League of Legends: League of Unknowns

Chapter 400: A Challenge from Noxus

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Luocheng had thought that Demacia Cafe was the only one that ran business like that. He didn’t think that there would already be an E-sports club chain in Beijing, and its name was Noxus!

There had been various kinds of conflicts between Beijing and Shanghai for many years, and for nearly a century, the citizens between the two cities often bickered about which of their hometown was the “real city”.

Beijing—the capital city of China. This should be enough to tell everyone who was the boss. It’s foundation dated all the way back to ancient China and it had a sturdy standing in global politics.

Shanghai, on the other hand, was the fastest growing city in terms of economy, trades, and population in China. It possessed the strongest economical advances in the country, becoming the New York of China.

If a Shanghai citizen were to hear that you were from Beijing, he would become a snob and smirk, “Oh, from Beijing, huh? Hehe.”

And this was the kind of rivalry that was also going on between Demacia Cafe and Noxus Cafe in Valoran.

Noxus Cafe had been founded much earlier than the Demacia Cafe, and back then, Demacia Cafe had been nothing but a high-end internet café without its own LOL team.

After the previous interview and strong impression that Team Skycrown had made, Demacia Cafe had become the number 1 hot spot for LOL players and fans in Shanghai. There were numerous players from other states visiting the place every day while their girlfriends spent their time shopping in Shanghai, creating so many business opportunities that Mr. Lei couldn’t stop laughing like a maniac.

Since they were now not only named the best internet café in Shanghai but also the number 1 LOL club in the country, the senior clubs in Beijing were pissed! They owned several teams under their belts including the top-tier teams in the country, and after spending so many years scuffling in the mud, they had finally acquired a place in the LPL and defeated the famous Team Dusk.

They were the seniors and strong. Why couldn’t they become the number 1 LOL club in the country? Your stupid Team Skycrown had even been banned from participating in the LPL this year, how dare you call yourselves the strongest team? How dare you organize open-challenges? Every professional team knew that no amateurs could defeat the professionals!

Thus, Noxus Cafe had come, but they were not here for a friendly match! They were here for the title of the “Number 1 LOL Club”! It didn’t matter if you had Team Skycrown on your side.

Yes! They were Team Beijing, and they were here to kick their arses!

“So… they’re here to take the challenge?” Luocheng asked as he took a glance at the several hostile faces on the sofa.

“No. They’re here to declare war.”

“Declare war? What do you mean?”

“They contacted their mass media—Beijing’s GTV to broadcast this match between us, Demacia Cafe, and them, Noxus Cafe, on the internet and in their internet cafes. They also wanted us to contact our media, Gamefy, to do the same, broadcasting to their sites and also our internet cafes. It’s equivalent to a match between Beijing and Shanghai, all for the title of the Number 1 LOL club in China!” Duo Duo replied anxiously.

Luocheng was shocked. He had thought that this match was just going to be “tougher”, he didn’t think that Noxus Cafe had wanted to make things so complicated!

Asking two famous game media companies to broadcast the match between the two cities largest LOL clubs, this would certainly ignite all the tension of the LOL players and fans in Beijing and Shanghai.

It was quite common to see Beijing and Shanghai sports fans of other genres, especially soccer and basketball, bicker and scuffle in stadiums during large sports events. It was a rather bizarre occurrence to see Beijing fans hurl insults in their official tongues while the Shanghai fans would bicker right back in their dialects in the stadium!

“And what does Boss Lei have to say to this?” Luocheng asked.

This wasn’t something Luocheng could decide alone. He needed his boss’, Mr. Lei’s, consent. Besides, only Boss Lei, one of the richest internet café giants, could contact and ask Gamefy to broadcast the match.

“He’s right there. See? He’s on a call right now… I suppose he’s not going to reject such offers.” Duo Duo replied as he pointed his finger at a spot in the club.

Luocheng looked at Mr. Lei chatting away on his phone. From the looks of it, Luocheng could see that there was nothing but excitement in his eyes, he didn’t look threatened at all!

Thus, Luocheng walked toward the 5 Noxus Cafe players. They were chatting happily with one another but when they noticed Luocheng approaching them, they stopped and displayed their hostile attitude once again.

“So, you’re Fighting Hawk?” A young man wearing a strange cotton cap asked as he glared at Luocheng.

“Yes, I am. So, which team are you?”

“The real Team Beijing. Second squad.” A teenager replied. He looked like he was around 17 to 18 years old, seemingly a little nervous when talking to Luocheng, as though he respected him, but also refused to concede to being weaker than him.

“The real Team Beijing? As in, the official one?” Luocheng was surprised as he heard that. “Are you sure it’s the official Team Beijing?”

“Yes, the official one!” the young man in the cap replied.

“Oh, then do you know what’s the difference between the ‘real’ Team Beijing and just ‘Team Beijing’?” Luocheng asked.

“The previous ‘Team Beijing’ was just an obnoxious team that had taken on the name of the city without any approval from the authorities, no professional bodies would recognize them. A for us? We, the Official Team Beijing, represent the city as a member of ACE.”

“So you’re recognized by the General Administration of Sports, then?’ Luocheng asked.

To represent Beijing as a team, they not only needed the support of the Association of China E-sports (ACE), they also needed recognition from the General Administration of Sports. Only the General Administration of Sports had the ability and resources to stamp them as a team representing a city or state. If they were to use the name of the city without all these recognitions, they would be just another low-tier team, and the most they could do was to just call themselves “Team Beijing” and not “Official Beijing Team”. Besides, if they were not the strongest team in Beijing, the other teams in the city would most definitely cause a ruckus!

“Oh, so you know this too?” the young man in the cap looked at Luocheng in surprise.

“If you haven’t acquired the recognition from the Association of China E-sports and General Administration of Sports, it’s best not to call yourself ‘Team Beijing’. It’d be a shame if you were forced to rename your team later by the authorities.”

“Did I say that we didn’t have the recognition? The vice president of the General Administration of Sports has recognized us. Our first squad is formed by the strongest players from not only Beijing, but also the entire northeast China and Shandong. On top of that, we’ve got the strongest player from Hong Kong, ‘Number One’. Don’t get too cocky just because you’ve participated in the LPL! We, Noxus Cafe’s Team Beijing, will definitely destroy every senior team in the country including you, Team Skycrown!” the young man in the cap replied with a snobbish attitude.

“What? The General Administration of Sports has recognized your team? And only them?” Luocheng was surprised. He had thought that if ACE hadn’t given its recognition, no team could represent any city or state.

“Of course. We are going to represent China in the Asian Indoor Games!” the high-school boy replied with a smile.

E-sports was, at this point of time, not included in any major sports event. There was news that the Asian Indoor Games had intended to include it as one of the games, finally connecting it with the rest of the “real sports”. It had caused quite a stir back then too. This in turn also meant that the General Administration of Sports had finally recognized E-sport as proper sports—one that could be recognized for a segment in the larger sports events.

Even though the Asian Indoor Games was not as renowned as the other major sports events like the Asian Games and Winter Olympic Games, they were still representing the country to play in a sports event, and the honor that came from that was not what any corporate-sponsored leagues could compare to!

However… Why Noxus Cafe’s Team Beijing? Why them?

“Luocheng, good of you to finally join us. I have contacted Gamefy and they are more than willing to livestream our match. They have even created a site specifically to broadcast this. Now, this broadcast site won’t be just for the viewing pleasure of our audience, they can also show their support with a click of a button, and these will be represented by flowers shown on the screen. This will definitely be an exciting match! Now, what do you think, Captain Yu?”

“If there’s someone here to take up the challenge, there’s no reason for us to reject them. So, do you want the match to be LAN or online?”

“Online. We will be facing-off with you in our Noxus Cafe while you will be in your own cafe here. Come on now, don’t tell me you expect our Beijing fans to travel all the way to your club and internet cafes for the match…”

“Good. We’ll play from our own home bases.” Luocheng replied.

You have your support and we have ours. Let’s see who is the one who has the skills to represent China and the entire E-sport community. Team Skycrown has not faced off with top-tier players and teams for quite some time now, so let’s treat this match as a warm-up for LPL then!

“Good, I’ll have a meeting with the other internet cafes’ managers and bosses. If you want to do it, let’s make it as loud as possible. We don’t like small parties like you, Beijing-dwellers, do!” Mr. Lei replied, talking like the super Shanghai millionaire that he was!

He had gotten a whiff of business opportunity now after all!

This wasn’t some business rivalry. There was no way internet clubs between Beijing and Shanghai could compete for subscribed members. This would, however, kick up a storm on the internet when two of the best LOL teams faced off on a livestream! There was a lot of money to be made here!