Chapter 25

Facing the questions of the team manager, the man, who was crouching

underneath the eaves, paused for a moment then showed a faint smile.

He quenched the cigarette between his fingers, which he hadn't even touched

after lighting it, and softly said, "I'm not going to answer your question. Mull

over what you just said and see just how ridiculous your words are."

Xiao Rui seemed embarrassed, feeling he might have gone a bit far. He

scratched his head and figured that Lu Sicheng might have other considerations

in mind-- --He had calmed down enough to dig up the truth behind it, "Then,

what's the reason to protect her like this? Because she's a young girl? Sympathy?

Pity? Or you feel it isn't easy for her to come this far?'

"Xiao Rui, it's not fair to her for you to put it that way."

"..."

"If that shorty hears it, she may jump up and hit your head."

"? ? ? ? What, what have I said?"

"I don't see her as a young girl, so there's no sympathy, no pity, no feeling

that she has come a long way." Lu Sicheng stood up, threw the cigarette butt

into the trash can, then said, "I'm treating her as a new member who will be useful

for the team in the future. She has good skills, good awareness, and is getting

along very well with the team-- --Nowadays, there are all kinds of people in the

professional circle, it's extremely hard to find someone who only focuses on doing

well at competitions…...Therefore, before she's polished into a gem, I don't want

anything that can be avoided to prevent it from happening..."

"I'm a little confused."

"TAT's Mid, Ah Tai."

"?"

"When I was still with TAT, he's already the Mid devil. You probably don't know, the

whole team, including everyone-- --even Pope, all have a substitute. Only the Mid,

he doesn't have a substitute. He's always the first and only Mid." When talking about

Ah Tai, Lu Sicheng unusually showed some disgust. "To say he's a devil, it's not

because his skill or seniority, rather it's because he's like a cancer that has destroyed

many mids…...TAT used to have several people try out as a substitute mid but before

they could qualify, they were all beaten so badly by him that they totally lost their

confidence to the point that they either quit playing professionally altogether or transferred

to other teams."

Xiao Rui was surprised to hear it. "How could that be?"

"Up till now, there are still many Korean teams who refuse to play skirmishes with

TAT because of it-- --He views each mid player in each team as his enemy. In his eyes,

the so called skirmishes or matches are not for practicing. He plays them for the sole

purpose to defeat the others..."

Lu Sicheng added as an afterthought-- --

"Sometimes, I feel this guy would be an evil person in any profession even if he wasn't

playing professional esports-- --You know the champion of S3 (the second World Finals)

was the Korean Communication Team? Their Mid at the time was really strong. After

they won the championship, Riot went out of the way to create a tailor-made Azir skin to

immortalize his invincible performance with Azir in the finals."

"...That I know, it's Niu god. Didn't he retired?"

"During the S4 Spring Finals, Ah Tai used Azir and the championship skin just for Niu

god. Then he used this champion to send the Korean Communication Team to its tomb."

Lu Sicheng said, "It was after that, Niu god announced that he was retiring. It was too big

a blow to him. To him, Ah Tai was insulting him and he had to swallow it..."

"..."

Xiao Rui's mouth was wide open at this time-- --He could hardly imagine there existed

such an evil person in the world...

"That's the kind of thing Ah Tai will do."

"How can it be-- --"

"This time, it's very obvious what they're trying to do. Tong Yao is new to this. She

performs well in skirmishes, is skilled, and plays confidently and aggressively. The

outside world has heaped praises upon her." Lu Sicheng said, "If one can't handle

pressure well, a young person like her may soon fall apart the moment she smacks

into a wall."

"You mean that if he plays the skirmish with us, he'll do something specifically toward

Tong Yao?"

"Yes, he probably will use Leblanc to defeat Tong Yao." Lu Sicheng coldly twitched the

corner of his lips. "That's what he's best at: Use the champion that the opponent's best

at to defeat the opponent."

"Then, what if we ban Leblanc directly?"

"Leblanc isn't a strong champion." Lu Sicheng lightly glanced over at Xiao Rui. "How

do you explain to Tong Yao the reason we have to ban her iconic champion while there

are so many strong champions we don't ban."

"........................."

That was true.

"Then let's try to get Leblanc first?"

"What's the reason to get it first? It's not a strong champion and it's for mid."

"........................"

Xiao Rui couldn't response to Lu Sicheng's questions. He scratched

his head in frustration, raised his messy head in dejection. "Cheng Ge,

I was wrong. I shouldn't have accepted TAT's invitation and fallen in their

trap..."

Lu Sicheng fixed his eyes on the team manager for awhile, then he chuckled,

"I told you you'd apologize."

"...Now isn't the time to talk about that, right?" Xiao Rui was going crazy,

"Now what should I do? Should I turn down the skirmish? Or should I give

Tong Yao preventive inoculation?"

Lu Sicheng shrugged, indicating that he couldn't be of any help: If I had known

earlier, I would've stopped you.

Xiao Rui was on the edge of a break down!

Xiao Rui was about to say something, but stopped by Lu Sicheng who gestured

him not to talk. He seemed to have noticed something, turning around to walk to

the window-- --The curtain was closed tightly, yet there was a large shadow of mass

which was pressed down on the window behind the curtain...

Lu Sicheng pulled the window open without any facial expression.

The mass which was pressed closely against the window cried out as she fell out

behind the curtain-- --almost falling out of the window. The man swiftly held the person

with the cat in her arms steady, preventing her from falling onto the ground.

Tong Yao's head pumped into the man's solid chest. She was stunned, reacting a few

seconds later to throw the cat away and get up-- --

"Are you having fun?"

Lu Sicheng, stone-faced, looked at the girl who had gotten off the sofa and was standing

at attention next to it.

"What?" Tong Yao forced herself to act calmly, pulling her hair behind her ears. "I'm tired

of playing matches and was playing with my cell phone against the window. Why did you

open the window suddenly, I almost fell out!"

"There's a sofa you don't sit on and lean against the window?" Lu Sicheng obviously

didn't want to play games with her. "How much have you overheard?"

"I didn't eavesdrop... I just heard a little bit." Tong Yao used two fingers to stress just

how small. "You said I have good skills, good awareness, is optimistic, and working hard,

someone that's hard to find..."

Tong Yao couldn't help cracking out a smile while talking, "And I'm a gem."

Lu Sicheng: "..."

Tong Yao cleared her throat and toned down her silly smile. "So is it true?'

"What?"

Lu Sicheng thought she was asking about the things she heard about the TAT Mid…...

He didn't expect that the girl raised her finger to point at herself, with shining eyes, "What

you said about me, gem, and all that."

"..."

Tong Yao was speaking in a loud voice, so all the people at the base heard it. Ming god

who was sitting on the sofa paused the video he was watching-- --Everyone turned their

heads at the same time to see a dumbstrucked girl standing in front of the window and

the young man standing outside the window.

Little Fatty: "What's going on here? You two just cleared the gossip and now you are

praising her like a gem and star?"

Ming god: "...What are you two doing standing one outside and one inside? Romeo

and Juliet?"

Old Cat: "I've been your teammate for these many years, Cheng Ge, you never praise

me like this."

Old K: "You better wake up…...By the way, Cheng Ge, it's too much, really."

Lu Sicheng was silent for awhile, then he tried to explain, "It's not like that."

However, everyone at the base didn't change the way they looked at him. Three seconds

later, the man gave up, "Alright, whatever. I'm surrounded by a bunch of idiots."

He turned around to walk away, Little Fatty added behind him, "Yo, you're bashful? Has

the glacier melted? The iron tree has bloomed? A dried up tree has come back to life…..

Tsk, tsk, tsk."

...

Tong Yao truly didn't hear what Lu Sicheng had told Xiao Rui. But, later on, both Xiao Rui

and Lu Sicheng had separately talked with her, telling her that TAT's Mid might do some

mean things to destroy her confidence.

Xiao Rui told her about what had happened to Niu god and warned her that the other side

might use the same trick in the coming skirmish to defeat her with the champion she was

famous for-- --

Lu Sicheng was more direct, "It's not too late to refuse the skirmish. No one will laugh at you.

It's shameful to evade, but it works."

Tong Yao shook her head to Lu Sicheng's suggestion, refusing to run away.

At the time, she thought she might be able to enforce justice for others. She was very

optimistic: If she was to face this person someday, then it's no use to avoid him now. If she's defeated now, it's better than to be defeated in a more important competition later on.

Besides...

What if, she won?

With an optimistic outlook, Tong Yao waited for the day of the skirmish

against TAT-- --

That day, everyone entered the room assigned by TAT. Tong Yao saw the

id on the other side "tat, tei" and nervously swallowed...

If was just as Lu Sicheng had predicted, the other team locked in as Leblanc.

When it was time for Tong Yao to choose her champion, she hesitated for

a while before finally clicking on Azir, the champion she had heard about in

the story between Niu god and Ah Tai-- --Before obtaining their ultimates at

level 6, Azir and Leblanc were at comparable strength. After level 6, Azir might

suffer a period of weakness but at the end of the game, when Leblanc could

cause less damage, Azir could take control of the game.

Since she played Leblanc well, Tong Yao fully understood the strengths and

weaknesses of Leblanc. As of now, she didn't feel that anyone could defeat her

with the champion she was the most familiar with.

Until after the match began, she discovered that the reality was not exactly like

what she had thought.

Tong Yao knew all the angles of attack that Leblanc could take. However, the

opponent's reaction time was too fast. It wasn't something she could overcome

simply because she understood all the theory…...In addition, Tong Yao, who was

an expert at playing aggressive champions, but had yet to master Azir. Everytime

she rushed to exchange abilities, she missed last hitting a few minions...

After several exchanges, Tong Yao gradually fell behind.

She opened the score screen to check her opponent's creep score and figured

that the opponent would soon reach level 6 and acquire his ultimate. It was quite

possible her opponent could strike her down with just his ultimate. Tong Yao began

consciously retreating, giving up her aggressive tactics and focus on farming in

preparation for the team fights in the later part of the game-- --Yet, the opponent

didn't give her any chance to do so. As if her opponent knew what she was thinking,

the enemy's Jungler came just as she was trying to move back!

Tong Yao's heart skipped a bit; though she still had more than half of her health,

she didn't want to contribute a kill to the other team. She used Flash to distance

herself from them. From the corner of her eyes, she noticed that the enemy's Mid

followed after her with his W ability. The Ethereal Chains tightly chained her followed

by a barrage of attacks, her health began to fall rapidly-- --

Tong Yao retreated.

The enemy wouldn't let go. After being struck by another ability, Tong Yao's screen

turned black; she was the enemy's first kill of the match.

"Go farm if you can't beat him." Lu Sicheng lightly spoke.

Tong Yao nodded and checked the stats again. The match had only gone on for 7

minutes, she had 25 less creep score than the other Mid. In addition, he had gotten

the first blood award of 400 gold by killing her just now. The opponent's champion

was at its strongest point in the game, Tong Yao realized that she could only bear

with the pressure and farm...

But sometimes, things don't go as planned-- --After the first kill, no matter how hard

she tried to lay low and endure the pressure and just farm-- --When she was back

in lane, she would still face a frenzied attack from the opponent.

Tong Yao died five more times.

When it was time for a team fight, Tong Yao was as weak as tissue paper, anyone

could poke her and she'd die-- --She became the weakest link of the team, the

reason the team couldn't turn the tables around-- --The rest of the match became

torture for her. She kept looking at the clock on the upper right hand corner, praying

the match would be over soon...

They lost the skirmish, of course.

Because the Mid rapidly killed 85 minions just after the 20 minute mark, the creep

score of the opponent was almost double of Tong Yao's, his level was consistently

2 to 3 levels higher than hers-- --

Watching the Nexus crumble little by little, Tong Yao picked up the water cup in front

of her and slowly sipped-- --The cold water flowed pass her throat, but her head was

still hazy...

She noticed that there were some ripples on the surface of the water in the cup.

Her hand was shaking.

Tong Yao put down the cup and became quiet. Her teammates worriedly turned to

look at her. She pulled one side of her hair to the back of her ear and smiled, "I'm

sorry. I played a lousy mid. You guys were at least on par with your opponents."

"It's just a skirmish, no need to be sorry. It's normal to win some and lose others-- --

Besides, the other side's Mid is really fierce. It'll be better in the future." Little Fatty

comforted her. Old Cat and Old K also chimed in.

Lu Sicheng furrowed his eyebrows, as if he wanted to say something.

Tong Yao turned to smile at him, "I'm alright. See, I told you I'll be alright-- --We lost

this time, then it'll be alright when we win next time. I'm not that fragile as you all

thought, really..."

She seemed to feel that she had spoken too much and stopped.

The team held a meeting after the skirmish as usual to analyze the statistics.

After the meeting, her teammates either went to rest or played ranked games,

or streamed…...Tong Yao went back to her seat, logging onto new game as

usual. It seemed as if everything had gone back to normal.

Until dinner time.

Then late night snack time.

Then the wee hours of the morning, Little Fatty got up, yawned, and muttered,

"Go sleep, go sleep"...

Lu Sicheng used his own computer to check on Tong Yao's record. She had

played ranked since the afternoon till 3 in the morning, she didn't take a break

or eat any food, except for a short moment to get coffee. She played all night

and lost all night. She had dropped from Challenger back to Master again.

"Hey, bishoujo, aren't you going to sleep?" Lu Sicheng knocked on her desk.

"It's almost 4 in the morning."

"After this match." Tong Yao didn't even turn her head. "I'll go to sleep right

away."

Lu Sicheng wanted to say something but didn't know what to say since Tong

Yao seemed to be acting normally. He responded with an "oh", then went back

to his room to sleep.

...

The next morning, Lu Sicheng woke up at 7 o'clock.

After his shower, he opened the door to go downstairs and get something to eat.

After opening the door, he could hear the clicking sounds of a mouse-- --He

paused for a while, raising his eyebrows high. It wasn't a surprise to him that he

found the person who said she would go sleep right after finishing a match was

still sitting in front of the computer...

Lu Sicheng: "..."

He walked behind Tong Yao. Her computer screen showed that she was playing a

custom game, using Azir, the champion that she had suffered crushing defeat

yesterday-- --She had setup a game without any opponents-- --Usually, a player

would use this mode to practice killing minions.

The person sitting on the chair moved slightly and said, "Morning." Maybe the

distraction made her miss one of the minions. She hissed and immediately quit

the game. Then she set up the custom game mode again, continuing her endless

minion killing spree-- --

If she missed one, she would quit.

Setup the game again.

Missed one, quit again.

She acted like someone who had an obsessive-compulsive disorder.

"You haven't slept all night?"

"I'll go in a minute."

"You've been practicing Azir all night?"

"Uhm? Yeah."

Lu Sicheng stood behind her watching, with a cup of coffee in his hand. He looked

down and saw the person sitting in front of the computer stare at the computer

screen with a pair of numb and blood shot eyes...

He furrowed his eyebrows. When Tong Yao missed another minion and murmured,

"Cheng Ge, don't talk to me, I missed one again," a big hand stretched out from

behind and covered her eyes-- --

The moving mouse was just about to quit the match.

Lu Sicheng didn't speak as he pushed her head backwards. She began to struggle,

but soon, her body softened as if she had given up all resistance...It was just the

two of them, in silence, on the first floor of the whole base. It was so silent they could

hear each other's breath-- --

The man's hand was dry and warm, with the mixed scent of soap and coffee beans.

Several seconds later, Lu Sicheng felt something warm and wet on his palm.

Though he was taken aback, he didn't remove his hand. Soon, he could see a water

droplet fall from his hand... The man paused a bit, the always cold eyes softened,

and with a low, gentle sigh broke the temporary silence-- --

"Didn't you say you were alright?"

He moved his hand away, looked at the girl with messy hair and teary, bloodshot eyes,

who was looking up at him. Her tears flowed like a river. Lu Sicheng was surprised to

see that anyone could produce so many tears-- --

"I lied to you. I'm not good. It's not alright." Her voice was coarse. "I know shit about

Azir. I'm just a shit number one Leblanc."

Lu Sicheng: "..."

She sniffed, "My fragile heart has broken into pieces."

Lu Sicheng: "En. I can tell."

Tong Yao: "..."

Lu Sicheng: "Little liar."

Tong Yao: "..."