The glory days before eighteen, as brilliant as they were on the KPL arena, were followed by a swift decline after eighteen.
He didn't vanish from the arena overnight; instead, he lost match after match, shattering his legendary status and forcing him off the competitive stage.
Sheng Kuang's performance began to falter in the playoffs of the 2019 KPL Autumn Season. The first loss was met with a resilient mindset from many fans. There are wins and losses in competitions. He had a large fanbase, which naturally attracted many anti-fans. Although many mocked him for being unskilled at the time, his numerous fans couldn't be outweighed. The online sentiment at the time was overwhelmingly supportive.
As he continued to lose more matches and his record grew increasingly dismal, the narrative shifted from initial encouragement to widespread calls of "Sheng Kuang, get out of KPL."
He then exited the KPL stage with the worst performance of his competitive career.
Since then, Sheng Kuang has neither streamed, participated in exhibition matches, nor appeared on any social media platforms.
He seemed to have evaporated from the face of the earth, disappearing from public view.
Were it not for his loyal fans who, from time to time, kept his name alive online, he might have been completely forgotten by now.
The dormitory building at eight in the evening was a bit noisy, with someone in the hallway singing a rather pleasant tune.
Lin Jing sat at her desk, scrolling through comments online.
"What kind of garbage play was that last match, were they using their feet?"
"The smite was available when taking the dragon, and they didn't use it. This isn't lack of skill, it's mental deficiency."
"Hurry up and get a job in a factory, stop embarrassing yourself here."
"Are you sure you were competing and not sleepwalking?"
"..."
It's been two years, and the insults online haven't changed much from before.
Lin Jing found it hard to distinguish whether she was living in the present or two years in the past.
She stared fixedly at the computer screen for a while before blinking gently, then scrolling with her mouse to re-read the comments section.
Just not long ago, the comments were full of praise. In only a few hours, the tone had reversed so drastically.
It felt like a dream, yet it wasn't.
People always have the most leniency towards new faces and new things.
For someone who has collapsed once, standing up and being recognized is far more challenging than the first time.
Thus, two years later, Sheng Kuang earned recognition for his skill through a winning streak, but that recognized skill was so fragile that a single loss could shatter it.
The more Lin Jing read, the more suffocating she felt. Eventually, she couldn't bear it and closed her laptop.
The singing in the hallway finally ceased, and the world fell into a brief silence.
Lin Jing held her phone, opening and closing WeChat repeatedly. She finally tapped on Chen Jing's profile picture.
"...Are you guys doing okay?"
"...What are you doing?"
"...You guys..."
Lin Jing felt that these phrases were all inappropriate. After much thought, she finally sent: "Have you guys eaten?"
Chen Jing replied quickly: "Yes."
Lin Jing bit her lip. Just as she typed "Where's Sheng Kuang," another message popped up: "Sheng Kuang hasn't eaten."
Lin Jing opened her mouth and deleted the typed words.
Xiao Jing酱: Is he... okay?
景老板: Not really.
Chen Jing, perhaps finding typing tedious, quickly sent a rather long voice message: "After the match ended, he locked himself in the bathroom for half an hour. When he came out, he said two words to us: 'Mine.' After that, we went back to the hotel, and he hasn't left his room since. He's not answering calls, not replying to messages. Mosquitoes knocked several times, and he didn't open the door, which was also locked from the inside. The front desk made a new key card, but they couldn't get in. Basically, he's shut himself off."
Before Lin Jing could reply to Chen Jing after listening to the voice message, another message from Chen Jing arrived: "Little Lin, why don't you try?"
Lin Jing replied with an "Mm," then thought for a moment and asked Chen Jing again: "Which hotel are you staying at?"
Chen Jing quickly sent a location: "Why are you asking?"
Xiao Jing酱: Nothing, just asking.
景老板: Oh, oh.
Lin Jing didn't reply to Chen Jing and exited their chat. She looked at Sheng Kuang's profile picture at the top for two seconds and sent a cute emoji.
Sheng Kuang didn't reply. Five minutes later, she made a voice call, but no one answered.
Another five minutes passed, and she made a phone call, which also went unanswered.
Lin Jing suddenly felt extremely annoyed. She sat silently, staring at her phone for a long time, until it suddenly chimed, and the screen lit up. She reflexively looked at the screen.
It was a push notification from the game Honor of Kings.
She sighed with disappointment and glanced at the time at the top of the screen.
Half-past eight.
It didn't seem too late.
She thought for two seconds, grabbed the bag next to her, checked it, confirmed her ID was there, and then pushed her desk away and stood up. She picked up her phone and left the dormitory.
She ran to the school gate and was about to hail a taxi when a car pulled up in front of her.
The car door opened, and two boys got out. Quite coincidentally, they were from her class.
One of them called her name. Lin Jing hurriedly returned the greeting and bent down to ask the driver, "Driver, are we going?"
"Yes," the driver asked, "Where to?"
Lin Jing got into the car, and before closing the door, she said two words: "Airport."