Tong Yao had poked the TAT Mid Laner low, forcing him to recall.
Commentator D: "We can see Smiling is very aggressive today, seemingly determined to solo kill this Azir—that combo just now was incredibly fast. You'd usually only see a Leblanc like that in international tournaments."
Commentator F laughed: "Unfortunately, the damage was just a bit short. With the Infernal Dragon buff and Ignite already used, logically speaking, Smiling's current items should have been enough, maybe even overkill. Perhaps it's because THEI's Ruby Crystal gave him a few hundred extra HP—regardless, Smiling failed to secure the kill and even burned her Flash... While she did force Azir to recall, the enemy team's rotations were quick—it seems they're not ready to give up the mid lane turret this early."
Commentator F was right. With the Mid Laner recalling, the freshly respawned AD Carry immediately rotated mid, leaving the Support alone to hold the bot lane turret, while the Jungler also arrived—Commentator D continued: "The real issue here is that with Smiling's Flash now down, ZGDX won't have the engage potential to instantly delete the enemy backline for the next four and a half minutes—meanwhile, with TAT's Top Laner Kennen having his ultimate up, ZGDX must be careful not to get engaged on themselves..."
Commentator F: "But this is TAT we're talking about. The reason they remain undefeated is their ability to exploit even the smallest mistakes and amplify them endlessly, countering with lethal precision... ZGDX must tread carefully."
That’s what the commentators said.
And clearly, the five members of ZGDX Team were thinking the same thing.
Tong Yao: "Stay alert, everyone. If we get engaged on now and end up losing multiple members for nothing, I’ll be the one to blame—and I’ll make sure to use every second of my post-game survival time to announce to the world: 'The captain told me to step on his face to boost morale, and I had to follow orders.'"
Everyone: "..."
Lu Sicheng sneered: "The captain didn’t tell you to eat a full combo and then Flash away like your life depended on it, running faster than a Western journalist."
Tong Yao: "If I didn’t Flash, I’d be dead."
Lu Sicheng: "Then you’re just amazing."
Tong Yao nodded earnestly, leisurely taking the Blue Buff as she said, "Yeah, from the Summer Split finals to Season 6, you know what I’ve learned?—Run when you have to, no hesitation. Getting engaged on is just a future possibility, but dying is an irreversible fact."
"...What you’ve learned isn’t running away," Lu Sicheng said flatly. "It’s sophistry, isn’t it?... Split push bot, farm for four minutes, then group mid and wait to get engaged on?"
Lu Sicheng made a fair point. At his words, the team scattered, each returning to their lanes to farm—Tong Yao opened her mouth but didn’t get a chance to speak before disaster struck!As mentioned before, TAT is definitely not a passive team. Whenever there's a chance to kill, even their support dares to chase down the enemy top laner relentlessly. So now, with Tong Yao having no Summoner Spells, they wouldn’t waste this opportunity—Kennen, who still had both his ultimate and Teleport, used it to flank from a ward behind the bot lane, sandwiching their target with their AD. Little Fatty’s Tahm Kench activated his gray health shield, intending to trade under the Turret and at least take one down. But unexpectedly, a Gragas emerged from the river, using his E and Flash to knock Little Fatty out of the Turret’s range, securing the kill!
TAT secured the first blood of the match!
After getting the kill, Gragas turned and saw Tong Yao and Old K stealing his team’s Red Buff. Outraged, he pinged mid and rushed over—meanwhile, bot lane was left with Lu Sicheng’s half-health Caitlyn against the enemy Ezreal and Kennen. And Lu Sicheng had already used Heal!
Commentator F: [We can see this bot lane ambush was extremely effective. Facing Kennen and Ezreal now, Chessman seems doomed, likely losing his bot lane Turret as well… Oh, wait a second!]
The AD who had been crushed by Lu Sicheng in the last game thought revenge was finally at hand. Without hesitation, he dove under the Turret, playing a game of "catch me if you can" with Lu Sicheng. The moment he entered, he stepped on Caitlyn’s pre-placed trap, getting chunked by both Caitlyn and the Turret—somehow, Lu Sicheng turned it around and secured the kill!
Commentator D: [CHESSMAN!!!! THE MIRACLE-MAKING CHESSMAN!!!!]
Amid the crowd’s gasps, Kennen’s passive mark on Caitlyn had already stacked to two. One more stack would stun her, sealing her fate—all it took was one Q and an auto-attack!
Just as Kennen raised his hand—right then!
Lu Sicheng Flashed under the Turret, dodging Kennen’s Q by a hair’s breadth, circling behind him and landing an E-Q-A combo, finishing Kennen off with the Turret’s help at the slimmest of health!
Double kill!!!!
When everyone thought Lu Sicheng was about to crumble, his sharp instincts and precise predictions allowed him to pull off a 1v2, turning the tables at the brink of death!
Little Fatty: “I’m stunned.”
Old K: “See that! Even without us, the captain can handle himself just fine—living his best life, the lone wolf type!”
Old Cat: “I thought you guys were done for. Didn’t even use Teleport, hahahaha!”
Tong Yao: “6666666, that play just earned him another 1.2 billion admirers.”
Lu Sicheng stood in the brush and flashed his team Emote (*commonly known as "showing the dog tag"—each team member can display their team logo once per match, purely for fun or intimidation)… took two steps, then pressed B to recall.
Commentator D: [OH—MY—GOD! I’ve said this about ZGDX many times, but I’ll shout it again: OH—MY—GOD!]
Commentator F: [An unexpected counterplay! Just when we all thought ZGDX was about to collapse, Chessman pulled off an unbelievable outplay, turning a 1-for-2 trade… disrupting the enemy’s momentum and saving his team from disaster!]Tong Yao: "It's been a while since I last felt the captain's handsomeness. Today, that handsomeness came rushing back at me."
Lu Sicheng: "Impressive, right?"
Tong Yao: "Very."
Lu Sicheng: "Did you see my game-winning play?"
Tong Yao: "I did."
Starting with Lu Sicheng's incredible 1v2 outplay and double kill in the bot lane, the ZGDX Team had already gained a 2,000 gold lead by the 11-minute mark. Although the advantage was mainly concentrated on Old K and Lu Sicheng, who had the kills... the entire team's morale was completely different now.
Thanks to Lu Sicheng's insane outplay, the death timer for ZGDX's Mid Laner (who had no Summoner Spells) was also counting down—but it ended without incident. Tong Yao's Summoner Spells came off cooldown, and she let out a long sigh of relief: "Thank you all for not feeding."
At 18 minutes, after pushing the mid and bot lane minion waves to the enemy turret, ZGDX initiated the first move on the dragon, contesting the second Infernal Drake. Knowing that if ZGDX secured this drake—combined with their high-burst early-to-mid game Champion composition—the game might end sooner than expected, TAT prioritized engaging, even though their ADC and Top Laner were at a significant item disadvantage!
Tong Yao: "They're coming!"
Lu Sicheng: "I was afraid they wouldn't. Old K, pull the drake deeper, let's rush it down..."
Before Lu Sicheng could finish, the enemy Azir arrived, using his ultimate to split the battlefield, isolating Lu Sicheng, Old Cat's Rumble, and Little Fatty from each other. The well-farmed Azir landed three quick hits, taking down Old Cat's Rumble, who had only managed to drop one ultimate. With the first casualty, ZGDX's formation was slightly disrupted!
The enemy Jungler flashed into the dragon pit, smited to steal the Infernal Drake, then used a mobility skill to escape the crowd. Meanwhile, Little Fatty was poked down to low health by the enemy Top Laner Kennen and was forced to flash away in panic. Lu Sicheng landed three shots to finish off the overextended Kennen before retreating on low health himself!
At that moment, Tong Yao's eyes were locked onto the Azir hiding in the enemy backline—her mind flashing back to how her own Azir had been crushed by Leblanc in the past. She W'd in instantly, pressed Q to chain the Azir, who retreated before turning to target the enemy AD. As the Azir's cooldowns refreshed and he turned back to poke, Tong Yao had been waiting for that exact moment—another Q-auto plus Ignite, R to mimic the skill, securing the Azir kill before W'ing back to her original position!
She then flashed up the dragon pit and ran away!
Despite losing the second Infernal Drake after being forced into a fight, Tong Yao's decisive 1-for-3 trade tilted the scales of victory in ZGDX's favor—pushing turrets, securing objectives, expanding their gold lead, winning teamfights, killing two enemies before turning to take Baron, continuing their push, and pressuring the High Ground... This was ZGDX's signature tempo!
By the 27-minute mark, after successfully killing two enemies and securing Baron, ZGDX's gold lead had grown to 6,000. ZGDX wasn't a team that made enough mistakes to allow an easy Reverse sweep—they had grown more and more polished along the way.
The team's coordination was seamless—rotating to lock down the frontline, Tower diving, securing kills, teamfighting, split-pushing or supporting... They always performed at their best.Whether it was Lu Yue or Tong Yao, when the five of them played together, it was as if they were being operated by a single mind—calmly surveying the entire Summoner's Rift like a sand table, deploying troops with effortless composure!
...
By the thirty-ninth minute of the match, a decisive teamfight victory brought the BO5 score to 2-0. Tong Yao exhaled in relief, standing up with a long sigh—was it actually easier than expected?
—The supposedly invincible LCK.
—The TAT team that had swept undefeated through S5, crushing all six major regions worldwide, not letting opponents catch even a glimpse of their High Ground turrets before finals.
"..."
Amid Little Fatty and Old K's relaxed chatter in her ears, as they walked toward the break room, her peripheral vision accidentally caught sight of TAT's five players still seated at their stations. Each wore heavy expressions, brows tightly furrowed... their support was murmuring to their AD while analyzing post-match statistics... The young man beside the AD was biting his nails with lowered head.
Just then, as if sensing Tong Yao's gaze, the young man in the center suddenly paused. He leaned back slightly in his chair and turned his head—phoenix-like eyes slanting upward as they locked onto Tong Yao. Then he grinned.
Baring pale, predatory teeth.
Tong Yao's footsteps faltered—
That wasn't the expression of someone who'd been crushed.
His eyes burned with excitement, with some kind of frenzied anticipation... something faintly unsettling.
Author's Note: .......................... Crying while writing these two matches. Already considering how to finish the BO5 finals in one second—maybe have G4's entire team withdraw due to food poisoning so ZGDX can claim a void championship? Then wrap up with an epilogue?
That way, I'd probably get -2 points and countless bricks thrown at me, but at least you'd never forget you once read a novel called You Smile Is Very Beautiful.
HAHAHAHAHA just kidding, I'll write it properly. Still need to avenge ex-boyfriend Yang Shen after all.
OpenNovel