First Blood

Keeping Wu Jin's words firmly in mind, He Zhen cleared the first wave of minions and returned to his tower. He didn't contest Yet for jungle monsters, instead looking for chances to poke him with skills from a distance. Even so, Yet still knocked him down to half health.

He Zhen couldn't help drawing a breath. Luckily, Wu Jin had warned him before the match, or he would have lost more than half his health.

"Sun, can you hold on in the bottom lane?"

Shi Mu quickly cleared the jungle as he made his way toward its lower half.

Sun stared intently at his computer screen and sighed softly.

"I won't die just yet."

What happened after that was hard to say.

The faint air of impending death in his words made everyone laugh.

"I've noticed Sun really is a lot like Little Sis."

Shi Mu chuckled. "Because of that same peaceful sense of death."

Ji Chengyan was especially good at seizing on his opponents' mistakes, so every ADC who laned against him was extremely cautious.

But because they were so cautious, they couldn't pull off much, and most of the time Ji Chengyan kept them pinned down.

The opposing team's new ADC, however, was rather interesting. When Ji Chengyan backed off, he advanced; when Ji Chengyan advanced, he backed off. He seemed timid, yet he dared step forward to poke. But if he wasn't timid, he retreated whenever Ji Chengyan came at him.

His mechanics were also meticulous, leaving no mistakes to be found.

Ji Chengyan smiled, as though he had found an entertaining toy.

The jungler Qianhe came to harass him in the bottom lane from time to time, helping Ji Chengyan take the smaller jungle monsters on GOD's side. Afterward, he would try every trick he could to bait out Sun's skills, but Sun played exceptionally carefully and didn't fall for it.

Sun had only one requirement: he just couldn't give up first blood in his debut.

After all, he was laning against a monster-level ADC like Ji Chengyan, so he had long since prepared himself to get crushed.

Two minutes in.

He Zhen was last-hitting minions. Yet hadn't kept up the relentless pressure he'd expected, so he relaxed a little. Qianhe deliberately showed himself near the middle lane, then quietly slipped into the brush in the top lane.

He Zhen thought he'd gone to the bottom lane again.

"Hehe, here I come~"

Qianhe controlled Sea Shark and suddenly dashed forward, using the ultimate to push He Zhen's Akaloi toward the red team's defense tower. He Zhen was completely unprepared and caught off guard.

His fingers rapidly tapped the skill keys, trying to dash away, but Bo'er flashed in and smashed Akaloi with an enlarged hammer, stunning him. He Zhen struggled for a few moments before finally dying in the top lane.

"I was too careless."

He Zhen's face was full of guilt. He hadn't been careful enough just now, and he felt terrible about giving up first blood.

Wantonly laughed heartily. "No big deal. They deliberately made you let your guard down."

Sun breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks. Now I don't have to worry about giving up first blood."

He Zhen didn't understand what he meant until he moved his camera to the bottom lane and saw Sun, who had been both timid and bold, block Misha's slowing skill with his second skill's shield.

He used his ultimate to leap in and unleash a combo, taking a quarter of Ji Chengyan's health, then quickly followed up with his first skill for more damage. But the support, Heart, possessed him and blocked the hit.

Heart cried out, "Wow, why did Sun suddenly start fighting?"

Ji Chengyan pressed his lips together. "What do you think?"

It turned out Sun had been afraid to fight because he didn't want to give up first blood. Now that the mental burden was gone, he wasn't the least bit intimidated in lane.

Wantonly worked hard to heal Sun and restore his health from behind. Although Sun had initiated that exchange, he'd also taken quite a bit of damage himself.

"Yoshi, baby, you perked right up!"

Shi Mu's eyes curved. "So that's what he meant~"

YH's mid laner, Lion, hid in the brush. Seeing that Sun wasn't in great shape, he locked onto Wantonly with his ultimate and dragged him into the illusion realm.

The reason he didn't target Sun was that Sun's second skill could break Hidden Void's ultimate, so he simply took one of them away to leave Sun isolated and helpless.

Ji Chengyan precisely placed his slowing skill at Sun's feet. Sun activated his second skill at the same moment, but Yamei seized the chance to send out a spirit orb, knocking him airborne and crowd-controlling him. Ji Chengyan activated Berserk and his ultimate, beating Sun's health bar lower and lower.

After starting the dragon, Shi Mu raced to the bottom lane. The Bridge of Rebirth stretched between Sun and Ji Chengyan, and a soul thread latched onto Ji Chengyan. Shi Mu waved the scepter in his hand, forcing Yamei to come down and refresh the shield. Misha's health dropped to half, and Ji Chengyan retreated without hesitation.

Wantonly kept healing himself, and when the illusion realm disappeared, he still had a third of his health. Hidden Void saw on the minimap that Shi Mu had arrived and the captain had retreated, so she turned and left as soon as she emerged from the illusion realm.

Shi Mu gave her no chance. He sped forward, tethered him, and unleashed a combo, only stopping after forcing Hidden Void to use Flash.

[Qingqing: Time arrived just in time for that play. He turned it around with a combo, and although he didn't get a kill, he did force out a Flash.]

[Wu Hu: That's Time's style. He won't give up until he's fleeced you for something. Hey! Look, Clear's sprung out!]

Clear had been helping relieve the pressure in the top lane, but when he saw the small team fight breaking out below, he immediately teleported back to mid and set up an ambush by the enemy's blue buff.

Seeing Hidden Void at low health, Clear followed his second skill with his first, dancing and swinging his sleeves as his passive stacks built up. Hidden Void had nowhere to run and fell to the ground.

Shi Mu: "Nicely done."

"Hehe, you still need yours truly to finish things off!"

Lion angrily slammed his keyboard. "Clear's way too sneaky!"

Yet shook his head helplessly. "I pinged you. You were in too much of a hurry and didn't hear it at all."

He couldn't really be blamed. The headset was unbearably noisy during a match, with people talking over one another at high speed. Lion had only just managed to escape death, and before he even had a chance to catch his breath, he was killed.

[Wu Hu: Clear chained that together very smoothly too. GOD's coordination is excellent. It feels like GOD didn't used to enjoy camping in brush so much, but now they've brought brush culture to the peak of perfection.]

[Qingqing: Hahaha, I think Jin got a kill by teleporting like that last time too. Yet noticed where Clear was, but unfortunately it was too late. The gold gap between the two sides hasn't grown very large, and they're very evenly matched!]

Wu Jin, who hadn't taken the field but kept getting mentioned, was happily enjoying a taro and black glutinous rice milk tea. She fell deeply in love with it after the first sip.

Watching the match, Wu Jin narrowed her eyes. It was an omen of great misfortune.

After respawning, Lion headed straight for the top lane. Qianhe and Yet were fighting the dragon in the dragon pit.

After finishing his buff, Shi Mu pressed the gather signal. He Zhen abandoned the minion wave in the top lane and hid in the brush beside the dragon pit, while Clear also moved upward, keeping an eye on the pit.

Shi Mu stepped down from the Bridge of Rebirth, his soul threads tethering Yet and Qianhe. He Zhen pressed his first and second skills in succession, dashing into the dragon pit and dealing some damage, then used his ultimate to refresh his dash and open up some distance. His damage wasn't high, so he had to retreat after chipping away at them.

Clear activated his ultimate. Golden flowers appeared on the ground as Moon Cicada Maiden rose gracefully onto her toes and spun in a dance. Sea Shark used the ultimate to push Shi Mu away, while Bo'er raised the hammer and spun in circles to deal damage. Lion arrived and immediately activated his ultimate, pulling He Zhen into the illusion realm.

Sun and Wantonly rushed up from the bottom lane, while Ji Chengyan and Heart arrived at the same time. The first major team fight broke out in the dragon pit.