Lin Feng died in the mid lane while Tang Bingyao picked up a kill in the bot lane. But he didn’t really care all that much that he’d lost focus and given away a kill. He was playing Lulu, a supportive control mage. She didn’t need gold to do her job; she just needed to be at the right place at the right time to buff her allies. It was up to Tang Bingyao to do the carrying. A stark contrast from the first three games, where he’d been the one carrying.

There was a brief respite in the game. Westwind used the time to talk the audience through what had just happened. He leaned into the microphone and said, “It’s starting to look like High School 13’s protect-the-ad-carry composition is slowly coming together. The Lulu is scaling pretty well in mid, despite giving away a kill. She’s going to become a real nuisance for Shanghai High School. All she’s gotta do is to use her ultimate on the Vayne and the Fat Lady’s is going to sing. GAME OVER FOR SHANGHAI HIGH SCHOOL! Killing the Vayne before that happens is going to be a real challenge for Shanghai High School.”

“Talking about the Vayne,” Silent Reed interjected. “She’s playing really well this game! Look at her score! We’re only 10 minutes into the game and she’s already on a killing spree! She’s ahead of Kalista and Leona is struggling to stay relevant. Shanghai High School needs to chain their crowd control skills together perfectly if they want to keep any hope of killing that Vayne alive!”

✹

“What I’m saying,” Lin Feng argued over High School 13’s voice chat, “Is that I actually helped the team by giving away that kill! Tang Tang wouldn’t have gotten the solo kill on Kalista if it hadn’t been for me forcing Leona to come to mid! So, you see, you guys should really be thanking me!”

An Xin rolled her eyes and said, “Thanking you? Are you stupid? You could’ve forced that Leona to come mid and survived, if you’d just put up a damn ward! Why didn’t you ward your lane?” She glared at Lin Feng and continued, “And am I hearing this right? Are you really trying to take credit for something Tang Tang did? You screwed up and she made up for it by getting a solo kill! Solo. Kill. She did it all by herself! You didn’t have any part in it. Yeesh, what a glory hog.”

“Mhm!” Tang Bingyao agreed. “He’s shameless.”

“Ah, you two are teaming up! That’s so unfair! Guys, help me out here!” Lin Feng whined. But neither Chen Ze nor Liu Yue replied. Lin Feng looked over at them but they ignored him. Liu Yue even went so far as to look away from him. He shook his head in disbelief and said, “I can’t believe you guys! Oh well, whatever. Tang Tang’s Vayne is fed now. We can all play around her!”

Across the stage, Zeng Rui had a similar thought to Lin Feng. Shanghai High School’s focus was also going to be on the Vayne. “Focus the Vayne first. She has to die before she can kill us,” Zeng Rui said over the team’s voice chat. She’s 3/0/0 and actually playing really well. Now that she’s got her first big item, we can’t stop her in the bot lane. And we can’t take any risks either. If she gets anymore fed, we’ll lose this game before the 20 minute mark! We can’t lose this game! They’re on match point. We have to shut her down!

✹

At 12 minutes, Shanghai High School and High School 13 were hovering around the Dragon pit. Shanghai High School was closer to the bot lane, and High School 13 was closer to the mid lane. They fired skillshots at each other right in front of the Dragon and tried to find an angle for an engage.

Shanghai High School’s Gragas was the first to find an opening. He retreated out of the opponent’s vision  and then Teleported to a ward that was hidden in a brush behind High School 13’s team. He came running out of the bush and charged toward Lulu with Body Slam. Then he linked it together with Flash. His momentum was carried over as he blinked forward. His fat belly collided into Lulu and knocked her up. Then he hurled an Explosive Cask into the middle of High School 13’s team. The cask exploded, and all five champions were sent flying in different directions. But the real purpose of the Explosive Cask was to blast Tang Bingyao’s Vayne back towards Shanghai High School’s team, which is what it did. 

“GO IN, NOW!!” Zeng Rui ordered over the team’s voice chat.

Shanghai High School’s Yauso saw the airborne Vayne flying towards him. Sort of. What he actually saw were the blinking arrows that connected him to whatever Champion happened to be airborne. His instincts as a Yasuo player responded automatically. He saw the arrows and hit R for his Ultimate with zero concern about where he was headed or where the airborne was. The mark of a true Yasuo. He blinked towards the Vayne with Last Breath and sliced her rapidly with his katana, which kept her suspended in the air. Then he unleashed a mighty slash that slammed her back down to the ground!

The Explosive Cask had also knocked Lin Feng’s Lulu in the general direction of Shanghai High School’s team. The moment she landed on the ground, she sped herself up with Whimsy and caught up to the Vayne. Then she cast Wild Growth on the Vayne! Vayne’s body instantly doubled in size  and knocked up the Lee Sin and Yasuo beside her. She also gained bonus health, which she desperately needed after all the damage she took from the initial engage.

Tang Bingyao activated Vayne’s ultimate skill–Final Hour! A dark aura wrapped around the Vayne as she Tumbled away from the Yasuo, turning invisible. Then she circled around to the Yasuo’s flank, getting the perfect angle for a Condemn! She took the large crossbow from her back and squeezed the trigger. A large, heavy bolt flew out and struck the Yasuo. It lifted him off his feet and pinned him to the stone wall of the Dragon pit. Stunned!

✹

Chen Ze’s Irelia and Liu Yue’s Jarvan IV were knocked away from Tang Bingyao’s Vayne by the Explosive Cask. But they did find themselves close to Kalista. The Irelia dashed at her with Bladesurge! Jarvan IV followed with a flag-toss combo and knocked her airborne. Then he came down on her with Cataclysm. He leaped at the Kalista and smashed down on the ground with such force that he terraformed the ground around him into an arena! The impact devastated her health.

There was no follow-up crowd control after the knock-up, so Kalista could use her skills again as soon as she landed back on the ground. She activated her ultimate, Fate’s Call. This skill pulled an Oathsworn ally to her side. Then the ally could launch themselves forward in any targeted direction. 

Zeng Rui’s Leona was called to the Kalista’s side. He chose to throw himself at the Irelia and Jarvan IV, knocking both of them up into the air. Then he raised his sword and called down a Solar Flare on the two champions, stunning them!

✹

Tang Bingyao followed up on the Condemn on Yasuo with an empowered auto attack from Tumble. Then she shot another silver bolt. Three silver rings appeared around the Yasuo. They lit up and exploded, dealing true damage! She fired several more auto attacks and finished the Yasuo off. All the while, she was dealing with Gragas and Lee Sin attacking her.

An Xin’s Nami called forth a Tidal Wave and threw out an Aqua Prison. She healed the Vayne and tried to body block the skillshots. But Shanghai High School ignored her and focused down the Vayne.

《Red team’s Yasuo has been slain!》

《Blue team’s Vayne has been slain!》

Shanghai High School shifted their attention to the other four players from High School 13. Lin Feng’s Lulu and An Xin’s Nami dodged and weaved the attacks from the Lee Sin and Gragas. The two focused their own attacks on the Lee Sin. It wasn’t much, but the damage from their skillshots added up. They ran past the Irelia and Lin Feng shield the Irelia by commanding Pix the purple butterfly to her side–Help, Pix! Then he buffed the Irelia’s stats with Whimsy. 

Chen Ze’s Irelia broke free from the Leona’s stun and jumped on Kalista again. He stuck close to the Kalista and ignored the Gragas and Leona that were trying to kill him.

《Red team’s Kalista has been slain!》

《Blue team’s Irelia has been slain!》

Lin Feng’s Lulu and An Xin’s Nami were chasing after the Lee Sin, who’d turned from hunter to hunted. His health bar was dropping fast, and the Lulu kept him slowed with Glitterlance. He only had to dodge it once to escape, but the Lulu never missed. He tried to get away with a ward-hop–Safeguard! But the Lulu was too accurate with her use of skills. The Lulu and Nami continued attacking him until the last of his health was depleted.

《Red team’s Lee Sin has been slain!》

High School 13 had three champions surviving the teamfight; Lulu, Nami, and Jarvan IV. This is where the more strategic aspect of the game came into play. Jarvan IV was High School 13’s Jungler, and he’d survived the teamfight. And they had managed to kill Lee Sin, who was Shanghai High School’s Jungler. Whenever teamfights for the Dragon rolled around, the Jungler was the King and Queen. Junglers used the summoner skill Smite. A high damage skill that could only be used on minions and monsters. It was incredibly difficult to kill the Dragon or steal a Dragon kill without this skill. High School 13 had a living Jungler, and Shanghai High School did not. That decided the whole thing. High School 13’s team moved on to the Dragon and started attacking it. Shanghai High School didn’t bother attempting to contest, and pulled back. 

“WHAT A FIGHT! WOOOOOO!” Westwind cried out. He raised his fist and shouted, “That went back and forth and back again! But… HIGH SCHOOL 13 CAME OUT ON TOOOOP. Let’s give them a MASSIVE round of applause! WOOOOOOOOO!”

Silent reed clapped her hands and shouted, “The way High School 13 kept their Vayne alive for so long was really special! The Nami and Lulu were phenomenal! That’s how High School 13 won that fight! So, yeah, WOOOOOOO!”

Zeng Rui looked up over his screen at the audience cheering for High School 13. And then he looked over at the two casters who sat on their raised platform. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but he could guess. “They left the Vayne alive too long, that’s why they lost…” Yes. They’re right. We did lose because we couldn’t burst that Vayne down. They’re running a ‘protect-the-ad-carry’ comp. If we can’t kill the Vayne, we lose. If we kill her, we win. 

Zeng Rui frowned. But how are we going to kill her? That’s the real question here. Our burst damage right now clearly isn’t enough. Yasuo needs another item and Gragas has to get some more ability power. Then we should have enough damage to kill her, I think… His frown deepened. But this fight was already completely in our favour. The Vayne didn’t have Flash or Heal and we got the drop on her! That was the best chance we had! In the next fight, she’ll have her Flash and Heal up. It’s going to be really hard to kill her again. We need to come up with something before then.

✹

At 17 minutes, Shanghai High School and High School 13 were getting ready for the second Dragon, which was spawning soon. They started moving towards the Dragon pit and were looking to drop some wards down around the area. Shanghai High School’s Kalista was the first to arrive. She walked through her own Jungle into the river below the Dragon pit. There, she walked right into Tang Bingyao’s Vayne who was walking up from the bot lane.

Tang Bingyao tilted her head, surprised. What’s she doing here? Half a second later, she smirked. I can kill her! She pressed down on her R key. Final Hour! A shroud of darkness wrapped around the Vayne! She gained bonus movement speed from her ultimate skill and also from her passive skill when moving towards an enemy champion. Come on! Get in range! She fired the first silver bolt before Kalista could start retreating into her own Jungle. She followed up with a second auto attack. Two silver rings appeared around Kalista. Then Tang Bingyao used the active skill from the Blade of the Ruined King to slow the Kalista. Next was a third auto attack and a third silver ring that appeared around the Kalista. All three rings exploded, dealing true damage.

Zeng Rui’s Leona and An Xin’s Nami were too far away from the fight when it happened. They both shouted instructions over their teams’ voice chats while rushing over to help their ad-carries. Zeng Rui’s Leona was the first to arrive at the scene thanks to Kalista’s ultimate skill–Fate’s Call! His Leona was pulled to her side, and then he launched himself toward the Vayne!

Tang Bingyao knew this was coming, her finger already hovering over the D key. I can do this! Flash! The Vayne blinked forward, straight through the Leona, causing the latter to overshoot and miss. Tang Bingyao then moved her finger over the Q key. Leona had another skill that could close the gap, Zenith Blade! The solar image of the sword projected out towards her Vayne. Tang Bingyao activated Tumble! She dodged the skill while also perfectly positioning herself for a Condemn on the Kalista. She pulled the heavy crossbow from her back and fired. A large bolt flew out and struck the Kalista, sending her colliding into the jungle wall behind her!

“HOOOLY!! ARE YOU SEEING THIS? ARE YOU SEEING THIS?” Westwind shouted into his microphone.

“OH MY GOD! WOOOO! GO VAYNE!” Silent Reed cried out.

The audience was also losing it. Tang Bingyao was doing what she did last game. A 1vs2. But this time around, there was something completely different about it. It wasn’t a move of desperation; it was a well calculated attack. She knew her skills. She knew what Shanghai High School had available. And she was prepared to dodge everything she needed to dodge to get the kill!

“TANG TANG GANG BEST GANG!”
“GG TANG TANG!”
“OH MY GOD! TANG TAAAAAANG! WOOOOOOOOO!”
“SAVE MR. BARBIE! SATANBARBIE’S HOLDING HIM HOSTAGE!”
“ANOTHER SOLO KILL! TANG TANG IS THE BEST!”
“WE’RE WINNING! WE’RE GOING TO WIN!”
“TANG TANG FOR MVP!”

《Red team’s Lee Sin has been slain!》

“WOOOOOOO! HIGH SCHOOL 13!” Westwind clutched his microphone, his knuckles white, and shoutcasted the play in the bot lane, “What a kill! Condemn into Aqua Prison into a breathtaking kill by Vayne! Amazing! AMAZING!”

“AMAZING! AMAZING! AMAZING!”
“GOOOOOOOOO TANG TANG! AN XIN! SWEEEEET!”
“DAYUM! That Condemn was sexier than my sex doll!”
“Girls are better at League than guys! CONFIRMED!”
“OOH OOH OOH! AH AH!”
“WAAAAAAAA! I want your autograph, Tang Tang!”

High School 13’s students and the neutral fans were being treated to an outstanding display of skill by Tang Bingyao. Their cheers rocked the venue, despite the large part of the audience that was completely silent. Shanghai High School’s students sat back in their seats, staring at the large screen above the stage. Some of them mumbled their disbelief, while others argued that this simply wasn’t possible. They spoke of how they were the team to beat and that they were supposed to win this tournament. There were a couple of students who started shouting that High School 13 was cheating! They made loud demands for an explanation as to why a Bronzie like Tang Bingyao suddenly got good enough to beat their Challenger-ranked bot lane!

“OH MY GOD!” Silent Reed exclaimed. “Amazing! You’re right, Westie. The girls are doing amazing! I’m giving them full style points for that play! Lee Sin had no idea what hit him!”

Westwind nodded, smiling, and said, “Them chicas are on FIRE! I gotta admit, I was a little worried about them during Champion select. But what do I know, right? They knew exactly what they were doing when they moved their coach from the Jungle to the Support role. She’s doing great! Kind of like their Midlaner! Haha, she’s the female Lin Feng!”

Silent Reed shook her head and wagged her finger at Westwind. “No, you can’t say that,” she said. “She’s a really good player-coach! Her jungling was great, and now she’s showing the same finesse as a Support! And she’s probably telling the team how to play the whole time! That’s her skill, and that’s what we should commend her for! But enough about her. Look at Tang Bingyao! She was struggling in the last three games! But it looks like she’s finally pulled herself out of that slump! That play just now, the one where she Condemned the Lee Sin and picked up a kill on him, that’s what makes people come to the stadium. I want to see more of that!” She looked at the stage and shouted a little louder than usual, “YOU GO, GIRLFRIENDS!”

✹

Tang Bingyao was still laser focused on her screen and holding her breath. She’d gotten the kill on Lee Sin, but she wasn’t out of danger yet. Shanghai High School’s Leona and Kalista were both at near full health, while her health was running low. An Xin’s Nami had already started backing away with only a sliver of health remaining. Can’t let them get the kill. I can’t! She watched every tiny movement made by Leona and Kalista as her Vayne ran back towards the Blue team’s outer tower. 

The Kalista threw a fast moving spear–Pierce! She Tumbled away from it, opening up a little bit more distance. The outer tower was right in front of her. And then she was under it. Safe! Tang Bingyao finally exhaled and took a rewarding deep breath in. Safe! I made it! I got away. The tension in her body disappeared and was replaced by pure joy. I did it! Mhm! I won a 2vs3! I’m winning! I’m finally winning a game!

High School 13 was up 2-1 in the Finals of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament. Tang Bingyao was part of the team that had won those two games. But they didn’t feel like victories to her. There was a distinct difference between winning a game and getting carried to a victory. And she knew that she’d been carried to those two wins rather than contributing to them. Lin Feng and An Xin had done all the carrying in those games. She’d only been around for the ride and to fill out the numbers. Mhm! This time I’ll carry and win!

Tang Bingyao thought back to before the game started. She’d felt so reluctant when An Xin placed all that trust in her. She’d tried to argue that she wasn’t good enough and that it really was a bad idea. BunBun was right. I can carry! Mhm! This feels great! She looked over at An Xin who was sitting next to her and smiled. I’ll repay your trust with my best Vayne ever! She then turned back to look at her screen and took a long, deep breath. Mhm! Let’s do this!

✹

Game 4 of the Finals for the Shanghai 16 School Tournament had only just begun. The kill score was 3-1 for High School 13 right now. Both their Mid and Bot lanes had a small advantage. But their Top lane had unfortunately fallen behind. Chen Ze’s Irelia was really struggling against Shanghai High School’s Gragas. At first, she could still walk into the lane and last hit minions. But as the Gragas grew stronger in terms of levels and items, he started pressuring her away from the minions. She found herself hiding under her own outer tower, afraid to get too close to him and falling even further behind.

Silent Reed analyzed the Irelia’s predicament and how it could devolve into a High School 13 predicament. “The Gragas is throwing his large beer belly around the lane after he got that early kill on the Irelia. He’s at a point right now where he can crush Irelia the moment she tries to do anything! This is a perfect example of how to turn a small advantage into a large one.” Silent Reed shook her head, pausing for a moment, and then continued, “The Irelia must be so frustrated! She can’t do anything. But she also knows that if she doesn’t do anything, she’s going to become a non-factor in this game while the Gragas will basically count for two champions! That can really screw this game over for High School 13. One well placed Explosive Cask…”

Westwind nodded and said, “Yeah, you’re right. Totally right! Top lane is a hard win for Shanghai High School. But what about the other lanes? Come, travel down to the mid lane with me. Look at what that Lulu is doing. She’s wrecking the Yasuo! It’s fucking painful to watch! She can just Polymorph the Gragas into a useless critter and take him out of commission for an entire teamfight! I don’t think High School 13 has anything to worry about! If anything, Shanghai High School should be worried…” He shook his head while looking at the large screen. The camera moved to the bot lane. His eyes widened and he shouted, “And it looks like they are worried! Look at Zeng Rui’s Leona!”

Zeng Rui had slipped away from the bot lane by faking a recall. He canceled the animation right before it finished channeling and then disappeared into the Jungle, where he met up with his Jungler. “We’re ganking mid, come,” he said over the team’s voice chat. Then he had his Leona run down a carefully planned route. I spent the last few minutes destroying their wards here. That thundering dumbass won’t know what hit him! “Stick close to me!” he reminded his Jungler.

Meanwhile in the mid lane, Lin Feng was having fun. He didn’t care that An Xin had forced him to play Lulu, who was a supportive control mage rather than the assassins he usually played. I can play every champion. I don’t care, I love it! He thought back to his old teammates in Season 1. Those guys liked to joke about my unfathomably deep champion pool. Haha, they’re right! I’m really good at every champion… too! He smiled ruefully and mumbled to himself, “I wonder how Tian Tian is doing. I should give him a call…”

A new minion wave arrived in the mid lane. Lin Feng shook his head and focused on last hitting them, extending his lead over the Yasuo one minion at a time. Maybe I can force him to recall. He pushed a little harder, killing the minions as quickly as he could. Then he targeted Yasuo and hit him with a Glitterlance. “That’s right! Go and run behind your tower!” Lin Feng said, laughing. Then he patted himself on the shoulder and added, “Guess I’m really good at Lulu too!”

Shanghai High School was almost done setting up the gank in the mid lane. Zeng Rui asked over the team’s voice chat, “Ready?” He was double and triple checking everything, making sure nothing could go wrong. When his Jungler and Midlaner replied that they were ready, he clicked in the middle of the lane and then pressed down on the R key–Solar Flare! His Leona called down a beam of solar energy on Lin Feng’s Lulu, stunning her before she could do anything! Then she cast Zenith Blade to dash towards Lulu.

The Lee Sin hopped towards the Leona–Safeguard! Then he struck Lin Feng’s Lulu with a Sonic Wave before dashing towards her with Resonating Strike. There, he waited for a moment, allowing the Yasuo to get in range for his ultimate skill. The stun on the Lulu was about to wear off. The Lee Sin couldn’t wait any longer. He delivered a powerful roundhouse kick, sending the Lulu flying towards the Yasuo–Dragon’s Rage!

The Yasuo activated his ultimate skill–Last Breath! He blinked towards the airborne Lulu and suspended her in midair, hitting her with a flurry of slashes before slamming her back down to the ground. There, the Leona was already waiting with another stun to keep the Lulu immobilized. The three champions from Shanghai High School linked their crowd control skills seamlessly while also dealing damage.

《You have been slain!》

“Uh, where did that Leona come from?” Lin Feng mumbled as he stared at his grey screen. “Hey! BunBun! Tang Tang! Where was the missing in action ping?”

An Xin looked over at Lin Feng and said over the team’s voice chat, “We did ping. Repeatedly. You probably didn’t hear it over the compliments you were giving yourself. You’re really good at Lulu too, right? Well, if you really were, you wouldn’t have died that. That was a noob move. I expected better from you.”

Lin Feng scratched the back of his head and laughed the insults off. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. My bad! Anyway, Leona is here. Go make a play in bot already!”

✹

High School 13’s Botlaners had recalled back to base when Zeng Rui’s Leona started pathing towards the mid lane. This left Shanghai High School’s Kalista alone in the bot lane. She farmed the minions without having to worry about a thing. A new minion wave arrived and she started clearing it, trying to kill it as quickly as possible. “One more minion, almost there,” Shanghai High School’s ad-carry mumbled to himself. The Vayne should be back soon. He had his Kalista retreat just as the Vayne’s summoner icon appeared on the minimap. She was back in the lane. Time to back out. GoGoGo!

Tang Bingyao was smiling when she saw the Kalista getting greedy for one more last hit. Players often forgot the bonus movement speed Vayne received when running towards an enemy champion. This bonus could be increased even further with the Vayne’s ultimate skill–Final Hour! Tang Bingyao activated it. An aura of darkness erupted out from the Vayne! She Tumbled forward for even more speed and chased after the Kalista.

The entire audience was cheering, some for the kill in the mid lane and others for Tang Bingyao chasing after the Kalista. Tonji Affiliated High’s ad-carry belonged to the second group. He had his fists clenched and his eyes locked onto the large screen above the stage. “Come on, come on, come on!” He watched Tang Bingyao catching up to the Kalista and started grinning. “She’s got this! This is a kill!”

Tang Bingyao’s Vayne caught up to the Kalista. She fired an empowered silver bolt at the Kalista and quickly followed up with another silver bolt. Two silver rings appeared around the Kalista. Tang Bingyao had just upgraded her items in the fountain shop. One of these items was the Bilgewater Cutlass, which had an active skill connected to it. A slow. Tang Bingyao used it on the Kalista, making the difference in movement speed even larger. She shot a third silver bolt. The three silver rings around the Kalista detonated and dealt true damage!

Shanghai High School’s Kalista saw her health bar plummet. That stupid Vayne is too fast! Come on. Why does the outer tower look so far away? Do I try and Flash? Can I get out then? The Kalista was hit by another silver bolt, her health dipping below half. Shit yes! Flash Flash! She blinked forward with a mottled flash of light. For a moment it looked like she’d gotten away. Then the Vayne also flashed.

The Red team’s outer tower was getting closer and closer. Shanghai High School’s Kalista just needed a couple more seconds! I’m going to make it! I have to make it! A third silver ring appeared around her, causing all three of them to explode. HealHeal! She used her second Summoner Spell to get some extra health. There was a slight delay between the explosion of the three silver rings and the dealing of damage. The Heal registered between these two moments, giving the Kalista just enough health to survive. Come on! I can make it! I’m almost there!

Tang Bingyao smiled as she watched the Kalista run straight towards her outer tower. She pressed down on her E key and mumbled, “Condemn!” Her Vayne pulled the large crossbow from her back and squeezed the trigger. A large bolt shot through the air and pierced the Kalista, lifting her off the ground and pinning her to the tower! Vayne Tumbled forward and fired off an empowered silver bolt.

《Killing spree!》

Tang Bingyao hit down on her TAB key. It showed the scoreboard, including her K/D/A. 3/0/0! BunBun was right! I can do this! I’m really good! Lin Feng was telling the truth! Mhm! I’m going to beat that Kalista! Mhm! She clenched her fist and grinned. I can do this! I’ll show them!

Zeng Rui carefully watched every move of An Xin’s Nami and Tang Bingyao’s Vayne. He spotted it right away when Tang Bingyao went a little more aggressive on a caster minion than normal. Preparing for an engage or just trying to level up? Doesn’t matter which. He said over Shanghai High School’s voice chat, “Kill that minion!” Then he had his Leona auto attack the one he’d pinged, bringing its health down low enough so that Shanghai High School’s Kalista could kill it. “Too late now,” he mumbled to himself as he watched Tang Bingyao’s Vayne and An Xin’s Nami reach Level 3. They were already running at him. He moved his mouse over the Vayne and activated Zenith Blade. His Leona aimed a solar image of her sword at the Vayne. It pierced its target and the Leona dashed towards the Vayne.

An Xin had been waiting for the Leona to activate Zenith Blade. It was a brief moment in time where she knew exactly where the Leona was going to be; in mid-dash flying towards Vayne. The exact moment that the Leona’s animation of Zenith Blade started, An Xin’s Nami tossed a bubble of water right in front of the Vayne. It landed on top of the Leona, breaking her dash and suspending her in midair.

Zeng Rui’s Leona couldn’t move nor cast a skill. She was helpless as Tang Bingyao moved past her, ignoring her. She was powerless as the Vayne fired a silver bolt at Kalista. Zeng Rui frantically pushed down on his mouse. Come on! Come on! Break! Shit! He didn’t understand how the Nami had immobilized him mid-dash, but he didn’t have time to think about that. I need to save my ad-carry!

Tang Bingyao waited for a brief moment after shooting the first silver bolt. Where is the Pierce? Show me your move. She’d played Kalista a lot and knew how Shanghai High School’s ad-carry was going to respond. Hmm! The Kalista formed a large spear in her hand and leaned back, drawing extra power before hurling a fast moving spear–Pierce! Tang Bingyao was ready for it. She Tumbled to the side before the spear could hit her and then fired off an empowered silver bolt. I’ll win this! BunBun took care of the Leona, I’m going to take care of Kalista! She’s mine!

Along the bottom side of the bot lane were three brushes. An Xin had placed a ward in the one closest to Red team’s outer tower a minute before. Right now, a blue pillar of light descended on it, signaling a champion teleporting in. Lin Feng announced his arrival over High School 13’s voice chat, “Guuuys! I’m teleporting in for the gank!”

The fight had broken out in the middle of the bot lane near the river entrance. Shanghai High School and High School 13’s Botlaners had run at each other and away from the safety that their outer towers presented. They were now so far away from those outer towers that it became incredibly difficult to get back to them if something went wrong. An Xin knew all of this. It was partly why she’d chosen to engage. Lin Feng will come bot. This is gonna be a 3vs2 where Shanghai High School can’t get away. We got them.

Shanghai High School’s Kalista realized the fight was turning against them. She turned around and started running away. This inadvertently had her walking past the wall of stone and trees that separated the river, jungle, and lane.

Tang Bingyao’s Vayne Flashed forward with a mottled flash of light and then took the large crossbow from her back. She aimed it at the Kalista and pulled the trigger–Condemn! A large bolt flew out and pierced the Kalista, lifting her off the ground and pinning her to the wall. It was also the third bolt laced in silver. The three silver rings below the Kalista exploded and dealt true damage!

“WHAT A CONDEMN!” Westwind shouted, his voice booming through the speakers in the venue. “The Vayne stunned Kalista to the wall! The Vayne is good! Give it up for her! Wooooooooo!”

“That was awesome!” Silent Reed agreed, smiling. “The timing was so good! She waited for Lin Feng to teleport and only then flashed for the angle! She’s going to get the double! She’s getting the double! Come on, girl! You can do it!”

Lin Feng’s Lulu teleported into the brush closest to the Red team’s outer tower. Tang Bingyao was right in front of him. He had his Lulu cast Help, Pix! on her. The purple butterfly called Pix flew over to Vayne’s side, giving her a shield and aiding her attacks. Lulu followed up with Glitterglance, a bolt of magical energy that heavily slowed the still stunned Kalista.

Tang Bingyao smiled. Lin Feng’s Lulu and An Xin’s Nami were Supporting her. Now she had to do her part. This is my kill! She had her Vayne auto attack the Kalista two more times before the stun broke. Then she Tumbled forward and shot the third silver bolt. The three silver rings below the Kalista exploded, dealing true damage, and depleted what little remained of her health.

《First blood!》

Tang Bingyao, An Xin, and Lin Feng wanted to chase after Zeng Rui’s Leona next. But Zeng Rui was already too far away. He’d given up on Kalista the moment that she got stunned. He’d Flashed towards his outer tower and ran until he was under it. Then he had his Leona keep on running until she reached their inner tower. “Shit!” he cursed, grinding his teeth. How did that happen? I knew the ward was there. I saw her place it! But she hit me with her Aqua Prison. That’s where it went wrong. I should’ve been more careful. I knew she was good. I should’ve seen this coming! Ok, reset. Breathe. Calm down. Focus on the game and stick to the plan. “Stick to the plan, guys,” Zeng Rui said over the team’s voice chat. He nodded at his screen and forced himself to take long, deep breaths until he was calm again.

The High School 13 students in the audience shot up to their feet and threw their arms high in the air! Their team was winning the game, so they expressed their joy and bliss in the loudest roars they could muster.

“TANG TANNGGGGGG!”
“VVAYYYNNNNEEEEEEEEE!”
“CCCHHAAMMPPPIIOONNNNSSS!”
“TTAAANNNGGGG TANNGGGGG!”
“WWOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
“OH MY GOD WE’RE WINNING!”

Back on stage, Lin Feng was patting himself on the shoulder and said over the team’s voice chat, “That was a great teleport gank by me! I timed that perfectly!”

An Xin rolled her eyes and replied, “Right. Because this was all you, and not at all Tang Tang who made the engage and got the angle for the Condemn. Also, don’t think I didn’t see you trying to steal Tang Tang’s kill!”

“Oh, uh…” Lin Feng scratched the back of his head and grinned foolishly. Then he said, “Right! Shall we take the tower as well?”

An Xin shook her head and said, “Let’s not. No need to rush this. Tang Tang and I are going to farm Shanghai High School’s bot lane for a couple more kills. Isn’t that right, Tang Tang?”

I got the kill! I got the kill! Tang Bingyao was still cheering herself on when An Xin called out to her. She almost didn’t hear it. But then she looked away from her screen and noticed the audience standing up on their feet and cheering for her. Her heart started racing, her chest was heaving up and down. I did it! I really did it! A wave of euphoria washed over her. I am good! This is how I’m supposed to play! She heard An Xin calling out her name again and looked over at her friend. “Uhh, right,” she said. “The tower, right? Mhm. Let’s leave it up.” Just one kill isn’t enough. I need to carry this game! I want to carry this game! I’ll show them how good I am!

✹

At 6 minutes, three different things happened in the fourth game of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament Finals. Shanghai High School’s Lee Sin was ganking the top lane, Liu Yue’s Jarvan IV was ganking the mid lane, and Tang Bingyao was finally getting into the series in the bot lane. She stopped tilting and started showing just how good of a player she really was.

In the top lane, Chen Ze’s Irelia was pushing the minion wave towards Shanghai High School’s tower. He was trying very hard to make the Gragas miss out on minions and fall behind in terms of creep score. But this also left him vulnerable to ganks, and more importantly, to the Gragas’ ultimate skill. Right as Chen Ze’s Irelia pushed the minions into Shanghai High School’s tower range, Gragas hurled his cask at her. The Explosive Cask exploded behind her, the resulting force knocking her underneath the Red team’s outer tower while also dealing a lot of magic damage.

Shanghai High School’s Lee Sin ran out of the Jungle and into the top lane. He placed a ward next to the Irelia and hopped towards it–Safeguard! Then he combined his skills to deal as much damage to the Irelia. He first used Tempest, slamming his fists down on the ground and slowing the Irelia with Cripple. He followed up with Sonic Wave, locating the Irelia so that he could dash after her if she chose to Flash away. But it never got that far. The Gragas Body Slammed into the Irelia and the outer tower fired an energy shot which killed the Irelia.

《You have been slain!》

In the mid lane, Lin Feng was having a great time on his Lulu. Shanghai High School’s Yasuo was finding it increasingly difficult to even get out into the lane. He only got to farm minions when Lin Feng was somewhere else entirely. So Lin Feng walked towards the river, pretending to go and help Chen Ze’s Irelia in the top lane. But when he was sure that the Yasuo didn’t have vision on him anymore, he turned back around and hid in the brush next to the lane, waiting for the Yasuo to push forward. Oh! This Yasuo is so greedy.

Lin Feng waited a little longer until the Yasuo walked out into the middle of the lane. Then Lin Feng’s Lulu ran back into lane. She flashed towards the Yasuo, arriving next to him, and used her ultimate skill on herself. She rapidly grew several times in size, knocking the Yasuo Airborne–Wild Growth!

Liu Yue’s Jarvan IV came running out of the brush below the mid lane. He flag-tossed onto the Yasuo, effectively extending the knock up. Then he auto-attacked the Yasuo with Lulu’s Pixie hovering over his shoulder, aiding his attacks. The Yasuo landed back on the ground and tried to get away. But Lin Feng’s Lulu and Liu Yue’s Jarvan IV dealt too much damage. Lulu finished the Yasuo off with her magical Glitterlance.

《You have slain an enemy!》

In the bot lane, after picking up first blood, Tang Bingyao was finding her old, aggressive self again. She saw an opening and exploited it, landing an auto attack on Zeng Rui’s Leona. She followed up with another auto attack, two silver rings appearing underneath the Leona. Then she Tumbled to the side, dodging Leona’s Zenith Blade, and fired a third auto attack. The three rings around the Leona exploded and dealt true damage.

In this entire exchange, Shanghai High School’s Kalista didn’t do anything. She’d been too far away, which was the opening that Tang Bingyao had spotted. But the Kalista had arrived and threw a fast moving spear at the Vayne–Pierce! Tang Bingyao, however, had seen this attack coming from a mile away. She evaded it with great ease. All the while, never missing a single last hit on the minions.

Zeng Rui gritted his teeth, seething. What the fuck is going on? Were they just toying with us? Why is she playing so much better than before? This isn’t just a difference of Support! What’s going on? He looked across the stage at Tang Bingyao, who was completely focused on the screen in front of her. She isn’t laughing like the thundering dumbass and that coach-Jungler-Support-whatever… Could this really be how good she was the whole time? Was she just really tilted? “Shit,” he mumbled under his breath. It can’t go on like this. We’re losing the mid lane again. If we also lose bot, then that’s game. We’ll lose the finals…

✹

At 7:30 minutes, Tang Bingyao’s Vayne was the first Champion in the bot lane to reach Level 6. Zeng Rui knew they had to do something to keep her down, like they’d done last game. “We’re going in!” he said over his team’s voice chat while pressing the E key–Zenith Blade! His Leona projected a solar image of her sword towards the Nami. When the image faded, the Nami was briefly immobilized and the Leona dashed towards her.

Shanghai High School’s Lee Sin ran into the bot lane from High School 13’s side of the Jungle. He threw out a Sonic Wave that connected with the Vayne. Then he used the second half of this skill, called Resonating Strike, to dash towards her. But right as he hit her, she disappeared.

A dark aura wrapped around the Vayne as she activated her ultimate. Then she Tumbled and disappeared! The Lee Sin slammed his fists on the ground, revealing all that couldn’t be seen by the eye–Tempest! The Vayne reappeared right in front of him, with her large crossbow aimed squarely at his face. Behind him was a large boulder. Before Lee Sin could even start contemplating his next move, a large bolt pierced him and pinned him to said boulder. Another auto attack hit him, a second silver ring appearing around him.

An Xin’s Nami broke free from Zeng Rui’s Leona. She rushed over towards the Vayne and threw an Aqua Prison at the Lee Sin. The bubble arced through the air and landed right on top of the Lee Sin at the exact moment that the stun from Condemn wore off. He was lifted off the ground again, this time suspended within a bubble! Another silver bolt hit him. A third silver ring appeared around him and set off an explosion of true damage!

The audience couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Conversations, discussions and arguments broke out between all of the High School 13 students in the audience! Some of them didn’t understand why this change was even necessary. They argued and yelled at the stage about how perfectly in-sync An Xin and Lin Feng were during Game 3 of the Finals. Others yelled about how the two of them made Shanghai High School, who were the favourites for the title, look like beginners. But most of them were just upset by the change and nervous. They looked at each other and talked about how High School 13 only needed one more game to win the whole tournament! They wanted someone to explain what was happening, and none of them could. They moaned about how they thought they were going to be the Champions of Shanghai at the end of the last game! 

The change agitated High School 13’s students because they were already picturing the trophy sitting in their school’s trophy cabinet! But right as they started to taste victory, the esports team threw a curveball at them. The magical Mid-Jungle duo had been broken up! An Xin left the Jungle to Liu Yue and decided to hook up with Tang Bingyao as a Support in the bot lane.

“Crazy? Or crazy GOOD? Maybe she’s an even better Support!”
“Calling it right now! Best Support China! Go Nami, gooooooo!”
“Show us that girl prowess! Guys have nothing on us! GIRLS WILL RULE THE WORLD!”
“Oh my sweet lord, this is sooooooo exciting!”

Shanghai High School was just as surprised as High School 13’s students. The team members had watched Zeng Rui struggle for the last half of the previous game and also during the subsequent break. Zeng Rui had looked lost, as if for the first time ever he didn’t have the answer. He couldn’t come up with a strategy to beat the Mid-Jungle pair of Lin Feng and An Xin. And they’d worried with him. They came to him with suggestions, which he wouldn’t even listen to. But they still tried to help him. They wanted to do anything they could to help their team captain. But now they didn’t need to worry about that anymore. High School 13 brought them the solution by changing strategy. They leaned back in their chairs, smiling, relaxed.

Zeng Rui, on the other hand, didn’t share the optimism of his teammates. Something’s wrong. What is she doing? He looked across the stage at High School 13’s team. And at An Xin. Why do I have this feeling again? Last game was the same and then… He shook his head and tried to rid that thought from his mind. Last game is played. I need to focus on this game. If she wants to compete with me for Support, I’ll… I’ll just… He grinned and said over the team’s voice chat, “We’re going to win this one. I’ll show her exactly how good of a Support I am.” I’m going to beat her!

Westwind sat at the caster desk, dead silent. It looked like he’d left his tongue in the breakroom as he was staring at the large screen above the stage. They didn’t just change their lineup, they also changed their strategy. He finally looked over at Silent Reed who was sitting next to him and nodded. Then he grabbed his microphone and said, “Looks like High School 13 has a different plan in mind for this game. What do you make of this, Reed?”

“It’s interesting. Very interesting,” Silent Reed replied. “Honestly? I don’t get it. They were so good last game. They looked unbeatable! And now they change everything. Lin Feng, who is by far their best player, even picked Lulu! Lulu is a Support Champion! She is the defensive choice in mid lane when you’re afraid your team is going to lose! He’s so much better than Shanghai High School’s Midlaner. Why is High School 13 doing this?

Silent Reed knew the answer to her question perfectly well. She was merely creating a dialogue, something for the audience to latch onto. She winked at Westwind, who grinned and answered, “I think it’s pretty obvious what they’re going for! They’re building a team around the Vayne! She basically has two Supports now! You know what we call this? The ‘Protect-the-ad-carry’!”

Silent Reed shook her head and said, “I believe you, but… Ok, listen up here. Don’t get me wrong. I really want the girl playing Vayne to do well. I really do. But if today’s games are anything to go by… I mean, it’s just… It looks like a bad choice by High School 13. Maybe they got a little overconfident after the ease with which they won the previous game.”

Westwind nodded and said, “Yeah! Totally agree with you! I hope for High School 13’s sake that this decision isn’t going to bite them in the ass. Don’t forget, this is the Finals of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament! You wanna use your best lineup right now! If you wanna try something new, you do it in a practice game!” He shook his head a couple of times before continuing, “Anyway, the Champions are locked in. Let’s give it up for both teams one final time before we get into the game. Wooooo! High School 13!” He waited a moment to let the High School 13 fans cheer before shouting, “Wooooo! Shanghai High School!”

✹

Tang Bingyao, the girl at the center of all the upheaval, was not at all convinced of An Xin’s gameplan. I lost us the second game. And if it wasn’t for Lin Feng and An Xin, we would’ve also lost the first and third game. I’m feeding! I’m playing terribly! They shouldn’t trust me. We can win this. They can carry us to a win! Why don’t they just do that? I just… I don’t want to feed! They were on the loading screen. There was no going back and reassessing their strategy. Tang Bingyao knew this, but she still couldn’t keep herself from asking over the team’s voice chat, “B-BunBun, are you really sure about this? Y-you’ve seen the last three games. I… I…” She  lowered her head and sulked. I don’t want to play Vayne and I don’t want to keep feeding and I just want this Finals to end. I want to go home, mhm. I just want to… I don’t know. I don’t know. Just let this end and let me forget it! I—

Tang Bingyao jerked her head up in surprise as she felt a hand touch her shoulder. She looked up at An Xin, who was sitting next to her, and found the girl smiling at her. Tang Bingyao bit on her lips and wanted to say that she couldn’t do it, but there was something in An Xin’s eyes that kept her from doing that. She looks so confident. How can she be confident after everything that’s happened? She knows how I’ve been playing. Zeng Rui is just too good. I still need to practice more. Just let me practice some mor—

“Don’t worry. You have me! You saw it last night, right? I’m a pretty good Support,” An Xin said. Then she leaned in closer and whispered in Tang Bingyao’s ears, “Plus, we can’t have you embarrass yourself in front of Lin Feng, now can we?”

“N-no! You—” Tang Bingyao’s eyes went wide. She felt a stone drop to the pit of her stomach. Her heart nearly leaped out of her chest. She knows! S-she knows! H-how? She looked over to her side, where Lin Feng sat. He was staring at his screen, mouthing something. H-he didn’t hear her… Please, please! Tell me you didn’t hear her! She swallowed and turned back to look at An Xin. “P-please, don’t say…”

An Xin placed a finger over her lips and shook her head, as if saying, “I won’t tell a soul.” Then she winked at Tang Bingyao and said, “Try your best! I know how good you are, and I know I’m not asking too much of you. Now carry us to that trophy!”

✹

《Welcome to Summoner’s Rift!》

High School 13 and Shanghai High School loaded onto the Rift. They bought their starter items at the fountain shop and moved down the lanes. Both teams were happy to open with a normal start to the game; there were no lane swaps nor any jungle invades. The minion waves spawned from the Blue and Red nexuses and marched down the lanes.

Zeng Rui was playing Leona, a strong defensive Champion. She used her large healthpool to apply pressure on Tang Bingyao’s Vayne and An Xin’s Nami, allowing Shanghai High School’s Kalista an easier time last hitting minions. This is going well. That girl is a good support. But not that good. I can handle her. He glanced at the Vayne, but then quickly looked back at the Nami. The Vayne is still the same. She won’t be much to worry about. I need to focus on the Nami.

The new match up in the bot lane led to both teams playing defensively. The Botlaners focused on farming minions and were very carefully feeling the other side out, searching for openings to land some poke damage. The mid and top lane, on the other hand, saw a lot more action.

In the mid lane, Lin Feng’s Lulu was dominating the Yasuo. Lin Feng was a far better player and Yasuo generally had a difficult early laning phase against casters. Lin Feng’s Lulu waved her wand around, firing off magic bolts of energy at the Yasuo. She didn’t have much in terms of burst damage, but the constant damage from her ranged auto attacks stacked up. Yasuo was forced away from the minions and missed out on last hitting them. Then he was forced back to hide underneath his tower. And finally Lin Feng’s Lulu forced him to recall back to base.

In the top lane, the Junglers of both teams were looking to make a gank happen. This evolved into a 2vs2 skirmish. Liu Yue’s Jarvan IV and Chen Ze’s Irelia were fighting against Shanghai High School’s Lee Sin and Gragas. Shanghai High School was the more experienced side, while Liu Yue and Chen Ze couldn’t seem to agree on which Champion to attack, Shanghai High School focused down Chen Ze’s Irelia. He was forced to Flash away. Liu Yue flashed right behind him, but not before forcing Shanghai High School’s Lee Sin to also Flash away. In the end, Chen Ze’s Irelia had to recall back to base, while the Gragas could stay in lane. He got to free farm a full wave of minions, picking up the gold and experience, while the Irelia missed out on it.

Back in the bot lane, everything was still even. The minion wave was frozen in the middle of the lane, right below the river entrance. Both ad-carries, Tang Bingyao’s Vayne and Shanghai High School’s Kalista, were almost even in creep score and there also wasn’t much of a difference in terms of health. But even though she was doing well right now, Tang Bingyao wasn’t feeling good. H-how much does An Xin know? Will she really not tell Lin Feng? Did she already tell him? She glanced at Lin Feng, who was laser-focused on his screen. He doesn’t know… Does he? She pulled her eyes away from him and focused back on her screen. I can’t worry about this now. Mhm! I have to focus on the game. Like Lin Feng! But… What if he knows? W-what will he think? She shook her head and tightly clutched her mouse. Stop this! Stop this! Focus on the game! The game!

Tang Bingyao’s Vayne last hit another minion. She was lining up for the next one, finding a better frame of mind. And then it was all gone again. She remembered what An Xin had said to her. “We can’t have you embarrass yourself in front of Lin Feng, now can we?” Her breathing became flustered. H-how does she know? Did Ren Rou tell her… She looked over the edge of her screen at Ren Rou sitting in the audience. She wouldn’t do that, would she? No. No. Stop this! Stop this, Tang Bingyao! She breathed out sharply and focused back on her screen. Mhm. BunBun is right. I don’t want to embarrass myself in front of Lin Feng. Lin Feng… She thought back to everything he’d told her since they first met. She remembered his kind words full of passion and energy. He’s always believed in me. He keeps saying how good I am… She started smiling, finding it suddenly very easy to focus on the game. His words rang out in her mind.

“You’re an amazing ad-carry!” 

“Join my team! If we’re teammates, I’ll always have time for you!” 

“Since you don’t have a dream, I’ll lend you mine! You can keep it for as long as you want! No need to thank me!”

Tang Bingyao felt all tension escape from her body. Her grip on her mouse loosened and she started breathing in long, calm breaths. She looked over at Lin Feng and felt her smile grow a little wider. I… I’m going to impress you! I won’t ever disappoint you again! I’ll show you I can be the best ad-carry in the world! For you, I want to become the best ad-carry in the world! That’s my dream. Mhm!

Tang Bingyao’s Vayne was almost Level 3. She attacked a caster minion. Shanghai High School was still Level 2. Every small advantage was one. She landed a third auto attack on the caster minion. The three silver rings underneath it detonated and killed it. Almost immediately, she heard An Xin’s voice over the team’s voice chat, “Tang Tang, go in!” She nodded. “Mhm!”

“WOOT WOOT! The championship is ours! WOOT WOOT!”
“YEAAAHHHH! Sing with me, bros! CRUSH! Crush every enemy! AND SEAL! Seal our victory!”
“Good job! You guys were all amazing! I’m so happy!”
“That was a great game! BunBun and Lin Feng’s perfect synergy carried us to the win. We might actually win this thing! We’re going to be the Champions of Shanghai!”

Liu Yue, Yang Fan, and Ren Rou were rooting for High School 13 to win, while Ouyang cupped his hands around his mouth and sang a victory song. High School 13’s students in the audience fell silent, listening to the two team members and looking at the victory crest on the large screens above the stage. The last hints of anxiety and fear that their club was going to eventually screw up disappeared and was replaced with boundless joy. Lin Feng and An Xin had done it! The magic couple had not only won Game 3 in the Finals and brought High School 13 to championship point, they’d also torn Shanghai High School apart at the seams! They left nothing of them whole!

“WE WON! We’re going to win! We’re going to win!”
“Hahaha! With Lin Feng and An Xin, no one can beat us!”
“Look at Zeng Rui! Just look at him! We’ve won! Hahaha!”
“He looks like he saw a ghost! Man, he must be feeling shitty!”
“Lin Feng and An Xin are our magic League couple! WOOT WOOT!”
“CRUSH THE ENEMY! SEAL OUR VICTORY! Let’s fucking goooooo!”

✹

Shanghai High School’s team retreated backstage after Game 3. But even here they could still hear the audience, a thousand voices booming in their ears. They could even feel the floor shaking from the audience jumping up and down. Zeng Rui looked at his teammates and said, “I need some silence. I need to think.” Never in his wildest dream did he expect to find himself in this position. We’re losing. We’re going to lose! I’m losing to that thundering dumbass! How can this…

Zeng Rui shook his head until all distracting thoughts were gone. He sat down on a fold-up chair. Then he placed his elbows on his knees and rested his head on his hands. Think. Think! He rubbed his temples, focusing only on the game ahead of him. The external stimuli disappeared. His teammates disappeared. 

Zeng Rui found himself in a dark space with only himself. How did it get to this? I need to think of something to deal with those two… But we dragged out the previous game just so I could think of how to deal with them. I couldn’t think of anything! I always know how to win. There is always a way! How are they… What are they… His head was throbbing and his eyes were bloodshot. He could hear his teammates talking again and the faint sound of the audience in the background, but he ignored them. He grabbed his phone and started searching the internet. I need to find something. Maybe if I… He didn’t even know what search terms to put in, or where to look. He sighed and put his phone back in his pocket. We can’t deal with them. I can’t deal with them. They’re too good together. How are they so good?

A tournament official walked up to Shanghai High School’s team and informed them that the next game was about to begin and that they had to go back up on stage. Zeng Rui nodded and looked past the official. He saw the audience roaring and cheering outside. He didn’t want to go and he could tell his teammates didn’t want to go out there either. But they had little choice. Zeng Rui took two deep breaths, then raised his head and looked at his teammates. “We’re not giving up. This next game is ours. I’ll tell you guys how once we start playing. Let’s get back to the computers.” I still have time. Walk slowly to the stage. Take our time in Champion Select. There’s still time to think of something. There must be something we can do, right…?

✹

The mood in High School 13’s team was completely different from Shanghai High School’s. They were little balls of excitement and nerves. They were so proud of what they’d achieved so far, while also being extremely nervous about the next game. Everything they’d been working so hard for these last two months was winding down to the final moments. They were one game away from winning the Shanghai 16 School Tournament! This was their Championship point! Their hearts were pounding in their throats. Beads of sweat were forming on their foreheads. And their hands were trembling.

Chen Ze looked over at Lin Feng and said, “Those Ahri plays though. You madman. That was awesome!”

Lin Feng laughed and pounded his chest. “I know, right! I’m really good at Ahri too!”

“Hey Hey!” Wei Dong interrupted. “Don’t forget about BunBun! Her Lee Sin basically won us that game single-handedly!”

Chen Ze waved his finger at Wei Dong and shouted, “Right! BunBun was the madwoman! We need a female Lee skin just for her! She was like a pro up there! That was double awesome!”

An Xin shook her head, smiling, and said, “We all did great. It was a team effort. And Lin Feng, learn some modesty, or else…” She raised her fist and reminded him of only last night when she’d punched him in the face.

Lin Feng, however, didn’t make the connection between the fist and last night. But he did know what An Xin wanted to hear. He laughed and said, “Ok ok, team effort. It was definitely a team effort!”

Tang Bingyao looked at her four teammates laughing together. She watched Lin Feng and An Xin starting off another one of their little arguments, the murder smile already creeping up on An Xin’s face. Tang Bingyao chewed on the inside of her cheeks and zoned her friends out and let the other sounds in. The cheering audience hit her in full force. They were chanting For High School 13. For An Xin. For Lin Feng. Not for me. I screwed up. I don’t deserve any compliments… I should’ve… If I didn’t try and force a play, maybe… She shook her head and tried to drown out the audience.

After the audience was gone, her teammates’ conversation entered her ears again. Tang Bingyao stared at the ground. “Lin Feng, you’re so good! And you were also great, BunBun! The best!” These were the words of Tang Bingyao’s friends. None of these compliments were directed towards her. I don’t deserve any. She chewed harder on the inside of her cheeks, stamping her foot on the ground and blinking away a tear. Why can’t I. I… Maybe if I’d done something different? Am I not good— No! She shook her head, banishing that last thought from her mind.

Maybe Lin Feng could cheer me up… Tang Bingyao looked wistfully at Lin Feng. He was sitting next to An Xin, their faces awfully close together. She frowned and her eyes felt moist. I can’t be with him. She’s his. They’re so good together. It only makes sense. Tang Bingyao felt her chest physically hurting as those last thoughts appeared. Then came the memories she had of the times she’d seen Lin Feng and An Xin together.

The first time An Xin arrived in class… Why did she have to come to our school?
Last night, after the Semifinals, when they went home together. Why didn’t he invite me to his place?
Later last night, when they were streaming together. They looked so happy… Everyone was saying what a great couple they were… 

Tang Bingyao wiped her eyes dry, and then her cheeks. Why am I crying? What do I care what he does with his life? It’s not my life. She’d long forgotten about the game and her disappointing performance. She was upset about that, no doubt. But seeing Lin Feng happy with An Xin hurt far more! I don’t want to care. I don’t care! He can do whatever he wants! Mhm! She looked up and saw An Xin looking at her. Tang Bingyao’s eyes went wide. Did… Did she see me cry?

An Xin saw the pain on Tang Bingyao’s face. It was the same pain she’d seen the night before. You poor girl… She took a deep breath and then waved for Tang Bingyao to come over. “Tang Tang. Come, join us. The fourth game is about to begin and we need to go over our game plan again. I made a couple of changes. I think you might like them.”

Lin Feng turned to look at An Xin and said, “Changes? Why not stay with the same comp as last game? Our Mid-Jungle synergy is the best! We’ll wreck them and win that trophy!”

“Yeah! Let’s go with the same team composition as last game! Shanghai High School couldn’t do anything against us!” Wei Dong said, grinning.

“Right! Do you two have more deadly combos like the Ahri-Lee Sin one? I want to see something like that again! Madman and madwoman tearing the game up! Come on, come on, show us!” Chen Ze said with a big, carefree grin.

“Shut up. I’m the coach,” An Xin said sternly. Wei Dong and Chen Ze closed their mouths. Lin Feng tried to complain some more, but was quickly shut down. “We’re going for another substitution this game,” An Xin said. She turned to look at Wei Dong and continued, “You’re sitting out. I’ll play Support and we’ll have Liu Yue back in the Jungle.”

“Oh, uh… sure,” Wei Dong mumbled. He got up from his seat and waved over towards Liu Yue, then halted. He turned back to look at An Xin and asked, “BunBun, are you sure about this? You and Lin Feng were so good together… I really want to win  this tournament, you know…”

“Yeah! See? They also want to see us play together!” Lin Feng exclaimed. “Just stay in the Jungle! You can always play some duo queue later with Tang Tang if you really want to Support her!”

An Xin glared at Lin Feng and asked, clearly articulating every word, “Are you the coach, or am I? I am, right? Ok. So shut up.” She then turned to look at Tang Bingyao and smiled. “Tang Tang, let’s kick some ass together! Show everyone that two girls can beat eight guys.” Then she winked.

“Eight? W—” Lin Feng barely got one word out when An Xin glared at him. He ducked away and knew that An Xin was serious now, so he kept his mouth shut.

Tang Bingyao sat in her chair, stunned. Why does she want to come down to bot lane and be my Support… Is it to babysit me? Is she worried I’ll feed again? She finally nodded and said, “Oh… Okay.” But she’s really good at jungling… She looked up at An Xin and said in a near whisper, “Are you sure you want to come Support? I think it’d be easier for you to carry us in the Jungle. I mean, I’ve lost bot three times now and we’ve still won… Maybe just stay in the Jungle and carry us from there.”

“Oh, please! You didn’t lose. You were just in a hard lane and you kept it at least even! Don’t worry about it. I’m coming to Support you and that’s that,” An Xin said, leaving no room for discussion. She hesitated a moment before adding, “Don’t misunderstand me here. This is a serious strategy, and I play a pretty mean Support. Anyway, what do you say? Shall we show these boys how much better we are?”

“I don’t get it. Your Jungle is way better. Why would you go Support…?” Lin Feng muttered.

An Xin smiled at Lin Feng, balling her fists, and asked, “You’re really testing my patience. I’ll punch you in the face and then I’ll kick you in your balls if you don’t shut up and do as I say. I’m the coach, not you! If I say you jump off a bridge, I better see you jumping!”

✹

Shanghai High School’s team walked back up on the stage and sat down behind their computers again. A tournament official walked over and whispered something into Zeng Rui’s ear. He looked over at High School 13’s team and spotted the change. They had made another substitution. Their coach was now Support and their original Jungler was back in the Jungle. He gritted his teeth and mumbled to himself, “What’s she doing? What is her strategy? Is she just trying to mock me? Trying to get to me? Is that how she wants to beat me?”

“Uh, Captain?” a Shanghai High School teammate asked over the team’s voice chat.

Zeng Rui looked up and nodded at his teammates. Then he said over the team’s voice chat, “I don’t know what those guys are up to. They made another substitution… Whatever. It doesn’t matter. We’re sticking to our strategy as planned. There’s no value in throwing things around now. Let’s ban LeBlanc, Fizz, and Ahri.”

The Champion Select went fast. High School 13 was playing on the Blue Team, while Shanghai High School was on the Red Team. They banned the Champions they didn’t want to play against and picked the ones that fit their team compositions. Then the game went into the loading screen, allowing the audience to see the final line up for Game 4 of the Finals.

Game 4 of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament Finals:

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

Top lane: Irelia versus Gragas
Jungle: Jarvan IV versus Lee Sin
Mid lane: Lulu versus Yasuo
AD-carry: Vayne versus Kalista
Support: Nami versus Leona

High School 13’s substitution was not announced to the audience yet. Some had noticed the line up change, but they weren’t sure what that meant. Then came the loading screen and they could see what changed. An Xin’s name was underneath the Nami’s portrait, while Liu Yue was playing Jarvan IV in the Jungle.

“OH MY GOD! She’s going Support! She’s going Support!”
“Coach, Jungler, and Support? What is she? A Queen of All Trades?”
“An all girl bot lane! ALL GIRL BOT LANE! Show us that GIRL POWEERRRRRRRR!”

《Your team has destroyed a turret!》

At 13 minutes, Lin Feng and An Xin had destroyed Shanghai High School’s outer tower in the mid lane, while Shanghai High School had killed Tang Bingyao’s Vayne. Both sides looked towards the Dragon. Lin Feng was the first to walk down the river towards the Dragon pit, with An Xin following right behind him. They dropped down wards near the river entrances to guard against any potential flanks from Shanghai High School.

Zeng Rui also decided to head for the Dragon pit. He said over the team’s voice chat, “Stop them at Dragon.” After which he had his Nami move up into the river. The Jinx and Elise followed right behind him, all three of them dropping down wards where they could. Zeng Rui didn’t feel like getting blindsided again and kept hammering on the need for more wards. They arrived at the Dragon pit at the same time as Lin Feng and An Xin. Both teams started firing off skillshots at each other, looking for an opening or a play.

“This’ll be interesting!” Westwind’s voice boomed through the venue. “Shanghai High School is the stronger team right now. 3vs2 and all! No way that Zeng Rui is going to give the Dragon to High School 13! Look at how they’re only using poking abilities. They’re saving all their crowd control for the engage.”

Silent Reed nodded and said, “This is going to be a feisty one! Fireworks and the whole shabingle! But they’re patient. Shanghai High School is waiting for the Syndra to finally arrive! That’s also giving High School 13’s Vayne the time to respawn and join the fight again! It’s just… That Vayne is in a pretty bad spot right now. She must be feeling terrible.”

Shanghai High School had a lot going for them in terms of kills and item advantages, especially between ad-carries. But it wasn’t all good news for them. Jinx and Syndra, their two main damage carries, didn’t have Flash available. They had to play a lot more carefully, because one misstep was it for them. So they sat in the back, hiding far behind their Darius and Elise, and waited for an angle to dash out some damage.

At 13:50 minutes, all hell broke loose. High School 13 had retreated back into their own Jungle near the Blue Buff Camp. They played around with the vision there, trying to land skillshots that Shanghai High School didn’t see coming. An Xin finally fired off a Sonic Wave that connected with Shanghai High School’s Elise. A pair of eyes and a half moon appeared above the Elise, covered in a blue radiance. Lee Sin knew exactly where his target was. He could dash towards her and attack!

Lin Feng was getting bored with playing it safe. So, when An Xin hit the Sonic Wave, he shot up straight in his chair and shouted over the team’s voice chat, “Nice! Awesome! Go in! GoGoGoGO!”

“I’m not deaf! Stop shouting in my ears!” An Xin shouted. One, she didn’t need her ears blown off by Lin Feng. And two, she didn’t need Lin Feng telling her to go in. She knew that perfectly well herself. She pressed down on the Q key to activate the second half of her skill–Resonating Strike! The Lee Sin dashed towards the Elise. Then he placed a ward behind the Elise and hopped towards it–Safeguard! He was right in front of the Jinx, who didn’t have her Flash available. But he did. He blinked past her, turned around, and sent her flying towards High School 13’s team with a roundhouse kick–Dragon’s Rage!

“YEEEEEEEKUUUUUUUUUUUUH!” Lee Sin’s voice boomed out from the speakers in the venue, quickly followed by the deafening cheers of the audience. It all happened so fast! One moment the two teams were trying to get some poke in on each other. The next, Jinx was flying over towards High School 13’s team!

“Nice! We got her! Gimme the kill! Gimme gimme gimme!” Lin Feng exclaimed as he pressed down on his R key–Spirit Dash! His Ahri jumped forward, firing off an essence bolt at the Jinx who was still in midair. Then she aimed her Charm at the Jinx. Charmed! The Jinx was infatuated with the Ahri and started slowly ambling towards her like a love struck puppy. The Ahri activated her remaining two skills, Orb of Deception and Fox-Fire. The orb that Ahri always carried with her flew through the Jinx and then back again, while three Fox-Fires shot towards the Jinx and burned away what little remained of her health.

《You have slain an enemy!》

Shanghai High School lost their main carry before the fight had even started! This was a massive blow to team morale! Worse even, the Darius had flashed forward to try and stop the Ahri. But not only did he fail to stop her, his Flash was also completely wasted. Ahri’s ultimate skill had three charges. She used one to get close to the Jinx, and the other two to run away from the Darius. Shanghai High School’s Toplaner was cursing relentlessly at himself. He was so far out of position that his team couldn’t help him. High School 13’s Dr. Mundo was hurling cleavers at him, while Vayne started firing off silver bolts.

The fight started at the Jungle entrance near the Red Team’s Blue Buff Camp. It was a funnel point that Shanghai High School was afraid to step into. The Syndra moved forward, intending to help her team, but a Death Sentence came flying at her from the fog of war. By the time she saw it, she was already hooked. Shanghai High School’s Midlaner followed the example of their Toplaner and started cursing over the team’s voice chat.

Zeng Rui shouted over the team’s voice chat, “Quiet and focus! Wait for my call to retreat.” Then he pressed down on the R key in an attempt to give his teammates a way out–Tidal Wave! His Nami called forth a wave that surged through the funnel, knocking four High School 13 champions up into the air! Then she threw an Aqua Prison towards the fifth player before turning around and running away. Zeng Rui ordered over the team’s voice chat, “Now. Retreat!”

The Elise followed closely behind the Nami and got away from High School 13. But the Syndra was still hooked by the Thresh and Darius was slowed by Dr. Mundo’s cleavers. Neither was able to get away with their lives. Their screens turned grey and their Champions were sent back to the fountain. The teamfight was a resounding victory for High School 13, which was made even sweeter when they took the Dragon on the back of it. The first Dragon Buff granted bonus attack damage and ability power. High School 13 had turned their fortune in the span of one teamfight. They went from falling behind to being back in the driver’s seat!

Westwind shot up from his seat and shouted out, “OH MY! Beautiful! That was absolutely stunning! STUNNING!” Then he moved his microphone to just above the caster desk. He raised his hand and then smacked it down as hard as he could. The microphone picked up the impact sound and sent it booming through the speakers in the venue, silencing the audience. He smiled and continued, “This wasn’t a High School 13 win. It wasn’t! This was a Mid-Jungle win! That Ahri and Lee Sin are so good together! It’s like they can read each other’s minds! Their synergy is definitely over 9000!”

Silent Reed asked, “How many times is this now? Three? Four? I hope we get to see more of them. I’ll never get bored of watching those two play. They’re so good together…”

“Fourth. Must be the fourth time already! It’s insane!” Westwind replied. He shook his head and continued, “They’re such a scary combo. Shit. That Lee Sin and Ahri are like a match made in Heaven! The best of the best! You can call them high schoolers all you want, but they look better than most professional players! Watch my words, those two are going to make it big! I’ll eat my shoes if they’re not going pro!”

Westwind and Silent Reed were saying what everyone else was thinking. From first time League of Legends viewers to professional players and coaches, they all agreed that the way Lin Feng and An Xin were playing together was something special. Coaches from all the different professional teams were looking at their lineups and seeing how they could fit these two monster talents in. Because the way that Lin Feng and An Xin picked off the Jinx was a work of art, something that belonged in the LPL. They belonged in the LPL.

Zeng Rui sat back in his chair, frowning. This game was entirely outside even his wildest predictions and expectations. I screwed up. My calculations are off. I didn’t expect the thundering dumbass to be so good. I didn’t expect that dumb coach to be so good. But we can work around that. I just don’t know how to work around them when they’re playing together. How do you stop… that? Shit! How are they this good? It’s ridiculous! That’s what it is! Just… how?

Zeng Rui shook his head, his brain functioning at a hundred and twenty per cent. He had to come up with a method to deal with the Ahri and Lee Sin. Those two were too strong together. Dammit! They knew this. They knew! That Ahri is fed, she can blow up whoever she wants and the Lee Sin just helps with the engage! We can’t win a fight right now… He let out a deep, long sigh. And we’ll lose the late game as well. When all champions are Level 18 and have five or six items, Dr. Mundo and Vayne are better than Darius and Jinx. Now or late game, it doesn’t matter. They prepared for every perceivable situation and are now just bringing this win home. Did she really think all of this out? Shit! She’s scary.

Once Zeng Rui understood that the game was lost, he got very practical. He told his teammates it was over, and that they were going to drag it out for as long as they could, so that he could review their approach for the next game and double and triple check whether they needed to make any last minute changes. I really dislike making last minute changes. But I might have to. I can’t be stubborn and refuse to see the problems. Something has to give, or we’re losing the next game as well. Damn it. We lost. We lost again. Shit!

Tang Bingyao and Chen Ze never got the chance to build the items they needed to become a threat in this game. Lin Feng and An Xin carried High School 13 to a win long before that. At 29 minutes, they forced another teamfight and aced Shanghai High School. Then they killed Baron Nashor and recalled back to base to spend their gold. A minute later, they were storming down the mid lane and besieged Shanghai High School’s base. The siege lasted exactly 20 seconds, when An Xin’s Lee Sin landed another vital Sonic Wave. The resulting teamfight was a one-sided stomp. High School 13 lost one champion while acing Shanghai High School for a second time. Then they destroyed the inhibitor tower, the inhibitor, the nexus towers, and finally the Nexus. A red victory crest floated up over the screen.

VICTORY

“WOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Westwind cried out into his microphone. “HIGH SCHOOL 13 HAS DONE IT FOR A SECOND TIME! They’re up 2-1 in the Finals of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament! One more win! One more win is all they need to win the whole tournament! Who would’ve thought? No one, right?” He chuckled before continuing, “But here we are. MATCH POINT FOR HIGH SCHOOL 13, WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

Silent Reed was on her feet as well and shouted, “AMAZING! Beautiful! What a game by them! What a game by Lin Feng and An Xin! They carried this game so hard! They’re really something special together. Oh Em G. That was so impressive!”

The audience was up on their feet, jumping and shouting for the two players of the match. Lin Feng and An Xin’s performance was so good that the rest of High School 13’s team might as well not have been there! No one noticed the stunned expressions of Wei Dong and Chen Ze as they stared at the victory screen, deeply impressed by Lin Feng and An Xin. Nor did anyone notice Tang Bingyao bordering on the verge of tears. The audience only cared about Lin Feng and An Xin right now!

“WIN FENG! WIN FENG!”
“AN WINS! AN WINS!”
“BEST LEAGUE COUPLE EVER!”
“WOOOOOOOOO!”
“AHHHHHH! Those two are soooooooo good!”
“Are we up? Are we really winning? Tell me, are we winning? Am I seeing this right? Ohhhh!”
“Hahaha! No more losers! High School 13 is finally good for something thanks to Lin Feng and An Xin! You two are the best! WHAAAAAAA!”

“WOOOO! What a level of play! Phenomenal teamplay by both sides!” Westwind shouted into his microphone. He looked out at the audience and then back at the screen above the stage. “Now, some of you might not play that much League, so let Reed and me give you all a little insight into just how good this game is!” He turned to Silent Reed and said, “Why don’t you kick it off? What’s happening in the… hmm, top lane?”

Silent Reed glanced at her spectator screen and said into her microphone, “Top lane is an interesting match up. Darius versus Dr. Mundo. It’s a time battle. Mundo is way scarier after he gets a couple of defensive items. You wanna go one of two extremes. Ignore his existence, or beat him down until he can’t leave the fountain anymore! Looks like Shanghai High School is going with the first option. That makes it a question of how good this Mundo is. Can he annoy Shanghai High School enough to make them focus him down? But until Mundo gets those items, Darius is going to enjoy the advantage. His dunk to win style will be the far bigger threat for the next couple of minutes.”

Westwind laughed and responded, “Couldn’t agree more! Exactly right! Alright, let’s move on to another lane. I’m sure the crowd would love to hear what I think of the mid lane. RIGHT? RIGHT? I CAN’T HEAR YOUUUU!” He grinned at himself, the audience still going along with him, and then continued, “Lin Feng is ahead. That’s right! You heard it here first! The guy on the killing spree is stronger than the one on a dying spree! High School 13 has the clear lead here! Now… Drum roll… Reed, talk us through the bot lane?”

“I think we just saw what it looks like in the bot lane. Zeng Rui is just so much better than High School 13’s Support. You don’t need to be an expert to see that,” Silent Reed started. She then took a long look at Tang Bingyao and continued, “I would’ve liked to see the girl do well. We don’t see enough female players on the big stage. But Shanghai High School is just better in the bot lane.”

Westwind nodded and shouted, “It’s okay! Because High School 13 has two female players! Their ad-carry and their Jungler! Oh boy. Let me tell y’all something. That Jungler. She’s good. She’s really, really good! Her ganks are what’s keeping High School 13 in this game! But the Elise is also doing pretty well for herself, especially considering how painful the start of the game was for her. Taking everything into consideration, I’m going to give a small edge to High School 13 in the Jungle!”

Silent Reed giggled and said, “That is why this game is so even! Top and bot are in Shanghai High School’s favour right now, while mid and jungle are going High School 13’s way. There really is no telling who’s going to win this one. But I have a feeling that something is about to happen. Something big. Game deciding big. I’m really looking forward to the fight that’s going to turn this game in one team’s favour.”

✹

Tang Bingyao sat behind her computer, beads of sweat popping up on her forehead. I need to be better. Mhm, better! She focused on the game, like she’d seen Lin Feng do so many times before. The minions were losing health. Right before one died, she had her Vayne fire off a silver bolt. The minion was pierced and collapsed to the ground. Another point added to her creep score. Her tally was steadily increasing, but she was still lagging behind Shanghai High School’s ad-carry. I can’t lose. I have to be better! Maybe if I say the voice lines like Lin Feng does… She thought of Vayne’s quotes and mumbled under her breath, “I bring swift death.” She cringed.

No. No. Mnh-mnh! Tang Bingyao shook her head and kicked the back of her desk in frustration. “Ah!” she groaned before shutting up again. I’ve lost a lane in three games now. All three. I’m losing. Losing. Again and again. I must be better. For the team… For Lin Feng. Her mind distracted her just a bit too much. She missed a minion. No! She bit her lips, fighting back more and more against her own spiraling thoughts. In Game 1 I only got kills because Lin Feng gave them to me. He could’ve gotten a penta if he didn’t try to help me… Then the second game I lost. We lost because of me. And now again. I’m losing. I’m losing…

The only pressure Tang Bingyao felt was the pressure she was putting on herself. But it was suffocating. She could only think of the mistakes she’d made, glossing over everything she had done right, and how she had to play better. She bit hard on her lips, the sweet taste of iron seeping onto her tongue. Stop. Stop thinking about this. Focus. I just need to play better. I can’t drag them down. I… Mhm, I need to try harder. I won’t drag Lin Feng and the others down. I can’t disappoint him!

Tang Bingyao focused on her screen. The game was 11 minutes in. Shanghai High School’s Botlaners were pushing the minion wave towards the Red Team’s outer tower. Jinx had taken out her bazooka and was firing off missiles, their splash damage poking down at the Vayne and Thresh’s health bars. 

I can’t let this continue Tang Bingyao thought. The Jinx could just keep abusing her range and eventually force her back to base, dead or alive. Her heart was pounding in her chest. Her hand was shaking, nervous. I have to play better and make something happen! I’ll finally help the team! Mhm!

Tang Bingyao’s Vayne was hit by another Jinx rocket while she was trying to last hit a minion from under her tower. I can’t sit here. I have to move! She ignored the minions, letting her outer tower kill them, and fired off a silver bolt at the Jinx. I’m going in! She moved forward, another Jinx missile taking a bite out of her health bar. She fired off a second silver bolt. The Jinx threw out her Flame Chompers in reflex. The three stun grenades landed right in front of the Vayne.

Tang Bingyao’s face lit up. Mhm. This was what she’d been waiting for. She pressed down on her R key–Final Hour! A dark aura wrapped around her Vayne, increasing her stats. Then she Tumbled forward, dodging the stun grenades and disappearing into stealth.

Zeng Rui narrowed his eyes. He expected a move from the Vayne and here it was. There weren’t many directions the Vayne could go in. Jinx’s Flame Chompers and the wall of trees along the lane forced the Vayne onto a small path. One, two… Now! Zeng Rui pressed down on his Q key–Aqua Prison! His Nami manifested a large bubble of water and tossed it out in the path of the Vayne.

Tang Bingyao was anticipating the Aqua Prison, ready to Flash over it. Her Vayne disappeared from the exact spot the bubble landed and reappeared a short distance away. But there was more to this Flash than just dodging the stun. It also positioned the Vayne perfectly for a Condemn! She lifted the large crossbow from her back, aimed at the Jinx whose back was to the wall, and squeezed the trigger. A thick, massive bolt flew through the air and pierced the Jinx, lifting her off the ground and pinning her to the wall. Stunned!

“We have an engage in bot! HIGH SCHOOL 13 IS GOIN’ FOR IT!” Westwind shouted into his microphone. He was up on his feet, supporting one arm on the desk and clutching his microphone with the other. “WHAT A FLASH-DODGE! INSANE! Is this going to be the comeback? Maybe! MAYBE! Watch out for the Tidal Wave! WATCH OUT!”

Tang Bingyao had been so caught up in her own head that she forgot to communicate with Wei Dong. She’d engaged without telling him a thing. He chased after her, trying to catch up while being out of range to offer any support or help. “Tang Tang! Wait! We don’t have any wards in the river! Tang Tang!”

“Now,” Zeng Rui said over the team’s voice chat as he pressed down on the R key–Tidal Wave! His Nami called forth a giant wave that washed over the Vayne and Thresh, knocking them up into the air. Elise then walked out of the brush at the river entrance, which was only a few steps away from where the Jinx was stunned into the wall. She fired off a globule of webs at the Vayne–Cocoon! The sticky webbings wrapped around the Vayne until they fit so tightly around her that she couldn’t move at all anymore.

Tang Bingyao felt her heart drop. The Jinx only had a little bit of health remaining. Just a few more hits. A few more! Please! She frantically clicked, chewing on her lips and shaking her head in refusal. I won’t die. Mnh-mnh. But just because she didn’t want to die, that didn’t mean Shanghai High School would let her live. The Elise transformed arachnid form. She pounced on the Vayne and sunk her fangs deep into the Night Hunter’s flesh–Venomous Bite! Then the Jinx broke free from the stun and switched to her minigun before firing off a close range Super Mega Death Rocket!

《You have been slain!》

Tang Bingyao slumped back into her seat as her screen turned grey. Shit. She could feel vibrations come up from the ground beneath her feet. She looked up past her screen and saw the audience. They were jumping and cheering. If she focused on it, she could even hear them. They were cheering for Zeng Rui, shouting at the top of their lungs that his Support was the best.  I… I… She let go of her mouse and keyboard as her hands fell down past the desk and to her side. It took her everything she had not to let her head fall down on the keyboard. That was all my fault. I… I should’ve… I’m losing these Finals. I don’t want to… I don’t want to play anymore.

“WOOOO!” Westwind shouted, enjoying the moment. Then, after waiting for the cheering crowd to quiet down, he turned to Silent Reed and said, “So much for an even game. That girl in the bot lane is tilting hard! She had no vision and tried to 1vs2! These are the Finals of a big tournament, not some random solo queue game! I wonder what in the world she was thinking…”

Silent Reed shook her head and replied, “Yep. She’s showing that she has skill. But why waste it like that? There were no wards. She didn’t know where Elise was. Her mechanics are so good! But come on, you can’t just go in 1vs2 when you don’t know where the enemy Jungler is. That’s just common sense.”

Back on stage, Zeng Rui nodded at his screen. At the Vayne’s body. She’s tilting. That’ll make this game a lot easier. She won’t be much of a threat and we can get a few more kills on her if she keeps falling for these obvious baits. We’re going to need that for… He turned his attention to the mid lane and frowned. … those two. Their mid-jungle synergy is really good. That’s going to become a big problem. We have to do something about them. Soon preferably, or…

✹

Lin Feng pushed out the lane and attacked the Blue Team’s outer tower. The Syndra was desperately trying to hold it, but Lin Feng dodged all of her skillshots while hitting back with his own, The outer tower almost didn’t have any health left, so the Syndra started retreating back towards her inner tower. Just then, An Xin appeared from the jungle entrance between the outer and inner tower.

“Shit!” Shanghai High School’s Midlaner cursed as he slammed down on his D key–Flash! His Syndra flashed past the Lee Sin and towards her inner tower. There she kept running all the way back to her base and then the last bit to the fountain. She was terrified of the Ahri and Lee Sin, and scared that if she stopped running the two would catch up to her and kill her. “These stupid… Ugh! Sorry guys. I’m trying, it’s just. Shit! Sorry, that was close. I don’t have Flash anymore.”

Lin Feng and An Xin didn’t mind that their play in the mid lane didn’t end with a kill. Forcing the Flash and taking down the tower was more than enough. Besides, the Syndra was on a dying spree and wasn’t worth much gold to begin with. The same couldn’t be said about the Jinx. She was a nice, juicy target with a big bounty on her head. Lin Feng grinned and said over the team’s voice chat, “Let’s go shut that Jinx down!”

“Sure, she’s had enough fun,” An Xin replied.

「HELL YEAH WE DID!!!! BUNBUN 6666666」
「GODLEE! Oh wait! GODDESS LEE! WAIT! NO! AHHH GET THE EYE BLEACH!」
「bunbun is da friggn best ÜÜÜ」

Su Xue was watching the Finals of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament on her own stream. Her viewers were going bananas over An Xin’s play in the bot lane, where she had picked off the Nami from under Red team’s outer tower. Su Xue wasn’t even remotely as excited as they were. She’d slumped back in her chair and was now complaining. “She didn’t even get the double kill!” That was the question Su Xue kept asking in her mind after the gank ended. There were three Champions there. They had killed Nami without losing any health at all, and they’d done it quickly. It didn’t make any sense at all to Su Xue. Why didn’t she also kill the Jinx? It was so easy! Then she shook her head. Nah, nevermind! Forgot about that for now. This is a good chance to practice some live commentating. I gotta make this fun! She perked back up and leaned closer into the microphone, “That was great! Did you guys think our BunBun was this good? I know I’m surprised! I played with her last night and I could tell she was good at League. But that play… did you guys see that? Holy shit! My heart’s still pounding! She forced a play out of nothing! Only our BunBun could pull something like that off!”

「Of course we did. We ain’t blind! Now get back to commentating! You still have to practice!!」
「Yeah! share your deep insights with us, Maid Su!」
「hahahah, xue xue,, show us how much you know of this game Xdd」
「well give you some much needed feedback **wink wink**」

Su Xue read the chat and pretended to be annoyed. “Who you callin’ a maid? You’re the maid!” This was all part of being a good streamer. She needed to let them see that she was reading their messages and reacting to what they said. If she just did her own thing and the chat talked to each other, there was no interaction. Then she giggled, waved her hand and cleared her throat. Su Xue waited for 30 seconds to let the chat cooldown. Let’s see if all that work learning how to shoutcast got me somewhere. 

“Hihi guys! Let’s talk about this play a little! I’ll break it down for you and tell you what I saw. It’ll be so fun! Shoutcaster Su Xue, reporting for duty! First things first, I’m going to say that I’m a little sad they didn’t go for a double kill. That would’ve been so EXCITING, right? But I’m guessing that all their skills were on cooldown right after they killed Nami. And with that Darius teleporting in… retreating was probably the smart decision to make. They ended it on a high note and an absolute victory. If they went in on the Jinx while also trying to fight off the Darius… it wouldn’t have gone so well for them. Best case scenario, only one of them would die and add an asterix to that play. Worst case scenario, all of them end up dead and the play goes from a win to a loss.” 

Su Xue paused after she said all that to catch her breath. She didn’t actually need the break, but it was a good way to let her viewers digest all of the information she threw at them. Then she took a sip of water and winked at the camera. 

“Teehee! Everyone get all that? Ready to keep going? Okay! Let’s talk about what happened during the gank. We’ll break the whole thing down together. You guys keep an eye on me though, tell me if I get anything wrong or miss something important!” 

Su Xue leaned in a little bit closer to the camera and looked directly at it. 

“So the whole thing started with Thresh and Vayne squaring up against Nami. Our BunBun was running down to bot lane. When she got close enough, Thresh went in and started the whole thing. He threw a Death Sentence right at Nami. We all thought he was going to hook Nami and pull her in. But then he missed! I thought the whole thing was going to go south when he missed! But it turns out that was part of the play. Nami moved to the side to avoid the hook, and THAT’S WHEN THE PLAY ACTUALLY STARTED! I almost missed the moment when Vayne tumbled forward and pinned Nami to the wall with Condemn! They used the hook from Death Sentence to misdirect Nami! HOW BRILLIANT WAS THAT?” 

Su Xue paused and shifted in her seat. Then she pulled her mic a little bit closer. This was a tactic she learned from other streamers to make sure everyone was still listening and not tuning her out. 

“Once Nami got pinned to the wall, that’s when An Xin arrived! BunBun! She dashed around so quickly I could barely see what she was doing. But back to this, Nami’s pinned to the wall under her tower. That would’ve been a problem for anyone else, but not An Xin! Lee Sin runs in and throws down a ward near Nami. Then he dashes to the ward with Safeguard. AND THEN IMMEDIATELY USES FLASH TO GET BEHIND THE NAMI AND REPOSITION HIMSELF SO HE’S FACING VAYNE AND THRESH! That was the real centerpoint of the play. Now Lee Sin is standing there with the tower behind him and Nami in front of him. But he’s also in the tower’s attack range! Lee Sin kicks the Nami towards Vayne and Thresh, away from the tower. Then he uses Sonic Wave to mark Nami’s new position and rushes out of the tower’s range with Resonating Strike! Purr-fection!” 

Su Xue stopped to giggle at her pun. Then she licked her lips because she’d managed to tickle them with all the purring. Her plan was to end it with the wordplay. But she decided that it wasn’t a good conclusion. So she added, “One mistake and she would’ve died. She only survived because she linked everything together seamlessly! Those scrubs from Shanghai High School can’t do anything to stop her! She’s way too cute and too good at League!”

「6666666!!!1!」
「thought for sure she ded. but then she dashed after the nami…. Crazy」
「who cares about lil bro???? ALL WE NEED IS BUNBUN!!!!!!!!」
「BunBun is so friggin cool. I mean… I knew she was good, but that good? Man! I’m so impressed」

“Oh, look! They’re showing us the players!” Su Xue exclaimed. The official broadcast zoomed in on Zeng Rui looking annoyed. A few seconds later, it switched to An Xin’s smiling face. Then Wei Dong’s mouth falling open in surprise. And finally, it showed Tang Bingyao. Her head was hung low, and she looked a little sad. Even. Su Xue didn’t notice at first. She was only pointing at her screen and shouting, “That girl right there! Her! She’s the one Lin Feng keeps going out to see! It’s her! Ha— Uh? What’s wrong with her?”

Tang Bingyao had gotten the kill! Her Vayne was the heroine of this gank! She should’ve been celebrating. Or at least happy. But she didn’t look happy or excited. Instead, she was shaking her head and mumbling to herself. Then she looked aimlessly at her screen and the players next to her. She looked downright miserable! Su Xue scratched the back of her head and mumbled, “Did she eat something bad?” Then she shook her head and laughed at the camera again. “Anyway, see? I told you Lin Feng is a pervert! He chases after all the pretty girls! I think we should teach him a lesson about monogamy!”

「Thats lil bro for you!! Hahahahahha」
「She looks so sad!!! I really wanna go hug her and cheer her up :(((」
「lil bro has two GFs???? MY HERO! HERO!!1!!」
「lil bro is livin the life! He has a maid and AT LEAST two girls by his side! sooooo jealous >.<”」
「Monogamy only for tha fugly bishs!!!!!」

✹

There weren’t many people in the competitive scene who remembered An Xin. Most people in the Chinese esports scene didn’t even know who she was. But Chu Fang was one of the select few who knew her and remembered her. An Xin was the Coach for Lin Feng’s old team. She was right there with them, helping them get all the way to the Finals of the Season 1 World Championships. And she wasn’t just a coach either. An Xin was right up there with the rest of Lin Feng’s old team when it came to playing League of Legends. 

Chu Fang sat backstage, watching the game. His eyes were glued to the screen and his cheeks were red from the strain of the permanent smile plastered on his face. An Xin and Lin Feng! Playing together again! This is too good to be true! When An Xin ganked bot lane and pulled off a seamless play, he almost jumped up and started clapping. But he remembered his position and composed himself, covering up his glee with a quick cough. Not very well though. It was not difficult to notice how proud he was of An Xin after that play. 

“That’s BunBun for you!” he exclaimed to no one in particular while laughing. Then his screen showed all five players from High School 13. Lin Feng and An Xin were arguing about something. Chu Feng watched them and smiled. Waves of nostalgia washed over Chu Fang. This argument reminded him of all the arguments and fights those two had in the past. “Haha! I can’t believe they’re still doing that! Hell will freeze over before those two stop bickering.”

✹

Lin Feng panned his camera to the bot lane, confused, and blurted out, “Huh? You did a tower dive in bot?”

An Xin looked over at him and said, “Yeah, I did. I told you I was going all out this game.”

Wei Dong, still reeling and trying to piece together how they went from him missing the skillshot to killing, had no idea that Lin Feng and An Xin were talking. He didn’t hear what was said. Or the tone of the conversation. The poor guy was just staring at his screen and awed by An Xin’s awesomeness. Then he had to finally give voice to what he was feeling. Which is why he exclaimed, ““Wow! BunBun, you’re so good! That ult-flash was amazing! I had no clue you were that good!”

Wei Dong was a nice guy. He wasn’t trying to spark a fire with that comment. If he’d known that a storm was brewing between An Xin and Lin Feng, he would’ve stayed quiet. Not said anything at all. Ouyang had already warned him about how bad things got when Lin Feng and An Xin argued. It wasn’t just a simple warning or a for-your-information moment. Ouyang had told him that getting in between Lin Feng and An Xin during a fight would get him killed. That was the one thing that Wei Dong didn’t want to do. And somehow, that was exactly what he managed to do. Wei Dong was a truly unlucky soul. 

Lin Feng glared at Wei Dong and said, “Hey, hey! I can do that too! Just watch me, I’m coming bot!”

An Xin rolled her eyes back and slapped him down, “Don’t try to steal my spotlight! I know you’re a glory whore! Go win in your own lane so you can tell everyone how good you are at everything. There’s no one left for you to kill in bot. Who are you going to go for? The Darius? Who, by the way, you could’ve stopped if you started going to top! But you didn’t, so he teleported to bot lane to help his ad-carry! Or you going to do a towerdive and kill the Jinx? Or towerdive and kill them both? HAHAHAAH! YOU SHOULD DO THAT! Then you can tell everyone how you’re really good at rushing in and dying! Actually… Go ahead, show us how you’re going to kill them in bot.”

Lin Feng had no good comeback. He stopped pathing to bot lane and grumbled for a bit. Then he went back to farming minions in the mid lane. He knew that An Xin was right. 

Shanghai High School’s Toplaner had tried to save Zeng Rui’s Nami by teleporting to the bot lane. But he was too late. Nami had died before his Teleport finished channeling. He cursed at himself for being too late over the team’s voice chat. But Zeng Rui assured him that the Teleport was still good. It had stopped High School 13 from towerdiving the Jinx, and he could also stop them from taking the Dragon. There was, however, one big downside to his Teleport. That stupid Mundo is freefarming minions in the top lane while I’m stuck dicking around here. I’m not doing any god damned thing! How is this a good use of my teleport? It’s a waste. A complete fucking waste! I’m going to be behind in experience and gold. How am I supposed to keep that stupid briefcase throwing monster from scaling?

The game was still close in terms of gold, but the balance was slowly tipping in High School 13’s favour. Chen Ze was pulling ahead in the top lane, and Lin Feng was doing the same in the mid lane. They were only ahead by a few minions, but that was big in the early game. The deciding factor here was that Shanghai High School lost a fight in the bot lane. The only lane in which they’d been winning.

Zeng Rui lowered his head and closed his eyes, rubbing his temples. I underestimated her. Shit. Why? How is she this good? It didn’t make sense to him. An Xin is the coach! Not a real player! A coach is supposed to be good at coaching and a player at playing. Not both. She shouldn’t be good at the game. Definitely not this good! 

He knew how valuable good coaches were. But the issue was that An Xin’s skill made her vastly more valuable to the team as a player. Zeng Rui couldn’t understand why High School 13 made someone as good as An Xin into a coach. She’s better than that other Jungler, dammit! He thought back to the professional teams Shanghai High School had practiced against over the last couple of months. She’s better than all of them. Is she? It looks like it. She’s like a professional Jungler… Wait. Is that it? Is she their secret weapon? If that’s the case, then we have to play more aggressively. Shut her down before she can set up another one of those plays. Maybe if we push her hard enough, she’ll start making mistakes. We can shut her down if we push harder in the bot lane… He took a deep breath and then said over the team’s voice chat, “Come gank bot in a minute.”

✹

At 9 minutes, Shanghai High School’s Elise had roamed down to bot lane. Zeng Rui told her where High School 13 had warded, so she walked around them. Then Zeng Rui had her wait while he looked for the perfect moment to engage. That came only a couple of seconds later when Vayne and Thresh moved too close together and a step too far forward. Zeng Rui activated his Nami’s ultimate skill–Tidal Wave! The Nami called forth a giant wave that surged towards the Vayne and Thresh, catching both of them off guard and knocking them up into the air.

The Elise ran into the lane and stopped in front of the Vayne. She waited until the last second before the Vayne hit the ground to hurl a Cocoon. Vayne was stunned!

Zeng Rui caught up to the Vayne and Exhausted her. A debilitating aura fell over her, vastly hampering her stats. Then he placed a Vision Ward. Vayne could turn invisible with Tumble after using her ultimate–⁠Final Hour. Zeng Rui wasn’t about to let that happen. While all of this was happening, Jinx peppered the Vayne with bullets from her minigun. The Vayne’s health quickly plummeted until there was nothing left.

《An ally has been slain!》

Wei Dong had been trying to do whatever he could to save Tang Bingyao instead of escaping what was a hopeless situation. After she died, he found himself facing three enemy champions alone with no way out. He started running to his outer tower, and the three champions from Shanghai High School chased after him. And somehow, against all odds, he managed to get underneath the tower. I-I survived? That was so clos— 

Just as he started relaxing under the safety of the tower, Shanghai High School’s champions decided to towerdive. He was fighting for his life again! CrapCrapCrap! I gotta do some— He panicked and started button mashing, activating every skill at his disposal with no rhyme or reason. He Flayed and threw out a Death Sentence, hoping just one of his skills would connect and help him maybe kill one of his attackers. But Shanghai High School was far too good for that. They juggled the turret’s aggro and killed his Thresh. Then they retreated, victorious. 

✹

The players from Tonji Affiliated High’s team were sitting at the front of the stadium. They heard the cheers erupt from the audience behind them, but didn’t join in themselves. Their Support shook his head and said, “That was a big mistake from High School 13. You really can’t underestimate Shanghai High School’s Botlaners.”

Tonji Affiliated High’s Toplaner frowned and chimed in, “That girl, Tang Bingyao, right? She’s playing well. Just that her lane is getting camped by the Elise. And the gap between the Supports is just too big. Such a shame. Could’ve been a really interesting lane.”

Tonji Affiliated High’s Support nodded and said, “Yeah. Maybe if this guy here…” He elbowed the Ad-carry sitting next to him. “… had had the balls to ask her out instead of running away, he could’ve taught her a thing or two. She might’ve been good enough to play against Zeng Rui, haha!”

Tonji Affiliated High’s ad-carry slumped back in his chair, his face a deep shade of red, and mumbled, “I didn’t run away. I had somewhere to be. I… I…”

“They’re just busting your balls. Don’t let ‘em get to you,” Tonji Affiliated High’s Midlaner said. He looked up at the stage and continued, “If High School 13’s bot lane is losing, it just means they’re worse. A difference of skill between the Supports and the camping… those are just excuses. You either win or you lose. That’s all that really matters in the end.”

High School 13 had just lost both Botlaners. The odds of them getting the first Dragon of this game weren’t looking good either. But Lin Feng and An Xin weren’t going to go down without a fight! Lin Feng engaged  the Syndra in mid lane with a Spirit Rush. His Ahri dashed forward and blew a heart-shaped kiss at the Syndra to charm her.

Just as the charmed Syndra started ambling towards Ahri, Lee Sin ran into the land. An Xin dropped a ward behind Syndra and hopped to it with Safeguard. Then Lee Sin unleashed Dragon’s Rage to roundhouse kick Syndra into High School 13’s tower.

Shanghai High School’s Syndra was already 0/2/0. The last thing the Midlaner wanted to do was die to Lin Feng yet again. He frantically clicked in an attempt to get away. The charm broke after what seemed like an eternity, and he Flashed. The Syndra blinked out of the tower range and moved towards the Red team’s top side jungle. For that single second, he started to believe that he was going to escape! But then Ahri charged up to his Syndra again with Spirit Rush. Ahri had caught up to him! He saw the Ahri winding up and hurling her Orb of Deception. That Orb of Deception was the last thing he saw before his screen went gray.

《Killing Spree!》

Lin Feng let go of his mouse and keyboard and threw both his arms up while he shouted over the team’s voice chat, “Nice! I told you guys! I’m really good at Ahri too!”

An Xin grimaced and replied, “You’re really good at stealing kills, is what you mean.”

Lin Feng and An Xin started another argument, while in the background Westwind started up his spiel with the audience again. Zeng Rui watched all of it happen, grinding his teeth the whole time. He couldn’t hear what An Xin and Lin Feng were saying. But he could guess. The joy, laughter, and lack of tension that he could see told him more than enough. He clenched his fists, raging. He’s snowballing again. She helped him snowball. She got him two kills. First that stupid Jungle invade and then the ganks. The mid lane. Bot lane. And now mid lane again. That’s four plays and three kills all thanks to her. It shouldn’t be like this. 

His team had just killed Vayne and Thresh and he wanted to take the Dragon. But now that their Midlaner was dead, it didn’t seem like a good idea anymore. Shit! Ahri, Lee, and Mundo. We can’t take them on and also fight the Dragon. We’ll lose too much. Damn it! We can’t take the Dragon. He took several deep breaths, fighting back the urge to yell at his Midlaner. Then he shook his head and said over the team’s voice chat, “We’re giving up on the Dragon. Go back to farming your lanes.” It’s time to turtle. Our teamfight is stronger. We’re the better team! Just gotta keep that Vayne down like we’ve been doing and this is going to look like a 5vs4 in another 20 minutes. That’s when we’ll win. It’ll work. We’ll be fine!

Shanghai High School’s Jungler started his pathing at the Krug Camp, exactly like he did in the previous two games. His Botlaners leashed the monsters and helped him kill them, which got his Elise to Level 2. Then the Botlaners went back to their lane to start farming minions. The Jungler started pathing to his Red Buff camp when Zeng Rui gave him a quiet warning over voice to be careful and keep an eye out for High School 13’s Jungler.  

The Jungler from Shanghai High School made a mental note to double-check around his Blue Buff camp before he started attacking the Blue Sentinel. An Xin took her Lee Sin to the Blue Buff, we spotted him there on a ward right before the Jungle Camps spawned. He won’t have enough health after that to come down and bother me at Red. I’ll be fine. He arrived at Red Buff Camp and started attacking the Red Brambleback.

High School 13’s Lee Sin burst out of the brush next to the Red Buff Camp. “Shit!” Shanghai High School’s Jungler cursed. His Elise was taking a ton of damage from the Red Brambleback and she was in no position to fight Lee Sin right now. “What’s he doing here?” Shanghai High School’s Jungler complained as he slammed down on his F key. His Elise Flashed away, just barely dodging Lee Sin’s Sonic Wave. He’d managed to escape and avoid becoming an early first blood. But he also lost all control of his own Jungle after clearing only a single Jungle Camp. “Shit!”

“Wow,” Silent Reed blurted out before Westwind could say anything! She turned to look at her co-caster and continued, “Wow! That’s really good for High School 13. And really bad for Shanghai High School.”

Westwind laughed and said into his microphone, “The spider got squished! An Xin, High School 13’s new Jungler, just made sure that Shanghai High School won’t be doing any ganking in the first couple of minutes! Go High School 13!” 

To which a large section of the audience shouted back, “Go High School 13! Go High School 13!”

Zeng Rui gritted his teeth. I can’t watch everyone all the time! I warned him! I told him to be careful in the Jungle! I even told him that something felt off and that he needed to check around the camps before he started attacking the monsters!  It was blindingly obvious that he didn’t put as much emphasis as he needed to into those warnings. His Jungler got caught out and was forced to blow his Flash. At least he didn’t die. Zeng Rui glanced at his Jungler and then said over the team’s voice chat, “Play safe. Focus on levelling up.”

“Yeah. Sorry about that. Will do,” Shanghai High School’s Jungler replied, nodding.

✹

An Xin decided not to bother with chasing the Elise after she Flashed away. There was no point in it since Elise’s health dropped low enough that she had to recall back to base for healing. An Xin knew that if she got too greedy for the kill and pushed further out while chasing the Elise, her Lee Sin would be in danger from either the Botlaners or the Midlaner from Shanghai High School. She also didn’t see any point in taking that risk now that she’d achieved what she wanted from this play. And an added bonus. Her Lee Sin attacked the Red Brambleback and killed it, taking Shanghai High School’s Red Buff for herself. Then her Lee Sin left along the same route he used to get there. An Xin smiled, this jungle invasion went exactly as planned. She set her Lee Sin on a path to her own Blue Buff camp so he could attack the Blue Sentinel there. This is only the beginning.

4 minutes into the game, Lee Sin had just finished killing the Red Brambleback on his side of the map. High School 13 was the Red Team, so the Red Buff Camp was located on the top side of the Jungle. An Xin glanced at her minimap quickly, and then set her Lee Sin on a path towards the mid lane. I’ve played way too much with Lin Feng. He started setting up this gank before I even got to my Red Buff! From that one look at the minimap, An Xin knew that Lin Feng had started letting the Syndra push him back in lane a minute ago. Because of that, the Syndra was now too far away from her outer tower to run away to safety!  

Lee Sin entered the mid lane through the brush right above the lane and dropped a ward down right behind the Syndra. Then he used Safeguard to dash to that ward, and slammed his palm down on the ground to slow the Syndra–⁠Tempest!

When Lin Feng saw An Xin place a ward behind the Syndra, he had his Ahri up past the Blue Minions. He’d almost gotten to the Syndra by the time Lee Sin used Tempest. Just as his Ahri entered into attack range, the Syndra quickly Flashed away. He kept running towards the Syndra, but he had his finger pushing the D key halfway down the whole time. There was only one way the Syndra could stop this gank, and that was with Scatter the Weak. This skill pushed back enemy Champions and minions. But more importantly, it synergized with Dark Sphere, another one of Syndra’s skills, to create a combo. If Scatter the Weak pushed a Dark Sphere into an enemy champion, then that champion would get stunned.

That was the combo Lin Feng was expecting her to throw at his Ahri. That was what he was waiting for her to do. And just like he predicted, that’s exactly what the Syndra did. She threw out her Dark Sphere and then blasted it at his Ahri with Scatter the Weak. But Lin Feng was ready and pushed down on the D Key. His Ahri Flashed over the stun and landed right in front of the Syndra. Then she blew out a heart-shaped kiss–Charm! The Syndra fell in love with the Ahri! She lost control of her body and started walking towards the Ahri!

An Xin’s Lee Sin pushed out with his palm, sending out a Sonic Wave straight at the Syndra who was still Charmed. After the Sonic Wave hit Syndra and marked her location, Lee Sin used the second half of this skill to dash towards her—Resonating Strike! He then started auto attacking her. 

While this was happening, Lin Feng ignited the Syndra. Then his Ahri auto-attacked Syndra once and then threw an Orb of Deception! It passed through the Syndra and then came flying back towards the Ahri, dealing magic damage both ways and whisking away the last of the Syndra’s health.

《First Blood!》

“WOOO! WHAT A GANK!” Westwind cried out, slamming his hand down on the desk. The audience screamed, howled and shouted. This was such a clean first blood! It looked completely effortless! Westwind turned to the crowd and clutched his microphone, shouting, “High School 13… FIRST BLOOD! Give it up for LEEEEEEEE SIN!”

Silent Reed looked around the audience. Everyone was going crazy over the Lee Sin. She shook her head and said, “Don’t forget the Ahri. Lin Feng played that really well. Shanghai High School’s Midlaner could take a lesson or two from him.”

There was another gank happening while the audience was still cheering for the first blood in the mid lane. This one was happening up in top lane. The Elise had just finished killing the Gromp, the Jungle monster right next to top lane, and saw an opening. The plan was for her to help Darius attack Chen Ze’s Dr. Mundo, and she started approaching stealthily. The Darius was attempting to maneuver Chen Ze into an optimal position for the gank. It would’ve been a glorious kill and a comeback moment for the Jungler from Shanghai High School. If he’d noticed the ward that Chen Ze had placed near the River. But he didn’t, and Chen Ze noticed the Elise creeping towards him. 

Right as the Elise got in position and started preparing her attack plan, Chen Ze’s Dr. Mundo Flashed away and escaped. If the Jungler from Shanghai High School hadn’t already used his Flash to escape from An Xin at the start of the game, he could’ve used it to close the distance. His Elise could’ve hopped on Dr. Mundo and immobilized him! But Flash was still on cooldown. Shanghai High School’s Jungler could only watch impotently as Dr. Mundo escaped. The gank was a monumental failure. Not only had he not managed to land a single hit on Chen Ze, he also lost precious time he could have used to continue clearing Jungle camps and monsters.

✹

The start of Game 3 was exciting! The invasion, counter-plays, and ganks had everyone watching on the edge of their seats. But after those first few plays, both teams calmed down. The laners focused on last hitting minions and the Junglers farmed Jungle Camps. The first few minutes of this game had not been kind to Shanghai High School. So they opted for a more defensive strategy that focused on building a gold and level lead into the mid-game through farming. This was the smart choice because the players on their team were individually more skilled than the players on High School 13’s team. With the exception of Lin Feng, who was currently doing better than their top lane and bot lane in mid lane. 

Lin Feng’s Ahri hit Level 6 at 6 minutes into the game, which unlocked her ultimate skill–⁠Spirit Rush! This skill granted Ahri three charges to jump in any direction and fire off an essence bolt. Lin Feng used it almost immediately. His Ahri jumped towards Syndra with the first charge. Then she used Charm! A magical heart hit the Syndra, and she started walking towards Ahri. The Syndra’s slow, lumbering steps gave Ahri more than enough time to line up and fire her Orb of Deception! The Orb whacked Syndra in the face and continued forward before abruptly stopping. Then it went straight back towards Ahri’s hands, whacking Syndra in the back of her head. But Ahri had also used Fox Fire right after launching the Orb of Deception. This skill created three balls of enchanted flame that would seek out the nearest target. The Fox Fire hit Syndra right before the second hit from Orb of Deception! Finally, Ahri used the second charge from Spirit Rush to jump up and land right in front of the Syndra. The essence bolt from the skill ripped through Syndra, killing her!

《You slain an enemy!》

The High School 13 students were in a frenzy! This was a solo kill versus Shanghai High School! A solo kill! Of course, this was their team picking up the kill. They were supposed to be impressed and cheering! There were many more, however, finding themselves cheering for High School 13. Amongst them were the coaches and players from professional League of Legends teams watching the official broadcast online. Every single one of them was up on their feet, calling out Lin Feng’s name. From Game 1 until now, Lin Feng was putting on a stunning display of skill. This solo kill only underlined the fact that he was far better than any other player on the Rift! He was so good that he even impressed the professionals!

Lin Feng, of course, was still the same old Lin Feng. He was just having a good time playing the game he loved with the people he enjoyed spending his time with. He patted himself on the shoulder and said over the team’s voice chat, “Hey, did you guys know? I’m really good at Ahri too!”

《An ally has been slain!》

The story in the other two lanes was very different for High School 13. They weren’t doing as well as Lin Feng. Especially the bottom lane, where Tang Bingyao and Wei Dong were having a miserable time. The game went from bad to terrible when Shanghai High School’s Elise came down for a gank. Tang Bingyao barely managed to escape. But she was forced to use all of her skills and her Flash to manage that. And she only made it out after using every tool at her disposal because Wei Dong had jumped in to protect her. Which led to his death.

An Xin clicked over to the bottom lane when she heard the announcement. Wei Dong’s Thresh lay dead on the ground. Tang Bingyao’s Vayne only had a sliver of health left and was currently recalling back to base. Then An Xin pressed the TAB key. Vayne was falling behind in kills and creep score to Shanghai High School’s ad-carry. I can’t let this go on. She smiled and said over the team’s voice chat, “Tang Tang, Wei Dong, hold on. I’ll come around bot for a gank.”

At 7 minutes, Wei Dong and Tang Bingyao arrived back in lane. Shanghai High School’s Botlaners had used the last minute to make the lane impossible for them. The minion wave was frozen just outside of Shanghai High School’s outer tower. Wei Dong looked at his minimap. An Xin was moving down the river, pinging to let them know they had to get ready for the gank. He hesitated before asking, “Are we really doing this?”

“Yep! We are,” An Xin replied confidently. Then she added, “Either you or Tang Tang go in first. Just stun one of ‘em.”

“Mhm,” Tang Bingyao replied, nodding and biting her lips. She focused her attention on the Nami and Jinx, her mouse hovering over one and then the other. I’ll engage! I gotta win this! There was a slight hesitation in the movement of her mouse. She didn’t know which Champion to go for. Do I—

Wei Dong had been playing with Tang Bingyao for a while now, and he’d learned to stop asking questions. Whenever she told him to do something, he did it. And he’d played with the rest of the esports team long enough to trust in his teammates. Whenever one of them told him to do something, he did it. Regardless of what they were asking him to do and how he felt about it. Right now, An Xin had told him to engage, so that’s exactly what he did. He lined up the skillshot and threw a Death Sentence at the Nami. He missed!

Hmm? Tang Bingyao saw the opening before it was even there. The Nami sidestepped the Death Sentence. But in doing so, she left her back to the wall. Tang Bingyao pressed down on the Q key and then the E. Her Vayne Tumbled forward and then lifted the heavy crossbow from her back. She took aim at the Nami and fired! A thick, heavy bolt flew out and pierced the Nami, lifting her off the ground and pinning her to the wall!

Wei Dong pressed his W key–Dark Passage! His Thresh threw a Lantern towards the river, right in the path of An Xin’s Lee Sin! She clicked on it and her Lee Sin dashed towards the Thresh. Then Lee Sin placed a ward in front of the Nami and hopped towards it–Safeguard! He followed up with a Flash to appear behind her and roundhouse kicked her towards Wei Dong’s Thresh and Tang Bingyao’s Vayne with Dragon’s Rage! Finally, he used his Sonic Wave to locate the airborne Nami and dashed out of the tower’s attack range before it could hit him. It also conveniently positioned him right next to the Nami so he could keep attacking.  

Wei Dong had his Thresh use Flay to push the Nami further away from her outer tower, cutting off any possibility of escape. Lee Sin and Vayne rained attacks and skills down on the helpless Nami. From the beginning of this play up until now, there was literally nothing that the Nami could do. She was stunned, launched airborne, pushed, and pulled all while constantly taking damage. Just as one crowd control skill ended, another one was used to render the Nami defenseless and paralyzed against the onslaught. And then finally, one silver bolt too many pierced her! The three silver rings around the Nami exploded, ending her misery! 

《You have been slain!》

Zeng Rui gritted his teeth and closed his eyes. Calm! Stay calm! There was no point in him getting worked up over this. He got caught. The series of crowd control skills that hit him were too precise, brilliantly executed. I should’ve expected that the Lee Sin would come in for a gank! It’s over though. Can’t change the past, need to move on! I need to make sure this doesn’t happen again. He looked at his grey screen and the fight that was still going on. A light descended on their outer tower. The Darius was teleporting in. But he wasn’t there yet, while three Champions from High School 13 were. Shit. They’re going to kill the Jinx. He shouted to his ad-carry over the team’s voice chat, “Go back to base! Retreat! They’re going to towerdive you!”

An Xin walked up the stage. The audience fell silent. They’d watched her walk up those steps twice before, but this time was different. They could tell. The tension and focus had disappeared from her posture. There was a slight hop to her steps, her arms moving loosely by her side. She walked with purpose, with intention. The game always starts before the game starts. I know Zeng Rui’s watching. The more confident I look, the more he’s going to question himself! An Xin knew that the only way to beat someone like Zeng Rui was to turn his own strategies against him. And getting him so worked up that he lost his calm. 

Out in the audience, there was one student who had something completely different on his mind as he watched An Xin walk across the stage. An Xin… A pretty name for a pretty girl. EVERYTHING ABOUT HER IS CUTE! He watched An Xin walk across the stage without blinking. His eyes burned and watered, but he didn’t want to blink and miss a second. She looks so stern… So domineering… So hot! Butterflies danced in his stomach. His heartbeat jacked up to Mach 9, screaming out his adoration of this goddess with every beat. He could feel his heart beating in his eyeballs! He wanted to whisper the secrets from his screaming, beating heart into her ears. Mmmm…. her lovely ears. I’d smell her hair as I whisper… Is this what love at first sight feels like? 

He bit down on his lips, forcing back the urge to get up and run to her. I wonder if her armpits are shaved? What would it taste like if I licked them? WAIT! No…. she’ll think I’m a creep! Maybe there’ll be a chance later… He shook his head quickly to bounce all the deviant thoughts out and went back to staring at her. His face was plastered with a foolish smile as wholesome dreams from puppy-dog love played in his mind. Dreams of a future where he’d wifed up An Xin. Three kids? Or four? No, definitely just three! And a nice summerhouse on the beach… An Xin in a bikini… NO!NO!NO! Not that! An Xin making dinner… wearing just an apron with nothing underneath… SHIT! I did it again! Not this! NONO! Wholesome, not degen! Think about waking up with her by my side, this is better. We’ll go for long walks on the beach… 

As far as he was concerned, time itself had slowed down. He watched her raven black hair billow out behind her as she walked. In slow motion. He could see the individual strands undulating out in perfect detail. The ends wiggled and tickled his soul. I love her black hair so much. I just want to bury my face in it! He licked his lips. He imagined her hair in such vivid detail that he could feel it brushing across his lips. He could almost taste it! His eyes moved down to her slender waist, and his heart stopped beating. 

Her lithe waist curved to the left, then curved to the right, all in slow-motion to his eyes. The afterimages he saw traced a sultry bessel function in the air. His pupils dilated, and An Xin became even more radiant. His eyes continued further down, and he saw the curve from where her hips flared out. That single, sexy curve tantalized him, stroking his already ardent passion! He was a tiger, roaming through a jungle wreathed in the flames of infatuation! And An Xin was the gazelle, one with lovely bounding hindquarters, he was stalking. In his mind, time held no meaning or purpose. He was locked in this single moment for all of infinity, and all he wanted to do was wrap his arms around that sylphlike waist!

Then all at once and with no warning at all, time went back to normal for him. The student saw his hand in front of him, reaching out for An Xin. He yelled out, “H-hey Coach!” But his voice was drowned out by the din of the crowd. She can’t even hear me! But… can she feel me burning up here? Then he saw her skirt, with its hem that swished with every step she took. And time slowed down again. That was completely acceptable, as far as he was concerned. He could stare at her willowy legs all day, modestly ensconced in her thigh-highs. There was just something about thigh highs that drove him wild. And An Xin’s legs in those thigh highs amped it up even more for him. There was just something about the way the svelte fabric silhouetted the lusciousness of her thighs, seducing and teasing him. An Xin is the girl of my dreams! She’s my everything! I need her to know I’m here! He called out again, “AN XIN, AN XIN, OVER HERE!” 

Most of the audience was up on their feet, clapping and cheering for Shanghai High School. Every attempt he made to get An Xin’s attention was lost in all that clapping and cheering. If she could hear me… see me… she’d know what I’m going through! She’d see what she’s doing to me… and the— He lost the ability to form words. An Xin had finally reached the steps to the raised platform where all the players sat, and right before climbing up she turned around to smile and wave at the audience. He’d finally gotten a good look at her face, and it took his breath away. Stole every rational thought and word and all coherence from him for an eternity. She’s got such a pretty smile… ARE THOSE DIMPLES? Dimples are so hot! And that white blouse that’s almost too small… Please let that button pop, please! Oh my god, her breasts will destroy society! 

He was just short of drooling as he pushed off the balls of his feet, trying to get a better look at her. At her skirt and her long legs that went on for so long that he couldn’t see where they ended. Why is it so warm here…? Oh god, she’s so sexy… I just wanna… I just wanna’ rock her body! He looked around the audience, annoyed that their noise was the only thing keeping him and An Xin apart, and then back at An Xin. She’s all the way over there, up on the stage. How do I get her to notice me? I need her to notice me! IF SHE JUST LOOKS AT ME ONCE… I JUST NEED TO GET HER ATTENTION!

There were only a few short minutes left before the start of the third game of the Finals! An Xin was climbing up the steps, and soon she’d be done and sitting. The student knew he had to do something quickly. If I don’t do something now, I might never see her again! I GOTTA DO SOMETHING! He started waving his arms, flapping them in the air. But he realized right after he started that it wouldn’t work. An Xin wasn’t facing the crowd, so she couldn’t see anything he was doing. I GOTTA GET HER TO TURN AROUND! BUT SHE CAN’T HEAR ME BECAUSE OF THE CROWD! BUT I GOTTA GET HER TO TURN AROUND! HOW DO I MAKE HER HEAR ME? He saw his perfect future, his happiness, everything that he could have with An Xin and more, all disappearing with every second that ticked by. The door was closing.

His desire for An Xin, his need to make her hear him and make her his, his fear that he’d never get another shot at it again. All of them combined into an overwhelming drive that unlocked something deep inside him. Something primal. All of a sudden, he was above his own body and watching himself. He stood up on his seat. And then, just as his most distant ancestors had, he declared his intent to mate with An Xin by slamming his chest with both fists. Then he bellowed out his primal call, one intended to both entice An Xin and scare away any others eyeing his woman! “OOH! OOH! OOH! AH! AH!”

An Xin stopped halfway up the steps. Did someone just make monkey noises? She turned around to look at the audience. What the fuck? She spotted a guy in the far back of the venue. He was standing on his chair and pounding his chest, making increasingly louder monkey sounds. What an idiot. But she still smiled. And as she continued to watch him go full-ape, she couldn’t keep a straight face. An Xin started giggling, and quickly covered her mouth with a hand. Then she gave the monkey-guy a wink before turning back around and walking up to her team.

There was a group of friends sitting in the front half of the arena, closer to the stage. They heard the monkey noises and turned around to see the guy standing up on his seat and beating his chest too. Then all of them pivoted back to An Xin to see her reaction. They saw her turn around and look at him, and then they saw her giggle! Their eyes widened when An Xin giggled! And then they saw her look straight at the monkey guy and wink! They looked at each other in utter disbelief.  “Did she jus—?” one guy asked, to which the others nodded. “She’s really hot…. Well, if she’s into that monkey shit…” All of them looked at each other for courage and confirmation. And then, all at the same time, they stood up on their seats and started pounding their chests just like the monkey guy. Then they also bellowed out their intent to mate with An Xin and their challenge to the first monkey guy!  “OohOohOoh! AhAh!”  “OH! OH! OH! OH! OH! OH!” “OOOHHH! OOOHHH! AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!”

Literally seconds later, other guys in the audience made the connection that An Xin liked the monkey noises and chest pounding. A few here and a couple there jumped up on their seats and started pounding their chests. As far as these guys were concerned, gone was any divide or rivalry between Shanghai High School and High School 13. Guys on both sides of the audience were standing on their chair and beating their chests, united by a single factor. Their infatuation with An Xin.

Then even more guys joined in, trying different variations of monkey noises to stand out from the ever-growing crowd of humanoid-apes. Some went Chimpanzee, others waved their arms around like Orangutans. A few heaved their sweaters and school uniforms off in an attempt to display the abs that they’d been working so hard on while waiting in queue for a League game. All of them continued pounding their chests, serenading An Xin in a symphony of monkey love. “OOH! OOH! OOH! AH! AH!”

The guys that went full ape in the madness of infatuation with An Xin, they represented a small portion of the audience. And they were a mix of High School 13 and Shanghai High School students. Standing on their seats, they pounded and smashed their chests, harder and harder. They were shouting their lungs out and their throats sore. The rest of the audience watched this happen, utterly confused as to why these students felt the sudden urge to act like this. It looked and sounded like the strangest standoff they’d ever witnessed. But a standoff nonetheless.

Students on High School 13’s side of the audience noticed  that their side was just a little less loud than Shanghai High School’s side. And there were fewer guys standing on their seats. They thought about it, and put two and two together. They realized that some of their classmates had regained their spirit, and were making these monkey noises to cheer their esports team on! It was another battle! They needed to show Shanghai High School that this loss in the last game had only bent their spirit, but not broken it! And so, completely misunderstanding the purpose of why the first few guys went full ape, students from all over High School 13’s side of the audience started standing on their seats and beating their chests. All while making loud monkey noise cheers for their esports team.

“Ooh aah ooh! Go Lin Feng! You’re the best! OH! OH!”
“Ooh ah ooh ah! Tang Tang, carry this game! Ah! Ah! Ooooh!”
“Hoo hoo ha! Smash that top lane, Chen Ze! HOO HOO!”

Students on Shanghai High School’s side weren’t deaf, and they heard the monkey cheering from High School 13. They became equally fired up and decided their school wasn’t going down without a fight either. Plus, the monkey sounds made a lot more sense to them when combined with actual cheers. They also jumped up on their seats. And started pounding their chests, all while making monkey noise cheers!

“Ooh ah! Ooh ooh! Ah! Zeng Rui is the best! Ooh ooh! Ooh ah!”
“Ooh hoo ah! Shanghai High School gets the trophy! Ooh ooh!”
“Ooh ooh ooh ooh! Ah ah ah! We’re gonna kick some High School 13 asses! Ooh!”

Westwind looked out over the audience with a most confused expression. He glanced at Silent Reed, who shrugged her shoulders. They’d only just returned after their break between the games and had missed why everyone was making monkey sounds. Why are they doing this? What is happening…? They think this is a zoo or something? Or they forget that this is a League of Legends tournament? Do they think we’re giving out a banana trophy? Wait-a-minute… BANANA TROPHY! The instant that thought entered his mind, he started giggling and his eyes lit up. He quickly grabbed his microphone. Then he looked over at Silent Reed and winked at her, as if saying, “Watch this!” Then he placed the microphone close to his lips and shouted, “I see what y’all are doin’! You’re having a monkey-sound face off! But who will officiate it? ME, ofcourse! In my possession I have the BANANA TROPHY! May the loudest monkey win! Ooh ooh! Ah ah!”

Some students from Shanghai High School started pushing High School 13 students away. They’d been competing with each other all evening. But that was about a game of League. They could only cheer their team on and hope for the best. But when it came to making monkey sounds, they could take the front stage and fight the battle! They shouted at their schoolmates who were still sitting to come and join, then placed their hands around their mouths and shouted in a joined effort to beat High School 13 in monkey-sound combat! “OOH OOH OOH! AH AH!”

High School 13 were still upset after losing the second game of the Finals. They felt like they had something to prove. So when Shanghai High School challenged them to monkey-sound combat, they were quick to respond. Every single High School 13 students got up on their seats. They started pounding their chests in a steady rhythm, shouting, “OOH!” on the beat.

The tournament officials had lost all control over the audience. A thousand high schoolers were standing on their seats, making monkey sounds. It looked ridiculous and it sounded stupid, but these high schoolers were really into it. Some were even getting aggressive about it. They were shoving and pushing and trying to take out the loudmouths on the other side. The officials were forced to intervene. They sent up a message to Westwind, cursing at him for making it a contest and telling him to put a stop to it.

Westwind heard the message from his earpiece. He was sitting next to Silent Reed, both of them staring out over the audience with wide eyes of shock. The official spoke in Westwind’s ear again, which was enough to wake him up. He grabbed the microphone and shouted into it, “Alright, alright! That’s about enough! We’ve had our fun. WE’VE HAD OUR FUN!” The audience barely heard him over the thundering noises of monkey-sound combat.

“THAT’S ENOUGH! TONE IT DOWN!” Silent Reed yelled through the venue, her sharp voice booming through the venue and piercing into the ears of every single person in the audience. This finally had the desired effect. Most people stopped making a sound and looked up at the speakers, confused. Silent Reed continued, “We’re not at the zoo. Stop acting like monkeys. The third game of the Finals is about to start. Let’s give both teams the respect they deserve. Sit your asses back down on your chairs and be quiet.”

Everyone quickly settled down and started returning to their seats. Except for one lone student from High School 13. No one knew who this unknown hero was, and no one would ever know. But this man, this champion, continued to stand on his seat after everyone else sat down. And in that single hushed moment where everyone else was catching their breath, he bellowed out, “BANANA TROPHY OURS! OOH OOH OOh AhAhahAhAH!”

✹

Zeng Rui watched An Xin walk up the stage. I wonder what you’ve got prepared for this game. Don’t let me down. He withdrew his gaze and focused back on his screen. There were a couple of minutes left before they would get into Champion Select for Game 3 of the Finals. Right now was usually when teams did some last minute tweaking to their strategy. But not him. He’d decided on his gameplan before the Finals had even begun and his teammates knew exactly what he expected of them. So he sat calmly and waited for the game to start, occasionally glancing over at An Xin. You’re good, I won’t deny that. But it’s up to the players to execute your strategy. And those players are really not good. You won’t be able to beat me with them. But I hope that you will at least try and make it a little bit more difficult for us. That’d be fu— What? What are you…

After walking up the stage, An Xin briefly talked with the players on her team. Then Liu Yue got up from his seat, laughing, and wished her good luck before walking down the stage. She sat down on his gaming chair. She then started adjusting the settings on the keyboard and the movement speed of the mouse. Finally, she put on her headphones and looked ready to play. Not coach. Play. An Xin was going to play in the Jungle! Zeng Rui was frozen in shock, while a massive commotion broke out in the audience.

“What the Teemo is going on here?”
“Did they give up? Is this a desperation move?”
“Why would they let their coach play in the Jungle? That just seems suicidal.”

“Just in,” Westwind spoke into his microphone. He was still thinking about the monkey sounds and was caught off guard. But he found his old rhythm again. “Just in! High School 13 is making a substitution! It’s official! Their coach is replacing their Jungler! Look at that! How good does everyone think she is? I wanna hear you tell me SHE’S VERY GOOD! WOOOO!”

This substitution caused waves of surprise in the audience and in the chat of the official broadcast. Every viewer on every stream expressed their shock and confusion. Even the chat buffer slowed down, unable to handle the sheer volume of input. Everyone, except for the viewers on one stream. That particular chat was excited for what was about to happen. Su Xue and her viewers had been waiting for this moment! Su Xue laughed and clapped her hands in excitement when she saw An Xin sit down behind the screen. Then she looked straight into her camera and spoke to her viewers, “Remember last night? Lin Feng and BunBun are crazy good together! This is going to be great!”

「oooooooomgggggggg it’s bunbn!!!!!」　
「I KNEW IT WAS HER! I told you guys! She was the one standing behind lil bro!!!!」　
「show us that #BunFeng synergy!!!11」
「u guys saw her play last night? this gunna be soooooooo goood XDDD」

Zeng Rui closed his eyes and massaged his temples. That’s three. I don’t like today. The thundering dumbass got me twice, and now her… He took a couple of deep breaths, calming himself back down. Then he opened his eyes and smiled. Surprises are part of life. I prepared for them. Stick to the plan. Always stick to the plan! He talked his teammates through Champion Select, reaffirming that they were sticking to the original plan. Then, after locking in his Support, he looked over across the stage at High School 13’s team. Let’s see if you can change anything by putting yourself on the team…

High School 13 picked the Champions as instructed to them by An Xin. Lin Feng was playing in the mid lane again, same as last game. Shanghai High School banned three of his favourite Champions, but there were many more he enjoyed playing, including assassin-type mid lane Champions. He picked one that could work really well together with Lee Sin, whom An Xin was playing in the Jungle. Both teams finalized their line ups and they went into the loading screen.

Game 3 of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament Finals:

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

Top lane: Darius versus Dr. Mundo
Jungle: Elise versus Lee Sin
Mid lane: Syndra versus Ahri
AD-carry: Jinx versus Vayne
Support: Nami versus Thresh

An Xin chose to play Lee Sin, which evoked a strong reaction from the audience. The skill of a Jungler was often judged by their skill with Lee Sin. If you were a Jungler who wasn’t very good at Lee Sin, you were a shit Jungler. It didn’t matter if you were Challenger or Bronze. A good Lee Sin was a good Jungler. A bad Lee Sin wasn’t a Jungler. This was true even in the competitive scene. The best Junglers in the world compared their Jungling skills by showing off what they could do with Lee Sin. And now, in this high school tournament, the coach from High School 13 substituted herself into the team and was going to play Lee Sin. There was no hiding behind a weak Champion. There were no excuses for a poor performance. Either she was a terrible Jungler and this was a disastrous decision by her, or she was a phenomenal Jungler!

Zeng Rui frowned. Something didn’t feel quite right. He glanced over at High School 13’s team. They didn’t look nervous. They were calm, and Lin Feng was just as excited as he always was. Zeng Rui said over his team’s voice chat, “Careful guys. Something feels off. Watch out for that Jungler.”

《Welcome to Summoner’s Rift!》

Shanghai High School and High School 13 spawned on their respective fountains. They bought their starter items and went to their lanes. An Xin pathed towards the bottom side Jungle, where her Blue Buff Camp was located. There, she waited for it to spawn, motivating the others over the team’s voice chat, “This game is ours! Just play your best and I’ll do the rest!”

The Blue Sentinel spawned, but An Xin didn’t attack it. Instead, she attacked the Gromp, the large toad in the Jungle Camp opposite of the Blue Buff Camp. Tang Bingyao and Wei Dong helped her kill it, making sure they didn’t leech any of the experience. An Xin hit Level 2 and ran down the Jungle into the river. She trudged through the ankle deep water and entered the Blue team’s Jungle. Her target was the Red Buff Camp. She walked along the wall of trees and stones around it and entered the brush adjacent to the opening. The Elise had already arrived and was attacking the Red Brambleback.

Westwind clutched his microphone tightly in his grasp and shouted, “Is this going to be the earliest First Blood in the entire tournament? Find out next time on RRIIISSSSEEEE!”