Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
As Lin Dong walked alone along the river, the phone in his pocket started to vibrate. He groaned when he realized the person calling him was none other than He Jin.
Since the USB drive had been found by the two inspectors, his stunt in hacking would have been found out. Team Shanghai and Cat Eye would definitely be reprimanded and he didnât feel like getting chewed out by He Jin at this point in time.
Furthermore, the fault didnât lie with Lin Dong after all. He had already informed Qiu Shenping to remove the USB drive after the match, so even if it was found out, no one would have any evidence. Who knew that once Qiu Shenping was worked up, he had completely forgotten this important task.
Not long after the vibration stopped, it started again. This continued on for a while, and Lin Dong finally gave in and picked up.
âTeam Shanghai won, but they were disqualified from the final round.â The voice on the other end came through.
âI know,â Lin Dong replied.
âXiao Bei was not the one playing Vayne,â the voice continued.
âYeah, it was Boss.â Lin Dong nodded.
The person on the other side was silent for a while.
âI thought that he really wouldnât touch E-Sports anymore. His Vayne was good, there are already a few teams looking to recruit him.â
âHe doesnât play professionally anymore,â Lin Dong replied.
âI know, he said so in England already.â
âHeâs more mature now than before. I was thinking of ways to convince him to come back, but after what Iâve seen, I donât think itâs possible,â Lin Dong said.
âWhat about your team, do you still intend to go ahead with it?â The voice on the other side asked.
âOf course,â Lin Dong said solemnly. âI intend to call Da Luo and Zhou Yan back into it.â
âThatâs only three though.â The person pointed out.
âWhat about you?â Lin Dong shot back. âIf I could convince him to come back, would you be willing to throw away what you have now and come back to our small team?â
âAs I said before, I wonât ever be on the same team with him again. If you can convince him to come back, thatâs great for you. Weâll see each other in LPL then.â
âWhy?â
âPractice while you can, at the level you are at, youâre just slightly better than an amateur. Even the professional reserve teams would be able to take you down easily.â
âYouâre really going to make us your enemy?â Lin Dong asked, disbelief clear in his voice. âYou know that a big reason for me to form this team is because I want to take down the Sky Club, they owe us too much.â
âDo they really? Then someone else owes us so much more. Donât just talk big, the few of you have not played in the E-Sports professional scene for a while, do you really think itâs that easy? Get qualified into the LPL and then weâll talk. Even if you make it into the LPL, donât forget, Iâll crush him and your team into dust!â Zhao Tinghua said heatedly.
Lin Dong was stunned into silence when he heard that.
Zhao Tinghua hadnât given up on professional E-Sports. After a long road of hard work, he had finally become a dazzling star in LoL. Meanwhile, the others had entered society in a haze of despair and disappointment, their passion for E-Sports completely burnt out.
Zhou Yan was busy running the business, often running between cities, getting darker and darker from the sun.
Da Luo had become a hard-working person, not daring to waste a single minute in an effort to find ways to earn more money to provide his girlfriend a better lifestyle.
Lin Dong knew that they too played LoL, and their skills were nothing to scoff at either. Only, Lin Dong didnât have the confidence that he would be able to get them to come back to the scene, especially when it came to Yu Luocheng. He used to be able to easily see the enthusiasm and adrenaline that made him passionate about E-Sports.
Now, he couldnât even feel a speck of that anymore, which made Lin Dong lose any hope he had.
***
Ending the call, Lin Dong dialed another number immediately.
âBrother Dongâ¦â Xiao Beiâs voice was low and course on the other end.
Listening to his voice, Lin Dong could tell that Xiao Beiâs face was most likely swollen right now.
âWeâre the only two on the team right now,â Lin Dong said instead.
âOkay.â Xiao Bei nodded in acknowledgment.
âWith your skills right now, you could consider accepting the offer from Team 71 or Team Night. Their offer isnât bad. I can always find other people.â Lin Dong said.
âLin Dong, I only want to team up with you and Yu Luocheng,â Xiao Bei said stubbornly.
Lin Dong remained quiet after that, and Xiao Bei didnât say anything else either. Seeing that Lin Dong wasnât about to continue, Xiao Bei whispered, âIâm going to work first.â
â⦠Alright.â
***
The campus was cozy and beautiful, and the occasional laughter from the female students was heartwarming to listen to.
The weather was great as Yu Luocheng walked into Shanghai University, and he stopped at the gate, leaning against the stone wall as he looked around the university.
âThatâs weird, I seem to have forgotten a very important matter,â Yu Luocheng thought to himself, frowning.
He continued to walk on the cobblestone path, passing the green boulevard and finally reaching his dormitory door before he remembered.
D*mn, he had forgotten to ask Lin Dong about Snowfall!
âHey, hurry up and give me the information that I asked for!â Yu Luocheng swiftly made a call to Lin Dong.
âIâll be visiting Zhou Yan soon, why donât we go together?â Lin Dong asked instead.
âSure, itâs been a while.â Yu Luocheng agreed. âBut youâd better give me the information on that person.â
âIâll give it to you in person,â Lin Dong said. âIâve compiled a report, and writing text messages wouldnât be good anyway.â
âF*ck.â
âOh yeah, I want to let you know something,â Lin Dong said, his tone becoming serious.
âWhat is it?â Yu Luocheng asked, hesitating at the change of tone.
âIâm forming a team with Xiao Bei.â
âA professional team?â
âYeah.â
âThe two of you?â
âFor now.â
âI know you donât play professionally anymore because of your old man.â Lin Dong continued. âYou donât have to enter any competitions, just play some premade matches with us, practice against us and give us some training and the likes. That wouldnât be a problem, right?â
âIâm fine with that,â Yu Luocheng said. âHave you found anyone else?â
Yu Luocheng understood that Lin Dong was not forming a team for just casual playing. He knew that Lin Dong would be serious and strict when looking for teammates, and donât even mention how far the team could go, they would probably need a whole lot of effort to even train up the team to be a team.
âI already said itâs only Xiao Bei and me now. Actually, I intend to be the analyst and coach of the team, so thereâs really only Xiao Bei at the moment. There cannot only be five people on the teamâ¦â
âI see. How is Xiao Beiâs level? Iâve never seen him play before.â Yu Luocheng asked.
âHeh, you can check the ranking list, Iâm sure youâll see his name there.â Lin Dong chuckled.
The ranking list?
You have to understand that there are millions of LoL players in the country, and the players who could enter the top one hundred are absolutely godlike existences!
Similar to the national university entrance exam, there were one hundred million candidates. If Xiao Bei was ranked in the top one hundred, that was equivalent to being a provincial or city top scorer, being able to go to any famous universities!
You couldnât imagine someone who used to stand behind him all day and fanning his ego could become someone like that.
All the big professional teams were definitely fighting over each other to recruit the top one hundred players. For someone with such skills, the club would pay big bucks for him.
Yu Luocheng felt it was a bit strangeâXiao Bei could turn his life around if he had chosen to join any of those teams.