Chapter 137: You’re Here For The Lol Mid-season Invitational?
Li Fan quickly patted Clearlove, who was slumped in the seat next to him.
“Brother Kai, there seems to be a Street Fighter 5 match next to this hotel. Are you interested in going with me to check it out?”
Clearlove couldn’t even be bothered to fully open his eyes and weakly waved his hand: “I’m so tired right now that I’m about to collapse, where would I have time to go watch some Street Fighter 5 match with you? Besides, I’m not interested; this game doesn’t appeal to me.”
“Then could you trouble yourself to help me take my luggage to the hotel later?”
“Fine, fine… I really can’t hold on anymore. Give me a bed now and I could sleep until tomorrow… You watch out for your own safety, don’t go too far. I’ll send you the room number once I get to the room.”
“Thanks, Brother Kai!” Li Fan immediately got up from his seat.
Then he greeted Abu.
Abu thought about it; it was right next to the hotel, and they had brought security right after getting off the plane, so it should be fine.
Sure enough, Ai De Zhu had arranged four security guards to protect the players’ safety here in Brazil.
After all, there were still a lot of people robbing on the streets with guns, and they had Asian faces.
In this situation, hiring a security team was very necessary; a gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall.
However, in fact… as long as it was a place hosting a match, armed robberies rarely occurred.
These gangs in Brazil could actually be reasoned with; they also liked watching matches.
So when a match was being held, these little punks were not allowed to cause trouble.
Emphasizing harmony breeds wealth…
This was also why India couldn’t host the Olympics, but Brazil could.
“Go ahead, go ahead… Two bodyguards following you is enough.”
“Okay.” Li Fan nodded. “I’ll go check it out and come right back.”
Li Fan waved without looking back, his figure already running toward the match area next to the hotel.
Abu shook his head helplessly and said to Kuaisu Xing, who had the same weary expression beside him: “This kid… his energy is really abundant.”
Kuaisu Xing looked at Li Fan’s back and said: “That’s why he performs so well on the arena; he’s not nervous at all before the match, and his mentality is great.”
This was also… Abu nodded.
If not for that, their EDG wouldn’t have come to Brazil.
Li Fan arrived at the arena and started probing inside; the crowd around him automatically made way.
No choice; an Asian face with two big guys carrying guns behind him… everyone was a bit nervous.
Moreover, there were actually more Asians on site; after all, there were over five million Japanese in Brazil.
This was also why fighting games like this had plenty of matches in Brazil every year.
On stage, two players were in fierce combat; Ryu and Cammy on the screen were trading blows, drawing exclamations from the audience below from time to time.
Li Fan saw that these two players were masters compared to ordinary people, but still had a significant gap compared to professional players. However, for their matchup, it was just right, and the fight was quite interesting.
A Brazilian guy who looked like staff nearby saw Li Fan’s unfamiliar Asian face and asked enthusiastically in accented English: “Hey, friend, where are you from? Interested in Street Fighter too? Want to sign up and give it a try? There are still spots available. This isn’t just a fun match; it’s one that accumulates CPT points. Winning champion could even get you into Capcom pro matches later, since this is Brazil’s quota event.”
Li Fan couldn’t help but admire himself; back then, he had learned English to play CS, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to communicate with these people.
“Are there any conditions for signing up?”
“World ranking top three thousand, or pay twenty dollars registration fee. Today is the first day of preliminary match, so you can still sign up.”
This was also how the official maintained match revenue through registration fees.
After all, only three thousand people worldwide got it free, but not everyone would fly in specifically for regional matches.
The main bonus wasn’t that high either; even champion only got three thousand dollars.
By that calculation, this trip wouldn’t earn much.
Just domestically, round-trip airfare would cost that much.
Not to mention accommodation and other expenses…
Fighting pro players would only choose nearby places; too far was generally not worth it, unless round-trip tickets weren’t too expensive and they could make a little profit by placing.
This was also why fighting match scales didn’t develop much; every event lasted two to three days.
Li Fan perked up when the guy mentioned world ranking top three thousand could sign up for free; what a coincidence.
Mainly, at base, he casually played a few ranked Street Fighter 5 matches, winning streak all the way, unexpectedly reaching around 2500th place. It might have dropped a bit now, but not by much.
“Then I’ll sign up.” Li Fan smiled at the guy. “Ranking should be top three thousand…”
“Ah?” The guy was clearly stunned; he thought Li Fan was a tourist wanting to experience it since he looked unfamiliar and young, but unexpectedly he had a ranking.
He sized Li Fan up and down, especially noticing the two silent security guards behind him, and his attitude immediately became more serious.
“Yes, sir, please wait a moment!” The guy didn’t dare slack off, quickly pulling out his tablet computer and bringing up the registration system. “Please provide your game ID; I need to verify the ranking.”
Li Fan gave his usual ID.
The guy quickly typed it into the tablet, and the screen immediately showed the account info with ranking #2843.
Two days without playing dropped a few hundred spots, but it was enough.
“Verified!” The guy confirmed, then entered Li Fan’s info into the player pool. For the name, he still added the EDG club prefix.
“Preliminary match first round starts soon; your matchup info will show on the big screen over there. Please keep an eye out.”
Almost as soon as he finished speaking, the big screen nearby refreshed the player matchup list.
EDGUnreal appeared in a grouping, his first opponent a player named BR_Guile.
“So soon?” Li Fan was a bit surprised, but more eager to try.
He nodded to the guy in thanks, then headed to the player prep area.
Following the signs, he arrived at the next match position and flexed his fingers.
First time participating in an offline Street Fighter match like this; after all, he’d only practiced Street Fighter recently. Honestly, against a master, he wasn’t guaranteed a win, so he was a bit excited for this match.
If there were several pros here, it would be even more interesting.
“Just treat it as a warm-up before MSI.”
Soon, the BR_Guile player sat next to Li Fan; a local Brazilian guy.
Seeing Li Fan’s Asian face, his expression was very serious.
After all, it was acknowledged that Asians played fighting games well.
As the countdown on the screen ended, Li Fan locked in “Karin,” the character he’d practiced a lot recently.
The Brazilian guy across instantly picked the highly aggressive Ken.
First round began.
Li Fan didn’t rush to attack, instead controlling Karin to roam at mid-range, cautiously probing with light punch and light kick.
This was very important in Street Fighter: probe and guess. Charging in blindly often didn’t work, unless you caught them off guard with a perfect combo…
But the opponent wasn’t dumb; they’d block, so the difficulty was very high.
The Brazilian guy’s Ken lived up to the character choice, playing very aggressively, constantly trying to zone with Hadoken, then rushing in for a flashy combo.
After a few rounds of repositioning exchanges, Li Fan had a rough read.
Opponent had strong attack desire, but obvious openings, especially liking sudden rushes into dash cancels for surprise.
Having figured it out, Li Fan held nothing back.
When Ken tried dash cancel into light kick to force close again, Li Fan’s Karin reacted extremely fast; a precise command throw not only stuffed the advance but slammed Ken behind her for solid damage.
“Whoa!” The audience erupted in exclamations at the counter.
Such fast reaction!
Pressing the advantage relentlessly, Li Fan launched a fierce offensive.
Karin’s punches and kicks combined with special moves poured onto Ken.
Li Fan gave no breathing room, his powerful reaction speed and operation precision on full display.
The Brazilian guy was clearly stunned, rhythm completely gone.
He tried Shoryuken to interrupt the suppression, but Li Fan blocked it as predicted, following with a punish combo.
Health dropped rapidly, mentality starting to crack.
Finally, under Li Fan’s Karin’s fluid combo suppression, Ken’s health bar was completely depleted.
First round, Li Fan took it easily.
“K.O.” flashed on screen; Li Fan released the controller, expression still calm.
Official controller wasn’t great but usable.
His Brazilian opponent stared incredulously at the screen, scratching his head, clearly not expecting such a strong opponent.
Second round began.
After the first round probe, Li Fan had fully read the Brazilian guy’s habits and patterns.
He knew the opponent’s mentality was off-balance, eager to even it up, likely playing even harder but exposing more flaws.
Sure enough, as soon as the match started, Ken was more impatient than last round, trying quick suppression to break Li Fan’s rhythm.
However, their reactions and operations weren’t even close.
The instant Ken dashed to start, Li Fan’s Karin moved!
A precise standing medium kick stuffed the rush for a counter hit!
Opportunity!
Karin danced like a butterfly through flowers.
Counter Hit → dash cancel → close heavy punch → command throw cancel → heavy punch no moon → max combo count trigger CA! Instant lonely moon piercing fang!
A dazzling series of operations completed in a flash!
Any slight mistake and it wouldn’t come out.
Karin’s figure traced a deadly arc in the air, lethal sword energy and punches raining on Ken!
Ken’s health bar visibly melted away, instantly bottoming out!
The whole process was suffocatingly fast; the Brazilian guy couldn’t even make a single effective defense or counter.
He could only watch his character get comboed away in the screen center!
“PERFECT!”
Dazzling gold text popped on screen, declaring the second round’s end.
All spectators were stunned by the flawless combo.
After several seconds, the audience erupted in hotter, more shocked exclamations and applause than before!
It was genuinely cool enough, the smoothest match everyone had seen so far.
Worth coming to see a top three thousand ranked player; they got an amazing screen!
For the rest, it was pure dimensional dominance.
“Oh My God!”
“That’s insane!”
“One combo took him out? He didn’t even touch the opponent!”
“That reaction and combo precision… no wonder top three thousand; totally different from us casual players.”
“This guy will definitely advance.”
“Yeah, advancing won’t be an issue.”
“If Brolynho comes to play?”
“Nemo’s here; I think he’ll take this tournament’s champion.”
“Too unfair; how come Japanese players come to our Brazil for points quota?”
“Simple; he can’t win champion domestically, easier in Brazil… so he farms his own points.”
“What about Unreal?”
“Never heard of this guy in fighting circles!”
The audience below was buzzing with discussion; these two they talked about didn’t need first-day qualifiers due to past match results.
After all, top three thousand worldwide were usually recognizable names in matches.
But after discussing back and forth, no conclusion.
They could only watch upcoming matches more; this sudden unfamiliar face had everyone very curious.
The Brazilian guy across from Li Fan was completely dumbfounded.
Hands off the stick, staring slack-jawed at the “PERFECT” on screen and his empty health bar, incredulous…
This was the kind of play he pulled in ranked often, but online he got crushed in offline match.
Ultimately just a powerless sigh, slumping back in his chair.
Didn’t expect a random opponent to be this strong.
He didn’t even touch Li Fan’s Karin once before getting full-health KO’d!
Li Fan calmly set down the controller and took a sip of mineral water nearby.
As if he hadn’t just pulled off that spectacular play.
At the sidelines, local Brazilian fighting game reporter Diego with a beard was excitedly flipping through the shots he’d just captured.
He snapped Li Fan’s focused expression during the lethal combo, and the final PERFECT on screen with opponent’s stunned face.
“Awesome! This is absolutely today’s biggest discovery!” Diego muttered excitedly.
He covered Brazilian local fighting events year-round, knew all the experts inside out, so he was sure this EDGUnreal Asian player was a brand new face with unfathomable strength.
“EDG… isn’t that the famous esports club from China? Aren’t they here for League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational? Why a player doing Street Fighter?” Diego puzzled while quickly checking info…
And sure enough, EDG team really had Unreal.
A League of Legends professional player!
In Brazil, League of Legends Pro League was hugely popular; even if their results sucked and they got eliminated in prelims, locals still loved the game…
Spectator crowds were massive, so player info was available.
These local reporters dreamed daily of Brazil league getting a world-class player to lead a team to World Championship.
Yeah, low expectations… just qualifying for World Championship was fine, no dreams of placing.
A mysterious player from a top League of Legends team crossing over to CPT points race, showing terrifying strength—this was hugely topical news!
He sensed this Unreal League player might be this Brazil fighting tournament’s biggest dark horse.
“Buddy, just wait; if your next matches match this performance, by end of today’s matches, your name and videos will be all over major fighting game forums!”
After easily crushing his first opponent, Li Fan felt his state was decent, sitting waiting for the next challenger.
The big screen matchup list kept refreshing.
Li Fan’s opponents changed one after another: Asian challengers, local Brazilians wanting to prove themselves.
They used all sorts of characters: Guile, Chun Li, Zangief…
Li Fan used Karin mostly, but switched to others like Ryu, Chun Li… just for different fun, but results were the same: crushes.
Perfect!
K.O.!
You Win!
Similar system sounds and screen text repeated on Li Fan’s station.
Every match ended fast; opponents barely got into gear before his fluid offense crushed them.
Seventeen matches!
From afternoon to evening, Li Fan defeated seventeen opponents straight, over half perfect wins!
This terrifying dominance fully ignited the area.
Diego held his camera, finger nearly cramped from shutter, grinning tirelessly.
Never seen such dominant performance in a regional prelim, especially from a League of Legends crossover!
“God… he’s a superhuman!” Diego shot while muttering, imagining the fighting game scene storm from releasing this footage.
As Li Fan racked up wins, crowd around his machine grew.
From sparse to packed layers, nearly blocking the match area.
Discussions and praises nonstop.
“He won again!”
“Under a minute this time!”
“Is that human reaction speed? His opponents seem strong too, but against this, zero chance.”
“Who is this EDGUnreal? Never heard in fighting circles!”
“I know EDG club; probably their fighting branch, easier quota here.”
With perfect record securing tomorrow’s main tournament spot, Li Fan contentedly stood from his seat.
Diego, waiting ages, rushed up with enthusiastic smile.
“Unreal player! Congrats on perfect record advancing to main tournament! I’m Diego, reporter for local fighting game site. Can I take a few minutes for a quick interview?”
Li Fan nodded: “Sure.”
Hearing yes, Diego was thrilled.
“First, I checked your info; you’re League of Legends pro from China’s EDG club, here for MSI, right?”
“Yes.”
EDG was top-ranked in China, so normal he could find it.
“Wow!” Diego exclaimed despite knowing.
“So why join this Street Fighter 5 match? And… your performance is insane, not like an amateur at all.”
“Just interest. We just got to hotel, saw the lively Street Fighter match next door, got curious to check. I play Street Fighter to relax usually, so thought to join as MSI warm-up, also looking forward to exchanging with top fighters.”
“Relax and warm-up…” Diego repeated, expression subtle.
Mid-Season Invitational player doing Street Fighter for relax warm-up? First time hearing.
Sounds fun and absurd…
No wonder EDG had such global influence; players were talent monsters like this.
“Your Street Fighter level so high; specially practiced? Considered focusing on fighting games?”
“Did practice some skills specifically, about a week. No plans to focus on fighting games yet; main job is League of Legends, focus there. Street Fighter’s just a hobby.”
“…”
“Hobby… one week of practice…” Diego shocked again.
So casually dominating CPT regional prelim with this strength; talent to envy.
“For tomorrow’s main tournament, any goals? You’ll face Brazil and world names like Brolynho, Nemo.”
“Goals… just do my best each match. Fun to face masters; results whatever. After all, mainly here for MSI.”
Diego jotted notes fast, already drafting the article in mind.
《MSI player EDG.Unreal crosses to Street Fighter, perfect prelim crush to advance!》
“Thanks for the interview; best wishes for tomorrow’s main and upcoming MSI!” Diego ended satisfied.
Li Fan nodded to him, then headed to hotel with two guards.
Diego worked fast; back home, he stayed up compiling highlight clips, on-site photos, short interview into article, posting to Brazil’s biggest fighting game forum and his site.
Article detailed how League of Legends pro Unreal dominated Street Fighter 5 CPT prelim, crushing seventeen foes to advance.
Diego highlighted “interest,” “relax warm-up,” “one week practice,” shaping Li Fan as unfathomably talented gaming genius youth.
As Diego predicted, article sparked hot discussion in Brazil fighting scene; local players shocked by performance, extra curious knowing he’s a League of Legends pro!
