Believe me, I really am a professional League of Legends player.

Chapter 162 A Cruel Taste of Spring and Autumn!
Li Fan stepped off the stage but did not immediately leave the player area. Instead, he found a seat and began watching the big screen to observe the other opponents' gameplay.

The double-elimination format gives players more room for error, which is true, but it also means a longer competition and a more severe psychological test.

Some people, after losing, think they only have one life left, which makes their gameplay prone to errors and mistakes.

Therefore, having a good mindset is also very important if you want to play well.

After a brief adjustment, Jeva returned to the preparation area, staring nervously at the upcoming match schedule. He needed to wait for his opponent in the loser's bracket to see if there was any chance of advancing.

If you encounter a top international player, the chances are extremely slim.

Li Fan, who also needed to wait for his opponent in the next round of the winners' bracket, did not relax because of a victory. Instead, he focused more intently on observing the other matches that were in progress.

After all, the intensity of this fighting tournament has really increased, with top fighters from all over the world coming.

At this moment, another key match is taking place on the main stage: Ken vs. Nemo.

As a prominent figure in the domestic fighting scene, Xiaohai carries the expectations of many domestic fans.

His Ken playstyle is fierce and extremely aggressive, and he tried to suppress Nemo's Julian from the start with a fierce offensive.

However, Nemo, as one of Japan's top Julian users, is known for his precise distance control and troublesome V-trigger skill, Zeus's Shield...

Instead of directly confronting the child, he used Julian's long arms and legs to restrain him. Once the V-Gap was full, he activated Zeus's Shield, accurately deflecting the child's Hadouken and other projectiles, greatly limiting Ken's offensive rhythm.

In the first round, the kid was eager to break through the control during his fierce attack. His EX Rising Dragon Punch accidentally hit the judgment box of Zeus's Shield and was directly hit by the skill. His health dropped to zero instantly and he was easily taken down by Nemo.

In the second round, Kid clearly adjusted his strategy, reducing his aggressive dashes and using more mid-range normal attacks to probe, while deliberately depleting Nemo's V gauge.

He seized the opportunity when Nemo's Zeus Shield ended its cooldown period and immediately followed up with V to trigger a combo that dealt high damage. A gorgeous combo took down Julian and won back a point.

In the deciding game, both sides showed complete focus.

The blood volume was decreasing alternately, and the situation was extremely tense.

But at the most crucial moment, Nemo activated Zeus's Aegis again to control the situation, and Ken the child seemed to hesitate under the pressure.

Nemo accurately anticipated Ken's charge throw and intercepted it with a powerful punch, followed by a combo of finishing moves that depleted Ken's health!
"KO! Nemo has won this tough battle and advances to the next round of the winners' bracket with a score of 2-1! Let's give a round of applause to both fighters!"

Nemo excitedly pumped his fist, a victorious smile spreading across his face, clearly very satisfied with defeating this legendary figure in Chinese combat sports.

The child, looking at the failed image on the screen, simply took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.

He took off his headphones, but his face didn't show much annoyance or frustration; his eyes remained firm.

A loss is a loss. The opponent definitely played better, especially in controlling the game and counter-attacking in key rounds.

There's no point in being upset. What you need to do next is adjust your mindset and prepare for the loser's bracket matches.

He calmly rose, shook hands with Nemo, and then silently walked towards the loser's bracket area, awaiting his next opponent.

Li Fan saw all of this and his opinion of the child improved even more. No wonder the child would later become a top legend in the fighting world.

"Nemo's Julian... his timing with Zeus's Aegis is truly impressive." Li Fan silently noted in his mind, "If I encounter him later, I must avoid his V-trigger duration and not easily use flying items or recklessly rush in, leaving myself vulnerable."

At the same time, he also noticed the boy Ken's struggle when his attack was thwarted.

That's how fighting games are; once the rhythm is controlled by the opponent, it's easy to fall into a passive position.

So the most important thing is... to beat him to a pulp. When making a decision, you must not hesitate; you must be decisive when necessary.

Hesitation can easily give your opponent an opportunity.

As the first round of matches in the winners' bracket came to an end, the match schedule for the second round of the winners' bracket was quickly updated on the big screen.

When Li Fan saw his next opponent, he was stunned at first, then he couldn't help but smile. He never expected to be able to face him!

This is really... interesting.

The big screen clearly displayed: Winners' Bracket Round 2, Unreal vs. DingChunQiu
At that moment, Ding Chunqiu looked at the same match information and his eyes instantly flashed with wild joy.

"It's here! It's finally here!" He almost roared, forcibly suppressing his excitement. "Even the heavens are on my side! Unreal, your good luck has run out right here in the winners' bracket. I'm going to take you down with my own hands!"

It's as if I can already see myself defeating Li Fan, enjoying the spotlight, and reaping the rewards of online traffic.

He even started fantasizing about meeting Li Fan again in the quarterfinals or even later in the knockout stage, eliminating him once more, and stepping over his corpse to rise to the top!

"I hope you're tough enough not to break at the slightest touch, that would be too boring."

After a short break and preparation time, the second round of the winners' bracket officially began.

Li Fan and Ding Chunqiu stood up at the same time and walked to their respective battle seats.

The audience's attention was naturally focused on Li Fan, and the match schedule made them even more interested.

One is a current top-tier League of Legends superstar, and the other is a former League of Legends player who transitioned to fighting games...

This can be considered an internal conflict within League of Legends, right?
[Former professional player targeting current superstar?]

[Don't even mention "former professional player," it's laughable. He couldn't even get a substitute role, becoming a coach was a favor from others, and he's always posting about being a former League of Legends professional player on Weibo.]

What is Ding Chunqiu? Would a normal person even choose that ID?

[He doesn't seem like a good person. Last time we matched up, he lost the game but still harassed Fan Ge for so long, acting like a petty person.]

[Alright, alright, just watch Brother Fan beat up the villain from now on.]

Li Fan and Ding Chunqiu sat down in front of the competition camera.

The director skillfully focused the camera on the two of them. Li Fan's expression was calm, just like when he was playing a match, with no additional changes.

Ding Chunqiu, on the other hand, had sharp eyes and a cold smile on his lips.

"Alright, viewers, the next match is the second round of the winners' bracket, featuring Unreal against Ding Chunqiu!"

"This is a very interesting match. Both players have fought or are currently fighting in the League of Legends arena, and now they are going head-to-head in the fighting game arena! Let's look forward to their performance!"

Game loading screen, character selection screen.

Li Fan chose Chun-Li, the character he used for the first time playing Street Fighter.

Ding Chunqiu chose Akuma, who is extremely aggressive and has a variety of rushing and suppressing methods!
"Ding Chunqiu chose Akuma, a very aggressive character. It seems he intends to put immense pressure on Unreal from the very beginning!"

"Oh? The Unreal player didn't choose Ryu, which he usually plays, but instead picked Chun-Li!"

"This is a female character who requires a lot of skill and positioning, known for her agile legwork and charged moves. She has a high skill ceiling, but she is also quite difficult to play!"

Everyone was very surprised... It's not that Chun-Li is bad, but rather that she's a character with a very high skill ceiling, which means she's very difficult to play.

Chun-Li!

This champion is quite difficult to play; it requires charging up, unlike Ryu who is simpler and more straightforward.

It's been a long time since I've seen Fan Ge use Chun-Li.

Ding Chunqiu's face turned green; he felt looked down upon. Why wasn't the main force used against him?

Ding Chunqiu saw Li Fan choose Chunli...

"Using Chun-Li? Trying to show off your skills?"

The first game has officially begun!
Ding Chunqiu's Akuma immediately displayed strong aggression, constantly harassing him with Gouhachi and looking for opportunities to use Ashura Senku to close the distance.

However, Li Fan's Chun-Li demonstrated an amazing ability to return to the starting position.

Instead of retreating blindly, Chun-Li used her excellent basic techniques, such as the standing kick and crouching punch, to precisely control the distance.

Whenever Akuma attempts to use Ashura Flash to charge forward, Chun-Li always manages to deflect Ding Chunqiu's attack with a perfectly timed Hundred-Crack Kick or a backstep, and then counterattack with a Ki Blast.

"Beautiful positioning! Unreal's Chun-Li has such excellent distance control that Ding Chunqiu's Akuma is having a hard time finding an effective attack opportunity!"

Ding Chunqiu's several attacks failed, and he lost a lot of health due to Chunli's counterattacks, which made him a little impatient.

He saw an opportunity and Akuma used EX Ashura Flash to force his way in, wanting to unleash a combo to suppress him.

But Li Fan reacted even faster!

The moment Akuma landed, Chun-Li intercepted and pinned him with a precise EX Hundred-Rip Kick!
"EX Hundred-Kick Aerial Interception! Perfect! Unreal's judgment is too accurate!"

After stopping Akuma, Chun-Li immediately followed up with continuous pressure, finally finishing with a gorgeous CA Phoenix Wing Fan, taking away Akuma's remaining health!
K.O!

"Unreal easily won the first game! His Chun-Li brought us a huge surprise. His positioning, anti-air, and combos were all executed flawlessly, completely suppressing Ding Chunqiu's Akuma!" the commentator exclaimed.

Ding Chunqiu stared at the screen, his face ashen.

He never expected that his carefully prepared Akuma would be so powerless in front of Li Fan's Chun-Li.

The atmosphere at the scene was instantly ignited after Li Fan easily won the first game.

The stands erupted in enthusiastic cheers and shouts, a stark contrast to the tense and subdued atmosphere of the previous match against Deva.

Ding Chunqiu's performance doesn't seem to be as good as Jewa's.

Li Fan's team fought very easily, and their health never dropped below half.

"Unreal! Unreal!" "Chun-Li is so cool!"

"Just keep fighting! Crush him!"

Cheers were mixed with excited shouts from fans.

"They're not even in the same league!"

"Ding Chunqiu was beaten so badly that he couldn't even get close to his Hao Gui."

"This Chun-Li is too strong, she feels even scarier than his Ryu."

Those who came to watch the game were not only Li Fan's fans, but also many people who love and understand the game.

If you don't understand this, then all you can do is watch the fists and feet collide and one side's health bar drop rapidly, without ever knowing what moves he used...

If you don't know what kind of game the two sides went through, then watching the game becomes much less interesting.

But it was different for those who came to support Li Fan; the atmosphere became much more relaxed after he won.

Two more rounds and we'll advance to the quarterfinals!

soon!
However, the scene in the live broadcast room was quite different.

The live chat was flooded with numerous comments expressing doubt:

[??? They won already?]

This is ridiculous! Is Ding Chunqiu trying to be funny? He's incredibly incompetent.

[Another civil war? Is Unreal Engine just incredibly lucky, getting carried through civil wars all the way through?]

[Hilarious! So far, we haven't faced a single top foreign player; it's all our own people. The organizers have done a brilliant job with this schedule.]

[They've secured a spot in the top eight, now we just have to wait and see when they encounter truly formidable opponents and their true abilities are revealed.]

[So that's why Ding Chunqiu's Weibo is always buzzing around; turns out he's just waiting to play along!]

Amid these discussions, the second game began.

The second game begins.

Li Fan's Chun-Li changed from the steady style of the previous game and started to take the initiative to attack, like a tiger released from its cage, launching one offensive wave after another.

"Oh? Unreal is playing very aggressively this round! Chun-Li is pushing forward directly!" the commentator exclaimed.

The audience couldn't help but start discussing it. Could it be that they'd seen through Ding Chunqiu's terrible skills? They weren't going to waste any more time and wanted to take him down in one go.

Of course, Ding Chunqiu did not expect Li Fan's sudden change in rhythm, and he unleashed a powerful punch to restrain him.

Li Fan quickly moved the directional pad to execute the diagonal upward command while simultaneously pressing the middle foot key.

Chun-Li instantly used her V Skill: Phoenix Kick, leaping diagonally across the wave trajectory and closing the distance.

"Luan's foot leaped over! Chun-Li is right next to him!"

Upon closing in, Chun-Li immediately launched a press, and Li Fan lightly tapped the light kick button on the controller with his thumb, quickly following up with a standing punch after the hit.

This seemingly conventional combo suddenly bursts into a white light during a counterattack!

"We've broken through Ding Chunqiu's move!"

Li Fan's actions didn't pause at all. His thumb remained pressed down on the D-pad, his index finger simultaneously pressed the middle punch button, and then smoothly pressed the middle kick button...

This operation appears particularly unique and exaggerated when using a controller.

"That timing was so precise! The Unreal Engine controller feels amazing! Is he about to activate VT?"

Before he finished speaking, Li Fan pressed the heavy punch and heavy kick buttons on both sides of the controller at the same time. The V Trigger charging state was activated instantly, and Chun-Li was surrounded by a golden aura. Her normal moves unlocked multiple hits, and the stun value was immediately maximized.

"VT is on!" The commentator's speech quickened, and he immediately jumped into the game, "Akoma's stun gauge is going crazy!"

Ding Chunqiu's forehead was covered in cold sweat, and his fingers were busy working on the handle.

He tried to time his movements and press the light punch/light kick button to counter the throw, but each time Chun-Li's multi-hit punches and kicks interrupted him prematurely.

Alternatively, he could jump to escape by pressing the directional pad, but Li Fan would intercept him with a low-altitude, Hundred-Crack Kick.

Li Fan quickly pressed the forward, down, forward command on the D-pad while simultaneously holding down the middle kick button. Chun-Li's leg shadow immediately blocked Akuma's retreat. After landing, he lightly tapped the light punch button, dragging Akuma back into the suppression chain.

Ding Chunqiu was somewhat desperate at this moment, feeling that every move he made was predicted, and every button he pressed on the controller felt like hitting cotton. The stun gauge above Akuma's head was rapidly approaching the critical value.

"Danger! Akuma's about to be knocked unconscious! This suppression gives him no chance to breathe. Is there any way he can get out?"

But the image on the screen told him that there was no way out.

"Buzz!"

A heavy sound effect rang out, and Akuma's eyes turned into vortexes as he became dizzy and stiff!

"He's knocked out! How is Unreal going to wrap this up?!" the commentator roared, and the audience clenched their fists. At this point, knocking him out was practically a foregone conclusion.

CA's ultimate skill - Phoenix Wing Fan!

"Drink——!"

A dazzling energy wave erupted like a phoenix spreading its wings, completely engulfing the dizzy Akuma.

His health was instantly reduced to zero by the skill's impact, leaving him no chance to retaliate.

K.O!

Perfect!

A huge victory sign and a Perfect rating light up the screen simultaneously.

"That's outrageous! That's beautiful!" the commentator exclaimed excitedly. "From the initial Luan Kick to the VT suppression, and then to the final CA cleanup, the Unreal D-pad commands and button timing were perfectly executed. This game was a textbook example of dominance!"

Ding Chunqiu stared intently at the screen, his face contorted in pain.

After repeatedly reviewing his actions, he realized that Li Fan's impeccable controller skills had broken through both the Hadouken's restraint and the timing of his counterattacks.

This is what he simply can't accept. How could there be such a huge gap? It shouldn't be like this. The real story should be that he suppresses Li Fan and sends him to the loser's bracket, but now, it's him who has fallen into the loser's bracket!

Ding Chunqiu slumped in the battle seat, as if all his strength had been drained.

He lost.

It wasn't a narrow defeat, nor was it bad luck; it was a complete and utter crushing defeat with no chance of fighting back.

Especially in the last round, from the moment that damned "Luan Kick" crossed the wave, he completely fell into his opponent's rhythm, like a flying insect caught in a spider web, all his struggles only hastened his death.

"How could... how could the gap be so big..." His mind was in chaos, and the scene he had imagined before the competition, stepping over Li Fan to rise to the top, was still vivid in his mind.

Just then, the audience erupted in thunderous cheers and screams for Li Fan, all of which reached his ears.

"Unreal! Unreal!"

"Incredible! Perfect!"

"Brother Fan is awesome!"

That enthusiastic atmosphere, that unreserved worship, should have belonged to Ding Chunqiu!
But now, he can only sit here like a background figure, like a joke.

Harsh!
His face was even contorted, and he clenched his fists tightly.

Why should someone who trained so hard and wanted to prove himself lose so badly?

Why is it that Li Fan, who's just dabbling in this, has such talent and attention?!
This is not fair!

Li Fan had already walked over, and as is customary, they exchanged fist bumps after the match.

Ding Chunqiu raised his eyes and met Li Fan's gaze.

His gaze was as calm as a deep pool, devoid of the triumph of a victor or any mockery; to be precise, it showed no emotional fluctuation whatsoever.

It was as if defeating Ding Chunqiu was a matter of course.

This disregard made Ding Chunqiu feel more suffocated and humiliated than direct mockery.

He barely managed to raise his hand and bump fists with Li Fan, almost gritting his teeth.

His movements were very stiff, and he would separate immediately upon touching someone, as if staying for even a second longer would cause him to break down.

Li Fan didn't pay any attention to Ding Chunqiu's performance; there was no need to give too much attention to a loser.

And what if saying one more word makes someone petty and holds a grudge?
However, the way Ding Chunqiu was being looked at wasn't much better.

Then he faced the audience and raised his hand to greet his fans.

This action elicited even more frenzied screams...

(End of this chapter)