Chapter 399

Between the first game and the start of the second game, Team Beijing looked like a terrible team. It started to seem like luck was the biggest factor that saw them make it to the Finals of the Winter Collegiate Cup. But nothing was less true than that. They had a team full of incredibly talented players, most of whom were better than their counterparts on Team Shanghai. This was most evident in the top lane and to a lesser extent in the bot lane. But even Team Beijing’s Jungler could give An Xin a run for her money in every aspect of the game except for map awareness. It was only Yu Ping in the mid lane who was vastly outclassed by Lin Feng.

Yu Ping started to realise that the biggest factor holding Team Beijing back in their series against Team Shanghai was him. He wanted to duel Lin Feng and beat him. But he couldn’t; he wasn’t good enough. He gritted his teeth and looked around the map. I need to accept that I can’t beat him. He’s on Twisted Fate, so he’s not even looking to beat me either. Fine. Yep. Focus. Top lane… I can’t do much there. Mundo is holding his own. They need to gank him and even that is kind of risky. He’ll hold his own. What about bot… Hmm… That girl is good, but we’re better. If we can get a few kills on her and then use that strength to get Mundo a kill or two, then it doesn’t matter how strong Twisted Fate is. He grimaced and closed his eyes briefly. We need to play around him. I need to put my ego aside for a moment and stop tunneling. The way to win this game is to play around Twisted Fate, so let’s do that!

Yu Ping opened his eyes and looked at the top right corner of the screen. 12 minutes in. They’re going to gank again soon. Worst case, we either countergank or find a gank in the other lane. Best case, they don’t gank. He nodded at himself and said over the team’s voice chat, “We’re making a play bot. Ping me the wards, Nidalee.”

Team Beijing’s Jungler pinged the red wards he’d spotted in the river and Zhang Hongyi pinged those around the bot lane and wrote their timers down in the game chat. Yu Ping pretended like he was recalling back to base, and then snuck away from the mid lane and started making his way to the bot lane. He found a part of himself he’d lost during the first game. A calmness and clarity of his mind. A rhythm that matched his style. His Ahri danced through the river and arrived in the bot lane without Team Shanghai noticing it until it was already far too late.

“TANG TANG!” Zeng Rui yelled over the team’s voice chat. He pinged the yellow retreat sign and continued, “AHRI!” He then Flashed away and tossed his lantern at Tang Bingyao’s Sivir.

Zhang Hongyi smiled when he saw the panicked reaction from Zeng Rui’s Thresh. His fingers were already gliding across his keyboard, activating skills. A mottled flash of light sucked his Janna from Summoner’s Rift and spit her back out on the far side of Tang Bingyao’s Sivir. Janna then surrounded herself in a magical storm and threw Sivir away from Thresh’s Lantern and towards Blue team’s outer tower!

This displacement from Monsoon left Tang Bingyao briefly incapable of activating skills. Yu Ping used this opportunity to dash at her with Spirit Rush and Charm her. All the while, Ezreal attacked her with his skills and auto attacks. The combination of damage brought Sivir’s health down to the last few percentages when the effects from Charm finally wore off. Tang Bingyao still tried to run, but Yu Ping’s Ahri dashed after her with Spirit Rush.

《You have slain an enemy!》

Cherry cheered into her microphone, “WOOOOOOO!”

FourEyesChan smiled and added, “That’s more like it! Let’s go Team Beijing!”

“Fucking finally! We’ve got a game on our hands!”

“WOOOOOO!”

“More of this please! Show them Shanghai Suckers who the best team is!”

“BEIJING RUUUUUULES!”

“WHOOP DEE DOODLE DOO!”

Zhang Hongyi watched Zeng Rui’s Thresh escaping towards the Red Team’s Outer Tower and clenched his fist, smiling. “Heck yeah!” he exclaimed. He looked around at his teammates in the soundproof booth and continued, “Heck yeah! We did it, boys! Fucking got the better of that piece of shit Zeng Rui! Let’s push this lane and destroy his shitty tower!”

“Don’t,” Yu Ping cut in. He breathed in and smiled, then nodded and said, “Good job. We got the kill. But we don’t need to take the tower so quickly. Just freeze the lane and I’ll gank again in a few minutes with Nidalee.”

Zhang Hongyi chuckled and replied, “Sure. That also works.” He looked at his screen, more specifically at Sivir’s corpse, and added, “We kill her one more time and this game is ours. Doesn’t matter what Twisted Fate and Nocturne do, when we get their bot and top down, we win.”

✹

Zeng Rui waited underneath the Red Team’s Outer Tower for Tang Bingyao to return to the lane. In that time, he was forced to watch Team Beijing freeze the minion waves just outside of Blue team’s outer tower. “That’s not great,” he mumbled over the team’s voice chat. “They’ve got the lead and we’re falling behind here.”

Tang Bingyao chewed on her lips, her heart slamming high up in her chest. I won’t fall behind! I won’t let that happen again! This Finals is going to be mine! Game 1 and now Game 2! Mhm! … But we need to break that freeze. The bitter taste of iron filled her mouth from biting on her lips too much and too hard, but she ignored it. Can’t we just break it…? We can try! She nodded and said, “Let’s break their freeze.”

Zeng Rui shook his head and replied, “We can’t. They’ll gank us the moment we pass the halfway point of the lane. Let’s stay back and take the Gromp Camp.” He panned his camera towards the top lane and breathed out through his mouth. “Their Mundo is staying even with Zhang Hao’s Irelia too…”

Zhang Hao grimaced and said, “Yeah, that’s my bad. Sorry, guys, I’m really trying here. It’s just… I can’t really push because I’m afraid of the Nidalee and when you don’t push against a Mundo, he can just heal himself back up with his ultimate… It’s really annoying!”

An Xin looked at Zhang Hao and smiled. She said, “Don’t worry about it. It’s fine. Actually, you know what? The lane is going to push your way anyway. How about you let it push and then freeze it outside of your Outer Tower? When Mundo pushes, I’ll gank.”

Lin Feng ruffled his hair and mumbled, “Sounds like you guys have got it covered. Guess I’ll just keep farming in mid then.”

✹

At 14 minutes, Yu Ping had his Ahri recall to the fountain. He opened the shop and bought her her next item upgrade, then moved his camera across Summoner’s Rift while having his Ahri run towards the bot lane. Hmm, I think it’s about time… Top is okay and Twisted Fate is just farming in mid… Yeah. He pinged on the bot lane and said over the team’s voice chat, “Come, Nid. We’re ganking bot.”

Team Beijing’s Jungler nodded and replied, “On it!”

“Top, top!” Team Beijing’s Toplaner suddenly shouted. He pinged on the top lane and continued, “Nocturne is here! Gank bot now! She can’t get to bot that fast! Her ultimate can’t reach that far yet!”

Yu Ping scrunched his nose briefly and then laughed. He replied, “Well, that’s perfect! Now we don’t have to worry about her either! Get that gank going! I’m almost there!”

Zhang Hongyi chuckled and said, “The trash Thresh don’t have Flash!” He then had his Janna float towards Zeng Rui’s Thresh and cast Zephyr on him! Janna’s elemental hit Thresh and slowed him!

Tang Bingyao’s Sivir threw her Boomerang Blade at Janna in retaliation and prepared to follow up on that, but she was stopped by Zeng Rui who cried out, “TANG TANG! RUN! NIDALEE IS HERE!” She glanced at her minimap and her eyes grew round and wide. Mnh-mnh! I don’t wanna retreat! But… She chewed on her lips and then activated her ultimate skill. On the Run granted Sivir and nearby allies a massive movement speed boost. She then said over the team’s voice chat, “Come!”

“I’m trying,” Zeng Rui replied through gritted teeth. The slow from Zephyr had thrown him off just enough to confuse him. A Howling Gale was flying at him right now. He tried to sidestep it with the movement speed boost from Sivir, but he was too slow. The strong winds lifted his Thresh off his feet and knocked him up into the air! Fuck, no!

Zhang Hongyi smiled, enjoying every second of knocking Zeng Rui up. He shouted over the team’s voice chat, “He’s got no Flash! KILL HIM!”

Team Beijing’s Jungler arrived in the bot lane and cast Javelin Toss! She then changed to cougar form while the javelin flew towards Zeng Rui’s Thresh! Next to her, Team Beijing’s Ezreal fired auto attacks and skills at Thresh! And from behind Blue team’s outer tower, Yu Ping’s Ahri also arrived in the bot lane! They combined their damage, most of it focused on Zeng Rui’s Thresh and a small portion on Tang Bingyao’s Sivir.

Zeng Rui forgot to breathe. He pursed his lips in frustration and clicked with far too much power on his mouse. I’m dead! I’m already dead, Tang Tang! Stop trying to save me! He ordered, “Tang Tang, get out! Just back away! Get to safety! There’s no value in both of us dying here!”

“We can both get out alive,” Tang Bingyao mumbled, defiant. She looked at the fight and where the players from Team Beijing were. Ahri was still too far away and Nidalee would catch up soon. Ezreal was the only one who was really on top of them. We can still get out. Mhm! Both of us!

“We can’t!” Zeng Rui argued. “GET OUT!” He then pressed on his R key to activate The Box! Five spectral walls rose up around Zeng Rui’s Thresh, the sounds of howling ghosts coming from them. Two walls broke down when Ezreal and Janna ran into them. It slowed them and gave Tang Bingyao the space she needed to escape. He shouted, “Please! Can’t you see I’m dead? RUN!”

Tang Bingyao shook her head and said, “We can both—”

《An ally has been slain.》

Ezreal’s ultimate skill was a powerful barrage of energy missiles called Trueshot Barrage. The missiles had shot through Zeng Rui’s Thresh and killed him. They then continued and smashed through Tang Bingyao’s Sivir! Sivir’s health dropped down to below half.

“Now they get you too,” Zeng Rui said with a loud sigh.

“No they won’t!” Lin Feng interjected. He grinned and theatrically lifted his left finger before pressing down on the R key. He continued, “I’m finally in range! I’m coming down! Destiny!” All-seeing eyes appeared above the heads of all five Champions from Team Beijing.

✹

Su Xue sat behind her computer, chewing on her nails and mumbling, “Come on, Tang Tang. You can do this. If anyone can, you can! Come on, girl! You’ve got this! I believe in you. We all be—” She jumped up from her gaming chair when Lin Feng activated his ultimate and screamed, “HE’S COMING! LIN FENG IS COMING IN WITH HIS TWISTED FATE! LET’S GOOOOOOOO!”

「GO LIL BRO!」

「tangtang’s at her outer tower! theyre gonna have to towerdive to kill her!!!」

「lil bro can get them both ez EAZYYYYYYY」

「KILL THEM BEFORE AHRIS THERE PLEASEEEEEE」

「IF ANYONE CAN, LIL BRO CANNNNNN!!!!!!」

「GIMME THE C! GIMME THE U— I MEAN O!!!!」

「we can dooo thizzzzzzz」

「omgomgomg CARE FOR AHRI! CARE FOR AHRI!」

✹

Tang Bingyao’s Sivir arrived underneath her outer tower. But because she’d allowed Team Beijing to keep chasing her, they didn’t give up. They kept pressing, even when Lin Feng activated his ultimate skill. Team Beijing’s Nidalee, with a shield from Janna, tanked the energy shots from Read team’s outer tower. Towers could only attack one Champion at a time, allowing Ezreal to get in range and keep dealing damage without taking any.

Lin Feng grinned and shouted, “ALMOST THERE!” He clicked next to the outer tower. A deck of cards spread on the ground and the magic of the cards channeled into a gate that opened above it. Twisted Fate stepped from it into the bot lane holding a Gold Card. “Now, let’s kill Ezreal first,” Lin Feng mumbled. He had Twisted Fate move towards Ezreal, then suddenly slammed on his S key and continued by stepping to the side.

FourEyesChan’s eyes grew round and wide. He muttered, “Wow!”

Cherry nodded slowly, speechless.

Yu Ping’s Ahri had dashed in with Spirit Rush and cast Charm at Lin Feng’s Twisted Fate! But before she’d even cast it, Lin Feng had already started dodging it, as if he knew it was coming and where it was coming. After dodging the Charm, he ran at Ezreal again and threw the Gold Card! It stunned Ezreal on top of dealing a ton of damage!

FourEyesChan adjusted his glasses and said into his microphone, “Wow! Just… Wow! He just… Wow!”

Lin Feng smiled when he saw Tang Bingyao throw boomerangs at Ezreal and then focused on his own Champion again. He pressed the Q key and cast Wild Cards! Twisted Fate threw a cone of cards that cut through Ezreal in the middle and Ahri and Janna on the sides! Only Nidalee from Team Beijing managed to dodge it by Flashing away. He then started throwing auto attacks at Ezreal. The first three attacks did minimal damage because he was an ability power Champion and his damage came from his skills. But the fourth card triggered Stacked Deck, a skill that added a magical damage property to his next card!

《You have slain an enemy!》