League of Legends: League of Unknowns

Lian Guan was the owner of a grocery store. He had opened one in a residential area of Shanghai, as this was the most popular way of doing business in the area. You could say that there was a grocery store or small supermarket outside every home.

Having managed it badly, Lian Guan’s grocery store was quite small and not doing very well. It only generated about a few thousand yuan a month, which is what he survived on.

When he had Xiao Bei around, Lian Guan could ignore everything around him and spend his days just playing cards and drinking alcohol.

As soon as Xiao Bei left, it became difficult to sort out the delivered goods. After the day’s goods delivery earlier that morning, Lian Guan was feeling frustrated. He shouldn’t have let that little bunny run away, doing everything himself made him very tired.

“Uncle, I’m back!” exclaimed Xiao Bei as he ran into the shop.

“Get out, get out. I’m annoyed just looking at you,” said Lian Guan, his voice full of dissatisfaction.

“Have you settled my identity card issue yet? You should urge the people over there to hurry up!” said Xiao Bei instead of leaving.

“Urge the Public Security Bureau? You want me to die? Don’t nag, just bring all this stock to the back. I’ve already agreed to play mahjong with some of the guys,” said Lian Guan.

“This is urgent! Haven’t you gotten it done yet?” asked Xiao Bei as he dragged the heavy load to the back as instructed.

Xiao Bei had already heard about Yu Luocheng’s situation. If he couldn’t play, then Xiao Bei needed to make sure that he could!

He knew that his uncle had some small connections, and if Lian Guan pulled some strings, he would be able to solve the problem with Xiao Bei’s identity.

“Crazy sh*t, I already told you that I’ll settle it when you’re eighteen years old. Like I said, this will take up a huge sum of money. The penalty for having kids over the birth limit is now a hundred and twenty thousand yuan, you know? Do you think you can earn this sum of money?” Lian Guan scolded him.

“What does helping me with my identity card have to do with the birth limit?” asked Xiao Bei, confused.

“There are a lot of illegal children now, don’t you think they want to be registered too? They either have unknown indentities, are hiding from the family planning office, or have stupid parents who didn’t register them.

Someone like you who nobody wanted, the only way to put your name on the register is to use the one child policy limit. I put your household register under one of my friends in Shanghai, but he already has one child.

To settle your problem, my friend has to go to the family planning office to fill in all kinds of paperwork, and then pay the penalty fee for having more than one child. Remember, you owe me a hundred and twenty thousand yuan!”

“I don’t have that money, and anyway I worked for you for so many years. It should add up to that amount,” said Xiao Bei.

“Bullsh*t! Didn’t I feed and house you all these years?! Stop talking nonsense, I’m going over to the club to play mahjong. Sh*t, I have to win today,” said Lian Guan.

Lian Guan was not a human trafficker, but when he first went northwest, he was well on his way to becoming one. He almost joined a group of traffickers who wanted to kidnap children, but he immediately got out of it when he realized that he had been deceived.

He couldn’t send Xiao Bei back when he fled, and so he brought him back to Shanghai. He took him in as his nephew and made him work in the store. Lian Guan liked to laze around and enjoyed playing cards and mahjong. While the average person would just play for fun, Lian Guan would go further by putting a few thousand yuan on the line during the games.

So despite the shop being open for several years, he didn’t really earn a lot of profit from it due to his gambling habits…

It wasn’t easy to get some profit, but everything he earned went into making Xiao Bei’s household register and identity card. And also to f*cking bribe those guys in the bureau!

Ah forget it, it was easier to just play mahjong. Lian Guan was far too lazy to worry about all those troublesome things.

***

Looking at white walls and white beds was strangely mind-clearing. Yu Luocheng sat at his father’s bedside, staring out the windows at nothing in particular.

These days he didn’t even know how he spent his time, he was like a walking corpse.

Li Yun had already arrived from Lecheng and she was currently on the phone outside the room, looking quite anxious.

Yu Yu seemed to be going through some formalities somewhere, and Yu Luocheng was sitting inside, not knowing what to do. Besides the initial guilt, he seemed to have become a little numb now.

For quite a while now, he felt like he didn’t even have a heart.

His phone vibrated for a long time before he reacted and reached to answer it.

Xiao Bei’s anxious voice came through, “Luocheng, are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” replied Yu Luocheng stoically.

“My uncle helped me apply at the local public security bureau. My specific identity still can’t be determined, but at least I’ll have a birth certificate. It’s attached to a local person’s household register, and I’ve already asked the office. He said that it will pass smoothly if it needs to be verified for the competition,” said Xiao Bei happily.

It really wasn’t easy to settle this identity issue, and Xiao Bei knew that it was impossible for Yu Luocheng to participate in the competition right now. It was also impossible to expect any guidance from him at the moment, the five members of Team Skycrown were on their own for the rest of the matches!

“Okay, good luck with the matches,” said Yu Luocheng, his voice still strangely empty.

“Luocheng, don’t worry, I will definitely work hard and become a world champion!” said Xiao Bei seriously, his voice full of determination.

Xiao Bei was well aware that after going through this, Yu Luocheng would never touch professional gaming again.

To be honest, none of the members of Team Skycrown expected Yu Luocheng’s father to be sick enough to need a liver transplant…

“Alright.”

Hanging up the phone, Yu Luocheng didn’t have any desire to move, and he continued to stare out the window.

***

At the competition venue, Li Meiqi had an unhappy expression on her face as she looked at the five members of Team Skycrown.

“Where’s Luocheng?” she asked.

“He has a family emergency, so he won’t be able to come,” said Lin Dong, sighing heavily.

Zhou Yan and Da Luo remained silent. Even if he wasn’t on stage with them, they were so used to having Yu Luocheng at every important game. They always felt more secure and confident knowing that he was cheering for them backstage.

This time, he wouldn’t be here. It felt like Team Skycrown was missing a big piece, majorly bringing down their motivation and enthusiasm.

“Xiao Bei, you managed to settle your identity problem?” asked Li Meiqi, turning to him.

“Yeah, and I also went to our local security office to confirm that there won’t be any more problems,” said Xiao Bei, nodding his head.

“Alright, that’s good. I already passed on the details to Xi Xi, he warned me that there better not be a problem this time…”

“Jian Feng also went with me, you can check with him if you’re worried,” replied Xiao Bei.

Jian Feng nodded his head. “They said it wouldn’t be a problem.”

“That’s good, especially since boss will most likely bid LOL goodbye after this,” said Lin Dong, seriousness in his voice.

Da Luo and Zhou Yan still remained silent as they already knew about Yu Luocheng’s situation. What else could they do but sigh about it?

“What happened? Is it that bad?” asked Li Meiqi, confused.

“His father’s liver is on the verge of shutting down. It’s been like that for a few years now. Back when Luocheng left home, his father was admitted to the hospital. After that, it happened more frequently. This time, his father came to Shanghai for treatment and somehow found out about Luocheng playing in a professional match… now he’s lying in the hospital, waiting for a donor… if they can’t perform the surgery on time…”

“It’s that serious?” gasped Xiao Bei, shocked.

“Yeah, I didn’t know about this last time either. It’s no wonder Luocheng refused to touch the professional league.”

“Why is his father so stubborn? It’s just a professional match.” Li Meiqi protested, still confused.

Da Luo snorted and said, “Aih, how many parents nowadays understand e-sports? His relatives have probably heard that it’s something that almost killed his father.”

It’s just a professional match? Those words were so easy to utter.

Not many older people were so open-minded, and there were still many parents who didn’t even understand the Internet. These same parents also thought that studying hard was the only way to guarantee a good future, everything else was considered useless and a waste of time.

Having never experienced this in her own household, Li Meiqi was unable to relate to or even comprehend the situation.

“Luocheng would probably still pay attention to our matches,” said Lin Dong.

“He definitely will.”

Only those who had a deep passion for e-sports would understand how terrifying being unable to play was.

After staying silent for a long time, Lin Dong finally forced a smile and spoke.

“Alright, let’s properly prepare. Boss has already invested so much blood and tears in us, all in the hopes that we can get ahead in this field. He has done a lot for us. If we can’t grow up and do this ourselves, he’ll only be more disappointed and worried.”

Out of respect for his father, Yu Luocheng had never crossed the line to once again step into the realm of professional e-sports.

Instead, he always hoped that Team Skycrown could be strong enough to one day compete in a real e-sports competition again.

It had nothing to do with their past glory or fame. All Yu Luocheng wanted was to see Lin Dong, Zhou Yan, Xiao Bei, Wu Sen, and Da Luo take pride in being able to climb to great heights in something that they love.

Team Skycrown believed that even if they were to have much more than they currently do, Yu Luocheng wouldn’t ask them for a single thing. He just wanted the five of them to be well, then he would return to student life, completing his studies and graduating as per his father’s wishes.

It was the situation with Xiao Bei that had forced him to play just one match.

Somehow, his father just so happened to stumble upon that one time he played, and now everything was a mess. Even if he had tried to explain the circumstances, his father probably wouldn’t even listen or believe him.

Not being able to do what you love is what truly makes a person suffer most.

But if you think about it, how many young people in today’s society have returned to their hometown after failing to live their dreams in the big city? Instead, they all end up following their families’ pre-arranged plans for them.

Did they really want to walk on this path after graduating and coming out into the real world?

Now, all Team Skycrown could do was to pray that Yu Luocheng’s father would recover. They also hoped that the older generation would understand that professional e-sports was not a drug that children got addicted to.

Just like with world-popular sports such as football and basketball, professional e-sports also required endless effort and incredible skill, and glory came from their competitions too!

***

No matter what, the match must go on!

Their next round was against Team Dusk—even without Yu Luocheng, they could do it!