Chapter 755: Just say whether you're going or not

On the way to the victory banquet venue, Liang Yan pulled out his phone to scroll, saw that post on Tieba, noticed a netizen had built a 999+ story building in the comment thread with a third‑floor reply, Liang Yan smiled knowingly, and casually left a comment:

【It's a wolf extermination...】

Liang Yan's Tieba account had long been dug up; as soon as he appeared, the post's popularity skyrocketed. Seeing this, a high‑level operator from some Tieba added fuel to the fire and placed the post at the top of the Tieba app's homepage.

As expected, the post went viral.

The heat spread to other platforms; for a time, the two words VG and Firrrrrre dominated the top of the charts on all major platforms.

Zhihu: 【How to evaluate VG's 3‑0 sweep over WE in the LPL playoffs semifinals on August 25, locking their S7 spot?】

Top comment: 【Thanks for the invitation.

【VG reaching the finals means two S7 tickets are already locked; no matter whether VG or EDG wins, WE will have to fight RNG and IG for the last ticket.

【For this Bo5, my evaluation is just two words: invincible

【After three games, everyone realizes one thing: in the LPL there are only two kinds of junglers—one called Jiao Shen, the rest are others.

【Condi isn't weak, but in front of Jiao Shen he gets beaten like a puppet; after three games Condi is completely controlled, every move predicted by Jiao Shen.

【What about S7? I predict VG will at least make the semifinals, at most win the championship.

【What's scary about VG now is that the team hardly has any weaknesses; it feels like only Jiao Shen's direct disciple G2 can even touch them.

【As for next week's LPL finals, is there still any suspense?

Weibo event hot comments:

@EDG Esports Club: 【Shivering……】

@FamuLei: 【RNG: We don't need to face VG in the qualifiers, we're set!】

@RNG Esports Club: 【@FamuLei, I never said that! Everyone knows WE has always been our brother team; whoever gets the spot will give it their all, striving to bring glory to the country!

@DianjingLugong: 【Three‑game MVP, is Jiao Shen treating the playoffs like ranked? WE's jungle is as casual as a park, I feel bad for Kangdi for a second.

@KanbisaiDegou: 【Brothers, I seriously suspect Jiao Shen has superpowers; otherwise I can't explain why he always sees through the enemy's underwear.

@ChiguaLurenjia: 【VG's yearly points lock in S7, see you at the Bird's Nest!

@Baozaulelaotie: 【Damn, I wasted six hundred bucks on a scalper ticket just to watch three bot games; WE might as well disband.

@WojiuKangelehe: 【Stop the insults, stop the insults—losing to VG isn't shameful… What? 3‑0? A whole Bo5 under an hour and a half? Then go ahead and insult.

Liang Yan felt nothing seeing netizens hype him, but seeing everyone so optimistic about VG, he was still quite pleased.

So he also posted a microblog to join the fun.

【I want it all】

……

At the victory banquet, everyone ate and drank their fill, then pulled out their phones to do their own thing, or gathered in twos and threes to chat.

Zhu Xiaolong sat beside Liang Yan, not knowing what he had seen, suddenly shoved his phone screen in front of Liang Yan.

The screen showed a WeChat chat interface.

"What the heck?"

Liang Yan wondered why Zhu Xiaolong was showing him his own WeChat chat logs; taking a closer look, he exclaimed in surprise: "Huh?"

The person chatting with Zhu Xiaolong was CNB's head coach.

Exactly, it's that fish‑tank team from the Brazil Region that Luonaerduo invited the VG members to visit after MSI ended this year.

Over the past half year, CNB has maintained close contact with VG, but Liang Yan wasn't involved; the whole time it was Zhu Xiaolong and Tabe communicating with them.

At this point, the Brazil Region winter season has entered the playoffs, starting earlier than the LPL; just two days ago they finished the semifinals, and now, like the LCK Region, only the final Bo5 remains.

CNB has made it to the finals.

This means CNB needs only one more Bo5 win to claim an S7 Worlds ticket, giving them a good chance to come to China and reunite with the VG master‑disciple pair.

……

After the victory banquet, Liang Yan returned to the base and streamed for an hour.

He didn't play games, just chatted.

Just before ending the stream, Liang Yan brought up CNB in the chat.

The viewers were shocked—this was the first they learned that VG had another disciple besides G2.

……

The next day, the LPL third‑place match between RNG and WE began.

Unfortunately, it's unclear whether the loss was affected by WE's 0‑3 defeat to VG in the semifinals, but their performance in this Bo5 was dismal and they ultimately lost 1‑3 to RNG.

After the match, the WE Weibo comment section was filled with lament.

Although this match doesn't directly decide who gets the S7 spot, it affects the qualifier order; WE's loss in the third‑place match means they have to play an extra Bo5.

Objectively, WE's chance of securing a ticket is only one‑third.

And if WE's condition doesn't improve much by the qualifier stage, their odds of winning are already virtually zero.

……

After the third‑place match ended deep at night, the VG members had packed their bags and were ready to head to Beijing. Around 1 a. m., Fu Lan Duo had already showered and lain down to sleep when a sudden knock came; she got up puzzled, opened the door, and found Liang Yan standing outside.

"Want to go out for a couple drinks?" Liang Yan said with a smile.

"Huh?" Fu Lan Duo widened her eyes, thinking she'd misheard.

"Just say whether you're going or not."

"……"

With a "pa" sound, Fu Lan Duo slapped herself.

"Ouch! Not a hallucination!"

Thus Fu Lan Duo eyed Liang Yan suspiciously, saw nothing unusual, and finally nodded hesitantly.

"I'll go call them."

Fu Lan Duo closed the door and headed to a dormitory door diagonally opposite in the hallway.

Liang Yan, however, said from behind: "Everyone's asleep, don't shout, just us."

Fu Lan Duo was stunned again.

He turned to look at Liang Yan, as if seeing a ghost.

……

Half an hour later, the two entered a small bar that wasn't doing well, chose a dimly lit corner to sit, and ordered two mojitos.

On the small stage ahead, a girl in a black dress hugged an acoustic guitar, singing a folk song they'd never heard before.

The two sat in the corner, chatting intermittently, occasionally taking a small sip of the cocktail that was only about ten degrees.

Fu Lan Duo occasionally glanced at Liang Yan's profile; her curiosity grew, and the confusion in her eyes deepened.

After a moment of silence, Liang Yan suddenly said: "Let me ask you a question."

Here it comes! Fu Lan Duo thought excitedly, wanting to scream from excitement, but she pretended not to care and nodded: "Mm-hmm?"

Liang Yan turned his head, looked at Fu Lan Duo, moved his lips, and finally sighed with a hint of apprehension in Fu Lan Duo's eager gaze:

"Never mind, I can't talk to you about it."

"?!"

Fu Lan Duo was almost driven mad.

"You're actually a person?!"