There was a quote that Zeng Rui placed great stock in. It was a mantra, one that underlined his entire philosophy and thought process. “Know yourself, know your enemy. A hundred battles, a hundred victories.” These words from Sun Tzu created the foundation for all of Zeng Rui’s decision-making. He was the main shotcaller for the team, and he believed that there was no substitute for solid preparation. He watched every second of gameplay he could find on their potential opponents. He analyzed their habits, their quirks, and their instincts. He memorized every mistake that they made over and over again.

Zeng Rui learned what champions they’d pick if they were planning a lane swap at the start of the game. His approach was very different from what An Xin was doing. He wasn’t making the strategies and plays for Team Shanghai. That was An Xin’s job. His job was to learn everything about their opponents strategies, and be ready to face everything they could throw at Team Shanghai in the game. 

Knowing your enemy is important. But knowing yourself is just as important, Zeng Rui thought to himself. From all the work that he’d put it, he had a good measure on the skill of their opponent. And his understanding of them grew with every passing day. The real problem is that I don’t know Team Shanghai well enough. Can’t make the right call if I don’t know what the team can pull off. I need to know everything about everyone! That’s the only way I can do what I need to do so we win regionals! I need to understand the team, my time, as well as I can. That’s the only way we’re getting through to the main tournament and beyond that! 

There were so many questions swimming around in Zeng Rui’s mind. Questions that he kept asking himself. Questions that he could not answer.

Should we do a lane swap if the opponent does?
Do we play offensively or defensively in this potential situation?
If one lane is at a disadvantage, can that laner make it on their own? Or do they need help?
Which lanes should the Jungler focus on the most?

Zeng Rui looked away from An Xin and towards Zhang Hao, saying, “I’ve played with Zhang Hao for years. I know exactly how good he is and what to expect from him.” He nodded at Tang Bingyao before continuing, “And I’m getting a pretty good idea of just how good she is, and can become. By the time the Collegiate Cup starts, I’ll have a firm grasp on her skill level.” He took a deep breath and turned to look back at An Xin. “You’re really good too. Your map awareness and gank timings are especially impressive. The only limiting factor for you would be your mechanics. But that doesn’t change that you’re a great Jungler. And that I understand you and how you play.” He finally shook his head as he glanced at Lin Feng from the corners of his eyes. “But him…”

The thundering dumbass. The idiot with the big mouth who looked like he was just messing around. He was playing in random lanes and doing nothing particularly impressive. Zeng Rui grimaced. His initial observation on Lin Feng had clouded his judgement. He was finding it incredibly difficult to look past the thundering dumbass part. But despite his goofing around, he kept winning. He always won. Even in the games his team lost, he won. He even beat my Midlaner and became the most valuable player of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament. Zeng Rui scratched the back of his head. The more I watch him play, the less sense it all makes.

For the first time since Zeng Rui started playing League of Legends, he had to admit that he didn’t understand a player. Whether it be Lin Feng’s mechanical skills or his vast champion pool, whether it be his awareness or positioning, whether it be his… There wasn’t a single aspect of Lin Feng’s game that Zeng Rui truly understood. I’ve now been playing with him on the same team, and even that hasn’t helped! I can’t even tell how he’s improving. If he is! It just feels like he’s getting better. But I don’t understand how. What is it about him…

Zeng Rui needed an explanation. He’d tried talking with Lin Feng earlier in the night, but that hadn’t gotten him the answers he was looking for. I hope BunBun can help me. I need this information to prepare for the tournament! The mid lane is maybe the most important position on the field. It’s at the center of the map. And just look at the rankings. Rake, Phoenix, Moon, even Hermes! They’re some of the best players in the world and they’re all Midlaners. A good Midlaner is the heart of the team, and it would be stupid if I gloss past that. He gritted his teeth, frustrated. All my work so far will have been for nothing if I can’t understand how he works. I need to know how good he is, so that I can prepare for that!

“Zeng Rui?” An Xin asked, interrupting Zeng Rui’s line of thought. “What do you want to ask?”

Zeng Rui looked back at An Xin. He took a deep, long breath. I don’t want to admit it. The thundering dumbass. He closed his eyes briefly. Pull yourself over this, Zeng Rui! You misjudged him and it’s blinding you. Ask for help. Just ask her. He exhaled all the air from his lungs as his eyes shot open, determined. “BunBun,” he said. “I need to know. How good is Lin Feng?”

An Xin chuckled and looked past Zeng Rui at Lin Feng, who was laughing about something with Ouyang. So he finally admits that he can’t figure Lin Feng out. That was about time. She turned back to look at Zeng Rui and said, “It’s hard to say. I can’t give you a definitive answer. But I can tell you this. No one at the Collegiate Cup is his match.”

“No one?” Zeng Rui muttered, his mouth falling open in shock.

An Xin shrugged and explained, “He’ll win every match up in the mid lane.”

Zeng Rui just kind of stared at An Xin, his mind in a complete mess. No one is his match? He’ll win every match up? She’s telling me that there’s no one in the entire Collegiate Cup who can beat him in the mid lane? That… She must be joking. Is she drunk…? He glanced at An Xin, searching for a smile or anything else that might give away that she was joking. But he couldn’t find anything to support that thought. It can’t be… There are players from the LSPL who help their university teams! Those guys are actual professional players! How can she say that Lin Feng will beat them? Is she saying that he’s a professional player? But I looked his name up! Maple! I searched online, but there was no professional player by that name in the previous two seasons!

An Xin watched Zeng Rui struggling. It’s a lot. He’ll need some time. But he’ll see that I’m right. She smiled warmly and reassured, “Don’t worry too much about it. Everything you expect from him, he’ll do. You’ll see.”

Zeng Rui leaned back in his chair. He grabbed his glass of beer from the table, which was inexplicably full again, and took a large swig. He then shook his head and started laughing. It sounded so ridiculous to him that he couldn’t keep a straight face any longer. If the thundering dumbass is actually that good. Ha! Winning the regionals is going to be easy! We might win the whole damn thing! I’ll just be along for the ride! He shook his head and said, “Alright. I hope you’re right.”

✹

The festivities for Tang Bingyao’s birthday party were quickly deteriorating. Everyone was too drunk for their own good, with shouting contests in one corner and coin tossing competitions in the other. An Xin and Ren Rou were the only two who were still mostly sober. They looked at each other around 11 P.M. and nodded knowingly. It was time to put an end to this party. An Xin left to clear the tab while Ren Rou announced to everyone it was time to go home. This, of course, was met with heavy resistance.

“N-nu NO! I WANNA DRINK MORE! BEER! BEER! BEER!”
“Yeah! Yeah! I wanna drink more! MORE SHOTS FOR EVERYONE! ANOTHER ROUND!”
“I can go all night! PARTY TILL THE SUN RISES!”
“AFTER PARTY! AFTER PARTY! WHERE WE HAVING THE AFTER PARTY!?”
“DRINKS AT MY PLACE! WOOOOOOO!”

An Xin returned to the private room and was assaulted by the shouting contest. She wasn’t having any of it. A smile that everyone there knew far too well spread on her face. Her lips curved upwards, but they read murder. She glanced at the guys, meeting their eyes, and said, “It’s getting late. Go home.” She briefly paused for dramatic effect and then concluded, “Unless someone wants to argue with me.”

It was like a cold gust of wind blew through the private room, sobering everyone right up. Be it Ouyang or the guys from Shanghai High School, no one dared to argue with An Xin. They obediently nodded, putting down their drinks, terrified to take even one more sip. The cold shivers that ran up and down their bodies kept them sober enough to find their coats and make their way to the exit of the private room, not forgetting to thank Tang Bingyao for a great party.

Zeng Rui was the first at the door of the private room, ready to go home. He glanced at An Xin. How can she get so scary? He shook his head and turned to look at his friends. “Hurry up. We’re leaving.” Then he turned to Tang Bingyao, who was sitting at the table wobbling back and forth. She drank way too much… He shook his head and smiled at her. “Thanks for this party, Tang Tang. It was great. We all really enjoyed it. Goodnight and see you tomorrow at practice!”

The other four from Shanghai High School followed Zeng Rui’s example, thanking Tang Bingyao for her birthday party. Then they said their goodbyes to everyone else before leaving the restaurant and going home. Ouyang, Yang Fan, Wei Dong, Liu Yue, and Chen Ze followed their example. They also said their thanks and goodbyes before leaving.

Ren Rou looked at the four people still there, stopping at Tang Bingyao. What is she trying to do? Is she putting her coat on upside down…? “Tang Tang?” she asked. “Are you alright? Can you get home? Maybe we should call you a cab…”

“I-I’M GOOD! VERY GOOD! MHM!” Tang Bingyao replied cheerfully while waving her hands around and dropping her coat to the floor. Then she leaned forward to pick her coat up and stumbled to her knees. “Woo! I fly so high like a G6! I’m very good!”

Ren Rou sighed and shook her head. “The more you say and do, the more convinced I am that we can’t possibly let you go home by yourself. Someone has to bring you home. Or call you a cab. One of the two.”

An Xin giggled and said, “Well, at least she had fun, right Tang Tang?” She waited briefly for a response, but all Tang Bingyao gave were a few unintelligible shouts and yelps. Then she continued, “She’s just as out of it as the guys. But she’s a girl. And even the guys went home together. We can’t let her go by herself… Oh! I know. Lin Feng can bring her home! They live close together anyway. That shouldn’t be a problem, right Lin Feng?”

Lin Feng patted his chest and proclaimed, “Sure! I’m really good at bringing Tang Tang home too!”

Tang Bingyao threw her coat on the ground again. Then she threw her fist in the air in an imitation of Lin Feng’s trademark victory pose and screamed, “YEAH! LIN FENG TAKE ME HOME! TAKE ME! MHM!”

Tang Bingyao was drunk and Lin Feng was perhaps the single biggest blockhead in the entirety of existence. It was hard, damn near impossible, to be as idiotic as he was most of the time. But it was times like these, where everyone knew what was going on except him, that his idiocy really shined. He believed that Tang Bingyao was just happy that he was bringing her home. There was a thought in his mind arguing against it. He was actually convinced that Tang Bingyao was confident in his ability to bring her home. But Ren Rou and An Xin weren’t as naive. They both froze when they heard Tang Bingyao’s scream. They hesitated, glanced at each other. And then An Xin smiled. She winked at Ren Rou and said, “Lin Feng is a blockhead. He’s literally too dense to figure out that there might be something more here. Or what Tang Tang just accidentally implied. Don’t worry, he’ll be a perfect gentleman. More than a perfect gentleman, honestly. Sometimes I think he was dropped on his head multiple times as a child. Don’t worry though. She’ll be fine, they’ll be fine.”

A group of barely legal teenagers had far more alcohol in front of them than they should drink. So like the responsible adults they were, they started drinking. One shot was enough for Tang Bingyao to start feeling a little woozy. The other girls quickly moved around her, while the guys were too busy bragging to each other about just how much beer they could drink before getting drunk. And this was quickly put to the test. But not before Ouyang made a fool out of himself. He’d convinced himself that this was the perfect time to go and flirt with Ren Rou. Everyone watched him fail miserably. Ren Rou just laughed at him and then turned back to Tang Bingyao, leaving Ouyang to walk back to his friends with his head hanging low.

“RIP!” Liu Yue shouted in laughter. And the others joined in, showing their support for Ouyang with some well placed jokes and a few pats on his shoulder.

Ouyang glared at them, slightly annoyed. I need to drink these assholes under the table! That’ll teach them! He glanced at his bag in the corner of the restaurant’s private room. I brought plastic cups with me… He started emptying the table and took out a bunch of red plastic cups from his backpack. Then he placed them on the table and shouted, “Gottem to play some beer pong with my bros!”

One of the players from Shanghai High School took a coin from his wallet and stood behind nine cups placed together. Then he threw the coin at the other nine cups on the other side of the large, round table. It fell in the plastic cup that was filled with beer. “Drink it!” the Shanghai High School players told Ouyang.

Ouyang’s jaw dropped. He stared at the guy across the table and wanted to say something, but stopped himself as a second coin arced through the air and fell in a second cup. That same voice boomed in Ouyang’s ears again. “Drink it!” Ouyang’s eyes went wide and he quickly moved his hands in front of him. “We didn’t start playing yet! We didn’t start playing yet! I was going to suggest we make it a team game! My best bros against you and your bros! Should be fair, right!?”

Yang Fan shook his head and said, “Who told you to pick a fight…? And now you’re asking us to go down with you? You know I’ve never played that game…” He mumbled a few more complaints, but Wei Dong and Chen Ze had already joined Ouyang at the table. I can’t let them do this by themselves. Our odds are practically zero with me, but it’s better than sitting out. I’ll just play one game. He joined the others at the table and said, “But we’re friends, so I have to help you.”

✹

Lin Feng didn’t feel like playing beer pong. Instead, he walked over to Zeng Rui and sat down next to his new Support, brightly grinning. “Hey, ZengZeng! Let’s have a drink together! Just you and me! We can get to know each other better! That’ll be great for our team!”

Zeng Rui looked at Lin Feng and raised an eyebrow. Then he shrugged and said, “No thanks. I’d rather think of a strategy for the…” He cut himself off before saying the words. But he knew he’d said too much, he could see it in Lin Feng’s eyes. Crap. He’s going to make me drink.

Lin Feng’s eyes started shining with an evil light. A look that said, “We both know what has to come next. And I’ll be the only one enjoying it!” He winked at Zeng Rui and said, “You talked about it that shall not be named! Drink! You know the rules! You have to take a shot!”

Zeng Rui glanced at the small glass with the clear liquid inside. He then turned back to Lin Feng and said, “The rules say that I cannot say the word. I don’t remember it saying anything about hinting towards it.”

Lin Feng grinned and replied, “That’s all the same! It that shall not be named was mentioned by you! Down the drink! Down the drink!”

Zeng Rui shook his head but still reached for the glass. Then he threw the liquid down his throat, its burning sensation making him retch again. Shit, this stuff is disgusting! That was the last one. I won’t have another one.

“That was awesome!” Lin Feng shouted, laughing. Then he grabbed his glass of beer and raised it to Zeng Rui. “Hey! Let’s have another toast! Come! Another toast!”

Zeng Rui raised an eyebrow and asked, “What are we toasting to this time?”

“Uhh? Duh! To Tang Tang’s birthday of course!” Lin Feng exclaimed.

Tang Bingyao had been barely capable of sitting on her chair, falling over every few seconds only to be pushed back up by her friends. She’d laugh and giggle and maybe even slur some words before falling over again. But that changed when she heard Lin Feng call out her name. It sobered her straight up. She looked at him and shouted, “Yes! To my birthday of course!”

Zeng Rui turned his head to look at Tang Bingyao, and the two girls standing next to her. She probably shouldn’t have another drink… She’s completely out of it. How much did she have? Only that shot and a beer, right? Did she not have enough food to eat or something…? He was suddenly pulled away from his thoughts by Lin Feng clinking a glass against his glass. Then he heard the thundering dumbass’ voice, “We clinked so now you have to drink!” He shook his head but raised the glass to Tang Bingyao and said, “Cheers!” Then he chugged the beer down before turning back to Lin Feng and asking, “Happy?”

“YEAH! DRINKING BUDDIES FOREVER!” Lin Feng shouted, showing his own empty glass. “I’m pretty good at keeping my alcohol too!”

✹

High School 13’s guys were playing a third game of beer pong against Shanghai High School. Both sides were getting progressively drunk, and there were coins flying all around the room. Most didn’t even get close to the plastic cups anymore. To the side, Zeng Rui and Lin Feng were watching the beer pong while also chatting. They were talking like friends about League of Legends and alcohol. Tang Bingyao watched this all happen, not taking a single sip of alcohol as the next hour flew by. Slowly, the initial burst of drunkness started to settle and she could think straight again. They’re all here for me! And they’re having fun! I want to have fun with them! Mhm! She looked at Lin Feng and Zeng Rui and smiled. My Support and Lin Feng! Let’s go to them first.

Tang Bingyao got up from her seat and grabbed two full glasses of beer. Carefully balancing them, she made her way over to the two guys. But it was difficult to walk right now, she nearly fell over and was about to drop the beer when Zeng Rui arrived at her side. He took the beers from her and asked, “Are you okay?”

“Mm-mhm!” Tang Bingyao said, nodding. She grabbed one glass of beer from Zeng Rui and shouted, “Toast with me! Toast! My best Support!”

W-what? Another one? I… Can I… Zeng Rui stared at the beer in his hands. He heard Lin Feng arrive next to him, make a joke. It didn’t really register. I wasn’t going to have another drink. I don’t like drinking too much. It just doesn’t feel good… But… He looked at Tang Bingyao. She looks so happy. I can’t say no, can I? He took a deep breath and asked, “Do I really have to?”

Lin Feng laughed and said, “Of course you do! The birthday girl is asking you! That’s why you have to! Even I know that!”

An Xin caught up to Tang Bingyao and put a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Hey, Tang Tang,” she said warmly. “Don’t drink too much. Just take a sip. Please.”

Lin Feng turned to look at An Xin. He pointed at Zeng Rui and said, “ZengZeng here is a Challenger drinker! He can drink a full glass and then also finish Tang Tang’s!”

Tang Bingyao tilted her head, looking from An Xin to Lin Feng, and then nodded. “Mhm! Okay! ZengZeng finishes my beer!” She then clinked her glass against Zeng Rui’s and said, “Toast!” before taking a small sip.

Zeng Rui grimaced. How am I getting in these situations? What is this? Did I do something wrong? Am I being punished for something? He took a deep, long breath, then smiled at Tang Bingyao and raised his glass. “Happy birthday, Tang Tang.” But rather than drinking it all in one go, he took a large swig and accepted Tang Bingyao’s glass. I’ll just finish them later…

Lin Feng looked at An Xin and said, “Hey, stay here with us! We were just chatting about that thing that shall not be named! ZengZeng here has some really cool ideas! Did you know…”

Tang Bingyao heard a lot of words, but they weren’t making sense. She didn’t even notice An Xin joining Lin Feng and Zeng Rui at the table. Her eyes were already on the other side of the room, where Ren Rou had just joined Ouyang to help him win a game of beer pong. I can’t just toast Zeng Rui and Lin Feng. Everyone is here for me. I have to thank them all! Mhm! She grabbed another beer from the table and walked over to the game of beer pong.

“HEEEEY TANG TANG! HOW YOU!”
“DRINK! I WIN! DRINK!”
“HAHAHAHA! YOU LOSE!”
“BRO! BRO! BRO! I TOTALLY WON! BRO! COME ON!”
“NOOOOO WAY! TANG TANG, I WON, RIGHT?”

Tang Bingyao smiled and nodded at the guys who even she could tell were all far too drunk. She raised her glass to Zhang Hao, who was the first to walk up to her, and they toasted and had a drink. Zhang Hao emptied his glass and Tang Bingyao didn’t want to be left behind, so she took a larger chug than she had with Zeng Rui. The others from Shanghai High School came up to her and they all toasted with her, each sharing a drink with her. Her glass of beer was empty within a minute.

Ouyang approached Tang Bingyao with a new drink and said, laughing, “I thought you were a lightweight drinking after earlier!”

Yang Fan walked up next to Ouyang and chimed in, “Clearly not! Look how she’s drinking!” He then clinked his glass against Tang Bingyao’s and added, “Happy birthday, birthday girl!”

An Xin was chatting with Lin Feng and Zeng Rui, while Ren Rou was completely focused on winning the game of beer pong. Tang Bingyao was left to her own devices with a group of guys who were far too drunk for their own good. She kept clinking glasses with them and drinking it empty. Her face was red and she couldn’t stand up by herself anymore, leaning against whoever she was drinking with.

Ouyang suddenly felt a chill. There was a brief moment of sobriety that hit him. He saw how much Tang Bingyao was drinking, and how she couldn’t stand up straight anymore. The hell is this? Shit. Something’s wrong. This feels all wrong. Did Draven come from the Rift and claim her body or something? Since when can a girl drink like this? No! Shit! She can’t! This is going wrong! He grabbed the beer from Tang Bingyao’s hands under loud protest of everyone else and said, “Bro, bro, I think you’ve had enough. Just for now! Skip this one! Yes! Skip this one!”

✹

Zeng Rui leaned back in his chair and fought off the nausea and the darkness swirling in front of his eyes. But with Tang Bingyao having her focus on the others, he finally had some time to stop drinking. He called over a waiter and ordered some more food to fill his stomach back up.

An Xin looked at Zeng Rui and smiled. “I feel like I have to thank you. You’re really putting a lot of work into this tournament.”

Zeng Rui worked away some Chinese cabbage that was still on the table. I have, but that’s what I always do. I like to do it like that. It’s just how it works for me. He sighed and said, “No need to thank me. I’m only doing what’s to be expected. If we want to win this tournament, we have to put in the time and effort. And more…”

An Xin nodded and agreed, “Yeah. It’s going to be very hard to win the Collegiate Cup. Very, very hard.”

“Practically impossible,” Zeng Rui corrected. “I’ve done my research. Looked into all the teams that made it to the Round of 16 last year. We’re not at their level yet. We’ve got a long way to go.”

“But it’s not impossible, right?” An Xin said knowingly.

Zeng Rui frowned. He turned to the table and grabbed a new glass of beer that had inexplicably appeared in front of him. He took a swig and looked at the white foam covering the deep yellow liquid. It should be impossible. But you’re a far better player and coach than I expected. And then there’s Lin Feng… “Yeah,” he finally said. We do have some hope. Tang Tang needs to keep improving like she is. We need something special to happen with Zhang Hao in the top lane. But with Lin Feng in the mid lane… He shook his head. How can someone be that good? He downed his beer, forgetting his earlier promise to himself to stop drinking. Then he turned to An Xin and looked deep into her eyes. He watched for every minute change in her expression, searched for something, though he didn’t know what that something was. “BunBun?” he finally said. “There’s something I need to ask.”

A dozen eyes turned to Tang Bingyao, a stunned silence falling over the private room in the hotpot restaurant. Everyone knew how much Tang Bingyao loved money. She wasn’t cheap by any stretch of the word, but she did enjoy making money and didn’t seem to particularly like spending it. Yet right now, in a situation where Lin Feng, Ren Rou, and Ouyang were going to foot the bill, she offered to pay for everything. No one knew what to say or do, Liu Yue’s mouth even falling open.

It was eventually Ouyang who broke the uncomfortable silence. He rose to his feet with a drink in his hand, which he raised up into the air while shouting, “Come on, bros! We’re celebrating Tang Tang’s birthday! Let’s sing for her! HAAAAAAPPY BIRTHDAY TO TANG TANG! HAAAAAAPPY BIRTHDAY TO TANG TANG!”

Liu Yue was the first to follow Ouyang’s example. He jumped to his feet and started singing just as terribly as Ouyang. Lin Feng followed next, belting “…DEAR TANG TANG! HAAAAAAAAPPY BIRTHDAY TOOOOOOOO YOOUUUUUUUUUUU!”

Tang Bingyao felt her face heat up as 14 of her friends had gathered together on her birthday, thrown her a party, and were now singing their lungs out for her! She smiled brighter than she ever had and raised her glass when the song finally ended. “Mhm! Happy birthday to me!!”

The door to the private room opened and several waiters pushed in carts of food. There was a wide variety of food, from the beefiest meat to the greenest vegetables. Everyone picked up their bowls and chopsticks in anticipation, urging the waiters to hurry up without actually saying the words. The delicious smells coming from the platters made their stomachs growl. They wanted to eat!

Ouyang was the first and loudest to dig in. He grabbed meat and ate it. Then he grabbed some more meat and ate that too. All the while, he was dry heaving when a single speck of green made it into his mouth. “Bros, bros, listen! Meat is the food of kings! Real Junglers eat meat! Only meat! Think Rengar, Kha’Zix, Nidalee! They hunt and then they feast on their prey! As for this green shit? You see this?” He wagged around a piece of cabbage. “I feel sick just seeing it! Only lame ass champions like Rammus eat this crap!”

Ren Rou raised her eyebrows and said, “You? A predator? Hah! More like the prey.” She turned to the others and continued, “He promised that he’d carry me in ranked last night, so we played a few games. Guess who fed the enemy Jungler…”

“H-hey! Rou Rou!” Ouyang blurted out, his excitement collapsing. He fell back into his chair and complained, “Don’t just throw me under the bus like that!” He glanced around him. Looks like they’re all too busy with their own food. That saved me!

Yang Fan and Chen Ze took an entirely different tactic from Ouyang. Picking out the meat from between the vegetables was too much work for them. Besides, there were plenty of vegetables that, when prepared correctly, were absolutely delicious. So they simply located everything that looked delicious and attacked. There was no hesitation. They ate everything. For if they weren’t fast enough, someone else might beat them to the punch and get the best piece of food!

There was one other person who stood out. Lin Feng. Everyone had heard about his eating habits at one point or another. Some of them had even witnessed it first hand. But it was still a sight whenever they got to see him again. He went completely quiet. Not a word slipped from his mouth. He barely breathed! His entire focus was on the food. And he wolfed it down! Every single piece of food that was within his reach ended up in his stomach. There seemed to be no limit to his hunger! Even a fully stacked Cho’Gath, one of the biggest and fattest Champions on Summoner’s Rift, would lose to him in a food eating contest!

An Xin, the guys from Shanghai High School, and Liu Yue all stopped eating, their chopsticks halted in midair. They were staring at Lin Feng’s eating frenzy, shocked. There were some horrified mumbles and whispers. None of them understood how he could eat like that. Their voices grew louder as they watched Lin Feng eat faster, until the entire room could hear them.

“Oh, snap! Lin Feng! Are you being starved at home?”
“How are you eating so fast! This is insane!”
“I-is he ok…?”

Tang Bingyao sat to Lin Feng’s right. She stared at him stuffing himself, feeling a deafening pang in her side. It was where she kept her wallet. I-I… D-do I have to pay for all this? How is he eating this much? He is eating more than I eat in a week! Where is it all going? Uhmm—”

“Idiot!” An Xin yelled at Lin Feng. She sat to his left and was glaring at him, reaching out with her chopsticks and dropping a few pieces of Chinese cabbage in Lin Feng’s bowl. “Stop eating meat like a neanderthal! You also need some veggies!”

Lin Feng wasn’t the slightest bit fazed. He picked up Chinese cabbage and said, “Sure, BunBun! I’ll eat the cabb— Oh, look at that lamb! That lamb looks really good too! I’ll just have that first!” He dropped the Chinese cabbage back, saliva drooling from his lips as he watched a waitress bring in a platter of lamb meat.

The waitress was still putting the plate with lamb meat down on the table, when Lin Feng reached for it. He leaned over Tang Bingyao, trying to get to it. But it was just out of reach. He looked at Tang Bingyao and said, “Uh, eh, hehe, Tang Tang?” His eyes shifted between Tang Bingyao and the lamb meat.

Tang Bingyao picked up two pieces of lamb meat and dropped them in the hotpot for Lin Feng. Then she turned to him and said, “Hmm, for you.”

“Thanks, Tang Tang! You’re the best!” Lin Feng said cheerfully. He briefly hesitated before adding, “You should take the lamb meat out as soon as it’s cooked! Not a second longer! Or the others might snatch it away!”

Everyone automatically recoiled back. They’d seen and heard Lin Feng say stupid things often enough to know what was to come next. They all turned to look at An Xin, who was already glaring at Lin Feng. The terrifying murder-smile appeared on her face. She then said, “HMM? What did you say? Did you just tell the birthday girl that she has to cook for you? I dare you to say that again!”

✹

When everyone was more or less done with eating, Ren Rou tapped her nail on her glass and said, “Since we’re all done eating, let’s give Tang Tang her presents!” She grabbed a beautifully wrapped present with a large ribbon on the top from her handbag and gave it to Tang Bingyao. “This is from me, Tang Tang. Happy birthday!”

“Thank you!” Tang Bingyao replied. She accepted the gift and started unwrapping it, careful not to damage the ribbon. I wonder what it is. It’s not super big, so maybe some make up? Hmm… She placed the wrapping paper to the side and held a small box in her hands, which she promptly opened. Inside lay a beautiful crystal bracelet.

“Ohhh! That really suits Tang Tang!” Ouyang commented. He turned to Ren Rou and added, “As expected from my Rou Rou! She has a real eye for presents!”

Ren Rou completely ignored Ouyang. She waited until Tang Bingyao put the bracelet on. Then she started smiling and nodding in satisfaction. “It does fit you perfectly! Great!”

The others all gave their presents to Tang Bingyao one after the other. Ouyang got her a small pendant, Yang Fang a scarf, and the three guys from Shanghai High School had pooled their money together to buy Tang Bingyao a Mickey Mouse watch. Tang Bingyao accepted all of them, the smile on her face growing wider and wider until it looked like she couldn’t be any happier. And then Zeng Rui handed her his gift! She unwrapped it to find a high-end gaming mouse.

Zeng Rui rubbed his nose awkwardly and uncomfortably. He coughed and said, “I, uh, figured you’d play better with a better mouse. That’s all.”

Lin Feng saw the mouse that would’ve fit perfectly together with the keyboard he thought of buying. I really want that keyboard! And that mouse! I’d be really good with those two too! “Hey! ZengZeng! That’s an awesome gift! I wanted to get her something like that too! Hey, how about you get me that mouse on my birth—” He stopped himself when he caught the glare from An Xin. Oh, right, Tang Tang! This is Tang Tang’s birthday! We had to get her something meaningful!

An Xin pushed Lin Feng aside and gave Tang Bingyao her gift. “This is just a little something. I hope you’ll like it!”

Tang Bingyao nodded and said, “Thank you.” Then she unwrapped the gift and found the Teemo shirt. Her eyes lit up. He looks so cute! Mhm! His tiny red goggles on his head! And that smile! It’s perfect! She looked at her own shirt and then at the people in the room. She briefly hesitated before putting the Teemo shirt on over her normal clothes. “It looks great! I love it!” she said. “Thanks, BunBun!”

“Don’t forget about me! Don’t forget about me! There’s still my gift! Last for best! Last for best!” Lin Feng butted in. “My present is the best! Here, I got two of them!”

Tang Bingyao accepted the two gifts that were shoved into her arms. She looked at them, one big and one small. I wonder what he got me. Her hands trembled as she took the larger of the two gifts and started unwrapping it. Please let it be something nice! She took the gift out of the wrapping and found that it was an 18 centimeter tall Jinx figurine!

Ouyang started laughing. First quietly but very quickly very loudly. “Lin Feng! Bro! Bro! Haha! You got Tang Tang a Jinx, haha! A Jinx figurine! Bro! That’s so brilliant! They’re both flat-ch— OUCH!”

Ren Rou smacked Ouyang in the head. She turned to look at Tang Bingyao and smiled. “It’s a really cute gift. I can tell that Lin Feng put a lot of thought into it.”

Lin Feng excitedly said, “Of course I did! It’s for Tang Tang!” Then he turned back to Tang Bingyao and added, “Tang Tang! Tang Tang! Open the next one now!”

Tang Bingyao opened the second present at Lin Feng’s urging. She fumbled with the wrapping, trying to preserve as much of it as she could. There was a keychain inside. She took it and held it up to get a closer look. That’s Draven! My main champion! He got me a Draven keychain! It looks so nice! Mm-hm, it’s perfect!

The others also saw the present Lin Feng had brought for Tang Bingyao. It wasn’t just Ouyang anymore, all of them burst out laughing. They pointed at the keychain and started teasing Lin Feng.

“A Draven keychain is the cutest gift ever! Haha!”
“Of course Lin Feng gets her the Draven keychain! No one else would’ve thought of that!”
“He got Tang Tang her main champion! So smart! Hahaha!”
“Hehe! It looks so rough and manly, what a present for Tang Tang!!”

Tang Bingyao didn’t listen to what anyone else had to say about Lin Feng’s gifts. Her eyes were locked on the Draven, sparkling. She grabbed her backpack and carefully attached the Draven keychain to it. Then she turned to Lin Feng, her cheeks flushed scarlet red, and said, “Thank you! I-I really love your gifts. They’re perfect, mhm!”

There was a rare moment of shared understanding in the room. Everyone was in on it except for Lin Feng and Tang Bingyao. Their thoughts all merged into one. She doesn’t care about the gifts, she cares that you gave her those gifts! 

Lin Feng grinned, happy. His eyes were beaming and he nodded fervently. “Yes! Yes! Of course you like them! You know, I’m really good at picking out gifts too!”

✹

Tang Bingyao was officially 18 now, so it was only to be expected that they had to celebrate it with some alcohol. The original plan sounded smart. Nothing would go wrong. But it always went wrong when alcohol was involved. It all started going wrong when Zeng Rui started talking about the Winter Collegiate Cup. The list of teams in the East China Region was online and he’d read through it multiple times already. Now he felt the need to complain about it and explain to everyone just how difficult it was for them to make it through the regionals, not to mention what’d come after.

Lin Feng wouldn’t hear anything about it. He ordered a round of shots and placed them in the middle of the table, except for one. That shot he placed in front of Zeng Rui. He explained, “We’re here tonight to celebrate Tang Tang’s birthday, and not to talk about the tournament! We can do that tomorrow! So whoever starts talking about the tournament has to take a shot! It’s a fun drinking game!” He laughed and pointed at Zeng Rui. “You talked about the tournament, now drink!”

Ouyang and Liu Yue cheered Zeng Rui on, tempting him to play along. And he did. After some complaints, Zeng Rui grabbed the small glass and swallowed the clear liquid within. He retched but kept the alcohol in. “This is disgusting! What is in it?” he complained.

“Who cares?” Ouyang asked, roaring in laughter. Then he called over a waiter and ordered a round of beers for everyone. It took only a few minutes before everyone had a pint in front of them. There were a few frowns and worried expressions. They were only 18. Most of them hadn’t had more than a sip of beer and weren’t sure whether they liked the bitter taste of it. But that thought was quickly forgotten. This was Tang Bingyao’s birthday party! They were here to celebrate! They raised their glasses and shouted, “CHEERS! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TANG TANG!”

Tang Bingyao cheered with the others and then took a small sip from the beer. Her eyes went wide and she wanted to spit it back out. This is really bitter! She was struggling to keep a straight face. Then she looked at the small glasses with the clear liquid. Hmm… “Collegiate Cup.” She smiled and grabbed one of the small glasses and downed it in one swift movement.

The others stared at Tang Bingyao in shock. That only lasted for a moment, when they burst out laughing and cheering.

“Tang Tang is amazing!”
“Nice! Shot, shot, shot!”
“She downed it! She downed it!”
“Another one! Another one!”
“I want one too! COLLEGIATE CUP!”

Tang Bingyao didn’t hear the sounds around her anymore. There was far more alcohol in that clear liquid than she expected. It burned on her lips and set fire to her lungs, until it twisted and twirled warmly in her stomach. The world in front of her started spinning and she heard herself giggling, though she wasn’t quite sure why. W-what’s happening? Is… Is this drunk?’

Winter was coming! The first day of December. The trees had shed their leaves weeks ago. Now, frost clung to the naked branches. The chill seeped into the buildings through the open windows at night, when the heating was turned down. Then, when morning came around, the high school students from Shanghai struggled to get out of their snug and warm beds and brace the cold. And even for those who did get up, going outside was a hard no.

The weekend was the timei to hang out with friends and play video games at an internet cafe. But that all came to a grinding halt. Some internet cafes even closed their doors due to a lack of traffic. The cold weather was to blame for all of this. It kept the fingers stiff, which made playing games at the highest level near impossible. And every gamer considered themselves at that highest level! They weren’t about to let something like the weather ruin their rank! So they stayed at home, cuddling their Ahri body pillows, and played mobile games, watched popular streamers, or browsed online forums for the latest gossip.

There was one topic that was especially popular when it came to rumours and gossip. That was the Winter Collegiate Cup. New information was posted online every couple of hours, though none of it came from official sources. These were messages from people who claimed they were close friends with someone of the organizers or the teams they were gossiping about.

[+189,482] I’ve heard from reliable sources that a historically dominant team has picked up an amazing new talent! I can’t tell you guys which team it is, or who the player is, but trust me! This is going to be something really special!
[+131,652] There’s a quarterfinalist team from last year who supposedly said in an interview that they weren’t impressed with the recent improvements of some of their competition. They’re convinced that they can clinch the title this year! Find out which team made this bold claim in the next issue of What Gamers Say!
[+96,889] Shanghai University of Finance supposedly played a scrim against a high school team! The reason? That high school team is going to compete at the Winter Collegiate Cup! You heard that right! A HIGH SCHOOL team is playing at the COLLEGIATE CUP! You heard it here first from Leaping Asia!

Each of these posts gained a lot of traction, but it was the last one that saw the most heated discussions. There were a lot of people calling Leaping Asia out for spreading such an outrageous rumour. Comments argued that the Collegiate Cup was for university teams only, as the name of the tournament implied. And that only really dumb people would believe something as ridiculous as high schoolers playing at the university level. But there were also people in the comment section who enjoyed the thought of a group of high schoolers beating university teams. It just had a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ to it. The overall consensus, though, was that no matter how enjoyable the idea of it might be, it just was too ridiculous of a rumour. No one really believed that the Chinese Esports Association would really invite high school teams to the Collegiate Cup. So it was brushed aside.

That completely changed on December 4th. There were only four more days until the start of the Winter Collegiate Cup. The Chinese Esports Association posted the participating teams from all seven regions on their official website. It included three high school teams. One representing the Beijing Esports Association, one representing the Guangzhou Esports Association, and the last one representing the Shanghai Esports Association.

Leaping Asia became an overnight celebrity for his early rumour. Everyone badgered him with questions asking him if he had any more juice tidbits of information. They wanted to know how the Shanghai University of Finance had fared against the high school team. But Leaping Asia kept his lips tightly sealed. He refused to reveal who won, but did say that an educated guess could go a long way. Everyone took this as the university team having won. None of them believed for a second that a high school team was good enough to compete at the university level. There was just a level of experience that the high school teams were missing, as well as the hardware and training to get the most out of their talent.

After the initial explosion of messages died down and the people started to accept the fact that three high school teams were going to participate in the Winter Collegiate Cup, everyone started discussing this change to the format. Two groups of people quickly appeared. One camp believed that this move by the Chinese Esports Association was utter nonsense. They claimed that the officials were clearly trying to make a publicity move and that it was this kind of money-thinking that would see the quality of the tournament sharply decline.

The second group didn’t take such a hard stance. More than anything, they argued that there might be a very good reason for the Chinese Esports Association to make this move. Perhaps, they commented, there were several especially talented players in the pool of high schoolers and the Chinese Esports Association wanted to give these players a chance to get experience at the university level.

「I think it’s kind of cool. You know?」
「We get to see how good these high school teams are. Maybe they’ll surprise us.」
「piss off noob. theyre high shcoolers! itz a waste of my time to watch em play!!!!!!」　
「YUUPPPPP those kids gonna be in for a rough pounding」
「but they’re representing the three big esports associations! They must have some skill, right?」
「Yeah! Maybe they’re just really really really good! Who knows! I’m excited to see this new format!」　
「some people, like those two ^^^ should be sent to an institute for the mentally unstable!!!」
「idk man… maybe they really are somewhat decent. Who knows? few more days and well see」
「I’m just really disappointed by this move. The Collegiate Cup is always such a good tournament, because the quality is so high. I just fear that these high school teams are going to drag that quality down. I’ll watch them and really hope I’m wrong, but I think we all know the chances that I’m right are nearly 100%.」　
「y so negative? GO GO HIGH SCHOOLERS! win this tiny tourney!!!!!」

The fans of the different university teams competing at the Winter Collegiate Cup all had their opinions and were eager to share those opinions with anyone who would listen to them. But the teams themselves stayed out of these discussions. There were some rumours from the weaker teams, ranging from curious to furious, but the stronger teams were radio silent. None of them said anything, even to their closest friends. This was because their focus was on preparing for the tournament. They simply didn’t have the time to decide how they felt about having to play against high schoolers. Winning the tournament was all that mattered.

✹

The 4th of December! It was Tang Bingyao’s birthday! She was turning 18 years old! Her friends had arranged a party at a hotpot restaurant Lin Feng had scoped out. He claimed it had some of the best food in all of Shanghai, which he’d determined after visiting far more restaurants than he should’ve. And they’d also invited all of Tang Bingyao’s friends! There were the people from Senior Class 7, like Ren Rou, Ouyang, Yang Fan, and An Xin. Then there were her friends from the esports club, like Chen Ze, Liu Ye, and Wei Dong. And even the esports members from Shanghai High School’s old team were invited!

This was originally not the plan, but a small incident a couple of days ago saw them suddenly invited. It was at the cybercafe, where Team Shanghai was practicing. Zeng Rui’s old teammates had come to watch the games and were distracting enough that Lin Feng’s mind wandered. He’d suddenly gotten up from his seat and approached Zeng Rui. “Hey! ZengZeng! We’re throwing Tang Tang a birthday party on Friday! You guys should also come! We’re all friends now, and the more the merrier, right!”

Zeng Rui had wanted to refuse. He was getting friendlier with Tang Bingyao, but that was only in the setting of Team Shanghai. They didn’t have any contact outside of it, which meant they weren’t exactly friends yet in his book. But An Xin butted in before he could turn the invitation down. “Yeah! You should come! We’re on the same team and need to get more comfortable with each other! This’ll be a good way for all of us to bond more!”

“What BunBun says!” Lin Feng exclaimed. Then he added, “Though I’m already very comfortable with you! We’re best buds!”

Zeng Rui shook his hands in front of him. This doesn’t feel right. We’re not real friends yet. I only know her from playing video games with her. I don’t even know what her favourite colour is! We’re not friends, just colleagues basically. I can’t make it to interrupt her birthday party. That’d be rude. He wanted to say as much, but Lin Feng had already turned to his teammates and invited them too.

Zeng Rui massaged his temples. His teammates were looking at him, waiting for his answer. An Xin was smiling at him. She knows I have to say yes… And… He looked at Lin Feng. I hate that grin on his face so much! Damnit! He finally relaxed his tense muscles and said, “Fine. Fine. Let’s all go together.”

“PARTEEEEEEEH!”
“Awesome! I’m looking forward to it! We’re going to have to look for a gift soon though!”
“I love parties. Love. Them!”
“Tang Tang will like this. You made the right choice, cap.”

✹

Everyone who was invited to Tang Bingyao’s birthday party had gathered in a hotpot restaurant in downtown Shanghai. They sat with more than a dozen people around a large, round table, chatting happily. And Tang Bingyao stood at the center of this. She nodded at everyone as they all talked to her. And smiled. They’re all here for me. They’re really all here to celebrate my birthday!

Tang Bingyao was a quiet girl with not a lot of friends. This led to her never really celebrating her birthday with friends. She usually chose to treat herself to a small, simple cake and enjoy that by herself. Or she’d eat breakfast with her grandmother and celebrate it over a poached egg. But that was it. Until now, anyway. She looked at the people who’d all gathered here to celebrate her birthday and her smile grew wider. I have so many friends! Real friends! They’re here because they like me. They want to be here to celebrate my birthday!

A warm feeling filled Tang Bingyao’s chest. It was a strange sensation, something she hadn’t really experienced before in her life. But she instinctively knew what it meant. I’m happy. I want to be here, with all of them. Mhm! I’m really happy that they’re all here for me! She felt an emotional tear creeping into her eye and quickly wiped it away. I… I need to thank them! Mhm! But how… She looked around the table at everyone having a good time. And then she looked at her wallet. I did make a lot of money from the Shanghai 16 School Tournament… It felt strange in her stomach. She actually wanted to spend money on her friends. But she shook that thought away and got up from her seat. She then took her wallet out of her jacket and waved it around to get everyone’s attention. She announced  “U-uh. Today is my treat. Mhm!”

Lin Feng ran to Su Xue’s room and poked his head inside. “Xue Xue! I’m going out! Meeting up with BunBun! See you later!” He didn’t wait for a reply as he charged to the front door. He quickly put on his shoes and grabbed his coat before slamming the apartment door shut behind him. Then he ran down the stairs and through the streets, all the way to the subway station in downtown Shanghai where he’d agreed to meet up with An Xin.

Lin Feng looked around. Where is she? Why isn’t she here yet? We agreed to meet up here right away! What’s taking her so long! He tapped on his watch, double checking the time, then took out his phone and looked if there were any messages. There was no word from An Xin. It felt like she’d disappeared from the face of the Earth. The minutes ticked by, each next one slower than the last. He impatiently walked back and forth, searching the crowd for a sign of An Xin. Come on! Where are you? Hurry up already!

It was almost 30 minutes later when Lin Feng finally spotted An Xin. He waved at her and shouted, “BunBun! What took you so long? You’re never this slow! I’ve been waiting for 30 minutes! It’s already six!”

An Xin waved back at Lin Feng and walked up to him. “Hey. Sorry. I couldn’t decide what to wear and lost track of time.”

“What to wear?” Lin Feng asked, confused. He looked An Xin up and down. Is that jacket new or something? It looks fancy, but didn’t she wear that to school the other day too? And I can’t really see what she’s wearing underneath… Looks like a blouse and vest? What’s so special about that? She always likes to wear a blouse and vest combo… He kept searching for an answer to his question, his eyes following down the curves of her body to her long, slender legs. That skirt is short, but it isn’t all that different from the school uniform. Maybe it’s her leggings? Did she worry that it’s too cold for them? It is kind of chilly… He scratched the back of his head and sheepishly asked, “Uh, is it because you didn’t know if it was warm enough for leggings? It’s kind of cold, you know…”

An Xin glared at Lin Feng. She’d known something was up when he looked confused. And she definitely knew something stupid was coming when he was inspecting her clothes. But he still managed to catch her off guard. She yelped, “The leggings are warm!” She puffed in annoyance and continued, “I won’t argue with a blockhead like you! Come, we’re going to find a birthday present for Tang Tang!”

✹

An Xin walked Lin Feng to the shopping district. She glanced at him and noticed that he was looking at the shops they walked by in amazement. Go figure. He hasn’t been here since moving to Shanghai. How typical. She nodded at him and asked, “So have you thought about what you want to get Tang Tang? Is there anything specific you’re thinking about?”

“Oh, me? Uhh…” Lin Feng scratched the back of his head. What should I get her? What do people get for their friends’ birthdays…? He suddenly stopped and said, “Oh! Right! What about that mall in Pudong? You know, the one we went to for the tournament? They should have something! Let’s go and see what they have!”

An Xin chuckled and asked, “You do realize that’s an electronics mall, right? They sell computers, mice, keyboards and all of that stuff. Is your big plan to buy Tang Tang a new computer?”

“Uh, hehe…” Lin Feng chewed on his lips, nervous. “I guess a computer is too expensive… But! But what about a keyboard or mouse? Those don’t cost too much! Oh! Oh! I saw a really cool keyboard when we were there for the Finals of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament! Right before the games! It had all different coloured lights on it! I really wanted to get it!”

An Xin placed her palm on her forehead and took a deep breath. Then she said, “We’re here to buy a gift for Tang Tang, and not for you. Do you think she would like that keyboard?”

Lin Feng was taken aback by this question. He looked at An Xin but didn’t say anything. Would Tang Tang like the keyboard? I don’t know… What does she like? Hmm…

An Xin shook her head, smiling. He is so obvious. I should help him a little, or he’ll never get there. She said, “Hey, Lin Feng. Try this. Think about the kind of things Tang Tang likes. Maybe it’s something she talks a lot about, or something you’ve seen her look at in a store window. Just something that she’s passionate about.”

Lin Feng scrunched his eyes and stared with great difficulty into the distance. “Hmmm… What does Tang Tang like? What does Tang Tang like…?” He suddenly snapped his fingers and shouted, “Oh! I know! She likes money! Does that count? Can I just give her some money?”

An Xin moved her head forward as her mouth fell open. It took her a good few seconds to recover from her shock. Then she exclaimed, “Of course not! Money isn’t a birthday present! That’s something lazy people give to people they don’t really care about!”

Lin Feng ruffled his hair and said, “Ah, guess I can’t give her money. It’d be pretty convenient though… Oh, I know!” He turned to An Xin and said excitedly, “Tang Tang really likes League of Legends! And, and her favourite champion is Draven! I know just the gift for her! It’s perfect! She’ll love it!”

“If you’re going to say that you want to give her a Draven skin I’m going to smack you,” An Xin interrupted.

Lin Feng’s shoulders drooped down in defeat and the smile fell from his face. He asked, “U-uh… But I thought that was a pretty fun gift? It’s something she’s really passionate about!”

An Xin closed her eyes and took a long, annoyed breath. Then she rubbed the back of her head, which had started to throb. He’s going to give me a headache if I let this go on any longer. “Enough. Expecting anything out of you was clearly a mistake! I’ll think of something for you.”

The defeated look disappeared from Lin Feng’s face. He smiled brightly and said, “I told you I wasn’t good at picking out gifts! That’s why I called you! You’re going to help me, right? Right!”

“Don’t be proud of that,” An Xin cut Lin Feng down. She looked into the distance for a brief moment and then added, “You better treat me to an amazing dinner later.”

Lin Feng laughed and said, “No worries! I know the best restaurants in Shanghai! I’ll take you to one that’s really, really good! You’ll love it! Their food is the best! I wanted to go and eat there again anyway, so this is perfect!”

✹

“Wow! This is so cool!” Lin Feng exclaimed, his eyes beaming. He was in a small League of Legends themed shop, browsing through a display of figurines. “BunBun! BunBun! Here! Look at the Sona! She’s so big! And the Garen! He’s also really big! Oh! Oh! Ezreal! They have Ezreal! And Jinx! There’s a Jinx here! Look!”

An Xin stood a few steps behind Lin Feng, letting him browse the different items. She smiled as he grabbed one figurine after the other, checking them out and shoving them in her face. She nodded and said, “They’re really big, yeah. Cool, right?”

“Yes!” Lin Feng said. Then he looked at An Xin and said, “BunBun, you’re the best! How did you find this place?”

An Xin’s smile grew wider and she replied, “Of course I’m the best! What did you think?”

Lin Feng had stopped listening again. His full focus was back on the figurines. He excitedly said, “They’re all so cool! Hey, there’s Graves over there! Ohhh! I really want that Pulsefire Ezreal! It’s the coolest one! Oh, and this one too! This one too! Also that one!” He bit on his tongue and paused for a brief moment. Then he asked over his shoulder, “Should I just buy a whole bunch of them?”

An Xin raised her eyebrow and asked, “Are you buying them for yourself or as a gift for Tang Tang?”

Lin Feng picked up a Jinx figurine and held it up to An Xin. “I feel like Tang Tang will love—”

An Xin smacked Lin Feng across his face, a clear slapping sound ringing out in the otherwise quiet shop. “Stop fooling around! This isn’t for you! It’s for Tang Tang! Think, Lin Feng. Think! Would Tang Tang like this?”

Lin Feng rubbed his face in pain but didn’t argue any further. He turned back to the display and started earnestly searching for a gift. What would Tang Tang like? What would she like? This Darius… No. I don’t think so… Maybe that Ahri body pillow? Eh… Ooooh! He ran to another corner of the shop, which had bobbleheads of famous League of Legends players. “That’s Fatty! BunBun! Fatty! Fatty! BunBun!”

An Xin’s eyes went wide. Everyone in the store had stopped with what they were doing and were now looking at Lin Feng. And from him they looked at her. She felt her face burn up, slightly embarrassed to be linked to Lin Feng right now. She tried to signal him to quiet it down a bit, but he just took it as an invitation to be even louder. He ran at her with a bobblehead in his hand and shouted, “BunBun! BunBun! Look at this! It’s Fatty! This is so cool!”

An Xin tried her best to ignore the stares. But it felt like they were burning into her. She grimaced for a brief moment, then turned to Lin Feng and forced a smile onto her face. “It’s very cute, yes. But you don’t need to show me everything. I’ll look around a bit for myself. You go and search for a gift for Tang Tang. A bobblehead of Fatty is not a fun gift, by the way. Just saying.” She watched him run off again, this time going straight for another corner of the store. That warm smile returned to her face. I should’ve known this would happen. He’s just like a kid in the ballpark. It’s kind of cute…

✹

Lin Feng eventually settled on two items. The first was the 18 centimeter Jinx figurine he’d found at the very beginning. He was convinced that was the right gift for Tang Tang and An Xin didn’t really fight him on that, though that had more to do with his other gift than anything else. He’d found a Draven keychain that he fell in love with at first sight! Even as the girl behind the counter was wrapping it up, he was telling everyone who’d listen that Tang Bingyao would absolutely love it and that it was the perfect gift.

An Xin just shook her head. He put his mind to it and tried to think what she’d like. They’re meaningful gifts… from a brainless idiot. But they’re meaningful. Tang Tang will like them. She looked at the gift she’d picked out herself for Tang Bingyao. It was a t-shirt with a teemo print on the front of it. I hope she’ll like this… The size should be right at least.

Lin Feng suddenly grabbed the t-shirt from An Xin’s hands and held it up. Then he exclaimed, “That’s really cool too!” His eyes started beaming again before he continued, “BunBun! Buy me a t-shirt too! I saw a Blitzcrank shirt in the back over there! Come, I’ll show you! It’s really cool too!”

An Xin didn’t let Lin Feng drag her along. She stared at him and said, “This is a birthday present for Tang Tang. Last time I checked, it’s not your birthday yet.”

The excitement vanished from Lin Feng’s face. He prowled his lip and said, “Oh, okay… I understand. But!” His normal grin began to surface again. “When it’s my birthday, can you get me the Blitzcrank shirt? Come, I’ll show you!”

An Xin ignored Lin Feng and gave the t-shirt to the girl behind the counter. Then she said to Lin Feng, “We’ll see about that when it’s your birthday.”

Lin Feng grinned and replied, “Good! It’s settled then! And I’ll also get you something for your birthday! I won’t forget about it!”

My birthday, huh…? An Xin paused, staring off into the distance for a while. It wasn’t until Lin Feng tapped her on her shoulder that she remembered where she was. She smiled faintly and said, “I’ll be looking forward to it.”

✹

Lin Feng took An Xin to a restaurant after they bought their gifts. Lin Feng’s sense of direction was suddenly superb. He knew exactly which restaurant to go to for the most delicious food. Time flew by. And before they knew it, it was already 9 P.M. in Shanghai. The street lamps were on and bright lights shone from the large office buildings and shops all around them. Downtown Shanghai looked even more alive now than it did during the day.

Lin Feng grabbed An Xin’s hand and said, “Thanks for today! You really saved me!”

An Xin pursed her lips and complained, “I’ve saved you so often now, and all I ever get in return is a thanks…”

Lin Feng scratched the back of his head and said, “I also treated you to dinner tonight!”

“Because I told you that you had to take me to dinner,” An Xin countered, frowning.

Lin Feng looked confused and asked, “What else do you want me to do?”

An Xin tilted her head and thought about it for a moment. Then she shook her head and said, smiling, “Forget it. Just remember, you owe me for tonight.”

“Okay!” Lin Feng said, excited again. “Just tell me what you want me to do and I’ll do it!” He then looked up at the signs above the subway station. An Xin had to turn right to catch her way home, and he could run like he had on the way downtown or take the subway in the other direction back home. He looked at her and said, “Really, thanks.”

“I know,” An Xin replied with a smile. Then she winked and added, “See you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow,” Lin Feng repeated.

✹

An Xin took the subway home and walked the last bit. She turned her key in the lock and opened the front door. The moment she stepped inside, her mother poked her head into the hallway and said, “An Xin! You’re finally home!”

Her father’s voice followed soon after from the living room, “It’s almost 10! Where were you so late?”

An Xin took off her shoes and lightly shook her head. Stupid dizziness. She then forced a smile and said, “Nothing. I was just helping Lin Feng pick out a birthday present for a classmate. He couldn’t even do that by himself. He’s really stupid.”

An Xin’s father, An Aang, appeared next to An Lin and replied, “So it was Lin Feng… I see… No wonder you’re home a little later than usual! How is he these days?”

But before An Xin could reply, her mother butted in, “Speaking of Lin Feng, it’s been a while since he visited us. BunBun, tell him to come over for lunch or dinner! I’ll make all of his favorite things to eat.”

An Aang laughed and added, “That’s a great idea! We all know how much he loves your mother’s sweet and sour salmon!” He shook his head before continuing, “I’ve never seen someone eat with such devotion. Your mother is right, tell him to come over for dinner next time!”

An Xin nodded and replied, “Alright, I’ll invite him and tell him you miss him.” She then stretched her back and yawned. “Mom, dad, I’m tired. I did a lot of walking with Lin Feng earlier, so I’m going to lay down on my bed for a bit.”

An Aang looked at his daughter, worry quickly replacing his smile, and said, “Take a bath first. The hot water will help you. Your body has alwa—”

“Okay, okay! I get it! Just let me lie down on bed a bit first. I’ll take a bath later,” An Xin replied. Then she brushed past her parents and walked to her bedroom.

An Lin turned to her husband and whispered to him, “Can you go see if she really is…?”

“Don’t worry so much about her. I’m sure she’ll be fine,” An Aang said. “She went out for a walk. That counts as exercise. That’s a good thing.”

“But you know that she…” Mother An pursed her lips and turned to look at An Xin walking to her room. She took a long, deep breath and said, “I’m just worri— AN XIN!”

An Xin was walking down the hallway when she felt her knees go soft. The dizziness flared, dark swirls blocking most of her vision. She heard someone shouting loudly behind her, but it could just as well have been a church bell ringing. It was loud. And then it wasn’t there anymore. She collapsed to the ground and was gone.

An Lin ran down the hallway screaming, “AN XIN! AN XIN!” She threw herself at An Xin, grabbing her daughter with both arms and lifting her up. “AN XIN! AN XIN! CAN YOU HEAR ME?” She felt for a pulse and pushed her daughter’s eyelid open. “AN XIN! WAKE UP! AN XIN!”

Indistinct shouts started registering in An Xin’s mind. She focused on them, clutching at them, slowly opening her eyes. I was out with Lin Feng… And then… Did I…? She moved around, her mother’s shouts finally starting to make sense to her. I got home… I’m home. She looked up at her mother and then smiled and nodded. “It’s fine, it’s fine. I’m okay.”

“Are you sure? Can you stand again?” An Lin asked. “Do you want me to help? Can I do something?”

An Xin reached past her mother at the wall and slowly pushed herself up to her feet. “Thanks, but I’m good. I just need to lay down for a bit.” She pulled herself free from her mother and then leaned against the wall again. She closed her eyes and tried to dispel the last bit of dizziness. Seems like I pushed myself too much… I need to get some rest.

Team Shanghai returned to their gruelling schedule of training every day! There was no rest for the wicked! The Winter Collegiate Cup was right around the corner and they were still a long way away from being able to compete for the title. And that was exactly what they were going for. Anything less than winning the championship was unacceptable! Not just for Team Shanghai, but also for Fang Hao and Chu Fang. They were well aware of how good Lin Feng was at League of Legends. If Lin Feng really gave it his all, they were convinced he would lead his team to the title.

But Lin Feng wasn’t thinking too much about practicing. He was celebrating the victory against Shanghai University of Finance together with Tang Bingyao and Zhang Hao. That win was a big confidence booster, lifting the pressure right off their shoulders. Zeng Rui was fortunately a realist. He quickly put an end to the joy by reminding the team that the Shanghai University of Finance was only a top 8 team in China. “We’re not playing to get into the top 8. We play to win. Right now, we can’t even win the regionals. There are two other teams in the East China region that are far better than the Shanghai University of Finance. You might’ve heard about them before. They are Fudan University and Zhejiang University. I’ve only seen them play in the last Collegiate Cup, but we should assume they’re better now than they were then.”

An Xin nodded along with everything Zeng Rui said. She spent much of her free time watching replays from the previous Collegiate Cup. And the rest of her free time went towards discussing what she’d seen with Zeng Rui. She looked at Lin Feng and said, “The skill differences between those two and Shanghai University of Finance is really big. I don’t think we can confidently beat them, or at all. It’s a toss up really. A 2-1 result that could go either way. And remember, they only made it to the semis last year. I also watched the finals… Those two teams were good.”

“Really? No! We can’t let that happen!” Lin Feng exclaimed. Then he shook his head and continued, “We have to practice harder! We’re going to win this tournament! Top 4 means nothing!”

Zeng Rui stared at Lin Feng, ready to erupt. That’s what I’ve been saying! Thundering dumbass! Do you always have to be this stupid? Why can’t you use your brain for once? He sighed and massaged his temples. Calm, calm. He finally looked at Lin Feng and said, “Of course we want to win. But it’s not easy. There can be only one!”

An Xin smiled and said, “Yeap. There can be only one! Now let’s focus on our training.”

It was the sign for everyone to sit back down behind their computers. They then turned to look at Zeng Rui and An Xin, who started explaining the strategy and tactics the team were going to practice next. Before long, they were putting the game plan into action against Master and Challenger rank teams. And they won. They always won. The tactics looked perfect, the execution flawless. No one could beat them! Lin Feng got excited again! But then An Xin and Zeng Rui hit the team with a dose of reality. Their opponents weren’t tryharding, nor did they have a Lin Feng on their team. An Xin then pulled up a recording of the game and pointed out all the mistakes they made, so that they could learn from them.

Team Shanghai used this method of planning, playing, reviewing, and adapting to improve as quickly as they could. They played game after game, day after day. The only distraction to the monotony was their old teammates who would occasionally drop by to watch the games. To be impressed. Both the players from Shanghai High School and High School 13 were absolutely amazed by the immense progress Team Shanghai had made in only a few weeks of training.

Ouyang was particularly stunned. He remembered High School 13’s training regime for the Shanghai 16 School Tournament. Back when they started, he was only Gold. But the training had helped him climb up the ladder to Platinum. That practice was just right for him. He understood what was expected of him and how he could improve. But when he listened to Zeng Rui and An Xin discussing tactics and then relaying that to the rest of the team, he was drawing blanks. The level of micro management was so high that he was completely lost. But he could see that it worked. The team won just about every game! He smacked his forehead and said, “Sweet Brosus! It’s like I’m watching my best bros becoming a professional team! I bet the LSPL doesn’t have anything on you! How are you all this good?”

Lin Feng laughed and said, “I told you! I’m really good at League of Legends too! And the others are okay too!”

An Xin glared at Lin Feng. She wanted to say something. HMM? What was that? I dare you to say it again! But Zeng Rui’s old teammates and Wei Dong changed the topic before she could. Their eyes were on Zeng Rui and Tang Bingyao.

“You two are playing so well together! It’s like you two have been at it for years!”
“I’ve never seen Botlaners with such good synergy!”
“You two are the perfect couple! Like a match made in heaven!”
“Right, right! Zeng Rui is the shield who holds down the fort! Nothing gets past him!”
“Yes, yes! And Tang Tang is the spear! She’s sharp and deadly! No one can stop her! All perish in her way!”
“Uhh, yeah, something like what they said. You two are playing really well together!”

Lin Feng was about to say something stupid, An Xin could see it. She raised her finger and grabbed his attention. “Don’t!” she mouthed.

Lin Feng wasn’t entirely braindead. He swallowed back the words that were on the tip of his tongue. I’m really good too! I Supported Tang Tang against a university team during our scrim and totally carried us to a win! You should’ve seen my Support! I’m really good at Supporting too! He instead grinned and said, “Zhang Hao is also doing really well in the top lane!”

It was one of the most sensible things Lin Feng had said. Team Shanghai really was doing well. The bot lane was making large strides, but so was Zhang Hao in the top lane. He was putting in better and better performances, and he almost never lost his lane matchups anymore. An Xin was doing even better. She was the quiet carry of the team, always arriving in time for a counter gank or to help a teammate pick up a kill. But the most impressive player of the team was still Lin Feng. There was just something about the way he played that was different from everyone else. No one on the team could quite explain how it was different, but they all knew they were witnessing something very special when he really started playing.

Liu Yue suddenly clasped Lin Feng’s shoulder and exclaimed, “My god! I bet there’s almost no one in the entire Collegiate Cup who can beat you guys! WOOT WOOT!”

An Xin giggled and said, “We just have to make sure that we beat the few teams who do stand a chance against us. It’s not going to be so easy. We still have a lot more training to do.”

“BunBun is right! We have to beat everyone!” Lin Feng agreed. Then he struck his victory pose and shouted, “And we’re going to beat them all! First place will be ours! No one can stop us!”

✹

Tian Tian was back to work after his short holiday break following Worlds. The new LPL season was around the corner and he had to practice for that. But more time consuming were the large number of sponsorship events KG had lined up for him. He went from one event to the next and barely even had the time to call Lin Feng, let alone meet up with him for an afternoon of gaming. But he did want to talk with his best friend, so he eventually made the excuse that he had to go to the bathroom for a number two. Once inside, he took out his phone and dialed Lin Feng’s number.

The two good friends talked briefly about random subjects, until Lin Feng couldn’t contain himself any longer and shared that he was playing in the Winter Collegiate Cup after all. “Y-you’re really going to play in the Winter Collegiate Cup?” Tian Tian asked, incredulous. “That’s so unfair for everyone else, haha! You’re the best player in the world. Y-you’ll easily win this!”

“I know, right? I think so too!” Lin Feng replied, grinning. “Oh, right! Fatty? Remember Tang Tang? She’s going to be our team’s ad-carry. Well, her birthday is this weekend. We’re giving her a big party! You should also come! It doesn’t matter that you don’t know her yet! You’re going to be best friends when we make the team anyway!”

Tian Tian sighed and said, “Sorry. I-I can’t. I’m really busy. Maybe I can meet her some other time? When I’m not so busy. I-it’s all these sponsorship events…”

“Oh, okay,” Lin Feng replied, disappointment thick in his voice.

Tian Tian didn’t want to linger on this particular bit. His time with Lin Feng was short and he wanted it to be good. So he asked, “What are you getting her? Y-you know, a birthday present.”

Lin Feng forgot to reply to Tian Tian. He stared at the wall, utterly confused. A birthday present? Huh? Why would I have to give someone a birthday present on their birthday?

✹

“Are you actually stupid?” Su Xue asked Lin Feng, who was wolfing down a late afternoon snack. “What were you planning? Going to Tang Tang’s birthday party to stuff yourself? A birthday party is to celebrate her birthday! Not to stuff yourself!” She rolled her eyes and lectured, “Of course you need to bring a present! And you better put some thought into it! If I hear you bought her a gift card, I won’t ever make dinner for you again! You need to get her a gift that means something to her!”

Lin Feng scratched the back of his head and said, “Oh, I see. I didn’t know…” A gift that means something to her? What even is that? Where do I get that? Is there a special store for those kinds of gifts? Maybe I can search online for them.

Su Xue noticed the confused look on Lin Feng’s face. He looks like he really doesn’t know. Is it really that… She frowned and probed, “Don’t tell me you’ve never given someone a birthday present before…?”

Lin Feng stopped eating for a moment and looked at the food in his bowl. He finally said, “I think I have, once. I gave BunBun something when it was her birthday when we were young…”

“You did? What did you get her?” Su Xue asked.

Lin Feng smiled sheepishly and said, “Oh, uh… I gave her an eraser, I think? It was something like that! Something for school! But you can’t blame me for not remembering! It was all the way back in elementary school! That’s just too long ago!”

“You’re stupid. You’re actually stupid,” Su Xue said. She stared at him, trying to think about what to say. She finally shook her head and asked, “In what world does an eraser count as a birthday gift? How did that gift mean something to BunBun!?”

BunBun! Lin Feng started grinning, a mischievous glance shining in his eyes. He ignored Su Xue and started planning out his next moves in his head. BunBun is great at buying gifts! She’ll know what I should get Tang Tang! This is perfect! She’ll know what a meaningful gift is too, so I won’t have to look it up online!

✹

An Xin held her phone to her ear and listened to Lin Feng blabbering about needing help to buy Tang Bingyao a meaningful gift. Does he even know what meaningful means? She shook her head and asked, “So you want me to help you pick out a birthday present for Tang Tang? Why should I?”

“Because I don’t know how to pick one out myself!” Lin Feng replied, excited as always. “You know I don’t have any experience buying birthday presents!”

An Xin curled her lips and asked, “Oh, is that so? I seem to recall you have a lot of experience. Like back in third grade, when you got me an eraser… That was a pretty meaningful gift, don’t you think? Very meaningful.”

Anyone could hear the thick sarcasm in An Xin’s voice. But Lin Feng wasn’t just anyone. He was someone special! He laughed and said, “Yeah! I got you a birthday present back then! So now you can return the favour!”

An Xin was speechless. Dumbstruck. Everything was a blank for a brief moment, and then a world of abuse flooded her mind. She forced herself to take deep, calming breaths. But they didn’t help. She only got more upset the longer she thought about it. I NEED TO PUNCH YOU!

“Please! BunBun! I need your help! I’m no good with these things and you’re the only one I can turn to! I’ll even treat you to dinner as thanks! How does that sound?” Lin Feng begged.

Dinner? An Xin’s anger and rage disappeared, replaced with a smile. Dinner sounds good. I’d like that. But I can’t let him know. He’ll just think he did something right… She said in a stern voice, “Fine. I’ll help you. But only this once.”

“REALLY!?” Lin Feng exclaimed in excitement.

“Yes,” An Xin said. She then paused for a brief moment before adding, “But you better treat me to some really fancy dinner after we get you a present for Tang Tang. And I swear, if it’s not fancy, I’ll make your life hell!”

Hey guys! Rise Shanks, Devshard, and Sietse here! (Holy shit, we sound like we belong to an actual org when we include the Rise as a prefix to our names. Instant +25 to the cool modifier right there.)

Okay. That mild bit of our usual nonsense aside, this is a mid-translation interlude to have a serious conversation and gather some real feedback from you guys. We’ve always been open with you guys about everything going on behind-the-scenes and keeping everything to do with Rise absolutely transparent. Obviously there are things that we cannot share because they deal with WuxiaWorld as a whole. But those things usually have very little to do with Rise so it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. The reason we’re making this particular mid-translation chapter is because we’ve been publishing Rise for almost 6 months now and there’s a little bit of a troubling trend with the numbers.

As most of you already know by now, we worked on Rebirth of the Thief Who Roamed The World before Rise. And in all honesty, our release rate for Rebirth was god awful. For most of that translation, we bounced between 3-5 chapters/week. And we didn’t even do that at a regular release schedule. There would be some weeks where no chapters would show up for 5 days and then 3 chapters would drop almost one after the other. It was an absolute shitshow, and that is putting it mildly.

With Rise, we’ve been insanely regular. Unless something insane happens, there is a chapter released every single day. On the few occasions where something insane has happened, we’ve made announcements so everyone is aware. All in all, we’ve made huge strides in the professionalism department. It would even be fair to say that Rise is much less of a shitshow.

Here’s the deal though. The numbers show that people actually liked us more when we were constantly fucking up and releasing fewer chapters on an absolutely unpredictable schedule. Rebirth of the Thief Who Roamed the World averaged around 2,000,000+ pageviews every month. Not too shabby, right?

When it comes to Rise, we’ve been doing abysmal compared to Rebirth despite improvements across the board. Just as a numbers comparison, Rise has gotten 105,000 pageviews in February. We’re a LONG way away from where we were with Rebirth (Dev Aside: PP got much smaller). And to make things even more confusing, Rise got 134,000 pageviews in January (Dev Aside: Smol PP lost 3 inches in 1 month, become even more smol. Sadbois 😐 ).

Full disclosure, there is some fuzziness in the Rise pageviews because of how app views are counted and those views being excluded from the numbers that we have and all that. But regardless of app views or not, we’re not even close to doing as well with Rise as we did with Rebirth. And as a fun coincidence to make this sting just a little bit more, the completed translation of Rebirth of the Thief Who Roamed the World received 95,000 pageviews in February. Which is insane.

So it is clear that something isn’t working here. The problem is that we have no idea what that is. Which is why we’re coming to you guys. We legitimately do not know what we can change/improve on/issues to deal with to make Rise have similar reader numbers to Rebirth. And this is a weird place to find ourselves in because we started this translation out with the assumption that Rise was going to do insanely better than Rebirth did.

We’ve got a little questionnaire-type thing below. Three super simple questions. If you have anything extra to add, any thoughts or ideas beyond the questions, any other comments or concerns, feel free to throw those on. This is our 6 month translation team-reader check in to figure out how we can make this novel and the community around it bigger and more fun for everyone.

1. Is what we’re doing with Rise, the translator thoughts, the community, and community events working? (Super simple Yes/No question with a little expansion. Don’t need to write essays or be super goddamned detailed. If we done fucked up, tell us where and we’ll figure it out from there.)
   1. IF YES – Which one would you say we’re doing especially well on and you’d like to see more things in that direction.
   2. IF NO – What would you say isn’t working for you?
2. Have you recommended Rise to friends/acquaintances/other readers in the community? 
   1. IF YES – Did they like the recommendation and start reading Rise?
   2. IF NO – Is there anything that you’d like to see improved with the novel that could get Rise to the point where you would strongly recommend it to friends/acquaintances/other readers in the community?
3. Did you find yourself losing interest in the novel at any point in the previous 260 chapters?
   1. IF YES – Do you recall around which chapters/arc this happened? (You don’t have to be very specific. A general idea is plenty.)
   2. IF NO – Awesome! Don’t need anything more after this.

Rise Devshard here! Thanks for taking the time to read this and answering the questions/throwing some ideas out in the comments for us. We’re also looking in the comments and available on Discord if you guys have any questions or things you want cleared up. Plz help make smol PP big again! Seriously. Views/reader counts/subscriber numbers are literally the only way for content creators to have big dick energy. We would like to walk around like we packing, and we need your help to figure out how to make that happen!

Shanghai University of Finance’s clubroom was abuzz. Everyone had their eyes locked on the large LCD screen above the stage. Two players from Team Shanghai were caught out in Blue Team’s bottom side jungle! Qiu Le’s Jinx ran at them from the bot lane, Gnar teleported in from the side, Huang Yang’s Lee Sin came running from the top side jungle, and Luo Yu’s Orianna charged into the jungle from the mid lane!

“GO GO GO! GET THAT SHUTDOWN GOLD!”
“We’re finally getting some kills back! Serves them right for being so cocky!”
“There’s no way they’re getting out of this, right?”
“HAHAHA! FINALLY SOME SWEET JUSTICE! SWEEEEEEEET JUSTICE!”
“Who do you think will get the kills? Jinx, right? Or maybe Orianna?”
“I don’t care. All I care about is that we finally turn this damn game around and win! GO QIU LE!”
“DAMN RIGHT! We need to beat those high schoolers!”

None of these roars penetrated the double glass of the soundproof booths. There were no distractions for Team Shanghai, only the game in front of them. Lin Feng flicked his mouse to look at his surroundings. His Thresh and Tang Bingyao’s Lucian were behind enemy lines. Four champions from Shanghai University of Finance’s team were collapsing on them. There were only two ways out of this situation. Lin Feng and Tang Bingyao could either run into the Blue Team’s base and commit sudoku, or they could fight their way through Shanghai University of Finance’s team. Lin Feng chose to go with this second option. He said to Tang Bingyao over the team’s voice chat, “Click my lantern right after I hit the hook.”

Lin Feng placed down his Lantern next to Tang Bingyao and then flashed towards the Red Buff Camp. He walked into the clearing, pulling the string of his lantern to its maximum range. There he waited for a brief moment. He had no vision on the other side of the wall, but he knew when Orianna had left the mid lane. She should walk on the other side of this wall in 3, 2, 1… He activated Death Sentence. Thresh threw his scythe over the jungle wall and hit a blind hook on the Orianna. “Click it!” he shouted over the team’s voice chat. Then he activated the second part of Death Sentence, pulling himself towards Orianna.

Luo Yu stared at his screen, dumbstruck. Then he quickly shook his head and pressed on the Alt and E keys! With alt he targeted himself and with E he cast Command: Protect! Orianna’s Ball attached to herself, granting a shield! Luo Yu wanted to follow up with all his damage abilities. He wanted to kill the Thresh and Lucian! But before he could activate another skill, the edges of space warped around his Orianna and materialized in a cage of dark energy!

An Xin’s Veigar had followed Orianna into Blue team’s bottom side jungle. After landing the stun with Event Horizon, she unleashed her full damage combo! W! Q! R! Veigar called a great mass of dark matter to fall from the sky! Then he gathered dark energy at the tip of his staff and hurled it at Orianna with Baleful Strike! He finally unleashed his ultimate skill. PRIMORDIAL BURST! Dark magic gathered around his staff into a miniature star! He fired it at Orianna, the massive explosion of magic draining away nearly all of her health!

Lin Feng and Tang Bingyao arrived in front of Orianna. She was still stunned and Veigar’s damage had taken away 99% of her health. Both Lin Feng and Tang Bingyao clicked on Orianna, the kill stealing habit strong in both of them. It was Lucian’s higher attack speed that landed him the kill.

《Unstoppable!》

The university students spectating the match all fell silent. They stared at the large LCD screen in a daze. Team Shanghai’s Botlaners were completely out of position. By all rights, they should’ve died! But not only did they survive, they even picked up a kill on their way out of enemy territory! The awareness required to make the right call and the skill to execute it flawlessly was far beyond what these students were capable of.

“What…?”
“Did that just happen? Lol. What? How?”
“That hook on the Orianna. How did he know she was there?”
“Told you he was cheating! Tell me, how else could he hook Orianna?”
“Right! He’s a cheater! Like maybe he can look five seconds into the future or something!”
“Idiot, stop reading so many webnovels…”
“But how else did he know where the Orianna was!? That was so crazy!”
“Probably because he saw her walk away from the mid lane. He just made an educated guess…”
“Bullshit! He’s a cheater! HE HAS TO BE! NO ONE IS THAT GOOD!”

Back in Team Shanghai’s soundproof booth, Lin Feng was patting himself on the shoulder. He  grinned and said over the team’s voice chat, “I’m really good at escaping too!” Then he turned to look at BunBun and added, “That was a great save! You really helped us out there! I bet that really tilted them!”

✹

Shanghai University of Finance’s team had been pretty annoyed before the first game of the scrimmage even started. That annoyance grew further in the first game, where they were completely outclassed by Team Shanghai. And now, in the second game, they lost it. Team Shanghai had changed their lineup, which felt like the biggest slap in the face to Shanghai University of Finance’s team. As if Team Shanghai were saying that Shanghai University of Finance’s team wasn’t good enough to face Team Shanghai’s main team.

There were only 10 minutes played in the second game, but Team Shanghai was already pulling far ahead. Their Veigar and Lucian especially were far stronger than their counterparts on the University’s team. That was the breaking point for Shanghai University of Finance’s team. They were raging and started making stupid mistakes, like taking fights they knew they shouldn’t. But the tilt dictated their play, blind hatred for Team Shanghai causing them to run in every single hook Lin Feng’s Thresh threw at them.

After 15 minutes, Shanghai University of Finance’s team was at a 4,000 gold disadvantage. This difference grew to 6,000 in the following five minutes. It was clear to everyone watching that Team Shanghai was going to win. If this were a normal game, Shanghai University of Finance’s team would surrender. But this game was too important to them. They absolutely couldn’t lose it! So they continued playing, continued making mistakes, and continued falling further and further behind.

Team Shanghai spent the next 10 minutes destroying towers and two out of the three inhibitors from Shanghai University of Finance’s team. They then took Baron Nashor, using the strong buff it gave to storm Blue team’s base. The university team made their last stance beneath the two Nexus towers. It was a short scuffle. A stomp, for it really couldn’t be considered a fight. Team Shanghai got five kills, giving away none, and then destroyed the two towers.

The energy in Blue team’s nexus twisted and twirled, smashing against the glass cage that contained it. When Team Shanghai broke the barrier, this energy rushed out and morphed into the victory emblem. Team Shanghai had won the best of three series versus Shanghai University of Finance with a resounding 2-0!

✹

Team Shanghai walked out of their soundproof booth into an absolutely silent university clubroom. A hundred pairs of eyes were on them, but no one said anything. Then the door to the other soundproof booth opened. The players from Shanghai University of Finance’s team walked out, their gazes steady on the floor. They walked up to Team Shanghai and shook hands with the players, trying very hard to look away from their fellow students in the clubroom.

Luo Yu shook Zeng Rui’s hand and said with a bitter smile, “Good game. You guys were the better team.”

Zeng Rui nodded and replied, “Thank you. You guys played well.” But the smirk on his face told another story. “Haha! We beat you! Suck on that!”

Lin Feng walked up to Luo Yu and asked, “Hey, you said something about your second team, right? Are we going to play a best of three against them next? Are they better than your team?”

Everyone in the university’s clubroom turned to look at five people who were trying to sneak away. The five players from Shanghai University of Finance’s second team stopped where they stood, their eyes shifting around. Then they scratched the back of their heads, whistled and looked up at the ceiling, pretending like they hadn’t a clue why everyone was looking at them.

“Ah, u-uh, man, the weather sure is great today!”
“Hey… Oh, hey, there. Is that a cobweb? We should go and look for the janitor…”
“Yeah, his office is right around the corner. Let’s just go and tell him…”
“Right! We should do that! Come, we don’t have any time to waste!”
“Exactly! We can’t let guests see how poorly this place is kept. Let’s go yell at the janitors!”

Tang Bingyao looked at the members from the university’s second team and said, “Pff, what terrible acting.”

An Xin winked at Tang Bingyao and said, “See? What did I tell you?” She didn’t wait for a reply and continued, “That they were going to pay for underestimating us girls! Look at them paying!”

✹

Qiu Le watched the players from Team Shanghai leave the clubroom. He then turned to his teammates and said, “Don’t tell me the other two high school teams at the Collegiate Cup are going to be this good…”

Xie Qing nodded wide-eyed and mumbled, “I hope not…”

Huang Yang scratched his forehead, using his arm to hide the embarrassment on his face, and said, “Can’t be. These five have to be the best. They just have to be. It can’t be any other way. It can’t be!”

Luo Yu didn’t join in the conversation with his friends and teammates. He watched the players from Team Shanghai walk away until long after they’d left the clubroom. I guess we should’ve seen this coming. I knew how good Zeng Rui was. If he came to me for a scrim, it was because he was confident in his team. We should’ve never underestimated them! But how couldn’t we? They had two girls on their team! You just don’t see that in competitive League… You don’t even see it in normal League! But it’s good we found out about this now. The Winter Collegiate Cup is only a few weeks away. It’s going to be interesting. We should prepare for anything.

With a loud sigh, Luo Yu turned to his teammates and said, “Alright, quit the moping. We learned a valuable lesson in this scrim. There is still plenty of time until the actual tournament. Let’s take the lessons we can from today and focus on our training.” He paused for a brief moment and then continued, “And when we play against them the next time, we’re going to beat… them…” Luo Yu suddenly turned back to look in the direction that Team Shanghai left in. “Don’t tell me…” he mumbled. Don’t tell me they did the role swap in the second game just to throw us off? Was that just a tactic to keep us guessing at how they’re going to play at the Winter Collegiate Cup? Are they thinking that far ahead? No… It can’t be. Or can it? Was this second game all a trick to throw us off?

✹

Team Shanghai was walking back to the train station, chatting about the scrimmage against the Shanghai University of Finance. The main topic was the role swap, with Lin Feng, Tang Bingyao and Zhang Hao guessing as to why they did it. Lin Feng suddenly smacked his head and shouted, “I know! We wanted to hide how good we are!”

An Xin nodded at Lin Feng and said, “Yep! You’re right! For once. We did the role swap to prevent them from getting too much information on us!”

Zeng Rui chimed in, “Correct. They’re our opponent in the East China regionals. That role swap was a smokescreen, because I didn’t want them to use these two games to make a game plan against us. I think it worked. They should have a nice headache.”

Zhang Hao looked in surprise and shouted, “Oh, I see! That makes sense!”

Tang Bingyao nodded and said, “Mhm. Smart plan.”

Lin Feng, on the other hand, shrugged and said, “Eh, what does it matter? We’re going to stomp them anyway!”

Zeng Rui felt his eyebrow twitching again, something that was happening a lot in recent weeks. He gritted his teeth and wanted to punch Lin Feng, but he held himself back. He took a deep, calming breath and looked at Lin Feng. He always has a big mouth and he sounds like a thundering dumbass! But he also always wins. He’s better than everyone else. And he’s only getting better. I don’t even know how exactly, but he’s winning… easier? I don’t know how he’s doing it, but he’s far better than we are. He has a reason to be so confident. He shook his head. But that’s no reason to be cocky. He should learn from BunBun. He finally said, “In any case, we just have to keep practicing. The tournament starts on December 8th. That’s in a week and a half already and we’ve got a lot more room for improvement.”

“Oh!” Lin Feng exclaimed. “That’s only a few days after Tang Tang’s birthday! Her birthday is on the 4th of December! That’s only a few days!”

An Xin glanced over at Lin Feng and mumbled, “Idiot.”

The goal of a scrimmage was to practice tactics and strategy, so it wasn’t strange to see Team Shanghai try out different things. But there was a difference between trying out stuff and changing the entire lineup! What Team Shanghai did felt like a massive slap in the face to Shanghai University of Finance’s team! As if their opponents were taunting them! Poking fun at them! And not taking the match one bit seriously. But there wasn’t anything Shanghai University of Finance’s team could do about it, not after their painful loss last game. So they focused on their monitors, grimacing.

Qiu Le narrowed his eyes and mumbled, “Their mid is now playing Support, huh?” He turned to look at Xie Qing and continued, “Xie Qing, we’re gonna have to play the best game of our lives. Those high schoolers are looking down on us! Fuck! I’m pissed! We need to beat some sense into them! And make them realize they can’t look down on us!”

Xie Qing glared at the Thresh portrait on the loading screen. Maple… I’ll remember you. He then turned to look at Qiu Le. He snorted and said, “Exactly! We’re going to teach those brats a lesson they won’t forget! It’s like they’re trying to make fun of us! This is so distasteful!” He turned back to his monitor and continued glaring at Thresh’s portrait. “Yeah, kid, you’re a good Midlaner. You beat Luo Yu. We were wrong and you are good. But just because you know how to play in the mid lane, that does not mean you can also play Support! They’re two different roles, with different things you have to learn and master! We’re here to help you practice, so at least show us some respect by playing your normal role! Shit! I’ll show you what it takes to be a good Support!”

Huang Yang nodded at Xie Qing and chimed in, “We’ll make those brats pay for being so cocky! I got your back!” He then turned to look at Luo Yu and asked, “You should be ok in mid, right? I can put my focus on the bot lane, yeah?”

Luo Yu nodded in affirmation. “Yeah, I think so.” He stared at the portrait of the Veigar. Why does this feel like last game all over? Don’t tell me she actually knows how to play mid… If her mid is anywhere near as good as her Jungle, then I might actually need help from Huang Yang… He  took a long, deep breath, trying to calm the worries rampaging in his mind. He listened to his teammates, who were talking about smacking Team Shanghai down a notch. We’re talking about stomping them again. This game is different, but it also feels exactly the same. Are we making the same mistake again?

✹

《Welcome to Summoner’s Rift!》

It didn’t take long for Luo Yu to realize why he was so worried about this game. The role swap didn’t weaken Team Shanghai. Quite the opposite, really. It helped them improve on their synergy so dramatically that they were playing better than in the previous game! And his teammates knew as much, a constant stream of complaints flooding the team’s voice chat.

Luo Yu zoned the noise from his teammates out and focused completely on the mid lane. He was a Challenger. Teams from the LPL were watching him closely, and one of them had even reached out to him. There were very, very few Midlaners in all of China who could beat him. But one of them was apparently the Midlaner from Team Shanghai. A kid from high school had outplayed him to such an extent that he never even really got into the game. He was still searching for himself, even after the second game had already started. And it wasn’t any better now. She isn’t him. But she’s got some of his traits… Her positioning, wave control, last hitting… I don’t get it. Where did these two come from? I’m missing CS and I can’t even get any poke damage in. She’s just outplaying me. I’m even missing my abilities…

Luo Yu took a deep breath and held it. He wanted to focus and win, but he wasn’t just playing against the girl on Veigar; he was also playing against himself. I should be better than this. I’m one of the best Midlaners out there. Why am I losing to that kid last game? Is he that good? Or am I just having an off-day? Is that it… There was a constant buzz in his head, distracting him. All right. He puffed out all the air in his lungs. She’s a good Midlaner. I need to accept that. Ignore everything else. Just focus on playing against her.

An Xin sat in Team Shanghai’s soundproof booth, smiling. She had her Veigar walk back and forth, last hitting minions while also looking to land some poke damage on Luo Yu’s Orianna. Mid, huh? This has been a while. Lin Feng always takes mid. But it’s always fun when I do get to play here! Her smile grew wider and her eyes started shining. She moved her mouse and lightly grazed the buttons on her keyboard. Luo Yu is good. This is going to be double fun!

✹

The surprise Luo Yu felt in the mid lane wasn’t anything like what Qiu Le and Xie Qing were experiencing in the bot lane. They’d been fired up and wanted to teach Lin Feng a lesson. In their minds, he was a cocky high schooler trying to show off. But they soon found out just how wrong they were. Lin Feng was a far better Support than they’d ever believed possible. And right now, he was schooling them and not the other way around.

Four minutes into the game, Xie Qing’s Janna pushed up to the middle of the lane, creating room for Qiu Le’s Jinx to land some last hits on minions. Thresh suddenly walked out of the middle brush along the bottom side of the lane. He was on top of Xie Qing’s Janna a moment later and flayed her towards Red Team’s outer tower, slowing her.

Tang Bingyao had played enough games together with Lin Feng to know exactly what to expect from him. She had her Lucian run forward before Thresh’s Flay even connected with Janna, and then closed the final bit of distance with Relentless Pursuit. Lucian lifted his two relic guns and fired a double-shot at Janna! This was the effect of his passive skill. Every time he cast an ability, his next auto attack became a double-shot. Lucian took aim at Xie Qing’s Janna again, this time shooting a Piercing Light through her! And followed up with another double-shot!

Xie Qing’s screen flashed red, warning him of his Janna’s low health. He mashed on his keyboard and had his Janna flash towards the safety of Blue Team’s outer tower. She didn’t run straight for her tower, instead taking a sharp turn left. He hasn’t used his Q yet. I ne—

Lin Feng grinned and pressed down on his Q key–Death Sentence! Thresh wound up his scythe and then threw it to Janna’s left. As the scythe flew through the air, Janna walked right into the hook. He then threw his lantern towards Tang Bingyao before dashing at Janna with the second part of Death Sentence! He followed up by igniting Janna, an unquenchable flame burning away at her health!

Tang Bingyao clicked on the lantern. Her Lucian dashed through the Dark Passage to arrive right next to Lin Feng. She targeted Janna with an auto attack, followed by Ardent Blaze. Lucian raised his relic gun and shot a missile at Janna! It exploded in a star shape. Then he raised both his guns and aimed at Janna for a double-shot.

《First Blood!》

“Awesome!” Lin Feng exclaimed, grinning. “I made a great play there! And your follow up was ok too, Tang Tang!”

“Mhm!” Tang Bingyao said, nodding. She glanced at Lin Feng and smiled. It’s so much fun to play with you in the bot lane. We should do this more often… She’d played together with a lot of different Support mains over the last few months. There were Wei Dong, who was far too defensive for her liking, and Zeng Rui and An Xin, both of whom were rather methodical in their approach. It always clashed with her far more aggressive style, and she found herself having to adapt constantly. But when she played with Lin Feng, she could be as aggressive as she wanted. And he was usually even more aggressive than her! He played the exact kind of style that she loved the most! He’s the best, mhm!

The Botlaners in Shanghai University of Finance team’s soundproof booth stared at their monitors, dazed and numb. It was only several minutes ago that they were discussing how they were going to stomp Thresh. The Midlaner who came to troll in the bot lane, that was how they initially saw him. And then he started pressuring them. Qiu Le found it hard to get last hits, and Xie Qing was forced to play more aggressively just to help his ad-carry stay even in creep score to Lucian.

“How the fuck did he hit that hook…?” Xie Qing mumbled.

“What do you mean? You walked right into it! You should’ve just walked straight to the tower!” Qiu Le cursed, annoyed.

“I was dodging! It’s like he knew where I was going to dodge!” Xie Qing argued.

The same discussion was being held by the players on Shanghai University of Finance’s second team. They were watching the game on the large LCD screen in the university’s clubroom. They could all tell that Xie Qing was trying to dodge. And they agreed none of them would’ve landed that hook. They would’ve thrown it in the wrong direction entirely. But this high schooler had somehow managed to hook Xie Qing’s Janna.

“What the hell! Man, is that Thresh cheating or something?”
“How can he? He’s on our computer…”
“Then tell me how he hit that hook!”
“I DON’T KNOW! I DON’T!”
“Right, man… Because that was ridiculous! No one is that good!”
“He’s a fucking cheater, I’m telling you!”
“Yeap! That’d explain so much!”

✹

Huang Yang had spent the first six minutes of the game farming his Jungle to get some levels and his first big item. Now he was ready to gank. He ran down the river and arrived in the bot lane just as Lucian was pushing the minion wave towards the blue outer tower. His Lee Sin landed a Sonic Wave on Lucian, locating onto his position, and then dashed at him with Resonating Strike!

Tang Bingyao smiled. Zeng Rui was the Jungler for Team Shanghai this game and he spent most of his gold on wards. That was why she knew Lee Sin was coming long before he reached the lane. And right now, after waiting for him to dash at her, she clicked on Thresh’s lantern that was waiting right next to her. She dashed at Thresh and pulled Lee Sin with her.

Huang Yang’s pupils contracted. He placed a ward down as fast as he could and hopped towards it mid-dash–Safeguard! And then Thresh’s scythe hooked him. In the brief moment where he didn’t have control over where his Lee Sin was going, Lin Feng’s Thresh threw a Death Sentence and hooked him! “WHAT THE—”

Lin Feng activated the second part of Death Sentence. He flew towards Lee Sin, whose skills were now on cooldown, and then flayed him in the direction of Red Team’s outer tower. “Baited!” Lin Feng said over the team’s voice chat, laughing.

Zeng Rui’s Jarvan IV and An Xin’s Veigar appeared at the river entrance in bot lane. An Xin twisted the edges of space to create a cage around Jinx and Lee Sin. Janna was too far away, unfortunately, and got away. Zeng Rui followed up with a flag-toss combo, knocking Jinx and Lee Sin up into the air, before coming down on them with Cataclysm!

Tang Bingyao’s Lucian quickly dashed a short distance forward in a Relentless Pursuit! Then she ran the last bit to catch up to her teammates. Jinx and Lee Sin were both almost dead. More importantly, they were standing right behind each other! She took aim at them with both her guns. A piercing light fired from them, shooting through both of them and killing them!

《Double Kill!》

✹

Lin Feng and Tang Bingya destroyed Blue Team’s outer tower after 8 minutes. Jinx and Janna had already retreated back to their inner tower, too scared to get near the Botlaners from Team Shanghai. But Lin Feng wasn’t satisfied with just the outer tower. He grinned and said over the team’s voice chat, “Tang Tang, let’s keep pushing! We’re going to take their inner tower too!”

Tang Bingyao nodded at him and said, “Mhm!” This was exactly what she’d been thinking too. They’re being so defensive. We just need to keep pushing as far as they let us. Maybe we can just take their inhibitor! Hm. The inner tower is more likely though. We can at least give it a try and see how far we come. She pushed the minion wave towards the inner tower and tried to get a few auto attacks on it, but was stopped by Shanghai University of Finance’s Botlaners.

“Come!” Lin Feng said over the team’s voice chat. His Thresh was already moving up towards the jungle right above them.

Tang Bingyao had her Lucian follow after Lin Feng’s Thresh, smiling. We still have to ward. And now we can do that and also take the jungle camps! I want to see that asshole’s face after this! Hmpf!

Xie Qing was listening to his teammates cursing at Team Shanghai’s Botlaners while carefully following Lin Feng’s Thresh to keep vision on them. And then he lost vision of them. Quickly followed by a comment from Huang Yang that had him looking up. He was distracted and walked past a brush without getting vision on it. That was a big mistake. Thresh walked out of that brush and Flayed Xie Qing backwards into a spectral wall. This was one of the five walls from the Box, Thresh’s ultimate skill, which applied a powerful slow. Xie Qing knocked himself in the forehead. I’m fucked.

Tang Bingyao appeared a moment later. She fired a Piercing Light at Janna and followed that up with a double-shot from her two relic pistols. Then she continued with Relentless Pursuit and another double-shot. The damage kept on coming and Janna had no teammates or defensive structures nearby to hide behind. She threw the skills she had at Tang Bingyao, but that didn’t save her. Janna’s health plummeted and hit rock bottom.

《Rampage!》

The words from the voice announcer echoed in the headphones from Shanghai University of Finance’s team. The four players still alive had had enough. They were being toyed with, and they wouldn’t have it like this any longer! There was no discussion about it. Everyone was on the same page. Huang Yang charged from his top side jungle down towards where Xie Qing’s Janna died! Luo Yu’s Orianna followed right behind him from the mid lane! And Gnar teleported to a ward that Qiu Le placed inside the bottom side jungle!

Lin Feng saw the Gnar teleporting, Orianna running down into the jungle and Jinx running up into the jungle. “Huh?” he mumbled. Then he chuckled and said over the team’s voice chat, “Looks like they’re angry.” He turned to look at Tang Bingyao and added, “We should probably run… Tang Tang, let’s run! Now!”

Luo Yu stared at his screen, wide-eyed. W-where did he come from? He shook his head and slammed down on his keyboard. There was no plan or tactic right now. He mashed all his fingers into the keyboard, hoping for something to happen. What that something was, he didn’t quite know himself. All he knew was that there was a Yasuo on top of him that was emptying his health bar! Not like this! Not like thiiiis!

Lin Feng was comfortable, relaxed and in his element. He was surrounded by three enemy champions, but he wasn’t the slightest bit worried. He aimed at Twisted Fate and activated Sweeping Blade in combination with Steel Tempest. He dashed through Twisted Fate and then swept his katana out in a circle around him! His blade easily bisected Twisted Fate, whisking The Card Master’s life away.

《You have slain an enemy!》

“One down!” Lin Feng cheered over the team’s voice chat. Then he cast Sweeping Blade again, this time aiming for the Fiora. He dashed to her and followed up with an auto attack. Steel Tempest was off cooldown again. So, he stabbed out straight in front of him and pierced through her! A storm brewed around his blade. He turned away, and the Grand Duelist collapsed to the ground. He set his sights on the next target, Jarvan IV.

《Double kill!》

Huang Yang clicked away frantically, not even considering helping his teammates. He knew he couldn’t save them. E-Q! E-Q! E-Q! He kept slamming the two buttons on his keyboard that would have his Jarvan IV perform the flag-toss combo. Though rather than using it to engage, he wanted to escape with it. And then a large percentage of his health bar just disappeared, leaving him with less than 10%. “W-WHAT!?”

Tang Bingyao had just activated Rend. Her Kalista had pulled out all the spirit spears from Jarvan IV’s body, damaging him and more importantly slowing him. She smiled and nodded. “Mhm, kill him, Lin Feng!”

“I’m really good at getting triple kills too!” Lin Feng replied over the team’s voice chat, laughing. He chased after the slowed Jarvan IV, quickly catching up to him. Then he used the Sweeping Blade into Steel Tempest combo again. He dashed through the Jarvan IV and knocked him up. One auto attack. Two auto attacks. Steel Tempest! A wild storm gathered at the tip of his blade again. It whined to be released. To take a life. Lin Feng released it, calling forth the storm that would take Jarvan IV’s life.

《Triple kill!》

Tristana and Morgana were the only two Champions from Shanghai University of Finance’s team who were still alive. But they were in Team Shanghai’s Jungle, surrounded by four Team Shanghai Champions. The only fortunate part was that they’d arrived late to the fight, and as such were on the edge of it. They turned around and ran past the Red Buff Camp. Down a thin path walled in by trees and boulders. Towards the tri-brush connecting the jungle to the river and the bot lane.

Zhang Hao’s Teleport had been on cooldown at the start of the fight. But it was finally available. He had his Rumble teleport to a ward that was placed in the tri-brush where the Morgana and Tristana were running towards. “I’m coming to help!” he shouted over the team’s voice chat. His Rumble arrived before Tristana and Morgana did. He threw down his ultimate skill, The Equalizer! The rocket launchers on his shoulders fired six shots! They exploded on the Jungle floor, creating a wall of flames that dealt damage and applied a slow.

Qiu Le saw the Rumble ultimate in time, and his Tristana still had Rocket Jump available. She aimed her cannon at the ground and fired, its recoil hurling her into the air and over a wall into the Dragon pit. From there, he managed to escape. But Xie Qing didn’t have any skills available to jump over that wall. His morgana was caught in the middle of Rumble’s ultimate. And the Rumble was now running straight at her!

“Hao Bro! Wait up! Don’t kill her! Give it to me!” Lin Feng shouted over the team’s voice chat. He ran after the Morgana, trying to get to her before his teammates killed her. Morgana’s health was dropping fast. “My quadra, please!” Lin Feng yelled, spamming his E key. And then, just as it looked like he wasn’t going to get the kill, Sweeping Blade finally activated. Yasuo dashed through Morgana, the damage of the skill killing her.

《Quadra kill!》

The audience watching the scrim game in the university’s esports clubroom felt their jaws collectively drop to the floor. Their team had started the fight. They’d caught Team Shanghai’s ad-carry completely out of position. And they’d somehow still lost. Zero kills. Four deaths.

“Oh, shit… That’s game, isn’t it?”
“Pretty much. Gg to the high schoolers, I guess.”
“Dang! That was such a cool teamfight! That Ali setting up the Yasuo ultimate? So cool!”
“You think that ad-carry girl was baiting Huang Yang? Those high schoolers responded so quickly!”
“Fuck! You might be right! What if they baited that fight? Shit man, that’d be fucking scary as fuck!”
“I know, right! They’re good!”

The players from the university’s second team looked over their shoulders, listening to the conversations behind them. Then they turned back to look at the large LCD screen above the stage. They weren’t dreaming, or having a nightmare. Their team had really just lost that teamfight. They finally turned to look at each other, finding the same dismay in each others’ eyes that they felt themselves.

“Fuck… I thought they had them when Huang Yang got that pick on Kalista… I thought we had them!”
“I know, man. I know. I thought so too. But how they turned that around… I don’t know, man. I don’t know.”
“Imagine if we’d played them. That would’ve been far more embarrassing…”
“They can teamfight. And that Yasuo… Such an overpowered shit champ!”
“Man, I wanna agree. But… Let’s face it, man. That Yasuo played that perfectly. That entire team of high schoolers and girls somehow played that fucking perfectly, man. I don’t get it. Since when are we losing to a bunch of kids?”

Hang Ying was watching the game in the back of the esports clubroom with a couple of her friends. The girls were excitedly chatting together. Because for the first time, a couple of girls were standing up against the guys, showing them that girls could play League of Legends competitively!

“Those two girls are as good as the guys!”
“I still think that Yasuo is really cute…”
“Yeah, yeah, we’ll get you his number after the games. But those two girls! Did you see how they played that?”
“Right! They survived for so long! It looked like they were going to die several times! But they always just survived, and then the others came! That was so impressive!”
“I can’t believe how good those two are! The guys got nothing on them!”
“I wanna play now! GO, GO, GIRL POWER!”

Hang Ying smiled as she listened to her friends. They’re right. The two girls did play that incredibly well. Huang Yang should’ve never taken so long to finish them off. But they kept dodging the important skills. I don’t know how they managed that. Just that they did! She looked at the two girls in the soundproof booth. She couldn’t really make them out as they were hidden behind their screens, but she imagined them looking all serious and focused. It’s so good to see girls beating those guys. That’ll show them that girls can also play League! We’re really not any worse! There just aren’t as many girls playing, that’s all. But we’re just as good!

✹

The lost teamfight was a terrible result for Shanghai University of Finance’s team. Not just because they lost the teamfight, but also because all four kills went to the Yasuo. Luo Yu chewed on his lips as he stared at Yasuo dashing through the minions in the mid lane and shook his head. He’s the best player on their team and he’s playing the strongest carry champion of their team. If anyone else had gotten the kills, we might’ve still stood a chance. But on him? It’s over. We’re done. He sighed and said over the team’s voice chat, “Let’s give it a few more minutes, guys. See if that Yasuo gets too confident and throws, or if he keeps playing like he is…”

The rest of the university’s team agreed with Luo Yu. They played the game, farming minions and looking for opportunities to make a play. But there was nothing they could do. Every time that they engaged a Champion from Team Shanghai, Yasuo would inexplicably appear out of nowhere. There was nothing they could do to stop him. They lost their towers in all three lanes. Then they lost two inhibitors. And finally, 25 minutes into the game, Luo Yu led a surrender vote.

DEFEAT!

The players from Shanghai University of Finance’s main team looked at their screens, lost. Their original plan was to stomp some humility into Team Shanghai, and then hand over the reins to their second roster. But that seemed silly now. They’d lost, and resoundingly so. Luo Yu glanced over the edge of his screen at the players from the second team. They were standing right in front of the soundproof booth. He could see their bleak expressions. There’s no point in having them play. They know it and we know it. He chuckled self-depravedly and then turned to his teammates. “Well, we got what we deserved for underestimating them. But now we know how good they are. We have to win the next game.”

A heavy silence hung over the soundproof booth. They all knew Luo Yu was right, and mumbled as much. More than that, they were ashamed of themselves. Losing to a high school team was bad enough, but losing to a high school team after calling them out and poking fun at them, that was far worse. They didn’t even want to step out of the soundproof booth, because then they’d have to look at their fellow students. The thought alone was too embarrassing. So they gritted their teeth and joined the lobby for the next game.

✹

The computer monitors in Team Shanghai’s soundproof booth all read ‘victory’! Lin Feng was the first to jump up from his gaming chair, balling his fist and throwing it up into the air! “We beat the university team!”

“Mhm!” Tang Bingyao nodded, clenching her fist too and pumping it in the air.

Zhang Hao laughed and shouted, “Hell yeah!” Then he noticed that both Lin Feng and Tang Bingyao were punching the air. He looked at his hand and slowly balled it into a fist. Then he grinned and threw it up in the air. “Hell yeah!”

Zeng Rui looked at his teammates and said, “Good work, guys. Let’s prepare for the next game now. I suggest we try a role swap in this game.”

Lin Feng left his hand hanging in the air as he turned to look at Zeng Rui. He asked, confused, “A role swap? Why?”

Yeah, why? An Xin observed Zeng Rui for a short moment before her eyes lit up. Oh! She started smiling and said, “Alright, sounds good! Let’s go with the role swap!”

✹

Luo Yu led his team through Champion Select. Nothing strange happened. The strongest Champions in the current meta were banned, including Yasuo, and they got to pick the lineup that they wanted for this second game in the best of three series versus Team Shanghai. But when the game moved to the loading screen, the confidence they’d built up during the last few minutes disappeared again.

Game 2
Shanghai University of Finance (Blue) versus Team Shanghai (Red)

Top lane: Gnar versus Mundo
Jungle: Lee Sin versus Jarvan IV
Mid lane: Orianna versus Veigar
AD-carry: Jinx versus Lucian
Support: Janna versus Thresh

“What the fuck are they doing?” Huang Yang blurted out.

“Wha-huh?” Xie Qing mumbled.

The Champions Team Shanghai had chosen were strong Champions in their respective roles. They also came together nicely to form a powerful team. That wasn’t what had Shanghai University of Finance’s team confused and caught off guard. It was who were playing the Champions that came completely out of left field for them. Zhang Hao was still in the top lane and Tang Bingyao in the bot lane as ad-carry, but everyone else had changed their roles. Lin Feng was now the Support, Zeng Rui the Jungler, and An Xin the Midlaner!