Rise

nd shut up.
We’re going to watch,” Zeng Rui concluded.
He sat down and looked up at the large LCD screen.
It was showing the Champion Select for the first game.

✹

The player seating area was almost entirely full.
Every team competing had come to watch this ‘in-between’ round in which the remaining 18 teams were reduced to 16.
More specifically, they’d come to find out who they might play in the next round.
Any and every bit of information could help them find the perfect tactic and strategy to beat their next opponent.
So too Zhejiang University.

Zuo Cheng looked at his teammates and said, “I just hope we don’t end up facing Team Shanghai.
That Lin Feng…” He shook his head and continued, “Anyone else and we’ll be fine.
But them? No.”

“Yep,” Sun Ruinian replied.
He nodded and added, “It’d be some really bad luck if we have to play them.
Our scrimmages against them were plenty proof of that.”

“I know!” Zuo Cheng exclaimed.
“That Lin Feng! I don’t think I even went even against him in a single match! Even when I got help, I still lost! The way he plays… I don’t know.
There’s just something about it that makes it impossible to play against! And it looks so easy, right? It doesn’t look all that special! Until you have to play against him.
Then you suddenly realize that it’s impossible to beat him…”

“You think he’s better than Goalie and Yu Ping? Those two from Team Guangzhou and Team Beijing?” Zhejiang’s Jungler asked.

Zuo Cheng nodded and replied, “Definitely.
1,000,000 per cent!”

Sun Ruinian smiled bitterly and chimed in, “He did beat Shi Hang… Honestly, I’d rather face U-Tech Beijing or one of the other big ones than any of the three high school teams.
Those kids are just insane!”

✹

The players from Fudan University were also watching the games at the Tianhe Stadium.
They were in quiet discussion about the teams they could draw for the next round and which ones they wanted to play against.
Their team captain, Qiu Yijie, didn’t participate in this discussion.
He wasn’t even listening.
He stared past his teammates at the group from Team Shanghai.
At their Midlaner. Lin Feng.

Qiu Yijie had received a call from Aurous a couple of days ago.
Aurous was also a student at Fudan University and had played on the university’s esports team before going professional. He told me to be careful about Team Shanghai.
That we should pray that we don’t meet them and that if we do that we have to give it our all… And that the rest depends on luck… What was that about? We beat Team Shanghai in the East China Regionals finals.
I know they didn’t look quite on their game, and their Midlaner was sniffing, maybe sick, but that can’t make that much of a difference, right?

“Yo, Captain, what do you think? You wanna play Team Shanghai?” Fudan’s Toplaner asked.

Qiu Yijie looked at his teammates and shook his head.
He replied, “No.
Aurous sounded serious.
He wouldn’t tell me why, or rather he said that he didn’t know either.
But he did say that Shi Hang knows something and that it has to do with Team Shanghai’s Midlaner.
There is something about that kid.
I’m not sure if we want to find out what that is by playing against them.
Let’s just hope we don’t see them again until we reach the finals.” He turned his head to look back at Lin Feng again. Aurous said that Shi Hang values the kid higher than he does Aurous! That’s just… What’s so special about that kid? He glanced at the players from Team Guangzhou and then the players from Team Beijing. I thought those two teams were going to be strongest at this tournament, but from the way Aurous was talking… I don’t know what to think anymore. He took a long, deep breath. If Aurous takes the effort to call me just to warn me about this Lin Feng… Yeah.
That’s serious.
I’ll take him seriously.
We’re going to be watching Team Shanghai.

✹

The other university teams still competing didn’t have the information the players from Zhejiang University and Fudan University had.
They judged Team Shanghai on the games they’d seen and concluded that Team Guangzhou and Team Beijing were simply better.
But there was one thing everyone agreed on.
The high school teams weren’t here to gain experience, they’d come to win.

Fan Yuan was the coach for Team Beijing.
He looked at his players and said, “It’s best if we don’t meet Team Guangzhou this early on in the tournament.
We’re a strong team, true.
But with their two Korean imports, they’re really strong too.
I rate them at at least A grade.
They’ve also got the home field advantage.
The crowd basically counts as the 6th man on their roster.” He paused briefly and then continued, “But if we do end up drawing them, I want you guys to be careful.
Any other team, you guys can do whatever.
But against Team Guangzhou, I want you guys to be careful.”

Zhang Hongyi, Support for Team Beijing, nodded and replied, “There’s no way they’ll make the real finals match happen this early.
I just hope we get matched up against Team Shanghai.” He looked towards Team Shanghai’s section in the player seating area.
He then sneered and added, “I’m itching to knock those noobs out.”

There was a similar conversation happening in Team Guangzhou’s camp.
Team Guangzhou’s coach got the attention of the players and said, “Your only real opponent in this tournament is Team Beijing.
They’ve been hiding their best players, so we don’t even know just how strong they are.
I don’t want you guys to hold anything back against them!” He then chuckled and added, “I, of course, have complete confidence in our team.
I don’t think Goalie and Seo won’t have any problems carrying us to an easy win.
Still, I’d rather we draw a weak opponent for the next round.”

Goalie grinned and replied, “No need to worry.
All teams here are weak.”

Seo nodded and mumbled, “Yeah.” He then looked in the direction of Team Shanghai, narrowing his eyes.
He slowly said, “I just hope that the weak opponent is Team Shanghai.
Getting rid of a high school team will be great for the Guangzhou Esports Association, and that team is the obvious first target.
I’ll stomp them! Easy win for us!”

✹

Lin Feng listened to Zeng Rui explaining to the rest of the team that they didn’t want to face Team Guangzhou or Team Beijing in the next round.
He scratched the back of his head, confused.
A few minutes later, he couldn’t keep listening any longer.
He asked, “Why are you worrying so much about playing them in the next round? We’re going to win the whole tournament, so we’ll play them at some point anyway.
Why not just get them out of the way?”

Zeng Rui sighed loudly and explained, “Because if we play against an easier opponent now, we can hide more of our tactics for stronger opponents at a later stage of the tournament.
For example, if Team Beijing and Team Guangzhou get matches against each other, we only have to beat one of them.
That’s one less opponent for us to make a specialized tactic for.
Then there’s also–”

“Who cares! We’ll win anyway!” Lin Feng interrupted.
He pumped his fist in the air and added, “You guys have got me!”

An Xin giggled and said, “When you talk like that, we only start to worry more.”

Tang Bingyao nodded and said, “Mhm! What BunBun says.”

“Hey! What does that mean!?” Lin Feng exclaimed.

Su Xue rolled her eyes and explained, “That whenever you go off on one of your rants, you end up screwing up something.
That’s the joke… and the truth.
God, this really isn’t any fun when you’ve got to explain it.
Just laugh next time!”

✹

The two matches finished at noon.
Lin Feng was already itching on the edge of his seat, rubbing his stomach and shouting, “Let’s go! It’s lunch time! I’m hungry! There’s this restaurant that Fatty and I talked about that has the perfect lunch for when you’re really hungry! Their sizes are the biggest in all of Guangzhou!”

Su Xue looked at Lin Feng, speechless, and finally muttered, “But I got you several meat buns already… How are you hungry again?”

“I just am!” Lin Feng exclaimed.
He got up from his seat and started walking towards the exit, just like everyone else in the stadium.
Su Xue got up in practiced motion and followed closely behind him, as did Chu Fang.
But the others weren’t as fast.
Chu Fang looked over his shoulder and saw them mixed with several other teams.
He then turned to look at the other seats on the grass and the stands above.
Everyone was being led to the same exit. Shit! It’s going to get way too crowded! He shouted after Lin Feng, “Hey! LIN FENG! Slow down! Wait for the others! It’s going to get really crowded! Let’s go as a group!”