League of Legends: League of Unknowns

Luocheng saw Shallow Dream’s QQ icon light up at 8 o’clock sharp.

Shallow Dream seemed to practice a standard daily routine. She usually came online at around 8 o’clock. Luocheng had asked for her QQ account for convenience’s sake.

He had initially planned to learn more about this mysterious partner through her QQ, but soon realized that she had blocked him from assessing her info. ‘What a pain in the ass!’

“Let’s roast the Koreans as usual!” Luocheng sent her a message.

“Is your internet speed stable?” Shallow Dream questioned.

“Hehe. We are now stationed in Shanghai Demacia Café. The internet speed here is extremely stable, I’m guessing the game will run smoothly even if we play in the US server. We should try it out someday,” Luocheng updated her about his current status.

“I’ve done that before. It’s rather boring,” Shallow Dream replied coolly.

“Alright then…”

Luocheng figured that Shallow Dream was the only one who dared to say so. The US server also had only one server, just like the Koreans. The best players all over the American continent would gather in it, including those from Canada. The competition there was undoubtedly way stiffer than the local server.

***

After lagging behind for more than half a year, Luocheng and Shallow Dream’s IDs had dropped all the way back into the Platinum Rank.

“I watched a video some time back. A guy called VVV who has self-proclaimed himself as the best ADC in the world rebuked us in a LOL talk show.” Luocheng sent the message.

“I watched that,” Shallow Dream answered.

Luocheng had shared the video to Shallow Dream and highlighted the time point at which the guy had started to rant about them.

When VVV attended the talk show, the host had brought up Luocheng and Shallow Dream’s names and their marvelous streak in the Korean server. They had even displayed the video excerpt that had made it into the LOL main page.

The comment given by the so-called world’s best ADC VVV at that time was as follows, “Oh, these two. I must say that the replay here shows only their best play and it’s nothing special, really. The way they edited the highlight would definitely give people the wrong impression that they are better than most of their opponents from Korea, but don’t be fooled. These two Chinese players are just above average at best. They will never reach the Challenger Rank. Those that they’ve met in the Diamond Rank are not considered the best in the Korean server.”

“Beating a few players that never made it into the professional level is nothing to be proud of, if you ask me. They have conquered the Korean server you say? Don’t make me laugh. Typical Chinese media—amplifying the positive and covering the negative.”

After VVV’s comment was released, someone had translated his comment into Chinese and it quickly went viral in the social circle.

A lot of people had requested for the two players to come forth at that time and prove to VVV by ravaging the Korean server one more time. Some had even asked JX to release a video to rebut VVV.

Unfortunately, JX could no longer reach Luocheng and the issue had died down not long after that.

The S Tournament was just around the corner and the Chinese fans were infuriated by VVV’s arrogance. Sadly, there just wasn’t any player strong enough within the country to challenge VVV, to be honest.

“Have you fought with him before?” Luocheng asked Shallow Dream.

“No, but I did watch some of his games. He is very strong,” Shallow Dream replied.

“Oh?” Luocheng was a little surprised. He could not recall Shallow Dream ever referring to any player as “strong” before.

Shallow Dream had even added the word “very”, which meant that VVV was indeed powerful. He wondered what kind of performance he would have in the upcoming S International Tournament.

While Luocheng was chatting leisurely with Shallow Dream, Lin Dong was beside him, yelling in panic, “Zhou Yan, save me!”

To none of their surprise, Lin Dong’s bottom lane was being crushed by the opponents. They had dived into the turret area to force the first kill.

Lin Dong had no other choice but to ditch the tower. Seeing the three pursuers with full health and full mana, Zhou Yan pretended that he had not heard Lin Dong’s SOS call and went straight to another monster camp.

Speaking of which, Lin Dong’s juking ability was truly remarkable.

He first slid to the left to evade Corki’s Q-skill and R-ulti, then took a sharp right and a sudden pause to skip Jarvan’s EQ-combo. Finally, within the millisecond when Sona was casting her R-ulti, he activated his Arcane Shift that had just finished its cooldown to return safely back into the inner turret.

Zhou Yan had been farming the Krugs’ camp at the blue side while watching Lin Dong retreat from the creep wave with his tail between his legs. He reckoned there was no point in saving Lin Dong and allowing Jarvan, Corki, and Sona, to pass by him without doing anything. After seeing that Ezreal had survived the pursuit elegantly, he quietly directed Maokai to the lane and finished off the creep wave.

While the audience watching the game in the café hall bemoaned the Support’s poor skills, they were equally shocked by the Jungler’s indifference toward his teammate. The defender team had apparently given up on the bottom lane entirely!

***

“Sorry guys, I did not feed on purpose. In fact, I’m trying really hard not to be a burden,” Xiao Ya apologized through the chatbox.

“Don’t be, it’s all Lin Dong’s fault. He never knows how to protect his teammate,” Da Luo replied while Proxy Farming. He faced little resistance at the top lane. It was too easy that he felt like cutting behind the inner turret and directly breaking the minion line in front of the inhibitor turret.

The huge disparity in terms of champion selection and personal skill eventually led to Da Luo’s total domination.

Lin Dong almost cried seeing Da Luo’s inconsiderate statement. ‘You can say that only because you are facing a single opponent at the top lane!’

In fact, Lin Dong was confident that he could still develop properly in a 2 vs 1 situation. However, to maintain the same level of farming when facing 3 opponents simultaneously was simply too difficult. He could not absorb so much pressure at the same time. Not getting killed was already a win for Lin Dong under such circumstances.

“It’s okay, Xiao Ya. You just need to focus on maintaining your HP and mana. Remember to stay behind me at all times. Teaming up with you is supposed to toughen me up, it will be boring if you play too well.” Lin Dong could sense Xiao Ya’s guilt and tried to cheer her up.

“Hehe, that’s great. I’ve got enough gold now, it would be fine if I buy a Mejai’s, right?” Xiao Ya typed.

Lin Dong rushed to type “Please don’t!” after seeing Xia Ya’s message but the system message was much quicker…

Defender-Cheng has bought a Mejai’s Soulstealer.

‘God, please just kill me… I won’t even blink my eyes.’

He should not have typed those comforting words. The logic of a gamer girl was hard to comprehend.

‘Was she really ranked in Silver 1? She plays like a Bronze… No, “Plastic” 5!’

***

Duo Duo’s face couldn’t be any darker.

The members of this team were indeed better than he had expected, all except the Support. ‘Does he even know how to play LOL?’

If it were not for the room being locked during the game, Duo Duo would have barged in and given Luocheng a fury of punches!

“I initially thought that he was a pro. He was so confident that they were going to smash our previous Team Ranking, but it turns out that he’s just a sh*tty joke. Anyone from this shop could have played better than him!” Duo Duo complained to the female worker beside him.

The worker was clearly a LOL player too. She watched the comical Support with a twisted face and said, “Why do I feel like he’s playing even worse than I do. If it weren’t for the ADC’s resistance, I believe the bottom lane would have long been pushed in.”

“Who knows? This is 10,000 RMB we are talking about, I will lose the 500 RMB bonus if the money is taken today. If the café faces a deficit this month, my salary will be affected too.” Duo Duo was especially restless as he watched the game.

It was not easy for him to attain the position he had today. This cyber café was made popular by Mr. Lei and his relentless effort.

Without a reliable team to defend the prize money, Demacia Café would turn into an ATM machine for those good LOL teams around this region. Moreover, if they were unable to consistently sustain the reward, then nobody would spend money on membership subscriptions anymore.

Through the glass, Duo Duo could see Luocheng’s serious face as he sat in the middle of the team, and he became more irritated. ‘Crap! Cut the act now, you silly clown!’

***

“Da Luo, f*ck you. Stop Proxy Farming and come cover me now,” Lin Dong had completely lost it and yelled at Da Luo.

“Let me farm a bit more, I really miss bullying the noobs. Playing against those Taiwanese teams was truly stressful,” Da Luo replied.

“If we lose this, Meiqi will spend some time alone with you in her room!” Lin Dong threatened.

“Oh, coming right away!” Da Luo said nothing else and recalled at once after retreating into the jungle.

The opponent’s bottom lane duo was now marching toward their inner turret. Luckily, this Team ILUN did not know how to utilize their bottom lane advantage to pressure the other zones of the map. Personal skills would have no use if the team gold difference was too huge to be recovered.

Da Luo charged in with his R-ulti from the blind spot at the back as soon as Shyvana reached the bottom lane.

Team Skycrown’s speed at covering distance was terrifyingly swift now. As soon as Da Luo moved in to initiate, Zhou Yan’s Maokai had instantly blocked off the enemies’ retreat route. In the meantime, Wu Sen stalled the opponent’s Jungler and Mid in the jungle, effectively delaying their rescue attempt.

Lin Dong, Da Luo, Zhou Yan, and Xiao Ya ganked Fen Da and Meng Niu from Team ILUN. They were not going to lose in this 4 vs 2… wait, no… this 3 vs 3 situation.

Shyvana with a Sunfire Cape was unbeatable. With her R-ulti activated, her opponent’s Corki could hardly hurt her., and instead, it was Corki’s health that dropped rapidly due to the Sunfire’s Immolate effect.

Zhou Yan’s Maokai in turn rooted Corki who wished to run away with his W-skill and knocked him back, the former immediately releasing his ulti.

Lin Dong followed up Ezreal’s ulti with an auto attack and efficiently took down the squishy Sona!

Lin Dong had finally gotten his first kill after the disastrous start.

“Leave the kill to me. This Corki is worth 500 gold!” Lin Dong yelled to stop Da Luo from kill-stealing the dying Corki.

Five-d*mn-hundred gold! His life would become easier once he bagged this double kill.

Zhou Yan and Da Luo naturally left the kill to Lin Dong, and the latter happily pressed his E key to take it, but his face froze the next second.

Shut Down! Defender-Cheng has killed Feng Da!

The 500 gold had just been credited into Soraka’s account!

“Ah, my bad. I didn’t do it on purpose!” Xiao Ya immediately apologized for the kill-steal.

Looking at the 83 golds appearing on top of his champion, Lin Dong forced himself to swallow back the expletives about to burst forth from his mouth.

‘My lovely lady, if only your healing reflex was as quick as your typing speed!’

Da Luo and Zhou Yan shook their heads at the same time as well.

That was the pitiful fate one had to bear while carrying a noob gamer girl at the bottom lane. The pain was real when he couldn’t CS properly and respawn helplessly in the fountain time and time again, yet he still needed to hold back his anger and force himself to comfort the girl with compliments like “Good job!”, “Nice play!”, “Meija’s? Fantastic!”, “Great timing. The 500 gold is your reward!” .

Girls, you have to know that each of these words were typed out with his tears and blood. Please marry such a man if you ever meet one. If he could still muster consoling words when you feed like mad in LOL, he was definitely a guy that was also willing to kneel in front and behind of you in reality.