Chapter 633: Changzhang, come back!

On the other side, laughter kept coming from the VG lounge.

Xiao Duan's voice was the loudest: "Zhihao Ge, this game was so awesome, damn~"

Fu Lan Duo also laughed: "With double buffs at seven minutes, if I were the enemy mid laner I'd have surrendered at 15—my teammates definitely wouldn't vote, but this is my attitude."

The 15-minute surrender is a new mechanism introduced in the 7.10 patch currently used by the LPL; before this version, surrender was only possible after 20 minutes, now it's been moved up five minutes to 15, and a unanimous team vote allows surrender.

Zzitai's face was red, he wiped sweat from his forehead, laughing until his eyes narrowed: "Good luck, good luck, it's all thanks to Jiao Shen's opportunity……"

Liang Yan leaned back on the sofa, twisted open his water bottle and took a sip, his expression calm and indifferent, as if the previous match had nothing to do with him—in fact, looking at it, he really wasn't involved much, and if you only looked at the stats, his impact could even be negative.

But nobody present dared to tease Liang Yan about his record; as his teammates, from the first match they fought alongside him, they had personally witnessed what it meant to be 'this team can't do without me,' except that the 'me' had to be replaced by Liang Yan.

Fu Lan Duo poked Liang Yan with her elbow: "Hey, what's the plan for the next game?"

Liang Yan set down his water bottle and said casually:

"Just play casually; they probably don't even want to play anymore."

Zhu Xiaolong laughed at that, and just then a staff member came to knock on the door; Zhu Xiaolong stood up and clapped his hands:

"Let's go, let's go, stop dragging it out—next game we'll finish fast; maybe we can catch an LCK match on the way back."

The crowd rose noisily, shoulders linked, walking out.

"By the way, what LCK match is today?"

"That's obvious—it's the regular season; they're already in the fourth round."

"Holy crap, that fast?!"

"I'm asking which team's match."

"I don't know that."

"Long Ge?"

"I don't know either."

"Damn, you said we'd go back to watch a match and got me thinking it was Samsung vs. SKT, I was actually looking forward to it a little."

"Samsung and SKT had already played on the second day of the LCK summer split—no suspense, Samsung crushed SKT 2‑0."

"Even in our scrims against them we couldn't see any advantage for Samsung—it's amazing."

"Their main strategy is bloodline suppression."

"Yeah, but once playoffs start it's hard to say…"

Chatting noisily all the way, the VG players returned to the bench. The stage lights weren't on, but some spectators in the venue still spotted them, so the crowd, which had just calmed down a bit, became noisy again.

Before putting on his headset, Liang Yan cocked his ear and heard many people calling for Changzhang's return; he couldn't help finding it funny, yet he thought: 'Too bad, I probably won't get to see Changzhang step onto the stage and play himself anymore.'

As an insider, and moreover the one at the top, Liang Yan always has more channels for news than outsiders; even if he doesn't ask, many people will proactively tell him the latest insider gossip—not just teammates, but also plenty of players he hasn't even added on WeChat, and Liang Yan understands this is their little trick to get close.

Although it's basically useless.

For anyone Liang Yan dislikes, whatever they do is wasted on him—he won't even add them on WeChat—and there are still a few such people in the LPL.

……

On the commentator's desk, the commentators also finished their chatter.

Wawa put the half‑earpiece he'd taken off for ventilation back on and raised his voice:

"Alright, both teams are back on stage. Speaking of which, I still hope EDG can make some changes this game and win one back. As the opening match, I'd still like it to be exciting—not over in just a few moves, that'd be boring."

"We must change."

Miller took over, his tone noticeably firmer than before,

"If EDG keeps playing like they did in the last game, there's absolutely no hope; expecting other teammates to deal damage and then have Scout clean up is unrealistic—first, the mindset isn't right. One premise you need to know when EDG faces VG is that EDG are the challengers! You must let Scout start strong from the get‑go, not imagine feeding him kills to fatten him up; as the team's absolute core, Scout has to exert himself from the beginning, or EDG won't have a chance to win."

"That's absolutely correct."

Ji nodded solemnly,

"I think the idea of giving Ai Luoli the Lion Dog is right—she has enough jungle duel capability and doesn't need to do much early on—but the problem is EDG's execution seems a bit lacking; although it's a lane lineup with no lane priority, Ai Luoli keeps trying to make plays here and there, which only makes the lane more painful for her."

"Wanting to do too much actually makes mistakes more likely."

"Exactly, and to be honest, I feel Ai Luoli's chemistry with the team is still a bit off—nothing like Changzhang…"

"After all, Changzhang is EDG's backbone…"

On the players' bench, the equipment had already been tested when the first game started, so there was no need to re‑calibrate; after coming up they did a quick check, confirmed everything was fine and went straight into the room, waiting for the referee's signal before entering BP.

This game, VG took the blue side.

"Alright, BP has begun! Blue side VG, red side EDG—let's see how the second game's bans and picks play out!"

"VG's first ban goes to Shen!"

"This game EDG is on the red side, and it feels like the pressure will be greater."

"That's right—the red side naturally has to bear more bans for the current patch……"

In the livestream chat, the barrage started calling for Changzhang again:

【Changzhang, come back! (sobbing)】

{If we don't see Changzhang, I'm not watching—I already know the ending}

{Can Ai Luoli stop sleepwalking this game! }

{If the blue side hasn't even played, how can you expect the red side to win? GG! }

{Don't add pressure—I'm an EDG fan, my blood pressure's spiking 555}

The director's camera turned toward the EDG players' bench.

The weather was muggy, and the arena packed with two thousand people felt even hotter; the air conditioning had a slight effect, but only slight. Coach Nofe pulled a handkerchief from his suit pocket, pressed it twice to his forehead, flipped it over, folded it, and gripped it in his hand as he paced back and forth behind the players, his lips moving as he spoke to them in a mix of Korean and Chinese, speaking quickly while his hands kept gesturing.

Among EDG's three domestic players, only Meiko, who had voluntarily studied Korean, could barely understand some; the other two just let it go in one ear and out the other, looking completely bewildered.

Nofe realized this, was merely anxious, and began to consider more frequently: 'How the hell did I ever get bewitched into signing this EDG contract?'

Seeing the opponent's ban, he instinctively lifted his hand to wipe his sweat.

BP had just started, and the handkerchief was already half wet.