After spending all night practicing Lin Feng lessons of CSing and laning, preparing breakfast for Lin Feng, and leaving him a brief note, Su Xue finally caved in to her fatigue and collapsed on her bed. She slept until the afternoon.

When Su Xue opened her eyes again, she pushed herself up from her soft, silky mattress and drowsily stretched her body, feeling a wave of wakefulness wash over her. Wearing pajamas, she slid her feet into her pink slippers and shuffled to the bathroom. She gazed in the mirror at her shape with a satisfied smile after brushing her teeth and washing her face.

“Mhm! Mhm!” Su Xue nodded. “Just as beautiful as yesterday! Hahahah!” Then, her eyes fell on the faint dark circles around her eyes. She hurriedly examined herself more closely. It was no surprise pulling all nighters several days in a row would take its toll. But if things continued like this, her good looks would suffer! This was unacceptable! She pulled open the drawer below the sink and ruffled around. However, to her dismay, she discovered she was all out of facial masks.

“Crap! I’ve got to buy another box already?” Su Xue muttered. They cost more than her empty wallet could miss. She grit her teeth, then conveniently forgot the last minute. After all, what was the worst skimping on her skin care routine could do? And even if that did happen, she was earning a living with her skills as a League player, not with her cleavage like those other female streamers!

After finishing up in the bathroom, Su Xue walked into the kitchen. She browsed through the fridge and picked out something filling, a custard bun, and paired it with a glass of warm milk. With brunch in hand, she walked back to her room and plopped down on her desk chair.

It was almost time to start the stream. Su Xue wolfed down her breakfast before taking off her pajamas and changing into a casual rice-coloured t-shirt. Her usual stream attire. She grabbed several pants and posed with them in front of the mirror. Then, she paused and looked around to make sure she was alone. With a naughty smile, she looked back at the mirror. Here, there was a grown woman in nothing but a t-shirt and underwear with her slender, white legs exposed, making all sorts of alluring movements in front of the mirror! Any guy who laid their eyes on her would, without a doubt, feel their hearts race and their blood pump.

“Mhm, hm! You’ve still got it, girl!” Su Xue nodded in satisfaction, her eyes undressing the image in the mirror. She was 172 cm tall with a slender build. Her standout features were her face and long legs. However, she wasn’t the kind of girl to add a second cam to her stream for her legs. So, she rarely had the opportunity to show them off to anyone.

Of course, there was still Lin Feng. But he was more like a little brother than a member of the opposite sex. Speaking of which, whenever she was fed up with him prattling on about her mistakes in a League game, she would exact revenge by trampling on him with her long, slender legs.

Su Xue couldn’t help but gnash her teeth as thoughts of her recent training sessions with Lin Feng came to mind. “That li’l punk! How is he a coach? He’s just looking for any excuse to make fun of me!” It came to the point that she now played extremely cautiously in her ranked games for fear of being scolded. But no matter how hard she tried, he would always find something and ruthlessly point it out. He didn’t hold back in the slightest! She blushed with shame just thinking about it!

At this moment, Su Xue’s phone started ringing. “Speak of the devil,” she muttered. Then, she answered the call and curtly asked, “What?”

「I’m just letting you know I’ll be home a bit late. I’m still at the internet cafe!」Lin Feng’s voice rang out from the other side.

“Huh, are you still duoing with that Tang Bingyao girl?” Su Xue asked in surprise.

「Yeah, I am!」

“You have your heart set on chasing this girl, huh…?” Su Xue was at a loss for words. “Fine, fine, whatever. Just don’t come home too late!

“Also… when you get back, you still have to coach me!” Su Xue couldn’t help but remind him. As harsh as Lin Feng’s training was, it was effective. In only a short few days, she saw clear improvements. Even her long time viewers would occasionally remark on how much better she was playing. Naturally, this drove her to strive even harder in improving. Speaking of which, it was about time she started her stream.

Su Xue plopped down in front of her monitor and turned on her computer. After opening up her browser and logging into her Huya account, she sent out a quick announcement to her viewers.「Come out! Come out! I’m about to turn on my stream! Hurry up and report in!」

Su Xue only had 47 members in her special viewer chat group. However, as soon as she sent out the message, they all started stirring.

「Eh, you’re going live?」
「hey maid. you’re getting on pretty late today…..」
「lol bet five bucks she overslept」
「LMAO! 100% that happened」
「Su Xue, you’re neglecting us viewers here! Your streams are way shorter these days! Tell us, are you cheating on us with another guy!」
「Has to be it! The gal’s in heat!」

Su Xue furiously punched down on her keys, writing a reply.「Your mother’s in heat! Who said that? Reveal yourself and accept your punishment!」

The chat stirred.

「Woah! the maid is getting a little full of herself!」
「Impudence!」
「what’s this? she dares talk back to us?」
「Fellas, is it time to mass unfollow?」

Su Xue stared at her chat in shock, then hurriedly asked for their forgiveness.「My bad my bad… Oh please let me off my kind and generous viewers! Ah, my stream is already up. So, won’t you guys come and watch?」

「Hmph! That’s more like it!」
「Don’t forget your place! There won’t  be a next time!」
「we’ll be watching you closely!!」

Su Xue smiled apologetically.「Uh huh, uh huh. It won’t happen again. I promise!」Then, she breathed a sigh of relief. “These guys… they’re getting more and more cocky. Who do they think they are!” Despite her complaints, she read the group chat messages with a happy smile. Her loyal viewers were already waiting for her in the stream.

Even though the dedicated group chat for her stream was small, Su Xue was quite close with the people that were there. Unlike many other streamers who never spoke a word, she enjoyed interacting regularly with her viewers off stream. Each and every one of them was loyal to her and she’d personally invited them to this chat. When one of them entered the chat, she would always go out of her way to talk with them.

From their names to their birthdays, Su Xue tried hard to remember everything important she could about her loyal viewers. In fact, last week was a viewer’s birthday, and she had sung them a birthday song on stream. Of course, everyone had made fun of her for singing, saying things like they could already see the light. However, this didn’t get in the way of her building a deeper bond with her viewers, to the extent it wasn’t simply the relationship of streamer and viewer but that of friends who could crack jokes and exchange banter with each other.

Snapping out of her daydreaming, Su Xue looked at her stream page. There were already more than 30 viewers, all of whom were members of the group chat. All the ones who were online were present. But the good feeling of seeing her viewers joining didn’t last long.

「you didn’t put on any makeup today either! you atleast could try a little!」
「so sloppy… disappointing」
「smh! What do you expect of a shut-in? how in the world did i end up following her?」

“Hey hey, can you not roast me the moment I open the stream?” Su Xue erupted. In this lively fashion, her daily stream began.

Over the next few days, Lin Feng basically spent all his free time helping Tang Bingyao complete her elo boosting orders for free and coaching Su Xue. Pile on all the schoolwork on top of that, and he was quite busy every day. However, with both his students showing clear improvements in the span of just a short few days, he couldn’t help but feel gratified that his hard work was paying dividends.

Tang Bingyao’s rapid improvement was no surprise. After all, she had the reflexes and mechanical control approaching that of a professional player. Plus, she was a quick learner. All Lin Feng had to do was give her some advice here and there and point out which champion she should try next.

Helping Su Xue improve, on the other hand, proved an uphill battle. Even though both were ad-carry mains, the gap between them was stark. Su Xue’s foundation was too weak. Her reflexes and reaction speed weren’t that great, and she was slow to pick up on things. So, when Lin Feng was watching over her games, he sounded like a broken record, pointing out the same mistakes over and over again.

In spite of this, Su Xue had shown remarkable progress in the past few days. This was a testament to her unwavering drive and perseverance. While others would take a match or two to understand a game concept or champion, Su Xue would need three to four matches. However, she would do that and more, putting in five times the amount of practice anyone else would. This was a work ethic ordinary people could only dream of, the kind that demanded respect. Even Lin Feng couldn’t help but be impressed. He was sure that as long as Su Xue kept it up, he could help her reach Diamond.

✹

Friday afternoon. Lin Feng had finished his first week of school since transferring to Shanghai. He sat at his desk, enthusiastically discussing the season 5 League of Legends world championship with Ouyang and Yang Fan. It was only two weeks away.

“I was on Roundy’s Weibo yesterday. He actually updated his status for once!” Ouyang animatedly waved his hands. “He posted two pics of the team practicing and even leaked that they’ll be in London next week!”

Yang Fan adjusted his glasses. “Does that mean group stages are taking place in London? I guess they’re heading there a week in advance to get used to the timezone and do some bootcamping in the region.”

“London. Man, I wish I could go there to watch them play live. I bet England’s food is great too!” Ouyang remarked with a yearning expression in his eyes.

“The food there is terrible. It’s all potatoes, and their Chinese food is fake and overpriced,” Lin Feng chimed in.

Ouyang rolled his eyes. “You act like you’ve actually been to England.”

“I have!” Lin Feng said.

“Last time you told us you were a Challenger. Now you say you’ve been to England? Why don’t you just tell us you were a pro and went to London to compete in season 1 Worlds?”

Lin Feng’s eyes lit up in surprise. He gave Ouyang a thumbs up. “Woah! How did you know? You’re really good at guessing!”

Neither Yang Fen nor Ouyang took him seriously. Ouyang rolled his eyes and was about to go off on Lin Feng, when a pleasant voice rang in his ears. “What are you three talking about?”

The trio turned their heads. Somewhere along the line, their class president Ren Rou had walked over. She stared at them curiously.

Ouyang immediately put on a flattering expression. “Rou Rou, you’re here! Oh, it’s nothing. Lin Feng was just bragging again. I was about to tell him off.”

“Bragging?” Ren Rou raised an eyebrow in surprise. She turned to Lin Feng with a mischievous smile. “Oh, right, Lin Feng. Did you think you were being sneaky? That we wouldn’t notice? Come on, tell us the good stuff! Hehe.”

“Huh? What?” Lin Feng asked, bewildered.

Ren Rou giggled. “Ah? Still trying to play dumb? You think I wouldn’t notice? I’m the class president! I know everything! Like how you and Tang Bingyao have been spending a whole lot of time together.”

“WHAT?” Ouyang blurted. Yang Fan also stared at Lin Feng, his jaw dropping to the floor.

“I saw you leave school together with her last Wednesday. And when we had that game against Class 8, while everyone else went to celebrate, you stayed behind with her!” Ren Rou puffed up her chest with pride. “So, there’s definitely something going on between you two!”

“So that’s where you’ve been sneaking off to after school! You were chasing after a girl! Damn, you player! You already snagged yourself a hottie in your first week here!”

“W-what? No, it’s not like that! I haven’t!” Lin Feng retorted.

Ouyang nudged up to Lin Feng with bright eyes. “Hey, hey. Since you and Tang Bingyao are dating, when the esports club is recruiting, how about you try and get her to join us? Good! I’ll leave this to you!”

“Oh! I also want to join the esports club!” Lin Feng replied.

Ouyang slapped his thigh. “That’s great! As long as you can get Tang Tang to join us, I promise we’ll make an exception, and you can tag along too!”

Make an exception? Tag along? Lin Feng frowned. “Tag along? You think I’m just Tang Tang’s e-girl support?”

✹

“Because none of them know how good you are,” Tang Bingyao remarked, sipping on her lemon tea. As usual the two went to the NetCow Cafe after school.

“But I keep telling them I’m really good!” Lin Feng protested.

Ignoring his tantrum, a troubled expression surfaced on Tang Bingyao’s face. “It looks like people are mistaking our relationship.”

“Well, who cares what they think?” Lin Feng asked, not appearing the least bit concerned.

Tang Bingyao thought for a moment before nodding in agreement. “Mhm, I suppose you’re right.”

Neither of the two were the type to care about such trivial matters. So, there was no bashfulness or awkwardness between them. They turned their focus back to the game.

“Today, you’ll keep playing Twitch.”

“Twitch again?” Tang Bingyao’s pretty face crumpled. Lin Feng had told her to play Twitch yesterday too. The Plague Rat wasn’t anything like the ad-carries she usually played. In fact, compared to Kalista and Draven, Twitch was the polar opposite. The former two relied heavily on mechanics, whereas the latter relied mostly on positioning.

The power of Twitch rested in his ultimate. A good one could decimate the enemy team, while a poor one would lead to an almost instantaneous loss. This meant that awareness and positioning were much more important than mechanics. As someone who liked playing mechanical heavy champions, Tang Bingyao found no joy in playing this kind of champion. However, Lin Feng remained firm. Even if she didn’t want to, she had to obediently listen.

✹

After playing two games, Lin Feng turned to Tang Bingyao and asked, “Are you even trying? You’re playing awful!” They had won the first game and lost the second. However, Tang Bingyao had been invisible in both games.

“Another game!” Tang Bingyao said, unhappy with their loss.

From that point onwards, Tang Bingyao started getting serious. She slowly entered the zone while playing the third and fourth game. Her Twitch was getting much better. In the fourth game, she even got a quadra kill and directly carried the team to victory. The good results gave her finally a reason to enjoy playing Twitch a little.

“Let’s play another two games,” Lin Feng declared, riding the momentum. Suddenly, he froze as he realized something. He smacked his head and said, “Right, I have to let Su Xue know first.”

Lin Feng’s thought process was clear cut. He’d convinced Tang Bingyao to try Kalista because he knew her playstyle suited the champion. Kalista was a champion that required good mechanics, and Tang Bingyao’s greatest strength were her high-level reflexes and control with the mouse. They were a match made in heaven. But it took more than a few days to play a new champion at the level of a Diamond. That was why he had played support until now. In fact, the greatest contributing factor to their recent win streak was that his support was just that good. So, now that Tang Bingyao was comfortable playing Kalista, he knew it was the right time to change his role. It was fine for an ad-carry to rely on their support, but never to an excess. After all, if your support was bad or had an off-day, it would be up to you to carry.

Lin Feng explained all of this to Tang Bingyao, then added with a pleased smile, “Man, I’m really good at coaching too!”

✹

Lin Feng’s coaching duties didn’t only extend to Tang Bingyao. Around dinner time, he bid her farewell and rushed back home.

“I’m home!” Lin Feng announced as he swung the door open. Then, he rubbed his empty stomach and added, “I’m hungry!”

“Alright alright! I got it! Give me a minute!” a voice shouted back. Before long, Su Xue came rushing out of her room with a slight look of guilt. “Ahem, err, just sit back. I got so busy with my stream that I forgot to make dinner. Don’t worry. I’ll whip up something quick!”

Lin Feng nodded, then curiously asked, “How did streaming go today?”

Su Xue’s face lit up with a bright smile. “I had way more viewers today! I peaked at a little over 200! And my CSing went super good! When I was playing ranked, I almost always got over 70 CS by 10 minutes!”

Maintaining an average of 70 CS at 10 minutes in Gold was commendable. So, Lin Feng gave her two thumbs up and exclaimed in admiration, “Nice! That’s proof the training from last night worked!”

“Yeah, I know right! I feel like my CSing today has gotten a lot better after last night!” Su Xue nodded vigorously. She was quite pleased with the results of Lin Feng’s coaching. “Can you give me some more tips after dinner? I’ve ended the stream for today anyway, so we’ve got all night!”

“You’re not streaming tonight? You can stream and practice at the same time, you know?” Lin Feng remarked in surprise.

“No, no, it’s fine. If my viewers see me practice, they’ll just make fun of me!” Su Xue waved her hands. Then, her lips curled into a mischievous smile. “I want to practice in secret and shock them with how good I am! Haha, you know, some of my old viewers were so surprised by my CSing today, they thought you were secretly playing for me off to the side!”

Su Xue was in a great mood today. She had immediately noticed the improvements in her CSing when she was playing ranked matches, and she couldn’t help but feel pleased with herself after seeing the reactions of her loyal viewers. Plus, her new viewers seemed pretty entertained watching her stream too. They didn’t even make fun of her for being Gold!

Su Xue was thoroughly pumped up, still riding the high of today’s success. At this pace, she might really reach Diamond in a month! And when she did, she would realize her aspirations of becoming a top female streamer!

✹

After dinner, Su Xue quickly cleaned the table, impatient to start her training with Lin Feng.

Looking at the overly enthusiastic Su Xue, Lin Feng carefully reminded, “Er… I still have some homework to do tonight.”

“Oh, alright.” Su Xue paused for a moment, but then smiled and urged, “Go! Get to it! When you’re done, come to my room! I’ll practice my CSing in the meantime!”

Lin Feng watched Su Xue skedaddle back to her room in a daze. He scratched his head and muttered, “She sure is excited today… But that’s not a bad thing!” He smiled. After all, seeing someone striving hard to achieve their dream was always gratifying!

Two hours later, Lin Feng finished his homework and walked over to Su Xue’s room. He poked his head around the door. “Hey, I’m do—”

Su Xue swung her head around and excitedly called, “Quick, hurry! Come look at my CS!”

Lin Feng walked over and looked at the screen. Su Xue played Jinx and was facing off against an AI Lux in bot lane. She currently had 94 CS at 11 minutes. This meant she barely missed any minions. Even though the opponent was only a bot, compared to yesterday’s performance, it was clear her farming had improved by leaps and bounds.

“Oh, nice!” Lin Feng praised. “It’s time for the next phase of your training!”

“Next phase?” Su Xue asked in a daze.

“Yep! It’s time for some real combat training!”

Playing against an AI and playing against another player were two different things. If you wanted to improve at the game, practicing against bots could only get you so far. Lin Feng brought over a chair and sat down next to Su Xue. He would be overseeing her games and giving advice in real time.

When Su Xue loaded into her first game, she was still full of confidence. However, how she hoped it would go and how it actually went vastly differed.

“Hey, you missed a CS there.
“You should’ve been more aggressive there. Caitlyn needs to pressure more with her range advantage.
“That Q was off-aim!
“Minimap, minimap, minimap! You need to pay more attention to the minimap!
“Ah, dead… you reacted too slow there! You should’ve flashed the moment the Leona flashed toward you, and you would’ve escaped!”

Lin Feng repeatedly shook his head and sighed as he nitpicked at Su Xue’s gameplay.

Beads of sweat formed on Su Xue’s forehead. She thought she was playing pretty well when she was streaming earlier. But the moment Lin Feng sat down beside her, he pointed out every flaw. It almost felt like there was nothing she did good! Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore and protested, “Hey, hey! Do you have to nitpick?”

“If you want to improve, you have to be strict! Those flaws I pointed out, no Master would make them!” Lin Feng said self-righteously.

“Master? Didn’t you say you were only going to coach me up to Diamond?”

“Huh? Did I?” Lin Feng remarked in surprise.

Su Xue glared daggers at Lin Feng.

Lin Feng was completely unfazed. He quickly found another excuse. “A soldier that doesn’t aim to become a general isn’t a good soldier! Shoot for the moon! Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars! If you want to quickly become a Diamond player, you’ll have to aim for even higher!”

“R-really…? Hey, don’t try to pull one over on me just because I wasn’t good in school!” Su Xue said, half-convinced.

“Of course! Just believe in me!” Lin Feng confidently declared.

As a result, the training continued with Lin Feng pointing out the mistakes in Su Xue’s gameplay as beads of sweat fell from her head.

“You have too little awareness in teamfights.
“Your positioning is terrible.
…

Lin Feng shook his head. “Hmm, it seems like one month isn’t enough. Let’s extend the deadline to two months.”

“Huh?! Two months?” Su Xue blurted.

“With your talent, it might even take longer,” Lin Feng evaluated with a solemn face.

“No! Didn’t you say one month? Come on. I don’t believe I’m that hopeless!”

“You told him you were a Challenger in the Ionia server?” Tang Bingyao frowned as she created a ranked game lobby. “Of course he didn’t believe you. No one would.”

“But I’m really telling the truth,” Lin Feng muttered in vexation.

“Really?” Tang Bingyao looked back at him earnestly.

“My rank in season 1 would be Challenger in the current system!” Lin Feng patted his chest.

“So, what you’re saying is that you aren’t a Challenger,” Tang Bingyao pointed out ruthlessly. Then, she became a bit curious. “You started playing back in season 1? Weren’t you like 14 back then?”

Lin Feng nodded. “Yep. I started playing back in middle school, but I was already 15, not 14. I’m a year older than you guys, I turn 19 this year.”

“How’s that something to be happy about?” Tang Bingyao asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh. I guess it isn’t.” Lin Feng scratched his head.  However, be it 14 or 15, it made no real difference back then. Even four years later, the memories were still fresh in his mind. The events and back-and-forths of those days played back in his mind.

✹

“He’s too young to participate. 16 is the minimum age. We can’t just bend the rules for one person,” an inflexible voice delivered unsympathetically, as if it’d repeated this line countless times over in a mechanical fashion.

“But he’s the heart of our team! We qualified for worlds together! You can’t just tell us to kick him out and find a new player! We won’t stand for that!” another voice protested.

Several other voices both male and female chimed in.

“I’m the vice-chairman of the Chinese Esports Association! Maple’s age is public knowledge, and we’ve made a special exception so he could play in the LPL. But for Worlds, even if I wanted to do something, I can’t. The Global Esports Association made and enforce the rules, and they are well aware of Maple’s age.”

“We demand an explanation! We’ve gone through all the proper channels. He should be allowed to play!”

“Maple is our best player! He’s the best player in the LPL! Sure, he’s not 16 yet, but can’t the Global Esports Association take a look at his performances in big tournaments?”

“I can attest that he has the skills to compete with the very top on the global stage. You can’t just wipe away all the blood, sweat, and tears he’s put into reaching this point just because of his age!”

“We won’t leave this room until you give us a proper answer!”

✹

Lin Feng snapped back to reality. He looked up to see a concerned Tang Bingyao staring at him. “Haha. Sorry ’bout that. My thoughts, they followed the wind for a bit there and I forgot to watch my back,” he said as he tried to explain his moment away.

Tang Bingyao was mildly puzzled by the cryptic reply, especially considering the fact that Lin Feng said all that while rubbing the back of his head with a stupid grin.

“I see.” Tang Bingyao said with a slow nod nod. He decided that it wasn’t the best time to dig into… whatever that was. “Can we play now?”

“Of course! Let’s go, let’s go!” Lin Feng exclaimed rather excitably.

Tang Bingyao gave Lin Feng a Diamond account to play on as the two resumed their duo-queue adventures on the Ionia server. While she stuck to Kalista, Lin Feng switched to Thresh support. The Kalista-Thresh combo was fairly powerful in both laning phase and teamfights.

But even before the game began, Lin Feng sunk back in his muddled mind. As he controlled his Thresh to move to bottom lane, scenes from the past flashed through his mind like flickering lanterns, along with the sounds of incomparably familiar voices. They gave a group of people from the Global Esports Association a piece of their mind.

✹

“What does it matter? 15 years old, 16 years old, it’s only a one year difference!”

“Why do you guys have to be so unreasonable!?”

“Look at him! He isn’t some random 15-year-old! He’s Maple! The best player in the LPL! If even he isn’t qualified to compete at Worlds, no one is!”

“Maple wants to become the best in the world! He will become the best! Can’t you see how good it would be for the game if he plays?”

✹

As the scene played through Lin Feng’s mind, a flicker of grief flashed across his eyes. He ended up misclicking with his mouse, which led to a misplay.  Several seconds later, he and Tang Bingyao were both forced to flash away at low health  back under the safety of their tower. Only then did the enemy jungle Elise, ad-carry Tristana, and support Leona reluctantly give up on the chase and turn away.

“Whew! That was close!” Lin Feng wiped the cold sweat off his brow. “We almost got doubled killed. Hahaha!”

“You seem off today,” Tang Bingyao remarked, staring at Lin Feng.

“Huh?” Lin Feng remarked in surprise.

“What’s on your mind?” Tang Bingyao asked.

“Oh, it’s nothing.” Lin Feng scratched his head as he brushed off Tang Bingyao’s questions.

Tang Bingyao stared at Lin Feng even more closely. “You’re lying.” However, before Lin Feng had a chance to explain himself, she turned back to face the screen and focus on controlling her Kalista. “It’s fine if you don’t want to tell me. Just stop getting distracted, or it’ll be hard to win this game.”

“I got it. I got it. Don’t worry,” Lin Feng promised. ”Watch me carry this game with my Thresh!”

Lin Feng focused back on the game. What passed had already passed. More importantly, if he didn’t put on a good performance in this game, he’d be embarrassing himself in front of Tang Bingyao! Then, the odds of convincing her to join his team would be even lower! Thinking about his recruitment strategy, he was instantly fired up. “It’s time to get serious!”

✹

How good at the game was a serious Lin Feng? According to him anyway, he was really really really good! Of course, a person that couldn’t back up their words was a useless blowhard. However, Lin Feng wasn’t that sort. The enemy Tristana and Leona were about to experience a bloodbath.

At around eight minutes into the game, Jarvan IV made his way around the jungle back to bot lane. Lin Feng moved his Thresh forward to engage. However, the enemy Tristana reacted with a beautiful ultimate, knocking both Thresh and Kalista back.

“Tang Tang, use your ult!” Lin Feng exclaimed.

Tang Bingyao immediately activated her ultimate. Thresh turned into soul form as he was pulled to Kalista’s side, then launched forward like a cannonball and smashed into Tristana and Leona! The force behind the impact knocked the botlaners up into the air!

At the same time, Lin Feng threw a lantern out [mfn]The skill name is Dark Passage. It shields nearby allies and allows them to jump to Thresh.[/mfn] behind him using it to pull Jarvan IV into the fray.

The Tristana realized that they had lost the advantage, especially with the Jarvan IV in the mix. She tried to escape using her Rocket Jump[mfn]Tristana fires at the ground to propel her to a distant location, dealing damage and slowing surrounding units for a brief period where she lands.[/mfn].

“Want to run? Not so easy!” Lin Feng exclaimed as he hammered down on the E key with the flair of a concert pianist.

Thresh whipped out his chain and scythe backwards in a sweeping vertical arc, interrupting Tristana mid-jump and grounding her. Her attempt to escape death prematurely cut down before it had even begun.

Tang Bingyao’s mouth gaped open in shock. What impressive mechanics!

A pumped-up Lin Feng combined with Tang Bingyao who had become fairly proficient with Kallista became an unstoppable force at bot lane, easily sweeping through their ranked games in Diamond.

First game, ‘ggez’ as they say in chat! Second game, didn’t even break a sweat! Third game, absolute domination!

After winning three games in a row, Lin Feng declared, “I’m going to jungle next game!”

“You’re not supporting me anymore?’ Tang Bingyao remarked, slightly surprised. When a pretty girl as an ad-carry spoke these words, it would usually be delivered with sad, puppy dog eyes. After which the guy wouldn’t have the heart to refuse. However, she wasn’t like most other girls. She was simply making a casual remark.

In the same fashion, Lin Feng gave a straightforward answer. “Nope! You should practice improving without relying on me as your support!”

“No matter how unrealistic… as long as you try… something worth respecting…” Su Xue mumbled to herself, deeply touched. She stared at Lin Feng and said with a hint of hesitation, “Then what you mean is…”

Lin Feng smiled brightly and patted his chest. “Don’t worry. I’ll make you the best female streamer out there!”

“R-really…? You’ll really help me?” Su Xue asked, half-doubting.

“Yes. I never go back on my word! You can put your trust in me!” Lin Feng solemnly vowed.

“How good do you think I can become? Platinum maybe…?”

“Platinum? No, that’s too low! I promise I’ll make you a Diamond player within a month!”

“Heey hey! Do you really think that’s realistic?” Su Xue gaped.

“Don’t worry. I’m really good at coaching!” Lin Feng said confidently.

“Alright. But they’re your words, not mine!” Su Xue countered defensively. Then, her eyes lit up, her heart pumping from the prospect of becoming a Diamond-rank player. “I’ll put my faith in you! Let’s get started tomorrow!”

However, Lin Feng was even more gung-ho. He shot up to his feet and said, “Why wait until tomorrow? Let’s get started right now!”

Su Xue was quick to accept this suggestion. The two returned to Su Xue’s room in high spirits and started going over a training plan.

“Your best role is ad-carry.” Lin Feng took out a small notebook out of nowhere and started scribbling. “Mhmm, yeah. An ad-carry… so, let’s start with CSing!”

“Huh? CSing? You mean like killing minions…?” Su Xue muttered quizzically.

Lin Feng clenched his fist. “Correct! We’re going back to the basics. Let’s create a custom game and practice your CSing!”

“A custom game?” Su Xu’s expression darkened. She protested, “Hey! Don’t look down on me so much! I’m still Gold, you know! Even Bronze noobs can CS in a custom game!”

“How about we give it a try first? Then we can up the difficulty if it’s too easy,” Lin Feng persuaded.

Su Xue gave in and quickly created a custom game. She picked the ad-carry she was most familiar with, Caitlyn, and selected Leona as her bot opponent. Afterwards, she started the match brimming with confidence. “Li’l punk, just you watch. No matter how bad I am at the game, I can still easily CS against a bot!”

A short 10 minutes later, Su Xue stared at her screen while Lin Feng stared at her. She’d achieved a measly 66 creep score. Perhaps against other players this was still excusable, but against bots this was nothing short of embarrassing. She didn’t dare move her gaze, afraid she would meet Lin Feng’s. Feeling a strong urge to find a hole to crawl into, she lashed out, “Not a word! Fine. I will practice my CSing.”

Lin Feng chuckled in satisfaction. Then, he yawned and rubbed his eyes. “Sis Xue, I’m tired. I’m going to hit the hay. Good luck with your CSing.”

Su Xue was still coming to terms with the fact that she’d only achieved 66 CS at 10 minutes in a custom game against a bot. She buried her head in her arms and muttered, “Alright, good night. I-I’ll continue practicing.”

✹

The next day, Lin Feng woke up to the sound of his alarm ringing at 6:30 AM. He groggily got out of bed and shuffled toward the washroom. After brushing his teeth and washing his face, he walked into the living room with his eyes still half-closed. Suddenly, the scent of something delicious wafted into his nostrils. Noticing the poached eggs, congee, and steamed buns, his eyes snapped open as saliva drooled from his mouth. “Oh, breakfast!” All the drowsiness disappeared as he sat down at the dining table.

Su Xue came from the kitchen with a plate of steaming-hot buns. Seeing Lin Feng, she smiled. “You’re awake? Did you brush your teeth and wash your face? Breakfast is ready. You can dig in.”

“You’re the best!” Lin Feng exclaimed. He picked up a bowl and chopsticks as he looked over the dishes in front of him. “These eggs look really great! The congee smells delicious!” Suddenly, he jerked his head up and looked at Su Xue, who looked like a panda with large dark circles around her eyes. “Did you get any sleep last night?”

“Ehh…? Is it that bad?” Su Xue rubbed her face. A hint of red flushed her cheeks as she explained, “Oh, I didn’t sleep last night. I got too absorbed into practicing my CSing. I lost track of time.” Then, she frowned in frustration. “What am I going to do about these dark circles? I still need to stream today! Damn, I’ll put on a facial mask and maybe some make-up.”

Lin Feng was at a loss for words, needing a while to snap out of his daze. Even a League addict like him was shocked. She’d practiced CSing all throughout the night?

For a role like ad-carry, CSing was fundamental. However, it was also one of the more tedious and monotonous aspects of the game. Lin Feng was well aware of how boring it was to CS against a bot. You weren’t going against another person, but a cold, mindless AI as you last hit minion after minion. Perhaps you could derive some pleasure from beating the bot in the beginning, but even that would quickly fade. To do that for an entire night all for the sake of practicing a fundamental skill? This was certainly a type of monotony that most League players, even amongst the pros, couldn’t endure. Yet, Su Xue had done just this and without any external help at all. She was solely driven by her inner desire to get better at the game.

Lin Feng stared intently at Su Xue, acknowledging her abilities for the first time or perhaps seeing a glimmer of something special. “Sis Xue.”

“Huh, what?” Su Xue raised her head curiously.

“N-no, it’s nothing really…” Lin Feng scratched his head. He then gave her a thumbs up and smiled. “I just wanted to say I’m cheering for you!”

Su Xue was stunned. Then, her face, haggard from a night without sleep, lit up with a bright smile. She also gave him a thumbs up. “Thanks for believing in me! I won’t give up! I’ll become really good at this game!”

✹

After finishing breakfast, Lin Feng grabbed his bag and left for a school. He’d finally gotten used to his new schedule and the various classes he had to take.

Come the final dismissal bell, Ouyang was head-down on his desk, exhausted from all the learning. Yang Fan turned around. Seeing Ouyang practically looking like a zombie, he shook his head. “This guy definitely stayed up gaming too long last night.” Then, he adjusted his glasses and turned to Lin Feng with a smile. “Lin Feng, why were you in such a hurry to leave yesterday? Ouyang and I were going to ask if you wanted to walk home with us, but you’d already left.”

“Oh, sorry I missed you guys. I had something come up.” Lin Feng scratched his head.

Yang Fan didn’t seem to mind and moved on. “Right, didn’t you say you wanted to join the esports club yesterday?”

“Yeah, I do!” Lin Feng nodded.

Yang Fan chuckled. “Then practice hard in your free time, and make sure you’re in your best form. I just got word yesterday that the club will be recruiting new members at the end of next week. Only the best players will be accepted into the club.”

“Huh? There’s a selection process?” Lin Feng was stunned.

Yang Fan nodded. “Of course. Not just anyone is allowed in our esports club. Well, anyone can become a normal member, technically. But if you want to take part in the competitive tournaments, you have to earn your spot.”

Lin Feng’s eyes went wide in realization. “Oh! No problem! I’m really good at the game!”

Yang Fan suddenly got curious. “Right, I forgot, but what server do you play in, and what rank are you?”

Ouyang had asked the same question yesterday. Lin Feng didn’t spare it a second thought before answering the same way as last time. “I’m a Challenger in the Ionia server!”

“Mmphh don try ‘oo pull he ool opher my eyes,. ghi’m pree’y sharp,” Lin Feng said with a mouthful of noodles. He swallowed down his food and continued, “Just tell me what’s on your mind. I’ll try my best to help!”

Slurping down another mouthful, Lin Feng finished off the rest of his noodles and let out a burp. “That was good!” He rubbed his stomach in satisfaction.

All the while Su Xue wore an awkward expression.“Ahem… well, it’s nothing big,” she quietly murmured, finally overcoming her hesitation. “I just wanted to ask if you can make me better at the game.”

“Eh?” Lin Feng raised his head, staring at Su Xue in bewilderment. “Make you better at the game? Are you talking about me elo boosting you?”

Su Xue hurriedly shook her head. “No, no! What I’m asking is, is if you can teach me how to play better. Aren’t you always saying how you’re a Challenger? Teaching me can’t be too hard then, right?”

“Oh, like that!” Lin Feng exclaimed in realization. He patted his chest. “Of course I can make you better!” He stared at Su Xue curiously and asked, “But, why do you want to get better all of a sudden?”

Su Xue was at a loss for words for a while before quietly explaining, “Actually, it’s not sudden…”

Su Xue started streaming on Huya TV about half-a-month ago. As a new streamer, she had no one to promote her. So, she struggled to get even two or three viewers for the first couple of days, and they were the kind that only entered by chance and left after a few minutes.

Almost all new streamers faced the same experience. They didn’t have a core viewership they could rely on, nor did they have the platform supporting them. Gaining any semblance of popularity was as difficult as scaling the heavens. However, if you were skilled enough at what you did, you would eventually attract a base of viewers, and the higher-ups at Huya would take notice of you.

Su Xue sorely lacked this kind of skill. Over the past two weeks, she could only grit her teeth and persevere, streaming for close to 16 hours every day to build up a base of viewers. However, it saw barely any results, with only 50-odd viewers supporting her streams regularly now. Though this was the fruits of all her effort and she deeply treasured that, it was simply far too meagre. From her perspective, her limited skill as a Gold rank player was the main reason she couldn’t pull in bigger numbers.

In reality, many popular female League streamers on Huya weren’t all that great at the game. Some were even Bronze, But those types of girls didn’t rely on their gaming skills to make a living. Simply by acting cutesy and showing their cleavage, they could easily earn donations from thirsty shut-ins without so much as touching the game.

Su Xue was quite beautiful, but she would never use this kind of method to achieve success, if you could call it that. It was simply out of the question! As for something like singing, she’d feel too embarrassed and camera shy.

Su Xue had the occasional viewer come into her stream because of her appearance and ask her to take off her clothes or show them some cleavage. She would try to tactfully decline them. However, then they’d quickly erupt into a tirade of insults, calling her things like, “Trash streamer”, “Stuck-up bitch”, “Who the hell do you think you are?”, “Do you think you’re some kind of famous streamer?”, and “Dumb e-girls like you are what’s ruining the platform.”

Su Xue would pretend like the insults didn’t get to her while trying to pacify her regular viewers who were raging with righteous indignation and banning the troublemakers from her stream. However, every night when she ended the stream for the day, she’d crawl into her bed and curl up in her blankets, fighting back the urge to cry.

Su Xue often found herself thinking if she were as good as those pro players in the LPL or maybe had the skill of a Challenger, Masters, or even a Diamond player, she’d be a successful streamer. However, she was just a small-time streamer with only several dozen viewers. All she could do was persevere and try her best. That was until today. Su Xue finally saw a faint glimmer of hope. She’d managed to queue up with the popular streamer Ol’ Black while Lin Feng was playing on her account. With Lin Feng showing off his Sword of the Occult Lee Sin, he managed to attract many of Ol’ Black’s viewers and even the person himself. In the end, Su Xue had a chance to befriend Ol’ Black, as well as the opportunity to duo queue with him later. Apart from this, her stream also gained a huge boost in viewership.

“I gained 200 new followers! That’s more than triple what I had before!” Su Xue raised three fingers in front of Lin Feng, her tone carrying a hit of joy and satisfaction. However, her expression quickly returned to her serious self. But they just came for your Lee Sin. Who knows if they’ll be back to watch me? So, I need to find a way to make them stay!”

“Oh, I see. That’s why you want to get better!” Lin Feng said in realization.

Su Xue nodded. “Yeah. I’m afraid if they see how badly I play, they’ll leave.”

“Then how about I play for you more?” Lin Feng suggested.

Su Xue shook her head. “That won’t do. I’m supposed to be the stream host. I can’t rely on you always. Plus, you’re still a student. You won’t have as much free time, and you should put your studies first anyway. The best solution is for me to get better myself.”

“You really want to become a big streamer, huh?” Lin Feng remarked out of nowhere.

“Yeah, I do. What about it?” Su Xue replied.

Lin Feng scratched his head. “Oh, it’s nothing… I just remember Zuo You telling you to find other work. Plus, I thought you were streaming just for fun and weren’t actually planning to make a career out of it. Anyhow, do you really want to become a professional streamer?”

Su Xue was a bit taken aback, her expression darkened. “What do you mean by that…? Are you saying I’m not cut out to be a streamer? Maybe you don’t think I’ll succeed, that I’m only fooling around and wasting my time, that I’m too lazy to find a real job, and I’m just looking for an excuse!” She stared intently at Lin Feng. “I know I’m not good at the game. The 50 viewers I did get after streaming for more than 200 hours are all too happy to remind me of that. And without help, I’ll never get any better.”

She took a deep breath. “You’re right. I’m not good. Just like how Zuo You thinks a person like me can’t become a streamer! I don’t have any skill, and I don’t want to be just another e-girl who has to rely on her looks for viewers. So, what do I have to offer! I must look like a big joke to you right now, huh? Me, becoming a successful streamer? That couldn’t be anything further from reality!”

The more Su Xue spoke, the more riled up she became. In the end, she shot up to her feet, panting for breath. “Fine, forget I said anything. It’s my mistake for coming to you for help. I’m just trash anyway, I’ll never become good in my lifetime!”

Su Xue turned to leave about to rush back to her room, when Lin Feng’s voice hastily called out from behind. ‘Wait! Wait!”

“What do you want?” Su Xue turned around and glared at Lin Feng, the redness around her eyes betraying her inner feelings.

Lin Feng scratched his head. “I didn’t say I wouldn’t help you…”

“Huh?” Su Xue gaped.

“I wasn’t finished. You just kept on going and going without giving me any chance to say anything. I was just asking out of curiosity. You’re overthinking things too much. There’s nothing wrong with trying to become a professional streamer! I fully support it! Just like I said before, having a dream is a good thing. As long as you try hard, you’ll succeed. Plus…” Lin Feng scratched his hair, slightly blushing with embarrassment as he put on an earnest expression. “No matter how stupid or unrealistic people say your dreams are, as long as you try your hardest, I think it’s worth respecting!”

With a lightning fast combination of key presses and mouse movements, Lin Feng pulled off a perfect combo. There was no counterplay. The Jinx player’s screen turned grey before he even noticed the Lee Sin!

The other four players on the blue team felt their heads spinning. D-dead? Just like that? They stared at their screen stupefied. Before they had a chance to group up, before they even had a chance to see what was happening, Jinx had already died. Their plan to bring Lee Sin down a peck was thwarted before it could even be put into action. As for the teamfight that followed, it was a one sided massacre.

The 50,000 viewers of Ol’ Black’s stream spammed his chat with 6s. Ol’ Black himself wore an expression of indescribable shock. He’d been smurfing around in low elo for a long time. So long so that he had lost count of the number of opponents he crushed. However, never before had he encountered a Lee Sin who played at such an impossibly high level. He was at a complete loss for words.

Ol’ Black’s real skill level was around Diamond 2. Watching this Lee Sin play, he could tell they were at least Master, or perhaps even Challenger! Nevertheless, noob-stomping in low elo was still his field of expertise. He quickly snapped back to his senses and shouted, “God dammit! I won’t let you take all the glory!” He pressed down on his W key and dashed into the enemy Ahri with his LeBlanc, bursting her down in lightning speed!

The rest of Lin Feng’s team snapped back to their senses too. They excitedly carried out a one sided massacre. Before long, the game announcer’s voice rang across Summoner’s Rift.

《Ace!》

Red team only lost one player, easily wiping out the opposing team and achieving victory. The five players on the blue team ended up losing the will to fight and started a surrender vote as soon as the game reached 20 minutes. It was unanimously accepted.

Chaotic energies warped and twisted around the blue team’s nexus before it exploded. The word “VICTORY” appeared in big, bold letters in the center of the game screen.

“Easy win!” Ol’ Black exclaimed, only for his expression to crumple. He noticed his chat was only talking about Lee Sin and quite enthusiastically at that.

「Lee Sin is so 6666666666!」
「godlee godlee godlee!!!!!!」
「Ima buy lee and play just like godlee!」
「First time I’ve seen Ol’ Black get carried. This Lee is amazing!」

This time around, Ol’ Black was completely relegated to the supporting role. However, he had no choice but to admit that the Lee Sin had truly carried the game, picking up the most kills, dictating the tempo of the game, and even showing off flashy plays.

Hell! I Can’t even make an honest living stomping noob nowadays! This is supposed to be my schtick! What’s this Lee’s name again? Evening Snowfall? Ol’ Black thought as he reclined back into his chair and picked his teeth with a toothpick. He rubbed his chin for a bit before coming to a decision. “I’ve got to see what kinda streamer plays such a godly Lee Sin. Guys, follow me, we’re going on a raid!”

✹

By the time Ol’ Black and his army of viewers arrived in Su Xue’s stream, the only two people remaining on the facecam were Su Xue and Zuo You. As for Lin Feng, he’d bid everyone farewell right after finishing the match, telling the viewers that he had to do his homework.

The new viewers were dumbfounded. This kid’s still in school? What the fuck! Since when are high schoolers so good at League of Legends!?

Ol’ Black ended up missing Lin Feng. However, he wasn’t too disappointed. After all, he was greeted by the sight of two pretty ladies, which was a nice consolation. He especially took a liking to Su Xue. He bantered and chatted with her, finding himself attracted to her personality, as the small stream bustled with activity. In the end, he sent her a few donations and added her as a friend on League, suggesting they should duo together some time.

Given Ol’ Black’s popularity as a streamer, offering to duo queue together with a new streamer was the same as giving them access to his viewership. Su Xue naturally wasn’t stupid. She knew this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for her. She happily took him up on his offer without any hesitation.

Su Xue’s loyal viewers were over the moon by this latest development.

「our xuexue is making it bigtime guyss!!!」
「I’m not crying you’re crying! It feels like only yesterday that she started streaming League」
「Work hard, Xue Xue! you; be the number one girl streamer on Huya!」

✹

Lin Feng was oblivious to these developments. After finishing the match, he scurried back to his bedroom. He sat down in front of his desk and turned the light on, then started tackling his homework with the same enthusiasm as he had while playing League. Solving problems, doing practice quizzes, and memorization. Lin Feng employed his Tryndamere and Nasus study strategy, tackling the questions from easiest to hardest like he was building up his rage bar and stacking up his knowledge like Nasus’ Q.

About two hours later, just as he was almost finished with his homework, Lin Feng heard the door to his bedroom creak open. He turned around to find Su Xue’s head peeking around the corner. “Hmmm?”

Su Xue jolted unnaturally. She awkwardly said, “Ahem, are you still studying? Did I disturb you?”

Lin Feng scratched his head. “Oh, it’s fine. I just finished my homework.”

“Already?” Su Xue remarked in surprise. Glancing over at the desk, she saw piles and piles of schoolwork and couldn’t help but be amazed. “Wow, all that in just a couple of hours? That’s some efficiency.”

“I have a special study method.” Lin Feng chuckled. Then, he curiously asked, “You finished streaming? Do you need something?”

“Ah yeah, I just ended the stream.” Su Xue nodded. She then completely glossed over Lin Feng’s other question and asked, “Did you get enough to eat earlier tonight? Are you feeling hungry? Want me to cook up a midnight snack?”

Lin Feng scratched his chin in contemplation. He then rubbed his stomach as his face lit up. “Sure, I could go for some food!”

Su Xue finally returned to her normal self. She rolled her eyes. “You little punk. Do you really have to think about if you’re hungry or not? Fine, give me a minute, I’ll whip up some stir-fried noodles.”

Lin Feng’s eyes went wide in surprise. “Why are you being so nice tonight?”

“Err- that’s…” Su Xue choked. After struggling to find an answer, she erupted in annoyance, “You li’l punk, what do you mean by that? You have a problem with me making you a midnight snack? Do you want to eat or not? If not, I’ll just go!”

Lin Feng was caught off-guard by Su Xue’s sudden outburst, having no idea what he said wrong. However, the temptation of the midnight snack was too great. He instantly acknowledged his wrongdoing, whatever it was. “Sorry, I was wrong. I still want to eat!”

Su Xue harumped. “That’s what I thought. Sit tight.”

About 20 minutes later, a piping-hot bowl of noodles greeted Lin Feng in front of the kitchen table. He dug in with much gusto.

Su Xue rested her chin against her hand. Seeing Lin Feng wolfing down on the food so enthusiastically, she couldn’t help but smile. “Tasty?”

“Mhm!” Lin Feng exclaimed as he stuffed his face with noodles. Afterwards, he looked up at Su Xue and asked, “You’re treating me awfully nicely. Do you need me for something?”

“Oh! Ummm…” Su Xue was at a loss for words.

Zuo You noticed Su Xue’s strange expression and followed her gaze to the chat. The stream only had 50-odd viewers a minute ago. Now, however, the viewer count shot up to almost 600! “The hell! What’s going on?” she gasped, her eyes going wide.

It was precisely this audible gasp that made the viewers from Ol’ Black’s stream take notice of the streamers. They forgot about the game for a moment as their gazes shifted over to the facecam. The first person their eyes gravitated towards was Lin Feng.

「heyyy look at that pretty boi!」
「he looks sooooo cute」
「I wonder if he swings the other way……」

The viewers from Ol’ Black’s streams made some teasing remarks aimed at Lin Feng, until they noticed the two beauties sitting next to him. To the left was an amiable looking, black-haired beauty with fair skin and delicate features. To the right was a refreshing short-haired redhead in a beige blouse that accentuated her alluring figure, in particular her overflowing chest.

Hot dang! The several hundred viewers that came over from Ol’ Black’s streams were dumbstruck. Their collective eyes lit up. Those were two exceptional beauties! The ones you could normally only see in fashion magazines! However, they both seemed a bit older than the kid in the middle. What was going on? Could it be that the streamer had a thing for the big sister types? Regardless, with two beauties next to him, his luck with the ladies was certainly as impressive as his Lee Sin plays!

Curious about the stream, the newcomers from Ol’ Black’s stream started asking questions in chat.

「Is he a new streamer?」
「how is he only gold?!?!? that SOTO godlee is insane!!!!」
「Hi hotties! Nice tits! Now gimme your digits!」

Su Xue’s loyal viewers took it upon themselves to answer this bombardment of questions. They started replying enthusiastically.

「Yeah, this is a new streamer!」
「The streamer isn’t the li’l bro in the middle. It’s the long-haired girl next to him. Lately, we’ve booted her out from her seat, and now she’s the maid in charge of pouring water for him.」
「The li’l bro is really good! His ADC is friggin amazing!!!」
「The streamer lives with this li’l bro. He’s the landlady’s nephew.」

A deluge of messages filled the chat, leaving the newcomers from Ol’ Black’s stream in a daze. Only after a while did they understand the gist of the situation. Evening Snowfall was the long-haired beauty next to the kid? She was gorgeous!

Su Xue’s original viewers continued on enthusiastically,「But she’s really bad at the game! thats why we demoted ehr to maid!」

“Hey! I’m not the maid! Who gave you guys that power!? Listen here! I’m your streamer, got it?” Su Xue exploded. Then, she quickly fixed her expression and turned to the webcam with a warm smile. “Hello, everyone! Welcome to my stream! I’m Evening Snowfall. If you enjoy your stay here, please hit the follow button below the stream!”

Her old viewers immediately chided.

「Look! Look! She’s trying to scam people into watching her again!」
「Oh boy. I wonder how many more suckers will join us.」
「They have no idea what kind of feeding they’re in for.」

“You ingrates, shut it!” Su Xue shouted.

The bickering between Su Xue and her viewers appeared quite natural as if they were friends messing around with each other. The newcomers from Ol’ Black’s stream were amused.

「Hah, this chick is pretty funny」
「Sure i’ll give you a follow」
「i wanna see her play a game!!」

✹

The game was coming to an end. At the 19-minute mark, the third dragon was about to spawn. The previous two had been secured by Lin Feng’s Lee sin. The five enemies trembled in fear as they rushed to prevent the third dragon from falling in Lee Sin’s hands as well. They couldn’t afford to lose this one, or else red team would completely steamroll over the game with the third dragon buff stack.

That said, even without this third dragon buff stack, the blue team was already getting steamrolled and the game looked pretty bleak for them. Lin Feng’s performance in this game was nothing short of godly. After getting 20 stacks on his Sword of the Occult[mfn]This is the maximum number of stacks[/mfn], he was already starting to build tank items. Like this, he was impossible to kill 1v1.

The 500 viewers in Su Xue’s stream shifted their attention back to the game.

「this should be the last fight, right?」
「If the enemy loses this dragon, they might as well surrender」
「Tsk tsk, looks like the enemy is playing pretty cautiously…」
「What good wil that do em? are they blind or something? Look at godlee!」

Back in the game, Ol’ Black was roaming around the lower river looking for picks. The enemy Jinx and Ahri were his priority targets. “Dammit! Why are their carries playing so afraid!” he cursed in annoyance. Whenever his LeBlanc moved the slightest inch forward, Jinx and Ahri would immediately back far away, giving him no chance to go in. Ol’ Black was starting to wonder if he should just go in and try to force a teamfight. However, Lee Sin was already one step ahead of him.

“Let’s kill Jinx first!” Lin Feng shouted in high spirits in front of his screen. At this moment, he happened to find an opportunity to land a Sonic Wave on the enemy Jinx over a wall in the fog of war.

Was this it? Yes, this was it! The eyes of the hundreds of viewers in the stream lit up. The Sonic Wave landed! Lee Sin could go in! However, some of the newcomers didn’t agree.

「Lee’s damage is really high, but he’s also kinda squishy. If he jumps in with his q, even if he trades one for one, I don’t think it’ll be worth it.」

This analysis wasn’t wrong. That was why Lin Feng had no intention of trying to trade his life for Jinx’s! He had an even better plan! “Watch this play!” he exclaimed as he activated all his skills at lightning speed, his fingers gliding smoothly over his keys!

Lee Sin placed down a ward over the wall and hopped to it with Safeguard, which happened to place him right in front of Jinx! Then out came a Dragon’s Rage as a furious kicked swept forth.

“Flash!” Lin Feng excitedly exclaimed as his finger pressed down on his D key, activating the Summoner’s Spell. In an instant, Lee Sin disappeared from his original position and reappeared behind the Jinx. Then, the powerful kick connected with the petite gunner’s body. “YEEEEKUUUUH!!!” Lin Feng cried out, his voice overlapping with Lee Sin’s as it boomed out of the speakers. Jinx was launched airborne and sent flying toward Ol’ Black and the other players on red team!

“Perfect!” Lin Feng activated the second part of his first skill, Resonating Strike. Lee Sin’s figure immediately soared toward the airborne Jinx. In other words, Lee Sin went from diving into the heart of the enemy team to flying back out using their ad-carry as the springboard, all in the span of a second! As Lee Sin’s foot made contact with Jinx’s body, the last bit of her health disappeared.

《Legendary!》

The viewers gaped in shock. The chat went dead silent.

HOLY SHIT! A Dragon’s Rage-Flash? No, it wasn’t that simple. This was a stunning combo that linked three of his four skills and a summoner’s spell together! This was theoretically Lee Sin’s highest damage combo! At the same time, it was also the most mechanically difficult move to pull off! Not only that, but he had also escaped completely unscathed!

Afterwards, as if all the tension was released at once, the chat erupted with 666s. This Lee Sin was simply transcendent!

With a free double kill at bot and a solo kill in mid, there was no one left to defend dragon. So, Lin Feng led the charge to the dragon pit from bot lane and pinged LeBlanc to come help.

Ol’ Black was still in a daze before the ping snapped him back to his senses. As he headed toward the dragon, he couldn’t help but type in chat,「Nice play, Lee.」

When the viewers of Su Xue’s stream saw this message, they immediately stirred.

「Woah! Ol’ Black is praising us!」
「Dumbass! He’s praising li’l bro, not us!」
「Hehehe! Its fine! Were his viewers Praise for him is the same as praise for us!」
「whatever」

Su Xue stared at her chat speechless. In only a few games, her viewers had gone turncoat and joined team Lin Feng.

Zuo You was amazed, but she still remained a bit unconvinced. She quirked her lips. “That took no skill. The enemy bot lane was begging to get killed by pushing out so far without proper wards. And then you went and took both kills. What do you need them for? Aren’t they better on the ad-carry?””

Lin Feng didn’t mind as a carefree smile surfaced on his face. “The more kills I get, the easier it’ll be for me to carry!”

Zuo You rolled her eyes. “You, carry? What, are you going something stupid like full AD?”

“Yep!” Lin Feng nodded in high spirits.

✹

After securing the first dragon, everyone recalled back to base.

“Hmm… what items should I go?” Ol’ Black hummed as he browsed the shop. “This Ahri is terrible. So, it’s fine to go a bit agg—” He couldn’t finish his sentence as his eyes landed on a pop up in chat.

《EveningSnowfall (Lee Sin) purchased Sword of the Occult.》 

The viewers in Ol’ Black’s chat went crazy after seeing this notification.

「Holy crap! Lee went sword of the ioccult!!!!」
「Is he crazy!? What a god!」
「how many stacks you think he’lll get?」

“What the… This Lee really is trying to steal the spotlight from me here! He actually bought a Sword of the Occult?”

Meanwhile, Lin Feng’s purchase shocked Su Xue and Zuo You even more. The duo practically couldn’t believe their eyes.

“H-hey, aren’t you getting a little too ahead of yourself?” Su Xue asked.

“You’re letting those few kills go to your head! Don’t blame me for saying I told you so when you lose your lead!”

“Don’t worry! I’m a really good Sword of the Occult Lee!” Lin Feng spoke his catchphrase. From the moment Su Xue first met him, she’d heard him say this exact line a number of times, with only the last part changing. “Don’t worry. I’m a really good _____!” Ad-carry, Support, Jungle, Lee Sin, or anything else. Every time he spoke this sentence, he would live up to it. This game wouldn’t be any different.

At about seven minutes into the game, Lee Sin invaded the blue team’s jungle again and caught Jarvan doing Gromp[mfn]a lone monster standing in a corner across from blue buff[/mfn]. Of course, a 0/2/0 Jarvan IV stood no chance against the 4/0/0 Lee Sin going full damage.

Lee Sin kicked Jarvan IV away with his ultimate, Dragon’s Rage[mfn]Lee Sin performs a powerful roundhouse kick launching his target back, dealing physical damage to the target and any enemies they collide with. Enemies the target collides with are knocked into the air for a short duration.[/mfn], chipping away the last one third of his health. Jarvan IV collapsed to the ground, Sword of the Occult gained 2 stacks, and Lee Sin was now 5/0/0.

At about nine minutes into the game, Ol’ Black decided to go all in on the Ahri in mid. He bursted two-thirds of Ahri’s health in an instant, but she managed to escape the range of his mimicked Ethereal Chains[mfn]LeBlanc launches a chain that shackles the first enemy hit. If the target remains shackled for 1.5 seconds, LeBlanc roots them and deals additional damage[/mfn] with Flash. The low-health Ahri hurriedly retreated behind her tower.

Before Ol’ Black could get annoyed that the enemy escaped, a flash of silver energy came flying out from the wraith camp and struck Ahri! Lin Feng came flying over the wall with Resonating Strike[mfn]Sonic Wave: Lee Sin projects a discordant wave of sound to locate his enemies, dealing physical damage to the first enemy it encounters. If Sonic Wave hits, Lee Sin can cast Resonating Strike for the next 3 seconds. Resonating Strike: Lee Sin dashes to the enemy hit by Sonic Wave, dealing physical damage based on the target’s missing Health.[/mfn], then activated his ultimate, Dragon’s Rage.

Ahri collapsed to the ground as her summoner’s screen went grey.

Ol’ Black’s jaw dropped. “Fuck! What is that damage!?”

Sword of the Occult gained two more stacks. Lin Feng’s score was 6/0/0. He was unstoppable!

✹

Lin Feng’s damage soared the more he killed, and the more damage he did the more kills he got! With more than a dozen stacks on his Sword of the Occult, Lee Sin could just about instantly kill anyone on the enemy team!

The several dozen viewers in the stream felt their scalps tingling. Even Zuo You was in awe of Lin Feng despite her earlier scornful attitude. Only, Su Xue was completely calm. She was already numb to Lin Feng’s freakish game skills.

For Ol’ Black’s viewers, this was their first time seeing Lin Feng’s skills. It was surprise after surprise for them as they watched him pull off all sorts of crazy plays! He was an absolute force! Waves of shock battered their hearts! Noob stomping was nothing new to them. In fact, they’d seen Ol’ Black play mid Lee Sin plenty of times and carry the entire game just the same. However, they’d never seem someone as domineering as Lin Feng!

「the Lee is a streamer on Huya, right?」
「Damn, she’s so good!」
「Probably the best Lee I’ve ever seen…」
「can someone link her stream? I wanna go take a look」

Ol’ Black’s viewers were shocked and amazed, but this last message snapped many of them out of their daze.

「Right right! someone link godlee’s channel!」
「just search Evening Snowfall! Lezz goooo!!!!!」
「Go go go! Let’s go there and bow our heads in worship!」

Lin Feng was still happily picking off the enemies left and right wherever he went in the game. His Sword of the Occult was full at 20 stacks. The viewers in the stream were all in a daze. When they finally snapped out of their daze, they were just about to spam the chat with praise when they discovered some people were already ahead of them.

「Ol’ Black raid squad deploying!」
「Hell yeah we found godlees channel!!!」
「Target locked! Begin deployment! Men, launch the barrage!」

Then, the small stream of only a few dozen or so viewers was raided.

「6666666!!!」
「6666!」
「666666666666!」

A tsunami of 6s blotted out the chat. However, with the chat located far off in the corner of the screen and Lin Feng completely focused on the game, he failed to notice the commotion. Su Xue, on the other hand, immediately noticed it. She watched the 6s flooding her chat. They came in at a frightening speed! She could only stare blankly at this sudden development, her mind spinning as if a bomb went off in her head. W-w-what’s going on?

Lin Feng, Su Xue, Zuo You, and the viewers watched as Jarvan IV’s figure came into sight. He strutted over directly to his blue buff with his Drakebane lance, completely oblivious to the danger in the surroundings, and started attacking it.

The ward Lin Feng placed down in the blue camp earlier revealed everything Jarvan IV was doing. Lin Feng patiently watched Jarvan IV blow all his skills to get the blue buff to half health before moving up from the river entrance brush into the enemy jungle. Following along the ring-shaped wall around the blue camp, he tunneled into the brush just behind Jarvan IV. Then, he threw out a basic attack.

At half health and with his skills on cooldown, Jarvan IV was caught with his pants down. Before he could react, Lee Sin slammed down on the ground with Tempest, then activated Cripple before throwing out a Resonating Strike at the target.

A silver, glowing marker appeared over Jarvan IV’s head.

Jarvan IV never expected the enemy Lee Sin to Level 2 invade him. He’d already lost a good chunk of his health and blown all his skills, leaving him powerless to retaliate. Panicked, he flashed away in an attempt to escape.

“Hehehe, where do you think you’re going?” Lin Feng pressed down on his Q key with lightning speed. Lee Sin flew forward with the second part of Resonating Strike! Then, he started auto-attacking, keeping Jarvan IV from escaping with the slow from red buff.

Jarvan IV was already at low health. After eating several more auto-attacks from Lee Sin, his health bar drained. His last sliver of health was chipped away by the burn from red buff. Before he could even call out “Demacia”, he fell to his knees and collapsed dead on the ground.

《First blood!》 

Back in mid-lane where Ol’ Black was facing Ahri, he looked over to the enemy’s jungle in shock. “Oh shit! He actually got the kill?”

The viewers in Su Xue’s stream were similarly stunned. They immediately stirred and started flooding the chat with praise.

「6666666![mfn]In Chinese streams, spamming 666 is the same as saying, “You’re so cool!”. The pronunciation for six sounds the same as the character for slick/cool. I’m still wondering if I should keep this aspect of the raws in the translation or localize it to something else.[/mfn]」
「Godlee!!!!」
「holy shit! That was amazing!!!!1!」

“Huh? First blood that easily? No way, right?” Su Xue’s jaw dropped.

Zuo You also gaped in astonishment, but she quickly recovered. A nonchalant expression on her face, she remarked, “Eh, the enemy Jarvan IV was simply careless. Just a first blood. Nothing big.”

“Right! It’s just first blood!” Lin Feng nodded in agreement. Then, he excitedly declared, “So, let’s kill him again”

“K-kill him again?” Zuo You was taken aback as were the viewers. They soon learned how Lin Feng planned to bring this plan to fruition.

After killing Jarvan IV, Lin Feng turned back to kill the enemy’s blue buff which helped him level up to 3. Then, instead of returning back to base, he walked into the bush within the blue camp and waited.

Zuo You and the viewers couldn’t believe their eyes. T-t-this… he was planning another ambush! No way that would work again, right?

✹

Half–a-minute later, Jarvan IV arrived back at the blue camp. The poor Jarvan IV was clearly depressed after just giving away first blood. Little did he know that an even greater tragedy awaited him.

The viewers almost couldn’t bear to look. Too despicable! Too shameless! Killing him once wasn’t enough already? Now you want to kill him again!?

Lin Feng didn’t need to explain his plan this time. The viewers were well aware of what was going on. Of course, Jarvan IV was going to come back to his blue buff. He had no idea if his blue buff was still there or if Lee Sin didn’t fully clear it and left one or two small monsters[mfn]blue buff and red buff are camps of monsters consisting of one large one, which gives the blue and red buff respectively, and two small ones. If you only kill the big one, the camp doesn’t reset. This is a common tactic when counter-jungling. So, in this case Jarvan IV, needs to make sure the camp is cleared, or it won’t respawn[/mfn]. This was precisely why Lin Feng waited in ambush again.

Jarvan IV approached the blue camp. The viewers held their breaths and stared at the screen intently, fearing they would miss something if they blinked. When Jarvan IV entered the blue camp brush, he instantly gained vision of everything inside it, in particular the Lee Sin right in front of him!

Oh… fuck! Jarvan IV immediately tried to escape, throwing down his Demacian flag with Demacian Standard and jumping to it with Dragon Strike. However, Lee Sin had already thrown out a Sonic Wave at him, then dashed forward with the follow-up Resonating Strike. He slammed down with Tempest and Cripple for the slow! Then, he continued chasing down Jarvan IV.

Before long, the pitiful clatter of Jarvan IV’s armour crashing to the ground rang out across blue team’s jungle. The prince of Demacia died again, despair and grief lingering in his eyes. The Jarvan IV player was about to throw his mouse against the wall. All he could hear was the hooves of 10,000 grass-mud-horses stampeding through his mind. Fuck this Lee Sin! Dirty motherfucker!

《An enemy has been slain!》

When Jarvan IV died for the second time, Ol’ Black’s eyes went wide. “What the hell! Why is this Lee such a beast? He killed Jarvan IV again?”

The 50,000 viewers in Ol’ Black’s stream also went into an uproar. Many of them were starting to doubt their eyes and ears. Not even four minutes into the game and Lee Sin was already 2/0/0! Did the enemy Jarvan IV’s mouse stop working?

However, Ol’ Black quickly snapped out of it. His competitive spirit ignited. “That won’t do! I’m supposed to be the main show here! I can’t let Lee Sin steal all the limelight! Watch closely, guys! I’ll show you a massacre in mid!”

One had to admit that Ol’ Black was an excellent LeBlanc player. Especially in this low elo, he could easily out-lane the enemy Ahri who was Gold 2 at best.

✹

At the five-minute mark, Ol’ Black found an opportunity to engage. LeBlanc dashed into Ahri with Distortion and threw out a Sigil of Malice and Ethereal Chains. With sublime reaction speed, Ol’ Black sidestepped Ahri’s Charm and finished her off with Ignite.

“So, what do you think guys? Was that cool or what?” Ol’ Black asked his chat with a smug smile. Then, his smile froze as the game announcer’s voice rang out once more.

《Killing spree!》
《Double kill!》

Just as the viewers were about to shower Ol’ Black with praise, they were dazed. Lee Sin had picked up two more kills at bot lane! They erupted with excitement.

「Holy crap! 66666666!」
「he’s giving you a hardcarry masterclass ol’ black」
「Godleeeeeee!!!!!!」

All sorts of praises flooded the chat. Of course, none of it was directed at Ol’ Black but rather at the Lee Sin and his beautiful gank at bot lane. Ol’ Black was stupefied. “Is he scripting or something? Fuck! How is he picking up kills so fast!?”