Who Isn't a Jungle King? [Esports]

--- Next up: You're So Cool on Your Skateboard --- Blurb at the very bottom ---

After IST's original five-man lineup won four consecutive championships, three members gradually left. Then, just before the season started, their former jungler suddenly departed, and the team was crushed 1:4 in their first match of the SPL Winter New Year Cup, narrowly avoiding a shutout.

During the post-match review, everyone agreed that the team needed to strengthen its jungle position.

Qi Lu: "That pink-haired guy watching from below just now, what's his name, Wei something? Isn't he supposed to be the best young jungler in the academy? Bring him in for a tryout."

"Captain, his name is Wei Xinglai." IST's support, Yu Le, reminded him cautiously.

·

As a four-time champion mid-lane king, Qi Lu had also been a self-taught, unconventional jungle king before turning pro.

One day, he queued up with top laner Deng Yinsheng, the other remaining member of IST's original five-man lineup.

A player with the ID Rainbow Candy Baby had picked a cute enchanter support in the draft, but spent the entire game following Qi Lu, who was jungling, and protecting him to perfection.

Rainbow Candy Baby: "Big brother~ Am I good?"

Random player: "Turn on voice and call me big brother, and I'll carry you next game."

Rainbow Candy Baby ignored him. "Jungle big brother~ Pay some attention to me, will you?"

After the match, Qi Lu clicked into that player's profile.

Good grief. Three global stars and nearly ten national stars, all on jungle heroes.

·

"I'm so tired. I can't play anymore. I'll take support and play with you," said Wei Xinglai, his mint-green hair tousled as he spoke lazily.

Qi Lu replied coldly, "Okay."

"I've played so many scrims today I'm about to throw up. I'll play support," Wei Xinglai went on, slacking off, his blond hair accented with colorful highlights.

Qi Lu was speechless, but still locked in jungle.

Finally, while Qi Lu was recovering from a hand injury and getting back into shape, he fumbled a play and was mocked: You call that jungling?

Wei Xinglai, his hair now iris blue, instantly bristled. "Who are you to talk about my jungler? Let's see how good you are."

He swept the loose hair off his forehead, sat up straight, and said, "Lulu, next game I'll jungle and you can support me. Seriously, as if I'm not a jungle king too..."

Qi Lu replied with something else. "Stop dyeing your hair so much. You'll go bald." Then he instantly switched his pick and locked in support.

Tips:

1. No real-life inspirations. The game is based on mobile MOBA tower-pushing games, and the competitions draw some inspiration from existing tournaments, but not much. A lot of it is made up.

2. There isn't much about the game because I'm not an expert. The main focus is a sweet romance.

3. Cold, abstinent, spell-slinging top x sunny, laid-back jungle king bottom. Happy ending. (P.S. The top's family situation is complicated and less than ideal. If that's not for you, please take note. But the bottom will always be his little ray of sunshine.)

--- You're So Cool on Your Skateboard --- ^_^ ---

Heng High has a top student and campus heartthrob who's been first in his grade for two years running. His name is Jiang Li, and he's also returned from overseas.

A school interview once asked him: How have you managed to stay at the top of your senior class for two years in a row?

Jiang Li scowled and ran a hand through his hair before answering, "I didn't do anything special. I just broke my wrist doing a bigspin before my first college entrance exam."

A bigspin is a fairly difficult trick on a double-kick skateboard.

Jiang Li is a big deal in Heng High's skateboarding club. To be honest, he's pretty famous throughout Hengwu City, too.

School interviewer: "That doesn't seem to have anything to do with coming first in your exams."

"Oh... I thought you were asking how I managed to be a high school senior for two years."

·

The top scorer from Heng High two years before Jiang Li was an art student. He later went to Hengwu Academy of Fine Arts. His academic scores alone would have been enough, but his art entrance scores were outstanding, too.

A legendary figure like that would always be admired by younger students, and the school would always remember him.

On Heng High's honors board, two spots above Jiang Li, was this person's photo. His surname was Chi, and his name was Chi Yu.

·

Hengwu City had a group of young skateboarders, with plenty of local skate crews organized by neighborhood.

Around Heng High and the nearby Hengwu Academy of Fine Arts, Jiang Li was the big brother.

It wasn't because he was arrogant or rich. He'd earned his standing with real skill, and everyone respected him.

So one day, after a monthly exam in his senior year, he skipped evening study and went to Hengwu Academy of Fine Arts to back up his good friend.

Jiang Li would remember that day for the rest of his life. Nine boards were laid out in front of him. He ran up and ollied over them, only to slide on his knees and crash right in front of someone, knocking over the fruit tea in their hand and soaking himself.

Luckily, the person was kind. They helped him up, handed him some tissues, and took him to their studio to change clothes.

In the studio, crowded with canvases, Jiang Li spotted a business card on the desk. This kind stranger was Chi Yu, the person whose photo had hung two places above his on the honors board.

Word on the street was that the head of Hengwu Academy of Fine Arts' skate club was an incredibly handsome dancer who rode a dance longboard, and had even performed jazz dance during military training.

Jiang Li believed it. The club president had sent someone to invite him to a skate competition, and at the event Jiang Li saw the president compete in person.

On a longboard, Chi Yu was dashing.

Jiang Li wasn't great at Chinese, and looking at Chi Yu, he momentarily forgot the other two characters that came after "dashing." Whatever the word was, it meant handsome.

Because Jiang Li stood out so much at the competition, the college girls soon dug up his entire nineteen-year history.

Looking at the blurry video, Chi Yu saw Jiang Li, barely ten years old, racing around a bowl with his cap on backward. His right arm was raised to keep his balance, and near his armpit was a blurry tattoo: "The great way is simple."

What a brat. He'd been a handful since he was little.

Ivan, a young double-kick skateboard prodigy known overseas, had his edges worn down by mountains of senior-year exam papers. The name he wrote on every test paper became Jiang Li.

Sometimes, he'd post pictures on Instagram of himself lying in the street, sleeping on his skateboard with exam papers covering him.

He said he was still the same person. He could be Ivan or Jiang Li, but now he had Chi Yu, too.

Tips:

1. Both are virgins. One-on-one romance, very sweet.

2. Brash, free-spirited, double-kick skateboarding puppy x gentle, slow-paced senior who studies art.

Theme: Strive for the summit