Chapter 2: with translation of chapter title

Hongqiao Tiandi, LPL arena.

Today is QG's match day; Xu Dongmen came to the venue with the team, while the substitute Doinb took leave and streamed from home.

You can't blame him for slacking; the coaching staff had already said that regardless of the outcome, the mid lane would not be changed.

Today's match will be played entirely by the substitute mid laner Borisal.

He is also a Korean import, once hailed as the Korean server's number one Katarina; he joined the team in the same batch as Xu Dongmen and has long been a substitute, sitting on the bench for a long time.

Today marks his first appearance in the LPL, and the coaching staff locked in Ryze for him.

This is clearly a demonstration aimed at Da B; up to now, Doinb has never pulled out this champion in his professional career.

"Since Faker used Ryze in S5, this thing blew up; it's been half a year already, and not bringing it out is indeed hard to explain."

Xu Dongmen also wondered what Da B had been doing this half year; is it really that hard to practice one Ryze per season?

You should know that this version of Ryze is extremely brainless; once his ultimate is activated, he ignores everyone and just attacks anyone he sees.

Thanks to the champion's inherent strength, Borisal's Ryze, though mediocre, still proved useful.

There was no need for him to step up; the opposing side gave away first blood themselves.

QG took the first game!

As a team at the bottom of the league, EPA is certainly not strong; only the top laner Gongzi Ge has a bit of say.

Only two weeks remain in the regular season, and every match could affect the final standings.

QG dares to make a substitution at this time because the confidence comes from the huge disparity in strength between the two sides in today's match, leaving little pressure.

In the first eight weeks of the regular season, EPA only managed a 2-11 record, ranking at the bottom.

QG, which has long held the top spot, exists in another dimension; even after just suffering a losing streak, they still boast a splendid 10-3 record and dominate first place in Group A.

"Let me have some fun in the next game; I want to school the enemy jungler."

The second match began, and Swift instantly locked in Mantis.

The venue erupted in exclamations.

As of now, the spring split has reached week 9, and this is the first time Kha'Zix has been fielded.

It's obvious that Swift wants to pick on the enemy jungler.

In the game, Kha'Zix opened with Voidreaver's leap, then at level 2 upgraded 【E Leap】 and vaulted from the dragon pit into the enemy's red buff jungle silently.

In the previous match, Swift used this trick to great effect, securing first blood on the enemy jungler at level 3.

Although he switched sides this game, he still wanted to pull off the same move again!

Unfortunately, this time Swift guessed the enemy jungler's clear route wrong.

EPA's jungler, the barrels, indeed started from the red side, but it wasn't the common full clear of six camps; instead, he began at the red buff.

If he had started from the stone golem, the mantis could indeed have caught him while he was eating the red buff.

The problem is that he started straight at red; by the time Swift arrived, the barrels were already clearing F4.

The mantis lunged at nothing and could only return resentfully to his own jungle.

This back-and-forth wasted half a minute.

In professional matches, falling half a minute behind at the jungle start is fatal.

When the barrels hit level 3 and went bottom lane to secure first blood, Swift had just finished his blue and arrived at the lower jungle, at which point he had only cleared two camps and was still level 2.

One misstep, and everything goes wrong!

Swift forced himself to find a rhythm, but the result was that his farm fell further behind, at times lagging double the barrels' creep score.

At the 7‑minute mark, the mantis went top lane to pick up a low‑health target, only to be counter‑ambushed by the barrels and end up giving away his own kill.

The jungle completely collapsed!

At 7 minutes, level 4, he even dragged the top laner V down with him.

"We were outplayed from the draft onward; we underestimated them." Lin Ke realized belatedly.

In this game they were on the blue side, and theoretically they should have had the advantage in picks and bans.

But EPA didn't play by the book; they banned Kai'Sa and Nidalee in one go, and, using the red side's first two picks, snatched away two jungle champions.

They gave the gunner to Jin Gong top lane, and used the barrels for jungle.

"It's my fault; when Duo Xun picked Kha'Zix, I should have stopped him—with this composition, once we fall behind early it's hard to win." Pu Longyun regretted deeply.

As he expected, the ensuing game was a one‑sided rout.

In just 26 minutes, EPA destroyed QG's crystal.

The score was leveled.

On Douyu TV, the streaming Doinb was energetic and vigorously reviewing the game.

Losing to the bottom‑ranked team, the arch‑rival Swift posted a 0‑5‑1 KDA, marking his worst performance of the season in disgraceful fashion.

One hundred thousand volts—without me, Doinb, you're still no good!

"If the streamer wants to laugh, let him laugh." Xu Dongmen sent a bullet comment in Da B's livestream, remarking, "How come this scene feels so familiar?"

The match moved to the third game, and QG returned to the red side.

EPA found the winning formula, again banning Nidalee and Kai'Sa, and with their third ban they took out Lulu.

Seeing this, Doinb couldn't help but get anxious: "Brothers, you don't need to ban Lulu—look closely, the person sitting on stage isn't me; he doesn't even know how to play Lulu!"

No doubt, if he could, Da B would gladly become an insider to serve as EPA's strategist.

EPA's pick‑and‑ban had flaws, and Swift, losing his temper, failed to protect the gunner when the enemy invaded the barrels, opting instead for a last‑pick counter.

After EPA took the gunner, Swift could only pick Ekko for jungle.

Indeed a jungler of king caliber, Ekko's pacing this game was much better than last time, successfully suppressing the enemy barrels.

Unfortunately, the mid lane blew up!

Swift gave it his all, but still couldn't carry the team.

EPA let one chase two, and crushed QG.

After the match ended, public opinion was in an uproar.

An upset, a huge upset!

Even though QG had already suffered two consecutive losses before today, their first two losses were at least to LGD and Snake, one side boasting an all-star lineup of Marin, imp, and GodV, the other side possessing strong players like Holy Spear Brother and Gangzi.

In the regular season, they lost to the second-to-last team, and even got beaten in a game against AI!

In the live stream room, Doinb had already started calculating.

That night, this guy walked with swagger, returning to the base in the posture of a victor.

In his view, even a fish‑belly team like EPA could lose, and in the next match the management and coaching staff would surely be begging him to start.

Reality poured a bucket of cold water on Da B; he not only failed to reclaim his starting position, but also learned bad news in his talk with manager Lin Ke: the club was contacting former three‑star blue‑side mid laner Dade……

A bolt from the blue!

Xu Dongmen personally witnessed Da B fall from heaven into hell, like a frost‑hit eggplant that instantly wilted.

Borisal is just a nobody; even if he temporarily got the starting spot, he poses no real threat.

Dade is different; this guy is called the Great Emperor, and for a long time he was spoken of in the same breath as Faker.

A mere Doinb can easily be replaced!

Da B started to panic.

Over the next few days, he lost the will to even stream.

Although the bench time wasn't long, Doinb already noticed that the live‑stream audience was declining.

Having lost the exposure from matches, he has no advantage over other streamers whatsoever.

It's only been a few days and he's already feeling the impact; give it more time and you can imagine the consequences!

"Coach, I was wrong, I apologize to you, please let me play in matches—I'll do anything if you let me play. I promise I'll attend every morning meeting from now on, I can even move back into the base to live, and if you let me play I'll even stop streaming next month—please give me one more chance!"

Doinb begged bitterly, abasing himself to the dust.

But both the club's management and the coaching staff led by Park Ryong‑un have already lost patience with him.

One sentence, and the team no longer trusts him!

From the moment the club made contact with Dade, Teacher Da B had already become a discard.

They fought side by side for nearly three seasons, from LSPL to LPL, truly sharing weal and woe.

But, up and down the whole team, not a single person stood up to speak for him.

What does it mean to be abandoned by all and alienated from kin!

When Doinb realized his mistake and began to reflect and repent, it was already too late.

He was in QG, yet had become an outsider.

He had no place in matches, not even in practice games, and no one wanted to talk to him.

In despair, it was still Xu Dongmen who reached out a hand: "Ying Bi Ge, want to duo queue?"

"Mm‑hm, you're still the best, brother. Thanks so much, Dongmen."

Da B felt a little choked up.

"It's nothing, we're buddies, right?" Xu Dongmen waved his hand boldly.

The two played ranked games all night.

Doinb felt strange—this guy's strength seemed to have grown a lot compared to before.

Most importantly, Da B discovered that Xu Dongmen had become more confident and daring in his play, often coming up with ideas and his game understanding had improved by leaps and bounds.

When discussing the game and reviewing replays, the other's unique insights and angles often left him wide‑eyed, making him exclaim 'what a feast for the eyes!'

"It's a small thing, not worth mentioning—but once we get on the stage, Ying Bi Ge, you'll truly look at me with new eyes."

Xu Dongmen had full confidence.

Over these days of ranked play, only one match that determined whether they could reach King rank was rated C‑level, yet they still performed at 120% of their ability.

At 120%, Xu Dongmen already felt his strength had risen a notch, reaching a level he had never attained before!

So‑called big‑match players: the more important the match, the higher their ceiling.

If a single ranked game goes like this, just imagine how a formal match would blow up!

Xu Dongmen was full of hope, while Doinb's eyes were dim and his face full of worry.

He could barely keep up with his streams, let alone have the mood to consider these things.

"Ying Bi Ge, cheer up—our future is bright."

Xu Dongmen felt like he was basking in spring breeze, his eyes seeming to see a luxurious manor.

This time, the manor does not bear the surname B!