The next day was the finals of the 2016 League of Legends Spring Split.
Tong Yao woke up early. Passing by two empty water bottles, she couldn’t help but curse inwardly about which bastard had stolen her water the day before—she’d even placed it so high up! Did they have Sun Wukong’s fiery golden eyes or something? With vision that good, why weren’t they playing professionally?!
After brushing her teeth and washing her face, she grabbed her phone and saw a WeChat message from the team manager, saying they were about to leave for the venue and asking if Tong Yao wanted to ride with the team or go on her own…
Tong Yao glanced at her reflection in the mirror—messy hair, pale face, dark circles under her eyes. She didn’t want to scare her future teammates and risk affecting their performance, so she awkwardly smiled and replied, “It’s not far anyway, just a short walk. I’ll go by myself.” Then, not daring to be lazy any longer, she jumped into the shower to wash up properly…
An hour later, Tong Yao arrived at the entrance of the stadium hosting the Spring Split finals and joined the long queue waiting to get in.
In front of her were two guys in their early twenties, dressed like typical college students. Ahead of them was a group of girls carrying bags filled with hundreds of neatly folded cheering slogans. The banners were blue and white, and since Team CK’s logo was red and black, Tong Yao guessed these were probably fans of her future team. Some of the girls were even holding glowing signs and cheering banners with cartoon images of Lu Sicheng, Ming Shen, and other players. At the moment, they were excitedly discussing the upcoming match—the whole scene was—
“Are these girls here to watch the game or some K-pop concert?” one of the college guys grumbled quietly to his friend. “I can’t stand these fangirls. They bring the same energy from idol-chasing into esports. I bet half of them aren’t even level 30 in-game, yet they scream over every little move the players make…”
“Yeah, same. I was watching a stream once, and there were girls yelling ‘Don’t kill him!’—like, seriously? Cringed me out—”
“This was always a man’s game. No idea why these girls even bother. Probably can’t even name half the Champions. To them, Gold rank is god-tier. Once, at a match, I heard a girl behind me ask what a Mid Laner was—I almost passed out!”
As he spoke, the guy suddenly seemed to feel a little guilty and glanced back—only to lock eyes with a pair of dark, round ones. He froze, then took a closer look and realized the person standing behind him was also a girl—
Short hair, a baseball cap, shorts, a T-shirt, and flip-flops. Right now, she was staring at him with a blank, almost alien-like expression.
An awkward silence fell between them.
“We’re all fans here. Watching a match doesn’t make anyone superior, right?” Tong Yao cleared her throat and raised her hands in defense. “Just so you know, I do know what a Mid Laner is—it’s the one who goes in the middle lane.”
Guy A: “…”
Guy B: “Uh, we weren’t talking about all girls, just… a few specific ones. So, uh, which server are you on?”
Tong Yao: “I play on Ionia in the Chinese server.”Guy B: "Oh, you're from the first server! I'm from the fifth... So besides the national server, you also play on the Korean server?"
Tong Yao: "Yeah."
Because I’ve already topped the national server.
Number one, you know.
Guy A’s eyes rolled around in their sockets: "What rank are you on the Korean server?"
Tong Yao smiled: "King. Just got there recently."
Then she witnessed the two guys in front of her freeze for a moment. They fell silent, exchanged a look, and then burst into laughter simultaneously. At the same time, the disdain in Guy A’s eyes became even more obvious... After that, they stopped talking to Tong Yao and instead turned around, "whispering" just loud enough for her to hear—
"Hahahaha, she said she’s a Korean server king!"
"This lie is so outrageous I don’t even know how to respond. She probably hasn’t even downloaded the game client, yet she’s claiming to be a Korean server king—just spouting nonsense without even bothering to Google what it actually means to be a Korean server king..."
"Man, I’m so done with these girls."
Tong Yao touched her face, wondering if she didn’t have the look of a "pro gamer." Why was she always being doubted like this?
Luckily, the line started moving forward at this point as the audience began entering the venue. Tong Yao could finally stop enduring the skepticism from these two guys. Once inside, she headed straight for the seat indicated on her ticket—
Since the ticket was issued by the team, she had a premium seat close to the stage. When she sat down, she noticed the group of girls holding cheering slogans and light signs sitting not far from her. As she settled in, one of them was carrying a bag, seemingly preparing to distribute the slogans. The girl smiled at Tong Yao as she passed and whispered, "Thanks for standing up for us earlier."
Huh, so they had heard?
"No, no," Tong Yao waved her hand. "I just got annoyed when I heard that 'this is a man’s game' nonsense. Like, does that extra leg help you press the keyboard or click the mouse? Besides, you guys put so much effort into preparing all this to watch the match—way more dedicated than those picky dudes. I’m sure the players would appreciate it if they knew."
"Yeah, hopefully." The girl tied up her hair and smiled helplessly. "I saw on the forum that Ming Shen might retire. I’ve been following him all over the country to watch his matches, and I’ve leveled up from below rank 30 to Diamond myself. Today might be his last match. If Ming Shen retires, I’ll probably quit the fandom too."
"..."
"I’m gonna go hand out the cheering slogans." The girl pulled one out of the bag and handed it to Tong Yao. "Since you’re sitting in this section, you must be a China Telecom fan too, right? Here."
"Oh, okay," Tong Yao looked at the exquisitely made slogan in her hand. "How much is it?"
She reached for her wallet.
As soon as she said that, the girls in front burst into laughter. One of them turned around and cut in before the girl who gave Tong Yao the slogan could respond: "These are for the fans! Of course they’re free! Just cheer loudly later, okay?"
Tong Yao suddenly felt incredibly uncool. Embarrassed, she put her wallet away. When she turned back, the girl had already moved on to distribute more slogans and team merchandise to the seats behind her.The slender, long-haired figure carried a seemingly heavy bag, climbing the steps one by one. Tong Yao watched, almost entranced, her mind filled with a single thought: These girls are too adorable! How blissful it must be to play professionally and be loved by such fans! What on earth is wrong with those rough guys who look down on them?!
...
It wasn’t until half an hour later, when the players from the two finalist teams entered the arena, that Tong Yao’s attention slightly returned to the main event.
The venue lights dimmed, focusing all illumination onto the central stage. First, the host summarized the season’s achievements of both teams. Then, as his voice echoed, the players from both sides walked onto the stage from opposite ends—the Spring Split championship trophy stood at the center. The ten players from CK and ZGDX Team took their positions in front of the trophy, bowing and waving to their fans below...
The atmosphere instantly erupted!
"Ahhhh Cheng Ge! Cheng Ge!"
"Marry me, Cheng Ge!"
"Ming Shen, win another championship!"
"Invincible Yang God! I'll raise fish in your jungle!"
Fans around Tong Yao screamed and shouted the names of their favorite players, regardless of gender, all so excited they were jumping up and down, faces flushed and voices hoarse—
Tong Yao narrowed her eyes slightly. She immediately spotted Jian Yang standing further away—his hair permed, taller, thinner, the red and black inter-spaced CK team uniform fitting him perfectly. He looked undeniably handsome, exuding an inexplicable confidence, his smile dazzlingly bright...
Tong Yao felt almost blinded by that "dazzling brightness" and turned her gaze toward her future teammates—
Top laner Mao, with his red hair, youthful appearance, grinning like an idiot, even blowing kisses to the fans;
Jungler Old K, who wasn’t old at all—tall, fair-skinned, average build, strikingly pretty like a girl, looking no older than a high schooler. Right now, he was chatting excitedly with the person beside him;
The one talking to Old K was ZGDX’s current mid laner, Ming, also the team’s most senior member. At the moment, he wore a slight frown, seeming distracted;
Next to Ming Shen stood the ADC, Lu Sicheng—Chessman, ZGDX’s captain, the "Cheng Ge" whom people clamored to marry or be married by. When the spotlight hit him, he wore his trademark deadpan expression—yet, incredibly, the crowd still swooned. Even fans sitting on CK’s side of the venue roared his name.
Beside Cheng Ge was his support, Little Fatty, a chubby guy with an eternally cheerful face—Little Fatty once admitted in an interview that during matches, bot lane sometimes felt like his solo comedy act, to the point where he sometimes wondered if Cheng Ge had muted him...
At that moment.
The music swelled, stirring even Tong Yao’s excitement as the players turned and walked toward the ten computers set up at the back of the stage...
The backdrop behind the computers lit up.
On the left was the red and black inter-spaced "CK" team logo, prompting the left-side audience to stomp, scream, and cheer.On the right was the blue and white inter-spaced "ZGDX" team logo. No matter how many times Tong Yao saw that carrier logo light up, she always found it somewhat amusing... But that didn't stop the people around her from getting hyped up too, as if trying to match the roaring and cheering from the left side of the venue.
After the players took their seats at the computers, the two commentators for today's match also settled into their positions behind the audience stands and began their lively discussion. The players hadn't put on their noise-canceling headphones yet and appeared much more relaxed than when they were standing in front of the crowd earlier, now drinking water and chatting...
Just then, the broadcast director switched the camera to the audience. On the massive central screen that would soon display the live match footage, the viewers first saw the wild fans in the back rows who were cheering like monkeys, then the camera slowly panned forward—
["In recent years, our League of Legends Pro League has been gaining increasing attention. Let me give you an example—I've commentated on the LPL finals for three years now. From barely anyone attending the first event to today's packed venue, it's really, really exciting."]
["Absolutely. Especially seeing so many female players participating in the audience interactions. You know, just a few years ago, this game was mostly played by guys... Who knows, maybe in a year or two, we might even see female professional players on the LPL stage."]
["Hahaha, now you've got me looking forward to that..."]
As the two commentators chatted, the camera landed near Tong Yao. Some girls, seeing their faces appear on the big screen, shyly covered their faces with their support banners—
The camera then turned to a couple. After a brief moment of surprise, they remembered the inexplicable tradition in esports venues where couples caught on camera had to kiss. The girl grinned and pulled her boyfriend in for an enthusiastic kiss, prompting cheers, laughter, and applause from the crowd, with the commentators joining in the teasing—
Finally, the camera unexpectedly focused on Tong Yao.
Seeing her own face blown up on the screen, Tong Yao's first internal reaction was a loud "Holy shit," followed immediately by: At least I washed my hair before leaving this morning.
Unlike the other girls who had covered their faces earlier, Tong Yao didn't hide. Instead, she flashed a big smile and waved enthusiastically in the direction of the camera—
Her grinning, slightly goofy face with all her teeth showing dominated the big screen for a good fifteen seconds.
The commentators joked: ["This girl's got confidence! Honestly, I've never understood why all the pretty girls in the audience feel the need to cover their faces when they're on camera..."]
The other commentator nodded and was about to respond when he suddenly paused, then said: ["I just received unexpected news—apparently Yang Shen from team CK is having some equipment issues..."]
["What kind of issues?"]
["Not sure yet, but it seems like something got wet... Maybe he spilled water?"]
The venue fell silent for three seconds before erupting in laughter.
CK team fans stood up to see what was happening. Tong Yao overheard a female fan gushing, "Yang Shen spilling water is so adorable!" She rolled her eyes and glanced toward her ex-boyfriend, only to see him bent over, furiously wiping down his computer desk with tissues...There was also a commotion on the CK team's side, with voices only audible on stage erupting in shock—
"Holy shit, Yang Shen, did you see a ghost? You just sprayed coffee all over my damn screen."
CK's Top laner Haoyun Lai looked stunned—just moments ago, Jian Yang had been calmly sipping his coffee when he casually glanced back at the big screen behind him. The next second, the coffee in his mouth sprayed out in an arc.
"I fucking did see a ghost," Jian Yang said with a dark expression, tossing the tissue in his hand into the waste bin a staff member held out. "Isn't school supposed to be in session abroad? How the hell did she end up in Shanghai?"
"Who are you talking about?"
"My ancestor."
"..."
OpenNovel