Chapter 346: If Not Me, Then Who?

After welcoming the visitor inside, Lu Wenjun personally gave them a tour of the whole base; they took some photos and also took a group shot with VG, presumably for a future illustrated report, and then began preparing the program.

The venue and equipment were basically ready; they chose the largest meeting room, and VG staff often use this place as a photo studio, with all kinds of lighting equipment needed for filming available.

They picked a spot, placed two sofas, aimed at the camera, and started directly.

The time was just past three in the afternoon, and netizens had just finished watching the newly released documentary by Fist and then tuned in to the live stream.

The host sat opposite Liang Yan, wearing a professional smile facing the camera; the cameraman made a gesture indicating they were rolling, and the interview officially began.

"While the League of Legends esports documentary is being broadcast simultaneously worldwide, we're also joining in the fun; this is the training base of ViciGaming Esports Club, and today we're doing a segment, thanking Liang Yan for accepting our channel's interview."

"Liang Yan, hello."

"Host, hello."

The camera gave Liang Yan a close-up; he sat in a gaming chair, with a red flag planted behind him, and on the wall hung a watercolor painting of The Five Heroes of Wolf Tooth Mountain.

Outside the camera were a few CCTV crew members, and further out stood a circle of onlookers; Lu Wenjun was also present watching, originally intending to drive them away, but the production crew said it was fine, so Lu Wenjun went along with it, letting this bunch of uncultured kids (except Li Zhixun, a top math student from Han Guo National University) gain some experience.

The host turned to face the camera:

"I believe many are curious: last year, Liang Yan led the G2 team to victory in the League of Legends European Pro League; why did he give up his better prospects in Europe to return to the Chinese region? To be honest, I'm also very curious, and now we finally have the chance to ask him face‑to‑face. I want to ask Liang Yan: what exactly prompted you to make this decision?"

"Well, to be frank, making this decision actually involved some struggle for me, because everyone knows G2 gave me a chance, and Chinese people value repaying kindness; normally I wouldn't easily leave G2."

"I had originally planned to stay with G2, but during the World Championship I heard some news— they said it would be next year… oh wait, it's already this year—I heard that this year's global finals will be held in China, and as a Chinese person, since I have the ability, I feel I should fulfill my duty."

"I see— you came back because of the upcoming Seventh League of Legends World Championship to be held in China, right?"

"Yes."

"But we all know the League of Legends World Championship requires qualifying spots, and the competition will be fierce; as for the Chinese region… if I'm not mistaken, there should be twelve major clubs vying for spots, so how do you determine—or have confidence—that you can stand out from those twelve teams and secure a berth? After all, we know League of Legends esports heavily emphasizes teamwork, and an individual's power is limited."

"Um, about that, I actually haven't thought about it. I definitely have confidence, but I don't think the outcome matters that much; as long as I believe I have the ability, I should come back regardless of whether I make it to Worlds this year."

"But if you ultimately fail to qualify, wouldn't that definitely bring some setback? Since we know the Chinese region's audience is rather… harsh, for example, if you really don't make it, the internet will surely see some… unfriendly voices, aren't you afraid?"

"I'm afraid, I really am, but fear doesn't excuse inaction— it's not arrogance; frankly, no one else in the LPL has ever won an S‑season championship, so if I'm not qualified to shoulder the responsibility at this crucial moment, who is?"

The host opened his mouth, then for a moment forgot how to continue the questioning.

Lu Wenjun, standing behind with arms crossed, also froze; the people behind him stared blankly, all stunned by Liang Yan's domineering remark.

Gangzi gave Liang Yan a thumbs‑up, silently saying two words:

Awesome! Damn!

……

Half an hour after the interview ended.

Before the CCTV crew had even left the VG base, a keyword shot up to the top of the Weibo hot‑search list at rocket speed:

#CCTV Interview Jiao Shen: LPL, If Not Me, Then Who? #

LPL netizens flooded in with comments.

Liang Yan was once again pushed to the forefront of public opinion.

Sanshao, who had become unemployed and couldn't even afford a cheap hotel, so he returned to his hometown to stay idle, also jumped on the bandwagon again:

【Although it's good for esports personalities to appear on state media for the industry, a person who has never contributed to LoL and in fact harmed LPL's interests (eliminating the LPL's second seed in the S6 quarterfinals), someone who has never played a single match in the LPL, now claims that only he is qualified to represent the LPL?】

【This is utterly absurd!】

After Sanshao posted his Weibo, he kept refreshing, thinking his statement would win the approval of most LPL netizens.

From time to time he also checked VG's official Weibo and Liang Yan's personal Weibo, expecting them to explode in anger and argue with him on Weibo, but VG basically ignored him.

As for Liang Yan, he never liked checking Weibo anyway, and had long since blocked Sanshao.

After several minutes, Sanshao finally saw the first comment under his own Weibo:

【Who are you?】

After a while someone replied to that comment:

【A stray dog by the roadside (goofy)】

Sanshao's face flushed with anger and embarrassment, and he directly deleted that comment.

He kept refreshing.

Comments kept pouring in.

【You loser, go yell at your mom】

【RNG is already embarrassing enough; you're still picking at people's scars—do you have a screw loose?】

【You won fair and square—how does that harm LPL's interests? Can't you stand to lose?】

【Get lost—still not embarrassed enough? You've made a fool of yourself worldwide, you know that?】

【The one who truly shames the LPL is you!】

Sanshao was dumbfounded.

In half an hour over a hundred comments appeared, ninety percent of them insulting him!

How could this happen?

Shouldn't netizens be united against a common enemy instead of turning on me!

He kept deleting comments nonstop.

But there was no way to delete them all.

After more than an hour, even RNG posted an official Weibo:

【Sanshao left the club in early November and currently has no employment relationship with us.】

They cut ties quickly.