Chapter 162 (1)
Before boarding the airplane, all the players, including the substitutes and their coaches, took a picture at the gate with a national flag. Tong Yao was so short that only her head was visible behind the flag. Lu Sicheng and the others stood behind her in a row. The coaches knelt in front of the flag. At the photographer’s direction, all of them, except Lu Sicheng who was with his usual stone face, broke out with bright smiles.
After the picture was taken, Xiao Rui carefully folded the flag and put it away. He mumbled: “Store it, store it. Wait till October 30 when we’re in Los Angeles to take it out again.”
Los Angeles was where the finals of the 2016 League of Legends S6 World Tournament would be held and October 30 was the date of the final matches.
Before they boarded the plane, the picture with the national flag was posted on the team’s official Weibo site. The post sparked heated discussion on various sites– —
Under the team’s official Weibo page, someone commented: [Professional leagues matches are just matches among clubs, don’t elevate it to the national level to attract more fans. It’s quite retarded.]
To the comment, the moderator of the official site, for the first time, replied directly: [I don’t want to call people names, but I’d just like to remind you that at least during the days of S2 and S3, the team uniforms of all the major clubs in our country were embroidered with the five-star red flag.]
On Tieba, someone posted: [I despise the people who confuse professional leagues competitions with national competitions. Isn’t it stupid that ZGDX posted that picture on its official Weibo site?]
A moderator of one Tieba forum who enjoys trolling professional players all the time, nicknamed Esports Toilet, suddenly came out with an arrogant reply: [Since there’s someone here to feed the turret, then let me announce the most recent Tieba rules: For the duration of the S6 tournament, this forum forbids any topics about picking on the three teams representing our region. It was fun to diss the professional players among ourselves before, but please let’s unite against the foreign teams at this critical moment– –If there’s anyone who doesn’t believe me and go against the rules, I’ll personally cut you down and bar you from posting while the tournaments are happening.
Our goal: Let everyone enjoy this grand event in peace and cheer for all the players who represent our region at the competition!
Furthermore, my Tieba forum is ruled by only one voice, so what. If you want to troll, go somewhere else. If you’re unhappy about your user rights being restricted, bear with it!
The rule above is in effect till October 31, 2016.]
All the derogatory comments were suppressed before the issue exploded.
When Tong Yao and her teammates got off the airplane, passed customs, and climbed onto the bus, exhausted, Little Fatty turned on his cell phone to check Tieba. He called out in shock while all the others on the bus were dozing off: “Shit, was I on a plane to the US or time traveling to a parallel world? Esports Toilet has turned into Garden of Eden, what’s going on!”
Tong Yao immediately tried to lift her head up from Lu Sicheng’s arms to pull out her cell phone. Lu Sicheng pushed her head back down: “You can’t even think straight and still can’t leave gossip alone.”
Tong Yao took out her cell phone with one hand while using the other hand to push Lu Sicheng’s hand off her head: “Don’t touch me, don’t touch me. My hair is very greasy.”
Lu Sicheng: “……”
Tong Yao sat up a little to check on Tieba. The first thing she saw was the post with the picture they took with the national flag. She opened the thread and found that almost all the comments were cheering for them except for a few odd ones– —
[Xiaohuzi: ………………..I won’t be banned if I say this? Smiling is really short!]
[Xie Xiaofang: Cheng Ge standing behind her makes him look like her dad. My eyes hurt.]
[Aihehehe: Hahahahahahaha, has Tong Yao really gone to the US? Maybe they just photoshopped her head on the picture, hahahahahaha! ! ! !]
[Ah hurts: With her height in the US, Cheng Ge better tightly hold onto her. Or they might think she’s a kid playing hooky from kindergarten and be forced to go back there.]
Tong Yao: “……”
Tong Yao angrily turned off her cell phone and stuffed it into Lu Sicheng’s pocket: “What Garden of Eden? Shit!”
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