Chapter 28: The Uzi Meme Leaves Everyone Stunned; Chen Yan’s Remarks on EDG Break the Deadlock

As Chen Yan updated his stream title, a flood of viewers began pouring into the room.

The chat started to pick up pace.

"Are you there? Where is the world’s top mid-laner?"

Chen Yan pointed at himself. "Isn't your Brother Yan the world’s top mid-laner?"

"You're not even close to a top mid-laner."

"Hardly top-tier."

"Scout is the real top mid-laner in the world."

The chat in Chen Yan’s room was currently in a contrarian mode; whatever Chen Yan said, they had to argue against it. However, this was exactly the charm of his stream—a place to speak freely and blow off some steam. Chen Yan was in a great mood these days and didn't take the bait. In fact, he enjoyed it.

He and Scout had become a recurring meme, not unlike the dynamic between Deft and Imp. Mention one, and the other was bound to be brought up. Seeing that the viewership was peaking, Chen Yan didn't beat around the bush and jumped straight into today’s topic.

"Do you know why there are four teams in the semifinals, yet I only critique the 'Royal Trio'?"

"It’s because OMG is just making up the numbers. Their strength is so far behind the Royal Trio that they don’t deserve a seat at the table."

It was a provocative statement, but that was Chen Yan’s style, and those who frequented his stream were already immune to it.

"Of course, the most important reason is that there’s a 'Cold Dish' on the team. This guy is such a liability; he can’t even play ranked properly, yet he somehow made it to the pros. Once OMG loses, help me ask him: if he really can't cut it, he should just retire and join me in streaming. I’ll make him a commander of the Yan Army."

Chen Yan spent a good while trash-talking iCon. It wasn't that iCon was truly that bad—he still had some skill—but it made for good entertainment. The chat was filled with "hahahaha."

Just then, Chen Yan’s phone chimed. He checked it and chuckled; it was a message from iCon. It contained only four words: "Screw you!"

Chen Yan showed the message to his viewers, and the chat went wild.

"Cold Dish is triggered."

"I just love watching Cold Dish get mad."

"Wait, why hasn't Cold Dish deleted the streamer on WeChat yet? What’s going on?"

"It's just for show. Cold Dish receives so many gifts every night; who knows if they’re splitting the money at the same table after the stream ends."

"Let me reply to him."

Chen Yan picked up his phone and typed: "iCon, are you trying to stir up drama and smear Uzi?"

Uzi, the premier ADC of the LPL. He used to be the face of the league alongside Clearlove, but with Clearlove’s recent decline, Uzi was quietly becoming the undisputed top player in the LPL. Especially this year, with RNG building an all-Chinese roster and achieving remarkable results, Uzi’s popularity had reached its peak.

As soon as Chen Yan mentioned Uzi, the chat exploded with question marks. iCon was startled as well and quickly messaged back: "No way, you can't just say things like that! When did I ever smear Uzi?"

iCon didn't dare touch that hot potato. In the entire LPL, there were few who dared to cross Uzi. Moreover, Uzi’s skill was genuinely top-notch; calling him the ceiling of the bot lane was no exaggeration. iCon, playing in the mid lane, didn't quite have the same stature.

"Keep your showmanship to yourself, don't pin that garbage on me!"

It was clear iCon was genuinely annoyed—he had even resorted to swearing. The viewers were baffled; from their perspective, iCon hadn't mentioned Uzi at all. It was obvious Chen Yan was intentionally manufacturing drama.

"Streamer, trying to farm hate-clicks from Uzi fans, are you?"

"Don't do this, you're obviously forcing a narrative against Uzi."

Chen Yan glanced at the chat; everyone was siding with Uzi. He wasn't surprised. After all, having fun was one thing, but you couldn't just attack someone for no reason—you had to make the logic seem plausible to the viewers.

"Don't get impatient yet. Hear me out, and judge for yourselves if it makes sense."

The viewers signaled they were ready to see how he would justify this.

Chen Yan cleared his throat and said slowly, "Uzi, we usually pronounce it 'You-Zee-Eye,' but what if we read it using Pinyin?"

Pinyin... The viewers mentally tried to sound it out.

"It reads 'Wuzi' (stains/filth), right?"

"Exactly. But what does that have to do with anything?"

"It has everything to do with it!" Chen Yan declared. "Wuzi sounds like 'five characters.' Why did iCon reply with four characters instead of five? Isn't that just saying that 'Wuzi' (Uzi) is no good?"

Holy crap!

This was the first time this meme had ever appeared. Everyone watching was left dumbfounded.

"Wait, he managed to link this to Uzi..."

"Don't lie, it actually kind of makes sense."

"Is he a genius?!"

"My goodness, is this the creativity of a substitute mid-laner?"

iCon, who was watching the stream, was also stunned. He sent a string of ellipses to Chen Yan on WeChat.

"I, Xie Tianyu, have never yielded to anyone in my life, but this time, I’m truly impressed."

...

After the brief interaction with iCon, the atmosphere in the stream was joyous. Soon after, the main event that everyone had been waiting for finally began.

"The Royal Trio are the three strongest teams in the LPL: WE, RNG, and EDG."

"If you want me to rank these three, it would be WE > RNG > EDG."

"Why do I say that? Don't get impatient, brothers, listen to me. First, EDG’s bot lane is at a natural disadvantage compared to WE and RNG. No one can deny that, right?"

Everyone nodded. WE had Mystic and Ben, while RNG had Uzi and Ming. The two teams were on the same level, while EDG’s bot lane was a tier, maybe even two, behind.

"With EDG behind in the bot lane, what about the top lane? WE’s 957 is in a league of his own, Letme follows closely behind, and Mouse is at the bottom."

"As for the jungle, although Clearlove has been training behind closed doors and his form is recovering, he still struggles against Dragon’s Child Condi and the Wild King mlxg. Moreover, Clearlove’s jungle rhythm relies more on macro-management, while Condi and mlxg are both very aggressive invaders. This means whether Clearlove plays comfortably depends on whether Scout can help him guard the jungle. Once the jungle is breached, Clearlove easily becomes a non-factor, which causes the entire macro rhythm to fall apart."

"Finally, the mid lane. Scout has the strongest raw skill, but I don’t think Xiye and Xiaohu are that far behind. And since Xiye and Xiaohu aren't the primary cores of their teams, they actually face less pressure than Scout."

After this analysis, the viewers understood. EDG was naturally weak in the top and bot lanes, and their mid-jungle was a toss-up... Comparing it like that, EDG indeed looked the weakest on paper.

"So, you're saying EDG has no chance at all?" the chat chimed in.

"You could say that," Chen Yan nodded, then changed his tone. "But there is still a glimmer of hope."

Oh? Everyone was curious. "What do you mean?"

Chen Yan slowly stood up from his chair, pulled out a tattered goose-feather fan from somewhere, and fanned himself gently.

"With a legendary general in the vanguard, breaking through the formation and slaying the enemy commander will be as easy as turning over one's hand."

???

Chat: "Speak human."

Chen Yan: "Put me in."

Chat: "..."