Chapter 853: Baby

After the first day of group stage matches concluded, in summary, a few sentences can describe it:

LPL and LCK each won two consecutive matches.

North America and LMS each lost two consecutive matches.

Europe and the wild card each had one win and one loss.

Lu Xi An stole the show.

In one game VG fielded Lu Xi An as mid laner; in another RNG fielded him as marksman. Both reaped very pleasing results, and every player who used Lu Xi An earned the match's MVP.

People's understanding of the World Championship version is not static; it changes with the performance of certain systems or heroes in actual matches.

Some heroes that were pre‑touted as patch children, if they perform poorly on stage, are quickly abandoned by everyone; if they cannot be abandoned or adapted, even top‑tier teams will suffer a Waterloo—this has been demonstrated by many teams in past S‑seasons, and S5's Old Foster Dad is the prime negative example.

Meanwhile, heroes or systems that were ignored before the tournament, if they perform well on stage, will soon see countless teams follow suit, studying, learning, and imitating them.

In past S‑seasons, the teams that usually led the meta were from the LCK region.

This year, however, the situation is somewhat special; people have begun to flock to learn from the LPL.

More precisely, they are learning from VG.

For a while, the atmosphere in the training hotel became tense again.

Teams that had long ago discarded Lu Xi An now picked the hero up again; even if their own mid laner or AD carry couldn't play it, they seriously researched counter‑measures and substitutes, lest they be unable to respond when the opponent brought it out.

"I won't practice this."

When faced with the team's head coach Kkoma's inquiry, Faker clearly stated his refusal.

This wasn't a late‑coming rebellion; he looked earnestly at Kkoma and said, "It doesn't suit me; practicing it would be a waste of my time. If I must play it, I can only use it as a disguise, perhaps when facing FNC."

Kkoma not only showed no annoyance, but rather relievedly patted Faker's shoulder: "I fully agree with your suggestion, because I also think Lu Xi An isn't right for you."

FNC: Baby's heart feels bitter.

……

Later, Tang Anna proactively sent Liang Yan a WeChat message: 【Come out】

She said no with her mouth, but her body was quite honest.

Liang Yan told Zhu Xiaolong, returned to his room, changed clothes, put on a mask and cap, and went to the hotel lobby on the first floor.

Seeing Tang Anna standing outside the hotel's glass doors, he walked over with his hands in his pockets.

"You seem pretty idle too, huh?" Liang Yan teased with a smile.

Tang Anna also wore a black mask, her hair tucked into the cap, looking somewhat bulky; the beautiful eyes beneath the cap's brim glanced at him lightly and she asked, "Where to?"

"Have you eaten?"

"I have. I don't eat late‑night snacks, and I don't drink milk tea."

"Then…"

Liang Yan looked left and right, then suddenly proposed:

"How about we play a game?"

"……Huh?"

Tang Anna froze for a moment, then understood his meaning, nodded and said, "Sure."

So Liang Yan pulled out his phone, opened a map app, searched, casually picked a place with pictures that looked decent, saw it was nearby—under five hundred meters—and decided to walk.

It was just right for a street stroll.

After just a couple steps, his small hand was grabbed; Tang Anna looked up at him, didn't pull away, merely curious and asked, "Aren't you afraid?"

"Afraid of what?"

Liang Yan strolled forward leisurely, half his face covered by the mask, but from his eyes and gait one could see he was very relaxed at the moment.

"Being recognized." Tang Anna said.

"If we're recognized, we're recognized." Liang Yan shrugged, indifferent, "I'm not some big star; I doubt I'd be mobbed like a national treasure."

"You're not a big star yet?" Tang Anna thought he was deliberately showing off. Moreover, from a certain angle, this guy could truly be called a national treasure… Is there any stronger Chinese‑origin player in the world? By next year's Asian Games, he'll surely be a national treasure.

Thinking of this, Tang Anna felt a subtle emotion well up inside her; she couldn't help but glance at him—this guy really is my boyfriend… how amazing.

Liang Yan was pondering how to answer Tang Anna's question, didn't notice her little gesture, and naturally didn't know the girl's thoughts. After thinking a while, he spoke, but didn't elaborate much: "I think the audience in esports is generally simpler than in entertainment; even the most fervent fans, compared to that, aren't that extreme."

Tang Anna understood his meaning and deeply agreed.

Soon after, she furrowed her brows somewhat worriedly.

In Europe, she really had a taste of being a big star—setting aside the inconvenience of travel, what troubled her most was that scouts often came to bother her, asking if she wanted to debut and make big money……

The sole beautiful female coach in global esports, and a champion coach at that—this aura plus her face is simply unbeatable. Countless agencies believe that if Tang Anna debuted, within a year her popularity would overshadow all the European‑American‑Japanese‑Korean fresh faces who debuted in the past five years; she'd be a guaranteed worldwide hit.

Thus they all set their sights on this tasty morsel.

Even though Tang Anna repeatedly and clearly refused, and had stated her stance publicly on her own Twitter, she still couldn't stop agencies from sending scouts.

Tang Anna softly sighed in her heart.

She suddenly thought:

If she later returned to live in China, would the situation improve?

……

"We've arrived."

Not long after walking, Liang Yan looked up at the name of the net cafe.

Tang Anna relaxed.

Just these few steps already drew increasing sideways glances from passersby; she felt that walking another minute or two would get them recognized, and seeing those intensely excited gazes, Tang Anna seriously doubted they'd end up being mobbed like national treasures.

Entering the net cafe, Liang Yan opened a private room.

As soon as he spoke, the front‑desk girl at the net cafe froze, guessing she'd already recognized him.

And when Liang Yan handed over his ID, the front‑desk girl, after issuing the membership card and returning the ID, had trembling hands.

However, the front desk girl was very perceptive; except when she said 'thank you', her voice trembled a bit—she had no other abnormal behavior—she herself didn't know why she had to say thank you...

Only after Liang Yan and Tang Anna entered the private room and closed the door did the front desk girl, suppressing her voice, scream excitedly.

Thanks to Liang Yan, the popularity of League of Legends at this time not only did not slip in the slightest, but rather made further progress on top of a hundred-foot pole; just yesterday's opening match between VG and AHQ saw the number of online viewers once again break the record set by this year's Mid-Season Invitational final, and the Mid-Season Invitational's record is already 130% of last year's World Championship record...

This is very frightening.

In concrete terms, taking this internet cafe as an example, at this very moment, over eighty percent of the machines turned on in the whole internet cafe have their screens showing Summoner's Rift.

Of the remaining twenty percent, about half are Howling Abyss.

Well, the big brawl isn't very popular yet.

——That is to say, in the hearts of many League of Legends players, Liang Yan is like a god.

And in China, there are truly many League of Legends players.

Very many.