Chapter 824

The effect of appearing on CCTV was immediate.

Liang Yan's already exaggerated Weibo follower count, which hadn't changed in a long time, increased by over a million again; at the same time, VG's official account, LPL's official account, S7 event's official account, and other official accounts saw an influx of a large wave of new traffic.

Along with that, the tickets for the S7 qualifying matches that had gone on sale earlier were scalped to an outrageous price; scalpers were ecstatic, directly calling Jiao Shen deserving of being our god of wealth.

Of course, there were also many who were jealous.

【A new benchmark in esports? Don't make me laugh—what's with all this bravado over just a few championships? Moreover, the S6 championship was won by clinging to G2's coattails, which has nothing to do with VG now.】

【Indeed laughable—just putting on a team jersey and acting like a savior. Does Chinese esports even deserve to have him represent it? Wait until he leads a team to victory and grabs FMVP before saying that! Otherwise, he isn't even qualified to represent the LPL, and now talking about a new benchmark will only invite ridicule.】

【Writing a song, appearing on CCTV, gaining 20 million Weibo fans, the imaginary S7 champion—calling someone who has never won an S title in the LPL a benchmark is absolutely insane.】

【Just how many times has this poser appeared on CCTV, and what background could be so impressive?】

【The song "Comeback" is already out, and someone's S7 championship is already pre‑written into the lyrics. Hehe, I'm afraid that by the time they can't even make the semifinals, their face will be slapped swollen.】

【What's up—if they get eliminated they just pretend to be dead, spend money to push hot topics; that's how EDG has been playing these years. Look, EDG's Weibo still has over two million followers, doesn't it?】

【I just wonder—does such a monstrous person really exist in reality? If they do, they must be a time‑traveler with cheats.】

【It's obvious that TX selected him as the new crown prince; the CCTV interview was probably arranged by TX, the Heavenly King is just a product of capital operations, the song was written by someone else—get the Heavenly King to post a Weibo, move his lips reading the script on the interview, and he gains the "cross‑over talent" label—this person set it up, tsk tsk.】

【And there are the smart‑aleck detractors: 'WE never even got on CCTV or received a Heavenly King invitation to write a song when they won the world championship back then—it's really just that capital is too scary.'】

【Some netizens who don't really understand the situation back then say: 'What does IPL5 even count as a world championship? A long‑dead minor tournament can also be hyped.'】

He was immediately besieged by six billion people.

"I admit Jiao Shen has skill, but saying his S6 championship with G2 came from clutching thighs is a bit excessive. However, I think that even if VG wins the championship, it doesn't represent the LPL, let alone be called a Chinese team, because VG is not an all‑Chinese lineup at all. Really, don't let capital brainwash you—the true Chinese team is RNG! Cheer correctly—no matter how RNG plays, as long as they stick to an all‑Chinese roster, we should support them, because only this team of our own people exists!"

【Someone asked in the comments: 'The only all‑Chinese team? Did you eat OMG?'】

The comment was deleted as soon as it was posted.

All kinds of voices appear online—wind and rain, uproar and tumult… In this extraordinarily lively atmosphere, Riot added another log to the fire.

Following the annual world championship tradition, on the day before the opening of the qualifiers, Riot's official website, the official sites of the major League of Legends servers worldwide, and the client home pages simultaneously released an article:

【"2017 World Championship Top 20 Players"】

【The World Championship is the stage where the strongest League of Legends players from around the world compete for the final showdown. They come from every region, needing to prove who is the shark and who is the minnow. These players are very likely to swallow their opponents whole. Below are our selections for the 2017 World Championship Top 20 players:】

……

"Damn, is this toxic?!"

In the restaurant on the first floor of the training hotel, the VG members were having breakfast. Fu Lan Duo had just seen the fist-haired's top 20 list and immediately exploded, her voice so loud that everyone in the restaurant could hear.

"AP can still be ahead of Little Foot Brother? The fist-haired either did it on purpose or is completely blind, damn!"

Within the VG team, if one were to say who is most confident in Liang Yan's ability, it is not Sima Laozei, who usually receives the most guidance and care from Liang, nor Xiao Duan, the admirer, nor even Easyhoon, who coordinates the most with Liang Yan in matches, but Fu Lan Duo, who most enjoys arguing with Liang Yan.

Therefore, when seeing the fist-haired's top 20 list and discovering that Liang Yan was not actually world number one but was still behind Perkz, Fu Lan Duo was the first to explode; in her excitement, even the term "Little Foot Brother," which she hadn't dared to use in a long time, slipped out.

"Damn it, keep it down." Liang Yan glanced at Fu Lan Duo, still calmly drinking his millet porridge. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed the G2 group entering through the restaurant door, saw Tang Anna walking at the back, and his eyebrows slightly rose.

Tang Anna also saw him; the corner of her mouth twitched slightly, a half‑smile, as if hinting at something.

Liang Yan was speechless.

"Liang! Hey!"

Perkz raised his hand and loudly greeted Liang Yan, his expression a bit smug, and started walking over.

Liang Yan lowered his head and silently raised his middle finger.

Perkz instantly, then suddenly gave a hehe laugh, turned to say something to Jankos, and also made faces at Tang Anna, but upon receiving a cold stare from the coach, he immediately wussed out and hurriedly turned his heels to go the other way.