Rise

Team Shanghai rented a private room in an internet cafe. The players sat down in a half circle around Zeng Rui who pulled out his notebook and licked the tip of his finger. He counted the pages with his thumb before opening the notebook and scanning the page. He then moved his head around in hesitation, looked up at his teammates, and then flipped to the next page.

Lin Feng tapped his foot on the ground impatiently. He watched Zeng Rui flip to the next page for a third time and grimaced. He grabbed his phone and checked the time, then looked up at Zeng Rui again, who was still focused on his notebook. He finally couldn’t take it any longer and said, “Come on already! Tell us what we’re doing!”

Zeng Rui looked up at Lin Feng, distracted, and slowly massaged his temple. He moved his lips around for a bit and then said, “Alright, here’s the deal. I’ve watched all of Fudan’s games. Twice. I can only conclude… well, they’re strangely similar to Zhejiang University. The playstyle for both teams is damn near identical at times. Both of them go with very strong team comps, and that’s also their weakness. It takes them until the mid game, when teamfights become more prevalent, to start building momentum.

“We are the perfect counter to that strategy. Tang Tang’s aggressive playstyle will let us gain an early advantage, BunBun is one of the best early game Junglers I’ve ever seen, and then, well…” Zeng Rui stopped and shrugged. He then nodded at Zhang Hao and continued in a different direction, “You might have a bit of trouble in the top lane. But that’s fine. We’ll just have BunBun camp up there. Fudan can focus you all they want, they’re not getting anything with the two of you there to hold it down.”

Lin Feng looked at Zeng Rui. Waiting, expectantly. But Zeng Rui stopped talking and was now looking through his notebook, flipping through his notebook in an excruciatingly slow manner. Lin Feng chewed on his lips for a couple of seconds until he couldn’t take it anymore. He blurted, “What about me? You didn’t say anything about me? What’s your plan for me?”

Zeng Rui glanced up from his notebook and took a long, deep breath. What do you think? You’re Maple! Isn’t it clear what you’re going to do? You’re going to carry us, because no matter how good I am, no matter how well Tang Tang plays, regardless of everything BunBun and Zhang Hao pull out of their assholes, it’s never going to get anywhere near what you can do. But if I tell you that, you’re going to be insufferable for the rest of the day. Thundering dumbass. He sighed and said, “Qiu Yijie is a solid Midlaner. The general consensus is that he’s reached the A grade and that he can hold his own against most professional Midlaners. But you’re not most Midlaners. You’re Maple.”

Lin Feng grinned and said, “You’re calling me good, right? You’re right! I’m really good! I’ll beat him!”

Zeng Rui briefly closed his eyes and breathed in, allowing the fresh air to clear his thoughts. He then opened his eyes again and smiled. He replied, “Just win mid. Alright, enough chattering. I’ve got a couple of strategies here that we’re going to practice.”

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