Chapter 4: The Shock of a Game Understanding Ahead of Its Time

The young man standing before them held the unconditional trust of everyone in the room. Beyond the fact that Jiang Ming was their boss, his superior gaming skills and profound understanding of the game were major contributing factors.

He was, in every sense, the gold standard of "someone else's child" in the eyes of these gaming-obsessed youths. A college freshman, he had become a streamer with over a hundred thousand followers, started an online shop that earned him a small fortune, and now, he had founded an esports team, becoming their boss. Oh, and his competitive rank was a full tier above theirs.

You might say that being a good student or making money doesn't impress rebellious youth, but add the status of being a top-three ranked player on the League of Legends Chinese server, and their admiration was guaranteed.

Jiang Ming was well aware of the emotions in his teammates' eyes, though he felt no complacency. Having been reborn, it had taken him over a year of leveraging his foresight to accomplish this much; in any other context, he feared he might be categorized as a "disgrace to time-travelers."

His plan was to secure startup capital through his online shop, then use his game knowledge—which was years ahead of the current era—to cultivate a qualified LPL team. He aimed to fight through the server qualifying tournament to enter the regional pre-season, vying for one of the eight professional team slots in the LPL league that Tencent was establishing that year.

Finally, he would step into the Staples Center in Los Angeles to face the "murderous version" of Faker head-on.
(The "inhuman version" of Faker in 2013.)

"Lastly, to emphasize..." Jiang Ming pulled up his self-compiled "Hero Tier List."

*Click!*

The power suddenly cut out.

The basement plunged into darkness, save for the blue light of a smartphone screen. Jiang Ming continued his explanation by that faint glow, as if he had expected it—a recurring ritual in this old district three times a week.

While Jiang Ming and his team prepared for the server qualifiers, the instructional video he had uploaded for Zed, the Master of Shadows, was also creating quite a stir online.

***

University City, Zhulang Internet Cafe.

The hum of the air conditioner blended with the clatter of mechanical keyboards. "Still hasn't updated!"

"Nothing yet!"

Lin Xiao refreshed the page of the video author he followed for the seventeenth time.

"Do you think JM bailed on us?" The chubby guy in the seat to his right slurped his instant noodles, not even waiting to swallow before mumbling, "This is the third day already."

"Correction: two days and one minute!"

"I think you guys are too impatient. The new hero only came out two days ago; even a master needs time to get familiar with it," said their tall roommate from the corner. "Besides, Ming's tutorials almost always feature matches from the 2200 ELO range and above, so it's normal for it to take a while."

"Are you guys playing or what? If not, I’m starting a match."

"Wait a bit longer. Ming posted a teaser on YY Live yesterday, saying the tutorial for the new hero would be updated at midnight. Damn, let me tell you, the plays he pulled off with that new hero on stream were just insane."

"I have a feeling this new hero is going to be my main!"

"Haha, Fatty, this is the fourth time you've said that. When have you ever stuck with one instead of giving up because the mechanics were too hard?"

"Wake up, the problem isn't the hero; it's you. If you get your hands on Zed, he’ll probably turn into 'Kid Zed'!"

Lin Xiao didn't join the bickering between his two roommates, his index finger rhythmically striking the F5 key. Kill notifications echoed from across the room, and the various plays he’d seen the streamer execute with the new hero, Zed, flashed through his mind.

"The unseen blade is the deadliest!"

"Once you see this hero in action, you'll understand what it means to be dead while still alive."

As a fanatical player of the game, Lin Xiao had been captivated by the unique charm of this new assassin hero from the moment he saw him.

The instant the refresh key dipped for the eighteenth time, a red notification box bloomed like an epiphyllum in the midnight air.

"It's up!" Lin Xiao’s voice cracked at the end.

Before the words had even faded, two heads squeezed in next to him. The chubby guy tossed his unfinished cup of noodles into the trash. The tall guy in the corner instantly quit his ongoing game and switched his browser to the video site, his excitement so intense that anyone walking by might have thought the three brothers were huddled together in a late-night internet cafe watching something illicit.

The video thumbnail featured Jiang Ming's signature blue-and-gold color scheme. Even as the video titled *Zed: Teaching You to Graduate from 'Kid Zed' to 'Shadow Ninja Master'!* was still loading, the view count in the bottom right corner had already jumped into the five digits.

"Holy crap, how many night owls were waiting for this update?" the chubby guy muttered.

It wasn't just them. A boy in a seat behind them wearing noise-canceling headphones suddenly ripped them off. "Damn! Ming’s new hero tutorial is out!" The ripple of sound exploded through the cafe like falling dominoes. From the back row came the dull thud of a chair toppling over. A jungler in the middle of a team fight burned his Flash into a wall, stretching his neck to peek at his neighbor's screen the moment his own monitor turned gray.

Don't think this is an exaggeration. League of Legends had become a phenomenal hit in every internet cafe across the country. Among young gamers, if you possessed superior skills, you wouldn't just be the king of your dorm—you’d have people lining up to cover your overnight fees and buy you sausages for your instant noodles.

This was why high-ELO instructional videos were so popular; sometimes they didn't even need recommendations. Obsessed players would hunt them down themselves.

"Damn, Ming finally updated. Can all these 'Kid Zeds' who insta-lock the new hero in ranked please go learn something?"

"Wait, isn't the new hero brand new? There's already a tutorial?"

"Of course. The guy who runs this channel is a pro; his update speed is legendary."

"Wait, isn't the new hero supposed to build Bloodthirster first? I saw that in Teacher Xu's intro video."

"Pfft, brother, that guy is just a comedy streamer. Ming is a top-five大神 on the Chinese server."

"Attack damage, cooldown reduction, armor penetration... prioritize Black Cleaver for ability-based assassins. So that's how it works!"

"Damn, is Zed's burst really that high? With the body and the shadows from W and R, it's like three people attacking at once."

"The key is the four-part mobility. He toyed with the opponents so hard it made me feel like those 2300 ELO games are no different from our 1000 ELO ones..."

"This streamer Ming is so strong. His mechanics and game understanding are both on another level. He can even deduce where the enemy jungler is based on monster spawn times..."

"The opponents couldn't catch this Zed at all; they could only watch helplessly as he split-pushed."

"Hiss, this is too cool. I have to get him for 6300 IP. If I don't have enough, I'll just buy RP."

"The Shockblade Zed skin is so cool too, I want to buy it..."

"Buy it? Brother, let me recommend a piece of software—ever heard of Duowan Box? You can change skins for free, and it even converts your rank into combat power."

"Godfather, for real?"

"For real!"