Chapter 138: What Kind Of Champion Is This? You’re A Champion Too!
When Li Fan returned to the hotel room, he found that his teammates had recovered quite a bit mentally after a few hours of rest.
Several people were already sitting in front of their computers doing daily Rank practice to keep their feel.
After all, participating in the Mid-Season Invitational was the first time for many people, and everyone was quite excited at this moment.
Although the chance of winning the championship was slim, what if they did? Wouldn’t that be a world champion too?
Naturally, once they had rested enough, they started training.
Clearlove had just finished a game and was stretching his hands. When he looked up and saw Li Fan pushing the door open, he casually asked, “Back now? How was the Street Fighter match? Why did it take so long? I thought you got lost.”
This was purely teasing, after all, the Street Fighter match was right next to the hotel—how could he get lost.
Li Fan casually hung his jacket on the side and said relaxedly, “It looked fun and I itched to play, plus there was an opportunity, so I signed up and played a few matches.”
“Played a few matches?” Clearlove raised an eyebrow, not paying too much attention, “Experiencing the offline atmosphere is pretty good too. How did it feel? Got crushed badly, right?” He thought Li Fan had just gone for fun and probably lost more than he won.
After all, in this kind of match, the offline players were basically all top-level players. Li Fan was very talented at games, but he had no impression of him playing much Street Fighter.
A newbie who just started practicing shouldn’t be at an exaggerated level yet.
“Felt okay, just won a dozen matches and successfully advanced. Gotta go play the main tournament tomorrow.”
“Won some, whatever, experienced it and… wait! What did you say?!” Clearlove didn’t react at first and habitually tried to respond, but when he did, his eyes instantly widened round, his face full of disbelief, “Advanced?! You actually advanced? Playing the main tournament tomorrow?!”
His exclamation also drew the attention of the other teammates in the training room.
Meiko took off one headphone and looked over curiously: “Fan Ge, how was the offline Street Fighter match atmosphere? At first I thought Brazil would be chaotic, but seeing a match held here, the atmosphere feels pretty good. Now I’m really looking forward to the main tournament.”
“Yeah, I’m pretty excited for the main tournament too. Tomorrow I’ll spar with those masters. The Street Fighter match atmosphere was indeed pretty good. I pulled off a full combo on stage, and the audience cheered and cheered!”
“Ah?” Mei Kong was stunned. Wasn’t the League of Legends main tournament on the 11th? It was only the 7th… Vietnam had indeed successfully snagged the big brother from the Turkish league.
The gap between the two sides was still very obvious.
So the six teams for the Mid-Season Invitational were already confirmed: SKT, EDG, G2, TSM, FW, GAM.
“He means he’s playing the Street Fighter main tournament tomorrow, not the League of Legends group stage.”
After Clearlove said this, he suddenly didn’t know what to say.
He originally thought Li Fan had just gone to watch the fun, maybe play a bit for entertainment. Who would have thought this guy actually advanced?!
Weren’t the people participating in the match at this level that low?
“Didn’t you say you were just messing around? This… aren’t the participants professional players?”
“Right, professional players advance directly to the main tournament. I don’t have past results, so I needed to play the qualifying match for a day. I heard them say this is the Brazil region’s qualifying match. Winning the championship qualifies you for the year-end World Championship preliminaries, so there were still two professional players…”
“You kid… I’m really convinced. The Mid-Season Invitational is about to start, and you’re going to play another match? Does Abu and the coach know? How are we doing training matches later?” Clearlove knew Kuaisu Xing had already gone to schedule training matches…
If Li Fan went to compete tomorrow, they’d have to have scout sub in for training matches like before.
“I’ll go talk to them later…”
“You…” Clearlove patted Li Fan’s shoulder, “Alright, as long as you know what you’re doing. Play if you want, mess around if you want, but don’t joke about MSI. Just casually play Street Fighter, don’t get too invested and delay proper training.”
Today he eliminated the noobs, so tomorrow’s opponents should all be masters.
Maybe he’d get eliminated right away.
So thinking too much now was pointless.
Plus, every time Li Fan participated in other games’ matches during key tournaments, it didn’t seem to affect him much, and his performance in matches was very good.
This might really be his unique way of relaxing.
Since he didn’t understand, he’d try to understand…
When Abu and Kuaisu Xing learned Li Fan was competing in Street Fighter tomorrow, their reactions were similar to Clearlove’s.
Resting and relaxing before such a key match started was good, so the Mid-Season Invitational would definitely go well next.
If he didn’t finish this Street Fighter match, he’d definitely be thinking about it during the upcoming group stage.
Thinking that way, it would definitely affect his match state.
So participating in this match had no downsides, only upsides.
Plus, once the main tournament intensity ramped up, he might get eliminated tomorrow.
Training matches weren’t urgent anyway—there were still four days until the match, so resting one more day and training the next would be fine.
Kuaisu Xing even patted Li Fan’s shoulder, giving him a preemptive warning.
“Tomorrow’s match is just for relaxation and fun. Even if you lose, don’t take it too seriously. After all, people have limited energy and can’t be good at every game.”
Li Fan nodded, indicating he was purely there for fun. Mainly, he’d never seen offline Street Fighter before, and with the opportunity to experience it, he had a pretty clear sense of his own strength.
Kuaisu Xing was very satisfied… Having a player like this would boost his coaching reputation a lot.
Scout watched this scene, feeling it was unfair at the moment.
We’re clearly both Korean!
Why do you favor Chinese people so much?
And… overly targeting me!
Scout looked at Kuaisu Xing’s almost kindly attitude toward Li Fan, compared to the usual strict scolding toward him, and felt an indescribable sourness and grievance.
He silently lowered his head, pretending to focus on the game screen, but his peripheral vision uncontrollably glanced over to observe.
“We’re clearly both Korean…” Scout shouted in his heart, “Why are you so lenient with Li Fan but so harsh with me? He goes off to play another match and delays training matches, but not only are you not angry, you comfort him? This is too unfair!”
He remembered two days ago at the base discussing tactics, when Kuaisu Xing had crazily cursed him out, even making him go outside to stand as punishment in front of everyone.
This was very hard for him to understand…
Why? We’re both mid laners, and I’m even stronger. Why treat me differently?
Could it be because Li Fan doesn’t train seriously every day and plays other games all day, and you like this rebellious type of player?
Scout suddenly felt locked by an icy gaze, his scalp tingling, his body involuntarily trembling slightly.
His instinct told him Kuaisu Xing was about to scold him…
“Scout, what are you looking at? Focus on your training!” or “Don’t think you can slack off just because Li Fan is relaxing. You still have plenty of problems!”
At that moment, the pressure was so immense he could barely breathe.
He stared dead at the screen.
However, the expected reprimand didn’t come.
Kuaisu Xing just glanced at him faintly, seemingly not noticing his inner turmoil, and ultimately said nothing, turning to discuss training match scheduling details with Abu in a low voice.
Scout’s rigid body slowly relaxed, and he let out a long breath. When he realized, he felt covered in cold sweat.
The next day, Clearlove, Kuaisu Xing, and the others surprisingly followed Li Fan to the Street Fighter match venue.
They claimed to watch the match, but almost all had the same thought: once Li Fan got eliminated, they’d go up first to pat his shoulder and say, “No big deal, it was just for fun—heavy on participation.”
The on-site atmosphere was even hotter than the qualifying match, with huge screens, a professional commentator booth, and more fervent fighting game fans.
Clearlove looked at the setup and was a bit surprised: “Good grief, this scale is no joke!”
Diego had been looking for Li Fan since arriving at the venue. When he spotted him, his eyes lit up, and he hurriedly grabbed his camera to start snapping photos.
The match began, and Li Fan’s first-round opponent was a local Brazilian player.
Li Fan’s Chun Li used precise Hadoken pokes to control, nimble Hyakuretsukyaku harassment, and upon spotting a flaw, unleashed a flashy combo, easily taking it 2:0.
“Nice one, Fan Ge!” Clearlove was somewhat surprised.
“Got lucky, opponent might’ve been nervous.” Li Fan smiled.
In the following rounds, Li Fan continued to crush his way through with overwhelming dominance.
His reaction speed was astonishing, his control of distance and understanding of moves completely unlike a casual player.
Clearlove and Kuaisu Xing went from initially waiting to console him to being surprised, now watching slack-jawed as Li Fan powerfully entered the quarterfinals.
“No way… this strong?”
The quarterfinals bracket came out, and the venue erupted in gasps.
Li Fan’s opponent was this tournament’s top favorite to win, professional player Nemo from Japan!
Nemo was renowned in Japan for his highly aggressive playstyle and was the strongest contender for a World Championship spot this time.
However, when the match officially started and the big screen showed Li Fan picking Chun Li while Nemo selected Gill.
Li Fan’s eyes changed this round.
Opponent was Japanese!
Had to hit hard. The feeling right now was great, state fully maxed.
In the first game, Nemo’s Gill attacked like a tidal wave, but Li Fan’s Chun Li blocked every time and punished precisely and terrifyingly, easily resolving it.
After poking away most of the opponent’s health, Li Fan seized a tiny mistake and landed a combo that directly took out Nemo’s Gill!
“Holy shit!” Clearlove couldn’t help shouting.
The on-site audience also burst into incredulous exclamations.
This unknown Chinese player actually took the first game?
Nemo clearly got serious too, unleashing even fiercer suppression from the start of the second game.
Li Fan’s operation seemed to level up again. His Chun Li no longer just dodged but launched extremely oppressive counters.
Beautiful Phoenix Wing Fan to resolve crises, precise Hyakuretsukyaku to interrupt opponent startups—the whole operation flowed seamlessly.
“Strength unknown, strong against Japanese?” This line inexplicably popped into Clearlove’s head.
In the second game, after intense clashes, Li Fan seized the opportunity again and knocked down Nemo’s Gill once more!
2:0!
Cleanly and decisively defeated the Japanese favorite Nemo, powerfully advancing to the top four.
The entire arena went silent for a moment, then erupted in thunderous applause and cheers!
Diego hurriedly captured this moment.
Awesome!
Plenty of news to post when he got back, plus he could slap the faces of those who doubted yesterday.
Breaking into the top four, especially beating a strong enemy like Nemo, caused Li Fan’s attention both inside and outside the arena to skyrocket.
Li Fan had become the dark horse in everyone’s eyes.
The next day’s match changed from short sets to the more testing BO3 format.
Li Fan’s semifinal opponent was local Brazilian fighting game master Wes.
This player was known for his steady defense and precise opportunity grabs, with a huge local fanbase.
The match started and quickly became stalemated.
Wes had studied Li Fan’s Chun Li thoroughly, no longer falling easily, defending watertight.
In the first game, they traded back and forth, health bars dropping alternately. At the key moment, Wes caught Li Fan’s slightly aggressive advance and combo’d away Chun Li.
Li Fan was easily handled in the first game’s second round!
Wes successfully took the first big point…
During the break, Li Fan took deep breaths, expression still calm but eyes more focused. He’d run into a master!
In the second game, he quickly adjusted strategy, no longer rushing, starting to pull and poke.
The two sides fell into a tough battle again, tying 1:1, the scene intensely anxious at times.
Finally, in the second game’s decider, Li Fan used an extremely calm light kick punish combo to barely claw back a point.
Big score tied 1:1!
The on-site atmosphere grew tense, everyone holding their breath watching the big screen.
In the decider, pressure mounted on both sides.
Wes was clearly impatient from losing the previous game, trying several high-risk, high-reward moves to break open, but Li Fan steadily blocked them all.
Time ticked by, both health bars critically low, but Li Fan still had a slight lead.
Wes couldn’t hold back, controlling his character into a forward super move for a last desperate push!
However, this reckless move was already anticipated by fully focused Li Fan.
“Ha!”
A lightning-fast heavy punch punish solidly hit the flaw in Wes’s character’s recovery!
Counterattack started! Successfully clinched the match victory.
2-1!
After the fierce battle with Wes, Li Fan’s physical energy was hugely drained, but he was extremely excited right now.
This was exactly the feeling!
After a short rest, the finals began.
His opponent was another Brazilian star Brolynho, ranked top three in Brazil.
In the finals’ first game, Brolynho unleashed a storm-like assault from the start, catching Li Fan off guard and taking the first.
But Li Fan showed strong adaptability again.
Not panicking from losing first, in the second game he withstood pressure with finer operation and tenacious defense, gradually turning the disadvantage and barely winning the second.
Big score 1:1…
Brolynho truly hadn’t expected Li Fan to push him this far.
At first he thought the pressure would come from the Japanese player, but it turned out to be the League of Legends player.
Honestly, this shift was pretty dramatic.
But losing this match would make him a joke.
He’d seen Diego’s reports.
Li Fan only practiced for a week, reaching this level in a week—indeed a genius, but if he beat him after all these years of effort, what was that?
…
In the decider, the atmosphere was suffocatingly tense.
Every choice, every move tugged at everyone’s hearts.
Brolynho’s offense didn’t let up, Li Fan’s Chun Li health once suppressed to a very dangerous level.
However, in the desperate situation…
Brolynho’s Ryu fired a “Burning Hadoken” to block the path while advancing, preparing to fatally strike if Li Fan jumped to dodge.
But Li Fan didn’t jump!
Chun Li, at the last moment, pulled off an operation that made everyone gasp: consecutive precise blocks!
“Pa!” “Pa!”
Chun Li’s figure swayed slightly in the energy wave, perfectly blocking both hits of the Hadoken!
This required near-superhuman reaction and frame-perfect input!
“What?!” Brolynho completely hadn’t expected the opponent to gamble like this in low health—and succeed!
But at that moment, Li Fan moved!
With the brief stiffness from successful block released, Chun Li lunged forward like a leopard long poised to strike!
Light kick startup!
“Hey!”
Light kick hit, Li Fan’s fingers madly rubbed the controller!
Light kick → link → Hyakuretsukyaku → cancel → Phoenix Wing Fan!
A combo long etched into muscle memory poured out!
Chun Li’s figure traced a flashy arc in the air, all damage pouring into Brolynho’s Ryu!
Brolynho’s health bar instantly emptied!
KO! Reversal! Counter-kill!
“He won! My god! Block into punish combo! Low-health counter-kill, Li Fan is the champion! He won the Brazil region Street Fighter qualifying match championship!”
The entire arena, after a brief silence, erupted in tsunami-like cheers and applause!
This unbelievable reversal, this godlike block and counter!
Li Fan leaned back hard on the chair, letting out a long breath. This championship was truly practiced from zero, fought for step by step by himself—the feeling was completely different.
So thrilling!
Diego’s hands trembled with excitement, perfectly capturing Li Fan raising both arms after winning.
This photo, paired with the title “LOL Player Becomes Street Fighter Champion in One Week, Finals Low-Health Godlike Counter-Kill,” he could already foresee the uproar in the Street Fighter community.
…
Less than two hours after Li Fan lifted the Street Fighter champion trophy, a well-known domestic esports marketing account swiftly posted an article.
【 Breaking News! Congrats to EDG.Unreal for Winning Championship in Brazil! 】
In the just-concluded top Brazil region event, EDG mid laner Unreal performed godlike, crushing through all opponents, pulling off a shocking low-health counter-kill in finals to claim the championship!
Cheers for Unreal! Cheers for EDG! #EDG# #MSI#
This post instantly exploded the comments.
Many EDG fans and LPL viewers who just saw the title felt their brains buzz.
【 Holy shit?! MSI champion?! Already won? Hasn’t the match even started? 】
【 Custom champion? 】
Most clicked in full of question marks.
【 I dropped my pants and you show me this? 】
【 Street Fighter 5 champion??? Unreal? The EDG mid Unreal I think? 】
【 Damn, I rushed in to curse, turns out I’m the clown? 】
【 Unreal what’s up with you? How do you have champions in every game? 】
【 First QQ Speed, now Street Fighter? Fan Ge, weren’t you a League of Legends professional player? What’s your main job? 】
【 I’m dumbfounded. Didn’t he go to Brazil for MSI? How’d he snag the local fighting game champion first? 】
【 Marketing account, you know clickbait, but I forgive you this time—this news is too damn fantastical! 】
【 Casually grabs a Street Fighter championship? Is this the world of talent players? 】
【 I know Brolynho and Nemo, both legit professional players, got smashed by Fan Ge? Insane! 】
【 Low-health block counter-kill? Novels wouldn’t dare write this plot! 】
【 Gotta say, this operation is genuinely cool, super high difficulty, pulling off a counter-kill at that level takes real big heart. 】
This news spread at astonishing speed across forums and social media.
“EDG Mid Brazil Champion” rapidly climbed the hot search.
Netizens initially clueless all went through “?” to “!” to “hahaha” journeys upon clicking.
Li Fan’s image of neglecting one’s duties got reinforced again…
At the same time, a huge group of League of Legends players were furious.
First day in Brazil doesn’t count, playing a Street Fighter match is whatever.
But the next day when everyone’s state was great, you still had to go compete, wasting three days straight like this.
How to train like that?
Unreal for the hype, utterly selfish! Players like this should get out of esports!
