In the winter of 2015, a mobile game called Honor of Kings quietly launched. Amid controversy and skepticism, it knocked on the door of Room 303 at Beicheng University.
Chen Yao, a gifted but arrogant young man, turns away from his failures in PC gaming and discovers a different possibility for his esports dream. Lin Xiaofeng, cool-headed and meticulous, is used to analyzing the world through data, but in the simple map of the canyon, he discovers the complexity of human nature and strategy. Gentle and resilient, Su Wanqing tries to fit in and unexpectedly becomes the emotional bond that brings everyone together. The easygoing and cheerful Zhang Wei simply enjoys the game in its purest form. One chance five-player queue and one hilariously chaotic campus tournament bring four young people with very different personalities together to form a team called “Dawn.” From then on, the course of their youth becomes closely entwined with the battles raging in the canyon.
These ten years tell the epic story of a game that went from “nobody cares” to “a national source of pride.” They experience the cultural debate sparked by the “Jing Ke incident” and witness the KPL professional league grow from humble beginnings to packed arenas. They stay up all night for a limited-edition skin, and sometimes angrily “quit the game” when a new update changes everything. The game is an excuse to skip class, a topic for late-night dorm talks, comfort after heartbreak, and a place to catch their breath between struggles in the real world.
