TCWSITD – Chapter 62

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Chapter 62 – Vex’s Penta Kill

The second game officially began.

Li Qian once again drafted them an aggressive composition, securing the Xayah-Rakan bot lane duo once more, not much different from the previous round.

In past matches against the Korean teams, the LPL’s champion selections often fell short. But ever since Li Qian joined OT, they had never lost in the drafting phase against any team.

However, today’s Li Qian was taking extreme risks with his picks.

The first game could be considered an unexpected victory, but what about the second? Instead of playing it safe to secure the lead, was he really going to gamble again?

Public opinion quickly turned against the coach, with some even calling Li Qian an embarrassment.

Back in the lounge, Li Qian could see the online backlash. He lit a cigarette, leaned against the window, and squinted at the situation on the stage.

He knew very well. This was a strong composition but also an extremely risky one. The risk lay in Lin Jiang having to unleash his full potential from the past four years, with absolutely no room for even the slightest mistake.

He had asked Lin Jiang, “Are you really sure about this?”

Lin Jiang nodded, replying with clear conviction, “If we get dragged into a fourth game, we might as well surrender. A clean sweep against HIT is our only chance.”

Even if they got reverse-swept, even if they were drowned in criticism, even if no one understood. No matter how hard it got, it didn’t matter. He only wanted to stick to the path he believed was right.

Stats were for others to see, but wins and losses were their own. Without a championship, all the public support in the world meant nothing.

Lin Jiang had always been the player who could move Li Qian. Back in their KUG days, he had admired Lin Jiang’s courage, and even now, that hadn’t changed. He took a deep drag from his cigarette, exhaling a sigh that was both helpless and hopeful. “Lin Jiang… We’re both betting our careers on this. You better not lose…”

This game, Lin Jiang was playing Vex, an assassin mage with explosive burst damage.

In this damage-heavy meta, most mid laners opted for more well-rounded picks to minimize risks. But Lin Jiang went against the grain, slamming HIT in the face with Vex.

The moment this champion was locked in, domestic fans were torn between excitement and fear. Excited to see how far Lin Jiang could push Vex, but terrified that this game might end his career.

After all, the finals weren’t just about Lin Jiang—they represented the entire LPL. If he lost, he would bear the brunt of the entire esports community’s frustration.

As the game loaded in, the broadcast immediately locked the camera on mid lane—the duel everyone was most eager to watch.

HIT’s five players were all incredibly versatile, and against the comparatively one-dimensional Vex, each of them was itching to make a move.

In this game, they had banned Lin Jiang’s signature LeBlanc and countered with Jayce, leaving him with no easy options.

How does it feel to be targeted?

Jayce fired off an accelerated shock blast, hitting Level 2 first, then chased Lin Jiang down with relentless auto-attacks through the speed gate.

Lin Jiang retreated calmly, waiting for the minion wave to arrive before leisurely hitting Level 2.

Suppressed by Lin Jiang the entire game, he finally seized an opportunity. Even in the decisive fight for victory, Lin Jiang still showed no intention of engaging head-on, opting instead to eat a health fruit and play safe under the tower.

A warning came through his headphones from the jungler. “Watch out for their jungler.”

Jayce glanced at Lin Jiang’s health bar. Only half of it remained while he himself was still at full health. There wasn’t much to fear. No matter how strong Lin Jiang was, he was just a normal player using a standard champion, not some invincible god.

Once he won this game, he would calmly tell his friends—Lin Jiang isn’t all that.

He continued to trade blows with Lin Jiang across the minion wave.

The moment Lin Jiang’s passive fully stacked, he unleashed a W skill, perfectly fearing Jayce and interrupting his attack animation. An instant Q skill triggered the mark, followed by a few basic attacks, instantly chunking a third of Jayce’s health.

As a top-tier professional player, Jayce sensed something unusual. That didn’t seem like a coincidence. Lin Jiang seemed unnaturally precise with his passive timing.

Although just a minor moment, Jayce already felt danger creeping in. He cleared the last minion and prepared to retreat when suddenly, that eerie presence surged toward him again.

Then came two flashes as Jayce’s Flash landed him right into Zhang Mingying’s EQ-Flash knock-up. A few more basic attacks later, another third of his health vanished!

What kind of insane prediction was that?!

The entire audience was stunned!

They couldn’t tell whether Zhang Mingying had gotten lucky with his prediction or if his reflexes were just so fast that he adjusted his Flash direction the moment Jayce Flashed.

The battle raged on!

With that play from Zhang Mingying, Jayce was as good as dead.

Lin Jiang didn’t even need to burn his Flash. Three skill hits triggered the mark, followed by a few basic attacks, effortlessly securing First Blood.

OT claimed the first victory, and with such a smooth start to the second game, LPL’s morale soared to its peak.

[Damn, is OT really about to take the championship?]

[HIT seemed unbeatable before, but against OT, they just feel like they’re missing something.]

[HIT’s biggest strength is macro, but Zhang Mingying hard counters macro teams! Look at how his jungle pathing completely dictates the enemy’s movements!]

[My opinion of Zhang Mingying has completely changed. Lin Jiang made a great choice. This jungler really counters Korean teams!]

[Haha, HIT’s mid and jungle got demolished. Unless their top and bot lane carry, they’re done for.]

[Don’t kid yourselves. Who even stands a chance against Shen Ju?]

Although Jayce had died once, he still held a laning advantage. But after getting ganked by Zhang Mingying, he became paranoid, suspecting every step Lin Jiang took was a trap.

Breaking an opponent’s mind is the pinnacle of psychological warfare.

Lin Jiang had already achieved it. Now, all that was left was to reap his prey.

The enemy jungler made a tiny mistake. He cleared a ward Zhou Wen had placed in the bottom-side brush too early.

Lin Jiang’s awareness was sharper. The moment the enemy jungler’s position was exposed, he didn’t hesitate. Fearing his target, he unleashed a full combo.

When Jayce turned to hammer him, he flashed backward to dodge the explosive damage, then landed his ultimate on Jayce as he descended. Waiting for his Q skill to cool down, he flew over and instantly killed Jayce upon landing!

By the time Jayce died, his own Flash had just come off cooldown!

Lin Jiang subtly leveraged the advantage of that one Flash, continuously snowballing against his opponent. At this point, Jayce was completely unable to contend with him.

If there was any champion in the world that could rival Jayce, Lin Jiang believed there was only one—Vex, whose damage was equally explosive.

As long as he didn’t make a mistake and every step landed on his opponent’s weak points, he could turn the tables and toy with his prey…

[Ahhh Lin Jiang has two kills already!]

[As expected, I only like Lin Jiang’s Jayce. If anyone else played him, I just couldn’t love it.]

[LOL, HIT really can’t play him but still force-picked him. Do you think it looks good?]

[If Jayce doesn’t gain an advantage in lane, he’ll probably just be a liability in the late game.]

[I think OT counters HIT hard.]

At this point in the game, HIT’s morale was completely crushed. They were under far more pressure than OT, struggling at every step, with beads of sweat forming on everyone’s foreheads.

Since their mid and jungle had already been thoroughly defeated, they naturally didn’t stubbornly persist and quickly shifted their focus to the bot lane.

Jayce and the jungler went to the bot lane twice, but strangely, Shen Ju didn’t overextend at all. The guy who usually fought for every last bit of advantage now obediently gave up farm and retreated each time. By the 15-minute mark, he was already 30 CS behind, leaving many netizens who had been waiting to see Shen Ju dominate the lane feeling emotional.

[Shen Ju has really grown up.]

[He’s learned to sacrifice his own experience for the team.]

[God knows how worried I was that Shen Ju would choke at Worlds, but turns out I’m the one choking.]

[LOL, the most anxious generation of netizens ever.]

With mid lane securing an advantage, bot lane giving no openings, while top lane remained the eternal pressure absorber, HIT was burning with impatience and could only shift the battle to contest jungle objectives.

For the first dragon, a 3v3 skirmish broke out. OT secured the dragon, while HIT got two kills, leaving both sides even.

For the second dragon, a 5v5 fight erupted. OT lost two members first, but that brat Zhang Mingying used his ultimate to block the path, Flashed into the pit, and stole the dragon, barely breaking even.

Soon came the third dragon, OT’s match point. If they secured it, they would seize HIT’s lifeline and firmly control the tempo of the game.

By now, Jayce had a three-kill advantage, and his damage was nothing to scoff at. A single shot from him took Zhou Wen down to half-health, stripping him of initiation potential.

As the third dragon was about to be stolen, Lin Jiang’s passive was about to come off cooldown. He quietly positioned himself in a dark corner and fired his ultimate into the crowd, precisely hitting the enemy AD.

This put HIT on high alert. But it was useless because Lin Jiang’s passive had just been refreshed!

He activated the second phase of his ultimate, dashing toward the marked AD, landing and unleashing his W, fearing all enemies out of the dragon pit!

The 1.5-second group fear was more than enough for Lin Jiang to instantly kill the enemy AD.

After landing the kill, he immediately activated Zhonya’s Hourglass, buying himself precious invulnerability time.

Those 2.5 seconds of stasis were Lin Jiang’s final death sentence to his teammates. If they couldn’t secure an advantage within that window, the game would be lost beyond recovery!

Zhang Mingying Flashed in with EQ, locking down the enemy’s most fed mid and jungle, ready to drag them down with him.

Song Zhixu followed without hesitation, flashing in and ulting the enemy Jayce out of the fight, slamming him into the ground and hammering him relentlessly.

Jayce fought back desperately, but with too much crowd control stacked on him, he only managed to take down Zhang Mingying before Flashing away with a sliver of health left.

At this point, HIT wasn’t at too much of a disadvantage. It’s just a 1-for-1 trade, plus losing a dragon. But this was OT’s soul point dragon!

Jayce refused to accept defeat, turning back to fire a precise shock blast that nearly obliterated Song Zhixu.

Thinking he had found an opening, Jayce leaped toward Song Zhixu, only to be suddenly marked by a shadow.

The faces of HIT’s entire team paled.

This was Vex’s ultimate!

Every takedown refreshed the passive, resetting the cooldown!

Once marked, Jayce could run to the ends of the earth and still be hunted down.

Lin Jiang dashed in and instantly killed Jayce, resetting his ultimate once more!

Meanwhile, Shen Ju and Zhou Wen had gained the upper hand, forcing their opponents into a desperate retreat. Just as they thought they had escaped, another shadow surged forth, marking the enemy support!

Lin Jiang flew in again, cleaning up the low-health support. His ultimate was still refreshing!

The audience was electrified. Now they understood why Lin Jiang had picked Vex. With an endlessly resetting ultimate, every member of HIT was his prey!

Lin Jiang secured a triple kill, and he was still chasing.

HIT’s only remaining members were their top laner and jungler. The top laner tried to body-block for his jungler but it was futile. Lin Jiang didn’t even need his ultimate to kill the jungler.

He used his ultimate to mark the enemy top laner, dashed in, feared the jungler in the process, then followed up with QW, securing yet another kill.

Quadra Kill!

This was Lin Jiang’s first quadra kill in the World Championship!

Could Lin Jiang complete his penta kill?

HIT’s last-standing top laner had an answer. “Dream on!”

He erupted with fury, hammering Lin Jiang down to a sliver of health in an instant. Just as Lin Jiang was about to meet his end, Shen Ju arrived with Zhou Wen in tow!

The domestic livestream exploded with excitement as the commentators roared, “The support saved river! sgod is dishing out damage! The enemy top laner is low. Does he want to trade for river? Wow, river’s movement is insane, dodging the lethal blow! The enemy’s trying to hit him, but they can’t even touch him! He’s a short-range champion!”

With his teammates’ desperate efforts, Lin Jiang survived. But now, it seemed he wouldn’t get his penta kill after all.

While the audience was thrilled, they also felt a tinge of regret. This could have been the first penta kill in Worlds history!

Then, suddenly, Shen Ju stopped auto-attacking. The enemy’s health was left at around 50 HP. Lin Jiang turned, firing a Q that just barely clipped the enemy top laner, killing him on the spot.

Penta kill.

Penta Kill!

When the penta kill icon lit up, the entire LPL esports community exploded. Whether it was the live audience or online viewers, everyone sensed they were about to witness the birth of a miracle!

With HIT’s team wipe and OT securing the soul point, it essentially signaled HIT’s impending defeat.

OT relentlessly pushed towers, attacked, and strategized, thoroughly dismantling a team hailed as the world’s best at macro play.

Korean netizens were utterly heartbroken. They had pictured a thousand glorious outcomes—and this is all they got??

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