Chapter 647: LPL's strongest combat power is on standby

The 2017 League of Legends Intercontinental Tournament was divided into two venues.

One is the Ou Mei Confrontation Tournament; as the name suggests, the participating regions are only Europe and North America. The top three teams from each region's summer standings automatically qualify, making six teams total, with G2 naturally among them.

The other is the Asia Confrontation Tournament, with three participating regions: LPL, LCK, and LMS. The top four teams from each region's summer standings qualify.

The Ou Mei Confrontation Tournament had already started on the day Liang Yan fell ill. The North America region played a Tian Ji's horse racing tactic, sending out P1, nominally the second seed but actually the weakest, to block G2's gun; naturally, G2 swept them aside easily. Afterwards, TSM also failed to take down Europe's second seed UOL, and by the end of the day's schedule, only C9 managed to win one game against FNC, giving North American fans a sliver of hope.

The hospital room's TV could connect to the internet, so Liang Yan lay in bed watching a few Ou Mei Confrontation Tournament matches. He had planned to sleep after watching G2's match, but just after turning off the TV, Tang Anna and Perkz repeatedly messaged him on WeChat, chatting for over an hour before he finally slept.

The next day, July 6th, was the opening day of the Asia Confrontation Tournament.

When Liang Yan woke up, Gao Jun had already left, and Wang Liangyi was sleeping soundly beside the bed. Liang Yan didn't wake him, pulled out his phone from under the pillow, glanced at the team chat, saw the team was preparing to head to the venue, and casually sent a 'Go for it'.

Lu Wenjun, who rarely spoke in the team chat, immediately popped up:

【Xiao Liang, don't worry about them; resting and recovering is your top priority!】

Liang Yan then put down his phone, got up lightly, went to the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face. When he came out, Wang Liangyi had woken up, saw him holding a washbasin, and jumped to his feet.

"Brother, you're awake! I'm coming, I'm coming, I'm coming!"

Liang Yan pushed him away, laughing and crying: "I'm just brushing my teeth and washing my face—what are you doing? I haven't broken my hands or feet; I don't need this."

Wang Liangyi smiled embarrassedly, stood aside, rubbed his eyes, and asked: "Brother, what do you want to eat? I'll go buy it for you!"

Liang Yan placed the washbasin on the windowsill, thought for a moment, and said: "Yesterday Manager Gao got me a serving from the hospital cafeteria; that stir-fried rice noodle dish was pretty good."

Rice noodle rolls are a Hakka specialty snack, similar to cheung fun but thicker. The stir-fried rice noodle rolls in Kaohsiung are said to be the most authentic. Yesterday Gao Jun brought Liang Yan a portion from the hospital cafeteria, containing bean sprouts, chives, and shredded pork, with a special sauce; the taste was indeed good.

Of course, Liang Yan didn't actually like it that much; he just didn't want Wang Liangyi to go too far.

"I'll go right away!"

Wang Liangyi twisted his body and rushed out the door like a whirlwind.

Liang Yan stood by the window, stretched a big yawn, watched the bustling cityscape outside, greeted the morning sun with claps and foot taps, did a few stretching exercises, then pulled up half the window, lay back on the bed, picked up his phone, and aimlessly scrolled through Tieba.

The discussion sparked by yesterday's three-way announcement is still ongoing; all the Tieba users are discussing what to do now that LPL has lost Jiao Shen.

Liang Yan smiled.

"What to do? Let's toss it cold!"

……

In the early afternoon, the Asia Confrontation Tournament was about to begin.

After lunch, Liang Yan walked around the hallway, then returned to lie on the bed, turned on the TV, switched to network live-stream mode, and entered the Chinese-language live stream of the Asia Confrontation Tournament.

The barrage of comments swept across the screen:

【Here they come! Here they come!】

【I came early; LPL is in the second match.】

【LPL's strongest combat power is on standby; the players on stage can summon divine aid at any time.】

【Hahahaha... damn】

【Hasn't it started yet? I woke up too early; let me sleep a bit more!】

【Jiao Shen is out; sitting back to watch LPL get crushed.】

【LPL won't suddenly collapse just because someone's missing; fans of that person should first worry about how their favorite team will get through this.】

【To be fair, without Jiao Shen, this Intercontinental Tournament has half the appeal.】

【LCK: What do you mean, looking down on someone?】

【It's just the Intercontinental Tournament; no need to use a bull's knife to kill a chicken.】

【No, VG didn't bring a substitute jungler?】

【Laughing to death, EDG fans are ecstatic: finally someone is avenging us!】

【Just came over from Weibo; Ka Lao Si has already started ranting in the comments.】

【European fans are more anxious than us—I didn't expect that.】

The comments were too dense, seriously affecting viewing, and the TV-side live stream lacked a tiered blocking function, so Liang Yan had no choice but to turn off the comments.

After turning off the comments, the picture immediately became clear.

At that moment, the live stream displayed today's schedule: the opening match featured the host LMS versus LCK, with LPL appearing in the second match against LCK, but the schedule only showed the regional order; the exact team lineup had not yet been released.

The opening ceremony countdown ticked in the lower-left corner of the screen.

The Asia Confrontation Tournament is being held throughout at the Kaohsiung Exhibition Hall in Treasure Island, Kaohsiung City. At this moment the venue footage isn't visible, but the audio equipment is connected, and from time to time one can hear a burst of on-site cheering, unsure whether the stage is conducting some pre-match warm-up activities.

Moreover, the group stage of the Asia Confrontation Tournament uses a B1 double round-robin format; to put it simply, each region plays a total of eight best-of-one matches in the group stage, and each team gets only one appearance when facing the same region—for example, VG gets one appearance each in its matches against LPL, LCK, and LMS. The appearance order is decided on the spot by the regional coaching staff, but the first match between the two regions must have its participating teams decided the previous night and reported to the tournament organizers.

(Ps: In original history, all teams' appearance orders had to be set before the day's matches began.)

At 1:30 PM, as the countdown reached zero, the Asia Confrontation Tournament officially commenced.

The screen went black, then flashed a few logos: first came the logo of the tournament sponsor, Family-ruining Eye, followed by the logos of Riot Games and the various regions.

A huge wave of cheers surged; the camera cut to the venue, and the entire audience erupted.

The camera then cut away, and the Asia Confrontation Tournament promotional video began to play. It is a 2D animation produced by the LMS region's local team, in the style of classic early Taiwanese comics, with firm linework and a dusky yellow tint, giving it a strong local flavor.

The promotional video opens with the major landmarks of Treasure Island as a backdrop, stars circling like they hold up the moon around a Chinese-style ancient hall—somewhat like the Supreme Golden Hall in the Forbidden City. Then the camera zooms in; a tiny figure standing before the gate of the Golden Hall quickly enlarges, a handsome two-dimensional face emerging from the darkness and gradually rising until it nearly fills the entire screen.

The venue then burst forth with another huge wave of cheers.

"Fire!!!"