2017, March.
Magic City.
In the basement of EDG’s training base.
Li Fan was sprawled in a creaking gaming chair, the light from the monitor reflecting the dead-pig-not-afraid-of-boiling-water look on his face.
On the screen before him was the livestream of the QQ Speed SSG Spring League online match. In the race that had just ended, one drag drift had left every racer behind him eating exhaust.
“Although what you guys are saying makes sense, let me ask you this—wasn’t my ult just now handsome as hell?” Li Fan asked the viewers in his stream with a wicked grin.
【Cache, reported!】
【How could EDG want someone with such low professional ethics? Using a bug in a match? Where’s your shame?】
【Orphan play. You don’t even want your face if it means winning.】
【Was that stuck drift just now? To be fair, it really was cool.】
【Wasn’t stuck drift banned? Why can it still be used?】
【Using bugs in a race should get you banned outright.】
【And there are actually people praising him? It’s scum like this that ruins the atmosphere! What’s the point of a bug exploit looking cool?】
【Aren’t you a professional League of Legends player? You don’t train during regular hours? You’re here playing QQ Speed? Even joining SSC matches? Planning to switch careers and go pro in QQ Speed?】
【Oh, almost forgot. You’re just a substitute mid laner who can’t even make the starting lineup.】
“Don’t, don’t, don’t—daddies, please show mercy! Hold off on that report button.” Li Fan’s voice sounded “cowardly,” but the grin at the corner of his mouth was almost reaching his ears. “Are you really going to force me to give you guys the video? Fine, fine, fine. I’ll teach you, okay?”
【Learning points acquired: 20】
That instantly infuriated all five hundred-plus people in the stream. Barrages of comments began flooding in so densely that it looked no different from a stream with five thousand viewers.
【What are you being so passive-aggressive about, noob? Tell me, what are you hinting at?】
【You don’t seriously think we won’t dare report you, do you?】
【How can someone be this disgusting? EDG probably doesn’t have any political vetting at all. What militarized base? Their players all maliciously abuse bugs!】
【Trash!】
“No way, right? You’re already mad? Your defense is already broken? Don’t tell me there are still people who haven’t read this year’s SSC Spring rules?”
“What I’m using now isn’t the old stuck drift, you know. So I hope everyone can report me successfully. As for the smart ones, you should have already hit Follow and be looking forward to this streamer’s tutorial, right?”
All he could say was that the combat power of people in ’17 really wasn’t up to par. To Li Fan, who came from the year 5202, it had practically no killing power. Their lines just went back and forth over the same few phrases.
They weren’t even as strong as Tieba bros tossing out a few random emojis and making people feel like they were about to have a cerebral hemorrhage.
That’s right. Li Fan had originally thought he had been reborn, only to discover that it wasn’t rebirth at all—he had transmigrated into another parallel world.
Overall, this world wasn’t too different from his previous life. There were only a few minor discrepancies.
For example, the him in this parallel world… was actually EDG’s substitute mid laner.
That’s right, the EDG with Scout—the man known as the Theft Saint, top-tier master of tug-of-war, the perfect embodiment of “those not of our kind are sure to have different hearts.” Before his contract had even ended, he was already thinking of slipping back to the LCK, only for the LCK to have no one who wanted him, leaving him to slink back in disgrace.
EDG forgave him the first time and didn’t pursue responsibility, yet he did the exact same thing a second time!
All one could say was that some people never learned until they were beaten. When the thirty-million-yuan penalty came down, Scout was dumbfounded on the spot.
If Yagao hadn’t stepped up and settled “Student Loan” in two scrim games, they really wouldn’t even have made it to Worlds.
But no matter what, the man had won a World Championship. Though the title of Theft Saint didn’t sound pleasant, he was still one of the Three Saints and One Emperor.
One of the top active mid laners in the LPL.
Even Scout at this stage was not someone Li Fan could compare himself to.
It had taken only three scrim games for Scout to successfully secure his starting position.
And kick Li Fan straight to water-cooler guard duty.
Fortunately, as a transmigrator, Li Fan had brought along a League Player Slacker System. As long as he neglected his proper duties enough, and the scope of his influence was large enough, once the system judged it valid, he could obtain learning points to improve his strength.
And so, from that day on, Li Fan completely let himself go and began his journey of slacking off.
Everyone else at EDG believed Li Fan had failed to compete with Scout for the starting spot and had given up on himself entirely. Clearlove in particular always had the thought of giving young players a hand, especially when it came to the mid-jungle duo, which required extremely deep synergy.
After all, Scout was only a rookie player, even if he had been SKT’s substitute mid laner.
A rookie was still a rookie, with no results to his name. Facing a player like that, Clearlove still hoped even more that the team would center around him, and that Scout would fully cooperate with him.
After all, having played with General Pawn for so long, Clearlove’s tastes had become quite picky.
During scrims, there had been several times when he called for Scout to follow him. Whether Scout genuinely didn’t understand or only pretended not to, the result was that the game played out completely differently from what Clearlove had envisioned.
So he still hoped even more that Li Fan could step up and become the starting mid laner.
That way, there would be no communication issues.
With that thought in mind, he had even specifically sought Li Fan out for duo queue.
Li Fan actually had a favorable impression of this Midsummer Night’s Dream, this 4396 Clearlove. But no matter how favorable that impression was, it couldn’t interfere with him obtaining rewards. So all he could say was sorry.
Li Fan would never forget Mingkai’s expression at the time either. The smile on his face had frozen instantly.
To be honest, for any mid laner, a duo queue invitation from Mingkai was incredibly tempting.
As one of the three great carries of the Chinese server, there were people who said that if you queued into Mingkai and still lost the game, then it only proved you didn’t even know how to get carried.
Let alone him inviting a young teammate from his own team.
It was obvious he intended to guide Li Fan a little, give him a chance. If they worked well together, Li Fan could increase his competitiveness in the upcoming scrims and then obtain an opportunity to start.
Shouldn’t Li Fan have agreed immediately without the slightest hesitation? Why wasn’t he following the script?
For a while, Mingkai thought he simply hadn’t explained himself clearly. But when he asked again, the answer he received was actually… exactly the same.
Clearlove thought Li Fan might have something else to do, only to discover that Li Fan was downloading QQ Speed on GTP.
The base’s internet speed naturally went without saying. In thirty minutes, the game was fully downloaded. Then Clearlove stared wide-eyed as Li Fan began his QQ Speed rehabilitation training.
Clearlove completely felt that Li Fan was beyond saving…
Young people were always like this. They had to reject the easy path and learn the hard way. Once their youth was gone, there would be plenty for them to regret.
Clearlove turned his head away and started his own training.
After all, everyone had their own ambitions. If someone liked slacking off and liked streaming, there was nothing to be done about it.
From then on, Li Fan was completely banished to the cold palace by EDG.
He gained the nickname “mud that couldn’t be helped onto a wall.”
But since Scout was already the starting mid laner, there weren’t any major conflicts overall. Li Fan simply became a marginal figure.
Once his one-season contract ended, he would immediately be swept out the door. They didn’t even have the thought of trying to salvage him.
After all, in their eyes, a player like this would affect the training of others.
Later on, they even directly arranged for Li Fan to move to the basement, and brought a computer down there as well. The meaning was obvious: if he didn’t want to train, then he shouldn’t disturb others. Out of sight, out of mind.
Li Fan was more than happy with that… This way, he could slack off even better—no, he could improve his strength even better!
【Orphan player, orphan play!】
【Just be a rat in the filthy gutter. You can only stream from the basement anyway.】
“Stop scolding me, stop scolding me. Though it’s no use even if you do, because this streamer really is an orphan. Daddies, hit Follow so you don’t get lost…”
【Learning points acquired: 20】