Chapter 121
The World Championship was held in three cities. The Play-Ins and Swiss Rounds were held in Los Angeles, the Knockouts were held in New York, and the Finals were held in a separate venue in San Francisco.
DL does not have to participate in the qualifying round, so a large group of people will stay in the hotel first, train as usual, and wait to directly participate in the Swiss round.
The Swiss Round features 16 teams, using a round-robin format with teams drawn with the same record and no old rivals. The team that wins three games first advances, while the team that loses three games first is eliminated. Most matches are played in a best-of-one format, with best-of-three format used for promotion and elimination.
DL drew the second seed team of LCK in the first round of the draw - BSW. Because the full name translates to "storm", everyone affectionately calls it "Bao Bao".
Baobao is a team that should not be underestimated. They have defeated EKN several times in this summer season, and even nearly defeated EKN in the finals. They are currently in a hot streak and their confidence is greatly increased.
Of course, Qu Xing's return to the starting lineup in DL is also very hot.
Before the Swiss round, during a break after practice, Zhou Si gathered the coaching staff, the logistics team, the five players, and the reserve players. A World Championship poster stood beside them. It depicted stars blazing and colliding, dissolving into nebula dust. Below, a featureless silhouette reached out to touch an exploding supernova.
There is also a poster of the five starting players of DL standing next to it.
"I've just synchronized everyone's schedule," Zhou Si said. "The competition is about to begin. I have great confidence in you. Seriously, getting the five of you together is the proudest thing I've ever done."
Le Anyi and Qi Rui sat next to each other, looking left and right. There were more than a dozen people in the room, and the five of them were scattered around and sitting in some corner. Who on earth was the Fourth Master talking to?
"This year, we've become a formidable opponent in the eyes of many people. They've been analyzing us." Zhou Si coughed. "I've even secretly snooped on some teams' analysis of us. Do you know what their analysis is?"
Le Anyi: "Fourth Master, you are so immoral!"
Jiang Lin asked from the sofa: "What?"
Zhou Si: "They say Shanglu is a coward who can't stand being scared. If we keep bullying him, we'll find a way out."
Le Anyi: “…”
"The jungler is a reckless rogue, easy to target in the jungle. The mid laner..."
Le Anyi was very curious about what happened to the mid laner. He didn't know where the Fourth Master got this evaluation from. It couldn't be all negative comments, right?
"The mid laner can be treated as a beautiful vase. As long as you ignore and avoid him, your teammates who target him will win the game."
Le Anyi could tell that these comments were not real ones, but were probably nonsense said by a certain team to forcefully cheer up their players.
Zhou Si: "Don't just focus on dying as a support. Just kill him eight or ten times."
Jiang Lin: "Where's the AD? Why did you jump directly to me?"
Zhou Si: “AD, they didn’t say.”
Jiang Lin: "Why didn't you say it?"
Zhou Si said with a "tsk". "I didn't say anything, so don't disturb the atmosphere I created."
Jiang Lin: "Oh."
Zhou Si: "But! I'm sure you all heard it. Is this analysis? Is this evaluation? It's clearly slander born out of fear! How did we get to this point? It's because of things that only we know, things they can't understand. The reason why the five of us are the best is not because the top laner is timid, but because no matter what happens, the top laner can always hold his ground and withstand pressure. He is always the most solid foundation among the five of us."
Le Anyi was moved and said: "Fourth Master——"
Zhou seemed to ignore it: "We are the junglers. We are not afraid of making mistakes. We are always looking for opportunities and never miss any chance to destroy the opponent. We are the supports..."
Jiang Lin: "Why did you jump to me again? Where are the double Cs?"
He Weichen: "Shut up first."
Zhou Si: “…” Yes, why didn’t he think of that young couple.
Zhou Si took a quick look and found that their double Cs did not show up at all.
"Where are those two people?" Zhou Si asked.
Everyone shook their heads: "I don't know."
Zhou Si gritted his teeth: "Didn't I tell the group that there was something important?"
Jiang Lin: "They saw through it. They knew it was just a pre-game announcement."
Zhou Si: "It must have been Ling Yin who instigated Qu Xing to leave."
Zhou Si had never really been into this sort of thing, but he'd only followed suit after seeing other managers doing it. Seeing that no one was gathered, he immediately waved his hand, "Forget it, forget it. I was hoping for a bit of Worlds atmosphere and excitement, but you all seem so heartless! Just treat it like a normal match."
It was indeed Ling Yin who instigated Qu Xing to come out, and the two of them were enjoying the fresh air on a terrace.
"I still want to hear what the Fourth Master has to say. Why don't you let me feel that atmosphere?" Qu Xing retracted his gaze and raised his leg to hit Ling Yin: "This wind has blown away all my passion."
Ling Yin: "But this moon will be gone soon."
Qu Xing leaned over to Ling Yin and said, "It's really special. How come it's so red? I thought it was the sun."
Ling Yin burst into laughter.
Why are all the words coming out of Xingxing's mouth so adorable?
The red moon was rising slowly and was fading away. Qu Xing looked at it for a while and actually saw an exceptionally bright orange light radiating out.
?
What's the meaning?
He suspected he was dazzled, and stared at it for a moment longer. He discovered that the light, far from fading, grew even brighter, gradually becoming so bright that he could no longer see the moon. Then, an even stranger scene unfolded: the light gradually distorted, and a gigantic, glowing keyboard appeared in the air, so large that it blocked out half the sky before his eyes.
“…”
Qu Xing stared at the keyboard and grabbed the person beside him: "Brother."
Ling Yin: “Hmm?”
Qu Xing: "Did I accidentally eat a poisonous mushroom?"
Ling Yin said calmly: "Then I should eat it too."
Qu Xing: "Did you see it too?"
Ling Yin hummed in amusement.
At that moment, the entire building erupted in a commotion, and people began to emerge from the various terraces. This hotel was mostly occupied by players and team staff. Qu Xing glanced around and noticed the unusual bustle.
"Star!!"
There was a voice calling nearby.
Qu Xing turned his head and saw Le Anyi waving at him from the terrace next door, along with Zhou Si and two others.
Qu Xing waved at them.
Zhou Si raised his voice: "How do you two know about this before I even tell you?"
Qu Xing: "Know what?"
Zhou seemed not to hear clearly: "What?"
The World Championship theme music started playing from somewhere. Qu Xing figured Zhou Si wouldn't hear him even if he called out, so he simply waved his hand and turned to look across.
The rooftop of the building opposite resembled a giant stage, with several World Championship flags erected to the throes of music, creating a rather impressive spectacle. The gigantic keyboard, which had made Qu Xing think it had eaten poisonous mushrooms, shifted in shape and color, and a line of bright purple characters slowly emerged in the night sky: AsStarsBurn.
Ling Yin put away his phone and leaned over to Qu Xing's ear and said, "It seems like this is a support event organized by fans from all regions."
Qu Xing's eyes sparkled with the dazzling lights and he nodded, "Oh."
Across from the brightly lit rooftop, a crowd suddenly emerged, cheering. Some, holding instruments, joined in the music, instantly electrifying the atmosphere. Banners of all sizes were raised, and Qu Xing spotted several related to him and Ling Yin.
Qu Xing: "Wow, they..."
Ling Yin waited for him to speak.
Qu Xing: "Wow, this..."
Ling Yin: “Hmm?”
Qu Xing turned to look at him: "Wow, wow—"
Ling Yin smiled and said, "Go ahead."
Qu Xing turned to the opposite side again, searching among the pile of banners for something related to them, and said with bright eyes, "I don't know what to say!"
Ling Yin smiled and leaned forward slightly, looked into Qu Xing's eyes for a few seconds, and said, "Okay."
There was a small performance going on across the street. Although it wasn't large in scale, it was a great surprise to Qu Xing. He saw someone holding up the ID "Dazzling" and waving at him, so he raised his arm and waved over there too. Waving with one arm wasn't enough, so he raised both arms and waved.
"Be careful." Ling Yin grabbed his clothes, feeling that if the two buildings were connected, this star would rush to the other side in the next second.
The World Championship theme song ended, and another music song played. Fans began cheering, shouting, and saying something. Because it was too noisy and he couldn't hear anything, Qu Xing could only watch them quietly.
In short, it was words like "come on", "fight well", "I love you" and so on.
Finally, the crowd fell silent and cheered in unison. Flags of all kinds waved vigorously, and salutes were fired with the last beat of the music. The light in the sky transformed into a sentence again:
Welcome to Los Angeles
Please ignite my blood
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