League of Legends: League of Unknowns

“Will one wave be enough? Kayle’s attack speed is hurricane-fast, and Twisted Fate’s blue cards are hitting the tower like boulders from a catapult. Those minions just have to hold out a little longer.

“Here comes a siege minion! It’s all coming up roses for Team Scarlet. Looks like there’ll be enough time… Team Scarlet is about to win this game!”

Xue Haiyang and Xiao Dao could feel their hands shaking violently!

They were really winning! They had almost won already!

When the enemy Nexus was down to half-health, Xin Zhao respawned! With the ‘Homeguard’ enhancement on, he came charging at Kayle like a rabid hound!

Xue Haiyang ignored him completely, and continued to attack the Nexus!

Leona was next to come back to life. Kai’s fingers clattered across his keyboard as he moved to disable Twisted Fate!

“Wu Kai, are you retarded? Use your CC on Kayle! Why are you going for Twisted Fate?” Team Aviator’s captain, Liu Qi, very nearly cracked his keyboard against Kai’s skull!

Wu Kai must have had the wits knocked out of him by all the recent beatings he’d taken. If he’d gone for Kayle instead, they might have had some slim hope of preserving the Nexus and staying in the game, what with all the minions spawning in on their side, and the rest of their champions moments away from rejoining the fight…

… but because of this wrong move on his part, they’d lost their very last remaining hope!

One last attack from Kayle, and suddenly everyone was frozen in place!

Overriding all controls, the view automatically panned over to the Red Nexus, surrounded by an enormous crowd of red minions, along with Xin Zhao and Leona.

With a great explosion of scarlet light, the titanic Nexus shattered apart, and all they could do was watch with disbelieving eyes as the fragments rained down all around them!

They’d expected this scene to be happening in the enemy’s base, instead. They’d thought it was a sure thing.

But instead, it had happened here, to their own Nexus. The stern announcement of ‘Defeat!’ rang out, and all five of them slumped in their seats.

Despair, disbelief, denial… and deranged fury!

“How stupid can you be? Obviously you should have gone for Kayle!”

“Oh, it’s my fault? Why don’t you say something about Mid?” Wu Kai roared. “That idiot fed Twisted Fate up nice and fat!”

“Then we should have just abandoned the Mid lane! Why did you all have to keep fighting over it?”

The moment Team Aviator lost the game, their members immediately turned on one another ! ¹

They’d lost, despite a 5v4 advantage—and that meant losing out on the six thousand RMB prize. Put into the same situation, anyone else would also be losing their composure right now, showing the ugliest and most laughable sides of themselves.

***

Meanwhile, on the side of Team Scarlet, Xiao Tongtong, Xiao Dao, Xue Haiyang, and Huang Yu were still staring at their screens in numb disbelief of everything that had just happened.

They’d won?

They’d really won?

Holy crap, they’d actually managed to win!

After all the hardships and tribulations they’d endured up to this point, the euphoric rush of victory engulfed them like a blazing fire!

Then the four of them sprang from their seats, seized by some sort of mania, and let out all their welled-up emotions like floodwater from a burst dam. They roared triumphantly, from the depths of their hearts, shedding all the stress they’d been straining under all this while. Even the veins were bulging upon their faces!

Yin Qin had already drawn everyone into a heartfelt embrace, all the teammates exchanging long looks with each other, and then shouting into each other’s faces like a bunch of loonies.

In no time at all, their plague of jubilant madness was turned towards Yu Luocheng!

Yu Luocheng himself was still sitting there in a happy little daze, when suddenly five burly adult men pounced on him and smothered him with boisterous hugs!

No one was more emotional at this moment than Yin Qin and Huang Yu!

This match had meant more to him than just a shot at glory—he’d been betting his life on it.

If they’d lost, he’d have lost everything.

Now that they’d won, then at the very least, he could still go on.

Back then, when Huang Yu had gotten injured, and had nearly dropped out of the match… who could understand how this man—twenty-seven going on twenty-eight and still stuck in the world of gaming, all his eggs in one basket—who could understand the dread and despair he’d been feeling?

He’d shared these insecurities of his with Yu Luocheng, a boy ten years his junior.

And somehow, Yu Luocheng had made it all work out!

This kid… Yin Qin wiped at the hot tears running down his cheeks. Alright, kid. You just wait—my daughter is growing up fast already!

Yin Qin was in the grip of sincere emotion. Huang Yu, meanwhile, was on the verge of tears! Given the situation, there was no way for him to keep his cool. He’d made up his mind about all sorts of things he’d do, after they lost this game.

The truth was, though: He really hadn’t wanted to leave.

He’d grown so close to these men, they were like brothers he’d share his trousers with. Even if he dropped his soap on the floor in front of them, he’d bend right over and pick it up without the slightest ounce of worry . ¹

Could he really pack up and leave just like that… wander off to a far-away city and start over again from the beginning?

The very thought filled him with abject terror.

And so, in the wake of their victory, his eyes were brimming with hot tears.

The tears had already spilled out, but he was still trying desperately to hide it, before a crowd of thousands.

No words of gratitude could ever be enough. That was the day Huang Yu swore that if anyone ever caused trouble for Yu Luocheng Yu, he would defend him with his life!

Yu Luocheng hugged everyone in Team Scarlet. Even Wang Qin, who’d done basically nothing to contribute, came running over to join in, as though being re-united with long-lost family.

Yu Luocheng pushed him away with disgust, his eyes locked on the small, pretty face of Yang Qianqian, now flushed with joy. Having just been so brutally molested by these meat-headed lummoxes, Yu Luocheng decided that he would be able to get over it as long as this contagious atmosphere made Yang Qianqian want to get a piece of him for herself, too.

He opened his arms wide, ready to receive her warm caresses.

And yet, the ravishing beauty stood her ground, unmoving. It was obvious that her heart was overflowing, but she refused to do anything to show it. At length, she simply gave him a thumbs-up.

What was this?

Yu Luocheng was all rehearsed and ready for this scene to play, but Yang Qianqian wasn’t plunging into his arms?

He refused to give up. Throwing a big smile across his face, he shouted, “Yeah, we won!” Unabashedly, he skipped up to Yang Qianqian and pulled her into a great bear hug.

How soft, how sweet, how smooth, how springy…

“Yeah…” When Yu Luocheng had had his fill, he let go and turned right back around to go hug his fellow Team Scarlet players once more, even though they’d already calmed down by now. They regarded his delayed celebration with some bewilderment.

Wang Qin watched the whole thing with wide eyes.

Good gracious, he’d never seen such shamelessness before in his life!

Yang Qianqian had been caught by surprise when Yu Luocheng suddenly came up and hugged her. She stood there stupefied for a long moment, but when she saw his theatrics immediately afterward, she was so stomping mad, squealing, “That rascal!”

***

“Twisted Fate! Twisted Fate! Twisted Fate!”

Suddenly, a tremendous cheer began to rise from the crowd. They were calling for Twisted Fate, the undeniable MVP of this game!

Everyone had seen his calm, composed play-style, his jaw-dropping skill, and that unbelievable quadra-kill!

This game, Yu Luocheng had shown off the champion Twisted Fate to the very pinnacle of player prowess. Thinking of his cards, he’d been as cool as the blue card, as glorious as the golden card, and as brutal as the red card!

It might still be too soon to say whether this game would linger in everyone’s memory as an unforgettable victory against the odds, but listening to the chanting of the audience, it was a safe bet that Twisted Fate would become a favorite champion of countless LoL players from now on, as they tried to re-create the graceful steps of the deadly dance that they saw this day!