After the past couple of minutes dueling against Lin Feng’s Lux, Qi Ming knew one thing for certain: This kid wasn’t half bad. So, when he saw Lin Feng calm as ever, rather than growing angry at being looked down on, he raised his vigilance. His opponent seemed well aware that if he were to be hit by Fizz’s Trickster, the damage over time from Ignite and Seastone Trident would undoubtedly kill him. However, he had only one method to escape. Wanna Flash away? Already got your finger hovering over your keyboard? Qi Ming’s eyes narrowed with a devious light when he realized what Lin Feng was up to. Ok, kid. I’ll play your game of chicken!

Fizz hung in mid-air on his trident for close to a second. Any moment he would be falling back to the ground with a loud splash. Qi Ming stared intently at Lux’s movements. His hands were in position on his keyboard. Fizz started falling back to the ground. He pressed D for Flash. Fizz lit up with a mottled flash of light, and almost at the same instant, so did Lux. Ha! Gotcha! Qi Ming erupted with glee. His guess was right!

Qi Ming’s heart was racing with adrenaline. From his point of view, even pro players couldn’t have played this any better! Zuo You would finally see why he was a Master! Any lower rank player would’ve failed to get the kill, but his expert-like game sense gave him that little extra that would secure the kill!

Fizz splashed to the ground as a shockwave of magic energy swept out. Qi Ming flicked his mouse forward, preparing to deal a last auto attack for good measure and end this 1v1. Huh? Where’d she go? His eyes widened in disbelief. Shit! Lux was behind him. She hadn’t flashed to tower safety, but away from it!

Lux turned around from behind him. She brandished her staff and tossed out a Light Binding followed by Lucent Singularity!

Light Binding squarely struck Fizz, rooting him under the tower. Lucent Singularity then detonated with a dazzling radiance. Paired with the considerable damage from the tower’s energy shots, Fizz’s health instantly fell to zero. What a turn around!

Qi Ming’s screen went grey as the announcer’s voice rang out.

 《First blood!》 

He stared dumbly at his screen. His head was completely empty, unable to accept reality.

“Nice!” Zuo You shot out of her seat and cheered. All tension disappeared from her face and was replaced with joy and celebration. “Hahaha! First blood! You really did! You won! Amazing!”

Lin Feng patted his chest. “See, I told you I was really good at Lux!”

Even a pro wouldn’t have escaped death here. This had nothing to do with someone being good at a champion or not. Rather, it had everything to do with frightening game sense and even faster reaction speed! Fizz had predicted Lux’s Flash. So, Qi Ming flashed. But Lux predicted Fizz’s prediction and flashed in the opposite direction, catching him off-guard and picking up a beautiful kill. Even amongst the pros there weren’t many with such insane game awareness, or such ability to adapt on the spot.

Lin Feng had shown something few ever would. However, this was still far from reaching his previous prime. Back then, he stood at the very top of the ladder. The number of players who had the right to compete with him were no more than 10. The top 10 in the world!

“H-how is that possible?” Qi Ming muttered to himself, staring at his greyed-out screen with a pale face. He raised his head and looked at Lin Feng. “H-how did you do it? Tell me how you did it!” His voice was filled with unwillingness and disbelief. He refused to accept this outcome, nor could he accept it!

“Oh, I just predicted your prediction.” Lin Feng scratched his head. “It’s pretty simple, honestly.”

Qi Ming almost vomited blood. But he quickly settled his mind and glared at Lin Feng. “Rematch! This one doesn’t count! I demand a rematch!” He refused to believe Lin Feng had that kind of frightening ability. This win could only be purely dumb luck!

Zuo You raised her eyebrows. “What, sore loser, are we?”

“Of course not! I’m no sore loser! It’s just that he got lucky! If he was really that good, I’d obviously recognize it!” Qi Ming stubbornly insisted. A Master like him losing to a high schooler and in such an out of the blue way, he refused to accept this outcome!

“Tsk tsk. I know a sore loser when I see one,” Zuo You grinned. Still, she turned to Lin Feng. “How about it. Accept the rematch?”

“Yeah, we can go for another round,” Lin Feng answered.

✹

The blind pick lobby was quickly made and both players picked their champion. Lin Feng went with Fizz this time, while Qi Ming switched to Syndra.

Three minutes into the game came the only play of relevance. Fizz jumped through Syndra with Urchin Strike, dodging her stun, and attacked her with his Seastone Trident. She panic-flashed away, and Lin Feng perfectly predicted this, following right behind her. He Ignited her and then jumped on top of his trident. It was a moment of deja vu. If Fizz managed to land on top of the enemy with Trickster, it would be his win.

Fizz splashed down on the ground. A shock wave of magic energy swept out, bursting away Syndra’s health. Then, the ice-cold blade of the Seastone Trident stabbed into her, reaping away her last remaining bit of health before Ignite could.

Qi Ming’s screen went grey. He stared at it blankly, mouth agape.

“Oh, I’m pretty good at Fizz too!” Lin Feng remarked in high spirits from the next row over.

If it were possible, Qi Ming would’ve fainted from anger right there and then.

Zuo You pulled up a chair beside Lin Feng and looked at the screen. Lux, the Lady of Luminosity versus the tidal trickster Fizz! She anxiously tugged at his arm and whispered, “Hey, doesn’t Fizz hard counter Lux? Why did you pick her?”

Lin Feng looked up at Zuo You and said, “Because I didn’t know he would pick Fizz.”

Zuo You opened her mouth and then closed it again. She hadn’t seen that Lin Feng and Qi Ming had created a blind pick lobby. So, neither player knew what the other picked until both had locked their choices in.

“Don’t worry! I can still win with Lux!”

“Alright, I’m looking forward to it…” Zuo You said doubtfully.

Qi Ming, who sat opposite Lin Feng, looked over his screen at the two. He couldn’t help but sneer. Can still win? Kid, don’t you know how scary Fizz is to squishy champions like Lux? If you don’t even know that, I’m guessing you’re probably not even Diamond. Did you even reach Level 30 yet?

✹

《Welcome to Summoner’s Rift!》

The rules of a 1v1 were simple. The first to kill the other, reach 100 CS, or destroy the enemy outer turret won. Although it didn’t matter which of these three conditions was met, most games were decided with first blood. This was why Lux was considered to be at a disadvantage against Fizz. She relied on slowly chipping away at the opponent with her superior range, especially in the early game. Compared to other casters, her burst damage was rather low. On the other side, Fizz was a melee champion with frightening burst damage. As early as Level 2 he could 100 to 0 his opponent.

The first wave of minions spawned. Lin Feng walked to mid lane and chose Lucent Singularity—an anomaly of twisted light that he could detonate at a long distance—as his first skill. Fizz was pretty weak at Level 1 and he planned to take full advantage of this by playing hyper aggressively.

When the minion waves collided, Lin Feng quickly moved into action. He threw out a Lucent Singularity at Fizz and detonated it immediately. Then, as Fizz tried to inch forward and last hit a minion, he struck him with an auto attack, igniting the energy rampaging around his body. BANG!

Qi Ming faintly furrowed his brows. So this kid knew enough about Lux to pressure his Fizz at Level 1 and try to dictate the tempo of the lane as much as possible. Still, this was hardly enough. His lips curved into a mocking smile. Even if his Fizz lost a little bit of health early and missed a few minions, it wouldn’t affect the overall picture. The moment he reached Level 2, he could engage and kill Lux with his ludicrous damage. Floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee, this was the most frightening aspect of Fizz! This kid would soon get a first-hand taste.

Lux was the first to reach Level 2. Lin Feng had her learn Light Binding and then moved to use this brief moment of level advantage. He threw out Lucent Singularity, clearing out the minion wave that shielded Fizz before locking him down with Light Binding. The timing was so precise, so accurate, Qi Ming had no time to react whatsoever. Another auto attack later, he hurriedly retreated to the safety of his tower before Fizz had any chance of retaliating.

“Beautiful!” Zuo You exclaimed in admiration.

“See, I told you my Lux is really good!” Lin Feng said in high spirits.

Qi Ming’s eyelids twitched. This kid’s Lux was really good. He looked back at his screen and had Fizz drink a health potion, getting his health back above half. His face darkened as he glanced at the enemy Lux. I’ll let you have your fun for now… then let’s see your expression when I shove my trident up your ass!

After Fizz reached Level 2, Qi Ming seized the opportunity to engage. However, Lin Feng’s reaction speed was also extremely quick. As Fizz landed back on the ground with the second part of Playful Trickster, he rooted Fizz in place with a Light Binding, then retreated out of Fizz’s attack range. With a trade like this, neither side came out on top. However, Qi Ming was now out of health potions and had only less than half his health bar remaining.

Lin Feng seemed to have everything under control. The advantage was going his way. If things continued on like this, he would either force Fizz back to base or draw first blood. However, Qi Ming wasn’t the least bit anxious. On the contrary, his lips curved into a cunning smile as he glanced at his experience bar. He was about to reach Level 3. The trade just now was all for the sake of getting Lux’s health low enough. He would draw first blood in the next attack!

A low health minion died to Fizz’s trident moments later. A brilliant radiance immediately enveloped Fizz. Level 3! Qi Ming’s eyes flashed with a cold light. His hands blurred into motion! Seastone Trident! Fizz’s trident awakened from a long slumber and blossomed out with a dazzling bloody radiance, greatly enhancing its powers.

Urchin Strike! Fizz dashed through a nearby enemy minion to close the gap on Lux, then stabbed out with his trident. Two more seconds until Light Binding would come off cooldown! He threw out another auto attack, piercing Lux’s chest.

Lin Feng immediately had his Lux retreat. Zuo You tugged on his arm anxiously. “Run! Quickly run! Get back under the tower!”

The most frightening damage Fizz could deal early game was the bleed damage from Seastone Trident. His every empowered auto attack chunked away at Lux’s health. He chased after her. One more attack! Qi Ming’s lips curved up derision. Trying to bait me, huh? Keeping your Light Binding to lock me down within tower range, is that it? Dream on!

In the instant Fizz entered tower range, Qi Ming ignited Lux, then had Fizz vault into the air on his trident. He skillfully balanced at the top of his trident, radiating a frightful pressure, as if the moment he landed on the ground he would deal a fatal blow to the still fleeing Lux. And he would, without a doubt!

Zuo You’s heartstrings were stretched taut!

Qi Ming looked over his screen at Lin Feng. W-what? he stammered internally in shock and astonishment. How is this kid so calm!?

“Huh? Where?” Zuo You asked, following Lin Feng’s finger. At a computer near the back, a man who was already in the second half of his twenties frantically waved his hands above his head. “Hey hey, over here!”

Zuo You furrowed her brows, loathing surfacing on her face.

“Is that the guy?” Lin Feng asked.

“Yeah it’s him.” Zuo You nodded. Then, before the man could walk over, she quickly whispered to Lin Feng, “Listen, I want you to absolutely destroy him. Crush him. Don’t show him any mercy!”

“You can trust in me. Just don’t forget my bucket!”

At this time, the man walked up to Lin Feng and Zuo You, his eyes glued onto her body. Her beautiful, nay, gorgeous and alluring appearance awakened a deep lust within him. He quickly composed himself and greeted her with a smile, “Yo, you’re finally here! I was waiting for you forever!”

“Oh really? Ah, my bad. I was right outside waiting for a friend,” Zuo You greeted back with the same smile.

“Waiting for someone? Who?” the man blurted in confusion. Then, his gaze finally fell on Lin Feng. “This is…?”

Zuo You pulled Lin Feng into her embrace and beamed. “This is my new boyfriend!”

“W-what?” Qi Ming stammered.

Lin Feng’s brows crinkled. “Hey! We never agreed to a pretend-relationship! That’s going to cost you two buckets!”

The man finally regained his senses and looked at Zuo You with a helpless expression. “This isn’t the time for bad jokes, don’t you think?”

Zuo You stared at Lin Feng in annoyance. “Hey! Can’t you at least try to pretend?” She then turned back to the man and winked at him with an alluring smile. “Ahaha, just kidding. He’s my little brother. I told him how good you are at League and he really wanted to see it for himself, so I brought him along.”

Lin Feng offered a handshake. “Nice to meet you, mister. I’m Lin Feng.”

“M-mister?” the man’s eyelids twitched. Anger flashed across his face until his eyes fell on Zuo You. He forced out a smile and shook his hand. “Lin Feng, right? I’m not that old, just call me Qi Ming,”

“Oh, alright. Fine, Qi Ming it is.”

Qi Ming shot Lin Feng one last glance before turning his attention back to Zuo You. “Since you brought your brother with you, how are we going to do this? We can’t queue up for ranked with three, and didn’t I say I’d show you what real high level League play looks like?” His voice carried a hint of haughtiness. However. he had every right to be haughty. After all, he was a Master in the Ionia server. Among all the players in the whole of China, he was in the top 0.01%.

“Eh, it’s fine. You said it yourself, you’re a Master. A Platinum noob like me won’t be able to tell the difference between you or some random Diamond player. But my little brother here always brags about how good he is. How about you play against him first and let me see your skills?”

Qi Ming was oblivious to the trap Zuo You was digging for him. Rather, he latched onto the attack on his ego. He knitted his brows and asked, “Are you saying you don’t believe in my skills?” At work, most employees played League. With his looks, all he had to do was show one of the girls his Master-rank and they would be swooning all over him. A simple promise to duo-queue together, and he could easily have his way with any of them. Zuo You should be honoured that he was going out of his way to chase after her! How dare she doubt him! Just because I flirted with you a little doesn’t make you some kind of princess…!

Zuo You didn’t know what Qi Ming was thinking, but she could roughly tell just from his tone and facial expression. However, she wasn’t the least bit bothered by it and was still all smiles. “Aww, don’t put it like that. What do you mean I don’t believe in your skills? You’re a Master player! Just treat it as humouring my little brother. Please, do it for me?”

Qi Ming raised an eyebrow and glanced at Lin Feng. “Humour him?”

Zuo You nodded. “Yes! We still have all day anyway. How about you two 1v1?”

Qi Ming couldn’t help but snicker. “You want me to 1v1 him? Are you sure?”

Before Zuo You could reply, Lin Feng butted in, “Why? What’s wrong with that?”

Qi Ming’s gaze fell back on Lin Feng. “Kid, have you been listening at all? I am Master-rank!”

“Yeah, I heard. A Master in the Ionia server.” Lin Feng nodded.

Qi Ming’s lips curved into a smile as his eyes flashed with disdain. “Still want to1v1 me? What rank are you even?”

“I’m a Challenger in the Ionia server!” Lin Feng replied in high spirits.

Qi Ming was caught off-guard by this answer. He couldn’t help but mutely look at Zuo You. “Your little brother is a pretty big talker, huh?” His contempt for Lin Feng only grew. If he didn’t have an appearance to maintain, he’d be saying a lot more. Were all high schoolers such blowhards these days? A Diamond he might believe, but Challenger? Did this kid even know what the word meant? Out of the tens of millions of players in China, only a couple hundred could reach the rank of Challenger. Any one of them was a famous expert. How could you randomly claim to be one? He firmly believed Lin Feng was a high schooler who only knew how to talk big for clout, and Zuo You was a brainless idiot for believing her little brother.

Zuo You shrugged. “I don’t know. That’s what he told me. Guess we’ll find out when you face him.” Even though she appeared quite calm on the surface, she was already itching with anticipation.

Qi Ming chuckled, a trace of ridicule on his face. “Alright, since you insist. I’ll humour your little brother.”

✹

After finding two free computers, Lin Feng and Qi Ming sat down, opened up the League client, and logged into the game.

Qi Ming caught a glance of Lin Feng logging into Zuo You’s Platinum account. He chuckled derisively and asked, “Where’s your Challenger account? Why won’t you show it to me?” His own account was the dazzling Master-rank and also the source of his confidence. However, he didn’t push any further. He would simply humiliate this kid ingame. After all, he firmly believed that if Lin Feng were truly any good, and not just bullshitting, he wouldn’t be using such a low-rank account.

“This’ll be easy,” Qi Ming muttered to himself. He found this whole situation a bit comical. A Master-rank player like him was humouring a piddly high schooler with a big mouth? His friends would get a good laugh out of this when he told them. “Okay, let’s get this over with quickly.”

Without the slightest worry and confident that this 1v1 would finally convince Zuo You of his skill, Qi Ming created the lobby and invited Lin Feng. He quickly locked in Fizz, a master dueler and one of his favourite champions, while Lin Feng chose Lux. When he saw this, he couldn’t help but sneer. Picking Lux into my Fizz? You’re asking for it kid. Don’t cry when I whoop your ass! He even started to feel a hint of sympathy for Lin Feng.

“Why? I don’t know. Probably to mooch of my cooking just like you,” Su Xue shrugged and answered playfully.

“Oh, ok.” Lin Feng nodded while staring regretfully at the assortment of scraps of dishes left on the table. It looked like a tornado had swept through. If Zuo You hadn’t come, the job of going through all this delicious food would’ve been his! Never did he expect that this petite redhead could devour food like a competitive speed eater. He shot Zuo You another glance and sighed. You really couldn’t judge a book by its cover…

Zuo You noticed Lin Feng’s gaze and reached out to ruffle up his hair. “What? You don’t like me coming over?”

While Lin Feng fixed up his hair in a fluster, Zuo You happily picked up the last morsel of red braised pork and ate it. “Mhm, that was good!” She rubbed her stomach in satisfaction. “Xue Xue, your cooking is getting better and better. You could open up a restaurant!”

“Would need the money for that first,” Su Xue huffed in annoyance.

Zuo You curled her lips. “So you do know you need to make money! Then why are you still dawling around with this whole streaming thing? You won’t get rich from that… Hey, wait…” Her expression turned hard. “…That thing from yesterday, you know, what you just told me about, it’s settled, right?”

Su Xue laughed. “Mhm, it’s settled. They gave her a warning and me compensation. I’ll get a couple of slots on the front page! Everyone will see my stream! See? I can make money streaming!”

Zuo You cast a side glance at Lin Feng. “Hey kid, you helped Xue Xue get revenge, right? Not bad, not bad…”

“Yeah! I did really good!” Lin Feng pumped his fist in the air.

“Mhm! He was a huge help yesterday. You didn’t see it, but he hard-carried with his jungle Rengar! He camped her so much she wasn’t worth more than a cannon minion at the end!” Su Xue chimed in with praise and a happy laugh.

“Oh? He was that good?” Zuo You looked at Lin Feng in a new light. She recalled Lin Feng carrying with his Lee Sin the last time she was over. “So, you’re a jungle main?”

Lin Feng shook his head. “No, I’m a mid main.”

“What!? You’re saying your mid is better than your jungle!?” Zuo You gasped.

“Last night we played some inhouse matches. He was toying with my Diamond 1 viewer in mid the whole time,” Su Xue butted in.

“A Diamond 1? Wow.”

“Of course! I’m a Challenger!” Lin Feng exclaimed confidently.

Zuo You was about to start making fun of Lin Feng, like she usually did when he spouted arrogant nonsense. However, she held her tongue for a moment as her lips curved into an evil smile. “Challenger, huh? Then if I have you 1v1 a Master player, you’ll kick his ass, right?”

“Of course!” Lin Feng pounded his chest.

“Just the words I wanted to hear!” Zuo You smacked her thigh. Then she scooched over to Lin Feng and said, “Hey kid. Help out your big sis here, won’t you?”

Zuo You worked in the marketing department of a foreign enterprise in China. With her figure, every male employee was chasing after her, and a few had recently got wind of her playing League of Legends. Now, they were constantly hounding her to play with them.

“Most of them are Gold or low Platinum scrubs. None of them can beat me!” Zuo You frowned. “But there’s this one guy who’s a Master in the Ionia server. He’s a pretty good mid main.”

“So, what do you want Lin Feng to do? Beat that Master guy for you?” Su Xue asked, confused.

Zuo You nodded. “Yep! That’s exactly it!”

“Is he harassing you or something? What’s so bad about having a Master player carry you a bit?” Su Xue remarked.

Zuo You shook her head. “No no no, you don’t understand. Sure, he’s good at the game. But he’s also an arrogant prick. He goes on and on about how good he is, like being Master suddenly makes him hot. And the one time I did play with him, he was on my ass for everything I did! Like damn, let me play my game! If the idiot wants to date me, he shouldn’t backseat me in my game! Uch, and he’s such a show-off. Man, just thinking about him makes me want to vomit…”

Su Xue quietly listened to Zuo You go on a several-minute long rant before managing to butt in. “Ah, I see. Yeah, those kinds of antics get old really fast.”

“So…” Zuo You chuckled evilly. “The little kid is a mid main, right? If he’s really that good, then how about you let me borrow him to teach that show-off a lesson!”

“What do you mean, ‘let you borrow him?’” Su Xue said unhappily. “Why are you asking me anyway? He’s right here… Just ask him yourself if you want his help.”

Zuo You turned to Lin Feng. “So how about it, kid? Wanna help me out?”

“Oh, uh… I don’t know. Let me think.” Lin Feng scratched his head. He rubbed his chin for a bit, then said, “Alright, but on one condition. You have to pay a commission fee.”

“The hell! You’re charging me money!?” Zuo You blurted.

“A Challenger doesn’t play for others for free. That’s the dignity of an expert!” Lin Feng said in a tone full of zeal.

“Dignity my ass.” Zuo You rolled her eyes. “I’ll treat you to some KFC. Offer non-negotiable.”

Lin Feng’s eyes lit up. “Deal!”

Zuo You reached out her hand and ruffled Lin Feng’s hair again. “You little punk. So young, and you’re already hustling. I can’t imagine what you’ll end up like in a few years!”

Lin Feng dodged away from Zuo You. “If you keep doing that, I’ll have to charge you two buckets!”

Zuo You wasn’t the least bit deterred. “Alright, two buckets it is. Now, bring your head over like a good kid! I’m going to get my money’s worth!”

✹

Afternoon, the next day. Lin Feng followed the directions Zuo You gave him yesterday and arrived at the Glacier Internet Cafe. He immediately noticed her waiting for him outside. She wore a charming, violet one-piece dress which perfectly accentuated her alluring figure. Her already tall build was raised even higher by her high heels, putting her a couple of cm above Lin Feng. She looked breathtaking, from her long, slender legs to her fiery red hair.

Zuo You’s eyes lit up when she noticed Lin Feng. She strode toward him on her high heels. “You’re finally here! I’ve been waiting forever!”

“Sorry, there was a lot of traffic.” Lin Feng scratched his head. He stared at Zuo You and exclaimed in admiration, “You sure are dressed flashy today, huh?”

“What about it? Have you fallen for me?” Zuo You teased.

“No, I was just wondering if you’d look strange walking into an internet cafe like that.” Lin Feng shook his head.

“Pfft, what do you know!” Zuo You curled her lips. “That place is full of losers. It’s the perfect place to wear this kind of dress. I’ll have them drooling the moment I step inside! They’ll all be looking at me!”

Lin Feng wore a puzzled expression. He didn’t understand her at all. However, before he could say anything else, Zuo You grabbed him by the arm and dragged him inside. “Stop getting distracted. That guy just sent me a message. He’s already waiting inside.” She turned to Lin Feng while pushing the door open. “One more thing. Don’t hold back. I want you to absolutely crush him!”

The moment the two stepped inside—or to be more precise, Zuo You stepped inside while dragging Lin Feng behind her—many of the patrons couldn’t help but cast their gazes over. As soon as their eyes fell on her body, they were glued there. My god, she’s hot!

Zuo You had a smug look as she basked in the attention of all these men. At the same time, she didn’t forget to brag to Lin Feng. “See, what did I tell you? I’m hot enough to have them all go crazy! This is what you call a showstopper!”

“Hey, I think that guy over there is waving at us,” Lin Feng ignored her and pointed out.

“Mid? You’re not jungling?” Tang Bingyao asked in surprise. “Your Rengar is really good…”

“Right? My Rengar is awesome! So you watched the game? I really taught that girl a lesson!”

“Could you teach me Rengar?” Tang Bingyao asked.

“Huh? You want to learn him too?” Lin Feng was surprised that after Su Xue, Tang Bingyao also wanted to learn Rengar.

Tang Bingyao vigorously nodded.

“No! You have to keep practicing your ADC!” Lin Feng flatly refused.

“Oh.” Tang Bingyao’s face crumpled with mild dejection. After watching Lin Feng’s game yesterday, she felt that if she could play Rengar at that level, elo boosting would become so much easier. She thought for a moment. Not willing to give up, she added, “I can pay you.”

“You really want to learn him that badly, huh?”

Tang Bingyao earnestly nodded. “Just tell me how much.”

Lin Feng rubbed his chin. “Alright, ¥1,000,000.”

“You’re not even taking me seriously,” Tang Bingyao said with a slight pout.

Lin Feng chuckled and moved his hand through his hair. “Well, if that’s too expensive, let’s focus on your ad-carry training for now. Don’t forget , you’re going to be the ad-carry of my team!”

“No. I won’t. It will never happen!” Tang Bingyao said in a rare huff.

Lin Feng didn’t appear the least bit discouraged. “Oh, it will. Trust me! I’m really good at recruiting people too!”

✹

Lin Feng and Tang Bingyao queued up for a ranked match. When they got in the lobby, Tang Bingyao claimed the ad-carry position. She would continue practicing her Twitch today. As for Lin Feng, after the inhouse matches the night before, he felt an itch to play mid. His appetite whetted, he called mid and locked in Yasuo.

Lin Feng would go on to put on such an awe-inspiring performance that it left waves of shock battering at Tang Bingyao’s heart. Four minutes into the game he killed Ziggs, his lane opponent. Two minutes later, he rushed to Level 6 and picked up another kill, this time with his ultimate. At the tenth minute, his score reached 5/0/1. If this wasn’t incredibly enough, then the fight at the dragon pit a few minutes later was. He knocked three enemies up and locked them down mid-air with his ultimate. When they fell back down, they were dead. A triple kill.

The game went on for another 13 minutes. Lin Feng moved Yasuo around the map on a relentless path of slaughter. Every engage ended in a kill, or two. Finally, at the 25th minute, the enemy team couldn’t endure it any longer and surrendered. Yasuo had single handedly crushed their fighting spirit.

Ziggs, a Diamond 2 player, didn’t believe for a second that Lin Feng was as low ranked as his account made him out to be. While his nexus exploded, he typed into all chat:

「Yasuo, you smurfing?」

After the game ended, Tang Bingyao couldn’t help but shoot Lin Feng a second glance, but she didn’t say anything. Instead, she invited him and they queued up for a second ranked match. In this game, she went with Twitch again, while Lin Feng switched to Zed, the Master of Shadows.

《Killing spree!》
《Double kill!》
《Dominating!》

The announcer’s voice continuously rang out across Summoner’s Rift, symbolizing the unending massacre of the Master of Shadows. It was a lopsided massacre and the enemy team surrendered directly at 20 minutes.

Tang Bingyao stared at Lin Feng again, but still didn’t say anything. Instead, she invited him for another ranked game.

The third, the fourth, the fifth game… they played until late into the afternoon, with Lin Feng solo carrying with various mid champions. There was no suspense. He was playing so well that even professional players would be left speechless. Every game another champion, and every game a hard carry.

After every game, Tang Bingyao would fall silent for a moment and stare at Lin Feng before entering the queue again. At some point, Lin Feng scratched his head and asked, “What’s up? Why do you keep looking at me?”

Tang Bingyao wore a complicated expression. She stared at Lin Feng for a good while before saying, “You’re really good at mid.” Her words contained heartfelt admiration.

Tang Bingyao’s skills with Twitch had improved by leaps and bounds today. She was able to consistently gain an advantage at bot lane, and during the team fights in mid and late game, she’d often pop off with massive damage. But compared to Lin Feng, she was like a background character in a play while he was the main star.

✹

The same evening during dinner, Zuo You broke out in laughter after hearing Lin Feng’s retelling of the day. Lin Feng stared at the red-headed beauty across the table from him and then to Su Xue with a confused look. “Su Xue, why is Zuo You here today again?”

After the first game ended, Su Xue immediately made a lobby for the second match. The players on both teams were the same, but the champions were different. This time around, Su Xue went with Jinx, while Lin Feng chose Ziggs. The players on Su Xue’s team couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief when they saw this. Ziggs was no assassin. Lin Feng couldn’t possibly carry as hard with him as he had with that LeBlanc, right?

EveningSnowfall:「Water Wraith, I’m counting on you! If we win, I’ll give you the privilege of duoing with me!」

WaterWraith:「Can I pass on this privilege? I don’t want to lose…..」

Su Xue glared at the private chat with Water Wraith, but then hit the play button. The game loaded up and everyone arrived on the summoner platform of their respective team.

Lin Feng’s Ziggs wasn’t overwhelmingly oppressive like his LeBlanc. Nor was he making flashy plays, dictating the pace of the game, or turning entire fights around by himself. He simply farmed the minion waves and the jungle and nothing else. Even so, the enemy team had their sights on him. Jarvan IV walked through his jungle to mid lane to help Syndra—played by Water Wraith—get a kill on Ziggs. Their hearts started racing in excitement.

It did not turn out as expected. Syndra engaged Lin Feng with Scatter the Weak. It hit an earlier placed Dark Sphere and shot toward Ziggs, who easily sidestepped it. Then Jarvan IV came running out of the river bush. He threw down a Demacian Standard and used his spear to fly toward it. Anyone in the way would be knocked up. But Lin Feng again easily had his Ziggs evade, this time with a Flash. After which he threw out a Satchel Charge, knocking Jarvan IV into tower range. Having lost his Flash in top lane just before, Jarvan IV could only use his own two legs to escape. He trudged through the Hexplosive Minefield Ziggs had thrown down, each little bomb damaging him and slowing him down. The tower had a field day on him. To make matters worse, Evelyn—the jungler on Lin Feng’s team—arrived and helped Lin Feng secure the kill.

Through his grey screen the Jarvan IV player stared dumbstruck at Ziggs, as did Water Wraith from the safety of his own tower. Lin Feng had played so passively until now. Neither of them expected his reaction speed to be so quick. He’d instantly seized the opportunity to turn the fight around and pick up a kill!

Lin Feng looked at the stream chat, which was being spammed with 666s. He pumped his fist and smugly declared, “I’m really good at Ziggs too!”

✹

The second game ended with a second victory for Lin Feng’s team. Su Xue had had enough. She grabbed him by the wrist and said, “You’re on my team now! Support me.” Her happy mood had turned sour after the last two games, both of which held zero suspense. How could anyone enjoy this! She had worked so hard on improving, yet Lin Feng took her spotlight and gave a true show.

“Oh, sure!” Lin Feng obediently switched over to Su Xue’s team and picked support Blitzcrank.

The spotlights focused on Lin Feng again. He supported his team by taking them on his shoulders and carrying them towards the enemy nexus. From the laning phase, where his every Rocket Grab landed accurately on Jinx—the enemy ad-carry—allowing Su Xue to pick up an easy kill. To the late game, where his mass silence and well placed wards brought an easy victory to his team.

When Su Xue made the lobby for the fourth game, the players on the enemy team started protesting.

「Give our mid back!!!」
「Stop hogging so shamelessly, maid!」

Su Xue was back in high spirits after winning a match. When she saw these complaints, she had one curt reply.
EveningSnowfall:「Request denied!」

The inhouse went on until late at night, with midnight looming just an hour away. Su Xue was so focused on abusing Lin Feng to go on killstreaks that she completely missed the random viewers entering the stream. Some came for the gameplay, while others stuck around to stare at her facecam. At the end, nearly a hundred of them hit the follow button. This was how it worked. The bigger your stream, the likelier random viewers would enter the stream. Even if only a few of them actually stuck around, that was still a big deal.

Su Xue’s eyes went wide in shock as she finally noticed the number of new followers. She stammered a little, turning to Lin Feng with incredulous eyes and then back to the stream. It seemed like her dreams of making it big weren’t as far-fetched as before!

The viewers didn’t quite agree with the ending of the inhouse. They spammed chat, demanding at least one more game! However, Lin Feng looked at the clock and said, “It’s already past 11. I should go to bed.”

“Already? It’s a weekend, you know?” Su Xue asked in surprise.

Lin Feng scratched his head. “Yeah, but I have plans in the morning.”

“Don’t tell me you’re going to meet up with that Tang Tang girl again?” Su Xue shot Lin Feng the side-eye.

The viewers immediately perked up their ears.

「is lil bro cheating on the maid!?!!?!?!」
「EVER HEARD OF MONOGAMY DUDE?????」
「hot damn! and here I thought you and the maid were exclusive」

“Hey hey! Enough, you guys! What’s with this nonsense? How could I possibly be dating this snotty brat!”

「tsk tsk the maid is jealous」
「A woman scorned is scary indeed.」
「poor girl, can’t compete with the young ones」
「Don’t worry xue xue, we’ll light a candle for you.」

Lin Feng shook his head. “No, nothing like that. I just promised to duo with her. I want to recruit her into my team!”

“This little punk says he wants to create a professional team. He thinks he can become the best in the world. Tell him guys, something is wrong with his head, right? Right?” Su Xue interjected.

The viewers were astonished. However, they quickly snapped back to their senses and started supporting him.

「Wow!!!! That’s some crazy dream bro!!!」
「you can do it man! we believe in you!!!!」
「I”LL MAKE A FAN PAGE!!! WE’LL BE YOUR GREATEST FANS!!!!!111」

“Okay! When I make the team, you guys can become our fans!” Lin Feng said happily.

Su Xue frowned. Where everyone else was all smiles, she appeared rather dissatisfied. “Hey hey, if you become his fans, what about me?”

「since when does a maid need fans?」
「yeah, wtf…. just keep pouring water for lil bro」

✹

Lin Feng woke up early. He threw some water in his face and then bolted out the door without even having breakfast. Not much later, he pushed the door of the NetCow Cafe open and found Tang Bingyao already waiting for him in her usual spot. “Hey!” he greeted, panting.

“Mhm.” Tang Bingya nodded.

After Lin Feng sat down beside her, Tang Bingyao couldn’t help but turn to him and curiously asked, “So, when you were in such a rush to get back home yesterday, it was to help Evening Snowfall win a match?”

“Huh, how did you know?” Lin Feng asked in surprise.

“Oh, after you left I got those guys to show me what was going on. I saw most of it.” Tang Bingyao paused, then added, “That Rose really crossed the line.”

“Mhm!” Lin Feng vigorously nodded. “But it’s fine. I taught her a lesson!”

Tang Bingyao asked in a rare display of curiosity, “So, you live together with Evening Snowfall? Like roommates?”

Lin Feng nodded. “Yeah, the complex belongs to my aunt. Big Sis is one of her tenants, and she had a spare room, so I could move in. Oh! She also makes really good food!”

“Oh.” Tang Bingyao nodded. She stared deeply at Lin Feng and asked in a tone more serious than her usual self, “Are you two in a relationship?”

“H-huh?”

Tang Bingyao added, “That’s how it works, right? I read about it in these web novels.” She pulled open her browser and typed in a couple of keywords. Then, she turned her screen toward Lin Feng. “See? Look.”

“The Big Sister Next Door Can’t be This Cute’, ‘Love Life with my New Tenant’, ‘My Stepsister Grew up to be a Hotty’…” As Lin Feng read out the titles, his eyes went wide. He turned to Tang Bingyao in exasperation. “Tang Tang, what kind of things are you putting in your head…?”

It took a significant amount of time for Lin Feng to explain to Tang Bingyao that this wasn’t even remotely close to his relation with Su Xue. She was his roommate, his friend! Not his sexy stepsister who got stuck under the bed! Finally, he turned his focus to the computer in front of him. “Alright. Let’s play a game. I’ll go mid today!”

“Hey, I’ll be streaming again tonight. How about you bring your laptop over and play with me?” Su Xue stacked the empty bowls and turned to Lin Feng. “I’m sure the viewers are pretty exhausted from all the drama earlier today. I was thinking of hosting an inhouse with them, so we can all enjoy a fun casual match.”

“Mhan inhoue??” Lin Feng asked with a full mouth. His eyes lit up. “That’s a great idea!” But then he paused and scratched his head with a difficult expression. “I don’t think I can join. I have homework to do.”

“Even on the weekend? Wow, you sure are a busy bee.” Su Xue sighed in admiration. Then she cheerfully nodded. “Alright, you go off and do your homework. It’s important you get high grades in high school. I’m happy to see you got your priorities straight. Hah, I still remember back when I—”

“Oh right! It’s the weekend! I can’t believe I forgot!” Lin Feng smacked his forehead. “I’ll go grab my laptop, give me a minute!”

“And here I was praising you… Can you not change your mind so quickly?” Su Xue chided.

✹

Lin Feng sat down next to Su Xue and put his laptop down on the desk. Meanwhile, Su Xue had put away the dishes and booted up her computer. While starting the stream, she also opened her QQ chat stream group and typed an announcement.
EveningSnowfall:「We’re doing a viewer inhouse. Who wants in?」

The viewers exploded like water on a hot pan. Dozens of them flooded the special viewer group chat, scrambling over one another to participate.

Su Xue giggled happily when she saw the flood of messages coming in.
EveningSnowfall:「Calm down calm down, guys. Hop on the stream first. I’ll create the custom game.」

Viewers came in the stream one after another. There were the 70-odd who already watched Su Xue for the last month, a handful of them even longer. As for the rest, most came from Ol’ Black’s stream. She had officially won them over with how she handled the matter earlier that day. Even now, while Ol’ Black was still streaming, they chose to be in her stream. Then there were another hundred viewers, the remnants of LovelyRose’s troll army. They were the ones who had kept a somewhat neutral stance. The ones who hadn’t blindly flamed Su Xue, but rather quietly observed everything that happened. In that time, their loyalty had shifted to Su Xue, the heroine of today. All in all, Su Xue’s viewership had grown tremendously.

Su Xue turned on her facecam and announced to her viewers what she had already said in her group chat, leading to a whole new wave of viewers flocking over to participate in the inhouse.

「will that guy from before also join??」

After this first message, many more of its kind followed. Everyone forgot a moment about participating themselves, and were more concerned whether Lin Feng would join. His perfect Rengar game had left an extremely deep impression on them, to the extent that many of them believed he wasn’t any worse than the top Rengar in China.

Su Xue groaned . “Yes yes, he’s playing. Don’t worry.”

Lin Feng moved his head in the frame of the camera and waved his hand. “Hi guys. I’m here!”

「the god has arrived!」
「oh my god, he is so handsome!」
「PLEASE TEACH ME RENGAR!!!!!!1!!」
「oi, maid! what’s this all about? why is he sitting off to the side and not in front of the camera!!!!??!?!?!?!?」

“Hey! Am I not pretty enough? Why do you need to see him?” Su Xue erupted.

「Pfft! The lowly maid wants to seize the throne!」
「have you poured him his water yet?」
「if we wanted to see a pretty girl, there are other places for that. LIL BRO OR RIOT!!!!」
「just give up maid!」

In this lively atmosphere, the inhouse finally got underway. Lin Feng would captain the red team, while Su Xue would take charge of the blue team.

Lin Feng brooded over what role to play. The Morgana from last game, Grunting Corpse, called the support role. So, he had to pick a different role. “Alright, I’ll go ad-carry!”

“Hey, no way! If you play ad-carry, how the heck am I supposed to go up against you! No, go a different role!” Su Xue said, wide-eyed.

“Okay okay, I’ll jungle,” Lin Feng replied.

“Uh.” Su Xue quickly shook her head. “No! Your jungle is too good too. Pick another role!”

Lin Feng scratched his head. “But I’m good at every role.”

Su Xue rubbed her chin before her eyes lit up. “I know, you can play mid!” She was convinced this plan was bulletproof. Her mid laner was Water Wraith, the Diamond 1 player who had helped her beat LovelyRose. Plus, she’d seen Lin Feng play almost every role, but she’d never seen him play mid. He couldn’t possibly be that good in mid too, right?

Lin Feng hesitated. Then he looked at Su Xue and nodded. “Oh, okay.”

“Hey hey! Why are you looking at me like that? What’s up with that look of sympathy or something!”

Su Xue would soon come to learn the answer. Water Wraith locked in Yasuo while Lin Feng chose LeBlanc. It couldn’t even be called a match. There was no suspense, only slaughter. At four minutes into the game, LeBlanc solo killed Yasuo, and at six minutes she repeated this feat. Two minutes later Lin Feng had LeBlanc roam bot, where he assassinated Caitlyn—played by Su Xue—and Thresh with the help of his own bot lane. Another two minutes later, and he was already 6/0/0. By the 15th minute, he reached legendary with his eighth kill. And at minute 20, while pushing into the blue team’s nexus towers, Su Xue had seen enough and started a surrender vote in frustration.

The viewers were dumbstruck. Lin Feng’s LeBlanc was on a whole ‘nother level.

Su Xue bitterly messaged Water Wraith.
EveningSnowfall:「Hey shitty Wraith! I thought you were Diamond 1? Weren’t you supposed to keep him in check?」

WaterWraith:「Hey, don’t blame me! he’s just crazy good! i’ve played against master rank leblancs who weren’t nearly as good…」

Su Xue turned her head and shot Lin Feng a glare. “Why are you so good at mid?”

“Eh, didn’t I say I was really good at every role?” Lin Feng scratched his head. “But mid is my best role.”

“Fuck! Do you really need to go so tryhard on us!” Su Xue cried out in grief.

LeBlanc, the Deceiver. A couple of patches ago, she was even stronger. However, no matter how badly she got nerfed, she would always fill an extremely important niche among midlane champions. Lin Feng hadn’t told anyone, but the first time he started truly putting his all into learning her was when he saw a certain pro mid laner put on godly performances that shook everyone in both season 2 and season 3 Worlds. That person was his greatest rival back in season 1. The only person who could compete with him for supremacy. And today, that person stood at the very top of the Four Emperors.

Su Xue’s viewers were quick to pick up on what Lin Feng meant.

「right rose still hasn’t apologized!!!!」
「Yea! we won so she has to apologize! 」
「make her apologize lil bro!!!」

The trolls had vacated the stream and everything had returned to normal. However, as the ringleader of this whole situation, how could Su Xue and her viewers possibly let LovelyRose off easily? She wanted to leave and pretend like nothing happened after all that? No way in hell! Su Xue’s viewers started spamming in her chat for an apology.

Lin Feng also pulled up Su Xue’s QQ chat and sent LovelyRose a message.

EveningSnowfall:「Hey, where’s that apology?」

“How about we drop it. Let bygones be bygones. We shouldn’t push this too far,” Su Xue couldn’t help but inch forward and whisper to Lin Feng. Even though she had been pushed to the brink of tears, she didn’t want to create more drama. Lin Feng stomping LovelyRose in a game of League was plenty of revenge for her. Plus, both were streamers on Huya. Who knew how many more times they would run into each other. So, Su Xue didn’t want to burn all bridges.

 “No, she owes you an apology.” Lin Feng firmly shook his head. “They were her words, not mine. How can she go back on her own word?” He turned to look back at the QQ chat and, finding she still hadn’t replied, started typing furiously.

EveningSnowfall:「apologize! apologize! apologize!」
EveningSnowfall:「apologize! apologize! apologize!」
EveningSnowfall:「apologize! apologize! apologize!」

Lin Feng copied the message and pasted it again and again, smashing the enter key in between. He wouldn’t stop until LovelyRose apologized! Finally, the QQ chat window showed LovelyRose was typing. A moment later, the message came.

LovelyRose:「I’m sorry」

The message was only two words long, but the viewers in Su Xue’s stream immediately broke out in cheers and endless excitement. LovelyRose apologized! A streamer with over 60,000 viewers apologized to them, a stream with less than a hundred viewers! This settled the matter for them. To see her go from her usual unbearable arrogance and haughtiness to a pitiful apology, it felt like a cool spring breeze blowing through their hearts!

“That’s all? Is she for real?” Lin Feng scratched his head. Then, he typed away on the keyboard and sent another message to LovelyRose. LINEBREAK

EveningSnowfall:「Hey, that didn’t sound very convincing. Try it again, and mean it this time!」

The viewers were speechless, while Su Xue smacked Lin Feng’s hand away from the keyboard. “You brat, that’s enough! She already apologized!”

When Ah Mei saw Lin Feng’s request for a more sincere apology, her expression became quite unsightly. However, no matter how much she ground her teeth, she could only swallow her anger. Of course, she had zero desire to apologize, especially in front of so many people, nor was she the slightest bit apologetic. Who would willingly humiliate themselves even further after already losing a bet? However, Ah Mei had no choice but to apologize. In part, because she had personally proposed the bet in front of her 60,000 viewers. If she reneged, she would be losing face and inviting even more criticism upon herself. However, she could manage that. There was a more important reason she had to apologize.

✹

“Eh?” Lin Feng had already swapped back places with Su Xue. His eyes went wide when he saw who she was chatting with on QQ. “Isn’t that an admin?”

Administrators were high level management of HuyaTV. They had full authority over the streamers. They could ban them with a click of the mouse.

Su Xue typed away on the keyboard. Before long, she was finished chatting with the admin and closed the window. Then, she excitedly turned to her viewers and explained, “Great news guys! I just spoke to an admin. He’s personally stepping in.”

The commotion on the League of Legends section of HuyaTV blew up more than expected and had attracted the attention of an administrator. This was the main reason why Ah Mei had apologized. The administrator had given her a stern warning. Either keep your viewers in check, or be held fully accountable for their actions. As for Su Xue, the administrator promised to give her a couple of slots on the front page to help promote her stream to make up for everything that had happened.

The viewers on Su Xue’s stream were overjoyed at this news. They spammed chat more furiously than the trolls had done before, all in support of Su Xue.

Su Xue was also all smiles. “Mhmh! It’s a happy ending!” Revenge, an apology from the instigator, a stern warning for the instigator from an administrator, and slots on the front page, was there anything more she could ask for? This really was the best outcome possible!

“I’m hungry,” Lin Feng said, rubbing his growling stomach.

“Oh right! You still haven’t had dinner yet!” Su Xue realized. “Okay, I’ll whip you up some food right away. What do you want to eat? Just tell me, and I’ll make it for you!”

Lin Feng’s eyes lit up. “Really? Okay, I want to eat red braised eggplants, stir fry chicken, and squash soup!”

Su Xue waved her hands. “Ai, why is it always these same three dishes? I did some shopping today and brought home a lot of groceries. What else do you want to eat? I’ll make anything but that!”

“Really? Anything is fine?” Lin Feng took a deep breath. “Then I want to eat mapo tofu, chilli chicken, stir-fried pork, sauerkraut stew, pork and konjac, roast duck, sliced beef and beef offals, pickled cabbage and fish, simmer-fried prawn, dumplings, stir-fry fish fillet, plum winter bamboo shoots, steamed pork buns, crunch crispy fried silky chicken, beef soup…”

The viewers practically keeled over laughing.

Su Xue gaped. “Oh my god! …What?”

“That’s what I want to eat! Can you make it for me?” Lin Feng asked excitedly.

“…Okay, how about we stick with your red-braised eggplants, stir fry chicken, and squash soup?”

✹

Lin Feng had chopsticks and bowl in hand as he stared at the shmorgishborg of dishes set up on the table in front of him. “Let’s eat!” he exclaimed, then dug in without waiting. He chowed down and swept through the food like a tornado.

Su Xue had enough after eating only a little. Afterwards, she rested her chin against her hands and stared at him with an amused expression. “Little fool, slow down. How many times do I have to tell you. Chew your food. Drink the soup! Drink the soup! Don’t just eat the meat!”

A good 20 minutes later, Lin Feng put down his bowl and chopsticks. He rubbed his stomach in satisfaction and burped loudly. “Ahh! That was good.”

“Insane. You really can eat…” Su Xue paused and carefully inched her head closer to him, “Hey, Lin Feng…”

Lin Feng raised his head bewildered. “What’s up?”

“Ahem… well, your Rengar was really strong.” Su Xue coughed.

“Yeah!” Lin Feng vigorously nodded. “My Rengar is awesome!”

“Uh huh. Uh huh. Uh huh.” Su Xue nodded in agreement.”So, I was wondering… you could teach me how to play Rengar?”

“Sis Xue, you want to learn jungle Rengar?” Lin Feng asked in surprise.

“Mhm!” Su Xue nodded vigorously. The way Lin Feng carried with Rengar today was simply amazing. Every time his ultimate was off cooldown, he would find a prey and take their life! How could she not be moved? If she could learn this kind of champion, she could easily climb the ranks! Plus, she could attract more viewers with all sorts of flashy plays!

“Impossible,” Lin Feng crushed Su Xue’s hopes. He stared at her for a little before adding, “Rengar is just too hard for you. You don’t have the game knowledge or mechanical skill.”

“…Y-you brat! Did you have to be so blunt! Fuck! Making all this food for the rats would’ve been less of a waste!” Su Xue erupted.

“Man, my Rengar is awesome!” Lin Feng smacked his lips.

Su Xue’s viewers were quite bemused.

「Hahah! I’ve never seen such a shameless guy!」
「+1 to that」
「I admit defeat. lil bro is king shameless」
「kek, reminds me of when I was a kid!」

Noticeably missing were the trolls. Even with Lin Feng bragging so brazenly, there were no attempts to shut him down or berate him. They could only stare dumbly at their screen, unable to deny reality. 9/0/0 at 13 minutes into the game. This was true skill.

From the opening first blood to the repeated ganks on Caitlyn, the trolls could reasonably argue that Lin Feng was a brainless idiot who only knew how to gank bot. Now, however, they had had no legs left to stand on. Not only did Lin Feng survive a situation where the vast majority of players would die, but he also managed to turn the fight around and pick up a kill on the fed Riven. If that wasn’t evidence enough of his frightening skills with Rengar, nothing was! His Rengar was unstoppable!

“Oh, guess I can 1v1 Riven now!” Lin Feng remarked.

Su Xue’s viewers quickly grew excited. Would they finally get to see Lin Feng gank Riven?

The trolls didn’t type a word, but a spark of hope lit up in their hearts. If Rengar got overconfident and started going after Riven, she might have a chance of turning the fight around and killing him instead. Plus, this would give Caitlyn some much needed time to catch her breath and scale. Sadly, the sliver of hope was squashed as soon as it came.

“Now, let’s continue killing Caitlyn!”

Su Xue’s viewers were speechless, while the trolls just about fainted from anger. But this couldn’t be called a surprise. A man had to keep his word! Lin Feng had promised Su Xue he would teach LovelyRose a lesson. So, he definitely had to see this mission through to the end.

A minute later down at bot lane. The minion waves clashed just out of range from blue team’s inner tower. Sivir and Morgana had returned to base. Lin Feng stared at it as another red minion wave joined in. “Caitlyn will definitely try to catch this wave. Let’s go kill her,” he said. Though his words were simple and frank, they carried an overwhelming might.

Lin Feng guessed correctly. Seconds later, Caitlyn arrived to collect the minion wave. Her score was an unsightly 1/4/0 with only 60 CS.

A bush connecting the lane to the jungle was just out of reach of the minion wave. Inside of it, a large cat lay in ambush. Rengar! Lin Feng pressed down on his keyboard, activating Thrill of the Hunt. Rengar silently disappeared into stealth, blood dying the screen red. Then, he pounced forward like a flash of lightning and unleashed his full damage combo on Caitlyn.

By now, there was nothing left to say. Rengar was overly fed, while Caitlyn was painfully lagging behind. It was nearly a one-hit KO. To the viewers, Lin Feng’s movements were simply too fast, and Rengar’s damage was too high.

《Legendary!》

Ah Mei didn’t speak, but everyone on the stream could hear her grind her teeth. Her hatred for Rengar had seeped into the marrow! She was 1/5/0! This was a terrible disgrace!

Su Xue’s viewers spammed the chat with praise, and Su Xue was enjoying every minute of it. At this rate, Caitlyn wouldn’t be worth more than a cannon minion! “Lin Feng, are you thirsty? Want me to pour you another glass of water?” she asked in a rare show of proactiveness in her role as a maid.

Lin Feng happily nodded. “Nah! I want a soda!”

“You punk! Don’t get ahead of yourself!” Su Xue glared at him. However, just on queue, her viewers continued the routine.

「hush muid go do your job!」
「go and buy lil bro his soda!」
「be a good maid, heh」

Somewhere after the first several kills on LovelyRose, Su Xue’s stream had returned to normalcy. Even though many of the trolls from LovelyRose’s stream were still here, they didn’t type another hateful message. Everything they’d typed so far had only come around to bite them in the back. They didn’t dare to risk that happening again.

Back in the game, Lin Feng was waiting in the dragon pit. When the game time hit 16 minutes, it spawned. With the help of Morgana and Sivir, they easily took it down. Afterwards, he returned to his jungle and continued farming the monsters, waiting for his ultimate to come off cooldown. He’d fallen into a fairly comfortable routine: farm his jungle, push out minion waves, kill Caitlyn. Rinse and repeat.

Lin Feng made it look simple, but completely shutting down an enemy like this was extremely difficult. It was an art. You had to calculate their spawn time, predict where they would go, how they would react, and so on. He read LovelyRose like an open book, to the point it bordered precognition.

The viewers watched Lin Feng humming and casually farming the jungle, when he paused and muttered, “Oh, Caitlyn should be walking out of her base by now!” He energetically moved across the map and had Rengar enter the enemy’s jungle. Without even spotting Caitlyn, he activated Thrill of the Hunt. Rengar went invisible as blood dyed the screen red. He prowled closer toward the enemy’s base, until… There! Caitlyn’s silhouette was revealed within his hunter’s vision. He pounced on her and picked up another easy kill.

《Legendary!》

Ah Mei was at her wits’ end. In the past few minutes of the game, she hadn’t even seen her minion wave once! Even the viewers of Su Xue’s stream didn’t pay attention to the godly Rengar, but rather to the pitiful score and CS of Caitlyn. 1/6/0 and 60 CS at 20 minutes. She really was starting to become no better than a cannon minion!

Fortunately or unfortunately, Ah Mei’s suffering came to an end. Surrendering was possible starting from minute 20. Her team quickly agreed. Their nexus twisted and warped with chaotic energies before exploding.

Su Xue’s viewers erupted with cheers. Victory! It was a completely one-sided stomp by Lin Feng! The feeling was as refreshing as eating iced watermelon pops on a hot summer day!

「Damn, that was so satisfying to watch! I can die happy now!」
「Tell me about it! Feels good man, to release all that anger and frustration!」

Su Xue’s viewers turned their attention to the trolls.

「where your big words now, huh?!??????」
「you big boys crying now? say something, idiots」
「the yappity yap yap guys have shut up!!!」

A few of the trolls tried to fight back, but they were drowned out by the soaring momentum of Su Xue’s viewers. The others, they all left the stream in a hurry. With this, the situation was more or less settled, save for one matter.

Lin Feng smacked his forehead. “Oh, right! That girl still hasn’t apologized yet!”

LovelyRose’s teammates had resolved to kill Rengar no matter what. Nami waved her staff and tossed an Aqua Prison toward him with great precision. Of course, Rengar was still slowed by the Exhaust, so he could do nothing to dodge. The Aqua Prison trapped him and held him in the air.

Su Xue’s viewers gasped in alarm.

“R-run! You’re going to die!” Su Xue anxiously cried out.

Lin Feng was also caught by surprise. “Wow! Flashing forward and exhausting me!? Aren’t they going a little overboard here?”

A little overboard? A LITTLE OVERBOARD? The trolls burned in hatred and gnashed their teeth in anger. They wished for nothing more than to chop Lin Feng up into pieces. After killing our beautiful Rose over and over again, you still have the face to say her team is going overboard!? Let’s see how you get out of this one! They smashed down on their keyboards, furiously typing a new string of hateful messages.

「trash ! get fcked!!」
「You get what’s coming for you!」
「Once or twice, fine, but do you think you could keep getting away with killing rosei over and over again forever!? Fuck, our jungle doesn’t belong to you!」

Riven teleported into the tri-bush. She activated her ultimate skill, Blade of the Exile[mfn]Riven empowers her keepsake weapon with energy, and gains Attack Damage and Range. During this time, she also gains the ability to use Wind Slash, a powerful ranged attack, once.[/mfn]. Her runic blade lit up with a green glow around its edges. Rengar was getting close. She dashed toward him and stunned him with a Ki Burst. Then, she took away half his health with a perfectly executed combination of Broken Wings’[mfn]Riven lashes out in a series of strikes. This ability can be reactivated three times in a short time frame with the third hit knocking back nearby enemies.[/mfn] first and second charge and auto attacks.

The Riven indeed lived up to his rank as a Master player. The trolls watched on with baited breath. Kill this Rengar! they chanted in their minds.

However, Lin Feng’s reactions were just as quick if not quicker. Even though he was frantically shouting on stream, he’d already pressed down on his keyboard before the bubble landed, activating his ultimate skill—Thrill of the Hunt! Before they could kill him, he disappeared into stealth.

“Vision ward! Put down a vision ward!” Ah Mei anxiously shouted while still waiting to respawn in the fountain.

However, neither Riven nor Nami had a vision ward. Not that they hadn’t bought them, just that they’d already used them earlier on. So, they lost vision of the Rengar.

The trolls were burning with impatience. Fuck! Is that shitty Rengar really gonna escape like this!?

✹

After successfully activating his ultimate skill in time, Lin Feng was safe. He had killed Caitlyn and made Nami blow both summoner spells and Riven waste her teleport. This was a huge win. Many of Su Xue’s viewers thought Lin Feng would safely retreat now. However, the person himself had other thoughts. This wasn’t enough. He wanted more.

Badump… badump… badump…

Badump… badump… badump…

Rengar’s vision was dyed in red, his heart beating steadily at a strange rhythm. The two enemies before his icy cold gaze weren’t threats, but rather prey to be hunted!

Lin Feng pinged for assistance on the minimap. The vision ward he placed down in the red camp lit up in the next instant with a dazzling light! Malphite was teleporting over! From bot lane, Morgana and Sivir were rushing over to the jungle from the bot lane tri-brush!

Riven and Nami were dazed for a moment. Then, all their hair stood on end! The enemy wanted to continue the fight! The two of them were in danger of being surrounded! Without any hesitation, they fled toward their bot lane inner tower, trying to flee their jungle before the enemy could cut them off. However, two glowing markers already appeared over their heads.

The Riven player’s pupils constricted in alarm! Rengar hadn’t left the area! Not only that, but the prey had turned into the hunter!

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!

Still making her way over from mid, Syndra frantically spammed the retreat ping. However, a black shadow already pounced out from the air, and the killing intent was focused on Riven!

Lin Feng threw a quick glance at his full ferocity stacks, then roared, “Bola Strike!” An empowered bola flew out mid-air and struck the Riven, rooting her to the ground! Rengar tore into her with Savagery, then circled behind her.

Riven reacted on instinct. Her ultimate was still active. She unleashed Wind Slash. A powerful wave of sword energy swept out, completely missing the Rengar.

The stream erupted in excitement.

“Nice!” Su Xue screamed, shooting out of her seat and cheering with the viewers.

Lin Feng’s engage caught the Riven completely off-guard, leaving her no time to react until he was already mid-pounce. Even though her Wind Slash was fast, he was even faster. Treading on a blade’s edge, he correctly predicted she would throw out her ultimate and circled behind her, beautifully dodging the certainly fatal attack!

Malphite teleported in. He arrived basically next to the Nami and Riven. Then, he used Unstoppable Force! The massive creature of living stone collided into the two and knocked them up in the air.

Lin Feng shaved away the last bit of Riven’s health, with an auto attack and Battle Roar[mfn]Rengar lets out a battle roar, damaging enemies and healing for some of the recent damage he has taken.[/mfn].

《Double kill!》

Nami was next on the chopping block. Her skills were on cooldown. There was nothing she could do. Morgana flashed forward to join the fray and threw out a beautifully aimed Dark Binding, locking Nami down.

“Oh nice!” Lin Feng cried out. He then clicked on the Nami and activated Savagery again. There was no suspense. Nami collapsed dead on the cold jungle floor.

《Triple kill!》

✹

「6666666666!」
「wowww!!!! what a turn around!!!」
「hahaha! Way to show em!」

Su Xue’s viewers excitedly showered Lin Feng with praise. Meanwhile, the trolls were dead silent. The game was only 13 minutes old, yet Rengar’s was already 9/0/0! Even though many of those kills came from Caitlyn, and the amount of gold he got from repeatedly killing her was greatly diminished, accomplishing this much this early in the game was still pretty damn amazing!

One kill. Four deaths. 40 creep score. LovelyRose was completely shut down with no hope of ever making a comeback. She stared dumbly at her computer screen with an extremely unsightly expression. Her mouth opened and closed, screeching and cursing sounds coming out in her mind, but none finding their way out of her mouth. Reap what you sow. It was she who stuck out her face and gave that kid the opportunity to slap it. Now, after losing all face, she could only tremble in anger, not knowing what to do.

Ah Mei was green with regret. How could she possibly know that this little kid was so good at the game? Or that he would completely focus her! What left her even more baffled was that she clearly had two Master players on her team, yet this kid walked over them as if they were nothing!

✹

Meanwhile, in an apartment in Shanghai. A boy and a girl sat next to each other in front of a computer. The girl was screaming in excitement, while the boy smacked his lips in satisfaction. “Ahhh! Man, my Rengar is awesome!” Of course, they were Lin Feng and Su Xue.