Zhejiang University had convinced Shi Hang to play for his esports club in the Winter Collegiate Cup! A former professional player stooped down to play with amateurs! The news spread through the channels and sent everyone in East China into a massive uproar! There were many questions about the authenticity of the news. But with the tournament organizers delivering the news, there wasn’t much to argue about. Shi ‘AyDeeCee’ Hang was going to play at the Winter Collegiate Cup!

“I can’t believe Zhejiang University actually did this. Shi Hang’s playing? Really?”

“I know right? Fucking unbelievable! Since when are pros welcome!? What’s next, God Roundy is going to play for his university? Just imagine! The Collegiate Cup would become stupid! The organizers should’ve never allowed Shi Hang to play!”

“AyDeeCee did quit way back in like Season 2, or was it 3 already? I don’t remember. Anyway, he hasn’t played at the highest level for years. Maybe the organizers took that into consideration? That has to be it, right? They can’t start accepting real pros to play at this tournament?”

“It’s all fun and all, but what about the other teams? Just look at Team Shanghai! Those kids worked their asses off and showed some really promising performances to make it this far. It was always going to be hard for them to beat Zhejiang University. But now with AyDeeCee? It just became impossible. Geegee, I guess…”

People in the audience had called their friends and posted on social media when the news of AyDeeCee playing for Zhejiang University was released. It didn’t take more than 15 minutes before a new flood of people looked to push their way into the venue. All of them wanted to watch the man, the myth, the legend! Shi Hang! Founder of the Zhejiang University esports club! Most valuable player of the first edition of the Collegiate Cup! Victor of the first edition of the Collegiate Cup! University player gone professional! The accolades were too many to count. Shi Hang hadn’t just won a lot of games, he had won the hearts of all university students in China! And now, after three years of absence, they got the opportunity to watch him play again!

The venue filled up. All the seats were taken, the stairs were full and even more people were pushing their way in through the entrance. They didn’t even care about finding a seat anymore. The large LCD screen above the stage was high enough that it could be seen from anywhere in the large hall and big enough for everyone, even those at the very back of the hall, to clearly see what was going on.

 “Can you believe how lucky we are? Shi Hang got 81% by the Chinese Esports Organization! 81%! That’s fucking mental! And now he’s playing at a uni tournament! Shit we’re lucky!”

“What do you mean, 81%?”

“How do you not know this? Noob. Whatever. That’s the grading system the Chinese Esports Organization uses for professional players. Basically, our whole system with the C, B, A grading, right? Well that’s just for amateur players. The real high level pros are beyond A+ and then you start looking at this percentage thing. Daybreak Hermes, yeah? He’s 87.5%!”

“So AyDeeCee or Shi Hang is almost as good as Hermes? Doesn’t that put him like right below the Seven Kings? What the fuck is someone like that doing at a university event? That’s kinda stupid if you ask me.”

“Now you get it! That’s what we’re all saying! It is stupid! But at the same time… We’re going to get to see Shi Hang play again! A real pro player dude! We’re gonna see him play! WOOOOOOOOO!”

“I don’t get what’s so exciting about it… Why would a pro do this? He’s bullying Team Shanghai! Those kids worked so hard and now they have to play a pro? What the fuck!”

“Eh, whatever. Who knows why a pro does things? I don’t. I’m just here to enjoy the games and then hopefully some drama!”

The other teams competing sat in stunned silence after the news was revealed. They forgot to do anything while the audience behind them exploded. But finally some started talking. Players expressed their frustration with Zhejiang University. They complained that it wasn’t fair to field a former professional player and that it was bad sportsmanship. Many more started discussing how this change was going to affect Zhejiang University’s team. They agreed that without Shi Hang, Zhejiang University was a solid B grade team, maybe even B+ grade. But with Shi Hang in the mid lane, they argued that Zhejiang University could reach as high as A grade. Not just because of Shi Hang’s skills as a Midlaner, but also for his skills as the team’s captain. He was said to lift the level of his entire team up with his presence alone!

Everyone in the player seating area eventually turned their attention to Fudan University’s team. Aurous, a former team member from Fudan University, had made it as a professional player and was currently on the main roster of an LPL team. The intention from the teams was clear. They wanted Fudan University to contact Aurous and have him contact Shi Hang to figure out what was going on. It didn’t take much pushing. Fudan University wanted to find out the truth as much as the others. Their team captain sent Aurous a text message, and Aurous replied that he was on the case.

✹

Aurous was in the middle of a League game when he received the text message. He wanted to ignore it and focus on the game, because his team was losing. But from the corner of his eye he caught a few keywords. He scrunched his nose and scratched his neck. Shi Hang is playing where? What? He glanced at his monitor, which was a dull grey and would be for another couple of seconds, and then reached out for his phone and read the string of text messages. Shi Hang is playing in the Collegiate Cup? Wut? Did he lose it? He looked at his screen again. His team was losing across the board. The game was still winnable, but it would take a lot of effort and even that might not be enough. He shrugged and mumbled, “Screw this game.” Then he hit the Enter key and typed /surrender. The vote went four against one. The game camera panned to his Nexus and he watched it explode.

Aurous barely noticed the Defeat message on his screen. His eyes were trained on his phone as he was scrolling through his list of contacts, searching for a name he hadn’t thought about for quite a while. He finally found it and pressed the call button. Then he placed the phone to his ear and waited for the call to connect.

Shi Hang accepted the call shortly after and said, “Yo—”

“What the hell, dude!” Aurous exclaimed. “The hell? You’re actually playing in the Collegiate Cup!?”

“Yeah,” Shi Hang replied. Then he casually added, “I’m at the venue right now. Playing in a bit.”

Aurous fell silent for a brief moment, caught off-guard by the calm reply from Shi Hang. He finally shook his head and shouted, “The hell are you doing!? You’re a former pro! What the hell are you doing at that stupid tourney? Are you drunk? Is that it? Did you wanna bully some noobs because you drank too much? Seriously, wake the hell up! You’re a former pro! Just, just don’t.”

Shi Hang chuckled and replied, “So what if I’m playing again? Whatcha you gonna do about it? Hey, I know! How about you go and play for Fudan! You’re still studying there, right? It can be like old times again! But if you’re not up for it, I’ll just bully your little noobs! It’ll be fun!”

“Fuck off! Seriously, what’s going on? Why are you doing this?” Aurous asked through gritted teeth. Shi Hang is one of the laziest bastards I know! There’s no way he’d play just because. What the hell is he thinking? He breathed in and closed his eyes. What could possibly have him join the uni team to play at that tournament? He breathed out and said, “We’re friends, right? Be straight with me. Why are you playing?”

There was another silence. Aurous even checked his phone after a couple of seconds to make sure the call was still connected. But then Shi Hang’s voice finally came through the small speaker. “Sorry, I can’t say. I’m helping someone keep a secret. Well, I think I am. Anyway, I can tell you this. Come and watch, or even sub in for Fudan University, because you’re not going to want to miss this. It’s gonna be good.”

✹

There were 20 minutes to go before the East China Regional Quarterfinals would officially start. The tournament staff was running around backstage, double and triple checking everything. Chu Fang watched them move about, a clipboard in his hand. And everytime someone came up to him, he checked the next thing off his list.

“Lights good!”
“Audio check!”
“Stream is live!”
“Internet is stable!”
“All four teams playing tonight are backstage!”
“First two teams will go up on stage in five minutes!”

Chu Fang looked down at his list. We’re good to go. The guys have done a great job! He looked down at a monitor to his side that showed the livestream. It gave a good view of the crowd, sometimes zooming in on someone who’d dressed up as a League of Legends Champion. Two casters were talking in the background, hyping on the audience by telling them about the match-ups. This is all looking great! Even that guy is doing good right now! He grabbed his walkie-talkie and said, “Good work, everyone! I’ll treat y’all to dinner after the games are over tonight!”

“Boss, you’re the best!”
“Thanks!”
“Free dinner! Awesome!”
“Can we go to the sushi bar around the corner?”
“SUSHI!”

Chu Fang smiled as he looked back down at his clipboard. In big bold letters at the top of page two it read the first series of the day. Zhejiang University versus Team Shanghai. Shi Hang versus Lin Feng. I wonder if Fang Hao is right. Is Shi Hang really going to make a comeback because of Lin Feng? His eyes glazed over as he recalled his conversation with Fang Hao a couple of hours earlier.

⁂

Chu Fang walked into Fang Hao’s office to report on the developments at the Winter Collegiate Cup. He looked at his boss, who was working on one of many piles of documents on his desk, and said, “The only big thing to report is that Zhejiang University sent in the paperwork for Shi Hang. Looks like he’s going to play for them. He knows Lin Feng is playing for Team Shanghai.”

Fang Hao looked up from his work and asked, “Shi Hang is actually going to play again? That’s a surprise.”

Chu Fang nodded and continued, “He is. I seriously started to believe he was done with League. It’s been three years since he retired from competitive play. I really thought he was throwing everything he had into his studies. But it looks like he couldn’t stop himself from coming back after he learned about Lin Feng.”

Fang Hao laughed and said, “Graduating school isn’t a bad choice for most people. It gives them a career path and is far more secure than trying to become a professional player in any sport, really. But…” He briefly paused to turn his head and look out of the window. He then continued, “But there’ll always be some who dare to abandon the safe route to chase their dreams. Shi Hang is just like Lin Feng in that regard.”

“Wait,” Chu Fang said. He looked at his boss, searching for the meaning behind the words. Just like Lin Feng? The only thing that can mean is… His eyes widened and he asked, “Do you really think… Are you really saying—”

“Yep!” Fang Hao replied, laughing. He looked at the sun high up in the sky and continued, “AyDeeCee is just like Lin Feng. They’ll both be looking to make their comeback. The LPL is going to become a lot of fun very soon.”

⁂

Chu Fang was pulled back to the present by his walkie-talkie. A member of staff had a question. He answered and then let his mind drift again. Fang Hao thinks AyDeeCee is going to make a comeback… I really want to see that! Him and Lin Feng were so talented! There just wasn’t as much money in the scene when they were crushing it, not to mention that they were still really young back then. But they’re a bit older now! Even if they haven’t played competitively for years, they’ve got the talent to make it back to the top!

Another thought struck Chu Fang. He furrowed his brows and looked up at the ceiling. So many people quit the competitive scene after Lin Feng left. AyDeeCee is just one of them. But there’s also Silent and Autumn just to name two. What if they’d come back? And we have Eleven who’s doing random stuff in the LSPL, but what if he came back to his old form? What if all the talented players from then came back for a second round? Just thinking about it! A smile blossomed on his face before crumpling again. It’s such a shame AyDeeCee and Maple are playing each other right now. This could’ve been the Championship game! They shouldn’t have played each other until the very end! What are the other games going to look like— Wait! Lin Feng will have to show off just how good he is if he wants to win this! Everyone will finally get to see just how good he is! If he makes it to the next round, no one can underestimate him anymore! The other teams are only going to try harder and maybe we’ll see a few more familiar names step up! This could become very interesting! He grinned and mumbled, “This is gonna be good!”

✹

Team Shanghai was waiting backstage for the tournament officials to send them up on stage. But when the tournament official walked up to them, it wasn’t to tell them about the start of the game but about a change in Zhejiang University’s lineup. He told them that Shi Hang was replacing Zuo Cheng in the mid lane. This elicited a strong response from Team Shanghai.

Zeng Rui slumped back in his chair, staring at the tournament official in disbelief. Is that why I got that uneasy feeling the other day? Because of AyDeeCee filling in? Why is this happening? This isn’t fair! He was a professional player! How do they expect us to beat him!?

Zhang Hao’s reaction was fiercer. He jumped to his feet and shouted at the tournament official, “What the shit! This is stupid! How can we beat a former professional player?” He then shook his head and fell back in his seat, mumbling, “We’re fucked. It’s over. Shi Hang is playing… We were going to lose anyway. Zhejiang University was the better team, and now they’re like a professional team. What do they think we are? We’re just high schoolers! Playing at the university level is enough to push us! But winning against a real pro? That’s just impossible! It’s over. It’s over… We haven’t even started playing, but it’s over. It’s so over! This is so unfair!”

Tang Bingyao bit on her lips and glanced at Lin Feng. AyDeeCee is a mid main. Lin Feng is going to have to face him. She nodded at herself. Mhm! I promised that I was going to stand shoulder to shoulder with him! He wasn’t going to carry me, we’re supposed to carry together! Now I can prove that to him! I have to beat Sun Ruinian and help him beat AyDeeCee!

A giggle sounded, breaking the tense atmosphere. The players from Team Shanghai turned to look at An Xin. She covered her mouth with her hand and winked at Lin Feng. She said, “Well, this is all your fault. It only seems fair you have to deal with it.”

“His fault?” Zhang Hao blurted out. This sentiment was shared by Tang Bingyao and Zeng Rui, their expressions of confusion saying more than words ever could.

But Lin Feng didn’t look surprised or confused. He grinned in his excited way and said, “So he came out of retirement just for me?” He started laughing before adding, “Wow! I never expected he would actually do that! He’s giving me a ton of face! I’ll make sure to thank him!”

“Are you crazy?” Zeng Rui asked, his eyelids twitching. What is wrong with him? This is even crazy for him! Doesn’t he realise how absolutely fucked we are? Shi Hang played in the LPL! He was the best Midlaner from China in the early seasons! Everyone knows how good he is! Why doesn’t the thundering dumbass realise how fucked we are!? He glared at Lin Feng and gritted his teeth. So what if you beat him a couple of games in solo queue way back in Season 1? That doesn’t make you the better player!

An Xin stopped giggling. She looked at Lin Feng, waiting for his eyes to meet hers, and asked, “Do you think you can win against him? Are you up there yet?”

Lin Feng pursed his lips but then shook his head and replied, “I’m not up there yet.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. I’m far from it. But this is the best test I could dream of! He is exactly the kind opponent I need to be playing against! His eyes flashed open and blazed with determination! He nodded at An Xin and said confidently, “But I’m going to play against him and give it my all! You guys worry about the rest, leave him to me!”

The soft yellow glow of a table lamp shined down on the dark wood of a desk. Zeng Rui sat hunched over his notebook, scribbling down everything he believed could help Team Shanghai get an edge over Zhejiang University in the next round of the Winter Collegiate Cup. There was a clean layout in his notebook. He started with a basic strategy, after which he would delve into the strengths and weaknesses of the different team members within the specific strategy. And then he’d continue with opportunities and solutions to potential problems. He gathered far more information than they’d ever use.

Zeng Rui put down his pen and fell back in his chair, exhausted. He slowly massaged his temples to fight the light headache pounding at the sides of his head. I’m exhausted. Mentally drained. Why is this so much more complicated than my homework? He glanced at a different notebook neatly placed at the corner of his desk. I spent two hours after dinner working on my homework, from 7 to 9. I felt fresh. It was easy. And then I spent two hours working on… this. He shook his head and grimaced. Draft phase, early game map rotations, team comp synergies, general play… I’ve looked at everything! I know Zhejiang University’s strengths, I know how they play when they win a lane and also what they do when they’re losing a lane! I have more information on them than most professional coaches would bother with!

Zeng Rui shook his head and sighed loudly. My research into our opponents is why we’ve been doing so well in the Shanghai 16 School Tournament. I was prepared for everything! But there’s a massive difference between preparing for a game against Shanghai International or Zhejiang University… Zeng Rui closed his eyes and mumbled, “Hah, Zhejiang University, Zhejiang University…”

Zeng Rui flipped back a couple of pages and then traced his fingers over the many lines of his writing before stopping on one particular section. Team Shanghai’s weaknesses against Zhejiang University. Tang Tang is a B grade ad-carry and Samsara is an A- grade ad-carry. The solution is simple. I have to make up for that difference and help Tang Tang stay even in the lane. Difficult, but doable. He traced his finger over the next couple of lines detailing exactly how he was planning to help Tang Bingyao and references to different team comps and scenarios. He finally stopped on the next weakness. Zhang Hao in the top lane. He’s a good player at the high school level, but there’s just something missing when we look beyond that. He’s a C+ grade at best. That’s just not good enough. Zhejiang University’s Toplaner is a B grade player. There really isn’t anything we can do about that. BunBun can babysit him, but that won’t help the team as a whole. We’re going to have to accept that the top lane is lost. The other lanes just have to do better.

Zeng Rui turned the page of his notebook and searched through his work until he found a header that read ‘Team Shanghai’s strengths’. He frowned and moved his lips around. The thundering dumbass. How good is he exactly? I still don’t know. A grade or better. But that’s good enough for now. Zhejiang University’s Midlaner is much weaker than that. If we play around Lin Feng, we have a real shot at winning this series. It’ll just come down to whether he can carry hard enough to make up for Zhang Hao’s loss in the top lane. But that should be easy enough, so long as he doesn’t do something crazy again like that idiotic Zed engage against Fuzhou Tech! He got so lucky with that one. Lucky that we were there!

Anger blossomed in fiery tendrils from within Zeng Rui’s stomach and burning its way through his body. He closed his eyes and shook his head. Calm it! Nothing good comes from acting on impulse! Lin Feng is carrying. We win. The end. He forced a smile and went to the next strength. BunBun. Her I can trust. She’s basically the best player on the team. Not just for what she does during the game, but more than anything how she helps us outside the game. The way she coaches and the trust she builds up with the others… With her on the team, I think we have at least a 70% chance of bringing this series home. Maybe even more if the thundering dumbass plays his best game!

But why do I feel like I’m missing something? Zeng Rui rubbed his stomach and scrunched his nose. He glossed over his work again and reverified every bit of his analysis. It’s right! Everything is here! I even have a section on the possibility of AyDeeCee stepping in! I doubt he will, but it can’t hurt to consider the possibility. It’ll be hard, but BunBun said Lin Feng could beat him. Then why, why am I feeling like this? Why does it feel like something is wrong? He suddenly grimaced and shook his head. Is this what it means to be nervous? Is that it? Am I just nervous about our match against Zhejiang University? He shook his head again. No. That’s not it either. BunBun. Why am I thinking about her again? She hasn’t been on her A-game since she got sick, but she’s still really good. Well, most of the time anyway. Hmm… He scratched his chin and looked out the window behind his desk. She has been acting a little strange. There have been a few things here and there. She’s just good at hiding it. Is something wrong with her? That could become an issue…

✹

The An family had an apartment in one of the highrise buildings in the center of Shanghai. An Xin sat in her room that had a beautiful view of the city. Moonlight spilled in through the open window and cast a shadow behind her. She was calmly staring at her monitor, which showed the end game lobby of a League of Legends game. Then she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. The corners of her lips dropped and her head fell ever so slightly forward. Another loss. I just can’t play like I used to. My Lee Sin is… isn’t what it used to be.

An Xin was playing on her Korean account, hovering between Master and Challenger. By all rights, this was a very high ranked account. But it wasn’t anywhere near where An Xin felt like she could be. She opened her eyes and sighed loudly. “It’s just not enough,” she mumbled to herself. Then she clicked to the endgame lobby and looked at her statistics. It’s just not enough. I’m nowhere near where I used to be! This game would’ve, should’ve been a win! I made six minor slip-ups and two major mechanical blunders! I can’t make those if I want to play at the highest elo! This isn’t even near my top either… At most, at most I’m playing at two thirds of where I was before.

Four years ago, when Lin Feng took his break from League of Legends, An Xin continued playing. She played for years and became one of the best players on the ranked ladder. Not just in China, but also in Korea. She had fought her way all the way up to the Top 10 at one point. But since her name didn’t have the Chinese prefix, no one knew. That all happened before she was diagnosed. Back when she could still fully use her hand. An Xin opened her eyes and looked at her mouse hand. It was slightly trembling and just holding onto the mouse put a strain on her body. I was so good, far better than most professional players! I played against the best players in the world all the time and beat them! But then, then this happened. She threw her hand up in the air. And now I can’t even get close to my mechanical skills from back then! I’m practically useless like this…

An Xin had never told anyone about her achievements in League of Legends. She enjoyed the anonymity. Even Lin Feng wasn’t aware of just how high she’d climbed. But that was all in the past. She struggled to pinch her mouse, the veins in her hand pushing through her skin. They even look dead! She pinched her eyes closed and sucked back the tears. They look grey and sickly! Why won’t my body send more blood there!? Stupid body! She kicked against the back of her desk, frustrated. I’ll never get back to where I was! I won’t be that good again, just because my body won’t function like it should! This is so unfair!

The tears were becoming hard to hold back. An Xin stood up from her gaming chair and jumped on her bed. She grabbed the blankets and wrapped them around her, then buried her head into her pillow. This is so unfair! Why does my body have to be this stupid? Can’t I just have a normal body? I just want to be healthy! Why can’t I have a chance to play League like I know I can!?

✹

Zhang Hao balled his hand into a fist and punched up into the air, shouting, “Yes! Another win!” He grinned and felt his entire body trembling from excitement. “Phew! That was so close! But I won it! That’s another 13 League Points!” He clicked on his profile and looked at his match history. He’d played three games tonight in Ionia Master. The first was a loss, but the next two were both victories. He nodded and said, “Sweet! I’m doing great today! At this rate, I might finally get to Challenger!”

The excitement quickly died down when Zhang Hao said that last word. Challenger. He’d been dreaming for years to reach that high on the ladder. But it was too difficult. He wasn’t good enough. I need to get better. The team depends on me not screwing up! That’s bad enough. Even Tang Tang is quickly getting a lot better than I am! I’m still only a C+… If I don’t improve to a B grade player, what can I really do for the team? I’m just going to hold them back! He gnashed his teeth and mumbled, “I don’t want to be the weakest link! The others are all training so hard to win, and then there’s me! They’re getting better and I, I’m just not. I’m Master while they’re all Challengers! I need to become a B grade before our game against Zhejiang University! One way or another!”

Every time he said their name, Zhang Hao felt a massive pressure weigh down on him, suffocating him. Zhejiang University. He pursed his lips and pushed back against every fiber in his body that was screaming at him to give up. They’re the last opponent before the main tournament! We have to make it to the main tournament! We won’t lose because of me! I’m not going to let that happen! He suddenly shouted, “I want to win! I want to win so badly!”

Zhang Hao pressed his hand against his chest, feeling his heart beating in rapid excitement. We’re playing to win the whole tournament! Winning! He tried to calm himself down a bit by regulating his breathing, but just the thought of winning a tournament of this magnitude had his heart smashing into his ribcage. He chewed on his tongue and entered the ranked queue again. His eyes burned with determination as he vowed, “Zhejiang’s Toplaner is B grade. I’m C+. I’m going to become a B- grade player before we play! I’ll show everyone that I’m not the weak link! I’ll help the team and at the very least I won’t lose my lane! I’m going to beat that guy!”

✹

Tang Bingyao pushed the door to her bedroom open and walked in. It was a small, almost empty room. Her bed was to one side and had seen better days. There was some wear and tear in her sheets that revealed the yellow mattress and pillow, and the only thing remotely eye-catching was a pink cartoon bear blanket. Just that the colours were faded. Next to her bed stood a wardrobe, missing a drawer and one door and standing at an angle. The last piece of furniture in her room was her desk. It was empty except for an old lamp and a Jinx figurine.

It’s so cold. Tang Bingyao shivered as she walked over to her window. It was closed, but she could still feel a breeze slipping through the cracks. I really need to do something about this, sometime… She chewed on the inside of her cheeks as she closed her curtains, which didn’t really close anymore because a part of the rails was broken. She then took out her pyjamas from her wardrobe before curling up in her bed and hiding under her blankets. Hmm, I need to save up for a new mattress too, but the blanket is still nice and warm. She smiled a bit as she pulled the blanket up to her chin.

Tang Bingyao stared up at her ceiling, patches of paint only partly connected to it. Also that… Mhm. She closed her eyes and focused on other things. I finished my homework, so that’s all good. Grandma took her meds and is in bed. I’ll make her a nice breakfast in the morning. She took a deep breath, nerves slowly grabbing a hold of her. She started scratching her neck and chewing on her tongue. We’re playing against Zhejiang University next. I have to play against Sun Ruinian next. He’s so good. But we need to win this tournament! How am I not going to feed against him? He’s so much better than me!

The sounds of a car slamming the horn followed by sirens came from outside Tang Bingyao’s bedroom. She pulled the blanket over her ears and tried not to think about that and instead about the upcoming quarter finals match against Zhejiang University. I’m going to lane against Samsara! And I don’t care how good he is, I’m going to beat him! Mhm! She clenched her blanket in her iron grip, fighting back the anxious, almost nauseating feeling in her stomach. I don’t want to be a burden to the team and Lin Feng! But it’s more than that. I want the team to lean on me! I want to be the carry! I want to help Lin Feng win!

The thought of his name was enough to flush Tang Bingyao’s cheeks red. The last hints of coldness were blasted away by the sudden heat Lin Feng’s name carried with it. She reached her arm out from underneath the blanket and searched for something on the floor, relying completely on touch. It was her very own ‘nightstand’. When her fingers wrapped around something cold and hard, she smiled. She traced her fingers around the edges before holding the item up right in front of her face, the weak moonlight burning through her curtains enough illumination to make out the rough shape of it. I love this Draven keychain. Mhm! I’m going to fight for you! I’ll show everyone how good I really am! Samsara has nothing on me! With you by my side, I’ll always win! For you… For you I want to win. You trust me. I won’t let you down. I don’t care who we’re playing next, or how good they are, I’ll give it my all. All for you.

Tang Bingyao held the Draven keychain with both hands and placed it close to her chest. She smiled and nodded at herself. I’m not going to let you drag me along. I’ll stand on my own two feet! Mhm! I’m going to stand by your side and pull my weight! And together we’re going to win it all! First up Zhejiang University, then the Collegiate Cup, and after that whatever game you want to win next!

✹

The quarterfinals of the East China Regionals were being held exactly seven days after the Round of 16. The eight teams gathered at the venue again, as did the many fans that were hoping to witness some high quality gameplay. Every round was a direct elimination. And every next round, the matchups were bound to get more exciting. This was especially true for the quarterfinals in East China. Zhejiang University was taking on Team Shanghai, who were a far stronger team than the fans originally expected.

The audience was loudly discussing and arguing about the potential outcome of this best of three series. Many said that Zhejiang University was the strongest team, while Team Shanghai used a combination of skill and luck to make it as far as they had. But there were others, led by Ouyang, who noted that everyone kept underestimating Team Shanghai and that Team Shanghai kept proving them wrong. But this discussion took a sharp turn when a tournament official walked up on stage with a microphone and announced, “There has been a change to Zhejiang University’s roster. Shi Hang is replacing Zuo Cheng in the mid lane. Zuo Cheng will stay on as a substitute.”

“It’s not April 1st, is it?”
“Are they for real? Is this for real? AyDeeCee is going to play?”
“Oh my god, Zhejiang University actually did it? They’re going to let a professional player on their team? What bosses!”
“AyDeeCee is playing? We’re going to get to see AyDeeCee? SWEEEEEEEET!”
“What the… Do they have no shame?”
“Hahaha! Can you believe it? They fucking recruited a professional player to beat a high school team!”
“OH MY GOD! AYDEECEE IS GONNA PLAAAAAAAY!”

It was only the other day that Su Xue had walked in on Lin Feng playing on the Korean server. She didn’t think much of it initially. Then she saw his rank. He was playing in Challenger! Every fiber in her body had screamed in shock! She wasn’t an especially talented League of Legends player herself. The intricacies of high level plays were completely lost on her. But she knew from the many online discussions she’d read that Korean Challenger was far more competitive and hardcore than Ionia Challenger! And to the best of her knowledge, Lin Feng was only an Ionia Challenger. So when she found out that he had been given a Korean Challenger account, her brain short-circuited.

The next couple of minutes were a blur for Su Xue. All she remembered was that she’d sat down in a chair next to him to recover from the shock. Then, when she started feeling a little better again, she’d grabbed her phone and looked up the CN•HOOK2 account. The statistics she found were another massive blow to her already fragile mind. Whoever had carried the account to Challenger had done so in basically the minimum number of games required with an exceedingly high KDA! And while she was still recovering from this new information, Lin Feng calmly told her that his goal wasn’t to just sit at the bottom of Challenger, but to fight his way to the top of the ladder! Top 5 at the minimum!

Chinese players, even professional ones, weren’t good enough to reach the top of the Korean ranked ladder. There were only a few who could make their way into the Top 100! But Lin Feng told Su Xue in his usual excited tone that he was going to reach the Top 5 and then push for the Top 3 and maybe even higher! She didn’t know how to respond to that, sitting in her chair and mindlessly nodding along to whatever he said.

After a short discussion, Lin Feng convinced Su Xue to let him play one more game that night. She’d ordered some food and watched him play. That was when she slowly overcame her shock. She witnessed a level of skill that she didn’t know how to explain. Lin Feng was beating Korean Challengers, and it didn’t look like he was having any trouble in doing so! He was getting kills and pushing for objectives, which was enough to convince her that maybe he was good enough to climb the Korean Ladder. She stopped worrying about how impossible it was for Lin Feng to reach the Top 5, and instead started thinking about how amazing it was going to be when he hit it! She was convinced that he’d become the most famous Chinese player and that every League of Legends fan in the world was going to be talking about him!

Su Xue planned to have a first row seat for Lin Feng’s rise to fame. She wanted to watch every second of his ascension on the Korean Challenger ladder! He told her when he was going to play again and she’d looked at her schedule. It was normal stream time for her. But she could make up for time lost streaming, while she would only get one chance to see Lin Feng rise to the top of the rankings. So she told him that she’d end the stream early and that he could come to her room with his laptop to play.

The time had arrived. Su Xue had turned her stream off and Lin Feng was sitting next to her. But he wasn’t ingame yet. He was taking his sweet time setting up his laptop. She couldn’t take it any longer, already jumping in her chair from excitement. There were a few more seconds of silence before she erupted, “GoGoGo! I want you to climb at least another 10 spots tonight!” She slapped him on his back and added, “I’ll make sure we have some food here after you win the first game! Then you can recharge and go again!”

Lin Feng queued up for a ranked game, then turned to look at Su Xue and said, “Food? Sweet! I’m hungry!”

Su Xue sat on the edge of her seat, intensely staring at the queue. But when the queue still hadn’t popped two minutes later, she slumped back in her chair a bit. She said, “Ah, if I could stream your games… Just imagine how many viewers I would get. A hundred thousand? Two hundred thousand…?” She shook her head in regret. He only has a month to climb to the top of Challenger. And he also has to play his tournament and do his homework and go to school. And. And. He needs to focus on his games. Streaming will just distract him. And I want to sit here and watch him play! She clenched her fist under the table and nodded. I’ll make sure no one can distract him!

“You can stream it if you want to,” Lin Feng replied. “I’ve played with so many people watching, what’s a few viewers on a stream? I won’t get distracted by something like that.”

“No! Nope!” Su Xue flatly refused. She wagged her finger and continued, “Climbing the ladder is the most important thing right now! You only have a month! Everything else can wait until then! That includes my stream.” She looked at his screen and noticed his friends list. She pointed at it and asked, “Right! Didn’t Lightless add you? Did he say anything?”

Lin Feng scratched the back of his head and replied, “I think so? I accepted his friend request earlier and I saw a bunch of messages from him, I just kind of forgot to read them.” He opened the chat log with Lightless and read through the messages together with Su Xue. It looked like an interrogation. Lightless was asking Lin Feng if he was a professional player, if they knew each other and so on. All these questions were aimed in one direction, to find out Lin Feng’s identity.

“Oh, oh!” Su Xue blurted out. She jabbed at Lin Feng’s monitor and exclaimed, “He’s online! Lightless is online!”

✹

The only light in the Dark Glory gaming room came from a single monitor. Lightless sat behind the computer, thinking about playing a couple of games on his Korean account. He opened the client and logged on. Before he even knew it, he was checking his friend list. He’s online! One is online! Shit, is it really him? Is this really the One from DotA? Hum, that would explain so much! And he accepted my friend request! He chuckled and shook his head. What am I doing? Why am I fanboying over someone I don’t even know? Who knows, maybe this guy is someone else entirely. He could’ve just stolen the name…

Lightless’ run in with CN•HOOK2 the other night had left him thoroughly confused. Whenever he met Chinese players on the Korean server, they always went out of their way to add him to their friends list. So he’d taken it upon himself to find out just who was behind the CN•HOOK2 account. His initial searches didn’t yield any results. But when he trudged his way through 14 pages on a Baidu search, he found an article from five years ago. It was a piece on the most famous esports character in China. The author had gathered all the data he could find about One to explain just why One was the best. And in the middle of all that data, there was a mention that one of the alternate accounts One sometimes played on was CN•HOOK2.

I never bothered with former professional players. Don’t think I can name anyone from Season 1. Hum, maybe AyDeeCee, but he played in Season 2 more than 1. Lightless stared at his monitor, playing with a stress ball. But there are a few names everyone knows, like One. You can’t not know him! He was the best player in DotA and the best esports player to ever come from China! And now he’s playing League! He’s on my friend list! Well, I think, anyway. It might still be someone else. But who else could be that good? Just look at his match history!

Lightless stared at his friend list, at that single name at the very top. CN•HOOK2, CN•HOOK2…. He accepted my friend request, that’s enough. I’m already happy he accepted my friend request! Hum! I’m not upset that he’s ignoring me, though I would really like to get a response from him. Just a few words to let me know if it’s really him! Could it be him? Yes, it has to be! He smiled and his eyes lit up with joy. One accepted me as a friend! I can see when he’s playing! And he’s going into a game right now! I can watch him play! Fuck it that he won’t respond to my messages! Maybe I’m being too annoying or something. Hum! That might be it! I’ll be quiet to him and just watch him play! I wonder how far he’s going to climb! I get to watch him climb!

✹

The queue popped. Lin Feng clicked ready and was moved to Champion Select, where he called the mid lane. He waited for his turn and then locked in Viktor. This was a mage Champion who was gaining popularity after the latest patch. Even professional players were picking him up again and it started to look like he might get featured in the next LPL season. His early game was acceptable with strong wave clear and high poke damage. But it was the mid and late game where he really started to shine. He could do frightening bursts of area of effect damage to tear through his opponents!

Su Xue looked curiously at Lin Feng and asked, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you play Viktor before. Do you know how to play him?”

Lin Feng smiled and patted his chest. He replied, “My Champion pool is really deep. My Viktor is good!” And before Su Xue could argue with him about that claim, he added, “Just watch.”

Su Xue nodded and turned her attention back to the screen. The players from both teams locked in their Champions and they moved into the loading screen. There she saw 10 Champion portraits and nine of them had the Challenger border. Her eyes went wide and she pushed against Lin Feng’s shoulder, shouting, “They were all Challengers last season too! You’re playing against really experienced players!”

“Of course they’re experienced! We’re playing in Challenger!” Lin Feng replied, his eyes locked on his monitor.

It didn’t take long for the game to load. Lin Feng’s Viktor spawned in the Blue team’s fountain, where he bought his starter items. He then walked out of the base towards the outer tower in the mid lane. The minions followed behind him a bit more than a minute later. They charged down the lane with their weapons raised and clashed against their opponents!

Lin Feng clicked around the mid lane at a frightening pace. He was making countless micro changes to his game to manipulate the minion wave and have it push slightly towards his Blue outer tower. His opponent was Varus, a Champion who relied on his long range arrows to deal damage. I’m not going to let him free farm from under his tower. All I have to do is let the minion wave push my way and force him out of safety. He’ll come for the minions, and then he’ll open himself up to a gank! He grinned and balled his hand into a fist around his mouse.

At 4 minutes, Varus fell for Lin Feng’s plan. He overextended. The Jungler on Lin Feng’s team, Vi, also saw this happen. She was already close to the mid lane and quickly ran over. Once there, she charged up Vault Breaker! She ran into the lane while gathering power in her fist before unleashing the vault shattering punch! The momentum behind this strike carried her forward!

Lin Feng’s Viktor flashed, appearing right next to Varus with a mottled flash of light. He then conjured chaos magic into a heavy gravitational field underneath Varus, slowing him! There was a brief moment of time in which Varus could escape before the stun hit. But right then Vi smashed into him and knocked him off his feet! A second burst of gravity suddenly slammed down on Varus! It pulled him towards the middle of the Gravity Field and stunned him! Lin Feng’s Viktor followed up first with Ignite, an unquenchable flame draining away Varus’ health bar, and then Death Ray! Viktor’s robotic arm pointed a finger at the ground. A beam of pure chaos shot out and cut a straight line through the ground and Varus!

《First blood!》

“NICE!” Su Xue exclaimed. She slammed her flat palm on Lin Feng’s shoulder and added, “That was a perfect play!”

Lin Feng nodded, not even distracted by the burning sensation from the slap. He was completely focused on the game right now. Got the kill. Now push the lane, go back to base and get the item advantage. There’s nothing this Varus can do anymore. My poke is only going to hurt more and he’s going to be pushed far behind his outer tower!

The next couple of minutes were all Viktor. He zoned Varus away with Gravity Field, which had a large enough radius to push Varus one way or the other. And knowing where Varus was going, Lin Feng had his Viktor follow up with a Death Ray. The chaos beam became nearly impossible to dodge and burned away at Varus’ health bar.

At 7 minutes, Lin Feng’s Viktor was Level 6. He’d unlocked his ultimate skill and was searching for an opening to land the killing blow. But Varus was playing far too defensively. He didn’t take a single step out from behind his outer tower. If he isn’t coming to me, I’ll just have to go to him! I got him down to half health, one combo should be enough to kill him! Lin Feng grinned and pressed down on the D key–Flash!

Viktor flashed forward and placed down a Gravity Field underneath Varus! Gravity slammed down on Varus and hampered his movement speed! Then a Death Ray tore through him followed by Chaos Storm! Viktor conjured a singularity on the field which interrupted skill channels and periodically exploded with chaos damage! Half health turned into no health before Varus could even Flash away!

《You have slain an enemy!》

“You got him! You got him again!” Su Xue cried out. Her hands were trembling from pure joy! She went on, “You’re playing Viktor so aggressively! He looks so much more dangerous like this! The pros should watch you play him! Maybe Lightless is watching you and taking notes!”

✹

Lightless leaned back in his gaming chair and stared at his screen, incredulous. It was showing the game that CN•HOOK2 was playing. What a kill! That was played perfectly! I couldn’t have done that any better myself! That’s One for you! He shook his head and smiled. Viktor isn’t an assassin like Annie, Syndra or even Ahri. His burst damage isn’t that strong and he isn’t as good at sticking to targets either. It takes far more skill to play Viktor. But when you’ve got that skill, like One obviously does, you can make these plays! Hum, this is so exciting! His timing and damage calculation are just perfect! And he’s doing it like it’s nothing!

“Hum, that settles it,” Lightless mumbled. Viktor is all about calculating damage and possible next moves. The opponent can make these calculations just like Viktor can. It all comes down to skill. This game is in Korean Challenger! Varus is really good! But this Viktor is so much better that he can get a solo kill like that! The amount of precision and skill that takes! That’s why this has to be One! Hum he’s good!

Lightless grinned and said, “CN•HOOK2, you’re One. It all adds up. One was the best DotA player, and DotA is just another MOBA like League of Legends. If he has been practicing a bit, I can see him win everything. There are so many skills that are transferable between the two games. Insane to see he’s still better than most of the active professional Midlaners out there though. What a guy. Hum, what a hero!”

✹

The delivery guy brought the chicken cutlet Su Xue had ordered practically as the Nexus exploded and the victory emblem appeared on Lin Feng’s monitor. He didn’t queue up for another game right away, instead greedily reaching out for the hot food and sinking his teeth in the soft, tender meat. This is delicious! He grinned and licked the grease from his lips, before looking back at his screen. He furrowed his brows. I’ve improved so much since playing on this account, so why is my stomach twisting into a knot again? Why does it feel like this is still not enough? Is it the Winter Collegiate Cup? AyDeeCee? He bit on his lips and shook his head. He isn’t playing, probably. But it won’t hurt to get a lot better before then! I’ll just have to win every game! He grinned again and clicked on the ‘Play’ button.

Sun Ruinian stared wide-eyed at Shi Hang. What the… He wiped the spit and beer from his face and looked down at his wet t-shirt. He said, “Huh? What the? Why did you—”

Shi Hang shook his head and hurried to the kitchen. He came back a moment later with some napkins and shoved them into Sun Ruinian’s hands, saying, “Here. Clean yourself!”

“O-ohkay?” Sun Ruinian mumbled, confused more than anything. He shook his head and used the napkins to dry his face and catch the drips of beer rolling down his neck. What just happened? What came over him? Why did he spit at me? Was it something I said? All I said was something about that Midlaner. Was there something special about that? He looked back up at Shi Hang, who was standing in front of the coffee table and staring at the wall. What’s got into him? I’ve never seen him lose it like that! He chewed on his lips for a brief moment and then asked, “Uh, Shi Hang? You okay?”

Shi Hang abruptly turned his head to look at Sun Ruinian and then smiled. He waved his hands and said, “I’m good, I’m good.” He then searched around his pockets before spotting something on the floor. A pack of cigarettes. He grabbed it and took one out with trembling hands. “Lighter, lighter,” he mumbled while searching around and pulling a lighter from his pocket. He placed the cigarette between his lips and lit it before turning back to look at Sun Ruinian and asking, “Repeat that. Who is their Midlaner?”

Sun Ruinian pinched his nose. Why is he smoking? He knows I can’t stand the smell! And why is his hand trembling? What is wrong with him? He bit on his lips before replying, “Lin Feng. That’s what the document says.”

Shi Hang took the cigarette from his mouth and clenched his hand into a fist to stop it from trembling. The cigarette crumbled and ash fell down on his pants and the carpet, but he didn’t react to it. He didn’t even notice it. HOLY FUCK! LIN FENG!? Could it really be him? The Maple? That kid was only 15 back then, so that makes him what, 19 now? It could really be—

“D-do you know him?” Sun Ruinian asked, careful.

“Know him?” Shi Hang muttered. Then he started laughing uncontrollably. “Know him? Know him?” There are tens of thousands of people with that name just in Shanghai. But Lin Feng and An Xin playing League together? There can be only one! There is no such thing as coincidence! Everything about it screams Maple! He’s 19, so high school age. And if anyone could stomp Sun Ruinian, it is him. He sucked hard on his cigarette, letting the smoke fill his lungs before breathing it out in a perfect circle. He then shook his head and walked to the bathroom, saying over his shoulder, “Give me a bit. Gonna take a piss.”

✹

Shi Hang sat down on the toilet, the cigarette hanging from his lips, and stared at his phone. The smartscreen was showing a name and phone number. Chu Fang. If anyone knows what’s up, it’s him. He always knows everything. He closed his eyes and grabbed his stomach. Why am I suddenly so nervous? It’s just a phone call! He grinned and shook his head before pressing down on the call button. He then just about pushed the phone into his ear and waited for the call to connect. It did a brief moment later. He shouted into the little microphone, “Chu Fang! It’s me!”

“Shi Hang? Hello,” Chu Fang replied, confused. “Why are you callin—”

“Is it him?” Shi Hang interrupted.

“Is it him? Who? What are you tal—” Chu Fang stopped himself and then changed to a different question. “Did you—”

“Is it him?” Shi Hang asked again.

There was a short silence on the line. A moment that felt like it lasted forever. But then Chu Fang’s voice sounded again. “It’s him.”

The phone slipped from Shi Hang’s hands and fell to the ground. His entire body trembled and his mind turned to mush. It’s him. It’s really him. Oh my god, he’s back. He’s back! Sun Ruinian has to play… Holy shit! He glanced down at his phone and mindlessly reached down to grab it. Then he just stared at it, stunned. Four years. You left for four years. I thought you’d never come back. But you’re back! It was about time! I’ve been waiting for you! He deeply breathed in and on the exhale placed the phone back to his ear. He said, “Alright. Thanks.”

Chu Fang asked, “Do you want his number?”

Shi Hang thought about it for a moment but then shook his head. He replied, “No need. I’ll see him soon enough.”

✹

Shi Hang stared at his phone, dazed. He’d ended the call with Chu Fang a couple of minutes earlier, but still hadn’t recovered from the shock. He grabbed a new cigarette from his pocket and placed it between his lips. Then he took out his lighter and lit a small flame. The strong taste of tobacco filled his mouth as smoke flowed down into his lungs. Lin Feng… He closed his eyes, recalling events from years ago. I first found out about League right when it was released. A couple of my friends were also into it and we even convinced the uni to let us form a club. Then the Chinese Esports Organization announced the Collegiate Cup. That was our first chance at playing competitively. Of course we jumped at it! And we won. Of course we won! We were great! I was the best ad-carry in the entire tournament! He shook his head and smiled. I really wanted to be the best ad-carry, and I thought I could be. But that quickly changed after I got a taste of the real competitive scene. My ad-carry skills weren’t really all that. I still remember those games against Silent. I got destroyed by him! That’s when I knew I could never play ad-carry at the highest level.

A thick cloud of smoke filled the small bathroom, but Shi Hang didn’t pay any attention to it. He barely even noticed it. I got so upset when I played him, because I knew I’d never be that good. He was just so much better! But I wasn’t bad at the game. I just hadn’t found my role. He helped me realise that I had to look at the other positions. That’s when I found out that the mid lane is far better for me. In the mid lane, I was the best! He rocked his head back and forth and bit on his lips. For a very brief moment, anyway. Then he came. I’d never seen anyone quite like him. Never have. He was just so much better than everyone else. He shook his head and laughed. “Lin Feng, Lin fucking Feng.”

“Hah!” Shi Hang shook his head again and sighed. He took another puff from his cigarette before tossing it in the toilet bowl. “What am I doing? I’ve become old.” He flushed the toilet and washed his hands, then walked back into the living room where Sun Ruinian was still waiting for him. He won’t stand a chance against Lin Feng. No one does.

Sun Ruinian looked over his shoulder at Shi Hang, concerned. What’s gotten into him? Was something wrong with his beer? But beer doesn’t really go bad, right? Just tastes more like water when it gets old? Or maybe he had some bad takeout food again…? He probed, “You feeling okay?”

Shi Hang waved the question away and instead asked, “You’re playing against Team Shanghai next? Against Lin Feng, right?”

“Yeah?” Sun Ruinian answered slowly. “We are. Why?”

Shi Hang nodded and said, “Good. You get your wish, I’ll play. Make the arrangements.”

Sun Ruinian felt his jaw drop. He stared at Shi Hang and didn’t know what to say. What? Huh? What? He? Did he just say he’s going to play? Shi Hang is going to play? We’ve been asking him for months to help us out! Years! And he always says no! It’s always kiddy league this and kiddy league that! He always talks about losing face, and now, now, now he wants to play? He’s going to play!? He blinked a couple of times. We have people coming to Zhejiang University just for a chance to play League with Shi Hang! They practically worship him! We all do! And now he’s going to play for us again! With him on the team, screw Team Shanghai, we’re going to win the whole damn thing! Shi Hang is a former pro! He’s far better than anyone else playing at this tournament! We’re going to win! We’re going to win!

Shock morphed into joy, then morphed into bliss, and finally morphed back into confusion. Sun Ruinian looked at Shi Hang and searched for an explanation in his friend’s face. He was lecturing me only 10 minutes ago. It was beneath him to play in the Collegiate Cup. Even if we lose without him, it’s beneath him. And now he suddenly wants to play? What changed? Lin Feng. Their Midlaner. That’s when it happened. He changed when I mentioned that name! What is so special about that kid? He asked in an uncertain tone, “Shi Hang, you always said no. Until I mentioned Lin Feng… Is it because of him?”

No, that’s ridiculous! Sun Ruinian shook his head and looked away. Lin Feng was in middle school when Shi Hang was a professional player. How can the two of them possibly know each other? They can’t have any history, can they? But… He scratched the back of his head and asked, “Do you know him?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Shi Hang replied, shaking his head. He walked to his fridge and continued, “Just take care of the paperwork for me. Oh, and you’re going to want to put me down as your Midlaner.” He shook his head again and opened the fridge to grab another beer, mumbling, “Fate really works in mysterious ways…”

“Yeah, I’ll take care of the paperwork,” Sun Ruinian replied. He then scrunched his nose and asked, “What was that last bit?”

“No, it’s nothing,” Shi Hang replied. He turned around to look at Sun Ruinian and continued, “Anyway, this is looking like it’s going to be the most difficult Collegiate Cup yet. You can forget about Goalie. He is playing. That’s the only player we should be worrying about. And since he is playing, I can also play.” He shook his head and grinned. I thought he quit for good. It’s been four years. But he’s back! I wonder how many people know. Hmm, since no one has talked much about Team Shanghai, I guess there is almost no one who knows. The Shanghai Esports Association is really dirty inviting him to play at a university tournament. But this is a great opportunity for me to welcome him back to the scene!

Shi Hang looked at Sun Ruinian and asked, “What are you still doing here? You got what you wanted! I’ll play in that silly little tournament. Now get your ass outta here and practice! Practice your ass off and then some! You guys need to get a lot better, fast! If you drag me down, I’ll have your ass!” He grabbed Sun Ruinian’s coat and threw it at his friend. Then he opened the front door and kicked him out.

After closing the door, Shi Hang leaned with his back against it and stared out the window on the other side of the room. The sun was disappearing in the distance, its last rays shining into the room. He’s back. Maple is back. There’s going to be a massive reaction in the world of esports. And I just got myself first row seats. This is gonna be good!

✹

A former professional player had discerned Lin Feng’s identity as Maple. Shi Hang had played against Lin Feng in the mid lane on multiple occasions and the two had become good acquaintances over those games. But that was four years ago. In the present, Lin Feng had only briefly thought about Shi Hang before focusing back on more important matters. There was the quarter final match against Zhejiang University in the Winter Collegiate Cup that he had to prepare for with Team Shanghai, and more importantly he wasn’t anywhere near the Top 3 on the Korean Challenger ladder yet.

One had challenged Lin Feng to reach the Top 5 on the Korean Challenger ladder. The fact that One asked him to do it was enough for Lin Feng to really try. But when One gave him the CN•HOOK2 account, that determination grew to a whole new level. It didn’t matter how difficult it was and how long he had to try, he would succeed! And then some!

There were 200 players on the Korean Challenger ladder and Lin Feng started at the bottom. After the first round of wins, he found himself ranked 170th. This was a phenomenal result and something that most Chinese players would find great pride in. But it was nowhere near enough for him. He had to climb higher, and he had to do it a lot faster too. The end of the season was fast approaching and the games ahead of him were only going to become more difficult.

Lin Feng stared at his computer screen that showed the Top 10 on the Korean Challenger ladder. Top 2. Both of them are Rake. He somehow found the time to get two accounts all the way to the top. And his third is only a few ranks below! That just shouldn’t be possible! He has to win almost every single game to get that far! I can’t do that. He grimaced and slumped back in his chair a bit. He’s so much better than I am. But I’m not giving up! I’m going to play! I’m going to win! I’m going to get better and kick him off his throne! I’m the best! He jumped up from his seat and pumped his fist in the air, exclaiming, “YEAH!”

An alarm beeped. Lin Feng glanced over and saw the time. 11 P.M. already? I promised Su Xue I’d let her watch. He grabbed his laptop and walked through the hallway to Su Xue’s bedroom. From far outside, he could already hear her voice. “Enough, enough! Stop this! I’m busy tonight! I told you guys at the start! I’ll make it up some other time! Hey! I’ve already made up for it plenty of times! Don’t act like I never stream until 2 or even 4 A.M! I do that all the time!”

Lin Feng pushed the door to Su Xue’s bedroom open and walked in. He placed his laptop down on her desk and glanced at the long string of messages flooding her chat.

「wooah woah woah! Xue xue, why are you ending the stream so early!」
「didn’t you say you’d stay upw tih s us until 3!」
「xue xue, you’ve changed!」
「ReAl GaMErS DOn’t SlEEp」
「something fishy is going on! I can smell it!」
「brothers, it’s time to mass unfollow!」

Su Xue glared at her camera and said, “You guys have had enough fun! I’ll be back tomorrow. Good. Night.” She clicked on the button to end her broadcast and closed the tab, not even bothering to read the latest string of messages that were mentioning Lin Feng. She then turned to look at Lin Feng, changing her glare into the brightest smile, and asked, “Are you ready? Did you finish your homework? Come on, hurry hurry! Faster! I wanna see you play! Plug in your charger and log into the Korean client! I want to see you play!”

Team Shanghai showcased what was by far their strongest performance in the Round of 16 series versus Fuzhou Tech. But they were still a new team with clear weaknesses. Their teamwork left a lot to be desired and the individual players weren’t necessarily the best in their role either. Zhang Hao in the top lane was quite clearly one of the weakest Toplaners in the entire Winter Collegiate Cup, and though Tang Bingyao had a lot of untapped potential, she was only average right now. That left Zeng Rui, An Xin and Lin Feng. Zeng Rui was an uncontested A- Support. Everyone recognized that. But An Xin and Lin Feng were new to the Shanghai scene. No one knew them beyond the few games they’d seen. And in those games, An Xin had played a strange method that looked lacking, while Lin Feng had a habit to be better than his lane opponent without actually looking all that much better.

Fuzhou Tech was the strongest opponent Team Shanghai had faced in the Winter Collegiate Cup. But just like in the previous rounds, they played at a level right above their opponents and beat them. There were no flashy plays, except from Lin Feng at the end of the second game, and nothing that stood out in particular. So it wasn’t all too surprising that Team Beijing didn’t think too much about Team Shanghai.

Team Beijing was a team of monstrous talents handpicked by the Beijing Esports Association. They were the best players from their region specifically recruited to beat the teams from the Shanghai and Guangzhou Esports Associations. And Goalie belonged to Team Guangzhou. The Beijing Esports Organization learned about Goalie early on, and so they knew they needed a lot more than just a university level team.

Zhejiang University was a solid B team. It could be argued that Sun Ruinian lifted them up to a B+ grade, though not everyone agreed with that notion. But Team Beijing was indisputably B+ grade. In most years, this was enough to compete for the title. And odds were that it was enough this time around as well. But Fan Yuan, the vice president of the Beijing Esports Association, wasn’t satisfied with his team. He looked at the individual members in the office room, one at a time, before lecturing them. “Stop underestimating your opponent,” he said before turning his back to them and looking at the projection of the replays on the wall. He then slapped his ruler against it and continued, “These five players are handpicked by the Shanghai Esports Association! They have beaten every opponent they’ve faced so far! And odds are that we have to play against them in the main tournament.”

Fan Yuan took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Our main roster consists of a B grade player, two B+s and two A-s. We have no Goalie in the mid lane, but we’ve got a strong team. Probably stronger than Team Shanghai. But not when we can’t even be bothered to take our opponents seriously. Team Shanghai has strong players. We need to… How do I get through their egos? He turned to look back at the seven players from Team Beijing and said, “Nothing good will come from looking down on them. All I’m asking is to consider their strengths and be ready to play against them, and beat them.”

A chuckle sounded in the quiet room. One of Team Beijing’s members shook his head and said, “You really think they’re going to make it to the main tournament? With that team? They’re playing Zhejiang University next, right? The way I’m seeing it, Zhejiang University has the better team. We just watched both games. Zhejiang University looked far more convincing.”

“I’d put my money on Zhejiang University. We should focus on them,” another team member chimed in.

The other players from Team Beijing all agreed. They started talking about the Zhejiang University versus Stepping Stone University game, commented on how Sun Ruinian had truly reached A- grade in the ad-carry role, and argued that with the line-up Zhejiang was sporting they really couldn’t be disregarded. Gradually, the arrogant and derisive undertone disappeared from their conversation and was replaced with respect. Zhejiang University was a strong team and deserved their full attention.

“True, true. Zhejiang University is indeed a strong team,” Fan Yuan agreed, nodding. I finally have their attention now. Good. We’ll focus on Zhejiang University first. He continued, “Zhejiang University won the first Collegiate Cup four years ago. Their founder became one of the best professional players in League of Legends, though he quit years ago. Our latest intel on him says he’s focusing on his studies.” He briefly paused before adding, “But that also means he’s still at Zhejiang University. Which means he is eligible to play. You might’ve heard his name before. AyDeeCee.”

Fan Yuan had joined the Chinese esports scene midway through Season 2. He was a young man eager to show his worth and climb the ranks of the Chinese Esports Association. To that end, he’d spent every waking minute of his life learning everything there was to learn about China’s competitive League of Legends scene. We were all still learning back then. There was just so much to do and not enough time to do it. He had briefly glanced at the data from before Season 2, but quickly cast that aside. He’d reasoned that players from the past weren’t going to help China win, only active players could do that. And the most famous active player in Season 2 was AyDeeCee. He was a phenomenon! It was actually exciting to go and watch games back then just because he was playing! I still remember how high we graded him. 81%! All this talk about B grade players and A grade players… At 80%, you transcend that rating system and truly step into the realm of a professional player! AyDeeCee took that step years ago! He was in a realm of his own! If he really starts playing again… He shook his head and turned to look at Yu Ping. I wonder if Yu Ping can beat him. Doubt it. Even after all this time, I doubt Yu Ping can beat AyDeeCee. He sighed and said, “Yu Ping, prepare to play against AyDeeCee, just in case.”

Yu Ping raised an eyebrow. Why would I need to prepare for him? He hasn’t played in years… He grinned and said, “Don’t worry about him. I’d love to show my skills off against him.” He paused for a moment, then shrugged and added, “He’s an old man from Season 2. It’s Season 5. Almost 6. This is our season.”

✹

Team Guangzhou had moved to a luxurious apartment building that the Guangzhou Esports Association had rented just for them. It was their little, very large gaming house. They were gathered in the main training room together with their coaches and were reviewing the games played in the East China Regionals. More specifically, they were talking about Zhejiang University and discussing the possibility of AyDeeCee stepping in to lead Zhejiang University to the main tournament.

Goalie listened to what his interpreter told him and then turned to look at his coach with a blank expression. He slowly enunciated, “Ay. Dee. Cee?” Then he grinned and shrugged, before leaning over to his interpreter and whispering a message in Korean.

The interpreter turned to look at the coaches and translated, “Goalie says he remembers that someone with that name played all the way back in Season 2, maybe even Season 1? He calls them a ‘relic of the past’. We’re now in a ‘new’ period of League of Legends that doesn’t care about ‘old fame’. Goalie also says that…” He briefly paused and turned to look at Goalie, who nodded at him. He bit on his lips before saying, “Goalie also says that if AyDeeCee really comes back, that he’ll ‘beat him back into the coffin he came crawling out from’.”

The two coaches both looked at Goalie who was still smiling. His pale, starved face created a terrifying expression. They almost recoiled back, but eventually just shook their heads. They were accepting of the confidence bordering arrogance, mostly because Goalie was one of the most talented players in all of League of Legends. His teammates, on the other hand, didn’t care one bit for Goalie’s antics. They were used to the strange things he said and of the fact he spent so much time behind his computer that he skipped more than a few meals. If anything, it motivated them to train harder too, just to be worthy to play together with him.

“That’s right! We’ve got Goalie! What’s some old bloke gonna do?”
“Lawl! Is Zhejiang University going to cast Dead Rite to bring AyDeeCee back to life?”
“Did that guy even play in the last three years? How good can he really be?”
“What Goalie said! A relic of the past! He shouldn’t come back. He’ll just stain his legacy!”
“I hope that old fart stays in his retirement home! The young rule now!”

✹

A loud sneezing sound boomed through a dorm room in Zhejiang University. Shi Hang, a 25 year old man, rubbed his nose clean on his sleeve and complained, “What the hell is going on? I’ve been sneezing all day! Is someone talking about me, or am I just getting sick?” He looked out of the window over an almost empty square down below. The coldness that winter brought carried people inside and made them turn on their heater. Shi Hang wasn’t any different. The temperature in his room was so high that he wasn’t even wearing a sweater, just a clean white t-shirt.

Shi Hang walked to his fridge and took two bottles of beer out. He looked over his shoulder and asked, “Want one?”

The other person in the room, sitting on the edge of a seat fiddling with his fingers, was Sun Ruinian. The ad-carry from Zhejiang University’s esports team chewed on his lips and shook his head. “No thanks.”

Shi Hang shrugged and put one beer back. Then he grabbed a knife and took the cap off his beer. He took a large swig and walked back to the small couch in his living room. There, he let himself fall down and put his feet up on the coffee table in front of him. “So, what led you here?” he asked. “Looking to mooch food off of me again?”

“No, no,” Sun Ruinian replied, shaking his head. “I’m not here for that…” He pursed his lips and looked at the man sitting across from him. Would people still come to our esports club if they saw you like this? You know you’re the most popular guy at our university, right? Everyone wants to join our esports team because of you! They don’t even care about Rake or Hermes, they only talk about you! They’re proud of being part of the esports club you founded!

Shi Hang took a second sip from his beer, a special brew that had a salty bitterness to it. He let out a satisfied burp and leaned further back in his chair. Sun Ruinian, Sun Ruinian. He grinned a bit and nodded to himself. I did well recruiting him. He’s a great player and when I couldn’t be bothered with the club anymore, he happily picked everything up for me. I don’t have to do anything anymore. And he’s doing really well. We’ve got more than 500 members and are the university’s biggest club! Sure, many join because of me, but Sun Ruinian is making the right advertisements for that!

The smile suddenly disappeared from Shi Hang’s face. He moved his lips around and observed Sun Ruinian, disgruntled. But the number of members and how it’s going at the university is one thing, being competitive is something else. We used to compete. Really compete. But since I left the team, we’ve been falling behind. We haven’t won the Collegiate Cup even once since I won it. We didn’t even make the Finals last year! That was a damn disgrace! How could they get knocked out in the semis? It’s below us. He took another swig from his beer and shook his head. What’s next? We don’t even make it to semis? Are we going to drop out in Regionals? Fuck that! Sun Ruinian has a lot of talent, and he’s got the right attitude. But something is clearly missing. What did we have when we won? We had me. I was A grade back then, closing in on A+. I was better than Sun Ruinian is now. Far better. He’s talented and all, but he’s just not good enough. We need more!

“I’m really not here to mooch food off of you!” Sun Ruinian repeated, a cold shiver spiking down his spine. Why is he looking so mad? Did I do something wrong? What did I do wrong? He chewed on the inside of his cheeks and played with his fingers, nervous. He’s the founder of our esports club and I’m screwing up. But when I do something wrong, he’s always really blunt about it. If I screwed up, he would’ve told me already, right? What am I supposed to… I should talk. Maybe I can convince him to join our team… He closed his eyes and tried to calm himself down. Then he opened his eyes to look at Shi Hang and said, “We won the Round of 16 yesterday. The quarter finals are up next. We can qualify for the main tournament again.”

Shi Hang took a large sip from his beer and looked at Sun Ruinian, uninterested. “Quarterfinals? Still the East China Regionals, right? That’s hardly worth mentioning. The only thing I care about is that you win that tournament. Come back to me when you have.”

Sun Ruinian smiled bitterly and complained, “You make it sound so easy, but it’s not. It really isn’t.”

Shi Hang raised an eyebrow and snorted. He said, “I won it four years ago, didn’t I? So let’s just assume I have a pretty decent idea about the skill required. And you guys? You aren’t that much worse than we were back then. So what’s the deal? Why aren’t you winning?”

“Because I’m not you!” Sun Ruinian exclaimed. He bit on his lips and looked down at his shoes. I’m trying, I really am! But I’m not you! You’re better. Even back then you were already far better than I’m now. Not just as an ad-carry but also as a shotcaller and team captain. He took a deep, long breath before saying, “You know, if you help—”

“Enough,” Shi Hang cut Sun Ruinian off. He shook his head and added, “Stop this. You keep trying it and I keep saying no. It’s starting to annoy me. I played in the LPL, you know that right?” He briefly paused to let his words settle in, then shook his head and continued, “How can I possibly lower myself to play in this kiddy league? Everyone will make fun of me. And they would have every right to! I’m too good to play in that tournament. That’s the end of it.”

I know, I know! That’s what you keep saying! Sun Ruinian rubbed his eyes and sighed, tired. He argued, “Yes, but have you seen the teams competing this time? They’re far better than befo—”

“So what?” Shi Hang asked, curling his lips into a frown. “They brought in kids, yeah? From high school? And you’re telling me they’re better than you are? What? You want me to come and show those kiddies the skills of an actual professional player? Do you really not hear how ridiculous that sounds?”

Shi Hang looked at Sun Ruinian and kept shaking his head. He continued, “Don’t think I haven’t paid any attention. I know about the three high school teams. Team Beijing looks decent. B+ maybe? You can beat them. I don’t see an issue there. And then there’s the Guangzhou team as well. I read something about a Korean import. What was his name again? Goalie or something, right? He’s the best player in the tournament? A+?” Shi Hang was still shaking his head and started grinning. “You do realise that my ‘grade’ is far above A+, right? This whole grading system, it’s for amateur players. It’s for university students, and not for real professional players. Do you really not see how weird it would look if I stepped in? Sure, nothing is stopping me. But nothing is stopping God Roundy from playing either, is it? But is he playing? No, of course he isn’t! He’s a professional player! This is an amateur tournament! Can I beat Goalie? Of course I can! Jesus! But I’m not going to lower myself to that level. I’m just not. And that’s the end of that.”

Sun Ruinian nodded in understanding. I know all of that! I know! It doesn’t make sense for you to come back and help us! But we both know how good our… how good my team is. We’re not good enough to win this tournament. We’re just not! And yes, I get why you don’t want to play. But with you, we’d win! That’s why I’m here again to try! I have to! He bit on his lips and wanted to argue, but held himself back.

“Right,” Shi Hang finally said. He took a quick sip from his beer and wiped the foam from his lips before asking, “Who are you guys playing in the next round anyway?”

Sun Ruinian grinned. Here it comes. He’ll laugh at me. He’ll call me useless. He shook his head and said, “The high school team from the Shanghai Esports Association. Team Shanghai.”

“Hoh? And they’re the team you want help with?” Shi Hang asked, worried. He sat up straight in his chair and even took his feet off the coffee table. He continued, “You mean you have to play against the team handpicked by the Shanghai Esports Association. Shit, they made it all the way to the quarter finals? They must be really good! You better not underestimate them. I want you guys to beat them—” He couldn’t keep the facade up and started laughing. He leaned back again and said, “That was a joke, if you didn’t catch on. I don’t know how good they are, but since I haven’t really heard anything about them, I’m sure you guys are better. Easy qualification for the main tournament, right?”

Yep, there it was. He made fun of the team I think we might lose to. What do I do now? Sun Ruinian smiled bitterly and replied, “We’ll do our best. I’m not going to underestimate them, because if we don’t give it our all, I’m not sure we can even beat them. I actually don’t know how we’re going to beat them.”

Shi Hang frowned in honest surprise and asked, “What? Are they actually good?”

Sun Ruinian nodded and explained, “Yeah, they’re surprisingly good. Their ad-carry and Toplaner are easy enough, but the other three members…” He briefly paused to take a deep breath and then continued, “Their Support is Zeng Rui. He’s an A- Support. He’s good, but not unbeatable. Then there is their Jungler. An Xin. I’m not sure what to think of her. Her gank timings and pathing gave me the chill—”

“WaitWaitWait!” Shi Hang interrupted. An Xin? He sat up straight for real this time and looked Sun Ruinian in the eyes. “An Xin? The player in their Jungle is called An Xin?”

“Yeah, that’s her name. I can show you,” Sun Ruinian replied, confused. He looked at Shi Hang doubtfully and asked, “Is something wrong? Do you know her or something?”

Shi Hang waved his hand and said, “Ah, it’s fine. I’m fine. Go on. Where were you? Just their Midlaner, right? What’s so bad about their Midlaner?” He raised his beer bottle and let the light fall on the glass. Just a bit left. He put it to his lips and emptied its contents into his mouth.

Sun Ruinian nodded slowly and said, “Yes. Their Midlaner. That’s the real problem. The others are good, but I can see how good they are for the most part and I can come up with a way to beat them. Then there is their Midlaner… I don’t know. The way he was playing, there just was something about it…” He shook his head and raised his shoulder before continuing, “I just don’t get it. I’m afraid he’s far better than Zuo Chong. I really don’t know what to do about this Lin Feng—”

The bottle of beer slipped from Shi Hang’s hand and fell on the ground, while the beer in his mouth went down the wrong pipe. He coughed violently and spit out the beer across his table, spraying Sun Ruinian. Tears sprung in his eyes from the pain, but he didn’t notice it. The shock was too great. LIN FENG? He coughed, choked, and couldn’t see much through the black spots clouding his vision. But he still jumped up and over the coffee table. He then grabbed Sun Ruinian by the shoulders and shouted into his face, “WHAT? LIN FENG!?”

There was no one who paid as much attention to the games from Zhejiang University as Tang Bingyao. Not even Rollfire. She zoned everything out. All she saw was the game playing on the large LCD screen. But even then, she wasn’t watching the bird’s eye view when it was focused on the top lane or mid lane. She was only paying attention to the Botlaners. To Sun ‘Samsara’ Ruinian. He’s good. He’s so good. Zeng Rui is right. He’s far better than I am! Everything he does, it just… Mhm. It looks perfect! She chewed on the inside of her cheeks and moved her head from side to side. He’s an A- ad-carry Zeng Rui says. I’m B. Maybe B+ on a very good day. But I’m not A-.

There was an intrinsic difference between B and A grade players. It was a vast chasm separating the cheerful amateur from the real professional. Tang Bingyao stared at the minimap on the large LCD screen throughout both games. She watched Sun Ruinian carry the first game on Tristana and the second one on Jinx. It’s something about the way he plays. It looks so clean and effortless! She briefly glanced at Lin Feng before turning back to look at the LCD screen. Kind of like how Lin Feng always makes his plays work. Mhm! There is something there that I’m not seeing. I’m missing something. She nodded at herself and breathed out. They’re better. Just a lot better. I’ll hold my own against any ad-carry in B grade. But Sun Ruinian? He’s better than I am. I can’t beat him. I might not even be able to stay even against him in lane!

Tang Bingyao had felt pressure before, like in the finals of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament. But the pressure she felt back then and right now were on a completely different scale. I wasn’t always winning the bot lane in the Shanghai 16 School Tournament, but I could see the differences in skill. I knew I was better, even if I didn’t always play better. And maybe in the finals I wasn’t exactly better… But I could see how good my opponent was! But him? Sun Ruinian? I can’t even tell how good he is. He is so good that I just don’t know how much better he is! Everything he does just looks perfect!

Another replay started on the large LCD screen. It was a teamfight in Game 1 of Zhejiang University versus Stepping Stone University. The game was 17 minutes in when both teams gathered around the Dragon Pit. They threw skillshots at each other and were searching for an engage. Zhejiang University found the opening first and jumped on it. More specifically, Sun Ruinian’s Tristana Rocket Jumped on it. She dodged the crowd control skills thrown her way, killed the low health targets first, and then kited back while killing the high health targets. It was a flawless fight where she never stopped firing cannonballs into Stepping Stone University’s team.

Tang Bingyao placed her hand over her chest, feeling her heart smashing into her ribcage. He’s so good! Mnh-mnh, I can’t beat him. I can’t. He’s too good! That was such a beautiful fight! It looked like he was dancing through them! How do you play against that? What can I do against him? We’re playing against them in the next round, and I can’t beat him! I’m going to lose and I’m going to… She clenched her fists and tensed her jaw. I can’t lose! But how can I not lose when I have to play him…?

Zeng Rui noticed how quiet Tang Bingyao was and saw the twisting expressions on her face. From serious to worried to something he couldn’t quite explain. What’s going on in her mind? Is she that worried about Sun Ruinian? He looked from Tang Bingyao up at the large LCD screen above the soundproof booths. He’s good, Tang Tang. Yes. He’s very good. There are only a handful non professional players in all of China who can beat him! But he’s been practicing for years! He’s been playing together with his team and training nonstop, while we only started playing together a few weeks ago. Your first tournament game was like two months ago! It’s normal you’re worse than him. But that’s just right now! You’ll get better than him! Don’t forget that it’s already frightening enough that you got so good so fast! He looked down at his hands before asking, “What do you think about him?”

Tang Bingyao didn’t take her eyes off the screen as she replied, “He’s good. Really good.” He isn’t just really good either… She pursed her lips and then added, “He’s better than me.”

Zeng Rui nodded and replied, “They have a strong team. Their Jungler is a B+ grade player and their other laners are all somewhere in the B grade. But their bot lane is their best lane.” He briefly paused before adding, “I’m not expecting you to reach Sun Ruinian’s level in the next few days. I just wanted you to see how good he is, so that you can prepare yourself for our series against them. He’s going to be your toughest opponent yet. You need to be ready for that.”

Tang Bingyao nodded slowly and mumbled, “Mhm, okay.”

Zeng Rui turned his head to look at the players from Zhejiang University who were sitting a short distance away from them. He massaged his temples. Tang Tang can’t catch up to him. We’re going to have to find a way to play around that. Our best odds are to ban out every ad-carry he likes to play and then aim for a lane swap. But that’s easier said than done. If they see it coming and also do a lane swap, Tang Tang will still be stuck in a 2vs2 against him. And I don’t see her winning that. He’s far better than she is. It’s going to be a real challenge.

Zeng Rui leaned back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling of the venue hall. I knew this was going to happen. We all knew it from the start. The last round in Regionals is going to be harder than the start in the main tournament. There are just too many strong teams in East China. And we haven’t had enough time to prepare for that. We’re so far away from competing against a team like that. They aren’t even the strongest team either. But they could be, and we have to watch out for that possibility. He closed his eyes and thought about Shi Hang. Zhejiang University still has their old team captain. He’s a student there, so he’s eligible. If he decides to play, we’re screwed. He already was an A+ Midlaner four years ago. Luckily I heard he’s busy with graduate school and not interested in playing. But what if he does decide to? What are we supposed to do then? Having to figure something out for Tang Tang and Sun Ruinian is difficult enough. Zhang Hao will also need some help. If the mid lane also struggles—

“Man, I heard Zhejiang University’s captain was good, but this good?” Zhang Hao said, drawing the attention from his teammates. He shook his head and continued, “He has to have basically reached the level of their previous team captain, right? Do you guys think Sun Ruinian is going to go professional just like their old team captain did? You know, AyDeeCee—”

“THAT’S IT! THAT’S HIM!” Lin Feng exclaimed. He grinned and put an arm around Zhang Hao’s shoulder, shouting, “That’s where I remember Zhejiang University from! AyDeeCee! I remember him! I was sitting here trying to think why Zhejiang University sounded so familiar, but it was all because of AyDeeCee! Thanks HaoBro, you’re the best!”

Zhang Hao turned to look at Lin Feng in surprise and asked, “You know AyDeeCee?”

“Of course I do!” Lin Feng replied. Then he grinned and added, “I don’t just know him. I played against him, and beat him!”

Zhang Hao’s mouth fell open and he stuttered, “R-really?”

“Uh-huh!” Lin Feng nodded. “Back in Season 1! I kicked his ass!”

Zeng Rui glared at Lin Feng and wanted to shout at him. Thundering dumbass! What is this nonsense!? You were like 15 in Season 1! How are we to believe you beat a professional player back then? Did you even play League!? He forced himself into long, calming breaths before turning to An Xin and asking, “Did he finally break? I know he has issues. But this… even for him this is crazy.”

An Xin smiled and shook her head. She replied, “No. He’s telling the truth.”

He, he’s telling the truth? The words smashed into Zeng Rui’s ears like a battering ram. His head fell forward and his mouth opened. He stared at An Xin with round eyes before slowly turning to look at Lin Feng, stunned in shock. He, he, he, he, he… He, he, he… He felt a cold shiver run up and down his spine, until he finally muttered, “H-he what?”

An Xin explained, “Lin Feng’s telling the truth. He played against AyDeeCee and he won. I actually don’t think he lost a single game to that guy.” She then looked past Zeng Rui into the distance, her eyes glazing over. The first LPL season. AyDeeCee got bullied out of the bot lane by Silent and decided to switch to the mid lane. There he was the best player, very shortly. He beat every Midlaner in China except for Lin Feng. Lin Feng schooled him! But Lin Feng… Maple only played League professionally for a bit. AyDeeCee stuck around for a while longer and became the best Midlaner again. He was never as good as Maple though.

Zeng Rui didn’t hear another word. Nor did he see what was going on around him. The world before his eyes started spinning, dark spots clouding his vision. Breathe. Keep breathing. BREATHE! He tried to calm himself down, but the shock was just too much. I thought I prepared for everything! I’ve even been looking into how AyDeeCee has been playing lately and considering different tactics to face him! We can’t beeat him, I know that. We’re just not good enough. But that’s okay. He is China’s best Midlaner from Season 2. He even played back in Season 1! Yet now, now, now the thundering dumbass claims he beat AyDeeCee? It’s not possible! It’s not! He shook his head and turned to look at An Xin. Why couldn’t she just tell me that he’s lying? Just tell me that I misheard it! My ears aren’t working normally! This doesn’t make any sense! How can he… How can… He glanced at Lin Feng and felt his eyebrow twitching. How can this be real? I saw him play all the way at the start of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament! It didn’t look that impressive! He was the thundering dumbass! How can he have beaten AyDeeCee? How!?

Lin Feng looked from Zeng Rui to Zhang Hao and back at Zeng Rui. He nodded and said, “Yeah! I know him and beat him! Those games were so much fun!” He then turned to look at An Xin and added, “Who said I have a goldfish memory!? I remember him! I knew I remembered him!” My memory isn’t so bad! I remembered him! AyDeeCee! What was his real name again? Hang something… Ah whatever, I don’t care! He was the founder of Zhejiang University’s esports club! See? I do remember things! And, and… and I haven’t seen him in so long. I wonder how he is.

The name was the key to a large number of old memories. Lin Feng traveled back in time to four years ago, reliving his run-ins with AyDeeCee. I remember that he used to be an ad-carry! That’s how he won the Collegiate Cup! The first edition! He was the first to win it! And he was an ad-carry during that time. A really good one too! It wasn’t until he became a professional player that he made the switch to the mid lane. Lin Feng started grinning. Everyone always asked him why he switched to the mid lane and he would never tell them why. But a couple of us knew! He was practicing in the solo queue and kept being matched up against Silent! They played 11 games in three days. And he lost 11 times! Silent kicked his ass so hard that he ran away to the mid lane! It was so funny to watch him rage quit the ad-carry position!

Silent… crap, I miss you dude. Lin Feng grimaced and felt his stomach in turmoil. But he pushed that down and smiled, proud. We had such a good team. Silent was the best ad-carry in China and one of the best in the world! He made AyDeeCee rage quit his role! And then there was Eleven in the jungle. He was better than Read XIII and basically the best in the world! Then we had Autumn in Support and there was just no one better than him. He shook his head and grinned. Toplaner Fatty. He was one of the best and still is. His performance at Worlds this year was so cool to watch! We were all amazing! Our team, every part of it, was perfect! There weren’t any better players out there! We had the actual best team!

Lin Feng suddenly looked at the players sitting around him. Zhang Hao was still recovering from the shock, Tang Bingyao was staring at the large LCD screen, and Zeng Rui and An Xin were quietly talking about something. He bit on his lips and shook his head. We were all amazing. We were the best! But now… This team isn’t that team. That team is gone. They are gone. I left them. I don’t even know where Silent is! I want to see them again. I miss them. But what do I even tell them when I see them again? How do I face them after everything I did? I was the worst friend.

✹

The China Esports Association and its branches uploaded the footage of the Round of 16 from the various regions to their website. This allowed other teams to check out their potential opponents in the next round, which added a whole new dimension to the games. One of the teams who made a lot of use of this feature was Team Beijing. Fan Yuan, the vice president of the Beijing Esports Association, had gathered his players in an empty room and showed them replays of the games from Team Shanghai and also from Zhejiang University. He then asked the players, “We’ve seen the games. One of these two teams is making it to the main tournament. Tell me what you guys think about them. Talk me through Team Shanghai’s games first.”

The players from Team Beijing shrugged their shoulders and one of them said, “They were okay, I suppose. It looked better than their games in the previous round. Maybe they improved a bit? Eh, it’s whatever really. Just that much isn’t going to put any pressure on us.”

Fuzhou Tech believed that all they had to do to win this game versus Team Shanghai was to keep their eyes on Fiddlesticks. Know his moves and take preemptive measures to stay far away from him! This method worked flawlessly for the first 12 minutes of the game. There wasn’t a single instance where Fiddlesticks could use his ultimate. But that all changed around the 12 minute mark. More specifically, Zed changed. One pair of eyes on him suddenly wasn’t enough anymore. He ran around the map, half of the time using the shadows to cloak his movements. And when he did appear, it was with two sharp blades. He brought chaos to the game. And it was within this chaos that Fiddlesticks thrived.

There was nothing Fuzhou Tech could do once Fiddlesticks cast Crowstorm. They were caught with their pants down. Team Shanghai killed them and then went on to destroy the mid inner tower, inhibitor tower and inhibitor. After which they turned around and made their way to the dragon pit to take the second Dragon of the game. And finally, they recalled back to base to spend all the gold they’d earned in the last few minutes. All the while, the players from Fuzhou Tech stared at their dull grey monitors, waiting for their death timers to run out. It was this calm after the storm that allowed the audience to breathe out and digest the carnage they’d just witnessed.

“No way. No fucking way! How did they lose four Champions there? They didn’t even kill Zed! They didn’t even kill Zed! How is that even possible? They all jumped on him! How did he survive…?”

“Fuzhou Tech is out. They’re done for. It’s over for them! I spoke with their Jungler the other day and he told me they were going to make it to Nationals! And now they’re out this early! That’s going to sting so badly! But what a fight! What a fight! WOW!”

“No kidding! I don’t know what that was. I thought for sure Zed was dead when he did whatever the fuck that was! Did you see him flash-ult that Kog’Maw? How does that even work? And then he just jumped right out before going back in and getting a double kill! Insane! Mental! NUTS!”

“That could’ve been over at the very start of that fight. All Alistar needed to do was respond in time. But at the same time, can’t really blame him that he didn’t. That Zed came out of nowhere and was gone before anyone even knew what the fuck just happened. But still… if Alistar had responded in time, he would’ve killed Zed. And then, then Fuzhou Tech would be the one winning this game…”

“Not really. Never mattered if Zed survived. He was just the decoy to create an opening for Fiddlesticks. Fuzhou Tech lost the moment they committed four players on Zed. That was when they lost sight of Fids and let him cast his ultie.”

Sun Ruinian glanced over his shoulder at the audience and listened to what they were saying. Then he turned his head to look at the casters, who were surprisingly quiet. The initial shock he felt from Lin Feng’s engage and Team Shanghai’s follow up settled down a bit. He pursed his lips and closed his eyes. That guy is right. The fight was over when Zed engaged. He created the chaos his team needed. Team Shanghai knew it from the start. All they needed was a bit of chaos to throw this deadlock wide open. They played that so well.

Zhejiang University’s Jungler sighed loudly, drawing the full attention from his teammates, and said, “I guess that’s it for Fuzhou Tech. Team Shanghai is moving on to the quarter finals.”

“Pretty much,” the Toplaner replied. And the Support chimed in, “Just look at that gold gap! Zed alone can probably 1vs5 them at this point…”

Zuo Cheng hadn’t heard a word his teammates were saying. His eyes were locked on the large LCD screen and his mind was in a complete mess. T-t-that… What. That. It… Zed. He opened his mouth, his jaw trembling, and mumbled, “S-so strong…”

Sun Ruinian nodded to this and said, “Really strong. That was impressive.” He looked at Zuo Cheng and grimaced. Everyone on Team Shanghai played that really well. Leona with the follow up, Fiddle with his ultimate, Ezreal with the damage, Gnar… I guess Gnar wasn’t even there. But Zed. That Zed. He suddenly shivered, a cold spike pinning into his back. He sat up a little straighter and found himself staring at Team Shanghai’s soundproof booth. B+, A-, A… I just keep having to reevaluate him. Every time I underestimate him. And this is just in a single series! There’s something wrong, very, very wrong about that guy! He’s too good! He doesn’t belong here! He looked down at his hands that were shaking, then balled them into fists and pushed them against his thighs. Calm down. Just calm down. Take a deep breath. He breathed in, filling his lungs with air, then blew it all out. But he couldn’t find any relaxation. I’ve seen Shi Hang play so many games. He’s really good! But is he this good? Would he have played this fight just as good as that Zed? Who is the better Zed player? He shook his head, incredulous. This Zed is so good that I’m comparing him to Shi Hang… I’m comparing him to an actual professional player!

✹

An Xin and Zeng Rui had given Lin Feng free reign over the game at 12 minutes. Since then, he’d picked up a kill on Rumble and a double kill on Kog’Maw and Fizz. That all happened within 3 minutes, but it set the tone for the remainder of the game. He spent the gold reward from the kills on finishing two items, further increasing the gap in stats with the players from Fuzhou Tech, and went on a murder spree.

《Dominating!》
《Godlike!》
《Legendary!》
《Legendary!》

The announcer’s voice lacked the superlatives for Lin Feng’s Zed. He didn’t even need his ultimate to assassinate Kog’Maw or Fizz, neither having enough health to survive a basic Living Shadow into Shadow Slash and Razor Shuriken combo. As for the tankier members on Fuzhou Tech, it wasn’t all that different. Zed tore through their health bars, sometimes with and other times without his ultimate skill and Ignite. He killed them all, repeatedly.

But Fuzhou Tech refused to give up. This was their last chance to make it to the next round of the Winter Collegiate Cup. They persevered beyond the 20th minute, arguing that only Zed was fed and that the rest of Team Shanghai didn’t really amount to much. It was a flimsy excuse. They knew it and they knew their teammates knew it too. But it was enough to keep them going. That was, until Lin Feng’s Zed dropped all pretenses and simply walked into Fuzhou Tech’s base to 1vs3 Fizz, Kog’Maw and Alistar. The rest of Team Shanghai was pushing the top lane. Zed was all by himself taking on three members from Fuzhou Tech. And he won. The voice announcer called out the triple kill and moments later Fuzhou Tech surrendered.

Lin Feng’s Zed was running towards the inhibitor tower in the top lane, about to tower dive the two Champions from Fuzhou Tech still alive, when his camera suddenly panned towards Red team’s nexus. The large crystal exploded and the energy inside burst out! Large red letters popped up onto his screen.

VICTORY!

The second game in the best of three series between Team Shanghai and Fuzhou Tech lasted 23 minutes. It was another decisive victory by Team Shanghai, who were moving on to the quarter finals of the Winter Collegiate Cup East China Regionals! The audience had long forgotten about their annoyances with the fact that Team Shanghai was a high school team. They only saw a strong team putting on a phenomenal performance, and that deserved respect. Their cheers rocked the venue!

The original players from High School 13’s esports team were also in the venue. They were on their feet, leading the celebrations for Team Shanghai! It wasn’t until their voices were hoarse that they calmed down a little. Ouyang turned to look at his friends and laughed. He said, “We won! We actually won! See, what did I tell you guys? Lin Feng is a Challenger on the Ionia server! This bro never doubted him!”

Ren Rou giggled and said, “You always believed him? Even when you wouldn’t let him join our esports team?” But then the smile disappeared from her face. She looked at a group of five sitting right in front of the soundproof booth and continued, “I’m just worried about their next round. They’re probably going to go up against Zhejiang University. That might very well be the best team in East China!”

Wei Dong, Chen Ze and Liu Yue looked at Ren Rou and then each other. All joy from the victory over Fuzhou Tech disappeared. They started biting their lips and chewing their nails, but didn’t say anything. They didn’t know what to say. Zhejiang University was one of the strongest teams in the entire Winter Collegiate Cup, everyone around them kept saying. And in their minds, Team Shanghai was still just a high school team. There was a certain amount of respect the former High School 13 members had for the status of a university team.

Liu Yue looked down at his shoes and muttered, “Everyone keeps saying we don’t stand a chance against Zhejiang University. Those guys aren’t even in the quarter finals yet! But no one doubts they’ll beat their opponents. And then us… I wonder if we really don’t stand a chance against them.”

Yang Fan adjusted his glasses and said, “I don’t know. But I won’t say that we don’t stand a chance at all. I’ve watched Zhejiang University play, and yes they’re good, but they aren’t invincible. When I compare them with how our team played today, I’m thinking we have about a 30% chance of winning.”

✹

Sun Ruinian had his eyes closed and was focused on his breathing, until his hands stopped shaking and the cold shiver disappeared from his neck. Then he got up from his seat and said to his teammates, “It’s our turn. Come.”

The other players from Zhejiang University got up from their seats and followed behind Sun Ruinian towards the empty soundproof booth. They walked with straight backs and steady steps, neither too fast nor too slow but just right to show to the audience how full of confidence they were. This round was just another they had to get through on their way to Nationals. Because anything less was beneath them.

“Look! Those five down there! That’s Zhejiang University’s team!”
“Oh my god! Sun Ruinian is soooo hot! HAVE MY BABY!”
“They look so calm! Their opponents must be shitting their pants right about now!”
“I think they are! Hahaha! Look over there, those five! Haha!”

“It is time for the second best of three series in Group A!” Silent Reed announced from behind the casters desk. She held the microphone in front of her mouth and continued, “Over there we have Zhejiang University! I don’t think we need any introduction for them, but let’s give them one anyway! Their captain is Samsara, or Sun Ruinian, one of the best Ad-carries at the university level! He led his team all the way to the semifinals in the previous edition of the Collegiate Cup! And they almost made it to the Finals!” She briefly paused to shake her head and then added, “But University of Science of Technology Beijing— Wow, that was a mouthful! Let’s go with USTB from now on! Anyway, USTB was too strong for them then. It was a big disappointment for the sky-high goals of this team! But they’ve had 6 months to prepare! They’re more ready than ever!”

Rollfire smiled when he saw the second game he was hired to cast. Now this is a series that has my name written all over it! Zhejiang University is a real team! Heck yeah! He grinned and grabbed his microphone. He then stood up and leaned on his desk before saying, “You’re right on that, Silent Reed! Such a shame that they went out too. They almost beat USTB! But they haven’t sat idly by these last few months. I have it from good sources that they’ve all improved tremendously! Did you know that Sun ‘Samsara’ Ruinian even made the massive leap from B+ to A-? He’s practically at the professional level! I don’t think anyone here can beat this handsome monster of an ad-carry! Let’s give it up for Zhejiang University!” He paused to let the audience cheer before eventually adding, “… And whoever they’re playing.”

✹

The players from Team Shanghai sat down in the player seating area at the very front of the venue to watch Zhejiang University’s games. Zhang Hao was playing with his fingers nervously, while Tang Bingyao became even more quiet than usual, her eyes trained on Sun Ruinian. Zeng Rui looked at his two teammates and saw the nerves and worry in their every motion. Then he turned to look at the other two members on his team. An Xin looks like her normal self. I can’t tell what she’s thinking with that smile. He shook his head and turned to look at Lin Feng and then furrowed his brow. What’s the thundering dumbass doing? Is he thinking really hard or something? Why is he scratching his forehead? Why… Why am I still surprised by all the stupid shit he does? I should be used to it by now.

Lin Feng felt the burning gaze from Zeng Rui and glanced over at his teammates. “ZengZeng!” he said, excited. But Zeng Rui only nodded, so he turned back to look at the soundproof booth in which Zhejiang University’s team had taken place. He tapped on his forehead with one hand and ruffled his hair with the other. Zhejiang University… It’s been nagging me for days now! Why does it sound so familiar? Do I know someone from there? That has to be it, right? Why can’t I think of it? I’ll figure it out! He shook his head and turned to look at Zeng Rui who had started talking to Tang Bingyao.

Zeng Rui pointed at Sun Ruinian and said, “He’s a solid A-. Play close attention to him. He’ll make the jump to the professional scene soon.”

“Mhm!” Tang Bingyao replied, nodding. Zeng Rui says I’m a B right now. When I’m playing my game, I can hold my own against B+ ad-carries. But I need to get better! A real A grade player is a professional player! This guy is practically a pro already! I need to watch him play and learn from him! There are many players who never make it to A grade! You need something special for that! If I want to be on Lin Feng’s superteam, I need to find that something special! I need to get even better! Mhm! She glanced at Lin Feng and raised her eyebrow. What’s gotten into him anyway?

Lin Feng had briefly listened to the exchange between Zeng Rui and Tang Bingyao before delving back into his mind. I’m sure of it! I know someone from Zhejiang University! Who is it? Where do I know them from? Maybe if I can figure that out I know. Aghh! This is so annoying! Why can’t I remember this? Stupid memory! Just tell me who I know from Zhejiang University. Zhejiang University. Zhejiang University. He shook his head, annoyed. Think!

✹

The series between Zhejiang University and Stepping Stone University was a massive  one-sided beatdown. Zhejiang University was just far better, so much so that people in the audience only found themselves cheering for one team. The first game lasted 18 minutes, the second making it to minute 20 before Stepping Stone University surrendered. The cheers of the Zhejiang University fans in the audience drowned the venue. It was too easy. Zhejiang University was just far too strong.

“Zhejiang! Zhejiang! Zhejiang!”
“Woooooo! What a game!”
“So fast! Zhejiang! Zhejiang!”
“I attend Zhejiang University! Best uni in all of China!”
“Gee-gee to Stepping Stone University! Well played!”
“Goooooo Zhejiang! All the way to the Championship title!”

Silent Reed sat at the caster desk, smiling. This wasn’t so bad in the end. A lot better since Zhejiang started playing. She glanced at Rollfire and then back at the game. I can finally cast! She giggled and said, “That was something! What a display of pure skill by Zhejiang University! They dismantled Stepping Stone University! It was a little hard to watch at times, to be honest. But this gives us some real hope!” She briefly waited, drawing in curious gazes from the audience, before continuing, “East China is the esports region in China, yet we haven’t won the Collegiate Cup for quite a while now. It’s about time that changes! And Zhejiang University is looking like the team who might just bring about that change! If they keep playing like they are, I think we have a real shot at winning the Winter Collegiate Cup!”

Rollfire grabbed his microphone and said, “Our last win was four years ago. Back then, it was also Zhejiang University who clinched the win! And that was all thanks to their former team captain, Shi Hang! The man doesn’t need an introduction, we all know him as the best Midlaner from China from Season 2! But his replacement is starting to look just as impressive!” Rollfire had completely forgotten about his anger and was even starting to enjoy casting this second game with Silent Reed. He smiled and continued, “Like Silent Reed just said, it looks like Zhejiang University has a real shot at winning this edition of the Winter Collegiate Cup! East China is back baby!”

✹

Chu Fang sat in his private room backstage. The games were finished but he was still watching the videofeed, listening to what the casters had to say. They’re right. Shi Hang was something else. Such a top talent. And now they’ve got Sun Ruinian. He isn’t quite as good, but he’s still a phenomenal player. If this was any other year, they would’ve made it to the main tournament. And then they’d have made it to the Finals and maybe even won it all. He pursed his lips into a smile and lightly shook his head. But this time Lin Feng is playing. Maple is in the house! He grinned at himself. Sun Ruinian can be A- all he wants, he still falls well short of Lin Feng. Even Shi Hang fell short of Lin Feng. He might’ve won the Collegiate Cup, but he never beat Lin Feng. It’s funny how I still remember them competing way back. A couple of times, in fact. And it was always Lin Feng who came out on top. Maple really was the best! Still is.

Fuzhou Tech had given up on defending their outer towers and were even willing to give up on large parts of their Jungle. They recognized that Team Shanghai was stronger right now, but they also knew that they were stronger in the late game. All they really needed was time. And when their line of wards was set up and they had a good idea of where Team Shanghai was at all times, they started feeling some confidence again. The mood in their soundproof booth lifted and they were actively talking with each other, discussing their next move.

Fuzhou Tech’s Midlaner said over the team’s voice chat, “Turtle. Sit back. Scale. Grow strong. We got this!”

“I’m on it!” the ad-carry replied, scanning the map for minions to kill.

The Toplaner chimed in, “I’m fine giving up a couple of minions in the top lane here. If either of you need it to hit your powerspikes faster!”

“Don’t forget to ward,” the Jungler reminded the team. “We need to keep an eye on that Fiddlesticks. If he gets an ult on us, it’s all over.”

“What about the second Dragon?” the Support asked. “Are we challenging it?”

The Jungler shook his head and said, “Don’t worry about that. There’s still a few minutes before it spawns. We’ll decide when it’s about to spawn.”

The game approached 12 minutes. After losing their mid outer tower, Fuzhou Tech also lost their bot and top outer towers. But they ignored the announcer’s voice and instead focused on the parts of the map where they did still hold control. There were Jungle Camps to clear and minions to kill. Each kill on them brought Fuzhou Tech one step closer to their power spike. One step closer to turning the game around.

Fuzhou Tech’s Midlaner had his Fizz recall back to base and spent his gold. “Oh!” he said over the team’s voice chat. “I’m a lot closer to hitting my power spike than I thought. I’m almost there! I think I can take out the Ezreal in the next teamfight! Just a little more, guys! We got this!”

“Already?” Fuzhou Tech’s ad-carry asked. He looked at his creep score and items and added, “I need a bit more. Maybe six minutes. But we’ll have the advantage when we get to the late game!” He glanced at his teammates and smiled. Rek’Sai and Rumble are a strong frontline. Then we’ve got Fizz who can jump to their backline and kill the Ezreal. And their Zed can’t jump on me because Alistar is next to me to protect me! I’ll free fire and kill all of them! This is going to be our game! We’re going to win this! We have to win this! Keep vision on that Fiddlesticks and we got this!

Fuzhou Tech’s Midlaner and ad-carry were on the same wavelength. Both had their cameras panned on the Fiddlesticks. The Midlaner reminded everyone over the team’s voice chat, “We can’t let Fiddlesticks get an ult on us! Keep your guard up.” One Fiddlesticks ult and we’re out. We can’t go out now! Not to this team! We’re ready to make it to the main tournament!

The Support from Fuzhou Tech chuckled and said over the team’s voice chat, “What are you worrying about? Look at our vision! We know exactly what they’re doing! And what they’re doing is slowly pushing towers and stealing some Jungle Camps. Big fucking deal! The Fiddlesticks isn’t getting the jump on us and we’re slowly fighting our way back into this game! And when we’re back in, we’re also winning. It’s easy!”

“Right! We got this! They’re searching for an opening to engage but we aren’t giving it to them! This is going to be a win for us! We just need to keep playing,” the ad-carry agreed.

✹

The players from Fuzhou Tech already saw themselves getting back into the game, while Rollfire was saying pretty much the same at the caster desk. The audience found themselves agreeing with him, quietly conversing with each other. No one understood why Team Shanghai went with Fiddlesticks in this game. They told each other it was obvious that Fiddlesticks wouldn’t get a good ultimate skill off, and they argued how it was possible for a team that showed so much skill in the previous game to fall flat on their faces in this game.

But An Xin and Zeng Rui were far more prepared than most people in the audience realised. An Xin had explained to Zeng Rui how they were going to get a good Fiddlesticks ultimate in a private message before the game even started. And now it was time to share that information with the rest of the team. An Xin smiled and said over the team’s voice chat, “You’re up, Lin Feng.”

“It’s my turn? Really?” Lin Feng asked, growing excited.

An Xin giggled and answered, “Yes. It’s your turn. Fuzhou Tech has let their guard down and we’ve taken everything they were willing to give away for free. Now it’s about time we shut down that Kog’Maw and end the game.”

Zeng Rui stared at his monitor. His Leona was standing on the fountain in their base. It’s all going to come down to him. BunBun told me to trust him. I know I have to trust him. I have to trust in the thundering dumbass. How did I get myself in this situation? He chewed on the inside of his cheeks and closed his eyes. Why is this so difficult for me to trust him? He opened his eyes again and said over the team’s voice chat, “Yes. You lead the charge. If you see the opening, go for it. We… we will follow up.”

Lin Feng’s eyes started shining. His entire face lit up with joy! He glanced at the minimap and exclaimed, “Alright! Follow me!”

✹

At 13 minutes, Lin Feng’s Zed was sitting in the river brush right above the mid lane. Fuzhou Tech was slowly pushing further and further out from their base to kill minions and Lin Feng just knew someone was about to make a mistake. He panned his camera towards the Red topside Jungle. There were several Blue wards there, revealing the Raptor Camp. Where are they? They should be here already. Come on! HA! KNEW IT! 

Fuzhou Tech’s Rumble was searching for minions or monsters to kill. His team had vision of their entire Jungle and they hadn’t seen anyone from Team Shanghai enter, so he felt safe enough to attack the Raptor Camp. But right as he engaged, four blood red shadows dashed at him from all around! They placed a Death Mark on him.

Lin Feng had used Zed’s ultimate skill on Rumble! Death Mark allowed Zed to dash at his target and mark them. He followed up with throwing a Razor Shuriken and Shadow Slashing with his bladed gauntlets! Then he Ignited Rumble, an unquenchable flame tearing through Rumble’s health bar!

“FUCK!” Fuzhou Tech’s Rumble exclaimed. He smashed down on his keyboard to activate Flash. His Rumble disappeared towards the Red Buff Camp. But in his panic, he forgot to look at his minimap. Fiddlesticks had walked through Fuzhou Tech’s Jungle and just arrived right where Rumble reappeared. An Xin’s Fiddlesticks targeted the Rumble with Terrify and then started sapping his life away with Drain!

Lin Feng’s Zed ran towards the Rumble that was walking aimlessly in terror! He auto attacked Rumble twice before the Death Mark triggered. A portion of all the damage Zed dealt to Rumble over the last three seconds was repeated, decimating Rumble’s health bar!

《Killing Spree!》

An Xin nodded and said over the team’s voice chat, “Not bad. Could’ve done without the killsteal.”

“What killsteal?” Lin Feng asked, confused. He narrowed his eyes and continued, “That was totally my kill! I got the pick and dealt the damage!”

Sun Ruinian watched the game on the large LCD screen above the soundproof booths. He chewed on his lips, listening to the audience cheering and the shoutcasters arguing with each other. Something has changed. That Zed. Something about the way he’s playing. It’s like he upped the tempo of the game by himself. How is he doing this? Was he just dicking around until now?

✹

Zeng Rui and An Xin had told Lin Feng to stop thinking a few weeks ago. They explained to him that they would make the decisions and that he just had to follow them. Right now, An Xin had taken that restraint away from him. Lin Feng was allowed to think and he was allowed to play as he liked. The rest of the team would follow him. And that change brought Lin Feng to life. He searched around the map, his eyes blazing with excitement, and said over the team’s voice chat, “Outer towers are gone, so let’s take the inner towers! Mid first!”

Fuzhou Tech’s Kog’Maw and Alistar were defending the mid inner tower when they noticed Lin Feng’s Zed killing minions and pushing the lane. The Kog’Maw player smiled. Nice! Keep pushing those minions here! That’s more free farm for me! And I have Alistar with me, so you can try and ult me all you want, it won’t work! Alistar will just knock you up and then we’ll kill you! He had his Kog’Maw move forward a bit and last hit a minion. This is so perfect! I just need a little bi—

Lin Feng grinned and pressed down on his D and R keys. Zed disappeared from the map, crossing a large distance through the shadows, and only reappeared when four blood red shadows dashed at Kog’Maw and marked him with the Death Mark!

“ZED WENT IN!” Silent Reed cried out into her microphone, her voice blasting through the venue speakers.

Rollfire’s eyes went wide and he screamed, “IMPOSSIBLE! THAT’S SUICIDE!”

Lin Feng pressed down on the R key again. Zed had left behind a Living Shadow when dashing at Kog’Maw, and now jumped back to his original position. But Fuzhou Tech wasn’t about to let him go. In their eyes, he’d overextended far too deeply and his Flash was on cooldown. Alistar flashed forward and then targeted Zed with Headbutt to close the gap and Pulverize to knock him up into the air!

Fuzhou Tech’s Fizz appeared from the Red team’s base and activated his ultimate! Chum the Waters! He tossed a fish at Zed that stuck to its target, slowly swimming in circles around him while a portal to the ocean opened up beneath him! Fizz followed up with Urchin Strike! He dashed through his target and dealt a large amount of magic damage! A shark suddenly jumped through the portal knocking Zed up into the air again and taking a large bite out of his health bar!

“THEY’RE GOING TO KILL THE ZED!” Rollfire hollered into his microphone, responding to the gasps sounding out from the audience.

But Lin Feng didn’t worry. He knew exactly how much health his Zed had and what he and his team were capable of. This play was still completely within his control. He smiled and said over the team’s voice chat, “ZengZeng! Stun them!”

“I’M TRYING!” Zeng Rui yelled. YOU SHOULD’VE SAID SOMETHING! He gritted his teeth and slammed down on his D key. Flashing forward was the only way to close the gap. He knew I had to Flash. He fucking knew! Zeng Rui was looking between the Fizz and Kog’Maw, deciding which one to target with his ultimate. A split second decision, but Fizz made it easy. When he flashed, the Fizz panicked. He hopped away with Playful Trickster and jumped right on top of Kog’Maw. How…? Zeng Rui couldn’t believe his eyes. He activated Leona’s ultimate skill. Leona raised her sword and called down a Solar Flare! The blast slammed into Kog’Maw and Fizz and stunned them both!

“Just like I planned!” Lin Feng exclaimed, laughing. He waited for his Zed to fall back to the ground and then cast Living Shadow! A new shadow appeared in front of Zed and he quickly switched positions with it to arrive next to the Kog’Maw again! Then he threw a Razor Shuriken and slashed at him with Shadow Slash!

Fuzhou Tech’s Rek’Sai dug his way into the battle. He shouted over the team’s voice chat, “BACK! BACK! KOG! CAREFUL! KILL THE ZED!”

“FIDDLE! FIDDLE!” Fuzhou Tech’s Midlaner suddenly screamed.

All eyes were drawn towards the minimap. Not just the players from Fuzhou Tech saw the Fiddlesticks charging up his ultimate skill, the people in the audience noticed it too. As did Rollfire. His eyes went wide and he shouted into his microphone, “They lost sight of the Fiddlesticks! He’s ulting! The Fiddlesticks is going in!”

The Jungler from Fuzhou Tech panned his camera towards the top side Jungle. His heart slammed into his chest and his throat dried out. He hoarsely shouted, “THE FIDDLE IS ULTING! BACK! BACKBAAACK!”

Fiddlesticks was a scarecrow. He stood in the topside Jungle, right above where the fight was happening in the mid lane. There was only a wall of trees separating him from the fight. But his ultimate, Crowstorm, allowed him to jump that wall. He raised his arms and struck a T-pose.

It felt like time froze. Fuzhou Tech’s Fizz, Rek’Sai, Alistar and Kog’Maw were all gathered together. They wanted to run, to escape, to have saved their abilities and knock the Fiddlesticks away! But they’d used their abilities on Zed, and failed to kill him. Rek’Sai and Alistar had used his movement skill to enter the fight and Fizz had used it to escape from Leona but was still stunned by her. Kog’Maw was the only one with an escape. Flash. But even that wasn’t enough to escape the range of the Crowstorm.

The distant cries from a murder of crows arrived. Fiddlesticks jumped over the wall and opened the portal of black death and damnation! The crows appeared and flew around within Fiddlesticks’ sphere of control! He drained everything of their life while the crows dove down and attacked everything that was still living! Fuzhou Tech’s health bars disintegrated!

Kog’Maw’s Flash carried him to the edge of the Crowstorm. Several ticks slammed against his health, but he got out alive! The inner tower was right in front of him and he was almost safe! But then Ezreal’s Trueshot Barrage washed over him! The powerful barrage of energy sheared away at his health until there was almost nothing left! I GOT OUT! I GO— A Razor Shuriken struck him from behind.

《You have been slain!》

The Kog’Maw player stared at his grey screen, numb. He could see the fight that was still going on. Tang Bingyao’s Ezreal had jumped in and was firing bolts of energy, helping the Fiddlesticks who was already dealing massive amounts of damage with his ultimate skill. And then there was Leona running interference and Zed jumping around his shadows. “We lost. This… We… No. Please. NO!”

Fiddlesticks had cast Terrify on Alistar and then Drain! Even his defensive ultimate skill couldn’t save him! His health bar dropped and dropped and bottomed out! But not before Rek’Sai died. She never got to buy items with magic resist or a lot of health. She died within seconds to the murder of crows.

《Double kill!》

“THE FIDDLE GOT A DOUBLE KILL!”
“WOOOOOOO! HAHAHA! WHAT AN ULTIE!”
“GET EATEN BY CROWS! HAHA!”
“WOOT WOOT! BUNBUN IS THE BEST!”
“HOLY SWEET MALONY! CHRIST! WHAT A FIGHT!”
“I thought for sure Team Shanghai was fucked!”
“DAMN! THEY CRAZY GOOD!”

The fight was over. Fuzhou Tech had lost Alistar and Rek’Sai to Fiddlesticks’ ultimate and Lin Feng’s Zed had slain Kog’Maw. Fizz was the only survivor. He’d escaped the Crowstorm and was now running away through his bottom side Jungle. Zed was hot on his heels, and Lin Feng had the patience to wait for Fizz to make the mistake. And then Fizz cast Playful Trickster to hop over a Jungle Wall. Lin Feng grinned and mouthed, “Got you now.” There was a brief moment when Fizz landed where he couldn’t dodge. Lin Feng had his Zed cast a Living Shadow over the wall and followed up with Razor Shuriken! The Living Shadow imitated the skill and threw the shuriken exactly where Fizz landed.

《Double kill!》

The crowd erupted in a second round of cheers, with Silent Reed hyping them on and Rollfire sinking back in his chair. Sun Ruinian watched all of this, pure horror playing in his eyes. That Zed even shut up Dickfire… What the fuck was that? How did he— What happened? He went from a decent Zed to— How did Team Shanghai play that fight that well? Everything just worked perfectly together! They couldn’t have done that any better if they’d tried it a thousand times! And they basically ended any hope Fuzhou Tech had to turn this game around! It’s over. It’s really over. Team Shanghai is moving on to the next round. All they gotta do is play this one out! We still have to win our games, but then, then we have to play against them. We have to play against that Zed. How?

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

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

《You have slain an enemy!》

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

《You have slain an enemy!》

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

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

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

✹

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

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

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

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

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

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

✹

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

✹

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

《Welcome to Summoner’s Rift!》

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

✹

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

《First Blood!》

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

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

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

✹

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

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

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

An Xin added, “I’ll engage!”

“Almost there!” Lin Feng chimed in.

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

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

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

《You have slain an enemy!》

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

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

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

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