LPL History

Chapter 140 Abandoning the Top Eight to Conceal One's Strength and Biding Time, the Nine Thousand Years Old Coldly Observes the Training of the Army

Abu looked at Zhou Li, who was sitting in the boss's chair, and his eyes gradually became crazed.

"Are you kidding me? You're the boss?!"

As if she understood something, her eyes widened in anger, and she shouted at the top of her lungs:

"You fucking lied to me from the very beginning!!"

Zhou Li waved his hand dismissively.

"Damn, those women are too noisy. Death sentence, send those women out to say hello to the 60e!"

Seeing the death announcement approaching from behind, Abu finally panicked.

The area in front of EDG is now filled with 60e (presumably referring to a large number of vehicles).

If Abu goes out like that, he'll probably get beaten to a pulp.

"Wait! Let's talk this out, don't touch me! Oh, don't touch me!"

Death's Declaration grabbed Abu with both hands, lifting him off the ground.

Abu's feet were kicking restlessly, like a helpless child emitting a pitiful cry.

"Zhou Li!! You can't do this to me!!"

She was carried past the entrance to the training room.

I saw Mingkai inside.

"Promise! Save me! Promise!"

Mingkai's expression was complicated, and he sighed helplessly.

He has reminded Abu many times, which is more than enough.

Death's Declaration dragged Abu all the way to the door.

The 60e who were shouting and cursing suddenly fell silent.

After all, no one expected that EDG would actually send Abu away.

Chris opened the locked iron gate, waited for Death's Declaration to push Abu out, and then locked the gate again.

Abu leaned against the iron gate, facing the massive crowd of 60e, his legs trembling.

It's strange how people are. The 60e fans were cheering merrily through the iron gate, some saying they wanted to rush in and wipe out EDG, others saying they wanted to set it on fire. But when Abu actually came out, the 60e fans looked at each other, not knowing what to do.

Until a voice came from somewhere.

"What are you all standing there for? Beat him up!!"

It wasn't until the 60e generation realized what was happening!
Inside the club, Zhou Li put down the emergency call.

Suddenly, the Records of the Grand Historian shone with golden light in my field of vision!

Zhou Li was taken aback, feeling surprised.

"Damn it, Abu is the owner of the S3 Chronicle?!"

This is absolutely outrageous!

However, upon further reflection, in 2013, the "fight to the death" incident orchestrated by Abu led to the decline of the ancient powerhouse WE, and EDG officially entered the historical stage, greatly changing the ecosystem of LPL.

If we disregard merits and demerits and only consider the impact on the future, then in 2013, no one could surpass Abramovich in this respect.

This is the first time an old eunuch has been included in the annals.

Calling Abu the Wei Zhongxian of esports is like giving Wei Zhongxian a free pass.

Zhou Li fixed his gaze on the Records of the Grand Historian.

Ji Xing, courtesy name Abu, was a native of Wuyue. He learned the arts of Yin and Yang from a young age, and falsely claimed to be a returned overseas scholar to join WE, posing as a psychological counselor. However, he harbored treacherous intentions, secretly enticing Nuoyan and Juanmao, pretending to go on a relaxing trip together, but in reality, he was plotting to elope with EDG. When this was exposed, the WE players angrily denounced his treason, and 600,000 loyal followers raised their banners to punish him, causing a sensation in the Chinese esports scene.

However, there was a Duke of Zhou, who descended upon the world by divine mandate. He established national laws, set forth moral principles, wrote official histories, punished treacherous officials, severed ties of cause and effect, ushered in an era of peace, and beheaded Wei Zhongxian!

A femme fatale brought calamity to the world, causing the common people to weep blood; when rites and music were restored, war ceased.

Had the Duke of Zhou not averted this calamity, betrayal would have become commonplace, attacks and slanders would have spread like wildfire, and the 600,000 loyal followers would have been engaged in endless warfare! Now, observing the LPL's strict rules, the established powerhouses each holding their positions, and the rising stars vying for glory—this is all thanks to the Zhou dynasty's restoration of order!

— [Records of the Grand Historian: The Annals of Abu]

[Unlocked Abu Chronicles, LPL's Bright Generation Progress 30%. Gained Ability: Nine Thousand Years Old.]

[The Nine Thousand Years Old: Becomes the embodiment of power, and as the one in power, he is more respected by others; his ability to amass wealth increases significantly, and for every 10% increase in club expenses, the speed of wealth acquisition increases by 20%.]

Zhou Li was very satisfied with the ability he had gained, and then followed Zhu Kai toward the training room.

"Brothers, don't take today's farce to heart. The club has handled it properly."

Lu Benwei saw Zhou Li standing behind Zhu Kai, and with a grin, he jumped over, stood on tiptoe, and put his arm around Zhou Li's shoulder.

"Wow, bro! I knew you'd come back!"

Zhu Kai's voice continued.

"To allow everyone to focus more on training, our Daoli team's owner decided to personally visit and show his appreciation to everyone today."

Lu Benwei chuckled and whispered to Zhou Li, "Damn, so our club still has a boss? I thought he was long dead."

Tabe also joined in and said:

"Yeah, I think that boss is an idiot too, making such a big fuss."

Zhu Kai turned around and led the applause.

"Let's welcome Zhou Li, the owner of Daoli Esports Club!"

After Zhu Kai finished speaking, the entire club was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Especially the two generals, Lu Benwei and Tabe, standing on Zhou Li's left and right sides.

After a brief moment of mental blankness, Lu Benwei laughed awkwardly.

"Hehehehe! I knew it! Wow, my brother Lu Benwei, I knew you weren't someone to be trifled with! You're the boss, why didn't you say so sooner?!"

Who would have thought that the person who had played against them at the club for more than half a year was actually the club's owner?!
And he's the team's center!
This is simply trampling the last shred of dignity of the working class into the ground.

Hearing Lu Benwei's question, Zhou Li chuckled and pulled out a notebook.

"Lu Benwei! April 21, May 20, June 29! Violated club rules by sneaking out to meet his girlfriend. According to club regulations, he is fined three thousand!"

Lu Benwei's eyes widened, his face filled with disbelief.

Back then, in order to run off to meet his girlfriend UU, he even asked Zhou Li to cover for him!

Lu Benwei recalled Zhou Li's smiling expression when he nodded in agreement. At the time, he was thinking, "I'm going on a date, why are you so happy?"

Upon hearing that Lu Benwei was being tried, none of the EDG members felt any schadenfreude.

"UZI! The club explicitly required you to lose weight and abstain from snacks, but you secretly ate snacks under the covers in the early morning of May 12th, May 29th, June 13th, and June 23rd. You are fined two thousand!"

UZI's face turned bright red.

"Tabe! Talking badly about the club owner behind his back! Fine of one thousand!"

Tabe sat in the chair, utterly dejected.

He had complained to Zhou Li more than once that the club owner was a hands-off manager who didn't care about anything.

"lucky!"

Zhou Li looked at Lucky with a complicated expression.

"On April 2nd, April 23rd, May 12th, and June 11th, while everyone was asleep, you touched Lu Benwei, Shenchao, Tabe, and UZI's nipples respectively."

The EDG players were taken aback and glared angrily at Lucky.

Zhou Li sighed.

"The club won't fine you; you'll have to pay them some compensation for emotional distress yourself."

Lu Benwei finally couldn't hold back any longer.

"Wow, Mr. Zhou, I considered you a brother, how come you're an undercover agent?!"

Zhou Li closed the notebook in his hand and said:

"Ah Wei, don't take pictures of me secretly and send them to your girlfriend next time."
-
9 month 8 day.

Shanghai Fengyun Esports Arena.

"Viewers watching the live stream! You are now watching the 2013 League of Legends World Championship China Qualifier! The two teams facing off are EDG Esports Club and OMG Esports Club!!"

"Wow! What a pity! They were so close! Congratulations to OMG for becoming a seeded team in the S3 World Championship. They can directly enter the quarterfinals! EDG has also secured a ticket to the S3 World Championship, but they will have to start from the group stage! Congratulations to both teams!"

EDG Lounge.

Everyone slumped onto the sofa in the lounge, their eyes vacant.

Lu Benwei started yelling and groaning in pain.

"Wow! I'm doomed, I feel like I'm going to get yelled at to death by Brother Zhou."

The S3 qualifiers use a best-of-three (BO3) double-elimination format.

The four teams that have advanced to the qualifiers are EDG, OMG, PE, and IG.

According to the tournament schedule, all matches will be completed today.

Earlier today, EDG had completed six games.

The first round features EDG vs. PE and OMG vs. IG. The winners of these two matches will advance to the winners' bracket, while the losers will advance to the losers' bracket. The winner of the winners' bracket will directly qualify for the S3 World Championship, while the loser of the winners' bracket will compete against the winner of the losers' bracket for the other S3 ticket. Finally, the two S3 representative teams will compete for one regional seed.

After the match started, both EDG and OMG successfully defeated their opponents and entered the winners' bracket. Then, in the winners' bracket, OMG came back from a 1-0 deficit to defeat EDG 2-1 and win the first ticket to S3.

EDG then had to compete against IG in the loser's bracket for the second ticket. In this match, EDG also came back from a 1-0 deficit to defeat IG 2-1. Thus, the two representative teams for the S3 World Championship have been determined, namely EDG and OMG.

Next comes the competition for the regional seed teams.

It's important to know that in the S3 World Championship, seeded teams don't need to play in the group stage and can directly enter the quarterfinals, so both EDG and OMG will do their best in this match.

In fact, Zhou Li was not very satisfied with EDG's performance today.

With the addition of Mingkai and Curly, EDG seemed to have gained a boost in terms of strength on paper, but the results they showed were not satisfactory.

Mingkai and Curly, who are the "souls" of EDG, do not seem to have fully integrated into the team yet.

Compared to EDG's original roster, the current EDG team actually looks weaker in actual matches.

Of course, Zhou Li also knew that this was because the players had not practiced together enough.

After all, it has only been less than a month since Mingkai joined EDG.

The factory manager isn't the type of player who excels in individual mechanics and carries the game on his own. He relies more on teamwork and coordination with his teammates.

Therefore, Zhou Li deliberately did not choose to participate.

If EDG were to compete in the World Championship with its old roster, facing world-class teams, especially SKT led by Dafei, and with the current meta favoring assassins, Zhou Li would face immense pressure.

Therefore, the best approach is to take advantage of the current situation and help EDG quickly integrate their team.

There is actually an even more important reason why Mingkai and Curly didn't perform well.

That is, the pressure from the outside world is just too great.

Although Zhou Li had already punished Abu, Abu had taken a lot of bullets for them.

But this doesn't mean that the 60e will let Mingkai and Curly, these two traitors, off the hook.

The condemnation of Mingkai and Curly has never stopped.

Especially after EDG lost the game.

However, Zhou Li did not choose to interfere in these matters.

You need to be scolded a lot to develop a resilient mindset.

To put it bluntly, the reason why Mingkai, who was once a god in domestic competitions, underperformed in the World Championships is simply because he had more fans and higher attention, and was afraid of taking the blame.

The world is full of haters now.

Mingkai: Breathe.

Haters: Mingkai, go to hell.

Since death is inevitable anyway, it's better to die heroically and with dignity.

Mingkai has just been through the ordeal of his haters and is clearly still not quite used to it.

However, Zhou Li believed that Mingkai would accept it soon.

After all, veteran EDG players like Lu Benwei and Shenchao have developed a strong mentality.

I, Mingkai, don't have a congenital heart condition.

Therefore, Zhou Li did not come to the competition venue with the team at all this time.

Anyway, we've already got our tickets to the S3 World Championship.

Even if we can't directly advance to the quarterfinals, it doesn't matter. The World Championship is all about who wins the final championship.

Even SKT had to start from the group stage.

In fact, in Zhou Li's view, directly advancing to the quarterfinals may seem like a privilege, but it is actually disadvantageous for the team.

Because you missed the group stage, you lacked the time to adapt to the World Championship version and to understand the other teams.

Therefore, Zhou Li not only did not arrive at the scene, but he also did not make any tactical arrangements for EDG.

The main focus is to go with the flow.

However, since the team lost the game, the owner definitely had to make a statement.

When the EDG team returned to the club dejectedly, they saw Zhou Li standing at the door, smiling and welcoming them.

Lu Benwei shivered instantly.

"Damn it, guys, he's started showing that inhuman smile again."

Lu Benwei took a step back and hid behind Ming Kai.

Mingkai was stunned for a moment.

In the blink of an eye, he found himself standing at the very front of the line.

What are you all doing standing behind me?

"Damn it, you're new here, if you don't go and get yelled at, who will?"

"That's too much! You can't bully a newbie like that. Isn't this team bullying?"

"You mean the hook's curly hair? Then you stand in front of Mingkai."

"I'm just kidding."

Zhou Li saw that everyone was standing outside the iron gate and not coming in, so he waved his hand.

"Oh no! Brother Zhou is summoning a ghost!"

"Mingkai, get out of here! What the hell are you doing, being so sluggish!"

"I can't do it!"

Mingkai took two steps back instead of advancing, and said:

"Where's Zhu Kai? Let Zhu Kai go first."

"Damn it, Zhu Kai said he went to pick up takeout."

"Puppy! Puppy, come here!"

"Hey bro, this little dog hasn't been beaten up for days, have some decency, Lu Benwei."

Zhou Li was still waving to the crowd.

Come on in!

The dim streetlights flickered twice.
-
With OMG and EDG securing two spots in the S3 World Championship.

On the internet, the 60e generation is furious to the extreme.

EDG's actions were indeed too cruel to the 60e fans.

First, they lost to PE, which prevented WE from qualifying for the tournament.

Then, during this period, they took Mingkai and Juanmao from WE and "relyed on Mingkai and Juanmao" to enter the World Championship.

He's practically the biggest villain in the esports world.

Therefore, because of EDG's contrast, OMG directly became the hope of Chinese League of Legends.

Amidst various pessimistic predictions, the curtain officially rose on the 2013 League of Legends World Championship!

When the EDG team boarded the plane to Amelia.

This Boeing aircraft was bearing a weight it shouldn't have had to bear.

The massive fuselage of the aircraft was covered with countless curses of crashes from the 60e.

Fortunately, EDG and OMG were on the same plane.

Zhou Li successfully used the light of darkness to ward off the curse of the plane crash.

On the plane, Mingkai was staring blankly at the flight attendant's black stockings.

"Stop fucking looking, if you want to see me I'll let you..."

Zhou Li paused, then sighed.

He then realized that his Buffet was gone.

Zhou Li couldn't help but fall into his memories.

I don't know how long it's been since I last saw Buffet dance.

This love can only be cherished in memory, for at the time it was already a regret...

The group landed safely and had just stepped out of the airport when they saw a large protest marching against the American uncles.

The massive parade left Wu-tai with a sense of awe and admiration.

"Amelia is so free."

He had barely finished speaking when a Molotov cocktail was thrown at him.

It exploded with a bang.

Then, the crowd instantly became chaotic.

Immediately afterwards, gunshots rang out.

Wu Zhuangtai had never seen such a scene before, and he turned pale with fright.

Zhou Li asked with a smile, "Brother, are you still free?"

Because of the protest, the bus that came to pick them up was also stuck on the outskirts.

It wasn't until after 8 p.m. that the players from EDG and OMG finally boarded the bus to the hotel.

On the bus, gogoing finally couldn't contain himself and asked:
"Zhou Li, you'll be playing in the World Championship eventually, right?"

Upon hearing gogoing's words, Zhou Li thought for a moment, then a strange smile suddenly appeared on his face.

"If I meet you guys in the quarterfinals, I will definitely play."

As the "final battle" of the year, the League of Legends World Championship is the professional esports event that represents the highest honor in the hearts of all players and athletes.

Every year, numerous professional teams compete in the highest-level professional leagues in their respective regions. Only those with top-ranking results can qualify for the World Championship and challenge for the title under the watchful eyes of a global audience.

If the S1 World Championship was just Riot Games' first attempt at organizing an event...

The S2 World Championship has brought together the world's top teams, but it has not received enough attention.

So the S3 World Championship was a tournament that was both highly professional and incredibly popular!
At this time, the popularity of League of Legends had reached its peak worldwide.

Furthermore, Zhou Li knew that the individual strength of these world-class players was completely different from that of the S2 era!

During Season 2, R-flash and Q-flash were bizarre maneuvers that were unprecedented for both the players and the audience.

But by this point in time, players have already thoroughly figured out all the various control mechanisms in the game.

If you still consider professional players from this period as rookies, then Zhou Li is sure he'll be slapped in the face.

While some players may still execute somewhat abstract maneuvers, in reality, the skill level of top-tier players is not far behind that of current professional players.

For details, please refer to the Double Thieves battle that took place that year.

Therefore, in terms of the Zhou rites...

The 2013 World Championship Finals.

It's a truly challenging competition!

(End of this chapter)