Chapter 652: Deploying Troops and Setting Formations

Liang Yan lay in the hospital for another day, having finished watching the six matches of the second round of the Asia Confrontation Tournament group stage; LPL's second-round record was the same as yesterday's, still 2-2.

But unexpectedly, WE actually lost two matches in a row.

"This is really strange; logically it shouldn't be like that……"

Wang Liangyi stood at the service counter on the first floor of the hospital lobby, handling Liang Yan's discharge paperwork while chatting with Liang Yan standing beside him.

Liang Yan, being idle anyway, struck up a conversation with Wang Liangyi: "The group stage is just a formality, or rather a way for everyone to get familiar with the version; winning or losing actually doesn't matter."

"Doesn't matter?"

"Exactly. There are only three regions total; in the group stage, no matter what place you finish, you won't be eliminated—except the first place goes straight to the finals, while second and third advance to the semifinals."

"But I still think losing is pretty embarrassing…… After all, we lost to the provincial team."

"The group stage is fine; WE is probably hiding something."

"Holy crap! So that's how it is…… Do we have something hidden too?"

Liang Yan looked at Wang Liangyi, amused: "I didn't even play in the group stage, and you're asking if we have something hidden."

Wang Liangyi's eyes lit up instantly.

VG wasn't hiding anything; they just hid their strongest player!

……

Back at the hotel, Gao Jun still got everyone together for a little homecoming ceremony; Liang Yan took the elevator up, and just as he stepped out, the people lying in wait on both sides suddenly rushed out.

It was like a flash mob.

Gao Jun and Fu Lan Duo each held a confetti tube; with a pop, large red confetti rained down from the ceiling.

Then everyone laughed and shouted in unison:

"Welcome~back~from~the~hospital!"

On the way back, Wang Liangyi "accidentally" let slip, letting Liang Yan know that something was waiting for him at the hotel, so he was mentally prepared and thus wasn't startled.

But it felt a bit weird.

First of all, it's this big red……

Then he reached up and caught a piece of confetti, looked down:

double happiness

Liang Yan had a speechless expression, looking left and right: "How come I didn't know I was getting married?"

Gao Jun was a bit embarrassed: "Well, I looked everywhere nearby and this was the only kind available; I couldn't order online, so we'll make do."

But Liang Yan suddenly smiled, his gaze sweeping over everyone:

"Thank you, everyone."

……

Everyone just finished cleaning up the paper scraps scattered across the hallway when LPL team chief Wensen notified the VG members in the LPL expedition group to come to a meeting to discuss how to deploy troops for tomorrow's semifinal.

"What's there to discuss about playing LMS? Just go up and win, easy peasy~"

Liang Yan's return steadied VG's morale; Xiao Duan lay sprawled on the sofa, speaking arrogantly, and even threw in a Cantonese phrase he'd learned from Fu Lan Duo.

Fu Lan Duo retorted: "You weren't saying that when we played M17 the day before yesterday."

"Huh? What did I say in M17? I didn't say anything!"

Xiao Duan now started feigning amnesia, turning his head toward Gangzi, his partner from that match, trying to fish for confirmation: "Right, Brother Yang, what did I say that day?"

On one side was an old buddy, on the other his own Xia Lu partner; neither could be offended, so Gangzi also played dumb: "Huh? Did I say something? What did I say? I don't know."

"He did."

The upright Sima Laozei spoke up for justice:

"Before going on stage that day, Xiao Duan said he felt like they'd capsize."

Xiao Duan: "Brother Ma……"

Everyone burst into laughter.

Gao Jun stood up: "Alright, let's stop the chatter and go to the meeting; everyone follow along to discuss tomorrow's arrangements."

Upon arriving at the spacious meeting room, everyone found a seat.

The remaining three LPL expedition teams' members quickly assembled, and the originally spacious meeting room filled up, becoming crowded.

Wensen, as the meeting initiator, exchanged a few pleasantries, then handed over control of the meeting to EDG's leader A Bu.

A Bu rose calmly, his expression as still as water:

"Tomorrow is the semifinal; nobody wants to be eliminated by the provincial team, right?"

"Now that we're behind closed doors, we don't have to worry about it getting out; I hope everyone can speak freely."

"Well, on our side, we've already discussed this earlier."

"Our view is that tomorrow's first match is crucial; winning would greatly boost the morale of the entire LPL team, so we think we should send a relatively…… uh, stable team for the first game."

"But we can't just send our strongest right away, or we'll be passive later on."

A Bu is no longer EDG's coach, but EDG's current coach Nofe is a Korean whose Chinese is barely sufficient for everyday conversation, so he naturally can't host this meeting; for now he can only sit to the side and listen obediently.

Actually, given EDG's performance in the group stage, it shouldn't be them hosting the meeting; it should be VG's turn. But the LPL circle works like that—in such settings, results are secondary, seniority is what matters.

Of course, VG division manager Gao Jun's seniority in the circle isn't low, but he's an administrator, unlike A Bu who came from a coaching background; his seniority is enough but his professional ability isn't, so Gao Jun can't contend with A Bu for speaking authority.

As for Zhu Xiaolong, he was still a player in the spring season, only becoming a coach in the summer; previously he was just a nobody in the circle, so naturally he couldn't command the room either.

Therefore, Wensen, as the head of the expedition team, after considering all factors, ultimately decided to let A Bu host this meeting.

A Bu rattled on at length, then finally put forward an opinion:

"So I suggest we just let our EDG play in tomorrow's first match. I believe LMS probably thinks similarly—they want to win the first game but don't want to expend their strongest strength right away, so they'll likely send AHQ or JT to face us."

"Um... although we did lose to AHQ on the first day of the group stage, please rest assured that match doesn't mean anything, because it wasn't our true strength."

"Well, that's roughly our opinion; please share your thoughts."

The dozens of eyes in the room looked at each other—you looked at me, I looked at you; the meeting room fell silent for a few seconds; RNG's coach FireFox stood up, he first smiled at everyone present, then turned his gaze to the already seated A Bu:

"We agree with Chief Ji's opinion; the first match tomorrow is indeed very important, but regarding the selection of the participating teams, we have a different opinion."

"I won't beat around the bush either; let's all speak openly and frankly."

"That said, speaking frankly, among our four teams, now that Jiao Shen has returned, VG is definitely the strongest—I believe everyone will have no objection to that..."