Chapter 122
The next day was media day, and all the major teams went there to accept interviews.
Several people were being lightly powdered in the dressing room. Qu Xing's face was being swept back and forth by a furry brush. Although he didn't know what it was being brushed against, it felt strangely comfortable. He narrowed his eyes slightly, his gaze focused through the mirror, on the person behind him who was looking at him.
"Close your eyes."
"Oh." Qu Xing closed his eyes.
"Okay."
Qu Xing opened his eyes and saw that the person who had just looked at him had come up to him and was looking at him through the mirror.
"Violent" AD.
"Hello, Dazzling."
Qu Xing inexplicably read a hint of provocation on his face.
"Hi."
The AD seemed prepared. He turned around, looked at him, and began to speak in Korean, roughly to the effect of, "I've heard a lot about you. I'm finally getting the chance to fight you. I'm really looking forward to it."
Qu Xing looked at him seriously.
He continued, "You look cute, but I'm going to show you how cruel the World Championship is. LCK players aren't as easy to beat as LPL players."
After he finished speaking, he saw Qu Xing still looking at him seriously.
Qu Xing withdrew his gaze and sighed, "I don't understand, Smecta."
Qu Xing didn't understand Korean, and the man didn't understand Chinese either, so he said in confusion, "Huh?"
Qu Xing stood up to make room for someone else, and as he passed by him, he smiled slightly and said, "Fighting."
That AD: "Yeah."
He said in Korean: "I will beat you!"
“…”
"What is he saying? I don't understand Korean." Qu Xing leaned over and held Ling Yin: "How about he say a few words in English?"
Ling Yin: "I don't understand either."
Qu Xing turned around and put Baobao AD behind him, and slowly walked to the venue with Ling Yin. At this time, the top seeds of the two major regions, UNG and EKN, had already made their collective debut on stage and were being interviewed.
YeonBit was next to UNG, and it was obvious that his heart was with DL. When he saw Ling Yin coming in, he waved and greeted him hurriedly as if he had seen a close friend who shared the same thoughts with him.
A sharp-eyed reporter caught it and immediately turned the camera to see Ling Yin waving his hand casually and a strand of hair flying out quickly.
Ling Yin put down his hand and glanced at Qu Xing: "..."
Qu Xing sat down next to Jiang Lin and patted the seat beside him with a smile.
Ling Yin went to sit down.
"As far as we know, UNG has grown rapidly this year. Since they replaced their top laner, DL is almost no match for them. What has the new member brought to you?"
Upper glanced over at DL: "...Uh."
What kind of question is this?! It was obviously DL's fault in the summer season! Why are they praising them so much?!
"Well... we've definitely grown a lot," Upper said. "Both the new and old top laners are good, but Anvy's hand injury is pretty serious, so he definitely can't come with us to Worlds. Thorn brings... drive, after all, he's young."
"Excuse me, UNG, have you ever played a training match with EKN?"
Upper said: "I have."
As upper was speaking, he glanced towards DL again and saw the seemingly harmless little AD talking to Jiang Lin with his head close to his chest. The dark memories from a few days ago came to his mind and he couldn't help but gritted his teeth and said, "I fought with DL too..." He would not fight with them again in the short term.
“As the same No. 1 seed as UNG, is EKN looking forward to playing UNG?”
YeonBit politely said, "Looking forward to it."
He still couldn't let go of Ling Yin and said, "Actually, I'm more looking forward to playing against DL. I asked DL to set up a practice match a few days ago but was rejected because their practice matches were already fully booked. They're very popular."
This reporter might be a DL hater, displeased to hear people praising DL. He smiled sarcastically and said, "It seems like both teams are talking about DL. Is it because they consider DL a serious opponent? But DL's recent performance doesn't seem very good."
upper: "..."Brother! Why don't you look behind you? Please be more careful with your words!
Upper laughed awkwardly, "Of course, DL has always been our formidable opponent. DL's poor performance was only last season." He hinted wildly, "But now they have Dazzling."
The reporter didn't get his hint and said, "But AD doesn't seem to be able to make the biggest difference in the battle situation."
upper: "..."
EKN, who had never played against Qu Xing, nodded in agreement.
"Speaking of AD, Lyra, is there an AD player you'd most like to play against right now?"
Lyra: "Dazzling."
Reporter: “…” Why do these two teams keep talking about DL every other sentence?
Reporter: "Why?"
Lyra: "After all, I've never played against Dazzling. I've always heard he's a very good AD carry, some even say he's the best in the world, which I really disagree with. Aside from the mid laner, everyone agrees that all the best in the world belong to our EKN."
YeonBit, the 1.5 mid laner, said straight away, "Don't stress about this anymore."
Le Anyi couldn't help but curl his lips. "How shameless are they? It's fine if Jiang Lin and the others don't approve of it, but how could they think their AD is better than Xingxing?"
No one spoke.
Le Anyi leaned over to look at Qu Xing: "Stars?"
"Ah?" Qu Xing turned his head.
Le Anyi glanced at his phone and saw a yellow thing flash across his screen: "What are you doing?"
Qu Xing: "Watch cartoons."
Le Anyi: “…”
Le Anyi: "They said you're not the world's number one AD carry, did you hear that?"
Qu Xing: "If it's not, then it's not."
Le Anyi: "I don't accept it!"
Qu Xing turned his head and continued watching the cartoon.
He refused to give in. EKN was still considered the strongest in the eyes of the world, and the entire LCK was recognized as the strongest region globally. While the title of world number one was common in the league, it was the LCK that had the most "world number one" titles.
Qu Xing said, "If it's not, then it's not," but of course it wasn't because he truly felt inferior to anyone else—he'd never entertained such a thought. The aggressive AD carry's provocative look from that morning was still fresh in his mind, and Qu Xing decided to focus on the latest game and try to get that look out of his mouth first.
The interview was a bit boring. People are so cultured these days. It was all just the same old stuff, repeated over and over again. Aside from a few teams expressing strong confidence in their own strength, most of it was just flattery. As for whose interview was the most interesting, Qu Xing thought it had to be his brother Wind, who was always boasting.
She said some very crazy words with a serious and beautiful face.
When asked what he thought of EKN considering them a formidable opponent, he politely smiled and said, "I can't tell, ask them." When asked who he was most looking forward to playing against, he insisted, imitating Lyra, saying "Dazzling." Of course, Qu Xing knew this wasn't nonsense; Ling Yin might genuinely be uninterested in others and had always wanted to perform a solo with him. Later, when reporters asked him how he felt about his current form, he answered seriously, saying, "Pretty good." When pressed further on how he'd adjusted, he didn't bother to answer—he simply couldn't give a proper answer. He'd been the same throughout, never making any adjustments.
Qu Xing didn't know what was going on in Ling Yin's seemingly normal head. He gently opened his elegant lips and uttered three words in his magnetic voice: "Drink Chinese medicine."
Ling Yin felt a pain in his left shoulder as he finished speaking. Qu Xing had bumped his head against his right in front of the camera, lowered his head, and started laughing, nearly interrupting the interview.
But they managed to get through it, and a few days later, they officially stepped onto the World Championship stage.
The first Bo1 of the Swiss round pitted DL against BSW. To avoid revealing too much in the early stages, DL didn't bring any special tactics, instead bringing Dazzling, a player unknown to any team outside the LPL.
ADC, who starts to power late, has no rhythm, has low survivability and low tolerance, finds it difficult to actively change the situation, and his strategic importance in the game is far less than that of the mid and jungle.
That's exactly what everyone agrees on. So even if DL adds Dazzling, so what? They're a formidable opponent, but not a formidable one at all. All LCK teams think this way.
However, getting to know Dazzling requires a process. Even teammates who spend time with him day and night are constantly refreshing their understanding. For LCK, this process has just begun.
Baobao AD chose Qu Xing’s signature hero Zeli.
"Just beat them until they can't understand." Zhao Hui said from behind Qu Xing, "Okay? The pressure of rhythm is all on you."
Qu Xing: "Okay."
"Okay." Zhao Hui confidently walked over with his notebook. He chose a lineup that would create an optimal output environment for AD carry, and picked Samira for Qu Xing.
This is too arrogant.
An ADC who hadn't played in a match for nearly half a year actually chose a hero that died as soon as it entered the field and had extremely low tolerance for error. If this hero wanted to avoid being a burden to the team in the late game, he had to penetrate the early game.
Too arrogant, too arrogant!
This is Worlds! They're just targeting the AD carry right away? Do they think this is just a casual match?
Before leaving, Coach Baobao quickly instructed, "Forcefully trade Daisy's health in the bottom lane. Don't let him have it easy."
Assistant: "OK!"
"Go down and catch him quickly, don't let him get too arrogant."
Jungler: “Yeah.”
The commentator's voice resounded throughout the venue: "The game officially begins!"
"Xingxing, take it easy." Le Anyi said incoherently in the team voice.
"Hmm?" Qu Xing was puzzled. "What are you taking it easy for?"
Le Anyi didn't know what he should take it easy for, but he just felt that he should take it easy because he was feeling very anxious and had a vague premonition that from this moment on, their journey to the World Championship would be more magical than ever before.
"Daisy is online." Baobao's assistant said: "I'll learn E, and Zeli will electrocute him!"
Qu Xing could tell at a glance that the two people opposite him wanted to exchange blood with him.
"Linlin, let go of the line a little." Qu Xing said.
Jiang Lin didn't even ask why, and said without hesitation, "Okay, stars."
The Baobao bottom lane team fought against Qu Xing for a while, vaguely feeling that this blood was not so easy to exchange. But it was only vague, because Qu Xing was releasing the line with extremely subtle movements. They had no idea that this was intentional, and they were steadily pushing the line towards the DL tower.
The director's camera focuses on the bottom lane situation.
Commentator A: "Babao is in the lead in the bottom lane, and neither team's health is decreasing."
B: "Yes, Dazzling's laning phase seems a bit weaker than I expected. Is it because the opponent has become an LCK opponent?"
A: "Maybe the LCK opponents are really different."
The camera was directed elsewhere.
A: "Wind is still so domineering."
B: "The line control is very stable, which is his style."
If the two commentators could hear the team's voice chat, they would find that no one commented on Qu Xing's "backwardness". It was so quiet and indulgent that it was strange.
The line of troops slowly came to the third wave.
Commentator A suddenly noticed something interesting: "Why is Dazzling leading in CS?"
Baobao's bottom laner sensed something was amiss as early as the second wave of soldiers. Why were they always forced to not be able to replenish soldiers?
"Let the troops out, I want to gank the bottom lane." said the jungler.
"I think this line of troops is out of our control!" AD gritted his teeth.
He almost suspected that this was intentional. He knew they were going to capture the bottom lane, so he deliberately messed up the line of troops like this!
He controlled Zeli to move forward slightly, preparing to attack the artillery vehicle with low health.
At this moment, Qu Xing's Samira reached level 3. The AD sharp-eyed player noticed Samira's opening move, and although it was extremely brief, he still recognized it as the pre-swing for her E skill.
The next moment when he was about to dodge this skill, Qu Xing did not rush towards him immediately. Instead, he used his Q skill to kill the low-health artillery vehicle while flying. He cried out in his heart, "Oh no!"
In the next moment, Samira appeared on his face like a ghost.
"Wait a minute!!" the commentator yelled. "Wait a minute! What is Dazzling doing?!"
In the third minute of the official start of the World Championship, the stadium was already ignited by Qu Xing for the first time.
Zeli is dead!
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