Chapter 30

Jiang Ming sensed something unusual in Ruofeng’s card positioning.

“Someone’s coming?”

Back in the S3 era, when players—casual or pro alike—loved raw, fists-to-face fights and jumped into battle at the slightest provocation, they were straightforward and endearing.

It’s worlds apart from the later era, where even a slight misplacement of a minion line, an incorrect ward spot, or a wrong jungle camp spawn time could reveal your jungler’s position.

He decided to play along.

He clicked the ground with his mouse, feigning an aggressive barrel roll to simulate an early E attempt for a solo kill, then moved closer to the right river bush, creating distance to lure Ruofeng’s card into using W to dash forward with the yellow card—or to draw a blind monk from the shadows into using his Sound Wave.

“The goddess of luck is smiling!”

“I can smell his stench.”

When Ruofeng and Ming Kai truly committed, the barrel’s positioning from the purple team’s perspective was a perfect setup for an early gank.

【Sound Wave】【Pick—Yellow】

Two skill projectiles flew toward the blue barrel simultaneously; as they arced through the air, Jiang Ming instantly pressed W, drank a sip of 1982 vintage liquor, gained 【Drunk Fury】 damage reduction, absorbed the hits, and immediately fired Q behind the card master.

“Brother Jiang, don’t panic—I’m coming to save you!”

Seeing the blind monk’s position, the prince stepped forward with spear raised; fearing he’d be too slow and lose his leader, Shi Zhenyu instantly flashed and used EQ.

The blind monk and card master were launched into the air.

“Damn, we got ambushed.”

The WE jungler and mid laner turned pale: “Still, good—we’ve got the blind monk blocking the front; the barrel’s E won’t hit me.”

Ruofeng reassured himself with this thought.

Once the knock-up ended, he’d just use Flash to retreat under tower—worst case, he’d lose only the blind monk’s Flash; jungler Flash-for-Flash… acceptable.

But Jiang Ming’s target had never been the jungler blind monk; a healthy blind monk with Flash still available was too hard to lock down.

Watching the card master activate Flash and instinctively turn sharply toward his own tower, Jiang Ming moved—the barrel predicted and E’d toward the upper-right.

“???”

Did he give up Flash to chase the card master and try to catch me?

The young man Ming Kai smirked slyly: “Kid, you probably don’t know my nickname.”

Trying to catch me? You’ve got years to go.

Boom!

A white flash lit up the battlefield—but it wasn’t the blind monk’s Flash.

The barrel, sliding through the air via Meat Shield, vanished—then reappeared behind the blind monk.

His belly slammed hard into the Bilgewater gambler.

Ruofeng: ???

Shi Zhenyu: ???

Audience: !!!!

…

On screen, the barrel’s bulky body traced a physically impossible zigzag path—suddenly flashing from the side minion line right up to the card master’s face; E’s hitbox triggered, damage popped as the barrel’s body blocked the card’s position and landed a basic attack, combined with the Q skill that had rolled to its endpoint and exploded; Jiang Ming added Ignite and another basic attack, instantly securing the kill on the card master.

FirstBlood!

The first blood announcement rang out.

Yet beyond the players in-game, all external viewers’ attention was fixed on the barrel’s recent move.

【!!!】

【What the hell was that?!】

【Did the barrel use E then Flash? Did I just blink?】

【??? Can you even combo E with Flash?!】

【Report! This guy’s movement has a bend! He just skipped right over the blind monk!】

【I screenshoted Ruofeng’s face right before he got launched—his pupils shook, hahaha!】

【Is the streamer playing barrel or a dump truck?!】

【Coach, I wanna learn this!!!】

【S1 Master says he didn’t see this play—streamer, explain now!】

【Everyone, type ‘Meat Ball Scallion Chicken’ on chat!!!】

The streamer’s chat exploded with messages; many third-party OB viewers screamed in shock.

What move was that?

(Everyone) Clearlove: “JM, was that a bug? Can you use Flash mid-E with the barrel?”

Jiang Ming, who had anticipated this reaction after using E-Flash, typed a reply while explaining live: “It’s not a bug—I call this move E-Flash.”

“As the name suggests, it’s using Flash mid-trajectory of a skill to extend or alter its direction—a very practical technique.”

“But because Riot hasn’t optimized skill interactions well, pressing Flash during skill cast often interrupts the skill, making it look like a bug.”

Here, Jiang Ming blinked at the camera: “Riot game designers—if you’re watching my stream today, could you consider improving hero skill interaction mechanics in future updates?”

“By the way, in my private tests, I found many heroes can use skill + Flash combos—just with low success rates.”

Whoa!

The live audience erupted.

What did JM just say?

It’s not a bug—it’s a technique you can practice?

Barrel E-Flash—and other heroes can do it too?

Many casual players felt thunderstruck; Jiang Ming’s follow-up shocked them further.

Dude, you’re directly calling out the designers? Hero skill interaction mechanics?

What even is that?

Some thought it was cool, some felt they’d found treasure; others sneered, dismissing the streamer as just seeking attention.

But many of Jiang Ming’s fans supported him—over the past half-year, his countless tutorial videos proved he was a true master with deep game understanding.

If it weren’t real, why would he publicly address the designers?

At that moment, Jiang Ming’s stream exploded in popularity—live viewers surged past all-time records; #BarrelEFlash# and #LOLHighRankPlayerCallsOutDesigners# instantly trended on Weibo.

On Baidu Tieba, threads like “Rational Discussion: Does This E-Flash Mean the Barrel Will Dominate Mid Lane?” and “Waiting for JM’s Update—Are His Claims About Other Heroes Using Skill+Flash Real?” flooded in like waves.

…

Jiang Ming himself hadn’t expected the audience’s reaction.

He’d underestimated the impact of introducing a play far beyond his era.

Then again, it made sense—the blind monk had become the most popular jungler on the Chinese server; why else would Tencent dare sell a dragon-blind skin with zero visual effects for over a thousand yuan? Wasn’t it because the blind monk’s flashy moves—like the spinning kick and R-Flash—made everyone want to show off and hear others gasp in awe?