LPL didn't want me? I joined SKT instead!

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As the stirring and fateful melody of "Silver Scrapes" echoed throughout the stadium, the audience went into a frenzy.

But inside SKT's backstage lounge, the atmosphere was a strange contrast to the frenzy outside.

There was no wild celebration after a comeback, no tense preparation for the decisive game.

The door to the lounge was pushed open, and Xiao Yan casually placed his peripheral bag on the table, unscrewed a bottle of ice water, tilted his head back, and took a big gulp.

Faker sat quietly on the sofa with his eyes closed, resting. Peanut hummed an unknown Korean pop song beside him. Even the usually strict coach KkOma was just holding his tactical board with a meaningful smile on his lips.

Bang took off his team jacket, stretched, and turned to look at Huni, who was sitting in the corner, bored and idly spinning his gaming chair, having not played a single game.

"Hey, Huni." Bang walked over and casually patted Huni on the shoulder.

Huni stopped sitting, looked up, and stared blankly at Bang: "Brother, what's wrong?"

Bang's lips curled into a relaxed smile as he said in an almost joking tone, "You wanted to play an AD carry game before, didn't you?"

Huni paused for a moment, then her eyes lit up like a child who had seen a new toy.

"You go play next game, play AD. I'm tired, I want to rest for a bit."

Upon hearing this, the air in the lounge seemed to freeze for half a second.

Then, Huni grinned and let out his signature carefree laugh: "Hehe, really? Are you sure, senior? Then my Lucian is going to dominate the battlefield!"

"Go ahead, just don't make it look too bad," Wolf joked with a laugh, casually ruffling Huni's messy hair.

Faker opened his eyes, a knowing smile appearing on his lips.

Coach KkOma pushed up his glasses, not uttering a single word of objection, nor even opening his tactical board. He simply nodded in tacit approval and looked at Xiao Yan, "Xiao, try playing a tank top laner in the next game and test your ability to withstand pressure."

Xiao Yan nodded.

The ten-minute break passed in the blink of an eye.

With the host's passionate roar, the draft phase of the decisive fifth game is about to begin.

On the LPL's official commentary booth, Wawa, Miller, and PDD were beaming with excitement, gesturing wildly.

"Alright viewers! Welcome back to the final match of the S-series group stage, the decisive game between SKT and C9!" Wawa's voice was a little hoarse from his earlier shouts, but it was still full of energy. "A reverse sweep! SKT is just one step away from creating a miracle! And our fate, RNG's fate, is also tightly tied to this match!"

"That's right!" Miller clenched his fist. "Xiao Yan's Fiora in the last game was truly godlike, single-handedly carrying SKT into the fifth game! As long as SKT maintains this momentum, taking down C9 will be no problem at all! RNG brothers, rest assured, see you in the quarterfinals!"

"Hey guys, let me tell you, Xiao Yan is a monster!" PDD slammed his hand on the table, his face beaming. "That four-hit combo in one second last game, I was sweating bullets watching it! With a carry like that, how could SKT possibly lose? C9's mentality is probably shattered by now!"

On several major domestic live streaming platforms, the popularity of official live streams has broken historical records, with barrage comments densely covering the entire screen, making it impossible to see the image clearly.

[Xiao Shen! My god! Kill him!]

[SKT, charge! For RNG! Take them down!]

[If SKT wins this game, I'll go from hating to loving, and Xiao Yan will be my dad from now on!]

C9 is nothing! They're just toys in front of Xiao Shen! RNG is in the bag, aiming for the championship!

[Aww, thank you so much SKT fans for sending me a ticket to the quarterfinals!]

Countless fans of the Royal Never Give Up (KNES) clasped their hands together in front of their screens, praying that SKT could easily win this game. In their eyes, with Xiao Yan, who was like a demon king descended to earth, plus Faker and Peanut, SKT had a 99% chance of winning the decisive game.

However, just as the director switched the screen to the BP interface, the starting lineups for the fifth game were displayed at the bottom of the screen.

The entire commentary booth, and the tens of thousands of Chinese viewers in front of their screens, suddenly fell silent.

The air seemed to freeze in that instant.

The smile on the baby's face froze. He rubbed his eyes, thinking he was seeing things.

Miller's pupils contracted sharply, his mouth opened slightly, but he remained silent for a long time.

PDD's chubby face jiggled, and the word "Holy shit" got stuck in his throat.

At the bottom of the screen, SKT's starting lineup was clearly displayed:

TOP: Xiao Yan

JUG: Peanut

MID: Faker

ADC: Huni

SUP: Wolf

"What...what's going on?" The doll's voice trembled, tinged with barely concealed panic. "Did the director mistype the subtitles? The AD...why is it Huni? Where's Bang?"

Miller took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down, but his trembling hands betrayed his unease: "Maybe...maybe it's a rotation. After all, Bang played four games, he might be a bit exhausted. Huni is also a very good player..."

"But Huni is a top laner!" PDD finally couldn't help but shout. "He's a top laner, and now he's playing AD? What is SKT doing?!"

After a brief pause, the live stream chat exploded with panic, spreading like wildfire.

【? ? ? ? ? ? 】

What the heck? Huni playing AD? Am I blind?!

What is SKT up to? Is it a decisive game for training?

Don't panic! Don't panic! Everyone, don't panic!

[Yes, yes, yes! It's definitely a role reversal! Xiao Yan is an AD carry, so there's no way they switched positions! In the end, Huni went top lane and Xiao Yan went to play AD! That's absolutely it!]

That's right! That must be it.

The fans of the royalist army began frantically trying to comfort themselves in the comments section, desperately searching for a reasonable explanation and attempting to dispel the ominous premonition that lingered in their hearts.

In their subconscious, they believed that SKT would never give up at this point. Xiao Yan wanted to win so badly that he would definitely bring out his best hero.

"Yes, the comments make sense." Miller's eyes lit up as if he had grasped a lifeline. "SKT might be playing hard to get! After all, we all know that before today, Xiao Yan was an AD carry."

The commentators' forced attempts to smooth things over gave domestic viewers a slight sense of relief.

BP officially begins.

The coach on C9's side looked serious. They banned Fiora, Camille, and Jax in their first three picks without hesitation.

"Ban the top laner three times! C9 must be traumatized by Xiao Yan's performance last game!" Wawa shouted. "But it's useless. What's the point of banning the top laner if Xiao Yan plays AD?"

It's SKT's turn to select players.

Faker on the first floor instantly locked in Orianna, while Peanut on the second floor picked Lee Sin.

These are all extremely standard heroes, even those that excel in the early game.

Upon reaching the third floor, the character selection screen lit up.

The hearts of all Chinese viewers were in their throats. They stared intently at the screen, hoping that a Vayne or a Lucian would appear in the profile picture frame.

Or any AD carry hero who can dominate the entire game.

However, in the hero selection box, a hero slowly emerged who was covered in tree bark, looked extremely clumsy, and had no offensive capabilities.

Twisted Treant, Maokai.

A big tree.

"A big tree?" Miller was stunned.

"Well... Huni knows how to play with trees, right?" The doll chuckled dryly, her voice growing weaker and weaker.

Immediately afterwards, Huni on the fourth floor, with his signature carefree smile, instantly locked onto a hero.

Lucian, the Purifier.

Finally, Wolf on the fifth floor locked up Lulu, the fairy witch.

The roster has been finalized.

The director very "thoughtfully" swapped the heroes under the corresponding player portraits.

When everyone saw that the [Twisted Treant Maokai], representing pure tankiness, taking hits, and only being a punching bag in team fights, was firmly positioned below the [Xiao Yan] ID.

And the character representing ultimate skill, requiring precise positioning and high damage output, [Lucian, the Purifier], remained below [Huni's] ID.

"Thump."

At that moment, tens of millions of League of Legends players across China who were watching the live stream, especially the Royal Never Give Up (RNG) fans, clearly heard the sound of their hearts sinking into an ice cave.

An extremely bad premonition, like dark clouds looming overhead, instantly enveloped everyone.

There was no swaying.

Huni, the Korean top laner who's always focused on offense and frequently feeds terribly in the top lane, really needs to switch to AD carry.

Xiao Yan didn't play AD or a highly aggressive top laner; instead, he chose the most cumbersome and least lethal shield.

There was a deathly silence in the commentary booth.

The baby's mouth was open, but he couldn't utter a word for a long time. His face was pale, and cold sweat even seeped from his forehead.

Miller closed his eyes in agony, clutching his hair tightly with both hands. His worst fear had come true.

PDD leaned heavily back in his chair, letting out a desperate sigh: "It's over...it's all over. SKT's lineup, it's obvious...they don't want to win."

At this moment, the comments in the live stream went through a transformation from confusion to shock, and then to extreme anger and despair.

[Holy crap! SKT is throwing the game!]

[A big tree? Xiao Yan, you piece of trash, you want a big tree? Where's your bravado from last time?!]

[Huni playing AD? He can't play Lucian at all! SKT is blatantly throwing the game against RNG!]

[It's over, it's all over, RNG is gone.]

[I curse SKT! I curse your entire family!]

At the match venue, the moment the lineup was confirmed, deafening cheers erupted from C9's booth!

C9's jungler Contractz jumped up excitedly and gave his support Smoothie a high five. Top laner Impact looked at the enemy Maokai, let out a long sigh of relief, and his face showed the ecstatic joy of surviving a close call.

They're not stupid; they can obviously see what SKT's lineup means.

Aside from the jubilation of the entire C9 team, the entire stadium was enveloped in an extremely eerie atmosphere.

Game loading screen.

Xiao Yan leaned back in his gaming chair, his hands off the keyboard, gently flexing his wrists. He could even imagine how many computer screens were being smashed, and how many so-called "fans" were weeping in despair.

Welcome to Summoner's Rift!

A cold female voice from the system rang out.

This life-or-death match, on which countless fans placed their hopes, turned into a farcical and laughable farce from the very first minute.

The two sides clashed in the river in the lower half of the jungle during a level 3 team fight.

Just as both sides were testing each other, preparing to separate.

Huni's Lucian seemed to suddenly go crazy, using his E skill "Relentless Pursuit" to slide right into C9's face!

"Bang!"

C9's support Braum reacted extremely quickly, accurately hitting Lucian with his Q skill "Winter's Bite" and applying his passive.

The C9 members pounced on it like hungry wolves.

"What is Huni doing?! Why is he making faces?!" Wawa screamed in despair from the commentary booth.

"First Blood!"

Huni's Lucian didn't even have time to use Flash before C9's ADC Xayah took the first blood.

Huni stared at the gray screen, not at all annoyed. Instead, he scratched his head and chuckled over the voice chat, "Oops, my hand slipped. I meant to press S to stop, but I accidentally pressed E. Oh no, oh no."

Wolf rolled his eyes: "You're such a fake actor."

Faker, farming minions in the mid lane, said expressionlessly, "Play it safe, don't feed too quickly, at least hold out until twenty minutes."

And then they set off.

Xiao Yan controlled the giant tree and peacefully developed his power online with Impact's giant bug.

Xiao Yan's laning phase was still perfect. He used the tree's passive health regeneration and Q skill to harass, and even suppressed Impact in last-hitting.

But so what?

He is a big tree.

Even if he gets a 100-CS lead, even if he pins the Cho'Gath under the tower and prevents it from escaping, he still can't solo kill anyone, and he can't push down the tower.

He was like a sturdy but immovable fortress, forced to watch helplessly as other lines of defense crumbled.

Huni had another meltdown in the bot lane. Knowing that the enemy jungler Sejuani was in the bottom half of the map, he recklessly crossed the minion wave to harass the enemy Xayah, only to be flanked by Sejuani and tower-dived and killed by the bot lane duo.

0-2.

Eight minutes.

Peanut went to counter-gank in the bottom lane, but Huni's Lucian used his ultimate "The Culling" in the opposite direction, hitting nothing and dealing severely insufficient damage. Peanut's Lee Sin was focused down and killed, and Huni also perished.

0-3.

Twelve minutes.

C9 ganked the bottom lane with four heroes, and Huni used both summoner spells to relocate his own turret, dying in front of his own second turret. The bottom lane turret fell, and C9 secured the first dragon.

0-4.

In the commentary booth, the three LPL commentators had completely lost their ability to speak.

The doll slumped in the chair, staring blankly at the horrific scene on the screen, mechanically repeating, "It's gone...it's gone..."

Miller's eyes were already red; he bit his lip hard, struggling to hold back his tears.

As a commentator who loves esports, watching his region's team eliminated in such an extremely frustrating and disgusting way was heartbreaking for him.

PDD was trembling with rage, slamming his fist on the table: "What kind of game is this?! Is this a professional match?! Huni's Lucian isn't even as good as a Silver player! SKT's coach did it on purpose, they did it on purpose! They're trying to destroy RNG!"

The live stream chat had completely spiraled out of control, turning into a sea of ​​profanities.

At this moment, countless fans of SKT completely broke down. Their faith collapsed, and their hopes were shattered. They frantically hurled insults at SKT, at Huni, Xiao Yan, Faker, Peanut, and even coach Kkoma—at every single member of SKT.