League of Legends: League of Unknowns

Chapter 39: Friendly Greeting

As a longtime cyber café denizen, he couldn’t remember ever having seen such a thing since the days of that online game, ‘ Myth ¹ ‘.

With countless games competing fiercely on the market these days, to be able to rise above the teeming crowd was an indicator of the appeal and popularity of LoL.

In this day and age, if you’d never even played League of Legends before, it was difficult to show your face in public, you know?

When greeting someone on the street, it was no longer about saying ‘Good morning!’ or ‘How are you?’ Modern custom dictated that you thump a fist to your chest and declare, ‘Demacia!’ to which others would reply with the same.

Can you see it now? How dignified, grand, and magnificent a sight that would be?

A great many people in the cyber café were training for the tournament. They’d taken over the gaming zone completely, hard at work.

Some even had their own banners suspended over their computers, announcing the name of their team, as well as invitations for new recruits.

It was always all-out pandemonium in the cyber café, with everyone only interested in doing their own thing. To see so many groups having formed with such a level of organization, it really created a competitive atmosphere.

“Yu Luocheng, which team are you interested in? It looks like a lot of them are recruiting: Dragon’s Rage, Scarlet, Aphrodite… ahaha, there’s a bunch of jokers who’ve formed a ‘Theme Team’!” Yang Qianqian’s eyes were curled up with delight, an enchanting sight.

“Yang Qianqian, fancy seeing you here! Could it be that you’re joining the tournament, too?” A fair-faced youth rose from his seat, greeting her with a smile.

Yu Luocheng glanced at him. Wasn’t that Lin Xu, of Class 3? It seemed that he was a part of one of these teams, except that instead of playing himself, he was watching from the side, like some sort of disciple.

“I’m not the one who’s joining—it’s him.” Yang Qianqian indicated Yu Luocheng.

“Oho?” Noticing Yu Luocheng for the first time, Lin Xu’s lips twitched with a little smile.

Lin Xu wasn’t actually pleased to see Yu Luocheng, especially by Yang Qianqian’s side. He’d been constantly hearing about how the two of them were quickly developing into a full-fledged couple—a prospect which caused him no small amount of anxiety.

Forcing himself to smile, Lin Xu greeted Yu Luocheng. “You’re taking part, too? Which team are you in? Maybe the Bone Dragon team?”

“What Bone Dragon team? It’s just a bunch of kids who’ve never even played Ranked before. I’ve seen them training around here, total joke. A team like that, joining this tournament… they’re just looking to get their asses kicked.” A youth with dyed hair, chewing on a cigarette, glanced over at them as he nonchalantly continued playing his champion.

Team ‘Bone Dragon’ would be Wang Qin’s team. Yu Luocheng figured they were currently training hard in another section.

It was likely there’d already been a few skirmishes in the cyber café, with Team ‘Bone Dragon’ getting wrecked at every turn. The mere mention of their name caused some of the senior players to smirk without comment.

Lin Xu pointed at Yu Luocheng. “Brother Mi, this is that expert Blitzcrank player I told you about, Yu Luocheng.”

“Oh? The best Blitzcrank player in Lecheng is sitting right across from me. You’d better not let him catch wind of that.” Brother Mi took another drag from his cigarette as he pointed with a leisurely finger.

“The best Blitzcrank in Lecheng?” It seemed odd to Yang Qianqian that someone would dare to claim such a title.

“Yes, indeed,” Lin Xu stammered, “I’ve watched him play, he’s really amazing. All kinds of hooks. How about it? I can introduce you to him. Right now, I’d guess he’s still waiting for a game to begin.”

Yang Qianqian couldn’t let this pass. Having played with Yu Luocheng all this while, she’d never seen anyone who was better at Blitzcrank than him.

“Alright, let’s have a look.” Taking the lead, she dragged Yu Luocheng along after her to go see if there was any truth behind the legend.

Going around to the other side of that row of computers, they found a young man of about twenty years, his hair a little on the longer side, and a dark look upon his face which made him appear somewhat unapproachable.

At the moment, he was leaning against the chair, staring at the keyboard. It was hard to tell what exactly he was up to.

Seeing him in such a solemn mood, Lin Xu himself felt somewhat nervous about this.

Wan Tong was a man of a particular standing. A veteran of games like Starcraft, Warcraft 3, DotA, and LoL, he’d been famous across the cyber cafés of Lecheng since long ago.

His skill at gaming was one thing, but he also had a reputation on the street, and was said to be unpredictable. Lin Xu had only exchanged a few words with him while under Brother Mi’s patronage, bought him a few drinks…

For some reason, every time Lin Xu saw him, he had the feeling that it would be difficult to get on his good side, and in fact Lin Xu was a little fearful of him.

Seeing Wan Tong like this, Lin Xu’s heart was racing, unsure of whether it would be okay to go up and talk to him right now.

However, with Yang Qianqian right behind him, he couldn’t lose heart now. Drawing upon all his courage, he offered Wan Tong a smile and a fine cigarette. “Hey, Wan Tong. These are two friends from school. They’re LoL players too, and they’re interested in seeing how you play. Is that alright? We’ll just watch from back here. We won’t be any trouble.”

Wan Tong didn’t accept the cigarette, instead lighting up one of his own. He regarded Lin Xu’s simpering expression, and hissed, “I don’t like people breathing down my neck while I play. If you want to watch, use one of the computers to join the game as an Observer.”

This was a slap to the face for Lin Xu.

“This guy’s kind of an ass,” Yang Qianqian whispered.

Wan Tong had sharp hearing. Noticing Yang Qianqian’s insult, he whipped around and glared at her, giving Yang Qianqian a nasty scare. Grabbing Yu Luocheng by the arm, she cowered behind him.

Lin Xu knew this meant trouble. Yang Qianqian had pissed off someone she shouldn’t have. Wan Tong was also known as the ‘Mad Dog’, and no one got away with angering him.

“I mean, she was just saying what a bad-ass you are, Wan Tong. Slip of the tongue, silly thing.” Lin Xu desperately brandished his brightest smile.

Wan Tong ignored him, scowling deeply at Yang Qianqian.

“Mad Dog.” Yu Luocheng smiled in the face of Wan Tong’s growing fury, “Wipe that ugly look off your face. You’re scaring my friend, here.”

Hearing what Yu Luocheng had said, Lin Xu was in a high panic.

Everyone knew he was called the Mad Dog, but hardly anyone dared to actually say it to his face.

Was Yu Luocheng tired of being alive?

With one word from Wan Tong, there could be a whole gang of people waiting outside the door inside of five minutes, allowing you no chance to escape.