebrate at lunch?” Zhang Hao said.

An Xin facepalmed as Lin Feng delivered his confusingly inspirational monologue. And then cut into the conversation before Lin Feng delivered another speech. “Hao Bro, ignore this idiot. There’s only two things in life that he understands and cares about. Food and League. If he’s not playing League, he’s eating. And if he’s not eating, he’s playing League. He’s the kind of guy who considers every meal of every day a celebration, and constantly wishes for greater heights of culinary delight. There’s no reasoning with him.’

Zeng Rui put his hand on Zhang Hao’s shoulder and nodded in agreement with An Xin’s words.

Chu Fang chuckled. “Alright guys. Looks like our little stay in Guangzhou is over. Everyone’s worked hard. When we get back, get as much rest as you can. Once the Quarterfinals start, this tournament will only get more and more tense.”

“No worries! The championship is ours! I can already taste the victory meal we’re going to have once we win!” Lin Feng said as he thrust his fist into the air.

Chu Fang looked stunned for a brief second. Then said, “Lin Feng, I believe the expression is taste victory…” Lin Feng looked at Chu Fang, puzzled. “Taste victory? I’ve never tasted victory. The food that we have after winning is pretty good. What does victory taste like? Why didn’t we get it today?” 

This was the point where An Xin had enough. “Forget the Championship, you still have exams to worry about,” An Xin said. Dousing Lin Feng’s excitement and insatiable hunger with cold water. But not him alone. That single sentence snapped everyone back to reality.

Team Shanghai had left for Guangzhou on January 12th. Yesterday was a Friday. And after Friday came Saturday, which was today. The 16th of January. After Saturday came Sunday, the 17th of January. This meant the end of the weekend. They could no longer afford to take it easy and decide if they were kicking it in the back seat or kicking it in the back seat. No, no. The date was significant because it meant that they were already halfway through the school year. And coming up on January 25th were exams. The most dreadful period for all high schoolers across China! In a very real sense, they did not want this weekend to end. 

“What? Argh! Exams!? No! No! No! I wanted to celebrate and eat! Not think about exams that I don’t want to take!” Lin Feng shouted and started throwing a fit.

Chu Fang, An Xin, and the rest of Team Shanghai were more than accustomed to Lin Feng’s fits of impotent autistic rage. They ignored him and continued the conversation. 

“Our exams are on the 25th, which is perfect timing. Zeng Rui, how about you? When are your exams?” An Xin asked.

“On the 24th. We take them a day earlier than you guys, ” Zeng Rui replied.

“Excellent!” An Xin said. Then she continued, “The quarterfinals start on the 28th. Our exam schedule and the tournament schedule works out well. Perfect. We’ll do it just like we did this time. I’ll buy the plane tickets and get in touch with you guys when the time comes. Then we’ll be off to Beijing!”

They continued to work out the details while Lin Feng wallowed in existential dread over the upcoming exams. Eventually, everything was set in stone. Team Shanghai started to wind down. The conversation mellowed and lulled. And then, Su Xue’s phone started ringing. 

She fumbled around for her pocket and pulled it out to see who was calling. And then sat bolt upright in bed. “It’s from Huya!” The person on the other side of the line was the Huya TV executive Su Xue had spoken to before, Zong Yao.

Su Xue hurried up from the bed and composed herself quickly before answering. 

“Hello, hello! Su Xue here. This is Mr. Zong, right?”

“Yes, Mr Zong! Today was great! I had so much fun shoutcasting for the matches! And doing both matches was no trouble at all, really! I appreciated the opportunity.” 

“Hm? My schedule? I have a flight back to Shanghai at 10AM tomorrow morning. Other than that, nothing besides streaming. Why?” 

No one besides Su Xue could hear Zong Yao’s side of the conversation. But right after Su Xue asked why he wanted to know her schedule, her eyes jolted open wide. An expression of shock was frozen on her face. She was so surprised by what Zong Yao asked that she couldn’t speak for thirty seconds. Then she mumbled something quickly into the phone and hung up. Then she turned around to look at Team Shanghai and squeaked, “I… I don— I can’t believe what just happened!” 

Team Shanghai looked at her, curious and concerned about what had transpired on that call to leave Su Xue in such a state! 

Chapter 372 – My Riven is bigger and better than your Riven

 

The high school teams were stealing the show at the Winter Collegiate Cup. But it wasn’t until Team Shanghai’s win over Team Guangzhou that the fans became really invested in finding out which high school team was the best. Or more specifically, which branch from the Chinese Esports Association had nurtured the biggest talents. They were sitting at the edges of their seats, waiting for the show to continue, waiting for Team Beijing to take to the stage and cleansweep Chongqing University in a similar fashion as Team Shanghai had done to Team Guangzhou.

The players from Team Shanghai also found their way back to the stadium after a long lunch. They’d eaten their bellies full with the Korean Barbecue and fell down on their seats, letting the after lunch dip overtake them.

Chu Fang looked at them and chuckled. He said, “You guys can relax until tomorrow morning. We’ve got a flight back to Shanghai to catch at 10 A.M.”

Lin Feng’s eyes grew round and wide when he heard Chu Fang. He looked between Zeng Rui and An Xin and complained, “Ah, why! Why do we have to spend our last day watching these games? It’s totally not gonna be worth it! Let’s go and do something else!” He got up from his seat but was pulled back down by An Xin. “Okay, okay! I get it! We’re watching!” he said, then continued grumbling while looking around, searching for something to pass the time. “Uuuh…” he mumbled, scratching the back of his head. “Where is Team Guangzhou? Are they not coming to watch these games?”

“‘Cause they got knocked out of course!” Zhang Hao replied, chuckling. “You really think they’d have the face to come back here? Even if they wanted to, they’re probably worried everyone will laugh at them when they get here!” He briefly paused, grinning, then added, “I totally would.”

Lin Feng sighed loudly and said, “I see. How boring.”

“No one likes a whinebaby,” An Xin said, smiling. She winked at Lin Feng and added, “Su Xue is casting. You can enjoy listening to her!”

Lin Feng looked at An Xin and shrugged. He replied, “She talks my ears off at home already. Why would I want to listen to her cast?”

“Right. Right. You two are living together. You’re living with a cute, beautiful, famous streamer…” An Xin said, narrowing her eyes while the corners of her lips arced up. “How lucky you are. Think of all the guys dreaming to be you! What do you think they’d be willing to pay to switch places with you for a night?”

“Who would wanna pay for that!?” Lin Feng exclaimed, throwing his hands up in frustration.

Zhang Hao looked from Lin Feng at An Xin and back at Lin Feng again, a cold shiver running up and down his spine and goosebumps spiking on his arms. She’s doing that thing again! The murdersmile! Lin Feng, you idiot! Stop looking around and look at her! She’s mad! She’s mad! Oh no, she’s mad! Why am I not looking away? I need to look away! I’m not part of this conversation! Look away Zhang Hao! Don’t look at them! Look away! He grabbed his chin with one hand and pushed, forcing himself to look up at the stage. I’m not listening! Totally not listening!

Zeng Rui was a step faster than Zhang Hao. He turned his head to look at Tang Bingyao, away from An Xin, and said, “Sooo Tang Tang! How about that pinky of yours?”

“Mhm! Yeah,” Tang Bingyao replied, looking down at her pinky and cradling it. “I think it’ll be fine. Just bruised I think. It doesn’t really hurt that much right now.”

Chu Fang watched Lin Feng and An Xin get up to their usual antics and how the other three players on the team quickly diverted their attention elsewhere. He shook his head and laughed. Just like the old times. You do something that makes BunBun go all special BunBun mode and the others don’t know how quickly they need to get away. It’s good seeing this again. I’ve missed it.

The first game of the afternoon was so incredibly boring that half the audience would’ve fallen asleep if it wasn’t for Su Xue’s fantastic and energetic casting. She managed to turn a boring game into something exciting by giving personal anecdotes and background stories about the players from the competing teams. The fans were actually on their feet, cheering loudly for Beijing International Studies University when they won their Round of 16 match 3-1.

Some people were more invested than others. But least invested of them all was Lin Feng. He yawned and said, “Su Xue was okay there.”

Tang Bingyao glanced at Lin Feng and shook her head. She said, “Mnh-mnh. She wasn’t okay. She was great!”

“She’s a natural,” Zhang Hao agreed. “The way she just keeps talking and never shuts up, it’s like she’s been casting all her life! And it’s also not just talking for the talking, but she actually has things to say! I had fun listening to her!”

Zeng Rui nodded and said, “Her analysis throughout all four games was on point too.”

“Yeah. She’s starting to look like a professional caster. The way she and Zephyr bounce off each other also helps. It’s like they were made for each other,” An Xin chimed in, smiling.

Lin Feng yawned again and mumbled, “So tired… What’s next? Oh! Team Beijing is up next, right? Maybe that game will be more fun to watch!”

The host walked up on stage and waited for the audience to quiet down a bit. He then raised his microphone to his lips and said, “After a fantastic game earlier today between Team Shanghai and Team Guangzhou, it is now time for the third high school team to make their appearance! Give a round of applause for Team Beijing!” He waited, allowing the crowd to cheer, before he continued, “Their opponent is a veteran of the scene! A team we’ve seen much of in the previous editions! Five guys looking to make it all the way to finals! Let’s give them a warm welcome! Here is Chongqing University!”

In the player seating area, Zeng Rui narrowed his eyes when he saw the five from Team Beijing making their way to the soundproof booth. He said, “They’re playing with their main roster.”

Zhang Hao glanced at Zeng Rui and then looked back at Team Beijing. He asked, “So the guy at the front is their real Toplaner and the one in the middle their Midlaner? What’s his name again? Yu Ping, right?”

An Xin nodded and said, “Yea—”

“Sweet!” Lin Feng exclaimed. He clenched his fist, pumped it into the air and said, “Now we can finally see how good they really are!”

Tang Bingyao nodded and chimed in, “Mhm! I wanna see it.”

Chu Fang took a long, deep breath before turning his head to look for Team Beijing’s manager. Fan Yuan… You couldn’t sit still any longer, huh? Team Shanghai finally woke you up a bit. You’re going to show that Team Beijing is at least as good. Or you’re going to try too. Tough luck. We’ve got Maple. Who’ve you got? That’s right. Nobody.

Yu Ping sat down behind his computer. It stood in the middle of a row of five computers. His Jungler and top sat to his left and his Support and ad-carry to his right. He smiled and breathed out, calm. Over the rim of his monitor he could see the crowd cheering. This is my stage. We’ve played around long enough. It’s time to show everyone what we’ve been holding back.

Team Beijing’s Jungler put on his headset and said over the team’s voice chat, “We can’t let those guys from Team Shanghai hog the spotlight! That’s our place! Let’s show them what we’re really all about!” He glanced at Yu Ping before adding, “Do your best, Yu Ping! I’ll do my best to Support you!”

Yu Ping took a deep, long breath before he replied, “Don’t worry.”

“Of course we won’t worry! There’s nothing to worry about!” Zhang Hongyi exclaimed. He narrowed his eyes, then chuckled and said, “Everyone is so focused on Team Shanghai’s Midlaner… both of them… that they forgot to look at the rest of the team. Team Shanghai is a one man team! We’re a five man team! We’ll show everyone what a real team looks like! And in the process hopefully kick Zeng Rui’s ass out of this tournament. That’d be the best–”

“Focus,” Yu Ping interrupted. He looked at Zhang Hongyi and added, “One game at a time. We’re going to beat Chongqing University first and then we’ll see who we have to play next.”

“Of course, of course!” Zhang Hongyi replied, nodding. “I’m focused! Look!” He leaned in towards his monitor and put his hands on his mouse and keyboard. “See? Ready!”

Team Beijing’s Jungler laughed and said, “Alright, let’s play then! For the win!”

“For the win!” The other four from Team Beijing replied in unison.

“Holy what!?” Zhang Hao exclaimed. He looked at the time on his phone and shook his head, incredulous. “How does this work? How are they up 2-0 already? It hasn’t even been an hour yet!”

Zeng Rui nodded and analysed, “That change in top and mid actually made a big difference. They always looked strong. But with their main roster? They look stronger than Team Guangzhou to me. Yeah, I think they’re better than Team Guangzhou, quite visibly.”

An Xin smiled and said, “Team Guangzhou was all about Goalie and to an extent Seo. Looks like Team Beijing is more about being a team. But not only are they more like a team, Yu Ping is even just as good as Goalie! Maybe, just maybe, even better.”

It was difficult to compare Goalie and Yu Ping because their playstyles differed so much. Where Goalie was the attack specialist, the player who always made the plays, Yu Ping was the all-round player. There wasn’t anything he was clearly the best at, but every facet of his game was at such a high level that it was incredibly difficult to catch him making mistakes, or even to force him into making mistakes.

Lin Feng yawned again and said, “He’s worse than I expected… Eh, whatever.” He shrugged and then turned to look at Zeng Rui. A smile appeared on his face and he asked, “So ZengZeng… I seem to remember you and that Support… What was it again… He looked dirty at you, right? Right! What was his name? I could swear you told me at some point… And his playstyle, his playstyle is like yours! It’s like you two are twins! Tell me more about him! I need to hear the gossip!”

Zeng Rui felt his eyelid twitch. He glanced at Lin Feng and said, “I don’t know him. Stop asking.”

An Xin giggled and said, “You know he’s right, Zeng Rui. Team Beijing’s Support is about as good as you are and your playstyles are very similar. You’re both around the A- grade? Maybe going towards A…”

“Goddammit!” Zhang Hao exclaimed. He looked at his teammates and continued, “Why is everyone this good? Why can’t it be like at the Shanghai 16 School Tournament where I was like the best Toplaner! Now I’m just trying not to be the worst… And now that guy from Team Beijing… He’s better! He just is! Did you guys see him? FUCK!”

“You’ve got me, HaoBro! I’ll carry you!” Lin Feng said, laughing. But that didn’t do much to cheer Zhang Hao up. He let his shoulders droop and kept shaking his head, mumbling, “I just need to get better. Get better before the next round and be ready for… this.”

Chu Fang grimaced and said, “It doesn’t stop there. The Beijing Esports Association hired two professional coaches to train the team. I guess we really should support you guys more. It’s…” He shook his head.

“Look!” Zeng Rui interrupted. He pointed at the large LCD screen and continued, “They picked Riven. They’re going Riven mid, I’m sure of it!”

“Riven mid?” Zhang Hao asked, stunned. He turned his head to look at Lin Feng, as was everyone else. They all stared at him, waiting to see how he’d respond.

Lin Feng scratched the back of his head and said, “Oh? He’s copying me? NICE! You know what they say! Copying is the best form of flattery! Yu Ping is totally in love with me!”

“What? No…” An Xin replied, incredulous. “How did you… No, no. Nevermind.”

Tang Bingyao leaned closer to An Xin and whispered, “He knows they’re trying to provoke him, right?”

Lin Feng jumped up to his feet with the rest of the audience who were celebrating Team Beijing’s victory. He pumped his fist in the air and shouted, “He only got a quadra! I got a penta! He sucks and I’m the best!”

“Quadra, penta, who cares?” Zeng Rui said. “Point is that they stomped all over Chongqing University. We’re going to need to watch out for them. Their main roster is much stronger than I expected it to be.”

“You know Zeng Rui is right,” An Xin said to Lin Feng. She smiled and added, “They really aren’t half bad. You might actually have to try.”

“Hey, kids, not to be rude or anything,” Chu Fang interrupted. He pointed at the exit and continued, “Let’s go now before it gets busy again…”

There was no hesitation. After what happened to Tang Bingyao, no one from Team Shanghai wanted to get caught in a busy hallway. They rushed for the exit and beat the crowd to it. When they arrived at the long walkway up to the stadium, they finally stopped. Lin Feng put his foot on the water running down the center of the walkway and An Xin told him to stop playing, while the others were debating what they were going to do next.

“If it isn’t Zeng Rui! What a coincidence running into you here!” Zhang Hongyi said.

Zeng Rui turned around to find Zhang Hongyi walking over together with his teammates. He narrowed his eyes and replied, “Zhang Hongyi.”

Chu Fang looked past the players at Fan Yuan who was the vice president of the Beijing Esports Association. He said, “Fan Yuan.”

“Chu Fang,” Fan Yuan replied.

Chu Fang hesitated but then said, “Congratulations.”

“Likewise,” Fan Yuan replied.

The awkwardness persisted and turned into the most uncomfortable silence. Both teams stood there eyeing each other, until Lin Feng finally grew bored from playing with the water and turned around. He looked a bit confused and then said, “Oh! I know you guys! You’re Team Beijing! You guys played great, but not as great as us!” He laughed and then turned to look at Chu Fang and asked, “When are we going?”

“Now,” Chu Fang said. He led the players from Team Shanghai away, glancing over his shoulder to see what Team Beijing was doing. When he was confident they were out of earshot, he turned to Lin Feng and whispered, “If you guys draw Team Beijing, please do me a favour and smash the everloving shit outta them!”

 

Chapter 371 – HEY! TEAM GUANGZHOU! WELL PLAYED BUDS! GREAT GAMES! STRONG WORK!

 

The long blades of grass rose up high around Seo’s Tristana, hiding her from view. She raised her cannon, aimed it at Kalista’s back and squeezed the trigger. The cannonball shot from the muzzle and slammed into Lin Feng’s Kalista! It was a critical hit! She took a step forward and fired again! Another cannonball slammed into Lin Feng’s Kalista!

“KALISTA IS DEAD! SEO’S GONNA KILL HER!” Zephyr screamed into his microphone. “TWO MORE HITS! OR A CRIT!”

Su Xue’s eyes were wide open in horror. NoNoNo! Her jaw trembled as she stuttered into her microphone, “Y-y-you got this, Lin Feng!”

Lin Feng breathed out calmly. He’d kept an eye on Seo’s Tristana the entire fight. He saw it when she killed Jarvan IV and also when she killed Zhang Hao’s Rumble. He knew, though the fog of war hid it from view, that she was most likely going to try and get to him through the tri-brush. More than anything, he believed in his skills and in his teammates. He had his Kalista hurl a spear at Tristana and then used her passive to lunge towards the tri-brush. During that brief mid-dash moment, he pinged on Tristana to alert Tang Bingyao.

Tang Bingyao felt her entire body go stiff when she heard the ping and saw Seo’s Tristana. She’d been so focused on killing the Thresh that she hadn’t thought to look behind her. But then instinct took over. She flicked her mouse towards Seo’s Tristana, who’d walked out from the tri-brush, and cast Winter’s Bite. Her Braum propelled ice from his shield! It struck Tristana, slowing her and applying the first stack of Concussive Blows.

Seo snarled at his monitor, furiously clicking his keys. His Tristana fired another cannonball at Lin Feng’s Kalista. CritCritCrit! COME ON, WHY DON’T YOU FUCKING CRIT!? He wanted to throw his mouse through the glass panels of the soundproof booth, but kept himself from doing that. A crit would’ve killed Kalista. Now he needed to hit her one more time. KILL THE STUPID BEGGAR! He clicked on Kalista. His Tristana raised her cannon again.

Lin Feng licked his lips as he had his Kalista fire another auto attack. Her passive skill–Martial Pose–added a lunge to each auto attack. He used that to disappear into the tri-brush. It killed the line of sight with Seo’s Tristana and it canceled Tristana’s auto attack. He then threw an empowered spear with Pierce to apply the third stack of Concussive Blows, and followed up with another auto attack! It applied the fourth stack of Concussive Blows and stunned Seo’s Tristana!

“Oh my god… Oh my god!” Su Xue said. She began laughing her worries and nerves away and continued, “He did it! He got her! He really got her!”

Zephyr looked at Su Xue and smiled. Damn, she’s got some great energy! He then looked at the audience and listened to them. They were up on their feet, screaming out their joy. They need some direction. Let me give it to them! A la Su Xue! He laughed and shouted into his microphone, “WHO DO WE WANT?”

“WIN FENG!”

“WIN FENG!”

“WIN FENG!”

“WIN FENG!”

“WIN FENG!”

“WIN FENG!”

“WIN FENG!”

Zephyr felt the chills run up and down his spine when the audio from the stadium exploded into his headset. He grinned and added, “WHEN DO WE WANT HIM?”

“NOW!”

“NOW!”

“NOW!”

“NOW!”

“NOW!”

“NOW!”

Lin Feng’s Kalista was revealed to Seo’s Tristana when he attacked her from the brush. The moment the stun wore off, Tristana could kill her. But Lin Feng wasn’t planning to let that happen. He counted down the time he had until the stun wore off and then the time it would take to load a cannonball and fire. Right before Seo’s Tristana could kill him, he activated Rend. His Kalista pulled on the telekinetic links with the spears lodged inside Tristana and pulled them free.

Quadra Kill!

After getting the double kill and finding Kalista’s back open, Seo had started to picture himself as the starplayer of this match. He was going to get the penta kill, he was going to secure this win, and he was going to win Team Guangzhou this series! His teammates would laud him. Every single woman inside this stadium would fawn over him. Most importantly, Tang Bingyao and An Xin would drop to their knees before him. And he would turn them down! He would show them exactly how little they meant to him! But all of that ground to a halt when he saw his screen turn grey. His dreams came crashing down around him and were replaced with hundreds of identical faces. They laughed at him and told him that no one was going to remember his face. LIN FEEEEEEENG! I’M GOING TO FUCKING MURDER YOU!

Across the stage in Team Shanghai’s soundproof booth, Lin Feng shouted over the team’s voice chat, “Gimme the penta! I want the penta! Give it to me!”

An Xin glanced at him, smiled and said, “Of course we’ll help you. That’s only good manners.” She already had her Morgana chasing after Team Guangzhou’s Thresh and when she found the angle, she cast a Dark Binding. The dark crimson orb flew through the air and struck Thresh, rooting him to the ground.

Tang Bingyao nodded and said, “Mhm! I’ll help!” She then had her Braum dash in front of Lin Feng’s Kalista with Stand Behind Me, functionally disabling all of Thresh’s crowd control skills that could impede Lin Feng’s Kalista.

Lin Feng grinned brightly as he had his Kalista hurl spears and lunge after Thresh. The chase went past the Gromp Camp, the Blue Buff Camp and down the Jungle path leading to Team Guangzhou’s base. But before Team Guangzhou’s Thresh could get to the safety his base provided, a final spear pierced his back and claimed his life.

Pentakill!

“He did it! He did it! He did it!” Su Xue rambled into her microphone. But no one paid much attention to her; they were too busy cheering. Up on their feet, even those at home, they were jumping and dancing and screaming until their lungs gave out! Lin Feng hadn’t just given them a pentakill, he hadn’t just given them a good series, he’d given them a great series and two pentakills!

6666666

WIIIIIN FEEEENNNGGGGGGG!!!!!

LIL BRO HARD CARRY! WHERE HIS WATER? GO RUN MAID XUE!

I feel a tear in my eye. What beauty this man produces! He’s everything and more! Talking about more… Want to see more of him? Want to see the legend play in the comfort of his own home? Want to know what he’s up to in solo queue? Tune in to EveningSnowfall and watch him make an appearance! He’ll force her to buy him food and get him water! She’s the maid and he’s her boss! *wink wink*

PEEENNNTTTTAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!1

HOLY SHIT THEY REKT GUANGZHOU!!!!!

GET FUCKED GOALIE AND SEO! GET ABSOLUTELY FUCKED IN THE ASS!

how is he that good….??????? How the fuck did he survive that? Tristana shoulda had him…..

COZ HES LIL BRO! HE CAN DO WHAT NO ONE ELSE CAN DO! HES SUPER LIL BRO!!!!!

Shit dude… I got a little hard for that penta…

“He’s done it again,” Shi Hang said, laughing. He shook his head and added, “Just like the old days. He goes off and does something ridiculous and somehow makes it work. Gets a damn penta as ad-carry… Crazy kid!”

“No kidding…” Team Rapids’ Jungle muttered. He watched the livestream, incredulous, and asked, “That Kalista is the one who beat you, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Shi Hang replied. “Don’t think I’ve ever won against him.”

Team Rapids’ Jungler looked at Shi Hang, waiting for an explanation that wasn’t coming. He finally asked, “How much do you know about him? Do you know where he came from? Who he is? He can’t be new to the scene, right? He’s too good… Any LPL team would be happy to pick him up!”

Shi Hang grinned and said, “Secrets are meant to be kept. Sorry bud.” He then zipped his mouth close and swallowed the key.

Chu Fang from Team Shanghai cheered with everyone else, proud of his team. He then looked at Coach Yin from Team Guangzhou and laughed. Look at you! You look like a sack of shit! Always with that big mouth bragging about your latest victories. What are you going to brag about now? How you got these useless shits from Korea because you couldn’t be bothered to put in the effort to find and nurture Chinese talents which, by the way, is in your job description? Serves you right! I hope they get rid of you. He looked away from Coach Yin and back at the large LCD screen, smiling.

After Team Shanghai won the teamfight, they went straight to the mid lane where super minions were attacking the two Nexus towers. Lin Feng’s Kalista, Tang Bingyao’s Braum and An Xin’s Morgana helped the super minions in taking down the two towers before Team Guangzhou could respawn. When they moved on to the Nexus, Twisted Fate spawned on the fountain. He charged at them and tried to stop them, which he succeeded at. The three from Team Shanghai turned their attention to him and killed him. Then they focused back on the Nexus and destroyed it before anyone else could respawn. The blue energy broke free from the nexus and morphed into the victory screen.

VICTORY!

Su Xue lost any semblance of impartiality that she still had. She tightly clutched the microphone and screamed, “WE WOOOOOON! WE WOOOOOOOOON! TEAM SHANGHAI CLEAN SWEEPS TEAM GUANGZHOU AND ADVANCES TO THE QUARTERFINALS!” She turned to look at Zephyr, lost in joy, and added, “LIN FENG DID IT! HE WON!”

Zeng Rui relaxed in his gaming chair and breathed out the tension from his shoulders. He smiled and said, “Good job! Good job! Yes!”

“That was great!” Lin Feng cheered, laughing. He turned his head to look at Zeng Rui and added, “See? I told you so! I’m a great ad-carry!”

An Xin rolled her eyes and said, “Idiot. It was a team effort.” She then smiled and added, “Great work, everyone!”

“I don’t know, BunBun…” Zhang Hao replied. He was grinning from ear to ear as he added, “Lin Feng did get two pentas. Two pentas! When have you ever gotten two pentas like that? Shit, I really wanna see those guys from Team Guangzhou tilt! Can you imagine what they must look like right now?”

Tang Bingyao looked across the stage into Team Guangzhou’s soundproof booth, where mice and keyboards were flying around and people were just short from fighting each other. She smiled and said, “Mhm! Look!”

The five players from Team Shanghai huddled around the far end of the soundproof booth which was the closest to Team Guangzhou’s soundproof booth across the stage. They stood there, watching Team Guangzhou lose it. And when it finally looked like things were cooling down a bit, Coach Yin walked in and everything started from scratch again.

Zhang Hao laughed and said, “Guess we’re not shaking hands?”

“Come,” Zeng Rui finally said. “Let’s go and see Chu Fang.” He then opened the door to the soundproof booth and held it open for the others. Together, as a team, they walked to the front of the stage and bowed to the tens of thousands of fans at the stadium and the hundreds of thousands of fans watching from home. They then walked down the stage and into the player seating area, where they received congratulatory words from several teams before finding their own seats.

Chu Fang smiled brightly and said, “Good work out there! I’m really proud of you all!” He then nodded at Team Guangzhou’s soundproof booth, from which the players and Coach Yin emerged, and continued, “You guys should’ve seen Coach Yin’s reaction when Lin Feng got that second penta. It was the best thing ever! I think I saw the exact moment a part of him died!”

Zhang Hao laughed and replied, “He did look pretty mad! Oh, look! Look! They’re coming down! They’re coming down! Hey! HEY! TEAM GUANGZHOU! WELL PLAYED BUDS! GREAT GAMES! STRONG WORK!”

Coach Yin glanced at Zhang Hao and then mumbled something over his shoulders. The players from Team Guangzhou all turned their heads away from Team Shanghai and hurried after Coach Yin in the direction of the stadium’s exit.

“Hey! What’s this? Are they really going to act like they didn’t hear me?” Zhang Hao asked, stunned. He then snorted and shouted, “What’s wrong? Did you leave your big dicks on the nightstand this morning? I thought you guys had some balls! Guess you were wimps after all…” He shook his head and loudly said to his teammates, “I thought they were supposed to be good… What a letdown.”

It was the last bit that made Coach Yin pause. He turned his head to glare at Zhang Hao and said, “You little pie–” He took a deep, long breath, trying to contain his humiliation-turned-fury, and continued, “Don’t push me. You won’t like what happens.”

Zeng Rui smiled and asked, “Kind of how you don’t like what happened after Seo pushed Tang Tang, right?”

“Call it karma,” An Xin chimed in.

Coach Yin wanted to scream! He wanted to yell at them that he’d make sure they would never get the support from the Chinese Esports Association again! He almost did, but then Lin Feng opened his mouth and said, “Korea really has a ton of amazing players. You’re not wrong there.”

“Uh?” Coach Yin blurted out. His anger relaxed a little, part of it replaced with confusion. He wanted to ask what Lin Feng meant, when Lin Feng continued to explain himself, “But that doesn’t mean you can just take some random players from Korea and expect to win. The Chinese competitive scene hasn’t fallen that low. How about the next time you go to Korea to find players, you scout out some actually talented players, rather than opening the Challenger ladder and throwing darts?”

Coach Yin looked at Lin Feng, but rather than argue he turned around and shouted at the interpreter, “DON’T TRANSLATE THAT!” He then grabbed Seo and Goalie by their arms and pulled them away, adding, “Come, we’re going. Now! Come! GoGoGO!”

Chu Fang bit hard on his teeth to force back the laughter. He then turned to Lin Feng and the others and said, “Come. We should go too. Nothing good’s gonna come when Seo and Goalie hear what Lin Feng just said.”

Su Xue ran out of the Tianhe Stadium and straight at Lin Feng who was waiting for her with the others. She laughed and hugged him and said, “You were great! That was such an amazing series! Those two pentas! I thought for sure you were dead at the end there with the Tristana but then you cut vision by going into that brush and just… just… Aaaaaaaaaah! You were great!”

Lin Feng grinned and replied, “Yeah, I know right! I am great!” He ignored the glares and stares from his teammates and continued, “But I’m also really hungry. And we can’t possibly not celebrate this win! So look…” he pulled out his phone and opened the restaurant ranking list he’d compiled with Tian Tian. “… I say we go to this one. It’s Korean Barbecue! Get it? Korean Barbecue! Because we just roasted two Koreans! You know, Goa–”

“Yeah yeah, we know,” An Xin interrupted. She shook her head, smiling, and said, “Alright, let’s go. Lead the way.”

Lin Feng walked out in front of the rest and showed them where to go. After he’d orientated himself, he looked over his shoulder at Su Xue and asked, “How was the casting anyway?”

Su Xue smiled and replied, “It was great! I had so much fun and I wasn’t nervous at all! I even tried to be impartial, though that didn’t really work out… Team Guangzhou is just such a toxic team! It’s really hard to cheer for them. But I tried!”

An Xin winked at Su Xue and said, “With the way you interact with your viewers and how you cast when Lin Feng is playing a game I never doubted your casting ability for a second! You didn’t have any reason to be nervous! You’re really good at this kind of stuff!”

“What BunBun says! I said that too! Before, remember? I told you it’d be easy for you!” Lin Feng exclaimed. He then paused, nearly causing Zeng Rui to walk up against him, and asked, “Hey, XueXue? Did you remember to brag about me like I asked you to?”

“What was there to brag about? You got two pentas!” Su Xue countered. She laughed and added, “I tried to be impartial… But I think that at some point I might’ve gotten carried away a bit and become slightly partial towards you guys. Though… It wasn’t too much either I don’t think. Zephyr said I did great too!”

Tang Bingyao nodded and said, “Mhm! That’s because you’re good at this. Like BunBun said.”

Su Xue was beaming with joy, glowing even. She suddenly raised her finger and said, “That reminds me. Remember how I said I’m casting two games? The second one is right after lunch! I think… Maybe it was the second one? I need to check the schedule again… But yeah! I’m casting another game today!”