Chapter 404: Our players also need to look for their own reasons

How do you write what you want? Please come back, what are you doing? Just leave it like that, ah.

A Bu hung up the phone impatiently.

Besides the factory manager, nobody paid attention to what A Bu said on the phone; they brought up the new tournament recently announced by Fist, and everyone discussed it with growing enthusiasm.

The Intercontinental Tournament is a team event; the championship isn't given to a single team, but to a region. Moreover, Fist hasn't officially confirmed it yet, so nobody knows if it can even be pulled off.

If it can be pulled off, the announced matches will definitely be held.

For the Intercontinental showdown, do we have to play against the LCK region?

Then we definitely have a slot...

We can cling to VG's thigh, hahaha.

Ai Luoli accidentally blurted out her inner thoughts.

A Bu immediately glared at him, shouting in a thin, sharp voice:

What does 'clinging to VG's thigh' mean? Why boost others' morale? We ourselves also need to work hard, duck!

Meiko chimed in: 'Exactly, we're the center position, alright!'

Ai Luoli felt a bit embarrassed, looked up at the TV on the wall, and suddenly exclaimed:

Holy shit, VG is about to make a push!

The audience's cheers came from outside, and at the same time, remember to cheer loudly:

Two-zero, congratulations VG!

A Bu looked up at the screen, somewhat surprised:

Did we just win?

A glance at the clock showed it was less than thirty minutes.

A bit fast, huh? WE's early-mid lineup…… shouldn't be like this; how did they collapse so quickly?

Jiao Shen went all-in, in the jungle he caught and instantly killed the fan-mom, WE tried to surround him but four of them didn't catch him, Condi got overeager, charged forward trying to hold someone, but ended up being killed together by Jiao Shen and the Marquis, then it was like the gourd babies saving grandpa, WE lost four, and VG just pushed down the top lane in one go.

Meiko briefly explained to A Bu the reason for WE's sudden collapse.

A Bu then shook his head:

That's too irrational; we need to take WE's lesson, turn it into our own experience, and when we face VG in the future we must absolutely not rush.

Having said that, A Bu waved again:

Um, Coach Nofe, bring everyone together for a quick chat, see if we can come up with something. Focus on analyzing their Prince system; our Mingkai has also been practicing Prince lately, right? Let's see if we can pull it out and practice today.

OK.

Under Nofe's leadership, the EDG members held a pre-match meeting.

Just as VG's post-match interview began, EDG's official Weibo posted a short announcement about withdrawing from IEM.

……

On stage.

Liang Yan stood beside Yu Shuang, answering her question about why he picked the Prince, such an obscure hero, in the first game.

How is the Prince obscure?

So many players are playing it; Old Li's champion skin sold out in Europe and America, just because it's not used much in matches doesn't make it obscure, does it?

I think our players sometimes also need to look for their own reasons; over the years, the hero pool has just been those few, have they been working seriously?

Everyone could tell Liang Yan was saying this just for show, using forced pretentiousness to dodge a question that would inevitably expose their tactics and thus couldn't be answered directly.

Yu Shuang was amused by him to the point of glee, the audience kept laughing, and a few pro players sitting secretly in the shadows behind the spectator seats almost had their defenses broken.

You're a genius, you have a hero sea, you're amazing!

Damn! Even if I got tickets that rotted in my hand, I'd rather stay at the base and play ranked than ever come watch this pretentious match again!

……

After the interview, Liang Yan went backstage, and in the corridor two sneaky guys blocked his path:

Jiao Shen, I'm your fan!

Jiao Shen, can you give me an autograph?

No problem.

Liang Yan took the oil-based pen from the other person's hand, and smoothly signed his ID, 'Firrrrrre', across the VG jersey they held in one stroke, dragons flying and phoenixes dancing—no joke, he had specially practiced it.

Beside him, a bespectacled young guy took the opportunity while he was signing to speak:

Hey Jiao Shen, I'd like to ask your opinion on something: I'm the match's OB, I thought your first game's Prince move was awesome, I want to copy your first-person view to make a commentary video and post it online—what do you think?

Sure.

Liang Yan returned the pen to the other person, raised his hand to pat the bespectacled guy's shoulder, smiling encouragingly:

I suggest posting on Bilibili, remember to edit me to look cool, keep it up!

The young guy watched Liang Yan's back as he walked past, clenched his fist excitedly: 'No wonder he's my idol, so handsome!'

Liang Yan returned to the lounge; as he entered, Fu Lan Duo and Gangzi and a few others were sitting on the sofa muttering, not sure what they were saying. Liang Yan was about to go over to listen to see if this bunch of beasts was secretly talking trash about him, when Long Ge and Gao Jun spoke:

Are we staying to watch a match or just leaving directly?

Gao Jun asked Liang Yan, Liang Yan said there's nothing good to watch, so everyone packed up and left the lounge, went to the parking lot, got in the car, and returned to the base.

On the way, Liang Yan again recalled the incident where those few guys huddled together whispering, and asked the honest person Sima Laozei:

Brother Ma, what were they muttering just now? Were they talking trash about me?

Unexpectedly, Sima Laozei shook his head:

No, they were talking about EDG.

Fu Lan Duo also snorted contemptuously:

Are you a great beauty? Who has nothing to do but talk about you all day? Shameless.

Liang Yan didn't turn his head, just raised a middle finger, and asked Sima Laozei:

"What's up with EDG?"

"EDG just announced they're withdrawing, they won't be taking part in IEM."

"Huh?!"

A string in Liang Yan's mind was suddenly twanged; some dead memories began to surface in his thoughts. Here they come, the ones that were supposed to come, have come.

Liang Yan was momentarily speechless, finally restrained the urge to act as a prophet, pretended to be an oblivious bystander, and started chatting with Sima Laozei.

……

In the spring of 2017, the LoL community experienced a massive cyberbullying incident that shocked the world, historically known as 'Flash Strike Poland'.

The cause of the incident goes back to last year; today, February 18, 2017, is precisely the day the event officially broke out.

Just as VG was pushing onto WE's high ground, EDG Club's official Weibo posted an announcement:

【Due to visa issues, the EDG-LoL division will withdraw from the IEM tournament.】

【The EDG-LoL division had originally planned to go to Poland to participate in the IEM Katowice Grand Finals from February 22–26, but due to visa issues with the players, they were unable to complete the procedures before the match day and could only regretfully withdraw from the IEM tournament. EDG hereby apologizes to the tournament organizers and the concerned fans, and wishes success for this tournament.】

……

Oh coincidentally, it's chapter 404—saying this won't get 404'd…

I'm an EDG fan, don't come at me!