The LPL region has always been positioned as the second strongest region, just behind the LCK. So not only the CK team, but even Tong Yao and her team focused far more on studying Korean teams than those from Europe or North America... The current situation left everyone somewhat bewildered.
It suddenly occurred to them that while the LCK region was undoubtedly the leader in terms of discipline, technical skill, and execution of classic strategies, when it came to diverse tactics and unconventional plays... that usually fell to the LCS region.
The overall style of the LCS region matched the racial characteristics of Western players—carefree and optimistic. For them, while it was a Professional League, entertainment seemed just as important as winning. As a result, they often pulled out wildly unexpected and optimistic strategies that stunned audiences... It was evident from their league matches that the two LCS sub-regions frequently broke conventions by picking Champions no one had ever used in official matches before. In terms of utilizing newly released Champions after each game update, the LCS region always seemed to be the first to develop and deploy new tactics on the professional stage—though their execution might not be as polished, their unpredictability often caught opponents off guard, sometimes even allowing them to "beat the master with random punches.………………And now, the CK team was the "master" who had just been beaten to death.
G4's Mid Laner, BIGBOOM, was a veteran who had played continuously from Season 2 all the way to Season 6. After five years of evolution, he had practically witnessed the entire history of "League of Legends." His Champion pool was incredibly deep, and his understanding of minion waves and Summoner's Rift was astonishingly refined. With such a seasoned player as their core, G4 showcased the spirit of the LCS region that day.
—Four matches, four different strategies.
Every time their Mid Laner switched Champions, G4's entire team composition underwent a dramatic transformation. Aside from the second match, where Jian Yang stubbornly camped mid and managed to break through after recognizing their dual-core strategy, the CK team had almost no answer for G4's ever-changing tactics in the remaining games!
In the third match, when BIGBOOM picked Lulu mid again, ensuring his lane wouldn’t collapse while using the Champion’s unique abilities to repeatedly support top lane and secure advantages... Meanwhile, their bot lane pulled out an unconventional "Tower Demolition Maniac" strategy with the reworked Ziggs as AD—by the 25-minute mark, with G4 executing a 1-3-1 split push centered around Ziggs, CK team's Turrets fell rapidly, and their early-game gold lead was erased in an instant.
Jian Yang, who had a three-kill advantage at the time, found himself unable to capitalize on his slight lead due to the constant pressure... Their jungle kept getting invaded, and he was completely outplayed by G4's Jungler, ARUN.
From then on, the CK team fell back into the enemy’s rhythm, ultimately losing their Nexus after a grueling 45-minute battle... Amid the deafening cheers of the crowd, Tong Yao, sitting in the audience, could clearly see the dazed expressions on the faces of CK team's five players as they removed their headsets and stood up.Game 4, the state of Team CK... or rather their mentality had completely collapsed—as the LPL powerhouse that was unanimously expected to 3:0 this European team before the match, they now faced overwhelming pressure and seemed utterly lost on how to vent their emotions... Tong Yao took out her phone to browse online platforms. Since they were considered the most stable team with the easiest quarterfinal draw, seeing them now on the verge of crashing out had sparked waves of lamentation everywhere, with the general public teetering on the edge of outrage—
[Waiting for a 3:1 elimination... I thought it would be CK 3:1'ing G4, never imagined it'd be CK getting 3:1'd by G4.]
[LPL really pulling off three quarterfinal exits again, impressive, very impressive.]
[Since when did these noob Western teams get so strong??? Their next-level strategies just keep coming! Even pulling out Ziggs, what the hell is this?!]
[Here's a joke: LPL, the second-best region, getting stomped by Western noobs... oh wait, not noobs—Western daddies?]
[Hahahaha keep spending, LPL's got the deepest pockets, keep importing foreign players, how about buying BIGBOOM next year! Though I wonder if dollar-earners would stoop as low as Koreans to take RMB.]
[This is LPL for you—copying Korea's macro, mimicking Western strats, forgetting they're the Brawling Region, ending up with some half-baked abomination—no wonder they're stuck in quarterfinals every year.]
[Watching Hu Die and Lao Wang looking completely lost, Game 4's probably doomed too.]
[...Thought we'd finally shoved the "Western noobs" label back on those foreigners, but in quarterfinals, they slapped us right back: keep the noob hat for yourself!]
Tong Yao: "..."
The comments were grating, so she logged out of the Forum and switched to the international esports forums foreigners frequented—unsurprisingly, it was a carnival of celebration, with "godg4" plastered everywhere, painting a scene of euphoric resurrection from the brink of death... Of course.
The usual LPL detractors emerged too.
Roughly translated:
[Always said LPL was trash lololololol]
[What? OP Team lost to CK in Group Stage? Lololol you really think that wasn't scripted?]
[Chinese fans in shambles.]
[OP Team: Oscar-worthy performance.]
[Ziggs left them speechless yooooooooo!]
[G4 might at least make finals, they're literally unstoppable in this form! Cheers!]
[YANG got completely outclassed by ARUN, scared shitless! Is this what LPL junglers are? Getting lost in the jungle every Worlds... from Season 5 to Season 6, caster D (the famous LPL-hyping LCS caster from earlier) must be crying himself to sleep by now, huh?]
Tong Yao turned off her phone.
Silently, she kept watching the match.
An hour later, she patted her pants and stood up, trailing behind her sighing teammates as they left the spectator area—before going, she glanced back at the stage. Beside the cheering, embracing G4 squad celebrating their semifinal berth stood the silent figures of Team CK.The spotlight now shone on all five members of Team G4, along with their coach who had rushed up to embrace them. About ten steps away, in a dark corner, sat the motionless five members of Team CK. Tong Yao paused for a moment. She saw Jian Yang, who had remained still for so long, suddenly bend over, lower his head, and raise a hand to cover his eyes with his palm... Tong Yao stopped in her tracks.
It wasn’t until she felt her hand being enveloped by a large, warm one that she snapped out of her daze. She looked up and met a pair of deep brown eyes.
"Let’s go," Lu Sicheng said calmly. "Don’t look anymore."
...
Team CK’s elimination cast a shadow of gloom over the entire LPL region.
If they couldn’t even defeat the LCS teams, how could the remaining two LPL teams hope to take on the two LCK teams?
Strength? It seemed insufficient.
Confidence? It had been shattered beyond recognition.
Luck?... That might be the only thing left to rely on.
It was utterly disheartening.
That night, Tong Yao barely slept. The next morning, she woke up with a splitting headache—fortunately, there were no matches scheduled for ZGDX that day. On the second match day, the LPL region would see YQCB facing off against Team RP... When Tong Yao got up at ten in the morning and went downstairs for breakfast, she found most of her teammates and the entire neighboring team already gathered in the dining area. Everyone looked grim, and Little Fatty had dark circles under his eyes.
Tong Yao grabbed some bread and a bowl of milk with cereal, then sat down beside him. "Couldn’t sleep last night either?"
Little Fatty sighed heavily. "Back home, we fight tooth and nail, but once we’re abroad, we realize the three LPL teams share the same fate—glory or disgrace! Last night, I had drinks with Xiao Hua and Haoyun Lai—well, I had juice—and by the end, they were clinging to me, bawling their eyes out. It broke my heart."
Little Fatty’s vivid description made Tong Yao picture the scene. She set down her bread, her appetite gone... Just then, Lu Sicheng walked into the dining area shoulder-to-shoulder with the AD from the neighboring team. The sharp-eyed man spotted his girlfriend and immediately abandoned his friend, walking straight over to her. He stopped in front of her, lifted her chin with his fingers, and examined her face before casually brushing away a breadcrumb from the corner of her lips with his thumb, his expression indifferent. "Didn’t sleep well?"
"Yeah," Tong Yao murmured. "With a thousand fingers pointing at my back, how could I?"
Her voice wasn’t particularly loud, but since everyone was sitting together, the neighboring team heard her clearly. The captain of YQCB gave a bitter smile. "The pressure got to me too—I didn’t fall asleep until three in the morning... At least you guys have it better; your match isn’t until tomorrow. Today, we have to face the storm of public opinion and the explosive backlash from our region."
"Yeah, you’d better take down Team RP," Little Fatty said with genuine concern. "Otherwise, by the time it’s our turn tomorrow, it won’t just be explosive backlash—it’ll be a bloodbath."
Little Fatty’s sincere terror amused the entire neighboring team’s table.
Lu Sicheng sat down beside Tong Yao and naturally took the bread she had bitten into, finishing it in two or three mouthfuls. At that moment, Pope brought him a cup of black coffee, set it down, and then took a seat next to the neighboring team’s captain."Luckily, we've reached the quarterfinals now, so there's basically no internal scrims scheduled anymore. Otherwise, Xiao Rui would probably be going crazy with worry by this point..."
"Those people, they win one BO5 and their tails are already up in the sky. Did they forget how the other teams from our region got hammered into oblivion during the Group Stage?"
"Shh..."
The group finished breakfast amidst hushed conversations. Aside from complaining about the awkward situation where the entire LPL was being pointed at and criticized, they mostly discussed the members of Team RP—since most of RP's players were Korean Aids who had previously competed in the LPL before returning, it was the complete opposite of what Team CK faced yesterday against G4. The veteran LPL players were quite familiar with RP's members.
After breakfast, Tong Yao and the others left the restaurant. Unexpectedly, they ran into the members of Team CK, who were waiting in the lobby with their luggage to check out and head to the airport... A night had passed, but their mood hadn't improved much from yesterday.
Jian Yang sat on the sofa, staring blankly at his phone. Tong Yao let go of Lu Sicheng's hand and, before the man could pull her back, darted over to Jian Yang and plopped down beside him, patting his back.
Silence.
Jian Yang looked up at her, his lips twitching slightly, but he said nothing before lowering his head again... Tong Yao didn't speak either. It wasn't until the CK team leader finished checking out and called for them to leave that Tong Yao suddenly spoke up as Jian Yang stood: "What's there to be afraid of? You're only twenty—that's the peak for pro players. Just come back next year and kick their asses."
Jian Yang froze.
Looking down, he met a pair of dark eyes that shimmered slightly before reddening at the edges. He raised his hand and patted the girl sitting on the sofa, looking up at him, his voice hoarse: "This year... you guys take care of them for us first."
Tong Yao smiled, her eyes narrowing into crescents as she nodded firmly: "Okay."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
Jian Yang slung his bag over his shoulder, gave Tong Yao a long look, and forced a faint smile before turning to leave.
...
Tong Yao watched until Jian Yang exited the hotel lobby and boarded the bus parked outside. Only then did she stand up and dart back to her captain, who was standing not far away. She grabbed his large hand with both of hers: "Lu Sicheng, I've made up my mind!"
"What nonsense now?"
"I can't change the fact that losing makes me super depressed. This fragile heart and princess syndrome are already incurably severe, so I thought about it—I might as well give up on Heal."
Lu Sicheng raised an eyebrow, about to ask if she was asking for a scolding, but the moment he lowered his head, he felt his hand being tugged. The soft fingers gripping his palm tightened slightly: "Then we just won't lose. Like you said, you're an old warhorse still full of fight... so I'm counting on you to take me to victory."
The man paused slightly.
Tong Yao looked up at him with determination: "Take me to victory."
Lu Sicheng was silent for three seconds before letting out a soft laugh. The sternness that had lingered in his eyes since yesterday finally softened... He leaned down and kissed the corner of her eye: "Alright. I'll take you to victory."
Author's note: ...........................I'm dead, our Cheng Ge!!!Not to mention such a great man!!!! I can't even find someone who can carry me to victory!!!!!!! They're all fake carries with shiny diamond exteriors—just smurfs perfectly blending into my rank!!!
New contemporary romance novel "Moonlight Serenade" is now live!
A sweet romance story about a God-tier author and a little editor who transforms from a lamb into a big bad wolf!
OpenNovel