League of Legends has been extremely popular for more than ten years. Even though it remains the king of PC games, the number of people relying on it for income has greatly decreased. While esports has grown steadily, the streaming industry has lost much of its audience. Many former LoL stars who became famous and earned their initial wealth have since left the online world. Only a handful still enjoy high levels of attention today.

Streamers like Zz1tai, K神, and DYS now rely on esports events—only international tournaments or key league matches draw large audiences. Those who built their fame on skill and streamed games daily have mostly faded away. The former top streamers, male or female, have either switched careers or stopped broadcasting, rarely mentioned anymore. Among all LoL streamers, Lu Benwei is undoubtedly the most discussed figure even after retiring from the internet.

Famous memes like "Can you kill me with 17 cards?" and "Bring a cup of cappuccino for auntie" are known even to people outside the LoL community. These are the main reasons Lu Benwei remains popular after being banned. In 2018, Lu was publicly criticized and sent into the "dark room" for inciting fans to curse at others during a livestream. Everyone thought he would never make a comeback, but he has tested the waters periodically, and this year he tried again.

In October last year, the official "Gray Walker" invited Lu Benwei to participate in an offline event. However, at that time, he only appeared wearing a mask, so it wasn't considered a formal public appearance. But this time is different—Bilibili UP主 STN Studio conducted an exclusive interview with Lu Benwei, where he appeared without any mask. Shortly after the video was released, Lu Benwei became a trending topic on Bilibili, drawing countless old LoL players to gather and discuss.

During the interview, Lu Benwei revealed that after stopping streaming, he has been searching for the next goal in his life. In the early days of retirement, he often browsed the internet, watching posts and videos related to himself—whether game clips or chat highlights—and he would watch them all. When asked about his ban and retirement, Lu Benwei was silent for a long time before beginning to answer.

Regarding the incident of inciting fans to curse, Lu responded: "At that time, I was very emotionally unstable. Because my livestream was hugely popular, I had a lot of influence, and I had made some money. I unconsciously became arrogant. That's why the fan gathering incident happened, where I asked fans to curse at viewers." Lu believes that his lack of education and low academic background were the biggest factors behind his inflated ego at the time.

In the later part of the interview, Lu said to the fans who once liked him: "Don't push yourself too hard." Finally, he talked about his current situation. He said that when he was streaming, he never had time to travel—when he went to other places, it was just to stream from a different room. After retiring, he has had time to eat well and travel to various places. His overall mindset has improved significantly compared to when he was streaming.

Lu also discussed his social circle before and after retirement. When he was still streaming, on birthdays or holidays like New Year, many people would send him red envelopes. But after being banned, a group of people immediately distanced themselves from him. However, being neglected did not make him lose hope in life. Lu has invested in many projects, such as opening restaurants, teaching others how to stream, and BBFPS is one of the teams he mentored.

Conclusion:

Although he has appeared publicly for the first time, it seems unlikely that Lu Benwei will return to streaming. He now has his own businesses and mentors streamers from Xiaoxiang behind the scenes. Having earned a huge amount of money during his peak years and continuing to invest over the years, as long as he doesn't make bad decisions, Lu Benwei is definitely financially free and has no worries for the rest of his life.

What do you think of Lu Benwei?

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