LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 174 (1)
The quarter finals of the S series was a best of five, the first team to win three out of five rounds advances. It was going to be held four days after the group matches, on October 17 in the city of Chicago.
Among the eight teams in the quarter finals, three were from the LPL, three from the Korean region, Taiwan LMS region’s Team C and the only team from European region, LCS’s G4. Overall, the fans of the European and North American regions were quite disappointed at the result-- --
First off, the fans of the European region didn’t think their team, G4, would be able to defeat CK.
Then, the fans of the North American region simply gave up on their own region and picked their other favorite teams from other regions to support for the rest of the S competition…… Otherwise they would be left with no team to root for the next half of the month.
On the night of October 13, after the match, Tong Yao and her teammates carried their luggage, which their team staff had packed for them, to the airport-- --The organizer had already arranged a training location and hotel for the eight teams in Chicago. At the airport, they met players from CK and YQCB. After passing the security check, they could see TAT’s Ah Tai, with an expressionless face, standing not far from the security check area with his teammates. OP’s mid Jin Yuguang was next to him, laughing while saying something……
The two of them seemed to sense that they were being watched and looked up. They saw Lu Sicheng and both of them politely nodded as greetings-- --Ah Tai even slightly bowed. When Lu Sicheng was still TAT’s Chessman, he was Ah Tai’s senpai afterall.
After Tong Yao came through the security check, the first thing she saw was that her two biggest nemesis of this year’s S competition were cordially greeting each other with Lu Sicheng. She tugged on Lu Sicheng’s sleeve and asked: “Why are they here too?”
Lu Sicheng slightly turned his head over: “What nonsense are you talking about? Are they going to swim from San Francisco to Chicago?”
Tong Yao pretended to be calm: “Oh, I passed the security check and happened to see you fraternizing the enemy. I’m just using the question to sugarcoat my warning.”
Lu Sicheng could tell that Tong Yao was intimidated by the two mids. He curved up his lips as he teased her: “You can’t beat those two guys whether I’m fraternizing them or not. So don’t mind them too much…… Ay, why did you hit me?”
“I want to hit you to death.” The hand that had slapped his back began pinching him: “I’m going to play against Jin Yuguang at the quarter-finals and you’re still boosting their morale here. What if I really can’t fight against him……”
“If you really can’t fight against him, then I’ll carry you.” Lu Sicheng laughed while reaching over to hug her shoulder. As he was talking, he lazily raised his hand to wave to those two top Korean mids. “You’ve carried me, a senior, for so many matches already, it’s time for me to show you what the saying ‘an old steed in the stable still dreams of galloping 500 more kilometers’ means......”
Lu Sicheng hugged Tong Yao. She could smell his scent, a mixture of cologne and a faint smell of sweat…… She had to admit that his embrace was solid and warm and gave her a sense of security somehow.
Though the way he said such a solemn idiom sounded like a flirt…… Tong Yao figured that was probably the specialty for a rascal like him.
Tong Yao, while ridiculing him in her mind, reached over to hold his waist, trying to enjoy the last moment of peacefulness-- --Little Fatty, Lu Yue, Old K, Old Cat, and Ming god had gathered together to review videos of the other group matches in the past few days…… The vibe of the team was rather serious and anxious, unlike the time before they boarded the plane to fly to the US with Little Fatty playing mobile games on his cell phone.
For ZGDX, the quarter-finals were the real beginning of their trip to the world competition. They had to be on their toes when facing OP-- --
From the perspective of the players of both the China and Korea regions, the quarter final match between the two telecommunication teams from both countries was truly a preview of the finals. It would be a match between highly skilled players.
…...
Four days later, on October 17, the quarter-finals began. The first day of the competition, only one team from the LPL had a match. It was CK against G4-- --Though no one thought G4 had a good chance to win, they nonetheless enjoyed a sort of home court advantage…… Both European region and North American region were called LCS. Though they were competitors before, now as the only team in both LCS regions that made it to the quarter-finals, the audience was cheering for G4!