“I think you’re both pretty.” That one line from Lin Feng echoed around the classroom. A classroom that was now pindrop silent. A moment in time where those words which could’ve only been spoken by the most oblivious of men hung in the air and nothing else. “I think both of you are really pretty.” There wasn’t much Lin Feng could’ve said to make the situation any worse. He was a thick-skinned Nasus, obviously farming up his Siphoning Strike, caught in between a Katarina and Ahri. Both of whom now had their claws out and an intense desire to stain them with his blood. He’d spoken the forbidden words. Tang Bingyao and An Xin turned towards him. They looked at him, stared at him, glared at him.

Ouyang started shivering. He wanted to complain about someone opening a window and letting a cold breeze inside, but the windows were all closed. Then he turned towards Yang Fan and looked at his friend. They’d known each other for years and had built up that unspoken bond of brosmanship. Words were no longer necessary between them. If they wanted to, all they had to do was lock eyes and they could communicate through the force that linked all bros. And in this moment, when their fellow bro Lin Feng needed them more than ever, their eyes found each other and their thoughts communed within the BroForce. 

〘D-damn! You feelin’ this? The room got way colder than the shoulder a girl way outta your league gives you when you try to talk to her! We need to do something! If I—〙

〘No! Do not get involved! He got into this mess on his own. There is no way this situation will improve if we get involved. It’ll definitely get worse if you start trying to help him. Let him figure out how to extricate himself from this quagmire on his own!〙

〘YeahYeah, you’re right. Dammit. Even I’m not that stupid. What was that idiot thinking?〙

Ren Rou looked at the two girls glaring at Lin Feng. Then she looked at Ouyang and Yang Fan in the middle of one of their moments where they just looked into each other’s eyes and slightly moved their lips to talk. She wasn’t really a bro, didn’t have the same kind of connection that they had with each other. She wasn’t a bro, but she could be a Sis! She didn’t know how to be one with the BroForce, but she was a woman! She knew how to get a message across without words. She seized Ouyang’s attention without making a sound and pointed towards Lin Feng and the two girls with her eyes. In that single moment, she opened herself to the BroForce, let it wash through and out of her, and synced onto the same wavelength that Ouyang and Yang Fan were on.

〘Do something about this, Ouyang! They’re going to fight!〙

The gears in Ouyang’s head started spinning. It took a hot minute to grease up the cogs and get the engines revving. But when his brain shifted into turbo, he figured out exactly what needed to be done. He grabbed the picture of Lin Feng and An Xin and tapped on An Xin’s shoulder. “An Xin! An Xin! This picture, right? Lin Feng said it was at the Season 1 LPL Finals. Does that mean you’re also into League of Legends? Are you good? I was a Gold scrub, but thanks to Lin Feng I’m at least Platinum now. Probably even better if it wasn’t for those damn teammates I keep getting matched up with!”

An Xin turned to Ouyang, frustrated. But then she saw that twinkle in his eyes and she heard the emotions behind his words. They were genuine curiosity and pride. She smiled, choosing to forget what happened a moment before, and patted her chest. “Yep! I love the game! I’ve been playing since Season 1 and I’m pretty good at it!”

“Right! Bunbun is a really good Jungler!” Lin Feng interjected, oblivious as always to the catastrophe that was just averted. “But not as good as me. I’m better!”

An Xin snorted. She glared at Lin Feng and said, “That’s it. You and me, we’re going to 1v1 later. I’ll kick your ass!”

The last few words never even registered in Lin Feng’s head. All he heard was the challenge. He smiled and said, “Sure! But you’re losing.”

The six people were all League of Legends fanatics and were more than anything happy to shift away from the awkward situation. So they quickly latched onto the new topic. Ouyang started interrogating An Xin on how good she was at the game, and she was happy to tell them that she was currently sitting on Diamond 5 in the Ionia server.

Ouyang blurted, “Damn! Diamond 5 is so good! You’re really good! That’s so amazing!”

Yang Fan adjusted his glasses and said, “People always say how girls aren’t good at the game. But here we got another one who’s better than we are.”

Ren Rou was also thoroughly impressed. She nodded and said, “That’s really cool!”

Lin Feng watched his friends practically falling over An Xin just because of her League rank. They hadn’t done that when he told them about his rank. He looked around, confused and a little annoyed, then shouted, “Hey! What is this? Who cares about some low Diamond player? You guys never acted like this when I told you that I’m a Challenger. I’m way better than she is!”

That was the wrong thing to say. No one cared about Lin Feng right now. They wanted to get to know their new classmate better. So four pairs of eyes shot towards Lin Feng, followed by four quick replies. 

“Shut up! No one cares!” 
“We know your rank. Stop bragging about it.” 

“Yes, yes, you’re good at the game. We know.” 

“Mhm.”

Ren Rou guided the conversation into the direction of the esports club. She’d found a new, strong female player and she was set on recruiting her. So Ren Rou started talking about how great the club was. How much it had grown recently and the achievements that had helped them grow. She spoke about the first years who’d swarmed around Tang Bingyao for her ‘1v1 Love Confessions’ and finally also about the Shanghai 16 School Tournament. First she talked about how they’d been robbed of a win last year. Then she moved on to this year and how well they were doing. They were semifinalists! But it looked like reaching the finals was going to be really difficult, since their opponent was Shanghai International.

“Shanghai International?” An Xin asked, curious. “Are they good?”

Ouyang nodded fervently and said, “Yeah! They’re really, really good! You must know that they made it all the way to the Finals last year. I thought for sure they were going to win. And they’re only better this year. Maybe they’re even better than Shanghai High School this year!”

Yang Fan adjusted his glasses and said, “They’re a lot better than we are. Unfortunately, it looks like they’re too good. I don’t think we can beat them in our current state.”

Ren Rou sighed, then started talking, the words flowing from her lips before she even realized it, “But we’re trying really hard. Lin Feng is especially doing everything he can. You should’ve seen him work over the past week. He’s practically killing himself ov—” She shut up and put her hand over her mouth as an extra measure the moment she realized what she was saying. Crap! I said too much…

“Hmm? What’s that?” An Xin asked, turning towards Lin Feng and looking him up and down. She saw his bloodshot eyes and the large bags under his eyes. 

Lin Feng scratched the back of his head, uncomfortable. “Uhh… I don’t know what she’s talking about. I’m fine.”

✹

Third period on Monday morning was Mathematics. After the bell rang, the students from Senior Class 7 returned to their desk and grabbed their textbooks. The teacher walked in and, after taking attendance, started explaining formulas. He turned his back to the class and started writing on the chalkboard. This was the perfect timing for An Xin to pass another note to Lin Feng.

An Xin: ﴾ What is this about you practically killing yourself? ﴿

Lin Feng: ﴾ It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it. ﴿

An Xin: ﴾ Liar. ﴿

Lin Feng read the note, then put it away in his bag. He focused back on the lesson, though his eyes kept shifting towards the ideas he’d written out in his notebook on the series against Shanghai International. He forgot about the class he was in and started getting absorbed in his analysis again. Until a ball of paper hit him in the side of the head. It jolted him out of his thoughts and he glanced over towards An Xin. She was glaring at him. Her eyes were saying murder, while she was mouthing, “Open. It.”

Lin Feng looked down to the floor, where the crumpled piece of paper had fallen. He reached for it with his foot and moved it closer towards him, hesitatingly. But when he looked towards An Xin again, and saw the look in her eyes, he knew there was no evading this. So he reached down and picked up the note. He started unfolding it, noticing An Xin from the corner of his eye. She was smiling but she also wasn’t. She looked scary.

An Xin: ﴾ Next break we’re going outside to talk. ﴿

✹

After Mathematics, the students from Senior Class 7 had a 25 minutes break. An Xin stood up from her desk and looked at Lin Feng, urging him to come with her. But he didn’t get up. Instead he raised his textbook and pretended to be busy studying. She sighed, then pulled the textbook from his hands and put it in his backpack. Pushing it in his embrace, she commanded, “Take it and come.”

Lin Feng took the backpack in reflex, but didn’t get up. He leaned over his desk and complained, “I-i’m feeling a little tired. Can we talk another time?”

“What was that?” An Xin demanded, glaring at Lin Feng. “We don’t have all day. Get up.” He hesitated another moment, more time than he had. She grabbed him by his arm and pulled him up, then dragged him out of the classroom. He could only hurry after her, her fingers pinching into his arm.

Ouyang and Yang Fan watched the two walk out of the classroom, keeping their mouths shut. They knew better than to make a funny comment about Lin Feng being whipped into obedience. But when they had left earshot, Ouyang couldn’t help himself. He whisper-shouted, “What do you think those two are going to do? Having a little romantic one on one time? Maybe Lin Feng likes them bossy.”

Yang Fan shook his head, looking at the open classroom door through which Lin Feng and An Xin had walked out. Then he turned to Ouyang and said, “No. You saw them. That didn’t look or sound very romantic. Actually, it doesn’t matter what they’re going to do. Let’s just hope that with her here, Lin Feng’s mood improves. He really needs someone who knows how to get through to him and help him.”

Out in the hallways, Lin Feng was following behind An Xin. There were students everywhere and he searched for a way to escape into the crowd. But An Xin was surprisingly strong, her fingers wrapped around his arm. She would notice if he tried anything and he didn’t want to think what would happen then. So he followed, albeit reluctantly. They walked towards the stairs and went up a flight, and then another. After two months at High School 13, he’d never been in this part of the school. He couldn’t help but ask, “Bunbun, where are you taking me?”

“Somewhere quiet where no one will disturb us,” An Xin replied, curt.

Lin Feng tried to pull his arm free, but An Xin wouldn’t let him. He slowed down, but she pulled so hard that he nearly fell forward. She wasn’t letting him go. He felt his stomach drop. It felt bad, really bad. There was nowhere to escape and there were less students around then a minute ago. He suggested, timidly, “H-hey, how about we talk after school? I still need to do some work before next class.”

An Xin came to an abrupt halt, with Lin Feng almost walking into her. She turned around and raised her eyebrow. “Hmm? Something you want to say? Is there?”

“O-oh, it’s nothing. Nothing. Really. It can wait. Let’s talk now. I’ll follow you,” Lin Feng said, stumbling over his words. He followed An Xin up the last flight of stairs. There was no hallway here, only a door. An Xin pushed it open and he followed after her onto the empty terrace on the roof. The wind blew in his face as he looked around, surprised. “We have a rooftop terrace? Nice! This looks really cool!” He then turned to An Xin and asked, “Bunbun, how did you know about this place?”

“Because all schools have this. Literally every single school,” An Xin replied. She then let go of Lin Feng’s arm and looked around the rooftop terrace. There were no other students here. They were completely alone. Just the two of them. She nodded, happy, and then turned to Lin Feng. “Good. We can talk here without getting interrupted. So let’s talk.”

Lin Feng looked around the terrace. He then walked past An Xin towards the edge of the rooftop, where he looked out over the surroundings. The city center was quite some way away, but he could still see the large buildings in the distance. He heard her walk up to him, but pretended he was engrossed in the scenery. Until a flat palm slapped him in the face and an angry yell sounded in his ears, “Stop pretending! Look at me!” He inhaled, long and deep, then let it all out and turned around to look at An Xin.

An Xin looked back at Lin Feng. For the first time, the two locked eyes and really saw each other. The anger and annoyance disappeared from her eyes. The stern expression disappeared from her face. She smiled the saddest smile and asked, “I saw that KG lost… How are you taking it? Are you ok?”

Lin Feng’s lips quivered. He bit down on his teeth and looked at his best and oldest friend. She knew him. She really knew him. It was never about the Shanghai 16 School Tournament for him. It was always about Worlds and what happened there. He tried to open his mouth and say something, but only a hoarse sound came out. Then he shook his head and lowered it.

A new girl had joined Senior Class 7! Her name was An Xin and she’d told everyone about her nickname! That could only mean a single thing in the minds of the guys. She wanted to be their friend! “Bunbun, it’s nice to meet you!” some of them shouted, eager to showcase their friendliness. Of course they wanted to cozy up with An Xin. She was beautiful in every sense of the word. Ren Rou and Tang Bingyao were every students’ dream, until now. Bunbun was new, she was exotic, she was exciting. And now she was their number one. They didn’t even look at the other two girls, because only Bunbun deserved their attention right now.

There were four students who weren’t concerned with welcoming An Xin to the class. It wasn’t that they disliked her or anything like that. Rather, they stared at her, dumbstruck. Bunbun. They’d heard the name before. It was the name Lin Feng had given to a childhood friend of his. Almost collectively, from where they sat, they turned towards Lin Feng. Bunbun? Is she THE Bunbun? They saw Lin Feng look up from his notebook. Is she really… Is that really his Bunbun?

Ren Rou tried to remember the picture of Bunbun that Lin Feng had shown her. That picture was from four year ago, with the girl looking a lot younger than she did now. The girl in that picture had pigtails and was standing off in the background. They do look similar though…

Tang Bingyao didn’t need to think like Ren Rou did. She stared at An Xin and pursed her lips. There was a look in her eyes that revealed far more of her thoughts at the moment than she would’ve liked. Fortunately, everyone was looking towards Bunbun and no one was looking at her.

✹

Lin Feng was working on his latest idea for the match against Shanghai International when the homeroom teacher announced a new student was joining the class. He didn’t really care. It didn’t have anything to do with him. So he didn’t even bother to look up, scribbling down the ideas that formed in his mind before they disappeared again. Then he looked over the notes, but the letters were hard to read. He blinked his eyes and tried to ignore the pain that he felt in his head. The words on the page made sense again. This won’t work—

Then he heard the new student introduce herself. It was a voice Lin Feng recognized, one that he would know anywhere. His pen fell from his fingers on the table, then rolled off his desk and dropped to the ground. But he didn’t notice. He could only hear that voice that he knew so well. He lifted up his face and for the first time took a look at the new transfer student. Bunbun? The world was spinning before his eyes. He started worrying that it was his sleep deprivation and that he was seeing things. So he rubbed his eyes and looked again. There she was, smiling and sticking her tongue out at him. He barely moved his lips and the sound was almost inaudible as he said, “Bunbun.” She’d grown a lot since he last saw her, but she still looked the same. To him she did, anyways. She was Bunbun. She was one of his best friends growing up.

“An Xin, you can sit…” The homeroom teacher looked around the classroom. Most seats were taken, except for a few at the back of the class. He hesitated for a few seconds but then pointed towards a desk in the last row and said, “You can sit over there for now. Sorry, we don’t have that much space. We can maybe look into reshuffling the seating arrangement some other time…”

An Xin looked at the desk the teacher was pointing at. There was no one else sitting at that desk. Then she looked at the desk next to where she would be sitting. Two guys sat there. One of them was Lin Feng. She smiled at the homeroom teacher and said, “It’s fine. That seat looks perfect!” She then walked over to it and sat down on the side closest to Lin Feng. There was only the aisle separating them.

Lin Feng watched her walk and sit down at the desk next to him. He stared at her, shocked and speechless. She put her backpack down and all he could do was look at her. Then he said, his lips moving of their own accord, “Bunbun?”

An Xin paused midway through putting her books on her desk. Then she tilted her head and looked at Lin Feng. “Hey,” she said, smiling. “Long time no see.”

Before the two old friends could catch up, the school bell rang. It was the start of the second period of Monday morning. For Senior Class 7 that meant English. It was a subject many of the students hated. This wasn’t because of the subject per se, but more because of the teacher. He was a real hard ass. If he caught someone slacking off, he’d pull them to the front of the class and tell them to share their story. He liked to say that if someone felt that whatever it was they were talking about was more important than what he was teaching them, then it was only fair they shared it with the entire class and not just the students sitting next to them.

Lin Feng tried to pay attention to the class. He listened to the words of the teacher and made notes. These were notes on the class and not on the game with Shanghai International. But his mind was somewhere else entirely. It was on the girl sitting next to him. And after only a couple of minutes he tore off the edge from a page of his notebook and scribbled something down. He gave it to An Xin, who read it and wrote a reply.

Lin Feng: ﴾ Why are you here? ﴿

An Xin: ﴾ What? Do you not want me here? Teehee~ ﴿

Lin Feng: ﴾ Where are you living? ﴿

An Xin: ﴾ Mom and Dad moved here, so I had to come too. ﴿

Lin Feng: ﴾ Really? You all live in Shanghai now? ﴿

An Xin: ﴾ Yep! I’m really liking it here, though probably not half as much as you are. My parents told me that you’re living with a girl, right? They also said that she’s trying to become a League streamer. I bet you’re having a good time with her. Hehe~ ﴿

Lin Feng scratched the back of his head after reading the last note. He didn’t really know how to respond to that. He was living with a streamer girl. But she wasn’t a streamer girl. She was a girl who tried to make a living by creating real content that went beyond showing off her cleavage and long legs. But he didn’t know how to write all of that down on a small piece of paper. He turned towards An Xin, unsure, only to find her sticking her tongue out at him. Oh… Lin Feng shook his head and even showed a little smile, while An Xin stuck up her nose and laughed. She did that for half a second before quickly putting her hand over her mouth. The two looked to the front of the classroom. The teacher was looking at them, hesitating, but then continued with his lesson. Lin Feng and An Xin didn’t dare to move their eyes away from the chalkboard, listening to the teacher for a good three minutes. Then their note exchange started up again.

An Xin: ﴾ Do you like it? ﴿

Lin Feng: ﴾ Like what? ﴿

An Xin: ﴾ My new hairstyle, Goofus. ﴿

Lin Feng: ﴾ It’s new? Looks the same… ﴿

An Xin: ﴾ Does this look like pigtails to you? ﴿
An Xin: ﴾ It’s completely different. ﴿
An Xin: ﴾ My parents also finally let me get contacts! You can finally look into my eyes~ ﴿

Lin Feng: ﴾ Oh, I see. ﴿

An Xin: ﴾ What’s wrong with you? I bet that wall behind you is more fun to talk with… ﴿
An Xin: ﴾ Anyways, what are you working so hard on? ﴿
An Xin: ﴾ I mean all those pages in your notebook. You were writing so much that you didn’t even see me at first! ﴿

Lin Feng: ﴾ It’s nothing. ﴿

An Xin read the two words on the small note that was covered in tiny scribbles. She read them again, just to make sure she was understanding them correctly. But there was nothing to misunderstand about it. Dumbass. She looked up at Lin Feng and raised an eyebrow, giving him a moment to come with a better answer. He didn’t. He barely even looked at her. She waited for when he did and mouthed, “Big. Fat. Liar.”

✹

There was a short break between English and the next period. These were a valuable few minutes to the four members from the esports team in Senior Class 7. Three of them jumped up from their seat and rushed to the back of the class, while Ouyang was already badgering Lin Feng and An Xin with his questions. Well, he did until Ren Rou shot him down with one of her famous glares.

“So you’re Bunbun!” Ren Rou greeted, smiling. “Lin Feng has said so much about you! He even showed us a picture of you! I’m so happy that we finally got to meet you!”

“Oh? My picture?” An Xin asked, surprised.

Ouyang’s hand shot into Lin Feng’s desk, almost on reflex, and retrieved the pencil case. He opened it up in one fell swoop and turned it upside down. The contents fell on the desk, but he didn’t care for the pens and crayons and other items. He wanted the picture hidden beneath all of that. He grabbed it and waved it in the air. “Yep! Here! This picture! Look, look. That girl in the back. You see her with the pigtails? That’s you, right?”

An Xin took the photo from Ouyang and looked at it. Then she smiled and said, “Yup, that’s me. I think this was taken back in middle school.”

“You had your hair in pigtails and you had the glasses, but you were still tots adorbs! I could totally see the me from four years ago falling for the you from four years ago! When you walked into the classroom I almost didn’t recognize you, because hot-diggity-dawg that glow-up! But I never forget a beautiful face! I knew that I knew you, I FELT IT! Then you introduced yourself as Bunbun and it all clicked! You’re Bunbun!” Ouyang laughed, proud of his deduction skills.

“I really like what you did with your hair. You’re really pretty,” Ren Rou chimed in.

An Xin smiled and said, “Thanks, that’s really nice of you.”

Ren Rou shook her head and said, “No, no. I wasn’t trying to be nice. I’m serious. You don’t know, but when Ouyang and the other guys saw your picture, they were so jealous of Lin Feng for having such a pretty friend. They almost wanted to fight him to get your number.”

“Right, right! Nice to meet you!” Ouyang said, excited. He pointed at himself and continued, “I’m Ouyang! Best bro of Lin Feng! I’ll throw myself under the bus for my best bro and deskmate!”

Yang Fan adjusted his glasses and reached out his hand. “I’m Yang Fan, friend of Lin Feng. It’s nice to finally meet you, An Xin.”

Tang Bingyao was the only one left to introduce herself. Three pairs of eyes turned towards her. But she ignored them and stuck out her hand. “I’m Tang Bingyao, but you can call me Tang Tang.”

An Xin shook Tang Bingyao’s hand and smiled. “Nice to meet you Tang Tang.” She looked at Tang Bingyao and smiled a little brighter. “You’re really pretty.”

Tang Bingyao shook her head, resolutely. “Not as pretty as you.”

Lin Feng decided that of every moment in this conversation to interject, this was the best. He stuck his head between the two girls and said, “I think both of you are really pretty.”

It was Monday morning. Senior Class 7 was in the middle of their first period of the week. Study hall. This was time intended for doing homework and preparing for upcoming tests. But that wasn’t how these students saw it. They’d just come back from a long and busy weekend, where they stayed up late and got up early to have fun with their friends. Monday morning study hall, that was the perfect window to catch up on some much needed sleep. Of the thirty students in the class, there were maybe five awake.

Ren Rou was the class president. She was supposed to lead these study hall periods. But she also understood that when the students got the option between an extra hour of sleep or doing homework, they would unanimously vote for the former. She shook her head, looking around the classroom. Then she felt drawn towards the very back of the classroom, towards the last row of desks. This was where Ouyang was snoring, quietly, and Lin Feng was scribbling in his textbook, furiously. She couldn’t see what he was writing, but she could tell he wasn’t happy. There was an aggression to the way he pushed his pen into the paper. And whenever he looked up, she could see just how bloodshot his eyes were. And the dark circles around his eyes. It looked like he didn’t get much sleep over the weekend.

Today marked the fifth day since that semifinals match between KG and SSK. It was also the fifth day that Lin Feng had withdrawn from everything going on around him. He was consumed with his notebook, losing sleep and letting everything else in his life fall behind as well. As for what was in the notebook, Ren Rou could make a decent enough guess. She’d seen some of his work only a few days ago. He’d been working on his preparations for the game against Shanghai International. From Champion Select to lane match-ups to habits of all the players, with both main team members and substitutes being taken into consideration. He didn’t leave a stone unturned, thinking of new approaches and searching for that one vital weakness he could exploit.

Ren Rou stared at Lin Feng. She still remembered how the entire team had felt when they saw what Lin Feng was working on. He’d prepared a dozen different scenarios for Champion Select, based on the Champions and strategies Shanghai International played most often. It was thorough. There were even small scribbles next to each Champion detailing the ways in which it was most likely going to be played and how to counter that. Lin Feng’s teammates didn’t know what to think of it. On the one hand, the insights and strategy were impressive. But on the other… It wasn’t healthy what Lin Feng was doing, they all knew that.

The only way the team members from the esports team knew how to help Lin Feng was by stepping up their own game. If they wanted to share the burden with him, they had to play at a level where they could actually share the burden. But they weren’t at that level. They couldn’t help him when it came to the game versus Shanghai International. They weren’t good enough. Ren Rou shook her head, upset. She wanted to help. But she wasn’t good at the game like Lin Feng. Nor did she have his insights in tactics and strategy. She could only put her trust in him and count on him pulling them through. She felt terrible about it, but didn’t see any other way.

✹

Tang Bingyao was one of the few students not fast asleep during study hall. She’d opened her English textbook and was reading the words. Sentence by sentence, page by page, the words flashed before her eyes, but they never entered her head. She didn’t even really know what book she was holding. There was something nagging at her mind, distracting her from everything else. She could hear his pen working away on the paper. I’m so stupid. She glanced over her shoulder, over towards Lin Feng, and started biting her bottom lip. He’s still working so hard. She turned back towards her textbook and tried to continue reading, but found she had no clue what page she was even on. She had to search for the last bit she remembered and that brief moment was enough for her mind to wander back towards him. She looked over her shoulder again and looked at Lin Feng, mumbling to herself, “I’m so stupid.”

He’s spent so much time coaching me, and I’m still not good enough. I can’t even beat that ad-carry from Shanghai International. He’s better. Even after everything Lin Feng tried to teach me, I’m still only here… “Ugh.” Tang Bingyao sighed, shaking her head in frustration. She wanted to help him, but she was no good at comforting people. Not in her mind, anyways. But that was for the most part because she’d never done it before. Because she’d never cared about anyone that much. And then came Lin Feng. She still vividly remembered how he sat next to her at the NetCow Cafe that first time. How he’d watched her play and then convinced her to play with him. From a 1v1 to playing together every day for months. He’d shown her something that was really worth something. He’d always been there for her and now there was this indescribable feeling telling her to do the same. She wanted to help him. She really did. But she had absolutely no clue what to do. “I’m so stupid,” she muttered, slightly louder than before.

Tang Bingyao looked towards Ren Rou, who was trying her best to lead the study hall. I even asked her. I’ve never done that before. But Ren Rou wasn’t much help either. She didn’t have a clue about how they could help Lin Feng. The two girls had talked about it for a long while, tried brainstorming together, but they came up empty. Tang Bingyao looked over her shoulder again at Lin Feng. She was chewing on the inside of her cheek now, watching him write. Maybe… What if I treat him to some food? She stared at Lin Feng as she completely forgot about the English book she was pretending to study. A plan was taking shape in her mind. She knew how much he loved food. He was always talking about it.

Tang Bingyao turned back towards her desk and grabbed her purse. “How much do two cups of milk tea cost? It should be ¥14,” she muttered, counting her money. Then she hesitated. It was more than she’d ever spent on anyone. She turned around again and looked towards Lin Feng. “He also really likes chicken cutlets…” She checked her purse and counted the bills. Then she pulled out another ¥10, confident and decisive, and stuffed the money in her coat pocket.

✹

The study hall period came to an end. The homeroom teacher walked into the classroom and gestured towards Ren Rou that she could take her seat. He then walked to the front of the classroom and cleared his throat, loudly. It woke up most of the sleeping students, and after an extra loud cough, even Ouyang woke up. “Alright,” the homeroom teacher started, giving everyone another moment to wake up. “I’ve got some news. We’re having a new student join us today.”

“A new student? Is it a girl?” Ouyang asked, every last hint of drowsiness quickly disappearing from his face. And he wasn’t the only one. Everyone perked up at the news of a new student and turned towards the homeroom teacher. This was a lot more interesting than anything else going on at school for most of them.

“Uhh, how?” one student asked, confused. “We’re already two months into the year. Aren’t they going to be behind? Will that not create issues? I don’t understand…”

The homeroom teacher cleared his throat again, waiting for the buzz that had broken out to quiet down. When it finally did, he continued, “Our new student is from Hangzhou. I hope you guys can give her a warm welcome to our school and to our class.” He then turned to the door and said in a louder voice, “You can come in now.”

The students from Senior Class 7 all turned their heads towards the door. They were all curious to find out who this new student was. As if for dramatic effect, the door opened slowly. Too slowly. There went a buzz through the classroom as everyone started guessing about the identity of their new classmate. 

“I wonder who it is, do you know?” 
“What do you think? Sexy or nah?” 
“Do you think she’s into turning?” 
“I hope she likes the theater. We really need one more girl.”

Getting a new transfer student to the classroom was like opening a box of chocolates. None of them ever knew what they were going to get. The classroom door was pushed open, revealing the new student. It was a vivacious girl! One with a beautiful smile! She was a sweet and tender nougat wrapped in a bittersweet dark chocolate. She walked in with a light blue oversized sweater over her school uniform, and black thigh-highs that only accentuated and contrasted with the uniform skirt. She was that angelic girl-next-door kind of sexy, the kind that made you feel the warmth and comfort of home while stopping your heart. The guys in the room couldn’t help but smile back at her. They didn’t know if it was something in the way that she walked or that twinkle in her eyes, but it made them happy just to see her. Her comfortable, wide sweater was a little bit too big for her. But it fit her well all the same. Somehow it matched her charm and amplified it. Its milky light blue made her long black hair seem even darker and more mysterious. And the black thigh-highs… well, that was almost too much for poor Ouyang to handle. His eyes roamed up her long, slender legs to just where they ended, right before the hemline of her skirt. And then he choked. The girl though, she didn’t seem to notice the guys in the class practically falling over her as she walked up to the homeroom teacher.

“Go on, introduce yourself to the class,” the homeroom teacher said, nudging towards the class.

The girl nodded and turned to face the class, smiling. She bowed and said, “Hi! Nice to meet you all! I transferred here from my high school in Hangzhou. I know the year has already started, but I hope I can still fit in and get along with everyone.” She looked around the class and the people she’d spend the rest of the year with. They were all looking at her, except for one. Her smile turned into a grin and she stuck out her tongue towards him. “Oh right, how could I forget? My name is An Xin. But my friends call me Bunbun.”

Lin Feng closed the door to his room behind him. He kept his hand on the knob. Paused. Still. Hesitating, for a moment. Thinking. Then he walked over to his desk and sat down. Think of something else. Anything else. He took out his books out of his backpack. Math. English. Chinese Literature. Work for tomorrow, and work for the day after. He worked for several hours at such a high pace that he didn’t have the space of mind to think about anything else. Nothing at all. Until the clock struck 11 PM. That was when he paused. The homework before him felt unimportant again. He leaned back into his chair and looked up at the ceiling. It was grain white, but he barely noticed that the ceiling was even there. His gaze was long and distant.

Lin Feng didn’t keep staring at the ceiling, though he didn’t quite know when he stopped. He’d moved without himself even realizing it, sitting up straight again, grabbing his laptop, and opening a video. It was the video of the semifinals match between KG and SSK. The same video he’d watched six times already over the last few days. Nearly two hours of footage, including the time between games. He sat in silence, staring at the series that had silenced all of China. For a brief moment in time and space, China had come to a grinding halt. That was the extent of mental damage this loss had dealt.

However, Lin Feng didn’t rewatch this series to analyze how KG had played. He’d wanted to see Fatty win, but also knew that was practically impossible. The reason he sat here, again watching this video, was to analyze his own skills. He replaced KG’s Midlaner with himself and replayed the games. This was the most recent series played by Rake. It was his current skill. And that skill was far higher than Lin Feng had expected. It was to an extent that it was hard to compare. Apples with golden apples. Pears with pomegranates. No matter how Lin Feng looked at it, regardless of the methods he tried, he always lost, and miserably so. Rake toyed around with him, showed him every corner of the Rift, and then sent him back to the fountain. From laning to farming to teamfighting, be it individual ability or awareness, he was simply worse. A lot worse. So much worse that he even doubted he could do any better than KG’s Midlaner had. I might’ve even lost against KG’s Midlaner… Especially that last realization hit hard. Someone he never considered his opponent, much less his equal, was really above him.

Lin Feng clenched his fist and slammed it down on the desk. “Fuck!” he yelped. “FuckFuckFuck!” He grabbed his hair and pulled on it. I’ve got no right to even look at these games. None. I can’t even figure out how to beat some shitty high school team… That hurt. It felt like an Asian Giant Hornet had stung him, twice or thrice. He was looking at videos from Worlds, comparing him to the best players in the world. But he had no place on the world stage. He couldn’t even figure out how to beat a high school team. He gritted his teeth, angry and frustrated. I’m useless. Useless. Useless.

Over the past several days, Lin Feng had been thinking of strategies to beat Shanghai International. It was a simple high school game, it wasn’t that difficult. But to him it was. He just couldn’t figure out how to do it. If I can’t even do this, how can I even think about Rake? I have no right. No right. I… He pulled on his hair and sighed. Useless. I can’t even figure this small problem out. What can I do? I’m useless. Absolutely useless.

There was no doubt in Lin Feng’s mind, his teammates sucked. They were nice and he enjoyed playing together with them, but they just weren’t very good at the game. He hadn’t had long enough to train them, and there was only so much he could teach them. The rest they would have to do on their own. And since they weren’t as good as he was, or liked to think he was, he never stopped to consider them. They weren’t going to win this game for him. Only he could win this game. I have to think of a way. Maybe if I get just a little better. I have to train really hard, but maybe it can be enough. Shanghai International is an easy opponent. I can still 1v5. Do I have enough time?

The night grew deep. Lin Feng stayed up. He had to think of a way. There had to be something he could do to win this series. This was just a high school tournament. If he wanted to ever make it back to the top, then this couldn’t stop him. This should be easier. It should be the easiest tournament of his life. It’s just a high school tournament. There has to be a way. They are all terrible.

✹

It was the middle of the afternoon. Senior Class 7 was following a lecture on mathematics. Their teacher, a man going through the rot before the midlife crisis, was droning on and on about functions, scribbling down chalk on the chalkboard. Most of the students in the class couldn’t even tell if the chalk formed some coherent message in the form of equations, or if it was English. Both looked the same, unintelligible. That was the case for a good majority of the class, anyways. There were the bookworms who knew exactly what was going on. But there were only a few of them, two to be precise. As for the rest of the students, they were yawning and fighting to keep their eyes open. They’d fall asleep, only to get that terrible falling sensation that woke them right back up. And then there was Ouyang.

Ouyang had put his backpack up on the table and was resting his head on it, his eyes closed and a weak snoring sound accompanying his breaths. Every now and then, he’d scare himself awake. A short moment with his eyes open. The terrifying question, “Did the teacher notice?”, playing on repeat in his mind. He’d slightly move his head, only to find their teacher still with his back to them. “Ah, safe.” He wasn’t even really awake in those moments, and he’d be back to his dreams within seconds. With a single exception.

Ouyang had just scared himself awake again. He glanced around the room, careful. A few people looked back at him. Shit. They noticed. He was nervous to look towards the teacher, but still did. Please don’t look at me. Please don’t look at me. Please… Ah, good. The teacher was still with his back turned to class, like he’d been doing all hour. Then Ouyang glanced over at his deskmate. He looked at Lin Feng, whose eyes were wide open and who was writing and writing some more. His eyes widened, shocked and now completely awake. “Damn! What are you being awake for? This is math, dude. You know, Triple Z hour!”

Lin Feng didn’t even seem to notice Ouyang talking to him. So Ouyang fought off his laziness and lifted his head off his backpack. He watched Lin Feng writing, furiously, then looking at what he’d written and ripping the page out. Once, twice, three times. It kept going and going. Ouyang then leaned over towards Lin Feng and looked at what his bro was writing. “Hey dude. Watcha wri—” He shut up. He kept his lips tightly sealed. The teacher had turned around, he saw it from the corner of his eyes. He turned towards the teacher, grabbing something from his table to start writing with. It was his phone and the target of his hard work was his table.

Through all of this, Lin Feng hadn’t noticed a thing. He was busy with something more important than Ouyang’s constant need for attention. Nor did he care for the class. He’d done his homework and knew the substance for this week of math. What he didn’t know was how to beat Shanghai International. That was what he was working on. Bans. Team compositions. Shanghai International’s play style. Lane match-ups and player habits. They were all analyzed, scrutinized, thought over a thousand and one times. He could practically dream every different scenario he’d come up with. It was exhausting. He’d been up since late last night working on this. His eyes were bloodshot and he could really use some coffee. But there was no rest for the wicked. No! Useless. Not good enough. Won’t work. Dammit. Stupid. Why am I so stupid? This is useless. I need to think of something. There has to be a way. It can’t be this difficult. It’s stupid. I’m stupid. Why am I not better? I need to be better. I have to be!

✹

Training after school at the NetCow Cafe had become somewhat of a ritual for the players from the High School 13 esports club team. They would play ranked games, sometimes playing with substitutes like Ouyang, and work on their game. Lin Feng would watch over their shoulders, pointing out their every little mistake, no matter how small or insignificant. Sure, there were better and worse days. Days on which they played terrible, and days on which Lin Feng wasn’t his usual self. The last few days had been days where Lin Feng was a little more quiet than usual. But he was never totally silent. There was always his breath blowing in their necks as he watched over them. There was always the, sometimes tired voice as he pointed out yet another mistake. Today was different. He wasn’t breathing in their necks. He wasn’t pointing out their mistakes. He was standing there shaking his head. It wasn’t even about a bad play or a misplay, he just shook his head from start to finish. There wasn’t a thing they did that looked good to him. Then, he gave up. “You guys keep practicing. Play a few more games. I’m going to play some solo queue games over there.” He pointed towards a computer that he was already walking towards.

Liu Yue turned around, as did the others from the team, and watched Lin Feng sit down behind a computer and move the mouse around. “Uhh?” He turned to Ouyang and then Tang Bingyao. “What’s going on?”

“I…” Wei Dong stared at Lin Feng, who was now clearly logging into a League of Legends account. He guessed, half convinced, “Maybe we played that badly today and he needs a moment?”

“Nah. No way. That’s not our bro-man,” Ouyang said, shaking his head. “No way. I watched you all play. You guys were doing fine. Mega fine I’d say. There’s no way that is the reason for whatever this is.”

Yang Fan adjusted his glasses. He had something to say, and it was going to be something smart, or he wouldn’t push up his glasses. “Right. We were doing fine. Just fine. Do you think that with our skill just fine is enough to beat Shanghai International? Of course it isn’t. We need to play great and even then our chances are slim to none. Let’s not beat around the bush. We need to step up our game.”

Yang Fan was right, they all knew it. They’d been working hard in their own ways towards becoming better players, towards stepping up their game. But it wasn’t anywhere near enough to beat Shanghai International. It wasn’t even enough to make the series close. Shanghai International would play with them, fountain farm them, and then laugh at them in front of a large crowd. If they didn’t watch out, it’d be a repeat from last year. Just that this time around, there was a large crowd of hundreds of people. They fell silent. If they kept up their current method of training, they could just as well give up. There wasn’t enough time before the match to get ready. But they also didn’t know what they could do to get good enough before then. Everything they knew, it wasn’t enough. It just wasn’t enough. They weren’t enough.

“It’s fine! We just have to try our best! Don’t worry about the rest!” Ren Rou cheered, trying to break the negative spiral they found themselves in. Think positive! Think positive! she told herself. Then she put on an even brighter smile than normal and took a move from Lin Feng’s playbook. Something he’d done so many times with so much success. She clenched her fist and threw it up in the air. “It doesn’t matter what happens, as long as we’ve given it our all! Everything will be worth it if we just give it our all! Let’s give it our all and do this!”

Lin Feng looked over towards Ren Rou. He’d heard her words. Then he looked at the others, who were now all nodding, with Ouyang jumping around and shouting and being his over-the-top excited self. He shook his head. It does matter. It’s not enough. He didn’t care about regrets or everything being fine. Who cares about stupid things like that? You don’t win the silver, you only lose the gold. Second wasn’t good enough. Fourth definitely wasn’t. He wanted to lead High School 13 past Shanghai International and then win the Finals. That trophy had to be theirs!

They’re not enough. I have to do this. It’s all on me. Lin Feng had watched his teammates play. Not just today, but every day for the last month and then some. He knew exactly how good they were, and how far they’d come. But the fact of the matter remained, they were Platinum, they were Diamond, they weren’t Masters or Challengers. There was a vast chasm between where they needed to be to even stand a chance to beat Shanghai International and where they actually were. The only way to bridge this chasm was if he carried them over. He had to take them on his shoulders, because on their own they would fall into the depths and lose. I have to carry them. It’s all on me.

Lin Feng stopped caring about helping his teammates improve. There simply wasn’t enough time to get them to a satisfying level. The only way was for him to make up for their shortcomings. And to get to that point, he had to work his hardest and improve as quickly as he possibly could. To that end, coaching his teammates became a waste of time in his mind. It was time better spent on working on his own skills. So that was exactly what he did. He abandoned them. Left them to their own devices. They could go home for all he cared. It didn’t matter. The only thing he cared about right now was beating Shanghai International, and to achieve that, he had to work hard. Harder than he ever had, perhaps. His eyes were locked on his screen. He was playing Yasuo in the mid lane, dashing through minions and dominating his lane. Not enough. It’s just not enough. I have to get better. I have to do this. Come on, Lin Feng. You can do this! You can! You just have to do it! Carry them! You’re good enough to do this. If you can’t even do this, why are you still trying? If you fail this, you might as well give up completely. This time, you can stay away for good. His eyes were red. I have to carry them.

✹

At the NetCow Cafe Lin Feng ignored his teammates and friends, and at home he ignored Su Xue. The world of friends and happiness he’d built up around him crumbled. A darkness shrouded him. It devoured the world as he knew it and replaced it with a single thing. League of Legends. That became his life. Playing the game and then writing down his findings, only to realize his findings weren’t sufficient to help him win against Shanghai International. He wasn’t good enough. His methods weren’t perfect yet. But he would get there through the power of will. That’s what the little voice in his mind told him, anyways.

It was a grave he’d dug himself before, a familiar road he’d walked before. The Finals of the Season 1 World Championships of League of Legends. The Korean team was too strong. He lost hope in his teammates and took on the burden himself. He had to win this game. It was all up to him. So he plotted and trained and worked every waking second. Back then it wasn’t enough. He lost and blamed himself, rightfully so. The burden wasn’t his. It wasn’t his back then and it wasn’t his right now either. But he refused to listen to that rationale. After the semifinals match at Worlds, the KG versus SSK series, he’d let the darkness in. It consumed him. It became him.

Lin Feng was only one person. He wasn’t God. But he was pushing and punishing himself as if he were. Sleepless nights in which he pushed his mind to think of new ideas and strategies, followed by long days of playing solo queue. Whenever his eyes started closing, he gritted his teeth and splashed some cold water in his face. Sleep was for the weak! He wasn’t weak! He would persevere, he would push through all obstacles, he would realize his dreams! And right now that dream was to win the Shanghai 16 School Tournament. He’d do whatever it took to accomplish that. As for everything else, that could come later. Another time. It wasn’t important, not to him. The darkness was no longer shrouding him, but shining out from him. He was the darkness.

Su Xue was helpless. She tried what she knew, cooking Lin Feng dinner and being her cheerful self. But it worked to ill-effect. Lin Feng’s friends at school had even less of an idea of what to do. They watched their friend lose himself to an invisible enemy. The bags under his eyes became the least of their worries. He’d stopped putting on clean clothes. His hair was a mess. He couldn’t keep his hands from shaking, and there was a strange twitch to his eye. Except for the seven of them, everyone else at school had started walking a large circle around him. In fact, even his friends wanted to.

The days blurred together. High School 13’s esports team didn’t stop training. But they did spend more and more time looking over at Lin Feng. He hadn’t stopped coming to the internet cafe, but he had stopped talking with them. These last few days, he sat behind a computer a row over and started playing solo queue. He was in another game, an easy one from the looks of it. He wasn’t as annoyed as he could be. Yang Fan finally turned to Tang Bingyao and said, “Hey, you know him best. Go talk to him.”

“Right! You two are already lovers, wink wink! Haha! Hottest couple ever, am I right? He has to listen to you! Tell him to stop being such a downer! I can feel his negative energy all the way from over here! It’s such a mood killer,” Ouyang chimed in.

Tang Bingyao shook her head, visibly frustrated. “I tried. It’s not working. I don’t know what to say or do. He just nods but doesn’t listen. It’s like he isn’t even here…”

Ouyang rubbed his temples and groaned, “Ahhh, then what do we do? We’re his bros! His best buds! It hurts my pure heart seeing him like this. We have to do something! Tell me what we can do!”

There was an awkward silence. They’d all tried their own ways of approaching Lin Feng, but none of it had worked. In the end, Ren Rou sighed. She looked over the others and asked, exasperated, “Is there really no one that can talk to him?”

The curtain finally closed on the second semi-finals match of the League of Legends Season 5 World Championships. Team SSK had won, and Team KG had lost. Miserably so. SSK won three games in a row, utterly crushing KG. The score of 0-3 hovered in the minds of everyone watching. And it was etched in the hearts of every League of Legends fan in China. The entire LPL had been humiliated on this day, and this match would become a permanent black stain on its record. As far as most people were concerned, today was the darkest day in the history of LPL. When that last victory screen floated over KG’s ruined Nexus… the sheer torrent of despair that washed over the tens of millions of Chinese fans watching Worlds was indescribable. It was bad enough that Team SSK had completely and utterly crushed Team KG. What made it even worse was that Team KG never gave up, they kept fighting and never stopped trying to make a comeback. The futility of all that effort though, and the fact that there was literally nothing they could do to resist SSK’s overwhelming strength, that’s what hurt the most. 

Team KG’s knockout also meant that the LPL no longer had any team playing that could carry its beacon to the Finals of this year’s Worlds. Even the three Shoutcasters had given up. They just sat there, all gloom and melancholy, not saying a word. They just didn’t know what to say. They felt the blow from this loss just as keenly as any other normal fan, and they did not have the words to express it. Or the will to provide any analysis or hype. So they sat there. Quiet and forlorn.

Then the post-match interviews started, and that was a whole new dimension of misery. Fans watched as the God Roundy broke down live on stream. They watched as he got up in front of the camera, holding the microphone with both hands. They watched him tremble and shake. When he looked straight at the camera, they saw the tears, unfallen, welling in his bloodshot eyes. Then he muttered the words, “I-i-i so-s-so SORRY!” With those words, he could no longer hold it together. He broke down sobbing, still holding the microphone and still looking at the camera. “I’m sorry…. I’m sorry… I’msorryI’msorryI’msorry—” Tian Tian repeated over and over again while choking on his own snot and tears. His tear stained face dead center on every camera and every stream. Finally, he bowed his head to the camera and continued apologizing to the viewers. The rest of Team KG’s players were similarly glum, but holding it together better than Tian Tian. They stood next to him with tears in their eyes as well, and faced the cameras. Then they also bowed and said, “Sorry.” 

The Chinese fans, both those who had flown to watch the games in person and those watching it on stream, felt their heart’s ache as God Roundy broke down. His many female followers were livid with anger that the cute and cuddly God Roundy had been made to feel such grief. No one blamed Team KG for the loss. No one could blame God Roundy for what happened. How could they? Just the fact that Team KG had made it all the way to the Semi-finals of Worlds was an incredible accomplishment, both for them and the LPL. No one on Team KG had anything to be ashamed of. The fact that made it all the way to the semifinals of Worlds was already incredible. Standing up to SSK was incredible. God Roundy had no reason to be ashamed or sad! KG had done nothing wrong, there was nothing to criticize about how they had played! 

Despite the pride they felt in KG for making it all the way to the Semi-finals and the despair they felt at Tian Tian’s grief, the fact that KG lost to SSK hurt in a completely different but equally painful way. Just thinking about how SSK trampled all over KG with a score of 0-3. That made the blood of every Chinese fan run cold and choked the breath in their throats. For a brief moment, every Chinese fan of League of Legends connected and thought the exact same thoughts. This reality that was etched in stone was difficult to confront for all of them. The pride they had for their region, for the LPL, it had just been smashed to pieces in front of their eyes. The weight of this reality pressed down on them, suffocating them.

“W-why is it like this…” Su Xue muttered. She was also starting to tear up. The mood in the chat was also gloomy. The thousands of people on her stream, none of them knew what to say to comfort her. Or to comfort each other. At this point, anything they could possibly say seemed meaningless.

Lin Feng sat next to Su Xue. Also not saying a word. He bit his lips, so hard that he actually drew blood. His hands both balled up into tight fists. His nails dug crimson crescents into his palms. But he seemed completely oblivious to the pain. All he did was stare at the monitor, at the stream of Worlds, without blinking his eyes. He stared at the score of 0-3. He stared at Fatty, crying and bowing and sobbing. Whatever physical pain was overshadowed completely by the pain in his soul and his heart at all of this.

✹

Now that the Semi-finals had ended, the two teams that would be moving onto the Finals were decided.  Team Season and Team SSK. A clash between North America and South Korea. They’d be going head-to-head next weekend to decide who the champion of the League of Legends Season 5 World Championships would be. It was a duel between the Support God Autumn and the Midlane God Rake. A collision between the two top Emperors. As exciting as it all was though, many Chinese fans no longer had the heart to continue watching Worlds. They hadn’t gotten over their disappointment from KG’s loss in the Semi-finals.

This included the regular crew from High School 13. It was now Monday, and they were still struggling to get over KG’s loss. Yang Fang and Ouyang sat in their classroom, still talking about yesterday’s game and what happened.

“Regardless of how many perspectives you analyze it in, there is no possible way that KG can be blamed for the loss. Their gameplay was flawless. It is highly unlikely that any team from the LPL could’ve done better,” Yang Fang said as he adjusted his glasses. Then he sighed. 

Ouyang’s reaction was far less measured, “Fiddle-faddle-frucksitall! SSK is too god-fucks-it-all OP! THEM BITCHES NEED TO GET NERFED! OR BANNED UNTIL THEY GET NERFED!” Then he rubbed his face and grimaced. “Bro, lemme tell you. When I saw Brother Roundy break down like that in the post-match interview. Shiiiiiitttttt! My heart, torn. Like when you give a girl a poem and she rips it apart and throws it in the wind? That kind of torn. Watching a fellow bro feel bad like that, it made me feel bad. I’m telling you, the total amount of awesome in the universe diminished when that happened. It was that bad. Shit. I haven’t felt like that in forever…”

Both Ouyang and Yang Fang fell silent for a minute after that. That’s when Ouyang noticed that Lin Feng hadn’t said a word. Or indicated that he wanted to join in on the conversation at all. Which was odd. Ouyang tilted his head toward Lin Feng and asked, “Bro Feng? Not plannin’ on yappin’, Cap’n?” Lin Feng said nothing in response to that. Ouyang turned towards Lin Feng and looked at him, “YO! What’s up man? Don’t feel like talking right now?” 

Lin Feng simply shook his head and didn’t say anything.

Ouyang opened his mouth to say something, and then closed it. He’d changed his mind. He looked at Yang Fang, who shook his head ever so slightly. Ouyang understood and didn’t push Lin Feng any further. Then he continued talking to Yang Fang about yesterday’s game, both of them keeping half an eye on Lin Feng.

Lin Feng remained the same even later on in the day, when the esports club team members had gathered together for practice. Ren Rou, Liu Yue, Chen Ze and the others also noticed that Lin Feng was being uncharacteristically quiet. Aloof and withdrawn. But just like Ouyang and Yang Fang, they didn’t dwell too much on it and decided to let things be. In their minds, he was also reeling from KG’s loss yesterday and they figured it would be best to let him sort his feelings out on his own. He’d talk to them when he was ready, if he wanted to. It all lined up in their minds. Lin Feng was going through the same thing that every League of Legends fan in China was going through right now. He’d sort himself out and be fine in a few days, they thought.

But they soon discovered exactly how wrong they’d been. All of them individually and collectively figured that Lin Feng would perk up and be back to normal in a few days. So they waited. A day passed, and he was still quiet and disconnected. Then two days. There was no change in Lin Feng. Then a third day of this passed, and that’s when they started to get really concerned. It didn’t matter what was happening, Lin Feng walked around like a quiet zombie. In class, he stopped getting involved in conversation and stopped joking around. Even when they were all practicing at the NetCow Cafe after school, Lin Feng was disconnected from everything. He didn’t say much of anything when he was coaching them either. He just stood there, quietly watching. Gone was the constant pointing out of their mistakes, the yelling, the badgering that pushed them to their limits. It was replaced by a quiet and uneasy tension, and a withdrawn Lin Feng.

That’s when they realized that something was wrong with Lin Feng. Something far more than just the loss at Worlds. They were worried about him, but there was also nothing they could do. Every time they tried to ask him what was wrong, tried to even approach the subject, he’d force out a smile and shake his head. Let them know everything was fine in that quiet way that made them all the more worried and walk away.

✹

After school, the club members gathered for a secret meeting. The subject was obviously Lin Feng and what was going on with him. 

“Dudes and Dudette, I know that he’s not fine. Especially because he’s saying that he’s fine. You know what it is? Listen, you know when you’re with a shorty and she tells you everything is okay when its not? Its that kind of fine. As the resident playa here, I can tell you for sure that the more he says everything’s fine, the more everything is obviously not fine!” Ouyang fumed.

“He really does seem off lately. I really wonder what’s going on with him. But if he doesn’t tell us, there’s nothing we can do to help him,” Ren Rou said with a look of concern.

Chen Ze and Wei Dong nodded.

Yang Fan turned to Tang Bingyao. “Tang Tang, out of everyone here right now, I think it’s fair to say that you’ve had the longest connection with Lin Feng and know him the best. Do you know what’s going on with him?”

Ouyang protested, “Hold it right there! You saying Tang Tang knows Bro Feng better than me? Do you really think anyone knows a bro better than his bro?”

Yang Fang looked at Ouyang seriously and said, “Ouyang. Not the time. Tang Tang, you tell us what’s going on.” 

Tang Bingyao shook her head. “I don’t know either.” Then she looked down at the ground. The truth was that she was just as worried about Lin Feng as everyone else. She racked her brains to figure out what was going on with him and what was causing this strange mood. She thought she had a good idea. Or at least a lead. She knew that Lin Feng was a good friend of KG’s top laner, God Roundy. So that probably had something to do with why Lin Feng was so preoccupied these days. But there was something more to it, something that she didn’t understand. That was why she couldn’t figure out exactly what Lin Feng was going through in his feelings.

Besides, she wasn’t very good at comforting people and that was just as frustrating right now. She tried to talk to Lin Feng about what he was going through a couple times now, but she always ended up backing away in the end. She just didn’t know how to comfort him. Or where to start comforting him. The whole thing was frustrating!

✹

That night, after practice ended, everyone on High School 13’s team said bye to each other and went their separate ways.

Lin Feng and Tang Bingyao walked home together, as usual. It was a calm and peaceful night. Not that many people were walking around, and the streetlights gave the sidewalk a warm yellow glow. Lin Feng walked mechanically with his eyes looking down at the ground. Not saying a word. the ground, not saying a word. Tang Bingyao walked in front of him, making sure not to step on any cracks in the sidewalk and occasionally hopping forward if there were too many. But she didn’t try to get Lin Feng to talk, nor did she say anything. But every once in a while, she’d stop and glance back at him just to make sure he was still behind her and okay. Then she’d continue walking.  The pair walked on like this in silence for a block. Until Lin Feng finally broke the silence with a question, “Hey, why do you keep looking back at me?”

“I was worried you’d hit your head on a pole. You’ve been walking with your head down this whole time,” Tang Bingyao replied while tilting her head in that adorable way girls do. She looked Lin Feng in the eyes. It’s now or never, Tang Tang! Ling Feng had broken the silence between them, she had to go for it and figure out what was bothering him. Now’s probably the best time. So she asked, “Are you okay?”

Lin Feng forced a smile and said, “Oh, I’m fine!” 

Tang Bingyao stared at Lin Feng’s face, “That smile looks super fake.”

Lin Feng’s eyes widened and the smile faltered. Then the mask broke and he looked sad and a little embarrassed. He rubbed his face with both hands before saying, “Really? No way, right…?”

Tang Bingyao didn’t respond. She kept looking at Lin Feng.

Lin Feng started feeling awkward and scratched his head. “R-really. There’s nothing to worry about. I’m fine.”

Tang Bingyao slowly nodded her head, then she asked, “Is it because KG lost?”

The question hit Lin Feng harder than he was expecting. He thought someone would eventually ask and he was prepared. But it still phased him enough to let more emotion slip through onto his face. Then he recovered and smiled. But one that had very little joy or warmth behind it. Then he replied, “I guess. A little bit. But that’s not all of it.”

Tang Bingyao scrunched up her nose and frowned. “I don’t understand.”

Lin Feng chuckled. “Ah, it’s fine. You don’t have to.” He then paused and looked up. It was clear in Shanghai tonight. There were no stars. Only the moon shining brightly overhead, shrouding the entire city in a veil of silver light. He stared at the night sky, calmly, and then suddenly asked, “Hey, don’t you think I’m really useless?”

“Huh?” Tang Bingyao remarked in surprise. The stunned look on her face was cute.

Lin Feng waved his hand and shook his head. “It’s nothing. I was just talking to myself. Come on, let’s go. We’re almost at your house.”

✹

After arriving back home, Lin Feng smelled something delicious the moment he stepped through the door. The dining room table was already set with a variety of dishes. 

Su Xue came walking out the kitchen with an apron on, carrying a plate full of stir fried eggplants. When she saw Lin Feng was back, she smiled at him and greeted, “You’re home! Come come! Wash your hands and let’s eat dinner!”

High School 13’s team members weren’t the only ones to notice Lin Feng’s peculiar mood over last few days. Su Xue was actually the first one that noticed something was off. How could she not? They basically spent every day together! She was also worried. But she had a secret weapon that none of the others did. She could cheer him up with food! That’s why she spent the day cooking so many of the things he liked to eat. But she  didn’t know what was going on with him either.

At the dinner table, Su Xue watched Lin Feng eating with his head buried in the rice bowl. She couldn’t hold herself back any longer and gently asked, “Hey, what’s going on? Is practice with the team not going well?”

Lin Feng shook his head.

Su Xue racked her brains. Then she made a wild guess and asked, “Did something happen between you and Tang Tang?” Thinking she might have hit the nail on the head, she started giving some meaningful advice. “You guys are still young. Getting into a fight or two is no big deal. But you’re the guy, so you should just let her have her way sometimes…” The more she spoke, the more she was convinced she was right.

Lin Feng flat-out denied her guess, “No, it’s not that! I think your imagination is starting to run a little too wild! Me and Tang Tang, we’re fine! Our relationship isn’t like that! We’re Master and Disciple!”

Su Xue was stumped quiet. Then she asked, “Then… then, what’s going on with you?”

Lin Feng was about to open his mouth, but then he changed his mind and shook his head. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about me.”

“Ahem. Then, what about your midnight snack? Do you want a chicken cutlet? I can order you some,” Su Xue said.

“We’re still eating dinner. It’s way too early for that,” Lin Feng said quietly  and curly.

“Oh, right.” Su Xue said.

It was the first time Su Xue had seen Lin Feng be anything other than the happy, cheerful, oblivious kid that he was. The first time he’d been so curt and dismissive towards her. She didn’t know what to say. She was confused, worried, and more than a little hurt that Lin Feng wouldn’t let her in. Wouldn’t let her help him. So she stayed quiet.

They finished the rest of the meal in silence and went back to their respective rooms. 

The mood at the ShoutCaster’s Desk was not a happy one. The last thing that Stone said, “Shit. That sucks.” echoed despite the professional grade microphones, pre-amps, noise-gating, and soundproofing. Those words hung in the air, echoing without an echo. The sentiment was precise, and the ShoutCaster’s Desk reflected what every KG Fan— No, what every Chinese fan of League of Legends was feeling at the moment. Regardless of how they individually felt about KG, the team was currently carrying all of China’s hopes for the Season 5 World Championships. 

Qinghe felt it too, and tried to change the mood by forcing out a smile and some optimism, “Let’s not lose all hope just because Rake’s LeBlanc is on a rampage! There’s still more of this game to go! And let’s cheer for God Roundy back there for some quick, quick, quick thinking on his feet! That Teleport helped even things out for the whole team, pulled a baby right outta that trash-fire. If he didn’t jump in, that fight would’ve been 0-for-2. But Roundy’s Riven got there in the nick-o’-time and made it 2-for-3. And even with the kill back there, Riven is still scaling decently. Rake might be feeling the snowball, but I’m feeling like Riven’s starting to bring enough heat to melt it. Any thoughts, Stone?”

Stone was still slumped on his side of the Caster’s desk and completely missed the point of Qinghe’s analysis. “It’s no use, though. I don’t see KG turning this around…” Then his mind finally processed Qinghe’s words and he perked up a little and added tentatively, “Rake’s LeBlanc getting fed this early into the game, it’s going to be hard to stop hi—” He paused mid-sentence. Then perked up a little bit more, cautiously hopeful. “Unless.” He looked straight at the camera before continuing, “Unless God Roundy uses this lead to completely dominate top and carry the game. But that’s a big if right there, Qinghe. A real big if.”

Qinghe nodded silently. Stoically. There was nothing more he could say here. His momma didn’t raise no fool, and he knew there was very little that KG could do against a LeBlanc that was 4/0/0 this early in the game. And it was Rake’s LeBlanc too. He sighed. KG’s midlane was at an absolute disadvantage right now. Even the Lulu they’d strategically picked to counter LeBlanc was useless right now. All hope of a KG victory in this game rested solely in the hands of God Roundy’s Riven. Tian Tian was now carrying all of China on his back. 

“GO GO ROUNDY! YOU CAN DO IT!” Su Xue shouted at her monitor. But all of the people on her stream could hear how nervous she sounded underneath the cheers. 

Lin Feng, still sitting next to her, had nothing to say. He bit his lips and stared at the monitor intensely. Beneath his bangs, his eyebrows were scrunched together. He already knew what was going to happen. He knew that all of the optimism and hope would fall flat. He knew it was almost impossible for Fatty to turn this around. There was no way for Riven to turn the tide of this game.

✹

9 minutes and 25 seconds into the game. Rake’s LeBlanc was dominating the midlane, just as everyone expected. KG’s Lulu was pushed back to the safety of the tower multiple times, and eventually had to recall to base. LeBlanc froze the minion wave, and then decided it was time to go for a walk on the Rift with SSK’s Jungler Rek’Sai. Together, they roamed to top lane and took the scenic route. They circled behind KG’s outer tower in top lane and flanked God Roundy’s Riven. No man, no matter how perceptive, expects to be taken from the rear by two other men. Especially not the way Team SSK’s dynamic duo did it. Rek’Sai burrowed into the ground and popped up underneath Riven to knock her up into the air. LeBlanc jumped up over with Disortion and unloaded her full damage combo onto Riven. This combo play, the unexpected attack from behind where one Champion came in from the bottom and the other from the top, it was more than God Roundy’s Riven could handle. LeBlanc picked up another kill, and Rake killed any hope of God Roundy turning the tide in this game.

《Unstoppable!》

With that last kill, Rake’s LeBlanc was now at 5/0/0. As Riven’s body dropped to the ground, all of the Chinese viewers felt their heart’s drop too. With this single macro-gameplay masterstroke, Rake had effectively taken out KG’s outer tower at top lane, dropped Riven behind by a lot of Gold and Experience, made the cliff that God Roundy needed to climb to turn this game around even steeper, and also made his LeBlanc even stronger. Whatever tiny advantages God Roundy had built up on his Riven in the early game, and whatever small victories he’d claimed in top lane, Rake had swept all of those away with one precise play. Rake had shut God Roundy down. He knew exactly what he was going when he roamed up to top lane. And as he turned his LeBlanc back towards midlane, he looked at Riven’s corpse one last time with subtle contempt in his eyes. 

On the other side of the game and the other side of the stage, Tian Tian winced. His mind was riddled with regret and anguish. I shouldn’t have died there! I-i should’ve seen-it! S-s-should’ve known that g-g-gank was coming! His Riven’s death was more than a Champion death or giving away a kill. It was the death of any hope of KG making a comeback. As much as Tian Tian was blaming himself for letting everyone down right there, the truth was that he couldn’t be blamed for this. LeBlanc’s full combo did an insane amount of damage, that was one part. The other part was the signature SSK synergy between their Jungle and Mid.

Everyone who was even slightly involved in the competitive scene spouted on ad infinitum about how Team SSK had an Emperor and a King. And everyone also went on like a broken record about how SSK’s Emperor was the God Emperor. Rake, the One that Sits on the Throne of Sovereign. First among all the Emperors. Blah, blah, blah. But Team SSK’s real power wasn’t Rake. It was their King, Mafa. Quite possibly the best Jungle player in the world. The same league as Team Assassin’s Read XIII, but perhaps even better. Team SSK’s Mid-Jungle combo, the synergy between Rake and Mafa, that was their signature. One of the deadliest weapons in their arsenal.

In nearly every game that Team SSK played, it was the Rake-Mafa roams that helped the entire team get ahead and then snowball. Their coordination and synergy was perfect. That scary, eerie perfect. To anyone watching and anyone playing against them, it was like Rake and Mafa could read each other’s minds. This particular game against KG was no exception to that strategy. After LeBlanc and Rek’Sai ganked top lane to kill God Roundy’s Riven, Team SSK started to snowball. 10 minutes in, SSK had already pulled ahead with a gold lead of 4,000. 12 minutes in, SSK claimed and killed the first Dragon. 15 minutes into the game, the gold lead had widened to 6,000. By 20 minutes in the game, it widened even further to 8,000. The gap between Team SSK and Team KG turned from a small advantage to an ever-growing chasm. It also represented the difference in skill between the two teams.

Rake’s macro gameplay was so overwhelming that it transcended this one game against Team KG. He wasn’t just crushing them in one game, he used one move to dominate the entire series. And he wasn’t just trying to display Team SSK’s might to Team KG. The point was to push every team watching, every player past, present, and future with one play. And it worked. Too strong! That was the single thought going through the minds of every player on every team watching this game. 

A perfect Mid-Jungle duo. A flawless play that turned the entire game around for Team SSK. Even their Gnar who had been losing in the early game phase, managed to regain his footing. By the time mid-game rolled around, he was throwing out beautiful multi-Champion stuns that helped Team SSK win several teamfights.

The snowball that Rake’s LeBlanc had started turned into an avalanche for Team KG. They struggled in vain, trying to turn things around. God Roundy tried his very best to use his Riven to dive SSK’s backline, take out their main damage-dealers. But it was all for nothing. Team SSK was an anaconda, slowly wrapping around them, crushing their bones and squeezing the life out of them. Team KG was powerless against them. No amount of struggle could stop the noose that was tightening around their necks. KG was struggling with all their might and trying their best to fight back. Tian Tian was also doing his best to dive the enemy’s backline. However, SSK was like an unbreakable noose slowly wrapping around their necks.

Finally. After 31 minutes of futile thrashing, the victory screen floated up on the screen as KG’s Blue Nexus exploded with chaotic energies. KG lost the first game. The series became 0-1.

This loss was heavy. The weight of defeat settled down on all of the Chinese fans, suffocating them. Despite the reality that was evident to everyone, though, there were still those eternal optimists who refused to give up hope and tried to reassure the other’s online.

「it’s fine, it’s only one game」

「This is abest of five!」

「there’s still hope! Don’t give up!」

「roundy players really well! As long he carried a little harder!」

「we can still win!」

However, these hollow words of comfort proved to be empty. Their hopes were completely shattered by once the second game in the series started. 4 minutes into that second game, Tian Tian’s Rumble was ganked by Team SSK’s Elise and Leona and was instantly sent back to the fountain.

《First Blood!》

The rest of the game went completely downhill for Team KG. Just like the first one. 6 minutes into it, Mafa’s Elise roamed top again, this time with Rake’s Fizz in tow. They circled behind Tian Tian’s tower and killed his Rumble again. Rumble was 0/2/0. He was clearly being targeted, that much was obvious. SSK knew that God Roundy was KG’s shining hope, and they wanted to crush that early on. But there was nothing that the rest of KG could do to help. Tian Tian’s top lane was completely shut down during the early game. The rest of the game only got progressively worse for Team KG. 

10 minutes: The gold gap increased to 4,000 in SSK’s favour.

15 minutes: A team fight broke out around the Dragon Pit. Rake’s Fizz initiated the fight by picking off Konjac’s Jinx, instantly putting KG at a disadvantage. SSK won the fight 4-to-1 and pulled ahead even further. 

27 minutes: The game ended. SSK was one game away from winning the matchup, and KG had a fat doughnut on their hands.

The Chinese fans watching felt their chests tighten. Some were so nervous that they started shaking. One more loss and KG was out. Was there any hope left? Could KG pull a miracle comeback? The answer was no. Cold and cruel reality snuffed out the dying embers of hope.

The 3rd game started with an invade. Team SSK pushed through KG’s jungle and a Level 1 teamfight broke out. There was a fire-fight! And a massacre. Team SSK picked up 3 kills, two for their top Hecarim and one for their midlane Yasuo. Team KG didn’t manage to get any kills in that fight.

KG had fallen behind before the game even started, and the fat lady had finished warming up and started belting out the first notes of her opera.

10 minutes: The gold gap was 4,000.

At 20 minutes: The gold gap increased to 10,000.

Then, game over. When the purple victory emblem floated up over KG’s ruined Nexus, the Chinese fans watching online fell silent. KG was knocked out of the League of Legends Season 5 World Championship Semi-finals with a score of 0-3. A clean sweep. Many of the Chinese pros watching World grimaced and looked away. Countless Chinese fans online felt their hearts slowly turn cold, as if their entire world had turned gray. KG had lost. The LPL had lost. They were completely crushed by Team SSK without any chance of fighting back.

Giving away first blood wasn’t great. Anything but. However, that didn’t mean the game was over. KG still had everything in their own two hands. The three casters for the Official Chinese Broadcast knew that as well. They looked around the map, away from the LeBlanc in mid lane, and soon found something else to latch onto. Something was brewing up in top lane. KG’s Jungler was roaming up the river and into the tri-brush directly below SSK’s outer tower. God Roundy let the lane push his way ever so slightly, making sure the Gnar wasn’t any the wiser. Then the Jarvan IV dashed out from the tri-brush and flanked the Gnar. But the Gnar came prepared. He Hopped onto the Jarvan IV and then further towards his outer tower, then flashed the last bit to safety.

“Nice!” Lolo cheered, waving her arms up and down. “God Roundy can now push the lane! The Gnar has to recall back to base and will lose a ton of experience! This is great for KG!”

Stone nodded and smiled. “Mhm, this should give Roundy some time to build up an advantage. But that reaction speed by the Gnar was out of this world. The Jarvan jumped onto him from the fog of war, and he still found the time and accuracy to Hop onto him and then towards his own tower. That’s some real skill there. If he’d missed, he’d have given away a kill to KG.”

“But they got the Flash out. That’s the important thing here,” Qinghe chimed in. He turned back to the screen and watched the Gnar recall back to base, then added, “Plus, if that Gnar teleports back to lane, then that’s two Summoner Spells gone. He can’t go anywhere, while God Roundy can go anywhere on the map and help his team win an important fight. This is looking great for KG!”

The three casters tried their best to spin the story back in KG’s favour. They had to! But that wasn’t how they felt in their heart of hearts. This game wasn’t in KG’s favour. Things weren’t going great. Quite frankly, the game was quickly slipping away from KG’s grasp. In all of League of Legends, there was nothing more terrifying than the best player in the world on his best Champion. But KG had allowed for that to happen. It didn’t even take Rake five minutes to punish them for that mistake. His LeBlanc was something else. She looked like a different Champion entirely when he played her. In his hands, she was a dark cloud looming over the Rift. An absolute nightmare. No KG player who stepped out of the fountain was safe from her. This was Rake’s LeBlanc.

The casters and the fans at home could all see Rake pulling quickly ahead of his lane opponent. And since they could see it, so could Tian Tian. He panned his camera to mid lane every couple of seconds, just to make sure the game wasn’t lost yet. His nerves were making his hand shake, and he missed a last hit because of it. T-this won’t work… LeBlanc got first blood… He knew Rake. They’d played against each other before, all the way back in Season 1. Tian Tian gulped, his eyes wide with fear. He took his hand off the keyboard and placed it on his other hand, trying to stop it from trembling and shaking. N-no. It’s just one kill… He bit down on his teeth and breathed through his mouth. W-we can still do this! I can still do this! I just have to win harder! I-i will carry!

✹

To win or lose a game of League of Legends. Sometimes it took upwards of an hour, or even longer, to find out who would win the game. Other times, it was decided before the 10-minute mark. There were team compositions and specific Champions that allowed for very quick games. Two such examples were Riven and LeBlanc. If either of them got rolling, while the other went down, they could solo carry the game. They could push a lane all the way down to the Nexus, or  teamfight 1v5. It really didn’t matter. Once they got going, they could win the game single-handedly. This game between KG and SSK looked to be heading in that very direction, with the game-deciding fight happening at 6:30 minutes.

It happened at bot lane and started off with a gank by SSK. Rake had teamed up with his Jungler and roamed bot. SSK’s Support and ad-carry were informed over voice chat and eased down on pushing out the lane. The next wave of Blue minions was frozen right outside their own outer tower’s range, and KG’s Jinx was extended far out in the lane. This was an opportunity to get a few last hits where she didn’t have to fight over a kill with her tower. It was a whole lot easier to land the killing blow, especially in the early game, when the tower wasn’t firing off powerful energy shots at the minions. But the Jinx shouldn’t have been tunnel-visioning on the minions. She should’ve noticed that her lane opponents had eased off on the pressure.

SSK’s Support played Alistar. He was a minotaur with strong crowd control skills. One of these skills was Pulverize. He could smash down on the ground so hard that the stone and dirt directly around him would explode outwards, knocking Champions and minions up into the air. There were different ways to get in range to use this skill. He went with Flash. With a mottled burst of light, he disappeared from his spot and then reappeared right on top of the Jinx. He raised his muscular arms and then smashed his fists down into the ground–⁠Pulverise! The Jinx was knocked up into the air!

The timing was perfect. The Jinx was up in the air and couldn’t do anything for a short duration. SSK’s ad-carry, who played Lucian, dashed forward and fired light bullets from his gun. Then he blasted the Jinx with a purifying light–Piercing Light! The Jinx then started falling back to the ground. Another second and she could Flash away towards safety. That was when everyone could see a Tunnel being dug out from the fog of war. A wild Rek’Sai appeared directly underneath the Jinx and knocked her back up into the air by Unburrowing! Rake appeared next, Distorting towards the Jinx and hitting her with the splash damage. Then he Mimic’d Distortion and hit her again, dealing substantially more damage this time. It was so much damage that it directly killed the Jinx.

《You have slain an enemy!》

The players from KG were yelling and screaming into their microphones, trying to do something. Because if they did nothing, they’d be giving SSK a double kill. It was a 4vs1 right now, so a towerdive would be simple. 

“BackBackBACKBACK!” 
“Lulu! TP! Come down now! COME!” 
“I don’t have TP! Fuck! It’s on cooldown! It’s on cooldown!” 
“Thresh! Wait! Stay near your tower! I’m TPing in! We can do this!”

The casters of the Official Chinese Broadcast were just as desperate as KG. They wanted to see their team win! But this fight looked lost, until a pillar of light descended on one of the Blue minions in bot lane. It was like a beacon of hope! That was how Stone saw it, anyways. He cried out, “Riven is teleporting! Gnar’s TP is still on cooldown and God Roundy is Level 6! He can win this fight! KG can still turn this around!”

Tian Tian arrived in bot lane. He pressed down on the R key–Blade of the Exile. A green light wrapped around his Riven’s blade. It was reforged, perfect once more. Then she dashed forward and thrusted her sword up into the air–Ki Burst! A wave of green energy washed over the Lucian, stunning him. His already low base health took a beating. Then the Riven lashed out with the first of three strikes. The second followed after an auto attack, and then almost directly after came the third. The Riven jumped up in the sky and hacked down on the Lucian, knocking him Airborne–Broken Wings! Another auto attack would kill the Lucian, but the Alistar came charging over from the side, Headbutting her away. The Lucian fell back to the ground and Flashed away.

“N-no! You won’t get away!” Tian Tian yelped. He pressed down on the D key and then directly on the R key again–Wind Slash! His Riven had charged up the runic energy contained within her sword and unleashed it all with one final slash. It flew after the Lucian, chased him down, and washed over him. It dealt the damage and killed him.

《You have slain an enemy!》

“It’s the comeback! It’s the comeback!” Lolo cried out, throwing her arms up into the air. And she wasn’t the only one cheering and happy to see God Roundy make the play. Everyone watching the stream shared her sentiment and they started flooding the chat.

「EMPEROR GOD ROUNDY!!!!!!」

「god roundy is the besstt!!11!1 omgomgomgomg」

「GOD ROUNDY HAVE MY BABY!」

「KG IS GONNAAA WIINNN!!!!」

「Down with the Koreans!!! WOOOO GOD ROUNDY!!!!」

「EZ GAME GG GOD ROUNDY MVP!!!!」

Back in the game, KG’s Thresh turned around. God Roundy was here. He had to help his teammate turn this fight around. The Rek’Sai was closest to the tower, so he wound up his chain and sickle and hooked her, then dragged her under the tower–Death Sentence! He followed up with Flay, dragging her even further under the tower. There were no minions, so the outer tower targeted the Rek’Sai and fired off an energy shot at her. All the while, Tian Tian tried to have his Riven move towards the Rek’Sai and Thresh, but was stopped by an Exhaust from the Alistar. A debilitating energy wrapped around her and debuffed all of her stats, including her movement speed!

SSK’s Jungler knew he could be hooked by the Thresh. In fact, he was even counting on it. So when it happened, he didn’t panic and try to Flash away. Instead, he let it happen. He let his Rek’Sai get dragged underneath the outer tower and closer towards the Thresh. Then, when he was almost on top of the Thresh, he pressed down on the E-key–Furious Bite! His Rek’Sai bared her teeth and sank them down into the Thresh, dealing double and True damage. All the while, Rake had been last hitting minions, patiently waiting for an opening. There it was. The Rek’Sai was taking energy shots from the tower and the Thresh’s health was dropping. So he had his LeBlanc step into tower range and pressed down on the Q and then the E key. His LeBlanc raised her staff and fired an orb of malefic energy, followed directly by two illusory chains that flew towards the Thresh and wrapped around him. Then she cast another auto attack.

《Double kill!》

However, SSK had to pay a price for giving Rake the two kills. The Rek’Sai had tanked too many energy shots from KG’s outer tower, which dealt increasingly more damage with every hit. Before she could even start Tunneling away, she died. That made it two for two. This fight that started out so terribly for KG was even again, and it was now all up to Tian Tian to make the impossible happen. He could keep the dream alive!

“Kill the LeBlanc! If he kills the LeBlanc, KG wins! KG can win this!” Qinghe shouted from behind the caster desk. “Come on God Roundy! Do it! Do it! You can do it!” There was no calmness in his voice, or any semblance of professionalism. He looked like a fan on the edge of his seat, cheering for his team to win! Cheering for his favourite player to make the plays! It was exactly how the people at home felt, all ten million of them!

Su Xue was one of the fans sitting at home, cheering for her God Roundy! But she couldn’t sit on the edge of her seat. This moment was too tense! She jumped up and leaned closer to the screen, screaming, “Come on! God Roundy! Do it! Kill the LeBlanc! Kill that stupid bitch!”

Lin Feng sat next to Su Xue. He pushed her aside when she moved in front of the screen, his eyes locked on the Riven. Fatty… He was watching the map. The Jarvan IV wouldn’t arrive in time. It was a 1v2 for Fatty. But he had the cooldowns on his side. The LeBlanc had just used hers and Fatty’s were coming off cooldown again. That meant he held the advantage, for a short few seconds. That’s your chance. Do it! Win!

Two gaming booths stood across the stage from each other. One belonged to KG, the other to SSK. One Toplaner was chewing on his lips and his hands were trembling, while a Midlaner sat still, unmoving except for the quick and accurate movements of his hands. Tian Tian was giving it his all, playing to the best of his ability, while Rake knew how much effort he had to put in to win this. And that was how much energy he poured into this fight. Nothing more and nothing less. He put in exactly enough to win this fight.

Tian Tian gritted his teeth. He knew his cooldowns and he’d seen the LeBlanc just use her skills. He had his Riven lash out, striking the LeBlanc with the first attack from Broken Wings. He followed up with an auto attack and then the second slash from Broken Wings. The LeBlanc auto attacked him, constantly repositioning. But her skills were on cooldown and her health was falling quickly. Tian Tian pressed on the Q key for the third time–Broken Wings! His Riven leaped up into the air, bringing her sword over her head, and then hacked down towards the ground. The blade would smash right into the LeBlanc, knocking her Airborne. Except that it didn’t, because the LeBlanc wasn’t there anymore.

Through the entire fight so far, Rake still hadn’t used his Flash. Until now. His LeBlanc disappeared in a flash of mottled light as the Riven came crashing down on her. She walked up the lane a little, creating an angle between the minions through which she could hit him with her skillshot. LeBlanc only had one real skillshot. Ethereal Chains. She fired them off and they struck the Riven, coiling around her.

Everyone went silent in the arena, until all that could be heard were the ingame sounds blaring from the speakers. Everyone hosting streams, shoutcasting or analyzing the game, went quiet. They sealed their lips and moved to the edge of their seats, watching, waiting. Across the world, from Korea to China and all the way to Europe and North America. Every single League of Legends fan stopped what they were doing and focused on the stream. The second part of Ethereal Chains took a second to activate. It would snare the Riven. Rake had to snare Roundy Round if he wanted to win this fight, and Roundy Round had to get out of range to cancel the snare if he wanted to win. There were only two possible outcomes. A shutdown bounty for Roundy Round or a game winning Rampage for Rake.

Tian Tian desperately tried to get away, to break the link before it could root his Riven in place. But Rake had positioned himself too perfectly. There was nowhere he could run. His Riven got rooted. Red minions started attacking him. A Sigil of Malice struck him. Then another auto attack. He clicked and he pushed the buttons on his keyboard. But he was rooted. His Riven didn’t move until she collapsed dead on the ground. She’d died. He’d lost. The announcer’s voice rang through his headphones.

《You have been slain!》

Shit. Tian Tian let go of his mouse and keyboard. He fell back in his and rubbed his forehead. T-this is really, really bad. He took a long inhalation, pushing out his stomach, then let it all out. Shit. I-it’s over.

Tian Tian had done great in this fight. He helped his bot lane turn a completely lost fight around into a two for three situation. In any other situation, this would’ve been a good result. Not great, but definitely not the end. However, it wasn’t so much that they gave the kills away, but who they gave them away to. SSK hadn’t cared about sacrificing their Rek’Sai, because it meant another kill for Rake. Nor did it matter that the Lucian died. The only important part of this fight was that the LeBlanc picked up a triple kill. She was 4/0/0 barely seven minutes into the game. She was on a Rampage and about to become unstoppable.

Sitting behind the caster desk, deflated, Stone voiced the feelings of the millions of KG fans watching from home. “Shit. This sucks.”

Lin Feng knew that running into Chu Fang was inevitable. The  first of many people from his past that Lin Feng would bump into on this climb back to the top. The first of many that he’d have to confront since he ran away all of those years ago. Just to name some, there were the friends he’d made along the way all those years ago in Season 1. He wanted to see them again, and he liked to think they’d want to see him again too. Then there were his rivals and other players he’d enjoyed playing against, the fans who’d cheered him on and sent him fanmail, and everyone else who was connected in one way or another to the Season 1 run of his team. There were too many to name, but he remembered their faces and names. He was both looking forward to seeing them again and dreading it at the same time.

But Lin Feng wasn’t planning on looking for them just yet. There was more than enough time to reconnect with old friends and rekindle old rivalries later on. Right now, he wasn’t Maple. He was a regular player getting back into the game and he didn’t want to lean on his old name to do that. This was a path he wanted to walk on his own two feet. That wouldn’t be easy. He was well aware of that. It would take time to find his old form, to adjust to the changes in the game, and further hone his skills. But he had that time as long as he stayed in anonymity. There was no pressure to perform, there were no teammates that he had to work together with, there was only himself and his dream. The dream of stepping onto the world stage. He wanted nothing more than to make it back there and fight against Rake again. But this time, he would win. For that reason, he chose to wait. He would take one step at a time, keeping himself grounded, and only let the spotlight fall on him when the time was right.

That day wasn’t far away, but it wasn’t today. Right now there were different things on his mind. For starters, he’d just qualified with his team from High School 13 for the semifinals of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament. This was a small thing in the grand scheme of things, but it meant the world to his school. They’d never made it this far before and would be celebrating through the night if it weren’t for another event taking place halfway across the world. This event did matter in the grand scheme of League of Legends. It was the semifinals match between KG and SSK at the World Championships. Millions of people, both those who played the game and those who just enjoyed watching it or reading about it, tuned in long before the match even started. They were here to listen to the analysts and watch the introductions of both teams. They were only a small fraction of the number of people who would be watching when the series officially started.

✹

Su Xue strapped on her apron and put on her chef’s hat. It was the basic attire for her part time job as Lin Feng’s cook. There wasn’t a whole lot of time today, because the KG versus SSK game was starting soon. So she prepared something quick and easy, though she did start from scratch, and served it. The aromas floating in the air wafted into Lin Feng’s room and the person in question soon followed his nose into the dining room. They enjoyed a quick dinner, which was halfway interrupted by an alarm going off. Su Xue had set it at 10:30 PM, 30 minutes before the start of Worlds.

Su Xue didn’t bother with doing the dishes, nor did she let Lin Feng finish his food. She dragged him along to her room and shoved him down in his chair. Then she turned on her stream and pinged the people in her QQ group chat. This was perhaps the most important match at the League of Legends Season 5 World Championships! It was also an excellent opportunity for her to bring in new viewers! So she had to be on time. She absolutely could not be late. 

Su Xue started her stream 20 minutes before the start of the first game, her regulars started flooding her stream chat and soon enough thousands of people were watching her and Lin Feng. They were all here for their stream shoutcasting on the best of five series between KG and SSK.

「This is going to be siicckkkkkk!! Best of 5! I wanna see it go to game 5 woooooo!!」

「FK GAME 5, 3-0 KG LEEZZ GOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!1!!!1!」

「shit tho…. cant belief our shit luck. ssk… rip」

「ah shut up! i’d almost forgotten.. uch. lets just hope for the best」

「FKING DOWNERS! KG DA BEST WOOOOOOO!!!!」

「lmao watch god roundy carry the shit outta this game LOLOLOLOOL!」

Su Xue read through the chat conversation, picking out several lines to read out loud. Then she flashed a smile at the camera and said, “We got our very own li’l bro here with us tonight…” she turned to Lin Feng and asked, “So, what do you think about KG’s chances today?”

Lin Feng rubbed his chin, looking up into the vast nothingness that was Su Xue’s ceiling, thinking. “Hmm…” He let it drag out for a bit longer, but then shook his head with a long sigh. “It’s going to be really hard for KG. Really hard. Nothing is impossible. But, they’re going to have to play the best game of their lives if they want to win this tonight.”

✹

The venue for the Season 5 League of Legends World Championships semi-finals was on the Heysel Plateau in Brussels, Belgium. There was a large arena with a capacity of 15,000. It was full. It was packed. Not just the arena itself, but the area around it too, with the Atomium in the backdrop. The ground was shaking due to fans jumping up and down, watching the large monitors in-and-outside the arena. It was the middle of the day, but it looked like all of Brussels was here. Like everyone had taken the day off to show up and scream their lungs out.

However loud the fans on the Heysel Plateau were, the two teams who’d come in action tonight didn’t hear any of this. They were seated in soundproof booths on the stage. From where they sat, they couldn’t even see each other. Their focus was on their screens, making sure everything was in order before the series started. This was the matchup of a lifetime for KG. This was their chance to make their mark on League of Legends history! Only three games, three wins, stood between them and the Finals. It was the combination of this knowledge and knowing who their opponents were that raised their pre-game jitters to a whole new level. They could barely function, trembling and shaking.

Tian Tian was no exception. His teammates looked towards him, searching for their pillar, but he couldn’t offer them what they needed. Not right now. He was trembling and shaking more violently than any of them. It wasn’t strange that he acted like this. Anyone in his shoes would do the same! After all, he was about to face off against the strongest team in the world! This was an opportunity of a lifetime, but also not really an opportunity. SSK was on a different level entirely. Two teams so close together, yet so far apart. But despite this, despite his every instinct telling him to run and hide, he put his right hand on the mouse and his left on the keyboard. He stared at his screen and muttered through gritted teeth, “I-i’ll win! We’re going to win this! I-i just have to try really hard, and then… Then we can do this! We can!”

There were two gaming booths, with windows all around. The fans could see their players preparing for the games from a distance, but also up close with the facecams on the large screen above the gaming booths. On one side, players were looking around, visibly unwell and searching for anything to latch onto to ease their nerves, while on the other side players were joking and laughing and almost looking bored. To one team this was the game of a century. It was their opportunity to beat the best and become the best! While for the other team it was just another game they had to play. Play and a win would come. They were too good not to win. There was too much talent that combined into flawless teamwork to lose. Talent on each part of the team, but most of all on their Midlaner. Their starplayer was the best player in the world. There was no denying his skill. He really was the best. The other team had a good player, a very, very good player. But that was just it. One team consisted of very good players to form a very good team, while the other was built on the best players in the world to make the best team in the world.

✹

《Welcome to Summoner’s Rift!》

Game 1 of the second semifinals of Worlds was finally underway! It was KG on the Blue team versus SSK on the Red team. Both teams had gotten the Champions they wanted. Their signature Champions. When the fans saw God Roundy picking Riven, they cheered so loudly that most of Brussels could hear them. And all throughout China, people were bonking with brooms on their ceilings, yelling for their neighbours to not scream so much. But the screamers couldn’t be blamed. This was God Roundy’s Riven! They all knew what he could do with her. And if he could do that again this game, then they were in for a really good game!

However, the first round of cheers was quickly drowned out by the second wave of cheers. This one was far louder, with windows trembling, breaking, and car alarms going off in the distance. There was only one thing that could get these fans so excited. Rake. He had chosen to play LeBlanc. It was his signature Champion. It was the Champion he almost always played when it wasn’t banned. More terrifyingly, he’d never lost with her in any official game all year. His win-rate was a perfect 100%!

From the comfort of her own bedroom, live commentating on the game, Su Xue lost her shit for a brief moment. She clutched her armrests and screeched, “ShitShitShit! How did we let him have LeBlanc? This is cheating! Cheating!”

Lin Feng moved away and covered his ears in reflex. He bit on his lips, keeping them sealed. This wasn’t great, both Su Xue screaming in his ear and Rake picking LeBlanc. But there was nothing he could do about the latter, except for cheering Tian Tian on. So that was what he did. He clenched his fist and mumbled, “Come on, Fatty! You can do this! I know you can!”

Back in the game, the minions had spawned and were charging down their respective lanes. Tian Tian was up in the top lane with his Riven and had to face off against a Gnar. The minion waves arrived and started fighting, while the Riven and Gnar did the same. They jumped in and out, getting last hits in on minions while also using every opportunity to dish out some poke against each other. And after only a couple of these exchanges, it was clear that Tian Tian was pulling ahead.

At the caster desk for the official Chinese broadcast, Lolo was jumping up and down and pointing at the screen, screaming, “That’s our God Roundy! God Roundy is doing it again! He’s seized the advantage! He’s going to carry the game and bring KG the win! It is possible! It is!”

Stone moved his hands up and down in front, calming the non-existent audience in the room, and said, “That’s great and all, but look at mid lane. KG picked Lulu, a very defensive Champion for mid lane. Their plan is clearly to not lose. Look. Do you see what I’m seeing? Lulu is losing. Rake is outplaying her so hard that a lane that should never be lost is actually losing. This is a masterclass.”

Lulu was a very defensive choice for the mid lane. She had a shield and crowd control in her kit, which she could use to mitigate a lot of the LeBlanc’s damage. Everyone used her these days to stop aggressive Midlaners, and so had KG. It was how they were going to shut Rake down. If Rake never got rolling, he wouldn’t be any good! But Rake didn’t care that it was a Lulu. He knew how to play against her perfectly. So he went about farming minions, baiting out Lulu’s shield and crowd control in the process, and waited for that moment where her skills were on cooldown to jump in and attack. Then he backed out, making sure to hit another auto attack on the way out. He played it so perfectly that not even four minutes into the game, the Lulu was running low on health and was at real risk of dying. She could only sit under her tower and give up on getting last hits, while he could do whatever it was he wanted to do. The lane was his.

At 4:25 minutes, Rake officially declared mid lane his. KG’s Midlaner knew he was safe against the LeBlanc as long as he stuck underneath his tower. His Lulu had a shield that could help him survive any tower dive. However, no plan was perfect, especially when made in a pinch. SSK’s Jungler was a Rek’Sai, a Champion with its own unique set of skills. One of them was Unburrow, which allowed her to knock Champions Airborne, which was a state in which the victim couldn’t use any of their skills. But this wasn’t the Rek’Sai show, this was the Rake show. He positioned his LeBlanc to perfection, moving in such a precise manner that the Lulu didn’t even realize her pathing was being influenced by him. She moved up a little, completely of her own volition it seemed. That was a fatal mistake. The Rek’Sai burrowed a Tunnel and then flashed forward, arriving right underneath the Lulu, where she Unburrowed and knocked her victim up in the air. And of course, Rake was there for the follow up. He had his LeBlanc jump towards the Lulu–Distortion. Then she shot out her Ethereal Chains. They wrapped themselves around the Lulu, binding her in place and leaving her with nowhere to escape. One more auto attack flew from LeBlanc’s staff before she jumped back, away from KG’s outer tower.

《First blood!》

I don’t have time for you. Every word in that sentence stabbed into Liu Zhengjie’s ego, deflating it with yet another cut. His shoulder slumped and he let his head droop backwards and forward a little. He’d just experienced literal verbal whiplash. He didn’t come here to see me? The gears in his mind rumbled and stuttered to life. He started running through everything that just happened, trying to understand the reality of the situation. Chu Fang had shown up, and then had run towards the group. That much was clear to Liu Zhengjie. He saw Chu Fang running towards the group he was standing with. He had turned towards Chu Fang and  started talking. That’s where everything broke down for Liu Zhengjie. Chu Fang had brushed him off without a glance. Chu Feng didn’t run over to talk to me, so… CHU FANG MUST BE HERE TO TALK TO SOMEONE ELSE! Liu Zhengjie’s struggling brain had finally caught up to the moment. Who… Who is he here to see if not for me? That’s when he realized that Chu Fang wasn’t in front of him at all. He looked around, trying to catch up to what had happened while he was lost in his thoughts. Chu Fang was now sitting on a chair, staring in the direction of High School 13’s team while looking mindblown. But they looked just as confused as he was. Except… Him?

“He’s not me! Completely different Lin Feng! It’s a common name! Not me!” Lin Feng cried out, frantic. He grabbed Tang Bingyao by her waist and moved her a little, just enough to turn her into a human shield and kill any vision Chu Feng had on him. If he couldn’t see Chu Fang, then Chu Fang couldn’t see him! Right? Lin Feng shook his head, fervently, and shouted, “You’ve got the wrong person! It’s definitely not me!”

The players from Shanghai International stared at Lin Feng. They couldn’t comprehend what was going on. The group from High School 13 was much the same. Everyone turned to look at Lin Feng, speechless. They knew him as the odd goofball he liked to be. But this was a new low even for him. This was by far his worst attempt at hiding from a situation!

“IT IS YOU!” Chu Fang yelled, excited. Up until now, the signs were there. Everything pointed towards this being Lin Feng. Maple. Ling “Maple’ Feng! The prodigy from back in Season 1! The Wunderkin who all of China’s hopes rested on back then! But he’d also argued all of these signs away in his mind, he didn’t want to get his hopes up. When Lin Feng disappeared… it was hard on all of them. So Chu Fang convinced himself that there were other explanations and reasons that could, potentially, make sense. But after he heard Lin Feng speak, there was no doubt anymore. There was no way he could pretend he didn’t see what his heart already knew! He’d know that voice anywhere and anytime. It was a little bit deeper than he remembered. More mature, tinged with that jaded melancholy that comes from knowing tragedy. But it was still Lin Feng’s voice! He shook his head, smiling, and said, “Stop hiding! I can see you. I know it’s you!”

Under the confused gazes of the people around him, Lin Feng stepped out from behind Tang Bingyao. He walked forward two steps, then looked up at Chu Fang. He looked right into Chu Fang’s eyes while ruffling his hair and laughing awkwardly. “Uhm-uh… Hi! Hey… Long time no see.”

In that awkward, miraculous, and truly confusing moment, there was no Shanghai International or High School 13. Everyone was united in their shock and confusion. All of them stared at this exchange between Lin Feng and Chu Fang, trying to figure out how this was even possible. Trying to figure out what was even happening! Lin Feng’s friends knew that he was really good at League, and they knew that he’d been playing the game since Season 1. They remembered how he kept telling them how he was “a challenger on the Ionia server”. That was a lot more than what Shanghai International’s team knew about Lin Feng. But even with this extra information, they still couldn’t wrap their heads around the fact that the Vice President of the Shanghai Esports Association had come running just to talk to Lin Feng! Chu Fang wasn’t even passing by on his way to do something more important! He had specifically run towards them for Lin Feng! No, not even that. Chu Fang had chased after them and arrived completely out of breath. He’d ignored someone as talented as Liu Zhengjie, and then collapsed into a chair while staring at Lin Feng. Then the only person he wanted to talk to was Lin Feng. Ren Rou, Yan Liang, everyone stared at the two, speechless.

However, even when combining the shock of everyone else together here, it still wasn’t anywhere near the amount of shock Chu Fang felt. It battered at his heart. It tried to knock him off his socks. He smiled, that dim-witted smile of ecstasy, and forgot where he was. The people around him disappeared for a moment, all he could see was Lin Feng. The supreme League of Legends talent. Then he blinked. More specifically, he forced his eyes shut and told himself, Keep it together. Keep it together. He opened his eyes a moment later and smiled, kindly. That’s when he noticed everyone else was still around, too many of them. He nodded at Lin Feng and said, “Come, let’s find somewhere private to talk.”

The players from Shanghai International watched Lin Feng nod in agreement to THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE SHANGHAI ESPORTS ASSOCIATION. Then they watched Lin Feng and Chu Fang walk away, neither paying any attention to them. Chu Fang didn’t even say anything to Liu Zhengjie! Their biggest talent. The guy on their team who was good enough to go professional. Their teammate who they’d been bragging about, telling everyone how the Shanghai Esports Association was showing great interest in his development. But that reflected spotlight they’d been basking in? It sputtered out and died. Chu Fang had ignored them, hadn’t even spared them a glance. His eyes were locked on Lin Feng from start to finish. They felt their faces turn red, Liu Zhengjie more than the others.

“Awkward! Awkward, Awkward, Awkward.” Ouyang laughed. He looked over towards Liu Zhengjie, whose red hot face of embarrassment was quickly warping to anger, and continued, “Oh well. Karma’s a bitch. Gnarly, radical, on the block I’m magical. See me at your college campus—”

“HAHAHAHAAH-haha! Oh my god!” Liu Yue said, laughing and pointing towards Liu Zhengjie. “I’ve never seen someone get hit by tribulation lightning this hard in any webnovel! Hahaha! Did you guys see that? The Vice President ignored him so hard that his brain broke! Haha! Look at his face! Oh my god, this is my favorite minute of this entire event!”

Liu Zhengjie looked over towards Liu Yue. He glowered. He raged. He, he… He cracked his knuckles and raised his fist. That’s it, you stupid shit! Watch me! There was only one way he knew how to deal with this. His words had failed him, so he could only resort to this. He stepped forward, towards Liu Yue, charging his fist up. His foot stamped the ground, drumming his fury. I’ll kick your sorry ass to the hospital! And then he got stopped. Yan Liang grabbed his raised arm and pulled it down. He turned to look at his Midlaner and friend, confused.

“Come, we’re leaving,” Yan Liang said, sullen. He dragged Liu Zhengjie with him, and the others followed as well. There was nothing left to do here. All their big words, the bravado with which they moved, it was all gone. It was smashed under Chu Fang’s feet. But he wouldn’t leave just like that. That wasn’t his style. He raised his voice just loud enough that the group from High School 13 could hear him, “They’re not worth our time.”

“Oh! OH! What was that about resorting to violence? Feeling all big now, are we?” Ouyang shouted after the departing group, savouring this moment of schadenfreude. Then he turned to his friends and sighed, “Man! That was awesome! Serves them right for being dicks. EVEN THE UNIVERSE IS MY BRO, BITCH!”

Yang Fan smiled at Ouyang, but then adjusted his glasses. He frowned, staring in the direction Lin Feng and Chu Fang left in, and said, “Still, I wonder how Lin Feng knows the Vice President of the Shanghai Esports Association.”

Yang Fan wasn’t the only one who wanted to know this. Every one of them did. Ren Rou turned to Su Xue and asked, “Do you know? You’ve known him the longest out of all of us and you two live together.”

Su Xue shook her head, staring after Lin Feng in a daze. She kept shaking her head until she realized everyone was staring at her. “Uhh…” She blinked a few times and then said, “I don’t know. He’s never told me anything about this before.”

Ouyang directly turned to Tang Bingyao and asked, “What about you? Do you know?”

Tang Bingyao tilted her head, but remained silent. Lin Feng had told her he used to play League of Legends professionally. With that in mind, it wasn’t strange for him to know Chu Fang. It even kind of made sense. But that’s his story to tell. She was his friend. He told her things in confidence, and it was up to her to keep his confidence. So she shook her head and said, “I don’t know either.”

“Welp. Guess we’ll have to ask him when he gets back then!” Liu Yue said.

“Haha, watch me when he gets back,” Ouyang laughed, rubbing his hands together. “I’m going to use my super bro power and wring all the secrets out of him!”

✹

Lin Feng waved goodbye to Chu Fang and said, “Thanks for understanding. I’ll be going. Byebye!” Then he bolted away, running back towards his friends who were waiting for him on the other side of the venue.

Chu Fang stared after Lin Feng, shaking his head. They’d only spoken for 10 minutes, barely enough to catch up. He’d wanted to talk more. There was so much he wanted to talk about with Lin Feng. But he also understood that the kid’s friends were waiting for him and that he couldn’t hold him up too long. It was a short conversation about the important things. Important things… He shook his head and muttered, “You punk. Giving me a headache on your first day back. How could you do that to me after all we’ve been through…” Then he started smiling. He covered his mouth in disbelief and shook his head. He’s back… I never thought… He’s back. He’s finally back! He came back!

As for Lin Feng, he ran back to his friends and caught up with them. He laughed and apologized and thanked them for waiting. Then he started walking towards the exit of the venue—

Ouyang pressed his hand against Lin Feng’s chest and forced him to stop. He looked his friend up and down and then straight in the eyes. In a calm voice that allowed no arguing, he said, “Explain yourself. From one bro to another. Tell me how you know him!”

“Yeah! Tell us!” Liu Yue chimed in.

Ren Rou waited a moment, just long enough for Ouyang and Liu Yue to shut up but not so long that Lin Feng could answer. Then she said, “Tell me what you guys talked about. What did he want from you?”

Lin Feng scratched the back of his head and said, “Oh, that? Uh, we didn’t really talk about anything specific. We were just catching up.” That was the excuse he was going with. Two old friends catching up. Then he went on telling a story that was loosely based on the truth, about how they’d met at the Chinese regional Finals back in Season 1. Since then they hadn’t seen each other for years, but it’d left a lasting impression. So when Chu Fang saw him today, he just really wanted to catch up. That was what they were chatting about, and that was the story Lin Feng was sticking to, despite him scratching the back of his head and refusing to look up at his friends for more than a quick glance.

Everyone knew Lin Feng was lying. He wasn’t fooling anyone. They’d all seen how Chu Fang reacted after recognizing Lin Feng. There was no way that he’d act like that after seeing a random person he met once several years earlier. That just wasn’t how life worked. But the KG versus SSK game was on and they had to hurry home if they wanted to make it. So they let him get away with it. They could badger the truth out of him another time. There was no hurry. They had at least until the end of the year.

✹

Su Xue and Lin Feng took a cab home after separating from the others. That was also how long Su Xue could keep her mouth shut. When they sat on the backseat of the car, her curiosity got the better of her. She turned to Lin Feng and said, “You weren’t telling the truth. I’m not that oblivious. Tell me the real story!”

“Huh? What do you mean?” Lin Feng asked, innocent as ever.

Su Xue rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Hmph. Quit the act. I’m not that stupid. Whatever, if you don’t want to tell me, don’t tell me. But don’t lie to me. Just say you don’t want to tell me. I don’t care.”

“It’s not that…” Lin Feng scratched his head, awkwardly. He really hadn’t talked much with Chu Fang. For the most part, it was just two old friends catching up. Beyond the pleasantries, he’d also informed Chu Fang about his intentions. His plans for returning to the professional scene and had asked him to keep that quiet. He didn’t want the people he knew from back then finding out he was playing again. Not for any reason in particular, but just because it didn’t feel right to him at the moment. I’m not back yet. He chewed on the inside of his lips as he thought back to their talk, staring out of the front window of the cab. Then he mumbled, barely audible, “I’ll tell you when the time is right.”

Ouyang saw them. The Shanghai International team. He’d stood across from them before, looked at those faces and glared into those eyes. One year ago. It’d been a year since he stood on a stage like this one, looking at them. On any normal day, his motto was simple. You got a problem? Yo, I’ll solve it! But not on that day. That day was the single worst day of his life. And when he saw them again, standing across from him. Standing across from his team. Looking down on him with the same plastic expressions of ridicule from one year ago, that day started playing in his head again. The moments that haunted his nightmares and always stuck around in the back of his mind. 

“Lol! This is too easy man,” Yan Liang laughed loudly into his microphone and to the crowd around him. He sat behind a computer in a small internet cafe, with two players to his left and two to his right. Together, they were the esports team for Shanghai International. “Let’s have a little fun! Haha!”

It was the first round of the qualifiers for the 2014 edition of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament. Shanghai International was grouped together with High School 13. It was an easy matchup for them. It was a game in which they could play around a little, try different tactics, and maybe just have some fun. And having fun is exactly what they did. The game was about to hit the 20 minute mark, but they were already pushing into High School 13’s base. It was a roflstomp in its truest form. With a little more than a minute before High School 13 could surrender and end this humiliation, the players from Shanghai International reached the Nexus. But instead of destroying the Nexus…

Liu Zhengjie looked towards the players from High School 13, sitting opposite him. He laughed at them and said, loudly enough for everyone in the internet cafe to hear him, “Watch this! HahaHAHAHA!”

If the humiliation of losing a game before 20 minutes wasn’t bad enough, what happened next definitely was. All Ouyang, substitute for High School 13, could do was watch as his team got served the ultimate humiliation. They were Nexus farmed. Shanghai International was so strong, and had enough long range skills, that they had formed a line around the fountain and were killing the players from High School 13, letting their minions finish the game. It was painful, disturbing, and degrading. This was the worst form of sportsmanship. But it didn’t end there. Shanghai International still wasn’t satisfied. High School 13 was below them, and they would let everyone know that.

The game finished. Shanghai International had as good as qualified for the next round, while High School 13 was on the verge of being eliminated from the tournament. But the players from High School 13 were no sore losers. They took a deep breath, pushed past their hatred over what happened in the game, and stood up to shake hands with the players from Shanghai International. It was basic courtesy, a short and simple show of good sportsmanship. That was when it happened.

Liu Zhengjie walked up to them, a bright and wide smile on his lips and derision in his eyes. He made himself big, broadening his shoulders, and said, “I wouldn’t dirty my hand by letting you touch it! If you want to congratulate me, get down on your knees! Hah, fucking pathetic bunch of losers. Go back to your kiddy league. You don’t belong here.”

They were the memories of a year ago. Ouyang’s arms started shaking as they played in his mind again, and then again. He bit down on his teeth, while his brows pointed down towards his nose. The grating sound of his teeth were barely submerged by the low roar coming from the back of his throat. He wanted to go up. He wanted to show them who was boss! He! He… He cracked his knuckles but didn’t move. Ren Rou held her arm out in front of him and Yang Fan, who’d lived through the same humiliation, grabbed him by his shoulder. So he didn’t storm forward, settling for pawing his foot on the ground, menacingly.

Yan Liang read the anger, the hatred, and most importantly the fear. They’re the same as last year. A bunch of kids trying to play with the grown ups. He grinned at his own joke before walking up to Ren Rou. He gave her a one over, checking her whole demeanor out. Then he turned to the others behind her. There were the familiar faces of a year ago, together with a few new faces. He looked back towards Ren Rou and said, “Oh, well look at this! High School 13! What a surprise! What are you guys doing here? Wait… Don’t tell me… Is it true? Did you guys really make it to the semis? Wow! Good job! I have to congratulate you! You did a great job drawing all the easy teams! Are you guys going to celebrate? I can understand. You guys gotta celebrate the small victories since they are all you have, right?”

Su Xue had watched the stare down, thoroughly confused, and now this guy came at them and started insulting them. “Hey. Hey! What the hell is wrong with you? Why would you do this? Are you really this pathetic?” she asked.

Ouyang stared past Yan Liang and towards Liu Zhengjie, his chest rapidly going up and down. He said in such a deep voice that it almost didn’t sound like him, “It’s fine. Ignore them. That’s just how they are. A bunch of arrogant assholes.”

Yan Liang’s smile turned to confusion. It looked so honest, so real as he raised his eyebrows and asked, “Us? Arrogant? Nooo…”

Laughter rang out from behind Yan Liang, his teammates grinning and joking and patting each other on the shoulders. Then the Support said towards Yan Liang, but loud enough that it was meant for everyone, “I remember him. He was that substitute kid! He’s so bad at the game that he couldn’t even make it onto this kiddy team! If you ask me, his mother should’ve just gotten an abortion. That would’ve been better for everyone.”

“Hey! Sod off! That’s enough!” Yang Fan shouted, followed by Chen Ze adding, “Check yourselves! Don’t try to be funny. You’re not.”

Yan Liang shrugged and said, “Enough? What do you mean? It’s the truth, right? He’s terrible, even for your shit team. His mother’s probably pretty disappointed she didn’t abort him…” He trailed off towards the end, looking at the different people making up High School 13’s team. “Hmm? Am I wrong? Please, correct me if I’m wrong.”

“You fucker! I’M GONNA WEAR YOUR FACE!” Ouyang had had enough. So what if Yang Fan held him by the arm? He could just pull himself free! So what if Ren Rou held her arm out in front of him? He could push through that! No problem! He shook his arm free and cracked his knuckles, white hot rage on his face. “You come here, you fucker! Watch me!” He stormed forwards, stamping his feet on the ground and moving his arm back, ready to punch.

“OUYANG! NO!” Ren Rou shouted. She grabbed him by his raised arm, pulling him back with all of her weight. “Please! Don’t lower yourself to their level! Don’t do this! Please!”

Yan Liang chuckled, watching as Ren Rou and Yang Fan pulled Ouyang back and calmed him down. He waited, feasting on the spectacle, then said, “What? Can’t win with words, so you resort to violence? Eh, what am I saying? That sounds about right for people like you. I really can’t believe you made it to the semifinals. Did you bribe someone to get here? Or were you just that lucky? Whatever, it doesn’t matter. We’ll make sure to put on a nice spectacle and give you another taste of our specialty: Fountain Farming!”

The reply came almost instantaneous. A snort full of derision followed by the question, “Oh, really?”

Yan Liang turned to someone at the back of the group, behind the three he knew best. It was a man with messy, curly hair. He looked calm, unconcerned even. Yan Liang narrowed his eyes into two thin slits and asked, “What did you say?”

Lin Feng scratched the back of his head. Is he deaf? He looked Yan Liang in the eyes and replied, “Oh. Really. Question mark.” He then shook his head and grinned. “You really think you’re going to beat us? Let me help you out of that fairytale. We’re not losing. You will. I will personally see to it that we crush you.”

“Crush us?” Yan Liang fell open wide, surprised. Then he started laughing and turned back to his teammates. “Did you hear him? Hah. He thinks he’ll crush us! This is the best joke I’ve heard this whole year! Oh my…” He wiped the tears from his eyes and tried to shake the laughter off, only for a second burst to come out. This time he waited a full minute, trying to compose himself. But when he looked up again, up towards Lin Feng, he started all over again. He just started laughing and kept laughing. “Ow! My stomach. Ah!”

Then the smile disappeared. The laughter stopped. Yan Liang stopped wiping the tears of joy from his eyes and stopped slapping his knees in happiness. He narrowed his eyes and looked at Lin Feng and said in a voice as cold as ice, “Trash. That is what you are. That is what your team is. You belong in a landfill. The fact you want to play us is insult enough. These words you’re saying? Don’t. It’s not funny. It’s pathetic. Concede and go home. Let the big boys play.”

Liu Zhengjie walked up to Yan Liang and put his arm around his shoulder. “You see that kid?” He pointed towards Lin Feng and continued, “He’s that Riven that beat Tonji Affiliated High. It was a good game I’ve heard. But…” He looked at Lin Feng and shook his head. “But it sounds like that was just some excited kids talking big. He didn’t look anything special to me. Seems like Tonji just has a shit lineup this year. Or we got that much better. Probably a combination of the two.”

Lin Feng smiled. He moved his head ever so slightly in ridicule. “Liu Zhengjie, is it? You’re the ad-carry. I watched you play and I have to say, you’re pretty good…” He paused for a moment, his smile turning into a big, foolish grin, then added, “But our ad-carry is better.”

“Huh? What?” Tang Bingyao blurted. The entire situation was a little much for her to follow. There was too much new information and she got lost halfway along the way. She looked up towards Lin Feng, who was smiling at her. He looked his usual self.

“You’re better than he is. Isn’t that right, Tang Tang?” The words struck her so hard that she felt a little woozy. Better than him? She looked from Lin Feng over at Liu Zhengjie, the guy she’d just watched play. An ad-carry who was at the top of his game. It was hard to spot any faults in his game. Hmm. She tilted her head and compared his game to her own. She rocker her head over to the other side, then nodded. “Hmm, I think so. Yeah. I need to practice a bit more, but I’ll be better than him.”

Lin Feng pounded his chest and said, “Don’t worry about practice! You don’t need any practice to beat him. I’m saying you’re better than him right now! And if I say so, it is so!”

Liu Zhengjie stared at the two from High School 13. They were now arguing back and forth, but their words weren’t registering in his ears. His ears were ringing, the same few words resounding in his head over and over again. From shock and surprise to anger. He glowered and shouted, “What kind of bullshit are you spouting! Her? She? That stupid girl, better than me? Just because you say so? Fuck off. Idiot.”

The other players from Shanghai International had heard enough. They all walked up to Yan Liang, leaning over his shoulder and pushing chairs away to get closer. The Support was the first to speak. “Do you even know who you’re talking about? I guess not. Let me tell you. Liu Zhengjie here is so good that a coach from the LSPL came specially to check him out last year. Only Liu Zhengjie and one other person were scouted. You want to tell us that she, a girl, is better than him? Hah. What a joke.”

The Toplaner was  the next to voice his dissatisfaction with Lin Feng. “Right! Have you heard of the Shanghai Esports Association? Sure you have, they’re the organizers of this tournament. Those guys, yeah? They’re keeping an eye on Liu Zhengjie here and even told him he’s going to become a great professional player one day. You still want to tell me you believe she’s better than him?”

“ENOUGH! THAT’S IT!” Ren Rou shouted. Shanghai International had finally done it. They could try and bully Ouyang all they wanted, he probably had some coming anyways. They could say all the trashy things they wanted to say about High School 13. It hurt to hear it, but she wasn’t going to bother fighting them over it. But this. This was one step too far. They would not touch Tang Bingyao. Not under her watch. “You think we’re that easy to bully, huh? Well let m—”

“W-wait! Hey, you kids! Hold up!”

The voice came from behind High School 13, so the guys from Shanghai International saw the newcomer first. Yan Liang took a step back, halting the aggression and surprising Ren Rou into backing off as well. Then he put a large smile on his face and said, “Hello, sir! Are you here for us? We’re happy to help the Vice President of the Shanghai Esports Association with anything he wants! Just say the word!”

Liu Zhengjie didn’t call out to Chu Fang like Yan Liang had. But he did start smiling, and in his mind rightly so. This was his moment to shine. He stood up straight and checked to make sure there were no stains on his clothes. Then he carefully did his hair. This was his moment to show these people from High School 13 just how good he was. Everything had to be perfect. He took a deep breath and on the exhalation took a step forward. This would show the doubters how truly talented he was. So talented that Chu Fang came running for him. That’ll show them. Hmm. I wonder what he wants. Is there another pro team interested in me?

The people from High School 13 turned around to see why the guys from Shanghai International had backed off so suddenly. Lin Feng also turned around and met the gaze of Chu Fang. The very same Chu Fang he’d met back in Season 1. His eyes went wide. CrapCrapCrap. He looked around for a place to hide. Searched for it! But right now of all times he couldn’t find anything to hide behind. CrapCrapCrap. He turned to Tang Bingyao, who was quite a bit shorter than him and jumped behind her. She was the closest to him. He huddled down, making himself as small as he possibly could.

Liu Zhengjie nodded towards Chu Fang and said, “Hello, Vice President. It’s an honour to see you here. Were you looking for m—”

“Sorry. I don’t have time for you right now. Could you please move out of the way,” Chu Fang cut him off.

Liu Zhengjie stood in place, stunned. He didn’t know what to do. The words were still processing in his mind. I don’t have time for you. He understood what the words meant, individually. But that full sentence didn’t make any sense to him. So he just stood there, rooted to the floor, not sure of what to do.

Chu Fang didn’t have time for this. There was something far more pressing on his mind than sparing some random high schooler’s feelings, even if that random high schooler was quite the talent. He looked past Liu Zhengjie towards the group from High School 13. There he saw Lin Feng, hiding behind some girl. It… It… He tried to stay composed. He wanted to keep it together. But his throat parched up and he felt something wet at the corners of his eyes. He opened his mouth, then closed it again, shaking his head in disbelief, smiling. After all these years of searching. After all these years of hoping to find just one person half as talented as Maple. After everything he’d gone through. Right here. Right now. Right in front of him was that familiar face. He let himself fall down in the chair next to him and covered his mouth with his hand. He took a couple of deep breaths, then said, “Lin Feng? Lin Feng. Hey.”