Tang Bingyao watched Lin Feng’s Wukong teleport into the brush. Then she watched him walk out of the brush and then stand still. She smiled a little when Zeng Rui’s Thresh airballed a skillshot, trying to hit an invisible Wukong that wasn’t there. She didn’t know what Lin Feng was planning next either, so she waited and looked for a cue. When Wukong used a Nimbus Strike to jump to the Thresh and then started auto attacking the Jinx, that was the sign she was looking for. Both of Shanghai High School’s botlaners were far away from the safety of their tower. If she went in now, she could kill them! Lin Feng’s gank was exactly what she needed to get back into the game. She could get back the kill she’d given away to the Jinx and even the playing field out! 

She flicked her W key down–Rocket Jump! Her Tristana aimed her cannon at the ground and fired, launching herself up into the air and towards the Jinx. Then she threw a bomb at the Jinx and charged it up with her auto attacks. But just before it could explode and kill the Jinx, Lin Feng’s Wukong got one last hit in. One that killed the Jinx. ISH-ISH-ISH-ISH! I WAS TOO SLOW! Mhm. Mhm. Should’ve been quicker. But… mhmmmm… LIN FENG STOLE MY KILL!

While all this was going on, Wei Dong wasn’t standing around with his hands in his pockets. His Morgana went for Zeng Rui’s Thresh, throwing out a Dark Binding. It was a skillshot, one that hurled a sphere of dark magic that rooted the enemy champion that it hit. Wei Dong was planning on holding Thresh in place until Lin Feng and Tang Bingyao finished the Jinx off, and then the three of them would kill the Thresh. But Zeng Rui was too canny for that to work. His Thresh Flashed away to safety before the Dark Binding could hit, preserving his life. But he’d also given up on his ad-carry.

《An ally has been slain!》

Zeng Rui stared at his screen while the announcement from the game boomed in his ears. He’d survived the gank, but his ad-carry was dead. If that wasn’t bad enough, High School 13 now had three Champions in the bottom lane who were all at full health. Zeng Rui knew that his tower afforded him little to no protection right now. If the Wukong, Morgana, and Tristana wanted to, they could towerdive to get to him. There’s nothing I can do to stop them from towerdiving to get to me… I’d die if that happens. Zeng Rui looked at the map again. High School 13 had three champions in bot lane and the Dragon was about to spawn. They can take Dragon now because they’re virtually unopposed. But… hm. Dragon might actually save me. There isn’t enough time for them to kill me and then take Dragon. They’re going to ignore me and go for the dragon! 

If Lin Feng, Tang Bingyao and Wei Dong decided to kill Thresh, they’d have to towerdive to do it. They would eventually kill Thresh, but they’d have to sacrifice quite a bit of health between the three of them to accomplish it. More importantly, going after Thresh would give the rest of Shanghai High School’s team enough time to mount a defense at the Dragon Pit. Between the health they’d lose and the time they’d give the other team to organize, going for Dragon after killing the Thresh was beyond risky. 

Lin Feng helped Tang Bingyao and Wei Dong push the minion wave toward the Blue team’s outer tower. Then he pinged on the Dragon. Liu Yue figured out what was going down before the ping, and was already pathing towards the Dragon. Tang Bingyao and Wei Dong followed Lin Feng to the Dragon Pit. The four of them arrived at the same time, and started attacking the Dragon. Shanghai High School made the logical choice to let this one go. They didn’t even attempt a teamfight at the Dragon Pit, that would’ve been a suicidal move at this point in the game. And so, High School 13 peacefully killed the first Dragon with no opposition and secured the first Dragon Buff. All of their Champions now had additional attack damage and ability power until the buff expired.  

“That’s the first Dragon of the series to… HIGH SCHOOL 13!” Westwind shouted into his microphone, enjoying the immediate response from the High School 13 section in the crowd.

Silent Reed shook her head and said, “They got the Dragon buff, which is nice. But they also could’ve killed Zeng Rui and the outer tower. That must be worth more gold, right? A kill and a tower. High School 13’s Botlaners would also have a much easier time in lane then. Now… not so much. Zeng Rui still has everything under control.”

Westwind laughed and said, “Wrong!” Then he turned to the audience and said, “Show her how wrong she is! Shout with me… WROOOONG!” He was having a lot of fun with the crowd reacting to his whims, and it only got more fun when he saw how annoyed Silent Reed looked. After messing around for a little bit longer, he decided to explain his analysis. “Shanghai High School could’ve frozen the wave near their inner tower if High School 13 had destroyed the outer tower. That would effectively kill any possibility of High School 13 winning this game. Their botlaners would not be able to push that far into bot lane without proper vision and pressure on the other laners. If they did go in that deep, they’d get caught in a pincer attack and killed. Or flanked and killed. Or cut-off from their escape route and killed. If they went in, they’d be dead. Taking Dragon instead of going after Thresh and taking a tower, that was a smart decision by High School 13!” He paused for a moment and then added, “Still, this isn’t going to magically make the lane easier. Shanghai High School is still very much in command.”

✹

Six minutes from the start of the game, Lin Feng’s Wukong arrived back in the top lane. Between ganking bot and the Dragon, he managed to hit Level 6 and unlocked his ultimate. He actually managed to get more experience on top of that from killing the Jinx and a few minions. Lin Feng looked at his experience bar and estimated that he was at least half a level up on the Irelia. “This is great!” he said over the team’s voice chat, laughing. “I’m really strong now, guys!”

Lin Feng pushed the minion wave all the way to the Blue team’s outer tower. The Irelia kind of let it happen, falling back the moment she spotted him. It was a departure from her more aggressive playstyle earlier. Lin Feng narrowed his eyes and watched her suspiciously. What are you playing at? Setting up a gank, are we? Hm? That deduction seemed most likely. He guessed that the Xin Zhao was lying in ambush behind the Blue team’s outer tower, waiting for him to towerdive the Irelia. He looked over at Liu Yue and said over the team’s voice chat, “Come top, Liu Yue. Let’s get a double!”

Shanghai High School’s Jungler was hiding in the lane behind the Blue team’s outer tower. He stuck far enough back that High School 13 couldn’t get vision on him. This was a little trick Zeng Rui had forced him to practice for months before he finally got the hang of it. Right now, he could position himself exactly a hair-width behind the edge of the opponent’s vision. He said to Irelia, “Bait that Wukong. We’ll stunlock him under the tower and kill him.”

“Good. Let’s kill that bastard,” Shanghai High School’s Toplaner grumbled. He waited for his tower to fire a blast of energy at a caster minion on the edge of its range. One shot took away most of the monster’s health. The Irelia Bladesurged at it, killing it. Exactly like she’d done before. There was nothing suspicious about it. And the Wukong fell for it, jumping at her with Nimbus Strike! The Irelia immediately activated Equilibrium Strike and slashed at the Wukong to stun him. But just as her blade connected with the Wukong in front of her, a second Wukong appeared right next to the one she’d just hit. This second Wukong raised his enchanted staff high above his head and slammed it down on her. “Shit!” Shanghai High School’s Toplaner cursed. The Wukong had tricked her. She had stunned his clone. Again.

The Blue team’s outer tower locked onto the Wukong and fired off an energy shot. Xin Zhao ran forward, rushing into range to activate Audacious Charge. But just before he could, he was stopped by Zeng Rui shouting over the team’s voice chat, “STOP! Don’t go in. Retreat! Both of you, retreat!”

Xin Zhao froze on the spot. Shanghai High School’s Jungler had learned a few things while playing with Zeng Rui. The most important lesson was to do exactly what the Team Captain told him to do. The moves Zeng Rui had them do sometimes sounded strange and counterintuitive. More often than not, Shanghai High School’s Jungler didn’t know why he was doing something. But it always worked out in his favour. Zeng Rui had this uncanny ability to see things long before they happened. So when Zeng Rui told him to stop engaging Lin Feng’s Wukong, he didn’t hesitate or question it. His Xin Zhao froze and then backed up.

The Wukong firmly grabbed his enchanted staff with both hands and held it out horizontally in front of him. Then he went into a wild spin–Cyclone! The Irelia was knocked up into the air by the Monkey King wreaking havoc, the ruthless force knocking the health out of her! Then, out of nowhere, High School 13’s Rek’Sai appeared. She dug a tunnel from somewhere out of view and then flashed to arrive underneath the Irelia. There, she Unburrowed, keeping her airborne for an additional second.

The Irelia fell back to the ground with only a little bit of health remaining. She flashed away, but the Wukong followed right behind her with a Flash of his own. They ran past the Blue team’s outer tower, up to the Xin Zhao, who was now forced to join the fight. The Irelia stopped here for a brief second. She turned around to help her Jungler, who charged at the Wukong. But the Wukong ignored Xin Zhao and went straight for her. He raised his enchanted staff above his head, firmly clutching it with both hands, and smacked the Irelia’s life out of her. One down. One to go. Lin Feng turned his attention to the Xin Zhao… who was running away with his tail tucked between his legs.

《You have slain an enemy!》

Lin Feng shook his head, unhappy despite the kill. He grumbled, “If that Xin Zhao had dashed in earlier, I would’ve gotten a double kill. Stupid Xin Zhao…”

On the other side of the stage, Zeng Rui glared at his Toplaner. He barked over the team’s voice chat, “I told you to retreat. Why would you stay and fight? If I say back, you back!” He took a deep breath and added, “Nevermind. It’s fine. We only gave away one kill. Let’s not make any more mistakes.” He had guessed correctly that the Rek’Sai was waiting out of sight to help the Wukong, which was why he’d told his Jungler and Toplaner to retreat. Unfortunately, the Toplaner didn’t get the warning in time. Zeng Rui shook his head and quietly mumbled, “That thundering dumbass is going to be a real problem now…”

✹

At 8 minutes, Shanghai High School’s Midlaner exploited the difference in skill and poked Chen Ze’s Twisted Fate down to a quarter of his health. Chen Ze retreated back underneath his outer tower and was debating whether he should go back to base, or stick around a little longer. Shanghai High School decided to make the decision for him. Zeng Rui had his Thresh come up from the bottom side Jungle, while the Xin Zhao came down from the top side Jungle, sandwiching the Twisted Fate. They sent him back to the fountain without losing anything.

“Oh boy, that was beautiful. BEAU! TI! FULL!” Westwind exclaimed, sitting on the edge of his seat. “What a play by Zeng Rui. WOOO! That’s a pro play right there! Come on, everyone, with me! WOOOOOOO!”

Chen Ze looked at his grey screen and kicked against the back of his desk. The gank was so obvious in hindsight, but he’d completely missed it. And now Shanghai High School also destroyed the outer tower in the mid lane. “I should’ve been more careful,” he apologized over the team’s voice chat. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine!” Lin Feng replied. “I’ll come around mid for a gank in two minutes!”

At 10 minutes, Lin Feng’s Wukong roamed to the mid lane. He stopped in the brush right above the mid lane and activated Warrior Trickster. His real body entered stealth, after which he closed in on the Orianna. She never even saw him coming. He dashed at her from a springboard of clouds and directly linked his Nimbus Strike with a Crushing Blow, slamming his enchanted staff down on her head. Then he held his enchanted staff out straight in front of him and started spinning around himself, each rotation a little faster than the last–Cyclone! He knocked the Orianna airborne, shearing away at her health.

Chen Ze had his Twisted Fate rush forward and selected the golden card from Pick a Card. This was a single target stun. His target was the Orianna. But he didn’t link it properly with Wukong’s ultimate skill. The Orianna was still in mid-air when he stunned her. The two crowd control skills overlapped, making them less effective than they could’ve been. The Orianna survived the stun. She broke free and flashed away to the safety of her outer tower.

Lin Feng only had eyes for the Orianna, for the bar of health above her head that was almost empty. He ran after her, ignoring the energy shots from the Blue outer tower. Ignoring his better judgement. He could only think about the thrill of the kill. He looked down at his skill bar. Nimbus Strike had come off a cooldown. He pressed down on the E key to activate it. His Wukong leapt off a springboard of clouds towards the Orianna…

Zeng Rui’s Thresh appeared from out of nowhere. He Flashed towards the Orianna and sent his chain and sickle Flaying forward, knocking the Wukong back mid-dash. Then he threw out his Death Sentence and called forth the Box, a prison of spectral walls. The Wukong was stunned, slowed, and unable to advance or retreat. He was stuck underneath the Blue team’s outer tower until the last of his health disappeared.

《You have been slain!》

Lin Feng scrunched his face as he looked at the grey screen on his monitor. “Eh?” he mumbled. “Since when was the Thresh there?”

The Shanghai High School students in the audience finally had a reason to cheer for their team. They jumped up to their feet, making the same exaggerated celebrations High School 13’s students had a couple of minutes earlier.

“ZENG RUI! ZENG RUI!”
“WWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
“HAHAHAHA! Serves that cocky monkey right!”
“THE MONKEY IS DEAD! THE MONKEY IS DEAD!”
“The turn around! Siiiiick!”
“DEEEE, wait for it, SERVED!”

An Xin turned around to look at the audience. One half was cheering, while the other half was quiet and looked shocked. She shook her head and facepalmed, mumbling, “Lin Feng, you’re a moron. An absolute, utter, ridiculous moron. Why do you always get so itchy for kills…?

While the audience was watching the fight happening in the top lane and getting hyped over that First Blood that Lin Feng picked up, there was another fight taking place down in the bot lane. One far more fierce than the one that happened in the top lane. The bottom lane was the weak link in High School 13’s overall team composition. Despite the fact that both Tang Bingyao and Wei Dong had improved greatly in the training before this tournament and during it, there was too much of a skill gap between them and Shanghai High School’s bot laners. The bot lane was definitely going to be the hardest lane to win for High School 13, even with all the experience and bot lane synergy that Tang Bingyao and Wei Dong had gained. 

The largest disparity in this bot lane matchup was between the Supports. Zeng Rui was a Challenger and one of the best players at the high school level. Wei Dong, on the other hand, barely qualified for Diamond on days when he was playing at his absolute best. A difference in skill that great wasn’t something that could be overcome through positive thinking and determination. But it could be overcome with help from everyone else on the team.

Tang Bingyao and Wei Dong knew this was going to be a difficult game for them. They’d planned for it, and spent most of their prep time before the Finals practicing defensive plays and strategies. The game plan was simple. As long as they could keep things relatively even with Shanghai High School’s bot laners and avoided getting killed, they’d have some flexibility. But if they got rolled over quickly, then there wouldn’t be much that anyone in the other lanes could do to help them out. To maximize their defense and survivability, Wei Dong had gone with the champion Morgana. His job was to always be on guard and use Morgana’s Black Shield to protect Tang Bingyao’s Tristana from any crowd control spells aimed at her. Conceptually, it sounded easy. But in practice, it was anything but simple. Wei Dong had to accurately predict where Zeng Rui was going to be and when he was going to use a crowd control skill in order to block it. Unfortunately, that was also where the difference in skill between Wei Dong and Zeng Rui was most pronounced. 

In the middle of bot lane, Zeng Rui’s Thresh squared away and faced the Tristana and the Morgana. Then he pressed the Q key–Death Sentence! His Thresh sent a hook hurtling at Wei Dong’s Morgana! Zeng Rui smiled to himself. He knew how this played out in Wei Dong’s head. It was the positioning that tricked poor Wei Dong into thinking that his Thresh hook was coming for the Tristana. So Wei Dong’s Morgana had thrown up a Black Shield to protect Tristana, leaving herself completely open. Zeng Rui knew that Wei Dong was probably cursing himself and panicking, trying to switch the Black Shield over. But it was too late. The hook was already in Morgana. But Zeng Rui had no intention of pulling or killing the Morgana. 

Zeng Rui immediately pushed down on his Q key again, which made his Thresh dash towards the Morgana. That put him right in the attack range of Tang Bingyao’s Tristana. He hit her with an Exhaust, and Flayed her back down to the ground when she tried to Rocket Jump away. Zeng Rui’s Thresh created enough of an opening for Shanghai High School’s Jinx to Flash in and fire three grenades at the Tristana with Flame Chompers! One of them exploded underneath the Tristana, stunning her instantly. That was it. The Fat Lady belted out a mournful aria for the Tristana, as Thresh and Jinx piled on and killed her before the stun elapsed.

《You have been slain!》

Tang Bingyao slumped back in her chair a little as her screen turned grey. You have been slain! The message echoed in her head, shredding her confidence. She bit her lip and watched as Shanghai High School’s botlaners chased poor Wei Dong’s Morgana. Fortunately for them, he managed to narrowly escape from between the jaws of death. But he had to blow his Flash to do so.

Wei Dong quickly glanced over to Tang Bingyao and said over the team’s voice chat, “Sorry, that was my bad.” He’d made two mistakes, one right after the other, which led to Tristana dying. The first was miscalculating where the Thresh hook was headed, and letting his Morgana get hooked. The second was panicking and trying to quickly switch the Black Shield onto himself. If he’d figured out that Zeng Rui was targeting Tang Bingyao, he could’ve saved her by giving her the Black Shield. He might’ve died, but still would’ve been better than the ad-carry dying.

“Mhm… It’s fine,” Tang Bingyao replied, chewing on her lips. It’s not fine. She looked at the bottom lane. It was hard enough going in. Now that the Jinx had a kill and a full minion wave over her, it was damn near impossible. Tang Bingyao didn’t know if she had it in her to turn this around. But if things kept up this way, she was going to get buried. She wouldn’t just lose, she would get rolled over. Humiliated. No!  She clenched her fists. I’m not going out like this! Steely resolve burned in her eyes. I’m not losing this!

Tang Bingyao pressed down on the W key as soon as her Tristana respawned in the fountain. The little yordle aimed her cannon at the ground and fired off, launching herself into the air and towards her lane. Then she ran as fast as she could. Tang Bingyao panned the camera over to the bot lane and watched the Jinx last hit yet another minion. That was one more she would have to catch up on. She bit hard on her lips and mumbled to herself, “I’m not losing this! Mhm!”

Tang Bingyao reached her outer tower, where Wei Dong was waiting for her. Shanghai High School’s Botlaners had zoned him out of lane. And they kept that going once she was back. She could barely get close enough to the Blue minions to last hit them. The Jinx kept pushing her further and further away by firing off long range missiles. Tang Bingyao knew how to play around that. Technically. The only thing stopping her from doing so was the Thresh. Zeng Rui wasn’t even using any skills. He was putting a ton of pressure on Tang Bingyao simply by moving around in the lane. She kept catching herself almost walking into a possible Death Sentence from him, forcing her to walk in a different direction. But the Jinx would be waiting for her there. No. At this rate… Tang Bingyao was chewing on the inside of her cheek, looking lost. Her Tristana ran back and forth in lane, not straying far from the outer tower, giving Shanghai High School’s Botlaners a bigger advantage with every passing second. No! “I won’t give up,” she mumbled to herself. I just need to try harder! I… I can’t let the team down. Mhm.

✹

Everything was going great for Lin Feng in the top lane. He had his Wukong pressure the Irelia while he chanted, “Bring me a real challenge. Bring me a real challenge.” 

To that end, Shanghai High School’s Irelia was attempting to bring him a real challenge. She was a good player who climbed all the way to Diamond 1. Right now, though, she was trying everything she possibly could to prevent losing this lane. She’d managed to get the minion wave all the way back to her tower, and then froze it just outside the tower’s range. It was not an easy task to pull off, since Lin Feng’s Wukong was doing everything possible to disrupt the wave freeze. But she managed to do it, and she also found a few opportunities here and there to attack Wukong. 

Her go-to trick was dashing to a minion near the Wukong with Bladesurge and killing it. This reset the cooldown on Bladesurge. Then she’d auto attack the Wukong before using Bladesurge to dash back to a minion who was closer to her tower. Then she’d run underneath the safety of the tower, making it difficult for the Wukong to do anything back to her without risking a tower-dive death. And she also had her Equilibrium Strike ready and waiting as a card up her sleeve. If the Wukong ever tried to counterattack or trap her, she could just stun him underneath her tower.

Lin Feng watched the Irelia dash back and forth, amazed at her mechanical prowess. “Wow! So fancy!” he whispered to himself. Then he giggled a little before saying, “Yeah! More of that! Push me harder! Make me work for it!” Irelia was playing her little trick flawlessly. He couldn’t engage her, because the only way he could was with a towerdive. Then she’d just stun him and kill him. It’s fine. I’m not in a rush anyway. We can take it slow! The Irelia could try anything she wanted, she could pull every trick in the book, it wouldn’t make a difference. She could not change the fact that he was very much in command of the lane. But… since I’m not going to get any further with her right now… 

Lin Feng knew that getting another kill on the Irelia was going to be more than a little difficult right now. And it wasn’t worth the risk. So Lin Feng decided to do what any good Toplaner would do in this situation.  He started looking for opportunities elsewhere on the map. One of his summoner spells was Teleport, and he hadn’t used it yet. More importantly, Irelia had used her Teleport to get back into lane after he killed her. That meant that her spell was still on cooldown, and she couldn’t use it to follow him.

Lin Feng panned his camera to the bot lane and spotted an opening. He asked over the team’s voice chat, “Do the Jinx and Thresh have Flash?”

“The Thresh still has his, but the Jinx doesn’t,” Wei Dong replied.

“Perfect!” Lin Feng said, grinning. “I’m coming bot!” But first, he had to do something about the minion wave in the top lane. He pushed it out hard, thawing and then shattering the minion wave freeze that the Irelia had worked so hard to create. Then he recalled back to base. He spent his gold to upgrade his items and then teleported to a ward in the bot lane.

Shanghai High School’s Thresh and Jinx were pushing the minion wave in bot lane all the way to High School 13’s outer tower. But they had no idea that Wei Dong had warded one of the brushes along the bottom side of the bot lane. Recently, Wei Dong had turned into somewhat of a specialist when it came to warding. He wasn’t as mechanically gifted as other Supports nor was he the best shotcaller. But he was an expert when it came to placing deep wards for Teleport ganks. A red pillar of light descended on the ward.

Zeng Rui spotted it. He shouted, “Retreat!” over his team’s voice chat. Then started running back towards the Blue outer tower. The Jinx lagged behind him, so he threw his lantern at her. She clicked it and dashed to his side. Zeng Rui commanded, “To the tower! To the tower! I got this!” He then moved towards the brush to intercept the Wukong. The Teleport animation finished and a moment later, the Wukong walked out of the brush and towards him. But then the Wukong abruptly stopped walking and stood still. 

Zeng Rui pressed down on his E key–Flay! Jinx was behind him, the Wukong was in front of him. It was beyond obvious. He is trying to get past me with Warrior Trickster! His Thresh sent a chain scythe flaying forward, hoping to knock back and slow the Wukong who he thought was running past him in stealth.

The audience could clearly see what was happening on the large screen above the stage. They were watching in spectator mode and could see Champions hidden with stealth. But they weren’t watching an invisible Wukong running past Thresh. They were watching a Wukong stand in place, tricking the Thresh into wasting his Flay!

“WHAT? That actually worked! Hahaha!”
“Holy crap… 300 IQ move right there!”
“WOOOWW! How even… DANG!”
“That Wukong has over 9000 IQ!”
“HAHAHA! Best Support my ass! That Thresh SUCKS!”
“LOL! How do you even fall for that! What a noob!”
“DAYUM! WHAT A PLAY! That Wukong… DAYUM!”

Lin Feng pressed down on the E key–Nimbus Strike! His Wukong leapt forth from a springboard of clouds and dashed in on the Thresh. Then he charged past the Thresh and slammed down on the Jinx’s head with his enchanted staff–Crushing Blow!

Zeng Rui reacted almost instantly. He had his Thresh turn around and throw his sickle at the Wukong–Death Sentence! But Lin Feng saw this coming too. He was even waiting for it. The moment the animation started, he slammed down on the W key–Warrior Trickster! His Wukong split into two, the clone replacing the real body. The Death Sentence hit the clone, while the real Wukong was already pressing forward in stealth. Lin Feng grinned and said in his best impression of Wukong, “Improve your skills! Then find me again.”

That thundering… Zeng Rui stared at his screen, his eyes wide in shock. He couldn’t even finish his thought. This wasn’t a dumbass move. Crap. Crap! CrapCrap! He rushed to help the Jinx, though he’d already used all his skills.

Westwind jumped to his feet and clutched his microphone tightly in his grasp. “DID YOU SEE THAT? DID YOU ALL SEE THAT?” He waited for a second. He allowed the audience to start cheering. But they barely did. There was somewhat of a stunned silence. “I can’t hear you!” he shouted, which made the audience get a little rowdier. “I CAN’T HEAR YOU!” That did it. A few people in the crowd shot to their feet and started cheering and whistling, which in turn saw more people getting up. Before long, more than half the crowd was up on their feet, throwing their arms around in the air and screaming at the top of their lungs, “WIN-FENG! WIN-FENG!”

Silent Reed wasn’t one of them. She sat, stunned. “This Wukong is nuts. Bananas. Crazy,” she mumbled. “That was an insanely risky move to play. And he did it against Zeng Rui of all people! That’s a once and then never again kind of move, if you ask me. Zeng Rui won’t fall for it again.”

《Welcome to Summoner’s Rift!》

Shanghai High School’s team loaded in on the bottom left of the map, where their blue fountain was located. They bought their starter items and went to their respective lanes. Zeng Rui pinged the Toplaner and said, “Listen. You need to be careful. BE SMART! That raging dumbass that you’re up against, he’s cocky as shit. He’s going to be aggressive the second he finds you in lane, and he’s going to keep being aggressive. You gotta be careful! Understand? It doesn’t matter what else happens, we’ll figure it out. But you gotta be careful and make sure Lin Feng doesn’t get a kill. CAREFUL! If his Wukong starts to snowball, we’re fucked. We’ll end up losing the first game in this series!”

Shanghai High School’s Toplaner nodded at Zeng Rui. Then he started mumbling to himself, “Gotta focus! Wukong’ll be aggressive. Need to endure, survive. I got this! I’m good! Just gotta focus and I got this!” He had his Irelia stop near her outer tower and wait for the first minion wave to arrive. He watched as Lin Feng’s Wukong walked up all the way to the edge of his tower’s range. Then he watched as the Wukong started spamming the laugh emote and the taunt animation. He knew that Lin Feng was trying to bait him out, but he wasn’t going to bite. His Irelia didn’t budge, and eventually the Wukong started to lose interest. She stuck close to her tower and waited until her minion wave arrived and pushed Wukong back. He adhered to Zeng Rui’s words almost religiously, only moving his Irelia out from underneath the tower when the Red and Blue minion waves clashed in the middle of the lane. He couldn’t just hide under the tower forever, he had to get some last hits in and get some experience to level his Irelia. Otherwise he’d just be dead weight during this game! 

Lin Feng smiled. He didn’t really think his emote spam was going to bait the Toplaner out. But it was fun to do! He had to hold himself back from giggling the whole time he was doing it. When it failed, he decided to stop messing around and try something way more pro gamer. He sent his Wukong into the brush along the top wall of the lane, and waited. The minion wave was fighting just a few steps away, and eventually the Irelia wandered out from the safety of her tower to get some experience and last hits. Lin Feng smiled again, and pressed down on his E key–Nimbus Strike! His Wukong leapt forth from a springboard of clouds and dashed to the Irelia. At the end of his dash, Wukong whacked Irelia with his staff, and two shadows struck the minions around her. Then Wukong followed up with an auto attack, before retreating back to safety. The Irelia only managed to get a single auto attack on him in this exchange. 

This was the first volley in a game of cat and mouse that Lin Feng played with the Toplaner from Shanghai High School. He’d have his Wukong jump within attacking distance of the Irelia, and then jump out again. Sometimes he’d get a poke or two in, and sometimes he wouldn’t. Lin Feng maintained this while also simultaneously getting the last hit in on every minion around him. The Irelia was forced to a pitiful state, where she was constantly forced to split her attention between last hitting minions and protecting herself from Lin Feng’s Wukong. It was too much for her to handle, and she started making tiny mistakes.

Those mistakes were glaringly obvious to Lin Feng. He noticed every single one, and how frequently the Irelia was making them. He kept up the pressure until the Irelia started to crumble. That’s when he saw that the Irelia was playing far more defensively than she needed to, or should be playing. He nodded to himself, Irelia’s on the defensive… that’s a weakness I can use! He waited for Nimbus Strike to come off cooldown and then used it to go in on the Irelia one more time. But this time was different. Instead of backing off after poking at her, he whacked her twice with auto attacks. The Irelia panicked and started backing away. But Lin Feng was relentless. His Wukong chased after the Irelia, getting a hit in every now and then. He chased Irelia right up to the edge of the Blue minion wave, and a little past it. Then he pulled an abrupt 180 and retreated. In this engagement, Lin Feng had done a lot more damage to the Irelia than she’d managed to give his Wukong. But because he’d gone in too hard and let the Blue minions target him, he’d taken a few more hits than he should’ve. At the end of this exchange, both Wukong and Irelia had lost approximately 25% of their health.

Lin Feng and his Wukong went back to last hitting Blue minions. He’d scared the shit out of the Irelia and amped up the pressure, while also getting in a good bit of damage. “My journey’s only beginning,” he mumbled to himself. Then he grinned. He genuinely loved saying Champion voice lines out loud. He knew it was childish, and he knew that people called him chunibyo for it. But he didn’t care. He was the spirit of chuuni! More importantly, he’d gotten exactly what he wanted from that exchange. The Irelia had lost a large amount of health, which made her that much easier to kill. He looked at the Irelia on his screen and said, “I will be the best.”

Wukong and Irelia were both melee Champions. If they wanted to last hit a minion, they needed to walk right up to the minion to attack it. This created a situation where the two Champions were constantly fighting each other before they even hit Level 2. Then, after hitting Level 2, this went to a whole new level. They now had double the numbers of skills to use, and twice as many options to outplay their opponents.  It turned into a dance of blows, with both sides trying to squeeze out an advantage.

Lin Feng saw an opening! His Wukong used Nimbus Strike to dash to the Irelia and whack her, and then followed up with an auto attack. Then he started retreating back to his side of the lane and minion wave. But the Irelia couldn’t take being pushed around anymore. She chased after him, raining auto attack after auto attack. Lin Feng smiled, and had his Wukong zig and zag while continuing to run away. He let the Irelia think that he was being pressured, and pulled her past his Red minions. Right on cue, the Red minions started attacking her. This was the moment that Lin Feng was waiting for. Just as the Irelia slowed down to turn around and retreat, his Wukong went in with an auto attack. The Irelia froze in place for a split-second, indecisive. She couldn’t decide if she wanted to run back to trade an auto attack or continue running. Lin Feng’s Wukong was just out of the Irelia’s attack range. But unfortunately for her, she was not out of Wukong’s attack range! She was the perfect distance away for a Crushing Blow! Wukong grasped his enchanted staff with both hands and raised it high above his head. Then he swung it down with all his might!

“WOOOOOOO!” Westwind exclaimed. He stood and leaned towards the large screen above the stage, his hand supporting him on the caster desk while the other clutched the microphone. “Top lane action! TOP LANE ACTION! Let’s hear it for the two in top lane! WOOOO! What a display of skill! Absolutely phenomenal!”

Silent Reed looked up at her co-caster and added, “Lin Feng is surprisingly good at Wukong, for a Midlaner. Those were some really impressive mechanics! The way he’s controlling the distance between them… I can’t fault Zeng Rui’s Toplaner for losing that exchange.”

Lin Feng didn’t hear the Shoutcasters saying his name or a word that they said about him. Nor did he hear the High School 13 student in the audience chanting his name. All his attention was focused on the game in front of him, and on making the Irelia look like a beginner at the game. He was toying with her and leading her like a puppet on strings with his Wukong’s skills. But this was only the start. He grinned as he looked at his experience bar. Almost there. Wukong’s most deceitful skill was Warrior Trickster. He could leave a dummy on the Rift and hide in stealth for a couple of seconds. The skill had limitless application potential, especially in the hands of Lin Feng. Think this is bad? Just you wait, darlin’. It hasn’t even begun to get bad yet. I’m gonna have you wondering who let all these motherfuckin’ snakes on this motherfuckin’ plane! 

At 3 minutes and 40 seconds into the game, Lin Feng’s Wukong hit Level 3 and learned Warrior Trickster. This skill was the primary differentiating factor between good Wukong players and bad Wukong players. It was THE most important skill in Wukong’s toolkit, arguably more important than his ultimate skill. There was even a well-known quote from a skilled pro player who climbed up to Challenger with Wukong as his main, a quote that endured as essential advice to anyone who wanted to get good with Wukong. “A great fucking Wukong ain’t determined by how many Champions he can hit with his ult. That’s just a monkey spinning around with a stick, and no one gives a shit about that. A god-like Wukong doesn’t give a shit about spinning. If you want to spin-to-win, play Garen. The measure of a great Wukong is in how well he can use Warrior Trickster to fool and bait enemy champions. And a real Wukong God can fool his teammates as well as his opponents with Trickster God.”

The Irelia, on the other hand, was starting to run real low on health. She was playing more and more defensively, and was currently only using Bladesurge to last hit minions. The skill allowed her to dash to a target and damage them. If she killed the target she dashed to, the cooldown on the skill would instantly reset. The Irelia used this to dash to a minion, get the last hit in, and then use the cooldown reset to quickly dash away to safety. She thought she was being clever and playing it safe, moving around too quickly for Lin Feng’s Wukong to whack her. But she never realized that she was doing exactly what Lin Feng wanted her to do. 

Lin Feng waited until he found the perfect Red minion that was almost dead. He knew the Irelia would dash in with Bladesurge to kill that minion, and he waited patiently for her to jump to the minion that was currently serving as the bait for his trap. Which the Irelia did. The instant she arrived at the minion, Lin Feng pressed down on the E key and sent his Wukong dashing in with Nimbus Strike! Then just before the attack from Nimbus Strike landed, Wukong used Warrior Trickster to create a clone that attacked Irelia! While the Irelia was busy with the clone, the real Wukong was hidden in stealth. 

The Irelia panicked when she saw Wukong barreling towards her. She used Equilibrium Strike, which stunned a target who had more health than her. It was a desperate attempt to buy herself a few more seconds to run away to safety. But unfortunately for her, she ended up stunning a clone. The real Wukong was currently invisible to her and in the process of walking behind her. The clone dissipated, and Irelia figured out what had happened. But before she could do anything about it, an auto attack from the real Wukong landed on her back. Then he raised his enchanted staff high above his head and slammed it down on the Irelia–Crushing Blow!

Ouyang shot to his feet, his arms up in the air, and shouted, “That’s my bro! Break her ankles! Kill that biiaatttchhh!” The High School 13 students behind him joined in, nearly half of the venue now calling Lin Feng their bro and demanding he kill the Irelia. But Lin Feng didn’t hear any of this. He was still completely focused on his screen. He pushed towards Shanghai High School’s outer tower, where the Irelia was now hiding underneath, and looked at the cooldowns on his skills. He laughed and said, “Been waiting for this.” Then he pressed down on the D key–Flash! His Wukong blinked forward and then dashed at the Irelia with Nimbus Strike. He followed up with a Crushing Blow, slamming down his staff on Irelia’s head.

《First Blood!》

“FIRST BLOOD! High School 13’s evil scheme is working! Their Toplaner got FIRST BLOOOOOOD!” Westwind cried out into his microphone. Then he winked at Silent Reed and added, “Everyone, with me. Let’s hear it for High School 13! One, two, WOOOOOOOO!”

The audience shot up to their feet. They shouted and cheered and cried out in disbelief. High School 13 was winning the Shanghai 16 School Tournament! They didn’t care that this was the first game in a best of five series, or that this was only the first kill in the first game. High School 13 had gotten a kill while Shanghai High School didn’t, and that was all that mattered. 

“HIGH SCHOOL 13! WIN FENG! WIN FENG!”
“SWEEEEEEEET!”
“WWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
“OH MY GOD! THAT WUKONG! WOOOW!”
“WE’RE WINNING! WE’RE ACTUALLY WINNING!”
“I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS! WE’RE… OH MY GOOOD!”

An Xin looked at the members of the team jumping around her, cheering with the crowd behind her, and smiled. Not too shabby there, Lin Feng. Nice to see that you’re shaking off the rust, but this isn’t even close to how good you used to be. I’m expecting a lot more out of you! Now make thi— Her thoughts were interrupted by the game announcer.

《A Champion from the Red team has been slain!》

Blue coloured spotlights flashed over Shanghai High School’s side of the stage. They were the Blue team in Game 1 of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament Finals. The players from Shanghai High School and High School 13 went into Champion Select, and started as always with the ban phase, where they could ban three Champions each. Shanghai High School used these bans to target Lin Feng. Their first ban was LeBlanc, a Champion Lin Feng had used to great effect on multiple occasions. Then they banned Fizz, and finally they banned Yasuo. They were three assassins. Three Champions that could win a game on their own. Three Champions that Lin Feng loved to play.

Westwind sat at the caster desk. He looked out over the overcrowded venue. The audience exclaimed in surprise to the bans. It seemed like no one expected Shanghai High School to single out the mid lane. Westwind grinned. He grabbed the microphone from its stand on the desk and shouted into it, “There you have it! Shanghai High School recognizes that Lin Feng is the real threat on High School 13! But we’ve seen Shanghai International do the same thing in the Semifinals. The real question here, people, is this: How deep is Lin Feng’s Champion pool? I think it might be… TOO DEEP!”

Silent Reed looked over at Westwind standing next to her and said, “I don’t know if they’re singling out this Lin Feng guy. Zeng Rui banned three strong Champions in the current meta. I think he just doesn’t want to deal with those three Champions. It probably has nothing to do with who their opponent is. Don’t forget how good Zeng Rui’s team is.”

Zeng Rui had come up with a strategy for his team to shine, rather than shutting Lin Feng down. He saw no point in changing an entire strategy in reaction to one opponent having a good couple of games. The bans of LeBlanc, Fizz, and Yasuo had nothing to do with Lin Feng and everything to do with Shanghai High School’s Midlaner. Zeng Rui recognized, especially after the Semifinals, that Lin Feng was a very good Midlaner and that he was the only real threat on High School 13’s team. So they had to shut him down. The best way to go about that was to give his own Midlaner, who was incredibly skilled, every advantage he could get before the game even started. He performed better against non-assassin type Champions, so Zeng Rui decided to ban out the strongest assassin type Champions in the current meta.

Zeng Rui didn’t worry about Tang Bingyao and her Draven either. She was a good ad-carry, but she wasn’t anywhere near the level of Lin Feng. On top of that, Shanghai High School’s bot lane was their strongest lane. They had a Diamond 1 ad-carry and  Zeng Rui was a Challenger Support. There wasn’t a doubt in Zeng Rui’s mind that they would win the fight in bot lane. They would stop Tang Bingyao before she could achieve anything with her Champion. The only variable Shanghai High School had to worry about in this game was the mid lane. They had to shut Lin Feng down.

An Xin looked across the stage at Zeng Rui, smiling. She’d seen her fair share of Champion Selects and knew exactly what Zeng Rui was up to. I’m almost impressed. Decent plan to ban out Lin Feng and beat Tang Tang in lane. It can work, I suppose. Heh. If Lin Feng was going mid that is… She giggled as she helped her team decide on the final Champion to round out their team.

Game 1 of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament Finals:

Shanghai High School (Blue) versus High School 13 (Red)

Top lane: Irelia versus Twisted Fate
Jungle: Xin Zhao versus Rek’Sai
Mid lane: Orianna versus Wukong
AD-carry: Jinx versus Tristana
Support: Thresh versus Morgana

After both teams had locked in their Champions, the players had a minute to confirm their Summoners Spells and switch Champions around between the team members. High School 13 used this time to have Lin Feng and Chen Ze constantly switch their Twisted Fate and Wukong back and forth. The crowd watched it happen and laughed. Westwind made a joke about it, saying how it would bite High School 13 in the bum if they didn’t get it correct at the last second. And then the last few seconds of the Champion Select counted down. It wasn’t allowed to switch the Champions around anymore. Chen Ze was playing Twisted Fate while Lin Feng was playing Wukong.

“WHAT?” Westwind shouted into his microphone. “Are you guys seeing what I’m seeing? Is this FORREALS?” The audience roared in reply. They were seeing the same thing he was. High School 13 had given the Twisted Fate, a mid lane Champion, to their Toplaner! And they’d given Wukong, a top lane Champion, to their Midlaner! Westwind clutched his microphone and shouted, “WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? Was it a mistake? IS IT? I KNOW! Let’s get a close up on that Midlaner and Toplaner! Get them on the big screen!”

The cameraman had the same idea as Westwind and was already in the process of doing that. Every player had a camera on their computer that was pointed at their face. The one for Lin Feng and Chen Ze were enlarged and broadcasted on the large screen. Chen Ze looked a little nervous, but not anxious, while Lin Feng was carelessly laughing about something. This wasn’t how a team who’d screwed up their Champion Select in the Finals of a big tournament would act. Everyone knew that.

Silent Reed looked at the large screen, shaking her head, and said, “That’s just dirty. I don’t know what they’re playing at here, but that’s just dirty. They’re sending their Midlaner top and their Toplaner mid. Let’s just ignore that and focus on the other lane. Both Jinx and Tristana are strong meta picks. They can really pop off in teamfights with their resets. And Zeng Rui was allowed to choose his Thresh. I think that is a mistake by High School 13, though their Morgana pick is a strong counter…” she rambled on, but no one was really listening to her. The audience had their attention on the large screen, which still showed Chen Ze and Lin Feng.

✹

An Xin had come up with the plan of sending Lin Feng to the top lane and Chen Ze to the mid lane after spending some individual time with the members of High School 13’s team. She’d learned that Chen Ze wasn’t just a good Toplaner, but also a good Midlaner. It was this little piece of information that formed the basis of the strategy she came up with for this first game in the Finals. She glanced over at Zeng Rui and found him staring back at her, glaring. She giggled and then said to her team, “He looks mad. Good. Alright, the rest is up to you guys. Win this one.”

Lin Feng struck his victory pose and said to An Xin, “Don’t worry! I’m really good at Wukong too!”

An Xin looked over and happened to catch a glimpse of Lin Feng’s screen. She smiled her murder smile and said, “Are you going to play Wukong with those runes and masteries?”

“Eh?” Lin Feng turned back around to look at his screen and noticed An Xin was right. With only three seconds until the game was starting, he switched around his rune page and masteries. Then he laughed and said, “Woops! Almost forgot! That was close!” He was carefree, unworried about absolutely everything. His teammates stared at him in shock. One murder smile from An Xin was enough for them to never make the same mistake again. But it didn’t seem to have that same effect on Lin Feng. It was almost as if he enjoyed it when she looked at him like that.

An Xin ignored Lin Feng and turned her attention to Tang Bingyao. “Tang Tang, you’ll have the hardest job of the team. Try your best at bot! We trust you.”

“Mhm.” Tang Bingyao nodded. She knew that Shanghai High School’s strongest lane was their bot lane. Zeng Rui was a really good player and it was incredibly difficult to play against him. She’d never played against a Challenger before, not that she knew of at least, and was both eager and terrified of this game. Eager to tackle her biggest challenge yet. And terrified to screw it up.

“It’s fine! Tang Tang will carry us!” Lin Feng laughed. “She’ll win the lane easily!”

“Just make sure you win your own lane, you big idiot,” An Xin said, rolling her eyes.

Lin Feng patted his chest and said, “Consider it won!”

“Is that so?” An Xin asked. Then she smiled her murder smile and said, “If you lose, I’ll have your ass.”

The rest of High School 13’s team felt shivers running up and down their spines. There was nothing worse than getting looked at like that by An Xin. They turned their heads away, pretending like they didn’t hear or see the conversation between Lin Feng and An Xin. Anything was better than ending up in the middle of that. But Lin Feng didn’t see it like that. He grinned at An Xin, who murder-smiled back at him. She walked off the stage, keeping eye contact, and sat down next to Yang Fan and Ren Rou. Then she noticed Lin Feng mouthing something to her. She leaned forward, matching her mouth to his, until she mumbled, “I’ll crush this Irelia within five minutes.” She sighed. You big idiot…

Students from High School 13, the ones that had come to support their esports team at this tournament, pushed through the crowd at the venue. They were on a mission, and they were determined. Their esports team, the one that most of them had ignored and given up hope on, had made it all the way to the finals against all odds. It was one of those moments that movies get made about. An underdog team clawing their way up to the very top. And this was the team from their school! This was their team, their classmates, who pulled it off. So they pushed and shoved through the crowd to find the perfect spot where they could all be seen by their classmates who were playing and everyone else. 

The time was currently 6:30 P.M. in Shanghai, China. The Finals for the Shanghai 16 School Tournament would kickoff in 30 minutes. Every seat in the arena was already taken, and there was very little standing room left too. But there were still more people lined up outside, trying to get in. This was a high school tournament. The primary purpose was to provide an event where students could have a good time and compete. So there was no entrance fee for the people that came to support their classmates or have fun at a League of Legends event. And this one was extra special because an underdog team had made it to the very end. Everyone wanted to come watch, and everyone wanted a good view. People shoved and pushed to get to a spot where they could see some of the stage and also watch the game from the large LCD panels hanging from the ceiling.  

Pushing and shoving through the crowd in the flashing of the multicolored stage lights were the students from High School 13. But their faces were carved with a relentless determination. This wasn’t just about finding a good spot to watch their classmates play for them. This was all part of an extra special plan that Ren Rou came up with for the Finals. She recruited students from High School 13, and worked with them to create small posters. Each poster had a single boldly painted letter, and each student only had one. When the time was right, they would all stand together in a single line and hold up their letters. Together, it would read “HIGH SCHOOL 13 CHAMPIONS!”. 

While all of this was going on at the front of the arena, High School 13’s esports team had gathered backstage to wait out the last few minutes before the Finals would start. Standing with them was Mr. Zhou, the Club Director for High School 13’s esports team. He was there to make sure that the team knew they had the full support of the school. He was very proud of what the esports club had accomplished so far in this tournament. He even sent out an email to every student and teacher at High School 13 earlier that day, telling them about how the team had made it all the way to the Finals of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament and everything they’d been through to get to this point. And he requested that everyone from High School 13 come to the Finals to show the esports club their support. 

Mr. Zhou looked at the nine students standing in front of him. I couldn’t be more proud of them! These students… they fought so hard and brought our little esports club all the way to the Finals! He was quite literally beaming with pride and support. This team from High School 13’s esports club had done what no other team in the club’s history had done before. I never thought I’d be here, backstage right before the Finals of the biggest high school tournament with a team that might actually win it all! This team, this generation of the High School 13 esports club, had proven that the school was a force to be reckoned with.

The whole situation was beyond unexpected. No one at High School 13, from Mr. Zhou to the rest of the Faculty to the Principal, thought there was a chance of this happening. The Principal had even taken a brief vacation and left the city for the weekend, so he wasn’t around to email the student body or come to the tournament. This ironic twist of fate was what allowed Mr. Zhou the honor of being the sole representative of the Faculty backstage with the team. And he was more than happy things had worked out this way. 

Mr. Zhou smiled proudly and said, “Get out there and do your best! We’re all so proud of you. I’m proud of you! You guys are writing a brand new chapter in our School’s history! Win or lose, we’ll still celebrate how much you guys have accomplished. But… it would be nice to have that first trophy to put in our cabinet. SO GO OUT AND GET THAT TROPHY! YOU CAN DO IT!” As he gave his speech, the normally reserved Mr. Zhou became progressively more and more excited. He was screaming by the end of it, which he only noticed when the organizers and crew backstage had stopped what they were doing to stare at him. He quickly composed himself, and then then bowed to the team. He repeated how proud he was of the team and thanked them for all their effort in finally putting High School 13 on the map. This time, in a much quieter and more dignified tone. He ended his speech with a promise to the team, “If you guys win tonight, I will personally make sure the school properly celebrates the victory! What you guys are doing here is absolutely amazing! Do your best out there!”

High School 13’s team didn’t know how to respond. This was something that they wanted for so long that they forgot that other people could be just as invested. That they were representing more than their esports club. It wasn’t only their dream on the line here. Their dream had become the dream of everyone at High School 13. Their dream was one that was shared by Mr. Zhou. And they needed a minute to process that their dream had grown beyond them. They wanted to respond, but they just couldn’t find the words in that moment. The silence of this emotional minute was unfortunately short-lived and shattered by the audience on the other side of the stage. The students from High School 13 and Shanghai High School, who had shown up to cheer on their respective teams, ended up in a heated competition to show who could cheer on and support their team the loudest. 

“High School 13 gonna kick some asses!”
“Shanghai High School 3-0 those cocky bastards!”
“Shanghai High School are the REAL cocky bastards!”
“High School 13 eats DOGSHIT FOR LUNCH!”
“LIES! SLANDER! Shanghai High School is so bad they need LIES TO WIN AN ARGUMENT!”
“What you gonna do when you LOSE? Huh? WHINE ABOUT BEING UNLUCKY AGAIN?”
“SHANGHAI HIGH SCHOOL IS A SCHOOL FOR THIEVES AND LIARS!”
“IF YOU GO TO HIGH SCHOOL 13, YOU’RE STUPID AND DUMB!”

High School 13’s esports team started grinning as they listened to the battle of words going on in the audience. The more heated and fierce it got, the funnier it was. Ouyang commented, “Man. They’re going at it harder than two women trying to fight for my heart.” Everyone broke down laughing with that, a combination of the situation outside in the audience and the fact that Ouyang thought multiple women would fight over him. They were all in a great mood. This was in no small part due to the large turnout. There were so many students from High School 13 who had found out that a team from their school had made it all the way to the Finals of the tournament and came out to show their support. 

The club members who were in the club last year, like Ren Rou and Ouyang, were overwhelmed by the response and support from their fellow students. It was only last year that they’d lost in the first round of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament, and everyone had made fun of them back then. Their esports team and club became infamous for how terrible they were, they were known as the worst high school team in all of Shanghai. But that was last year, and there was none of that today. It was a new dawn, a new year, and they were feeling good. High School 13’s esports team was in the Finals! They were in the Finals! 

Lin Feng’s phone buzzed. He pulled it from his pocket and saw that it was a message from Su Xue. He read it and started smiling. 

Su Xue:
⟦Hey hey! I can’t make it. I’m sooooo sorry.⟧
⟦(ಥ﹏ಥ)⟧
⟦Huya contacted me about a spot on the featured page and I’m going to a meeting for that in a couple of minutes!!! Wish me luck (´∀`)! ⟧
⟦I’ll try and finish up with them asap! Hopefully fast enough that I’ll be able to show up and see you play for a bit! I realy really really really want to be there for you! ⟧
⟦Also. I wanted to wish you luck! Show everyone how good you are!!! ᕙ(⇀‸↼‵‵)ᕗ And if you win, I’ll make you an all you can eat celebration meal! ＼(^o^)／⟧
⟦(つ´∀｀)つ Do well (つ´∀｀)つ ⟧
⟦ʕっ•ᴥ•ʔっ Good luck, Feng Feng ⟧ 

Once the laughter and jokes died down a bit, An Xin glanced at her phone to check the time. 15 minutes until the Finals started. I should talk to them about our game plan once last time. She quietly coughed a few times to get everyone’s attention, and told them to follow her. There were only 15 minutes until the start of the Finals. An Xin coughed a few times to get everyone’s attention and then told them to follow her. She wanted to go somewhere a little more quiet, a little more private, so she could make sure the team was as ready as they could be and focused. But before they got to a quiet corner, they bumped into Shanghai High School’s team. No words were spoken, this was not the time for pleasantries and small talk. Or trash talk. Both teams were trying to get in the right frame of mind for the game coming up ahead, and they just wanted to quickly move past each other to finish prepping. Except for Lin Feng. He decided that the best thing to do at this moment was grinning at Zen Rui and confidently stating, “We’re going to win tonight!” 

Zeng Rui stopped and looked at Lin Feng. Then he snorted and said, “Thundering dumbass,” before walking off.

✹

The staff at the Mercedes-Benz Arena ran around frantically, trying to make the lights, cameras, computers, speakers, chairs, and everything else that needed to be checked was perfect. It had to be perfect! They only had four hours until the Finals for the Season 5 League of Legends World Championship started. Four hours until the hotly anticipated game between Season and SSK started. Millions of eyes from around the world would be on their arena and their arrangements, and nothing could go wrong! If that wasn’t stressful enough, the first streams had already started broadcasting shots of the arena to welcome their viewers before they started their pre-game analysis of the teams. And the arena had already been opened for spectators. The first set of fans had already trickled in to search for their seats. There were people trying to buy food and drinks, and even more wandering about the shopping stalls looking for memorabilia to buy. 

But setting the already overworked arena staff on edge was the tension that was building between the fans that were arriving. There were two distinct sides, eyeing each other with a ferocity that was unexpected and arguments that kept growing ever more heated. It wasn’t just confined to the arena either. The battle between the supporters of Team SSK and Team Season was even more vitriolic on the internet. The anonymity and safety of being behind a screen allowed people to forget common courtesy and decency. As the supporters of each team argued the superiority of their respective sides, insults were hurled, casual racism was resorted to, and previously unheard insults were formulated on the spot. There was no rhyme or reason to their arguments. It was a traditional “we’re the best and you suck” mentality. This was, of course, great entertainment for the neutral fans.

The two teams, Season and SSK, arrived at the venue and found their respective locker rooms. There was a stark contrast in the atmosphere between both rooms. Season’s players, except for Autumn, were tense and nervous. They were talking with each other, a little more rapidly than they normally would. They couldn’t sit still on their chairs for more than a couple of minutes at a time. And they kept looking in the direction of SSK’s locker room. As for Autumn, he was doing his own pre-game ritual. He sat down a bit away from the others with his eyes closed. He was just as nervous as the others, but had a different way of dealing with it. He played out different scenarios in his mind, double and triple checking their game strategy and tactics. The team was ready to play as he envisioned it, he hoped. But maybe there was something he overlooked. So he went over everything again and made sure everyone knew what they were supposed to do. Tonight they had to play a perfect series if they wanted any chance of beating SSK.

SSK’s locker room was completely different from Season’s. There was a calmness here that seemed completely out of place considering the situation. There were no nervous gazes and no shuffling around in the chairs. The players from SSK lounged back and were talking with each other in calm and steady voices. That didn’t last for long, however, as the door flung open and Lee Dojae walked in. Four of the five players shot up to their feet and stumbled over their words, trying to greet their idol. Han Seho was the only exception. He waited for the others to finish fawning over Lee Dojae and only then stood up and nodded at Lee Dojae. “Sir, it’s good to see you,” he said.

Lee Dojae nodded. The team had given him the reaction he wanted. The reaction he deserved. He waved his hand and said, “You guys may relax.” He then turned to look at Han Seho and nodded. It’s like I’m looking in a time mirror. He’s just like I was. So calm. He’s special. He took a deep breath and asked, “Are you ready for tonight’s game?”

Han Seho replied, “Yes.” There was no hesitation, no doubt or anything like that. He knew that he would win tonight. They would clean sweep Season to complete their perfect run at Worlds. Then he would lift his third world title. He knew he would. He was the best. There was no one out there who could beat him right now.

Lee Dojae smiled, something he rarely ever did, and said, “Good. I’m presenting the trophy to you when you win.” This was exactly why there were so many people across the world upset that Lee Dojae was the guest presenter. It was far too obvious what was happening here. Lee Dojae was a sore loser. He’d always been a sore loser. His career was one of great heights, but he never won it all. He only ever got second best, behind One. It was too late to win it all himself. But he was still obsessed with proving to the world that he was the best. That One had nothing on him! And the way he was going to prove that was by showing the world that South Korea was the best esports country in the entire world! From one brilliant player to the next, South Korea would always stand on top! He pulled some strings to become the guest presenter. Tonight, he would be there and laugh at everyone who thought he was only good enough to be second best. Tonight, SSK would win. Rake would win. He would win. No one can stop me now! One and his stupid possy. Screw them! They were then, this is now. This is my time! South Korea will become the best place in the world for esports! And it all starts here tonight!

✹

“This is the Finals of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament! Give it up for our two Finalists! We all know Shanghai High School. They were one of the favourites before the tournament even began and here they are in the Finals! They haven’t lost a game yet this year and might be on their way to a perfect run! Let’s give it up for Shanghai High School!

“Then we have High School 13! A dark horse that won over Tonji Affiliated High in the Qualifiers and over Shanghai International in the Semifinals! They fear no one and claim victory before the games even start! Let’s give it up for High School 13!”

The audience jumped up and down, cheering on their teams as they walked up on stage. These were the heroes that would help their school become the best esports school in Shanghai! This was it! A large section of the crowd raised sheets of paper over their heads. It read in big, bold letters: “HIGH SCHOOL 13 Champions!” This elicited jeers from the Shanghai High School camp, setting off a second round of word-combat in the venue.

“High School 13 LOSERS! HAHAH!”
“High school 13 is THE BEST! CHAMPIONS, WOOOOOO!”
“Suckers! We’re the DEFENDING CHAMPIONS! WOOOOOOOOO!”
“Shanghai High School is so bad, they need to steal cheers! HAHAHA!”
“High School 13 is so bad, they can only win a game on LUCK!”
“Shanghai High School IS SO BAD! HAHA!”
“HIGH SCHOOL 13 IS GONNA GET CLEAN SWEEPED! SUCK ON THAT!”
“SO BAD! HAHAHA! SO BAD! SHANGHAI HIGH SCHOOL IS SO BAD!”

Zeng Rui sat down behind his computer to the far right and looked at his teammates left of him. He waited for everyone to get settled and then said, “You know your roles and responsibilities. Remember everything that we’ve been practicing these last couple of days. And…” He paused for dramatic effect, really dragging it, then finished, “Let’s win this tournament!”

The other four players from Shanghai High School nodded at their team captain. He didn’t need to say fancy words or give lengthy speeches to motivate them. He was direct and efficient in his delivery. That was what made each of his words so powerful. Shanghai High School’s players were ready to play. Eager to play. They kept nodding and shouted the same thing in their own words, “Yeah! Let’s win this thing!”

Lin Feng was very similar to Zeng Rui in the sense that both could motivate their teammates in a short few sentences. But they were also completely different. Where Zeng Rui was calm, Lin Feng was excited. Where Zeng Rui looked serious, Lin Feng looked like a buffoon with that large grin on his face. Where Zeng Rui demanded respect, Lin Feng elicited laughter. Lin Feng balled his fist and punched the air above him, shouting, “Let’s do our best! That trophy is ours!”

Chu Fang watched everything happen from his place backstage. He had a good view of the audience, who were still facing off in what had devolved into another shouting contest. He shook his head and smiled. This was the atmosphere he loved to see. Fans who were in it with their heart and soul, refusing to give an inch even when it came to cheering their team on. Then he looked up at the stage. At the 10 players sitting behind their computers. At the two players who were so much better at the game than everyone else. His smile turned into a grin. Two of the biggest talents in League of Legends were about to play against each other, and almost no one in the world knew about it. These two were going to become two of the best players to hail from China. Everything he’d been dreaming of and hoping for was starting to fall into place. If they join together, they could form the best team in the world. We’d be right back up there! Winning Worlds. Finally.

✹

After a long week of bad weather, the sun was breaking through the clouds again on Ka’anapali Beach in Hawaii. One sat in front of a small hut on the beach, watching out towards the horizon. There was almost no one else on the beach. The consistent bad weather had scared the tourists away. I like it better this way… He’d read the news about Lee Dojae and smiled to himself. Lee Dojae sounds like the same sore loser he was back then… Mister Forever Secondbest. One shook his head, chuckling. There were seven names in the Hall of Fame. He was one of those seven and by many considered the biggest name in all of world esports. Lee Dojae was often named in the same breath as him, but his name always came first. He’s got a surprise coming his way.

Three walked out of the hut and stopped next to One. He looked at his friend and then followed his gaze into the distance, where there were still a couple of dark clouds. “Seems like we’re finally getting some good weather, huh.” Then he suddenly laughed and said, “Right. Did you see the news? Mister sore loser is doing the award ceremony at Worlds this year.”

One chuckled and replied, “Yeah, I saw.”

Three clicked his tongue and said, “Seems like he’s still hung up on the past. He’s just forcing his own dreams on this Rake. Heh. Sorest loser I know. What’s his deal with this whole thing anyways? Does he want to tell the world, ‘Look, I’m South Korean and South Korea is the best! Look at me! Look at me! I’m also the king of esports!’ or something?” He paused for a moment and shook his head. “They’ve been pretty dominant though. Hard to see anyone beating anytime soon.”

“There’s still plenty of time,” One said, rubbing his nose. Passing the fucking torch… That’s what he kept sayin’ it was. It still sounds stupid to me. He just gave his handle and team to someone else. Called him the next Rake. What an idiot, thinking there’s only one really talented player in the world. And trying to make the handle Rake into some kind of divine crown. What a stupid, stupid, stupid thought. Ah well, can’t help that he’s got his head so far up his own asshole that he can’t see what’s coming. Lin Feng is finally back. It’ll be a bit, but he’ll win the LPL again. And then he’ll be on to Worlds. It doesn’t matter if it’s the old or new ‘Rake’, he’ll beat them both… Clouds started gathering in the distance. The faint echoing of thunder reached all the way to the shoreline. One placed his hands behind him and leaned back, gazing at the brewing storm. Lee Dojae, you scared yet? Can you hear the rumble from the storm that’s about to sweep across esports? Lin Feng’ll take your stupid bullshit esports dynasty and your handle down, believe that. Your dumbass name’ll be second best again. That’s where it belongs. That’s your legacy. You’re not the best, you’ll never be the best, and you can’t rewrite history just by giving someone else your name. You’re just a sore loser. Nothing more.

Lin Feng forgot about the breakfast on the table and the food in his bowl. He looked at Su Xue and asked, “What happened? What are you looking at?” Then he raced around the table before she could answer him and looked over her shoulder at the phone. An Xin ran around the other side of the table and leaned over Su Xue’s shoulder. They both read the headline out loud. “LEGACY OF RAKE: The guest presenter at the Finals of this year’s League of Legends World Championships is Lee Dojae!” Lin Feng and An Xin reacted exactly like Su Xue, gasping in surprise. Then Lin Feng grabbed the phone from Su Xue’s hands and hit the refresh button. The message was still the same. Lee Dojae was going to be the guest presenter at the League of Legends World Finals later that day!

The Finals for the League of Legends World Championships would start at 11 P.M. in Shanghai. The battle between North America’s Season and South Korea’s SSK. This was the game that literally everyone across the world wanted to watch, the game they’d been anticipating since the start of the World Championships. Two of the best players in the world on opposite sides of the rift. The North Americans had Autumn, a legendary Support player, while the South Koreans had Rake, the single best Midlaner in all of League of Legends. There were eight other players on the rift, each among the best in their respective roles. Team Season was unofficially dubbed the Korean Killers, while SSK hadn’t lost a single game yet in this year’s Worlds. Fans on either side of this epic matchup had so many reasons to be confident that their team would be the one to claim ultimate victory. 

Beyond the excitement for the matchup itself, there was also the curious decision that the organizers had made to invite Lee Dojae as the guest presenter. This raised flags and questions in the minds of many people, who wondered why he was the guest presenter for this year. In the last few years, the guest presenter was either the President or Vice President of the World Esports Association. That wasn’t the case this year. Lee Dojae was an esports Hall of Famer. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind, Lee Dojae had been a massive influence on the entire esports scene. He well deserved his place in the Hall of Fame. He enjoyed the bragging rights that came with being a Hall of Famer, and like the other six people in the esports Hall of Fame, he functioned as a lifetime honorary advisor for the World Esports Association. He held quite a lot of sway over the most important governing body in the world of esports. 

But that didn’t explain why the World Esports Association would ignore convention and invite Lee Dojae to be a guest presenter at the World Finals. Everyone who noticed that Lee Dojae was presenting this year, all of them wondered if the organizers knew something they didn’t. The question at the heart of it all was if there was some special meaning behind Lee Dojae showing up. In an unexpected twist, the Internet unanimously agreed that there was something suspicious, and that it meant the organizers of the World Finals believed that SSK would win the tournament. That was the only explanation that made any sense to them.

Lee Dojae was a player who made a name for himself in DotA. He quickly became one of the best players in the world and led a team that competed for the big prizes. Team SSK. Lee Dojae, whose online handle had also been Rake, had led his team to the point where they dominated the DotA scene. There was only one other team that could really compete with them, and eventually also beat them. They were second best. But that was then and this was now. Lee Dojae handed over the captaincy to Han Seho, who took the name and the team. He led SSK to become the uncontested number one in League of Legends. Lee Dojae treated Han Seho like he would his own son. He gave his name and his team away. And now he was going to be a guest presenter at the World Finals. It smelled fishy. Very, very fishy.

The South Koreans, of course, didn’t care one bit what everyone else thought. They were happy. More than that, they were proud. Lee Dojae and Han Seho were two of the biggest names in esports around the world. Both of them hailed from South Korea, and both of them would stand on the stage tonight. One would be the guest presenter at the awards ceremony, while the other would come and accept the trophy. That was how the SSK fans saw it, anyways. They were more than happy to agree with all of the people talking about how SSK was going to win the Season 5 World Championships for League of Legends. While also conveniently ignoring any accusations or concerns about the Finals being fixed. They were just happy to confidently believe that Rake was going to get a hat trick! Their Rake was going to win three World Championships in a row!

✹

High School 13’s esports team had decided to meet up at the NetCow Cafe in the afternoon. There was still some time until the Finals of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament were starting, and they needed every second to get some more practice in. But rather than getting straight to their training, they started talking about Lee Dojae and how the World Esports Association was clearly picking sides. No one could comprehend why the governing body of world esports would show such disrespect to Season, who were still very much in the race to win Worlds. Lin Feng listened to the others talking, but didn’t participate himself. He stood off to the side, stewing, annoyed and upset that Lee Dojae would present the trophy.

“What in the world possessed the World Esports Association to do this?”
“I don’t know… I can’t believe it… Lee Dojae? What the fuck!”
“Right? That’s like saying to everyone that the match is fixed! This is stupid!”
“FUCK! I feel bad for Season. This is so unprofessional… FUCK!”
“This reflects very poorly on the World Esports Association and the integrity of the tournament.”
“They even called the article ‘Legacy of Rake’… This is just… I don’t even know what to say!”
“Cringe! That’s what you wanna say, bro. Mega ultra super cringe! Fucking posers…”

An Xin let everyone get what they had to say out of their system. She stepped forward, hushing everyone, and said, “They can pretend all they want, Lee Dojae was never more than second best. Legacy of Rake my ass.” She smiled and watched for the reactions of her team members. They nodded, agreeing with her. Good. She clapped her hands and changed the subject, “Alright. Enough distractions. We have a finals to play tonight and we’re nowhere near ready for it! It’s time to practice!”

Everyone nodded and moved to their position. The substitutes gathered around one screen, so that they could spectate the match, while the players on the team sat down behind their computers. From left to right it was Chen Ze, Liu Yue, Lin Feng, Tang Bingyao, and Wei Dong. It was the same seating arrangement that was used at the big tournaments, so that the viewers could easily recognize which player played what role. Wei Dong glanced over at Tang Bingyao. She had big, dark bags under her eyes and she looked an absolute mess. He turned to her and asked, “Hey, you ok? You look like you haven’t slept in days! Are you that nervous for tonight? Don’t worry, with An Xin here, we can win this! She’ll probably even let you take a nap. Just go and ask her. I’m sure you’ll play better after a power nap.”

Tang Bingyao shot up straight in her chair and turned to Wei Dong, her eyes wide open. She stared at him for a second, then fervently shook her head, and said, “Uhm, no. I-i’m fine. Don’t worry about me…” I stayed up late last night watching a stream… And then I couldn’t fall asleep anymore…

✹

It was 12:30 P.M. in Berlin, Germany. The League of Legends World Finals would start in another four and a half hours. The organizers were running around the Mercedes-Benz Arena, the location of the World Finals, working very hard to get everything ready in time. But not everyone was all that busy. Lee Dojae had gathered a group of reporters around him and was answering their questions. He knew what they were going to ask him, and he’d worked on his answers the night before. So when they asked about his thoughts on SSK and if they could win the Finals today, he confidently replied, “SSK is in the best form of their lives. They’re going to show the world something very special tonight. I think this will be a night no one will ever forget!”

The reporters had many more questions they wanted to ask Lee Dojae, and he entertained them. He gave them the kinds of answers they could easily transition into headlines that would get a ton of clicks. Lee Dojae was loving every second of this interview. These reporters were here for him! He kept talking with them until all their questions were answered, and only then retreated backstage. There, he was stopped by an old teammate who said, “I caught a bit of that interview. Those were some strong words, eh?”

Lee Dojae shrugged and replied, “Just stating the facts. SSK will win tonight. No one can stop them.”

“Haha! That’s such a ‘you’ thing to say,” Lee Dojae’s old teammate laughed, patting his friend’s shoulder. Then he added, “But I don’t disagree.”

Season was a strong team who’d performed especially well against teams from South Korea. But just being a strong team wasn’t nearly enough to beat SSK in their current form. Lee Dojae and his old teammate were both convinced that it didn’t matter what Season brought to the table, SSK would clinch the victory tonight. SSK had seen a transformation after Han Seho took the captaincy from Lee Dojae. There was no other team in the world that could threaten SSK’s hegemony. They were internationally renowned and were hard on their way to becoming the symbol of the South Korean esports scene. If they weren’t already. Season was only a guest at their show. Lee Dojae didn’t care one bit for Autumn. This time, SSK was ranked number one. Everyone else was irrelevant.

Lee Dojae’s expression suddenly became hard. Han Seho will succeed where we failed. SSK will finally be invincible! One and his old team can’t do a damn thing about it! They’re the past. My team and I are on top now! He gritted his teeth and clenched his fist. He’d wanted to become the best player in the world and win all the big tournaments. But there was a Chinese team, led by the illustrious One, who’d beaten them again and again. Lee Dojae never made it higher than second best. Everytime it looked like he was about to make that final step, One would show up out of nowhere and knock him back down. I’m not going to be second-best anymore! He showed his teeth. You retired so long ago, One. You’re probably old and gray now. But look at me! My name is still the biggest in the scene. Rake will be eternal! And SSK has a great leader in Rake! I’m still winning trophies, while you’re rotting away somewhere! Take that! Ha! SSK will remain the best and there’s nothing you can do about it. You belong in the past. Poser.

Do I want to sleep next to you? No! I said no! It’s a stupid joke! “You’re not funny!” Lin Feng shouted at An Xin. She was teasing him again, something she seemed to find great pleasure in. He glared at her and said, “I just wanted to get my own pillow back. I can’t sleep on another pillow. I need my pillow!”

An Xin burst out laughing, her shoulders bouncing up and down, and couldn’t stop for a good several minutes. After she finally calmed herself down, forcing long and deep breaths, she looked up at Lin Feng. “Oh, Feng Feng, I’m so funny. You’ll understand one day. But I wasn’t laughing because of tha—” She started grinning again and quickly placed her hand before her mouth to stop herself from breaking into an uncontrollable laugh again. It took her a minute to gather herself again and then she continued, “You’re 19 already, but you’re still such a kid. It’s kind of cute that you still need your favourite pillow to fall asleep.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that!” Lin Feng argued, annoyed. “What’s so bad about having a favourite pillow? I just like how it sleeps! My head feels good on it! And, and… It’s all your fault! You had to steal my bed and my pillow! I need my pillow to sleep!”

An Xin couldn’t stop herself from giggling whenever she looked at the expression on Lin Feng’s face. He looked so serious and annoyed. She shook her head and focused on her breathing, forcing herself not to laugh, until she could talk again. “Alright. I understand. It’s my bad. You can have your favourite pillow back and I’ll take the one you have.” She watched him jump to his bed and grab his pillow, then cradle it in his arms. But she didn’t laugh at his comical response. She was just staring at him and asked, “Since we both can’t seem to fall asleep, why not keep me company for a bit and chat?”

Lin Feng held his favourite pillow close to him and grumbled, “I couldn’t sleep because you stole my room…” But he sat down on his bed and looked at An Xin, who sat with her back against the large window. She had put her legs up onto the windowsill and was hugging her knees. “Be careful you don’t fall off,” Lin Feng said, rubbing his butt as he remembered the last time he’d sat down on the windowsill.

An Xin looked back out of the window at the city nightscape, which was illuminated by the moonlight. “It’s fine,” she said. “I won’t fall. Plus, you have a really great view here. The park over there with the trees, and the large skyscrapers in the distance. It’s so beautiful. I like it.”

Lin Feng stared at An Xin. At his best friend in the whole world. He vividly remembered all the good times they’d shared together when they were younger, running around at the playground and pranking guests at dinner parties. There was never a dull moment with her around. But she looked so different now from the girl in his memories. Somewhere along the way, she’d grown from a meatbun into a beautiful woman. He smiled and said, “Hey, BunBun. You’ve become really pretty.”

An Xin was stunned. She slowly turned away from the window and looked at Lin Feng. He wasn’t ogling her nor was he trying to flirt, she could see it in his gaze. He was just saying what he thought, and he thought she was pretty. She started smiling, bright and cheerful, and said, “Thanks!”

✹

Lin Feng and An Xin chatted about their daily lives, school, and most importantly League of Legends. They discussed the players currently playing in the LPL and their teams. They argued about who the worst player was, which took them far longer than it should have. Tian Tian was another name that popped up, as was Eleven who competed in the LSPL these days. Lin Feng and An Xin were both League of Legends fanatics. There was always more League of Legends for them to talk about.

A cold breeze blew through the cracks around the window. Poor insulation. An Xin had really enjoyed this chill after sweating under Lin Feng’s thick winter blanket. But she was starting to feel cold. She hugged her knees tightly together and buried her face into her chest. She sat like that for a minute before raising her head and quietly asking, “What’s going on between you and Tang Tang?”

“Uh, what do you mean?” Lin Feng asked, confused.

“You big idiot…” An Xin mumbled, shaking her head. She’d seen Tang Bingyao’s strong reaction at the electronics mall after the Semifinals of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament. There was clearly something going on between Lin Feng and her. An Xin looked at Lin Feng, who looked genuinely confused. You big idiot… She decided not to push this specific conversation any further and changed the direction of the conversation back to League of Legends. “Are you planning on making her the ad-carry for your new team?” she asked.

Lin Feng’s lips parted into a wide grin. He nodded fervently and said, “Yeah, I am! She’s really talented! If she puts in the effort, she can become one of the best ad-carries in the world!”

An Xin smiled and replied, “I see. Yes, she’s pretty talented. This also means you’ve decided to start playing professionally again?”

“Yeah, I have!” Lin Feng replied immediately. Then he looked at An Xin. He really looked at her. His smile was gone. He looked dead serious and said, “I’m going to make my comeback. I’ll make a team and qualify for the LSPL. Then the LPL. Then Worlds. And then I’m going to beat Rake in the Finals and become World Champion of the world! I will become the best player in the world!”

An Xin stared at Lin Feng. Some things just never change. He’d given her this same speech back in Season 1, before he quit the game. Becoming the best player in the world. It had always been his dream, and it would probably always be. She didn’t think he’d ever let go of it. But the past few years he hadn’t been able to say the words out loud. Now he did. He was willing to voice his dream and chase it again. She nodded and said, “It’s a great dream.”

Lin Feng rubbed his nose and chuckled. He’d proclaimed this dream to many people in his life. Some didn’t understand it. Others just laughed at him. An Xin was one of the select few who genuinely believed in him and supported him through thick and thin. “Oh right!” he suddenly blurted out. “Wasn’t your dream to become the best coach in the world?”

“You remember,” An Xin said happily. She nodded and continued, “Yep! That’s still my dream. I want to become the best coach in the world!”

Lin Feng jumped from the bed and made his famous victory pose, clenching his fist and throwing it up in the air. He shouted, “That’s great! Let’s chase our dreams together! You’ll be the best coach and I’ll be the best player!”

An Xin placed her finger before her mouth and shushed him, “Quiet! You big idiot. Don’t wake up Su Xue.”

“Oh, uhh right,” Lin Feng whispered. He looked at the clock on his nightstand and said, “Right. We should get some sleep. The Finals are… today. I’m going to sleep. Good night!” He grabbed his favourite pillow again and started hugging it as he left the room. Just before closing the door behind him, he poked his head back inside and said, “BunBun, thanks.”

“You big idiot. What’s there to thank me for? Go and get some sleep,” An Xin replied. She watched him leave the room, then turned back to look out over the city. “My dream, huh?” she mumbled to herself. “I guess…” She smiled and shook her head. “Some things never change. That applies as much to me as it does to him. Guess all I can do is to keep trying…”

✹

The sun shone through the window in the living room. The couch was facing away from the window and the backside blocked the light from reaching Lin Feng’s face. He peacefully slept through most of the morning and only woke up from the smell of scallion pancakes. His stomach started growling, scaring him awake. He opened his eyes wide and sat up straight in an instant. Then his eyes followed his nose towards the food. Su Xue and An Xin were sitting at the dining table, enjoying a large breakfast. His stomach rumbled. He rubbed it, still waking up, and complained, “Why didn’t you guys wake me up for breakfast?”

Su Xue glanced over at him and said, “It’s not our fault that you sleep in so late. It’s almost 11 A.M.! You woke up from the smell of the food, right? Your lazy ass would’ve slept until dinner if it wasn’t for the food.”

“He’s a lazy pig. You’ll get used to it,” An Xin said. She picked up a piece of scallion pancake from her plate, then dipped it in some soy sauce and put it in her mouth.

Lin Feng didn’t even hear what Su Xue and An Xin said. The food had woken him up. His eyes saw food, his ears heard food, his nose smelled food, and all that was left was for his mouth to taste the food! He ran towards the dining table and grabbed a bowl, almost letting it fall on the ground in his hurry. “Breakfast! BREAKFAST! Those noodles look great! Ohh! Is that a soft boiled egg? Woow! Those pancakes look so good!”

“GET UP!” Su Xue shouted, and An Xin added, “Go brush your teeth and wash up! You smell!”

Lin Feng scratched the back of his head and mumbled, “I don’t smell and why can’t I brush my teeth after breakfast? Isn’t it all the same anyway?”

“Did you say something?” Su Xue asked, raising an eyebrow. “I thought for a second there that you tried to argue with me.”

An Xin showed Lin Feng her trademark smile that was anything but a smile and asked, “What did you say?”

Lin Feng grumbled, but got up from his chair and stomped to the bathroom, where he brushed his teeth and washed his face in a short few minutes. Then he charged back towards the dining table, just in time to hear Su Xue yelp, “What? No Way!” She held her phone in her hand and was scrolling through the latest news about Worlds.

Su Xue stared at Lin Feng. He was staring back at her with pleading eyes. The kind of puppy dog eyes that were hard to ignore. But Su Xue was used to them by now. She vehemently shook her head and said, “Hey! Hey! Hey! Listen up, ya little shit. You’re going to become an ugly fatass if you keep eating this much! No more late night snacks for you!” Then she ruffled his hair and smiled. “You’re good at League, no one can deny that. And apparently a lot of girls like what they’re seeing… Your only real problem is that mouth of yours. Life ain’t so easy when you’re chunky, you hear me? People will make fun of you. Lemme tell you, fat-shaming is very real. That’s not what you want.”

An Xin stood off to the side, sizing Lin Feng up, rubbing her knuckles with her palm. She smirked and said, “What do you think, Xue Xue? Should we knock some sense into him? That’s the only thing he’ll respond to.”

“You two are worrying over nothing. I’ll never get fat!” Lin Feng replied, confident. “My metabolism is really good too! I can eat whatever I want and never get fat! So let’s get some takeo—”

Two fists hit Lin Feng squarely in the face, shutting him up. Su Xue looked at him and shouted, “You’re an asshole! And a pig! That’s what you get for bragging about being able to eat whatever you want without worrying about your weight in front of two girls!” She barely finished talking when An Xin yelled, “How dare you! Apologize right now to all the girls out there counting calories! RIGHT NOW!”

Lin Feng rubbed his mouth in pain. There was the sweet taste of iron in his mouth and his lip felt warm and swollen. They had actually punched him in the face! His eyes started watering, so he quickly turned away from them while saying, “I’ll go get some extra blankets and make the bed ready for An Xin.” It was already well past 1 A.M. and the Shanghai 16 School Tournament Finals were the next day. This was the perfect excuse to get away from Su Xue and An Xin before he got whacked again. And he needed a bit of alone time to nurse his injuries and salvage whatever dignity he had left.

Su Xue let him walk away. She’d said what she wanted to say and punched Lin Feng in the face. The last part especially felt good. She smiled and shouted after Lin Feng, “I’m going to keep streaming for a while, so let BunBun sleep in your room. You sleep on the couch in the living room!”

Lin Feng paused and turned back to look at Su Xue, indignant. He argued, “Why can’t BunBun sleep on the couch? She’s practically family! You don’t need to give her special treatment.”

Su Xue raised her eyebrows, staring at Lin Feng, then said, “You’re going to make a girl sleep on the couch? Keep up that attitude and you’ll be single for the rest of your life.”

✹

Lin Feng walked into his room with clean sheets and started undoing his bed. Such a hassle. Why can’t BunBun just sleep on the couch… He was grumbling and gloomy the whole way through. An Xin sat at his desk, watching him, grinning. “Poor you,” she said. “Su Xue really is too kind. You know, making you sleep on the couch and giving me the bed and all. I’m soooo touched.”

Lin Feng stopped what he was doing and turned to look at An Xin. He stared at her for a moment before suggesting, “Then how about you sleep on the couch and I’ll take the bed?”

An Xin’s mouth fell open. Then she quickly covered it with her hand. “Reaaally? Are you going to make a guest sleep on the couch? You monster! How could you even suggest that!” Then she did her best impression of Lin Feng’s puppy dog eyes from before and added, “You wouldn’t do that to me, would you?”

“Oh please, cut the act,” Lin Feng said. “Everyone else might fall for it but you can’t fool me! I know you!” He’d known her for practically forever. She’d been around for his entire life, as long as he could remember. Her impression of his puppy-dog eyes were really his impression of her puppy-dog eyes from when they were young. They were the bane of his existence. An Xin would win every single argument when she used them. It didn’t matter who she was talking to, or what she was arguing about. She always got what she wanted. The first few times Lin Feng thought it was a combination of luck and solid arguments. But when it kept happening, he knew something was up. He was a little slow at times, but he wasn’t stupid. He figured out her trick and was then forced to watch her use it to great success repeatedly.

“Awww, was I that obvious?” An Xin laughed. The second that Lin Feng finished making the bed, she immediately jumped into it. Then she grabbed the sheets and pulled them up over her legs. Then she looked up at Lin Feng and smiled. A smile full of promise and desire and temptation, one that would ordinarily send the heart of any man racing. Then she patted the empty space next to her on the bed and winked at Lin Feng. “How about you sleep with me tonight? Big spoon, small spoon. You get it.” She was wearing one of Su Xue’s pyjamas. It fit her well enough, though it was a little too loose for her slender frame. She moved her hand towards her chest and traced her finger around the neck of the shirt, then pulled it down over her shoulder and only stopped when it reached her elbow. The shirt now barely covered her chest, showing most of her cleavage. “You know…” she whispered. A whisper that ended in a light moan. 

“Nope! Don’t wanna!” Lin Feng immediately refused. “You’re the worst sleeper ever. You always kick me out of bed! Only an idiot would want to sleep with you!”

An Xin started, her eyes wide in shock. Then her face turned a deep shade of red as she shouted, “Liar! You big idiot! I never did that!”

Lin Feng shook his head and argued, “I’m not lying. Remember back in first grade? When I slept over at your place? I never got any sleep that night! You kicked me off the bed at least a dozen times!”

An Xin glared at Lin Feng, then grabbed the pillow behind her. She threw it at his head and yelled, “Idiot! Stop it!”

Lin Feng caught the pillow and smugly smiled at An Xin. “I’m pretty good at blocking skillshots too!”

An Xin had already grabbed a second pillow and threw it at Lin Feng again. This time, it hit the bull’s eye. Lin Feng didn’t see it coming until the soft fabric hit him in his face.. An Xin giggled and said, “Too-bad-so-sad. My skillshots don’t have a cooldown!”

✹

3 A.M. according to the large clock in the living room. Lin Feng had been trying to fall asleep for a good two hours, but he was still tossing and turning on the couch. Sleep just wouldn’t come to him. He’d heard Su Xue go to bed some 30 minutes ago and now there was only silence. Nothing to disturb him, nothing stopping him from falling asleep… but he was wide awake. “This pillow sucks. I need to get my good one,” he muttered. Then he kicked his sheets away and got up. “Time to steal back my pillow!” He grabbed the ‘bad’ pillow and started walking towards his room, mumbling to himself, “Let’s call this Operation: Pillow Swap!”

Lin Feng walked through the hallway and arrived in front of his room. He stuck his ear against the door, careful not to make a sound. After confirming there were no sounds coming from the other side, he gently pushed the door open. Then he poked his head through the gap and looked inside. Huh? What? He stared at an empty bed. Where is she…? He looked around his room and found An Xin sitting against the windowsill. His eyes went wide. The cold night breeze blew into the room, causing the curtains to flutter along with her long, black hair. She was staring out the window at the night sky, the light of the moon illuminating her face.

Lin Feng stared at An Xin for a good minute before he realized that he was actually staring at her. He shook his head a little and then withdrew it, careful not to make a sound. I don’t think she heard me… Probably too distracted or something… Yeah! That’s why! Now, I just need to carefully close the doo—

“I’m neither blind nor deaf. I heard you walk down the hallway and I can even see your reflection in the window,” An Xin said as she turned around to look at Lin Feng, who was caught trying to close the door.

“AH!” Lin Feng yelped. He grabbed his chest, his eyes wide open. Then he pushed open the door again and walked in, asking, “Why did you have to scare me like that? And why didn’t you say something earlier? Do you know how much effort I put into Operation: Pillow Swap?”

An Xin giggled and said, “Oh, I was curious to see what you were planning to do.” She winked at him and added, “It isn’t every night that you find out that one of your oldest friends is trying to sneak into your bedroom in the middle of the night. I knew you were a pervert, but this…” She traced her finger around her shirt’s neck and started pulling it down again. Then she flicked her hair, smiling the most mesmerizing smile, and said, “Did you come here to apologize for being an idiot before? And that you really do want to sleep with me?”

An Xin and Su Xue were chatting together, deciding what roles they were going to play in their game of League of Legends. This was their first time duo queueing together, so they didn’t know what to expect or how they would play together. Su Xue had been trained to play ad-carry by Lin Feng and that was the role she’d spent the most time practicing and playing. She didn’t really know how to play anything else. An Xin, on the other hand, was primarily a Jungler, but she could also play other roles. She looked at Su Xue sitting next to her and said, “I’ll go Support. It’ll be more fun playing together, rather than doing our own thing on different ends of the map.” The thousands of viewers watching the two girls were quick to agree with this decision.

「yes!!! go support!」
「Two pretty girls playing bot is like peanut butter on chocolate! A perfect match!」
「i bet bunbun is an uber good support! SHOW EM BUNBUN!!」
「this gunna be soooo goodddd」
「BunBun for best Support in the world!!!」
「NO ONE is better than OUR BUNBUN!!!1!」

An Xin and Su Xue had only just entered the queue. The viewers had met An Xin barely a minute ago. They’d never seen her play a game of League. Yet they were already proclaiming her to be the best Support player in League of Legends. They wouldn’t hear any arguments saying otherwise. ‘Their’ BunBun was the best, end of discussion.

Lin Feng sat on Su Xue’s bed and grumbled, “Hey, I’m really good at Support too… Why can’t I play…?”

“Because you’re the maid! Now stop complaining and pour us some drinks, Maid Feng!” Su Xue laughed, relishing the opportunity to get back at Lin Feng. She was already planning how to best make use of this newfound power. Maybe I can demand some sparkling water from the store downstairs, hehe. But her viewers had something else entirely in mind.

「SHUT IT< MAID! no one said you could call lil bro that!」
「right! Only we can call him maid feng!」
「watch your tone, xue xue! we all know who the real maid is here!」
「Keep that up and we’ll have lil bro duo with bunbun instead!」
「TTSKKKKKKK maids really don’t know their place these days.」

“Hey hey! Don’t be like that, please! It was just a joke! A joke! Please give me another chance!” Su Xue begged, changing her tune to the whims of the chat. The idea of Lin Feng taking her place sounded terrible. She wanted to play a game of League, and she wanted her viewers to watch her play. This was her stream! And she would do anything she could to make sure her viewers wouldn’t turn this into Lin Feng’s stream again, like they did on the regular.

The game found a match, and both of them accepted. An Xin and Su Xue entered Champion Select and locked in their Champion choices. Su Xue went with her best Champion, her main, her spirit totem in League–Jinx! An Xin decided to go with Thresh. This choice evoked another grumble from Lin Feng, “I’m really good at Thresh too…”

✹

《Welcome to Summoner’s Rift!》

Su Xue and An Xin were on the Blue team. They went to the bot lane and started last hitting minions as soon as the first minion waves reached the middle of the lane. During the first wave they kept the same pace as the Red team’s Botlaners. But they got more aggressive when the second minion wave arrived, which helped them hit Level 2 first. An Xin directly used this level advantage to force a fight. She pressed the D key–Flash! Her Thresh appeared with a mottled flash of light on top of Red team’s Tristana. He Flayed her backwards, slowing her, and then threw his sickle at her–Death Sentence! His chain wrapped around the Tristana and he pulled her backwards, allowing the Jinx to freely auto attack. Then he hit the Tristana with Ignite, setting her ablaze. In the fiery inferno of exploding rockets and an unquenchable fire, the Tristana died.

《First Blood!》

“Wow! BunBun! You’re an amazing Support!” Su Xue exclaimed, beaming at An Xin. “The laning phase will be so easy with you supporting me!”

An Xin smiled and said, “It’s nothing. That Tristana is just bad.”

“Yeah, that Support too. They’re both terrible!” Lin Feng chimed in. But no one paid any attention to him.

This was the very first time and game that An Xin and Su Xue were playing together, but their synergy and cohesion made it seem like they’d known each other for years. That cohesion was primarily due to An Xin and her exceptional Thresh. She knew how to adapt to Su Xue’s playstyle. 

Whenever Su Xue wanted to engage or make a play, An Xin was a step ahead with a hook in the enemy champion. And when Jinx’s health started to run a little low but Su Xue wanted to stay and fight, An Xin would make sure her Thresh was positioned right in front of Jinx to protect her. 

It took less than 10 minutes for Su Xue’s Jinx to get fed to the point of no return. The Red team didn’t know how to stop her, and eventually just gave up. They waited for the 20 minute mark to surrender, when it became available, and unanimously voted ‘Yes’. The victory crest appeared over the screen for the players on the Blue team.

An Xin played a phenomenal support game with her Thresh, so much so that she carried Su Xue to victory. And like a great support, she carried without making it apparent to anyone. To the untrained eye, it looked like Su Xue carried the game with her Jinx. But that was the furthest thing to the truth. Su Xue and her Jinx were only able to do as well as they had in this game because of An Xin and her Thresh. 

The stream chat lit up with 666s! The viewers were in love with An Xin. They loved watching her as she played. How she would completely focus on the game right before a play was about to happen, and the slight smile after she helped Su Xue pick up the kill. No matter how the viewers looked at it, all they saw was perfection. An Xin was their dream girl and they hoped she’d be making more appearances on stream. Or maybe even start her own channel!

Su Xue agreed with her viewers, which was a truly rare occurrence. She turned to look at An Xin and exclaimed, “You’re the best Support I’ve ever played with! It’s like you could read my mind! You did everything I wanted before I even knew that I wanted it! Even Lin Feng couldn’t do that! You’re way better than Lin Feng’s Support!”

Lin Feng’s annoyed voice came from behind the two girls, “Hey! I’m the better Support! Let me play a game and I’ll show you!”

An Xin turned around and said, “Nice try, big idiot. But we’re not letting you play. Just keep whining… You seem to be pretty good at that too.”

「Hahahaha BURNED!!!!!」
「lil bro is really good at getting burned too, hahahhahahaha」
「XDDDD Someone call an ambulance for lil bro!!!!」

Lin Feng read the chat on his smartphone, annoyed and frustrated. He wanted to argue how he really was the better Support. That it was a fact and not up for debate! But the viewers were siding with An Xin. And every time he tried to say anything, they just made fun of him. So he sat back, continuing to grumble, and watched as An Xin and Su Xue started another game. And then one more after that. Then a fourth game. He just watched them play. He watched them forget that he was even there. He sat there wondering why he was even there. Did they forget about me completely? I’m really good at League! They’re not even asking me what I think… 

✹

《Quadra Kill!》

“Oh my god! A quadra! I got a quadra! BunBun, I got a quadra!” Su Xue exclaimed, amazed. This was her fourth game together with BunBun, who’d already led her to a double kill in game two and a triple kill in game three. The two girls were getting better and better at playing together. Su Xue pressed down on the B key to recall her Tristana back to base. Then she looked over her shoulder at Lin Feng and said, “Did you see that? A quadra! I got a quadra kill! That’s my first quadra on Tristana!”

Lin Feng grumbled something under his breath, scrolling through the stream chat on his smartphone. That only made his mood worse, since the viewers were complimenting Su Xue on her quadra kill. I could’ve gotten her a penta… But the viewers didn’t care what he could’ve done. They were cheering for what Su Xue had done.

「You played that so well, xuexue!!!」
「OH M G! A QUADRA GIRLL!!!! that’s amazing!」
「so cool! an actual quadra… dang!」
「you’re sooooo good xue xue!!!1」
「A QU_QU_QU_QUAADDRRAAAA!!!!」
「Can you teach me how to play ad-carry?」

Su Xue read through the stream chat, thanking her viewers for their compliments. Then she thought of something and said, “Don’t forget BunBun! Her Leona was great! Her stuns were spot on and if she hadn’t Exhausted the Zed, I would’ve died before getting my first kill!”

An Xin chuckled and said, “Don’t downplay your quadra! This was all you. Your Tristana is really good!”

Lin Feng watched the two girls complimenting each other. He’d really had enough of it and grumbled louder than he intended to, “It’s just a stupid quadra… I’m really good at getting quadras too.” It was loud enough that the viewers heard him complain. They’d been listening to him complain for four games now and they were starting to feel sorry for him.

「hey let lil bro play a game, he’s been sitting there watching the whole time…」
「Look at those puppy eyes! You GOTTA let him play a game!!」
「step aside maid, youve had your fun! ITS LIL BRO TIME NOW!!!!1」
「show us a penta lillll brroooo!!!!!!!!」

“Huh? W-what? Maid?” Su Xue stuttered, falling flat on her face after riding the high of picking up a quadra kill. She stared at the chat, wide-eyed, and pointed at herself. “Me? What the hell! I just got a quadra and now you want me gone? Maybe I can get a penta next game!”

The viewers wouldn’t hear any excuse that she gave. And she gave more than a few. They’d made up their minds. They wanted to see An Xin and Lin Feng play a game together. So they kept pushing until Su Xue gave up. She went to grab a chair from the dining room and sat down behind the two who’d taken over her stream.

Lin Feng grabbed the mouse with his right hand, moving it around. It felt right in his hand. Then he placed his left hand over the keyboard and brushed his fingers across the keys. He grinned and said, “I’ll go mid!”

An Xin shook her head a little and then replied, “I’ll play Jungle then. We might as well get some practice in for tomorrow.”

Lin Feng and An Xin queued up for a game. They got into Champion Select and locked in LeBlanc in the mid lane and Rek’Sai in the Jungle.

At 3 minutes: Lin Feng’s LeBlanc solo killed Ziggs, who was the Red team’s Midlaner.
At 4 minutes: An Xin’s Rek’Sai ganked the mid lane, helping Lin Feng’s LeBlanc pick up her second kill of the game.
At 6 minutes: Lin Feng’s LeBlanc solo killed Ziggs. Then she was chased by Red team’s Jungler, Jarvan IV. But An Xin’s Rek’Sai appeared just at the right time to rescue the LeBlanc and kill the Jarvan IV.
At 7 minutes: Lin Feng’s LeBlanc and An Xin’s Rek’Sai roamed to the bot lane. They killed the Red team’s Botlaners. Then they destroyed the outer tower. And finally they secured the Dragon.
At 9 minutes: Lin Feng’s LeBlanc solo killed Ziggs. Then she roamed top with An Xin’s Rek’Sai and killed the Irelia before destroying the outer tower.
At 12 minutes: The Red team gave up. It was too early in the game to surrender, so they typed ‘open mid’ in all chat. The Red team didn’t leave their fountain again and the Blue team, led by Lin Feng and An Xin, started destroying the towers in the mid lane, all the way to the Nexus.
At 15 minutes: Lin Feng’s LeBlanc destroyed the Red team’s Nexus. Victory!

The game started. And it ended 15 minutes later. It was the most one sided stomp many of the viewers had ever seen. The viewers didn’t quite know what to say. There wasn’t a single teamfight in this game. There was no mid or late game. There was only the early game, in which Lin Feng and An Xin won all three lanes for their team. Messages started flooding the chat.

「holy shit… talk about a stomp!」
「what a game……. that was something… DANG」
「……… wow…… just wow」
「did we just see them 2v5 a whole game!?!??!!??!」

Su Xue stared at An Xin and Lin Feng, amazed, and said, “The heck, you two? My account is at high Platinum! Why did it look like you two were stomping on Bronzes and Silvers?”

Lin Feng grinned and said, “Didn’t I tell you? Me and BunBun make a great team!”

An Xin raised her eyebrows and asked, “Great team? All you did was killsteal… I did all the actual work.”

“I’m the Midlaner! That’s my job!” Lin Feng countered. Then he rubbed his stomach. He looked over his shoulder at Su Xue and said, “I’m hungry. Can we order some take-out?”

“Didn’t we just have a late night snack?” Su Xue asked. She was still annoyed at being benched by her viewers and was in no mood to entertain Lin Feng’s perpetual hunger.

“I know, I know. But I’m hungry again!” Lin Feng replied.

An Xin looked at her friend. She shook her head and blurted out, “You pig!”

“WHAAT?” Su Xue cried out. After welcoming An Xin, Su Xue had rushed back to the kitchen to put the finishing touches to the late night snacks she’d been preparing. She’d brought them out, allowing Lin Feng to attack the plates of food, and started talking with An Xin. That was how she learned An Xin and Lin Feng had been friends since elementary school. She couldn’t wait for An Xin to explain it in any more detail as she started firing off questions, “You knew Little Feng? How was he? Just as stupid as he is now?” She giggled at her own joke, then leaned back in her chair and sighed. “Wooow. So you guys go way back.”

“Yeah, we do! We go way back!” Lin Feng interjected. Then he started grinning and added, “She used to be so chubby, you wouldn’t believe it. Oh! You know those meat buns? She was fat just like one of those!”

An Xin pointedly ignored Lin Feng and nodded at Su Xue, saying, “Yeah, we do.”

Su Xue looked at An Xin and shook her head in disbelief. “I can’t believe it,” she mumbled. “You’re nice and beautiful and way too good for this stupid kid… I don’t know what he did in his past life to deserve a friend like you, but he better count his lucky stars.”

An Xin smiled at the compliment and replied, “You make it sound like you’re not far prettier than me! And you’re pretty amazing yourself too! Lin Feng mentioned that you’re a League streamer, so I’ve been catching some of your streams. You’re always online and you’re working so hard to make everyone feel welcome! Your viewers love you! You managed to create a place where everyone feels welcome. That’s really impressive!”

Su Xue started blushing from all the compliments and said, “No, no, you’re exaggerating! It’s not that good. I’m still working really hard to get to that point… Also, my viewers don’t love me. Those ungrateful degens are always making my life miserable. Just yesterday…” She started recounting all the terrible things her viewers had said to her over the last couple of days and how they drove her crazy.

An Xin listened to Su Xue ranting about her viewers, smiling at the passion behind Su Xue’s words. This wasn’t the I will murder you-smile that she gave Lin Feng all the time, but rather a normal, friendly one. When Su Xue briefly paused to catch her breath, An Xin said, “I’m really not exaggerating. You’ve done something really special. You bonded with your viewers. They see your community as a family. That’s not something most people can pull off. You should be very proud of yourself. I know I’m impressed.”

Su Xue started smiling and then grinning. An Xin knew just the right words to say. That was exactly what Su Xue was trying to do with her stream! To create a community where everyone felt welcome, a community built around having a good time together. And someone noticed that without her saying it. That was all the proof Su Xue needed to confirm that the hard work she was putting into her streams was worth it. 

“Yeah! Su Xue is just a little insecure! She doesn’t believe that her viewers are only teasing her! But it’s so obvious! She does put in a lot of effort to make them happy, though,” Lin Feng chimed in.

“Hey, hey! I’m not insecure! I know it’s all in good fun, you stupid punk!” Su Xue shouted back, glaring at Lin Feng. Then she turned back to look at An Xin and asked, “So you moved here last week from Hangzhou?”

An Xin nodded and said, “Yes. It’s barely even been a week.”

“So pretty much since Monday, huh?” Su Xue mumbled. That’s right around the time Lin Feng stopped sulking… He should’ve just told me he missed her… Stupid kid. Stop making me worry about you for nothing. I’ll get back at you for this! She glared at Lin Feng, then threw her thoughts of revenge to the back of her mind and focused her attention back on An Xin. She put on a smile and asked, “Oh, right! You said you watched my stream? Does that mean you also play League?”

“Yeah, she does! She’s really good! Oh! Oh! She’s coaching our team! Didn’t you see? She was standing in the back during Champion Select!” Lin Feng interrupted. “Also! Also! We made it to the Finals!”

Su Xue laughed and said, “Yes! I caught the last bit of the third stream. But you little punk should’ve told me something about the livestream! If it wasn’t for my viewers pointing me to it, I would’ve never even found it! Your Olaf was really good though. Did BunBun tell you to play him? She’s the one who came up with the strategy, right? Isn’t that what a coach does? That’s what I always see in the LPL and at Worlds!”

Lin Feng nodded and said, “Yep! She did! She’s a great coach! If only she was anywhere as good as me at playing the game…”

“Say what?” An Xin asked sternly, looking at Lin Feng with that infamous smile of hers. “Say that again. I dare you. I double dare you.”

Lin Feng grinned and then corrected himself, “err, playing the game at my level! It would be more fun if you were just as good as I am! All I meant is that you’re just a little bit worse than me… You’re not bad. You’re very good! Really!”

Su Xue laughed at the two high schoolers squabbling with each other. Then she turned to look at An Xin and asked, “I’ll be streaming in a bit. Want to play some duo queue?”

“Sure! I’d love to!” An Xin replied.

Lin Feng looked at the two girls, confused. Game? But BunBun didn’t bring her laptop… What are they so excited about? Did they forget? He licked the grease from his lips, then said, “Uh, how are we going to play a game? There’s three of us and only two computers. You know BunBun didn’t bring her laptop, right?”

“Three of us? I asked her, not you,” Su Xue said.

An Xin giggled and said, “It’s fine, it’s fine. How about this, Lin Feng. You can be in charge of getting us drinks and snacks!”

The thought of being reduced to maid duties scared Lin Feng into action. He quickly came up with an excuse and said, “Wait! Look at the clock. There’s no time to play a game. How are you going to get home in time? You need to sleep early. Tomorrow is the game against Shanghai High School and you still need to come up with a strategy for that!”

An Xin raised her eyebrows and shut Lin Feng down, “Oh, don’t worry. I’m sleeping here tonight. I told my parents before I left for school this morning. Didn’t you ask me to stay over yesterday? Yep, that’s totally how it went down. By the way, mom and pa asked me to say hi for them. Hi.”

“That’s settled then,” Su Xue said, waving her hand. “She can sleep in my room. Or she can sleep in your room and you can sleep on the couch. We’ll figure it out. I’ve got some spare blankets. But let’s worry about that later. Finish your food first so that we can start playing some League!”

✹

Su Xue started up her stream, pointing the webcam at only herself. Lin Feng had brought his laptop over and put it down next to Su Xue’s computer. An Xin sat behind it, while Lin Feng stood behind the two girls. Viewers started joining the stream and they quickly flooded the chat, angry at how long it’d taken Su Xue to grab a late night snack.

「Holy shit girl… Eat faster please…. I can only keep going without you for so long…..」
「I ALMOST DIED OF OLD AGE WAITIN FOR YOU!!!!!!」
「ssssssooooooooooooooooooo slllooowwwwwwww…… I FELL ASLEEP!!」
「MAH GOD! Slowpoke is faster than you are! Snorlax woke up before you finished your snack!」

Lin Feng leaned over Su Xue’s shoulder and entered the frame of her camera. The viewers noticed him immediately and started congratulating him for his win in the Shanghai 16 School Tournament Semifinals.

「oh shit! it’s the raid boss himself!!!」
「LIL BROOOOOO!11!1! WE MISSED YOU!1!!!!!」　
「TEACH ME OLAF PLS< SENSEI!!」
「WE SAW YOU PLAYING TONIGHT<< LIL BRO! Your olaf is dirty!」
「so sick third game. hands down best olaf world. GRATS MY FRIEND!!」

Lin Feng scratched the back of his head, grinning like an idiot. He absolutely loved it when people complimented him. It didn’t matter who gave them. He just liked receiving them. “I know, right?” he started. “We 3-0’d them! Did you all see how good my Olaf is?”

“Oh please… Not this again. Get a room already!” Su Xue said, exasperated. Then she pushed Lin Feng away and announced to the viewers, “We’re going to play some duo queue tonight!”

「NICE! carry her lil bro!!」
「YUSH! Another lil bro and maid episode! THESE ARE THE BESSTTTT!!!!1!」
「get playing already! i wanna seeeeeeeee」
「CARRY HER LIL BROOOOO!!!!!!」

“Oh, sorry guys. I’m not playing with Lin Feng today,” Su Xue interrupted. Her stream chat reacted as if she’d poured a bucket of ice cold water over their burning hot enthusiasm. As if she took away all the joy and happiness from their lives. They took it upon themselves to flame her and tell her exactly how dumb it was to duo queue with anyone but Lin Feng.

「HUHHH!? WE ONLY CARE ABOUT LIL BROO!!!!」
「IT”S TIME TO RISE AGAINST THIS TYRANNY! TEAM UPRISING! TEAM UPRISING!」
「LIL BRO OR I GO! LIL BRO OR I GO!!!!!!!」
「I”M ONLY HERE FOR LIL BRO!!!! GO AWAY STUPID MAID!!!」
「i really wanna see godlee, not whoever the fuck this other person is……」

“Oh, I see… You guys sure about that? You’ll make someone very sad,” Su Xue said. Then she turned her webcam so that An Xin was also in the frame. “I was planning to play some duo queue with BunBun here. But since you guys don’t want to watch two pretty girls playing League, whatever I guess. I’ll just turn off the stream and go to bed early for a change.”

An Xin waved at the camera, smiling, and said, “Hi, guys!”

The viewers needed a moment to process this reveal. They forgot all about Lin Feng and focused their full attention on An Xin. She was stunning. To them, she was the most beautiful girl on the whole world wide web. The viewers channeled their inner degen. They readied their hands, placed them on the keyboard, and started flooding the chat.

「Typing with both hands to prove innocence!」
「Typing with both hands too prove innocence!」
「Typing with BOTH hands to prove innocence!」
「TYping with both hands to prove innocence!」
「Typing with both hands to prove innocence!!」
「Typing with  both hands to prove innocence!」
「Typing with both hands to prove Innocence!」
「hey hey are you better than xue xue?? Wanna duo with me? I’m Diamond 1. You can add me. My tag is: WaterWraith」
「Tping with both hands to prove innocence!」
「Typing with ALL THREE hands to prove innocence!」
「Typing with both hands to prove innocence!」
「Typing with b0th hands t0 pr0ve inn0cence!」
「Typing with BOTHhands to prove innocence!」
「Typing with both hands to prove innocence!!!!!」
「Typing with both hands to prove innocence!」

Lin Feng stared at the chat. They were his loyal bros a moment ago, but now they’d forgotten all about him! The compliments were gone. The demands for him to play were gone. Every mention of him was gone. He pushed past Su Xue and grumbled, “Hey! What about me? I thought you guys wanted to see me play!”

「eh it’s fine.. We already watched you today in the tournament」
「you can go pour drinks for BunBun!」
「yeah, be a good host and go get BunBun some water!」
「Haha MAID FENG! MAID FENG!」

Lin Feng watched the chat in stunned silence. He didn’t know what to say or do, except to slowly move away from the screen. He hoped nobody noticed the “Maid Feng”message, or that they’d forget about it quickly even if they did. Meanwhile, Su Xue was just enjoying the moment. How do you like that, you little punk! Finally getting a taste of your own medicine! Maid Feng! Ha! This is awesome. Maybe I should buy him a maid costume. The viewers would love that… Have him walk around in it as a sub goal, hahahah!