Chapter 20

Jiang Ming hadn’t finished speaking when the live stream was flooded with gift effects. Trenches and health potions from wealthy viewers blanketed the screen, while regular players spam-chatted flowers and applause.

“So-called Three-Month Instant Kill Technique!” Jiang Ming, seeing the gifts subside, tapped his keyboard lightly; the screen showed Jax simultaneously throwing a shuriken, then coughed and said, “It’s simply an application of Jax’s skill mechanics, and his ultimate…”

He deliberately paused half a second, then the live stream abruptly switched to the skill description page: “Viewers with conditions, please check Jax’s skill description—his shadow clones mimic his abilities.”

“Everyone usually uses W to combo with the real Jax for double Q or double E damage, but have you noticed a detail? Jax’s ultimate also spawns a shadow.”

[!!!]

[Damn, it’s true—the description below confirms it.]

[Holy shit! Three shadows casting skills at once?]

[Case solved! Just now, he cast W early to the side, and the instant the ultimate shadow landed, all three E’s and three Q’s hit!]

[So the barrel took all three sets of Jax’s skills in one instant? Then a full-health kill isn’t so hard to accept after all.]

[Designer, look at this! A hero that kills full-health targets—why isn’t this nerfed?]

[Jax is this strong? Let’s nerf Sword Maiden instead.]

Jiang Ming watched the scrolling chat, a faint smile tugging at his lips.

S3 players might have only a vague grasp of numerical calculations, but their enthusiasm for studying strategies was far more endearing than the post-era “keyboard kings” who only blamed teammates.

Returning to this wild, early era, one of League’s opportunities was his deep familiarity with every champion’s playstyle.

Remember, this was the golden age when a streamer could grow rich overnight just by teaching one-hit-five-As on Camille or Blitzcrank’s lightning-fast QA combos.

“You got too comfy farming mid, huh? Can’t win? Don’t know how to buy Zhonya’s?” The ADC in bottom lane suddenly erupted in public chat, her keyboard clacking so hard it nearly pierced the voice comms.

Their jungler, Blind Monk, had failed to gain advantage by ganking the barrel early, and their ADC and support had been repeatedly targeted by the enemy prince—now, seeing the barrel, who’d consumed team resources, still giving Jax warmth, the ADC player exploded.

To be fair, players in the early esports era had poor game understanding, but their ability to type-fight while trash-talking was unmatched.

Zu’an players were terrifying.

“I…”

Wu Zhitai stared at the gray screen, his fingers trembling slightly above the Enter key. What could he say? Admit he’d been slaughtered by “overpowered meta understanding”?

“Trash champion!” He slammed his mouse down hard. “Did the designer have water in his brain? A hero that kills full-health targets—why keep it unnerfed for Lunar New Year?”

Frustrated and unable to lash out, with no hope of reclaiming dignity, the man blamed the champion entirely.

Jiang Ming didn’t know what the barrel player was thinking.

He was still focused on winning this game—and incidentally creating spectacular, show-stopping plays.

At 9:15, Jax’s ultimate icon lit up again.

Same recipe, same flavor: mid-lane controlled the wave, vision extended into the jungle. Jiang Ming exploited the gap when Ming Kai’s Blind Monk had just ganked, then slipped down with his own Prince to bottom lane.

To be fair, the Prince player was smart—he’d realized his mid-laner was the carry, and followed orders to the letter, buying wards religiously until he even bought an extra Sightstone.

Four-man gank on two: their jungler was on top lane, mid-lane barrel turned into a ground-bound spirit.

The ADC player saw two giants appear behind her and felt profound despair.

Tired. Just end it. I don’t want to fight anymore.

Unlike the ADC who gave up, the support, Lux, still tried to fight back against the purple team’s dive.

She pre-emptively cast her Q, timing it to release the moment the Prince used EQ to enter the tower.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Stun!

If we stun them, we still have a chance.

Lux’s player’s eyes lit up with hope—he held his ultimate. If Q interrupted the Prince and Jax’s dive, the follow-up damage from Weakness and his ultimate’s knockback might just save him and the ADC.

“Damn, this ADC’s already checked out.”

He cursed the ADC under his breath, eyes locked on the screen. When he saw Q’s wind blast hit the Prince, he rejoiced.

But the Shadow Assassin reacted instantly, dodging with [Shadow Step].

“Don’t underestimate me!”

He applied [Weakness] first—couldn’t risk the ADC dying instantly. He’d seen the mid-lane barrel get one-shot full-health; no room for luck.

Then—ultimate knockback!

At the bottom tower, the Prince player looked exactly like the straight man in a xiangsheng comedy: first blown back by Q, then covered by the ultimate, then knocked out again—the Lux player’s Q and R controls landed perfectly.

The straight man’s job is to set up the punchline—so who did the Prince’s ridiculous moves set up?

The answer quickly appeared before everyone in bottom lane.

Lux’s player had done an excellent job protecting—layering every crowd-control skill onto Jiang Ming and the jungler Prince in an instant.

“But the Shadow Assassin of S3? His terror went far beyond this.”

“Embrace the shadow, or die in darkness.”

Jiang Ming’s Jax, as if foreseeing the future, used the second part of his ultimate to return to his original position, then re-entered the fight with W’s shadow the instant Weakness faded.

The two players beside him—Smile and Curly—also lived up to their title as the world’s #1 bottom lane.

Smile’s Ezreal and Curly’s Janna struck in perfect sync.

Golden light flashed—Janna’s ultimate [Final Chorus] locked both targets. Ezreal’s Arcane Shot pierced cleanly through Lux’s body—and Jax’s Death Lotus, like a scythe of death, severed the last sliver of health.

Doublekill!

Unstoppable!

The system voice boomed across Summoner’s Rift: five kills, no one could stop it.

Compared to the audience’s gasps outside the stream, Smile and Curly’s shock as teammates was no less intense.

Lane dominance was unfathomable, personal awareness flawless, and even his ganking coordination showed zero flaws.

“Vision!”

Curly stared at the grayscale screen and suddenly marked the river vision. “This guy’s vision control is insane—he completely blocked Ming Kai’s gank paths.”

“Yeah,” Smile’s voice was dry. “From the first ward on F4, to every gank where he made Zac act as bait… this guy calculated Ming Kai’s psychological trauma area.”

He wasn’t just playing his own game—he was orchestrating all five of his teammates.

That’s why the four-on-two gank had gone so smoothly?

One minute ago, the blue team’s chat!

(JM: Zac, sell your ass, lure the Blind Monk up. Your passive isn’t up yet—he’ll think he can open from your top lane.)

Yes, this person had completely figured out Ming Kai’s mindset for pushing top lane—he deliberately left an opening to lure the jungler, then took the prince to gank bottom lane.