The turnaround play that Lin Feng’s Garen had just pulled off with the help of Zeng Rui’s Orianna, it was eerily reminiscent of a similar play made by God Roundy. One that was immortalized in the minds of many League of Legends fans across China, and objectively one of the most spectacular plays in recent memory. It was when God Roundy’s Hecarim pulled off a turnaround 5-man ultimate during the Season 5 World Championships. Neither Gang Zi nor any of his lads expected Garen to pull off something similar, and they were shocked out of their minds when it happened. 

Slowed down, the pivotal point that initiated the play was when LeBlanc used Distortion to close the distance between her and Garen. That was a completely reasonable and normal thing for LeBlanc to do, against any other champion. If something in the engage went wrong, LeBlanc could always just recast Distortion to retreat back to her original position. But this was only true against any other champion. When faced with a Garen, that strategy completely fell apart. Lin Feng’s Garen had Flashed right at LeBlanc with a Decisive Strike cued up and silenced her. This meant that LeBlanc could no longer use Distortion’s recast to escape, nor could she use any of her other abilities. She was trapped and helpless against Garen’s rage. 

The next part of the play was Zeng Rui’s Orianna. When Gang Zi saw Orianna approaching, he figured out what was about to happen. Which is why he shouted “Careful! Dammit! Back! Back! Back!” But it was too little, too late. His warning couldn’t come through faster than Zeng Rui’s mechanics. LeBlanc, Rek’Sai, and Jinx were all close enough to each other that Zeng Rui’s Orianna could lob her ball right into the middle of them and activate her ultimate—Command: Shockwave! The resulting electromagnetic burst swept through all three of the enemy champions and then pulled them right up against Garen’s blade. All of this took place mere seconds after Garen silenced LeBlanc with Decisive Strike. 

But Zeng Rui wasn’t finished after setting up the three enemy champions for Garen. His eyes glinted fiercely as he followed up with Command: Dissonance! A second, smaller electromagnetic wave pulsed and inflicted a further slow on the three champions from the Blue Team. This meant that they would have even more difficulty escaping from Garen’s blade. On top of this, the combination of attacks from Orianna’s ball destroyed half of LeBlanc, Rek’Sai, and Jinx’s health. 

Without missing a beat, Lin Feng followed up on Orianna’s attacks. His Garen did the typical Garen thing, which is to spin-to-win. Garen started rapidly spinning with his blade held out—Judgment! Damage values floated up into the air as his blade cleaved through the three champions around him. 

LeBlanc tried to walk away as Garen’s blade bit into her health, but Garen stuck close to her as he spun. And with the silence from Decisive Strike still in place, she had no way of escaping with Distortion. Her hands were completely tied! And in the blink of an eye, LeBlanc’s health fell to one third. Making things worse was that there was still half a second left before the silence wore off, and LeBlanc’s health had fallen low enough that she could be executed by Garen’s Ultimate. A fact that both the LeBlanc player and Lin Feng recognized at the same time. 

Lin Feng narrowed his eyes. “You’re not getting away!’ He pressed down on his R key to unleash Garen’s ultimate—Demacian Justice! A gigantic and magnificent sword of light descended down from the sky and bisected LeBlanc! Her health dropped to zero, and she collapsed dead on the ground. The LeBlanc player could do or say nothing as his screen faded to gray, much like his face. 

《You have slain an enemy!》

Once LeBlanc was dead, Lin Feng looked for his next target. His eyes fell on the Jinx, and he decided that she was easy prey. Jinx currently had no Flash and no way to escape. On top of this, Zeng Rui’s Orianna had brought Jinx down to critically low levels of health with Command: Attack. Lin Feng’s Garen finished her off with a single auto attack. 

《Double Kill!》

The only one that managed to escape the wheelhouse of slaughter was Rek’Sai, who got away through one of the tunnels she’d dug before. But even with Rek’Sai still alive, Lin Feng and Zeng Rui had dealt a heavy blow to the Lads Team, one that they were unlikely to recover from. 

As for Gang Zi, he was incoherent with rage as he watched Garen walk away while his Jinx and LeBlanc lay dead on the ground. His blood pressure shot up so high that he nearly fainted. 

The long and short of it all was that Gang Zi and his lads had no way to counter Lin Feng’s Garen. If Garen didn’t want to fight them, it was impossible for them to chase him down and kill him. But if Garen did want to fight, they had no way to protect their backline from his blade. The worst part about all of this, as far as Gang Zi’s thoughts went, was that Lin Feng’s Garen was only a Support! Gang Zi could not even begin to fathom how a Support was somehow carrying Team Shanghai. 

As for the rest of the lads, they couldn’t figure out what to do in this game. At this point in the game, it was like they were up against two fed Top laners. One was Irelia, and the other was Garen. They were caught in the lowest circle of hell, where they had no counter for either Irelia or Garen! And by the time they figured this out, 20 minutes had gone by since the start of the game. The gold gap had widened to over 15,000. 

The lads all quickly came to the same conclusion. They had no hope of winning this game. Each of them looked at Gang Zi in turn. Gang Zi nodded as he clenched his teeth. He started the surrender vote, and every one of his lads voted yes. Their nexus exploded. The lads had learned a hard lesson by playing this game that they had no way of winning. It took a brick load of humiliation for them to realize that the high schoolers they mocked were far better than them. So much better that it wasn’t funny. 

When the Lads surrendered, Lin Feng clicked his tongue. “Aww, already? I’m not even at full build yet!”

Fortunately for Gang Zi and his lads, they didn’t hear Lin Feng. If they did, whatever shred of dignity they had left would’ve been obliterated. 

The so-called friendly scrim had ended with Team Shanghai’s overwhelming victory.  Gang Zi and his lads stood up with unsightly expressions on their faces. They struggled and failed to come up with a decent excuse for their defeat, and quickly left the room without even saying goodbye.

Qian Lu laughed and shouted at their backs, “Take care! I won’t see you out! Come again!”

Right now, at this very moment, Qian Lu was incredibly pleased with himself. Now that he’d watched this game, he was more than confident in his decision to contract Lin Feng and the rest of Team Shanghai. He knew deep in his heart that this team was definitely more than good enough to represent his internet cafe. More than that, he was convinced that every other internet cafe that came to challenge his branch was destined to lose as miserably as the Lads had!

While Qian Lu was lost in his thoughts and metaphorically patting himself on the back, Lin Feng got up from his seat and walked over to Qian Lu. “So, Ol’ Qian. Did we pass your little test here?”

Qian Lu was stunned by the question. He was not expecting it, nor did he think Lin Feng could see his devious manipulation. But one look at Lin Feng’s eyes snapped Qian Lu back to reality. He clasped his hands together and nodded with an awkward small. “Ah, yes, yes! That was marvelous! All of you got full points!” 

Lin Feng, despite how he came off, was actually not as airheaded as he came off sometimes. The truth was that he’d seen through what Qian Lu was trying to pull the minute the Lads walked in through the door. He just didn’t care enough to question it or do anything about it. The whole situation was one that Lin Feng was more than familiar with. Back in Season 1, when Lin Feng played with Tian Tian, Silent, and the rest of their team, they had to deal with people like Qian Lu all the time as they hopped from internet cafe to internet cafe. Lin Feng understood that the deal was only official once they proved themselves. 

And now that this rote formality was over, Lin Feng smiled and extended his hand out to Qian Lu. “Alright then, it’s settled. We’re friends and officially working for this branch of the NetCow Cafe from now on!”

Qian Lu’s eyes went wide. Then, he broke into a rare, genuine smile. He grabbed Lin Feng’s hand and shook it. “Yes! Let’s be good friends and get along from now on! Haha!”

There were over 100 champions currently playable in League of Legends. But out of all of them, Garen was one of the simplest and most powerful. And he was relatively easy to master. Once he hit the point where he became fed and snowballed, he’d turn into something akin to a raid boss for the other team. Garen ended up developing high armor, high health, health regen, and his skills buffed his armor further. On top of this, his ultimate worked as an instant execution. A fed Garen was a threat anywhere on the Rift. 

Now, Garen was normally a Top lane champion where he could slowly scale and then stomp all over the enemy team during the mid-to-late game phase. But even when Garen was played in the Support role, he could still become a formidable threat as long as he got enough kills and assists. And unlike the more traditional Support champions, he could still hold the front line and tank damage like a Top lane champion.

The gank on Rumble in the Top lane that started with a tower dive earlier was a good example of this. Rumble still had a little more than half of his health left, but Lin Feng’s Garen charged into him under a Tower with zero hesitation or concern. Then in the blink of an eye, he’d shaved away all of Rumble’s health. The way it worked, any champion with health below 50% was within Garen’s killing range, as long as Garen’s ultimate was off cooldown. All Garen had to do was run in, spin to win, and unleash his ultimate. It was that simple. 

And with that Rumble kill under his belt, Lin Feng’s Garen started scaling even harder and better. Now that he’d finished setting the Top lane up, Lin Feng was trying to figure out what to do next. He started running around through the Blue Team’s top-side Jungle and stealing camps from the Blue Team’s Jungler. That was when he spotted Rek’Sai, the Jungler on the Blue Team. Rek’Sai also saw him, and immediately started running away in the opposite direction. Lin Feng shouted, “Hey! Whatcha running away for? Come here! Come on, fight me!” 

Rek’Sai had no intention of fighting Garen, and continued to flee. He eventually managed to make his escape, once Lin Feng grew bored of the chase. It was both hilarious and a testament to Lin Feng’s skill that a lone Support Garen could force Rek’Sai to flee for his life. But since there was nothing happening in the Jungle or with Rek’Sai, Lin Feng decided to recall back to base and then returned to the Bot lane. Just in time for another explosive fight with Jinx and Morgana. 

The second Lin Feng’s Garen arrived back in the Bot lane, Tang Bingyao’s Kalista initiated the fight with Fate’s Call. She shot Garen right into the Blue Team’s duolaners like he was a cannon ball. Jinx got knocked up into the air from the impact. Morgana reacted quickly and started shooting out a Dark Binding. But Lin Feng activated his Garen’s Decisive Strike the second he landed, and took advantage of the increased movement speed to avoid the Dark Binding. He charged at Jinx and slashed down on her just as she landed, which also Silenced her! But Garen wasn’t done yet, not by a long shot. He moved his body like a cyclone, cleaving into her with every blade stroke—Judgment!

This did so much damage to Jinx that Lin Feng had no need to use his Garen’s ultimate, Demacian Justice. Tang Bingyao caught up and started hurling spear after spear into Jinx, and then ripped them all out with Rend!

《You have been slain!》

Gang Zi watched his screen turn gray, while the Announcer’s voice dispassionately announced his death in his ear. He gnashed his teeth and slammed his mouse down hard on the mat. “Fuck!”

Once Lin Feng and Tang Bingyao picked up the kill on Jinx, Team Shanghai secured an absolute advantage in the Bot lane. Gang Zi was completely shut down, there was nothing more he could do in the lane with his Jinx. Even if Morgana joined in, the two of them together couldn’t take Tang Bingyao’s Kalista out. That’s how fed she was at this point in the game. Jinx and Morgana had no other choice but to be pushed back over and over in the Bot lane, until the Blue Team’s Outer Tower was destroyed. 

With the Tower down, Lin Feng recalled his Garen back to the base to heal up and purchase some items. Then he built up to the Boots of Swiftness. With those secured on his Garen’s feet, he charged out of the fountain and started roaming around the map again. “Come on! LET’S GOOOOOO!” The movement speed buff from the Boots of Swiftness had made his Garen even more mobile than before. Apart from LeBlanc, who had two dashes, there was no champion on the Blue Team who could escape from him now.

Lin Feng’s Garen ran though the Blue Team’s Jungle without a care in the world. While he did this, Lin Feng had no idea how much he was pissing the lads off, especially since none of them could 1v1 his Garen, despite the fact that he was only the Support. And so, blissfully unaware of the effect he was having on the lads, Lin Feng continued harassing the Blue Team in their own Jungle. He cleared all of Rek’Sai’s camps and left a ward behind on each one as a calling card. Lin Feng had decided that his Support Garen was done with camping out in bushes in the Bot Lane. Now, he was going to roam the enemy Jungle like a tiger on the hunt, waiting for his prey. 

14 minutes from the start of the game, Lin Feng finally caught sight of Rek’Sai in Blue Team’s top-side Jungle. His eyes lit up and he yelled, “Don’t run!” With those words, his Garen charged at Rek’Sai with Decisive Strike. While his Garen chased after Rek’Sai, Lin Feng happened to glance down at his minimap and noticed LeBlanc was missing from the Mid lane. “Eh?” Lin Feng muttered. “Where’s LeBlanc?”

“RUN!” Zeng Rui shouted in the voice chat. “Jinx and LeBlanc are closing in on you right now! Come towards me!” As soon as Zeng Rui shouted out the warning, two champions appeared out of the fog of war in the Jungle. LeBlanc and Jinx. And the two of them were running towards Garen as fast as they possibly could!

“Tsk tsk, they must really want me.” Lin Feng said, clicking his tongue. He immediately started running back up toward the river. Rek’Sai joined up with Jinx and Leblanc, and now the three champions from the Blue Team were hot on his tail with no intention of giving up. Lin Feng’s Garen had gone from hunter to being hunted!

During this game, Gang Zi and his lads had truly come to despise both Lin Feng and his Garen. In their minds, Lin Feng’s meddling was half responsible for how badly they were losing this game. So they’d all come together with a singular thought. The outcome of the game no longer mattered to them, all that did matter was making sure that Lin Feng’s Garen died and that Lin Feng suffered!

Jinx, once she was in attack range, used Zap. She fired her plasma rifle at Garen and slowed him down. LeBlanc dashed forward with Distortion and cast Sigil of Malice and Ethereal Chains at the slowed Garen. The mystical conjured chains flew through the air and wrapped around Garen, rooting him in place. 

Gang Zi’s eyes lit up. “We can kill him! Focus the Garen!” He had his Jinx switch to her rocket launcher, then started blasting away.

Garen’s health was quickly dropping.

As Garen’s health quickly dropped, Zeng Rui cried out, “Come over to me! I’m here!” His Orianna was rushing down the river entrance toward Garen.

Lin Feng’s eyes took on a sharp glint as he noticed how all three enemies were positioned. “Nah, there’s no need to run Zeng Zeng! Just follow up on me!” Without giving Zeng Rui any time to respond, Lin Feng had already pressed down on his D key—Flash! His Garen was wrapped around in a dazzling motes of light as he blinked backwards into LeBlanc.

Gang Zi’s pupils constricted as he felt a cold chill run down his spine. T-this isn’t good! He’d finally noticed what was happening, and started trying to back away. But it was too late. 

Garen slashed down on LeBlanc with Decisive Strike, silencing her! 

“Zeng Zeng!” Lin Feng shouted. 

“Coming!” Zeng Rui cried out, immediately seeing the opportunity. He also flashed forward with his Orianna and sent her Ball flying toward Garen—Command: Protect! At this moment, Lin Feng was right in the middle of LeBlanc, Jinx, and Morgana. “Perfect!” He slammed down his R key, and a powerful electromagnetic burst ripped out from Orianna’s Ball—Command: Shockwave!

Standing behind Team Shanghai’s members, Qian Lu’s eyes were beaming. “That turnaround… that was beautiful!”

The past few months had been tough for Zhang Hao, and it’d been a hot minute since he last savored the taste and the tingle of pleasure that came from solo killing the enemy champion in his lane. Zhang Hao’s mind flashed through the memories of everything that took place during the Collegiate Cup, and a single tear dropped from his eye and streaked across his face. Every single game during the tournament was a hard one for Zhang Hao. There wasn’t a single opponent who was weaker than him as a player. Even during the best games he had, his opponents were at the same level as him. It was not a great situation for Zhang Hao. 

And in that terrible situation, where Zhang Hao was the weakest link on Team Shanghai, the only thing that he could do was play as cautiously and safely as possible. He’d have to wait until a teammate roamed over to help him with a gank, or until he scaled enough to be useful in teamfights. Every single second of every minute in a game, Zhang Hao felt the stress of that bearing down on his soul. But he made it through the entire Collegiate Cup, and it wasn’t that Zhang Hao felt that he was completely useless on Team Shanghai. Or that he was dragging them down. It was just difficult watching his teammates in the Mid lane or Bot lane or even in the Jungle pop off and pick up kills, while he had to play patiently and wait for his champion to scale. Unfortunately, Zhang Hao never had a moment in the entire Collegiate Cup where he felt like the star of the team or was truly popping off. Unlike everyone else on Team Shanghai.

But today, in this game, things were very different. Zhang Hao thanked the stars and the Gods of RNG. Then he looked at Rumble’s corpse in front of him one more time as his entire body trembled with joy. Awesome! This is so awesome! This Rumble ain’t bad, he’s mid-Diamond at the very least. But I’m a Diamond 1 player and I’m playing my main, Irelia! Rumble… I, your father, will show you why I belong on Team Shanghai! I will grind you to dust and show you that you are nothing in front of me!

“I’ve got top secured!” Zhang Hao declared to the rest of the team in high spirits. 

“Rodger, rodger! Nice work, Hao Bro,” An Xin said. Then, she turned her attention to the Mid lane and said, “Zeng Zeng, get ready. I’m coming from behind.” 

A few seconds later, An Xin’s Kha’Zix burst into the Mid lane for a gank. Together with Zeng Rui’s Orianna, the two seized an opening and killed the opposing LeBlanc. 

《You have slain an enemy!》

As the announcer’s voice rang out, Zeng Rui glanced down at LeBlanc’s corpse in front of him. He shook his head. 40 points. At best. Pathetic. This LeBlanc’s mechanics are at the mid-Diamond level, but she’s got zero map awareness. Or game sense. As soon as the game started, she decided to be aggressive and used all of her abilities to poke my health down as much as possible. Including her only movement ability, Distortion. Didn’t even think that it could be used as an escape mechanic or that there might be a gank that could cause her problems. Pathetic. That was the opening that An Xin and I used, but I doubt that LeBlanc player can figure that out. When she used Distortion to try and go in again, that’s all we needed to jump onto her and kill her. I don’t see this guy climbing higher than where he is right now. 

It hadn’t even been five minutes since the game started, but things were already tilting in Team Shanghai’s favor. The scoreboard was currently 3-0. 

Gang Zi’s complexion was ashen pale. How the fuck is this happening? We’re losing in every single lane. This doesn’t make any sense! They’re just a bunch of high schoolers with two girls on their team… how… why are they so good? Fuck!

“Play safe!” Gang Zi gnashed his teeth and shouted. “Focusing on farming and scaling! Rek’Sai, come gank bot!”

This was not a bad call. Especially considering the fact that both Garen and Kalista had used their flashes to get the kill on Morgana earlier. If Rek’Sai roamed down to the Bot lane now, the chances of the gank succeeding were much higher. Unfortunately for Gang Zi, reality and expectation didn’t always align. A minute later, the announcer’s voice rang out again from the bot lane. 

《An ally has been slain!》

“Fuck! Shit! Back back back! Now!” Gang Zi cried out in voice chat. But it was too late. The entire plan turned out to be an unfortunate miscalculation for the Lads’ team. An Xin predicted that they would attempt something in Bot lane to turn things around, and started building up a counter-play.  Right when Rek’Sai started moving towards the Bot lane for a gank, An Xin’s Kha’Zix was already there and hidden, waiting for a good opportunity to ambush and counter gank. 

The doomed Rek’Sai had no idea that Kha’Zix was there or that the Bot lane was ready for the gank before it happened. Neither did Jinx or Morgana. When Rek’Sai arrived and grouped up with Jinx and Morgana, all three of them decided to go in on Kalista and Garen. Lin Feng’s Garen soaked up most of the damage and forced all three of them to blow all their skills. That’s when An Xin’s Kha’Zix circled around and trapped all three of them in a pincer. 

That was when the counter-gank officially started. Rek’Sai was the first to die, and Morgana followed to the afterlife shortly after. 

《Double Kill!》

As Gang Zi heard the announcer’s voice ring out in his ear, he felt a chill wash over his body. He only managed to escape after using Flash to get back to his tower. But his Jinx was barely alive, and Kalista had picked up another two kills. He understood in that moment, that he was truly and rightly fucked. There was no coming back from that much of a lead. It was over, Bot lane was lost for his team.

At this moment, the announcer’s voice rang out again from the top lane. 

《An ally has been slain!》

Zhang Hao had taken out the Rumble again. Hao Bro had evolved into Han, because he was stomping all over Top lane solo. And with that kill in the Top lane, the score was now 6-0 with Team Shanghai solidly dominating. 

Gang Zi was on the verge of mental collapse. Why is it like this? Why? Why? Why! None of this makes any sense. This team is way better than I thought they’d be. They’re outclassing us in everything from individual ability to team coordination! That doesn’t make any sense. We’re a Diamond 3 team! How are these high school kids this much better than us? 

While Gang Zi lamented, Qian Lu celebrated. His eyes sparkled with excitement and his shrewd business mind recognized exactly how great of a deal he’d made. Qian Lu understood that fate had smiled upon him and that he’d picked up a treasure. I heard about these high schoolers from my employees, and I looked into them. I knew that Team Shanghai won the Collegiate Cup. But I never understood what that meant or how strong they actually were. Right now though… I’m experiencing their strength firsthand! With my own eyes! I’m standing here watching them clinically dismantle one of the best teams in the area! I… have no words. This Team Shanghai is much stronger than I anticipated or even hoped. This is the best deal I’ve made in my entire life!

It had been 10 minutes since the game started, and Team Shanghai had 9 kills, while the Lads’ Team only had 1. It was an unbelievably pathetic situation, and one that defied expectation. The Lads’ Team was full of players who were ranked Diamond 3 or higher, and they were getting crushed. 

Over in the Bot lane, Tang Bingyao’s Kalista was 4/0/1. At this point, she could single-handedly contend against the Morgana and Jinx. She didn’t need Lin Feng’s Garen around for Support anymore. Which is why Lin Feng took the opportunity to abandon the Bot lane and started roaming around all over the map. “Alright! Hahahaha! Watch me carry, guys. I’m going to start roaming too!” 

Now, logically speaking, a champion like Garen who had no slows, stuns, or roots was not very effective for ganking. Which is why Garen was rarely played in the Jungle or the Support role, and also why Lin Feng’s roaming would’ve been considered silly at best and griefing at worst. But there was an undeniable truth in League of Legends that made it permissible. That truth was that as long as you were ahead enough, it no longer mattered what champion you were playing or what their strengths were. You could do whatever it is you wanted. And what Lin Feng wanted to do right now was roam and gank, which is what he did. 

At 11 minutes, Lin Feng decided Top lane was the target of his gank and started roaming up there. Once he got there, he circled around behind the Blue Team’s Outer Tower and charged towards the low-health Rumble with Decisive Strike!

Right as his blade came down and Silenced the Rumble, Lin Feng also cast Ignite. Then his Garen started spinning around with his blade held out—Judgment! With every rotation, more and more of Rumble’s health was shaved off. But Lin Feng wasn’t content with just that much. Before Zhang Hao’s Irelia could even rush over to assist with the kill, Lin Feng had already pushed down on his R key to activate Garen’s ultimate. Demacian Justice!

“DEMAAACIAAA!” Lin Feng exclaimed.

A gigantic sword of light descended from the sky and reaped away Rumble’s life..

《You have slain an enemy!》

Across the row of tables, the Rumble player was dumbstruck as he watched his screen turn black and white. His mouth fell open, and the shock of it all rendered him speechless. 

The next day, the gang met up at the NetCow Cafe as usual. They just started to get settled into their private room, but they hadn’t yet queued up or started a game. Then the door to the private room opened and a fat middle-aged man walked through. It was unexpected, and everyone turned around to gawk at this stranger. “Why hello there! I’m the owner of the NetCow Cafe. I heard from one of my managers that you’re the youngsters who recently won the Collegiate Cup, and that you’re regulars here. I heard you even did some of your practice sessions for the Cup in this room. Is that true?” 

Lin Feng scratched his head, confused by the appearance of this stranger. But he slowly nodded. He didn’t know what to say or how to respond beyond the nod. Zeng Rui decided to step in after shooting an exasperated look at Lin Feng. “Yes sir. We’re the team from Shanghai who won the Collegiate Cup, and it is true that we held our practice sessions here. I don’t mean to be rude, but you seem to know a lot about us and we don’t know who you are at all.”

The portly middle-aged man took a few steps into the room and closed the door behind him. Then he chuckled and said, “Oh-ho-ho! That’s right, that’s right. Where are my manners? As I said earlier, I am the owner of this fabulous NetCow Cafe! My name is Qian Lu.” Then he fished around in his pockets for a business card, which he handed over to Lin Feng. “As for why I’m here, it’s because I’ve got an opportunity for talented League players such as yourselves! I’d like you to be the official NetCafe Team of the NetCow Cafe! Doesn’t that sound exciting?”  

“A NetCafe Team?” Lin Feng muttered, scratching his head. He’d just accepted a business card from the internet cafe owner. Now there was talk of a NetCafe Team. It was more than he could process at the moment. Lin Feng had questions, but he didn’t know where to start or what to start asking. Thankfully, Zhang Hao jumped in to ask the most important question that Lin Feng bungled. 

“Yeah, what does that mean? You want us to be the team for the NetCow Cafe?”  Zhang Hao asked, equally confused. “Does that mean… Well, I think what it means is… you… IS THIS THE SAME THING AS A SPONSORSHIP OR SOMETHING?”

The large-bellied owner of the NetCow Cafe let out a laugh that made his belly shake like a bowl full of jelly. “Oh-ho-ho-ho-hahahaha! No, no, no. Nothing like that at all. I’m just the humble proprietor of a small business, this tiny little internet cafe. Sponsorships and that sort of thing, that’s something beyond us.” Qian Lu waved a hand to dismiss the thought entirely. “No, no. What I’m asking you to do is represent the NetCow Cafe. You guys are the winners of the Collegiate Cup, and that makes you very famous. All I’d like is for you guys to continue playing exclusively at this branch of the NetCow Cafe, using it for your practices, and be seen here. That will attract other customers to this establishment, and make us much more famous and renowned. I’d also like to use your pictures on posters, maybe hold a few events where you play against local teams. It’s all very small-time and simple, you see. Oh-ho-ho-ho-hahahahahaha!” 

“So, what should we call you? Boss Qian?”  Zeng Rui asked. He’d glanced at the business card in Lin Feng’s hand and saw the name, Qian Lu.

Qian Lu waved his hand with a flattering smile. “Hahaha! Boss? No no no! What? Do I look like a boss? Oh-ho-ho-hahahahaha! I’m just a humble business owner. Feel free to just call me Ol’ Qian.”

Ol’ Qian? Old money….? Zeng Rui’s eyelids twitched. 

Zhang Hao almost burst out in laughter. He was amazed by Qian Lu’s thick skin. It was only their first meeting, but Qian Lu was already trying to have everyone treat him like they were old friends.

Lin Feng finally caught on, and decided that there was nothing odd about this at all. He jumped into the conversation and asked, “Hey, Ol’ Qian. If we’re gonna be representing you, what do you want us to do?”

Qian Lu’s face lit up, and his cheeks turned red. He looked very much like a smiling Buddha. “You don’t need to do much at all! Your presence here is more than enough. But I would like you to do a few tiny things… you know, like participating in the occasional competition. Or helping us defend our turf if a rival cafe’s team shows up and challenges us. Simply put, you’d be the honorable defenders of our little NetCow Sect! Oh-hoho-ho-hahahahaha!”

Qian Lu was a shrewd businessman. Before anyone could notice or object, he’d managed to convince them all that the honor of the NetCow Cafe and his own honor as the owner of the establishment was, in fact, everyone’s honor and that Lin Feng’s gang absolutely had to help defend that honor.

“Oh, I see. That makes sense!” Lin Feng slapped his thigh. “So, we’re basically like your hired muscle, right?”

Qian Lu’s expression froze for a couple of seconds. Then he let out another one of his frequent laughs from deep in his belly. “Oh-hohoho-hahahahaha! Hired muscle? That makes it seem so violent and dangerous. Nothing like that at all! No, no, no. I’d just like you to defend the honor of our humble NetCow Cafe dojo. Yup! You’d be our guardians. Yes, yes. That sounds perfect! The Guardian Deities of the NetCow Sect!” 

Zeng Rui’s lips faintly twitched. Guardian deities… Seriously?

An Xin finally joined in on the conversation and asked with a pleasant smile, “Boss Qian. We’d be happy to defend the honor of this cafe, of course. We practice here and we spend so much time here. But… well, the thing is that even guardian deities need regular offerings. Or they become displeased and bring down disaster on the villages they’re supposed to protect, if you get what I mean.”

Qian Lu gulpd. Then he broke into a flattering smile, “O-of course…”

The ‘offerings for guardian deities’ that An Xin was referring to, that was her roundabout way of asking about the compensation they would receive in return for representing the NetCow Cafe. The deal that Qian Lu offered them was that the members of Team Shanghai would receive a base stipend ¥2,000 a month. On top of this, they would receive a bonus of ¥500 for every match victory in a tournament. Qian Lu also promised them that if the tournament was especially difficult, the bonus for each victory would increase accordingly.

Lin Feng considered the offer carefully. Hm… the compensation for the match victories sounds fair to me. But the stipend… that seems a little low. I should say something and try to negotiate. But make it seem like I don’t actually care. I can do this! I’m really good at negotiating too! “¥2,000…” Lin Feng appeared to be mulling the number over as he thoughtfully rubbed his chin. Then he turned to look straight at Qian Lu and said, “That’s only ¥400 for each of us. Ain’t that a little low? Unless you mean that we’re each going to get ¥2,000 a month. In that case, it’s a very generous offer Ol’ Qian!” 

Qian Lu blanched. “No, no. I meant ¥2,000 for the whole team. So, yes, that would be ¥400. But if you feel that is too little… err, well… I’m just a small business owner… Still! Let me think. How about  ¥3,000 every month? Does that sound fair?” Deep within his heart, Qian Lu was conflicted. On the one hand, he was relieved that he did not accidentally created a misunderstanding that would result in him having to pay ¥2,000 to each team member every month. But on the other hand, he felt the pain of losing an extra ¥1,000 from his wallet every month.

“That sounds good to me. Deal!” Lin Feng agreed.

Qian Lu breathed a sigh of relief. “Deal!”

The two didn’t haggle any further and immediately agreed on the price.

An Xin watched on from the sidelines with a faint smile as Qian Lu and Lin Feng ended the negotiations and agreed on the terms of the deal. She didn’t have any plans of jumping in and haggling for them. If I tagged in… poor Qian Lu. I’d milk him for every penny he’s got stashed away in that belly of his! That would be fun. But this is fine too, Lin Feng did well getting some extra money out of him. Our goal isn’t to make money right now, but a little bit of pocket money could always come in handy. Yes, this is fine.

Zeng Rui suddenly thought of something and asked, “Boss Qian? No, I will not call you Ol’ Qian. But I do have a question. Are the other internet cafes putting together teams like this too?”

Qian Lu replied, “Yup. Over the past couple of months, all the internet cafes across Shanghai have started forming their own teams.”

Zeng Rui nodded. Then he continued asking, “So, what kind of players are these other internet cafes recruiting for their teams?”

“Oh, some recruit semi-professional teams who already use their cafes for practice. Others recruit top players from elsewhere and wrangle them up to form a team,” Qian Lu answered, wondering what Zeng Rui was getting at.

Zeng Rui raised an eyebrow. “So I assume these semi-professional teams get paid more?”

Qian Lu dryly coughed. “Oh well, you know. It depends on the situation. Of course the better you are, the more you’re compensated. But I’m just a humble owner running a small business…. There’s no way I could afford to recruit people like that.”

“Is that so?” Zeng Rui nodded, his lips curving into a faint smile. “I wonder…”

Qian Lu looked at Zeng Rui oddly, not understanding what he was saying. He could only smile and nod along.

However, Zeng Rui’s words were correct. Qian Lu had no idea that the team who won the Collegiate Cup was far more skilled than he thought. Or could possibly imagine. He also had no idea that he’d somehow managed to recruit the former number one Midlaner in all of China, and one of the best in the entire world, for only ¥600 a month.

A businessman never did anything without profit in mind. This applied to Qian Lu, who recruited Lin Feng’s team for a very good reason. Just like he told Zeng Rui, many internet cafes across Shanghai were starting to recruit players to build powerful teams. And the point was not to create a stable of influencers to attract customers. The bigger prize was that more and more tournaments and competitive leagues for internet cafes were popping up across Shanghai. And there was a rather large and important tournament coming up soon. That was the primary reason for Qian Lu approaching Lin Feng’s gang. 

The tournament was called the Shanghai Net Cafe Battle Bonanza, and the details of the whole thing were sparse at the moment. All anyone knew was a few vague inklings and rumors. But the fundamental idea was that every internet cafe across China would send in teams to represent them in battle. Then the teams would duke it out, after which the tournament organizers would tally up all the points and announce the final results. That’s when they would announce the prizes, and what each team earned for their internet cafe. At this point in time, only the lowest of the prizes had been revealed. But those were more than generous enough to get Qian Lu salivating. He immediately signed up for the tournament, and then started trying to put together a team. That’s when he heard from one of the workers at his NetCow Cafe that there was a group who played there regularly in a private room. A group that won the Collegiate Cup.

Inside his college dorm room in Seoul, Korea, Coff had gone beyond mad. He’d transcended raging. Right now, he was pure unadulterated fury at the world. Bang! There were no words to express or vent this fury that he was feeling, so he resorted to smashing his mouse down on his desk. But it wasn’t enough. He let go of the mouse and balled his fists. BANG! BANG! BANG! Coff started pounding on his keyboard with both fists. The irony of the situation that was completely lost on Coff was that the action was similar to Alistar’s Pulverize. But he didn’t notice, and continued to smash down on his keyboard. Sadly, it was not enough to vent the fury that coursed through both his mind and body. 

“FUCK!” Coff screamed out loud. That… I never expected anything like that! This was the most infuriating game I’ve played in a long time. I literally cannot remember another one that made me rage this hard. How did an Alistar stomp all over my Yasuo?!

Coff took a beat to focus, and replayed the entire game in his head. All of the blood that rushed to his head and face drained, and his face turned pale as he understood. Coff clenched his jaw as the truth dawned on him. There’s no way around this. I hate to admit it… but that Alistar was really good. Way better than me…

“Dammit! I thought the Chinese server was supposed to be full of scrubs!” Coff screamed, cursing the universe and his own misfortune.

From a zoomed in perspective, it was easy to think that Coff had truly terrible luck and managed to run into Lin Feng on his first game. But that was far from what was happening in reality. If one zoomed out and looked at all the Korean players who had attempted to invade the Ionia Server to avenge their honor, Coff was not the only player who was experiencing fury and failure. It was truly unfortunate that none of the invaders were aware of a common saying in the Chinese League community. “On the Ionia Server, high Platinum and low Diamond are much more frightening than Master and Challenger.” 

It was an intrinsic truth of the ELO system on Ionia Server that all Chinese players had come to understand after playing for many years. A curious quirk of the region that was created by a combination of circumstances, and only known to the players of China. That truth was that on the Ionia Server, the waters of high Platinum and low Diamond ran much deeper than Master and Challenger. This situation was created by the fact that this particular rank division was simply too chaotic to accurately state the abilities of the players within it. 

High Platinum and low Diamond was full of both seasoned players, top professional players, and absolute noobs. When one walked into the solo queue on the Ionia Server and started a game created by the match-making system, there was no way to tell how the game would go if you were in this rank division. One could end up on a team with professional players who were smurfing a second account, or with a seasoned player who was attempting to raise an alternate account to Challenger, or with a complete novice who had paid to have their account boosted to Platinum or low Diamond to brag to their friends. Or a true noob to League of Legends who had paid to purchase an account in Platinum/low Diamond because they had no understanding of the game and their own abilities.

For the Chinese players who played at the Platinum/low Diamond division, it all came down to luck of the draw. If they managed to high roll, they got a smurf or two on their team and that was something worth celebrating. If they low rolled and ended up with a few boosted players who could not compete at that level of play, it meant helplessly accepting a loss at 15 minutes. They had long since become accustomed to the state of things, and it no longer affected their mental state. The rough approximation that most players understood was that about a third of the players in the high Platinum and low Diamond ELO didn’t actually belong there. They could be from a higher rank or from a lower rank, but one never knew what their teammates would be like. 

But this was something that the Korean players attempting to invade the Ionia server had no idea about. And the reality of the situation hit them like a sack of bricks and brought them untold misery. Their experiences during this doomed invasion gathered together made a tale of tragedy.

One of the most tragic tales involved a Diamond 4 Korean player. He was a Jungler, and he’d just gotten into a game where he managed to lock in on his main champion. Lee Sin. He was planning on roaring out of the gate strong and solo carrying the entire game. In his mind, he was salivating at the thought of stomping on all 5 of the Chinese players on the opposing team and giving them a taste of the true strength of the Korean server. He genuinely had no doubt in his mind that everything would go in his favor, and it did not matter how strong the opposing team was at all. He knew, for sure, that as long as he was playing Lee Sin, he could carry the game for his team!

The first 3 minutes of the game went fantastically for this Korean Lee Sin. Then things turned horribly wrong. Before Lee Sin even had a chance to clear his Red and Blue Buff camps, the announcer’s voice rang out. 

《First Blood!》

Lee Sin started to frantically scroll across the map to see what happened. That’s when he saw that in the Bot Lane, his team’s Ad-Carry had given away first blood. Then the announcer’s voice rang out again. 

《An ally has been slain!》

Lee Sin did not need to search for what happened this time. He’d watched it happen. The Support player on his team had also died. Both players on his team’s Bot Lane had been killed three minutes after the game started. 

How!? This quickly!? The Korean player was in disbelief, but he quickly composed himself. It’s fine. Bot is easy enough to gank. I’ll just go over and help them get the advantage back.

The Lee Sin player resigned himself to the fact that he’d have to try a little bit harder, and focused. He cleared out both of his buff camps a minute later, and was charting a path to the Bot Lane for his first gank. Right as he was about to ping his teammates to let them know he was on his way, and what his entry point was going to be, the announcer’s voice rang out again. 

《An ally has been slain!》

Lee Sin had to scroll again to see what happened. He was sure it wasn’t the Bot Lane, because he was watching what was happening there. This time, it was his team’s Toplaner who had been killed. The Lee Sin player clenched his teeth and decided he was going to first help Bot Lane, and then go up Top to set things right. With the plan set, he started to walk towards Bot Lane when the announcer’s voice rang out yet again. 

《An ally has been slain!》

This time, it was the Midlaner who had been routed. As it currently stood, only four minutes had elapsed since the start of the game and the only player on his team who had not been killed was the Lee Sin player. He understood, then, that there was no hope. In a matter of mere minutes, all three of the lanes on his team had completely collapsed. There was no way for Lee Sin to prop them all up at the same time.

The Diamond 4 Korean player was about to lose his mind. How am I supposed to play like this!? Why did all three lanes lose so badly? Why is there such an insane skill difference between the teams?

Unfortunately, Lee Sin couldn’t see what the opponent was typing in their team chat. 

「Looks like top lane got boosted to Diamond.」
「Mid too.」
「Damn, really!? Bot too! Both the Ad-Carry and Support are trash!」
「Hahaha! Lucky! It’s a freelo game!」

While the tragic tale of the Korean Lee Sin was terrible to the player who experienced the whole thing, it was more comical to those who heard about it. There were other Korean players who ended up in situations that could only be described as heart-rending. And genuinely unlucky. An example of this was what occurred to a Diamond 2 Korean player who had joined in on the invasion of the Ionia Server. 

This particular Korean player was a little bit more clever than the average bear. He’d heard what happened to other Koreans, and quickly understood that there were quite a few players in Platinum/low Diamond who were boosted. So he started checking to make sure that none of his teammates fell into the boosted category before starting the game. If he discovered any players who were boosted or that he had doubts about, he would immediately dodge out of the game. Then, finally, he found a game where he had determined that none of the players on his team were boosted. Relief washed over his heart, and he steadied himself to stomp all over the Chinese players. 

This particular Korean player was a Toplaner, and his main champion was Fiora. He’d played hundreds of games with Fiora, and knew her as intimately as one could know a MOBA champion. There were nights where this player had dreams in which he’d gotten to know Fiora far more intimately than that, but that isn’t relevant to this story. This particular Diamond 2 Korean player knew that as long as his teammates didn’t feed, he could crush his lane opponent with Fiora and carry his team to victory! 

Unfortunately for him, that was not how the game went at all. In the first 10 minutes of the game, the Korean Fiora had already died to the opposing Toplaner, a Riven, three times. After watching his screen turn black and white again, the Korean player rubbed his eyes in utter disbelief. I-I died again!? I’m a Diamond 2 player on the Korean server! What is even happening? How am I getting crushed this badly in Ionia?! And I’m getting stomped by someone who is only Platinum 1! How is this even possible? How is this Riven only ranked Platinum 1? What? Why? How? Why? Why? Why? Why? THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE! 

In the gaming house of a certain LPL team, a young man leaned back in seat with a toothpick in his mouth. He rolled his eyes and said, “This Fiora. What. An. Idiot. He’s still trying to fight me when he’s behind. Doesn’t this guy know how scary a fed Riven is?” 

On another nearby computer, a teammate turned to look at the young man and smiled. “Ah! You winning, son?”

The youth looked up at his teammate. “Of course! You think I’d lose in a game like this?”

The teammate smirked, “Yeah yeah. Hows about you say stuff like that when you can actually get to Diamond, yeah?”

The young man grimaced, as if he’d had cold water dumped on his head. “God dammit! Why you always gotta hit me where it hurts!?”

In the Chinese competitive scene, there were top LSPL or even LPL players who were brilliant on the competitive stage. But for some reason or another, they would have the worst luck in solo queue and could never climb higher than high Platinum and low Diamond.

This young man was a prime example of that. In fact, he’d had such a hard time getting out of Platinum that he’d earned himself the nickname of China’s #1 Platinum Gatekeeper.

In other words, the unfortunate Diamond 2 Fiora main from Korea had collided with a steel wall!

The most common misfortune that the Korean invaders on the Ionia Server experienced was running into Chinese players who were all significantly better than their rank and profile history implied. All of them were unanimously at the level of Master or Challenger. And they all shared a unique quirk. Their Summoner Tags always had the same two Chinese characters followed by a series of random numbers. None of the Koreans knew what the names of these players meant, but they all started to understand that running into them as opponents meant that they were in for a truly terrible time. All sorts of theories ran through the Korean forums about these players. The prevailing one was that this was a guild of Chinese players who had come to defend the Ionia server from the Korean invasion.

This theory was, interestingly enough, not completely wrong. The Chinese players whose names started with two characters and then a series of random numbers did belong to a guild of sorts. But they were not there to defend the Ionia server. Nor did they particularly care about the Koreans attempting to invade. Their presence and names was something every Chinese player knew about and did not find even a little strange. The two Chinese characters that their names started with was the word for “Booster”, and the string of numbers that followed was the booster’s QQ number. They were advertising their services to any player who might be interested!

On the Ionia server, the boosters were unquestionably the most frightening players to come against. They were ungodly skilled and absolutely ruthless. Not because they wanted to ruin the fun of any other player, but because they were working to fulfill the demands of their clients, and that was paramount. Those unfortunate enough to run into a booster on the enemy team knew that they would be in for a terrible time. Their presence on the Ionia server was begrudgingly accepted, because everyone had to earn their bread somehow. And for a great many players, the boosters had become something of an aspirational job. They all secretly dreamed of the day they’d become good enough at League to become a booster, and earn money by playing the game they loved. 

For Lin Feng, the presence of the boosters was something he didn’t particularly mind. He enjoyed the challenge of having to play against someone with that much skill and experience. Besides, he understood that he was also somewhat of a booster himself for Su Xue. Every game he won boosted her rank. And he took some joy in joining up with the rest of the professional boosters to make life a nightmare for the Koreans who had shown up on the Ionia server. As a booster, Lin Feng had done a pretty good job. Since he started streaming in the morning and playing on Su Xue’s account, he’d won every game he played. By the afternoon, he’d boosted Su Xue’s account from Diamond 5 all the way to Diamond 3! 

After ending the stream for the time being, Lin Feng turned to Su Xue in the bed and yelled, “Su Xue, I’m hungry!” 

Su Xue got up from the bed and rubbed her eyes, nodding sleepily. ‘Oh, alright. I’ll start making food.”

Half an hour later, the table was lined up with steaming hot dishes. Lin Feng started digging in right away. Su Xue, on the other hand, was not eating. She picked at her food, but brought none of it to her mouth. She just continued to stare at Lin Feng in a daze. Not because she was sleepy. Not at all. Su Xue was fully awake. She was lost in her own mind because she started thinking about Lin Feng’s identity and past once again. Even after she’d thought about it for an entire sleepless night, she really did not know what to think about Lin Feng or how to face him at all. So much had changed since she figured out that he was not lying about everything he’d told her, and she could not get a handle on the emotions swirling through her heart. 

After a while, Su Xue opened her mouth and asked, “Lin Feng?”

“Yeah?” 

“So, you’re really that Maple? The one that was China’s number one Midlaner back in Season 1?”

“Yeup!” Lin Feng said, scarfing another heap of rice into his mouth.

Although Su Xue had already confirmed it yesterday, after hearing it again, the truth still sent shockwaves through her heart. She took a deep breath, calming herself down, then asked the next question. “So, does that mean you… well, did you actually go toe-to-toe with Rake? And you were just as good as he was back then?”

Coff’s face was a sight to behold as his screen faded into grey. The blood drained from his cheeks, turning them pale. But the muscles of his jaw popped in and out as he clenched his teeth in anger. And the humiliation burning in his heart, that was clear to see in his eyes. He mentally replayed everything that occurred. God dammit! I cannot believe I just did that! I was careless and didn’t notice that he was baiting me. And I fell for it like a noob! I knew I’d be walking into the Tower’s aggro to hit Alistar with Steel Tempest. But I thought my skills and reflexes were way better than his, that’s where everything went wrong. I was cocky and reckless. And I underestimated him completely. I didn’t stop for a second to think that his reflexes would be better than my own. I literally could not move fast enough when Alistar Flashed into me, and I didn’t even notice that I got knocked up with Pulverize until my Yasuo was up in the air. By that point, there was nothing I could even do anyway. There was no chance of escaping after that Headbutt into the Tower… Nope. The second he Flashed, it was all over. I cannot believe I just got outplayed that hard by some Diamond 5 Chinese player! You know what… ?

Coff genuinely could not believe that someone he considered so inferior to himself could’ve pulled something like that off. He knew exactly what happened, but he didn’t want to believe that Chinese players were skilled enough to pull off plays like that consistently. So he did the only thing he could do in this situation. Coff started typing in all-chat with the little Chinese that he had at his disposal. 

「Luck! Trash! Come again! YOU ***!」

“Oh, look at that, guys. I guess he’s mad now,” Lin Feng said to the stream with a smile. 

The people in the stream erupted with amusement.

「lmaaaao, he’s still so cocky after getting solo killed!」
「guess he still hasn’t leanre dhis lesson yet!」
「LILBRO hes a yasuo!!! Powerspike!」
「He needs you to kill him 9 more times so he can powerspike」
「lil bro, beat his ass one more time!」
「MIIIILKKK HIM!」

Lin Feng rubbed his chin. “Hmm, I think you guys are right. He wants to be killed more until his 10 death powerspike. He’s a true Yasuo player. Well, if he wants more, I’m more than happy to give him more!” 

6 minutes after the start of the game, Lin Feng pushed the minion wave all the way out to the Blue Team’s Outer Tower in the Mid lane. Yasuo was being much more cautious and playing defensively, hanging underneath the protection of his Tower. And then, something interesting happened. Yasuo was locked onto a minion and started dashing towards it with Sweeping Blade. But right after the skill was activated, the minion moved. By the time the Sweeping Blade ended, Yasuo was now outside the Tower’s defensive range. Lin Feng noticed this golden opening presented by fate, and wasted no time taking advantage of it. His Alistar immediately engaged the Yasuo with a Headbutt-Pulverize combo. Yasuo was knocked up and further away from his Tower with no chance to react or retreat. His health plummeted. 

While this was happening, the Red Team’s Jungler decided to sneak into the Mid lane. He was playing the champion Kha’zix. He crept in quietly from the right side of the lane, through the Blue Team’s jungle. And popped out just as Yasuo landed from Alistar’s Headbutt-Pulverize combo. Wasting no time at all, he pounced on Yasuo and shredded at the hapless champion with fangs and claws. Yasuo’s health dropped to critical levels. But Kha’zix’s attacks didn’t manage to kill him, and Yasuo found an opening to start running towards what he thought was safety. Unfortunately, he ran straight towards Lin Feng’s Alistar, who stood there waiting. Yasuo was trapped in a pincer manoeuvre! In the end, it was a final auto attack from Alistar that cleaved the life from Yasuo’s body. 

Coff stared at his screen with a blank expression in his eyes as he struggled to understand what just happened. He could not comprehend how he’d just been killed again, a mere two minutes after his first death. Slowly, his face flushed red with both rage and confusion. I-I died again!?

《You have slain an enemy!》

As the announcer’s voice rang out, the people in the stream chat erupted with joy. 

「hahaha get fked!」
「he asked for it again, and lil bro gave it to him!」
「that  was so satisfying to watch」
「I bet he’s raging his ass off!!」

As Lin Feng walked back to his tower, he muttered, “It’s always the same with these Yasuo players, sigh. First they want more, and then they get upset when you give them what you want. It’s such a strange request. Now he’s going to rage in all-chat instead of playing.”

One of the hallmarks of League of Legends was the raging. It didn’t matter what region one was playing the game. It was the same everywhere. In China, Korea, EU or NA, there were players who constantly raged in the chat. And the raging was so inextricably tied to playing League of Legends that it was elevated to the level of tradition. Playing with others who raged in team-chat and laughing at players who raged in all-chat added to the experience of playing League in a way that no other game could replicate.

Coff was yet another player who joined in on the time honored tradition of baby raging in all-chat after making mistakes that led to his death. He was upset after his first death, but retained some control over his anger. After the second death though, Coff was fuming and lost all sense of reason. He started cursing up a storm in all-chat, first in broken Chinese and then in English. Eventually he gave up the pretense and started attempting to curse in Korean. His rage had hit a point where he no longer cared if anyone could understand him or not, he simply needed to vent all of the ire in his heart. Unfortunately, his Chinese was horrendous and his English was not very good either. That made it difficult to understand what he was trying to say. Once he switched to Korean, the thoughts became slightly more coherent. But almost all of the words he was attempting to use were caught by the language filter. 

It was nigh impossible to understand what Coff wanted to say, but the sentiment was understood by everyone watching the stream. Coff the Korean was very, very mad. And that delighted the viewers to no end. Some attempted to piece together what he was saying in various languages to laugh further. Others just made jokes. There were even a few enterprising ones who took the initiative to try and add Coff as a friend, so they could poke and prod at him some more. Coff’s incoherent rage added an entirely new dimension of entertainment to the stream.

Lin Feng, unlike the chat, remained completely calm and relaxed. He was smiling not because he cared about Coff’s rage in the slightest, but because the viewers on the stream were enjoying themselves. As far as Lin Feng went, there was nothing worth thinking about with Coff’s raging. He’d been playing League of Legends for a long time, and he’d lost count of how many he’d run into who’d given into the baby rage that Coff was currently writhing around with. Besides, there was no point in paying attention to it. Lin Feng knew that with the two kills he’d gotten on Yasuo, his Alistar had pretty much won the Mid lane for his team. There was no way that Yasuo was coming back to present a serious challenge. And so, Lin Feng decided not to engage with Coff in all-chat, and instead peacefully farmed minions in the Mid lane. 

Once the game timer hit 8 minutes and the minion wave was pushed all the way out in the Mid lane, Lin Feng decided it was time to take his Alistar to help out his teammates. He looked at the minimap on the right-hand corner of his screen, and started to roam towards the Bot lane for a gank.

He circled round through the tri-brush and waited for an opening. The second that Blue Team’s Jinx walked out too far, Alistar charged into her with a Headbutt and Pulverize. Jinx was knocked up into the air with half her health gone. Then Alistar unleashed a barrage of auto attacks and an Ignite. By the end of the lethal combo, Jinx lay dead on the ground at Alistar’s feet. 

The Jinx’s Support in the Bot lane was a Thresh. One who tried to avenge her death with Death Sentence. Thresh hooked Lin Feng’s Alistar and tried to drag him under the Blue Team’s Tower. But Alistar’s Unbreakable Will made it impossible to cage him with any crowd control skills for long, and Lin Feng broke free easily. That’s when Lin Feng noticed his teammates furiously running over to help. Instead of running away from the Tower, he decided to have his Alistar tank the bolts and dived under the Tower’s range to continue attacking Thresh. Both the Ad-carry and Support on his team arrived, and the three of them attacked Thresh together.

《Double kill!》

The longer the game went on, the more terrifying Lin Feng’s Alistar became. He’d already scaled to the point where he did enough damage to insta-kill Jinx. It had only been 10 minutes since the start of the game, but the balance was heavily tilted towards the Red Team. Lin Feng’s team. And once the game moved into the teamfight phase, Alistar wrecked devastation and decimated the Blue Team’s champions. 

Red Team’s players finally noticed Lin Feng’s summoner name and started asking questions.

「ali, you’re a streamer!?」
「you’re freaking amazing!」
「wait, are you a chick!?」

Lin Feng happily replied, 「Yep! Yep! And Yep! Come over and watch!」

He was more than happy to help advertise Su Xue’s stream and bring her more viewers.

Eventually, around the 20-minute mark, the opposing team unanimously agreed to surrender.

Lin Feng exclaimed, “Didn’t I tell you guys? You see now? I’m really good with Alistar too!”

Things weren’t looking good for Lin Feng, his Alistar was being pushed back by Yasuo. But he remained completely confident. The viewers on the stream didn’t exactly see how it was possible for an Alistar who was behind in CS to kill a Yasuo. Especially considering that Alistar was down to half his health. But Lin Feng said that he’d be killing the Yasuo soon, and the viewers believed in Lin Feng!

「goooooooo lilll broooooooo! We believe in you! MILK HIM!」
「kick that plat scrub’s ass! Show us your top challenger skills!」
「hahaha! I bet winfeng will carry with soraka next game too!」
「Seriously, though, guys…. How’s he going to do it? His Alistar is behind on everything…」
「shut up dude! Just let lil bro work his magic!!! Real magicians never reveal their tricks!!!」

While the chat cheered him on, Lin Feng continued to grapple with the Yasuo in the lane, getting minion kills whenever he could. But, slowly and eventually, the minion wave was pushed all the way back to his Outer Tower. Yasuo was too nimble and aggressive, and his Alistar could not offer significant enough resistance to prevent the minion wave from being pushed back. Lin Feng narrowed his eyes and looked past the Yasuo, his thoughts centered on his real opponent. KR•COFF.

This Coff… he’s not half bad. Now that he’s Level 2, he’s using all of Yasuo’s increased mobility to push his advantage. Not only that… his CS is decent and he’s constantly looking for opportunities to get some poke in. None of this is reckless either. He’s playing with the exact amount of aggression that a Yasuo needs to have. You know what? Coff is a competent player! He’s decisive, methodical, and his playstyle keeps everything in balance. Now that I’ve seen this over and over, this is the difference between Chinese and Korean players. The Chinese players, especially the ones at Platinum and Diamond, they all have decent mechanics. More than enough to rival the Korean players. But their playstyle is so much more indecisive, and that leads to them making mistakes that can be exploited. 

After these thoughts crossed Lin Feng’s mind, he turned his attention back to the lane. You’re good, KR•COFF. But I’m really good, too! And now I’m going to show you how much better I am!

After what seemed like an agonizingly long wind-up, Lin Feng’s Alistar finally hit Level 2. Now he had the skills Headbutt and Pulverize at his disposal. More significant was that KR•COFF’s Yasuo no longer had a level advantage on him.

The viewers on the stream still weren’t convinced that it would be enough. The Yasuo that Lin Feng was up against did not appear to be a weak opponent. KR•COFF played aggressively when it came to offense, but that wasn’t at the expense of his own defense. He also displayed quick reflexes. All of this was on display when Lin Feng’s Alistar made his first offensive play. Alistar managed to worm his way around the minion wave and found an excellent angle to Headbutt Yasuo. The attack connected, and Yasuo was launched into the Outer Tower! But KR•COFF recovered quickly, and had his Yasuo dash out of the Tower’s range with Sweeping Blade. The Tower only managed to get one hit on Yasuo before he was out of defensive range. The bolt from the tower managed to do some damage to Yasuo, but not enough to be significant. 

But Lin Feng was only just getting started. Over the next minute and a half, Alistar became more and more aggressive. He charged at Yasuo and landed Headbutt after Headbutt on him. And whenever he got the chance, Alistar would slip an auto attack right before the Headbutt landed. The damage from each of the Headbutts and Headbutt combos individually was not significant, but over time they started to add up. The more important part of the play was that Yasuo had no way to retaliate, because each of the Headbutts would launch him away from Alistar! This meant that Yasuo needed to constantly reposition himself, and the seconds lost meant that he’d be missing out on last hitting minions.

Lin Feng also had an ace up his sleeve. He had yet to use the other skill that his Alistar currently had, Pulverize. When Alistar used Pulverize, he’d pound the ground to deal damage and knock up enemy champions. Lin Feng could have used it to further irritate Yasuo, but he was holding onto it as a deterrent. As long as Pulverize was available, Yasuo could not recklessly rush right upto Alistar and attack. Lin Feng’s decision to hold Pulverize forced the Yasuo to maintain some distance! 

Besides, it was more than clear that Headbutts alone were having the desired effect on KR•COFF. All of the viewers on the stream could clearly see him start to get irritated after being launched from place to place, and constantly being knocked back. And after three more Headbutts, it was clear that KR•COFF was angry. When Alistar’s third Headbutt connected and Yasuo was sent flying back, the strategy changed. Instead of recovering and repositioning himself, Yasuo dashed right back up to Alistar with Sweeping Blade and stabbed out with Steel Tempest. It was the first hit he’d managed to get on Alistar since Lin Feng started playing more aggressively, but it was enough to drop Alistar’s health even lower. 

What made every hit from Yasuo even more agonizing was Lin Feng’s decision to go with a Mage build on Alistar, rather than the usual Tank build. This made Lin Feng’s Alistar far more fragile than normal. Every hit that Alistar took from Yasuo did more damage. The build that Lin Feng was going for turned Alistar into a glass cannon. But he needed time and gold to get his Alistar to the point where the cannon part would come online. This forced Lin Feng to walk the razor’s edge between playing defensively while also not getting completely zoned out and falling behind.

4 minutes had gone by since the game started. Lin Feng had already used up all of his health potions and his Alistar only had one-third of his health left. Some of the viewers on the stream started to get worried.

「hey, shouldn’t you back…?」
「this is getting dangerous!」
「Yasuo has Ignite! If he gets a few more Qs off on you, you’re dead!」

On the other hand, Lin Feng had also slowly and steadily shaved off half of Yasuo’s health. There was another faction of viewers who noticed this, and spammed the chat in an attempt to push Lin Feng onto further aggression.

「lil bro! Don’t back off!」
「Yasuo is also low health!」
「get a good combo off him + ignite and he’s fucked for sure!」
「fuck hiiim uup!」

Lin Feng looked at both sides arguing in the chat and smiled. Unlike them, he was neither worried or excited. Lin Feng was completely calm and relax. He eventually glanced at the webcam and said, “You guys need to chill. Everything is fine. There’s no need to rush.” Then his gaze sharpened up and locked onto Yasuo. “He’s going to die very soon.”

Coff glared at the Alistar on his screen with a cold smile and murder in his eyes. He knew exactly how much damage his Yasuo could do right now, and how much health Alistar had left. He’d calculated the exact number of hits needed to kill Alistar, and come up with a strategy. One more Q, and I’ll have my tornado! Then I’ll dash in, knock you up, and Ignite! You’ll be dead before you even know what hit you! Two hits! 

In Coff’s mind, Alistar was already dead. All he was waiting for was the right moment to make it happen. One opening was all he needed, and as he watched his minion wave push into Alistar’s Outer Tower, he saw the opening play out in his mind. This particular wave was one with a Cannon Minion. A last hit on the Cannon Minion was worth a significant amount of gold. Coff was positive that Alistar would not want to miss out on last hitting the Cannon Minion, especially since the Alistar was behind on CS. That would be his opening. That’s right… walk out from under your Tower to get that last hit. You know you want it, come on. The second you walk out…  His lips curved into a cruel smile. I’m going to cut you down and get the kill!

Two seconds later, the Cannon Minion’s life hung by a thread as the Tower’s bolts hammered into it. Coff was practically salivating as he waited. And, completely according to the plan, Alistar started walking forward to get the last hit on the Cannon Minion. But Coff continued to wait until Alistar got right up to the Cannon Minion. Then, just as Alistar started to wind up to attack the Cannon Minion, Coff’s eyes blazed with bloodlust. Now! His Yasuo moved into position and stabbed out with Steel Tempest!

The attack connected! Coff grunted with joy. And this was the second Steel Tempest his Yasuo had landed, which meant that the winds had gathered around Yasuo’s katana. The next time Yasuo used Steel Tempest, it would unleash a whirlwind that could knock Alistar up. Everything was going exactly according to the plan, and playing out exactly as it had in Coff’s mind. Now all he needed to do was dash into Alistar with a Sweeping Blade and unleash another Steel Tempest that would knock Alistar up, and Ignite! His Yasuo would be in the Tower’s defensive range, but only for a brief instant. Coff was positive that he’d only have to take a single bolt from the Tower, at most. Not enough to kill him, and he’d get the kill on Alistar. 

With all the pieces set, Coff had his Yasuo dash at Alistar with Sweeping Blade. His finger hovered on the Q key, ready to unleash the third Steel Tempest the second his Yasuo landed. Yasuo flew towards Alistar and landed, then pulled his katana back to unleash a blindingly fast Steel Tempest. But right as Yasuo stabbed out with his katana, Coff noticed that Alistar was no longer there! 

You really thought I’d fall for something as silly as a Cannon Minion bait?  Lin Feng’s lips curved into a faint smile. I let you think that you were baiting me. But that Cannon Minion was my bait for you!

Lin Feng knew exactly what Yasuo was planning before the play even started. He had his Alistar walk out to the Cannon Minion to bait Yasuo closer and into the Tower’s defensive range. When Yasuo dashed at Alistar with Sweeping Blade, it brought him close enough to the Tower to trigger its defenses. And just as the Tower locked onto Yasuo and fired its first bolt, Lin Feng pushed down on his D key — Flash! His Alistar was wrapped by dazzling motes of light and vanished right as Yasuo unleashed a third Steel Tempest. This resulted in the moment where Yasuo’s blade only sliced the air, rather than Alistar’s flesh.

Coff’s eyes popped open wide. There was nothing he could do! Alistar had Flashed through his attack, his Yasuo’s whirlwind was now wasted, and he was now stuck in the Tower’s range. Yasuo was still locked in the recovery animation after Steel Tempest, which meant that he could not move. All Coff could do was watch helplessly as Alistar materialized right in front of his Yasuo, and smashed the ground with Pulverize! His Yasuo was knocked up into the air, where a second bolt from the Tower slammed into him.

Sadly, Coff’s pain had only just begun. Right before the second bolt from the Tower hit, Alistar managed to Ignite his Yasuo. Then Alistar positioned himself right behind where his Yasuo was going to land, and waited for Yasuo to plummet back down to the ground. The second Yasuo landed and got back up, Alistar Heatbutted him towards the Tower!

Coff’s eyelids twitched. He felt his heart sinking into his stomach as he frantically tapped on his E key in an attempt to dash out with Sweeping Blade. However, there was a brief one second stun after being hit by Headbutt. Coff’s mind already knew what his heart refused to accept. It was all over. There was no way his Yasuo could escape the Tower’s range in time!

By the time Yasuo managed to dash out of the Tower’s defensive range with a Sweeping Blade, a third bolt from the Tower was flying towards him. The bolt pierced through Yasuo’s back mid-dash, and combined with the damage from Ignite, it was more than enough to end his life.

《First Blood!》

As the announcer’s voice rang out, chat erupted with excitement and congratulations! 

「66666666666666666!」
「666!」
「666!」
「666!」
「666666666!」
「6666666!」
「WINFENG! 66666666666666」
「666!」
「GET REKT YASUO」
「666!」

Lin Feng walked back to his Tower and exclaimed. “You guys saw that, right? Just like I told you. The Yasuo is dead!”

The invasion of Korean players onto the Ionia server was technically Lin Feng’s fault. But the more accurate statement was CN•HOOK2’s fault. Because there were very few people who knew that Lin Feng was, in fact, CN•HOOK2. 

The reason for this invasion started two days ago, when Lin Feng used the CN•HOOK2 to climb up the Korean Challenger Ladder. He eventually managed to climb into the Top 5 after a final game victory over Orion, one of the top Korean pro players. As far as China was concerned, CN•HOOK2’s climb was a huge source of pride. But on the flip side, it was a mark of shame and humiliation for the Korean players. Many of whom could not let such an insult go unanswered, especially not when Chinese players proudly boasted about how things were finally turning around and that there was now someone who could break Korean domination in League of Legends.  

The Korean League of Legends players had a completely different perspective on CN•HOOK2’s climb. As they saw it, the entire climb was dishonest and CN•HOOK2 deserved none of the accolades he’d been receiving from the League community. From their point of view, CN•HOOK2 only managed to get into the Top 5 through a combination of luck and cheap tricks. It all boiled down to when the climb started, which was hours before the ranked ladder reset. By that time, the Season 5 ranked rewards had already been given out and most players on the Korean server were not paying attention to the rankings anymore. Most of the top Challengers didn’t even log on that night, because there was simply no point in doing so. And that meant that CN•HOOK2 never faced the true Challengers of the Korean server on his climb into the Top 5. 

There was also the matter of CN•HOOK2’s victory over Orion to consider. There was no doubt that Orion was a truly skilled player and one of the best currently active in the Korea region. But the fact that someone completely unknown came into the server from China and beat him in a game, that was something that many Korean players could not believe happened without some mitigating circumstances at play. And what they believed was that Orion was only beaten because he was careless and not taking the fight against CN•HOOK2 seriously. Orion’s lack of focus and a bit of luck managed to put CN•HOOK2 in a position where he won that game. Therefore, no one on the Korean server considered it to be a legitimate victory. Because, as far as they were concerned, it was completely based on luck! On any other day, they saw no possibility of CN•HOOK2 getting into the Top 5 on their server. Nor did they think he could win against Orion, a King, in a rematch. 

But all that justification and analysis could not change the fact that the Korean players had to see CN•HOOK2’s name on their Challenger leaderboard. Just sitting there in 4th place. It infuriated and incensed them just looking at it, and every time it got mentioned was further salt in the wound. Something had to be done, their anger needed an outlet. So they decided to band together and avenge this insult to their honor! 

The plan started out simple. Many of the top Korean players had accounts on the Chinese server, just like many of the top Chinese players had accounts on the Korean server. Initially, they wanted to go in and find CN•HOOK2, show him what it really meant to fight against Korean Challengers. So they jumped into the Ionia server, ready to hunt down CN•HOOK2. Unfortunately, very few of them had accounts on the Chinese server that were in Master or Challenger. They spent more time playing on their Korean accounts than their alt accounts on Ionia. That was where the plan started to go a little sideways. But more than enough of the Korean players who invaded the Ionia server had accounts that they’d gotten to Platinum and Diamond. So they decided they would vent their fury on any and all Chinese players they could find!

All of this led up to the moment where Lin Feng bumped into so many oddly named players who were significantly better than what their rank suggested while he was playing on Su Xue’s account today. There were more than a few viewers who started investigating the disturbance long before Lin Feng even brought it up, and they’d pieced together the chain of events from various sources. The chat collectively explained the situation to Lin Feng and he said, “Ooooh! So that’s what’s going on here?” Then he looked at his screen pensively for a couple of seconds before breaking out into a beaming smile. He exclaimed, “Well, this sounds like a lot of fun!” 

Lin Feng wasn’t just playing up the situation for the viewers on the stream. He genuinely did not care that it was happening at all, and he wasn’t even slightly bothered by it. Hah! I was playing and winning against Korean Challengers just the other night. I spent the whole night doing that. Now that I’m rested and ready to go… this is nothing! Actually… this is a pretty good surprise now that I think about it. I can get in more practice against Korean players while I’ve got a good ping! If fate is going to throw a bunch of Koreans right at me, then I’m going to make the most of it! Time to show them that I’m really good, too!

“Alright, let’s do this!” Lin Feng declared to the stream as he cracked his knuckles. Before long, he found a game and entered Champion Select. He was on the Red Team, and waiting to select his Champion. He glanced at the two teams and noticed the name of the player on the Blue Team who locked in on Yasuo. It was KR•COFF.  Before Lin Feng could say anything about this, the viewers flooded the chat with their own analysis. 

「Another Korean player!」
「No shit! Even an idiot can tell with the KR In his name!」
「he’s playing Yasuo! Hook2 used Yasuo against Orion the other day!」
「lil bro! Kick his ass! Teach him a lesson!」

Lin Feng’s eyes lit up as he read the chat, and the smile on his face grew wider. Now this is what I call luck! I can’t believe we bumped into one so fast. The viewers are right. I’m 90% sure that this… COFF picked Yasuo in an attempt to bait out CN•HOOK2. Or make a point about his Yasuo. Who knows? But I cannot believe I found the exact kind of player I was looking for in the first game! This is going to be so good…

Without any hesitation, Lin Feng locked in his Champion for the Mid Lane. Alistar, the Minotaur! 

The viewers in Su Xue’s chat were dumbstruck. 

「Alistar!?」
「Ali into yasuo!?! What!?」
「lil bro, are you trolling!?」

Lin Feng brushed the concerns off with a smile. “It’s fine! I’m really good at Alistar too!”　

In the dorms of an ordinary university in Seoul, Korea, a young man was shocked when he saw the opposing team’s Midlaner lock in Alistar. 

“What!? No way, Mid Alistar, really!?”Coff muttered. Then his lips curved into a mocking smile. “I heard China’s best players were all on the Ionia server, but I guess you can still find a few noobs here too, huh? Only an idiot would pick Alistar against Yasuo. Like what can you even do!?” 

Coff’s rank in the Korean server wasn’t high. He had ended Season 5 at Platinum 3. But on the Ionia server, things were very different. He’d already managed to climb as high as Platinum 1. And at the rate he was going, he didn’t think it would take him very long to get into Diamond. If he won this game, he’d be in the Promotion Series to go up to Diamond.  

“This guy has to be trolling. Welp, thanks for the free win!” Coff said as Champion Select ended, and the two teams entered the loading screen.

Coff had no idea what he was walking into, nor did he realize how painfully his eyes would be opened.

“Watch me stomp him!” Lin Feng declared in the loading screen. Then the game started. 

Despite Lin Feng’s unshakeable confidence, the first few minutes of the game did not appear to be going well for his Alistar. There were too many things acting against him. Alistar was a melee champion, but one who didn’t exert a lot of lane pressure in the Mid Lane. Compounding this issue was the fact that Alistar had no significant early game options to poke or duel against a highly mobile champion like Yasuo. The final impediment Lin Feng had to deal with was that Alistar had a very low attack speed during the early game. This made it very difficult to last hit minions and get gold from them.

The biggest obstacle that made all the viewers worry though, was that there was no way Alistar could outduel Yasuo at Level 1. Lin Feng had no option except to play cautiously and let Coff’s Yasuo zone him out of the lane. And that’s exactly what KR•COFF was doing with his Yasuo. He’d decided on an extremely aggressive and oppressive play style, constantly poking at Alistar with Steel Tempest every single chance he could get. 

Before long, the constant barrage of Steel Tempest managed to whittle away half of Alistar’s health. Lin Feng remained unfazed. He had his Alistar drink a health potion while he glanced at his CS. The second minion wave was about to enter the lane, and he’d only gotten 4 CS from the first wave of the game. 

Lin Feng grimaced and muttered, “Tch! Not enough CS…”

Right as Lin Feng looked back at the center of his screen, KR•COFF’s Yasuo hit Level 2 and learned Sweeping Blade. With that skill, Yasuo’s aggression increased exponentially. He used Sweeping Blade to dash through red minions to get in range of Alistar, and poked with Steel Tempest constantly. 

Coff’s lips curved into a smile. “What a shitter! Just a few more pokes, and he’ll be dead if he doesn’t recall back to base!”

At the same time, Lin Feng declared to the viewers on his stream. “It’s fine! That Yasuo will be dead soon. Just watch.”

Not a wink of sleep did Su Xue get last night, and she was miserable for it. Right before she gave up on sleep completely and got out of bed, she had some sort of vague idea in her mind about taking a mini-holiday for the day. She wasn’t in a fit state to stream, anyways. So right before she walked out of her room, she’d made the decision to be lazy today. Then she saw Lin Feng walking out of the bathroom, and a new plan started taking shape in her mind. 

I’m always the one getting up early to make Lin Feng breakfast or running out to buy him something to eat! It’s good that he decided to go get breakfast on his own, I cannot be bothered today. Let him handle everything for once in his life! You know what? I’m going to have him stream for me today too. It’s not like he’s never subbed in for me before, and today is all his fault. If it wasn’t for the bombshell he dropped last night, I would’ve slept like a baby and woken up dewy fresh this morning! I’m this tired and sleep-deprived because of him, so the least he can do to make up for it is to stream for me. Yup! All the tossing and turning I did last night, that’s all Lin Feng’s fault! 

While Su Xue ranted to herself in her thoughts, Lin Feng had stepped out to get breakfast and returned. He walked into Su Xue’s room to find her sitting on her bed. He handed her some of the food he picked up and walked over to her computer to set up for the stream. Lin Feng already finished his breakfast on the walk back to their apartment. 

Su Xue, still on her bed, started nibbling at her breakfast. She wasn’t exactly hungry, but she wasn’t not-hungry either. She was mostly just tired and angry at Lin Feng. She glared at him out of the corner of her eye and thought, I’m going to make him completely balance this debt! He’s the root cause of all my misery today! 

Maple… Lin Feng… Maple! That’s it! He used to be Maple, and we can’t just let something like that go without taking advantage of it, can we Su Xue? Nope! Now that I know, I’m going to use this to make my stream explode. Su Xue’s lips curved with a grin. I mean, come on, what other streamer on Huya can claim they have China’s best Midlaner helping them stream?

As for Lin Feng, he didn’t really mind helping Su Xue out today. He was off from school for the winter holidays, and there was nowhere else he needed to be today. And after the Collegiate Cup and the climb up the Korean Challenger ladder, he had nothing better to do for the time being. Besides, he’d earned some relaxation. Lin Feng could think of nothing more calming than streaming a few games in Diamond and chatting with the viewers on the stream. 

Once he finished adjusting the chair, Lin Feng sat down and turned on Su Xue’s computer. He checked to make sure everything on the stream was set up properly before turning it on. Then he opened up the Chinese League of Legends client and used Su Xue’s username and password to log on. Just as he loaded into the Ionia server, viewers started flooding into the stream. When they saw it was Lin Feng on the camera instead of Su Xue, some were happy and greeted Lin Feng. Others were surprised and wondered what happened to Su Xue. The chat struggled under the barrage of mixed messages from all the viewers.  

「What? Where’s xuexue?」
「LIL BRO!! WELCOME BACK!」
「BroFeng strem today gonna be good!!!!!!!!」
「Lil bro your not as cute as Su Xue!!!!」
「I NEED THE REAL EVENING SNOWFALL」
「Why is there always a guy when I click onto a cute girl’s stream?」　
「Is it just lil bro today?」
「wut happin to suxue???????」
「she quit streaminggggg?」
「Is Su Xue Okay Lin Feng?!Q?!?A」
「where’d the maaaaid gooooo?」
「lilbro don need no maid right?」
「Hihihihihihi LINFENG」
「LILBROLINGENG」

Lin Feng noticed all the questions about Su Xue as he skimmed through the chat. He scratched his head as he wondered how to respond. After 30 more seconds and hundreds of messages asking why Su Xue wasn’t on stream, he decided to reply. “Su Xue? Oh, she’s fine. Don’t worry guys! She said she was feeling lazy today, so she made me take her place.”

「What….?」
「She’s being lazy….?」
「Didn’t she get off at only 11 yesterday?」
「Yeah! Why’s she taking the whole day off!?」　

A few of the more eagle-eyed viewers, ones who happened to be watching the stream on large monitors instead of their phones, noticed that Su Xue could be seen in the background of the camera frame. She was sitting on her bed, still nibbling on her breakfast. Once they found her, the viewers considered it their solemn duty to inform the rest of the chat. 

「LOOK IN THE CORNER!!!! THERE SHE IS!!」
「SU XUE ON HER BED LOOOOK」
「The maid is sitting on her bed eating guys」
「theretherherherherhereraahs AAGH SU XUE!」
「omg! there she is pigging out on the bed!」
「looking at her goofing off and being lazy!」
「no shame at all! Having poor lil bro take her place!」
「waht was that about  being a professional streamer and taking things seriously now?」
「we can’t let her get away with this! BOIS! REPORT HER!」

Soon enough, waves of requests to report Su Xue roiled through the chat. The viewers had all gotten riled up with righteous fury! While this was happening, Su Xue decided to take a quick peek at the chat to see what was going on. When she noticed all of the anger and threats to report her to Huya, her face turned completely pale. She jammed the bun she was eating into her mouth and huddled underneath her blanket. She yelled, “I’m not here! I’m not here! You guys can’t see me!”

「in what world did you think that would work!」
「talk about being an ostrich!」
「we literally saw you eating just a moment ago!」

But before long, the people watching the stream chat turned their attention back to Lin Feng and gave up on tormenting Su Xue. A game had popped up and he was loading into the Champion Select screen.  

「bah, whatever! Lil bro is way more fun to watch anyway!」
「yeah, i was getting tired of watching xuexue feed all the time!」
「we’ll let you off this once!」
「you’re lucky lik bro is so nice!」
「come on, lil bro! Let’s see you stomping in diamond today!」
「I wanna see a yasuo game!」
「play a xerath game!」

Su Xue, still hidden under her blankets, continued to watch the chat. When she noticed that they’d given up on making her even more miserable and flooding the chat with what champion they wanted to see Lin Feng play, she breathed a grateful sigh of relief. Now that all of the viewers’ attention swerved completely away from her, she could finally get some sleep. Su Xue started to get comfortable and her eyes slowly closed.

Then, all of a sudden, her eyes popped open. Su Xue had just realised something. Waitaminute! That’s my channel and all of those stupid fickle morons are my viewers! They saw me and they decided to pile on instead of begging me to get up and play. None of them care about me at all. All of them jumped onto the Lin Feng bandwagon and completely forgot about me. They have no loyalty at all! It’s all about Lin Feng now. But… well, it’s not like I can blame them. Lin Feng is a living legend and I’m hardstuck in Diamond… I’d probably jump ship over to him too if I was a viewer. That’s just how it goes. But imagine if Lin Feng revealed his identity as Maple to the world… my stream viewership would jump up by a couple million!

Ahhh! It doesn’t matter! Su Xue shook her head. Sleep! Sleep! I need sleep!

Shortly after turning on the stream, just as he was about to start his first game, Lin Feng was surprised to discover that the number of viewers on the stream had spiked. By a significant number. What made this even more perplexing was that Lin Feng had started the stream in the morning. There really weren’t a lot of people who watched streams on Huya TV in the morning. Yet somehow, Su Xue’s stream already had 30,000 viewers!

The number wasn’t particularly high for the normal viewer count on Su Xue’s stream. But that was because she usually started her stream up in the afternoon or evening. If Lin Feng kept the stream up into the evening, there was no question that the viewer count would be somewhere north of 100,000. Su Xue had worked hard and built up a large following for her stream. And 30,000 viewers showing up for an off-peak stream in the morning was an indication of how popular she’d become as a streamer. 

Lin Feng glanced at the viewer count again. It was ticking past 35,000. Guess I’m not the only one who has been working hard these days. Su Xue’s really been taking it up a notch on her channel. She’s grown so much recently… Oh! Time to focus on the game. Okay. Diamond on the Ionia Server… this is going to be a piece of cake after all those Challenger games on the Korean server! 

In his first game, Lin Feng was playing Xerath in the Mid Lane. One of the viewers had suggested it, and he saw no reason not to play Xerath. So he picked the champion and started. 10 minutes after the game started, Lin Feng had 3 Kills/0 Deaths/1 Assist. At 20 minutes, his KDA was 7/1/2 with a CS of 240. His Xerath floated around the map, stomping any enemy champion who happened to be unlucky enough to cross his path. After 8 minutes of constant harassment and overwhelming defeat, the opposing team surrendered. Lin Feng had ended his first game in 28 minutes.  

With that game out of the way and the viewers on the stream absolutely enthralled, Lin Feng decided to continue onto the next game of the stream. And then a third game. Two and a half hours flew by like this, and Lin Feng had played five games. There was one game where his team lost because his teammates were unable to keep it together long enough for him to carry, but the other four were all easy victories. 

But something about the five games he’d just played nagged at Lin Feng. There’s something… off about all of these games. I’m not sure what it is… but… something doesn’t feel right at all. This is supposed to be Diamond on the Ionia server, but the players I was up against didn’t feel like Diamonds. They’re all much stronger than their rank… weird. And there were a few who were Diamond 4 or Diamond 5 but they moved like high Diamond players! Oh! Oh! There was even a player who was only Platinum 1 but played like he was at the top of Diamond! What is going on? 

Now that I’m thinking about this… hm. Some of those guys didn’t play like everyone else on Ionia either. Their mechanics were way cleaner and their decision-making was decisive… something is definitely going on. I mean, it’s possible that I ran into a group of players who just happened to be above the normal Ionia player… but there was something wrong with their summoner tags too. All of the players who stood out to me had odd names! Some of them were in English but they were different from the normal English summoner tags that people pick. And there were a few that were in Chinese characters… but they made no sense at all. Sorta like someone just randomly mashed Chinese characters on a keyboard to make a name… why would someone do that? 

“How strange…” Lin Feng muttered, rubbing his chin. 

The viewers on the stream knew exactly what Lin Feng was thinking without him explaining what he found strange. Chat exploded as all the viewers tried to explain the situation to Lin Feng.

「lil bro, those players were probably Korean!」
「yeah! A lot of em were Korean.」
「i don’t know why, but there’ve been a lot of Korean players in the Ionia server today.」
「 I bumped into a few when iw as ranking earlier.」
「check the forums, i think they’re here to get revenge?」
「revenge for what? Seriously, we’re not even allowed to get top 5 in their server?」

After reading the chat, Lin Feng understood. Ionia was being invaded by the Koreans, and it was all his fault!

Once he got inside his room, Lin Feng sat down on his bed. He was tired, but there was something he had to do before turning in for the night. Which is why he was sitting on his bed thinking instead of lying down and immediately knocking out. What time is it right now? Hm… that means that it’ll still be morning in Los Angeles… Lin Feng considered what he wanted to do for another few seconds, and then pulled out his phone. He scrolled through until he found the person he wanted to call, and pushed the call button.

The call connected after two rings, and a familiar, carefree voice rang out. “Hello?”

As soon as Lin Feng heard the greeting from the voice at the other end of the line, he stopped slouching and sat up straight. His expression turned respectful, and his tone reflected that same respect as he spoke. “One! I did what you asked me to do! I kept my promise!”

“Oh, that. Yeah, I heard. Good job, good job.” One said, laughing. 

The approval in One’s voice and his praise was more than enough for Lin Feng. His face lit up with joy and he pumped his other fist into the air while exclaiming, “Yeah!” That was all he could say out loud. What he really wanted to say was running through his mind. Everything I’ve gone through over the past couple of months… all of that was nothing. I’ve gone through this before. I worked myself to the bone over and over again during Season 1! I can take this much pressure and come out on top, I’m already more than used to it. I just needed to remind myself who I am, who I was. But this was all worth it… I’d do it all over again if it means One’ll acknowledge me. All the pain and pressure means nothing compared to One’s approval! And I didn’t let One down! That’s what matters most here. I proved to One… and myself that I’m still Maple! I’m capable of being better than anyone else in this current era. It doesn’t matter that the scene changed and that things are way more competitive than they were in Season 1. I’m still just as good as I was back then! 

Lin Feng took a deep breath to calm himself down. Then he continued talking to One, “You know what really sucks, One? The plan was to shoot for the Top 3. That’s where I was aiming. I just ran out of time…” As he trailed off, Lin Feng’s voice was tinged with regret. This wasn’t Lin Feng overestimating himself or making an excuse. He really was planning to get into the Top 3. And he knew that if he had time for a few more games, he could’ve continued riding the momentum from his victory against Orion into the Top 3.

One chuckled. “No big deal. It’s fine, really. Rank 4 ain’t bad. Besides, it’s not like it makes a huge difference if you climbed into the Top 5 or Top 3. There weren’t many other OGN pros apart from Orion playing last night. There’s nothing more you have to prove to yourself, and nothing more you could’ve proved by getting into the Top 3 last night.”

Lin Feng froze for a moment as he processed what One had just said. Then, he nodded and said, “That’s true… there really weren’t many players from the top of the OGN playing last night before the ladder reset. Now that I think about it, that’s probably why there wasn’t too much resistance on my climb. Orion was the hardest opponent I faced off against. If there were more professional players in the queue, I don’t think I could’ve gotten any of my win streaks.” 

The depths of the Korean Challenger pool were far deeper than they appeared to be during Lin Feng’s climb. There was a reason so many Chinese players had failed to get into the Top 10 or Top 5 for so long. And Lin Feng knew that luck contributed to his seemingly effortless climb. He was more than aware that there were several other players in the OGN who could’ve pushed him aside and ruined his climb. None of these players were weaker than Orion, and some of them were significantly stronger. Players like Fate’s Moon or SSK’s Rake.

“Enough about ranks and bragging rights for now! There’s something else I want to talk to you about. Your last game, that was the one you played against Orion, right?” One asked.

“Yeah.” Lin Feng replied.

One chuckled briefly before asking, “So? How’d it feel?”

Lin Feng took a few seconds to figure out what One was asking. Then he replied, “Orion… he was really strong. But he was cocky in the beginning, and that made him careless. That’s why I was able to snowball against him and win the game.”

The game last night sent shockwaves running through two regions, and thousands of players were making assumptions about the mysterious player who had beaten Orion. But Lin Feng didn’t let any of that talk, or his victory, go to his head. He knew that he only managed to triumph over Orion last night because of many factors that worked together to give him an advantage. The simple truth here was that all of the players talking about his match against Orion were wrong. The skill that a King possessed was something completely beyond the comprehension of ordinary players. Lin Feng was not an ordinary player, and he understood how and why things played out the way they did.

Lin Feng stayed quiet as he thought about the game for the first time. He was silent for so long that One decided to break it up by asking, “Well? You gonna keep thinking about it or tell me what happened in that game?”

“Right! Yup!” Lin Feng said as he shook himself out of his own thoughts. Then he cleared his throat and said, “Well, in any matchup where you have Yasuo and Zed, everyone knows that Yasuo is the slightly stronger champion. And there’s no way that Orion doesn’t know that. If he was playing more cautiously, he would’ve never gone in for a 1v1 at Level 6. That was his first big mistake. I think he figured that he could make up for the difference with pure skill. His plan was to go in and outplay me in that duel, and then use that to zone me out completely and win the game. But since he wasn’t careful enough to think about how I’d react, it didn’t go his way at all. My Yasuo ended up killing his Zed, and that’s where I got enough of an advantage to snowball into victory. Orion got a lot more careful after that first death, but that was too big of a mistake.

If Orion had been more cautious and played like he would against a professional opponent in a tournament game, it would not have been that easy to win against him at all. And there’s a definite chance that I would have lost that game to Orion.”

After hearing Lin Feng’s analysis, One smiled. “It’s good that you’re aware. I was a little worried that you’d get all big-headed after winning against a top OGN pro player. But you know what happened in that game, and that’s good. I’m not going to lie to you, kid. Your progress so far has been phenomenal and deserves praise. But you and I both know that it isn’t enough. You gotta keep working hard. The faster you can get yourself back to your old prime, the sooner we can start thinking about how to get you even better than that! Besides, the LPL badly needs some new blood right now. You need to shock them awake real quick. Plus, I want to keep bragging about my successor in front of your uncle. Keep pushing, Lin Feng!”

“My uncle…?” Lin Feng asked, stunned.

One laughed. “Yup. Your uncle, Lin Songshi. He called me up last night, sounded like he was conflicted about your return. I know the two of you have your issues, but deep down, he’s got a lot of hope pinned on you. Don’t let him down.”

Lin Feng didn’t know what to say, so he stayed silent. My Uncle called One… A few seconds later, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Then he exhaled. When he finally opened his eyes, they were burning with determination and resolve. He’d finally figured out what to say back to One. “I understand.”

The next day, Lin Feng woke up early in the morning after getting a good night’s rest. He stretched his back, opened his eyes, and was back in his normal high spirits. He hopped out of bed and into the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face. 

Lin Feng finished his morning routine and walked out of the bathroom just in time to see Su Xue walking out of her room. “MORNING SU XUE! Wait… woah. Why are you up so early?”  

Su Xue looked at Lin Feng with blurry red eyes. Truthfully and technically speaking, Su Xue did not get up early this morning. She’d barely gotten any sleep at all last night. Since she didn’t go to sleep, she didn’t get up. She’d been up all night. And now she was looking at the reason for her lack of sleep. Su Xue rubbed her eyes with her palms and looked at Lin Feng again. She had two very large dark circles under her eyes. “Oh, yeah. It’s morning… I’m… up.”

Last night was not a good one at all for Su Xue. She could not stop thinking about what Lin Feng casually revealed to her over a chicken cutlet, that he was Maple. She could not comprehend how she was living with someone who used to be China’s best player. Or that he’d played against some of the best players in the world, including Phoenix and Rake. Lin Feng’s history swirled around in her head all night and left her completely unable to sleep. She tossed and turned, trying to get comfortable enough to stop her mind from racing. She’d even resorted to counting sheep for hours until her eyes were bloodshot, but sleep continued to elude her. 

As morning arrived, Su Xue finally had enough of trying to sleep and decided to get out of bed. She wanted to go to the bathroom and cover her face with a hot towel. Which is when she ran into Lin Feng as he walked out of the bathroom. 

When Su Xue saw Lin Feng again, her expression flickered with mixed emotions. Now that she finally knew who he was, his real identity, she didn’t know how to look at him anymore. He isn’t an ordinary kid who just happens to be really good at League of Legends. Nope! He’s a freaking legend who was even more amazing than Daybreak Hermes! And I’ve been living together with him the whole time! No one is going to believe this. I don’t even believe it! This is not something that happens to real people at all. I could probably go write a webnovel about this on the forums, that’s how unbelievable it is!

Su Xue’s mind was filled with all sorts of chaotic thoughts. She only snapped out of her daze when she noticed Lin Feng waving his hand in front of her face. “W-what, what are you doing?”

“Oh, I was planning to go out and buy some breakfast. Do you want me to get you something too?” Lin Feng asked.

Su Xue nodded slowly. “Oh, sure.” Then she suddenly thought of something and said. “Right. You’re not doing anything today, right? How about you come and help me stream for a bit?”