Chapter 1

At the DOTA e-sports competition in London, UK,

Inside the arena, the neon lights flickered brilliantly, and various colored LED halos illuminated the award stage!

On the stage, the five British players held up the trophy with excited smiles, while a tall woman opened a bottle of champagne to spray them with a victorious blessing!

In the center of the five was a handsome young British man with brown hair, who flashed a charming smile that dazzled the girls, his eyes fixed on another young man below the stage.

He was the undisputed core of the champion team, only 17 years old, truly the little prince of British e-sports!

"I learned a Chinese idiom," the champion did not give a victory speech but instead stared at someone below the stage and said, "It's called 'one word is as heavy as nine tripods.' Please keep your promise of defeat and quit the DOTA game from now on!"

The young man below the stage had black eyes and black hair, with a somewhat slender build.

Faced with the aggressive smile of the e-sports prince, he could only silently nod.

"Come on, talented player Eagle, please smile for us and leave a memento," the photographer walked up to the black-haired youth and said in standard Chinese.

Facing the camera, the black-haired youth smiled.

But this smile felt like it was tearing his heart apart!

At this moment, he understood.

Often, second place gets no reward.

Just like on the battlefield.

In his eyes, e-sports was a battlefield, without gunpowder or blood, but once defeated, it was like a corpse buried in the sand, waiting only to rot slowly...

E-sports is like this, and so is any field full of competition; few people remember the second place.

His name is Yu Luosheng, game ID: Eagle.

But he had to leave the DOTA professional stage he loved the most, not just because of the bet with the British genius...

...

One year later

...

On the balcony of an ordinary residential building, the green evergreen plants swayed gently in the river breeze. If it weren't for the stench of sewage in the air, it would have been a beautiful morning for Yu Luosheng.

Black short hair, white tank top, loose basketball shorts, and a pair of flip-flops—standard loser attire.

Fortunately, his face was still quite handsome, and with his deliberate display of a melancholic look, yes, he was a cool and depressed guy!

Yu Luosheng held an English book, slowly memorizing words.

Actually, his English was quite good, especially in sentences and words for greeting family members, where he had an exceptional talent.

What could he do? In the UK, you can't just use national curses, right?

"I told you, Xiao Sheng can definitely catch up with his studies. Look, he's in the top 30 in the mock exams. Xiao Sheng is a genius, a genius in every aspect!" A woman's voice came from the kitchen, clearly showing relief and pride.

"Hmph, if you hadn't supported him playing that lousy game, his grades would be even better. Getting into Tsinghua or Peking University would be no problem. 30th place? Still far from Tsinghua or Peking University. If he only gets into an ordinary key university, I'll smash his computer!" A middle-aged man's voice came over.

"You dare to smash it? If you do, I'll throw all your cigarettes and alcohol in the trash! What's wrong with games? At least he got to go abroad on a public scholarship. Have you ever been abroad?" The woman immediately lashed out!

"You... It's all your spoiling. If he has no future, the responsibility is all on you. What future can games have?" The middle-aged man said angrily.

"So what if the responsibility is on me? What are you going to do about it?"

"I don't want to argue with you!"

The noise of the old couple's quarrel still filled his ears. Yu Luosheng wasn't woken up by an alarm clock every day; it was mostly the endless bickering of these two.

The apartment was only about 80 square meters, and there was no way to block out their voices.

The woman was naturally Yu Luosheng's mother, Li Yun, a typical doting mother.

The middle-aged man was Yu Luosheng's father, Yu Jing. Although his tone was very strict and angry, he was still a loving father, and all loving fathers are like that.

"Dad, Mom, I'm going to school." Yu Luosheng put away his English book, changed into his ugly school uniform, and put on his shoes at the door.

"Okay, be careful on the way." Li Yun poked her head out of the kitchen, watching her son put on his shoes and leave before going back to wash the dishes.

After tidying up the kitchen, Li Yun went to her son's room to clean up.

When she walked into the room, Li Yun noticed that her son's computer screen was still glowing, clearly forgotten.

"This kid, running off to play in the early morning," Li Yun said with some reproach.

As she spoke, she quietly closed the door to prevent Yu Jing from seeing and getting angry again.

Walking up to the computer, Li Yun saw the game window still open, with "League of Legends" written in large letters at the top.

"What's this game?" Li Yun said, puzzled.

Then she saw the RANK 1900 points, not knowing what it meant, and casually closed the game window with the mouse, then shut down the computer.

...

Winning the Olympiad gets you extra points, winning the academic cup gets you extra points, winning the provincial sports meet gets you extra points, but winning the international e-sports second place... not only does it get you no extra points, the principal might even consider whether to admit such a student.

Yu Luosheng played many games. From junior high, he won championships in games like PopCap and KartRider. Later, he became obsessed with Warcraft III, and then fell in love with Warcraft DOTA, winning awards that could crush so-called academic geniuses.

However, you should know that no matter what glory you achieve in the gaming world, most parents and elders will label you as not focusing on your studies.

The high school Yu Luosheng attended was a key high school in the city, and his family spent several years' savings to get him in. His original high school was terrible, which gave him plenty of time to be a professional player during his first and second years.

In June of his second year, the DOTA international tournament was held, and he participated. After the tournament, he returned to being a good student...

The first place in the DOTA international tournament had a reward of 300,000 RMB, but the second place had no reward.

As for why, ask the British e-sports association.

Wasting nearly two years of studies, his family still spent a lot of money to get Yu Luosheng into a key high school.

The family's financial situation wasn't great, and Yu Luosheng couldn't bear to see Yu Jing's gloomy face, so he worked hard for a year.

Talented people are often talented in many areas, and studying also depends on talent.

Yu Luosheng was a talented person. In one year, he not only caught up with his lost studies but also surpassed some good students, as proven by his mock exam results.

Of course, being a good student didn't mean he had given up on games.

For some people of this era, games were their second life.

As Garen said: "The man stands as long as the tower stands."

Some things are really worth defending with everything you have, including competitive games.

Yu Luosheng kept his promise to the British guy and didn't touch DOTA again, but the recently popular League of Legends (LOL) made him feel alive again.

If he couldn't be a professional player, being an amateur was also good, right?

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