Rise

Zhang Hongyi from Team Beijing wasn’t cheering with the other people in the Tianhe Stadium. He reclined back in his chair and laughed. “That’s right,” he said. “That’s the useless kind of play that Zeng Rui is known for!” He turned his head to look at Yu Pin and asked, “Did you see that gank? You really want to worry about this team with a player like him? He’s so far up his own ass that he can’t even tell he’s smelling shit anymore!”

Team Beijing’s Jungler leaned forward, smiling schadenfreude, and chimed in, “That’s karma for you! They’re going to lose because that moron thought he could just Jungle, like it doesn’t require any skill… News flash, it does! Jungling isn’t easy! It takes practice and skill and talent! That dude has none of it!”

Yu Ping nodded, slowly. He looked down from the large LCD screen at Team Shanghai’s soundproof booth. Through the glass panels he could see five heads full of hair popping up above the monitors. They aren’t reacting like Team Guangzhou… Are they really not tilting? They should have tilted from that top gank. Mid failed at preventing Twisted Fate from using his ultimate and the Jungler made a horrendous gank… He glanced at his teammates and said, “I don’t know what’s gotten into them, but it’s pretty obvious they aren’t playing their main roles. Dangerous game they’re playing…”

The cheers and applause for Goalie’s gank in the top lane quieted down enough in the stadium where the players in the player seating area could hear the members from Team Beijing discussing the game. Most nodded in agreement, then started chatting with their own teammates about how it did indeed look like Team Shanghai was throwing this game by playing a suboptimal team composition. But there were a couple of teams, specifically those who played against Team Shanghai before, who knew the sheer raw talent that Lin Feng possessed.

Qiu Yijie from Fudan University looked around at the people making fun of Team Shanghai and muttered, “Lin Feng got a penta last game and these guys are already making fun of him. Guess I shouldn’t be surprised. They hate it that he got a penta and they’re just hoping it was a fluke. But writing him off this game, that’s just dumb. He’s playing ad-carry. Give him until late game, when he can start carrying.”

“He’s shown his skills already too,” Sun Ruinian added. “The teamfights are going to be really interesting. I can see him carrying them hard, kind of like how he carried from the mid lane… with a penta.”

Zuo Cheng clenched his fists and said, “That Morgana, the girl? She’s playing quite well too to be honest. She’s better than I am, I think… But I mean, she’s going even with Goalie! How many Midlaners can do that? Two! Her and Lin Feng!” He wrapped his hands around his mouth and shouted towards the stage, “GO BUNBUN! KICK ASS!”

✹

Zephyr repositioned in his chair and watched the monitor. For the first time in three games, there was a real lull in the game. Team Guangzhou knows they can’t fight Team Shanghai right now because of the Morgana and Rumble ultimate combo, but Team Shanghai doesn’t have the Champions to force a-- Wait, I need to say this, not think it. He grabbed his microphone and turned his head enough where he could see both Su Xue and the monitor. He said, “The second Dragon is spawning in a couple of seconds, but it’s already obvious Team Guangzhou isn’t going to contest it. How about you run us through why, EveningSnowfall?”