Chapter 245: 16:43! Advancing to the Winners' Bracket! The Only Rival!

Millions of viewers around the world cheered and screamed along with the exploding Nexus.

It was not just for the result of this highly anticipated best-of-five showdown, but because everyone was still immersed in the visual shock that had yet to dissipate!

"It's over!" Jide shouted at the top of his lungs, straining his voice.

"Too violent! Too spectacular! This is a match exclusive to V5! It's a performance on the stage exclusive to Master Ye! This kind of match can only be seen in his games!"

Guan Zeyuan also shouted excitedly: "Killing the game in one wave at 16 minutes and 43 seconds, three consecutive games with outcomes no one could have predicted!"

"This should be the biggest tragedy of this MSI, right? You have to realize, this is T1!"

Rita was still clapping, seemingly a bit dazed; the game she thought would be a grueling tug-of-war thirty seconds ago had suddenly ended, and she still hadn't grasped the final, sudden turn of events.

Many people were in the same dazed state as her, left only with the instinctive emotional reaction to the final result.

Guan Zeyuan then received confirmation from the director in his earpiece.

"That's right! This match is a record-breaking battle under the brand-new 2023 MSI format!"

"It's only the first match of MSI! V5 has already broken the record set by T1 themselves during the Play-Ins, leading by a full 7 seconds!"

"And this match is also the second-shortest game record in the history of the Mid-Season Invitational."

At this, Guan Zeyuan's smile grew even broader, and the two people beside him also inexplicably began to smile.

This was because the director had just specifically mentioned one thing in their earpieces—in the history of MSI, T1 had been the main protagonist in all three of the shortest games!

Ranked third was the 16-minute and 50-second game T1 had just played against the European second seed MAD in the Play-Ins not long ago.

At the time, that record had been endlessly hyped up by quite a few T1 fans.

Even though they were only playing against the European second seed, being able to set such a "speedrun" record in this patch was indeed more intimidating than records from ancient versions.

Yet, unexpectedly, a brand-new record was born in less than a few short days!

And one was against MAD, while the other was against T1!

The gold content was completely different!

Of course, Guan Zeyuan didn't dare mention this at the moment, lest he go looking for trouble and touch the nerves of T1 fans who had nowhere to vent their frustration.

But the livestream chat naturally understood what the second half of the statement implied, and everyone in the chat began to troll.

【Who could the shortest game be against, it's really so hard to guess!】

【Got it, given V5 speedruns T1, and T1 speedruns MAD, it follows that MAD ≈ T1!】

【Don't be salty, this is our T1, they can easily sweep the top three records in history! This is the true three-time champion!】

【V5 is just too evil! You win if you win, but you had to pull a bandit-style back-door at the end! You just had to stamp a 'qualified pork' inspection mark on T1's butt, you just had to leave a mark on Faker!】

【So is T1 going to the losers' bracket? If they really get knocked out in one round and go home, I feel like we might as well give the spot to BLG and just replay the LPL playoffs at MSI!】

【Holy crap, I don't even dare to think about it; going home without winning a single game in an international tournament is too embarrassing. Forget about replacing them with BLG, even if Top Esports came, they'd be better than this!】

The director moved the camera to the player booths.

The spotlights shone at full power on the winners, and the V5 members all leaped from their seats in great excitement.

As soon as the noise-canceling headsets were removed, the roar created by ten thousand spectators crashed down like a landslide, mixed with the passionate shouts of the on-site English casters.

Although Ye Bo couldn't understand what they were shouting, the surging, overwhelming emotion contained within was absolutely clear.

Even though this was only their first match of this MSI.

As long as the opponent was named T1, it was very different—this was true for everyone.

"Holy crap, holy crap! We 3-0'd T1, holy crap!!" Xun jumped three feet high, ran directly to Ye Bo's side with a fanatical face, and was even somewhat incoherent.

"That last wave really stunned me; I didn't even see how you got up there! The opponents must have been scared to death! I was so stunned I almost didn't react! I almost didn't follow up with the damage... Master Ye is just too fierce!"

"Master Ye! I want to play Neeko!"

In truth, even the V5 teammates hadn't expected that final flank engage.

Even before the move, they had only seen Ye Bo run off to flank; they hadn't noticed when he had snuck onto the high ground at all!

Everyone was just doing their own job and standing at their own post.

And then, upon hearing the shot-caller's command, they immediately followed "blindly."

"Little Xun, stop making a fuss, it's just winning against T1~" Beryl's mouth couldn't stop curling upward, yet he pretended not to care: "Can't you be a bit more composed like me and Brother Deft?"

Deft couldn't help but look at Ye Bo, gave him a thumbs up, and blurted out a word with perfect pronunciation.

"Awesome."

Flandre put his arm around the excited Xun and teased: "Still young, brother is already used to it. In the future, whenever you see this kind of play, you must silently recite in your heart: it's just Master Ye's basic operation~"

Urged by the referees, everyone stood up and headed toward the opposing player booth.

The expressions of the entire T1 squad were very ugly, displaying a variety of reactions in their seats.

Although they hadn't broken the "glorious history" created by their predecessors, having such a miserable record appear in their professional careers—and one that could never be erased—

was undoubtedly a very painful thing.

Zeus, on the edge, looked up and took a deep breath in his seat, his face pained, his mouth slightly parted as if he had said two words.

Since his debut last year, the outside world had called him a "genius teenager," peaking upon debut, joining the recognized strongest team upon debut, and becoming one of the team's cores.

But since then.

In reality, he had been enduring "failure" the whole time!

Lost to RNG at the '22 MSI, lost to Doran in the Summer Finals, lost to Kingen at Worlds, lost to Doran again in the '23 Spring Finals, and was swept 0-3 at MSI again...

Runner-up, top four, runner-up, at best still just a runner-up!

For others, being a runner-up might already be a high achievement—but for Zeus's goals, and for the T1 team he was on, being a runner-up was not worth mentioning.

This kind of experience is undoubtedly a huge test of a person's mentality.

Some people might be crushed by this and "change their form," turning into tank-playing, "team-oriented" players who avoid responsibility.

However, if one can endure it, perhaps they will welcome true progress.

Watching Ye Bo walk toward him, Zeus stared blankly, almost forgetting to reach out his hand.

Behind him, the dazed Oner had a somewhat unfocused look—only because when he saw this face, the "shoo shoo shoo shoo shoo" sound that had been ringing in his ears like a demonic curse throughout the match seemed to echo in his mind again.

Li Xianghe also took a deep breath, stood up, and fist-bumped the approaching Ye Bo.

The two faced each other at close range once again.

Their first meeting of 2023, the scene felt as if it were instantly pulled back to Madison Square Garden, with the deafening cheers still ringing in their ears...

Only this time, those cheers were still unrelated to them.

"Impressive."

"Good luck!"

Conditions still didn't allow for much communication; the two simply had a brief English exchange.

But from their eye contact, both were clearly convinced—this would not be their last encounter this year.

Ye Bo had this confidence because he clearly felt that T1 was not adapting well to this patch, and one could even say they had numerous problems, including Li Xianghe's "personal issues"!

But even so, T1 had actually still caused them countless troubles during the game, and the process of the match could definitely be called turbulent.

Clearly, this team's strength went far beyond this.

And Li Xianghe had this confidence because he was certain that the five people on this team had no problems, and he believed that the four young soldiers beside him were still far from their peak.

Actually, come to think of it, failure was not a rare thing for Li Xianghe.

He shouldn't have had this current feeling.

Especially over the past five years, this was particularly true.

Yet, facing this "opponent" again, Li Xianghe's mood was inexplicably complicated.

This person was very different from all the opponents he had faced over the past ten years.

Sharp-edged, full of whimsical ideas, and even when he felt he had pushed the other side to the brink with all his might, the opponent could always find a glimmer of survival in the rugged cracks, bringing one a sense of infinite frustration.

It was as if one could never guess his limits, or whether he even had any limits at all?

But to be honest.

Ye Bo's existence, on the contrary, stimulated the "drive" within Li Xianghe several times over.

That thing that had disappeared for many years.

Ye Bo's intuition was very accurate; in fact, Li Xianghe's hand injury had recurred toward the end of the Spring Split, and from that point on, his mechanical state had clearly declined, which indirectly led to adjustments in his personal and team playstyle.

And at this very moment.

Li Xianghe had never been so eager to regain his form, to regain his former self—he wanted to fight the other side head-on in his peak state.

Regardless of winning or losing.

In Li Xianghe's heart, he had already regarded Ye Bo as the greatest... and perhaps even the only "opponent" in his future professional career.

Until the V5 members walked out of the player booths and returned to the center of the stage, his eyes were still fixed on that retreating figure, his mind filled with thoughts.

"Brother Xianghe, wait for the finals! We'll play them again in the MSI finals! We'll definitely win then!" Gumayusi's expression wasn't looking so good.

Even though they had already lost, he was still ten thousand percent unconvinced in his heart!

If one were to talk about his personality traits, they were actually "remarkably similar" to a certain three-character B-surname LPL player.

Both loved to make bold claims before the match, make even bolder claims after the match, and loved to complain and make excuses; the only difference was that he was at T1.

But looking at it now, it seemed there was no difference.

The distracted Li Xianghe didn't hear what the other was saying—but his partner Keria beside him heard these words and revealed a slight bitter smile.

At the very least, in this patch.

If they could really make it to the finals in this MSI, Keria didn't have much confidence either.

He didn't know why, but he could feel that Beryl's playstyle clearly hadn't changed, yet after engaging again this year following his move to V5, it had just become even more "terrifying."

And not just by a little!

Keria's current best-of-five record against Beryl had already reached 0-5, and it was really hard to have any confidence...

However, if one really had to say it.

What left the deepest impression on Keria was not this old "arch-rival," but the opposing mid-laner.

He had never seen any mid-lane player capable of suppressing the "god in his heart" to this extent.

Even with last year's World Championship defeat, even with the recurrence of his hand injury this year.

The terror of the opposing mid-laner's mechanics was truly the greatest he had ever seen in his life!

In the ever-changing, chaotic team fights, this person could actually think of angles and ideas that no one else could imagine, and execute them with effortless ease—just thinking about it felt somewhat inconceivable!

Perhaps, only Li Xianghe in his prime could achieve this level, right?

Keria, who usually considered his own "mechanics" to be superior to everyone else in the support role, could not help but feel a sense of inferiority in his heart at this moment.

Jin Hekui, the choice you made this time...

Meanwhile, the LCK livestream channel remained a scene of utter devastation.

"Sigh," the Roaring Emperor watched the broadcast screen with a dejected expression and let out a long sigh: "The top priority now is that T1 must boost their spirits immediately; they cannot be affected!"

"They have already reached the edge of the cliff; the losers' bracket does not allow for even the slightest failure. Tomorrow's losers between JDG and GEN will not be easy to deal with."

SKT War Wolf, however, was full of confidence: "It's not a big problem; anyway, GEN has a high probability of winning!"

"JDG was three-zeroed by V5 in the LPL finals; if JDG comes down, T1 will definitely be able to win, and then they can just enter the finals and complete their revenge!"

He spoke with sound reasons, and Bang, sitting next to him, immediately nodded to support his partner: "Right, T1 has always been a slow-starting team; the initial loss is of no great consequence!"

But, no matter how they tried to "save face."

At this moment, no other comments could be seen in the LCK livestream.

True fans had long since logged off to escape, fleeing to avoid the impending storm of reckoning.

And the livestream chat had already been flooded and dominated by dense rows of 【1643】【1643】【1643】.

After the fist bumps, they returned to the stage to bow and express their thanks, and the V5 members dispersed to head to their respective regional areas for interviews.

As the most dazzling presence in this best-of-five, and also the one with the highest popularity in overseas regions, Ye Bo received an invitation from the local home crowd without any suspense.

When Ye Bo walked back to the center of the stage.

The cheers inside the Copper Box Arena were instantly deafening, the flashbulbs in the stands flickered incessantly, and tens of thousands of people in the venue spontaneously began to shout in unison again:

"Yeyes!"

"Yeyes!!"

"Yeyes!!!"

The local host James Dash walked onto the stage, waiting for the passionate sounds of the venue to subside before he began to speak, his impassioned voice continuing to stir up the emotions.

"Please welcome once again the three-time MVP of this match! From the LPL, the Amazing Mr. Ye! These three games were truly spectacular!"

There was another burst of cheers and screams from the venue, and Ye Bo also waved very enthusiastically to all four sides of the audience.

However, Western hosts never liked to follow the script.

The first question was clearly a bit provocative: "So, player Ye, today you defeated the T1 team led by the legendary player Faker three-zero. Does this match your expectations before the match?"

After listening to the translator's relay, Ye Bo nodded quite naturally: "It matches!"

"We V5 are the first seed, right? A first seed beating a second seed is only natural, right? I believe everyone thinks so too~"

With "Ming Kai's Gaze" gone this year, Ye Bo's interviews were becoming increasingly unrestrained.

His personality wasn't one to deliberately try to say anything "sassy."

In any case, it just highlighted one thing: "telling the truth."

James was quite slick and immediately smiled as he followed up: "Oh!? If that's the case, then for tomorrow's match between GEN and JDG, player Ye, who would you favor more..."

"Ah, having said that," Ye Bo was preempted by the other party, but he quickly replied.

"Because we in the LPL were the champions at last year's World Championship, so the second seed might also be greater than the first seed... of course, it's still hard to say~~"

Xia An, who was responsible for the translation, clearly widened her eyes when she translated this sentence.

And upon hearing this translation, James and all the Western audience at the scene all let out "Ooh~~~~" sounds of surprise.

Everyone had the look of someone watching the chaos without fearing it would be too big.

James excitedly struck while the iron was hot and pressed: "So it seems, player Ye believes that the LPL region's overall strength is greater than the LCK region, and that the LPL is the number one region, right!"

After listening to the translation, Ye Bo looked completely bewildered.

He asked back in a very "matter-of-fact" tone: "Isn't it?"

The audience and the host were all suddenly excited to death, and a noisy clamor of ghost-like wailing and shouting erupted from the floor, as if they had heard something incredible.

Only the LCK fans who hadn't left the venue yet had extremely ugly expressions.

【Holy cow! Master Ye! The troops have set out to hack accounts!】

【Heh, winning one best-of-five and he's really acting all high and mighty! T1 hasn't even lost yet! This is really ridiculous!】

【Oh? The little tadpoles are coming to find their mommy again~】

【1557! 1643! 1557! 1643! 1557! 1643!】

【Telling the truth is called acting high and mighty? I'm wondering how anyone still dares to talk back when they're losing; it's three-zero, why aren't you tucking your tails and running yet?】

【You guys don't understand, Tieba and Hupu are about to start a world-wide reckoning; there's nowhere to run, so they only dare to come to the livestream to bark~】

To be fair, Ye Bo's reaction really wasn't him acting high and mighty.

Based on his surfing experience, hasn't it always been that whoever wins the latest World Championship is the number one region?

Having finished stirring up trouble, James finally became a bit more serious: "Alright, since we're on this topic, player Ye, who do you favor to win tomorrow... or rather, who would you personally prefer to play against?"

Ye Bo raised the microphone again and, without even thinking, said directly: "Then I definitely want to play against both, why would I have to choose~"

This abstract answer immediately caused the chat to be filled with 【Two? Ten! Fight ten!】.

Of course, Ye Bo also added: "With Viper and JDG, both sides are old friends, it should be very interesting to play against either one."

Subsequently, James asked several more game-related questions.

Undoubtedly, they were all about what everyone cared about most: those dazzling mechanics during the match.

For example, the Titan's changing-direction shockwave in the first game, the Lee Sin's super-dimensional Dragon's Rage in the second game, and Neeko's seventy-two transformations in the third game...

"Because the skill text is written very clearly and is not ambiguous, Neeko is still 'Neeko' after transforming, but she carries the attributes of the transformed unit, so the defensive tower does indeed target Neeko; it's just that she has the bonus attributes of the cannon minion, which is why she couldn't be killed... Hmm, the logic of the cannon minion tanking the tower is probably like that; I don't think it should count as a bug."

"Ha, actually, it's not hard to discover these things; everyone can try it out in training mode for a few hours~"

"As for the other mechanics, if everyone is interested, you can follow the video account produced in cooperation with our club; we will provide reviews and explanations for these mechanics~"

Ye Bo chatted generously on stage, and while he was at it, he took the opportunity to promote the video account from his club, which had received excellent feedback, to global netizens and fans.

And although the audience off-stage might not have understood everything.

They were actually listening with great interest.

"Crazy... so that's how he tested it out," Brother KC said while taking a selfie with his back to the phone and the stage, still sighing.

"What do you guys think about that idea he just mentioned, adding time flow speed to training mode?" Brother Sanhuan seemed to show an interested look.

"Boss, are you serious?" Brother CT asked in surprise: "If you're asking for my opinion, I'm definitely in full agreement! I've long said that training mode is too restrictive and not open enough!"

"Oh, have you become his fan just like Cologne?"

"What? What are you saying! I have always been a devout Ye fan!"

"By the way, what was the name of that account he mentioned just now..."

(End of chapter)