Rise (Web Novel CN)

“Who were you talking to?” Su Xue asked, curious. Lin Feng had ran out of the room with his phone in hand a few minutes earlier and only now came back. He’d ran away while the stream was still running. People were here, just for his commentary! They’d badgered her with questions and demands. Bunch of degens… Hehe.

“Oh, this?” Lin Feng asked, pointing at his phone. Then he scratched the back of his head, “Uh, just a classmate.”

“A classmate?” Su Xue looked Lin Feng up and down. He moved back a little and wouldn’t meet her eyes. What’s he hiding? Then she started smiling, grinning. “Hehe. Just a classmate? Is that right? You ran all the way to the washroom for that? It’s a girl, isn’t it? You can tell me. What was her name again? Tang Tang? Was that her?” She winked at Lin Feng and pulled him over. “Haha. Nevermind. Come, hurry up! I promised the viewers we’d do some in-houses to celebrate KG’s win!”

Lin Feng's eyes lit up. He fought his way out of Su Xue’s embrace and was already halfway out of the room, when he said over his shoulder, “Awesome! I’d love that! Hold on, let me go grab my laptop!”

The viewer in-houses were the main attraction of Su Xue’s stream these days. Viewers would come from far and wide just to watch these games. Su Xue versus Lin Feng. A trainwreck meeting an unstoppable force! Despite the clear difference in skill, these were always fun matches to watch. And also a lot of fun to play in. There were many viewers bickering over each other to see who the lucky eight were this time. People who tuned into the stream for the first time were welcomed by viewers and the streamer having a good time together. It was this kind of warm and inviting atmosphere that saw them sticking around. That saw them hitting the follow button and coming back again another time. They wanted to become a part of the community. Though, it didn’t hurt that Su Xue was also fairly attractive. That kept the boys around, and attracted some more to come and check out the stream.

Lin Feng rushed back into Su Xue’s bedroom and put down his laptop on her desk. Su Xue had already created the lobby and invited the viewers. They were all waiting for Lin Feng to join. He was Red Team’s captain. And like the last few times, he decided to play Support. If he played any other role, it’d be even easier for him to carry the games. This just gave the sense of it being a fair match up. Though, it was anything but. Lin Feng was so much better than Su Xue that there really was no comparing the two.

The game was barely 10 minutes in. Su Xue was playing ad-carry and had decided to test her skills on Kalista. She was last hitting minions while keeping an eye on the stream. Right now, her eyes were on the number of viewers. 11,045. She laughed and turned to Lin Feng. “Haha! Look! 10k-plus viewers again! It’s starting to become a regular—”

Focus was key. Su Xue wasn’t nearly good enough at League of Legends to split her attention between her stream and gameplay. Lin Feng punished her right away. His Morgana was already in position and conjured her dark magic. Then he fired off a Dark Binding and bound the Kalista. His Graves followed up, dashing into the fight and unloading his shotgun on the Kalista. Buckshot! Three bullets shot out in a cone, all three smashing into the Kalista and blasting away her health. Then he used his ultimate skill–Collateral Damage! The Graves fired off an explosive shell with such force that he was knocked back. The shell dealt physical damage and then exploded, destroying the Kalista’s health bar!

《You have been slain.》

Su Xue saw the grin on Lin Feng’s face a moment before the announcer’s voice rang out in her ears. She looked back at her screen and saw that it’d turned grey. They’d killed her. She’d lost focus for a second and they’d killed her! “What? Why? Argghh! Lin Feng!” She slapped him on the shoulder, more annoyed at herself than anything else. This, of course, was precisely the thing her viewers loved to see.

「LOL DUMBASS!!!!!」

「hahahaha, plat noob daydreaming against a challenger」

「The maid is living up to her name! She’ll soon be back in the kitchen!」

「shes sooooooooooooooo bad hahahaa」

「lolololol her team must hate her」

「IT”S LIKE SHE”S TRYIN TO FEEDDDD>>>.???」

Su Xue bit her lips as she read the stream chat. She squinted her eyes, ready to erupt at her viewers. Then it happened. Lin Feng had moved away a little after she’d slapped him. In preparation. “Good job, Graves!” he said at the camera. His smile turned wider, brighter. He started laughing, clutching his stomach preemptively. “Sick Dark Binding, right? But man, hahaha! Those Kalista skills! Hahaha! Worst Kalista on the Ionia server, am I right? Hahaha!”

“YOU SHITTY BRAT!” Su Xue erupted. She pushed her gaming chair back and shot to her feet. “GET HERE YOU LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT! HOW DARE YOU TAKE ADVANTAGE OF ME! COME HERE! LET ME BEAT SOME SENSE INTO YOU!”

The best part of the in-houses had started. It was why the viewers kept coming back. The games were great, and Lin Feng’s Challenger skills really made for some beautiful plays and highlight reels, but that wasn’t the best part. The best part was when Su Xue lost her cool again. When she did something stupid and needed someone to vent on. That poor sap was Lin Feng. She ran after him as he jumped on her bed and kept her at a distance. She ran right, he jumped left. She dove after him and he just slipped through her fingers, dodging any attempt of her catching him. All in full view of the viewers.

「HAHAHHA WHAT ARE THEY DOING!??!?!?!」

「LOL what are these two? This is hilarious!!!!!!!」

「THIS is the best part of the stream!」

「just sit back and enjoy heheheehhe」

✹

After Su Xue exhausted herself from chasing after Lin Feng, they played a couple more games before calling it a night. It was Sunday. Lin Feng would have to get up early the next morning and go to school. It’d be a pretty important day for him. It was the official start of the main tournament of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament! Su Xue had heard him talk about it, but had forgotten all about it because of the KG games earlier. Until now. She turned towards him, while he was already walking out of her room, and said, “Hey, hold on! That 16 School thing. What did you call it? Ah, whatever. Are you still in it?”

Lin Feng stopped and looked over his shoulder. He ruffled his hair and said, “Yeah, we’re still in it. Tomorrow is the Round of 16.”

“Nice, nice. You guys are doing really good, huh? The main tournament. Almost in the quarterfinals! Pretty impressive, if I may say so,” Su Xue nodded. She then rubbed her chin for a bit before adding, “Fine. Tell me the when and where. I’ll come cheer you on!”

“Sure! I’d love that!” Lin Feng said, smiling. He put his laptop down and wrote the information for her down. Then he balled his fist and held it up in front of his face. He flexed his biceps and said, “You can watch me show off my skills!”

Su Xue raised her eyebrows and curled her lips. “Hoh? Big words, little man. Don’t worry, I won’t hold you to them. Just don’t feed. That’s all. If you can do that, I’ll be happy and cheer you on even louder!” There was a light laugh in her voice. She knew she wasn’t serious. Lin Feng was by far the best League of Legends player she knew. Some random high school tournament is probably way too easy for him. I’ll just go and watch… her. Su Xue didn’t worry about Lin Feng’s games. He would carry. But he’d talked a bunch about a girl in his class. That had caught Su Xue’s attention. She wanted to know who this Tang Tang was. She needed a face to the name!

I’m like his big sister. His Aunt put me in charge. I don’t even know where his mother is… I’ll have to take it on myself and make sure he picks the right girl! Su Xue nodded. She cared for Lin Feng and wanted to see him happy. If he really liked this girl as much as he made it sound like, then it was up to her to check this girl out and make sure she was good enough for Lin Feng! Of course she won’t be. How can she? Like a good older sibling, Su Xue wanted only the best for her Lin Feng. Lost in her own little world, it’d gone completely over her head that Lin Feng and Tang Bingyao were just friends. Nothing more.

✹

The Shanghai 16 School Tournament wasn’t held in a branch of the NetCow Cafe like the preliminaries. They were held somewhere a little larger. Where a crowd could gather and cheer on their favourite team. This place was an electronics mall in the Pudong district of Shanghai. The Chinese Esports Association spent a lot of money to not only rent this place, but also prepare it for the event. It almost looked a little like a miniature version of Worlds, with a crowd, high end computers, and famous guest commentators. Though, the number of people in the crowd was a lot smaller and the guest commentators were a lot less famous than those at Worlds.

It was Monday afternoon, 5:30 PM. The venue was packed with people. This was the main tournament. It featured the biggest new talents in the Shanghai League of Legends scene. And Shanghai was the esports capital of China! Just last year, there were several talents that’d been recruited into the professional scene. So there was a lot of interest for this tournament.

There were only 30 minutes until the tournament would officially start. But there was still so much to do. Too much. The members of staff were running around, taking care of all the last minute issues that kept popping up. On top of that, there were even more little tasks that could only be completed at the last minute, like making sure all the contestants were present. Within this chaos, two men stood together chatting.

The organizer of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament was a man in his 30s. He wore a suit and gold-rimmed glasses. “Mr. Zhang,” he said to the man in front of him. “I want to extend my gratitude again for allowing us to host the event here.”

Zhang Jun smiled. His cheeks were puffy and his stomach was big and round. He was the director of this electronics mall. “It’s nothing, Mr. Chu. Just a small thing. We’ve known each other for how long now? Last year we also hosted both the main event and the Shanghai Varsity Championships. And, I mean, you approached us. It’s a real honour to be hosting these events at my venue.”

Chu Fang shook his head and said, “Alright, alright. That’s enough pleasantries. Let’s focus on the tournament. There’s still much to do. But this should be a win-win situation for the both of us. We’re going to get the most out of it!”

Zhang Jun laughed, putting one hand on his stomach and wiping away the sweat on his forehead with the other. “Haha! Right you are! A win-win for the both of us! Haha!” That was also the only reason Zhang Jun decided to work with Chu Fang. He was a businessman and only moved for profit. The Shanghai Esports Association was like a fat cow in that regard. They were full of money and they brought a lot of foot traffic to his mall. It just made sense to work together with them.

The win-win scenario Chu Fang had in mind was a little different from Zhang Jun. He didn’t move for money. Well, it wasn’t his main point of attention. His goals with the Shanghai branch of the Chinese Esports Association were a little different. There was something more important that money couldn’t buy. Talent. He needed to scout talent. To find the best players in China and help them get into the professional scene. That was the best way he could help put the LPL on the map. If they ever wanted to win Worlds, his work was vital!