An Xin glanced at her hand and smiled. This medicine is killer! It always works when I really need it to! She then turned her head slightly so she could look at Lin Feng. I’m playing with you. With the real you! Her smile brightened and goosebumps ran down her arms. This is everything I ever wanted. She took a deep, long breath and focused on her screen. The game was in its fifth minute and she was running towards the top lane on her favourite Champion. She scrunched her eyebrows and said over the team’s voice chat, “Looks like their Gragas forgot to ward. Bait him, Zhang Hao.”

Zhang Hao nodded and replied, “Let me screw up a bit here! I need 10 seconds tops! They think I suck anyway!”

An Xin giggled as she had her Lee Sin hide in the brush right below the top lane. She moved her camera up a bit and watched Zhang Hao move his Lissandra forward to last hit a minion, and by doing so drawing aggro from a few other minions. He then ran back quickly and kept running until the minions stopped attacking him. When he came back towards the minions, he had less health than Gragas and his minions were ill-positioned. An Xin shook her head and said, “That’s surprisingly convincing.”

“I’m pretty good at screwing up like this. I like to pretend it’s a gift,” Zhang Hao replied, laughing.

Team Beijing’s Gragas fell for the trap. He Body Slammed into Lissandra and followed up with Barrel Toss. But right then, An Xin’s Lee Sin appeared from the brush while Lissandra stunned Gragas with Ring of Frost! From there it was a pure 2 versus 1. Gragas never really had a chance. It was Zhang Hao in the end who picked up the kill.

《First Blood!》

Team Beijing’s Toplaner threw his arms up and cursed, “Goddammit! Goddammit!” He shook his hand and banged his fist on the desk. “Fuck! FUCK! How did I let myself fall for that? It was so obvious! Come on, idiot! Don’t be such a fucktard!”

“It’s okay, bud,” Team Beijing’s Jungler said. He forced a smile on his face and then turned his head to look at his Toplaner. “It’s fine. Just a small setback. But we’ve grown used to those, huh?” He laughed, awkward. He then continued, “I can’t really do much pre-6 either. Just, I don’t know, try to play it safe. Stay behind the tower and all that stuff. It’s not ideal, but…”

“But it’s all we can do,” Yu Ping finished through gritted teeth.

Team Beijing’s Jungler nodded and said, “What Yu Ping says.”

✹

Su Xue clenched her fists and cheered, “BunBun with the assist in top! Her Lee is sooooooo amazing! Did you guys all see that?” She looked at the camera and through it imagined the hundred thousand plus people sitting behind their computers watching her. She smiled and continued, “When she plays Lee, it’s game over! Team Beijing doesn’t stand a chance!”

「BunBUn 6666666!」

「ITS THE GODDESSLEEE」

「LIL BRO AND HIS HAREM GOING TO WIN THE WHOLE DAMN THING!!!!」

「bunbuns lee makes lee look so much better than he really is」

「TOO GOOD! TEAM SHANGHAI TOO GOOD!」

✹

The broadcasting director had a replay of the fight in the top lane play when the sound from the live version announced that a kill happened somewhere. He cut the replay and the camera moved in a frenzy across the screen, searching for the corpse. It stopped a few moments later on the mid lane. LeBlanc’s corpse lay on the ground.

FourEyesChan stared at his screen and muttered into his microphone, “What? How! They’re not even Level 6 yet! How the hell did he get a solo kill on LeBlanc!?”

“It shouldn’t be possible!” Cherry exclaimed.

“WHAT THE FUCK! SHOW US A REPLAY!”

“REPLAY!”

“REPLAY!”

“How in the world did he pick up that kill!?”

“REPLAY PLEASE!”

“REPLAY OR RIOT!”

“REPLAY OR RIOT!”

“REPLAY OR RIOT!”

“REPLAY OR RIOT!”

“I’ve got it from good sources,” FourEyesChan started. He briefly paused for the audience to quiet down a bit and then continued, “That we’re getting a replay in t-minus 3, 2… NOW!”

Everyone watching the Winter Collegiate Cup Finals turned their attention to the replay. It showed Yasuo and LeBlanc in the mid lane. They were both low on health, but Yasuo still had his health pot. He chugged it down and a green, rejuvenating aura appeared around him.

A new wave of minions arrived in the mid lane. Yasuo dashed through a minion to arrive in front of LeBlanc and stabbed forward with his katana! A storm started brewing on the tip of his blade. But his health was still relatively low. Low enough that LeBlanc thought she could kill him. She placed a Sigil of Malice on him and tried to trigger it with Distortion!

“OH MY GOD!”

“HOW THE HELL!?”

Yasuo dashed through another minion to put enough distance from LeBlanc that the splash damage from Distortion completely missed him. By doing so, he also stopped the Sigil of Malice from triggering. LeBlanc followed up with Ethereal Chains, hurled in the direction Yasuo was moving. But Yasuo swiped his blade up, commanding the winds to form a Wind Wall. The Ethereal Chains slammed into the Wind Wall and disintegrated, after which Yasuo burst through the Wind Wall, dashed through LeBlanc and hit her with the second cast from Steel Tempest! Winds danced around the length of his blade!

“HOLY SHIT!”

“DAAAAAMN!”

The damage triggered LeBlanc’s passive. A clone of her appeared on the map. It started running away, while the real one waited for an opportunity. Yasuo didn’t fall for the trick. He didn’t chase the clone and instead hit the real one with an auto attack. LeBlanc then panic Flashed, confirming that the one Yasuo was attacking was indeed the real one.

Yasuo Flashed after LeBlanc and arrived underneath Red Team’s Outer Tower. It targeted him and charged up an energy shot. He ignored it and stabbed out with a third Steel Tempest. The winds gathered along his blade flew out onto Rift as a gust! It carved a path through the grass and knocked LeBlanc up into the air! He then auto attacked her and Ignited her. An energy shot from the Tower hit him. Because of the health from the potion he popped earlier, he survived. Barely. The Tower charged up for another shot. He hit LeBlanc with one more auto attack and then dashed away through a minion.

The unquenchable flames burned LeBlanc, searing through the last few dregs of her health. The audience watching the game went silent. They knew the outcome of the fight, but they were still enthralled and on the edge of their seats as they watched what happened. It was the final tick from Ignite that killed LeBlanc. And back in lane, Yasuo cleared his minion wave before recalling back to base.

Qiu Yijie looked around the stands. Everywhere he looked, people were up on their feet and cheering. These Beijing locals who were so negative about Team Shanghai at the start of the series had forgotten about that completely. As far as they were concerned, Team Beijing didn’t even exist anymore. There was only Team Shanghai for them. He shook his head and then said to his teammates and the players from Zhejiang University, “That’s what I meant. 5D chess. The way that he plays here, it’s…” He shrugged. There were no words to describe what he wanted to say.

Sun Ruinian nodded and added, “Yep. Such a clean kill. What’s there to say? He’s better than everyone else combined at this tournament… He doesn’t belong at this level.”

Zou Cheng pumped his fist in the air and shouted, “WIN FENG IS GOING TO THE LPL! WIN FENG TO THE LPL!”

✹

Cherry grabbed her microphone and said, “Pfooh! We’ve had an exciting 2 minutes! But now we’ve had a bit to cool down from that. Let’s take stock of the game here. FourEyesChan, take it away!”

FourEyesChan smiled and analysed, “We’re 7 minutes into this game! Team Shanghai has taken an early lead this game. They got first blood up in top, a lane they’re winning right now, and a solo kill in mid. Which means they’re up 2 kills to zero. There’s also a bot lane in League of Legends, but the four players down there are on their own little island. I haven’t seen anything worth mentioning from them yet.”

Cherry giggled and added, “This is all about the Yasuo! And a little about the Jungle and top lane… But look at Yasuo! He’s up 10 CS already! That’s almost 2 full waves! We’re only 7 minutes in here! That’s a lot! And at this rate… LeBlanc is going to get killed again, I’m telling you!”

“Not so fast!” FourEyesChan replied. He adjusted his glasses and continued, “Look in the river. Rengar is Level 6 and coming in for a gank! Maybe he can turn the mid lane back in Team Beijing’s favour!”

Lin Feng’s Yasuo dashed through two minions to arrive in front of LeBlanc. He stabbed out at her with Steel Tempest, and the winds gathered along the length of his blade yet again. Right then, a red exclamation mark appeared above his head. A gank? Sweet! Lin Feng grinned and narrowed his eyes, breathing slowly. Calm. The game slowed before his eyes. He saw the start of the animation for Ethereal Chains and dodged it by dashing through a minion. Rengar is al— 

A primal roar cut through the air! Rengar appeared from the shadows and pounced on Yasuo! He threw an empowered Bola mid-jump! It was coated in a thick layer of magic that added a root effect! The bola spun around its axis, again and again.

Lin Feng flicked his mouse and pressed the W key. His Yasuo’s blade slashed out horizontally and created a Wind Wall! The Bola flew straight into it and was stopped by the power of the winds, falling down to the ground.

“OH MY GOD!” Cherry screeched. “HE BLOCKED IT!”

FourEyesChan adjusted his glasses and said, “That’s some next level play!—”

“IT’S NOT OVER YET!” Cherry screamed. She jumped up from her seat and pointed at the screen, continuing, “Look! LOOK! THERE! LEE SIN IS COMING FOR A COUNTERGANK! IT’S THE TURNTABLES!”