Chapter 98: An Unquestionable 7000!
At the entrance to the multifunctional hall of Hongqiao Tiandi Performing Arts Center, a long line had already formed early.
Despite the venue’s limited capacity, accommodating only over nine hundred audience members, the crowd gathered outside far exceeded this number.
Besides the core Speed fans, there were even more League of Legends players who heard the news and pure strangers just there to watch the excitement.
After all, the online discussions were so heated that people with nothing to do at this time figured they might as well come to the site to see for themselves.
It had been a long time since the esports circle had seen such an interesting person.
With so many people gathered, they naturally started chatting.
“Brother, are you here to watch Unreal too?” a young man wearing an EDG team jersey excitedly asked the person next to him.
“Yeah! That time trial result last night was too outrageous. I just wanted to see if he’s really that strong offline! It’s just a shame I couldn’t get a ticket. If Unreal really manages to break through in actual combat today, I’ll buy a scalper ticket tomorrow to go in and watch the match.”
These words were overheard by the guy next to him.
“Unreal’s popularity is really outrageous. When has Speed ever held a match at Hongqiao Tiandi Performing Arts Center? These tickets have doubled in price to four hundred ninety-eight each!”
“Yeah, but I still think it’s worth it. Especially when the official announced the time trial result last night. I’ve been playing Speed for ten years and never heard of Razor running Rainbow Windmill Island in under 1 minute 14 seconds. I have to witness it with my own eyes today.”
“Hehehe, the first match is Group A’s, so we don’t have to wait too long.”
It was like this outside the venue, but the atmosphere inside was even hotter.
The lights focused on the central competition stage, with four computers placed on either side. The large screen behind them hadn’t been activated yet, but it was for the match live stream and displaying the players’ first-person perspective.
The site was already filled with everyone’s anticipation for the match.
Just as the audience inside the venue was whispering quietly, waiting for the match to start, the large screen in the center of the stage suddenly lit up, switching to the commentator’s desk.
“Hello everyone, I’m commentator Cui Jin!” A well-dressed male commentator flashed a professional smile at the camera.
“Hello everyone, I’m Li Li.” The capable female commentator next to him also smiled and greeted the audience.
Li Li was the 2012 Speed professional female player and the women’s champion of the first annual finals. Her strength was quite strong, but then He Siying suddenly emerged. After her dominance waned, she chose to retire and now works as a commentator.
Applause erupted throughout the site, drawing everyone’s attention.
Everyone knew that once the commentators appeared on the big screen, the match was about to start soon. The match was about to officially begin.
“Welcome everyone to Hongqiao Tiandi Performing Arts Center to watch the live Speed SSC Spring Split quarterfinals!” Cui Jin’s voice carried through the speakers across the entire venue, instantly igniting the atmosphere.
“Wow, the site is really packed today, with an extremely hot atmosphere!” Li Li took over, her tone carrying a hint of barely noticeable excitement. “I think the audience here today, besides our loyal Speed fans, many are here for player Li Fan.”
Cui Jin immediately caught on: “To be honest, Li Li, I’ve commentated so many SSC events, even higher-level ones, but this is the first time I’ve seen someone use B-car Razor to achieve such results on Rainbow Windmill Island and Western Mine. Honestly, even with an S-car, no one could achieve this result.”
“I’ve seen the video. His running method is completely different from the old methods. This should be a new technique he developed himself…” Li Li said this with great certainty.
Because the running methods they developed were already very perfected.
No matter what they used to run, everyone had a good idea.
But Li Fan’s route was almost the same, yet the details stacked up to make the nitro spray obviously longer, plus that extended drift.
As professional players, they had never seen it before. In this situation, it was nine times out of ten something he developed himself.
“1 minute 13 seconds 88 and 1 minute 06 seconds 28—these two results have far surpassed the general level of current professional players. They can even be said to open a new era. Actually, last night many players and masters in the circle were discussing how he achieved that unique running method.”
Yan Bin, Zhang Shun, Tan Weiyi… these without video displays were asking the official for videos.
Not exaggerating, last night half the professional circle was researching this running method.
But this evolved from four or five years of accumulation. Without anyone teaching, how could they figure it out in one night?
Cui Jin: “So today’s biggest highlight is whether player Unreal can perfectly convert the terrifying personal ability he showed in the time trial into the variable-filled and confrontational actual combat.”
Li Li nodded: “We all know that online and offline, time trial and actual combat are completely different concepts.”
“Yes, in actual combat there will be positioning, collisions, interference, and other uncertain factors. And his opponents are far from weak.”
Generally speaking, in Speed melee, breaking out gives a huge advantage.
The main reason is no pets or Taric.
Catching up from behind to compensate for that small deficit is extremely difficult.
Still have to hope for opponents’ mistakes… otherwise, it’s completely hopeless.
“Speaking of which, I have to mention that Li Fan plays Speed so well because he’s a Speed professional player… that’s totally wrong. Player Li Fan’s main identity is a League of Legends professional player for the EDG team. They just ended the LPL regular season with five consecutive wins.”
Li Li smiled and said: “This might be the legendary genius. But it makes us even more excited for today’s match.”
Under the back-and-forth between the two commentators, even the very few offline Speed audience members who didn’t know Li Fan gained a whole new understanding.
It also successfully stirred up the audience’s emotions.
Everyone’s gaze focused on the player tunnel and the four match computers already prepared.
In the player tunnel, Jiang Zhangchuang leaned against the wall, his eyes showing obvious bloodshot veins, his brows furrowed into a knot.
He had barely slept all night, his mind full of the scenes from Li Fan’s time trial recording.
“Song Qian Piao… yes, it’s the feeling of Song Qian Piao, but why is his nitrogen continuation so long? How does he adjust the car nose after landing?”
He researched all night, and with his top professional qualities, he did imitate something similar, like the sky break drift on Rainbow Windmill Island…
This feeling of seeing and touching it but always separated by a layer of fog drove him insanely mad.
A strong impulse grew in his heart: go ask him! Directly ask Li Fan how he operated it!
But this idea just emerged, and he shook his head.
If it were him, he absolutely wouldn’t tell others this bottom-of-the-box technique.
At this moment, Li Fan had already walked out of the player tunnel.
The site immediately erupted in screams and cheers from the audience.
At the commentator’s desk, Cui Jin and Li Li also saw the players entering one after another.
“Alright, we see all four players from Group A are in position!” Cui Jin’s voice pulled the audience’s attention back. “They’re doing final equipment checks. The match is about to start.”
“Race to seven format! First to seven points ends the match, top two advance to top four!”
Li Fan here just casually pressed the venue-provided keyboard.
The feel was okay… it could be said all Shuangyan Keyboards have a similar feel.
Usable.
Then came map selection.
Li Fan selected Spring, while Jiang Zhangchuang switched to Forest Corkscrew instead of Western Mine. Western Mine definitely couldn’t score points.
Liang Haipeng selected Grand Canyon of the Americas.
Xiong Mengqi selected Seaside Town.
The first four rounds are PK on the King Maps selected by the players.
Then winning your own King Map gives an extra point, so two points total.
So King Map scoring advantage is huge; it really affects whether you advance.
As soon as one side reaches seven points, the match ends.
After four King Maps, the second place gets map selection rights.
Melee first and second place are both very important.
On the big screen, the preview screen for the first match’s map Spring New Fun had appeared.
Countdown begins!
“3!”
“2!”
“1!”
Accompanied by intense sound effects, four race cars simultaneously blasted out from the starting line of Spring New Fun!
Just as everyone predicted, the match was filled with gunpowder flavor from the start.
Jiang Zhangchuang and Liang Haipeng immediately tried to compress Li Fan’s racing line after the start.
Jiang Zhangchuang seized the inside line, while Liang Haipeng applied pressure from the outside, forcing Li Fan’s race car to lightly scrape the wall, affecting his starting speed.
Of course, since it’s an event, IDs aren’t visible. Everyone starts by interfering with others.
Especially in this group with Li Fan, an extremely strong time trial player.
Don’t know the name? Crash!
Crash first!
A bit slow at the start, Li Fan dropped to third place.
Leading was Xiong Mengqi, who successfully grabbed the optimal route.
However, there was no panic on Li Fan’s face. He controlled the race car, precisely performing two quick gathers on the uphill section, successfully gathering two bars of nitro at the uphill point.
“Look at Li Fan, he’s not anxious at all. Stable gathering now—this gathering efficiency is so high!” Cui Jin exclaimed.
Entering the acceleration ramp area, all four race cars gained speed simultaneously, but rhythm differences began to show.
“Alright! Here’s a key ultimate skill point!” Cui Jin’s tone became excited.
The leading Xiong Mengqi and second-place Jiang Zhangchuang both landed and started locking tires almost simultaneously.
After all, Li Fan had made a dedicated tutorial on how to run this map.
These professional players had studied it for a long time and learned it too.
But there are differences between ultimates!
Otherwise, it couldn’t be the ultimate King Map of the turtle.
Everyone can use it, but only he uses it the fastest, with the highest win rate.
“Jiang Zhangchuang’s super drift is beautiful! He grabbed the lead position!” Li Li commentated.
And just as the words fell, the third-place Li Fan’s race car shot out like it had rocket push, as a red lightning bolt instantly overtook Xiong Mengqi and Jiang Zhangchuang from the outside!
“Wow!! Overtaken! An amazing outside overtake! Li Fan used this unbelievable cornering to directly surpass the two players ahead and reclaim first!” Li Li shouted excitedly.
“And this speed is exaggerated enough, directly pulling four car lengths ahead of the others…”
The entire audience erupted in deafening gasps and cheers!
At this moment, second-place Jiang Zhangchuang’s expression turned very ugly.
He had learned it too, but still couldn’t do it?
All that lead, overtaken in one corner.
Reclaiming the lead, Li Fan gave no chance to the opponents behind.
He even couldn’t see their taillights later, because second place was also fighting.
They fought bloody, but in this situation, the gap between second and first not only didn’t shrink but grew wider.
Ultimately, Li Fan’s race car crossed the finish line with absolute dominance, securing his own King Map!
Directly taking two points first!
Jiang Zhangchuang secured second in this round with stronger super drift than Xiong Mengqi.
“Li Fan is truly in a league of his own on this Spring map. So exaggerated!”
“Even starting unfavorably, he still easily turned the situation around with his unique technique and understanding. He runs this Spring New Fun effortlessly, very relaxed.”
Cui Jin couldn’t help thinking of a term.
Old man playing with kids.
The gap was just too big.
Jiang Zhangchuang saw Li Fan in first on the podium and wasn’t surprised.
After all, probably only he could be faster than him.
He quickly adjusted his mentality.
This point was given away; just secure the next King Map.
Securing his King Map would still give him an advantage. After all, he got second in the first one, so score-wise he’s still leading.
The audience in god’s view screamed continuously; the other three at the player seats knew who got first.
Especially Jiang Zhangchuang, under huge pressure—he couldn’t catch up! And he lost second this round too.
When Li Fan’s race car crossed the finish line of Grand Canyon of the Americas with absolute dominance, the entire venue erupted in cheers again.
The big screen clearly displayed the ranking:
First Place: Li Fan
Second Place: Liang Haipeng
Third: Jiang Zhangchuang
Fourth: Xiong Mengqi
“Li Fan again, taking another point! His personal score is now at three points!”
In the Speed live stream room, bullet comments were refreshing crazily at this moment.
【Holy crap, our League player is too OP in the Speed circle? It’s straight-up dimensionality reduction.】
【Indeed… don’t know why, but suddenly there’s this inexplicable sense of pleasure. I’m an Unreal fan!】
【What kind of fan are you! Don’t become a fan just because he’s strong and want to ride the winning wave. I’m telling you, don’t even think about it.】
【Feels like a suspense-free 7000 match?】
【Gap too big. Fan Ge gives me the feeling of dimensionality reduction. Can’t see anywhere he’d lose.】
And in this short while…
Xiong Mengqi’s King Map Seaside Town was gone too.
Li Fan continued first. After four King Maps, he had already secured five points.
“After four bouts, player Li Fan has racked up five points! Just one step from seven!” Commentator Cui Jin’s voice carried incredulous excitement.
“Now it’s up to player Jiang Zhangchuang’s map selection. He must pick one he’s confident in scoring on, even stopping Li Fan from scoring!”
All eyes focused on Jiang Zhangchuang.
Brows tightly furrowed, mouse sliding back and forth over the map list, sweat seeping from his temple.
After a long time… he finally locked in Time Sand.
“Oh? Time Sand!” Li Li was a bit surprised. “This map demands high rhythm and details. Player Jiang Zhangchuang seems to want to compete with his stable performance.”
At the player seat, Li Fan saw this map selection and revealed a barely noticeable smile.
Time Sand? He was all too familiar with this map’s ultimate skill.
Jiang Zhangchuang led all the way, finally relaxing in his heart as he approached the finish line.
Scoring a point on this map meant the selection was right.
However, a sudden change occurred at the final corner!
Another red lightning bolt surged out, completing the overtake at an unimaginable speed.
“Overtaken! Overtaken! Li Fan! At the last moment! Before the Time Sand finish line, overtook Jiang Zhangchuang!” Cui Jin almost jumped up from the commentator desk, his voice hoarse from excitement!
“Waaaaaah—!” The entire Hongqiao Tiandi Performing Arts Center exploded instantly!
All audience members, no matter whose fans, were shocked by this lightning-fast limit operation, jumping from their seats and letting out tsunami-like screams and cheers that nearly lifted the roof!
Jiang Zhangchuang watched helplessly as that red race car sped past him and crossed the finish line, his mind blank.
His hand gripping the mouse froze in mid-air, his expression freezing from impending victory joy to extreme shock and bewilderment.
“Sixth point! Li Fan got the sixth point! Match point! Match point!” Li Li shouted crazily. “This is an overtake not even in textbooks… how did he do it?!”
“Another never-seen-before running method… what a terrifying player.”
Jiang Zhangchuang started selecting the map again.
But this time without much hesitation.
It felt a bit like breaking the jar.
He actually actively selected Rainbow Windmill Island!
The entire venue fell into brief silence, then erupted in even louder discussion.
“Rainbow Windmill Island? He picked the map where Li Fan set the time trial record?”
“Isn’t this suicide? Time trial gap is so big, how to fight in actual combat?”
“Can’t understand, really can’t understand. Did Jiang Zhangchuang’s mentality collapse?”
At the commentator desk, Cui Jin and Li Li also showed puzzled expressions.
“Rainbow Windmill Island? This choice… very bold!” Cui Jin chose his words carefully. “You know, player Li Fan’s time trial result on this map is crushing.”
But the match had started. Despite many questions, they still watched this round.
Jiang Zhangchuang gave his all. At that key uphill jump point, he held his breath and used the normal sky break drift he had pondered all night.
“Look at Jiang Zhangchuang! This leap… he succeeded?” Cui Jin exclaimed.
Jiang Zhangchuang’s race car leaped out at a better angle than traditional methods. The landing connection was a bit stiff, not as smooth as Li Fan’s, but the effect was significant!
With this move, he successfully kept Liang Haipeng and Xiong Mengqi behind, securing second place.
“I get it!” Li Li realized suddenly. “Player Jiang Zhangchuang’s goal is clear! Knowing he can’t shake Li Fan’s first, he chose this map to use the newly learned technique… to ensure his second place. With more seconds, he can still advance to top four.”
But they still underestimated Jiang Zhangchuang.
The real purpose of picking this map was for Li Fan’s first-person perspective.
Since it was confirmed, he had to steal the finger technique!
Ultimately, no suspense.
Li Fan’s race car crossed the finish line first, with a perfect victory, fixing his score at 7 points.
7 : 0 : 0 : 0!
An extremely rare score in race to seven format, even unprecedented in history!
“Match over! Li Fan with a clean 7-0 sweep of Group A, strongly advancing to top four!”
“Congratulations!” Li Li excitedly echoed. “Also congratulations to player Jiang Zhangchuang. Under huge pressure, he adjusted strategy in time, steadied his mentality, got group second, also advancing to top four!”
The entire audience stood, giving prolonged hot applause and cheers.
Cheers rose one after another, nearly flipping the Hongqiao Tiandi Performing Arts Center venue.
And those outside watching the live stream on their mobile phones were equally thrilled.
That guy in the EDG team jersey shouted excitedly: “Bought it! Tomorrow’s scalper ticket, I’m getting it. Unreal is awesome! Bring a Speed champion back for League of Legends, so Speed sees League players and can’t hold their heads up for life!”
