Keep spinning those yarns, just keep on spinning~

"TES is doomed this game."

"That Ultraman in their top lane really has some tricks up his sleeve. Mechanics aside, you just can't teach that macro play."

"True, chasing full health instead of low health—this guy definitely spent time in a rehab center."

"Shy-brother, what do you think?"

At the WBG Club.

The players were analyzing their upcoming matches while casting teasing glances toward the sofa at the far end, where their big brother was staring stupidly at the screen and giggling.

That's right.

The S12 WBG roster was by no means ordinary either.

The top laner TheShy—there are very few top laners in history who have achieved fame and success in the top lane and made everyone remember them.

The first was T1's championship top lane, Marin; the second was IG's championship top lane, TheShy, right before our eyes; and later on, there was Zeus.

Strictly speaking, Duke counted too, but Duke belonged to the category of players whose strength outweighed their fame.

He generated a bit less discussion.

The jungler Sofm, the future Mayor of Ho Chi Minh City, whose odds reflected his level of skill—give him the right odds, and he'd even make Faker rust.

Mid laner Angel, whose career peak was at the S10 World Championship, only to plummet afterward.

The bot lane featured Huanfeng and SwordArt, with ON as the substitute. The AD position was the league's Wailing Wall of the bot lane, and support SwordArt was an old-timer from the Flash Wolves. As for the substitute, needless to say, everyone knew what kind of character he was.

On the screen.

The Irelia, holding a massive advantage, directly began to dance in the subsequent team fights.

Building semi-tank items has its advantages and disadvantages.

The disadvantage is that when you're behind, the advantage of tankiness vanishes completely, and because you're built semi-tank, fighting to the death doesn't necessarily guarantee you can take down the enemy backline.

But conversely.

The advantage is that once you're playing from ahead, you become both tanky and lethal, and the enemy simply cannot withstand you.

Plus.

Originally, when only Irelia was fed, TES only needed to keep an eye on Irelia alone.

After the previous team fight, however, TES was completely overwhelmed in team fights, and the unchained Irelia was swimming freely right through their ranks.

And finally.

Amidst the cheers of the barrage, they successfully took down TES's main crystal.

1:0

When the crystal shattered, TheShy even reached out and cheered a little.

What the hell?

Do you prefer Rookie over JKL?

Looking at their uncommunicative top laner, the other four members of WBG exchanged glances and let out a series of sighs.

Forget it.

Just humor him.

Who made him the big brother of the team? A big brother with a few screws loose must be a completely normal phenomenon, right?

"1:0!"

"The Galaxy Battleship? We eat Galaxy Battleships for breakfast!"

"Woohoo~ Let's go, let's go, brothers! Just one more game, just one game to take it all."

"Never look down on a youth in poverty!"

"Stop, stop, stop! Stop copying the internet memes, I'm right here!"

In the V5 team voice comms.

All sorts of cheerful and excited voices rang out.

The referees observing them glanced at each other, feeling that today's V5 had that kind of lively, chaotic vibe of S8 RNG, especially guided by this rookie in the top lane.

Backstage.

Nofe, who was gradually welcoming back his players, could no longer suppress the smile on his face.

Luo Ji's pre-wolf-feigning-sleep in that crucial team fight—even with the God's-eye view, he hadn't quite been able to react in time.

What puzzled him even more was:

Did players who didn't care about KDA actually exist these days? For most people, giving up JackeyLove's head would simply have been impossible.

So—

Was 369's rebellious phase in S11, while Luo Ji's rebellious phase in S12 was already completely over?

"Stop looking so shocked, Coach."

Seeing Nofe struggling to hold back his smile while looking at him without knowing what to say, Luo Ji spoke up directly:

"I am different from other top laners."

"Their thinking is relatively pure, while my thinking is relatively mature. They still believe in that childish trick called true love."

"But I am different."

"With a depth of thought like mine, I actually prefer pure gold."

Nofe:?

The rest of V5:?

All the backstage staff:???

Game two.

Blue side TES went all out.

TES's dual carries were a magical combination: when Knight had a voice, JackeyLove would go silent; when JackeyLove had a voice, Knight would go invisible; and when both had a voice, the other three would find various ways to throw the game.

However...

In game two, the four members of mid, jungle, bot, and support miraculously returned to normal.

Let me mention something here.

Why did TES in S12 bring in Zoom and yet still rotate in Wayward? Essentially, it was because the team possessed a kind of metaphysical magic.

Take Zoom, for example.

During the Demacia Cup in the original timeline, he played the most sensibly while the other four performed incorrectly in their own ways. As a result, the other four positions remained as steady as old dogs, yet Zoom got sent to the bench for rotation.

Even stranger.

When the top lane was switched back to Wayward, the other four became normal again, and the subsequent rotations between Wayward and Qingtian were exactly the same.

When Qingtian was normal, the other four were abnormal; once Qingtian was benched, the other four started carrying games again.

You tell me if that isn't metaphysics.

Driven by TES's full-strength effort and the blue-side advantage,

Game two saw V5's score leveled.

Perhaps Irelia slaughtering Wayward clean in the first game had poked a hornet's nest.

By game three.

Luo Ji, suffering retroactive justice, was subjected to a downright inhumane round of hunting and ambushing by TES.

Everyone remembers the kind of treatment Marin received in the top lane when he first arrived in the LPL, right?

Yes.

The treatment he suffered in game three was pretty much the same.

During his time in the EDG academy, he had earned the moniker of the "Wailing Wall."

Yet even a "Wailing Wall" couldn't withstand a demolition crew's forceful tearing down. Under the relentless multi-man ganks and dives by TES's top, mid, jungle, and support,

Game three.

He successfully handed in a stat line of 0/6/13.

Yes.

Even though he imploded, he still managed to squeeze out utility purely through a full-tank build.

You might not understand what a full-tank build concept entails.

Let me put it this way.

Have you ever planted the Scaredy-shroom in Plants vs. Zombies? This plant is quite special; you can plant it in the front row, or you can plant it in the very last row.

What I mean is:

Running away is shameful, but it works.

With everyone's attention drawn entirely to the top lane, and relying on the bottom-half advantage, V5 ultimately secured the second match.

At the cost of sacrificing Luo Ji's KDA.

2:1

They successfully clinched the victory against TES.

[Lul.]

[I thought this was a ninja village war, how did it turn into a cosmic monster war against the M78 Nebula by the end?]

[I can finally see it. In the last game, there was zero competitive integrity, only pure grudges.]

[You don't say, you really don't say. For a rookie debutant to influence a match to this extent, this Mebius is already fiercely impressive.]

When the match ended, everyone was beaming with joy.

TES gained a thrill, V5 gained the victory, the casters gained talking points, the audience gained entertainment, and even the party involved, Luo Ji, gained a subsidy issued by the club.

"See? A world where nobody gets hurt has been achieved."

Hikigaya Luo Ji said thus.

Oh.

Wait.

That wasn't quite right.

At least Zoom was still warming the bench.

Post-match.

The two clubs, who were already on good terms, naturally gathered together once again to feast on midnight snacks.

Compared to V5's three consecutive wins at the start of the year, TES's record at this point was quite eye-catching—they had lost to RA and V5, but defeated UP and WE.

To put it simply.

They won against all the pushovers, but lost any match with even a hint of suspense. Furthermore, they had one more match against OMG before the Lunar New Year; winning would be a narrow scrape.

Lose?

Then they'd have to return early after the New Year to permute and combine their roster.

"Tsk tsk tsk, sounds like a tragic story." Hearing the complaints from the TES side, Luo Ji, who had been burying his head in eating, finally grew interested.

"Yeah, so do you have any tricks to share? WE lost so badly, and they still managed to win a mini-game purely because of your top lane Smite Janna." JackeyLove wore a bitter expression.

The pre-New Year rhythm carried quite a bit of crushing pressure.

"None."

Luo Ji shook his head and continued:

"Besides, the patch is changing immediately. Lunar New Year is on patch 12.3, and right after the New Year is 12.4. Even if I had any tricks, what I have on hand right now wouldn't keep up anyway."

JackeyLove remained silent.

He merely shot a glance at Guo Hao.

With Rookie as their insider, if they didn't understand what kind of bastard this guy was, who would?

The next second.

The crisp chime of a mobile phone notification rang out from the table.

Luo Ji subconsciously lit up his screen to glance at the prompt, but the next second, he put his phone back down, patted Wayward beside him, and said warmly: "Actually, there are still a few things outside of standard tricks that can be talked about."

Wayward's eyes lit up, and he immediately focused with rapt attention.

Luo Ji knew in his heart.

Right now, what TES wanted to consult him about wasn't so-called experience—in terms of experience, Zoom on the TES roster could crush him into dust and even act as his teacher.

They simply weren't accustomed to the changes in this S12 patch.

The emergence of the top lane island effect made many team matches feel like 4v4s.

Team fights didn't even break out until past the twenty-minute mark, and nobody even remembered there was a top laner.

"The playstyle of the current patch is actually very simple. The problem has always been in your own mindset: don't expect turning a small problem into a big problem to make someone else deal with it, because once it's dealt with, the problem will still regenerate. And the person who dealt with the problem once isn't necessarily willing to keep coming over to clean up after you."

"Therefore."

"The way to have a voice in the top lane in the current patch is to turn your own problem into everyone's problem. Then, everyone will come to solve that problem out of their own self-interest."

"As for who this [everyone] is, I think you guys should have some idea."

Yes.

Throughout the three consecutive rounds of the Spring Split, why was Luo Ji able to have such a loud voice? The core reason was that if you didn't deal with him, subsequent team fights would erupt into a problem that gave you an even bigger headache, leaving other teams with no choice—they *had* to deal with it.

At these words, the members of TES suddenly had an epiphany.

It seemed they understood.

Yet it also seemed they didn't quite grasp it fully.

Still, they had gained at least a glimmer of enlightenment.

After the meal.

The TES members departed full of heartfelt gratitude, leaving only the V5 crew looking at Luo Ji with rather strange expressions.

"Were you just BSing them with those words?"

Rookie asked, somewhat unsure.

Yet he had a lingering feeling that his little bro had just been mentally conditioning (CPU-ing) other people.

"How can you call it CPU-ing?"

Luo Ji shook his head, his face full of firm conviction: "I clearly told them right at the start, '[The way to have a voice in the top lane in the current patch],' which means this method remains valid at least in patch 12.2. But once the next patch arrives, naturally there will be the methods belonging to that patch, right?"

The rest of the V5 crew: !!!

So you really were just making things up on the fly?!

Having secured three consecutive victories—especially winning this match against TES—V5 had profited handsomely both in terms of prestige and substance.

The club management was grinning from ear to ear, unable to close their mouths.

They personally promised that win or lose in the final match, the pre-New Year red envelopes would definitely be distributed.

To the management.

The temptation of an undefeated streak paled far in comparison to the temptation of defeating TES.

As long as they could beat TES, losing all three other games didn't matter at all; after all, TES generated the highest traffic.

Of course.

Winning them all would certainly be best.

With the pressure temporarily lifted, the V5 team exceptionally gave everyone an evening of free time, announcing that they would review the match the next day.

With free time on their hands, the team members began attending to their respective business.

Karsa went without saying.

An old-school ACGN fan, he was sitting in the corner tapping away at his phone.

Xiaowei resided in the adjacent space; although influenced by Luo Ji, the restlessness of puberty still led him to scroll through Douyin to appreciate the finer things in life~

PPGOD checked train tickets.

Rookie was busy replying to messages with Xiaoyu, discussing work items to be undertaken after the New Year holiday, such as "import and export trade," "deep integration services," "face-to-face hands-on operation," "hardware and software support engineering," "daily settlement," and "pedestrian tractor practical instruction."

Although he couldn't understand it, he somehow felt it required a lot of technical skill.

Seeing everyone quite busy, Luo Ji pondered for a moment, then opened his streaming account's backend direct messages.

When he first time-traveled over here,

He really had neither much money nor much income in his pocket. But following the smooth progression of his professional career and the improvement of his streaming metrics, he actually had a small side hustle going on.

As everyone knows.

All League of Legends video creators ultimately have only two paths to choose from: either join the spin-to-win army, or join the Holy Grail War.

Luo Ji naturally couldn't avoid suspicion.

But it was different now.

He had already made a name for himself on the professional stage, so he naturally looked down on those petty profits from before. However, the other side clearly didn't want to let go of the traffic surrounding Luo Ji, so they initiated contact to discuss cooperation and invite him to collaborate on building a brand.

Just remembering that everyone would return to their respective homes during the New Year holiday while he seemingly had nothing to do—

Well...

Should he go take a look?!

Wait!

How far was Shanghai from Haizhou again?

Checking the distance, 480 kilometers—still within an acceptable range. Having agreed on a meeting time with the other party, Luo Ji finally felt completely confident in his heart.

The money earned from playing professionally was his primitive capital accumulation.

Gold appreciates slowly.

Cryptocurrency—he dared not touch it.

With the rise of AI over the next few years, buying certain stocks could net profits for a year or a half, and he'd sell immediately upon reaching the timeline of his original transmigration, refusing to play any game without absolute certainty.

As for the rest, given his limited foresight, it was all about playing it as safe as possible.

As for losing face?

Let's put it this way.

The wealth-generating channels for e-sports players in the early years, aside from selling pork floss biscuits, consisted of selling various types of Holy Grails.

There was an ancient video content creator named Xiaomo, whose online store was still listed on Taobao to this day, deeply versed in the moneymaking art of edge-play.

Need I remind you?

Even the famous former North American AD player and C9 bot laner Sneaky (a male) couldn't resist diving into the deep end~

Other professional ADs blast their opponents away.

Only his AD makes opponents blast.

Proving himself as the world's number one AD through an entirely different medium!