Lin Songshi walked out onto the stage amid thundering applause, cheering, and chants of “WIN FENG!” There were two prizes that he needed to award. The first was the Championship Trophy for the Collegiate Cup. The second was the MVP award. When Lin Songshi walked out onto the stage, he already had the Championship Trophy in his hands. He held it out to the crowd to hype them up even more, and they responded with even louder cheering and applause. 

And as the cheering of the crowd reached a crescendo, Lin Songshi delivered the Championship Trophy into the waiting hands of Chu Fang.

Chu Fang accepted the trophy and made a respectful bow. “Thank you, Mr. President.” 

Chu Fang wanted to jump up and down with the trophy held high. He wanted to scream and cheer. But he had to contain himself and remain somewhat stoic. The person standing in front of him was Mr. Lin Songshi, the President of the Chinese Esports Association. The highest authority in the Association and the most respected. Even Chu Fang’s boss, Fang Hao, needed to be respectful in front of Lin Songshi. 

The respect that Lin Songshi commanded didn’t just come from his position as President of the Chinese Esports Association. It was hard earned through accomplishments, work, and seniority. Lin Songshi was several tiers above Fang Hao in the Chinese Esports Circles. 

Lin Songshi was essentially the behind-the-scenes counterpart to One. Just as One was considered the greatest player in the history of Chinese Esports, Lin Songshi was considered the greatest person working behind the scenes. From DotA to League of Legends, Lin Songshi worked tirelessly to lay the foundation of Chinese esports and then build it up to the heights that it had reached today. It was not an exaggeration to say that without Lin Songshi’s efforts, there would be no Chinese Esports scene today.

For all of these reasons and more, Chu Fang had just as much respect for Lin Songshi as he did for Fang Hao. If not more. Which is why Chu Fang stood on that stage with the Championship Trophy in his hands, trying not to dance around with joy like a giddy school boy. Unfortunately, the struggle of containing that much exuberance was taking a toll on Chu Feng, who stood there looking like he was severely constipated in the lights of the stage and the flashes of cameras. 

Lin Songshi looked at Chu Fang, who was starting to turn red from attempting to contain his joy and excitement, and smiled. Chu Fang is truly going to regret all of the pictures from this event in the morning. He smiled again as he thought about all the memes this moment would generate on the discussion boards for League of Legends. Then he warmly clapped Chu Fang on the shoulder and said, “You picked an excellent team. Well done!”

“Thank you for the kind words, Mr. President!” Chu Fang said, deeply moved by the compliment. Today could not have gone any better for Chu Fang, and he basked in the joy for a brief moment. A very brief moment. What Lin Songshi said next sucked all the air out of Chu Fang’s lungs, the joy from his heart and the warmth from his blood. 

Lin Songshi looked past Chu Fang at the five players on Team Shanghai for a second, before looking at Chu Fang again. “Hm. Hm… I must say that your choice of players was… a surprise. Yes. Very surprising. ” He smiled amicably after saying those words, and he clapped Chu Feng on the shoulder again. But there was something in his tone and the way he chose his words so carefully that left Chu Feng feeling very uneasy.

A surprise? What does he mean? Chu Fang’s eyes widened as his brain kicked into turbo to figure out the hidden meaning behind Lin Songshi’s words. Lin Feng! It’s gotta be that! Did he figure out who Lin Feng is already? Does he have enough information to figure it out? It’s possible! Even though Lin Songshi hadn’t formally taken over the Chinese Esports Association  in Season 1, Maple was too famous not to know. The thin veil hiding Lin Feng’s true identity had been pierced! Even though Maple/Lin Feng disappeared for many years and hadn’t been heard of or spoken about among the newfrogs, his legacy lived on among those important enough to remember. Lin Songshi definitely knows that Lin Feng is Maple! There’s no way he wouldn’t know!

✹

Right before travelling to Beijing for the Finals of the Collegiate Cup, Chu Fang and Fang Hao sat down for a serious conversation. Chu Fang was concerned that there were several people in the Beijing Esports Association who were capable of figuring out that Lin Feng was Maple. So he decided to ask Fang Hao what to do to try and prevent that. And also what to do if Lin Feng’s identity was leaked out regardless.

The reply that he got from Fang Hao over these concerns was strange. Fang Hao laughed it off and looked amused that Chu Fang was even worried about this. Fang Hao reassured Chu Fang by saying, “You don’t need to worry about this at all. You’ll see. Everything will sort itself out organically once you get to Beijing.” Then Fang Hao chuckled again.

Chu Fang was utterly confused by this bizarre and cryptic reply. He could not understand what Fang Hao was saying or why Fang Hao didn’t seem to care.  If we don’t worry about it, who will? 

✹

That entire conversation and Fang Hao’s odd nonchalance flashed through Chu Feng’s mind as he stood on that stage. Is this what Fang Hao meant? That Lin Songshi would sort everything out? But if that’s the case, why do I feel so uneasy about Lin Songshi’s words? Something isn’t right here…

But before Chu Fang could fully process his thoughts, the awards ceremony moved on. After the Championship Trophy, there was still the MVP Award that needed to be handed out. An MVP Award that unquestionably belonged to Lin Feng. There were no doubts about that in anyone’s mind.

It was Lin Feng’s skills that made Team Shanghai’s victory possible in the Finals today. His performance was spectacular in all three games. And on all three champions that he played. There literally was not a single person that could say that his Varus, Twisted Fate, or Yasuo had been anything short of spectacular.

Even the players from the other university teams, such as U-Tech Beijing and Shenyang University, all agreed that Lin Feng was already at the level of LPSL player. Perhaps even higher than that! Some even claimed that he was at the point where he could go toe-to-toe with the real professional players in the LPL!

The audience also unanimously agreed that the MVP Award deserved to go to Team Shanghai’s Midlaner. There were so many flashy plays from Lin Feng in the Finals that they couldn’t even remember all of them. But the ones that stood out as particularly special even among all his god-tier plays were the runaround Varus triple kill and the stunning Yasuo split-push double kill in Top lane. Those two plays alone were so fantastic they could make it into the Top 10 plays, if not Top 3 plays, of all time in the history of the Collegiate Cup.

When Lin Feng was declared the MVP of the game, the audience stood up to stomp their feet and cheer even louder. 

“WIN FENG!”
“WIN FENG!”
“WIN FENG!”
“WIN FENG!” 

“WIN FENG!”
stomp-stomp
“WIN FENG!”
stomp-stomp
“WIN FENG!”
stomp-stomp

They chanted and cheered so loudly that the entire arena echoed with cries of “WIN FENG!” This was the greatest acknowledgement that any player could receive. 

✹

Lin Songshi walked up to Lin Feng with the MVP medal on beat with the thundering chorus of WIN FENG. The hype was indeed real, and the air fizzled with electricity. 

Up on the stage, however, things were different. The air was thick, but not with hype or adrenaline or joy. The air was thick with tension and awkwardness between Lin Feng and Lin Songshi. And that tension grew exponentially with every step towards Lin Feng that Lin Songshi took. Until they were right in front of each other. Lin Songshi looked down at Lin Feng.

Lin Feng was looking down at the ground for a few seconds. Then he cleared his throat and raised his head to look Lin Songshi in the eyes. He forced an awkward smile, knowing that there were hundreds of eyes on them right now. 

Lin Songshi’s expression didn’t change when he met Lin Feng’s eyes. He put the medal around Lin Feng’s neck and patted him on the shoulder. Then he said, “So. You’re back now, eh?”

That was all the confirmation Chu Fang needed. His eyes started twitching violently. He knows! He knows Lin Feng is Maple!

Zeng Rui, Tang Bingyao, and the rest of Team Shanghai didn’t find this turn of events surprising at all. They already knew that Lin Feng was Maple. As far as they were concerned, it was more than expected that the President of the Chinese Esports Association knew who Lin Feng was and would recognize him.

Except for An Xin. She stood there watching the interaction between Lin Feng and Lin Songshi with the corners of her lips curving up into a faint knowing smile.

Lin Feng’s expression froze at the question. Then he slowly nodded, “Yeah, I’m back.” His body language and demeanor was nearly identical to how it was when he reunited with Fang Hao. 

Lin Songshi calmly stared into Lin Feng’s eyes and asked, “Oh? What changed?  Why did you come back?”

That question took the members of Team Shanghai by surprise and left them completely stunned. 

Huh? Zhang Hao’s eyes went wide in shock.

Zeng Rui’s face turned to stone as he started analyzing everything about Lin Songshi and Lin Feng.

Chu Fang was beside himself with confusion and concern. Why are you asking that!? What do you mean by that!? 

FourEyesChan stood up from behind the caster desk and grabbed his microphone from its stand. He then walked towards the monitor that showed the final moments of the Championship game between Team Shanghai and Team Beijing. “This is it,” he started. “The final moments!”

“Take us through them!” Cherry cheered.

FourEyesChan looked over his shoulder at Cherry and smiled. He then pushed the microphone to his lips and shouted, “The last few moments! Team Shanghai has scored an ace! A perfect one! Five kills, zero deaths and four perfect ultimates!

“They’re taking down the tower in t-minus 3… BOOM! IT’S DOWN! ONTO THE INHIBITOR!

“ANOTHER BOOM! GOD THIS IS GOING FAST! THEY’VE TAKEN THE SECOND INHIBITOR!” He paused for a moment to catch his breath and then continued, “That’s the second inhibitor. It’s the point of no return, and it really looks like that in this game! Team Beijing is all dead! They’ve got more than 20 seconds left to respawn! AND TEAM SHANGHAI KEEPS PUSHING!

“SUPER MINIONS FROM THE TOP LANE AND NORMAL ONES FROM THE BOT LANE ARE TAKING TOWER AGGRO FROM THE TWO NEXUS TOWERS! AND TEAM SHANGHAI KEEPS PUSHING!

“ONE TOWER DOWN AND THE SECOND ONE… FOLLOWS NOW! IT’S JUST THE NEXUS LEFT! A FEW MORE SECONDS AND THEN WE’VE GOT OUR NEW CHAMPIONS!

“THE NEXUS HAS EXPLODED! THAT’S THREE IN A ROW! WE’VE FOUND OUR NEW COLLEGIATE CUP CHAMPIONS! TEAM SHANGHAI WINS 3-0 FROM TEAM BEIJING IN THE GRAND FINALS OF THE WINTER COLLEGIATE CUP! GIVE IT UP FOR THEM! GIVE IT UP FOR THEM!”

Cherry pumped her fist in the air and screamed, “WOOOOOOOOOO!”

The audience was slow to follow. They’d come into the series expecting Team Beijing to win, and though the games they watched suggested the opposite there was still a part of them that believed Team Beijing would turn it around. But Team Beijing didn’t turn it around. The series was over. Team Shanghai had won.

“It’s over. Huh?”
“I thought Team Beijing was supposed to be… better?”
“An off day maybe?”
“Something else?”
“They beat U-Tech! How can they be bad?”
“I don’t get it…”
“How did this happen…?”

FourEyesChan looked from the casterbox out over the stands and saw the confused reaction from the audience. He shook his head and smiled. I get how you guys feel. All my research showed Team Beijing would win. We were all… None of us were expecting Team Shanghai to be this good. But they were… Are. And they deserve loud applause! He put the microphone to his lips again and shouted, “I CAN’T HEAR YOOUUUU!”

A part of the audience recovered from the surprising conclusion of the grand finals and started cheering. But many more were still arguing with each other about how it was possible that the series had ended like this. FourEyesChan focused on those people and shouted louder than before, “I CAN’T HEAR YOOUUUU!”

It was the push that the audience needed. They briefly discussed the plays they’d cheered for over the past three games, most of which were for Team Shanghai. More specifically, for Lin Feng. They all agreed that his performance was of such high quality that there really wasn’t anything Team Beijing could’ve done. He was just that much better. After that discussion swept across the stands, people rose to their feet and cupped their hands around their mouths. They started shouting,

“TEAM SHANGHAI!”
“TEAM SHANGHAI!”
“TEAM SHANGHAI!”
“WIN FENG!”
“WIN FENG!”
“WIN FENG!”
“WIN FENG!”
“WIN FENG!”

Up on stage were the two soundproof booths. Team Beijing sat in the one to the right. The five team members were silent. They sat behind their monitors and stared at their screens, trying to understand what just happened. From the moment they became aware of Team Shanghai many months ago until the start of the Grand Finals a few hours ago, they never once considered the possibility of losing.

“I knew they were good,” Team Beijing’s Jungler mumbled. “But this good…?”

Yu Ping rested his head in his hand, defeated. I was looking for a challenge. All tournament long, I’ve been demanding a challenge. I’ve been looking down on every other Midlaner. And why shouldn’t I have!? I beat them all! All of them, except him. His stomach clenched so hard that it hurt. He bit on his teeth and tried to move his head up and look at the audience, but he couldn’t get himself to do so. Shame pushed down on him and it took everything he had not to collapse. I got what I asked for. A challenge. A real one. And I wasn’t anywhere near ready for it. Maybe… Maybe Goalie was the challenge I should’ve been looking for…

“What do we do now?” Team Beijing’s ad-carry asked meekly.

Zhang Hongyi turned his head and looked across the stage at Team Shanghai’s soundproof booth. Those assholes are celebrating and… GODDAMMIT! He replied through gritted teeth, “We go out on stage and we congratulate those bastards. Fucking Zeng Rui and his stupid luck! It’s like solo queue all over!”

“Yeah, congratulate,” Yu Ping mumbled.

The second soundproof booth belonged to Team Shanghai. The mood inside was entirely different from Team Beijing. After the victory emblem appeared on his screen, Zhang Hao pushed his gaming chair back and leaped at Lin Feng. The two fell to the ground, but Zhang Hao didn’t care. He had tears of joy in his eyes and screamed, “WE WON! WE WON! HAHA! YOU SAID WE WOULD AND WE DID! WE BEAT THEM! WE FUCKING WON!”

Lin Feng yelped in surprise, just for a moment. He then looked up at Zhang Hao and the rest of his teammates and grinned. “Of course we won!” he exclaimed. “We’re the best!”

Tang Bingyao looked at Lin Feng and Zhang Hao on the ground and chewed on her lips. Butterflies were flying around in her stomach and a sudden force of impulse made her drop to her knees and join the hug. She cheered, “Mhm! We won! We really did!”

Zeng Rui looked at the three on the ground and fought against the voice in the back of his mind telling him to join them. He hesitated long enough for An Xin to walk over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her, confused. 

“Good work,” An Xin said with a smile. “I know how hard you’ve worked. And I want you to know that all of this…” she waved around the soundproof booth and then at the audience in the background. “… none of this would’ve been possible without you. You made it work.”

Zeng Rui smiled, a tear in his eye. He looked out through the windows of the soundproof booth at the audience. They’re cheering for us! We did it! We really did! He stood up and replied, “Thanks. I appreciate it. We all work—”

“ZENGZENG! COME IN HERE!” Lin Feng exclaimed. He’d gotten back up to his feet at some point and now jumped at Zeng Rui and hugged him. “We did it! WE WON!”

Zeng Rui let it happen. Lin Feng first and then Zhang Hao and Tang Bingyao next. And finally An Xin joined in. He jumped with the four of them, going against every instinct in his body, and enjoyed every second of it.

✹

Team Shanghai went through the motions of the post game sportsmanship habits. They left their soundproof booth and walked up to the middle of the stage, where Team Beijing was waiting for them. The ten players bowed to each other, after which they bowed towards the audience to thank them for their support. When this was all done, both teams left the stage.

Chu Fang was waiting for his team at the bottom of the steps. He gave them a thumbs up and said, “You guys did great! I’m so proud of all five of you! And it was super extra sweet because Fan Yuan was super salty! You guys should’ve seen his face! It was priceless! Actually, you know what? WE’RE CELEBRATING!” He nodded at Lin Feng and asked, “You’ve got the list. Where are we going!”

Lin Feng pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and traced his finger down a list of options. He stopped at one halfway through and said, “This one! It’s got hot pot! I want hot pot! Oh, oh! This one is a special hot pot because it’s the traditional coal-fire Beijing-style hot pot! Let’s go, go, goooo! I wanna eat it right now!”

“Uh, Lin Feng…” Zhang Hao interjected. He licked his lips and then said, “There’s still the award ceremony…”

An Xin put a hand on Lin Feng’s shoulder and winked at him. She asked, “There is indeed. Don’t tell me you forgot? You remember, the President of the Chinese Esports Association is presenting us with the trophy!”

Lin Feng turned stiff. He scratched the back of his head and mumbled, “Uhh, but celebrating…”

Chu Fang scrunched his eyebrows and asked, “Is something wrong?”

“You don’t want the trophy?” Zeng Rui added.

Lin Feng forced a grin on his face and replied, “No, no! I want the trophy! I just forgot! Haha! Yes, that’s it! I forgot! Totally forgot! Trophy, yeay!”

✹

The award ceremony began half an hour later. Zhou Wei, Vice President of the Beijing Esports Association, walked up on stage and introduced the shared third ranks Fudan University and U-Tech Beijing. Both teams walked up on stage and accepted a medal and thanked the Chinese Esports Association for hosting the event and the audience for coming out in such numbers to support them.

Zhou Wei gave the two university teams a couple of minutes with the microphone before taking it back and thanking them for participating. He then introduced Team Beijing and congratulated them with their second place. But Team Beijing wasn’t looking all too happy. The time they had to wait for the award ceremony to begin was long enough for the adrenaline to subside. They felt the pain of the loss, made worse by Fan Yuan who’d yelled and screamed all the way up until they walked back on stage. Zhou Wei looked at them and grimaced. Fan Yuan will get over it when he finds out who Lin Feng is. Bloody Maple. Of course they were gonna lose!

After Team Beijing left the stage, Zhou Wei brought the microphone to his mouth and said, “For this next part, we’ve got something a little more special.” He pointed at Team Shanghai and instructed, “Team Shanghai, come up on stage please.” He waited for them, under the loud applause of the audience, to walk up on stage and then continued, “This edition of the Collegiate Cup was special in several ways. We felt like it’s only appropriate that the award ceremony reflects that! That is why I won’t be the one offering the trophy to our Champions, but the President of the Chinese Esports Association will! Let’s give a warm welcome to Lin Songshi!”

Zhang Hongyi spoke through clenched teeth, “Welp. That was our top inhib. Great!” He turned his head to look at his Jungler who sat a few seats over and asked, “Tell me! What do we do now?”

“We defend bot,” Yu Ping said before Team Beijing’s Jungler could. He looked at his screen and grimaced. They got our top inhibitor. Super minions are going to spawn, so we can’t defend our Inner Tower. We’ll have to try and keep our base… He took a deep, long breath and ordered, “We’re too weak to defend our Inner Tower. Let’s try our best to defend our base. We’re going down fighting!”

Team Beijing’s Jungler looked at Yu Ping and smiled. He nodded and added, “What Yu Ping says. These are the Finals! Fuck giving up! Never surrender! And all that stuff. You know… Anyway, let’s just try and have a bit more fun playing this game while it lasts.”

Yu Ping snorted and shook his head. He said over the team’s voice chat, “Fun. Right.” He then looked over the edge of his screen at the crowd in the stadium and added, “We’re not going to keep playing for the fun of it. There’s nothing fun about this. But there are people sitting out there PAID to watch these Finals. For them… We gotta put on a show for them! Or as much of one as we can manage.”

The other four from Team Beijing all looked over their screens at the audience who were for the most part up on their feet, cheering. They knew Yu Ping was right. But it was difficult to keep playing and give the audience something to watch when they knew deep down that the series was already lost. When they knew that it was a single player was demolishing them. Instagibbing them, even.

FourEyesChan sat at the caster’s desk and leaned towards his microphone. He said, “Team Beijing has no answer for Team Shanghai’s Midlaner! But it doesn’t look like they’re giving up quite yet! They’re sitting in their base, but they’re very clearly not giving up!”

Cherry was the co-caster. She sat next to FourEyesChan and followed up by saying, “We all know the rule of thumb: A game isn’t lost until two inhibitors have fallen. In 99 percent of games, that’s the point of no return.”

“Cherry here is right!” FourEyesChan said. He smiled and continued, “Team Shanghai might have the Yasuo-Lee combo. They might have Lissandra and Leona for insane crowd control. Heck, they even got Kalista who despite not having done anything worth mentioning is getting pretty damn strong!” He scrunched his eyebrows and mumbled, “I’m not sure what point I was trying to prove…”

Cherry giggled a bit uncomfortably and replied, “Me neither…”

“A MIRACLE!” Fan Yuan shouted at the speaker nearest him. He sat right below the stage, grounding his teeth in frustration and anger. His team was losing and was worse, far worse, was that Chu Fang sat next to him. Stupid Chu Fang with his stupid grin! I want to smash that grin into the ground! Make him regret… Fucking dipshit Chu Fang! Asshole supreme! He breathed in, hoping the fresh air would calm his nerves, and then turned his attention towards Team Beijing’s side of the stage. He clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white and mumbled, “Come on, guys! Yeah it might take a miracle, and then another, and maybe one more. And then Team Shanghai also has to screw up a couple of times… in a row. But it’s not over! Our Nexus still stands! We can still win this! We can still get back into this series and win! I can still beat Chu Fang and show that dipshit that I’m the best!”

“How you enjoying the series, Fan Yuan?” Chu Fang shouted from a couple of seats over.

Fan Yuan felt his eyelids twitch and his nostrils flare. It took him every bit of self constraint to keep his eyes on Team Beijing’s soundproof booth. I will not entertain him. I won’t let him see me like this. I won’t! He flexed his stomach and chest and forced the muscles in his face into a smile. It looked fake and uncomfortable, but it was the best he could manage. He turned his head to look at Chu Fang and replied, “Your team is doing well, Chu Fang. Congratulations on finding such a talented bunch.” His stomach contracted and he swallowed down the sour taste of bile. I won’t give him the satisfaction. I WON’T!

✹

Team Shanghai gathered in the bot lane at Zeng Rui’s order and waited for a minion wave. When the Blue minions marched towards Team Beijing’s inner tower, they followed along. They found the inner tower undefended and between Lin Feng’s Yasuo and Tang Bingyao’s Kalista took it down in a couple of seconds. The five from Team Shanghai then pressed on towards Team Beijing’s inhibitor tower. This was where they found all five members from Team Beijing hiding behind their tower.

Lin Feng glanced at Zeng Rui and asked, “What do we do now? Fight!?”

Zeng Rui nodded slowly. He observed how Team Beijing was defending and said over the team’s voice chat, “See how Gragas keeps going top to clear the Super minions?” When his teammates replied affirmative, he continued, “Alright. So, when he gets back, they all huddle around their tower. And we’ve got Zhang Hao on Lissandra and me on Leona. Here’s what we’re doing…”

Zhang Hao’s Lissandra ran into the fog of war right on the edge of Team Beijing’s base. Team Beijing tried to place a ward there, but it was destroyed by Team Shanghai. Zhang Hao waited for Gragas to return to the bot lane and help his team defend against Team Shanghai. This was his cue. He cast Glacial Path! A claw of ice tore through the ground and towards Team Beijing’s Inhibitor Tower! Team Beijing didn’t see it until it suddenly appeared right beneath them. It was already too late by then as Lissandra blinked towards the claw and cast her ultimate on herself! Spires of ice shot up from the ground and locked her up in a Frozen Tomb, slowing the Champions from Team Beijing!

This engagement that Zhang Hao just pulled off had two goals. The first was to apply the slow effect and the second was to serve as a distraction. Because while Team Beijing was trying to react to Lissandra’s Frozen Tomb, Zeng Rui had his Leona call down a Solar Flare! Slowed and distracted, Team Beijing failed to respond to it. All five of them were caught in the blast radius and stunned.

An Xin was up next. She had her Lee Sin punch out a pressurized blast of air that connected with Janna! She followed up with Resonating Strike, dashing at Janna, and then placed a ward behind Janna and hopped towards it with Safeguard! Standing behind all five Champions from Team Beijing who were huddled so closely together, she positioned for the perfect angle and then activated Dragon’s Rage! Lee Sin hit Janna with a roundhouse kick that sent her flying into the four other members from Team Beijing, knocking them all up into the air!

Next up was Lin Feng. Yasuo’s ultimate skill was only available on airborne Champions. But the more important aspect for this particular fight was that when there were multiple Champions knocked up in a small area, his ultimate skill gained an area of effect element. Lin Feng cast Last Breath! Yasuo blinked towards the five Champions from Team Beijing and suspended them in midair! He followed up with a flurry of strikes before raising his katana high up above his head and hacking down with the power of the wind!

The entire time, Tang Bingyao’s Kalista was hurling spirit spears at the Champions from Team Beijing. She’d bought an item that turned all of her auto attacks into attacks that hit all nearby enemies, which meant that all Champions from Team Beijing had a large number of spears sticking from their bodies. When they came back down to the ground, she pulled those spears out with Rend! Two Champions died right away, and three more followed shortly after when Lin Feng hit them with a single Steel Tempest!

《Aced!》

FourEyesChan adjusted his glasses and said into his microphone, “Oof. Oof.”

Cherry looked at him and raised her eyebrows. She then grabbed her microphone and shouted, “TEAM SHANGHAI! WOOOOOOOO! IT’S A 5-0 ACE! THEY ACED TEAM BEIJING INSIDE THEIR BASE! WOOOOOOOOOOO!”

“HOLY MOLY CAMERONI!”
“WOOOOOOOO!”
“THAT WAS CRAAAAAAZY!”
“THAT’S GAME! GG! TEAM SHANGHAI CHAMPIONS!”
“MY GAWD! THAT WAS AMAZING!”
“FIVE MAN ULTIES INTO FIVE MAN ULTIES! DAYUM!”
“SIIIIICK!”

Qiu Yijie chuckled and said, “I feel like a broken record here, but that’s game. It’s over now. Just a few more seconds. They can finish this before Team Beijing even respawns!”

Sun Ruinian breathed out through his mouth and replied, “Not just this game. It’s been like this all tournament. Sure, it sometimes looked close. But was it really? I don’t think so. It was never close. Whenever Lin Feng plays… And I mean actually plays and not just goof around… Well, yeah. You guys get it.”

“We certainly do!” Zou Cheng exclaimed in excitement. He pumped his fist in the air and shouted, “WIN FENG IS THE BEST!”

Qiu Yijie nodded. He then turned his head to look at Team Beijing’s soundproof booth and added, “Gotta give it to them, though. They kept fighting till the end.”

Yu Ping started laughing. He threw his hands up in the air, hopeless, and exclaimed, “Fuck me and fuck us all! What the fuck!”

“Focus!” Team Beijing’s Jungler shouted over the team’s voice chat. “You two can still kill him!”

“Tell me how. Please,” Yu Ping countered. He raised his shoulders and added, “Because I really don’t know.”

Team Beijing’s Toplaner suddenly shouted, “GOT HIM!” He then pressed on the R key as Yasuo dashed through a minion at him. An Explosive Cask appeared and tumbled around in the air for a brief moment before falling down towards the ground. The pink liquid within bubbled, looking to escape. The cask then hit the ground right as Yasuo hit his third cast from Steel Tempest, sending a tornado at Yu Ping’s LeBlanc.

Cherry’s eyes opened wide and she screamed, “THEY GOT HIM! THEY GOT HIM!”

“KILL HIM!”
“GET HIM!”
“FINALLY A KILL!”

The pink liquid exploded from the cask with such force that it lifted Yasuo off his feet and sent him flying backwards! But Lin Feng didn’t worry about that, nor did he worry about Gragas running at him. His eyes were focused on the tornado from Steel Tempest. It carved a path across the ground before it slammed into Yu Ping’s LeBlanc and knocked her up into the air! Gotcha! Lin Feng waited for his Yasuo to hit the ground and then cast Last Breath! Yasuo blinked above LeBlanc and suspended her in midair! He let loose on her a flurry of strikes before one final hack sent her crashing down towards the ground!

LeBlanc’s health dropped to critical levels causing her passive to activate. She briefly disappeared from the Rift as a mirror image took her place. There was just one second during which LeBlanc was invisible; it was the timeframe Lin Feng had to distinguish real from fake. He threw down a vision ward to reveal the invisible LeBlanc. GOTCHA AGAIN! He laughed and stabbed at her with his katana.

《Unstoppable!》

Yu Ping shook his head, laughing helplessly. He turned his head to look at his teammates and pointed at his grey screen. He then said, “See? Haha! I can’t even be mad anymore! This is just stupid. This guy is taking our towers and then beating us 1 versus 2! What’s there left to do? He could win this entire tournament by himself! Is he even a high schooler? He looks like a damn pro! I’m telling you guys, this is just stupid.”

Team Beijing’s Jungler glanced at Yu Ping and said, “Stop this. Gragas is still alive and we’re still trying to hold on in mid. Let us focus!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Yu Ping replied.

Team Beijing’s Toplaner grimaced and cursed, “Fuck! FUCK!” He gritted his teeth and muttered, “He attacked me first. He already had me down… FUCK!”

Lin Feng’s Yasuo never stopped dashing through minions and attacking, even after killing LeBlanc. He was playing a 1 versus 2 and he wouldn’t stop until he’d killed both. The fight had started with him attacking Gragas and throughout the fight he’d used Gragas to jump around and build up stacks for Steel Tempest. That had brought Gragas down to a quarter of his full health bar. On top of that, Gragas had used all of his skills except for Flash.

Lin Feng narrowed his eyes when the mottled flash of light carried Gragas away towards his base. You ain’t going anywhere! He glanced at his own base and saw a new wave of minions spawning. Perfect! He then had his Yasuo run after Gragas and waited for the new wave of Red minions to come. When he got in range of them, he dashed through them to close the distance to Gragas. He ignored the inhibitor tower and caught up to Gragas deep inside Team Beijing’s base.

“AND ANOTHER ONE, AND ANOTHER ONE, ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST!” Lin Feng loudly sang over the team’s voice chat as he dashed through Gragas and hit him with Steel Tempest. A storm brewed at the tip of his blade. The cooldown on the skill was only a few seconds. Lin Feng waited it out, allowing Gragas to run away again, and then send the tornado after Gragas.

《Double kill!》

“OH MY GOD!” Cherry shrieked from the caster desk. “HE DID IT AGAIN!”

FourEyesChan adjusted his glasses and said into his microphone, “I sound like a broken record, but… Wow! WOW! FUCKING WOW! He chased Gragas into Team Beijing’s base! IN THE FINALS OF THE WINTER COLLEGIATE CUP!”

Cherry threw her hands up in the air and screamed, “WOOOOOOOOOO!”

“WIN FENG, WIN FENG, DOES WHAT NOBODY ELSE CAN!”
“WOOOOOOO!”
“HOW THE FUCK DOES HE KEEP DOING THIS!?”
“THIS IS INSANE!”
“MAD SKILLS!”

✹

Lin Songshi leaned on the handrail in the skybox, watching the game through the glass windows. Zhou Wei stood next to him and muttered, “This Yasuo… Where did he come from? He’s amazing! The way he’s dodging and kiting and killing and… And… He’s so good!”

Lin Songshi glanced at his employee and then turned his focus back on Team Shanghai’s soundproof booth. He replied, “That kid, yep, he’s still got some of that old spunk.”

“Huh? What?” Zhou Wei asked in surprise. He looked at Lin Songshi and narrowed his eyes. You sound like you know him… Where do you— His eyes grew round and wide. Don’t tell me… Lin Feng and Lin Songshi… Lin, Lin, Lin… OF COURSE! “YOU’RE FAMILY!” he shouted far more loudly than he intended to.

“That we are,” Lin Songshi replied. He briefly paused and then added, “He’s my nephew.”

Zhou Wei stared at Lin Songshi in shock. “Y-your nephew? Why didn’t you…” He shook his head. Don’t argue with the President. He’s still my boss. Keep your calm. He took a deep, long breath and tried to think of something to say. Something professional. But his mind was blank. He finally asked, “Since when do you have a nephew who plays League at this level? Why didn’t you tell us anything about him!? Imagine what he could’ve done for Fan Yuan if you’d brought him to Beijing! We would’ve won this tournamen—”

“When did you start getting into League of Legends?” Lin Songshi interrupted.

Zhou Wei scratched the back of his head, counting back the years he’d spent on League of Legends, and said, “I think it was halfway through Season 2 when I made the switch from DotA.”

Lin Songshi turned his head to look at Zhou Wei and smiled. He said, “You probably know who my nephew is then. Think about it. You’ll figure it out.” He then focused back on the game between Team Shanghai and Team Beijing and added, “This should be about done.”

✹

Lin Feng had his Yasuo retreat from Team Beijing’s base and said, “See? Nothing to worry about!”

An Xin smiled and replied over the team’s voice chat, “That was nice!”

“That was great!” Zeng Rui added. He smiled and continued, “Good job! You actually got both of them! That makes this next part so much easier!” He nodded at Zhang Hao and said, “You teleport top and help push for the inhibitor tower!”

Zhang Hao panned his camera towards the top lane where the Blue minions were already attacking the inhibitor tower. He clicked on the one taking the energy shots from the tower and cast Teleport! The Blue minion was frozen in time and space as Lissandra locked onto him and started teleporting. This had as a bonus effect that while the inhibitor tower kept firing energy shots at it, the minion didn’t take any damage. It made it that much easier for Team Shanghai to take the inhibitor tower down. All the while, An Xin, Tang Bingyao and Zeng Rui made sure that the three remaining players from Team Beijing couldn’t recall back to base to protect their tower.

Team Beijing was forced to watch on as Lin Feng and Zhang Hao destroyed the inhibitor tower followed by the inhibitor. Team Beijing’s base was breached! More importantly, Team Shanghai’s Nexus received a boost which allowed it to start spawning super minions in the top lane.

Qiu Yijie sat in the stands and said to his teammates from Fudan University and his friends from Zhejiang University, “I’m going to sound like a broken record, but that’s got to be game.”

Zou Cheng from Zhejiang University turned his head to look at Qiu Yijie and asked, “What do you think? Are they going to surrender?”

Qiu Yijie nodded and replied, “You usually never surrender in competitive play. But when it’s going like this… They might, yeah.”

Zeng Rui pressed the Tab key and looked at the game score. Lin Feng is so far ahead… Hmm… This might be perfect for a split push. He’s got everything to make it out alive, and he’s Maple… Zeng Rui nodded at himself and then said over the team’s voice chat, “Let’s do a split push. Lin Feng, you push the top lane. Everyone else, come mid. We’ll pressure ‘em there.”

“Okay!” Lin Feng replied. He recalled back to base and spent the gold he gained from his most recent double kill. He then moved his camera towards the top lane and took stock of the situation. Both Towers are still standing and there’s no one there to defend them. That’ll be easy enough. He grinned and clicked in the middle of the lane, ordering his Yasuo to start running there.

Over in the mid lane, the four other Champions from Team Shanghai gathered. They had Zhang Hao’s Lissandra, An Xin’s Lee sin and Zeng Rui’s Leona for crowd control, and then there was Tang Bingyao’s Kalista to deal damage. This lineup was tanky enough that as long as Team Beijing didn’t get the drop on Tang Bingyao, they could fight a prolonged battle. This was crucial for Zeng Rui’s split push strategy.

Zeng Rui watched his teammates follow his directions and smiled. Good. He then panned his camera towards Red Team’s Outer Tower and paused there, waiting for Team Beijing’s response. A couple of seconds later, all five Champions from Team Beijing revealed themselves in the mid lane. He grinned and said over the team’s voice chat, “It’s working! Lin Feng, do your thing on top!”

Lin Feng’s Yasuo arrived in the top lane. He engaged the minions that were fighting in the middle of the lane. With his high level and quality items, Yasuo tore through the minions. His minions continued their march towards Red Team’s Outer Tower, which was down to half health. Lin Feng had his Yasuo follow behind them, making sure that a minion stepped within the Tower’s range first. So long as a Champion didn’t attack another Champion underneath a Tower, the Tower would target the first minion or Champion to walk within its range.

FourEyesChan adjusted his glasses and said into the microphone, “Yasuo is an attack damage Champion. You can see that on the Top Tower right now! Just look how much damage he’s dealing to it! Three more hits and it’s… It’s down! Top is down!”

“Team Shanghai’s got the Outer Tower in the Top lane! And their Yasuo isn’t stopping! He’s pushing towards the Inner Tower!”

Lin Feng glanced at the game timer as he approached the Top lane’s Inner Tower. Only 16 minutes? Man I’m fed! They really went all out in giving me everything I could ever need in this game! Heh! But let’s take this up a notch. He grinned and clicked beyond the Inner Tower. His minions got within the tower’s range first and drew its aggro. They then started attacking it. But Lin Feng had his Yasuo run past them and didn’t stop until he reached the edge of Team Beijing’s base. There he waited for the next minion wave from the Red team to arrive. And when they came, he killed them. This strategy saw his minions dying to the tower, which was missed experience for Team Beijing, while he was getting full experience for killing the Red minions. All the while, the Tower lost health.

Cherry pushed the microphone against her lips and said, “Team Beijing can’t let this go on! They’re being pressured in mid but they have to do something or they’ll lose their base to Yasuo!”

FourEyesChan adjusted his glasses and explained, “There’s two things a team can do in this situation. The first is to force a fight in mid. Now, you don’t need me to explain how bad that plan is for Team Beijing right now. Between Lissandra, Lee Sin and Leona, Team Shanghai’s got all the crowd control they need. That leaves Team Beijing with only one course of action. They’ve got to send someone top to deal with Yasuo. The question is, who?”

Zeng Rui closely followed every movement made by Team Beijing. He spotted it when their LeBlanc and Gragas disappeared into the fog of war and counted the seconds it took for them to reemerge. When those seconds drew on, he warned over the team’s voice chat, “Lin Feng, two coming top for you. Gragas and LeBlanc. Be careful. You can retreat if you need to.”

Lin Feng turned his head to look at Zeng Rui and grinned his usual grin. “Dontcha worry!” he replied. “They can’t kill me! Not those two alone. If that’s all they’re sending, I’ll just take this tower down and get a double kill!” He then focused on his screen and had his Yasuo abandon the assault on the Red minions. Yasuo ran over to help his Blue minions destroy the Inner Tower. Its health steadily dropped, one attack at a time. Lin Feng scrunched his eyebrows and scratched his nose. “They’re taking forever,” he mumbled.

《A turret has been destroyed!》

The Inner Tower lay in ruin and Lin Feng’s Yasuo stood next to it. Lin Feng looked towards Team Beijing’s base and then down at their Jungle. “Uh, ZengZeng?” he asked over the team’s voice chat. “Where they at?”

Zeng Rui looked at the top lane, confused. They should be there by now. Or are they trying to flank us in mid? Hmm… That doesn’t make any sense eith—

“Oh! They’re here!” Lin Feng exclaimed. He grinned as he watched Team Beijing’s Gragas run out from the Jungle while a new Red minion wave arrived next to Lin Feng’s Yasuo. Lin Feng narrowed his eyes and mouthed, “Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do…” Lin Feng flicked his mouse to his left and clicked. Yasuo ran to the side and sidestepped Gragas’ Body Slam. He followed up with Sweeping Blade, dashing through Gragas who’d thrown a Barrel Roll at his previous location.

FourEyesChan moved his head forward, incredulous. He slowly shook his head and muttered into his microphone, “How…? How does he keep doing that? He just dodged two skills again!”

“It happened so fast that I almost missed it!” Cherry exclaimed. “That Barrel Roll… He dodged it before it even came! That was crazy!”

Yasuo stabbed out with his blade and pierced Gragas—Steel Tempest! The winds generated by this attack coiled around the length of his blade. He continued with an auto attack when Yu Ping’s LeBlanc ran out from the Jungle. Lin Feng narrowed his eyes and flicked his mouse to the other side of his Yasuo. There were a couple of minions there. He selected one and dashed through it just in time to dodge LeBlanc’s Distortion!

“That’s 3! He’s up to 3 already!”
“IS HE GONNA DO ANOTHER MICROGODPLAY!?”
“SHOW US THE MICROGODPLAY!”
“WOOOOOOOOO!”

Lin Feng licked his lips. Gragas and LeBlanc were both at full health when they started this fight. Two attacks later and Gragas had only a bit more than half of it remaining. But there were still many skills between Gragas and LeBlanc that all had the potential of killing Lin Feng’s Yasuo. Which only made it more fun for Lin Feng. He grinned and cast Wind Wall! His Yasuo’s blade slashed out to form the barrier. LeBlanc stood behind him and fired a Sigil of Malice at him. Just in time, heh! Lin Feng had his Yasuo dash through the Wind Wall. The Sigil of Malice followed behind him, but when it made contact with the Wind Wall it disintegrated. More importantly, he was back in front of Gragas again. STEEL TEMPEST! Yasuo stabbed Gragas with his katana again. The intensity of the winds coiled around the length of his blade grew. 

Yu Ping’s LeBlanc recast Distortion to return to her original location on Gragas’ side of the Wind Wall. He gripped his mouse as tightly as he could, the plastic groaning, and aimed at Lin Feng as best as he could. He then narrowed his eyes, trying his best to ignore his heart slamming into his chest. He knew this was going to be it. If he hit the Ethereal Chains, they could win this fight. But if he missed, then all of their crowd control was basically gone. Stop jumping around so much! Stand in front of me, dammit! He chewed on his lips and kept moving his mouse around, until his finger pushed down on the E key. Chains manifested in the air around LeBlanc and shot towards Lin Feng’s Yasuo!

When LeBlanc started casting Ethereal Chains, the left side of her body jerked forward. Lin Feng spotted this tiny detail and reacted to it before the chains had even materialized. He took one step to the other side from Gragas and then cast Sweeping Blade! His Yasuo dashed through Gragas and arrived on the other side of the Wind Wall again! Behind him, the Ethereal Chains hit the Wind Wall and disintegrated. And another, and another, and another bites the dust, “YEAH!”

FourEyesChan took his glasses off and started cleaning them with his shirt, mumbling, “How? Someone explain to me how he’s doing this? It doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t! How is he dodging these skillshots!? Nothing, nothing has hit him yet. NOTHING!”

“He’s just that good,” Cherry mumbled.

Yu Ping knew that Lin Feng would outplay him. He’d hoped that Rengar’s gank could help his LeBlanc get back into the lane, but he’d played enough against Lin Feng in the last two games and the start of this third game to know that the chance of success was slim. What he didn’t expect was for An Xin’s Lee Sin to be waiting in the brush below the mid lane for a countergank. His eyes grew round and wide and he cursed, “Fuck! Help me!”

An Xin sat behind her monitor and glanced at her right hand. One big play. I got this. She focused back on her monitor and took a deep, long breath. Playtime is over! She clicked on a nearby minion and cast Safeguard! While her Lee Sin dashed towards the minion, her fingers glided across her keyboard and she flicked her mouse towards Yu Ping’s LeBlanc. Sonic Wave! Lee Sin fired a pressurized blast of air at LeBlanc! But instead of dashing at her, he Flashed towards her! He followed up with his ultimate skill, kicking LeBlanc away from her Outer Tower! To close the distance to LeBlanc this time, Lee Sin used Resonating Strike! Lee Sin came in with a strong flying kick! His foot slammed LeBlanc in the face and reduced her health to the last few drops. Then he gracefully landed and slammed his palm on the ground! 

《You have slain an enemy!》

Yu Ping’s mouth fell open. He stared at the different shades of grey on his screen and mumbled, “What the…” He looked around the soundproof booth at his teammates and continued, “What the fuck was that?” But his teammates didn’t have the answer. They looked back at him and shook their heads, incredulous.

At the casters desk, FourEyesChan leaned towards his microphone and shouted, “SHE KILLED HIM! LEE KILLED LEBLANC! THAT WAS SO FAST! WOW!”

Cherry clasped her hands over her mouth and said, “Oh my god! That combo!”

“How the fuck did Lee do that!?”
“LeBlanc couldn’t do anything! She was dead before it even finished!”
“I BLINKED AND MISSED IT! SHOW A REPLAY ON SLOW MOTION PLEASE!”
“WOOOOOOO!”
“Was LeBlanc bugged? Where is her passive…?”
“LEE KILLED HER SO FAST THAT HE BROKE THE GAME!”
“GOOD GAME TO TEAM SHANGHAI! JUST FF, YU PING!”

Zou Cheng from Zhejiang University scratched the back of his head and asked Sun Ruinian, who sat next to him, “How did BunBun do that? Why didn’t LeBlanc’s passive work?”

“It did work,” Sun Ruinian replied with a sigh. He shook his head and chuckled, then explained, “You saw how she held her Q second-cast and Flashed towards LB?” He waited for Zou Cheng to nod and then continued, “The Sonic Wave marks LeBlanc, which makes her passive practically worthless. That ultimate kicked most of the health out from LeBlanc’s health bar, which did proc LeBlanc’s passive. But because of the Sonic Wave, BunBun knew exactly where the real LeBlanc was.”

Qiu Yijie leaned forward to look at Zou Cheng and chimed in, “It was really a fantastic play.”

“Watch!” Fudan University’s Jungler interrupted.

Back in the game, Lin Feng had used the time An Xin needed to kill LeBlanc to strike Team Beijing’s Rengar with a Steel Tempest. It was the second one, and the winds danced along his blade. He paused, briefly, just long enough for An Xin to kill LeBlanc. But not so long that Rengar could escape. He then activated Steel Tempest for a third time. Yasuo swung his blade and unleashed a tornado upon Summoner’s Rift! The strong winds chased down Rengar and knocked him up into the air! This was the opening needed for Yasuo’s ultimate skill–Last Breath!

The instant Rengar got knocked up, Lin Feng hit R. Yasuo vanished and appeared right next to the Rengar, who was just hitting the peak of the knock-up and about to fall back down to the ground, a leap so fast that it was invisible to the naked eye. Yasuo unleashed a flurry of strikes with his katana into Rengar’s flesh, each one keeping him in the air a little bit longer. Every slice of the blade cut deep into Rengar’s health bar. Then to top it all off, Yasuo unleashed a powerful slice right into the middle of Rengar’s body that sent Rengar plummeting back down to the ground! And into the arms of a waiting Lee Sin, who added a few brutal auto-attacks to Rengar as he staggered back up. Lin Feng’s Yasuo jumped down to the ground and also started auto attacking Rengar. His blade that cut Rengar’s last ties to life.

《You have slain an enemy!》

FourEyesChan clicked his tongue and said into the microphone, “Damn, that’s rough. Team Beijing gets hit again with a massive setback! Their gank in mid ended with both their Jungler and Midlaner dying, and on the back of that Team Shanghai picks up an uncontested Dragon. It’s really becoming hard here to see Team Beijing making a comeback.”

Cherry sighed loudly into her microphone and chimed in, “LeBlanc needs to win those early trades. If she doesn’t have her core build finished by the end of the laning phase, she’ll have a very difficult mid and late game.” She grimaced and added after a brief moment, “I mean, if she can’t burst down the important targets, then what use does she really have?”

“Well, let’s not give up so quickly,” FourEyesChan argued. He moved his head around for a bit before continuing, “Alright, so it’s looking pretty bad for Team Beijing. But, very importantly, it isn’t all bad. Their LeBlanc has a decent creep score and Team Shanghai’s ad-carry isn’t doing all that outstanding herself. It’s gonna be hard. But if LeBlanc plays this perfectly, then she should technically have enough damage to burst down Team Shanghai’s Kalista.”

Cherry giggled and shook her head. She looked at FourEyesChan and calmly waited for him to finish his analysis. When he did, She leaned towards her microphone and said, “And then there’s Yasuo.”

FourEyesChan grimaced and nodded. “Yep. Then there’s Yasuo,” he said.

✹

The game was going for 14 minutes when An Xin turned her head to look at Lin Feng and said, “Come, we’re going for a walk.”

Lin Feng looked back at An Xin and scrunched his eyebrows. He replied, “What? A walk? We’re playing…”

An Xin shook her head and smiled, then pinged on the Jungle entrance right below the mid lane. “Here,” she said. “We’re going to walk here.”

“Oh!” Lin Feng exclaimed. “Why didn’t you say so!” He then had his Yasuo retreat to the far edge of Yu Ping’s vision and started recalling. He timed this perfectly with a new wave coming. They pushed a bit towards Red team’s outer tower and killed the vision of Lin Feng’s Yasuo right before the recall ended. He then cancelled the recall and followed An Xin into Red Team’s bottom side Jungle.

An Xin said over the team’s voice chat, “Push them to their Tower.”

“Already on it,” Zeng Rui replied. He looked at the bot lane. They’d been pushing Team Beijing back for the last couple of minutes already. The new wave that arrived pushed the lane towards the middle a bit, but after Tang Bingyao killed the first few minions with her Kalista, the lane started pushing into Team Beijing’s tower again.

An Xin and Lin Feng arrived in the brush right behind the bot lane outer tower. An Xin nodded at Lin Feng and said, “You wait here and be ready.”

“Aye aye!” Lin Feng replied, grinning. He theatrically raised his finger and added, “Ready to press the button!”

“Good,” An Xin said with a smile. She then focused on her screen and breathed out through her mouth. Another time! For good measure! She smiled a bit brighter as she ran into the bot lane. Team Beijing’s Jinx retreated a step too far behind her Outer Tower. An Xin reacted to this with a perfectly timed and aimed Sonic Wave! She followed up with Resonating Strike! Her Lee Sin kicked Team Beijing’s Jinx in the face, then stepped behind her and hit her with a roundhouse kick! There was so much power behind this last attack that Jinx flew backwards!

Lin Feng grinned when he saw Jinx flying. He didn’t activate his ultimate right away. The reason being that Jinx was on a collision course with Team Beijing’s Janna. “BOOM!” Lin Feng exclaimed, laughing. He then cast Last Breath! Jinx and Janna were in the air right next to each other when Yasuo blinked next to them and suspended them in midair! He unleashed a flurry of strikes on them, slashing away at their already dwindled health! He then hacked them down to the ground and finished his combo off with a Steel Tempest that pierced both Champions!

《You have slain an enemy!》

《Double kill!》

Zou Cheng jumped to his feet and screamed at the top of his lungs, “WIIIIIIIIN FENG! WIIIIIIIIN FENG!” He was so loud that it sounded over all the other cheers and shouts, and then it gained in volume as the other people in the audience started copying him.

“WIN FENG! WIN FENG!”
“WIN FENG! WIN FENG!”
“WIN FENG! WIN FENG!”
“WIN FENG! WIN FENG!”
“WIN FENG! WIN FENG!”
“WIN FENG! WIN FENG!”
“WIN FENG! WIN FENG!”

Sun Ruinian looked around him at the audience and shook his head, smiling. “Incredible,” he said. “Simply incredible.”

Qiu Yijie nodded and added, “That’s got to be game.”

An Xin glanced at her hand and smiled. This medicine is killer! It always works when I really need it to! She then turned her head slightly so she could look at Lin Feng. I’m playing with you. With the real you! Her smile brightened and goosebumps ran down her arms. This is everything I ever wanted. She took a deep, long breath and focused on her screen. The game was in its fifth minute and she was running towards the top lane on her favourite Champion. She scrunched her eyebrows and said over the team’s voice chat, “Looks like their Gragas forgot to ward. Bait him, Zhang Hao.”

Zhang Hao nodded and replied, “Let me screw up a bit here! I need 10 seconds tops! They think I suck anyway!”

An Xin giggled as she had her Lee Sin hide in the brush right below the top lane. She moved her camera up a bit and watched Zhang Hao move his Lissandra forward to last hit a minion, and by doing so drawing aggro from a few other minions. He then ran back quickly and kept running until the minions stopped attacking him. When he came back towards the minions, he had less health than Gragas and his minions were ill-positioned. An Xin shook her head and said, “That’s surprisingly convincing.”

“I’m pretty good at screwing up like this. I like to pretend it’s a gift,” Zhang Hao replied, laughing.

Team Beijing’s Gragas fell for the trap. He Body Slammed into Lissandra and followed up with Barrel Toss. But right then, An Xin’s Lee Sin appeared from the brush while Lissandra stunned Gragas with Ring of Frost! From there it was a pure 2 versus 1. Gragas never really had a chance. It was Zhang Hao in the end who picked up the kill.

《First Blood!》

Team Beijing’s Toplaner threw his arms up and cursed, “Goddammit! Goddammit!” He shook his hand and banged his fist on the desk. “Fuck! FUCK! How did I let myself fall for that? It was so obvious! Come on, idiot! Don’t be such a fucktard!”

“It’s okay, bud,” Team Beijing’s Jungler said. He forced a smile on his face and then turned his head to look at his Toplaner. “It’s fine. Just a small setback. But we’ve grown used to those, huh?” He laughed, awkward. He then continued, “I can’t really do much pre-6 either. Just, I don’t know, try to play it safe. Stay behind the tower and all that stuff. It’s not ideal, but…”

“But it’s all we can do,” Yu Ping finished through gritted teeth.

Team Beijing’s Jungler nodded and said, “What Yu Ping says.”

✹

Su Xue clenched her fists and cheered, “BunBun with the assist in top! Her Lee is sooooooo amazing! Did you guys all see that?” She looked at the camera and through it imagined the hundred thousand plus people sitting behind their computers watching her. She smiled and continued, “When she plays Lee, it’s game over! Team Beijing doesn’t stand a chance!”

「BunBUn 6666666!」
「ITS THE GODDESSLEEE」
「LIL BRO AND HIS HAREM GOING TO WIN THE WHOLE DAMN THING!!!!」
「bunbuns lee makes lee look so much better than he really is」
「TOO GOOD! TEAM SHANGHAI TOO GOOD!」

✹

The broadcasting director had a replay of the fight in the top lane play when the sound from the live version announced that a kill happened somewhere. He cut the replay and the camera moved in a frenzy across the screen, searching for the corpse. It stopped a few moments later on the mid lane. LeBlanc’s corpse lay on the ground.

FourEyesChan stared at his screen and muttered into his microphone, “What? How! They’re not even Level 6 yet! How the hell did he get a solo kill on LeBlanc!?”

“It shouldn’t be possible!” Cherry exclaimed.

“WHAT THE FUCK! SHOW US A REPLAY!”
“REPLAY!”
“REPLAY!”
“How in the world did he pick up that kill!?”
“REPLAY PLEASE!”
“REPLAY OR RIOT!”
“REPLAY OR RIOT!”
“REPLAY OR RIOT!”
“REPLAY OR RIOT!”

“I’ve got it from good sources,” FourEyesChan started. He briefly paused for the audience to quiet down a bit and then continued, “That we’re getting a replay in t-minus 3, 2… NOW!”

Everyone watching the Winter Collegiate Cup Finals turned their attention to the replay. It showed Yasuo and LeBlanc in the mid lane. They were both low on health, but Yasuo still had his health pot. He chugged it down and a green, rejuvenating aura appeared around him.

A new wave of minions arrived in the mid lane. Yasuo dashed through a minion to arrive in front of LeBlanc and stabbed forward with his katana! A storm started brewing on the tip of his blade. But his health was still relatively low. Low enough that LeBlanc thought she could kill him. She placed a Sigil of Malice on him and tried to trigger it with Distortion!

“OH MY GOD!”
“HOW THE HELL!?”

Yasuo dashed through another minion to put enough distance from LeBlanc that the splash damage from Distortion completely missed him. By doing so, he also stopped the Sigil of Malice from triggering. LeBlanc followed up with Ethereal Chains, hurled in the direction Yasuo was moving. But Yasuo swiped his blade up, commanding the winds to form a Wind Wall. The Ethereal Chains slammed into the Wind Wall and disintegrated, after which Yasuo burst through the Wind Wall, dashed through LeBlanc and hit her with the second cast from Steel Tempest! Winds danced around the length of his blade!

“HOLY SHIT!”
“DAAAAAMN!”

The damage triggered LeBlanc’s passive. A clone of her appeared on the map. It started running away, while the real one waited for an opportunity. Yasuo didn’t fall for the trick. He didn’t chase the clone and instead hit the real one with an auto attack. LeBlanc then panic Flashed, confirming that the one Yasuo was attacking was indeed the real one.

Yasuo Flashed after LeBlanc and arrived underneath Red Team’s Outer Tower. It targeted him and charged up an energy shot. He ignored it and stabbed out with a third Steel Tempest. The winds gathered along his blade flew out onto Rift as a gust! It carved a path through the grass and knocked LeBlanc up into the air! He then auto attacked her and Ignited her. An energy shot from the Tower hit him. Because of the health from the potion he popped earlier, he survived. Barely. The Tower charged up for another shot. He hit LeBlanc with one more auto attack and then dashed away through a minion.

The unquenchable flames burned LeBlanc, searing through the last few dregs of her health. The audience watching the game went silent. They knew the outcome of the fight, but they were still enthralled and on the edge of their seats as they watched what happened. It was the final tick from Ignite that killed LeBlanc. And back in lane, Yasuo cleared his minion wave before recalling back to base.

Qiu Yijie looked around the stands. Everywhere he looked, people were up on their feet and cheering. These Beijing locals who were so negative about Team Shanghai at the start of the series had forgotten about that completely. As far as they were concerned, Team Beijing didn’t even exist anymore. There was only Team Shanghai for them. He shook his head and then said to his teammates and the players from Zhejiang University, “That’s what I meant. 5D chess. The way that he plays here, it’s…” He shrugged. There were no words to describe what he wanted to say.

Sun Ruinian nodded and added, “Yep. Such a clean kill. What’s there to say? He’s better than everyone else combined at this tournament… He doesn’t belong at this level.”

Zou Cheng pumped his fist in the air and shouted, “WIN FENG IS GOING TO THE LPL! WIN FENG TO THE LPL!”

✹

Cherry grabbed her microphone and said, “Pfooh! We’ve had an exciting 2 minutes! But now we’ve had a bit to cool down from that. Let’s take stock of the game here. FourEyesChan, take it away!”

FourEyesChan smiled and analysed, “We’re 7 minutes into this game! Team Shanghai has taken an early lead this game. They got first blood up in top, a lane they’re winning right now, and a solo kill in mid. Which means they’re up 2 kills to zero. There’s also a bot lane in League of Legends, but the four players down there are on their own little island. I haven’t seen anything worth mentioning from them yet.”

Cherry giggled and added, “This is all about the Yasuo! And a little about the Jungle and top lane… But look at Yasuo! He’s up 10 CS already! That’s almost 2 full waves! We’re only 7 minutes in here! That’s a lot! And at this rate… LeBlanc is going to get killed again, I’m telling you!”

“Not so fast!” FourEyesChan replied. He adjusted his glasses and continued, “Look in the river. Rengar is Level 6 and coming in for a gank! Maybe he can turn the mid lane back in Team Beijing’s favour!”

Lin Feng’s Yasuo dashed through two minions to arrive in front of LeBlanc. He stabbed out at her with Steel Tempest, and the winds gathered along the length of his blade yet again. Right then, a red exclamation mark appeared above his head. A gank? Sweet! Lin Feng grinned and narrowed his eyes, breathing slowly. Calm. The game slowed before his eyes. He saw the start of the animation for Ethereal Chains and dodged it by dashing through a minion. Rengar is al— 

A primal roar cut through the air! Rengar appeared from the shadows and pounced on Yasuo! He threw an empowered Bola mid-jump! It was coated in a thick layer of magic that added a root effect! The bola spun around its axis, again and again.

Lin Feng flicked his mouse and pressed the W key. His Yasuo’s blade slashed out horizontally and created a Wind Wall! The Bola flew straight into it and was stopped by the power of the winds, falling down to the ground.

“OH MY GOD!” Cherry screeched. “HE BLOCKED IT!”

FourEyesChan adjusted his glasses and said, “That’s some next level play!—”

“IT’S NOT OVER YET!” Cherry screamed. She jumped up from her seat and pointed at the screen, continuing, “Look! LOOK! THERE! LEE SIN IS COMING FOR A COUNTERGANK! IT’S THE TURNTABLES!”

FourEyesChan leaned back in his chair and put the microphone stand on his chest. He said, “I don’t think anyone saw this coming. Barely an hour in and Team Shanghai is up 2-0 against Team Beijing.”

“You know what that means!” Cherry cheered, giggling.

FourEyesChan nodded and replied, “That means it’s Championship Point for Team Shanghai! One more game and they’re the new Collegiate Cup Champions!”

Cherry looked out over the stadium at the fans sitting in their seats waiting for the third game and asked, “You enjoy analysis and predictions for these games, right? What are you expecting to see in Game 3?”

“I do!” FourEyesChan replied. He adjusted his glasses and analysed, “Team Shanghai is on the Blue Team next game, so let’s start with them. We’ve seen in the previous two games that this team is centered completely around their Midlaner. Their Bot and Toplaners do try and make something happen, but there is such a big qualitative difference between them and their Midlaner that as the game progresses, they find themselves relying more and more on their Midlaner. The Jungler is clearly aware of this fact and helps her Midlaner pull ahead when really needed, like she did with Eve in Game 1.

“Usually, Team Beijing would have an advantage here. It’s clear what Team Shanghai’s strong point is and that gives you the idea that you know how to beat them, right?” FourEyesChan briefly paused, waiting for Cherry to nod in agreement, and then continued, “Right. But that isn’t the case here in my opinion. The reason for that is that Team Shanghai’s Midlaner is so much better than everyone on Team Beijing combined. Even if they try to stop him, this Lin Feng will just 1 versus 5 them. Which brings me to the conclusion of my analysis. Team Beijing is fucked. Team Shanghai, and mostly Lin Feng, is too good. They’re going to walk away with Game 3.”

Cherry smiled and said, “As insightful as ever! Thanks FourEyesChan! And it looks like you’ve talked right through the break! I can see both teams getting ready in the lobby. We’ll be getting into Champion Select in a couple of seconds!”

Down in the stands, Qiu Yijie shook his head. He finally looked at his friends from Zhejiang University and said, “Those shoutcasters are right for once. With Lin Feng…”

Zou Cheng laughed and shouted, “HE’S THE VERY BEST!”

✹

Lin Feng yawned loudly and said, “Boy, I could really use a nap!”

“We’re in Game 3, Lin Feng,” Zeng Rui replied with a frown.

Lin Feng waved Zeng Rui’s worries away and said, “Don’t worry! I’m on it! Carry time!” He then leaned back in his chair and watched his team enter Champion Select. We start with a couple of bans. Who did Zeng Rui want to ban again? Ah, doesn’t matter. Right! He was going after the Ahri! Something about it being a strong Champion from Yu Ping. And Fizz… Huh? Why are they banning Varus, Eve, Twisted Fate…? Like I don’t know how to play any other Champions! Idiots.

Team Shanghai got the first pick. They went with Lee Sin for An Xin. The next two picks were for Team Beijing. They went with Rengar the Jungle Cat and Janna the Floating Support. Team Shanghai was up again. They decided on Kalista and Leona for their second and third picks.

Lin Feng yawned again. He slapped himself in the face a few times and mumbled, “Wake up! Just one more game to win this whole thing.” He blinked a few times while Team Beijing chose their third and fourth Champions. The third one was Gragas, which didn’t get any response from Lin Feng. But when he saw the LeBlanc fourth pick, he sat up straight and squared his shoulder. That’s more like it! He’s come out to play! He grinned and clenched his fist and said, “Since he wants to play, let’s play!”

Zhang Hao and An Xin turned their heads left and Tang Bingyao and Zeng Rui turned their heads right. They all stared at Lin Feng, surprised. The previous two games were for the most part hard carries by Lin Feng. They were under the impression he was already trying. Zeng Rui opened his mouth and wanted to remind Lin Feng to stick to the strategy, but then closed it again. We don’t need strategy if he’s going to play even better…

“The time has come for me to stop holding back!” Lin Feng announced, pumping his fist up into the air. He looked around at his teammates and continued, “I shall no longer limit myself with weak early game Champions! I’ll give this man the face he deserves! I’m going to go all out on one of my favourite Champions!” He then focused on his screen and shouted with a big grin, “Yasuo the Unforgiven! I CHOOSE YOUUU!”

“Wowowow! That ain’t no weak laner! That’s Yasuo!”
“He’s just going to change his playstyle? Why? He was wrecking Team Beijing with his Varus and Twisted Fate. I get that they were banned, but couldn’t he have gone something like Viktor?”
“Were you watching the same games I was? Did you see his microplay? Did you not hear when everyone was calling him the god of microplay? Those are mechanics! HEAVENLY MECHANICS!”
“He does look heavenly…”
“And Yasuo is one of the more mechanic-heavy Champions. If he can show the level of play he did on Twisted Fate on Yasuo? Oh boy, this gonna be good!”
“LeBlanc is also all about mechanics! This is going to be the ultimate mechanics matchup!”
“THIS IS GONNA BE A FEAST FOR OUR EYES! A FEAST I TELL YOU!”
“MY EYES WILL BE FULL AFTER THIS GAME!”
“LIKE A GOOD MEAL! YUMMIE YUMMIE!”

In Team Beijing’s soundproof booth, Yu Ping grimaced. He shook his head and mumbled, “Of-fucking-course. Now he goes with his normal Champions! WELP! At least I get to play against him going all out one more time…”

“Don’t be so down!” Team Beijing’s Jungler said over the team’s voice chat. He looked at Yu Ping and continued, “Maybe we…”

Yu Ping looked at his Jungler and smiled. He shrugged and replied, “We both know what’s going to happen. Remember what he did with Twisted Fate? He just needs to do that again and we’re out. We’ve lost, pretty much. Let’s just accept that. But we’re not going out without a fight! He’s going to have to earn it!” He gripped his mouse tightly and looked at his screen. He took a deep, long breath and then let all his frustration and anger escape through his lips. “You know?” he asked. He then looked around at his teammates and continued, “It doesn’t really matter who he is. He’s better than all of us combined. The pressure is off for us. Let’s go in and show him hell!”

The other players from Team Beijing looked at their captain and hesitated. They understood just as well as he did that they needed more than a miracle to turn this series around and win it. So rather than worrying about complicated strategies and other such things, they focused on what they did have control over. To have fun. To play a game of League of Legends as best as they could and enjoy it. They clenched their fists and shouted, “SHOW HIM HELL!”

Yu Ping narrowed his eyes and focused on Yasuo’s portrait. Show me how good you really are.

✹

《Welcome to Summoner’s Rift!》

The players from Zhejiang University and Fudan University sat on the edge of their seats. Zou Cheng couldn’t tear his eyes from the large LCD screen above the stage as he asked, “How long do you think Yu Ping can hold Lin Feng off?”

Qiu Yijie glanced at Zou Cheng and replied, “7 minutes?”

“No way,” Sun Ruinian said. “5 minutes tops.”

Fudan University’s Jungler shook his head and asked, “How are you guys this sure? Yeah he won the first two games. But is he really that good that you don’t even think there’s a possibility of Yu Ping winning this lane?”

“Lol!” Zou Cheng replied, laughing. He still wouldn’t move his eyes from the large LCD screen as he explained, “You don’t get it. You haven’t played against him. It doesn’t look too impressive most of the time, though it did look hella impressive on the Twisted Fate. But really, it don’t look all that special most of the time. That is, until you play against him. Then you suddenly find yourself with your back against the wall and a gun in your mouth! There’s nothing you can do and everything you try to do just backfires! The way that he plays? Fuck me! I’ve never played against anyone else who could put out that much pressure!”

Qiu Yijie pointed at the large LCD screen and said, “There. Just watch.”

Lin Feng’s Yasuo had reached Level 3. He’d unlocked his three main abilities and used them to up the aggression. He dashed through a minion and then another to arrive in front of Yu Ping’s LeBlanc! Steel Tempest! He thrust his Katana and pierced LeBlanc!

LeBlanc retaliated by casting Distortion and jumping away from Yasuo! She followed up with Sigil of Malice and Ethereal Chains! The mark from Sigil of Malice appeared above Yasuo’s head. It needed another skill from LeBlanc to explode. The chains shot at Yasuo, looking to do just that. But Lin Feng was faster. He pressed the W key, and his Yasuo’s katana slashed out horizontally with such speed that it created a Wind Wall! The Ethereal Chains smashed into it and missed.

Qiu Yijie chuckled and said, “Saw that? How he came out ahead in that fight? Looked pretty standard, right? Trust me, that wasn’t standard. He’s thinking 10 moves ahead and playing 5D chess. This was just a preparation for what’s to come. Maybe forcing Yu Ping to drink a health pot is going to matter in a bit. We’ll see. I don’t get it myself yet, but you’ll see. And it’ll be crazy.”

It was the Grand Finals of the Winter Collegiate Cup. No matter how Team Beijing felt about it, they couldn’t just give up. “We won’t!” Team Beijing’s Jungle exclaimed! He looked at his teammates and continued, “So what if we lose this game? We aren’t losing to Team Shanghai! We’re losing to their Midlaner! So screw him! Who cares about him? I don’t!”

Zhang Hongyi turned his head to look at his Jungler and said, “What…?”

Team Beijing’s Jungler clenched his fist and said over the team’s voice chat, “I don’t care that their Midlaner is the best player! So what if he takes first? Good for him! Whatever! But we’re going to take second, ahead of Team Shanghai! Forget about him! Let’s focus on the others and get some kills!”

“Huh!” Team Beijing’s Toplaner replied. He looked at his teammates and continued, “He’s right! Let’s show everyone we’re better than Team Shanghai! Screw their Midlaner!”

Yu Ping gritted his teeth and closed his eyes. You guys can ignore him. But it won’t be that easy for me… He took a deep, long breath and asked, “Then what about me?”

Team Beijing’s Jungler grinned and suggested, “Just abandon mid! Screw that guy! Let’s go and win the other lanes!”

“I’m in!” Zhang Hongyi exclaimed. He looked at his teammates, grinning, and added, “Give me some help to kill Zeng Rui again!”

“Coming!” Team Beijing’s Jungler said. He then nodded at Yu Ping and asked, “You also coming?”

Yu Ping nodded slowly and mumbled, “Yeah. I guess.”

“That’s more like it!” Team Beijing’s Jungler exclaimed, forcing laughter into his voice.

✹

At 17 minutes, Team Beijing’s Toplaner, Midlaner and Jungler were missing. An Xin moved her camera around the map and asked over the team’s voice chat, “Where are they…? This doesn’t make any sense… Where did they go? Lin Feng is pushing mid and Zhang Hao is pushing top…”

“Maybe they’re scared of me!” Lin Feng suggested.

An Xin glanced at him and replied, “Haha. So funny.” She then turned to look at the others and continued, “I’m serious. Where are they?”

Zeng Rui’s eyes suddenly opened wide. He shouted over the team’s voice chat, “They’re here! Bot! No way Shitty Zhang plays like this when there isn’t a gank waiting!”

Lin Feng grinned and said, “It’s time to d-d—”

“LIN FENG!” An Xin screamed. She glared at him with her murder smile and asked, “Do I need to repeat myself? HMM?”

“Jeesh!” Lin Feng complained. “I was just going to say that I’ve got Teleport and HaoBro also has his TP up. ZengZeng should just bait them into tower diving to try and kill him and Tang Tang…”

Zeng Rui looked at the scoreboard and nodded. He replied, “I like that idea. See this ward?” He pinged on a ward in the second brush along the bottom side of the lane. “If both of you teleport there when they engage. BunBun? What if you come through the lane?”

An Xin smiled and said, “I do like the sound of that! On my way!” She had her Nocturne walk into the bot lane and stopped in the brush between the Inner and Outer Tower. With her ultimate, she could reach the fight from there. “In position!”

Zeng Rui glanced at Lin Feng and Zhang Hao and asked, “You two?” When he received the nod from Zhang Hao and the thumbs up from Lin Feng, he turned back to look at his screen and took a deep, long breath. “Okay,” he mumbled. He then clicked forward, allowing his Thresh to malposition.

In Team Beijing’s soundproof booth, Zhang Hongyi almost jumped up from his chair. He pointed at his screen and shouted, “He fell for it! I knew he was bad! I knew it! Hah! GoGoGo!” He then had his Janna use Zephyr. A skill that allowed Janna to summon an air elemental that she could send at an enemy champion to deal some damage and also slow them. The air elemental flew straight at Zeng Rui’s Thresh and slowed him!

Team Beijing’s Nidalee, Dr. Mundo and Ahri all ran into the lane! They met up with the Ezreal and Janna. Together, all five of them unleashed their skills on Zeng Rui’s Thresh! Different kinds of magic, bolts of energy, javelins and cleavers flew through the air! Everything combined tore apart Thresh’s health!

But no one in the stadium was cheering for Team Beijing. A few mumbled how unfair this game was for Team Beijing, but most remained silent. The shoutcasters sat quietly at their desk, shaking their heads. They could almost feel the pain Team Beijing was about to suffer.

Zeng Rui waited for the last possible moment and then Flashed away, forcing the five Champions from Team Beijing to follow him. It pulled them away from the safety of their Outer Tower and right into the middle of the bot lane. That was where Yu Ping’s Ahri dealt the killing blow.

《You have slain an enemy!》

There was the briefest moment of euphoria on Team Beijing’s side of the stage. And then darkness fell over Summoner’s Rift. It was a thick darkness that the players from Team Beijing could only see each other’s Champions as they huddled together in the middle of the lane. A shadow of terror lit up below Yu Ping’s Ahri. He was marked by Nocturne and Nocturne was flying at him! But the nightmare was only just beginning for Team Beijing. Completely unbeknownst to them, Lin Feng’s Twisted Fate and Zhang Hao’s Irelia were teleporting into the lane right below them. And in front of them, Tang Bingyao’s Sivir cast On the Hunt, boosting the movement speed of all nearby allies!

FourEyesChan shook his head and said into his microphone, “I mean…” He shrugged and turned his head to look at Cherry.

Cherry looked back at him and massaged her forehead. She then breathed out through her mouth and said, “That’s just… I don’t know what to say.”

《You have slain an enemy!》

《Double kill!》

《You have slain an enemy!》

“Two more to go and this nightmare is over,” FourEyesChan said. He then chuckled and added, “Nocturne is a nightmare, but it’s kind of funny how he’s also a nightmare in this game.”

Cherry smiled and replied, “I’m trying to enjoy this. I really am. It’s a beautiful play by Team Shanghai. But it’s just so…” She sighed loudly and continued, “It’s just so hard to watch this. I can feel the pain Team Beijing must be feeling. This is… Yeah, I feel bad for them.”

《Triple kill!》

FourEyesChan nodded and said into his microphone, “Same.”

《Double kill!》

《Aced!》

The teamfight ended with Team Shanghai picking up 5 kills versus one kill for Team Beijing. But it was never really a fight. It was a one-sided slaughter. Any notion Team Beijing still had about trying to play around Lin Feng disappeared. Between his ultimate skill and Teleport summoner spell, they couldn’t get anywhere where he couldn’t go. They didn’t surrender, that just wasn’t done at the competitive level, but they gave up resisting. They watched Team Shanghai take the Dragon and take their towers. They put up something of a defense when Team Shanghai besieged their base. But without the conviction, they lacked teeth, and they crumbled. Team Shanghai breached their base, destroyed their inhibitors and finally also their Nexus.

VICTORY!

✹

Lin Songshi walked into the skybox in the Chaoyang Sports Centre reserved for the highest ranked officials from the Chinese Esports Association. He was their boss, the president of the entire esports in China, a rank he’d started to work towards more than 10 years ago when the esports scene was still in its infancy. He walked past the only other person in the room and stopped in front of the window that gave a full view of the stadium. “How far are we?” he asked over his shoulder.

Zhou Wei was one of the three vice presidents from the Beijing Esports Association. He fixed his tie and bowed deeply before replying, “Sir, everything is ready. The trophy is backstage and I’ve taken the liberty to draft a… two speeches for you. Do you wish to take a look?”

Lin Songshi saw the score on the large LCD screen above the stage. 2-0 for Team Shanghai. One more game to win… Not much of a surprise. He turned around to look at Zhou Weihe and said, “No need. I probably won’t be using it anyway.”

Zhou Wei nodded and replied, “That’s just like you, President! You’re great at doing these kinds of things impromptu!”

“Enough asskissing,” Lin Songshi said. He then nodded behind him at the large LCD screen above the stage and asked, “Almost over, isn’t it?”

“Sorry, sir! Yes, sir!” Zhou Wei replied. “Team Shanghai is up 2-0. Looks like they might win this.”

Lin Songshi smiled and said more to himself than to Zhou Wei, “Fan Yuan was so convinced his team was going to win. I can already imagine the look on his face right about now.”

Zhou Wei chewed on his lips and considered how to reply for a bit before saying, “He was. But I think that had more to do with his rivalry with Chu Fang. You might know him as Shanghai Esports Association’s vice president. Fan Yuan told me before the series he was really looking forward to beating Chu Fang…” He scratched the back of his head and then continued, “I’m kind of surprised if I’m being honest here, sir. I thought Fan Yuan had a strong team. Their chances of winning were pretty high if you asked me. But Team Shanghai has come out swinging in these Finals.”

“Mm-hmm,” Lin Songshi mumbled. He turned back towards the window and leaned on the handrail. He then narrowed his eyes and looked at Team Shanghai’s soundproof booth. It was too far away for a good look, but he didn’t need a good look to recognize Lin Feng. It might’ve been a good chance for Fan Yuan if it wasn’t against that kid. Maybe I should’ve done something when I saw his name before the Quarterfinals… He breathed out through his mouth and mumbled inaudibly, “Easy win for him.”

FourEyesChan said into the microphone, “Well, ladies and gents, that’s one way to mentally murder your opponents. What Twisted Fate just did there?” He shook his head and then continued, “That was soul crushing to watch. And if anyone wants to know what a soul crushed opponent looks like, just look at Team Beijing’s Janna.”

Zhang Hongyi’s Janna stood still and watched Lin Feng’s Twisted Fate escape with about a hundred health remaining. She could’ve tried to chase him and might’ve even gotten the kill in the end, but Zhang Hongyi wasn’t in the space of mind for that anymore. He sat behind his computer in a completely silent soundproof booth and stared at his screen through hazy eyes, numb. His spirit was lost.

Cherry started counting all the instances of Lin Feng dodging a skillshot for a third time. She added the charms and Orb of Deception from Ahri, the Howling Gale from Janna and the various skillshots from Nidalee. She finally shook her head and said, “I don’t have enough fingers for this. I’ll need my toes if I want to count how many skillshots Twisted Fate dodged there.” She chewed on her lips for a bit and then added, “I think we’re all a bit stunned here. But… But what else can we be? The level of play Twisted Fate just showed us? That’s so far above and beyond everything else we’ve seen at the Collegiate Cup… I don’t even know what to say. Maybe, woooo? Yeah, let’s go with that. Woooo!”

The audience sat in their seats, stunned. They couldn’t believe what they’d seen, and hadn’t the faintest clue how to process it or react to it. It was only after Cherry woo’d for Team Shanghai that a couple of people found themselves blinking and turning their heads to look around the stands. They then squared their shoulders and started clapping. A few turned to many and from the initial low rumble erupted a cacophony of applause!

“WOOOOOOO!”
“HE’S BLESSED BY THE GODS!”
“Hah! There’s no best team this year, there’s only the best player! WIN FENG! WIN FEEENG!”
“That’s one way to eliminate the opposition… G-fucking-G!”
“PLEASE GIMME DANCE LESSONS, WIN FENG!”
“THOSE DODGES! WHAT THE FUCK!”
“NEVER CLUTCHED MY BUTT SO TIGHTLY!”
“IIIIIIII! HAVE MY BABY!”

✹

Su Xue grabbed a glass of sake and clinked it against her camera, shouting, “WOOOOOOOOO! TRIPLE KIIIIIIIILL! WIN FENG FOR THE WIIIIIIIIN!”

「66666」
「BEST TF IVE EVER SEEEEEENNNN!!!!!」
「WHEN WE GETTING LIL BRO SEMINAR ON STREAM!??!?!?!?」
「WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! LIL BRO BEST BROOO!!!!」
「im a master and he makes me feel like a complete noob…..」
「JESUS FUCKING >>>>>>> HOWS HE THIS GOOD? WTFFTFFF  AARGGHHHH」
「SSIIIICCKCKKKKKKK!!!!! INSANE PLAYZ BY THE LIL BROOOOO」
「omgomgomg how the fuck… IN FUCKING SAAAAANE!!!!」

✹

“You could’ve helped me get the kill on Mundo, you know,” An Xin said over the team’s voice chat. She glanced at Zhang Hao and giggled. I know. It’s hard to believe what Lin Feng sometimes does. She winked at him and asked, “You okay there?”

Zhang Hao’s mouth hung open as he stared at Lin Feng, incredulous. He finally asked, “How…? What… How did you get the triple there? It was a 4 man gank and Tang Tang and Zeng Rui died! You did that 1 versus 4! You… You… WHAT THE FUCK, DUDE! I know you’re Maple, but… WHAT THE FUCK!”

An Xin giggled and said, “It’s a little ridiculous, right? They should really nerf him a bit.”

“Oi!” Lin Feng exclaimed. He glared at An Xin and continued, “They can’t nerf me!”

An Xin was there when Lin Feng had his Season 1 Worlds run. She knew how good he was, and how special it was when he played at his level. But because she’d seen and experienced it before, it didn’t hit nearly as hard for her as it did to the rest of Team Shanghai, who were pressed with their noses against the facts. Lin Feng was so much better than them that there really was no comparison.

Tang Bingyao stared at her grey screen. More specifically, she was looking at the corpses of Ezreal, Ahri and Nidalee. Her teeth chattered. H-how…? I tried to play it like he would, but… But… She breathed in deeply, forcing back the tears that were trying to appear in her eyes. H-he can play aggressively, because he can do… that. That’s why Zeng Rui wanted me to retreat. Mhm. He knew I don’t have the skill to do what Lin Feng does… I… She sniffed and mumbled quietly, “Nice gank.”

Lin Feng put his thumbs up, grinning, and said, “Nice baiting them there! That was some great thinking!”

Tang Bingyao chewed on her lips and nodded. I was just trying to… I didn’t think… She breathed in and mumbled, “Thanks.”

Zeng Rui put his hand on his chest and felt his heart battering against his rib cage. He’d watched the fight and he’d been convinced a dozen times that Lin Feng was dead. Yet every time Lin Feng made the crucial sidestep. At every junction, Lin Feng made the correct call. Zeng Rui lowered his head and rubbed his forehead. So this is what it feels like to play with a world class player. The thundering dumbass… that’s me, isn’t it? I’m the idiot. I didn’t see just how good… How did he…? He sniffed and said, “That was… That was probably the best outplay I’ve seen.”

Lin Feng grinned and said, “Thanks, ZengZeng!”

✹

There was a heavy silence in Team Beijing’s soundproof booth. No one knew what to say or do. Zhang Hongyi was still staring in front of him at nothing in particular, the fast beating of his heart booming in his ears like explosions. Team Beijing’s Jungler, ad-carry and Toplaner weren’t much better. They were trying to find an explanation, a reason why everything happened.

“No way…”
“How did he just go 1 versus 3 us?”
“This can’t be happening…”

But their mumbles were ignored by the others. They were the ramblings of lost souls. Players who were trying to come to terms with what just happened, knowing perfectly well that there was nothing they could say, do or think that would dampen the impact. The fight ended with two kills for three deaths. That wasn’t disastrous; it happened all the time in teamfights. But it was the way in which it went down. The pure skill from Lin Feng that left them so completely helpless that they’d lost every bit of fight in them.

However, compared to Yu Ping, the rest of Team Beijing was relatively well off. Yu Ping sat behind his computer with slumped shoulders. His anger and rage were gone. He’d gone into the series believing he was the better Midlaner. When Lin Feng went with a strong late game Champion in Varus, he felt offended. And when Lin Feng did it again in the second game with Twisted Fate, he was truly upset. But that was all healthy in competition. It made him a stronger and more motivated player!

Yu Ping sighed and shook his head. I’m not the better player. I’m not even close to how good he is. I should’ve known. I should’ve known. Fan Yuan warned us. He told us to watch out for Team Shanghai. But how could anyone be as strong as us? How could there be another team with such a well-rounded lineup? Team Guangzhou looked interesting enough, but was ultimately boring. And Team Shanghai looked like the weaker team. Lin Feng… He closed his eyes, but the hint of anger that he associated with the name didn’t appear. His spirit was lost. Lin Feng never looked that good. He just… He just won. Even after the first game, I still felt like I could play against him and beat him. The difference felt so small! And then we got off to such a good start in this second game! We were beating him and he needed the Nocturne to get a kill! He needed—

He didn’t need Nocturne at any point. Yu Ping scratched under his eye and grimaced. He never needed any help. He just went into a 1 versus 4 and outplayed us so completely… What’s left to do or say? Just… What’s the point? He’s so much better than I am that there’s nothing I can do to stop him. He’s so much better that even with our entire team we can’t stop him! His teammates don’t matter. They never did! It’s all him! People can yap all they want about how League is a team game. That’s only the case when teams are evenly matched. There’s no evenly matched here. One team is a university level team and the other is a high school level team. And the third team is a single player who’s playing at the World Championship level.

Yu Ping sighed again and then asked over the team’s voice chat, “Where did he come from? Who is he?”

✹

Lin Feng grinned and declared, “I’m fed! I’ve got all the gold in the world and now I can spend it to buy whatever item I want!”

“Get Zhonya’s,” Zeng Rui suggested.

“Great idea!” Lin Feng exclaimed. He opened the shop and bought Zhonya’s Hourglass. It was an expensive item most players didn’t get until the 20 or even 25 minute mark. But Lin Feng bought it 15 minutes into the game. The active skill from this item granted him another method to dodge skillshots and evade crowd control. It made it that much harder for Team Beijing to do anything against him. He clenched his fist and said, “Time to close this baby out!”

Tang Bingyao pressed the Tab key and looked at the game score. Lin Feng’s Twisted Fate had the highest kills/deaths/assists ratio with his 5/1/0 score and he had the highest creep score. She chewed on her lips and snuck a glance at him. You’re so far ahead that you can solo carry this game now. That’s what I wanted to do. That’s why I played so aggressively! I didn’t bait them for you… I was trying to do what you do, without your skills. It just doesn’t work without your skills… She put her hand under the table and clenched it. But that doesn’t mean I’m giving up! Mhm-mhm!