Chapter 48: The Little Shock Jiang Ming Prepared for S3 Players

"Damn, this Shen is so oily."

During the PE vs NXG match, the top-lane Ahri let out a startled cry.

In the early game, Garen versus Kayn was absolute suppression—no damage, no crowd control in the first two levels, practically unable to retaliate at all—yet Ahri took a small hit right upon spawning.

Instead of playing passively at level one, the opponent seized the moment when Garen's rage wasn't yet built up, landed a Q followed by his passive to trade health.

Seeing this, Ahri planned to Q minions to level up quickly, skip E, and use his Red Rage W to strip the opponent's status, letting the Spider come in for a tower dive—after all, the Desert Spider combo's mindlessness is well known.

But the opponent, as if anticipating it, stepped back and created distance before Ahri even reached level two.

He also tossed another dart to further drain Ahri's health.

So all my careful maneuvering and performance… was just for the air?

Checking health and last-hits, Garen had gained zero advantage.

Ahri fell into self-doubt.

"Level-two trade, level-three dive—I've dived towers more times than you've played matches in this entire stretch."

Song Yuan snorted, clicked the floor with his mouse to reposition Twilight's Eye, barely scraping precious experience.

Calculating experience and judging hero power spikes was basic training for them—if he'd been so easily worn down at level two, he'd be roasted alive for the rest of the match; the real pride of these two months was his positioning skill.

He used to just brawl to the end, but after being scolded repeatedly by Ming-ge, he finally understood the value of learning to kite on top lane.

With Garen failing to gain advantage on top, PE's attempt for a level-two burst on bottom also came up empty.

At the instant she leveled up, Sika's Tahm Kench flashed E; though the Blade of the Ruined King pointed at the ADC, the enemy support reacted instantly, pressing W as Tahm Kench closed in, preventing her Q from landing.

The ADC used E to create distance, then relentlessly auto-attacked, forcing the enemy Nami's heal to be used. (Most ADs in S3 carried Barrier; this is a special plot setup.)

Nami frowned: "Their reaction is too fast—it's like cheating."

"This is pro play—where's the cheating?" Sika mused. "It feels more like they predicted I'd flash E into the ADC."

"Ah, no point overthinking it—we're gonna get crushed on bottom without my flash."

"Can Ziv come over?"

PE's jungler was getting a headache.

Garen on top best synergizes with his Spider; Tahm Kench on bottom failed to initiate and was heavily drained, needing immediate help—and mid lane… all three lanes need ganks, but he can't run fast enough, absolutely can't make it.

Mid lane.

Hmm, mid lane?

Sika suddenly remembered and switched camera view to mid—there, a half-health Zed was trembling while last-hitting under the oppressive presence of a fully healthy Ahri at three-quarters health.

"Bro, how'd you get pushed under tower?"

Van's face flushed red. "Got tricked at level two."

In the early game, JM kept auto-attacking him with his range advantage.

At 2:40, Zed landed a WE combo on the fox, planning to use the second W to reposition, exploit the opponent's aggressive stance, and land both his body and shadow Qs for a burst trade to set up a Spider gank—but his plan was read.

As soon as he landed his W, he took Ahri's E.

【Deception Orb】【Foxy Fire】 plus minion harassment—his current half-health is after using every single potion.

"Fuck, save me!"

Just as Zed was stammering to explain his disadvantage, the first disaster came from PE's jungle.

Just over three minutes in, the script had been meant for Spider to harass the Imperial Prince—but Zed's poor performance instantly flipped the jungler matchup.

Jiang Ming, after securing lane priority, invaded Spider's jungle and collided with him at the F4 camp.

The Imperial Prince instantly cast EQ, double-charging the Spider; Jiang Ming's Ahri landed a successful E through the wall to charm the Spider.

"Flash!"

At the instant he judged the kill possible, Jiang Ming ordered the Stone, and both instantly flashed to add damage.

FirstBlood!

NXG-JM killed PE-Ziv!

Thus, barely three minutes into the game, the initially dominant PE lost the first blood to NXG.

【!!!】

【666!】

【Holy shit, what's this coordination? My eyes hadn't even finished watching the Imperial Prince's EQ combo, and JM's Ahri already flashed his charm?】

【Is NXG this strong? Top lane Garen can't pressure Shen, bottom lane Tahm Kench's flash E gets countered hard, and now mid-jungle get first blood at three minutes.】

【PE feels so weak—worse than randoms?】

【Bro above, PE just beat IG—they've got four wins and are directly qualifying. No weak team here—most players in the national server are Master rank.】

Viewers in the livestream were stunned.

But the NXG players, under Jiang Ming's command to go all-out, could only say this was just the beginning.

At 4:30, the revived Spider headed straight for top lane.

Garen initiated with E to close in, started W to bite—but Song Yuan predicted it and flashed away, retreating safely under tower. The Spider, trying to follow up, hesitated—facing a two-thirds-health Shen with his taunt still up.

"Gank?"

"Go ahead, gank me—if you kill me once, I lose."

Song Yuan instantly turned into a roaring tyrant.

His daily top-lane pressure training wasn't wasted—under Ming-ge's clear instruction, with mid and bottom both disadvantaged, ganking top lane was the jungler's best option.

Losing a flash is fine—as long as I don't die.

Minutes after top lane was ganked, Jiang Ming, now at level six, instantly upgraded his ultimate, RE-predicted Zed's shadow landing point, and with the Imperial Prince's help, forced out Zed's flash before following up with his third and fourth R segments inside the tower to execute—Zed barely escaped with ninety HP left.

Coincidentally, as news came from mid lane, bottom lane also achieved its strategic objective.

After Tahm Kench's failed level-two flash E all-in, the Imperial Prince, backed by mid lane, occasionally visited bottom, letting the ADC push towers and drain health without restraint; with the support being Lulu, her polymorph ability completely locked down the Tahm Kench.

Just over eight minutes, the bottom first tower fell immediately.

PE, being smart, hurriedly called the bot lane to the top lane, hoping to coordinate with the Crocodile and Spider to further squeeze Shen's farming space and trade towers.

However, Jiang Ming predicted it in advance, arranged for Song Yuan to TP to the mid lane, sent a wave of minions to him, and let him coordinate with the jungler, Caitlyn, and Lulu to push down another mid first tower.

Where had PE ever seen such a playstyle? They hadn't fought many skirmishes, and their defensive towers were nearly gone.

The Spider was even more pitiful; ever since the mid first tower fell, he had seen hardly any jungle monsters.

One could only say that Jiang Ming, referencing his memories, had somewhat overestimated PE, or perhaps he underestimated the NXG members trained with professional methods from the future.