LPL History

Chapter 104 The semi-finals ended with internet outage and pizza being served; the silly little pig delivered a full meal (5K long chapter)

"I can tell you definitively that without Zhou Li, Chinese esports would not have developed to its current state."

"Wow, let me tell you, Zhou Li is truly outrageous. During S2, he was our IG's practice partner, training our tactics. When we played against TPA, nobody thought TPA would win. But let me tell you, that team was really strong. If Zhou Li hadn't spent the whole night explaining our tactics to us, we would have only made it to the semifinals at best!"

"Why did I say he was outrageous? Because if IG had won back then, we would have had to play against WE, our rivals, bro. To be honest, I couldn't understand why he would come and teach us. But looking back now, one thing is that Zhou Li was incredibly confident; he thought that even if he taught us, we still couldn't beat them. The other thing is that Zhou Li himself is incredibly selfless."

“Some people are still saying that Zhou Li is too pretentious. Wow, brothers, let me tell you, I used to think so too, but after that day, I realized that this person is really doing this for Chinese esports.”

"The story of Lee Hyun-kyung and Sjokz? Wow, bro, how do you tell this? You can't tell this, the live stream will be gone if you do, hehehe."

"Let me put it this way, have you ever seen Little Li Flying Dagger? Am I coming at the wrong time? No, you've come at the perfect time, you know what I mean, hehehe."

"Damn it, you're smoking your cigarette backwards!"

—Excerpt from [PDD Live Broadcast Highlights 2020].

On stage, in response to Sjokz's question, Zhou Li smiled and replied:
"I have reiterated this repeatedly."

"Let me reiterate this today."

"I will definitely tell everyone later."

"China is stronger than South Korea."

Upon hearing Zhou Li's answer, Sjokz smiled and continued to ask:

"WE has now successfully entered the semifinals. According to the tournament schedule, your opponent in the semifinals is also an old rival, CLG.EU. Do you have anything to say about this?"

Zhou Li thought for a moment and then said:

"Hopefully CLG won't unplug the network cable again this time."

With the quarterfinals concluded.

In the semifinals, IG will face off against TPA from Taiwan.

WE, on the other hand, encountered their old rival in OGN, CLG.EU.

This also means that the Korean teams have completely withdrawn from the World Championship.

The Korean internet was already filled with cries of despair.

In contrast, the scene on the domestic internet is one of universal celebration.

It's important to know that the term "resisting Korea" isn't just a term that appeared after League of Legends.

Throughout the history of esports in China, not just in League of Legends, but in many other competitive games, South Korea has consistently held a clear advantage over China.

Since the late 1990s, South Korea has established a mature professional esports system through StarCraft.

China has long been at a disadvantage in the field of StarCraft. Although some players have tried to break South Korea's monopoly in this game, the overall strength is significantly different from that of South Korea, and China has few victories in international competitions.

From that time on, in the esports industry, Koreans have liked to look down on Chinese players.

This is also part of the early history of resistance against Korea.

Between 2005 and 2007, Sky finally achieved glory in Warcraft III, winning the WCG World Championship twice and breaking South Korea's monopoly on RTS games.

Even so, South Korean players still demonstrate their dominance in esports.

The same thing happened with DNF later on. Since South Korea always had a version of the game ahead of China, when Sun Yalong went to South Korea to compete, he was stunned when he saw the skill bar. He felt that it was not the same game at all.

After 2010, StarCraft II pushed South Korea's dominance in esports to a new peak.

Under such circumstances, when League of Legends began to become popular worldwide, people generally believed that South Korea would still be the dominant force.

Not only do South Koreans think this way, but Chinese people do too.

Netizens around the world think the same way.

But no one expected that Zhou Li would lead WE to break through in such a situation.

This shattered the Koreans' beautiful dream.

From Zhou Li's perspective, beating these S2 teams is indeed not difficult.

However, from the perspective of other normal people, Zhou Li's achievements can be described as nothing short of miraculous and mythical.

It's important to understand that the esports industry in China is worlds apart from the professional esports industry in South Korea.

Moreover, the current Chinese version of League of Legends is several versions behind the Korean and European versions.

In other words, whether in or out of the game, domestic players are at a disadvantage and the competition between them and foreign players is completely unfair.

However, under these circumstances, Zhou Li's various ingenious maneuvers and team operation tactics were among the most advanced in the world.

Facing teams from Europe, America, and South Korea, they delivered a performance that felt like a complete game-changer.

This phenomenon, which science could not explain, was what shocked people at the time.
-
October 10th.

There is one day left until the semi-finals begin.

IG will first face off against TPA on the 11th.

WE will face the strong European team CLG.EU on the 12th.

The winners of both matches will have a day off before competing in the final round to vie for the championship trophy.

At this moment, the members of IG are arguing about the elevator being overcrowded.

They were going to the twelfth floor to have Zhou Li teach them.

However, the hotel elevator has a maximum capacity of six people, which is clearly not enough to fit IG's five people.

"Damn it, you're fucking waiting for the next elevator!"

PDD, squeezed to the very back, let out a wail.

She squeezed her legs together and let out a soft, sweet voice:

"I'm a little scared because I'm alone and don't speak English."

The outermost shadow sighed and said:

"I'll go out first."

He took two steps and came to the elevator.

But the elevator alarm did not go off.

An elevator designed to carry six people is clearly not enough to accommodate four members of IG.

"Pattern, go outside and come up with Shadow later."

PDD's face turned slightly red.

After the elevator made two trips, the IG members finally reunited on the twelfth floor.

When Zhou Li took the initiative to contact them and offer to teach them how to play TPA, the IG members naturally didn't refuse.

Zhou Li's current status among League of Legends players is practically godlike.

What's more, under Zhou Li's arrangement, they even got to vent their anger by finding a stick in the toilet that day.

Since you can never repay all the favors you owe, you might as well owe more.

The group had just met up in the corridor when they saw a blonde, busty woman with her hat pulled down over her shoulders walk out of a door not far ahead.

At first, no one paid any attention, but PDD only realized it when they reached Zhou Li's door.

"Damn, if I remember correctly, that woman just came out of Brother Zhou's room, right?"

As the jungler, Shadow observed more carefully, nodded, and added:
"Yes, I just crouched down and took a peek. I recognize this woman; she's the foreign host."

"No way, that was so fast! They got it already?"

Seeing the envious expression on Sun Yalong's face, PDD got a little annoyed.

"Damn, Sun Yalong, look at Zhou Ge and look at you. Every day you just put down your backpack and call me out on an adventure, while your mom got her green car washed for $500 yesterday by an unlicensed taxi." (*)

Zitai blinked: "What kind of bath costs five hundred dollars? Why didn't you call the police?"

PDD scratched his head: "Damn, there are a dozen burly, tattooed men guarding the door, and they've got something on their waists. How dare they refuse?" (*)

Sun Yalong was speechless after being bombarded with criticism by PDD.

"Brother, I don't know either. Who knew that even the world-famous center of Amerin would be like this?"

The group chattered amongst themselves at the door when it was suddenly opened.

It was not Zhou Li who appeared at the door.

It was Lee Hyun-kyung.

Upon seeing Lee Hyun-kyung's Instagram post, everyone's eyes widened and their mouths gaped open as if they could fit three pounds of shit inside.

Lee Hyun-kyung's face still had an unnatural blush as she quickly walked away, saying:

"Are you looking for Zhou Li? He's inside."

The eyes of everyone in IG followed Lee Hyun-kyung's back until he took the elevator downstairs before they looked away.

The group walked into Zhou Li's room in a daze, their eyes immediately drawn to the bed.

The bed was neatly made, so the scene they had imagined probably didn't happen.

This made everyone feel a little better.

"Stop looking, the bathroom's dry."

Zhou Li's voice rang out.

"I am stupid!!!"

"Brother Zhou, you're not human!"

Hearing the desperate wails of the group, Zhou Li said calmly:
"It's late at night, and there's no cleaning service. The bed is messy and no one will clean it up. It's quite polite to do this in the bathroom, isn't it?"

Sun Yalong felt so jealous that he was about to have a stroke.

Two beautiful female hosts from South Korea and Europe didn't even qualify for last week's "lucky bed"?!
Then think about how he spent five hundred dollars on a shower and didn't even get to touch the cleaning lady's hand.

"Alright, with the big battle approaching, why are you still thinking about such dirty jokes? TPA is a strong team. Let me explain some key points to you so that we can make sure our two Chinese teams meet in the finals."

Sun Yalong was very dissatisfied.

The reason you, Zhou Li, don't have any dirty thoughts in your head is because you just emptied them all out, right?
However, after Zhou Li had only spoken a few words, Xiao Xiao also calmed down.

Because he found that what the other party said was all practical information, and many details that they had not noticed before were completely exposed by Zhou Li.

Zhou Li shared his knowledge with everyone on IG without holding anything back.

First, most of this content is about TPA tactics.

Secondly, he has absolute confidence in himself and WE.

Thirdly, he noticed that as he continued teaching, the Records of the Grand Historian was becoming restless, seemingly about to turn the page. He had previously visited IG's base, but only received Zz1tai's biography.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, we might be able to unlock PDD and Xiaoxiao together.

Zhou Li spent most of the evening explaining things to him.

The next day, IG also faced off against TPA.

According to Zhou Li's analysis, TPA's tactics and player habits have been thoroughly studied by IG, who have already devised countermeasures.

Even so, after IG quickly won the first game, TPA still managed to win a game back tenaciously.

But this also meant they used up all their best tricks.

In the third game, facing IG, who knew them inside and out, the former world champions were defeated in the semifinals this time.

IG became the first team to reach the finals of this year's World Championship!

In a post-match interview, Zhou Li, already convinced of his defeat, sincerely thanked him from head to toe in front of the global media.

With IG's successful advancement, the level of attention paid to this tournament in China instantly reached its peak.

If WE can defeat CLG, Chinese League of Legends teams will secure both the championship and runner-up positions!

The moment this headline was published, Chinese netizens were instantly excited.

Just like ping-pong.

You might not be interested in the idea of ​​two Chinese athletes competing for the gold medal in the finals.

But if you say that as long as you win the semi-finals, then it will be an all-Chinese affair with both the champion and runner-up taking the title, then that would be much more interesting.

October 12th.

Amidst the anticipation of Chinese netizens, WE finally faced off against CLG.EU for the second time.

There wasn't much disagreement about the opinions surrounding this match.

Most people believe that WE will cleanly defeat CLG 2-0.

Even CLG itself thinks so.

Zhou Li's dominance in League of Legends tournaments is unmatched by any other game, where even the so-called world's best player can exert pressure on other players.

In the first match between the two sides, Zhou Li, who had not picked Twisted Fate for a long time, once again demonstrated WE's global strategy in front of a global audience.

Thirty minutes into the game, Rottingroot's Anivia was still farming minions, while WE had already destroyed CLG's base.

The two sides quickly moved into the second game.

WE quickly established an advantage in the early stages.

However, when the game reached the 18th minute, unsurprisingly, something unexpected happened.

WE's network cable got unplugged again, damn it.

Zhou Li was not too surprised to see that the network was down.

In fact, he had guessed that this was likely to happen even before the match started.

Although their match against CLG changed from the quarterfinals to the semifinals, seemingly altering the situation, CLG actually easily defeated M5 in the quarterfinals without experiencing any network outages.

Based on his memories from his previous life, Zhou Li knew that the so-called internet outage was actually a malicious attack launched by CLG's fanatical fans to ensure CLG's advancement.

In that match, whenever WE gained even the slightest advantage, the network would experience problems.

In this world, Zhou Li was already mentally prepared after seeing M5 lose the match.

CLG's fans haven't yet made their move, so Riot Games hasn't optimized or protected against network issues.

Now that they have the advantage and are about to eliminate CLG, this sudden network outage is perfectly reasonable.

After all, he couldn't possibly go to Riot Games before the match started and say that their network had problems and needed to be optimized immediately.

Although with Zhou Li's current power, Fist might actually listen to a few words from him.

However, Zhou Li didn't graduate with a computer science degree and didn't understand network issues. He couldn't just make empty promises and expect his fists to do the work.

The network outage drew a chorus of boos from the audience.

The first time the network went down, Riot Games fixed it in just five minutes.

The match continued, but just two minutes later, when Zhou Li secured another solo kill in the mid lane, the network connection dropped again.

This network repair took twenty minutes.

The third time, for one hour.

The fourth time, for two hours.

CLG fans' online attacks have become increasingly frenzied.

In this situation, both players can only wait for Riot Games to fix the network.

Just as Zhou Li had anticipated, as CLG's home ground, fans started calling out CLG's positions, and the CLG players even got to eat pizza.

Zhou Li looked at his teammates and asked:
"Hey guys, are you hungry?"

Strawberry said somewhat indignantly:
"Holy crap, they're already eating pizza across the street."

Zhou Li smiled.

"What's so great about pizza?"

"Well, it's still better than us drinking bottled water."

“Brother,” Zhou Li casually lay back in his chair, “don’t forget, our team has a national server deliveryman.”

As soon as Zhou Li finished speaking, Zhu Kai and Abu, two food delivery workers from the Chinese server, carried the box up.

Under Strawberry's surprised gaze, Zhu Kai smiled and said:

"Brother Mei, what do you want to eat?"

Strawberry was taken aback: "We can order food?"

"According to Brother Zhou's arrangement, anything that isn't too strange or unusual will be included."

Do you have steak?

"Yes, brother. Yes."

Zhu Kai opened the box and took out a steak.

In the live stream, the viewers who were just complaining that CLG got pizza while WE could only drink water were instantly dumbfounded, leaving only a screen full of question marks.

"Ming-ge, what do you want to eat?"

Mingkai felt like he was dreaming.

Does KFC have it?

"Yes, Ming-ge, yes."

Amei Rika's local KFC was placed on Mingkai's table.

Zhou Li raised his hand: "Xiao Zhu, get me some Chinese food."

"Chinese food includes Zhou Ge, Mapo Tofu, Braised Pork Belly, Braised Pork Ribs with Scallions, Cantonese Choy Sum, and Wuchang Rice."

Smiling and Curly-haired stared at each other blankly for a moment.

"Zhu Kai, I want to eat hot pot."

"There's hot pot, there's smiling brother, there is."

"Holy crap, you even have hot pot!"

Under the astonished gaze of a smiling man, Zhu Kai pulled a portable gas stove out of the box.

Next came the hot pot broth and dipping sauce, as well as various ingredients such as fatty beef and lamb.

At this moment, the WE team realized how farsighted their Zhou Ge was.

No wonder he brought back a fan from Instagram who only knows how to order takeout.

It turns out that everything was part of Brother Zhou's pre-arranged plan!
The scene on stage completely stunned the foreigners.

They immediately issued a protest in dissatisfaction.

We CLG were just eating pizza, and you WE started cooking a meal right away?!
Faced with protests from the audience, Riot Games officials were unsure how to handle the situation.

After all, no one would expect someone to bring a portable gas stove to eat hot pot during a competition.

In the end, the hotpot featuring Smile and Curly was removed by Riot Games' official staff.

Although they didn't get to eat hot pot, Zhu Kai still managed to conjure up curry rice and ramen from his box.

There were also five bottles of chilled cola.

Six hours later, Riot Games stated that the game could not be restored and could only be restarted.

The WE players clearly did not want to agree, after all, they had already gained a significant advantage in this game.

However, Zhou Li also knew that such protests were not very meaningful, as the current capabilities of the game were indeed insufficient to restore the game.

Making them resume the match by hand would waste even more time.

Otherwise, Zhou Li wouldn't have arranged for the national server's food delivery personnel.

The match restarted, and CLG immediately banned the hero that WE had used in the previous game. (*)

Even so, they quickly found themselves at a disadvantage.

The internet connection dropped again after 20 minutes of the match.

Zhu Kai, accompanied by Abu, came up carrying five wooden buckets.

During the semifinals of the World Championship, all five members of WE started soaking their feet.

The network was restored an hour later.

But less than five minutes later, the network went down again.

WE started having a late-night snack.

CLG fans seem determined to fight WE to the death today.

But to this fan's surprise, CLG couldn't hold on.

When the network was restored, the five CLG players surrendered without hesitation.

(End of this chapter)