Luo Zhen refused to believe it. As a Transmigrator, even if he couldn't beat those old bastards in one season, could he still not beat them after grinding for two?
Grinding Old Man Ao onstage?
Wrong. Starting today, he was going to grind every opposing player to death from offstage!
Seeing Luo Zhen work himself this hard, veteran players like Karsa and Rookie couldn't help worrying about his health. The two exchanged a glance and ultimately decided that Karsa would be the one to talk him down.
"Xiao Zhen, you're playing scrims again? Take a break. Go check out some pretty girls, okay?"
"So annoying~"
"I'm talking to you. Are you even listening?"
Luo Zhen raised his head, glanced at Karsa standing beside him, then noticed Rookie watching from not far away. Knowing he probably couldn't bluff his way through this time, he thought for a moment and switched tactics.
"Silence, wench! I do not wish to be horny anymore."
"Thank you, Dog... Wait, no. I'm seriously talking to you here. Pointlessly increasing your training workload won't help." As Karsa said this, he even felt a little hypocritical.
Back when he was on TES, he nagged their AD to practice every day. Now that he'd switched teams and come to V5, he was instead urging an AD to rest.
"Rookie, say something."
"Yeah, Xiao Zhen. Pointlessly ramping up your training isn't going to help. We're all human, and as long as we're human, our bodies have limits."
"But we're playing IG next."
"Ahem. Humans may have limits, but at crucial moments, we can afford to be a little less human. So, duo queue? Count me in."
Karsa: ???
V5's fourth Regular Season opponent was finally the IG that Chicken Boss had been longing for. No one even needed to provoke him—Rookie instantly turned serious the moment he heard the name IG.
It made sense.
He had originally planned to retire in IG, one man, one team. Yet during the final window of the Transfer Period, he was inexplicably stabbed in the back. If V5 hadn't still been searching the transfer market for a mid laner at the time, Rookie might have ended up with no games to play in S12.
Thus, when Coach Homme returned to the training room once more, he found Rookie and Luo Zhen queueing up game after game of RANK like possessed men, tireless and relentless, while Karsa stood nearby with an awkward smile.
Hong Mi: ???
As everyone knew, old IG had successfully been torn into five factions by the lavish handiwork of a certain card-inserting king, Su X Luo:
IG Team Soul faction—V5
IG popularity faction—WBG
IG Rogue Ninja faction—TES
IG Substitute faction—TT
As for what remained, that was simply IG itself being done for.
IG's newly rebuilt roster deserved a mention here as well. After personally pushing out the veterans and reconstructing the lineup, they had naturally drawn the anticipation of countless viewers and commentators, all waiting for the day the old guard returned for revenge. As the "villains," they naturally had to make an appearance first.
Top laner Zika was a rookie with quite the reputation. Rumor had it that he was IG's next Theshy, and Doinb had sworn that this was true. Before joining IG, he had even been involved in some drama with TT, but he ultimately ended up under Su X Luo's banner. His strengths were solid fundamentals and mechanics; his weaknesses were his youth and tendency to get carried away. His Team Fight ability was also quite respectable. He was indeed a good Raw Material.
As for results? His future looked promising.
Jungler Xun was a jungler lacking a big heart—at least for now. It was hard to see any standout performances from him when playing Against the Wind, and his personal style was rather ordinary. Style could be reflected through data, and his data was particularly interesting: even when his team was behind, his numbers still looked great. That meant he rarely took on the responsibilities of a Sacrifice Role or Engage Support.
He might perform in a Jungle Core meta, but in a tempo-oriented meta... he was usable, at best.
Mid laner Yuekai was the most diehard of diehard RNG fans. He had spent three years as a Substitute, training both mid and top for RNG and RYL. Then, when his three-year term expired, he ran to IG for the Dragon King's return. In truth, he was decent, but in an era where every LPL mid laner was a Compulsive Worker, he still fell somewhat short.
The bot lane of AHN and LUCAS was currently their weakest lane. The AD had played in the LPL before but performed only average. As for the support... he wasn't even as good as Baolan. When it was confirmed that he had been selected for IG's starting roster, Baolan's fans even gave him a small wave of backlash. The general consensus was that he ranked among the bottom three supports.
This IG didn't seem to have any particularly strong points, but because it was IG, the entire V5 group took them especially seriously. This extreme focus on a particular thing was like military enthusiasts from different countries favoring different eras, such as:
Nordic military enthusiasts: the medieval era
Western European military enthusiasts: the Renaissance
Eastern European military enthusiasts: the industrial era
Chinese military enthusiasts: babayetu
With such a clear opponent before them, not only the Double C but everyone else on the team was fired up as well. Karsa and Rookie even made a gentleman's agreement.
Rookie: Karsa, I'll help you beat TES. I'll carry.
Karsa: Rookie, I'll help you beat IG. I'll carry.
See? The Avengers had risen. Even 369 said he wanted in, since he also had a score to settle with TES.
Seeing such morale and such a lineup, Luo Zhen almost wanted to tell IG to hurry up and surrender.
My mid laner is a World Champion, my jungler is an MSI Champion, my top laner is an MSC Champion. V5 has three champions across four lanes, renowned throughout the LPL. What does IG have to fight me with?
This was what it meant to be a prestigious team!
I'm Actually Pretty Socially Anxious
A few days later...
It was here, it was here—the revenge day I loved most had arrived.
Come back and watch the live-action version of Ye Qiu. We're taking off!
Rookie (darkened version): I will destroy everything IG has.
Attention, all Incheon people. My name is Allen Song Eui-jin. I am using the power of 2018 Incheon to address all Incheon people: Incheon had already been dismantled by IG, and the players of Incheon had begun to advance. My goal was to protect the Incheon people. Yet this IG wished to destroy 18 Incheon. Not only this team—they would surely exterminate all Incheon people. I refused to accept this future. The players of Incheon would march forward with thunderous steps, flattening IG until they became 2-15.
Before the match had even begun, the Bullet Comments in the livestream had already started making memes.
Countless viewers had high expectations for today's revenge match. Other teams seeking revenge usually involved players who had been properly traded away, but IG's treatment of Rookie had nearly left him without any matches to play at all.
The difference was enormous.
Considering V5's raw roster strength, countless viewers were highly confident they would take a 2-0 today.
"There are quite a lot of people here to watch today." The moment he entered, PPGOD sensed the noise flowing from the crowd inside the venue. Clearly, today's match had drawn far too many Incheon people.
"Hey, stop playing. We're here."
PPGOD shook Luo Zhen, who was engrossed in a mobile game beside him. Only after shaking him hard several times did he finally pull Luo Zhen's attention away from his phone screen.
Yes, in order to divert Luo Zhen's attention and stop him from overtraining, Hong Mi had unusually given Luo Zhen permission to play games.
Of course, mobile games only, and with strict time limits.
But for Luo Zhen, that was more than enough. These days, three-dimensional women could empty your wallet, destroy your sanity, and some could even strike you with the terrifying mental arts of PUA. Their tricks were varied and terrifying.
But two-dimensional women were different.
With two-dimensional women, he could most directly enjoy thighs and boobs. As long as he stayed away from A Dream of Jianghu, Three Kingdoms Kill, and Naruto, there wasn't a mobile game under heaven he couldn't play.
As for why those three were excluded?
Well, simply put, he couldn't afford to play them.
"Look at you. There are eight planets, seven continents, 204 countries, 809 islands, and 7.5 billion people in this world. Even Brother Ka walked out of the two-dimensional world and found a girlfriend, yet you fell in love with someone who doesn't exist?"
"Wrong. She does exist." Luo Zhen put away his phone and said to PPGOD with a serious expression, "She exists in my heart. And there's more than one of her."
"No, aren't you embarrassed saying that out loud in public?" PPGOD was dumbfounded. Had this guy gone stupid from practicing too much these past few days? Was that really something he could say so calmly in public?
"Of course I am. I'm actually pretty socially anxious."
"Is it possible—and I'm just saying possible—that social anxiety means being afraid of society, not making society afraid of you?"
"Huh?"
The moment Luo Zhen stepped off the bus and stood in the open space, he suddenly felt a long-lost sense of freedom.
These past few days, in order to make up for the emptiness he felt after getting completely crushed that night, he had practically trained in the practice room day and night. After staying indoors for so long, coming out to breathe some fresh air once in a while really did feel nice.
Very soon.
As the V5 group officially entered the venue, an indescribable Avengers-like aura slowly emerged.
Mainly because V5's uniforms happened to be black, which instantly gave them the feeling.
When it came time for the pre-match interview, considering the buzz surrounding this series, Luo Zhen decided to go all out. While everyone else recorded their Trash Talk, he pulled a stunt of his own, even personally submitting the prank subtitles:
I am the storm that is approaching
Standing here, I realize
Provoking black clouds in isolation
You and I are the same, both trying to change history
I am reclaimer of my name
But who can decide what is right and wrong?
Born in flames, I have been blessed
When we lower our defenses, I think we would all agree
My family crest is a demon of death
Violence begets violence
Forsakened, I am awakened,
In the end, we can only walk this path
When the arena began playing the players' actual pre-match Trash Talk, V5 members caught a few scattered English words and compared them to the words on the screen. They instantly felt something was off.
"Xiao Zhen, what exactly did all that stuff you said while filming mean?"
"Oh, it just represented Rookie Brother greeting the other side. Aren't there subtitles up there?"
"But the subtitles obviously have nothing to do with the English! They aren't even the same length!"
"It's just a simple greeting anyway. Don't worry about those details."
What a joke.
He had specifically cooked up this big stunt and even gotten approval from the team manager, all to capitalize on the Avengers revenge hype and draw more attention. If Rookie found out what he had actually said, wouldn't he be embarrassed enough to crawl under his chair in minutes?
Damn, if I couldn't understand English, those subtitles would have nearly fooled me.
This Trash Talk was great stuff!
Your withdrawn appearance onstage may be hard to watch, but the way you shine in Trash Talk is seriously handsome. This one gets a hundred points from me!
Oh no, V5 really were confirmed as Avengers now.
They already had the background buff, then the burning fighting spirit, and now they had even declared war through Trash Talk. Before IG versus V5 had even begun, people from all sides had already rapidly stoked its popularity to explosive levels.
Seeing this.
Rookie, who had originally planned to go a little easy on the other side in the first game, gradually became serious as well. At the same time, he felt rather helpless. Today's hype had arisen because of his own experience, and judging by the cheers from the audience after the Trash Talk promotional video ended, his AD had definitely said something inflammatory.
"Xiao Zhen, you've really given me a huge problem."
"Ah, when you play a match, you need a reason to fight for something. Don't you think this is cool?" Luo Zhen stood beside Rookie with a smile, looking utterly calm.
One man, one team, one city—how many men had once dreamed of such romance?
Precisely because he understood this, he understood even more clearly how much grief his mid laner must have felt when he was told to leave IG.
That was why he didn't regret it.
Rookie didn't get angry. Instead, he smiled and placed a hand on Luo Zhen's head, rubbing his hair vigorously just as Coach Homme did.
"It's not bad, but next time you pull something like this, remember to discuss it with your brothers first. At least give us time to prepare mentally. Besides, you left out two words at the end."
"Huh?"
"We aren't just lone Avengers. We are... the Avengers, aren't we?"
Courtesy Before Force
Before you continue