Chapter 31: The Laughingstock of the Esports World: "RNG Club."

Whenever PDD watches Lu Zi'ang’s stream in his own broadcast room, he never fails to put in a good word for him.

For "Old Piao," given his social standing, there is no need to curry favor with anyone, let alone a newcomer like Lu Zi'ang who has only just begun to show his brilliance. The viewers in the stream can tell that PDD truly treats Lu Zi'ang as a friend; there is no hollow corporate sycophancy between them, only raw, honest talk. This serves as a credible endorsement of Lu Zi'ang’s character, subtly increasing the viewers' favor toward him.

"It’s rare to have such high traffic tonight, so what are we waiting for? We’re only 300,000 followers away from the 3-million mark. Brothers and sisters in the chat who haven't followed yet, give my little brother a click!" PDD continues to shout enthusiastically.

Three million followers on Shark Live is enough to consider a streamer a mid-to-high-tier talent, not far off from the top-tier stars. Lu Zi'ang, however, becomes completely immersed the moment he enters a game. He keeps his chat hidden, only occasionally tabbing out to communicate with Jelly. He has no idea what is happening in the outside world.

After winning the S8 championship, the IG team accepted interviews from media outlets all over the world, including an extended, exclusive interview with the LPL region. During the interview, the reporter asked JackeyLove about what had transpired between him and Lu Zi'ang.

The post-match reporter, a beautiful young woman serving as the official LPL bilingual host, asked: "I’d like to ask you, JackeyLove, is the Lu Zi'ang you mentioned the same person as the current EDG ADC player, Falcon?"

JackeyLove took a deep breath. "Yes, that’s right. It’s him—Falcon, Lu Zi'ang."

The reporter followed up: "Would you mind revealing why you are so looking forward to seeing him again at the pinnacle?"

Hearing this, JackeyLove’s expression turned slightly complex. "There are many reasons. I wasn't his match in the past; I was absolutely crushed by him in ranked games. A huge reason why I embarked on this professional esports path in the first place was because of him."

"I see... well, I sincerely wish you the best. I hope you get to meet him at the summit and defeat him," the reporter replied gracefully.

This response, however, sent shockwaves through the community. The IG team is currently at the very center of a vortex of public opinion and traffic. Their level of discussion, exposure, and popularity is the highest it has been since the team’s inception, and the same applies to all of IG’s players.

Online, self-media outlets hungry for a big story began "artistic processing" of JackeyLove’s words. Soon, they were trending on all sorts of search rankings:

"Champion ADC was once brutalized by Lu Zi'ang"
"17-year-old world champion reflects on the past with tears in his eyes"
"JackeyLove, Lu Zi'ang"
"EDG Falcon has repeatedly crushed the champion ADC in Korean server ranked games countless times"
"World champion defeated by EDG newcomer"
"Mysterious 'whale' appears in Lu Zi'ang’s stream"
"Who is Lu Zi'ang?"

These keywords surged to the top of the search lists. JackeyLove is truly a master of the game; he successfully shifted the focus of many viewers—and the heat of IG’s championship—onto Lu Zi'ang.

In Jiangcheng, at the Shark Live headquarters in Xu Lei’s office, seeing the state of Lu Zi'ang’s stream and the terrifying traffic online, Xu Lei was stunned.

He had already witnessed Lu Zi'ang’s incredible ability to attract wealth over the past week. Although he had spent 11.5 million, he didn't feel at a loss at all; on the contrary, he felt he had hit the jackpot.

"The heat from IG’s championship is insane! We must capitalize on this for Lu Zi'ang!" Xu Lei began issuing orders. "Buy me a trending search spot, the number one spot—even if it’s just for a few minutes!"

"Tonight, we need to push the popularity and follower count of Lu Zi'ang’s stream to a brand-new peak."

"In just one week, the cumulative revenue from gifts in his stream has reached a staggering 10 million. While there were two massive tips, it’s enough to prove his drawing power." Xu Lei looked at the data table, his ecstasy barely contained. "My position as vice president is probably secure this year."

"Congratulations, Director Xu!" the assistant said fawningly.

"Don’t be so happy yet, it’s not set in stone. Has the PR team started moving?" Xu Lei asked, his smile fading.

"The search spot is bought, and we’ve paid for influencers to write plenty of soft-sell articles. We have a network of accounts on short, medium, and long-form video platforms pushing the narrative," the assistant replied.

"Then let’s watch. IG’s win today is the most mainstream breakthrough for esports in years. With such terrifying exposure and traffic, it’s up to Lu Zi'ang to see how much he can grab."

Xu Lei instinctively lit a cigarette. The more attention Lu Zi'ang gets, the more the entire Shark Live platform benefits. The platform provides exposure to Lu Zi'ang—and even goes to great lengths to build hype for him—because, fundamentally, it helps the platform itself. After all, the users attracted aren't just watching Lu Zi'ang.

At the EDG team manager’s office, Abu was also making preparations. He first helped Lu Zi'ang register a verified Weibo account, along with verified accounts on other major platforms, to absorb the incoming traffic. Otherwise, if people searched for Lu Zi'ang online, they would only find Shark Live and flock there exclusively. Since Lu Zi'ang’s only online presence currently was his Shark Live account, EDG had to plan for itself.

"Have the official social media manager tag this newly verified Weibo account, and write a soft-sell article roughly introducing Zi'ang’s training match performance and streaming data this week," Abu added. "And remember to include plenty of his promotional photos."

Over at RNG, after watching IG win the championship, the team dove straight back into intense training. That was until the jungler, Mlxg, started gossiping:

"Holy crap, someone just tipped Lu Zi'ang 3.33 million. That’s insane. And JackeyLove actually gave a shout-out to Lu Zi'ang from the podium. What a flex."

"Man, the stream’s popularity just broke 60 million. This growth rate is unheard of. Lu Zi'ang is a beast. He was a nobody at RNG for two years, and the moment he left, he blossomed."

Mlxg was envious, unable to stop himself from saying: "Did you hear? Lu Zi'ang’s streaming contract is eight figures. His contract with EDG seems to be seven figures. Think about it, he’s just a rookie."

"The management team in our club’s youth training camp has all been swept out the door. Even us at RNG have become the laughingstock of the esports scene..."