Chapter 57: Qiang Ge, I'm Your Fan!

TSM lost over ten practice matches in a single day, got beaten up black and blue, and slinked away, refusing to play against G2 any further.

Fortunately, Lao Zhang had made contact with the LPL, and Ka Lao Si had the Chinese-speaking Tang Anna get in touch; they managed to set it up right away.

Liang Yan asked, and it turned out to be the Snake Team!

The Snake Team was no stranger to Liang Yan; this squad was not weak in the S6 season, even being called the peak of its team history, but it was a fleeting glory—multiple core members ruined their chances in a Bo10 while fighting for spots at the S6 World Championship.

The details of the training match were quickly decided.

(This is a setup chapter; the training match won't be described in detail, so skipping it will miss a lot of information!)

The agreed training time was from morning to night; domestically it was from afternoon to late night, tentatively set for four days, with extra training to be decided based on how things go.

As for the servers, both sides tested the latency; connecting to the LPL game server from here is about seventy (the author's black tech, don't take it seriously), while from the LPL side it's over sixty, not much difference, so they agreed to alternate between the two servers for fairness.

After discussing the details, they jumped straight into the LPL game server that same day.

Liang Yan entered the room and immediately typed in pinyin:

【Qiang Ge, I'm your fan!】

【???】

Flandre immediately replied with three question marks, then said:

【Who are you?】

【I'm your fan!】

【Full of dirty tricks, want to drill me?】

【No can do, I just want to go to top lane to see you (っ′▽`)っ】

Lao Zhang chimed in at this point: 【Qiang Ge, I'm your fan too!】

【Who are you, you little bastard?】

【He's a fan who wants to lane against you】

【Don't come over, you guys!】

Seeing the room's public channel almost turn into a private chat among the three, Ka Lao Si, standing behind Liang Yan, couldn't help but ask:

"Do you know each other?"

Liang Yan turned back and smiled at him.

"No, we don't know each other."

"Chatting this happily even though we don't know each other?"

"That's just how we Chinese are."

Ka Lao Si:???

And so the training match against the Snake Team began.

Two G2 mid laners would occasionally throw a joking remark in the public channel, while the Snake Team members would always respond in a 'friendly' tit-for-tat manner.

Both sides fought while trading barbs... trash talk, filling both training rooms with laughter and merriment, all ten players enjoying themselves immensely.

For Liang Yan personally, facing the Snake Team's newly imported player dubbed the 'Vietnamese genius', the 'sofm', caused no pressure.

But his teammates felt great pressure.

Especially the top and bottom lanes.

No need to say more about top lane: as a man who, even at 23 years old in later years, could still pull EDG back from the brink in crucial moments to secure that championship, Fu Lan Duo is undoubtedly the big brother of domestic top laners, but at this time his playstyle isn't yet as mature as it later became, and he occasionally shows up spectacularly bad because he's too reckless.

Ke Li Si Tuo, whose right hand had not yet been subjected to 'bloodletting therapy', possessed skill and talent that would still be top-tier even in the LPL, which produces countless AD prodigies.

Ke Li Si Tuo's support partner is Rhythm; this support is better known for another identity: the dedicated support of the 'World's Number One Draven', with some 'professional' figures saying that the title 'World's Number One Draven' should be credited half to the rhythm. It's clear this support is no random street cat or dog—his ability is recognized by the masses.

Looking at G2's side,

The top laner is a newcomer who just made a comeback.

Although the bottom lane is a European famous AD, it's well known that at this time the EU-NA AD, upon seeing the LPL bottom lane, acts like a mouse seeing a cat, already intimidated before the lane even starts.

Fortunately, G2 still has the ever-fearless AP.

And a certain cheat-using monster.

By evening, when the training match ended, G2 somehow maintained a win rate of nearly seventy percent, which is no small feat considering they achieved this while playing with over sixty latency.

Even the Snake Team coach was shocked.

He had accepted G2's training match invitation because he thought Snake had been constantly scrimmaging against strong LPL teams, raising everyone's training pressure; he wanted to give them a proper relaxation without slacking off, so he scheduled a lower-intensity team to ease the stress.

But he never expected that after a day of play, they would end up losing more than winning!

G2's overall strength seems about average; the key is that jungler, who truly lives up to the rumors—he's practically a monster!

What the Snake Team coach didn't know was that their displayed resilience likewise surprised Liang Yan.

At first, in the several matches, the Snake Team kept losing.

What's astonishing is that they didn't suffer morale damage; instead, they grew bolder as they played, gradually clawing their win rate back!

One can only say that, as a team capable of playing a full Bo10 in the life-or-death promotion series, the Snake Team's spirit is truly admirable.

After the training match, Liang Yan walked to the cafeteria with Lao Zhang, chatting about the Snake Team along the way; Lao Zhang said: 'If nothing unexpected happens, the Snake Team should make it into this year's World Championship.'

Liang Yan smiled and nodded, when suddenly a flash of lightning crossed his mind.

Could there be a possibility……

Perhaps I could be a butterfly flapping its wings……

To change the Snake Team's tragic fate.

……

After finishing his meal, Liang Yan headed to the training room, still pondering the Snake Team's situation.

AP, having returned to the dorm and changed into workout gear, walked past Liang Yan, apparently heading to the gym.

The G2 base certainly has a gym, and the team's daily schedule includes three hours of free time each day—one hour at noon and two hours in the evening—usually the players take a nap during the midday break, then go to the gym after dinner for the evening two hours. This refers to the habits of the European members; Liang Yan, having been on the team for so long, has only been to the gym twice in total.

In terms of training schedule, Ou Mei clubs and the LPL have obvious differences.

On the LPL side, daily training time is basically over fourteen hours, while here in Europe it is mostly eight to ten hours; North America is similar to Europe, and even more relaxed.

G2 players' working hours are from 10 a. m. to 1 a. m.; subtracting the three-hour break in the middle gives ten hours, which in Europe counts as quite diligent.

After AP took two steps forward, he suddenly stopped, turned his head, and looked at Liang Yan:

"Liang, want to go work out together?"

Liang Yan lifted his eyelids, glanced at him, and absentmindedly shook his head.

AP hesitated a moment, then said:

"Your talent is so good, you really shouldn't overdraw your potential; unless you've already decided to retire after just two or three years, I suggest you set aside at least an hour each day to train your body, which will greatly help prolong your career."

Only then did Liang Yan lift his head, look at AP, and nod seriously:

"Thank you, Lu Ka, I'll consider it."

AP couldn't tell if he had really taken it in, shrugged his shoulders, turned, and ran off.

Liang Yan has his own career plan.

For now, still in a special period, things like working out can only be put aside temporarily.

Youth is meant to be spent, isn't it!