By this point, WE's situation was visibly grim.
Two consecutive deaths on Xiye's mid-lane Jayce had hurt far too much.
And Condi had spent so long camping mid that Ning Wang had plenty of time to pay visits to 957's Jax in the top lane.
That had let TheShy's Rumble get very fed as well.
Even worse, Lu Chen's Twitch had come fully online!
Despite roaming mid twice, he still had a lead of more than thirty CS over Mystic!
The teams were over two thousand gold apart, and close to half that lead, if not more, was on Lu Chen alone.
A Twitch this far ahead had an almost devastating effect on the game.
WE's team comms said it all.
"Twitch missing."
"Twitch missing."
"Twitch's missing again."
As Ben repeated the warning, his voice growing increasingly helpless, Xiye and Condi could only keep backing off.
Even 957 in the top lane dared not push, terrified that a Twitch would suddenly pop out of some corner!
On-screen, that meant every member of WE had to retreat whenever IG's Twitch vanished from the minimap!
Just after Ben called missing yet again.
Xiye pressed his lips together, reluctantly abandoned the wave in front of him, and retreated under his turret.
Mystic farmed in front of his turret, his face utterly numb.
Suddenly.
An Olaf came charging down from the Tri-brush, axes in hand!
A sleazy voice rang out right after him.
"Sewer skewers-enough for everyone!"
Lu Chen's Twitch appeared outside the turret without warning, his Ultimate unleashing a torrent of fire!
Ben snapped back to his senses and hurriedly shielded Mystic, then immediately used his Ultimate, trying to blow Olaf away.
Ning Wang ignored everything, activated his Ultimate to shrug off crowd control, and charged straight in!
Mystic reacted a beat too late.
By the time he pressed Heal and Flash, Twitch's attacks had already left him with only a fifth of his health as he flashed away.
A long-range E detonated his poison stacks and killed him on the spot-he had only flashed to relocate his grave!
"IG Chen Yu has slain WE Mystic!"
"Rampage!"
At this point in the game, a Twitch with Infinity Edge and Zeal could easily melt a squishy with his Ultimate active, as long as he landed a single crit!
Then, with Ning Wang tanking the turret, Lu Chen finished Janna off in a few shots and claimed a double kill.
"Double kill!"
"IG Chen Yu has slain WE Ben!"
"Unstoppable!"
After playing safe for twelve minutes, the bot-lane duo had finally given up their lives under their turret.
Lu Chen's score rose to 5-0!
"Wow, there's just no way to guard against this," Wawa said, a hint of pity creeping into his voice. "WE have absolutely no way to keep this Twitch in check."
Miller sighed as well. "A Twitch this fed doesn't even need to wait for late-game teamfights to make an impact."
"Holy shit! C God, your damage is insane!" Ning Wang's eyes widened as he steered Olaf out of turret range.
He had gone into this dive fully prepared to sacrifice himself.
He hadn't expected this.
Lu Chen had melted the enemy bot lane in just a few shots, and Ning Wang had even been able to stroll out from under the turret. It was ridiculous!
Diving a turret had never felt this easy before!
Lu Chen smiled. "With my items, isn't that normal?"
The chat exploded along with him.
"GG, WE are already done."
"The old turn-and-strike! You thought I went mid, but I was still bot!"
"This Twitch is like a damn phantom."
"You never know where he'll turn up next."
"I was just watching Mystic's POV. It was straight-up a horror movie!"
"Ben had just finished pinging mid when Twitch suddenly appeared. There was no time to react."
"Oh, come on. Mystic doesn't even look right anymore. Didn't you see him Flash just to die somewhere else? Is that a pro player's reaction?"
It wasn't just the chat.
At the venue, plenty of WE fans who had seen that play were already getting up and leaving without a word.
The entire arena had fallen silent, with only the IG fans still cheering.
Soon.
On-screen, Lu Chen took advantage of the enemy duo's deaths to destroy the bot turret.
Rookie's Viktor promptly swapped to bot lane to farm.
With that, Twitch was completely unleashed!
Xiye in mid didn't even dare step out from under his turret, only using long-range EQ blasts to last-hit.
Top and bot were no different. Neither lane had any right to push.
Even Condi had to tread carefully in his own jungle, repeatedly checking his surroundings while clearing camps.
On the minimap, WE's jungle was almost entirely dark!
Who could go place wards?
Their support Janna was as flimsy as paper in front of Twitch!
Their jungler Elise was, at best, that same sheet folded in half!
If Twitch caught either of them, a few shots were all it would take!
Just like that, IG kept eating away at their gold and neutral resources, snowballing their lead until it reached over seven thousand in just fifteen minutes!
Never mind WE's five players-even the spectators watching from outside the game felt suffocated!
It was utterly hopeless.
Watching them get worn down, with a blade seemingly hanging over their heads at every moment, made everyone feel as though they were experiencing it themselves!
In fact, the player cams showed it clearly.
All five WE players sat in their seats with blank expressions, as if they were operating on autopilot.
Forget fighting spirit-there wasn't even any sign of communication!
"Well..." Miller began hesitantly. "At this point, it seems like there's no suspense left in this game."
Wawa also seemed to find it hard to watch. "With a lead this big, IG don't really need to drag this out any longer, do they?"
Rita could only clear her throat. "Ahem. Chen Yu is putting on far too much pressure. WE probably can't see any hope of a comeback."
In WE's waiting room.
Redmi watched the spectator screen and fell silent.
They had already lost. That much was certain.
But his only thought now wasn't how to review the game and beat IG next time.
It was how to make his players forget this match!
At that thought, he turned to WE's manager and asked, "How good is the club's psychologist?"
"Huh?" Caught completely off guard by the question, the manager looked bewildered. After a moment's thought, he said, "Uh, pretty good, I think?"
"Good." Redmi nodded. "Go book an appointment. Once the match is over, have all the players see them."
"Well..." The manager's eyes widened. "Surely it isn't that serious?"
As he said that, he turned back to the screen and saw Condi's Elise getting gunned down by Twitch at his own wolf camp yet again. He fell silent.
All right.
Looking at it this way, they really might need some counseling.
They couldn't let one regular-season match shatter the players' mentality.
In the past, if someone had told him a best of three could leave WE's players with psychological issues.
The manager would have laughed it off.
He might even have joked, "That's Kennedy in a convertible-mind-blowing." No normal person could have dreamed up something like that.
Yet now... it seemed to have become reality!
Over in IG's waiting room, by contrast.
Su Xiaoluo, Mafa, and the others sat in their chairs, staring at the screen with shining eyes.
Their opponents were WE, one of the Three Royal Houses, fresh off a Spring Split championship and headed to MSI!
Judging by the state of the games alone, both had been outright stomps!
"Worth it," Su Xiaoluo murmured. "So worth it."
(End of chapter)
Before you continue