Chapter 783

SKT Ji Di, meeting room.

The livestream on the big screen paused on the image of VG holding the trophy, Kkoma turned to look at his teammates: "The match is over, what do you all think?"

No one responded.

Just finished watching the livestream, the shock VG brought them still hasn't been digested; the replay of the third game where VG four versus five wiped out EDG keeps playing over and over in their minds, that team fight's shock to the SKT members left their feelings in disarray, everyone's thoughts are a tangled mess—at this point, how could anyone sort out any useful ideas?

Kkoma didn't expect anyone to say anything; he just wanted to ease the atmosphere.

After a moment of silence in the meeting room, Kkoma lightly inhaled and then said:

"I have an idea. If we end up in the same group as VG in the group stage, with securing advancement as the premise, we shouldn't go head-to-head with VG."

Faker raised his head, as if wanting to say something, but ultimately didn't speak.

"Keep our trump cards hidden." Kkoma continued, "Save our strength for the knockout stage, save it for the finals……"

It's like a marathon, sprinting with all your might at the start stage—that's something only a fool would do.

Fighting for group head means little; history only remembers the final victor.

……

At the Wukesong Gymnasium, the revelry finally came to an end.

Liang Yan walked at the rear of the team, following teammates toward the backstage; upon reaching the entrance of the backstage passage, Liang Yan stopped, looking back at the many spectators in the stands still reluctant to leave.

Someone was still cheering.

Liang Yan lifted his head higher, glanced at the huge electronic screen above the stage, which still displayed the image of all VG members raising their cups.

Last summer, he bought a discounted plane ticket, took a cheap flight, carrying five thousand borrowed yuan, and landed in Berlin.

This year he has returned, standing here, covered in honor.

But it's not over yet.

He had said he would bring the highest honor to the LPL.

After that……

Then he could do as he pleased.

……

The lingering heat of the summer finals continued to ferment online, with related terms still hanging on the hot lists of major platforms.

On Weibo, celebrations, analyses, and snarky remarks were mixed into a jumble; the Tieba homepage remained flooded with "VG is awesome"; under that Zhihu question, over ten thousand answers had been posted, and the comment sections of several top-voted answers also had over ten thousand replies.

The online heat hadn't waned at all, while the entire VG team had just returned to the hotel at this moment.

After drinking some wine at the victory banquet, Lu Wenjun then handed out another round of red packets on the spot; a group of people were now walking a bit unsteadily.

Liang Yan hadn't drunk much; upon returning to his room, he prepared to take a shower.

Fu Lan Duo, showing off, drank a couple of liang of baijiu; others had carried him back, and now he lay on the bed like a dead pig, completely unconscious.

Liang Yan took clean clothes into the bathroom, had just taken off his clothes when a ding-dong sounded twice, and the doorbell rang.

Liang Yan had no choice but to put his clothes back on and come out; glancing at the electronic clock on the wall, it was past eleven, wondering who would come looking for him so late.

Opening the door, Liang Yan froze on the spot. The person standing outside was someone Liang Yan could never guess, even if he racked his 150-IQ brain to the point of explosion.

It was Zhou Dong.

He wore a peaked cap, a large mask on his face, his eyes smiling narrowly, appearing somewhat embarrassed.

Behind Zhou Dong stood another person, about twenty to thirty years old, wearing glasses, looking rather refined; Liang Yan also recognized him—he had seen him at the Intercontinental Tournament, and if memory serves, he was the coach of JT team, Weili.

JT is the team Zhou Dong invested in and built in the LMS region; this year's regional performance was decent, ultimately taking third in the regular season, but the playoffs saw a slight setback, only finishing fourth. Fans originally thought JT had a good chance to qualify for S7 via the play-in tournament, yet they stumbled again, losing outright to the Hong Kong team HKA… It is precisely because this year's entire schedule has ended that JT's coach Weili is free to accompany boss Zhou Dong to the sixth-anniversary celebration—in fact, Zhou Dong intentionally brought his team's coach along to broaden his horizons and learn from a true top-tier region powerhouse.

As one of them, Liang Yan had already obtained the roster for both sides of the All-Star Match on the third day of the celebration, knowing Zhou Dong would be his teammate.

But he truly didn't expect Zhou Dong to be staying in the same hotel, let alone that Zhou Dong would come to his door himself.

"Hey, sorry to bother you this late." Zhou Jielun spoke, his voice not loud, with a hint of a Taiwanese accent.

"Zhou… teacher?" Liang Yan reacted slowly, hurriedly ushering him in, "Please come in, please come in."

Zhou Dong pulled down his mask, took a look inside, then waved his hands: "No, no, no, I'm not going in; I just came over to greet my teammate and, by the way, take a look at my idol."

"Uh…" Liang Yan rubbed his nose, "Me?"

"It has to be you. Congratulations on winning another championship!"

Zhou Dong laughed; Weili, standing behind the boss, also gave an awkward chuckle.

Liang Yan shook hands with him, but deep down he absolutely didn't believe Zhou Dong had come just to see him; yet the other party indeed had no intention of entering, leaving Liang Yan somewhat puzzled.

After a few pleasantries, Zhou Dong glanced at the room interior, somewhat embarrassed tugging at his mask, finally revealing the fox's tail: "Hey, I heard you pros usually train late; are you resting this early today?"

"No, no, my friend got drunk at the victory banquet."

"Oh oh, I see, did you drink too?"

"Just a little, I don't feel anything."

"Oh oh… then how about we play a few practice matches? What do you think? But if you want to rest, just forget it."

The topic shifted a bit awkwardly; it was obvious Zhou Dong is not good at socializing.

However, he spoke quite sincerely.

"Sure, where should we play?"

"Right here in the hotel; we have a training room, yes, I applied for it."

Zhou Dong looked quite proud.

Weili added from the side: "However, the condition is that we charge Zhou Dong a bit less for the event fee, haha."

Liang Yan was initially surprised—just a casual one‑game entertainment match, yet they'd set up a dedicated training room? Is Tengzi that rich? After hearing Weili's explanation, he immediately understood: it ultimately came down to spending money.

That said, Zhou Dong's willingness to spend money aside, coming over this late to drag him into a training camp shows seriousness, which Liang Yan admires.

Looks like this old guy has a strong competitive drive…

Zhou Dong didn't blame his subordinate for talking too much, again somewhat embarrassed tugging at his mask, saying: "However, our other teammates can only arrive tomorrow to gather; tonight we can only meet online—what do you think?"

No problem, then you wait a moment, I'll wash my face and come.