The assistant delivered dinner to the practice room, and they ate there.

Although they had just won two BO1 matches today, there wasnt much of a celebratory atmosphere in the practice room. Everyone stared attentively at the game on their computer monitor, and even Xiao Bai didnt secretly slack off to eat snacks.

Lu Boyuan practiced until his wrist felt somewhat sore. With his previous experience, he knew that meant he needed to rest for a while.

He AFKed in the lobby and turned to glance at Jian Rongs game. The chat in the bottom left corner of the screen was in the middle of an argument.

It was true that this started off as a dispute between their team and HT, but in the middle, some unidentified creatures who wanted to watch the show and fan the flames too joined in on the fun. At last, the players from both regions completely shed any and all pretense of friendliness.

Xiao Bai was also observing the flame war going on in Jian Rongs game. On the enemy team, a Korean player was using especially obscene language that even Xiao Bai couldnt tolerate. Youre still not gonna fire back?

Jian Rong said, Theres nothing really to fire back, its not like he can understand.

Use English! A translator!

The things I want to say cant be conveyed in English. Jian Rong solo killed the opposing mid laner and pressed B to recall to base. Also, these dumbasses are all keeping their eye on me right now Ill be banned the moment I let out a single insult.

Xiao Bai: Damn, so youre just gonna take it then? These grandsons I guess Ill have to play on the Korean server for the next few days.

Jian Rong sneered, mostly expressionless.

These people didnt even want their high-ranked accounts anymore; they just wanted to humiliate him until he went back to the Chinese server.

Right now, he was only about a hundred LP away from Master. There was no way he was going to leave.

Whats more, in this game, flaming someone wasnt actually the best way to screw with their state of mind.

As he pulled out the item Dark Seal and stormed back to the mid lane, someone suddenly pinched his ear.

Want me to make you a cup of coffee? Lu Boyuan traced the edge of his ear.

The murderous look on Jian Rongs face lightened a little. mn.

Jian Rong hadnt eaten much at any meal today, maybe because he had been angered quite a bit by Rish. Lu Boyuan knew that Jian Rong was going to practice until the middle of the night. Worried that he was going to get low blood sugar again, Lu Boyuan opened a drawer and took out a lollipop, which he then unwrapped and held next to Jian Rongs lips.

Jian Rong paused before he tilted his head and stuffed the entire candy into his mouth.

When Lu Boyuan went to the break room next door to make coffee, a sigh came from behind him.

Do you think theyre a little too tense? Ding-ge spoke in a low voice, Did I put too much pressure on them with what I said today?

Lu Boyuan didnt bother turning around. He said calmly, Whats the point of competing if there isnt any pressure.

Ding-ge was taken aback for a moment before a smile spread across his face. Thats also true. The only thing iswe have an extremely important duty to fulfill at MSI this time.

During which international competition did we not have an important duty to fulfill?

As Lu Boyuan picked up the coffee, a ringtone sounded from his pocket. He pulled out his phone and glanced at the caller ID before he started walking out of the room. Upon looking up, he saw that Ding-ge was typing away on his phone with a serious expression on his face.

Apart from the team members, Ding-ge was the person under the most pressure, since he was the one who had allowed Jian Rong to go on stage. Though it had felt extremely good listening to Jian Rong say the things he had, if something really did happen in the future, Ding-ge was definitely going to bear the brunt of the scolding. Moreover they still hadnt played against HT yet, but Ding-ge was already feeling guilty because he hadnt stopped Jian Rong back then.

Jian Rong was still young. If they lost this time, his trash talk would undoubtedly become a meme that would accompany him until retirement.

However, Ding-ge certainly wasnt going to reveal these emotions in front of the younger members. Even with Lu Boyuan, Ding-ge was trying hard to keep it together.

As a result, Lu Boyuan lifted his hand and patted Ding-ges shoulder as he passed him by. His voice was light but unusually resolute. We will win.

After that, without waiting for Ding-ges reaction, he answered the call with a Mom and left the break room.

In the practice room, Xiao Bai finished another duo queue game and stretched lazily. He turned to peer at Jian Rongs screen and furrowed his brows in confusion.

Didnt your team have a major advantage Xiao Bai saw his score. You have 21 kills and youre still not pushing the base?! And why are your teammates choosing to surrender?

Im not done killing yet.

Right as Jian Rong said that, he cleanly and efficiently crushed the mass-flaming dumbass from earlier to death next to the inhibitor.

All of Jian Rongs teammates were Korean. They wanted to push the enemys base, but they couldnt defeat the opposing team without Jian Rong there. It just so happened that there were three Chinese people on the other team who werent willing to surrender and would rather die defending their base. Consequently, that dumbass had no choice but to stay in the game and get thrashed.

This was Xiao Bais first time seeing something like this occur. He thought to himself, Just how many freaking times did I escape by the skin of my teeth before this? That dumbass hasnt stopped flaming this entire time. Why havent you muted him yet?

Why should I mute him? Jian Rong parted his lips and shifted the lollipop to the other side of his mouth. I like watching him rage helplessly.

When Lu Boyuan came back with the aroma of coffee clinging to him, Jian Rong was in the middle of concentratedly killing that dumbass for the sixteenth time.

Bloodthirst was written all over Jian Rongs face, and he sucked on his lollipop like he was smoking a cigar.

A mans hand sunk into his hair. The rough pads of his fingers created a comfortable sensation.

From the corner of his eye, Jian Rong glimpsed something entering the lower right part of his vision. Before he could spare the attention to see what it was, he heard Lu Boyuan ask, Still not finished yet?

Jian Rong let out a vague hum. Almost. The other team said that this dumbass went offline.

Lu Boyuan nodded and drew back the phone that he had stretched in front of Jian Rong. He said to the screen, Did you see? Hes doing pretty well practice has been busy these days, we dont really have any free time.

Jian Rong was finally satisfied with his killing spree, and he went to tear down the enemys base. What?

Its nothing, Lu Boyuan said. Im talking to my mom.

Jian Rong left the post-game lobby and entered the queue again. Oh.

A few seconds later, Jian Rong bit through the candy in his mouth with a crack.

He whipped around just in time to see Lu Boyuan hang up a video call and slip his phone into his pocket.

Jian Rong was briefly stunned. You hung up?

Mn. Lu Boyuan explained, My mom watched the interview and read some of the comments. She wanted to know how you were doing.

Jian Rong: So when you held your phone near me a moment ago

Lu Boyuan: I said that you were busy, but she didnt believe me and thought I was shielding you. Thats why I let her see for herself.

Jian Rong:

He reached up and raked a hand through his hair, which he had tousled into a complete mess over the course of playing ranked. His expression transformed from shock to bewilderment.

Actually, Jian Rongs features were still somewhat youthful. If he didnt open his mouth, he looked about the same as other graduating high school students or incoming college freshmen. Of course, he was a bit more handsome than most people.

So when Lu Boyuan saw that look on Jian Rongs face, he couldnt help but lift up Jian Rongs chin with his hand. Since they were surrounded by people, he couldnt really do much; in the end, he could only casually knead Jian Rongs chin a few times to satisfy his craving.

Jian Rong swallowed the fragments of candy. Just hanging up like that isnt very appropriate, is it.

Lu Boyuan set the coffee down on the desk and said quietly, Its fine, she doesnt care about this sort of thing. After the tournaments over, Ill take you to visit her, if youre willing. You dont have to if you dont want to, its not a big deal.

Jian Rong was a little conflicted inside.

He felt like he should go visit her, but it was also true that he didnt know how to properly handle relationships with elders.

He ended up a bit lost in thought, to the point where he didnt even realize he had matched into a game. Lu Boyuan had to help him click accept.

Dont think about it. Lu Boyuan rubbed the back of Jian Rongs neck, as if he was giving him a massage. Concentrate on playing. After you reach rank one on the Korean server, dont play on this account anymore. Im still waiting for you to carry me up the ranks on your side account.

What the hell?!

Xiao Bai, who was eavesdropping for quite a while nearby, instantly coughed out loud.

It was impossible for him to hide the smirk on his face, and he couldnt resist turning his head to joke, Ge, so this is your position in the relationship? The freeloader?

Before Jian Rong could come up with a retort, Lu Boyuan happily replied, Thats right.

Jian Rong:

Yuan Qian burst out laughing. Once his laughter subsided, he said, puzzled, Hey, wait a minute, I just dont understand people these days. Whats wrong with carrying your boyfriend or girlfriend up the ranks? Who doesnt want to play games together when youre dating? Does that automatically make the weaker person the freeloader? Its not like laozi cant carry what kind of accepted norm is this?

Lu Boyuan reopened his game and agreed lazily, Exactly, God Jian is able to carry me.

Jian Rong:

I dont care about couples duo queuing and climbing together. Im more disgusted by those people who hire boosters. Is it not fun playing in your own tier? Xiao Bai clicked his tongue. And those people who specially seek out backup players to help them climb, theyre also extremely revolting.

Pine: Take a look at yourself first before you start talking about other people.

Whats wrong with me? Ive only ever asked you, I never look for backup players! Xiao Bai paused briefly. Well, fine, its true that I used to seek out a certain blue-haired player, but that persons dating now, so he doesnt wanna queue with me anymore.

Jian Rong: get lost.

The five of them practiced until six in the morning and went to sleep after eating breakfast. When they woke up, it was time for their first match against HT.

Judging from the two teams current strength levels, it didnt actually matter whether they won or lost these two group stage matches. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, they would both be able to enter the knockout stage.

However

[Dont lose a single game! TTC, you better crush HT!!!]

[Damn, Ive been squatting here for half an hour for this match the last match was Europe vs Japan, and it felt like I was watching a grandpa beat his grandson. It wasnt compelling at all.]

[Im here Im here. May I please ask, is this the finals for this years MSI?]

[Once upon a time, I had a bluenette dumbass right in front of me who used to stream for thirteen hours a day, but I didnt treasure him back then. It was only after he joined the LPL and started streaming for less than thirteen hours a month that I realized it was too late for regrets. Nothing could possibly be more painful in this mortal life than this. If the heavens could give me a chance to do it over, I have five words I want to say to himif you lose, swim back.]

[This viewer count? Is this the work of TTCs marketing team? A popularity of over 100 million for a group stage match? Is there an entire freaking water army in this stream?!]

[Living person here, PUD fan.]

[Living person here, Fighting Tiger fan.]

[Living person here Doufu fan.]

[Never mind never mind, for this MSI, were all TTC passerby fans and Soft limited edition dad fans.]

[Stop spamming!!! The players are taking the stage!!!!]

Maybe its because I exhausted all my nerves yesterday. Xiao Bai sat down and drank some coffee. But Im feeling super calm right now.

Jian Rong: Its just a group stage match, how excited do you want to be?

Mn. Thanks to you, were about to fight in the Sino-Korean war of the century, Xiao Bai paused, Or rather, the first battle.

Jian Rong: .

Check your peripherals, Lu Boyuan said mildly. Dont talk nonsense, there are people listening.

The staff member in the back who was in charge of monitoring them:

There werent many formalities to be had during the group stage. After they indicated to the referee standing behind them that their equipment was good to go, their computer screens immediately switched to the pick/ban interface.

Both mid laners had deep champion pools, and it was evident that neither coach intended to target the mid lane. It all depended on which team got first pick; the other team would inevitably have to ban LeBlanc.

Since this was Jian Rongs first time truly playing against Master, it was hard to predict what would happen during the laning phase. Based on the conclusions they had reached from their recent meetings, they decided to focus on the top and mid lanes this game.

TTCs first pick went to Irelia for Yuan Qian. Meanwhile, HT locked in a standard Jhin ADC. As the second round of selections rolled around, before the commentators could start analyzing the situation, a champions portrait popped up and was instantly locked in!

The live audience was momentarily startled. Then, it erupted in cheers

Lucian? Yuan Qian was astonished. Is this Lucian meant for the top lane or mid lane?

Lu Boyuan swept a look at Masters champion. Mid lane. Their top laner doesnt know how to play this sort of flashy thing.

Ding-ge: Ive seen Master play Lucian in ranked before. I didnt think that he would actually pull out this champion in a match

Actually, Lucian was originally an ADC champion, but all the commonly used mid champions in the current meta were weak in lane and tended to scale slowly. As a result, this championwhich was bursty in the early game, had movement skills, and sliced through tanks like vegetables in the early-mid gamewas brought into the mid lane to disgust people.

The three LPL commentators also frowned heavily when they saw this Lucian.

As the Korean spectators applauded and shouted behind him, Commentator A spoke. Lucian is an extremely troublesome champion who can suppress most mid laners in the early game. This really was an unexpected move.

Commentator B nodded. But he isnt too hard to deal with either. Lucian isnt useful beyond the early-mid game, so as long as TTC drags things out, itll be okay. Soft can choose a team fight champion, such as Azir or Orianna. Kassadins okay too

Right as he said that, TTCs mid champion lit up.

It was a mask-wearing ninja.

The Master of ShadowsZed.

Team fight champion?! Commentator C almost slapped the table and imitated Jian Rongs response. Are you looking down on me, Soft? Maybe if the opponent chickens out and picks a late game champion, Id consider going late game too. But youre gonna pull out Lucian? In that case, my apologieslets fight.

Commentator A snapped out of his shock. Well its not impossible to lane against Lucian with Zed! But Soft still hasnt locked it in yet, so its not guaranteed that hes going to pick Zed in the end!

Zed was locked in.

The small number of Chinese fans present cheered loudlyHTs goading yesterday was too unexpected, and the Chinese fans who wanted to come watch couldnt get tickets for todays match. There still wasnt much support for TTC in the arena.

With the two mid champions solidified, this match was destined to be full of conflict.

Both teams headed to their lanes simultaneously. In the first ten minutes of the game, the camera was almost always on the mid lanethe two people in the mid lane were truly too freaking good at stirring up trouble!

While the top laners were peacefully farming, they were fighting.

While the junglers were killing monsters, they were fighting.

While the bot laners were testing each other out, they were fighting.

Commentator A: Master dashed over and directly unleashed all his damage! Softs health is very lownice, Soft beautifully escaped using his Shadow!

Commentator B: While Masters skills are on cooldown from clearing minions, Soft rushed straight to him and used his ult! He landed every skill in his combo!! Masters health is disappearing, can Soft get a solo killai, Master flashed and dodged the last skill, so close!

Commentator C: Theyre both driving each other up the wall. Theyve stopped waveclearing, are they about to start trading againno! Theyre gonna fight! They cant hold it back any longer again, so close! Both sides are getting a little anxious!!!

It was only after these two people exchanged several hundred blows back and forth that the commentators abruptly realized what was going on.

Commentator A: The amount of times these two have fought in lane is almost greater than the total number of mid laner clashes combined from all of yesterdays matches, isnt it?

Commentator B: But in terms of losses neither side has lost anything. Theres been no solo kills, and as for the minions it doesnt seem like theyve missed that many?

Commentator C: Theyre fighting? It feels more like theyre pummeling my heart.

The barrage was also confused

[Do you two think this is fencing? Strike a vital point and then retreat? Are you toying with us?]

[A bunch of fierce plays, only to look up and see 0/0/0.]

[Hang on? Are we looking forward to Soft solo killing Master here?! Which mid laner has been able to solo kill Master in these past few years???]

[Forget if anyone has solo killed Master before. I countedall the mid laners whove laned against Master in recent years have been solo killed by him, both in pro play and in ranked.]

[What a coincidence, the same can be said for my son. Might I ask, which LPL mid laner hasnt been solo killed by my son before?]

[Fun fact: this is Softs first year competing]

[Damn, dont tell me a mid laner from the LPL is going to stand up at last?!]

[Ive always thought that Soft was extremely good at laning, and this match has only further proved that fact to me. Really, this is fucking exhilarating.]

[I wanna watch them lane for ten thousand years]

Laning for ten thousand years was impossible.

While the two mid laners were locked in a stalemate, fights had already broken out in the other lanes

At level 3, Lu Boyuans Graves ganked the top lane. Just by showing up, he forced out a flash from HTs top laner. At level 7, Yuan Qian pulled off an outplay that even he found unbelievable and smashed HTs top laner straight into the ground, accomplishing an extremely spectacular solo kill!

After that, Lu Boyuan invaded the enemy jungle and chased the opposing jungler back home before he headed for the bot lane. He circled around from behind and helped to gang up on HTs bot lane duo, ultimately trading one TTC member for two HT members. A solid foundation was established for TTCs bot lane.

As Master was expressionlessly buying items to continue fighting with Jian Rong, one of his teammates spoke up in their voice chat

Hyung. The jungler said in a small voice, Were not going for the drake, right?

Master finally realized that Pines Tristana had a 20 CS edge over their ADC, as well as two kills.

Because of the disadvantage in the bot lane, HT couldnt take the initiative at all for the drake team fight.

Master extracted himself from his heated emotions and switched camera viewpoints to check on his teammatesthe top laner was being suppressed by Irelia, the jungler was trying his hardest to defend his jungle, and the bot lane was having a difficult time even clearing minions.

He frowned. Suddenly, it dawned on him that they were already in an unfavorable situation.

On the other side, Yuan Qians voice was full of joy. Hahahahaha a match without Master feels way too freaking relaxed!!

During the pick/ban phase earlier.

When Jian Rong saw Lucians portrait appear, it was true that his initial thoughts were exactly as Commentator C had describedpulling out a laning champion in front of him was indeed equivalent to looking down on him.

If this was his first competitive match, he wouldve probably instantly made his choice by now. But he had just drawn attention to the team yesterday, so for once, he had a bit of a conscience.

He was about to ask Ding-ge what champion to take when Lu Boyuan spoke first.

Do you want to play Zed?

Everyone else in the team was caught off guard. Only Ding-ge raised an eyebrow and seemed to immediately understand.

Jian Rong: Zed?

Lu Boyuan: Or Pantheon, Corki, Talon

Jian Rong interrupted him. Zed.

In a calm voice, Lu Boyuan asked him as his captain, If you play Zed, will you be able to detain Master? Im not requiring you to solo kill him. All you have to do is make it so that hes unable to pay attention to the other lanes.

Jian Rong directly locked in Zed before he asked, Looking down on me?

Lu Boyuan let out a laugh and slotted in Ignite. No, I dont want to put any pressure on you keep clashing with him, delay him, and well win.

The BO5 match from last year had truly instilled too much confidence in HT.

They forgot that HT was a team that had gradually risen with Masters growth. Later on, HT had switched out their bot lane, and this new bot lane duo didnt have much competition experience at all, nor were they naturally talented like Jian Rong. The teams jungler was tossed around even more thoroughly by Lu Boyuan.

If they were up against another team, perhaps HTs other lanes couldve created an advantage. But against a veteran team like TTC and a jungler like Lu Boyuan, who was skilled at creating opportunities for his teammatesin order to win, HT needed to rely on Masters dominance in assisting and team fighting.

Who wouldve thought that Mastersomeone who was always steady and unflusteredwould take the bait first and pull out an utterly unloved Lucian

Lu Boyuan hid in the brush and successfully camped the enemy jungler. Without batting an eye, he promptly swept the other jungler away with an explosive burst of damage. Bot lane, Im coming to summon the Rift Herald. After the first tower is down, we go for the drake. This game is set; the sooner we finish, the sooner we can eat.

Xiao Bai: Okey-dokey!

At sixteen minutes, the first team fight erupted with a flash and a hook from Xiao Bais Thresh! Yuan Qian instantly flashed and used his ult, slowing the enemy bot lane. Pines Tristana charged straight into the crowd and started boldly dealing damage! HTs support finally managed to CC Pine, but an even more terrifying damage dealer followed upGraves leaped down into the pit and immediately began purging the battlefield.

Meanwhile, Master, the champion and reinforcement that HT needed was currently trapped by Jian Rong in the lane.

Speaking of which, that was also odd as hell: all the way up until the team fight was over, those two glass cannons were actually still in the mid lane trading blows. They both had very low health, but neither died

At twenty-five minutes, Master created an opportunity and solo killed Pine, who was lost in the jungle. Not one to be outdone, Jian Rong also pummeled Rish into the ground.

With that, both ADCs stopped crossing the river boundary alone. They might as well have changed their IDs to dont freaking drag me into your conflict.

At twenty-seven minutes, TTC successfully caught HTs support, who was in the middle of placing a ward. After finishing him off, they went straight for Baron.

Right away, HTs jungler wanted to steal Baron. He hovered around the pit for quite a while before rushing in, only to be killed by Lu Boyuan.

By now, TTC was at a huge advantage. Calm and composed, they went back to base to stock up. Then, they got the Dragon Soul and unanimously set out for HTs base.

At thirty-two minutes, when HTs base was destroyed, the LCK commentators and audience members were still in a state of shock.

Jian Rong removed his headphones. Even though the stage was quite far from the commentators, he could hear the LPL commentators enthusiastic shouting.

The MVP for this match went to Lu Boyuan.

Yesterday, the anchor had furiously stirred up trouble during the interview segment. Today, he became a yes-man who didnt even want to voice some of the questions that he was required to ask.

The anchor wore a forced smile. How did todays match feel?

Lu Boyuan: Very relaxed.

The anchor pursed his lips. Did your team arrange todays strategy beforehand? A strategy targeting Master? Using Zed to pin him down?

Of course weve looked into various tactics before. Lu Boyuan paused. Choosing Zed pinning him down was one reason. Another reason was that we felt like our mid laner could create an advantage.

But he didnt really have the advantage, both sides were evenly matched The anchor trailed off.

Lu Boyuan smiled lazily. Right.

By that point, the barrage in the domestic stream was already screaming and roaring with laughter.

Yes, that was rightour LPLs new mid laner Soft, who had gone pro for less than half a year, was indeed evenly matched with your LCKs Master, who had been developing for six or seven years now and was considered to be the worlds best mid laner.