The day Sheng Kuang first stepped onto the KPL competition stage was a Saturday.
It was around the end of September, less than a month after Lin Jing had started her second year of high school.
Jiang Wan rarely interfered with her, but she had arranged many tutoring classes for her. Lin Jing remembered very clearly that after lunch that day, she packed her schoolbag and went to tutoring. When she arrived, the sky was still clear, and the sun was so bright it made her eyes water. By the time she finished her lessons, a storm was brewing.
The tutoring center was not far from home, and she wanted to run back before the rain started.
However, when she reached the downstairs of her building, she realized she had rushed out at noon and forgotten her access card.
She called Jiang Wan, but Jiang Wan didn't answer. Big drops of rain began to fall from the sky, hitting the cars with a thudding sound. It was then she realized it wasn't rain, but hail.
The weather was terrible, and not many people were moving around the complex. She couldn't stand in the rain and get hit, so she ran to the security post, holding her schoolbag over her head.
Across the street, she saw someone who looked very much like Lin Zhengru, who had divorced Jiang Wan about half a year ago.
Without much hesitation, she chased after him.
The security guard, who saw her come and go every day, recognized her. Seeing her running out into the street in the heavy rain, he poked his head out and kept calling her. She pretended not to hear and chased desperately, but ultimately couldn't catch up. Lin Zhengru got into a car, and in the blink of an eye, the car disappeared onto the main road.
The ground was covered in water, and her clothes were soaked. She had run so fast that she tripped and fell.
She didn't remember if the fall hurt a lot or just a little at the time, but she felt intense pain, so much so that she squatted on the ground and started crying.
A bus drove past her and stopped in front of her.
At that moment, her only thought was that even if the world ended at that instant, it wouldn't matter to her.
She buried her face in her knees and cried with all her might.
Only when someone stood in front of her, and the rain that had been pelting her suddenly stopped, did she gradually cease her sobs and look up. SuDan Novel Network
A young boy stood beside her, holding a large black umbrella.
She froze for a moment. Before she could get a clear look at the boy's face, someone from the bus not far away leaned out and called to him. The boy didn't speak, he bent down, placed the umbrella by her side, and walked away against the wind and rain.
When she snapped back to reality, the boy had already boarded the bus. He was drenched, and the people on the bus had already handed him a thick towel the moment he stepped inside.
Then, the bus door closed, and it drove away.
A gust of wind blew, causing the large black umbrella in front of her to roll twice on the ground. She instinctively reached out and grabbed a corner of the umbrella.
Jiang Wan called her back and arranged for one of her students to bring her a key.
The student left after dropping off the key. Lin Jing took off her damp clothes, took a hot shower, and slowly drank about half a cup of hot water. Once she felt warm all over, she turned to look at the umbrella she had casually placed by the door.
She put down her cup, jumped off her chair, and shuffled over.
The umbrella was unremarkable, black and nothing else. She held it and examined it for a while. On a very inconspicuous spot on the handle, she spotted a tiny logo with three letters printed inside – gdt.
She didn't quite understand what it was and looked it up online. She then found the gdt team and, by chance, stumbled upon a live broadcast of a KPL match.
Then, she saw many young boys taking the stage. One of them wasn't wearing a team uniform, but a simple white short-sleeved shirt. He stood there, exceptionally striking, with very fair skin and an arrogant, defiant expression.
When the camera focused on him, the commentator introduced him: "This is gdt's jungler, miracle."
At that time, in the wind and rain, she hadn't heard very clearly what the people on the bus were shouting.
But hearing the commentator's introduction, she realized that the people on the bus had been calling out "miracle."
At that time, she didn't understand what KPL was, nor had she played Honor of Kings. It was his first competition, and her first time watching one. She didn't understand the entire match at all. She didn't even know which hero in the game corresponded to the names the commentators mentioned. But she remembered gdt and miracle.
From that moment on, she gradually learned about Honor of Kings, about esports competitions, and understood every hero in the game. Eventually, she became so familiar that she could remember the names of every star player in the KPL and recite every classic hero line in the game flawlessly.
She watched Sheng Kuang debut, watched him rise to stardom step by step, and watched him inexplicably fall.
Over the years, she had silently supported and followed him through every step of his journey.
Whether at his peak or in his lowest moments, she had never left his side.
For her, his confident and flamboyant presence on the competition stage was the strength that carried her through the most difficult times.
Even when it was revealed that he liked men, she hadn't felt much resistance.
She simply felt it was his personal preference, which she could disagree with but not interfere with.
But now, he was telling her that his seemingly settled personal preference was actually fake?
Lin Jing truly felt that her understanding of the past few years had been overturned, and her mind was spinning a little from his words.
She even began to doubt if she had misheard him.
After a long silence, she looked at Sheng Kuang beside her: "Are you... bi?"