Rise

Zhejiang University had convinced Shi Hang to play for his esports club in the Winter Collegiate Cup! A former professional player stooped down to play with amateurs! The news spread through the channels and sent everyone in East China into a massive uproar! There were many questions about the authenticity of the news. But with the tournament organizers delivering the news, there wasn’t much to argue about. Shi ‘AyDeeCee’ Hang was going to play at the Winter Collegiate Cup!

“I can’t believe Zhejiang University actually did this. Shi Hang’s playing? Really?”

“I know right? Fucking unbelievable! Since when are pros welcome!? What’s next God Roundy is going to play for his university? Just imagine! The Collegiate Cup would become stupid! The organizers should’ve never allowed Shi Hang to play!”

“AyDeeCee did quit way back in like Season 2, or was it 3 already? I don’t remember. Anyway, he hasn’t played at the highest level for years. Maybe the organizers took that into consideration? That has to be it, right? They can’t start accepting real pros to play at this tournament?”

“It’s all fun and all, but what about the other teams? Just look at Team Shanghai! Those kids worked their asses off and showed some really promising performances to make it this far. It was always going to be hard for them to beat Zhejiang University. But now with AyDeeCee? It just became impossible. Geegee, I guess…”

People in the audience had called their friends and posted on social media when the news of AyDeeCee playing for Zhejiang University was released. It didn’t take more than 15 minutes before a new flood of people looked to push their way into the venue. All of them wanted to watch the man, the myth, the legend! Shi Hang! Founder of the Zhejiang University esports club! Most valuable player of the first edition of the Collegiate Cup! Victor of the first edition of the Collegiate Cup! University player gone professional! The accolades were too many to count. Shi Hang hadn’t just won a lot of games, he had won the hearts of all university students in China! And now, after three years of absence, they got the opportunity to watch him play again!

The venue filled up. All the seats were taken, the stairs were full and even more people were pushing their way in through the entrance. They didn’t even care about finding a seat anymore. The large LCD screen above the stage was high enough that it could be seen from anywhere in the large hall and big enough for everyone, even those at the very back of the hall, to clearly see what was going.

“Can you believe how lucky we are? Shi Hang got given an 81% by the Chinese Esports Organization! 81%! That’s fucking mental! And now he’s playing at a uni tournament! Shit we’re lucky!”

“What do you mean, 81%?”