League of Legends: League of Unknowns

“Did…did we see it wrong? Check it again.” Yang Ying said as he walked over.

Everyone including Jian Feng was looking at the tournament roster, utter disappointment on their faces.

The most unnerving thing to happen was meeting one of the top three teams in the qualifiers. Shanghai University’s goal was to get into the top four as they were fully aware that the top three teams in the previous tournament were way better than them and it was impossible to defeat them.

Even meeting them halfway into the season was bad news, if you lost, you would be kicked out from the quarterfinals!

Zhejiang University and Team Revelation were close to each other, Team Revelation being one of the strongest teams in the LPL. With such a strong domestic team pushing them, Zhejiang University’s strength was on par with second seed professional teams!

This information was not news to anyone, and it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that Zhejiang University team was the next coming of Team Revelation.

Going against such a team, how could a team of students from Shanghai University who were depending on themselves even stand a chance?

All the adrenaline from the previous atmosphere evaporated instantly as it sank in, the entire club room was so silent that you could hear a pin drop.

The e-sports club had surged with attention together with the rise of LOL, to the extent that even the dean had emphasized on the importance of their training. Should the club not be able to produce any results, then following the clash between Mr. Fang and the head of department, the e-sports club would definitely suffer a heavy blow!

In these few months, Shanghai University’s team could be said to have made a giant leap, to the point that advancing into the top eight wouldn’t be much of a problem. Their members’ confidence was that high.

However, this enormous obstacle of going against Hangzhou’s Zhejiang University was entirely out of anyone’s expectation.

They didn’t delude themselves into thinking that they could defeat a team which had been cultivated by a top-rate team, no matter how high their confidence was!

“Do you want to hear even more bad news?” Jian Feng said, his voice quivering and looking as if he was about to burst into tears anytime, it was unsightly to look at.

There was something even worse than going against Zhejiang University?

Maybe the roster was wrong, and they were actually supposed to go against Fudan University?

Against Zhejiang University, Shanghai University would have a confirmed loss. If they went against Fudan University, they probably wouldn’t even have a chance to struggle before getting beaten down to the ground.

Fudan University’s strength was glaringly obvious to them, and even with Luocheng in the team, it was impossible to turn the defeat around.

“Just say it.” Yang Ying was already a mess inside, he didn’t think that any other news would make it worse.

“The home ground is set in Zhejiang University…” Jian Feng said.

“Well, that’s rubbing salt into the wound.” Xiao Jia said dejectedly.

Starting from thirty-two universities in the inter-university competition, the bracket was separated into home ground and visitor ground.

For example, in the previous match with Fujian University, the match was held on their home ground. Fujian University’s members had had to take the train to Shanghai University for the 16th-finals, and Shanghai University had won by a landslide—three to zero.

Having to play in your opponents’ home ground was disadvantageous for you, and if you wanted to win, you would have to give more than what you thought you could.

Shanghai University was not as good as Zhejiang University, the match would be at Zhejiang University and they would have to take the train there. Adding on to the fact that they would have the support and cheering of their own student body, wasn’t this rubbing salt into their wounds?

“How many days are left?” Meiqi asked.

“It’s this coming Saturday, we would need to reach on Friday and rest, and then take them on the next day. Once done, we need to come back.” Jian Feng said, rubbing his chin.

“F*ck, I don’t think it’s necessary for us to go. Mr. Fang has to apply for the funds and he’s in a difficult position right now. It’s impossible to apply for it now, and if we lose, there wouldn’t be any benefit to the university either. This would just drag us down further.” Qin Ting spat out bitterly.

“Yeah.” Zheng Xia said, nodding her head.

“So you’re asking us to give up, just like that? We’ve worked so hard to reach this point!” Meiqi protested.

“What do you want us to do then? It’s not guaranteed that the university would give us the necessary funding, and we can’t even go against Zhejiang University…Yang Ying, what do you think?” Jian Feng cut himself off, turning to the president instead.

Yang Ying was silent, deep in thought. He only spared a glance toward Luocheng, and everyone present suddenly turned their attention toward him.

Luocheng possessed that perfect teamwork with Asmodai, whether they could turn this around would depend entirely on him.

“Do you want to give up?” Luocheng asked, looking at Yang Ying, Xiao Jia and Jinbei when he posed his question.

“No way!” Yang Ying said, shaking his head.

Xiao Jia and Jinbei were also of the same mind, even if they knew they would lose, they still wanted to fight!

If you give up, it was a guaranteed loss, but if you were to fight, there was still a small chance to win!

“Alright, I’ll pay for myself. What about you guys?” Luocheng said.

They had to get into the top four, even if the university didn’t provide the funding, Luocheng would fight for this glory. He would make the student body and lecturers eat their words and respect their e-sports club, and not ridicule or insult them anymore!

As the advisor of the e-sports club, Mr. Fang had gone against the head of department for them, how could they, as his students, be afraid anymore?

“Yeah! If the university doesn’t give us the funds, then we’ll play at our own expense!” Xiao Jia exclaimed.

Sh*t, it’s not like I don’t have the money, I don’t need your money!

“Alright, we’ll go on our own. I don’t care if we win or lose, but we have to play!” Yang Ying said.

Encountering strong opponents, obstacles from their own people, not being properly supported with fundings…These were all not excuses to give up!

If you wanted to fight and win, then just brush aside those insignificant problems and keep walking forward!

***

“Who said we would lose anyway, we have our trump card—Luocheng!”

“That’s right, none of the universities know that we haven’t been using our strongest line up. Zhejiang University also wouldn’t expect us to use our Support as our pacemaker, maybe we can even catch them off guard!”

“Yeah, we won’t lose! We don’t need funding from the university, we’ll fight for this honor ourselves. If we really win, all those f*cking sh*tty associations, student union, and even the Head of Department will all shut up. They enjoy giving us problems and the stink eye, wait till we win and return, their pinched faces would definitely be uglier than eating sh*t!” These string of curses and profanities flew out from their beautiful senior—Meiqi.

Everyone present was stunned into silence as Meiqi finished her rant, and they all stared at her, shock and surprise clear as day on their faces.

Seeing their gazes on her, Meiqi’s face heated up immediately, and she shouted, “What are you looking at! I’ve been mixing with you guys for so long that you’ve corrupted me!”

“HAHAHA!” Everyone laughed, not being able to deny this beautiful senior of theirs.

The laughter instantly blew away all the negativity they were feeling before, and instead, replaced it with burning determination!

***

For the sake of the e-sports club which had been ridiculed, been the target of jealousy and looked down upon. For the sake of their respected and lovable lecturer who was willing to put himself out there for their club, they had to win this match against Zhejiang University!