"What the hell are you doing?!"
Ah Shui stared at Blitzcrank in disbelief as he once again ran right up to their already-doomed bottom lane and successfully gave away another kill.
He was completely bewildered.
Everything before him was beyond anything he'd ever known.
What on earth was this guy doing?
[2016, the year that shocked my entire family!]
[This is ridiculous. Is that Blitzcrank even playing League of Legends?]
[This guy's the real deal. He said he'd feed, and he actually did!]
[Hahaha, what a show. Give him a reward!]
[I'm dying. He's obviously taunting you guys. Didn't you notice he only gives away kills once the victims are worth less? Ever heard of investing?]
[Holy crap, are you the Rift's resident philanthropist?]
[The Rift's investment guru! I won't believe it if an investment bank doesn't hire you!]
Even without the viewers pointing it out, Ah Shui had naturally figured it out after watching the pattern of these deliberate deaths for so long.
But that was precisely why he was so flustered and shocked.
What kind of playstyle was this?!
He considered himself a genius, but he'd never imagined anyone could play the game like this.
How confident in your own skills did you have to be to play this way?
Sure, there were five regular matchmaking players in this game, but their side also had three King Rank Players!
He's not worth much after you kill him, so you feed him a kill and then keep killing him...
Was this investing?
This was outright humiliation!!
The humiliation of being penned up like pigs and slaughtered at will!
When had players in the King Rank ever suffered such disgrace?
"You've gone too far!!"
Ah Shui was so furious his head was pounding. "I'm going to destroy you today!"
"Get him! Get him!"
Even Bao Lan, who was usually quite mild-mannered, was now gritting his teeth in fury.
But just as they were getting ready to go all out, determined to kill Blitzcrank even if it meant losing the game—
A message suddenly appeared in all chat—
[Bro! We're rich now!](All): "Twenty minutes are up. Surrender already. I'm off to win my next game."
?
[JackeyLove](All): "In your dreams!"
[Bro! We're rich now!] has left the game.
Bang!
The game froze. The other team had surrendered.
Ah Shui: "..."
Viewers: "..."
"What kind of person is this?! What kind of person?! No, he's not a person—he's a monster!! A monster!!"
[Hahahaha]
[I'm dying. The entertainment value is off the charts!]
"So when you said 'surrender,' you weren't asking the other team to surrender—you meant your own team! He really did it. I'm crying!"
[Am I the only one who noticed Blitzcrank got twelve kills? He's got the highest gold in the game. It's kind of ridiculous that someone can play Blitzcrank this well, isn't it?]
[Whoa, you're right!]
[With that Blitzcrank's mechanics and skill, I'd bet he's a pro playing on a smurf. If I'm wrong, I'll eat shit upside down!]
Because Blitzcrank had been putting on a show the entire game, the entertainment value was so explosive that no one had paid much attention to his actual mechanics and skill.
Only after he left did everyone finally realize—
As a support Blitzcrank, he'd faced three King Rank Players on Ah Shui's team and slaughtered them like pigs penned up for him...
This guy was terrifyingly good.
"So, do you know him?"
Bao Lan took a sip of water to calm down and asked casually.
"No idea."
Ah Shui shook his head, then gritted his teeth. "Doesn't matter. I'll find out sooner or later!"
"Got it. A Connection-based AD, huh?"
Bao Lan nodded with a smile.
Ah Shui didn't respond. He copied Xu Cheng's ID and posted it in one of the King Rank groups he belonged to, beginning his long search for the guy.
Xu Cheng finished the match, feeling a little surprised.
He'd noticed that both his opponents and his teammates today were quite a bit stronger than the people he usually ran into.
Of course—
They were only a little stronger...
Were they about as good as the rich guys who usually paid for someone to boost them to King Rank, then didn't dare to play ranked themselves?
From his perspective, that seemed about right.
He shook his head and stopped thinking about it. After taking a sip of iced cola, he queued up for another game.
This match went smoothly, and he won without much trouble.
He checked the time. Right on the dot at forty minutes, Xu Cheng jumped up in a hurry, grabbed his backpack, and left the Internet Cafe.
On his way back to school, notifications kept chiming from his QQ group.
Xu Cheng picked up his phone and looked.
The small group had already been chatting for a while.
[Shuang Shuang Zi]: "Girls, I finally passed the assessment today! Starting tomorrow, I'll officially be a commentator for the LPL Region!"
[Xiao Yu Wants to Eat Fish]: "Wow, congratulations!"
[Shuang Shuang Zi]: "I have to thank you, too. If you hadn't recommended Cheng Cheng, I wouldn't have passed the assessment so quickly."
[Rita Gaming Chair]: "You're treating us to dinner! When will I pass my assessment? I want to commentate for the LPL, too. o(╥﹏╥)o"
[Camel Doesn't Camel]: "Big news, big news! I met a handsome guy today. Wow... I almost got wet right there. He was seriously so handsome!"
[Shuang Shuang Zi]: "Really? Got any pictures?"
Camel posted two candid photos below.
The girls' eyes were instantly dazzled.
The group chat was immediately filled with all sorts of filthy, unseemly messages.
[Already licking my lips!]
[I'll have company when I go to bed tonight!]
[I'm pouncing on him like a hungry tiger. Handsome guy, come straight into my heart!]
[Your heart? Which heart?]
"Of course... you know what I mean."
[Today's my third day sticking with it. Peeing standing up feels pretty good~]
[Got any pictures? We all posted photos. You can't just talk big!]
[Of course I do [photo] [photo]]
[...]
Xu Cheng saved the pictures first, then claimed the red packets in the group.
He pondered for a moment, then suddenly took a deep breath, got himself in the right frame of mind, and started typing—
[Girls, I'm done for! I seriously can't even. I ran into this greasy guy today. Like, the whole thing freaked me out. It was so mind-numbingly awful. What a total turnoff!]
[Xiao Yu Wants to Eat Fish]: "Oh, Cheng Cheng's here! I've been calling you for days and you haven't answered. Has the nail salon been busy lately?"
[Shuang Shuang Zi]: "Be good, Cheng Cheng. Just ignore those greasy guys. Stay far away from those stinky men from now on!"
[Cheng Cheng]: "@Xiao Yu Wants to Eat Fish, work's been so busy lately. Sister Shuang's right—stinky men, stay away!"
[Cheng Cheng]: "You girls are the best. Oh, I've got a few new nail designs today, and they're absolutely amazing. I'll send them to you..."
As he spoke, he sent the nail art pictures he'd downloaded online to the group.
The pictures drew a burst of praise.
Amid the friendly chatter, he let out an exhausted sigh.
He'd only ended up in this group by chance.
It all started when he met the wealthy benefactor with the username [Xiao Yu Doesn't Eat Fish].
He'd heard she'd just graduated from college and wanted to work in the LPL. She also planned to compete in some kind of commentary cup, but she didn't know much about the game, so she wanted to find someone to train her through coaching and playing on her behalf.
And since she had money to spare, she wanted a girl to do it.
With no other choice, Xu Cheng had been forced to dress as a girl.
Unexpectedly, he'd somehow won her approval and gotten invited into this group.
On his very first day in the group, he realized it was already too late.
The kinds of things in the chat—things no guy could imagine, things too indecent to look at—made him wonder whether exposing himself would cause a nationally shocking tragedy.
"Can't be helped. They're paying me way too much."
Thinking that, Xu Cheng felt a little less guilty.
He was one of the girls in the group, and Xiao Yu had hired him. The others hired him, too. He was making a killing!
"Oh, you're back?"
He walked into the classroom, and his deskmate looked up to greet him.
Xu Cheng asked casually, "My account's about to drop a rank. When are you giving it back?"
"The rental period's not over yet. Don't worry, I've gotten a lot better. I won't embarrass you!"
His deskmate tossed that out, then went back to chatting with a girl.
Xu Cheng shook his head, pulled out his review book, and started studying.
Evening study ended at nine.
"Dad, where's Mom?"
Back home, he dropped his backpack and looked at his father, who was doing the bookkeeping.
Father Xu looked up. "Oh, we have to balance the flour accounts from last month. Your mom's at the shop."
"She made you dinner. It's in the microwave. Heat it up and eat."
"Got it."
Xu Cheng called back and warmed up his food as he usually did.
After dinner, it was past ten. He read for a while, then went into the small room sectioned off for him, lay on the bed, and stared at the ceiling.
His family was fairly well-off. His parents were honest, hardworking people who ran a baozi shop downstairs.
As an only child, Xu Cheng knew he had to study hard and get into a good university if he wanted to repay his parents for all their hard work day and night.
But for some reason, whenever he lay down, all sorts of information about League of Legends kept rising in his mind, even though he was fine while studying.
Controlling the Minion Wave, the details of Laning, his understanding of different champions...
Ever since he'd started playing LOL, all sorts of information had seemed to gush into him, constantly nourishing him from within.
He even had the feeling that his skills noticeably improved every so often.
If he had to compare it to something, it was like he was several years ahead of everyone else—as if a super-genius from S12 had appeared in S6 and was dominating the scene.
But when it came to the bigger picture, he only half-understood it. Everything was hazy and confusing.
He shouldn't think about this anymore... He had class tomorrow.
Xu Cheng rubbed his head. Thinking of his parents, who would stay up tonight and get up at three in the morning to prepare for business, he felt guilty.
He fell into a deep sleep.
He had no idea that, at that very moment, he was already famous in another circle.
[You still haven't found him?]
Ah Shui asked the friends in the group.
[Nope. This guy doesn't exist, okay? I'm the all-knowing man of the jianghu. I'd definitely know if he did.]
[That's weird... Could he really be a beginner?]
[No way. You think a new player could play like that? Do you think he's a god or something?]
[Hey, you guys are talking about some guy who's pretty damn good.]
At that moment, an ID that had been lurking silently suddenly sent a message. He'd evidently watched the video Ah Shui had posted.
[Holy crap! Factory Director!]
[Factory Director, I'm your fan!]
[777777!]
[Factory Director, don't retire! So what if we lost S6? We're aiming for S7!]
[Openly in Love]: "Thanks, everyone, for the encouragement. I'm actually doing okay..."
Then he asked curiously, "Didn't you find out anything about the guy in the video Jackey sent? His mechanics look really good. If he's the right age, he could go pro."
At that, the group started buzzing again.
But nobody knew anything about [Bro! We're rich now!].
[Openly in Love]: "Forget it. I was just asking out of curiosity, haha."
Seeing that message, the old hands in the group all scoffed to themselves.
Curiosity?
Zhuge Kaiming was fishing for information on purpose. His intentions were obvious to everyone!
[All right, let's get ready for tomorrow night's event. Factory Director and Uzi are both coming, right? Turtle Turtle, the officials are really going all out this time!]
[I heard Xiao Hu and Xi Ye are taking part too.]
[Holy crap! Please, can I get a spot to show up? I want to play a match too!]
[@Group owner, Jackey, could you pull some strings for me?]
The many King Rank Players in the group were already getting restless.
Ah Shui replied with a few halfhearted messages.
After the Ranked System suddenly shut down, the matchmaking system had been a mess all day yesterday, and the officials had received plenty of complaints.
So tomorrow night, the officials were planning to hold a grand all-star matchmaking event.
They'd even brought out Factory Director, who'd been lying low ever since S6 ended with the Quarterfinals. Along with top-tier celebrities and streamers like Uzi, Xiao Hu, Xi Ye, and Ah Shui, it was sure to draw plenty of attention.
It was the dream stage for any player hoping to make a name for himself.
But, oh, my distant love, where were you?
That afternoon, school let out.
Xu Cheng arrived at the Internet Cafe, turned on a computer, and looked around in confusion.
The atmosphere in the Internet Cafe today... felt unusually charged.
Usually, the place was already buzzing, with nine out of ten computers running LOL.
But today, the Internet Cafe was packed, and nearly everyone was playing matchmaking with a livestream page open alongside it.
Was there some kind of event today?
Xu Cheng wasn't very up to date. He was usually too busy, and apart from playing a few matches, he didn't follow anything related to LOL.
He took a sip of ice-cold cola, logged into the client, and clicked on matchmaking.
Buzz.
He got in instantly again.
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