The 2016 LoL Spring Tournament Finals was the next day.
Tong Yao got up early in the morning. When she saw the two empty water bottles, she cursed the person who had stolen her water yesterday-- --she had put it on such a high shelf! That person must have eyes like a hawk! Why didn't the person come to play professionally if he had such good eyesight?!
After she brushed her teeth and washed her face, she saw the WeChat message from the team manager informing her that the team was going to go to the arena soon and asked if she wanted to go with them...
Tong Yao saw her reflection in the mirror, with messy hair, pale face, and black circles under her eyes. It wouldn't be good if her new teammates got so scared by her appearance that it negatively affected their performance-- --she grinned sheepishly and replied to the manager, "It's not far from here. I'll walk over myself." Afraid of being labeled as lazy, she jumped into the bathroom to shower and wash her hair...
An hour later, Tong Yao was in front of the gate of the arena and joined the long line to go in.
There were a couple of young men, dressed like normal college students, about twenty years old in front of her. Before them, there were a group of girls carrying bags full of hundreds of blue and white banners. Since CK's team logo was in red and black, Tong Yao assumed that they were the fans of her new employer. Several girls held smaller glow in the dark boards in their hands and placards with cartoon images of Lu Sicheng, Ming god, and other members of her new team. The girls were chatting excitedly about the coming game-- --
"Are these girls coming to watch the game or a Korean pop concert?" The guy in front of Tong Yao whispered in complaint to his friend. "I'm so tired of these fangirls, as if they were chasing after those Korean stars in the esports world. They probably haven't even reached level 30 yet. They would scream at any combo of abilities from those players..."
"Yeah, yeah. It's the same when I watch streams. They even scream 'don't kill him'. Shit, I can't stand it-- --"
"It's a man's game, I don't know what these girls are excited about…...they probably don't even know all the heroes? Someone in Gold is probably good enough for them. The other day while I was watching a game, a girl from behind me asked what mid was. I almost fainted!"
The guy suddenly turned around to take a look as if he was afraid of being overheard. He met a pair of round black eyes. He was startled then realized that the one behind him was also a girl-- --
A girl with short hair, wearing a cap, t-shirt, pants, and slippers was staring at him as if he was some sort of alien.
Both of them were ill at ease.
"We're all fans coming to watch the game. I don't think anyone is better than the others?" Tong Yao cleared her throat and raised her hands to clarify, "First of all, I know what mid is. It's the one who takes the middle lane."
Young man A, "..."
Young man B, "Aiya, we are not talking about all the girls. Just some of them…...hey, which server do you play on?"
Tong Yao, "I'm on Chinese server one, Ionia."
Young man B, "Server one! I'm on five…...Chinese server, so you play on the Korean server too?"
Tong Yao, "Yeah."
Because she had reached the top of her server.
And it was top Chinese server.
The young man A rolled his eyes. "What rank on the Korean server?"
Tong Yao smiled, "Challenger. I just got it recently."
Then she saw the two men were stunned into silence. They exchanged a look and then started laughing at the same time. There was an obvious look of contempt in the young man A's eyes…...Afterwards, they stopped chatting with Tong Yao and turned back to "whisper" with a voice loud enough for Tong Yao to hear-- --
"Hahahahaha, she said she's a challenger on the Korean server!"
"I don't even know what to say after such a bluff. She probably hasn't even downloaded the game yet. Korean server, she should Baidu what exactly a challenger is at the Korean server before saying such a thing..."
"Well, I sure don't know what to say about these fangirls."
Tong Yao touched her face and thought that she probably didn't have a "I'm a master" face? Why did everyone question her?
Fortunately, the line finally began moving. Tong Yao finally didn't have to listen to the questioning of the two men in front of her. After she entered the arena, she walked directly to the location on her ticket-- --
Since the ticket was from the team, the seat was in the inner circle, quite close to the stage. After she sat down, she noticed that the girls with banners and placards were sitting not too far away from her…...One of the girls was getting ready to distribute the banners. When she passed by Tong Yao, she smiled and whispered, "Thanks for standing up for us."
Err, so they had heard it?
"It's nothing, it's nothing." Tong Yao shook her hand. "I just wasn't happy hearing them talk about it as just a man's game. Just because they have a dong, doesn't mean it helps them play the game any better...Besides, look at all these things you have prepared for the game. No matter what, you care more than those picky guys. I think those players would be really happy to see what you've done for them."
"En, I hope so." The girl rolled up her hair and smiled helplessly. "I saw on the Baidu fan page that Ming god is going to retire. I've followed him all over the place to watch him in competitions and I even reached diamond rank from being lower than level 30 myself. It may well be the last game today. If Ming god retires, I won't play the game anymore."
"..."
"I'll go distribute the banners." The girl pulled out a banner and handed it to Tong Yao. "You're probably China Telecom's fan as well to sit in this area. Here's a banner for you."
"Oh." Tong Yao examined the well-made banner. "How much?" She asked, reaching into her purse.
The other girls in the front all broke out into giggles. One of them turned around and spoke before the banner girl could, "We're giving these to the fans for free! Make sure you cheer louder later on!"
Tong Yao felt quite embarrassed and put her purse away. That banner girl had already run to the back to hand out banners-- --
Watching the long haired, slender back of the girl who carried a heavy bag up the steps, Tong Yao was mesmerized. She only had one thought: these girls were simply lovely! It would be quite blessed as a professional player to be loved by these girls! What was wrong with those guys!
Half an hour later, Tong Yao shifted her attention back to the stage when the members of both teams entered the arena.
The lights died except for the spotlights that were focused on the center of the stage. The finals opened with the host introducing the records of the current season of both teams. Then the players of both teams walked up from either side of the stage-- --In the middle of the stage was the trophy for the spring season finals. The ten players from both CK and ZGDX teams stood in front of the trophy, bowing and waving to the fans in the audience...
A great roar instantly arose from the audience!
"Ahhhhh, Cheng Ge, Cheng Ge!"
"Marry me, Cheng Ge!"
"Ming god, get another championship!"
"Yang god's invincible! Both jungles are Yang's jungle"
The fans, both male and female, next to Tong Yao screamed at the top of their lungs, yelling the names of their favorite players. Everyone jumped up and down excitedly, their faces turning red from screaming-- --
Tong Yao squinted to glance at Jian Yang who was standing further away from her. He had a perm, got taller and skinnier. The red and black uniform fitted him well. He was looking quite handsome and smiled brightly with confidence...
Tong Yao felt blinded by his bright smile and turned to look at her future teammates-- --
The top, Cat, had red hair and looked very young. He had a silly smile and continuously blew kisses to the fans in the audience.
The jungler, Old K, wasn't old at all. He was tall, pale skinned, and of average weight. He was so beautiful someone could mistaken him for a girl and looked as young as a highschooler. He was talking to the person next to him in high spirits.
The one who was talking with Old K was the current mid, Ming. He was the oldest member of ZGDX. At the moment, his eyebrows were slightly knitted and looked absent-minded.
Next to Ming god was the ADC, Lu Sicheng, Chessman, the captain of ZGDX, and the "Cheng Ge" whom a lot of people wanted to marry. When the light shone on him, it showed an expressionless face-- --even with a face like that, the audience still went wild for him-- --even the fans sitting at the CK area all shouted his name.
Next to Cheng Ge was the support, Little Fatty. A chubby guy with a happy face-- --He had said in an interview that when playing game, bot became his very own talk show and sometimes he didn't know whether Cheng Ge had blocked his voice or not...
Right at that moment,
The music became heated. Tong Yao also grew excited as the players started to walk over to the ten computers at the back of the stage...
The background board behind the computers lit up.
To the left was the red and black logo of "CK". The audience on the left side began to stomp, scream, and cheer.
To the right was the blue and white logo of the "ZGDX" which looked a little comical…...But the people surrounding Tong Yao didn't mind it as they started shouting and yelling in an attempt to drown out the other side-- --
After the players sat down in front of their respective computers, the two commentators, at the back of the audience, began to talk. The players hadn't put on their soundproof earphones yet. They looked much more comfortable than when they were standing in front of everyone and began to drink water and chat...
Then, the camera moved towards the audience. The big screen in the middle of the arena, which would be broadcasted live, first showed the people at the back rows who were jumping like monkeys, then the camera slowly moved forward-- --
[Our LoL League Competition has attracted more and more attentions in the past two years. Let me give you an example, I have been commentating for the LPL finals for three years now. The audience has grown from only a few people to the full house that you see today. I'm especially happy about that.]
[That's right. Especially since we can see so many female players joining us. A few years ago, only boys played this game…...maybe, I mean maybe, we will see a female professional player on the LPL stage in a year or two.]
[Hahahaha, I'll be looking forward to it...]
As the two chatted, the camera moved closed to the area where Tong Yao was sitting. Some girls saw their faces show up on the large screen and bashfully covered their faces with their hands-- --
The camera turned to a couple. They were stunned at first, then they remembered that "couples on screen have to kiss each other" at esports games. The girl smilingly pulled her boyfriend over and gave him a big kiss. The audience burst into laughter and applause. The commentators followed suit-- --
At last, the camera showed Tong Yao.
When she saw her own big face show up on the screen, Tong Yao's first thought was "oh no," then she remembered: luckily, she had washed her hair this morning.
Instead of covering her face like those girls earlier, Tong Yao didn't cover her face. She gave a big smile and waved at the camera-- --
Therefore, her silly face with big white teeth occupied that large screen for about 15 seconds.
The commentator also teased, [This girl is very sociable. Ai, actually, I don't understand. All the girls in the audience are all very pretty, why do they cover their face when the camera's on them...]
The other commentator was about to say something, but suddenly paused for a moment. Then he said, [I've just received unexpected news. There seems to be a problem with CK Yang god's equipment...]
[What problem?]
[I don't know. It seems that water has gotten into his equipment…...I guess he probably spilled some water?]
The audience was silent for three seconds, then burst out laughing.
The fans of the CK stood up one after another to see what had happened. Tong Yao heard some fangirls saying "Yang god spilled water, so cute." She had to rolled her eyes and looked over at her ex-boyfriend. His head was lowered, vigorously wiping the computer table with napkins...
There were a lot of commotion on the CK side. They questioned him in voices that only could be heard on stage-- --
"Damn, Yang god, did you see a ghost? You even got some coffee on my screen."
The top of CK, Come Good Luck, was flabbergasted-- --He had just seen Jian Yang drink coffee, then when he turned to the large screen, coffee spat all out of his mouth.
"Shit, I really did see a ghost." Jian Yang said with a gloomy face. He threw the napkins into the waste basket which a staff member had brought over. "Hasn't the school abroad already start? Why is she here in Shanghai?"
"Who?"
"Someone important."
"..."