Chapter 606: Another Championship

Two days later, the Demacia Cup Chang Sha station officially opened.

It coincided with Children's Day, and young parents born in the 80s and 90s drove out, brought the whole family, and came to the venue; the venue was bustling, with the tender voices of children rising and falling, the scene extremely lively.

VG's first match of the first round saw all main players starting; they almost effortlessly won 3-0 against EDG, who had already conceded defeat the moment their official roster was announced.

Because EDG had previously won many editions of the Demacia Cup, the tournament used to be called the EDG Cup; but fortunes change, and no one expected that this edition's EDG would have such terrible luck, meeting VG in the first round and getting eliminated, and despite fielding a second-string lineup, they were still roasted after the match, losing all face.

Yet the piglets, facing this result, didn't even wail, hardly discussing the match; instead, all the piglet groups were hotly discussing Changzhang's matter, because a big fan leaked privately that Changzhang would retire this year.

For a moment, EDG fans felt a huge dark cloud over their heads, each panicking and at a loss. Setting aside match performance, Changzhang is EDG's soul; if he left, would EDG still be EDG? Where would the piglets go? Would they really have to join the throng of bootlickers?

We'll talk about Changzhang later; for now, the Demacia Cup schedule is tight, proceeding like wildfire.

June 3, 11:00 AM, the first match of the Demacia Cup semifinals: IG versus IM.

After two games, IG and IM were tied one-all.

At the start of the third game, the commentators announced a piece of news: the man many had long awaited finally made his LPL professional debut.

Theshy, after joining LPL two and a half years ago, debuted today as IG's substitute top laner.

In this match marking the start of his LPL professional career, Theshy immediately picked a hero that could showcase his individual strength—Jayce.

His opponent was IM's top laner AmazingJ playing Fiora.

From the laning phase onward, Theshy's individual ability shone brightly, exerting strong pressure in lane and even performing a limit-breaking 1v2 play, causing commentator Wang Lao Er on the desk to repeatedly exclaim:

"Good heavens! Where did IG dig up this rookie top laner? He's so fierce!"

Objectively speaking, Theshy's debut performance was undoubtedly impressive; purely in terms of laning, he actually crushed AmazingJ around the ten-minute mark.

But this edition's IM in the Demacia Cup unleashed extraordinary fighting power; despite IG's all-out effort, they still couldn't win, and as a rookie, Theshy's debut earned him a 'glorious despite defeat' evaluation. Moreover, his highly aggressive individual style left a deep impression on many viewers; in post-match assessments, many professionals were optimistic about his future development, believing he had great potential to become a top-tier top laner.

However, discussion about Theshy was quickly eclipsed by the hype of the next match; although Theshy had accumulated some fan base through two years of streaming, compared to the freshly crowned VG returning victorious, it was still a small witch seeing a great witch.

In the mid-afternoon, the second Demacia Cup semifinal match, VG versus RNG, kicked off at the Golden Eagle Cultural Hall beside the Hunan Mango TV Ji Di.

Both sides fielded their main players.

In this match against LPL powerhouse RNG, VG, having just experienced a major mid-season clash, showed no sign of fatigue; instead, like a leading stock in a bull market, they opened high and kept climbing, surging all the way.

Finally, VG swept RNG 3-0 and advanced to the finals.

VG fans got a bargain and acted modestly, saying 'What a pity'—the team that Jiao Shen had mentioned on his stream, whose player he referred to, was eliminated in the first round, depriving VG of the chance to meet them later and preventing them from seeing Jiao Shen beat up pretenders.

It's beyond words.

But there's nothing to be done; VG fans are now utterly lawless.

At least before VG was eliminated in the S7 World Championship, VG fans had always enjoyed the right to be arrogant—bragging when they won, trash-talking when they lost, which is simply an LPL tradition.

Especially after VG defeated IM 3-0 the next day to capture the Demacia Cup, VG fans became even more arrogantly boisterous.

【I announce, the Demacia Cup is officially renamed the VG Cup!】

【I was a bit worried whether VG could adapt to the new season, but now I'm reassured—still slaughtering chickens and dogs! VG is awesome!】

【The Demacia Cup's prestige is ordinary, but if it's a clean-sweep championship, then it's different.】

【Actually, I still hope Jiao Shen keeps a low profile, lest he really draws the ire of the fists.】

【Being low-key is useless; they've already set their sights on you. On the contrary, I think VG should now do the opposite—not stay low-key but become more high-profile; as long as the fists realize that targeting is meaningless, they'll naturally give up targeting!】

【Never mind all that, VG, charge!】

【The era of RNG and EDG is over; now it's VG's age of conquest!】

【I went to the venue today—my husband is indeed handsome to the point of bubbling over (✧◡✧)】

【Rita, is that you?】

While some bask in limitless glory, others dim; in the face of the online hype for VG, the paparazzi can only continue to swallow their anger.

They dare not retaliate; no matter how much dissatisfaction they have, they can only mutter slogans in private—like 'thirty years east, thirty years west'—or mutter a few dark curses—but even then they dare not raise themselves, only daring to say that the fist's iron will teach VG how to behave.

The Demacia Cup's one-million prize money was paid out that very day.

The good news is, everyone's wallets got a bit fuller.

The bad news is, Ma Ge's plan to treat everyone to a meal will likely become harder and harder; after returning victorious from MSI, the VG teammates whose wallets have fattened are all scrambling to host, and even Zhu Xiaolong, who usually needs to earn money to support his family and buy formula and is somewhat tight-fisted, is willing to treat everyone to a cup of iced herbal jelly at noon.

As for Liang Yan, the greatest significance of winning the Demacia Cup for him is that the presale numbers for the Mang Seng champion skin have surged again.

That night, returning to Shanghai, Liang Yan went live and, at the audience's request, gave a commentary on his own Mang Seng skin.

As the saying goes, 'the old lady sells her melons,' Liang Yan naturally praised it to the hilt.

He got a bunch of wealthy female fans itching with desire, only regretting that the skin wasn't yet on sale, so they couldn't immediately buy ten or eight sets to show support, and could only shower gifts.

Seeing the backend data surge, the streaming platform executives were delighted.

Moreover, before the summer season opens, these platform executives can stay happy and pleased all the time, because Liang Yan streams every night.

……

……

Best wishes to all those about to take the college entrance exam for smooth sailing in their exams!