Chapter 344: Liang Ting

In his previous life, Liang Yan often traveled on business, running all over the country; when he took the high-speed rail, he would occasionally play a couple of rounds of Hearthstone, and also occasionally watch Hearthstone matches.

Luoge was a fairly well-known player in the Hearthstone scene, but at this time he seemed to have just debuted not long ago, and his fame was far less than it would be later.

But it was precisely because his fame wasn't great that he was invited to come and compete.

This kind of event with an official background isn't really a true competitive match; its main purpose is exchange, guests can invite celebrities to boost popularity, but those who go on stage to play absolutely cannot be top-tier players with a certain representativeness, otherwise the nature would change.

Take, for example, the item League of Legends: if they really invited top-tier teams like EDG or SKT to compete, then no matter which side won or lost, it would look bad—saying lightly that the national team lost, or more seriously that it harmed national prestige, could be said.

Therefore, the teams and players invited to each item of this event were not very high in popularity; the League of Legends item invited a team that had just come up from TGA into LSPL, which ordinary viewers had never even heard of, and their opponents were similarly a team from the LCK secondary league, equally unknown in Korea; letting these two teams play, anyone could tell at a glance it was just an exhibition match, and regardless of the result it was no big deal.

The Hearthstone match lasted over two hours before ending, after which came War3.

Before the War3 event began, Sky took the stage to speak; it seemed he had also prepared a script, starting from his own experience competing in matches back then, grounding himself in the present and looking to the future, the Chinese esports community will learn from the Korean esports industry's experience and will surely get better and better, blah blah blah.

After War3 ended, finally came the day's closing program: a League of Legends BO5 exhibition match.

Before the match, Changzhang went on stage to speak.

A dozen or so female fans of the factory chief came down to the audience, and as soon as Changzhang stepped on stage he raised his light stick and screamed "ah ah ah".

"Er..."

Changzhang stood on stage, his expression and movements looking a bit awkward; although his suit was a brand-name, it seemed not to fit well, or perhaps it was designed to be this style, draped loosely over him, looking rather strange.

Although EDG later became the first club to set up a party branch, the scale of this event wasn't that big, but after all it had an official background and special significance; Changzhang, who had never experienced such a scene, was a bit nervous, and his speech was halting.

Liang Yan sat in the lounge, watching with great amusement.

Changzhang went backstage, saw Liang Yan's smiling face, realized his poor performance had been seen, and his face turned a little red:

"I didn't perform well; I'll never come to this kind of event again..."

Actually, the factory chief had participated in similar events before, but those were just university exchange matches, fan meet-and-greets, and the like; cooperating with the authorities on an event was still his first time.

The Europe Region hardly had any of these messy things, but Liang Yan, since his debut, had never participated in an off-field event like this before.

Changzhang felt that Liang Yan's performance might not be better than his own, and could even be worse; he harbored a petty wish to see Liang Yan make a fool of himself.

Unexpectedly, the next day, when Liang Yan stepped up to the microphone for the women's League of Legends match and hadn't even spoken yet, that calm, composed aura of a towering mountain and deep abyss already emerged.

Don't look at Liang Yan's popularity in the LPL being inferior to Changzhang's, or his microblog followers not being as many; after all, he was last year's champion, and his skills are top-notch, so his die-hard fans might even outnumber Changzhang's, and twenty or thirty die-hard fans showed up at the venue, half male and half female.

The way female fans express excitement seems to be just shouting "ah", while male fans have more variety and are bolder; a few beasts in the audience cupped their hands around their mouths and shouted loudly:

"Jiao Shen is awesome!"

"Jiao Shen, win another championship!"

"Jiao Shen, S7, go!"

Liang Yan smiled at the audience seats, waiting for the sound to die down a bit before speaking:

"Thank you.

"Thank you very much for your support.

"I also really thank the event organizers for inviting me, a nobody, to participate in such a grand esports event; I truly feel deeply honored, even a bit overwhelmed.

"What I will bring to you next is an exciting match between two women's League of Legends teams from the China-Korea regions; perhaps you haven't heard of their names, but I hope you will show them the same enthusiasm you just showed me.

"I have seen several women's teams in the Europe Region, and I even have a coach who used to be a professional player on a women's team; now I'm back in the LPL and have also met some female players offline, so I know how hard it is for girls to break into the esports scene, blah blah blah."

Liang Yan spoke at a moderate pace, with clear enunciation and rhythmic rises and falls; his language seemed to contain a magic that could calm people down and make them listen attentively.

The audience was quiet, and some girls even got teary-eyed.

The factory chief backstage just stared, dumbfounded.

"Hey, buddy, why do you sound like the CCTV News Broadcast?!"

"I got into this line first!"

"Why do you look so skilled?!"

Over at the Shanghai VG base, Lu Wenjun, who was watching the livestream in front of his computer, was completely stunned, feeling that the Liang Yan speaking on screen was so unfamiliar that he even had a suspicion similar to the factory chief's: could this kid have had someone write his script? It's too formal!

When Liang Yan went backstage, the factory chief stared at him with a look as if he had seen a ghost:

"Hey Liang Yan, did you secretly stay up all night memorizing a script last night?"

Liang Yan couldn't be bothered to find an excuse, just grunted.

The factory chief instantly felt more balanced in his mind, thinking, "I was scared to death; I actually thought this kid was a natural genius, talented at everything."

The event lasted only two days; after all the programs ended that day, Liang Yan made a brief appearance at the closing ceremony, then went back to the hotel, packed his bags, and left.

That evening, when Liang Yan returned to the VG base, the big group photo he took with the officials at the event's closing ceremony, which had been posted online, sparked considerable discussion.

The next day, when the stream went live, someone in the chat said:

【The streamer is awesome, can even speak on stage with a minister-level official】

【What streamer? Call him Minister Liang!】

【Everyone here is here to learn from Minister Liang; everyone in the stream, pay attention: before speaking, tidy up your appearance, be proper and dignified, and when speaking, mind your wording to be appropriate】

That day was December 31, 2016.

After a day's training, the VG team didn't immediately go back to the dorms to wash up and sleep; instead, they tacitly stayed in the training room, chatting with each other or watching various New Year's livestreams absentmindedly, waiting for the new year to arrive.

For everyone on the team, the new year, no matter how the performance turns out, is destined to be extraordinary and worth looking forward to.

Liang Yan sent Tang Anna a micro message.

【Happy New Year, aren't you going to stay mad?】

I had thought the other party would, as usual, not reply, but just as I put down my phone, there was a ding.

【Sent too early, still six hours off】