Chapter 1: Prologue: The Demon on Lost Temple

Prologue: The Demon on Lost Temple

Countless eyes were fixed on the podium, waiting to witness the birth of a legend.

The characters on the giant screen were still pulsing persistently when the host finally walked out:

"I am extremely honored to announce to everyone that this year's WCG tournament has officially concluded! The results for the final event, 'StarCraft,' are in. As you can see on the giant screen, =LOST=Lucifer has defeated South Korea's Slayers_Boxer on his signature map, Lost Temple, to become the champion of this tournament! Furthermore, for the first time, a female player has appeared in the top ten; the player =M-Q=^_^*Xuer from China has taken 9th place..."

No one was listening to the rest of the speech. A young man in the stands shouted, "He actually pulled it off?!"

The host spread his hands: "That's right. And we have just received confirmed information: the champion of the Quake tournament, who edged out Rocketboy by two points, L.L, is actually another ID belonging to the player =LOST=Lucifer!"

"In other words, Li Lin has successfully secured the championship in all three events of this tournament!"

The crowd erupted into an uproar.

One must know that the WCG is known as the Olympics of competitive gaming. The skill level of the participants is incredibly high, and upsets are rare; therefore, the final showdowns usually take place among a few familiar star players.

Yet, this year's tournament left all the experts stunned.

In the CS tournament, an unknown team that had stumbled its way from the qualifiers into the final bracket, =LOST=, had swept the favorites, the =EVIL= team, 13:4 and 13:1 in the Round of 16, before charging all the way to the championship, capturing the attention of countless gaming fans.

Even more absurdly, the team's captain had participated in the StarCraft and Warcraft 3 tournaments under his own name, though he only managed 15th place in the Warcraft competition.

Among the spectators watching this StarCraft match, many were actually CS players. They had come to see just how far this cocky captain—who skipped the CS semifinals to focus on his StarCraft qualifiers, claiming with righteous indignation that "CS can reach the finals without me" while getting eliminated from StarCraft because he didn't play—could go in the StarCraft finals, which were teeming with experts.

If, at the beginning, people were just watching for the spectacle of a CSer neglecting his duties to play StarCraft, most people's perspectives had completely changed after the quarterfinals. Because in this round, this guy had actually defeated the world's then-number-one Protoss expert—X’Ds`Grrr!

Grrr, famous throughout the world for his micro-management and suppression, could only scramble to deal with Lucifer's harassment on the soil of Lost Temple. When he finally gathered a squad and a half of Dragoons and half a squad of High Templars to launch an attack, the opponent cleverly picked off his detection and used a few Dark Templars to drive him back to his base. After a flurry of panic, Grrr finally wiped out these ghost-like Dark Templars, but a squad of the game's ultimate unit—Carriers—had already appeared at his base... One must know that in matches of this level, Carriers rarely appear in groups because the resources required for mass production are simply too high; opponents would easily notice and wipe you out during the vulnerable period before your Carriers appeared. But if a group of Carriers truly appeared...

That meant the game was over...

Grrr did not leave his seat for a long time; he didn't even take off his headset. He stared blankly at the replay, muttering a single word: "...Lucifer (Demon)..."

And so, after this match, the nickname "The Demon on Lost Temple" spread like wildfire. People speculated: just how far could this demon go?

Having said this, one can probably imagine the commotion in the crowd when the host revealed that the Quake champion was also this same guy. But until the crowd slowly quieted down, this legendary demon still hadn't shown his face... The flamboyant host finally cleared his throat and said:

"Additionally, after today's matches, team member A of the =LOST= team informed me that their captain will not be attending the awards ceremony, and furthermore... right after this tournament..."

"=LOST= team announces its disbandment!"

The sudden news finally caused the crowd to explode, and the host's voice was drowned out by the clamor.

In a corner of the crowd, a cold-faced youth muttered to himself: "Bastard~~! You want to run just because you won? I, Ling Tian, will definitely drag you out!"

>>>>>>

"Hey, hey, Boss, look, the newspaper is talking about us again!" Xu Ge, the former vice-captain of the =LOST= team and my good friend, was waving a newspaper at me, gesticulating wildly.

"It's been three months, aren't you tired of it yet, Team Member A? Move aside, don't get in the way of my shooting!" I threw the ball with impatience. Yes! Swish!

"I'm telling you, Comrade Captain, for three months people have been endlessly speculating about why we disbanded. This time it's that flamboyant host's theory. This guy is really more than just annoying..."

Xu Ge seemed to be holding a grudge about becoming "Team Member A" in the host's mouth.

"But his theory is actually quite logical... He said the =LOST= captain was terminally ill and didn't have long to live, and the team members disbanded out of mourning for the captain..." This guy really doesn't know what's good for him...

Whoosh! The ball in my hand whistled out, but Xu Ge was prepared and caught it steadily. "Big Brother, throwing it at me is useless. Why don't you go out and announce the reason for the disbandment? It would save a bunch of people from guessing wildly."

"How do you want me to say it? Say that because two main players failed their college entrance exams and got sent to the Northwest, two others graduated and went to work in Guangdong, the captain is about to start his senior internship, and there's one idiot left who wants to go abroad! Resulting in the team's disbandment? If I said that, wouldn't I become a laughingstock for those people?" I looked depressed.

Xu Ge acted enlightened. "Is that so... So Yang Mo and Xiao K got into schools in the Northwest?"

"Yang Mo went to Lanzhou University of Technology to tinker with computers, and Xiao K went to Gansu Agricultural University to learn how to farm..."

"Sweat... What about Andy and Old Gun?"

"One went to Zhuhai, the other to Shenzhen. They've already graduated from college; they have to support themselves..."

"So, that means we're the only ones left stranded in Beijing?"

"You still have the nerve to say that! Your flight is tonight, right? Tomorrow, I'll be the only one left..."

"I'll miss you when I get to New Zealand... Why don't we go play some computer games now? Consider it a farewell match!?" This guy gets excited whenever games are mentioned.

But I didn't have the mood for it. I grabbed him and headed for the door.

"Let's just go get a meal together... consider it a farewell... we've already spent too much time on games..." I felt a bit sentimental. "Of course, you're paying..."

Xu Ge: "..."

>>>>>>

"Give you ten thousand years, can you use your hard bones and your heart full of fresh red blood to build a towering city wall for that unreachable domain in your heart? Give you one second, can you destroy this wall, flatten the scarred ravines in your heart, and return to the primordial chaos where seaweed tangles with jellyfish and the vast sea connects to the firmament?..."

"Boss! Boss! I beg you! Can you not get so emotional?" Xu Ge had shrunk into the corner of his seat. "And why does this passage sound a bit familiar?..."

I glared. "Give you a grenade, can you use the AK in your hand and your helmet-less armor to carve out a bloody path and place it steadily on the head of the police chief? Give you a Hydralisk, can you rely on its fragile armor and fresh green saliva to sink an aircraft carrier soaring in the endless clear sky?..."

"I can't!!... Boss, I beg you! Stop drinking! I'll pay, okay?" Xu Ge was almost crying.

I tilted my head back and grabbed the beer bottle again. "Give you a bottle of beer, you..."

When I woke up again, I was already sleeping in my own dormitory bed.

I struggled to climb up and pour a glass of water, raising it toward the starry sky outside the window.

"Brother! Have a safe journey!"

I prayed silently and drank the water in one gulp.

And the scenes from two years ago, when I first walked onto the university campus, flashed before my eyes like a slide show....

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