Chapter 875

Before, EDG didn't want to have a practice match with VG, one reason being they were afraid of losing too badly to VG, which would crush the players' morale—this reason was somewhat understandable.

In this World Championship, aside from CNB being such an oddity, the rest of the lower-tier teams indeed wouldn't schedule scrims with top-tier strong teams, for reasons similar to EDG's: they feared losing too many practice matches and breaking their spirits. Another reason is that the strong teams actually don't want to play against weak teams either, because there's no benefit, and it might even bring drawbacks.

Another reason EDG didn't want to play with VG was somewhat laughable—they were afraid VG would study them thoroughly, and if they met VG in the knockout stage, they'd suffer a loss.

As EDG's Head Coach, Nofe felt both of the above reasons were completely unreasonable—before even coming to the World Championship, they had already been abused by VG countless times, so bringing this up now really was a bit laughable. But since it was A Bu's decision, Nofe couldn't really say anything.

Now the situation is different.

EDG has already lost to this extent, morale has long since hit rock bottom, so there's no need to worry about VG damaging morale anymore. The other reason is even less tenable—since they're about to be eliminated, fantasizing about an internal quarterfinals clash, or even thinking about hiding strategies to crush VG……feels like something only someone with a serious mental issue could continue to hold.

So Nofe finally blurted out the words he had been holding in for a long time.

Please, go learn from VG!

After Nofe said that, the meeting room stayed silent for a long time.

"Well..."

A Bu's expression was ugly, and he stiffly said: "Then let's just cooperate with VG."

What he meant by cooperation.

Nofe almost couldn't hold back his laughter.

……

A Bu cares about face, so of course he couldn't bring himself to proactively ask VG for help.

The suggestion was Nofe's, and he should have been the one to go, but Nofe's Chinese is really poor.

In the end, the task fell to EDG's social butterfly—Meiko.

Meiko is also a smart person, but she doesn't overthink things like A Bu does. When asking for help, you need to have the right attitude. She had Liang Yan's WeChat, so she immediately pulled out her phone and sent him a message:

【Foot God, save us!】

……

On the screen was the matchmaking interface of Summoner's Rift, time had already jumped past three minutes, and I don't know how much longer until we get in.

It's not that there are fewer people in Summoner's Rift, but rather Liang Yan's rank is too high……

Liang Yan was holding his phone, slacking off, and took a moment to chat with Tang Anna.

They were chatting happily when suddenly a ding sounded, and a pop-up appeared from the top of the phone screen, displaying: "Your friend Xiaobailian sent you a message."

Xiaobailian is Liang Yan's nickname for Meiko.

After opening the message and glancing at it, Liang Yan casually replied with a "？", then looked up at the matchmaking screen—still no movement—so he switched back to continue teasing Tang Anna.

Then came another ding.

【Save the kids, or else in two days we'll really have to swim back and cause trouble!】

【(Crying Laugh. jpg)

【(Crying Laugh. jpg)

【(Crying Laugh. jpg)

【……】

【Stop spamming……】

Liang Yan was rendered somewhat speechless by Meiko's frantic spamming of emojis, thought seriously for a moment, and finally replied sincerely: 【What do you guys want, to have a practice match with us?】

【Yeah! And we also want you to give us some advice!】

【It's so late today we definitely can't play, the next few days are also pretty much fully booked, we only have two hours left each night, originally planned to use for free training……】

【Help help help help the kids, waa waa waa】

【--

【I'll tell Long Ge about it, and then we'll still talk in person when the time comes】

【Yeah! Okay! Thank you Foot God! Foot God Goodbye! Foot God Good Night!】

【Still not asleep……By the way, what did you guys talk about in your three-hour meeting? Discussing what kind of swimsuits to buy?】

Suddenly a head grew out from above his shoulder, and Fu Lan Duo's voice sounded at the same time: "I suggest they buy sharkskin—it's expensive, but it can reduce resistance, after all, it's over a thousand kilometers, saving some energy is good."

Liang Yan had long grown accustomed to this guy's unpredictable appearances, expressionless: "You say this to EDG's people in person, see if they won't beat you to death."

"Really, I've already planned the route for them—first day swim to Huanggang, rest a bit, then at night swim to Huangshi……"

Fu Lan Duo rattled off a string of analysis, appearing as if she had genuinely researched the route from Wuhan back to Shanghai by swimming.

Liang Yan hadn't even finished listening before he shoved Fu Lan Duo away, but afterward he mysteriously opened the map and took a look, discovering Fu Lan Duo had just been talking nonsense.

The straight-line distance from Wuhan to Huanggang is several dozen kilometers, but the Yangtze River winds and twists, so if one actually swam it, it would probably be over a hundred kilometers……

Hmm, EDG would need average superhuman physiques to pull that off.

……

The next day, EDG Coach Nofe came to VG's side with a translator, muttering something to Zhu Xiaolong and Tabe for a while.

Zhu Xiaolong occasionally showed a troubled expression, sometimes turning his head to glance at Liang Yan.

After both sides finished discussing, they finally decided to give EDG one hour of practice match time each night, and after the practice match, give half an hour of review time the next noon.

The plan would start implementation the following day.

Actually, VG's schedule itself already had every day filled with over ten hours of various practice matches and reviews, yet under these circumstances, they could still carve out one and a half hours each day for EDG—truly deserving of the phrase utmost benevolence and righteousness, considering the two teams originally had no particular connection.

……

Three days passed in a flash.

October 12, Group Stage War Reignited.

Group B Decisive Match First to Begin, Riot Games intentionally placed the slightly suspenseful matches that, if an upset occurred, would change the entire Group B qualification landscape—so everyone prefers to watch them first—and the results also had no major upsets.

First match, Dragon Pearl defeated CNB 1-0 easily, securing qualification spot.

Second match, GAM defeated TSM 1-0, completely eliminating TSM's hope to qualify.

Third match, Dragon Pearl defeated GAM one to zero, securing group first place.

At this point, the matchup situation in Group B is:

Dragon Pearl: 5-0

CNB: 2-2

GAM: 2-3

TSM: 0-4

Fourth match, TSM had no hope of advancing, so they went into battle lightly, pulling out a bizarre early-game composition, attempting to snatch a first win from CNB to slightly save face. Unfortunately, they failed, as CNB had a solid composition, stable playstyle, and smoothly won the match.

CNB achieved a 3-2 record, guaranteeing at least one tiebreaker match.

Fifth match, Dragon Pearl versus TSM.

Dragon Pearl, having already secured group first place, began to play around, not only fielding substitute top laner Rascal in place of Khan, but also picking the bizarre retro composition of "Top Lane Sword Maiden, Jungle Spider, Mid Yao Ji, Bottom Lane Lucian + Bull Head".

TSM fought with their backs to the wall, in order to avoid 0-6 elimination, they actually began to take the match unprecedentedly seriously, selecting an extremely solid lineup.

However, the player skill gap was simply too large. Dragon Pearl dominated the lane from the early game, gaining over three thousand gold advantage in under ten minutes.

TSM stubbornly resisted, still winning a team fight in the midgame, dragging the game into the late stage...

As a result, the final team fight was skill-showcased by Xuanming II Teemo Chun, Dragon Pearl achieved a three-for-five team wipe against TSM, Pray's Lucian achieved a pentakill, subsequently pushing down the TSM base.

By this point, the group stage schedules for both Dragon Pearl and TSM were completely concluded.

Dragon Pearl achieved six wins in six matches, proudly advancing to the quarterfinals.

TSM suffered six losses in six matches, packed up their luggage and returned home in disappointment.

Only the final match remains in Group B.

CNB versus GAM.