The moment Chu Ran saw that entry, he was utterly dumbfounded.
What use was Howling Abyss? That map would never be used in competitive matches.
This was a massive loss. He might as well have gotten a stat boost instead.
After thinking it over, Chu Ran figured the only time he would regularly encounter Howling Abyss was in ARAM—but who the hell last-hit in ARAM?
His left and right hands were controlling his brain now, huh?
"Good thing it's not the Rift, or wouldn't I turn into Left and Right Hands?" Chu Ran laughed awkwardly. At least that was a small blessing in disguise.
With that thought, Chu Ran quickly queued up for an ARAM game.
The moment he entered the game, he realized he had an overwhelming craving for minion waves, and the thought process behind last-hitting was crystal clear in his mind.
Then that desire shifted to the five enemies. In an instant, countless calculations filled Chu Ran's mind—how to kill them, whether he had enough damage.
Chu Ran discovered that the entry actually worked on enemy champions as well. He immediately darted through the enemy lineup like a dragon, prompting the opponents to greet him in Public Chat.
"Come on, bro, is this really necessary? You're even scripting in ARAM?"
"Never won a game in your life?"
"Damn, that's disgusting. This garbage national server bans skins instantly, but scripts just keep popping up!"
Within fifteen minutes, the entire enemy team's Red Temperature Value had peaked, and they quickly ended the match.
Chu Ran stared at the results screen, slightly taken aback.
"Huh?"
"Last-hitting is for increasing gold, and killing is also for increasing gold, so people are minions. I treated the enemy champions as minions to last-hit. Nothing wrong with that!"
Hiss—
Thinking of that, Chu Ran gasped in cold air and could only marvel at it.
This entry was actually a conceptual ability. It seemed it wasn't useless after all. At the very least, he could slaughter people in ARAM.
After queuing for a few more ARAM games, Chu Ran fell into a deep sleep.
The next day, he discussed moving out with his landlord. They argued over the security deposit for a while, but Chu Ran ultimately came out slightly ahead.
The deposit was only around a thousand yuan, but to Chu Ran, even one yuan was still money!
Only extreme frugality would allow him to live in Tomson Riviera someday.
So, on his way to EDG Club, Chu Ran sent Abu a message.
"Coach Abu, can I get reimbursed for the cab fare?"
"..."
Abu was speechless at Chu Ran's antics. How had he ended up this broke?
Did RNG dock its employees' wages?
Logically speaking, Chu Ran had been a substitute top laner on RNG's second team. The pay might not have been high, but it should still have been several thousand yuan.
With no other choice, Abu agreed to reimburse him. Chu Ran immediately got into a taxi and waved grandly. "Driver, Lingshi Road!"
After arriving at EDG Club, Abu personally came to greet him and had Chu Ran sign the contract first.
The salary was neither particularly high nor low—fifteen thousand yuan a month, on a six-month contract. Compared to the roughly eight thousand yuan most rookies earned at the time, Chu Ran's climb to rank one on the national server had earned him plenty of extra points. If he could reach rank one on the Korean server, it would probably double again.
Afterward, Abu led Chu Ran to his dorm room, which he would share with Deft and Ming Kai.
Most clubs actually had single rooms, but many clubs claimed they were saving costs while also building team chemistry, so players were generally assigned two or three to a room.
When they saw Chu Ran, Ming Kai and Deft clearly had completely different attitudes.
Deft enthusiastically taught Chu Ran many things to watch out for, such as not touching Ming Kai's belongings carelessly. He was just like an older brother doting on his younger brother.
"Thanks!"
Chu Ran had a very favorable impression of Deft. The title of esports succubus truly lived up to its reputation.
Ming Kai merely exchanged greetings with him and said nothing else.
However, at that moment, Ming Kai happened to browse through Chu Ran's Weibo and instantly burst out laughing. Then he asked, "Chu Ran, you start fights with Uzi on Weibo every day. Aren't you really afraid of getting flamed?"
"What's there to be afraid of? Trust me, walk your own path and let the Netizens talk. Do you think this is the LCK? Fan-controlled team and all that? These Netizens only dare curse a few times online. They wouldn't dare actually do anything."
Hearing that, Deft didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He understood the online atmosphere in the LCK.
Those angry fans really dared to send a Mud Truck after you. They were far more vicious than LPL Netizens.
Still, he reminded Chu Ran, "You should take it easy. If you offend them too badly, the club might blacklist you because of the public opinion environment. Those people might even go bombard your family."
"Huh?" Chu Ran froze. "It's fine. I'm an orphan."
As for public opinion, Chu Ran understood it clearly too. He had yet to show his own worth, so he could not start fights too ruthlessly yet.
Once he proved his value, not a single piece of trash in the LPL would escape. They would all become sheep for him to harvest Red Temperature Value from.
Ming Kai and Deft were both stunned. They gave Chu Ran a thumbs up. "You're invincible. You have no weaknesses."
Chu Ran's words made Ming Kai start thinking. Netizens were all calling him a weakling in international matches now. After all, he had been taught a lesson from both sides by Little Peanut that year. It was truly embarrassing on a global scale.
Sometimes, Ming Kai did not know why he became like this.
To be honest, he did not think he was bad. He really could win championships in the LPL, but at Worlds, it was as if he became a different person.
Could it be that he really cared too much about what Netizens thought?
Naturally, Chu Ran had no idea what Ming Kai was thinking. Still, after that conversation, his relationship with Ming Kai had grown much closer.
After resting casually for a while, it was soon time for training. Life at the club was rather dull and monotonous.
Chu Ran's outstanding performance earned repeated praise from Abu and the others, making Mosue feel a strong sense of crisis.
After several days, Chu Ran had become fairly familiar with everyone. He could crack jokes with Ming Kai whenever he had nothing to do, but he did not interact much with Scout. Scout played aggressively and domineeringly, and Chu Ran felt very uncomfortable whenever they trained together.
Sometimes, Chu Ran would ask Prince Ai Luoli to come help him Tower Dive, only for Scout to call Ale away with a single sentence.
Cao Pi's father-in-law got drunk—Zhen Ji's dad was drunk.
"Easy!"
Another scrim had ended. Chu Ran stretched and called out happily, "Tian Ye, what are we eating?"
"Braised chicken with rice." Meiko answered without even looking up. Perhaps because he and Chu Ran were close in age, their relationship was the best.
But Meiko was somewhat of a perfectionist. Whenever he trained with iBoy, he constantly picked at iBoy's faults.
That confirmed what Chu Ran had heard in his previous life about iBoy leaving EDG. With his mentality, he really could not accept Tian Ye's lecturing style. It only made him feel far too pressured.
"Say chicken, not 'okay.' Be civilized, you and me."
"Order one for me too."
"And me."
In a flash, the entire training room was filled with the fragrance of braised chicken with rice.
While they ate, Deft and Pawn began speaking Korean in a corner.
"What do you think, Wonseok? Are we still leaving?"
Pawn thought for a while, then turned his gaze toward Chu Ran and smiled. "You know, training with him feels really comfortable. There's no need to worry about top lane at all. You just need to look for opportunities to Tower Dive top. This guy is genuinely interesting."
"How about we play for another year? We haven't found teams in the LCK anyway."
Deft frowned deeply at that. A team had actually contacted him already—KT. He had also heard that RNG's support, Mata, would be joining KT. But Deft had required KT not to sign only him. If they wanted him, they had to sign Pawn too.
After hearing his condition, KT's management said they would consider it and give Deft an answer later.
"But if you stay here, you won't have many opportunities to be in the starting lineup."
Deft glanced at Scout. Ever since Pawn's back injury, EDG had been heavily developing Scout. Although their team's Worlds performance that year had been ugly, Scout had played quite well in that year's LPL season.
Under those circumstances, EDG would not abandon Scout. Besides, Pawn's back injury had not fully recovered.
Even if their Worlds performance was poor, there was a saying—going home in the quarterfinals was still better than staying home. As long as a player could lead the team to Worlds, that player had value to the team.
"Let's talk to him. What do you think of him?"
The "him" Pawn referred to was naturally Chu Ran. Deft smiled. "He's a very interesting person. He just likes posting on Weibo."
"Then you must be happy. He said you're Uzi's father, Priest. Look how pleased you are."
"No, no." Deft waved his hands repeatedly. "Then shall we go talk to him?"
"Sure."
A moment later, when Abu heard Deft and Pawn's thoughts, he was instantly overjoyed.
He did not understand what had made Deft and Pawn change their minds, but this was exactly what he wanted to see. Not only did he agree to renew their contracts for another year, he even gave them a slight raise. As for Pawn's request to have opportunities to be the starting mid laner, Abu agreed without hesitation.
When Ming Kai and the others learned that Pawn and Deft had renewed their contracts, they were all shocked. Only Scout's hand gripping the mouse trembled slightly as he became utterly dumbfounded.
What was going on?
He had thought that when next year's Spring Split began, his position as EDG's starting mid laner would be secure. Pawn was not leaving?
Was this a joke?
Fuck!
No one knew what Scout was thinking, except Chu Ran.
Looking at Scout's expression, Chu Ran felt that Scout had probably already started considering whether he should look for another team.
Just as Chu Ran was thinking that, Abu suddenly patted him on the shoulder, his voice slightly shrill. "Little Ran, you'll participate in the All-Star event in a while."
"Huh? Me, at All-Star? Is that appropriate?"
"What's inappropriate about it? The All-Star Solo Competition. Go show your face."
Before you continue