Chapter 287: Victory Celebration

“Mystery player takes on Blood Eagle in a solo duel, gains the upper hand repeatedly!”

“Watch as Blood Eagle gets his ass kicked!”

“Someone challenges the Blood Eagle. You won’t believe what happens!”

“Who’s the true King of Junglers: Blood Eagle, or the mystery player?”

When the game replay was released, all the LOL interest sites went crazy!

All manner of eye-catching headlines adorned their homepages, with highlight montages from that game replay.

One had to note the terrifying speed at which word got around. Barely half an hour after the duel ended, and it felt like everyone was already talking about it!

Yu Luocheng’s duel with Zhao Tinghua hadn’t even lasted ten minutes.

Highlight reels have always been a crowd-pleaser. After all, how many working stiffs could spare the time to watch an entire game from start to finish?

Sympathetic of their plight, others regularly produced montage videos of highlights from selected games, which they then circulated to various websites!

‘Blood Eagle’ was already an attention-grabbing topic in itself—Zhao Tinghua had a massive fan following. Append a sensational headline to the name, and you’d draw a crowd, regardless of how far you strayed from the truth.

Obviously, the recording of this particular game was something extraordinary: Three draws in a row, demonstrating the highest imaginable level of play for Lee Sin. There were even articles titled, ‘Watch the whole video and you’ll know all the ways to play Lee Sin!’

Media outlets, fans, and random passers-by shared the video everywhere. The video breezed past a million views in just one day!

The video continued to draw lots of views over the next few days. Discussions about it raged within the main LOL fan group on Weibo, which boasted over five hundred thousand members, and it was a hot topic in other places as well. The main thing everyone wanted to know was: Exactly who was this mysterious player, who could stand equal to Blood Eagle?

The video was deliberately edited to obscure Luocheng’s face while on stage. People watching the highlight videos didn’t even realize that the footage had come from the Skycrown vs. Fudan match.

The official LOL website played coy with the details, further stimulating everyone’s curiosity.

A solo duel didn’t say everything, but it still said a lot. Especially considering all the mystique surrounding the whole affair, articles about the anonymous elite player proliferated wildly.

Those who had been there in person knew that the player in question was Team Skycrown’s coach, and of course many among them spilled the beans wherever they could. Strangely, anyone attempting to do so would immediately see the thread they’d just created disappearing into thin air.

Apparently, deliberate measures were being taken in order to conceal the player’s identity.

***

Luocheng himself was oblivious to all this.

He wasn’t aware of all the hype being built up around him, nor did he realize there were others working to cover up the truth of his identity.

In truth, he didn’t desire fame.

Where had they been, back in those days? He’d triumphed over the best the world had to offer, and not a peep of it made it into the news. Now, he no longer had any need for recognition. If they tried to cause a stir, it would be nothing but an annoyance to him.

That night, the members of Team Skycrown, along with an entourage of Shanghai University students, found themselves some tables at a night market, so they could drink and make merry.

The LPL! They’d made it in!

Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. It was difficult to put this joy into words.

That bit of drama with Zhao Tinghua was soon forgotten. They had every faith that, with enough time to figure everything out, they would be able to achieve a lot more than simply getting into the LPL—they aimed to make it all the way to the semi-finals, and become one of the top four teams in the whole nation!

And not just that: Having stood at the top of the world once before, they were eager to get into League Worlds!

Where League of Legends was concerned, the two mightiest teams were Team Sky and Team Daemons! Eventually, they would have to defeat one of them, in order to take their place on the world stage!

“A toast, to the beginning of our journey!”

“To our victory!”

“Cheers!”

A dozen cups clinked loudly together, throwing out a spray of foam.

Cheerful laughter rang out, along with the squeals of girls whose clothes had been caught in the splash!

All five players drained their cups in one go. The fellows of the Gaming Society did the same. Li Meiqi, who alternated between princess and tomboy, also managed this feat, which resulted in a scarlet blush upon her cheeks that was especially fetching to behold.

“Do your best, guys. If you really make it into Worlds, I’ll be your woman!” Meiqi cackled raucously, appearing for a moment like Miss Fortune, tousling her hair as she whispered, “Are you sure you can handle me, Summoner?”

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Sipping his drink quietly, Xiao Bei stole shy looks at her.

Although normally unable to speak around beautiful women, Xiao Bei had overcome this thanks to Meiqi… If you counted having nervously stammered a couple of things to her before.

The way Meiqi had boisterously declared her availability on the condition of getting into League Worlds… Xiao Bei’s eyes were shining!

“Yu Luocheng, you’re amazing! Going against Blood Eagle in a duel, and even forcing a tie with him!” Xiao Jia clapped him heavily on the shoulder.

In the beginning, this guy had been dead set against Luocheng joining the team. He’d heard of feigning weakness to trick your enemies into giving you an opening, but this guy was a big damn wolf in sheep’s clothing!

You’re the World Champion of Gaming, and you were keeping quiet about it while fooling about in our Gaming Society… this is some next-level subterfuge!

“That’s right!” quipped Yang Ying. “Speaking of which, why weren’t you playing in the series? With you there, I doubt Team Fudan would have had a snowball’s chance in hell.”

Everyone knew what Luocheng was, now. Honestly, they’d all like nothing better than to see him playing in a serious game. That would be something!

“Agreed. Luocheng, you should just go pro. I’ve heard that quite a few LOL pro players are still students, too. You’re so good at it, you even gave Blood Eagle a run for his money. Maybe some day, you could even be bigger than him…”

Now, all eyes were on Luocheng.

What he’d shown them today had been unforgettable. They’d already known he was good at the game, but they hadn’t realized to what extent!

With this level of ability, why wasn’t he playing professionally? Anyone could see how much he loved League of Legends.

Beneath those expectant gazes, Luocheng didn’t know how to respond.

“Hey, the captain has his reasons. Let’s leave it for now.” Lin Dong changed the subject. “Here, a toast to Xiao Bei!”

“To me?” Xiao Bei remembered playing rather poorly, which had caused lots of trouble for everyone.

“To you. To that god-like double jump you made, and the ulti at the end!” Meiqi cried out.

Being praised by Meiqi caused Xiao Bei to avert his eyes bashfully.

Everyone raised their cups, and then drained them dry.

With that, the conversation returned to the tournament that had just ended. From there, talk gradually turned to future prospects for Team Skycrown. Now that they’d made it into the LPL, it was time to discuss team management.

Without a good manager looking after the team, no matter how good they were, their only source of income would be a paltry bit of prize money. If they stumbled, or the events dried up, life would be hard.

“I’m in my fourth year now, and I haven’t figured out what to do after graduation. How about I help you guys out?” Jian Feng spoke up.

Jian Feng, Yang Ying, and Xiao Jia were all senior students. Soon, they would all need to find a job.

The recent LOL University League would be their last bit of indiscretion as university students. After the tournament had ended, they’d found themselves beginning to panic, because very soon they’d have to enter the working world.

Yang Ying already had something lined up for him. As much as he played around, he didn’t mess about with serious business. He’d been the first one among them to land himself a job.

Xiao Jia’s parents were loaded. No one really bothered to ask him about this issue, since it wasn’t like he was in any danger of running out of money.

Most likely, he’d join his dad’s company and eventually take over one day. Gaming was something he could only give his all to during his university days. Afterwards, it would be nothing but a past-time.

Jian Feng always got terrible grades, and he was constantly on the look-out for ways to earn some scratch. He actually had no clue what sort of jobs he’d be into. Truth be told, a university degree had little meaning to him.

“We won’t be able to pay you a salary,” Lin Dong declared solemnly.

“No problem, I’ve still got something saved up. I foresee great success ahead of you. This team will be really big some day—you might even be able to found a top-tier agency. I’m prepared to go through thick and thin with you guys,” Jian Feng replied earnestly.

“Me too, me too! I want to be your financier, hahaha!” Meiqi was getting pretty wasted, carelessly waving her hands in the air.

“Babe, just stay out of my way. I’m seriously applying for a job, here.” Jian Feng sulked at her.

Everyone knew that Meiqi herself came from a wealthy background—it was obvious from the way she dressed. A real-life fairy tale princess.

An heiress like her, willingly signing up as the financier of a deadbeat team like this?

No one would believe that. For one thing, Team Skycrown’s current training room was a damp, gloomy, filthy apartment. Who could imagine a delicate young lady like herself spending her days amongst these misbegotten, ramen-eating vagrants.

(Translator’s Note: I apologise if anyone was inadvertently burnt by that one.)

The five players on Team Skycrown were deeply envious of their university lives. They were all the same age, but they themselves had long ago been forced to face the harsh realities of the world and all its injustices. How nice it would be to have been born as Yang Ying, Xiao Jia, or Li Meiqi, enjoying lives of wealth and comfort, without a care in the world.

If not for LOL, they’d have absolutely nothing to do with one another.

“But I… I really mean it, okay! I can do all kinds of… all kinds of things. I can put together videos, provide commentary… I can even cosplay and dance! Every team needs fans—what can you guys do by yourselves? How many people actually make the time to watch games being played live? No matter how spectacular your games may be, you’ll still need a multi-talented young beauty like me to draw people in. That’s how we’ll get you some fans!”

Meiqi’s voice was slurred from inebriety, a sultry tone that was positively driving them mad!