Chapter 245

Millions of viewers around the world cheered and screamed along with the crystal explosion.

Not just for the outcome of this highly anticipated BO5 showdown, but also because they were still immersed in the visual shock that had yet to dissipate!

"It's over!" Barrier shouted at the top of his lungs on the commentary desk.

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

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

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

Rita seemed to still be a bit stunned as she clapped; the game, which she thought would be a grueling tug-of-war thirty seconds ago, had suddenly ended, and the final sudden change was something she still didn't understand.

Many people were in the same stunned state as her, with only the instinctive emotions regarding the outcome of the victory or defeat remaining.

And Guan Zeyuan received a reminder confirmation from the director in his headset.

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

"But it's only the first match of MSI! V5 has already broken the record set by T1 themselves in the play-ins, leading by a full 7 seconds!"

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

When he said this, Guan Zeyuan's smile became even richer, and the two people next to him also inexplicably revealed smiles.

Just because the director had specifically mentioned one thing in the three people's headsets just now—in the history of MSI, T1 were the protagonists in all of the top three shortest matches!

The one ranked third was the 16 minutes and 50 seconds that T1 had just played against Europe's second seed, MAD, in the play-ins not long ago.

At the time, this record was wildly hyped up by many T1 fans.

Although they were only playing against Europe's second seed, being able to set such a "speedrun" record in this version was indeed more intimidating than the records from the ancient versions.

However, they didn't expect that in just a few days, a brand-new record would be born!

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

This gold content is different!

Of course, Guan Zeyuan didn't dare to mention this at this moment, looking for trouble and touching the bad luck of T1 fans who had nowhere to vent.

But the live stream room naturally understood what the second half of the sentence was, and the barrage was full of people trolling.

【Who set the shortest time, it's really hard to guess!】

【Understood, given V5 speedran T1, T1 speedran MAD, it follows that MAD ≈ T1!】

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

【Waiyi is really too bad! You win if you win, why did you have to pull a bandit-style sneak attack at the end! You just had to stamp a raw pork inspection seal on T1's butt, you just had to leave a mark on Faker!】

【So T1 is going to the losers' bracket? If they really get eliminated in the first round and go home, I feel like it would be better to give the spot to BLG and just replay the LPL playoffs at MSI!】

【Damn, I don't dare to think about it, going home without winning a single game in an international tournament is too embarrassing; don't even say replace them with BLG, even if you replaced them with Top Esports, they would be better than them!】

The director's camera moved to the player seats.

The spotlights were at full power, shining on the winners; the V5 members all jumped up from their seats in great excitement.

And just as the noise-canceling headphones were taken off, the sound wave created by ten thousand spectators pierced the clouds and covered them, mixed with the passionate shouts of the on-site English commentators.

Although Ye Bo couldn't understand what they were shouting, the surging emotions contained within were absolutely clearly audible.

Although this was only their first match of this MSI.

But as long as the opponent was T1, it was very different—it was like that for everyone.

"Damn, damn! We 3-0'd T1, damn!!" 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 opponent must have been scared to death! I was stunned at that moment and almost didn't react! Almost didn't follow up with damage... Master Ye is truly too fierce!"

"Master Ye! I want to play Neeko!"

The flank engagement in that last wave, in fact, even the V5 teammates didn't expect it.

Even before making the move, they only saw Ye Bo run to flank, they didn't notice at all when the opponent had snuck onto the high ground!

Everyone just did their own job and stood at their own post.

And then, upon hearing the opponent's command, they immediately "blindly" followed.

"Little Xun, stop making a fuss, it's just winning against T1~" Beryl's mouth was clearly unable to stop rising, but he pretended not to care: "Can't you be as steady as me and Brother Deft."

Deft also couldn't help but look at Ye Bo, gave him a thumbs up, and popped out an extremely articulate word.

"Niubi" (Awesome).

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

Urged by the referee, everyone got up and headed to the opposite player seats.

T1's members all had very ugly expressions, performing the "all living beings" on their seats.

Although they didn't break the "glorious history" created by their predecessors, such a miserable record appearing in their professional career, and being impossible to erase for the rest of their lives.

Was undoubtedly a very uncomfortable thing.

Zeus, on the edge, took a deep breath toward the sky in his seat, his face painful, his mouth slightly open, as if he had said two words.

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

But since then.

In fact, he had always been enduring "failure"!

Lost to RNG at the 22 MSI, lost to Doran at the summer finals, lost to Kingen at Worlds, lost to Doran again at the 23 spring finals, and was 0-3ed at MSI again...

Runner-up, top four, runner-up, the highest was still runner-up!

For others, runner-up might already be a very high achievement—but for Zeus's goal, and for the T1 team he was on, runner-up wasn't worth mentioning at all.

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

Some people might be discouraged and "change form," turning into a "team-type" non-stick-pan playstyle.

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

Looking at Ye Bo walking toward him, Zeus's eyes were dazed, and he almost forgot to reach out.

The dazed brother behind him, Oner, had somewhat blurry eyes—just because when he saw this face, the sound of "shoo shoo shoo shoo shoo" that had been ringing in his ears like magic throughout the game seemed to ring in his brain 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 again.

The first meeting of 2023, the scene was like being instantly pulled back to Madison Square Garden, with the deafening cheers still in his ears...

It's just that this time, those cheers still had nothing to do with them.

"Awesome."

"Keep it up!"

Conditions still didn't allow for much communication, and both of them just had a simple English conversation with each other.

But from the two's eye contact, both were clearly very certain—this would not be their last encounter this year.

Ye Bo had this confidence because he clearly felt that T1 wasn't adapting well to this version, and it could even be said that there were many problems, including Li Xianghe's "personal problems"!

But even so, T1 had actually still brought them countless troubles in the game, and the game process could definitely be called ups and downs.

Clearly, this team's strength was far more than this.

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

Actually, speaking of which, failure wasn't a rare thing for Li Xianghe.

He shouldn't have had this emotion now.

Especially in the past five years, particularly so.

But, facing this "opponent" again, Li Xianghe's mood was inexplicably a bit complicated.

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

Sharp-edged, whimsical, trying his best, feeling like he had pushed the opponent to a desperate situation, yet always being able to find a glimmer of survival in the rugged cracks, bringing people endless frustration.

It was like never being able to guess, never seeing the opponent's upper limit, or whether there was an upper limit at all?

But frankly speaking.

Ye Bo's existence instead stimulated the "drive" in Li Xianghe's heart several times over.

That thing that had disappeared for many years.

Ye Bo's feeling was accurate; in fact, Li Xianghe's hand injury had recurred at the end of the spring split, and from that time on, his operational state had clearly declined, which also indirectly led to the adjustment of his personal and team playstyle.

And at this very moment.

Li Xianghe had never been so eager to find his state, to find the self from the past—he wanted to fight the opponent head-on in his peak state.

Regardless of winning or losing.

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

Until the V5 members walked out of the player seats and returned to the center of the stage, his eyes were still watching that back, his thoughts were thousands.

"Brother Xianghe, wait for the finals! We'll beat them again in the MSI finals! We'll definitely win then!" Gumayusi's face didn't look so good.

Even though he had already lost, he still had ten thousand points of dissatisfaction in his heart!

Speaking of his personality traits, they were actually "similar" to a certain B-surname three-character LPL player.

Both liked to make bold statements before the game, make double the bold statements after the game, and liked to complain and make excuses; the only difference was that he was in T1.

But now it seemed there was no difference.

The distracted Li Xianghe didn't hear what the other person was saying—but his partner Keria next to him heard this and revealed a slight bitter smile.

At least in this version.

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

Don't know why, he could feel that Beryl's playstyle clearly hadn't changed, but after fighting again this year after going to V5, it had just become even more "terrifying."

And not just a little bit!

Keria's current BO5 match record against Beryl had already reached 0-5, and it was really hard to have confidence...

But if you really had to say it.

The thing that left the deepest impression on Keria wasn't this old "nemesis," but the opposing mid laner.

He had never seen any mid laner who could suppress the "god in his heart" to this extent.

Even if it was the loss at last year's Worlds, even if it was the recurrence of the hand injury this year...

The horror of the opposing mid laner's operations was truly the only one he had ever seen in his life!

In the ever-changing, messy team fights, this person could actually think of angles and ideas that others couldn't imagine at all, and use them easily and freely—just thinking about it made it feel a bit unbelievable!

I'm afraid only Brother Xianghe in his peak period could reach this level, right?

Keria, who usually considered his "operations" to be superior to everyone in the support position, couldn't help but feel a bit ashamed in his heart at this moment.

Brother Deft, the choice you made this time...

And the LCK live stream room was still full of wailing.

"Sigh," the Roaring Emperor watching the live stream screen had a dejected demeanor and sighed: "The top priority is that T1 must immediately boost their spirits, they cannot be affected!"

"Now they have reached the edge of the cliff, the losers' bracket no longer allows for the slightest failure, and the losers of tomorrow's JDG and GEN match are not easy to deal with..."

SKT Wolf was full of confidence: "No big problem, anyway, GEN will likely win!"

"JDG was 3-0'd by V5 in the LPL finals, T1 will definitely be able to win when they come down, and then just enter the finals and complete the revenge!"

He spoke with reason and evidence, and Bang next to him also immediately nodded to support his partner: "Right, T1 has always been a slow-heating team, the initial failure is harmless!"

But, no matter how they "saved face."

At this time, no other barrage could be seen in the LCK live stream room.

True fans had already started to go offline to escape in advance, to avoid the upcoming storm of reckoning.

And in the live stream barrage, it had already been swiped and occupied by dense 【1643】【1643】【1643】...

After the fist bump, they returned to the stage to bow and thank, and the V5 members dispersed to accept interviews in various regions.

As the most dazzling existence in this BO5, and also the one with the highest popularity in overseas regions, Ye Bo received an invitation from the local home court without any suspense.

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

The cheers in the Copper Box Arena were instantly deafening, the flashes on the stands kept flickering, and tens of thousands of people in the audience spontaneously shouted in unison again:

"Yeyes!"

"Yeyes!!"

"Yeyes!!!"

Local host James Dash walked onto the stage, waiting for the enthusiastic sound on the scene to fade before starting to speak, his passionate voice continuing to mobilize the emotions.

"Please welcome once again the three-time MVP winner of this match! The magical Mr. Ye from the LPL! These three matches were truly too wonderful!"

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

However, Western hosts have never liked to follow the routine.

The first question was clearly a bit of trouble-making: "So, player Ye, today you defeated the T1 team led by the legendary player Faker 3-0, does this match your expectations before the game?"

After Ye Bo finished listening to the translation, he nodded very naturally: "It matches!"

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

This year, without "Clearlove's gaze," Ye Bo's interviews were becoming more and more unrestrained.

His personality wouldn't deliberately try to say any "trash talk."

Anyway, it just highlighted "telling the truth."

James was very slick, immediately smiling and following up: "Oh!? Then if you say so, for tomorrow's GEN vs JDG match, player Ye, who would you be more optimistic about..."

"Hey, that brings us back to..." Ye Bo was preempted by the other party, but he quickly replied.

"Because we LPL were the champions at last year's Worlds, 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 at this sentence.

And James, who heard this translation, and all the Western audience on the scene, all revealed "Oh~~~~" strange sounds.

Everyone had a look of watching the fun and not fearing the chaos.

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

After Ye Bo finished listening to the translation, he looked inexplicable.

He asked back very "naturally": "Isn't it?"

The audience and the host were all suddenly excited to death, and there were noisy sounds of ghost-like shouting and screaming under the stage, as if they had heard something incredible.

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

【Turtle! Master Ye! The soldiers are stealing accounts!】

【Heh, winning one BO5 really made him act cocky! T1 hasn't lost yet! It's really noisy!】

【Oh? The little tadpoles are looking for their mother again~】

【1557! 1643! 1557! 1643! 1557! 1643!】

【Is telling the truth called acting cocky? I'm wondering how anyone still dares to output against the wind, it's 3-0, why don't you tuck your tail and run?】

【You don't understand, Tieba and Hupu are about to start a world reckoning, this is just having nowhere to run and only daring to come to the live stream room to shout~】

To be fair, Ye Bo's reaction really wasn't acting cocky.

Based on the experience of surfing, hasn't it always been that whoever won the latest Worlds championship is the number one region?

James, who had finished making trouble, finally became a bit more serious: "Alright, since we're talking about this, player Ye, who would you be more optimistic about winning tomorrow... or rather, who would you personally want to play against?"

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

This abstract answer immediately filled the barrage with 【Two? Ten! Fight ten!】.

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

Subsequently, James asked several more game questions.

Undoubtedly, they were all about the dazzling operations in the game that everyone cared about most.

For example, the changing-direction shockwave of Nautilus in the first game, the super-dimensional dragon tail of Lee Sin in the second game, the 72 transformations of Neeko in the third game...

"Because the skill text is written very clearly and there is no ambiguity, Neeko is still 'Neeko' after transformation, but has the attributes of the transformed unit, so the defensive tower indeed locks onto Neeko, it's just that it has the bonus attributes of a cannon minion, so it can't be killed... Hmm, the logic of the cannon minion tanking the tower is probably like this, I think it shouldn't count as a bug."

"Ha, actually discovering these things isn't difficult, everyone can try it out after entering the training mode for a few hours~"

"As for other operations, if everyone is interested, you can pay attention to the video account produced in cooperation with our club, we will review and explain these operations~"

Ye Bo chatted generously on the stage, and by the way, in front of the live stream room, he recommended the video account of his own club, which had received excellent feedback, to global netizens and fans.

And although the audience under the stage might not all be able to understand.

They were actually listening with great interest.

"Crazy... it turned out he tested it out like this." Brother KC, while taking a selfie with his phone facing the stage, was still sighing.

"What do you think about the idea of adding time flow speed to the training mode he just mentioned?" Brother Sanhuan seemed to reveal an interested look.

"Boss, are you serious?" Brother CT asked in surprise: "Then if you ask for my opinion, I definitely support it with both hands! I've long said that the training mode is too cautious, not open enough at all!"

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

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

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

(End of chapter)