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!

It was late into the night by the time the Shanghai 16 School Tournament Semifinals concluded. High School 13’s team walked out into the cold night air of Shanghai, while Ouyang rambled on about the amazing plays and how he’d totally helped the team make it to the Finals from the bench. “Listen, listen, listen bros and fembros! My heart was right up on stage with you guys, beating and pounding! I felt your nerves like my nerves, sizzling and frying! We were in it together!” The others walked on while politely nodding as Ouyang basked in the excitement of the win. They eventually reached a large town square and stopped. This was where they had to part company and go back to their own homes. The Finals were the next day, so there was no time for celebration tonight.

They said their goodbyes to each other and started walking off in different directions, a mellow closing to an eventful day. That’s when An Xin ran over to Lin Feng and grabbed his arm, “I can’t wait to see your place! Let’s go!” Everyone heard her words and froze in place for a picosecond. Ouyang was the first to react, his mind moved faster than the Flash whenever something like this came up. He thought he knew what was going down. An Xin had seen Lin Feng playing, and she was all revved up. He started grinning. My bro Lin Feng! No! Now he’s going to be my man Lin Feng! What a fucking champion! Wins the tournament, gets the girl. His grin got even wider and he positively beamed a pure, primal, pristine, and fading-virginity-by-proxy joy at Lin Feng. “MY MAN LIN FENG! REMEMBER, KEEP THE COVER ON THE STRAW WHEN YOU GET THAT JUICE!” Then he winked at Lin Feng. 

Ouyang’s excitement and yelling was enough to spark understanding for Liu Yue. He understood exactly what Ouyang was saying, and he grinned right back at Ouyang before looking at Lin Feng. Then he said, “Lin Feng, I’m right with you in spirit! I got your back! But if you need any… uh… HELP, you call me. Any time! I’ll get up! No matter how late it is. You call me if you need to know anything, yeah? Encouragement, moral support, tips, anyt—” 

Ren Rou was shocked when she heard An Xin talking about going to Lin Feng’s house. It was completely unexpected and out of the blue. She got over her shock at how scandalously forward An Xin was being just as Ouyang finished talking. Then she let out a small gasp and turned to look at Tang Bingyao, who was just staring at the ground. That’s when Liu Yue started talking, and she glared at Ouyang before motioning towards Liu Yue. Ouyang read her loud and clear. He grabbed Liu Yue and pulled him away before any more words could be said. 

Ren Rou then turned to look at Tang Bingyao, who was staring at the ground. She heard… Poor girl. Ren Rou walked up to Tang Bingyao, who was chewing on her lips and ignoring everyone around her, and put an arm around her. Then she leaned closer to Tang Bingyao’s ear and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear, “Hey, everything okay?” There was no response.

Lin Feng, meanwhile, had only just processed An Xin’s statement. And failed to understand what she meant. He looked at her, confused, and asked, “Huh? Why? What?”

An Xin knocked on Lin Feng’s head. “Why? You’re an idiot. Why do you think? I just said it. To see your place!”

Lin Feng rubbed his forehead in pain and said, “Uh… But, well, isn’t it late…? Look, it’s night!”

An Xin narrowed her eyes, smiling that terrifying smile of hers, and said, “Yeah. So? Got a problem with that?”

All the guys took a step back. They felt a cold chill running up and down their bodies. An Xin was a nice girl most of the time. But something always seemed to change whenever she talked to Lin Feng. She would start smiling that smile that could’ve come straight out of a horror movie. There was something incredibly disturbing about it, though they didn’t quite know what.

Lin Feng didn’t seem to notice what the other guys saw. He laughed and said, “Okay, sure! It actually works out perfectly! You’ll get a chance to try Su Xue’s food! It’s always so good! She’s probably busy making a late night snack for me right now!”

An Xin nodded and said, “That sounds yum! I’m looking forward to it.”

Lin Feng glanced at the time on his phone and said, “Since it’s already so late, let’s not take the train. It’s going to take forever, and it’s annoying. We’ll get a cab home!” Then he looked at Tang Bingyao and added, “Tang Tang, you can come with us too! We’ll just make a stop at your place and drop you off, your place is on the way anyway.”

Tang Bingyao didn’t look up at Lin Feng. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, but no words came out. All she could hear was the sound of her heart knocking violently against her ribcage. Her shoulders started trembling, but Ren Rou expertly helped her to hide it. “Uhm…” she mumbled, barely audible. She chewed on the inside of her mouth, fighting back the tears she could feel welling up. There was a strange feeling in her stomach, as if she were falling. She could feel seven pairs of eyes on her. They were burning. Her breaths came in ragged and uneven. Then she shook her head and said, “N-no, thank you.”

An Xin was surprised that Tang Bingyao refused to join them. “What? Tang Tang, just take the cab back home with us. Don’t you live really close to Lin Feng?” She paused for a moment, waiting for an answer that wasn’t coming, then added, “It’s so late already and you’re a pretty girl! I don’t think it’s smart for you to take the train home by yourself. What if something happens?”

“Yeah! What BunBun said!” Lin Feng chimed in. Then his eyes went wide. Oh, right! Money! I can’t believe I forgot that! He quickly added, “Don’t worry about splitting the cab ride! I’m paying for the whole thing.”

Tang Bingyao kept shaking her head, still staring down at the ground. “N-no, thank you,” she repeated. “I’ll take the train home.”

“But I said I’ll pay!” Lin Feng exclaimed. “You understand what I’m saying, right? I. Will. Pay! You don’t have to pay anything! It’s free! That’s like making money! Don’t you understand… I don’t understand… Are you sick again?” He reached out towards Tang Bingyao’s forehead, but was slapped away by Ren Rou who yelped, “Hey! Didn’t you hear her? She said no!”

Tang Bingyao tried to hide behind Ren Rou, who was still hugging her from the side, and mumbled, “N-no, thank you. I’ll t-take the train home.”

Lin Feng scratched the back of his head and complained, “Tang Tang always wants to save money. I’m saying that I’ll pay. Why would she want to pay for a train ticket home and wait for the train, when she could just get in a cab with BunBun and me? We’ll drop her off at her place! I don’t get it!” He looked at Ren Rou and continued, “Maybe she really is running a fever, Rou Rou. Right! Why’d you have to slap me away? I’m just worried for a friend! What did I even do?”

Running a fever? Are you really that stupid? Ren Rou shook her head. She could feel a trembling panic from Tang Bingyao and hugged her a little closer. Then she looked at Lin Feng and said, “Don’t worry about it. You go take a cab home with An Xin. I’ll take the train back with Tang Tang. She’ll be fine.” She then nudged Tang Bingyao and said, “That’s good with you, right?”

“Mhm,” Tang Bingyao said, nodding slowly.

Lin Feng shook his head, confused, and said, “Okay, If you say so. I’ll see you guys tomorrow then! Come, BunBun, let’s go find a cab.” He was completely oblivious to what was going on. 

An Xin, on the other hand, was not as clueless as Lin Feng. She’d picked up on what was happening. She looked at Tang Bingyao and briefly considered if she wanted to say something, but decided against it. Not the right time for that. We’ll sit down and talk when it’s just the two of us. Another time, another day. She smiled at Ren Rou and Tang Bingyao, “Just be careful, alright?” Then she grabbed Lin Feng by the arm and walked away.

✹

Ren Rou and Tang Bingyao lived a good 30 minutes apart from each other. They walked to the train station together in silence and waited for the last Line #4 train to arrive. The sky was dark. There was almost no one around. They jumped on the train when it arrived and were greeted by an almost empty carriage. There was someone sleeping in the back, who probably had already missed his stop judging by the drool on his blazer, and there was a small group in suits. The two girls stayed near the door, far away from the other passengers. Tang Bingyao was leaning back against the glass dividers, staring out the window at the city’s nightscape, lost in thought.

Ren Rou looked at Tang Bingyao and sighed. She wanted to say something to help her friend, but didn’t know how to breach the topic. Or even what she could possibly do. Finally, with only two more stops until she had to get off the train, she said, “Tang Tang, you know you didn’t have to do that, right?”

Tang Bingyao turned to look at Ren Rou and said, “Mhm huh? What? Sorry…”

Ren Rou shook her head, staring out the window, and said, “You know you didn’t have to do that, right? Back there, I mean, with Lin Feng and BunBun. It’s only a cab ride. Why didn’t you just go with them? You’re all going the same way anyway. Now you’re in this train that smells like piss… Is this really what you want?”

Tang Bingyao bit on her lips. Just the thought of Lin Feng and An Xin together pained her. It was a contracting feeling in her chest. She clutched it and said, “Uhm, I… I didn’t want to be the third wheel.”

Ren Rou sighed, you poor girl, and said, “How would you be third wheeling? You… Ah, you stupid girl. You really have no experience with dating, do you? Did you read this in some book? You’re all up in your head and imagining all sorts of crazy things. I guarantee you, nothing is happening between the two of them. BunBun even said so herself. She’s just going over to take a look at his place. And, come on, Tang Tang. They’ve been friends for years! It’s perfectly normal that they’re closer with each other than you are with Lin Feng. You two have only known each other for a few months.”

Tang Bingyao didn’t answer right away. She looked down at the carriage floor, chewing on her lips. Finally, she mumbled, “I know that, but…” Then she remembered how Ren Rou had saved her from the situation earlier. If it weren’t for Ren Rou, she would have run out of excuses. Lin Feng and An Xin would’ve convinced her to join them in the cab. She would’ve had to sit next to them, while they were doing things together. She would’ve had to listen to them doing those things together. She would’ve had to see them doing those things together. No! Ren Rou said it was only a cab ride… But that thought didn’t make her feel any more comfortable about the situation. She looked up at her friend and said, “Thank you, Rou Rou.”

“Please, what’s there to thank me for? That’s what friends are for!” Ren Rou replied, smiling. Then she looked at Tang Bingyao. She wanted to say something more. She wanted to tell Tang Bingyao not to give up on Lin Feng. An Xin was Lin Feng’s friend, they weren’t dating. But she couldn’t get herself to say the words. She shook her head and mumbled to herself, “Hah, what am I going to do with you?”

The train arrived at the fourth station since the two girls got on. Ren Rou gave Tang Bingyao a goodnight hug, said a few more supportive words, and then got off the train. Tang Bingyao watched the doors close before continuing staring into the distance. She still had to wait through another seven stops, which would take about 20 minutes. Shanghai’s scenery flashed by, but she didn’t see any of it. Her mind was a mess, with images of Lin Feng and An Xin together. Maybe they already kissed… The voice coming from the speaker above her head announced the next stop, pulling her out of her stupor. She hefted her backpack up to her shoulders and waited for the doors to open. Then she got off the train and left the station.

Tang Bingyao walked the familiar streets she always walked with Lin Feng. The warm glow of the street lamps illuminated the path ahead, casting long and slender shadows over the pavement. She carefully placed her feet over the cement blocks, playing her usual game of Don’t-Step-on-the-Cracks. Then she turned back to look behind her… He wasn’t there. His bright grin and messy hair. He wasn’t there. He always walked with her down this street. She would play her game and he would watch her. He wasn’t there. The street was empty. The only company she had was her own shadow. She felt a lump in her throat and her eyes watered. “Don’t cry. Don’t cry,” she mumbled to herself, rubbing her nose. “Don’t cry. There’s nothing to cry about. Stop crying. Stop crying!” She wiped her eyes with her sleeve. “Stop it!” She forced herself to take a deep breath and looked back down at the cement blocks. She hopped around on them, a brief distraction. Then she turned to look behind her again. He wasn’t there. “Why are you not there?” she asked, her eyes red and tears running down her face. “I wanted you to be there.”

✹

The cab dropped Lin Feng and An Xin off in front of the apartment complex where Lin Feng lived. They walked up the stairs together and stopped before the front door. Lin Feng fished in his pocket for his keys, but couldn’t find them. He felt around in another pocket, and then another, searching for them. “Uhh…” He turned to An Xin and said, “Oops! Looks like I forgot my keys!”

“Idiot. Still as forgetful as ever, I see,” An Xin complained, shaking her head.

“It’s fine, it’s fine! Su Xue’s home. She can open the door!” Lin Feng said. Then he laughed and added, “It’s not like this is my first or second time forgetting my keys!”

An Xin rolled her eyes back and said, “You sound proud of it. Don’t be.”

Lin Feng had stopped listening. He was knocking on the front door and shouted, “SU XUEEEE! I’M HOO–OOOME!”

The door didn’t open right away, so Lin Feng banged a little harder on it, shouting even louder, “IT’S-A ME, MARIO! I mean, LIN FENG! OPEN THE DOOOOOR!”

Su Xue still hadn’t opened the door yet. Lin Feng grew increasingly impatient, now slamming his fists into the door and shouting at the top of his lungs, “SU XUEEEEEEEE—”

“ENOUGH!” Su Xue shouted from inside the apartment. She swung the front door open a few seconds later and yelled, “What the hell is wrong with you? Are you trying to wake up the entire neighbourhood? And how did you forget your keys again? How stupid are you? Do you think I won’t let you sleep outside? Just watch, you little—” Su Xue abruptly stopped ranting. She’d finally noticed An Xin.

Lin Feng noticed that Su Xue was looking at An Xin. He scratched the back of his head and said, “Oh, This i—”

Su Xue slammed the door shut in Lin Feng’s face. Shit! Why did I close the door? FUCKING FIDDLESTICKS! I panicked… She leaned against the door and slid down towards the ground. What do I do now? I CLOSED THE DOOR ON THEM! Su Xue was embarrassed at her reaction, confused, and mostly mind-blown by how cute the girl standing next to Lin Feng was. He brought a girl home. A very pretty girl… I think? Was that really a girl? A ghost? Maybe it was a ghost! No, it wasn’t. I really saw her. Wait, no. I’m totally seeing things! That has to be a ghost! She pushed herself up and opened the door again. There was the girl. I’M NOT SEEING THINGS! I’M NOT SEEING THINGS! SHE’S REAL!

“Hey! Why did you close the door again?” Lin Feng shouted, indignant.

An Xin ignored Lin Feng and bowed towards Su Xue, saying, “It’s nice to meet you. I’m An Xin, Lin Feng’s friend. He invited me to come over.”

Lin Feng stopped badgering Su Xue with demands for an answer and turned to look at An Xin. It took him a moment to process what she’d just said, then he started complaining, “Hey! Weren’t you the one inviting yourse— YEOUCHH!” 

An Xin silenced Lin Feng with a swift kick to the shin, while smiling kindly at Su Xue and continuing as if nothing had happened, “But all my friends call me BunBun, so please call me that!”

Su Xue blinked several times. Then she said, “Oh! You must be one of Lin Feng’s classmates then! Come in! Please, come in! Make yourself at home!” All the while, her imagination was running wild. He brought a pretty girl home late at night! Should I call his mother to make sure she’s ok with thi— Wait! What about Tang Tang? Wasn’t he seeing her? Where did this An Xin, BunBun, whatever come from? And she’s also really pretty! Are all high school girls so pretty these days? Su Xue glanced at Lin Feng as the two brushed past her. Don’t tell me this stupid kid is actually popular with the girls…

Zeng Rui looked at the celebrating members from High School 13’s esports team. He shook his head and turned to his teammates, saying, “Come.” Then he got up from his seat and walked towards Lin Feng. He correctly guessed that the others from High School 13’s team would gather around Lin Feng the moment they noticed him walking over. There were six guys and three girls on High School 13’s team. Zeng Rui didn’t care about most of them. There were really only two… and a half who he felt deserved his attention. After stopping in front of High School 13’s team, he sized them up. The thundering dumbass… That new girl… and her. High School 13’s players stared back at Zeng Rui. Neither side said anything.

Shanghai High School wasn’t just any opponent for High School 13. They were the opponent. Shanghai High School had won the Shanghai 16 School Tournament last year. They’d been the undisputed best high school team in Shanghai. Only Shanghai International had ever given them a difficult time. High School 13 had just beaten Shanghai International. But just because they swept Shanghai International 3-0 didn’t mean that they could beat Shanghai High School. The victory today was in large part thanks to An Xin’s game plan. She had drafted the perfect line-ups to shut down Yan Liang and Liu Zhengjie, the two strongest players on Shanghai International’s team. More than that, she understood Liu Zhengjie’s personality and how that could affect an entire team’s dynamic. Shutting him down was almost the same as shutting the entire team down.

Shanghai International wasn’t a team. They were two carries with three slaves. An Xin had correctly spotted this and prepared accordingly. She’d created a solid plan that could see individually weaker players win. High School 13’s average skill level was relatively low compared to the other Semifinalists, with Lin Feng and Tang Bingyao being the only two exceptions. But High School 13’s team was stronger than the sum of its individual parts. Shanghai International failed to recognize this, and they paid the price. They were knocked out, blaming Lin Feng and his insane skill. They never realized that they themselves were the real problem.

Shanghai High School was a different beast altogether. They wouldn’t make the same mistake Shanghai International had. Zeng Rui recognized that High School 13 wasn’t just a mishmash of individual players; they were a strong team. He would need more than five individually good players to beat them. He needed a game plan, a strategy to exploit High School 13’s weaknesses while simultaneously curbing Lin Feng. The first ideas were already floating in his mind. Zeng Rui was one of the best in all of Shanghai when it came to strategy and tactics.

The members from High School 13’s team, with the exception of Lin Feng and An Xin, stared at Zeng Rui. They knew who he was. They’d seen him on stage last year, leading his team to the title. Every League of Legends fan in Shanghai knew who he was! He was one of the best Support players in all of China! He was a Challenger on the Ionia Server! He was a master strategist who never got outwitted! There were plenty of rumours going around suggesting he was approached by a professional team multiple times during the year. Other rumours took it a big further. They said he was going to join a professional team as early as next season!

Zeng Rui ignored the stares. He was used to it. It came with his fame. He looked at the different members from High School 13’s team, then cleared his throat and said, “Let me be the first to congratulate you on making it all the way to the Finals. Shanghai International wasn’t an easy opponent.” The words were there, but they sounded empty, as if he didn’t mean them at all. As if he wasn’t the least bit impressed with High School 13’s recent form. Then he turned to Lin Feng and said, “You’re a really good Jungler.”

It was a simple statement that no one could disagree with. Lin Feng’s Olaf was just that good. But Zeng Rui’s teammates standing behind him widened their eyes in surprise, staring at the back of their team captain. Zeng Rui rarely ever gave a compliment. But when he did, he really meant it. Lin Feng didn’t know this. He scratched his hair and laughed, “Oh, you think so? Thanks! My Jungle is pretty good! But I’m a way better Midlaner!”

Ouyang stood off to the side, incredulous. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Lin Feng, you… you idiot! He smacked his face with his palm and shook his head. Bro… Get some humility! Stop with all the bragging! My god! And now you’re also giving away secrets to our opponent! You’re supposed to be our secret weapon! SECRET! What the fuck, bro…

Zeng Rui didn’t bother with Lin Feng’s reply. He turned to look at Tang Bingyao, nodding at her, and said, “Your ad-carry was half decent.”

“Thank you,” Tang Bingyao replied.

Zeng Rui finally turned to An Xin. There he paused. He looked her in the eyes, searching for something that could help him prepare for the Finals. But she didn’t give away anything, except for an innocent smile. How good is she… I need to find more information on her before tomorrow. He smiled back, weakly, and asked, “That was your strategy, right?” She nodded, prompting him to continue, “That was…” He shook his head and took a deep breath. “That was brilliant. You have my respect.”

If Zeng Rui’s teammates were surprised to hear the compliment he gave Lin Feng, then they were astounded right now. They could count on their fingers the number of times he’d called someone brilliant. Zeng Rui never gave compliments to his opponents when he played for Shanghai High School’s esports team. He never had anything positive to say about his teammates or opponents in solo queue. The only players who could impress him performed on the professional stage. And even then, there were only a few of them. They were the likes of Autumn from the North American team Season, who was a master strategist much like Zeng Rui.

“What in the world… Is he feeling ok?”
“Are you feeling ok, bud? Not catching anything bad I hope, haha.”
“Ha! He must be in a really good mood today!”
“I wish he would give me a compliment once…”

An Xin smiled at Zeng Rui and said, “Thanks. You’re flattering me. I heard you’re pretty good at coming up with strategies yourself. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

Zeng Rui nodded and said, “Right. Tomorrow should be interesting. I’m looking forward to it too.” Then he nodded at his teammates and turned around to walk away. His teammates said a few congratulatory words to the players from High School 13, then hurried after their team captain.

High School 13’s team watched Shanghai High School’s players walking away, dazed. Liu Yue was the first to turn his head away from them. He scratched the back of his head and asked, “What the hell was all that about? Did he really just come here to congratulate us…?”

Ouyang snorted and said, “To congratulate us? No, bro. Are you deaf? Didn’t you hear what he said? He’s looking forward to playing against us! He was challenging us! He only came to provoke us! That’s how those asshats work! But we’re better than that! We’re going to beat them!”

Lin Feng shrugged and said, “I didn’t hear him provoke us. He seemed like a pretty nice guy.”

“Of course he does to you!” Ren Rou said, rolling her eyes back. “He only had good things to say about you! You like anyone who gives you a compliment!”

Shanghai International’s Jungler escaped from High School 13’s pursuit. Tang Bingyao’s Jinx didn’t get the pentakill. But that didn’t change the outcome of the teamfight. The four kills she got gave her a lot of gold. On top of that, High School 13 killed the Dragon. This gave the whole team gold. Then they turned their attention to Baron Nashor, the strongest monster on the map. Killing him gave a teamwide buff that increased the stats of Champions and minions that were near Champions. High School 13 pulled so far ahead after this teamfight that there was nothing Shanghai International could do to stop them anymore. Right before the teamfight started, Shanghai International had been hopeful. They thought that after 10 minutes of desperately trying to scale up and getting to a point where they could contend against High School 13, they could finally turn this game around. But there was nothing that could stop High School 13’s unyielding momentum.

After recalling back to base and spending the gold they’d earned, High School 13’s team split up in two. Lin Feng had his Olaf go to the top lane, where he pushed towards Shanghai International’s base. He destroyed the inner tower and came knocking on the inhibitor tower’s door. In the meantime, the rest of the team pushed down the mid lane. They destroyed two towers and only stopped when they reached the inhibitor tower. The inhibitor towers were easier to defend than the outer and inner towers due to the terrain surrounding them. So Shanghai International’s team had decided to make their last stand here.

Shanghai International’s Fiora was switching between helping the mid lane defend and trying to keep the top lane inhibitor tower from falling to the Olaf. She was trying to do two things at once. Her attention wasn’t entirely on the top laner, nor was it on the mid lane. This was a mistake. At 23 minutes, Lin Feng had his Olaf towerdive the Fiora and killed her before she even realized what was happening. He escaped with more than half of his health remaining. This was the signal for the rest of High School 13’s team to go in. They used the brief moment of confusion on Shanghai International’s team to towerdive them in the mid lane. The Thresh, Jarvan IV, and Lissandra used their crowd control skills to lock down Shanghai International’s players. Tang Bingyao followed up with her Jinx, unloading a thousand and one bullets and killing the Orianna, Rek’Sai, and Morgana.

《Triple Kill!》

Westwind sat at the caster desk overlooking the venue. The audience had been up on their feet for the last several minutes. This was clearly the end of the game. High School 13 was pushing for the win. He laughed to himself and then brought the microphone to his mouth, shouting, “IT’S A T-T-TRIPPLEEE KILLL! I think we all know what that means. High School 13 is closing out the match! High School 13 is going to the FINALS!”

Silent Reed couldn’t even hear her own thoughts anymore over the deafening sounds of the audience. She smiled and shouted slightly louder than usual, “Whoever said that ad-carries are weak this patch hasn’t seen this game. Jinx is clearly as strong a Champion as ever!”

Tang Bingyao’s Jinx wreaking havoc had nothing to do with ad-carries being strong or weak on the current patch. Every Champion became strong after picking up 7 kills within two minutes. That was just how the game worked. But it took skill, or very bad opponents, to get those kills and become that strong. Tang Bingyao had succeeded in doing that, while Liu Zhengjie had failed. His Tristana wasn’t worth much anymore, even after his desperate struggle to scale up. All he could do in this last teamfight was Rocket Jump away and then dodge the Jinx’s Super Mega Death Rocket by flashing over it. Now he stood on the fountain, watching High School 13 destroy the inhibitors in the mid and top lanes.

This stupid fucking bitch! DAMMIT! Why does she always get so lucky? If I’d gotten that first blood, this game would’ve been different! If my team had made a decent engage, I could’ve grabbed a quadra… It would be me! I would be the one pushing for a win! NOT that stupid fucking bitch! FUCK HER! Liu Zhengjie gnashed his teeth, fuming. He was Shanghai International’s star player. He was favoured by his peers to become a professional player. He was approached by a professional team! But Tang Bingyao was stealing his thunder. The Shanghai 16 School Tournament should’ve been the stage for him to make that step to the professional scene after winning the whole tournament! And now, now he was on the verge of being eliminated in the Semifinals. He looked around the map. Minions were pushing into the base. All five champions from High School 13 were attacking the two nexus towers. The death timers on his teammates were still more than 20 seconds. It’s over. Fuck.

The first nexus tower was destroyed. High School 13 pushed on to the second nexus tower, which fell shortly after. Three Red minion waves spawned from the Nexus, but they did little to slow down High School 13’s advance. The Tristana stayed on the fountain. She watched the Nexus tremble and shake until it shattered, the red energy contained within exploding outwards and morphing into the victory emblem for High School 13.

VICTORY!

The audience was split into three groups. First there were the students from Shanghai International. They slumped back in their seats, embarrassed at their team’s performance. High School 13 was the butt of all jokes. They were the single worst team in all of Shanghai! They were the kids who spent more time looking for excuses for their poor performances than practicing the game. Yet Shanghai International’s team had just lost against High School 13. Shanghai International had lost to the worst team in Shanghai! At that very moment, it genuinely felt to Shanghai International’s students like they were the single worst team in all of Shanghai. They’d lost to High School 13. They’d lost to High School 13…

The second group in the audience were the neutral fans. They were for the most part students from Tonji Affiliated High and Shanghai High School. They were jumping up and down and cheering their lungs out! The games weren’t perhaps as exciting as they would’ve liked, but Lin Feng had more than made up for that. This series was an astonishing display of skill by him, and he deserved every bit of praise!

Finally, there were the students from High School 13. They didn’t cheer or slump back in their seats. They just sat, staring, dazed. They’d grown so accustomed to losing that they didn’t really know what to do now that they’d won. Despite the victory in the first game. Despite the victory in the second game. Despite the massive advantage High School 13 had procured in the third game. Despite all of that and more, High School 13’s students in the audience were expecting another loss. Until now, they were cheering because they rarely had the chance to do so. But they cheered for a good play, a nice trick, a perfectly executed gank. They hadn’t ever cheered for winning a series. Nor for their team making it to the Finals of the biggest high school esports event in Shanghai! They started smiling uncontrollably. They started laughing. They were crying tears of joy. But in this moment of pure bliss, they forgot to cheer.

✹

As was custom, High School 13’s team walked over to the other side of the stage to shake hands with the players from Shanghai International. But there was little response. Yan Liang was staring at his screen, dazed by the reality of the situation, while Liu Zhengjie was cursing at everything and everyone he could see and think of. The other three players weren’t very happy either. But they forced themselves up from their seats and bowed slightly.

In the meantime, Ouyang and Liu Yue had recovered from their shock. They turned around to look at the silence behind them, and were met with hundreds of happy faces. Ouyang grabbed Liu Yue and Ren Rou by the shoulders and they stood up from their seats. They wrapped their arms around each other’s shoulders. Then they started dancing and singing, “AND IT’S SWEET, SWEET, SWEET VICTORY, YEAAHHHH!” The students from High School 13 followed by example. They stood up and started jumping to Ouyang’s beat and began singing with him.

High School 13’s team walked down the stage, watching the audience jumping and dancing and cheering for them. They smiled and laughed and threw their hands up in the air, waving at the audience. Chen Ze and Wei Dong walked up to Ouyang and joined in with him, while Yang Fan followed a step behind. He was his usual self, though he couldn’t hide the joy in his expression. Lin Feng ignored all of them. He walked towards An Xin with his arms wide open and shouted over the noise, “BUNBUN! WE WON!”

An Xin stared at him, her eyes widening further with every step he took. He tried to hug her, but she pushed him away just in time, yelping, “What was that?” She glared at him and added, “I get it, we won. Great. Let’s celebrate it without hugging!”

Lin Feng looked at An Xin and rubbed his chest painfully. Huh? Well, then… He turned around, showing an even wider grin, and walked over towards Tang Bingyao. He opened his arms wide and shouted, “Tang Tang, we won!”

Tang Bingyao wasn’t as quick as An Xin. Lin Feng’s arms wrapped around her before she realized what was happening. She glanced past Lin Feng at An Xin and then quickly pushed him away, asking, “Hmm? What do you think you’re doing?”

Lin Feng took a step back and looked at the two girls. He turned from one to the other and back to the first again. Then he said, “What am I doing? Celebrating, of course! We won! We beat Shanghai International!”

“Oh. Hmm…” Tang Bingyao looked at Lin Feng and then at An Xin again. Finally, she shook her head and said, “We can celebrate. But no hugging.”

Two beautiful girls and a guy getting turned down by them. Ouyang wouldn’t be Ouyang if he didn’t notice it. He slipped away from the others, somehow pulling Ren Rou with him, and started grinning, relishing in Lin Feng’s schadenfreude. “Yo, Lin Feng, bro. Tell me how it feels getting rejected by two girls in a row! Hahaha! And here I thought I had to be jealous of you! Haha!” Then he pulled Ren Rou, whose arm was still around his shoulder, a little closer to him and said, “Hey, Rou Rou, how about we have a celebratory hug?”

Ren Rou pulled her arm away and glared at Ouyang, then slapped him across the cheek. “Screw off! All you did was warm the bench! What do you have to celebrate for?”

Ouyang grimaced and shrunk back a little as he moved his arms in front of him. “H-hey… It’s not like I had a choice. I wanted to play. But the others are better… I mean, at least my heart was up on the stage with them, right?”

Ren Rou didn’t get a chance to reply to Ouyang, because Liu Yue interrupted her. He tapped on her shoulder and shoved into their little circle. Then he pointed behind him and said, “Yo, guys, look who’s coming.”

All nine members of High School 13’s esports team fell silent. They huddled up together and watched quietly as Shanghai High School’s team approached. Zeng Rui walked in the front, with the four others stalking behind him. He moved with a steady, strong gait, looking calm. The players from High School 13, bar for Lin Feng and An Xin, started fidgeting, nervous. They’d seen Shanghai High School’s team from a distance, always performing up on stage. But they’d never actually met them. Yet today, they’d secured their place in the Finals and would be going up against Shanghai High School for the title. High School 13 suddenly found themselves amongst the big names, and that was quite intimidating. So they looked at the ground, shuffling around, not really knowing what to say or do.

Westwind had been casting games all night. He was currently on his sixth game in a row. His voice was hurting and he desperately needed a water break. But then he looked at the large screen above the stage. At the Olaf. What a player… He shook his head in disbelief. The Olaf made shoutcasting a high school tournament very interesting. “Hoh? It looks like the Olaf is going for a flank!” he said into his microphone. He heard his voice booming through the venue. It had taken some time to get used to hearing himself, but he was growing comfortable with it. “Shanghai International has placed a ton of wards around their mid lane. This is going to be very difficult. But this Olaf has been surprising us all game. Let’s see what he has in store for us now!”

Silent Reed sat next to Westwind. She’d been shoutcasting the games together with him since the start of the tournament. He usually took the lead and she would respond, preferably with some new insights or a different point of view. She also looked at the large screen above the stage. It showed the game from the spectator mode, meaning that there was no fog of war. They could see exactly where all 10 players were and where they were going. Right now, the Olaf was in the top side of his own Jungle and looking to cross the river to enter Shanghai International’s Jungle. Silent Reed smiled and said, “Yan Liang will probably notice that the Olaf is missing very soon. He’s a good team captain. I think they’ll retreat before the Olaf can surprise them. Plus. See that ward in the brush above the mid lane? They’ll spot the Olaf with that ward the moment he tries anything! This is looking good for Yan Liang’s team!”

Silent Reed’s analysis was correct to a certain extent. That ward would reveal Lin Feng’s Olaf, but only if he walked through that brush or got too close to it. Lin Feng was good enough at the game to know that there was most likely a ward in that brush. So, when he had his Olaf cross the river, he made sure to keep enough distance from that brush to not get spotted by the ward. Then he entered Shanghai International’s Jungle and stopped at the Raptor Camp, which was directly above Shanghai International’s outer tower in the mid lane. A wall of trees was the only thing separating the two.

Lin Feng panned his camera over to the mid lane and watched what was happening there. The Orianna had started to back. It was clear Shanghai International’s team knew something was wrong. What they didn’t know was that it was already far too late to retreat. Lin Feng grinned and pressed down on his D key–Ghost! A blue aura flowed out from underneath the Olaf’s feet, granting him a burst of movement speed. He ran through the narrow passage between the river and the wall of trees around the Raptor Camp. Then he used the active skill of one of his items, which gave him a second movement speed boost. He stormed into the mid lane!

Westwind tried to hype up the crowd for this play. But only a small section of the audience responded to him. The rest were sitting on the edge of their seats, enthralled. It all happened so quickly. One moment High School 13 and Shanghai International were throwing skillshots at each other in the mid lane, and the next the Olaf had flanked Shanghai International’s team and was charging at them. The audience didn’t want to miss a second of the action, not even to cheer!

Lin Feng’s Olaf was the embodiment of Odin. He was the Norse God of War and Frenzy! A blood red aura shrouded him. It was the visual effect of his ultimate skill–Ragnarok! He was immune to all crowd control effects. Nothing and no one could stop him now! He threw an axe at no one in particular, but still hit three Shanghai International Champions. Lin Feng screamed over the team’s voice chat, “GoGoGo! FIIIIGHT!”

FUUCK! Yan Liang gritted his teeth. They’d lost vision on the Olaf for only a couple of seconds. Just a few seconds! And then they were too late to stop it. The Olaf was so fast. He was already in the middle of their team, wreaking havoc. There was no time to think. There was no time to deal damage. There was no time to do anything else but retreat as quickly as possible. Yan Liang shouted over his team’s voice chat, “BACK! FLASH! JUMP! ANYTHING! JUST GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!”

Shanghai International’s retreat was too late. Three seconds after Lin Feng’s Olaf received the speed boost from his item, a secondary effect took place. A turbid shockwave of energy pulsed out into the surroundings, sweeping over the Orianna, Rek’Sai, and Fiora. Their movement speed was cut in more than half. It looked as if their Champions were walking in slow motion, while the Olaf ran like the Flash! Olaf’s axe was flying through the air again, striking three Champions and slowing them. He stacked slow upon slow upon slow, until Shanghai International’s Champions had no movement speed left.

Lin Feng locked onto the Orianna and mumbled to himself, “Obliteration!” Then he pressed down on his E key–Reckless Swing! His Olaf charged at the slowed Orianna and jumped high in the air, raising his axes above his head. Then he hacked down with such force that it dealt true damage to the Orianna and himself. “Urge to kill, rising!”

Chen Ze had his Jarvan IV jump into the action with a flag-toss combo. Then, at just the right moment, he flashed forward. This extended the range of the knock up all the way to where the Orianna was standing. She found herself suspended in midair. Another flash of mottled light appeared near her, revealing the Thresh. He aimed his Death Sentence at her. The ghastly sickle came flying at her and wrapped around her.

Every player could take two Summoner Spells at the start of a game. Yan Liang had chosen Flash and Cleanse. Right now, he used Cleanse to remove all crowd control effects on his Orianna. But there was no running away anymore. High School 13’s team was all around his Orianna. By the time she’d taken two steps, another slow or stun would’ve hit her. Yan Liang groaned in frustration, then clicked towards High School 13’s Champions. If I’m dying, I’ll take as many of you fuckers down with me as I can!

Shanghai International’s Fiora also stopped retreating. She turned around and targeted Lin Feng’s Olaf with her ultimate skill–Grand Challenge! It revealed Olaf’s four Vitals. She Lunged at him, attacking the one closest to her. Then she moved to the side, where the second one was located. But before she could hit it, High School 13’s Lissandra appeared right next to her with a molted flash of light. Then two pillars of ice shot up from the ground and trapped her within–Frozen Tomb! This was Lissandra’s ultimate skill. It froze a target in place, dealing constant magic damage. There was nothing the Fiora could do. She was trapped. Her ultimate skill timed out. The Vitals disappeared on the Olaf and she had failed to activate the second part of her ultimate skill–Healing Field!

Lin Feng shifted his focus to the Fiora. He had his Olaf pick up his axe and then threw it at the Fiora. Then the Olaf let out a war cry. He gained a burst of attack speed and lifesteal–Vicious Strikes! A purple light flashed across his axes. He started hacking away at the Fiora, decimating her health bar!

Shanghai International’s Morgana also finally stopped running. She turned around and flashed into High School 13’s team. Then she activated her ultimate skill–Soul Shackles! Dark violet chains erupted from her body and latched onto the Jarvan IV, Olaf, and Lissandra. Yan Liang had his Orianna move her Ball towards the three to  try and hit them with her ultimate skill, while Liu Zhengjie had his Tristana start firing away at the Olaf from the backline. And then a Super Mega Death Rocket hit them in the face.

A large explosion swept out from the middle of Shanghai International’s ranks, kicking up a cloud of dust and smoke. There appeared a creepy murder smiley within this cloud. It revealed the destruction of Jinx’s ultimate. The Super Mega Death Rocket had killed two Champions from Shanghai International; The Orianna and Fiora. Neither of them did any real damage before dying.

《Double kill!》

The crowd started buzzing. It was about to explode. Westwind grabbed his microphone, clutched it tightly in his grasp, and shouted at the top of his lungs, “IT’S A DOOOUUBBLLLEEEE KILL! WOOOOOOOO!” That did the trick. The audience shot from their seats and threw their hands up in the air! Shanghai International had lost two players. High School 13 was going to win this! The chants started, “HIGH SCHOOL 13! HIGH SCHOOL 13!”

Back in the game, the second half of Morgana’s ultimate skill activated. Soul Shackles had wrapped around Jarvan IV, Lissandra, and Olaf, stunning two of the three. The Olaf was still immune to all crowd control effects because of his ultimate skill, so he didn’t get locked down. He directly turned his attention to the Morgana and threw his axe at her–Undertow! Tang Bingyao’s Jinx was next to him. She’d received a movement speed bonus from her passive skill for killing a Champion, so she was running like the wind. Switcheroo! She took out her minigun and started firing away at the Morgana.

《Triple kill!》

There was nothing Shanghai International could do to win this teamfight anymore. The Rek’Sai dug a Tunnel and disappeared in the Jungle, while the Tristana Rocket Jumped away. She flew past Shanghai International’s outer tower and towards her inner tower. High School 13’s team ignored the Rek’Sai, who wasn’t worth much after dying consecutive times to the Olaf, and chased after the Tristana. The Olaf and Jinx still had their movement speed buffs. They caught up to the Tristana and started attacking her with axes and rockets, shearing away at her health until she finally collapsed on the ground.

《Quadra kill!》

The crowd was about to lose it. A quadra kill! Shanghai International’s Rek’Sai was still alive! This was a pentakill in the making! Everyone stopped caring about the Olaf. He wasn’t the star of the show right now. That was the Jinx. She was about to get a pentakill in the Semifinals of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament! Many people in the audience hadn’t ever gotten a pentakill in their lives, let alone at the biggest high school esports tournament in the esports capital of China! The crowd was dancing and laughing. They were screaming their lungs out, begging for Tang Bingyao to get the pentakill!

“WOOOOO! OH YEAH! GET THAT PENTAAAAAAA!”
“JINX! GIVE US THE PENTA! JINX! GIVE US THE PENTA!”
“TANGANG FOR THE WINNNNN!”
“VOTE JINX MVP!”
“GET THAT PENTA! PENTAAAAAAAAA!”
“WOOT WOOT! SHOW ME THAT PENTAAAAA!”
“GIMME A P! GIMME A… Screw this. GIMME A PENTA!”

There were numerous streamers watching the Huya TV broadcast of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament. Their viewers had begged them to cast their judgement on the quality of the games, claiming the competing players were almost as good as professional players. The streamers had scoffed at the notion. The tournament was for high schoolers. But they humoured their viewers and opened the stream. Their amusement turned into wonder really fast. They were closely watching the Olaf, forgetting that they were streaming. He was playing so well that it didn’t even matter if his teammates gave away a couple of kills. It wouldn’t change the outcome of the game. There was no one on Shanghai International’s team that could stop him. He chased them down and killed them, even taking them on 1vs5 if he had to.

DookieCastle:「damn this Olaf is killing it!!!  he ran that ori down harder than my shits in the toilet!」

ShoutingFoliage:「hahaha yeaaah. makes me want to switch from a Kindred main to Olaf…」

Xurgati:「hehe, i’d jungle too, but I think i’mma stick to support if I i have to deal with that kind olaf in my games」

SlashSkewer:「the kid’s good but my Mundo’s better! I’d like that olaf try that kind of invade on me! I’d shove a cleaver up his ass!」

LuciferBarb:「i came in to see what’s all the commotion’s about, no idea what’s going on, but it seems pretty exciting! maybe i should pick up league too?」

Prinsz:「hahaha, nbody no if that jinx streams? id luv to support her with my Blitz. I’d be real catch! Get it!? Cuz i’m a hooker.」

These were all famous names. Everyone knew them. There were thousands of viewers who forgot about the game and focused on their idols instead, flooding the chat with messages directed at them.

「OMG! IS THAT DOOKIE! IM A BIG FAN! AND LOOOOOOL 100% AGREED!」

「Xurgati too! love the trap cosplays! You go QUEEEN!」

「wow it’s a streamer party over here!」

「haha! Yeah, the stream is blowing up on Huya’s font page! I’m not surprised!」

「+1 GAZILLION !!!!!」

「i know right, even the Just Chatters are here!」

These famous streamers were indirectly providing more viewers for the Shanghai 16 School Tournament. Su Xue was one of them. She watched the stream together with her viewers in amazement. Lin Feng had utilized Olaf to his fullest potential. He knew exactly how aggressive he could be and what he could get away with. The Orianna kill was a good example of this. He knew how much damage he dealt and how long he could survive. He knew he wouldn’t have a lot of health left, but that he could kill her. He knew there were monsters in the nearby Raptor Camp, giving him a way to lifesteal his health back. It was all planned out. He’d left nothing up to chance. That was how he approached this game. And the people who occasionally watched him appear on Su Xue’s stream recognized this. They continued spamming her chat.

「6666666666!!! that’s our lil bro for you! Never seen him not carry a game!」

「Has lil bro ever lost a game??????」

「LIL BRO IS GOING TO THE FINALS>???? AWESOME OPOSSUM!」

「anyone else think olaf is super sexy? they should make a calendar for him….」

「this game right here! that’s why you’re the maid xue xue!」

「How is he so good;… its like.. Idk guys, how in the world does he keep doing this?????」

Su Xue relaxed back in her gaming chair, smiling. Her eyes were sparkling. Good job, kid. You’re making me proud. She grinned and said, “See, what did I say? He’s really good at Olaf too! I don’t know why they would let him have that Champion… Those Shanghai International guys were basically asking for a beating!”

✹

Yan Liang gritted his teeth, grim. They’d banned Annie in Game 2, only to be hit with Twisted Fate. They’d banned Annie and Twisted Fate in Game 3, only to be faced with Olaf. A team could only ban three Champions. That was clearly not enough to stop Lin Feng. Yan Liang chewed on the inside of his cheek, trying to think of a solution to their problem. But that was easier said than done. Finally, he shook his head and said, “Stop forcing things! The Olaf will just punish us! We have to drag this out! We’re going for the late game! That Olaf is just strong because he hit a power spike. Let him fall off!”

Shanghai International’s team believed that High School 13 really wasn’t that good. This belief was only reinforced as they played more versus High School 13’s individual players. High School 13’s team comprised three mediocre players, a good player, and an Olaf. Shanghai International’s players were confident in winning against the mediocre and good players, but the Olaf… He was single-handedly winning the game for High School 13. They had to take him out of the picture. But to do that, they first had to level the playing field. That meant catching up to him in terms of levels and items. It would take time to get there. But when they did, Shanghai International’s players were confident they could force a victory.

Shanghai International’s players started freezing the minion waves in their lanes as close to their own towers as possible. This was a delicate work. Attack a minion too early, and the whole wave would start pushing towards High School 13’s side. Attack a minion too late, and the whole wave would crash into their own tower. But Shanghai International had five very talented players who could freeze a minion wave in one specific spot. On top of that, they also warded up their entire Jungle and gave the Jungle Camps to Yan Liang’s Orianna and Liu Zhengjie’s Tristana. Their carries needed to get every little advantage they could get if they were to turn this game around.

✹

At 15 minutes, Lin Feng helped High School 13 secure the second Dragon. This gave all members of the team increased damage against towers. Shanghai International didn’t make an attempt to stop them from taking it, much less contest it. The risk to reward ratio wasn’t worth it. Besides, they were in no position to enter into a teamfight right now anyway. Their only hope was to continue dragging out this game for as long as possible. If they could get the time for their Orianna and Tristana to obtain a few more levels and items, they could get back in the game. That was the only thing on their minds.

Silent Reed looked at the large screen above the stage and said, “That’s Yan Liang for you! He never gives up! And he won’t let his team give up either! I bet he picked Orianna expecting this game might become difficult. Her ultie can change a fight around! They can still win this!”

Westwind laughed and grabbed his microphone. He put it close to his mouth and said, “But I doubt High School 13 will just let that happen. Isn’t that what we’re all thinking? High School 13 is probably preparing for their next big play RIGHT NOW! Let’s watch it happen!”

Yang Fan looked over the edge of his screen. Why are they cheering? He shook his head and turned his attention back to his screen. It can’t go on like this… “Hey, guys,” he said over the team’s voice chat. “We need to force them into a teamfight!”

Chen Ze nodded and said, “Yeah, their Orianna and Trist are scaling up very quickly. They’re getting too much CS. I think the Rek’Sai basically gave up half her jungle to them. We can’t have them get much stronger, or it’s going to be very hard to win teamfights…”

“It’s only going to become more difficult anyway. We don’t really have a way to force an engage,” Wei Dong added.

It wasn’t that High School 13’s team didn’t have the Champions to force a teamfight. They had Jarvan IV, Lissandra, and Thresh. All three of them could start a fight by jumping onto Shanghai International’s team. But just jumping in wasn’t enough. They had to burst down the Orianna and Tristana. That was where it became a lot trickier. The Tristana could wait far in the backline and only jump in after High School 13 had wasted their skills, while the Orianna had her ultimate skill–Command: Shockwave! She could completely displace High School 13’s team. If High School 13 wanted to win a fight, they had to be very certain that they could quickly kill the Tristana and Orianna.

Lin Feng, however, wasn’t at all concerned about any of this. He shrugged and said over the team’s voice chat, “Don’t worry so much, guys. It’s fine. Just find an opening and we’ll fight.”

✹

At 20 minutes, the third Dragon was about to spawn. Shanghai International had no intention of giving up on this one. They wanted the first Dragon buff that granted bonus attack damage and ability power, and they were finally ready to fight for it. Their Orianna and Tristana had reached a point where they were real threats in teamfights, while the Olaf was starting to fall off. This was the moment in the game that Shanghai International had been waiting for!

Westwind turned to Silent Reed and said, “Shanghai International has stalled long enough. Seems like you were right. They can get back into this. Now, let’s see them do that!” A low buzz was the response from the crowd.

There was still roughly a minute left until the Dragon spawned. Both teams grouped up in the mid lane for a little foreplay. They threw their skillshots at each other, trying to get in as much poke as possible before the actual fight. Shanghai International used this to boost their confidence. They were the individually better players, so they landed more skillshots overall. They were back in the game. If they won this next teamfight, they could really start the comeback.

Shanghai International’s team danced around the mid lane, firing off their skillshots and dodging the skillshots High School 13 fired back at them. They were healthier than the opposing team. They were winning this exchange! Yan Liang grinned and glanced at the players from High School 13. Then he stopped. What! He blinked and looked again. His heart stopped. “W-WHERE’S OLAF? OLAF! OLAF!” he shouted over the team’s voice chat. He moved his mouse and had his Orianna retreat back towards the outer tower. If they didn’t know where the Olaf was, he could catch them off guard. That could really screw them over. “BACK! BACK! RETREAT, GUYS! RETR—”

High School 13’s students in the audience were living the dream. Their team was beating Shanghai International! For the first time in the school’s long history, one of the clubs was performing at a big tournament! The students were so surprised that they didn’t know what to do. But their emotions compelled them to jump, scream and shout, “WIN FENG! WIN FENG!” High School 13 had always been the butt of every joke, knocked out early in every competition they participated in. No one ever took them seriously. But not today! This day, High School 13’s esports club was breaking tradition! They were on the verge of advancing to the Finals of the biggest high school esports tournament in all of Shanghai!

Most students from High School 13 hadn’t started supporting their esports club until a few days ago. They were afraid to. That was how much the losing mentality was ingrained into them. It all started with the principal who wouldn’t give the school’s open support to any club team. He believed they wouldn’t amount to anything anyway, so he thought it best not to announce their next big disappointment to all students. That was reinforced just last year. The basketball team had qualified for a regional tournament, and the principal made a one-time exception, giving the team his full support. Suddenly, all students were basketball fans and the players became overnight celebrities. Then the tournament came around. The hopes for the team were sky high. They were so high that it was impossible to meet them. In the end, High School 13’s basketball team got knocked out in the first round. They didn’t win a single game.

It was always difficult to deal with loss. High expectations only made that that much harder. The basketball players were disappointed in their own performance, and the students were disappointed in them. High School 13 should’ve been proud that their team made it to the regional tournament, but all they remembered was the first and last game at the regional tournament. A loss. It reinforced the beliefs of the students. High School 13 had no good, or even decent clubs. They were attending an average high school that would never amount to anything.

The students stuck to this loser mentality until a few days ago, when word went around the school about the Shanghai 16 School Tournament. Their esports club had made it to the Semifinals of a big tournament! That meant they were in the top four in all of Shanghai! Their school wasn’t all that bad! Their negative thoughts disappeared. Suddenly they saw a new hope. Their esports team had complained multiple times about being unlucky. Perhaps that explained why they hadn’t performed until now! The students clung onto this idea. It explained perfectly how the esports team had made it to the Semifinals. How they might make it to the Finals! High School 13’s students had even started dreaming about their team winning the whole tournament and becoming the best esports club in Shanghai! Many of them had gathered after school on Friday and traveled to the venue for the Shanghai 16 School Tournament, excited to see their team kick Shanghai International’s ass!

High School 13’s esports team repaid the support of their fellow students with a stellar performance. They were facing off against Shanghai International, one of the favourites for the title, and were up 2-0! They were only one victory away from making it to the Finals! High School 13’s students in the audience were losing their minds. This was it! Their school was finally making a name for itself! They finally had something to be proud of! Their esports club was one of the best in Shanghai! Maybe even the best!

“HIGH SCHOOL 13! HIGH SCHOOL 13!”
“WIN FENG! WIN FENG!”
“WOOOO! WE’RE GOING TO THE FINALS! WE’RE GOING TO THE FINALS!”
“CLEAN SWEEP, LET’S GOOOOO!”
“OH MY GOD IT’S HAPPENING!”
“CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? WE’RE THE ABSOLUTE BEST!”

Ouyang, Ren Rou, and Liu Yue were moving around in their seats. The hurricane of cheers smacked into them, lifting them up! They couldn’t hold back anymore. After all the hard work, the many hours locked up in a private booth in the NetCow Cafe, they were only one step away from reaching the Finals! Their team, of which they were very much a part, was doing the impossible! They were beating Shanghai International!

Ouyang was the first to jump up to his feet. He turned around to face the crowd and shouted, “SHOW THOSE DICKTWATS HOW LOUD WE ARE! WE ARE HIGH SCHOOL 13! WE ARE THE BEST! MY BROS ARE GOING TO WIN THIS WHOLE DAMN THING!”

Liu Yue shot up from his seat and put an arm around Ouyang’s shoulder, jumping up and down with his friend, screaming, “WOOT WOOT! WE’RE THE BEST AND SHANGHAI INTERNATIONAL SUCKS BALLS!”

Ren Rou didn’t pull Ouyang down like she often did. She didn’t tell him to take it easy or to calm down. Instead, she got up and wrapped her arm around his shoulder. She started jumping in sync with him and Liu Yue and screamed at the top of her lungs, “HIGH SCHOOL 13 IS THE BEST! NO ONE CAN STOP US!”

An Xin looked up at her three new friends acting like happy fools. Then she glanced over her shoulder at the crowd, taking the whole scene in. She smiled and nodded. This is what it’s all about. This is what that big idiot lives for. It was also what she lived for. She felt goosebumps as another wave of cheers hit her. She grinned and turned back to look at the stage. At the man at the center of all of this. She nodded at him and said to herself, “You’ve done it. This game is over.”

✹

Yan Liang refused to give up. His eyes were bloodshot and his breathing uneven. He glanced over his monitor at the crowd. Stupid fuckers cheering for the wrong team… He looked back at his screen and at the ever growing kill and gold difference on the scoreboard. DAMMIT! He gritted his teeth. We can’t lose! Not like this! We’re stronger than we were last year! We were going to finally beat Shanghai High School! It can’t end like this! These fuckers don’t even know how to play the game! God fucking dammit! He panned his camera to the different lanes and started shouting commands over the team’s voice chat, 

“NO GIVING UP! We can still win this! Focus! FOCUS!”
“Liu Zhengjie, freeze that damn minion wave! I don’t want to see you pushing it out! And help your stupid Support get some vision! WE NEED VISION! VISION, GUYS, VISION!”
“Hey, Rek. Stop trying to gank. The Olaf is on your fucking ass the whole damn time! It’s not working! Get your level up! BECOME RELEVANT AGAIN!”
“Ward the jungle entrances! Buy pink wards! Don’t let that Olaf get back in our Jungle! WE HAVE TO STOP THAT DAMNED OLAF!”

The players from Shanghai International all agreed with Yan Liang. They couldn’t lose this game. This mentality didn’t stem from pride or the desire for a trophy. No. This was about something far more important. High School 13 was the butt of all jokes. Losing to them would be the single greatest embarrassment in their lives. They’d have to go to school and face their friends, knowing everyone was aware about their humiliating defeat at the hands of a no-name team. Just the thought of their friends laughing at them and joking about them behind their backs was enough of a motivator to give this game everything they had, and then some.

Fuck! Shit! To hell with it! We need to win! Shanghai International’s Toplaner was the first to take action. He had his Fiora Lunge at the Jarvan IV and then used her ultimate skill–Grand Challenge! The Blue tower targeted her, firing off an energy shot. But she pressed on. The four vitals were revealed on the Jarvan IV. She attacked three of them, then flashed behind him and hit the fourth. The Victory Zone appeared on the ground beneath her, healing her as the tower fired off another energy shot. She attacked the Jarvan IV with one final auto attack to kill him, then retreated back towards her side of the lane.

《You have slain an enemy!》

Westwind stood on his feet and cried out, “BEAUTIFUL! Shanghai International hasn’t given up yet! What a play by the Fiora! Let’s see if they can keep this up!”

Down in the bot lane, Shanghai International’s Morgana landed a Dark Binding on the Thresh. Liu Zhengjie’s Tristana fired a cannonball at the ground, launching herself towards the Thresh. She threw a bomb at the Thresh and charged it up with her auto attacks, only to get Exhausted by the Thresh. Then the Thresh flashed away and the Jinx healed him so that he could survive through the explosion of the bomb on his head. Liu Zhengjie didn’t give chase. He’d forced High School 13’s Botlaners to use three Summoner Spells. This would give him a huge advantage in lane for the next couple of minutes. That was enough.

The Shanghai International students in the audience erupted into cheers! This game was not lost yet! Their team just had to keep playing like they were right now, forcing High School 13 on the backfoot and picking up kills. Then, maybe, they could still win this game! This would be the start of their comeback. They started shouting words of encouragement to their stars, 

“Beat those lucky fuckers!”
“Show them how good we are!”
“HIGH SCHOOL 13’S LUCK HAS RUN OUT! LET’S KICK SOME ASSES!”
“Liu Zhengjie will carry this, trust me!”
“They were just giving High School 13 the idea they stood a chance. Haha! Brilliant!”
“THIS IS WHAT WE WANT TO SEE! MORE PLEASE!”

✹

High School 13’s team wasn’t at all concerned with the sudden aggression from Shanghai International. It didn’t affect their game plan, nor did it threaten their control over the game. Lin Feng’s Olaf was still running amuck in Shanghai International’s Jungle, searching for opportunities to gank one of the three lanes. He found one in the mid lane. The Orianna pushed just a bit too far towards High School 13’s outer tower. He pinged in the mid lane and shouted over the team’s voice chat, “I’m coming mid! Attack her! Go in!”

“Got it!” Yang Fan answered, pressing down on his E key–Glacial Path! His Lissandra shot a claw of ice towards the Orianna. It glided over the icy ground until it was almost on top of the Orianna. Then the Lissandra blinked to its position and targeted the Orianna with her ultimate skill. Frozen Tomb! Two pillars of ice shot up from the ground and froze the Orianna solid within.

Lin Feng’s Olaf charged into the mid lane, a dense and thick bloody aura billowing out from him. It was the visual effect of his ultimate skill–Ragnarok! He was immune to all crowd control effects and had received a boost in movement speed! He threw his axe at the Orianna, damaging her–Undertow! He followed up with an auto attack. Then he jumped up into the air, raising his two axes above his head, and hacked down with such force that it dealt true damage to the Orianna and himself!

Yan Liang was frantically slamming down on his keyboard, impatient for the stun to break. It broke. His Orianna still had some health left. She flashed away towards her own inner tower, calling her Ball to her side for a shield–Command: Protect! Then she gave herself a movement speed bonus to negate the slow from Olaf’s Undertow.

“My axe is thirsty!” Lin Feng laughed, unconcerned. He had his Olaf chase after the Orianna and entered the outer tower’s range. He tanked the energy shot that was fired at him and continued to hack away at the Orianna. Another energy shot hit him. They ran past the outer tower and into the range of the inner tower. That was where the last bit of Orianna’s health disappeared. A third energy shot took Olaf’s health down to a dangerous level. But there were no Shanghai International players around to exploit this. The Olaf disappeared into the Jungle right above the mid lane, moving towards the closest Jungle Camp. He started attacking the monsters, using his lifesteal to get his health back up.

The crowd was eerily silent for a second, processing what’d just happened. The Olaf was so strong that he could tank multiple energy shots and attacks from the Orianna! That meant that he could run under any tower and kill any of Shanghai International champions he desired! He really was invincible right now! Ouyang was the first to break the silence. He screamed out, “FUCK YEAH! WHO ELSE WANTS TO DIE? NO ONE? I THOUGHT SO! HAHAHA!” This set off a new wave of cheers. The audience, save for the students from Shanghai International, shot up from their seats and threw their arms in the air, shouting, 

“KING OLAF FOR THE WIN!”
“SHANGHAI INTERNATIONAL ARE ALL BITCHES!”
“HIGH SCHOOL 13 TO THE FINALS!”
“WOOO! EASY GAME WITH OLAF!”
“WANNA DUO QUEUE WITH ME, OLAF?”
“Damn. Hard carry by that Olaf player again. What a boss.”