LOL: What does it mean to torture players?

However, in the current version, Azir is the top mid-laner, so not picking him is not an option, otherwise it would have a huge impact on the draft.

Su Mo had never seen anyone like Faker, who debuted playing assassins and eventually mastered Azir.

This isn't a matter of effort; it's mainly a matter of style and playing method.

Back then, Faker competed with Easyhoon for the Azir position and spent a long time on the bench in order to master the champion. Only he knows the hardships he endured.

In the second match, EDG was completely overwhelmed by FPX.

Su Mo received the message immediately.

Jackeylove: "You're going to go for it, Mozi-ge."

UZI: "It's your turn, Mozi."

Chovy: "Mo, how was my Azir play? Are you going to play mid lane next game?"

Showmaker: "Mo, I'm watching your match. Good luck in the next one!"

……

Su Mo received dozens of messages, all expressing their anticipation for his appearance.

Moreover, they all assumed that Su Mo would definitely participate and were already prepared to watch Su Mo's performance.

However, what they didn't know was that Su Mo was still in his office, and even taking a helicopter from there wouldn't guarantee he'd make it to the competition.

Su Mo only replied to Jackeylove: "How's it going on your end? How long did TES sign you?"

Jackeylove responded: "This... I have to keep it a secret, sorry, Brother Mozi."

Su Mo: "It's nothing, it's my fault for asking."

Su Mo suddenly forgot that these contracts were confidential and subconsciously asked a question.

Su Mo: "Are you confident about this playoff run? It seems like you guys haven't had time to gel."

Jackeylove: "It's okay, I feel like I get along with them quite well, so it doesn't matter if the time is a little short."

Su Mo: "Congratulations, Jackeylove."

Jackeylove: "I also want to thank Brother Mozi for his suggestion, otherwise I might not have come to TES."

Su Mo could understand Jackeylove's feelings. After all, when he joined TES, TES welcomed him in various ways, which proved that they valued Jackeylove highly.

For ambitious players, being valued by a club is a very important condition, and they may even ask for a lower salary.

The third match will begin shortly.

In the commentary booth, the commentators were also quite expectant:

"Welcome back. The upcoming match is the third game between the two teams. I think the first two games were a bit of a pity. EDG had no problems in the early laning phase and went back and forth with FPX. It was just that they gave FPX some opportunities in the mid and late game."

"That's right, but none of that matters anymore, because that man, he's going to sleep with you!"

The audience got excited:

"Brother Mozi! Brother Mozi! Brother Mozi!"

Even though Su Mo hadn't appeared yet, the audience was already cheering.

Suddenly, the commentator froze, saying in disbelief:
"Wait a minute~ I think I made a mistake. EDG didn't make any substitutions. They still have the same five players!"

"Huh? What's going on? It's 2-0 already, why isn't Mozi playing? Could that video circulating online be real?"

When the players from both sides came on stage, the director gave EDG a close-up shot, watching it back and forth several times. It was still the same five players plus Clearlove!
The live stream chat exploded with comments:
"What's EDG doing? Want to go home, huh?"

"Hallucination! It's all a hallucination!"

"Am I dreaming? This must be a dream!"

"Impossible, I know, EDG is using a trick, they'll definitely bring in a player suddenly."

Clearly, neither the audience nor the fans can accept this reality.

They can only make all sorts of unfounded guesses.

Of course, the game continued, and the draft phase began.

The draft phase ends, and the game begins.

Nothing has changed.

Then we can only take it one step at a time and see.

Scout picked Sylas in this game.

"We have a chance this time," Su Mo commented.

Compared to Azir, Sylas is a better fit for Scout's style and playstyle.

As expected, EDG's mid-jungle synergy in the early game completely crushed FPX.

Doinb's Ryze had his ultimate stolen by Sylas, resulting in various instances of support.

Scout's teamfight participation rate was even higher than the jungler's in the early game, 100%!

That's the difference. If you covered up the IDs of the Tsar in the last game and the Sylas in this game, you would never imagine that they were played by the same person.

In the end, EDG easily won the match, bringing the score to 1-2.

The chat messages in the live stream have changed:
"I understand! Brother Mozi thinks the opponent isn't strong enough and doesn't need to play."

"You should have said so earlier. The draft and tactics for this game must have been decided by Brother Mozi."

"False alarm, brothers! Plans have changed. Get ready to win the championship!"

"FPX is in trouble now, Mozi is pulling the strings behind the scenes!"

Immediately afterwards, the fourth match began.

This time, EDG still had the same five players, so the reaction in the chat wasn't as intense.

Although many people are still criticizing, they believe that Su Mo is definitely devising the tactics, so there's nothing to worry about.

Even the commentators were speculating about this.

Doinb continued playing Ryze in this game, but he chose to ban Sylas.

So, without hesitation, the junior student got Karsa Ding.

The commentator was shocked:
"Karsa Ding? I feel like this is Mozi's style, it must have been his decision."

"EDG should have this game. I estimate they have a complete strategy to drag it out until Karsa gets back up, and then end the game."

After the commentator said that, many EDG fans got carried away and felt that they had the game in the bag.

Entering the match screen, it's clear that EDG has a set strategy for this game, focusing on defense and slowing down their development.

but!

FPX played at a very fast pace, aggressively raiding jungle resources and pushing towers.

Although they didn't kill many people, they quickly established an economic advantage.

As soon as Baron Nashor spawns, we move to the Baron pit for vision and then start the fight.

At this point, Karsa was only level 13. EDG hastily engaged in battle but couldn't win, and the Baron Nashor was also lost.

FPX wasted no time and pushed forward with the Baron buff. In the end, Karsa was forced to join the team fight at level 14 and was crushed by FPX, ending the game!
FPX defeated EDG 3-1!

The commentator was stunned:

"EDG... they actually lost? Huh? Huh?"

"No, what about Brother Mozi? I thought they were absolutely confident, so they didn't let Brother Mozi go, but now it seems they weren't confident at all, they were wiped out."

The barrage in the live broadcast room exploded instantly:

"Abu, just go die already, what the hell are you?"

"Where's Brother Mozi? I want Brother Mozi!"

"It's over, LPL is finished, EDG has definitely bought them."

"Haha, our chance has come! Brothers, we have a chance to win the championship!"

Some are happy, some are sad; for EDG fans, this is unacceptable.

After all, EDG had dominated the championship for so long, and suddenly stopping at the top six was a huge disappointment.

Moreover, this was a game lost because key players didn't play, making it even more frustrating. Various strange news items started trending on social media:

#EDG lost!

Where did Brother Mozi go?

What is EDG's management doing?
#Looking for Brother Mozi

Su Mo received hundreds of messages in just a few seconds.

UZI: "Brother Mozi, what's going on with you? Huh? You're actually not going to play and just watch EDG lose?"

Jackeylove: I saw your live stream a few days ago, and you seemed to be in pretty good shape. Why aren't you playing in the matches?

Chovy: "Mo, what happened on your end? Why didn't I see you on the field?"

Showmaker: "Mo, are you injured, or is there something else going on? I'm just asking casually, you don't have to say if it's inconvenient."

……

Suddenly, a phone call came in. Su Mo looked at it and saw that it was Luo Xin calling.

Su Moxuan hung up the phone immediately and sent Luo Xi a message: "I'm busy right now, I'll contact you later."

Luo Xin: "Brother Mozi, why aren't you in EDG's rest room? I didn't see you."

Su Mo did not respond, and Luo Xin sent more than a dozen messages in a row.

He didn't know how to explain it. No matter what he said, Luo Xin would definitely not accept his retirement, so it was better not to say anything.

However, Su Mo underestimated the seriousness of the situation. The next morning, Su Mo had just arrived at the office to start work when he received a call from Abu.

Abu wanted to meet with Su Mo, but Su Mo was quite busy today and wanted to refuse.

But Abu said he was in a hurry.

Having no other choice, Su Mo could only arrange to meet at 8 PM.

As evening fell, Su Mo went to a private room at a hotel after get off work, as agreed.

After confirming, Su Mo knocked on the door.

Soon, the door was opened.

The output appeared in front of Su Mo. Upon seeing Su Mo, Abu suddenly grabbed his arm and said, "Little Mo, you've finally arrived. Come on in."

Su Mo walked in, and just as he was about to ask a question, he suddenly noticed that there was another person inside, who looked to be in his thirties, dressed in a suit and tie, looking like a successful person.

The man walked up to Su Mo with a friendly smile.

Abu introduced, "Xiao Mo, this is Mr. Zhang from Fujii, who is in charge of the LPL direction."

"Mr. Zhang, this is Su Mo, the man you're looking for."

"Hello, legendary player, the pride of our LPL, three-time champion, Mozi." Mr. Zhang extended his hand.

Su Mo shook hands with him: "Hello, Mr. Zhang."

Abu greeted them, "You haven't eaten yet, have you? Sit down and let's eat and chat."

The three of them then took their seats one after another.

Mr. Zhang cut to the chase: "Brother Mozi, to be honest, my task from above is to persuade you to make a comeback..."

Mr. Zhang glanced at Abu.

Abu explained, "Xiao Mo, I've told President Zhang about your retirement. I'm really sorry, the situation is urgent."

Su Mo replied, "It's alright, it doesn't affect me at all."

The fact that Su Mo retired needed to be kept secret was for the sake of EDG; it was indeed irrelevant to Su Mo himself.

So it's okay for Abu to tell others, as long as he himself feels it's fine.

Mr. Zhang continued, "But I've talked to Manager Abu, and EDG definitely wants you to come back the most. They can't persuade you, and I don't think I have the ability to do so. In fact, it would only make you resentful."

"So all I can think of now is a remedial measure. Brother Mozi, LPL can't do without you."

Su Mo scratched his head helplessly. In fact, he had thought it would be like this, but there was nothing he could do. He would have to retire one day. He was indeed satisfied and wanted to start a new life.

If you continue to cut off, you will be subject to chaos.

Mr. Zhang suggested, "Brother Mozi, how about this: you can make a cameo appearance at the finals."

Su Mo countered, "What kind of cameo?"

"Explanation."

Su Mo was taken aback when he heard this, and explained that he hadn't considered it yet.

However, given his abilities, there's naturally no problem.

The key is... whether or not you have the time.

“I’ll see if I have time… My company has just been established, and I’m very busy, so…” Su Mo replied.

"No problem! Absolutely no problem. Our semi-finals haven't even started yet, and there are still about ten days until the finals. Although we've already announced the dates, we haven't started selling tickets yet. We can change the dates. We'll fully cooperate with you, as long as you're willing!" Mr. Zhang exclaimed excitedly.

Su Mo hadn't expected the other party to be so determined.

They were actually willing to change the time!
This is no joke; it's bound to get criticism from the audience.

"I've already tidied it up."

Su Mo took out his phone and contacted Rita, asking her to organize her schedule for the next ten days or so and see if she had any free time.

Just then, the waiter started serving the dishes, and Abu said, "Let's eat first, there's no rush, we'll take our time."

So the three of them ate and chatted, and Mr. Zhang continued, "Brother Mozi, you don't know, after EDG lost to FPX, the EDG club, our official website, and FPX were all wrecked."

"Even the official accounts on Weibo and Douyin were reported and became unusable, which made fans and viewers very angry."

Abu chimed in, "Sigh, we can understand the fans' anger. We can only try our best to comfort them. What they really want is to see you, Xiao Mo."

"Even appearing in the commentary booth would fulfill their wishes."

About ten minutes later, Su Mo received Rita's reply and said:
"I'll be free next Sunday."

"Okay! No problem! We originally planned the finals for Saturday, but we can change it to Sunday! Thank you so much, Brother Mozi!" Mr. Zhang thanked him repeatedly.

"Oh, right, about appearance fees..."

Su Mo interrupted, "I don't need an appearance fee. Actually, I'd like to try what it's like to be a commentator."

Mr. Zhang insisted, "No way, you absolutely have to pay the appearance fee. You've made so many contributions to the LPL, and now we're the ones asking you for help. How can we not pay you?"

Finally, under Mr. Zhang's strong insistence, Su Mo had no choice but to accept the appearance fee of one million for commentating on a BO5 series!

This is a number that other commentators would never dare to imagine.

Two days have passed, and the semi-finals have begun!

However, after a semi-final match, the first trending topic wasn't who won or lost, but rather:

#LPL semifinals hit the lowest popularity record in the last three years

#LPL popularity continues to decline, how far can it go without Mozi?
#LPL semifinals only had one-tenth the buzz of the same period last year
#LPL viewers collectively boycott matches without Mozi
The second semi-final began the following day.

The level of interest remains low.

As soon as the semi-finals ended, host Luo Xin immediately began to whet the audience's appetite:

"Now I have some good news to share. During the finals next weekend, there will be a mystery guest on the commentary panel. Just so you know, this guest has won the S-series championship, and more than once."

This news immediately went viral across the entire internet!
Several sounds were heard at the same time:
"Brother Mozi! Who else could it be but Brother Mozi?"

"Impossible! If Brother Mozi could come, why isn't he playing in the competition?"

"It's Faker! Faker meets the criteria too!"

"I'd rather believe it's Faker than Mozi."

Su Mo could tell that many fans were acting out of spite; even with such obvious hints, they still insisted on going against the grain.

Soon, Su Mo received a message from Luo Xin: "Brother Mo, you're going to commentate on the match? It's you, right? It's definitely you, don't lie to me, it's absolutely you!"

Su Mo replied, "It's me."

Luo Xin: "Yay! Long live Brother Mozi!" (End of Chapter)