After the first match day passed, the LPL region's results were delightful. Naturally, the public was immersed in an ocean of optimism, and the Forum folks were also overjoyed, diving into analyzing the qualification scenarios for this season's S-series World Championship... In no time, both blind hype and serious analyses of past team match records by Forum Masters sprouted like mushrooms after rain. Setting aside Group D, which had no LPL teams, the qualification outlook for the remaining three groups was optimistically viewed as follows—
Group A: First place would undoubtedly still go to the Korean Meme team—after all, it feels like the S-series is practically their home turf. The remaining EU and NA noobs weren’t worth fearing, so YQCB could aim for the second qualifying spot.
Group B: If first place wasn’t secured by ZGDX with a flawless record, then the entire team—including substitutes and coaching staff—should swim back home to save face. The second spot would likely go to our Taiwanese friends, Team C.
Group C: With the Korean Operator Team OP and Taiwan’s FZ team, honestly, it was hard to stay optimistic—FZ had made it to the semifinals multiple times in history and really wasn’t much worse than CK Team. And while CK had managed to take a game off OP, that didn’t mean OP wasn’t still a tough nut to crack... Conclusion: CK should just aim for a top-eight spot. If they couldn’t get it, no pressure—just do their best.
From the twelve characters, "if they couldn’t get it, no pressure—just do their best," one could foresee that the next month would undoubtedly be the most chill and amiable month the Forum crowd could muster in a year.
Tong Yao: "……………………Why is it 'just do their best' for CK Team, but 'swim back home if they lose once' for us, ZGDX?"
No one paid her any attention.
Everyone was quietly resting on the bus, preparing for the upcoming scrims against Team TAT.
After a day of matches, on the way back to the training room, Tong Yao was happily scrolling through her phone, browsing match analysis posts—some accurate, others pure delusion. What left her utterly awestruck was that even fortune-tellers had emerged on the Forum... One person spent ages deciphering the Eight Trigrams and Yin-Yang, concluding that although this year’s World Championship was a fierce battleground with countless elite teams, a touch of red in a sea of green would stand out among the contenders, showing signs of making a name for themselves in a single battle!
………… A touch of red in a sea of green —any idiot could tell who that was referring to.
The analysis had Tong Yao over the moon. Whether others believed it or not, she certainly did—logging into a throwaway account, she gleefully played along with the crowd hailing the "Forum Immortal," pretending to be a random bystander in the replies: This must be talking about Smiling, right? I also think she’s really strong, no worse than Jin Yuguang (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ :･ﾟ✧.
After posting, she continued scrolling happily, nudging the man beside her who was reclining with his eyes closed. "A fortune-teller said I’m going to make a name for myself in one battle."
Lu Sicheng opened his eyes, drowsy but still leaning over to glance at her phone. "Which fortune-teller?"
Tong Yao: "The Forum Immortal on the Forum."Lu Sicheng thought for a moment, then couldn't resist asking, "Did you go to the restroom to find a fortune teller?"
Tong Yao raised her hand as if to hit him, then paused as if realizing he had a point, and lowered it. "Places like these, with all sorts of people mingling, are where hidden masters are most likely to appear."
Lu Sicheng: "Instead of seeking immortals, you might as well seek me."
Tong Yao: "What do you mean?"
Lu Sicheng smiled and patted her head affectionately. "You'll find out tomorrow."
Tomorrow, ZGDX had a match against CK Team. In theory, the Taiwanese CK Team was the only noteworthy opponent in their group, but the LMS region had always been strong—even outperforming the LPL region in some years—so slacking off could lead to an upset. Unfortunately, Tong Yao didn't take Lu Sicheng's words seriously at the time.
She returned to the training room around 11 p.m.
After finishing their scrims against a Korean team, they lost as usual, with the problem still lying in the mid lane. Over the past six months, Tong Yao had improved, but frustratingly, her nemesis—A Tai, the Mid Laner from TAT Team—had progressed even faster. By the time they faced each other again, while Tong Yao was still struggling to learn how to lane under pressure, A Tai had already grown into a well-rounded, unstoppable player.
After the scrim, Tong Yao's head drooped forward, nearly smashing into the keyboard. Lu Sicheng calmly reached out, placing his hand between her forehead and the keyboard, and said lightly, "It's fine. Use your brain, take it slow."
"I don't have one," Tong Yao muttered. "The only thing that deserves to be called a brain is the one on A Tai's neck."
Lu Sicheng said gently, "Don't say that. A pig's brain is still a brain."
At this, Tong Yao lifted her head from his hand and glared at him.
Lu Sicheng patted her head with a look of pity—in the history of their scrims against TAT Team, Lu Sicheng's bot lane had never been suppressed. It seemed that even with systematic training, TAT's new ADC, who dominated the domestic league, still saw his predecessors as insurmountable mountains.
A psychological block—just like the childhood shadow A Tai cast over Tong Yao. One could slowly move past it, but when looking back cautiously, it was always still there, irritating yet unavoidable.
At 2 a.m. U.S. time, as ZGDX wrapped up their scheduled scrims and prepared to leave the training room for the hotel, they overheard some gossip. First, it seemed the Bear Team, whom ZGDX had crushed earlier, had underperformed because their Mid Laner was suffering from severe stomach issues due to travel sickness. After taking medication that night, he recovered and proceeded to dominate their scrims, even crushing the North American T1 Team, Time Team, who had planned to use them for practice. Second, Moon Team, the third seed from Europe, was unstoppable in scrims, first defeating the high-spirited CK Team, then taking down Korea's RP Team in the same night. Third, this year's S-series World Championship might see a major shake-up—Wild Card regions might no longer just be consolation prizes for other regions.
...
Second match day.
ZGDX vs. CK Team, YQCB vs. TAT Team, CK Team vs. FZ Team.For the LPL region, the three tough matches were scheduled with ZGDX placed after the other two teams. They arrived at the venue early, settling in to watch the matches while gathering intel on their opponents—Tong Yao’s invaluable little notebook, filled with data, had been carried all the way from Shanghai to America, tucked securely in her arms.
About four hours later, two full pages of that notebook were densely packed with notes, meticulously detailing the exact minutes and seconds when the LPL’s so-called "most promising year" turned into a spectacular sinking ship… YQCB versus TAT Team, CK Team versus FZ Team—both matches ended in crushing defeats.
After OP Team’s shaky performance on the first match day, TAT Team, as the region’s top seed, reclaimed their dominance by steamrolling YQCB the next day—aside from the bot lane duo of Pope and Liang Sheng, who managed to hold their own, the top lane, mid lane, and jungle were subjected to nothing short of a brutal massacre. The game was practically over by the 15-minute mark, and by the 22nd minute, the live stream chat was flooded with "gg" and "surrender at 20" messages, snowing so thickly that the match itself became invisible without filtering.
—When the match ended, the Korean players stood up, removing their headphones with expressions that seemed to say: "Your daddy is still your daddy."
—The Forum’s jinx strikes again.
By the time the third match, ZGDX versus C Team, was about to begin, Weibo and the Forum were eerily silent. Only the most restless fans dared to mutter on Weibo: 【If ZGDX loses too, then it’ll be just perfect. It’s 6 AM back home—what a great way to start the day with the LPL crashing and burning…】
Meanwhile, fans back in China were growing restless.
The pressure on ZGDX Team was immense.
As people back home sipped soy milk and munched on fried dough sticks while watching the match on their phones, Tong Yao and her teammates took their seats on the stage, donning their headsets. On the international stage, playstyles were more diverse, strategies fresher—Tong Yao’s Leblanc and Twisted Fate were no longer perma-banned like they were in the domestic league. This time, she smoothly secured Leblanc.
The crowd and casters familiar with her erupted in cheers.
Caster D: 【Whoa, Smiling’s Leblanc! From what I know, no team in the LPL would ever let this pick slip through the ban phase for Smiling! C Team, did you not do your homework?】
Caster F: 【Whether it’s truly strong or not, we’ll see in the match. I actually think if a player hasn’t used a champion in competitive play for a long time, their mechanics might be a bit rusty… Compared to that, Jones from the LCS region has a far more impressive Leblanc.】
Caster D: 【You know nothing about the LPL.】
Caster F: 【Well, color me surprised. I’ll be waiting.】
The tension between the two casters was palpable, electrifying the audience. Amid their banter, the ban-pick phase concluded smoothly with Lu Sicheng locking in Ashe as the final pick—and the match began.Team C's overall strength wasn't bad, with their Mid Laner A Long being the team's hard-carry point. His playstyle was extremely cautious with top-tier poke damage. Now that he'd picked Vladimir, Tong Yao couldn't do much about him for the moment... As for top and bot lanes, knowing they couldn't win lane matchups, they simply chose defensive compositions to play safe, waiting for their Mid Laner to scale and carry—suddenly, the heavy responsibility of disrupting their team's rhythm fell entirely on Tong Yao's shoulders, and she was nervous.
This lasted until the laning phase had persisted for eight minutes.
The minion wave Tong Yao had meticulously calculated and controlled was simultaneously cleared. By the time A Long realized the situation was unfavorable and tried to retreat, it was too late. Leblanc flashed forward with lightning-fast mechanics, unleashing a W-Q-R-E-W combo—the previously healthy Vladimir's HP immediately dropped to critical levels. Just as the live audience watched him cling to a sliver of health, where one basic attack would secure Smiling the First Blood, they suddenly heard a clear, sharp scream from the competition stage!
The arena of ten thousand fell silent for a few seconds, everyone utterly bewildered.
Commentator D craned his neck: [We seem to have heard some commotion from the stage—what happened?! Did a rat run onto the stage and scare our lady?!]
As soon as the commentator finished speaking, the delayed broadcast footage (about three seconds behind) finally revealed the truth: just as Smiling was about to claim A Long's life, an Ashe ultimate arrow flew out from the bot lane's vision blind spot, sniping the vampire's Dog Head clean off!!!
The crowd: "…………………………"
The two commentators instantly burst into laughter.
Commentator D: [Ohoho! Good heavens, have you ever seen someone who stole their girlfriend's snacks and got forcibly dumped? You're about to witness one.]
Commentator F: [An insanely precise ultimate, from angle to timing.]
Commentator D: [We can now see—uh, can we get a camera shot—yes, yes, now we can clearly see Smiling absolutely fuming, saying something...]
Commentator F: [In a normal game, the Mid Laner would probably AFK at this point.Commentator D: [But AFKing in an official match counts as unsportsmanlike conduct, and you get fined.]
Commentator F: [...]
...
Meanwhile, on the competition stage.
Tong Yao: "LU SICHENG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Lu Sicheng pressed "B" to recall, adjusted his headset, and replied calmly, "What? I was afraid he'd escape, so I rooted him for you..."
Tong Yao: "Rooted my ass!!! You bastard!!!!! You did that on purpose!!!!"
Lu Sicheng: "Mind your language. It's just 400 gold, why so mad?"
Tong Yao: "I'm livid!!! I burned ten thousand skills for this!!! Just for you to steal it!!"
"Didn't I burn ten thousand skills yesterday to leave you a bunch of low-health kills? Where do you think that quadra kill came from? Spoiled brat." Lu Sicheng glanced at her, not offering comfort but instead narrowing his eyes with a smirk. "Puffed up like a pufferfish."
Tong Yao wanted nothing more than to smash her keyboard against that annoyingly handsome, lazy face.
Tong Yao: "I'm AFKing. You've lost your baby. This match has no Mid Laner now!"
Lu Sicheng let out a calm "Oh," then added, "Think carefully.Unsportsmanlike conduct fines in international tournaments are calculated in USD."Tong Yao: "………………………………"
Lu Sicheng: "Knew you wouldn't dare. Come on, don't be mad. Old K, come here and give this pufferfish a Blue Buff to calm her down."
Tong Yao: "……………………………F*ck!"
OpenNovel