"Bang!"
A glass was hurled to the floor and shattered.
Su Xiaoluo's face was thunderous. Through gritted teeth, he cursed, "What the hell are they trying to do?! Fuck RNG! Fuck them!"
Nearby.
The IG players exchanged looks, equally incredulous.
All this over one match? Was it really necessary?
Had RNG lost their minds?
Anyone with eyes knew that Lu Chen had only played two games when he first joined RNG's youth academy, then been shelved as a benchwarmer.
How the fuck was he supposed to fix matches?!
To fix a match, you at least had to get to play in one!
Even West was at a loss. With Lu Chen unable to compete for a while, he could return to the starting lineup, but that hardly made him happy.
After all, West had seen just how terrifying Lu Chen's performances had been lately!
If he went onstage and played badly, people would hound him and flame him into oblivion!
At the end of the day.
He would lose his starting spot sooner or later.
Even without Chen Yu, there was still JackeyLove.
Without the ability to back it up, he could never hold on to a starting spot.
West had long since come to terms with that.
Being suddenly asked to play again actually left him feeling uneasy.
By contrast, Lu Chen sat calmly in his seat, as though he had expected this.
In truth, he was marveling inwardly too. A clash of two gods, all right. The people online really weren't wrong.
The two sides had simply changed.
Now it was a showdown between him, C God, and RNG, the Contract God.
"Don't worry, Lu Chen." Su Xiaoluo turned to reassure him. "I'll call the boss right now!"
With that, he hurried out, phone in hand.
The others in the practice room began chiming in to comfort Lu Chen, indignantly condemning RNG.
"It'll be fine, Chen. The officials will get to the bottom of this soon."
"Fucking idiots at RNG. Do they seriously think a trick like this will work?"
"They're just scared and don't dare play against you. Bunch of clowns."
"C God, just treat this as the offseason and get some rest. We'll make sure you get to the World Championship!"
"Ish okay, ish okay, Lu Chen. I shupport you!"
That last line had clearly come from TheShy.
Lu Chen looked around at them helplessly and spread his hands. "I'm touched that you're saying all this, but honestly, I'm really not worried."
His composure was rock solid. This was nothing.
After all, he really had spent two years in RNG's youth academy.
Getting out of his contract smoothly had already been a stroke of incredible luck.
Besides, the officials weren't idiots. Why would they believe whatever RNG told them?
At most, they would investigate for a while, then let the matter fade away.
Hadn't the notice already named the person who would take the blame? RNG's manager had filed the report. If there was a problem, people could take it up with him.
After a while, Su Xiaoluo returned looking grim and sighed. "The boss said he's already spoken to the officials. They mainly want to make their stance clear, so this will probably take a while to resolve. But don't worry. A month at most. It won't affect the World Championship."
"It's fine." Lu Chen ended up reassuring him instead. "I'll just treat this as a vacation."
Rita called him that evening too.
It took another lengthy explanation from Lu Chen before she finally stopped worrying.
Only late that night, after returning to his room, did Lu Chen slowly exhale, his gaze turning unfathomably deep.
"RNG..."
Meanwhile.
The internet had erupted too.
"C God really fixed matches?!"
"Oh, please. It's just RNG playing dirty outside the game because they don't want to face C God."
"Have you ever seen a player get benched after two games and still have matches to fix? To put it bluntly, match-fixers wouldn't even bother with a mere substitute."
"Holy shit, RNG is so underhanded!"
"Are they that scared of C God? They're even resorting to this?"
"Seriously, the officials are acting on a report this obviously bogus?"
"They don't have a choice. They have to make their stance clear."
"All I can say is, RNG really has no decency."
"Fuck! I already bought tickets for tomorrow just to watch C God play Uzi. What am I supposed to do now?!"
"What's the point? I don't even want to watch a match without C God. Guess I'll sell my ticket cheap."
"Those RNG bastards. This is genuinely disgusting."
"Don't panic. The officials should lift the suspension soon. We'll still get to see C God."
"I'm honestly stunned. You can actually pull something like this?"
Before long.
Every major platform was flooded with denunciations from netizens.
RNG's official Weibo account was being buried under comments, with countless demands for answers pouring in.
The manager named by the officials, in particular, was subjected to every imaginable insult.
But RNG continued to play dead, like an ostrich with its head buried in the sand, offering no response.
A textbook case of waiting out the backlash.
They were utterly shameless, their attitude practically saying, "Curse us all you want. We're doing it anyway."
After all, the internet had no memory.
Once the World Championship began in a couple of months, as long as RNG won the title and raised that trophy symbolizing the highest glory at the Bird's Nest.
Everything that had happened before would vanish into thin air!
RNG's players, however, were all sitting in the club looking bewildered.
"Did that Chen Yu guy really fix matches?" Mlxg asked, eyes wide.
Xiaohu fell silent for a moment, then shook his head slightly without answering directly. "You know how it is."
Uzi sat at his computer, staring at the League of Legends client on his screen. His face had flushed red with defiance. "What's that supposed to mean? They all think we're guaranteed to lose?"
Letme and Ming exchanged a glance, then both shrugged without speaking.
There was nothing they could change about this.
In short.
Starting in week five of the Summer Split, Lu Chen temporarily left the LPL stage.
However, while the officials had barred him from competing, they had imposed no other restrictions.
He could still play the game and stream as usual.
The next day.
"Okay." With his stream running, Lu Chen waved at the camera and said casually, "My webcam's arrived. You'll definitely get plenty of streams over the next little while."
A flood of messages immediately surged through the chat, all asking what was happening with the situation.
Some viewers even sent airplane gifts with messages attached, as though afraid Lu Chen wouldn't see them otherwise.
"Don't worry." Lu Chen smiled faintly. "Just think of it as me taking a little vacation. Pro players need rest too."
Hearing that, the viewers finally felt a little more reassured, and the chat gradually settled down.
"Wait, C God isn't competing for a while. Does that mean he's about to start slaughtering Ranked again?"
"Holy moly, I only just realized. A moment of silence for all the high-LP Challenger players."
"Isn't this a fucking mismatch on every level? C God stomps people even in pro matches!"
"Still, getting to watch C God stream and actually see his face makes me pretty happy."
"Say, without C God, will IG go back to how they used to be in their upcoming matches?"
"Keep it up, C God! We'll wait for you to return to the stage. Then wipe out RNG and get your revenge!"
Messages streamed densely across the chat.
(End of chapter)
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