Chapter 323

That night, Ka Lao Si was alone in the empty base, drinking quite a bit of alcohol, getting drunk and singing loudly until midnight, then he ran out of the base and kicked the streetlamp poles outside with all his might.

After kicking for a while he began to howl, and continued to pat the streetlamp poles with his hands, making a pattering sound.

Tang Anna observed for a while, finally afraid he would injure himself seriously, she threw on a coat and came out, asking Ka Lao Si:

"What are you doing here?"

Ka Lao Si said, drunk:

"I…… I'm checking if everyone's asleep……"

Tang Anna looked at the bright streetlamp overhead, expressionless, and said:

"They're not asleep, look, the lamp is still on."

……

Berlin has no direct flight to Shanghai; at least one layover is required.

Liang Yan sat in the waiting room at Helsinki Airport, chatting with the two VG members.

It was estimated that before coming, VG boss Lu Wenjun had instructed them not to mention the contract at all, and they just chatted casually with Liang Yan.

When they talked about the S tournament that had ended three weeks ago, they learned that Ka Lao Si had actually divided all the prize money among everyone, and Gao Jun was quite surprised. According to the domestic model, after a team wins a championship, the club usually takes the lion's share of the prize money, and the contract typically stipulates that prize money is distributed to players based on team performance, but the tournament prize money basically goes to the club, and nobody had ever thought this was problematic.

But G2 being so generous is truly rare.

Then they talked about the domestic De Cup Wu Han stop—that is, the annual final of the De Cup series. Liang Yan didn't follow this tournament, but earlier Fu Lan Duo had mentioned it on WeChat, and in the end EDG defeated Snake 3‑2 to win the championship.

Liang Yan had even mocked Fu Lan Duo a couple of times back then; now chatting with VG, because the layover wait was excessively long, they discussed the details, and that's how he learned how Snake lost.

In this De Cup, EDG's regular mid laner koro1 had been playing all along, but A Guang was absent due to family matters and hadn't returned to the team; then the factory manager seemed to have a sense of shame turning into courage, and after returning from defeat in S6, his form in the De Cup was actually explosive, and EDG's internal clashes were themselves fierce.

Moreover, when the finals reached the fifth game, Ke Li Si Tuo reported that his wrist felt a bit uncomfortable and voluntarily asked to be substituted out.

The factory manager immediately smelled an opportunity to crush weak opponents, kept focusing on Snake's bottom lane, and within ten minutes had Martin (the Emperor) so dazed he lost his bearings.

But the most deaths were Snake's support; in the first fifteen minutes of the game, Jiezou spent one‑third of the time sitting in the fountain, and every time the camera cut to the Snake bench, the picture showed Jiezou with a lifeless expression, slumped in his chair.

Then this scene was turned into an emoticon pack by LPL netizens who love to meme, and it instantly became even more popular than the iconic Ge You slump.

Wang Liangyi also pulled out his phone, found that emoticon picture, and showed it to Liang Yan; it was indeed funny.

Liang Yan thus recalled a certain incident from last year's De Cup, also related to the support and involving VG. He curiously asked Wang Liangyi:

"By the way, what was the deal with mata playing Jesper with one hand last year at the De Cup? Was it really because he fell out with Death Pronouncement?"

"Tsk!"

Wang Liangyi said,

"That's just netizens talking nonsense; the two of them are actually on good terms!"

Liang Yan puzzled:

"How does he play Jesper with one hand?"

However, it's strange that the announcement didn't immediately punish mata; netizens say it's because the Death Announcement bullies the weak and fears the strong, and Liang Yan expects to get a different answer from Wang Liangyi.

"That's because that day mata himself had an argument with his girlfriend and was just slacking off!"

"Huh?"

Liang Yan momentarily couldn't hold back.

Figure: The truth behind one-handed Jesper

"Would mata do that?"

Liang Yan was very surprised.

"Then what else?"

Wang Liangyi looked disdainful,

"Don't look at this guy appearing honest; actually his character is quite average. I'm speaking frankly, anyway my feeling is like this, for example..."

"Alright, Xiao Wang."

Manager Gao Jun raised his hand, stopping Wang Liangyi from continuing to speak ill of mata.

Although Gao Jun also thinks mata isn't a perfect player, stabbing someone in the spine from behind is still despicable.

"So this is the truth behind mata's one-handed Jesper?"

Liang Yan asked Gao Jun.

Gao Jun sighed:

"Actually it's understandable; long-distance relationship, both sides are under great pressure, and it's just a De Cup match; if it were an LPL regular season match or something more important, I believe Zhao Shiheng, oh, that's his real name, he wouldn't do something like that."

bur, this is also understandable?!

Liang Yan was convinced.

If this happened at EDG or any other club with slightly stricter management, mata would definitely be killed off, because this behavior clearly violates the contract regulations, constitutes a player breach, and the impact is extremely bad; the club can not only unilaterally terminate the contract, but even demand compensation!

Even if not directly terminated, he would definitely be benched.

Isn't koro1 just a past lesson?

And yet at VG, they merely issued a notice criticizing him and symbolically fined a little money, which for a player of mata's level is utterly painless.

Seeing a leopard through a tube, Liang Yan feels he has probably found the fundamental reason why VG has spent so much money over the years yet never produced any noteworthy results.

VG's management is too humane.

If a team's management is too lax, then every aspect will inevitably have various problems. G2 is likewise a very humane club, but Ka Lao Si's management is not lax at all; when handling key issues, he is extremely strict. Whereas VG is obviously not like that, VG's management is overly gentle.

Put it this way, if Mithy did this, Ka Lao Si could beat him half to death, plus fine him three months' salary.

Of course, Mithy knows Ka Lao Si's thunderous methods, so he would never do that.

However, to VG, Liang Yan is just an outsider, unable to say much about another team's management, so he said nothing.

But this matter suddenly made Liang Yan think of something.

He took out his phone, opened WeChat, and sent a message to Tang Anna:

【Transferring in Helsinki, need to wait over four hours…】

Clicked send.

The red dot Liang Yan was worried about did not appear, and he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, the other party didn't block him.

Although he also didn't reply…

After several hours, Liang Yan sent another message to Tang Anna.

…

November 24, evening.

After a journey lasting nearly 20 hours, the plane finally landed at Pudong Airport.

Liang Yan sent a message to Tang Anna as soon as he got off the plane; it was sent successfully, but he still didn't get a reply.

Not being blocked is fine.

Liang Yan put his phone back in his pocket, looked up at the night sky dyed black-red by city lights, and took a deep breath of the cold evening wind.

LPL, I'm back…