League of Legends: League of Unknowns

Chapter 40: Team Scarlet

Bam!

This just about gave Yang Qianqian a heart attack. It was a moment before she realized that it had not quite been a real punch, meant to knock someone’s lights out. If anything, it had been more like a friendly greeting between old chums. She didn’t know what to make of it.

“If you’d gone missing for much longer, we’d think something had happened to you!” The gloom had been banished from Wan Tong’s face, replaced by a wide grin.

“Ahah, I’ve turned over a new leaf, you see. I can’t be part of that world anymore,” Yu Luocheng laughed in reply.

“My ass. You’re little more than a child—you’ve seen nothing of the world,” Wan Tong chided him merrily.

As he spoke, Wan Tong regarded Yang Qianqian once again, still hiding behind Yu Luocheng. With a friendly smile, he said, “This your girl? Not bad, she’s hot.”

“Not yet, she isn’t.” Yu Luocheng turned and waggled his eyebrows at Yang Qianqian.

Hearing this exchange between them, Yang Qianqian understood that they were already acquainted. That had been quite a scare for her, just now.

In response to Yu Luocheng’s remark of ‘not yet,’ Yang Qianqian made a big show of rolling her eyes disdainfully.

Lin Xu was stunned speechless. Wan Tong hadn’t lost his temper when someone called him Mad Dog? He couldn’t understand what was happening. Could it be that this rascal Yu Luocheng was old friends with Wan Tong?

No, it couldn’t be. Yu Luocheng was just a student. When would he have come into contact with a seedy character like Wan Tong?

“You’re a LoL player too, joining the tournament?” Wan Tong brought back the main issue.

“Something like that. My friend here invited me to watch Lecheng’s Number One Blitzcrank in action, so that a noob like me could maybe learn a thing or two.”

“Learn a thing or two? Horse crap.” Wan Tong was a man of colorful words.

“Your game’s starting.” Yu Luocheng pointed at the computer screen.

“Right, right.” Hurriedly sitting down and laying his hands upon the mouse and keyboard, Wan Tong said to Yu Luocheng, “Commander Qin is over at Section C. Go pay him a visit, they’re looking for people.”

“I’m just gonna fool around, nothing too serious,” Yu Luocheng declared.

“You should still go and say hi. What a piece of work you are, running off without so much as a goodbye to everyone.” There was a hint of bitterness in his tone as Wan Tong said this.

“Alright, alright,” Yu Luocheng said wryly. He led Yang Qianqian off to Section C, and Lin Xu tagged along after them, still at a loss himself.

After the three had left, Brother Mi poked his head over, watching Yu Luocheng curiously. “Wan Tong, you know that kid?”

“Something like that. You were late onto the scene, so it’s no surprise you don’t know who he is.” Wan Tong didn’t say more, engrossed with his game.

Wan Tong elected not to tell Brother Mi that during his Starcraft days, he’d spent a fair amount of time watching Yu Luocheng play, and learning from him.

That was why, when Yu Luocheng made that joke about studying Wan Tong’s Blitzcrank gameplay, it had riled him right up.

He was just a child, but he was basically the one who’d taught Wan Tong how to play Starcraft. It would be too embarrassing to be observed by him.

***

“Yu Luocheng, how do you know that guy? He looked kinda shady to me.” Yang Qianqian was pouting at Yu Luocheng, the accusation clear in her tone.

“We go way back. When he was still a student himself, he didn’t much care for studying,” Yu Luocheng explained. “He’s not a bad guy, he’s just always got that nasty look on his face.”

“Hmph, give it up,” Yang Qianqian sniffed. “I know very well that you used to be a delinquent, yourself.”

There had been a grave misunderstanding!

Yu Luocheng used to hang out at the cyber café all the time, this was true, and he’d made some friends of the slightly less distinguished kind. However, when everyone was playing the same games in the same cyber café, of course they’d get to know one another. It was only to be expected.

Hold on, how did Yang Qianqian know anything about his past at all?

***

Yu Luocheng found the ‘Commander Qin ¹ ‘ that Wan Tong had mentioned, over in Section C.

His real name was Yin Qin, and he was the epitome of a time-worn cyber café dweller. He was always broke, not because he wasn’t any good at finding money, but because he kept spending it all on his buddies.

He used to run a gaming business, earning his keep as a coach-for-hire, and sometimes running large gaming events. His specialty was in online games.

It was anybody’s guess why he’d suddenly taken an interest in MOBA games, and was even forming a team to compete in the upcoming tournament.

If a professional gamer like Yin Qin was putting together a team, it should be a strong contender in this tournament. He would be running a tight ship—there’d be no fooling around, here.

Commander Qin was not some snot-nosed brat—he was already in his late twenties. He stood behind a row of computers, watching his team of five playing a Ranked game, frowning with concentration.

“Isn’t that Commander Qin?” Lin Xu regarded him with awe.

“Who?” Yang Qianqian asked.

“All the hardcore gamers and cyber café regulars in Lecheng know Commander Qin. Word is, he even has shares in the Dragon Rising, although I don’t know if that’s actually true. He’s a big name in the gaming circles around here, kind of like the head of a triad.”

“Oh.” Yang Qianqian nodded, although it was unclear whether she really got it.

Section C was only for VIP members. When Yu Luocheng set foot inside, one of the staff apologetically barred him entry. As such, he could only stand outside the glass door and shout, “Hey, Qin!”

Qin barely glanced over, thinking it was just some random dude saying hi to him, and nodded in acknowledgement. A moment later, he recognized Yu Luocheng’s face, and his deep-set eyes lit up.

“You… you little rascal, where have you been these last couple of years?” Qin bustled out from Section C.

He had a booming voice, and everyone overheard him. Several heads turned to the door, curious to see who it was, to receive such a warm welcome from Commander Qin.

“Studying, studying…” Yu Luocheng answered with a wry smile.

“Studying?” Taken aback, it took a while for Yin Qin to collect himself. Now that he thought about it, it was true that Yu Luocheng was still rather young, and probably had better things to do than waste his time on such frivolous things all day long, the way he himself was doing.

“So, what… you were bored, and came looking for a game of DotA?” Qin asked.

“Nope. I’ve signed up for the LoL tournament, and I’m looking for a team to join so I can sort of muddle around for a couple of games.”

‘Muddle around’… The way Yu Luocheng kept saying things like that greatly vexed Yang Qianqian, and she quietly pinched his arm once or twice.

How could he be so lacking in ambition? Wasn’t he even going to try for first place? She’d even offered him a couple’s vacation with her!

“I’m short a man, here.” Commander Qin said this with a hungry light in his eyes.

Seeing Yu Luocheng’s hesitation, he added, “Not a single one of these oafs is willing to play Support, and it’s too late to re-train anyone for the role. What few Support players I’ve been able to find are only so-so, either lagging a step behind, or always out of sync—it’s maddening! I’ve gotten rid of them all. The tournament’s just around the corner, and I still haven’t found a decent Support player.”

“Well, this guy’s a Support player, and he’s awesome at it.” Yang Qianqian scrambled to offer Yu Luocheng up. Although she didn’t recognize this Commander Qin fellow, he seemed to be somebody of note in the Dragon Rising. If Yu Luocheng joined his team, perhaps he could stand a real chance of getting first place?

Ah, why was she so eager to see him win? Yang Qianqian found she was having trouble sorting out her true feelings on the matter.