League of Legends: League of Unknowns

There were some differences between a competition in a cyber café and a town championship.

Town championships were held in an event hall, in the heart of an electronics emporium. It had been decorated and set up as an indoors gaming arena many days in advance.

The emporium would already be packed with people on normal days. With a big ‘League of Legends’ event being held here, it was currently full to bursting.

You didn’t have to buy tickets to get inside. When the event planners and organizers had first laid out all those seats, they’d worried that it might look kind of depressing if no one showed up.

The boss of the emporium had organized similar events in the past to try and stir up some merriment, but sometimes half the seats would remain empty, strongly implying that the whole thing was a flop.

This event had once again defied expectations, but in the opposite direction: the thousand-over seats they’d prepared had all been filled, while more people continued pouring in. Those who couldn’t find a seat just stood around out in the open, and so the crowds gathered.

“Why does it look like we’ve invited some famous celebrity to hold a concert here?” Huang Junjie, assistant manager of the electronics emporium, commented with amusement from backstage.

What does an emporium most desire? Why, whole churning seas of people!

Computer hardware was the equipment of gamers. Huang Junjie felt sure that the people who’d come here to watch the games would also notice the mice, keyboards, headphones, microphones and other gaming paraphernalia strategically placed around the event venue… and purchases would result.

What’s more, this championship would carry on for several days. Besides all the money rolling in, there would also be people who had never gone shopping in such an emporium before—but because they’d visited this place to watch the games, they would probably come back the next time they had something they wanted to buy—in other words, there would also be an increase in loyal customers.

All this meant that business was soon to improve by leaps and bounds!

“Mr Huang, regarding the matter I mentioned to you earlier—the sponsorship of professional teams?” A man with cunning features broached this topic with a chuckle.

“Sponsorship is not a problem. Truth be told, I did not expect this game to command such popularity. If this helps our business to improve, the amount you’re asking for will be a mere pittance by comparison.” Huang Junjie said this with some flamboyance.

The other man’s eyes narrowed into slits.

If they could secure sponsorship from Lecheng’s Grand Linca Electronics Emporium, it would be worth a sizeable amount…

“The players from our Aviator Cyber Café are the best. We hope to welcome your kind consideration,” the man said.

“Let us wait to discuss this after the conclusion of the championship,” Huang Junjie replied. “Obviously, we would prefer to pledge our sponsorship to the team which becomes the grand champions of Lecheng.”

“Certainly, certainly… however, one way or another, this championship already belongs to Aviator.” The man’s face lit up with a sly grin.

***

Qin looked up from the arena floor, observing Huang Junjie’s conversation with the fox-faced man up on the second level.

“Commander, who are those two?” Yu Luocheng followed his gaze.

“The one on the left is the assistant manager of the Grand Linca Electronics Emporium. He’s got stakes in roughly seventy percent of the businesses here,” Yin Qin explained.

Standing beside them, Wang Qin gasped. “Seventy percent!”

The emporium spanned five floors. Besides the enormous exhibition hall that took up the center of the first floor, the rest of the space was all taken up by electronics shops—hundreds and hundreds of them, selling every kind of gadget and device—a technological cornucopia.

It would be profitable enough just to be running one shop in here. Wang Qin hadn’t imagined that there would be somebody who owned stakes in seventy percent of them. The annual dividends must run into astronomical figures!

“And who’s that beside him?” Yu Luocheng paid no heed to the sort of things that awed a lowly peasant like Wang Qin.

Wang Qin had tagged along with him brazenly, calling himself Team Scarlet’s support staff, brewing tea and fetching water, and even performing back rubs and shoulder massages.

Yin Qin grimaced and said, “Lian Feng, an important person at the Aviator Cyber Café, and also the coach of the Aviator team. If I’m not mistaken, what happened to Huang Yu was most likely his idea. If not for his protection, that little weasel Wu Kai would never dare to touch any of my people.”

Yu Luocheng nodded. That explained the hint of wrath in Commander Qin’s eyes as he gazed up at them.

Yin Qin glanced at Yu Luocheng, and added, “This championship will decide who receives Grand Linca’s sponsorship. With the assistant manager of the emporium Mr Huang as our patron, there could be many lucrative opportunities ahead of us.”

“Commander, that filth Lian Feng seems to be pretty cozy with Huang Junjie. Do you think this will be a matter of connections?” Xue Haiyang asked.

Yin Qin shook his head. “I’m familiar with Huang Junjie, as well. The only thing he cares about is profit—relations and connections mean nothing to him. As long as we win this championship, we won’t have to go looking for him—he’ll send someone to find us.”

Everyone nodded. “Right. Let that worm Lian Feng go simpering to him for a sponsorship. As for us, we’re gonna make people beg us to let them be our sponsors!”

As they were saying this, an MC walked onto the stage in the exhibition hall.

Everyone in the emporium gradually fell silent as he spoke, “This ‘League of Legends’ Lecheng Cyber Café Championship is jointly sponsored by the Grand Linca Electronics Emporium and the Lecheng division of the Coca-Cola Company. We thank you all for coming out here today. I have a bit of good news to share with everyone: During this event period, any purchase of the items displayed here will be at 20% off the usual price…

“Besides that, ladies and gentlemen, you will also receive points for your purchases, which you can present to our staff at the entrance, in order to exchange them for tickets to the grand finals of this Lecheng championship! These tickets are worth fifty bucks apiece! Rather than forking out the money for them, wouldn’t you rather get that thing you’ve always been wanting, which will give you an edge in all your games…”

By the time the MC was done explaining all of the promotions going on in the Grand Linca, many people were already reaching for their wallets.

Even today, there were already quite a few people standing around without a seat. It would only be worse on the day of the finals.

To have your own ticket on that day, and therefore your own seat, sipping from a can of Coke, enjoying the spectacular events of the finals match…

What a fine thing that would be!

Mice, keyboards, and headsets would all break down one day, or perhaps you might find yourself ready for an upgrade?

“Well then, first let’s welcome the champions of the four participating net cafés to come up on stage!

“They are… Team ‘Dawn’, from the Dawn Net Café!

“From the EZ Cyber Café, Team ‘EZ’!

“From the Aviator Net Café, Team ‘Aviator’!

“And from the Dragon Rising Net Café, the Team ‘Scarlet Dragon Rising’!”

(Translator’s Note: Sigh. It’s like… if your main character is the only one whose team isn’t named after their home cyber café, stick to your guns.)

As the MC called out each team, the players stepped up onto the stage.

The stage wasn’t anything too fancy, just some wooden boards covered with carpeting. Arranged in two curved rows were ten high-spec gaming PCs, everything in black.

An LCD projector displayed onto a massive screen in the middle, so that everyone would be able to spectate the game together.

The teams representing each cyber café were lined up before the audience now. Their team uniforms bore the logo of their respective cyber cafés.

As applause and cheering rose up from the crowd, the players felt a bit like stars in the spotlight!

***

“Hey, what happened to Team Scarlet’s leader, Huang Yu? Why’s there a bandage on his hand?”

“Yesterday, I heard that he got his hand injured. I thought it was just a wild rumor, but I guess it was true.”

“Well, hell… how’s he gonna play with his hand injured?”

Huang Yu’s injury was immediately spotted by various people among the audience, and a buzz of speculation rose up straight away.