LPL History

Chapter 193 The Discussion of the Halberd and the Exposed Firewood at Tangquan; Lu Xian Wields Arrows and Chaos in the Wilderness

Royal Bath Club.

UZI stared at the magnificent entrance in front of him, swallowed hard, subconsciously pulled up his pants, and turned to look at Zhou Li to the side.

"Brother Zhou, is this a place I shouldn't be visiting?"

Zhou Li raised his eyebrows.

"What's inappropriate about it? It's just taking a shower."

UZI still seemed quite hesitant.

"Is this...green?"

"What do you mean?" Zhou Li looked at UZI, frowning. "Of course it's green. You're so young and already learning bad habits."

“That’s not what I meant,” UZI said, looking a little embarrassed. He turned and walked away. “Never mind, I’m not going.”

"You son of a bitch," Zhou Li grabbed UZI's chubby little hand, "You're not going to the green one?"

“No,” UZI’s chubby face scrunched up, “I’m not used to taking showers outside.”

UZI is from Hubei.

Although it's called Hubei, it's actually located in the south.

The bathing culture prevalent in the North is relatively difficult for Southerners to accept.

There's a famous saying in the North: "There's nothing a bath can't solve."

Two grown men soak in the bathhouse pool, have a frank exchange, and become best buddies.

This is actually a breakthrough in psychological defenses.

For more introverted southerners, this approach will only yield more significant results.

"Mad Dog, if you leave now, I'll just assume you're into slutty things. In that case, we're on different paths and shouldn't work together. I guess I misjudged you, Zhou Li."

Upon hearing Zhou Li's words, UZI stopped in his tracks, his face contorted in pain, and pleaded:

"Brother, I've never been here before."

"It's okay. Young people should try more things. There are always many firsts in life."

UZI was dragged by Zhou Li all the way to the Royal Bathhouse.

As the automatic sensor doors slid open to both sides, two rows of hostesses in black stockings and uniforms stood inside and bowed in unison, announcing:

"Two distinguished guests!"

UZI was clearly taken aback by this scene and quietly moved closer to Zhou Li.

But his eyes couldn't help but keep glancing at the black stockings worn by the greeter.

One of the greeters came over with a smile and led the two of them, saying:

"VIP, there is a massage area on the fifth floor."

UZI's eyes shifted from the other person's black stockings, his face flushed.

"I...I don't get massages."

The greeter smiled, as if to say, "I know everything."

UZI leaned closer to Zhou Li, lowered his voice, and stammered, "..."
"Brother Zhou, wasn't it supposed to be green?"

Zhou Li glanced at UZI.

"Your eyes are practically welded to their legs, how could they not introduce you to someone? Look at her, why doesn't she introduce me to someone? A green heart sees everything as green, a yellow heart sees everything as yellow."

UZI pursed his lips and nodded, taking one last deep look at the black stockings before deciding never to look again.
-
Ah~ Ah~ Oh~ Hmm~

"How are you, puppy? Are you comfortable?"

"Brother Zhou, you know what, it really feels quite comfortable."

"Right? Look at you, you're all fat. You should lose some weight. Even the bathhouse attendant is sweating buckets."

UZI was lying on the bed, enjoying a salt scrub, looking completely relaxed.

"Relax, young man."

Whether it was because the temperature in the bathhouse was too high or because of UZI's innate red-warm body, the entire scrubbing room was glowing with a bright red light.

Zhou Li turned over and began today's topic.

"I saw you guys beat WE last week, Royal Club is about to rise."

Upon hearing Zhou Li's words, UZI immediately swore.

"Rise up my ass! I'm the only one carrying the royal family, I'm about to explode."

Zhou Li asked curiously:
"Didn't they specifically bring in two Korean players this season? How come Zero's support isn't good?"

UZI sighed:

"Zero is alright, but it's so annoying that he can't understand me! And he likes to follow that idiot Insec around everywhere, and I can't get him back no matter how much I call him. I'm really fed up."

UZI clearly got into the conversation.

He had nowhere to confide these things, and now that he had been honest with Zhou Li, he had clearly made Zhou Li his confidant.

"That idiot Insec, I really can't be bothered to talk about him. It's just a roundhouse kick, I can do that too, what's so difficult about it? Compared to your Lee Sin, Brother Zhou, he's just a piece of shit. What world's best Lee Sin? I think he's just bragging about being the world's best."

Zhou Li was taken aback for a moment, then looked at UZI with some dissatisfaction.

How dare this kid steal other people's lines! He's really going against the grain!
Fortunately, UZI was enjoying himself with his eyes closed and didn't see Zhou Li's out-of-control expression and his muttering to himself.

"You have no idea, that day, your Prince's EQ flash, this idiot practiced for three days in the club and only succeeded once, and that was in a bot game! Your Lee Sin's Zhou's triangle kill, he still can't pull it off. I feel like this guy has gone crazy, he doesn't play ranked games every day, he just practices triangle kill in bot games, and when he plays in the game, he's like a brain-dead person and has no effect at all. I don't know why the club spent so much money to buy him, it feels like they just came to rip people off."

Hearing UZI's story, Zhou Li nodded in deep agreement.

"Yeah, to be honest, as a jungler myself, I think Insec does have some skill, but he's definitely not worth that much. He's Korean, why should he earn the same 50,000 yuan a month as you?"

As soon as Zhou Li finished speaking, UZI suddenly opened his eyes. He looked at Zhou Li with some confusion and said:

"No, Insec's salary is still lower than mine."

"Insec's salary is lower than yours?"

Zhou Li's eyes widened as if he had heard something strange, and he propped himself up to look at UZI with a puzzled expression.

"you sure?"

“I’m sure,” UZI nodded firmly. “The boss told me personally, and he promised me that my salary would be the highest in the team.”

The two stared at each other for a few seconds, and after a long silence, Zhou Li lay back down.

"Oh, oh, I misspoke."

After he finished speaking, he glanced at UZI out of the corner of his eye.

But it turned out that this silly boy really didn't take it to heart at all, and comfortably lay down to enjoy himself.

Although Zhou Li wanted to stop at the point.

However, it seems that UZI's intelligence is simply not up to par.

So he had to add, "But puppy, aren't you curious?"

"What are you curious about?"

"Are you curious how I knew your salary was 50,000 a month?"
-
Guan Zeyuan looked at the commentary booth in front of him, patted his cheeks, and clenched his fist.

"Go Guan Zeyuan, you can do it!"

At that time, Guan Zeyuan was a sophomore in college.

Because he frequently uploaded his commentary videos online, he caught the attention of the PLU manager, who invited him to do a two-month internship as a commentator during the summer vacation.

Guan Zeyuan has always had a deep interest in games. He was a professional Warcraft III player before, but he didn't achieve any significant results.

He then transitioned to making video commentary.

Now that Guan Zeyuan has been invited by PLU to commentate on the most popular game, League of Legends, he naturally has no reason to refuse.

Today is his first time doing a live online commentary.

Today's match is a semi-final of the XCS League.

XCS League is the first officially authorized online professional league in China, organized by futu Media with the approval of Tencent and the authorization of L.ACE Alliance.

The participating teams include 24 teams from LPL and LSPL, and six other top professional teams from the L.ACE alliance, for a total of thirty teams.

The match that Guan Zeyuan will be commentating on today also has a certain amount of exposure, because one of the teams in this match is the LPL team, Royal Club, the runner-up of last season's World Championship, and they are facing off against a team from the LSPL, King.

Normally, it wouldn't be too difficult for Guan Zeyuan to commentate on a strong LPL team playing against an LSPL team.

But he never expected that today's match would be so intense!

Royal Club, a strong team in the LPL, actually lost to King, a team from the LSPL, in the very first game!

The young Guan Zeyuan had never anticipated this situation. He had already planned how to hype up star players UZI and insec for this match.

As a result, the royal family caught him completely off guard.

So much so that, at one point, he didn't know how to make amends for the various incredible mistakes made by the Royal Club while he was on the commentary desk.

Fortunately, his luck wasn't too bad today, because his partner was truly outstanding.

"Young man, don't be nervous. You should know that anything can happen in professional esports."

His partner handed him a bottle of water.

Guan Zeyuan respectfully accepted the water and said:

"I really didn't expect the match to turn out like this; it was quite unexpected."

Having been a college student himself, Guan Zeyuan understood some social etiquette, so he spoke again:

"It's a good thing that Brother Zhou was here today, otherwise I feel like there would have been a live broadcast disaster."

Standing next to him is his good partner, Zhou Li, the jungler for WE.A, who is currently a rising star in the Chinese League of Legends scene.

Zhou Li was quite surprised that the organizers had invited him to be the commentator.

It's probably because this is the first authorized online professional league in China, and the organizers wanted to attract more traffic and popularity. The commentary fee they gave Zhou Li was not low. It was funded by the emerging platform Zhanqi TV, and the commentary fee for a single game was 100,000 yuan.

It's worth noting that the XSC champion's prize money is only 300,000 yuan. Now, all he has to do is stand in the commentary booth, brag a few times, and chat about his life, and he can transfer the money while standing there. Why not?

Moreover, Zhou Li knew that commentating on XCS might even lead to some spectacular matches that would go down in history.

Thinking about all this, Zhou Li was also somewhat moved.

Although he will be facing a major competitor like Samsung White in S4, he is experiencing unprecedented excitement as a fan.

Compared to his previous villainous roles, this season he has transformed into a "savior" in the eyes of most people.

No wonder UZI, the king without a championship, can be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Fans really are the primary source of productivity.

Zhou Li patted Guan Zeyuan on the shoulder and said with a smile:

"Young man, go out and see more of the world and gain some experience. You'll know that there are all kinds of birds in a big forest, and nothing is surprising after a while. Who knows what might happen next that will be even more outrageous."

Guan Zeyuan stared blankly at Zhou Li as he left.

Royal Club got crushed by an LSPL team, and he even suspected that Royal Club was fixing the match. Could something be more outrageous?

Moreover, he suddenly realized that as a sophomore, he was at least in his twenties, while Zhou Li was only eighteen.
Why do I feel like a little brother in front of this person?
Guan Zeyuan sighed, unable to help but feel a pang of emotion. Perhaps this was the difference between people.

"Xiao Guan, what are you daydreaming about! Come up on stage, the competition is about to start!"

Upon hearing the staff member's words, Guan Zeyuan nodded repeatedly, ran up to the commentary booth, and stood with Zhou Li.

"No matter what, standing next to Brother Zhou makes me feel warm and safe."

Guan Zeyuan glanced at Zhou Li and, seeing the other's calm demeanor, felt his tension ease considerably.

"Welcome back, viewers watching the live stream! You are now watching the semifinals of the 2014 XCS League! The two teams facing off are King from the LSPL League and Royal Club from the LPL League!"

"In the first match that just ended, Team King showed their dark horse potential, unexpectedly defeating Royal Club and winning the game. This match uses a best-of-three (BO3) format, meaning that if Team King wins this match, they will successfully advance to the finals!"

After Guan Zeyuan finished his announcement, he looked at Zhou Li.

"Brother Zhou, we know that in the previous match, you led WE.A to defeat EDG again and became the first team to enter the finals. Do you think your next opponent in the finals will be King or Royal Club?"

Hearing Guan Zeyuan's words, Zhou Li smiled and said:

"I think Royal Club lost the first game most likely because they underestimated their opponents. After all, Royal Club has spent a lot of money this season, hiring two Korean players, including the world's best Lee Sin player Insec, plus UZI. Royal Club's chances of winning were quite high."

Guan Zeyuan nodded, feeling that Zhou Li's prediction was the same as his own, and continued:

"We can see that both sides have now entered the champion selection phase! Royal Club immediately locked in Lucian, giving Uzi a very strong ADC that he excels at and that is also very powerful in this version!"

"And Royal Club has also locked in Lee Sin! Insec's Lee Sin, the world's best blind player! It's clear that Royal Club is getting serious at this crucial moment in a do-or-die game!"

Seeing that the royal family had secured such a lineup, Guan Zeyuan felt a little relieved.

Royal Club's two core players have both picked their signature heroes, so there shouldn't be any problems in this match, right?

After KING finished their champion selection, the moment the selection power returned to Royal Club, Guan Zeyuan saw UZI on the fourth floor immediately pick Vayne!
Zhou Li's smile was barely concealed.

"VN!"

Guan Zeyuan quickly spoke up:

"Uh, this is probably just a joke. We already have Lucian here, so it's unlikely we'll get Vayne."

Zhou Li, on the other hand, made a joke.

"I think it might be Lee Sin top lane, or Lucian jungle. Do you think that's possible?"

Upon hearing Zhou Li's words, Guan Zeyuan was taken aback, thinking to himself, "Brother, please don't cause trouble."

"Uh, that's unlikely. How can Lucian jungle?"

However, as the timer for selecting champions ticked away, UZI's Vayne pick remained unchanged.

Guan Zeyuan's eyes widened, and he instinctively shouted anxiously:
"Aren't you going to switch? We've already locked in Yasuo, but this Vayne... there's no time left, aren't you going to switch?!"

"Confirmed!!!" (*)

Guan Zeyuan looked blankly at Zhou Li beside him and murmured:

"Is it stuck? It must be stuck, right? If there's a problem with the online competition, will there be a rollback?"

However, Zhou Li, who was standing to the side, was smiling the whole time without saying a word.

Guan Zeyuan was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, and could only try to smooth things over himself.

"Um, it seems like the game is stuck, but it doesn't look like they're going to restart it?"

Zhou Li, who had been silent until now, finally spoke.

"Did the team members have disagreements when selecting players?"

Upon hearing Zhou Li's words, Guan Zeyuan continued to demonstrate his professionalism, attempting to prove his understanding of the game and his commentary skills, and trying to smooth things over.

"This... I don't think it's a team disagreement. Royal's last move was to lock in the vampire... Let's see if they make a substitution!"

Zhou Li could no longer suppress the smile on his face.

"Ah, this looks like a top lane Vladimir, a jungle Lucian, and a support Lee Sin!"

Guan Zeyuan hurriedly spoke up:

"No, no! It should need to be replaced!"

After he finished speaking, his tone became somewhat doubtful.

"Should we switch? Uh, no, we're not switching... Wow, is Royal Club unleashing their ultimate move this time? Wow, it seems like Royal Club couldn't hold back after being defeated by King in the first game."

"No restart, locked! Top lane Vladimir, Jungle Lucian, Mid lane Yasuo, ADC Vayne, Support Lee Sin!" (*)

As Guan Zeyuan spoke, he felt his hands trembling slightly.

He never expected that his first time commentating on a match would lead to such an outrageous situation.

At this moment, the live stream chat was filled with question marks.

【? ? ? ? 】

【what's the situation? 】

Holy crap! Lucian jungle!

[This is hilarious! What an abstract lineup!]

[The royal family has unleashed a powerful move!]

[There must be something in Insec, let's trust it for now!]

"Actually, I'm really scared right now, you know... This is the first time I've ever seen a lineup like this, and I don't dare to say it right now... This lineup, I feel... If you really want me to analyze for everyone what makes it strong... I can't analyze it... But if you say this lineup was randomly picked, a team like Royal Club wouldn't pick it randomly, right?"

He looked at Zhou Li beside him and suddenly realized what was going on.

Yeah, isn't the guy next to me the strongest jungler in the country right now?

So he quickly asked for help: "Brother Zhou! Brother Zhou must know, what do you think this Lucian jungle strategy is? Is it a playstyle that has recently become popular or been developed by professional players?"

Zhou Li hissed, scratched his head, and looked equally puzzled.

"I don't know, maybe it's a new strategy from Korea? Anyway, let's believe it for now, Insec will definitely give us a great performance! And Uzi is playing his signature champion Vayne! Since things have come to this, let's just trust him!"

Seeing Zhou Li's appearance, Guan Zeyuan felt increasingly uneasy.

For some reason, no matter how he looked at Zhou Li, he felt that the other party clearly knew everything but was keeping quiet, as if he was harboring a lot of bad intentions.

(End of this chapter)