Chapter One

TWO YEARS LATER

"Sir?" a boy asked taping the shoulders of the sleeping cashier in the convenience store. The man moaned as he lifted his head. And scanned the barcode for the snicker bar the boy bought.

The boy then took out his phone and scanned the QR code to pay for the snicker bar. "Thank you." he said and walked towards the exit.

As the boy walked through the door a man around the same age of the cashier walked in and smiled, "Yufei, the one and only legend."

"Yufei crushed a piece of paper that was on the counter next to the cash register and threw it at the man, "Li Wei; didn't I tell you to stop calling me that?"

"Why? most people will kill to be a legend." Li Wei stated. Li Wei and Yufei grew up together, their parents are close friends so they practically grew up like brothers.

Yufei clicked his tongue and walked from behind the counter as he said, "Yeah, well I'm not most people."

Li Wei then scoffed, "Obviously." he then walked towards the freezer in the store and took out a cold can beer. He opened it and took a sip, after bringing the can from his mouth he asked, "So, when did you come back?"

"About a month ago." Yufei answered.

"And you didn't even try to call me, I wouldn't have even known you had come back if mom didn't tell me." Li Wei grumbled. He then took another sip of beer and said, "I still don't understand how a pro like you ended up taking a job here. An internet café would be more up your zone."

"Nah, I prefer here." Yufei sighed.

Li Wei belched as he then said, "Seriously, don't you miss it?"

At hearing the question Yufei crossed his arms over his chest, "Everyday, but..." he stopped.

Li Wei then asked, "But what?" He patiently waited for an answer but Yufei shrugged his head and exhaled deeply.

"Wait, why are you here?" Yufei pointed at Li Wei and started to interrogate him, "What is it you want this time?"

Li Wei avoided making eye contact, "Can't I pay my brother like friend a visit to welcome him back to China?"

"If it's you then no. Either it's something bad, or you went and did something stupid or maybe even both." Yufei listed as Li Wei chugged down the beer. After doing so he wiped his mouth still avoiding eye contact with Yufei.

"Spit it out." Yufei then demanded.

Li Wei gulped, "Well what do you know about Team Legends?"

"I know that they never won a single match for the past two years." Yufei shared, "But what does that have to do with it?"

"uhm." Li Wei scratched behind his ears.

"I'm not getting any younger here you know. Talk." Yufei scolded.

"Their manager dropped them for another team and since they keep loosing sponsors, the company was going to disband them, so I may have told them that I could get you to manage the team." Li Wei explained.

Yufei just stood there for a while with a blank expression, wondering if he had heard everything correctly. Li Wei watched in horror as Yufei's eyes began to twitch.

"You what?" Yufei grinded his teeth, clenched his fists. "Did it even crossed your mind to ask me first, or better yet nominate someone else?"

Li Wei then rand and hid behind the counter dodging Yufei who pounced at him.

"I just acted in the spur of the moment, and only you came to mind, so your name just kind of slipped out." Li Wei pleaded.

"Well then, you can walk right back to them and let it slip out that I won't be doing it." Yufei eerily grinned. The furious look in his eyes sent shivers up Li Wei's spine.

"Please agree to do it." Li Wei started to beg. He leaped from behind the counter and fell to his knees in front of Yufei.

Crossing his arms, Yufei stood firmly, "No, and it's going to stay at that."

"Come on, you'll just be managing and coaching them." Li Wei told him.

"It's still a no, now get out, I have work to do." Yufei started dragging Li Wei towards the door.

"You haven't even see them play, how can you make a choice so far." Li Wei pouted.

"I think the fact that they haven't won a single game for two years speaks for itself." Yufei noted and continue to pull at Li Wei.

Li Wei them closed his eyes and blurted, "Your team was like that in the beginning also. In fact you guys were worse than these kids. No one wanted to manage you guys, because they thought that you were hopeless, but you guys proved them wrong and won two championships in a row."

When Yufei heard this he stopped and swiftly had a flashback to five years ago:

"We lost again. It's been three years of this, why don't we just give up." Duyi complained as the five boys sadly walked out of the arena.

"If we give up now, we won't ever find out what we can achieve." Yufei advised.

"But we don't even have a manager. We're so hopeless that no one wants to be our manager." Yi Chen added.

Yufei stopped and looked at his friends who all looked sad and had their head hanging down. "Come on guys. Yes I admit, I'm tired of losing and many times I ask myself if I should even continue. But what keeps me going is that every time I feel that way I think about how many people told me that I would never make it in this industry, that this is a hopeless sport. That's what pushes me to practice 10 times harder than before." Yufei explained.

The other four guys looked at each other hesitantly and then turned their head back to Yufei who then continued. "So why don't we try our shot one more year, if we lose then I understand if you don't want to keep going. But we should aim to win so until the next League Championships let's practice harder than we ever did before. You know someone once told me that Victory is the sweetest when you've had a taste of defeat. Let's go all they way next year and prove to everyone who ever doubted us that we can be the heroes we are."

Bai Cheng, Yi Chen, Yulong, and Duyi all smiled at Yufei for the inspiration he just gave them. They all agreed with what he had to say, for deep down inside they themselves didn't feel like giving up without giving it everything they have got.

"Let's bring it in guys." Yulong gushed extending his arm to the canter of them with his palm flat out. The others copied what he did placing their palms one on top of the other. As Yufei's hand placed his hand on the top everyone raised their hands in the air cheering, "Team Heroes."

After that they all laughed and raced each other down the lane.

Back in the present Li Wei was still on the floor begging Yufei to reconsider his decision. "At least come watch their practice game tomorrow and then make your decision based on what you see."

Yufei sucked in his lips and answered, "Fine, but if I see that they really have no hope, you're going to stop pestering me about it, Deal?"

Li Wei nodded his head happily as he gushed, "Deal." Springing off the floor he wrapped his hands around Yufei's neck thanking him.

"Don't thank me yet, I only agreed to see them." Yufei grunted as he pushed Li Wei off him.

Li Wei smiled from ear to ear letting go from Yufei. His phone then rang; breaking off his attention from Yufei, he answered the phone cheerily, "Hello?"

"Where are you." a voice panickily asked. Li Wei then answered, "I'm at a convenience store, why?"

The then said in a low tone, "Get back to the company right now, someone's here asking for you, and she doesn't look happy."

When Li Wei heard this he quickly asked, "What's her name?"

The voice then answered, "I think she said her name was, Xin Yi."

Li Wei ended the phone call and stuffed it in his pocket, "Yufei, I got to go. Um...I text you the address of the base for tomorrow."

As Li Wei opened the door Yufei called out, "Stop."

A nervous Li Wei stopped and turned around, "hmmm?"

"You forgot to pay for the beer." Yufei pointed at the QR code for Li Wei to scan.

Li Wei nervously laughed as he took the phone from behind his pocket and paid for the beer. He then waved goodbye to Yufei who shouted, "Have a great evening." as he ran out the door.

After a few hours passed and night has already fell, Yufei closed up the store and started to walk home.

While walking a boy who looked to be at least 20 ran passed him and soon after a group of three guys about his age ran passed him too following the boy.

At first he was just going ignore but he then started to run behind them as well. He followed them as they cornered the boy in the back of an alley.

"Hey, Leave the kid alone." He interrupted. Yufei then started to walk to them heading for the boy who was breathing hard.

"Stay out of this." One of the guys ordered as Yufei passed them.

Ignoring them Yufei asked the boy, "Why are they chasing you?"

"I caught them cheating in a matches against beginners at the internet café up the street and called them out on it. The café manager then kicked them out but when I left the café I saw them waiting outside for me, so I ran." the boy explained.

Yufei then turn to the three guys and said, "You cheated?"

"I told you to stay out of this." One of the guys warned again, clenching his fists together.

Yufei then bargained, "Come on. You're all gamers. Let's make a bet, I'll play a soloq with each of you, If I win two of the three games, you leave this kid alone, If I loose two of the three games, well you guys decide what you want to do. Sounds fair right?"

The three guys all looked at each other and then back to Yufei and agreed. They all then headed back to the café and each got behind a computer, and the three guys logged into their accounts in the game League of Legends. All except for Yufei who used a guest account.

Yufei took in a deep breath before placing the headset on his head, for it has been a long tome since he's played a match. The boy sitting beside him noticed this and then asked, "Have you ever played the League before?"

Yufei cracked his hands and placed them on the keys and mouse, smirking as he chose his champion which was Viego.

Him and the first guy entered the game as they did both of them quickly ran to the center of the map. The battle started when they arrived but It was over in about 40 minutes and Yufei lost.

The three guys celebrated their win and Yufei scoffed. "You could have totally won if you had just not make simple errors." The boy beside him gasped pointing at the screen which showed the word 'defeat'.

"Don't worry kid, I was just warming up. Besides, the deal was if I won two out of three." Yufei assured him as he prepared for the next match with the other guy.

They got into the game and Yufei who was playing with the champion Viego again defeated the guy within 20 minutes. He then looked at his watch and said, "Who's next, let's get this over with quickly, I need to get home."

The third guy then sat behind the screen. They chose their champions and Yufei played with Viego again. This match was a little more intense for the guy cheated multiple times making it difficult for Yufei to get an upper hand.

The boy beside Yufei couldn't stop biting his nails for he was nervous of what would happen to him and Yufei if Yufei lost this match.

They were at the game for about an hour. Then as Yufei saw an opening he took it, and killed the guy's champion. In the little time he had before the guy resurrected Yufei gave it all he got and destroyed the enemies base making him the winner.

He then got up from his seat and walked towards the guys extending out his hands, "Good game."

The guy took Yufei's hand and shook it, at the same time Yufei pulled him in and whispered in his ears, "A cheater could never become a winner." and when he let go the guys hand he voiced, "Keep that in mind."

Yufei stuffed his hand in his hoodie's pocket an walked towards the exit of the café. The boy who was amazed by how well Yufei played followed him out.