Chapter 317: Good days are still ahead

After a strange brief silence, everyone continued to pick skins.

Liang Yan picked the Mang Seng. This was his first champion skin, without a doubt to give to his favorite hero. He also had some ideas about the details, exchanged with Rex, and Rex enthusiastically offered some suggestions; the two went back and forth for a few minutes before basically finalizing it, after which Rex praised:

"Wow, the Mang Seng is already very popular among players, and with this handsome skin, I believe it will definitely sell out!"

Liang Yan smiled without saying anything.

Whether it sells out or not, he truly doesn't care, because he's not short of that money.

It's mainly about looking cool; when he plays, he'll feel more into it.

When it was Perkz's turn, he unhesitatingly picked the Clockwork. Liang Yan recalled that the recent changes in Perkz seemed to have started from that semifinal match against SKT where he picked the Clockwork; that match necessarily held a special meaning for Perkz, and perhaps that's also why Perkz chose the Clockwork for his champion skin.

Next, Shuang Xi also shared his thoughts: one wanted the Female Officer, another wanted the Robot, and they chattered on for a long time.

Finally, everyone's choices for this champion skin were confirmed as follows:

Lao Zhang chose Jax, his main hero needs no further explanation.

Expect chose Rambo, thinking it would sell better.

Liang Yan chose the Mang Seng, his favorite hero.

CyanideFI chose the Leopard Woman, not knowing if it had any special significance; this old kid hides things very deeply.

Perkz chose the Clockwork, likewise because it holds special significance.

Zven chose the Female Officer, demanding sexiness, with the coat's back needing a conspicuous G2 team logo.

Mithy chose the Robot, likewise demanding sexiness, with the chest needing a G2 team logo; he imagined picking the Robot in future matches to partner with Zven, then both using their champion skins—here a hook, the Female Officer catches with a claw, wildly crushing the opponent……Mithy got excited just imagining that scene, his whole body trembling.

After picking the heroes, Rex asked to take a photo with Liang Yan, had his assistant hold his phone and snap a bunch of shots; after posting them online, he instantly received countless fans' praise and envy, greatly satisfying his vanity.

Then Ryze and Thresh came in together, chatting with the G2 team for dozens of minutes about the game, esports development, and future patch directions—Ka Lao Si tried to worm information out of them, hoping to get a jump on the specific patch changes, but Thresh (the technician in charge of catching the fist) kept his mouth shut, only roughly discussing the general direction, such as needing to increase match spectability, redo a batch of champions, etc., and didn't mention any details.

At the time of parting, the two bosses also took a group photo with all G2 members, and then each took a photo separately with Perkz and Liang Yan.

The photo with Perkz was posted to Twitter by them, while the photo with Liang Yan was quietly kept in their phone, possibly to be printed and framed to hang on the office wall as a private collection.

Some things are unspoken understandings.

After leaving and getting in the car, Ka Lao Si then asked:

"Lu Ka, did you really lose the trophy?"

Perkz said with a completely indifferent face:

"What else?"

Everyone exclaimed "What the fuck?"

Ka Lao Si helplessly shook his head and sighed:

"Actually it's unnecessary; keeping it as a decoration looks pretty nice too."

Perkz then twitched the corner of his mouth, the same sarcastic smile that had appeared in yesterday's FMVP interview:

"Well, I don't want to be called a thief."

Then he patted the front seat's backrest and said:

"Liang, don't take it personally; I'm not targeting you."

Liang Yan turned back and smiled at him.

"If it's lost, it's lost; anyway it's not worth much, but I also think it's unnecessary—keeping it as a memento is also nice."

Perkz snorted and said:

"No, I hate that; having something that isn't mine placed in my display cabinet makes me feel awful!"

Liang Yan said nothing more.

After all, this matter concerns him, and talking too much would be awkward.

……

Over the next period, Ka Lao Si led a group around Luo Shan Ji for two days, touring all the famous sights, then flew to Washington, spent another two days, then went to Las Vegas, taking the group for a day of desert racing, finally returning to New York, staying one night before announcing the disbandment on the spot, everyone going back to their own families.

This means a vacation, not disbanding the team.

Naturally, the teammates' homebound tickets were all bought by Ka Lao Si, and he didn't take a cent of the over two million US dollars in prize money that Riot gave out, distributing it all to the team.

On average, each person received nearly three hundred thousand dollars.

On the day Lao Zhang returned home, he received this bonus and was overjoyed to the point of not knowing what to do with himself.

After half a year of his comeback, he earned over three million, which is even more than what he made streaming domestically—his dream fulfilled, his money earned; who would have thought such a good thing still exists in the world!

"I feel like I've used up all my luck this half‑year; I hope this trip back goes smoothly, with no plane crash."

When seeing Lao Zhang off at the airport, he lamented thus.

Liang Yan patted his shoulder:

"Nonsense, good days are still ahead. Let's go, don't be late."

Afterward, Liang Yan stood outside the airport, watching the plane carrying Lao Zhang fly eastward until it disappeared from sight, then turned and left.

Liang Yan, to avoid suspicion, chose not to return home at this time.

Alone, he returned to the base, sat in the familiar spot in the training room, looked left and right, and suddenly felt somewhat unaccustomed.

The players had all left.

Team Leader Biman also left.

The huge base now had only two or three administrative staff, a bare‑bones commander, and a lonely me……

Liang Yan gave a self‑mocking smile, turned on his computer, opened a webpage, and began checking the patch notes.

A long vacation began.

Ka Lao Si didn't know what he was doing, rarely showing up.

He also didn't approach Liang Yan about renewing the contract, not knowing whether he was quietly gathering chips, waiting for the best moment to come talk to Liang Yan.

As for Tang Anna, she left on the third day after returning to the base, presumably heading back to Norway, and she didn't even say goodbye to Liang Yan.

One week later, Ka Lao Si also returned to Spain.

Even the administrative staff were on leave.

The whole base now only had Liang Yan and a cook auntie whom Ka Lao Si had retained by paying triple overtime wages—oh, she was also of Chinese descent, speaking pure Ningbo dialect.

As for the auntie's culinary skill, it's said that Ka Lao Si had spent a lot of money to lure her away from some Chinese restaurant; when she came to the base over two months ago, she laid out a full table of dishes that looked dazzling and were perfect in color, aroma, and flavor.

But unfortunately Liang Yan doesn't like Zhejiang cuisine, so he couldn't make an objective judgment.

And online, the storm stirred up by G2's championship victory continues to rage.