After the match between the two telecommunication teams, LPL fans were overjoyed with the victory. All they could talk about was that ZGDX’s substitute seat was quite unusual. Smiling went off stage to sit there for 50 minutes and came back with three consecutive wins-- --
Twisted Fate
Taliyah.
Lulu.
She took three different champions which were able to quickly provide support in each of the three rounds. At the beginning of the last round, all the bans OP made were aimed at mid, Twisted Fate, Taliyah, and Leblanc. Even the commentators were exclaiming that OP had never done a ban & pick like this before. All three bans were targeting their opponent’s mid. It could be considered the highest form of respect that OP, a team with a player such as Jin Yuguang, could pay to their opponent’s mid!
After the match was over, Tong Yao was interviewed by the hostess.
The hostess was a blonde with blue eyes and long legs. She sat down on the bar stool with her long legs crossed, attracting the attention of everyone watching the stream. When Tong Yao, who had won MVP for two rounds, came up to the stage, she first handed over the mic in her hand to the translator, then climbed up the bar stool before turning around to sit on the stool. Her legs were dangling in the air. Then she took the mic and looked at the camera with an earnest look on her face.
The bullet comments on China’s streams suddenly changed from [big long legs] [good looking legs] to embarrassing comments like [.....................................] [2333333333] [ (crying while laughing) ] [Really short] [Is she even 140 cm tall] [Where did ZGDX find an elementary school student to play professionally]
Not far away, Little Fatty who hadn’t left the stage yet stretched his neck to take a look at the interview area and sighed: “Though I don’t really know what a woman should look like, at least at the moment I’m pretty sure that those two sitting there next to each other are two completely different species.”
Lu Sicheng heard him and also looked up. He saw the two long legs of the hostess which were grounded, wearing high heels, while Tong Yao’s two short legs were hanging mid air with sneakers. He was quiet for a moment then said: “Those legs are really short.”
Everyone: ......
Lu Sicheng: “Don’t tell her.”
Everyone: ......
Lu Sicheng: “We’ll be against TAT next. It’s very important to maintain harmony inside the team.”
Everyone: ......
The interview started with the hostess congratulating ZGDX for winning the match against OP. After Tong Yao thanked her, she asked her directly: "After this match, do you feel that you are the number one mid in the world now?"
This was a simple question and Tong Yao didn’t need a translation. She picked up the mic to answer: “I didn’t beat Jin Yuguang. He’s invincible. Therefore, I only chose to avoid the opponent whom I can’t beat, that’s all... Just like what everyone had seen for the last two rounds, it’s alright if it’s not Twisted Fate, any good supporting champion will do.”
The hostess: "Whoa, English."
The hostess: "Do all the Chinese speak such good English?"
The hostess: "You mean that you’ve already taught the whole world how to defeat OP?"
Tong Yao laughed with the mic in hand: “I believe OP will very quickly figure out a strategy to counter it. They have Jin Yuguang after all… Too bad in the end, I didn’t get to kill him and he killed me once.”
Tong Yao sounded like she was boasting about Jin Yuguang. Though she was the winner, she had shown respect to a strong player. Besides, she didn’t exaggerate while doing so. People who were watching the interview sighed: this short young lady really knew how to talk.
The hostess looked at her notes: "I’ve heard that there's a saying over some social media that you’re the last card of the LPL, the true player of Twisted Fate, not Lu. Is that so?"
Tong Yao: “We can both play Twisted Fate. If there’s a last card that ZGDX has, that would be both me and Lu. After all, there are big and small jokers in any deck of cards. Two players, there’s nothing wrong with it.”
The hostess: "ZGDX will go against the champion of last year, TAT. Do you have anything you want to say to your teammates or your opponents?"
Tong Yao thought about it for a while.
Then Tong Yao suddenly said something that surprised everyone: “Actually, a lot of people probably don’t know that I wasn’t as tough as what everyone had imagined me to be when I first started playing professionally. I still remember that I cried and got drunk after I lost the first skirmish against TAT simply because their mid’s timing was too precise.”
The hostess blinked and a little dumbfounded: "Hrm?"
The audience was also in commotion.
The cameraman also knew how to liven up the situation. He turned his camera to face the audience and zoomed in on one particular person who was sitting there with a peaked cap on. The screen showed him at first looking up at the big screen without any expression on his face. When he saw his own face appear on the screen, he was stunned, then lowered his head, and pulled down the brim of the cap to let the shadow cover half of his face.
That person was TAT’s mid Li Mintai.
The audience was in commotion once again, some even started to cough loudly.
The hostess laughed out loud: "Oh, my goodness, it looks like the cameraman isn’t going to let TAT’s Tai walk out of the arena in one piece now. I can see from here that a lot of guys look like they’re prepared to hit someone….. As if they’re saying: hey, how could you bully the only girl we have in our league?!"
Tong Yao retained her composure and said with a smile: “lt’s quite a normal reaction, quite normal. It’s just the reaction when you can’t accept defeat. I can’t let others treat me differently just because I’m a girl, right? A major reason that I’m sitting here is hopefully to let everyone know: For esports, women aren’t necessarily less capable than men.”
The hostess kept nodding and started to applaud. Tong Yao continued: “We don’t want to be discriminated against, nor do we want to be treated in any special way. Just treat us as any normal player or professional player, no trolling nor trying to be “accommodating.” This shouldn’t be too hard to do, right?....”
The hostess: "It sure is like that when I play the game. Whenever a champion dies, someone would ask: is the support a woman? To hell with it, so what if I'm a woman?"
Tong Yao laughed out loud: “Right, right, right, it’s just like that! The reason why I mentioned Li Mintai earlier is that the next match against TAT means a lot to me personally as well as to my teammates.”
The hostess suddenly thought about something: "Chessman was with TAT before."
Tong Yao kept the smile on her face and nodded: “Yes, yes! Our captain has to face his old team…… And we’ll all do our best. One thing I’m sure though is that I won’t choose to avoid him. It would mean a lot to me to defeat TAT’s mid Li Mintai……”
Backstage, ZGDX teammates were quiet after hearing Tong Yao. Old Cat reached over to lift up Lu Sicheng’s hair. The captain slapped his hand away: “What are you doing?”
“Looking to see whether your hair’s turned green……” Old Cat said slowly.
Tong Yao held the mic tightly and laughed: “Therefore, it’s a must that we defeat TAT…… no matter how you look at it.”
The hostess: "Good luck to you all."
Tong Yao slightly bowed her head and smiled: “Thanks. Thanks everyone.”
The interview was over.
When Tong Yao jumped off the stool, she didn’t realize that she had collected a lot of fans all over the world. In the esports world, no matter the location, fans would boast about the winner and be dismissive of the loser. The moment when Tong Yao handed the mic back to the staff and walked towards the break room, the outside world was already boasting her as a star student, fluent in English, gentle and adorable, and most importantly, strong yet humble.
The fans back home felt so proud of her: Look how cultured our professional player is! Her English is 66666!
The female players around the world were also quite proud: Look at that, a player from the four best teams at S series has said it herself. Male players and female players are the same!
Tong Yao was walking briskly towards backstage, totally unconcerned whether she did well in the interview or not. All she wanted to do was to find a mirror to look at her own face. The lighting at the interview area was so blindingly bright. She had just finished a 50 minutes game and didn’t know whether her face was greasy or not, shit!
Tong Yao hastily pushed open the door to the break room. Before she could step inside, someone picked her up and put her down on a bar stool near the door. Tong Yao wondered to herself why her legs weren’t able to touch the floor today yet again? She looked up but before she could say anything, she was met with a pair of serious looking dark brown eyes.
Tong Yao was surprised to see the expression on her captain’s face: “What’s going on?”
“Your interview lasted for only about 10 minutes from beginning to end.” Lu Sicheng pitched her nose tip and said in a deep voice: “And you could still flirt with Ah Tai. I should be the one asking the question, what’s going on?”
“How did I flirt with him? There’s only bitter hatred between us. The cameraman gave him the shot, not me, I didn’t even look at him. Hmph, why should I explain this to you!” Tong Yao slapped Lu Sicheng’s hand off her: “I thought something had happened. It turns out that you’re just being jealous for nothing again, go away……”
She pushed Lu Sicheng away and jumped off the stool, then walked over to take out a case of pressed powder from her bag and looked all over the room for a mirror to touch up her face--
Lu Sicheng crossed his arms in front of his chest and followed Tong Yao around like a little tail.
Lu Sicheng: “One of you was boasting on stage and the other laughed under the stage, so romantic.”
Tong Yao: “He didn’t laugh. You’re talking nonsense.”
Li Sicheng: “Checkmate. You just said you didn’t look at him.”
Tong Yao: ......
Lu Sicheng: “Old Cat was even checking my hair to see whether any of it was green.”
Tong Yao turned to give Old Cat a stare. Old Cat hid behind Old K and began whistling.
Tong Yao: “Don’t be so childish, all of you-- --It was an interview, how could I damn say: That Li Mintai had traumatized me and made me cry, if I don’t seek revenge, my lifespan will be shortened by 10 years. Fortunately, I’ve turned into a monster who can defeat Jin Yuguang already. So Lin Mintai, you better wash your neck clean and wait for me to take your damn head?”
Lu Sicheng was following right behind her and watched her touch up her face, cursing all the while. He couldn’t help but laugh and patted her waist: “Why are you so rude?”
Tong Yao rolled her eyes in the mirror at Lu Sicheng: “Why do you like to get jealous so easily?”
Lu Sicheng: “It’s my way of showing that I love you. When can you be jealous of me for a change?”
Tong Yao straightened up: “How?”
Lu Sicheng raised his eyebrows: “You think I don’t have female fans?”
Tong Yao abruptly closed the cover of the pressed powder case and turned to stuff it into his hands: “I dare you.”
……
ZGDX had used their own skills to prove to the world that there was only one true telecommunication team.
On October 16, the semi-finals of the S series started.
YQCB fought against Europe’s G4. After five hours of hard fought matches, YQCB lost the match with 2 : 3 and the chance to qualify for the finals.
The loss came less than ten hours after a post on a certain esports Tieba [This is the most hopeful year for the LPL to win the championship]. The fans back home suffered another wave of disenchantment. In their frustration, they all turned their attention to the only LPL team left: ZGDX.
On October 17, ZGDX faced S5’s champion team, TAT. Before the match started, though fans weren’t saying it out loud, they were thinking that the chance for ZGDX to win was probably like 2 to 8 since the LCK had dominated the competitions for so many years.
ZGDX was the 2.
Team OP with only one strong player Jin Yuguang could almost defeat ZGDX with a 3 : 0. Then, TAT is a team with five strong players. Only at bot, with AD Lu Sicheng, did ZGDX have a slight advantage. If all the other lanes of ZGDX were controlled by TAT, how would ZGDX play the match?
-Then what would happen if they ban Lu Sicheng?
-Unsure…… The chance becomes 10 to 0?
-......