"We got him! Fiora takes Ahri's bounty and scores a killing spree!"
"He even triggered Double Kill!"
At the commentary desk, as the two announcement sounds rang out one after another, the entire venue erupted in waves of cheers and screams.
"That's ridiculous! He actually turned it around? How did he manage that?!"
Rita was so worked up she didn't even notice how awkward she sounded. "Th-this... what kind of play was that?"
"Light Speed Four Break is so damn cool! That must've been Fiora's Auto Attack Flash Four Break just now... The Grandmaster of Auto Attack Flash!"
Miller took a deep breath. "Murder, this rookie's first professional debut, and he's playing nothing like a rookie!"
"That was honestly a little ridiculous. His reaction and hand speed... I'm really curious now. You could say he deliberately used the vision gap..."
Wa Wa said, sounding astonished. "But did he deliberately level up to six right then, or was it an accident? If he calculated it himself... then his mental fortitude and split-second reactions are genuinely terrifying."
"He's still just a rookie!"
The crowd roared!
By this point in the match, even if they knew nothing else, everyone watching had already been left with a deep impression of Xu Cheng, a rookie who had yet to make a name for himself in the Professional Arena.
Just then, the broadcast replay came on.
As Miller had guessed, the slow-motion footage showed everyone the entire sequence of Fiora's Light Speed Four Break in crystal-clear detail.
And even slowed down, Fiora's play still looked fast, ruthless, precise, and fluid.
To look that way even in slow motion...
"Just how scary is this guy's hand speed...?"
The commentators and audience were all stunned.
Meanwhile...
While people outside the game were still lost in the memory of Fiora's incredible play, time on the Rift kept moving forward.
After Fiora's double kill, EDG had completely secured the top-lane advantage.
In the other lanes, DAN still lagged behind EDG—
EDG was EDG, after all. Even if they were struggling in the new season, they were only struggling compared with the well-known powerhouses in the LPL.
A newly promoted team like DAN clearly wasn't in that category.
After being tempered by S6, Scout had grown into EDG's new mid-lane powerhouse.
Z Emperor was widely considered EDG's biggest weakness, and the worst AD in history.
But with Meiko, one of the LPL's top supports, alongside him, he could hold his own against DAN.
As for Factory Director, with every lane ahead, he could now roam freely and dictate the pace of the entire game.
But...
Although the match steadily progressed and EDG's gold lead continued to grow,
the team voice chat was completely silent—
That was the "aftereffect" of Xu Cheng turning the tables on Ahri.
Xu Cheng was feeling a little uneasy himself, playing in silence.
After some time, seeing Factory Director sitting there with a stern look and saying nothing, he finally couldn't hold back.
He gave an awkward little cough. "Uh... ahem. Xiao Kai..."
"Hm?"
Factory Director, who'd been off in his own world, snapped back to attention and looked at Xu Cheng.
"I'm sorry."
"???"
Factory Director was even more confused.
"Sorry... what are you apologizing to me for?"
Xu Cheng looked earnest and serious. "I shouldn't have gone in just now. I know... you've all been telling me to play more 'professionally' and 'carefully,' and to work with the team..."
"It's fine to play like that against a weak team like DAN, but what if one day we run into a strong team, or even a team several times better than us?"
"If I play like that then, I'll be digging my own grave!"
"So... Xiao Kai, I know you mean well. Don't stay silent. Big bro was wrong. I'm sorry!"
"I let you down!"
Everyone: "..."
Factory Director: "..."
Is that what I was thinking?!
7 Sauce was a little dazed.
The truth was, he'd gone quiet after Xu Cheng's double kill, but not for the reason Xu Cheng thought.
He'd simply been a little stunned.
To be honest, Xu Cheng's play in scrims had been much the same as it was now.
But back then, Xu Cheng's "success rate" had definitely been nowhere near this high.
For example, "using the edge of vision to the limit" and "level-six double kill."
The latter was one thing. Experienced players could pull off that kind of timing with ease. It just took more mental fortitude on the Professional Arena.
But the former was absolutely not something you could pull off whenever you felt like it.
It required more than solid nerves and courage. It demanded an awareness and reaction speed beyond the norm... and even a little luck.
Playing better in an official match than in scrims... what did that mean?
It meant Xu Cheng was a damn clutch player, a super talent who could step onto the stage and bring out the best in himself.
Players like that were rare in history, but every one of them had left behind a legend and unforgettable moments in the history of the game.
No need to look far.
Little Peanut in last year's S6 was a pure clutch, stage-ready player. His aggressive jungle style was still Factory Director's nightmare.
That's right.
Factory Director was the exact opposite of those players.
He was the sort who had a wealth of theoretical knowledge but turned timid the moment he stepped onto a big stage. If he could play at half his strength, that counted as a success... and playing at seventy percent meant he'd fulfilled his potential and had an outstanding performance.
The LPL Region had never seemed to have a player like that...
A super player who seemed born for the stage!
Thinking of all this, Factory Director was secretly glad he'd brought Xu Cheng into the professional scene. He also planned to rethink Xu Cheng's career development once they got back.
Meiko and the others probably hadn't thought that far ahead. They were likely just stunned.
But Xu Cheng, an openhearted young man, had mistaken the silence in team voice for something else...
In that case...
"Ahem. Big bro, so you know!"
Factory Director's face was stern as he spoke, word by word. "You really disappointed me!"
"I know I was wrong." Xu Cheng looked ashamed.
"Think about it. Can you pull off that kind of play successfully every time? It's fine when it works, but what if it fails? You'd throw away every advantage we had!"
Factory Director spoke as if he couldn't bear to see him waste his potential. "You're right. You can play like that against a team like DAN, but what about RNG? WE? Even Snake Team or IG? Can you still play like that against them?"
"One mistake against those teams, and it could all be over!"
"Do you really think talent means you can do whatever you want?!"
Hearing that, Xu Cheng wanted the ground to swallow him up.
He thought of all the footage of top teams he'd been watching lately, as well as the scrims they'd played...
To be honest, teams like RNG and WE were really strong right now, on a whole different level from DAN.
If they ran into those teams and he couldn't shake his habit of getting an itch all over whenever he saw an enemy he could kill, wouldn't he drag the whole team down with him?
"You... Ah!"
Factory Director let out a weary sigh, sounding world-weary. "You're a grown man now. You need to learn to study and reflect on your own!"
Please keep reading and send votes! The double monthly-vote event is almost over, so if you've got votes saved up, now's the time to use them!
Also, I need to push for a recommendation slot over the next few days, and my editor wants me to post at a specific time. So the second update will be a little late, around 11:40 or 11:50. Thanks for understanding, everyone. I'll make it up to you with extra chapters when the novel goes premium!
One more thing: I'd like to ask what you think about the update schedule. Should I post both chapters together, or space them out?
If I post them together, I'll put them both up one after the other in the evening. That might be more convenient for everyone.
Before you continue