LPL History

Chapter 168 The Era Resets, Cold Edges Hidden, Green and Yellow Separate the Old and New Generations

Lee Sang-hyeok, who joined EDG, experienced severe culture shock.

11 month 24 day.

The 2013 LPL Summer Playoffs have officially begun.

In the semi-final against PE, the two sides engaged in a fierce battle, and EDG ultimately won 3-2, successfully advancing to the finals.

Lee Sang-hyeok, who has not yet mastered Chinese, faces communication difficulties with his teammates, which is the main problem causing EDG's slow progress in team cohesion.

Fortunately, Lu Benwei is no longer on the team, and Zhou Li is no longer playing. The remaining members of EDG are all normal.

If Lu Benwei and Zhou Li were both there, then Lee Sang-hyeok would probably find it even harder to integrate into this abstract EDG team.

However, Zhou Li was not worried about these problems; it was only a matter of time.

The only thing that struck Zhou Li deeply was that, in his memory, the original Royal Family, although they made it into the playoffs, chose to forfeit their match against PE.

The reason is that after Royal Club returned from the World Championship, the team members, who thought they had achieved a decent result by winning the runner-up position, were instead subjected to a barrage of insults from netizens.

Lu Benwei and Tabe both opted for a lightning-fast retirement.

This directly led to the Royal Family having to withdraw from the competition due to a lack of personnel.

However, Lu Benwei has now been sent to OGN by Zhou Li to pay off his debts, while Tabe has become a coach at EDG.

It can be said that they all had a fairly satisfactory ending.

After getting used to working with PE, and with Zhou Li's constant encouragement, Lee Sang-hyeok finally integrated into the EDG team and began to show his absolute dominance in the mid lane.

In the finals, EDG faced OMG and easily won the championship with a score of 3 to 1.

Teacher Dafei finally showed his strength as the second best player in the league.

Because of his outstanding performance in the three games of the finals, he was praised by netizens as being invincible under Zhou Chu, which indirectly proves that the director is bigger than the section chief.

Meanwhile, the unlocking progress of S3 Historical Records is also gradually increasing, slowly reaching 100%...
-
"Damn, it stinks!"

Zhou Li shrugged.

He felt as if he were soaking in a jar of sauerkraut, with a lingering, sour smell constantly in his nostrils.

Where is that stench coming from?!

His Eun-jung couldn't possibly be smelly.

Zhou Li suddenly opened his eyes, stared blankly at the yellowish-brown ceiling above him for a moment.

The hard sensation on his back confirmed that he was no longer lying on a soft Simmons mattress.

"Ugh."

Zhou Li sighed.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, he should have arrived in 2014.

Zhou Li took out his phone and glanced at it.

2014, April 5.

It's already May?

Zhou Li was stunned for a moment, and was about to recall the major events in the LPL this year when the sour smell in his nose made him feel nauseous again.

He couldn't resist any longer and got up from the hard bed.

"Damn it, whose feet haven't been washed for days and smell so bad?!"

The dormitory was quiet.

Zhou Li looked around. It was a dormitory room for five people, with three beds empty and no one in it.

In the bed next to his, a emaciated young man was fast asleep.

Zhou Li frowned.

Is it this kid's smelly feet?

But the two of them were sleeping head to head just now, how could this guy's feet smell this bad?
He approached, puzzled.

The moment he peered close to the other person's head, the pungent, sour smell intensified several times over, making him feel nauseous.

"Snapped!"

Zhou Li slapped the other person directly on the head.

"You son of a bitch, how long has it been since you washed your hair? It's practically covered in maggots!"

Zhou Li's slap made the young man in the next bed convulse.

He writhed a few times on the bed like an earthworm in the soil, then turned his head in confusion.

"What are you doing?"

Zhou Li was stunned when he saw the other person's face.

Isn't this the old scoundrel Sima, who's against the CCP?

“Sima Dongdong,” Zhou Li said, covering his nose and staring at the other man, “haven’t you washed your hair in days?”

"It won't be long, just three... weeks." (*)
"You son of a bitch, it's summer! You haven't washed your hair in three weeks? Are you trying to raise silkworms on your head?" Zhou Li kicked Sima Laozei off the bed. "Go wash your hair, you idiot!"

Sima, the old scoundrel, was kicked off the bed by Zhou Li and looked at Zhou Li with a puzzled expression.

He muttered to himself as he walked:
"You're crazy. I didn't wash my hair for three months before and nothing happened."

As Sima the Old Thief entered the toilet, the sour stench in the air finally subsided a bit, allowing Zhou Li to calm down and begin to investigate the current situation.

Zhou Li, 18 years old, is a player for WE.A, the second team of WE eSports Club. He plays the jungle role and his game ID is Li.

In 2014, the League of Legends Secondary Pro League (LSPL) was officially established, becoming the only way to obtain a spot in the LPL.

Clubs began actively setting up various reserve and youth training teams.

In Zhou Li's memory, WE.A successfully advanced to the LPL by winning the LSPL Spring Split.

Even when facing WE later, WE.A, as the second team's junior member, turned the tables and defeated WE.

In the WE.A team, besides Sima Laozei, the top laner is Xueren and the support is Yuzhe.

Zhou Li was not familiar with these two people.

However, Zhou Li is very familiar with the players in the mid-lane position.

"Attention, Li Ziming, Class 6, Grade 3, your mom brought you two cans of Want Want milk... Wow, your mom loves you so much!"

That's right, WE.A's mid-laner is none other than Wangzai Xiye, who embodies the childhood memories of countless people born in the 90s.

After understanding the general situation, Zhou Li sank into his consciousness and looked at the Records of the Grand Historian.

At this moment, the third copy of the Records of the Grand Historian has appeared in his mind.

The historical records for S2 and S3 have been completed. At the end of S3, the phrase "immeasurable merit" still appears.

So he tried opening the S4 historical records.

On the title page, there was the same line of text as before.

[Zhou Li, from Linhai, is in charge of the field for WE.A. He is fond of feasting and leisure, lazy in training, and the most unmotivated player in the team. His teammates all look on with disdain, but with the championship race approaching, he cannot be easily replaced. Commander Xiaoshou is secretly observing new talents, and will replace him the day they are promoted to the LPL.]

Zhou Li looked at the contents of the Records of the Grand Historian and murmured:

"Zhou Li is from Linhai, Zhejiang. He's the jungler for WE.A, but he's known for being lazy and unmotivated in training, which has caused dissatisfaction among most of the team. However, with the LPL finals about to begin, it's inconvenient to replace him. But WE.A's team leader, Xiao Shou, is already looking for a new jungler, and has decided to replace him after promotion to the LPL?!"

He sighed, somewhat speechless.

Why is it that every time I transmigrate, I'm always the "lazy and gluttonous" character?

Can't he be a little more positive and optimistic?

But thinking about it, it makes sense; if I'm too positive, my public image will crumble.

Zhou Li continued reading.

[The tide turned in S3, but the crisis in S4 is even more dire. Though the Great Demon King stumbled in the Global Championship, Korea's Samsung Galaxy surged onto the world stage. Their white banners were hailed as the strongest in the world. However, looking at China, its veterans have retired one after another, generations have changed, and it is a time of transition. This year, the gap between China and South Korea is wider than ever before! Since then, the entire nation of China has adopted the attire of the nomads and practiced archery and horsemanship—unbridled to welcome the elite warriors from the East, and the era of South Korean aid has begun!]

"You've saved the S3 timeline, but now you'll face an even tougher challenge in S4. Although the Great Demon King stumbled this year and failed to qualify for the World Championship, the Samsung twins from Korea demonstrated the dominant strength of Korean teams at the World Championship. Samsung White was hailed as one of the strongest teams in the world. On the other hand, the LPL saw its first generation of players retire one after another, a generational shift, a year of transition. This year may have been the year with the biggest gap between China and Korea. After this year, the LPL truly entered the era of Korean imports."

Well, what's done is done, let's eat first.

Zhou Li got out of bed, put on his slippers, and walked towards the training room.

The second team's base was far worse off than the first team's.

Back in 2012, Zhou Li was already living in a double room at WE, but now in 2014, he still has to share a room with four other players in the second team.

They're really getting worse as they get older.

Fortunately, he glanced at the tens of millions in his bank account and felt somewhat secure.

When I arrived at the training room, I found it to be quite lively.

"Hey, all the brothers are here."

Zhou Li greeted everyone familiarly.

WE.A's team leader, Xiao Shou, turned around, gave Zhou Li a disdainful look, and said, "How dare you show up in the training room today? Did the sun rise in the west?"

“Look at you,” Zhou Li put his arm around the little beast’s shoulder, “What you’re saying, brother, I’ve decided to turn over a new leaf starting today.”

Xi Ye said with a hint of helplessness:

"You've said that eight hundred times already."

Zhou Li did not reply, but looked at the computer in front of Xi Ye.

"What are you looking at?"

“The All-Star Game,” Xiao Shou removed Zhou Li’s hand from his shoulder, “What have you been doing all day? You don’t even know this. How can you play professionally with this attitude?”

Faced with the little beast's accusations, Zhou Li smiled and did not refute them.

"My mine."

Seeing Zhou Li's generous and open manner, the little beast was completely bewildered.

When did this kid get a sex change?

Zhou Li watched the game for a while; the 2014 All-Star Game was being broadcast live on his computer.

Unlike last year's All-Star event, Riot Games seems to want to make this year's All-Star event a more professional competition. So this time, instead of having players vote for the most popular professional players in each region to form a team, as in 13, the current season's league champions will be selected to participate.

This year, the team representing the LPL at the All-Star Game is the dark force OMG.

Although LPL achieved a runner-up finish in S3, Royal Club was swept 3-0 by SKT in the finals. The match was almost devastating, with all five positions being completely dominated by their opponents.

This made LPL viewers clearly feel the gap between the two regions, and the feeling of "fear of Korea" began to spread in people's hearts.

At the S3 World Championship, the only non-Korean team among all League of Legends teams worldwide to have ever defeated SKT in a single game was OMG from the LPL.

This became the last straw for some fans in China.

It seems that as long as OMG hasn't been defeated by a Korean team in a best-of-five series, the LPL is still not defeated.

Irrational voices such as "Royal Family owes OMG a championship" are now rampant on various forums.

Having defeated SKT in a single game during the group stage, OMG carried the last hopes of all Summoners in the LPL.

Unfortunately, this opportunity to prove himself will come at the All-Star Game.

This All-Star event is a reform that Riot Games is trying to implement in order to increase the number of international tournaments.

This is the first time that the strongest teams from each region have participated, rather than having star players mixed together.

The format and timing of this competition were the prototypes for the later MSI Mid-Season Invitational.

Due to a lack of experience in hosting the event for the first time, the schedules of the various regions were not well coordinated, resulting in the LCS North America, LCS Europe, and LMS all sending their Spring Split champions.

In the LPL, the Spring Split hasn't even finished yet, so they directly chose to send OMG, who had the highest regular season points, to participate.

Because the Spring Split was not yet finished, OGN chose to participate with SKT, the Winter Split champion and the team with the highest points throughout the year.

This instantly set LPL viewers on the edge of their seats!
It's worth noting that OMG currently has the best regular season record in the LPL, and they even defeated SKT once in the S3 group stage.

In contrast, although SKT still has the highest points in OGN throughout the year, their performance in the Spring Split has declined significantly, placing them near the bottom of the OGN standings.

Although they barely made it into the playoffs, they were eliminated in the first round without any suspense.

From the LPL's perspective, OMG is currently enjoying perfect timing, favorable location, and popular support.

Revenge against SKT begins today!!

Zhou Li stood behind the crowd and watched the match for a while, but then he felt a bit bored. Based on his memory, he walked to his seat and sat down.

The little beast's voice came over.

"Zhou Li, you still have five hours of live streaming to do this week. You're the only one in the team who hasn't finished. Today is Friday. If you don't finish your task, don't blame me for deducting your salary."

Hearing the little beast's words, Zhou Li waved his hand.

"OK! No problem, I'll broadcast it now."

Zhou Li looked at the computer screen and opened Douyu Live Assistant.

Douyu TV, a live streaming platform established at the beginning of this year, has reached a deep cooperation with WE Esports Club and become the title sponsor of the WE team.

These youth training team members are required to stream on Douyu TV, and their player IDs will be labeled "DouYuTV".

As soon as the show "The Rites of Zhou" started airing, more than a dozen viewers entered the room.

Wow! Weekly is airing!

[Haha, I was just watching the All-Star game on Douyu when I saw Zhou Zhou appear.]

What will be broadcast today?

Why isn't Zhouzhou's camera on? Auntie misses you.

Zhou Li was stunned for a moment, not expecting that the original owner of this body actually had a die-hard fan of the live stream.

Take another closer look.

Goodness, they're all female fans.

Zhou Li's expression changed several times, as if he had recalled something unpleasant. He quickly took out his phone and started checking QQ.

After checking, I discovered that I actually had two QQ accounts.

The QQ account I used only had some classmates and friends added to it.

There's another QQ account, which is used to add wealthy women in the live stream rooms.

Zhou Li clicked on each profile picture one by one and found that the original owner's fishpond contained everyone from fifty-year-old aunties to thirteen- or fourteen-year-old innocent girls.

Some of the chat logs were even more unbearable to look at.

It's a fucking pure green chat.

Zhou Li couldn't help but admire the original owner of the body. It wasn't a skill to keep a rich woman by playing on the edge; to maintain a rich woman while being purely virtuous was the mark of a true master.

However, this behavior clearly violated the bottom line of Zhou etiquette.

He quickly deleted all his female friends under the age of eighteen from his QQ contacts.

As for my fifty-year-old aunt...

Auntie has it tough too.

Zhou Li put down his phone and looked at his live stream, only to find that the title of the live stream was also somewhat outrageous.

[WE's academy player Zhou Li, a heartbroken jungler abandoned by the world, finds solace.]

Look at this, how could your aunt not notice you if you use a title like this?
Zhou Li immediately changed the name of the live stream.

[Zhou Li, a trainee player for WE, is the world's number one innocent-hearted jungler, an 18-year-old sports student in white socks.]

His die-hard fans quickly noticed the change in the live stream title.

Did Zhouzhou wear white socks today?

[Zhouzhou, can I buy your white socks?]

[Zhouzhou, show your auntie your lungs. Auntie will check them.]

Zhou Li immediately muted the aunties, but soon, a group of people inexplicably flooded into the live stream.

Uncle is here.

[Where is the host from? Chengdu?]

Zhou Li silently deleted the keyword "white socks".

However, thanks to the title of WE Youth Training, Zhou Li's live stream quickly gained popularity.

After all, although WE is now in decline, the energy of the 60e fans has not yet dissipated.

Furthermore, the live streaming industry has not yet fully taken off, and Douyu itself does not have many streamers. Streamers like Zhou Li, who have the backing of a club, will naturally receive more traffic from Douyu.

Zhou Li opened League of Legends and found that there was a 3GB update.

After thinking for a moment, he switched to watching the All-Star game in the background of League of Legends.

Anyway, it's all about accumulating streaming hours; watching others play matches is much easier than playing ranked games yourself.

Today's match is between OMG and C9 from the LCS North American region.

The All-Star event has entered the knockout stage.

Earlier, SKT defeated FNC, the LCS European team, and successfully advanced to the finals.

Now, the BO3 match between OMG and C9 has entered the second game.

OMG is currently leading 1-0. If they can win this game, OMG will advance to the finals and face SKT!

Furthermore, the second game has already entered the 35-minute mark, and OMG is in a very favorable position, making it almost certain to win the game.

"We got it."

Watching OMG wipe out C9 on their high ground, Zhou Li said while cracking sunflower seeds.

"Congratulations to OMG! They will face SKT in the finals tomorrow!"

In the live stream, the commentator's excited voice cracked, and the chat was flooded with "6666".

It seems that the regrets caused by Royal Club in Season 3 are about to be perfectly made up for.

In Zhou Li's live stream, the comments were mostly congratulating OMG, believing that OMG would definitely crush SKT and prove the LPL region's worth.

[OMG is in really good form, this championship is practically theirs!]

[What do the commentators think of the final?]

When he saw comments asking him questions, Zhou Li didn't want to be cynical, but as everyone knows, he's an honest man and can't bring himself to spout nonsense.

In his memory, the two teams met in the All-Star finals, and OMG was thrashed 3-0 by SKT!
"The main contractor thinks... it's a 50/50 chance."

Zhou Li felt that he had exaggerated a lot, but he was still quickly bombarded by the barrage of comments.

[50/50? Are you kidding me?]

Does the commentator watch the games?

[Dude, is this the level of WE's youth academy? OMG was first in the Spring Split standings, while SKT is completely out of form right now. SKT was at the bottom of the standings in the OGN Spring Split, and even in the playoffs, they were eliminated in the first round. Putting that aside, just look at their performance in the All-Star tournament. OMG completely dominated, while SKT struggled in every game. The difference in skill is obvious, okay?]

This streamer is a complete idiot, just trying to get attention.

[What the hell is this 50/50 chance? To be honest, OMG would definitely beat SKT, but it's not the peak SKT. I even think their victory would be a bit unfair.]

Seeing the incredible barrage of comments, Zhou Li tried to explain.

"The team's style largely determines the content of the game. OMG has an aggressive, all-out fighting style, while SKT has a steady and methodical style, which is why there is a big difference in the viewing experience."

The interpretation of Zhou Li is undoubtedly more like adding fuel to the fire.

[A CS streamer is abandoning his family for traffic.]

This is why you can only stream from here, while OMG is in Paris.

[It's one thing to discourage OMG from bringing glory to the country, but to make sarcastic remarks here is quite another. If you're so capable, why don't you go to the World Championship? You think you're so great, playing in a second-tier league? You're trash who can't even make it into the LPL.]

Zhou Li ignored the comments.

After all, he knew that OMG's fans, the 59e and 60e, were just as crazy.

What Zhou Li didn't expect was that when he opened the live stream again the next day to make up for the lost time, the number of viewers had increased by more than ten times compared to the day before!
And this popularity is skyrocketing at a visible rate!

(End of this chapter)