Chapter 819: I'll teach you how to play Mang Seng later

It seems EDG thinks they can advance by stepping over G2.

The above sentence was said by Uzi.

Everyone shouted "awesome!"

Liang Yan quietly recorded a short audio clip and sent it to Tang Anna.

Tang Anna replied with an "oh."

Not long after, Ka Lao Si posted a Weibo: "【EDG, you're doomed!】"

…

In the LPL training room, everyone was bustling; Wang Liangyi and the RNG team leader walked in shoulder to shoulder, each holding an A4 sheet. Having just come with the official staff, they likely held the schedule.

As soon as Wang Liangyi entered the training room, he shouted loudly:

"Brothers, I have good news to announce!"

Fu Lan Duo raised an eyebrow: "Don't try to fool me; last time you said good news, you ended up dragging us to some crappy college to do some activity. After a match, my arms were full of mosquito bites!"

Everyone laughed.

The RNG team leader's expression instantly turned a bit awkward; he glanced at Wang Liangyi.

Wang Liangyi smiled sheepishly: "This time it's really good news—someone's treating us to a free river cruise night tour of the Yangtze River, and they'll even cover late-night snacks!"

"Tsk!"

"Phew~~~"

"I'm not going; have fun!"

"I'm not going either..."

Upon hearing that, everyone realized the so-called Yangtze River night tour with late-night snacks covered was probably just an official night-scene photography assignment.

Seeing that he couldn't fool anyone, Wang Liangyi had no choice but to coax them, saying whatever it took, and finally gathered everyone in the hotel lobby.

When the two teams arrived, they discovered that LCK's SKT and SSG were also there. However, they had a separate filming crew, so they likely wouldn't be working alongside the LPL side.

Players from both sides glanced at each other; since hardly anyone knew each other, they exchanged greetings, and the atmosphere felt a bit subtle.

Just then, Faker suddenly raised his hand and waved toward the VG side, smiling faintly and saying, "Long time no see."

Easyhoon calmly met Faker's gaze, nodded, and said, "Long time no see."

Then Faker's gaze shifted to behind Easyhoon.

Liang Yan was lowering his head, using his phone to send a WeChat to Tang Anna, when his shirt was tugged. He turned to see who had pulled his shirt—it was Xiao Duan—and asked what was up. Xiao Duan secretly pointed toward the LCK side.

Liang Yan turned his head and saw Faker looking at him, so he smiled and said hi.

Faker replied in stiff Chinese: "Ni hao."

Liang Yan then put away his phone, intending to chat a bit, glanced at the LCK people, and asked, "Where are you guys filming?"

Liang Yan spoke in English, which Faker could understand, but his own English wasn't as fluent: "We're going to Yellow Crane Tower and Sweat University."

"Oh, have you been there before?"

"I've been to Yellow Crane Tower."

"We're going on a Yangtze River cruise—jealous?"

"Uh... very jealous."

"Take a good look, study well—Chinese culture is vast and profound."

"Okay."

"You're a nice person; do you have WeChat?"

"Yeah, I just got it; want to add?"

"Sure, add me—I'll teach you how to play Mang Seng later."

People on both sides started chuckling.

Faker's motion to pull out his phone also froze instantly.

Liang Yan, however, stepped out of the line, thrust out his business card QR code without hesitation, and said, "Come on, scan me."

Faker still silently took out his phone, scanned the code, and added him. He had downloaded WeChat to communicate more easily with the official staff while here; he originally planned to uninstall it after the Worlds, but now that Liang Yan is among his contacts, he decided to keep it.

After adding Faker on WeChat, Liang Yan suddenly turned his head, looking at Peanut—who had his head down and was hiding behind the chubby Wolf—and said, "Xiao Huasheng, do you want to add me too?"

Peanut seemed startled, jerking his head up; his handsome, pale face was filled with panic. He hastily waved his hands: "No no no... thanks, I don't have WeChat!"

"Oh, then next time."

Liang Yan leisurely returned to his own team's line.

The lobby fell into an eerie silence; even a few staff members' expressions turned subtle, as nobody had expected Liang Yan to behave like that.

After leaving the hotel lobby, the two groups each boarded two buses and went their separate ways.

People on both sides secretly let out a sigh of relief.

SKT coach Kkoma sat in the bus, furrowed his brows, thought for a while, but still couldn't figure out what intention Firrrrrre's earlier action had.

"Xiang He, what do you think he means?"

Faker remained silent for a few seconds, then calmly replied, "I think he's an interesting person; maybe he doesn't have any particular motive."

"Is that what you think?"

"Yeah."

"Don't you think he's...?"

"No." Faker firmly shook his head in reply.

Kkoma looked at Faker in surprise.

Firrrrrre saying he would teach Faker to play Mang Seng is obviously a jab at last year's Worlds semifinal, where his Mang Seng kicked Faker's Zac, turning several SKT players into candied hulu and completing a miraculous reverse sweep—a famous moment—and likely also mocking how SKT encountered VG in the Intercontinental Tournament, where VG instantly banned Mang Seng.

To Kkoma, this is clearly a blatant provocation.

However, Faker said no.

This made Kkoma feel incredulous; he believed Faker's judgment, and therefore felt very puzzled.

What Kkoma didn't know was that Faker's reason for saying no and feeling that Firrrrrre was provoking was that he couldn't detect any meaning beyond teasing in Firrrrrre's words.

It was just pure teasing, like good friends joking around.

But what about Xiao Huasheng?

Kkoma turned back to look at Han Wanghu, and saw him staring blankly out the car window, a dazed expression on his face.

Sigh……

Poor child.

Kkoma kept shaking his head and sighing, while also feeling more worried in his heart.

With our jungler like this, what will we do if we ever face VG in the future?

To be honest, Kkoma doesn't have any good solutions either.

If he had known earlier that Xiao Huasheng actually had such severe psychological trauma, Kkoma probably wouldn't have agreed to sign him in the first place.

……

The next day, with Jinyibo as host, members of VG and RNG plus the practice squad gathered together and had a meal at a restaurant.

Afterwards, RNG posted a group photo of both teams and the entire practice squad on their team's official blog.

There was no caption, yet netizens instantly understood.

Online, a new wave of criticism against EDG was stirred up.

A Bu, who was still in Huludao and hadn't come back, was so angry his face turned green; but being in the wrong and unable to speak, he had no choice but to swallow his pride, grit his teeth, and on the spot bought late-night high-speed rail tickets from Shanghai to Wu Han for the entire EDG team.