Chapter 49: Pluck Every Feather, There Are Bandits!!

LPL preseason qualifier tournament, Tencent live stream on TGA platform.

Many teams that had already secured qualification sat at their computers, watching the intense clash between NXG and PE, the two top-ranked teams in the server qualifiers.

No, it couldn’t even be called an intense clash.

Inside OMG, the tall Liang Xiaosan stared with eyes wide as copper bells, hissing sharply as he sucked in air.

“What the hell, is NXG this strong?”

“This is ridiculous!”

“Their jungler can’t gain any advantage, mid lane is crushed, and Xica is pinned down in bot lane and can’t move.”

Liang Xiaosan even suspected PE might be throwing—last time OMG faced PE, the base was destroyed in just over thirty minutes.

PE is undoubtedly a strong team.

Yet now, PE—who just beat us—is getting completely demolished by NXG in under ten minutes.

Is this even possible?

In the room, Gogoing’s signature gravelly voice spoke: “I’m not surprised at all. JM’s command is excellent—I’ve queued with him. Every second, he clearly directs the entire team’s actions. On the day he climbed to #1 on the national server, even WE’s four-man squad got completely suppressed.”

“I watched that match too,” said jungler Lingyao, face grim. “JM and NXG’s jungler have perfect synergy. Mingkai and Ruofeng were suppressed from start to finish.”

“Just with mid-jungle coordination they showed this level of dominance. Now with JM leading all four NXG members, it’s not impossible.”

“Come on, you guys are hyping them up too much.”

Hearing his teammates’ discussion, Cool, sitting in the corner watching explicit videos, replied indignantly.

“Maybe PE just had a bad day. In pro matches, no one’s guaranteed to win.”

Since JM’s Rengar had turned his own Volibear into a highlight reel in ranked, Cool couldn’t stand the guy—and now his teammates were all praising him. Cool couldn’t take it.

Gogoing glanced at Cool. Around him, Japanese artists in romance films were belting out loud songs. The words of advice he’d been about to say died in his throat.

That’s just how he is. Talking won’t change him.

But clearly, one man’s stubbornness doesn’t represent the pro scene’s consensus.

Everyone in the scene who had faced PE knew how strong they were. Now, to be utterly crushed by NXG, it was impossible not to take notice.

WE, IG, Royal Clan, LM—countless pro team members all sat in front of their screens, watching Tencent’s LPL preseason test broadcast.

It’s normal for young players to be defiant and talk big, but actions don’t lie. Any team with a functioning brain won’t ignore a potential strong opponent on the future pro stage.

Just how strong is NXG?

Of all, PE, still in the match, had the most authority to answer.

After the first mid tower fell, the first to collapse was the jungler’s spider’s jungle: the blue buff in the upper half, the F4 and red buff in the lower half—all completely cleared.

To call that group of bandits “ Yanguobamao ” was utterly accurate.

Bandits—but disciplined bandits!

As team commander, Xica now felt a massive stone pressing down on his head.

The purple side’s five heroes gave them zero chance. After destroying the outer mid and bot towers, they didn’t overextend to dive, nor did any of them become isolated to offer an opening.

They tried to ambush NXG’s heroes, but half their own jungle was shrouded in black fog—hero movements were nearly impossible to hide from the enemy.

Whenever there was a vision gap, the enemy never approached the spots where they were hiding.

Command and obedience so precise it was terrifying.

It was as if five people—no, really, the jungler, top, bot, and support—had practiced a thousand times, executing every command flawlessly under the mid laner’s direction.

Clearing jungle camps, pushing lanes, focusing on tower destruction—it felt to Xica like a precision instrument repeating a fixed program.

Unable to counterattack, Xica himself was caught multiple times by Jiang Ming’s fox.

But if Xica could have heard the voice chat inside NXG’s base right now, between Jiang Ming and his teammates, he wouldn’t have found the situation so hard to accept.

Fifteen minutes. Another dragon spawned on the map.

NXG-door (Pang Ran): “Dragon spawns in twenty-one seconds!”

“Their support’s Flash is still on cooldown for forty seconds. A teamfight here won’t go well.”

“I’m going back to upgrade my items. My ultimate is ready. I’ll head back to push top lane.”

“Lao Xu, place a true sight in PE’s triangle bush.”

“Got it.”

“Stone, push position with me. We can stand a little further forward.”

Calm. Orderly. Information exchanged simply and clearly.

Unlike the chaotic, market-style voice chat many players idolize, from a team manager or LoL coach’s perspective, such noisy internal communication doesn’t prove team chemistry—and pro matches don’t need teamfight noise to prove cohesion.

When blades meet, proper team voice chat should contain only information feedback and command decisions—nothing else.

Shouting “protect the AD” while actually leaving the AD at the back is not admirable behavior.

Just like now: the dragon hasn’t spawned yet. Shen moves to top lane to pressure the wave. The support places vision ahead for positioning. The AD stays glued to Shen, helping ease some of the pressure.

Meanwhile, Jiang Ming, with his assassination potential, pushes forward to harass the enemy.

PE’s response was typical of this era: sending Xica, a female tank, alone into the jungle to scout vision while behind in both gold and level.

The rest of the team was busy farming minions on their lanes.

It was impossible to tell whether they wanted to fight a teamfight or just give up the dragon.

If they were giving it up, the correct move now would be to set up a baron warding screen.

Or did they think Xica, as a support, could tank the damage from Jiang Ming’s over-leveled fox?

“Finish this quickly. Then we rotate to Baron.”

Shhh!

Jiang Ming didn’t waste more time. Having gathered the information he needed, he accelerated the pace of the game.

Infernal Flame!

【Deceptive Orb】

【Mystic Foxfire】

【Enchanting Charm】

Facing Xica, who cautiously probed the jungle brush, Jiang Ming—blessedly merciful—spared him unnecessary suffering.

In S3, before she became the “Scraping Queen,” Ahri, empowered by Infernal Flame, turned the full-health Dawnbringer into a desiccated corpse in under a second.

NXG-JM killed PE-Sicca!