Secret Room: Book 1 - Chapter 12

Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room

Book 1: The Storm is Coming

Chapter 12

The official promotional activities and exhibition games started the next day.

When SP arrived, the stands of the entire outdoor stadium was already filled.   All thirty-seven clubs that had been invited sat on the green lawn inside the stadium.  Ai Qing walked in from the VIP entrance.  She briefly looked around the arena; European and American clubs were at the left front of the stage, Korean clubs were at the center front, and the clubs from China were all situated at the right front.

The first three rows of seats of the Chinese area were empty before SP arrived.

And the fourth and the fifth rows were for K&K people.

Undefeated - League of Legends - Book 1: Chapter 23

Book 1: The Return of the Lost King

Chapter 23: Yiqin of Esports

A lot of people know about video games, a lot of people also know about esports.

But who knows how many esports clubs there are, how many professional tournaments there are, and what are the most prestigious tournaments?

Otakus are everywhere and players are numerous. Then why does everyone know about the NBA and CBA[1], but not many people know about the G League, LPL, and IMBA stand for?

Many know about Barcelona, the Lakers, and the Rockets; but how many know which esports club wins international championships at various esports competitions in popular games like DotA, LoL, Warcraft III, Starcraft, or CrazyRacing KartRider?

Few know these facts.

There are obviously numerous players, numerous game lovers, however the rise and fall of several esports clubs hasn’t received any attention at all.

The rewards are only meager money amounts for those heroes who won international honors. There’s no respect, no glory.

Yiqin, GTV event planner and game commentator, felt quite helpless with the lack of attention esports had.

Secret Room: Book 1 - Chapter 11

Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room

Book 1: The Storm is Coming

Chapter 11

The reason why all these big clubs had gathered in Korea was for the “Exhibition Tournament” of two new games:  <Heroes of the Storm> and <Secret Room Storm>.

The former was a type of DotA game from Blizzard.  The latter was a gun shooting game from an unknown developer, but it received universal praise from all the professional players after the Alpha test.

One game was from a top game company but the other was a popular game from just word of mouth.

Thirty seven clubs worldwide were invited to this exhibition tournament.  Five clubs from China were invited including SP and K&K.

“I’m watching the news.”  Her sister chatted with Ai Qing over the phone.  “Is your Solo the invited guest referee?”

Ai Qing was lying on the bed.  She was reading Weibo messages and eating an apple at the same time.  She was also silently watching the video of the grievance round.  “Not my Solo.  It is SP’s Solo.  He was a professional player for WarCraft and StarCraft in the past.  Even Blizzard had him in an official poster.  It is not a surprise to invite him as the referee.”

“Uhm…...My ex also said the same thing.”

…..

Tea of Summer - Chapter 28: Autumn Tale 8.1

Chapter 28

Autumn Tale 8.1

In a Korean restaurant in Seattle, Song Qiyan and Xia Liang sat facing each other at a table next to the window.

It was supposed to be a perfect picture, but unfortunately there was the extremely annoying third person who should not be there at all……

Wei Jian coughed lightly and touched his head.  He was indeed too insensible today……He decided that he would order silently and eat silently!

Though Xia Liang felt a little bit uneasy, but Song Qiyan did not care about Wei Jian at all.  After he ordered, he acted like nobody was around and started to chat with Xia Liang about voice acting.

Song Qiyan: “I briefly looked at the personality of the character Tan Taixin.  My voice should match this character.”

Xia Liang: O_O……

Song Qiyan: “If this character is still open, then let me try it.”  He mentioned it again.

Xia Liang: O_O……

Song Qiyan: “What?”

Xia Liang drily coughed.  She felt a little timid and scratched her hair. “Uhm, actually, I’m just a little bit surprised.”

Secret Room: Book 1 - Chapter 10

Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room

Book 1: The Storm is Coming

Chapter 10

Ai Qing and Dt didn’t get to talk much before Solo arrived.

Dt was still the same, always the king of awkward silence.

Ai Qing remembered that the last time they met in an official tournament was in the Warcraft national preliminary in 2010.  That year Solo had easily won the championship in the Beijing region and Dt had qualified in the Guangzhou region.  They played against each other in the Chinese Regional final that year and Solo defeated Dt.

But now, Solo had already retired.

Ai Qing walked behind them and couldn’t help but feel sentimental. She looked up and exhaled a breath of white mist to the night air.

Really……Time was passing so fast.

Undefeated - League of Legends - Book 1: Chapter 22

Book 1: The Return of the Lost King

Chapter 22: The Atmosphere of Esports

“Hey, what are you doing here?” After school, Wang Qin stared with unfriendly eyes at Lin Xu who was waiting in the hallway.

Lin Xu wasn’t in a good mood either. He just couldn’t figure out why his team had lost so miserably to this bunch of lousy players!

“Uhm, we won one round before and you won one round afterwards. Our two classes are even now.” Lin Xu sneered.

“You really know how to find excuses for yourself. So what are you up to now?” Wang Qin said.

“Let’s have a final round!” Lin Xu clenched his teeth and said.

The whole senior class knew about the news of room 3’s loss to room 8; all the LoL players in other classrooms were talking about it. Lin Xu, who was known as the strongest LoL player in the whole high school, felt ashamed!

“I knew it, you just can’t accept the fact.” Wang Qin coldly said and slapped hard on Yu Luocheng’s shoulder.

He meant that with Yu Luocheng on our side, you would lose no matter how many more rounds we played!

“Let’s do it again next week.  This time each side can invite an outside player. Double the bet, do you dare to do it?” Lin Xu said.

That would 2000 RMB with a double bet. This amount was a bit overboard as the bet among students.

“I’m poor, can’t afford to play this much money.” Wang Qin was keeping it cool this time.

“Then we won’t bet any money. Simply just play one more round.” Lin Xu said.

Wang Qin glanced at Yu Luocheng who was surrounded by all the LoL players of room 8. Wang Qin thought it would be better to let Yu make the decision.

“I’m not interested.” Yu Luocheng firmly refused.

Secret Room: Book 1 - Chapter 9

Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room

Book 1: The Storm is Coming

Chapter 9

This was……

Her cell phone suddenly vibrated.  She pulled it out and glanced at it.  It was a call from Solo.

“Somebody wants to see you.”

“Who is it?”  She looked at the man downstairs.

He stood still.

“Dt.” There were some noises coming from Solo’s end.  “I was busy talking about business with Baona just now and forgot to tell you that K&K club was also staying in this resort village for the invitational tournament.  Their accommodations were arranged at the last moment.”

“Oh……”  Ai Qing had not moved her eyes away from the man downstairs.  “They also live here.  So you already knew from beginning that it was K&K playing the grievance round against us?”

Solo laughed, “Yes.  I knew that from the beginning. What about it.  Don’t you want to come out to meet old friend?”

“He’s right here, downstairs.”

“Oh?  How did he find us?”

Who knew.

Their rooms were not pre-assigned.  Even the SP staff did not quite know about everybody’s room assignment.

“Then I will go downstairs first.  You come here as soon as you can.”

It took about ten minutes to walk from Solo’s place to here.  Since an old friend was already here, she might as well walk down first.  Meanwhile, she could ask him what he was doing the past couple years before Solo got here.

Tea of Summer - Chapter 27: Autumn Tale 7.3

Chapter 27

Autumn Tale 7.3

“Hi, xiao shimei”

After Xia Liang finished her midterm exams, she still didn’t have much free time.  She was sitting in the lobby of the Business School with senior students discussing the next research project when their conversation was interrupted by a clear male voice.

Several people sitting around stopped their discussion and instinctively looked towards the entrance.  Xia Liang, too, was looking for the person calling her.  Though she was the youngest, just a sophomore, she took classes with junior and senior students due to her double major requirement.  Once she heard someone call for “xiao shimei”, she automatically assumed that they were calling her.

There were several Chinese members in their group.  So it was not a surprise to them when they heard the term.

Xia Liang looked at the door and saw a face she was not familiar with.  She searched her brain for quite a while before she remembered that this man seemed to be one of the guys that sat next to Song Qiyan in the library that one day.

Xia Liang stood up and gave a friendly smile, “How are you, shixiong.”

Wei Jian was straightforward, “How are you.  I am Wei Jian.  I am a first year student in the Clinical Medicine PhD program this year.”

First year……?

My Mandarin - Prologue

Hey guys, so we're going to start translating My Mandarin (我的曼达林 or Wo De Man Da Lin) a new story by Mo Bao Fei Bao. The title is a play on words since Man Da Lin sounds like My Darling. Anyhow this is a teaser chapter with no set release schedule yet, we'll keep you updated on that.

---

“I heard that both you and Tong Fei have your own studio?”  The person at the other end of the phone asked her with amazement.

“Nowadays everyone in the entertainment business has a studio, be it a screenwriter or a director.  It’s not a big deal; it’s just the invoices now have a title on it.”  Chu Jian spoke casually while she was watching the screen in front of her.

Darn it, she had lost the last 50 dollar chip.

The other end rambled some more.  She checked her backpack after the call ended and found she had run out of Hong Kong dollars…...Should she go to the second floor to exchange some more from the black market agent?

The feeling of being penniless was rather depressing.  She did not know when Tong Fei would come back after she left her here by herself. There was nothing for her to do here if she did not keep betting.

A man sat down beside her while she was hesitating.

Secret Room: Book 1 - Chapter 8

Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room

Book 1: The Storm is Coming

Chapter 8

It……

It was too easy.

It was so easy that it felt like Grunt was deliberately going easy on them.

Everyone looked at each other.  It was hard to believe that Grunt, who was famous for his meanness, would let them off so easily.

Ai Qing did not have any reason to refuse such an easy request from the opponent.

She quickly returned to her room and started to produce the commentary video immediately while the memory was still fresh.

She downloaded the video, edited, and added the introduction subtitles; she was very experienced with the whole process.  Soon the first edition was finished.  She put on the earphones and began the verbal narrative, “…...as everyone can see, here is a very fierce mid player.  He has strong map awareness, deadly ganks, buy items quickly and has an unpredictable playstyle.  In the late game, his enemies had died so many times that they had  been thrown into disarray……”

Undefeated - League of Legends - Book 1: Chapter 21

Book 1: The Return of the Lost King

Chapter 21: A Good Cabbage Shouldn’t be Destroyed by A Pig

From inside the room, the woman could hear laughter from time to time.  Sometimes, she could even hear the girl anxiously yell phrases like, “pull me, pull me, quick!”[1]

When the woman rushed into the room, she saw Yang Qian Qian was only playing an online game. She was relieved, but the voice from the other end made her suspect that there was something going on between the two young people. She further confirmed her desire to invite that boy over for dinner or something.

It was important to make sure the boy had good character. As the aunt, she had to watch out for her niece!

……

They played three rounds in the morning; winning two, losing one.

In the afternoon, Yu Luocheng was even more skilled at controlling Thresh. He worked together perfectly with Yang Qian Qian and they won every round except for one when their own internet went down.

Yang Qian Qian was having a great time playing. Yu could tell that she truly loved playing League of Legends.

It seems that there resided a little devil inside every girl, just like how every man had some aggressive nature in him.

In the middle of their games, the little devil fully manifested itself. There were several times when they destroyed their opponents bot to utter worthlessness, Yu Luocheng felt sorry for their enemy and wanted to give them a break.  However, Yang Qian Qian would always resolutely raise her gun and eliminate the enemies!

A champion worth 6300 gold was reduced to the same value as a siege minion; it was simply too inhumane!

……

Secret Room: Book 1 - Chapter 7

Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room

Book 1: The Storm is Coming

Chapter 7

“What’d you bet for this game?”  Ai Qing took a long sigh.

She admitted their loss and prepared to accept the punishment.

“Bet?”  Everyone spoke as they recovered from the excitement.

They were too high from playing just now that they had forgotten why there was a grievance round in the first place.

Someone had already uploaded the video of the match onto a DotA2 forum.

The video was a shock to the community.  All the players were in a frenzy when they saw so many famous alternate ids from SP and K&K.

In just a little over 10 minutes, there were already several thousands of posts filling up more than thirty web pages.

Tea of Summer - Chapter 25 & 26: Autumn Tale 7.1 & 7.2

Chapter 25

Autumn Tale 7.1

Xia Liang went to wash her face after she got home before she remembering that somebody had asked her to send him a message.  She took out her cell to report that she had safely returned home.  Then she realized what she was doing after she had sent out the message. She stood in front of the sink and looked at the bright red face reflected in the mirror.                                                                                                                                                                  

She was just walking up stairs.  Why was he even worried that she would get lost going up a few flights of stairs. She puffed up her cheeks and tried to calm herself down. Then she stood there looking into the mirror and giggled.

At that moment, Lin Qian walked out of her room.  She saw her roommate, standing in front of the sink, giggling amorously.  Her first reaction was to step back and slam the door shut.  She felt that she must have opened the door the wrong way and stepped into an alternate dimension……

Secret Room: Book 1 - Chapter 6

Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room

Book1: The Storm is Coming

Chapter 6

Extreme skill, godlike focus.

This was the praise he received at the time.

Right now, his skill was still the same as before.  The following thirty minutes, the performance of the ten players in the arena fully displayed the difference between professional and nonprofessional players.

Only Ai Qing and Momomo had been professional players in DotA.

She wore earphones.  While she was focused to launch an attack to Grunt, Momomo already completed a double kill.

Meanwhile the game announcer spoke again: “holy shit!”

If a player had killed his opponents ten times but he himself had yet to be killed, then the game announcer would use this phrase whenever he killed an opponent again.  This was the most famous term in DotA------”Holy shit”.

“Holy shit!”

“Holy shit!”

She kept hearing that sound over and over through the headphones.

“Shit!”  Baona couldn’t help himself from cursing when he died again.

Undefeated - League of Legends - Book 1: Chapter 20

Book 1: The Return of the Lost King

Chapter 20: How Could It Be

Two young men sat in a corner at a small internet cafe attentively looking at their computers.

For a lot of young people, to be able to play games at an internet cafe when they were free, drinking some coke and smoking some cigarettes, was a very enjoyable thing to do.

“Xiao Bing, look, the other side is using Thresh.  Don’t know whether he’s good or not?” The one with the darker face said.

“Good for what.  This champion only came out a few days ago.  It must be an idiot who’s trying out a new champion.  Let’s go kill him!” The one named Xiao Bing said.

“You’re right.” The darker face laughed showing his white teeth. “What kind of skill does this champion have?”

“He has a hook.”  Xiao Bing said.

“A hook? Just like the one Blitzcrank has?”

“No, different. Blitzcrank’s claw drags you directly towards it, Thresh’s hook can drag you back for quite a distance. Just don’t get hooked, this one’s is easy to avoid.”  Xiao Bing sipped some coke and said.

“Ok, ok.”  The darker face played the Frost Archer - Ashe.

For some unknown reason, though he had a darker face, he particularly liked Ashe whose skin was as white as snow!

“Hey, this guy dares to try and hook me. Fortunately, I’m super good at dodging!”

The darker face moved Ashe to the side and avoided the flying hook that went wide.

Xiao Bing noticed that Thresh was aiming randomly and couldn’t help but smile.

It was a guy who was practicing with new champion; then they would have an easy time winning.

……

Secret Room: Book 1 - Chapter 5

Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room

Book 1: The Storm is Coming

Chapter 5

“Ai Qing, were you on a DotA professional team before?”

Baona’s voice came over through the earphones.

“Yes, but only for a short time.  I never made it to the Asian Tournament.”  The Game Start screen displayed.  Ai Qing quickly bought enough items.  “Do not believe in professional teams.  The team I lost to was not even a professional team at that time.”

“Do you mean Dt?”

“Uhm.”

The man who grabbed away the DotA Chinese Regional championship from her several years ago.

Tea of Summer - Chapter 24: Autumn Tale 6.3

Chapter 24

Autumn 6.3

Both of them maintained proper etiquette, neither spoke a word as they ate. So they ate the dinner in a strange and quiet atmosphere. In the early evening, they were already heading back to Xia Liang’s apartment.

The dusky street light sprinkled warm halos. There was busy traffic on the road. People were either in a rush or leisurely strolling by, in pairs or individually. Xia Liang and Song Qiyan walked shoulder to shoulder. Song Qiyan was still carrying the bags. Xia Liang was empty handed. Because she had eaten heartily a while ago, Xia Liang was obviously stuffed.

“Here we are.” They stood at the stairs to the apartment. Xia Liang stopped and pointed at the stairs.

Song Qiyan looked at the door, nodded,and passed Xia Liang’s bag to her. Xia Liang took the bag. She shifted her eyes about, then finally gathered enough courage to look up at the man who was about a head taller than her. “Shixiong, about what we discussed just now, huh……”