Chapter 57: "I bloom in the midst of slaughter, like a flower in the dawn."

Season 9.

The opening match of the LPL Spring Regular Season, EDG versus FPX, had reached the 22nd minute.

At this moment, the viewer count in the official livestream had climbed to 150 million.

In the FPX team booth.

Mid laner Doinb's thin face was full of melancholy, as dark as the bottom of a pot.

In team voice chat.

Doinb lost his composure a bit: "What the hell kind of monster is this Jhin on the opposite side?!"

"I am seriously done! I give up, I give up. Bro, what on earth are you even playing?"

Light was already feeling a bit numb from the beating, and said speechlessly, "Didn't you say it was fine just over ten minutes ago?"

"But isn't this too ridiculous? A single passive auto-attack from him takes away a third of my HP directly? If he sets up his ultimate right on the spot, wouldn't that kill me instantly?"

Doinb wore a bitter expression.

"Why don't you build a Zhonya's, buy some defensive gear and it won't hurt as much. He's already taking away nearly half my health bar." Light had completely lost his temper.

Up in the top lane, GimGoon was also at his wits' end: "Jiejie, why didn't you help me this game? EDG's Camille is practically running away with the game."

Jungler Jiejie was currently clearing out vision wards in the Baron pit, and upon hearing GimGoon pinging him, he was utterly bewildered: "At the very start, you were the one who said Gangplank counters Camille and you didn't need help. Later on, the mid lane wanted help and the bot lane wanted help—do I not need to farm my jungle?"

"Fine, whatever." GimGoon felt a little aggrieved inside. Couldn't you have seen through my stubbornness and proactively come to the top lane to support me?

At the caster desk.

Miller looked at the Jhin's 10-0-5 KDA and couldn't help praising him: "I can only say, Lu Ziang's Jhin has an insanely high mastery level! The details of his skill shots and operational control can be described as flawless."

"Ever since that first blood was taken in the bottom lane, the entire FPX bot lane completely collapsed. And then it snowballed into a total rout. So far at the 23-minute mark, the entire EDG roster has played far too perfectly, truly giving them zero chances!"

"Laning phase details, coordination, team fights—they played so well I'm left speechless. This brand-new EDG team is genuinely... terrifying." Doll chimed in immediately, continuing the praise.

Under normal circumstances, the viewers in the match livestream would have started flaming by now. How could the casters be so blatantly biased?

But tonight, for this opening match, the viewers had nothing to say. Even the FPX fans were left speechless.

Danmu comments:

"Damn, after watching matches for so many years, this is the first time I've felt like casters stating facts sounded like excessive flattery."

"Holy cow, is EDG too strong? Total suppression on a macro level. Falcon Man's Jhin here is practically a signature signature-hero masterclass."

"Whenever playing against EDG from now on—Jhin is a mandatory ban. Which team would ever dare let him through?"

"369's Camille as well. A niche top lane pick, yet under a counter-matchup, he forcefully played it into an advantage, making GimGoon's face change color!"

"Did you guys not notice Doinb, this old boy was all smiles for the first 5 minutes, but after that dragon team fight at the 10-minute mark, he put on the mask of suffering."

"I can only say EDG is strong today, and Falcon Man is even stronger."

...

In the FPX player lounge, Steak took a sip of mineral water, licked his lips, and wore a deep expression: "Well, the first game of tonight's BO3, we over-warmed up."

The data analyst also nodded speechlessly: "This... honestly doesn't really feel like a warm-up. At 22 minutes, our team gold deficit is approaching 10k, and we haven't secured a single dragon."

"All three tier-two towers are destroyed. I checked and it doesn't seem like any lane had an advantage, except for Doinb in the mid lane who only died twice... but he hasn't accomplished anything either."

Listening to the analysis, Steak unscrewed the bottle cap again, took a huge gulp, and then said with a hint of satisfaction: "I originally thought it would be pretty good if EDG could just dig up one top-tier horse this year."

"Turns out..."

"It looks like everyone on the roster is a top-tier horse." Steak wasn't feeling overly upset; after all, it was just losing a regular season match, no big deal.

Right at that moment.

A drastic change had occurred once again on the battlefield.

Just moments ago, taking advantage of the window where Lu Ziang recalled to the base to update his items.

FPX proactively initiated a numerical-advantage team fight. Although they were all left at low health, they successfully managed to eliminate EDG's top, mid, and jungle trio.

At the caster desk.

Miller grew excited: "Are we about to witness a miracle? Under such adverse conditions, FPX has displayed incredible resilience!"

"They found a precious opportunity in adversity, fighting numbers-up and successfully eliminating EDG's Camille, Zoe, and Lee Sin without losing a single member! Beautiful, this team fight was simply gorgeous."

Even the emotions of the live audience were ignited. After all, they had bought tickets to enter the venue, and unlike watching online, everyone could vividly feel the gap between EDG and FPX.

In many people's eyes, as long as EDG took this game, FPX would most likely get swept 2-0.

Therefore, they began to cheer madly, hoping only that FPX could rise up and pull off a reverse sweep.

"Let's go FPX!!"

"FPX, come on, give me a comeback!"

"Doinb, go on a rampage, kill the enemy Jhin and take his ultimate bounty!!"

...

In the livestream, viewers could naturally hear the cheers from the live audience and eagerly joined in as well. Many people tuned in precisely for a fierce head-on collision!

This team fight.

Gave many viewers a glimmer of hope. A lot of people felt that at the very least, this team fight would buy FPX a new lease on life.

Yet right at that moment.

On the game screen, a Jhin appeared not far from the entire FPX roster and activated his ultimate ability—"Curtain Call!"

A sinister premonition spread wildly through the depths of everyone's hearts. FPX was still unaware of Jhin's arrival, but the cheering voices in the arena gradually began to grow faint.

At the caster desk, Miller's voice came to an abrupt halt, "Hiss~ Ah this..."

"It's hard to say, really hard to say."

Doll wanted to say something but hesitated, because LuZiang's Jhin this game was simply too insane—even his W, Deadly Flourish, had a 100% hit rate, let alone his ultimate.

Sticking to his professional ethics, Miller finally forced himself to make his voice sound hopeful: "Lu Ziang has arrived, the entire FPX roster is within the range of his ultimate, but he might not necessarily be able to finish off these low-health members of FPX..."

In that previous numerical-advantage team fight, everyone on FPX had blown all their abilities and summoner spells, leaving only GimGoon with a Teleport he couldn't use.

"Hum—! I bloom in slaughter, like a dawn in bloom."

On the screen, Jhin the Virtuoso activated his ultimate.

"This stage has been trampled by my talent, but I have also brought it to new heights!" — Jhin the Virtuoso

The game immediately began playing a hauntingly beautiful BGM!

Curtain Call.

A total of four bullets, possessing a slow effect alongside execution damage.

At this moment, the health bars of the entire FPX roster were within the execution threshold, or even below it.

Doinb had picked up a double kill in this skirmish and was squatting in a bush preparing to recall when he heard this familiar BGM start playing, and the smile that had just bloomed on his face instantly froze.

"Bang—!!"

Jhin fired his first bullet, perfectly hitting Malzahar and claiming the first head.

Doinb felt as though this artistic BGM was now ringing in his ears like demonic music and a dirge from hell as he looked at his grey screen.

He didn't want to speak anymore.

"Run, run away quickly. We can't beat him!"

GimGoon shouted in voice chat: "Damn it, this Jhin is using his ultimate to harvest again!!"

Jiejie wanted to go interrupt, but the moment he moved, the Virtuoso's second bullet came hurtling straight toward him...

...

PS:

Sixth chapter, completed!

Main text cumulative word count: 14,000 words.

From getting off work in the morning and getting home to start writing at nine, until now around seven in the evening, I haven't stopped for a single second. In between, it was researching references, typing, and uh, drinking a cup of instant coffee... Seriously, my eyelids are so heavy they're fighting each other.

In a bit at eight o'clock, the author still has to go to work. Now I need to take a shower and then sleep for a bit!

By the way, please rest assured, the author is currently in the prime of his youth, having turned eighteen not too long ago, and my body is rock solid.

Everyone,

Just wait for my next mass release,

At that time it'll start at 10 chapters, and I believe that day won't keep you waiting long.

(Righteous and confident)

Please click the reminder tickets, send some free "Power Generator" gifts, and thank you for your support.

Most importantly:

[I earnestly beg everyone to give the author a five-star review!]

There are so many one-star negative reviews in the review section, and the bugs they pointed out, I am genuinely fixing them, please rest assured. Even the ones not corrected yet are just temporarily lacking time to fix.

Yet after leaving their negative reviews, they walked away without looking back!!!

[Please be sure to give the author a five-star review!]

[Please be sure to give the author a five-star review!]

[If the positive reviews can reach 500, I'll continue with six chapters tomorrow alright (starting to daydream)]

Important things said three times.

Finally, cupping my hands in a bow here, bending ninety degrees, I extend my most heartfelt thanks and blessings to all the dear readers who love this book!

Note: The college entrance examination is coming up soon, wishing the book friends participating in the exam ahead of time to make the honor roll and get into their ideal universities. Let's go!!