Chapter 13: The Wild West Era of Esports!

Over here, because Mr. Jiang the Skinflint had distributed the “compensation fee” half a month early, Lin Jingyi had sprung up from her half-dead bedridden state.

“Worker, overtime soul—today, no one can stop me from working overtime!”

Following Jiang Ming’s instructions, Lin Jingyi quickly edited the job posting on her computer.

She finished it at lightning speed, checked the information and text for errors, then posted it to Jinling University’s part-time QQ group.

That’s right—Miss Lin A-Meng was still one of the administrators of the university part-time group.

What others might see as a tedious task of chasing down candidates, Jiang Ming’s campus part-time recruitment was, for her, just a finger tap away.

“Jinling University Campus Part-Time Group!”

(Admin) Lin Yidan:

【Campus Part-Time | Video Editing Intern Recruitment】

【Seeking students from Media or Film-related majors!】

【...】

【Urgent Hiring | 4 Parcel Packing Assistants】

【Salary: 15–20 RMB/hour + same-day payment optional】

“...”

Unlike packing jobs, where hourly pay is clear and anyone with strength can do it, Lin Jingyi—who understood Jiang Ming’s work style—knew well that video editing required someone with actual experience.

The moment Lin Jingyi posted the job listing, QQ notification sounds exploded like a popcorn machine.

“Senior! Still need people for parcel packing? I can do fifteen pull-ups on my physical test!”—the classic opening line from a sports department brute.

“Sis Lin, do you need a portfolio for the video editing role? I’ve done meme edits for Bilibili UP masters!”—Chen Yuting, a sophomore from the Media College, attached screenshots of her work.

Lin Yidan’s fingers danced across the mechanical keyboard when she spotted a sarcastic message: “Oh? Is Admin Lin hiring maids for Young Master Jiang again? How many bedwarmers this time?” She sneered, opened the sender’s profile—it was Wang Hao from the Accounting Department, the same guy Jiang Ming had previously blocked. She right-clicked: report, block, triple. Then she @everyone in the admin group: “Watch out for spam accounts—perverts have slipped in lately. Always check before inviting new members.”

Just as Lin Xuejie’s keyboard was about to smoke, the absentee boss Jiang Ming returned to the team’s basement before the LPL Pre-Season Qualifiers began.

Six teams had secured a 2–0 record; unlike earlier rounds where top-ranked squads dominated group stacking, the remaining teams were all strong performers from their respective servers—but whoever won one more match would lock a spot in the LPL Pre-Season Tournament.

Because in the next round, their opponents would be drawn from the pool of teams with 0–3 records.

Jiang Ming’s NXG’s third-round opponent was the top seed from the Black Rose, and after two rounds of matches, they were among the top three strongest teams besides NXG.

“Watch Vayne, watch Vayne!”

“I’m big, I’m big—kill AD, kill AD!”

“Backline, watch the backline—I’ve got Zhonya’s, they can’t kill me.”

“...”

In the third round of LPL Pre-Season Qualifiers, the Black Rose’s top-ranked CX team, despite individual brilliance, still failed to stop NXG.

In this match, Jiang Ming deliberately chose passive champion compositions for his teammates to train their pressure resilience.

“Remember, before fifteen minutes, you’re the Ninja Turtles—after twenty minutes...” Jiang Ming raised his voice: “you’re Super Saiyans!”

Top: Garen, Jungle: Lee Sin, Mid: Fiddlesticks, ADC: Ezreal, Support: Janna.

The blue side CX picked: Top: Nasus, Jungle: Lee Sin, Mid: Akali, ADC: Vayne, Support: Machine Gun.

In contrast, the blue side had maximized aggression—even after seeing NXG’s Garen on top, they specifically delayed their pick to lock in Vayne, the current meta’s best ADC against tanks.

Meanwhile, NXG’s purple side looked, at first glance, like a team with zero game understanding—just stacking ultimates.

Unfortunately, the two teams’ game comprehension were on entirely different levels.

Early on, CX gained minor advantages through individual skill and champion traits, but had zero lane control—Nasus, with Ignite, failed his level-three all-in and was completely outpaced by Garen’s rhythm.

NXG stacked minions in front, slowly burning them with Sunfire Aegis; when the blue side top laner tried to push, Fiddlesticks and the Prince had already arrived.

Compared to the first-round teams, CX wasn’t just strong individually—they’d also developed decent team coordination and knew how to force fights during their champions’ power spikes.

But in S3, the Dragon’s strategic value was negligible; the extra gold it granted was easily offset by the gap in last-hitting fundamentals between the two sides.

NXG’s five players remembered their boss’s order: “Avoid fights before your composition peaks—don’t be stupid and force engagements.”

At seven minutes, to prevent CX from forcing a team fight, NXG executed a top-bottom lane swap: tanky Garen moved to bottom, Ezreal and Janna slipped to top.

In that instant, both Nasus on top and Vayne on bottom fell silent.

Standing behind NXG’s players, Jiang Ming scratched his head—lane swapping was simply too advanced for today’s Chinese server players.

In a 22-minute match, NXG, despite fielding a teamfight composition, barely engaged in a single proper team fight—they were always switching lanes, always moving—until, just as the young players’ nerves neared breaking, NXG suddenly initiated Baron Nashor, wiped out CX in a 2-for-5 trade, leaving the five CX players utterly crushed.

“You never won, right? You never won, right?”

Even before their Nexus exploded, the support player frantically typed question marks on the global chat.

They’d never seen a game played like this.

“Cough, don’t mind them. Let’s take a break, review again, and win the fourth match—we’ll officially enter the professional scene.”

Jiang Ming cleared his throat, drawing all the players’ attention.

These were all hot-headed kids—if they started trash-talking in global chat, things would get messy.

Shi Zhenyu, Pang Ran, and the others exchanged glances, shrugged, went to drink water, or headed to the bathroom upstairs.

Argue back?

Argue back? Impossible. For their League of Legends players, nothing felt better than breaking an opponent’s spirit in-game.

“Pfft, just thinking about their Ahri ulting in and getting instantly CC’d makes me laugh.”

“Not everyone can be like Brother Jiang—mastering a new hero the moment it drops. They’re just imitating.”

“Old Xu, from your seasoned ADC perspective, how good is their mid laner, the Shadow Assassin?”

“Mid-ninja. No more.”

“Their jungler can’t even clear F4 properly!” AD player Sorry pointed at the replay of Lee Sin spinning in place, “How did a team like this even make it into the qualifiers?”

“Because this is the Wild West era of esports—” Jiang Ming tore open a pack of his own meat-sun cake, “an era where all you need is a shovel and the know-how to swing it to dig up gold.”

“...”