Chapter 815: Training Camp Begins

After that night, the thin barrier that had been preventing Liang Yan and Tang Anna from taking their relationship further completely vanished, leaving nothing between them.

Moreover, although they had sneaked out of the base, as soon as they left, word of their secret date spread throughout the base.

The members of VG and G2 weren't too surprised, since VG had already noticed some hints, and as for G2, it goes without saying—the scene on the airport shuttle made it clear that Liang Yan had laid everything out in the open.

But the CNB members were completely unaware, so when the two returned to the base, every CNB member looked at them with shock.

They'd seen plenty of players getting cozy with their own team leaders, but a player dating another team's coach? They'd never seen that before!

This seems totally absurd, and wouldn't the VG and G2 folks feel awkward? Wouldn't they worry about the two leaking information to each other?

In short, the CNB bunch was shocked beyond comprehension. Of course, although they were surprised, they held no prejudice—it was simply someone else's private matter.

……

The next day, the three teams' joint training officially began.

In the morning at the hotel, VG and G2 got started with great enthusiasm.

CNB, meanwhile, did free training on the domestic server's ranked ladder.

At the same time, teams from other regions began to set off for China one after another.

To make it easier for the teams coming to the World Championship to train daily, TX specially adjusted the opening hours of the domestic server's strongest server, the Summit of the Rift; previously it was open only a few fixed hours a day and not every day, now it's open twenty-four hours a day during the World Championship period.

Around eleven in the morning, VG and G2's practice match ended, they called over CNB, and the three teams gathered to review; the review mainly involved VG and G2 pointing out each other's minor issues exposed in the practice match, with CNB observing and learning, and coaches occasionally asking questions and receiving detailed answers.

In the afternoon, VG and G2 took turns giving CNB lectures.

There was no tension or grudge among the three teams.

VG and G2 are both first seeds, so they won't be in the same group. CNB, facing them, is essentially a little apprentice and must play the qualifying round; VG and G2 hope to help CNB fight its way out of qualifiers, and if CNB ends up in the same group as VG or G2, well, there's nothing to say—just give it their all and fight for themselves.

The VG base was lively all day.

In the evening, nearing mealtime, Gao Jun overheard a few G2 members chatting about a Zhejiang cuisine restaurant they had visited in China before, raving about how delicious the food was and still reminiscing about it. Gao Jun then asked Lu Wenjun for approval, obtained a special fund, and had the driver take the base bus out, with a large noisy crowd setting off.

Liang Yan couldn't understand why this group loved the local cuisine so much; having stayed in Shanghai for nearly a year, he rarely ate local dishes because they're overly sweet—even though he isn't picky, he still can't tolerate a few of their signature dishes.

Still, he got in the car, arrived at the restaurant, entered a private room, and sat openly beside Tang Anna; after the dishes arrived, he proactively helped her pick out some distant plates with his chopsticks, remaining calm and ignoring the teasing glances around the room.

Tang Anna, however, still hadn't adjusted to the huge shift from stern coach to shy girlfriend; her face flushed repeatedly, eventually going numb, she put on a stern expression like a dead pig unafraid of boiling water, yet unexpectedly regained a bit of her dignity.

The following days were roughly the same schedule: training by day, big meals by night.

This routine continued for five days; on the evening of September 12, nobody went out for a big meal—instead, after eating in the cafeteria, the three teams headed to the training room.

Everyone gathered around a large screen in a circle, with Zhu Xiaolong opening the LPL official broadcast on the computer connected to the screen.

Today is the day for the draw that determines the groups for the World Championship qualifying round and group stage.

The screen lit up, and the training room fell silent.

Everyone's expression showed a hint of seriousness.

VG and G2's strength is unquestionable; setting aside the fact that both teams are hotly discussed championship favorites, after these days of verification each side is fully confident in its own ability, so there's no pressure to advance. However, lacking advancement pressure doesn't mean the group stage can be taken lightly—if they end up in a group that's too strong, to guarantee steady advancement they'll have to reveal some powerful trump cards, which would greatly affect the subsequent knockout stage where every match is a do-or-die battle.

The threat facing CNB is more direct: as a qualifying-round team, their most urgent goal is to win a group-stage spot. Although the past few days of intensive training have greatly boosted their strength and confidence, they still dare not guarantee they'll make it out of qualifiers, because besides the wild-card teams, the qualifiers also include the strong teams from the four major regions.

The qualifying round is a new segment added to this year's World Championship, intended to give lower‑region teams more experience playing against global powerhouses and more chances to appear before a worldwide audience. Apart from the Southeast Asia region's GAM, which is the sole exception, all other wild‑card teams must participate in the qualifying round. The qualifying round consists of twelve teams: eight wild‑card entries, and the remaining four are the third seeds from the four major regions.

Based on this year's Mid-Season Invitational results, aside from the LPL's third seed—which is exempt from the qualifying round—the third‑seed teams from the LCK, EU, NA, and LMS regions must enter the qualifying round and compete with the eight wild‑card teams for the only four advancement slots.

And these four teams that cause the wild‑card teams major headaches are, respectively:

LCK-SSG

EU-FNC

NA-C9

LMS-HKA

Needless to say, SSG, which tore through the LCK gauntlet like a war god, even against the other three teams generally considered weaker, CNB has no assured victory.

The first round of the qualifying round is a Bo1 double round‑robin group format; the top two teams in each group advance to the second round, and only in the second‑round elimination stage does it become a true do‑or‑die battle for advancement. In other words, a favorable draw reduces first‑round pressure, making the situation similar to the group stage of the main event—whether one can hide one's trump cards in the first round basically comes down to luck of the draw.

Therefore, for this draw broadcast, CNB regards it as more important than VG and G2 do, since the group outcome determines whether they can smoothly enter the main event, and everyone's face tightened with tension.