Chapter 62: Do you guys want to win the world championship?

Not long after, Su Xing sat back down at his computer, opened the streaming software, and started the stream.

"How did you guys get here so fast?"

When Su Xing arrived at YY, besides Uzi there were several unfamiliar faces, and at the same time Ning's extremely recognizable Northeastern voice came through.

"Just arrived, all just arrived."

Ning said bluntly: "Su Xing, do you know who we're playing tomorrow?"

"I don't know."

Su Xing smiled slightly and said: "How could I know something you don't know?"

"How strange, it's one thing for a full-strength pro team to look for us for a scrimmage, but they even want to be anonymous?"

Ning thought about it over and over but still couldn't figure out the answer to that question.

Although he didn't reject this kind of activity that could boost their hype out of nowhere, he wondered which team it would be.

"First, rule out TES and BLG."

Uzi analyzed: "Both of those teams are playing MSI, so they have no chance to come play an entertainment match with us old guys."

"First, let me correct that—it's not an entertainment match, it's a training match."

Bao Lan's voice was calm and unhurried, forming a stark contrast with Ning's bluntness.

"OK, mine."

Uzi laughed: "That makes no sense—what team would be so eager to bully old guys?"

A training match, as the name suggests, means playing seriously, without holding back.

"I just don't know."

Ning shook his head and said: "But the good news is the game updates tonight; we'll be playing the new version tomorrow, so they won't have an advantage either."

"Indeed, tomorrow's update changes a lot."

Uzi agreed: "Especially the AD position—they removed Deadly Rhythm and changed a lot of items."

"Huh?"

Su Xing blinked slightly and asked: "Aren't major changes only introduced in a new season?"

"Now the game has two seasons per year."

Ning laughed: "Players have to do placement matches twice now, and this update really is quite substantial."

"Oh, then I'll have a look."

Upon hearing that, Su Xing opened the game's official website to study the new version's changes; the changes added up to several pages, which were indeed numerous.

"Not JD either—I asked Toothpaste, and they said they don't have the time."

Ning kept muttering: "Who else could it be? EDG? WE? RNG? Impossible."

"Never mind, whatever."

Uzi waved his hand and said: "Just get it done; anyway, we're not afraid of a hammer with Global Ban/Pick."

"It's just a pro team, right? Among these five of us on YY, who hasn't been a pro before? And most importantly, tomorrow's training match against the pro team isn't using Global Ban/Pick; it's using the same BP rules as before."

"So what do we say now?"

Bao Lan spoke up: "The notice came so suddenly, we can't even find a team to practice with."

"Play flex, flex." The usually silent Theshy spoke up: "Flex is fun."

Su Xing: "Wait, is it my imagination? In my memory, Theshy's Chinese wasn't very fluent when he was on IG, but now he sounds like a different person." "Then let's play flex!"

Ning made the call directly: "Anyway, tomorrow is the new version; we can't practice heroes, so let's just practice teamwork."

"OK, let's go!"

Just like that, the five of them started a flex queue,

What surprised Su Xing was that the flex queue in Region 1 was much tougher than he imagined, especially during team fights where the opposing five's handling clearly showed the touch of pro players.

He was still wondering whether the players in Region 1 had gotten that good, but after the match ended and he glanced at the results, he discovered the opponents were one 1300-point flex master and four platinum accounts.

After chatting a bit, he learned that in Region 1, high-ranked flex queues no longer have locals; they're all LPL and LDL pro players teaming up for part-time coaching.

"I thought pro players aren't allowed to coach, right?"

Su Xing's question left the four people in YY silent, and even the chat was flooded with comments like "big bold, kid, are you trying to ruin the companion play area?"

"OK, pretend I never said that."

Su Xing also didn't pursue it further; maybe the times have changed.

He clearly remembered that on his first day as a pro player, he had to read that thick stack of the fist pro player guidelines, which stated that under no circumstances could he give his account to others or use someone else's, with the lightest penalty being a one-month ban starting from there.

While Su Xing and the others happily queued up, social media like Weibo, Hupu, and Tieba gradually began discussing what these five people gathering together actually wanted to do.

Originally, Huya's heat was already surging from hosting the Old Man Cup, and today adding the announcement that they wanted to form an Old Man Cup dream team to take on LPL's active full-strength squad pushed the heat even higher.

These five may look like old men, but they actually possess strength on par with current pro players; frankly, if they really formed a team in LPL, they'd have no trouble making the playoffs.

"If I don't understand, I'll ask: are these five together aiming to win a championship?"

"Tieba has an insider leaking that tomorrow's opponent is RNG, arranged deliberately to boost hype."

"Impossible, what grudge does Uzi have with RNG?"

"Indeed, you can play with RNG individuals, but you can't play with the RNG team."

"Then there's nobody—surely it can't be WE or EDG, since those two teams seemed to have no roster changes in the summer split."

"WE hasn't, but EDG basically changed everyone—even A Le went to AL."

"Here's the problem—surely it can't be a bottom-tier team like UP, right?"

"Be bold—it's G2!"

"G2 is impossible; G2 is still in competition, and Riot has said that during official events teams aren't allowed to engage in commercial activities."

"If any of today's matches saw G2 lose, I'd believe we're set to play G2 tomorrow—too bad TES was useless and got swept 3:0."

"After all, there's a pro player who suffered a total defeat."

No matter how people discussed it online, there still wasn't any accurate leak; that didn't stop the hype from fermenting, and after a night four related entries all appeared among the top ten on Weibo's hot search list.

As for the person involved, Su Xing got up early the next day to start preparing; while studying the update notice yesterday, he discovered that a hero that had been partially reworked would become extremely powerful when paired with the new equipment.

So he spent an entire day researching and trying all sorts of rune combinations and item builds, eventually arriving at a build concept that fit the current patch perfectly.

"Cluster blades, armor‑piercing—can only say the aircraft damage in this version is the same whether it's on or off."

In the evening,

Su Xing looked at his page of green battle records and showed a satisfied expression, while also using simulated battles to continuously increase his aircraft's proficiency.

(End of chapter)