LOL: What is a concept player?

Chapter 376 The Final Showdown
As soon as Faker finished speaking, his fans immediately started cheering for him hysterically, and the scene and the live broadcast were in an uproar, like a sea of ​​bombs.

The waves are rough!

The cheers merged into a huge wave that filled the entire stadium, and the cheers were endless. Various glow sticks and support signs were also waved under the lights. Faker's influence worldwide is still enormous.

Especially now that they are about to launch another attack on their fourth championship, they believe that Faker will not let them down.

Because his name is Lee Sang-hyeok!

Those Han loyalists and science enthusiasts suddenly became incredibly excited, and the live stream chat was completely flooded with their comments, leaving no gaps.

This is Faker!

As a fan, I've been waiting for Faker's fourth championship for far too long. I hope he can win his fourth title this year and finally shut up those sycophants!

[This guy, a mere two-time champion, dares to compare himself to Faker? Does he even deserve it?]

How many championships do I need to win to finally shut these haters up? I think it'll take this fourth one.

[I feel like there's no need to watch the finals; the championship trophy can just be awarded to SKT.]

[This is ridiculous! You bunch of Han fans and science idiots, you want to be swept aside by Chu Shen again, don't you?]

[Hilarious! They say the finals are over? Dafei beat Chu Shen? What kind of insane belief is that Faker will win the finals?]

[Having been crushed by Chu Shen with a 100% win rate for two years, still can't he realize the gap between himself and Chu Shen? Da Fei is old; now, Da Fei's only weapon is his mouth.]

[Damn it! Losing before doesn't mean Faker will lose again this time!]

The live chat was buzzing with discussion, perhaps because SKT had made it to the finals, or perhaps because of Faker's recent interview comments, which had completely energized both SKT fans and Korean fans.

A while ago, they didn't dare to show their faces on various forums, but now they've been completely reincarnated. In addition, many IG and Chu Ran haters have immediately transformed into Faker fans and joined the battle.

Moments later, discussions about LOL across the internet were filled with arguments between the two sides, all centered around this year's final match.

The arguments revolve around historical records, comparing past achievements and memorable moments. If there are any particularly memorable Class A war crimes, they will be brought up and vilified.

At the same time, in the LCK region, countless Koreans were like they had been injected with chicken blood, putting aside the crushing defeats of DWG and GRF and giving their all to support SKT.

In the S7 finals at the Bird's Nest, SKT lost to Chu Ran. They all believed that this time, Faker would lead SKT to take back everything they had lost.

The Weibo hot search list was almost entirely dominated by Faker and SKT. The two most popular League of Legends players are going to meet in the finals, it's like celebrating the New Year.

#Faker and Chu Shen meet again in the finals!#
#Perkz cries in despair, the European region suffers another crushing defeat!#
#Faker vows to dedicate his fourth championship to his fans!#
#Is the Great Demon King back? Or has a new god ascended the throne?#
Each trending topic has tens of thousands of comments, and the number continues to rise.

These Han Xiaozi and Ke Zai gained the upper hand and went completely mad. You usually don't see them in the comment sections of IG and Chu Ran's Weibo.

But now, all sorts of curses, mockery, and insults are pouring in. If you didn't know better, you'd think SKT had already won this year's World Championship.

"No way, buddy, why am I getting bombed again?" Jackeylove's eyes widened. "Why do these bastards like to bomb me so much? Why don't they bomb Chu Shen instead?"

"Wenbo, it's your big head that makes you look like a big target."

Meiko was already used to this kind of scene, and couldn't help but click her tongue. "You'll get used to it. Isn't that how these haters are? As soon as they see a glimmer of hope for a comeback, they start acting all high and mighty, and then when they realize that hope has been dashed, they become like mutes and never say another word."

"So, Tianye, you know a lot, huh?"

Jackeylove raised an eyebrow, but a look of worry flashed across his face in an instant. "This is SKT. I don't want to think about losing in the finals. If we lose this time and Faker becomes the fourth world champion, we'll be roasted to death."

“Jack, you’re absolutely right.” Rooike nodded with a smile. “But we won’t lose. TheShy said he’s going to teach Khan a lesson.”

Upon hearing this, TheShy scratched his head, somewhat embarrassed, and slowly said, "Khan? Shockwave!"

"6!"

"How dare you, TheShy, you've lost your nationality." Meiko squinted at Chu Ran, who was resting on the hotel sofa, and smiled. "Brother Ran, can't you hire some online trolls? Everyone else is besieging Bright Peak, and you're still playing games here."

"Damn! Is Angela an idiot?"

Chu Ran didn't care at all, not even raising her head, her fingers moving frantically. After a few operations, she replied to Meiko with a hint of disdain, "Paying you guys such high salaries, don't you have any costs?"

"Go ask around, our club has the highest average salary, where would we get the money to hire online trolls? Let them criticize, just ignore the public opinion."

"Hurry up and start the live stream, okay? You guys, if you don't stream, when will I ever be able to pay off this mountain of debt?"

Upon hearing Chu Ran's words, Meiko immediately rolled his eyes a few times. In his opinion, Chu Ran was just unwilling to spend money, even though their club had the best salary and benefits in the entire LPL since Chu Ran took over.

But it's also the most profitable. Just the sponsorships, advertising, and endorsements alone bring in hundreds of millions a year, not to mention Chu Ran's profits from the Panda Club.

Currently, Panda TV is the No.1 platform in the domestic industry, and Chu Ran has been investing in it for a long time, and is also doing very well in the short video platform industry.

Chu Ran already has more money than he can ever spend.

"Sigh, those unscrupulous capitalists. I remember two years ago, Ran was still a..."

Meiko recalled the past and suddenly remembered that Chu Ran used to share even a bottle of Coke among three people. Her lips twitched. "Never mind, never mind. When Brother Ran was short of money, he was a miser."

"Hahaha."

In an instant, laughter and cheers filled the hotel training room.

While they were celebrating, SKT held another press conference that evening, mainly to answer many questions from Korean players in the LCK region.

Faker and his five teammates, along with their coach, sat in front of a large group of reporters, looking incredibly confident and seemingly completely unnerved by the upcoming finals.

"I admit that IG is very strong, but our SKT is no longer the SKT of the first half of the year. After going through this period of the World Championship, our SKT has transformed."

"Yes, we've figured out the version and everything. We've played scrims with IG before, and we often beat them in scrims."

These words immediately caused a huge uproar in several major competition regions around the world.

While scrims shouldn't be taken too seriously, they do reveal something. SKT's ability to defeat IG in scrims shows they truly have the strength to compete with IG, causing considerable anxiety among many LPL viewers.

Upon opening the live stream, I found that Rooike and several others were streaming, but Jackeylove had the highest viewership.

It has to be said that this guy, being a former streamer, is more uninhibited, and his live streams are more effective than the other three.

If it weren't for Chu Ran providing Rooike, TheShy, and Meiko with increased viewership, they wouldn't even be as popular as most casual LOL streamers; they'd be nothing more than nobody on the street.

There's no way around it; even live streaming requires talent.

"Dude, what do you mean SKT officially announced that we've almost never beaten them in scrims? You actually believe that?" Jackeylove said with a laugh. "Last year, RNG had a 28-game winning streak in scrims, and then what?"

"Some people even get one kill with a single shot in training matches."

As soon as Jackeylvoe uttered those words, his livestream chat exploded. 【Big daring, streamer, what are you implying?】

[You're going to keep laughing all the way to Season 9, huh?]

[Wrong, it's S10. Because they didn't laugh this year, they were eliminated in the round of 16.]

[I really liked your comment, but remember to turn off your private messages. Do you think you're some kind of god, streaming RNG like you think GSL is extinct?]

[Haha, is it possible that he is Chu Shen's last disciple?]

Some GSLs were furious after hearing Jackeylvoe's words.

Since their defeat in S8, GSL players have become increasingly powerless, especially after being eliminated in the round of 16 this year. Anyone who dares to show their strength will be crushed.

"Brothers, putting everything else aside, I've already started picking championship skins. The main problem is that Imp picked Xayah last year, and I don't know what to pick anymore. Vayne?" Jackeylove paused for a few seconds.

"God Chu, how about I choose Vayne for my championship skin?"

"Not so great, are you jealous?"

"I will go blind."

Chu Ran and Jackeylove's banter instantly made many viewers in the live stream burst into laughter.

[Hahaha, apologize to my Heavenly Emperor!!]

[Divine punishment! Yu Wenbo, who gave you the audacity to pick Vayne?]

I suggest Kasha, God's second handmaiden. All of God's women are marked with the marks of other men.

[I live in Bengbu, but it doesn't matter. In the void, all of God's handmaidens are pure.]

At this very moment, in a hotel room next door, Uzi had not yet returned to China. He was preparing to apply for commentary for the finals when he saw Jackeylove's live stream, and his chubby face suddenly turned incredibly red.

Bang bang bang!
His fists pounded on the table repeatedly, almost causing it to fall apart.

"A bunch of beasts!"

"And the Riot Games planners are idiots too, why doesn't the runner-up get a skin?"

Uzi was furious. He silently vowed that he would get his own championship skin next year.

What he didn't know was that RNG Club had already prepared retirement videos for him and Ning, just waiting to release them immediately after the finals to capitalize on the last wave of traffic from Uzi and Ning.

Happy times are fleeting.

Amidst the bickering and arguing among netizens, time flew by, and soon a week had passed in the blink of an eye. The finals of this year's S-series, which the whole world was looking forward to, would begin.

The sun was shining brightly. It was a little past 7 p.m. in China, but it was still broad daylight in Chu Ran's area. They arrived at the stadium for the finals. There were still a few hours before the competition started, but the area was already packed with people.

Major domestic sports event live streaming platforms have already started broadcasting, but instead of replaying previous matches, they are showing Yu Shuang interviewing passersby.

"Hello everyone, I'm your host Yu Shuang. I'm currently at the finals venue this year, and those standing behind me are all LPL viewers!"

The camera then shifts to Yu Shuang, where countless spectators holding up IG support signs are chanting in unison: "Go IG!"

Following that, Yu Shuang randomly interviewed a few passersby, asking, "So what do you think the score of today's match will be? 3-0? IG 3-0?"

Upon hearing this, Ke Za and Han Xiaozi in the live broadcast room were very dissatisfied.

[Damn it, why are there so many filial sons and chicken giblets everywhere?]

[A 3-0 score? What a joke! Did they eat too much junk food and start hallucinating?]

[What are you guys barking about, Science Fans? Didn't Chu Shen win all his BO5 matches against SKT 3-0?]

You can't wake someone who's pretending to be asleep. SKT lost before because of their teammates, not because Chu Shen was strong or Faker was bad. I've already come up with all the reasons for the SKT fans.

"I didn't expect everyone to have such high confidence in IG. Now we can see that the cars of both teams have arrived at the scene."

As Yu Shuang finished speaking, the camera panned again, showing the SKT members getting out of their car, which immediately attracted a flurry of attention. A huge wave of cheers erupted from the crowd, with countless Faker and SKT fans shouting deafeningly, stimulating the eardrums of the audience and the live stream.

Faker even raised his neck slightly and raised his hands in response to the fans' enthusiasm, making the audience exclaim that Faker's status was off the charts.

But the next second, when Chu Ran and the others appeared at the scene from the car, the entire area around the stadium seemed to shake like thunder. The continuous sound waves were getting higher and higher, and even caused a riot because of the need for autographs and photos.

All the cameras from various news media outlets were focused on Chu Ran and his group, making them far more impressive than SKT.

Currently, Chu Ran has more fans overseas than Faker, mainly due to the significant increase in League of Legends players in recent years, and Chu Ran's aggressive playstyle and numerous memorable moments have garnered him a large following.

[666! Science enthusiast, Han Xiaozi, always shouting? Why aren't you shouting anymore?]

[This is ridiculous! Chu Shen's influence abroad is far greater than your Teacher Da Fei's!]

[How dare they be so arrogant with their custom-made champion from an ancient version?]

[Waiting anxiously for Chu Shen to ascend to the throne as the three-time champion today.]

[A bunch of idiots. I don't even know if those who idolize Ran Chu are a bunch of incompletely evolved creatures.]

[I could practically smell the sourness through the screen.]

"Wow, Ran-ge, there are so many people today." Jackeylove said with lingering fear, "If we lose, I feel like I can just swim back across the Pacific Ocean on my own."

"No, Wenbo, you still want to go back to China after losing?"

Meiko scoffed, "If you lose, you can just settle here. I'll even give you citizenship, don't you think, Ran-ge?"

"You two can win without giving anything away."

"What's the word?"

Amidst cheers from thousands, Chu Ran and his group entered the backstage lounge to wait. Soon, the audience also entered the competition venue one after another, and in no time, the stadium, which could accommodate nearly 100,000 people, was packed to capacity.

Immediately afterwards, the stage lights dimmed, and the dance troupe and singers gradually appeared before everyone's eyes. The light strips began to surge, and the League of Legends theme song of S9 began to resound throughout the venue, reaching the ears of online viewers through the live broadcast room.

A hot, blonde host appeared on stage in the European region. Her voice was melodious yet incredibly high-pitched and resonant.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the finals of the 2109 League of Legends World Championship!!"

"Now!! Let's welcome the two competitors to the stage!!"

(End of this chapter)