Silence. Despair. High School 13’s students were numb as they watched the game on the large LCD screens above the stage. They heard the happy laughter and the “I told you so’s” from Shanghai High School’s students. They heard the jeers aimed their way, the mockery and contempt, everything they’d grown so used to over the years. There were some who tried to say something back, but it wasn’t much more than a whisper, lacking all sense of confidence. The others lowered their heads and balled their fists, enduring the abuse being flung their way and mumbling for a miracle to happen.

An Xin watched the large LCD screens above the stage, but she could still feel the heavy, negative atmosphere all around her. The audience that was cheering them on a half hour ago had completely given up hope that High School 13 could win. Even the team members sitting next to her looked like they lost the will to fight. Ouyang had stopped cheering and laughing. He was just sitting back, looking like his grandmother had died. Yang Fan was rationalizing and analyzing the game from the most pessimistic point of view possible in an effort to distance himself from his emotions. And Ren Rou… she was quietly mumbling negativity and practicing what she would say to the esports team when they lost the Finals, “Shanghai High School was just too good. We tried our hardest, but we just didn’t have enough time to get to where they are. It’s not your fault that they’re so good. Be proud of everything we’ve achieved! I’m proud of you guys! We did great!” An Xin shook her head. They got a real confidence issue. If only I’d transferred in a couple of weeks sooner… I might’ve had enough time to coach them right. Whatever. It’s fine.

The players on High School 13’s team had improved tremendously over the last few months. But they were originally only Platinum and low Diamond players. Shanghai High School’s team had high Diamonds, Masters, and even a Challenger. They were better in every lane except for mid. If High School 13 wanted to win, they had to rely on strategy. On movements across the map that required the team to come together and act as one. That was easier said than done, because it meant they needed to beat Zeng Rui at his own game. 

Zeng Rui excelled at League of Legends strategy, with bonus points in method and calmness. He knew his team’s strengths and weaknesses and he’d researched their opportunities and threats. After the upset in Game 1, he didn’t panic and lose his mind. He kept his cool and stuck to what he’d prepared. He was rewarded for this decision in Game 2, with his team clearly in the lead 10 minutes in.

An Xin sighed. It doesn’t matter how good of a coach I am, I just haven’t had enough time with this team. I’ve only known them for a couple of days… She took a couple of deep breaths and weighed her options. Only one thing I can really do here. I’m just not sure… It doesn’t feel right to step in and help them win. I wasn’t here last year when they lost. I wasn’t even here at the start of the year when they all started practicing together. I only got here a few days ago, and now I’m going to tell one of them to sit out? It means so much more to them. I really don’t want to take that away from them. It’s just… She looked at her teammates for a good, long minute. No. I can’t keep sitting here. They’ll lose and that’s not going to make anyone happy. She shook her head and mumbled, “Guess I’ll have to step in.”

✹

Shanghai High School was throwing their weight around on the Rift. Zeng Rui knew where and when to strike, calling the shots over his team’s voice chat. “Push the minion wave in bot!” He furiously clicked around the mini-map, trying to maintain as much vision as possible. “Get a deep ward near their Red Buff Camp!” And ticked off every second on the timer without looking at it. “Dragon! Dragon!” He meticulously directed the flow of the game, expanding his influence to every corner of the map. 

High School 13 tried to fight back, they really did. But they couldn’t keep up with Zeng Rui’s fast and surgically precise plays. Their wards were cleared out faster than they could throw them down. Liu Yue was forced to deal with aggressive counter-jungling, and was eventually killed. Even Lin Feng got pushed into corner after corner where he had to play defensively.

Westwind relaxed in his chair. He was still shoutcasting, but not with as much enthusiasm or intensity as before. This game is boooooorrrring! Where’s the conflict? The spice? Shanghai High School is doing exactly what they need to be doing, and High School 13 can’t keep up. There’s nothing going on! I WANT SOME EXCITEMENT! He nodded to Silent Reed and said into his microphone, “Shanghai High School is putting on a very clean show here. Haven’t seen High School 13 do much of anything yet. It’s like we’re watching an LPL team playing an exhibition match against a… Well, a high school team. Completely different from how things went in the first game. I wonder what’s changed…” He leaned over his desk and looked at the audience. “Whatchu guys thinking? 1-3 for Shanghai High School?” This evoked a strong response from Shanghai High School’s students in the audience with most of them cheering. Except for one student who screamed out over all the cheering, “OF COURSE WE’RE GOING TO WIN 1-3! WE’RE SHANGHAI INTERNATIONAL! THE BEST ESPORTS HIGH SCHOOL IN ALL OF SHANGHAI!”

Silent Reed grinned and winked at Westwind. “That’s the Zeng Rui I know. He’s always so calm and methodical. He leaves nothing to chance. He was probably just surprised by Lin Feng in the first game. That Wukong was exceptional. But you can see that he fixed those issues during the break. Now he’s showing us why he belongs in the LPL. Zeng Rui is carrying this game—”

Westwind clutched his microphone and interrupted, “Watch! WATCH! A teamfight! Is this going to be it? Shanghai High School might finish it all right here, right NOW!”

At 12 minutes, Shanghai High School gathered and started pushing down mid lane. High School 13 scrambled to mount a defense. Chen Ze’s Rumble was the first to arrive and assist Lin Feng’s Lissandra. They started pushing back against Shanghai High School and defending their tower. Chen Ze brought all of his rage and bitterness to the fight. The Darius had forced his Rumble out of lane a couple of minutes ago. Since then, he’d been farming Jungle Camps and sharing the experience with Liu Yue’s Lee Sin. He was embarrassed and frustrated, and more importantly he had something to prove. He pushed down on the E key and his Rumble launched an electrically charged harpoon at the cluster of enemy champions–Electro Harpoon! “Watch me!” he whisper-shouted to himself. He locked onto the Jinx and left the safety of his minions to land his second Electro Harpoon on her. 

Zeng Rui’s Morgana had been waiting in the fog of war. He noticed that the Rumble was a little too aggressive and tilted, so he’d told the Jinx to take a step forward. Too easy, haha. He hit the Q key for Dark Binding and his Morgana conjured a prison of dark magic that ensnared the Rumble. “Go, go!” Zeng Rui ordered over the team’s voice chat. Shanghai High School jumped on the Rumble and started bombarding him with all their skills. 

Liu Yue’s Lee Sin and Tang Bingyao’s Lucian got to midlane just as the Dark Binding hit Rumble and rooted him. They joined up with Lin Feng’s Lissandra and rushed in to try and save Chen Ze’s Rumble. But they were too late. The attacks from Shanghai High School landed and killed the Rumble before they could do anything. Chen Ze’s Rumble had died before he even had a chance to use any of his high damage skills.

After killing the Rumble, they switched their attention to Tang Bingyao’s Lucian. This game hadn’t gone well for her either, and she’d fallen behind in lane. Tang Bingyao couldn’t put up much of a fight, and she also died unceremoniously. Shanghai High School was dominating this team fight! Then Zeng Rui put a target on Liu Yue’s Lee Sin. In a single second, Liu Yue watched all his health disappear. He was literally one attack away from death. But in his final moments and as a defiant cry against his imminent death, Lee Sin unleashed Dragon’s Rage and killed Morgana with a roundhouse kick! Then Lee Sin also died. 

The only one left alive from High School 13 in this team fight was Lin Feng’s Lissandra. He’d been fighting the Darius in an effort to save Tang Bingyao’s Lucian. And managed to kill Darius right as Lee Sin was killed. Then he retreated to the safety of the inner tower. Lin Feng had known that the fight was lost before it even started, and decided to do whatever he could to somewhat even things out. 

The audience fell into a rare moment of silence. Shanghai High School’s students wanted to cheer, but couldn’t as long as Lin Feng still lived. The teamfight wasn’t truly over until he died. They’d seen him single-handedly turn a teamfight around in the last game! The students from Shanghai High School were worried that Lin Feng would pull something to turn this all around. On the other side of the arena, High School 13’s students were full of hope for the same exact reason. Lin Feng was the only player on the team who could turn things around! 

Everyone in the audience fell quiet. They were all on the edge of their seats, waiting to see how this teamfight would end. Waiting to see what Lin Feng would do. Except for two students, who were busy talking to each other. Normally, no one would have known these two were talking to each other, let alone hear what they were saying. But with the hush that fell over the entire arena, their conversation reached all the way to the distant corners.

“That Lissandra is so dead,” a Shanghai High School student said.

“Are you stupid? Or just blind?” a High School 13 student said. Then he snorted. From context, it appeared that he was attempting to make a sound of derision. An imitation of something that he’d read about in cultivation webnovels. But the noise he actually made was an odd sound, one that resembled gagging on a large penis rather than what he was intending. Then he gargled out, “Lin Feng is still alive. He’ll turn this around! He’s way better than your shitty ass team!” He took a large gulp of water after he finished saying that. The snorting had hurt his throat. 

“Hahaha, don’t make me laugh. I don’t care how good you think he is, he’s never going to come out of this alive!”

“Did you look at his Summoner Spells? He still has Flash. He’s going to outplay the shit out of your guys!”

“I like your confidence. I really do. But come on, man. Please. I don’t believe for a second that you don’t know how dumb and desperate you sound. It’s only one Lissandra. What’s she going to do against our Jinx, Orianna, and Rengar?”

“I…”

“Right, nothing.”

“He’s going to win this!”

Lin Feng’s Lissandra only had a quarter of her health remaining. She hugged the wall of trees on the bottom side of the mid lane as she ran towards the inner tower. Lin Feng’s finger hovered over the D key. The Orianna sped up the Rengar with Command: Dissonance. The Rengar caught up to the Lissandra and threw out an Empowered Bola, which was a root skill. Lin Feng flicked his mouse over the wall of trees and pressed down. His Lissandra flashed over the wall of trees into her own Jungle. Shanghai High School lost vision of her.

✹

The online broadcast of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament was turning out to be a massive success. There were currently thousands of viewers watching Shanghai High School and High School 13 duke it out in the Finals. Right now, all of those viewers were trying to figure out why Lissandra had Flashed into her own Jungle, rather than towards the safety of her inner tower.

「huh? What the hell? Is he stupid?????」
「wHY flAsH t0 thE juNGle?!?!??!?1/?!?1/」
「omg…. why would he…. wtf man,,,, why not flash to your tower????///」

✹

Lin Feng’s Lissandra crept around the Jungle and carefully positioned herself before launching Glacial Path. An icy claw flew out of the Jungle and into the mid lane! The Jinx, Rengar, and Orianna couldn’t see the claw until it came out of the fog of war. But just as they noticed it, Lin Feng tapped his E key again to activate the second half of Glacial Path. His Lissandra blinked to the location of the ice claw! Right in the middle of Shanghai High School’s team! The instant she landed, Lissandra sent a wave of ice blasting out and locked all three enemy champions down–⁠Ring of Frost! Then she skewered the low health Jinx with an Ice Shard.

《Double kill!》

Wei Dong’s Thresh finally showed up in mid lane after Lin Feng picked up his second kill of the teamfight. He threw his lantern at Lissandra and helped her escape from the Orianna and Rengar. The teamfight had ended in a draw, both sides lost three Champions. But High School 13 was still the loser. Shanghai High School held the pressure on the map, while Lin Feng and Wei Dong recalled back to base to lick their wounds.

The audience broke into cheers. The official broadcast’s chat was flooded with messages, congratulating Shanghai High School on winning the teamfight and professing Lin Feng as God. His Lissandra was, according to the backseat professionals, the single best Lissandra in all of League of Legends! Su Xue, who was also watching the game, didn’t take it quite that far. But she was still very happy to see Lin Feng picked up a double kill. She slapped down on her desk and exclaimed, “Nice going! That’s our li’l bro! Greedy idiots thinking they can kill him. Ha!”

The viewers didn’t care about Shanghai High School winning the teamfight, nor did they really care about High School 13. They only cared about Lin Feng, and he’d just made an incredible play. They continued lauding him in the chat.

「Lil bro crossdressing. He a trap. But he no fooling me. HE DA FRIGGIN BEST!!!1!」
「66666666」
「OH SHIZZLES! Im – fking – pressed!!!!!」
「LIL BRO LIL BRO YOU MY FUCKING HEROOOOOOOO!!!!」
「TOUCH ME WITH YOUR SKILLZZ !!11 IMPART YOUR ESSENCE INTO ME!」
「lil bro can do what no one else can doooo!!!!!!!!!」

✹

A single player alone wasn’t enough to beat Shanghai High School. Lin Feng continued to outplay Shanghai High School every time they came at him. But more often than not, they simply focused their attention somewhere else on the map and ignored him. Zeng Rui was too canny to let his annoyance of Lin Feng ruin his calm approach to the game. Steady and meticulous, that was his mantra. I won’t let this thundering dumbass get to me. I don’t care how many times he surprises me. He’s just one player.

At 32 minutes: Shanghai High School built up their lead over High School 13 to 9,000 gold, three Dragons, 6 towers, and 19 to 9 kills.

At 33 minutes: Shanghai High School won a decisive teamfight by towerdiving High School 13’s team under the inhibitor tower in the top lane. It was a perfect teamfight. Five kills and zero deaths. From there, they destroyed the base and High School 13’s Nexus. The energy trapped within exploded outwards and morphed into a red victory crest.

VICTORY

The series was now even again. Both teams had one win under their belt. But the audience and players painted a completely different picture. Shanghai High School was enjoying the moment. They were cheering, laughing, and having fun. They were jumping around, chugging beers, and comparing Zeng Rui to Autumn. They patted each other on the back and talked about how there was no one in all of Shanghai who could beat them. In stark contrast, the students from High School 13 were completely quiet and seated. Their spirit was completely broken. This game was all it took to prove to most of them that they weren’t really good enough to play at this level. They whispered to each other about the mistakes and bad decisions they’d made this game. And unanimously accepted that they were not good enough to play at the Finals of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament.

There were only two people from High School 13 who didn’t seem fazed by the result of the second game. Lin Feng was his usual cheerful self. “One loss, what’s that matter?” he laughed as he saw his friends’ long faces. “We’ll just win the next two! It’s easy!”

An Xin was the other High School 13 student who wasn’t affected by the result of the second game. She wasn’t worried at all. She was smiling and she looked excited. She’d been hoping that the team could pull this off without her having to play. But that just wasn’t possible, they weren’t at a point where they could overcome Zeng Rui. She was excited because now it was her turn to step up and show everyone how much influence one player could have on the outcome of a game of League of Legends! I’m going to turn this around for all my friends! I’m going to smack Zeng Rui and all of Shanghai High School down! We’re going home with the trophy! They want that trophy and they got all the way to the end. I’m not letting them go home empty-handed!

Zeng Rui’s jaw muscles pulsed with fury. He was incredibly frustrated with himself. I should’ve seen this coming. I should’ve seen this coming! But he hadn’t. And as a result, his entire team died. He had lost his team the first teamfight against High School 13 in the Finals of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament! He was so caught up in self-directed rage for this turn of events that he barely noticed the Tristana jumping towards him. But he didn’t really care. There was nothing he could do, especially considering that his health was already really low from trying to save his teammates. He glanced down at the minimap one more time, just to confirm. Mostly out of habit. He knew he wasn’t going to reach the safety of a tower before she killed him. And even if he did, it wouldn’t change things. The rest of his team was dead. So instead of worrying about how to preserve what little remained of his life, he started thinking about how to turn this game around. 

《Triple kill!》

《Aced!》

“WOOOO!” Westwind screamed into his microphone. “What. A. Teamfight! Show me those High School 13 posters! Show everyone the posters!” And the High School 13 students happily obliged. They were on their feet, holding the posters up above their heads that read: “HIGH SCHOOL 13 CHAMPIONS!” A line that was screamed out over and over again by the other students, booming through the arena.

Whistling, jeers, and boos. Shanghai High School did everything they could think of to shut High School 13’s section of the audience up. But it had quite the opposite effect. The venue was far too small for the amount of people there. So anything they shouted was drowned out by everyone else that was shouting. All anyone could hear was a massive reaction to the teamfight win by High School 13!

Silent Reed giggled and said, “The Tristana picked up a very nice triple there, though Zeng Rui should’ve tried harder to escape. Still…” She shook her head slightly before continuing, “That fight was all Lin Feng. He won that fight for High School 13.”

Westwind laughed and said, “That is WIN FENG for you! Right, guys?” He was trying to bait the audience into starting a WIN FENG chant to serve as the background to the rest of his commentating. Unfortunately, the audience did not bite and continued their unintelligible shouting and cheering. Westwind didn’t care though, he was just thrilled to have the audience reacting to him. Any cheering and noise was good enough as far as he was concerned. He decided to continue whipping the crowd up, “A crazy 3-man ult to win the fight! WIN FENG was the bait and the trap! HOW AWESOME WAS THAT?” 

An Xin was up on her feet, together with Ren Rou, Ouyang, and Yang Fan. They were cheering for the team, for Lin Feng and Tang Bingyao who’d turned the losing teamfight around into a win. An Xin looked over her shoulder at the audience. The excited and happy expressions on their faces left her smiling. She turned back to look at Lin Feng and mumbled, “Not bad, you blockhead. You won the match.”

Zeng Rui knew, just like An Xin, that the game was as good as played. He’d prepared this teamfight specifically to deal with the Wukong who was the only real nuisance on High School 13’s team up until that point. Everything was going as planned. They got a couple of kills and baited the Wukong into action. Then they used their high cooldown skills to burst him down before he could do anything. That was where his plan fell apart. Zeng Rui stared across the stage at Lin Feng. Outplayed by him… He gritted his teeth and focused back on the game. His team needed him right now. They had to come together and find a way to stop the Wukong.

“Shit,” Zeng Rui cursed over the team’s voice chat. He rarely cursed, but he really needed to vent out his frustrations. “That went terrible, guys. Now we focus. We’re going to shut that Wukong down.” But how…? I didn’t see it coming. That’s the second time now where I didn’t expect his next move. How is he doing this? Is he just really lucky? No. Once, maybe. But not twice.

✹

High School 13 got the clear lead after winning the teamfight and securing the second Dragon. But getting an advantage wasn’t the same as winning the game. Shanghai High School started playing more defensively and made sure to give nothing away. For the next couple of minutes, this worked to great effect. High School 13 didn’t achieve much more than widening the creep score gap with their lane opponents. Then High School 13’s team recalled back to the fountain and bought the items they’d been saving up for.

At 18 minutes: High School 13 destroyed Shanghai High School’s outer tower in the mid lane.
At 20 minutes: Lin Feng helped Chen Ze pick up a kill on Shanghai High School’s Orianna, after which they took down the inner tower in the mid lane.
At 23 minutes: High School 13’s team, with the exception of Lin Feng, killed Baron Nashor. Shanghai High School’s team had vision of it, but they were too far behind to contest it and were instead pushing out the mid lane while they had the chance. The Jinx tried to steal Baron Nashor from the mid lane by firing off her Super Mega Death Rocket. The team that dealt the last hit got the reward for the kill. But she was too early. Her attack didn’t do enough damage to kill the large purple wurm. High School 13 dealt the killing blow and secured the Baron Buff. All the while, Lin Feng had snuck around Shanghai High School’s wards and arrived behind them.

“GoGoGo!” Lin Feng shouted over the team’s voice chat. He was looking at the back line of Shanghai High School’s team. All five were huddled up closely together in the mid lane. He grinned and pressed down on the E key, quickly followed by the R key–Cyclone! His Wukong jumped at Shanghai High School’s team and then started turning in circles, knocking everyone up in the air!

Wei Dong was at the front of High School 13’s team. He flashed forward, straight into Shanghai High School’s team and activated Morgana’s ultimate skill–Soul Shackles! Chains of agony erupted out from her and latched onto the five Champions that were still Airborne from Wukong’s ultimate skill. All the while, Tang Bingyao was firing away, helping her teammates blow Shanghai High School up.

Chen Ze activated Twisted Fate’s ultimate skill–Destiny! The entire map was revealed to High School 13, with five all-knowing eyes appearing above the five Champions from Shanghai High School. Three died in the next few seconds, with Tang Bingyao picking up a triple kill. The other two broke the tethers connecting them to the Morgana before she could stun them. Lin Feng was chasing after the Irelia and almost had her. But the Jinx was about to get away. Chen Ze smiled and pressed down on his R key again–Warp Gate! The cards opened up a portal for the Twisted Fate, allowing him to step through time and space and arrive right in front of the Jinx. He’d already selected the Gold Card from Pick a Card. It was the single target stun. The Jinx had used all her skills to escape this far. She was stunned by Chen Ze, and then killed by him.

《Aced!》

It was clear that Shanghai High School’s team had mentally tapped out after they lost the first teamfight. This last teamfight just underlined that fact. There was no scenario in which they should’ve allowed the Wukong to completely blindsight them again, especially since they had vision on Baron Nashor and could see he wasn’t there. But that wasn’t something Lin Feng concerned himself with. He just wanted to win this game and move on to the next one. “Let’s finish this right now!” he shouted over the team’s voice chat. Then he started pushing into Shanghai High School’s base. The rest of the team helped him, attacking the inhibitor tower followed by the inhibitor. They pushed towards the nexus and blew it up before Shanghai High School respawned.

VICTORY

“V-V-VIC—TOOOOO—RY!” Westwind shouted into his microphone. “Give it up for WIN FENG AND HIGH SCHOOL 13! WOOOOOO!”

The High School 13 students in the audience happily obliged. Their team was up 1-0 in the Finals of the most important esports tournament in Shanghai! It was only one game, and their emotions had been played multiple times already. But still. They were up 1-0! Maybe. Just maybe, they could win this whole damn thing! That fickle hope flared. Today was going to be their day! “WIN FENG! WIN FENG!”

The Shanghai Esports Association had invited several eliminated teams to come and watch the Finals. Tonji Affiliated High’s team was one of them. They sat together at the very front of the venue, stunned by the display of pure strategy from High School 13. This game was nothing like the game they played against High School 13. It wasn’t a one man show with Lin Feng hard-carrying High School 13 to a win. This was a team effort. It wasn’t LeBron James playing the whole game with the rest of the Cavs only there to fill out the numbers and pretend it was a team game. 

Tonji Affiliated High’s Jungler said, “Wow, they’ve gotten so much better… It’s like they’re a completely different team…” His teammates agreed with him.

Shanghai International’s team was also invited to watch the Finals. They didn’t really want to be there and they wanted to turn the invitation down. But Chu Fang was hosting the event, and Chu Fang was a big name in the professional League of Legends scene. Not just in Shanghai but in all of China. Showing up to the Finals was a fantastic opportunity to build a connection with him for Shanghai International’s star players. They had no choice but to accept the invitation. They grumbled and complained about having to go the entire way there, but they did show up at the Finals. Now they were seated near Tonji Affiliated High’s team and watching the game.

Yan Liang was stewing, forced to watch High School 13 play the Finals against Shanghai High School. This is physically painful to watch! I know exactly what to do! I already had a strategy to beat Shanghai High School ready! But I’m up here… IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ME DOWN THERE! I would’ve won this game already if I was down there. ARGH! I don’t know… Why’d it have to turn out this way? ISH! Just win already, Lin Feng! We’ll have some dignity left if you win. I’ll feel better knowing that we lost to the winners! But… we still lost. I lost to Lin Feng. Is he a better midlaner than me? Midlaner… toplaner… whatever he is…

Liu Zhengjie glared at Tang Bingyao and mumbled under his breath, “That stupid bitch got lucky again! How lucky can she get? Fucking hell! Just give me one game where she isn’t so damn lucky. One game! Everyone’ll see how shit she is! Fucking noob bitch whore! Only reason this slut seems good is cause Lin Feng’ll do anything to keep her on his cock!”

✹

After a brief intermission, High School 13 and Shanghai High School’s teams entered Champion Select for Game 2 of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament Finals. The two teams had switched sides and Lin Feng was back in the mid lane while Chen Ze went up top. There were no further changes from the first game. Shanghai High School stuck to the same tactic as they had before, banning out three strong mid lane assassins. This was to the surprise of An Xin. But she didn’t say anything about it and instead focused on High School 13’s team. Finally, both teams locked in their line-ups.

Game 2 of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament Finals:

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

Top lane: Rumble versus Darius
Jungle: Lee Sin versus Rengar
Mid lane: Lissandra versus Orianna
AD-carry: Lucian versus Jinx
Support: Thresh versus Morgana

Perhaps the biggest surprise in this second game of the Finals was that Zeng Rui let High School 13 pick Thresh. He picked Morgana. Other than that, both teams played strong Champions in the current patch. High School 13 was more focused on teamfights, with Champions like Rumble, Thresh and Lissandra offering powerful area of effect crowd control skills. While Shanghai High School was more focused on picking people off before it could ever get to a teamfight. It was going to come down to execution. The game went into the loading screen.

《Welcome to Summoner’s Rift!》

Shanghai High School decided to start the game with a lane swap. Their Botlaners went to the top lane and their Toplaner to the bot lane. This created a situation where the Toplaners from both teams had to play against two Champions, which was an impossible situation. But Darius had an easier time staying in lane and getting experience than the Rumble.

At 3 minutes: Shanghai High School’s Botlaners were pushing the minion wave in the top lane towards the Blue team’s outer tower. Chen Ze was hiding underneath it, unable to pick up any last hits on the minions. But he was still getting experience for being near the minions when they died. He thought he was safe farming like that. They were all still at Level 2 and didn’t have nearly enough health to towerdive. That was, until the Rengar snuck into High School 13’s topside Jungle and appeared behind the outer tower. He worked together with the Jinx and Morgana to kill the Rumble, perfectly trading aggro with the outer tower so that none of them died. First blood went to Shanghai High School.

At 5 minutes: Tang Bingyao and Wei Dong failed at pressuring Darius. They could push him back to his tower, but there he farmed up relatively safely. They tunnel visioned on the Darius, searching for a way to trip him up. The ward in the river wore off, but they didn’t notice and stayed there for a few seconds longer than they should have. That was all the time the Rengar needed to sneak up on them. He jumped on the Thresh and helped Darius kill him. Tang Bingyao’s Lucian got out, but that was little solace. Shanghai High School’s lane swap had worked out and left both High School 13’s top and bot lane at a disadvantage.

Shanghai High School was pulling ahead of High School 13 in the early minutes of the game. The only lane that was doing decent for High School 13 was the mid lane. Lin Feng, as was to be expected of him, had gotten a small lead over the Orianna. That wasn’t anywhere near enough to make up for the losses High School 13 had sustained elsewhere on the map. And he couldn’t exactly push for more. His Champion wasn’t an assassin like Fizz, who could towerdive at Level 3. And Shanghai High School’s Midlaner was playing Orianna who was one of the most defensive options available in the mid lane. All in all, this game was going terribly for High School 13.

At 7 minutes: Shanghai High School destroyed the hopes and dreams of all the High School 13 students in the audience. After taking down the outer tower in the top lane, the Botlaners went down to the bot lane. But rather than walking up to the outer tower and defending it from Lucian and Thresh, they walked into the river where they met up with Rengar and Orianna. The four of them went down to the bot lane and flanked Tang Bingyao and Wei Dong. Lin Feng still tried to help his Botlaners by Teleporting down. But there was little he could do. In the end, High School 13 lost all three Champions while only getting a single kill in return. Making things even worse, all three of those kills went to the Jinx. Seven minutes since this game started, and High School 13 was already tipping towards a loss.

“… he’s exhausted! KILL HIM! KILL HIM!” Zeng Rui screamed into his headset. He poured every ounce of concentration he had into the screen. We lost Xin Zhao, but now we’ll get to take Lin Feng and his Wukong out! Then we can wrap up the rest of this teamfight and get Dragon! GO! 

The four remaining Champions from Shanghai High School rushed towards Lin Feng’s Wukong. Orianna, Jinx,  Thresh, and Irelia. All locked in on the now exhausted Wukong. 

“What an Exhaust! What. An. EXHAUST!” Westwind screamed into the microphone. Half of the audience was chanting Zeng Rui’s name, agreeing with every positive thing Westwind had to say about their team captain. Westwind looked over the venue, grinning to himself, then continued, “A perfect display of pure skill… AGAIN! He knew the Wukong was coming in. HE KNEW!”

The Jinx was the first one of the four to get a lock on Wukong. She tossed out her Flame Chompers to root him down. Orianna followed up a split-second later and launched her Ball at Wukong while the Flame Chompers still arched through the air. Just as the Ball accelerated out from Orianna’s hand, Irelia materialized and fired four spirit blades at the Wukong—her ultimate, Transcendent Blades! Three Flame Chompers, one Ball, and four Spirit Blades flew through the air together, all aimed squarely at the Wukong! 

Just as Wukong was about to be rooted, pulled, rooted again and pierced by the volley of skills thrown at him, he dematerialized and blinked through everything! Then he rematerialized closer to the Dragon Pit, and started running towards the rest of his teammates. Wukong had escaped a shower of death and was now running towards safety! Lin Feng predicted what would happen when he went in for the kill on Xin Zhao, and he was ready and waiting with his finger on the D-Key. He Flashed through everything headed at him in the millisecond before they connected!

Silent Reed stood up for the first time in all the games she’d casted at the Shanghai 16 School Tournament. She grabbed her microphone and shouted, “Zeng Rui isn’t done! He’s having his team chase the Wukong! OH! Look! Look at the Jinx! The Jinx!”

The Jinx activated her ultimate skill. She loaded the Super Mega Death Rocket in her bazooka and fired it in the general direction of High School 13’s team. It struck the Morgana, a large explosion sweeping out around her. Within the clouds of smoke and dust was a terrifying murder smiley. When the plume of smoke cleared, Rek’Sai’s fallen corpse was on the ground. The Jinx had picked up a kill! This in turn activated her passive skill–Get Excited! She got a boost in movement speed and raced after the Wukong, who had also been hit by the splash damage from her Super Mega Death Rocket.

The Orianna called her Ball back to her side. Then she cast Command: Dissonance! This skill damaged and slowed enemy Champions, but it granted ally Champions a speedburst. The Irelia and the Orianna made use of this speedburst to follow Jinx in chasing down the Wukong. All the while, the Morgana ran South through the river. No one chased after her. Wukong was the high value target. Not just in terms of gold, but also in terms of game objectives. After killing him, Shanghai High School could take the Dragon uncontested. That would put them in a comfortable lead.

The Jinx had the Red Buff, which added a slow effect to her auto attacks. She caught up to the Wukong near the Dragon Pit and fired off a rocket at him, slowing him. “Gotcha!” Shanghai High School’s ad-carry laughed over the team’s voice chat. 3vs1, this Wukong is toast! “I got him, guys! Gothim!” The Wukong turned left into the Red team’s Jungle and towards the Blue Buff Camp. Shanghai High School didn’t have any wards placed there, so they briefly lost vision of the Wukong.

The Jinx placed down a ward in the Red team’s Jungle to get vision on the Wukong again. He was just standing there, perfectly still. But Jinx, Irelia, and Orianna were so caught up in the chase and the heat of battle that they didn’t stop to think or question why he was just standing there. They charged at the Wukong and started attacking him, until a voice boomed into their ears. “Back, NOW!” It was Zeng Rui. He also started pinging for them to retreat and continued yelling over the team’s voice chat, “Spread out! GET OUT OF THERE! He still has his ultimate! He still has his—”

Keikaku doori, thought Lin Feng while grinning. He’d jumped into Shanghai High School’s team to bait out their long cooldown skills, like Exhaust, then flashed away to negate the effect of those skills. He made it look like he was desperate, as if he’d made a terrible misplay. But it was anything but that. Everything was within his control. He even paused ever so slightly while running away towards his Jungle to let the Jinx catch up and fire a rocket at him, slowing him. Then he cut their vision and used Warrior Trickster.

“He… He…” Westwind muttered into his microphone. The audience was still cheering. It hadn’t yet registered what was happening. The Shanghai High School students just saw their team chasing after the Wukong who was surely dying in the next few seconds. But Westwind was an expert of the game. He slammed his palm down on the desk and shouted, “THE TURN AROUND! WUKONG IS THE BAIT AND THE SHOOTER!”

Lin Feng was laser focused on the fight. His Wukong had split in two. The clone stood around as the three champions from Shanghai High School rushed up to it. The real Wukong ran towards the Jinx, Irelia, and Orianna under the cover of invisibility. His finger hovered over the R key. He pushed down lightly, stopping just before actuating the switch. “Tang Tang, goGoGO! Let’s win this!” Then he activated his ultimate. His Wukong whipped out his enchanted staff and held it out in front of him, then went into a wild spin–Cyclone! The Jinx, Irelia, and Orianna were knocked up into the air.

“People, people!” Westwind shouted at the deafening audience. “PEOPLE! Look at that outplay! They’re going to win! High School 13 is going to win this teamfight! Let’s hear it for… WIN FENG!”

Silent Reed exclaimed, “Westwind, look. Look! The Tristana!”

Westwind turned away from the audience, who were screaming whatever he made them scream, and looked up at the large screen above the stage again. There he saw it. Tristana, who hadn’t been in the fight at all until now, was jumping in. “Tristana! PeoplePeople! Let’s hear it for… TRISTANA!”

Tang Bingyao was out of position when the teamfight started. She was forced to walk a long way around to join the fight, which she only managed to do after Chen Ze’s Twisted Fate got killed. She’d decided to hang back and wait for the right opportunity to jump in. That was now. Lin Feng had asked for her help! She pressed down her W key–Rocket Jump! Her Tristana aimed her cannon at the ground and fired, launching herself towards Lin Feng and the three players from Shanghai High School. She then activated Rapid Fire. Her cannon’s muzzle ignited with a blazing fire, increasing her attack speed. Then she threw a bomb on the Jinx and charged it up–Explosive Charge! One auto attack was one charge. Each charge dealt exponentially more damage.

After the third auto attack, Tang Bingyao activated Tristana’s ultimate skill–Buster Shot! Her Tristana loaded a massive cannonball into her weapon and fired it at the Jinx. It dealt a ton of damage and also added the final charge to the Explosive Charge. The Jinx exploded.

《You have slain an enemy!》

“Mhm!” Tang Bingyao smiled, briefly letting go of her mouse to ball a fist. She wasn’t going to lose this game, she was going to win it! The cooldown of Rocket Jump reset after getting the kill. She used it to jump on top of the Orianna, paying careful attention to the other Champions from Shanghai High School. Her finger hovered over the D key. I can’t make a mistake. I have to win this. I have to…

What he feared most happened in front of his eyes. Zeng Rui stared at his screen. For the second time in this game, he was caught off guard. He’d chased after the Wukong just like the rest of his team. He was the one who’d give the order! It wasn’t until Wukong disappeared in the fog of war that he realized something was wrong. He didn’t know why, or what was wrong. It’d just been a feeling. This thundering dumbass! His entire team was caught out! He had to do something. If he could help just one escape, that would already be a massive accomplishment. The Tristana was firing away at the Orianna. He aimed at her and pressed down on the Q key–Death Sentence!

Tang Bingyao pressed down on the D key–Flash! She’d been expecting the Death Sentence. Her Tristana disappeared as the sickle cut through the air. She’d dodged it! I can do this! Mhm. I can! She took aim at the Orianna again, who was trying to run away. I’ll kill—

Lin Feng had his Wukong leap at the Orianna. Then he raised the enchanted staff high above his head, clutching it tightly with both hands, and slammed down with shattering force–Crushing Blow! Killing Blow!

《Double kill!》

Tang Bingyao stared at her screen. He stole my kill… Then she shook her head. Mnh-mnh. I’ll kill the Irelia! She started firing at the Irelia, who was caught running back and forth between the Wukong and Tristana, lost as to what to do.

Wei Dong arrived back in the fight. He hovered near the edge, far away from the Thresh and Irelia, yet close enough to protect Tang Bingyao’s Tristana with a Black Shield. Morgana had arrived just in time! 

Irelia had finally chosen her target. She jumped on the Tristana with Bladesurge and tried to stun her with Equilibrium Strike. But Morgana’s Black Shield popped up just before Equilibrium Strike landed, negating the stun. The Irelia’s skill had been wasted, and was now on cooldown. Things just got worse for her from there. Since no stun was applied, Tristana used Rocket Jump to get some distance. The Irelia found herself  locked between the Wukong and Tristana again, taking damage from both champions. She had to make a choice once again. Just like before, she decided to run down the Tristana. Wukong was a melee Champion, so chasing Tristana was her only way to get some distance from the Wukong. But it didn’t matter. Her health was dropped quickly. She took an enchanted staff to the back of her skull, after which a cannonball smashed into her face and finished her off.

《Double kill!》

Tang Bingyao balled her fist again. Double kill. Mhm! Then she looked at the Thresh, who until now had been trying to help his teammates escape. He stood in the middle of the river, far away from Blue team’s tower in the mid lane. Tang Bingyao smiled and pressed down on the W key–Rocket Jump! This skill reset when she got a kill. The Tristana aimed her cannon at the ground and fired, launching herself towards the Thresh.

The spectators on High School 13’s side of the audience fell into a forlorn silence. They stopped all the cheering, the posters and signs dropped. In their eyes, Lin Feng’s death was the beginning of the end. When his Wukong rampaged across the Rift at the start of the game, hope burned bright. They started to believe they had a chance at winning the Shanghai 16 School Tournament! They started to believe they could beat Shanghai High School! But it was just a flash. When Shanghai High School attacked and killed Wukong, all that hope went up in a puff of smoke. 

They looked around at each other, embarrassed and sheepish. It was stupid of them to believe they had a shot at taking the trophy home to their school. Everyone from High School 13 knew this was it. Their esports team had lost the advantage they had in the early game, and it wouldn’t be long before they lost the game. Wouldn’t be long until they lost the series. Then all of them would go home together and life would go back to normal. They’d go back to being on the bottom. Back to being a terrible school. The energy from the audience died out, the substitutes for the team looked a little deflated, and even the players on the team felt their confidence waver. But the man at the center of it all wasn’t even slightly bothered.

Lin Feng scratched the back of his head and laughed, “Oh man! That was embarrassing!” He looked over to his teammates and continued, “I got outplayed HARD! Big oof!”

Tang Bingyao and Wei Dong sat to Lin Feng’s right. They stared at him, completely forgetting that they were in the middle of the most important game they’d ever played. Both of them thinking the same exact thought. Lin Feng is hopeless! He’s beyond help. Truly a lost cause. He doesn’t even care that he made such a big mistake! Liu Yue and Chen Ze, sitting on Lin Feng’s left, were in the same boat. They stared at their screens, stunned and speechless. Chen Ze finally broke the silence, “I guess it wasn’t completely his fault. If the Thresh hadn’t shown up… I mean… th—”

“No, no! Listen! I died and that’s that!” Lin Feng interjected. “Don’t need to make excuses.” He looked back at his screen and nodded, ignoring the stares digging into him. “Alright! Won’t let that happen again! We still got this! Let’s move on!”

After the initial burst of cheering from the takedown on the Wukong died out, Westwind and Silent Reed pulled up a replay on the large screen to analyze what had just happened. 

“There you see the Thresh pathing through his Jungle to place wards.”

“And right here, we see the Wukong roaming towards the mid lane!”

“The Thresh was recalling back to base near the mid lane when Orianna got ganked.”

“He really was just in time to help the Orianna. That was so close. He wouldn’t have made it without that Flash.”

“Wukong didn’t stand a chance from that point onward.”

“That was all skill, right?”

“Yes. Pure skill. Zeng Rui is one of the best players in China. He has phenomenal mechanics and map awareness! You don’t see this kind of skill everyday!” 

“He’s a Challenger, a real life Challenger. That was such a good play by Zeng Rui.” 

“There you have it! Our analysis proves that that was pure skill by Zeng Rui! What a brilliant… PHENOMENAL play!”

Zeng Rui frowned. He ignored his teammates cheering him on over the team’s voice chat. I got lucky… I got lucky. He was having trouble accepting the reality of what just happened. The outplay didn’t matter. Things like Flaying an opponent out of a dash and hooking them under a tower were second nature. It took him no effort or even thought to do it. That timing… If I hadn’t been near mid… He just didn’t want to accept that the entire play came down to luck. Pure luck. I didn’t anticipate that gank! I failed at predicting what Lin Feng was going to do. That dumbass got one over on me, and that’s what’s pissing me off! The only reason I got that kill was luck! That’s fucking disgusting! It’s absolutely shameful that all of that came down to luck! 

Zeng Rui was a man of few words. He was stoic, controlled, and believed in himself and his teammates. He hated the word ‘luck’. The entire concept disgusted him! Only people who were bad at the game needed to rely on luck! He held himself and his team to a much higher standard. He could win a game on his own with skill and strategy. The only thing he relied on was careful planning! But in this particular instance, where he was being celebrated, he’d failed himself. He failed to plan and predict. The only reason things had worked out was because he got lucky. He just happened to be in the right place at the right time. If he hadn’t been, Orianna would’ve died and the Wukong would’ve been even stronger. But he was there, and he saved Orianna and took Lin Feng’s Wukong down. What haunted him was just how easily it could’ve all gone in the other direction. That’s why he found luck disgusting. How did I miss that? 

✹

Su Xue wrapped up her meeting with Huya TV as quickly as she could. Then she started streaming the Shanghai 16 School Tournament Finals. Thousands of viewers quickly jumped in to watch the game with her. As far as she could tell, the game was relatively even between the two teams. Even after Lin Feng’s Wukong got killed. But when that happened, Su Xue gasped and asked her viewers how it even happened. They jumped in with many different theories, all of which boiled down to the fact that the Thresh had gotten lucky. But all of them believed in their Li’l Bro and repeated that giving away one kill was no big deal at all. Especially since another Dragon would spawn in two minutes. There was going to be another massive teamfight at the Dragon Pit, and that’s where Lin Feng would have his vengeance! 

According to the consensus of the viewers on Sue Xue’s stream, Lin Feng was a God at teamfights. He always had a way of somehow going 1v5 and winning. Some of them added that they didn’t remember watching a single teamfight with Lin Feng where he didn’t come out on top. When this next teamfight rolled around, that’s when Lin Feng was going to punish Shanghai High School and the Thresh for killing him in a play that was pure luck.

“Shhhh!” Su Xue suddenly said, shutting the viewers up. Lin Feng had just run into Shanghai High School’s Jungler.

Wukong ran into Xin Zhao while he strolled around alone in the Blue team’s Jungle. The Xin Zhao was running low on health after clearing Jungle camps. Lin Feng noticed and smiled. Xin Zhao had not yet realized that Wukong was nearby. Lin Feng activated Warrior Trickster, and his Wukong turned invisible. 

Wukong crept up on the poor, unsuspecting Xin Zhao. The Jungler was blissfully unaware that something was out of place and still casually wandering about. Once Wukong got close enough to the Xin Zhao’s back to pick the lice out of Xin Zhao’s top-knot, he raised his enchanted staff high into the air. Then brought it down on Xin Zhao’s head–Crushing Blow! Wukong immediately followed up with a wild spin with his staff held out, which knocked the Xin Zhao airborne. This was Wukong’s ultimate skill, Cyclone!

Xin Zhao had figured out that his life was in danger while he was up in the air. He tried to retaliate the moment his feet touched the ground again. He swept his spear out in a wide arc and knocked the Wukong away–Crescent Sweep! 

But Lin Feng knew the knockback from Crescent Sweep was coming. He’d saved Nimbus Strike precisely for this moment, and it was here. Lin Feng pushed down on his E Key. Wukong dashed right back on top of the Xin Zhao, and then bashed his skull apart with a final Crushing Blow!

《You have slain an enemy!》

“Oh yeah! Sweet!” Su Xue exclaimed when Lin Feng got the kill. “It looks so easy when he does it! He’s the best! Who was saying something about him feeding? Ha! What a joke.”

「No joke no joke. He really gave away a kill earlier!」
「Lil bro is the best!!!1! He’s just having fun! Hahahahhaha」
「HE”S THE REALLL CHALLENGEER!!!!!!1!」
「lawl, that xin zhao is stupid…..」
「GRATS!!!!! WOOOOOO lil bro for the win BABBBEEHHHH!!!」
「sooooo easy… pffttt. this a finals? lawl」

✹

The second Dragon spawned when the game timer hit the 12-minute mark. Solo kills, like the one Lin Feng had gotten two minutes ago from the Xin Zhao, didn’t make a grand difference in the flow of the game. Teamfights had far more of an impact, and determined how the balance between both teams tipped. Both Shanghai High School and High School 13 had gathered near the Dragon Pit. Both teams were placing wards to maximize vision while searching for that perfect opening to engage a teamfight. There were a few skirmishes as both teams pushed their luck trying to place a deep ward on the opposing side of the map. The actual usefulness of these deep wards was up for debate though, since everyone knew where they were placed.

Shanghai High School had also bought four vision wards. These were specifically meant to deal with Wukong, since they could reveal invisible Champions. They placed two of them on their side of the map. If Wukong tried to flank them, they would see him and know. They placed the other two wards as close as possible to High School 13’s side of the map. But those two were quickly destroyed. 

While all of this warding and planning was going on, both teams were constantly throwing skillshots at each other to get some poke damage in. Beyond that though, Shanghai High School and High School 13 were deadlocked. Neither side was willing to force an engage. Both teams poked and danced around each other, hoping to bait someone on the other team into stepping over the line. But it hadn’t happened so far, and both teams continued to look for an opportunity. 

Until Chen Ze’s Twisted Fate took a single step too far in the wrong direction. A sickle shot out from the fog of war and hooked him.

“There’s the engage!” Westwind shouted into his microphone. “Thresh landed the… DEATH SENTENCE! This is it. The first. Big! TEAMFIGHT!” The audience fed on his energy, cheering and shouting for Zeng Rui.

Thresh’s Death Sentence had a second activation. After hooking a target, he could dash to them. Which is exactly what Thresh did. While flying towards Twisted Fate, he threw out a lantern behind him to Irelia. She clicked it and dashed after him. The two Champions appeared on top of Twisted Fate and started attacking him. Xin Zhao followed a step behind them.

Chen Ze slammed down on the D key–Flash! His Twisted Fate blinked away from Thresh, Irelia, and Xin Zhao. The rest of High School 13’s team rushed to his aid, charging towards the three champions from Shanghai High School.

Xin Zhao wasn’t about to let High School 13 save their Twisted Fate though. He activated his ultimate and swept his spear in a wide arc that knocked the Champions from High School 13 back before they could get to their Twisted Fate. Then he charged at the Twisted Fate with Audacious Charge! The Twisted Fate’s health was low after the initial engagement by Thresh and Irelia. When Xin Zhao’s Audacious Charge hit Twisted Fate, it blew through the last of his health and killed him.

Wei Dong pressed down on his Q key–Dark Binding! His Morgana locked Xin Zhao down with her dark magic before he could escape. Liu Yue followed up with his Rek’Sai, Un-burrowing underneath the Xin Zhao and knocking him up. But the crowd control was again not perfectly layered. The skill effects overlapped with each other, instead of flowing sequentially. This allowed Xin Zhao to break free early and rush back to his team with way more health than he should have had. Morgana and Rek’Sai chased after him, but Orianna intercepted and stopped them. She launched her Ball towards them and unleashed a powerful electromagnetic wave of energy with Command: Shockwave. 

Morgana Flashed away before the skill could hit. But Liu Yue couldn’t get his Rek’Sai out in time. He was pulled in towards the Ball, and separated from the rest of Highschool 13’s team. He was a wounded and lone gazelle on the wilds of the Rift, and the Jinx and Irelia wasted no time pouncing on him. They hacked away at his health. The smell of blood also enticed Xin Zhao, who stopped fleeing despite his dwindling health and turned back to the fight.

Everything was looking lost for High School 13. This teamfight was going disastrously. Shanghai High School got the kill on Twisted Fate and they couldn’t even kill the Xin Zhao in return. But then, just as it started to look like the fires of Mordor were swallowing High School 13 up whole, a piercing ray of white light shone from a brush. “A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.” A figure riding the clouds and clad in heavenly battle armour charged into the battle with his enchanted staff! The Wukong dashed into the Xin Zhao and swung a staff down on his head–Crushing Blow! Killing blow!

The audience was already up on their feet. Everyone in the venue was going crazy. Both teams had a chance in this teamfight! Westwind knew this too. He was out of breath from all the shouting, but still clutched the microphone tightly in his grasp and moved it so close to his mouth that he could almost taste it. Then he shouted in his loudest voice yet, “WUKONG! WUKONG HAS ARRIVED!”

Zeng Rui smiled when he saw the Wukong. This was the moment he had been waiting for. He used the Summoner Spell Exhaust, causing a crippling aura to wrap around the Wukong, while shouting over his team’s voice chat, “Kill the Wukong! He’s exhausted! Kill him! Kill him!”

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

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

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

《An ally has been slain!》

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

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

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

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

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

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

✹

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

《You have slain an enemy!》

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

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

✹

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

《You have been slain!》

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

《You have been slain!》

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

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

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

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

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

✹

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

《Welcome to Summoner’s Rift!》

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

《First Blood!》

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Game 1 of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament Finals:

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

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

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

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

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

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

✹

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

✹

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

✹

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

✹

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

✹

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

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

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

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

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

✹

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

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

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

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

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

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