The challenge and confidence in Qian Luâs words was too much for Boss Liu to handle. His eyes narrowed, and his narrow lips thinned further into a derisive smile. He replied with, âHm. Starting to feel confident about our chances, are we? You think this is going to go your way? Well, how about we just wait and see.â With those words, Boss Liu glanced up at the large LCD display above his head. Then he looked at Qian Lu from the corner of his eyes and said, âYour team, theyâre still in a practice game?â
Qian Lu gave Boss Liu his signature smile, friendly and harmless. âYes, yes. About that. So you see, we were waiting for a long time and no challengers appeared. They got bored sitting up on that stage doing nothing and decided not to waste the time. Thatâs why theyâre in a practice game. Just some harmless fun to while away the time.â
Right as Qian Lu said those words, Lin Feng happened to be recalling back to the base in the game. He glanced down at Qian Lu, and noticed that Boss Liu was now there. Lin Feng decided to wave at the pair in high spirits and said, âLook! Someone came to challenge us! Just give us a second, weâll finish this game really quick!â
Boss Liu looked up and over at Lin Feng. His eyes flickered with hints of disdain, but he kept a polite smile on his face. âItâs fine, fine, fine. Really. Take your time, weâll just be watching.â Then he turned around and faced his team. âAll of you, watch their game! Get a feel of how good they are!â
All the guys on the Moonlight NetCafeâs team were all pretty young. Their average age was around 20, and the oldest guy on the team was only 25. It wasnât by much, but they were all still older than Lin Feng and the rest of the gang. That made them arrogant enough to look down on Team Shanghai. Despite the words of Boss Liu, they had zero interest in spectating the practice game that Team Shanghai was playing. They were, however, very interested in oogling An Xin and Tang Bingyao.
âA couple of high school brats. How good could they possibly be?â
âLooks like this is another free win.â
âLook at those two cuties!â
âHot-diggity-damn! These high school girls, Iâm tellinâ ya, they just keep getting hotter and hotter.â
The Captain on Moonlight NetCafeâs team was more level headed than his teammates. He coughed. âThatâs enough! Leave that for after. Letâs focus on the game theyâre playing and figure out how good they are right now. I donât want any of us getting careless because we were cocky, and then embarrassing ourselves. Is that clear?â
The other members didnât appear convinced, but they were respectful enough to attempt to spectate on the words of their captain. That didnât stop them from continuing to whisper amongst themselves.
âHow could we lose?â
âTheyâre just bratsâŠâ
âStop being such a nervous nelly, we got this in the bag.â
âOh? It looks like the Blue Team has a huge advantage.â
âItâs only been 13 minutes since this game started, but they already have a 6,000 gold lead!â
âThatâs⊠surprising. Maybe theyâre a little better than we thought.â
âNo way! They gotta be smurfing. The enemy team is probably all in Gold or something.â
The team captain frowned. âSmurfing? Gold? How does that make any sense? Theyâre trying to get some practice in, why would they face such a weak opponent for practice? Thatâs just such a waste of time, and I donât see this as the kind of team that would do something so useless.â
The Support player clicked his tongue. âWho knows? Maybe they just want to show off in front of all these people? You know how high schoolers are these days? Theyâre all ego. Since the other team is getting rekt this badly, Iâd say gold is the right guess.â
The Toplanerâs lips curved into a smile. âWho knows? Maybe the opponent is Platinum, but Iâd find that really hard to believe.â
Little did the members of the Moonlight NetCafeâs team realize that the players they were looking down on, the enemy team in Team Shanghaiâs game, were all ranked somewhere in mid to high Diamond! They werenât even close to being considered bad players. The reason why the game was so tilted was because of how good Lin Feng and the gang had gotten. They outclassed the enemy team so significantly that they could deliver a one-sided beatdown. It looked like they were smurfing, especially to people like the Moonlight NetCafeâs team. It was a misunderstanding of the situation that would soon prove fatal to the Moonlight NetCafeâs team.
This misunderstanding, or whatever it was that the Moonlight NetCafeâs team thought of Team Shanghai, made no difference to Lin Feng and the gang. They couldnât be bothered to even think about it. The only thing on their minds right now was that they finally had a challenger for the Battle Bonanza. A challenger they couldnât keep waiting long.
They all nodded to each other and started pushing their practice game to itâs finale. Lin Feng and the others pushed down both the Top and Mid lane as the game hit the 22 minute mark. It was too much for the enemy team to defend against, especially considering how far behind they were. They understood that this game was over, and quickly surrendered. Team Shanghaiâs second practice game had ended with a Victory crest floating over the giant LCD screen.
Below the stage, Boss Liu turned to Qian Lu and asked. âWe can start now?â
Qian Lu smiled. âOf course. Let me just ask them first.â He looked up at Lin Feng and the others up on the stage and asked, âMoonlight NetCafeâs members have been waiting for a while. Do you want to start now, or after a short break?â
Lin Feng immediately replied. âNo need. Weâre good!â
Moonlight NetCafeâs members stepped on the stage and sat down on the row of computers on the other side of where Lin Feng and the gang sat. And with the two teams seated and ready start, sparks started flying between them and the atmosphere heated up.
The customers below the stage started feeling tense and nervous.
âCan they winâŠ?â
âYou can do it! We believe in you!â
âGet the victory!â
âGo go go!â
âGo girls! You all can do it!â
âStart out strong! Womp this first game!â
âNetCow! Net Cow! GOOOOOOOOO!!â
In an instant, the air in the internet cafe sparkled and sizzled with electricity, the crowd had found a reason for hope and erupted into passionate cheers. Qian Lu beamed across the crowd, while thunderclouds roamed across Boss Liuâs forehead. On the stage, the match was about to start. Lin Feng looked at his teammates and smiled. âAlright guys. Letâs do our best! No matter what, letâs give it our all!â
A minute later, in the middle of the cheering crowd, the two teams loaded into the first game of this best of three match. And 25 minutes later, the first game ended. Lin Feng and the gang had achieved an easy victory. With no pause or break in between, the two teams loaded into the second game of the match. And just like the first game, the second game ended in 24 minutes with Team Shanghaiâs victory. NetCow Cafeâs team had won two games in a row, successfully defending the NetCow Cafe. All in under an hour.
The whole thing was so unexpected that the crowd didnât know how to react. There was just pin drop silence throughout the NetCow Cafe. Boss Liu had a dumbstruck expression on his face, as if he couldnât believe what heâd just seen. âW-we? We just? Wait⊠did we just? We lostâŠ?â