Rise

The challenge series of 1v1 duels continued on at the NetCow Cafe. Tang Bingyao was the only one taking on challenges at the time. She easily defeated every single challenger she faced, and remained undefeated. But Tang Bingyao’s focus wasn’t only on winning. She was aware that this entire thing was meant for the entertainment of the NetCow Regulars. If she really wanted to dominate them, she could have just stuck to playing Draven. There was no doubt that she would keep winning if she did that. But it would get dull fast, and the customers would lose interest.

That’s why Tang Bingyao kept changing up the champion she was playing. It made the 1v1s considerably less boring, because every game was fresh. More importantly though, it would ignite the competitive spirit of the customers even more, and entice even more people to go up and prove their worth. Because that was really the important thing here for Tang Bingyao. More customers coming up to challenge her meant more money in her pocket. When it came down to making money, Tang Bingyao was just as savvy as Qian Lu. Her focus was on the path that she calculated would make her the most profit.

And in the spirit of that, Tang Bingyao realized that she’d been playing for a while now. She knew that the customers would get bored if there was only one person from the NetCow Team available for a challenge. Especially given that she was currently undefeated. So after a final 1v1, Tang Bingyao decided to excuse herself and tagged An Xin to swap places with her.

“My turn?” An Xin asked, pointing to herself. Then she smiled. “I’m the jungler though, and there’s really no such thing as a jungle 1v1. What should we do? I suppose I’ll just play mid instead. Are you guys okay with that?”

The customers below the stage broke out into a frenzy, eager to agree to any request from the beautiful An Xin. With one swap, everyone’s enthusiasm for the 1v1s shot up to astronomical heights again. It had started to dim with every game that Tang Bingyao won. The fighting spirit of the NetCow Regulars cooled down when they figured out how outclassed they were against Tang Bingyao. But now, with An Xin taking the hot seat, all of that reversed itself. Especially because many of the customers who wanted to fight didn’t main the Ad-Carry role. They were content to try their luck against Tang Bingyao, but it didn’t matter if they won or lost.

With An Xin, things were different. It was a 1v1 in the Mid lane, and An Xin was a Jungle main. The NetCow Regulars started to believe they actually had a chance of beating her!

Unfortunately for the customers of the NetCow Cafe, they were being far too optimistic with their thinking. An Xin swapped seats with Tang Bingyao, but nothing else changed as far as the outcome of the 1v1s was concerned. She got up onto the stage and won her first duel in five minutes. Then she won her second game in six minutes. Her third game only lasted four minutes, also ending in defeat for the customer who challenged her.

An Xin’s playstyle was very different from the aggressive one that Tang Bingyao favored. An Xin was much more controlled and reserved. The impression she gave off was that the entire lane was her domain, and anyone who trespassed would be quickly put down. And that they were, as An Xin continued Tang Bingyao’s undefeated win streak. She easily stomped on every challenger that stepped up to face her with a smile on her face. An Xin’s performance and game presence left the customers watching mind-blown.

“Isn’t she supposed to be a Jungle main!? Why is she this good at mid?”