Chapter 1 — Middle Road Rules

"Disband the club. Convert the club room to another use. No buts, Ms. Châu."

The loud, resonant and powerful voice of Inspector Trần - who is affectionately called "Grim Reaper" by Hoàng Diệu High School students - fell on Bảo Châu's head like a thunderbolt.

In the cold supervision room (or because the air conditioner was set at 16 degrees), Bảo Châu, the class vice president of class 11A3 and President of the Electronic Sports Club (HD E-sports), was standing huddled with a thin activity report in her hand.

"Teacher, you can't do that!" Châu raised her head, her big round eyes opened as wide as possible, her voice full of pleading. "E-sports Club is our home. Furthermore, E-sports is now a medal-winning sport at the SEA Games. We must keep up with the trends of the times!"

"The trend of the times?" Teacher Trần smirked, pushed his glasses down his nose, pulled out a thick stack of papers from the drawer, and threw them on the table. "This is the trend of your club. For two years in a row, you have not been able to pass the district tournament qualifying round. Last week, your Jungle member was caught climbing the wall to skip class to go online. The common room is always full of soft drink bottles, snack wrappers and the sour smell of sweat. The kids from other schools call you 'Free ELO' (Free ELO). That's enough reason for me to reclaim the computer room and turn it into a physics laboratory, isn't it?"

Châu bit her lower lip, her face red with embarrassment. She couldn't argue a word, because... Teacher Trần was so right. HD E-sports' current lineup was truly a cosmic disaster.

The team's Top laner was a guy who only knew how to play one champion, and every time the opponent banned that champion, he was completely useless. The player who went to the Jungle was born blind, often getting lost in his own forest and being beaten to death by forest monsters. The gunner (AD Carry) insisted on playing through a flickering 3G network with a ping always at 200ms because "the feng shui of the Wi-Fi network was not suitable." As for Support... needless to say, he had chosen that position because he was too cowardly and never dared to hit anyone.

And the most disastrous: Last week, the team's only Mid laner had officially withdrawn to... focus on competing in Team V. The current squad did not even have five people.

"Teacher..." Châu used her final move, her eyes blinking with tears. "Give us one last chance. Next month is the start of the National High School E-sports Championship (NHEC). The biggest prize of the year!"

Teacher Trần looked at the little student who was clutching her hands tightly to the edge of the table and sighed softly. He didn't originally hate the game, he just hated the lack of discipline.

"Okay. One last chance," Teacher Trần tapped his fingers on the table. "Within the next month, if your club registers to join NHEC and makes it to the Regional Semifinals, I will keep the computer room intact and provide additional operating funds. If you fail, even in the first qualifying round, you will automatically pack up and check out."

"Semi... Regional semi-finals?" Châu swallowed her saliva. That was equivalent to having to defeat at least three of the strongest teams from specialized schools in the city. With the current "burdensome" squad, getting through the first qualifying round was still a miracle, let alone reaching the Semifinals.

"What? If we can't do it, then we'll disband from now on to save time," Teacher Trần raised his eyebrows.

"We can do it! We can definitely do it! Thank you, teacher!" Châu quickly grabbed the report, bowed, and ran straight out of the supervisor's room before he changed his mind.

***

Entering class 11A3, Châu was as limp as a withered banana leaf. She threw her schoolbag down on the table, collapsed, clutching her head and groaning.

"The team lacks Mid, their level is at the bottom of the table, and now they're forced to reach the Regional Semifinals KPI... I'll probably commit suicide with the computer mouse cable," Châu mumbled, her voice full of despair.

Next to Châu, at the last desk in the corner of the classroom (a position known as "inviolable territory"), Hải Đăng—a new transfer student at the beginning of the semester—was sitting hunched in a loose black hoodie, with the hood covering his head.

Hải Đăng was a strange person. He was extremely quiet, never participated in extracurricular activities, his grades were always barely passing, and he especially always wore headphones, kept his eyes glued to his phone, or slept face down on the table. A genuine "invisible" person.

At this time, during the class break, Đăng was busy typing on his phone, hidden under the desk drawer to avoid the classroom's surveillance cameras.

Châu dejectedly tilted her head to one side, her eyes accidentally glancing at her tablemate's phone screen.

She realized that the game Đăng was playing was not the MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) game that her club was competing in, but a Rhythm game that required extremely high reflex speed and accuracy, like Osu! or Piano Tiles hell version.

The phone screen was filled with colored blocks rushing down at breakneck speed. Any normal person looking at it would be dizzy within three seconds.

But not Hải Đăng.

Đăng's two thumbs slid across the phone glass at a speed that the naked eye could hardly catch. There was not a single redundant move. The typing rhythm was precise and steady, creating gentle but intense clicking sounds. His APM (Actions Per Minute) must have exceeded 300. The colored blocks fell densely like showers, but not a single block missed (Miss). The word "Perfect" kept bouncing on the screen.

Bảo Châu sat up, her sleepiness and boredom gone. Her eyes opened wide, fixed on Hải Đăng's moving hands.

Those were not the hands of a normal student who only knew how to use a phone for entertainment.

Châu was a passionate fan of professional E-sports. She used to spend hundreds of hours watching livestreams and analyzing matches (even though her practical skills were very bad). The boy's long, slender hands, flexible finger joints, and especially the way he slightly curled his index finger to create a fulcrum for his thumb to glide across the screen...

That move... so familiar. So familiar.

It was identical to the hand-cam habit of "Shadow"—the legendary former Mid laner of last year's national championship team, famous for his nickname "Magic Hand." Shadow had emerged as a rare phenomenon, sweeping every tournament with his superior personal skills, but then suddenly announced his retirement for unknown reasons right at the peak of his career eight months ago. Since then, no one knew where he had gone or what he had done. Shadow's face had rarely appeared clearly in the media because he always wore a black medical mask when competing.

The pounding electronic melody in Đăng's headphones ended. The screen displayed the word "FULL COMBO" brightly.

Đăng gently swiped the screen to exit the phone's main interface.

In the short tenth of a second before Đăng could lock the screen, Châu's owl eyes caught a fatal detail: His phone wallpaper was a dark background photo, with a logo of a stylized black crow silhouette.

That was exactly Shadow's personal logo, provided exclusively to players on the professional competition server. Outsiders could not download that high-resolution version online.

Châu's heart was pounding as if it wanted to jump out of her chest. She gulped, turned to look at her deskmate, who was taking off one of his headphones, preparing to lie face down on the table and continue sleeping.

"You..." Châu stammered, reaching out to shake Đăng's hoodie sleeve.

Đăng frowned, turned to look at her with cold eyes, a bit annoyed at being disturbed. "What?"

"You're Shadow, right?" Châu whispered but emphasized each word, her eyes staring at him as if burning. "The legendary Mid laner of team VG. The one who possesses the 'Magic Hand'. You are him!"

Đăng's face did not show any emotion. His eyes were as calm as a winter lake. No surprise, no panic.

"You've got the wrong person, class vice president," Đăng said, his voice steady without any hesitation, then pulled out the other earphone. "I don't know Shadow or light at all. I'm just a sleepy guy. Get out of my way, please."

After speaking, he collapsed face down on the table, covered his head with both arms, and turned her back to Châu, completely cutting off the conversation.

But Bảo Châu was not a girl who gave up easily. The forces of HD E-sports were standing on the edge of the abyss, and she had just found a god falling from the sky right next to her. If Shadow could be included in the squad, reaching the Regional Semifinals would be a piece of cake. No, they could even be champions!

Châu looked at Đăng's stiff back, the corner of her lips curled up into a sly smile.

"Deny it if you want, Hải Đăng," Châu mumbled loud enough for only her to hear. "But I will find a way to remove your mask. I will make you hold the mouse again, at any cost."