Starting with Zaozi Ge, a dream lineup

Chapter 324 Leaving is for a better return!

It was only thanks to SKT's years of championship experience that they were able to reach the finals; otherwise, a team with a less established foundation wouldn't have been able to win a second championship.

Correspondingly, failing to win the S7 championship completely exhausted the mental energy of SKT's first generation of players, leading them down a path of decline.

With version updates and a large player base, Riot Games can no longer make version changes as arbitrarily as before, nor can it indiscriminately target a particular team or playstyle.

However, RNG has already won two championships, and on their way to the third championship, just as Jayce said, they will definitely tear off all pretenses and do whatever it takes.

Esports is his youth and his dream.

But these dreams absolutely do not include any backstabbing or infighting with the authorities!
"This Bin player you mentioned is alright in practice matches, but he's not that good!" Bai Xing said casually.

"Oh? You met him in person? What did you think?" Li Luo looked over with great interest when the topic came up.

"Haha, he's just a reserved little brat. How experienced can you expect someone born in 02? To be honest, if it weren't for S9, he wouldn't even be able to play in S8. But his skills are indeed good. He and Junze are in different directions. He's very young, and like you said, he has a lot of potential," Bai Xing laughed, clearly having a good impression of Chen Zebin.

A year ago, Li Luo had already registered all the top, mid, and jungle players he could remember who would later become top-tier professional players in RNG's youth training camp.

Young Bin was among them. In this selection of RNG's substitute top laner, he outperformed the other top laners and won with his fierce and aggressive ranked-style play, which earned him a spot on RNG's first team.

However, before Li Luo transmigrated, although A Bin was not as famous as TheShy, he was indeed a rising star among domestic top laners.

His most important fighting style coincides with the direction that Riot Games wants to change, making him an excellent choice from any perspective.

According to the normal course of history, Chen Zebin should have played for Suning's second team in S9ldl, and then been promoted to the first team due to his outstanding strength.

"Did he agree?" Li Luo asked.

"Of course I agree. Who do you think we are now?" Bai Xing laughed as if he had heard a joke. "You, the defending FMVP, me, the jungler with a 100% win rate, RNG, two-time champions. Isn't it only right to let a rookie play steadily and sacrifice a little for the team?"

As Shirahoshi spoke, she confidently performed a crab pose, but unfortunately, her small muscles were not very noticeable.
"However, finding a mid-lane player is difficult. Li Yuanhao is playing quite well, but our roster depth is still insufficient." Bai Xing looked troubled when talking about this issue. It's not just him; any club in China would have a headache over choosing a mid-lane player.

It is well known that LPL lacked top-tier top laners who could dominate LCK in its first decade. Even now, Letme, with two championships, can only withstand pressure when facing top Korean top laners.

Currently, many of the most famous top laners in various regions, such as TheShy, Khan, and Smeb, come from the LCK region.

Aside from the top lane, there's a shortage of excellent mid laners, although not as much as top laners. The LPL has a few, but the problem is... they can't be bought!

In Season 9, there are only a handful of top-tier mid-laners in the LPL region.

JD.com's toothpaste, Rw's Doinb, Top Esports' Left Hand, IG's Rookie, WE's Xiye, and EDG's Junior.

Of the six players, only four remained after removing the two South Korean players.

There's no need to elaborate on the situation with Yagao. S9 was his peak season. Whether it was his KDA or his contribution to the farming team, he outperformed other domestic mid laners. Unfortunately, JD Gaming can't find a suitable mid laner to replace Yagao. In addition, other teams are secretly working together to punish RNG, so it's extremely difficult to buy Yagao.

Rookie speaks excellent Chinese, and his performance throughout S8 was remarkable. He was a phenomenal performer, and together with TheShy, he led IG to the World Championship.

If RNG were to ask for Rookie at this point, it would likely work, but they shouldn't take that step unless absolutely necessary. After all, although Rookie has integrated into Chinese culture, he is still fundamentally Korean. With a three-peat within reach, bringing in a Korean during the final push would undoubtedly tarnish that honor.

Moreover, with Rookie gone, IG is left with only the second team's Banana Wolf, who is completely unable to handle big occasions.

After all the calculations, only Knight, known as the "Golden Left Hand," remains among all the outstanding domestic mid-lane players.

"We've spoken with Left Hand, and just like you said, he's very willing to come to RNG to play mid lane, as long as we offer the same compensation as Suning."

As Bai Xing spoke, he took out his phone, opened WeChat, and handed over the chat interface between himself and Zuo Shou, gesturing with his lips to let Li Luo see for himself.

After picking up his phone and looking at it for a while, Li Luo understood what Bai Xing meant.

Left Hand didn't have a comfortable time at Suning, not just because of problems with teamwork, but more because he couldn't see any hope of rising to prominence there.

He guessed pretty much what Suning meant by selling Zuo Shou: Suning's style doesn't need Zuo Shou as a burden.

Since ZuoShou took over in the Spring Split of S8, Suning's overall strength has not increased significantly; on the contrary, it has declined steadily.

Under this trend, Suning took a risk and promoted Angel (Black Angel) from the second team. Throughout the entire summer season, from April to October, Zuo Shou did not play a single game.

A player who debuted as a prodigy mid-laner was sidelined for half a season, which was naturally unacceptable to him, and he wanted to transfer. Now that RNG has extended an olive branch, ZuoShou couldn't wait to leave Suning the next day.

“However,” Bai Xing hesitated, seemingly reluctant.

"I've contacted all the mid-laners in the entire region I can talk to, and only Knight is willing. Suning is also willing to trade with us. Knight still has one year left on his contract. If we want to buy him, we'll ask for this amount."

As she spoke, Bai Xing put down the dumbbell in her hand and made a number.

"four million?"

"It's a damn 40 million! These people are really treating me like a fat pig to be slaughtered!" As he spoke, Bai Xing laughed in anger.

Even by today's standards, when capital is rampant, this price is considered extremely high.

It's worth noting that the player who made his name on Top Esports in S10, ZuoShou, was only worth 2000 million RMB. Now, after being sidelined for half a year, ZuoShou is asking for 4000 million RMB. It's purely an attempt to take advantage of the situation.

"Buy it. 4000 million is nothing compared to our championship. There's always a bit of risk involved."

Whether Knight is a good fit for RNG remains to be seen and will require time and results to prove. After all, Xiaohu is playing well as the captain, and acquiring Knight is simply to increase the team's depth.

Li Luo suggested Zuo Shou because he valued Zuo Shou's talent and style, believing he could complement the jungler to form RNG's second tactical system.

Xiao Hu's personal style is too obvious, and too one-dimensional.
If S9 is indeed changed as everyone suspects, Xiaohu will probably recreate his classic 2200 gold power at the World Championship, as well as his flash-and-run angel wall-crashing and other amazing plays.

The bottom lane is a sacrifice in this version; both the top and mid lanes are too important.

As I said before, League of Legends is a team game, and even in the ADC version, it still relies on the support of other teammates.

"Alright, let's go with the left hand then. It's okay to suffer a bit of a loss; anyway, when we win the championship, these clubs will just be scapegoats."

Seeing Bai Xing nod, Li Luo put down the dumbbells in his hands, indicating that he had finished his training.

Having finalized the matter, Bai Xing abandoned any thought of staying with Li Luo any longer. She gave a shout and left the RNG base. In that instant, the colors of the entire world rapidly faded, leaving only a corner of the RNG gym, where—
The place where Li Luo is.

At this moment, not only could Li Luo move around in this mysterious space, but a familiar figure also appeared before Li Luo's eyes.

"Are you ready? Actually, you don't have to leave. I think I can do it, and I think you can too."

"Stop joking. You know how difficult it is after all this time."

Seeing that Zaozi-ge in his void form still had his憨憨 (simple and honest) round face, Li Luo couldn't help but laugh.

I vaguely remember the last time I saw him was a year ago at the S7 World Championship Finals. At that time, Samsung pulled off a miraculous team fight reminiscent of SKT, turning the tide of the early game.

Just when everyone was in despair, Brother Zaozi appeared and gave him a pointer on what "real and fake Uzi" meant.

At that time, when he left, Zaozi said that he would probably appear again in S9.

Li Luo himself did not disappoint Zaozi's expectations, fulfilling his promise, breaking through his own limitations, and finding the direction to move forward on the ADC path.

"I know that, but isn't our strength enough to handle this?"

Two years of rest did not make Zaozi let go of his obsession; on the contrary, he became more confident and arrogant than before.

Seeing the determined expression on the figure's face, and the longing in his eyes, Li Luo couldn't help but smile slightly.

"Stop pretending. I know you want to come back and win this championship, but even if your body is at its peak now, you can't do it alone. You need teammates, and they need to be strong enough."

It wasn't that Zaozi didn't want to go on stage and win the championship; it was just that, as someone with two souls in one body, he thought from his own perspective that Li Luo had already won two championships and must have a strong desire for a third.

As a kind person, he was willing to sacrifice himself to fulfill Li Luo's wishes, just like in S7, he was willing to let Li Luo possess him and lead LPL and RNG to complete this great historical mission.

"Huh? You're questioning me? I'm telling the truth. This championship is very important to both of us. I need your help, really."

Seemingly sensing that Li Luo was determined to leave, the usually calm Zaozi Ge panicked.

From the first time he met Li Luo in S7, from the time he saw Li Luo as someone who had great strength but didn't know how to perform at 100%, to the time he woke up again after winning the S8 championship, he was amazed!

In just one year, Li Luo had unleashed 120% of his strength, and even developed some strange and unusual abilities.

“I told you, the current version hasn’t been changed yet, but it definitely will be. You know I’m from the future, especially now that we’ve won two championships. The next version will present us with unprecedented challenges. I might worry that others won’t be able to keep going, but you don’t have that problem,” Li Luo said with a smile.

As they talked, Li Luo moved closer, and the smile on his face softened.

"This is a game for five people. Your idea is correct, but in a sense it's also wrong. Don't insist on going your own way."

In the private space, Li Luo didn't lower his voice, but it still echoed in the empty gym.

League of Legends has long passed the era of solo play. Uzi is not someone who can take on five people by himself and doesn't even need teammates. In fact, the idea that Uzi only needs to treat his teammates as slightly higher-level minions and treat it as a game for him alone, although it is a joke among netizens, is it not a true reflection of him before S9?

In his past life, it was only after playing S9 that Uzi, feeling powerless despite his good intentions, finally understood this point.

“I know,” Zaozi sighed.

Li Luo remained silent. He knew that it was irresponsible of him to leave Zaozi behind and give up the three-peat, but to be honest, unless he left and returned to the main world or went to other parallel universes to find a solution, he was truly powerless to do so.

Even if an ADC is strong, in this version, it's impossible to go against the meta and carry the game regardless of everything.

Especially after he lost his identity as a prophet, it became even more difficult for him to inflict a dimensional reduction attack.

"I will be back. It might be in half a month, or it might be a month, or it might be half a year. I promise, I will definitely be back before the S9 World Championship!"

"after all!"

"This is our championship, and our dynasty."

Li Luo spoke with unwavering resolve, his mind made up. Zaozi seemed to have let go of his worries and nodded firmly twice.

"Now that you're gone, I hope my mood won't revert to its previous state~"

Seeing Zaozi's weak appearance, Li Luo burst out laughing, and the previous serious atmosphere vanished.

"Of course not! What are you thinking? This body is already in its peak condition. But remember to exercise regularly after I leave!"

After saying this, looking at Zaozi's face, Li Luo hardened his heart and called out to the system.

Under the system's immense power, black and white enveloped the still-void Zaozi Ge, causing the entire world to lose its color. A white figure floated out from the physical body, which was none other than Li Luo's soul.

In soul form, it's like having a cheat code enabled; you lose the pull of gravity.

As Li Luo climbed the gym stairs, gazing longingly at the base where he had spent a year, countless memories flooded his mind.

There were over 300 days and nights of intense battles in the rest room, there were all the RNG members chatting and laughing in the living room, looking forward to the future, there was the passion of shouting "nice" on the competition stage, there was his sweat, there were his tears.

"do not!"

"System, I choose option three."

As Li Luo finished speaking, a large, azure gate suddenly appeared in the sky, and a tremendous suction force emanated from it.

Li Luo's white soul was instantly drawn in by the suction force and disappeared into this parallel universe.

With Li Luo gone, the world regained its color, and the sounds of birds and insects rang out once more.

……

"Is he gone?"

In RNG's gym, feeling the muscles of his body, big and small, Uzi seemed lost and dejected.

Chapter 321, the chapter about Brother Zaozi, has come to a close with a comma. Hooray!
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(End of this chapter)