Luocheng admitted that amazing players were hidden like diamonds in the rough even among non-professionals, Shallow Dream for example. However, the chances of meeting such people were so minuscule that they might as well be ignored, but at the same time, they probably already had some form of experience in the e-sports scene already.
But until now, Shallow Dream had yet to upload any videos of her winning against professional players, because both Luocheng and Shallow Dream knew that aside from that one game with Bai Feng, there hadn’t been many encounters with professional players that had ended in their favour.
It was always the players who couldn’t get into the LPL but were still objectively stronger than most of the community that liked to stir things up. They shouldn’t be allowed to do as they pleased, someone needed to step up to show them true strength, to snip their arrogant little bud at the stem!
At first, he had admired Team Sunlight for being able to attract such a huge audience even though they hadn’t yet participated in the LPL, but after learning how they had gained so much attention, Luocheng took back any praise that he had ever said of them. The e-sports community had enough problems already, they didn’t need rats like these to continue fanning the flames!
“Hey, Luocheng, you have a phone call from our boss,” Duo Duo shouted out from behind the bar.
Luocheng took a deep breath to steady himself before walking to the bar.
“Boss Lei?” Luocheng asked.
“Yeah, he said he had something to discuss with you,” Duo Duo said.
Xiao Duo Duo was the manager, but Mr Lei was still the boss. Boss Lei didn’t make appearances at the cybercafe very often as he was apparently really busy managing businesses not only regarding high-end cybercafes in the Shanghai area, but also in various other industries.
Luocheng quite admired Boss Lei for thinking up all these unique marketing strategies to entice players and create a pleasing e-sports atmosphere in the club. It was just too bad that some people had been twisted by those dirty rats who had misconstrued what it truly meant to be a professional e-sports player.
“Luocheng, news on QQ has already spread to different districts, you’ve been seeing a lot more challengers on the battle stage, haven’t you?” Boss Lei said.
Boss Lei knew that Luocheng was the Fighting Hawk and he had always thought that a first-rate player like him was wasting his talents staying in a dingy club like his. After all, his club couldn’t be compared to other larger Entertainment Companies. Boss Lei probably thought that a God like Luocheng had probably gotten fed up having to face these random teams.
“Yeah, we’ve been pretty busy.” Luocheng nodded to nobody in particular.
“Right, the thing is, I plan on advertising our Demacia Cafe even further and I’ve spent a little more money this time to invite some guys over from the E-sports Storm to come over to Demacia Cafe to interview you guys and share the news about our battle stage’s challenging system. We’ll arrange a team for you to go against.” Boss Lei said
“Okay,” Luocheng replied.
“I wanted to ask, do you also want to make your announcement then?” Boss Lei queried.
Luocheng always wore his glasses in Demacia Cafe. Ever since he had grown his hair out a bit, even though a lot of people said that Luocheng looked a lot like Team Skycrown’s Fighting Hawk, they would quickly retract that statement after watching a few of his troll games.
Even though Team Skycrown were playing as the defending team, their actual team name hadn’t been made known to the public, and Boss Lei figured that as the prize money continued to surge and their true strength started to show in-game, their identities may be dug up before the start of the LPL Season.
Rather than allowing that to happen, Boss Lei felt that it would be better if they just uncovered their identities publically, and by inviting people from the media, he could make Demacia Cafe a household name overnight!
“Sure, let’s make it public!” Luocheng nodded again.
They had already discussed this several times before and Boss Lei had held his head high and constantly reassured him that no matter how dirty Sky Club played, there was no way they would dare mess with Boss Lei’s property, and thus, Luocheng didn’t have to worry whatsoever.
Boss Lei wanted to expand his cybercafes soon as with the recent influx of new regulars, he could already see that there weren’t enough computers to go around.
A lot of them had bought weekly or monthly passes too. Most of the people who came to Demacia Cafe came to get a down-to-earth experience to play with their friends, but if they had to wait for spots like some other popular cybercafes, that would just ruin the atmosphere they had worked so hard to create!
Boss Lei wanted to expand Demacia Cafe, but it wasn’t enough to just rely on a single media outlet’s publication, that would still leave them unable to build up a long-term customer base or popularity.
However, if they used this opportunity to announce that their defending team was the one and only Team Skycrown that had been on a so-called “hiatus”, they could make waves on the internet and the larger e-sports industry!
Having LPL stars sit on the throne of their cybercafe, how cool was that!
With this sort of news being spread, who would dare oppose Demacia Cafe’s spot as the number one cybercafe in Shanghai!?
Boss Lei walked the high road in life, and someone like the Fighting Hawk was exactly what he needed to skyrocket Demacia Cafe to new heights within the e-sports community!
Luocheng’s thoughts on the matter had seen quite a shift too.
He couldn’t stay quiet anymore, he was going to be the one to lead their country’s e-sports industry to the global level after all, how could he continue to cower and hide in the shadows? Since they were able to find a cybercafe that didn’t fear Sky Club in the slightest, not to mention the fact that they were able to find an ingenious manager who had incredible ideas on how to change the e-sports industry for the better, why not try to make his name known now? He wasn’t going to let those petty and pitiful people pollute true e-sports by using their fame and popularity.
Sky Club only knew one thing, which was how to make money. If they let this sort of organization shoulder the responsibility of building up the e-sports industry, their demise was pretty much inevitable!
Team Daemons had worked hard to build up recognition for e-sports within China, but luck never seemed to be on their side as they had yet to gain an international victory.
Even if their team was full of nobodies, people who were finding shelter in a small cybercafe, Luocheng knew that he could do something!
At least through this encounter with the media, he would be able to get rid of this spread of misinformation once and for all!
***
November came, and advertisements about Demacia Cafe were popping up all over the internet.
Boss Lei was rich, like, really, ridiculously rich, and only God knows how much money he used to cover the Shanghai section of the internet in promotion, but one thing was for sure, everyone in the country was talking about the one and only Demacia Cafe!
The Shanghai E-sports Storm had their own TV channel, and they collaborated with the CCTV to conduct an exclusive interview at Demacia Cafe to cover this sudden burst in popularity.
Cameras, hosts, reporters, managers, even if it lacked a little of the atmosphere you would get from an in-person interview from the CCTV, with a whole camera crew at your doorstep waiting to shoot a program, it was exhilarating nonetheless.
“Cybercafes were all the rage some four or five years ago and it had been the turning point for our society to enter the digital, information-filled era that we live in today. Yet, with the rise of the smartphone industry that allowed people to have mini-computers at the ready whenever and wherever they wanted, the golden age of cybercafes fell into a slump. A lot of experts had predicted that the cybercafe industry would continue to lose its popularity and become obsolete as they were replaced by at-home computers and handphones.
“But, was this booming industry really going out of fashion?
“Today, on the Shanghai District Tencent news report, a League of Legends focused cybercafe has forgone the pay-per-hour system of traditional cybercafes and has instead opted for a system similar to the VIP members of various entertainment companies or clubs. Founded with the main purpose of gathering LOL enthusiasts from around the country and creating a pleasant atmosphere of e-sports, Demacia Cafe has created the best form of LOL competition spectating, similar to the systems found in entertainment companies and the like. According to reports, some hundreds of people had gathered here to watch the S International League deep into the night.”
“Besides that, this cybercafe has also created a unique challenging system which is known as Battle Stage. Any team can issue a challenge against the current defending team, and if they were to defeat the defending team, they would be able to take home the accumulating prize money that is sitting pristinely inside a glass case!”
“Until today, the cash prize has already accumulated to a whopping 30,000 yuan and there seems to be no signs of stopping soon!
“This new form of cybercafe management, the trendy Battle Stage challenging system, how this cybercafe has continued to grow and evolve in the slowly secluded cybercafe industry, attracting packs and packs of new customers to come in and spend, let’s go in and find out together!”
The black-suited television hostess filmed the intro with fluent, languid words while a larger man held a cannon-sized camera on his shoulders, keeping his hands steady until the hostess finished her speech.
Demacia Cafe stood proudly as the background of the hostess, the bright, bold letters and atmosphere giving off a sense of closeness that was unique to the bonds formed between gaming friends!
***
The media reporters had come unannounced, but Boss Lei had made everyone involved rehearse their parts multiple times, determined not to show any faults in his establishment.
The hostess began by showing off Demacia Cafe with a continuous following shot, not holding back on compliments for the fine establishment either.
Cybercafes had always made people think of dimly lit rooms filled with a cluttered mess of rolling chairs, keyboards, and spilled drinks.
However, Demacia Cafe was decorated to look like a combination of a romantic cafe and a melancholic bar.
Sure, you could come here to surf the internet, but you could also come here just to chat over a cup of coffee or share experiences of LOL while nursing a cup of alcohol. If the urge ever came, a computer would always be open for you to play a round yourself, or if you’d rather watch from the sidelines, the lounge provided a comfortable viewing area for guests.
Of course, the main attraction was still the Battle Stage. A few regulars had already made it a habit, and whenever there was a game going on at the Battle Stage, they would find their own spots and watch while drinking their beers. Some of the more talkative ones would be right there to provide explanations to whoever wanted them, or to just discuss whatever scandal was making its rounds on the internet without a care in the world.
After a look around Demacia Cafe, the spotlight was then turned to the Battle Stage, the highlight of the interview.
Boss Lei had already informed them that the media reporters were going to record a full game from the Battle Stage. Upon hearing this, Luocheng was once again impressed by the amount of wealth Boss Lei had to be able to do things like that. Television studios charge by the minute, you know!
Of course if it was the television studio who wanted to get the inside scoop, the situation would have been different, but the chances of that happening were slim to none.
Well, since it was going to be a broadcasted match, Luocheng couldn’t let Xiao Ya keep playing in his stead.
It was about time he took matters into his own hands, but it would have been better if it wasn’t just an exhibition match that Boss Lei had arranged. After all, if it was Luocheng who was playing for Team Skycrown, they would reign undefeated!
