League of Legends: League of Unknowns

“I’ve waited for this day for too long, I knew that you would return to the field!” Zhao Tinghua said, pointing at Luocheng with that usual attitude of his.

“You know what kind of person you’re doing work for.” Luocheng said.

Xu Pingyang was a completely immoral devil, he would squeeze where and all that he could to ensure that he could live a luxurious life for himself. He would use any despicable means as long as it meant that he would win!

Xiao Bei’s matter would not end here, he would receive the punishment that was due. Luocheng would not spare any effort in order to defeat Xu Pingyang and his little club!

“I know what kind of person he is, but at least he provided an environment where I can play e-sports without any worries, unlike some people who talk about wanting to do some things, but end up pedalling inward like a turtle hiding in its shell!” Tinghua said coldly.

Seeing that Luocheng had no response, Tinghua continued coldly, “We’ll meet on the rift. I already know how you made it to the throne of e-sports, in these two years, you’ve clearly wasted away. I’ve trained to be stronger, don’t tell me how strong you are with that one hundred kills. As long as you don’t surrender, a hundred kills will be just a matter of time!”

“Oh, that’s right. If you think Xu Pingyang is so simple, then you really are jokers.”

Having said that, Tinghua turned and left.

Guan Langjie resembled a dog that had been left alone, now suddenly having a leash on him again as he turned and tailed Tinghua off the premises.

“I thought that guy wasn’t watching us but it seems like he was doing it from backstage.” Lin Dong muttered.

“This guy must be nuts in the head and sick, that arrogant attitude is just getting on my nerves!” Da Luo huffed angrily.

Fights and quarrels between Da Luo and Tinghua were not a rare sight, they fought as much as they cooperated back when they were still in the same team.

***

Packing the rest of their things, Team Skycrown prepared to return to the hotel with seemingly satisfying results.

As long as they managed to defeat Team Sky next, the championship for this year’s LPL was basically theirs for the taking. Luocheng could also participate in the Asian Indoor Games as he wanted to.

“Luocheng…” Zhou Yan patted Luocheng on the shoulder as they were packing, speaking in lower tones. “Something’s not right with Tinghua.”

“I know, his eyes were bloodshot.” Luocheng replied.

Luocheng had seen Tinghua’s usually brown eyes that were clearly bloodshot, and this was usually caused by staying up late and excessive mental fatigue. It was as if a person had stayed awake for two days consecutively.

However, his entire person didn’t look tired, in fact, he looked like he was full of energy!

“Bloodshot?” Zhou Yan parrotted.

“Yeah, don’t you find his condition to be similar to me once upon a time?” Luocheng said, quirking an eyebrow.

Zhou Yan lapsed into a short silence, recalling, and he suddenly snapped up in realization!

“You’re saying he…” Zhou Yan trailed off.

“He went for training abroad, so his abilities for sure have improved. From the way he played in the previous games, he has an abundance of experience. There seemed to be no set tactics used by Team Sky, but that was because Tinghua’s own playstyle which is aggressive and unpredictable had completely destroyed their opponents’ own tactics. This is also not because Tinghua was going everywhere and crushing things wherever he went and disrupting the entire match, but rather, he already knew what tactics they were using and the best way to counter it.” Luocheng explained.

Zhou Yan nodded his head. That ability of Tinghua’s that completely destroyed the opponents’ rhythm was too strong.

Some of Team Skycrown’s tactics could be used against other teams, but Luocheng wouldn’t use them lightly against Zhao Tinghua and his team, because this guy was born to break all the rules!

“Alright, but what does that have to do with his bloodshot eyes, though?” Zhou Yan pressed, still slightly confused.

“A person’s concentration is limited, if we’re focused on playing e-sports for 8 consecutive hours, you will be mentally exhausted after that. This can be seen in the difficulty in focusing, slower response and reaction, errors in judgement…” Luocheng elaborated.

Zhou Yan finally seemed to understand what he was saying, and his face paled slightly.

Luocheng slid his mouse into the bag as he continued, “To get stronger, a lot of people train for over 8 consecutive hours, sometimes 12 hours, some even hitting 14 hours…They will force themselves to focus and concentrate harder after that 8 hours of exhaustion, and this is actually a form of mental damage to your concentration. Subjecting your mind to the computer screen and enduring the destruction for a while is fine, but in the long term, you know what happens.”

Zhou Yan nodded his head.

“Tinghua’s action speed is really fast, and his reaction speed is also fast to the point that it’s above a professional players level. At first, I thought that he had found some trick to increase his speed by such a large margin, making him stronger all of a sudden. After looking at him though, it looks like he’s just embarking on the same path that I once walked.” Luocheng said, his voice tinged with heaviness and regret.

 “No wonder his gaze was so distant and odd. Will he be alright?” Zhou Yan asked.

“I don’t know. These were all things that the doctor in England told me and I’ve overcome it…but one thing’s for sure, Tinghua’s strength has increased a lot, it’s to the point that it’s unimaginable already.” Luocheng replied, zipping up his bag and hoisting it over his shoulder.

Luocheng had personally walked on that path before, and the strength that was brought by falling in so deep was the result of a terrifyingly drastic increased activity in your brain. It made your brain secrete a hormone similar to the effect of a stimulant, making you not get enough sleep, letting you be as tense as a bowstring, and letting your brain always look at the competitive scene, turning a blind eye to reality.

If the catalyst, which were the consecutive victories, continued to build up, eventually, everything would start to spiral out of hand!

Luocheng didn’t know how serious the consequences would be. He only knew that this state of almost forgetting himself was the thing that had enabled him to step onto the highest peak of e-sports, leading Team Wings to become a world-known team that had shocked the entire world, from a dark-horse team all the way into the finals!

“Is his situation that bad yet?” Zhou Yan asked, slightly concerned.

 “There won’t be much problems in the beginning if he adjusts a little after that, other than the normal tiredness after a competition. After half a year or a year at most, the illusions of the computer screen will start to appear whether you open or close your eyes.” Luocheng said.

Almost every professional e-sports player had a state of their own, and when their state was in the best possible condition, they gave off a feeling of invincibility. After such a long period of being stagnant, Tinghua had broken through his limit, becoming a player who could compete with the world masters. However, he had walked the same wrong path that Luocheng himself once did.

It was hard to blame him, the thirst to become stronger was like a poison. The stronger the desire, the more powerful the poison was!

“Will he be as strong as you were?” Zhou Yan asked.

Luocheng at that time had basically been an invincible existence. A lot of people had assumed that he would stop after he became the strongest player within China, but who would have thought that he would burst right into the Worlds, even going on to defeat those world-class players.

Zhou Yan had watched Luocheng step over all those players, and if Tinghua had also stepped onto that path, did that mean they would be going against an opponent who was even more terrifying than Hades!?

“Yes.” Luocheng said as he nodded his head.

Judging from the games that Tinghua had played in the competition, his reaction speed was already close to his own when he was at that point in his life.

Fortunately, LOL was not like Dota which relied more on the hand and action speed, otherwise, the gap in strength would be very obvious.

“Can you win?” Zhou Yan pressed.

Luocheng didn’t answer.

Whether or not he could win, Luocheng himself was unsure. All he knew was that he needed to win this championship, no matter that the one standing in his way was once a very good teammate or the strongest e-sports player who had stepped onto the peak!

Zhou Yan saw that Luocheng wasn’t going to answer, and so he switched the topic and said, “I think there was another meaning behind Tinghua’s words when he talked about Xu Pingyang.”

“What have you heard?” Luocheng turned slightly to look at him.

“From what I understand about Tinghua, he wouldn’t say anything randomly. He said we’ve been thinking too lightly of Xu Pingyang, maybe he knows something.” Zhou Yan replied.

“We can only take it one step at a time at this point.” Luocheng pointed out.

“Yeah.”

***

Two busses, the one in front was for Team Skycrown and Team Daemons as well as some workers from the competition.

The bus at the back was for Team Sky and the other professional players who had been watching the match.

Tinghua sat alone at the back, his gaze fixed outside the window. The seat beside him sank down slightly, and a thirty-year old thin, skinny man sat down beside him.

“What did you tell them?” Xu Pingyang asked rudely.

“Nothing.” Tinghua replied without any emotion in his voice.

“You know what I hold, you’re a smart person. You don’t have to be dumb like them. Besides, you still have a few siblings you need to feed, hmm?” Xu Pingyang said.

“Boss Xu, you’re talking about useless things.”

Xu Pingyang smiled lightly. He could tell that the hatred that Tinghua held for Luocheng ran deep. He didn’t even need to add any oil to the fire, they would definitely still fight to their last!

He was only afraid that Tinghua would throw his perfect plans out and expose him.

“I’ve already removed your name from the appeal, I advise you not to bother rekindling any old friendships. Think about your promising younger siblings, you won’t want them to rely on playing games to earn money, right?” Xu Pingyang said, his ugly teeth showing as he grinned.

Tinghua didn’t bother responding to him and continued to gaze out the window.

Tinghua would never bother disguising the disgust and resentment he had against Xu Pingyang, and Xu Pingyang did the same in not hiding his cautiousness toward him.

Tinghua wanted money as well as an environment that wouldn’t affect his passion for e-sports.

On the other hands, Xu Pingyang relied on Tinghua to make money.

Making money peacefully, both sides got what they wanted!