I'm a platinum-level author, so what if I play professionally?

Chapter 104 White, Iboy makes his debut! (5K)

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Wang Ke and Song Wen stood on either side of the door to the lounge, leaning against the wall.

Behind him were the sounds of the Snake Team members praising and joking with each other.

"Phew~"

Song Wen picked up the chocolate bar with his index and middle fingers and let out a deep, solemn sigh.

"I've exceeded the tasks assigned to me by the organization. When are you returning to the team?"

Wang Ke lowered his head, a complex array of emotions flashing across his eyes in an instant.

"Damn it, you've done such a good job, what do you want me to do back there?"

Song Wen turned to look at the man beside him and laughed.

"Does my excellence make you feel inferior and jealous?"

Wang Ke didn't look at Song Wen; he just looked down at his shoes.

"I am gratified that my son resembles his father and has even surpassed him."

"You son of a bitch!" Song Wen instantly lost his composure, swallowing the chocolate bar in a few bites. "You didn't expect me to descend from heaven and win this game, did you?"

Wang Ke nodded, then shook his head.

To be honest, he doesn't quite understand it now.

Wang Ke has always felt that Song Wen, as the protagonist of his novel, is another self he portrays in his writing, and that they should be in sync.

However, the two disagreed on this matter today.

This made Wang Ke realize that Song Wen had long since transcended his pen and was a real person with flesh and blood.

He couldn't quite understand Song Wen anymore.

What Wang Ke didn't know was that even so, they were still the same.

Human nature is the most complex and unpredictable thing in the world, and who can truly introspect and see through their own heart?

Wang Ke is rational, while Song Wen is emotional.

"To be honest," Wang Ke sighed, "you had a good time this time, but I'm in a very awkward situation right now."

"What's wrong?"

"Think about it, if I go on stage now, those netizens will definitely mock me: Haha, Bai Chu was too scared to go on stage when he saw EDG, but now that he sees Snake is about to win, he's come up again. Bai Chu is such a treacherous and cunning villain."

"

Song Wen looked Wang Ke up and down curiously, then said disdainfully, "What you said makes perfect sense. You've got quite the official airs, aren't you? You're not even letting netizens speak the truth?"

Seeing Wang Ke blush and turn into a tsunami, Song Wen chuckled and continued, "I remember the persona you gave me was someone who never cared about what others thought. Why are you so timid and hesitant now?"

Wang Ke's expression was complicated.

"Although I always joke that you are the son I created, you are actually more like the self I dreamed of being. I've said before that novels are products that express people's beautiful dreams, because we write them because we can't do them ourselves. Because I can't do many things myself, I created the omnipotent you."

Song Wen took out another chocolate bar and put it in his mouth.

These novelists are like that; they always have a lot of ideas in their heads.

Otherwise, there wouldn't be that certain midnight ghost story circulating about the Snake Team now—

Legend has it that in the Snake Team's dormitory, lights must be turned off after midnight every night, and no sound can be made. Otherwise, every night, a lucky person's door will be knocked on, and someone outside will softly coax them to open the door. If you open the door, you will see Wang Ke standing there. He will pull you aside and talk about life, rambling on and on.

Song Wen was also harassed by Wang Ke quite a bit.

Wang Ke talked to him about the Big Bang, biological evolution, the origin of species, the brain in a vat, the dark forest, the ideal state and personal ideals, Lao Tzu and Zhuangzi, the inherent evil of human nature, his bizarre and unrestrained dreams, his sensitive and fragile inner world, his unknown journey, and those cracks and imperfections.

But Song Wen knew that what Wang Ke said was simply because he had zero words today.

Song Wen patted Wang Ke on the shoulder and said, "Actually, you should understand that it's like when you type the first character in a Word document, get your first contract from the editor, and when your work is first presented to the public, you start complaining about the poor data and breaking down because of the negative reviews. So you choose to abandon the story, to abandon it. In your opinion, you can just start over with the novel. But you never thought that the protagonists you created would completely lose their color because of the last chapter you wrote."

"You have no reason to envy those 'omnipotent' protagonists. They are essentially just puppets created by you, without the right to choose for themselves, just like when you fucking killed me with a dump truck. The omnipotent ones have never been us, but you."

Sensing Song Wen's anger, Wang Ke awkwardly took two steps back.

"Brother, why bring up those things again? It's all in the past."

"I crave victory, but what brings me joy is not defeating my opponents, but the affirmation of my self-worth. What you call constraints never come from the outside world, but from yourself. Life and competition are not much different; we have already entered the knockout stage, so just keep pushing forward."

Wang Ke took a chocolate bar from Song Wen's pocket and put it in his mouth as well.

"Brother, there's actually a question I've been having for a while that I can't seem to answer."

"What question?"

"What if—what if, you mean, if the two of us were just protagonists in some novel?"

"So what if that's the case?"

"If that's the case, then just like you said, we're nothing more than puppets."

"Click!"

Song Wen bit the chocolate bar in his mouth into two pieces and laughed.

"When you and I stood here discussing this issue, he had already lost control of us."

"Viewers watching the live stream! You are now watching the 2017 League of Legends Pro League Spring Playoffs! The two teams facing off are EDG Esports Club and Snake Esports Club! I'm your commentator, Miller!"

"I'm the commentator doll!"

In the commentary booth, Miller immediately looked towards the Snakes' players' seats.

"In the first game between the two teams, Snake secured the victory thanks to Black's outstanding performance. According to the tournament rules, EDG holds a one-point lead, so the score is currently tied 1-1! Whoever wins this next game first will reach match point! This will be a huge advantage in terms of morale and tactics!"

The doll nodded and said, "Yes! And we can see that both teams made a substitution in the second game! And coincidentally, both sides made a substitution for their ADC position! EDG..."

Over here, they've replaced player zet with the rookie youngster iboy at this crucial moment!

"As for Snake, our familiar coach White has returned to the support position, with Crystal taking on the ADC role!"

Miller analyzed, "I can understand Snake's substitution. 0's performance in the last game was indeed a bit outrageous. He was instantly killed in that Baron pit fight. If Black hadn't stepped up at the crucial moment, Snake would have been the one to lose that team fight, not EDG. However, EDG's substitution surprised me a bit."

Iboy hasn't played in any official matches before, but from what I know, this young man is indeed very strong. However, my concern is that putting a newcomer on the field at this time will be a huge mental challenge.

Miller's worries were actually somewhat unnecessary.

Because iboy is clearly not the kind of player who gets stage fright; he's even a bit of a hothead.

As for why EDG substituted Zet in the second game, it was because during the halftime break, Meiko cried to Nofe and Abu, saying that the pressure of playing with Zet was just too great.

Actually, Zet didn't put any pressure on MILF verbally.

After all, it's already a lot of pressure for a Korean to be laning against a useless player like Meiko, so his brain simply doesn't have the extra capacity to speak Chinese.

But that's where the problem lies.

Zet has his own ideas but can't communicate with Meiko, which makes Meiko always unable to keep up with Zet's pace.

While Meiko speaks some Korean, that's the Deft limited edition; Zet is clearly not up to par.

Furthermore, Mei Kou was directly eliminated in the game and should bear a lot of the blame, so Mei Kou chose to take the initiative.

"Communicating with Zet is so tiring. I was really panicking while playing, and towards the end I really didn't know what I was thinking anymore, sob sob————"

Although nofe felt that zet played well in the last game, the team only had Meiko as support, and iboy had performed very well in the previous scrims as ADC. In addition, Abu's words led to zet being eliminated.

Meiko naturally hopes that iboy will play.

After all, this kid is a newcomer, and I can command him at will.

Snakes' bench.

Wang Ke deliberately said, "Hey, I shouldn't have played. If iboy plays, the bot lane will be under a lot of pressure."

Upon hearing Wang Ke's words, Song Wen looked disgusted.

"How come you can never stay passionate for more than three seconds?"

Wang Ke laughed heartily.

"Do you think you can see right through me?"

"Don't be afraid, Brother Wang! I'll carry this round!"

Crystal immediately spoke up. After the last game, Snake Team's morale was greatly boosted, and Crystal was full of confidence.

"Ignore him," Song Wen said. "He's just pretending to be innocent."

"Was I pretending? No, I'm just a pitiful, innocent white lotus flower. Hello everyone, I'm Mei Kou~"

"Hahaha, damn it!"

The group burst into laughter, completely lacking any sense of seriousness about the impending battle.

Only Zhu Kai, standing behind the crowd in a suit, had a stern expression.

Song Wen turned his head and happened to see Zhu Kai opening and closing his mouth.

"Xiao Zhu, did you leave your vocal cords at home?"

Saint Gun Bro also chimed in, "It's a tragedy for the Chinese entertainment industry that Zhu Kai isn't going to be an actor."

Zhu Kaiquan pretended not to hear and even reached out to adjust the position of the microphone, appearing to be communicating with the contestants very seriously.

"Alright, alright," Wang Ke interrupted the teasing, "The business pairing (BP) process has begun!"

In the live stream, seeing the two sides switch players, the chat started buzzing with discussion.

[Bai Chu is too cunning; he only plays after winning.]

[Like a rat in the gutter, haha.]

[My heart aches for Hei Chu.]

Why did EDG bring iboy on? Last game it was clearly Meiko's fault for being so bad.

[Idiot, what did Meiko do wrong?]

What else can a support character like Meiko do?

[Keep it up, factory manager!]

Since EDG lost the previous game, they had the right to choose sides and chose the blue side.

However, right from the start, a fierce argument broke out in EDG's voice chat.

Nofe wanted to eliminate Song Wen's outstanding performance with Lucian in the previous game, but the junior student said that they were on the blue side and could first pick Lucian, as his Lucian skills were no worse than Black's.

Actually, even after Scout's ugly performance in the previous game, Nofe still trusted him quite a bit.

However, if the blue team picks Lucian first, it's like handing over the advantage of being able to pick him first.

"Trust me, I, Lucian, can do it! Give me Lucian, I'll crush them!"

Seeing that the junior was already a bit carried away, nofe had no choice but to agree, so he knocked down Galio on the first floor.

On the other hand, Snake team opted to remove Janna.

EDG banned Rengar, while Snake banned Malzahar.

EDG's final move was to ban Kha'Zix.

Seeing EDG's ban, Wang Ke chose to ban Kog'Maw.

He deliberately avoided attacking Kalista.

Because in the previous game, Wang Ke actually deliberately let Kalista out.

However, EDG opted to pick Kog'Maw instead of Kalista.

It's worth noting that Kalista is a Tier 0 AD carry in the Ardent Censer meta, and in the previous regular season stages, Zet...

Kalista is used very frequently, and is considered one of Zet's signature heroes.

In this situation, EDG's decision not to pick Kalista can only prove one thing—

In Wang Ke's opinion, the reason EDG didn't pick Kalista is probably because nofe clearly hasn't realized how overpowered this champion is in the Ardent Censer system.

As Song Wen said, Wang Ke had previously treated the other party a little too much like a human being.

He has always believed that professional esports teams should be at the forefront in terms of both management and tactics.

But in reality, the world is just a giant makeshift operation.

Were the Incense Burner first discovered by professional teams? Actually, no. It was because the player "Walking A" was using the Incense Burner as a support and dominating in the Korean server that it caught the attention of professional teams.

Only then can a complete system be continuously improved upon based on this foundation.

Going from one to one hundred is not difficult; the most difficult part is often going from zero to one.

As Wang Ke predicted, EDG locked in Lucian on the first floor!

On the commentary desk, upon seeing EDG's champion selection, Miller exclaimed, "EDG! Scout just picked Lucian on the first pick!"

With a smug smile, the doll said, "Looks like Black's performance in the last game really made Socut very unhappy! That's the fighting spirit of young players!"

Seeing EDG lock in Lucian, Song Wen couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"This noob is even playing Lucian."

Wang Ke neither agreed nor disagreed with Song Wen's words.

In terms of skill, the junior student is definitely not bad.

However, Song Wen's playstyle, which is known for its ability to manipulate people's mentality, is a perfect counter to Scout.

Without hesitation, Wang Ke had Saint Gun lock Kalista down on the first floor.

Lulu was then locked up on the second floor.

In the commentary booth, Miller and Wawa were clearly confused by the two teams' draft picks.

Doll spoke up, "Snake—are they going to play Ardent Censer again? But they've chosen Kalista to build a Lulu, and Kalista—it seems like she can indeed play the Ardent Censer system. Once her attack speed is increased, the enemy will be covered in spears!"

Clearly, the doll didn't realize that the reason Kalista is a good fit for the Ardent Censer system is mainly because Kalista's ultimate can protect the support.

What the two found most incomprehensible was that the Snake team first brought out the Incense Burner system, then proved that the Incense Burner system was not good, and now they are taking the initiative to bring out the Incense Burner system again.

So, is the incense burner system feasible or not?

Not to mention Miller and the doll, even the viewers in the live stream were stunned.

On the EDG player bench, nofe frowned as he watched Snake Esports select their champions.

What annoyed him wasn't that Snake Team picked Kalista, but that his junior teammate had picked Lucian first, leaving him without a good support in the game.

With Janna banned and Lulu being picked, what other support champions can synergize with Ardent Censer?

Karma? A wet nurse?

There are actually quite a few supports who can shield and heal the AD carry and trigger Ardent Censer. They have tried to combine them in many scrims, but the results have not been very good.

Looking at the brightly lit Lucian on the first floor, nofe simply gritted his teeth and made a decision!

I'm not playing with incense burners anymore!

Snake Esports has proven in previous matches that an assassin composition in the early to mid-game can effectively counter an Ardent Censer composition!

EDG had naturally tried it in their daily training.

"Take the widow! Take the bull's head!"

iboy is very young, and his skills and reactions are at the level of top players. In the previous match against RNG, even when facing UZI, iboy was able to hold his own.

Nofe has analyzed that Snake's bot lane laning ability is actually not very strong.

Especially when Wang Ke is on the field, in terms of laning alone, he is not even as good as the combination of 0 Emperor and Crystal.

Therefore, Nofe decided that the bottom lane would play a strong laning phase this game, with a hard support and Evelynn cooperating to directly gank Snake's bottom lane!

Nofe's idea wasn't wrong; the only problem was that he had a slightly stereotypical view of Wang Ke.

After all, with the blessing of Song Wen and Wang Ke's "left foot stepping on right foot spiraling to heaven" technique, Wang Ke is no longer the same as before.

On the commentary desk, upon seeing EDG's champion picks, Miller exclaimed, "EDG picked Alistar! This—it seems EDG isn't planning on playing Ardent Censer! Their first three picks form a very typical early-to-mid-game composition! And EDG even gave Clearlove Evelynn in this game! That's Clearlove's signature champion!"

When EDG locked in Evelynn, the crowd erupted in enthusiastic cheers.

Like Sejuani, Clearlove's Widowmaker was once a dominant force in the LPL.

The right to choose returned to the Snake team, and Wang Ke let Song Wen pick Lee Sin. Then, the two sides entered the second round of banning.

EDG banned Fizz and Syndra, targeting the top and mid laners that Snake hadn't yet picked.

Snakes, on the other hand, opted to remove Varus and Maokai.

"Song Wen, what do you want to do in the mid lane?"

Upon hearing Wang Ke's words, Song Wen slumped in his chair and casually replied, "Anything is fine, you decide. I'm too lazy to think when you're on stage."

"So you've entrusted your brain to me, haven't you??"

Wang Ke made a sarcastic remark, then said, "Seeing how tired you were last game, how about you just pick Karma and coast through this one?"

Song Wen sneered: "You're afraid that the other side will only focus on you and you'll die a horrible death, so you want me to provide an incense burner to help you share the firepower, right?"

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