The match began. Due to version changes, lane-swapping strategies had long fallen out of favor, so both teams entered a standard laning phase. Although Tong Yao hadn’t picked Leblanc in official matches or scrims for a while, she usually managed to secure the champion in her solo ranked games, so she wasn’t unfamiliar with it. With just a glance at the opponent’s item build and creep score, she could accurately gauge their current gold, auto-attack damage, and ability damage.
Moreover, she had complete mastery over Leblanc’s mechanics and positioning. During the early-game trades and farming, Xiao Hua couldn’t gain much advantage over her. As for sudden all-ins or outplays? Forget about it. The moment Xiao Hua made a move that exposed his aggressive intent, Tong Yao would slip away like an eel, leaving him utterly helpless.
Three minutes into the game, roughly the time it took for a full jungle clear, Tong Yao checked the timer and was about to speak when she heard Lu Sicheng ask Old K, “Done clearing? If so, come gank bot. I think Yang Shen is about to show up.”
Based on their review of CK’s past matches, Jian Yang usually preferred to gank bot lane first. This wasn’t baseless speculation—every player had their own habits and preferences. For instance, unless he was completely crushed, Pope would always attempt a tower dive before level four, a habit even he might not consciously realize.
Hearing Lu Sicheng’s call, Old K acknowledged with an “Oh,” finished his current camp (the F4), and despite having Smite ready, didn’t linger for other jungle camps. By the four-minute mark, he had already ducked into the bot lane bushes.
4:20 into the game.
True to prediction, Yang Shen’s Kindred leaped into the bot lane, creating a 3v2 advantage with CK’s bot duo. However, Lu Sicheng and Little Fatty, anticipating this, calmly traded while retreating, whittling down the advancing Kindred as they fell back toward their turret.
Just as the wave was pulled under their tower, Old K suddenly appeared!
He tunneled straight in and knocked up Kindred!
Little Fatty: “Ah!”
Old K: “Ahhh! Watch my seismic slam!”
Little Fatty: “At this moment, Yang Shen is already a corpse in my eyes.”
Amid their excited shouts, Lu Sicheng, who had been retreating, instantly turned around and unleashed a barrage of auto-attacks. The moment Kindred landed, Little Fatty’s Thresh hooked him with a Q. As the drag began, Little Fatty activated the second part of his Q, followed by a backward Flay (E), then another hook! Yang Shen had no time to react before being locked down by this seamless chain of crowd control.
First Blood!
The ZGDX fans in the venue erupted—
But before their cheers for Little Fatty and Old K’s jungle-support synergy could even settle, another notification suddenly flashed on the screen: Syndra had solo-killed Leblanc mid!
The entire crowd was stunned.
Caster A: “HAHAHAHA—wait, what did we just miss?!”
Caster B: “How did mid lane get a solo kill?! Production team?! Someone get the director back on their feet and give us a replay!!!”
Caster A: “Let’s check the mid lane replay… Honestly, I was so focused on bot lane I didn’t even notice what happened mid.”Not just the commentators, everyone was stunned for a moment. The surprise came so suddenly that they didn’t even realize what had happened. The kind-hearted director provided a mid-lane replay, and only then did the audience understand—while the bot lane was putting on a perfect show of mind games with their three-versus-three, the mid lane had also erupted into a duel at the same time.
It all started when Xiao Hua’s Leblanc pretended to last-hit minions but suddenly dashed forward with her W, landing right in front of Smiling’s Syndra and unleashing a full combo. After the combo, she immediately W’d back. Smiling, whose health was already low, began retreating.
And then—right at that moment!
Almost identical to what had just happened in the bot lane, Xiao Hua, seeing Smiling retreat, decided to press her advantage and show off her mechanics. She reactivated her W to dash forward again, cleanly chaining Smiling in place. But unexpectedly, Smiling stopped retreating once she reached the minion wave. In a flash, she retaliated with Q-W-Q-E-R plus Ignite, dumping her entire burst damage onto Xiao Hua. Before Xiao Hua could even react, she was instantly counter-killed—Smiling’s Syndra had secured a solo kill!
As the replay ended, the entire audience erupted in shock.
Commentator A: “Wow, Smiling’s mechanics—holy moly! Twenty years of being single!”
Commentator B: “Pfft, that’s going too far. You think Cheng Ge would agree with that statement?”
Commentator A: “After seeing this! After seeing this! I think all the Operator Team fans, whether watching the stream or here live, can rest easy now. Smiling’s absence from recent matches hasn’t affected her form at all—her aggression and decisiveness are just as we remember!”
Only seven minutes into the game, and both the bot and mid lanes had already secured kills. The two crucial carry roles each had a kill, solidifying their lane advantages.
China Telecom was a team that excelled at snowballing.
Once they gained an advantage in a lane, unless the enemy jungler was willing to abandon their own jungle and farm to camp that lane relentlessly, that advantage would, in most cases, be expanded infinitely until that lane became strong enough to take over the game and secure victory.
For CK Team, the last thing they wanted was for Tong Yao and Lu Sicheng to both secure early kills and gain lane dominance. And Old K was a jungler with a highly aggressive playstyle—if jungle resources weren’t properly defended, he would plunder them all!
At this point, Yang Shen of CK Team was stretched too thin. He could only roam with his support, Lao Wang, and litter their jungle and river with defensive wards, hoping to protect their mid and bot lanes as much as possible. They couldn’t afford to let Old K gank and further widen the existing lane gaps until the laning phase ended…
“The enemy’s spending all their gold on wards—why don’t you guys have such a selfless spirit?” Tong Yao grumbled. “The mid lane bushes are practically riddled with their wards. Little Fatty, can’t you place a couple for me too?”
Little Fatty: “Stop whining. Let your Fatty finish his boots first… What’re you panicking for? Those are just defensive wards. At worst, Old K will just camp top and ignore mid, since Yang Shen wouldn’t dare gank you anyway.”
Hearing this, Lu Sicheng shot Little Fatty a faintly amused glance but said nothing. Old K, however, teased, “Bold words. You don’t want Cheng Ge’s Heal anymore, huh?”Little Fatty: "If you've got so much to say, why don't you buy a Sightstone and place a couple of wards for her?"
Old K: "No way."
Tong Yao listened to this stingy jungle-support duo's conversation, torn between laughter and tears: "Damn, a ward costs like what, pennies? How can you be this cheap even when we're ahead? If we were behind, would we even be able to keep playing?... And you said Yang Shen wouldn't come mid—I don’t see how he—AHHHHHHHHH!"
Before she could finish, Tong Yao got chained by the enemy Leblanc. At this stage, everyone had their ultimates, and getting chained meant either death or burning Flash. Naturally, Tong Yao didn’t want to die, so she decisively went to Flash away—but before she could react, Kindred, whom Little Fatty had claimed "wouldn’t dare gank you," jumped out from the river bush. Amid Tong Yao’s terrified screams, Jian Yang showed absolutely zero hesitation, landing right on her face with a full combo, hopping around and securing the kill!
Tong Yao: "……………………………………"
She slammed her mouse in frustration, her heart still pounding from Yang Shen’s sudden appearance—until Lu Sicheng’s amused laughter crackled through her headphones.
Tong Yao, furious: "What’s so funny?!"
Lu Sicheng, leisurely: "That scream of yours probably reached the audience in the very last row."
Tong Yao paused, then flushed red: "No way!"
As she loudly protested, she had no idea that outside the noise-canceling headphones, the entire live audience—including the casters—had already burst into laughter. A few seconds earlier, her genuinely startled scream had cut through the casters' commentary, reaching every ear in the venue. And now, the fans sitting closer could even hear Tong Yao and Lu Sicheng’s ensuing bickering, doubling over in uncontrollable laughter.
The match was around 15 minutes in.
With such a comedic opening, the game was destined to unfold in a lively atmosphere of shouts and cheers—
Although Tong Yao had solo-killed the enemy Mid Laner Xiao Hua early on, Yang Shen’s successful gank a few minutes later narrowed the gap. By the time laning phase ended, she hadn’t managed to gain any further advantage over Xiao Hua...
Luckily, Lu Sicheng’s bot lane dominance held steady. And in teamfights, Old Cat’s Rumble ult perfectly set up Haoyun Lai’s Gnar, leading to a decisive clash at the 39-minute mark near Baron. China Telecom initiated Baron but got intercepted by the arriving CK Team. Without hesitation, Lu Sicheng ordered his team to abandon the half-health Baron, disengaging and kiting back as CK Team pursued...
The skirmish dragged both sides into the jungle’s narrow terrain. Realizing they’d fallen into a trap, CK Team panicked—but it was too late to retreat!
Old Cat’s Rumble, who had held onto his ultimate the entire time, unleashed a perfect Equalizer, roasting all four CK members cramped in the jungle and crippling their backline ADC. Tong Yao followed up, knocking the enemy back into Lu Sicheng’s range, where two critical strikes shredded their already low health bars. Finally, Tong Yao and Old Cat cleaned up the stragglers with their remaining abilities.
41 minutes and 20 seconds.
China Telecom stormed the High Ground, ending Game 1 in one decisive push!
As the players removed their headphones and stood up, the venue erupted in cheers, the applause nearly drowning out their voices.
...
Now.After losing the first small game, the CK Team members remained relatively composed.
First of all, they had already known beforehand that ZGDX was a tough nut to crack. Additionally, the League of Legends Pro League Playoffs had always been a best-of-five format, so dropping the first small game wasn’t a big deal.
After stepping down from the stage, Jian Yang didn’t head to the player lounge. Instead, he went straight to the restroom designated for players to wash his face—his phone rang while he was washing his hands. Out of habit, he answered it on speaker and tossed it onto the counter, continuing to wash his hands while talking. He casually shook off the water—by the time his hands were dry, the call had also ended succinctly. Jian Yang grabbed his phone.
At the same time, the door of the last stall opened from the inside. There was no sound of flushing—the person inside lazily walked out with a nearly burnt-out cigarette dangling from his lips, coming face to face with Jian Yang.
Lu Sicheng bit down on the cigarette butt, narrowing his eyes slightly.
Jian Yang: "..."
This scene felt eerily familiar.
Jian Yang stuffed his phone, which had just ended the call, into his pocket. After a moment of silence, he forced an awkward smile. "Cheng Ge."
"Yeah," Lu Sicheng responded, flicking away the cigarette butt before walking to the sink. He meticulously washed his hands with soap, then glanced at Jian Yang through the mirror—who was staring at him dumbfounded. "Woke up too early today, needed a smoke to stay sharp."
His tone was relatively mild.
Jian Yang nodded in agreement. "Yeah, just one match a day and they schedule it this early. No idea what the organizers were thinking."
After that, silence fell between them again.
Awkward.
So damn awkward.
Jian Yang watched as Lu Sicheng, acting like a thief, carefully washed his hands and then sniffed them to check for any lingering smell. He turned to the hand dryer, drying his hands thoroughly before bending down to even blow-dry his hair under it—then, under Jian Yang’s speechless gaze, he leaned over slightly and tilted his head. "Any smell?"
Jian Yang: "..."
Lu Sicheng straightened up and started scanning the restroom for the air freshener spray that was usually placed there. While looking around, he said, "I remember the last time I ran into you in the restroom was during the Spring Split finals. You were on the phone then too..."
He finally found what he was looking for in a marble recess behind the door. Walking over, he picked it up and sprayed it a couple of times like perfume—pausing briefly, he then wore a somewhat nostalgic expression and added, "Talking to her , right? Hmm, I was wondering back then—what kind of girl could be that fierce."
Jian Yang: "..."
Lu Sicheng chuckled. "Never thought she’d end up as a teammate later."
And my wife.
He tactfully left out the last part—he was just reminiscing.
Jian Yang: "Yeah, back then... I had just found out she was going pro. I was so shocked. We hadn’t been in touch for a long time after the breakup, so I called her to ask what was going on."
Lu Sicheng lowered his eyes and let out an "Mhm." After a moment, he smiled and said, "By the way, that first gank of yours scared her half to death. She screamed so loud we almost threw our mice."Jian Yang looked at Lu Sicheng with a smile, not the least bit proud of his successful gank earlier. Instead, he felt increasingly unsettled. Perhaps his brain short-circuited, but staring at Lu Sicheng’s face, he suddenly blurted out, “Actually, I never wanted to break up with her in the first place.”
“...” Lu Sicheng glanced up at him, seemingly unsurprised by his words—his reaction was minimal, just a faint smile. “Well, thanks for letting her go then. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have had the chance to swoop in.”
Jian Yang’s expression stiffened. For a moment, it looked like he wanted to snatch the air freshener can from Lu Sicheng’s hand and spray it three times straight into that annoyingly calm and composed face—of course, he didn’t do it. Instead, he forced a dry laugh. “Yeah, it’s been so long... What’s with all this? Washing your hands, air freshener... I remember someone saying you quit smoking.”
“Half-quit. At least I smoke less at the team headquarters,” Lu Sicheng put the air freshener back, “Mainly because the rules at home are strict.”
Jian Yang: “...”
Lu Sicheng gave himself another once-over.
Satisfied that he no longer smelled of smoke, he pushed open the restroom door and waved at Yang Shen. “Good luck in the next match. Though I lost to you once this spring season, I don’t plan on losing again this year... Oh, and don’t snitch on me for smoking. I know you still have her WeChat.”
With that, the restroom door swung open and shut as the man by the door walked away—his effortlessly cool retreating figure was all too familiar, instantly reminding Jian Yang of the ominous premonition he’d felt back then under similar circumstances...
Now perfectly fulfilled.
Damn it.
Left alone, Jian Yang stared at the air freshener placed behind the door in silence for about thirty seconds. Then he stepped forward, slapped it violently into the trash can as if venting his anger, adjusted his team jersey, and walked out of the restroom with an expressionless face.
As Jian Yang headed toward the CK Team’s player lounge, he passed by the China Telecom Team’s rest area and faintly overheard a conversation—
A woman’s voice asked, “Lu Sicheng, did you fucking sneak a smoke again?” After a few seconds of silence, a man’s voice replied, “No, stop falsely accusing me...”
Jian Yang’s footsteps faltered.
But only for a brief moment.
Soon after, as if unwilling and unable to hear what came next, he quickened his pace and walked away—
Time was such a strange thing. The chance encounter in the restroom felt like a prearranged farce. In just half a year, those who should have grown closer had drifted apart, while strangers had become inseparable.
...Even Jian Yang couldn’t understand why.
Pushing open the door to the CK Team’s lounge, he was greeted by his teammates, who called him over to review the stats from the last match and discuss the next jungler route. Jian Yang paused, adjusted his expression, and naturally joined the discussion as if nothing had happened.
As if nothing had truly happened at all.
No chance encounter.
No momentary lapse of reason.
...Nothing had happened.Xiao Hua: "That first gank bot lane just now, damn, Lu Sicheng's acting was really on point. He obviously called Old K that bastard to counter-gank long ago, but he played it so convincingly... Ugh, I feel like the enemy has figured out your jungling patterns, Yang Shen. Maybe you should gank mid first next game?"
Jian Yang: "I should've held it in and not gone to the bathroom earlier."
Xiao Hua: "Huh?"
Jian Yang: "..."
OpenNovel