They could win even that?

An opening like this was downright explosive in a sea of cookie-cutter matches.

Naturally, the chat in the official livestream was going wild.

"Holy shit! He actually stole that?!"

"So this is how C God plays as soon as he gets onstage? All right, all right."

"What a dirty Q. Condi's completely stunned."

"First time I've seen an AD player dare to do that."

"Ridiculous. He just got lucky. If his luck had been even a little worse, he never would've stolen it."

"Mr. What If is back again?"

"So how exactly did C God know where WE's ward was? He's not actually cheating, is he?"

"Damn, with awareness like that, C God might be even scarier in the jungle."

"Fun fact: C God actually has played jungle in Ranked, and he was absolutely vicious."

Of course, there were even more complaints from WE fans.

"Even if you win playing like that, it doesn't prove you're good!"

"All IG can do to win is cook up cheap little tricks like this."

"Lmao, you don't seriously think stealing one blue means you've won, do you?"

"This new AD is going to get destroyed. Condi's definitely going to give him special attention."

"So you like being obnoxious? What's the point of doing this in a pro match?"

"It'll only work in the first game. Other teams will definitely watch out for it afterward."

Whatever the chat thought, the match continued.

Back in lane, Lu Chen began hopping nonstop.

With every auto attack, he repositioned, and there was no pattern to his movements whatsoever!

Ben's Karma tried throwing out a few Qs, but none of them landed. In the end, he could only turn his attention to Baolan's Alistar.

"How is this guy hopping so smoothly?" Ben was getting pretty frustrated.

Wasn't Kalista supposed to need attack speed before she could move smoothly with her passive?

Why did this guy's Kalista look so different from everyone else's?

Mystic stared at the screen, feeling just as pressured. "I can't hit him with Q either."

WE's bot lane was a textbook poke duo.

How were they supposed to lane if their abilities kept missing?

And with the Blue Buff on him, Lu Chen didn't conserve his abilities at all. He cast Q whenever it came off cooldown, constantly sending spears through the minions.

That let their side hit level two first!

The instant he leveled up!

Lu Chen immediately learned E, cast Q to hop forward and close in on Mystic, then began chaining auto attacks and hops, driving spear after spear into Varus!

"Back off, back off first!" Mystic shouted as he drank a health potion. "We can't fight this!"

Level-two Kalista was downright oppressive!

Very few AD champions could beat her at that level. Once she stacked enough spears, a single Rend could rip away almost half a health bar!

On top of that, they had lost the race to level two and kept missing their abilities.

Ben was decisive too. He immediately Exhausted Kalista, and both of them fled.

The second Exhaust landed, Lu Chen turned back without a hint of greed and resumed farming.

Once Mystic and Ben had soaked up enough experience to reach level two and were ready to step forward for last hits again...

Lu Chen hopped straight back onto them, hurling his spears at Varus without mercy!

"Wow, Chen Yu is playing so aggressively!" Wawa exclaimed. "He's fighting past the minion wave at level two?"

Miller chimed in, "IG will have to burn at least one Flash here. Fighting past the minion wave is really reckless."

Just as they said...

WE showed no fear at all. Both players immediately focused their attacks on Kalista.

Ben's Karma shielded Mystic, then pressed R and hurled an empowered Q at Lu Chen-and missed!

"Fuck!" Ben's eye twitched. He was starting to feel numb.

"It's fine. We can still fight," Mystic said gravely. "They're past our minion wave."

Lu Chen kept hopping left and right in front of them, impossibly nimble!

He lived up to Kalista's nickname-Skateboard Shoes-with his endless hops!

"I'm here, Chen!" Baolan finally caught up, burning Flash as though it cost nothing. A Q-W combo knocked Varus into the air, and he Exhausted him at the same time.

Mystic held his Q, his eyes fixed on the screen.

Just as he had expected, Lu Chen had drawn the ranged minions' aggro by pushing past the wave to fight.

Even with Karma missing his abilities, Kalista was losing health faster!

But Lu Chen didn't panic at all. He used E to rip out his spears, taking a chunk of Mystic's health while also finishing off a low-health minion behind him that had a spear embedded in it, resetting the cooldown.

His keystone rune was Fervor of Battle.

As the stacks built up, his auto attacks hit harder and harder.

Both sides fell to a third of their health, while more and more spears piled up in Varus.

Mystic's gaze sharpened, and he finally pressed Q.

Varus drew his bow and began charging.

He had learned Q and W, and Lu Chen also had full stacks of Varus's W passive on him.

If this Q landed and detonated those stacks, they would definitely win the fight!

But as Q approached full charge, Mystic stared at the constantly hopping Kalista on his screen, unable to release his finger. Sweat began beading on his forehead.

Would it hit?

While he agonized over it, Lu Chen drove two more spears into him.

Knowing he couldn't hesitate any longer, Mystic waited for the instant Kalista launched an auto attack and fired Q, predicting her next hop!

A second later, his pupils contracted sharply. "What..."

Because Kalista... hadn't moved at all!

Varus's Q missed completely.

At that moment, Mystic didn't even have time to be shocked. Instinctively, he burned Flash and Heal, trying to escape backward.

They couldn't fight anymore. Every one of their crucial abilities had missed!

"You can't get away."

Lu Chen calmly switched to attacking Karma, using her as a springboard to hop again and again, closing back in on Mystic.

Right on cue, Kalista called out her line: "Pierce their delusions!"

A Q struck home, followed by the enormous damage from E ripping out the spears. Varus died on the spot!

This...

Was Kalista's greatest strength. Endless hops-once she got onto you, there was no escaping!

Ben abandoned any thought of getting a kill and turned to run beneath his turret.

"First blood!"

"IG Chen Yu has slain WE Mystic!"

As the system announcement rang out, the entire arena fell almost silent.

"They... actually won that?" The casters were just as stunned.

Miller cleared his throat. "Ahem. WE missed quite a few abilities, and Kalista is particularly strong at level two. They also forced out Karma's Exhaust beforehand, so they could win even while fighting past the minion wave."

Rita smiled. "By all rights, IG's bot lane should have lost out there, but their players' individual skill turned it into an advantage."

Wawa added, "Exactly. You can tell Chen Yu really isn't nervous. This is his first appearance in the LPL, yet he keeps delivering standout plays."

"Nice! C God!" Ning Wang laughed outright. "That's our guy! A lane kill at level two."

Rookie sounded almost wistful. "It feels so good to have someone carry you."

Usually, he was the one doing the carrying.

Now, he actually got to lean on someone else.

It was a strange feeling, and a wonderful one.

After all, who wouldn't want to sit back and win? Who wanted to put themselves under maximum pressure every single game?