When they reached the hotel entrance, Yu Nuo realized she had several missed calls, all from Yu Ge. She glanced at the person beside her nervously, thinking she’d reply to his messages once she got back to her room.
Just then, her phone vibrated. On WeChat, Yu Ge sent her a message:
“Where are you? Who are you with? Why aren’t you answering your phone?”
Yu Nuo thought for a moment before replying: “Just finished showering. I’m watching shows with Jiajia, my roommate. We’re planning to get some late-night snacks.”
Yu Nuo had never been good at lying, especially to Yu Ge.
After sending the message, guilt immediately washed over her. She felt uneasy as she nervously waited for his next message.
Yu Ge: “Did your roommate have a gender change?”
Yu Nuo: “What?”
When Yu Nuo saw this message, she was startled and looked around. About ten meters away, Yu Ge stood behind them with his phone in hand, wearing a cold smile.
Yu Nuo jumped in surprise, frozen in place. Chen Yuzheng noticed her stopping and turned to ask: “What’s wrong?”
Yu Nuo wanted to cry but couldn’t. She told him: “Um, you should head back first.”
“You’re not coming?”
She stammered: “My… my brother’s here.”
Chen Yuzheng followed her gaze and looked back, saying slowly: “Should I go say hello to him?”
“No, no need.” Yu Nuo quickly refused, “You should head back first.”
Chen Yuzheng stared at her worried expression and smirked, calling out: “Fish lover.”
Yu Nuo hurriedly looked away from Yu Ge: “Huh… what?”
“Got caught having an affair with me?”
Yu Nuo choked at his inappropriate choice of words, “This… this probably doesn’t count as an affair, right?”
“Then what are you afraid of?” Chen Yuzheng casually glanced at Yu Ge, “Am I that shameful to be seen with?”
Yu Ge stood in the distance, unable to hear their conversation. Seeing Yu Nuo dawdling and not coming over, his patience ran out and he called her again.
This time Yu Nuo dared not ignore it, answering timidly, “Brother.”
“What are you still standing there for? Do I need to come get you?”
Yu Nuo: “…..”
She looked at Chen Yuzheng, who seemed determined to stand off against Yu Ge, showing no intention of leaving.
She lowered her voice: “Just wait a bit, I’ll be right over.”
Yu Nuo hung up and didn’t bother with Chen Yuzheng anymore, telling him: “You should head back to practice first, my brother seems to have something to discuss with me, I need to go.”
Just as she was about to leave, someone grabbed her arm. Chen Yuzheng said casually: “Where are you going? I’m not in a hurry, let’s go together, I can say hello to your brother.”
She was so anxious she started sweating: “Really, there’s no need.”
After staring at Yu Nuo for a few seconds, Chen Yuzheng let her go, “Fine then, I’ll leave first.”
Yu Nuo didn’t know if it was guilt from doing something wrong or being caught in a lie, but she couldn’t quite meet Yu Ge’s eyes.
She ran up to him and stammered: “Brother, why are you here?”
“What’s wrong, did I interrupt you watching shows with your transgender roommate?”
“No…” Yu Nuo bit her lip, not daring to speak even when he mocked her, “I… I…”
She kept stuttering without finishing her sentence.
Yu Ge watched Chen Yuzheng’s retreating figure for a few seconds, “What were you doing with him?”
“Nothing, we just went for a walk.”
Yu Ge laughed sarcastically: “A walk?”
Just then, thunder struck outside, rumbling loudly as rain poured down heavily onto the ground. Yu Nuo felt guilty and tried to salvage the situation: “The rain wasn’t this heavy earlier….”
Yu Ge took a deep breath and looked at her rain-soaked dress hem: “Hurry back to your room and take a shower.”
Yu Nuo agreed, feeling a bit guilty: “Brother, did I waste your time? You should hurry back to practice too.”
Yu Ge calmed his anger and spoke to her patiently: “Stay away from transgender people in the future, understand?”
“…………”
Yu Nuo was left speechless by his harsh words.
—
Time flew by quickly, with only one day left for the four teams to practice and adjust their condition. The decisive battle against Korea would be tomorrow. At this crucial moment, all LPL teams, including hosts, commentators, and fans from various teams, changed their profile pictures to the same Rift Rivals icon to show their support.
Riot Games had held three Rift Rivals tournaments over the years. During the first tournament, apart from MSI, LPL had basically won nothing in other international competitions. Whenever they met Korean teams in finals, they lost repeatedly. LCK could be considered LPL’s destined rival.
The entire region had been dejected for a long time, until LPL won the first Rift Rivals championship, ending Korea’s long-standing dominance in world competitions. This even moved two commentators to tears at the casting desk.
The night before the match, many fans couldn’t sleep from anxiety.
The finals day rules were the same as elimination matches – four games total, first to win three games wins the match. If tied, there would be a tiebreaker game.
On finals day, Yu Nuo arrived at the backstage rest area early with the TG team. When they opened the door, the coach and analysts were having a meeting in the corner, WR and YLD members were talking quietly, while OG’s players sat silently in their chairs, not speaking. Sensing something was off, Yu Nuo asked Xiang Jiajia beside her: “What’s wrong?”
Xiang Jiajia: “I don’t know either, let me ask around.”
After a while, Xiang Jiajia came back and whispered: “It’s bad, seems like something’s wrong with OG’s mid laner.”
“Roy?” Yu Nuo was surprised, “What happened to him?”
“Seems like he fainted during practice yesterday and had to go to the hospital late at night for an IV drip. Now OG has no choice but to use their substitute mid laner.”
No one had expected this sudden situation. With the match imminent, LPL’s previous tactical arrangements were disrupted.
The original plan was to have OG play first in the finals to secure an opening win. Now with OG missing a key player, they definitely couldn’t go head-to-head with LCK’s first seed. With Roy unable to play, OG had to use their substitute mid laner. If they played first, they would likely face Korea’s first seed, and if they lost, the following games would be very difficult.
After careful consideration, LPL’s coaching staff decided to send TG first.
— In the group stage, only OG and TG had won against Korean teams.
When Qi Ya’nan told TG this news, Killer was shocked and jumped up from the sofa: “What?? We’re going first??”
The coach said gravely: “We don’t know which team Korea will send first, don’t worry about that. Just do your best when you’re on stage.”
Ultraman was also anxious: “What if it’s their first seed and we can’t beat them?”
Their loss to LMS’s fourth seed two days ago had greatly impacted their confidence, and they hadn’t recovered yet. The coach knew the principle that dejected soldiers couldn’t win battles, so he helped adjust their mindset: “You didn’t lose because you were less skilled, but because you underestimated your opponent.”
Thomas was casual about it: “Whatever, let’s just go up. No one’s ever had high expectations for us anyway. Let’s not make a fuss and just try to win one game for LPL in the finals.”
Everyone had mentally prepared to face Korea’s first seed, but just before the match, the stage manager brought news: Korea was also sending their second seed YU for the first game, coincidentally the team that TG had beaten in the group stage.
This greatly relieved the pressure on TG’s members.
The first game began.
During champion select, the coach had specifically studied YU these past two days and roughly understood their players’ champion pools. In the last few picks, they flexed the mid and top lane picks, perfectly countering the opponent’s two lanes.
At the start of the game, anticipating a possible lane swap, Killer and Thomas didn’t follow conventional play and decisively swapped lanes. The opponents fell for it.
At five minutes, a skirmish broke out between mid, top, and jungle, and Killer secured a triple kill. Due to champion counters, they had lane priority, allowing Thomas and Killer to farm perfectly, leading to a series of butterfly effects in the game, causing YU’s jungle to completely collapse.
TG had a perfect start, and by twenty-something minutes, they decided the game at the mountain drake teamfight, wiping out YU’s team and taking the first game victory.
In the backstage rest area, everyone’s tension eased after TG’s win.
YLD’s coach smiled: “Well done TG, helping LPL secure the opening win.”
Ultraman, who had been depressed for a long time, felt reborn after the match and kept excitedly chattering in Chen Yuzheng’s ear. Back at the rest area, he even ran to hug WR’s mid laner, “Bro!! We won, mission accomplished, it’s up to you guys now.”
WR’s mid laner: “Well done, Manman, you performed well today. We’ll tell the team manager to give you extra chicken tonight.”
Ultraman scratched his head embarrassedly: “It was all our top and mid carrying, felt like the game ended before I even had to try hard.”
…
…
After the first game, TG’s other players sat in their chairs, waiting for the next match to begin.
Killer went over to Thomas and said: “Ah, this feeling of not needing others to save us is great. Last time watching OG play XD, I was so scared they’d lose and we’d get flamed to death.” Thomas empathized, letting out a long breath: “Good thing we won today.”
After TG took the first win, the pressure shifted to WR. After losing one game, Korea would definitely bring out their TOP team to try to even the score.
They were about to face Korea’s strongest force PPE, and LPL’s coaching staff had mentally prepared for this.
After WR went on stage, there was a clear gap in overall strength compared to PPE. The two teams barely had any direct fights, with PPE using Korea’s traditional macro style against WR, creating a very suffocating rhythm.
Most LPL teams, including WR, preferred fighting to build advantages. Once the opponent avoided fights and focused on macro, they would start to fizzle out, always losing in this aspect.
Until Baron spawned, the first small teamfight finally broke out. WR lost two members, and PPE immediately took Baron and pushed to end.
In the third game, YLD lost to Korea’s third seed team in the same way. The score came to 1:2, with LCK holding match point, pushing LPL to the edge of the cliff.
Roy was too weak to play, and seeing his teammates’ grave expressions, he felt very guilty: “I’ve let you all down.”
OG had to play missing a key player, and this game they had to win – there was no room for retreat.
The head coach came to OG: “You’re playing against LCK’s fourth seed, play well, there’s hope to win.”
The substitute mid laner kept nervously drinking water nearby.
Yu Ge glanced at him: “It’s not a big deal, just pick a tank later, follow my calls, and we’ll definitely win.”
Yu Ge had been OG’s veteran captain for many years, and when he said such things, there was a strange power that could calm people down.
As the warmup for the match point game was almost over, Awen got up from his seat and patted the substitute mid laner’s shoulder: “Listen to Fish God, just stay stable in lane and don’t fall behind, we can definitely win in the late game.”
Fourth game.
The substitute mid laner picked Galio, playing as a utility champion throughout the game, flying wherever needed. Although he was pressured quite badly in the early game, he managed to survive, and OG’s other lanes created advantages. However, there were some mistakes in mid-game teamfights, falling behind by two thousand gold at one point.
Fortunately, the team was resilient overall, and Yu Ge’s late-game Caitlyn came online. With six items in hand, they turned around the early game deficit and narrowly beat the fourth seed.
Two-two tie, going to the tiebreaker.
After OG won the fourth game, the coaching staff felt both joy and worry – joy that OG had preserved LPL’s last hope, worry about who to send for the final decisive game.
Without doubt, LCK would send out their first seed PPE.
It’s worth noting that PPE hadn’t lost a single game throughout Rift Rivals, whether in group stage, knockouts, or even today’s finals. Even OG at full strength with all their main players would only have a 50% chance of beating PPE. Other teams had even lower chances of winning.
The atmosphere in LPL’s rest room became tense.
OG had just barely beaten the fourth seed, almost losing – they weren’t in condition to face PPE. The remaining choices were between TG, YLD, and WR.
WR had already faced PPE once and the difference in raw strength was obvious. YLD and TG both lacked big match experience.
With ten minutes left to decide, all the coaches were discussing whether to hold an internal vote.
Chen Yuzheng suddenly said: “Let us play.”
All discussions stopped, even Qi Ya’nan was surprised.
In the silence, Chen Yuzheng looked up and told the coach: “Let us play, we can win.”
The coach’s expression was very serious, saying nothing.
After thinking for a while, the head coach confirmed again: “Have you thought this through?”
TG’s members looked at each other, then at Chen Yuzheng. The young men were all quiet for a moment.
Head coach: “We won’t force you, we can all vote, see how you feel about your condition.”
Killer took a deep breath and said: “Let’s do it! Let’s fuck LCK!”
Following that, others also spoke up. Van said: “I’m good.”
Ultraman: “Let’s give it a try.”
Thomas nodded: “I’m ready too.”
The head coach asked the other teams: “Does anyone else have thoughts?”
No one responded.
YLD and WR’s players exchanged glances and shook their heads. Even Yu Ge’s expression was unusually heavy: “Are you sure about this?”
Killer rarely made jokes: “It’s not a big deal, isn’t this perfect? Time for us to repay our debt. The other day you helped us win back a game, today we’ll help you win one too.”
…
…
The short break was over, and it was time for the final battle with LCK. Everyone was silent as they watched TG’s five members walk out of the rest room.
They were still young, rookies who had just debuted this year, their professional careers barely beginning. If they lost today’s final game against PPE, the public opinion they would face would be unimaginable. If LPL’s collective honor was lost in their hands, the abuse from domestic fans might even destroy their future professional careers.
YLD didn’t dare, WR couldn’t do it, OG wasn’t able to. Only TG, without a word, took this heavy burden upon themselves at the final moment.
—
After a fifteen-minute break, it was finally time for both sides to decide who would play. The Korean team sent out their first seed PPE, and on LPL’s side….
Fans held their breath waiting, and when the lineup appeared, everyone gasped:
TOP: Thomas JUG: Van MID: Killer ADC: Conquer SUP: Ultraman
The venue erupted in chaos, including domestic fans watching the livestream, who had never expected this situation.
[TG??? Did I see that right????]
[Why TG?? God!!!!!!!!]
[To be honest, I’m not very confident in TG, feels like their win against Korea just now was more luck than skill.]
[Don’t know what the coaching staff is thinking……..I think even sending WR would be better than TG…after all TG is really inconsistent, losing to LMS’s fourth seed two days ago is still fresh in memory (though WR just lost, so they probably wouldn’t be sent up)]
[As a TG fan, I’m really really excited right now, got my heart medicine ready!!][It’s the last game, if we lose it’s over!! Come on LPL!!!! Come on TG!! We must defend LPL’s dignity as the number one region!!!!]
…
…
The final game of Rift Rivals began.
After the ban/pick phase ended, before the coach went down, he said one last thing in their headsets: “Just play with confidence. Don’t think about whether you’ll win or lose, don’t think about the final result. Once the game starts, just focus on playing well.”
The coach patted each person’s shoulder, slowly walked to center stage, and shook hands with the opposing coach.
A faint chanting came from the crowd, and Van even realized they were calling TG’s name. His nose stung with emotion: “Man, I feel like crying. Is this the first time ever that fans are chanting our team’s name?”
Thomas: “Reminds me of the lyrics from the S7 theme song – ‘Three thousand drops of hot blood spilled, the world calls out your name.’ Brothers, today’s worth it.”
Killer turned his head to look at them: “Nothing to be afraid of, it’s just a Korean team, right? We’ve already beaten them twice, in an hour it’ll be our third win!”
As the coach left the stage and they looked at the loading screen before the game started, Ultraman suddenly said: “Chen Yuzheng, I want to keep the championship in LPL.”
The headphones blocked out most of the outside noise. After Ultraman’s words, the whole team went quiet.
Chen Yuzheng pulled his headset away slightly and took a sip of water.
After a moment of silence, in the game lobby chat, Chen Yuzheng put his hands on the keyboard and sent them a message:
[I will conquer everyone]
Leave a Reply