Rebirth is fine, but I get eight hundred dollars right from the start?

The LPL preseason qualifiers have ended.

Following HWG, a total of six teams—IG, PE, L_H, WOA Dawn Wings, and OMG—have secured their spots on the inaugural league roster.

Just as Lin Shu led his team back to the club in a leisurely manner and gathered around a hot pot of mutton slices, the outside world was already swept up in an overwhelming wave of discussion about HWG's exaggerated performance in the preseason.

The first to be affected was naturally Tieba (Baidu's online forum).

A featured and pinned post, displayed prominently in red at the very top of the homepage—

[The LPL preseason has concluded, and the final six teams have been confirmed. How would you evaluate HWG's superhuman performance?]

OP: As the title says, the preseason qualifiers for the League of Legends Chinese Pro League concluded yesterday. The results were pretty much what everyone expected, with no major discrepancies.

However, during the qualifying rounds, a slightly unexpected incident occurred.

Yes, anyone who watched the game should know who I'm talking about.

Group A, HWG.

That's the team that our top player in the Chinese server, Emperor, said in his livestream that he "would form his own team to play professionally."

It is obvious that from the announcement of the team formation to the official establishment and participation in the competition, the time it took for this team to be formed was no more than two months. However, this "newbie" team has shown extremely terrifying dominance in the competition.

In the selection competition, they won all six matches!

Among them, IG, LGD and OMG all suffered defeats when they encountered them!

In the qualifying rounds, they won all three matches!

Huayi, DF, L, and H—without exception, they were all thoroughly thrashed. None of the three matches lasted more than twenty minutes.

Even more terrifying is that Emperor, the absolute core of HWG, has a staggering 97 kills, just three kills away from achieving 100 kills.

As for his KDA... I won't mention it, I'm afraid it might scare the kids.

The original poster remembers how many people mocked Emperor when he first announced his intention to go pro – saying things like, "A random player like him doesn't understand the depths of the professional scene," and "Being a king in ranked games doesn't mean you can be just as arrogant on the competitive stage."

What now?

Does your face hurt?

That's all I have to say. Feel free to come and argue in the comments section.

Reply to the comments section:

[Front row sofa!]

[One seat available!]

How to describe it? I can only say, I was terrified!

[I was genuinely terrified. HWG's intensity is a bit excessive. It doesn't feel like a competitive match; it feels like they're smurfing.]

I never imagined that one day I would find professional matches easier than a 1900-point game against a 1500-point player.

Where are those people who said Emperor would get utterly crushed in his professional career? Come out here and show yourselves! @TiebaProphet

To be fair, given the macro-level understanding, game aptitude, and leadership skills displayed in Emperor ranked matches, even if a professional player's skill level increases, they wouldn't necessarily struggle to adapt. They are players who truly understand the game.

[The key issue is that his ability to coach the team is just too outrageous, isn't it? Let's not even talk about top laner Tale and jungler LN, these two are E-God's protégés, they're already the best examples of E-God's teaching ability. The most outrageous thing is the bot lane duo, Laozei and Xiaobai, who were just high-elo players in solo queue before, but now their dominance is like they've become completely different people.]

[Two months, guys, from nothing to something, how did you manage to do it?]

How did they do it? Bro, let me put it this way. Besides E-God, their core player who's practically unstoppable, HWG's training intensity is also the highest in the entire region. I'm not surprised at all that they can perform like this against teams like Wayi and DF, who mainly rely on unorthodox methods.

[The training intensity is the highest in the entire region? Dude, is this melon ripe? How do you know?]

Let me put it this way: my brother went to HWG club for a tryout, and guess what? That idiot was so scared of the club's management rules and training schedule prepared by E-God that he ran away. Now, seeing how the HWG players performed after training, he's kicking himself.

[They were scared away by the management regulations and training arrangements, huh?]

[I'll scare you away with the details!! Don't keep me in suspense!]

In short, athletes train for over ten hours a day and are not allowed to smoke or drink alcohol.

How much? How much do you want?

[More than ten hours!!!]

Here's a training schedule for you to figure out.

[Let me see... 10 AM to 1:30 AM? ??? No, what is this???]

I thought working from 8 am to 6 pm was already ridiculous enough, but I never imagined there were even more experts out there.

Is this still playing a game? It's more like going to jail!

[Friendly reminder to the person upstairs: Inmates in my country are never subjected to such intense work schedules.]

Putting everything else aside, if you asked me to play games intensively in front of the computer for over ten hours, I'd definitely throw up.

Scrolling further down, almost all the popular comments with a lot of replies were dominated by the topic of "HWG training intensity".

It can only be said that in S3, when even the training system was not yet fully formed, Lin Shu's training plan for HWG was far ahead of its time—not only were ordinary players shocked, but even countless professional clubs found it unbelievable.

……

"...This is a dragon that has crossed the river."

At the WE headquarters, boss Pei Le turned off his computer and rubbed his temples vigorously.

The screen was still lit, and the page of the pinned post on the forum was frozen in front of me.

With his eyes closed, he compared HWG's performance in these matches with that of his own team, WE, and then—a rather terrifying thought surfaced.

"Abu," Pei Le opened his eyes and looked at the equally serious coach beside him, "Tell me, in the main tournament... can we handle HWG?"

Abu remained silent for a full five or six seconds.

"Um, boss, do you want to hear the truth or a lie?"

"Tell a lie first."

"The lie is—" Abu carefully considered his words, "Our WE team just won the IPL5 championship, and our morale is high. Plus, we've been a team for longer, so our players have more experience and better teamwork. If we can drag the game into the late-game team fights, we still have a very good chance of winning."

"I see..."

Pei Le exhaled a heavy breath.

lie.

It's still a bunch of lies with prefixes and conditions—they all say it has to be "dragged into team fights," and it's only "very likely."

"Competitive sports... are fucking brutal."

Pei Le felt an indescribable sense of frustration. It was as if God was deliberately working against him—his team had just won the world championship and was riding high, and the domestic professional league was about to be completed, with the club poised for takeoff.

Okay.

Unrivaled in the world.

An enemy descended from the sky.

"Never mind." Pei Le took a deep breath and adjusted his mindset. "We did anticipate Emperor's potential—he would play professionally and pose a threat to us. It's just that now, that threat has become a reality instead of a thought."

He paused, then asked, "By the way, that HWG training scheme that's been circulating online... can we replicate it?"

Abu: "..."

silence.

"...It's also very difficult."

"Why? Our team's management is already based on discipline as a matter of course. Learning from HWG is just being stricter..."

Abu thought for a moment and felt that when there were some problems that he, as a coach, couldn't handle, it might be better for the boss to step in: "It's a bit of a problem with the players..."

"If we increase the training volume, Mingkai and Juanmao shouldn't have much of a problem, and Strawberry can keep up after finishing her family matters," Abu said, his voice lowering. "It's just... Smile and Ruofeng."

"A smile? Ruofeng?"

Pei Le frowned, her heart skipping a beat.

A few minutes later.

After hearing Abu's words, Pei Le's already somewhat distressed face turned completely gloomy.

Depend on.

What kind of situation is this?

The emergence of HWG as an unexpected enemy was already a major headache for him. Now things are even worse—not only are there formidable external enemies, but even his own team's once "invincible" player might be at risk.

If there are no problems, fine. But if there are problems, especially if both of the most important components, C, fail together?

What does it mean when an AD carry is addicted to mobile games, and a mid laner is considering retiring and selling meat floss?

have to.

Why worry about not being able to compete for a mid-lane spot at the All-Star Game? Just give up now.