You're Beautiful When You Smile

Facing the questions of the team manager, the man, who was crouching underneath the eaves, paused for a moment then showed a faint smile. He quenched the cigarette between his fingers, which he hadn’t even touched after lighting it, and softly said, “I’m not going to answer your question. Mull over what you just said and see just how ridiculous your words are.”

Xiao Rui seemed embarrassed, feeling he might have gone a bit far. He scratched his head and figured that Lu Sicheng might have other considerations in mind-- --He had calmed down enough to dig up the truth behind it, “Then, what’s the reason to protect her like this? Because she’s a young girl? Sympathy? Pity? Or you feel it isn’t easy for her to come this far?’

“Xiao Rui, it’s not fair to her for you to put it that way.”

“......”

“If that shorty hears it, she may jump up and hit your head.”

“? ? ? ? What, what have I said?”

“I don’t see her as a young girl, so there’s no sympathy, no pity, no feeling that she has come a long way.” Lu Sicheng stood up, threw the cigarette butt into the trash can, then said, “I’m treating her as a new member who will be useful for the team in the future. She has good skills, good awareness, and is getting along very well with the team-- --Nowadays, there are all kinds of people in the professional circle, it’s extremely hard to find someone who only focuses on doing well at competitions…...Therefore, before she’s polished into a gem, I don’t want anything that can be avoided to prevent it from happening……”

“I’m a little confused.”

“TAT’s Mid, Ah Tai.”

“?”

“When I was still with TAT, he’s already the Mid devil. You probably don’t know, the whole team, including everyone-- --even Pope, all have a substitute. Only the Mid, he doesn’t have a substitute. He’s always the first and only Mid.” When talking about Ah Tai, Lu Sicheng unusually showed some disgust. “To say he’s a devil, it’s not because his skill or seniority, rather it’s because he’s like a cancer that has destroyed many mids…...TAT used to have several people try out as a substitute mid but before they could qualify, they were all beaten so badly by him that they totally lost their confidence to the point that they either quit playing professionally altogether or transferred to other teams.”

Xiao Rui was surprised to hear it. “How could that be?”

“Up till now, there are still many Korean teams who refuse to play skirmishes with TAT because of it-- --He views each mid player in each team as his enemy. In his eyes, the so called skirmishes or matches are not for practicing. He plays them for the sole purpose to defeat the others……”

Lu Sicheng added as an afterthought-- --

“Sometimes, I feel this guy would be an evil person in any profession even if he wasn’t playing professional esports-- --You know the champion of S3 (the second World Finals) was the Korean Communication Team? Their Mid at the time was really strong. After they won the championship, Riot went out of the way to create a tailor-made Azir skin to immortalize his invincible performance with Azir in the finals.”

“......That I know, it’s Niu god. Didn’t he retired?”

“During the S4 Spring Finals, Ah Tai used Azir and the championship skin just for Niu god. Then he used this champion to send the Korean Communication Team to its tomb.” Lu Sicheng said, “It was after that, Niu god announced that he was retiring. It was too big a blow to him. To him, Ah Tai was insulting him and he had to swallow it……”

“......”

Xiao Rui’s mouth was wide open at this time-- --He could hardly imagine there existed such an evil person in the world……

“That’s the kind of thing Ah Tai will do.”

“How can it be-- --”

“This time, it’s very obvious what they’re trying to do. Tong Yao is new to this. She performs well in skirmishes, is skilled, and plays confidently and aggressively.  The outside world has heaped praises upon her.” Lu Sicheng said, “If one can’t handle pressure well, a young person like her may soon fall apart the moment she smacks into a wall.”

“You mean that if he plays the skirmish with us, he’ll do something specifically toward Tong Yao?”

“Yes, he probably will use Leblanc to defeat Tong Yao.” Lu Sicheng coldly twitched the corner of his lips. “That’s what he’s best at: Use the champion that the opponent’s best at to defeat the opponent.”

“Then, what if we ban Leblanc directly?”

“Leblanc isn’t a strong champion.” Lu Sicheng lightly glanced over at Xiao Rui. “How do you explain to Tong Yao the reason we have to ban her iconic champion while there are so many strong champions we don’t ban.”

“.................................................”

That was true.

“Then let’s try to get Leblanc first?”

“What’s the reason to get it first? It’s not a strong champion and it’s for mid.”

“................................................”