Rise

Day 1 of Worlds was disastrous for China! Day 2 was a little bit better thanks to Hand of God. But KG had screwed up again! They were really testing the limits of their fans! There was now a break. Half of the games in Group A and Group B were played. The teams could use the next week to prepare for the second half, or in the case of KG to get their mess sorted out, while the fans turned their attention back to solo queue. They still kept an eye on Worlds, of course. In another two days, Group C and Group D would play their first half of the group stage. Dust was in Group D. This was a new chance for China to shine on the world stage!

One group of fans were the members of High School 13’s esports team. They kept up to date on Worlds, but their attention shifted to something more important. The Shanghai 16 School Tournament. It was approaching fast and they still had so much to do before then. Lin Feng’s Legend Bootcamp turned up to 100. Lin Feng didn’t allow any slacking. If someone repeated a mistake, he would tell them they had one more chance. Then he reminded them how stupid the mistake was, that it belonged in Silver solo queue and not in their team games. And if that didn’t help, he threatened them by saying he would kick them off the team!

“Tang Tang, you played like crap in that teamfight! You’re the ad-carry, not the tank! You don’t jump in first! How many times do I have to tell you this?”“Wei Dong, you need to get deeper vision into the enemy jungle. Exactly! Just like that pink ward.”“Chen Ze stop feeding! We can’t keep sending Liu Yue up top to help you. He needs to focus on other lanes too!”“Stop AFK farming in your jungle Liu Yue! You’re giving away all map pressure in the first 10 minutes of the game! The other team doesn’t even have to worry about warding, you don’t come to gank anyway… YES! THAT MEANS GO GANK!”“That’s an awful play.”“What’s wrong with you…”“Not good enough. Get better.”

The players in the esports team weren’t blind or stupid. They noticed that Lin Feng was being a lot more demanding than usual. Sometimes they felt the urge to say something about it to him. To ask him if all of this was really necessary. But then they saw his face. It was calm and serious. He had no anger, hatred, or joy in telling them off. He was earnestly trying to help them become better players. So they could only turn back around and focus on their game. Since he was putting all this effort in, they would have to at least do the same!

Lin Feng’s high intensity training was proving to be very effective. The team members didn’t just see tremendous individual growth, but they were also really starting to come together as a team. This only further motivated them to work harder. Whenever Lin Feng gave them a few minutes between games to think about everything he’d said to them, they would huddle together and discuss it as a team. Then they would go back over the match and watch replays of the important plays and talk about what went right and what went wrong. All the while, Lin Feng sat in a corner of the room, staring down at the ground. They would occasionally look over towards him.

Ouyang leaned forward, gesturing for the other team members to do the same, and whispered, “Hey, do any of you know what’s up with him?” He pointed towards Lin Feng with his head. “Seems like the dude is always in a bad mood these days.”

“Yeah! I know right!” Liu Yue exclaimed. Then his eyes went wide and he put his hand over his mouth. He looked towards Lin Feng from the corners of his eyes, but saw no response. Shit! That was close… He turned back towards the others and nodded. “I feel like he’s been way harder on us. I’m kind of scared to do anything. I don’t want him to yell at me for making a misplay. But when I don’t do anything, he also yells at me! You guys feel that way too?”

The others nodded. Liu Yue had said exactly what they felt. Then Ouyang and Ren Rou turned their heads towards Tang Bingyao. They knew the relationship she had with Lin Feng. The two still claimed it was just a friendship, but it sure looked like something more. Ren Rou nudged Tang Bingyao and asked, “Did he tell you something? Do you know why he’s been acting this way?”

Tang Bingyao did know. Lin Feng had told her. But he had told her in confidence. She wouldn’t share that with others. It wasn’t her place to do that. Lying wasn’t really her thing either, though. She felt conflicted, but decided that being Lin Feng’s friend was more important. She stared down towards the ground and shook her head a little. “No, I don’t know.”