League: I really didn't tank!

Chapter 192 The Last Ray of Light

After the draw ceremony, a large group of people left the scene together. QG, who had just finished the game and hadn't eaten yet, went to a restaurant they had booked.

Today is their last day in San Francisco, so of course they have to have a good meal.

The group first arrived in Chinatown, where they listened to the endless stream of Chinese conversations. Although most of the conversations were in Cantonese, they still felt a sense of warmth and familiarity.

San Francisco’s Chinatown is the first and oldest in the United States. The buildings along the street retain their distinctive Chinese architectural style.

The story of "Ip Man 4" was filmed in this place, but that was two years later.

However, that was not their goal. They walked through Chinatown and arrived at the famous Fisherman's Wharf.

As a seaside port, the local cuisine is naturally seafood-based. The group quickly sat down in a restaurant they had booked in advance. Chen Dongqing glanced to the side and saw the Golden Gate Bridge, which often appears in movies and TV shows, right in front of them.

Yes, it's the Golden Gate Bridge that's so easily destroyed.

From Chinatown to Fisherman's Wharf to the Golden Gate Bridge, this is a connected tourist route.

After everyone took their seats, the restaurant quickly began serving the dishes. The classic combination here is Denkinese crab served with French sourdough bread.

Chen Dongqing wasn't particularly interested in these things; he ate while browsing domestic forums.

After the draw for the quarterfinals, the anti-racism forum was abuzz with discussion.

There's no way around it, this matchup draw was absolutely explosive!

Three LPL teams versus three LCK teams – it's practically a fateful showdown.

Just thinking about it makes me think it would be perfect for a TV show!

As for whether or not we can win

[Do you really think EDG and Snake Esports can beat the top two seeds from Korea?]

I'm worried the factory manager will get utterly thrashed by Peanut.

Who cares if he wins or not? The draw results are in, just support him.

Two quarterfinals are enough, better than two round of 16 last year, right?

[And QG is very stable; they should have no problem making it to the semifinals.]

[It's going to be too difficult for QG to win the championship. They'll beat Samsung in the first round, SKT in the second, and will most likely have to beat ROX in the third. Are they going to wipe out the LCK in one round?]

Chen Dongqing looked at the comments and couldn't help but purse his lips.

Perhaps because they experienced the lowest point last year, LPL viewers now don't even dare to dream boldly.

It's okay, I'll definitely win the championship this year and show you.

After finishing their meal, it was only nine o'clock. After discussing it, everyone decided to take a car to walk around the Golden Gate Bridge.

Because he had been preparing for the group stage and ranking matches for the past few days, Chen Dongqing had been under a lot of stress.

Now, being able to walk a few steps on the beach with a group of people makes everyone feel a bit more relaxed.

"Hey," Uzi suddenly spoke up, "What do you guys think of this knockout stage draw?"

Chen Dongqing casually said, "How else can we look at it? Just look at it like this. Although it is indeed very difficult, it is not unacceptable."

"Sigh." Uz sighed, unsure how to put it.

Although he was the world runner-up in both Season 3 and Season 4, he himself knew that he had actually relied on internal competition to reach those positions.

Moreover, every time he reached the finals and faced an LCK team, he was completely crushed. This made Uzi somewhat uncertain when facing LCK teams in the World Championship.

And what about this draw? If nothing unexpected happens, the remaining three teams will all be LCK teams, which puts a lot of pressure on Uzi.

Everyone understands the pressure Uzbekistan is under.

Not only him, but also Liu Qingsong, Xiangguo, and Doinb, all three of them are entering the World Championship for the first time and can feel the immense pressure.

Despite QG's invincible performance this year, even they themselves were not confident of winning the World Championship.

Linko listened to Uz's words from the side, wanting to say something but holding back.

Chen Dongqing suddenly said, "To become a champion, you need to defeat all your opponents. As for who your opponents are, it doesn't really matter."

"What's wrong with the South Korean team? Are we really that much weaker than them?" Chen Dongqing said, then smiled. "If all else fails, just trust me. No matter what the situation, I'll step up and lead you to victory."

Upon hearing this, the pressure on the QG team instantly vanished.

indeed.

When did Chen Dongqing's journey ever falter?

Of course, none of his teammates would admit to it. Xiangguo stubbornly retorted, "Damn it, you're still pretending!"

"Hehe, I don't need you to guide me!" Uzi stretched out his chubby hand and pointed to the beach: "From now on, we'll definitely keep winning!"

Chen Dongqing kindly reminded him, "You're pointing in the wrong direction. You should point towards the mainland. If you point towards the sea, we'll just cross the Pacific Ocean and go back to China."

"Aww!"

Linko finally felt relieved when he saw that his teammates had comforted themselves. He smiled and said, "Come on, let me take a group photo with you all."

"Come on!"

The Golden Gate Bridge was bustling with traffic and brightly lit. The QG team members stood with their backs to the bridge, facing the camera with bright smiles.

When we got back to the hotel, it was already past 11 p.m.

Soon, the senior brother came over, exchanged team uniforms with the two QG players, and took photos with them separately.

Chen Dongqing first went back to his room, folded his senior brother's team uniform and put it in his suitcase, and then went to the training room to turn on the computer.

They're flying to Chicago tomorrow, so today is their last day in this training room.

Chen Dongqing logged into the North American server and immediately checked the leaderboard to see how many points he was still behind Faker.

Today is his match day, while Faker is resting, so the score gap might widen considerably again.

First place: mid faker - 980 points.

Second place: 2016 TOP1 - 950 points.

kindness! ?

Chen Dongqing was immediately startled.

He clearly remembered that when he left home in the morning, Faker was still at 1050 points. How did he suddenly drop by 70 points?

At this moment, an account named "Wang Ho" in his friend list sent him a private message: "".

Because he frequently uses Chinese-Korean translators, Chen Dongqing knew that this was a symbol used in Korean to express laughter.

Chen Dongqing clicked into Faker's match history page and saw a striking red area.

Seven games a day, winning one and losing six.

Of the six games they lost, Peanut contributed to four of them. By the end, Faker himself was clearly devastated, and in the last game, he played a 1-5 Cassiopeia, sending himself to 980 points before going to draw lots.

Only now did Chen Dongqing suddenly understand what the surprise Xiao Huasheng had told him about was.

Now I understand why Faker's expression was so serious during the draw.

It's hard not to take this seriously.

Chen Dongqing couldn't help but laugh and started sending a message through the translator: "Awesome, Wanghu!"

"Little Peanut was still laughing heartily, then said, 'Go for it! Let's get first place today!'"

Upon seeing this message, Chen Dongqing couldn't help but raise an eyebrow: "You and Faker are from the same region, why are you helping me?"

"Whether it's a regional competition or not doesn't really matter," Peanut typed. "I just don't want to see Faker reach the top. I've been disgusted by his fans lately."

Chen Dongqing couldn't help but laugh when he saw this.

Because of their numerous championship wins, SKT boasts the largest, yet most terrifying and extreme, fan base in the LCK, dominating the entire LCK.

ROX, which has been at odds with SKT all year but doesn't have much of a fan base, is clearly the main target of SKT fans' attacks.

Now that Faker has dominated ROX's top and jungle in North American ranked games, he's naturally being arrogant and provocative.

But the key point is that Faker in S6 was indeed very strong. His dominance in ranked games was unmatched. Peanut really couldn't catch up in solo queue. He had been trying for more than half a month and was still about 100 points behind.

You can't catch up in solo queue, and it's not fair to win in duo queue.

So, Peanut decided to bring in outside help!

"Okay!" Chen Dongqing replied with a smile, and immediately started a game. At this moment, Faker's account was offline, which was a good opportunity to steal a win!

But just as this idea came to mind, Faker's account came online and quickly entered the queue.

Seeing this, Chen Dongqing was not annoyed at all; on the contrary, he became even more excited.

He's 30 points behind Faker, and it will take him two more games to catch up.

But things changed after Faker came online.

If I can defeat Faker head-on, I can reach the top of the North American server in one game!

Soon, I was placed in the rankings.

Chen Dongqing glanced at his friends list and saw that Faker was selecting a champion.

He then glanced at the chat messages in the lower left corner.

"Wang Ho joined the team chat."

"Team chat was added to the 2016 TOP15 list"

Faker's ID did not appear in it!

Chen Dongqing raised an eyebrow slightly.

coming!

At this moment, Doinb excitedly shouted from the side, "OK, OK, if we win this game, we'll reach the top, right?"

At this moment, both sides quickly made their bans. The player on the first floor was a random player who banned champions based on his mood. Chen Dongqing didn't understand English and couldn't communicate with him. He banned Syndra, Lee Sin, and Nidalee, all of which are strong ranked champions in this version.

On the other hand, the bans are quite interesting: "Fiora, Riven, Jayce".

And immediately after that, the player on the opposite floor chose Victor.

With such an obvious ban targeting, and then picking a mid-lane hero, it's not hard to guess who the enemy's first pick is.

"Damn it, Da Fei," Chen Dongqing couldn't help but scoff, "You're banning my hero, aren't you?"

But Chen Dongqing also has a solution.

Kree has been elected again!

In ranked matches with Faker, who is the target?

Just focus on the middle lane and you're done!

Soon, the match began, and Peanut picked Olaf, immediately starting a mid-jungle synergy with Doinb.

Although these two are not on the same team, they have one thing in common: their team has a top laner who is a dominant force.

They all have a lot of experience in protecting the top lane, so their coordination is quite smooth!

Peanut quickly ganked mid at level 3, but failed to succeed. He was not discouraged and went back to clear two camps of jungle camps before ganking mid again at level 4!

This time, he successfully caught Faker's Flash.

Doinb, who gained lane priority thanks to his jungler, seized the opportunity to push the lane aggressively. At five minutes, he pushed the lane into the tower and then ganked the top lane with Peanut!

Chen Dongqing doesn't have to do anything; he can just lie there and collect kills.

Enjoying the emperor-level treatment, Chen Dongqing did not hold back and gave back to his teammates. After reaching level six, Kled rushed to the mid lane and took down Faker, who had no Flash!

With the help of both Ue, Naka, and Ye, their advantage quickly expanded!

Chen Dongqing was too lazy to bother with the opposing top laner; he just focused on Faker!

If you have your ultimate ability, charge in; if you don't, come over and use Flash to switch Flashes, then wait for your ultimate ability to charge in again!

Faker was overwhelmed by Kled's dominance and quickly returned to a 1-5 score, mirroring his previous game with Cassiopeia.

After completely crippling Faker, Chen Dongqing turned his attention to the top lane, securing another tower dive kill. Meanwhile, Peanut and Doinb ganked the bottom lane, eliminating the opposing bottom laner who were gaining momentum.

With advantages on all three lanes, the game can be easily controlled!

+22!

[Mission Complete!]

[Task Reward: 4000 points! (Only once)]

I've achieved first place on the North American server and successfully obtained the points rewards!

Chen Dongqing nodded in satisfaction, greeted Peanut, and then went to the North American server rankings page.

First place: 2016 TOP1 - 972 points.

Second place: mid faker - 965 points.

Chen Dongqing took a screenshot and sent it to the WeChat group for the teams participating in this World Championship, where it immediately received a wave of praise.

Flandre: "Tree Bro is awesome!"

lwx: "Tree Bro is awesome!"

Linko: "Tree Bro is awesome!"

Seeing the barrage of praise, Chen Dongqing first closed the League of Legends client, then cheerfully typed: "Keep it down, keep it down."

He is indeed quite low-key, and he doesn't bother to post on Weibo or anything like that. After all, for professional players, ranked scores are really nothing and not worth bragging about.

Of course, there will be people who will sing his praises.

The moment Chen Dongqing reached the top of the North American server, many fans started posting on various esports forums.

How would you rate Tree's seven-day climb to the top of the North American server's Challenger rank? (Image)

[Holy crap? Really?]

I saw it, it's true, they've already reached the top.

[This speed at which he climbed the ranks was outrageous; he maintained a win rate close to 80% even after reaching the top.]

I went from Gold 5 to Silver 1 in seven days, while he went from zero to the top in seven days. I can't accept it.

The key point is that he's been playing incredibly hard these past few days, nearly twenty games a day.

[This is all to give LPL some revenge! Tree Bro is so kind, I'm crying!]

At this win rate, Brother Shu will probably climb to 2000 points before stopping, right?

[Fun fact: Tree Bro's PUBG on the North American server has restarted]

【? ? ? 】

It was already past midnight.

In the SKT training room, Faker sat in front of his computer, his head throbbing with anger.

He really got targeted terribly by that bastard Peanut today!

Every time we're matched against the enemy team, they relentlessly gank the mid lane!

How do you play this hook eight?

And this time it's even more outrageous. Not only did the jungler gank, but Kled in the top lane also came to gank. Does this mean we can't play the game anymore?

Lee Jae-wan, the only one, was munching on potato chips while glancing at the leaderboard. He chuckled and said, "Sang-hyeok, you've lost your number one spot!"

"I know!" Faker was furious. Seeing that Peanut's account had already logged off, he started another game.

Without Peanut's interference, Faker won quite smoothly this time, taking back first place. It was as if he had issued a challenge to Chen Dongqing, launching a battle for first place.

But it was like a stone sinking into the sea.

The account "2016TOP" has also turned gray and will no longer be active.

It was as if Chen Dongqing had only come to prove that he was capable of winning first place, and after winning, he left without any hesitation.

Faker felt a tightness in his chest that he couldn't release; even though he had won the first place, he didn't feel even the slightest bit of joy.

It's awful!

The next morning, all eight teams were ready to depart and boarded the same flight to Chicago.

This was a journey from the western United States to the central United States, a flight that took nearly four hours. Although long, it was much better than the previous twelve-hour journey.

As soon as the plane landed, Chen Dongqing immediately felt a cool breeze blowing by, which even made him feel a bit cold, not at all like October.

Because Chicago is situated along the curved shoreline of Lake Michigan, its unique topography causes cool lake breezes to continuously blow into the city, earning it the nickname "Windy City".

Back then, Derrick Rose, the youngest regular season MVP in NBA history, was nicknamed "The Windy City Rose" because he played for the Chicago Bulls and the name Rose means "rose" in English.

Of course, Chicago also has another name: "Sin City," and it's also the inspiration for GTA: San Andreas.

Considering the skin color of the protagonist in San Andreas, it's easy to understand why Chicago has such a high crime rate.

On the 12th, the various teams, organized by Riot Games, arrived at the venue to familiarize themselves with the location and film some interview segments.

The quarterfinals were held at the Chicago Theatre, one of the three largest theaters in the United States, which can hold 4,000 people, so it's not very big.

The theater's interior had been transformed into the shape of League of Legends, complete with a large screen, computers, and everything else you could need.

On the 13th, after lunchtime, someone visited the hotel on the floor belonging to the LPL.

Commentators like Wawa and Miller, along with several hosts, all gathered around to cheer on the three teams.

Chen Dongqing seized the opportunity to chat with Lin Yuanhua for a couple of minutes.

"Be careful here," Chen Dongqing warned. "Don't go out at night, it's dangerous."

Lin Yuanhua smiled and said, "Don't worry, I haven't left the hotel at night since I arrived in North America. I've been staying in the hotel the whole time."

After saying that, Lin Yuanhua added, "As for you, good luck in your next match! Your match is on the 17th, right?"

Chen Dongqing smiled and nodded.

The four quarterfinal matches were not played in order, but alternated. The first match was between Flash Wolves and CLG from the upper bracket, and the next day it was SKT and Snake from the lower bracket's turn.

However, no matter how the schedule is arranged, QG, who is in the second match of the lower bracket, will always play on the last day.

Of course, this isn't exactly an advantage; the consequence is that they'll have to start the semifinals first.

"Go for it!" Lin Yuanhua clenched her fist. "I'll be covering your match that day, and I hope you'll be the one being interviewed!"

"Don't worry." Chen Dongqing was also very confident.

Putting everything else aside, he's confident he can beat Samsung.

Beside them, the QG team and the commentary team, watching the two chatting, all turned their heads away tacitly.

Although the two haven't officially announced it or told anyone else, they both know what's going on.

After chatting for a few more minutes, the commentary team prepared to leave.

The players and commentators were not in the same hotel, so they had to go back to their hotel while it was still early.

Chen Dongqing nodded, waved to Lin Yuanhua, and said, "See you on stage!"

"Bye-bye!" Lin Yuanhua waved as well.

Meanwhile, Miller, Doll, and others waved friendly, "Good luck in the next match, Tree Bro!"

On October 14th, the quarterfinals finally began.

The two teams this time are FW and CLG.

Of the four matches played by these two teams, this one arguably received the least attention.

Although this is North America's home ground, resulting in a large North American audience, esports competitions are ultimately primarily broadcast online. For a global audience, the three-way battle between China and three-way Korea is clearly more interesting.

During today's match, Karsa, the Wolf King, rubbed his hands together. Standing on such a big stage, he couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

As for the outcome of the match, he can only leave it to fate.

At the start of the first game, CLG picked their signature Malzahar + Caitlyn combo, and CLG put up a very good offensive performance, with huhi completely dominating Flash Wolves' mid laner Maple.

The collapse in the mid lane also greatly affected Karsa's jungle. Although he helped the team alleviate the situation by counter-ganking, human strength has its limits. CLG eventually seized the Flash Wolves' defensive loophole and established an advantage with a gank in the bottom lane!

In the end, CLG took thirty minutes to destroy FW's base!

In the subsequent match, although Flash Wolves managed to win one game, CLG was still the stronger team overall.

With a score of 3 to 1, North America's last hope, CLG, has made a difficult journey to the semifinals!

10 month 15 day.

The match moved to the bottom bracket, with SKT and Snake starting the game.

Chen Dongqing ran into the Snake Team members during lunch and asked them what they thought.

However, the Snake team members were quite open-minded. Their attitude was that it was already very difficult to reach the quarterfinals, and as for the semifinals, they would do their best.

So in today's game, the Snake team played all their cards, with Flandre even bringing out Jayce, a champion he had been practicing hard for a long time and had even consulted with Chen Dongqing.

In this game, Jayce performed exceptionally well, even managing to solo kill Duke's Gnar in the top lane!

At this moment, Duke recalled the fear he felt at MSI when he was dominated by a certain Jayce.

On the bottom lane, SKT's situation is not optimistic either. With Snake team getting Zyra in the bottom lane, even if SKT gets their most confident EZ Karma combination, they are no match for Snake team in the bottom lane!

In a nine-minute laning phase, Snake's Zyra and Jhin unleashed a combo that sent SKT's bot lane back to base, while also forcing Wolf to use Flash!

Seizing the opportunity, SofM decisively ganked bot lane, successfully killing Wolf who had no Flash, and at the same time helping Crystal destroy the bot lane tower!

Having read this, you should understand what's going on.

Snake's three carries were all in top form in this game!

Even Chen Dongqing became somewhat excited; he hadn't expected Snake to launch such a swift and fierce offensive!

In the following matches, Snake maintained their offensive rhythm. Although SKT had excellent defensive counter-attack capabilities, Snake had Jayce as a key player!

Jayce + Jhin was QG's answer to SKT's turtle lineup back then, and this time, Snake perfectly replicated it!

One defensive tower after another was destroyed, and one dragon after another was taken down, and the advantage grew bigger and bigger.

However, SKT's defensive counter-attack ability is also top-notch. Although they kept losing towers, they also managed to regain a lot of towers through Duke's split pushing.

Duke's performance with Gnar in this game was outstanding. Although he was solo killed in lane, his role became much more significant after he built Iceborn Gauntlet and Black Cleaver. He split pushed and took down towers while also attracting a lot of attention!

The first game lasted for 48 minutes.

From this point on, the rhythm started to go a little off.

All I can say is that SKT is still SKT.

In the late game, Jayce and Jhin's dominance began to wane, and with both sides fully equipped, economic advantage became meaningless.

Soon, Faker stepped up.

Viktor, seemingly strolling leisurely, led SKT to a comeback victory with a barrage of lasers!

"Sigh," Chen Dongqing sighed, "Snake Team did their best."

Snake played quite well in this game, even leading by 7,000 gold at one point in the mid-game!

Unfortunately, all their efforts ultimately failed.

In the following two games, the Snake team failed to replicate the smooth offensive performance of the first game, and even struggled to gain an advantage.

Duke redeemed himself in the last two games, first using Kennen against Poppy and gaining a huge advantage, and then using Irelia against Kennen, winning the lane again!

In both games, Duke's split-pushing was still dominant on the side lanes, even more dazzling than Faker's!

So, unsurprisingly, SKT defeated Snake 3-0 and became the first team to advance to the semifinals!

Regarding this defeat, LPL viewers, while marveling at the continued strength of LCK top laners, didn't seem to feel anything particularly special.

Being the third seed, reaching the quarterfinals is already a huge success, especially considering Snake even broke through SKT's defenses – something EDG hadn't accomplished.

"It's a great pity that Snake has been eliminated in the quarterfinals!" Remember sighed in the commentary booth, "But as the third seed from the LPL, they showed their style! The whole world will remember such a team!"

"Next, let's turn our attention to EDG and QG! Their story continues!"

10 month 16 day.

ROX vs. EDG.

Before the quarterfinals began, A-Guang had to return to China due to a sudden funeral in his family, so EDG's starting top laner for this match was koro1.

The core of this match was undoubtedly the two junglers, one a TOP4 and the other a TOP5, the world's number one and number two junglers respectively. The jungle battle between the two sides should have been the most exciting part.

But if you watch the game with that kind of expectation, you're bound to be disappointed.

Because in this game, the two junglers created the biggest lane difference in the history of the World Championship.

In the first game, the factory manager's Olaf jumped under the tower and stepped on the trap without using his ultimate. He only activated his ultimate after the trap's control effect ended, which highlighted his clumsiness. In later team fights, he even used his ultimate to wander around without getting an auto-attack.

In the second game, Hecarim missed his ultimate at point-blank range. He always uses his ultimate to escape during team fights, while his teammates recall to base in the bushes.

Although they won the third game with difficulty, it was mainly due to Deft's exceptional carry performance. Clearlove's Olaf did not gain any advantage against Peanut's Lee Sin.

The fourth game was even more impressive. Peanut gave a demonstration of both forehand and backhand techniques, showing how to use Olaf against Lee Sin, and then delivered the eternal classic 4396.

Peanut proved who the world's best jungler is in just four games!

"This time last year, nobody knew who Peanut was!" the three commentators in the North American commentary booth roared excitedly. "This year, everyone agrees that Peanut is the King of the Jungle!"

Congratulations to ROX Tigers for becoming the third team to advance to the semifinals!

As the match progressed, the live stream chat exploded with excitement. People stared at a mysterious number on the post-match results list and started spamming the chat with messages!

The atmosphere on major esports forums is also rife with hostility.

For those teams that have already been eliminated, the anti-racism community never hesitates to unleash its firepower.

As long as you don't curse the plane crash or bring misfortune to your family, you can say whatever you want.

[4396? They've lost all shame!]

[This factory really should be retired. They play so well in domestic competitions, but they're so fragile abroad, they'd break at the slightest touch!]

My suggestion is to skip the plane and just swim back.

【Swimming across the Pacific is too strenuous. I'll suggest a route for you: you can head east, swim back to Europe from the Atlantic, and then return via the Silk Road. That would be less strenuous.】

The factory manager who scored 4396 naturally became the primary target of attack.

The second target of concentrated fire was mouse and koro1.

One of them was labeled as "deserting in the face of battle," while the other was completely outmatched by Smeb, their difference in performance was no less than that of a jungler.

Smeb played Jayce, Kennen, Fiora, and Maokai, and in all of them, he was more than 40 CS ahead of his lane opponent. In the entire BO5 series, he was 160 CS ahead of Korol.

In addition, the gap in data is even greater.

Seeing this, fans finally realized that LPL's top laners are actually not strong; the only strong one is Ilex.

[I said it long ago, Korean teams are invincible after the World Championship. Just wait and see QG get crushed by Samsung.]

[Can't these Korean fans just shut up already? They're even bringing up how QG got utterly crushed by Samsung?]

[Tree's top lane skill level is undeniable; he can't possibly get completely dominated by Withered, right?]

[If you believe in QG, they're doomed. Their record this year speaks for itself; they absolutely cannot make it to the quarterfinals.]

While feeling disappointed and angry, LPL fans had no choice but to turn their attention to the last team.

The last ray of light, QG!

There's not much today; the knockout stage starts tomorrow, so I'll try to finish writing the first game.

(End of this chapter)