Chapter 33

With no one able to withstand the barrel’s damage, Jiang Ming turned the barrel into the esports reaper of this match, bringing death wherever he went.

He killed, pushed towers, and plundered jungle resources; the purple team’s gold surged from a few thousand to nearly ten thousand in just minutes.

By mid-game, Weixiao and the others still tried to defend the inner tower with team coordination, but the barrel said nothing—only kept hurling nukes.

When QR was tossed into the crowd, anyone hit died, anyone grazed got wounded.

His skills cost nothing—his goal was only to cripple you; once your health dropped, the blue team pushed again, and Weixiao’s team couldn’t hold their ground—low health against full health, even under the tower was unsafe.

Just as they finally grouped up to counterattack, the second ultimate refreshed—Gragas blasted Thresh and Blind Monk right back with another barrel.

Lacking strong engages, they could only watch helplessly as the blue team withdrew.

Watching the purple team collapse like a mountain falling, unable to mount even one effective resistance, the WE fans in the YY90001 stream chat fell utterly silent.

The louder they had boasted before the match, the harder their faces now burned.

They never imagined that their own four WE players, plus a powerful top laner, were being crushed without any chance to fight back.

In the end, if the blue team’s Vayne hadn’t been overly aggressive and got hooked by the curly-haired Thresh while retreating, the purple team might have picked up not a single kill in the mid to late game.

Jiang Ming’s overwhelming dominance in the mid lane, combined with his ahead-of-the-curve understanding of the meta, meant the anticipated dragon-vs-tiger clash never happened—exaggeratedly speaking, it became a solo show by the mid laner alone.

It was an ultimate solo performance, trampling the corpses of WE’s four players and crushing the heads of professional athletes.

…

Victory!

As the purple team’s nexus exploded.

The word “VICTORY” stretched across the center of the screen.

Rank Match, Game Ten—Victory!

With a record of nine wins and one loss, Jiang Ming stared at his personal backend.

The diamond-1 hundred-win badge, now at 100 wins, crackled and dissolved into a cloud of light.

The light slowly coalesced, and blue-gold wings unfolded on either side of a diamond-shaped crystal.

【Holy shit!】

【Here it comes, JM’s strongest king badge!】

【I ask you, who else? Who else?!】

【Where are the WE fans? Speak up, come out and speak!】

Jiang Ming’s stream fans were ecstatic, feeling immense pride.

The battle for the #1 strongest king in the server?

The clash between the ordinary players and professional players?

Back and forth, forty minutes passed, and no one could claim superiority?

Sorry—counting queue time, the entire match lasted only half an hour, and JM faced zero pressure from start to finish.

Professional players aren’t necessarily stronger than us ordinary players.

JM simply hasn’t joined the pro scene yet.

Jiang Ming smiled brightly.

He admired his updated personal page.

Region One, Server’s Strongest King—goal achieved!

…

“Congratulations! Player YY-JM has been promoted to the Strongest King rank!”

“Congratulations! Player YY-JM has been promoted to the Strongest King rank!”

“Congratulations! Player YY-JM has been promoted to the Strongest King rank!”

As the blue-gold king badge solidified, countless LOL players logging into the Region One client received this notification.

【Holy crap, what the hell? Someone already reached Strongest King?】

【Damn, the rank update was less than a day ago, and I haven’t even finished my rank matches—how’s someone already on king?!】

【Is this what the world of the strong looks like? I just want to reach Gold for a skin…】

【Guys, check it out! JM is streaming on YY—he reached Strongest King by crushing the world champions!】

The YY platform moved at lightning speed—celebration effects prepped in the stream, banners across the entire platform, and external ads all launched simultaneously.

First Strongest King on the entire platform!

Meanwhile, due to Ming Kai’s defeat, his rival’s ranking points were deducted.

Which meant, at this moment, Jiang Ming was also #1 in the server.

A flawless mid-lane Gragas, a godlike slaughter, overpowering members of the world champion team.

Skill and awareness combined—stepping over the corpses of pros into the “Emperor Realm”—every possible buff was stacked to the max.

Instantly, the stream was flooded with gifts sent by the platform and viewers.

【Amazing, my brother JM!】

【Server’s #1 Strongest King—even if only temporarily, we’ve still been legendary for once!】

【See how those fans still bring up pros vs. ordinary players? My JM just crushed them to become king.】

【Were those guys really pros? They seemed pretty weak—watching JM’s first-person view, zero pressure, pure domination.】

【One step ahead, always ahead—last season JM was always top-ranked in the ladder; this meta suits him perfectly, he might even hold #1 for good.】

【Please share the replay, guys! I just got off work—sobbing, I missed the promotion battle!】

On the other side, Jiang Ming, after exiting the match, received multiple friend requests from Tabe and several others.

After approving them one by one, he turned to the stream chat.

He thanked viewers who gifted, “Thank you all, thank you, everyone in the stream.”

“Heh, lucky—I got a few solid teammates, and the jungler was even from my own team.”

“Crushing pros? Ha, I can’t say that—I’m not a god… But after the S3 meta changes, the pace became extremely fast; once mid and jungle gain advantage, it’s easy to snowball into a domination like this.”

“So mid and jungle are crucial in the new meta—basically the top two picks for climbing. What are you waiting for?”

After thanking them, Jiang Ming proceeded to answer selected questions from the chat.

Leaving them unchecked would risk being dragged into negative momentum—his team was about to enter the LPL; too much hype could make him a target.

But the viewers selectively accepted Jiang Ming’s explanation.

Meta? Luck?

Come on—my luck’s good too, why can’t I dominate pro teams’ mid and jungle?

Just modesty.

Some fans, however, focused on Jiang Ming’s mention of his team member.

【Ohhh, team member—is the jungler the guy from the pro team you started before?】

【You actually built a team? Is JM planning to go pro?】

【Feels boring—going pro? Just a bunch of internet addicts hyping themselves up. Better stay streaming and make money.】

“Yes, our team has been forming for a while—we’ve already secured a spot in the LPL preseason.”

Jiang Ming narrowed his eyes slightly, giving the impression he’d accidentally let something slip.

Due to the mental exhaustion from the previous match, he didn’t rush to queue again—instead, he chatted with viewers.