Rise

and Tang Bingyao initiated a fight in the Bot lane that ended with them killing the opposing Support.
Team Shanghai was winning in all three lanes and starting to snowball hard.
10 minutes from the start of the game: the score was 11-3 in Team Shanghai’s favor.
15 minutes from the start of the game: Team Shanghai was more than 6,000 gold ahead.
18 minutes from the start of the game: All of the opposing team’s Towers in the Mid lane were destroyed, and Team Shanghai also took out the Inhibitor.
Super Minions started flooding down the Mid lane into the opposing team’s base.
21 minutes from the start of the game: The opposing team surrendered. 

 The customers in the cafe were all dumbstruck as the victory crest floated up over the opposing team’s ruined nexus.

“T-they won already?”
“How was that a practice game!?”
“That was way too fast!”
“Damn, they actually seem really decent!”
“They were like 20 kills ahead of the enemy team, right?”
“Their teamwork was pretty good too!”
“Yeah, mid had some great mechanics!”
“Why did it feel like a complete pubstomp?”
“Yeah! What rank was that game anyway? Bronze? Silver?”
“Bronze? Silver? No way right…”

Despite all the speculation, no one in the NetCow Cafe knew what rank the game that Team Shanghai played was in.
On the one hand, it really made no sense for the internet cafe to be represented by players in Gold who could only stomp on Bronzies.
But on the other hand, Team Shanghai had won that game far too easily.
To the viewers, it looked like they were smurfing on noobs to make themselves look good.
But there was no way for either side to be sure.
And deep in their hearts, they all wanted to believe in Team Shanghai.
They wanted to believe that these high schoolers were really that good, so they could watch the slaughter that ensued when the teams from other internet cafes walked in to challenge them. 

After that last practice game ended, Lin Feng and the others were more than ready to go again.
The game didn’t push them at all, it barely even counted as a warmup.
The average rank of the players in the previous game was Diamond 3.
Decent enough, but nowhere near good enough to pose a real threat to Lin Feng and the gang.  

Lin Feng stretched in his chair and glanced at the clock. 20 minutes past noon! It’s been 20 minutes since the Battle Bonanza started and there are no challengers here yet! This is so boring.
I don’t want to sit here and do nothing, what’s the point in that? Did Ol’ Qian put us up on this stage just to watch the door? Nah, it’s time to do something! With that thought, Lin Feng got up from his chair and looked at all his teammates.
Then he said, “How about another one?” 

Tang Bingyao tilted her head and asked, “Mhm… What if we get a challenger soon?”

Lin Feng laughed.
“Good point.
Okay! That just means we’ll have to win our game even faster!”

No one else cared enough to argue with Lin Feng, and they really did have nothing to do.
So Team Shanghai started up another ranked game.
One that went even more smoothly than the last one did.
10 minutes after the game started, the opposing team had completely lost in two lanes.
But then, events took a surprising turn. 

13 minutes into the game, a group of people walked into the NetCow Cafe.
Their entrance roused up all of the customers watching Team Shanghai practice, and sent electricity through the air.
This group of strangers was known to a few of the customers. 

“I know them!”
“Those guys… THEY’RE FROM THE MOONLIGHT NET CAFE!”
“I think the guy at the front is their owner?”
“They’re here! They’re here!”
“It’s our first challenger!”

Qian Lu’s eyes flickered with a sharp light.
He walked over and greeted these new guests with a smile.

“Boss Liu, welcome welcome!”

Boss Liu and his team walked over.
He greeted Qian Lu back with a polite smile.
The two exchanged some more small talk, but their words were laced with all sorts of biting remarks. 

“Boss Qian, our two internet cafes have always been neighbors.
Regardless of the result of the match, I hope we can still remain good friends.”

“Hahaha! Liu, my ol’ pal, what are you talking about?? Of course that’s a given! Friendship comes first, competition second! Are you guys doing your first challenge?”

“Oh, nonono.
We came over from another net cafe.
Haha! Our luck’s been pretty good today.
We’ve already gotten our first win.”

“Oh-hoh-ho? A win already! Congratulations!”

“Hahah! Thank you, thank you! I hope we can keep up this streak.”

“Hahahahahaha, you sure are optimistic.
But this is still a competition.
It’s hard to say who’ll win or lose in the end.”

“Hah, I couldn’t have said it better myself.
We’ll only know once we play.”

“That’s right.
That’s right.
Nothing has been decided yet.”

As the two owners conversed, the air around them crackled with sparks.
The fake smiles on their faces also turned increasingly menacing. 

One team was after The Conqueror prize, and the other was after the Immovable Mt.
Tai prize.
One was a challenger, and the other was the defender.
Anyone that wanted to get far in this tournament would have to step over the corpses of their opponents.

At this moment, Boss Liu looked over at the stage and noticed Lin Feng and the others.
He raised an eyebrow.
“Hey, Boss Liu.
That’s the team you recruited? They look a little wet behind the ears.”

Qian Lu narrowed his eyes, his lips curving into a faint smile.
“Wet behind the ears? Oh, I don’t know about that.
How about you face them and then tell me how wet behind the ears they are, yes?”