The departure ceremony had just ended. The management of the three teams had a discussion and decided to have a meal together to cultivate their relationship and avoid alienation in the future.
At this time, no one cared about EDG who had just lost. As the losers, they could not enjoy the glory and could only leave alone.
Lin Yan left the stage to report to his girlfriend and followed his teammates to the exit.
Mongoose came up to Lin Yan and wanted to borrow his mobile phone to surf the eSports forums to relieve his boredom.
At the beginning of the summer competition, the team's results were fluctuating. The trolls on the internet were too fierce. Turtles was a typical example of a player with high attack and low defense. His sarcasm was extremely lethal. However, reading the comments of the netizens in the middle of the night could break his defense. Guo Hao and the others removed all the e-sports forum software from his phone.
Throughout the summer competition, Guo Hao followed the rules of the league and checked the players' mobile phones to see if there were any records of Spinach's violation. He glanced at Phyllostachys Pubescens' app and uninstalled it when he found Tieba Weibo.
Mongoose could only train honestly and peacefully after getting rid of the surrounding public opinion. Otherwise, the outside world would have too much influence on him.
Lin Yan was relieved when he thought about how the forums had been full of bubble matches for the past two days and how no one had joined Xiao Tian 'team.
The two of them had their arms around each other's shoulders and their heads were close together as they looked at the forums on their mobile phones.
Jack unzipped his Conquest and wiped the sweat off his forehead with his palm. "You two look just like that … ogre mage in the tower."
He even pinched his throat and pretended to imitate the ogre mage's lines. "We're okay, right?
Of course! "
No one responded to him. The atmosphere on the forums was much more interesting than Jack's cold jokes.
[EDG missed the global finals for the first time. Hardcore analysis post finds the biggest mole in the team!]
[Reddit post: Hot discussion on EDG's loss of S7 qualification]
[Woah woah woah, what is karma?
Back then, they had to fight to the death and leave tonight. Now, they are squeezed out of the international competition by their old team. I'm dying of laughter.]
When 60e started a team, the home team that had lost the game had accepted the challenge.
[What are you laughing at?
WE don't need to enter the qualifiers and they are already so good?
It would be interesting if they couldn't make it out of the group stage.]
In this year's World Championship, in order to give more opportunities to the wild card division, Fist had specially added a qualifying round. The third seed of the five divisions would be mixed with the other eight wild cards and the LMS division teams to compete for four spots in the main competition.
Out of the five regions, there were four third seeded teams. Naturally, one of the regions didn't need their own teams to go through the qualifying rounds.
According to the rules of Fist, the winners of the international competitions in recent years had this privilege.
YM, who had won the S6 global finals and the S7 mid-season tournament, had won this spot for LPL.
This meant that WE, the third seed of the LPL, could directly enter the group stage.
[Dianbao Zu at least had an MSI champion. What does WE have?
S Tournament top 8 and IPL champion, right?]
Lin Yan and Xiao Tian were grinning from ear to ear as they watched the other teams squabble online.
Not far in front of them, Kandi was still bragging to Xi Ye. "Let me tell you, no one in LPL is better than me when it comes to punishing!
When I entered Dragon's Pit, good lord, I knew all the movements of the five EDG players! "
"I didn't use punishing as soon as the weak retreated. I didn't even need to look at Dragon's health to know that it was higher than 640. I deliberately waited for Factory Director to panic before I made my move …"
Kandi's voice echoed in the empty passageway.
Lin Yan nodded to himself.
Kandi was the undisputed number one in LPL when it came to fighting (P) and punishing (C).
The group walked out of Wukesong Stadium. It was late at night, but there were still many spectators outside. They were holding up the three teams that were going to the S7 global finals.
When they saw a group of players and club staff walk into their line of sight, they burst into cheers and screams.
The fans were waiting outside the stadium. The group of players could not just ignore them and leave, so they decided to leave 15 minutes to deal with it.
Lin Yan rarely saw a familiar face in the audience, so he took the marker pen in his hand and asked, "Why are you still here? It's already so late."
"I had to leave early on the day of the finals." The boy smiled shyly. "I just wanted to see you guys at the ceremony today."
"Actually, there will be a lot of meetings. There's no need to stay here."
Lin Ran used a marker pen to sign his name on the YM uniform that was handed to him by a fan.
"If you have something to say, say it now …" The fan took the uniform, gathered his emotions, and said in a deep voice, "I'll see you in Beijing in two months. The Bird's Nest will be waiting for you."
"See you in Beijing."
Lin Yan nodded in response. Even when he saw his girlfriend abandon him and run to Liu Qingsong for a photo as a souvenir, it did not diminish the feelings in his heart.
15 minutes later, under the leadership of WECEO, the buses of the three teams drove out of Wukesong Stadium and headed to the gathering place.
By the time they had eaten their fill and left the Copper Pot Meat Hotpot, it was already the wee hours of the morning.
The three teams would rest in Beijing for the night, then return to their respective clubs in Shanghai the next day.
Even though the team members and coaches had put in a lot of effort to prepare for the playoffs, Lin Yan and the others had no time to rest at all.
In order to not disturb the normal training of the summer tournament, Guo Hao had pushed back the sponsorship activities to the end of the season. Now that they had won the summer tournament, commercial activities followed one after another. There was no time for the YM players to rest.
Meetings, commercials, magazine covers, Tengjing documentaries …
As a very popular member of the team, Jack would sometimes finish his trip and return to the base in the wee hours of the morning. He would fall asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, then get up early in the morning to run activities.
As for Lin Ran, who was more famous and more honorable than Jack, he was running around without leaving the ground.
Not only were the players unable to withstand this kind of intensive schedule, even the fans could not stand it.
After the end of the bubble match, the esports forums paid the most attention to the status of the three S7 teams. The itinerary of the YM players was dug out, causing a huge uproar on the forums.
[Damn, they don't train every day and only do activities. Do they really think they're celebrities?]
[From September 4th to September 10th, YM's starting five players played 77 rounds of ranked Korean server. On average, each player played less than two matches a day. Distilled, they want to be champions with this kind of attitude?
See you at the Bird's Nest?
We don't even know if they can make it out of the group stage in Wuhan!]
[What about the other two teams?]
[Their RNG is not much better. Their players can't play more than five matches a day. Ouze's score has dropped to diamond one.]
[It looks like WE is better. Being poor has its advantages. They don't have many advertisers and spend most of their time training normally. I think they'll do well in the international tournament.]
[Players aren't allowed to rest for two days after the summer tournament?]
[It would be better if they rest normally. Shooting commercials and activities every day is called rest?]
The discussion online was overwhelming. YM's Weibo was filled with comments urging the players to train.
In reality, this wasn't the first time something like this had happened. Before the Spring Season match against WE, YM had been criticized by fans for continuously shooting commercials with sponsors.
At the time, the momentum was quickly suppressed. One reason was because YM had used their record to prove their status. Two was because no matter how serious the situation was, it was just an LPL internal competition. There was limited attention.
However, the critical juncture of this discussion was in early September. There was still a month before the international tournament. This time, YM definitely couldn't prove their status immediately.
The audience was very interested in this international tournament. They all wanted to see the LPL team pick up the Summoner's Trophy on their home ground.
They naturally had high hopes for YM, who had defeated LCK three times last year and won the championship. Many people were constantly paying attention to the club and the players' movements. Many streamers who watched the ranking of professional players took advantage of the opportunity to become popular, not to mention the players themselves who were at the center of attention.
All these factors combined led to an unprecedented amount of pressure from the public.
Lin Yan, who had just finished shooting the BMW commercial, had just returned to the base. Before he could wash up, he started his live stream under Guo Hao's instructions.
The number of viewers was exploding. After five minutes, the popularity of his live stream surpassed that of his former boss, PDD, and jumped to the top of the Shark-fighting platform.
He slightly adjusted the camera, then looked at the bullet screen and prepared to answer the controversy in the past few days.
"Are you tired these two days?" Lin Yan glanced at the bullet screen and laughed. "Don't ask such questions, okay?
Look at my dark circles … "
He leaned closer to the camera so that the audience could see the details of his cheeks. Faint dark circles covered his eyes, and he looked like he was evolving into Kandi.
The bullet screen was noisy. Some insulted the club's operations, while others felt that it was understandable for the players to take on commercials.
Lin Yan looked at the bullet screen and thought about what to say. He then said, "I think it's a double-edged sword for the eSports players to take on activities according to the club's arrangements."
"I can understand your thoughts. In fact, my initial thoughts were similar to yours. The events and filming will definitely affect the competitive state of the esports players. There's no doubt about that." He moved the mouse and opened the Korean server to wait for the update.
"However, think about this from the club's perspective …" Before Lin Yan finished speaking, Su Cheng passed him a plate of soup dumplings, pan-fried buns, and vinegar from outside the camera.
Lin Yan, who hadn't eaten dinner, was hungry. He thanked her and took the food. "I'll give you a rough estimate. YM, a club that only does League of Legends, has to pay a few dozen employees. Including the players and rent, the annual expenses are at least fifty million. It's normal for it to be close to a hundred million."
"It doesn't seem like a lot, but everyone should know that although the eSports industry has a lot of traffic, the profitability is too low." He dipped the pan-fried buns in vinegar with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth. He only spoke after swallowing the food in his mouth. "If we only rely on the player's merchandise and the fixed allowance given by the League, it'd be good if we could get back twenty to thirty percent of this hundred million."
His phone rang. Lin Yan took a look and saw that it was a message from Zhuo Ding. He said that he had prepared a surprise for tomorrow.
Lin Yan replied with three periods as ellipses.
"If you want to recoup your losses as much as possible, then you have to make profits from the endorsement. This is also good for the club. The investors can gain traffic and advertising effects..." Lin Ran explained everything he could to the audience. "These things were roughly stipulated when the contestants signed the contract. We all know what to do."
After he explained to a small portion of the audience why the club had to accept advertisements, he continued the topic.
"I know that it's not that most of the audience can't accept advertisements. They just feel that there are too many and too many of them."
Lin Yan paused for a moment and cleaned up the pan-fried buns on his plate. "In reality, there isn't as much activity as you think. During the summer competition, our club didn't accept any commercial endorsements. They were all compressed into this week. Hao has already done his best to accept as few advertisements as possible. There's no need for you to privately message him on Weibo …"
"There aren't many shooting activities, but we've still been busy for a week. The main reason is that our work efficiency is relatively low." Lin Yan opened the window on his plate. He didn't put the blame on the sponsors and investors. "The main reason is that the players haven't undergone systematic shooting training. The results of one or two shoots don't meet the requirements, so it can only drag on."
This way, the YM management led by Guo Hao didn't want to offend any of the sponsors. The audience could understand. The eSports players weren't real celebrities. It was normal for them to take a long time to shoot advertisements.
"We have to go to the Bird's Nest," Lin Yan said in the end. "We'll be flying to Wuhan tomorrow to prepare for training. We won't have time to broadcast then. Everyone, please cherish this opportunity."
The voice of a celebrity player was still effective. The previously hostile atmosphere in the bullet screen was instantly cleared away.
The Korean server had finished updating. Lin Yan entered solo mode and waited for an opponent. The bullet screen was now filled with all kinds of strange questions.
"Can a nineteen-year-old master of the canyon play professionally with 100 points …" While he repeated the question, his brain was also thinking about how to answer it.
Jack, who was sitting to the side, heard the question and was no longer sleepy. "A nineteen-year-old master of the canyon score 100 points?
Let me give you a piece of advice. Quit it while it's still early and do something else. "
"Back in the day, we had to be players with several thousand points in total to make a living." Jack's answer was fake. He wanted to show off. "I remember it was the end of the S5 season and the beginning of the S6 season. Back then, the value of being the champion of the national server was much higher than it is now …"
"Dopa, Ran Bro, I remember that there was also Guan Ren, White Card, and White Windmill. Shi Senming and Gao Zhenning were also in the top ten. Back in the day, they were all fighting for supremacy …" At this point, Jack had to tell them the glorious story of the king of S6.
He moved the wheels of his gaming chair like he was pushing a wheelchair with a stick. He squeezed to Lin Yan's side and looked at the bullet screen. "Oh oh right, there's also Dazzle Go … Dazzle God!"
Jack was still talking about the value of the S6 champion. Lin Yan didn't say a word and just stayed to the side to pass the time.
The Korean server's ranking time was exceptionally long that night. Lin Yan thought about it for a while and understood the reason.
The Korean server's King's Game was mostly made up of LPL and LCK professional players. Both the Chinese and Korean regions had entered a period of rest. After a year of high pressure work, most of the normal players chose to rest, and they rarely played ranked matches. On the other hand, the three LCK and LPL teams participating in S7 would arrive in Wuhan the next day. Tonight, many players decided to rest and relax.
As a result, Lin Yan didn't have anyone in the queue.
It wasn't good for him to sit there and waste his time on the stream. Lin Yan thought that he had a conscience and that he had to do the right thing for his audience.
"You all have accounts in the first server, right?" He tried to find a way. "Let's have a fanbase match."
"Put your account in the first server and I'll randomly pull people in …" Lin Yan logged into the first server account that he hadn't used in a long time and started to copy and paste the bullet screen.
With the fanbase match as a gimmick, the audience in the streaming room became excited. They thought that they had a chance to compete on the same stage as Lin Yan.
However, they didn't expect Lin Yan to pull in ten people in one go while he sat in the audience seats.
"Are you ready?
Okay, deduct one and I'll start the match, "Lin Yan said seriously." If you have a coach, just type BP. "
A bullet screen asked: [If we're competing, what will you be doing?]
"I'll be mixing … No, I'll be explaining," Lin Yan said matter-of-factly.
【？？？】
[Is he trying to find a new way to mix in the stream?]
[Don't do that. If other professional players steal his skills, how will we be able to watch the stream?]
[Not bad, Brothers Alliance. Back in the days, Fighting Shark and Li Fawang were really mixing in the stream. At least he can interact with the bullet screen now.]
The fanbase match officially began. Lin Yan pretended to cough twice and adjusted his tone as he prepared to commentate.
…
"This player called 'JZH Yasso 0 bar 10'. Yasso Ouze can't do it, but you, Yasso, can't do it either?"
Lin Yan shouted. On the screen, Yasso's EQ failed and he flashed into his opponent's face. He was killed by the 200 HP Blind Monk's QRQ combo.
[Hahaha, I'm full and still want to eat three more bowls of rice!]
[What a genius. This Yasso's skill level is about the same as Lin Yan's, right?]
[I didn't expect this Yasso to be so simple.]
"'Qing Wo Gang Men's Shadow'. Looking at his ID, I can tell that he's a pro player. He's extremely skilled. He's decided to solo the bottom lane duo!"
Lin Yan cheered for them when he saw the exciting play. He even played the theme song of last year's World Championship, "Ignite". The exciting electronic sound echoed in the stream.
"Qing Wo Gang Ying used W's slowing effect to pull the opponent. AQ used three-phase acceleration to pull the opponent into the bushes to avoid his vision …"
Lin Ran stood up abruptly.
"Qing Wo Gang Ying knocked out two people with a perfect E flash. AQ pulled up and used true damage to kill the rat. Luo Lian, who was knocked out, couldn't use his ultimate move!"
[What a handsome Camille!]
[Oh my god, he's ignited?]
[Isn't this as good as Bo's Ignite?]
"Qing Wo Gang Ying teleported to the upper half and led his teammates to take down this important Dragon. The blue team widened the economic gap to 10,000. The red team had Luo, but there was no spring!"
From God's perspective, the red and blue teams broke out in the middle lane. Qing Wo Gang Ying stood out again, cut into the rat from the side, and then followed his teammates to successfully kill the opponents one by one.
"No, there's no miracle!" Lin Yan raised his arms and shouted, "The red team's main Crystal was defeated, and the blue team won the championship!"
…
Early morning of September 12.
"I put your ID card in your wallet. Remember to take it out when you get to the airport," Su Cheng helped Lin Yan zip up the suitcase. "I put the wrist guard in the smallest pocket. If you practice too much, remember to wear it."
"I wrapped the slippers in a paper bag and put them on the top layer. You'll see them as soon as you open the suitcase," the girl pulled out her phone. "I've sent you other precautions."
"Drink less ice water and ice cream at night. The weather has turned cold recently. If you leave the hotel, put on an extra sweater outside …" Su Cheng advised.
Lin Yan carried the suitcase in one hand and walked downstairs with his girlfriend in the other hand.
Su Cheng would not arrive in Wuhan until the evening of September 30. After the end of the National Day holiday, she could just ask for leave until the end of the quarterfinals on October 22.
Then she could fly back to Shanghai and wait for the semifinals to begin. Finally, the finals held in the Bird's Nest on November 4 happened to be on the weekend, so it would not hinder her.
Of course, this was the ideal situation. If YM did not enter the Bird's Nest, Su Cheng's leave would not be necessary.
"College life is really good," Lin Yan sighed. "Inside and outside, you can actually spare a month's leave."
Su Cheng could hear that this person was talking about her. Her ears were slightly tipsy and she went up to pinch Lin Yan.
"Sophomore year has just started. The pressure of the classes is not that intense. I can still keep up with the schedule if I ask for leave," Su Cheng explained.
The two of them arrived relatively early. When Jack went downstairs, he bumped into Su Cheng and was almost beaten up by her military boxing. She wanted revenge for the roast duck after the summer finals.
"Let's go, Chengzi. See you in Wuhan!" The BMW full of YM club members drove out of the base.
"See you in Wuhan!" Su Cheng waved her slender white arms and bid them farewell.
Shanghai Pudong International Airport.
The three S7 representative teams had successfully gathered. In addition, there were two other mysterious teams.
"Not bad, you all came?" Lin Yan went up and lightly punched Ning Wang.
"We're all here," the milk-skinned Gao Zhenning said cheerfully. "They're holding an S Tournament on our turf. Can't we, IG, have a hand in it?"
The Shy, Ning, Rookie, West, Baolan, and the substitute Kid were all present. They found players they were familiar with and started chatting in twos and threes.
The Shy looked at Lin Yan with a creepy smile. The usually docile Broiler was being led by Jack to swear.
"I was in the grass then …"
Bao Lan did not seem to have eaten breakfast. He was still pestering Wandering God to make noodles for him.
It seemed like he was very lively.
The other mysterious team was a motley crew.
TOP top laner zoom, SNG top laner wolf, LGD jungler eimy, SNG jungler H4cker, TOP mid laner knight, JDG mid laner doinb, OMG archer Old Thief Sima, EDG archer iboy, EDG support meiko, and LGD support Hirano Aya.
There were two players in each position. There were a total of ten players. They were all considered good players in the LPL.
"Zhuo Ding, is this the surprise you were talking about?" Lin Yan remembered the WeChat message from Golden Left Hand last night.
Zhuo Ding scratched the back of his head. "I didn't know about this at first. But yesterday afternoon, the team suddenly found me and zoom and said that they wanted to form the S7 training team."
A training team, as the name implied, was a training team. They would play the role of imaginary enemies and other characters. They would test out tactics and improve the abilities of the participating players.
Lin Yan had heard about this before. He thought that it would be good enough if they could find a few players. He did not expect the LPL to make such a big move.
The number of players in the training team was almost equal to three participating teams.
"How is it?"
Bobby came late. He had a smile on his face and seemed to be in a good mood. "This is the experience I gained from the Intercontinental Championship.
"We're all from the LPL division. Our goal for the global finals is the same — to keep the Summoner's Trophy in the LPL!
"The level of the training team is high, so the quality of your training will be much higher. Naturally, your team's results will be guaranteed!
"The home team has the home advantage. You're not fighting alone. If there's anything you need, I'll do my best to help!"
Bobby's words were sonorous and powerful. This time, he was not as cautious as he was when he went to America last year.
Bobby's team had won the global finals and the mid-season championship. They had defeated LCK head-on twice. Now, he was full of confidence.
"Everyone, gather in the middle. Let's take a picture before we leave!"
Under Bobby's call, the dozens of players lined up in two rows.
"Three, two, one …" Photographer Ichimura pressed the shutter button.
"Victory!" Everyone shouted outside the spacious airport.
Half an hour later, everyone boarded the plane. Their destination was Wuhan Tianhe International Airport!