Chapter 105

You've been playing a lot on Cloud Top? But Su Xing's three-star Draven is pretty fierce.

I declare that from now on there will only be two kinds of Draven in this world: Su Xing's Draven, and everyone else's Draven.

Yu Wenbo: Meow meow meow?

Su Xing, please, go take the big dragon, those high ground towers aren't made of paper!!

Everyone's tower diving, only I, on the gen team, am getting beaten?

Brother Su, let's take the big dragon in one go?

In the game, Xiao Tian died to the high ground tower while tower diving, instantly filled with resentment. The high ground tower is amazing? After I finish my BUFF, I'll just rush straight in; even the outer towers can't stop us.

Let me tell you, picking up the big dragon now with such a huge lead is just insulting others, you know?

Everyone:??? The four of them all glanced at Su Xing—what kind of godly logic is this?

"Let me analyze this for you guys." Su Xing said solemnly: "Our economy is already ahead by at least ten thousand; if we take another big dragon, that'll be fifteen thousand ahead. We should be modest—losing the game with a fifteen-thousand economy gap, how would others feel?"

Xiao Tian wanted to speak but held back; however, what Su Xing said actually seemed to make sense.

Although losing the game is the same either way, losing with a ten-thousand economy deficit definitely sounds better than losing with a fifteen-thousand deficit, even though the difference isn't huge.

"Right, there's no grudge, so it's not that serious." Su Xing said with reason and evidence: "So the whole time we should push forward in one go and take the high ground!"

Then what?

Then? Push the towers.

But they're blocking us.

Then let's rush into the fountain and kill them all.

Everyone: →_→

Facing tes's storm-like offense, gen had no power to resist and lost the first game.

When the base was pushed down, viewers via the webcam saw a distressed chovy, seemingly wondering why there would be such a disgusting mid-lane Draven!!!

Meanwhile, tes and the others, upon returning to rest, seized the brief break to start reviewing; Su Xing and his group had just sat down when Mao Kai spoke up directly: "Regarding your match, I'll just mention a few points."

Just as Su Xing had expected, once those points were brought up, several minutes passed without stopping.

Finally, Mao Kai summed it up: "That's basically it; you need to control yourselves—this time gen isn't some weak team, you can't be careless, even though their performance is also pretty lackluster."

Xiao Tian and the others also nodded, "Yes, yes, the coach is absolutely right!" "Can we eat something now?"

Su Xing raised his head with a faint tone, and added, "Honestly, just listening made me hungry."

Mao Kai: →_→

"And your true sight." Mao Kai wanted to speak but held back.

"I didn't place it randomly." Su Xing explained then: "I thought there was a Syndra ward in mid lane, so I wanted to clear it."

Xiao Tian: →_→

You're not doing this just to find an excuse for tower diving and killing, are you? Seventy-five for three hundred is quite a bargain.

Mao Kai silently glanced at Su Xing, "Fine, at least you remembered to buy wards."

Wow, we actually made it to the hot search?

At that moment, Tian Ye, scrolling on his phone, suddenly said: "But it seems we're being scolded."

Su Xing:??? We won the match and still get scolded? What do these people want? "Let me check."

Su Xing then opened Weibo and saw a freshly trending topic that had shot straight into the top fifty, with apparently a lot of people joining the discussion.

#Is it really appropriate for a professional player to have the tes team rush the fountain and massacre in a match? #, heat 45.

Overall, the post meant that although tes played well in normal matches, they didn't take map resources, repeatedly dove towers recklessly, and even at the crucial final moment rushed the fountain to kill, which, although they won the match, lost people's hearts—something esports shouldn't be.

The netizens' comments split into two factions: one side supported the tes team, while the other side agreed, saying tes went too far, bullying a weak team like that indeed lost them public favor.

"Is this person messed up? Calling this 'fountain diving'? You probably don't even know what fountain diving really is."

"To be fair, tes destroyed the base while gen came out to defend—shouldn't tes have to attack and kill the enemy's living players to destroy the crystal?"

"Come on, this really counts as fountain diving, no need to do this, it's truly damaging to one's reputation."

"Trash tes, actually fountain diving in a match—what's the point? Don't embarrass the LPL."

"Where's the sportsmanship of a strong team? Ending a match like this really isn't strong—winning the match but losing people's hearts, bystanders turn against you!"

"Heh, when LPL teams lose, you guys love to spray them; now tes wins, you say they're too strong, bullying others makes them weak? Why not have Su Xing turn off his monitor and play against gen—that would be fair."

"This person has a problem—last time it seemed like he was smearing Su Xing. Never mind that, I'll report him first as a courtesy; every day fabricating facts to make dirty money!"

"Let me look again—was there anything wrong with tes's final wave choice? Four of them blocked gen's counter, while Su Xing alone was taking down towers—what's wrong with that? If it were truly fountain diving, do you think gen could even walk out of the fountain?"

I took another close look; in the last wave, the tes team's pick was fine, right? Four people held off the gen team's counterattack, while Su Xing was alone taking down towers—what's wrong with that? If you really want to fountain camp, do you think the gen team can get out of the fountain?

"Laughable—when you win beautifully you still get scolded, when you lose you also get scolded; otherwise, why don't you go up and play the match yourselves?"

After skimming hundreds of comments, Su Xing felt no inner turmoil; in his view, that final team fight wasn't really fountain diving, at most just playing a bit wildly—after all, true fountain diving wouldn't end the match this way.

True fountain diving is breaking all three lanes, then having five members bodily rush the fountain, leaving the rest to the super minions to destroy the base—that's what fountain diving really is!

Su Xing is used to big storms; these small scenes naturally don't weigh on him—after all, there are countless keyboard warriors online, and if one person comes to spray him he'd have to retaliate, or he'd die from exhaustion. But Xiao Tian and these few people can't help but hold back a bit—these folks are too much, huh? Winning the match and still getting sprayed?

"During matches, no answering any questions on social media." Mao Kai then slowly raised his head and said: "This is the club's rule, don't mess around."

Xiao Tian: Why is it that after winning we get misinterpreted and sprayed, and crucially we can't explain? These few youngsters all feel suffocated, feeling a bit upset.

Xiao Tian: Why is it that after winning the match we get misinterpreted and even get sprayed with criticism, the key being we can't explain it; these few youngsters all feel suffocated, a bit uncomfortable.

"Don't think too much; you'd be better off drinking another sip of water." Su Xing said leisurely, young people just can't stay calm.

"But, Brother Su we..." Xiao Tian wanted to speak but held back, wanting to say something yet not knowing what to say.

"Let me teach you another phrase: the strongest rebuttal to slander is to speak with facts." Su Xing chuckled lightly: "Isn't the match not over yet?"

"Brother Su, what you mean is"

"Hmm, later I'll activate serious mode and beat them until they shut up."

Su Xing said unhurriedly,

Everyone:??? Are you saying they weren't even playing seriously just now? "Su Xing, your way of showing off is kinda fresh and unconventional." Yu Wenbo muttered, and immediately the others also burst out laughing.

Su Xing: →_→

Under Su Xing's death stare, Yu Wenbo quickly pretended to turn his head toward the resting area, not daring to speak. Geez, Su-ge is showing off; how could I expose him?

Mao Kai watched silently, feeling relieved inside; he could naturally see that Su Xing had fully integrated into the team.

The break time passed quickly, and the players from both sides appeared on stage once again.

"Hello everyone, I'm Guan Zeyuan."

"Hello everyone, I'm Mi Lei, welcome to the second match of today's GEN vs tes. If tes wins another game, then Gen will be directly eliminated from this year's esports World Cup!"

"Yes, but judging from tes's current condition, they still have a good chance."

Guan Zeyuan wrapped up the topic and said: "We also hope that gen team can make good adjustments in the limited time to put on a more impressive performance."

"Yes, yes, today's topic still has to return to tes's side. The tes team's rhythm on social media has been nonstop just now, and I also want to clarify something for tes: actually, in that situation, if gen had succeeded in a counterattack, tes would have lost the Baron, so their behavior doesn't count as fountain camping, because the true core mid laner has been in charge of pushing towers."

"I'm just saying these people are ridiculous, right? They flame after losing a match, and they flame after winning too." Mi Lei sighed: "Actually it's unnecessary; during the World Championship, stirring up this stuff to mess with our own team's morale is pointless, you'd agree, right? The World Championship isn't about any single team, but the honor of the whole region."

"Alright, let me do an ad first. These past two days, tes's matches haven't had time for ads, and the sponsor dad says he's unhappy." Guan Zeyuan also smoothly guided the topic again; after all, as a commentator, stating his position is enough—no need to get involved in these public opinion squabbles.

"KFC is now launching"

Guan Zeyuan smoothly recited the whole ad in one breath, then cheekily said: "Alright, the ad's done—if you're hungry, remember to scan the code to follow KFC's official account for coupons."

The viewers in the live chat also all typed out ellipses.

"Damn, Guan Zeyuan, the ad you didn't get to run last time—is this double payback now? This is too real."

"Alright, now we've come to the ban/pick phase; let's see if today's tes lineup has been affected by this incident." As Mi Lei's longtime partner, their topic transition was slick, instantly shifting the audience's attention back to the match.

They banned popular heroes one after another; Mao Kai stood behind Su Xing and asked: "Su Xing, what champ are you roughly playing this game?"

"Surely we're not still going with Draven, right?"

"I'll play Zed?"

Su Xing thought for a moment, then said: "Xiao Tian will keep AP jungling, and I want to pull off something big."

When they heard that, including Mao Kai, all five of them stared at Su Xing in unison, their looks turning extremely weird—"No way," they thought.

"No way,"

Mao Kai broke out in a cold sweat; even pulling out Zed—what is he planning? "I said it, this game we gotta play seriously."

Su Xing smiled narrowly: "They aren't giving me enough pressure, so it's my turn to put some pressure on them."

"Brother closed his eyes to think; from a coach's perspective, Zed isn't a top pick for this patch, and isn't even suitable for the stage."

But he felt he could trust Su Xing's Zed.

"Excellent pro players follow the meta; that statement is correct."

"But there's another saying: top-tier pros often *are* the meta themselves, and Su Xing is exactly that kind of player right now."

"Never mind, let him play."

Mao Kai had his own thoughts; two seconds later he opened his eyes and said: "Then let's lock it in."

Because mid-lane Su Xing decided to play Zed, an AD assassin mid, they topped up with Nasus top and Brand jungle.

After those two champs were picked, gen also figured: "Damn, they're not playing AP mid, huh?" and instantly banned Xiao Pao and the plane.

However, when it was tes's turn to make the final pick, they locked in Zed without any hesitation!

When the image froze, the whole audience couldn't help but give the most enthusiastic applause!

"Holy crap, tes actually used Zed!!" Mi Lei was also shocked, because before the match they'd guessed tes's lineup, even predicted Su Xing would go back to AD mid, but they never imagined he'd pull out Zed.

"This..." Guan Zeyuan momentarily didn't know how to respond, because picking that champ was just outright absurd.

"Let's analyze the lineup—actually tes's comp isn't as bad as imagined: top Nasus provides control and soaks damage, jungle Brand offers plenty of AOE damage, as for Zed, he can actually burst high in teamfights and also split push; bottom lane Kai'Sa and Titan don't need much explanation—they're one of the stable late-game teamfight damage sources."

"But have you considered a problem: if Brand and Zed combo, they might not necessarily outmatch the enemy?"

Guan Zeyuan calmly analyzed: "Once those two champs have an edge, they have huge threat in 1v1 or small skirmishes, but the issue is how to get that early advantage."

"Yeah, upon further thought, picking Zed is actually pretty slick—even in mid‑late game, when the enemy tries to split push, Zed's roaming and escape abilities aren't weak."

"Saying that, I have to admit tes's tactical prep this year is really thorough."

The two casters were blowing smoke on stage; as Mao Kai just walked backstage, hearing this his face flushed—"Damn, I didn't even know we had this tactic, you guys just stuck me with this play even though there's really no tactic to speak of, and you even let gen snag the meta jungle pick, Zyra."

But he trusts Su Xing—just that simple.

Tes's lineup is: top Nasus, jungle Brand, mid Zed, bottom Kai'Sa + Titan.

Gen's side is: top Renekton, jungle Zyra, mid Hu Li, bottom Ezreal + Riven.

(End of chapter)