Chapter 735

Thirty-eight minutes later, RNG lost the match.

The first semi-final Bo5 ended, EDG won and successfully advanced to the finals.

The live chat barrage exploded completely:

【EDG awesome!】

【Holy shit, let them come back from 2-3?!】

【I'll go first, how did they turn it around?】

【They can't even win with their best 4-1 strategy, what's there to say~】

【It's over, RNG won't make it to the World Championship, right?】

【Xiao Gou did his best, the BP is a mess!】

【Feng Ge's BP is truly indescribable】

【Sigh, good luck in the qualifiers】

The dog-like fans were dejected, the pig-like fans were overjoyed, the camera swept the scene, and many girls wearing EDG light sticks had tears in their eyes.

"Congratulations to EDG, becoming the first team to advance to the 2017 LPL Summer Finals!"

"Oh dear, it's really not easy."

"If you ask me, it's still Changzhang!"

"Yeah, after Changzhang returned to the stage, EDG's performance compared to when Ai Luoli played was indeed much more stable."

"Then after securing this point, EDG fans can relax; regardless of the finals, at least one S7 ticket is basically secured!"

"It's not just basically secured; calculating EDG's points shows they already have a ticket firmly in hand: Spring Season runner-up plus a guaranteed Summer Season runner-up gives 160 points. No matter what happens, even if WE beats VG next match and eventually wins the championship, EDG's points remain secure, because if VG loses to WE they'd at most be third, and VG's total points across two seasons would be 90 plus 70 = 160, tying EDG, but EDG's higher Summer Season ranking means the ticket stays with EDG."

"Huh? So such a possibility actually exists?"

"Yes, though the probability is relatively low."

"Hey, are you looking down on our big WE? The next match is WE vs VG—watch out, WE might rush the stage and give you two punches, I'm telling you!"

"Zhihuan Feng chuckled lightly: 'I've trained in sanda, you know.'"

The audience below laughed.

"Changzhang sighed softly: 'In that case, we can only feel sorry for RNG; after losing in the semifinals, they can only go to the qualifiers to compete with other teams for that last Worlds ticket.'"

"Xiao Gou seems to have cried."

"Huh?"

"No, it's just that his face is a bit red."

"Um……"

In the EDG commentary desk, Mingkai was packing up equipment while enjoying teammates' praise, occasionally turning to look at the RNG player bench; under the already-lit stage lights, he saw most RNG players slumped and silently packing up equipment. Changzhang couldn't see Uzi's face, but he could see RNG coach FireFox already on stage, standing behind Uzi, lightly patting Uzi's shoulder to comfort him with words.

Mingkai laughed while dealing with teammates' noise, but inside he felt a sense of sorrow like a rabbit mourning a fox.

After leaving the stage, Changzhang made an excuse to go to the restroom and split from his teammates; after they disappeared around the backstage corridor corner, he instead stood on one side of the corridor waiting.

Soon after, the RNG group entered the backstage area.

Changzhang greeted the strange looks from the RNG members, feeling a bit embarrassed but still forcing a smile as he walked over to Uzi and patted his shoulder, asking, "You okay?"

Uzi glanced at him, shook his head, and walked straight away.

At that moment, the VG group preparing to go on stage happened to come from the corner; Liang Yan happened to see this scene, looking at Uzi who walked away without looking back toward the restroom, and came to Changzhang's side.

"What's up?"

"Nothing."

"Congrats, we got the tickets."

"Yeah, good luck."

"Sure."

Liang Yan sensed that Changzhang's mood was low, didn't chat much, exchanged a few words then caught up with his teammates' pace. Changzhang, however, stood behind watching the VG group walk onto the stage, feeling a complex mix of emotions.

Not long ago, EDG was just like VG, full of confidence and fearless.

But now, whether it's about himself or Uzi, Changzhang feels it can be described in four words:

Heroes in their twilight.

Soon after the teams entered for the second match, the venue's big screen began playing a warm-up clip from the semifinals.

The first part is a Vlog of both teams.

The first shot shows the WE restroom; it's clearly filmed just today, WE members either lying or sitting on the gaming chairs in the restroom, Coach Homme has a notebook open in his hand, but what he's saying is unrelated to the game, rather he's cheering up the players—of course, if he were discussing tactics, this couldn't be publicly broadcast in such a setting.

Homme was speaking Korean, and the translator beside him relayed it at breakneck speed.

Forget the opponents, forget the spring split, forget the gap; we just need to focus on today's Bo5, don't think about who the opponent is, just charge toward our goal!

Don't let any external factors affect your confidence; believe me, believe in yourselves, WE is the best team in the LPL……

After a cut, the WE members had already stood up and formed a circle; all the players and Coach Homme stacked their hands together and shouted: 'Come on!!!'

As the scene changed, the camera faced a black van; the VG group got out of the van in single file, marching purposefully toward the backstage entrance. Afterwards the camera almost shoved up to Liang Yan's face, and an off‑screen voice asked: 'Jiao Shen, what are the odds today?'

Liang Yan smiled at the camera, then suddenly raised his hand and pressed it against the lens; the blurred lines of his palm covered the whole screen, and Liang Yan's voice came through:

Don't ask this kind of question again; it makes you look stupid.

The Vlog cut off abruptly, and the screen switched to the set of the trash‑talk MV, where Liang Yan sat facing the camera and the director asked: 'What do you think the odds are for today's match against WE?'

Liang Yan smiled, curled the four fingers of his right hand together with his thumb to form an O, closed his left eye, and looked through the O at the camera with his right eye; he didn't say a word, but the meaning was already clear.

The playful gesture, combined with the earlier sentence that had been deliberately edited to the front, had a decent entertainment effect, causing many in the audience to laugh.

Afterward, players from both teams gradually appeared on camera; the most impressive thing, besides Liang Yan's O, was a few sentences spoken by WE's bot laner Mystic:

I have a very cute little sister, who said that if I could qualify for the World Championship, she and my parents would come to China to watch me play.

Mystic came prepared, pulling out a family photo and showing it to the camera.

The venue and the live-streaming room instantly exploded.