Undefeated - League of Legends - Book 1: Chapter 32

Book 1: The Return of the Lost King

Chapter 32: The Inactive ID

Inside the team dormitory, members of Team Hell sat around Qinguangwang’s computer.

The video was short, yet by the end they had all been enthralled. Even Qinguangwang himself discovered some brilliant moves in Zyra’s play which he hadn’t noticed during the game.

After they watched the video attentively, observing every move of Zyra the support, they had further confirmed their speculation earlier!

“This guy plays like a professional player.” Coach Huang Kang commented.

People who played professional games could easily tell whether the opponent was a professional or not from the tiniest of moves. Coach Huang Kang was an experienced analyst, he made the comment from just the short clip he had just seen.

Professional players have very high APM.  He would automatically position himself perpendicular to an enemy’s directional abilities; each of his seemingly causal moves has a clear objective; the timing of every ability is precise…...

Secret Room: Book 1 - Chapter 29

Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room

Book 1: The Storm is Coming

Chapter 29

Thus Baona witnessed a bizarre scene in his own room as he was switching between various Korean variety shows with the remote control on the first floor.

With a wireless headset hung around her neck, Ai Qing ran downstairs holding a glass of punch and placed it in front of him. “Boss, this cocktail is my treat.”  Then the doorbell rang, she immediately turned around and ran to the door to let a man come in.

She then took a tall twenty-two years old boy upstairs to the training room on the second floor……

K&K’s secret player Dt had showed up in the SP training room on the eve of the big competition?

Baona took the glass and sipped the cocktail.

This could be…...quite scandalous, no?

Tea of Summer - Chapter 41: Spring Sunshine 1.2

Chapter 41

Spring Sunshine 1.2

Song Qiyan only briefly went through Weibo, replied to a couple of comments, then put the cell phone down.  With one hand held around Xia Liang’s waist, he used the other hand to stroke her hair.  Then he moved closer to smell the fresh scent of her hair and kissed her white tender face.

Even though Xia Liang was already used to this after the past three months, she still shyly looked down at the sofa, blushing.

Secret Room: Book 1 - Chapter 28

Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room

Book 1: The Storm is Coming

Chapter 28

As a new game, there weren’t any existing tactics or classical play styles from popular competitions to follow.  The current ranked players were only from the alpha test, so there was no real list of top players yet. Everything was still unknown and everything was a challenge.

This was a game full of undiscovered potential.

------Just because of this reason, it was enough to make everyone’s blood boil in excitement.

After Ai Qing killed the last opponent with a short knife in the game……

The whole game screen was instantly frozen.

A storm struck; mountains collapsed, the earth split open, and the whole world was frozen.

All the battles were over.

IMBA.

The opponent’s captain, an id from Korea, punched these 4 characters in the message area.

IMBA, imbalance, was a term used by some professional players.  Here, it meant “twisted”.

It was obviously used as praise.

Undefeated - League of Legends - Book 1: Chapter 31

Book 1: The Return of the Lost King

Chapter 31: Leaving Without Saying Goodbye

Yu Luocheng was baffled why Yi Qin had changed into another person after the phone call.

What made her mood swing so drastically? Was it really from her ex-boyfriend?

Yu Luocheng thought back about the tone of his voice just now and realized that it really sounded like he was blaming her.

He didn’t mean to, but he had a chance to compete with professionals after playing amateurly for so long.  He did have some complaints about Yi Qin’s mindlessness…… Deep down, he was still a professional esports player who refused to be defeated after all.

Yu Luocheng carefully thought it through and decided he better apologize.

Unknowingly, he had asked Yi Qin to play like a professional in the last few rounds. Yet in reality, too much talk would only distract his teammate and make her more irritable……

“Yiyi, I’m sorry…...I was too serious about the game.” Yu Luocheng said.

“Yiyi, say something.”

Yiyi jie, I have called you jiejie already. Don’t be like this. I’m apologizing here……”

“Darn, when did she get off voice chat!”

Yu Luocheng suddenly discovered that the he was the only one in the voice chat after pleading.

“Player ‘Xue Yi Yi’ has left the game!”

A line of bright red words suddenly appeared on screen.

What was going on?

Yu Lucheng, stunned, quickly sent a QQ message to Yi Qin.

“Yiyi, what’s wrong?” Yu Luocheng hurriedly asked.

……

Secret Room: Book 1 - Chapter 27

I swear this is the entire chapter. Don't worry, next one is longer.

---

Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room

Book 1: The Storm is Coming

Chapter 27

“Thanks.”  She paused before speaking again, “Dt.”

The two Americans on her team didn’t know that there was one extra person who was translating.  After all, they didn’t understand Chinese so they really couldn’t tell how many Chinese were in voice chat.

They were surprised when Ai Qing spelled out Dt’s name.

They quickly said hello to Dt in English.  Ai Qing was the only one who was fluent in both Chinese and English.  She could tell that they and Dt knew each other after listening in.  It sounded like they had met during the IEM9 competition this year.

She had many questions, but it was inconvenient to ask right now.

She could only remind the team that the game had started.

“It’s a good opportunity to partner with western players.  They are very strong in shooters.”  She said.

“What’s their background?”

“Lavvy, he was Europe's first mid in DotA in the past.”  The character Ai Qing was controlling just jumped into the swamp looking for cover.  This map was quite unusual; part of it was a jungle.  “I don’t know the other one.”

“The other guy is Loop, he used to play Starcraft 2.”

Dt added in a timely manner.

Very concise.

Following was very surprised.  He raised his head and mouthed to Ai Qing:  This guy is really helpful.

Ai Qing glanced at him, smiled, and mouthed back: He is a K&K player.

That means------he was SP’s toughest competitor in China.

Following’s smile vanished instantly.

Tea of Summer - Chapter 40: Spring Sunshine 1.1

Chapter 40

Spring Sunshine 1.1

That night, he held her hand as they watched the fireworks light up the sky.  She then insisted on taking him to the shopping mall.  They pushed their way through the crowd.  Finally she bought him a gray scarf and bashfully put it on for him.  Then they walked, hands held together, for half of the night and watched the crowd gradually thin around them.

Finally, exhausted, she ended their late night wandering by using his own words, “Umm, girls shouldn’t stay up late.  It’s unhealthy.”

He looked at her with a smile in his eyes.  Suddenly, he bent down and pecked the corner of her mouth.  He then quickly straightened himself.

Both of their faces were flushed since this was the first time they had ever done something so intimate.  They were silent on the way back to her apartment.  They just let the night breeze cool the heat on their faces.

He took her back to her apartment.  There was a subtle change in atmosphere between them when they were about to part.  He bent down again and kissed her forehand.  He spoke next to her ear with the voice she never tired of, “Goodnight.”

Secret Room: Book 1 - Chapter 26

Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room

Book 1: The Storm is Coming

Chapter 26

The number of online viewers rose rapidly.

It was close to the max.

Ai Qing, as the host, made a prompt decision to close the game room.

Then she saw people commenting in the stream chat.  “Why’s the room closed?  We were still outside.” “Damn…..Luckily, I’m already in.”  “Oh my god, everybody is here tonight.”......

More and more fans began to recognize the ids of the players.

<Secret Room Storm> has four large servers, American, Chinese, Korean, and European.  The top ranking 100 players in each server had their id names displayed in red.

Obviously, almost 60% of all top players were here tonight.

It just so happened that all the best professional players for <Secret Room Storm> were all congregated in Seoul preparing for the one week long exhibition tournament.  So the news that China’s largest club, SP, would live stream tonight had spread quickly among them.  These professional players staying in the several nearby resort villages were all free and bored tonight.  They had all logged in to have some fun.

Undefeated - League of Legends - Book 1: Chapter 30

Book 1: The Return of the Lost King

Chapter 30: Are You Blaming Me?

“You’re awesome.” Yi Qin excitedly said.

“I got the kill, so we are still at a disadvantage.” Yu Luocheng shook his head.

“It’s already good enough. You probably don’t know how high these two guys rank in LoL for our country. It’s quite rare for an amateur player to kill one of them without the help of a jungler. You’re quite good.” Yi Qin praised him.

All along, Yi Qin knew her partner was a good player; without his help, she wouldn’t have reached 2000 so easily.

Yet, Yi Qin didn’t expect that he would be so calm and outstanding when facing professional players. If not for the fact that she had known him online for some time, Yi Qin would start to question whether he was actually still a student.

“Hehe.” Yu Luocheng laughed. It felt very good to be praised by Yi Qin.

It looked like he still got it.

But come to think of it, Qinguangwang’s series of maneuvers had been rather sudden; if his reaction time was a little bit slower, then he would have died before firing any ability!

Yu Luocheng had played many rounds of League of Legends, but this was the first time he had met such a strong and determined opponent!

Qinguangwang had made good calculations. The minion line was now pushing towards Yu Luocheng, so even if he died, Caitlyn would have a hard time to pushing the minions back while he was waiting to respawn. Besides, Thresh would surely help Ezreal control the minion line so Qinguangwang wouldn’t lose too many last hits.

Yu Luocheng was the support. There wasn’t too much benefit getting a kill himself other than buying a few more pink wards to have a better view.

Yu checked the statistics for both sides. Ezreal had one kill and his cs was still higher than Yi Qin. His equipment was better than hers too.

Yu started to worry a bit; if things kept going on like this, the disparity between the two ADCs would grow wider.

……

Secret Room: Book 1 - Chapter 25

Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room

Book 1: The Storm is Coming

Chapter 25

“Me?”  She laughed and shook her head.

“You still have the skill.”  Solo smiled.  “The fifth member should be you actually, if not for the fact that esports doesn’t allow coed teams.”  He threw the cigarette into the ashtray afterwards and patted her back with his palm lightly.  “Let’s go.  Don’t forget.  Tonight you still have the live stream.”

It was Saturday.

It was the day of SP’s live stream after the training session.

Solo came up with the idea for a “Live Stream Day” to let fans watch live broadcasts of their games in realtime.  Especially for the lucky few who got a chance to play a game with their idols.  It was a festival for many esports fans.

Tonight’s stream would start at 10:30 PM.

Game: Secret Room Storm.  Streaming Hosts: Apple Dog & Following.

Tea of Summer - Chapter 39 Part 2: Winter Warmth 5

It's happening guys. It's finally happening.

---

Chapter 39 Part 2

Winter Warmth 5

Song Qiyan raised his hand to pat her head under the furry hat. “Xia Xia, I have come here willingly.”  He stretched out another hand which was carrying a bag.

Xia Liang found out only now, that Song Qiyan had been carrying a bag in his hand all this time.

“For me?”

Song Qiyan nodded, “Christmas gift.”

Xia Liang took over the bag.  Then she thought in embarrassment; oh, no, she had never thought about getting him a Christmas gift……..She had never celebrated Christmas before, needless to say, she never thought about giving gifts for Christmas.

She opened the bag.  It was a bright red cashmere scarf inside.  Xia Liang used her hand to touch it.  It felt really good.

“Thank you shixiong.”  She smiled to Song Qiyan sweetly.  She was pondering secretly about when she should give him a Christmas gift in return.

“What are you thinking about?”  Song Qiyan asked.  Song Qiyan was a little perturbed by her expression. “Don’t you like it?”

Xia Liang hurriedly clarified, “No, no, I like it.  It is a very beautiful scarf.  I really like it, but I……”  She used her finger to scratch her cheek bashfully. “I don’t have the habit of giving Christmas presents.  So I didn’t prepare a Christmas present for shixiong……”   She then quickly raised her head.  Her brown pupils reflected the warm glow of the street light, which enhanced her attempt to find an easy way out.  “Let’s go pick up one later to make up for it. alright?”

Secret Room: Book 1 - Chapter 24

Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room

Book 1: The Storm is Coming

Chapter 24

If a player’s skill when playing this little game could be described as “beautiful”, who would dare claim that they weren’t experts?

If the game match attracted so many onlookers watching with great interest, forgetting to even start their evening training, who would dare say that this game was not indeed splendid?

Undefeated - League of Legends - Book 1: Chapter 29

Book 1: The Return of the Lost King

Chapter 29: Maneuver, APM, Awareness Are All First-Rate!

“It’s so annoying, they put Exhaust on me! !” Yi Qin angrily said.

Qinguangwang’s Ezreal was so aggressive, he had fallen into the range of Caitlyn’s attack.

Yu Luocheng’s Grasping Roots and Stranglethorns would keep Ezreal under control for two to three seconds, there would be enough time for Caitlyn to kill the weakened Ezreal.

However, Caitlyn was weak and could only attack with minimum power. Furthermore, Thresh’s hook was on her and almost forbade Caitlyn to attack!

“He’s dead!”

The pulling time of Thresh’s hook finally ended, Yi Qin clicked the Q key and used Caitlyn’s ability “Piltover Peacemaker” right into Ezreal’s face.

Ezreal had very low health and this ability would be enough to kill him!

But right at this moment, an aqua colored Dark Passage fell on Ezreal and created a protective shield around him!

This shield increased Ezreal’s health by one extra bar!

Piltover Peacemaker washed over Ezreal and broke the shield.

Still alive?

It didn’t matter, Yi Qin would use Headshot next and kill him!

……

Secret Room: Book 1 - Chapter 23

Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room

Book 1: The Storm is Coming

Chapter 23

“Ah?”

No one knew the answer to his question.

Inin thought for a while and felt that he shouldn’t be so intrusive, but he just couldn’t suppress his curiosity.  He could not help adding another comment,  “En…...they work so well together and it feels like that they must practice together very often…...Oh.  Maybe they practice together mostly in private.  Maybe they are a couple so they understand each other……”

He started to talk to himself and completely forgot about the many girls around him who were shocked by his hypothesis.

What kind of situation is this……

Tea of Summer - Chapter 39 Part 1: Winter Warmth 5

Hey guys, Chapter 39 was pretty long so we had to cut it in half. Sorry about that! By the way, in the next part, IT finally happens.

---

Chapter 39 Part 1

Winter Warmth 5

“Let’s park the car here.” Lin Qian led Xia Liang off the car before locking it.  “Who knows how crowded downtown is tonight.”

Xia Liang followed her closely and pulled on her long necklace uneasily.

An hour ago, Lin Qian, who was already dressed up, ran into Xia Liang’s bedroom.  She took out a stack of fall and winter clothes from the closet and threw them onto the bed.  Then she ordered Xia Liang in an authoritative voice, “Get changed!”

Under Lin Qian’s supervision, a stunned Xia Liang finally changed into the clothing she was now wearing.  She wore a cream-colored long turtleneck cashmere sweater, a cage-shaped retro style necklace that hung down to her chest, a pair of dark jeans that she usually wore, and a pair of khaki-colored boots. On top of them, she had put on a long red woolen coat with flannel lining and a plush fur collar around the neckline.  Lin Qian had also done her hair, which was usually in a ponytail or casually let it down.  Now her hair was spread down onto her shoulder; Lin Qian had used a curling iron to make it wavy at the end of her hair.  Finally on top of her head was a white dehair angora hat with a furry pom pom on top which was slightly swaying in the night breeze.  It was quite cute.

Secret Room: Book 1 - Chapter 22

Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room

Book 1: The Storm is Coming

Chapter 22

“It’s me.”  Ai Qing, amused by the entire situation, raised her right hand.  “I am Gou Gou.  Apple Dog.  Hello.  Inin.”

She treated it as a formal self introduction.

Everybody laughed.

Inin was still not clear about the situation, but he still smiled bashfully.  “Ah it’s you.  Are you the StarCraft 2 player?”

Everyone laughed out again.

Ai Qing laughed too and shook her head.  “No.  I’m the game commentator.”

“Ah.  Game commentator.”  There was admiration in Inin eyes.  “I thought you were a professional player this afternoon.”

“I was in the past.”

“In the past?  What a waste.”  Inin completely forgot what he was originally there for.  He continued to ask out of curiosity,  “Are you retired?  Why did you retire?”

Undefeated - League of Legends - Book 1: Chapter 28

Book 1: The Return of the Lost King

Chapter 28: A Wild Fight

There was a difference of 15 last hits in just 8 minutes. Under normal circumstance, it should be Caitlyn who had 15 more last hits than Ezreal, yet the reality was the exact opposite……

“You’re last hitting somewhat slower today.” Yu Luocheng said to Yi Qin.

A difference of 15 last hits was almost like losing one kill. After buying equipment, it basically would be hard for Caitlyn to challenge Ezreal one on one.

When both of them were back in lane, Caitlyn had the 1550 gold B. F. Sword and Ezreal also had the 1550 gold B. F. Sword plus an extra Vampiric Scepter!

Ezreal was even more aggressive after he acquired the Vampiric Scepter!

His aggressiveness wasn’t aimed at Caitlyn however, he kept using his abilities on Yu Luocheng’s Zyra!

Secret Room: Book 1 - Chapter 21

Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room

Book 1: The Storm is Coming

Chapter 21

The theme of the dinner that night for SP was “Pep Rally Before the Battle”.

Starting tomorrow, for the six-day long exhibition tournament, the names of SP’s <Secret Room Storm> lineup would be revealed, the roster for their top two teams.

The second team had always been led by Solo, thus it was clear to everyone inside SP who the players were for the second team.

But for the roster of players for the the first team, even the SP staff did not know who they were.