Chapter 23: A Whole Pitfall for My Uzi
(Page 1/3)
Another day of hard work passed by.
Time quickly arrived at January 18th. With the continued surge in popularity of a certain LPL player’s "double-roam" incident, the highly anticipated LPL Spring Split officially kicked off.
Two heavyweight matches were scheduled for the opening day: RNG vs. IM at 5:00 PM, and EDG vs. VG at 7:00 PM.
The two most popular teams, represented by "Pig" (Clearlove) and "Dog" (Uzi), were both making their full-roster debuts.
At 5:00 PM, inside the Shanghai Joy City Arena, there wasn't a single empty seat.
"Let’s go, RNG!"
Amidst a deafening, one-sided roar of support, Summoner’s Rift descended, and the battle between RNG and IM officially began.
Simultaneously, the players from the EDG eSports Club arrived outside the venue.
The club had quite a large entourage this time. Besides the starting five and the coach, there was Aaron (the manager), Xiao Tie (who served as team lead and translator), and two other staff members.
The area outside the venue was incredibly chaotic. Hundreds upon hundreds of "Piglets" (EDG fans) swarmed the walkways, their eyes looking as if they wanted to devour the players whole.
Lin Ruo was sensible enough to stay far away from the two major fan-magnets, Meiko and Scout, and squeezed into the venue ahead of everyone else.
Looking back, only the clueless Fireloli was still trailing behind Meiko, getting shoved around.
"There are just too many people," said Mouse, the second to break through the siege, sweat beading on his forehead. After catching his breath inside the venue, he couldn't help but feel relieved: "I’m telling you, it’s a good thing Clearlove didn’t come. If he had, we really wouldn't have made it inside for at least half an hour."
After this small episode, the group successfully reached their lounge inside the venue.
On the screen, the epic clash between RNG and IM was being broadcast.
Lin Ruo, however, wasn't paying much attention. Instead, he stood in a corner and mimicked Clearlove’s signature pose: "If my calculations are correct, this should be the exact spot where Clearlove did his famous 'bear-hand shrug' during last year’s summer split. Where’s Meiko? Come over here and take a photo for me to check in."
Meiko, being called out, rolled his eyes and hid on the sofa to play with his phone.
The naive Mouse chimed in to correct him: "Your posture is wrong. You have to touch your nose first, and then do the shrug."
This comment made Scout laugh, as the scene from last year was still fresh in his memory.
After sweating through a grueling series against WE that dragged on to a fifth game, they lost. If they couldn't even get past those b*stards at WE, what chance did they have at the World Championship?
Aaron, unable to stand their childishness, put his hands on his hips and let out a sharp, authoritative growl: "Can you all be serious for a second? That wasn't even this room last year. Stop messing around."
"Oh, so it wasn't this room," Lin Ruo scratched his head. He had wanted to check in and post it on Weibo for some abstract humor. Oh well, never mind.
The crowded training room finally quieted down.
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Unfortunately, it didn't last long. A sudden cry from Fireloli broke the silence: "Holy crap, RNG lost the first game!"
The others, who had been busy with their phones, all lifted their heads to look at the post-game stats on the screen.
RNG had been steamrolled in just 27 minutes, losing with a kill score of 5:15.
The room fell into stunned silence.
Although IM was last year’s third seed for Worlds, it was still quite shocking to see them take the first game against RNG so easily.
Meiko adjusted his glasses: "RNG’s form today is off. They’re not actually going to lose, are they?"
"They’re probably just testing the waters in the first game. RNG should win the next two," Mouse shook his head, offering his analysis.
Lin Ruo stroked his chin in thought. He remembered that in the 2017 LPL Spring Split, RNG’s first regular-season series did indeed end in a loss.
And it was a clean 2:0 sweep.
In the second game, the IM jungler, Ben4, secured a quadra-kill, completely dismantling RNG.
"Isn't it normal for RNG to lose? Their top laner, Letme, and support, Ming, are both rookies. They need a transition period," Fireloli said slowly.
Aaron’s eyes suddenly widened, looking like he was about to eat someone.
Realizing his mistake, Fireloli quickly covered his mouth. He had almost forgotten that their own team also had two rookies.
Wasn't this just a roundabout way of cursing themselves?
After a 15-minute break, the second game between RNG and IM began.
To everyone’s surprise, after 25 minutes of posturing, RNG fell into a disadvantage once again.
It started when IM pressured the second-tier turret, and RNG attempted to counter-engage.
Thanks to a perfect ultimate from Rumble and precise sniping from Uzi in the back, two members of IM were left at low health. It was the perfect moment for a counter-attack.
However, Xiaohu, who had popped Ghost, attempted to Flash in to secure the kills. Unexpectedly, he walked straight into a hook from the enemy Thresh. The Ryze didn't even get a single ability off before being blown up at full health.
The retreating IM seized the opportunity to counter-attack, trading zero for two and taking the second-tier turret, effectively taking the lead in gold.
As trained professionals, they usually wouldn't laugh, unless they couldn't help it.
The lounge instantly erupted in laughter.
"Mid-Tiger" had contributed another hilarious moment.
Meiko was laughing his head off, but when he saw the dark expression on Lin Ruo’s face, he stopped.
A moment later, Lin Ruo slammed the table in anger: "That b*stard Xiaohu is sabotaging my Uzi again! Is he even human?"
Fireloli touched his face: "You’re actually a fan of Uzi?"
"Of course. I’m a genuine, die-hard Uzi fan," Lin Ruo curled his lip. "I can’t take this anymore, I’m going to the bathroom."
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Meiko looked skeptical: "He’s always acting weird; he’s definitely going to the bathroom to secretly laugh."
At the competition site, as IM’s lead grew, the audience fell into a deathly silence.
The chat in the official stream reached a fever pitch, with the "haters" having a field day.
[Mid-Tiger is here to wish everyone a Happy New Year in advance.]
[If the Spring Festival Gala doesn't have Xiaohu performing his comedy routine, I'm not watching.]
[Hey you across the way, stop right there! You think you can leave without me killing you?]
[So you're the one they call RNG? Weren't you guys acting pretty arrogant before the match?]
[My teammates are all trash, how is my Uzi supposed to play?]
[Another year of Uzi carrying four burdens. He should run away during the Summer Split.]
[Run? He should just kick the other four out after the match. He’ll never win a championship with these teammates.]
[An RNG without Korean imports is just a pile of crap. Trying to build an all-Chinese roster? Keep dreaming.]
Back at the player booths, although they couldn't see the toxic chat, the tension had already risen significantly.
"I can’t play like this. I really don’t know how to play when it’s like this."
"My bad, my bad." Hearing Uzi’s complaints, a guilty Xiaohu apologized profusely.
Uzi looked at his 4-1 score, then at his top, mid, and jungle—none of whom had a positive record—and remained unimpressed. The anger in his heart was still burning.
But since they were still in the game, and with Ming trying to smooth things over, he didn't explode, opting to wait until they were back in the lounge.
Before long, with a spectacular quadra-kill from the Lee Sin, RNG had no hope of a comeback.
At the 33rd minute, IM successfully destroyed RNG’s nexus, taking a 2:0 victory and winning their first match of the new season.
Having defeated the high-flying RNG, the neighboring player booth was beaming with joy.
Top laner AJ hugged his teammates frantically: "Boys, was my Maokai good or what?"
In contrast...
The camera panned to Uzi, who was packing his things, his face already flushed red.
As for the other culprit, "Mid-Tiger," he snuck a glance at Uzi and bolted faster than anyone else.