Chapter 122: Crazy, right!

Ka Lao Si transferred 908 yuan to Liang Yan.

— The number 908 should have been Liang Yan's true record with that spider.

Afterwards, they saw Riot's "whole activity" announcement via someone else's repost. After reading the full announcement on his phone, Liang Yan remained speechless for a long time.

Apart from Riot really knowing how to have fun, he had nothing else to say.

However, this big stunt that Riot pulled is advantageous for Liang Yan.

Leaving other things aside, this is the first time in League of Legends history that Riot, in an official capacity, has bestowed an honor upon a player.

Although it's of a "whole activity" nature.

But netizens naturally love such stunts; compared to later rankings like top ten or top twenty players, most people are actually more interested in Riot's official "big stunt".

This brought Liang Yan an unexpected surge in popularity.

Originally, Liang Yan's livestream popularity had recently stabilized, stuck at a certain number; he also knew this was a bottleneck, and he didn't expect much change before achieving some world tournament results.

As it turned out, he hadn't expected Riot to pull this stunt; when Liang Yan went live that evening, his livertraffic surged to a new peak, paid subscriptions headed straight for fifty thousand, and gifts and tips kept coming nonstop from start to finish of the broadcast.

What Liang Yan didn't know was that his popularity in China also experienced explosive growth; if he opened an account on Weibo now, he could gain hundreds of thousands of followers in a day.

The LPL has never won an S-series championship to date, and netizens have long craved a respectable honor.

Not to mention WE's IPL5 trophy from S2 season still being bragged about to this day, UZI's two world runner‑up finishes would directly make him the world's first ADC, EDG last year won an MSI championship and thus became the world's number one jungler, even though EDG lost 4‑0 to FNC in S5, the Factory still has countless fans, because compared to the old godfather of the First Seed's top‑16, EDG at least made it to the quarterfinals.

After one S5 season, the whole LPL was a mess.

Netizens really had nothing left to brag about, yet they refused to admit the LPL was inferior to Europe and America, so they just ended up entertaining themselves.

Who would have thought Riot would pull off such a big move all at once; although it's just a stunt, the scale is genuinely grand.

Another global announcement,

Another compensation payment,

Another apology and thanks,

Another lifetime honor——damn, they even sent trophies and certificates!

Domestic netizens were first bewildered.

Then they went wild with joy!

Although Liang Yan isn't an LPL player, he's Chinese!

Rounding off, isn't he basically one of us? What's the problem?

When has the LPL ever seen a player receive such attention from Riot and the overseas netizens? This is like a scorpion pulling dung—unique!

It's simply freaking awesome!!

Making a big fanfare isn't necessary; LPL netizens are all low‑key, so many just act dismissive on the surface, saying 'oh it's just a stunt, no real value,' while inside they're excited, and offline they can brag for ages to people who don't play LoL.

The heat of this matter really broke out of its circle.

Of course, it's not just domestic; overseas the heat is explosive too.

After all, Riot personally handled it.

Then the Korean netizens started to get sour.

【Wow, congratulations to player Firrrrrre on securing his first ever global honor in his career; its value far exceeds that of a regular‑season MVP~】

【In our LCK, only players who own a world‑championship skin are respected; this honor of being killed by a Bug is actually a disgrace】

【A rookie who just debuted, is he worth this much attention? Crazy, right!】

【I think it's deliberate】

【Faker has won two S titles and never mentioned the Bug thing; EU players who can't win matches start researching how to get killed by the defense tower just to attract eyeballs.】

【Yes, EU has gone broke from lack of skill, so they can only resort to stunts to make up numbers.】

【Congratulations Firrrrrre, the first tower's attack power is -1; from now on EU and LPL top laners will finally be able to beat the first tower】

【Suggest Riot lock Firrrrrre's KDA permanently at zero deaths, so he won't have to worry about being illegally executed by the defense tower again】

All in all, it amounts to the same thing: Firrrrrre isn't gaining attention through skill or big‑match results, but through a single Bug and Riot's excessive PR.

Hmm, that's right.

Liang Yan saw the Korean netizens' comments reposted on the Tieba forum, yet he wasn't angry at all.

Because, although those comments were sour, they were basically reasonable.

They were just a bit impatient.

Liang Yan isn't in a hurry; S6 is coming soon, and then he'll want to see what this bunch of corn people will have to say.

……

Two days later, Riot's trophy and honor certificate really arrived.

Liang Yan, not doing things by halves, held the trophy, embraced the certificate, stood at the gate of the base, had Ka Lao Si take a photo of him, and posted it on his personal Twitter.

【Hello everyone, I am "Eternal Enemy of the Defense Tower" Firrrrrre.

【Thank you Riot for the award; I actually feel unworthy of it, but having said that, the trophy is really well‑made, and the certificate is too—even the framing is made of fragrant rosewood, truly exquisite.

【trophy. jpg

【certificate. jpg】

Countless LPL netizens climbed over the firewall to comment:

【Damn, that frame is really handsome!】

【Indeed exquisite, Riot really put thought into it】

【At a glance it's genuine—definitely expensive rosewood!】

【Congrats! By the way, when is Jiao Shen coming back? LPL needs you!】

Later, Liang Yan scrolled to that comment and couldn't help laughing, because he recalled a famous saying:

Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river—don't bully the young and poor!

Now you're hoping I'll go back?

Then keep hoping, I have to go to Bo Lan to get supplies now.

……

Three days later, the Europe Region third-place match kicks off.

The opponent is UOL.

For H2K, this Bo5 match could perhaps be called one of the most important matches in the team's history.

Because this determines whether they have a chance to directly obtain the second seed spot for the Europe Region in the S6 World Championship.

As of now, including today's match, the entire Europe Region postseason has only two Bo5 matches left.

The other match is the final, with the sides being SPY and G2.

SPY's rise as a dark horse is indeed unexpected; they didn't even make the postseason in the spring split—in other words, SPY earned zero World Championship points in the spring split.

H2K, however, made it to the semifinals in the spring split.

If H2K can win this third-place match, that would be summer third plus spring fourth, for a total of 100 World Championship points.

And unless SPY beats G2 in the final to win the summer championship, even if they are the season's runners-up, their World Championship points would only be 90, still less than H2K's.

Other teams that appear to threaten H2K are:

The spring split's second-place team OG failed to make the summer postseason, their 70 World Championship points went down the drain, and they didn't even qualify for the play‑in.

The spring split's third-place team FNC was eliminated by H2K in the first round of this postseason, earning only a 20‑point safety net; added to their spring total of 70 points, they can play in the play‑in, but they can forget about the second seed.

UOL is even less of a concern—they only got 10 points in spring; even if they beat H2K this match they'd have 80, tying fourth‑place H2K, but the second seed will likely go to SPY.

You say G2?

If G2 really loses to SPY, then there's nothing to say—the second seed will definitely be G2's, and H2K will just have to honestly go play the play‑in.

But looking rationally, judging from their performance crushing UOL in the previous match, G2's chance of winning the championship is practically limitless.

So H2K just needs to do its own job.

Win the third‑place match, then advance!