Tang Bingyao wasn’t the kind of girl to turn a guy down with harsh words. Unlike Ren Rou who would tell them to “get lost!”, she was more reserved. So when Luo Tianming came over to flirt with her, she’d done her best to let him off easy. To drop a few hints that she simply wasn’t interested in him. But that didn’t mean she would let him trample all over her. She had a bottom line, and her own ways of showing her displeasure. For example, by kicking his ass and wiping Summoner’s Rift clean with him using her main champion in a friendly game of League of Legends!

Luo Tianming picked Caitlyn as his champion and locked her in. Once the loading screen popped up to get all of them into Summoner’s Rift, his eyes popped open in shock. Draven. The champion that Tang Bingyao had decided to play. The number of girls who played ad-carry wasn’t particularly large to begin with, and there were fewer still within that small group who played Draven as a main.

Draven was a very mechanical champion to play, and most of this was due to his first skill, the one activated with Q–Spinning Axes. One could theoretically keep Spinning Axes up through every fight, poke, and kill, constantly dealing double bonus damage with every auto attack. But it wasn’t just that simple. Draven’s auto attack was a thrown axe. But unlike other champions in the game, the axe would not disappear once it hit an enemy champion, minion or jungle monster. The thrown axe would bounce off and fly through the air, eventually falling to the ground. Unless Draven caught the axe. If Draven caught the axe, it refreshed the cooldown on Spinning Axes. Essentially, everything about Draven involved mechanical skill and positioning. Not the easiest champion to play. Locking in on Draven meant that Tang Bingyao didn’t just understand how to play the champion, she also had the confidence that she could play him well. That’s what flustered Luo Tianming.

But he quickly regained his composure, and an easy, relaxed smile settled into place on his face. He was Diamond 3, and had the skills reflected by his rank. He was confident he could beat everyone in this classroom today. Now that he was thinking about it calmly, Luo Tianming wasn’t even sure he was flustered when he saw that Tang Bingyao picked Draven. He was surprised. Yes. Surprised. But he wasn’t scared. Or worried. He had full confidence in his Caitlyn. He even started wondering if he should hold back a little once he had a lead. Hopefully, she’ll notice how much of a gentleman I am and agree to go out on a date with me! Or at least play a few games with me in duo queue. He never even considered the possibility that he could lose this game. Or that he was in way over his head.

✹

Three minutes into the game, Tang Bingyao’s Draven hit level 2. The Janna support buffed her with Eye of the Storm, giving her extra attack damage and a shield. She activated Spinning Axes, and her Draven started juggling his two spinning axes. Then she hit W to activate Blood Rush. Her Draven dashed towards the Caitlyn with the movement speed buff and threw the first of his spinning axes once in range. The first axe cut into the Caitlyn’s flesh, bounced off and spun up into the air. While this was happening with the first axe, her Draven smoothly moved forward and threw his second axe. Then he caught the first axe before it hit the ground. Blood Rush’s cooldown was reset!

The Caitlyn fired out her 90 Caliber Net and flew back. But Tang Bingyao was ready, her finger was already hovering over the D key. She pressed down on D the second the Caitlyn fired and flashed over the net that could’ve slowed her. Then she activated Blood Rush again and chased the Caitlyn down, who flashed away in a panic. But Draven, the Glorious Executioner, quickly caught up to her and threw another spinning axe.

《First blood!》

The crowd of first years gasped. They couldn’t believe what they were seeing! That was basically a solo kill in bot lane! The only support offered by the Janna was a shield. This was the Draven show! The sheer amount of damage that Tang Bingyao could output from a Level 2 Draven was nothing short of terrifying.

“Damn! Tang Bingyao’s Draven is getting better and better! So aggressive!” Ouyang gasped in amazement next to Lin Feng.

“It’s all thanks to my training!” Lin Feng proudly stated. But Ouyang had already stopped listening. His focus was on the game.

Luo Tianming stared dumbly at the death screen on his monitor. This didn’t play out like how he imagined it would at all! If he wanted to win, he had to start playing seriously. Although Tang Bingyao was far better than he expected, he was still confident in his own skills. The game was barely three minutes in, and his Caitlyn had the range advantage over Draven. As long as he played it safely, he could easily keep Draven at bay.

For the next five minutes, Luo Tianming managed to do just that. He kept the minion wave close to his outer tower and patiently farmed, trying to catch back up to the Draven. It even started to look like he might. But then Tang Bingyao decided to engage. The minion wave had just pushed out a little and the Caitlyn and her support Nami had left the safety of their tower.

Tang Bingyao activated Blood Rush and had Draven rush forward, with two axes spinning in his hands. The Nami tried to lock Draven down with an Aqua Prison. But Tang Bingyao easily sidestepped the large bubble of water. Luo Tianming’s face turned pale with fright. He knew what was coming next, he felt the deja vu wash over him. His Caitlyn shot out a 90-Caliber Net and flew back. Draven flashed over it, this time throwing out both of his spinning axes with Stand Aside. They knocked the Caitlyn out of the air mid-animation. Then a spinning axe arced through the air, followed by a second and then a third. The sound of metal digging into flesh rang out as blood sprayed the ground red.

《You have been slain!》

Luo Tianming’s jaw dropped. He couldn’t wrap his head around it. It was right there on the sign up sheet! Diamond 5! She’s only supposed to be Diamond 5! How is she so good? He shook his head weakly, his eyes wide in shock and horror. How the hell did she do that last move! Her mechanics and reflexes are insane! This shouldn’t be possible! No Diamond player can do that! That’s something only Master and Challenger tier players can pull off! This can’t be! This can’t be!

From the sidelines, Lin Feng calmly watched. He wasn’t surprised at all by Tang Bingyao’s display of skill. This was because he knew that the only reason her account sat on Diamond 5 was because she was too busy boosting other accounts. With her skill, reaching Diamond 2 would be easy, and when talking purely in terms of mechanics, her Draven was already on the level of a Diamond 1.

Over the course of the next 12 minutes, the game announcer’s voice continuously rang out to announce Caitlyn’s next death. It started to look as if Luo Tianming believed he would get some kind of trophy for collecting deaths. His score dropped to a pitiful 0/6/2. All the while Tang Bingyao wreaked havoc on the enemy team. Especially after she finished her first item, nobody could stop her. She picked up double kills and triple kills left and right.

At the 20-minute mark, the much expected surrender vote started and was unanimously accepted seconds later. This game was lost. Luo Tianming and his team members wore dejected expressions on their faces. So much for showing off their skills in front of the esports club. But anything was better than this game lasting even another minute. Because that would be another minute for Tang Bingyao to kill them again. Monster… A monster! That was too scary… None of them expected for this pretty and quiet female upperclassman to play such a domineering Draven.

“I told you I wouldn’t hold back,” Tang Bingyao reminded Luo Tianming. The words cut deep into his ego, causing his face to warp into a marvelous shade of red. His expression alternated between anger and humiliation.

✹

“Alright. It’s time for the next matchup,” Ren Rou declared. She held her sign-up sheet and started listing out the names for the next match.

Lin Feng was called up to be the mid laner for the blue team. As he walked over to the computer, Tang Bingyao approached him and said, “You can do it.”

“Don’t worry. It’s finally my time to shine!” Lin Feng said in high spirits.

Ouyang patted Lin Feng on the shoulder. “Give us your best performance. If you do well, we might even pick you as a substitute for the team!”

“Okay! I’ll give it my all!” Lin Feng pumped his fist in the air. He was completely hyped up. He would pull out all the stops and play his best champion! All for the sake of getting into the club’s team!

If Lin Feng’s old teammates could see him now, they’d drag him to a neurologist and have him tested. Their old teammate had surely lost it! The former best mid laner in China, and contender for best in the world, was planning to go all out in a small school club match? This was like a professional football player joining a Sunday league game. Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. It wasn’t a question of who would win this game. It was a question of how badly the enemy team would lose. A tragic fate awaited anyone unlucky enough to face Lin Feng in lane.

“Hold on a moment!” A voice abruptly cut through the room. Lin Feng turned around in confusion.

Right after Ren Rou had called out to them, 50 pairs of eyes turned around to scrutinize Lin Feng and Tang Bingyao. A pregnant silence blanketed the room for a brief moment, and then all of the first years erupted into hushed whispers.

“Who are those two?”

“Do they know that scary girl at the front?”

“That one with the ponytail is really pretty!”

The crowd was completely focused on the dazzling Tang Bingyao. They noticed Lin Feng was there for a second, and then they forgot he was even standing beside Tang Bingyao. He faded into the background as most of their attention gravitated towards Tang Bingyao. Lin Feng, completely oblivious to the fact that he was essentially invisible, grabbed Tang Bingyao’s hand and squeezed through the crowd to meet up with Ren Rou. “Excuse me! Sorry! Coming through!”

The first years hurriedly stepped aside, letting Lin Feng and Tang Bingyao through and letting Ouyang see the two new arrivals. His eyes immediately lit up. “Lin Feng, you’re finally here! Damn, you actually convinced Tang Tang to come! You’re something else!”

“I’m really good at convincing people!” Lin Feng patted his chest.

Ren Rou looked impressed, but there was a smirk on her face that grew as she said, “Ain’t that the truth? I tried getting her to join before, asked her a couple of times. But she always said she wasn’t interested. So… How’d you do it, Lin Feng? Come on! Spill!” Then she circled around the pair, considering them from all angles high and low. “Hehehe! I allllreeadddyyyyy knooowww! I know what’s happening here! I smelled the smoke and now I’m feeelin’ the heat from the fire!”

“You do?” Lin Feng asked, surprised. He was, true to form, completely oblivious to what Ren Rou was implying.

Tang Bingyao sighed and started to reply. Then she closed her mouth, sighed again, and explained what was going on to Lin Feng, “She thinks we’re dating.”

“We are?” Lin Feng asked.

“Of course not.” Tang Bingyao patiently explained. Then she shook her head.

Lin Feng nodded. Everything was clear to him now. He turned to Ren Rou and told her, “You’re wrong. We are not dating.” The confidence in his reply was one that could only come from a state of profound and absolutely cluelessness.

“Correct.” Tang Bingyao nodded.

Ouyang watched the entire exchange without blinking, his mouth open the whole time. “Damn! You two play off each other so goddamn well! What! How? You guys a comedy duo or something?”

Ren Rou put her hand up to her face and giggled, “Right! I totally believe you guys! As if. You guys even talk the same now. Been spending that much time together, huh?” Then she giggled one more time before composing herself a bit. There’s a lot of people here that need to get signed up. Gotta get things moving. I’ll investigate this FengYao thing after. FengYao? TangLin? BingFen? STOP, STOP, LATER! Ren Rou shook herself out of that and assumed a more business-like demeanor and continued, “Alright, alright. I won’t say anything more about that. For now. Let’s get you two signed up.” She grabbed the sign-up sheet from Ouyang’s hands and showed it to them, “Put down your name and rank on here.”

Lin Feng glanced at the list, which already had many names on it. There were a lot of Silvers, a bunch of Golds, and more Bronzies than he’d expected. Very few people ranked Platinum or higher. He grabbed a pen and without batting an eye he wrote down his name, class, and rank.
“Done!”

Ouyang grabbed the sheet from Lin Feng and started reading. Once he got to the last line, he frowned and his expression darkened.

Name: Lin Feng
Class: Senior Class 7
Rank: Challenger, can play any role!

“Hey, Lin Feng! Stop messing around! This is an official record!”

Ren Rou interjected before Lin Feng could reply, “Hurry up! Let’s get everyone signed up. We’ll change his rank later.” She obviously didn’t believe that Lin Feng’s rank was Challenger either.

Tang Bingyao received the sign-up sheet from Ouyang. She grabbed a pen from the table and quickly scribbled her information down before handing it back to Ouyang.

“Hot damn, Diamond 5! Weren’t you at Platinum 1 before? Did you just get promoted?” Ouyang gasped.

“Mhm.” Tang Bingyao nodded.

“It was all thanks to my training!” Lin Feng bragged. But his words fell on deaf ears. Ouyang had already turned to the people next in line. Ren Rou shooed him and Tang Bingyao away to make room at the table. They found a corner of the room to sit down and wait until the next phase of the esports club signup. Once everyone finished signing up, the club leadership would organize them into 5-man teams and let them play against each other. This was the tryouts phase, where everyone would have a chance to show off their skills and demonstrate that they deserved to be a part of the esports club.

✹

Lin Feng and Tang Bingyao leaned back against the wall in the corner of the classroom. They watched the crowd of students sign up for the esports club. The line gradually shortened, and most people formed their own little cliques to talk in hushed whispers. Most. Not all. A young man walked up to them, forcing himself through the crowd, and announced his arrival, “Excuse me, I couldn’t help but overhear. You’re a third year?”

Lin Feng and Tang Bingyao looked over and up to the source of the voice and saw a first year. He approached Tang Bingyao, sporting what could only be described as a teenager attempting to pull off an easy, nonchalant, confident smile and extended his hand. “Hello. I’m Luo Tianming from first year Class 3. What’s your name?”

It appeared this young man had come to pitch woo at Tang Bingyao. This wasn’t a particularly strange or uncommon occurrence. He was the latest in a long line of suitors who had summoned the courage to talk to her, and he certainly would not be the last. Even as Luo Tianming attempted to shoot his shot, there were multiple pairs of eyes watching, some concerned that they had waited too long and others more calculating. Tang Bingyao, who didn’t care for any of this and instead mostly kept to herself, drew all this male attention for one simple reason. She was the prettiest girl in class. By a long shot. Even Ren Rou, despite being beautiful in her own fiery way, couldn’t compare. For these first years, seeing an angel who attended their school, who played the same game as them, and had also come to sign up for the same esports, it was too much for them to handle. For those in the crowd with a little bit more courage, this was an opportunity that was too good to pass up.

Luo Tianming had walked over at the first opportunity he saw, well before anyone else could. He wanted to be the first to eat crab at the buffet.[mfn]The whole “first to eat crab at the buffet” is a bit of a joke at a stereotype about how Chinese people go insane for crab at buffets/seafood spreads. We did some research, and this seems to be a Chinese stereotype about Chinese people that just isn’t well known out of China.[/mfn] The first to talk to this beautiful girl. Maybe even get her to go out on a date with him. And he was confident she would. In his opinion, no one could resist his charm. He wasn’t just good-looking or handsome. He had a magnetic quality about him and a smile that could make any girl in the first year swoon. Some people even believed that he was good looking enough to become a Kpop idol.[mfn] Another very China specific stereotype about how the best looking Chinese people go to Korea to become Kpop idols. Doesn’t appear to be well known outside China, but we didn’t really do a significant amount of research on that so we could be wrong.[/mfn]

Unfortunately for him, Tang Bingyao wasn’t smitten by his looks, nor impressed with his pick-up game. She didn’t even notice his smile. She gave him a simple nod in acknowledgement and then looked away, letting his hand hang in the air awkwardly.

Luo Tianming wasn’t discouraged though. He smoothly withdrew his hand and flashed an even more dazzling smile. “I happened to see your name on the sign-up sheet. It’s Tang Bingyao, right? That’s a really pretty name. And you’re Diamond 5? That’s amazing! I almost never see girls climb that high on the ranked ladder! You must be one of those special kinda women.” He paused for a moment to let his compliments sink in, and then asked, “So, you’re an ad-carry main?”

Tang Bingyao glanced at Luo Tianming for the second time and nodded.

This small gesture gave Luo Tianming the impression he had an in. He latched onto it with a bright smile. “What a coincidence! I’m an ad-carry main too! I’m Diamond 3 on the Ionia server, but I’m pretty close to promoting to Diamond 2! We should play together sometime, yeah? Maybe I can even teach you a thing or two?”

“Oh wow! Diamond 3!” Lin Feng gasped. This was a genuinely high rank for ordinary players. Less than one per cent of all League of Legends players would ever reach it. Not to mention Luo Tianming achieved this feat on the Ionia server, which was the most competitive of all the servers in China. There probably weren’t many here today who were better than this guy. Lin Feng didn’t remember seeing any other Diamond-ranked players on the sign up sheet.

“You’re Lin Feng?” Luo Tianming finally took notice of Lin Feng. He raised an eyebrow. “I saw your name on the list too…” Disdain slipped from his tongue as he added the last three words, “A Challenger, huh?”

Lin Feng completely missed the tone shift in Luo Tianming’s words. He nodded and replied with a bright smile, “Yep! I’m a Challenger!”

Luo Tianming’s lips twitched upwards, fighting back a bellyful of laughter. But he managed to hold himself back. The disdain in his words spread to his face. He pressed a little further. “I didn’t expect to meet an actual Challenger in a small high school esports club. It’s truly an honour to meet you.”

“Don’t put yourself down. You’re also pretty good. So young and already a Diamond 3,” Lin Feng said.

Luo Tianming smirked, “Oh, then can you tell me what your summoner name is? I might have heard of it. After all, the Challengers on the Ionia server are all pretty famous, right?”

“Oh, my summoner name, huh… I guess it’s gone.” Lin Feng scratched his head. “But my old account was equal to a Challenger now!”

Luo Tianming’s smirk grew wider. He really was on the verge of bursting out into laughter. Haha! He’s such a terrible liar! I can’t believe it was this easy! He didn’t believe one word coming from Lin Feng’s mouth, he never even believed Lin Feng was a Challenger when he saw it on the sign-up sheet. The only reason he was even talking to Lin Feng was to embarrass him in front of Tang Bingyao. But he’d had enough fun. He was here for Tang Bingyao. So he turned back to her, conveniently ignoring Lin Feng, and asked, “So, what do you say? Let’s add each other as friends and duo together. I can support you, maybe give you a few pointers. It’ll be fun!”

“No, thank you. I already have a duo partner,” Tang Bingyao flatly refused, shaking her head.

“Right! We duo together!” Lin Feng butted in.

Tang Bingyao nodded.

The smallest change of Luo Tianming’s expression gave his feelings away. Annoyed. Unhappy. But before he could say anything more, Ren Rou called all attention to her and started calling out names for the first match of the try-outs. As luck would have it, Tang Bingyao and Luo Tianming were both called up for the ad-carry position. They’d be facing each other in a deadly dance for victory. He’d have the chance to impress her with his skill, win her over!

“What a coincidence. Almost like fate, huh?” Luo Tianming said smiling. The universe was on his side! He gave Tang Bingyao a wink and roguishly stated, “Don’t worry. I’ll hold back.”

Tang Bingyao stared at Luo Tianmin. “Alright, but I won’t.” And she wouldn’t. The moment they entered champion select, she instantly locked in her champion—Draven, the Glorious Executioner.

“Oh wow! Seems like that guy really rubbed Tang Tang the wrong way!” Lin Feng quipped.

Early on Monday morning. The bell rang, announcing the end of the first period. While the teacher grabbed his stuff and the other students started whispering amongst themselves, Ouyang couldn’t contain his excitement any longer. “YES!” he shouted at the top of his lungs from the back of the classroom where he sat, “One more week until Worlds! Only one more week!”

Every student had turned around. They were all looking at him. They turned back around a few seconds later, shaking their heads. They were all thinking the same thing. He’s hopeless. To the majority of the class, Ouyang was just another League obsessed idiot going crazy about Worlds.

“You’re right, Worlds really is only a week away,” Yang Fan said while adjusting his glasses. Then he let out a melancholic sigh and continued, “Time really does fly. It feels like it was only yesterday that we were talking about it being a month away…”

Yang Fan probably had more to say. The dramatic trail-off and pause had all the makings of a prelude to an epic monologue about the vicissitudes and vagrancies of time, living in the moment, and celebrating their youth. But before he could continue, Lin Feng misunderstood the dramatic pause as a moment to interject.

“It’s also almost National Day[mfn]This is a public holiday in China to celebrate the establishment of the People’s Republic of China that is held on the 1st of October.[/mfn]! We get a week-long break!”

Ouyang rolled his eyes. “Pfft! You’re still such a kid! The break isn’t what’s important. What’s important is that Worlds is starting at the same time! We can chill all day at the internet cafe and watch the games together!”

Yang Fan raised an eyebrow and asked, “You’re going to watch Worlds at an internet cafe?”

“Duh!” Ouyang blurted out, incredulous. He couldn’t quite understand why Yang Fan would ask this. Then he raised his finger and wagged it back and forth. “It’s Worlds, guys! Worlds! Are you telling me you were planning to watch it at home? Alone in your room? Fuck that! How can anyone possibly enjoy such a big event by themselves? This is an experience you have to share with others! With your friends! Imagine it! The three of us, and plenty of others, all having drinks and cheering our team on! Is there anything more exciting than that?”

“Having drinks and cheering our team on?” Yang Fan adjusted his glasses again. “I thought those kinds of bar events were reserved for real sports. You know, like football. Or basketball.”

“PFFFT! Says who?” Ouyang moved his arms around wildly, showing the anger that already sounded in his voice. Then he passionately declared, “Who cares about those “real” sports? Get with the times, old man! Now is the era of esports! We’re just as big, if not bigger than the “real” sports. We are a real sport!”

“Yeah! What Ouyang says!” Lin Feng agreed, riled up by Ouyang’s little speech.

Ouyang quickly pivoted the topic. “Hey, how about we get together next week and watch Worlds together at the NetCow Cafe? We’ll grab a few beers. It’ll be fun!”

Yang Fan shrugged. “I’m up for whatever.”

Lin Feng shook his head and said. “Nah guys. I think I’ll stay home and watch it with my roommate. She’s really into League too.”

“What? Come on, man!” Ouyang yelled while punching Lin Feng in the arm. “Why watch with her? She’s a girl! You don’t watch sports with a girl! You watch sports with your bros! And everyone knows it’s ‘bros before hoes’. You know, we go to the internet cafe, get some beers, shoot the shit. Watch the epic gameplay moments live and tell good stories in betw…”

Ouyang trailed off mid-sentence and paused. He’d completely forgotten what he was talking about once he processed what Lin Feng had just said. Lin Feng lives with a girl? And she’s into League?

Then he continued on a very different train of thought, “Wait, your roommate’s a girl? She cute? What does she look like? Is she hot? She must be hot, right? That’s why you never mentioned her before. You interested in her? If you’re not, how about you introduce me to her? That’s just what a good bro does, right? Lemme play a game of League with her. She’s into the game, right? I can show her how good I am! Only-if-she’s-cute-though!”

“She definitely wouldn’t go out with you,” Lin Feng said bluntly.

Ouyang’s expression twisted in faked pain. “Damn, that cut deep bro. You know I like to play Ezreal, right? Well. Someone said I’m just as handsome as him the other day!”

Yang Fan rolled his eyes and snorted. “Ezreal? Hah, you look more like Trundle[mfn]Trundle is a troll.[/mfn].”

You’re right! He really looks a little like a troll! But I still think he’s more of a Kassadin,” Lin Feng added in high spirits.

“Kassadin?” Ouyang asked in a daze. Then, he quickly regained his sense and erupted, “Screw you! I’m not a dickface! What part of my face looks like a penis to you?”[mfn]In the Chinese League scene, there’s an ongoing meme that Kassidin’s face looks like a penis so they refer to him as ‘dickface’. It’s just one of those things. There are a bunch of other champions that fall into the meme category of ‘dickface champions’.[/mfn] Ignoring the laughter coming from Lin Feng and Yang Fan, he quickly changed the subject again, his train of thought hyperactive as always. “Right! The club fair is tomorrow! Our esports club is recruiting new members!

Yang Fan nodded. “Yes. The club fair is tomorrow after school. That gives us plenty of time, since school ends early on Tuesday.”

Lin Feng’s eyes lit up. He raised his hand and shouted, “I want to join! I want to join!”

Ouyang turned to Lin Feng. “Oh, sure. But first, did you do that thing I asked you to do?”

“Huh? What did you ask me to do?” Lin Feng asked, bewildered.

Ouyang stared at him, speechless. “I asked you to help us convince Tang Bingyao to join our esports club! We’re having a tournament on the 16th next month, and we’re still missing a good ad-carry!”

“I can play ad-carry. I’m better than her!” Lin Feng volunteered.

Ouyang rolled his eyes. “Sure buddy, you keep saying that. Whatever, just convince her to join us, and we’ll help you get in the club!”

“Oh, okay!” Lin Feng happily replied, dense as ever. Wait. He looked at Ouyang, suspicious. Hold on. Then it hit him. “Hey! I don’t need any help! I’m a Challenger! I can get in with my own skills!”

Ouyang and Yang Fan either pretended not to hear him or just tuned him out.

✹

Lin Feng met up with Tang Bingyao at the NetCow Cafe after school, like they did almost every day. From the moment they walked in together, he had a stream of complaints about Ouyang and Yang Fan as large and fast flowing as the Yangtze River. Tang Bingyao patiently listened to him until they sat down behind their computers. “Don’t they watch league livestreams?” she finally asked. “You showed yourself on the webcam the other day. They would’ve recognized you.”

“They do… but not on Huya. Probably some other streaming site. I don’t think they watch anything on Huya,” Lin Feng replied.

“I see.” Tang Bingyao nodded. She looked up at Lin Feng and consoled him, “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. You just have to show them a bit of your skill tomorrow. They’ll be shocked, for sure.”

“Yeah! I’ll show them how good I am tomorrow!” Lin Feng pumped his fist in the air.

“Good luck,” said Tang Bingyao, while she clapped her hands softly and daintily. She was playing the proper role of a supporter.

“Uhh, you’re coming with me, right?” Lin Feng asked, recalling the task Ouyang had given him.

“No, not interested.” Tang Bingyao shook her head. She didn’t see any point in wasting her time attending this event if she wasn’t getting paid for it. She might as well spend that time knocking out a few orders. Time was money, after all.

Lin Feng frantically shook his head. “No no no, you have to come!”

“Huh, why?” Tang Bingyao asked, puzzled.

“Cause Ouyang said that if I don’t bring you I probably won’t be accepted…” Lin Feng explained with a pitiful expression.

“Sorry, I’m just really not interested.” Tang Bingyao frowned.

“It’s because there’s nothing in it for you, right?” Lin Feng asked.

Tang Bingyao nodded.

Lin Feng rubbed his chin for a little before offering, “How about this? If you come, I’ll teach you how to play Rengar!”

“You’re bribing me?” Tang Bingyao asked, knitting her brows.

“Bingo!” Lin Feng replied without any shame.

Tang Bingyao thought about it for a couple of seconds. Then she nodded. “Alright, deal.”

✹

The second the final bell started ringing on Tuesday, Lin Feng rushed to the front of the classroom where Tang Bingyao sat. He got there before the bell had even finished ringing. He impatiently waited for her to put her books away and then rushed to the esports club meeting, dragging her along. The door was open when they arrived at the packed classroom. They stepped inside and found 50 students who had all arrived before them cramped into the classroom.

The classroom had two rows of computers in the middle, and everyone gathered in the space around that island. Ouyang was behind a desk at the front of the classroom, struggling to maintain order. Everyone in the room was jostling and rushing to get to the desk, and the individuals had merged into a crowd that continued to grow at an alarming rate.

“Everyone, there’s no need to rush! Form a line!”
“Come up to the desk one at a time! Sign in on the sheet here with me! Don’t forget to write down your rank!”
“One at a time! Don’t crowd the desk!”
“No! Don’t take the sheet and pass it around! Give that back to me!”

The crowd that had laid siege to the desk at the front where Ouyang was attempting to get everyone to sign up was noisy, excited, and in the highest spirits possible. A few people had even found their way around the desk and were quickly boxing Ouyang in. Most of the students in that crowd were first years. This was their first time joining a club. This particular club was for their favorite game, which only served to amp them up further. They were rowdy, nearly giddy from all the excitement. None of them paid any attention to what Ouyang was saying or that he was even there. Most of what he was saying was drowned out from the din of the crowd.

It was then that a booming voice brimming with menace rang out, accompanied by the loud bang of a palm slamming down on the podium. “SETTLE DOWN!”

The room went silent. No one dared to do so much as breathe. The previously excited first years stood paralyzed in fear, slowly turning their heads to look at the podium in the front. There she stood. A tall and pretty girl with an almost palpable rage bubbling around her. Her icy cold gaze locked onto them, all of them, and sent shivers down their spines. This fiery beauty was Ren Rou, the class president of Senior Class 7!

Lin Feng’s eyes went wide. “Class pres is also part of the esports club?”

“Rou Rou is the club’s President of Logistics and Communication. She’s basically in charge of everything,” Tang Bingyao replied.

“Wow. She’s really talented!” Lin Feng remarked.

At this moment, Ren Rou spotted Lin Feng and Tang Bingyao in the crowd. Her eyes lit up. “Lin Feng! Tang Tang! What are you two waiting back there for? Get over here!”

Two Games. Two losses. After the first game, Qi Ming truly believed that it was purely dumb luck that had done him in. And it was that reasoning that made this second loss sting that much more. Lin Feng hadn’t just beaten him. Lin Feng had taken his champion from the first game and shown him how it would’ve looked had he played it better. When Qi Ming played Fizz in the previous game, he failed to predict where Lin Feng’s Lux would Flash. In this game, where Lin Feng was playing Fizz, he accurately predicted which way Qi Ming’s Syndra would Flash and splashed down on her with Trickster. The exact same situation in both games, and Qi Ming had made the wrong decision twice.

“You know, if you’d flashed like I did last game, you would’ve lived too,” Lin Feng remarked.

Qi Ming alternated between anger and humiliation, but he had nothing to say. Everything Lin Feng said was right. He could’ve flashed forward, and he would’ve escaped with his life. But in that critical moment, his gut reaction was to flash away. How could he possibly have the time to think of anything else? This was the crux of the problem. When there was no time to react, when the moment was most crucial, most players acted on instinct or habit. Only someone truly extraordinary could stay calm in a crucial moment like that one and ignore their instinctive reaction! Although he was a Master, achieving this Zen mindset was extraordinarily difficult. From his point of view, even professional players couldn’t necessarily pull this off consistently! So there should’ve been no reason for him to feel ashamed of himself. Except that this piddly high schooler had somehow pulled it off!

Lin Feng could do it. Easily. So why couldn’t I? Qi Ming couldn’t come to terms with his loss to Lin Feng, and a string of excuses, justifications and rationalizations ran through his mind. It was luck. No, lag! My keyboard wasn’t working… But all of those were worthless, he knew they were hollow. The reality of the situation was that the answer was simple. There’s no excuse! You were just bad! There was no excuse, no circumstance that had negatively influenced his gameplay. This absolute truth was what made his face flash between red and purple, between anger and embarrassment. Qi Ming shot up from his chair, toppling it over, and stomped out of the internet cafe. He didn’t even bother saying goodbye.

“Huh?” Lin Feng started after Qi Ming. “Where is he going?”

Zuo You burst out laughing. “Hahahaha! That was great! Oh my god! Let’s see him brag and try to show off in front of me at work again! Hahaha!” She wiped the tears from her eyes.

Lin Feng scratched his head. “I mean, he played pretty well.”

Zuo You rolled her eyes. “But not as good as you. Am I right?”

“Exactly!” Lin Feng balled his fist and struck a victory pose, a triumphant smile on his face.

“Can I ask you something?” Zuo You curiously looked at Lin Feng. “Why did it look so easy? You made him look like a silver noob… Are you really that good?” She went and picked up the chair Qi Ming knocked down, then glanced over the computer at Lin Feng and said, “I want to give it a try, let’s do a 1v1!”

✹

The game barely lasted three minutes. Zuo You stared at the grey screen in front of her, confused and surprised. Then she chucked her mouse away. “Fuck this! I’m not playing anymore!” She couldn’t believe what had just happened. There wasn’t a single game she could remember where she’d felt as powerless as in this 1v1 against Lin Feng. She decided to go with Orianna, a ranged AP champion. Lin Feng picked Yasuo, a melee champion. Most of the time, ranged champions acted as a counter to melee champions, especially in the early game. Not this game though. Lin Feng’s Yasuo completely shut her down. She could barely last hit a minion. Nor could she manage to poke or do any damage to the Yasuo. Whatever she was going to do, Lin Feng was already there throwing up a Wind Wall or dashing around her or constantly poking at her. She was completely and utterly powerless against Lin Feng’s Yasuo. Her confidence as a Platinum player was shattered.

“Oh oh! Looks like my Yasuo is pretty good too!” Lin Feng said.

“Yes yes yes. You’re the best. You’re the strongest,” Zuo You said. She kinda understood how Qi Ming felt right now. But it did look like that fight was more evenly-matched than the one she just had with Lin Feng. Thinking of him, and that unsightly look on his face as he fled the scene, her anger left her body and a smile replaced her frown. “Alright, how about we leave? Let’s go get some KFC.”

✹

At the KFC, Lin Feng sat down in a booth next to the window. A minute later, Zuo You arrived with a family bucket of chicken. He grabbed it from her and dug in. Zuo You sat down across from Lin Feng and started talking about Qi Ming again. “You don’t know, but man is he a show off! It’s like all he ever does! You know, he’s already 27 and still only a low level employee at the company! All he can do is look good and brag about his Master-rank to the girls. He’s the worst! Tsk, guys like him never get their act together.” She paused and watched Lin Feng wolf down a drumstick. “Hey kid. What do you think of Su Xue becoming a streamer? You think she’s making the right choice?”

Lin Feng was duking it out with a piece of New Orleans-style chicken[mfn]This is an actual menu item that is unique to KFC China. It’s a type of oven baked, though it can be pan-fried or grilled, chicken marinated in a mixture of Asian spices and coated in a honey-glaze sauce. It’s super popular in China. Many people have created homemade variations and recipes of it, which you guys can find on Google if you want to give it a try yourselves.[/mfn]. He stopped chewing for a moment before vigorously nodding. “Of course I do!”

Zuo You frowned. She looked both worried and angry and vehemently disagreed with Lin Feng, “But she can’t do this long term! You know how these things go. For the next few years, sure, she’ll have a fun job. She might even make a bit of money. But then what? How will she pay rent? Definitely won’t be able to buy a house. Will she even have money for groceries? She won’t have enough savings to retire.”

With a mouthful of chicken, Lin Feng waved the drumstick in his hand. “Yrou schuld do icht exachry becush ou’re yung!” He chewed and swallowed the food before adding, “What’s the point of being young if you’re not chasing after your dreams?”

Zuo You rolled her eyes. “So you’re one of those who doesn’t think about the consequences, huh? Hey, what’s your dream? I remember Su Xue telling me you wanted to become a pro?”

“Yeah! I want to become the best player in the world!”

Zuo You gasped. “Oh my god! Aiming a little high, are we? That’s even less realistic than Su Xue’s dream of becoming a big streamer!”

The best player in the world? Number 1? Zuo You had played League of Legends long enough to have some understanding of the scene. For the average player, like herself, there was the ranked ladder. You could play casually, or until 2 in the morning on a weekday, and climb the ranks from Bronze all the way up to Challenger. A lucky few at the top of the ladder became ordinary pros. They joined professional League of Legends teams but would never truly compete for any silverware. Next came the members of the top teams in the LPL or similar competitive circuits in other regions. Above them were the individual players who consistently performed well on the world stage. And finally, at the very top, stood the illustrious Seven Kings and Four Emperors.

“You want to become even better than the Seven Kings and Four Emperors?” Zuo You looked flustered. “Don’t forget. There’s that one emperor everyone says is better than the other three!”

Lin Feng sipped on his coke. He looked up at Zuo You and nodded. “I know.” Of course he knew. That emperor, the best player in the world, that was exactly who he had his sights set on. That guy was something else. He was genuinely, truly amazing at the game! He was a god. An unrivalled God. Thinking about that guy sent Lin Feng back into memories of his own past.

People always tell you not to dream too big. They tell you that some dreams are unrealistic, just a little too big. They tell you not to dream that big because big dreams never come true. But if a dream isn’t big, if you’re not chasing after the heavens, does it really count as a dream? Lin Feng knew how difficult it was to accomplish his dream. He knew it better than anyone else could. He’d fought against that guy before. And he lost. Lin Feng was the last stepping stone that guy used to ascend to the throne of Sovereign. That guy had stood at the apex of the Four Emperor since then. No one could take the throne from that guy in the last four years. Lin Feng also nursed some regret, since he’d decided to stop playing and leave the scene after losing to that guy. But that was in the past. He was back now!

Lost in his reveries, Lin Feng absentmindedly took another big gulp of his coke. The ice-cold carbonated drink tickled and fizzed in the back of his throat, snapping him back to the present. “Man, that was good!”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 《First blood!》 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

✹

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

✹

《Welcome to Summoner’s Rift!》

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

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

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

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

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

“Beautiful!” Zuo You exclaimed in admiration.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Zuo You’s heartstrings were stretched taut!

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

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

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

“Is that the guy?” Lin Feng asked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“W-what?” Qi Ming stammered.

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

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

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

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

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

“Oh, alright. Fine, Qi Ming it is.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

✹

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“A Diamond 1? Wow.”

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

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

“Of course!” Lin Feng pounded his chest.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lin Feng’s eyes lit up. “Deal!”

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

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

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

✹

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tang Bingyao vigorously nodded.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

✹

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

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

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

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

「Yasuo, you smurfing?」

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

✹

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

✹

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The viewers immediately perked up their ears.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

✹

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

“Mhm.” Tang Bingya nodded.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“H-huh?”

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

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

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