LPL History

Chapter 239 Qingfeng Angrily Slays Goryeo City, the Second Dragon Pit Shocks the World

Death's brief glance directly helped the team set a record for the fastest loss in this World Championship.

Zhou Li was already annoyed by the situation with Team B, and this former medical staff member dared to flex his muscles in front of him, which ignited Zhou Li's anger.

He played Nidalee jungle and ended the game in eighteen minutes.

With the conclusion of the match between WE.A and LMQ, their first round of the group stage at the S4 World Championship ended with a perfect record of three wins.

Finally, the first round of group stage matches concluded. The first-round rankings for Groups A and B were also released.

In Group A, WE.A firmly holds first place with a perfect record of three wins.

NJWS is ranked second with two wins and one loss.

LMQ is ranked third with one win and two losses.

Meanwhile, the European team FNC suffered a major upset in the group stage, losing all three of their matches.

In Group B, SSB also won all three matches and ranked first.

C9 is ranked second with two wins and one loss.

WE.B is ranked third with one win and two losses.

The other wildcard team, meanwhile, lost all three matches and finished last.

Fortunately, WE.B at least had the WE name on their team and benefited from Team A's outstanding performance; otherwise, they would have been subjected to a lot of online bullying.

9 month 20 day.

The third day of the S4 World Championship.

The team didn't give the players any rest time. After the first round, Groups A and B immediately began their second round of competition.

On this day, Team A only had one match against NJWS.

NJWS, which was highly anticipated by South Korean netizens, failed to bring honor to the Koreans in their rematch with WE.A, and instead suffered an even more crushing defeat.

Zhou Li, with his keen understanding of human nature, knew that NJWS was under immense pressure in this match and that surrendering was out of the question. So, he indulged in a thrilling game with a Rengar equipped with a Bonetooth Necklace and a Killer Sword.

The match lasted for 45 minutes, and the kill score reached a terrifying 27:7.

Zhou Li's lion dog single-handedly chopped off 17 heads, treating the five members of NJWS like pigs to be slaughtered.

One match brought tears to the eyes of countless Korean girls who came to support NJWS.

Some netizens even created a compilation of Korean girls' painful moments, which made netizens all over the world sigh that Korean makeup is really good, even though they cried so much their makeup didn't smudge.

Meanwhile, LPL fans have already started celebrating.

With Team A easily defeating NJWS, WE.A has effectively advanced to the quarterfinals.

Even if WE.A forfeits the next two matches, they will still have four wins.

Even if NJWS, who came in second place, defeats LMQ and FNC, they will only have four wins. According to the tournament rules, WE.A defeated NJWS twice, so there is no need for a tiebreaker. They will still enter the quarterfinals as the top team in Group A.

What excited LPL fans even more was the carnage this match delivered, which was truly a treat for the audience.

The fear of Korea that was left on the LPL during the All-Star game seems to have dissipated a lot because of this match.

With WE.A securing first place in their group and advancing to the World Championship, everyone's attention naturally turned to Team B in Group B.

Team B has two matches today: the first against a wildcard team, and the second against C9.

Under the spotlight, Team B finally held firm this time, defeating the wildcard team in 30 minutes and securing their second victory in the World Championship.

However, this victory did not bring much celebration.

For WE.B, securing a wildcard team is the most basic requirement.

Whether WE.B can successfully advance to the quarterfinals depends most importantly on their upcoming match against C9!
10 PM.

WE.B finally gets to face off against C9.

Team A backstage.

Zhou Li saw that Tabe, who had just returned, looked rather pale, and said:

"Thank you for your hard work, Tabe. Xiao Zhu, make a note of this and give Tabe a raise next month."

Upon hearing Zhou Li's words, Tabe's face instantly flushed.

It's not that he's greedy for money; Tabe got married early and started a family, so he did face considerable financial pressure.

"It's no trouble for you, Brother Zhou. This is what a coach should do. On the contrary, when we were in Team A, you did a lot of the duties that should have been the coach. To be honest, I had it too easy."

Zhou Li has been in charge of Team A's drafting and tactical training during this period, while Tabe has been assigned to Team B by Zhou Li.

Zhou Li nodded with satisfaction and said with a smile:

“Tabe, I’m very pleased that you have this awareness.”

Then he turned to Zhu Kai, who had just run over, and said:

"Since Coach Tabe has such awareness, I can't measure his value in money. Let's forget about the salary increase for now."

Tabe paused for a moment, opened his mouth, and gave an awkward laugh.

But inwardly, I wanted to slap myself.

Why does he have so many damn words?

He sat down next to Zhou Li with a hint of anticipation.

Based on Tabe's understanding of Zhou Li, although Zhou Li often makes some very excessive jokes, he will always tell you with a laugh afterwards, "I was just kidding."

So he hoped that Zhou Li would also say to him, "I was just kidding."

However, Tabe clearly still doesn't understand the Zhou rituals well enough.

In other matters, Zhou Li loved to joke.

However, Zhou Li never joked when it came to money.

So even after the two of them had been sitting on the sofa watching the WE.B vs. C9 match for over thirty minutes, Tabe still hadn't heard Zhou Li's next words.

He couldn't help but shift his position, feeling restless.

Why don't we bring it up with Zhou Li again?

Let's talk about how stupid the members of Team B are, and how hard it is to train them.

He knew how difficult his own life was, and he had a wife to support.

Tabe stared intently at the screen.

He knew that the prerequisite for making these demands was that Team B could beat C9.

Otherwise, it's all for nothing.

It's safe to say that at this moment, apart from gamblers, no one in the world wants Team B to win the game more than Tabe.

Thirty minutes into the game, the two teams were still evenly matched, with Team B holding a slight lead but not a significant advantage.

However, this is mainly due to the different styles of the two teams.

Although WE.B underwent modifications by Zhou Li and Tabe, Zhou Li did not develop them into a fast-push team like his own team, A. After all, to achieve that effect, the team first needs a player like Zhou Li who can directly dominate technically.

So Team B continued the style of its predecessor EDG, focusing more on macro-management. However, under the guidance of Zhou Li and Tabe, they improved their half-baked macro-management skills, which they had previously imitated from Korean teams.

Although C9 is a team from North America, unlike most North American teams, C9 has a very stable style and is the first North American team to systematically learn Korean-style operation.

So when these two teams meet, you can imagine that the match will be a rather dull one.

Zhou Li watched the match and spoke:

"The factory played quite aggressively today."

In their first encounter, EDG lost the game, and Clearlove (the player) can be largely blamed for that.

When it came to the World Championship, the factory manager started to show his cowardly behavior again.

C9 is also a team centered around their jungler, and in the previous game, Clearlove was completely outplayed. However, in this game, Clearlove clearly performed well, successfully counter-ganking the enemy jungler several times.

The key turning point of the game came at the 36th minute.

Factory's Lee Sin, using vision control, hit C9's ADC with his Q skill, and then cleanly and decisively used his R-flash to kick him back, causing the first cheer from the entire stadium in the match!

C9's ADC died instantly, and then EDG rushed in and wiped out C9 in one fell swoop, ending the game in one fell swoop!

"That was a good kick from the factory."

Seeing that Team B had successfully defeated C9 and won the third game, Zhou Li finally showed a satisfied smile.

Although the situation regarding qualification is still not entirely clear, at least we are not as passive as before.

Moreover, the team's ability to win consecutive matches and get back on track has also significantly boosted morale.

Seeing Zhou Li in such a good mood, Tabe, who had been struggling with the normal course of the match, spoke up:

"It's all thanks to Brother Zhou's excellent guidance."

Zhou Li smiled.

"Hey Tabe, don't be so modest. You've been in charge of Team B, that's all thanks to you."

Tabe's eyes lit up when he heard Zhou Li's words.

This is what you said!

Since it's my achievement, it seems natural for me to bring up the issue of a raise!

Just as Tabe was about to speak excitedly, Zhou Li suddenly changed his tone.

"But it's still quite difficult to qualify now."

“It should be alright,” Tabe thought for a moment and analyzed, “We and C9 both have three wins now. I just calculated that if we’re comparing point differential, C9 can’t beat us.”

Zhou Li looked at the preview for the next match between C9 and SSB, and said meaningfully:

"What if C9 beats SSB?"

“How is that possible?” Tabe laughed out loud. “Given SSB’s current performance in the World Championship, perhaps only our Team A can compete with them. C9’s strength is actually not that great. Team B lost to C9 in the last round entirely due to the players’ mistakes. In short, there’s no reason for C9 to beat SSB.”

Zhou Li paused for a moment, looked at Tabe, and slowly said:

"Is it unreasonable, or is it a lack of ability?"

Tabe paused for a moment, clearly not yet understanding what Zhou Li meant by those words.

Zhu Kai, who was standing nearby, came over and, somewhat disdainful of Tabe's stupidity, explained:
"What Brother Zhou means is that C9 really doesn't have the ability to beat SSB, but what if SSB deliberately throws the game?"

Zhu Kai's words made Tabe suddenly realize something, but then she showed a questioning look.

"No way, isn't that disgusting? And what good does this do to the SSB?"

"It's much more beneficial for SSB."

Zhou Li smiled and explained:
"If SSB deliberately loses to C9, then our B team must defeat SSB to enter the quarterfinals, otherwise we will be eliminated. SSB is extremely confident and certainly doesn't think they can lose to the B team. So in SSB's view, as long as they lose one game, they can eliminate an LPL team. As for why they would do this, you should understand."

Zhou Li's reputation in South Korea is now like that of a rat crossing the street, hated by everyone.

Team B is Zhou Li's team, which is no secret to outsiders.

Why not just lose one match to eliminate Zhou Li's team?
After all, if you act a little more convincingly, outsiders won't notice. In games, especially in competitions like this, a slight mistake can be easily covered up.

Even if C9 underperforms and makes SSB's acting full of flaws, so what?
Despite the outside world's harsh criticism, SSB is a team rooted in South Korea, and Koreans will only treat SSB as heroes.

"Besides, although this is disgusting, they are Koreans. What disgusting things won't Koreans do?"

Tabe still looked somewhat skeptical after hearing Zhou Li's words.

However, given the current situation, it's not appropriate to bring up the issue of salary increases now. We can only wait until SSB beats C9 and Team B's qualification prospects become clearer before bringing it up again.

And so, with a skeptical mindset, Tabe watched the game with Zhou Li.

SSB played extremely aggressively from the start, seemingly treating C9 as if they were nothing.

Twenty minutes in, SSB had a nine-kill lead and a five-thousand-gold lead in gold.

Tabe smiled and said:

"Brother Zhou, it seems you're overthinking it. SSB is playing even more aggressively than usual this time."

As he spoke, he glanced at Zhou Li, only to find that Zhou Li's expression was somewhat gloomy.

"As the coach, didn't you notice anything strange?"

"Strange place?"

Zhou Li gestured for Tabe to look at the economies of both sides.

"SSB has built such a big advantage in the early game, with a nine-kill lead, but after twenty minutes, their gold lead is only five thousand. Do you think that's normal?"

Zhou Li's words startled Tabe, then seemed to be a revelation, sending a chill down Tabe's spine.

Yes! Considering the Korean team's expertise in macro play, how come they only have a 5,000 gold lead despite gaining such a significant advantage early on?
No wonder he felt something was off about the match from the beginning, but couldn't quite put his finger on why.

"These stupid Koreans are obviously controlling the score. They're just in case. If they lose to Team B in the next match, then all three teams will have four points, and SSB can advance directly based on their net points."

Zhou Li's words shocked Tabe.

"This...this is too much scheming, isn't it?"

"When it comes to using shameless means to scheme against others, South Korea is undoubtedly number one in the world."

Tabe fell silent, still somewhat disbelieving what Zhou Li had said.

However, what happened next in the game completely surprised him.

With an absolute advantage, SSB suddenly started attacking Baron Nashor at the 24-minute mark.

Upon seeing C9 arrive, the usually disciplined SSB staged an extremely ugly team fight.

The AD carry and jungler are still fighting Baron Nashor in the pit.

The other three, however, chose to take the initiative and attack.

In a team fight, C9 emerged victorious and secured the Baron.

However, this resounding victory should be put in quotation marks.

Although SSB lost the team fight, they only lost one support player.

The other four players all escaped with low health.

At 27 minutes, with the Baron buff, C9 completely reversed their early economic disadvantage.

Thirty minutes later, a conflict broke out in the jungle on both sides. SSB was defeated again. After sacrificing their jungler, SSB escaped with all their remaining health at ridiculous low levels.

At 32 minutes, another team fight broke out between the two sides, with SSB scoring a 3-for-1 trade and racking up a number of kills.

However, what's outrageous is that after the team fight, SSB, who are usually good at it, didn't push out a single minion wave on any of the three lanes. Although they got two kills, they didn't get any other resources.

At 35 minutes, SSB's support was too slow, allowing C9 to take down their last second turret.

At 37 minutes, C9 grouped up and pushed onto the high ground. SSB put up a token resistance but then gave up the high ground.

At 39 minutes, SSB once again took the initiative to attack Baron!

C9's jungler secured Baron Nashor in the dragon pit with Smite and killed three SSB members!

Then the game ended in one fell swoop!
In the lounge, Tabe hadn't spoken for almost ten minutes.

He stared in astonishment, mouth agape, not even realizing his glasses had fallen onto his nose and he didn't bother to fix them.

This head coach, who is not tall and usually doesn't seem very masculine due to his accent, unleashed his masculine hormones in this moment with the simplest of words.

"Fuck your mother! Those damn bastards!"

(End of this chapter)