Rise

Team Shanghai had retreated backstage. But where they were sulking and quiet the previous time they were here, now they were smiling, laughing, cheering! Zhang Hao kept moving his balled fists up and down and Tang Bingyao was hopping and nodding in excitement! Only Lin Feng didn’t look happy. He bit on his lips and frowned until he finally said, “Why did they surrender so quickly? I was just getting going!”

An Xin smiled at him and said, “Pretty obvious why, don’t you think? You’re the self-proclaimed starplayer of the team here, you should know.” She briefly paused and winked at him before explaining, “It’s because the match was over. Dragging it out wasn’t going to win them the game.”

“BunBun is right. If they kept dragging, all they’d be dragging is their morale. Down it goes,” Zeng Rui chimed in. He turned his head to look at Lin Feng and said, “They’re not beating us when their morale is low. So they surrendered. It makes perfect sense.” He turned his head away and then smiled. And I finally played a good game too! Serves that thundering dumbass right for writing us off! Fuck yeah! This is how I like to play! It was so much fun to stomp their asses! And to see them surrendering really made it perfect!

Lin Feng scratched the back of his head and laughed. He said, “I guess it couldn’t be helped when I picked LeBlanc. No one beats my LeBlanc! She’s invincible!” He then took a deep breath and looked at his teammates. They did great too. He grinned and added, “Right, right! You guys were all super great too!”

Everyone turned their heads to look at Lin Feng, confused. They were used to Lin Feng patting himself on the back. They knew he always looked at himself in the mirror. It was part of his charm. But he rarely ever gave away compliments, unless An Xin pushed him to. Yet right now, without anyone telling him to do so, he complimented them for a game well played. It was a massive confidence booster!

Zhang Hao leaned back in his chair and tilted his head to look at Tang Bingyao. He said, “That triple at the end was so cool! The way you flashed out of the Orianna ult! Oh my god! I thought for sure you were gonna get caught! I was screaming so hard!”

Tang Bingyao smiled, tints of red dying her cheeks, and replied, “Mhm, thanks. You did well. Everyone did well.”

“BunBun,” Zeng Rui said. He shook his head and chuckled before continuing, “That Jinx dive at the end was great! I can only imagine how tilted Sun Ruinian must be right now! This is so great!”

An Xin smiled and replied, “You’re suddenly talkative. But we shouldn’t lose our heads here. It was a good game and everything fell right in place for us. Everyone deserves massive props for that! Now we need to look forward to the next game!” She turned her head to look at Lin Feng and asked, “And what better way to start that than by asking Vain Feng here if he still doesn’t trust us! So, do you? Trust us, I mean.”