Chapter 230

October 22, Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York State, North America.

This is the home court of the NBA Knicks, and it has also hosted the NBA Finals countless times; numerous basketball legends have set record after record, leaving behind one exciting shot after another, and staging one world-famous classic game after another.

Today, the opening match of the League of Legends S6 World Championship semifinals is being held here.

Figure: S6 semifinal venue.

ROX vs SSG.

SSG took the first game, after which ROX pulled out the ice + marksman double marksman combo successfully developed by support GorillA after finishing the quarterfinals, and won two straight games.

Samsung realized that this weird pick was a counter to Janna's item, so in game four they stopped insisting on picking Janna, instead going all‑in with strong supports, first‑picking Karma, and ultimately, thanks to the outstanding performance of Anchor Master Mang Seng, they leveled the score.

The match entered the deciding game.

The G2 Zhong Ren were all in casual wear, wearing masks and baseball caps, scattered in small groups, sitting in the front rows of the audience.

Tang Anna sat beside Liang Yan.

It proves that when a match is a true showdown of strong opponents, whoever it is cannot help but feel that immersive tension.

When the ban‑pick phase of the deciding game was halfway through, Tang Anna couldn't help lean in close to Liang Yan and ask:

"Who do you think will win?"

Liang Yan turned his head to glance at Tang Anna, whose face was less than 20 centimeters away; under the dim red light, her eyes were dark and shiny.

Liang Yan did not answer immediately, turning his head to look at the big screen.

With three seconds left in the champion select, Samsung finally locked in Bo Bi on the third pick; immediately, red side ROX countered Bo Bi with an instant lock on Mang Seng, and then quickly locked in Cassiopeia on the fourth pick.

"ROX."

Tang Anna actually didn't hear what Liang Yan said, but she guessed the answer from his lip movements, because saying "Samsung" only takes two mouth movements, while "ROX" takes three.

"Why?"

"Samsung lacks confidence."

"What?"

"Confidence!"

Liang Yan has always believed that when a best‑of‑five reaches the deciding game, what matters most is no longer lineup, tactics, or skill, but mentality.

Put simply, whoever has more confidence can perform better.

And Liang Yan's prediction ultimately came true.

More than forty minutes later, in order to gain a better lane position and vision before the next Baron respawns, the five players from each team faced off in the Zhong Lu, vying for lane control.

After the previous wave was cleared, Xiao Huasheng Mang Seng, who had looped from the river to the flank of SSG's formation, boldly attacked—landing a stunning Q‑to‑minion, auto‑attack‑to‑eye, R‑flash that dragged Cuvee's Kennen, hiding in the rear, back into his own team's formation, then he pulled away.

Kennen was instantly killed, Xiao Huasheng continued to provide a persistent back‑line threat from the side, Samsung fell into chaos, and the team fight ended in a crushing defeat.

After ROX won the team fight with a 1‑for‑3 trade, they easily took the Baron.

Samsung's players showed signs of a broken mentality, and in the next two minutes ROX used the Baron buff to destroy two lanes' outer turrets in succession.

ROX secured the win, calmly waiting for the Elder Dragon to respawn, then used two super minion waves to pull Samsung apart, found the chance and in one fell swoop took the Elder Dragon, then rushed to the upper half of the river, drove off the Samsung players who were trying to sneak a Baron steal, then took the Baron again; with both dragon buffs in hand, ROX surged straight onto Samsung's high ground.

Just over fifty minutes in, the live casters shouted congratulations to ROX.

……

After watching the match, the G2 Zhong Ren returned to the hotel, brought in the practice squad H2K, and spent two hours conducting an in‑depth review of the just‑finished semifinal Bo5.

Then they began playing practice matches.

Indeed, after H2K was eliminated in the quarterfinals, they did not leave; instead, at the invitation of Ka Lao Si, they flew with the team to New York to serve as practice partners for G2.

Of course, Ka Lao Si had paid them. But if G2 could make it past the semifinals, H2K would be willing to continue as their practice partners for free.

The reason G2 had to pay H2K for practice was, first of all, because they considered that the semifinals might leave them without any practice opponents.

The semifinal situation was LCK's three‑to‑one advantage, the weakling teams whose relative strength was unclear had already been eliminated, the situation was already clear, and some things were obvious to everyone.

Thus, without any surprise, after the quarterfinals ended, the other half‑bracket's SSG and ROX both firmly rejected G2's request for a scrimmage.

At this point, the LCK was utterly united.

The two teams in the opposite half‑bracket were only scheduling practice matches with G2's semifinal opponent SKT, which would inevitably leave them with half their time idle (playing ranked games at this point serves only to keep their feel, with no other purpose).

Fortunately, the G2 Zhong Ren had anticipated this situation even before the quarterfinals ended, so they already had countermeasures. It's a pity that Snake was eliminated in the quarterfinals too early; otherwise Ka Lao Si would have actually preferred to invite Snake as practice partners, given that H2K's skill still lags behind that of the top teams.

But having something to practice is still better than wasting time.

Actually, after Snake lost the quarterfinals, SKT directly went to find them, wanting to pay Snake to be a sparring partner for the semifinals, but Snake refused, and afterwards neither side spoke about it publicly, so besides the people involved, nobody knows about this.

There is another secret: Zuowu actually wanted to accept.

SKT offered too much; the price they offered was twice what RNG had offered before!

But Fu Lan Duo, upon knowing, directly stated: "If you want to fight, fight; I'm going back."

The matter then fizzled out.

…

No words all night.

Amid everyone's anticipation, the morning sun rose on a new day.

When the sunlight shifted from orange-red to brilliant gold, a winding dragon of people once again lined up in front of the audience entrance of New York Madison Square Garden.

The plaza in front of the venue was also a sea of people; the crowd density almost matched that of Middle Eastern pilgrims, a sea of heads as far as the eye could see, and one could even see many people carrying their girlfriends on their shoulders, women with one hand holding their boyfriend's head and the other using their ticket as a fan, cosplayers in strange costumes visible everywhere, making the scene spectacular.

At the same moment, G2 Zhong Ren, who were staying in a hotel near the venue, had just finished a pre-match meeting, carrying big and small bags as they took the elevator down to the hotel's underground parking lot.

A tour bus emblazoned with a fist logo was already waiting here.

G2 Zhong Ren boarded the bus in single file.

The bus detoured around two streets and arrived at the venue.

New York Madison Square Garden is located in the incredibly valuable real estate of New York City, making it impossible to have a large public parking lot; furthermore, due to its age and limited technology at the time of construction, there is also no spacious underground parking lot, only a small one reserved for staff. When G2 Zhong Ren arrived, they found a bus already parked there, obviously SKT had arrived first, and they exchanged a few jokes about it before, under the guidance of staff, entering the backstage area.

After tidying up, they came to the lounge to wait for the match to begin.

The venue's sounds carried backstage, and everyone felt the atmosphere of an impending big battle, each feeling somewhat nervous.

Liang Yan was no exception.

Today is the pivotal moment to test the success of his overhaul of G2.

Whether they can rise to the top hinges on today; if they can clear this SKT hurdle, it will prove G2 has the genuine strength to compete for the championship trophy.

And only Liang Yan himself knows that G2's opponent today is actually the S6 champion from another timeline.

No matter how many trump cards G2 has prepared, the pressure is at its maximum.

That's SKT, after all.