Chapter 341: Goal: Avoid relegation!

Holy shit, awesome!

Holy shit, the first Han Fu King of 2017!

Shouldn't we have a proper start and finish, and by the way win this year's S tournament championship?

In the VG training room, everyone was shouting and yelling, seemingly flattering but actually teasing Liang Yan—although netizens were buzzing, thinking Liang Yan being the first to reach Han Fu King in the new season was really impressive, but frankly, this kind of off‑field honor doesn't carry much weight for players.

Marquis is an honest person, he objectively said:

No, I think Liang Yan's win rate is really impressive.

Not just impressive, it's straight-up awesome.

Fu Lan Duo gave insincere praise, then turned to Liang Yan and said:

Brother, even if we don't hold a feast, treating the brothers to a meal should be fine, right?

Liang Yan hadn't spoken yet when Sima Laozei suddenly said:

Tonight I'll treat, let's all go together.

Ma……cough cough cough!

Liang Yan was drinking water and almost choked to death,

No, Ma Ge, I'm really curious how much Boss Lu paid you.

You mean the annual salary in the contract?

Yeah.

Three……

Holy shit, you actually said it!

Hahaha…… Ma Ge, you're too honest.

What's the big deal, can't we say it?

Liang Yan was also speechless; he was just complaining, never expecting Ma Ge to actually dare say it.

Ma Ge, you didn't read the contract carefully?

Indeed I didn't really look at it.

Fu Lan Duo chuckled:

Ma Ge, there's a confidentiality agreement above, don't be so stupid from now on.

You're the stupid one, get lost.

……

December 21, the LPL region's 2017 spring season regular season group draw began.

There are only 12 teams total; why divide them into groups?

Actually it's to make the bad‑looking teams less embarrassed, since the LPL at that time still had relegation, putting lower‑middle teams in constant fear of being dropped; the owners were already insecure, so balancing the groups a bit means even if you're last, sixth place sounds better than twelfth.

Although it has no real effect, it at least gives some psychological comfort.

Later the relegation system was abolished, and the group format was also canceled after a year.

Getting back to the point, the two guest drawers for this spring season are heavyweights in every respect.

On the left, Jinyibo.

In the middle, PDD.

On the right, Chun Li.

Partnering with LPL host Ren Dong, they together formed the lineup for this draw ceremony.

No need to say more about PDD—he's the top streamer on a certain cat live‑streaming platform, with countless fans; today, taking advantage of appearing in the official livestream, he also gave his brother Lu Lao Ye a stealth ad—he's wearing clothes sold by Lu Lao Ye's Taobao store.

Jinyibo is a veteran employee of TX's Hero department, currently the highest‑ranking person in charge of Hero League–related affairs in the China region; soon after he led the push to make the LPL a league, he has continued to overhaul every aspect of the LPL with bold reforms. Under the TX system, Jinyibo's rank is actually on par with the two founders of Hero, though he likes to handle things personally—he even once worked as a translator interviewing players.

Chun Li's real name is Li Chun; she too is a veteran Hero employee, formerly a balance designer, now the person in charge of events for the LPL region, and is well known among players.

Both of them don't appear often, but everything related to the LPL falls under their jurisdiction, which means they are Ren Dong's direct superiors, so his hosting appears a bit nervous.

In the VG training room, everyone was watching the livestream with linked mics.

Fu Lan Duo, upon seeing Li Chun, said:

It's this B, the designer who kept nerfing Miss Fortune seven times.

Yeah, that's him; he always likes to nerf Miss Fortune, really annoying.

Hey Long Ge, he seems to be from the same hometown as you, right?

Fulan people?

Yes.

Looks like the De Cup will be held in Changsha next year; I bet he's the one organizing it.

Awesome.

He's all show, hey do you guys think he's a bit of a fanboy?

Holy shit, that's actually true, hahaha……

Just as it was Chun Li's turn to introduce herself, Liang Yan hearing her accent suddenly recalled some things—this person seemed to have taken part in Jiangsu TV's If You Are the One, then got the lights turned off by all the female guests…… can't rule out that it was scripted, but Liang Yan felt at that moment that Chun Li's accent issue was also a key factor in the female guests turning off the lights.

The draw officially began; Ren Dong first explained the draw rules—basically the twelve teams are divided into four seed pools and evenly split into two groups, something like that. Then Jinyibo came up and drew from pool one and pool four, after that PDD drew from pool two, Chun Li drew from pool three, the guests drew a team, and Ren Dong followed up with the team's background and rough historical performance; after ten or so minutes, the grouping result for the twelve teams was settled.

A group: RNG, IM, Snake, LGD, IG, OMG

B group: EDG, WE, VG, NewBee, GT, QG

The VG folks looked at this grouping result and were pretty optimistic.

EDG and WE are tough opponents, the rest are fine.

Gangzi gave a comment, then said:

How do we say it, brothers—what's our goal for the spring season?

First, work hard to get into the playoffs.

Even if the team underwent a major overhaul this season and even brought in a superstar player like Liang Yan, the Marquis's answer remained very conservative—it seems he was really frightened—last year he had joined VG aiming to reach the World Championship semifinals or higher, who would have thought they wouldn't even make the LPL playoffs semifinals; the LPL region is just too deep.

Sima Laozei then gave a goal that matched what most team members had in mind:

I think we should secure second and fight for first.

Fu Lan Duo was the slickest, kicking the ball onto Liang Yan:

What you're saying is useless; the opinion of the 'big thigh' is what really matters, right, Little Leg Brother? Han Fu, the first strongest king of S7, what place are you aiming for?

"What the heck is 'Little Leg Brother'? Stop giving me random nicknames all day."

Liang Yan muttered a complaint before giving his opinion:

Come on, guys, have a little confidence—our goal should definitely be set higher, so when we get a discount it'll have more impact; I think we should first aim to avoid relegation.

"Huh?"

"Then your goal is really too high, it's terrifying."

"I think it's doable."

"No, Marquis, are you serious?"

In everyone's live stream rooms, the screen was full of question marks.

【Avoid relegation, what the hell!】

【Isn't next year's goal supposed to be to win the championship!】

【Jiao Shen is an honest person, never brags, never puts himself down; last year he said he'd win the championship and he did, this year he said he'd avoid relegation and he will!】

【VG: We're done, we bought the wrong again this year】