We are tired of winning championships, and we still need youth training?

Chapter 148, the knockout stage, SN!

Xu Xinghe stood up, and before he could react, Saint Gun Bro had already patted him on the shoulder with a smile.

"What do you mean by not arresting them? Didn't I tell you?"

Viper paused for a moment, then hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but couldn't.

Does the LPL also have predecessors and successors?
This remark is so distinctly Korean, it's practically overflowing with 80s vibes.

"If you can't even beat Xiao Xiang, there's no point in me capturing you."

Xu Xinghe wasn't intimidated by Saint Gun Bro and shrugged.

Saint Gun stroked his chin: "What you said makes sense. When I beat up Sparrow, it's like beating a dog."

Indeed.

If he can't even beat a newcomer like Xiao Xiang, then there's no point in Xu Xinghe capturing him.

Historically, the principle has always been to support the strong and not the weak; the same applies to ranked games and competitive matches.

"What a pity, you actually managed to win the game."

Missing pursed her lips, unable to bear seeing Flandre's smug look.

Saint Gun didn't care at all.

"Damn, you were still wetting the bed when you became famous."

Missing paused for a moment.

That's a really outrageous statement.

Saint Gun debuted early, but he's not that old.

That guy really knows what he's going to say.

"I'm off, I'm off to shake hands."

Xu Xinghe was too lazy to listen to their argument, so he grabbed one of them with each hand and led them over to shake hands.

When it came to EDG, it was obvious that Xiaoxiang was not convinced.

Xu Xinghe shook hands lightly and then skipped over the rest.

Xiao Xiang's achievements are limited; his temperament and talent are only average, and he doesn't attract any attention.

It's nothing more than the resentment of a loser.

These kinds of stray dogs are all too common in professional racing.

What surprised him most was Jiejie's appearance next.

After losing the game, Jiejie naturally couldn't be all smiles and laughter.

However, he did not show any signs of frustration and remained very calm.

This is very rare.

Xu Xinghe still has a passive ability to instill fear in his defeated opponents.

Many professional players feel terrible after losing to Xu Xinghe, and some even shed tears on the spot.

There are really few contestants as calm as Jiejie.

However, now was not the time to talk. Xu Xinghe glanced at Jiejie briefly before walking up to Scout.

"You're still amazing."

Scout pushed up his glasses and took Xu Xinghe's outstretched hand.

He was very calm.

Honestly, Scout became quiet as soon as the roster was announced this year.

There's no hope.

With this lousy roster, they think they can win the championship?
Unless he wakes up one day to find that the level of League of Legends players worldwide has dropped by 10,000 times.

Otherwise, let's not talk.

So losing to him now isn't too painful.

"You are strong too."

Xu Xinghe didn't know why Scout was making such a comment about him, but he still politely replied with one.

Scout: ...

I didn't really have any impact this game, but your team's Rookie played really well. Are you sure you can just make things up?

Is this the legendary social interaction between Chinese people?
After the handshake ended and I was about to leave the venue, I heard a somewhat chaotic sound of high heels.

"Wait! Wait! It's Xu Xinghe!"

Ok?
Xu Xinghe turned his head to look in the direction of the sound and saw... Luo Xin?
"...You're looking for me?"

Beside the other man was a man carrying a camera. Seeing Xu Xinghe stop, he breathed a sigh of relief and quickly ran to him. He was still panting heavily when he stopped, and spoke haltingly:
"Yes...it's me. We have an interview here!"

“Yesterday...the day before yesterday, I didn’t even have time before you...you just left.”

Xu Xinghe suddenly realized.

He actually knew about this.

Tencent Games specifically instructed them to interview him during the group stage, as there are quite a few people interested in the new IG.

"But I remember you were a host, right?"

Xu Xinghe was a little surprised.

"Oh, it was just a small thing."

Luo Xin's breathing gradually calmed down, and she waved her hand.

"Do you have time now? We can conduct the interview right here, is that alright?"

Xu Xinghe nodded, told his teammates, and then followed Luo Xin and the others to a quiet corner with a white wall nearby.

As the photographer turned on the camera, Luo Xin gave an OK sign, raised the microphone towards the camera, and revealed a sweet smile.

"Hello everyone, welcome to the Demacia Cup post-match interview. This is the post-match interview between EDG and IG. We are honored to have IG's jungler Galaxy here for the interview. Please say hello to everyone."

Xu Xinghe nodded at the camera and smiled.
"Hello everyone, I'm IG jungler Galaxy."

Luo Xin glanced at the cue card in her hand.
"First of all, congratulations to Galaxy for winning today's match. Now that the Demacia Cup is in its third day, are you satisfied with IG's performance so far?"

Xu Xinghe's expression remained unchanged, but he was somewhat surprised.

This question is hardly friendly.

If he says he's satisfied, it's easy for people to sway the narrative and say he has issues with his former IG teammates.

Don't underestimate the ability of marketing accounts to stir up public opinion.

But what if he says he's not satisfied...

Haha, that means he's not satisfied with his current teammates and is still reminiscing about the past.

No matter what he says, it's easy for him to cause controversy.

but……

"Whether I'm satisfied or not, I don't think it's a decision I can make alone."

Xu Xinghe spoke with a light laugh.
"Whether it's the old IG or the current IG, it's still IG to me."

"I am an IG player, and no matter what happens to IG, I will accept it calmly."

"Even if it's not perfect now, I will try my best to make it perfect."

"I trust my current teammates just as I trust my former teammates."

Luo Xin smiled and nodded, but inwardly she was amazed.

Full score!

That was a brilliant answer.

Instead of simply avoiding the present and the past, and without honestly stating who was better, he cleverly expressed his identity as an IG player, pulling himself out of the vortex of public opinion.

On the one hand, he expressed his loyalty to the current IG team, and on the other hand, he subtly demonstrated his trust in his former teammates.

Compared to the other contestants, this boy's eloquence was far superior.

They could practically write a book called "The Art of Speaking".

When Luo Xin saw the teleprompter, she also felt that the questions there were not very helpful.

Luo Xin didn't mean to make things difficult for Xu Xinghe, but she really had no choice but to accept the interview assignment.

Her gaze swept across the cue cards, and she could only manage to choose the second, less pointed question.

"So, I'd like to ask Galaxy, will you continue to stay with IG in the future?"

Xu Xinghe:?

He finally frowned slightly.

The questions asked in today's interview are really strange.

The topics for interviews are usually prepared by a specialist in order to avoid sensitive questions as much as possible and to prevent the interview from stalling.

However, both questions Luo Xin asked today contained obvious traps.

Ordinary players can easily be led astray.

He glanced to the side subconsciously and saw Luo Xin staring at him expectantly, her smile forced.

She seemed to have noticed the problem as well?
Xu Xinghe's thoughts raced.

Is someone trying to get me?
It's no wonder he overthinks things.

This kind of question shouldn't be something an LPL staff member would do; it's too low-level.

However, it's not the right time to overthink it.

"Personally, I'm inclined to stay with IG, but who can say for sure what will happen in the future? I'm a person who likes to be down-to-earth, so let's focus on playing well in this year's competition first. It's a bit too early to talk about this now."

Xu Xinghe spoke with a smile. He first stated that he wanted to stay with IG, but didn't completely rule it out.

At the same time, he explained his "personality," indicating that he should focus on the present and thus changed the subject.

Regardless of who is trying to make things difficult for Xu Xinghe during the interview.

—He's contacted the wrong person.

The simulation included countless interview segments.

Xu Xinghe had encountered all sorts of difficult situations.

This difficulty is nothing to him.

If he wants to be slick, he can be incredibly slippery.

Luo Xin asked one question after another, and Xu Xinghe easily and naturally resolved them.

Five minutes later, with Luo Xin letting out a sigh of relief, the interview finally came to an end.

The smile on Xu Xinghe's face vanished at the same time, and he nodded politely to Luo Xin:

"I won't bother you any longer, my teammates are still waiting for me."

Luo Xin's smile froze slightly, and she could only nod hesitantly:
"Okay... okay."

Xu Xinghe didn't say anything more, and walked out with his bag on his back.

Luo Xin sighed inwardly.

This time, I think I've really offended Xu Xinghe.

But she had no choice; she had accepted the task carelessly, and now it was too late to regret it.

"Ugh……"

On the other side, Xu Xinghe had already walked out of the venue.

Unsurprisingly, I saw the same fans who came yesterday.

Xu Xinghe vaguely remembered one of the boys and asked him curiously as he walked over:
"It's you again? Haven't you gone back yet?"

The young man was pleasantly surprised. "Wow, that's awesome! Brother Xinghe, you actually recognize me?"

Xu Xinghe: ...

He's a pretty handsome kid, but it's a shame he has a mouth.

Seeing that Xu Xinghe was a little speechless, the boy chuckled and handed him a notebook.
"Brother Xinghe, could you sign your name and write a birthday message? It's coming up soon, and I wanted to say it when I came here a couple of days ago, but I was a little embarrassed."

"Okay."

Xu Xinghe nodded.

He was quite polite to his fans.

"what's your name?"

"Wang Jie, the 'Wang' in King of Glory, and the 'Jie' in Outstanding."

Xu Xinghe wrote down a blessing and casually asked, "How come you have so much free time to come watch the game every day?"

The other person scratched his head. "I also play professionally. I'm on ES's second team."

ES?

Playing professionally?
Oh.

Xu Xinghe suddenly realized.

EStar, huh? You're just a King of Glory player watching my League of Legends professional matches?
That's quite a life.

Seeing his bewildered expression, Wang Jie knew he had been misunderstood again, and quickly spoke up:
"It is indeed that ES, but I'm in the League of Legends division. I've also heard that I'll be moving to the LPL this year. I play AD carry."

ES, the AD carry.

Xu Xinghe took another look at him under the light from the doorway and finally recognized him.

Isn't that Wink?
He debuted in 20 with the dark horse team ES, and joined RNG the following year, but became a substitute because of Gala's presence.

In 22, he joined IG. At first, he played the bottom lane, but soon he was criticized every day and his skills gradually declined, so he switched to support.

But who would have thought that switching to support would actually make him quite famous?

There's another famous meme associated with this guy:
#Wink status

The reason is that IG had TheShy at the time, and whenever they lost a game, Wink in the bottom lane would be trending on Weibo by TheShy's fans.

He's just a really unlucky kid.

"come on!"

Seeing the other person's bewildered expression, Xu Xinghe suppressed a laugh and patted him on the shoulder.

At least for now, it's highly unlikely that Wink will be on the same team as TheShy.

TheShy has already left, so is it possible that these two will run into each other?
That makes no sense.

This might be a good thing for Wink.

He didn't say anything more, handed the notebook to Wink, and continued walking towards the bus.

Wink was left completely bewildered but still incredibly excited.

Xinghe actually encouraged me?

What the hell!

Could it be that he wants to recruit me to play bot lane for IG?!
"came back?"

Saint Gun Brother smiled and spoke as he saw Xu Xinghe get into the car.

"Ah."

Xu Xinghe nodded.

"Something's not right."

"The interview questions were very tricky, and I felt like I was being targeted."

Missing frowned: "An interview? Aren't those questions prepared by the authorities? Is the authorities targeting us? Surely not."

Saint Gun smiled but didn't say anything.

Missing is still young, but Flandre knows a lot.

It's not like the authorities haven't targeted people before.

"I don't think it's that bad either. I don't know the reason yet, so let's leave it at that."

Xu Xinghe shook his head, not intending to investigate further.

To put it bluntly, this won't have any real impact.

It's just disgusting at most.

He was too lazy to think about it further; knowing it wouldn't make a difference anyway.

Xu Xinghe has always been very clear about his identity.

He's a professional player; playing well is enough for him.

He has his own fans who speak up for him.

There's no need to be too afraid.

On the way back, the bus was still quiet, but there were more whispers than in the previous days.

A smile crept across Karam's lips.

It's not just the competition that needs to be worked out, but also the relationships between the players.

The players who win the championship may not necessarily be good friends, but they are definitely not strangers.

The people from IG a few days ago were complete strangers.

Now that the three-day competition is over, at least more people are talking about it.

That's how friendships are gradually built up.

Karam felt the current momentum was quite good and didn't intend to interfere further.

Time passed little by little.

Two days later, EDG faced IG again.

Because the group stage is a double round-robin, if IG loses this match, they will have to play a tiebreaker.

But IG played even better than before this game.

Although the game ended quite late, Xu Xinghe didn't create much of a tempo in the early game, instead putting some pressure on his teammates.

Finally, Flandre's Akali, with a score of 7/2/6, earned him the MVP.

His skill level remains high, and he is performing better and better in each rehabilitation competition.

Viper, on the other hand, didn't gain any advantage in the bottom lane this time and still lost his lane matchup.

Meiko in S10 is still ruthless.

In the bot lane matchup, the support plays a bigger role, and Missing can't compare to Meiko yet.

Fortunately, they performed well in the subsequent team battles and delivered the expected damage output.

IG successfully advanced to the knockout stage.

And then...

Their first-round opponent is SN.

Meanwhile, the team's top laner was also the first former teammate Xu Xinghe encountered.

Theshy.

(End of this chapter)