Rise

Tang Bingyao naturally didn’t have the ¥1 million to pay Lin Feng his answer fee. But a bet was a bet, and so she let Lin Feng sit next to her and watch her play. After queuing up for a match, she turned to him and asked, “Why did it feel like I could never hit you during our 1v1?”

In the match against Class 8, Tang Bingyao had crushed their Caitlyn with her Draven. However, when she faced Lin Feng’s Caitlyn, the outcome was completely different. She’d learned Spinning Axe at level 1 and tried to get in some early harass on him. Draven’s empowered auto-attacks with Spinning Axe dealt a ton of damage. Even if she traded blow for blow with Caitlyn, he’d still come out on top. But, no matter how she tried, she never found an opportunity to attack Lin Feng. If this were only once or twice, she could brush it off as mere coincidence. But from the moment she arrived in lane to when her tower was destroyed, she could count with her fingers the number of times she managed to land a hit on him. More often than not, she would end up taking a hit or two from Caitlyn while out of range to counterattack.

It was almost as if Lin Feng could tell what she was going to do in advance. Tang Bingyao had never encountered this kind of situation before, even against Diamond 1 players. Complete suppression. She had no clue how he did it.

Lin Feng rubbed his chin with a thoughtful expression, then replied, “It’s because I’m really good!”

Tang Bingyao was taken aback as a dazed expression surfaced on her face. She was not expecting this kind of answer. However, it wasn’t that Lin Feng wasn’t willing to answer, but rather that it was too troublesome to explain.

There were many variables that decided the outcome of a 1v1 between ad-carries. When merely taking the two champions in consideration, the main goal was to land hits without being hit in return. This was done by catching the enemy out of position or when they were focused on last hitting minions. The best way to find these opportunities was to dive into the opponent’s mind and read their next move. Of course, this explanation only began to scratch the surface, so Lin Feng chose to give the easy answer. “The better player wins.”

Tang Bingyao entered champion select. She no longer questioned Lin Feng, turning her full attention to the game. The third and fourth pick on the enemy team locked in Vayne and Leona as their bottom lane duo. In response, she chose her pocket pick, Draven[1].

“Draven again?” Lin Feng exclaimed in surprise. Then, he curiously stared at her. “Why do you like playing him so much?” From his experience, most girls liked to play ad-carries like Caitlyn and Jinx, or even Teemo every now and then. He rarely ever saw girls picking aggressive champions like Draven.

“Because it’s easier to win with him,” Tang Bingyao replied.

Tang Bingyao had a valid point here. A good Draven player could easily solo carry games in low elo.

“Do you not play other champions like Caitlyn or Jinx at all?” Lin Feng asked.

“No. They take too long to scale. So, it’s harder to carry with them.”

“But doesn’t playing the same champion all the time get boring?”

Tang Bingyao shook her head. “Not really. As long as I can get kills, it’s fine. Plus, you climb faster this way.”

“Oh, you like to climb?”

“No. It means I can move onto the next order.”

Huh? Next order? Slowly, the dots started connecting together for Lin Feng. He stared at Tang Bingyao and exclaimed in surprise, “You’re elo boosting?”

Tang Bingyao nodded nonchallantly.

“Why?” Lin Feng asked in bewilderment.

“Because it pays well,” Tang Bingyao answered matter-of-factly.

Lin Feng recalled the appearance fee, viewer fee, and 1v1 fee. It all made sense now. He couldn’t help but sigh. “Wow, you really do like money.”

✹

When Tang Bingyao’s Draven spawned in the fountain, she bought her starting items and then headed toward bottom lane.

“The enemy ad-carry is a Vayne. It’s a fairly easy match-up for you. You can easily bully her early game,” Lin Feng analyzed.

Tang Bingyao nodded in agreement.

Tang Bingyao’s partner in bottom lane was Nami, the Tidecaller. This mermaid champion was an excellent support, with great sustain and crowd control. With just this, she was already a beloved support of any aggressive ad-carry. But to make it even better, she could also help her ad-carry deal additional damage and slow the enemy.

Two minutes into the game, the minion waves clashed in bottom lane. Tang Bingyao prepped her two spinning axes and started to look for opportunities to harass the enemy bot lane duo.

Lin Feng nodded in approval.

The Vayne appeared to be pretty good. She maintained a safe distance from the Draven and steadily farmed the minions. That said, Vayne’s attack range was simply too short. Every time she went up to last-hit a minion, she would end up eating an auto attack or two from Draven. Even if Vayne tried trading back, Draven would still come out ahead.

After both sides reached Level 2, Tang Bingyao started harassing the Vayne more aggressively, steadily building up a health advantage. Then, when she hit Level 3, she activated Blood Rush and engaged on Vayne.

Leona tried to intercept Draven with Zenith Blade. A solar ray shot out of her sword, straight at her target.

Not showing even a ripple of panic on her face, Tang Bingyao immediately pressed down on the E key on her keyboard.

BANG! Two spinning axes whistled forward and knocked Leona out of her Zenith Blade!

Tang Bingyao chased after the Vayne, continuously moving between her attacks to catch her spinning axes.

Lin Feng’s face lit up the more he watched. “Awesome! You're really good!” 

Vayne was forced to blow her Flash to escape. However, Tang Bingyao followed after her with a Flash of her own and finished off the Vayne with one last auto attack.

“Nice play!” Lin Feng exclaimed in admiration.

Tang Bingyao cheerfully accepted the praise.

✹

In the gaming house of a professional esports team in central Shanghai, a young man stared at his screen in slight shock. It was greyed out. "Wow..." he mumbled.

A teammate sitting next to him couldn’t help but laugh, “Hey, hey. How did a top 3 ad-carry in China get solo-killed by a Platinum 1 scrub? Haha! Imagine if this got posted online Nightsong!”

Nightsong brushed it off with a chuckle. “I got distracted there, and a little careless.” He turned his attention back to the Draven as his lips curved into a smile. “Watch me. I just need to get a little serious.”

1. A pocket pick refers to a player's go-to champion that they play very well.