"Ancestor's blessings, Yang Shen, may the ancestors grant you victory in the match."
"This ancestor is here to collect debts."
"..."
"Probably danced a shamanic prayer before coming, wishing my hands would be broken before the match."
"Tsk, ex-girlfriend?"
"Mhm."
On the competition stage, Jian Yang ignored his teammates' teasing, his face dark as he adjusted his keyboard slightly. After confirming everything was in order, he signaled to the staff behind him—
The first match began swiftly.
First came the Ban and Pick phase, where each team had three chances to ban Champions—banned Champions wouldn’t appear in the current match. Typically, teams banned either the opponent’s signature Champions for specific roles or those that were overpowered in the current meta but which their own team couldn’t secure or utilize effectively.
Since both teams had already studied each other beforehand, this phase proceeded quickly. Soon, six Champions were banned, and the Pick phase began—
The Pick order was Blue side first, followed by Red side’s second and third picks, then Blue side’s fourth and fifth, and so on until both sides had selected five Champions each. Players didn’t necessarily pick their own Champions immediately; they often prioritized strategic picks first and adjusted positions later.
Commentator A: ["China Telecom Team didn’t hesitate to grab Viktor, a strong meta pick for Mid Laner. This is quite early!"]
Commentator B: ["Too early? If they didn’t take Viktor now, CK Team would’ve snatched him. Now, CK Team will definitely counterpick Viktor—what do you think they’ll choose?"]
Commentator A: ["Against a Champion like Viktor with no mobility, I’d pick LeBlanc. Her burst and assassination potential are perfect counters."]
Commentator B: ["LeBlanc? Hahahaha, that’s a great idea! I remember CK’s Mid Laner plays LeBlanc exceptionally well—"]
Hm?
LeBlanc, huh.
Sitting in the audience, Tong Yao rested her chin in her hands, her thoughts drifting. LeBlanc? I play her really well too—she’s practically my signature Champion. Back when I topped the server, people even called me the Server’s best LeBlanc.
She lazily lifted her gaze to the large screen above the stage. Since the Jungler was fixed in the second slot and could pick early, sure enough, Jian Yang had already highlighted LeBlanc’s icon for his teammate—though it wasn’t locked in yet.
"..."
Tong Yao smirked playfully, straightening slightly in her seat and crossing her legs—
But just then.
Commentator A: ["Speaking of LeBlanc, I’m reminded of someone."]
Commentator B: ["Who?"]
Commentator A: ["Earlier, we mentioned female gamers—do you remember Smiling, the Server’s best LeBlanc? Rumor has it she’s a girl."]
Commentator B: ["Hahahahaha, I’ve heard of her! I’ve watched her LeBlanc before—she’s incredibly skilled and intuitive. If you don’t shut her down early, she becomes every squishy Champion’s nightmare in the late game..."]
Tong Yao: "..."Sitting in the audience without doing anything, Tong Yao silently made her presence known in an unexpected way.
At the same time, Jian Yang on the competition stage seemed to hear what the commentators were saying. Suddenly, as if remembering something, his hand trembled, and he swiftly changed his pick to another Champion, Kassadin, locking it in without hesitation—
The entire venue erupted in an uproar!
“What the hell! Yang Shen, what the f*ck did you just pick?!” CK’s Mid Laner Xiao Hua roared. “Why not Leblanc?!”
“This is nonsense!” The CK coach standing behind the players smacked Jian Yang on the head with his notebook.
“We’re done for, this is straight-up skipping the big boss and going straight to the final boss,” muttered CK’s Top Laner Haoyun Lai, who had been chatting with Jian Yang earlier.
At this moment, not only were CK’s players turning their heads to stare at Jian Yang, even the ZGDX Team members looked over in shock, their expressions clearly saying: What the hell are you doing, bro?
Commentator A: “Yang Shen locked in Kassadin! Oh man, this makes no sense at all!”
Commentator B: “Where am I? What’s happening? Who am I—why did Yang Shen suddenly lock in Kassadin?! There was absolutely no issue with picking Leblanc just now!”
Commentator A: “Did his hand slip and misclick?”
Commentator B: “No idea.”
Sitting in the audience with her legs crossed, Tong Yao twitched her foot and raised an eyebrow—
After the pick-and-ban phase ended, the match officially began.
People quickly realized that the “Leblanc-turned-Kassadin” incident was just the opening act.
What left everyone dumbfounded was that today, CK’s Jungler Yang Shen seemed completely out of it—
For the first five minutes of the game, he remained invisible in the jungle, farming monsters. In the sixth minute, he went mid, intending to create a 2v1 advantage with his Mid Laner to kill ZGDX’s Mid Laner Ming. Instead, he got outplayed and gifted First Blood.
And this seemed to be the start of a nightmare!
After that, Jian Yang ganked top, mid, and bot—each attempt failed, each time feeding kills. The lanes, which had initially been fairly even, gradually tilted in ZGDX’s favor as he kept handing over kills to them.
By the 20-minute mark, the kill score was “3:15,” with Jian Yang’s personal stats at 0 kills, 8 deaths, and 2 assists—
He alone had contributed half of his team’s deaths!
Throughout the entire match, he was either dead or on his way to die.
Sitting in the audience, CK’s fans were utterly baffled, finally realizing that something was seriously off with Yang Shen today…
At the 27-minute mark, during a fight over a major map objective, Jian Yang made another terrible call to initiate a teamfight. Already far ahead in gold, ZGDX crushed CK in the fight, scoring an Ace. They then pushed straight into CK’s base, destroyed their Nexus, and ended the game in one decisive push!
When the victory fanfare played after the first match, the five CK players still looked dazed, as if they couldn’t comprehend what had just happened—in terms of raw skill, they were no weaker than ZGDX. If they lost, it should’ve been a close fight, not… this. They had been utterly stomped into the ground!
What the hell was going on?!Including the coach, everyone rushed forward to drag their suddenly underperforming jungler comrade away for some psychological education...
Compared to the chaos on CK Team's side, ZGDX Team appeared much calmer. The players picked up their water bottles for a sip, then slowly stood up and headed toward the lounge behind them—
Lu Sicheng walked at the back. Before leaving, he opened the match statistics to glance at the data comparison between both sides. The bar chart clearly displayed the damage output from the previous match—his calm gaze swept over the towering, dominant bar representing his own ADC position, then shifted to the opposing jungler's output—
Total damage contributed throughout the match: 6,574.
Only higher than the opposing support's damage.
Roughly one-third of ZGDX Team's jungler's damage output, and one-seventh of Lu Sicheng's.
Lu Sicheng: "?"
"Cheng Ge!"
A teammate called from behind. Lu Sicheng paused, raising his head slightly to cast a meaningful glance at a certain dejected figure in the opposing team's area before finally retracting his gaze and turning to walk toward his waiting teammates.
The man rejoined the group and stood beside their team manager, who eagerly approached with a beaming smile, showering him with praise for his stellar performance. But before he could exhaust all his compliments, their ADC remarked indifferently—
"Xiao Rui, did you go bribe the enemy jungler yesterday?"
ZGDX Team manager Xiao Rui froze: "……Huh?"
Lu Sicheng: "Or maybe you offered up your body."
"………………" Sweat began to form on Xiao Rui's forehead. "Cheng Ge, watch your words. You can eat whatever, but you can't just say anything—"
"6,574."
"What?"
"Jian Yang's damage output."
"What?"
"And he was playing Graves. Even rolling his face across the keyboard during a teamfight would've dealt more damage than that."
"……"
Lu Sicheng turned his head, giving the team manager a long, eerie side-eye before finally quirking his lips. "Does your ass hurt?"
Xiao Rui: "………………………………"
Xiao Rui: "Hey!!! I told you it's not like that!!! Aaaaah, don’t walk away—listen to me! Lu Sicheng! You’ve gone too far! I’m docking your pay—Old Cat, stop him for me—"
The redhead whose name was called completely ignored their manager's roaring, instead grinning obsequiously as he dusted off an imaginary speck on the chair beside him, fawning over the approaching man. "Cheng Ge, take a seat, take a seat..."
Lu Sicheng plopped onto the chair, stretching his long legs comfortably—
Meanwhile, Yu Ming, ZGDX's mid laner, who had been sitting silently in the corner the entire time, set down his coffee cup and stood up... The previously noisy lounge instantly fell silent as everyone turned to look at him.
Lu Sicheng also turned his head, frowning slightly at his teammate before asking vaguely, "Going now?"
Yu Ming seemed to understand what he meant and nodded.
Lu Sicheng's frown didn't ease. "Honestly, I think you could still hold on for two more years.""I just played a match, and now my hands hurt so much I could barely hold the coffee cup when I came down." Ming gave a bitter smile, pointing to the spilled liquid at the rim of the cup. "I have surgery and rehab scheduled for the end of the year, and the hospital waiting list is long. I can't delay it any further."
Lu Sicheng fell silent.
After a long pause, his furrowed brows relaxed, returning to their usual calm demeanor.
"Go ahead."
The man said plainly.
With those words, his gaze remained as composed as ever while his teammate walked over, patted his shoulder, then turned and headed back toward the competition stage they had just left not long ago—
On that stage lay all the glory Yu Ming had as a professional player, perhaps even the most important and unforgettable moments of his life. Before that stage stood thousands of spectators, countless fans of ZGDX Team. Behind it were his teammates, friends, coach, and boss—all watching him.
—And today, he would stand there to announce his retirement to the audience, to his fans, to the world, and to the game League of Legends.
OpenNovel