Chapter 43: The youth has strapped on his sword; stepping out, he fears no rivers and lakes.

Ah-Fu shook his head, his gaze filled with absolute conviction. "Zǐ'áng will definitely be able to hold his ground. As the saying goes: 'Peeping through a tube to view a leopard, one can glimpse a spot.' Judging the whole by a part, his eyes are burning with a fire that belongs solely to esports."

ClearLove remained noncommittal.

Wasn't he once a passionate youth just like Lu Zǐ'áng?
He had once harbored a pure, unblemished heart for esports.
It was a pity that before the young swordsman's blade was properly forged, he was already thrown into the turbulent world.
In the vanity fair of fame and fortune, amidst the glitz, glamour, and endless temptations, the ultimate outcome was forgetting his original aspiration. He transformed from "ClearLove" into the present-day Seven-God, Factory Director, 4396...
Countless mistakes on the competitive stage had made him almost the professional player with the most scandals and memes in the entire League.

Seeing that ClearLove remained silent, Ah-Fu added, "Zǐ'áng's playstyle is centered around stability. Only after ensuring his own farm and gaining absolute certainty will he proactively strike, hitting the vital spot with merciless precision."
"Don't let his quiet demeanor fool you. The moment anyone touches his core interests, he will undoubtedly make them pay an excruciatingly painful price."
"Beneath that steady exterior lies a ruthless edge." ClearLove sighed. "Truly, the younger generation is formidable."
"The Season 8 World Championship has concluded. The roster for the upcoming season has already been finalized. Aside from the Support and ADC positions remaining unchanged, the Top, Mid, and Jungle slots will consist entirely of players born in 2000 or later."
"The contracts are currently being processed. In a few days, they will officially arrive at EDG to report for duty, and then they'll be handed over to you for training and grooming. After all these years, our EDG has finally realized the dream of an all-Chinese roster!"
"Next season, you will also need to transition into a coaching role." Ah-Fu looked at ClearLove, his gaze carrying a profound meaning.
"Transitioning to a coach is fine. Although I'm getting older, my current competitive form is still acceptable. For the Season 9, I'd like to continue holding a spot as a substitute jungler."
ClearLove's tone carried a hint of firmness.

Naturally, Ah-Fu wouldn't undermine his pride, so he nodded and said, "No problem. Chen Dong has analyzed the data of these new players, and their compatibility rate is as high as 98.5%, with exceptionally formidable individual skills. This will be the youngest and, at the same time, the strongest lineup in EDG's history."

ClearLove flipped through the documents on the coffee table, his eyes falling upon several familiar yet unfamiliar professional IDs:
"Top: 369, Mid: Knight (Golden Left Hand), Jungle: Tian."
...

Inside Lu Zǐ'áng's livestream, Fiora relied on her superior mechanics and item advantage to successfully kill the blue side's support, Morgana.
However, this also plunged her into a perilous predicament.
Even without her ultimate and with all her skills on cooldown, Miss Fortune still possessed formidable damage.
Fiora's health bar had plummeted to less than a quarter.
At the same time, the Rift Herald auto-attacked and destroyed the red side's mid-lane inhibitor.
Braum the support and Lee Sin the jungle were powerless to help, being kept at bay by Illaoi and Zoe.

Peanut felt utterly defeated upon seeing this scene. His own health was already low, and the enemy Zoe's damage was terrifying—he simply couldn't withstand it.
"Aish! (Siba!)" In the end, Fiora fell at the feet of the blue side's Miss Fortune, and the red side suffered yet another major casualty. Peanut's expression was extremely unsightly!
Because Fiora died, he was dragged down with her, and ultimately he could only flash away to create distance.

Instead of retreating directly after successively eliminating LeBlanc, Kai'Sa, and Fiora, and destroying the mid-lane inhibitor, the blue side chose to press the attack.
Because the Rift Herald still had a sliver of health left, it was entirely capable of shielding them for one last charge against the enemy twin nexus towers.
"Aish, aish, aish!"
Since this was just a ranked match, Peanut had completely lost emotional control; this sequence of plays was simply too suffocating.
It felt as though every single step they took was wrong, culminating in a disastrous chain reaction at the end.
Ordinarily, Peanut could have easily dealt with this Rift Herald, but now he was utterly powerless to stop it, forced to watch helplessly as the enemy used the Rift Herald to viciously ram into their nexus turret in under 20 minutes.

Lu Zǐ'áng pinged the danger signal and immediately began retreating. Having secured three consecutive kills, his personal net worth had grown exponentially.
At the same time, by taking down the enemy's best-farmed Fiora, he effectively disrupted her growth rhythm, buying a certain amount of farming time for his team's Cho'Gath.
Taking advantage of the window to fall back, the blue side secured another small dragon, thereby surpassing the red side in total team gold.

The rest of the game was completely taken over by Lu Zǐ'áng. The mid lane was smashed wide open, followed immediately by the top lane, with Teacher Guo and the support sticking close to Lu Zǐ'áng to escort him.
The top laner was banished to the mid lane to clear waves, which became relatively easier with super minions helping out.
...

JellY was still holding the line in the bottom lane against a 1v2 disadvantage. The red side's tempo had completely shattered, and everyone's mental state had undergone subtle shifts.
League of Legends is a game that requires not only raw talent but also a resilient mental fortitude.
Especially for high-tier elite players, the gaps in mechanics and game sense are actually negligible; the biggest difference lies entirely in their mindset.
Players with good mental states naturally tend to maintain a better competitive form, which is the fundamental reason why so many professional players on the big stage win more, play fiercer, and execute better the longer they snowball.
Because in the process of winning, they build unshakeable confidence, daring to make more aggressive plays, which in turn infinitely unleashes their potential.

Whether it was Peanut, Ruler, or Crown, all three of their mentalities were somewhat fractured.
If the enemy Miss Fortune had been UZI, they wouldn't have felt quite this miserable. But who could blame them for Lu Zǐ'áng being a mere nobody?
They were beaten to the point of questioning their very existence. Since when could just about anyone casually trample all over them?
To put it seriously, they had developed a sense of frustration, much like Faker shedding tears at the Bird's Nest last year—crying not merely because they lost to SSG, but because SSG was seemingly so mediocre, yet they still lost to them.

Just as Peanut was moodily flinging his mouse around, Faker suddenly reached out and patted him on the shoulder:
"The blue side's ADC and their mid laner both possess extraordinary strength. Even I might not necessarily win against them."

Faker was notoriously arrogant and prideful in the LCK and on the world stage; he was never one for false modesty.
Peanut's mood instantly rocketed from the depths of despair. "Is that true, Sunghyuk-sunbaenim? Even you aren't confident against them?"

Faker nodded solemnly:
"The synergy and operational awareness displayed by these two definitely don't belong to ordinary solo queue players. They are likely super geniuses cultivated by some team in the LPL league. It's just a ranked game, so don't weigh the win or loss too heavily."
"Now that the Season 8 World Championship has concluded and Season 9 is about to begin, we need to adjust our mentality and prepare for the new season. The LCK must not lose a second Worlds championship trophy."