In 2025, the night of the Glory of Kings World Championship Finals.
In a drafty rental house in a village in the city, 28-year-old Li An huddled on a cold wooden bed. The severe pain caused by late-stage liver cirrhosis left him unable to even raise his hands.
He is a loser whose e-sports dream was crushed by fate.
In the S1 season, at the age of 16, he reached the first place in the region in solo queue. At the age of 18, he was approached by a scout from a professional team.
But as a young man, he was defrauded of his family's savings of 180,000 yuan, signed a domination contract, lost millions, and missed the golden age of professional players.
In order to pay off the debt, his mother worked three jobs a day, washing dishes and moving goods. She fell ill due to overwork and was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. He couldn't even pay for his mother's surgery and could only watch his mother die in his arms.
Later, he worked day and night to receive power training and play with players. From the peak competition, he was ranked among the top ten in the country all year round. His fingers couldn't hold the mobile phone and he couldn't even hold chopsticks due to tenosynovitis.
At the last moment when he was unconscious, all that flashed before Li An's eyes was the back of his mother bent over washing dishes in cold water, his eyes red from crying after signing the contract, the five-star red flag rising on the World Championship stage, and the eternal regret.
If he had to do it over again, he would definitely stand on the highest stage in the world, wearing the five-star red flag, let the whole world know his name, and let everyone see the Chinese red!
I can only rate myself